When comparing the words go, goes, and undergo, which linguistic unit is being demonstrated?

When comparing the words go, goes, and undergo, which linguistic unit is being demonstrated?

• A. Morphemes
• B. Syllables
• C. Phonemes
• D. Letters

Answer: (A)

The main concept here is morphemes—the smallest units of meaning or grammatical function in a language. In these words you can see how a root like go can carry different information when it gains affixes: adding the suffix -s to go gives goes, signaling third-person singular present tense, which is a grammatical meaning attached to the base word. In undergo, the prefix under- attaches to the same root go, forming a new word with a different meaning, yet still built from meaningful pieces. These pieces—the root go and the affixes under- and -s—are morphemes. It’s not about syllables, phonemes, or letters, which deal with sounds or the alphabet rather than meaningful units.

The main concept here is morphemes—the smallest units of meaning or grammatical function in a language. In these words you can see how a root like go can carry different information when it gains affixes: adding the suffix -s to go gives goes, signaling third-person singular present tense, which is a grammatical meaning attached to the base word. In undergo, the prefix under- attaches to the same root go, forming a new word with a different meaning, yet still built from meaningful pieces. These pieces—the root go and the affixes under- and -s—are morphemes. It’s not about syllables, phonemes, or letters, which deal with sounds or the alphabet rather than meaningful units.