Syntax

Question 1

Syntax

Answer 1

Structure of sentences that are in accordance with grammatical rules of English

Question 2

Constituents

Answer 2

AKA phrases - words in a sentence that go with each other

Question 3

Pronominalisation

Answer 3

When you can replace a word in a string of constituents with a pronoun

A rule that can prove constiuent status*

Question 4

Pro-form

Answer 4

AKA pronoun - stands for more than one word, these can stand for phrases/constiuents but NOT a single word.

Question 5

Movement

Answer 5

A rule to test for constiuent status - if the string/phrase can be move to another position in the sentence & still be grammatically correct

Question 6

Coordination

Answer 6

Another test for constituency status - You can add ‘and’ between like constituents.

Question 7

Gapping

Answer 7

Another rule to test constituency status - you can add the string before after a tag question & it is still grammatically correct.

Ex) Many people will [go to the station every morning], won’t they? Won’t they [go to the station every morning]?

Question 8

Sentence-fragment Test

Answer 8

Another rule to test for constituency status - when you can answer a question with a so-called fragmented sentence.

Ex) Who will go to the station every morning? [Many people.]

Question 9

Mother Node

Answer 9

Node immediately above a given node in a linguistic tree diagram

Question 10

Sister node

Answer 10

Nodes that share the same mother node in a tree diagram

Question 11

Structural Ambiguity

Answer 11

Cases in which different interpretations arise through different sentence structures assigned to the same string of words.

Question 12

Head

Answer 12

The most important element of a phrase.

Question 13

Noun-phrases

Answer 13

When the most important element of a phrase is a noun * there can also be adjective-phrases, verb-phrases, preposition-phrases, determiner-phrases etc.

Question 14

Word-Class Membership

Answer 14

If the word is either a noun, verb, preoposition, determiner, adjective etc.

There are distinct slots in a phrase/sentence for each word-class.

Question 15

Phrase Structure Rules

Answer 15

Rules to create grammatically correct sentences ( )* = optional & letters represent word-classes & head-phrases

S –> NP VP
NP –> (D) (AP) N (PP)
PP –> P NP
VP –> V (NP) (PP)
AP –> (ADV) A
ADVP –> (ADV) ADV

Question 16

Subordiante Clauses

Answer 16

When sentences are inside other sentences

Question 17

Main (Matrix) Clause

Answer 17

Clauses that can stand on their own.

Question 18

Clause

Answer 18

A syntactic unit that consists minimally of a verb-phrase and its subject.

Question 19

Sentences

Answer 19

Largest syntactic unit and made up of more than one clause.

Question 20

Subject-verb agreement

Answer 20

A syntactic process which requires a subject and verb to share the same person and number features.

Ex) Both noun & verb in a sentence must be singular & third person.

Question 21

Case forms

Answer 21

Forms that mark the grammatical function of noun phrases in a sentence of phrase

Question 22

Objects

Answer 22

They differt from subject becauses they do not show agreement with the verb & are strongly restricted in their distribution - *objects must occur immediately after a verb with no constituent intervening

Question 23

Transitive Verbs

Answer 23

Verbs that need an object

Question 24

Intransitive verbs

Answer 24

Verbs that need an object

Question 25

Ditransitive verbs

Answer 25

Verbs that can take two objects that play different roles in the event denoted by verb

Question 26

Direct object

Answer 26

Denotes an entity that undergoes the action or process denoted by the verb

Question 27

Indirect object

Answer 27

Object that denotes the goal, the recipient or the beneficiary of the event denoted by the verb

Question 28

Adverbials (adjunct)

Answer 28

Constituents that provide information about the circumstances of the action denoted by its subject and object

*often not obligatory in a sentence
*may convey time, location, purpose

Question 29

Passivisation

Answer 29

Sentences in the active voice can be passivised by making the object of the active sentence the subject of the passive sentence

Question 30

Adverb vs Adverbial

Answer 30

Averb is the word-class & adverbial is the name of a sentence function

Question 31

Complement

Answer 31

Constituents of heads that are structurally and highly dependent of sister constituents

Ex) adjective like ‘proud’ can take a complement

Question 32

Predicative Complements

Answer 32

They do not behave like objects & cannot be passivised - these verbs provide information about a subject

Ex) is, be

Question 33

Diction

Answer 33

Defines the style of someone’s chosen written or spoken language

Question 34

Modifier

Answer 34

A word or phrase intended to change or modify another part of a sentence (most often the subject)

*misplaced modifiers make sentences unclear because they don’t specify & can be modifying more than one subject

Question 35

Grammar

Answer 35

Set of rules that allow you to either accurately describe or produce sentences in a specific language

Question 36

Finite Verb

Answer 36

The verb reflects something about the subject (or doer of action)

*not obligatory in sentences

Question 37

Embedding

Answer 37

Another word for “phrases within phrases”

Question 38

Dependencies

Answer 38

Words that depend on each other (AKA constituents)

Question 39

Inversion

Answer 39

Similar to movement but it’s when two words switch slots in a sentence. Answers the question.

Example) WERE YOU there? YOU WERE there.

Question 40

Optimality Theory

Answer 40

Competing violable constraints do a better job explaining language work better than grammar rules.