Which morphemes characterize Brown's stage 3?

Which morphemes characterize Brown's stage 3?

• A. past irregular (went), possessive (-'s), uncontractable copula
• B. present progressive (-ing), prepositions on/in
• C. articles, past regular
• D. contractable copula, 3rd person

Answer: (A)

In Brown’s morpheme acquisition sequence, stage 3 is when children start using some of the first true tense and possessive markers, and they begin using the copula “be” in its full, uncontracted form. The trio highlighted here—irregular past tense such as “went,” possessive -'s, and the uncontractible copula—is characteristic because it shows the child moving beyond simple present forms and basic word order to mark who did what and who owns what, while still not using contracted forms. Irregular past tense shows memory for specific verb forms, possessive -'s marks ownership, and the uncontractible copula reflects the early use of the be-verb in sentences like “That is a dog” without contraction. The other options mix morphemes from earlier or later stages (such as the present progressive and prepositions, or articles and contracted forms), so they don’t align with stage 3 as reliably.

In Brown’s morpheme acquisition sequence, stage 3 is when children start using some of the first true tense and possessive markers, and they begin using the copula “be” in its full, uncontracted form. The trio highlighted here—irregular past tense such as “went,” possessive -'s, and the uncontractible copula—is characteristic because it shows the child moving beyond simple present forms and basic word order to mark who did what and who owns what, while still not using contracted forms. Irregular past tense shows memory for specific verb forms, possessive -'s marks ownership, and the uncontractible copula reflects the early use of the be-verb in sentences like “That is a dog” without contraction. The other options mix morphemes from earlier or later stages (such as the present progressive and prepositions, or articles and contracted forms), so they don’t align with stage 3 as reliably.