grammatical foundations

Exercise 2

k The window opened.

theme argument

*There opened the window.

*In the room opened the window. The guests opened the window.ergative verb

VP

DP V©

open

l A train arrived at the station.

theme argument

There arrived a train at the station. At the station a train arrived.

At the station there arrived a train.unaccusative

m Walt watered the flowers.

agent and patient arguments

The flowers were watered by Walt.transitive

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Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 5

n Dick died.

experiencer argument Dick died a terrible death.intransitive

eV t1

o Gary gave Greg a gift.

three arguments

Gary gave a gift to Greg.

multiple complement verb

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Exercise 3

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

(1)a The boy had a walk.

b I answered the question.

c The professor made a comment on my essay. d She never looks at him.

e We drank together.

f The professor gave a speech on the economic situation of China. g Everyone involved in the project contributed to the exercises.

h She has finally made a decision. or She has finally taken a decision.

Exercise 5

Phrasal verbs can be distinguished from verbs taking a PP complement in the following ways:

–Reorganisation of arguments is possible for some phrasal verbs but is impossible for verbs with PP complement;

–Topicalisation of PP is possible for verbs with PP complements but is impossible for phrasal verbs;

–Modification of the preposition is possible for verbs with PP complements but is usually impossible for phrasal verbs;

–Coordination is possible for verbs with PP complements but is impossible for phrasal verbs.

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Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 5

The tests can be applied in the following way.

(1)a Reorganisation of arguments: *Lawrence lived Liverpool in. Topicalisation: In Liverpool, Lawrence lived.

Modification: Lawrence lived right in Liverpool. Coordination: Lawrence lived in Liverpool and in London.verb taking a PP complement

(1)b Reorganisation of arguments: *My neighbour takes my uncle after. Topicalisation: *After my uncle my neighbour takes. Modification: *My neighbour takes right after my uncle.

Coordination: *My neighbour takes after my uncle and after his father.phrasal verb

(1)c Reorganisation of arguments: *We must make this list up. Topicalisation: *Up this list we must make. Modification: *We must make just up this list.

Coordination: *We must make up this list and out that book.phrasal verb

(1)d Reorganisation of arguments: *He ran the hill up. Topicalisation: Up the hill he ran.

Modification: He ran right up the hill. Coordination: He ran up the hill and down the slope.

verb taking a PP complement

(1)e Reorganisation of arguments: We have done the buttons up on our coats. Topicalisation: *Up the buttons we have done on our coats. Modification: *We have done just up the buttons on our coats. Coordination: *We have done up the buttons and without our passport.

phrasal verb

(1)f Reorganisation of arguments: *He came of his office out. Topicalisation: Out of his office he came.

Modification: He came right put of his office. Coordination: He came out of his office and into the hall.verb taking a PP complement

(1)g Reorganisation of arguments: *Suddenly she broke tears into. Topicalisation: *Suddenly into tears she broke. Modification: *Suddenly she broke just into tears.

Coordination: *Suddenly she broke into tears and with her friend.phrasal verb

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Exercise 6

(1)h Reorganisation of arguments: *The prisoner did his mate in. Topicalisation: *In his mate the prisoner did.

Modification: *The prisoner did right his mate. Coordination: *The prisoner did in his mate and over a guard.phrasal verb

(1)i Reorganisation of arguments: Guards broke the fight up. Topicalisation: *Up the fight guards broke. Modification: *Guards broke right up the fight.

Coordination: Guards broke up the fight and with the prisoners.phrasal verb

(1)j Reorganisation of arguments: The workers pulled the old building down. Topicalisation: *Down the old building the workers pulled. Modification: *The workers pulled right down the old building.

Coordination: *The workers pulled down the old building and apart the walls.phrasal verb

Exercise 6

The event structure of the sentence is represented in (1).

(1)e = e1 → e2 : e1 = ‘John did something’

e2 = ‘the window closed’

The sentence is ambiguous because the adjunct again can modify either e1 or e2. If it modifies e1 then the sentence means that John closed the window then somebody opened it and John closed it again. If e2 is modified by the adjunct again then only e2 happened again while e1 happened only once. Thus the sentence means that somebody (but not John) opened the window, then somebody closed it and then John opened it again. So in the first interpretation John opens the window twice while in the second interpretation only once.

The structure representing meaning 1 can be seen in (2) while meaning 2 is represented in (3)showing the verbal projection only.

In meaning 1 again modifies e1, so it is adjoined to vP. In meaning 2 only e2 is modified by the adjunct, so again is adjoined to VP.

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Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 6

Exercise 7

agents: a, d, i; themes: b, f, j; experiencers: c, e, h, the expletive subject in g has no theta-role

Chapter 6

Check Questions

Q1 As a preliminary assumption it may be assumed that finite clauses contain finite inflection. What this amounts to is that in a finite clause there is agreement with the subject in number and person, and there is some independent tense marking available as well. In a non-finite clause agreement with the subject is not so straightforward, and its tense will depend on the tense of some other finite clause. Less traditionally speaking, another diagnostic to distinguish between the two clause-types is the form of the complementiser introducing them: finite clauses can occur with that while non-finite clauses with for. This is somewhat unreliable, though, as not all non-finite clauses can occur with for, this is only to say that if a clause can, then it is non-finite. Thirdly, finite clauses can occur in isolation or as embedded clauses, while non-finite clauses can only

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Check Questions

occur in embedded context. In addition, a further property finite clauses they do not share with non-finite clauses is their ability to contain modals – modals are excluded from non-finite clauses. Lastly, the subject of a finite clause is in nominative Case while the subject of a non-finite clause is in accusative, or phonologically empty.

Q2 It is proposed as a preliminary assumption that the Inflection head contains the bound morphemes 3sg -s, past tense -ed, modals and infinitival to. As a result, different clauses distribute differently depending on the inflectional element they contain. Secondly, it seems that the inflection behaves like a head in that it restricts its complement to vP or VP. Thirdly, it also behaves like a head in that it influences the Case form of its subject: nominative in finite and accusative in non-finite clauses. In addition, similarly to the other functional head D, the I head also displays agreement with its specifier, the subject.

Q3 There are theoretically two alternatives: either it is the morphemes -s and -ed, -ing and -en that move (lower onto the verb) or the verb moves up. It is assumed that English verbal stems cannot host more than one bound morpheme, hence in a clause that contains aspectuals (which head their own vP), the thematic V moves and picks up the lower bound morpheme but as it is unable to host more, an aspectual (be or have or even both if need be) are inserted to pick up the aspectual morphemes.

Q4 The I head takes a vP or VP complement. When there is negation present in a structure but no other verb apart from the lexical verb, it seems that the presence of the negative particle not blocks movement of the verb to pick up the bound morpheme, hence a dummy auxiliary is inserted. That the presence of the negative particle seems to block movement is supported by the fact that when there are more than one auxiliaries in a structure it is always the modal (or the leftmost) that moves to form a question. This observation is formulated as the Head Movement Constraint: a head cannot skip an intervening head position when it moves. In negation the negative element intervenes between the bound morpheme to be picked up and the verb, hence do is inserted. In languages other than English where a verb is not restricted to hosting only one bound morpheme, we find paradigms where a bound inflectional morpheme does actually occur attached to the head. For this reason it is also proposed that the negative is in fact a variety on light verb constructions and is best be analysed as one.

Q5 Aspect markers are analysed as morphemes heading their own vP, while aspectual auxiliaries are inserted in the I head position.

Q6 At the beginning of the chapter the implicit assumption about what the Inflection head hosts was that it manifests Tense and Agreement. There is evidence that it only contains agreement. Tense and infinitival to are separate from it. One piece of evidence that Tense can be seen as a separate entity is provided by the observation that modals, which are truly Inflectional elements, can inflect for tense in English. Tense is proposed to head its own vP taking another vP as a complement. When there is -ed present, there is a phonologically null agreement morpheme in I. In present tense the form of the tense morpheme is realised as -s when the agreement is third person singular and as a zero morpheme when the agreement is something else.Thus, what is left for the I head is agreement manifested either as a modal or as -s or as a phonologically empty morpheme.

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Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 6

Q7 Both negation and VP adverbs can precede the tense element but they can never precede the modal in I. Furthermore, neither negation nor VP adverbs can adjoin to a VP whose head has moved out of it. VP adverbs can also adjoin to any vP while negation will have to appear between the tense vP and the rest of the vP or VP. In addition a VP adverb can also be adjoined to I-bar (i.e. it does appear before a tensed verb) when there are only two options available for it in a clause: either it precedes tense or follows the thematic verb. This situation arises in clauses that contain only one verb form (e.g. They always met in the park).

Q8 The head of a light verb vP assigns a theta role whereas the head of tense vP does not, thus the specifier position of the latter, but not the former, is always empty.

Q9 Nominative case found on subjects of finite clauses is assumed to be assigned under specifier–head agreement. Accusative case, on the other hand, is assumed to involve a specific relationship between case-assigner and case-assignee: government. Thus, it seems that no unitary configuration exists for case assignment: it can appear both to the left and to the right.

Exercise 1

Following the Case Filter, which states that all DPs must have Case, we have to assume that these DPs have case. Case assigners are verbs, prepositions and the finite inflection. Case assigners must be ‘close’ enough to the DP to be able to assign case to it. Finite I can assign nominative Case to its specifier position only, while verbs and prepositions can assign accusative Case to their complement DP or to the DP in the specifier position of their complement.

a)In sentence John met Mary in the park there are four DPs. The DP John has nominative Case as when it is substituted with a pronoun that displays overt Case marking the pronoun has nominative Case in this position. Nominative Case is assigned by the finite inflection, as nominative Case is available only for subject DPs in finite clauses. The DP ‘Mary’ has accusative Case assigned by the verb. The DP ‘the park’ gets accusative Case from the preposition ‘in’.

b)In sentence For me to survive this week will be quite difficult there are two DPs, both in the subject subordinate clause. The subject DP has no nominative Case. As we have seen earlier non-finite I filled with the infinitival marker to cannot assign Case, at all. In fact, the DP does not have nominative Case. It has accusative Case assigned by the complementiser for. The object DP of the subordinate clause gets Case from the verb survive.

c)In sentence Everybody goes to see the painting the subject DP everybody gets nominative Case from the finite I of the sentence. The object DP is assigned accusative by the verb see.

d)Sentence John persuaded Bill to go to see a doctor is a complex sentence. Its structure is superficially very similar to sentence (1b), but the structure of the two sentences is not identical. The verb persuade has three arguments. It has an agent, a patient and a proposition argument. The agent DP gets nominative Case from the finite

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Exercise 2

I. Bill gets accusative Case from the verb persuade. Notice that while expect in sentence (1b) assigns accusative Case to the specifier position of its propositional complement, persuade assigns accusative to its complement. Finally the DP a doctor is assigned accusative Case by the verb see.

e) In sentence Mary gave a book to John for Xmas there are four DPs. The agent DP gets nominative Case from the finite I of the sentence. The patient DP a book is assigned accusative Case by the verb, the goal argument is assigned Case by the preposition to and the DP Xmas is assigned Case by the preposition for.

Exercise 2

(1)a question-forming + main verb

bemphasis + negation

cmain verb

dnegation + tag question

equestion-forming

femphasis

gnegation

htag question

imain verb

jmain verb

kmain verb

lnegation

Exercise 3

a [Jim] I0 sent [a bunch of [flowers]] to [Jane].

b For [Jim] not to buy [the house] at [a lower price] wasn’t [the best decision acc

in [his life]].

c [The teacher] I0 believed that [all his students] would pass [the exam].

d [All the students] were believed to pass [the exam].

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Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 6

f [Which experiment]2 did1 [the professor] e1 mean e2 when [he] I0 asked nom acc

whether [we] were able to do [it]?

g [John] I0 read [an interesting book about [the cold war]].

h [It] was raining when [I] I0 looked out of [the window].

i [The children] I0 wanted [it] to be snowing during [the whole day].

j [Jane] I0 believed [Jack] to be able to repair [the car].

Nominative Case is always assigned by finite inflection. Sometimes the I0 head is not occupied by any sound material, as in sentences (1a), (1c), (1g), (1h), (1i) and (1j). In other cases it is occupied by a modal auxiliary (modal auxiliaries are inherently finite) or by the verbs be, have or do (in which case it is still the zero inflectional morpheme that assigns case). In some cases like in sentence (1f), the I0 moves further to a higher position. In this case the Case is assigned by the trace of the auxiliary (it is assigned by the auxiliary before it moves). Sometimes DPs move further after receiving Case like the DP which experiment in sentence (1f). Here the chain receives Case only once, only the foot of the chain (the trace of the DP) is in a Case-marked position. Accusative Case is assigned by verbs and prepositions to their complement DPs. Some verbs and the complementiser for are able to assign accusative Case to the subject position of their complement IPs, as in sentences (1b), (1i) and (1j). Passive verbs are not able to assign case to their complement DPs, thus these DPs have to move in order to receive Case.

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