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M o d e l      A n s w e r s

   f o r

A s s i g n m e n t     I

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Exercise # 6

cats

+ Plural[ii,iii],  + Count[i,ii]

(i) * cat meowed.  
(ii) many cats meowed.
(iii) The cats are happy.

Examples (ii) and (iii) argue against [+ Proper], since
proper nouns do not like determiners.
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milk

[No pluses]

(i) Milk is good. 
(ii) The milk is good.

- Count is indicated by determinerless singular form in (i);
- Proper is argued for by (ii).
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milk ( stated more economically)

- Count[i], -Proper[ii]

(i) Milk is good. 
(ii) The milk is good.

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New York

+ Proper [i,ii]

(i) New York is fun.
(ii) * The New York is fun.

They

+ Plural[i], + Pronoun[ii]

(i) They are fun.
(ii) John and Mary think they are smart.

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People

+ Plural[i], +Count[i]

(i) Many people are unhappy.

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Ambiguous

Language1

+ Count [i], - Plural[i]

(i) A language is a vast thing.

Language2

- Count [ii], - Plural[i,ii]

(ii) Language is a vast thing.

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Printer

+ Count, - Plural

(i) A printer needs ink.


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Himself

- Plural(i), + Anaphoric(i)

(i) John likes himself a lot.

Ends in self, refers to a singular noun, as shown
by verb agreement.

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Wind

Ambiguous 

Wind1

- Count[i], -Plural[i]

(i) There isn't much wind here.

Wind2

+ Count[i], -Plural[i]

(i) The four winds of Greek 
mythology are Zephyrus, Boreas, Eurus, and Notus.

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Lightbulb

+ Count -Plural

(i) How many lightbulbs does it take to change a linguist?

(i) shows lightbulb takes the plural ending, which is characteristic
of count nouns (*equipment, *furnitures, books), and as a plural it
behaves like a count plural, taking many.

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Challenge Problem #2


Part 1:

By the syntactic criteria given in the text, the underlined words in
(a) and (b) should be adjectives.  The context following a determiner
and preceding a noun ([D __ N]) is one that welcomes adjectives:

(1) The/D red/A book/N
(2) Every/D curious/A student/N

Part 2:

By contrast, (a) and (b) indicate nounhood. The context [D __] is one
favoring nouns.

(3) The/D book/N is interesting
(4) A/D thunderstorm/N was approaching.

Examples (c) and (d) are cases in which a distributional test for
adjectivehood is being failed. Adjectives can generally be modified by
very:

(5) A very red/A book
(6) Every very/A curious student

Examples (e) and (f) give more cases of failed adjective tests.  Most
adjectives have comparative forms:

(7) It was a sunset redder than any I had ever seen.
(8) He was a more curious boy than his peers.

But neither water nor leather do.

Thus the data of Part 2 point toward nounhood while the data of part 1
pointed toward adjective.  Notice, however, what we are saying about
an example like (c).

(c)  * The very leather couch

We are saying it is bad because leather is a noun, and the evidence
for this is that if we take very away we get (a), which is fine, but
that means we are assuming leather can be a noun in (a), and if a noun
can occur in the context in (a) then the context [D _ N] is no longer
an unambiguous test for nounhood.  Thus, the evidence in part I, which
we said pointed to nounhood, really points to either nounhood or
adjectivehood.  And the simplest answer is to say that leather and
water are just nouns and never adjectives.