English Syntax

ESCUELA:

NOMBRES:

Ciencias de la Educación, Mención Inglés

Mgs. Rosario María Burneo

BIMESTRE: Second Bimester

Abril Agosto 2011

TE X TO GUIA:

AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH SYNTAXBy Jim Miller

Pay attention

• Por favor, prepare sus preguntas con anticipación. Estas serán respondidas al final de esta presentación

Clauses II Clause and Sentence A clause is a structure built by two main

constituents: a noun phrase (subject) and a verb phrase (predicate). It expresses one single idea.

Sam built a new house NP VP

A sentence• It is more complex than a clause• A sentence can include two or more

clauses.• It usually expresses more than one idea.• Sentences can be complex or compound.

She cooks lunch and he sets the table

Sam didn’t know how to fix his car

Main and Subordinate Clauses

CLAUSES

MAINfull meaning

MAINfull meaning

SUBORDINATENot full

meaning

SUBORDINATENot full

meaning

Subordinate clauses• Subordinate clauses have some

characteristics.1.They cannot stand on their own.2.They are to a large extent

grammatically independent from the main clause.

3.The choice of the verb and complements are not controlled by the main clause.

• The farm which I bought is very small

Differences

-allows a variety of constructions;

- allows all distinctions of aspect, tense, and mood.

-allows tag questions.

-allows a variety of constructions;

- allows all distinctions of aspect, tense, and mood.

-allows tag questions.

-appears in the declarative form only;

- usually does not express full meaning by itself

-appears in the declarative form only;

- usually does not express full meaning by itself

Main clause Subordinate clause

Clauses III

Finite clauses

tensed verbs and modal auxiliaries

Finite clauses

tensed verbs and modal auxiliaries

Non-finite clauses

Verbs in the bare form, or the infnitive

form

Non-finite clauses

Verbs in the bare form, or the infnitive

form

1 2

Examples of non-finite clauses

• Victoria lives in a small town (finite clause, tensed verb)• Victoria wanted to marry Peter (reduced, non-finite, infinitive)• Fanny enjoyed talking to Mr. Jones

(reduced, gerund, non-finite)

Examples of non-finite clauses

• He saw the thief climb in the window. (bare, non-finite)

• He saw the thief climbing in the window.

(gerund, non-finite)• The man reading the newspaper did

not listen to me.

(reduced, relative, non-finite)

Grammatical functions

Functions

SubjectDirect object

Indirect objectOblique object

Roles

AgentPatient

Instrument

A B

The SubjectThe subject is a complex grammatical function. It has some characteristics:

1. The subject precedes the verb in declarative statements

These boys build houses2. It agrees in number with the verb3. It is compulsory in English structures.4. It goes after the preposition BY in passive

constructions.Houses are built by these boys

5. Single words, phrases and clauses might appear in subject position

Criteria• Syntactic criterion The subject controls the occurrence of reflexives

Mike bought himself a computer

• Morpho/syntactic criterion The subject is in the nominative case

Mike is in the nominative case

• Semantic criterion Subjects refer to entities that exist independently

of the action or state of the verb

Types of subject

• Grammatical subject Martha baked a cake Martha is the grammatical subject because it

has all the characteristics already mentioned. It is also the agent performing the action.

• Logical subject A cake was baked by Martha Martha is the logical subject, even though it is

not in subject position. It is after the preposition.

• Psychological subject It is the theme. The entity we are talking about.

Direct object• In active, declarative clauses, the direct object

happens after the main verb Martha baked a cake Cake = Direct object• It corresponds to the grammatical subject of

passive constructions A cake was baked by Martha a cake = grammatical subject• Direct objects typically refer to patients He broke the window The window = patient (is affected by the action

of the verb)

Indirect and oblique objects

• Oblique object refers to the noun phrase that happens after a preposition

She wrote a message to Sam Sam is the oblique object • Indirect object She wrote Sam a messageSam is the indirect objectIndirect object is the NP that benefits from

the action of the verb

Roles, grammar and meaning

Roles are semantic. They are played by participants (nouns) in syntactic constructions. These roles establish some semantic relations and denote several meanings:

Semantic roles• Semantic roles are the ones that

participants play in events and situations. They are part of the content of linguistic

communication, therefore they are defined in terms of prototypes.

According to Berk (1999), there are central and peripheral semantic roles.

• Central R oles: agent, patient and instrument

Agent• AGENT is the typical animate being

perceived as the doer of an action (Berk) Charles ate all the rice

The noun “Charles" expresses the AGENT as seen in these structures:

All the rice was eaten by Charles. Why did Charles eat the rice?

Patient

• PATIENT (Berk) is a participant that is affected by the action of a verb.

She dropped the flowerpot on Charles.

“flowerpot" refers to a PATIENT in the example above.

The more a participant is affected by the action of the verb, the better example of a PATIENT it is.

Instrument

• INST R UMENT (Berk) refers to an "intermediate cause."

Sam broke the window with a hammer.

“a hammer" refers to an INST R UMENT which is the intermediate cause.

Usually an AGENT acts upon an INSTRUMENT, and the INST R UMENT affects the event or situation.

Peripheral Roles• EXPERIENCER (Berk) refers to an animate

entity having a sensory impression or psychological state.

Edward heard a train coming. My dog died

“Edward” is who participates in the sensory

experience expressed by the verb.

Peripheral roles

• THEME is a participant whose properties, location or involuntary movement is predicated.

The ball rolled into the kitchenThe ball is in the kitchen.

The ball is red. "Ball" refers to the THEME; each clause

indicates action, location, or description.

Peripheral roles• R ECIPIENT is the typically animate

endpoint of a transferred item. “Edward" expresses a R ECIPIENT in the following examples:

Edward received the letter

• BENEFACTIVE is the animate entity that benefits from an action or situation.

This book is for Martha

Criteria for roles

• R oles are played by nouns. They are assigned to nouns by verbs.

Sam broke the window• R oles depend on the type of lexical verb

that follows the noun.The baby ate the soup

The baby cries

Clauses, sentences and text

• Clause It is a group of words containing a subject

(NP) and a predicate (VP) conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command.

• Sentence It is a set of words typically containing

more than one clause, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses

Grammar Text Text It is a body of language; it could consist of a

single word or phrase like ‘stop' or ‘do not enter” to a paragraph, essay, or complete book; it can be either written or spoken.

It refers to “any instance of spoken or written language that could be considered in isolation as a self-sufficient entity“

A coherent stretch of language that may be regarded as an object of critical analysis.

Organization of texts• The organization of clauses and sentences

into a text has to meet some demands:- To signal the topic of a text;

What is your proposal about?- To introduce new entities (new topic of

conversation); new entities are introduced with full noun phrases: lexical noun + adjective

There is a new play on stageSomeone is at the door

The tall guy at the door is sad

Organization of text- To refer to given entities;

The new play is very goodIt is very good

The use of pronouns for a given entity applies only if the first and second mentions are not far from each other.

- To highlight information that speakers or writers consider important:

CleftsWhat you are doing is to cause trouble

It was very late when they arrived

Description of entities

• New entity:• A wild onion = first mention, treated

as new, indefinite noun phrase.• Given entity:• The town of Chicago = given, already

mentioned, definite noun phrase

Aspect, tense and voice• Grammatical devices are central to the

organization of text. They are:- Aspect allows speakers and writers to

present events as completed or as ongoing.

Aspect in English has two forms: perfect and progressive.

Gabriella is singing outsideThey have played soccer all morning

Progressive aspect

• The progressive has this structure: BE + verb + -ing = aspect The progressive combines two features: Tense is represented by the verb BE Aspect is represented by the participle of

the main verb.Charles is writing a novel

IS = present tenseWriting = progressive

Aspect• Perfect aspect This indicates that the action performed by

a verb in a clause is completed. The perfect aspect is formed by a

combination of suffixes and auxiliaries:Have + verb + -ed = perfect

It can be in past and presentI had finished lunch when he arrived

Vargas Llosa has written a many of books

Present and past perfectThe present perfect indicates:- An event that began in the past and

continues into the present;- An event that is over, but which has effects in

the present;- An event that has happened in the recent

past I have lived in Loja for many years

They have broken the window (now they are fixing it)

Aspect

• The past perfect denotes: - An event that happened before

another event in the past.I had prepared lunch when my son

arrived• Some grammarians also refer to the

Simple aspect as in:Lucy plays the guitar

Lucy played the guitar

Active, passive, and middle voice

• Voice presents events from different perspectives:

- Active voice presents an event having the agent in subject position:

Mary baked a cake • Passive voice presents an event

having the patient in subject position:

A cake was baked by Mary

Passive forms• We can choose to keep agent and

patient out:There was an attack last night

• We want to convey all the details:Martha was attacked by a thief

• We want to mention the patient only:Martha was attacked yesterday

The short passive mentions only the patient and it is the most common in speech.

Middle passive• The middle passive is related to the

properties of entities being involved in the proposition.

This sweater washes easily

The middle passive can also represent a single episode or event.

These cars sold very well last year

Passive with GET

• The vase was broken It describes an event or a state

• The vase got brokenIt describes an event

Questions?

Think aboutYour worst days are never so bad that

you are beyond the reach of God’s grace;

And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of

God’s grace.

Thank youGod Bless

YouMgs. Rosario María Burneormburneo@utpl.edu.ecPhone: 2570275 Ext.2326Tutoring: 13:00 to 15:00, Monday - Friday