TSL 612 - Grammar Exercises 1-7
TSL 612 - Grammar Exercises 1-7
WL 694
Chapter 2
Exercise 2
a)
b)
a – determiner - structural
c)
to – preposition - structural
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
A pragmatic function (for example, request) does not always correspond to a particular sentence
type because there are many different linguistic means of performing a pragmantic function with
varying levels of politeness, formality, directeness, and so on, which utilize different sentence
Exercise 6
The theme is less important than the rheme in terms of its information-bearing status: the theme
only identifies what the sentence will be about, while the rheme contains what the speaker wants
to say about the theme and thus carries more information. Also, the theme contains old information,
Chapter 3
Exercise 2
a. syntactic
b. semantic
c. syntactic
d. The plural ending has been attached to the part of the compound word that can be a noun
on its own (break). Once a compound is formed, it should be treated as a single unit; thus, the
e. An adjective from the verb trust has been generated by attaching the suffix -ful. While -ful
is an adjectival suffix that can be used with trust, it is inappropriate in this context. Adjectives with
the suffix -fid usually mean that the noun described by the adjective is the agent associated with
the verb that forms the base of the adjective. However, in this example, the noun described (friend)
would be the object in the intended meaning (i.e., "can be trusted," rather than "trusts").
f. This is an attempt to create a new noun from favorite in a sentence structure where
preference would be the correct choice. Although favoritism is a correct noun form, it carries a
strong negative connotation and belongs to a different semantic field (concerning the treatment of
humans).
Exercise 3
a. Information is a mass noun in English and therefore does not take the plural -s or the
determiner many.
b. From my point of view is the usual idiom. However, in my opinion may also be used.
c. Remodeling is questionable here since it is usually used in the context of houses, rooms,
crackelfires follows the rules of compounding, it is not a word in English. If there were such a
word, it might refer to fires made by people burning crackers, since for noun/noun compounds,
e. The student may have been trying to form a verb from the noun passion. The only verb
that can be so formed is impassioned, which may be too strong for the context. Fascinated may
be a better choice (and may have been intended but phonologically confused). Rephrasing is
another alternative: Photography has been a passion of mine since I was a child.
h. By pure chante would be the more idiomatic lexical phrase, but fortune is a close
Exercise 4
These verbs are all in the same semantic field but have distinct differences in their exact
meanings. For example, look is more intentional than see, which can be nonvolitional. Look also
differs grammatically since it co-occurs with the preposition at. Watch implies some duration;
stare also does, but often with a negative connotation. A simplified semantic feature analysis in
the form of a chart would be useful to summarize the differences for students. These particular
Exercise 5
Pretty is polysemous, and therefore students need to know that this same word can have different
meanings in different contexts. While pretty is often used in the semantic field of beauty, it can
also be used as an intensifier with words like soon, quickly, or good. It is not as strong as very
Chapter 4
Exercise 1
c. an auxiliary function of be David was allowed to conduct research on the patients who
were in a coma.
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f. third person singular present inflection Fiona likes Philip to walk her home.
g. the proximity principle Either Tom or you are to sign this contract.
Exercise 2
(1) Unlike other non-copular verbs in English, the copula be may be followed by adjective
phrases. (2) Copula be behaves differently from all other verbs in question formation and
negation in that it behaves like an auxiliary verb and does not require the use of a do auxiliary.
Exercise 4
The traditional subject-verb agreement rule is often not maintained in the following cases:
(1) the neither . . . nor construction with personal pronouns; for example,
Neither you nor she were (rather than was) supposed to contact them.
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There is (rather than are) a desk and two chairs in the room.
Exercise 5
a. Be often poses difficulties because it is an irregular verb. The form arc is used to agree with
both singular and plural second person pronoun subjects in English and thus should be used here.
b. There should be subject-verb agreement in the present tense with a third person singular
subject. In this example, the third person singular present tense morpheme is realized as -es in
c. All English sentences have a copula before a predicate adjective phrase. In this case, the
e. Only third person singular subjects agree overtly with present tense verbs. In this
example, the subject is third person plural and thus does not take -s.
f. In negative sentences the copula be eliminates the need for the auxiliary do. Thus this
Exercise 9
Since majority refers back to "the students," most English speakers would probably choose the
second option, which views the students as individuals. However, if the speaker/writer views the
students as a unified whole (the student body), then the first version is also acceptable (i.e.,
Chapter 5
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
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Exercise 3
a. The order of the noun and the adjective has been reversed. It should be 'black ink' not 'ink
black.'
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b. After the conjunction because, a complete clause or a prepositional phrase (such as of the
min) is required. In the absence of a preposition, a subject (such as it) is needed to make a
c. The plural determiner those can precede only a plural noun, and the verb also has a plural
inflection; therefore, the noun woman should be in the plural form, women.
Exercise 4
a. My name is Alison is unmarked. The marked version Alison is my name could be used to
correct what someone else just said, Alison is my name, not Alice.
b. I drink coffee, but I don't drink tea is unmarked. The marked order Coffee I drink, but tea, I
don't could be use to state in strong contrastive terms the beverage that the speaker does drink
c. I live in a yellow house is unmarked. The marked word order in I live in a house yellow like
the sun allows for an expansion of the adjective phrase to describe the house's shade of yellow
somewhat poetically. Note that *I live in a house yellow would not be acceptable. Nor would "I
Chapter 6
Exercise 2
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Exercise 4
b. Perfect aspect consists of two components: a form of have and the past participle. The
c. Progressive aspect consists of two components: a form of be and the suffix -ing, which
d. Put is a verb that requires an adverbial of location after the direct object. For example,
e. Adverbs of manner cannot precede direct objects in English; Lou speaks French fluently
f. Modal verbs cannot be inflected for tense; Megan can speak Arabic is the correct form.
Exercise 5
5. Both learners need to learn that the progressive has two parts: be + -ing. The required
form of be precedes the verb, and the -ing is attached to the next verb in the sentence. Learner (a)
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needs to have the use of be emphasized, and learner (b) needs to have the use of the -ing suffix
emphasized.
Exercise 6
English can, of course, express future time, but has no "future tense" in the structural sense since
verbs are not inflected in English for future as they are for present (-s or zero) and past (-ed).
English has a number of ways to express the future, including will, be going to, and the simple
Exercise 7
The -en inflection for the past participle occurs with many highly frequent verbs (e.g. seen,
written, given, spoken, etc.). Thus a native speaker might misspeak and use -en to form a past
participle on an irregular verb that doesn't actually take the -en form but forms the past participle
another way.
Exercise 9
The locative noun home as well as some other locative nouns like uptown, downtown, and
overseas are not preceded by a preposition when they follow a verb of motion or direction such
as go, walk, drive, etc. Such nouns may, however, take a preposition when they occur after a
Chapter 7
Exercise 2
. No. Both sentences have the same orderiug of events. The use of before makes the order
explicit without necessitating the use of The past perfect. It is in the absence of such clear
temporal markers that the past perfect becomes essential to express the order. Used here, it does
Exercise 3
The use of since implies that something started at a definite time in the past and has continued
until now. This notion of such duration is what the present perfect expresses and is what
5.
Exercise 4
a. The first sentence with the present perfect talks about an experience that was completed, but
the second one with the present perfect progressive implies that the action of reading is still an
ongoing process.
b. The present tense here is used for a permanent situation—that is, this is Stan's permanent
job—while the sentence with present progressive suggests that Stan is doing the job only on a
temporary basis.
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c. The question in the past tense is a definite query and requires some shared knowledge of
the timeline on which the event in the question occurred. For example, such a question could be
asked of somebody who was speaking about the time when they were in New York.
The second question uses the present perfect of the same verb (go) and could thus be assumed to
be the indefinite equivalent of the same question without presuming shared knowledge.
However, go behaves irregularly in this respect; in fact, the appropriate indefinite question would
be Have you been to...? In contrast, the question Have you gone to...? implies that the person is
the person who may have gone. Compare the following sentences, which could appear in written
notes:
I've gone to the mall. (I haven't returned yet; I am still there) I've been to the mall. (I went and
returned)
In another interpretation of Have you gone/been...?, one can also be asking if the addressee has
Exercise 5
a. Present perfect is incompatible with a specific past time adverbial like last Saturday, which
should go with the past tense since it reports a specific action at a specific time in the past.
b. Stative verbs do not normally take the progressive unless the verb implies agency on the
part of the subject, such as in You're being a fool, or a gradual change of state, such as I'm
c. This sentence sounds strange because will expresses future intention at the moment of
speaking. In this case, the speaker has.no control over the action. The use of be going to would
be correct since it refers to an imminent action related to the evidence available at the present
time.
d. Even though it may not seem logical, the present tense is conventionally required (i.e.,
When Lam, comes . . .) in subordinate clauses of time or condition when the main clause
e. It is difficult to know what the student intended here, but in any case, the intransitive verb
live has incorrectly been used in a passive construction (was lived). The correct structure
depends on the meaning intended: if Phyllis is still living with her parents, the present perfect
If Phyllis no longer lives with her parents, the past progressive (was living) or the simple past
(lived) could be used; the past progressive would make it sound more temporary and the simple
Exercise 9
In the first example, the two forms both express the meaning of surviving or overcoming. In the
second example, has got signals stative possession (=has), whereas in the third, has gotten means
Exercise 10
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The first sentence uses the stative verb hear and thus implies that the perception of the melody is
not the result of any action on the part of the person but something that has been happening to
the person involuntarily. For example, it may be a popular melody that is playing on every radio
and in every store. The unusual use of the present progressive with a stative verb emphasizes the
The verb listen is the active counterpart of hear and thus implies that the person has made a point
of listening
to the melody repeatedly—that is, has taken some action so as to hear it. For example, the person
may have bought a new CD, or may have been studying the melody, and for this reason is