Syntax and Constituency

[thaichicken]

In my linguistics class we're talking about sentence constituents, and we've been told that if a set of words passes even one constituency test, it is a constituent.

We're supposed to be proving the difference between the verb phrases in "We will [jump off the train.]" and "We will [blow off the class.]", and I know how they're different and I've

Comments

[philena]

I think your trouble is coming from the fact that your last set of questions are not testing the constituency of the possible PP that follows the verb, but rather is testing the constituency of the verb phrase itself. When you ask "Where will we jump/blow?", you're asking about the PP, and so you get the expected results, where the constituent "off the train" is fine, while the non-constituent "off the class" is weird. When you ask "What will we do to the train/class?", however, you're not asking for a PP answer fragment. You're asking for a VP answer fragment, and both "jump off the train" and "blow off the class" are perfectly good VPs, so they both properly pass the constituency test. To show the difference between them, you have to narrow your constituency test to target PP-sized chunks.

[thaichicken]

Aha! Thank you! All is clear now. Have a good weekend!

[hongi]

and we've been told that if a set of words passes even one constituency test, it is a constituent.

Um, is this true?

[thaichicken]

I would not know. If it helps, we are to choose from among Sentence Fragment, Movement, Coordination, Ellipsis, and Movement tests. Maybe there are others...?

[tisoi]

I vaguely remember we used idiomatic readings in our syntax class as well. The two idioms we used "let the cat out of the bag" and "the shit hit the fan."

[dorsetgirl]

I can't pretend to have any clue what you're talking about here, but your use of the verb phrase "to blow off" has me staring slack-jawed at the screen. I can only assume that in your version of English it does not mean "to fart"...

[philena]

Hee! In this context it means "to skip class." In my variety of English (General American), I've never heard "to blow off" mean "to fart."

[dorsetgirl]

That's a relief! Actually, I'm not sure people say "blow off" for "fart" any more; most people are more relaxed about simply saying "fart"; when I was a kid it was quite a rude word!

We say "skiving off" for deciding not to go to a lesson, or not to go to work.

[yamx]

It means to skip class.

[zenith_the_high]

In the second instance, you could easily ask instead, "When will we blow off class?" and it would have a correct answer- on Friday we will blow off class, perhaps.

Not sure if this rephrasing of the question necessarily helps you answer your question or measures up to your test, but hope it helps.

[houseboatonstyx]

But I can justify asking both "What will we do to the train? Jump off it." and "What will we do to the class? Blow it off."

I don't know these technical terms. But as a native speaker, I'll say that neither 'blow off' or 'jump off' does anything TO the train or TO the class.

We might say: "What will we do on/about the train if it does not stop at our road? Shall we pull the emergency cord? No, just jump off it."

Or, "What will we do in/during/about the class? Blow it off." Meaning, don't even go to the class, or leave early.

Southern US / Oxbridge