Exercises for Morphology

The Internal Structure of Words

and Processes of Word Formation in English
1. Analyze the following words into morphs using the model given below.
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of English speaking countries/ ULIS/ VNU

Prefix(es) Root Suffix(es)

inequality in- equal -ity

(a) hos-pitaliza-tion (k) Dis-function-al

(b) in-visib-ly (l) In-consider-ate

(c) un-interest-ing (m) Post-coloni-al

(d) under-cook-ed (n) Un-likeli-hood
(e) trans-continen-tal (o) Re-lation-ship
(f) un-gramma-tical (p) Asym-metric-al
(g) re-inforce-ment (q) Hyper-sensitiv-ity
(h) proto-typ-ical (r) Un-friendli-ness
(i) un-forget-table (s) Inte-rdepend-ence

(j) im-proprie-ty (t) Mono-the-ism

2. For each of the bold words in the passage from Wallace Stegner's "The Dump
Ground" below, label the inflectional suffix:

pres = present tense compr = comparative degree

past = past tense supl = superlative degree
prsprt = present participle poss = possessive case pstprt
= past participle pl = plural number

The place fascinated us, as it should have. For this was the kitchen midden of all the civilization we
knew. It gave us the most tantalizing glimpses into our neighbors' lives and our own; it provided
an aesthetic distance from which to know ourselves.
The town dump was our poetry and our history. We took it home with us by the wagonload,
bringing back into town the things the town had used and thrown away. Some little part of what
we gathered, mainly bottles, we managed to bring back to usefulness, but most of our gleanings we
left lying around barn or attic or cellar until in some renewed fury of spring cleanup our families
carted them off to the dump again, to be rescued and briefly treasured by some other boy.
Occasionally something we really valued with a passion was snatched from us in horror and
returned at once. That happened to the mounted head of a white mountain goat, somebody's
trophy from old times and the far Rocky Mountains, that I
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 brought home one day. My mother took one look and discovered that his beard was full of moths.
I remember that goat; I regret him yet. Poetry is seldom useful, but always memorable. If I were a
sociologist anxious to study in detail the life of any community I would go very early to its refuse
piles. For a community may be as well judged by what it throws away - what it has to throw away
and what it chooses to - as by any other evidence. For whole civilizations we sometimes have no
more of the poetry and little more of the history than this (from Wolf Willow 1955: 35-36).
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of English speaking countries/ ULIS/ VNU

3. Divide the following words into morphs (use slashes) and then list the morphemes.
Note that some words may require more than one analysis into morphemes.

Example: mice's
Answer: mice/s; {mouse} + {pl} + {poss}

(a) Least /least/, { least } ast} (k) our

(b) set (l) rings
(c) Fish / fish/, { Fish}+{pl} (m) sayings
(d) should (n) broken
(e) hoped (o) these
(f) hearing (p) whose

(g) were (q) older

(h) elder (r) her
(i) must (s) taken

(j) topmost (t) women's

4. Sort the prefixes in the words below into the following seven categories according to
meaning:
a. Time e. Privative
b. Number f. Negative
c. Place g. Size
d. Degree

postdate maladjusted
bifocal Outdoor
megawatt Defrost
disclose foreshadow
polygon Bisexual
subway Disarm
ultraconservative hyperthyroidism

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 5. Sort the suffixes in the words below according to their class-changing
function. The categories include the following. There are two examples of each
suffix.
a. N > N e. N > A
b. V > N f. V>A
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of English speaking countries/ ULIS/ VNU

c. A > N g. N/A > Adv

d. N/A > V

broaden syntactic width Idealism

participant falsehood closure Straighten

rhetorician clockwise refusal Vaccinate

gangster stardom warmth Tireless

twofold trial accidental Selfish
advisory likelihood friendless Politician
conservatism mobster kingdom Facilitate
inhabitant contradictory boyish Seizure
manifold stepwise thankless Global

historic penniless

6. Identify the syntactic pattern in each of the following compounds and express
it in a lexical rule.
Example: gravedigger N + V + -er > N
a. hovercraft o. homesick
b. dairyman p. proofread
c. bath-towel q. overqualified
d. goldfish r. overachieve
e. inroads s. badmouth
f. bystander t. redhead
g. setback u. birth control
h. meltdown v. breakfast
i. blackout w. thoroughgoing
j. stand-in x. quick-change
k. turnout y. lukewarm
l. money-hungry z. law-abiding
m. dugout aa. far-reaching
n. hardhearted bb. homemade

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 cc. clean-cut gg. baking powder
dd. fighter-bomber hh. drip-coffee
ee. earthenware ii. wisecrack
ff. driver’s seat jj. snowplow
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of English speaking countries/ ULIS/ VNU

7. The following words are compounds which also include derivational affixes.
Analyze the words, identifying the roots and their parts of speech, as well
all the affixes and their function as nominalizer, verbalizer, adjectivalizer, or
adverbializer.
Example: housekeeper
house (root - noun) + keep (root - verb) + -er (nominalizer)
a. flightworthiness
b. chatterbox
c. owner-occupied
d. freedom-loving
e. handicraft
f. broken-hearted
g. safety-tested
h. worldly-wise
i. antiaircraft
j. machine-readable
k. chartered accountant

8. Identify the process of word formation responsible for each of the following
words. Try to determine the process before you consult a dictionary, though
it may be necessary for you to do so.
a. curio m. amphetamine
b. (to) laze n. (a) construct
c. (to) network o. (the) chunnel
d. (to) cohere p. gestimate
e. (a) sitcom q. canary
f. (the) muppets r. brain-gain
g. (a) what-not s. psycho
h. margarine t. walkie-talkie
i. diesel
j. (to) make up
k. (to) total
l. (the) hereafter

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 9. The words in column A have been created from the corresponding words in column
B. Indicate the word formation process responsible for the creation of each word in
column A.

Column A Column B

(a) Stagflation stagnation + inflation

(b) Nostril nosu + thyrl 'hole' (in Old English)

Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of English speaking countries/ ULIS/ VNU

(c) Bookie bookmaker

(d) Van caravan
(e) Amerindian American Indian
(f) CD compact disc
(g) RAM random access memory

(h) Televise television

(i) Xerox xeroxography
(j) Telethon television + marathon

(k) sci-fi science fiction

(l) Elect election
(m) Deli delicatessen
(n) Scuba self-contained underwater breathing apparatus

(o) Scavenge scavenger

(p) Hazmat hazardous material