Homework #3a: The Grammar / part 1

This is the first part of homework 3. It is due Thursday in class.

 

1. Here are two kinds of sentences that we will encounter during acquisition experiments. Draw their structures.

1a. She saw the person who won the prize at the game.
1b. He decided to go home.

2. Among the first topics we will look at, is German children acquiring the placement of the verb in German. In this task, you play the kid - although your task is much simpler: find out what the descriptive generalisation is about the placement of the verbal elements in German. If you feel confident that you found it, try to express it structurally. If you feel ambitious, try to write the rules that govern the placement of the verbal elements in German.

Here are the facts of German that you need to know, using English words in a German order:

2a. John has yesterday said that blablabla
2b. Yesterday has John said that blablabla
2c. John said yesterday that blablabla
2d. Yesterday said John that blablabla
2e. *John yesterday said that blablabla
2f. I think that John yesterday said that blablabla