Last Update: October 8, 2004

TAKE-HOME EXAM

You can download the take-home exam here; I will bring in extra copies next class (November 20). Just to be clear:

1. Each question gives you a bunch of options. It's entirely up to you which of these options you do. I tried to sort them thematically. Some questions can be answered already, for others you might have to wait a little. Be sure to answer each question to the best of your possibilities -- this does not necessarily mean "long," just good.

2. My office hours serve the purpose to clear up questions and problems. Although this is an exam, you're more than welcome to come and consult with me. I won't give you the full answer, but I'll do my best to direct you towards one. Again, if my office hours are inconvenient, talk to me and we arrange an alternative time.

3. The take-home exam is due Monday, December 15 at 5pm.

FINAL EXAM

The final exam will cover mostly syntax. There will be one morphology question and a bunch of syntax questions. I gave you pointers on the former already; as for the latter, they will be drawn entirely from Part I of the take-home exam.

TREE DRAWING

You can do all trees by hand. If you prefer drawing them on a computer, there's at least two possibilities. One is to use the drawing program of your word processing program. This is often cumbersome and takes a lot of time. An easier way, I find, is the font ArborWin (or Arboreal for Apple Macintosh), which you can purchase from Cascadilla Press. It's a regular font, so install it in your system where the fonts go. (Ask me or somebody who knows if you don't know.)

When in your program, say MS Word, select that font from your font menu and type in the symbol corresponding to a tree line. Unfortunately, I can't tell you more, I don't have a list of which line corresponds to which symbol. You can check out Cascadilla Press' website to see whether they offer an online sheet. Or else, go to anywhere in your program that allows you to see the full key menu. For example, Insert Symbol: you select that, in the menu box make sure the font is set to ArborWin, and you should see little boxes which different lines in each. Just double-click and you'll be happy. If things work on your PC as they do on my Mac, the number keys 1 through 5 give you binary branches of different sizes; if you press Shift + 1 through 5, you get the corresponding triangle.

If you need help, send me an email or come to my office.

ATTENDANCE

It's your responsibility to check the updated readings for next class when you miss a class; as it happens, the schedule tends to change.

I noticed a drastic drop in attendance numbers. I really don't care whether you come or not -- but I do care whether you talk when you come. Talking in class will be punished, and I will continue doing so. Not showing up is left to you. But let me point out that there are no handouts and the material we cover in class occasionally differs from the book. Class results take precedence. If you don't show up, you may not know what we're doing -- and what I'm expecting.

A more general point. Some of you have developed an unhealthy "I don't care"-attitude. Let me just point out that (a) I will also teach all of you in the spring (Semantics and Pragmatics) and (b) I will be offering a number of electives during your third and fourth years, so there's little use of trying to avoid me. If you have a problem with me, let me know. (I mean it; going to my colleagues and whine doesn't help anyone, least of all you.)