英语语法简答题(50题)

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 th e 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, in non-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 can a No question perform?

They may be regarded as the speaker’s invitations or suggestions, made in a tentative wa y 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-call ed “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.