Which morphemes are first to appear in Brown's stage 2?

Which morphemes are first to appear in Brown's stage 2?

• A. past irregular (went) and possessive (-'s)
• B. present progressive (-ing) and preposition: on/in
• C. contractable auxiliary
• D. articles (the, a, an)

Answer: (B)

In Stage II, children begin moving beyond two-word combinations to start marking small but important grammatical ideas, especially bound morphemes and basic locations. The present progressive -ing is one of the first bound morphemes they acquire, signaling ongoing action, and they also begin using simple prepositions like in and on to describe location. Together, these reflect early grammar development that marks tense aspect and spatial relation, which is exactly what Brown identified as emerging in this stage. The other morphemes listed tend to come later: irregular past forms like went appear after Stage II, as do contractions and more complex auxiliary forms, and articles the/thean appear even later as the child's noun phrase structure broadens. So pairing -ing with in/on captures the earliest, foundational grammatical steps in Brown’s Stage II.

In Stage II, children begin moving beyond two-word combinations to start marking small but important grammatical ideas, especially bound morphemes and basic locations. The present progressive -ing is one of the first bound morphemes they acquire, signaling ongoing action, and they also begin using simple prepositions like in and on to describe location. Together, these reflect early grammar development that marks tense aspect and spatial relation, which is exactly what Brown identified as emerging in this stage. The other morphemes listed tend to come later: irregular past forms like went appear after Stage II, as do contractions and more complex auxiliary forms, and articles the/thean appear even later as the child's noun phrase structure broadens. So pairing -ing with in/on captures the earliest, foundational grammatical steps in Brown’s Stage II.