ACCESS Grammar and Language Structure Flashcards
6 cards from real ACCESS practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 ACCESS Grammar and Language Structure flashcards as text
In ACCESS reading and writing tasks, what does 'cohesion' in a written response refer to?
Answer: The use of linking words and pronouns to connect ideas clearly across sentences
Cohesion refers to how well a text holds together through devices like transition words, pronouns, and repetition that connect sentences and ideas.
Why do ACCESS prompts at higher proficiency levels often use the passive voice in directions (e.g., 'the book was written by...')?
Answer: To expose ELLs to academic register and grammatical structures common in formal English texts
The passive voice is common in academic texts, and including it in higher-level ACCESS prompts reflects the grammatical demands of academic English that proficient ELLs need to understand.
Which type of error is most commonly associated with ELLs at ACCESS Level 2 in their writing?
Answer: Omission of articles (a, an, the) and incorrect preposition use
Beginning ELLs at Level 2 frequently omit articles and misuse prepositions because these small grammatical words do not have direct equivalents in many other languages.
On ACCESS writing tasks, what does it mean when a rubric criterion references 'syntactic complexity'?
Answer: The variety and sophistication of sentence structures used
Syntactic complexity on ACCESS rubrics refers to a student's ability to use varied and sophisticated sentence structures, including compound, complex, and embedded clauses.
What is the function of a 'discourse connector' in English writing, as evaluated on ACCESS?
Answer: A word or phrase that signals relationships between ideas, such as 'however,' 'therefore,' or 'in contrast'
Discourse connectors are transitional words or phrases that signal logical relationships between ideas, helping readers follow the organization and argument of a text.
When ACCESS writing prompts ask students to 'compare and contrast,' which grammatical structures are most useful for ELLs to demonstrate?
Answer: Comparative adjectives, conjunctions like 'while/whereas,' and parallel structure
Compare-and-contrast writing relies on comparative adjectives ('larger than'), contrasting conjunctions ('whereas,' 'while'), and parallel grammatical structure to show similarities and differences.