LECTURE 11
1. Simple sentences:
it is a single independent clause,
the verb in simple sentences is always FINAL.
2.Parts of speech:
verbs,
nouns,
prepositions,
adverbs,
adjectives,
pronouns,
particles,
conjunctions.
3. Parts of sentence:
subject,
verb,
object (2 kinds: direct and indirect),
complements (2 types: complements of subject and of object).
4. Clause/sentence types:
SV (subject + verb): The dogs are lying. (intransitive Vgrp),
SVO (subject + verb + object): Tha cat is licking its paw. (monotransitive Vgrp),
SVC (subject + verb + complement): She looks nice. (intensive Vgrp),
SVA (subject + verb + adverbial):
My office is in the next building.
S Vgrp A - answers the question where?,
SVOO (subject + verb + object + object): (ditransitive Vgrp):
They must give you the address.,
They must give the address to you.,
SVOC (subject + verb + object + complement):
They find your jokes extremely funny.
S Vgrp dO oP
SVOA (subject + verb + object + adverbial):
You can put the dish on the table.
S Vgrp dO A
5. Syntactic functions of clause elements;
verb:
it is always realized by the VP,
it occurs in all clauses/sentences,
it determines the presence of other elements,
subject:
it is traditionally a NP,
it normally occurs before the main verb,
object:
it is typically a NP,
it follows the subject and verb,
it may become the subject of the corresponding passive clause,
complement:
it is typically a NP or AP,
it follows the verb when it complements the subject of the sentence:
My office is a mess.
sP (NP)
it follows direct object when it complements it:
We find your jokes extremely funny.
dO oP
adverbial:
it is usually an AdvP or a clause (sometimes a NP),
it usually may occur in more than one position in a clause,
it is optional with few exceptions.
6. Semantic roles of clause elements:
they may be participants; there are two types of them:
agentive (the doer of the action): She writes poems.,
affected (does not cause the action, but it is involved in it in some way):
animate,
inanimate: She writes poems.,
recipient role - indirect object: She writes me poems.,
attribute role - typical role of a subject complement or object complement (it has a purpose):
Kevin is my brother. (purpose of identification),
Kevin is a good student. (purpose of characterization).
7. SUBJECT-VERB CONCORD - the subject should agree with the verb:
She writes poems./She shares a room with a friend.,
Billiards is my favourite game.,
Cattle are over there.
plural phrases count as singular if they are used as names, titles, quotations, e.g.:
"Crime and punishment" is the best book I've read.,
the titles of collections of stories may be counted as either plural or singular, e.g.:
"Canterbury Tales" is/are really interesting.,
notional agreement/concord - it is an agreement according to the idea of number rather than the presence of marker for the idea, e.g.: Family is/are ... - notional concord between family and are or is.
8. Principle of proximity:
it denotes/means agreement of the verb with a noun or pronoun that closely precedes it in preference to agreement with the head of the NP, e.g.:
Noone except his own supporters agree with him.
singular plural distance between agree and supporters is closer than between agree and noone - it decides about the form of the verb: agree.
9. Collective nouns:
they are treated as plural (by the British): England have won the cup.,
when we think about collective nouns as single undivided body, we treat them as singular: The audience was great.,
in both British and American English plural pronouns are used to refer to singular collective nouns: The audience was great. = They were great.
10. Coordination:
coordination with and: the subject of a sentence may consist of two NPs or clauses coordinated by and:
A cat and dog are animals.,
What you did and what I thought are two different matters.,
His brother and the subsequent editor of his collected papers were with him at his deathbed. (= two people),
coordinative apposition - it takes place when two coordinated phrases refer to one entity:
His brother and the subsequent editor of his collected papers was with him at his deathbed. (= one person),
in asyndetic coordination - coordination without a coordinator, a plural verb is required:
A pencil, a notebook, a paper clip were for the project.,
subject NPs may be linked by prepositions (quasi-coordinators): as long as, along with, rather than; then, grammatical concord requires a single verb if the first NP is singular:
The captain, as well as the other players, was tired.,
coordination with neither... nor...:
either & neither take singular verb:
Neither (of the paintings) appeals to me.,
such coordination is clear when the conjoins differ in number, usually the principle of proximity is applied:
Either your brakes or your eyesight is at fault.,
Either your eyesight or your brakes are at fault.
11. Indefinite expressions as subject with noncount and count nouns:
Some (of the cement) is arriving tomorrow.,
Some (of the books) are being placed on the shelves today.
12. Concord of person:
in the present tense, apart from number concord, there is a person concord:
I am her acquaintance. (= 1st person singular concord),
She is your friend. (= 3rd person singular concord),
in the past tense, only the verb to be has distinctions of person: I was, you were.
13. Subject-complement concord & object-complement concord:
My child is an angel./My children are angels.,
I consider my child an angel./I consider my children angels.,
exceptions:
The younger children are a problem.,
Dogs are good company.
14. Coreference with pronouns & determiners:
a reflexive pronoun must agree with the subject pronoun in number, person and gender:
He injured himself in both legs.,
the personal pronoun they and the possessive pronoun their are used to avoid dilemma of whether to use masculine he or feminine she form:
A student has to wear their uniform to school.,
Everyone thinks they have the answers.
(he/his or he or she/his or her are also often used).
15. Vocatives:
they are usually NPs, denoting one or more persons to whom the sentence is addressed. It is either a call (drawing the attention of the addressee) or an address. Vocatives may appear in initial, medial and final positions:
John, dinner's ready.,
And that, my friends, concludes my speech.,
My back is aching, doctor.,
there are many groups of vocatives:
names: John,
terms for family relations: mother, mum (BrE), mom (AmE),
titles of respect: madam, sir,
markers of status: Mr President, Father (for priest),
general nouns: ladies and gentlemen, mate,
the personal pronoun you is impolite: You, what are you doing?,
nominal clauses: Whoever said that, come here.