Read these lines: what could be lovelier than to hear the summer rain cutting across the heat as scythes cut across grain? falling upon the steaming roof with sweet uproar, tapping and rapping wildly at the door? which lines contain an example of a simile? a. "tapping and rapping wildly / at the door" b. "falling upon the steaming roof / with sweet uproar," c. "cutting across the heat as scythes / cut across grain? " d. "what could be lovelier than to hear / the summer rain"

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).

a. is the correct answer