ACTIVITY 2

A - Underline and label the S (subject), V(verb) and O(object) elements:

1 He kicked the ball. S (He) / V (kicked) / O (the ball)
2 I hate tennis. S (I) / V (hate) / O (tennis)

3 Hand over the money. S (-) / V (hand over) / O (the money)

4 Can I help you? S (I) / V (help) / O (you)
5 He crashed his brand-new Porsche. S (He) / V (crashed) / O (his brand-new Porshe)
6 Don't you understand plain English? S (You) / V (understand) / O (plain English)
7 I understand the whys and wherefores. S (I) / V (understand) / O (the whys and
wherefores)
8 We're planning a fairly casual thing with plenty of wine. S (We) / V (are planning) / O
(a fairly casual thing with plenty of wine.)
9 They've chosen apples, oranges, grapes and melons. S(They) / V (have chosen) / O
(apples, oranges, grapes and melons.)
10 Your 'devil may care' attitude has undermined my confidence. S (Your ‘devil may
care’ attitude / V (has undermined) / O (my confidence)

B – Analyse the following child utterances at clause and phrase level, describing
errors when there are any.

1. Big one. (The big one)

We must use the definite article before nouns preceded by adjectives.

2. Quite nice.

3. A big red flower.

4. Make it dry.

5. That a big boat. (That is a big boat.)

The demonstrative pronoun That (singular) always comes with the verb “is” when
showing an element in singular sentences.

6. He go fast. (He goes fastly.)

Sentence with the subject (He), the personal pronoun in the third person singular,
requires the inflection of verbs in the simple present tense. For the verbs ending with
O, add the suffix ES.

The sentence structure show the way he goes. So is necessary the adverb “fastly”.

7. Did Hester be fast asleep, mummy? (Did Hester asleep fast, mummy?)
This question is in the simple past tense, which is shown by the use of the auxiliary
DID. According to the rule, the verb “asleep” must come right after the subject. The
verb “be” has no function in this structure, so it should be removed.

8. Can our do it again? (Can we do it again?)

The modal verb CAN shows a request for permission. Thus, it is correct to use a
personal pronoun (we)

9. Why are me so healthy? (Why am I so healthy?)

Using the verb “are” (plural) and the pronoun “me” (singular) is incorrect. Here, the
question uses the first person singular, and the correct verb form is AM I.

10. What a skinny snake can wiggle really fast?

What can a skinny snake wiggle really fast?

The modal verb CAN always comes before the subject in questions.