THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH
Exercise 3.1
This exercise lends itself to group work. It focuses students’ attention on their knowledge of the
underlying morphological system that enables them to create new words from nonsense words.
1. striggily
2. striggish
3. striggishly
4. striggophile “someone who loves (or collects) striggs”
5. striggify
Exercise 3.2
1. {dis-} + {cover} + {-able}
{dis-} changes the meanings of verbs to their opposite (disallow).
{cover} is a verb meaning “to shelter, hide.”
{-able} creates adjectives meaning “able to be” plus the action of the verb (lovable = “able to be
loved”).
2. {motive} + {-ate}
{motive} is a noun or adjective meaning “a desire.”
{-ate} creates verbs meaning “to make” (alienate).
3. {amaze} + {-ment}
{amaze} is a verb meaning “to astonish.”
{-ment} creates nouns meaning “state of ” (excitement).
4. {dark} + {-en}
{dark} is a noun meaning “without light.”
{-en} creates verbs meaning “to cause” (lengthen).
5. {coward} + {-ice}
{coward} is a adjective meaning “one who lacks courage.”
{-ice} creates nouns from other words (service, justice).
6. {care} + {-less} + {-ly}
{care} is a noun meaning “attentiveness.”
{-less} creates adjectives meaning “without” (hopeless).
{-ly} makes adverbs from adjectives (sadly).
7. {boy} + {-ish} + {-ness}
{boy} is a noun meaning “male child.”
{-ish} creates adjectives meaning “having the quality of ” (foolish).
{-ness} creates nouns from other words (shyness, blackness).
EX–4 EX ERCISE ANSWER KEY
8. {re-} + {write}
{re-} means “repetition of the stated action” (redo).
{ write} is a ve rb meaning “to form letters and symbols with a pen, pencil or other writing implement
on a surf a c e . ”
Exercise 3.3
Yester | day | the | bak | er | ’s | old | est | daughter | ran | a | way |
with | the | bank | er | ’s | young | er | son
(This exercise is discussed in the text.)
Exercise 3.4
1. The | manag(e) | -er | listen | -ed | im- | patient | -ly | as | the | clerk | -’s | claim | s | became |
in- | creas- | -ing | -ly | in- | cred- | -ible.
2. Fred | found | the | old | elevat- | -or | un- | bear- | able.
Exercise 3.5
1. burned, burned (British English has burnt as past and past participle.)
2. bet, bet (Some dialects use betted, betted.)
3. sprang, sprung (Some students may prefer sprung in the past tense.)
4. strove, striven (Some dialects use strived for the past tense and for the past participle.)
5. spelled, spelled (Some dialects have spelt for the past tense and for the past participle.)
6. dwelled, dwelled (Some dialects have dwelt, dwelt.)
7. bit, bitten (Some dialects have bit for the past participle.)
8. leapt, leapt (Some students may use leaped for both forms instead.)
9. dug, dug (Some dialects retain the more archaic digged.)
Exercise 3.6
1. Noun Silvano wished us many happy returns at the Trevi fountain.
Verb As we promised, we returned to Rome in the spring.
2. Noun It is difficult to match reds because each fabric soaks up a different amount of dye.
Adjective Your face became even redder when he kissed you.
3. Noun My mortgage company offers the lowest rates in town.
Verb Elmer Dill has rated our restaurant very highly for the past two years.
EX ERCISE ANSWER KEY EX–5
4. Noun The expectation of disaster fuels my fears of earthquakes.
Verb Jan feared returning home so late after her curfew.
5. Noun Jan told her mother all the reasons behind her refusal to get married.
Verb Syd reasoned that someone else must have been at fault.
6. Noun The names on the guest list need to be reviewed.
Verb Dan names all his dogs, Sparky.
7. Noun The men hoisted the sails in preparation for departure.
Verb The USS Arizona sailed to Pearl Harbor.
8. Noun Marybeth’s depression has caused her to hit new lows.
Adjective Jill cried out when she hit her shin against the lowest rung of the ladder.
Adverb The criminal hung his head low when the verdict was read.
Verb The cattle are lowing.
9. Noun The blues of the afghan complement your couch.
Verb I like bluing the water to rinse my whites so that they are very bright.
Adjective The waters of Hawaii are the bluest waters I have ever seen.
Exercise 3.7
Some of the possible derivations from act are
actable, actably, action, actionary, actionless, activate, active, actively, activeness, activist, activistic,
activisticly, activity, antiaction, deactivate, enact, enaction, enactment, inactable, inactableness, inactably,
inaction, inactivate, inactive, inactively, inactiveness, inactivity, nonaction, nonactive, nonactively,
nonactiveness, nonactivity, proaction, proactive, proactively, proactiveness, proactivity, react, reaction,
reactionary, reactionless, reactionlessly, reactivate, reactive, reactiveness, reactivity, reenact, reenaction,
reenactment, semiaction, semiactive, semiactively, semiactiveness, semiactivity, superaction, superactive,
superactively, unactable, unactableness, unactably, and so on.
Students may create or discover others.
Exercise 3.8
1. sleeper
{sleep} free base
{-er} bound derivational suffix meaning “one who does;” creates agent nouns (ruler)
2. misconception
{mis-} bound derivational prefix meaning “wrong”
{concept} free base
{-ion} bound derivational suffix meaning “action or process;” used for non-count nouns
(starvation)
EX–6 EX ERCISE ANSWER KEY
3. violinist
{violin} free base
{-ist} bound derivational suffix; creates agent nouns
4. referral
{refer} free base
{-al} bound derivational suffix meaning “act or process;” creates nouns from verbs
5. employee
{employ} free base
{-ee} bound deri v a t i onal suffix meaning “recipient of the action ; ” c reates nouns from ve rbs (ref u ge e )
6. enjoyment
{enjoy} free base
{-ment} bound derivational suffix meaning “state, action;” creates nouns from verbs (confinement)
7. duckling
{duck} free base
{-ling} bound derivational suffix meaning “small”
8. protoform
{proto-} bound derivational prefix meaning “first in rank or time”
{form} free base
9. pentagram
{penta-} bound base meaning “five”
{-gram} bound base meaning “something written”
Exercise 3.9
This exercise can be assigned as homework or it can be done in class in small groups.
acrophobia fear of heights
claustrophobia fear of being locked up, shut in an enclosed space
hydrophobia fear of water
agoraphobia fear of open spaces
gamophobia fear of marriage
orinthophobia fear of birds
ponophobia fear of work
melissophobia fear of bees
demophobia fear of crowds
thanatophobia fear of death
phagophobia fear of eating
ichthyphobia fear of fish
genophobia fear of sex
arachneophobia fear of spiders
EX ERCISE ANSWER KEY EX–7
ophidiophobia fear of snakes
xenophobia fear of strangers
gynophobia fear of women
triskaidekaphobia fear of thirteen
autophobia fear of being alone
scopophobia fear of being looked at
hygrophobia fear of dampness
batrachnophobia fear of frogs
peniaphobia fear of poverty
alophobia fear of seeing, handling, or playing a flute or similar wind instrument
Exercise 3.10
1. somewhere cannot accept change (Speakers of some dialects somewheres.)
2. lecture accepts derivational suffixes (lecturer) and inflectional suffixes (lectures)
3. of cannot accept change
4. hot accepts inflectional suffixes (hotter, hottest) and derivational suffixes (hotly)
5. rather cannot accept change
6. slow accepts both deri v a t i onal (s l o w n e s s , s l o w l y) and inflectional morphemes (s l o wer, s l o we s t)
7. instead cannot accept change
8. brown accepts both derivational (brownness) and inflectional suffixes (browned)
9. and cannot accept changes
Exercise 3.1
This exercise lends itself to group work. It focuses students’ attention on their knowledge of the
underlying morphological system that enables them to create new words from nonsense words.
1. striggily
2. striggish
3. striggishly
4. striggophile “someone who loves (or collects) striggs”
5. striggify
Exercise 3.2
1. {dis-} + {cover} + {-able}
{dis-} changes the meanings of verbs to their opposite (disallow).
{cover} is a verb meaning “to shelter, hide.”
{-able} creates adjectives meaning “able to be” plus the action of the verb (lovable = “able to be
loved”).
2. {motive} + {-ate}
{motive} is a noun or adjective meaning “a desire.”
{-ate} creates verbs meaning “to make” (alienate).
3. {amaze} + {-ment}
{amaze} is a verb meaning “to astonish.”
{-ment} creates nouns meaning “state of ” (excitement).
4. {dark} + {-en}
{dark} is a noun meaning “without light.”
{-en} creates verbs meaning “to cause” (lengthen).
5. {coward} + {-ice}
{coward} is a adjective meaning “one who lacks courage.”
{-ice} creates nouns from other words (service, justice).
6. {care} + {-less} + {-ly}
{care} is a noun meaning “attentiveness.”
{-less} creates adjectives meaning “without” (hopeless).
{-ly} makes adverbs from adjectives (sadly).
7. {boy} + {-ish} + {-ness}
{boy} is a noun meaning “male child.”
{-ish} creates adjectives meaning “having the quality of ” (foolish).
{-ness} creates nouns from other words (shyness, blackness).
EX–4 EX ERCISE ANSWER KEY
8. {re-} + {write}
{re-} means “repetition of the stated action” (redo).
{ write} is a ve rb meaning “to form letters and symbols with a pen, pencil or other writing implement
on a surf a c e . ”
Exercise 3.3
Yester | day | the | bak | er | ’s | old | est | daughter | ran | a | way |
with | the | bank | er | ’s | young | er | son
(This exercise is discussed in the text.)
Exercise 3.4
1. The | manag(e) | -er | listen | -ed | im- | patient | -ly | as | the | clerk | -’s | claim | s | became |
in- | creas- | -ing | -ly | in- | cred- | -ible.
2. Fred | found | the | old | elevat- | -or | un- | bear- | able.
Exercise 3.5
1. burned, burned (British English has burnt as past and past participle.)
2. bet, bet (Some dialects use betted, betted.)
3. sprang, sprung (Some students may prefer sprung in the past tense.)
4. strove, striven (Some dialects use strived for the past tense and for the past participle.)
5. spelled, spelled (Some dialects have spelt for the past tense and for the past participle.)
6. dwelled, dwelled (Some dialects have dwelt, dwelt.)
7. bit, bitten (Some dialects have bit for the past participle.)
8. leapt, leapt (Some students may use leaped for both forms instead.)
9. dug, dug (Some dialects retain the more archaic digged.)
Exercise 3.6
1. Noun Silvano wished us many happy returns at the Trevi fountain.
Verb As we promised, we returned to Rome in the spring.
2. Noun It is difficult to match reds because each fabric soaks up a different amount of dye.
Adjective Your face became even redder when he kissed you.
3. Noun My mortgage company offers the lowest rates in town.
Verb Elmer Dill has rated our restaurant very highly for the past two years.
EX ERCISE ANSWER KEY EX–5
4. Noun The expectation of disaster fuels my fears of earthquakes.
Verb Jan feared returning home so late after her curfew.
5. Noun Jan told her mother all the reasons behind her refusal to get married.
Verb Syd reasoned that someone else must have been at fault.
6. Noun The names on the guest list need to be reviewed.
Verb Dan names all his dogs, Sparky.
7. Noun The men hoisted the sails in preparation for departure.
Verb The USS Arizona sailed to Pearl Harbor.
8. Noun Marybeth’s depression has caused her to hit new lows.
Adjective Jill cried out when she hit her shin against the lowest rung of the ladder.
Adverb The criminal hung his head low when the verdict was read.
Verb The cattle are lowing.
9. Noun The blues of the afghan complement your couch.
Verb I like bluing the water to rinse my whites so that they are very bright.
Adjective The waters of Hawaii are the bluest waters I have ever seen.
Exercise 3.7
Some of the possible derivations from act are
actable, actably, action, actionary, actionless, activate, active, actively, activeness, activist, activistic,
activisticly, activity, antiaction, deactivate, enact, enaction, enactment, inactable, inactableness, inactably,
inaction, inactivate, inactive, inactively, inactiveness, inactivity, nonaction, nonactive, nonactively,
nonactiveness, nonactivity, proaction, proactive, proactively, proactiveness, proactivity, react, reaction,
reactionary, reactionless, reactionlessly, reactivate, reactive, reactiveness, reactivity, reenact, reenaction,
reenactment, semiaction, semiactive, semiactively, semiactiveness, semiactivity, superaction, superactive,
superactively, unactable, unactableness, unactably, and so on.
Students may create or discover others.
Exercise 3.8
1. sleeper
{sleep} free base
{-er} bound derivational suffix meaning “one who does;” creates agent nouns (ruler)
2. misconception
{mis-} bound derivational prefix meaning “wrong”
{concept} free base
{-ion} bound derivational suffix meaning “action or process;” used for non-count nouns
(starvation)
EX–6 EX ERCISE ANSWER KEY
3. violinist
{violin} free base
{-ist} bound derivational suffix; creates agent nouns
4. referral
{refer} free base
{-al} bound derivational suffix meaning “act or process;” creates nouns from verbs
5. employee
{employ} free base
{-ee} bound deri v a t i onal suffix meaning “recipient of the action ; ” c reates nouns from ve rbs (ref u ge e )
6. enjoyment
{enjoy} free base
{-ment} bound derivational suffix meaning “state, action;” creates nouns from verbs (confinement)
7. duckling
{duck} free base
{-ling} bound derivational suffix meaning “small”
8. protoform
{proto-} bound derivational prefix meaning “first in rank or time”
{form} free base
9. pentagram
{penta-} bound base meaning “five”
{-gram} bound base meaning “something written”
Exercise 3.9
This exercise can be assigned as homework or it can be done in class in small groups.
acrophobia fear of heights
claustrophobia fear of being locked up, shut in an enclosed space
hydrophobia fear of water
agoraphobia fear of open spaces
gamophobia fear of marriage
orinthophobia fear of birds
ponophobia fear of work
melissophobia fear of bees
demophobia fear of crowds
thanatophobia fear of death
phagophobia fear of eating
ichthyphobia fear of fish
genophobia fear of sex
arachneophobia fear of spiders
EX ERCISE ANSWER KEY EX–7
ophidiophobia fear of snakes
xenophobia fear of strangers
gynophobia fear of women
triskaidekaphobia fear of thirteen
autophobia fear of being alone
scopophobia fear of being looked at
hygrophobia fear of dampness
batrachnophobia fear of frogs
peniaphobia fear of poverty
alophobia fear of seeing, handling, or playing a flute or similar wind instrument
Exercise 3.10
1. somewhere cannot accept change (Speakers of some dialects somewheres.)
2. lecture accepts derivational suffixes (lecturer) and inflectional suffixes (lectures)
3. of cannot accept change
4. hot accepts inflectional suffixes (hotter, hottest) and derivational suffixes (hotly)
5. rather cannot accept change
6. slow accepts both deri v a t i onal (s l o w n e s s , s l o w l y) and inflectional morphemes (s l o wer, s l o we s t)
7. instead cannot accept change
8. brown accepts both derivational (brownness) and inflectional suffixes (browned)
9. and cannot accept changes
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