Study Guide for students attempting to test out of ENGL 1120

 

The test qualifying you to take ENGL 2030 without finishing ENGL 1120 first will focus on Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, the preface to Part IV, 11, 12, 13, and 14 in Understanding English Grammar, 8th edition, by Kolln and Funk. In addition, the test will draw on a few other pages in Kolln and Funk and  from course PowerPoint slideshows referenced below.

 

 

 The actual exam will be about half the length of this one. Questions will cover the same material, but will not be exactly the same as the questions presented here for practice.

 

If you wish to test out, make an appointment with Dr. Julie Simon (simon@suu.edu) to take the exam in the testing center no later than the end of the first week of class.

 

You may attempt the test-out exam only once. You must pass it with a score of 73 percent or higher to proceed to ENGL 2030.

 

Part I: Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Grammar—15 percent of the total exam score

1. Does the following sentence represent a descriptive or prescriptive rule of English? Specify two characteristics that justify your answer, and then rewrite the rule into its opposite (prescriptive or descriptive) version:

To be correct, you should use “fewer” before countable  nouns such as “apples.” The word “less” is correct only with uncountable nouns such as “fog.”

 

 

KEY: The sentence represents a PRESCRIPTIVE rule of grammar (Grammar III) since it is concerned to correct speakers from using a structure (“less apples”) that is used by many native speakers and “sounds right” to them.  Prescriptive rules have to be taught in this explicit way to native speakers who follow a different linguistic habit. I often hear SUU students use this structure with no apparent hesitation.  In fact, this pattern was part of my own family’s language, which is why I still apply the prescriptive rule somewhat unevenly in speech—a prime characteristic of prescriptive rules.

 

2. Put an * after any sentence listed immediately below that a descriptive grammarian would see as “ungrammatical.” Explain your reasoning in a few words.

Whither thou goest, I will go.*

KEY: Ungrammatical in CONTEMPORARY English. Although a native speaker may well recognize this as English from the time of the King James Bible, no native speaker would generate the same sentence now.

I ain’t got no money

KEY: Grammatical among many dialect groups—both understood and used by native speakers.

 

Give me a pound of.*

KEY: Ungrammatical in that it is missing an element that native speaker would feel compelled to fill in—a pound of what?  Note that this structure is “not English” and is a different kind of problem of the type prescribed against by a PRESCRIPTIVE grammarian concerned to command native speakers not to end a sentence with a preposition as in this sentence:  Harper Lee is the writer the critic referred to. Note this sentence doesn’t sound incomplete, even though it is prescriptively incorrect.

3. Why do Kolln and Funk argue that “Is it correct?” usually is not the best question to ask about language? What is a better question and why?

KEY: See the discussion under “Language Variety” in Kolln and Funk 10).

 

4. Why does a teacher need to understand both prescriptive and descriptive approaches to grammar?

KEY: I’m seeking your informed and opinion here supported by your understanding of the definitions of each kind of grammar. For a review of  Grammar 1, which is described by Grammar 2 and of Prescriptive Grammar 3, see page 5 in Kolln and Funk.  See also the discussion of “Language in the Classroom in Kolln and Funk 12-13.

 

5. Why are all dialects of native speakers considered equally “grammatical” by descriptive grammarians?

 

KEY: See pages 3-4 at the start of Chapter I in Kolln and Funk and the discussion about “ain’t —especially the last paragraph that asserts that “every dialect is standard within its own speech community” (10). Be sure you know what “standard” means and what a “speech community” is.

 

  

6. Circle or underline the form class words in the following sentence and, using the handout viewed in class, explain three ways you could have used to distinguish those words from structure (function) class words:

 

My very nice dog happily wagged the tip of his tail and barked quite loudly.

KEY: See the form v. function/structure discussion on pages 229-230 in Kolln and Funk.  Don’t just quote the textbook; instead, apply the offered explanation to  to the words in the sentence. Example: “Nice” is one of the words that carries the meaning of the sentence.  Additionally, it is an adjective, as I can see by the fact that  it takes the “er” and “est”  word endings that help us define adjectives and adverbs.  (If you want to get fancy, say “inflectional comparative and superlative affixes.)

 

 

7. What is wrong with each of the following definitions of “sentence”?

A sentence expresses a complete thought.

A sentence is a group of words that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period

A sentence contains both a subject and a verb.

 

KEY: Find the “Phrases and sentences” slideshow link on the website. Note that the discussion on the slideshow challenges and enlarges upon Kolln and Funk.

  

 

8.  Demonstrate how three linguistic tests that can determine whether a line is a sentence. Use the following lines in your demonstration: 

The sentence pattern test seemed quite easy.

Happiness.

Because they had studied carefully.

 

KEY: This info is on the “Phrases and sentences” slide show. Be sure to show the way in which the tag question, I know that . . ., and question transformation tests work with these particular sentence.

 

 

 

9.  Explain why the following statement is true, providing an appropriate adverb fragment illustrating your point:  A sentence is always a clause, but a clause is not always a sentence.

 

Because you are smart, you will do well on the exam.

 

KEY: The underlined structure is a clause with a subject (you) and a predicate (are smart), but because it begins with the subordinator “because,” it is considered a FRAGMENT—in this case a DEPENDENT ADVERB CLAUSE, not a sentence. See the “Phrases and sentences slideshow on the class website._

 

10. How do you know that the underlined group of words is a phrase?

 

The dog with very white teeth bit the postal carrier.

 

KEY: The word group “with very white teeth” hangs together as a unit. If I deleted one word of the group (for instance “with,” I would have to delete the rest of the group as well or the sentence would no longer make sentence. BONUS: If you are very alert, you will see that the underlined phase is part of  noun phrase that is serving as subject. How can you tell? You can substitute a pronoun (for instance, “he”) for the ENTIRE phrase “the dog with very white teeth.”

 

 

11. What are the other phrases in the #10 sentence. Prove your answer.

KEY: “The postal carrier” hangs together as a unit. This assertion can be proved if I substitute a single pronouns (for instance, “her”) for the entire phrase.

 

 

14. What makes a fragment a fragment?  What makes a comma splice a comma splice? Give examples of each.

KEY:  Use the Kolln and Funk index to find the answers for these two concepts. The test may include a list of sentences with fragments and comma splices that you will be asked to correct.

Part II:  Inflections and derivational affixes—15 percent of the total exam score

2.1. Why is “ate” considered to be an allomorph of the past tense? List two other such allomorphs.

An allomorph is a variation of a common morpheme—in this case the standard past inflection “ed.”  “Ate” means “eated”—and therefore represents such a variation. Two other variations would be “swam” (which is a variation of  “swimmed” and “shrank (which is a variation of “shrinked”). See Kolln and Funk Chapter 11.

 

 

2.2 Fill in the chart with the forms correct in Edited American English and in a few words indicate the rule that you are following.

singular

sing. poss

 plural

 plural poss.

Jess (first name)

 Jess’s

All the  Jesses in the world are smart

 All the Jesses’ years of study have paid off.

phenomenon

 phenomenon’s

 phenomena

 phenomena’s

child

 child’s

 children

 children’s

cat

 cat’s

cats

 cats’

Jones (last name)

 Jones’s

 Joneses

 Joneses’

deer

deer’s

Deer (with the zero allomorph representing plurality)

deer’s (since the plural is not formed with an “s,” just add an ’s).

 For rules for forming possessives, read about nouns and noun phrases in Chapter 12.

2. 3. Separate the words in the following sentence into a list of their morphemes. Mark derivational affixes D. Mark the inflectional affixes or their allomorphs INFL and label them as to type (“noun plural,” for instance).

 My gen tle(D) man ly(D) father, who snore s(INFL—verb 3rd person singular present) loud er(INFL  ADJ comparative)  than our em(D) ploy ee(D) s ’(two INFL—noun plural and noun possessive)  mow er,  en(D) light en(D) ed(INFL—verb past)  us on our uni(D) vers ity(D) ’s (INFL N-poss)  noise regul at(D) ion(D) s(INFL—noun plural).

 

Note: The “er” in father does not mean “more fath” or “one who faths”; therefore, it is not considered to have the discreet meaning that would make it qualify as a morpheme.

 

 

2.4.Consider the following sentence:

John’s magable muchament of a murlish amession is muggering more mabily than my dorfer.

a.       Identify any noun in the above sentence. Prove that you're right by indicating all possible identifying inflections and derivational affixes as well as position indicators. DO NOT use notional definitions in presenting your proof.  (In other words, don’t just say that a noun is a person, place, or thing. Use morphological and syntactical indictors to prove that the nouns you have identified are indeed nouns.

KEY:

muchament (der affix ment, position following determiner and adjective)

Ammession (der affix ion, function of object of a preposition,  position following determiner and adjective)

Dorfer (er der affix meaning “one who dorfs), follows determiner “the”

 

 

 

b.      List the determiners in the above sentence. Label them as to type.

Possessive noun det: John’s; possessive pronoun determiner, my; article a;

 

c.       List the adjectives in the above sentence. Prove that you're right by indicating all possible the identifying inflections and derivational affixes as well as position indicators.

Magable—der affix ble; position between determiner and noun; murlish—der affix ish and position between determiner and noun.

 

d.      List the verb phrase in the sentence, point out its identifying inflectional and derivational affixes, and finally label it as to tense and aspect (for instance, past progressive).

is muggering shows the 3rd person singular present “s” inflection in the be-verb “is” and and present participle ing inflection in muggering. Traditional grammarians would identify this phrase as present progressive.

 

e.       List any adverbs that appear in the above sentence. Prove that you're right by indicating all possible identifying inflections and derivational affixes as well as position indicators.

The “ly” derivational affix combined with the words position following the verb and answering the question “how muggering” indicates its identity as an adverb. Further (but not definitive) evidence shows up in the qualifier “more,” which can appear with adverbs and adjectives.

Part III: Sentence patterns.  Review Chapter 3 in Kolln and Funk, checking all exercises against the answers in the back of the book. For the exam, you will be given a selection of 10 sentences drawn from the exercises and examples in Chapter 3 and from the “sentences for practice” at the back of the chapter.  You will be asked to DIAGRAM all of the sentences as shown at the back of the chapter and to LABEL all of the words according to this template:

40 percent of the total exam score

1. Label the simple subject as Ns (for noun subject). Label the main verb as MV-lnk (for main verb-linking or main verb-be sentences), or MV-intran (for main verb-intransitive sentences), OR MV-tran (for main verb-transitive sentences).

 

3. Label ALL other words in each sentence. Use the abbreviations that appear below.

 

D (for a determiner)

ADJ (for an adjective)

Ns (for the noun OR the pronoun serving as the simple subject)

 

ADJoc (Adjective objective complement)

ADJsc  (Adjective subject complement)

 

MV-intran

MV-link

MV-be

MV-tran  

AUX  (auxiliary verb)

 

Ns (noun subject)

Nadj (noun working as an adjective)

Nadv (noun working as an adverb)

Nio (noun indirect object)

Ndo (noun direct object)

Noc (noun objective complement)

Nsc (noun subject complement)

 

PPadj (for an adjectival prepositional phrase)

PPadv (for an adverbial prepositional phrase)

P (for a preposition)

Nop (for a noun working as the object of the preposition)

 

 

 

ADV (adverb)

 

CC (coordinating conjunction)

 

I/Q (intensifier/qualifier)

 

 

Part IV: VERBS—15 percent of the total exam score

See the “verb” sections in Chapters 2 and 12 and review all of Chapter 4

Underline the verb phases in the following sentences; label them using traditional tense descriptions (example: past perfect).

My dog loves garbage. Simple present

He has been eating the neighbor’s coffee grounds. Present perfect progressive

He is eating them now. Present progressive

He ate them yesterday. Simple past

He had eaten them before breakfast. Past perfect

They were delicious. Simple past

Make the second sentence in the above group passive and explain two aspects of the new verb phrase that make it passive.

The neighbor’s coffee grounds have been being eaten by him. Although this structure is not commonly used, it is passive in that the old subject and object have switched places in the sentence and the old subject has been place in a prepositional phrase. The verb has been transformed to a “be plus past participle Structure.

 

 

Part V:  Pronouns/Agreement issues—15 percent of the total exam score

TO CREATE YOUR OWN KEY, SEE the material highlighted in red and/or the Kolln and Funk pronoun chapter.

 

5-1. Circle and label the pronoun and the antecedent in the following sentence and point out the two ways in which they agree:

Each woman in the class has taught her mother how to send text messages.

 

KEY: “Each woman” is the antecedent  to which the possessive pronoun determiner “her” refers.

 

5-2. What is case? Illustrate your definition with an example.

.

 

5-3. List the cases using contemporary terms and illustrating each with a first person plural example.

.

 

5-4. Describe the following personal pronouns as fully as possible:

He 3rd person masculine singular subjective

Hers 3rd person feminine singular possessive

Theirs 3rd person neutral plural possessive

Us 1st person neutral plural objective

You 2nd person neutral singular or plural subjective or objective.

Him 3rd person masculine singular objective

I  1st person neutral singular subjective

Yours 2nd person neutral singular or plural possessive

 

 

5-5. What usage rules govern the use of “who” and “whom”? Illustrate your answer with two questions. Be prepared to spot errors in a list of sentences that ask you to correct who/whom errors. Here are some examples:

Whom is coming to dinner tonight? Who  is the subject of the question, a fact that becomes clear if  you restate the question as a statement: Someone is coming to dinner tonight. “Who” is used in the subject and subject complement positions.

 

Whom did she marry? Correct: whom is the direct object of the question, a fact that becomes  clear if you restate the question as a statement: She did marry someone.  Whom is used in all object positions.

 

 

 

5-6. Many of the following sentences show pronoun/antecedent and/or pronoun/verb agreement usage errors.  Correct any errors that you see and explain the errors in specific terms .

Neither Brazil nor Mexico are raising their oil prices today.  KEY:  is replaces are and its replaces their. When a compound subject is joined by either/or or neither/nor, the verb and any pronouns agree with the closest subject—in this case Mexico.

Neither the students nor the professor were sorry to see their semester’s work end. Same rule as  #1. Were  should be is and their should be his or her.

The band are unhappy with their latest concert. Collective nouns such as band, orchestra, team, and jury and treated as a singular when the group is acting in unison.  Are should be is and their should be its.

 

Students hoped the board of trustees of the university might withhold their approval of another tuition hike. A board, a business, or a university is treated as a singular. Furthermore, the verb and any pronoun should agree with the headword of the noun phrase (board), not with the object of the preposition (trustees). Therefore, the pronoun should be its, not their.

 

Everybody should keep their temper. Everybody should keep his temper.

Indefinite pronouns such as everybody and each are considered to be singulars by prescriptive grammarians.  However, any correction should not exclude women or men. Therefore, the possessive pronoun determiners in each sentence should be replaced by his or her.

 

Did anyone lose their notes?   Should be “his or her notes,” since anyone is also a singular indicator.

 

Us lucky travelers missed the storm. The storm missed us lucky travelers.

1st sentence--We lucky: we is the subject and should be in the subjective case.

2nd sentence--Correct:  us is the direct object and therefore should be in the objective case.

In each case “lucky travelers” is an appositive.

 

Between you and I, this is an easy test.

Between you and me:  Between is a preposition and you and me are its objects and should be in the objective case.

 

For us English majors, the job market looks bright.   The word us is the object of the preposition for and should be in the objective case. (English majors is an appositive.)

 

I am a better grammarian than him.

I am a better grammarian than he. Even when a sentence containing a comparison is abbreviated , pronouns should reflect their function in their own clause, which here is “than he is grammarian.”

 

We assumed the pilots were they. Correct: subject complements should be in the subjective case (and “they” is subjective).

 

The pilots were obviously them.  they: subject complements should be in the subjective case.

 

 

 

Hemingway’s novels are among my favorites. However, he can’t exactly be described as a feminist.  The pronoun “he” lacks an antecedent, because possessive pronoun determiners may not serve as antecedents. Rewrite the sentence:  Although Hemingway can’t exactly be described as a feminist, his novels are among my favorites.  Now Hemingway is Ns of its own clause and can serve as antecedent for “his.”

 

Josh stayed up all night watching all the episodes of Lost.  That made him tired this morning.

Demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those) must not appear without a specific noun or noun phrase antecedent. In this case, “this” incorrectly refers to the situation described in the sentence not to a particular noun phrase. To correct the error, simply make “that” into a determiner by inserting a noun:  That choice made him . . .