Structure of English

2015 LET Review

ALICE M. KARAAN
Former Head, Department of English
Reviewer
 Part II
ANALYZING TEST ITEMS
1. The sentence The audience
clapped when the musical rendition
was over, illustrates one of these
patterns. Which one is it?
A. N InV
B. N LV Adj
C. N TrV N
D. N InV Adv
 Basic Sentence Patterns
Pattern Symbols

N1 be N1 N1 = subject and subject

complement (predicate
N be Adj noun)
N be UW Adj = subject complement
N InV (predicate adjective)
N1 TrV N2 UW = uninflected word
(adverb)
N1 TrV N2 N3 InV = intransitive verb
N1 TrV N2 N2 TrV = transitive verb
N2 = direct object/object
complement
N3 = indirect object
 Types of Verbs
Linking verbs: what follows the verb
relates back to the subject (= subject
complement: pred. noun or pred. adj.)

We are teachers. (N1 LV N1 = pred.

noun)
We become molders of minds.
The children seem scared. (N LV Adj =
pred. adj.)
The boys are in the garden. (N LV Adv)
 Types of Verbs

Intransitive verbs: take no following object

The team won. (N InV)

Transitive verbs: require an object

My father raises rabbits. (N1 TV N2 = direct

object)
 Types of Verbs

Prepositional verbs: require a

prepositional phrase to be
complete

I glanced at the mirror.

 Types of Transitive
Verbs

Monotransitive: takes one object (direct

object)

My father raises rabbits. (N1 TV N2)

Types of Transitive Verbs

Ditransitive : takes two objects (direct

and indirect)

The postman delivered a package to

my sister. (N1 TV N2 N3 )

The postman gave my sister a package.

(N1 TV N3 N2)

N3 = indirect object
Types of Transitive Verbs
Complex transitive: takes two
objects, but what follows the direct
object relates back to it

The class elected Jose their

representative.
(N1 TV N2 N2)

N2 = object complement
 Functions of Nouns
Subject of verb
The guest is amiable.
Subject complement
He is my hero. (predicate noun)
They are excited. (predicate adjective)
Direct object
Mother gave a gift
Indirect object
Mother gave a gift to the orphan.
Mother gave the orphan a gift.
 Functions of Nouns
Object complement/object noun predicate
They elected Mario president.
Appositive
Baguio City, the summer capital of the
Philippines, is no longer as beautiful as it was
before.
Vocative
Friends, shall we play tennis tomorrow?
Object of the preposition
PNU is at the corner of Taft Avenue and Ayala
Boulevard.
2. In the sentence, The club meeting
will be over in an hour, the
underlined phrase functions as _____.

A. subject complement
B. predicate noun
C. prepositional phrase
D. adverbial
Forms of Adverbials
Adverbial clause:
She cried because she lost her
wallet.

Adverbial phrase:
She cried very silently.

Prep. phrase:
Jason woke up at seven oclock
3. Which of the following sentences
does not have a linking verb?

A. The tall building appears haunted.

B. The principal is busy monitoring
school activities.
C. The ugly bud becomes a beautiful
flower after two days.
D. The class are working on their
science project.
 Linking/Copula Verbs
Be verbs (am, is, are, was, were, will
be)
when it is the main verb in the
sentence.

Other verbs
appear, feel, look, prove, seem,
smell, sound, taste, become, fall, get,
go, grow, keep, remain, stay may be
substituted by an appropriate be verb
4. Which of these is a passive sentence?

A. The box contains a pair of silver

shoes.
B. He has bought a new house by
the lake.
C. Bob got excused for his first
offense.
D. The choir sang an early folk tune.
 Voice

Pertains to who or what serves as the

subject in a clause.

ACTIVE voice: the subject of a clause

is most often the agent/ doer of the
action.
PASSIVE voice:the subject of a clause is the receiver
or undergoer of the action. The passive defocuses
the agent.

The lifeguard saved the child. (active)

The child was saved [by the lifeguard]. (passive)

The passive voice requires only transitive verbs.

Passive morphology : be . . . en
(a form of the be verb + the past participle)
 AGENTED passive: the agent is mentioned (appears
in a prepositional phrase marked by the preposition
by.
The child was saved by the lifeguard.

AGENTLESS passive : the agent is not mentioned

The child was saved.

Some passive sentences have no active counterparts.

Justin was born in Canada.
5. In the sentence My aunt tenderly
mothers her youngest son, the underlined
word is _____.
A. a noun
B. a verb
C. an adjective
D. a possessive

Referred to as conversion/functional shift

6.

6. Which of the following sentences does not

contain a phrasal verb?
A. The Board winded their meeting up
quite early.
B. We look up to him as our role model.
C. Do not lean against the wall.
D. Am I going to round off the numbers?

Phrasal verbs are two-word verbs.

= V + adverbial particle
Examples of Phrasal Verbs (PVs)

Phrasal Verb Synonym

call up telephone
keep on continue
pick out choose
give in/up surrender
leave out omit
put off postpone
Separable and Inseparable PVs
Look after your baby brother.
*Look your baby brother after. (* means
ungrammatical)
Look after him.

Donna turned on the light.

Donna turned the light on.
Donna turned it on.

She passed out (fainted).

She passed the brochures out (distributed).
7. Which of the following words is not a
derived word?
A. attendance
B. television
C. perfectly
D. children
 Affixation
Word formation process involving
Inflection > inflected word
Derivation > derived word

8 inflectional affixes in English

noun = plural, possessive
verb = 3rd p. sg., simple past, present
participle, past participle
adjective = comparative, superlative
degree markers
 Inflectional & Derivation Suffixes

Inflectional Derivational
Keeps the class of Changes the class . . . .
the word to which it
is added

Closed list Open list

Widely distributed Limited in distribution

Closes a word Can pile up at the end

of words
8. I can hardly hear the news.
Please turn _____ the volume.
A. over
B. up
C. around
D. on
 turn over: pass the
control/running of, give into
the custody of
turn up: make loud, appear,
improve (economy), be found;
turn around: reverse
turn on: switch on, excite
turn out: extinguish; produce
9. Which of the following plural
nouns is an unmarked form?
A. students
B. bacteria
C. women
D. sheep
Unmarked and Marked Forms

Unmarked
means predictable, typical,
regular, basic

Marked
means not common, irregular
10. In the verb phrase, will have
been chosen, the operator verb
is _____.
A. will
B. have
C. been
D. chosen
 Operator Verb
Related to the concept of auxiliary/helping
verbs

Types of auxiliary verbs

Modal can/could, will/would,
shall/should, may/might, must
Non-modal be, do, have verbs

Crucial in the formation of negative

sentences, yes-no questions, tag
 Modal as Operator Verb
We can submit our project on time.
Negative:
We cannot submit our project on time.
Yes-no Question:
Can we submit our project on time?
Can we not submit our project on time?
Cant we submit our project on time?
Tag Question:
We can submit our project on time, cant we?
We cannot submit our project on time, can
we?
 Be as Operator Verb
The students are here
Neg.: The students are not here.
Y/N Q: Are the students here?
Tag Q: The students are here, arent they?

He is joining the party.

Neg.: He is not joining the party.
Y/N Q: Is he joining the party?
Tag Q: He is joining the party, isnt he?
He is not joining the party, is he?
 Have as Operator Verb

My brother has reviewed for the final

exams.

Neg.: My brother has not reviewed for the final

exam.
Y/N Q: Has my brother reviewed for the final
exam?
Tag Q: My brother has reviewed for the final
exam, hasnt he?
My brother has not reviewed for the
final exam, has he?
 Has as Main Verb

Albert has a new girl friend.

Neg: Albert does not have a new girl

friend.
Y/N Q: Does Albert have a new girl friend?
Tag Q: Albert has a new girl friend, doesnt
he?
Albert does not have a new girl
friend, does he?
Do Operator with Other Verbs

The baby takes a nap every day.

The babies take a nap every day.
The baby/babies took a nap this morning

Do insertion:
The baby does take a nap every day.
The babies do take a nap every day.
The baby/babies did take a nap this
morning.
 Tag Questions
1. A tag question comes at the end of a
statement.
2. It asks for agreement or disagreement.
3. It is positive after a negative statement
and vice versa.

The mail has come today, hasnt it.

The mail hasnt come today, has it?

Its raining, isnt it?

It isnt raining, is it?
11. Which of the following
adjective phrases is
syntactically correct?
A. the most perfect
B. nearly perfect
C. the very perfect
D. less perfect
Gradable & Absolute Adjectives
Gradable adjective: allows comparison
easy easier easiest
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
less _____ least _____
Absolute/Non-gradable adjective:
perfect *more perfect *most perfect
*less perfect *least
perfect

Takes nearly and almost as markers.

Absolute Adjectives

round supreme
fatal total
unique unanimous
possible impossible
equal eternal
final infinite
12. Which of the following phrases is
properly sequenced?
A. an old ugly gray wooden statue
B. a wooden old ugly gray statue
C. an ugly old gray wooden statue
D. a gray wooden old ugly statue
 Order of One-Word Adjectives
in a Series
Opinion pretty
Size small
Shape round
Condition chipped
Age antique
Color blue
Origin Chinese
many pretty small round chipped antique
blue Chinese vases
 Order of Determiners
Pre-Det Core Det Post- Adj Nou
Det n
QUANTIFIERS ARTICLES CARDINAL
all a/an, the NUMBERS
both one/two
half POSS. ADJECTIVES
my/your/his, etc. ORDINAL young boys
NUMBERS
MULTIPLIERS DEMONSTRATIVES first/secon
twice this/these, etc. d
four times next, last
NOUN
POSSESSIVES
QUANTIFIERS
INDEFINITE little,
WORDS
13. Which of the following
questions is positively phrased?
A. How young are you today?
B. How old are you today?
C. Whats your age today?
D. All of the above
 Polarity

Positive Negative
old young
big small
longshort
fast slow

Positive:
Are unmarked forms (more frequent), learned
earlier by children, used in neutral contexts
14. One of the most powerful countries
which existed several years back is
_____ Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics. What article is missing?
A. a
B. an
C. the
D. none
 Article Use

Nouns
Common Proper
(inherently
definite)
Count Noncoun
t
(mass)
sg. pl. sg. pl.

Definite the the the the

Indefinite a/an some/ some/

 Other Uses of the
countries viewed as unions, collection of
islands
the United States of America
the Philippines (Philippine Islands)
lakes (if they form a geological group)
the Great Lakes
mountain ranges
the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, the Sierra
Madre
islands
the Bahamas
15. You can sleep on the beach or
in the woods. The sentence has
conjoined _____.
A. clauses
B. predicates
C. verb phrases
D. prepositional phrases
Coordination/Conjoining Process

Makes use of coordinators/coordinating

conjunctions
FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
Coordinators join two or more independent
clauses
Coordinators form compound sentences.

I wanted to help my parents, but they wont

let me be a working student.
Sentence Types: Clause Structure

1. Simple = one subject + one predicate

The parents / signed the permission form.
The captain and his men / fought with their
enemies bravely.

2. Compound = 2 or more independent clauses

The doctor / schedules a consultation, but he /
has not come yet.
This test / is for preschool children; it / should not
be used for other children.
The children / didnt enjoy it; nevertheless, it /
was a learning experience.
Sentence Types: Clause Structure

3. Complex = 1 independent clause + at least 1

dependent clause
Alan, [the boy I told you about], was discharged last
week.
[As the family has suspected,] their barangay
captain would not help at all.
The poem [which won the award] pleased the
judges.

4. Compound-complex = 2 or more independent

clauses + at least 1 dependent clause
It was true [that the building was elevated above
the flood level], but the water reached the floor
anyway.
16. If you learn to swim, you _____ on
this trip. The appropriate verb
phrase to complete the sentence
is _____.
A. would go
B. will go
C. will be going
D. would have gone
Basic Verb Forms Used in Conditional Sentences

SITUATION IF-CLAUSE RESULT EXAMPLES

CLAUSE
True in the simple simple If you help
present present present me now, you
are a true
friend.
True in the simple will + simple If you drive
future present form carefully, you
will have a
OR safe trip.
simple will + simple Unless you
present form study hard,
you will
Real
obtain a low
condition
grade.
More on Conditional Sentences
SITUATION IF-CLAUSE RESULT EXAMPLES
CLAUSE

Untrue in simple past would + If you brushed

the simple form your teeth
present/ carefully, you
future would have
fewer cavities.

Untrue in past perfect would have + If you had

the past = past participle studied hard,
had + you wouldnt
participle have obtained
a low grade.
17. You look attractive in _____ the blue
sweater _____ the yellow one. To
complete the sentence which
correlative conjunction is appropriate?
A. not only . . . but
B. neither . . . nor
C. either . . . or
D. both . . . and also
 Correlative Conjunctions

A pairedconjunction that links

balanced words, phrases, and clauses.

both . . . and
either . . . or
neither . . . nor
not . . . but
not only . . . but also
18. The amount which she paid for is a
student loan. The underlined
group of words is considered _____.
A. an independent clause
B. a dependent clause
C. a fragment
D. a subject complement
 Relative Clause
A dependent clause
A product of an embedding process
An adjective clause (noun modifier)
The amount is a student loan.
She paid for the amount.
which
The amount [she paid for the amount] is a
student loan.
The amount which she paid for is a student loan.
19. My brother doesnt like meat
and neither do I. The underlined
words show _____.
A. uninverted affirmative elision
B. inverted affirmative elision
C. uninverted negative elision
D. inverted negative elision
 Elision Process
My brother doesnt like meat.
I do not like meat.
Uninverted negative elision
My brother doesnt like meat and I dont, either.
Inverted negative elision
My brother doesnt like meat and neither do I.

My brother likes meat.

I like meat.
Uninverted affirmative elision
My brother likes meat and I do, too.
Inverted affirmative elision
My brother likes meat and so do I.
20. Which of the following is a
prototypical imperative sentence?
A. Lets gather wild berries.
B. Could you please sharpen my
pencil?
C. Dont wash your dirty linen in
public.
D. Wait for your turn.
Kinds of Imperative Sentences
A. Inclusive imperative
Lets gather wild berries.
B. Polite imperative/Request
Could you please sharpen my pencil?
C. Negative imperative
Dont wash your dirty linen in public.
D. Affirmative imperative
Wait for your turn.
E. Elliptical imperative
Trays!
F. Diffuse imperative
Somebody open the door
21. One of the following is not a
content word. Which word is it?
A. he
B. bought
C. new
D. shirt
 Categories of Words

Traditionally, we recognize eight (8) parts of speech

NOW, we categorize words into:
Content words (open classes)
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Structure/function words (closed classes)
All other word classes (pronouns, determiners,
prepositions, conjunctions, etc.)
22. Which of the following verbs can be
both transitive and intransitive?
A. seem
B. arrive
C. sing
D. bring
 To Remember
Some verbs are intransitive only.
arrive, blush, cry, disappear, erupt, faint, happen,
kneel, laugh, moan, persist, roar
Some verbs are transitive only.
admire, blame, catch, design, enjoy, free, give,
hear, keep, like, make, need, plant, record
Other verbs can be both intransitive or
transitive (may or may not take an object
eat, play, run, sing, speak, wash
The children played. (intransitive)
The children played chess. (transitive)
23. Which adverbial phrases come in the
right order?
A. (walks) every morning hurriedly to
catch the bus
B. (walks) to catch the bus hurriedly every
morning
C. (goes) at seven oclock to the library to
return some books
D. (goes) to the library at seven oclock to
return some books
Sequence of Sentence-Final
Adverbials
{ direction/goal} + position manner
+ time frequency + purpose/reason}

He walks home leisurely at 5:30 PM

every day because he wants to feel
relaxed.

He walks home leisurely every day at

5:30 PM because he wants to feel
relaxed.
24. If Fred _____ hard, he would have passed
the examination. Which verb form
correctly completes the conditional
sentence?
A. studied
B. had studied
C. has studied
D. would have studied
Verb Pairing in If and Main Clauses

If studies will pass

If studied would pass
If has studied will have
passed
If had studied would
have passed
25. Which of the following sentences does
not make use of an operator verb?
A. Please join my birthday party this
weekend.
B. Can you join my birthday party this
weekend?
C. You are joining my birthday party,
arent you?
D. I will expect you and your sister.
 PART II
ENHANCING TEST-TAKING
SKILLS
1. In the sentence, The supplier
delivers water on Tuesdays and
Fridays, the verb is a _____ verb.
A. transitive
B. intransitive
C. linking
D. phrasal
2. Which of the following is an active
sentence?
A. The dishes have been washed.
B. Much corn is raised in the Ilocos
Region.
C. The boy scouts raised the flag.
D. The drums are played at 7:45 in
the evening.
3. The pitcher _____ the ball with a strong
force scoring a perfect strike. In a
commentary of a baseball match, which
verb will complete the sentence
correctly?
A. throws
B. is throwing
C. has thrown
D. will be throwing
 Tense and Aspect of Verbs

1. Tense gives information about the time when an

event takes place.

Present / Past / Future

2. Aspect gives information on completion and

duration of an event.

Simple / Progressive / Perfect / Perfect progressive

Source:
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpa
ge
 Uses of the Present Tense
He walks to school habitual action in the
every day. present
Water freezes at 0 general timeless truth
degrees centigrade.
There is a large store at a state/condition
the corner.
If Alan passes the bar subordinate clause of
exam, he will practice conditional
law.
I have a meeting next future
week.

Now I add three eggs to present action in a

the mixture. demonstration/
procedure

So he stands up on the narration - historical

boat and waves his present
hands to catch our
attention.
4. Which aspect of the verb carries
the meaning of prior.
A. simple
B. progressive
C. perfect
D. perfect progressive
 Meaning of the Aspects
1. Simple aspect
= complete; unchanging nature;
immediate
factuality (present & past tense) /strong
prediction (future tense)
2. Perfect aspect
= prior/before
3. Progressive aspect
= incomplete; changing
5. Which sentence has a ditransitive
verb?
A. He looked at the mountain with
binoculars.
B. We were happily chatting under
the tree.
C. Mother made dresses for my doll.
D. She put a rocking chair on the
lawn.
6. Which of the following sentences
shows an error in subject-verb
agreement?
A. Measles is contagious.
B. The committee works hard even on
holidays.
C. One hundred pesos are hard to
earn in one day.
D. My pajamas are still wet.
7. We watched the softball game on
the front porch. Which question
elicits the direct object constituent?
A. Who watched the softball game?
B. What did we do?
C. What did we watch?
D. Where did we watch the game?
8. Which of the following yes/no
questions is not formed accurately?
A. Have you all the things that you
need for the trip?
B. Do you want to play badminton?
C. Wont you have been the rightful
heiress?
D. Can you not deliver your speech
without a script?
9. Father drove the car into the
garage beside our house with its
headlights on. The reference of the
underlined word is _____.
A. Father
B. car
C. garage
D. house
 Referencing
Antecedent- noun being replace by a pronoun;
comes before the pronoun substitute

Referent = noun being substituted; neutral term

Anaphoric backward reference; referent comes

before (antecedent)
If a man has talent and cant use it, hes
failed.
Cataphoric forward reference; referent comes
after
A few days before she left for Hongkong, my
mother gave me a list of reminders and
10. Which of the following sentences is the
most acceptable because it is easy to
handle?
A. Everyone passed his or her paper on
time.
B. Everyone passed their project on time.
C. Everyone passed his/her project on
time.
D. All the students passed their project
on time.
11. Which of the following nouns
shows inflection?
A. friendship
B. helplessness
C. advocacy
D. librarians
12. Which of the following sentences
expresses negation?
A. The dogs are not well trained.
B. Many never pray before sleeping.
C. Usually the lame can neither run nor
jump.
D. All of the above.
13. The imperative Have an
enjoyable vacation, is used as
_____.
A. a suggestion
B. a wish
C. an advice
D. an invitation
 Other Uses of Imperatives
Offer: Have another biscuit.
Suggestion: Lets go to the movie tonight.
Request: Close the door, please.
Advice: Dont forget Mothers Day.
Directions: Go left at the next corner.
Prohibition: Do not pick the flowers.
Warning: Watch out!
Procedure: Add a teaspoon of baking powder to
the flour.
Invitation: Come in.
Threat: Watch your step.
Wish: Have a great day!
14. Which of the following is not a correct
coordination of these sentence?

Mark loves to eat fruits.

I love to eat fruits.

A. Mark and I love to eat fruits.

B. Mark loves to eat fruits and I do, either.
C. Mark loves to eat fruits and so do I.
D. Mark loves to eat fruits and I do, too.
15. In the sentence, The
awardee that the committee
chose comes from a poor
family, the underlined word
functions as _____.
A. a sentence marker
B. an object of the verb
C. a subject of the clause
D. a subordinating conjunction
 Uses of that
As a pronoun
Lets think carefully about that.
As a determiner
I like that shoulder bag.
As a relative pronoun
The letterthatcame this morning is from my
brother
As conjunction
His manners are so badthatnobody invites him
to a party.
As sentence marker
The fact that the students destroyed the science
lab infuriated the school head.
16. Ella was a girl who could surf but
who was afraid to swim. The
conjuncts in the sentence are
_____.
A. sentences
B. relative clauses
C. relative pronouns
D. independent clauses
17. Which of the following sentences
should have the article the on the
blank?
A. The artist I talked in the Art Fair is
_____ Michelangelo.
B. _____ Philippines has a lot of
wonderful tourist destinations.
C. Obama Wins by _____ Landslide
D. _____ sampaguita lei is usually
given to a guest of honor.
18. In the sentence, The red roses
given as a birthday gift by my best
friend really smell sweet, which
adjective is predicative?
A. red
B. birthday
C. best
D. sweet
 Attributive and
Predicative Adjectives

Attributive : precedes a noun

wherever that noun is in the sentence

My late father was an honest person.

Predicative: occurs in the predicate

following a linking verb

The young man is tall.

19. In the noun phrase, a sound
advice from my grandmother who
came last weekend, the head is
_____.
A. sound
B. advice
C. grandmother
D. weekend
20. Which of the following is a gradable
adjective?
A. unique
B. round
C. perfect
D. healthy
21. The team, which won the volleyball
championship, has retained their
title. What does the underlined
group of words exemplify?
A. non-restrictive clause
B. restrictive clause
C. attributive clause
D. predicative clause
 Restrictive and Non-
restrictive Relative Clauses

1. Restrictive:
necessary/essential for defining
which noun is being referred to
The house which is decorated
by the Albas is quite
unusual.

2. Non-restrictive: not
necessary/ non-essential;
simply adds information
22. His bag is more expensive than
mine. His father bought it when he
went to Singapore. The word
mine is called _____.
A. possessive pronoun
B. subject pronoun
C. possessive determiner
D. demonstrative determiner
23. In the word nationalism, which
part of the word functions as the
base?
A. nation
B. national
C. nat-
D. ism
 Types of Morphemes

The words teachers & nationalism are made

up of the following:
Morphemes
Base Affix
Free Bound Bound
teach nat- Inflectiona Derivation
l al
Affix Affix
native -s -er
nation -ion
nature -al
-ism
 Stem
The form to which the last affix is added.
nat- + -ion > nation
nation + -al> national
national + -ism > nationalism

Base is a constant; does not change.

Stem changes as the word grows, i.e., as
more affixes are added.
24. Some persons think of the word
water as either life or death.
Which vocabulary concept do the
italicized words illustrate?
A. lexical meaning
B. referential meaning
C. denotation
D. connotation
Denotation and Connotation
Denotation
= dictionary meaning
also referred to as lexical
meaning/
referential meaning

Connotation
= the emotional association with a
word; association can be personal
or communal.
25. In which phrase is the spatial
meaning of the preposition
about shown?
A. ran about the school ground
B. about 7:00 in the morning
C. about -4 degrees centigrade
D. a movie about space aliens
My Fervent Wish

I wish you all the luck in the

coming LET!

If others can make it, there

WONT be any reason why
you cant.