Why were railroads a source of discontent for farmers? a. railroads were not refrigerated, and many crops spoiled. b. railroads cut through farmers' fields. c. railroads charged higher rates to farmers than to big businesses. d. farmers had to travel long distances to ship crops and other goods.

the sentence does not violate the phrase structure second rule (introduced by noam chomsky) because noun phrases consist of a determiner such as a, the or every, and a noun. in the sentence, the noun phrase the cake includes a determiner (the) and a noun (cake).

on the other hand, the first rule indicates that a sentence encloses a noun phrase, followed by a verb phrase. the example sentence can be analysed as follows:

john (n) + ate (v) + the (det) + cake (n).

to gain popularity at school, fitzgerald wrote plays for the school and cast himself as the star. he also joined one of the universitys most prestigious clubs.

may we see the excerpt?