Modern Grammar - ASSIGNMENT 18 James Madison University

Instructions: This assignment will be marked as an acceptable or unacceptable effort. Take time to read and think carefully. You might not even want to do the entire assignemnt at one sitting. Maybe one or two parts a day over a few days? :)

1. First, let's spend a little time practicing with grammatical roles/relations and semantic roles, mixed with a chance to review auxiliary and tense structures. For each of the sentences below, do the following:
   • Find and underline the entire SUBJECT of the sentence and write down whether it is playing the semantic role of the "agent" of an action, the "experiencer" of a state or an event, and entity being identified or described by a linking verb, or the "instrument" used to do an action. In the case where the subject is the subject of a passive sentence, consider whether it is playing a role more ordinarily associated with a DIRECT OBJECT or an INDIRECT OBJECT (see possibilities on handout).
   • Determine what the basic VP is in the sentence, including whether it has no arguments (i.e., an intransitive use of a verb), has an NP as a direct object, an NP as an indirect object, a PP playing the same kind of semantic role as an indiret object, a PP providing the "source" or "goal" locational information for an action, or perhaps instead of any of that, some phrase (not only NPs possible) that is a SUBJECT COMPLEMENT describing or identifying the subject of the sentence. Write down the details.
   • Also, write down the tense and auliiary features for each sentence.
   
   
   1. Those people might be cheating.
   2. The freshly-cut flowers smelled wonderful.
   3. We donated our collection of rare books to the library.
   4. The library has given us a receipt.
   5. The pioneers would have taken their wagons from Virginia to the prairies of the midwest.
   6. The conference's plenary speaker was not asked any questions.


2. Now, try diagramming some sentences with a bunch of PPs and with a chance to practice with the AUX and NEG rules as well.
   
   1. Flora was looking at the details of her contract with the company very carefully.
   2. To my surprise, the words on the first page of that author's new novel had been sending shivers down my back for hours.
   3. The new magician did not seem too worried about his tricks.
   4. Sometimes, on dark, windless nights, after midnight, strange sounds do come from the top of that very dreary, empty, old house on the corner for no clear reason. (Tip: "sometimes" is an adverb. :) )


3. Next, below are some sentences with adverbial clauses for you to try diagramming. Remember that you are now building TWO clauses and combining them:
   
   1. Because the invisible monster smells like rotten eggs, we know its location. (Adverbial Clause comes first.)
   2. John seemed normal before he ate that old man's strange mushrooms. (A first sentence with an adverbial clause after the main clause)
   3. Once the drivers start their engines, the race will begin soon.
   4. You looked troubled when you saw all those unfamiliar faces at the orientation.
   5. My dog will not chase a cat if the cat is acting slightly confident.
   
   
4. Dealing with gerund noun phrases:
   1. Here's a first example to consider that contains a gerund noun phrase: "Baking is my favorite holiday activity."
      In this example, "baking," the subject of the sentence, is a gerund noun. Nonethless, just as with common nouns, the first thing that happens with a gerund noun is that it becomes an "N-bar." Then, in this case, there's actually just the simple NP formation rule that applies. Diagram that sentence.
   
   
   2. Below is another, bigger gerund noun phrase in a subject position. You can also use rules we already have to diagram this noun phrase and the rest of the sentence:
      "Your aiming for the moon is a waste of ammunition." (Hint: There's even a determiner in this gerund noun phrase.)
   
   
   3. Remember, however, that gerunds are not really like other nouns. They still have "event structures" just as they did as verbs. So, there are some specialized but highly predictable rules for gerunds that allow them to build rather odd "N-bar" constituents. Specifically, any verb phrase rule that could be needed in the verb use becomes an N-bar rule in the gerund use. In those corresponding "N-bar" rules, all VPs and Vs become "N-bars". Try figuring out just this one example, in which the gerund NP is serving as the direct object of "enjoys":
      "Frank enjoys sending his friends anonymous gifts."
      (Hint: the gerund noun is "sending" and the full gerund noun phrase is "sending his friends anonymous gifts." Consider what semantic roles are present in this construction...)
   
   
5. Finally, let's try just starting to think about the use coordinate conjunctions. We already know, by definition, that the general pattern for the use of coordinate conjunctions is always some kind of phrase or clause (X) followed by the conjunction, followed by another phrase/clause of the same basic syntactic category (X). (For example "NP conj NP" or "S conj S"). So let's just try to find that pattern in some examples. For each example below, circle the coordinate conjunction and say what kind of matching syntactic structures are on each side of it.
   1. The door was open, and all the leaves blew into the house.
   2. They sent the petition to their senator and to other national leaders.
   3. The children were writing poems and chatting.
   4. We need more time for fun, but we have piles of homework!