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MTEL General Curriculum Practice Exam

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Read the sentences below; then answer the question that follows.
  1.  Read the sentences below; then answer the question that follows. 
  2.  The teacher only studied how to read the language.
  3.  The teacher studied only how to read the language. 
The position of the word only changes the meaning of each of the sentences above. This is an example of a manipulation of which of the following elements of language?
  1. Semantics
  2. Syntax
  3. Phonology
  4. Lexicon
Explanation
Correct Response: B. Syntax is the way in which words are put together to form phrases. In English, word order helps reveal the relationships among words. In this case, changing the position of the word only in a sentence changes the meaning of the sentence, even though all of the other words in the sentence stay in the same order. Semantics (A) is the study of the meanings of individual words, phonology (C) is the study of speech sounds, and lexicon (D) is the vocabulary of a language.
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