Which theory provides a system for converting a deep structure into a surface structure?

• A. Transformational Grammar
• B. Deep Structures
• C. Universal Grammar
• D. LAD

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how an underlying meaning is turned into the actual sentence form you hear or say. In Transformational Grammar, you begin with a deep structure that captures core semantic relations—who is doing what to whom—and then apply transformational rules to convert that deep structure into the surface structure, the specific syntactic form of the sentence. This framework explains how the same underlying meaning can yield different surface forms, such as creating questions or changing an active sentence into a passive one. The other terms describe either the underlying representation itself (deep structures), a set of innate principles (universal grammar), or a hypothetical brain mechanism (the Language Acquisition Device) and do not provide the system of transformations from deep to surface.