NYSTCE English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Practice Test

Which morphemes are primarily used to change a word's tense without altering its original meaning?

1. Inflectional morphemes

2. Derivational morphemes

3. Compound morphemes

4. Simple morphemes

The correct answer is: Inflectional morphemes

Inflectional morphemes are the correct choice because they specifically serve the function of modifying a word's tense while maintaining the original meaning of that word. These morphemes are attached to base words, typically as suffixes, to indicate grammatical relationships, such as past or present tense. For example, adding "-ed" to the verb "walk" changes it to "walked," indicating the past tense without changing the core meaning of the action. In contrast, derivational morphemes change the meaning or grammatical category of a word rather than just its tense. For instance, adding the prefix "un-" to "happy" forms the word "unhappy," which alters the meaning entirely. Compound morphemes involve the combination of two or more words to form a new word, such as "notebook," and do not focus on tense changes. Simple morphemes refer to individual, base forms of words, which do not themselves express tense without the addition of inflectional morphemes.