0805852212.pdf

Sentence 70 is very similar to sentence 68 in that it involves a prepositional
phrase with a relative pronoun in the NP. It differs, however, in that the preposi-
tional phrase has been split; the relative pronoun is at the beginning of the rela-
tive clause, but the preposition still follows the verb. English allows this sort of
construction.
Examining 70a suggests an important pattern for relatives. When we take a
clause likeFred arrived in the clothes,where the NP that gets relativized is an
object—either of the verb or of the preposition—we move the resulting relative
pronoun to the front of the clause. We do not have to do this when we relativize
a subject NP because it is already at the beginning of the clause. When the
relativized NP is the object of a preposition, as in sentence 70,we have the op-
tion of shifting the entire PP to the beginning of the clause or of shifting just the
relative pronoun.Exercising the second option results in sentences like 70,
with a preposition at the end. This analysis offers a grammatical explanation for
why the injunction against ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong.
A couple of small adjustments to our phrase-structure rules allow us to ac-
count for sentences with relative clauses that are part of a prepositional phrase:

SÆ

Sconj

comp

RP

PP

(NP) VP

ì

í

ïï

î

ï

ï

ü

ý

ïï

þ

ï

ï

PPÆprep

NP

RP

Æ

ì

í

ï

îï

ü

ý

ï

þï

These rules allow us to describe a relative clause with a PP when the object of
the preposition is a relative pronoun. Note that the rules also indicate that a preposi-
tional phrase with a relative-pronoun object outside the domain of a relative clause
will be ungrammatical. The null marker fills the place of a shifted relative pronoun.
As in some other cases, there is a feature here that we cannot write into the rule, and
we must consider it outside the expression: The optional NP occurs only when the
RP of a relative clause is functioning as the subject; otherwise the NP is obligatory.
A single diagram illustrates the role of relative pronouns in prepositional
phrases:

PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR 151