A lexeme is an abstract unit.

It can occur in many different forms in actual spoken

and written sentences, and is regarded as the same lexeme even when inflected.
For example: the forms pockling, pockle, pockles and pockled are different
realisations (or representations or manifestations) of the lexame POCKLE.

Word form (or word) is a particular physical realisation of that lexeme in speech or
writing.
For example: we can refer to see, sees, seeing, saw and seen as five different
words.

A word is a minimum free form that cannot be divided wholly into smaller free
forms.

A free form is any segment of speech that can be spoken alone with meaning in
normal speech.

A grammatical word is a word that has morpho-syntactic properties.

For example: a. I usually cut the bread on the table.
b. i cut the bread on the table yesterday.
In [a], cut represents the grammatical word cut which realizes the present tense,
non-third person form of the verb cut. But in [b], cut represents the grammatical
word cut which realizes the past tense of cut.

Simple words are words which consist of a single free form and a superfix with or
without an inflectional suffix.
For example: school, nice, takes, took, taken.

Complex words are words which contain at least one bound morpheme as an I.C
(immediate constituent) and a superfix with or without an inflectional suffix. They
fall into 2 subclasses:
Complex words Bound Base: have a bound form for each I.C. For example:
consent, assent, rupture, matricide
Complex words Free Base: have one free form as an I.C. For example: liar, driver,
uncertain, impossibility,

Characteristics of derivational affixes:

1. The words with which Derivational suffixes combine is an arbitrary matter.
2. Derivational suffixes change the meaning and the word-class of the base to which
they are attached.
3. Derivational suffixes need not close off a word; that is, after a derivational suffix
one can sometimes add another derivational suffix and can frequently add an
inflectional suffix.

Characteristics of inflectional affixes:

1. Inflectional suffixes do not change referential or cognitive meaning. For example:
student students.
2. Inflectional suffixes do not alter the word-class of the base to which they are
attached. The inflectional suffixes are only able to modify the form of a word so that
they can fit into particular syntactic slots. For example: walk walking are both
verbs referring to the same action. The ing ending is used to form the aspect.
3. Inflectional suffixes come last in the word. For example: shortened, educators,
hotter.
4. Inflectional suffixes go with all stems of a given word-class. For example:
brightest, loudest, tallest.
5. Inflectional suffixes do not pile up; only one ends a word. For example:
educationalists; possibilities, eating.
6. Inflectional suffixes are not replaceable by uninflected forms, except for er and
est, which can be replaced by more and most.
7. Inflectional suffixes go with words but not with grammatical structures; that is,
words groups like phrases and clauses do not take inflectional endings. For example:
He is in the darker than his roommate about the math problem.