LECTURE 9
1. Pronouns:
are (widely used) PRO-FORMS (in order to avoid repetitions):
When she came into the kitchen, he was sitting there with his knapsacks and cooler, wearing over it.
/from R.J. Waller, The Bridges of Madison County
2. Classification of pronouns:
central pronouns:
personal, e.g.: we - subjective case, us - objective case, you, they/them,
reflexive, e.g.: ourselves, yourself, themselves,
possessive, e.g.: our/s, your/s, their/s,
relative pronouns, e.g.: which, that,
interrogative pronouns, e.g.: Who?, What?,
demonstrative pronouns, e.g.: this, these,
indefinite pronouns:
positive:
universal, e.g.: both, each,
assertive, e.g.: some, several,
nonassertive, e.g.: any, nobody,
negative, e.g.: any, neither.
3. Archaic pronouns: 2 person singular: in the past, pronouns looked different, e.g.:
thou = you (subjective case, ty),
thee = you (objective case, tobie/ci),
thy = your (possessive, twój),
thine = yours (independent possessive).
4. Modification of pronouns:
adjectives in informal exclamations: Lucky you!,
appositive nouns with 1st and 2nd persons plural: You students have done well.,
here and there (may sound a little rude) with 1st and 2nd persons plural: We here and you there...,
in prepositional phrases: it is the concern of you/us...,
emphatic reflexives: I myself,
universal pronouns with plurals: We all agree that we need help./You both should take responsibility for that.,
relative clauses (usually female): She who wrote the application letter should come for an appointment./They that (who is rare) or those who....
5. Generic reference:
pronouns (especially we, you, they) are used as generics (they can be used to represent generally someone/people),
he = anyone,
examples:
They will find the way to save the Earth.,
You should help the weak.,
One should help the weak.
6. Reflexive pronouns:
are coreferential with a noun or another pronoun, agreeing with it in a number, gender and person, e.g.: Mikey calls himself Michael these days.,
Mikey calls him Michael these days. (the pronoun him is not coreferential with the subject noun Mikey).
7. Pronouns without a person contrast:
relative pronouns, e.g.: The person that I admire most.../The man whose beard was white...,
interrogative pronouns (Who?, Whom?, Whose?, What?),
demonstrative pronouns (this, these, that, those),
indefinite pronouns (-body, -thing, e.g.: everybody/everyone, nobody/noone - despite their plural meaning they take singular verbs, e.g.: [everybody is pleased], each, both).
8. Partitive indefinite pronouns:
quantifiers, e.g.: some chocolate, a few people,
in expressions with of, e.g.:
One of ...,
Each of ...,
Some of ...,
Most of ...,
None of ..., etc.,
numerals (one, two, etc.).
9. Adjectives:
semantically, adjectives denote properties of things, people, places, properties relating to colour, size, shape, etc.,
syntactitly, they have III properties,
I FUNCTION: attributive function (as internal prehead modifiers: an old book) and predicative function (as predicative complement in clause structure: the book is old),
II GRADE: plain - worse - the worst,
III MODIFICATION: usually by adverbs: absolutely stunning.
10. Gradable adjectives: bad - worse - the worst.
Non-gradable adjectives: my index finger, a medical problem, phonetic symbols.
Some adjectives may be both: in the public interest/a very public quarrel.
11. The structure of Adjective Phrases (APs):
AP consists of an adjective as a head (alone or accompanied by one or more DEPENDENTS - either complements or modifiers),
complements within AP (usually prepositional phrases - PPs): uncertain what to do, good at English, scared of dogs,
modifiers within AP (usually AdvP, PP, NP): very useful, cautious to excess, five hours sleep.
12. Predicative complements: (function of AP):
in intensive Vgrp: He was furious.,
in complex-transitive Vgrp: I saw him furious.
13. Predicative adjuncts: (function of AP):
Furious with himself, Kevin walked out of the room.,
attributive vs. predicative use:
A wild cat. vs. The cat was wild.
The main* drawback. The children were asleep*.
*attributive - only *never - attributive
adjectives (they can
appear only before
nouns)
14. Other functions of AP:
POSTPOSITIVES - as a post-head internal modifier within NP: the mission impossible, somewhere nice, children keen on sport,
EXTERNAL MODIFIERS - at the beginning of NP, before the indefinite article a: such a show, too dark a colour, what a shame.
15. Adverbs:
just as nouns take adjectives as their typical modifiers, verbs take adverbs,
adverbs are formed by adding the suffix -ly to adjectives, e.g.:
She has a beautiful voice./She sings beautifully.,
They had a quick talk./They talked quickly.
16. Adverbs as modifiers of adjectives and other adverbs:
He was almost dead./It is virtually impossible.,
He was wounded almost fatally./He spoke virtually inaudibly.
17. Comparative & superlative:
are formed by the means of more & most, e.g.: more quickly - most quickly.
18. Adverbs vs. adjectives:
adjectives act as noun modifiers and predicative complements, e.g.: It's gorgeous onesie./This onesie is gorgeous.,
adverbs do not normally occur in this function.
19. Overlap between adjectives and adverbs:
there is no difference between the adverb and adjective in terms of form; however, there is sometimes a difference in meaning, e.g.:
The early bird catches the worm./The bird caught the worm early.,
the very(= particular) book/a very (= extremely) good book,
the suffix -ly does not always identify the adverb:
friend (n) - a friendly fire (adj.),
father (n) - fatherly advice (adj.),
death (n) - a deathly silence (adj.).