2. Getting into the nitty-gritty of argument structure

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001) 00Identify arguments and adjuncts in the following sentences. Discuss problematic examples.02br
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00Short explanation to my answers:02br
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00The important verb is written in bold letters, the selected arguments are underlined.02br
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00An adjunct is written in italics.02br
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00Theta roles are written in brackets.02br
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00a) 01u00John02u00 01b00has abandoned02b00 01u00his family02u00.02br
00“has abandoned” has 2 arguments, namely “John” (agent) and “his family”(experiencer) 02br
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01u00John and Mary02u00 01b00have abandoned02b00 01u00their family02u00.02br
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00 The same is valid for this case, “have abandoned” selects as its arguments02br
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00 “John and Mary” (agent) and “their family” (experiencer). 02br
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00b) 01u00John02u00 01b00encountered02b00 01u00Mary02u00 01i00in the park02i00.02br
00“Encountered” takes two arguments, the internal argument “Mary” (patient) and the external one, namely “John” ( agent ). “In the park” is an adjunct.02br
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01u00John02u00 01b00met02b00 01u00Mary02u00 01i00in the park02i00.02br
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00The same like the sentence above, only with the verb “met”.02br
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01u00John and Mary02u00 01b00met02b00 01i00in the park02i00.02br
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00 “In the park” is an adjunct. “John and Mary” occupy the same position here. I 02br
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00think they aren´t agents, rather theme. There are two options: “met” turned from a transitive into an intransitive verb, or there is an empty category that contains a reflexive pronoun. I prefer the second alternative, but I am unsure about this assumption.02br
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00c) 01u00Mary02u00 01i00suddenly02i00 01b00left02b00 01u00the house02u00 01i00at four thirty02i00.02br
00“left” selects “Mary” ( agent ) and “the house” ( location ) as its arguments. The rest are adjuncts.02br
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01i00After dinner02i00, 01u00Mary02u00 01b00left02b00.02br
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00Here we have an intransitive version of leave, therefore we have “Mary” (agent) as the only selected argument. We find an adjunct before the comma.02br
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00d) 01i00Soon after her departure02i00, 01u00Mary02u00 01b00found02b00 01u00a job02u00.02br
00Again, at the beginning is an adjunct. “Found” selects “Mary” ( agent ) and “a job” ( theme ) as their arguments.02br
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01u00Mary02u00 01b00found 02b01u00the job very interesting02u00.02br
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00Here found selects “Mary” ( agent / experiencer ) and “the job very interesting” ( theme ) as their arguments.02br
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01u00Mary02u00 01b00found02b00 her son 01u00another job02u00.02br
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00 I think that the two arguments are “Mary” ( agent ) and “another job” ( theme ) 02br
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00because we could paraphrase it as 01i00Mary found another job for her son02i00.02br
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00e) 01u00John02u00 01b00called02b00 01u00a taxi02u00.02br
00“Called” selects “John” ( agent ) and “a taxi” ( theme ) as its arguments.02br
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01u00They02u00 01b00called02b00 him 01u00a taxi02u00.02br
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00The same like in the sentence 01i00Mary found her son another job.02i02br
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01u00John02u00 01b00called02b00 01u00him a thief02u00.02br
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00“John” is the agent here and “him a thief” is the theme.0-