Syntax III Assignment 3:  READY
Due Thursday January 17


Adjectives like 'hard' and 'ready' occur in some of the same
environments as ordinary adjectives like 'long':

(1)	The exam was hard.
(2)	The exam was ready.
(3)	The exam was long.

But they can also appear in structures where ordinary adjectives can't:

(4)	The exam was hard to put under the door.
(5)	The exam was ready to put under the door.
(6)	* The exam was long to put under the door.

There are grammatical sentences which are like (6) except that they
involve 'too':

(7)	The exam was too thick to put under the door.

Ignore sentences containing the word 'too'; we will
not be dealing with them here.  (We might study them later.)

'Hard' and 'ready' can occur in some of the same structures, but not
all. Note the difference in interpretation of those structures in which
they can both occur:

(8)     It was hard to make the decision.
(9)     It was ready to make the decision.

Note that (9) is grammatical if the decision is about to be made by a
very large gorilla of unknown gender.

(10)	The socks were hard to put on.
(11)	It was hard to put on the socks.
(12)	The socks were ready to put on.
(13)	It was ready to put on the socks.

The gorilla again.

(14)	The socks were ready for the gorilla to put on.
(15)	The socks were ready to put on the gorilla.

(16)	The socks were hard for the gorilla to put on.
(17)	The socks were hard to put on the gorilla.

Also note the ambiguity in (24) but lack of ambiguity in (25):

(18)	The turkey is ready to eat.
(19)	The turkey is hard to eat.

Finally, notice that in sentences which involve the verbs 'spit',
'drop', and 'put', the adjectives 'ready' and 'hard' give rise to
different combinations of meaning and ambiguity:

(20) a.	The muskrat was ready to spit into the hole.
     b.	The muskrat was ready to drop into the hole.
     c.	The muskrat was ready to put into the hole.

(21) a.	The muskrat was hard to spit into the hole.
     b.	The muskrat was hard to drop into the hole.
     c.	The muskrat was hard to put into the hole.

The problem is to propose an analysis for 'ready' which accounts for how
it differs from 'hard'.