Linguistics 001 -- Fall 1998 -- Homework F

In all the examples below, we recommend that when you draw a tree structure for a phrase, you should start by writing the words of the phrase on a single line in the normal way, and then construct the tree structure working from the words upwards.

I. Structure of complex nominals. For each phrase in red below, use parentheses to indicate its logical (and syntactic) structure. Thus "This van has six cup holders" would be parsed as (six (cup holders)). For each parenthesized phrase, draw the equivalent (unlabelled) tree structure. Note: we assume that each phrase has only one plausible structural analysis!

1. Settlement in Pennsylvania Traffic Stop Suit.A Pennsylvania municipality agreed to settle a traffic-stop suit brought by minority drivers who claimed they had been forced to stop because of race-based drug courier profiles.

2. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Marketing Department.

3. Central Pennsylvania Microsoft Networking Users Group.

4. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

 

II. Given the Phrase Structure rules listed at the bottom of the page, draw a (labelled) tree for each sentence below. The trees that you draw should be consistent with the phrase structure rules, in the sense that if you draw a tree that includes the configuration

  A
 / \
B   C

then the phrase structure rules should include 

A -> BC
  1. Max ran up a big bill at the hotel.
  2. Max ran up the crowded street.
  3. The neat mothers and the messy daughters looked in the drawer.
  4. The mothers and daughters looked up the word.
  5. The neat daughters washed out the socks.
  6. Neat Max washed in the messy bathroom.

II. Given the same Phrase Structure rules, draw a (labelled) tree for each of the two interpretations of the following ambiguous sentences (four trees in all):

  1. Max looked up the street.
  2. Messy mothers and daughters washed in the hotel.

 

Phrase Structure Rules:

S -> NP VP
S -> S Conj S
NP -> N
NP -> Det N
NP -> Adj N
NP -> Det Adj N
NP -> NP Conj NP
N -> N Conj N
NP -> NP PP
VP -> V
VP -> V NP
VP -> V PP
VP -> V NP PP
VP -> VP Conj VP
V -> V Prt
V -> V Conj V
PP -> Prep NP
PP -> PP Conj PP
N -> bathroom, bill, daughters, drawer, hotel, Max, mothers, socks, street, word
V -> looked, ran, washed
Adj -> big, crowded, messy, neat
Prt -> out, up
Prep -> at, in, up
Det -> the
Conj -> and