María Hernandis Caballero

WL 694

Chapter 2

Exercise 2

a)

John – noun – semantic, functional, structural

and – conjunction - functional

Paul – noun – semantic, functional, structural

were – verb - structural

fighting – verb – semantic, structural

b)

John – noun – semantic, functional, structural

gave – verb – semantic, structural

Paul – noun – semantic, functional, structural

a – determiner - structural

black – adjective – semantic, structural

eye – noun – semantic, functional, structural

c)

The – determiner - structural

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principal – noun – semantic, functional, structural

sent – verb – semantic, structural

them – pronoun – semantic, structural

to – preposition - structural

his – determiner, semantic, structural

office – noun – semantic, functional, structural

immediately – adverb, semantic, structural

Exercise 3

a) Declarative: My dog has fleas.

b) Interrogative: Are you rich?

c) Imperative: Go to your room.

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

types. For example:

a) Declarative: My dog has fleas.

b) Interrogative: Are you rich?

c) Imperative: Go to your room.

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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,

the rheme new.

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

plural ending should be attached as usual to the end of the word.

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").

Trustworthy would be the correct choice.

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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.

These are fixed lexical phrases.

c. Remodeling is questionable here since it is usually used in the context of houses, rooms,

or buildings, but not streets.

d. Firecrackers is the correct word, since "pyrotechnics" is referred to here. Although

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,

the first noun usually functions as a descriptor of the second noun.

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.

f. Solutions collocates with found, not met.

g. The correct preposition collocation for aware is of not to.

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h. By pure chante would be the more idiomatic lexical phrase, but fortune is a close

synonym of chance, making it marginally acceptable.

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

words also lend themselves well to mime to illustrate the differences.

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

but belongs to the same semantic field.

Chapter 4

Exercise 1

1. a. copula be Marina del Rey is an attractive harbor.

b. a copular verb other than be She seems nice enough.

c. an auxiliary function of be David was allowed to conduct research on the patients who

were in a coma.
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d. collective noun subject The committee is composed of three employers and

three employees. The committee are all against the bill.

e. noncount noun subject Oil floats on water.

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.

h. the nonintervention principle The discrepancy found in his pilot studies

was ascribed to a computer bug.

i. subject-verb agreement What we need to do is to choose a with a

clausal subject qualified director for the project.

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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(2) in informal sentences beginning with there; for example,

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

spelling and, phonetically, as the sound [z].

c. All English sentences have a copula before a predicate adjective phrase. In this case, the

first person singular verb am is needed.

d. Subject-verb agreement does not apply to modal auxiliaries. Delete -s on will.

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

sentence should be I am not tingly anymore.

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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.,

majority behaves like a collective noun).

Chapter 5

Exercise 1

a. noun phrase A short sharp knock is usually sufficient.

b. prepositional phrase The captain of the team is Ralph.

c. subject The student completed the work at home.

d. predicate The student completed the work at home.

e. adjective phrase The bashful little girl entered the room.

f. adverb modifying adjective A very little girl entered the room.

g. singular determiner This example is better.

h. plural determiner Several boys didn't come to class.

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

complete clause following because.

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

versus the one he does not 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

live in a yellow-like-the-sun house.

Chapter 6

Exercise 2
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Exercise 4

a. Verbs in sentences with modal auxiliaries are tenseless.

b. Perfect aspect consists of two components: a form of have and the past participle. The

have auxiliary is missing from this sentence.

c. Progressive aspect consists of two components: a form of be and the suffix -ing, which

should be attached to the main verb here: (jump —÷ jumping).

d. Put is a verb that requires an adverbial of location after the direct object. For example,

Sarah put the books on the table.

e. Adverbs of manner cannot precede direct objects in English; Lou speaks French fluently

is the correct order.

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

present or present progressive with future time adverbials (e.g., tomorrow).

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

verb of state (e.g. John is at home).

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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

place more emphasis on the prior nature of "finishing homework."

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

distinguishes it from the simple past:

*I did this since 1960.

I have done this since 1960.

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

still in New York and thus is unlikely to be asked of

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

ever (in his or her life) gone/been to Yankee Stadium.

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

hearing the music better now.

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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

contains a future time verb.

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

(has lived) should be used.

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

past more permanent.

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

has obtained and conveys the sense of an accomplishment.

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

repetitiveness of the state rather than reporting a current state.

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

intentionally playing it over and over.