大学英语新编语言学教程Chapter 4 Syntax..ppt

Chapter4Syntax(FromWordtoText),4.1WhatisSyntax?,Theuseoflanguage,likegames,hasitsownrules.Toplaythegameswell,youshouldknowtherules.Words,wordgroupsandphrases,andclausescannotoccuratrandom,theyhavetofollowcertainrulesofordering.,SYNTAXisthestudyoftherulesgoverningthewaysdifferentconstituentsarecombinedtoformsentencesinalanguage,orthestudyoftheinterrelationshipsbetweenelementsinsentencestructures.句法研究的是语言中不同成分组合句子的支配规则，或者句子结构中各要素间的相互关系。,4.2Categories,Categoryinsomeapproachesreferstoclassesandfunctionsinitsnarrowsense,e.g.noun,verb,subject,predicate,nounphrase,verbphrase,etc.范畴这一术语在一些学派中指的是狭义的词类和词语的功能，例如名词、动词、主语、谓语、名词短语、动词短语等。,Morespecifically,itreferstothedefiningpropertiesofthesegeneralunits:更具体一些，范畴指的是这些一般性单位的甄别性特点：Thecategoriesofthenoun,includenumber,gender,caseandcountability;名词的范畴包括数、性、格和可数性；Thecategoriesoftheverb,forexample,person,tense,aspect,mood,voice,etc.动词范畴则含有人称、时、体、式、态等。,GrammaticalCategories,Theterm“grammaticalcategory”isusedbysomelinguiststorefertowordclasses.InTGgrammaticalcategoriesaresyntacticunitsindicatedby“categorysymbols”suchasS,NP,VP,Det,A,etc.有些语言学家用“语法范畴”这个术语来表示词类。在转换生成语法中，语法范畴是用S,NP,VP,Det,A等“范畴符号”表示的句法单位。,数(Number),Numberisagrammaticalcategorywithaclearsemanticbasisprimarilyfornounswithtwoforms:singular/plural(boy/boys).NotalltheEnglishnounshaveasingular-pluraldistinction.Thosenounsthathavethisdistinctionarecalled“countnouns”.Theirregularpluralformsareclearlymarkedbypluralsuffixes.,Numberisalsoreflectedinpronouns(asinI/we)andverbssinceinEnglishthereisconcord(agreement)ofnumberbetweennounsandverbs(Theboyruns/Theboysrun).,数(Number),性(Gender),Manyinflectionallanguageshavethreemeaning-relatedgenderdistinction:masculine,feminineandneuter.许多屈折语言里有三种和意义相关的性：阳性、阴性、中性。InEnglishgendercontrastcanbeonlyobservedinpronounsandasmallnumberofnounswhichshowsthebiologicalgender.,格(Case),ManyEnglishpronounshavedifferentformscorrespondingtothedistinctionofsubjective(nominative),objective(accusativeanddative)andgenitivecases,asinI,me,my;we,us,our;he,him,his,etc.英语中有许多代词的不同的形式，分别对应主格、宾格、属格等等,Apartfromthepronounsystem,Englishhasonlyonecasedistinctioninnouns-thegenitivecaseindicatedbythesuffix/-iz/,/-z/and/-s/inphoneticformsand“apostraphe+s”(boys),orapostropheonly(boys)inwriting.英语中除了代词之外，只有名词有格的变化，即名词所有格。,格(Case),人称(person),Thecategoryof“person”isovertlymarkedinEnglishpronounsystem.Italsobelongstotheverbsbecausethenumberofsubjectisindicatedintheverbformwhenthesubjectisinthethirdpersonandtheverbisinthepresenttense.Ithurts;theyhurt人称在英语代词体系中是明确标示出来的。人称也适用于动词，如果动词是第三人称现在时，主语的数就会在动词的词形上表现出来的。,时(Tense),Tenseshowstherelationshipbetweentheformoftheverbandthespeakersconceptoftime.InEnglish,theformalindicationisbetweenpastandnon-past,withthepastformallymarkedinregularverbsbysuffix-ed“时”表示动词的词形和说话者的时间概念之间的关系。在英语中，用词形区分的时态分过去时和非过去时，对规则的动词而言，用后缀-ed表示过去时。,体(Aspect),Aspectdealswithhowtheeventdescribedbyaverbisviewed.Englishhastwoaspectconstructions,theperfectiveandtheprogressive,realisedby“have+edparticiple”and“be+-ingparticiple”respectively.“体”关系到如何看待动词描述的事件。英语中有两种体，一个是完成体；一个是进行体。,式(Mood),Moodinvolvesachoicebetweenindicative,imperativeandsubjunctiveformsoftheverbonthesemanticbasisofthefactuality.“式”牵涉到在直陈式、祁使式、虚拟式动词词形间做出选择，这种选择以语义为依据，视动词所描述的事件真实与否而定。,TheEnglishimperativehasonlya“tenseless”beasformalmarker.Subjunctivemoodisusedtoindicatesomeofthenonfactualandhypotheticalsituations.Englishhastwoformalmarkersofsubjunctivemood,thebaseformandwere.英语中的祁使式只是一个形式标记，即“无时态”的be。虚拟式用来表示与事实不符的假设的情况。英语中的虚拟式有两种标记，即动词原形和were。,态(Voice),Voicemakesitpossibletoviewtheactionofasentenceineitherofthetwowayswithoutthechangesinthefactsreported.“态”使人能从两种角度看待句子描述的动作但不改变句子描述的事实。,ThepassivevoiceofEnglishisrealizedby“be+edparticiple”.Thedoerintheactivesentenceisomittedinthepassiveorisindicatedbya“by-phrase”.英语中有被动语态，用“分词”表示。主动态句子中的施动者在被动态句子中省略，或用“by短语”ActivevoiceJimcaughttheball.PassivevoiceTheballwascaught.Passivevoicewith“by-phrase”TheballwascaughtbyJim.,Inourtextbook,categoriesreferstoagroupoflinguisticitemswhichfulfillthesameorsimilarfunctionsinaparticularlanguagesuchasasentence,anounphraseoraverb.范畴指的是某一种特定的语言中执行相同或相近功能的一组语言项目，如句子、名词短语、或者动词。,Word-levelcategories,Themostcentralcategoriestothesyntacticstudyaretheword-levelcategories.对于句法研究最核心的范畴是词层次范畴。Herewordlevelcategoriesaredividedintotwokinds:majorlexicalcategoriesandminorlexicalcategories.MAJORlexicalcategoriesplayaveryimportantroleinthesentenceformation.,Todetermineawordscategory,threecriteriaareusuallyemployed,namely,meaning,inflectionanddistribution.Wordcategoriesoftenbearsomerelationshipwithitsmeaning.Thesecondcriterionisinflection.Wordsofdifferentcategoriestakedifferentinflections.Thelastandmorereliablecriterionisitsdistribution.Thatiswhattypeofelementscanco-occurwithacertainword.,PHRASEisasingleelementofstructurecontainingmorethanoneword,andlackingthesubject-predicatestructuretypicalofclauses.Traditionally,itisseenaspartofstructuralhierarchy,positionedbetweenclauseandword.,短语(PHRASE)是含有一个以上词语的单一结构要素，它没有分句所特有的主谓结构(subject-predicatestructure)。从传统上讲，短语被视为层级结构的一部分，位居分句和词语之间。,PhraseCategoriesandTheirStructures,Sowecanseethatinasentencewordsaregroupedtogether.Thesegroupsaregrammaticalunits.Theseareunits,subunitsandsub-subunits,eachcorrespondingtocertainsyntacticalcategoriesandorderedintermsoffivehierarchical：/,haiEra:kikl/ranks:,1.sentences(eachconsistsofoneormoreclauses)2.clauses(eachconsistsofoneormorephrases)3.phrases(eachconsistsofoneormorewords)4.words(eachconsistsofoneormoremorphemes)5.morphemes,SyntacticunitsthatarebuiltaroundacertainwordcategoryarecalledPHRASE,thecategoryofwhichisdeterminedbythewordcategoryaroundwhichthephraseisbuilt.围绕某一词范畴构成的句法单位称为短语。它的范畴由该短语构成时所围绕的词的范畴决定。,Ifthewordaroundwhichthephraseisbuiltisanoun,thenthephraseisanounphraseandsoon.短语构成所围绕的词是名词，那么该短语就是名词短语依此类推。InEnglishsyntacticanalysis,themostcommonlyrecognizedanddiscussedphrasalcategoriesarenounphrase(NP),verbphrase(VP),adjectivephrase(AP)andprepositionalphrase(PP).,NVAPwordlevelmajor,NPVPAPPPphraselevel,Phrasesthatareformedofmorethanonewordusuallycontainthefollowingelements:head,specifierandcomplement.Thewordwhichaphraseisformedistermedhead.Thewordsontheleftsideoftheheadsaresaidtofunctionasspecifiers.Thewordsontherightsideoftheheadsarecomplements.,由多个单词构成的短语通常包括以下成分：中心语、标志语和补语。短语围绕所构成的词叫做中心语。出现在中心语左边的词叫做标志语，出现在中心语右边的词叫做补语。,4.3PhraseStructureRule,Aswehaveseen,acertainwordcanonlyconcurwithcertainotherwords.Theremustbecertaingrammaticalmechanismthatensurestheappropriatepositionsthatspecifiers,heads,andcomplementsoccupyinphrasestructure.,如我们所见，某一特定的词只能与另一类特定的词组一起出现。这其中必定存在着某种语法机制确保标志语、中心语和补语在短语结构中处于恰当位置的。,Suchspecialtypeofgrammaticalmechanismthatregulatesthearrangementofelementsthatmakeupaphraseiscalledphrasestructurerule（PSrule）.,这种规定构成一个短语的成分的排列的特殊语法机制类型被称作是短语规则。,NP(Det)N(PP)VP(Qual)V(NP)AP(Deg)A(PP)PP(Deg)P(NP),Theparenthesestheelementinthemisoptional,箭头可以读作“由构成”或者“扩展为”，括号表明其中的成分可以省略，每个规则后面的三点表示可以选择加入其他的补语。,NP(Det)N(PP)VP(Qual)V(NP)AP(Deg)A(PP)PP(Deg)P(NP),Specifier,Complement,Head,XP,X,TheXPrule:XP(specifier)X(complement),Thesyntacticconstructionsanalyzedareoftwotypes:endocentricandexocentricconstructions,dependingontheirdistributionandtherelationbetweentheirconstituents.根据句法结构的分布及句法结构中成分之间的关系,句法结构可以分为向心结构和离心结构.,EndocentricandExocentricConstructions,EndocentricConstructions,ENDOCENTRICconstructionisonewhosedistributionisfunctionallyequivalenttothatofoneormoreofitsconstituents,i.e.awordoragroupofwords,whichservesasadefinableCENTREorHEAD.向心结构的分布和它的一个或多个成分的分布在功能上相同，该成分是一个词或一组词，是整个结构的核心或中心。,Usuallynounphrases,verbphrasesandadjectivephrasesbelongtoendocentrictypesbecausetheconstituentitemsaresubordinatetotheHead.名词短语、动词短语和形容词通常都属于向心结构，因为各成分从属于短语中心词。,ThesetwooldeststonebridgesHead,WillbeleavingverylateHeadHead,ExocentricConstructions,EXOCENTRICconstructionreferstoagroupofsyntacticallyrelatedwordswherenoneofthewordsisfunctionallyequivalenttothegroupasawhole,thatis,thereisnodefinable“Centre”or“Head”insidethegroup.离心结构指的是一组句法上相关的词中没有一个词在功能上与整个词组相同，也就是说，词组内没有“核心”或“中心词”。,Exocentricconstructionusuallyincludesbasicsentence,prepositionalphrase,predicateconstruction(verb+object),andconnectiveconstruction(be+complement).离心结构通常包括：基本句，介词短语，谓语结构和连词结构。,Theboysmiled.(Neitherconstituentcansubstituteforthesentencestrutureasawhole.)两个成分均不能替代整个句子结构Hehidbehindthedoor.(Neitherconstituentcanfunctionastheadverbial.)两个成分均不能单独起到状语的功能Hekickedtheball.(Neitherconstituentstandsfortheverb-objectsequence.)两个成分均不能单独表示动-宾排列。Johnseemedangry.(Afterdivision,theconnectiveconstructionnolongerexists.)分开后，连词结构不复存在,NPtheladyorNPthetigerVPgotothelibraryandVPreadabookPPdownthestairsorPPoutthedoorAPquiteexpensiveandAPverybeautifulSJohnlovesMaryandSMarylovesJohntoo.NPAman,awoman,aboy,acatandadoggotintothecar.,Thecommonsyntacticpatternsareformedbygroupingtogethertwoormorecategoriesofthesametypewiththehelpofconjunctionsuchas“and”,“or”and“but”.Suchphrasesarecalledcoordinatestructuresandthisphenomenoniscalledcoordination.在英语中，有些结构是借助于象and或者是or这样的连词将同种类型的两个或者是多个成分连接起来而构成的。这样的短语称为并列结构，这种现象叫做并列。ThefourimportantpropertiesofCoordination(P46),Coordination,Endocentricconstructionsfallintotwomaintypes,dependingintherelationbetweenconstituents:CoordinationandSubordination.根据组成成分之间的关系，向心结构可分为并列与从属。,Subordination,SUBORDINATIONreferstotheprocessorresultoflinkinglinguisticunitssothattheyhavedifferentsyntacticstatus,onebeingdependentupontheother,andusuallyaconstituentoftheother.从属指的是将语言单位连接以使各单位具备不同句法地位的过程和结果，其中一个单位依赖于另一个单位，且通常是该单位的一个成分。,PhraseElementsSpecifiers,Thesyntacticcategoryofthespecifierdiffersdependingonthecategoryofthehead(distribution).IftheheadsareNs,thespecifiersaredeterminers.IftheheadsareVs,thespecifiersarequalifiers.IftheheadsareAsandPs,thenthespecifiersaredegreewords.,标志语的句法范畴因中心语范畴的不同而不同。限定语是作为名词的标志语，修饰语则是典型地作为动词的标志语，而程度词则作为形容词（有时是介词）的标志词。,Complements,Complementsarethemselvesphrasesandprovideinformationaboutentitiesandlocationswhoseexistenceisimpliedbythemeaningofitshead.Theyareattachedtotherightofthehead.6(P,484-1)补语自身就是短语，它们为中心词意义中所必须包含的实体与位置提供了信息。在英语中，它们依附在中心词的右边。,Subcategorization,TheinformationaboutawordscomplementisincludedintheheadandtermedSUBCATEGORIZATION.有关词的补语信息是包括在中心语之中的，被称为次范畴化。,Acertainlexicalitemrequiresacertaintypeofcomplements.Therefore,wecanreviseourearlierXPrule,usinganasteriskafterthecomplementtoindicatethatoneormoreoftheseelementsispermitted.一个特定的词汇项要求一种特定的补语。因此我们可以对我们先前的XP规则进行修订，用补语后面星号表示多个这样的成分是被允许的。,XPR1,TheXPRule(revised)XP(Specifier)X(Complement),Complementizers,MissHebertbelievesthatshewillwin.Theunderlinedpartintheabovesentenceisthecomplementoftheverbbelieve.Itisasentenceitselfbutnotanindependentonesinceitisintroducedbyaconjunctionandfunctionsasaphrase.上面句子的斜线部分就是动词believe的补语。虽然它本身是句子,但不是一个独立成份,因为由一个连词引导,起到了短语的作用。,MissHebertbelievesthatshewillwin.Wordslikethatwhichintroducesthesentencecomplementaretermedcomplementizers(Cs).（引导句子补语词叫补语化成分）Thesentenceshewillwinintroducedbycomplementizerthatisacomplementclause.(补语化成分引导句子叫补语从句)Thewholeunderlinedthatshewillwiniscalledacomplementphrase(CP).(整个斜体部分被称做补语短语),Modifiers,Modifierswhichspecifiesoptionallyexpressiblepropertiesofheads.修饰语详细地说明了中心语具有选择性的可表达特征。ThemostcommonmodifiersofNsareadjectivephrasesandthoseofverbsareadverbphrasesandprepositionalphraseswhichdescribemannerandtime,XPR2,Tomakemodifiersfitintothephrasestructure,theoriginalXPrulecanbeexpandedasfollowssothatitallowsthevariousoptions.,TheExpandedXPRuleXP(Specifier)(Mod)X(Complement)(Mod),Manylinguistsnowadaysbelievethatsentences,likeotherphrase,alsohavetheirheads.Theytakeanabstractcategoryinflection(dubbed“infl”)astheirheads,whichindicatesthesentencestenseandagreement.许多语言学家认为像其他短语一样，句子也有其中心语。他们把一个抽象范畴的屈折变化(缩写为infl)作为句子的中心语，来表现句子的时态和一致关系,4.5Sentences(TheSRule),4.6Transformation,Auxiliarymovement/DoinsertionDeepstructureandsurfacestructureWh-movementMoveandconstraintsontransformations,Toformyes-noquestion1)Anovert(显性)inflform-Auxiliarymovement2)Acovertform-Doinsertion,4.6.1Auxiliarymovement4.6.2Doinsertion,TheXPTheoryisextendedtosentencesbyintroducingacategoryComplimentizer(COMP)intothePSrulestoindicatethesubordinatorsofanydependentclauses,suchathat,which,who,whether,what,iffor,etc.,ortheinvertedauxiliariesinyes-noquestions.,XP理论还可以适用于句子，这是要在PS规则中引入标补语（COMP）这个范畴，以表示that、which、who、whether、what、if、for等从句中的主从连词，或者yes-no问句中倒装的助动词,Andayes-noquestion,suchas“Areyouthenewteacher”像“Areyouthenewteacher”这样的yes-no问句可以表示为：,S-COMPSareyoutthenewteacher,P54:Somesentencesmustbeanalyzedwiththehelpoftwodistincttypesofmechanisms-1）theXPrule,whichdeterminestheinternalstructureofphrasalcategories,and2）transformationswhichcanmodifythesetreestructuresbymovinganelementfromonepositiontoanother.一些句子必须借助两种截然不同的机制来进行分析。决定短语范畴的内部结构XP规则；把一种成分从一个位置改到另一个位置来修饰这些树形结构的转换。,4.6.3Deepstructureandsurfacestructure,Therearetwolevelsofsyntacticstructure.1)Thefirst,formedbytheXPruleinaccordancewiththeheadssubcategorizationproperties,iscalleddeepstructure.第一个是由XP规则按照中心语的次范畴化而构成的，称为深层结构。2)Thesecond,correspondingtothefinalsyntacticformofthesentencewhichresultsfromappropriatetransformations,iscalledsurfacestructure.第二个是与通过恰当转换而形成的句子的最终句法形式相对应的，称为表层结构。,Andtogenerateasentence,wealwaysstartwithitsdeepstructures,andthentransformitintoitscorrespondingsurfacestructure.Deepstructuresisgeneratedbyphrasestructurerules(PSrules)whilesurfacestructuresarederivedfromtheirdeepstructuresbytransformationalrules(T-rules).Thewholeprocessofthedynamicstudycanberepresentedbythefollowingdiagram:,PSrulesDeepstructuresT-rulesSurfacestructures,DeepstructureD1:Theturkeyitselfisreadytoeatsomething.(theturkeyisthelogicalsubjectoftoeat)D2:Theturkeyasadishisreadyforpeopletoeat.(theturkeyisthelogicalobjectoftoeat)SurfacestructureTheturkeyisreadytoeat.,Thedistinctionbetweendeepandsurfacestructuresenablesustoexplainthedifferencebetweenthefollowingpairofsentences,whichappeartohavethesamesurfacestructuressyntactically:Johniseagertoplease.Johniseasytoplease.,Wesimplypointoutthattheyhavetwodistinctdeepstructuresandthesyntacticdifferenceisobliteratedbltret(removed除去)bytheapplicationofcertainT-rules.Theirdeepstructuresmayberoughlypresentedas:,SNPVPSVASomeonepleaseJohniseasy,SNPVPNVASJohniseagerJohnpleasesomeone,Thetwosentenceshavesimilarsurfacestruture.Butinspitethissimilaritythegrammarofthetwoisquitedifferent.“John”hasadifferentlogicalrelationshipto“please”inthetwosentences.Inthefirstsentence,thoughitisnotapparentfromthesurfaceorder,“John”functionsasthedirectobjectoftheverb“toplease”;thesentencemeans:itiseasyforsomeonetopleaseJohn.,Whereasinthesecondsentence“John”functionsasthesubjectoftheverb“toplease”;thesentencemeans:Johniseagerthathepleasessomeone.Itcannotbeparaphrasedas“ItiseagertopleaseJohn”or“PleasingJohniseager”.,Deepstruturespecifiestheserelationships:a.(SomeonepleasesJohn)iseasy;b.Johniseager(Johnpleasessomeone),PSstructurerules,SomePSrulesareintroducedappliedingeneratingdeepstructures:SNPAUXVPNP(Det)(AP)NAP(AP)/(ADVP)AdjADVP(ADVP)AdvpVPV(NP)(PP)(S)/(AP)/(ADVP)PPPNPAUXTense(Modal)(Perf)(Prog),TensePresent/PastModalcan,may,must,will,shall,etc.Perfhave-ENProgbe-ING,SNPAUXVPNTenseVNPDetAPNAPAdjAPAdjAdjThatpresentbeaninterestingoldEnglishbook,(1)ThatisaninterestingoldEnglishbook.,(2)Thewindowwasbroken.,SNPAUXVPNTenseVNPDetNSomeonepastbreakthewindowThewindowPast+be-ENbreak+Bysomeonebe+Pastbreak+ENwasbroken,Whatsyntacticruleisinvolvedinthetransformationofthesentence“Themanwascheated”?Explainbyusingtreediagrams.(南开大学2000年考研试题),CPSNPCNPInflVPPstNPVNecheathimD-structure,S-structure,CPSNPCNPInflVPNPstNPVNHewasecheatedt,(3)Hecanrunveryfast.,SNPAUXVPNTenseModalVADVPADVPAdvAdvHepresentcanrunveryfast,(4)Isuspectheishonest.,SNPAUXVPNTenseVSNPAUXVPNTenseVAPAdjIpresentsuspecthePresentbedishonest,(5)Sheputthebookonthedesk.,SNPAUXVPNTenseVNPPPDetNPNPDetNShePastputthebookonthedesk,(6)Hemighthavebeenwaitingforus.,SNPAUXVPNTenseModalPerfProgVPPPNPNHePastmayhave-ENbe-INGwaitforus,SNPAUXVPNTenseVJohnpastcomePastJohncomePast+doJohnDoPastDid,(7)DidJohncome?,SNPAUXVPNTenseProgVAdverboftimeJohnPresentbe-INGcomewhenPresent+beJohnINGcomewhenWhenPresentbeJohnINGcomebePresentcomeINGiscoming,(8)WhenisJohncoming?,SNPAUXVPNTenseVNPDetNYouPresenttakeaseatTakePresentTake,(9)Takeaseat.,Ambiguity,Mostresearchersclassifyambiguityintotwobroadgroups:lexicalambiguityandstructuralambiguity.Lexicalambiguityiscausedbyambiguouswordsratherthanstructuresandusuallycreatedbypolysemyplisi:mi意义的分歧orhomonymyhmnmi同音异义.Structuralambiguityiscausedbyambiguousstructures.,(1)Johniseagertoplease.,TheambiguityliesinthelogicalrelationshipbetweenJohnandtoplease.Johnmightbethelogicalsubjectoftoplease,meaningthatJohniseagertopleaseothers,orthelogicalobjectoftoplease,meaningthatJohniseagertobepleased.,(2)Theydecidedonthetrain.,Thewordonmaygotogetherwithdecided,withthewholesentencemeaningtheychosetotakethetrain.Andoncanalsobecombinedwiththetrain,actingastheadverbialofplaceandthusgivingthesentencethemeaningthattheymadeadecisiononthetrain.,(3)Theyarecookingapples.,Thev-ingformcookingmaybepartofthepredicatearecooking,orpartofthepredictivecookingapples.Thesentencemeans,inthefirstcase,thatthosepeoplearepreparingfoodbyheatingapplesandinthesecond,thatthoseareapplesforcooking.,(4)Maryhitamanwithanumbrella.,Theambiguityherearisesfromtheprepositionalphasewithanumbrella,whichmayactastheattributiveoftheprecedingnounphraseaman,orastheadverbialofplaceoftheverbhit.Therefore,thesentencemeans,inthefirstcase,thatMaryhitamanwhoheldanumbrellaand,inthesecond,thatMaryusedanumbrellatohitaman.,(5)IlikeEveaswellasGloria.,Meaning1:IlikeEveaswellasIdoGloria.Meaning2:IlikeEveaswellasGloriadoesher.Meaning3:IlikebothEveandGloria.,(6)ShegaveabooktoherbrotherinNanjing.,Meaning1:ShegaveabooktoherbrotherwhowasinNanjing.Meaning2:ItwasinNanjingthatshegaveabooktoherbrother.,(7)Thereisabigstonehouseatthefootofthemountain.,Theadjectivebigmaymodifyeitherstoneorhouse.Soabighousecanbeunderstoodeitherahousemadeofbigstonesorasastonehousewhichisbig.,(8)Thepolicewasorderedtostopdrinkingaftermidnight.,Meaning1:Itwasaftermidnightthatthepolicewasorderedtostopthemselvesfromdrinking.Meaning2:Itwasaftermidnigh