MLAT Grammatical Structure & Syntax Recognition 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In the sentence 'The book that I borrowed was fascinating,' what grammatical role does 'that I borrowed' play?
- Adjective clause modifying 'book' (Correct answer)
- Adverb clause modifying 'was'
- Noun clause acting as subject
- Prepositional phrase modifying 'fascinating'
Correct answer: Adjective clause modifying 'book'
The relative clause 'that I borrowed' modifies the noun 'book,' making it an adjective (relative) clause.
Question 2: Which sentence demonstrates correct subject-verb agreement with a collective noun?
- The committee has reached its decision. (Correct answer)
- The committee have reached their decisions collectively.
- The committee are deciding on the matter individually.
- The committee were split in their opinions.
Correct answer: The committee has reached its decision.
In American English, collective nouns like 'committee' typically take singular verbs when acting as a unit.
Question 3: Identify the grammatical function of 'quickly' in: 'She quickly finished the assignment.'
- Adverb modifying 'finished' (Correct answer)
- Adjective modifying 'assignment'
- Adverb modifying 'she'
- Intensifier modifying 'quickly'
Correct answer: Adverb modifying 'finished'
'Quickly' is an adverb that modifies the verb 'finished,' describing how the action was performed.
Question 4: What is the term for a clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence?
- Dependent clause (Correct answer)
- Independent clause
- Coordinate clause
- Main clause
Correct answer: Dependent clause
A dependent (subordinate) clause lacks the ability to stand alone because it begins with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun.
Question 5: In the sentence 'Running fast, he missed the bus,' what is 'Running fast'?
- Participial phrase modifying 'he' (Correct answer)
- Gerund phrase acting as subject
- Infinitive phrase modifying 'missed'
- Absolute phrase independent of the clause
Correct answer: Participial phrase modifying 'he'
The participial phrase 'Running fast' functions as an adjective modifying the subject 'he.'
Question 6: Which option correctly identifies the underlined part: 'She gave **him** the report.'
- Indirect object (Correct answer)
- Direct object
- Object complement
- Predicate nominative
Correct answer: Indirect object
'Him' is the indirect object—the person to whom or for whom the direct object ('the report') is given.
Question 7: What syntactic structure is illustrated by: 'Either the manager or the employees are responsible'?
- Correlative conjunction with proximate agreement (Correct answer)
- Compound subject with singular verb
- Parallel subordination
- Disjunctive predicate
Correct answer: Correlative conjunction with proximate agreement
With 'either…or,' the verb agrees with the closer subject ('employees'), illustrating proximate (nearest-noun) agreement.
MLAT Grammatical Structure & Syntax Recognition 2
In the sentence 'The book that I borrowed was fascinating,' what grammatical role does 'that I borrowed' play?