Syntax

Question 1

Constituency

Answer 1

Finding out where a phrase starts and stops

Question 2

Sentence Fragment Test

Answer 2

What can’t ghosts get out of?

- Vehicles parked underneath lampposts.

Question 3

Reordering

Answer 3

Under certain conditions, ghosts cannot get out of parked vehicles.

Question 4

Echo Question Test

Answer 4

Ghosts can’t get out of WHAT?

- Vehicles parked underneath lampposts.

Question 5

Cleft Test

Answer 5

It is vehicles underneath lampposts that ghosts cannot get out of.

Question 6

Prenominalization Test

Answer 6

Ghosts cannot get out of them under certain conditions.

Them = vehicles parked underneath lampposts.

Question 7

Phrasal Verb

Answer 7

Combination of a verb and a particle. Single V-Head
Way to check: if you can place the particle after the NP
She took off the label / She took the label off.
She jumped off the wall / *She jumped the wall off.
Conduct a strand test?
Who did she hang out with?

Question 8

Specifier of N

Answer 8

• Articles
• Demonstrative Pronouns/Determiners
• Quantifiers
• Possessive Pronouns

Question 9

Complement or Adjunct?

Answer 9

Complement = Structurally required.
Adjunct = Not structurally required

Question 10

Complement

Answer 10

Sister to the X head

Question 11

Adjunct

Answer 11

Sister of X’
Typical Adjuncts:
- adjectives premodifying nouns (the BLUE moon)
- PPs expressing time, place, location, manner…

Question 12

Internal Argument

Answer 12

The Sister of the V-head

Question 13

External Argument

Answer 13

in the Spec,VP

Question 14

Intransitive

Answer 14

One participant, so only an external argument.
[_#]

She cooks.

Question 15

Monotransitive

Answer 15

One internal argument.
[_NP] for an NP, [_CP] for a CP etc…

She thinks that you are right.

Question 16

Ditransitive

Answer 16

Two internal arguments
[_NP NP]

She gave her a present.

Violates binary branching.

Question 17

Copula

Answer 17

Copula appears in V-head
[_NP/AP/PP]

She is a fool/foolish/in love.

Question 18

Complex Transitive

Answer 18

Takes an NP object followed by an object complement (can be NP, AP, PP)

They elected her president.
She drove me crazy.
I want her out of my house.

[_IP] - doesn’t introduce something new - copular relationship: As a result of the election, she is president.

Question 19

Prepositional Verbs

Answer 19

Takes a PP complement [_PP]
PP will contain NP.

They agree on this analysis.

Question 20

Object and Predicator Complement

Answer 20

Like ditransitive category (violation of binary branching) [_NP PP], [_PP, CP]
Used for arguments that cannot be labelled direct objects.

She explained the problem to me.

Question 21

IP

Answer 21

Spec,IP - subject

I-Head - tense and agreement information

Question 22

NegP

Answer 22

Neg-Head - not

Question 23

CP

Answer 23

Spec,CP - position that constituents from elsewhere in the clause move - contains ‘stuff’ from elsewhere
C-Head - usual receptacle for conjunctions

Question 24

Modals

Answer 24

Either start in V and move to I-Head
Or a class of their own (that start out in I-Head)

Question 25

Complementizers

Answer 25

Introducing adjunct subclauses: if, though, unless, because, when, where, while, before, after, as, since Introducing complement subclauses: that, for, where, when, whether, if

Question 26

Relative Clauses

Answer 26

CPs have a gap, expressed with the relative clause word - which, that, who - that links back to the NP - make the relative clause a sister of N' - put relative clause word in C - make the relative clause complete so that you can see where the gapped constituent originates - strike through where it originates

Question 27

Non-Finite Clauses

Answer 27

I-Head = to Left branch of IP = NP PRO (invisible pronoun) - assumption that it is a placeholder for someone/something that has already been introduced. Subject control - PRO maps to subject. Object control - PRO maps to object.

Question 28

Dummy-it and Raising Verbs.

Answer 28

It seems that Liz convinced them. | It = dummy subject. NP Liz moves to Spec,IP

Question 29

The Passive

Answer 29

Head of the VP = past participle | Spec,IP = BE

Question 30

Middles

Answer 30

Does the job of a passive without passive morphology - subject is left out because it is so salient.

Question 31

WH Questions in the Main Clause

Answer 31

I-to-C movement | WH-to-Spec,CP

Question 32

WH Questions in the Subclause

Answer 32

WH-to-Spec,CP

Question 33

Yes/No Questions in the Main Clause

Answer 33

I-to-C movement

Question 34

Yes/No Questions in the Sub Clause

Answer 34

WH-to-Spec,CP (whether)

Question 35

Restrictive Relative Clause

Answer 35

Picks out a subset.

Question 36

Non-Restrictive Relative Clause

Answer 36

Applies clause to entire group (no subset).

Question 37

Heavy XP-Shift

Answer 37

Shifting things about that are large NP or CPs, but are not subjects. Evidence _ will be presented [that he is drunk].

Question 38

Dummy-it

Answer 38

Does not express a semantic role. Merely a syntactic subject (agrees in person and number with the finite verb, and pops up in tag questions)

Question 39

Dummy-there

Answer 39

Exhibits behaviour typical of syntactic subject - agreement with the logical subject: Several options are... / A conspiracy is...

Question 40

AcI

Answer 40

IP clause that is constructed by a bare infinitive and an NP in object form: He saw [the chicken CROSS the road].