Ling

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a) The underlined group of words is a noun phrase I know it is a noun phrase because a cat is a thing and fits the description of a noun. The grammatical function of the underlined group of words is subject. I applied a tag question to determine this was the subject. In absence of an operator I used the base do. So the sentence now reads The cat did fall out of the tree. Because the operator is the first word of the verb phrase it takes the tense. To get a question I move the operator to the front of the sentence so it now reads Did the cat fall out of the tree? Any words that are between the movement is the subject. So the cat is the subject.

b) The subject The cat is a patient. I know this because fell is an intransitive verb so nothing is suffering the effect of the cat. It is not an experiencer because it is not attributed any emotional response. The cat is suffering an action. This sentence could be the response given by a child to the question ‘What happened to the cat?’ Knowing he would be in trouble if he admits he shot the cat with a bb gun the child tries to distance himself from the act by telling his parents ‘The cat fell out of the tree.’ Under this interpretation it is a patient subject.

B. The senator was praised by several members of the press.
a) The underlined group of words is a prepositional phrase. The test I used to determine it was a prepositional phrase was the ‘airplane and cloud’ test. That is if the beginning of the phrase is an action a plane would with a cloud it is a preposition. In this case a plane can fly ‘by’ a cloud. The grammatical function of the prepositional phrase is predicate.

b) The semantic role of the underlined group of words is agent. The subject The senator is the recipient of the action of the press. Also the voice of this sentence is passive so I know the prototypical agent/patent semantic roles are reversed.

C. The waiter forced the rowdy customers to leave the restaurant.
a) The underlined group of words is a noun phrase I know it is a noun phrase because the rowdy customers are people and fit the description of a noun.

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