Practice Test in English

Directions: Read each statement carefully and give what is asked. Encircle the
letter of your choice.
1. This is a component of language wherein larger, complex messages can be
broken down into smaller, discrete parts
a. Discreteness
b. Arbitrariness
c. Displacement
d. Interchangeability
2. There is no (necessary) connection between the form of signal and its
meaning
a. Discreteness
b. Arbitrariness
c. Displacement
d. Interchangeability
3. At least some aspect of communication system is learned from other users
a. Discreteness
b. Arbitrariness
c. productivity
d. cultural transmission
4. This is the ability of language wherein the speaker has the ability to talk about
things not present space or time
a. Discreteness
b. Arbitrariness
c. Displacement
d. Interchangeability
5. Speakers can create infinite number of vowel utterances that others can
understand
a. Discreteness
b. Arbitrariness
c. Productivity
d. cultural transmission
6. A user can both receive and broadcast the same signal
a. Discreteness
b. Arbitrariness
c. Displacement
d. Interchangeability
7. The ability acquire meaning
a. Creativity
b. Duality
c. Semanticity
d. Displacement
8. In babbling, children’s utterances consists of
a. Combinations of a vowel and consonant (eg. ab, ad, at)
b. Combinations of a consonant and vowel (eg. ba, da, ta)
 c. Vowels only (eg. aa, oo, etc.)
d. Consonants ony (eg. Rrrr, sssss, etc.)
9. When children pronounce cookie as [gege] and water as [wawa], the process
which explains this pronunciation is called?
a. Devoicing
b. Reduplication
c. Syllable reduction
d. Fronting
10. In the two-word stage, children produce
a. Very short utterances
b. Utterances that contain only function words (det., complementizers, aux.)
c. Utterances that contain only content words (N., verbs, adj., prep.)
d. Utterances that consist of two words only
11. Use of single word for many different purposes
a. Holophrastic utterance
b. Vocalization
c. Babbling
d. Telegraphic utterance
12. Making sounds through mouth
a. Holophrastic utterance
b. Vocalization
c. Babbling
d. Telegraphic utterance
13. Vocalization using speech sounds
a. Motherese
b. Vocalization
c. Babbling
d. Telegraphic utterance
14. Utterances formed with two or more content words but lacking of function
words and inflections
a. Holophrastic utterance
b. Vocalization
c. Babbling
d. Telegraphic utterance
15. Bilabial, labio dental, dental, and alcviolarrefers to what classification of
dimensions of consonant sounds?
a. Manner of articulation
b. Place of articulation
c. Voicing
d. Tongue height
16. What linguistic theory was coined from language acquisition device (LAD) of
Noam Chomsky?
a. Universal grammar
b. Prescriptive grammar
c. Descriptive grammar
 d. Pedagogical grammar
17. _________ defines that language is utilized in order to express, persuade,
and or ask information.
a. Structuralist
b. Functionalist
c. Cognitivist
d. Behaviourist
18. For them, humans have this language acquisition device that allow us to learn
the grammar of a language.
a. Structuralist
b. Functionalist
c. Cognitivist
d. Behaviourist
19. They believe that language is learned through imitation, repetition, and
reinforcement.
a. Structuralist
b. Functionalist
c. Cognitivist
d. Behaviourist
20. The plural suffix- s and past tense form – ed of the verb are types of what
morpheme?
a. Inflectional
b. Derivational
c. Grammatical
d. Lexical
21. Suffixes such as – ness, -tion, -ance are types of what morphemes?
a. Inflectional
b. Derivational
c. Grammatical
d. Lexical
22. There is no inherent relation between the words of a language and their
meanings or the ideas conveyed by them.
a. Language is primary vocal
b. Language is a system of systems
c. Language is arbitrary
d. Language follows a pattern
23. He argues that children acquire language not by sheer imitation alone for
children have an inborn innate biological mechanism that makes language
learning possible.
a. Stephen Krashen
b. Noam Chomsky
c. Steve Pinker
d. Leonard Bloomfield
24. It is a shortened form of a pre-existing form (phone-telephone)
a. Category extension
b. Clipped form
 c. Blending
d. Back formation
25. This involves the extension of a morpheme from one syllable from one
syntactic category to another e.g. the chairs (N) have been arranged. He
chairs (V) the committee.
a. Category extension
b. Clipped form
c. Blending
d. Back formation
26. When one finds difficulty in understanding the meaning of a word, what aspect
of linguistics is involved?
a. Syntax
b. Semantics
c. Pragmatics
d. Morphology
27. When a teacher tells her/his students, “Showcase your artistry and
innovativeness in your project” What illocutionary act has been performed?
a. Commissive
b. Expressive
c. Directive
d. Instrumental
28. Language teaching practices that involve drills, pattern practice, mimicry and
memorization uphold the process of ________ in language learning.
a. Simplification
b. Hypothesis-testing
c. Habit-formation
d. Theorizing
29. The argument that the linguistic in put perceived by young children is in itself
insufficient to explain children’s detailed knowledge of their L1.
a. LAD
b. Bootstrapping
c. Poverty of Stimulus
d. Critical period hypothesis
30. Focused directly observable rather than mental systems underlying language
acquisition
a. Behaviorism
b. Cognitivism
c. Interactionist
d. Functionalist
31. There are predicable patterns in the L1 developmental patterns are related to
their cognitive development
a. Predictability
b. Creativity
c. Imitation
d. Pattern making
32. Their language also knows they are able to apply the rules of the language to
make sentences which they have never heard before; example when children
make use of words like am-am or nam-nam for food, what characteristic of
language development is exemplified?
a. Predictability
b. Creativity
c. Imitation
d. Pattern making
33. A child creates recognizable jargons such as mamam, dodo, dada, mama etc.
a. Holophrastic
b. Reduplication
c. Telegraphic
d. Complex sentences
34. The one-word utterance maybe used in context which could account to
different grammatical construction in the adult language.
a. Holophrastic
b. Reduplication
c. Telegraphic
d. Complex sentences
35. What semantic relationship is exemplified in the given child utterances? “Box
shinny”
a. Demonstrative entity
b. Entity attributive
c. Entity location
d. None of the above
36. What semantic relationship is exemplified in the given child utterance? “toy
bed”
a. Demonstrative entity
b. Entity attributive
c. Entity location
d. None of the above
37. The syntactic structure that allows learners to expand basic sentences in
English by conjoining two or more words, phrases and sentences.
a. Predication
b. Modification
c. Coordination
d. Simplification
38. The syntactic structure that allows learners to group the major parts into
subject and predicate
a. Predication
b. Modification
c. Coordination
d. Simplification
39. When one greets you congratulations for topping the exam, what illocutionary
acts has been exemplified?
a. Directive
 b. Commissive
c. Expressive
d. Instrumental
40. This area of the brain located in the posterior part of the persisylvian region
which controls comprehension
a. Broca’s area
b. Wernicke’s area
c. Corpus callosum
d. Chomsky’s area
41. Brain met an automobile accident which damaged his frontal lobe.
Subsequent to this injury, Brian’s pronunciation and grammar have been
severely impaired. Which area of the brain is affected as a result of the
accident?
a. Wernicke’s aphasia
b. Broca’s aphasia
c. Chomsky’s area
d. Global aphasia
42. A grammar that attempts to legislate what one’s grammar should be.
a. Descriptive grammar
b. Prescriptive grammar
c. Universal grammar
d. Competence
43. Any language other than the first language learned ( in a broader sense)
a. First language
b. Second language
c. target language
d. foreign language
44. A language which is being learned
a. First language
b. Second language
c. target language
d. foreign language
45. A second (or third, or fourth) language learned in a context where the
language is NOT widely used in the speech community/
a. First language
b. Second language
c. target language
d. foreign language
46. This is called as the native language or the mother-tongue.
a. First language
b. Second language
c. target language
d. foreign language
47. This refers to the ability to treat language as an object, separate from the
meaning it conveys.
a. Performance
 b. Competence
c. Metalinguistic awareness
d. LAD
48. He maintains that language serves set up and maintain social and personal
relations, including communication roles such as questioner and respondent,
and to express the language user’s own attitudes and comments on the
content of an utterance.
a. B.F. Skinner
b. Ferdinand de Saussure
c. Stephen Krashen
d. M.A.K. Halliday
49. He held that any language is just a complex system of signs that express
ideas, with rules which govern their usage.
a. B.F. Skinner
b. Ferdinand de Saussure
c. Stephen Krashen
d. M.A.K. Halliday
50. He suggests the five hypothesis in second language learning
a. B.F. Skinner
b. Ferdinand de Saussure
c. Stephen Krashen
d. M.A.K. Halliday
51. It claims that grammatical structures are required in a predictable order for
both children and adults.
a. Natural-order hypothesis
b. Monitor hypothesis
c. Input hypothesis
d. Affective hypothesis
52. This consists of attitudes, motivation, self-confidence and anxiety to language
learning
a. Natural-order hypothesis
b. Monitor hypothesis
c. Input hypothesis
d. Affective hypothesis
53. This refers to the editing device wherein correct communication happens
when appropriate rules are known
a. Natural-order hypothesis
b. Monitor hypothesis
c. Input hypothesis
d. Affective hypothesis
54. When learners are exposed to grammatical features beyond their current
level, those features are acquired.
a. Natural-order hypothesis
b. Monitor hypothesis
c. Input hypothesis
d. Affective hypothesis
55. This is when the child uses language to express their needs
a. Instrumental
b. Regulatory
c. Interactional
d. Personal
56. Here language is used to make contact with others and form relationships
(e.g. ‘Love you, Mommy)
a. Instrumental
b. Regulatory
c. Interactional
d. Personal
57. This is the use of language to express feelings, opinions, and individual
identity
a. Instrumental
b. Regulatory
c. Interactional
d. Personal
58. This is where language is used to tell others what to do (e.g. ‘Go away’)
a. Instrumental
b. Regulatory
c. Interactional
d. Personal
59. He argues that grammar is not just systemic, but systemic functional. He
argues that the explanation of how language works “needed to be grounded in
a functional analysis, since language had evolved in the process of carrying
out certain critical functions as human beings interacted with their… ‘eco-
social’ environment”.
a. B.F. Skinner
b. Ferdinand de Saussure
c. Stephen Krashen
d. M.A.K. Halliday
60. This is when language is used to gain knowledge about the environment (e.g.
‘Whatdoes the tractor do?’)
a. Regulatory
b. Heuristic
c. Imaginative
d. Representational
61. The use of language to convey facts and information
a. Regulatory
b. Heuristic
c. Imaginative
d. Representational
62. Here language is used to tell stories and jokes, and to create an imaginary
environment.
a. Regulatory
 b. Heuristic
c. Imaginative
d. Representational
63. A person’s knowledge of his language, the system of rules which he has
mastered so that he is able to produce and understand an indefinite number
of sentences, and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities.
a. Performance
b. Competence
c. Metalinguistic awareness
d. LAD
64. The actual realization of language knowledge, language seen as a set of
specific utterances produced by language speakers, as encountered in a
corpus.
a. Performance
b. Competence
c. Metalinguistic awareness
d. LAD
65. He coined the word communicative competence
a. D.H. Hymes
b. M.A.K. Halliday
c. Noam Chomsky
d. Stephen Krashen
66. Humans are born with innate knowledge of the principles of Universal
Grammar:UG
a. Innatism
b. Behaviourism
c. Interactionism
d. Functionalism
67. The Audiolingual method of second language teaching stemmed out from this
approach: emphasis is on mimicry and memorization
a. Innatism
b. Behaviourism
c. Interactionism
d. Functionalism
68. It makes claims not only about comprehension (processing input), but also
about production (output): Corrective feedback during interaction forces
learners to produce comprehensible output.
a. Innatism
b. Behaviourism
c. Interactionism
d. Functionalism
69. Through collaborative dialogues, learners co-construct knowledge while
engaging in production tasks that draw their attention to both form and
meaning. Language learning is a cognitive activity as well as social activity.
a. Innatism
b. Behaviourism
 c. Interactionism
d. Functionalism
70. Any language impairment caused by brain damage characterized by complete
or partial impairment of language comprehension, formulation, and use.
a. Aphasia
b. Apraxia
c. Dysarthia
d. Pervasive development disorder
71. A neurogenic impairment involving planning, executing, and sequencing
motor movements.
a. Aphasia
b. Apraxia
c. Dysarthia
d. Pervasive development disorder
72. A class of conditions to which Autism,
a. Aphasia
b. Apraxia
c. Dysarthia
d. Pervasive development disorder
73. Occurs whenever the initial CV syllable in a multisyllabic word repeated (Ex:
bottle-bobo)
a. Reduplication
b. Cluster reduction
c. Deletion
d. None of the above
74. A simple way to alter the structure of the word is to omit particular speech
segments.
a. Metathesis
b. Cluster reduction
c. Substitution
d. None of the above
75. There is a reordering of the sequence of consonants (C) and vowels (V)
within syllable. (Ex. In a CVC sequence the first and last consonants may be
reverse cup becomes puc
a. Metathesis
b. Cluster reduction
c. Substitution
d. None of the above
76. A voiceless sound replaced by a voiced sound. In the examples given /p/ is
replaced by /b/, and /k/ replace by /g/. Other examples might include /t/ being
replaced by /d/, or /f/ being replaced by /v/
a. Context sensitive voicing
b. Word final devoicing
c. Final consonant deletion
d. Velar fronting
77. A velar consonant, that is a sound that is normally made with the middle of
the tongue contact with the palate towards the back of the mouth, is replaced
with consonant produced at the front of the mouth. Hence /k/ is replaced by
/t/, /g/ is replaced by /d/, and ‘ng’ is replaced by /n/
a. Context sensitive voicing
b. Word final devoicing
c. Final consonant deletion
d. Velar fronting
78. “Home” is pronounced a “hoe”, “calf” is pronounced as “cah”
a. Context sensitive voicing
b. Word final devoicing
c. Final consonant deletion
d. Velar fronting
79. This is a kind of listening to provide someone the opportunity to talk through a
problem.
a. Critical listening
b. Comprehensive listening
c. Therapeutic listening
d. None of the above
80. Type of listening in order to understand a message
a. Critical listening
b. Comprehensive listening
c. Therapeutic listening
d. None of the above
81. Linguistic competencies to as:
a. Apples are to oranges
b. Phonology is to morphology
c. Language is to speech
d. Signs are to icons
e. Words are to symbols
82. Hockett’s feature called “interchangeability” means:
a. Sentence components can be read backwards and understood
b. Adult individuals both transmit and receive
c. A speech can serve multiple functions
d. A speaker gets feedback from his ears as well as from his interlocutor.
83. De Saussure noted long ago that
a. the linguistic sign unites a concept and sound image
b. a thing and a name
c. line dancing is very much like bee dancing
d. a sound’s imprint on the senses is ecological but not psychological
84. Pinker suggest that because grammar is a “discrete combinatorial system,”
a. An infinity of sentence can be produced
b. It is a code that is autonomous from cognition
c. Both a & b
d. Neither a nor b
85. Chomsky invented “colourless green ideas sleep furiously” to show
a. That nonsense can be grammatical
b. That probable word sequences can be grammatical, well formed
sentences in English
c. Both a & b
d. Neither a nor b

86. The acquisition of a language of wider currency in addition to one’s mother

tongue is often referred to as
a. Language shift b. bilingualism c. crelization d. one-plus

87. Loss of one language in favour of another , usually in the direction of

acquiring the language of wider currency while losing the mother tongue is
also often called:
a. Language shift
b. Creolization
c. Prescriptivism
d. Literacy
88. This means that human language is not something inborn. Although humans
are probably born with an ability to do language, they must learn, or acquire,
their native language from other speakers.
a. Traditional transmission
b. Duality of patterning
c. Productivity
d. Creativity
89. This means that the human language signal does not persists over time.
a. Vocal-auditory channel
b. Broadcast transmission and directional reception
c. Rapid fading (transitoriness)
d. Total feedback
90. This means that the human language signal is sent out in all directions, while
it is perceived in a limited direction.
a. Vocal-auditory channel
b. Broadcast transmission and directional reception
c. Rapid fading (transitoriness)
d. Total feedback
91. He isolated 13 features that characterize human language and which
distinguish it from other communication systems.
a. Charles Hockett
b. M.A.K. Halliday
c. Roland Barthes
d. Noam Chomsky
92. This refers to the use of language in conversation
a. Pragmatics
b. Semiotics
c. Linguistics
 d. Stylistics
93. The study of the role signs as a part of social life
a. Pragmatics
b. Semiotics
c. Linguistics
d. Stylistics
94. According to him, the way one interprets something depends on his cultural,
social and economic background.
a. Charles Prince
b. Roland Barthes
c. Stuart Hall
d. M.A.K. Halliday
95. His semiotic theory focuses on how signs and photographs represent
different cultures and ideologies. He coined the word denotation and
connotation
a. Charles Prince
b. Roland Barthes
c. Stuart Hall
d. M.A.K. Halliday
96. According to him, sign is something which stands to somebody for something
in respect or capacity”
a. Charles Prince
b. Roland Barthes
c. Stuart Hall
d. M.A.K. Halliday
97. A word abbreviated to it initial letters
a. Onomatopoeia
b. Initialism
c. Phoneme
d. Pararhyme
98. A minimal speech unit in language, which is often describe in terms of the way
it contracts with another closely related sounds.
a. Onomatopoeia
b. Initialism
c. Phoneme
d. Pararhyme

99. The rhyming of words with the same consonants but with different vowel
sounds
a. Onomatopoeia
b. Phoneme
c. Pararhyme
d. Assonance
100. A sequence of repeated vowel sounds
a. Phoneme
 b. Pararhyme
c. Assonance
d. Acronym
101. A word composed of the initial letters of the name of something,
normally pronounced as a whole word.
a. Phoneme
b. Pararhyme
c. assonance
d. acronym
102. This refers to the problem of how children map sounds onto meanings
a. Child-directed speech
b. Innate
c. Mapping problem
d. Analogical extension
103. Which children extend the meaning of comb to designate a centipede,
or extend the meaning of ball to designate onions, a doorknob or the moon,
this is called…
a. Child-directed speech
b. Innate
c. Mapping problem
d. Analogical extension
104. Which of the following statement is correct?
a. Children acquire front consonants (p, b) before back consonants
(k, g)
b. Children acquire back consonants (k, g) before front consonants (p, b)
c. Children acquire front and back consonants at the same time
d. Children acquire front consonants and back consonants in random
(unpredictable) order
105. In babbling, children’s utterances consists of
a. Combinations of a vowel and a consonant (eg. Ab, ad, at)
b. Combinations of a consonantsand a vowel (eg. ba, da, ta)
c. Vowels only (eg. Aa, oo, ee, etc.)
d. Consonants only (eg. Rrrr, sssss, etc.)
106. When children pronounce cookie as [gege] and water as [wawa], the
process which explains this pronunciation is called?
a. Devoicing
b. Reduplication
c. Syllable reduction
d. Fronting
107. The use of vocabulary and syntax which is overly simplified and reduce
a. Motherese
b. Baby talk
c. Holophrastic utterance
d. Vocalization
108. This is an argument that supports Universal Grammar which posits
that if children’s knowledge on grammar is not learnt, then they must have
been born with it
a. Poverty of Stimulus
b. Critical period hypothesis
c. LAD
d. None of the above
109. This posits that children are biologically wired with knowledge on
language.
a. Poverty stimulus
b. Critical period hypothesis
c. LAD
d. None of the above
110. The plural suffix- s and past tense form – ed of the verb are types of
what morpheme?
a. Inflectional
b. Derivational
c. Grammatical
d. Lexical
111. Suffixes such as – ness, -tion, -ance are types of what morphemes?
a. Inflectional
b. Derivational
c. Grammatical
d. Lexical
112. This refers to the high and low status of a language
a. Pigin
b. Dialect
c. Creole
d. Diglossia
113. A dialect of a language which is ‘elevated’ above others are called:
a. Prime
b. Standard
c. Main
d. Most popular
114. What is the correct term for the omission of the final syllable, sound or
letter in a word as e.g. in a cup o’ tea where f is dropped?

a. Metathesis
b. Clipping
c. Epenthises
d. Apocope
115. Which of the following is NOT a part of grammar?
a. Intonation
b. Sound patterns
c. Word meanings
d. Sentence structure
116. In the statement ‘I took my big brown dog to the vet yesterday’. Which
of the following does not appear?
a. Pronoun b. adjective c. adverb d. conjunction
117. The conversational maxim ‘Make your contribution as informative as is
required’ was devised by whom?
a. Richard Montague
b. Jerry Fodor
c. Herbert Paul Grice
d. Stephen Levinson
118. A pidgin is_______
a. A dialect like Black English in North America
b. The mother tongue, or principle language, of society
c. A simplified make shift language that develops to fulfil the
communication needs of people who have no language in
common
d. A common species of bird
119. Which word does not belong to the group?
a. Smog b. Xerox c. motel d. brunch
120. According to this hypothesis, language systematically influences how
one perceives and conceptualized the world.
a. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
b. Poverty of stimulus
c. Critical period Hypothesis
d. Universal grammar
121. Brain met an automobile accident which damaged his frontal lobe.
Subsequent to this injury, Brian’s pronunciation and grammar have been
severely impaired. Which area of the brain is affected as a result of the
accident?
a. Wernicke’s aphasia
b. Broca’s aphasia
c. Chomsky’s area
d. Global aphasia
122. This is a phase in the life span during which an organism has
heightened sensitivity to stimuli that are compulsory for the development of a
particular skill.
a. Critical Period Hypothesis
b. Poverty of Stimulus
c. Bootstrapping
d. Universal Grammar