英语语法简答题

英语语法简答题，共50题，由模拟考卷整理出来的。

1. What are the two major types of alternative questions?They are the type of YES-NO questions, e.g.A: Would you like tea or coffee?B: Tea, please.And the type of WH-questions, e.g.A: What would you like, tea of coffee?B: Tea, please.2. Why do we need to go beyond the sentence and study the text?Because to express a clear and complete idea or thought, we need more than one sentence. It is quite rare that we only use one sentence to express our ideas. When an idea or thought is expressed in more than one sentence, we have a text, which relates sentences together. In other words, sentences in a text are coherent so that they help each other in expressing a complete idea. The study of the text is to know how sentences can be joined together coherently so that they can best express ideas.3. Explain the syntactic distinction between the predictive and non-predictive use of modal auxiliary with examples.The syntactic distinction between the predictive and non-predictive use of modal auxiliary is clear in the following two sentences:1) He can’t have been there yesterday.2) He couldn’t be there yesterday.The two sentences reveal two quite different uses of the modal auxiliary. The first sentence, where the predictive can’t relates to impossibility and the main verb is marked for past time reference, refers to the speaker’s present denial of possibility of a past event. In the second, the modal auxiliary itself, innon-predictive use, is marked for past tense, referring to lack of ability in the past.4. What’s the function of relative pronoun?The relative pronoun serves as a “link” between the relative clause and its antecedent. It performs two functions: showing concord with its antecedent and indicating its function within the relative clause.5. Provide example to illustrate nominal, verbal and causal ellipsis.1) Nominal ellipsis: Why give me two cups of coffee? I only asked for one.2) Verbal ellipsis: --Have you seen him before?--Yes, I have (seen him before).3) Causal ellipsis: --Are you OK?--Yes (, I am OK).6. If tense is related to time, what is aspect related to?When tense points to the temporal location of an event or a state of affairs, aspect “reflects the way in which the verb action is regarded or experienced with respect to time”.7. Apart from querying the truth of a statement, what other potential functions cana No question perform?They may be regarded as the speaker’s invitations or suggestions, made in a tentative way as they often are, rather than his negative assumptions. They are like imperatives. For example:Won’t you come in?Won’t you sit down?They can also be like exclamations:Isn’t it lovely?Aren’t you silly?8. List the types of antecedents.The antecedent is divided into nominal antecedent and non-nominal antecedent. Nominal antecedents fall into different subclasses: they may be common nouns or proper nouns, personal pronouns or demonstrative pronouns. Non-nominal antecedent can be subdivided into three types: clause, verb phrase, predicative adjective.9. Provide examples to illustrate result-adjuncts and purpose-adjuncts that are introduced by so that.He worked harder, so that he managed to pass the examinations. (result)He worked harder so that he could pass the examinations. (purpose)10. Provide examples to illustrate the three degrees of comparison.My brother is as tall as me. (positive degree)My brother is taller than my father. (comparative degree)My brother is the tallest in the family. (superlative degree)11. When the simple present refers to the present time, what are its characteristic uses?When the simple present refers to the present time, it is suitable for the general timeless statements or the expression of so-called “eternal truths”. At the same time, it also denotes the present existence or state of affairs. Besides, it can express regular recurrence such as a habit, and it is also found in the presentation of an event that happens simultaneously with speech.12. Under what general circumstances do we prefer genitive to of-phrase and vice versa.When nouns refer to people, and the relation between the nouns is one of definition, classification, etc. genitives are preferred. When nouns refer to inanimate, lifeless objects, and the head words of noun phrases are classifying adjectives, of-phrases are classifying adjectives, of-phrases are preferred.13. What is the primary of a WH-question?The primary function of a WH-question is to ask for information concerning what, when ,why, whose, which and how.14. What are contingency adjuncts? How many types of contingency adjuncts have we recognized?Contingency adjuncts are an adverbial category that includes adjuncts denoting some kind of cause-effect relation. They can be divided into subclasses: reason-adjuncts, result-adjuncts, purpose-adjuncts, concession-adjuncts and condition-adjuncts.15. Explain the differences between a double relative clause and an embedded relative clause.In double relative clauses, there are two relative clauses, one enclosing the other, whereas in embedded relative clause there is only one relative clause which itself is embedded in a clause.16. Provide examples to illustrate some different types of time adjuncts.1) When-adjuncts: soon, on Friday morning, now, etc.2) Duration-adjuncts: for ten years, very long, since we met, etc.3) Frequency-adjuncts: daily, weekly, often, etc.17. What kind of relative clause do we normally use to modify a non-nominal antecedent? We normally use non-restrictive-relative clause to modify a non-nominal antecedent.e.g.1) Her husband is my brother and my wife is her sister, which makes us double in-laws.2) She dance well, which I don’t.3) Nick is tall, which I will never be.18. Where are given information and the new information located in the sentence. Generally speaking, the given information is offered at the beginning in each sentence while the new information is consistently found in the predicate which normally constitutes the latter half of sentence.19. Explain the relationship between tense and time.Time and tense are not the same thing: time is concept and tense is a grammatical device. Different tenses can express the same period of time, such as the present.20. What are two major types of exclamations?The two major types of exclamations are WHAT-exclamations and HOW-exclamations. The former is followed by a noun phrase, the latter is followed by an adjective or adverb.21. What is the pseudo-passive?A pseudo-passive sentence is passive in form but active in meaning. Its ed-participle is adjectivalzed so that it becomes a subject complement in the SVC structure. As an adjective, therefore, it can occur in a comparative construction, with a variety of prepositional phrases other than by-phrase, and with other link verbs besides be and get.22. Explain the conditions in which we need to use non-assertive words in positive statements and assertive words in question.When a positive answer is expected, assertive words can be used in questions, such as: Is there some news for me? Is somebody waiting for me? And in affirmative sentences in which there are if clauses, putative should-clauses, and comparative clauses, non-assertive words can be used, such as: If anyone calls me, it must be John. It’s odd that he should say anything like that. He is better than anyone else in this class.23. List the major types of postponement.Postponement is generally realized by active-to-passive transformation, by extraposition of a clause element, by discontinuity of adjacent elements.24. Provide examples to illustrate reference as realized by pronouns, demonstratives and comparison.1) Reference by pronouns: Look at the man. I think he’s the person wanted by the police.2) Reference by demonstratives: They finally arrived at an agreement to stop fire. That agreement saved the country from war.3) Reference by comparison: John is both stupid and lazy. His brother is no better.25. Provide examples to illustrate nominal, verbal and clausal substitution. 1) Nominal substitution: I know I need a good car, but I can’t afford one.2) Verbal substitution: --Have you finished all the essays?--I have done one.3) Clausal substitution: --Is he the right person for the job?--I suppose so.26. What’s the major function of preposition? And list the two types of preposition. The major function of preposition is to connect words of nouns verbs and adjectives to other part of the sentence. We divide prepositions into two types: simple preposition and complex preposition.27. Provide examples of partial inversion and complete inversion.Partial inversion: Under no circumstances can you underestimate your rival. Complete inversion: The door burst open and in rushed a large angry crowd.28. What is a unified text?The unified text is one that is not only structurally well-integrated but also semantically coherent.29. As a future time expression, what special meaning does the simple present impart? When there is something we conceive as unalterable and we can be as confident of as we are of the given facts, we use the simple present to refer to the future time. Something that happens on calendar or timetable falls into this category.30. What are the verbs which transferred negation often occurs with? What is their shared semantic feature?The verbs which transferred negation often occurs with are: think, believe, suppose, imagine and expect. They are the verbs that express “opinion”.31. What are the three principle of concord?The three complementary principles of concord are the grammatical principle, the notional principle and the principle of proximity.32. What order do the different types of place adjuncts follow when they co-occur? When place adjuncts of different types co-occur, they usually follow this order: distance + direction + source + goal + position.33. What are the semantic and functional differences between a prefix and a suffix? The function of a prefix tends to be semantically oriented. That is, it adds new meaning to a base. Most of prefixes do not change word classes while only a few (like a-, be -, em/en-etc) change word classes. Suffixes are basically class-changing morphemes. They change nouns to verbs, adjectives, or change adjectives to nouns, verbs, or adjectives to nouns, verbs, or adjectives to adverbs.34. What are the four major types of sentences and what discourse functions are they normally associated with?The four major types of sentences are declaratives, interrogatives imperatives and exclamatives. These four types are respectively associated with giving information, requiring information, requiring actions and expressing the speaker’s impression of something.35. Why is the past tense often used for politeness?Because the past tense can make a question or a statement or a suggestion less direct. It is more polite to use the past tense on the part of the speaker.36. Do we always use the singular verb with a clausal subject?No. Generally, a one-clause subject takes the singular verb and a two-clause subject, the plural verb. The notional principle of concord applies if the context suggests the plurality of a one-clause subject.37. Provide examples to illustrate the three major types of non-finite subordinate clause.1) Infinitive clauses: He didn’t know what to do with his enemy.2) –ing participle clauses: She kept nodding her head from time to time as though understanding every word of his lecture.3) –ed participle clauses: Work hard until told to stop.38. What are the typical expressions of the future time?The future time can be expressed by will/shall do something, be going to do something, present progressive, and simple present.39. What are some of the constraints that the double genitive is subject to? The second noun in the double genitive almost always refers to persons, never to objects. And the first noun usually has indefinite reference (typically premodified by the indefinite article) and the second noun is always definite.40. Distinguish root, stem and base as morphological terms.“Root”, “stem” and “Base” may refer to the same thing in some cases, but they are different from each other in that: A root is that part of a word that remains when all affixes have been removed; A root is not farther analyzable in morphological forms; A stem has to do with inflectional features and is the part that remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed; A base is any form to which affixes of any kind can be added.41. Explain the principle of proximity of concord with examples.The principle of proximity denotes “agreement of the verb with a closely preceding noun phrase in preference to agreement with the head of the noun phrase that functions as subject”. For example:Neither my wife nor I am coming to the ceremony.Not only the layers but also the coach was responsible for the defeat.42. List the types of subordinate clauses.Subordinate clauses are usually divided into three types by their function: relative clauses, adverbial clauses and nominal clauses. In form, subordinate clauses may also be divided into finite clauses and verbless clauses.43. Explain the differences between a tag question with a final rising tone and one with a final falling tone.With a rising tone, the question express the speaker’s neutral expectation of the hearer’s response and invites the hearer to verify the truth of the proposition in the statement.With a falling one, the speaker asks for the hearer’s confirmation of the statement. It can be regarded as similar to an exclamation.44. What are generic reference and specific reference?Generic reference and specific reference are the two uses of articles, Generic reference indicates the whole species or kind, while specific reference indicates one specific people or thing.45. Given the present time as its most important meaning, what is special about the simple present when it is used to refer to the past and the future?When the simple present refers to the past, it brings the past events or states to the present time as if they were actually happening at the moment of speech, it is used in narrative writing to achieve vividness. It can also be found in1) Newspaper headlines2) Photographic coptions3) State directions and4) Utterances with verbs of communication (say, hear, tell, etc). Simple present referring to the future is common in dependent clauses.46. What concord principle do we normally apply to the existential sentence? Concord in the existential sentence normally complies with the notional principle. The verb agrees with the notional subject.47. What are restrictive adjectives and non-restrictive adjectives?A restrictive adjective helps identify the referent of the noun by describing its distinctive qualities. Whereas a non-restrictive adjective merely provide some additional information which is usually not essential for the identification of the referent.48. Point out instances of the stative and dynamic uses of prepositions with reference to spatial relations.The car was parked in front of the building. (In front of indicates a static location) He jumped into the river. (Into indicates the direction of a movement)49. What are the differences between determiners and adjectives?Determiners and adjectives are different in five ways:1) Determiners usually precede adjectives in premodification;2) The choice of determiners is often determined by the head word but not that of adjectives;3) Adjectives describe the head word by showing its characteristics, but determiners determine the head word by identifying or quantifying;4) Adjectives can postmodify the head word, but not determiners (except though);5) Adjectives have comparative forms, inflectional or periphrastic, but not determiners (except few, little, many and much).50. What are some of the typical semantic components of the present progressive? Some of the typical semantic components of the present progressive are: duration, simultaneity, temporariness, incompleteness, vividness, emphasis, etc.。