Editing Clitic (section)

===Comparison with words===
Similar to the discussion above, clitics must be distinguishable from words. Linguists have proposed a number of tests to differentiate between the two categories. Some tests, specifically, are based upon the understanding that when comparing the two, clitics resemble affixes, while words resemble syntactic phrases. Clitics and words resemble different categories, in the sense that they share certain properties. Six such tests are described below. These are not the only ways to differentiate between words and clitics.<ref name="zwicky">Zwicky, Arnold M. "Clitics and Particles." Language 61.2 (1985): 283–305. Print.</ref>

*If a morpheme is bound to a word and can never occur in complete isolation, then it is likely a clitic. In contrast, a word is not bound and can appear on its own.
*If the addition of a morpheme to a word prevents further affixation, then it is likely a clitic.
*If a morpheme combines with single words to convey a further degree of meaning, then it is likely a clitic. A word combines with a group of words or phrases to denote further meaning.{{Contradictory inline|reason=Further above it is said that clitics work on the phrase level. The English possessive, for example, attaches to a complete phrase.|date=October 2014}}
*If a morpheme must be in a certain order with respect to other morphemes within the construction, then it is likely a clitic. Independent words enjoy free ordering with respect to other words, within the confines of the word order of the language.
*If a morpheme's allowable behavior is determined by one principle, it is likely a clitic. For example, "a" precedes indefinite nouns in English. Words can rarely be described with one such description.
*In general, words are more morphologically complex than clitics. Clitics are rarely composed of more than one morpheme.<ref name="zwicky" />