A Student's Introduction to English Grammar

290 Chapter 1 6 Morphology: words and lexemes

10. For each word in the sentence Our
    children said those earlier stories had
    been her worst, say what inflectional
    form it is, and what lexeme it belongs to:
    our vi stories
    ii children vii had
    iii said viii been
    iv those ix her
    v earlier x worst
    (For example, if we had given the sentence
    Pigs will fly, then for the word pigs you
    would say that it is the plural form of the
    lexeme pig. For inflection of personal pro­
    nouns, recall the analysis given in Ch. 5, §S.)


11. Show for some plural-only words other
    than scissors that the lexical base
    sometimes occurs in compounds.


12. Discuss the choice between the ·es and ·s
    altemants of the plural suffix with the
    following nouns, after gathering evidence
    about how they are actually spelled in real
    texts:
    cameo vi lunch
    ii echo vii mango
    iii eunuch Vlll patio
    iv garage ix photo
    v innuendo x piano


13. Nouns with lexical bases ending inf or fe
    either have (a) obligatory modification of
    the base in plural formation; (b) optional
    modification; or (c) no modification. Give
    plurals of the following nouns, grouping
    them into these three types:
    elf vi sheaf
    ii handkerchief vii shelf
    iii life viii spoof
    iv oaf ix waif
    v self x wharf


14. Give plurals of the following nouns, group­
    ing them into three types: (a) those with
    only foreign plurals; (b) those that have
    foreign and regular plurals as variants; or
    (c) those with only regular plurals.
    i alumnus III appendix
    ii amoeba iv crucifix

v desideratum

vi fo etus

viii millennium

ix phobia

vii mausoleum x radius

15. Give genitives of the following nouns,
    grouping them into three types: (a) those
    with only bare genitives; (b) those that
    have's and bare genitives as variants;
    or (c) those with only's genitives:
    [i] children; [ii] lones; [iii] kids;
    [iv] species; [v] Xerxes.


16. Construct examples (grammatical and
    un grammatical as the case may be) to
    show clearly that the adjective kindly
    can inflect for grade despite being
    formed with the ·ly suffix, but the adverb
    kindly cannot be inflected for grade at
    all.


17. List all the bases that occur in the
    following words, bearing in mind that one
    base can be contained within another.
    clothes-drier vi injustice
    ii handwriting vii upbringing
    iii disinterestedness viii babysitting
    iv self-righteously ix unavoidability
    v taxpayer-funded x underachiever
    IS. Discuss the form of the underlined lexical
    bases in the following examples: identify
    the morphological operations and the
    bases and affixes involved in their
    formation.
    I got it from a CNN newscast.
    ii It was fo nned by a process of ad;ecti­
    valisation.
    iii She works fo r UNESCO.
    iv We didn't have lead-free fu el in those
    days.
    v They are involved in some ille�al
    operation.
    vi They have decided to euthanase the
    whale.
    vii Calm down.
    viii He 's always mouthing off about his
    boss.
    ix I'll meet you in the lab.
    x I was working as a window-cleaner.