Applied grammar and linguistic reflection
Here the exam tests explicit grammatical knowledge: morphological segmentation, word formation, syntactic function, sentence classification, values of «se» and «que», verbal periphrasis and semantic relations. Answers must use the technical labels of the Spanish school tradition and justify every label with a test.
Functions: the tests that earn the mark
- Sujeto: concordance with the verb; if pronominal, nominative form.
- CD: substitutes with lo/la/los/las; it becomes the subject in a passive transformation.
- CI: substitutes with le/les; it keeps the preposition «a».
- Atributo: with ser, estar, parecer; substitutes with «lo».
- Complemento predicativo: agrees with subject or CD and substitutes with «así».
- Complemento de régimen: the preposition is demanded by the verb (depender de, insistir en).
- Complemento agente: only in passive with «por».
- Circunstanciales: omissible, replaceable by adverbs (aquí, entonces, así).
Sentences
- Coordinadas: copulativa (y, e, ni), disyuntiva (o, u), adversativa (pero, sino, mas), distributiva (ya... ya), explicativa (o sea, es decir).
- Yuxtapuestas: no nexus, punctuation only; state the logical relation the punctuation suggests.
- Subordinadas sustantivas: they accept substitution by «eso» (sujeto, CD, término, atributo, CN).
- Adjetivas: relative pronoun with antecedent; especificativa versus explicativa.
- Adverbiales: propias (temporal, modal, causal, final, condicional, concesiva, consecutiva, comparativa) and impropias (lugar). Distinguish nexus and preposition: «porque» causal versus «para que» final.
«Se» and «que»
«Se» can be reflexivo, recíproco, dativo ético, pronominal (marcharse), pasiva refleja (the verb agrees with the subject: «se venden pisos») or impersonal (third person singular, no subject: «se trabaja mejor»). «Que» can be relative pronoun, conjunction (completiva, causal, final, consecutive) or interrogative.
Worked example
«Se advirtió a los vecinos que el agua se había cortado.»
- «Se advirtió»: impersonal «se», with «a los vecinos» as CD (person plus «a»); test: «se les advirtió».
- «que el agua se había cortado»: sustantiva as CD of «advirtió» (substitutes with «eso»).
- «se había cortado»: pronominal, aspectual dative; the water neither cut itself nor was cut by a named agent - the agreement test rules out pasiva refleja.
Traps
Treating «le/les» as always CI (leísmo); calling «que» always relative; forgetting the «a» personal in CD tests; confusing pasiva refleja with impersonal «se»; analysing only the main clause when the prompt says «analice sintácticamente».