Question

In the sentence "John ate the cake," explain why the sentence does not violate the rule, NP (Det) N.

Options:
a) Because "John" is the subject
b) Due to the absence of a determiner before "John"
c) It follows the subject-verb-object structure
d) The verb "ate" indicates the action performed by John

Answer 1

The sentence "John ate the cake" doesn't violate the NP (Det) N rule because "John" is a proper noun and does not require a determiner.the correct option in the final is b).

Step-by-step explanation:

In the sentence "John ate the cake," the structure does not violate the rule NP (Det) N, where NP stands for noun phrase, Det stands for determiner, and N stands for noun.

This rule can be applied to the object of the sentence, which is "the cake." Here, "the" is the determiner, and "cake" is the noun, creating a proper noun phrase as the object.

However, the subject "John" is itself a proper noun and does not require a determiner. Proper nouns inherently refer to specific entities and do not generally have determiners before them. Therefore, the correct option in the final answer is b) Due to the absence of a determiner before "John".