What is the smallest unit of language that contains meaning?

• A. Morphemes
• B. Morphology
• C. Plot Pyramid
• D. Choral Reading

Answer: (A)

The concept here is the unit of language that carries meaning. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning or grammatical function in a language. Words can be built from one or more morphemes. For example, the word cats includes two morphemes: cat (the root with its core meaning) and s (the plural marker that changes the meaning to indicate more than one). Another example is unhappiness, which breaks down into un- (a prefix), happy (the root), and -ness (a suffix)—together they convey the idea of a state related to not being happy. That’s why morphemes are the best answer: they are the smallest meaningful pieces used to construct words.

Morphology is the study of how words are formed and structured, not a unit of meaning itself. Plot Pyramid is a chart of story structure, and Choral Reading is a classroom technique for practicing reading aloud.