Homayoon Heidari

15 December 2023
Student number: 40213130321206

Mid-term exam (Second Draft)

(rewritten sections are highlighted in red)

1. Consider the following sentence: “If we didn't have to go to university tomorrow, we

would stay up all night."
 Is the relationship between tense and time in counterfactuals one-to-one?
Explain with reformulation.
Answer:
No, the relationship is not strictly one to one. in counter factual statements the tense is often
shifted to portray how the statement is contrary to reality. In the example sentence the past tense
"didn't have to go" suggests a hypothetical scenario in the present, but the conditional "we would
stay up all night" expresses the hypothetical consequence in the future.
if we removed the hypothetical element from the statement, it would look something like this:
"we don't have to go to university tomorrow, we can stay up all night."

2. Compare and contrast gerunds with regular single-word nouns with examples.
Answer:
a. Swimming (gerund)/Pool (noun)
b. Reading (gerund)/Book (noun)
c. Writing (gerund)/Pen (noun)
Comparing: Both gerunds and regular nouns can function as subjects or objects in a sentence.
"Swimming is enjoyable." "I love the pool."/ Adjectives can modify both gerunds and nouns.
"Her passionate swimming impressed me." "The old book is valuable."/ Both can exist in
singular or plural forms. "Running is good for health." "Shoes are essential for running."
Contrasting: Gerunds emphasize the process, whereas nouns highlight specific items./ Gerunds
also include “ing” but single-word nouns don’t.
3. Why do we need relative clauses?
a. When can a relative pronoun be deleted in a non-restrictive clause?
Answer:
if we had infinite words to describe every possible adjective, not only would language
structure be ruined and compromised, but it would also be impossible to memorize, since
humans are limited-capacity learners. which is why we have things like relative clauses to
help us with that. ultimately grammatical structures are far more important than words.

In non-restrictive clauses, the relative pronoun provides additional, non-essential information

about the noun it refers to. Deleting the relative pronoun in a non-restrictive clause is more
common in informal English, and it doesn't affect the core meaning of the sentence.

4. Write a paragraph-long passage of about 200 words on the following topic

coherently: Things you wish you hadn't done but you adamantly did as a friend, or
a student.

Answer:
I am currently a student in Mazandaran university and have left the school part of my life
behind me to move on and progress in life. But I often think back on those days and wonder
if I’d if still be here if I could go back and correct some mistakes. I wish I hadn't stressed and
worried so much about simple class exams back in the sixth grade, my life would still be the
same regardless of their outcome, it just wasted a significant portion of my childhood. I wish
I hadn't gotten so mixed up in friend groups that would fall apart immediately after school, I
gave every friend the benefit of the doubt but none of them really cared about me as much as
I cared about them. But most importantly and my biggest regret to this day is wasting my
time in science major knowing I could easily get accepted in English and would be far
happier in that field. I wasted a year of my life. studying subjects I hated instead of following
my passion, just for a potentially bigger paycheck. I had to go back to English anyway since I
couldn’t make it in science. All of that hard work was for nothing. Today as an adult and
with a lot more responsibilities on my shoulders I try not to repeat those old mistakes, but
sometimes I worry about them too much and that keeps me awake at night.