Which of the following constituency tests was applied to the sentences below?

(8) Sentence: He burned his last violin to keep us warm1

Application of Test: John: Why did he burn his last violin?

Mary: To keep us warm.

(9) Sentence: He burned his last violin to keep us warm

Application of Test: John: What did he burn his last?

Mary: *Violin to keep us warm.

1. Adapted from Vuong, Ocean. 2016. Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press.

Question

Which of the following constituency tests was applied to the sentences below?

(8) Sentence: He burned his last violin to keep us warm1

Application of Test:  John: Why did he burn his last violin?

Mary: To keep us warm.

(9) Sentence: He burned his last violin to keep us warm

Application of Test: John: What did he burn his last?

Mary: *Violin to keep us warm.

1. Adapted from Vuong, Ocean. 2016. Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press.

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The sentence fragment (short-answer) test checks whether a sequence of words can stand alone as an appropriate, isolated answer to a wh-question. If the sequence can be uttered by itself in response to a question and yields a felicitous answer, that sequence behaves like a constituent.

Step-by-step reasoning applied to the examples:
1. Example (8): John asks “Why did he burn his last violin?” Mary answers “To keep us warm.” That one-phrase reply is an appropriate, stand-alone answer to the why-question. The ability of “to keep us warm” to function as a short answer indicates it is a constituent (a purpose adjunct) according to the sentence-fragment test.
2. Example (9): John asks “What did he burn his last?” (intended: “What did he burn last?”). Mary’s attempted fragment answer “*Violin to keep us warm.” is unacceptable as a standalone answer to the wh-question. The failure shows that the string “violin to keep us warm” is not an acceptable constituent in that position (or at least not in the form presented), supporting the diagnostic nature of the fragment test: some sequences pass (example 8), others fail (example 9).
3. These two question–answer pairs therefore demonstrate the use of the sentence-fragment/short-answer constituency test: acceptability of short, standalone answers indicates constituency.

Why other options are incorrect:
- Substitution test would replace a phrase with a pro-form (e.g., do so, one, it), but no such replacement is used in the examples.
- Wh-cleft involves constructions like “It was X that Y” (e.g., “It was to keep us warm that he burned his last violin”); that specific cleft construction is not what is illustrated.
- “None of these” is wrong because the examples clearly show the short-answer/sentence-fragment test in action.

Therefore the correct answer is Sentence fragment, matching the provided answer.

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