What is the primary purpose of a mission statement?
a. to explore the options for a business
b. to state the reason for the existence of a business
c. to promote the growth of a business
d. to list the immediate goals of the business

i pretty sure it is old

explanation:

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).