LMA I

Seminar 2
Viewpoint aspect
1. Define the notions of (i) perfective and (ii) imperfective aspect. Now consider the following
sentences:
1. John ate the apple.
2. John was eating the apple.
Use tests to determine whether the events in (1) and (2) are perfective or imperfective. Consider:
the entailment test, interaction with time clauses, interaction with completive adverbials and
durative/inclusive readings with adverbs like between 1 and 2 oclock.
Situation type
1. Consider the following verbs:
run, walk, know, believe, break, be red, knock, hate
Classify them into states or events. Use tests to distinguish between the two (use of progressive,
imperative, interpretation in the present tense, possiblity to embed these verbs under force,
persuade, compatibility with agentive adverbials deliberately, carefully, possiblity to occur in cleft
sentences).
2. Could we say that 3 of the stativity tests (i.e. use of the imperative, compatibility with agentive
adverbials and the possibility to embed the verb under force and persuade) are, in fact agentivity
tests? Consider the following examples to figure out the answer to this question:
1. a. I persuaded the thief to get out of the house.
b. *I persuaded the carpet to get out of the house?
c. The thief got out of the house carefully.
d. *The carpet got out of the house carefully.
e. Get out of the house, thief!
d. *Get out of the house, carpet!
3. Consider the generalization below:
Stativity implies no agentivity.
Do the following examples back it up or contradict it, at least to a certain extent?
1. a. The armchair stands in the right corner in the living room.
b. My brother was quite noisy.
c. Stand in the corner!
d. My brother was being quite noisy.
4. Is it possible to have nonstative, nonagentive verbs? If yes, give examples.

5. Define the notions of (i) bounded event and (ii) unbounded event. Give examples of such
events. Use the tests that differentiate between bounded and unbounded events to explain the
grammaticality (the ungrammaticality, respectively) of the following sentences:
1. Alex walked to the store in ten minutes.
2. *Alex pushed a stoller in ten minutes.
3. It took me several minutes to fall asleep.
4. *It took the leaves several minutes to flutter in the wind.
5. It took Alex less than a minute to drink a glass of beer.
6. *It took Alex less than a minute to drink beer.
Now consider the last two examples and try to answer the question: Why do we classify VPs in
terms of aspectual interpretation rather than just verbs?
6. Determine whether the following events are telic or atelic. Comment on the telicity tests that
have been applied here:
1. a. John ran to the store in ten minutes/*for ten minutes.
b. John ran in the park for an hour/*in an hour.
2. a. John finished running to the store.
b. ??John finished running in the park.
3. a. It took John ten minutes to run to the park.
b. ?It took John ten minutes to drink coke.
c. ?John spent ten minutes running the park.
d. John spent ten minutes drinking coke.
7. Starting from the examples below, figure out the three tests that have been used to differentiate
between durative and instantaneous events:
1. a. John ran in the park for an hour.
b. *The bomb exploded for an hour.
2. a. John began to run in the park.
b. *The bomb began to explode.
3. a. John finished running in the park.
b. *The bomb finished exploding
4. a. John ran slowly.
b.*The bomb exploded slowly.