Chapter 4;  Exercise #21
C. Bonner-Johnson   5/17/12

Explain the role of a deletion transformation similar to the ones just discussed in the following humorous dialogue between "two old married folks."

He:   Do you still love me as much as you used to?
She:  As much as I used to what?

The role of a deletion transformation in the above sentences have been transformed into a single surface structure.  The sentences are ambiguous.  Do you love me as much as you used to?  Used to what ( love me )?  Love me has been deleted in the sentence.   The responding sentence is answered with a question instead of a yes or no response.  As much as I used to what?  As much as I used to love Harry, shopping,  chocolate, etc. Information has been left out.  A lot of the meaning of a sentence is interpreted from its d-structure.  The text states ( An Introduction to Language ) by generating questions in two steps, there is a relationship that exists between a question and its corresponding statement.  Intuitively, we know that these type of sentences are related.  The derived structures- the ones that follow the application of transformational rules are called surface structures or s-structures.