Teachers refresh grammar prior to curriculum change
Answer to Question 1: Set A
An appositive is a noun, pronoun, or phrase that we use to rename or describe the noun, pronoun, or phrase that it precedes or follows. The compound noun Professor Ferguson is a phrase, and a renowned pianist is a term used by this author to rename or describe Professor Ferguson. Because a renowned pianist enclosed in a pair of commas (or hyphens or brackets), it is called a non-restrictive, non-defining, or non-essential element, meaning it’s just additional information that we could delete and keep the gist of the sentence: Professor Ferguson would play in the city’s hundred-year-old concert hall.
Answer to Question 2: Set B
An imperative clause is a sentence in which we give an instruction, make a request, or issue a command. Sentence C is a mild command because it ends with a period, while a strong command ends with an exclamation mark. The grammatical subject of an imperative clause is the second-person pronoun Youthe reader or listener, and is merely implied or understood rather than being visible in the sentence: [You] Please close the window before you leave. Sentence A is an exclamatory sentence (an exclamation). Sentence C is a declarative sentence (a statement). Sentence D is an interrogative sentence (a question).
Answer to Question 3: Set C
Sentence C contains four nouns: the possessive noun franks; the common nouns Cat And Mouse; and the abstract noun painsmodified by the word stomacha noun functioning as an adjective. Frank’s cat is a noun phrase modified by the adjective clause Who ate a mouse?. An adjective clause, also called a relative clause, is a type of dependent clause that functions as an adjective, that is, a part of speech that we use to describe, modify, or indicate a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun. The grammatical subject of sentence C is Frank’s cat that ate a mousenot only Frank’s catBecause Who ate a mouse? is important information about Frank’s cat. This type of sentence is called a restrictive sentence, defining sentence, or essential sentence because it is part of the grammatical subject. If it was a non-restrictive, non-defining, or non-essential clause, it would be enclosed in a pair of commas, dashes, or parentheses, since it was merely additional information Frank’s catso we could delete it without changing the meaning of the sentence: Frank’s cat has a stomach ache.
Answer to Question 4: Set B
Passive is when the grammatical subject of a sentence or phrase passively receives the action, doing, being, or having indicated by the finite verb. In the passive voice, the grammatical subject is also the direct object, which is something or someone to whom something is being done or to whom something is being done. In set B, The car passively do something about it: The car was hastily painted by the mechanicor The car was hastily painted. In the passive, the preposition from is always either visible or implied and understood. It is visible in sentence B, in the phrase from the mechanic. In the active voice, the grammatical subject actively carries out the action via the finite verb: doing, being or having. Sentence A is written in active and present perfect continuum. Sentence B is written in the passive and past tense. Sentence C is written in active and past tense. Sentence D is written in active and past tense.
Quizzes and answers provided by Deb Doyle, who teaches short courses in grammar and punctuation at the University of Sydney’s Center for Continuing Education.
