GENERAL PRACTICE ON THE

LEXICON

OBJECTIVE: That students put into

practice the theoretically gained knowledge
about the lexicon
 1. Here are three NPs with different feature matrices for the noun (…). Each represents use of the word in
a different sentence. The fixed syntactic features remain the same; the loose features show differences.
Write one sentence for each noun phrase:
NP NP NP

D N D N D N

+N +N +N
+Human +Human +Human
+Masc +Masc +Masc
------- ------- ------
+Plural +Plural +Plural
+Det +Det +Det
+Def -Def

________________________ ________________________ __________________________

The boys wash the car. The boys wash the car. Some boys wash the car.
Some men came yesterday. Those boys study French.
Those boys study French. These men are new in town.
These men are new in town.
 21.. Write sentences containing noun phrases following each of the given feature matrices. The noun phrases
represented in the feature matrices can be either in the nominative case or in the objective case.

__________ ___________ __________

+N +N +N
+count +count +count
+Human +Human +Human
-Masc -Masc -Masc
---- ____ ____
+Plural +Plural +Plural
+Det +Det +Det
+Def -Def -Def
+Near -Dem -Dem

_____________________ _________________________ ___________________________

------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
These girls clean the house.
These women speak German.
3. Fill in the spaces with the proper form of the pronoun. If necessary,
use segment transformation rules to account for your choices.

a) Their constant complaining got _______ (us, we) waiters so annoyed

that no one will wait on _______ (them, they) anymore.
V we → V us V they → V them

b) Oscar invites you and _____ (you, me) for dinner more often than
______ (them, they); ______ (them, they) are lucky, for Oscar is a terrible
cook.
you you
V I → V me V they → V them they V → they V

themselves (them, themselves) in

c) Firefighters frequently put ____________
whomever (whoever, whomever) they find in a burning
danger to help __________
building.

V they → V themselves V whoever → V whomever

Where NP₁ = NP₂
 me
a) Our driving instructor must dislike you as much as ________ (I, me); after
he
all, ________ us
(he, him) threw _______ (us, we) both out of the car.

(V) I → (V) me he V → he V V we →V us

she (her, she) and her business partner are having financial
b) Although _______
whom _________
problems, she is one of the few factory owners ________ we (who,
whom) (us, we) workers can really trust when the time comes to negotiate a
new contract.
she she
her business partner V → her business partner V

V who →V whom we V→ we V
 I
f) The other witness and _______ (I, me, myself) thought it was
she
_______ who (her, she) (who, whom) committed the crime.
_______

the other witness the other witness

I V → I V
V [she] → V [she] who [V] → who [V]
Where V = Any form of the verb “to be”
g) _______
he (He, Him) and Shirley are the people to ________
whom (who,
whom) you should turn for advice.

He He
Shirley V → Shirley V

V [who] → V [whom] or Prep [who] → Prep [whom]

h) They are offering a reward to ________
whoever (whoever, whomever)
finds their pet tarantula.

[whoever] V → [whoever]V

me
i) Just between you and _______ I
(I, me), ______ (I, me) don’t
we (us, we).
think that our gym teacher is as intelligent as ______

Prep you → Prep you

I me

I [V] → I [V]

we [(V)] → we [(V)]
 himself (him, he, himself) could not eat the meal.
j) The chef ________

The chef [The chef ] → The chef [himself]

k) Peter cut _______

himself (him, he, himself) while shaving this morning.
NP₁ NP₂
NP₁ V [NP₂] → NP₁ V [himself]
Where NP₁ = NP₂

themselves (them, themselves) into trouble

l) The children got ___________
NP₁ NP₂
with the principal.

NP₁ V [NP₂] → NP₁ V [themselves]

Where NP₁ = NP₂
 THE CASES FOR NOUNS AND PRONOUNS
NOMINATIVE CASE OBJECTIVE CASE POSSESSIVE CASE
I me mine
you you yours
he him his
she her hers
it it ----------
we us ours
you you yours
they them theirs
The boy is at home. Shethe
the boy saw the boy the
boy at home.
boy’s …
Nominative → Objective
case case

Prep [home] → Prep [home]

 John shaved John. → John shaved himself.
NP1 = NP2
NOMINATIVE CASE Reflexive Pronouns
I myself
you yourself
he himself
she herself
it itself
we ourself
you yourself
they themselves
the boy (he) himself
Peter himself did it.
the boys (they) themselves
Peter Peter (Peter he) ….
NP1(Peter) NP2 (Peter/he) [V] →NP1 himself [V]
Where NP1 = NP2
 John shaved John.
Where NP₁ = NP₂

NP₁ (John/he) V NP₂ (John/he) → NP₁ V [himself]

m) To ______
whom (who, whom) are you addressing that

insult?

Prep [who] → Prep [whom]

me
n) Calculus confuses ______ (me. I) as much as _______
them

(them, they).

V [I] → V [me]

(V) [they] → (V) [them]

1. Using segment transformation rules, explain the
difference in meaning in the following set of sentences:

a) Dad loves my sister more than I love her.

NP₁ V NP₂ Conj NP₃ ( V ) ( NP₄ )

b)Dad loves my sister more than he loves me.

NP₁ V NP₂ Conj ( NP₃ ) ( V ) NP₄

Where NP₁ = NP₃

1.Prove the adherence to the rules of
grammar of the underlined form of
the pronoun in the following
sentences:
a) Our English teacher praises you more often than (he/she praises) her.
NP₁ V NP₂ DegM Adv Conj NP₃ V NP₄

teacher praises you

of
te

En
Ou n

gl i

more
r

sh

th a
n
(he/she) (praises) her
(o
fte
n)

NP₁ V NP₂ Deg Adv Conj S → (NP₃ V) NP₄

Deg = Degree marker Where NP₁ = NP₃
b) Calculus confuses me as much as (it confuses) them.
NP₁ V NP₂ Deg Adv Conj (NP₃ V) NP₄

Calculus confuses me
m
uc
h

as
as
(it) (confuses) them

(m
uc
h)

NP₁ V NP₂ Deg Adv Conj S → (NP₃ V) NP₄

Deg = Degree marker Where NP₁ = NP₃

 Degrees of adjectives and adverbs
Positive Comparative Superlative

He is lazy. He is lazier than He is the laziest

his brother. boy in town.
Adverb
He runs fast. He run faster He is the one who
than Carlos. runs the fastest
lazier = lazy + -er -er = more in the class.

beautiful + -er much -er + beautiful Much is the host for the
bound morpheme {-er}. Since
the bound morpheme -er is
phonologically dependent, it
needs a free form to which it
can be attached…

Much support much + -er = more

c) You are lazier than I (am lazy).
NP₁ V Adj Conj S → NP₂ (V Adj)

You are lazier

I (am) (lazy)

NP₁ V Adj + Deg Conj S → NP₂ (V Adj)

Deg = Degree marker

d) The old woman can run as fast as he (can run).
NP₁ V Deg Adv Conj S → NP₂ (V Adv)
woman can run
fa
st

o ld
Th
e

as

as
he (can run)
(f a
st
)

NP₁ V Deg Adv Conj S → NP₂ (V Adv)

Deg = Degree marker
e) (you) Give the book to whomever you want.
(NP₁) V NP₂ Prep S → NP₃ NP₄ V

(you) Give book

(NP₁) V NP₂

th
S

e
to
you want whomever

Pr
ep
NP₄ V NP₃

(NP₁) V NP₂ Prep S → NP₃ NP₄ V

Result of sentence nominalization

e) (you) Give the book to whoever comes first.
(NP₁) V NP₂ Prep S → NP₃ V Adv

(you) Give book

(NP₁) V NP₂

th
S

e
to
whoever comes

Pr
ep
NP₃ V

f ir
Ad
st
v
(NP₁) V NP₂ Prep S → NP₃ V Adv
This sentence undergoes sentence nominalization to
function as object of the preposition “to” (encoder of IO)
REFERENCES

Maclin, A. (2001). Reference Guide to English A Handbook of English as a Second Language.

En Reference Guide to English A Handbook of English as a Second Language. Washington
DC.
QITMAN TROYKA, L., & NUDELMAN, J. (1986). STEPS IN COMPOSITION. En STEPS IN
COMPOSITION. NEW YORK: PRENTICE HALL.
Laurel J. Brinton. (1984). The Structure of Modern English. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
University of Columbia.