Final

Question 1

Explain the difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar. Provide examples

Answer 1

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)

Question 2

Name the form class category of words, giving an example of each

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Name four of the structure class category of words, giving an example of each

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Explain the components of analysis of morphemes

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Explain what we mean by modal verbs give example

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Define Conjunction and name three kinds, provide an example of each

Answer 6

Words used to connect

Coordinating - fanboys

Correlative- pairs, always two

Subordinating- anytime you hook one on a clause, it makes it dependent. - “Because,” “after”

Question 7

Name the tenses of english and provide an example of each

Answer 7

Past= He jumped

Present= He runs

No future tense.

Question 8

Discuss inflectional morphemes thoroughly provide examples

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Explain the controversy concerning the lack of a third person singular gender neutral pronoun in the english language? what is the problem?

Answer 9

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)

Question 10

Explain the difference between a noun and a nominal using examples to illustrate

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Explain how many linking verbs can also work as transitives

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Explain how a clause can occupy a direct object slot. provide an example

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Explain what we mean by agentless passive and provide an example

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Explain how passive voice can be useful, and provide an example to illustrate

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Explain the difference between an adjective and an adjectival and provide examples

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Explain the difference between an adverb and an adverbial

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Explain what we mean by a cleft sentence and provide a detailed example

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Name one usage rule that we studied and explain how it is adviable to follow. provide an example

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Name one usage rule that is outmoded and explain why, provide examples

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Explain what we mean by expletive subjects. using examples show how expletive subjects are sometimes useful, sometimes tedious.

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Explain the three functions of THAT and provide an example of each

Answer 21

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.