1 Guest viewing this page
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Doivid
Raw
OP
Avatar of Doivid

Doivid

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

So can I use you guys?

I want to poll some people on the grammaticality of some sentences (because opinions differ, and because when you start working on assignment you end up a little turned around and lose your sense of what is grammatical). Two things to get out of the way:

- 'grammaticality' is just whether you would say the utterance.
- punctuation doesn't matter for the purpose of these sentences, so ignore that.

Some sample sentences for you to judge:

(3) I believe [that the idea [that pigs can fly] seems reasonable].
(4) [that a guy likes bikes] makes sense.
(5) I don't know [if billy ate the cat].

(6) The boy [who left home] came back.
(7) [That the boy [who left home]] came back] was fortunate.
(8) [That [that he went home] is a fact] won't change anything.

(the brackets just denote CPs and RCs, disregard them)

As thanks, I'll show you this pretty picture:

Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by scribz
Raw

scribz

Member Seen 4 yrs ago

The fuck are you studying man D:

(hold for me to look at this and decide later <3)
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Doivid
Raw
OP
Avatar of Doivid

Doivid

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

I am taking Syntax II atm. It's incredibly challenging, especially considering how they teach it.

It's been a rough couple of quarters, man. :(
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by aza
Raw

aza Artichokes

Member Seen 1 yr ago

Whats the question again?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Doivid
Raw
OP
Avatar of Doivid

Doivid

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

Whats the question again?


Which of the numbered sentences are grammatical, if any?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by scribz
Raw

scribz

Member Seen 4 yrs ago

I am taking Syntax II atm. It's incredibly challenging, especially considering how they teach it.

It's been a rough couple of quarters, man. :(


But what does that mean!?

*shakes voilently*

WHAT DOES IT MEAN
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by scribz
Raw

scribz

Member Seen 4 yrs ago

I am taking Syntax II atm. It's incredibly challenging, especially considering how they teach it.

It's been a rough couple of quarters, man. :(


But what does that mean!?

*shakes voilently*

WHAT DOES IT MEAN
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by scribz
Raw

scribz

Member Seen 4 yrs ago

woops.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by aza
Raw

aza Artichokes

Member Seen 1 yr ago

<Snipped quote by Azarthes>

Which of the numbered sentences are grammatical, if any?


3 5 6
Hidden 10 yrs ago 10 yrs ago Post by scribz
Raw

scribz

Member Seen 4 yrs ago

Also 5 and 6 seem fine, the rest do not.

EDIT: Also 1.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by mdk
Raw

mdk 3/4

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

Also 5 and 6 seem fine, the rest do not.

EDIT: Also 1.


That. The rest are parse-able but nothing I would say..... although, #3 almost makes sense in broken speech, but it's still rather clumsy.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Doivid
Raw
OP
Avatar of Doivid

Doivid

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

I forgot to mention, some of those 'thats' can be ellided. That is, they are syntactically there, but you don't have to say them.

For example:

"I believe that he said that he was going to the store"

Can be:

"I believe he said he was going to the store"
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Vilageidiotx
Raw
Avatar of Vilageidiotx

Vilageidiotx Jacobin of All Trades

Member Seen 2 yrs ago

<Snipped quote by Doivid>

But what does that mean!?

*shakes voilently*

WHAT DOES IT MEAN


The secret is to pick a set of numbers that sound important.

Like 4 and 5 because that is the end of World War II and not accepting those numbers would be a Nazi thing to do.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Holmishire
Raw

Holmishire Ghost with no home.

Member Seen 2 mos ago

All of them read grammatically to me. The eighth one is tricky, on a first read-through it fails but as I begin to parse it I can bring myself to read it naturally. The other five are 100% good in my books.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by aza
Raw

aza Artichokes

Member Seen 1 yr ago

by 356 i mean the (#) next to them btw
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Doivid
Raw
OP
Avatar of Doivid

Doivid

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

All of them read grammatically to me. The eighth one is tricky, on a first read-through it fails but as I begin to parse it I can bring myself to read it naturally. The other five are 100% good in my books.


Believe it or not, even I did. I still do unless I have the brackets for (8). I believe in my syntax I class we decided CP specs with CP specs nested in them aren't grammatical, but the field is more open in this course so I decided to craft one. You can probably ellide one of those 'thats' and then it'll sound more natural.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Halo
Raw
Avatar of Halo

Halo

Member Seen 5 yrs ago

3, 5, 6, and 7 are things I can see myself saying, depending on preceding conversation.

By which I mean that, for example, "the boy [who left home] came back" makes sense if I were clarifying between two different boys, one of whom left home and one did not. If I were not clarifying in such a way, I'd be unlikely to include the "who left home" part.

Hope that helps?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Doivid
Raw
OP
Avatar of Doivid

Doivid

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

3, 5, 6, and 7 are things I can see myself saying, depending on preceding conversation.

By which I mean that, for example, "the boy [who left home] came back" makes sense if I were clarifying between two different boys, one of whom left home and one did not. If I were not clarifying in such a way, I'd be unlikely to include the "who left home" part.

Hope that helps?


Yeah, the text between brackets is a 'relative clause', which is an adjunct. Adjuncts are phrases that are not required for the grammaticality of the sentence. You can say "I like dogs" or "I like dogs [that bark often]."

(4) is a little tricky because CP spec utterances almost always seem awkward. I could try to generate one that's more likely (since I mostly just applied verbs and nouns indiscriminately):

"That you lied to me...is not okay. But I understand why you did it."

The first sentence in that quote has the same structure as (4), is something people would actually say, and I added a pause to help it make more sense.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by The Nexerus
Raw
Avatar of The Nexerus

The Nexerus Sui generis

Member Seen 2 yrs ago

I hear that in some cultures, they actually consume guinea pigs. I find that ridiculous. It's as barbaric as eating a horse.
↑ Top
1 Guest viewing this page
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet