Study guide for the seminar The verb phrase and the syntax-semantics interface
Andrew McIntyre
You will get a good mark in any oral or written tests based on this seminar if you can answer
questions of the types given below (as well as the questions in the definitive study guide
which will concern material done later in the semester).
The questions (or variants of questions) marked EXTRA are for MA students, but can also be
answered by BA students who wish to earn bonus points to compensate for marks lost in other
questions.
Handout 1: Basic notions
1. Know the definitions for thematic roles (section 2). Exercises like A, B, C, E (although I
won’t give you ambiguous or contentious examples in the exam).
2. Name three differences between arguments and modifiers/adjuncts; exercises similar to
G, H, I, J, K or L. In exercises like G – I you might be asked to give one piece of evidence for
your answer (e.g. in a question like exercise H1: of physics is a complement in a professor of
physics because it is part of the definition of professors that they specialise in particular
subjects; this is connected to point A at the end of p.8).
3. EXTRA: Exercises like E
How do structural, semantic and inherent case differ? (sect 4)
Handout 2: Theories of Argument Structure
4. What is a lexical operation? Give an example of how one might be used in describing an
argument-structural phenomenon. I will provide data for you to talk about, e.g. the data in (3)(7) or (14)-(16) on the handout.
5. Consider the following sentences:
a. The plate broke.
b. Fred broke the plate.
Describe how the argument structure of break in these sentences would be explained using
any three of the following theoretical devices. (EXTRA: do so for any four of the following
devices.)
(i) thematic hierarchies
(ii) a constructional view of argument structure
(iii) direct linking rules combined with the subject requirement.
(iv) Dowty’s thematic protorole theory
(v) Abstract syntactic approaches
(You only need to give enough detail to be able to discuss these theories as they apply to the
sentences given above with the verb break. Thus, you don’t have to memorise the whole
thematic hierarchy or name all of Dowty’s proto-agent and proto-patient properties. You only
need to mention the ones relevant to the break-sentences being discussed. However, if you
decide to give a fuller discussion you will be rewarded with some bonus points.)
6. What is an incremental theme (section 5.5)? Exercise J.
Handout 3: Unaccusativitity
7. Be able to give basic definitions of unaccusative and unergative verbs.
8. Be able to name and describe three of the phenomena (tests) in section 2 which
distinguish unaccusatives from unergatives. (EXTRA: four tests)
9. Be passively familiar with the phenomena in section 2. For example, you might get
questions like ‘How are cognate objects relevant to unaccusativity?’ (see exercise E) or ‘How
is the notion of unaccusativity relevant to resultative constructions’ (section 2.2).
10. Briefly explain the Unaccusative Hypothesis.
Handout 4: The double object construction and the dative alternation
11. Briefly describe the HAVE-GOAL approach and the information-structural approach to the
English to-alternation. Why do data like (1) below seem to speak for the HAVE-GOAL
approach (at least if one does not know about data like (2))? Why does (2) favour the
information-structural approach?
(1) a. The noise gave me a headache.
b. *The noise gave a headache to me.
(2) The noise gave a headache to everyone who was within two kilometres of the
building site.
12. EXTRA: Give an explanation for the (im)possibility of inanimate indirect objects in the
data below.
(1) a. I sent a package to John’s house.
b. *I sent John’s house a package.
(2) a. I assigned the book a catalogue number.
b. They gave the house a new roof.
Handout 5: Passive, middle and the causative alternation
We did not have enough time to cover this in class, so all questions attempted will yield bonus
points allowing you to compensate for marks lost elsewhere.
13. Why would someone use an agentive passive construction rather than an active sentence?
(Answer would describe the fact that active and agentive passive differ in terms of
information structure.)
14. Describe in a few sentences the main properties of the middle construction.
15. Describe the notion of internal causation and external causation, and indicate how it is
relevant to the causative alternation.
16. Describe Levin & Rappaport Hovav’s arguments in favour of the view that the
intransitive variant in the causative alternation is derived from the transitive variant.
Additional points awarded if you present valid criticisms of their arguments.