Name: Trịnh Thị Mỹ Linh

ID’s student: 48.01.751.057

2023_Exercises_chapter 1
Exercise 1: Draw a simplified phrase marker for the following structures.

1. Two very silly jokes

2. Members of the team

3. People from the rural area

4. No previous experience of syntax

5. She opened the squeaky door.

6. John considers visiting his aunt.

7. John considers visiting his aunt next weekend.

 8. John considered visiting his aunt last weekend. (because the sentence is ambiguous,
draw the phrase marker that represents the following interpretation: Last weekend,
he thought of visiting his aunt sometime before the end of the month.)

Exercise 2: Explain if the underlined sequences of words are constituents of the sentence. If
it’s not, identify the correct constituents. Refer to the appropriate test of phrase in your
explanation.

1. Maria simply gazed at the traffic light she had demolished.

- The underlined sequence "the traffic light" is a constituent of the sentence.
- Test:
+ Replacement test: Replacing the traffic light with it in (2) does give us a new
grammatical sentence that can mean the same thing as (1).
+ For example:
(2) Maria simply gazed at it she had demolished.
2. Everyone heads for the beach in August.
 - The underlined sequence " the beach in August " is not a constituent of the sentence.
As it doesn’t pass the replacement test. If we try to replace it with a pronoun like "it,"
the sentence loses its intended meaning.
- However, "for the beach" and "in August" are constituents.
- Test:
+ Replacement test for “for the beach”.: "Everyone heads there in August" and the
sentence still makes sense.
+ Movement test for “in August” : "In August, everyone heads for the beach." As it
can be moved to the beginning of the sentence without changing the meaning of the
sentence.
3. Roy put a silencer on the gun.
- The underlined sequence " a silencer on the gun" is a constituent of the sentence.
- Test:
+ Replacement test: Replacing a silencer with it in (4) does give us a new
grammatical sentence that can mean the same thing as (3).
(4) Roy put it on the gun.
+ Movement test: "On the gun, Roy put a silencer". As it can be moved to the
beginning of the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence.

4. She attacked the man with the crutch.

- The underlined sequence " with the crutch" is a constituent of the sentence.
- Test:
+ Movement test: " With the crutch, she attacked the man. ". As it can be moved to
the beginning of the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence.
5. He attacked the woman with the stick.
- The underlined sequence " with the stick" is a constituent of the sentence.
- Test:
+ Movement test: " With the stick, he attacked the woman. ". As it can be moved to
the beginning of the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence.

Exercise 3: Explain the ambiguity in the sentence by giving two different interpretations
that correspond with two different structures.
 1. We need more interesting ideas.
- Ambiguity: The ambiguity here lies in the interpretation of "more interesting ideas."
- It could mean:
 We need a greater quantity of ideas, and these ideas should be more interesting than the
ones we currently have.
 We need ideas that are both more interesting and additional ones beyond what we already
have.
- These interpretations correspond to two different structures:
 "More interesting ideas" is interpreted as a quantity (more) modifying the noun phrase
(interesting ideas).
 "More" modifies the verb "need," indicating the need for both "interesting" and additional
ideas.

2. He loves good food and wine.

- Ambiguity: The ambiguity here lies in whether "good" applies to both "food" and
"wine," or just to "food."
- It could mean:
 He loves both good food and good wine.
 He loves good food and wine in general, regardless of whether the wine is good.
- These interpretations correspond to two different structures:
 "Good" modifies both "food" and "wine," indicating high quality for both.
 "Good" only modifies "food," and "wine" is simply mentioned along with it.
3. She attacked the man with the crutch.
- Ambiguity: The ambiguity here lies in whether the crutch was used as a weapon by
the woman or if the man had the crutch as a belonging.
- It could mean:
 She used a crutch as a weapon to attack the man.
 She attacked the man who was holding a crutch.
- These interpretations correspond to two different structures:
 "With the crutch" is a prepositional phrase indicating the instrument used to carry out the
action.
 "With the crutch" is a prepositional phrase indicating possession or association.