Syntax Midterm Questions
Syntax Midterm Questions
I. Functions of clauses
1. What are the functions of noun equivalents (nominal clause noun/ pronoun/ noun
phrase/ to infinitive/gerund)? Give examples for illustration.
+ Subjective complement. e.g. His advice is to maintain a healthy diet. (To infinitive as
Cs)
+ Adjective complement. e.g. I’m not aware that he told a lie. (Nominal clause as Cadj)
+ Prepositional complement. e.g. I’m interested in what he told me. (Nominal clause as
Cprep)
+ Appositive. e.g. The news that she married a foreigner is true. (Nominal clause as
App)
- Manner: These adverbial clauses often use “as” or “like” to explain how something is
done. For example, “The politician seemed as if he had never spoken publicly before.”
Here, “as if” is the trigger word, “he” is the subject, and “had never spoken publicly
before” is the predicate.
- Time: Adverbial clauses addressing time often contain the words “until,” “before,”
“after,” “as long as,” and “while” answer when something happens. For example, “They
hiked before they ate dinner.”
- Purpose: These adverb clauses highlight the intention behind an action, often using
conjunctions such as “so that,” “lest you,” “in order to,” and “in case.” These adverbial
clauses do not follow a comma, as in the sentence, “They drove to the farm so that they
could pick apples.”
- Place: Adverbial clauses of place use the trigger words “where” and “wherever,” as in
“The puppy follows me wherever I went.”
- Condition: Conditional adverb clauses play out the potential outcomes of a situation
and use subordinating conjunctions such as “if,” “provided that,” and “lest.” For example,
“We will go to the zoo if it is sunny.”
- Reason: Cause or reason adverb clauses explain the why, using subordinating
conjunctions such as “because,” “since,” and “as.” For example, “We thought you’d go to
the concert since you love Vivladi’s music.”
- Comparison: These adverbial clauses highlight quality and quantity with conjunctions
like “than” and “as.” An example of a comparison adverbial clause is, “He can bake as
well as his grandmother.”
- Concession: Concession adverb clauses will have a comma separating two independent
clauses that contrast one another. For example, “I like to bike, though I don’t do it much
these days.” You can also use a comma in the case of a dependent clause at the beginning
of a sentence: “Although it was hot, the pool kept us cool.”
- Results: These clauses have a start and an end, relying on subordinating conjunctions
“so,” “that,” and “such.” For example, “The kitten was so cute that I had to buy it”
4. What is the function of adjective equivalents (adjective clause, adjective/ adjective
phrase/ prepositional phase)? Exemplify.
+ The news that made me sad is true. (Adjective clause as Mod to “news”) (“that” -> S)
+ The news that I got yesterday is true.(Adjective clause as Mod to “news”) (“that”->Od)
The dissimilarity between subordinator and coordinator is that the coordinator connects
at least 2 independent clauses in a compound sentence, while the subordinator plays a
role in a complex sentence by connecting only one main clause and at least one
dependent clause. Compared to subordinator and coordinator which join two clauses so
that it reads as one sentence, connectors are used between two separate sentences.
They are different depending upon the number and type(s) of clauses they contain:
A simple sentence has one independent clause. e.g. Tom reads novels.
Subordination has one main clause plus at least one subordinate clause headed by
a subordinating conjunction. e.g. Although Tom reads novels, Jame reads comics.
The elements of a sentence structure are divided into 5: subject, verb, object, complement
and adjunct.
8. What are the differences between internal (obligatory) and external (optional) elements
in a sentence structure?
o If you only include one of these two parts, you will have only a sentence
fragment, which is grammatically incorrect.
o They merely give additional information and are not required the way a
subject and verb are.
9. How many internal elements are there in the patterns from 1 to 11?
10. What are the forms of subject/ verb/ object/ complement/ adjunct?
Subject Forms
- Noun clauses: start with words like what, that, and who.
Verb Forms
Base form: study Present tense form: studies Past tense form: studied
Present participle: studying Past participle: studied
Object forms
- Direct objects (Od): I like what he tells me.
- Indirect Object (Oi): The teacher gave who was standing next to me a cake.
- Phrase:
+ Noun Phrases (generally refer to as time): Ex: David gave blood last week
Complement forms:
11. Give examples in which Vint/ Vtmono/ Vtdi/ Vpcomp/ Vi can be used.
12. Give examples in which Vpmono/ Vpdi/ Vpcomp can be used.
13. Give examples of patterns/ types 1-11.
14. Give examples of patterns/ types 1-11 with at least 3 external elements.
15. How can you differentiate Vtmono from Vtdi?
16. How can you differentiate Vt from Vi as an ordinary verb?
18. What are the differences between adjunct, disjunct, filler and interjection?
19. What are the types of complex verbs?