Question

Consider the underlined NPs in the following three sentences: i. \underline{John} broke the window ii. \underline{The window} broke iii. \underline{The stone} broke the window Choose the correct values for the grammatical roles (X\textsubscript{1-3}) and for the semantic roles (Y\textsubscript{1-3}) of these NPs from the options given below.

• A. X\textsubscript{1}: subject, Y\textsubscript{1}: agent
• B. X\textsubscript{2}: subject, Y\textsubscript{2}: object
• C. X\textsubscript{3}: subject, Y\textsubscript{3}: instrument
• D. X\textsubscript{2}: object, Y\textsubscript{2}: agent

Hint:

Always distinguish between syntactic roles (subject, object) and semantic roles (agent, patient, instrument, experiencer, etc.). A subject need not always be an agent; it can also be an instrument or experiencer.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A, C

Step 1: Sentence (i) – "John broke the window." - Underlined NP: \emph{John} - Syntactic role: subject (because John is the subject of the verb "broke"). - Semantic role: agent (because John is the intentional doer of the action). \(\Rightarrow\) X\textsubscript{1} = subject, Y\textsubscript{1} = agent. Thus, (A) is correct. Step 2: Sentence (ii) – "The window broke." - Underlined NP: \emph{The window} - Syntactic role: subject (since "the window" is in subject position). - Semantic role: patient/theme (because it undergoes the breaking, not an agent). \(\Rightarrow\) (B) is incorrect because it wrongly labels "the window" as object. \(\Rightarrow\) (D) is also incorrect because "the window" is not an agent. Step 3: Sentence (iii) – "The stone broke the window." - Underlined NP: \emph{The stone} - Syntactic role: subject (grammatically it appears in subject position). - Semantic role: instrument (the stone is the means by which the window is broken). \(\Rightarrow\) X\textsubscript{3} = subject, Y\textsubscript{3} = instrument. Thus, (C) is correct. \[ \boxed{Correct Answer: (A), (C)} \]