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Standard English - What is the Word? (Part 2)
The audience laughed when the clown came on the stage.

Standard English - What is the Word? (Part 2)

This English Language quiz is called 'Standard English - What is the Word? (Part 2)' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at middle school. Playing educational quizzes is a fabulous way to learn if you are in the 6th, 7th or 8th grade - aged 11 to 14.

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This is the second quiz of a series of two that is dedicated towards helping you review your understanding of words and their value in a sentence. When we speak we really do not tend to think about the words that we are using – we just say them. However, when we write, knowing words does become a critical factor.

No matter what career you will wind up choosing in life, you will always have to do some amount of writing – sometimes you will have to do a lot of writing. In essence, in order to continue to write successfully, you will need to stay alert with your understanding of words, not to mention verb tenses. In fact, being able to master words has been directly related to how successful a person will be in life.

In the following series of ten sentences a word or words have been underlined. You will need to determine what kind of a word the underlined word or words are, i.e., is it a noun, a possessive noun, a verb, a preposition, an adverb, an adjective, a participle, a gerund or an infinitive. If you can get all ten answers right – you are amazing! If not, then try taking this quiz and quiz [Part 1] over again until you feel that you really do understand words. Good luck!

1.
William was a happy camper when they gave him the top bunk.
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Conjunction
The underlined word, happy, is not a noun in this sentence as it is not a person, place or thing. It is also not a conjunction as it does not link a word (or group of words) together. It is not an action word so it is not a verb. It is, however, describing a noun, i.e., camper. What kind of a camper? A “happy” camper. This means that “happy” is an adjective. Answer (c) is correct answer
2.
He accidently spilled the soda all over his pants.
Adjective
Adverb
Possessive noun
Linking verb
The underlined word, accidently, is not an adjective as it does not describe or modify a noun. It is also not a noun so it cannot be a possessive noun nor is it being used as a linking verb. It is, however, describing the verb “spilled” making it an adverb. Answer (b) is the correct answer
3.
The falling rocks posed more of a problem than the engineer could have imagined.
Participle
Gerund
Verb
Adverb
The underlined word, falling, is not an adverb as it does not modify or describe a verb. It is, however, a verb but in this sentence it is not being used as verb. A gerund is a verb ending in “ing” and acts as a noun. However, “falling” is not acting as a verb in this sentence. It is acting as an adjective as it describes what kind of rocks they are, i.e., falling. A participle is a verb ending in “ing” that acts as an adjective. Answer (a) is, therefore, the correct answer here
4.
Flying is the only dream that Bob did not give up on.
Participle
Infinitive
Gerund
Verb
A participle is a verb ending in “ing” or the past tense of the verb and acts as an adjective. The underlined word, flying, is not acting as an adjective. An infinitive is a verb that has the word “to” before it. We do not have that here. Although “flying” can be a verb, in this sentence it is being used as a noun. A gerund is a verb ending in “ing” and is being used as a noun. Therefore, “flying” is a gerund and Answer (c) is correct
5.
Michael was in awe as he stood before the Statue of Liberty!
Possessive noun
Preposition
Noun
Pronoun
Looking at the underlined words, Statue of Liberty, we know that it does not show possession so Answer (a) is not correct. It is also not a preposition as a preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. In addition, it is not a pronoun because a pronoun is a word that replaces one or more nouns. Statue of Liberty is not replacing any noun but is, in fact, a noun itself. In fact, it is a proper noun. Answer (c) is, therefore, the correct answer
6.
She had to pull her gloves off to feel for his pulse.
Adjective
Conjunction
Adverb
Preposition
An adjective describes or modifies a noun and an adverb describes or modifies a verb. The underlined word, off, does neither of these. A conjunction is a word (or group of words) that is used to connect other words, phrases, clauses or sentences together. Off does not do this. A preposition, however, is a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. In this sentence it shows the relationship between the gloves and feeling for a pulse. Answer (d) is the correct answer
7.
Mr. Milton bought a new Mazda and he bought a new speedboat.
Noun
Conjunction
Gerund
Verb
The underlined word, and, is not a noun nor is it a verb. A gerund is a verb ending in “ing” and acts like a noun. That is not what we have here. A conjunction, on the other hand, is a word (or group of words) that is used to connect other words, phrases, clauses or sentences together. Here we have two simple sentences, “Mr. Milton bought a new Mazda” and “he bought a new speedboat.” The two simple sentences are then connected by the underlined word making “and” a conjunction. Answer (b) is the correct answer
8.
That is David’s house over there on the corner.
Noun
Pronoun
Preposition
Possessive noun
The underlined word, David’s, is neither a pronoun nor a preposition. And, although “David” is a proper noun, in this sentence it is being used as more than just a noun. It is showing possession, i.e., whose house was it? It was David’s. Therefore, the underlined word is that of a possessive noun and Answer (d) is correct
9.
The Mayor wanted to give a speech at the high school’s annual charity party.
Infinitive
Participle
Conjunction
Gerund
A participle is a verb ending in “ing” or the past tense of the verb and is being used as an adjective and a gerund is a verb ending in “ing” and is being used as a noun. As this sentence does not contain an “ing” verb, neither of these are the right answer. A conjunction is a word (or group of words) that is used to connect other words, phrases, clauses or sentences together. The underlined words, “to give” do not do that here. An infinitive is a verb that has the word “to” before it and that is the type of word we have here, making Answer (a) the correct answer
10.
The audience laughed when the clown came on the stage.
Noun
Adjective
Adverb
Verb
The underlined word, laughed, is not modifying or describing a noun or a verb so it is not an adjective or an adverb. It is also not a noun as it is not a person, place or thing. It is a verb and it shows action. Therefore, Answer (d) is the correct answer
Author:  Christine G. Broome

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