Grammar: Person, Number, and Gender
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Questions and Answers

What is the primary distinction made by grammatical person?

  • It indicates the tense of a sentence.
  • It differentiates between different entities referred to by the speaker. (correct)
  • It groups nouns based on their gender.
  • It differentiates singular from plural nouns.

    • In the context of grammatical number, what does the term 'dual' refer to?

  • The combination of singular and plural forms.
  • The representation of multiple people through gender.
  • A grammatical property marking two entities. (correct)
  • A category of nouns that represent abstract concepts.

    • Which of the following best describes grammatical gender in languages?

  • It denotes emotional attributes of the nouns.
  • It represents a grammatical feature that categorizes nouns into classes. (correct)
  • It divides nouns based on their size and shapes.
  • It focuses on the number of nouns in a sentence.

    • What is typically the most fundamental contrast in grammatical number?

    <p>Between singular and plural forms.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which statement correctly defines the term 'person-number combinations'?

    <p>A grammatical structure combining person and number distinctions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a characteristic of inflectional morphemes regarding their impact on part of speech?

    <p>They do not change the function of the word.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which suffix is an exception to the characteristic of productivity in inflectional morphemes?

    <p>-en</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which example illustrates the characteristic of non-suffixability in English inflectional morphemes?

    <p>The learners' pamphlets</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which morpheme can serve both as an inflectional and a derivational morpheme?

    <p>-ly</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the suffix -ing in the word 'walking' demonstrate?

    <p>An inflectional morpheme</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following statements about a neutral singular pronoun is correct?

    <p>It has yet to be officially recognized in English.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why is the suffix -ed noted as not being employed with new verbs?

    <p>It is a non-productive suffix.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following accurately reflects the characteristic of productivity in inflectional morphemes?

    <p>It predicts uses of inflectional affixes in new words.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a morpheme?

    <p>A minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How is the word 'tourists' broken down into morphemes?

    <p>tour, -ist, -s</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is an example of a free morpheme?

    <p>kill</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the term 'lexicon' refer to in morphology?

    <p>A list of morphemes and their information</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which classification of morphemes can stand alone as a single word?

    <p>Free morphemes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is an example of a closed class morpheme?

    <p>and</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary function of derivation in morphology?

    <p>It derives new words from existing ones.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How does inflection differ from derivation in morphology?

    <p>Inflection adds grammatical information to a lexeme.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of morpheme modifies the meaning of a root word?

    <p>Derivational morphemes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are content words also known as?

    <p>Open class words</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following best describes the process of inflection?

    <p>It conveys information about word forms such as singular and plural.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which purpose does derivation serve in language?

    <p>To introduce new concepts by creating new terms.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In morphological terms, what does the process of derivation typically allow?

    <p>Compact expression of complex ideas.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Derivation can be particularly beneficial in which professional fields?

    <p>Science, politics, and banking.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of morphological process would be used to create the plural form of a noun?

    <p>Inflection</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of derivation?

    <p>Alters grammatical tense.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do function words primarily specify?

    <p>Grammatical relations</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is classified as a free morpheme?

    <p>it</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What characterizes inflectional morphemes?

    <p>They indicate grammatical properties like tense and number.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following examples illustrates a suppletive form?

    <p>went</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the role of articles in a sentence?

    <p>To indicate definiteness of nouns</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which morpheme is used to indicate the plural form of a noun in English?

    <p>-s</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following does NOT apply to derivational morphemes?

    <p>They mark tense and number.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which morpheme function is primarily bound to others?

    <p>Indicates grammatical properties</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the process called when a new word enters the lexicon through morphological rules?

    <p>Morphological productivity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is a characteristic of grammatical morphemes?

    <p>They express abstract meanings and relationships.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which characteristic describes the frequency of grammatical morphemes compared to lexical morphemes?

    <p>Very frequent</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What term describes the condition of verb forms that indicate ongoing actions?

    <p>Continuous aspect</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is an example of closed-set membership?

    <p>Grammatical morphemes that seldom accept new members</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What role do determiners play in relation to nouns?

    <p>They specify definiteness of nouns.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the likely outcome when a derivation is blocked?

    <p>Certain forms become unnecessary.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the term suffixability refer to?

    <p>A feature of words that allows them to be expanded by adding suffixes.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Morphology

    • Morphology is the study of word forms
    • Morphemes are the minimal units of meaning or grammatical function
    • The word "tourists" contains three morphemes: tour, -ist, -s
    • Grammar involves a list of morphemes, their pronunciation, meaning, grammatical features (prefix, suffix, root, part of speech) and spelling.
    • A lexical entry includes a morpheme and its associated information
    • A lexicon is a list of morphemes in a grammar

    Two Classifications of Morphemes

    Classification Based on Form

    • Free morphemes: Single morphemes that can stand alone as a single word.
      • Examples include system, kill, pretty, badly, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
    • Content words: Words denoting concepts like objects, actions, attributes, and ideas
    • Function words: Words specifying grammatical relations, with little or no semantic content, like articles, conjunctions, articles and auxiliaries
    • Bound morphemes: Morphemes that must be attached to other morphemes
    • Inflectional morphemes: Bound morphemes that change grammatical properties like tense, number, person (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing). In English, there are 8 inflectional morphemes, all suffixes used with verbs or adjectives
    • Derivational morphemes: Bound morphemes that can change the grammatical category of the stem.

    Classification Based on Meaning

    • Lexical morphemes: Words used to convey meaning, express concepts, ideas, etc.
      • High frequency of use, somewhat concrete meaning. Examples: verbs, etc.
    • Grammatical morphemes: Words essential for grammar, express grammatical relationships.
      • Very frequent, abstract meaning. Examples: articles, conjunctions.

    Morphological Processes

    • Derivation: Creates new words from existing words by adding affixes. Ex. "un" + "enjoy" + “-able” = unenjoyable
    • Non-Productivity: Inability to readily predict or produce novel uses (Example given using imaginary new words and -fy, -ate, -ize)
    • Suffixability: Allows further additions of suffixes
    • Inflection: Adds grammatical information to a lexeme according to syntactic requirements.
      • Examples: Plural, gender, case, tense, aspect, mood.

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    Description

    Test your understanding of key grammatical concepts such as person, number, and gender. This quiz covers distinctions in grammatical terms, including the definitions of dual and person-number combinations. Challenge yourself to see how well you grasp these fundamental aspects of language structure.

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