Easier Midterm Coverage

To make your job easier, the midterm will only cover Morphology and Syntax. You will be tested on Semantics when we have finished covering Pragmatics.

Linguistics Midterm: Syntax Section

This section will help you draw or interpret tree structure diagrams.
Be sure to do the exercises in Topics 2 and 4.

Syntax Topics	Subtopic List
1	Introduction	http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/phrases/phrases.htm
2	&The Basic Structure of a Phrase
3	More Phrase Types; Noun Phrase (NP); Verb Phrase (VP)
4	&Adjective Phrase (AP); Adverb Phrase (AdvP); Prepositional Phrase (PP)
5	Phrases within Phrases

Google Translate: Simplified to Traditional

If you have trouble reading simplified Chinese characters, please remember that Google Translate can work from English to Chinese but also from Simplified to Traditional:

Linguistics Midterm: Morphology Section

We will be using the following IGE pages to review basic concepts of grammar (the same topics we have covered in the Morphology and Syntax chapters of Language Files, 10th edition). This should not be considered "new" material. You should already have studied almost all of this during your first year of college (or even in junior high school). The pages that appear below give you a brief review.

Internet Grammar of English, Chinese version

The Internet Grammar of English (IGE), is available in a  Chinese version written by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Internet Grammar of English, The -- Introduction

When you study difficult topics, reading a different explanation can sometimes be very helpful. The Internet Grammar of English (IGE) provides this sort of help. IGE gives you a slightly different explanation of phrase structure rules in English. It also gives you a few exercises to help you practice.

Start with the introduction. Pay special attention to the bottom half of this page:

(1) How the grammar is organized (= the topics and their sequence)

and

(2) The conventions they use (special ways of writing words and what they mean)

Butterfly Crossword Puzzle

Crossword puzzles are very popular in English-speaking countries. They are a great way to build up mental flexibility. One of the keys to doing a crossword puzzle is to

1) FIRST do all of the easy words

2) THEN go back and try the "difficult" words. The easy words give you useful letters. This will help you find some of those difficult words.

An interactive version of today's puzzle is posted here (http://crossword.info/CuteTeacherGR/Butterfly_Crossword). Try it out!

If you prefer, there is a static version right below:

Across

1 It's on your shoulders (4) - 4 Spaces between things (4) - 7 Meat from a pig's leg (3) - 9 It covers [1 Across] (3) - 10 Mother (2) - 12 (men & women) go on ~ (= go out together) (5) - 14 A short form of LOL (2) - 15 A short form of "Employee Related Expense" (3) - 17 We use it for cooking: frying ~ (3) - 18 We use it to play baseball: the ~ hits the ball (3) - 19 Short form of trinitrotoluene (used to make bombs) (3) - 21 Help for people who are hurt is "first ~" (3) - 22 American money (7) - 23 Five and five (3) - 24 Uses water to clean a dirty floor (3) - 26 Like a table to sleep on (3) - 27 And other things (3) - 29 To say "yes" with your head. Sleepy people do this, too. (3) - 31 Used to cut trees (another spelling of "axe") (2) - 32 This person makes walls. Also a family name: Mr. ~ (5) - 34 "Hello" = "How do you ~?" (2) - 35 ~s like to catch mice (3) - 36 Short form of "Benjamin" (3) - 38 Don't open that ~! (4) - 39 Make an animal stop being afraid of you (4).

Syntax Quiz (Language Files 5.1) Part A

Syntax Quiz (Language Files 5.1)

1 Word Order (3 sentences are OK. Which one is grammatically wrong?)
A My dog eats steak
B Eats steak my dog
C Steak, my dog eats
D Steak eats my dog

2 Lexical Categories (我很喜歡狗 3 translations are wrong.
Which one is correct? Can you say why?)
A I like dogs
B I very like dogs
C I like dog
D I very like dog

3 Agreement (3 sentences are wrong. Which one is correct? Can you say why?)
A 一匹牛
B 一張椅子
C 一把書
D 一條蛇

4 Q: What is a sentence? A: A sentence is a ~ of words
Fill in ONE correct word

Answers appear below the break

Syntax Quiz (Language Files 5.1) Part B

5~10 Constituency and hierarchical structure

There are 50 states（五十州) in the US. Each state has one governor（州長）. Each state has many cities. Each city has one mayor（市長）. The president of the US is more important than the governor of Alaska. The governor of Alaska is more important than the mayors of the cities in Alaska. The US government has a hierarchical structure, from top to bottom (president > governor > mayor).

Sentences work in roughly the same way. Sentence are more “important” than constituents, and constituents are more “important” than words.

 "My dog loves me" = [S [NP [DET My] [N dog]] [VP [V loves][NP [N me]]]]

Fill in the correct words in the following paragraph. Choose from this list:

city constituents country groups hierarchical larger sentence state syntax words

Just like the US government, a sentence also has a 5 [~] structure. Sentences are made of 6 [~]. The words in a sentence form 7 [~]. These groups are called 8 [~]. Small groups are part of 9 [~] groups. All of the groups of words in a 10 [~] form a hierarchical structure. 

Answers appear below the break:

Reminder: Test Schedule

Please don't forget this semester's new rules for quizzes & tests. There will be one or two quizzes/tests per class. If you arrive late or leave early, you will probably miss a test, and there will be NO makeups. Quiz/Test grades will be totaled up at the end of the semester and divided by one less than the total number of tests: test grade = (N * 100)/N-1. If you miss one test, you're still OK. If you miss more than one, your average starts to go down.