Tài liệu ôn thi sau đại học môn tiếng anh

Để giúp các đối tượng dự thi làm quen và chuẩn bị tốt cho kỳ thi của mình, tài liệu này 1 bao gồm những trọng điểm theo đúng qui định về nội dung ôn tập của Đề cương ôn tập Cú pháp cho

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KHOA HỌC XÃ HỘI & NHÂN VĂN

Tô Minh Thanh

TÀI LIỆU ÔN THI

TUYỂN SINH SAU ĐẠI HỌC CHUYÊN NGÀNH Giảng dạy tiếng Anh

(Tái bản lần thứ nhất, có chỉnh sửa)

NHÀ XUẤT BẢN ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA

TP HỒ CHÍ MINH – 2008

CONTENTS

Content i

Preface vii

Outline for revision ix

Table of notational symbols xii

Section one: WORD CLASSES 1 Parts of speech, word classes and grammatical categories 1

2 Classification of word classes 2

2.1Major classes vs minor classes 2

2.2 English major classes 3

2.2 1 English form classes 4

2.2 2 English positional classes 6

2.3 English minor classes 10

2.4 Word-class exercises 10

2.4.1 Exercises for form classes 10

2.4.2 Exercises for positional classes 12

Section two: TYPES of PHRASES, CLAUSES and SENTENCES 3 Phrases vs clauses 15

4 Adjective phrases vs adverb phrases 15

5 Attributive vs predicative adjectives/adjective phrases 17

6 Noun phrases vs verb phrases 18

7 The N-bar (N’) as a level of NP-structure that is intermediate between the phrasal (NP) level and the lexical (N) level 20

8 Types of pre-nominal modifiers 21

8.1Determiners 21

8.2Quanyifying adjectives 23

8.3Adjective phrases 26

8.4Pre-modifying nouns 27

8.5Possessive common nouns 28

8.6Verb participles 29

8.7Gerunds 30

8.8Restricters 31

9 Types of post-nominal modifiers 32

9.1Prepositional phrases 32

9.2Adjective phrases 33

9.3Participial phrases 35

9.4Infinitive phrases 35

9.5Subordinate adjective clauses 36

10 Noun complements vs optional post-nominal modifiers 36

11 Classification of English verbs/verb phrases 38

11.1 Intensive verbs/verb phrases 39

11.2 Complex transitive verbs/verb phrases 40

11.3 Ditransitive verbs/verb phrases 43

11.4 Monotransitive verbs/verb phrases 47

11.5 Prepositional verbs/verb phrases 51

11.5.1 Monotransitive Prepositional verbs/verb phrases 51

11.5.2 Ditransitive Prepositional verbs/verb phrases 53

11.6 Intransitive verbs/verb phrases 55

11.7 Summary of the classification of English verbs/verb phrases 57

11.8 Troublesome verbs 59

12 Types of clause links 61

13 Types of clauses 62

13.1 Finite clauses vs non-finite clauses 62

13.2 Independent clauses vs.dependent clauses 63

13.3 Subordinate clauses vs.embedded clauses 64

14 Covert subjects vs overt subjects 66

15 Types of finite dependent clauses 67

15.1 Nonimal clauses 67

15.2 Relative clauses 67

15.3 Adverbial clauses 68

15.4 Reporting clauses 68

15.5 Comment clauses 68

16 Types of non-finite clauses 69

16.1 Infinitive non-finite clauses 69

16.2 Gerund non-finite clauses 69

16.3 Participial non-finite clauses 70

16.4 Verbless clauses 71

17 Classification of sentences according to their structures 71

17.1 Simple sentences 71

17.2 Compound sentences 72

17.3 Complex sentences 72

17.3.1 Embedded nominal clauses 73

17.3.1.1 As the subject 73

17.3.1.2 As the direct object/the predicator complement 78

17.3.1.3 As the indirect object 89

17.3.1.4 As the subject(ive) complement 90

17.3.1.5 As the object(ive) complement 91

17.3.1.6 As the complement of a preposition 94

17.3.2 Subordinate/embedded adjectival clauses 95

17.3.3 Subordinate/embedded adverbial clauses 96

17.4 Compound-Complex sentences 97

Section three: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS 18 Structure 99

19 Endocentric structures vs exocentric structures 99

20 Types of syntactic structures 100

20.1 Structures of modification 100

20.2 Structures of complementation 101

20.3 Structures of coordination 101

20.4 Structures of predication 103

21 Constructions vs constituents 104

22 Immediate constituents vs ultimate constituents 104

23 Immediate constituents of a sentence 105

24 Intervening level of organization between word and sentence 106

25 Modifiers vs complements 106

26 Types of adjective complements 108

27 Pre-adjectival modifiers vs post-adjectival modifiers 108

28 Adjective complements vs optional post-adjectival modifiers 109

29 Classification of English adjectives according to their post-modifiers 111

30 Types of adverbial adjuncts 112

31 Noun phrase analyses 123

32 Mis-diagraming 125

33 Structural ambiguity in English noun phrases 126

33.1 Define a structurally ambiguous noun phrase 126

33.2 Explain structurally ambiguous noun phrases 128

33.3 Disambiguate structurally ambiguous noun phrases 134

33.4 Account forstructurally non-ambiguous noun phrases 138

34 Verb phrase analyses 140

34.1 Noun phrases as the sP/sC of an intensive verb or as the dO of a monotransitive verb 140

34.2 NP direct objects of a monotransitive verb or NP adverbial adjuncts of an intransitive verb 141

34.3 Prepositional phrases as the sP/sC of an intensive verb or as the optional adverbial adjunct of any verb 142

34.4 IntransVAC vs.intransV—Adv 143

34.5 MonotransVAC—NPvs.intransV—PP 144

34.6 MonotransVAC—NP vs.monotrans-prepV—prepO 146

35 Sentence analyses 147

35.1 Identify the syntactic function ofa PP 147

35.2 Decide whether a PP is part of the complementation of a ditransitive verb 148

35.3 Explain the differencebetween two sentences 151

35.4 Re-analysesentence pairs, using tree-diagrams 154

36 Structural ambiguity in English verb phrases 157

37 Phrase structure 162

37.1 Definition 162

37.2 How to determine phrase structure? 162

37.2.1 Substitution 162

37.2.2 Conjoinability 165

37.2.3 Movement 166

37.2.4 Checking the antecedent for a pro-form 167

37.3 Phrase structure exercises 167

38 Phrase structure rules 170

39 Surface structuresvs.deep structures 172

40 Signals of syntactic structures 174

40.1 Word order 174

40.2 Function words 174

40.3 Inflection 175

40.4 Derivational contrast 176

40.5 Prosody 176

41 What is syntax? 177

Section four: SAMPLE TESTS IN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS 178

Bibliography 197

LỜI NÓI ĐẦU

Thực tế là không phải sách ngôn ngữ của tác giả người nước ngoài nào cũng đáp ứng đúng và đủ nội dung ôn tập thi tuyển sinh sau đại học chuyên ngành Giảng dạy tiếng Anh ( Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

theo quy định của Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, thuộc Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Tài liệu này ra đời nhằm đáp ứng nhu

cầu ôn tập thi tuyển sinh sau đại học cho môn Ngữ học trong chuyên ngành

nêu trên

Để giúp các đối tượng dự thi làm quen và chuẩn bị tốt cho kỳ thi của

mình, tài liệu này (1) bao gồm những trọng điểm theo đúng qui định về nội

dung ôn tập của Đề cương ôn tập Cú pháp cho kỳ thi tuyển sinh sau đại học chuyên ngành Giảng dạy tiếng Anh và (2) được trình bày thành bốn phần:

Phần 1: Các từ loại (Word Classes)

Phần 2: Các loại ngữ, cú và câu (Types of phrases, clauses and

sentences)

Phần 3: Các mối quan hệ ngữ pháp (Grammatical relations)

Phần 4: Một số đề thi và đáp án đã thực tế được dùng trong các kỳ thi gần đây

Tài liệu này cũng có thể nằm trong thư mục sách tham khảo giúp sinh

viên hệ tại chức và hệ chính quy bằng 1 và bằng 2 của chuyên ngành Ngữ

hệ đào tạo đại học này Ngoài ra, các học viên cao học chuyên ngành Giảng

học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, thuộc Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh cũng có thể tham khảo tài liệu này khi theo học môn Linguistics PG

trong chương trình chính khóa của cả hai hệ đào tạo sau đại học này

Rất mong tài liệu này sẽ giúp các đối tượng dự thi tự ôn luyện tốt hơn dù có điều kiện hay không thể trực tiếp theo học các lớp luyện thi tại trường

Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, ngày 20 tháng 1 năm 2005

Tô Minh Thanh

Đại Học Quốc Gia Tp Hồ Chí Minh

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KHOA HỌC XÃ HỘI & NHÂN VĂN

YUUUZ

ĐỀ CƯƠNG ÔN TẬP THI TUYỂN SINH CAO HỌC

Môn Cơ sở: LINGUISTICS (cho chuyên ngành Giảng dạy tiếng Anh)

1 Linguistics

(a) Semantics

- The expression of meaning in English at the word and sentence level;

- The relations of different kinds of meaning;

- Meaning shifts or words;

- Use of language in social interaction

Write an essay of 250 - 300 words on an issue of second language

teaching and learning

REFERENCES

Fromkin V et al (1988) An Introduction to Language

Sydney: Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Hurdford, J R & Heasley, B (1984) Semantics A Course Book

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Jordan, R.R (1990) Academic Writing Course Collins ELT A Division of

Harper Collins Publishers

Kaplan, J.P (1989) English Grammar Principles and Facts

New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc

SEMANTICS

GUIDELINES FOR REVIEW

I SemanticProperties and Semantic Fields

II Reference and Sense

III Denotation and Connotation

IV Taxonomy—Hypernyms and Hyponyms

V Multiple Senses of Lexical Items

* Primary Sense

* Secondary Senses (polysemy)

* Figurative Senses (metaphors, similes, metonymy, synecdoche,

euphemism, hyperbole, litotes, alliteration, assonance, consonance)

VI Synonymy vs Antonymy

VII Homonyms (homophones and homograph), acronyms, anomaly

VIII Speech Acts

ENGLISH SYNTAX Introduction

• Syntax: “the study of how words combine to

form sentences and the rules which govern the

information of sentences” (Richards, Platt &

Weber)

• Traditional grammar — Structural grammar —

Transformational grammar

Five signals of syntactic structures: Word order,

Prosody, Function words, Inflections, and

Derivational contrast (Francis, 1958: 234)

Word classes: open ad closed classes

• Open classes: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives,

Adverbs (Jackson, 1980)

• Closed classes: Pronouns, Numerals,

Determiners, Prepositions, Conjunctions

• What do native speakers know about their language?

by Jacbs and Rosenbaum,

in Clark et al (1981: 343-49)

IC’s in Syntax

Four basic types of syntactic structures:

modification, predication, complementation,

and coordination (Francis, 1958)

Endocentric and exocentric constructions

(Bloomfield, 1933; Nida, 1966)

• Chapter 6 in Francis (1958)

• Chapter 6 in Fromkin et al (1990)

• Chapter 1in Nida (1996)

• John Lyons (translated version) pp 368-70

Noun phrases

Types of modifiers in noun phrases

• Premodification: identifier, numeral/quantifier,

adjective, noun modifier

• Postmodification: relative clauses, non-finite

clauses, prepositional phrases

Chapter 3 in Jackson (1980)

Verb phrases: tense, aspect, mood, voice Chapter 4 in Jackson (1980)

Adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and

prepositional phrases Chapter 5 in Jackson (1980)

Clauses

• Structures and types

• Dependent clauses

Chapter 6 & 7 in Jackson (1980)

Phrase structure rules & Transformational rules Chapter 5 in Fromkin et al (1990)

Co-P = a coordination of Prepositions

Co-PP = a coordinate Prepositional

phrase

Co-NP = a coordinate noun phrase

Co-AP = a coordinate adjective phrase

DEG = degree adverb

EmACl = embedded adjective clause

EmAdvCl = embedded adverbial clause

EXCLAMATORY DET = exclamatory

determiner

[E] = empty/covert/zero/implicit subject

H = the head

headN = the head noun

headPRO = the head pronoun

headPropN = the head proper noun

headA = the head adjective

headGer = the head gerund

IC = immediate constituent

InfP = infinitive phrase

intens = intensive verb

intrans = intransitive verb

intransVAC = intransitive

verb-adverbial composite

iO = indirect object

M = modifier ModN = pre-modifying noun monotrans = monotransitive verb monotrans-prep = monotransitive prepositional verb

monotransVAC = monotransitive adverbial composite

PropN = proper noun Poss = possessive PossA = possessive adjective

PossPropN = possessive proper noun

PossCommN = possessive common noun

PossMarker = possessive marker PossNP = possessive noun phrase

predC = predicator complement

P = preposition prep = prepositional verb prepO = prepositional object prepC = complement of a preposition

PP = prepositional phrase PartP = participial phrase

Q = quantifier

QA = quantifying adjective RESTRIC = restricter

S = sentence

S’= S-bar

sC = subject(ive) complement

sP = subject-predicative

SubACl = subordinate adjective clause

SubAdvCl = subordinate adverbial clause

SECTION 1: WORD CLASSES

1 Parts of speech, word classes and grammatical categories1

“The traditional term ‘parts of speech’ is puzzling; it’s not clear why kinds of words — really, classes of words — would be ‘parts’ of speech any more than, say, phonemes, allophones, morphemes, allomorphs, or even phrases or sentences In fact, instead of ‘parts of speech,’ linguists usually employ the terms ‘word class’ or ‘grammatical category.’ The term ‘grammatical category’ is a useful one, since it captures an important aspect of a ‘part of speech,’ namely, that all tokens of a particular part of speech share important grammatical characteristics that other parts of speech lack The term ‘word class,’ however, is valuable in its simplicity and is certainly an improvement over ‘part of speech’.” [Kaplan, 1989: 105]

1 “The syntactic categories of words and groups of words are revealed by

the way they pattern in sentences If you didn’t have knowledge of these syntactic categories, you would be unable to form grammatical sentences or distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences.” [Fromkin

et al, 1988: 214] For example, the child belong to a family that includes the police officer, your neighbour, this yellow cat, he, and countless others

Each member of this family can be substituted for the child without

affecting the grammaticality of the sentence, although the meanings of course would change

“A family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of grammaticality is called a syntactic category.” [Fromkin and Rodman, 1993: 79]

2 Classification of word classes

2.1 Major classes vs minor classes: Kaplan, [1989: 106] divides word classes into two main groups—major and minor

1 The major classes — nouns,

verbs, adjectives, and adverbs —

have a great many members, e.g a

hundred thousand nouns

1 The minor classes — pronouns, numerals, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions, and so on — have few members It’s easy to list all the articles of English: a, an, and the There are maybe 70 prepositions and

approximately a dozen subordinate conjunctions: when, since, because, after, before, while, although, as, etc

2 Major class words tend to have

referential meanings, since they

involve, or allow, reference to actual

things, actions, events, or properties,

e.g “Horse means that kind of

animals.” uttered while pointing to a

horse

2 Minor class words tend not to have referential meanings That is their meanings are not easily specified by means of a neat definition, e.g how would you define the or of? In other words, “the open classes bear the greatest load in terms of meaning, in the sense of refrence to things in the world while the function of closed classes is oriented more towards internal linguistic relationships.” [Jackson, 1980: 7]

3 Major classes are receptive to new

members As a result, major classes

are also called open classes [Jackson,

1980: 7] Originating in slang or

casual contexts are the following new

nouns, verbs, and adjectives (new

adverbs are harder to come up with):

teflon, yuppie, nerd (nouns); scam,

boot up, book (verbs); rad, gnardly,

killer, tubular, (adjectives)

3 Minor classes are not receptive to new members; they are closed It’s unlikely you can think of any last new slangy article, conjunction, pronoun,

or preposition you’ve learned

2.2 English major classes: In defining major/open classes, Stageberg

[1965: 191-219] presents a double-track classification, one by form and the other by position2

“When classified as to meaning, adjectives are descriptive or definitive, some of each class having definite and some indefinite application.” [House and Harman, 1965: 73]

2 Fromkin et al [1988, 214-215] present three types of criteria to define

He will not score any more runs unless he runs faster

The first runs is recognized as a noun and the second as a verb because of

3 Kaplan [1989:108] points out that one problem with the traditional definition

of noun and verb since it is meaning-based (a noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing; a verb is a word that names an action or state), it ought to be universal — valid in all languages, that is But concepts that are encoded linguistically as nouns in one language may be encoded as verbs or adjectives in

others In English, for example, we normally say I’m hungry, using an adjective to describe how we feel; but in Spanish one says tengo hambre — literally, “I have

hunger”, using a noun, hambre, to describe the same feeling

Stageberg’s four form classes are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and

adverbs Each form-class has its correlative position class, which will be later labelled as nominals, verbals, adjectivals, or adverbials

2.2.1 English form classes

2.2.1.1 Nouns

Noun are identified as nouns by two aspects of form, their inflectional morphemes, and their derivational morphemes

2.2.1.1.1 The two noun inflectional suffixes in English are:

c The noun plural morpheme {–S1}: book–s, apple–s, box–es, etc

d The noun possessive morpheme {–S2}: man–’s, girl–’s, students–’, Alice–’s, etc

verbs, adjectives, nouns, and bound forms: accept → acceptance, big → bigness, book → booklet, dent- → dentist, etc

2.2.1.2 Verbs

Verbs are identified as verbs by two aspects of form, their inflectional morphemes, and their derivational morphemes

2.2.1.2.1 The four verb inflectional suffixes in English are:

c The verb third person singular present tense morpheme {–S3}:

walk–s, find–s, mix–es, etc

d The verb present participle morpheme {–ing1}:

play–ing, typ(e)–ing, dig(g)–ing, etc

e The verb past simple morpheme {–D1}:

flow–ed, work–ed, creat(e)–ed, drank, broke, thought, show–ed, etc

f The verb past participle morpheme {–D2}:

flow–ed, work–ed, creat(e)–ed, drunk, broken, thought, show–n, etc

nouns or adjectives: knowledge → acknowledge, bath → bathe, ripe → ripen,

large → enlarge, etc

2.2.1.3 Adjectives

Adjectives are identified as adjectives by two aspects of form, their inflectional morphemes, and their derivational morphemes

2.2.1.3.1 The two adjective inflectional suffixes in English are:

c The adjective comparative morpheme {–er1}:

small–er, saf(e)–er, thinn–er, etc

d The adjective superlative morpheme {–est1}:

small–est, saf(e)–est, thinn–est, etc

2.2.1.3.2 Adjectives are identified not only by inflectional

to nouns or verbs: athlete → athletic, child → childish, collect → collective,

read → readable, etc

In short, “a word which is inflected with –er and –est and which is capable of forming adverbs with –ly and/or nouns with –ness is called an adjective.” [Stageberg, 1965: 202]

Or, “an adjective will be any word which has one or more of the following positive attributes:

i it can occur between Article and Noun

ii it can occur in the slot (Art) N is _

iii it can occur before (or contains) –er and –est, or after more and most

and in addition has all of the following negative attributes

i it cannot occur with a plural

ii it cannot occur with a possessive

iii it cannot occur in the slot (Art) N _Verb.” [Kaplan, 1989: 116]

3There is a group of about seventy-five, mostly of two syllables, which begin with

the prefix a-: afoot, aground, awake, agape, aloud, afresh, alert, adroit, etc.

“These are uninflected words (UW’s) because they take no inflectional endings Although they do have the prefix a- in common, it seems unwise to label them formally as either adjectives or adverbs since positionally they appear in both adjectival and adverbial slots.” [Stageberg, 1965: 206]

2.2.1.3.4 Adverbs

2.2.1.3.4.1 The two adverb inflectional suffixes in English are:

c The adverb comparative morpheme {–er1}: fast–er, hard–er, etc

d The adverb superlative morpheme {–est1}: fast–est, hard–est, etc

morphemes but also by the adverb-forming derivational suffix {–ly1}4

added to adjectives: just → justly, beautiful→ beautifully, etc

2.2.2 English positional classes

According to Stageberg [1965: 196-219],the four positional classes

in English are the nominal, the verbal, the adjectival and the adverbial

comparable, pronoun, uninflected word) will be tabbed a nominal if it occupies one of the seven noun positions” [Stageberg,1965:196] listed below:

1 The position of the subject:

- Upstairs IS the safest hiding place

4 “In the word-stock of English there are many uninflected words often employed

in the adverbial positions:

1 Uninflected words used both as adverbials and prepositions: above, about,

after, around, before, behind, below, down, in, inside, on, out, outside, since, to, under, up

2 “-ward” series, with optional –s: afterward, backward, downward, forward,

homeward, inward, northward, outward, upward, windward

3 “Here” series: here, herein, hereby, heretofore, hereafter

4 “There” series: there, therein, thereby, theretofore, thereafter

5 “-where” series: anywhere, everywhere, somewhere, nowhere

6 “-ways” series: crossways, sideways; also, anyway

7 “-time” series: meantime, sometime, anytime, sometimes

8 Miscellaneous: today, tonight, tomorrow, yesterday, now, then, seldom, still,

yet, already, meanwhile, also, too, never, not, forth, thus, sidelong, headlong, maybe, perhaps, instead, indeed, henceforth, piecemeal, nevertheless, downstairs, indoors, outdoors, offhand, overseas, unawares, besides, furthermore, always.” [Stageberg,

1965:215]

- For Glenda to steal the diamond WOULD BE a shame

2 The position of the direct object:

I HATE telling lies

I WANT to think critically

3 The position of the indirect object:

She GAVE whomever she met different offers

She GAVE nobody a hand shake

4 The position of the retained object:

We WERE GIVEN the thinnest

5 The position of the subject(ive) complement:

This book IS hers

My favorite pastime IS swimming

6 The position of the object(ive) complement:

You’VE MADE me what I am

They NAMED the little dog Neky

7 The position of the complement of a preposition:

He IS interested in nothing

The elevator has been used for many years without being repaired

four verbals in

She must have been loafing last week and two in

Ishould leave the house in ten minutes

Also, any verb form taking a subject or a complement (OV, SC,

or Adj) or modified by an adverbial is a verbal, regardless of its position

1 Becoming angry, she broke the dish

2 Being a minister, Prentice spoke softly

3 After having eaten the turnips, Prentice tried to look satisfied

4 The light having gone out, we lighted candles

5 Giving to the poor is a Christian virtue.” [Stageberg, 1965: 201]

characteristic sentence positions.” [Stageberg, 1965: 206]

1 The position between the determiner and the noun:

That joyful/college/laughing/recommended freshman is bright

2 The position right after the noun:

The fellow waving drives a convertible

3 The position right after an intensive verb: He always remains quiet

4 The position right after the direct object of a complex transitive

verb: The management considered him competent

“In other positions let us say that any adjective or adjective substitute is an adjectival, unless it is in a nominal or adverbial slot” [Stageberg, 1965: 210]

2.2.2.4 Adverbials are the word groups as well as the single

functions Common adverbial positions are:

2.2.2.4.1 Initial position: The adverbial is in the first position in

the clause with or without juncture, occurring before the subject or other

obligatory elements of the clause:

(1)a Really, you SHOULD KNOW better

b Now it IStime to go

c With a sharp ax you CAN DO wonder

d By using a little red here, you CAN BALANCE your colors

e Unless you FOLLOW the printed directions,

the set WILL NOT FIT properly together

2.2.2.4.2 Medial position: This includes all positions between

obligatory initial and final clausal elements Several more specific positions can be distinguished:

c Between the subject and the beginning of the verb phrase:

(2)a She actually EXPECTS to marry him

b Mary in her own way WAS a darling

c The environment secretary yesterday MOVED

to mitigate the effects of the inland revenue revaluation

d After THE MODAL/FIRST AUXILIARY VERB and before THE LEXICAL VERB:

(2)d He WOULD seldom MAKE effort

e You MAYin this way BE of great assistance

f Carrie HADoften DREAMED about coming back

g The utilization of computers ISnot of course LIMITED to business

e After THE LEXICAL VERB but preceding other obligatory elements of

the clause

(2)h It IS still three weeks away

i It IS no longer a casino

j He IS always/at any event happy

k He IS certainly/without doubt an expert

l She IS cleverly with her clients

2.2.2.4.3 Final position: Sentence-finally, the adverbial can be placed:

c After THE LEXICAL VERB, especially after AN INTRANSITIVE ONE

(2)m He LIVES independently/in the fast lane

n He DIED last night

o He DROVE recklessly/with abandon

d After all obligatory elements, i.e the indirect object, the direct object, the subjective complement, or the objective complement, of THE LEXICAL VERB (though it may not be the last element if there are other final adverbials in the same clause):

(3)a Tom WAS a doctor for many years

b Tom WILL PLAY football tomorrow

c Tom SENT a telegraph to his wife yesterday morning

d Tom PUT his watch where he can find it in the dark

e Tom BELIEVED the man crazy after questioning him

2.3 English minor classes:

Jackson’s[1980: 9-11] minor/closed classes consist of pronouns that

“have to main function of substituting for nouns, once a noun has been mentioned in a particular text”; numerals that “are of two kinds: ordinal and

cardinal”; determiners that “are used with nouns and have the function of defining the reference of the noun in some way”; prepositions the chief function of which is “relating a noun phrase to another unit”; and

conjunctions that “are of two kinds: co-ordinating conjunctions, such as

and, or, but, which join two items on an equal footing; and subordinating conjunctions, such as when, if, why, whether, because, since, which subordinate one item to another in some way.”

Fromkin et al [1980: 9-11] add to minor/closed classes the form class called “auxiliaries”, which includes English helping verbs (be, have, do)

and the modals (can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must)

However, these authors only identify one subtype of Jackson’s

ignoring the other subtypes such as possessives, demonstratives, and

quantifiers

And Stageberg [1965] says nothing concerning minor/closed classes

2.4 Word-class exercises:

2.4.1 Exercises for form classes

EXERCISE 1: Review the derivational adverb-forming suffix {-ly1} and

the derivational adjective-forming suffix {-ly2} Then place

a check after each word that qualifies as an adverb

EXERCISE 2: Identify the italicized -ly as either the derivational

adverb-forming suffix {-ly1} or the derivational adverb-forming suffix {-ly2} Complete the table

1 The witness testified falsely {-ly1}

2 Gilbert has a deadly wit

3 Prudence always behaves with a maidenly demeanor {-ly2}

4 He tiptoed softly into the room

5 Jimmy received a weekly allowance

6 The dear old lady has a heavenly disposition

7 He spoke quietly to her grandson

8 What a timely suggestion!

9 What an unmannerly helot!

10 It was a cowardly act

EXERCISE 3: In the blank place a V to identify the italicized inflectional

identify the italicized derivational class-changing adjective-forming morpheme {-ing3}5 Complete the table

2 It was located by a sweetly babbling brook {-ing1}

3 It was exciting to watch the fight

4 From the bridge we can watch the running water

5 That barking dog keeps everyone awake

6 He told a convincing tale

7 The shining sun gilded the forest floor

8 A refreshing shower poured down

9 The attorney made a moving appeal

10 What an obliging fellow he is !

5 Notice the derivational class-changing noun-forming morpheme {-ing2} in

teaching, a meeting, droppings, etc

EXERCISE 4: In the blank place a V to identify the italicized inflectional

verb past participle morpheme {-D2} and an A to identify the italicized derivational class-changing adjective-forming morpheme {-D3}6 Complete the table

1 You should read the printed statement {-D2}

2 Mary became a devoted mother {-D3}

3 This is a complicated question

4 His chosen bride had lived in India

5 He bought a stolen picture

6 The invited guests all came

7 He had a reserved seat

8 The skipper was a reserved (= quiet) man

9 A celebrated painter visited the campus

10 A worried look crossed his face

2.4.2 Exercises for positional classes

EXERCISE 5: The nominal word groups are italicized In the blank, give their

syntactic function in the sentence Complete the table

2 What you do is your own business subject

3 That was what I thought too

4 You must do the best with what you have

5 Jack made whoever came there the same offer

6 We will name the baby whatever his grandmother wishes

7 We thought of paying cash

8 I’ll take whichever is the most durable

9 Betty forgot to bring the coffee

10 George postponed mailing the letter

11 I enjoyed the company of my favourite aunt from Leeds

12 Where we are going has not been decided

13 We found what we wanted

14 That she is beautiful is evident to all

6 Notice that {-D1} is the inflectional verb past tense morpheme

EXERCISE 6: The adverbial word groups are italicized In the blank, give their

syntactic function in the sentence Complete the table

2 Our guide split the log with care

3 He might under the circumstances agree the job

4 When the coffee is ready, blow the whistle

5 Chewing his tobacco meditatively, Ed studied

the blackening sky

6 A hungry trout rose to the surface

7 By that time the fish were no longer biting

8 To find the camp, just follow the creek downstream adjunct of purpose

9 From the hilltop you can see the sawmill

10 Jake hunts to make a living

11 You must hold the knife this way

EXERCISE 7: The adjectivals, either individual words or word groups, are

italicized Underline the words they modify

1 One person alone heard the message

2 Those coeds cheering are only sophomores

3 The surface, shining and smooth, reflected the sunshine

4 We started our trip homeward

5 Her demeanor, excessively prim, annoyed the guests

6 The two swans floating were black

7 The conversation afterward was light

8 This will be a day to remember

9 The chap sitting in the cubicle is Mary’s friend

10 This is not the size I ordered

11 The drugstore on the corner sells Times

12 Our guests came on the week when I was housecleaning

13 A girl spoiled by her mother is not a good roommate

14 Just choose a time convenient to yourself

15 She was a sight to behold

16 Have you finished the book I lent you?

17 Who is the head of the club?

EXERCISE 8: In the blank identify the italicized word(s) by nominal, verbal,

adjectival or adverbial Complete the table

2 The Monday washing is on the line adjectival

3 Mrs Reed always washes Mondays adverbial

4 Won’t you come in?

5 The outs were angry with the ins

6 They stomped upstairs

7 They slept in the upstairs room

8 One can see the airport from upstairs

9 Jack was wrestling with his math

10 The wrestling roommates were exhausted

11 Jennifer found wrestling exciting

12 They came in wrestling

13 The student movie is presented weekly

14 The student movie is a weekly occurrence

15 His way is the best

16 He had it his way

17 The mechanic ran the engine full speed

18 By this means he burned down the carbon

19 He raised the hood because the engine was hot

20 They found the cabin just what they wanted

SECTION 2: TYPES of PHRASES, CLAUSES and SENTENCES

3 Phrases vs clauses

3.1 “Sequences of words that can function as constituents in the structure of sentences are called PHRASES.” [Burton-Roberts, 1997: 14]

For example, ‘the woman in that 1978 Lincoln Continental ’ is a phrase

because it can be the subject in (1) and the direct object in (2):

(1) The woman in that 1978 Lincoln Continental

IS possibly WANTED by the police

(2) DO you SEEthe woman in that 1978 Lincoln Continental?

“Phrases form not only SYNTACTIC UNITS (constituents in the structural form of sentences) but also SEMANTIC UNITS By this I mean that they form identifiable parts of the MEANING of sentences; they form coherent units of sense.” [Burton-Roberts, 1997: 18]

3.2 CLAUSES are “constructions with one phrase constituent, typically a noun phrase that bears the subject relation, and another constituent,

the verb phrase, bearing the predicate relation [Jacobs, 1995: 49].”

For example, ‘the woman in that 1978 Lincoln Continental ’ cannot be a

clause because it lacks a verb phrase while ‘You must follow the woman in

that 1978 Lincoln Continental ’ is

Note also that the phrasal constituent bearing the subject

relation is not always obligatory, e.g in the case of imperative sentences,

and that the phrasal constituent bearing the predicate relation may be finite or non-finite

_

4 Adjective phrases vs adverb phrases

4.1 As far as its internal structure is concerned, a typical ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AP, for short) has as its head an adjective The HEAD ADJECTIVE

(headA, for short) may optionally be pre-modified: rather dubious,

somewhat noisy, quite acceptable, too modest, very colorful, really

demanding, extremely subtle, terribly sorry, awfully slow, fairly good, highly recommended, moderately easy, amazingly warm, beautifully cool,

annoyingly simple, disgustingly rich, incredibly polite, extraordinarily

rude, theoretically untenable, oddly inconclusive, diabolically tinted,

immediately recognizable, horribly burnt, etc

An ADJECTIVE (A, for short) is the minimal form of an AP; indeed

many adjective phrases occur in the minimal form:

very enthusiastic → enthusiastic The head adjective may be pre-modified by:

c degree adverbs, which are also called intensifying adverbs, (DEG, for short; –ly or without –ly adverbs which specify the degree of the

attribute expressed by the adjective): very, highly, extremely, terribly, awfully, completely, much, quite, so, too, rather, somewhat, hardly, fairly, moderately, partially, slightly, increasingly, incredibly, etc

d general adverbs, which are also called non-intensifying adverbs, (Adv, for short; –ly adverbs which typically have other adverbial functions

as well): frankly, potentially, enthusiastically, immediately, annoyingly,

very enthusiastic beautifully cool

4.2 As far as its internal structure is concerned, a typical ADVERB PHRASE

(AdvP, for short)has as its head an adverb An ADVERB (Adv, for short) is the minimal form of an AdvP; indeed many adverb phrases occur in the minimal

form: very enthusiastically → enthusiastically

An adverb may, however, be pre-modified; though post-modification is not found in all adverb phrases The only kind of pre-modifier occurring

in adverb phrases is another adverb, usually of the same restricted set of adverbs of degree, which are also called intensifying adverbs, as found

in the pre-modification of adjective phrases, e.g very quickly, quite

wonderfully, somewhat fleetingly, and extremely faithfully

However, as with adjectives, other adverbs may function as modifiers in adverb phrases, e.g amazingly well, understandably badly,

appears to be either directly (amazingly) or indirectly (horribly) an expression of personal evaluation

5 Attributive vs predicative adjectives/adjective phrases

5.1 Adjectives or adjective phrases have two uses or functions: the

attributive function and the predicative function

“The attributive function is when adjectives or adjective phrases are

found in the pre-modification of a noun phrase, as for example in an

interesting story, a somewhat anxious mother…

The predicative function of an adjective phrase is its occurrence after a

‘copula’ such as be, seem, sound, feel; for example, Naomi IS anxious

about Jim’s health, Jim SEEMS concerned that Naomi WILL WORRY too much.” [Jackson, 1980: 24-25]

5.2 When an adjective or adjective phrase is functioning attributively, it

may not, in any case, be followed by a post-modifier That is to say, adjective phrases containing post-modifiers may function only predicatively:

(1)a *She IS a somewhat anxious about his son’s health mother

b She IS somewhat anxious about his son’s health

5.3 There is a small set of adjectives restricted to predicative position and

called ‘predicative adjectives’ and likewise a small set restricted to

attributive position and called ‘attributive adjectives’

ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVES PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES

(2)a The main reason IS his laziness (3)a *The reason IS main

b He’S a mere youth b *This youth IS mere

c *He IS a faint patient c He FEELS faint

d *This IS an asleep boy d The boy IS asleep

But the vast majority of adjectives may function either attributively or predicatively:

ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVES PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES

(4)a The charming girl ATTRACTS his attention (4)b The girl IS charming

(5)a She’S a lonely wife (5)b I sometimes FEEL lonely.

_

6 Noun phrases vs verb phrases

6.1 A NOUN PHRASE (NP, for short) in English consists of a nominal head(normally a noun or a pronoun) with or without the modifiers that accompany

it, before or after

(1) the blue cotton shirt that I BORROWED from my brother

In the noun phrase marked (1), shirt constitutes the head; the, blue and cotton belong to the pre-modification; and that I borrowed from my brother is the post-modification

The word blue is called a modifier because it describes ‘the shirt’: it limits by excluding other colours and it adds to the plain meaning of ‘shirt’

A modifier may sometimes be separated from the head by intervening

words, like the relative clause in the following NP:

(2) a butterfly in the garden which WAS FLUTTERING among the flowers

When there is nothing else in the noun phrase, nouns or pronouns are also complete noun phrases, like ‘cabbages’ and ‘Aiken’ in the two following sentences which are marked (3)a-b:

(3)a The truck WAS LOADED with cabbages

b They FLEW down to Aiken, South Carolina

6.2 The one constituent that a VERB PHRASE(VP, for short) must contain is the VERB GROUP (Vgrp, for short) [Burton-Roberts, 1997: 78] The Vgrp, in

its turn, contains one lexical verb and “may have up to four auxiliary

verbs, besides the negative word not:

may not have been being interrogat ed.” [Jackson, 1980: 18]

The verb phrase in English consists of a Vgrp and all the words and

itself is called the head, and the other words and word groups are the modifiers and/or the complements of the head

The modifier is the generic term for all the adverbial adjuncts that

optionally provide circumstantial information about the action, the process,

the event, etc talked about in the clause in which they occur Soundly

optionally describes the manner in which the baby sleeps and beside a stream optionally describes the place at which Phil had lost his leather

wallet; the two adverbial adjuncts can be omitted without disturbing the proposition of the two following sentences, which are marked (4)a-b:

(4)a The baby WAS SLEEPING (soundly)

b Phil HAD LOST his leather wallet (beside a stream)

The relation between the Vgrp (was sleeping or had lost his leather wallet) and the adverbial adjunct (soundly or beside a stream)

is one of modification: there is a one-way dependency between the Vgrp

(as head) and the adverbial adjunct (as modifier) Thus, the use of the Vgrp without any adverbial adjunct is grammatically acceptable

The complement is the generic term for all the completers of the

object, the indirect object, the subjective complement, the objective

1992: 55-56]

There exist functional relations between the Vgrp and other

constituents that appear in the basic VP In Phil had lost his leather wallet,

had lost is the Vgrp The relation between the Vgrp (had lost) and the NP

(his leather wallet) is one of complementation: there is a two-way

The use of had lost without a following NP is ungrammatical, and so is the

use of the NP without had lost

“Some verbs require an adverbial without which the proposition is in complete” [Biber et al, 1999: 143] The adverbial adjunct of place in (5)a

is not optional but obligatory In other words, the relation between the Vgrp

(was lying) and the adverbial adjunct (on his back) is one of complementation: there is a two-way dependency between the Vgrp (as

head) and the adverbial adjunct (as complement) The use of was lying

without any adverbial adjunct of place is ungrammatical

(5)a The baby WAS LYING on his back

b *The baby WAS LYING

In the VP had lost his leather wallet beside a stream, had lost

is the Vgrp, his leather wallet is the complement and beside a stream

is the modifier of the Vgrp

S

NP VP1

PropN VP2 adverb phrase

[optional Adjunct of Location]

Vgrp NP [transitive] [direct object] PP

_

7 The N-bar (N ’) as level of NP-structure that is intermediate between the phrasal (NP) level and the lexical (N) level

Since the one may substitute for the lonely man, we have shown that

lonely man is indeed a constituent, one that is a sister of the determiner on the tree-diagram Clearly, lonely man is not a full noun phrase, since it needs

a determiner; but neither is it a single noun — an intermediate category

is needed, one higher than noun and lower than noun phrase We will show it here as N ’, and call it ‘the N-bar.’

NP

DET N’

AP N

A

the lonely man

_

8 Types of pre-nominal modifiers

The noun head in a noun phrase can be pre-modified by:

8.1 DETERMINERS (DET, for short):

Articles, demonstratives and possessives are mutually exclusive

in English: only one of them can occur in any noun phrase

8.1.1 Below are the determiners that may be preceded by one of the

pre-determiners (PRE-DET, for short), which are all, both and half

[Stageberg, 1965: 235]:

c articles: the and a/an;

d possessives: her, his, its, their, your, John’s, the book’s, etc.;

e demonstratives: this, that, these, and those

NP1 NP1 NP1

PRE-DET NP2 PRE-DET NP2 PRE-DET NP2

DET N’ DET N’ 1 DET N’ 1

ART headN PossA AP N’ 2 PossPropN AP N’ 2

all the men A headN A headN

(1)a both my studious roommates half Harry’s new books

(1)b (1)c

called QUANTIFIERS (Q, for short): some, any, no, each, enough, either, neither and another, the others are often known as interrogative or

exclamatory determiners: what (a/an)1, which2 and whose3

NP NP NP

DET N’ DET N’ DET N’

Q headN INTERROG DET headN EXCLAM DET headN

(2)a some mistakes (2)b which platform (2)c what a view

8.1.3 A POSSESSIVE(Poss, for short) can consist of either a possessive adjective (my, your, his, her, etc.), or a possessive proper noun (John’s, Alice’s, Doris’s, etc.), or a full NP + − ’s, which is called THE POSSESSIVE MARKER (PossMarker, for short)

1 what /w4t/ (det.) = the thing(s) which, the person or people who:

What money I have will be yours when I die

I spent what little time with my family

What family and friends I still have live a broad

what /w4t/ (exclamatory det., used in making exclamations):

What awful weather we’re having!

What beautiful flowers! What a (lovely) view!

what /w4t/ (interrogative det., used to ask sb to specify one or more things, places, people, etc from an indefinite number):

Guess what famous writer said this

I asked her what experience she has had

What books have you got to read on the subjects?

What woman are you thinking of?

2 which /w1t∫/ (interrogative determiner, used to ask sb to specify one or more things,

places, people, etc from a limited number):

Which way is quicker — by bus or by train?

Ask him which platform the London train leaves from

which /w1t∫/ (interrogative pronoun) = which person or thing:

Which is your favourite subject?

Here are the recently published books Tell me which are worth reading

The twins are so much alike that I can’t tell which is which

3 whose /hu:z/ (interrogative determiner/interrogative pronoun) = of whom:

Whose (house) is that? I wonder whose (book) this is

NP1

NP DET N’ 1 DET N’ PossNP headN1

PossA/PossPropN headN NP2 PossMarker

(3)a his/John’s cover DET N’ 2

ART headN2

(3)b the book ‘s cover

8.1.4 The determiner position may be UNFILLED (φ, for short) Although the noun phrases marked (4)a-b contain just one word, they should still be analyzed as having a DET + N’ structure:

NP NP

(4)a φ essays (4)b φ smoke

(a plural countable noun) (an uncountable noun)

The two reasons for this ‘unfilled determiner’ analysis are:

c These NPs could take a determiner: the smoke, my essays

d The unfilled determiner in these NPs has an effect on their interpretation An unfilled determiner gives these NPs an indefinite and more general interpretation The NP marked (4)b is indefinite and more general

than the definite NP the smoke It is also more general than the indefinite

NP some smoke

pre-modifiers in the N-bar the quantifying adjectives much, many, few and little

8.2.1 Quantifying adjectives share some important features with

adjectives:

c Like adjectives, they co-occur with and follow determiners: those

many books, the little butter that I have, some few successes, etc.,

including an unfilled determiner: φ many books, φ much garlic, etc

d Like adjectives, they are gradable: VERY many books, TOO much

QA headN DEG QA headN

(5)a some few successes (5)b φ SO few ideas

a’ those many books b’ φ TOO much garlic

a’’.the little butter b’’ φ VERY many books

a’’’.φ much garlic b’’’.φ VERY little tact

8.2.2 A WORD-GROUP QUANTIFYING ADJECTIVE like plenty of, a lot

of, lots of, a great/good deal of, a (small, large, great, considerable,

etc.) amount of, considerable numbers of, etc., which may include

FRACTIONAL NUMERALS: one-third of, two-thirds of, three-fifths of,

etc., may be the only pre-modifier in an NP:

NP

QA headN

(6)a φ a small amount of people

b φ considerable numbers of war victims

c φ a great/good deal of money/trouble

d φ one-third of time

e φ three-fifths of students

definite quantity They are of two kinds:

cCARDINAL NUMERALS: one, two, three, , and ninety-nine

dORDINAL NUMERALS: first, second, third, fourth, , and last

8.3.1 Numerals “should be treated as quantifying adjectives”

within the N-bar, “since they follow DET, including unfilled DET” Roberts, 1997: 161]

NP NP

DET N’ 1 DET N’ 1

AP N’ 2 ART AP N’ 2

DEG QA headN NUM headN

(7)a φ VERY many mistakes (7)b the one mistake

8.3.2 More than one expressions of quantity may occur in a noun

phrase, though there are a restricted number of possible combinations

“Favorite sequences are ordinal number (especially ‘first’ and ‘last’) +

indefinite quantifier, e.g the first few hours; ordinal + cardinal, e.g the second five days; indefinite quantifier + cardinal number (especially round number), e.g several thousand people, many score4 of ants.” [Jackson, 1980: 13]

8.3.3 Stageberg [1965: 240-241] includes numerals to his list of

POST-DETs: “This is an untidy class Not all post-determiners follow all determiners, but each one follows at least one determiner And within the group, there are complicated orders of precedence For example, ordinals

usually precede cardinals, as in the first three students, this order may be reversed, as in the two first prizes … The whole jungle of determiners and post-determiners is a terra incognita that has not been

mapped out with complete success For our purpose it will suffice to recognize the class as a whole without exploring its internal complications.”

4score[C., pl unchanged]set or group of twenty: a score of people, three score and ten

(8)a the first three students (8)b the two first prizes

8.3.4 Adjective phrases with numerals as heads always precede

other Adjective phrases in the N-bar:

A headN2 (9)b these two aimless playfellows

(9)a thelast three red cabbage pickles

8.4 ADJECTIVE PHRASES (AP, for short):

A typical attributive adjective phrase has as its head an adjective

The HEAD ADJECTIVE (headA, for short) may optionally be pre-modified either by a degree adverb (DEG, for short), which are also called intensifying adverbs [Jackson, 1980: 25], as in (10)c, or by a general adverb (Adv, for short), which are also called a non-intensifying adverb,

as in (10)d One adjective phrase as in (10)b and two or more adjective

phrases as in (10)a in the minimal form may all function attributively