What are inflections
When the tone of voice is changed, attenuating or raising it, an inflection occurs. In the specific field of grammar , meanwhile, an inflection or flexion is an alteration of certain voices that implies a change in the vowel of the root or in the termination to encode certain contents. Inflections examples
In other semantic unit of a text. In other words, in linguistics the concept of inflection is defined as the change that words go through through constituent morphemes according to the categorical or grammatical meaning to denote their various functions in the context of a sentence , as well as their relations of concordance or dependence with other words or elements of the sentence.
The morpheme is the smallest fragment with the ability to express a meaning and modify that of a lexeme by joining it. The lexeme, meanwhile, is an element that has a referential meaning, that is, when combined with a word produces an idea that the speaker can understand.
Traditional grammar recognizes more than one name for inflections, depending on the kind of words to which they apply. On the one hand we have verbal inflection , which is also known as conjugation . The nominal inflection , meanwhile, also called declination ; In Indo-European languages (the largest family of languages, in which almost all of those spoken in Europe and South Asia are found), this is usually applied to adjectives, nouns and pronouns.
When the morpheme is added at the root of the word, the so-called radical inflection occurs , while the theme takes place when added to the topic. Every segment that is added to indicate an inflection accident is known as disinfection . Inflections examples
Example Inflections
- base word: fox
- inflection (plural): foxes
- base word: run
- inflection (present participle) running
Inflection for Number (Nouns)
Nouns are one part of speech that change with inflection.
Nouns change to show number—singular or plural.
A singular noun includes just one noun. A plural noun includes more than one of that noun.
Sometimes, adding “-s” creates the inflection to make a plural noun.
Examples singular/plural with “-s:”
- goat/goats
- table/tables
- tree/trees
- girl/girls
Sometimes, adding “-es” creates the inflection to make a plural noun.
Examples singular/plural with “-es:”
- fox/foxes
- wish/wishes
- potato/potatoes
- bus/buses
Sometimes, the ending is dropped to add “-ies” to make a plural noun. This occurs when the last letter of the base singular form is a “y.”
Examples singular/plural with “-ies”
- city/cities
- berry/berries
- fairy/fairies
- daisy/daisies
Sometimes, the inflection is irregular to make a plural noun.
Examples for singular/plural irregular plurals:
- sheep/sheep
- mouse/mice
- moose/moose
- criterion/criteria
- analysis/analyses
Inflection for Tense (Verbs)
In verbs, inflection occurs to show changes in verb tense.
Present Tense
For the present tense, an “-s” or “-es” is added to the base form of the regular verb in the third-person singular to show inflection. Inflections examples
Example with “to dream:”
- I dream.
- You dream. (singular/plural)
- He/she/it dreams.
- We dream.
- They dream.
Example with “to do:”
- I do.
- You do. (singular/plural)
- He/she/it does.
- We do.
- They do.
Past Tense
For the past tense, an “-d” or “-ed” is added to the base form of the regular verb in order to show inflection
Example with “to breathe:”
- I breathed.
- You breathed. (singular/plural)
- He/she/it breathed.
- We breathed.
- They breathed.
Example with “to jump:”
- I jumped.
- You jumped. (singular/plural)
- He/she/it jumped.
- We jumped.
- They jumped.
Future Tense
For future tense, the base form of the verb does not change, but the word will is included.
Example with “to eat:”
- I will eat.
- You will eat. (singular/plural)
- He/she/it will eat.
- We will eat.
- They will eat.
Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs have various changes in tenses for inflection. There is no set pattern. However, here are a couple examples.
With “to go” past tense:
- I went.
- You went. (singular/plural)
- He/She/It went.
- We went.
- They went.
With “to be” present tense:
- I am.
- You are. (singular/plural)
- He/She/It is.
- We are.
- They are.
Inflection for Comparison (Adjectives)
Adjectives change for inflection to show differences in comparative and superlative forms.
To compare, an “-er” ending is added to adjectives (or the word may change altogether as with “good”).
Comparative examples:
- Base adjective: good
- Comparative adjective: better
- Base adjective: small
- Comparative adjective: smaller
- Base adjective: high
- Comparative adjective: higher
For superlative forms, an “-est” is added to adjectives (or the word may change altogether as with “good”).
- Base adjective: good
- Superlative adjective: best
- Base adjective: small
- Superlative adjective: smallest
- Base adjective: high
- Superlative adjective: highest
Summary: What is Inflection in English?
Define inflection: the definition of inflection is the way in which words alter their endings to show case, number, gender, etc.
In summary, an inflection:
- is a change in the base form of a word
- affects nouns, adjectives, and verbs
shows different grammatical meaning of words
