Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd
Upload
158 views

Linguistic Review Syntax

This document is a review for a midterm exam on syntax in an Introduction to English Linguistics course. It contains three parts: true/false questions about syntactic rules and categories, multiple choice questions about phrase structure rules and syntactic analysis, and analysis questions involving identifying syntactic structures and constituents. The review covers topics like phrase structure, heads, syntactic ambiguity, and applying constituency tests.

Uploaded by

Joanne
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
158 views

Linguistic Review Syntax

This document is a review for a midterm exam on syntax in an Introduction to English Linguistics course. It contains three parts: true/false questions about syntactic rules and categories, multiple choice questions about phrase structure rules and syntactic analysis, and analysis questions involving identifying syntactic structures and constituents. The review covers topics like phrase structure, heads, syntactic ambiguity, and applying constituency tests.

Uploaded by

Joanne
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Introduction to English Linguistics

Lecturer: Dr. Daphne LJ Huang

Review for Mid-term Exam – Syntax


Part 1: True or false Questions
1. Our syntactic knowledge includes rules that tell us how words form groups in a
sentence, or how they are hierarchically arranged.
2. Structural ambiguity refers to phrases or sentences that can be interpreted in two
or more meanings due to word differences.
3. Syntactic rules include a finite number of rules which account for infinite number
of sentences.
4. There are three constituency tests. Substitution is when a group of words can be
moved together to another position of the phrase or sentence.
5. Syntactic categories include both phrasal categories and lexical categories. They
are part of a speaker’s knowledge of syntax.
6. The core of every phrase is the head.
7. According to the order of object-verb (SOV), Japanese is known as the head-
final language.
8. In every phrase, the head is obligatory.

Part 2: Multiple-choice Questions


1. What of the following is the best definition of syntax?
(a) The study of the rules governing the sounds that form words
(b) The study of the rules governing sentence formation
(c) The study of the rules governing word formation
(d) The study of meaning
2. In the phrase across the blue river, which is the head?
(a) across
(b) the
(c) blue
(d) river
3. In the following, which bracketed part is NOT a NP?
(a) [He] washed himself with soapy water.
(b) [Jenny] will faint soon.
(c) John will give some herbal tea [to Alice].
(d) [The greedy mouse] devoured the cheese.
4. In the sentence Colorless green ideas sleep furiously, what is the lexical category
of the underlined word?
(a) Noun
(b) Verb
(c) Adjective

1
Introduction to English Linguistics
Lecturer: Dr. Daphne LJ Huang

(d) Preposition
5. Which is NOT true about the Phrase Structure rule in English?
(a) The head is always placed at the end of a phrase.
(b) The head of a NP is the noun.
(c) Complements are obligatory.
(d) The specifier is placed before the head.
6. In the following, which bracketed part is NOT an example of VP?
(a) I am [very happy]
(b) He [runs to the park]
(c) Jenny [is looking for John]
(d) She [washed her hair everyday]
7. In the following, which is NOT a possible combination in a NP?
(a) NP → N
(b) NP → V + N
(c) NP → A + N
(d) NP → N + PP
8. In the example The boy put the toy in the box, the verb put is a ________ verb.
(a) transitive
(b) intransitive
(c) ditransitive
(d) none of the above

Part 3: Analysis questions


1. Provide an example for the following structures:
(a) S → NP + VP
(b) NP → D + N
(c) NP → D + N + PP
(d) VP → V + PP
(e) PP → P + NP
(f) AP → A +PP

2. Identify phrasal category of the following examples and indicate the Head.
(a) resentful of the forest
(b) towards the lake
(c) walk into the house
(d) a bunch of flowers

2
Introduction to English Linguistics
Lecturer: Dr. Daphne LJ Huang

3. Draw tree diagrams of the phrases in Question (2).

4. Use one of the constituency tests to determine which of the bracketed words in
the sentences are constituents. (see also Question 12, p.132)
(a) [Online shopping] has become very common.
(b) John works [in the garage].
(c) Young men and women [are dancing in the park].

5. Discuss the ambiguity of the following sentence. Provide paraphrases for your
interpretations of the sentence and explain why there is ambiguity.
- She observed the man with the binoculars.

You might also like