Week 2: Syntax II

Question 1

What are constituents?

Answer 1

The same as phrases and are intermediate structures within sentences

Question 2

What are the FOUR constituency tests?

Answer 2

• pro-form
• co-ordination
• wh-question
• movement

Question 3

Define: the PRO-FORM constituent test

Answer 3

To be able to substitute constituents with pro-forms e.g. she/he/it/they

Question 4

Define: the CO-ORDINATION constituent test

Answer 4

TO be able to split two constituents of the same grammatical item using AND or BUT e.g. the piano AND the organ

Question 5

Define: the WH-QUESTION constituent test

Answer 5

To ask a wh-question and the constituent be the answer e.g. who played the piano? - Bruno = the constituent

Question 6

Define: the MOVEMENT constituent test

Answer 6

To be able to move a constituent entirely and have the sentence still make grammatical sense

Question 7

How do we work out the head of a phrase?

Answer 7

• It’s the most crucial element in a sentence

- If a preposition is within the constituent it’s always the head