Tests

Language Systems Quiz

1. It is often said that there are 4 categories in language systems. What are they?
2. What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?
3. Which 3 questions should you ask yourself in describing a consonant sound?
4. What is the difference between anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric references?
5. What are homonomy and polysemy?
6. How would you define what modal auxiliary verbs do?
7. English is often described as a stress timed language. Think of 4 examples of the
impact that this can have in terms of features of connected speech.
8. What is the difference between locutionary meaning and illocutionary force?
9. What is the difference between style and register?
10. What is a tonic syllable?
11. What are reduced relative clauses?

Verb

1. a monotransitive verb a. He drove the car.

2. an intransitive verb b. He walked over the bridge.
3. a ditransitive verb c. She gave me the car.
4. the direct object d. She told me a lie.
5. the indirect object e. He burnt the rubbish.
6. a prepositional phrase f. He complained.

1. a monotransitive verb a. She could be late.

2. an intransitive verb b. They did not understand.
3. a ditransitive verb c. She ended up penniless.
4. a copula verb d. He spent the money.
5. a primary auxiliary verb e. She needed to explain things clearly.
6. a pure modal auxiliary f. She told the children a story.
7. a semi-modal auxiliary g. He arrived at the hotel.
8. an intransitive-transitive pairing h. He rose to his feet and raised a point of
information.

Verbs and tenses

1. Which of the following contains a present perfect progressive causative?

A. She has had someone repaint the house.
B. She has been having her eyes tested.
C.   She is letting them go home early.
D.   They have been running all morning.

2. Which of the following contains a future perfect progressive passive?

A.  The house might have been being repaired for months.
B.  The house has been being repaired for months.
C. The house will have been being repaired for months.
D.  The house will have been repaired for months.

3. How do you explain the plural verb form in: The group who did the work were proud of the
achievement.?
A. nearness agreement
B. disagreement
C.  notional concord
D. proximity concord

4. In the sentence: She appeared from out of nowhere. the verb is:
A.   intransitive
B.    copular
C.    transitive
D.    defective

5. In the sentence: Fishing with nets is not allowed here. the subject is:
A.   Fishing
B.    nets
C.    a finite verb phrase
D. a non-finite verb phrase with a prepositional phrase

6. Which of the following contains a transitive prepositional verb?

A.  I turned down the offer.
B.   I looked up the word in the encyclopaedia.
C.    She came down the path.
D.  I depended on his help.

7. Which of the following contains a phrasal verb with an adverb particle?

A.   I put the picture in the lounge.
B.    I put it to you that this is just an excuse.
C.   I put it over the fireplace .
D.  I put by the money.

8. The verb in:He couldn't put up with their noise any longer.is:
A.  ditransitive
B.  phrasal prepositional
C.  prepositional
D. Phrasal

9. The difference between these sentences: I was going to take a week off but there's too much to
do.and You were going to give me the money this week.is:
A.   None. They both express unfulfilled intention.
B.  the first expresses unfulfilled intention and the second polite suasion
C.   the first is a future in the past, the second is a true future
D.   the first expresses polite suasion and the second unfulfilled intention

10. Changing: He was banging the drum.to He was playing the piano.changes the:
A.    aspect from durative to iterative
B.    tense
C. aspect from iterative to progressive
D.    aspect from perfect to simple

11. Which of the following is imperfect?

A.  I lived there in the 70s.
B. I lived here for years.
 C. I have lived here for years.
D.  I have lived in America.

12. In the sentence: OK, I'm driving us home tomorrow, then.the verb is:
A.  a present form in the prospective aspect
B.    a future progressive aspect
C.    a future perfective
D.    a simple future

13. Which of the following contains a relational process verb?

A.   The house collapsed.
B.    I think that's the right house.
C.   Her house was sold.
D. The house belongs to his sister.

14. In: Mary ended up in prison. the verb ended up is:

A.   extensive
B.    stative
C. copular
D.    Dynamic

15. In the sentence: I will marry you only if you will stop seeing Mary. the word will signifies:
A.   futurity in both clauses
B. futurity in the first clause and volition in the second
C.   futurity in the second clause and volition in the first
D. volition in both clauses

Multi-word verbs
To see if you have understood the distinction between adverbs and prepositions, analyse the following
examples, identifying the bits which are adverbs and which are prepositions. 

He pulled off the trick.

He opened up to her about what was worrying him
They moved on to the next item on the agenda
She's has difficulty getting up these days
They complained about the service

Multi-word verbs

1.He backed her up.

A. Transitive phrasal verb

B.   Prepositional verb

2. He pulled off quite a coup.

A.  Transitive phrasal verb

B.   Prepositional verb

3. Call off the dogs.

A. Transitive phrasal verb

 B.     Prepositional verb

4. Don’t leave your name out.

A.   Transitive phrasal verb

B.    Prepositional verb

5. I won’t stand for it.

A. Transitive phrasal verb

B.    Prepositional verb

6.I can’t get over this cold.

A. Transitive phrasal verb

B.    Prepositional verb

7. He takes after her mother.

A.    Prepositional verb

B.  Transitive phrasal verb

8. I ran into Peter yesterday.

A.    Transitive phrasal verb

B.   Prepositional verb

9. He put the idea across well.

A. Transitive phrasal verb

B.   Prepositional verb

10. I’ll lay in a supply of wine.

A.   Transitive phrasal verb

B.  Prepositional verb

Hint: all you need to do is rephrase the object as a pronoun and see where it goes.  If it comes
between the verb and the particle, it's a separable, transitive phrasal verb.

Modality
1. In: I could speak French when I was a child.the verb could expresses:
A. epistemic modality
B.  dynamic modality
C.   likelihood
D. deontic modality
2. In: If he caught the right train, he should be there by now.the verb should expresses:
A.   contingency
B.   obligation
C. epistemic modality
D. deontic modality

3. In:A square must have four sides.the verb must expresses:

A.  obligation
B. alethic modality
C. deontic modality
D.  epistemic modality

4. In I suggested that he arrive before we start.the verb arrive is:

A.  optative
B. subjunctive
C.  imperative
D.  Indicative

5. In:She didn't dare swim with the sharks.the verb dare is functioning as:
A. a semi-modal auxiliary verb
B. a pure modal auxiliary verb
C.  a lexical verb
D.  a signal of deontic modality

6. In:She seems to be satisfied with the result. the verb seem is functioning as:
A. a marginal modal auxiliary verb
B.  a semi-modal auxiliary verb
C.   a signal of deontic modality
D.  a copular verb

7. In: You aren't supposed to take photographs here.the verb supposed expresses:

A.   intention
B. marginal meaning
C.  deontic modality
D.  epistemic modality

8. In: I wish it would stop snowing.the verb would expresses:

A. suasion
B.  the hortative
C.   epistemic modality
D.  the optative

9. In:There might be a scorpion under that rock. the verb might expresses:

A. likelihood
B.   certainty
C.   ability
D.   Obligation

10. In: Would you stop doing that, please?the verb would expresses:

A. conditionality
B.  ability
C.  volition
D.    Futurity
 11. In: As a matter of fact, it's your work which is faulty.the phrase as a matter of fact expresses:
A.  verifiability
B.  likelihood
C.  obligation
D. epistemic modality

12. In: This is a verifiable conclusion.the word verifiable is:

A. a deontic adjective
B.  an epistemic adjective
C. a modal adverb
D. an alethic adjective

13 In:The indisputability of the findings is clear.the word indisputability is:

A. a deontic noun
B.  an epistemic noun
C.  a modal adverbial
D. an alethic noun

14 In:I have authorised your expenses.the word authorised expresses:

A. alethic modality modality of truth, necessity, possibility, impossibility (a circle can’t be a square)
B.   epistemic modality
C. dynamic modality
D.  deontic modality (how the world should be according to norms, expectations, speaker desire

16. In: Mary will be in the garden at this time.the verb will expresses:

A. epistemic modality (speaker’s evaluation, judgement of the degree of confidence based on evidence)
B.   alethic modality
C.   dynamic modality
D.    deontic modality

Modality
1. It's my turn to pay, isn't it?
A. dynamic
B.  epistemic
C.  alethic
D.  Deontic

2. Or epistemic, esp. if the tone rises.You ought to telephone your mother. She'll be worried sick.
A. alethic
B.  dynamic
C.   deontic
D. epistemic

3. I really must get this toothache seen to.

A.   epistemic
B.  deontic
C.   alethic
D.   dynamic

4. Patently, that's false.

A. alethic
B. epistemic
C.  dynamic
D. deontic
5. Could I ask a question, please?
A.  epistemic
B.  alethic
C. dynamic
D.  deontic

6. He might be there already.

A.  dynamic
B. epistemic
C.  deontic
D.  alethic

7. Silence: Examination in Progress

A.   epistemic
B.   dynamic
C.   alethic
D.  Deontic

8. We have to arrive early to get a seat.

A.   dynamic
B. deontic
C.  epistemic
D.   alethic

9. If you would follow me, please.

A.   epistemic
B. alethic
C. dynamic
D. deontic

10. Pure modal auxiliary verbs cannot co-occur in English.

A.  epistemic
B. dynamic
C. alethic
D.  deontic

11. That can't be his mother; she's too young.

A. epistemic
B. alethic
C.  dynamic
D. deontic

12. May I enquire who you are?

A.  epistemic
B.  dynamic
C. alethic
D.  deontic

13. I'll cook, if you like.

A.  epistemic
B. deontic
C. dynamic
D. alethic

14. Could you speak French before you lived in Paris?

 A.  alethic
B.  epistemic
C. dynamic
D.  deontic

15. He seems to be getting old rather quickly.

A.  epistemic
B. dynamic
C. alethic
D.  deontic

Cohesion

1. ellipsis a. "Where's Fred?" "He's in the garden."

2. substitution b. We looked at lots of cars and vans but
3. pronoun reference all the vehicles were in poor conditions
4. lexical cohesion c. The hotel was strong
5. grammatical cohesion on cleanliness and comfort but
6. conjunction the food was poor and
the bedrooms badly furnished.
d. I went shopping yesterday, bought a
hat and then had lunch with Harry.
e. Although he's never been very rich,
he nevertheless always managed to run
a big car.
f. His car was expensive, his house
enormous and his life empty.

Lexis

1. Which of the following contains a dynamic adjective?

A.   The children are happy
B.   The children are obnoxious
C. The children are being disruptive
D.  The children are too young yet

2. In the sentence: She thought what I said was idiotic. The adjective modifies:
A.   the act of speaking
B.  the speaker
C. the clause what I said
D.  she

3. The word pane in:A pane of glassis:

A.  a general partitive
B. a typical partitive
C.  a restricted partitive
D.    a classifier

4. In the sentence: His house is now much more comfortable. we have:

A. an inflected superlative
B. a periphrastic comparative
C.  an inflected comparative
D.    a periphrastic superlative

5. In the word: unpleasantness we have:

A.   three bound morphemes
B.   three free morphemes
C.   two free and one bound morpheme
D. two bound and one free morpheme

6. Polysemy refers to:

A. the fact that a word or phrase can have a variety of related meanings
B.  the fact that some words look and sound the same but are unrelated and have different, unrelated
meanings
C.   the fact that some words only have one possible meaning
D.   the fact that some words are spelled the same but pronounced differently

7. The preposition in: be in danger is used:

A.   metaphorically
B.  as a pro-form
C.    independently of its meaning
D.   as a simile

8. In the sentence: Placing a particle of sodium in water results in the production of hydrogen.we have
a case:
A.   sentence nominalisation
B.   finite clausal nominalisation
C.  non-finite clausal nominalisation
D.   phrase nominalization

9. In the sentence: That's John, the boss. we have:

A. one hyponym and one superordinate
B.   two synonyms
C. one pre- and one post-modified noun
D.   two nouns in apposition

10. In the expression: half a loaf we have:

A.  two nouns and a determiner
B.  three nouns
C.  a noun, a determiner and a pre-determiner
D.  one noun, a predeterminer and a quantifier

11. In the sentence: To my surprise, she came on time.the prepositional phrase is acting as:
A. a disjunct
B. a place marker
C. a conjunct
D.  a preposition without its complement

12. In the word:transatlanticwe have:

A. a single morpheme
B.  a bound locative morpheme
C.  a derivational affix
D. a prefix of degree

13. The suffix –wards makes:

 A. an adverb from a noun
B.  a locative preposition
C.   a preposition from an adjective
D.    an adjective from a noun

14. We allow very frightened but not very enlarged because:

A. very cannot pre-modify adverbs
B.  very cannot pre-modify a adjectival participles
C.  very cannot pre-modify a verbs
D. very cannot pre-modify a verbal participles

15. The expression: He is the black sheep of the family cannot be understood by knowing the meanings
of the individual words. This is an example of:
A.  opacity
B.  non-compositionality
C.  compositionality
D.  Simile

Syntax

1. Which of the following contains a noun-phrase adjunct?

A.   The children played happily
B.   The man opened up to me
C. He walked over the bridge
D. They came last Tuesday

1. The main difference between an adjunct and a disjunct is that:

A.    adjuncts modify entire clauses
B.    disjuncts are connective
C.  adjuncts are integral to a clause
D.    disjuncts modify verb phrases

2. In the sentence: He is chiefly concerned with marketing rather than production.

we have:
A. a focusing adjunct
B.    an amplifier
C.    an intensifying adverbial
D.  a process adverbial

3. In the sentence: Speaking for myself, I don't think it's going to help much. the clause Speaking for
myself is:
A.    a style adjunct
B.   a conjunct
C.  an attitude disjunct
D. a style disjunct

4. In the text: It's expensive.  What's more, it is pretty poorly made. we have:
A.     a style adjunct
B.   an additive conjunct
C.     a reinforcing conjunct
D.   a style disjunct

5. The sentence: The hotel was what she enjoyed most. contains:
A.    an it-cleft
B.    an inferential cleft
C.    a wh-cleft
D.  a reversed wh-cleft

6. The sentence: I don't believe he's coming. is an example of:

A.   post-positioned negation
B.    transferred negation
C.   pro-form negation
D.  pre-posed negation

7. The question: What did she say? elicits:

A.  the object nominal clause
B.    the nominative noun phrase
C.    the subject nominal clause
D.    the adverbial phrase

8. The difference between these sentences: During the game, the window was broken. and
It was cold in the room because the window was broken. is:
A.    voice
B.    causative use of the verb be
C.  the first is a dynamic and the second a stative passive
D.    dynamic vs. stative verb use

9. Changing: That we have enough money to get a new one is lucky. To It's lucky that we have enough
money to get a new one. is an example of:
A.  a dummy it
B.   subordination
C.  fronting
D.  postponement or extrapositioning

10. In the sentence: Give me a lift and I'll buy you a drink later.the word and is acting as:
A.  an additive coordinating conjunction
B.    a coordinating conjunction
C.   an additive subordinating conjunction
D.   a subordinating conditional conjunction

11. In the sentence: Seeing that it's not my problem, I can ignore it. we have:
A.    a simple subordinating conjunction
B.  a compound subordinating conjunction
C.   a compound coordinating conjunction
D.   a correlative conjunction

12. In the sentence: The more you pay the better the service will be. we have:
A.   a correlative coordinating conjunction
B. a correlative subordinating conjunction
C.   an additive subordinating conjunction
D.    a compound subordinating conjunction

13. In: I will go presuming I have the time. the word presuming is:

A.    a conditional coordinating conjunction
B.    a concessive coordinating conjunction
C.  a concessive subordinating conjunction
D.    an adversative subordinating conjunction

14. In the sentence: The cobra is a dangerous animal. the article signifies:
 A.    specific reference
B.    indefinite specific reference
C.  generic reference
D.    definite specific reference

Style, register

 
a. register
b. dialect
c. sociolect
d. accent
e. consultative style
f. idiolect
g. style

1. variation based on topic

2. typical of client-supplier relationships
3. variation based on region
4. personal variety
5. variation based on social class
6. variation in pronunciation
7. variation based on appropriate formality

Syllabus area 3 Language systems and learners’ linguistic problems

Language use varies in two main ways. What are they?

Explain, with an example, what is meant by consultative style.

What other styles have been identified by Joos and where do they occur?

Define 'genre' in relation to English language teaching. Give two examples of genre.

What is the relationship between theme and rheme? Exemplify what you mean.

What is meant by text staging? Give an example.

What do you understand by canonical word order? Give an example of English and one other language.

Explain the difference between a derivational and an inflexional suffix with an example of each.

What is a syntactical error? Give two examples.

What is a lexical error? Give two examples.

What is a register error? Give two examples.

What is a stylistic error? Give two examples.