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Unit 11 – Presentation 1
• What do we mean by Emphatic Forms?
“the devices we use to stress or highlight one or more
terms of a sentence in order to achieve certain effects”
• How many main categories of Emphasis are there?
3: CASE I: All other terms, and the interrogative verb
CASE II: i) the Positive Verb, ii) the Negative Verb
CASE III: the Place Adverbs/ Adverbials (& certain
onomatopoeic verbs)
a) All the other terms in a sentence (NOT
the verb) are emphasised using:
It is/ was/ will be + emphasised term + who (for
person-subjects) OR that + remaining sentence
b) Can be extended to the interrogative
verb, with or without a question word/
phrase:
e.g. Was it in the afternoon that … ?
When was it that … ?
c) We add emphasis to various syntactic
terms using noun clauses with ‘what/ all’:
e.g. What gets on my nerves is your
impertinence! (subject)
I didn’t take in all that he said. (object)
d) Emphasise nouns with special adjectives
& adj.’s/ verbs with special adverbs (I)
Adjective
Example nouns
very
day, essence, existence, reason, word
sheer
boredom, bulk/ volume, folly, luck, magnitude, willpower
sole
aim, criterion, exception, reason, survivor
mere
chance, coincidence, handful, mention, technicality
bare
essentials, facts, minimum, necessity
ultimate
aim/ goal, example, penalty, solution, truth
utmost
care, degree, importance, precision, secrecy
utter
boredom, chaos, despair, loneliness, madness
considerable
accomplishment, appeal, coverage, growth, momentum
substantial
amount, contribution, difference, increase, meal
d) Emphasise nouns with special adjectives
& adj.’s/ verbs with special adverbs (II)
Adverb
Example collocates
most
interesting, welcome, hateful
absolutely
amazing, breathtaking, certain, clear, determined, freezing
utterly
baffled, brilliant, exhausting, sincere, worthless
merely
adequate, symbolic, theoretical
solely
aim, rely, confine/ dependent, responsible
e) Employ a number of other techniques,
like:
a) repetition
e.g. Do it again and again until you’ve got the hang
of it.
b) articles
e.g. Not the Tesla, right?
c) individual adverbs & adverb phrases
e.g. whatsoever, in the world/ on earth, indeed, etc
i) Positive Verb: auxiliary do/ does/ did.
Only possible in Present & Past Simple
tenses & positive Imperative, i.e.
do/ does/ did + positive verb–infinitive
ii.a) Negative Verb: inversion after a
negative word/ phrase in front position,
i.e.
negative verb/ phrase + auxiliary + subject
ii.b) The Negative Words & Phrases that
are normally inverted to emphasise their
verb are:
not only…but (also)…
not (even) once…
never (before)…
on no account…
nowhere (else)…
in no way…
no sooner…than…
on no occasion…
neither…nor…
in/under no circumstances…
NORMAL SENTENCE:
I have never encountered such inhospitable people.
EMPHATIC SENTENCE: Never have I encountered such inhospitable
people.
ii.c) The Inversion rule also applies with:
1. Restrictive adverbs:
only, rarely/ seldom,
hardly/ scarcely … when,
little
2. Result Clauses: so +
adj./ adv. (in front pos.) +
auxiliary verb + subject +
clause OR such + auxiliary
verb + subject + clause
3. Conditional Special Cases 4. Short Responses: so +
& Emphatic Forms: should/ auxiliary verb + subject OR
were (to)/ had
Neither/ Nor + auxiliary
verb + subject
Emphasise motion prepositions & place
adverbs/ adverbials by ‘fronting’ them &
inverting main verb & subject, i.e.:
motion prep/ adverbs & adverbials of place +
main verb + subject + rest of the sentence
In this case, inversion is not always necessary.
This kind of inversion (main verb + subject)
happens with:
1. Place adverbs: here &
2. Prepositions/ adverbs of
there (when the subject is motion: up, down, into,
a noun/ proper name)
etc
3. Place adverbials: at the
top/ bottom, in the
middle, etc
4. Onomatopoeic verbs:
splash, bang, pop, beep,
boom, etc (mainly used
with ‘go’)
Notes on Adding Emphasis
•The Passive Voice emphasises the verb & shifts
the focus of the sentence.
•There are isolated examples of emphatic adj.’s
and adv.’s, like many & well.
•Emphatic Comparative and Superlative forms,
the adverbs emphasising Extreme Adjectives,
the Formal Concessive construction and as also
come under this tag.