Name:

___________ / 20
MSJC Community English Program
Language Lab and Study Skills Summer 2015
Parts of Speech and Metalanguage Diagnosis

The following diagnosis is not part of your class work. It is strictly for the purpose of diagnosing your current
knowledge about grammar terminology and linguistic structure and function. Please do your best so that I
may use this information to accurately form instruction for the semester.

1. In the following section, circle the answer that best fits the proposed sentence construction.
1. If the subject of a sentence is third person singular, the verb you would use would be:
A. is B. am C. are D. were

2. If the subject of a sentence is first person plural, the verb you would use would be:
A. am B. are C. is D. were

3. If the tense you want to use is past tense, the verb you would choose would be:
A. am B. are C. is D. were

2. In the box below, conjugate the verb to be in the simple present tense:

singular plural

1st

2nd

3rd

3. What is the past participle of to speak? ________________________________

4. What is the present participle of to be? ________________________________
5. In the following sentence, circle the preposition:
I watch a lot of television
6. In the following sentence, underline the prepositional phrase:
There is not much we can do about the problem.
7. Put a box around the subject in the following sentence:
Jason doesnt wear a hat.
8. Underline the verb phrase in the following sentence:
Jason has been wearing a hat with a red feather.
9. Is the following sentence grammatically correct? Circle: Y N
Leila is dance in the club with her friends.
10. What is the infinitive form of the verb to hit? _______________________
11. What is the base form of the verb to hit? __________________________
12. Circle the adjective(s) in the following sentence:
The police officer is reluctantly carrying a large shield that is black.

13. Underline the adverb in the following sentence:

The police officer is reluctantly carrying a large shield that is black.

14. Underline the modal in the following sentence:

The journalist should be very honest in her reporting of the news.

15. What is the referent of the pronoun in the following sentence:

The chef was explaining the meal he had prepared to his friend.
A. chef B. he C. meal D. friend

16. Circle the possessive adjective in the following sentence:

The chef was explaining the meal he had prepared to his friend.

17. Underline the indirect object of the verb in the following sentence:
I will give the picture to my mother for her birthday.

18. Write any example of a present progressive verb phrase: ____________________

19. Write any example of a non-count noun: _____________________

20. Circle the verb that can be intransitive:

A. to sing B. to break C. to give D. to make

Now trade and grade!!!! We will go over the answers together.