Chapter 1
The Nature of Language and Linguistics
Exercise 1.3Grammatical Rules and Grammaticality
Using your intuitions about grammaticality in English, decide whether the following sentences are grammatical (acceptable) or ungrammatical by the rules of English. Note that there may be some borderline cases or some structures that while once ungrammatical are gaining acceptance as the language changes.
That car must have been driven by a madman.
Sally is easy to talk to.
Sally is eager to talk to.
Alana sent New York a present.
Alana sent Marna a present.
We gifted them a bottle of wine.
Who is the author Jane told Krista Harold had hoped to talk to?
It was chained to the door that I saw the dog.
It was in front of the store that I met my friend.
What classes did you sleep through?
What classes did they meet between?
The British aggressed against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
Using your intuition about possible sound combinations in English, decide which of the following nonsense words would be possible in English and which would not. Hint: See if there are other words in English which have the same sound combinations.
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shwem
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paynk
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mansd
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pwing
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gwit
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fiemp
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runba
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melch
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fwist
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aspt
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rast
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neyz
Imagine that the above possible nonsense words are nouns. What would their plural sound like – would it end in an “s” sound (as in cats), a “z” sound (as in dogs), or an “ez” sound (as in bushes). Hint: If runba were a noun, its plural would end in the “z” sound.
Imagine that the above possible nonsense words above are verbs. What would their past tense sound like – would it end in an “d” sound (as in paid), a “t” sound (as in pushed), or an “ed” sound (as in rated). Hint: If fiemp were a verb, its past tense would end in the “t” sound.
Which of the following sentences violate prescriptive (regulatory) rules and which violate descriptive (constitutive) rules of English? In other words, would such a sentence be judged to be a non-sentence of English or simply nonstandard or uneducated?
You should have saw that movie.
I forced that he leave.
The data is not conclusive.
She was laying in the sun all day.
Have finished your homework when I get home.
Do you feel badly about the outcome?
I saw the man coming from the bank get robbed.
We thought for him to win.
There's too many people in the elevator.
We cleaned up it.
Abe has invited you and I to come to dinner.
Wearing nothing but a sweater, the cold wind chilled me.
When the bone stuck in his throat, he stopped to breathe.
The wet campers tried to quickly light the fire.
grammatical
grammatical
ungrammatical
One can say “Sally is eager to talk to Bess”, but not “Sally is eager to talk to”.
ungrammatical
This sentence might be acceptable if “New York” is conceived of as a person; if New York is seen as a place, however, the sentence is not possible.
grammatical
of questionable grammaticality, but growing in acceptability
The use of “gift” as a transitive verb seems to be becoming more common, as in she gifted him with a giggle and a pirouette (coca:fic)
grammatical
ungrammatical
One can say “It was by the door that I saw the dog”, where a prepositional phrase occurs in the “cleft position”, but an adjective phrase (“chained to the door”) cannot occur in this position.
grammatical
grammatical
ungrammatical or of questionable grammaticality
Sentences such as What's this man between? (coca:fic) can be found occasionally.
ungrammatical or of questionable grammaticality
Sentences such as children who are chronically aggressed against are at increased risk for depression (coca:acad) can be found occasionally.
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*shwem
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runba
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paynk
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melch
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*mansd
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*fwist
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*pwing
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*aspt
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gwit
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rast
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fiemp
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neyz
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paynk -s
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runba -z
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gwit -s
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melch -ez
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fiemp -s
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rast -s
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neyz -ez
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paynk -t
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runba -d
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gwit -ed
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melch -t
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fiemp -t
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rast -ed
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neyz -d
prescriptive
“Should have saw” is nonstandard for “should have seen” (though fairly frequently encountered).
descriptive
“Forced” must be followed by an infinitive: “forced him to leave”.
prescriptive
“Data” (the plural of the noun “datum”) should be followed by the plural verb form “are”, but is commonly treated as a singular noun in contemporary English.
prescriptive
“Laying” is the transitive verb (one lays something somewhere); the correct intransitive form is “lying”. However, these verbs are frequently confused and “lying” is increasingly common (on the way to becoming standard) in this usage.
descriptive
“Have your homework finished …” would be grammatical.
prescriptive
“Badly” is an adverb; the copula verb “feel” requires an adjective, “bad”. However, this usage is very common, even among educated speakers (as a hypercorrection).
descriptive
The grammatical form would be “I saw the man who was coming from the bank get robbed”.
descriptive
The verb “thought” must be followed by a that-clause, as in “We thought that he would win”.
prescriptive
“Too many people” is plural and hence requires a plural verb: “There are too many people …” However, this construction is increasingly accepted.
descriptive
“We cleaning it up” would be grammatical.
prescriptive
“Me” should be used as it is the object of “invited” (“Abe has invited you and me”). However, this kind of construction is commonly heard, even among educated speakers as a kind of hypercorrection.
prescriptive
“Wearing nothing but a sweater” structurally modifies the subject “the cold wind”, but semantically, of course, the wind cannot be seen as wearing nothing but a sweater! This relaxing of grammatical constraints is often accepted.
descriptive
“Stopped to breath” must be “stopped breathing”.
prescriptive
The so-called “split infinitive” “to quickly light” is often proscribed, though grammatically acceptable.