The ditransitive construction

1. Explain why sentence (b) sounds less polite than sentence (a):

a. She fed the guests lasagna.

b. She fed lasagna to the guests.

The caused-motion construction

2.Explain why sentences (a) and (b) sound correct while sentence (c) does not:

a. Sam walked him into the car.

b. The rain swept the ring into the gutter.

*c. The hammer broke the vase into pieces.

3. What of the following sentences are semantically acceptable? Explain why?

a. Sam coaxed him into the house.

b. Sam convinced him into the house.

c. Sam frightened him into the house.

d. Sam persuaded him into the house.

e. Sam lured him into the house.

f. Sam instructed him into the house.

g. Sam encouraged him into the house.

4. What semantic constraint on the caused-motion construction licenses the following sentences?

a. Jack clumped his potatoes into the middle of his plate.

b. Jack grated the cheese onto a serving plate.

The resultative construction

5. Explain why sentences (a) and (b)sound correct while sentence (c) does not:

a. She slept herself sober.

b. The jackhammer pounded us deaf.

*c. The feather tickled her silly.

5. What semantic constraint on the resultative construction licenses sentences (a) and rules out sentences (b):

1. He jerked the door open.

Sam cut himself free.

This man probably just wanted Mother to … kiss him unconscious.

*b. The bear growled us afraid.

He encouraged her confident.

He drank himself funny.

The” way” construction

6. Consider the means-interpretation of the way construction and state which

of the following sentences sound semantically correct:

a. Sally drank her way through the glass of lemonade.

2. Sally drank her way through the case of vodka.

3. Welcome our new daughter-in-law, who just married her way into our family.

4. Welcome our new daughter-in-law, who just married into our family.

6. Explain what semantic constraints on the way construction rule out the

following sentences:

*a. With a single bullet, Jones shot his way through the crowd.

*b. She jumped her way over the ditch.

*c. The butter melted its way off the turkey.

*d. She wandered her way over the field.

*e. Joe shoved his way among the crowd.

III. Study the following sentences which are those expressing complex event

structures, such as, process-motion, action-causation (action), process-causation (motion), action/process-causation (change of state), mode of motion-motion, path-motion, state-causation (change of state), mental action-physical action, process- causation (change of state), mode of action/instrument-action, action-causation (motion). Identify the event types which receive conflated representation in the given sentences. Consider the role of syntactic patterns in the event integration:

1. Byron’s bus grumbled down Jamboree street.

2. He dozed his way into the new cut, woke and dozed again.

3. She danced out of the room.

4. I zig-zagged /circled/ through the woods.

5. Virginia begins to unpin her hair, carefully counting the hairpins into a matchbox.

6. I straight-armed the door open.

7. His friends laughed Bill out of the town.

8. Soames took his seat in the center of the settee, oblivious of Ting-a-ling before the fire, sleeping off the attentions of Anabel Nazing, who had found him “just too cunning”.

9. You must have realized your dad was going to worry himself sick until you were found.

10. She ate slowly, trying to charm centimes from the passing tourists.

11. She cried a Japanese Napkin to a pulp.

12. I even coughed some of pastry onto Janice’s plate.