Morphology, Word Formation and Its Different Types – Exam-Based MCQs
1. Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies: (UGC NET 2017)
A) Sentence structure
B) Sound patterns
C) Word formation and internal structure of words
D) Meaning of sentences
Ans: C) Word formation and internal structure of words
2. The smallest meaningful unit in a language is called: (PGTRB 2019)
A) Phoneme
B) Morpheme
C) Syllable
D) Lexeme
Ans: B) Morpheme
3. Which of the following is a free morpheme? (SET 2018)
A) -ness
B) un-
C) book
D) -ed
Ans: C) book
4. Which one is a bound morpheme? (UGC NET 2016)
A) House
B) Quick
C) -ful
D) Run
Ans: C) -ful
5. The word “unhappiness” contains how many morphemes? (PGTRB 2018)
A) One
B) Two
C) Three
D) Four
Ans: C) Three
6. A morpheme that can stand alone as a word is called: (SET 2019)
A) Bound morpheme
B) Free morpheme
C) Derivational morpheme
D) Inflectional morpheme
Ans: B) Free morpheme
7. Derivational morphemes usually: (UGC NET 2018)
A) Change the word class or basic meaning
B) Only mark tense
C) Only mark plurality
D) Only indicate comparison
Ans: A) Change the word class or basic meaning
8. Inflectional morphemes in English are primarily used to: (PGTRB 2020)
A) Create new lexemes
B) Change the grammatical form of words
C) Create completely new words from foreign languages
D) Mark register differences
Ans: B) Change the grammatical form of words
9. Which of the following is an example of an inflectional suffix in English? (SET 2017)
A) -ness
B) -ly
C) -s (plural)
D) -ment
Ans: C) -s (plural)
10. In the word “teacher”, -er is: (UGC NET 2015)
A) Inflectional suffix
B) Derivational suffix
C) Free morpheme
D) Prefix
Ans: B) Derivational suffix
11. The process of forming a new word by adding a prefix or suffix is called: (PGTRB 2017)
A) Compounding
B) Affixation
C) Blending
D) Clipping
Ans: B) Affixation
12. “Un-” in “unfair” is an example of: (SET 2020)
A) Derivational prefix
B) Inflectional prefix
C) Infix
D) Circumfix
Ans: A) Derivational prefix
13. The word “blackboard” is formed by which process? (UGC NET 2016)
A) Affixation
B) Compounding
C) Blending
D) Conversion
Ans: B) Compounding
14. “Smog” (from smoke + fog) is an example of: (PGTRB 2021)
A) Acronym
B) Clipping
C) Blending
D) Back-formation
Ans: C) Blending
15. “Doc” from “doctor” is an example of: (SET 2018)
A) Clipping
B) Acronym
C) Blending
D) Coinage
Ans: A) Clipping
16. “Radar” (Radio Detecting and Ranging) is an example of: (UGC NET 2019)
A) Blending
B) Acronym
C) Coinage
D) Compounding
Ans: B) Acronym
17. “Laser” is best described as: (PGTRB 2020)
A) Blend
B) Clipping
C) Acronym that has become a common noun
D) Simple root
Ans: C) Acronym that has become a common noun
18. “Babysit” derived from “babysitter” is an example of: (SET 2017)
A) Compounding
B) Back-formation
C) Clipping
D) Reduplication
Ans: B) Back-formation
19. “Google” as a verb (“to google”) is an example of: (UGC NET 2018)
A) Conversion
B) Affixation
C) Blending
D) Coinage
Ans: A) Conversion
20. The creation of a completely new word, like “nylon”, is called: (PGTRB 2018)
A) Coinage
B) Borrowing
C) Blending
D) Compounding
Ans: A) Coinage
21. “Pizza”, “bungalow”, and “yoga” in English illustrate: (SET 2020)
A) Coinage
B) Borrowing
C) Blending
D) Acronym
Ans: B) Borrowing
22. The pair “write” / “writer” illustrates: (UGC NET 2017)
A) Inflection
B) Derivation
C) Conversion
D) Reduplication
Ans: B) Derivation
23. “Teacher” / “teachers” is an example of: (PGTRB 2019)
A) Derivational + inflectional morphology
B) Only derivational morphology
C) Only inflectional morphology
D) Conversion
Ans: A) Derivational + inflectional morphology
24. A morpheme that changes the grammatical category (e.g., noun to adjective) is called: (SET 2016)
A) Inflectional
B) Derivational
C) Free
D) Root
Ans: B) Derivational
25. Which of the following is NOT an inflectional morpheme in English? (UGC NET 2019)
A) -s (plural)
B) -ed (past)
C) -er (comparative)
D) -ful
Ans: D) -ful
26. The basic form of a word in morphology is called its: (PGTRB 2017)
A) Allomorph
B) Lexeme
C) Allophone
D) Phoneme
Ans: B) Lexeme
27. Different phonetic realizations of the same morpheme are called: (SET 2018)
A) Allophones
B) Allomorphs
C) Homophones
D) Homonyms
Ans: B) Allomorphs
28. The plural morpheme in “cats”, “dogs”, and “horses” is an example of: (UGC NET 2016)
A) Three separate morphemes
B) One morpheme with three allomorphs
C) Reduplication
D) Back-formation
Ans: B) One morpheme with three allomorphs
29. “Sing–sang–sung” illustrates: (PGTRB 2021)
A) Regular inflection
B) Suppletion
C) Reduplication
D) Prefixation
Ans: B) Suppletion
30. “Go–went” is an example of: (SET 2019)
A) Regular past tense
B) Suppletive form
C) Derivational pair
D) Reduplicative pattern
Ans: B) Suppletive form
31. “Tick-tock” is an example of: (UGC NET 2018)
A) Coinage
B) Borrowing
C) Reduplication
D) Acronym
Ans: C) Reduplication
32. “Bye-bye” and “goody-goody” illustrate: (PGTRB 2018)
A) Partial reduplication
B) Full reduplication
C) Compounding
D) Clipping
Ans: B) Full reduplication
33. A morpheme that must attach to a particular position within the word is called: (SET 2020)
A) Prefix
B) Suffix
C) Infix
D) Affix in general
Ans: C) Infix
34. Which of the following is a characteristic of inflectional morphemes? (UGC NET 2017)
A) They change word class
B) They create new dictionary entries
C) They express grammatical categories like tense and number
D) They always occur at the beginning of words
Ans: C) They express grammatical categories like tense and number
35. Which word-formation process is involved in “to email” (from the noun “email”)? (PGTRB 2020)
A) Back-formation
B) Conversion
C) Blending
D) Coinage
Ans: B) Conversion
36. Combining “blue” and “green” into “blue-green” (as in “blue-green algae”) is an instance of: (SET 2018)
A) Compounding
B) Blending
C) Reduplication
D) Back-formation
Ans: A) Compounding
37. “Morphology” deals with the relationship between: (UGC NET 2015)
A) Phonemes and phones
B) Morphemes and words
C) Clauses and sentences
D) Sentences and discourse
Ans: B) Morphemes and words
38. The study of the internal structure of words and the rules for word formation belongs to: (PGTRB 2019)
A) Syntax
B) Morphology
C) Semantics
D) Pragmatics
Ans: B) Morphology
39. In “impossible”, “im-” is a: (SET 2017)
A) Derivational prefix indicating negation
B) Inflectional prefix
C) Infix
D) Root morpheme
Ans: A) Derivational prefix indicating negation
40. The process of shortening a multi-word term into initials pronounced as letters (e.g., “BBC”) is: (UGC NET 2019)
A) Acronym
B) Initialism
C) Blending
D) Conversion
Ans: B) Initialism
41. “Phone” from “telephone” is an example of: (PGTRB 2021)
A) Clipping
B) Back-formation
C) Conversion
D) Reduplication
Ans: A) Clipping
42. Which of the following is a case of “zero derivation”? (SET 2020)
A) Nation → national
B) Pure → purify
C) Clean (adj) → clean (verb)
D) Thought → thoughtful
Ans: C) Clean (adj) → clean (verb)
43. “Mis-” in “misunderstand” expresses: (UGC NET 2018)
A) Repetition
B) Negation or error
C) Past time
D) Plurality
Ans: B) Negation or error
44. “Bookish”, “childish”, and “foolish” share which derivational suffix? (PGTRB 2018)
A) -ship
B) -ish
C) -ness
D) -ment
Ans: B) -ish
45. “Friendliness” contains which type of morphemes? (SET 2019)
A) Only inflectional
B) Only free
C) One free root + two derivational suffixes
D) One bound root + one inflection
Ans: C) One free root + two derivational suffixes
46. In “nationalization”, “-ation” is primarily: (UGC NET 2017)
A) Inflectional
B) Derivational suffix forming a noun
C) Prefix
D) Reduplicant
Ans: B) Derivational suffix forming a noun
47. “Over-” in “overestimate” denotes: (PGTRB 2019)
A) Understatement
B) Excess
C) Negation
D) Repetition
Ans: B) Excess
48. “Morph” in morphology is closest in meaning to: (SET 2016)
A) Form
B) Sound
C) Meaning
D) Syntax
Ans: A) Form
49. The main concern of word formation studies in morphology is: (UGC NET 2020)
A) Word order in sentences
B) Processes that create and modify words
C) Stress and intonation patterns
D) Discourse markers
Ans: B) Processes that create and modify words
50. In the study of morphology and word formation, English is often described as: (PGTRB 2022)
A) Purely inflectional
B) Purely isolating
C) Mainly analytic with some synthetic features
D) Entirely polysynthetic
Ans: C) Mainly analytic with some synthetic features
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