DLAB Grammar 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In the sentence 'She rarely speaks during meetings,' what grammatical role does 'rarely' play?
- Adjective modifying 'she'
- Adverb modifying 'speaks' (Correct answer)
- Preposition linking clauses
- Conjunction joining phrases
Correct answer: Adverb modifying 'speaks'
'Rarely' is an adverb that modifies the verb 'speaks,' describing how often the action occurs.
Question 2: Which sentence demonstrates correct subject-verb agreement?
- Neither the captain nor the soldiers was ready.
- Neither the captain nor the soldiers were ready. (Correct answer)
- Neither the captain nor the soldiers are been ready.
- Neither the captain nor the soldiers is ready.
Correct answer: Neither the captain nor the soldiers were ready.
When 'neither...nor' connects a singular and plural noun, the verb agrees with the noun closest to it ('soldiers'), requiring 'were.'
Question 3: What is the function of the subjunctive mood in 'I wish I were a linguist'?
- It expresses a definite future event.
- It expresses a hypothetical or contrary-to-fact condition. (Correct answer)
- It expresses a command or request.
- It expresses a completed past action.
Correct answer: It expresses a hypothetical or contrary-to-fact condition.
The subjunctive mood ('were' instead of 'was') signals that the situation is hypothetical or contrary to reality.
Question 4: Identify the indirect object in: 'The sergeant gave the recruits their orders.'
- The sergeant
- gave
- the recruits (Correct answer)
- their orders
Correct answer: the recruits
'The recruits' is the indirect object — the recipient of the direct object 'their orders.'
Question 5: Which type of clause is underlined: 'The report that she submitted was classified'?
- Adverbial clause
- Nominal clause
- Relative (adjective) clause (Correct answer)
- Independent clause
Correct answer: Relative (adjective) clause
'That she submitted' is a relative clause modifying the noun 'report.'
Question 6: What grammatical term describes the '-ed' ending on a regular verb such as 'walked'?
- Inflectional suffix forming past tense (Correct answer)
- Derivational prefix changing word class
- Free morpheme indicating aspect
- Bound morpheme indicating plurality
Correct answer: Inflectional suffix forming past tense
'-ed' is an inflectional suffix that marks regular verbs for simple past tense without changing the word's grammatical category.
Question 7: In 'Running every morning improves endurance,' what is the grammatical function of 'Running every morning'?
- Participial phrase acting as an adjective
- Gerund phrase acting as the subject (Correct answer)
- Infinitive phrase acting as a complement
- Prepositional phrase acting as an adverb
Correct answer: Gerund phrase acting as the subject
'Running every morning' is a gerund phrase (verb-ing form used as a noun) functioning as the subject of the sentence.
DLAB Grammar 2
In the sentence 'She rarely speaks during meetings,' what grammatical role does 'rarely' play?