EXISTENTIAL CONSTRUCTIONS

[NPA dictionary] was on the table.

indefinite subject

[There] was [[a dictionary] on the table.

grammatical Su

logical Su

Sentences which have the pronoun there functioning as grammatical subject are known as existential
constructions. Existential constructions are formed by moving the indefinite subject after the vb. And
by introducing in initial position the pronoun there.
Verbs used in existential constructions
The vb. which is most frequently used in existential constructions is the vb. to be, but there are also
other types of intransitive vbs. which can be used in existential constructions:
a) existential vbs. (to live, to be)
b) aspectual vbs. (to seem)
c) ingressive vbs. (to arise)
d) vbs. of motion (to come)
e) positional vbs. (to stand)
[A wall] ran around the village.
indefinite Su

There ran a wall around the village.

Besides the lexical vb. to be, the auxiliary verb to be can also appear in existential constructions:
e.g.
[A song] was played by him.
[There] was [a song] played by him.
grammatical Su logical Su

The properties of the logical subject

The most important condition for a sentence to become an existential construction is that the subject
should be indefinite. The indefiniteness of the subject is indicated by indefinite determiners (a, some,
any), by the zero article, by the negation preceding the logical subject and by quantifiers (many, little).
e.g.
[Two cakes] are on the table.
There are [two cakes] on the table.
In most existential constructions the logical subject is indefinite, however there are certain contexts in
which the logical subject is allowed to be definite:
- when the logical subject appears with the words same and other only the definite determiner the
can be used.
e.g.
There was [the same man] at the door.
- the definite determiner the can be used when the logical subject is expressed by a complex NP
e.g.
There is [the possibility that he will come].
complex NP (N+ clause) as logical Su

- when the logical subject is preceded by an adjective in the superlative, it must take the definite
determiner the
e.g.
There is [the nicest girl] waiting for you.
The properties of the grammatical subject
The grammatical subject there has most of the properties of normal subjects:
- in questions the grammatical subject there occupies the same position as an ordinary subject
e.g.
Has Mary read the book? Yes/No question
Has there been an incident?
- just like ordinary subjects, the grammatical subject there can appear in finite relative clauses and in
non-finite clauses

e.g.

I read the article [about which Mary has so many comments]. relative clause
I read the article [about which there have been so many comments].
- there is no agreement between the grammatical subject and the vb. Agreement in person and number
is established only between the vb. and the logical subject.
e.g.
There is a girl there. There *is/ are some girls there.

PASSIVE VOICE
Definition, instances of agent-deletion
Passivization is a process that affects the morphological, syntactic and semantic level.
At the morphological level, the aux. be and the aux. get are introduced and the active verb is in the
past participle form.
At the syntactic level, the active subject and object change position. The active object moves to the
beginning of the clause and it becomes more important.
The active subject is changed into a prepositional object and it is placed in post-verbal position.
e.g. [The police] chased [the robbers]- Patient
active voice
NP active Su
NP active DO
Patient
Agent by-phrase
[The robbers] were chased [PPby the police]
Subject
be+ V 3rd
PO
Semantically, the object becomes more important than the subject.
The deletion of the Agent by-phrase
Language speakers use passive sentences without an agent in the following cases:
a) The identity of the agent is unknown. e.g. John was killed in the war.
b) The agent is indefinite. e.g. Dogs are loved.
c) The agent is not important. e.g. The doctor was called.
d) The agent is well-known. e.g. He was arrested.
e) The speaker does not wish to name the agent. e.g. A secret letter was sent to me.
Passivizable verbs, verbs that resist passivization
Most transitive verbs and a few intransitive verbs allow a passive version.
Passivizable transitive vbs
Transitive vbs can be simple or complex.
e.g.
They painted the house. simple transitive vb
The house was painted by them. passive
They accused [John] [of cheating]. complex transitive vb
DO
PO
John was accused of cheating. passive
Tom gave [Mary] [a book]. double object construction
IO
DO
Tom gave [a book] [to Mary]. oblique object construction
DO IO
Mary was given a book by Tom. passive
A book was given to Mary by Tom. passive
Ditransitive vbs allow 2 passive constructions, either by moving the active IO from the double object
construction or by moving the active DO from the oblique object construction.
Certain ditransitive vbs. have only one passive voice version.
e.g. The teacher explained [the rule] [to the students].
DO
PO
The rule was explained to the students by the teacher. passive
There are some idiomatic phrases that allow 2 passive versions.
e.g. to take advantage of smth.
He took advantage of me.
Advantage was taken of me. passive
I was taken advantage of. passive

Passivizable intransitive vbs.

Passivizable intransitive vbs. are vbs, that take an obligatory preposition.
e.g. They put up with him cheerfully. prepositional phrasal intransitive vb
He was put up with cheerfully. passive
Classes of verbs that resist passivization
There are several types of transitive verbs that cannot be passivized.
Reciprocal vbs like to resemble, to divorce cannot be passivized because they allow the switch of
position between the object and the subject in the active voice.
e.g. Jane resembles Helen. Helen resembles Jane.
* Helen is resembled by Jane.
Relational vbs. like to have, to contain and others also resist passivization.
e.g. Jane has a car
*A car is had by Jane.
These vbs cannot be passivized because the beneficiary role associated with the subject is always more
important.
Stative vbs. which express mental perception (to know) and vbs of perception (to see) can be
passivized only when their DO is a complement clause.
e.g.
She knew the poem.
*The poem was known by her.
Everyone knows [that Bill was right].
That Bill was right is known by everyone.

TYPES OF QUESTIONS
Yes/No questions are derived from simple declarative sentences by means of inflection movement, in
other words the auxiliary or the modal vb moves in pre-subject position
e.g.
John will tell the truth.
Will John tell the truth?
In negative Y/N questions the auxiliary appears in contracted form with the negator not.
e.g. Hasnt John attended the course?
Tag questions consist of a declarative clause followed by a tagged Y/N question.
e.g. John will tell the truth, wont he?
The tag contains a repetition of the auxiliary or the modal from the declarative clause and a pronoun
referring to the subject of the declarative.
e.g. She can speak Japanese, cant she?
If the declarative clause is affirmative then the tag is normally negative.
If the declarative clause does not contain an auxiliary or a modal then the auxiliary do is used in the
tag question.
e.g. She speaks Japanese, doesnt she?
Wh- questions. Questioning the DO, the IO and the PO.
Wh- questions are derived from simple declarative sentences by means of inflection movement and
wh-movement. The auxiliary or the modal vb moves in pre-subject position with the wh-word
preceding it.
e.g. John will tell the truth
What will John tell?
Wh- questions are introduced by: a) interrogative pronouns (what, who, which); b) interrogative
adverbs (where, how, why)
Questioning the DO
Questions addressed to the DO are formed by replacing the [-human] DO with what or the [+human]
DO with who and then the wh-word is moved is pre-subject position together with the auxiliary or
the modal vb.
e.g. John will tell the truth
What will John tell?
The DO is questioned in sentences that contain a simple or a complex transitive verb.
e.g. They accused John of cheating
Who did they accuse of cheating?
Questioning the PO
e.g. They depend [on their friends]
Whom do they depend on? preposition stranding (informal English)
On whom do they depend? Pied-piping (formal English)
There are 2 constructions in English for questioning the PO: in formal English the preposition moves
together with the wh-word to the beginning of the question, in the so-called pied-piping construction,
while in informal English only the wh-word moves, leaving the preposition behind in the preposition
stranding construction.
Questioning the IO
It is only possible in oblique object constructions. The preposition to either moves together with the
wh-word to the beginning of the question in the so-called pied-piping construction or the preposition
remains in the same position in the preposition stranding construction.
e.g. John gave a book [to Mary] oblique object construction
To whom did John give a book? pied-piping
Whom did John give a book to? preposition stranding

COORDINATION
Coordination is the linking of 2 clauses or 2 phrases of the same type.
e.g.: [Slowly] and [quietly] he moved towards his victim.
- coordinator (coordinating conjunction and)
Coordination is of two types: syndetic and asyndetic. Syndetic coordination is when there are explicit
coordinators in the sentence. Asyndetic coordination is not market by a conjunction (a comma is used).
The main coordinators in English are: and, or, but. Correlative pairs: bothand, eitheror, neither
nor, not onlybut also.
And, or
The coordinators and and or can only appear between the 2 clauses or phrases in coordination.
e.g.: [IP John plays guitar] and [IP his sister plays the piano]
*[IP John plays guitar] [IP his sister and plays the piano]
The main coordinators can connect not only main clauses, but also subordinate clauses of the same
type.
e.g.: I visited her [because she was sad] and [because I wanted to tell her the news]
Correlative pairs
Bothand
The pair bothand is used in clause coordination when there is identity between the subjects of the 2
clauses or between the VPs.
e.g.: [IP Mary washed the dishes] and [IP she dried them]
Mary both washed the dishes and dried them.
[IP Mary [VP washed the dishes]] and [IP John [VP washed the dishes]]
Both Mary and John washed the dishes.
Eitheror
This correlative pair is used when the 2 coordinate clauses are in the affirmative and when they
indicate a kind of contrast or choice between 2 options.
e.g.
[IP John loves Mary] or [IP John hates Mary]
John either loves or hates Mary
Neithernor
Neithernor is used when two negative clauses are coordinated.
e.g.: David doesnt love Jane and he doesnt want to marry her.
David neither loves nor wants to marry Jane
Not onlybut also
The coordinating pair not onlybut also is used when the content of both clauses is considered to be
surprising.
e.g. They not only broke into his office but they also destroyed his manuscripts.
ELLIPSIS
Ellipsis is used in coordinate structures to avoid repetition of identical material.
e.g.: [We can go for a walk] or [we can watch TV].
We can go for a walk or watch TV.
English has several important ellipsis rules: -gapping ellipsis

- long-distance ellipsis
Gapping
Gapping has the effect of removing the identical middle part from the 2nd coordinate clause.
e.g.: [IP Kevin likes dancing] and [IP Jimmy likes swimming]
When gapping is applied to subordinate clauses, the result is ungrammatical.
e.g.: *[Sam encouraged Pam] because [Willis encouraged John].
Long-distance ellipsis
Long-distance ellipsis involves the deletion of identical material in final position of the 2nd coordinate
clause. The deleted material can be: AP, VP, NP, AdvP. The material that appears before the deleted
material is: copulative be, auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, to, not.
e.g.: [IP We thought that Fred will be [VP working on the project ] but [it turns out that he hasnt
been [VP working on the project ].
auxiliary component deleted material
Deletion after the auxiliary do is also possible. The aux. do is introduced in the 2nd coordinate
clause as a kind of substitute for a lexical vb. In the present or past simple.
e.g.: [Mary speaks French] and [Jerry speaks French too]
Mary speaks French and Jerry does too.
There are certain contexts in which the particle to of the infinitive is either omitted or preserved.
e.g.: You cant force him to go home of he is not ready (to).
A special type of construction that involves long-distance ellipsis is known as the so/neither
construction. After a long-distance ellipsis in the 2nd coordinate clause the introduction of so or
neither after the coordinator and causes inversion of the auxiliary and the subject.
e.g.: [David knows how much money was taken] and [Bill knows too]
[David knows how much money was taken] and [Bill does too]
David knows how much money was taken and [so does Bill].
Ellipsis in indirect questions
English allows the deletion of repeated material in an indirect question. The only element that survives
from the indirect question is the wh-word.
e.g.: [John cooked something] but [Betty didnt know what John cooked]
It does nor apply to relative clauses
e.g.: *[John cooked something] but [Betty didnt eat what John cooked]
Ellipsis in the NP
Ellipsis in the NP affects the head (N). The elements preserved from the structure of the NP may be:
- demonstratives: there, those
- indefinite quantifiers: many
- possessives: mine
- nouns in the Genitive: Susies
- adjectives: small
e.g.: You take [Peters car] and Ill take [NPSusies car]