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MAIN CLAUSE
[He said (that the man was dead.)] (do not coincide)
SUBORDINATE CLAUSE
2- the clause: composed of one or more phrases (NP: noun phrase, VP: verb
phrase).
[( The inspector abandoned the investigation.)]
NP
NP VP
3- the phrase: refers to a constituent consisting either of one word o more than one
word.
[( The inspector) (abandoned the investigation.)]
[ (He) (did) ]
NP VP
4-the word: is composed of one or more morphemes.
5-the morpheme: the smallest unit. Minimum unit of form and meaning which may
be:
a. a whole word: forget
b. an inflection: -s, forgets
c. a word formation affix (prefix or suffix): un or ful, un+forget+ful.
The word BEDROOM is composed by two free morphemes (bed and room), that
stand on their own.
Grammar consists in two parts:
b) SYNTAX: the study of how words are combined together to form sentences.
Once we know what the basic syntactic units in the sentence are, we have first to
assign some grammatical label to each, that is, we have to state what
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY it is (whether it is a noun phrase or verb phrase or
an adjectival phrase) and then what GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION it has (whether it
is the subject or object or predicative).
They have only one finite or conjugated verb, and they are made up of only one
clause, a main clause (remember that main clause and sentence itself may
coincide). It is divided into two major parts, a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE.
S P
[Julie buys her vegetables in the market.]
We can also say that sentences are made up of a NOUN PHRASE (NP) and a
VERB PHRASE (VP). These two are CATEGORIES. We are now classifying two
constituents according to their form or internal structure.
From syntactic point of view (because it has to do with the elements that combine
with the verb to form sentences, it is a horizontal relationship), verbs can be
classified in:
1. INTRANSITIVE VERBS OF COMPLETE PREDICATION (IVCP): verbs that
combine with only one nominal or noun phrase (the subject).
Examples: laugh, rose, stumble, sneeze, swim, sleep, work.
The typical is THE VERB TO BE. Examples: seem, look, turn, become.
3. (MONO)TRANSITIVE VERBS OF COMPLETE PREDICATION (MTVCP):
verbs that require two nominals or noun phrases for the sentence to be
grammatical (the subject and the object). Examples: see, cut, need, break, enjoy.
The VERB element or predicator is the most central element, is the HEAD of the
VERB PHRASE. It is important because:
a) Its position is normally medial rather than initial or final
b) It is normally obligatory
c) It cannot normally be moved to a different position in the sentence or clause
d) IT HELPS TO DETERMINE WHAT OTHER ELEMENTS MUST OCCUR.
S P
[(Someone was laughing (loudly) (in the next room) )]
V A A
S P
[(My mother (usually) enjoys parties (very much) )]
A V DO A
S P
[( Mary gave the visitor a glass of milk (yesterday) )] (verb of giving)
V IO DO A
S P
[( She told us a story (after dinner) )] (verb of communication)
V IO DO A
P S P
[( In 1945 the country became totally independent )]
A V SC
S P
[( You must put all the toys upstairs (immediately) )]
V DO OC A
S
The man was laughing.
VP
2- after the auxiliary in yes-no questions or interrogative sentences:
S
Was the man laughing?
VP VP
The switch of the subject noun phrase and the first auxiliary element is called
SUBJECT AUXILIARY INVERSION (SAI).
S
What have you seen today?
VP VP
S
Who came yesterday?
VP
Spanish has a flexible word order, but not English in which word order is fixed.
2- In finite clauses the subject determines the number and person of the verb.
There is very little overt (explicit) agreement or concord in English because the
verb has very few inflections.
He goes. V. I/You/We/They go.
He has gone. V. I/You/We/They have gone.
He is going. V. You/We/They are going. V. I am going.
He/I was going. V. You/We/They were going.
3- If a pronoun replaces the subject, the pronoun will normally have the
NOMINATIVE or SUBJECTIVE form (he, she, they, etc.) NOT the OBJECTIVE
FORM (him, her, them, etc.).
He was laughing.
*Him was laughing.
HE will be described as a PERSONAL PRONOUN IN THE NOMINATIVE OR
SUBJUNCTIVE CASE.
These three characteristics can be used to identify the subject of a finite clause. Its
identity can also be tested in a declarative sentence through a wh-question with
WHO or WHAT. The subject is the element that can be replaced IN ITS NORMAL
POSITION by the w-item:
S
John wants a piece of cake.
S
Who wants a piece of cake?
S
The bright light is disturbing Percy.
S
What is disturbing Percy?
DO (same as subject) IO
Pour me a drink.
IO DO
Pour a drink for me.
DO IO
IO with TO:
1) DO + IO= TO is obligatory when: we want to emphasize the IO:
I wrote a letter to my cousin.
the IO is long:
He sold his car to a man from Leeds.
2) With verbs of LATIN ORIGIN, independently of what the word order is:
admit, communicate, affirm, announce, ascribe, attribute, confess, convey, deliver,
describe, devote, dictate, exclaim, expose, indicate, propose, pove, refer, reveal,
suggest, swear, transmit.
DO + IO (ACTUAL RECIPIENT)= TO
DO + IO (INTENDED RECIPIENT) = FOR
The intended recipient is the person that will eventually receive the object;
examples of verbs that take IIO are: find, make, choose, get, reach, save, order,
buy, grow, spell, build, gather and prepare. Intended is because there is intention.
She made a doll for her daughter.
Actual recipient is the person that actually received the object. She gave a doll to
her daughter.
7) SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT OR PREDICATIVE
The SC relates to the subject and the verb is COPULAR (IVIP): My glass is empty.
SC
(a) FORM: It i partly a nominal function and partly an adjectival function. The
categories that can function as SC are:
1- NOUN PHRASE: This is a book.
2- A GERUNDIAL PHRASE: This is cheating. The gerund is a NOUN
EQUIVALENT.
3- AN INFINITIVAL PHRASE: To see her is to love her.
4- A NOUN CLAUSE: That is what I want.
5- AN ADJECTIVAL PHRASE: She is very pretty.
6- AN ADJECTIVAL PRESENT OR PAST PARTICIPLE: That is (very) interesting.
Tom was (very) tired. Most of them can be premodified by the adverb VERY and
can be used in the comparative and superlative form.
7- AN ORDINARY PAST PARTICIPLE: The door is closed.
8- A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: He is at home. It is near London. It must be for
somebody else.
9- AN ADVERBIAL PHRASE: He is right here. He is out.
WHEN THEY GIVE US INFORMATION CONCERNING PLACE, TIME, MANNER,
DURATION, ETC. OF AN ACTIVITY THEY DO NOT FUNCTION AS SC. SEE
LATER.
NOTE OF CAUTION:
Following Wekker and Haegeman, a PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENT is a NON-
OMISSIBLE constituent that express a property or attribute of the subject. It
applies to NOUN PHRASES, ADJECTIVAL PHRASES and PREPOSITIONAL
PHRASES. They are COMPLEMENTS because they are obligatory and they are
PREDICATIVE because they predicate something about the subject.
Jane seemed a good student. (NP)
John looked foolish. (AP)
Bill was in a filthy mood. (PP)
BUT there are some constituents that are still COMPLEMENTS but the DO NOT
ASSIGN A PROPERTY OR ATTRIBUTE TO THE SUBJECT. Instead they
SPECIFY THE PLACE OF BEING, OR THE TIME OF BEING, ETC. As these
complements give us more information about the place, time, manner, etc they are
said to have an ADVERBIAL FUNCTION. So, they are given the name
ADVERBIAL COMPLEMENTS (adverbial because they have an adverbial meaning
and complements because they are obligatory constituents).
He is in London. His birthday is next Saturday.
TO SUM UP
If we have to analyse:
She is an actress.
We can say that an actress functions as:
1- a SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT or PREDICATIVE
2- a PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENT, following W&H.
If we have to analyse:
John is in London.
We can say that in London is:
1- a SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT or PREDICATIVE
2- an OBLIGATORY ADVERBIAL, following Quirk at al
3- an ADVERBIAL COMPLEMENT, following W&H.
8) OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT:
The OC relates to the DO. The implied relationship between the DO and the OC is
one of:
1- S- be/become - SC
We find them very pleasant. -------- They are very pleasant.
DO OC S V SC
2- or one of S- V
I saw the thief running away. -------- The thief was running away.
DO OC S V
(b) POSITION: The OC normally follows the DO, but this word order may
change if the DO is too long.
(c) SYNTACTIC FUNCTION:
1) If it is a NP the OC normally concords in number with the DO:
Carol made Joshua and Peter her assistants.
DO OC
Carol made Peter her assistant.
DO OC
2) With S V DO OC type, only the DO can become the S in the passive. The
OC becomes the SC:
It is something like a predicative but the verb is not a linking verb and it has its
ordinary full force. We find QP both with TRANSITIVE and INTRANSITIVE VERBS
OF COMPLETE PREDICATION.
These sentences can be analysed as derived from a main clause and an adverbial
clause of time or reason where we use the verb to be as the main verb of the
sentence, the QP becomes the SC and what was the main verb becomes the verb
of the subordinated clause of time or reason:
10) VERB TO BE
DID: AUXILIARY to form the negative, interrogative and emphatic affirmative of the
simple past.
NOTE:
What + Be.like? Request for a description; can be used for people
(appearance or character) or things.
What does he/it look like? Concerns appearance ONLY and can also mean
What does he/It resemble?
14) ADJUNCTS VS. COMPLEMENTS
ADJUNCTS COMPLEMENTS
Are optional. They merely add further Are OBLIGATORY constituents which
information. are needed to complete the VP. They
are selected by the lexical verb. They
are lexical requirements of the verb.
VERBS:
1) IVCP: take NO complements. He sneezed.
2) IVIP: take ONE complement. The story was very interesting.
3) MTVCP: take ONE complement. He broke a window.
4) BTVCP: take TWO complements. He gave me some books.
5) TVIP: take TWO complements. He put the book on the table.
ADJECTIVES:
Some can occur on their own (tall, fat). Some other resemble verbs in that they
require some sort of complementation ( if Im sure, I'm always sure about
something). It may be obligatory ( All sales are subject to tax), or optional ( The
boat was ready (for departure)).
They often take complementation that are MODALITY ADJECTIVES and they
express:
A- cognition: sure, aware, certain, right, wrong.
B- volition: happy, glad, sorry, fond.
1- Type I or INTRANSITIVE PHRASAL VERBS: touch down, play around, get by,
get on, take off, catch on, break down, turn up, give in, blow up, go astray, reel
back, fall out.
THE PARTICLE USUALLY CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM ITS LEXICAL
VERB.
2- Type II or TRANSITIVE PHRASAL VERBS: set up, put away, find out, bring
up, turn on, call off, live down, make out, look up, hand in, blow up, give in.
WHEN THE DO IS A NOUN PHRASE CAN BE INSERTED BETWEEN THE VERB
AND THE PARTICLE. THIS IS A TEST CALLED DO INSERTION AND IT IS
USED TO CHECK IF THE PHRASE IS A PHRASAL VERB OR A
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (THIS LAST CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM ITS
PARTICLE).
WHEN THE OBJECT IS A PERSONAL PRONOUN THE PARTICLE MUST
ALWAYS FOLLOW THE OBJECT. THE PARTICLE TENDS TO PRECEDE THE
OBJECT IF THE OBJECT IS TOO LONG OR IF THE INTENTION IS THAT THE
OBJECT SHOULD RECEIVE END-FOCUS.
NOTE OF CAUTION: TV + DO + (P+ NP). EXAMPLES: rob of- deprive of- ply
with- confine to- protect from- thank for- remind of- provide with- accuse of-
blame for.