Final answer:
The sentence "He followed the robber with a hammer" can be represented by two different syntax trees depending on whether "with a hammer" modifies the verb "followed" or the noun "robber". The first interpretation suggests he used a hammer to follow, while the second suggests that the robber had the hammer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The sentence "He followed the robber with a hammer" can have two different syntactic interpretations, depending on the function of the phrase "with a hammer". The first interpretation is that "with a hammer" modifies the verb "followed", suggesting that he used a hammer to follow the robber. The second interpretation is that "with a hammer" modifies the noun "robber", suggesting that the robber possesses a hammer.
In the first syntax tree, the prepositional phrase (PP) "with a hammer" would branch off from the verb phrase (VP), directly under the verb "followed". This illustrates that the action of following was performed with the aid of a hammer. On the other hand, the second syntax tree would show "with a hammer" as a modifier of the noun "robber", thus branching directly from the noun phrase (NP) which contains "the robber".
Creating these trees helps clarify the ambiguity in the sentence and demonstrates the importance of syntactic structure in understanding meaning.