Syntax Exercises
1. Use an asterisk to mark any of the following sentences that are ungrammatical for you. What explains why the sentences are ungrammatical?
a. The instructor told the students to study.
b. The instructor suggested the students to study.
c. The customer asked for a cold beer.
d. The customer requested for a cold beer.
e. He gave the Red Cross some money.
f. He donated the Red Cross some money.
g. The pilot landed the jet.
h. The jet landed.
i. A journalist wrote the article.
j. The article wrote.
k. Jerome is fed up of his job.
l. Jerome is tired of his job.
2. Draw phrase structure trees for the following sentences. Treat possessive pronouns such as my and your as determiners.
a. The puppy licked the baby.
b. An anxious passenger consulted her iphone.
c. The house on the hill collapsed in the earthquake.
d. The ice on the pond melted.
e. The hot sun melted the ice.
f. The old tree swayed in the breeze.
g. My guitar gently weeps.
3. Apply the substitution test to determine which of the boldfaced sequences in the following sentences form constituents.
a. The tragedy upset the entire family.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
b. They hid in the cave.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
c. The computer was very expensive.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
d. The town square and the civic building will be rebuilt.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
e. Jane has left town.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
4. Use the stand alone test, the substitution test and the movement test to determine which of the boldfaced sequences in the following sentences are constituents. State the grammatical category of the constituents.
a. Martha found a lovely pillow for the couch.
Stand alone test ______________________________________________
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
b. The light in this room is terrible.
Stand alone test ______________________________________________
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
c. I wonder whether Alice saw the movie last night.
Stand alone test ______________________________________________
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
d. Melissa slept in her class.
Stand alone test ______________________________________________
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
e. Pete and Max are tugging on a bone.
Stand alone test ______________________________________________
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
f. I gave a bone to Pete and Max yesterday.
Stand alone test ______________________________________________
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
g. I gave a bone to Pete and to Max yesterday.
Stand alone test ______________________________________________
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
5. The following sentences demonstrate the use of the verb particle up in English.
i. Harry ran up the bill.
ii. Harry ran the bill up.
English uses verb particles like up, off and on to derive new verbs with a meaning that is different from the meaning of the underived verb without the particle. Running up a bill, for example, does not involve running or an upward movement. English uses prepositions as both prepositions and verb particles, but the two have different syntactic properties. A verb particle combines with a verb like any other derivational affix; a preposition combines with a following noun phrase to form a prepositional phrase.
Use the substitution test and the movement test to determine which of the following sentences contain verb particles and which contain prepositional phrases. The examples (i) and (ii) above demonstrate a movement test that applies to verb particles.
a. Michael ran over the bridge.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
b. Bill cleaned up the mess.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
c. Sally looked up the definition.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
d. Mary looked at the mountain.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
e. Midge made up a problem
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
f. Ian took out the trash.
Substitution test ______________________________________________
Movement test _______________________________________________
6. State three differences between English and the following languages based on the examples of these languages. The vocabulary differences do not count. For example:
Thai: Dèg khon níi kamlang kin. Măa tua nán kin khâaw.
boy class this progressive eat dog class that eat rice
‘This boy is eating.’ ‘That dog ate rice.’
The three differences are: 1. Thai has class words, 2. Thai determiners (níi and nán) follow the noun, and 3. progressive is expressed by a separate word in Thai.
a. French
Cet homme intelligent comprendra la question.
this man intelligent will understand the question.
‘This intelligent man will understand the question.’
Ces hommes intelligents comprendront les questions.
these men intelligent will understand the questions.
‘These intelligent will understand the questions.’
b. Japanese
Watashi ga sakana o tabete iru.
I subject_marker fish object_marker eat (ing) am
‘I am eating fish.’
c. Swahili
Mtoto alivunja kikombe.
m-toto a-li-vunja ki-kombe.
class-child he-past-break class-cup
‘The child broke the cup.’
Watoto wanavunja vikombe.
wa-toto wa-na-vunja vi-kombe
class-child they-present-break class-cup
‘The children break the cups.’
d. Korean
K sonyɔn-iee wyu-ll masi-ass-nnya.
the boy-subject_marker milk-object_marker drink-past-assertion
‘The boy drank milk.’
K-nn muɔs-l mɔk-ass-nnya.
he-subject_marker what-object_marker eat-past-question.
‘What did he eat?’
e. Tagalog
Nakita ni Pedro-ng puno na ang bus.
saw the Pedro-that full already topic bus
‘Pedro saw that the bus was already full.’
7. Identify the meaning of the morphemes in the following Awa sentences and then write a phrase structure grammar for Awa, not English, that accounts for the word orders.
Awa (Papua New Guinea)
Wæ tópa næʔ. ‘The man is eating sweet potatoes.’
Ibaní tópa uwí. ‘The woman is planting sweet potatoes.’
Arʌri kʌripe tídíʔ. ‘The girl is cooking peanuts.’
Wæ kʌripe uwí. ‘The man is planting peanuts.’
Mabi aŋko næʔ. ‘The young man is eating taro.’
Ibaní tópa tídíʔ. ‘The woman is cooking sweet potatoes.’
Ibaní aŋko uwí. ‘The woman is planting taro.’
Arʌri ca uwí. ‘The girl is planting sugar cane.’
Mabi aŋko tídíʔ. ‘The young man is cooking taro.’
Ibaní ca næʔ. ‘The woman is eating sugar cane.’
8. Identify the meaning of the morphemes in the following Lotuko sentences and then write a phrase structure grammar for Lotuko, not English, that accounts for the word orders.
Lotuko (The Sudan)
Idulak atulo ema. ‘The man is planting again.’
Idulak atulo aful. ‘The man is planting peanuts.’
Abak atulo ezok. ‘The man hit the dog.’
Ohonya eito erizo. ‘The child is eating meat.’
Amata eito aari. ‘The child is drinking water.’
Amata odwoti aari. ‘The girl is drinking water.’
Ohonya odwoti erizo. ‘The girl is eating meat.’
Ohonya ezok erizo. ‘The dog is eating meat.’