SAMPLE TEST FORMAT

COURSE: ADVANCED ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Time Allotted: 60 minutes
I. Identifying sentence structures by underlining sentence elements and
note down their functions. (S,V,Oi,Od,Cs,Co,A) (5 sentences - 2ms)
Example: Computers/ are / fairly commonplace/ today.
S V Cs A
1. Having parked the car,/ we/ went/ into the theater.
………A………………S…V………O………………………
2. Mary’s screaming/ upset/ the entire family.
……S………………V…………O…………………………
3. I/ told/ him/ that I would telephone him the next day.
S…V…Oi………… A………………………………………
4. Some UK institutions/ offer/ a foundation course /to prepare international

S V O V

students/ before they go on to do a full undergraduate degree.

………………………………………A…………………

II. For each of the following ambiguous sentences, identify its two
different structures by means of sentence elements (S,V,Oi,Od,Cs,Co,A). (2
sentences-1m)

1. My mother has baked potatoes for dinner.

2. What John disliked was being ignored by everyone.

Frame for giving answers to Sentence 1:

The 1st structure is: My mother/ has baked/ potatoes/ for dinner.- SVOiOd
The 2nd structure is: My mother/ has/ baked potatoes /for dinner.- SVOA
Frame for giving answers to Sentence 2:
The 1st structure is: What John disliked/ was/ being ignored by everyone.- SVO
The 2nd structure is: What John disliked/ was being ignored/ by everyone.- SVA
Write sentences as guided. (5 sentences-2ms)
Example: [non-finite clause] is really interesting.

Watching documentaries is really interesting.

1
3. [finite clause] surprised us all.
…The thing that he did …………………………………………………
4. Everybody knew [finite clause].
……………………who he was………………………

2
III. Analyse the following sentences by means of Descriptive Linguistics
(3 marks)
E.g. I’m glad that my mother made me take piano lessons when I was a
child. M 1 : I’m glad
S 1 : that my mother made me take piano lessons: noun clause, complement of
“glad”
S.1.1 : when I was a child: adverbial clause, modifying ‘made’.
1. Often a customer struggling to decide which of two items is best ends up not
buying either, so in order to avoid a situation where a customer decides not to
buy either product, a third “decoy” item, which is not quite as good as the
other two, is placed beside them to make the choice easier and more
pleasurable.
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………

2. We may give them some precision by defining them and placing them in a
context but whatever we do we should never delude ourselves into believing
that gifted children are different from the rest of humanity.
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………

IV. Combining sets of simple sentences into complex/compound complex

sentences. (2 sets of sentences – 2ms)
1. Environmentalists have hope. Perhaps more communities will recycle
newspaper and glass. Many citizens refuse to participate.
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………

2. You are doing a long essay or research paper. It involves the use of library
books or other articles. Keeping details of the tittles and authors on small
cards in a card box may help.
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………

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