Module 5 Syntax Vocabulary Practice

Question 1

Syntax

Answer 1

The rules concerned with the study of a sentence; the study of how words and phrases are arranged to form grammatically correct sentences.

Question 2

Grammar

Answer 2

The complete system of phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic information and rules that speakers of a given language possess.

Question 3

Systematic Structure

Answer 3

The organized and patterned way in which language elements (like sounds, words, or sentences) relate to each other within a language, forming a network of choices and potions that allow for meaningful communication, where each element has a defined position and function within the overall system.

Question 4

Constituents

Answer 4

A word or group of words that functions as a unit within a sentence.

Question 5

Phrases

Answer 5

Any word or group of words that play a particular role within the syntactic structure of a sentence.

Question 6

Pronominalisation

Answer 6

The substitution of a constituent by a pronoun.

Question 7

Pro-form

Answer 7

A word or expression that replaces another word, phrase, clause, or sentence.

Question 8

Wh-pronoun

Answer 8

Interrogative pronouns that start with the letters “wh”

Question 9

Movement

Answer 9

A process that describes the displacement of constituents from their original positions in a sentence.

Question 10

Coordination Test

Answer 10

A structural analysis test that joins two elements into one such as with a word like and or but.

Question 11

Gapping

Answer 11

A type of ellipsis that occurs in the non-initial conjunctions of coordinate structures.

Question 12

Sentence-Fragment Test

Answer 12

A way to determine if a group of words is a complete sentence by asking if it has a subject, a verb, and expresses a complete idea.

Question 13

Structural Ambiguity

Answer 13

When a sentence or phrase has multiple possible interpretations due to the way words are organized.

Question 14

Head

Answer 14

The word or words that determine the phrase’s syntactic category and grammatical properties.

Question 15

Syntactic Categories

Answer 15

Groups of words that share similar syntactic properties such as word order and how they occur together; parts of speech.

Question 16

Determiners

Answer 16

A word that modifies a noun by clarifying what it refers to, it’s quantity, or its ownership.

Question 17

Phrase Structure Rules

Answer 17

A set of formal guidelines that describe the syntactic structure of a sentence by outlining how phrases and their constituents are organized.

Question 18

Subordinate Clauses

Answer 18

A clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence; it merely complements a sentence’s main clause, thereby adding to the whole unit of meaning; also referred to as a dependent clause.

Question 19

Predicate

Answer 19

The grammatical term for the words in a sentence or clause that describe the action but not the subject; explains what the subject does.

Question 20

Subject-Verb Agreement

Answer 20

A grammatical rule that requires the verb to match the number of its subject.

Question 21

Transitive Verbs

Answer 21

A verb that requires a direct object, which is a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that follows the verb and indicates the person or thing that receives the action of the verb.

Question 22

Intransitive Verbs

Answer 22

A verb that doesn’t need a direct object, which is a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that follows the verb, to complete its meaning.

Question 23

Ditransitive

Answer 23

A transitive verb whose contextual use corresponds to a subject and two objects which refer to a theme and a recipient.

Question 24

Complement

Answer 24

A word, phrase, or clause that is required to complete the meaning of a given sentence, part of a sentence, or expression.

Question 25

Predicative Complements

Answer 25

A word or phrase that provides information about a noun or pronoun in a sentence, and completes the meaning of the sentence.

Question 26

Adverbial

Answer 26

A word or group of words that modifies a verb, adjective, adverb, or clause; can change the meaning of the verb they modify.

Question 27

Direct Object

Answer 27

The person or thing that directly receives the action or affect of the verb; an entity that undergoes the action or process denoted by the verb.

Question 28

Indirect Object

Answer 28

A noun phrase referring to someone or something that is affected by the action of a transitive verb, but it not the primary object; the recipient or the beneficiary of the event denoted by the verb.

Question 29

Transitive Verbs

Answer 29

A verb that requires a direct object to complete the sentence’s meaning; verbs that need an object.

Question 30

Intransitive Verbs

Answer 30

A verb that doesn’t require a direct object to make sense; verbs that cannot take an object

Question 31

Case Form

Answer 31

Forms that mark the grammatical function of noun phrases in a sentence or phrase; grammatical categories that indicate how a word is used in a sentence.

Question 32

Clause

Answer 32

A group of words that contains a subject and a verb that are related in some way; a syntactic unit that consists minimally of a verb phrase and its subject.

Question 33

Sentences

Answer 33

The largest syntactic units and are made up of one or more clauses; a group of words that expresses a complete thought and follows grammatical rules.

Question 34

Noun Phrases

Answer 34

A group of words that functions like a noun in a sentence; phrases headed by a noun.

Question 35

Diction

Answer 35

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Question 36

Misplaced Modifier

Answer 36

A phrase or clause placed awkwardly in a sentence so that it appears to modify or refer to an unintended word; a word, phrase, or clause that is separated from the word it describes, creating confusion and ambiguity.

Question 37

Sentence Fragment

Answer 37

A word, phrase, or clause that usually has in speech the intonation of a sentence but lacks the grammatical structure usually found in the sentences of formal and especially written composition.

Question 38

Run-On Sentence

Answer 38

A grammatical error that occurs when two or more independent clauses are joined without proper punctuation or conjunctions.

Question 39

Subordinate Clause

Answer 39

A clause, typically introduced by a conjunction, that forms part of and is dependent on a main clause; a clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

Question 40

Word-Class Membership

Answer 40

The categorization of words into groups based on their grammatical properties.