Basic English Grammar with Exercises

Chapter 3 - Basic Concepts of Syntactic Theory

Exercise 12

Observe the contrast between the sentences in each pair. Explain why sentences (a) are

correct while sentences (b) are incorrect.

(1) a. Julie met the student of Physics from France and I met the one from Spain

b. *John knows the student of Physics from France and I know the one of

English from Spain.

(2) a. Julie met a student of Physics of considerable intelligence.

b. *Julie met a student of considerable intelligence of Physics.

(3) a. Julie met a student of Physics and of Mathematics.

b. *Julie met a student of Physics and of considerable intelligence.

Exercise 13

Give the X-bar structure of each of the following phrases in italics.

(1) a John solved the problem independently of me.

b My professor lives right in the middle of nowhere.

c I am very afraid of wild animals.

d John read a book about Britain.

Exercise 14

The X-bar theory predicts that in English the following sentences are ungrammatical.

Explain how the X-bar theory can account for the ungrammaticality of the sentences

below. Notice that the phrases in italics are responsible for the ungrammaticality of the

sentences.

(1) a *The teacher from France of English likes going to open lectures.

b *Mary often drives too fast her car.

c *Every student in Cambridge of Physics gets an excellent job.

Exercise 15

Give the tree diagram of the following phrases.

(1) a a big house d a tall handsome student of physics

b little brown jug e funny little thing

c this incredible story f those pretty women from Europe

Exercise 16

Give the internal structure of the following compound nouns.

(1) a car park g orange juice cocktail

b floppy disk h hot water heater

c bicycle race winner i season ticket holder

d micro wave oven j petrol station owner

e pettycoat k heavy metal band

f second hand shop