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CONSTITUENTS
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Constituent a syntactic element of a sentence (a word or a group/string of words which go together) Tests for establishing whether a string is a constituent or not / sentence fragment test: Proform test, e.g. pronouns Question test, e.g. with whwh- expressions and phrases Movement test, e.g. moving string to some other positions Coordination test, joining them together using conjuctions and and or.

CleftCleft-test, dividing a sentence into two parts, one of them beginning with it. PseudoPseudo-cleft, reformulation of a sentence dividing it into two parts, one of them beginning with what. ThoughThough-test, transforming sentences beginning with although into structures where a focused part of the sentence precedes though followed by the rest of the sentence

Examples:
1. Black cab drivers went on strike. 1a. [Black cab] drivers went on strike. 1.b. Black [cab drivers] went on strike. 2. The boy and the girl girls uncle stayed to dinner. 2a. The boy and [the girl girls] uncle stayed to dinner. 2b. [The boy and the girl girls] uncle stayed to dinner.

3. Kim wrote that book with the blue cover. 4. Kim bought that book with her first wages. N V D N P D A N Question test: The question you ask should always be a grammatical one: the test test is the answer itself.

Echo questions: e.g. You saw what? (used when speaker is incredulous) 3a. *Kim wrote what with the blue cover? 3b. Kim bought what with her first wages? or 2a. The boy and who stayed to dinner?
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Cleft test: 3. It was [that book with the blue cover] that Kim wrote. 4. *It was that book with her first wages that Kim bought. but 4a. It was [that book] that Kim bought with her first wages. 4b. It was [with her first wages] that Kim bought that book.

Each of the tests for constituent structure works by harnessing the intuitions of native speakers of a language. The fact that speakers share grammaticality judgements intuitions, shows that we have an unconscious knowledge of the word groups in in a sentence.
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Whenever we put a string of words that is not a constituent into one of these environments, the result sounds impossible or awkward to native native speakers. This ungrammaticality tells us that in such cases, the string of words is not a constituent.
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Croatian
Try to apply question or cleft tests for the constituents of these these sentences: 1. Kim je napisala knjigu s plavim omotom. 2. Kim je kupila knjigu od prve plae. N Aux V N P A N

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Sentences:
1. Kim glanced at the actor with a wig. 2. Kim glanced at the actor through her binoculars. 3. At dinner Phill tried to have a serious talk to me. 4. Katie's flat, which she shared with her sister, was rather small. small. 5. She is going to make a wonderful bride. 6. I want to say that over the years we've had some great times together. together.

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