TEFL Parts of Speech 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which word functions as a relative pronoun in 'The book that I borrowed was excellent'?
- The
- book
- that (Correct answer)
- borrowed
Correct answer: that
'That' introduces a relative clause modifying 'book,' making it a relative pronoun.
Question 2: In 'He is a fast runner and runs fast,' what is the difference between the two uses of 'fast'?
- Both are adjectives
- First is adverb, second is adjective
- First is adjective, second is adverb (Correct answer)
- Both are adverbs
Correct answer: First is adjective, second is adverb
In 'fast runner,' 'fast' modifies the noun 'runner' (adjective); in 'runs fast,' it modifies the verb 'runs' (adverb).
Question 3: What part of speech is 'however' in 'It was raining; however, we continued'?
- Subordinating conjunction
- Coordinating conjunction
- Conjunctive adverb (Correct answer)
- Relative adverb
Correct answer: Conjunctive adverb
'However' connects two independent clauses and can be moved within the second clause, marking it as a conjunctive adverb.
Question 4: A TEFL student asks why 'police' takes a plural verb ('The police are here'). The best explanation involves which concept?
- Irregular plural noun
- Collective noun treated as plural in British English (Correct answer)
- Proper noun agreement
- Mass noun rule
Correct answer: Collective noun treated as plural in British English
'Police' is a collective noun that in British (and often American) English refers to multiple officers, so it takes a plural verb.
Question 5: Which sentence contains a participial phrase functioning as an adjective?
- Running is healthy.
- She enjoys running.
- Exhausted by the race, he sat down. (Correct answer)
- He ran quickly.
Correct answer: Exhausted by the race, he sat down.
'Exhausted by the race' is a participial phrase modifying 'he,' functioning as an adjective.
Question 6: In teaching parts of speech, a TEFL teacher says 'Every sentence must have these two core parts of speech.' Which pair is meant?
- Noun and adjective
- Verb and adverb
- Noun (or pronoun) and verb (Correct answer)
- Article and noun
Correct answer: Noun (or pronoun) and verb
A grammatical sentence requires a subject (noun/pronoun) and a predicate (verb) at its core.
Question 7: What is the part of speech of 'to' in 'She wants to sing'?
- Preposition
- Infinitive marker (Correct answer)
- Conjunction
- Adverb
Correct answer: Infinitive marker
When 'to' precedes a base verb to form an infinitive ('to sing'), it acts as an infinitive marker, not a preposition.
TEFL Parts of Speech 5
Which word functions as a relative pronoun in 'The book that I borrowed was excellent'?