Modern Grammar - Assignment 14 James Madison University

Instructions: This assignment contains both some more practice with word class and subclass details, plus some practice with new material from this week. [This assignment will be marked only as an acceptable or unacceptable effort. ]

1. Choose a dynamic verb that is also transitive (You can check your textbook for examples, if you're not sure.) Write down a simple sentence in the present tense using that verb and then write the exact same sentence but in the past tense. Finally, write a third version containing a modal auxiliary indicating a future time frame (eg., either "will" or "shall" :) ) in front of the verb.

2. Using both the handout on auxiliary structures and your textbook (if needed), attempt to characterize the auxiliary and tense features for each of the following sentences (examples -- present perfect, modal, past progressive passive, etc.) When a modal auxiliary is used, you can just describe that feature as "modal" rather than assigning a more specific meaning. Note that you will not specify grammatical tense (ie., you won't include "present" or "past") when there is a modal auxiliary in a sentence.
1. The crowd fled.
2. The aircraft was landing.
3. An eagle has nested in that tree.
4. The vampires are hunted by werewolves.
5. Those mummies might have been unwrapping their bandages.
6. Everyone can be silly sometimes.(Hint: remember to find the VERB!)
7. That very large rabbit might have been chasing a dog.
8. The music had been playing for hours.
9. April showers will be followed by May flowers.
10. The decision had been made earlier.
11. That salesperson is not being very helpful. (Don't let the inserted "not" distract you.)
12. I should certainly be listening to your advice. (ditto on the adverb here)
13. Have the coaches been informed of your decision? (Turning the interrogative/question structure into its underlying indicative/statement form could help here.)

3. Next, use the sentence below, which is currently in the simple present tense with no auxiliary features, to create FIVE OTHER possible variant sentences with different tense and auxiliary structures in the active voice (remember, a different specific modal doesn't mean a different structure! :) ) and also FIVE MORE that include passive voice. In other words, as in your handout, you will create 10 new sentences that just vary in features such as grammatical tense, the presence or absence of a modal auxiliary, the presence of perfect and/or progressive aspects, and passive BE. LABEL each sentence with its correct tense and auxiliary features, as in the handout(for example, "past perfect").

Here is the sentence:
Michaelangelo sculpts beautiful figures.

4. Finally, in the following sentences, underline the words in each sentence that form the full description of the entity playing the semantic role specified (see parentheses) in each sentence below:
   Ex. John ate an enormous plate of lasagna. (patient/theme).
1. Kittens meow. (agent)
2. The new member of the team arrived late. (agent)
3. Those cookies were baked by my mother. (agent)
4. My mother baked those incredibly delicious cookies. (patient/theme).
5. The warrior defeated the orc with her magic sword. (instrument).

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