Language level 2: Grammar

Question 1

What is morphology

Answer 1

• study of word formation

Question 2

What is syntax

Answer 2

• study of how words form larger structures e.g. phrases, clauses and sentences

Question 3

What is prescriptive

Answer 3

• an approach to language study that focuses on rules and notions of correctness

Question 4

What is a root

Answer 4

• a morpheme that can stand on its own and can usually form a word in its own right

Question 5

What is a suffix and what effect can it have

Answer 5

• a morpheme that comes after a root word to modify its meaning
• they can change the intensity e.g. turning it into a superlative and the tense of the word

Question 6

What is a prefix and what effect can it have

Answer 6

• a morpheme that goes before a root word to modify it meaning
• has a relation with semantics

Question 7

What is an affix and infix

Answer 7

• overall term for an addition to a root (a prefix or suffix) to modify its meaning or create a new word
• an affix inserted inside a root word to create a new word/ modify the meaning e.g. abso-blooming-lutely

Question 8

What is an inflectional function

Answer 8

• way an affix shows a grammatical category e.g. verb tense or a plural noun e.g. -ed

Question 9

What is a derivational function

Answer 9

• way that an affix helps form a new word by attaching itself to a root

Question 10

What is a noun phrase

Answer 10

• a group of words built around a noun

Question 11

What is a verb phrase

Answer 11

• group of words built around a head (main) verb

Question 12

What is a head word

Answer 12

• the main noun in the phrase

Question 13

What is qualifier

Answer 13

• an additional word or phrase that adds some further detail to the noun e.g. rather, a great deal etc

Question 14

What is a post-modifier

Answer 14

• a word that comes after the head noun to add detail or clarify some aspect of it

Question 15

What is a primary auxiliary verb

Answer 15

• an auxiliary verb that joins w/ a main verb to show tense e.g. be, have etc

Question 16

What is a modal auxiliary verb

Answer 16

• an auxiliary verb that joins w/ a main verb to show the degree of commitment towards an event or person that a speaker holds e.g. should, will, might and must

Question 17

what is the role of the ‘subject’ of the clause

Answer 17

• is usually a noun phrase
• acts as the key focus of the clause and is often the focus of a relational verb process or the agent of a material verb process

Question 18

what is the role of the ‘object’ of the clause

Answer 18

• usually a noun phrase

- identifies the entity being acted on by the action of a verb process

Question 19

what is the role of the ‘complement’ of the clause

Answer 19

• is the attribute of a subject in a relational verb process

- it completes the information about the given expression

Question 20

what is the role of the ‘adverbial’ of the clause

Answer 20

• usually an adverb or prepositional phrase

- identifies the circumstance of a verb process in terms of time, place or manner

Question 21

what is a clause

Answer 21

• groups of words centred around a verb phrase

Question 22

what is coordination

Answer 22

• the joining of two clauses that give them equal weighting

Question 23

what is subordination

Answer 23

• the joining of two clauses that gives the main clauses more weight that the other subordinating clause(s)

Question 24

what is an adverbial clause

Answer 24

• a subordinate clause that functions as an adverbial

- it also adds meaning to a clause by telling us when, why, where something happened

Question 25

what is a noun clause

Answer 25

• a subordinate clause that functions as a subject, object or complement

Question 26

what is active voice

Answer 26

• the agent in subject position for prominence (verb phrase in present or past tense)

Question 27

what is passive voice

Answer 27

• an agent is omitted or placed later in the clause using a prepositional phrase
• verb phrase changes to a form of to be + participle form (verb toot +en/ed)

Question 28

What is an orthographic sentence

Answer 28

• a ‘sentence’ marked by a capital letter and full stop, but containing no verb e.g. Bump bump. Pause.

Question 29

what are the different phrases

Answer 29

• noun phrases
• verb phrases
• prepositional phrases
• adverb phrases
• adjective phrase

Question 30

what makes a noun phrase and extended noun phrase

Answer 30

• if it has more than one adjective

Question 31

analyse the phrases in “The black Labrador was chewing a juicy bone very noisily in the yard.

Answer 31

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘓𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳 -- noun phrase
𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 -- verb phrase
𝘢 𝘫𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦 -- noun phrase
𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 -- adverbial phrase
𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘥  -- prepositional phrase

Question 32

What is a pre-modifier

Answer 32

• a word that goes before the head noun to add detail or clarify some aspect of it

Question 33

Analyse the phrases : “British grass snakes may appear rather dangerous.”

Answer 33

𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 – noun phrase
𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳 – verb phrase
𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 – adjective phrase

Question 34

how to identify different phrases

Answer 34

• phrase are USUALLY named after their most important word - which always comes at the end
• EXCEPT for prepositional phrases AND post-modifying noun phrases

Question 35

Analyse the phrase “These large sugary doughnuts filled with jam and cream are really fattening.”

Answer 35

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮– noun phrase with a pre and post-modifier (verb ‘filled’ serving as an adjective)
𝘢𝘳𝘦 – verb phrase
𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 – adjective phrases

Question 36

what is an elliptical clause

Answer 36

• where part of the clause is left out, but it’s meaning can clearly be understood e.g. Laurell finished her research sooner than Olivia 𝐝𝐢𝐝

Question 37

what is an evaluative adjective

Answer 37

• adjectives that measure or express how the speaker or writer feels about the noun
• it gives an opinion or attitude e.g. the pretty egg

Question 38

what is the subject, object, verb, complement and adverbial in the sentence: Eriksson made Michael Owen captain only this morning

Answer 38

Subject: Eriksson 
Verb: made 
Object: Michael Owen
Complement: captain 
Adverbial: only this morning

Question 39

difference between a direct and indirect object

Answer 39

• direct object: he, person or thing directly affected by the action expressed by the verb e.g. i sipped my tea
• indirect object: the person for whose benefit or disadvantage the action was carried out e.g. Alex gave Smith his papers

Question 40

what is the subject, object, verb and adverbial in the sentence: ‘He felt her forehead for a temperature.’

Answer 40

Subject: He
Verb: felt
Object: her forehead
A: for a temperature

Question 41

what is a compound-complex/ multi clausal sentence

Answer 41

• a combination of at least two independent clauses and a dependent clause (they tend to be very long sentences

Question 42

passive voice can be used in texts when:

Answer 42

• the receiver is more important than the doer
• the doer is unknown/ unimportant or obvious
• scientific or legal writing
• to create suspense
• to leave things unclear

Question 43

disjunction/ disjuncts

Answer 43

a coordinate construction uses disjunctive conjunction usually “or” or “either/or”to indicate a contrast
- items on either side of the disjunctive conjunction are called disjuncts