MLAT Grammatical Structure & Syntax Recognition 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence demonstrates correct use of a non-restrictive relative clause?
- My brother, who lives in Boston, is visiting this weekend. (Correct answer)
- My brother who lives in Boston is visiting this weekend.
- My brother that lives in Boston is visiting this weekend.
- My brother, that lives in Boston, is visiting this weekend.
Correct answer: My brother, who lives in Boston, is visiting this weekend.
Non-restrictive clauses add extra (non-essential) information and are set off by commas; 'who' (not 'that') is used for persons.
Question 2: In transformational grammar, what is a 'deep structure'?
- The abstract underlying meaning of a sentence before surface transformations (Correct answer)
- The written form of a sentence as it appears on the page
- The phonological representation of words
- The set of all possible synonyms for a phrase
Correct answer: The abstract underlying meaning of a sentence before surface transformations
Deep structure represents the abstract semantic and syntactic organization before transformational rules produce the surface form.
Question 3: Which sentence correctly uses a past perfect to show earlier action?
- By the time we arrived, the show had already started. (Correct answer)
- By the time we arrived, the show already started.
- By the time we arrived, the show has already started.
- By the time we arrived, the show will have already started.
Correct answer: By the time we arrived, the show had already started.
The past perfect ('had started') marks an action completed before another past event ('we arrived').
Question 4: What syntactic phenomenon occurs in 'She is easy to please' vs. 'She is eager to please'?
- In the first, 'she' is the logical object of 'please'; in the second, 'she' is the logical subject. (Correct answer)
- Both sentences have 'she' as the logical subject of 'please.'
- Both sentences have 'she' as the logical object of 'please.'
- In the first, 'she' is the logical subject; in the second, 'she' is the logical object.
Correct answer: In the first, 'she' is the logical object of 'please'; in the second, 'she' is the logical subject.
This illustrates the 'tough-movement' construction: 'easy to please' makes 'she' the understood object, while 'eager to please' makes 'she' the understood subject.
Question 5: Identify the error in: 'Between you and I, this plan will fail.'
- 'I' should be 'me' because pronouns after prepositions take objective case. (Correct answer)
- 'Between' requires nominative case, so 'I' is correct.
- 'You' should be 'your' to match 'I' in case.
- There is no error; 'Between you and I' is an acceptable idiom.
Correct answer: 'I' should be 'me' because pronouns after prepositions take objective case.
The preposition 'between' governs its objects in the objective case, so 'me' is required, not 'I.'
Question 6: Which sentence exemplifies a garden-path effect?
- The horse raced past the barn fell. (Correct answer)
- The horse that was raced past the barn fell.
- Racing past the barn, the horse fell.
- The horse fell after being raced past the barn.
Correct answer: The horse raced past the barn fell.
Readers initially parse 'raced' as the main verb, then must reanalyze it as a reduced relative clause when they reach 'fell.'
Question 7: What is 'head' in the noun phrase 'a very talented young musician'?
- musician (Correct answer)
- talented
- young
- very
Correct answer: musician
The head of a noun phrase is the central noun that all other elements modify—here, 'musician.'
MLAT Grammatical Structure & Syntax Recognition 5
Which sentence demonstrates correct use of a non-restrictive relative clause?