Notes (Berndsen)

(Additional materials to Fromkin & Rodman Ch. 3 part II)

Phrase Structure Rules

• The magician touched the child with the wand.

This structure can be produced by the following phrase structure rules. Note also that another structure tree is possible.

• S NP VP
• NP Det N
• NP Det N PP
• VP V NP
• VP V NP PP
• PP Prep NP

• Det the
• N magician
• N child
• N wand
• V touched
• Prep with

It is possible to generate other sentences with these phrase structure rules:

• the magician touched the child.
• the magician touched the wand.
• the magician touched the magician.
• the child touched the magician.
• the child touched the wand.
• the child touched the child.
• the wand touched the child.
• the wand touched the magician.
• the wand touched the wand.
• the magician touched the child with the child.
• the magician touched the child with the magician.
• the magician touched the magician with the wand.
• the magician touched the magician with the child.
• the magician touched the magician with the magician.
• ...
• the magician with the wand touched the child.
• the magician with the wand touched the wand.
• ...
• the magician with the wand touched the child with the wand.
• ...

Exercises from Fromkin & Rodman Ch.3.

1. (F&R:Q7)Draw Phrase Structure Trees for the following sentences:
   1. The puppy found the child.
   2. A very frightened passenger landed the crippled airplane.
   3. The house on the hill collapsed in the wind.
   4. The ice melted.
   5. The hot sun melted the ice.
   6. A quaint old ivy-covered house appeared.
   7. The old tree swayed in the wind.
   8. the children put the toy in the box.
   9. The reporter realized that the senator lied.

2. (F&R:Q12) Write down the head of each NP and VP in the above examples.

3. (F&R:Q10) Here is a set of made-up Phrase Structure Rules. The ``initial'' symbol is still S, and the ``terminal symbols'' (the ones that do not appear to the left of an arrow) are actual words:
   1. S A B C
   2. A the
   3. B children
   4. C ran
   5. C C and D
   6. D ran and D
   7. D ran
   Give three Phrase Structure Trees that these rules characterize. How many phrase structure trees could these rules characterize?