Chapter 3 Morphology - Exercises

Chapter 3 Morphology

Exercise and Discussion Questions

I.

In

each

question

there

are

four

choices.

Decide

which

one

will

be

the

best

answer to the question, or will best complete the sentence.

1.

The morpheme “vision” in the common word “television” is a(n

) ______.

A. bound morpheme

C. inflectional morpheme

2. The compound word “bookstore” is the place where books are sold. This indicates

that the meaning of a compound __________.

A. is the sum total of the meaning of its components

B. can always be worked out by looking at the meanings of morphemes

C. is the same as the meaning of a free phrase

D. None of the above

3. The part of speech of the compounds is generally determined by the part of speech

of __________.

A. the first element

B. the second element

C. either the first or the second element

D. both the first and the second elements

4. _______ are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with

other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word.

A.

Free morphemes

C.

Bound words

5.

The meaning carried by the inflectional morpheme is _______.

A. lexical

B. morphemic

C. grammatical

D. semantic

B.

Bound morphemes

D.

Words

B. bound form

D. free morpheme

1

6.

Bound morphemes are those that ___________.

A. have to be used independently

B. cannot be combined with other morphemes

C. can either be free or bound

D. have to be combined with other morphemes

7.

____ modify the meaning of the stem, but usually do not change the part of speech

of the original word.

A. Prefixes

8.

“

-

s” in the word “books” is

_______.

A. a derivative affix

C. an inflectional affix

II. Decide whether each of the following statements is

True

or

False

.

1.

Although the vast majority of prefixes do not change the original word class, there

are prefixes that are class-changing: a-, be-, em-, en-.

2.

Inflectional ending can be added to derivational ones, but not vice-versa.

3.

The syllabic structure of a word and its morphemic structure must correspond.

4.

Derivations

can

make

the

word

class

of

the

original

word

either

changed

or

unchanged.

5.

Words are the smallest meaningful units of language.

6.

The smallest meaningful units that can be used freely all by themselves are free

morphemes.

7.

Inflectional

morphemes

manifest

various

grammatical

relations

or

grammatical

categories such as number, tense, degree, and case.

8.

The

existing

form

to

which

a

derivational

affix

can

be

added

is

called

a

stem,

which can be a bound root, a free morpheme, or a derived form itself.

9.

Prefixes usually modify the part of speech of the original word, not the meaning

of it.

B. a stem

D. a root

B. Suffixes

C. Roots

D. Affixes

2

10.

There are rules that govern which affix can be added to what type of stem to form

a

new

word.

Therefore,

words

formed

according

to

the

morphological

rules

are

acceptable words.

III. Define the following terms.

1.

morphology

2.

morpheme

3.

free morpheme

4.

bound morpheme

5.

allomorph

6.

root

7.

affix

8.

inflection

9.

derivation

10.

compounding

V

. Answer the following questions.

1. What are the main features of the English compounds?

2. Distinguish between phonologically and morphologically conditioned allomorphs.

Give examples.

3. Discuss the types of morphemes with examples.

4.

What

have

you

learned

about

the

topic

of

morphology,

can

you

put

them

into

practice in you English learning?

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