Download Power Points for Plenary 2

English Grammar1
Lecture 2
Noun Groups
Pre-modification
1
From your Course Outline:
Option 1: Grammar in the HK Environment
 There are English meanings all around you in
the public environment.
 Collect 2 examples of English meanings in
signage or adverts or other communication
modes in the PUBLIC environment.
 Make no more than 4 slides with brief
descriptions of the text of each example. Note:
Sometimes the grammar may be entirely
appropriate; but sometimes the grammar may
be rather unconventional or idiosyncratic.
2
From your Course Outline:
Option 2: Subject in English clauses
 Write a definition of ‘Subject’ using any of
the references above or a reputable web
site (check with your tutor).
 Identify wording playing the grammatical
role of Subject in natural texts. Classify the
wording as word group type, x-type clause,
etc. Identify patterns in your classifications.
Make no more than 4 slides to present your
findings.
3
More Information
Language in the Environment
 This is NOT an assignment about finding
fault with a Chinese to English translation.
 This IS an assignment about analyzing the
word choices made in signs in the local
environment.
4
Language in the Environment
 Step 1.
 Find a sign in the environment.
 Use your smartphone
 (Examples will follow).
 Step 2.
 Use your knowledge of Experiential (Ideational),
Interpersonal and Textual meaning to analyze
the sign.
 (Examples will follow).
 Step 3.
 Submit BEFORE the plenary on March 18th.
5
Name: Lam Chung Yan, Yan
Student Number: 11008813
The advertisement appears outside
the wall of an old building in Wan
Chai. It is advertised by a design
consultancy, which is situated just
below the advertisement. It says
‘Never undervalue the space
you’ve got’. Adverb 'never' modifies
the verb group 'undervalue' while
an ellipsed projected ‘that’ clause
'you've got' is embedded in the
noun group.
the space [ that ] you've got
Name: Lam Chung Yan, Yan
Student Number: 11008813
The advertisement appears outside the
wall of an old building in Wan Chai. It is
advertised by a design consultancy,
which is situated just below the
advertisement. It says ‘Never
undervalue the space you’ve got’.
Adverb 'never' modifies the verb
group 'undervalue' while an
ellipsed projected ‘that’ clause
'you've got' is embedded in the
noun group.
the space [ that ] you've got
Name: Lam Chung Yan, Yan
Student Number: 11008813
The construction of interpersonal meaning in an
imperative mood is achieved by a Predicator
(undervalue) in the infinitival form of the verb and
the omission of Subject and Finite. Hence, the
writer is requesting and commanding audience to
better utilize the available space of their apartment .
In other words, the design consultancy is here to
provide a service which can help the customer to
better use their space.
The ideational meaning is constructed by the noun (space) and
mental verb (undervalue). The mental verb used here can hit the
core in audience's mind that they would compare and examine their
own situation. Also, the adverb (never) is a high value wording of
usuality and hence poses a great pressure and certainty to
audience to achieve the design consultancy’s advertising purpose.
Name: Lam Chung Yan, Yan
Student Number: 11008813
The construction of interpersonal
meaning in an
imperative mood is achieved by a Predicator
(undervalue) in the infinitival form of the verb
and the omission of Subject and Finite. Hence,
the writer is requesting and commanding audience
to better utilize the available space of their apartment .
In other words, the design consultancy is here to provide
a service which can help the customer to better use their
space.
The ideational meaning is constructed by the noun (space) and
mental verb (undervalue). The mental verb used here can hit the core
in audience's mind that they would compare and examine their own
situation. Also, the adverb (never) is a high value wording of usuality
and hence poses a great pressure and certainty to audience to
achieve the design consultancy’s advertising purpose.
Name: Lam Chung Yan, Yan
Student Number: 11008813
Vehicle waiting will be prosecuted without warning
The sign appears by the side of a road
in Wan Chai also and it says 'Vehicle
waiting will be prosecuted without
warning'. The verb 'prosecuted' is a
material verb, construing the 'doing'
process and together with the nonabstract nouns 'vehicle waiting' and
'warning'. They work together to make
experiential meaning. An additional
information within the clause is given by
'without warning'.
Vehicle waiting will be prosecuted without warning
In fact, the clause does not make a
good sense in terms of meaning
because a ‘vehicle’ is not a human
being. Thus, it cannot be prosecuted. It
should be the driver or car owner of the
vehicle waiting who will be prosecuted.
The interpersonal meaning can be
interpreted by means of the Mood. In the sign, the Subject
precedes the Finite, developing a declarative mood. Thus, it
gives information to drivers about the consequence of illegal parking.
In addition, the passive voice, which is recognized by the form of the
verb group, allows the doer of the action to be omitted. As a result,
the focus and emphasis seems to be put more on the consequence
of the illegal action.
A more appropriate wording could be:
Drivers with vehicles waiting will be prosecuted without warning.
This would work…
12
Signage in Japan
13
Option 2:
SUBJECT in English
 Do NOT merely cut and paste from a
website (e.g. definitions of a “subject” +
rules). You will earn an F for this (as a few
students did last year).
 You MUST demonstrate understanding
using a TEXT.
14
Subject in English
 Step 1.
 Find a TEXT. (Check your course outline).
 (Examples will follow).
 Step 2.
 Provide a rich explanation of the Subject in
English with examples from well-chosen texts.
 (Examples will follow).
 Step 3.
 Submit BEFORE the plenary on March 18th.
15
Student name:
The text used in analysis: Thoreau. ‘Conclusion [of Walden].’
The Subject
provides the person or Thing in whom is vested the
success or failure of the proposition, what is ‘held
responsible’
----Eggins (2004)
realizes the Thing by reference to which the
proposition can be affirmed or denied
-----Halliday & Matthiessen (2004)
expresses the entity that the speaker wants to make
responsible for the validity of the proposition being
advanced in the clause
-----Thompson (1996)
Although there will only be one Subject per clause, the structure of
the items which can be the Subject may vary.
In Thoreau’s ‘Conclusion [of Walden]’, we can observe that the
most frequent structure used for Subject items is noun groups.
Types of noun groups
Examples
Common
To the sick the doctors wisely recommend change of air and
scenery.
Pronoun
Proper
Personal
…you cannot go to Tierra del Fuego this summer
Indefinite
One hastens to southern Africa to chase the giraffe
Interrogative
…which makes their graves
Demonstrative
…that is not the game he would be after
Does Mr. Grinnell know where he himself is?
In this text, the noun groups functioning the Subject Thoreau uses
are often simple.
However, we can also observe some coordinated and multimodified patterns. For example:
 The other side of the globe is but the home of our correspondent.
 Snipes and woodcocks also may afford rare sport;
 …a greener and sweeter grass awaits him by the Yellowstone
 …the earthly empire of the Czar is but a petty state…
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Other Subject structures
 ‘There/here’ are words empty of content, and they may
also function as the Subject
e.g., Thank Heaven, here is not all the world
…there are continents and seas in the moral world…
In those examples, ‘there/here’ are not defined, whilst they
represent Subject structures.
 A clause (that-clause, wh-clause, to-clause or Ving clause)
There is no example of a clause functioning the Subject we
can observe from the text. So this structure might be used
with low frequency.
Assessment Descriptors
A+ A A-
B+ B B-
C+ C
 Very thoughtful and/or
creatively chosen
texts. Shows thought in
selecting the texts for
evaluation and
analysis.
 Concise description
and evaluation of the
texts.
 Shows very good
ability to identify
essential and
interesting features
and/or problems of
grammatical resources
used.
 Uses appropriate
grammatical
categories/
metalanguage of this
course including
functional categories.
 The texts chosen and
analysis of the texts
demonstrate excellent
understanding of the
course.
 Well-chosen text(s).
 Good description and
evaluation of the
texts.
 Shows good ability to
identify the main
features and/or
problems of
grammatical
resources used.
 Attempting to employ
grammatical
categories/metalang
uage of this course,
including functional
categories.
 The texts chosen and
analysis of the texts
demonstrate a good
understanding of the
course.
 Adequately
appropriate text(s)
chosen.
 Adequate description
and evaluation of the
texts.
 Shows adequate ability
to identify features of
grammatical resources
used.
 Uses less or flawed
metalanguage.
 Some demonstration of
an understanding of the
course.
15-13
12-9
8-4
C- D
3-2
F
1-0
 Marginally
 Non-submission
appropriate text.
or inappropriate
submission
 minimal or flawed
description/evalu
ation of the texts.
 Shows
inadequate ability
to identify
features and/or
problems of
grammatical
resources used.
 Uses flawed
metalanguage
(or missing
metalanguage).
 Little
demonstration of
an understanding
of the course.
20
Today: Lecture Plan
1. Review Key Concepts
2. NEW FOCUS: Noun/ nominal groups
a. Head
b. Pre modifications
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Deictic
Numerative
Epithet
Classifier
Thing (HEAD)
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REVIEW: Key Concepts:
Text-based Grammar
 We don’t just look at grammar at the
sentence level (as in traditional grammar).
 We consider how grammar makes meaning at
different levels (grammatical ranking).
 Text, joined clauses, single clauses, Word Groups,
word; Morphemes
 We also consider how grammar choices make
meaning at three levels:
 Experiential; Interpersonal; Textual
 These are called METAFUNCTIONS
22
Review: GRAMMATICAL RANKING
Text
Joined clauses
Single Clause
Word group (joined
words)
Word
Morpheme
Word choices (grammar choices) MAKE meaning at three levels:
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Experiential, Interpersonal, Textual
Example: METAFUNCTIONS
 I have three dogs. All three are rescue
dogs. They were either street dogs or were
abandoned. Our smallest dog, Scruffy,
was abandoned by his previous owners.
Although he is a pure bred animal, my little
dog is not very bright.
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METAFUNCTIONS
 I have three dogs. All three are rescue
dogs. They were either street dogs or were
abandoned. Our smallest dog, Scruffy,
was abandoned by his previous owners.
Although he is a pure bred animal, my little
dog is not very bright.
How is
Experiential
meaning made?
25
 I have three dogs. All three are rescue dogs. They
were either street dogs or were abandoned. Our
smallest dog, Scruffy, was abandoned by his
previous owners. Although he is a pure bred
animal, my little dog is not very bright.
Experiential Meaning
Dogs, rescue, abandoned, pure bred,
owners; animal; street
Logical:
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METAFUNCTIONS
 I have three dogs. All three are rescue
dogs. They were either street dogs or were
abandoned. Our smallest dog, Scruffy,
was abandoned by his previous owners.
Although he is a pure bred animal, my little
dog is not very bright.
How is
Interpersonal
meaning made?
Reader-writer relationship
Evaluative; modality;
tense; voice; pronouns
27
 I have three dogs. All three are rescue
dogs. They were either street dogs or were
abandoned. Our smallest dog, Scruffy,
was abandoned by his previous owners.
Although he is a pure bred animal, my little
dog is not very bright.
Interpersonal Meaning
Personal pronouns (I, our, my)
Evaluative not very bright;
abandoned (negative)verb tense/
voice simple present; two instances
of passive
28
METAFUNCTIONS
 I have three dogs. All three are rescue
dogs. They were either street dogs or were
abandoned. Our smallest dog, Scruffy,
was abandoned by his previous owners.
Although he is a pure bred animal, my little
dog is not very bright.
How is Textual
meaning made?
Backbone; cohesion;
theme/rheme
29
 I have three dogs. All three are rescue
dogs. They were either street dogs or were
abandoned. Our smallest dog, Scruffy,
was abandoned by his previous owners.
Although he is a pure bred animal, my little
dog is not very bright.
Textual Meaning
Synonyms (for cohesion):
dogs/animal
Pronoun referencing: They
30
 I have three dogs. All three are rescue dogs. They
were either street dogs or were abandoned. Our
smallest dog, Scruffy, was abandoned by his
previous owners. Although he is a pure bred
animal, my little dog is not very bright.
ABOUT
3 Metafunctions
Experiential Meaning
Dogs, rescue, abandoned, previous owners, street dogs pure
bred, bright; Logical: although
TO
Interpersonal Meaning
Personal pronouns (I, our, my) Evaluative not very bright;
abandoned (negative); verb tense: present; facts, current
relevance; past tense passive voice
ORGANIZED
Textual Meaning
Synonyms (for cohesion) dogs/animal; little/small
Antonyms: abandoned/ rescued
31
Review: SINGLE CLAUSES
Text
Joined clauses
Single Clause
Word group (joined
words)
Word
Morpheme
32
Review Clauses
 Is this a clause?
My little dog is not very bright.
33
Review Clauses
How many word groups?
II IMy little dogI is Inot very brightI II.
34
Review Clauses
What grammatical function do
they realize?
My little dog I is I not very bright.
“BE” is
FINITE
not F/P.
35
Text Type: Informative text
Student-produced
36
Butterflies
TEXT LEVEL
 Butterflies are insects. They laid eggs under a
leaf so that birds do not get it. When it hatches
out of the egg it eats and eats. When it is fat it
is turning into a chrysalis for two weeks. Then it
turned into a butterfly.
 What is the area of greatest difficulty for the
student writer? (Experiential, Interpersonal)?
 Durkin, Ferguson and Sperring, 2005.
37
Butterflies
TEXT LEVEL
 Butterflies are insects. They laid eggs under a leaf
so that birds do not get it. When it hatches out of
the egg it eats and eats. When it is fat it is turning
into a chrysalis for two weeks. Then it turned into a
butterfly.
 What is the area of greatest difficulty for the
student writer?
 Interpersonal meaning causes the most
difficulties for this writer in that there is a confusion
of verb tense choice. For an information text,
simple present is appropriate.
 Durkin, Ferguson and Sperring, 2005.
38
Today’s Focus
Text
Joined clauses
Single Clause
Word group (joined
words)
Word
Morpheme
39
NOUN GROUPS
 A group (of words) centered around a
NOUN.
 Noun groups are sometimes called NOUN
PHRASES (NPs) or NOMINAL groups.
 We will use NGs when analyzing GROUPS
of words.
Butterflies
 Butterflies are insects. The butterfly lays its
eggs under a leaf so that birds do not get
them. When the caterpillar hatches out of
the egg it eats and eats. When the
caterpillar is fat it turns into a chrysalis for
two weeks. Then it turns into a butterfly.
 Identify the NOUN GROUPS in the text.
41
Butterflies
 Butterflies are insects. The butterfly lays its
eggs under a leaf so that birds do not get
them. When the caterpillar hatches out of the
egg it eats and eats. When the caterpillar is
fat it turns into a chrysalis for two weeks. Then it
turns into a butterfly.
 How might you describe the noun groups?
 Simple? Complex?
 Is this text suitable for young learners?
42
Butterflies
 Butterflies are insects. The butterfly lays its
eggs under a leaf so that birds do not get
them. When the caterpillar hatches out of the
egg it eats and eats. When the caterpillar is
fat it turns into a chrysalis for two weeks. Then it
turns into a butterfly.
 The NGs are simple; non-technical (but for
chrysalis). Suitable for primary students.
“Chrysalis” would need to be pre-taught.
43
The Clause: Noun Groups
ІІButterflies І
are І insects ІІ.
 Where are the groups of nouns?
(NGs)?
 Are they simple or complex?
44
Noun Groups in a Clause
 ІІ I Butterflies І are І insects I ІІ.
This Noun
Group is
functioning
as the
Subject
This Noun
Group is
functioning
as the
Complement
of the Subject
45
Noun Groups in a clause
 Butterflies are beautiful, flying insects
with large scaly wings.
Where are the Noun Groups?
46
Noun Groups in a clause
 Butterflies are beautiful, flying insects
with large scaly wings.
 Where are the Noun Groups?
 Are they simple or complex?
47
Noun Groups in a clause
 Butterflies are beautiful, flying insects
with large scaly wings.
 Let’s look ONLY at the NGs
Cs = complement of the subject
F = Finite (BE)
48
Noun Groups
 Butterflies are beautiful, flying insects
with large scaly wings.
 Let’s look ONLY at the NGs
49
Noun Groups
 Butterflies
beautiful, flying insects with large scaly wings.
How many words are in each NG?
Is the second NG simple or complex?
50
Noun Groups
Of the words in this noun group (below),
which one would you say is the center or
head?
beautiful, flying insects with large scaly wings
The Head is the focal point of a word group
on which other words ‘depend’, or which
other words ‘point to’ or ‘add meaning to’.
51
= The Thing
H
beautiful, flying insects with large scaly wings
Function = PRE-Modifier
Function = POST-Modifier
The FUNCTIONS are noted above the wording
52
Modifiers: FUNCTION
Modifiers tend to add information about
the noun. Adjectives, other nouns, or
participles, normally perform the function of
Modifier before the Head noun, and
relative clauses and prepositional
phrases often realize the function as Modifier
after the Head noun.
Add information…
H
beautiful, flying butterflies with colorful shiny wings
Adjective,
participle
Prepositional phrase
 Pre: can be adjectives, nouns, participles
 Post: can be Relative clauses, prep phrases
54
Pre-modifiers in a Noun Group
Deictic
A
Epithet
beautiful
Epithet
flying
butterfly with shiny colorful wings
Pre-modifiers in a NG
Deictic Numerative Epithet
Those 5
beautiful
Classifier
Monarch butterflies with bright wings
Pre-modifiers in a Noun Group
Deictic Numerative
Epithet
Classifier
My many interesting BEd(EL) students
Deictic
Numerative
Epithet
Classifier
Those several sleeping BEd(EL) students
Deictic Numerative
Epithet
His one brilliant idea
Pre-modification FUNCTIONs
Deictic
Numerative
Epithet
Classifier
Head/Thing
58
Pre-modification FUNCTIONs
1. These point to or in some way select the
noun functioning as the THING. They
answer: which one? Whose?
2. These tell how many of the THING there
are or in what order the occur.
3. These describe a quality of a THING
4. These establish the THING as a member
of a class.




Deictic
Numerative
Epithet
Classifier
59
Deictics inlude
 Articles
 A, the
 Demonstratives
Deictic
THING
that silly sausage
Dem
Noun
 This, that, these, those
 Possessives
 My, her, their, my father’s
 Quantifier
 Some, both, neither, all, a few
60
Demonstrative
Determinative
Interrogative
This
These
Which(ever)
that
those
THE
Possessive
My
your
His
her
One’s
John’s
Sue’s
What(ever)
our
its
our mother’s
Whose(ever)
Which person’s
61
 Convey the sense of ALL or NONE or some
unspecified sub-set:









Both trains have left.
Is either train leaving soon?
All trains have left.
Is there a train leaving soon?
There are some trains on the track.
Some trains are quite comfortable.
No trains have gone by.
I haven’t noticed any trains go by.
Not one train has left.
62
Numeratives Include
 Cardinal numbers
 One, two, a thousand
 Ordinal numbers
 First, second, last
 Numerical expressions
 Double, half of, a few of, half of, one-quarter
Numerative
THING
Dozens of silly sausages
numeral
Noun
63
Epithets Include
 Adjectives
 Red, fresh, difficult, compact
Epithet
that
crazy
adj.
Epithet THING
little
Adj.
dog
Noun
64
Classifiers Include
 Adjectives
 Australian, financial, public; Monarch
 Nouns acting as classifiers
 Cedar (tree); car (pool)
Classifier THING
expensive Chilean wine
adj
noun
65
Deictics + Numeratives =
 Articles
 A, the
 Demonstratives
 This, that, these, those
 Possessives
 My, her, their, my
father’s
 Quantifier
 Some, both, neither,
all, a few, each, no
 Cardinal numbers
 One, two, a
thousand
 Ordinal numbers
 First, second, last
 Numerical
expressions
 Double, half of, a
few of, half of, onequarter
Collins & Hollo (p.63)
Downing (p.404):
Pre-determiner
Central Determiners
Post determiners
66
Function: DR (determiner)
Class: dv (determinative)
Epithet
That
crazy
adj
DR (num)
Epithet
H
little
dog
adj
noun
with large a big personality
H
Twelve candles on the birthday cake
dv
noun
67
Function: DR (determiner)
Class: dv (determinative)
Epithet Epithet
A few
crazy
adj
little
adj
Epithet
Those
H
dogs
noun
H
twelve flickering candles on the birthday cake
adj
noun
68
“QUIZ”
 Scruffy is my silly little dog who came
to my front door one winter.
 How many noun groups?
69
my silly little dog who came to
my front door one winter.
 What is the HEAD of this noun group?
70
M y
s i l l y
l i t t l e
d o g
71
Pre-Modification Practice
 the juicy Granny Smith apple
 an expensive Tiffany necklace
72
Order of elements in a NG
73
Dr
Dr
Num
pre-M1 (qualities) Pre-M2
Pre- M3
 All those ten fascinating, fearsome, splendid
Pre-M 4
old
Classifier
Victorian
Classifier
steam
H
trains
Interpersonal (personal evaluations, subjective)
tend to precede experiential (objective).
(Cf page 58/65, Collins & Hollo)
74
What we did
 Noun Groups: Pre-modification
 Above the wording:
 Head
 Pre-modification
 Determiner (dr)
 Diectic , numerative
 Epithtet
 Classifier
 Below the wording:
 Dv (determinative)
 Adjective (Adjp)
 Noun
75
Next Plenary
 Noun Groups:
 Post modification
 Down-shifted/ rank-shifted clauses
 The material will get more difficult before
you know it. Build a firm foundation.
76
References
 Bloor, T. & M. Bloor. (1995). The Functional Analysis
of English. Arnold: Auckland.
 Butt, D., R. Fahey, S. Feez, S. Spinks, & C. Yallop.
(2000). Using Functional Grammar. (2nd
Edition).MacMillan: Australia.
 Halliday, M.A.K. (2004). An Introduction to
Functional Grammar (3rd Edition). Hodder Arnold:
UK.
 http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/but
terfly/species/Monarch.shtml
77