Tuesday, 1 October 2013

January Semester 2007



Language Description was another subject that I really enjoyed teaching.  The followings are the answers to the testpaper for my tutees.
January Semester 2007
HBEL 1203    Language Description
1.  (a)  [Tomorrow] is Monday.
           Tomorrow is a noun and it functions as a subject of the sentence.  It answers
           the  question ‘what’.  (What day is tomorrow?)

     (b)  I’ll see you tomorrow.
           Tomorrow is an adverb of time as it tells the time and it answers the question
           ‘when’.  (When will you see me?)   (word classes)

2.  I am looking forward to meeting you again.  (Topic 6  prepositions  )

3.  (a)  [The design of the house itself] is very unique.
           The reflexive pronoun ‘itself’ here is used to emphasise and is optional as you
           may omit it without changing the meaning of the sentence.

     (b)  [The cat] hurt itself when it fell from the tree. 
          It refers back to the subject and is obligatory.  Without it, it is not grammatical.
           (Topic 1  Pronouns  p. 11)

4.  (a)  [The dishes served in the restaurant] really taste delicious.
           The word ‘taste’ is a linking verb (an intensive verb) and it is followed by an  
            adjective which is the attribute of the subject of the sentence.

     (b)  [You] can taste the cake first before placing your order.  (Topic 2  p. 30 - 32)
           The word ‘taste’ in this sentence is an extensive verb as it indicates the doing of
           an action.

5.   (a)  [The letter of appeal] should be written by the villagers by next week.     
      (b)  The company has offered me a new post.

6.  The verb group phrase ‘have established’  is in the present perfect tense and so it is     
      a finite verb because it indicate tense.
      The to-infinitive ‘to look’ is a non-finite verb because it does not indicate tense.

You may give answers like this.
       have established ---- a finite verb
       to look               ---- non-finite verb
                                                                                      (Topic 2   p. 35)

7.  The word ‘Japanese’ is singular in form but may be singular or plural in meaning.
      For example:
      He is a Japanese.  They are Japanese.  (Topic 1  p.7)

8.  Topic 3  p. 60
     A static verb is not used in the continuous tense whereas a dynamic verb is used in
     a continuous tense.
     For examples:
[John] dislikes hamburger. 
The verb ‘dislike’ is a static verb.  The verb that expresses one’s liking, state of  
being, sensory perception is not used in the continuous tense.

   He is running now.
   The verb ‘is running’  indicates the doing of an action is a dynamic verb.

9.  Topic 3,  p. 50 - 52
     The verb group phrase ‘have known’ is in the Present Perfect Tense and the verb
     ‘went’ is in the Simple Past Tense. 
      The present perfect tense indicates an action that takes place in the past and
       continues up to the moment of speaking at present.   The simple past tense, on
      the other hand, expresses an action in the past.

10.  Topic 4   p. 86
      [The number of eggs] -------are not limited ---- It should be a singular verb ‘is’,
      ‘not are’ because the number means a definite number and thus is considered
      singular in meaning.  Another error is ‘The rest is guarded’ should be ‘are’ because
      the rest refers to ‘the eggs’ which is plural countable and so take the plural verb
      ‘are’ instead of ‘is’.


Note: 
1.  If ‘to’ is used a preposition, it is followed by a noun or a gerund (F2).  The following
     verbs are used with the ‘to’ preposition.

          (1)  ascribe to
          (2)  commit to
          (3)  dedicate to
          (4)  devote to
          (5)  confess to
          (6)  look forward to            noun / F2
          (7)  object to
          (8)  be used to

          (9)  * prefer (noun / F2) to  (noun / F2)

2.  Is the word ‘after’ a preposition or conjunction?  Explain the differences in function.
     (a)  He went home straight away after school.  
     (b)  He went home straight away after he had cleaned up the classroom.
     ____________________________________________________________________  
     ____________________________________________________________________

3.  Identify the word class of the following words ‘despite, in spite of, although and
     though’.  Explain by examples of their differences in function. 
     ____________________________________________________________________
     ____________________________________________________________________

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