MORFOSINTAXIS II
EXTRA EXERCISES, UNIT 4
1) Are the PPs in the sentences below inmediate constituents of the sentence
or inmediate constituents of phrases within the sentence? In any case, indicate
their function:
a) I met John Wilkins when I was at the bank.
b) Then I had lunch with him at a restaurant.
c) In the afternoon, we went to Boston together.
d) The students at the hospital were fond of practical jokes.
e) People in pain do not try to hide anything from their doctor.
f) I fainted at my first operation.
g) The professor was, in fact, afraid of us.
h) He suffers from violet pains in the head.
2) Analyse the inner structure of the PPs in the following sentences, stating
the form and function of each of their constituents:
a) What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?
b) Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking.
c) I commenced by inuring my body to hardship.
d) I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path.
e) They fly quickly over the snow in their sledges.
3) In the following NPs the head is followed by two PPs. Which of these NPs
are structurally ambiguous? Account for their ambiguity:
a) The year before the assassination of Kennedy.
b) The portrait of Titus by Rembrandt.
c) John’s essay on Milton for Professor Smith.
d) Cars from factories in Japan
e) The house at the corner of the street.
f) Negotiations about the food prices in the Common Market countries.
PHRASAL CATEGORIES: THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
g) The talks between the Big Three in Yalta.
h) Research on cancer in this country.
i) A history of social conditions in the 19th century.
j) The education of black students in South Africa.
4) Are the underlined words prepositions or participial forms of verbs? Give
syntactic reasons for your answer:
a) They were provided with plenty of food and water.
b) I’ll come along, provided your parents agree.
c) Anyone is welcome, including you.
d) Anyone waiting more information should consult their tutor.
e) It’s not too bad, considering the prices.
f) He has been suspended on full pay pending a full investigation into the
matter.
5) The following examples have either fronted or stranded prepositions.
Construct corresponding examples with a stranded (if fronted) or fronted (if
stranded) prepositions. If your examples turn out to be ungrammatical, mark
them with a *:
a) Under what circumstances would you agree?
b) He’s the man I showed the photo to.
c) It appealed to everyone with whom he discussed it.
d) It was the only proposal which every department member agreed with.
e) They couldn’t agree on who it referred to.
f) In what year was she born?