1. Getting into the nitty-gritty of embedded clauses

Question

0 I already asked whether someone studies generative grammar. I have some questions concerning excercises taken from a book. I do not want to ask my Prof. if everything is correct or not. There will be lots of questions, and I´m going to ask all of them. I would be very pleased if there is someone out there who can help me to find the way through the nitty-gritty of generative grammar.02br02br00Here is the first question..... I am not pretty sure of all of them. 02br02br001)       00Identifiy  the embedded clauses in the following sentences. Classifiy them according to  whether are finite clauses, non – finite clauses, or small clauses.02br02br00My answer  is marked with brackets. Furthermore, there is an explanation of my choice.02br02br00a)       00[ That  Louise should have left ] surprised everyone.02br00“That” selects finite clauses, therefore we  find a finite clause here02br02br00b)     00[ The news that Louise has left]  surprises everyone.02br00Here the embedded clause is a finite one. 02br02br00c)       00I  consider [ Louise an impossible choice ].02br00What we find here is an example of a small  clause, because it does not contain a verb.  02br02br00d)     00I wonder when they will anounce  [that Louise has left. ]02br00A finite embedded clause. “That” introduces  finite clauses. 02br02br00e)       00I  wonder [ whom I will meet at the party.]   02br00This is a finite clause because will is part of  I, which is inflected for tense ( at least in the book the exercises come from  ) Furthermore, whom is a complementizer. 02br02br00f)        00I  asked her [ what to do.]02br00This is a non-finite clause because of the  non-overt subject that is controlled by “I”.02br02br00g)       00[ The  woman whom you will meet at the party ] is his sister.02br00A finite embedded clause, because will is  inflected for tense. See e) 02br02br00h)       00I need  a knife [ to cut the bread with.]02br00A non-finite clause. “to  cut” = infinitive 02br02br00Is this one here the same like in example  f)?  This one puzzles me….. I do not  understand what happens here. It cannot be the same like in example f) 02br02br00i)         00I  consider [ that Louise is the best choice.]02br00Again, a finite clause because of tense and the  introducing “that” 02br02br00j)        00[ For  Louise to have left ] surprised everyone.02br00The same like in a), but this time it is  non-finite. “For” introduces non-finite clauses. 02br02br00k)     00I consider [ Louise to be the best  choice.]02br00Looks nearly like a small clause, but it isn´t.  It is a non-finite clause because of “to be”.02br02br00 l)         [When  they had announced 01u00that Louise had left02u00 ] everyone was relieved02br00Not really sure here, I am wondering  whether it is possible to claim that the underlined partis the embedded02br00sentence. Nevertheless it is a finite embedded clause.02br02br02br00m)    00I am not certain [ that Louise has  already announced that she is going.]02br00A finite embedded sentence.02br02br02br00n)       00They  all expect [ for Jim to come back.]02br00A non-finite embedded clause….. “for” is  introducing this clause here.02br02br02br00o)     00They arranged for us  [ to meet Bill at the cinema.]02br00The same like in f) A non-overt subject  controlled by “us”; a non-finite sentence.02br0-

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

0 I already asked whether someone 01font00(anyone)02font00 studies 01font00(is studying)02font00 generative grammar. I have some questions concerning excercises taken from a book. I do not want to ask my Prof. if everything is correct or not. There will be lots of questions, and I´m going to ask all of them. I would be very pleased if there is someone out there who can help me to find the way through the nitty-gritty of generative grammar.02br
02br
00 Here is the first question..... I am not pretty 01font00(very)02font00 sure of all of them. 02br
02br
02br
001) Identifiy the embedded clauses in the following sentences. Classifiy them according to whether are finite clauses, non – finite clauses, or small clauses.02br
02br
00 My answer is marked with brackets. Furthermore, there is an explanation of my choice.02br
02br
00a) [ That Louise should have left ] surprised everyone.02br
02br
00“That” selects finite clauses, therefore we find a finite clause here 01font00OK02font02br
02br
00b) [ The news that Louise has left] surprises everyone.02br
02br
00Here the embedded clause is a finite one. 01font00Not sure.02font00 01font00I would think that 01i00The news02i00 should be left out of the brackets. Just 01i00that Louise has left02i00 is a finite clause.02font02br
02br
00c) I consider [ Louise an impossible choice ].02br
02br
00What we find here is an example of a small clause, because it does not contain a verb. 01font00Yes.02font02br
02br
00d) I wonder when they will anounce [that Louise has left. ]02br
02br
00A finite embedded clause. “That” introduces finite clauses. 01font00Yes.02font02br
02br
00e) I wonder [ whom I will meet at the party.] 02br
02br
00This is a finite clause because will is part of I, which is inflected for tense ( at least in the book the exercises come from ) Furthermore, whom is a complementizer. 01font00OK.02font02br
02br
00f) I asked her [ what to do.]02br
02br
00This is a non-finite clause because of the non-overt subject that is controlled by “I”. 01font00Don't know what "controlled by "I"" is. Otherwise OK. It's non-finite.02font02br
02br
00g) [ The woman whom you will meet at the party ] is his sister.02br
02br
00A finite embedded clause, because will is inflected for tense. See e) 01font00Again, I think 01i00The woman02i00 should be left out. The finite clause starts with 01i00whom02i00.02font02br
02br
00h) I need a knife [ to cut the bread with.]02br
02br
00A non-finite clause. “to cut” = infinitive 01font00True.02font02br
02br
00Is this one here the same like 01font00(as)02font00 in example f)? This one puzzles me….. I do not understand what happens 01font00(is happening)02font00 here. It cannot be the same like 01font00(as)02font00 in example f) 01font00No. f) has an indirect question used as a noun. Here you have an adverbial answering the question "Why?", "For what purpose?"02font02br
02br
00i) I consider [ that Louise is the best choice.]02br
02br
00Again, a finite clause because of tense and the introducing “that” 01font00Yes. Plus the inflected form 01i00is02i00.02font02br
02br
00j) [ For Louise to have left ] surprised everyone.02br
02br
00The same like in a), but this time it is non-finite. “For” introduces non-finite clauses. 01font00OK.02font02br
02br
00k) I consider [ Louise to be the best choice.]02br
02br
00Looks nearly like a small clause, but it isn´t. It is a non-finite clause because of “to be”. 01font00OK.02font02br
02br
00 l) [When they had announced 01u00that Louise had left02u00 ] everyone was relieved02br
02br
00Not really sure here, I am wondering whether it is possible to claim that the underlined partis the embedded02br
02br
00sentence. Nevertheless it is a finite embedded clause. 01font00I'm beginning to wonder now what the definition of embedded is. I would call the bracketed portion an adverbial clause. I don't know if it's considered embedded. The underlined part is a finite embedded clause in my opinion.02font02br
02br
00m) I am not certain [ that Louise has already announced that she is going.]02br
02br
00A finite embedded sentence. 01font00OK. Also 01i00that she is going02i00.02font02br
02br
00n) They all expect [ for Jim to come back.]02br
02br
00A non-finite embedded clause….. “for” is introducing this clause here. 01font00 I would say that the for is ungrammatical. 01i00They all expect [Jim to come back].02i00 Non-finite.02font02br
02br
00o) They arranged for us [ to meet Bill at the cinema.]02br
02br
00The same like in f) A non-overt subject controlled by “us”; a non-finite sentence. 01font00I'd include 01i00for us02i00 in the brackets. non-finite clause.02br
02font02br
02br
01font00CJ02font0-

Case Assigner · Answer

0 Thank you very much..... especially for the correction of the mistakes I have done. I will check the sentences again, maybe I can find an answer to the problematic cases. The problem is that the book I am learning with does not really offer good explanations to all these cases. Therefore it is really hard for me to decide where the embedded clause starts and where it ends. In the book hasn´t occured a single embedded clause that is in between a senctence. The book only deals with sentences where the embedded clause is at the beginning or at the end. 02br
00Well, before I am going to ask my next question, I want to clarifiy this one. 02br
00Btw, the next one will be about argument structure 050010id1

Case Assigner · Answer

0 Ok, I made some changes..... Talked to my Prof. today and he said that an important criterion for identifying embedded clauses is to have lexical verbs with a tense form.... Not an infinitival one. Hmmmm, makes me wonder whether there is good reason to change something in g)...02br
02br
00I changed l) 00into:02br
00 00[When they had announced [ that Louise had left ]] everyone was relieved.00 02br
00We have finite embedded clauses here.02br
02br
00Furthermore I changed m):02br
00I am not certain [ that Louise has already announced [ that she is going.]]02br
00A finite embedded sentence. Do I have to close the brackets after announced?0-

1. Getting into the nitty-gritty of embedded clauses

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions