HANOI UNIVERSITY

HANU-UC MTESOL
STUDY OF LANGUAGE
PROGRESS TEST 2
Time allowance: 60 minutes
Name: ……………………………………
Date of birth: ……………………………………

Question 1: Prove that the underlined word group in each sentence below is a constituent by applying at
least one constituency test. (2.0 points)

1. The children wondered how physical signatures can be obtained.

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2. I thought Mike bought that book with his pocket money.

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3. It is a problem that Linda failed in the final exam.

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4. The ballet dancer was supremely beautiful.

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Question 2: For each of the sentences below, draw a tree to show how the sentence is analyzed in
framework of generative syntax. (2.5 points)

1. That Trump lost the election shocked his supporters.

2. He asked me whether I liked it.

3. What should I do now?

4. It is good for you to get some healthy exercise every day.

(Hint: Assume that for is a complementizer, and to belongs to the T category)

5. For her to have survived the car accident was remarkable.

Question 3: Explain what William Labov meant when he wrote this in the book Sociolinguistics (1997,
published by Palgrave Macmillan):

“I have resisted the term sociolinguistics for many years, since it implies that there can be a successful
linguistic theory or practice which is not social.”

Write no more than 100 words. (1.5 points)

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Question 4: Which of the following statements are true? (1.0 points)

1. tennis is a hyponym of sport.

2. pea and vegetable are co-hyponyms.

3. husband and wife make up a complementary pair.

4. plant is a hypernym of tree.

5. stalk (part of a plant) and stalk (harass a person) are homonyms.

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Question 5: Explain each of the following concepts in no more than 50 words. (2.0 points)

1. creole

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2. isogloss

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3. poverty of the stimulus

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4. Universal grammar

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Question 6: Are the following grammar rules prescriptive or descriptive? How important are they in
linguistics? (1.0 points)

- Do not end a sentence with a preposition.

- Do not use hopefully as a sentence adverb.

- Use singular inclusive pronouns to refer back to indefinite pronouns such as everyone (e.g.,
“Everyone should mind his or her manners”).

- Use regardless of instead of irregardless of.

- Double negatives are not allowed.

- Never use ain’t.

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