Morphology: Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes in English 1.1

August 3, 2015 By Robin Aronow

Morphology: Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes in English 1.1

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This exercise gives you practice at recognizing the difference between derivational and inflectional morphemes. Derivational morphemes alter the meaning and/or syntactic category of words; inflectional morphemes show grammatical relationships between words. In the following exercises, decide whether the selected affixes are derivational, inflectional, or neither.

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Question 1

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional. The creditor stopped harassing my neighbor when she threatened a law suit. '-or'

A	derivational
B	inflectional Hint: '-or' in the word creditor is an allomorph of the agentive derivational morpheme 'er' which, when affixed to a verb root, changes the meaning to a noun, i.e., person carrying out the action of the verb.

Question 2

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

Lois was hopeful that Superman would return safely from his journey to the moon. '-ful'

A	inflectional Hint: ‘ful’ in the word ‘hopeful’ is derivational since it derives an adjective from the noun ‘hope’.
B	derivational

Question 3

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

Lois wants a chocolate mousse cake for her birthday. '-s'

A	derivational Hint: '-s ' is inflectional since it marks the verb 'want' for 3rd person singular, present. Neither the meaning nor the part of speech change.
B	inflectional

Question 4

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

The students found that studying for the exam paid off in the end. '-ing'

A	inflectional Hint: '-ing' in this example actually derives an noun from a verb, thus it is a derivational morpheme. 'Study' is the subject of the embedded clause [... that studying ... paid off in the end.'
B	derivational

Question 5

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

The mega car dealer had to recall all its SUV's due to a malfunction. 're-'

A	inflectional Hint: 're-' in the word 'recall' is a derivational morpheme since it alters the meaning of the root 'call'.
B	derivational

Question 6

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

Harriet walked all through Paris looking for a clue to the mystery. '-ed'

A	derivational Hint: '-ed' is an inflectional morpheme since it marks the verb 'walk' as past tense. Neither meaning nor part of speech is changed.
B	inflectional

Question 7

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

Superman's heroic feats won him the Nobel Prize last year. '-ic'

A	derivational
B	inflectional Hint: The morpheme '-ic' is derivational due to the fact that when attached to the noun root 'hero', an adjective is derived.

Question 8

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

The crowd applauded Spiderman's virtuous performance in the rescue of the Mayor from the hands of evildoers. '-ous'

A	derivational
B	inflectional Hint: '-ous' in the word 'virtuous' is a derivational morpheme since it derives an adjective from the noun root 'virtue' .

Question 9

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

The blue jays were squawking all night, which kept the campers awake. '-ing'

A	derivational Hint: ‘-ing’ in ‘squawking is inflectional since it does not alter meaning or part of speech but shows the aspect of the verb ‘squawk’ (progressive).
B	inflectional

Question 10

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

The director spoke very kindly of his staff during the briefing. '-ly'

A	inflectional Hint: ' - ly' in the word 'kindly' derives an adverb from the adjective 'kind'. Thus it is a derivational morpheme.
B	derivational

Question 11

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

Harriet ran past the scary ghost as fast as she could. '-y'

A	inflectional Hint: ‘-y’ in ‘scary’ is derivational since it derives an adjective from the verb ‘to scare’.
B	derivational

Question 12

Decide whether the morpheme bolded below is derivational or inflectional.

Batman can fly faster than a speeding train. '-er'

A	inflectional
B	derivational Hint: '-er' in the word 'faster' marks the adjective 'fast' as the comparative form, thus neither part of speech nor meaning has changed. This is an inflectional morpheme.

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There are 12 questions to complete.

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