adjective phrase (AP)

a phrase headed by an adjective. In the complement position we can find PPs and finite and non-finite CPs. DPs and exceptional clauses are excluded since adjectives are not Case assigners. APs are complements of DegPs.

adjunct

a constituent not selected by a head.

adjunction

a type of movement where a new position is formed as a result of the movement creating an adjunction structure, like the (simplified) movement of the PP in the following tree structure representation where the S node is doubled:

arguments

the participants minimally involved in an action defined by the predicate. The complements and the subject, the latter also called an external argument.

Case position

a position where (nominative or accusative) Case can be assigned.

clause

a structure containing a (visible or invisible) subject and a predicate.

determiner phrase (DP)

a phrase headed by a central determiner or the possessive ’s morpheme. The complement of a DP is an NP, the specifier the DP the possessive ending attaches to.

distribution

the set of positions that the grammar determines to be possible for a given category. Words that distribute in the same way will belong to the same categories, words that distribute differently will belong to different categories.

heavy DP-shift

when the DP is particularly long and complicated, it may undergo extraposition: You can post today [all the letters you have written in the past five days]./*You can post today them.

movement

S-structure constituents do not always appear in the position where they are base-generated in D-structure, they often move from their base positions to other structural positions. There can be various reasons motivating movement, see wh-movement and DP-movement.

object

a DP complement immediately following the verb. It can move to the subject position in passive sentences. See also direct object, indirect object.

preposition phrase (PP)

a phrase headed by a preposition. It usually takes a DP complement but certain types of CPs can also appear in the complement position of PPs. PPs themselves can be complements of different constituents such as verbs, nouns and adjectives.

quantifier

a determiner that expresses a definite or indefinite amount or number of the nominal expression it modifies, e.g. all, both, some, many, four.

specifier position

a position defined by X-bar Theory. The specifier is sister to X', daughter of XP. It is a phrasal position, the nature of the phrase depends on what it is the specifier of. E.g. the specifier of IP is the subject, the specifier of DP is the possessor in possessive structures.

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Basic English Syntax with Exercises

5.4.2 PP modifiers

The other main modifier in the VP is the PP. This differs from the AP modifier in its distribution in that it always follows the verb. Thus a PP modifier has a far more restricted distribution than an adverbial one:

(175)a*may in the lake have been swimming
b*may have in the lake been swimming
c*may have been in the lake swimming
dmay have been swimming in the lake

Understandably, we cannot get a PP modifier between a verb and its complement, just like Adverbs, however we can separate a verb from its PP complements:

(176)a*flowed under the bridge the river
blive with his mother in Paris

The only way for (176a) to have been generated would be to adjoin the PP to the left of the lower VP. However, PPs never adjoin to the left, only to the right, and moreover this would necessitate the verb moving over the PP adjunct. As this is impossible for AP modifiers, we can assume that it is impossible for PP modifiers as well. In (176b), assuming the locative PP to be the complement of the verb, the only way for this to get behind the PP adjunct would be for it to move. And hence we can assume that there is a backwards movement that PP arguments may undergo which is similar to the movement that clausal complements undergo, as discussed in section 3.8. That PP complements may undergo such a movement is supported by the following data:

(177)aa book about penguins was published last week
ba book was published last week about penguins

In this example, the PP is part of the subject DP and yet it may appear on the opposite side of the clause to the subject, indicating that it can undergo this kind of movement.

DP complements, however, cannot move backwards past a PP adjunct as can be seen by (176a). We might assume that this is because the DP must occupy a Case position and hence cannot move away from its specifier position in the VP. However, this is not so straightforward as DPs can be moved out of Case positions in some instances and moreover some DPs can undergo backward movement:

(178)athis exercise1, I don’t think anyone can [do t1]
bwhich book1 were you [reading t1]
cyou should complete t1 in ink [every form with a blue cross at the top]1

In (178a) and (b) the object has undergone a movement to the front of the clause, out of its Case position. But if this is an allowable movement, why should it not be allowed to move to the back of the clause? In (178c) the object has moved backwards behind the PP adjunct with ink. In this case, the DP is very long and complex involving quantification and post head modification. A simpler DP would not be allowed to do the same thing:

(179)*you should complete t1 in ink [the form]1

We can call the phenomena noted in (178c) heavy DP shift (leaving undefined just what counts as a ‘heavy DP’). It is common to find the attitude that heavy DP shift is a slightly odd phenomenon. However, given that other elements can undergo backward movement and given the fact that DPs of any weight can undergo certain forward movements, what is odd is the refusal of ‘light’ DPs to undergo backward movement. Obviously there are mysteries here that we cannot yet approach and so again we will set the issue aside.

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