Morphology: English Morphology
Can Be Challenging!
Now that you know a bit about how words are formed in
English, think about the implications of that for an English language learner. Learning English can be hard . . . especially
when we take into account the fact that English does some things with words
that other languages don’t. Walt
Wolfram, a Professor in English at North Carolina State and renowned
sociolinguist (he is someone you should know), points out three ways in which
English differs from some languages.
(1) English creates the past tense by putting suffixes on verbs.
Ex: I walked to school.
(2) English can form verbs from nouns.
Ex: He chickened out of asking the girl to the dance.
(3) English uses suffixes to create comparatives and superlatives.
Ex: sweet, sweeter, sweetest
The example above (#3) is easy . . . but what about the occasions where it’s not so simple (ex: much, more, most)? You will need to be prepared to teach the rule AND the exceptions to the rule.
Source: Wolfram, Walt. (n.d.). The Challenges of English Morphology.
(1) English creates the past tense by putting suffixes on verbs.
Ex: I walked to school.
(2) English can form verbs from nouns.
Ex: He chickened out of asking the girl to the dance.
(3) English uses suffixes to create comparatives and superlatives.
Ex: sweet, sweeter, sweetest
The example above (#3) is easy . . . but what about the occasions where it’s not so simple (ex: much, more, most)? You will need to be prepared to teach the rule AND the exceptions to the rule.
Source: Wolfram, Walt. (n.d.). The Challenges of English Morphology.