Uppsala University
Department of English
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Autumn/Fall Term 2012
Language Structure Assignment 4: Key to Seminar
Grammar Tasks
Task 1
See the references to sections in UGE for explanations.
1)
It’s /about/high/ time you told the truth. UGE 5.4.2.
2)
Where were you born? I was born abroad. UGE 5.4.2.
3)
Who painted this picture? UGE 5.4.2.
4)
He has lived abroad for many years (and still does). UGE 5.4.3.
5)
Previously, he also lived in Sweden for a couple of years. UGE 5.4.2–5.4.3.
6)
I’ll phone you when I have heard from him. UGE 5.4.5.1.
7)
If you need help, I’ll take over some of your tasks. UGE 5.4.5.1, 5.4.6.
Task 2
a.
1)
2)
She had gone home when he came to the party.
She would have gone home if he had come to the party. Swedish skulle ha
gått would also be possible in this sentence, which is in the third
conditional; in such cases, a construction with would have + past participle
is obligatory in English. In Swedish, a present or past perfect auxiliary can
be omitted in a dependent clause (… om han [hade] kommit till partyt); in
English, it is not possible to omit the perfect auxiliary in these contexts.
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Uppsala University
Department of English
b.
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Autumn/Fall Term 2012
See also UGE, section 5.4.6, for explanations.
3)
If you do the dishes, Harry will drive you to school. The first conditional:
the present tense in the conditional clause, will + infinitive in the main
clause (the present tense is not possible). See UGE 4.6.3 for school with no
article.
4)
If you did the dishes, Harry would drive you to school. The second
conditional: the past tense in the conditional clause, would + infinitive in
the main clause.
5)
If you had done the dishes, Harry would have driven you to school. The
third conditional: the past perfect in the conditional clause, would
have + past participle in the main clause (the past perfect is not possible).
6)
If Susan had helped me, it would probably have gone better. The third
conditional: the past perfect in the conditional clause, would have + past
participle in the main clause (the past perfect is not possible). The perfect
auxiliary cannot be omitted in the dependent clause (If Susan had helped
me) in English, whereas it is optional in Swedish (Om Susan [hade] hjälpt
mig).
7)
A Christmas party would have been nice. The third conditional: would
have + past participle in the main clause (the past perfect is not possible).
The condition is understood instead of explicitly stated in a conditional
clause (= If we had had a Christmas party, that would have been nice).
8)
It would have been better if you had not been late. The third conditional:
the past perfect in the conditional clause (the perfect auxiliary is
obligatory), would have + past participle in the main clause (the past perfect
is not possible).
9)
Otherwise, he would /certainly/surely/ have believed me. The third
conditional: would have + past participle in the main clause (the past perfect
is not possible). The condition is expressed by the adverb otherwise instead
of a conditional clause (= If things had been different, he would
/certainly/surely/ have believed me).
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Uppsala University
Department of English
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Autumn/Fall Term 2012
Task 3
a.
1)
b.
It’s raining again (ongoing action at the time of speaking) – it always
rains (habit) here this time of year.
2)
It’s always raining (irritating habit) when I want to go running.
3)
What does he do? (habit, e.g. occupation)
4)
What’s he doing? (ongoing action at the time of speaking)
5)
Is (something typical of the subject) he really that stupid, or is he just
being (temporary, specific behaviour) silly, do you think? – Oh, he is
always trying (irritating habit) to be funny and making (irritating habit)
an ass of himself.
Stative verbs such as know and desire rarely occur in the progressive. However,
most verbs can be used in the progressive in special contexts.
Task 4
See the reference to UGE after each sentence for the changes that are necessary.
1)
Some students dislike having to read /one/a/ novel /a/per/ week.
UGE 5.7.3.
2)
I /will/am going to/ continue /to read/reading/ English literature. UGE
5.7.4.
3)
I avoid reading novels in Swedish. UGE 5.7.3.
4)
I love /staying/to stay/ in bed reading (or … love to stay in bed and read …)
an English novel. UGE 5.7.4.
5)
The worst thing about it is that I risk never getting out of bed. UGE 5.7.3.
6)
My mother remembers /doing/having done/that she did/ the same (thing)
when she was a student. UGE 5.7.4.
7)
I cannot help liking her. UGE 5.7.3.
8)
My parents expect me to succeed. UGE 5.7.1.
9)
They have /made me subscribe/got me to subscribe/ to Newsweek. UGE
5.7.2.
10) I /long/am longing/cannot wait/ for the /term/semester/ to end. (These
particular verbs are not listed in UGE, but long for and cannot wait for
behave like the other verbs that take an object plus a verb in the toinfinitive form listed in section 5.7.1.)
11) My boyfriend wants us to travel. UGE 5.7.1 (note that want cannot be
followed by a that-clause in English, unlike Swedish vilja, which is
followed by an att-clause).
12) We had better finish our courses before /we leave/leaving/. UGE 5.7.2.
13) Anyway, I /mustn’t forget/must remember/ to call the travel agency. UGE
5.7.4.
14) I caught him stealing a /mobile/cell/ phone. UGE 5.7.3.
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