Morphology: Free or Bound? 1.2

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This exercise gives you additional practice at determining whether a morpheme is free or bound. Remember that 'free' morphemes can stand on their own as a word, whereas 'bound' morphemes must always be attached to a root or stem.

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Question 1

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound. 'salmon' The hikers ate fresh salmonberries as they made there way down the coast.

A	free Hint: This one is a little tricky due to the fact that 'salmon' is a free morpheme when referring to the fish. However, in this compound word, the root 'salmon' does not refer to the fish, but brings unique meaning to the compound salmonberry, since it distinguishes this berry from others. Thus in this context, 'salmon' is a bound root.
B	bound

Question 2

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound. 'less' Spiderman felt breathless after climbing the Eiffel Tower.

A	free Hint: Although 'less' is a free morpheme when used as the antonym of 'more', 'less' in the example above is a bound morpheme, with similar semantic and phonemic features as its free counterpart.
B	bound

Question 3

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound.

'garden'

The gardener finished his work yesterday.

A	bound Hint: The suffix 'er' is a bound morpheme that is attached to the root morpheme, 'garden'. This root is a free morpheme.
B	free

Question 4

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound.

'in'

The cause for the event was ruled to be indeterminate.

A	free Hint: There are two distinct forms of 'in'. One is a preposition (a free morpheme) and the other is an inflectional prefix. Here, 'in' is an prefix, thus it is bound.
B	bound

Question 5

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound. ‘recluse’ My aunt has become very reclusive in her old age.

A	free
B	bound Hint: The word 'recluse' is a noun that can be used without any affixation.

Question 6

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound. ‘ance’ Batman will receive his inheritance in2020.

A	free Hint: ‘ance’ is a bound morpheme since it cannot be used as a word on its own.
B	bound

Question 7

Decide whether this morpheme is bound or free.

'dis'

They decided to discontinue further printing of 'The Kingdom of Speech'.

A	free Hint: 'dis' is a prefix that cannot be used as a word on its own.
B	bound

Question 8

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound. ‘tion’ Superman’s family just started a construction company.

A	bound
B	free Hint: ‘tion’ is a bound morpheme since it cannot stand on its own as a word.

Question 9

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound.

'able'

Good writing skills are a desirable quality.

A	free Hint: While 'able' is a free morpheme when used as an adjective, here it is being used as a suffix. These two forms are semantically related but are not phonologically identical, thus distinct.
B	bound

Question 10

Decide whether this morpheme is free or bound.

'ceive'

She will receive her letter of acceptance in the mail.

A	bound
B	free Hint: While 'ceive' is a root to which several prefixes are attached, it is one of many examples of a bound root. This is because 'ceive' must have at least one prefix (such as 're-') attached in order to become a word. It's origin is Latin, capere 'to take'.

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Morphology: Free or Bound? 1.2

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