Help with English Grammar Exam (

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Green_Eyed_Girl

#71068 Sun, 30 Jan 05 09:23 PM

I know this is a long post, but I have a final exam about this on Tuesday and I need answers. Any help will be very appreciated, if you don't have time to answer all and just have time to answer one question it will be equally appreciated! Thanks in Advance.

1. What are the 5 noun phrases in the sentence below? Which grammatical function does each one of them have?
"A reporter said the Queen's guests would leave the country the next day."

I suppose they are:
1. A reporter
2. The Queen's guests
3. The country
4. The next day
But there's one missing, would it be "Queen" and "the guests"? In that case, what is the grammatical function of "the guests"?

2. Explain why the following sentence is ungrammatical.
"Never watch I television." - I know it is ungrammatical, and I know how to correct it, but I have no clue about how to explain why it is ungrammatical.

3. How do you know which word is the "head" of the bracketed construction in the example below?
"There are [several answers to this question]. I think it is "answers", but how can I explain how I know that?

4. How might the following contrast be accounted for?
a) They have referred to the book.
b) The book has been referred to.
c) He went to the station.
d) * The station was gone to.
I have no clue about how to answer to this question.

5. How can the contrast between c) and f) be explained?
a) She spoke to the manager
b) Who did she speak to?
c) To whom did she speak?

d) She put on a coat.
e) What did she put on?
f) *On what did she put?
Again, I don't really know how to answer this.

6. Comment on the way in which the noun phrase "an elephant" is understood in each of the sentences a) and b) below.
a) An elephant has four legs.
b) We saw an elephant at the zoo.
Well, here I would say that in the first sentence the elephant is the subject and in the second sentence it is the direct object. Is that the correct answer?

Thank you very much!

Green_Eyed_Girl

Joined on Sun, Jan 30 2005

New Member (02)

Grammar, Constructions, Nouns, Noun phrases, Whom, English grammar, Direct objects

Mister Micawber

#71080 Sun, 30 Jan 05 10:49 PM

My guesses:

(1) 'Queen' is the fifth noun, acting as an adjective; 'guests' is subject of the dependent clause.

(2) Subject preceding verb is normal word order in an affirmative statement.

(3) 'Answers' is the head-- it is modified by the other words.

(4) In ( a ) 'book' is the direct object and can become the subject; in ( c ) 'station' is a prepositional object, part of an adverbial, which cannot become the subject.

(5) The particles of phrasal verbs ( f ) cannot be fronted.

(6) In ( a ) 'an elephant' is generic; in ( b ) it is a specific elephant.