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1. GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE
1.1 THE PARTS OF SPEECH
You are probably familiar with terms like noun, verb, preposition, etc. These are what we
call parts of speech [Wortarten]. If you look a word up in a dictionary, you will find that its
part of speech is given before the meaning. For instance:
house, noun:
a building for human habitation
make, verb:
to construct, build, or create, from separate parts
We refer here to the following parts of speech: articles, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs,
adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions.
article
An article is a word that comes before a noun, and helps to identify it. English has two
articles:
the (called the definite article)
a or an (before a vowel) (called the indefinite article)
noun
Words like cat, table, road, etc., are nouns. They may denote concrete objects, like chair,
cup, glass; or living things like person, woman, plant, animal; or they may denote
abstract “things“ like love, hate, friendship, probability, opportunity, etc. Names like
Peter, London, Christianity, Communism are called proper nouns [Eigennamen]. They
are spelt with capital letters.
pronoun
Pronouns are words which stand for nouns which have already been mentioned. They
are used to avoid repeating the noun to which the speaker is referring.
I, me, you, we, they, them, us, he, him, she, her, it, are called personal pronouns.
myself, yourself, himself, etc., are reflexive pronouns.
Who?, whom?, which?, whose?, what? are interrogative pronouns.
verb
Words like run, swim, ride, break, dig, etc., are verbs. Most verbs represent actions or
events. But there are many which denote states: be, have, own, seem, etc.
adverb
These are words like quickly, seriously, sadly, soon, very, etc. Their most typical function
is to add information to verbs, telling us where, when, or how an action takes place. But
there are others which (like very) can refer to adjectives, to other adverbs, or even to the
sentence as a whole, rather than just to the verb.
adjective
These describe characteristics of nouns and most typically are placed before the noun
they describe (the large dog, the red book, etc.)
preposition
A preposition expresses a relationship between a noun and another part of the sentence.
Most of the common prepositions in English refer, when they are used concretely, to
relations of space and time: on, off, to, from, under, in, up, down, at, etc. In a simple
sentence a preposition must always be followed by a noun.
conjunction
This is a word which is used mainly to join two sentences in a certain way, like and, but,
because, when, although, since, etc.
1.2 GRAMMATICAL FORM
We often describe words according to their grammatical form [Flexion]. We say for
instance that in the German sentence Ich sah den Mann the noun der Mann is in the
“accusative case“ [Wen-Fall], and that the definite article der has the “accusative form“
den. In the same way we say that in the sentence Der Mann hat mir geholfen the personal
pronoun ich appears in the “dative case“ [Wem-Fall] mir.
In English we speak of the ordinary form (= nominative) and the oblique form (=
accusative or dative). The ordinary form of the first person singular pronoun is I. The
oblique form is me. It is important to remember that descriptions like “first person
singular, oblique form“ are statements about the grammatical form of words. The terms
gerund, participle, infinitive, for example, are also statements of grammatical form which
apply to verbs. So are terms like past tense, or progressive form. The expressions
singular and plural are descriptions of grammatical forms which apply to nouns and
pronouns.
When we are talking about the grammatical form of a verb, the first thing we have to
decide is whether it has a finite or a non-finite form.
A finite verb is one which agrees grammatically with its subject.
A finite verb always shows tense, and always shows aspect (that is, it appears in either
the progressive or the simple form).
Examples:
I run three miles every day.
(first person singular; present tense; simple form)
David cooked a meal.
(third person singular; past tense, simple form)
We have finished our English course.
(first person plural; present perfect tense; simple form)
You have been playing in the garden.
(second person singular or plural; present perfect tense; progressive form)
We therefore call the verb forms run, cooked, have finished, and have been playing in the
examples above finite verb forms, because they agree grammatically with the subject in
each case.
A non-finite verb is one which does not agree grammatically with its subject.
In fact, most non-finite verbs do not have grammatical subjects anyway. Non-finite verbs
often do not show tense or aspect.
Examples:
Running three miles everyday is very tiring.
(No grammatical subject of running is present; running shows no tense or aspect form;
running is here a gerund.)
To run three miles everyday would be tiring.
(No grammatical subject of to run is present; to run shows no tense or aspect form; to
run is here an infinitive.)
I do not like David cooking meals in my kitchen.
(The grammatical subject of cooking, David, is present, but there is no agreement
between David and cooking; cooking shows no tense or aspect form; cooking is here a
gerund.)
David stood in the kitchen, cooking a meal.
(The grammatical subject of cooking is David, but there is no subject agreement; cooking
shows no tense or aspect form; cooking is here a participle.)
We will be talking about gerunds, participles, and infinitives in detail in a later chapter.
For the moment it is important simply to recognize why we call these forms non-finite
forms. Either they do not appear with a subject; or, when a subject is present, it does not
agree with the verb form.
What we have been talking about in this section is grammatical structure. Parts of
speech like adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc., or grammatical forms like gerunds,
“third person singular”, present tense, conditional, and so on, all belong to grammatical
structure. It is important to distinguish clearly between grammatical structure and what
we are going to discuss in the following section: grammatical function
[Funktionsbegriffe].
2. GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION
As we saw in the previous section, we can divide a sentence up according to the
structures it contains (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.). We called these categories parts of
speech. A different way of analysing a sentence is in terms of function. That is, we look
at the relationships between the different parts of a particular sentence. Functional
categories [Satzglieder] are: subject, object, adverbial [adverbiale Bestimmung],
complement [Subjektprädikativ/Objektprädikativ], and predicate. As we shall see below,
one particular part of speech may fulfil different functions in different sentences. A word
like glass, for instance is always a noun; its part of speech, that is, is always the same.
But in different sentences the word may function as subject, object, complement, or even
as part of an adverbial.
Predicate
The predicate is the most important part of a sentence. It holds the other parts of a
sentence together, and is therefore the centre of the relationship between them. In a
sense we can say that the predicate expresses the basic meaning of the sentence [die
Satzaussage]. The predicate is always a verb. It may consist
- of a single finite verb:
David hit Peter.
- or of a whole finite phrase including auxiliaries [Hilfsverben]:
The book was lying on the table.
David has been reading the newspaper.
I have done my homework.
You can go if you wish.
- or it may be a non-finite verb:
Walking quickly across the road, …
… to see my grandmother on Sunday.
(the dots here indicate that these are not complete sentences)
Subject
The subject of a sentence is most typically that part of it which causes the event named
by the predicate [Handlungsträger]. It is that part of the sentence to which the predicate
is most intimately related. The information given to us by the predicate tells us first of all
about the subject – and then about the subject‘s relationship to the rest of the sentence.
In a simple sentence the subject is a noun or a pronoun. If the sentence is declarative
(i.e. not a question or command) the subject always comes before the predicate.
David hit Peter.
The book was lying on the table.
We can find out what the subject of a particular sentence is by asking questions like
Who verb X? What verb X? (X here simply means the rest of the sentence), for example:
Who hit Peter?
What was lying on the table?
Object
There are two kinds of object: the direct object, and the indirect object.
The direct object
is that part of the sentence which is “acted on“ or directly affected by the subject and the
verb.
David hit Peter.
Peter put the book on the table.
In a simple sentence the direct object is a noun or pronoun. We can discover the direct
object in a sentence by asking What/whom did the subject verb?
Whom did David hit?
What did Peter put on the table?
The indirect object
denotes a person or ”thing” which ”receives” the direct object. In a complete sentence
an indirect object cannot appear without a direct object. The indirect object can be
paraphrased by a prepositional phrase with to or for.
He gave me a watch. = He gave a watch to me.
He bought himself a drink. = He bought a drink for himself.
The indirect object comes before the direct object in the sentence. The indirect object
usually denotes an animate object (that is, a living thing).
We will discover the indirect object of a sentence by asking For/to whom did the subject
verb direct object?
For/to whom did he give a watch?
For whom did he buy a drink?
Complement
A complement denotes an attribute or characteristic of the subject or object. It is
something which has to be added to make the sentence complete.
Subject complement
This is that part of a sentence which follows verbs like be, grow, become, seem, appear,
turn; that is, verbs which have no direct object, but need something after them to make
the sentence complete. A subject complement [Subjektprädikativ bzw. Prädikatsnomen]
describes a characteristic or feature of the subject.
David is my brother.
Mary seems tired.
Sarah became a teacher.
Jim turned red.
A subject complement can be a noun, pronoun, or adjective. With the verb be we can
discover the subject complement by asking Who/What verb subject?
Who is that man?
What is his occupation?
With other verbs we must ask: Who/What did the subject verb?
What did Jim turn?
What did Mary become?
You will notice that this question is similar to the one asked in the case of direct objects.
But please remember that subject complements are not direct objects and that verbs like
be, grow, and seem do not take direct objects.
Object complement
This is almost like a second direct object. But unlike a direct object an object
complement [Objektprädikativ] can be an adjective as well as a noun or pronoun. The
object complement follows the direct object, and describes a characteristic of the direct
object which is “caused“ by the verb. Like the subject complement, the object
complement is needed by certain verbs to make the sentence complete.
He called me a fool.
They elected him chairman.
The rice pudding made Susan sick.
We proved him wrong.
The following question will help us to find out what the object complement is: Who/what
did the subject verb object?
What did he call me?
What did the rice pudding make Susan?
What did they elect him?
Adverbial
An adverbial is the part of a sentence which gives us information about how, when, or
where something happens. It is in fact like an adverb. An adverb, however, is a part of
speech, not a function. The adverbial function can be fulfilled by an adverb; but other
parts of speech fulfil adverbial functions too, as you can see below.
He went to London.
She cooked the dinner slowly.
David broke his leg last week.
She greeted me in a friendly manner.
Tom opened the door with a gasp.
As you can see, prepositional phrases, and even noun phrases, as well as ordinary
adverbs, can fulfil the adverbial function. Note that all prepositional phrases function as
adverbials.
In the following chapters we will frequently deal with these grammatical functions. For
the sake of brevity we will refer to them by the following abbreviations:
S
subject
Od
direct object
Oi
indirect object
Cs
subject complement
Co
object complement
P
predicate
A
adverbial
3. THE SENTENCE
In the following we are referring only to declarative sentences [Aussagesätze], and not to
interrogative sentences [Fragesätze] or commands [Befehlssätze]. These are dealt with
later. There are three types of sentence: simple sentences [einfache Sätze], compound
sentences [Satzreihen, Satzverbindungen], and complex sentences [Satzgefüge].
3.1 THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
First of all we will ask the question, what is a complete sentence? To be complete a
sentence must contain at least a subject and a finite predicate:
I
subject
predicate
John
whistled.
David
is swimming.
Mary
has been cleaning.
However, often a subject and a predicate are not enough. The following subjects and
predicates do not provide complete sentences:
subject
predicate
Bill
hit
?
Sarah
has broken
?
You
are hurting
?
The question marks in the third column show that something is missing. We must add
something to the verbs to get a complete sentence, that is, each of these verbs requires
a direct object.
For example:
II
subject
predicate
direct object
Bill
hit
John.
Sarah
has broken
the teapot.
You
are hurting
me.
With verbs like this, then, a direct object is obligatory. Without it the sentence is
incomplete.
With other verbs, not only a direct object, but also an adverbial is obligatory. The
following, for instance, is not a complete sentence:
subject
predicate
direct object
David
put
the book
?
We must say where David put the book, othersie the sentence does not make sense.
III
subject
predicate
direct object
adverbial
David
put
the book
on the table.
A number of verbs take both a direct and an indirect object:
IV
subject
predicate
indirect object
direct object
He
gave
me
the book.
Other verbs require just an adverbial to complete them:
V
subject
predicate
adverbial
The book
is lying
on the table.
John
is
in London.
Some verbs, as we have seen, need a subject complement to complete them:
VI
subject
predicate
subject complement
Dorothy
is
a nurse.
The baby
seems
ill.
John
has grown
fat.
Note that the verb be can be completed either with a subject complement, or with an
adverbial.
Finally, there are a few verbs which need an object complement, as we explained in the
previous section:
VII
subject
predicate
direct object
object complement
He
called
me
a liar.
The people
elected
Jones
President.
A subject and a predicate alone are therefore often not enough to form a complete
sentence. What must be added depends on the verb which fulfills the predicate function
in any particular case. Let us look again at the different kinds of sentence pattern shown
above:
I
John whistled.
subject + predicate
II
Bill hit John.
subject + predicate + direct object
III
David put his hands in his pockets.
subject + predicate + direct object + adverb
IV
He gave me the book.
subject + predicate + indirect object + direct object
V
John is in London.
subject + predicate + adverb
VI
The baby seems ill.
subject + predicate + subject complement
VII
He called me a liar.
subject + predicate + direct object + object complement
So in these examples we can see which elements are needed to form complete
sentences with certain verbs.
All of these sentences have one thing in common: they all contain only one predicate.
A sentence containing just one predicate is called a simple sentence.
What we have above are the minimum numbers of elements required to make simple
sentences with various verbs. We could, of course, add further elements to the
sentences:
For instance:
John sings in the bath.
(subject + predicate + adverb)
Bill hit John on the nose.
(subject + predicate + direct object + adverb
John is in London at the moment.
(subject + predicate + adverb + adverb)
But these sentences still only have one predicate, and are therefore still simple
sentences.
3.2 THE COMPOUND SENTENCE
We can join simple sentences together by using the conjunctions and, or, but.
David drinks Guinness and Marion drinks orange-juice.
He likes beer, but he doesn‘t like wine.
Or we can have a list of several simple sentences, separated by commas (the last two in
this case must be joined by a conjunction).
David drinks Guinness, Marion drinks orange-juice, Sarah drinks Bourbon, and George
drinks Martini.
When we join simple sentences together in this way we get a larger sentence called a
compound sentence. The original sentences have become parts of a larger sentence. We
call such parts clauses.
A clause is a part of a sentence which has its own predicate.
A compound sentence consists of two or more clauses which are joined together by
conjunctions.
The clauses in a compound sentence are called co-ordinate clauses. The conjunctions
and, or, but, are called co-ordinating conjunctions.
We can therefore say that a compound sentence consists of two or more co-ordinate
clauses joined by co-ordinating conjunctions.
3.3 THE COMPLEX SENTENCE
The co-ordinate clauses in a compound sentence are independent of each other. They
are simply added together. However, we can join clauses so that one becomes
dependent on the other. This is done by using conjunctions like although, because,
when, etc.
Although David likes Marion, Marion does not like David.
The clause David likes Marion is dependent on the other clause. It has become a part of
that other clause, and cannot stand alone. The conjunction although shows that it must
be dependent on some other clause. Sentences like these are called complex sentences.
The dependent clause is sometimes called the subordinate clause, and the other clause
is called the main clause. The conjunctions used are called subordinating conjunctions.
You will find a full list of them in the later section on conjunctions.
Here are some more examples of complex sentences:
Although Sarah was tired, she did not go to bed.
subordinate clause
main clause
I do not like Barry, because he is always rude to me.
main clause
subordinate clause
We will not go, unless you come with us.
main clause
subordinate clause
When Charlie got home, he did the washing up.
subordinate clause
main clause
A complex sentence consists of one or more main clauses and one or more subordinate
clauses. A subordinate clause is joined to a main clause by a subordinating conjunction.
3.4 PHRASES
So far we have looked at two kinds of word groups: sentences, and clauses. Now we will
deal with a word group which is smaller than the clause: the phrase.
(1) the big black dog
Each of these words forms a unit. The main word in the unit, the most important word, is
dog. We can leave out any of the others. But we cannot leave out dog, for then the unit
would be grammatically incomplete. The unit is thus dependent on the noun dog. We call
such a unit a noun phrase.
(2) red with anger
The most important word here is red. It cannot be left out. Red is an adjective, so we call
the group in (2) an adjective phrase.
There are also adverb phrases, verb phrases, and prepositional phrases, which we will
discuss in more detail later. So generally speaking we can say:
A phrase is a group of words which belong together.
The main word in the phrase is called the head word.
Examples:
I want to become a good teacher.
(noun phrase)
Ronald drives his car fast.
(noun phrase)
The man turned white with fear.
(adjective phrase)
The book is on the green table.
(prepositional phrase)
The book is on the green table.
(noun phrase)
Sarah is sleeping.
(verb phrase)
Your test was very good.
(adjective phrase)