English Grammar Analysis – Discussion Questions

1. Look at the following paragraph. How many nouns are there? (Do not count repetitions.)
“Nouns are an open word class; new nouns are being devised almost every
day, it seems. A recent example is chocoholic. Nouns are by far the most
numerous word class; they also tend to make up more of a text than other
open word classes.”

2. The genitive is sometimes said to be equivalent to postmodification of a noun with an ‘of’ phrase
(genitive - relating to or denoting a case of nouns and pronouns indicating possession or close
association): the man’s death (genitive) vs the death of the man (‘of’ phrase)
Can we say “the car of John”, “John’s car”, “the start of the day”, “the day’s start”?

3. Can the word ‘staff’ be a count noun? Is it possible to say ‘a staff’?

4. Identify the adverbs in these sentences:

a) Have they arrived yet?
b) Even my mother likes her slightly.
c) He’s not quite ready.
d) I was only looking at it.

5. Match the following sentences with the meanings of ‘for’:

- 1.support/2.purpose/3.cause/4.period of time/5.benefit /6.representing/7.occupation
a) I did it for her.
b) He was fined for speeding.
c) They’re for the government.
d) He’s the Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire.
e) She writes for a magazine.
f) Knives are for cutting.
g) We stayed for a week.

6. Can you guess which verb has the most forms? Can you list the forms and label them?

7. “You should use ‘any’ in negatives and questions and ‘some’ in positive sentences.” Is it true?
Can you think of exceptions?