The term bound bases refers to:

• A. Roots that can stand alone
• B. Roots that cannot stand alone and must attach to other morphemes
• C. Prefixes only
• D. Suffixes only

Answer: (B)

Bound bases are morphemes that cannot stand alone and must attach to other morphemes to form a word. This is why the best description is roots that cannot stand alone and must attach to other morphemes. Think of ceive in receive or cept in concept—these pieces carry meaning but aren’t words by themselves; they need a prefix, suffix, or another morpheme to create a complete word. Prefixes and suffixes are affixes, not bases, which is why they don’t fit as bound bases. Free morphemes, like book or dog, can stand alone, but bound bases cannot.