SYNTAX 2 TEST

1.Provide examples of:

a. A sentence with a light verb – She is taking a shower.

b. A sentence with an adverbial of means – Amy always travels by bus.

c. A sentence with a pseudopassive construction – These pants fold easily.

d. A sentence with a resulting conjuct – He didn’t wake up on time. As a result, he was late for the
meeting.

e. A sentence with a mandative subjunctive – I insist that you leave the room immediately.

f. An active sentence with a patient subject – The book is on the table.

g. An NP with subject genitive – Jane Austen’s novels are exciting.

h. An NP with a postmodifying ed- clause - She played all morning.

i. An NP with a nominal premodifier – My mom bought me two pencil cases.

2. Give clear and brief answers to the following questions.

a. How can the copula verb appear be ambigious? Give two examples.

- 3. What modality does the verb shall express? Give an example.

- The verb shall expresses deontic modality (relating to obligation duty). e.g. The woman shall pay fine.

4. Which adjectives cannot be graded i.e. have comparative and superlative forms? Provide examples.

- Non-gradable adjectives cannot be graded i.e. cannot be used with grading adverbs. e.g She is
dead(/deader/the deadest) for two years now.

5. What does might express in If you want you might come to see us?

- In this sentence “might” expresses epistemic modality.

6. What is the syntactic characteristic of Here comes the teacher?

- Locative inversion with here.

7.What is to in:

a) I want to stay in school- In this sentence “to” expresses the speaker’s wish.

b) I went to school- In this sentence “to” is used as a preposition to indicate location.

8. What is the pragmatic function of tag questions?

- To seek affirmation of the propostion contained in the statement and they are used at the end of that
statement.

9. What is the discourse function of the definite article?

- We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe the listener/reader knows exactly what
we are referring to.

10. What kind of construction is there- construction and what is it used for?

- It is used to point or introduce something new in the discourse. It has no location or meaning and it
functions as a subject.

11. What semantic type of adverb (or adverbial) is used in the following sentences? First underline the
adverb.

a. Brian completely ignored her request. – Adverb of manner

b. I only asked you a simple question. – Adverb of maner

c. Sam was somewhat annoyed by her remarks. – Adverb of means.

d. The manager wants to see her tomorrow. – Adverb of point or boundary in time

e. She moves with great elegance. – Adverb of means

f. Their jokes drove Mary to tears – Adverb of result

12. Explain why these sentences are wrong.

1. *This is the husband of Alice’s. – In this sentence the possessive genitive should be used after
“husband” and the definite article should be omitted because husband is a countable noun. – This is
Alice’s husband.

2.* The house is standing on a hill. – In this sentence the Present progressive should not be used as it is
used for actions or events that are reccuring in the present, instead the present simple should be used.
The house stands on a hill.

3.* I gave her it. – The word order of the sentence is incorrect, also the prepostiton “to” should be used.
I gave it to her.

4.*He can goes home. – The verb “goes” should not be used with the modal “can” as it expresses ability
so the verb should be used in its primary form. He can go home.

5.*The soup is smelling nice. – The specific marker “this” should be used and the present simple for the
verb smell instead of the –ing participle. The verb is should be omitted. This soup smells nice.