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(Michael S) #1
Modifications of Basic Clause Patterns

(25) b. S'


COMP S


PP NP VP


P NP Pron V


to Pron


whom you spoke


Exercise



  1. Describe what wh-movement does.

  2. Draw the DS and SS trees for the following two bracketed relative
    clauses: The book [which you wrote], The man [whom you spoke to].


Wh-questions
Wh-questions, such as Who will you invite to the dance?, which ask for a
phrase as a reply, involve two transformations: subject auxiliary inversion
and wh-movement. Let’s assume that SAI occurs before wh-movement. The
deep structure of this question is:


(26) a. S

NP AUX VP


Pron Modal V NP PP


You will invite who P NP


to DET N


the dance


Applying SAI to this creates:

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