What describes roots with bound morphemes attached at the beginning or end?

• A. Derived words
• B. Roots
• C. Multi-word units
• D. Passive knowledge

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how new words are formed by attaching derivational morphemes to a base. When a root takes bound morphemes at the beginning or end, the result is a derived word—a new lexical item created by adding prefixes or suffixes that typically changes meaning or word class. For example, adding un- to happy gives unhappy, or adding -ness to happy gives happiness. These changes create a word with a new sense or function, which is exactly what derivation is about.

This differs from simply using the root with no affixes (which would be just the base word), from multi-word units (which are phrases rather than single words formed by affixation), and from passive knowledge (an awareness concept, not word formation). Inflectional endings (like -s for plural or -ed for past tense) also attach bound morphemes but don’t create a new word with a new meaning or class; the emphasis here is on the formation of new words through derivational affixes.