Modern Grammar - Final Extra Credit Options

James Madison University
INSTRUCTIONS: You may optionally choose to earn up to FIVE points extra credit on the final exam. All extra credit is due no later than with the final exam.

  • PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: Below is a list of grammatical constructions in English. In your reading over the next few days, see if you can find an example of up to FIVE of these constructions. You may submit a maximum of five sentences, each with a different grammatical construction from the list. (If you submit more than five, I'll use the first five.) Label the sentence you submit with the number of the grammatical construction you think it contains and with the a citation of the source, including at least title, author, and page number. (Example -- (12) "There were no other fish in the lake except for perch and a few worthless carp." The Things They Carried , Tim O'Brien, page 143 ) Of course, you may NOT use examples from grammar texts or other sources that actually identify the construction. :)


    1. a present, perfect, passive auxiliary structure
    2. a verb-particle construction
    3. A sentence with at least two prepositional phrases.
    4. any sentential subject
    5. any sentential direct object (S or S-bar)
    6. a noun complement
    7. an adjective complement
    8. a relative clause modifying a pronoun
    9. a sentence containing at least THREE clauses
    10. a gerund noun phrase as the subject of a sentence
    11. a gerund noun phrase as a direct object
    12. an existential-there sentence
    13. an example of topicalization (AKA preposing)
    14. an example of sentence inversion
    15. a coordinate conjunction of two whole clauses (S conj S)
    16. a fragment of a sentence that is punctuated as if it were a whole sentence


    Syllabus for ENG422/512 Oxford English Dictionary Send email to Prof. Cote