Download Language Structure Assignment 7: Key to Seminar

Uppsala University
Department of English
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Spring Term 2012
Language Structure Assignment 7: Key to Seminar
Grammar Tasks
Task 1
a.
Adjectives are in bold face and adverbs underlined.
1)
i)
sudden (attributive; describes the noun noise).
ii) scuffling (attributive; describes the noun noise).
2)
i)
quite (describes the adjective right).
ii) right (predicative; describes the pronoun you).
3)
i)
-n’t (describes the whole clause I was sure; many grammars classify
not as an adverb, though sometimes it is instead considered a word
class of its own).
ii) sure (predicative; describes the pronoun I).
iii) careful (predicative; describes the pronoun one).
4)
i)
very (describes the adjective small).
ii) small (attributive; describes the noun animal).
iii) Useful (predicative; describes the pronoun you).
5)
i)
-n’t (describes the whole clause You need (to) shout so loud; many
grammars classify not as an adverb, though sometimes it is instead
considered a word class of its own).
ii) so (describes the adverb loud).
iii) loud (describes the verb shout).
iv) quite (describes the adverb well).
v) well (describes the verb heard).
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Uppsala University
Department of English
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Spring Term 2012
b.
6)
7)
8)
9)
Adjectives are used after as in structures like as … as possible and as usual.
(The reason is that these structures can be expanded to structures where
the adjective functions as a predicative adjective after a form of be: … as
soon as it is possible for you to come; … as it is usual for us to do.)
When used in these senses, look and smell are linking verbs in English; they
thus take predicatives, which can be adjective phrases but not adverb
phrases. (Note that these verbs can also be used in other structures, e.g. I
was smelling the soup, where smell is a transitive verb that takes the direct
object the soup.)
An adjective that occurs inside a noun phrase and modifies the head of the
noun phrase is typically a premodifier, i.e. it precedes the head. However,
heads that are compound pronouns in some-, any-, every-, and no- are an
exception: a modifying adjective instead follows such heads.
See (9).
Task 2
a.
The form of a word (with or without -ly) is not a safe criterion to go by in all
cases, since there are adjectives that end in -ly and adverbs that do not.
1)
Adjectives describe nouns (lively > impression) or pronouns
(friendly > she, alone > she, lonely > she, good > this); they function as
modifiers in noun phrases or as head words in predicatives.
2)
Adverbs describe verbs (fast > ran, quickly > ran, wrongly > concluded,
wrong > had answered, correctly > had answered), adjectives (very > lively,
very > friendly, real > good),1 other adverbs (more > quickly,
completely > correctly), or whole clauses (generally > [she] was very
friendly).
Note that using real as an adverb in this fashion is characteristic of informal speech. In Standard
English speech and writing, the form really is required for the adverb, while real is the adjective form.
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Uppsala University
Department of English
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Spring Term 2012
b.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
awful/awfully
i)
awfully (adverb – describes the adverb well)
ii) awful (adjective – can be expanded to a clause where awful is the
head of a subject predicative: How awful | this | is! Ps|S|V)
iii) awful (predicative adjective – subject predicative, describes the noun
dress)
iv) awfully (adverb – describes the adjective small)
beautiful/beautifully
i)
beautiful (attributive adjective – describes the noun baby)
ii) beautifully (adverb – describes the verb played)
iii) beautiful (attributive adjective – describes the noun colour) OR
beautifully (adverb – describes the adjective red); cf. Swedish en
vacker röd färg vs. en vackert röd färg
iv) beautiful (predicative adverb – subject predicative, describes the
noun place)
usual/usually
i)
usual (attributive adjective – describes the noun way)
ii) usual (predicative adjective – subject predicative in the expanded
construction It was longer than it is usual for it to be)
iii) usually (adverb – describes the clause She’s very slow)
high/highly
i)
The tree was very high (predicative adjective – describes the noun
tree), but he climbed as high (adverb without -ly – describes the verb
climbed) up as he could.
ii) highly (adverb – describes the participle surprised, which can be
analysed either as a participial adjective or as part of a passive verb
phrase)
hard/hardly
i)
hard (adverb without -ly – describes the verb hit)
ii) hardly (adverb – describes the adjective responsible)
friendly/?
i)
friendly (attributive adjective – describes the noun manner)
ii) in a friendly /way/manner/ (friendly is an attributive adjective –
describes the noun way or manner; there is no readily available
adverb based on the adjective friendly, so a paraphrase is required)
loud/loudly
i)
loud (attributive adjective – describes the noun voice).
ii) loudly (adverb – describes the verb complained)
wrong/wrongly
i)
wrong (attributive adjective – describes the noun answer)
ii) wrong (adverb without -ly – describes the verb answered).
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Uppsala University
Department of English
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Spring Term 2012
Task 3
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
basically (adjectives in -ic usually form adverbs in -ically)
absolutely (regular)
wholly (the final -e of adjectives in -le is dropped before -ly is added)
not possibly (impossibly does not mean ‘not possibly’, but ‘extremely’)
direct/directly (with a difference in meaning; see Appendix 9)
economically (see basically above; note that both the adjective economic and
the adjective economical thus correspond to the adverb economically)
publicly (an exception to the -ic > -ically rule)
heartily (a final -y after a consonant in a polysyllabic adjective becomes -i
when -ly is added to form an adverb)
truly (the final -e in true is dropped when -ly is added to form an adverb)
curiously (regular)
Task 4
See section references to UGE for comments.
1)
Bergman’s films often have very interesting themes. UGE 7.2.3, 7.6.2
2)
The latest one has been (very) much discussed. UGE 6.2.3.2, 7.2.3
3)
/Yet/Nevertheless,/ they were much more boring than I had expected.
UGE 7.5, 7.2.3, 6.2.1
4)
I am not /very/particularly/ /afraid/frightened/ yet. UGE 7.2.3
5)
It was /still not very late/not very late yet/. UGE 7.5
6)
He worked much harder than the others. UGE 7.2.3
7)
/Still/Nevertheless/, he is the most exciting actor in this film. UGE 7.5, 6.2.1
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Uppsala University
Department of English
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Spring Term 2012
Task 5
See section references to UGE for explanations when there is no explanation
immediately after the translation.
1)
Tom never really liked French at school. UGE 6.6, 7.6.2
2)
He very seldom did his French homework. UGE 7.2.3, 6.6, and 7.6.2
3)
He hardly ever watched French TV program(me)s. UGE 6.6, 7.6.2
4)
/Later in life, when/When, later in life,/ he had to use French in his job,
he soon understood that it would never work. UGE 6.6, 7.6.2–7.6.3
5)
He said that, to his surprise, he had found that they had mostly replied
in French. UGE 6.6, 7.6.2–7.6.3
6)
They didn’t dare (to) speak English. UGE 5.2.2.6, 12.4.2 (Fronting is often
used in Swedish where it is avoided in English.)
7)
He /hoped/was hoping/ that he would never have to go to France again.
UGE 7.6.2
8)
When/, in August last summer,/ my boss turned fifty/ in August last
summer/, he threw a big party. UGE 7.6.3
9)
/The funny thing/What is funny/ is that politicians ignore the problem.
UGE 4.6.3.1, 6.4.3.2
10) This is a school for /the blind/blind people/. Swedish blinda has generic
reference to a group of people. The adjective can thus remain the head of
the noun phrase in English, but the definite article is required before it
even though the blind has generic reference. An alternative would be to
insert a head noun (e.g. people), but then the definite article must not be
used, as people becomes a plural noun used in a generic sense.
11) The old man was interested in the subconscious. Swedish den gamle has
specific reference to one concrete individual, so the adjective cannot be the
head of its noun phrase in English. The easiest solution in (11) is to insert a
head noun (e.g. man, since gamle indicates that the noun phrase refers to a
male individual). Swedish det undermedvetna has generic reference to an
abstract notion in the singular. In such circumstances, the adjective can be
the head of the noun phrase in English as well.
12) /What is tragic/The tragic thing/ is that the conditions of the poor have
not improved. Swedish det tragiska has specific reference to an abstract
notion in the singular, so the adjective tragic cannot be the head of its noun
phrase in English. Either insert a head noun (e.g. thing) or turn the
construction into a what-clause. (A third option would be to turn the
adjective into a noun – The tragedy is that … – but that may change the
meaning of the sentence somewhat.) Swedish de fattiga has generic
reference to a group of people, so the adjective can remain the head of its
noun phrase in English. However, in English, adjectives that are heads of
noun phrases cannot take the genitive, so the Swedish genitive
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Uppsala University
Department of English
13)
14)
15)
16)
A1/HS1/T1 Grammar
Spring Term 2012
construction (de fattigas villkor) must be turned into an English of
construction (the conditions of the poor).
The last two weeks have been tough. UGE 6.3.3
The first few years were the happiest /in/of/ my life. UGE 6.3.3
Remember not to laugh until she has stopped talking. UGE 7.6.4 and
5.7.4
Not until I had bought the shoes did I remember that I needed socks
/too/as well/. UGE 7.6.1.1
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