Traditional Grammar - Assignment 10 James Madison University

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

1. Find or create a short, simple sentence with a transitive, dynamic verb (i.e., with an action verb that takes a direct object) in the PRESENT tense and then write 8 other versions of that sentence varying tense, aspect, voice, etc. in the following ways. (The passive is included for you to try, though we haven't practiced with it yet. Remember that passive sentences change the subject from what it would be in its active form...):
   1. Past tense
   2. Present tense, progressive aspect
   3. Modal, progressive aspect
   4. past tense, perfect aspect
   5. modal, perfect, progressive
   6. present, passive voice
2. Do the same with a transitive, stative verb. Do any of these forms sound odder with your stative verb sentence than they did with your dynamic verb sentence?
3. What are the features of the verb phrase (ie., tense, modal, aspect, voice) in the following sentences:
   1. The king should have offered his foes a treaty.
   2. Those crispy, black cookies are looking overcooked.
   3. John's credentials were being questioned.
4. Now try diagramming these additional sentences containing a variety of different verb phrases:
   1. That giant lollipop must have been turning her tongue purple.
   2. Did anyone have the vegetarian lasagna?
   3. There must have been some good music there.
   4. Your ideas are interesting.
   5. Your ideas are interesting me.
   6. What should we have been feeding the zoo's rare walrus?
   7. What secret information was being transmitted?