Morphosyntax and

semantics in the
English language
UNIT 2. MORPHOLOGY, WORD FORMATION AND CURRENT
ENGLISH GRAMMAR.
 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

INDEX

1. Morphology........................................................................................................................2
1.1 Morphemes......................................................................................................................2
1.2 Word classes.....................................................................................................................4
2. Word-formation................................................................................................................18
3. The sentence.....................................................................................................................23
4. References........................................................................................................................25

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 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

1. Morphology
Lieber (2015) points out that morphology is the study of word formation, including the
ways new words are coined in the languages of the world, and the way forms of words
are varied depending on how they are used in sentences. The essential elements of
morphosyntax are the morpheme, the word and therefore the sentence. First, we will
develop morphemes and words and then sentences will be analyzed later. As native
speakers of a language we use morphology for different reasons.

1.1 Morphemes

One reason for having morphology (Lieber, 2015) is to form new lexemes 1 from old ones,
and we call that lexeme formation or word formation. On the other hand, we sometimes
use morphology even when we do not need new lexemes.
When we change the form of a word so that it fits in a particular grammatical
context, we are concerned with what linguists call inflection. Inflectional word
formation is word formation that expresses grammatical distinctions like number
(singular vs. plural); tense (present vs. past); person (first, second, or third); and case
(subject, object, possessive), among others. It does not result in the creation of new
lexemes, but merely changes the grammatical form of lexemes to fit into different
grammatical contexts. (Lieber, 2015, 7)

We can define morpheme as the smallest meaningful unit in language. This suggests that
a morpheme cannot be broken down into smaller meaningful bits without altering or
destroying its meaning. Maybe just individual sounds or sound sequences which in and
out themselves are meaningless. Having this idea in mind, we can think that the word is
the smallest meaningful unit in language but any given word may be composed of more
than one meaningful element. For example the word “dogs” has two morphemes.

− Morpheme 1: dog / Morpheme 2: -s

The morpheme “dog” means an animal with four paws and fur. The morpheme “-s”
means plural or more than one. Both morphemes are meaningful.

Morphemes can be classified into free and bound:

− Free morphemes can stand alone as individual words in a language, as an example

the morphemes “table” and “carpet”. They will be classified into two types:

✔ Lexical morphemes, which are free morphemes that carry the content
of our messages or utterances, mainly nouns, adjectives, adverbs and
verbs. They are an open class as we can make up more lexical
morphemes and include them in our lexicon.

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A lexeme is a minimal meaningful unit of language, the meaning of which cannot be understood from that of
its component morphemes. Take off (in the senses to mimic, to become airborne, etc) is a lexeme, as well as
the independent morphemes take and off
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✔ Functional morphemes, which are free morphemes that serve a more

grammatical role, connecting words together within and across
sentences like prepositions (to, at, near) and articles (a, the) and
conjunctions (but, and, or). They are a closed class as they cannot
accept new members therefore we cannot make up new functional
morphemes.

− Bound morphemes cannot stand alone as individual words. They must be attached
to a word, as an example the morphemes un and able within the word
“unforgettable”. They will even be classified into two types:

✔ Inflectional morphemes which are concerned with the ways within

which words vary so as to precise grammatical
contrasts like gender, number or tense. This happens when a free
form is modified by inflectional affixes, like prefixes, suffixes, infixes
and circumfixes which give this word the shape required by
grammatical rules. In the English language, prefixes and suffixes are
more common than infixes and circumfixes. For instance, we add
the suffix –s to the word “machine” to make the plural “machines”.

There are 8 inflectional morphemes in English:

1. Plural –s

2. Possessive -´s

3. Third person singular –s

4. Past tense –ed

5. Present participle –ing

6. Past participle –en

7. Comparative –er

8. Superlative -est

✔ Derivational morphemes are concerned with the word formation

processes and they can change the lexical category of a word. For
instance, the word “teach” + agentive “-er”= “teacher”. The word
“teach” is a verb but the word “teacher” is a noun.

It is important to bear in mind that all prefixes in English are derivational morphemes, but
not all derivational morphemes in English are prefixes.

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1.2. Word classes

It has been estimated that average speakers of a language know from 45,000 to 60,000
words. This means that we as speakers must have stored these words somewhere in our
heads, our so-called mental lexicon (Plag, 2018).

According to Lieber (2015:3) a word can be defined as one or more morphemes that can
stand alone in a language.

Words have five properties (Plag, 2018):

− Words are entities having a part of speech specification

− Words are syntactic atoms

− Words (usually) have one main stress

− Words (usually) are indivisible units (no intervening material possible)

Words can be classified into two categories: simple words or complex words. Simple
words are words that consist of only one morpheme. Complex words are made up of
more than one morpheme (Liber, 2015:4).

Quirk (1972) points out those words can be classified into two categories: open-class
items and closed-system items.

− Open-class items normally contain large numbers of words such as

nouns, verbs (except auxiliary verbs, if these are regarded as a separate
class), adjectives, adverbs and interjections.
Open classes have these features:
▪ Lexical meaning
▪ New words can be added: Coinage, loanwords and word formation
− Closed-system items are discourse markers,
prepositions, determiners, conjunctions, and pronouns.
Closed classes have these features: grammatical function and new words cannot
be added easily.

Open classes generally contain words with valuable semantic content, while closed
classes regard functional categories, that is words with grammatical functions.

Words are classified into 8 categories: nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions,
conjunctions, pronouns and articles.

1.2.1. Nouns

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines nouns as the largest class of words in most

languages, including English. A noun is a word that refers to a thing (book), a person
(Betty Crocker), an animal (cat), a place (Omaha), a quality (softness), an idea (justice), or

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an action (yodeling). It is usually a single word, but not always: cake, shoes, school bus,
and time and a half are all nouns.

Nouns can be classified into (Merriam-Webster Dictionary):

− Common nouns: they refer to a person, place or animal. Examples are mother,
beach and penguin.

− Proper nouns: They refer to the name of a particular person, place, or thing: For
instance: Mary, London and Eiffel Tower.

− Collective nouns: they refer to nouns that name a group of people or things, such
as a flock or squad.

− Gerunds nouns: they refer to nouns that are identical to the present participle (-
ing form) of a verb, as in "I enjoy cooking more than dancing."

− Attributive nouns: They refer to a noun that modifies another noun that
immediately follows it, such as business in a business meeting.

− Count nouns: A count noun is a noun that can be used after a or an or after a
number (or another word that means "more than one"). Count nouns have both
singular and plural forms and can be used with both singular and plural verb
forms, as with the word letter in "A letter for you is on the table. Letters for you to
arrive regularly." Sometimes the plural form of a count noun is the same as its
singular form, as in "I saw a deer in my yard yesterday. There are a lot of deer in
the woods near my house."

− Mass: They refer to something that cannot be counted. Mass nouns are normally
not used after the words a or an or after a number. They have only one form and
are used with singular verb forms, as in "Portuguese is one of the languages they
speak," and "The information was unclear."

− Singular nouns are nouns which only ever refer to one thing: Fon instance: Venus,
map, glass.

− Plural nouns refer to more than one person or thing, or sometimes to something
that has two main parts. Plural nouns have only one form and are used with plural
verb forms. For instance: The boys are very talkative.

Noun quantification

In order to express quantity several quantifiers: some, any, no, a/an, the, (a) few, (a) little,
a lot of/lots of, too much/many, enough, many, much, several, a great deal of, etc. The
choice of the quantifier will depend on meaning but also on the type of sentence and on
type of noun. See the table below for an account on the use of quantifiers regarding noun
type.

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WITH COUNTABLE WITH UNCOUNTABLE WITH BOTH

NOUNS NOUNS COUNTABLE/UNCOUNTABLE
Majority of Much Enough, all, some
A (great) number of A bit More, most2
Several A great deal of Less/ least
Many A large quantity of/much No/ none/ a lot of/ lots of
A few A little Any/ not any
Too many Too much Enough

As for the difference in sentence use, some and any are the only quantifiers whose meaning
changes depending on the type of sentence. Compare their use in the sentences below:
I have got some books- I haven’t got any books
I have got some chocolate- I haven’t got any chocolate
Would you like some strawberries?- Would you like some sugar in your coffee?
Any person can do that!

1.2.2. Verbs

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary verbs are words that show an action (sing),
occurrence (develop), or state of being (exist). Almost every sentence requires a verb.

Verbs can be classified into these categories: State and action verbs. State verb is a verb
that expresses a situation (be, have, think, like) while action verbs express physical
activities or processes (kick, run, shout, touch). State verbs cannot be used in tensed verbs
with –ing forms in English. For instance: Neil likes chocolate biscuits (you cannot say: Neil is
liking chocolate biscuits; although it is a very common mistake). However, action verbs can
be used in –ing forms: For instance: Who´s shouting?

Main and helping verbs: when a verb is used in a sentence, it can be used in two forms. It
can either be used as the main verb of the sentence or it can be a helping verb or auxiliary
verb. The most important helping verbs are: be, do, have, will.
Auxiliary verbs are used for some verbal tenses formation (continuous, perfect tenses,
future tenses: be/ have) and for negative and interrogative sentences:

Peter isn´t working now.

Is Peter working now?
She has seen that film before
She will be a doctor when she’s older

Other function of auxiliaries include short answers:

Will you come to party with me?- Yes, I will
I don’t like her music- Neither do I

The verb to be also has extra functions as the auxiliary in passive constructions:
They gave John a ball-John was given a ball
They have told me to come back tomorrow- I have been told to come back
tomorrow
2
Nouns can also be used in comparative sentences. E.g. I have got more/less books than you (countable); you
have more/less patience than me (uncountable)
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Modal verbs: They help us to express mood in a sentence such as: can, could, may, might,
will, would, shall, ought to, should and must. In a grammar sense, mood means the
attitude of the speaker (the feeling he/she wants to convey to you). For instance:
Manchester United might win the championship this year. Below you can find a complete
description of modal verbs’ forms and their meaning:

ABILITY & PERMISSION

CERTAINTY & POSSIBILITY
Present Past
Present Past
Must-can’t
Can(n’t) could(n’t)
Could (n’t) +have+pp
Be able to
May/
Be allowed to
might (not)
May/might / could not (only MODALS
formal permission / requests) PRESENT &
PAST

ADVICE & PAST REGRET

OBLIGATION / PROHIBITION & NECESSITY Present Past
Present Past Should(n’t) +have+ pp
Must(n’t) had to Ought (not) to
(don’t) have to didn’t have to
(don’t) Need to/ (didn’t) need(ed) to/
needn’t+ inft. Needn’t have+ pp

Verb tense formation and regular/ irregular verbs: in English, there are five forms of verbs
which are infinitive, present, past, past participle and -ing. Verb tenses can be: present, past
and future. In the verbal paradigm we find two main categories of verbs:

− Regular verbs form the past simple and the past participle adding the suffix “ed”.
For instance: look looked

− Irregular verbs do not follow any rules form making the past simple and the past
participle forms. You have to learn them by experience and through a regular use
of them. For instance: swim swam  swum

Verbal tenses formation: the way we name the verb gives us important clues about how to
form the verb tenses. All continuous tenses require the verb to be in some form plus -ing
while all perfect tenses require the verb have+ past participle in the correspondent form.
Future tenses use the modal auxiliary will+ infinitive.
I am writing a letter- present continuous
I have written a letter- present perfect simple
I will be writing emails for the next hour- future continuous
I have been writing emails all morning- present perfect continuous

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By the time you get home I will have been writing emails all day- future perfect
continuous

Regarding the meaning behind these verbal forms, continuous tenses express actions
that are (now), have been (past) or will be (future) in progress and also unfinished
actions. Perfect tenses refer to a time span, that is, the activity starts/started at some
point and finish(ed)/ will finish at another point.

Present perfect: from the past to the present

Past perfect: from the past to a more distant past

Future perfect: from the present to the future

Transitive and intransitive verbs

A transitive verb is just a verb that takes an object (noun). It is important not to leave out
the object after a transitive verb. For instance:

− Kelly kicked the ball

− I made a cake

− He kissed me

“The thief climbed and escaped”. This sentence is wrong as the verb “climb” is a
transitive verb and it needs an object. The correct sentence is: “The thief climbed over
the wall and escaped”.

Meanwhile, an intransitive verb does not take an object. Most common intransitive verbs
in English are: live, die, laugh, cry, run, sleep, sit and stand. For instance:

The lady laughed loudly. (There is no need to add an object)

1.2.3. Adverbs

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary an adverb is a word belonging to one of the

major form classes in any of numerous languages, typically serving as a modifier of a verb,
an adjective, another adverb, a preposition, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence, expressing
some relation of manner or quality, place, time, degree, number, cause, opposition,
affirmation, or denial, and in English also serving to connect and to express comment on
clause content. An adverb answers the question when? where? how? how much? or how
often?:

− When did he go to the beach? He went to the beach yesterday (adverb)

− Where can I park my car? You can park your car here (adverb)

− How did he eat his sandwich? He ate it quickly (adverb)

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− How much does she look in that dress? She looks really (adverb) beautiful in that
dress

− How often does she call you? She calls me every Friday

Adverbs are very varied. For instance: unfortunately, slowly, very, tomorrow, however,
always, never.

Adverbs can be classified in six categories: manner, degree, place, time, cause and
frequency.

− Adverbs of manner tell us how (in what way an action happens)

− Adverbs of degree tell us how much (very good, really strong, and almost done)

−Adverbs of time and place tell us where and when (now, yesterday, here and
outside)

− Adverbs of frequency tell us how often (always, never, sometimes and twice)

Besides these types of adverbs, there are opinion adverbs and linking adverbs. Opinion
adverbs help us to express our point of view (personally, fortunately, sadly). Linking
adverbs (moreover, however, on the other hand) are used when we want to connect
ideas or sentences in written or spoken discourse.

It is easy to think that most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective, but this is
not true. For instance “quite”, “well” or “nearby” are adverbs too but they do not end in –
ly. One common rule to remember is: If the adjective already ends in -y, the -y usually
changes to -i. Examples are: heavy heavily / unnecessary unnecessarily

There are many adjectives which end in –ly but they are not adverbs. For instance:
friendly, lovely, elderly, deadly or giggly.

Comparison of adverbs

Adverbs can be used in comparative sentences. Adverbs ending in -ly can be used in
comparatives by adding more/ less and/or the most/ the least to the adverb:

She speaks more quietly than me

She speaks the most quietly in the classroom

Irregular adverbs have their own comparative forms following the general -er/-est ending
in most cases: well- better- the best; badly-worse-the worst; fast-faster- the fastest; hard-
harder-the hardest.

1.2.4. Adjectives

Adjectives are words that give us information about a noun or a pronoun. Grammarly
speaking, an adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun that means that it changes the noun
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or the pronoun by adding more information about it.

For example: There are four yellow wooden tables in the garden. As you can see, there
are three adjectives (four, yellow and wooden) modifying the noun “tables”. These
adjectives give us information about the tables. These adjectives occur before the noun
but they could appear after a noun or pronoun. For instance: “The soup was hot and
spicy”. Both adjectives “hot” and “spicy” modify the noun “soup”.

Classification of adjectives

In English, adjectives can be classified into two main categories: determiners and
descriptive adjectives. On the one hand, descriptive adjectives are words that describe a
person, animal or place (lovely, big, amazing, and pink). Some of them are formed from
nouns, verbs and even other adjectives. These are usually straightforward meaning that
they are easy to use but one area where students commonly make mistakes is adjectives
formed from verbs using the endings –ed and –ing.

–ed and –ing adjectives

-ING -ED

Boring Bored

Depressing Depressed

Tiring Tired

Stressed Stressing

Surprising Surprised

Interesting Interested

These adjectives are made from verbs such as: excite, bore, depress, tire, confuse,
surprise and interest. Adjectives ending in –ing are the reason or cause of the effect (-ed
adjectives). So, it can be pointed out that -ed adjectives can be used to describe how we
feel and –ing adjectives can be used to describe people or things that cause us that
feeling. For instance:

− The students were tired because the training was tiring.

− I was so interested in the workshop because the activities were very interesting.
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Comparative and superlatives adjectives

According to Herring (2016):
We can also use adjectives to create comparisons between two or more people or things, or
to identify someone or something with the highest (or lowest) degree of some quality. To do
this, we inflect (change the form of) the adjective to create comparative adjectives or
superlative adjectives. (p.487)

A comparative adjective compares only two things or people. When using short
adjectives, we include –er (which is the abbreviation of more) but when using long
adjectives, we use the word “more”. If the adjective is too short, duplicate the last letter.

For instance:

− Tom is taller than his brother

−Cooking is more interesting than sailing

A superlative adjective compares more than two things or people. When using short
adjectives, we include –est (which is the abbreviation of most) but when using long
adjectives, we use the word “most”. If the adjective is too short, duplicate the last letter.

For instance:

− Tom is taller than all his brothers Tom is the tallest boy

− Cooking is more interesting than all other hobbies  Cooking is the most
interesting hobby

You have to bear in mind that when you compare in English, you must always use “than”
instead of “that”.

− She is faster than the wind

− Going to the cinema is cheaper than going to the theatre

− I prefer coke than water

The process of changing an adjective’s form is known as the Degrees of Comparison

(Herring, 2016):

− “I am strong.” (Basic adjective)

“John is stronger than I am.” (Comparative adjective)
“Janet is the strongest of us all.” (Superlative adjective)

Irregular adjectives

These adjectives change their form when we use them as comparative and superlative
adjectives. For instance:

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Positive Comparative Superlative adjective

adjective adjective (the)

Good/ well Better Best

Bad Worse worst

Much/many More Most

Little Less Least

Small Smaller Smallest

Old (family Elder Eldest

members)

Far Further Furthest

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Determiners

They are grammar words which have the function of adjectives such as my, your, this,
these, one, first, a, an, the, which, whose or what. Examples:

That's my bag

The word “my” shows that I’m not talking about any bag; I´m talking about one particular
bag, my bag, so the word “my” acts as an adjective by giving information about the noun
bag.

Which class do you think will win the next contest?

The word “which” asks for information about class. Class is a noun so “which” is an
adjective. A few, some and many are determiners as they are quantity words and
quantity expressions.

The car is broken

Articles such as “a, an or the” act as adjectives too. The word “the” acts as an adjective as
it refers to a specific car.

Order of adjectives

According to Herring (2016), in order to avoid unnatural-sounding sentences when we use

more than one adjective in this way, we put them in a specific order according to the type
of description they provide. This is known as the order of adjectives:

1. “Opinion (good, bad, strange, lovely)

2. Measurement (big, small, tiny, huge)
3. Shape (curved, straight, round, square)
4. Condition (wet, dry, clean, sad, happy)
5. Age (old, young, new, ancient)
6. Color (red, yellowish, transparent, blue)
7. Pattern (checked, striped, plaid, flowered)
8. Origin (American, British, eastern, western)
9. Material (wooden, plastic, steel, cloth)
10. Purpose (sleeping, shopping, work, gardening)” (p. 486)

For instance:

− It is a nice small new red Italian scooter

− It is a big red balloon

− It is a proper purple plastic panda

− She is wearing a pair of beautiful long black leather gloves

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1. 2. 5. Prepositions

Prepositions are used to express the relationship of a noun or pronoun (or another
grammatical element functioning as a noun) to the rest of the sentence (Herring, 2016).
Cambridge Dictionary states that we commonly use prepositions to show a relationship in
space or time or a logical relationship between two or more people, places or things.
Prepositions are most commonly followed by a noun phrase or pronoun. There are more
than one hundred prepositions in English.

Prepositions can be grouped into:

− Prepositions of time: in, on, by and at

The preposition “in” refers to long periods of time:

− We use “in” when we refer to months of the year, years, decades or even
centuries: in May, in September or in December, in 2020, in the 90´s or in the
1800´s.

− We use “in” when we refer to seasons of the year: in summer, in winter, in spring
and in autumn.

The preposition “on” refers to special times or specific days:

− When we refer to one specific day we use the preposition “on”: on the 4th of
April, on New Year's Eve, on Monday or on my birthday.

The preposition “at” refers to exact times:

− When we refer to an exact time or national special time of the year, we use
the preposition at: at 6 pm, at 9:30 am, at Christmas, at Easter.

Exceptions

We use “in”: in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening, in the future, in the
past. But we say “at” night.
In British English, we say “at” the weekend but American English says “on” the weekend.
We use “at” when we refer to the present time: at the moment.
− Prepositions of place and direction:

We use prepositions of place to say where a person or thing is or to indicate direction.

Most of these prepositions need a noun (object):

Examples of prepositions of place: at, on, in, over, under, above, below, in front of,
behind, beside, between, opposite, near and among.

Examples of prepositions of direction: to, towards, into, up, down, through, along, over,
off, out of.

Prepositions such as for and from express the relationship of purpose, state, manner of
noun or pronoun.
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For: It shows purpose or duration: For a long time.

From: It tells the source of something. He is from Germany.

− Prepositions of agents or things

With: It shows company or association. I´m with my friend in the kitchen.

By: It tells who/what did something or a means of transport: This novel was written by
Scott/ I go by bus.

− Prepositional phrases

Cambridge Dictionary states prepositional phrases consist of a preposition and the words
which follow it (a complement). The complement is most commonly a noun phrase or
pronoun, but it can also be, an adverb phrase (usually one of place or time), a verb in the -
ing form or, less commonly, a prepositional phrase or a wh-clause:

− They first met at a party. (preposition + noun phrase)

− She was taken ill during the film. (preposition + noun phrase)
− Would you like to come with me please? (preposition + pronoun)
− From there, it’ll take you about half an hour to our house. (preposition +
adverb)
− Until quite recently, no one knew about his paintings. (preposition + adverb
phrase)
- She’s interested in doing a Chinese language course. (preposition + -ing clause)

1.2.6. Conjunctions

Herring (2016) points out that:

Conjunctions are used to express relationships between things in a sentence, link
different clauses together, and to combine sentences. Without conjunctions, we
would be forced to use brief, simple sentences that do not express the full range of
meaning we wish to communicate. Only using simple sentences would sound
unnaturally abrupt and disjointed. By using different kinds of conjunctions, however,
we are able to make more complex, sophisticated sentences that show a connection
between actions and ideas. (p. 882)

Conjunctions are classified into four groups:

Coordinating conjunctions: and, or, and but. They are used to link words of the same
status.

Examples:

− I love eating burgers and hot dogs.

− You can go by bus or by car.

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− She stopped drinking but not eating.

Subordinating conjunctions: They link an independent clause to a dependent clause. They

can include more than one word.

After/ although/ as /because/ before/ even if/ even though /if /in order that /once/
provided that/ rather than/ since/ so/ that/ than/ though/ unless/ until/ when/
whenever/ whereas/ why

Examples:

− I met him when we were in Portugal.

− I had a shower before going out.
− I will call you as soon as possible.

Correlative conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions (Herring, 2016: 884) are pairs of conjunctions that work together
to indicate the relationship between two elements in a sentence.

Both...and/ not only…but also/ just…as/ as much …as/ if…then

neither…nor/whether…or/ as…as/either…or/no sooner…than/so…that

Examples:

− Sports are a great way to bring people together, whether you like to play or just
watch.
− I like neither pepperoni nor anchovies on my pizza.

Conjunctive adverbs

Conjunctive adverbs (Herring, 2016: 884) join two independent clauses. These can either
be two separate sentences, or they can be joined into a single complex sentence with a
semicolon.

However/ in addition/ therefore/ otherwise/ nevertheless/ consequently/ hence

moreover

Examples:
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− The English language school offers discounted English language courses. There’s
also a library where you can study and borrow books.
− Jen hadn’t enjoyed the play; nevertheless, she recommended it to her friend.

1.2.7. Pronouns

Pronouns are words that we use instead of a noun. Most common pronouns are grouped
into:

1. Personal pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they. They all replace nouns whether
you are replacing only one noun or many nouns. When we use a pronoun, match it to the
noun. Use a singular pronoun to replace a singular noun or use a plural pronoun to replace a
plural noun. Whenever you use a pronoun, the noun you are replacing should be clear.

Example:

− We took the test in the morning. It was easy “it” refers to test

2. Demonstrative pronouns: this (singular near), that (singular far), these (plural near), those
(plural far). They demonstrate which or what nouns you want to identify. Most of the time,
these demonstrative pronouns act as adjectives.

For example:

These dogs are cute.

This table is broken.
They can also work as subjects on their own. For example:
These are cute.
This is broken.
3. Object pronouns: we use them after the verb. They are: me, you, him, her, it, us and
them.
For example:
He calls me every morning
I visit her every month
This flat is ours.

4. Possessive pronouns: we use them to indicate possession or the ownership of

something. They include: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.
For example:
This apple is mine Those shoes are hers

5. Reflexive pronouns: We use reflexive pronouns (Herring, 2016: 102) when the subject of a
clause is also the object of the clause’s verb. This occurs with certain reflexive verbs. They are
formed by adding “-self” (singular) or “-selves” (plural) to the end of my, your, our, him, her, it

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 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

or them (as well as the indefinite pronoun one).

For example:

− I saw myself in the mirror.

− She imagined herself on a tropical beach.
− They consider themselves to be above the law.
− One should not concern oneself with the business of others

1.2.8. Articles

There are three grammatical articles (Herring, 2016: 918): the, a, and an (though a and an
are sometimes considered a single article with two forms).
The definite article the is used to identify a specific or unique person, place, or thing,
while the indefinite articles a and an identify nonspecific or generic people, places, or
things. No article is used when the noun we are referring to is used in the plural in a
general sense; E.g. Cars pollute the environment more than trains.

2. Word-formation
The study of word-formation can be defined as the study of the ways in which new
complex words are built on the basis of other words or morphemes (Plag, 2018).

Word-formation in English covers:

− Compounding
− Prefixation
− Suffixation
− Conversion
− Abbreviations:
o Clipping
o Blending
o Acronyms
− Backformation
− Idioms
Compounding: Plag (2018) defines compounding (sometimes also called composition) as
“the combination of two words to form a new word ”. They can be written together or
written separately. Some words can be written with a hyphen.

For example:

− Butter + fly= butterfly

− Bed + room= bedroom
− Class + mates= classmates
− Wine + bottle= wine bottle
− Grammar + book= grammar book
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 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

− Neo + classical= neo-classical

− Geo + political= geopolitical
− The word “cannot” should be written without space or hyphen.

Types of compound words:

− Nouns: car park

− Adjectives: gluten free

− Verbs: look forward

− Adverbs: nevertheless

Prefixation: A prefix is an element added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning
and form a new word. Prefixes are added before the base or stem of a word.

Prefixes Examples

A- (on/in/out/from) Away, aboard, arise

Anti- (against) Antifreeze, antibiotic

Bi- (two) Bicycle, bicentennial

By- (on the side) Bypass, byword

For- (through) Forget, forgive, forbid

Fore- (before) Foresee, forecast

In- (in) Inland, income

Mis- (wrongly) Mistake, misunderstand

Over- (over) Overcrowd, overrun

Sub- (under) Subway, submarine

Un- (uncertain) Unknown, unreliable

Suffixation: Suffixes are added at the end of the word (base or stem) and they change the
grammar of a word.

Suffixes Examples

-ism / -dom (to form nouns) Capitalism, freedom, kingdom

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 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

-er / -or (to form professions) Teacher, doctor

-en / -ify (to form verbs) Tighten, widen, simplify

-able (to form adjectives) Comfortable, eatable, editable

-ly (to form adverbs) Quickly, happily, softly

Below you can find several charts and diagrams to help you view the process of word
formation through both prefixation and suffixation

Rudó Mauné, R. (n.d.) Retrieved from

https://viewsfromthewhiteboard.edublogs.org/2019/01/14/word-formation-2/
Negative prefixes

Some words have an irregular pattern in the word formation of some of their lexemes.
Check these in the chart below.

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 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

ADJECTIVE NOUN VERB

LONG LENGTH LENGTHEN

SHORT SHORTAGE SHORTEN

WIDE WIDTH WIDEN

DEEP DEPTH DEEPEN
TIGHT TIGHTNESS TIGHTEN

BRIGHT BRIGHTNESS BRIGHTEN

DARK DARKNESS DARKEN
WEAK WEAKNESS WEAKEN
STRONG STRENGTH STRENGTHEN
LARGE ENLARGEMENT ENLARGE
ABLE ABILITY ENABLE
DANGEROUS DANGER ENDANGER
LOOSE LOSE LOOSEN
-------- CHOICE CHOOSE

Conversion: it refers to words that have changed from their original word-class to a new
word-class without any change in their form. Examples: We butter bread, take a look, or
calm somebody (Greenbaum & Nelson, 2002). It is also called zero derivation. Conversions
can be done from nouns to verbs, from verbs to nouns, adjectives to verbs, prepositions to
nouns, conjunctions to nouns and interjections to nouns.

Examples:

− She will text you on Sunday

− Can you microwave this pizza?

Abbreviations

1. Clipping: it is a word formation process in which a word of more than one syllable is
reduced to form new words. It is also called shortening. It is a type of abbreviation that is
used particularly in casual speech. This is done by eliminating or clipping some parts of the
original word without changing the meaning. Clipping can be grouped into four categories:

Back clipping: this is the most common type. The begging is kept and the rest is removed.
For instance: examination exam; doctor doc; gasoline gas

Fore clipping: the final part of the word is kept and the beginning is removed. For
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 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

instance: telephone phone; alligator gator; airplane plane

Middle clipping: the part of the syllable that is in the middle of the original word is kept
and the initial and last parts are removed. For instance: influenza🡪 flu; refrigerator🡪
fridge

Complex clipping: It consists of shortening a compound word. For instance: situation

comedy sitcom; science fictionsci-fi; grandmother grandma

2. Blending: Blending words are formed when we mix parts of existing words to form a new
word. For instance: web + log blog: motor + hotel motel; smoke + fogsmog
3. Acronyms: they refer to abbreviations that are treated like a word and are made of the
initial of several words. For instance: as soon as possible ASAP; lots of laugh LOL; World
Health Organisation WHO

Backformation: it is the process of creating a new lexeme usually by removing affixes. The
new word is called the back-formation. It may change the part of speech or the word
meaning. For instance: babysitter babysit; donation donate; editor edit

Idioms

Cambridge dictionary defines idiom or idiomatic expression is as “a group of words in

a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each
word on its own”. They are fixed expressions in English. They can be classified into several
categories: food, animals, weather, colours, business or even money.
Food idioms:

− Couch potato: a lazy person who sits on the couch to watch TV

− Big cheese: an important person in a company
− It is a piece of cake: easy
− Cup of tea: you like it or enjoy it
− As cool as a cucumber: to stay calm and relaxed
− Smart cookie: clever
− Cream of the crop: the best

Colour idioms

− Feel blue: sad

− Black and white: it means that there is written proof of it
− Green with envy: very jealous
− With flying colours: with distinction
− To be in the red: to be in debt
− A golden opportunity: a great opportunity that might never come again
− See red: very

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Animal idioms

− Fat cat: a well-paid executive

− It is raining cats and dogs: it is raining a lot
− Fight like cat and dog: to have angry arguments all the time
− Smell a rat: to detect something suspicious
− As blind as a bat: unable to see well
− Drink like a fish: drinking big amounts of alcohol
− A fish story: a big lie
− Big fish: an important person
− Black sheep: a disliked person

Weather idioms

− Right as rain: you are happy and fine

− Be a breeze: it is easy to be done
− Take a rain check: to ask to rearrange a meeting
− Under the weather: to be ill
− Break the ice: to do something to make someone feel relaxed in a familiar meeting
− It never rains, but it pours: when things do not just go wrong but they go very
wrong and more bad things happen.
− It is freezing: very cold
− It is pouring: heavy rain
- It is spitting: very light rain
− It is boiling: very hot
− Every cloud has a silver lining: there is a positive side to every negative situation
− To be snowed under: to have lots of work to do
− Storm out: leave angry
− Weather that storm: to survive difficult times
− Get wind of: to find out secret information

3. The sentence
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines sentence as “a set of words expressing a
statement, a question or an order, usually containing a subject and a verb”.

In written English sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop/period (.),
a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!)”.

Sentences can be classified into simple, compound and complex sentences.

− Simple sentences are formed by a subject and a predicate.

The subject of a clause or sentence is the noun (a person, place, or thing) that
performs, controls, or is responsible for the action of a verb (Herring, 2016). The
subject usually appears before its verb and is made up of at least one noun, any
grammatical element functioning as a noun, or a pronoun standing in place of a
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 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

noun (Herring, 2016).

The predicate is made up of at least one finite verb, the action of which is
performed or controlled by the subject (Herring, 2016). In addition to a finite verb,
the predicate can also (but does not always) include participles,
objects, complements, and modifiers. In most cases, the predicate comes after the
subject in a sentence or clause, although some parts of the predicate (especially
adverbial modifiers) can sometimes appear before the subject (Herring,
2016:1310).

− Simple sentences are short, having a subject and a main verb. For instance:
 My mother has two brothers. The subject is “my mother” and the predicate is
“has two brothers”.
 Martin got up and dressed. The subject is “Martin” and the predicate is “got up
and dressed”.
− Compound sentences join together two independent clauses using a conjunction.
For instance: My mother has two brothers and both of them live in Thailand. As
you can see the first sentence is “My mother has two brothers” and the second
sentence is “both of them live in Thailand”. Both sentences are independent
sentences and they have their own meaning.
− Complex sentences need an independent clause and a dependent clause. A
dependent clause is similar to a simple sentence but it cannot stand by
itself.Complex sentences need a conjunction to put together two clauses. For
instance: I missed the bus yesterday because I had an argument with my father.

The five core patterns

Pattern one: Sentence= Noun phrase (NP) + Verb phrase intransitive (VP) + Adverb phrase
(optional)

− Yiyi speaks slowly (with an adverb phrase)

− Sam shouts

Pattern two: Sentence= Noun phrase (NP) + *Verb phrase linking (VP) + NP

*Note: linking verbs are verbs that express a state of being

− The new teacher seems like a nice person

− She is a respectful musician

Pattern three: Sentence= NP + VP +NP

− Keisha washed her hands

− He climbed a tree

Pattern four: this pattern has two possibilities

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 Unit 2. Morphology, word formation and current English grammar.

1. Sentence= NP + VP transitive + NP+ NP

He gave her a lovely bouquet of flowers

2. Sentence= NP+ VP transitive NP+ NP

Children consider parents strict

Pattern five: this pattern has three possibilities

1. Sentence= NP + VP be + NP

Tom is a professor

2. Sentence= NP + VP be + Adj. P

Tom is clever

3. Sentence= NP + VP be + Adv. P

Tom is at university

4. References

Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2018). An introduction to English morphology. Words and their

structures. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Crystal, David. (2011). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth Edition. The Modern
Language Journal. 76. 10.2307/330198.

English, F. & Marr, T. (2015). Why do Linguistics? Reflective Linguistics and the Study of
Language. London: Bloomsbury.

Giovanelli, M., Ives, G., Keen, J., Rana, R. & Rudman, R. (2015). A/AS Level English
Language for AQA Student Book. CUP: Cambridge.
Greenbaum, S. & Nelson, G. (2002). An Introduction to English Grammar. Routledge:
London.

Herring, P. (2016). Complete English Grammar Rules. Farlex International.

Khan, T. (2018). Basic Concepts in Linguistics. 10.13140/RG.2.2.31266.68806.

Koeneman, O. & Zeijlstra, H. (2017). Introducing Syntax (Cambridge Introductions to

Language and Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
doi:10.1017/9781316156391

Lieber, R. (2015). Introducing morphology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Plag, I. (2018).Word-Formation in English. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

Quirk, R. (1972). A Grammar of Contemporary English. London: Longman.

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Ringe, D. (2018). An Introduction to Grammar for Language Learners. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108605533

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