More syntax. Until the end of the world.

[philena]

In syntax, we often spend a great deal of time analyzing sentences of one type or another. The typical transitive sentence is "John sees Mary." The typical intransitive sentence is "Mary sings." An example of a sentence that is useful for running constituency tests is something like "John and Mary soak their feet after dinner." Some professors like to spice things up. Instead of "Mary," Jason Merchant prefers "Abby." My TA is fond of the sentence "The big ugly bird vandalized my garden." Sometimes, when testing for asymmetries, we'll use sentences like "No water-treatment plant serves more than three cities," in a fit of environmental conscientiousness. A few days ago we were handed a sheet of examples that were all based on Star Wars: "Darth will die." "Leia has discovered a wonderful smell." "The Falcon could have escaped if the engine had worked." "Although R@ hasn't been shot by stormtroopers, C-3PO has." Chapter 5 in the text has decided to go Assyrian, it appears: "Gilgamesh is not reading the cuneiform tablets." "Gilgamesh has never flown a dragon." "Tiamat is extremely evil." "Shamash is a dangerous sorcerer." The sentence I've been spending the past three hours on reads "Gilgamesh is [not] in the dungeon."

Except, alas, my earliest training has re-emerged, and I have just discovered that the sentence I have been analyzing reads, "Gilgamesh is in the kitchen." I bet Tiamet is a spectacularly delicious (particularly with shallots), and Shamash is the best cook since Julia Childs, too. Gilgy never could keep from tasting the soup before it was done.