歧义句

歧义句 1 Compare: (1) John is eager to teach. (2) John is easy to teach. The two sentences do not share the same deep structure. Deep structure is formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head's subcategorization properties. Deep structure also plays a special role in the interpretation of sentences. In (1), it is teach not is eager to give John a theta role.John gets its theta role in the specifier of the lower TP1, but moves to the specifier of the higher TP2. [ __ is eager[ John to teach]TP1]TP2. (deep structure) NP Movement While the deep meaning of sentence (2) is that John is easy to be taught. Thus, in deep structure, teach gives John the agent role in sentence (1) but gives John the theme role in sentence (2) in their deep structures. All in all, the two sentences above do not share the same deep structure. 3.Deal with the ambiguity of the following sentences by means of tree diagrams. (1)The tall men and women left. (2)Visiting professors can be interesting. InflP(S) Infl(S) NP Infl NP Infl (past) (Past) N AP N VP AP VP Det. A N1 Con. N2 V Det. A N1 Con. N2 V The tall men and women left. The tall men and women left. (A) (B) Sentence (2) can be read in two ways: (a) Professors who are visiting can be interesting (b) To visit professors can be interesting. InflP(S) InflP(S) S’ NP VP VP AP N Infl V AP NP VP Infl 2 Visiting professors can be interesting. (Someone) visit professors can be interesting. 1. Analyze how the following sentences are incorrect according to English grammar. 1) Snowing outside. 2) Jane loves John, she calls him every day. 3) There are two boys play football on the ground. 4) I was surprised for you to get married. 5) Diligent is very important to succeed. 6) The tutor suggested the students to have more practice on grammar. 7) John is a great leader, however, he is sometimes too strict. 8) Although Jane loves John, but she never says “I love you” to him. 9) The reason Jane loves John is because he is kind to her. 10) Has the nurse slept the baby yet? 2.. Provide Chinese versions for the following sentences: 1) He had made a box. 他已经做好了一个箱子。 He had a box made. 他叫人做了一个箱子。 2) He told me honestly what he had done.(他老实地承认) Honestly, he told me what he had done. (老实说，他告诉了我) 3) We’ll leave our friends sadly tomorrow.依依不舍地告别 Sadly, we’ll leave our friends tomorrow. 可惜要告别 4) I hope he will soon get over it. 我希望他很快忘掉这件事。 I hope he will soon get it over 我希望他很快会结束这件事。 5) He is rather a foolish fellow. 说他是一个愚笨的人更为恰当。 He is a rather foolish fellow. 他是一个有点愚笨的人。 Ambibuity of sentence structure ---- a sentence has more than one interpretations, e.g. I saw him walking by the bank. Meaning 1: I saw him and he was walking by the bank of the river. Meaning 2: I saw him and he was walking by the financial institution. Meaning 3: I was walking by the bank of the river when I saw him. Meaning 4: I was walking by the financial institution when I saw him. Ambiguity is a very common linguistic phenomenon 1. Everyone admires someone (Everyone has someone whom he admires.) (There is someone whom everyone admires.) 2. She is a beautiful singer. --- 5 persons “she is beautiful” --- 2 persons “she sings beautifully” --- 2 person either 3. She has good legs. ----beautiful legs / healthy legs / legs which function well. 4. 她是去年生的孩子。 5. 你在做什么,making 6. 他又要花钱了。 3 7. 老师看到她笑了。 8. 他常常是在人家方便的时候去看人家， Sentence ambiguity may occur in two situations: ----when we can have different interpretations of a certain word in the sentence (called Lexical ambiguity) ----when we can have different interpretations of the syntactic structure of the sentence (called structural ambiguity) Lexical ambiguity He is looking for the glasses. (spectacles/vessels made of glass used for drinking liquid) She was seated by the general manager (by the side of /functional word of passive voice) My cousin isn’t a boy any more. (he is an adult now---he is a female now) Three types: a) ambiguity caused by polysemants The criminal lawyer was not allowed to say anything to the press. Mr Smith is going to marry Jane at the church. b) ambiguity caused by homonyms The little boy was attracted by the ball. The rest of the army was insufficient. She can’t bear children. c) ambiguity caused by the difference between British English and American English We live on the second floor. His girlfriend’s father is a veteran. Ex-serviceman Structural Ambiguity The fat manager’s wife is fond of pretty clothes. She telephoned her husband in hospital. I like Alice as well as Bill. Bil;l does/I do Bill It’s good for John to do that. The types: a) caused by prepositional phrase He wrote a poem on a tombstone. John saw Mary on the bus The policeman hit the man with a stick. b) caused by conjunctions John and Mary were married last year. The parents of the bride and the groom were waiting. c) caused by pronouns. John said to Bill that he had seen the pretty woman the week before. The parents of the girls were proud of their conducts. d) caused by modal verbs He may come into the room in ten minutes. 4 Mary cannot do such a thing. e) caused by attributives They used to live in the big brick house at the foot of the hill. There was also a theatre located near the business district, which is crowded every night. f) caused by adverbial The students will discuss their plan to hold a dancing party in the classromm. The general manager promised to give a bonus to each employee later. g) caused by the object and its relevant elements I found John an experienced doctor. They called Susan waitress. h) caused by nonfinite verbal phrase I caught the boy smoking a cigar. The dancing girl in the hall used to be my girlfriend. The dog is too hot to eat. i) caused by –s’ genitive case All of us were moved to tears by the woman’s story. Jane’s loss has nothing to do with me. My praise j) caused by clause Mary asked the man who was smoking by the door. The captain granted my request that I might see my wife. I realized that he was wrong when he said that. k) caused by the negative words. She was not listening all the time. He didn’t leave home because he was afraid of his wife. Exercise Provide two Chinese versions for each of the following ambiguous sentences: 1) The English teacher training program will begin next month. 2) John loves his wife and so do I. 3) He must know that. 4) The police were urged to stop drinking in the park. 5) Who does he show his bride? 6) I have more difficult questions than he has. 7) He arrived late last night. 8) He promised to do it immediately. 9) Tom and Mary saw the mountains while they were flying over. 10)Is he really that kind? 11) Patent medicines are sold by frightening people. 12) After taking the right turn at the intersection we saw the theater. 13) What I had to eat is only rice 14) Flying planes can be dangerous. 15) The girl found a book on Main Street.