The relation between phoned and up in the sentence John phoned the woman with the curly hair up is handled within transformational grammar by the:
A) passive transformation
B) particle-movement transformation
C) deep structure
D) surface structure

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The transformational rule of particle-movement explains the movement of the particle "up" from the end of the sentence to its present position between "phoned" and "the woman." This movement changes the meaning of the sentence as it implies that John not only called the woman but also completed the call or hung up the phone. The passive transformation would have been applied if the sentence was written as "The woman with the curly hair was phoned up by John." Deep structure and surface structure relate to the levels of analysis in generative grammar and are not specific to this sentence.

The Relation Between Phoned and Up in the Sentence John