Answer:

Student’s Answer Key, Chapter 2, Sentence structure, Grammar Advantage

For most exercises, this key does not include even-numbered items.

■ Exercise 1 Read the passage. Based on what you already know, underline the verbs.

The Marshmallow Experiment

Imagine that you are seven years old. You are participating in an experiment. A

researcher greets you and shows you into a small room. In the room there is a

marshmallow. The marshmallow is for you, but here is the interesting part: The

researcher tells you that he is going to leave you alone in the room for a while. You can

eat the marshmallow right away, or you can wait until he gets back. If you wait until he

gets back, you will get a second marshmallow.

What do you do? Do you eat the marshmallow right away?

An experiment like this, known informally as the marshmallow experiment, was

conducted decades ago at Stanford University. It turned out that some children ate the

marshmallow right away, while others were able to wait. In other words, some sought

instant self-gratification, and some delayed it.

Years later, the researchers followed up on the participants. They found that the

children who delayed self-gratification were in general more successful than those who

ate the marshmallow right away. By a variety of measures, including SAT scores, they

appeared to be more competent.

Common sense tells us that the ability to delay self-gratification is a mark of maturity.

The marshmallow experiment provides evidence that it may also correlate with success

in life.

Notes:

- Many of these verb phrases consist of an auxiliary verb and a main verb. So, for

example, “are participating” and “do…eat” are considered verb phrases.

- “is going to leave”: If we consder “is going to” a kind of auxiliary verb, then this is a

verb phrase, just like “will leave.”

- “known as…”: If you underlined “known,” that’s fine. It is a verb. It is a nonfinite verb,

unlike the other underlined verbs and verb phrases. (See Chapter 4.)

■ Exercise 2 Underline the complete subjects in the sentences below, and doubleunderline the verbs that go with them. Identifying the subject means identifying the

main word of the subject and the parts that modify it. (In the first sentence, the main

word is in boldface.) When you underline the verb, include both auxiliary verbs and

main verbs (as in the first sentence, with was…used).

In the 1960s and 70s, the term “generation gap” was often used to refer to the

differences between young people in the U.S. and their parents’ generation. Many

young people felt distant from their parents because of differences in ideas about

politics, social issues, and popular culture. Since then, conflicts between generations

have diminished in many ways. Child-rearing experts in the late 20th century

encouraged parents to be like friends to their children. Thanks to technology, young

people and their parents are able to contact each other easily at any time. On any

college campus, the students you see texting or talking on cell phones are often

communicating with Mom or Dad. Fifty years ago, closeness of this kind was less  

Student’s Answer Key Ch.2 Grammar Advantage Eric Nelson & George Yule © 2019

2

common. In addition, the youth-centered nature of U.S. life has reduced many

generational differences. In many families, parents and their teenaged children dress

in similar ways, listen to the same music, and enjoy the same movies and videos on

YouTube.

Notes:

You may or may not have underlined all of the words that together make up the

subjects on many of the sentences. As you can see, subjects can be long and complex

(“the students you see texting or talking on ell phones”). In addition to identifying

whole subjects, it’s a good idea to try to identify the main word in each subject. The

main word – in boldface above – determines whether the verb is singular or plural.

Explanation: