Noam Chomsky

High school (ages 12+)
Philosophy & Big Questions

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/noam-chomsky

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Noam Chomsky born?December 7, 1928
2. Where was Noam Chomsky born?Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
3. Who is Noam Chomsky?Noam Chomsky is a super‑smart thinker from Philadelphia, born in 1928, who changed how we study language and speaks up for what’s right.
4. What did he discover about language?He said language is built into our brains, not just learned, and that all humans share a special blueprint that helps kids learn words quickly.

Transformational Grammar: A linguistic theory positing that sentences have underlying structures and rules for transformation, explaining infinite sentence generation.
Universal Grammar: The hypothesis that humans possess an innate biological endowment for language acquisition, comprising abstract principles common to all languages.
Propaganda Model: A framework analyzing how mass media filters information through ownership, advertising, sourcing, and political pressures to shape public discourse.