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Ewss Tutorial 6 DISCUSSION

This document contains a tutorial on English word and sentence structure. It provides examples of different types of compounds, affixes, and phrases. It also contains exercises analyzing constituents in sentences using tests like substitution, coordination, and clefting.

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Marina Gutierrez Palma
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22 views

Ewss Tutorial 6 DISCUSSION

This document contains a tutorial on English word and sentence structure. It provides examples of different types of compounds, affixes, and phrases. It also contains exercises analyzing constituents in sentences using tests like substitution, coordination, and clefting.

Uploaded by

Marina Gutierrez Palma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LELA10301 English Word and Sentence Structure

Tutorial 6 Discussion

1. Give an example of each of the following.

endocentric compound (workbook, country house, washbasin, hairclip), exocentric


compound (turncoat, loud mouth, white collar, pickpocket, take-off), verbal (or secondary)
compound (songwriter, bottle opener, dishwasher, water dispenser), compound noun
(take-off, sit-in, workbook, country house, washbasin, hairclip, turncoat, loud mouth, white
collar, pickpocket), compound verb (underestimate, overdo, hand-wash,), compound
adjective (red hot, pitch black,), blend (motel, smog), acronym (NATO, UNESCO, AIDS),
abbreviation (PTA, FBI, US).

2. For each label in the left-hand column of the table below, find an example in
the right-hand corner

verbal compound (a) these (h)


inflectional affix (b) it (f)
bound root (c) unless (g)
exocentric compound (d) chase (e)
base form of verb (e) cutest (b)
personal pronoun (f) sit-in (d)
conjunction (g) tautology (c)
determiner (h) bottle opener (a)

3. Provide an example of a noun phrase with a pre-modifier and one with a post-
modifier.

Pre-: a beautiful house, a half-baked thought, the leaning tower, etc.


Post-: the house you bought, the idea to do it like this, the cover of the book, etc.

4. Applying the relevant tests, ascertain whether each of the underlined strings
below is a constituent of its sentence

1) I saw the film that you had been talking about.


Substitution: I saw it.
Coordination: I saw the film that you had been taking about and a film which
has just come out.
Clefting: It was the film that you had been taking about that I saw.
Sentence fragment: What did you see? The film that you had been taking
about
YES, IT IS A CONSTITUENT.
2) That book I did not like.
Substitution: That I did not like.
Clefting: It was that book that I did not like.
Echo question: What you did not like?
Sentence fragment: What did you not like? That book
YES, IT IS A CONSTITUENT.
3) We met him at the office Christmas dinner.
Substitution: We met that man at the office Christmas dinner
Clefting: It was him that we met at the office Christmas dinner
Echo question: We met who at the office Christmas dinner?
Sentence fragment: Who did you meet at the office Christmas dinner? Him
YES, IT IS A CONSTITUENT.
4) I’ll do the washing-up.
Substitution: I’ll do it.
Coordination: I ‘ll do the washing-up and the cleaning.
Echo question: You’ll do what?
Sentence fragment: What will you do? The washing-up
5) He cleaned up the mess.
Substitution: He cleaned it / there (?)
Coordination: *He cleaned up the mess and down the garden.
Sentence fragment: What/where did he clean? *Up the mess.
Clefting: *It is up the mess that he cleaned.
NO, IT IS NOT A CONSTITUENT.

Note that the following test tells us that it is a phrasal verb, which in turn means that
the preposition belongs with the verb, not with the following noun phrase:

He cleaned the mess up.

6) He cleaned up the kitchen and the bathroom


Substitution: He cleaned them up.
Echo question: He cleaned up what?
Clefting: It is the kitchen and the bathroom that he cleaned up.
Sentence Fragment: What did he clean up? The kitchen and the bathroom.
YES, IT IS A CONSTITUENT.

7) He tried to press his political views upon his students.


Coordination: He tried to press his political view upon his students and upon
his colleagues.
Clefting: It is upon his students that he tried to press his political views.
Substitution: ??He tried to press his political views there
Echo question: ??He tried to press his political views where?
Substitution and echo question do not quite work, but we can say that they
are infelicitous rather than ungrammatical. They are infelicitous because even
though a PP headed by upon should be replaced by there and where (i.e., locative
adverbials), in this case these substitutions are odd because upon his students is
not a location. Coordination works very well and so does clefting. THIS IS A
CONSTITUENT.

5. Now provide phrases including each of the following

preposition: in front of the house, at home, for you, in time, at the same speed, etc.
adverb: very slowly, very beautiful, almost done, frankly, I do not know.
coordinator: coming or going; Paul and Mary; I am a student of physics, but I also
like sports.
verb: she has been studying French; do you smoke?; may I come in?

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