Which affix type forms different grammatical versions of words?

Which affix type forms different grammatical versions of words?

• A. Prefixes
• B. Suffixes
• C. Circumfixes
• D. Inflectional affixes

Answer: (D)

Inflectional affixes form different grammatical versions of a word by signaling grammatical features such as tense, number, person, mood, or degree. They modify a word to show how it functions in a sentence without changing its core meaning or class. For example, adding a plural ending to a noun makes cats from cat, showing number; adding possessive -'s marks ownership as in dog's; adding -ed or -ing to a verb marks past tense or ongoing action (walk → walked, walking); and adjectives take comparative or superlative endings (tall → taller, tallest). These changes are about grammar rather than creating a new word with a new meaning, which is why this type of affix forms the different grammatical versions of words. Derivational affixes, by contrast, change meaning or part of speech, such as happy → unhappy or teach → teacher.

Inflectional affixes form different grammatical versions of a word by signaling grammatical features such as tense, number, person, mood, or degree. They modify a word to show how it functions in a sentence without changing its core meaning or class. For example, adding a plural ending to a noun makes cats from cat, showing number; adding possessive -'s marks ownership as in dog's; adding -ed or -ing to a verb marks past tense or ongoing action (walk → walked, walking); and adjectives take comparative or superlative endings (tall → taller, tallest). These changes are about grammar rather than creating a new word with a new meaning, which is why this type of affix forms the different grammatical versions of words. Derivational affixes, by contrast, change meaning or part of speech, such as happy → unhappy or teach → teacher.