Basic English Grammar with Exercises

Exercise 2

I. Bill gets accusative Case from the verb persuade. Notice that while expect in

sentence (1b) assigns accusative Case to the specifier position of its propositional

complement, persuade assigns accusative to its complement. Finally the DP a doctor

is assigned accusative Case by the verb see.

e) In sentence Mary gave a book to John for Xmas there are four DPs. The agent

DP gets nominative Case from the finite I of the sentence. The patient DP a book is

assigned accusative Case by the verb, the goal argument is assigned Case by the

preposition to and the DP Xmas is assigned Case by the preposition for.

Exercise 2

(1) a question-forming + main verb

b emphasis + negation

c main verb

d negation + tag question

e question-forming

f emphasis

g negation

h tag question

i main verb

j main verb

k main verb

l negation

Exercise 3

nom acc acc acc

a [Jim] I^0 sent [a bunch of [flowers]] to [Jane].

acc acc acc acc

b For [Jim] not to buy [the house] at [a lower price] wasn’t [the best decision

acc

in [his life]].

nom nom acc

c [The teacher] I^0 believed that [all his students] would pass [the exam].

nom acc

d [All the students] were believed to pass [the exam].