Modern Grammar - Assignment 15 James Madison University

Instructions: Find the answer to each of the questions below. You may decide for yourself whether or not to use the LLAMA-Syntax applet at the bottom of this page. [The assignment will be marked only as an acceptable or unacceptable effort.]

1. What are the correct tree structures for the following noun phrases and what are the phrase structure rules needed to build these tree structures? (Remember that to test your rules with llama-syntax (optional) you will also need to add categories and lexical items, and set the parser to have NP as a top node.) LLAMA HINT: HITTING THE 'UP' ARROW AFTER A CATEGORY WILL ADD A BAR; HITTING THE 'DOWN' ARROW WILL REMOVE IT.
   1. both small problems
   2. my house by the shore
   3. several of the wonderful musicians
   4. much happiness
   5. himself
   6. angry bees
   7. all the pretty little horses
   8. a very delicious bowl of spaghetti
   9. this large group of slightly worried acrobats
   10. the damaged corner of that portrait of their family

   
   

2. Draw the correct tree structures for the following sentences, and list the phrase structure rules needed to build each tree.
   
   1. The elephant sneezed.
   2. Elvis left the theater.
   3. The extremely defiant lawyers withheld their evidence.
   4. The awkward end of the story surprised them.
   5. The zoo put the ancient lion in its cage.
   6. Aliens took us to their planet.
   7. The very flashy, rather cheap sign seemed inappropriate.
   8. Nobody resides in that dilapidated apartment!
   9. Several adventurers followed that ancient map to the treasure. (Structural ambiguity alert! This sentence can be diagrammed two ways. In this example, the structure ambiguity should correspond to two clearly different meanings for the sentence. Try to diagram them both. :) )

Tips on using the Category Editor
Tips on using the Rule Editor
Tips on using the Lexicon Editor
Tips on using the Parser

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