Present Perfect
Future
Time Conjunctions (before/after/until)
OS Relative Clauses
SS Relative Clauses
SO Relative Clauses
Quantification, Universal or Exhaustive (every, both)
Quantification, Existential or Non-exhaustive (some, not all)An example of each type of structure for English and Welsh is shown in
Table 4. 3.
These structures are listed in Table 4.3 in an order that we predicted
might correspond to the relative difficulty and timing of acquisition, as
judged by work in the literature. Thus, for example, we can expect simple
68 Part 2: Bilingual Language Development
Table 4.3 Types of structures tested in receptive grammar tasks
STRUCTURE TYPE ENGLISH Examples WELSH Examples
Active The elephant smelled the
horse.Gwnaeth yr eliffant ogleuo’r
ceffyl.
Negation The goats aren’t eating. Tydi’r geifr ddim yn bwyta.
Passive (Truncated) The clown was pushed. Cafodd y clown ei wthio.
Comparative The tree is taller than the
house.Mae’r goeden yn dalach
na’r tyˆ.
Superlative The apple is lowest. Yr afal sydd isaf.
Present Perfect He has jumped. Mae o wedi neidio.
Future The ducks will jump over
the rock.Mi (w)neith y hwyaid neidio
dros y garreg.
Time Conjunction (before/
after/until)Before the teacher fell,
she took her hat off.Cyn i’r athrawes ddisgyn, mi
dynnodd hi ei het.
Relative Clause, OS A circle covers the box
that has a ring in it.Mae’re cylch yn gorchuddio’r
bocs sydd efo modrwy
ynddo.
Relative Clause, SS The donkey that kicked a
cow was wearing socks.Roedd yr asyn (w)na’th
gicio’r fuwch yn gwisgo
sanau.
Relative Clause, SO A dancer that the girl
called had a ring.Roedd y dawnsiwr (w)na’th y
ferch ffonio efo modrwy.
Quantifi er, Universal/
Exhaustive (every, both)Every princess is on a
tractor.Mae pob tywysoges ar
dractor.
Quantifi er, Existential/Not
Exhaustive (not all, some)Some of the dancers are
wearing dresses.Mae rhai o’r dawnswyr yn
gwisgo ffrogiau.