Which of the following is an example of a bound morpheme?

• A. Ing
• B. Cat
• C. Table
• D. Beautiful

Answer: (A)

Bound morphemes are pieces of language that can’t stand on their own; they need to attach to a base word to carry meaning. The ending -ing is a classic example because it attaches to verbs to form present participles or gerunds, and by itself it has no independent meaning or function. You can’t say just “ing” as a word; it only works when attached to a verb like run → running or read → reading. That dependence on a base makes -ing a bound morpheme.

Free morphemes, like cat or table, can stand alone as words with independent meaning, which is why they’re not bound morphemes. As for a word like beautiful, it’s a complete word that includes bound morphemes within its structure, but the unit that itself qualifies as a bound morpheme is the affix -ing, not the whole word.