Which describes the part -ly in fervently

Question

it is a prefix
it is a free morpheme
it is a base word
it is a bound morpheme

Answer 1

The part "-ly" in the word "fervently" is a bound morpheme.

To clarify:

• A prefix is added to the beginning of a word, and "-ly" is a suffix (added to the end).
• A free morpheme can stand alone as a word, while "-ly" cannot stand alone.
• A base word is a word that can stand alone; "fervent" would be the base word in this case.

Thus, "-ly" is indeed a bound morpheme as it must attach to another morpheme (in this case, "fervent") to convey meaning.