Download EN1113 English grammar - study questions

ENGLISH GRAMMAR EN1113 Study questions
Andreas Nordin
Nouns
1. What is an uncountable noun? Give an example of such a noun.
2. Explain what is meant by zero plural and give one example.
3. Give one example of a noun that is always plural and has a plural -s.
4. Give one example of a noun that is always plural but has no plural -s.
5. Explain why the indefinite article is used in the following sentences.
a) A whale can be dangerous to small boats.
b) She is a teacher.
6. Explain why the definite article is used or not used in the underlined parts in the following
sentences.
a) The tiger (= the species) is a dangerous animal.
b) Butter has gone up.
c) She was born in the Netherlands.
d) Times have changed.
Verbs
1. What tenses are used in the following sentences?
a) She never said that.
b) I have done nothing wrong.
c) He gets up early every morning.
d) They had never seen anything like it.
e) She will contact you.
f) He said he would contact me tomorrow.
g) When you get this letter I will have left for England.
2. Why is the continuous (progressive) form used here?
She’s working on a solution to the problem.
3. Why must the simple form be used here?
The economy remains fragile.
4. Explain the choice of verb form (the underlined parts) to express future time in the sentences below.
What is the form called? (will, be going to, etc)
a) Joanne’s coming back tomorrow.
b) When I give the signal, turn off the light.
c) If you help me, I’ll help you.
d) It’s going to rain very soon.
e) The train leaves at 13:45.
f) The volcano will erupt any day now.
3. When are passives typically used? [Unit 24]
Adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions
1. Are the underlined words adjectives or adverbs? Explain by saying what clause elements (‘satsdelar’)
they are and, if relevant, what they modify. (NB! No points awarded without explanations.)
a) You should work harder.
b) It seems likely that interest rates will increase.
c) This is a likely scenario.
d) I’d like to come here more often.
e) This is a most interesting theory.
Pronouns
1. What functions of it and there are illustrated below?
a) It was Jane who paid for the meal yesterday.
b) It’s nice to be home again.
c) It is over 200 miles from London to Manchester.
d) There must be some explanation for his strange behaviour.
2. Answer the questions about relative pronouns below. Take the following into account in your
answer:
•
•
•
•
type of antecedent (personal, non-personal, whole clause),
type of clause (restrictive, non-restrictive),
(if relevant) syntactic function of the relative pronoun in the relative clause (subject, object
genitive, etc.),
any other relevant information.
a) The relative pronoun that can only be used in one of the following sentences. Which?
1. These are the keys ... open the front and back door.
2. I gave him an envelope, ... he put in his pocket at once.
b) In which sentence can the relative pronoun who be replaced by whom? Circle the correct number (1, 2
or 3).
1. Peter, who is my eldest brother, is a carpenter.
2. The man who has robbed you has been arrested.
3. She was engaged to a sailor who she had met the year before.
Explain why whom can be used?
c) Which relative pronoun must be used in the following sentence and why?
I saw a girl ... beauty took my breath away.
d) The relative pronoun in the following sentence cannot be replaced. Why?
He’s always really rude, which is why people tend to avoid him.
e) The relative pronoun in the following sentence cannot be replaced. Why?
This is the room in which I was born.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR EN1113 Study questions K E Y
Andreas Nordin
Nouns
1. A noun that only occurs in the singular, e.g. money, furniture, advice, progress.
2. The plural is identical to the singular: sheep-sheep, series-series, species-species.
3. trousers, pyjamas, scissors, glasses, tongs
4. people, police, cattle
5. a) generic reference
b) used in a Complement (‘predikatsfyllnad’) to denote a profession
6. a) countable noun in the singular, generic reference
b) uncountable noun, generic reference
c) proper noun (‘egennamn’) in the plural
d) countable noun in the plural, generic reference
Verbs
1. a) past tense
b) present perfect
c) present tense
d) past perfect
e) future
f) future in the past
g) future perfect
2. Something in progress.
3. A state.
4. a) present progressive; used with a verb of movement
b) simple present; used in a temporal clause (time clause)
c) simple present; used in a conditional clause
d) be going to; about something in the near future
e) simple present; used in a main clause about something that will take place according to a
timetable
f) will + infinitive; neutral future
3. We prefer the passive when the agent is not known, is ‘people in general’, is unimportant, is
obvious. See further Unit 24 in Hewings, Advanced Grammar in Use.
Adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions
1. a) adverb; clause element: Adverbial
b) adjective; clause elememt: Complement
c) adjective; clause element: premodifier of noun
d) adverb; clause element: premodifier of adverb
e) adverb; clause element: premodifier of adjective
Pronouns
1. a) emphatic construction (to emphasize something or contrast it with something else)
b) preparatory Subject (‘formellt subjekt’) when the postponed (“real”) Subject is a clause
c) empty it (also called impersonal it)
d) preparatory Subject (‘formellt subjekt’) when the postponed (“real”) Subject is a Noun Phrase
2. a) In sentence 1, where the relative clause is restrictive (obligatory).
b) In sentence 3, where the relative pronoun is the Object in the relative clause.
c) whose; genitive
d) The antecedent is a whole clause (“He’s always really rude”).
e) The relative pronoun is used after a preposition.