Chapter 4 Online exercises

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Exercise 1

Each of the following phrases is structurally ambiguous. For each phrase, match the
paraphrased meanings provided in (a) and (b) with one of the two tree structures below:

Tree Structure 1        Tree Structure 2 

  NP NP 

Adj   N  N  Adj N N 

Paraphrased meanings  Corresponding tree structure (1 or 2) 

1. Italian literature teacher 

(a) Italian teacher of literature   

(b) teacher of Italian literature   

2. International student organisation 

(a) organisation for international students   

(b) international organisation for students   

3. Red brick house 

(a) house made of red bricks   

(b) red house made of bricks   

4. Old pig farm 

(a) farm for old pigs   

(b) old farm for pigs   

Chapter 4 online exercises by Katie Dunworth for An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, Fromkin et al.
© 2009 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
Part 2 Grammatical aspects of language 2
Chapter 4 Syntax: the sentence patterns of language

Exercise 2

Using the constituency tests described in Chapter 4, decide whether the words in bold in each
sentence below comprise constituents. For those cases which are not constituents, decide
which one word you would add to the words in bold to create a constituent.
 
  Constituent/not constituent 

1. The wind blew across the desert.   

2. I wonder if he has finished his essay.   

3. The police arrested a suspect.   

4. The old house needed painting.    

5. I don’t believe that a cow jumped over the 
 
moon. 
6. The old couple celebrated their twenty‐
 
fifth anniversary.  

7. He gave up smoking last year.    

8. There was silence in the examination 
 
room.  
 

Chapter 4 online exercises by Katie Dunworth for An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, Fromkin et al.
© 2009 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
Part 2 Grammatical aspects of language 3
Chapter 4 Syntax: the sentence patterns of language

Exercise 3

Identify the phrasal categories for each of the following phrases (for example, noun phrase,
verb phrase, and so on).

Phrase  Category 

 
1. the old fence 

 
2. in the park 

 
3. very ugly 

 
4. yellow roses in winter 

 
5. that he is telling the truth 

 
6. made a mess 

 
7. strange noises from the kitchen 

8. appears interesting    

Exercise 4

Fill in the missing syntactic category labels in the following simplified phrase structure tree.
 
 
S 
 
 
  NP   
 
 
 
  V   
  N 
 
 
  The  man  wrote     
 
 
  a  letter 

Chapter 4 online exercises by Katie Dunworth for An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, Fromkin et al.
© 2009 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
Part 2 Grammatical aspects of language 4
Chapter 4 Syntax: the sentence patterns of language

Exercise 5

Identify the lexical and functional categories of each of the words in the following sentences.

1. The old woman lived in a cottage. 

2. The audience applauded the brilliant singer.  

3. The fridge in the kitchen is getting old.  

4. He walked slowly. 

5. Ann smoked a cigarette in the garden. 

 
Exercise 6

From your reading of Chapter 4, decide whether the following phrase structure rules can
occur in English.

Phrase structure rule  Can occur in English (Y/N) 

 
1. NP     →        N Det     

 
2. VP     →         VP PP    

 
3. S        →         Adv S    

 
4. CoordP        →          Coord NP    

 
5. CP      →         C Det VP    

 
6. VP      →         Aux VP   

 
7. PP      →          NP P    

 
8. NP      →          Det N’    

Chapter 4 online exercises by Katie Dunworth for An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, Fromkin et al.
© 2009 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
 Part 2 Grammatical aspects of language 5
Chapter 4 Syntax: the sentence patterns of language

 
Exercise 7

Have a look at the following simplified phrase structure trees, and match them to each of the
five sentences that appear below them.
 
(a)  (b)
  S S
 
  NP  VP  NP VP 
 
  Det  N  V  Det N V PP 
 
 
P  NP 
 
 
  Det  N
(c)  S
 
  (d) 
NP  VP  S
 
 
Det 
  N  VP PP  NP VP 
 
  V  NP  P  NP Det N V  NP 
 
  Det  N  Det  N
Det  N
 
 
 
(e)  
S
 
 
NP  VP 
 
 
  Det  N  V  CP 
 
  C  S 
 
  NP  VP
 
  Det  N V NP
 
 
Det N
Chapter 4 online exercises by Katie Dunworth for An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, Fromkin et al.
© 2009 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
Part 2 Grammatical aspects of language 6
Chapter 4 Syntax: the sentence patterns of language

Phrase structure tree  
Sentence 
(a, b, c, d, e) 
 
1. The man sat in the library. 

 
2. The dog bit the visitor. 

 
3. The baby cried.  

4. The parents said that the children enjoyed the   
concert.  
 
5. The wildflowers covered the fields in the summer. 

 
Exercise 8

Draw two phrase structure trees that represent the two different meanings of the sentence
‘The man attacked the girl with a knife’. You can omit Aux and you can use the non-X-bar
notation.

Phrase structure tree 1 

Phrase structure tree 2

Chapter 4 online exercises by Katie Dunworth for An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, Fromkin et al.
© 2009 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
Part 2 Grammatical aspects of language 7
Chapter 4 Syntax: the sentence patterns of language

Exercise 9

For each of the following phrases, identify the head of the phrase and its complement, where
one exists, and state the lexical or phrasal categories of both the head and the complement.
 
Phrase  Head phrase  Category  Complement  Category 

          
1. the love of a child  

       
2. desire to be understood   

       
3. said that he was ill 

       
4. proud of his achievement 

       
5. Stop! 

       
6. thought that I was late 

       
7. a poem about nature 

       
8. gave the gift to me 

 
Exercise 10

Draw lines to match the text in the columns on the left to the correct phrase structure rules in
the column on the right.

Text  Phrase structure rule 

1. the book with the blue cover   CP   →  C S 
2. we booked a holiday  VP   →  V CP 
3. that the sky is blue  S      →  NP VP 
4. has left the building  NP   →  NP PP  
5. the beautiful flowers  PP   →  P NP 
6. in the morning  VP   →  V NP 
7. thought that it was empty   NP   →  Det N’ 
8. won the competition   VP   →  Aux VP 
 

Chapter 4 online exercises by Katie Dunworth for An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, Fromkin et al.
© 2009 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited