Check Questions
Check Questions
1 Discuss how it is possible to conceive of linguistic knowledge and what is
meant by the ‘grammar’ of a language.
2 Define the terms ‘arbitrariness’, ‘lexicon’, ‘word category’ and explain how
they are related.
3 Discuss some general ways of determining word categories and potential
problems that may arise in connection with them.
4 Explain how the properties of a predicate determine argument structure.
5 What is meant by argument structure and subcategorisation frame? Show how it
is possible to establish different subtypes of verbs. Support your answer with
examples.
6 What subtypes of nouns can be established using notions like ‘countable’ and
‘uncountable’ and how may members of the latter be made countable?
7 Can the possessor be conceptualised as an argument? Justify your answer: if
yes, why; if not, why not
8 How is categorial information stored in the lexicon?
9 What evidence is available for collapsing the categories Adjective – Adverb?
Discuss the behaviour of the -ly morpheme and list some irregularities. In what respect
do the categories Adjective – Adverb differ?
10 Compare the complementation of N, V, A and P.Test your knowledge
Exercise 1
Given the two main parts of a sentence subject and predicate, chop up the sentences
below into their parts. With the help of the grammatical functions subject, direct
object, indirect object, adverbial, divide the sentences into even smaller units.
(1) a Peter met Mary in the park yesterday.
b He gave Mary flowers when she greeted him.
c Mary put the flowers into a vase at home.
d The man who lives next door saw that they met.
e That Peter and Mary met surprised everyone.
f The curtains extended to the floor.
g He hasn’t finished reading the book she lent him.
h Mary has become a teacher.
i Peter lives in Paris.
j Mary is in Paris at the moment.