Syntax #2

Question 1

Clauses

Answer 1

• is the technical term for a “simple sentence”
• DEF: a clause a syntactic unit typically minimally consisting of
  a verb and its arguments
• only one finite verb & only one “tense” per clause

(1) a. Camille wants a machete for Christmas.
b. Camille will want a machete for Christmas.
c. Camille has wanted a machete for Christmas.
d. Camille might want a machete for Christmas.
(2) a. *Camille will wants a machete for Christmas.
b. *Camille might wanted a machete for Christmas.
c. *Camille has wanting a machete for Christmas.
1 In English, “tense” can be expressed by a just a V, or by a combination of V and one or more Aux’s.

Question 2

Structure of English clauses

Answer 2

a. She smiled.
b. She ate the pizza.
c. She will eat the pizza.
d. She may eat the pizza.
e. She has eaten the pizza.
f. She is eating the pizza slowly.
S –> NP (Aux) VP (S = clause)
(3) g. The girl with the funny hat is slowly eating the pizza.
[ [NP ] Aux [VP ] ].
* English: The first NP is the subject of the clause.
The NP inside the VP is the direct object of the clause.

Question 3

representing classes through tree diagrams

Answer 3

useful questions to ask when parsing & diagramming a clause:
- for each word: what is its lexical category?
- what is the (main) verb?
- what is the verb phrase?
- are there any auxiliaries (Aux)?
- what are the phrases expressing the main participants?
- PPs & AdvPs: what do they modify, i.e., what are they
dependents of / which head do they belong to?

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Question 4

Embedded sentences/subordinate clauses

Answer 4

• a sentence (clause) can contain another sentence (clause)
  (6a) Max believes that the students love linguistics.
  Main clause: Max believes …
  Embedded clause: that the students love linguistics
  (6b) Max asked whether the students loved linguistics.
  Main clause: Max asked …
  Embedded clause: whether the students loved linguistics

Question 5

predicate

Answer 5

• expresses the event or situation & determines the type
  and number of participants in the event or situation
  usually the main verb (sometimes an AP, NP, or PP)
• a clause always contains one predicate

Question 6

arguments

Answer 6

• express the participants in the event or situation
  usually NPs (also some embedded clauses)
  have a grammatical relationship with the verb
• seen in agreement, case marking, word order
• a clause contains one or more arguments

Question 7

how to categorize arguments/NPs

Answer 7

(i) their grammatical relation to the verb/in the clause
(ii) their semantic case role in the event or situation
aka semantic role

Question 8

Grammatical Relations: Subject (= S)

Answer 8

a. The mouse slept.
b. The kitten played.
c. The cup broke.
d. The kitten chased the mouse.
e. The kittens broke the cup.
f. The kitten likes playing.
g. They broke the cup

• English:
• every clause has a subject
• the subject occurs before the verb in stylistically neutral
  statements
• the subject triggers 3 SG agreement with the verb in the
  present tense if a pronoun, in nominative case is (I, we, she, he, they)
• formal definition, based on tree diagrams:
  The NP immediately dominated by S (i.e., sister of VP)
  S
  / \
  NP VP

Question 9

Grammatical Relations: Object (O)

Answer 9

a. The kitten chased the mouse.
b. The kitten broke the cup.
c. The kitten watched the birds through the window.
d. The kitten brought Suzi a dead mouse.
e. The kitten watched them through the window.
- only transitive and ditransitive clauses have an object
* English objects:
- follow the verb in stylistically neutral statements
- if a pronoun, in accusative case (me, us, her, him, them)
- formal definition, based on tree diagrams:
The NP directly inside VP (i.e., sister of V)

Question 10

Semantic roles (a.k.a. semantic case roles)

Answer 10

DEF: the semantic relationship between a verb and its arguments
grammatical relation ≠ semantic role
- there is no regular correspondence between semantic roles
and grammatical relations
- A subject isn’t always an agent; a patient isn’t always an object.

Question 11

Agent

Answer 11

the doer of an action
the entity that intentionally or actively causes something to happen

the little kitten in The little kitten broke the cup
Mary in Mary opened the door
John in John kicked the ball

Question 12

Patient

Answer 12

the entity that undergoes the action
the thing that is affected, changed, or acted upon

the cup in The little kitten broke the cup
the ball in John kicked the ball
the window in Mary opened the window

or

The cup broke.
Subject (S) = the cup
→ but now the subject is PATIENT, not agent
There is no object.

Question 13

temporal

Answer 13

time, tells when, how long, or how often something happens
( she went home yesterday, she leaves tomorrow, she runs at sunset)

Question 14

location

Answer 14

place
(the keys are on the table)

Question 15

experiencer

Answer 15

feels, perceives or thinks something
(John likes music)

Question 16

recipient

Answer 16

person who receives the actions (she gave the book to Mary)

Question 17

beneficiary

Answer 17

someone who benefits from the action
(she backed the cake for tom)

Question 18

source

Answer 18

Where the movement begins
(she came from school)

Question 19

goal

Answer 19

where the movement ends
(she walked to school)

Question 20

instrument

Answer 20

The item used to preform the action
(he cut the bread with the knife)

Question 21

theme

Answer 21

moved, located or desired but not changed
(she carried the box)