Which term refers to a morpheme that creates a new word or changes its part of speech?

Which term refers to a morpheme that creates a new word or changes its part of speech?

• A. derivational morpheme
• B. transitive verb
• C. voiced sound
• D. assertive discipline

Answer: (A)

Derivational morphemes are the pieces that form a new word or shift a word into a different part of speech by adding prefixes or suffixes. They’re used to create words like happiness from happy or teacher from teach, or to change the word’s category, such as turning a verb into a noun or an adjective into another form. This is exactly what the description is asking for: a morpheme that creates a new word or changes its role in grammar. In contrast, inflectional morphemes only modify a word’s form (like plural -s, past tense -ed, or present participle -ing) without producing a new word or changing its part of speech. The other options aren’t about word formation or category changes: a transitive verb is a verb type, a voiced sound is a phonetic feature, and assertive discipline is a classroom management approach.

Derivational morphemes are the pieces that form a new word or shift a word into a different part of speech by adding prefixes or suffixes. They’re used to create words like happiness from happy or teacher from teach, or to change the word’s category, such as turning a verb into a noun or an adjective into another form. This is exactly what the description is asking for: a morpheme that creates a new word or changes its role in grammar.

In contrast, inflectional morphemes only modify a word’s form (like plural -s, past tense -ed, or present participle -ing) without producing a new word or changing its part of speech. The other options aren’t about word formation or category changes: a transitive verb is a verb type, a voiced sound is a phonetic feature, and assertive discipline is a classroom management approach.