EL 100- INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS
ACTIVITY
I.
SYNTACTIC CATEGORY
A. Determine the syntactic category of the following sentences.
Det N V
Example: That glass broke.
1. A tiger jumped toward the end of the cliff.
2. These tall trees are blocking the way.
3. The detective looked through the records of the suspects.
4. The apples never appear quite ripe.
5. Andy will play the trumpet and the drums.
B. Identify the part of speech of the following underlined words in the sentences.
1. I rode again the bus yesterday. _______, ______
2. I took my time at the bank. ______, ______
3. The old and yellowed pages fell out of the textbook. ______, _______
4. The sleepy kid couldn’t understand that lecture. _______, _______
5. Some of my friends went to the river park yesterday. _______, _______
II.
PHRASES AND CLAUSES
A. Underline the phrases in the sentence and identify its syntactic unit (noun phrase, verb
phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase, prepositional phrase, conjunctional phrase, or
interjectional phrase).
Example: She sings a sweet song. Verb phrase
1. A very beautiful cat went to the park. ________________
2. She’s such a sweet child. _____________
3. Miguel was extremely shocked by the news. ______________
4. The teacher tried to explain very quickly. _____________
5. I read it in the newspaper. ___________
6. Thank God! I passed. ____________
7. The bewildered man was lost. ___________
8. You might enjoy a message. __________
9. We camped by the brook. ____________
10. Life is not only challenging but also enjoyable. ___________
B. Identify if the following sentences are simple sentence, compound sentence,
complex sentence, or compound-complex sentence.
1. Brian and Rene are close friends. ______________
2. We have been on rather too many planes and trains recently. ____________
3. I don’t care how expensive it is. ______________
4. Two minutes ago, the child was fast asleep, but now he is wide awake. ___________
5. She runs every day, so she is very fit. _____________
6. My mother cooked dinner while I was doing my homework. ______________
7. When all else fails, read the user manual. _______________
8. You can either come with me now or walk home. _____________
9. It was May who paid for the drinks. _____________
10. They spoke to him in Malay, but he responded in English. ____________
III.
KINDS OF VERBS
Direction: Underline the verb or verbs in each sentence. Label ACTION, LINKING, or HELPING.
Example: After running around the track, the kids were ready for a break.
action
helping action
1. The smelly cat sneezed, and it was funny!
2. Terry became a very successful student after listening to the advice from his teachers.
3. I am really smart because I study daily.
4. I own a farm but my dad is the farmer.
5. Christine graduated from Saint Joseph Institute of Technology.
6. I was eating dinner when my brother walked in.
7. The students listened with great interest.
8. Melissa earned a doctoral degree in English and is now teaching in France.
9. My mom loves soap operas and watches them every afternoon.
10. AJ entered college and she was very excited.
IV.
TENSES OF THE VERBS
Identify the tenses of the following sentences.
Example: John had been fixing his bike for an hour before he succeeded. Past Perfect
Continuous
1. He has written a fantastic essay. __________________
2. What are the children doing now? __________________
3. Yesterday, by 7pm he had finished his report. __________________
4. By 2024, she will have been living in Germany for 15 years. __________________
5. Everybody was looking at me. __________________
6. They left for school five minutes ago. __________________
7. I have been waiting for you for years. __________________
8. By the end of the month, she will have read about a thousand pages. _______________
9. My family always spends vacation at the seaside. __________________
10. This time tomorrow, we will be relaxing at the beach. __________________