Deck 7: Grammar and Sentence Structure

Question 1

Grammatical terms necessary for __________________.

A) for understanding parts of speech
B) for explaining why a sentence is not well formed
C) for explaining how a sentence works
D) B and C

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following does a sentence need?

A) Subject and adjective
B) Subject and predicate
C) Subject and phrase
D) Subject and noun

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What is the simple subject in the following sentence? The school choir was singing at the performance.

A) school
B) choir
C) performance
D) singing

Answer 3

B

Question 4

How many main verbs can a sentence have?

A) One
B) No more than two
C) More than one
D) No more than three

Question 5

Will talk is an example of which verb tense?

A) Simple present
B) Simple future
C) Future continuous
D) Future perfect

Question 6

What is aspect in terms of grammar?

A) A reference to time
B) A verb ending
C) An indication of whether an action is completed
D) A group of verb tenses

Question 7

Of the twelve verb tenses, how many are commonly used?

A) 4
B) 6
C) 8
D) 10

Question 8

Which tense is used most often in essay writing?

A) Simple present
B) Present continuous
C) Future continuous
D) Present perfect

Question 9

I am working is an example of what verb tense?

A) Future perfect continuous
B) Present perfect continuous
C) Simple present
D) Present continuous

Question 10

Which of the following is the correct use of the continuous tense?

A) I'm liking the other wine.
B) He is tasting the wine.
C) The wine is tasting sour.
D) We are wanting to clean the wine glass.

Question 11

The continuous tense usually does not involve which types of verbs?

A) Verbs that describe cognition
B) Verbs that describe emotional states
C) Verbs that describe perception
D) All of the above

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of a perfect tense?

A) We ate the rest of the chicken
B) We have finished the assignment
C) We isolated the gene responsible for that trait
D) All of the above

Question 13

The simple past tense is used __________________.

A) to describe uncomplicated actions that happened previously
B) to describe something that began in the past but is still true today
C) to describe completed actions that happened at a defined time in the past
D) to describe a situation where one action happened before another

Question 14

Adverbs such as ever and never often signal the use of which tense?

A) Present perfect
B) Simple past
C) Past perfect
D) None of the above

Question 15

Which tenses should be used sparingly in essay?

A) Past
B) Present
C) Future
D) None of the above

Question 16

Which of the following uses the correct form of the main verb with auxiliary verbs?

A) I do not speak French
B) He can French
C) He can speak French fluently
D) A and C

Question 17

Which of the following is written in the passive voice?

A) She was elected chair of the board.
B) As they slept, the storm hit.
C) She sometimes studies calculus.
D) The zookeeper shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart.

Question 18

Which of the following is not the role of a modal verb?

A) Express ability
B) Show permission
C) Express politeness
D) All of the above

Question 19

When is a verb said to be in the passive voice?

A) When the subject does the action of the verb
B) When the subject is only mentioned after the verb
C) When the sentence has the subject acted upon
D) When the sentence has more than one subject

Question 20

Which of the following sentences appears in passive voice?

A) They committed to writing the report.
B) The report will be written next week.
C) The committee wrote the report.
D) The reporters committed to writing.

Question 21

What is a noun that a pronoun stands in for called?

A) Adjective
B) Antagonist
C) Antecedent
D) Alliteration

Question 22

What is the subject in the following sentence? There are many types of fish in that lake.

A) fish
B) lake
C) many
D) types

Question 23

Which of the following words requires an apostrophe to indicate possession?

A) Horses
B) Boxes
C) CDs
D) None of the above

Question 24

Use an s ending and apostrophe when __________________.

A) writing about more than one thing with an s ending
B) indicating the third person singular form of the verb
C) writing about something belonging to someone
D) using a contraction of a verb and pronoun

Question 25

What word is the conjunction in the following sentence? They spent hours on the problem, yet they could not solve it.

A) The
B) Yet
C) Could
D) Not

Question 26

What type of conjunction can be used in formal essay writing?

A) Subordinating
B) Subjecting
C) Cooperating
D) Coordinating

Question 27

Which of the following does not use parallel structure?

A) She added celery, carrots, potatoes, and beets, and then she seasoned the soup.
B) She added celery, carrots, potatoes, beets, and then seasoned the soup.
C) She added celery, carrots, potatoes, beets, and seasonings.
D) All of the above

Question 28

However is what type of word?

A) Conjunction
B) Transitive verb
C) Conjunctive adverb
D) Gerund

Question 29

Which of the following is not a sentence fragment?

A) It is a problem, as he does not know the correct procedure.
B) Which is a problem because he does not know the correct procedure.
C) Because he did not know the correct procedure.
D) Not knowing the correct procedure.

Question 30

How do you fix a run-on sentence?

A) Add a conjunctive adverb
B) Use a semicolon
C) Add a conjunction
D) B and C

Question 31

Why does being a good writer not depend on knowledge of grammatical terminology? On the other hand, why is knowledge of grammatical terminology beneficial?

Question 32

When checking the grammaticality of a sentence, why is it worthwhile to identify the simple subject and simple predicate? What are some challenges to doing so? Name at least two.

Question 33

In terms of verbs, what is the difference between tense and aspect?

Question 34

Why is the simple present tense difficult for English-language learners? Name at least two challenges.

Question 35

What is the role of continuous (or progressive) verb tenses? What types of verbs are they generally not used with? Provide at least one example.

Question 36

What tense should you use in an essay when you want to express a general fact or common event? Why is this a good choice?

Question 37

Changing from past to present tense or from present to past confuses the reader. Rewrite the following passage using only present tense:
The Hobbit tells the story of Bilbo Baggins. The wizard Gandalf gets Bilbo to accompany thirteen dwarves on their quest to retrieve their treasure from the dragon Smaug. The group encountered goblins, elves, and spiders as they travel to the Lonely Mountain. Bilbo found the ring that became central to the sequel story, The Lord of the Rings. Because the ring made him invisible, he helps the dwarves escape from sticky situations.

Question 38

The verb to be is both an auxiliary verb and a linking verb. It is also the most common verb in English. Why does it give some English-language learners difficulty?

Question 39

In what situations are modal verbs used? Give at least two situations and provide an example sentence for each.

Question 40

What is the passive voice? What is the active voice? Give an example of a sentence written in passive voice and the same sentence written in the active voice.

Question 41

Why should passive voice not be overused in essay writing? Give at least two reasons why.

Question 42

Pronoun use in conversational speech is very loose and sometimes ungrammatical. In formal writing, pronouns can cause confusion. Read the following passage and revise it so that the antecedent is clearer (or replaced): Helicopter parents protect their children so much that they may fail to become strong and independent adults. They need to recognize that this hovering is not doing them a favour.

Question 43

What is the most commonly used gender-neutral singular pronoun in formal writing? What gender-neutral singular pronoun would linguists and editors like to see instead and what reasons do they give for preferring that word? Which do you prefer and why?

Question 44

What type of nouns cannot be made singular or plural? Give at least three examples of these nouns.

Question 45

Name at least two situations where English uses the s ending for different purposes. Give one or two examples for each.

Question 46

What is the primary function of a prepositional phrase? Write a sentence that contains at least three prepositional phrases and underline the prepositions.

Question 47

What are coordinating conjunctions used for? Name at least four of the coordinating conjunctions and write as many sentences as it takes for you to use all four of your chosen conjunctions.

Question 48

What is a serial comma? Why can it be useful? Is it mandatory to use it in formal writing? Write a sentence that includes a serial comma.

Question 49

Should a sentence begin with a coordinating conjunction? Why or why not? If not, what should be used instead and why?

Question 50

Explain why the placement of a subordinating conjunction matters to the logic of your sentence. Give an example that demonstrates your answer.

Question 51

Which coordinating conjunction should you never use with although? Provide an example of these two words not working together and a revised version that only uses one of them.

Question 52

What is the difference between a conjunctive adverb and a coordinating conjunction? What common sentence structure error occurs when we confuse these types of words? Give an example or two.

Question 53

What is the best way to avoid creating a misplaced modifier? Using that method, rewrite the following sentence to eliminate the misplaced modifier: Running towards the moving curtain, Hamlet's rapier struck Polonius.

Question 54

What are the two essential elements of any sentence? What error occurs when a sentence is missing one of these elements? Name at least two ways to fix this error.

Question 55

What is the difference between a run-on sentence and a comma splice? What are the three ways to correct a run-on sentence? Provide an example of a run-on sentence and a corrected version.