Semantic Roles and Case Grammar

Description: This quiz is designed to assess your knowledge of Semantic Roles and Case Grammar. It covers concepts such as thematic roles, case roles, and their relationship with verb semantics.
Number of Questions: 15
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Tags: semantics pragmatics semantic roles case grammar
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What is the primary function of semantic roles in a sentence?

  1. To identify the grammatical function of words

  2. To specify the meaning of words in context

  3. To determine the syntactic structure of a sentence

  4. To establish the relationship between words and their referents


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Semantic roles are used to describe the meaning of words in a sentence by identifying their thematic roles, which represent the semantic relationships between words and the actions or events they participate in.

Which of the following is NOT a common thematic role?

  1. Agent

  2. Patient

  3. Instrument

  4. Recipient


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Recipient is not a common thematic role because it is typically associated with ditransitive verbs, which are less common than transitive and intransitive verbs.

In the sentence 'The cat chased the mouse', what is the thematic role of 'cat'?

  1. Agent

  2. Patient

  3. Instrument

  4. Goal


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

In this sentence, 'cat' is the entity performing the action of chasing, so it has the thematic role of Agent.

What is the case role associated with the thematic role of Patient?

  1. Nominative

  2. Accusative

  3. Dative

  4. Genitive


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The accusative case is typically used to mark the Patient in a sentence, indicating that it is the entity undergoing the action.

In the sentence 'John gave Mary the book', what is the case role of 'book'?

  1. Nominative

  2. Accusative

  3. Dative

  4. Genitive


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

In this sentence, 'book' is the direct object of the verb 'gave', so it has the accusative case role.

Which of the following is NOT a type of case role?

  1. Nominative

  2. Accusative

  3. Dative

  4. Instrumental


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Instrumental is not a type of case role because it is typically associated with adpositions, which are not considered to be case markers.

In the sentence 'The dog bit the bone with its teeth', what is the case role of 'teeth'?

  1. Nominative

  2. Accusative

  3. Dative

  4. Instrumental


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

In this sentence, 'teeth' is the instrument used to perform the action of biting, so it has the instrumental case role.

What is the relationship between semantic roles and verb semantics?

  1. Semantic roles are determined by the meaning of the verb

  2. Verb semantics are determined by the semantic roles of its arguments

  3. Semantic roles and verb semantics are independent of each other

  4. There is no relationship between semantic roles and verb semantics


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Semantic roles are assigned to arguments based on the meaning of the verb, which determines the thematic roles of the arguments.

Which of the following sentences is ungrammatical due to a mismatch between semantic roles and verb semantics?

  1. The cat chased the mouse

  2. The book read the student

  3. The teacher gave the student a book

  4. The car drove the road


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The sentence 'The book read the student' is ungrammatical because the verb 'read' requires an animate Agent, but 'book' is an inanimate object.

How do semantic roles contribute to the overall meaning of a sentence?

  1. By specifying the grammatical function of words

  2. By determining the syntactic structure of a sentence

  3. By establishing the relationship between words and their referents

  4. By providing information about the context of the sentence


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Semantic roles help establish the relationship between words and their referents by identifying the thematic roles of the arguments, which convey the semantic relationships between words and the actions or events they participate in.

Which of the following is NOT a benefit of using semantic roles in linguistic analysis?

  1. It helps identify the core meaning of a sentence

  2. It facilitates the comparison of sentences across languages

  3. It aids in the development of machine translation systems

  4. It provides information about the grammatical structure of a sentence


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Semantic roles are primarily used for semantic analysis and do not directly provide information about the grammatical structure of a sentence.

In the sentence 'The boy kicked the ball', what is the thematic role of 'ball'?

  1. Agent

  2. Patient

  3. Instrument

  4. Goal


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

In this sentence, 'ball' is the entity undergoing the action of kicking, so it has the thematic role of Patient.

What is the case role associated with the thematic role of Goal?

  1. Nominative

  2. Accusative

  3. Dative

  4. Genitive


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

The dative case is typically used to mark the Goal in a sentence, indicating that it is the entity towards which the action is directed.

In the sentence 'The teacher gave the student a book', what is the case role of 'student'?

  1. Nominative

  2. Accusative

  3. Dative

  4. Genitive


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

In this sentence, 'student' is the indirect object of the verb 'gave', so it has the dative case role.

Which of the following is a common semantic role associated with verbs of perception?

  1. Agent

  2. Patient

  3. Experiencer

  4. Instrument


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Verbs of perception typically have an Experiencer as one of their semantic roles, which represents the entity that perceives the action or event.

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