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Download Chapter 3 - Introduction to phrases and clauses
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Introduction to phrases and clauses Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English Biber; Conrad; Leech (2009, p.37-54) Phrases and their characteristics • [They] [passed] [the table] [with [the two men]]. • [They] [passed] [the table [with [the two men]]]. (bracketing instead of tree diagram) • Words make up phrases, which behave like units. • A phrase can consist of either one word or more than one word. • Phrases can be identified by substitution or movement tests. • Differences in phrase structure show up in differences of meaning. • Phrases can be embedded (i.e. one phrase can be part of the structure of another phrase). Phrases in use • Phrase types differ both in their internal structure and in their syntactic roles, recognizing the latter (subject and object) can be crucial for interpretation of phrases. • Noun phrases and prepositional phrases can have particularly complex structure in written text, with several layers of phrase embedding. In fact, the complexity of phrases is a very striking measure for comparing the complexity of syntax in different registers of English. The simplest structures occur in conversation and the complexity increases through fiction,newspaper and academic writing. • He really [doesn’t trust] me, does he? • [Three months ago] BNF confirmed that [a leak of radioactive plutonium solution] [had been classified] [as ‘a serious incident’]. Major points • The main classes of phrases are: noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase and prepositional phrase. • The classes can be identified by their meaning, structure, and syntactic role. • Each of these phrases has a head from the corresponding word class: e.g. noun phrases usually have a noun as their head. • The frequency of longer and more complex phrases varies from one register to another, increasing from conversation, to fiction, to news writing, to academic prose. Types of phrases 1) Noun: a noun is its head; the head can be preceded by determiners and accompanied by modifiers or complements; role of subject or object. [The little girl next door] loves swimming. He can’t understand [her refusal to show any sign of emotion]. 2) Verb: they have a lexical verb or a primary verb as the head; the main verb can be preceded by auxiliary verbs; finite (present/past, modal); non-finite The current year [has) definitely (started] well. 3) Adjective: an adjective is its head; modifiers can precede or follow head; attributive adjective before noun; subject predicative following be. That’s right. He’s a [deeply sick] man. 4) Adverb: usual syntactic roles are modifier for adjective/adverb phrases, adverbial on the clause level He was a little creature with a [sweetly expressive] face. They sang [boomingly well]. 5) Prepositional: consist of a preposition followed by a noun phrase, known as the prepositional complement; stranded prepositions He retired [after three minor heart attacks] [at the age of 36]. [What more] could a child ask [for]? Clause patterns A clause is the key unit of syntax, capable of occurring independently. • The verb phrase is the central element in each clause. The five major valency patterns are: • Intransitive pattern: Subject + verb phrase – Sarah and Michael disappeared. • Monotransitive pattern: Sub. + verb phrase + direct object – She changed her dress. • Copular patterns: Sub. + verb p. + subject predicative or adverbial – The Swiss cheese has gone bad. – Marc was in the bathroom. • Ditransitive pattern: Sub. + verb p. + indirect object + direct object – You gave her the wrong kind of egg. • Complex transitive patterns: S + VP + DO + object predic. or adv. – That makes me so mad. – They’re sending us to Disneyland. *The valency of the verb controls the kinds of elements that follow it. Clause elements • Verb phrase: central element of the clause • Subject: 1) noun phrase; 2) it occurs with all types of verbs; 3) subject pronouns are in the nominative case (not accusative); 4) it often precedes the verb phrase; 5) it determines the number of the verb phrase, 6) it can make a passive clause. It denotes the agent of the action or represents the topic. – Attention! It’s warm in here. (dummy pronoun) • Object: it is a noun phrase; often follows the (transitive) verb; object pronouns are in accusative form; it can be moved to become the subject of a passive form; direct objects (role: denote the entity affected by the action), indirect objects (denote people receiving sth) • Predicative: role: characterizing a preceding noun clause; subject predicative (or complement), object predicative (or complement) • Adverbials: obligatory adverbials (used in order to complete the meaning of verbs: copular and complex transitive patterns); optional adverbials (added to clauses with any type of verb). – I was here, with Uncle Nick, thirty years ago Truly peripheral elements • Conjunctions: coordinating and subordinating conjunctions [And], of course, now Keely doesn’t have any teeth. • Parentheticals: set off from the surrounding clause by paretheses or dashes At precisely 11.07 [(Earth time)], a message flashed up on ITN screen. • Prefaces: noun phrases placed before the subject, which typically have the same reference as a personal pronoun in the clause. [This woman], she’s ninety years old. • Tags: normally added at the end of a clause (noun phrase tag, question tags or declarative tags) It’s nice [that table] anyway. • Inserts: extra words which can be ‘slipped into’ spoken discourse, mainly to convey interactive meaning [Hello] is that Cindy Jones? • Vocatives: noun/noun phrases which refer to people and serve to identify the person being addressed. [Mum], I’m making such a big sandwich. Analysis • AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. We enter the alien world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where corporations are mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis. Because the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora... the Na'vi. Jake is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures.