Ling 141						W 2015

Problem 1.  VP Ellipsis

0.  You are no doubt familiar with a phenomenon called "VP Ellipsis",
which is illustrated in (1)-(3):

(1)   My friends weren't paying attention to the lecture, but I was.

(2)   You can be sitting in the front row if you want to.

(3)   Someone who can needs to take over.

One way (though not the only way) to account for this phenomenon
in a grammar is via a Transformational operation of deletion.  For
present purposes, we will adopt the assumption that there is such
a rule, and call it "VP Deletion".  Here are some questions about
VP Deletion.

1.  What gets deleted?

Consider the following in constructing an answer:

(4)   I wasn't an advocate for labor policy reform, but my mother was.

(5)   Whether you are or not, I'm ready to smack that kid.

(6)   A: Is the car in the garage?  B: No, it isn't.

2.  There are two major conditions on this deletion.  One is that there
must be an antecedent somewhere.  Tell what you can about where that antecedent
can be found.  Try coordinate structures.

3.  The other condition is less obvious, but you will find it if you
think carefully about the answer to 1.

This should be enough for a week.  Do a good job on it.