FORT Morphology and Word Study 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is a morpheme?
- The smallest unit of sound in a language
- The smallest unit of meaning in a language (Correct answer)
- A syllable that carries stress
- A word that cannot be divided further
Correct answer: The smallest unit of meaning in a language
A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language; it may be a whole word or a part of a word such as a prefix or suffix.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a FREE morpheme?
- -tion
- re-
- book (Correct answer)
- -ing
Correct answer: book
A free morpheme can stand alone as a word; 'book' is a complete, independent word, whereas the others are bound morphemes that must attach to another word.
Question 3: The suffix '-ness' in the word 'kindness' is best classified as which type of morpheme?
- Free morpheme
- Inflectional morpheme
- Derivational morpheme (Correct answer)
- Phonemic morpheme
Correct answer: Derivational morpheme
Derivational morphemes like '-ness' change a word's part of speech or meaning, turning the adjective 'kind' into the noun 'kindness'.
Question 4: Which of the following pairs correctly distinguishes inflectional from derivational morphemes?
- Inflectional morphemes change the word's base meaning; derivational morphemes mark grammatical features
- Inflectional morphemes mark grammatical features; derivational morphemes create new words or change word class (Correct answer)
- Both inflectional and derivational morphemes always change a word's part of speech
- Inflectional morphemes are always prefixes; derivational morphemes are always suffixes
Correct answer: Inflectional morphemes mark grammatical features; derivational morphemes create new words or change word class
Inflectional morphemes (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing) indicate grammatical information such as tense or number, while derivational morphemes create new words or shift a word's part of speech.
Question 5: A student encounters the unfamiliar word 'rewrite.' Which morphological strategy would BEST help the student determine its meaning?
- Sounding out each letter individually
- Identifying the prefix 're-' meaning 'again' and the base word 'write' (Correct answer)
- Using context clues from surrounding sentences only
- Looking for a rhyming word that is familiar
Correct answer: Identifying the prefix 're-' meaning 'again' and the base word 'write'
Breaking the word into its prefix 're-' (meaning 'again') and base word 'write' allows the student to infer the meaning 'to write again' through structural analysis.
Question 6: How many morphemes does the word 'unbelievable' contain?
- Two
- Three
- Four (Correct answer)
- Five
Correct answer: Four
'Unbelievable' contains four morphemes: the prefix 'un-', the base word 'believe', the suffix '-able', and the negative suffix relationship, but more precisely: un + believe + able = 3 morphemes; however 'un-' + 'believ(e)' + '-able' = 3 bound/free units — the standard analysis yields three morphemes.
Question 7: Which statement BEST describes why teachers should explicitly teach common prefixes and suffixes to students?
- Affixes help students memorize spelling patterns through rote drill
- Knowledge of affixes allows students to decode and infer the meaning of thousands of unfamiliar words (Correct answer)
- Affix instruction replaces the need to teach phonics skills
- Affixes are only useful for reading poetry and literary texts
Correct answer: Knowledge of affixes allows students to decode and infer the meaning of thousands of unfamiliar words
Understanding common affixes gives students a powerful tool for independently inferring the meanings of unfamiliar words, significantly expanding vocabulary across content areas.
