Practical Grammar 8

Complement Clauses

Next, we come to the exciting topic of complement (= subordinate) clauses. Here are two examples:

(1) Fred thought that Lilly disappeared
(2) Fred asked whether Lilly disappeared

There is nothing really special about these structures. As with prepositional phrases, we need

1. lexical items for the new verbs
2. lexical items for the two complementizers that and whether
3. two new phrase structure rules.

We make the following assumptions:

1. that and whether belong to the part of speech C (= complementizer).
2. A complementizer combines with a following S to form another S.
3. The C and the lower S are co-heads of the upper S.
4. You need to add a new VP rule which allows a VP to consist of a V and an S. The S bears the GF COMP.
5. Complementizers have no PRED value.

Exercise 9

1. Open Grammar Grammar 9 - 2026-02-04
2. Implement the analysis for sentences (1)-(2) as described above.
3. Parse. Your output should look exactly like the output decribed in the document Exercise-9-expected-output.pdf on Olat.

Note that the complementizers in (1) and (2) cannot be exchanged:

(3) *Fred asked that Lilly disappeared
(4) *Fred thought whether Lilly disappeared

The reason is that there is an incompatibility of clause type information in (3) and (4): the verb thought requires a declarative clause as its COMP, but the word whether can only head interrogative clauses. In (4), we find the opposite incompatibility.

Exercise 10

1. Open your current version of Grammar Grammar 9 - 2026-02-04
2. Add the feature CLAUSE_TYPE to the lexical entries that need it so that (3)-(4) are not accepted by the grammar for the reasons stated above, but (1)-(2) stay grammatical.
3. Parse. Your output should look exactly like the output decribed in the document Exercise-9-expected-output.docx on Olat.

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So far, the arguments of verbs have all been noun phrases (= NPs) like names, pronouns, or Det-N (the cat) configurations. But verbs can also take complements of other parts of speech. This week, we will encounter a new case: namely, complements which are prepositional phrases (= PPs).

Prepositional Phrases

We want our grammar to generate sentences like the following:

(1) The cat sat under the table
(2) Robin put food on the table

To achieve this, we need

1. lexical items for the new verbs
2. a phrase structure rule that creates PPs from a P and an NP
3. two new phrase structure rules for verb phrases.

The Syntax of PPs

We make the following assumptions about the internal and external syntax of PPs:

A. The internal structure of the PP

a. the P is the head of the PP
b. the NP daughter of the PP bears the grammatical function OBJ

B. The external relationships of the PP

a. c-structure: the whole PP is treated as just another daughter of the verb phrase whose head is the verb selecting the PP. Thus, in (1), the VP has two daughters, a V and a PP. In (2), the VP has three daughters, a V, an NP, and a PP.
b. grammatical function: we will only deal with PPs that express locations, for example under the table and on the table. Accordingly, the verbs taking the PP as argument assign it the grammatical function LOC.

The Semantics of PPs expressing locations

We make the following assumptions about the meaning of locational PPs like under the table:

a. the meaning of the NP the table is a LANDMARK (= orientation point).
b. different prepositions take the landmark as a basis and make different locations, depending on the meaning of the preposition. Thus, under uses the landmark the table to create the location under the table, whereas on makes the location on the table from the same landmark.
c. sentence (1) then says that the cat is sitting in the location under the table and sentence (2) says that Robin put the food into the location on the table.
d. in accordance with this, the whole PP bears the thematic role LOCATION to the verb, and
e. the NP object of the preposition bears the thematic role of LANDMARK to the preposition.

Important note: the Wiki page currently does not allow me to upload pictures. Therefore, I have uploaded to Olat the file

Exercise-8-expected-output.pdf

which gives you the f-structure and the Argument Structure that your grammar should produce for sentences (1) and (2).

Exercise 8

1. Open Grammar-8
2. Implement the analysis for sentences (1)-(2) as described above.
3. Parse.

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