ENG 294 Final, Spring 2000

English 294 2nd Semester 99 - 00 Transformational Grammar Dr. Kassim Shaaban FINAL EXAMINATION June 10, 2000 Two Hours Answer two of the following three questions. 1. Give derivations for four of the following sentences, in each instance starting with the deep structure and then indicating the effects of the relevant transformations. - John believes Maria to have been persuaded by the party chairman to accept to run for parliament, . Which bank did you say will give you a loan ? . Bill acknowledged the fact that he has been dating the minister’s daughter. . Have you been introduced to the tennis player that was asked by Sally to start preparing for Wimbeldon? . That you believe that there is life on Mars baffles me. . The manager of the basketball team suspects that the coach blames himself for the loss of the last game. . There appears to have been a cat on the roof that sami believes to be dangerous. Explain how transformational grammar has contributed to our understanding of linguistic competence, language universals, and the cognitive processes involved in language acquisition. Use the following terms as guides: Language acquisition device Performance constraints Constraints on rule application Information processing Acceptability vs. grammaticality SAAD Universal tendencies Grammar of a language Explanatory adequacy Descriptive adequacy Consider the following pairs of sentences: a. i, The only man that is that intelligent is Raymond. ii. The only man that intelligent is Raymond. *iii. The only that intelligent man is Raymond. i. No man that is that ill should run for governor. ii. No man that ill should run for governor. “iii, No that ill man should run for governor. i. No one that is that unenlightened should be elected mayor. ii. No one that unenlightened should be elected mayor. *iii. No that unenlightened one should be elected mayor. Formulate a rule that derives the (ii) sentences from the (i) sentences. Then explain why the (iii) sentences are ungrammatical. Finally, draw a deep structure tree for this type of sentences. Bonus Question (4 points) Indicate which of the syntactic constraints would explain why the following sentences are considered ungrammatical. *a. The Formula One driver whose we liked manners came in first. . *b. Which minister’s daughter did Bill acknowledge the fact that he has been dating.? *c, That you believe that it is a fact baffles me that there is life on Mars. *d. Which book did the angry student tear the cover of ?