1.  Chapter 8 (Part 2) Transformations Transformational Grammar Engl 424 Hayfa Alhomaid

2. NP movement in passive structures E.g. The car will be put _ in the garage. The NP [the car] originates in the postverbal object NP position marked _, and is subsequently moved out of there into the preverbal subject NP position. [S [NP e] [I will] [VP be put [NP the car] [PP in the garage]]] NP movement here is transformational counterpart of the grammarian’s rule of ‘passivisation’ by which the object of the sentence is ‘passivised’ and thereby moves into subject position. NP MOVEMENT

3. NP movement in passive structures What evidence is there that the preverbal NP in the previous example originates in the postverbal position marked by _? 1- One piece of evidence can come from subcategorization facts. E.g. John will put [NP the car] [PP in the garage]. *John will put [NP the car]. * John will put [PP in the garage]. * John will put. The verb put subcategorizes (i.e. takes) obligatory NP and PP complements. So how did it take only a PP complement in the sentence The car will be put in the garage but no following NP? The answer is the preverbal subject NP in the passive sentence originates at D-structure in the postverbal object NP position.

4. NP movement in passive structures 2- Another piece of evidence that support the NP movement analysis of passive sentences is ‘gap’ argument. The movement of the object would leave behind a ‘gap’ in objet position which cannot be refilled by another lexical NP. E.g. *[The car] will be put the bike in the garage. Since the verb put subcategorizes (i.e. takes) obligatory NP and PP complements and in this sentence takes a following NP and PP, so why is this sentence ungrammatical? The answer is the the preverbal subject NP in the passive sentence originates at D- structure in the postverbal object NP position, which means it cannot have two NPs following the verb. *[S [NP e] will be put [NP the car] [NP the bike] [PP in the garage].

5. NP movement in Raising structures E.g. John seems to me [ _ to be unhappy] The NP [John] originates not as the main clause subject, but rather as the subordinate clause subject, in the position marked as _. So it is subsequently ‘raised’ to become the main clause subject. So this structure is similar (though not identical) to that of: It seems to me [that John is unhappy]. The ‘subject raising’ analysis presupposes that John is originates as the subject of the embedded clause and is subsequently ‘raised’ by application of NP movement to become the subject of the main clause. [NP e] seems to me [S John to be unhappy] NP MOVEMENT

6. NP movement in Raising structures One of the claims about the ‘raising analysis’ is that John is the subject of the infinitive phrase to be unhappy. There are two arguments about this claim: 1- The interpretation of Reflexives. Fred considers John to be too sure about himself. John seems to me [ _ to be too sure about himself]. Himself can refer only to a clausemate NP (i.e with an NP that is contained in the same S as the reflexive and which is compatible with it in Person, Number, Gender..etc). [NP e] seems to me [ John to be too sure about himself] NP MOVEMENT

7. NP movement in Raising structures There are two arguments about this claim: 2- The agreement facts. They consider John to be a fool/ *fools They seem to me [ _ to be fools/ *a fool]. In the first sentence the nominal fool agrees with the subject John of its own clause. But in the second sentence it agrees with the NP they even though they belong to different clauses at S-structure. How can this happen? Because they is moved by the application of the NP movement which moves it from the subordinate clause to be fools to become the subject of the main clause. [NP e] seems to me [ They to be fools] NP MOVEMENT

8. Extraposition So far, we discussed three transformation rules:  V movement (moves V out of VP into an empty finite I ).  I movement (moves I containing an Auxiliary into an empty C).  NP movement (moves NP onto an empty NP position). All three rules have in common the fact that they move a constituent from one position into an existing empty position elsewhere in the sentence: such rules are known as substitution rules, because they substitute an empty constituent by a filled one. Are all Movement Transformations substitutions? There is a second type of movement known as adjunction and one adjunction rule is known as Extraposition. It applies to move a PP or a S-bar contained within NP to the end of the S containing it. E.g. [A review of my latest book] has just appeared. [A review _] has just appeared of my latest book. [S [NP A review [PP of my latest book]] [VP has just appeared]] Extraposition

9. SEE YOU NEXT WEEK This is all for today