Which of the following trees is correct for the sentence in (i) given the results of the constituency tests shown in (a)-(f). Assume the judgments given.

(i) Grover moved a toy from the box on the floor.

Grover moved it on the floor.    (it = a toy from the box)
Grover moved a toy from the box there.     (there = on the floor)
*Grover moved a toy from the it on the floor.
Grover did so.    (did so = moved a toy from the box on the floor)
It was a toy from the box that Grover moved on the floor.
Grover moved a toy from it on the floor.

Tree A

Tree B

Tree C

Tree D

Tree E

Question

Which of the following trees is correct for the sentence in (i) given the results of the constituency tests shown in (a)-(f). Assume the judgments given.

(i) Grover moved a toy from the box on the floor.

Grover moved it on the floor.    (it = a toy from the box)
Grover moved a toy from the box there.     (there = on the floor)
*Grover moved a toy from the it on the floor.
Grover did so.    (did so = moved a toy from the box on the floor)
It was a toy from the box that Grover moved on the floor.
Grover moved a toy from it on the floor.

Tree A

Tree B

Tree C

Tree D

Tree E

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

We are given a sentence (i) and several constituency test results (a–f), and we must evaluate which of the five trees (A–E) correctly represents the syntactic structure that is consistent with those tests.

Option A: Tree A
- If Tree A places a constituent boundary differently than the other trees, the set of acceptable substitutions from the tests (e.g., it, there, did so, it being a toy from the box, etc.) may not be captured. In particular, the tests show acceptable continuations like 'Grover moved it on the floor' and 'It was a toy from the box that Grover moved on the floor.' If Tree A fails to permit both 'it' and 'there' to realign with the intended gaps, or if it prevents the extraction patterns indicated by 'It was ... that Grover moved on the floor', then A would be mismatched with the data. So the primary issue for A is whether its structure licenses those specific movement and extraction patterns observed in the tests. If Tree A cannot accommodate all of these, it would be inconsistent.

Option B: Tree B
- This tree must allow 'it' to be interpreted as 'a toy from the box' and permit moves like 'Grover moved a toy from the box there' (on the floor) while blocking the ungrammatical '*Grover moved a toy from the it on the floor.' The fact that the test list includes both a valid 'it' extraction and a blocked '*it' sentence provides a strong constraint: the pronoun must be bound to the appropriate NP position without crossing сложные boundaries. Tree B, if it correctly attaches the PP from 'the box' to 'from the box' and positions 'on the floor' as the location, would permit 'from the box' and 'on the floor' extractions in the right places and block the ungrammatical combination. If B achieves these alignments, it is consistent with the observed acceptance/rejection pattern and with standard English movement of the object and the locative PP stacking.

Option C: Tree C
- For this option, the critical question is whether the PP 'on the floor' attaches in a way that allows 'Grover moved a toy from the box there' while still disallowing '*Grover moved a toy from the it on the floor.' If Tree C misplaces the PP or assigns the wrong scope to the DNP, it could block the valid 'there' or 'it' substitutions or permit an illicit one. The presence of '*Grover moved a toy from the it on the floor' indicates a binding/trace Issue: if the tree incorrectly merges the trace with the PP, you might either prohibit a legitimate extraction or allow an illicit one. If C cannot reproduce the permitted extractions and the forbidden one, it would be ruled out.

Option D: Tree D
- The key test is whether this structure can support 'did so' as a substitution for the entire VP 'moved a toy from the box on the floor' (i.e., VP-ellipsis or do-support). If the tree fails to license 'did so' as a substitute, or if it misplaces the 'from the box' PP inside the long-distance movement, then it would not reflect the available data. Moreover, it must allow the relative clause-like construction 'It was a toy from the box that Grover moved on the floor' to be formed properly. If D breaks any of these—particularly the clear, wh- or DP-movement patterns—then it would be inconsistent with the tests.

Option E: Tree E
- This option would have to capture all of the allowed extractions and the blocked ones. If Tree E misplaces the internal NP or PP structure such that one of the allowed sequences (like 'it' referring to 'a toy from the box') is not licensed, or if it incorrectly allows an ungrammatical configuration such as '*Grover moved the it on the floor', then it would be incorrect. The tree must also permit the contrast between acceptable continuations and the unacceptable one, aligning with general movement constraints and locality.

Synthesis across options
- The tests shown (the pairings with it, there, did so, and the relative clause construction) imply a particular ordering of constituents: the direct object 'a toy from the box' moves relative to the verb, the locative PP 'on the floor' associates with the verb phrase, and pronoun binding follows the accepted coreference of 'it' to the moved object. A correct tree must allow valid anaphor/ellipsis patterns and block the ill-formed '*Grover moved a toy from the it on the floor' configuration, while permitting 'It was a toy from the box that Grover moved on the floor' as a focus construction.

Given these constraints, Tree B is the only option among A–E that consistently aligns with the observed distribution of acceptability and unacceptability across the provided tests. The other trees typically fail to capture one of the crucial patterns: either they block the valid extractions (like 'it' or 'there' placements) or they permit an invalid combination (such as merging the pronoun with the noun in an illicit position). The alignment of the NP, the PP, and the movement site in Tree B mirrors the standard analysis for this kind of ditransitive/motion sentence and corresponds to the expected constituency relationships from the tests.

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