Grammatical Analysis I: Merge (Lecture 4, Spring 2025)

 Here is the lecture on Merge, in the fourth lecture.

After this, Merge is the basis for everything we talk about in the semester.

Lecture 4: Merge

Grammatical Analysis I (Assignment 2)(Spring 2025)

 Here is my second assignment for the undergraduate introduction to syntax.

Chris

Assignment 2

Principles of Argument Structure: A Merge-Based Approach (Concept Map)

 This is my first attempt to display the connection between the various concepts in my recent MIT Press monograph. Let me know what you think!

Basic Skills (A versus A'-Movement)

Syntax II Spring 2025

Week 2: Basic Skills: A versus A’-Movement

By the end of the semester, a student taking Syntax II (graduate level) should have the following basic skills. 

1.

Be able to argue whether or not there is a movement relationship between two positions X and Y.

2.

Be able to define A-position and A’-position. 

3.

Be able to give a wide range of example sentences illustrating A-movement and A’-movement in English. The student should be able to draw plausible tree diagrams for each of these examples (e.g., tough-movement).

See Class Exercise

4.

For any particular example of movement, the student should be able to argue (using various diagnostics) that it is A or A’-movement.

5.

Be able to list the main properties distinguishing A-movement and A’-movement (e.g., binding, reconstruction, parasitic gaps, improper movement, weak crossover, etc.). The student should be able to define all the relevant principles that enter into these properties (e.g., they should be able to define weak crossover, they should know about the copy theory of movement).

6.

For each property in (5), the student should be able to give example sentences illustrating that property. For example, the student should be able to show that A-movement does not show Weak Crossover Effects. Likewise, the student should be able to show that A-movement does not give rise to condition C reconstruction effects.

Schoolhouse Rock Videos

I grew up watching these videos all the time. The tunes are very catchy and they are a pretty good popular source of information on basic grammatical categories. I have no idea whether people outside the US know of them.

Last week, in my undergraduate syntax class, I recommended to the students that they watch them. We don't literally follow the definitions in the videos, but they are an entertaining way to review.

Schoolhouse Rock (Grammar Rock) Videos

A Noun is a Person Place or Thing

Busy Prepositions

Conjunction Junction

Interjections

Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here

Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla

The Tale of Mr. Morton

Unpack Your Adjectives

Verb That’s What’s Happening