Syntax I Fall 10

Assignment 4


A.  What is 'his' in "I broke his neck"
and why do you think so?

B.  (1)  {[the farmer]'s duck} died.

    (2)  I scared {[the Queen of England]'s cat}.

    (3)  {[[my uncle]'s monkey]'s fleas} are numerous.

    (4)  {[the man from Omaha]'s bid} was low.

1.  What are the underlined ({}) things in (1)-(4)?

2.  What are the boxed ([]) things?

3.  Modify the NP rule so that sentences like these will be
generated, respecting the decisions you made above about phrase
structure (answers to questions 1 & 2).

Then draw the trees for (1)-(4) according to your revised grammar.


C. If the following are generated by our grammar, draw their structures:

	(5) The monkey's aged mother's rabidly conservative uncle wrote
	     a short story.

	(6) A very big man with a very bad attitude's dog's escape from
	     its supposedly secure cage made the public nervous.

Don't forget to write your answers out in complete English sentences
and paragraphs, even (even especially) when the answer involves a tree
or a grammatical rule.

D.  If you have done parts (A)-(C) right, you will need to modify the
Determiner Law.  Do it.

HINT: Draw trees!