Assignment of Advanced English Grammar

Page 87

Exercises

Since we feel that it is often more important for you to provide your students with good
examples than with verbal definitions, we ask you to do exercises like the first one below
throughout the text.

Test your understanding of what has been presented.

1. Provide an original example sentence illustrating each of the following concepts:

Underline the pertinent word (s) in your example:

a. noun phrase

b. prepositional phrase

c. subject

d. predicate

e. adjective phrase

f. adverb modifying adjective

g. singular determiner

h. plural determiner

Answer:

a. The black cat jumped over the fence.

b. He walked along the beach during sunset.
c. Sheila is studying for her final exams.
d. The children played happily in the park.
e. The house had a beautiful garden in the backyard.
f. The cake tasted extremely delicious.
g. This book is on the bestseller list.
h. Many people attended the concert.

2. Draw partially specified tree diagrams for the sentence modifiers and subjects in the following
sentences, using the phrase structure rules given in this chapter:

a. The girls whispered.

b. Fortunately, his two brothers worked very quickly

c. Surely, next Monday is a holiday.

d. The very young child cried

e. The Medal of Freedom is the highest honor

Answer:

a. The girls whispered.

b. worked very quickly.

c. Surely, next Monday is a holiday.

 d. The very young child cried.

e. The Medal of Freedom is the highest honor.

Test your ability to apply what you know.

3. if your students produce the following, what rules of Standard English have they not
followed?

a. *The ink black stained his shirt

b. *John ran for shelter because was raining.

c. *Those woman are striking for peace.

Answer:

a. *The ink black stained his shirt

Error: Incorrect adjective order.
Explanation: The adjectives should follow a specific order in English. In this case, "black"
should come before "ink." Therefore, the correct sentence would be "The black ink stained his
shirt."
b. *John ran for shelter because was raining.
Error: Missing subject-verb agreement.
Explanation: The subject "John" and the verb "was" do not agree in number. It should be "it was"
to match the singular subject "it." Therefore, the correct sentence would be "John ran for shelter
because it was raining."
c. *Those woman are striking for peace.
Error: Incorrect plural form and subject-verb agreement.
Explanation: The plural form of "woman" is "women." Additionally, the verb "are" should be
used to agree with the plural subject "women." Therefore, the correct sentence would be "Those
women are striking for peace."
4. Distinguish between the following pairs by saying which is marked and which is unmarked,
and, with the marked order, say what might be the circumstances in which it is used.

a. My name is Alison Alison is my name.

b. Coffee I drink, but tea, I don't. I drink coffee, but I don't drink tea.

c. I live in a yellow house. I live in a house yellow like the sun.

Answer:

a. My name is Alison / Alison is my name.

The marked order is "Alison is my name." This order is less common and used for emphasis or
contrast. It might be used when the speaker wants to strongly emphasize or highlight the name
"Alison" or when they want to contrast it with other names or information.

b. Coffee I drink, but tea, I don't. / I drink coffee, but I don't drink tea.
The marked order is "Coffee I drink, but tea, I don't." This order deviates from the usual subject-
verb-object structure and is used for stylistic or poetic effect. It can create a sense of emphasis or
rhythm in the sentence. This structure is often used in literary or artistic contexts.

c. I live in a yellow house. / I live in a house yellow like the sun.

The marked order is "I live in a house yellow like the sun." This order places the adjective
"yellow" after the noun "house," which is less common in standard English. It is used to vividly
describe the color of the house and create a more poetic or descriptive effect. This structure is
often used in creative writing or when the speaker wants to paint a vivid picture with their words.

5. Using these three words, illustrate all possible word order typologies. Say which typology (eg,
SOV) each order fillustrates.

chocolate likes everyone

Answer:

1. Chocolate likes everyone.

Typology: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)

2. Likes everyone chocolate.

Typology: Verb-Subject-Object (VSO)

3. Everyone likes chocolate.

Typology: Subject-Object-Verb (SOV)

4. Likes chocolate everyone.

Typology: Verb-Object-Subject (VOS)

5. Everyone chocolate likes.

Typology: Object-Subject-Verb (OSV)

6. Chocolate everyone likes.

Typology: Object-Verb-Subject (OVS)