Question 1

The fact that "dog bites man" has a very different meaning from "man bites dog" demonstrates the importance of

Accepted Answer

The order of the words in the sentence (syntax) changes the meaning of the sentence. In the first sentence, "dog bites man," the action is expected and not newsworthy. In the second sentence, "man bites dog," the action is unexpected and newsworthy, which is why it's a famous journalistic cliché.

Question 2

A "cat" can be defined as a furry little animal that goes "meow," while the word "cats" indicates that there is more than one of these little animals.Thus,while "cat" indicates one meaningful unit,"cats" would constitute two

Accepted Answer

A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. In this case, "cat" is one morpheme and "cats" is two morphemes ("cat" + "-s" indicating plural). This distinguishes it from a phoneme, which is the smallest unit of sound in a language, and syntactical units and transformations, which refer to larger units of language organization.

Question 3

Chomsky believes that we do not learn all the sentences we might ever say,but rather we actively create them by applying __________ rules.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Chomsky believes that we do not learn...

Question 4

Changing the sentence "Jean gave Sid a birthday gift" to "Sid was given a birthday gift by Jean" illustrates the use of

Accepted Answer

This illustrates the use of transformation rules, which involve changing the syntax of a sentence without changing its meaning. In this case, the passive voice is used instead of the active voice, but the subject (Jean) and object (birthday gift) remain the same.

Question 5

The prefix "Anti" is an example of

Accepted Answer

The prefix "Anti" is a morpheme because it is the smallest unit of meaning in a word and cannot be further divided into smaller units that have a separate meaning.

Question 6

A child who constructs the sentence,"The dog walks the lady" is

Accepted Answer

The sentence "The dog walks the lady" is syntactically incorrect as it violates the usual word order (subject-verb-object). Therefore, the child is ignoring syntax.

Question 7

In the English language,an adjective will normally precede the noun,but in Spanish the opposite is true.This difference in placement of the adjective illustrates that the two languages have different rules of

Accepted Answer

The placement of adjectives in a sentence is a grammatical rule, and the difference between English and Spanish in this regard illustrates the different grammar rules of the two languages. Phonology refers to the sound system of a language, morphology refers to the structure of words and how they are formed, and semantics refers to the meaning of words and how they are used in context, and none of these aspects of language are directly related to the placement of adjectives in sentences.

Question 8

Traditional grammar is concerned with the sentences we actually speak,which is referred to as

Accepted Answer

Traditional grammar focuses on the structure and form of sentences as they are spoken or written, which is known as "surface" language. The other options relate more to the meanings and interpretations of words and phrases within a sentence, rather than the sentence structure itself.

Question 9

The complete set of rules for a language that determines how to make sounds into words and words into sentences is called

Accepted Answer

The complete set of rules for a language that determines how to make sounds into words and words into sentences is called grammar. Syntax is a part of grammar that deals with the arrangement of words to form well-formed sentences. The encoding system is a term used in communication theory that refers to the method used to convert information into a form that can be transmitted. The semantic differential is a measurement instrument used in psychology to assess the meaning of concepts or objects.

Question 10

According to Chomsky,we are able to express ideas in a variety of ways by applying __________ rules.

Accepted Answer

Chomsky's theory of transformational grammar suggests that we can express ideas in various ways by applying transformational rules, which convert deep structures into different surface structures.

Question 11

A young child tells his grandmother that "he goed to town." The child's application of the normal past tense to the irregular verb "to go" illustrates that the child is attempting to use

Accepted Answer

This illustrates the child's attempt to use transformation rules, which involve applying general grammatical rules to words, in this case, adding "-ed" to make the past tense, even to irregular verbs where this rule does not apply.

Question 12

Rearranging words almost always changes the meaning of a sentence,which illustrates the importance of

Accepted Answer

Syntax refers to the way words are arranged in a sentence and how they relate to each other. Rearranging words can completely alter the meaning of a sentence, highlighting the importance of syntax in communication. Graphology refers to the study of handwriting, phonology refers to the study of the sound system of a language, and disjunctive concepts refer to concepts that are separated or disconnected. None of these options are as closely related to the importance of word arrangement as syntax.

Question 13

Which of the following focused on the unspoken rules we use to change core ideas into various sentences,rather than the "surface language" of traditional grammar?

Accepted Answer

Noam Chomsky is known for his work on generative grammar, which focuses on the underlying rules that allow humans to produce an infinite number of sentences from a finite set of words and structures. This goes beyond traditional surface-level grammar rules and delves into the deeper, more fundamental rules of language use.

Question 14

The smallest meaningful units of speech,such as syllables or words,are called

Accepted Answer

Morphemes are the smallest units of language that carry meaning. They can be whole words or parts of words, such as prefixes or suffixes.

Question 15

Words can be rearranged to form an infinite variety of meaningful sentences.This represents the characteristic of language called

Accepted Answer

Productivity refers to the ability to create an infinite number of new sentences by combining familiar words in unfamiliar ways. Phonology refers to the study of sounds in language, grammar refers to the set of rules governing how words are combined into sentences, and morphology refers to the study of the structure of words.

Question 16

Santos is learning the rules for ordering words in the formation of sentences.Santos is studying

Accepted Answer

Syntax involves the study of the rules that govern the ordering of words in sentences. Therefore, Santos is learning syntax.

Question 17

The fact that the sentence,"Samantha kissed Trevor," has a very different meaning from "Trevor kissed Samantha," demonstrates the importance of

Accepted Answer

Syntax refers to the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. In this case, the order of the subject and object in the sentence changes the meaning of the sentence. "Samantha kissed Trevor" means that Samantha was the one performing the action of kissing Trevor, while "Trevor kissed Samantha" means that Trevor was the one performing the action of kissing Samantha. This shows the importance of word order and syntax in conveying meaning in language.

Question 18

The sentence "A man opened the store for business" and the sentence "The store was opened for business by a man" are related by

Accepted Answer

The two sentences are related by transformation rules, which involve changing the word order or syntactic structure of a sentence without changing its meaning. The first sentence is in active voice with a subject performing the action, while the second sentence is in passive voice with the subject receiving the action. This transformation can be achieved using specific rules and does not change the meaning of the sentence.

Question 19

The part of grammar that involves the rules for word order is referred to as

Accepted Answer

Syntax refers to the rules governing word order and sentence structure in a language. Semantics refers to the meaning of words and how they combine to create meaning. Pragmatics refers to the context and social factors that influence language use. Phonology refers to the sound system of a language.

Question 20

A young child tells his mother that "when the dog growl at me,I runned home so fast,I hurt my foots." The child's application of the normal past tense and plurals to irregular verbs and nouns illustrates the child's attempt to use

Accepted Answer

The answer of A young child tells his mother that...

Quiz 8: A: Cognition,language,and Creativity