Linc 100 Discussion

1. List of Phrase Structure Rules

(1) S → NP (Aux) VP

(2) NP → (Det) (Adj) N

(3) VP → V NP

(4) VP → V

(5) VP → VP PP

(6) PP → P NP

(7) VP → V CP

(8) CP → C S

(9) NP → NP PP

(10) XP → XP Conj XP (where XP is any kind of phrase)

2. Drawing Tree Diagrams

The sleepy dog snored.

The stranger bought drinks for everyone in the bar.

The older pilot landed the engineless jet in the Hudson.



3. Structural Ambiguity
 Q: What are the two possible interpretations of the following sentences?

The parents of the bride and groom were waiting outside.

We met an English history teacher.

Draw the two syntactic trees for (a).

(i) (ii)

4. Transformational Rules

(1) Yes/No Questions: Move-Aux, Do support

E.g. I should just draw the examples.

a. Transform it into a yes/no question by moving one word.

b. Draw a phrase structure tree of the question indicating the movement with an arrow.

(2) Wh-Questions

Replace the NP with the wh-word

Move the auxiliary as in yes/no questions

Move the wh-word to the beginning of the sentence

E.g. Jake will hand in the homework tomorrow

(treat “hand in” as a single verb since it is a phrasal verb)

a. Replace an NP with the wh-word.

b. Transform what you have in (a) into a yes/no question by moving one word.

c. After you move the wh-word to the right position, draw a tree diagram for the wh-question.