Cú pháp Bài giảng dành cho sinh viên đại học cao đẳng

Cú pháp Bài giảng dành cho sinh viên đại học cao đẳng là bộ tài liệu hay và rất hữu ích cho các bạn sinh viên và quý bạn đọc quan tâm. Đây là tài liệu hay trong Bộ tài liệu sưu tập gồm nhiều Bài tập THCS, THPT, luyện thi THPT Quốc gia, Giáo án, Luận văn, Khoá luận, Tiểu luận…và nhiều Giáo trình Đại học, cao đẳng của nhiều lĩnh vực: Toán, Lý, Hoá, Sinh…. Đây là nguồn tài liệu quý giá đầy đủ và rất cần thiết đối với các bạn sinh viên, học sinh, quý phụ huynh, quý đồng nghiệp và các giáo sinh tham khảo học tập. Xuất phát từ quá trình tìm tòi, trao đổi tài liệu, chúng tôi nhận thấy rằng để có được tài liệu mình cần và đủ là một điều không dễ, tốn nhiều thời gian, vì vậy, với mong muốn giúp bạn, giúp mình tôi tổng hợp và chuyển tải lên để quý vị tham khảo. Qua đây cũng gởi lời cảm ơn đến tác giả các bài viết liên quan đã tạo điều kiện cho chúng tôi có bộ sưu tập này. Trên tinh thần tôn trọng tác giả, chúng tôi vẫn giữ nguyên bản gốc. Trân trọng. ĐỊA CHỈ DANH MỤC TẠI LIỆU CẦN THAM KHẢO http:123doc.vntrangcanhan348169nguyenductrung.htm hoặc Đường dẫn: google > 123doc > Nguyễn Đức Trung > Tất cả (chọn mục Thành viên)

PHAM VAN DONG UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

ENGLISH SYNTAX LECTURES

Lecturer: NGUY N TÚ NHI

For Internal Use Only

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX 3

1.1 Definition 3

1.2 Grammaticality and Ungrammaticality 5

1.3 What Grammaticality Is Not Based On 9

1.4 Constituent Structure, Lexical Categories and Syntactic Categories 10

Chapter 2: CHAPTER 2: WORD CLASSES 17

2.1 Parts of speech, word classes and grammatical categories 17

2.2 Classification of word classes 18

2.2.1 Major classes vs minor classes 18

2.2.2 English major classes 19

2.2.2.1 English form classes 19

2.2.2.2 English positional classes 25

2.2.3 English minor classes 27

2.2.4 Nominal conjunctions 28

2.2.5 Relative conjunctions 29

Chapter 3: PHRASES 31

3.1 Introduction: 31

3.1.1 Heads 31

3.1.2 Specifiers 32

3.1.3 Complements 34

3.2 Characteristics of Phrases 35

3.2.1 The Noun Phrase (NP) 35

3.2.1.1 Simple Noun phrases 35

3.2.1.2 Complex Noun Phrases 37

3.2.2 The Verb Phrase (VP) 38

3.2.2.1 Simple Verb Phrases 38

3.2.2.2 Complex Verb Phrases 39

3.2.3 The Prepositional Phrase (PP) 41

3.2.4 The Adjective Phrase (AP) 41

3.2.5 The Adverb Phrase (AdvP) 42

Chapter 4: CLAUSES 43

4.1 Definition 43

4.2 Classification 43

4.2.1 By Structures 43

4.2.2 By Relationship 45

4.2.3 By Relationship 49

Chapter 5: SENTENCES 52

5.1 Definition 52

5.2 Classification 52

5.2.1 By Purpose 53

5.2.2 By Structure 56

Chapter 6: PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES 62

6.1 Phrase Structure 62

6.2 Phrase Structure Rules 63

6.2.1 Phrase-structure Rules for rewriting Noun Phrases 63

6.2.2 Verb Phrases 64

6.2.3 Prepositional Phrases 64

6.3 Surface Structures vs Deep Structures 65

Chapter 7: METHODS OF SENTENCE ANALYSIS 69

7.1 Descriptive Linguistic Analysis (Traditional Grammar) 69

7.2 Tree Diagram 69

7.3 Bracketing 71

Chapter 8: AMBIGUITY 72

8.1 Surface Structures vs Deep Structures 72

8.2 Structural Ambiguity 74

8.2.1 Structural ambiguity in English noun phrases 74

8.2.2 Structural ambiguity in English verb phrases 75

8.3 Lexical Ambiguity 76

8.4 Metaphorical Ambiguity 76

REFERENCES 78

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX

Aims: By the end of this Chapter, students will be able to:

1 Understand what syntax is about

2 Understand the notion ‘grammaticality’ in English

3 Distinguish grammatical sentences from ungrammatical ones

4 Understand what a Constituent Structure is

5 Distinguish lexical categories from syntactic categories

6 Build grammatical sentences in English

1.1 Definition:

The term ‘syntax’ is from the Ancient Greek syntaxis, a verbal noun which

literally means ‘arrangement’ or ‘setting out together’ Traditionally, it refers to the branch of grammar dealing with the ways in which words, with or without appropriate inflections, are arranged to show connections of meaning within the sentence

Syntax has to do with how words are put together to build phrases, with how phrases are put together to build clauses or bigger phrases, and with how clauses are put together to build sentences In small and familiar situations, humans could communicate using single words and many gestures, particularly when dealing with other members of the same social grouping (nuclear family, extended family, clan and so on) But complex messages for complex situations or complex ideas require more than just single words; every human language has devices with which its speakers can construct phrases and clauses

Syntax and morphology make up what is traditionally referred to as ‘grammar’;

an alternative term for it is morphosyntax, which explicitly recognizes the important

relationship between syntax and morphology

Syntax is “the study of how words combine to form sentences and the rules which govern the information of sentences” [Richards, Platt and Weber, 1987: 285]

Syntax is “a term used for the study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form SENTENCES." [Finch, 2000: 77]

SYNTAX is the study of how words are combined to form sentences in a language Thus, syntax concerns the system of rules and categories that underlies sentence formation

Cú pháp là c p đ duy nh t c a ngôn ng tr c ti p liên h v i vi c bi u đ t t

t ng và câu là ph ng ti n hình thành và di n đ t tr c ti p m t t duy tr n v n [Cao Xuân H o, 1991: 24]

1.2 Grammaticality and Ungrammaticality

A central part of the description of what speakers do is characterizing the

grammatical (or well-formed) sentences of a language and distinguishing them from

ungrammatical or (ill- formed) sentences

Grammatical sentences are those that are in accord with the rules and principles

of the syntax of a particular language

Ungrammatical sentences violate one or more syntactic rules or principles Among other things, the rules specify the correct word order for a language For example, English is a Subject–Verb– Object (SVO) language The English sentence in (1)

is grammatical because the words occur in the right order; the sentence in (2) is ungrammatical because the word order is incorrect for English (Recall that the asterisk

or star preceding a sentence is the linguistic convention for indicating that the sentence

is ungrammatical or ill-formed according to the rules of the grammar.)

1 The President nominated a new Supreme Court justice

2 *President the new Supreme justice Court a nominated

Sentence ( 2 ) is ungrammatical because it violates some of the word order rules for English These include:

(i) basic word order in English clauses is subject-verb-object;

(ii) articles like the and a precede the noun they modify; and

It is important to note that these are English-specific syntactic rules

Well-formed sentences are those that are in accord with the syntactic rules of the language; However, this does not mean that they always make sense semantically

For example, the sentence The book is reading the teacher is nonsensical in terms of its

meaning, but it does not violate any syntactic rules or principles of English; indeed,

it has exactly the same syntactic structure as The teacher is reading a book Hence it

is grammatical (well-formed), despite being semantically odd

A second important role of the syntax is to describe the relationship between the meaning of a particular group of words and the arrangement of those words For example, Alice’s companions show us that the word order of a sentence contributes crucially to its meaning The sentences in (3) and (4) contain the same words, but the meanings are quite different

3 I mean what I say

4 I say what I mean

Syntactic rules also specify other constraints that sentences must

adhere to Consider, for example, the sentences in (5)

5 (a) The boy found

(b) The boy found quickly

(c) The boy found in the house

(d) The boy found the ball

The sentence in (5d) is grammatical and the ones in (5a–c) are ungrammatical This

is because the syntax rules specify that a verb like found must be followed by something, and that something cannot be an expression like quickly or in the house but must be like the ball

Similarly, the sentence in (6b) is grammatical while the sentence in (8a) is not

6 (a) Disa slept the baby

(b) Disa slept soundly

The verb sleep patterns differently than find in that it may be followed solely by a word like soundly but not by other kinds of phrases such as the baby

The sentences in (7a, d, e, f) are grammatical and that (7b, c) are not The

examples in (7) show that specific verbs, such as believe, try, and want, behave

differently with respect to the patterns of words that may follow them

7 (a) Zack believes Robert to be a gentleman

(b) Zack believes to be a gentleman

(c) Zack tries Robert to be a gentleman

(d) Zack tries to be a gentleman

(e) Zack wants to be a gentleman

(f) Zack wants Robert to be a gentleman

In (8) we see that the phrase ran up the hill behaves differently from the phrase ran up the bill, even though the two phrases are superficially quite similar For the

expression ran up the hill, the rules of the syntax allow the word orders in (8a) and (8c), but not (8b) In ran up the bill, in contrast, the rules allow the order in (8d) and

(8e), but not (8f)

8 (a) Jack and Jill ran up the hill

(b) Jack and Jill ran the hill up

(c) Up the hill ran Jack and Jill

(d) Jack and Jill ran up the bill

(e) Jack and Jill ran the bill up

(f) Up the bill ran Jack and Jill

The pattern shown in (8) illustrates that sentences are not simply strings of words with no further organization If they were, there would be no reason to expect

ran up the hill to pattern differently from ran up the bill These phrases act differently

because they have different syntactic structures associated with them In ran up the

hill, the words up the hill form a unit, as follows:

He ran [up the hill]

The whole unit can be moved to the beginning of the sentence, as in (8c), but we cannot rearrange its subparts, as shown in (8b) On the other hand, in ran up the bill,

the words up the bill do not form a natural unit, so they cannot be moved, and (8f) is ungrammatical

Our syntactic knowledge crucially includes rules that tell us how words form groups in a sentence, or how they are hierarchically arranged with respect to one another Consider the following sentence:

The captain ordered all old men and women off the sinking ship

This phrase “old men and women” is ambiguous, referring either to old men

and to women of any age or to old men and old women The ambiguity arises

because the words old men and women can be grouped in two ways If the words are grouped as follows, old modifies only men and so the women can be any age

[old men] and [women]

When we group them like this, the adjective old modifies both men and women

[old [men and women]]

The rules of syntax allow both of these groupings, which is why the expression

is ambiguous The following hierarchical diagrams illustrate the same point:

Old men and women old men and women

In the first structure old and men are under the same node and hence old modifies men In the second structure old shares a node with the entire conjunction

men and women, and so modifies both

Many sentences exhibit such ambiguities, often leading to humorous results Consider the following two sentences, which appeared in classified ads:

For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers

We will oil your sewing machine and adjust tension in your home for $10.00

In the first ad, the humorous reading comes from the grouping [a desk] [for lady with thick legs and large drawers] as opposed to the intended [a desk for

lady] [with thick legs and large drawers], where the legs and drawers belong to the desk The second case is similar

Because these ambiguities are a result of different structures, they are

instances of structural ambiguity

Often a combination of differing structure and double word-meaning creates ambiguity (and humor) as in the cartoon:

Waitress’s nose ring Waitress’s nose ring

1.3 What Grammaticality Is Not Based On

Grammaticality is not based on what is taught in school but on the rules acquired or constructed unconsciously as children Much grammatical knowledge is ‘in

place’ before we learn to read

The ability to make grammaticality judgments does not depend on having heard

the sentence before You may never have heard or read Enormous crickets in pink

socks were dancing at the ball but your syntactic knowledge will tell you the sentence

is grammatical

Grammaticality judgments do not depend on whether the sentence is meaningful

or not, as shown by the following sentences:

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously

A verb crumpled the milk

Although the sentences do not make much sense, they are syntactically well formed They sound ‘funny’ but they differ in their 'funniness" from the following strings:

* Furiously sleep ideas green colorless,

* Milk the crumpled verb a

The grammaticality of this case is based on the ordering of words and morphemes of a sentence

Some sentences are grammatical even though they are difficult to interpret because they include nonsense words, that is, words with no agreed-on meaning This

is illustrated by the following lines from the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll:

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe

These lines are grammatical in the linguistic sense that they obey the word order and other constraints of English Such nonsense poetry is amusing precisely because the sentences comply with syntactic rules and sound like good English Ungrammatical strings of nonsense words are not entertaining:

*Toves slithy the and brillig ’twas

wabe the in gimble and gyre did

Grammaticality also does not depend on the truth of sentences If it did, lying would be impossible Nor does it depend on whether real objects are being discussed

or whether something is possible in the real world Untrue sentences can be grammatical, sentences discussing unicorns can be grammatical, and sentences referring to pregnant fathers can be grammatical

Those fathers have been pregnant for 3 months

1.4 Constituent Structure, Lexical Categories and Syntactic Categories

1.4.1 Constituent Structures:

A sentence does not consist simply of a string of words In a sentence, the

words are organized into units which are then organized into larger units These units

are called constituents, and the hierarchical organization of the units in a sentence is called its constituent structure

Consider the eight words in the sentence The teacher read a book in the

library What units are these words organized into?

Each word is not equally related to the words adjacent to it in the string There

is no direct relationship between read and a or between in and the; a is related to

book, which it modifies, just as the is related to library, which it modifies A is

related to read only through a book being the direct object of read, and similarly,

the is related to in only through the library being the object of the preposition in

Various linguistic tests reveal the constituents of a sentence The first test is the “stand alone” test If a group of words can stand alone, they form a constituent For example, the set of words that can be used to answer a question is a constituent

So in answer to the question “What did you find?” a speaker might answer a puppy, but not found a A puppy can stand alone while found a cannot

The second test is “replacement by a pronoun.” Pronouns can substitute for natural groups In answer to the question “Where did you find a puppy?” a speaker

can say, “I found him in the park.” Words such as do can also take the place of the entire predicate found a puppy, as in “John found a puppy and Bill did too.” If a group of words can be replaced by a pronoun or a word like do, it forms a

constituent

A third test of constituency is the “move as a unit” test If a group of words can be moved, they form a constituent For example, if we compare the following sentences to the sentence “The child found a puppy,” we see that certain elements have moved:

It was a puppy that the child found

A puppy was found by the child

In the first example, the constituent a puppy has moved from its position following found; in the second example, the positions of a puppy and the child have

been changed In all such rearrangements the constituents a puppy and the child remain intact Found a does not remain intact, because it is not a constituent

In the sentence “The child found a puppy,” the natural groupings or

constituents are the subject the child, the predicate found a puppy, and the direct object a puppy

Some sentences have a prepositional phrase in the predicate

Consider: The puppy played in the garden

We can use our tests to show that in the garden is also a constituent, as

follows:

Where did the puppy play? In the garden (stand alone)

The puppy played there (replacement by a pronoun-like word)

In the garden is where the puppy played (move as a unit)

It was in the garden that the puppy played

1.4.2 Syntactic Categories

A family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of

grammaticality is called a syntactic category

Each grouping in the tree diagrams of “The child found a puppy” is a member

of a large family of similar expressions For example, the child belongs to a family that includes the police officer, your neighbor, this yellow cat, he, John, and countless

others We can substitute any member of this family for the child without affecting the grammaticality of the sentence, although the meaning of course would change

A police officer found a puppy

Your neighbor found a puppy

This yellow cat found a puppy

The child, a police officer, John, and so on belong to the syntactic category

noun phrase (NP), one of several syntactic categories in English and every other language in the world NPs may function as the subject or as an object in a sentence

NPs often contain a determiner (like a or the) and a noun, but they may also

consist of a proper name, a pronoun, a noun without a determiner, or even a clause

or a sentence Even though a proper noun like John and pronouns such as he and

him are single words, they are technically NPs, because they pattern like NPs in

being able to fill a subject or object or other NP slots

John found the puppy

He found the puppy

Boys love puppies

The puppy loved him

The puppy loved John

NPs can be more complex as illustrated by the sentence:

The girl that Professor Snape loved married the man of her dreams

The NP subject of this sentence is the girl that Professor Snape

loved, and the NP object is the man of her dreams

Syntactic categories are part of a speaker’s knowledge of syntax That is, speakers of English know that only items (a), (b), (e), (f), and (g) in the following list

are NPs even if they have never heard the term noun phrase before

Ex 1:

(a) a bird

(b) the red banjo

(c) have a nice day

There are other syntactic categories The expression found a puppy is a verb phrase

(VP) A verb phrase always contains a verb (V), and it may contain other categories, such as a noun phrase or prepositional phrase (PP), which is a preposition followed

by an NP, such as in the park, on the roof, with a balloon In (2) the VPs are those

phrases that can complete the sentence “The child .”

Ex 2

(a) saw a clown

(b) a bird (c) slept

(d) smart

(e) ate the cake

(f) found the cake in the cupboard

(g) realized that the earth was round

Inserting (a), (c), (e), (f), and (g) will produce grammatical sentences, whereas the insertion of (b) or (d) would result in an ungrammatical sentence Thus, (a), (c), (e), (f), and (g) are verb phrases

- Verb phrase [VP]: The constituent composed of a verb plus the following NP

As with NPs, VPs can be quite complex

E.g A book was read by the teacher in the library

1.4.3 Lexical and Functional Categories

Syntactic categories include both phrasal categories such as NP, VP, AdjP (adjective phrase), PP (prepositional phrase), and AdvP (adverbial phrase), as well as lexical categories such as noun (N), verb (V), preposition (P), adjective (Adj), and adverb (Adv) Each lexical category has a corresponding phrasal category Following is a list of lexical categories with some examples of each type:

Lexical categories

Noun (N) puppy, boy, soup, happiness, fork, kiss, pillow, cake, cupboard

Verb (V) find, run, sleep, throw, realize, see, try, want, believe

Preposition (P) up, down, across, into, from, by, with

Adjective (Adj) red, big, candid, hopeless, fair, idiotic, lucky

Adverb (Adv) again, carefully, luckily, never, very, fairly

Some of them are traditionally referred to as parts of speech Other categories

may be less familiar, for example, the category determiner (Det), which includes the

articles a and the, as well as demonstratives such as this, that, these, and those, and

“counting words” such as each and every Another less familiar category is

auxiliary (Aux), which includes the verbs have, had, be, was, and were, and the

modals may, might, can, could, must, shall, should, will, and would Aux and Det are

functional categories, so called because their members have a grammatical function rather than a descriptive meaning For example, determiners specify whether a noun

is indefinite or definite (a boy versus the boy), or the proximity of the person or object to the context (this boy versus that boy) Auxiliaries provide the verb with a time frame, whether ongoing (John is dancing), completed in the past (John has

danced), or occurring in the future (John will dance) Auxiliaries may also express

notions such as possibility (John may dance), necessity (John must dance), ability (John can dance), and so on

1.4.4 Representations of Constituent Structures:

There are two standard ways of representing constituent structure:

 a labeled tree diagram

 a labeled bracketing

Using square brackets to group the words in constituents together, the constituent

structure of The teacher read a book in the library may be presented as follows ('S' stands

[S [NP [D The [N boy]] [ VP [ V was] [AP [A angry] [PP [P about] [NP [D the] [ N girl]]]]]]

EXERCISES

1 Which of the following is grammatical?

1 The boy found the ball

2 The boy found

3 The boy found in the house

4 The boy found the ball in the house

5 The boy put the ball

6 John looked up the number

7 John looked the number up

8 Jill walked up the hill

9 Jill walked the hill up

10 Sylvie slept the baby

11 Sylvie slept

12 Emily drinks water every day

13 Emily drinks a milkshake every day

14 Emily drinks a water every day

15 Robert is fond of his children

16 Robert is amazed that his children dislike TV

17 Robert is fond that his children dislike TV

18 Robert is amazed of his children

2 Give bracketings for the following sentences:

a [S [NPTrumper] [VP[V is] [AP [A mad] [PP [P about] [NP Foster]]]]]

b The student has read the book

3 Give tree diagrams and bracketings for the following sentences

a We asked him to work harder

b Foster was annoyed by Trumper

CHAPTER 2: WORD CLASSES

Aims: By the end of this Chapter, students will be able to:

1 Understand the classification of word classes in English

2 Understand the formal and functional characteristics of English Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, and Prepositions? ‘

3 Understand how verbs are classified according to Quirk and Greenbaum’s view

4 Understand the difference between nominal conjunctions and relative conjunctions

5 Apply the knowledge of word classes into analysis of sentences in English

2.1 Parts of speech, word classes and grammatical categories

“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]

Major classes Minor classes

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 reference 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 Classification of word classes

2.2.1 Major classes vs minor classes: Kaplan, [1989: 106] divides word

classes into two main groups—major and minor

2.2.2 English major classes: In defining major/open classes, Stageberg [1965: 191-219] presents a double-track classification, one by form and the other

by position

Stageberg’s four form classes are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs Each form-class has its correlative position class, which will be later labeled as nominals, verbals, adjectivals, or adverbials

2.2.2.1 English form classes

 Nouns:

a Formal characteristics

A Word may be a noun if it

 ends in two noun inflections: plural (-s or –es) and genitive (‘s or s’)

 ends in a nominal derivational suffix: -age, -ance, -cy, -ment, -dom, - er/or, -ess, - hood, -ism, -ist, -ity, -ness, -th, -tion, -

 occurs alone after a word that typically precedes noun:

Single nouns have one dominant function - that of head of a Noun Phrase

The

horses

in the pasture

 Verbs:

a Formal characteristics:

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

their derivational morphemes

In other words, a word may be a verb if it

 can take the four verb inflections- V-s, V-ing, V-ed, V-en

 begins or ends in a verbal derivational suffix:

ο suffixes: -ify (magnify), -ize, -en, -

ο prefixes: dis-, un-, mis-, out-, over-, under-, -mal, fore-, re-, en-

 can be immediately preceded by words that typically precede verbs:

Verbs are subdivided into transitive, intransitive and linking verbs Quirk and

Greenbaum (1973) subdivided verbs into intensive verbs (= linking/copula verbs),

which have subject complements, and extensive verbs Extensive verbs are then subdivided into intransitive verbs if they do not permit any of the objects and complements, and transitive verbs Transitive verbs that take a direct object are called

monotransitive If it takes a direct and an indirect object, it is called ditransitive If it

takes object complement, it is referred to as complex transitive

A word may be an adjective if it

 allows comparison through the addition of the inflectional suffixes –er and –est,

or being preceded by more and most

 ends in adjectival derivational suffix:

ο -ish, -al, -ar, -some, -y, -ic, -able, -ing, -ed

b Functional characteristics:

heads of adjective phrases

very careful, quite reasonable, thoroughly insane, unusual for its beauty, …

b1 Attributive

Adjectives that directly modify nouns by preceding or following them are often called attributive adjectives

She is a sensitive person

She is a person unusual for her knowledge of astrology

b2 Predicative

Predicative adjectives occur after verbs in the be-become-seem type

The boy is anxious

She became exhausted

b3 Object Complement

Another function of adjective phrase is that of object complement

We consider him foolish

He makes me angry

cut (X) short push (X) open

drain (X) dry put (X) straight

keep (X) loose set (X) right leave

(X) clean shake (X) free

make (X) plain wash (X) clean

 Adverbs:

The traditional definition of an adverb is “a word used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.” This definition is clearly functional and actually represents the typical functions of adverbs fairly well However, our approach here will again begin with a formal characterization of adverbs We will then proceed to a functional division of adverbs into sentence modifiers and adjuncts Finally, we will indicate some of the traditional semantic categories of adverbs

Most adverbs are formed by the addition of the suffix –ly to an adjective

Adverbs serve three different kinds of functions Some modify adjectives and other words in terms of intensification (very slowly, ) Some apply to the whole sentence and express an attitude to it or a connection between it and another sentence (frankly, however) Most add some kind of circumstantial information (of place, time, manner, and

so on) to the sentence (here, forever)

a Formal characteristics:

A word may be an adverb if it …

undergoes comparison by the addition of suffixes -er and -est, or being preceded

by more and most

ends in adverbial derivational suffix: -ly, -wise, -ward

(quickly, frequently, awkwardly),

(lengthwise, otherwise),

(homeward, westward)

tends to be relatively movable in a sentence

Frequently, Harriet was a visitor

Harriet was frequently a visitor

Harriet was a visitor frequently

b Functional characteristics:

heads of adverb phrases Adverbs and adverb phrases seem almost exclusively to modify But what do they modify? Our position here will be to distinguish one subclass of adverbs that clearly modify the sentence and another that modify, in some general sense, the verb

group or verb phrase The first function is the sentence modifier, the second is the

adjunct Sentence modifiers have two major functions They can indicate a speaker's

evaluation of the truth of the sentence, or of what the sentence refers to, which is also

called disjunct, and connect one clause or part of a clause with another, which is called

 Style Disjuncts: frankly, seriously, personally, strictly, briefly, confidently,

generally, honestly

 Attitudinal Disjuncts:

Group 1: Speakers’ comments on the extent to which he believes that what he is saying is true- subjective view on truth: admittedly, certainly, definitely, indeed, surely, undoubtedly, undeniably some degree of doubt: quite, maybe, likely, possibly, reportedly, supposedly

Objective evidence: clearly, evidently, obviously, apparently

Group 2: Comment other that on truth value: curiously, fortunately, happily, hopefully,

luckily, naturally, unnaturally, strangely, surprisingly, wrongly, foolishly, wisely

Apparently/obviously/clearly, John is a hero

Frankly/ honestly, my dear, I don’t love you

Luckily/fortunately, she regained control of her mind

Conjunct:

Conjuncts are not part of the basic structure of a clause or sentence They show how what

is said in another sentence or sentences

- subclasses of conjuncts:

 Enumerative: First, second, third, for one thing, for another, to begin with, to start with, in the first place, in the second place, next, then , finally, last, lastly

 Summative: then, all in all, in conclusion, to conclude, to sum up

 Reinforcing: also, furthermore, in addition, above all, what is more

 Equative: equally, likewise, similarly

 Apposition: namely, in other words, for example, for instance, that is, that is to say,

 Result: Consequently, hence, therefore, thus, as a result

 Concessive; anyhow, anyway, besides, else, though, yet, after all,

Summer arrived; however, the weather remained poor

The paramedics arrived and eventually Oscar was stabilized

Summer arrived; however, the weather remained poor

He gambled away his inheritance, and consequently had to work for a living

Adjunct

Adjuncts are adverbials which are normally optional elements in clause structure and may freely be added to any clause to give circumstantial information about the action of the event

Ex: She replied to the questions with great courtesy

We went swimming because the weather was terribly hot (Reason)

Adjuncts may sometimes be obligatory, ie a part of the basic structure of the clause or sentence in which it occurs and modifies the verb

The waiter put some soup on the table

The adjunct on the table can not be omitted without rendering the clause grammatical

They are waiting outside

She talked to me about it secretly

+ Subcategories of Adverbs

Time today, yesterday, now, then

Place here, there

Manner well, slowly, quietly, convincingly

Frequency often, regularly

Degree completely, thoroughly,

2.2.2.2 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

Nominal: “Any word, whatever its form-class (noun, verb, 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

2 The position of the direct object:

I hate telling lies

I hate 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

7 The position of the complement of a preposition:

I should 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]

Adjectivals: “Adjectivals, like nominals, occupy certain 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]

Angry and upset, the applicant slammed the door

Adverbials: Adverbials are the word groups as well as the single words that occupy the adverb positions and perform the adverb functions Common adverbial positions are:

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 IS time 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

Medial position: This includes all positions between obligatory initial and

final clausal elements Several more specific positions can be distinguished:

(2) a She actually expects to marry him

b Mary in her own way was a darling

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

After THE LEXICAL VERB, especially after AN INTRANSITIVE ONE

(3) a He lives independently/in the fast lane

b He died last night

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):

(4) a Tom was a doctor for many years

b Tom will play football tomorrow

c Tom sent a telegraph to his wife yesterday morning

2.2.3 English minor classes:

Jackson’s [1980: 9-11] minor/closed classes consist of pronouns that “have the 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: coordinating 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 determiners namely “articles” as a minor/closed class, completely ignoring the other subtypes such as possessives, demonstratives, and quantifiers

 Single word coordinating conjunctions: and but or for so nor

 Multiword coordinating conjunctions: both and, not only but also, either or, neither nor,

 Subordinating conjunctions

 Subordinating adverbial conjunctions

Time: after, before, as soon as, since, until, when, whenever

Place: where, wherever

Manner: as, as if, as though,

Reason or cause: as, because, in as much as, since

Result: so that, so that, such that

Comparison: as as, so as,

Purpose: in order that, so that

Condition: as long as, on the condition that, provided, provided that, unless

Concession: even though, even if, though, whereas, while

2.2.4 Nominal conjunctions

Nominal clauses function as noun phrases typically function, i.e as subjects, objects, and compliments

When they do so, they will be introduced by a certain set of subordinating conjunctions

That set of conjunctions includes most of the wh-words along with the word that

• I don’t know whom I should call

• →hat you don’t know may hurt you

• I suspect that he was wanted by the police

2.2.5 Relative conjunctions

• Relative clauses function as modifiers of the nouns that they follow Typically,

they are introduced by members of the wh-word class, and by the word that

a Anyone who knows the answer will receive a prize

b The reason why she left wasn’t clear

EXERCISES

1 Underline eight adjectives in the following passage:

Decrepit Victorian mansions loomed out of the snowfall on the town’s sporadic hills Beyond them, cedars wove a steep mat of still green The wind drove snowflakes steadily inland, hurling them against the fragrant trees, and the snow began to settle on the highest branches with a gentle implacability

2 Underline seven verbs in the following passage:

By two o’clock on the first afternoon of the trial, snow covered all the island roads A car pirouetted silently while skating on its tires, emerged from this on a transverse angle, and slid to a stop with one headlight thrust into the door of Petersen’s Grocery, which somebody opened at just the right moment-miraculously-so that no damage befell car or store

3 The nominal word groups are italicized In the blank, give their syntactic function in the sentence Complete the table

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

4 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

5 In the blank identify the italicized word(s) by nominal, verbal, adjectival or

adverbial Complete the table Underline seven verbs in the following passage:

4 →on’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

CHAPTER3: PHRASES

Aims: By the end of this Chapter, students will be able to:

1 Understand the definition of phrases in English

2 Understand the elements/components of an English phrase

3 Give a description of the functional and formal structures of the English Prepositional phrases, Adjective phrases, Adverb phrases, Noun phrases,

and Verb phrases

4 Analyze the English phrases and compare with the Vietnamese phrases

5 Create grammatical phrases of various types

3.1 Introduction:

“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 see the 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]

Our discussion of syntax begins with two central ideas The first is that certain

relationships hold between words whereby one word, the head, controls the other words,

the modifiers A given head may have more than one modifier, and may have no

modifier The second idea is that words are grouped into phrases and that groupings

typically bring together heads and their modifiers In the large dog, the word dog is the head, and the and large are its modifiers In barked loudly, the word barked is the head and

loudly the modifier

3.1.1 Heads: Phrases are built around a ‘skeleton’ consisting of two levels

(The symbol P in the upper level stands for ‘phrase’.)

NP VP AP AdvP PP Phrase level

The organization of phrase structure

Each level of phrase structure can be thought of as a sort of ‘hook’ (like a hook

on a pole) to which elements of different types can be attached

The lowest level is reserved for the word around which the phrase is built - an N

in the case of NPs, a V in the case of VPs, and so on This element is called the head

of the phrase As the following examples show, it is possible to have a phrase in which only the head position is filled (The material in parentheses provides a context in which these one-word phrases might occur.)

V

Phrases in which only the head position is filled

Although phrases can consist of just one word, they often contain other elements

as well For example:

These words (determiners such as the, auxiliaries such as will, and degree

words such as quite or almost) are said to function as specifiers Semantically,

specifiers help to make more precise the meaning of the head Hence, the Det the in

(a) indicates that the speaker has in mind specific books, the Aux will in (b) indicates a future event, and the Deg words quite and almost in (c, d) indicate the degree to which

a particular property or relation is manifested

Syntactically, specifiers typically mark a phrase boundary In English, specifiers occur at the left boundary (the beginning) of their respective phrases They are attached

to the top level of phrase structure, to the left of the head Together, these two elements form the phrase structures depicted in the following tree diagrams

quite certain almost in

Phrases consisting of a specifier and a head

The syntactic category of the specifier differs depending on the category of the head As the examples in Figure 3 help show, determiners serve as the specifiers of

Ns, auxiliaries as the specifiers of Vs, and degree words as the specifiers of As and (some) Ps

3.1.3 Complements

In addition to a specifier and a head, the phrases above also contain a

complement These elements, which are themselves phrases, provide information about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head

For example, the meaning of eat implies an object that is eaten, the meaning of in

implies a location, and so on

Consider now some examples of slightly more complex phrases:

a) [NP the books about the war]

b) [VP may eat the hamburger]

c) [AP quite certain about the answer]

d) [PP almost in the house]

(The customer) may eat [the hamburger]

Complement naming the thing eaten

almost in [the house]

Complement naming a location

Complements are attached to the right of the head in English (but to the left in many other languages) Figure 4 illustrates the structure of a VP and a PP consisting of a specifier, a head, and a complement

VP

NP PP

NP

may eat the hamburger almost in the house

Phrases with an NP Complement

Complements are themselves phrases Thus, the Complement of the V eat is an

NP that itself consists of a determiner (the) and a head (hamburger) This phrase then

combines with the verb and its auxiliary specifier to form a still larger structural unit

3.2 Characteristics of Phrases

3.2.1 The Noun Phrase (NP)

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

The Noun phrase Functional formula: (Specifier) + Head + (complement)

The Formal version of an NP is: (Premodifier*) + Noun + (Postmodifier)

The NP formula states that a noun phrase must contain a head word but

need not contain anything else If the NP has more elements than the head, it may

contain one or more premodifiers (which precede the head) and/or one or more postmodifiers (which follow the head) The formula thus abbreviates several possibilities:

Noun Head

Premodifier(s) + Noun Head

Noun Head + Postmodifier(s)

Premodifier(s) + Noun Head + Postmodifier(s)

3.2.1.1 Simple Noun phrases:

a Single-Word Noun Phrases

Single word noun phrases will always consist of a head word which is a noun or pronoun

Personal pronoun They saw her

Personal pronoun Mine are much better

Indefinite pronoun None was/were found

b Simple Noun phrases: Premodifier + Head

Simple NPs can also contain a head preceded by a single-word premodifier The range of premodifiers of noun heads is large, including nearly all of the parts of speech, at least in some form

Simple Premodifiers

Article the and a/an

Demonstrative pronoun this, that, these, and those

Possessive pronoun her, his, its, their, your, John’s

Indefinite pronoun some, any, no, each, enough,

Noun (phrase) metal plates

c Simple Noun phrases: Head + Postmodifier (Prepositional Phrase)

The least complex postmodifier - and by far the most common - is a prepositional phrase (PP) This simple postmodification will have the structure N = PP

Songs about love

Clock on the wall

Walks with my mother

Arguments about abortion

Reasons for my hesitation

Sources of concern

d Multiple and Phrasal Premodifiers

Premodifiers can be multiple:

Multiple Premodifier

Phrasal Premodifiers

Carelessly organized meetings // annoy everyone Verbal phrase + N

3.2.1.2 Complex Noun Phrases:

Much more common cases in complex noun phrase are the various sorts of phrases and clauses that follow head nouns The prepositional phrase that follows head noun contains NPs, which can contain PPs that contain other NPs that can contain a P The following NP is an example

The book in the drawer /of the desk //in the office ///of the leader ////of

the rebellion /////against the oppression //////of readers ///////of tales ////////of adventures /////////on far planets //////////of the galaxy

a Complex Noun Phrases: Complex Postmodifiers

Adjective Phrase [Anyone fond of Pho] should buy this recipe book

Appositive NP [His nominee, an infamous scoundrel,] is unlikely to be

Relative Clause The contestant [who guesses the title] will win a trip to Tahiti

Noun Complement The realization [that his hair was false] amused the

Appositive Noun His nominee, an infamous scoundrel with principles

Phrases learned from years of service in one of the most

corrupt political machines ever devised by the devious minds that have blemished history, is unlikely to be elected

b Complex Noun Phrases: Coordination

It is possible to repeat NPs twice, even an infinite number of times Coordinated

NPs will be joined by a coordinate conjunction, usually and or or, as in:

Old men and women will be served first

My sister and her best friend will deliver the letter

3.2.2 The Verb Phrase (VP)

The verb phrase has a verb as its head The Verb Phrase functional formula:

(Auxiliary*) + Head + (Object(s)/Complement) + (Modifier*)

Head

Auxiliary + Head

Head + (Object(s)/Complement)

Head + (Modifier*)

Combination of the above

3.2.2.1 Simple Verb Phrases:

a Head alone

Single-word VPs always consist of head word that is a verb:

Hector walks

All of the students agree

The baby cries

b Verb Phrases: Auxiliaries and Head

The major auxiliary verbs in English are be, have and do

The zombies departed from Hector's house (Head alone)

Hector is acting strangely (be + Head Verb)

Hector has never looked at me like that (have + Head Verb)

Hector does not eat vegetables (do + Head Verb)

Hector has been consorting with the zombies (have + be + Head Verb)

c Verb Phrases: Head + Objects(s)/Complement

An important grammatical notion associated with the direct object is that of transitivity A transitive verb takes a direct object; an intransitive verb doesn’t

Direct Object The Vikings // demanded tribute (NP)

Indirect Object Waldo // gave his sister (NP) a dictionary

Subject Complement Freud // was a prude (NP)

Freud // was prudish (AP)