Modern Grammar - Assignment 9 James Madison University

Instructions: [This assignment will be marked only as an acceptable or unacceptable effort.]

1. Do exercise 3 on page 120 in your text. (Note that the "positive attributes" of adjectives listed as item (9) on that page correspond to the test sentence/fill-in-the-blank template we used in class to test for adjectives.) Also, for each word on the list that you determine to be an adjective, note whether it can be used in attributive position and/or in predicative possition.
2. "Better" is the irregular comparative form of both the adjective "good" and the adjective "well" (meaning healthy). confusingly enough, it is also the irregular comparative form of the manner adverb "well," describing how something is done (a positive evaluation). Determine which sentences below are using "better" as an adjective (comparative form of the adjective "good") and which are using the "better" as an adverb (specifically, as that manner adverb). Explain your choices.
   1. The better man usually wins the race.
   2. You should learn to sing better.
   3. Who drives the better car?
   4. Lucinda's poems are good but Mirabelle's are better.
   5. After the tune-up, my car worked better.
3. Write sentences for each of the following conditions, and underline words as requested.
   

   1. A sentence that contains a predicative use of an adjective. (You can use the second blank in the test sentence for adjectives as your guideline for this.)

   2. A sentence that consists of nothing but a verb. Give a context for its use.

   3. A sentence that contains a gerund.

4. After reviewing the discussion in our text of different subclasses of adverbs, attempt the following: Write a sentence that contains both an intensifier adverb and a verb-modifying adverb (a manner adverb). Underline the intensifier.
5. Finally, looking ahead, use our text's discussion of the distinction between determiners and pronouns to determine which of the following sentences uses the determiner "that" and which uses the pronoun "that":
   1. I have never seen a picture of that! ________________
   2. I think that flower is an orchid. ____________________