Final Flashcards
Explain the difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar. Provide examples
Prescriptive grammar - the set of rules prescribed historically by grammarians that are considered correct, may or may not be relevant to actual usage
- ex. infinitives should not be split. “to boldly go where no one has gone.”
- Descriptive Grammar- describes actual language usage and how words are used in relation to each other.
- ex. you CAN actually end a sentence with a preposition.
- This, I shall not put up with. VS. Up with this I shall not put. (awkward)
Name the form class category of words, giving an example of each
Form class deals with part of speech
These are the large, open classes of words that provide the lexical content of the language: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Open Class- inflected morphemes . NAVA Noun- tree adjective- tall adverb- quickly verb- run
Name four of the structure class category of words, giving an example of each
determiners (signal nouns): a, an (particles)
Auxilaries (immediately connected with verbs, change the verbs meaning) : am, is, are, was, “was going to act” “are running late”
Qualifiers (signal adjectives and adverbs, alter their meanings) : very, quite
Preposition (placed before a noun phrase, shows location) : over, under
Explain the components of analysis of morphemes
Morphology
Morpheme- smallest unit of sound that carries meaning
Open classes refer to NAVA
A base morpheme is a stem (prefix, base, or suffix)
Open class NAVA have inflectional morphemes of which there are 8
Noun-
- –(s) Plural
- –(‘s) Possessive
Verbs-
- –(s) 3rd person present tense
- –(ed) past tense
- –(ing) continuous aspect
- –(en) perfect aspect
Adjectives/adverbs
- –(er) comparative
- –(est) superlative
Derivational suffixes- arbitrary because the meaning of the word isn’t fixed with the morpheme
ex. -able -ize
allomorphs are variations on morphemes
Explain what we mean by modal verbs give example
modals are auxiliaries that are added before a verb to alter the verb’s meaning. Modals convey likelihood or probability
“Would, could, should”
I could go. We should go.
Define Conjunction and name three kinds, provide an example of each
Words used to connect
Coordinating - fanboys
Correlative- pairs, always two
Subordinating- anytime you hook one on a clause, it makes it dependent. - “Because,” “after”
Name the tenses of english and provide an example of each
Past= He jumped
Present= He runs
No future tense.
Discuss inflectional morphemes thoroughly provide examples
Open class NAVA have inflectional morphemes of which there are 8
Noun-
- –(s) Plural
- –(‘s) Possessive
Verbs-
- –(s) 3rd person present tense
- –(ed) past tense
- –(ing) continuous aspect
- –(en) perfect aspect
Adjectives/adverbs
- –(er) comparative
- –(est) superlative
Explain the controversy concerning the lack of a third person singular gender neutral pronoun in the english language? what is the problem?
In english, in contexts where a person of unspecified or unknown (social) gender is being referred to in third person the only available pronouns (he or she) are gender-specific. it has more recently become accepted to say (they their). Yet, way back in biblical times, man could be referred to as (he)
Explain the difference between a noun and a nominal using examples to illustrate
the difference between nominal and noun is that nominal is a noun or word group that functions as a noun phrase
while noun is a word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea; one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including english.
a nominal is a related term of a noun
an example of a nominal- The nice old English police inspector who was sitting at the table
Explain how many linking verbs can also work as transitives
many linking verbs can be used as intransitive and transitive verbs. For example, let’s use the verb taste in multiple situations.
Linking—The water in Kansas tastes terrible.
Transitive—He tastes the soup
The only real way to know the difference between the verbs is to identify what is happening. If the verb is telling you the state of sensation or existence of a thing, it is a linking verb
Explain how a clause can occupy a direct object slot. provide an example
Some transitive verbs - unlike intransitive verbs - require a direct object - or a second nominal that completes the action of the verb. Consider the following examples with clauses as direct objects
He reported THE OUTCOME.
Explain what we mean by agentless passive and provide an example
Agentless passive is a common type of PASSIVE construction in English, in which the role of the AGENT is not represented, as in
Michael was mugged on his way home.
Here, the agents of the mugging, has been omitted
Explain how passive voice can be useful, and provide an example to illustrate
While active voice helps to create clear and direct sentences, sometimes writers find using an indirect expression is rhetorically effective in a given situation, so they choose passive voice.
Passive voice makes sense when the agent performing the action is obvious, unimportant, or unknown or when a writer wishes to postpone mentioning the agent until the last part of the sentence or to avoid mentioning the agent at all. The passive voice is effective in such circumstances because it highlights the action and what is acted upon rather than the agent performing the action.
ex. Research will be presented by NASA at the convention.
Explain the difference between an adjective and an adjectival and provide examples
Adjective refers to form, and denotes a single describing word like “green.” modify nouns
however, multiple word forms can have the function adjectival,
For example, the relative clause, “which were huge”
in the sentence “last week, two trees, which were huge, fell down.”
has an adjectival function
Explain the difference between an adverb and an adverbial
adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs and refers to a word’s form
Ex- the PORTLY woman.
Adverbial is a function of words or phrases that modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, does not specifically have to involve adverbs.
for example the prepositional phrase “for next winter” i
in the sentence, “there is plenty of wood for next winter.”
has an adverbial function
Explain what we mean by a cleft sentence and provide a detailed example
We use cleft sentences, especially in speaking, to connect what is already understood to what is new to the listener. In a cleft sentence, a single message is divided (cleft) into two clauses. This allows us to focus on the new information.
“It was Nina’s car that got broken into!”
is a cleft sentence as opposed to “Nina’s car got broken into
Name one usage rule that we studied and explain how it is adviable to follow. provide an example
The usage rule concerning YOLO with the misplaced modifier. Sends an unclear message as opposed to what most users would believe. The phrase as it is, essentially means all you do, once is live. It should be corrected to be you live only once.
Name one usage rule that is outmoded and explain why, provide examples
The distinction between further and farther. Further is used to convey figurative distance, where as actual physical direction and distance use farther. THe sentence “drive three miles further south and turn right.” technically should be farther. I believe this is outdated because generally when one uses either word, they provide enough information that makes the two interchangeable. A person still knew to drive three miles and turn right, no matter whether further or farther is used.
Explain what we mean by expletive subjects. using examples show how expletive subjects are sometimes useful, sometimes tedious.
Expletive subjects involve using expletives, empty words or structural operators that allow sentence manipulation as a sentence’s subject. Expletives include words such as, “there, that, as, if.” An example of an expletive subject can be found in the sentence, “that is a nice watch.” that becomes the sentence’s subject, putting the sentence’s stress in the predicate half. Expletive subjects can be useful in structurally modifying a sentence. For example, adding an expletive subject changes the sentence, “A fly is in my soup” to “There is a fly in my soup” which shifts the sentence without switching its meaning. Expletive subjects can be tedious because they move a sentence’s subject without changing its meaning. Essentially, the subject is drawn out and made longer, when often times it couldve been easier stated without the expletive.
Explain the three functions of THAT and provide an example of each
THAT can be used as a relative pronoun: for example
I bought the book that is required for this course.
THAT as a nominalizer makes a clause into a Direct Obejct, for example
He understood THAT he needed the key
THAT as an expletive is an empty word that adds no meaning to a sentence, for example
THAT is what we need to do, go swimming.
