An inflection is a change that signals the grammatical function of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns (e.g., noun plurals, verb tenses). In other words, inflectional morphemes are used to create a variant form of a word in order to signal grammatical information without changing the meanings of words. Inflectional suffixes have grammatical meaning only and cannot precede a derivational suffix.
English has only eight inflectional suffixes:
You are viewing: Which Of The Following Are Inflectional Morphemes
- noun plural {-s} – “He has three desserts.”
- noun possessive {-s} – “This is Betty’s dessert.”
- verb present tense {-s} – “Bill usually eats dessert.”
- verb past tense {-ed} – “He baked the dessert yesterday.”
- verb past participle {-en} – “He has always eaten dessert.”
- verb present participle {-ing} – “He is eating the dessert now.”
- adjective comparative {-er} – “His dessert is larger than mine.”
- adjective superlative {-est} – “Her dessert is the largest.”
This list of inflectional morphemes can serve as the KEY MARKERS for recognizing form-class words. The presence of an inflectional suffix is a key formal test for determining form-class words because inflectional suffixes can combine with nearly all members of a single part of speech. As always in English, there are exceptions, as we will discuss below.
Nouns take two inflectional morphemes, plural and possessive.
Plural
-s -es
book + -s glass + -es
books glasses
Some plurals take a different morpheme:
- datum -> data
- medium -> media
- ox -> oxen
- moose -> moose
Possessive
-s
Barbara + -s
Barbara’s
When a singular possessive noun ends in -s or -z, it still takes the ‘s. The pronunciation of the ‘s just changes from the [s] sound to the [z] sound:
- bass -> bass’s
- maze -> maze’s
The possessive of a plural noun ending in -s is pronounced just like the plural form. It’s spelled with a simple apostrophe and no additional -s:
- five days’ work
- the taxpayers’ burden
Verb Inflections
English has a relatively simple system of verb inflections. Every verb has a base, uninflected or infinitive, form. There are only four inflectional morphemes that can attach to the base (infinitive) form:
Inflection
Morpheme
Function
Example
Note that…
Read more : Which Of The Following Chords Are Major Triads
present-tense inflections
-s
Used when subject is third-person singular noun or pronoun
She usually sits here.
The house stays cool at night.
Verbs ending in -s take -es, e.g. toss à tosses.
past-tense inflection
-ed
Used to indicate past tense of a regular verb.
We rowed down the river.
The inside of the canoe got pretty wet.
Irregular verbs can inflect by changing their vowel (ride -> rode) or take no change (cut -> cut). Some change more than a vowel (go -> went).
past-participle inflection
-en
Used with the linking verb have in the Main Verb Phrase Formula to form the present perfect and past perfect.
I have already eaten.
I had wanted a salad.
For most regular verbs, the past-participle inflection is -ed, just like the past-tense inflection.
present-participle inflection
-ing
Used with the helping verb be in the Main Verb Phrase Formula to form the present progressive.
I am walking to the store.
Read more : Which Neighborhood Quality Of Life Issue
You are taking a class.
The present-participle inflection also often occurs as a noun modifer (e.g. the sleeping baby; a rolling stone).
In English, adjectives only take two inflections: the comparative and superlative.
Comparative: -er
taller
smarter
thicker
crazier
Superlative: -est
tallest
smartest
thickest
craziest
Notice that all the example base morphemes only have one or two syllables. Adjectives with more than two syllables can be made comparative and superlative by the addition of words (more; most), not inflectional morphemes.
Some adverbs can take the same comparative and superlative inflections (-er; -est) that adjectives take:
- drove longer
- ran faster
- played harder
Many adverbs cannot take these inflections, however. Notice the awkwardness of the following phrases:
- He said slylier.
- She danced awkwardliest.
Like some adjectives, these same examples can use more and most to create comparatives and superlatives:
- He said more slyly.
- She danced most awkwardly.
To test your understanding of the concepts discussed on this page, begin with the link below for an example practice exercise:
INFLECTIONAL SAMPLE EXERCISE
For a bit more of a challenge, analyze the following sentence from The Brothers Karamazov for inflectional morphemes.
While he was wearying every one with his tears and complaints, and turning his house into a sink of debauchery, a faithful servant of the family, Grigory, took the three-year-old Mitya into his care.
To review your answers to these two samples, check the INFLECTIONAL MORPHEME SAMPLES ANALYSES page.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHICH
