Practical Grammar 7 new

Prepositional Phrases

Presently, xlfg cannot handle complex annotations like that of the PP. Therefore, we will simplify the rule as follows:

2. VP → V          PP
       ↑=↓     (↑OBL) = ↓ 

This means that all PPs that combine with verbs bear the grammatical function OBL(IQUE).

(2) translates into xlfg as follows:

3. VP → V PP
2. {
3. ↑=↓1;
4. (↑OBL) = ↓2;
5. }

Add the following rule for PPs:

6.  PP → P DP
7.  {
8.  ↑=↓1;
9.  (↑OBJ) =↓2;
10. }

Exercise 7.1

1. Open Grammar-7.1
2. Add the two rules above to your grammar.
3. Also add a correctly annotated rule VP -> V DP PP.
2. Make sure that in all your VP rules that have a PP on the right the annotation on the PP is: (↑OBL) = ↓n.
3. Add the prepositions to on on to your lexicon as follows:

to P
[PRED: 'to<OBJ>',
 PCASE: OBL_REC]

on P
[PRED: 'on<OBJ>',
 PCASE: OBL_LOC]

4. Add the following test items:

a. Oscar donated clothes to charity
b. Robin put food on the table

5. Parse.

Exercise 7.2

1. Add the following test items:

a. *Oscar donated clothes on charity
b. *Robin put food to the table

2. Parse!
3. The grammar does not return the intended result. What is the problem?
4. The problem is easy to fix with the same technique that we used to enforce subject-verb agreement.
5. Do so and parse!

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