INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTIC

In English grammar and morphology, a morpheme is a meaningful linguistic unit

consisting of a word (such as dog) or a word element (such as the -s at the end
of dogs) that can't be divided into smaller meaningful parts. Adjective: morphemic.

Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language. They are commonly
classified as either free morphemes (which can occur as separate words) or bound
morphemes(which can't stand alone as words).

Many words in English are made up of a single free morpheme. For example, each
word in the following sentence is a distinct morpheme: "I need to go now, but you
can stay." Put another way, none of the nine words in that sentence can be divided
into smaller parts that are also meaningful.

Also see:

 Affix and Affixation

 Allomorph and Alternation
 Base, Root, and Stem
 Complex Word and Monomorphemic Word
 Cranberry Morpheme
 Derivational Morpheme and Inflectional Morpheme
 Inflectional Morphology

ETYMOLOGY

From the French, by analogy with phoneme, from the Greek, "shape, form"

EXAMPLES AND OBSERVATIONS

 A prefix may be a morpheme:

"What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on before you get on?"
(George Carlin)
 Individual words may be morphemes:
"They want to put you in a box, but nobody's in a box. You're not in a box."
(John Turturro)
 Contracted word forms may be morphemes:
"They want to put you in a box, but nobody's in a box. You're not in a box."
(John Turturro)

 Morphs and Allomorphs

"A word can be analyzed as consisting of one morpheme (sad) or two or
more morphemes (unluckily; compare luck, lucky, unlucky), each morpheme
usually expressing a distinct meaning. When a morpheme is represented by a
segment, that segment is a morph. If a morpheme can be represented by more
than one morph, the morphs are allomorphs of the same morpheme: the
prefixes in- (insane), il- (illegible), im- (impossible), ir- (irregular) are
allomorphs of the same negative morpheme."
 (Sidney Greenbaum, The Oxford English Grammar. Oxford University Press,
1996)

 Morphemes as Meaningful Sequences of Sounds

"A word cannot be divided into morphemes just by sounding out
its syllables. Some morphemes, like apple, have more than one syllable;
others, like -s, are less than a syllable. A morpheme is a form (a sequence of
sounds) with a recognizable meaning. Knowing a word's early history,
or etymology, may be useful in dividing it into morphemes, but the decisive
factor is the form-meaning link.

"A morpheme may, however, have more than

one pronunciation or spelling. For example, the regular noun
plural ending has two spellings (-s and -es) and three pronunciations (an s-
sound as in backs, a z-sound as in bags, and a vowel plus z-sound as
in batches). Similarly, when the morpheme -ate is followed by -ion (as
in activate-ion), the t of -ate combines with the i of -ion as the sound 'sh' (so
we might spell the word 'activashun'). Such allomorphic variation is typical of
the morphemes of English, even though the spelling does not represent it."
(John Algeo, The Origins and Development of the English Language, 6th
ed. Wadsworth, 2010)
 Grammatical Tags
"In addition to serving as resources in the creation
of vocabulary, morphemes supply grammatical tags to words, helping us to
identify on the basis of form the parts of speech of words in sentences we hear
or read. For example, in the sentence Morphemes supply grammatical tags to
words, the plural morpheme ending {-s} helps identify morphemes,
tags, and words as nouns; the {-ical} ending underscores
the adjectival relationship between grammatical and the following
noun, tags, which it modifies."
(Thomas P. Klammer et al. Analyzing English Grammar. Pearson, 2007)

 Language Acquisition
"English-speaking children usually begin to produce two-morpheme words
in their third year and during that year the growth in their use of affixes is
rapid and extremely impressive. This is the time, as Roger Brown showed,
when children begin to use suffixes for possessive words ('Adam's ball'), for
the plural('dogs'), for present progressive verbs ('I walking'), for third-person
singular present tense verbs ('he walks'), and for past tense verbs, although
not always with complete corectness ('I brunged it here') (Brown 1973). Notice
that these new morphemes are all of them inflections. Children tend to
learn derivationalmorphemes a little later and to continue to learn about them
right through childhood . . .."
(Peter Bryant and Terezinha Nunes, "Morphemes and Literacy: A Starting
Point." Improving Literacy by Teaching Morphemes, ed. by T. Nunes and P.
Bryant. Routledge, 2006)

by Richard Nordquist
Updated April 21, 2017
A word is a speech sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation
in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a
single morphemeor a combination of morphemes.

The branch of linguistics that studies word structures is called morphology. The
branch of linguistics that studies word meanings is called lexical semantics.

See Examples and Observations below.

 Arbitrariness

 Base
 Beautiful Words: Competitions and Composition
 Commonly Confused Words
 Complex Word
 Connotations and Denotations
 Content Word
 Daily Word Sites
 Diction
 Free Morpheme
 Function Word
 How Word Meanings Change
 Inflectional Morphology
 Lemma
 Lexeme
 Lexical Competence
 Lexical Integrity
 Lexicalization
 Lexicogrammar
 Lexicon
 Lexis
 Listeme

ETYMOLOGY

From Old English, "word"

EXAMPLES AND OBSERVATIONS

 "[A word is the] smallest unit of grammar that can stand alone as a
complete utterance, separated by spaces in written language and potentially
by pauses in speech."
(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.
Cambridge University Press, 2003)
 "A grammar . . . is divided into two major
components, syntax and morphology. This division follows from the special
status of the word as a basic linguistic unit, with syntax dealing with the
combination of words to make sentences, and morphology with the form of
words themselves."
 (R. Huddleston and G. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English
Language. Cambridge University Press, 2002)

 "We want words to do more than they can. We try to do with them what
comes to very much like trying to mend a watch with a pickaxe or to paint a
miniature with a mop; we expect them to help us to grip and dissect that
which in ultimate essence is as ungrippable as shadow. Nevertheless there
they are; we have got to live with them, and the wise course is to treat them as
we do our neighbours, and make the best and not the worst of them."
(Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, 1912)

 Big Words
"A Czech study . . . looked at how using big words (a classic strategy for
impressing others) affects perceived intelligence. Counter-intuitvely,
grandiose vocabulary diminished participants' impressions of authors'
cerebral capacity. Put another way: simpler writing seems smarter."
(Julie Beck, "How to Look Smart." The Atlantic, September 2014)
 The Power of Words
"It is obvious that the fundamental means which man possesses of extending
his orders of abstractions indefinitely is conditioned, and consists in general
in symbolism and, in particular, in speech. Words, considered as symbols for
humans, provide us with endlessly flexible conditional semantic stimuli,
which are just as 'real' and effective for man as any other powerful stimulus.
 Virginia Woolf on Words
"It is words that are to blame. They are the wildest, freest, most
irresponsible, most un-teachable of all things. Of course, you can catch them
and sort them and place them in alphabetical order in dictionaries. But words
do not live in dictionaries; they live in the mind. If you want proof of this,
consider how often in moments of emotion when we most need words we find
none. Yet there is the dictionary; there at our disposal are some half-a-million
words all in alphabetical order. But can we use them? No, because words do
not live in dictionaries, they live in the mind. Look once more at the
dictionary. There beyond a doubt lie plays more splendid than Antony and
Cleopatra; poems lovelier than the 'Ode to a Nightingale'; novels beside
which Pride and Prejudice or David Copperfield are the crude bunglings of
amateurs. It is only a question of finding the right words and putting them in
the right order. But we cannot do it because they do not live in dictionaries;
they live in the mind. And how do they live in the mind? Variously and
strangely, much as human beings live, ranging hither and thither, falling in
love, and mating together."
(Virginia Woolf, "Craftsmanship." The Death of the Moth and Other Essays,
1942)

 Word Word
"Word Word [1983: coined by US writer Paul Dickson]. A non-technical,
tongue-in-cheek term for a word repeated in contrastive statements and
questions: 'Are you talking about an American Indian or an Indian Indian?';
'It happens in Irish English as well as English English.'"
(Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford
University Press, 1992)
Phrase definition: A phrase is a grammatical term referring to a group of
words that does not include a subject and verb.
What is a Phrase? Examples, Definitions
What are phrases? A phrase is a group (or pairing) of words in English. A
phrase can be long or short but it does not include the subject-verb pairing
necessary to make a clause.
Some examples of phrases include:
 after the meal (prepositional phrase)
 the nice neighbor (noun phrase)
 were waiting for the movie (verb phrase)
Each example of a phrase above does not contain a subject doing an action
(subject-verb). Therefore, each example is merely a group of words called a
phrase.

A phrase will always be more than one word.

Phrases vs. Clauses: a Hierarchy of Word

Units

A phrase is any group of words

that does not contain a subject completing an action.

When a group of words contains a subject doing an action (subject-verb), it

becomes a clause.

Phrases can be added to sentences to make them more complex.

Concepts can begin with a single word and develop into a compound
sentence.

Example:
 meal (word)
 after the meal (phrase)
 that mom prepared (clause)
 After the meal that mom prepared I felt full. (sentence)
 After the meal that mom prepared, I felt full because I ate too much.
(complex sentence)
  After the meal that mom prepared I felt full, but my brother was still
hungry. (compound sentence)
More Phrase Examples

Before we go into different types

of grammatical phrases, let’s look at a few more examples of phrases.

 In the air (prepositional phrase)

 Beside the bed (prepositional phrase)
 Along the road (prepositional phrase)
 To live and breathe (infinitive phrase)
 Looking stunning (participle phrase)
As you can see, English phrases can be just about any combination of words
so long as they do not contain a subject-verb pairing.

Different Types of Phrase

What is a noun phrase? Noun phrases consist of a noun and its modifiers.
 the nice neighbor
 a soft, comfortable bed
What is a verb phrase? Verb phrases consist of a verb and its modifiers.
 were waiting for the movie
 felt a prick on his arm

What is an adverbial
phrase? Adverbial phrases are phrases that act as adverbs. They modify
verbs, adverbs, or adjectives.
 around the block (modifying where)
 after the meal (modifying when)
 in silence (modifying how)
What is a gerund phrase? Gerund phrases are essentially noun phrases that
begin with a gerund.
 running through the woods
 jumping like a kangaroo
What is an infinitive phrase? Infinitive phrases begin with a verb infinitive
and include any modifiers. Infinitive phrases function as nouns, adjectives, or
adverbs.
  to run out of food
 to visit to the countryside
What is an appositive phrase? An appositive is essentially a noun phrase
but one that renames another noun in the sentence.
 The tree, a tall redwood, was beautiful.
 The curtains were made of lace, a beautiful and delicate fabric.

What is a participle phrase? A

participle phrase begins with a present (-ing) or past (-ed) participle. A
participle phrase includes the participle and its modifiers. Participle phrases
function as adjectives.
 The girls giggling and playing in the park never seemed to tire.
 Fatigued and dehydrated in the desert the men traveled on.
What is a prepositional phrase? A prepositional phrase is a group of words
that includes a preposition and a noun. A prepositional phrase will function as
either an adjective or an adverb.
 before church
 under the stairs
What is an absolute phrase? An absolute phrase includes a noun and a
participle and any modifiers.
 the flag flying at half-mast
 her hair streaked with sunlight

Summary: What are Phrases?

Define phrase: The definition of phrase is any grouping of words that does
not contain a subject and a verb. A phrase is a very basic word unit in English.
 Phrases Examples:
 Reading a book
 The tall basketball player

by Richard Nordquist
Updated April 26, 2017

A sentence is the largest independent unit of grammar: it begins with a capital

letterand ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
Adjective: sentential.

The sentence is traditionally (and inadequately) defined as a word or group of words

that expresses a complete idea and that includes a subject and a verb. See Definitions
and Observations, below.

The four basic sentence structures are the simple sentence, the compound sentence,
the complex sentence, and the compound-complex sentence.
Etymology
From the Latin, "to feel"

FUNCTIONAL TYPES OF SENTENCES

 Declarative Sentence
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on
society."(Mark Twain)
 Interrogative Sentence
"But what is the difference between literature and journalism? Journalism is
unreadable and literature is not read."(Oscar Wilde)
 Imperative Sentence
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."(Mark
Twain)
 Exclamatory Sentence
"To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would
be if men died for ideas that were true!(H. L. Mencken)

DEFINITIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

 "I am trying to say it all in one sentence, between one Cap and one
period."(William Faulkner in a letter to Malcolm Cowley)
 "The term 'sentence' is widely used to refer to quite different types of unit.
Grammatically, it is the highest unit and consists of one independent clause,
or two or more related clauses. Orthographically and rhetorically, it is that
unit which starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark
or exclamation mark."
(Angela Downing, English Grammar: A University Course, 2nd ed.
Routledge, 2006)

 "I have taken as my definition of a sentence any combination of words

whatsoever, beyond the simple naming of an object of sense."
(Kathleen Carter Moore, The Mental Development of a Child, 1896)
 "[A sentence is a] unit of speech constructed according to language-dependent
rules, which is relatively complete and independent in respect to content,
grammatical structure, and intonation."
(Hadumo Bussmann, Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.
Trans. by Lee Forester et al. Routledge, 1996)

 "A written sentence is a word or group of words that conveys meaning to the
listener, can be responded to or is part of a response, and is punctuated."
(Andrew S. Rothstein and Evelyn Rothstein, English Grammar Instruction
That Works! Corwin Press, 2009)
 "None of the usual definitions of a sentence really says much, but every
sentence ought somehow to organize a pattern of thought, even if it does not
always reduce that thought to bite-sized pieces."
(Richard Lanham, Revising Prose. Scribner's, 1979)
 "The sentence has been defined as the largest unit for which there are rules
of grammar."
(Christian Lehmann, "Theoretical Implications of Grammaticalization
 Phenomena." The Role of Theory in Language Description, ed. by William A.
Foley. Mouton de Gruyter, 1993)
 The Notional Definition of a Sentence
"It is sometimes said that a sentence expresses a complete thought. This is
a notional definition: it defines a term by the notion or idea it conveys. The
difficulty with this definition lies in fixing what is meant by a 'complete
thought.' There are notices, for example, that seem to be complete in
themselves but are not generally regarded as sentences: Exit, Danger, 50 mph
speed limit.

"On the other hand, there are sentences that clearly consist of more than one
thought. Here is one relatively simple example:

This week marks the 300th anniversary of the publication of Sir Isaac
Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, a fundamental
work for the whole of modern science and a key influence on the philosophy
of the European Enlightenment.

How many 'complete thoughts' are there in this sentence? We should at least
recognize that the part after the comma introduces two additional points
about Newton's book: (1) that it is a fundamental work for the whole of
modern science, and (2) that it was a key influence on the philosophy of the
European Enlightenment. Yet this example would be acknowledged by all as a
single sentence, and it is written as a single sentence."
(Sidney Greenbaum and Gerald Nelson, An Introduction to English
Grammar, 2nd ed. Pearson, 2002)

 Jespersen's Definition of a Sentence

"Traditional attempts to define the sentence were generally either
psychological or logical-analytic in nature: the former type spoke of 'a
complete thought' or some other inaccessible psychological phenomenon; the
latter type, following Aristotle, expected to find every sentence made up of a
logical subject and logical predicate, units that themselves rely on the sentence
for their definition. A more fruitful approach is that of [Otto] Jespersen (1924:
307), who suggests testing the completeness and independence of a sentence,
by assessing its potential for standing alone, as a complete utterance."
(D. J. Allerton. Essentials of Grammatical Theory. Routledge, 1979)
 Stanley Fish's Two-Part Definition of a Sentence
"A sentence is a structure of logical relationships. In its bare form, this
proposition is hardly edifying, which is why I immediately supplement it with
a simple exercise. 'Here,' I say, 'are five words randomly chosen; turn them
into a sentence.' (The first time I did this the words were coffee, should, book,
garbage and quickly.) In no time at all I am presented with 20 sentences, all
perfectly coherent and all quite different. Then comes the hard part. 'What is
it,' I ask, 'that you did? What did it take to turn a random list of words into a
sentence?' A lot of fumbling and stumbling and false starts follow, but finally
someone says, 'I put the words into a relationship with one another.' . . .

"Well, my bottom line can be summarized in two statements: (1) a sentence is

an organization of items in the world; and (2) a sentence is a structure of
logical relationships."
 (Stanley Fish, "Devoid of Content." The New York Times, May 31, 2005.
Also How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One. HarperCollins, 2011)

 The Lighter Side of Sentences

"One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.
An adjective walked by, with her dark beauty.
The Nouns were struck, moved, changed.
The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence. . . ."
(Kenneth Koch, "Permanently." The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch. Borzoi
Books, 2005)

Pronunciation: SEN-tens