Guinea pigs

[Doivid]

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:

[scribz]

The fuck are you studying man D:

(hold for me to look at this and decide later <3)

[Doivid]

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. :(

[aza]

Whats the question again?

[Doivid]

Whats the question again?

@Azarthes

Which of the numbered sentences are grammatical, if any?

[scribz]

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. :(

@Doivid

But what does that mean!?

*shakes voilently*

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

[scribz]

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. :(

@Doivid

But what does that mean!?

*shakes voilently*

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

[scribz]

woops.

[aza]

<Snipped quote by Azarthes>

Which of the numbered sentences are grammatical, if any?

@Doivid

3 5 6

[scribz]

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

EDIT: Also 1.

[mdk]

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

EDIT: Also 1.

@scribz

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.

[Doivid]

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"

[Vilageidiotx]

<Snipped quote by Doivid>

But what does that mean!?

*shakes voilently*

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

@scribz

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.

[Holmishire]

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.

[aza]

by 356 i mean the (#) next to them btw

[Doivid]

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.

@Holmishire

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.

[Halo]

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?

[Doivid]

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?

@Halo

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.

[The Nexerus]

I hear that in some cultures, they actually consume guinea pigs. I find that ridiculous. It's as barbaric as eating a horse.