1 Exercises and Problems
Exercise 1.**
In the text, we give three descriptive rules of English that are
violated by the sentences in (5). As we mentioned, there is a further rule
that is violated. Formulate this fourth descriptive rule as concisely as
you can.
Exercise 1.**
As concisely as you can, formulate a descriptive rule concerning
subject-verb agreement in Belfast English (data from Henry
1995, chapter 2).
| (1)
| a.
| ok
| The girl is late.
|
| b.
| *
| The girl are late.
|
|
| c.
| ok
| She is late.
|
| d.
| *
| She are late.
|
|
| e.
| ok
| Is { the girl, she } late?
|
| f.
| *
| Are { the girl, she } late?
|
| (2)
| a.
| ok
| The girls are late.
|
| b.
| ok
| The girls is late.
|
|
| c.
| ok
| They are late.
|
| d.
| *
| They is late.
|
|
| e.
| ok
| Are { the girls, they } late?
|
| f.
| *
| Is { the girls, they } late?
|
Exercise 1.**
For each of the ambiguous examples in (1), explain whether the example
is lexically or structurally ambiguous, or a mixture of both. (Material in
parentheses is not itself ambiguous, but is included to illustrate one of
the interpretations.)
| (1)
| a.
|
| British left waffles on Falkland Islands
|
|
| b.
|
| Complaints about NBA referees growing ugly
|
|
| c.
|
| Drunk gets nine months in violin case
|
|
| d.
|
| Enraged cow injures farmer with ax
|
|
| e.
|
| Hershey bars protest
|
|
| f.
|
| I most enthusiastically recommend this candidate with no
qualifications whatsoever.
|
|
| g.
|
| In "What Women Want" (2000), Mel Gibson plays a man who develops the
ability to understand what women are thinking after a freak accident.
|
|
| h.
|
| Iraqi head seeks arms
|
|
| i.
|
| Lawyers give poor free legal advice
|
|
| j.
|
| March planned for next August
|
|
| k.
|
| One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. (How he got into my
pajamas I'll never know.) (Groucho Marx, in Animals Crackers)
|
|
| l.
|
| Prostitutes appeal to Pope
|
|
| m.
|
| Reporter's telegram: How old Cary Grant?
(Grant's reply: Old Cary Grant fine.)
|
|
| n.
|
| Stolen painting found by tree
|
|
| o.
|
| Teacher strikes idle kids
|
|
| p.
|
| The bride was wearing an old lace gown that fell to the floor as she
came down the aisle.
|
|
| q.
|
| Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. (another
Groucho Marx quote)
|
|
| r.
|
| Two sisters reunited after 18 years in checkout counter
|
|
| s.
|
| (Q. What did the Zen master say to the guy at the hot dog stand?)
A. Make me one with everything.
Exercise 1.**
In the text, we showed that sentences are recursive
categories. Show that noun phrases and prepositional phrases are
recursive categories as well. For both phrase types, provide an example
each for one to five levels of embedding.
Exercise 1.**
Are structure-dependence and recursion equally basic, or is one more
basic than the other? (In other words, is structure-dependence possible
without recursion, or recursion without structure-dependence?) Explain.
Exercise 1.**
Which, if any, of the sentences in (1)-(4) are ungrammatical? Which, if
any, are semantically anomalous? Briefly explain.
| (1)
| a.
|
| They decided to go tomorrow yesterday.
|
|
| b.
|
| They decided to go yesterday tomorrow.
|
| (2)
| a.
|
| They decided yesterday to go tomorrow.
|
|
| b.
|
| They decided tomorrow to go yesterday.
|
| (3)
| a.
|
| Yesterday, they decided to go tomorrow.
|
|
| b.
|
| Tomorrow, they decided to go yesterday.
|
| (4)
|
|
| They decided to go yesterday yesterday.
|
|