Question

Which one of the sentences below does NOT have \textit{syntactic recursion in it?}

• A. The wolves ran on steadily.
• B. The wolves ran in the night.
• C. The deer avoided the wolves.
• D. The deer quietly stood nearby.

Hint:

To spot recursion, check whether one phrase is nested inside another (e.g., NP inside VP, PP inside NP). If the sentence is just subject + verb + modifier without nesting, it is non-recursive.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Understanding syntactic recursion
Syntactic recursion occurs when one phrase of a given type is nested inside another phrase of the same type. For example, verb phrases (VPs) may contain prepositional phrases (PPs), or noun phrases (NPs) may contain relative clauses. Step 2: Analyzing each option
- (A) \emph{The wolves ran on steadily.}
This is a simple verb phrase: \emph{ran on steadily}. The words \emph{on steadily} are just an adverbial modifier, not an embedded phrase. There is no recursive embedding here. Hence, this sentence does not exhibit syntactic recursion.
- (B) \emph{The wolves ran in the night.}
Here, the verb phrase \emph{ran} contains a prepositional phrase (PP: \emph{in the night}). This is recursion because a phrase structure is embedded within the verb phrase.
- (C) \emph{The deer avoided the wolves.}
Although structurally simple, the object \emph{the wolves} forms a full noun phrase (NP) embedded within the verb phrase (VP). This counts as recursion.
- (D) \emph{The deer quietly stood nearby.}
The verb phrase \emph{stood nearby} includes an embedded adverbial modifier \emph{quietly}, showing recursion.
Step 3: Conclusion
Only (A) is a flat, non-recursive structure. All others show some form of syntactic embedding. \[ \boxed{\text{Correct Answer: (A)}} \]