Grammar Quiz

Question 1

Morphology/Morpheme

Answer 1

The study of the form and structure of words.
The smallest meaningful unit of a word.

Ex: En-able-d
En= intensify
able as root
d= preterite or past participle

Question 2

Syntax

Answer 2

The order that words occur in.

Subject, Verb, Object: I hate people
SOV: Your mom a child shall have!
VSO: Destroyed London their relationship
OSV: This London yells: …
Verb Second Rule in Old English: Sadly, need I go.

Question 3

Define noun

Answer 3

Words for persons, places, and things.

From the Latin word “nomen,” meaning name.

Question 4

Explain the cases for nouns

Answer 4

The relationship a noun has to other words in the sentence.
(Many languages, including Indo-European languages, use “case systems” to “inflect” or “decline” the noun, which alters the morphology of the noun if it is not the subject. “Inflected” languages include “declensions.”)

Question 5

List the noun cases with examples

Answer 5

Subject (nominative): HORSES provided an important service for their humans.
Direct Object (accusative): Horses provided an important SERVICE for their humans.
Indirect Object (dative, instrumental): Horses provided an important service for their HUMANS.
Possessive (genitive): A RIDER’S most critical tool then was a horse.

Question 6

Gender (for nouns and adjectives)

Answer 6

The three classes in a noun and adjective that indicate whether they are masculine, feminine, or neuter. This is only a “class/type,” not natural gender.

Question 7

Number

Answer 7

The expression of one or many countable nouns.

Singular: one
Plural: many (countable)

Uncountable nouns: Neither plural or singular, instead, they are amorphous.
Ex: I need more airS. (Incorrect)
I need more air. (correct)

Question 8

Noun Phrase/Clause

Answer 8

As subject: KILLING A MAN is uncontrollable to serial killers.

As object: The killer has NO STRENGTH TO KILL HIS SECOND VICTIM.

Question 9

Define Pronouns

Answer 9

Short cuts for nouns, used in place of the noun.

Question 10

Person for pronouns

Answer 10

First: I, We, Me
Second: You
Third: She, Him, They

Question 11

Cases for Pronouns

Answer 11

Subject (nominative): I, You (Thou (2nd person, familiar)), He/She/They, singular. We, You, They, plural.

Direct Object (accusative): Me, You (Thee), Him/Her/Them/It, singular. Us, You, Them, plural.

Indirect Object (dative): Me, You (Thee), Him/Her/It/Them, singular. Us, You, Them, plural.

Possessive (genitive): My, Your (Thy), His/Her/Its, singular. Our, Your, Their, plural.

Question 12

Relative v. Interrogative Pronouns

Answer 12

Relative: Who, What as object??
Interrogative: Who, What as subject??

Question 13

Types of determiners

Answer 13

Definite Article: The
Indefinite Article: A
Demonstrative Article: That/This, singular; Those/These, plural.
Demonstrative Pronoun: That/This, singular; Those/These, plural.

Question 14

Infinitive Verb

Answer 14

With “to” before, unconjugated
The bare infinitive is the same tense and case without the “to”

Question 15

Gerund Verb

Answer 15

Verb that leads the sentence, perhaps as the subject.
Ex: Complaining would feel awesome right now.

An finite can be a gerund, as in: To complain would feel awesome right now.

Question 16

Participle, and two types

Answer 16

A verb form that functions adjectively or in a progressive or perfect aspect.

Progressive Participle: The ghost IS HAUNTING me; the HAUNTING ghost
Past Participle: The tree HAS FALL; the FALLEN tree

Question 17

Verb Regularity

Answer 17

Regular (weak in Germanic): (to) bake, infinitive; bakes, present; bakED, preterite; bakED, past participle.

Irregular (strong in Germanic): (to) eat, infinitive; eats, present; ate, preterite; eaten, past participle.

The irregular variant changes the vowel, the regular just adds -ed/-d, called the Dental Ending.

Question 18

Verb Tense

Answer 18

The form a verb takes to express the time at which the action occurs.

Present: I eat
Preterite: I ate
Future: I will eat

Conversation fairly exclusively uses the present progressive: I am eating.
The simple present, though, is used to express the habitual: We eat pizza on Sundays.
Verbs of being, perception, and. equation are the exceptions.

Question 19

Transitivity

Answer 19

The ability of a verb to take a direct object or not.

Transitive: The horse pawed THE GROUND.

Intransitive: London slept ON THE BED.
An intransitive verb needs a prepositional phrase, thus can only take an indirect object.

Some are bi-transitive: I give him the book; I give the book to him.

Question 20

Verb Aspect

Answer 20

Forms of the verb that convey more nuanced temporality.

Progressive (continuative), action that takes an unspecified amount of time: I am eating.

Perfect (pluperfect), action that has come to an end at a specified time: I’ve eaten already.

Question 21

Verb Mood

Answer 21

The three classes of verb indicating modality of action.

Indicative, used to identify a simple tense: Y’all arrived.

Subjunctive, express possibility, potential, or contingent action: If I WERE a rich man.

Imperative, issues a command to act: Get a room!

Interrogative, expresses a question: When WILL you ARRIVE? DID you EAT your pizza? He LEFT?

Question 22

Verb Voice

Answer 22

Active: I STOLE the letter.
Passive: The letter WAS STOLEN.

In passive voice, the subject is the object, the agent is missing.

Question 23

Auxiliary Verbs

Answer 23

Verb that help create tense, aspect, mood, or the interrogative.

Have
Be
Do

Ex: DID you find Tommy?

Question 24

Modal Verbs

Answer 24

Auxiliary Verbs that intention, ability, or possibility.

They utilize the Bare Infinitive.

Ex: I WILL go.

Question 25

Copula

Answer 25

“Linking verbs,” most commonly using “to be”

Ex: Tommy IS a doctor; Tommy SEEMS secretive.

Question 26

Define Adjective and Attributive type

Answer 26

Modify or identify the quality or quantity of a noun.

Attributive, attributes a quality: The GREEN door.

Adjectives may appear in the predicate, or the part of the sentence that makes the sentence about the subject: The door is GREEN.

Question 27

Adjective Degree

Answer 27

The “comparison” of adjectives

Positive: ugly, bad
Equative: as good as
Comparative: uglier, better, worse, lesser
Superlative: ugliest, most ugly, best, worst, least

Question 28

Possessive Pronouns as Adjectives

Answer 28

My, Your, Its, Our, His, Her, Their, Thy are all pronouns that act adjectively

Question 29

Define Adverbs, list types

Answer 29

Modify or qualify verbs (and adjectives)

Time: soon
Place/Direction: going HOME
Manner: with glue, angrily
Frequency: always, ever
Phrase/Clause: as far as I could.

Question 30

Define Preposition

Answer 30

Words that establish a relationship of a noun to the clause.

To, With, By, Along, About, Above …

Question 31

Conjunction

Answer 31

Words that join words, phrases, or clauses to others.

Coordinate Conjunction, or, but, not, and.

Subordinate Conjunctions, while, although.

Question 32

Functional v. Lexical Words

Answer 32

Functional words express the grammar of a language.

Lexical words express the content.

Question 33

Dialect

Answer 33

Any form of any language

Question 34

Main Clause

Answer 34

Carries the dominant idea and is not used to modify any other part.

Question 35

Subordinate Clause

Answer 35

The part of a complex sentence that modifies the Main Clause.

Question 36

Relative Clause

Answer 36

Uses a “relative pronoun” to relate a subordinate clause to the Main Clause.

Ex: I saw the warrior WHO KILLED YOU.
“Who” being the relative pronoun.

Relative pronouns often begin questions.

Question 37

Antecedent

Answer 37

The noun a pronoun refers back to.