LIN102 Tutorial Handout #4
Summer 2021 – Thursday, July 15
Important: Assignment #2 will be due next Wednesday.
Make sure to allocate the time to enter your answers on Quercus.
Part A: Constituency tests (R)
Each of the following examples performs a constituency test on the sentenceabove. For each one
identify (1) which constituency test has applied, (2) how it works, and (3) what you can infer from
it about the structure. The first one is done for you.
Lyra and Pantalaimon will find a door into another world.
(a) Lyra nad Pantalaimon will find it.
(1) Substitution test
(2) The pronoun it has substituted the string “a door into another world”
(3) We can infer that [a door into another world] is a constituent.
(b) Lyra and Pantalaimon will find a door into another world, won’t they?
(1)
(2)
(3)
(c) Lyra and Pantalaimon will find a door into another world, and Lord Asriel too.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(d) Lyra and Pantalaimon will find a door into another world and a friend with a secret.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(e) Lyra and Pantalaimon will find a door into another world and out of danger.
(1)
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(2)
(3)
(f) It is Lyra and Pantalaimon who will find a door into another world
(1)
(2)
(3)
(g) Lord Asriel said Lyra and Pantalaimon will find a door into another world, and find a door
into another world they (Lyra and Pantalaimon) will.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(h) What Lyra and Pantalaimon will find a door into is another world.
(1)
(2)
(3)
Part B: Phrases & clauses (P)
Now that we have learnt the concept of a constituent, let us take a closer look at units in a
sentence that are larger than words; namely, phrases and clauses.
Phrase: a word or a group of words that functions as a unit in a sentence
Take a look at the following set of words
(1) a. book (N)
b. sleep (V)
c. small (A)
d. loudly (Adv)
e. at (P)
These words may be modified by or require the presence of other words
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(2) a. a red book of syntax
b. sleep calmly
c. quite small
d. very loudly
e. at the hour
Question: Do you think that the groups of words in (2) with additional words mean
something fundamentally different from the individual words in (1), or that they retain the
core meaning even with the addition?
Question: Should we consider that the role played by the groups of words in (2) is
consistent with the role played by one of its morphemes shown in (1)?
Let us now discuss what a clause is. The definition is purposefully simplified below
Clause: a unit of words that consists of the subject and the verb or adjective
Question: How many clauses are there in each of the following sentences? (Note: A sentence
may contain multiple clauses)
(3) a. Hong-yan and Ana Tona teach twice a week.
b. Kaz thinks that the students in this class are very dikigent.
c. Kaz said that his hair is out of control because he could not get a hair cut for 7 months.
Note that when a sentence contains multiple clauses, one of them seems to embed the other(s).
In (4), is the main idea you want to express is (a) that John is believing something, or (b)
Mary has already left the office?
(4) John believes [that Mary has alreadly left the office].
The clause that conveys the main idea, the matrix clause, embeds other clauses,
embedded clauses.
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