Morpheme

Definition of Morpheme
A Morpheme is the smallest syntactic and meaningful linguistic unit that contains a word or an element of the word such as the use of –s, while this unit cannot be further divided into smaller syntactic parts.

For example in the sentence “It was the best time; It was the worst time ”(A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens). All underlined words are morphemes because they cannot be broken down further into smaller units. Morpheme is just a simple word that has a single morpheme. Hence it is free and can occur independently. For example, in "David wants to go there" "go" is a free morpheme.
Bound morpheme
A free morpheme uses a bound morpheme with a free morpheme to construct a complete word, as it cannot stand independently. For example, in “The farmer wants to kill ducklings” the linked morphemes “-er”, “s” and “ling” cannot stand alone. You need free morphemes of "farm," want ", and" duck "to indicate meanings.
Bound morphemes are of two types, which include:

Inflectional Morphemes
This type of morpheme is just a suffix of the noun, as in" Freund ", the" friendly ". Now it contains two morphemes, "Freund" and "-ly". "Here," -ly "is an inflectional morpheme, since it has changed the noun" friend "to an adjective" friendly ".
Derivational morpheme
This type of morpheme uses both prefix and suffix, and has the ability to change function as well. as meaning of words. For example, adding the suffix “-less” to the noun “meaning” makes the meaning of this word completely different.
Examples of morpheme in literature
Example # 1: Hamlet (by William Shakespeare)
“Sit down for a while;
And let's once again assault their ears,
Who are so strong against our history
What we have seen in two nights
In front of my God, I couldn't believe these morphemes as they cannot exist independently. For example, "a while" is a combination of two morphemes "a" and "while". Similarly, "again", "nights" and "before" are combinations of two morphemes each.

Example # 2: Tyger Tyger (by William Blake)
"Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the woods of night;
What an immortal hand or eye,
Could it frame your fearsome symmetry?
Did his work smile to watch?
Did he who made the lamb make you? “

In this example, all underlined words are linked morphemes. The second, "immortal," and the third, "fearful," changed functions and meanings after adding suffixes. "Fearful" is an inflectional morpheme, and it changed that noun to an adjective.

Example 3: Who the Bell Tolls For (by Earnest Hemingway)
"The young man who studied the country took off his glasses. The pocket of his faded khaki flannel shirt wiped the lenses with a handkerchief, screwed the eyepieces around until the boards of the mill suddenly became clearly visible and he saw the wooden bench by the door, the huge heap of sawdust that rose behind the open shed in which the circular saw was, and part of the gutter that brought the tree trunks down from the mountainside on the other bank of the creek. ”

In this passage all underlined words "study," handkerchief "," suddenly "," clear "," made of wood "," beside "and" mountain slope "are bound morphemes.

Example 4: Master of the game (by Sidne y Sheldon)
"Jamie McGregor was one of those he was barely eighteen, a handsome boy, tall and blonde, with surprisingly light gray eyes. He had an attractive ingenuity, an eagerness to please that was lovable. He had a carefree disposition and a soul full of optimism.

This passage is another good example of linked morphemes. The underlined words "dreamers", "barely", "handsome", "blond", "enthusiasm", "cheerful" and "full" are linked morphemes.

Morpheme function
A morpheme is a significant unit in English morphology. The basic function of a morpheme is to give meaning to a word. It may or may not be alone. When alone, it is thought to be a root. However, when it depends on other morphemes to complete an idea, it then becomes an affix and plays a grammatical function. Furthermore, inflectional and derivational morphemes can transform meanings and functions of words, respectively adding richness and beauty to a text.

Monosyllable Noun