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Descriptive Grammar of English part 2 – Syntax Topic 4: Constituency Reference: Wardhaugh, Ronald. Understanding English Grammar. Malden, MA: Blackwell, Chapter 3 Tutor: mgr Jadwiga Bogucka 1. Constituency and Constructions Construction – a syntactic arrangement consisting of parts – constituents Sentences or phrases are not just flat strings of words – they have hierarchical structure To determine whether a given string of words is a constituent, you need to perform constituency tests: Susan gave a minivan to Petunia Clyde got a passionate letter from Stacy I read this thick book yesterday a. Coordination – only constituents of the same kind can be coordinated: Susan gave [the minivan to Petunia] and [the stereo to John] Clyde got [a passionate letter from Stacy] and [a minivan from Petunia] I read [this thick book] and [that long letter] yesterday b. Substitution Noun phrases: *Susan gave it (ungrammatical if it should mean the minivan to Petunia) Clyde got it I read it yesterday Verb phrases: If you say I should [go to the dentist], I will [go to the dentist] If you say I should go to the dentist, I will [do so] I said I would [read this thick book], and so I [did], yesterday c. Preposing: *You said that Susan would give [the minivan to Petunia], and [the minivan to Petunia] she gave. You said that Clyde would get [a passionate letter from Stacy] and [a passionate letter from Stacy] he got. I said I would read this thick book, and [this thick book] I read yesterday. d. Clefting: *It was [the minivan to Petunia] that Susan gave It was [a passionate letter from Stacy] that Clyde got It was [this thick book] that I read yesterday e. Pseudo clefting: What I did yesterday was read this thick book What I read yesterday was [this thick book] f. Questions What did you read yesterday? this thick book *What this thick book yesterday? *I read. (-not a constituent) Constituents are mostly binary (=they are combined of at most two parts: S NP I binary – at most two branches VP VP V read AdvP yesterday NP Det this NP book 2. Noun phrases: Construction that typically has a noun or a pronoun as its head – (the central constituent that the phrase is built around) – any other constituents are modifiers – (they tell us something about it – modify) Certain nouns can occur by themselves (e.g. without any determiners) – proper nouns, plural count nouns and mass nouns – they form phrases by themselves a. Other typical elements of noun phrases: Determiners: a, the, some, this, much they appear initially: a book, the book there can only be one determiner per phrase: *the some books, *these much books Predeterminers: all, such, half can co-occur with determiners (if so, they precede them): all these books *these all books Postdeterminers: other, last, second (ordinals), one (cardinal numerals) Can occur with determiner (follow them:) the first book *first the book Partitive expressions: a piece of cake, two slices of bread (they form noun phrases by themselves) b. Adjective phrases can also be components of noun phrases (sometimes just adjectives) A big, old hat The small red car c. Different ways of modification: Implied comparison: a little elephant, a big meal No implied phrases: a young man, a big tent A beautiful dancer – can describe the dancer, or his/her activity Some groups of adjectives follow nouns, rather than precede them: China proper, attorney general, the people concerned Nothing good, something interesting (indefinite pronouns) d. Other word classes can also serve as modifiers: Nouns: a stone wall, a tomato sandwich, John’s hat (genitives) Verbs: failed attempt Adverbs: upstairs room prepositional phrases: piece [of cake] e. Relative clauses – used within NP The man who is rich Can be restrictive (The man who I met yesterday was very handsome) and non-restrictive (This man, who is a good friend of mine, won the race) Appositives: Contain restatement of a non (can also be restrictive and non-restrictive) The fact that you said it (restrictive, cannot be omitted) My husband Fred (non-restrictive, can be omitted) f. Sometimes other parts of speech can be found in noun positions: Green is my favorite color Seeing him restored her confidence Now is the hour g. Ambiguous phrases: a British English student (i) [NP a [NP [NP British English] student]] NP Det a NP NP AP British (ii) N student N English [NP a [NP [AP British] [N’ English student]]] NP Det a NP AP British NP NP English N student 3. Adjective phrases (AP): They have adjectives as their heads Many adjectives take premodifiers (intensifiers) - very, rather, pretty Or adverbs: ridiculously handsome Or nouns: a mile high, two inches thick Adjectives occurring in noun phrases – attributive (a very sad movie) Adjectives which do not occur as parts of noun phrases, but rather as predicates – predicative (this movie was very sad) Some predicative adjectives require a complement (prepositional phrases, clauses, comparisons, infinitives): He is [fond of chocolate] a very sad movie very fond of chocolate NP Det a AP NP AP Int very Int very N movie A sad AP A fond PP P of NP chocolate 4. Prepositional Phrases (PP) They have prepositions as their heads There [was [a young woman] [in the car]] – PP as an independent part of a sentence, modifying the verb phrase: [A young woman] was [in the car] Tests: It was a young woman who was in the car *It was a young woman in the car who was [A young woman in the car] was injured - PP as a part of a noun phrase, forms a whole with the noun phrase and if it is separated, the meaning changes: It was a young woman in the car who was injured (=ok) It was a young woman who was injured in the car (= not a good paraphrase, completely different meaning) Similar situation: Fred [emptied [the bucket in the bathroom]] (= the bucket was in the bathroom, PP as a part of the NP) Fred [[emptied the bucket] [in the bathroom]] (= the bucket was emptied in the bathroom, PP as a part of the VP) Some PP consist of complex prepositions: according to, due to They may take modifiers a week before [PP right [PP to the end]] 5. Verb phrases Has a verb as its head, may be finite or non-finite Finite (specified for tense): I [don’t know his address] He [likes bananas] Non-finite (not specified for tense, may contain an infinitival marker to): He wants [to go to the theater] [Living dangerously] is exciting (participial) Auxiliaries and modals are also parts of the verb phrase: Tense (modal) (perfective) (progressive) (passive) VERB a. Modality: Possibility, necessity, obligation, etc. Epistemic vs deontic uses of modals Epistemic (true, false, possibility, probability, necessity, ability) He may be responsible for this I’m sure he can speak French He must have a wife John will sing at the party, as always We should know tomorrow Deontic – necessity or obligation, permission, future oriented He may go now (I allow him) He can speak French in my presence He must do it! We should tell him (we have an obligation) Sometimes the two uses of modals clash: Can I open the window? Yes you can but no, you may not. b. Aspect: perfective and progressive: Perfective: have +en Progressive: be+ ing Some stative verbs do not take progressive, if they do, the meaning is changed c. Voice Passive voice – with transitive verbs (taking one or more objects) Be + en If all elements (modality, aspect and voice) are combined, the following picture emerges: Tense (modal) (have+en) (be+ing) (be+en) VERB They always appear in the same order AND The suffixes appear on the next verb to the right! He past can have+en be+ing be+en beat => He can+past have be+en be+ing beat+en => He could have been being beaten d. Negation: Appears after (or on) the first auxiliary verb in the verb phrase : He must not go = He mustn’t go They will not go = He won’t go He couldn’t have been being beaten If there is no auxiliary – do support: I don’t know him I didn’t know him e. Non-finite verb phrases as phrasal adjuncts (providing additional information): Badly burned, the bread had to be thrown away Being alerted, he avoided the unlit street Sometimes they are misused - dangling pariticiples: Trying to climb the ladder, his foot slipped 6. Adverb phrases Adverb as its head May take modifiers: very quietly Appear in other phrases Usually used as adjuncts – optional structural elements which provide extra information Sometimes classified semantically – place, manner, time They have substantial freedom of movement: He left suddenly He suddenly left Suddenly, he left Predicate adjuncts: He left quietly The did it without hesitation Necessary complements: Put it there John is at the back Conjunctive adverbs: however, nevertheless Disjuncts: obviously, naturally