Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 26

CARMEN SALAS

SYNTAX

Syntax – specific level of study in language. In Greek, it means arrangement. Collocation. We’ve
been misleading syntax and semantics. Difference between our notion of subject and that of what
a subject really is.

Around an 80% of the verbs are relational, not active. Therefore, a subject cannot be the “doer”
of an action, a 100% of the time. We cannot define a syntactic category by means of a semantic
definition.

Phrase vs. noun: Car = noun, but it could be a noun phrase. “Cars are useful”: Cars = NP. Phrases
are in open paradigm, while nouns appear individually in dictionary entries.

I have a book. Possession with the verb have (selects me as subject).

That book belongs to me. Semantically the same; syntactically not.

SOCIETY AND LANGUAGE

Idiolect: Variety spoken by an individual, out of a collective of speakers.

Things acquire their meaning only when they belong in a syntactic group. We are going to
combine what syntax is and what operations it carries out.

Language is the common core that makes every single performance of speaking understandable.
Between idiolect and language we can find varieties.

Varieties are not individual, but shared by particular communities.

1. Diatopic varieties: Variety caused by location – AmE, BrE.


2. Diastratic: Different linguistic performances based on the general environment or social
class you belong to. It can be divided into register and medium.
a. Register – it depends on yourself and the levels of communication. We have
different registers depending on the situation we’re in.
b. Medium – you do not speak exactly the same as you write.
3. Diaphasic: Linguistic performances depend on the time they are effected. Diaphasically,
we’re talking 21st century Latin. Diaphasical varieties of English: OE, ME, eModE…

Syntax is that section of grammar that tells you how to put things together, but it is just a sectional
part of grammar. Syntax from the point of view of external grammar. Syntax: The arrangement
of words in a sentence. Although you know the meaning of words, you need to know how they’re
combined.

Apuntes descargados de wuolah.com


CARMEN SALAS

1. Prescriptive: Rules about how to use the language. Typical example: If you say toast, you
can’t use the determiner before: *I want a toast. It is uncountable. Formal rules about
what to say and what not to say.
2. Internal grammar: The grammar that cannot be formalized, cannot be explained or
expressed. Native speakers have internalized it in a way that they don’t know how to
explain or justify.

Two more concepts. They both have specific features: They rotate when they go from statements
to questions. They exchange positions.

1. Subject: Mary is happy, who is the subject? Mary, because it rotates w/the verb. It is
raining, it = subject. However: There is a student outside. Subject? = there. It rotates w/the
verb. That subject is void, it only bears syntactic content – not semantic.
2. Operator: The first constituent in a verb phrase. If you change to negative, the negative
particle is attached to operator. I am not: Am = operator.

More terms to define:

3. Paradigm: Set of elements/constituents which are mutually exclusive, but they are
mutually replaceable. The girl in the corner is happy/the girl with the cigarette is
happy/the girl who cries is in the corner…
4. Proform: She might replace “the girl in the corner”. It is useful because it might help us
identify the paradigm.

OPERATOR

Beginning of chapter 2. Negation, special order of words – different from Spanish. The same
happens with interrogative utterances.

The operator is very important in English, but it is an irrelevant constituent in Spanish. What is
an OPERATOR? It is the first auxiliary in a verb phrase, if any (aux). I must go (must). I have
gone (have). If there is no auxiliary, you insert DO.

“Do” is a very specific operator. In these cases, it is a functional word – no meaning. There are
also BE and HAVE: First case of dialectal differences.

Verb vs. Predicate. A verb belongs to a specific morphological class. They have inflections, for
time. I am – I was. I go – I went. Nouns, however, can’t express time. Verbs are inflectable.

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

Cfr: I walk for an hour – I happy for an hour. Happy is not a verb, but an adjective. The operator
in I WAS happy has no meaning; it’s just a function word that carries the markers of time and
person, as an analogue to the verbal morphological inflection in I walkED for an hour.

Be is an independent morpheme that helps with… Depending on the dialectal variation:

Be/have:

1. Aspect auxiliary: For instance, I have finished.


2. Causative: When you impose an action on sby (My parents had me go to London – caused
me to go, I am going to have my hair cut).
3. Lexical: It is not an auxiliary, but has a semantic meaning (I have a house in the beach).

The operator ROTATES with the subject in standard, canonical questions. Sometimes, ppl say
Mary is happy? But that’s not canonical. In Spanish, questions are heavily marked, whereas in
English they are not that much marked because the rotation already marks it syntactically.
However, Spanish redundant: It signals the same process over and over. In English, only the noun
expresses plural, for instance.

With the operator, NEGATION attaches to the operator. Characteristic of English. If it is


displayed in a different way, it probably is because the expression belongs to non-standard
English.

ASPECTUAL ADVERBS are immediately attached to the operator. I have JUST finished.
Operators are very important in English. Apart from the negative particle, aspectual adverbs are
attached to it as well.

They are important in English because the negative is attached to them, but also because they can
behave as PRO FORMS.

CANONICAL SYNTAX VS. DISCOURSE MANIPULATION

I hate hamburgers – Hamburgers, I hate. The first is canonical (you can replace the object with a
personal pronoun), while the second is not (SVO – OSV).

Discourse manipulation – we change the canonical


syntax to change the meaning of the sentence.

For instance: I love you (canonical). How many discursive meaning can we find if we manipulate
it? Four of them, depending on the emphasis and syntactic reordering (LD, clefting…)

1. Pure information – I tell you something I assume you don’t know. I declare my love to a
lady. The intonation of every sentence constituent is neutral.

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty
CARMEN SALAS

2. Reinforcement of ‘you’
3. Reinforcement of ‘I’.
4. Reinforcement of ‘love’.

You can totally change the scope of view by reinforcement of certain elements. However, it’s not
a very good example, as it doesn’t change the syntax.

You, I love – left dislocation. You move an element to the front of the sentence. Another is clefting
– it is you that I love (not Mary).

ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE

In active sentences, you must always have a subject. It is raining – it’s required, even if it is an
expletive. It is NOT a pro-form: It is a full subject, but semantically empty. In passive sentences,
however, the subject can be omitted.

ASSERTIVE VS. NON ASSERTIVE


Double point of view. Assertive: You state a fact. “It is raining”, “you are a fool”. Non-assertive
includes questions and negations: +Assertive / -Assertive: Negative and interrogative.

NOUN PHRASE

The noun phrase in English covers a set of elements in paradigm, but there is a condition: You
must always have a noun. They are the nucleus around which everything rotates. Then, we need
something before and something after: Premodification and postmodification.

Premodification + N + postmodification

Prepositional phrase: postmodifier position.

STANDARD ENGLISH & LINGUISTIC CHANGE

P. 6 of the booklet – Standard English is a kind of theoretical abstraction. Only idioms exist.
“Uniformity” means everybody uses the same type of standard. Why is it increasing? Because of
communication. We communicate now much more than we did hundreds of years ago. There is
much more influence.

Monolithic – static, unchangeable. In grammar and vocabulary, Standard English is much harder
to find (?). Some linguistic changes within a language lasted more than two centuries, while today
they would last two years.

SENTENCE CONSTITUENTS

Map of syntax. There is a sort of unit, a comprehensive unit. The text is a complete message:
beginning and end. In a book there is a kind of textual syntax (within the plot). We will focus
more on the elements of organization, not textual syntax.

4
CARMEN SALAS

Sentence constituents. There are 7 sentence patterns:

1. SV
2. SVO
3. SVOO – those objects are switchable. O2-O1. Either one can be passivized.
4. SVOCo
5. SVOA
6. SVCs
7. SVA

Any sentence that you produce must necessarily conform to any of these types. All of them have
something in common: A subject and a verb – they are compulsory, either semantic or empty.
However, there are several uncommon patterns, for instance: SVOOO.

S = Subject (reliable). To identify a subject, what is reliable and what is not?

1. Pronoun replacement: RELIABLE. In English, there were declensions. They were lost,
except for personal pronouns: Subjective vs. Objective pronouns (he-him/I-me etc.)
Also rotation.
2. Concord or agreement: UNRELIABLE. Sometimes these rules don’t work. “If you have
a subject and a verb they must agree” – Mary and John want, Mary wants. But the police
IS, not “are”. The couple are grazing (singular/plural). The agreement doesn’t work in
every case.

The predicate is the head that controls everything around (usually the verb, and sometimes an
adjective for instance). O stands for object.

COMPLEMENT 2: SENTENCE CONSTITUENT (& co-referentiality)

When referring to a sentence constituent, it can be Subject complement or Object complement.


We distinguish that by means of co-referentiality.

Co-referentiality: Two words are co-referential not when they mean the same, but when they refer
to the same entity. “Peter is a lawyer” – Peter and loyal are co.referent. Therefore, lawyer is a
subject complement.

In a sentence such as “she made me happy”, however, happy is co-referent with the object “me”,
therefore making “happy” an object complement. Whenever there is co-referentiality, there is
agreement.

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

COMPLEMENT 1 VS. MODIFIER

Mary swims in the sea every day for an hour. Pattern? SV. The verb swim requires only one
participant or argument – Mary. What about all the rest? They are not necessary for the
understanding of swimming. You only need who – the agent.

Complements are OBLIGATORY as sentence ELEMENTS, while modifiers are OPTIONAL.


They could be between parentheses. Mary swims (every day) (for an hour). However, both Mary
and swim are required.

The number of complements is limited by the verb, whereas the number of modifiers is unlimited.

CONVENTION: Parenthesis binding sth that is not a necessary constituent of a clause (aka
complement).

MODIFIERS

Those can be dropped without affecting neither the grammaticality nor the semantic content of a
sentence. They do not form part of the arguments a verb can have.

SUMMARY OF COMPLEMENTS
- Complement1 – OBLIGATORY sentence CONSTITUENT. Complement vs. modifier.
This complement can be S, O1, O2, A…
- Complement2 – OPTIONAL sentence ELEMENT, and there are only two: Cs and Co.
The bear a relation of co-referentiality. There could be ambiguity:
Mary is a lawyer: “A lawyer” is C1 (required by the verb) and also C2 (Cs).
Mary made me happy: All of them are required by the verb, and at the same time
there is a Co (“happy”).

STATIVE VS. DYNAMIC

“Resemble”: Typical stative. It represents a relationship which is stable. You resembled your
father an hour ago, you do now, and you will in an hour. That’s why they can’t be expressed in
the progressive form: They can’t be in the process of being. Those verbs express an immutable
relation – they can’t order a command, either. Sth cannot be in the process of holding, for instance.

Having lunch (dynamic, it takes time) / having a house in the beach (an immutable fact).

Dynamic verbs can be expressed as a progressive form, but also as a command form. There are
four gradients for this categorization of verbs or expressions.

STATIVE VS. DYNAMIC II

John is tall / John is naughty. One of them is binary: Either do or do not. Either you’re tall or
you’re not. But you can’t be in the process of being tall. And if you’re tall, you can’t be short

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty
CARMEN SALAS

tomorrow. That’s why tall STATIVE, which means, is unchangeable. However, you can be
naughty today and well-behaved tomorrow. That’s not unchangeable or inherent.

It can be applied to nouns as well. A table is a table and will always be a table, that’s binary and
immutable. Nuisance, nonetheless, is different from being a table.

Stative - command, - progressive

Dynamic + command, + progressive

GENERIC VS. SPECIFIC


Generic refers to entities that refer to a whole class. Specific refers to entities which are specific
elements of a class. Students: We belong to a group or class of students. “Students are more
prepared nowadays than they were 20 years ago”. Not specific students, but the class of students.
Generic nouns don’t usually take the generic article.

OPEN VS. CLOSED CLASS

Nouns and verbs are usually open. There are a limited number of nouns or verbs, but that is true
for a limited period of time. There is a constant influx or incorporation of new nouns, adjectives
and verbs in languages: Those are an open class. However, people do not create new articles or
determiners. Those belong in the closed class, which affects functional words.

STATIVE, DYNAMIC, PROCESS AND ACTION-PROCESS


Stative is binary: - c, - p

Have: Either you have or you don’t have (meaning possession). Either the relation happens of it
doesn’t. It doesn’t allow you to be in the process of “having”. Having a house can never be
visualized as being in the process of something. Maybe buying or selling, but not having. The
same happens with resemble.

Dynamic: +c, +p

Typical example; verbs that express activity. I can’t see anybody having a car, but I can see
whoever jumping. You can use it in the progressive or in the command form. However, this binary
idea must be update and modernized.

There is an intermediate category: PROCESS. It is what expresses the change from one state to
another state. From being opened to being closed, for example.

Process: -c, +p

It definitely works with opening. You can see the change from one state (close) to another (open).
The process is visible as it’s going on. Then there are actions that may cause a process, and those

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

are called ACTION-PROCESS. If I open the door, I’m the agent performing the action and
causing the door to open. It entails a relation of causativity:

Action/process > Process > State

KILL > DIE > DEAD

If someone kills another person, that person must be dead; otherwise, the action could not have
been killing. Killing implies dying. Also:

OPEN-a > OPEN-p > OPEN-st

There are two types of action: Actions that cause a process (also called TRANSITIVE) and actions
that do NOT cause a process (also called INTRANSITIVE). When you kill, you kill somebody
and causes him or her to die. However, if you jump or swim or fly, you are not causing anything
to happen. You’re not responsible for anything but strictly your action. There is no entity affected
but you alone.

Open a door / walk a dog. Does the door cooperate? No, but the dogs do cooperate. In the second
example, an action causes an action (because if the dog refuses, there is no walk). However, in
the first example, there is an action causing a process – and the process, a state.

STATE B is dead - c, - p

PROCESS B dies - c, + p

ACT/PRO Kill + c, + p

ACTION Swim, jump + c, + p

BURN-acpro > BURNS-pro > BURNT-st

BREAK-acpro > BREAKS-pro > BROKEN-st

Perception is unavoidable. One cannot choose what they perceive. However, responsibility entails
a conscious action. The “state” parameter expresses attribution.

Mary is happy today – happiness is predicated of Mary and it expresses attribution. However, the
speaker doesn’t say where their idea comes from.

The taste comes to me. “Taste this wine”. “This wine tastes good”. Difference between is/tastes?
The verb “be” does not state the source of information. However, with the second, the speaker
states the source of information: His or her taste.

- Listen = Agent + Perceiver.

8
CARMEN SALAS

- Hear = Affected + Perceiver.


- Sound = Perceiver (speaker) + Attribute.

*What you said is listening to me. What you said does not qualify as a perceiver, so it is
ungrammatical. The same as if I said table.

This ping pong ball sounds cracked. This is correct, because the subject is not the perceiver.
The same happens with what you said sounds worrying.

There must be always a perceiver, but in attributive states, the perceiver is the speaker, not the
subject.

STATE (attribution) PROCESS (perception) ACTION


Sound Hear Listen
(you sound sad!) (the hearer is a perceiver) (the hearer is responsible)
Look See Look
(same)
Smell Smell Smell
(dogs?) (just perceiving) (deliberately)
Taste Taste Taste
(stating it tastes good) (unexpected, perceiving) (consciously to know how…)
Feel Feel Feel
(this silk feels smooth) (passively) (like “tasting” a surface)

ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
“Tomorrow” is an adverb, but it could also be an adverbial – it is in open paradigm. An adverbial
in that paradigm could also be “as soon as possible” and that’s not an adverb.

Adverbial is a syntactic function; a sentence constituent such as subject. And that


sentence constituent has nothing to do with adverbs, since these are a part of speech.

Adverbials happen in all natural languages – they are a universal. Types of adverbial: Adjuncts,
disjunts, conjuncts and subjuncts.

1. Adjunct – an adverbial that is integrated in the sentence (L. ad-: Attached to something).
John never speaks sincerely. They can be of two types:
o Sentence adjuncts: “He kissed Mary on the platform”. On the platform affects all
the sentence: John, kissed and Mary. | Spartans brought up their children strictly.
He kissed her passionately.
o Predication adjuncts: “He kissed Mary on the cheek”. On the cheek affects only
Mary and kissed – John is out of the scope of the adverbial. Strictly speaking I
am an anthropologist.

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty
CARMEN SALAS

2. Disjunct – out of the clause, disintegrated from the clause. Movable across the sentence.
Sincerely, John hates you. “Unfortunately” – everything is linked, that doesn’t mean that
it is a conjunct.
3. Conjunct – conjoined: It links two parts in the sentence. There must be a previous referent
for the use of a conjunct. [Just meeting a person] Consequently, I told him so – this
wouldn’t make any sense.
4. Subjunct – They affect not the sentence, but only a part of it; a constituent (subordinating).
For instance, “only”. I love only you – only is focused on you. The scope of the sentence
depends on this expression, and is very limited. Geographically, the Canary Islands
belong to Africa, but politically they belong to Europe.

Differences between John never speaks sincerely and Sincerely, John hates you. First of all,
phonetics. While in the latter the intonation rises, in the former it goes down at the end. Plus,
syntax: “Sincerely” can be inserted anywhere in the sentence when it is the second, but not in the
firs. Plus: Speaker/subject-oriented.

Factors to differentiate adverbials:

1. Intonation: Rupture of the tone unit or the lack thereof.


2. Movability across the sentence.
3. Orientation: Either speaker or subject oriented.

VIEWPOINT SUBJUNCTS AND DISJUNCTS

They look very much alike. Disjuncts are OUT and are speaker oriented. Subjuncts are integrated
in the sentence. They have no coma, differently from disjuncts.

Geographically

Strictly speaking…

Linguistically

ORIENTATION
Subject /discourse orientation (speaker or hearer).

Subject: Ability and willingness. Why? The ability is involved with somebody.

Discourse: The act of exchanging conversation. Speaker and hearer – I (opinion) plus involving
the action or decision any other participant in the conversation, be he/she present or not.

The speaker is only present when he’s involved in an actual conversation.

- Speaker: Must (epistemic)

10

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

- Hearer: Shall…? (the hearer has the power).

SPEAKER ORIENTED VS. SUBJECT ORIENTED

Speaker-oriented: It depends on the speaker (“Sincerely, John hates you”). It is a personal position
of the speaker about the semantic content of the sentence; the adverbial doesn’t say anything about
the subject.

Subject-oriented: It is focused on the subject (“John never speaks sincerely”). The adverbial is
saying something about the subject of the sentence, not about who utters it.

“Speaking honestly, she’s more intelligent than most of us” (Disjunct).

“Speaking honestly you will get everybody’s help” (Adjunct).

Intonation changes dramatically in both examples.

CONJUNCTION VS. CONJUNCT


Both conjoin, so where’s the difference?

Mary came very late, but she worked an extra hour. – Adversative conjunction.

Mary came very late. Nevertheless, she worked an extra hour. – Syntactic difference:
Nevertheless is stronger than but.

In the first one, there is only one sentence and two clauses, whereas in the second there are two
full sentences. Which of the words can jump over the sentence borderline? Nevertheless, not but.

Conjuncts conjoin across the sentence. Conjunctions conjoin within the boundaries of the
sentence. Mary is very intelligent. Moreover, she’s a hard worker vs. Mary is very intelligent and
works really hard.

“Though” or “although” could be used both as a conjunction and as a conjunct: “She is very
intelligent. She’s very lazy, though” (conjunct). She’s very intelligent, though very lazy as well”.

FUNCTIONAL VS. SEMANTIC


Artificial languages are univocus. Natural languages have, sometimes, technical problems.

Functional John is my father A=B

Semantic John is a lawyer A=member of the set of B’s – A€B (only one line).

11

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty
CARMEN SALAS

Functional – soñar con. It doesn’t make any sense, it’s purely functional, it signals a relationship
between subject and object. However; semantic – dormir con. The conjunction conveys a
semantic content. Grammatical words are FUNCTIONAL – they lack meaning.

PRO-FORMS: PRO-PREDICATE VS. PRO-PREDICATION (p.39)

Mary loves swimming in august (swimming as predicate and swimming in august as predication).

I don’t know what to do, so I did nothing – do = predication.

Mary loves country music, but I don’t. Don’t = love/love country music? Love country music. It
is a pro-predication. It’s not a PRO verb, but a PRO predication bc it replaces a whole predication.

What have they been doing to the road? In this case, the sentence entails a PRO predicate (or pro
verb) but not a PRO predication: “Doing” replaces “fixing”, but not “fixing the road”. The road
is still there, it is not implicit.

Pro forms must be linked to a referent, so that the hearer can decode it: That’s called BINDING.
Depending on this kind of binding, pro-forms can be either:

1. Anaphoric: They link or bind with an element that has been said before. “You chose the
color, it’s your problem if you don’t like it now.” These are more frequent.
2. Cataphoric: “Let me tell you this – I don’t like your work.”

ELLIPSIS VS. PRO FORMS

To avoid using a word or phrase repetitively: Either you drop it or you use a decoy word: A verb,
a pronoun…

Taste this wine and tell me if you like it (it = pro form)

Mary is very intelligent, I know, but she’s a little bit lazy too – the “I know” clause lacks
something: I know = that Mary is very intelligent – pro form.

FINITE VS. NON-FINITE (VERB FUNCTIONS)


3.3 P.25 of the booklet.

Main clauses in finite; dependent clauses in non-finite. An important difference.

GO: Infinitive – non-finite.

Command – finite (because although not explicit, it is inflected for person).

12
CARMEN SALAS

MODALITY: Mood, modal past/future, modal aux and adverbials

Modality is the human factor that one projects onto the message, personally. It is raining. Main
principles of human communication: The moment you open your mouth and communicate,
everybody around takes what you say for granted. Everybody will assume it is raining.

Modality is a phenomenon and it can be expressed in a number of ways.

The mood expresses a personal attitude (indicative, subjunctive, imperative…). It is the paradigm
of verbal forms in which by changing the inflection changes the modality. It marks modality by
means of inflection.

Modal past or future also conveys modality. She must be in London. If it rained tomorrow: Past
in form, but future in modality. We are adding the modality of theoretical possibility with this
modal past.

If she should come. In BrE, this form is imported more and more every day. Probably, this form
will take over in the future to talk futurity.

Modal auxiliaries: Why are they so important? It is a question of balance. In Spanish we have
subjunctive mood, but in English it is almost nothing. Modal aux take that responsibility.

1. Deontic (internal)
2. Epistemic (external)

Modal adverbials: “She’s very tired, apparently”. It appears. It might be true or not (epistemic in
that sense). But one can convey his or her feelings about the fact that it is raining, for example:
“Luckily, it is raining”.

SHALL

Shall may be deontic (you shall do as I say). Shall imposes willingness on others, but not on
oneself: On oneself it’s just a personal determination, and that’s speaker-oriented. In questions,
shall entails relying on the authority of others (requesting permission). That’s hearer-oriented.

WILL WOULD MAY MIGHT


Predicting in the past or in the future.

May: More probable than might.

PERMISSION

Permission expresses the authority of the speaker. The moment you imply permission, the
authority of somebody is expressed. It must be differentiated from possibility:

He asked me if he could do that || That could be dangerous.

13

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

It could also refer to a personal ability, though: I can do that, of course; it’s my specialty.

If you express could in statements, it is granting permission. If it is in an interrogative, it asks for


permission. Any of them is deontic, anyway (either asking or stating).

DEONTIC VS. EPISTEMIC


Modality: External position of the speaker. Human factor in a message. I’m happy it is raining:
Emotional. In the booklet, they use internal and external: Internal = deontic, external = epistemic.

Deontic: The world of the ethical obligation. It refers to ethics. You shouldn’t smoke, it’s bad for
your health. That should implies something ethical or unethical of you to do. You must read the
booklet. You should do as I say. You can’t drive drunk (= you shouldn’t, it is forbidden). Facts
about the internal world of obligation.

a. Positive obligation: Must, have (got) to


b. Negative obligation: Mustn’t – obligation not to do.
c. Zero obligation: Needn’t, shouldn’t – absence of obligation.

CFR. It can’t be him (= possibility: it is not possible), or I can’t swim (= ability: I’m not able to
swim bc I don’t know how to).

Examples:

Oil will float on water. That is not future, but a prediction.

My father would go fishing every morning: Habit that used to take place in the past, but
not anymore. Will and would are not deontic, but epistemic: You’re stating a fact that
happens repeatedly. Epistemicity does not refer only to hypothesis, but also to certainty.

MODALS WITH PERFECT AND PROGRESSIVE ASPECTS (p.67)

If you can swim, you can swim forever. Ability is timeless, it’s something you never forget.
Perfective and progressive are blocked when you have a modal of ability.

FUTURE IN THE PAST

The guests will have arrived by that time. The guests will have finished the process of arriving.
The speaker is considering something in the future as finished.

FACTUAL | NON-FACTUAL | COUNTER-FACTUAL (p.41)


Something is a fact, something is not a fact, or something is just not possible.

She came (factual), if she comes… (Non-factual, bc it hasn’t happened yet). However:

14

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty
CARMEN SALAS

If you had studied… – counterfactual. It expresses an impossibility to study anymore.

Factual is something that happens, non-factual is something hypothetical, and counter-factual is


something impossible.

A command is NOT factual, bc if I tell you come tomorrow, have you gone? Not yet, or not even
necessarily.

TENSE VS. TIME


Tense: Morphological form, inflection. Only two tenses in English: Present and past. Such a thing
as pure future doesn’t exist. I will go expresses quiero ir, not future. When you express future, it
always entails modality (a periphrasis); bearing in mind that time is modality, future is time – but
not tense.

You can use the present tense to express future time: If Mary comes… So we’ll differentiate tense
(verbal form) and time (chronological concept).

SUBJUNCTIVE

Present subjunctive: Expressed by the base form of the verb – the one that appears as infinitive,
without “to” (with the preposition it would be inflected). Be will be used a lot of times as the
subjunctive. It can only be seen in third person most of the times, bc the suffix is dropped.

Past subjunctive: The only visibility – the first and third form persons.

I she was leaving… (indicative). If she were leaving… (subjunctive).

We should talk about formality here. Formal, less formal and colloquial. The indicative is less
formal, while the subjunctive is more formal.

Negation of the present subjunctive does NOT require an operator. The past does.

I insist that you not be there (*I insist that you don’t be there).

There are two types of present subjunctive:

1. Mandative: When you interfere in other people’s behavior. Expressions or notions like:
1) Demand or command
2) Recommend (you want that p to do something
3) Propose (intend someone to do something: The proposal that you come…)
4) Request (The request that you attend…)
5) Necessity (I need that you come)
6) Desire (I desire that you come)
7) Decision (the decision that you come…)

15

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

2. Formulaic: A set expression. An expression that cannot be manipulated syntactically, that


you have to take as a whole. These forms were coined many years ago. They have reached
us in their intact form.
God save the Queen – not a command, but subjunctive. Expresses a wish, a desire.
Long live the king – the same. An expression that comes from the Middle Ages.
Come what may – untouchable.
Be that as it may…
Suffice it to say that…
3. Were subjunctive: Saying were instead of was (If I were a rich man…).
4. Modal past: Not subjunctive. A way to use the past for a hypothesis.

The past subjunctive is hypothetical in meaning. It is used in conditional and concessive clauses,
and after the verbs wish and suppose.

PASSIVES (p.45)
Fact: Passives are very popular in English.

A form was given to complete.

In Spanish, it sounds peculiar, but understandable. What wouldn’t be understandable: Everybody


was given a form to complete.

In most languages, you can only passivize objects – not in English.

THAT

1. Deictic that: Meaning decodable only by sharing space and time with the speaker.
Paradigm: That and this.
2. Relative that: This is a pronoun, a relative pronoun, and easily identified by applying the
idea of paradigm: Which or nothing.
3. Complementiser that: The “that” that introduces a complement. “I expect that you will
win”. This type is not in paradigm with any of the previous ones.

PUTATIVE SHOULD

Morphemes add aspectual features, but we don’t have that in English. Putative is a special
meaning of should. You’ll find it only in subordinate clauses. Should the weather change…
Subordinate clauses of sentences with the verb “insist”: I insist that you should go there.

NOMINAL VS. ADVERBIAL CLAUSE


I don’t know when she is coming – replaceable by an object /NP. Therefore: Nominal.

When I arrived in London it was too late – replaceable by an adverb. Therefore: Adverbial.

16
CARMEN SALAS

INTENSIVE VS. EXTENSIVE

Intensive: Copulative, attributive. The relationship stated by intensive clauses is non-dynamic.


Being a father is not dynamic, or being tall. SVCs. Two types:

1. Equational: John is my father (symmetrical; A=B).


2. Inclusive: John is a lawyer (one of the many lawyers; member of a set).

Extensive: It can be either,

1. Intransitive: SV (flying, walking, jumping…)


2. Transitive:
a. Monotransitive SVO
b. Ditransitive SVOO
Complex transitive; either SVOCo or SVOA
3. Borderline between the two: SVA. Only used to express location.

PROFORMS
DO1 Lexical THERE1 Deictic (“pointable” w/ur finger)

DO2 Operator THERE2 Existential (there’s a man outside)

DO3 Emphatic THERE3 Pro-form (“I’ll go there next week”, where there,

DO4 Pro-form anaphorically, refers to London)

There are, thus, 4 do’s in English, and three there’s.

MASS VS. UNIT


Mass is a semantic feature that affects syntax. Traditionally, mass means non-count or minus
count. Those cannot be counted. Some nouns are countable in a language and non-countable in
another. That’s the richness of human perspective.

MASS -count rain, hair, lightening (depends on the language); you must use

either a clap of thunder or a strike of lightening.

UNIT +count chair, comb, eye

Abstract noun: A kind of entity that is not measurable and not observable. “Beauty” is a typical
example of abstract nouns, but it can be countable too if it stands for a person. Many beauties
attended the party. Quality vs. Specific man or woman.

17

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty
CARMEN SALAS

PARTITIVE

In some languages, it is used to refer to a part of something that is uncountable. Bread is mass,
and if you want some bread, you must use the partitive to express a part of it.

CLAUSE REDUCTION
Sentence = matrix: involves several clauses. To understand clause reduction, there are some
concepts that must be understood first:

1. Subjectless clause: That clause that has lost a subject.


2. Verbless clause: The same, but it has lost a verb – When in Rome, do as the Romans do…

Inf. concertado: “I wanted to go to Madrid”. The infinitive of a subordinate clause per se does not
entail any time info. However, if it is linked to the verb of the main clause, it does expresses time.

Clause reduction happens whenever a clause has lost at least one of its arguments, and/but/or is
verbless or non-finite. Clause reduction leads to a small clause. En el momento en el que hay un
Co, hay una small clause agazapada.

When enthusiastic, they make good students.

I broke the blue pen – I broke the safe open (Co: replaces only “the safe”)

SMALL CLAUSE
Loss of subject or time: Either the verb is non-finite or there is no verb. The reduced clause is
identified by means of brackets.

I want [to see you] 40%

I want [her to see you] 60%

I want [you here at eight] 100%

ADVERB AND PREPOSITION


“Very” = adv. However, very intelligent – “very” = preposition.

“Soon” – 100% adv. || “at” – 100% prep. Pure, true adverbs or prepositions. Nevertheless, it is
not always so easy. Some of them are combinations.

PREPOSITIONAL ADVERBS
“Off” as an example of ambiguous particle – prepositional adverb. We find this very often in
phrasal verbs.

Jump off the table! – prep.

Jump off! – adv. Nothing follows it, but it’s still a preposition (the object is still present)

18

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

[Also the example of flying across the Atlantic in 5 hours, is anybody in (the department)?]. In
which of these is a noun understood?

Shut up! – this is in no need of anything else whatsoever.

Come up! – this one, because it is implied that you go somewhere not mentioned.

AMPLIFIERS
Amplifiers imply a scale. A complete victory – “a victory” could be used attributively or
predicatively: It is inherent. However, a friend who is old is not the same as an old friend – when
they’re not inherent, they are only attributive. He’s a complete fool – *He’s a fool complete. The
same happens with good, or utter.

In addition, they’re only attributive when they’re emphasizing. This is not a scale, it’s putting in
bold letters. You are very PRETTY. Red is amplifying, while capitals are emphasizing.

SEMANTICS OF THE PREPOSITION


General statement: When you use a prep in English you must be very conscious about dimensions.
Time = visualization. Not real. Visualization of an entity from the viewpoint of three dimensions.

REFERENCE

Reference is not meaning: There are three types of meaning. Reference is the link between the
concept and the real object.

Mary is very intelligent.

Mary =/= intelligent, they don’t have the same meaning. However, they are co-referential because
they refer to the same entity.

a. Generic: The referent is representative of all the entities that fall under its reference.
b. Specific: Progressive verb forms. The referent alludes to concrete and known entities to
the participants of the conversation.
o Definite: The man that you met yesterday… This person is specific, and definite
because it is known to all participants in the conversation.
 Restrictive modification: My blue car is expensive. I have more than
one and I’m modifying the noun to specify to which I’m referring.
 Non-restrictive modification: My poor mother is ill. I don’t have
many mothers, just one.
o Indefinite: A man outside the shop asked me about you. Unknown man. The
expression “there is” implies indefiniteness. Once the referent becomes definite,
it cannot be indefinite again.

19

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty
CARMEN SALAS

REFLEXIVES

They are defined as a word with a specific form that is co-referential with another one.

Mary washes herself. *Mary washed Mary.

There is a condition

MOCK EXAM
The operator and its syntactic relevance. Why is it important?

1. If you don’t internalize it, you can’t negate or make questions.


2. Rotation for questions; negative attached to the operator.
3. Emphasis.
4. Ellipsis.

Primary auxiliaries: Be and have, + modal auxiliaries. If not present, introduce on purpose
operator, which is do. Have, in some varieties, is an operator, while do is not.

1d) I found the door wide open – SVOCo. FIND1: SVOCo (find the openness of sth)

2d) He found us a room in a cheap hotel in London – SVOO (A) (A). FIND2: SVOO

In London is a postmodifier of hotel, so it belongs in the same adverbial.

1e) This wine tastes very good – SVCs

2e) Taste this cheese and tell me if you like it – SVO

Meaning: Deontic or epistemic. Orientation: Speaker or subject.

EXERCISES
EXERCISE 7

Complements are co-referential with either the subject or the object, but Objects are not co-
referential. The meaning changes here depending on co-referentiality.

1. Object. It is not co-referential with “someone”. It is replaceable by “him” or “her” – not


“she”.
2. Subject complement.
3. Object + Object complement. Yourself and doctor are co-referential.
4. Object + Object complement (as well?)
5. Object 1 + Object 2.
6. This is ambiguous. It could be like 4 or like 5.

20
CARMEN SALAS

7. Object + Subject complement.


8. Object + Object complement.
9. Subject complement + Object + Object complement.
10. Object 1 + Object 2 + Object 3 (a different clause).

EXERCISE 6
We’re asked to pick up the subordinate and to label the constituent parts.

The example, what is “after”? It might be a preposition or a conjunction, as it is in this case: A


preposition is followed by an NP, but a conjunction is followed by a subordinate clause.

1. What’s the matrix structure? “I don’t believe” (SV) “that those bookshelves…” (O). So
the restructuring is: SVO; where O = that (SVCs (A) (A)). Popular is the Cs, because it
refers to the subject of the subordinate clause. This “that” is a complementizer one.
2. “What this advertisement says is not true – SVCs (S=what this advertisement says / isn’t
true). The subject is a clause and has been left-dislocated.
3. What that advertisement says, I simply don’t believe > I simply don’t believe what that
advertisement says. What that advertisement says = OSV / I simply don’t believe =
S(A)VO.
4. I’ll believe it when I see the result. SVO(A), where (A) =
5. [8] You didn’t leave the tap open after you shut off the water supply. Matrix: You didn’t
leave the tap. Open is another constituent. SVOCo(A), where (A) = adverbial clause.
a. I found the blue pencil (SVO).
b. I found the book yellow (SVCo).
6. I was saying could you come next Saturday? – ignore the question. Whether negative,
turn it into the canonical. SVO, where O = subordinate nominal clause.

EXERCISE 8
1. Do you understand the question? – Extensive, monotransitive.
2. English and German are separate languages – Intensive
3. He appeared rather worried – Intensive: He and rather worried are co-referential. Stative,
not dynamic (cannot be put in the command form, or progressive form).
4. The midst is disappearing – Extensive: Intransitive. There is no object. Stative or
dynamic? Dynamic. It’s in the progressive form, “slowly”.
5. I see what you mean – See = understand. It’s intensive and stative. Mean: extensive and
Monotransitive – the object is “what”, fronted to the beginning.

21

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

EXERCISE 13

1. This tank HOLDS precisely 10 liters – stative. It indicates a relationship; no progressive


and no command.
2. Hold the handle very firmly – dynamic (action)
3. Answer the question more precisely – dynamic (action)
4. He’S a fool. DON’T LISTEN to him – a: stative dynamic (action) because it is a
conscious decision, b: dynamic (action)
5. I WAS a fool. I WAS DRIVING too fast – a: stative dynamic (action) because it can be
paraphrased as “I didn’t act wisely” (again a conscious decision), b: dynamic
(progressive).
6. I’D LIKE three tickets immediately – stative.
7. We HAVE only two tickets, I’M afraid – a: stative, b: stative (difference: to have fear
and to consider something negatively: no control over this las one).
8. I WAS HAVING my coffee quietly – dynamic (progressive).
9. SMELL this meat. DOES it SMELL bad? – a: dynamic (action), b: stative (operators are
ALWAYS stative) c: stative (attribution of bad, it gives a sense of attribution - Cs).
10. I THINK I HEAR someone COMING – a: dynamic (action) stative (passive conclusion
of your active thinking), b: dynamic (progressive) stative (just a perceiver), c: dynamic
(progressive).
11. I CONSIDER you ACTED very wisely – a: stative. Different types of consider.
i. Consider 1: Think “I consider you acted very wisely” – stative.
ii. Consider 2: Analyse “Consider my proposal, please” – dynamic.

The verb “acted” – b: dynamic (action).

12. We SHALL CONSIDER your application – a: dynamic (action).

EXERCISE 14

1. The man who has just spoken is Benjamin Hall – The NP includes all the underlined.
”He” would be a PRO-NP.
2. They’ll be issuing some new tickets tomorrow – “Them” replaces the NP, so it’s a PRO-
NP. If I’d like to replace only the noun… “Some new ONES”.
3. Well, I think we’re not on the right road – I think we’re NOT. “Not” would be a pro-form
for the negative clause.

EXERCISE 26

A. Do do me a favor – e, a
B. How do you do? – b, a

22

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty
CARMEN SALAS

C. I do know you did your best – d, a


D. I don’t smoke, and nor does Henry – a, f
E. Don’t do that, please! – c, a
F. Did you tell me you’d be away? – b
Of course I did – f
G. You forgot to post the letter, didn’t you? – b f
But I did post it – d
H. I didn’t do any damage – c, a
I. Do that again, I didn’t see it properly – a, c
J. Do stop! You know it annoys me, don’t you? – e, f

EXERCISE 27

A: An activity. B: Process that sth or someone can undergo (die). C: A bodily sensation. D: A
transitional event (arrive, go). E: A series of momentary acts (knock, hit, bark). F: An inert
perception or cognition (see, know, smell). G: A relationship (have, belong to).

Inert perception / bodily sensation? Bodily sensation: Those entail a transitive verb, because they
require a stimulus. An inner perception doesn’t require neither stimulus nor an object.

A. Know: F. Ring: A.
B. Waiting: D? Speak: A.
C. Think: F. Gone: B.
D. Forgetting:

EXERCISE 38
Examples of subjunctives.

I would much rather… we stayed – modal past.

1. (5) Simple indicative.


2. (6) Mandative subjunctive.
3. (7) (Influencing, advising you to do sth) + be. Not economizes but economize.
4. (8) Formulae (be that as it may – paremia).
5. (9) Indicative, not a modal past.
6. (10) Modal past. Set is ambiguous.

EXERCISE 39

1. John can type very fast. – Ability, subject oriented (nothing to do w/the speaker). Ability
is typically subject oriented.
2. I can answer this question now.

23

Descubre tu técnica de estudio ideal en Sevilla - APRENTE


CARMEN SALAS

3. I could never understand a word he said. – Ability again, subject oriented.


4. No one could solve the problem. – Ability, subject oriented.
5. What you say might be true. – Possibility, speaker oriented.
6. Shall I open the window? – Suggestion, speaker oriented.
7. If you would will come with us, we shall be delighted. – Volition, subject oriented.
8. Would you have a seat? – Volition + possibility, hearer oriented.
9. Someone will put his coat on my peg! – Repeated action in the present, subject oriented.
10. Grandfather will look at this view all day long – Habitual action in the present, subject
oriented.
11. I would hit the wrong key of the typewriter. – Habit in the past, speaker oriented.
12. Grandpa would sit in that chair… - habitual action in the past.
13. You should read this book – Advice, speaker oriented.
14. We have to read it – obligation, subject oriented.
15. You must not smoke here – positive? Obligation (deonticity), subject oriented.
16. Can you do this…? – ability, subject oriented.
17. Should – advice, subject oriented – the speaker is asking.
18. Needn’t – absence of obligation, subject oriented (always).
19. (Epistemic world) Must – necessary must, speaker oriented.
20. Must – necessary must, speaker oriented.

EXERCISE 43

1. Henry can drive my car now – ability: now he knows how to. This is subject oriented
(deontic-driving license/legality “subject oriented” and permission “speaker oriented”
from somebody perhaps, ambiguous).
2. Anyone can make mistakes – possibility and ability, speaker orientation in the first case
(a consideration of the speaker) and subject orientation in the second (it refers to an ability
of the subject).
3. We could go to the theatre – possibility (suggestion – speaker oriented), ability (subject
oriented) and permission (subject oriented).
4. You may be out late this evening – deontic permission (speaker oriented: it is I) or
possibility (in which case it is also speaker oriented).
5. I should be pleased to see him – deontic necessity, subject oriented. But also possibility
(when it is replaceable with would), subject oriented too.
6. They should be home now – probability (epistemic), speaker oriented.

EXERCISE 78
Identify the adverb or adverbs in the following sentences and classify them according to the
possibilities. B, C, D, E, F = subjuncts.

24
CARMEN SALAS

1. You’re quite right – quite = tied to right. Focusing on right, only, and works as an
intensifier (like very). Rare: Modifying an adjective, not a verb. SUBJUNCT modifying
an adjective. The answer should be B.
2. He plays surprisingly well – two adverbs: surprisingly and well. The latter is controlling
“surprisingly”. Surprisingly = SUBJUNCT modifying an adverb. Well = sentence adjunct
(modifies not only play but HIS play).
3. Hardly anyone came – diminishing. Modifying a pronoun (NP) – SUBJUNCT.
4. It is rather a pity – SUBJUNCT bc not modifying the whole sentence, just a pity (which
is an NP).
5. His room is right at the end – right is an adverb modifying a prep phrase: SUBJUNCT.
6. Wait until afterwards – adverb (afterwards) as a complement of a preposition (until).
7. Yet I feel I know him – CONJUNCT.
8. It’s about double the… - SUBJUNCT, modifying a determiner (double).

25

Coucke´s English Academy - The best English courses near your faculty

Вам также может понравиться