Modern Grammar - ASSIGNMENT 19 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 at a time? :)

1. First, here are some sentences that contain auxiliaries and/or a negator. {NOTE: While most of our rules are exactly as described in our textbook, with these two rules we are taking a more simplified approach than the one the textbook argues for.) We are using a very simplied rule for auxiliaries (VP --> aux VP), which can be used multiple times for multiple auxes. We are using an exactly parallel rule for the negator (VP--> neg VP), which will be used at most once with any one VP (though this is something we know; the rule doesn't prevent multiple "not"s! :) ) Diagram each sentence:
   1. Those people might be cheating.
   2. The freshly-cut flowers did smell wonderful.
   3. We have donated our collection of rare books to the library.
   4. The library has not 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 that contain more practice both with PPs and with the AUX and NEG rules.
   
   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. Now, let's deal with gerund noun phrases (First with some examples with descriptions to help you diagram thems, then with some more sentences to diagram) :
   1. Consider the following sentence, which contains a very simple Gerund 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. We could say the "remember being 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 the verb "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 how you would diagram this as a VP, then convert it...)
   
   
4. Finally, let's start to think about the very common use of 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, for each example belw, look for that that pattern with some kind of syntactic category. For each example below, start by circling the coordinate conjunction and say what kind of matching syntactic structures are on each side of it. Write down that rule, then try to us it to diagram the whole example.
   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!