Download Advanced Grammar 2012 : grammar knowledge quiz Below you will

Advanced Grammar 2012 : grammar knowledge quiz
Below you will find 12 grammar questions. Some relate to basic grammar, others to more complex topics.
Try to answer the questions with your partner(s) and note the grammar topic in the column on the left.
Grammar topic
e.g. My office is in the IFC that is the tallest building in Hong Kong.
Correct the sentence and explain why it is wrong.
My office is in the IFC, which is the tallest building in Hong Kong.
1
Seeing you’re in a hurry, we’ll leave the figures till Thursday.
This is an example of a noun clause / a participle clause / continuous gerund
2
Food prices have been risen a lot recently.
Correct the sentence and explain why it is wrong.
3
Not until I saw it myself did I realize how beautiful it was
How would you say this in simple English? Why is it written in this way?
4
If he caught the six o’clock, he’ll be here by nine.
Does this sentence need correcting? What grammar point is it?
5
I would if I could but I can’t.
Something is ‘missing’ here. What is it? What do we call this?
6
There aren’t quite as many men as women in the class today.
Is this statement true or false? How could you say it in a more simple way?
7
A dark and tall man was standing in reception.
Correct this sentence and explain the error.
8
Lilly’s had to go to China on urgent business. It means we’ll have to postpone
our meeting.
Correct this sentence and explain the error.
9
All of us couldn’t understand a word the teacher was saying.
Correct this sentence and explain the error.
10
She’s joined the company since she left school.
Correct this sentence and explain the error.
11
When I had my bath, I went for a short walk.
There is a word missing here. What is it?
12
My brother is still at school.
My brother is still at the school.
What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?
relative
clauses
Answers
Grammar topic
1
Seeing you’re in a hurry, we’ll leave the figures till Thursday.
This is an example of a noun clause / a participle clause / continuous gerund
2
Food prices have risen a lot recently.
Correct the sentence and explain why it is wrong. Rise is an intransitive verb
and cannot be used to form the passive voice.
Intransitive
verbs / passive
voice, page 60.
3
Not until I saw it myself did I realize how beautiful it was
How would you say this in simple English? Why is it written in this way?
I didn’t realize how beautiful it was until I saw it myself.
Putting the adverbial (until I saw it myself) at the beginning adds emphasis
Focus
structures:
fronting and
inversion . Page
216.
4
If he caught the six o’clock, he’ll be here by nine.
Does this sentence need correcting? What grammar point is it?
No corrections needed. Conditional sentences.
Conditionals,
page 188.
5
I would if I could but I can’t.
Something is ‘missing’ here. What is it? What do we call this?
The main verbs are missing. When we leave words out, we call this ellipsis.
Ellipsis, page
106.
6
There aren’t quite as many men as women in the class today.
Is this statement true or false? How could you say it in a more simple way?
It means there are slightly more women than men in the class.
Equatives. Page
120.
7
A dark and tall man was standing in reception.
Correct this sentence and explain the error.
A tall dark man was standing in reception. When adjectives are put before a
noun there is no ‘and’. When adjectives are listed after a noun, ‘and’ goes
before the final adjective.
Adjectives. Page
112.
8
Lilly’s had to go to China on urgent business. It means we’ll have to postpone
Demonstrative
our meeting.
pronouns.
Correct this sentence and explain the error.
Chapter 8.
This means we’ll have to postpone our meeting. When a pronoun is used to
represent a whole situation and follows directly from the situation, we normally
use ‘this’.
9
All of us couldn’t understand a word the teacher was saying.
Correct this sentence and explain the error.
None of us could understand a word the teacher was saying. We don’t use ‘all’
with a negative; we use ‘none’ instead.
Quantifiers.
Chapter 7.
10
She’s joined the company since she left school.
Correct this sentence and explain the error.
Present perfect
tense. Pages, 18,
She’s worked for the company since she left school. Here the present perfect
shows a situation that continues up until now. The verb that continues is
‘work’, not ‘join’.
22 and 23.
11
When I had my bath, I went for a short walk.
There is a word missing here. What is it?
When I had had my bath, I went for a short walk. The past perfect is needed
with this longer action (have a bath) to show that it is complete.
Time clauses.
Pages 198 –
199.
12
My brother is still at school.
My brother is still at the school.
What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?
‘Still at school’ refers to school as an institution where you learn; ‘ still at the
school’ refers to a school as a specific building.
Articles. Page
72.