LECTURE 12
1. Recursion:
takes place when a constituent contains a further consistuence of the same category, e.g.: a glass of mineral water.
2. Complex sentences:
coordinate sentences - two or more parts of a sentence joined by and or but, etc. that make separate statements that each have an equal importance (independent of each other), e.g.:
I wash up and you set the table.,
subordinate sentences - a group of words that is not a sentence but adds information to the main part of the sentence, e.g.:
I said I would wash up.
subordinate subordinate/embedded clause
a subordinate clause that is not subordinate to any other clause is referred to as the MAIN CLAUSE; the verb of the main clause is the main verb.
3. Abbreviated Clausal Analysis: (ACP):
I told you she said she would wash up.
4. Complementisers (Compl.): that & whether:
that ... - a marker of clausal subordination; it serves to introduce subordinate clauses; its position in the phrase marker is as daughter of S-bar and a sister of S:
S
Compl. S
that he was in command
there are circumstances in which the complementiser position is not overtly filled but it is ellipted, e.g.:
The fact that you received no greetings from Mars doesn't mean (that) it is inhabited.,
whether can occupy the same complementiser position as that; however subordinate clauses with whether are interrogative in character; whether-clauses are interrogative clauses, e.g.:
We still don't know whether there is life on other planets. (Is there life on other planets?),
subordinate clauses can also be introduced by subordinating conjunctions (usually adverbial clauses).
5. That there was no life on other planets worried him.:
constituents functioning as subjects are analysed as NPs:
S
NP VP
S worried him
Compl. S
That there was no life on other planets
`It (that there was no life on other planets) worried him.,
clausal subjects can be extraposed from under the subject NP node to the end of the sentence leaving behind an empty pronoun it:
It worried him that there was no life on Mars.,
it serves as a dummy subject, referred to as expletive it.
6. Extraposed subject construction:
is a construction which has a casual subject displaced to the end of the sentence and expletive it in the normal subject position, e.g.:
It worried him that there was no life on Mars.
7. Complement of Vgrp within VP:
subordinate clauses function as the complement of a transitive Vgrp, e.g.:
He had to admit that they were good at the job.,
verbs that can take casual direct object:
note,
claim,
believe,
remind (also ditransitive, e.g.: Mrs Smith reminded her son that they still had several people to see.),
ask,
know, etc.,
that/whether clauses cannot function as indirect objects of ditransitive verbs because they are abstract, not animate; indirect objects must be able to refer to animate entities, e.g.:
Mrs Smith reminded her son that they still had several people to see.,
that/whether clauses can function as the complements of the verbs which also take NPs as their direct objects, e.g.:
Arnold claims it. = Arnold claims that the sea was calm that night.,
therefore, the clauses in question will be analysed under the NP node:
S
NP VP
N Vgrp NP
Arnold V S
claims Compl. S
that the sea was calm that night
that/whether clauses can function as subject-predicatives, e.g.:
The question is whether we accept this offer.
8. Complement of A in AP:
adjectives can be complemented by PP, e.g.: willing to pay,
adjectives can also be complemented by that/whether clauses, e.g.: angry that they had not been chosen.
9. Complement of N within NP:
the subject NP consists of that-clause complementing the word fact,
a feature of noun-complement clauses is that they can only complement abstract noun like fact, idea, news, question, suggestion, indication, etc.,
such clauses are said to complement the N within NP as clauses that complement the Vgrp in the VP, e.g.:
The fact that you received no greetings from Mars.
NP
DET NOM
Art N S
The fact that you received no greetings
from Mars
10. Complement of P within PP:
an interrogative clause can function as the complement of a preposition within PP; in the sentence above the PP is modifying a noun (= question); however, it can also function as the complement of the Vgrp, e.g.:
The question of whether they should establish a website.,
They worried about whether they should establish a website.
11. Adverbial clauses:
they take subordinating conjunctions such as: before, after, until, since (also prepositions), although, unless, if, because, once, as, now, so, and some phrasal complementisers such as: now that, so that, except that, as if, in case, as soon as, e.g.:
Things will be rather dull if Hieronimo leaves.
12. Types of adverbial clauses:
if/unless make the clause function as a conditional adverbial case,
because makes for an adverbial clause of reason,
after/before make for temporal adverbial clauses.