MOTPHOLOGY CLASSIFICATION
MORPHEMES
FREE BOUND
can stand alone
lexical
functional
"open" las of words
we can incorporate other morphemes to make:
nouns, verbs, adj, adv
"close" class of words
pronouns. articles, modals, prepositions,
conjunctions, auxiliary
can't be used alone,
they must be attach
yo a lexical
morpheme
derivational
inflectional
prefixes, suffixes
change
only suffixes, they show grammatical
aspects (ex: tense, number)
8
verbs
en
ed
ing
-s/ -es
adj/ adv
comparative/
superlative
er/-est
nouns
s/ er
's/ '
part of speech (adj, adv,
verb, noun)
meaning
examples
ALIVE: word made up of 2 morphemes: 1 free lexical morpheme (live / verb) + 1 bound derivational prefix (a /
adj).
FRIENDSHIP: noun made up of 2 morphemes: 1FLM (friend/ noun) + 1 BDS (ship: the state of having sth/ changes
meaning)
STEADLY: adv made up of 2 morphemes: 1 FLM (steady/ adj) + 1 BDS (ly: in a particular way or manner/ part of speech changes adj -->
adv)
STRENGTHENED: verb made up of 3 morphemes: 1FLM (strength/ noun) + 1 BDS (-en/ to make sth have a particular quality/ part of
speech changes noun --> verb) + 1 BIS (-ed/ shows tense: present perf)
our friendship has steadily strengthened over the years
OUR/ HAS/ OVER/ THE: free functional morphemes
GROWING: verb made up of 2 morphemes : 1 FLM (grow/ verb) + 1 BIS (-ing/ change tense ps --> present
participle )
DARKNESS: noun made up of 2 morphemes: 1 FLM (dark/ adj) + 1 BDS (-ness/ used to form nouns from
adj)
LOUDER: adj made up of 2 morphemes: 1 FLM ( loud/ adj) + 1 BIS ( -er/ forms
acompararive)
DISLOYAL: adj made up of 2 morphemes: 1 FLM (loyal/ adj) + 1 BDP (dis/ shows the
opposite)
FRIENDS: noun made up of 2 morphemes: 1 FLM (friend/ noun) + 1 BIS (s/ makes the plural form, shows
number)
UNPACKED: verb made up of 3 morphemes: 1 FLM (pack/ verb) + 1 BDS (un/ the opposite of an action) + 1 BIS (ed/ change the tense past
simple)
