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328 Study Questions: Kolln Chapter Six:
"Modifiers of the Noun:
Adjectivals"
Vocabulary (see pages 369-84 of Kolln):
adjectival, adjectival clause, adjectival infinitive, adjectival
prepositional phrase, adjective, adverbial participle,
antecedent, case, dangling participle, demonstrative pronoun,
determiner, functional shift, free modifier, headword,
intonation, nonrestrictive modifier, participial phrase,
participle, passive participle, possessive case, postheadword
modifier, preheadword modifier, relative adverb, relative
clause, relative pronoun, restrictive modifier
Questions:
- In the chapter preview, Kolln notes that adjective
applies to a word class with particular characteristics,
not just a grammatical function. He points out that the
adjective is only one of many structures that can modify
a noun. What example does he refer to from chapter two
to illustrate this fact?
- A noun phrase must fill one slot (at least) in every
sentence. What is that slot?
- In the postheadword position, what sort of phrases
and clauses can appear modifying a noun? (Three answers
here.)
- What fills the headword slot in a noun phrase, of course?
- What litmus tests can we use to determine if a word
is a noun by using our innate language abilities?
- What common subject-verb agreement error results from
confusion about headwords?
- What exception appears to the normal system of noun
phrases when it comes to determining subject-verb agreement?
- What type of words are included in
the "determiner" class?
- What are some types of nouns that cannot use any determiners?
- If an adjective, a determiner, and a noun are attached
to a noun headword, what order must they appear in? For
example, suppose we had the adjective ugly,
the determiner
a, and the noun clay applied to a headword
like statue.
What order must these words appear in a sentence? We
couldn't write, "clay a statue ugly" to describe
the object. What hidden rules govern analytic word order
here?
- What is a functional shift?
- On page 140, what general rule of thumb does our textbook
suggest when it comes to inserting a comma between modifiers
(stacked adjectives)? How does using two adjectives of
the same "class" affect whether or not we will insert
a comma between them?
- How do hyphens help make the relationship clear between
qualifiers or intensifiers and their adjectives?
- One exception exists to the rule above concerning hyphens.
Adverbs ending in what common suffix are an exception
here.
- Explain the difference in punctuation here in these
two sentences:
We will have our movie party at the end of
the semester.
We will have an end-of-the-semester movie party.
- On page 142, how does the diagram for "an important
career decision" not accurately reflect the meaning of
the phrase according to the footnote?
- Adjectival prepositional phrases modify what part of
speech?
- A human being's internal "linguistic computer" most
readily associates a modifier with what word? How can
that lead to potential confusion if a writer isn't careful?
- What's another term for a relative clause?
- Are relative clauses ever dependent? Independent?
Can they be both?
- Relative clauses answer what two possible
questions about the noun or pronoun they modify?
- What is an antecedent?
- What is the objective case of who?
- What is the possessive case of who?
- What part of speech is the word which?
- Some sentences use an optional that.
Other sentences absolutely require the the word that,
and cannot delete it. When it is possible (and
Dr. Wheeler would argue even preferable!) to delete
the relative that?
- The subordinate conjunctions also include
three relative adverbs that replace an adverbial structure
in a clause. What are these three relative adverbs?
- Give three examples of adjectival participial
phrases. To show your complete mastery, show each
example fitting in three different nominal slots.
- On page 154, what are the three key
points to understanding participles?
- Prenoun participles function like what
part of speech? (i.e., what "slot" do they fit in when
it comes to preheadword positions?
- Give an example of a present participle.
Give an example of a past participle.
- Subject complements and object complements,
as we discussed in chapter two, can be adjectives.
However, anything an adjective can do, a participle
can do also. Give example of prepositional phrase functioning
as an object complement.
- What's a fairly reliable test to determine
if a sentence has an object complement?
- A participial phrase that modifies
the subject usually appears at the start of the sentence.
Where else could we place it?
- What is a "free modifier"?
- What is a dangling
modifier?
- Explain the difference between a restrictive
clause and a nonrestrictive clause.
How are they punctuated differently? How does the meaning
change in each case?
- Explain the difference between a restrictive participle and
a nonrestrictive participle. How are they punctuated
differently? How does the meaning change
in
each case?
- According to Francis Christensen, how
can such clauses or participles end up creating the
wrong impression in a reader if the writer isn't careful?
- What is an infinitive?
- Noun phrases of time and place can
follow what word? How are such phrases diagrammed?
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