What types of suffixes are "s", "ed", and "ing" categorized as?

The suffixes "s," "ed," and "ing" are categorized as inflectional suffixes because they modify a word to convey grammatical information. Inflectional suffixes adjust the form of a word to express various grammatical features such as tense, number, mood, or case, without creating a new word altogether.

For example, adding "s" to the end of a noun indicates plurality, as in "dog" becoming "dogs." The suffix "ed" applies to verbs to indicate that an action has occurred in the past (e.g., "walk" becomes "walked"), while "ing" is used to create the present participle form of a verb (e.g., "run" changes to "running"). These transformations reflect changes in time or quantity, showcasing how inflectional suffixes function within grammatical structures.

In contrast, derivational suffixes would change a word's meaning and often its part of speech, such as "-ness" in "sadness." Compound and prefix suffixes do not accurately describe the function of "s," "ed," and "ing" since they pertain to word formation rather than grammatical modification.