A Linguistics Workbook, 4th Edition

Name

Section

4.5 English Syntax 5: Possessive NP with a PP

In this exercise you will be asked to draw the tree structure for the following

sentence:

The baby on the doctor's lap's mother will visit her brother.

Considering the following questions first will help you in determining the correct

tree structure. It will also be helpful to review Linguistics, pp. 209-21 1.

1. Who will "visit her brother"?


2. What would be an appropriate tag question for the sentence? (On tag questions,
   see Linguistics, pp. 16 1 - 164, 169 .)


3. Whose mother is it?


4. Where is the baby?


5. What phrase structure rules will be required to generate the subject constituent
   of the sentence? To answer this question, look for items like prepositions,
   articles, and possessive affixes.

Question

Provide the tree structure for the example sentence.