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In English, the derivational morphemes are either prefixes

or suffixes, but the inflectional morphemes arc all suffixes.There
arc only eight of them in English.
The Inflectional Suffixes of English
Base
Suffix
Function
Example
Wait
-s
3rd p sg present
She waits there at
noon.
Wait
-ed
past tense
She waited there
yesterday.
Wait
.-ing
progressive
She is waiting there
right now.
Cat
-en
past participle
Jack has eaten all the
Oreos.
Fast
-er
comparative adj or adv Billy Jean runs faster
than Bobby. Last
-est
superlative adj or adv
Valerie is the fastest runner of all.
Below are listed four characteristics which separate inflectional
and derivational
Affixes:
Inflectional Morphemes:
Do not change meaning or part of
speech, e.g. big and bigger are
both adjectives.
II. Typically indicate syntactic or
semantic relations between
II.
different words in a sentence e.g.
the present tense morpheme-s in
waits shows agreement with the
subject of the verb(both are third
person singular).
III. 3. Typically occur with all members of
III.
some large class of morphemes,
e.g., the plural most occurs with
most nouns.
IV. Typically occur at the margins of
words. e.g., the plural morphemes
-s always come last in a word, as IV.
in

Derivational Morphemes:
Change meaning or part of speech.
e.g. -ment forms nouns, such as
judgment, from verbs, such as
judge.
Typically indicate semantic relations
within the word, e.g. the
morpheme full in pain. Full has
particular connection with any
other morpheme beyond the word
painful.
Typically occur with only some
members of a class of morphemes,
e.g., the suffix hood just a few such
as brother, neighbor, and knight,
but not with most others, e.g.,
friend, daughter, candle, etc.
Typically occur before inflectional

The differences between morfem and syllable

1. Morphemes are pairings of sounds with meanings.

2. Sometimes different have the same phonetic
representation, as in ear (for hearing) and ear (of corn).
3. Some morphemes have more than one phonetic
representation depending on which sounds precede or
follow them, but all meaning the same thing and serving
the same purpose
.

MORPHOLOGY:
EXERCISES IN
ISOLATING MORPHEMES
The following words arc made up of either one or two
morphemes: isolate them and decide for each if it is free or
bound, what kind of affix is involved, and (where applicable) if it
is inflectional or derivational.

Divide the words below into their component morphemes and

identify the nature of thc morphemes as in 1. Warning: Words
may consist of one, two or more than two morphemes.

The following words all involve morphemes whose forms arc

changed in some way when they become part of a word including
other morphemes; some of these changes are only in the

spelling, while others involve pronunciation changes as well.

Identify all morphemes and give their isolated forms: then for
those

which

change

say

whether

spelling

changes

or

pronunciation as well.

In each group of words below, two words have a different

morphological structure than the others: one has a different type
of suffix, and one has no suffix at all. Identify the word that has
no suffix and the word whose suffix is different -from the others.
Isolate the suffix that the remaining two words share and give ts
type (as in 1) and function.

In each group of words follow, identify the parts of speech of the

stems and the parts of speech of the whole words.

From the examples given for each of the following suffixes

determine: (1) the part of speech of the expression with which
the suffix combines and (ii) the part of speech of the expressions
formed by the addition of the suffix.
-ify: .solidify. intensify. purify. clarify. Rarefy
-ity: rigidity, stupidity, hostility, intensity. responsibility
-ize: unionize, terrorize, hospitalize, crystallize, magnetize
-ive: repressive, active, disruptive, abusive. Explosive
-ion: invention. injection, narration, expression, pollution
-less: nameless. penniless, useless, heartless, mindless