Inflectional Morphemes
The English language is complex in that there are so many different endings which change the meaning of the same root word. A root word is identified as a noun, verb, or adjective based on its inflectional ending. Inflectional morphemes never change the part of speech of the root word. (Some words may look the same, but have very different meanings.)
For example-
For example-
Noun
|
Verb
|
Adjective
|
Derivational Morphemes
When you add a derivational morpheme to a root word, the suffix (ending) completely changes the meaning of the word. The derivational morpheme is also usually a different part of speech.
For example-
For example-
Suffix-er
-ful -ly -ate |
Makingnoun
adjective adverb verb |
Original wordteach
sorrow helpful hyphen |
Suffix wordteacher
sorrowful helpfully hyphenate |