第4章　句　法

1．Define the following terms briefly.

Key:

·Syntax is a major branch of linguistics which focuses on the study of the structure and ordering of components within a sentence. It focuses on the rules governing the ways different constituents are combined to form sentences in a language, or on the interrelationships between elements in sentence structures.

·Word class: Word classes are categories that traditionally called parts of speech, including Noun(N.), Verb(V.), Adjective(Adj.), Adverb(Adv.), Preposition(Prep.), Pronoun(P.), Conjunction(Con.) and Article(Art.).

·Prescriptive approach: The view of grammar as a set of rules for the “proper” use of a language is characterized as the prescriptive approach.

·Descriptive approach: Linguists collect samples of the language they are interested in and attempt to describe the regular structures of the language as it is used, not according to some view of how it should be used. This is called the descriptive approach.

·IC analysis: IC analysis is based on the idea that linguistic units can be parts of larger constructions and may themselves also be constructions composed of smaller units. Using the distribution of components and constructions, we can analyze a sentence—considered to be the maximum construction in syntax—into a series of constituents—units that make up their larger units next to them.

·Structural analysis: Structural analysis is a type of descriptive approach, whose main objective is to study the distribution of linguistic forms in a language.

·Immediate constituent: The first division or cuts are known as immediate Constituents (ICs).

·Ultimate constituent: The final division or cuts are known as ultimate Constituents (UCs).

·Constituent structural grammar: Constituent structural grammar, also called Constituent structural syntax, refers to a grammar that analyzes sentences using only the idea of constituency to reveal a hierarchy of structural levels.

·Transformational grammar: Transformational grammar is a generative grammar and which was put forward by Chomsky and consisted of three parts: a set of phrase structure rules, transformation rules and morphophonemic rules.

·Ideational function: The function in which we conceptualize the world for our own benefit and that of others is called ideational function.

·Interpersonal function: Language serves to set up and maintain social and personal relations, including communication roles such as questioner and respondent, and to express the language user’s own attitudes and comments to the content of an utterance. This function of language is called interpersonal function.

·Textual function: Language also makes links with itself and with features of the situation in which it is used. This is what enables the speaker or writer to construct a text, and enables the listener or reader to distinguish a text from random set of sentences. This function of language is called textual function.

2．Do you think that morphology and syntax should be treated as separate are as of study? Give reasons to support your views.

Key: Although morphology and syntax are both concerning the study of formation, I do think there should be a division between the two. The major distinction between morphology and syntax is that the former is concerned with the internal composition of a word, while the latter is concerned with the combination of words to form grammatical sentences.

3．Place an asterisk next to any of the sentences that sound ungrammatical to you. Explain what makes these sentences ungrammatical.

(1) The tutor told the students to study.

(2) The tutor suggested the students to study.

(3) The customer asked for a cold beer.

(4) The customer requested for a cold beer.

(5) He gave the Red Cross some money.

(6) He donated the Red Cross some money.

(7) The pilot landed the jet.

(8) The jet landed.

(9) A journalist wrote the article.

(10) The article wrote very well.

(11) Julie is bored of her job.

(12) Julie is tired of her job.

(13) Myself bit John.

(14) I was surprised for you to get married.

(15) Has the nurse slept the baby yet?

Key: (1) Grammatical

(2) * Ungrammatical. Instead of using the form “suggest somebody to do something”, we usually use “suggest + that-clause” or “suggest doing”, here we’d better substitute “advise” for “suggest”.

(3) Grammatical

(4) * Ungrammatical. The word “request” is a transitive verb which should take an object directly, so the word “for” should be omitted.

(5) Grammatical

(6) * Ungrammatical. The word “donate” cannot be followed by double objects as “donate somebody something”. Instead we always use “donate something to somebody”.

(7) * Ungrammatical. The word “land” is usually used as an intransitive verb, which can’t take an object.

(8) Grammatical

(9) Grammatical

(10) * Ungrammatical. The subject of the verb “write” is usually a human; an “article” cannot write itself. In this case the passive construction is normally used: The article was very well written.

(11) * Ungrammatical. Usually we don’t use “be bored of something/somebody”, but “be bored with something/somebody” which means losing interest in somebody/something.

(12) Grammatical

(13) * Ungrammatical. Here “myself” is a reflexive pronoun, which can’t be used as subject, and it should be replaced by “I”.

(14) * Ungrammatical. The word “surprise” is usually used as a transitive verb, so the expression “…surprise for you” is ungrammatical, and it can be replaced by “surprise somebody (with something)” or “I was surprised by your getting married.”

(15) * Ungrammatical. The word “sleep” is usually used as an intransitive verb, which can’t take an object. The cases of “sleep” being used as a transitive verb are semantically limited, as in “to sleep a good sleep” or “the room can sleep 3 people”.

4．Explain why the following sentence is ungrammatical. Which personal pronoun in English would have the same form whether it occupied the position of "us" or "she" below?

*Us visit she on Sundays.

Key: This sentence is ungrammatical because it uses “us”, an accusative in the place of a subject and a nominative “she” in the place of an object. The correct form should be “We visit her on Sundays.” In English, the pronoun “you” and “it” would have the same form whether it occupied the position of subject or object.

5．(1) List as many examples of these constituents as you can identify in sentences (a) and (b) below: NP, PP, VP.

(2) List as many examples of these lexical categories as you can identify in sentences (a) and (b): N, prep, V.

a. A Guns "N" Roses concert at an arena near ST. Louis ended in disaster after some 2500 fans staged a full-fledged riot.

b. The trouble started when Axl Rose asked venue security to confiscate a camera he saw near the front of the stage.

Key: (1) NP: a Guns “N” Roses concert, some 2500 fans, a full-fledged riot, the troubles, venue security, a camera he saw, the front of the stage.

PP: at an arena, in disaster, near ST. Louis, after some 2500 fans staged a full-fledged riot.

VP: ended in disaster, staged a full-fledged riot, the troubles started, confiscated a camera, near the front of the stage.

(2) N: concert, fans, riot, troubles, venue, security, camera, stage, arena, ST. Louis, disaster

Prep: at, after, near, the front of, in

V: ended, staged, started, asked, confiscated, saw

6．What prescriptive rules for the "proper" use of English are not obeyed in the following sentences?

(1) That’s the girl I gave my roller skates to.

(2) He wanted to simply borrow your car for an hour.

Key: (1) “I gave my roller skates to” serves as an attributive clause modifying the main clause “That is the girl”, thus should be connected with an introductory word “who/whom”.

(2) Based on the meaning of the sentence, “simply” as a adverb should be used to modify verb “wanted”, but was mistakenly put before “borrow”, thus fail to obey the prescriptive rules for the proper use of English.

7．In the following sentence, the phrase "in the car" could be used (i) to show where the biting took place or (ii) to specify that it was the man in the car that was bitten. How would the tree diagrams for (i) and (ii) differ?

The dog bit the man in the car.

Key:（树形图略，改用括号法表示）

1．(The (dog)) bit ((the (man)) (in (the (car)))).

The first one is to specify that it was the man in the car that was bitten.

2．((The (dog)) (bit (the (man)))) (in (the (car))).

The second one aims to show where the biting took place.

8．Paraphrase each of the following sentences in two different ways to show that you understand the ambiguity involved:

Example: Smoking grass can be nauseating.

a. Putting grass in a pipe and smoking it can make you sick.

b. Fumes from smoldering grass can make you sick.

(1) Terry loves his wife and so do I.

(2) They said she would go yesterday.

(3) The governor is a dirty street fighter.

(4) The design has big squares and circles.

Key: (1) Terry loves his wife and I love her, too.

Terry loves his wife and I love mine, too.

(2) Yesterday, they told us about her leaving.

They had said that she was going to leave on yesterday.

(3) The governor is a street fighter who is really dirty.

The governor cannot stand the street being dirty.

(4) The design has lots of circles and big squares.

The design has lots of circles and squares, which are both really big.