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

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

• A. Ing
• B. Cat
• C. Table
• D. Beautiful

Answer: (A)

Bound morphemes are the pieces of meaning that cannot stand alone; they must attach to a base word. The suffix -ing fits this: it attaches to verbs to form present participles or gerunds and adds ongoing aspect, but it has no independent meaning as a word by itself. So, talk + ing becomes talking, where talk carries the core meaning and ing modifies how that meaning is used. The other terms don’t fit as bound morphemes: cat and table are complete words by themselves (free morphemes), and beautiful is a whole word built from a base with an affix, not a bound morpheme shown by itself.

Bound morphemes are the pieces of meaning that cannot stand alone; they must attach to a base word. The suffix -ing fits this: it attaches to verbs to form present participles or gerunds and adds ongoing aspect, but it has no independent meaning as a word by itself. So, talk + ing becomes talking, where talk carries the core meaning and ing modifies how that meaning is used. The other terms don’t fit as bound morphemes: cat and table are complete words by themselves (free morphemes), and beautiful is a whole word built from a base with an affix, not a bound morpheme shown by itself.