Answers to self-assessment on phrases

• No – the first phrase is “Once upon a time”. This is the first group of words about which we can say that we know what it means. It has meaning and it has grammatical function – it modifies the verb was.
• That’s correct. This is the first group of words about which we can say that we know what it means. It has meaning and it has grammatical function – it modifies the verb was.
• No – the phrase is “an extremely rich merchant who was quite excessively fond of cats”. This group of words has meaning and grammatical function – it is the subject of the sentence.
• That’s correct. This group of words has meaning and grammatical function – it is the subject of the sentence.
• Good guess, but the phrase must include all the modifiers of the noun “merchant”, including the relative clause “who was quite excessively fond of cats”.
• No – the phrase has a noun (“merchant”) as its head, so it must be a noun phrase.
• That’s correct. The noun “merchant” is the head of the phrase and has three modifiers.
• That’s correct. The phrase starts with a preposition, which is its head.
• No – the phrase starts with a preposition so this is its head and it’s a prepositional phrase. It acts adjectivally, modifying the noun “shops”, so ‘adverbial phrase’ would not be correct even in terms of its function.
• That’s correct. The phrase acts adjectivally, modifying the noun “shops”.
• No – the phrase acts adjectivally, modifying the noun “shops”.
• Yes. It modifies “went” to “went without one of his cats”.
• No – the phrase modifies the verb “went”.
• That’s correct. This prepositional phrase modifies a verb, so it is being used like an adverb and can be described as ‘adverbial’.
• No – it’s adverbial. It modifies a verb (“went”), so it is being used like an adverb, not like an adjective – its function is adverbial, not adjectival.
• Yes, that’s correct. It’s modified by the noun phrase his favourite cat’s, which answers the question “which name?”
• No – it’s modified by the noun phrase his favourite cat’s, which answers the question “which name?”
• Option 1:
  • The spelling and grammar are certainly weak, but the writing also suffers from a lack of variety. The range of phrase patterns is very limited. No noun has any modifying adjectives, and the longest phrase based on a noun is one of the tour guides, just five words long.
• Option 2:
  • No, the range of phrase patterns is very limited and in fact there are few expanded noun phrases. No noun has any modifying adjectives, and the longest phrase based on a noun is one of the tour guides, just five words long. This makes the writing monotonous.
• Option 3:
  • Yes, that’s valid. The range of phrase patterns is certainly limited. No noun has any modifying adjectives, and the longest phrase based on a noun is one of the tour guides, just five words long.
• Option 1:
  • Yes that is a valid commentary. Almost every noun is modified in some way (by a determiner, an adjective, a noun, a prepositional phrase or a relative clause). The most spectacular noun phrase of all is this:
  • the things you could see if you came to this wonderful event apart from the mystery guest which is going to cut the red ribon to open it
• Option 2:
  • The structure is very ambitious, but it is the implementation that lets it down. Almost every noun is modified in some way (by a determiner, an adjective, a noun, a prepositional phrase or a relative clause). The most spectacular noun phrase of all is this:
  • the things you could see if you came to this wonderful event apart from the mystery guest which is going to cut the red ribon to open it
• Option 3:
  • The writing certainly conveys the writer’s enthusiasm. This is often because of the ambitious structure. Almost every noun is modified in some way (by a determiner, an adjective, a noun, a prepositional phrase or a relative clause), starting with the most spectacular phrase of all:
  • the things you could see if you came to this wonderful event apart from the mystery guest which is going to cut the red ribon to open it
• Option 2 selected, with or without any others:
  • The teacher should be able to help the writer to focus on one problematic phrase or structure at a time, and avoid making overarching comments about the whole sentence, such as the “clumsy” comment. The other points are all valid although the misuse of the word statues is less important.
• Options 1, 3, 5 only:
  • Quite right – those are the points which will help this pupil improve his/her writing skills. The teacher should be able to help the writer to focus on one problematic phrase or structure at a time, and avoid making overarching comments about the whole sentence.
• Option 4:
  • The important points which will help this pupil improve his/her writing skills, are the first, third and fifth in this list. You were right not to select option 2, as the teacher should be able to help the writer to focus on one problematic phrase or structure at a time, and avoid making overarching comments about the whole sentence.