Exercise in identifying morphemes.

1. The following words are 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 (if any), and (where applicable) if the affix is
inflectional or derivational.
a) CatFree
-s
Bound, suffix, inflectional.
b) UnBound, prefix, inflectional.
happy Free
c) ReBound, prefix, derivational.
Join
Free
d) Catsup Free
e) Mild
Free
-er
Bound, suffix, derivational.
f) Hate
Free
-ful
Bound, suffix, derivational.
g) Succotash
Free
h) BiBound, prefix, derivational.
cycle
bound
i) Greed Free
-y
Bound, suffix, derivational.
j) EnBound, prefix, derivational.
trust
Free
k) Signpost Free
l) Space Free
-ious
Bound, suffix, derivational.
2. Divide the words below into their component morphemes and
give the information about the morphemes as you did in 1.
a. Comfortable
b. Massachusett
c. Environment
Environ
-ment
-al
-ly

Free
Free
Free
Bound
Bound, suffix, derivational
Bound, suffix, derivational
Bound, suffix, derivational

d. Recondition
-ed
e. Unidirect
-ion
-al
f. Sense
-less
g. Thick
-en
-er
-s
h. Nation
-al
-ize
-ation
i. Unspeak
-able
ly

Bound, prefix, derivational

Free
Bound, suffix, inflectional
Bound, prefix, derivational
Free
Bound, suffix, derivational
Bound, suffix, derivational
Free
Bound, suffix, derivational
Free
Bound, suffix, derivational
Bound, suffix, derivational
Bound, suffix, inflectional
Free
Bound, suffix, derivational
Bound, suffix, derivational
Bound, suffix, derivational
Bound, prefix, derivational
Free
Free, suffix, derivational
Bound, suffix, derivational

3. In each group of four words below, two words have the same
morphological structure, one has a different suffix from those two,
and one has no suffix at all. Your task is to separate these groups
according to the above information, tell which words have the
same suffix, which has a different suffix, and which has no suffix at
all.
a) Same: Rider, smoker Who does action named by verb
Different: Colder more than
No suffix: Silver
b) Same: tresses, melodies plural
Different: Bess's possessive
No suffix: guess "s" is part of root
c) Same: running, handling "name of action"
Different: foundling suffix ling- means: who possesses a

feature or characteristic"
No suffix: fling "ing" is part of root

d) Same: tables, witches plural

Different: calculates 3rd person present tense
No suffix: lens "s" is part of root
4. In each group of words that follows, identify the part of speech of
the root word and the part of speech of the whole word.
a) govern = verb - government = noun
speak = verb - speaker = noun
contemplate = verb - contemplation = noun
b) fiction = noun - fictional = adj
child = noun - childish = adj
color = noun - colorful = adj
c) calm = adj - calmest = adj
lovely = adj - lovelier = adj
silly = adj - sillier = adj.

5. Isolate the affixes and the stems in the following groups of words.
Then name the part of speech class of the root word to which the
stem belongs, and say whether the affixation results in a word
belonging to a different part of a speech class.
a) Spite-ful
health-ful
truth-ful

Stem is noun, -ful renders adj

b) un-sure
un-true
un-happy

Stem is adj, un- renders adj

c) re-take
re-view
re-live

Stem is verb, re- renders verb

d) stop-able
fix-able
laugh-able

Stem is verb,-able renders adj.

6. From the examples given for each of the following suffixes,

determine: 1. The part of speech of the word whose stem the suffix
combines with, and 2. The part of speech of the words resulting
from the addition of the suffix.
a) ify: Solidify, intensify. Base word is adjective, word with suffix
"-ify" is verb
b) ity: Rigidity, stupidity. Base word is adjective, word with suffix
-ity" is noun
c) ize: Unionize, terrorize. Base word is noun, word with suffix "-ize"
is verb
d) Ive: Repressive, active. Base word is verb, word with suffix "-ive"
is adjective
e) ion: Invention, injection. Base word is verb, word with suffix
"-ion" is noun
f) less: Nameless, penniless. Base word is noun, word with suffix
"-less" is adjective
7. Write the following word pairs phonetically and identify any
allomorphs (different phonetics shapes of the same stem or affix)
that are uncovered
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)

Autumn/autumnal [otm]/[ otamnl]

Hymn/hymnal [hm]/[ hm.n]
Damn/damnation [dm]/[ dmne.n]
Condemn/condemnation [kndem]/[ kn.dmne.n]
Divide/divisible [dvad]/[ dvz..bl]
Profane/profanity [prfen]/[ prfn..ti]
Serene/serenity [srin]/[ sren..ti]
Receive/receptive [rsiv]/[ rsep.tv]