Syntax and Sentence Structure Flashcards

Which sentence demonstrates a garden-path sentence that causes parsing difficulty?

Answer: The horse raced past the barn fell.

Garden-path sentences like 'The horse raced past the barn fell' initially lead readers down an incorrect parse before requiring reanalysis.

What syntactic operation moves a wh-word to the front of a question in English?

Answer: Wh-movement

Wh-movement is the syntactic operation that fronts interrogative words (who, what, where) to the beginning of questions in English.

In the sentence 'It was the teacher who called,' what structure is being used?

Answer: It-cleft construction

An it-cleft construction uses 'it + be + focus element + relative clause' to emphasize a particular constituent.

Which term describes a clause that can stand alone as a complete sentence?

Answer: Independent clause

An independent clause contains a subject and predicate and expresses a complete thought, allowing it to stand alone as a sentence.

A student writes: 'Running to class, my backpack fell.' What error does this sentence contain?

Answer: Dangling modifier

A dangling modifier occurs when a participial phrase lacks a clear, logical subject that matches the main clause subject.

What is the function of a resumptive pronoun in a relative clause such as 'The book that I forgot where I put it'?

Answer: It fills the gap left by relativization within a complex structure

A resumptive pronoun ('it') occupies the extraction site within a relative clause, especially when movement would violate island constraints.

Which sentence type has the underlying structure NP + be + Adjective Phrase?

Answer: Copular sentence

Copular sentences link a subject noun phrase to a predicate adjective phrase through a linking verb such as 'be.'