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Comparative Morphosyntax II Table of Contents Lesson 1. The Verb Phrase: Verbs in English 3 The Base Form 3 Past and Present Forms 3 Exercise 4 The infinitive form 4 More Verb Forms: -ing and -ed 6 USES OF THE _ING FORM 6 Consonant substitution: 15 Additional stem extensions: 15 Additional stem-vowel changes: 15 Stem vowel change with /we/ substituted for /o/: 16 Stems with consonant and vowel change: 16 Stems with shortening and vowel change: 16 Stem lengthening by insertion of /je/: 16 Exercise 7 Consonant and vowel change with /we/ substituted for /o/: 16 Finite and non-finite verbs 8 Answer the questions: 8 Lesson 2. The Verb Phrase: Auxiliary Verb Types in English 9 Auxiliary Verbs 9 Ellipsis 10 Enclisis 10 Totally replaced stems: 16 Answer the questions 16 Lesson 5. The Auxiliary Constituents of the Verb Phrase 19 The Spanish Auxiliary 19 a. The Primary Modifications 19 b. The Secondary Modifications 20 Answer the questions 11 Lesson 3. English Verb Tenses 12 Present Tenses 12 1. Present Simple 12 2. Present Continuous 12 The future 12 1. Present Continuous 12 2. Going to 12 3. Present Simple 12 4. Will 13 5. Future Continuous 13 6. Future Perfect 13 7. Future Perfect Continuous 13 Past Tenses 13 1. Past Simple 13 2. Used to and Would 13 3. Past Continuous 13 Perfect Tenses 14 1. Present Perfect Simple 14 2. Past Perfect 14 Lesson 6. The Auxiliary Constituents of the Verb Phrase II 23 The English Auxiliary 23 Contingency-Permission (may/might) 23 Potentiality (can/could) 24 Obligation - advisability (should/must/have to) 25 Willingness, likehood and certainty (will/would) 25 Lesson 7. Other Constituents of the Verb Phrase 27 Ser & Estar 27 Non-verbal constituents of the verb phrase 28 Revision quiz on Verb Phrase 28 Exercise 29 Homework 31 Index 33 Lesson 4. The Verb Phrase: Spanish Verb Forms. Stem Changes. 15 Shortened stems: 15 Sources 33 Lic. Christian Cristóful Day 1 Revision Exercises Answer 1. What’s Morphology? 2. What’s Syntax? _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Work in pairs or trios. I. Exemplify: provide examples of: a. Diminutives in both English and Spanish b. Augmentatives in both English and Spanish c. Enclisis d. Compounding e. Items in Spanish that, though they exist, are not the usual semantic equivalents of English. Then do the opposite with English. II. Translate the following: Si hubiese sabido que vendrías, no hubiera preparado la merienda ______________________________________________________________________ Vino, se cambió y se fue ______________________________________________________________________ Flotaba en las nubes cuando su profesora le despertó ______________________________________________________________________ Si tuviese dinero, compraría una casa y me iría a vivir allá ______________________________________________________________________ Llevaré el almuerzo al cuarto 432, donde están haciendo una fiesta ______________________________________________________________________ She would have been here ______________________________________________________________________ They left the room as soon as they found the key ______________________________________________________________________ The newlyweds walked along the veranda, kissed and stumbled ______________________________________________________________________ I usually walk 1 km a day, if I walked 2 km a day, by the time I'd reached the supermarket I would have lost 100 grams! ______________________________________________________________________ III. Read the statements carefully. Do you think they are True or False? Give your opinion. 1 T F 2 T F 3 4 T F T F 5 T F 6 T F 7 T F 8 T F 9 T F An English-speaking student studying Spanish will not be accustomed to the expression of person-number categories with the verb. The Spanish system is simple and clear, and not a problem to explain; but to internalize the system is a serious problem for the student. Both English and Spanish are made up of stem and affixes Both English and Spanish have stem changes in irregular verbs Both English and Spanish have regular and irregular patterns of conjugation with a large majority of regular verbs. An example of a Stem with shortening and vowel change in Spanish would be: Saber = supe Primary modifications of verbs in Spanish are ASPECT and TENSE. The quality of Aspect in Spanish could be divided into initiative aspect, terminative aspect & imperfective aspect. In Spanish, the initiative and the terminative aspects are only one: the PERFECTIVE 1 Lic. Christian Cristóful 10 T F 11 T F 12 T F 13 T F 14 T F 15 T F 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 T T T T T T T T T T IV. F F F F F F F F F F aspect. In English, as in Spanish, the auxiliary is the vehicle of the tense system. The Spanish auxiliary carries a primary modification of aspect-tense and a series of three secondary modifications. The English auxiliary does NOT have any aspect distinction. The English tense system is based upon the fundamental dichotomy between PAST and NON-PAST. English verbs have seven modifications. When the Spanish verb "ser" occurs with a temporal adverb, the subject of "ser" refers to an event. In the sentence "El desayuno era a las nueve", desayuno refers to an event In the sentence "El desayuno estaba en el comedor", desayuno refers to food "Jacinta es bonita" and "Jacinta está bonita" convey different meanings ser and estar are not in complementary distribution Podía hacerlo vs. pude hacerlo mean the same The full verb phrase always includes a verbal constituent A very important function of the noun phrase in a full verb phrase is that of direct object. the use of the preposition "a" in Spanish, called the "personal a" is used for personifications: A single Spanish sentence can cause different English translations The use of "personal a" in Spanish expresses possession. Tree Diagrams: Embedded sentences Embedded sentences are the ones that are subordinated to the main sentence. In the sentence: “This is the house that Jack built”, the phrase “this is the house” is the main sentence because it is already a full sentence. The phrase “that Jack built” adds extra information to the sentence, and it is introduced by the complementizer “that”. This is therefore, the embedded sentence. How to analyze embedded sentences 1º Distinguish the embedded sentence from the main one 2º Is the embedded sentence located in the NP or in the VP? 3º Analyze the main sentence as usual. Leave the embedded one for the last 4º Analyze the embedded sentence named as S’ 5º Normally, S’ = complementizer + new sentence, so, you might want to write S’ = comp + S 6º Analyze the new sentence as usual 7º Practice doing your textbook’s embedded sentence tree diagrams V. Taxonomy: put the lexical items into their corresponding category: Would some Never Te aquella No sin Ti Mi VI. Draw tree diagrams for the following sentences: "Elvira said that Elena would bring some food" "Ti ricorderò di quella stella che [you remind (fut) of that star that [I'll remind you of that star that never dies] "Nació mi destino que morirá sin ti" non no muore mai" dies never] Task for the whole module: Read your textbook An Introduction to Language. Chapter 4. 2 Lic. Christian Cristóful In this module we will focus on the verb phrase and its constituents in both, English and Spanish Lesson 1. The Verb Phrase: Verbs in English A verb is a word that describes an action or a state of being. The word verb is from the Latin verbum, meaning "word"-short, one may suppose, for "action word." Verbs have many subcategories in all languages. A transitive verb normally requires an object noun phrase: for example, hit [the ball], or vacate [the house]. An intransitive verb (arrive, for example) does not allow an object noun phrase. A copular verb such as be, seem, or appear links the subject to some other noun phrase or to a modifier. Auxiliary verbs such as have or be in has gone or is leaving express some special aspect of an event; modal verbs such as must, may, or can express an attitude toward an event. An impersonal verb expresses an event not involving wilful performance by an individual person (for example, rain in "It's raining"). Just as nouns are the heads of noun phrases that may include additional material such as articles and modifiers of various sorts, verbs are the heads of verb phrases that may include noun phrases as objects and other kinds of additional material that fill out the meaning of the verb. These additions are called complements. For example, in "She admitted reluctantly that she was exhausted," both reluctantly and that she was exhausted are complements of the verb admitted. Defining verbs is a very complex task. Verbs have traditionally been defined as "action" words or "doing" words. The verb in the following sentence is rides: Paul rides a motorbike Here, the verb rides certainly denotes an action which Paul performs - the action of riding a motorbike. However, there are many verbs which do not denote an action at all. For example, in Paul seems unhappy, we cannot say that the verb seems denotes an action. We would hardly say that Paul is performing any action when he seems unhappy. So the notion of verbs as "action" words is somewhat limited. We can achieve a more robust definition of verbs by looking first at their formal features. The Base Form Here are some examples of verbs in sentences: [1] She travels to work by train [2] David sings in the choir [3] We walked five miles to a garage [4] I cooked a meal for the family Notice that in [1] and [2], the verbs have an "_s" ending, while in [3] and [4], they have an "_ed" ending. These endings -as we studied in first year- are known as INFLECTIONS, and they are added to the BASE FORM of the verb. In [1], for instance, the _s inflection is added to the base form travel. Certain endings are characteristic of the base forms of verbs: Ending -ate -ify -ise/-ize Base Form Concentrate, demonstrate, illustrate clarify, dignify, magnify baptize, conceptualize, realise Past and Present Forms When we refer to a verb in general terms, we usually cite its base form, as in "the verb travel", "the verb sing". We then add inflections to the base form as required. [1] She [2] David [3] We [4] I Base Form travel sing walk cook + + + + + Inflection s s ed ed 3 to work by train in the choir five miles to a garage a meal for the whole family Lic. Christian Cristóful These inflections indicate TENSE. The -s inflection indicates the PRESENT TENSE, and the _ed inflection indicates the PAST TENSE. Verb endings also indicate PERSON. Recall that when we looked at nouns and pronouns, we saw that there are three persons, each with a singular and a plural form. These are shown in the table below. Person 1st Person 2nd person 3rd Person Singular I you he/she/John/the dog Plural we you they/the dogs In sentence [1], She travels to work by train, we have a third person singular pronoun she, and the present tense ending -s. However, if we replace she with a plural pronoun, then the verb will change: [1] She travels to work by train [1a] They travel to work by train The verb travel in [1a] is still in the present tense, but it has changed because the pronoun in front of it has changed. This correspondence between the pronoun (or noun) and the verb is called AGREEMENT or CONCORD. Agreement applies only to verbs in the present tense in English. In the past tense, there is no distinction between verb forms: she travelled/they travelled. Exercise Identify all the verbs in the following extract. Her pace slowed and an ache spread from between her shoulders. Vapours swirled and banked; the light of on-coming headlights drained out of the car. Sodium street lamps burned phosphorescent holes in the fog, but as she turned off Main Street to the cottage she noticed the one which illuminated the alley was out. The infinitive form The INFINITIVE form of a verb is the form which follows to: to ask to protect to believe to sing to cry to talk to go to wish This form is indistinguishable from the base form. Indeed, many people cite this form when they identify a verb, as in "This is the verb to be", although to is not part of the verb. Infinitives with to are referred to specifically as TO-INFINITIVES, in order to distinguish them from BARE INFINITIVES, in which to is absent: To-infinitive Help me to open the gate Bare infinitive Help me open the gate Exercises I. Choose one of the verbs in brackets to complete each sentence. Take into account meaning and structure (consider their base forms and their inflections) 1. I taught Jim to drive a car before the age of 18. I hoped to drive a car before the age of 18. (hoped/taught) 2. We ________ him to go to the party We_________ to go to the party (allowed/agreed) 4 Lic. Christian Cristóful 3. They _______ for the kittens to go to good homes They________ the kittens to go to good homes (wanted/arranged) 4. He ________ the children to stay away He________ to stay away (warned/threatened) 5. The police ________ for his protectors to give him up The police ________ him to give himself up (appealed/forced) 6. She _________ him to visit the exhibition before it ended (promised/told) She _________ to visit the exhibition before it ended 7. Did you ________ for the bed to be delivered or shall I collect it? (need/arrange) Did you ________ the bed to be delivered or will you collect it yourself? 8. I ____________ my mother to buy a new car I ____________ to buy a new car (decided/persuaded) II. There is at least one verb (or related to verb) mistake in each sentence. Suggest appropriate corrections. 1. She longed the holidays to come so that she could be with her family again 2. I overheard say that he’s thinking of moving to Manchester 3. We watched to play football until it started to rain 4. Very reluctantly, he consented her to lend the money to Janet 5. My parents always encouraged work hard at school 6. For years the group has been campaigning an inquiry to hold into the accident 7. I think we should let them to stay until the weekend 8. Sam promised me to show me how to fish for salmon, but he never had the time 9. Hospital workers had to make them to do with a 1.5% pay increase this year 10. I hear her tell that she’s got a new job. (= someone told me about it) 11. This card entitles to take an extra person with you free 12. They let me to borrow their car while they were on holiday III. Report these sentences using one of these verbs and a to-infinitive. Use each verb once only Agree encourage invite order promise refuse volunteer warn 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. You can’t borrow the car! He refused to lend me the car You really should continue the course. He… I’ll phone you soon. He… Okay, I’ll come with you. He… Stop the car! He… Would you like to go out for dinner? He… I’ll work late at the weekend. He…. Don’t go out without an umbrella. He… 5 Lic. Christian Cristóful More Verb Forms: -ing and -ed So far we have looked at three verb forms: the present form, the past form, and the infinitive/base form. Verbs have two further forms which we will look at now. [1] The old lady is writing a play [2] The film was produced in Hollywood The verb form writing in [1] is known as the -ing form, or the -ING PARTICIPLE form. In [2], the verb form produced is called the -ed form, or -ED PARTICIPLE form. Many so-called -ed participle forms do not end in -ed at all: The film was written by John Brown The film was bought by a British company The film was made in Hollywood All of these forms are called -ed participle forms, despite their various endings. The term "-ed participle form" is simply a cover term for all of these forms. The -ed participle form should not be confused with the -ed inflection which is used to indicate the past tense of many verbs. We have now looked at all five verb forms. By way of summary, let us bring them together and see how they look for different verbs. For convenience, we will illustrate only the third person singular forms (the forms which agree with he/she/it) of each verb. Notice that some verbs have irregular past forms and -ed forms. Base/Infinitive Form Past Tense Form -ing Form cook he cooks he cooked he is cooking walk he walks he walked he is walking take he takes he took he is taking bring he brings he brought he is bringing he is he was he is being be USES OF THE _ING FORM 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Present Tense Form -ed Form he has cooked he has walked he has taken he has brought he has been Following a preposition: where would you go if you felt like having a quick snack? As part of a continuous form of a verb: the bank clerk was wearing a dark suit. As an adjective: it was an exciting experience to spend the day with the firefighters. As a noun and subject: Sleeping is my favourite way of spending Saturday mornings. As a noun and object: one of the council’s responsibilities is cutting the grass in the park. After certain verbs: after I had finished doing my homework, I watched TV. Finish these sentences using a gerund and other words 1. Working as a postman or postwoman involves... 2. When I get on the bus I usually try to avoid... 3. He was sent to prison, even though he denied... 4. A specialist in hypnosis helped her give up... 5. Although my ring was insured, I didn’t want to risk... 6. To improve my fluency in English I need to practise... 7. It was a lovely sunny spring day, so I suggested... 8. I know it’s very fattening, but I’m afraid I just can’t help... 9. When the police found the money, the security guard admitted... 10. Visiting New York for a few days is great, but I can’t imagine... 6 Lic. Christian Cristóful Exercise I. A verb has been highlighted in each of the following sentences. Indicate the form of the verb by selecting one of the choices given. 1. He plays the piano in a jazz club 2. David is singing in the shower again 3. He was told not to laugh at policemen 4. His arm swelled up after the accident 5. The population has increased by 6% since 1970 Present - Past Infinitive - _ed - _ing Present - Past Infinitive - _ed - _ing Present - Past Infinitive - _ed - _ing Present - Past Infinitive - _ed - _ing Present - Past Infinitive - _ed - _ing II. Complete these sentences in any appropriate way using either the to-infinitive or the –ing form of the verb in brackets. If both forms are possible, give them both 1. Passing the kitchen, he stopped to drink a large glass of water 2. When the car broke down, she started… 3. Here’s the money I owe you. I meant… 4. To lose weight, I’d advise you… 5. I found that my back stopped…when…. 6. To help me get to sleep, I tried… 7. The orchestra was just beginning…. 8. Please don’t hesitate…. 9. When he found that he couldn’t walk, he began…. 10. The handle came off when I tried…. 11. You could see the doctor today but as you haven’t got an appointment it would mean… Remember: An _ing form: A bare infinitive: (drink) (push) (give) (cut out) (ache) (think) (play) (call) (shout) (lift) (wait) Suggests that the action is repeated or happens over a period of time. Did you hear those dogs barking most of the night? Suggests that we watch, etc. some of the action, but not from start to finish. I was able to watch them building the new car park form my office window Suggests that the action happens only once. I noticed him throw a sweet wrapper on the floor, so I asked him to pick it up Suggests that we watch, hear, etc. the whole action from its start to finish. I watched him climb through the window, and then I called the police Exercise Consider which verb form is more likely and why 1. I heard the baby cry/crying for most of the night 2. I felt the snake bite/biting me and saw it slither off into the bushes 3. When you came out of the station, did you notice the children play/playing musical instruments across the street? 7 Lic. Christian Cristóful 4. I noticed her quickly slip/slipping the necklace inside her coat and leave the shop Finite and non-finite verbs Verbs which have the past or the present form are called FINITE verbs. Verbs in any other form (infinitive, ing, or -ed) are called NON-FINITE verbs. This means that verbs with tense are finite, and verbs without tense are non-finite. The distinction between finite and non-finite verbs is a very important one in grammar, since it affects how verbs behave in sentences. Here are some examples of each type: Finite or Nonfinite? Finite Tense David plays the piano My sister spoke French on holiday It took courage to continue after the accident Leaving home can be very traumatic Leave immediately when you are asked to do so Present Past Finite NONE -- the verb has the infinitive form NONE -- the verb has the -ing form NONE -- the verb has the -ed form Non-finite Non-finite Non-finite Exercises 1. In each of the following sentences, indicate whether the highlighted verb is finite or non-finite. 1. Paul runs to work every day 2. They have run away together 3. Tim gave Paul a menacing look 4. Katie was watching TV when the phone rang 5. We found him smoking behind the shed Finite Non-finite Finite Non-finite Finite Non-finite Finite Non-finite Finite Non-finite Answer the questions: 1. Is the following statement correct? Why? "A verb is a word that describes any action performed by the subject" _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 2. What's the difference between finite and non-finite verbs? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 3. What's a bare infinitive? _______________________________________________________________________ 4. What's an inflection ? _______________________________________________________________________ 8 Lic. Christian Cristóful Lesson 2. The Verb Phrase: Auxiliary Verb Types in English Auxiliary Verbs In the examples of -ing and -ed forms which we looked at, you may have noticed that in each case two verbs appeared: [1] The old lady is writing a play [2] The film was produced in Hollywood Writing and produced each has another verb before it. These other verbs (is and was) are known as AUXILIARY VERBS, while writing and produced are known as MAIN VERBS or LEXICAL VERBS. In fact, all the verbs we have looked at on the previous pages have been main verbs. Auxiliary verbs are sometimes called HELPING VERBS. This is because they may be said to "help" the main verb which comes after them. For example, in The old lady is writing a play, the auxiliary is helps the main verb writing by specifying that the action it denotes is still in progress. In this section we will give a brief account of each type of auxiliary verb in English. There are five types in total: This is used to form passive constructions, eg. The film was produced in Hollywood Passive be It has a corresponding present form: The film is produced in Hollywood As the name suggests, the progressive expresses action in progress: The old lady is writing a play Progressive be It also has a past form: The old lady was writing a play The perfective auxiliary expresses an action accomplished in the past but retaining current relevance: She has broken her leg Perfective have (Compare: She broke her leg) Together with the progressive auxiliary, the perfective auxiliary encodes aspect, which we will look at later. Modal can/could Modals express permission, ability, obligation, or prediction: may/might You can have a sweet if you like shall/should He may arrive early will/would Paul will be a footballer some day must I really should leave now This subclass contains only the verb do. It is used to form questions: Do you like cheese? "Dummy" Do to form negative statements: I do not like cheese and in giving orders: Do not eat the cheese Finally, dummy do can be used for emphasis: I do like cheese An important difference between auxiliary verbs and main verbs is that auxiliaries never occur alone in a sentence. For instance, we cannot remove the main verb from a sentence, leaving only the auxiliary: I would like a new job ~*I would a new job You should buy a new car ~*You should a new car She must be crazy ~*She must crazy Auxiliaries always occur with a main verb. On the other hand, main verbs can occur without an auxiliary. I like my new job I bought a new car She sings like a bird 9 Lic. Christian Cristóful Ellipsis In some sentences, it may appear that an auxiliary does occur alone. This is especially true in responses to questions: Q. Can you sing? A. Yes, I can Here the auxiliary can does not really occur without a main verb, since the main verb -- sing -- is in the question. The response is understood to mean: Yes, I can sing This is known as ELLIPSIS -- the main verb has been ellipted from the response. In Pragmatics, we call it “gapping” Exercise These idiomatic phrases contain transitive verbs. However, the objects can be left out because the expression share normally used in contexts in which it is clear what is meant. In what contexts are they used? What objects are missing? 1. You wash and I’ll dry 2. Are you ready to order? 3. Do you think? 4. Who scored? 5. It’s your turn to deal 6. I’ll weed and you can water Enclisis Auxiliaries often appear in a shortened or contracted form, especially in informal contexts. For instance, auxiliary have is often shortened to 've: I have won the lottery ~I've won the lottery These shortened forms are called enclitic forms. Sometimes different auxiliaries have the same enclitic forms, so you should distinguish carefully between them: I'd like a new job ( = modal auxiliary would) We'd already spent the money by then ( = perfective auxiliary had) He's been in there for ages ( = perfective auxiliary has) She's eating her lunch ( = progressive auxiliary is) The following exercise concentrates on three of the most important auxiliaries -- be, have, and do. Exercise Is the highlighted verb a main verb or an auxiliary verb? 1. I will have the soup 2. Police are investigating the incident 3. It is very peaceful here 4. Where does your brother work? 5. They have decided to advertise your job 6. He does his homework on the way to school 10 Main Verb Auxiliary Verb Main Verb Auxiliary Verb Main Verb Auxiliary Verb Main Verb Auxiliary Verb Main Verb Auxiliary Verb Main Verb Auxiliary Verb Lic. Christian Cristóful Answer the questions 1. What are auxiliary verbs? _______________________________________________________________________ 2. What's ellipsis? _______________________________________________________________________ 3. What's enclisis? _______________________________________________________________________ 4. What does "progressive" mean? _______________________________________________________________________ 5. What does "perfective" mean? _______________________________________________________________________ Exercise. Typical Errors. Non-native speakers of English usually make mistakes when learning the language. Tenses are usually misused. The task for you is to find the mistakes and correct them 1. This large goat is only living in the mountains of Switzerland 2. I call to thank you for the present you sent 3. John is resembling his older sister 4. The rise in demand for timber destroys large areas of rainforest 5. I work at the University for over ten years now 6. When have you got there? 7. ‘Have you read a book called Waiting for Anya?’ ‘Who has written it?’ 8. Charles is a gifted footballer, but up to now he didn’t play well in international matches 9. We’ve seen Jean in town the other day 10. Have you ever been to the opera when you lived in Milan 11. I was meeting a lot of interesting people while I was working in Norway 12. Being in large crowds was always making her feel nervous 13. How long are you wearing glasses? 14. We’ve been staying with Paul and Jenny until last weekend 15. That’s twice I’ve been forgetting to bring my diary to work this week 16. I’ve never been listening to any of Talia’s music before 17. The new bridge had been opened six months ago 18. He just heard the news and was rushing home to tell his family 19. When I saw the vase, I knew it was exactly what I had looked for 20. I had been knowing Helen for a number of years 21. When I grow up I’ll be an astronaut 22. Take your umbrella; it’ll rain 23. The world’s supply of oil is soon running out 24. Put your coat on before you’ll go out 25. I promise I call you as soon as I get home 26. I won’t be able to meet you next week. I will stay in London for a few days 27. Can I borrow your camera? I’ll be giving it back to you tomorrow 28. The army needs to change its image if more women will be recruited 29. There’s no point asking John for a lift – he will leave by now 30. The last time I met John, he’s getting on a train to go to Brussels 11 Lic. Christian Cristóful Lesson 3. English Verb Tenses Present Tenses 1. Present Simple The present simple is most often used: a. To refer to situations which are permanent. “Maria lives and works in the center of Barcelona” b. To refer to habits or to things which happen repeatedly. In the summer I drink a lot of lemonade. I get up every morning at 9 o’clock Maria sometimes goes to parties, but she almost never dances. c. To refer to natural or scientific laws d. To say when things will happen in the future. Hurry up! The train departs in 10 minutes. I leave Frankfurt at 5 o'clock in the morning and arrive in New York at midnight the next day. She has a piano lesson after school today. There's no need to hurry. The train doesn't leave for another 30 minutes. When does the meeting begin? Instead of will after words and expressions such as if, when, until, before, as soon as, while when we are referring to the future. “I cannot go with you to the cinema tonight at 10 because I work until 11” 2. Present Continuous The present continuous is used to express: a. An activity happening now (while we are speaking). “They’re playing football in the garden” b. An activity happening around now, but perhaps not at the moment of speaking. “She’s studying maths at university” c. To refer to changes, development and progress. “Even though he still needs to stay in bed, his health is improving” d. A planned future arrangement. “I’m meeting Jane at 10 tomorrow” e. In the structure always/continually/forever/constantly + present continuous to refer to other people’s habits which we find irritating. “You’re always talking! Be quiet!” The future 1. Present Continuous The present continuous for future is used a. To express a planned future arrangement. “What are you doing on Saturday? We’re having a party. Can you come?” b. With the verbs go and come. We’re going to the cinema. Do you want to come? 2. Going to Going to is used: a. To express a future decision, intention or plan made before the moment of speaking. “I’m going to study hard” b. When we can see or feel now that something is certain to happen in the future. “Look at these clouds! It’s going to rain” 3. Present Simple The present simple is used: 12 Lic. Christian Cristóful a. To say when things will happen in the future according to a timetable, program or schedule. “We must wait for another 20 minutes – the bank opens at 9 o’clock” b. To refer to the future after words and expressions such as if, when, until, before, as soon as, while. “Before you go, will you turn out the light?” 4. Will Will is used to express a. a future intention made at the moment of speaking. “’It’s Jane’s birthday’ ‘Is it? I’ll buy her some flowers’” b. An offer. “I’ll carry your suitcase” c. To make predictions about the future based on what we think or believe, not on what is happening now. “John will probably be a very good teacher one day” 5. Future Continuous The future continuous (will + be + _ing) is used to refer to something which will be happening at a future point in time. “This time tomorrow we’ll be flying over the Atlantic” 6. Future Perfect The future perfect (will + have + past participle) is used to refer to something that will happen before a future point in time. “By the year 2050, man will have travelled to Mars. 7. Future Perfect Continuous The future perfect continuous (will + have + been + _ing) is used to refer to something which will continue for some time before a future point in time. “Do you realize that in June I’ll have been working here for twenty years?” Past Tenses 1. Past Simple The past simple is most often used: a. When we refer to actions or events which happened at a particular time in the past. “I cut my finger yesterday and it still hurts today” b. When we refer to completed actions, events or situations which lasted for a period of time. “I worked for two years as a mailman” c. To refer to habits or things which happened repeatedly in the past. “When I was a child, we had breakfast at 8 o’clock every morning” 2. Used to and Would a. Used to is commonly used to refer to past habits and situations. “He used to smoke heavily, but now he can’t even stand the smell of cigarettes” b. Would is not so common in conversation and can only be used to refer to past habits, not past situations. “When we were children, we would go for a picnic every Sunday” 3. Past Continuous The past continuous is most often used: a. To refer to something which was already happening before another past event. “we were watching TV when the police arrived” b. To refer to temporary activities or situations in the past. John feels so tired because he was working hard in the garden all morning” 13 Lic. Christian Cristóful c. To refer to activities or situations which were going on at the same time in the past. “While I was looking around the house, Jane was talking to the landlord.” Perfect Tenses 1. Present Perfect Simple i a. b. c. d. ii a. b. c. d. iii Present Perfect Simple The present perfect is used: To refer to something which started in the past and continues in the present. “He’s worked as a doctor for many years” To refer to something which happened in the past but in a period of time not yet finished. I have studied for three hours this morning – I’ll study for another two hours after lunch” To refer to recent events which are directly related to the present. “Where’s my wallet? Oh no! Someone has stolen it!” To refer to something which happened in the past but we don’t know when. “I’ve been a couple of times to France – it’s a beautiful country” Time-expressions The present perfect is often used: With time-expressions which mean at any time up to now: ever, never, already, before, yet, still, so far, up to now, recently, lately, this year. With the word for when we want to say how long something ahs lasted. “I’ve been a teacher for 10 years” With the word since when we want to say when something started. “He has had that book since he was a child.” With the word just when we want to say that an event was very recent. “Where’s John? Oh, he’s just gone out” Present Perfect Continuous The present perfect continuous is used: a. To refer to activities or situations which began in the past and which are still continuing. “You’ve been working so hard recently, why don’t you have a rest?” b. To emphasise the continuity, repetition or duration of an action or situation. “Are you still reading that book? You’ve been reading it for the last three weeks!” c. When you can see the results of a recent activity or situation. “Your clothes are covered in paint!” Have you been painting the house?” 2. Past Perfect i ii Past Perfect Simple a. We often use the past perfect when we mention two actions or situations in the past, and we want to show that one happened before the other. “The door opened and a tall woman walked in – Richard suddenly realized that she was the woman he had seen on the plane” b. After expressions such as It was the first time and it was (one of) the most we usually use the past perfect. “he was so nervous because it was the first time he had played the piano in public” Past Perfect Continuous The continuous form is used if we want to emphasize the continuity, repletion or duration of an action or situation. “He was furious! Apparently he had been waiting for her for over two hours!” 14 Lic. Christian Cristóful Lesson 4. The Verb Phrase: Spanish Verb Forms. Stem Changes. The constituent structure of English verbs is simply stem plus tense suffix. Spanish verbs, however, are formed by stem + theme + tense + person-number. The implications are obvious: An English-speaking student will have no feeling for the expression of a theme in verb forms, and he will not be accustomed to the expression of person-number categories with the verb. The Spanish system is simple and clear, and not a problem to explain; but to internalize the system is a serious problem for the student. Verbs are said to be regular if they conform to the most general rules. The majority of Spanish verbs follow a single paradigm of stem formation and affixation. Regular verbs are those with only one stem; verbs with variant stems are irregular. In Spanish, there are several types of stem changes in irregular verbs. 1. Shortened stems: Infinitive Escribir Infinitive Stem /_ir/ // (past participle) Romper (past participle) Haber (3rd person plural present indicative) Hacer (1st person singular future) 2. Consonant substitution: Producir (past) Conducir (past) Hacer (1st person singular present simple) Hacer (1st person singular subjunctive) 3. Extension: Traer (past) Estar (past) Andar (past) 4. Vowel substitution: Poder (past) Hacer (past) Haber (past) Venir (past) Decir (2nd 3rd present ind) 15 Lic. Christian Cristóful 5. Diphthong substitution: Morir soñar (past part) 6. Combo I: Stems with consonant and vowel substitution: (pres sub and 1st pre in) Caber (past) Saber (past) Tener (past) Poner (past) Querer (past) Decir (past) (1st person singular present simple) (past part) 7. Combo II: Stems with shortening and vowel or diphthong substitution: Saber (1st person sing pres indic) Volver (past part) Resolver (past part) 8. Combo III: Diphthong insertion: Abrir (past part) Cubrir (past part) 9. Combo IV: Consonant and diphthong substitution: Poner (past part) 10. Totally replaced stems: Ser (2nd pres ind) (3rd pres ind) (pres sub) (past) (pres indic, imperat) (pres sub) (past) Ir Answer the questions 1. What causes irregularities in the structure of verbs? 16 Lic. Christian Cristóful _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 2. How many stem changes are there in verbs in Spanish? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Irregularities in English Task: Read in your textbook the article “Why do languages change?” Pages 480 – 482 Do exercises 1 (pages 483-484) and 3 (pages 485) from your textbook Aspect Read the following text and make a mind map out of it. Verb Aspect Verbs exhibit various changes in human languages; some tongues inflect their verbs to indicate tense (past, present, future); some inflect verbs to indicate the person and number of the subject and/or object; and some have special forms to indicate "moods" such as commands (imperatives), conditional or hypothetical statements, and so forth. An element of verb mechanics that seems to be neglected by many language designers is aspect. Aspect refers to the internal temporal constituency of an event, or the manner in which a verb's action is distributed through the time-space continuum. Tense, on the other hand, points out the location of an event in the continuum of events. Be advised that many of the verb forms which are traditionally called "tenses" in grammar books and foreign language text-books are actually aspects; the traditional terminology is misleading. The distinctions between she read that book, she used to read such books, and she was reading that book when I entered the room are aspectual distinctions rather than differences of tense. Also be aware that there is no widespread agreement on terminology with regard to aspect. Among linguists, different people use the same terms in different ways; for example, the aspect which is properly called "perfect" is often called "perfective," and this can lead to confusion when discussing languages that mark both a perfective-imperfective and a perfect-nonperfect opposition. Not all languages have inflections or special words to mark aspect, but most languages have ways to express the meanings which are embedded in the aspectual categories. (Bulgarian has a very rich set of aspectual inflections, but some dialects of German have very few.) When explicit inflections or particles are not available to indicate aspect, languages will use less elegant methods, often involving idiomatic set phrases, such as "used to" which marks the past tense form of the habitual aspect in English. In many natural languages, we find verb forms that combine both aspect and tense, e.g. the Spanish imperfect Juan leía, "Juan was reading, Juan used to read," which combines the past tense and imperfective aspect. Perfective and imperfective In the sentence she was singing when I entered, the verb "entered" presents its action as a single event with its beginning, middle, and end included; this is an example of the perfective aspect. The verb "was singing," on the other hand, refers to an internal portion of her singing, without any reference to the beginning or end of her singing; this is an example of imperfective aspect. In other words, the perfective treats a situation as a single shapeless whole, similar to the concept of a "point" in geometry, while the imperfective looks at the situation from the inside out and admits the possibility that the situation has a temporal shape. "Situation" refers to anything that can be expressed by a verb: a "state" (a static situation that will remain the same unless something changes it), an "event" (a dynamic situation considered as a complete, single item) or a "process" (a series of dynamic transactions viewed in progress). A few examples, provided by Comrie1, might help us to clarify the perfective-imperfective distinction. "In French the difference between il régna (Past Definite) trente ans and il régnait (Imperfect) trente ans [he reigned for thirty years] is not one of objective or subjective difference in the period of the reign; rather the former gathers the whole period of thirty years into a single complete whole, corresponding roughly to the English [he had a reign of thirty years]' i.e. one single reign, while the second says rather that at any point during those thirty years he was indeed reigning... Similarly 17 Lic. Christian Cristóful in Ancient Greek, we find the Aorist (perfective past) in // [he reigned ten years]' or rather [he had a reign of ten years], to bring out the difference between this form and the Imperfect (imperfective past) // ‘he reigned for ten years’, or more explicitly ‘he was reigning during ten years’." Habitual and progressive The imperfective aspect can be sub-divided into habitual and continuous aspects. The habitual aspect refers to a situation that is protracted over a long period of time, or a situation that occurs frequently during an extended period of time, to the point that the situation becomes the characteristic feature of the whole period. An example of the habitual aspect in the past tense is, the neighbour’s dog used to wake me up by barking every morning. We must be careful to avoid two common misconceptions about the habitual. First, the habitual is not the same thing as the iterative or frequentative aspect, which merely refers to something that happens several times without being the foremost characteristic of a period of time (e.g. he coughed over and over again, then recited his poem). Second, the past habitual does not necessarily imply that the condition is no longer true; it is perfectly reasonable to say Erik used to be a member of the Volapük League, and he still is. The continuous aspect encompasses the progressive aspect. Progressivity is a special type of imperfectivity which emphasizes that an action is in progress; often this is mentioned to provide a background or frame of reference for some other situation. An example of the progressive aspect is English John is singing, Spanish Juan está cantando, Italian Gianni sta cantando, Icelandic Jon er að syngja, Irish tá Seán ag canadh. Some behaviors of the progressive in English are relatively strange compared to other languages. One example of this is the use of the progressive to indicate a more temporary situation than is indicated by the basic form of the verb, e.g. the Sphinx stands by the Nile versus Mr. Smith is standing by the Nile, or I live at 123 Main Street (semi-permanently) versus I'm living at 123 Main Street (temporarily). English generally does not use progressive forms of verbs of passive perception; the phrase *you aren't hearing seems odd in English, but the Portuguese counterpart você nao está ouvindo is perfectly acceptable. However, these verbs do take the progressive in English when referring to counterfactual perception, as in you aren't hearing voices from beyond the grave again, are you? Also note that English environmental verbs, such as "to rain" and "to snow," almost always occur in the progressive form when they are in the present tense, but some related languages (e.g. Icelandic) never use the progressive form of the corresponding verbs. If you are trying to design a neutral auxiliary language for international communication, you must be careful to exclude these anglo-centric, unpredictable uses of the progressive aspect from your design. Perfect (retrospective) and prospective Unlike most aspects, the perfect does not tell us anything about the internal temporal constituency of a situation. Instead, it indicates the continuing relevance of a past situation. In other words, the perfect expresses a relation between two points on the continuum of events. Linguists are not unanimous in classifying the perfect as an aspect rather than as a tense. An example of the perfect, from English: I have lost the book (perfect) versus I lost the book (non-perfect). The perfect can indicate a relation between a state in the past and an even earlier event, e.g. John had read the book; it can express a relation between a past event and the present state, e.g. John has read the book; and it can express a relation between a future state and an event that occurs prior to it, e.g. John will have read the book. English often uses the perfect to express a situation that started in the past and continues into the present, e.g. we have lived here for a long time. Many other languages use the present tense in such sentences: French j'attends depuis trois jours, German ich warte schon drei Tage, Russian ja zhdu uzhe tri dnja `I have been waiting for three days.' Because the term "perfect" is likely to be confused with "perfective," and because its counterpart is called "prospective," I would suggest that "retrospective" is a better name for this verb form. The perfect verb form expresses a relation between a situation and some event that happened before it. In some languages we also find a prospective form which relates a state to some event that happens after it. In English the prospective is indicated by phrases such as "to be about to" and "to be on the point of," as in John is about to resign from his job. In the "redneck" dialect of American English, the prospective is marked by the phrase "fixin' to," e.g. I was fixin' to drive to work when I noticed a tornado comin' toward the trailer park. Conclusion If you want to design a language that is very expressive and able to derive a large number of related words from a relatively small inventory of roots, building a good system of aspect markers is essential. The ability to create these 18 Lic. Christian Cristóful words by predictable derivation results in a vocabulary that has internally-defined meanings and is less vulnerable to misuse than an a posteriori lexicon taken from "recognizable" sources. Lesson 5. The Auxiliary Constituents of the Verb Phrase The Spanish Auxiliary The verb phrase is the focal point of a large proportion of the difficulties that exist in grammatical description. There are two kinds of problems: those of the verbal elements themselves, and those of the non-verbal elements which may appear in a verb phrase. 1.1 The auxiliary The aux introduces a set of MODIFICATIONS into the verb phrase. Two of these modifications may be considered PRIMARY, since it is obligatory that they be chosen in any finite VP, and three may be considered SECONDARY since they are not obligatory and can be chosen in addition to the primary modifications. a. The Primary Modifications The primary modifications are ASPECT and TENSE. Aspects: initiative aspect, terminative aspect & imperfective aspect. In Spanish, the iniciative and the terminative aspects are only one: the PERFECTIVE aspect. Consider the following examples: (1) el nene anduvo a los seis meses. Iniciative (Perfective in Spanish) (2) el nene andaba a los seis meses. Imperfective (in the middle of the event) (3) el nene se cayó. Terminative (Perfective in Spanish) (4) el nene se caía. Imperfective (in the middle of the event) (5) golpeó la mesa. Terminative (perfective) (6) golpeaba la mesa. Imperfective (not a single prolonged event but a series of events) Aspect then, is either perfective or imperfective. Perfective forms in Spanish are represented by the preterit conjugation of the verb. Perfective forms in Spanish are necessarily past tense. Imperfective forms may be either past or nonpast. Imperfective Perfective PRIMARY Non-Past Past (Past) Habla Hablaba Habló 19 "Imperfect," is, by definition, incomplete or continuing. Thus, when we conceptualize a past action/event/state as it was unfolding without reference to when it began or when it ended, or, when we refer to a past action which was repeated (again, without reference to a specific period of time or to an end point,) Spanish uses the imperfect. Consider the following sentence: Cuando yo tenía diez años, jugaba con mi perro que se llamaba Sydney. When I was ten, I played with my dog whose name was Sydney. I am now 82 years old and Sydney has been dead for 70 years and so both my being ten years old and my dog Sydney are past completed sentences. However, my focus is neither on the beginning of my tenth year, nor on the end of my tenth year, nor on the completed past experience of being ten and playing with Sydney, nor on Sydney's death nor on his being dead. Thus, the verbs are in the imperfect. . Lic. Christian Cristóful b. The Secondary Modifications There are three main secondary verb modifications: 1. RELEVANT ANTERIORITY. This modification places the event as anterior to some specified or implied pasto or non-past point of reference, and marks it as being of continuing relevance to that point of reference. The forms for relevant anteriority are the PERFECT TENSES of Spanish. It is the perfective form of haber, as opposed to imperfective había that marks something like "completedness" He hablado tres veces (I have talked three times, and I may still talk some more; my having talked is somehow directly pertinent to what I am doing or saying now.) Sabía que a las doce había hablado tres veces (They knew that at twelve I had talked three times, and my having talked was somehow directly pertinent to what happened at twelve. 2. EXPLICIT DURATION. Applied to a form that carries the primary modification of perfective aspect, it specifies a duration for the event that may otherwise be implicit only in the context or unspecified: Estuvo hablando conmigo vs. habló conmigo. Estuvo carries the duration information. Habló, on the other hand, can be extended by using external modifications: Habló conmigo por dos horas. Combining both the auxiliary modification of duration and an external modification of duration results in strong emphasis on the duration of the event: Estuvo hablando conmigo por dos horas. Applied to a form which is marked as imperfective, the durative modification specifies a limited duration. Estaba hablando con Juan cuando este señor me interrumpió. VERB MODIFICATIONS Secondary Relevant Anteriority Explicit Duration Ha hablado Está hablando Primary Imperfective Non-Past Ha estado hablando Habla Había hablado Past Perfective (Past) Estaba hablando Había estado hablando Hablaba Estuvo hablando (hubo hablado) (Hubo estado hablando) Habló 3. EXPLICIT SUBSEQUENCE. The forms with the subsequence modification show contrast between past and non-past. (perfective and imperfective aspects are irrelevant to it) Hablaré mañana 20 Lic. Christian Cristóful Dijo que hablaría (ayer, mañana) The subsequence modification can be added to the other two secondary modifications: explicit duration and relevant anteriority: Estaré hablando mañana Dijo que hablaría (ayer, mañana) Habré estado hablando mañana a las doce Dijo que habría estado hablando ayer a las doce The tense forms that mark subsequence are the CONDITIONAL and the FUTURE. The conditional is just subsequent to some point in the past, just as future is subsequent to the moment of speaking. Consider: Dije (decía)que hablaría vs. digo que hablaré That is, the event hablaría is subsequent to the event dije (or decía) in dije (decía) que hablaría just as the event hablaré is subsequent to the event digo in digo que hablaré. The conditional always implies subsequence, even if the subsequence is purely hypothetical and even impossible: Lo haría pero no puedo; lo haría si pudiera Thus, the complete modifications chart looks like this: Primary Subsequence Non-past habla Hablará Imperfective Past hablaba hablaría Perfective (Past) habló Secondary Anteriority Duration Ha hablado Está hablando Ha estado hablando Habrá hablado Estará hablando Habrá estado hablando Había hablado Estaba hablando Había estado hablando Habría hablado Estaría hablando Habría estado hablando (hubo hablado) Estuvo hablando (Hubo estado hablando) Summarizing: the Spanish auxiliary is made up of two primary modifications which are obligatory and three optional secondary modifications. Exercise: The following sentences are cited merely to highlight the perfective-imperfective contrast. Explain the differences. There is one example already done. Trabajé en la embajada Vs. Trabajaba en la embajada (Perfective: the working is viewed as having terminated) No encontré la casa Vs. ____________________________________________ (Imperfective: implication is that I was in the midst of working there at some particular time, perhaps when something else happened - cuando nació mi tercer hijo) 21 Lic. Christian Cristóful No encontraba la casa ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Hablé con la muchacha que quería ____________________________________________ Conocer ____________________________________________ El señor salió, fue a un restaurante ____________________________________________ Y comió mucho ____________________________________________ Los días fueron bonitos; siempre ____________________________________________ Hizo sol cuando fuimos al campo ____________________________________________ El día estaba bonito; por eso ____________________________________________ Fuimos a la playa ____________________________________________ Yo no supe a qué hora llegó ____________________________________________ Juan leía mientras yo estudiaba ____________________________________________ Así nos llevamos muy bien ____________________________________________ Durante los crudos inviernos ____________________________________________ Rusos, la gente se moría de hambre ______________________________________ The imperfect is also used when we speak of past repeated or habitual actions/events/states without reference to a conclusion. For example: No se llevaban muy bien. They did not get along well. However, if you indicate a specific time frame in which the action/state/event took place thereby indicating that it is clearly a concluded past, the verb is in the preterit. An example would be: Después de la muerte de su hijo, no se llevaron bien por un año. After the death of their child, they did not get along well for a year. As you no doubt know from previous study of Spanish and from our temporal map, it is not uncommon to find both the preterit and the imperfect in the same sentence. If you have a past action/state/event that was ongoing and therefore, makes no reference to when it began or to when it ended (Ex.: "I was studying.") and the action of another verb intercepts the action of the verb which reports the ongoing action, then the second verb will be in the preterit while the first verb will be in the imperfect. Yo estudiaba cuando María me llamó. I was studying when Maria called me. If, on the other hand, Maria called me each and every time that I was studying, then the action of both verbs is habitual and both will be in the imperfect 22 Lic. Christian Cristóful Lesson 6. The Auxiliary Constituents of the Verb Phrase II The English Auxiliary In English, as in Spanish, the auxiliary is the vehicle of the tense system. We have seen that the auxiliary of Spanish carries a primary modification of aspect-tense and a series of three secondary modifications. English, on the other hand, does NOT have any aspect distinctions. Rather, its tense system is based upon the fundamental dichotomy between PAST and NON-PAST. English verbs have three modifications plus combinations. Two similar modifications to Spanish are SUBSEQUENCE and RELEVANT ANTERIORITY. Marked with primary and secondary (and external) modifications Currency The sun was burning brightly through the window as he was getting up Relevant Anteriority After he had left, she called Sue Subsequence She knew that no matter when he would leave she'd cry Relevant Anteriority and After they had been working a while, they realized how Currency difficult the job was (Subsequence and) Relevant Anteriority (Subsequence), Relevant Anteriority and Currency She said that after he had left she'd cry We knew that by the time he had been speaking for two hours, he'd be tired Why is “subsequence” in the chart in parenthesis? _______________________________________ The secondary English modification which is similar to the Spanish modification of explicit duration is that of CURRENCY. The currency modification resembles either the past imperfective or the past imperfective with explicit (limited) duration. It carries information being CURRENTLY in the middle of something. The other secondary modifications of English are best shown through translation equivalents with English itself: Contingency-Permission (may/might) The difference between may and might is that only may carries the permissive potential; might is restricted to contingency. Are they interchangeable? _____________________________________ Fill in the chart Contingency Permission May might Provide Examples. 1. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. ___________________________________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________________________________ 23 Lic. Christian Cristóful Potentiality (can/could) Unlike may and might, can and could are NOT interchangeable in clauses, because could carries the notion of UNFULFILLED POTENTIAL, whereas can is simply static potential. Provide Examples: Can: ___________________________________________________________________ Could: ___________________________________________________________________ These modal verbs are often used to express a sense of possibility. This sense of possibility may be 'strong' (i.e. we are certain about something) or 'weak' (i.e. we are not so sure). 1 Can. Can is used: a. To show that someone has an ability to do something, or senses something. Helen can cook really well. Did you turn off the cooker? I can smell something burning! b. To show that a certain effect is possible. Skiing can be really tiring. Smoking can damage your health. 2 May, mIght and could. They are used: a. To show that there is a chance that something will happen in the future. Don't drive so fast - you may / might / could have an accident. b. To show that something is possibly true now. (The continuous form should be used where the present continuous would be appropriate.) Jane is not at home - she might be at work. This painting could be extremely valuable - why don't you ask an expert? May not and might not I mightn't are used: To show that something is possibly not the case: Speak slowly and clearly because he may not understand you. You can ask him, but he might not / mightn't help you. 3 Can't and couldn't Cannot / can't or could not I couldn't are used when we are almost certain that something is not the case it is impossible. (We never use mustn't, because this means that something is prohibited.) She can't / couldn't be so young - she has three children! What you tell me can't / couldn't possibly be correct - I'lI have to check it. Practice Exercises A Fill in the gaps in 1-6 by using couldn't or mightn't. Where do you think the two speakers are? 1. That............................be the same referee as last week; he's too slim! 2. If they score a second goal we............................win this match. 3. That............................be a penalty; the defender's nowhere near him! 4. He............................be able to carry on playing, with that leg injury. 5. You say he's no good but I bet you............................play like that. 6. They're such a boring team that I............................come here again. B Rewrite 1-10 using can, could, may or might, or the negative form of one of these. 1. Perhaps she won't cross the line first, after all. 2. It's possible that he'll get the silver medal in the javelin. 24 Lic. Christian Cristóful 3. It is not necessarily the case that the favourite will win. 4. It's not certain that the world record-holder will take part. 5. I believe they are capable of coming first in the relay. 6. He's unlikely to run the last 1000 metres as quickly as that. 7. There's a strong possibility that they're already getting tired. 8. There's no chance they'll break the Games record this time. 9. She is an extremely good sprinter. 10. The crowd realize that a victory by their hero is impossible. Obligation - advisability (should/must/have to) Should carries a sense of obligation slightly weaker than must or have to, and occurs with all subjects. What is the difference between must and have to? _______________________________________ Provide Examples. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Willingness, likehood and certainty (will/would) We use will when we talk about willingness to do something (e.g. in offers, invitations, requests, and orders) and will not (or won’t) when we talk about unwillingness to do something (e.g. reluctance, refusal) Provide Examples: ______________________________________________________________________ To talk about general or repeated willingness in the past we can sometimes use would, but we can’t use would in this way to talk about a particular occasion in the past. Compare Whenever I had to go to town, Ron would give me a lift (=repeated, habitual situation) I was late, so Ron gave me a lift to town (not…Ron would give me…)(=in particular occasion) Will = habit. Martha doesn’t like some of the things that Bill does ‘He will play his music too loud when I’m trying to work.’ ‘He will leave the front door open when he goes out.’ Think of a close friend or relative and say what things they do that annoy you. Use ‘He/she will…’ Learning Problems concerning English and Spanish auxiliaries. The obligatory selection of aspect in Spanish. This element is lacking in English. Gastó su dinero sin cuidado vs. gastaba su dinero sin cuidado. Solution: The English speaker must learn to specify the content of a sentence more explicitly than he is used to. Exercises I. Correct the sentences if necessary, or put a 1. I had to work late on Friday, so my mother would pick Sue form school Picked 2. Mary wouldn’t sing for me, even though I often asked her to 25 Lic. Christian Cristóful 3. The moment I asked Steve, he would agree to lend me the car for the day 4. When I phoned, the receptionist wouldn’t let me have an appointment with Dr Johnson before next week 5. At the interview they wouldn’t tell me how much travelling was involved in the job 6. Yesterday he would make me sandwiches and would bring me a cup of coffee 7. When I had problems with my homework last night, my father would do it for me 8. Five years ago, the children in this school would help to plant all the trees you see before you 9. Before he moved to London, Thomas would meet me every day after work 10. When I was young, shopkeepers would cycle around town, delivering food to customers II. Where necessary, suggest a correction for these sentences, or put a 1. I think I saw her go out, so she mightn’t be home 2. It mightn’t be true. There must be some mistake 3. It’s snowing heavily in Scotland so it can take Hugh a long time to get here 4. If we don’t get to the market soon they can’t have any flowers left. They will all have been sold 5. if you’re free at the moment, we may have a job for you 6. May you be given the job permanently? 7. I thought they were on holiday – but I can be wrong, of course 8. Children may enter only when accompanied by an adult 9. ‘I’ve had this birthday card, but it doesn’t say who sent it.’ ‘May it be from Ron?’ III. Correct the mistakes 1. We would have a cat, but one day it just disappeared 2. Before I went to university, I used to work as a carpenter for about five years 3. If the drought goes on much longer, there can be water rationing before the end of the month 4. May it snow this far south? 5. Her parents can have influenced her decision to resign 6. When I went to school we must learn Latin 7. He should like some milk, please 8. John was decided to chair the meeting 9. The children were wanted to come with me 10. The orchestra was conducted 26 Lic. Christian Cristóful Lesson 7. Other Constituents of the Verb Phrase Ser & Estar Two verbs in particular must be treated separately: ser and estar Ser is consistently followed by one of the following elements in all sentences: a) Temporal Adverb (TA): ex? b) Locative adverb (LOC): ex? c) Pred (NP or Adj): ex? Rule: when ser occurs with a TA, the subject of ser refers to an event. Ex? In the following examples, are they events or objects? Are they modified by TA, LOC or Pred? La sinfonía será mañana El desayuno era a las nueve La lectura fue a las dos Now look at the following sentences: La sinfonía está en la mesa El desayuno estaba en el comedor La lectura está en la página doce What is the difference? What's the rule? When do we use ser and when estar? Compare: Jacinta es bonita vs. Jacinta está bonita. Explain the difference. Are ser and estar in complementary distribution? Explain Examine the following situation and underline the right option: Juan sees José for the first time. José is fat, and Juan classifies him in his mind as a member of the class "fat people." Juan says to himself: "José es/está gordo" José gets sick and goes to the hospital. He loses a great deal of weight. When Juan sees him the next time, he comments on José's changed condition: "José es/está flaco" Pedro is introduced to José for the first time while he is thin from his loss of weight in the hospital. He says to himself: "José es/está flaco" The next time Pedro sees José, José has gained back his normal weight. Pedro says: "José es/está gordo" What is the rule for the use of ser and estar then? Revision exercises: Highlight the difference between perfective/imperfective aspects. Podía hacerlo vs. pude hacerlo Cortó la cinta vs. cortaba la cinta 27 Lic. Christian Cristóful Comenzó a escribir a los 7 vs. comenzaba a escribir a los 7 Empezó la clase, dio la lección y terminó exhausto Se afeitaba todos los días Son las 12 vs. eran las 12 Non-verbal constituents of the verb phrase The full verb phrase always includes a verbal constituent, and may also include one or more of the following, depending on the particular structure: Noun phrase Adjective Adverb Direct objects A very important function of the noun phrase in a full verb phrase is that of direct object. This use of the noun phrase offers little difficulty, since the English and Spanish constructions are almost identical: I see the house He has the book Did you bring the apples? veo la casa tiene el libro ¿trajiste las manzanas? However, there is a difference, the use of the preposition "a" in Spanish, called the "personal a". What does it do? It is used for personifications: “Saludó al día”; “Llamó a la muerte”; “Sobrevivió al desastre” Moreover, its use can cause different English translations, as in: Las gitanas roban los niños Gypsy women steal children Las gitanas roban a los niños Gypsy women rob children Quiere un chofer Quiere a un chofer She wants a chauffeur She loves a chauffeur The use of personal a also expresses possession. Compare the following sentences: Tengo un hermano Tengo a mi hermano conmigo Learning Problems: ¿por qué llamaste tu esposa? ¿dónde conociste Roberto? Si, yo conozco tu novia Hypercorrection: ¿qué te contestó a Hugo? Revision quiz on Verb Phrase 1. The constituent structure of English verbs is simply stem plus tense suffix. Spanish verbs, however are formed by stem + aspect + tense + person-number. What are the implications of this difference? __________________________________________________________________________ 2. There are different classes of stem changing verbs. Classify the following verbs: Morir Poder Pedir Mentir Pensar Sentir Sonar contar 28 Lic. Christian Cristóful Exercise Match the definitions of the linguistic dictionary 1 2 Adjective Adverb 3 Article 4 Bound morphemes 5 Constituent 6 8 Demonstratives Derivational morphemes Determiner 9 Diphthong 10 14 15 16 17 18 Direct object Embedded sentence Free morphemes Inflectional morphemes Intransitive verb Lexical category Main verb Morpheme Morphological rules 19 Morphology 20 21 Node Noun 22 Noun Phrase 23 Orthography 24 Participle 25 Passive sentence 26 Preposition 7 11 12 13 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Prepositional phrase Prescriptive grammar Sentence Syntax Tree diagram Verb Verb phrase A graphical representation of the hierarchical structure of a phrase or sentence A labelled branch point in a phrase structure tree A sentence in which the verbal complex contains a form of to be followed by a verb in its participle form A sentence occurring within a sentence in a phrase structure tree A syntactic category of expressions consisting minimally of a noun phrase followed by a verb phrase A syntactic category whose members are words (nouns, verbs, articles, etc) A syntactic unit in a phrase structure tree (e.g. the girl is a noun phrase constituent in the sentence the boy loves the girl) A verb that may not be followed by a noun phrase direct object. Bound grammatical morphemes that are added to complete words according to rules of syntax (e.g. 3 person singular verbal suffix _s) Morphemes added to stem morphemes to form new stems or words. Morphemes that can only occur in words attached to other morphemes One of the several subclasses of determiners Rules for the combination of morphemes to form stems and words Rules of grammar Single morphemes that constitute words Smallest unit of linguistic meaning or function The category of words which when combined with a noun form a noun phrase The form of a verb that occurs after the auxiliary verb have The grammatical relation of a noun phrase when it appears immediately below the verb phrase (VP) The nonauxiliary verb in the verb phrase The rules of sentence formation The study of the structure of words; the component of the grammar that includes the rules of word formation The syntactic category occurring within both noun phrases and verb phrases consisting on a preposition followed by a noun phrase The syntactic category of expressions containing a verb and possibly other syntactic units such as noun phrases and prepositional phrases The syntactic category of expressions containing some form of a noun or pronoun and capable of functioning as the subject or as various objects in a sentence The syntactic category, also lexical category, of words that occur first in a prepositional phrase The syntactic/lexical category of words that can occur as the first syntactic unit in a verb phrase The written form of a language; spelling They compromise the core of a noun phrase They precede a noun and qualify it They usually occur last within a verb phrase and qualify the verb Vowel + glide Words such as this, that, those and these, that function syntactically as articles 29 Lic. Christian Cristóful 3. In Spanish, there are several types of stem changes in irregular verbs. Provide at least one example of each: Shortened stems: Consonant substitution: Additional stem extensions: Additional stem-vowel changes: Stems with consonant and vowel change: Stems with shortening and vowel change: Stem lengthening by insertion of /je/: Totally replaced stems: 4. In Spanish, the aux introduces a set of MODIFICATIONS into the verb phrase. Explain. __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 5. In this pair of sentences, describe the contrast by commenting on their aspect Trabajé en la fábrica vs. Trabajaba en la fábrica _________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 6. Ser is consistently followed by one of the following elements in all sentences. Provide examples: d) Temporal Adverb (TA): e) Locative adverb (LOC): f) Pred (NP or Adj): 7. True or false? English, does NOT have any aspect distinctions ( ) The currency modification in English resembles neither the Spanish past imperfective nor the past imperfective with explicit duration ( ) May/might express advisability/contingency ( ) When “ser” occurs with a TA, the subject of ser refers to an event ( ) 30 Lic. Christian Cristóful Homework Task 1. Tree Diagrams. Make up 3 simple sentences and 3 embedded sentences. Make tree diagrams out of them. Submit them in a piece of paper next Monday. Whenever you do homework, you are free to research either in books, e-books, or by asking others. Always state your source Task 2. The English Auxiliary. Do the following exercise. Due. Right after lesson 5 Underline the correct form of the verb in the following sentences. Then categorlze each group under the uses below. The first one has been done as an example. In one of the sentences both answers are correct. Due: after lesson 5 (L) degrees of likelihood necessity) (A) ability (P) permission (O) obligation (N) necessity (or lack of 1 (L) a) Tony must have been/must have run into heavy traffic. He should have arrived by now. b) He won’t have/won’t be here in time for dinner. c) He can’t have/can have called. I’ve been in all evening and haven’t heard the phone. 2 ( ) a) Apparently, you mustn’t/don’t have to enter the country without a visa. b) I know you don’t have to/mustn’t have a visa if you’re travelling from Spain. c) I have to/must remember to get my passport renewed. 3 ( ) a) Sue doesn’t need to/needn’t have to/didn’t need to worry. I’m sure she’ll pass the exam. b) I needn’t have/didn’t need worried about the interview. I got the job quite easily. 4 ( ) a) You can’t to/are not allowed to smoke until you’re 16 in England. b) I was allowed to/could stay out until quite late as a child. 5 ( ) a) The bank was closed so I couldn’t/wasn’t able to get any money out. b) I could/was able to get some from the cashpoint by the supermarket Task 3 The English Auxiliary. Do the following exercise. Due: right after lesson 5 The following sentences are too formal. Rewrite each sentence using the word in brackets. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. We are obliged to tell the teacher if we’re going to be late. (have) You weren’t compelled to help me but thanks all the same (need) You can dispense with the dictionary. The text is quite easy (need) Were you successful in booking a table at the’ restaurant? (able) My parents have never permitted me to have a party. (allowed) He will in all probability have decided to stay at home. ‘(must) I worried unnecessarily about the exam. It was easy, (have) We are not authorised to proceed beyond this point. (must) I won’t be capable of meeting you at 9.00. (able) 31 Lic. Christian Cristóful 10. I am sure that isn’t John at the door. He’s still at work. (can) Task 4. Use of English Verbs. Research on the uses of the following verb constructions and answer the questions. Due: Some time before the day of the final exam (you decide when) Be to + infinitive. Look at these examples. They were to bargain with people I’m to meet the new manager tomorrow The hero was never to see his native land again. 1. What time is referred to by the verb be + infinitive? Needn’t have done/didn’t need to a. Jane needn’t have hurried. The bus was late b. Sam didn’t need to hurry after all. He was informed the meeting would start late. 2. Who didn’t hurry? 3. Who hurried unnecessarily? Don’t have to/must not a. I don’t have to go to work tomorrow, it’s Saturday b. You mustn’t go to work, you’re too ill 4. What’s the difference in meaning? Regretfully/regrettably a. Regretfully, he turned away from Maria’s house and walked towards the station b. Regrettably, our request for help was turned down. 5. What is the difference in meaning? READING: The first two years of your career you are given the opportunity to read and learn about this fascinating subject of Linguistics. We want to train you to develop critical thinking. This is accomplished first by having something to think about. Our aim is not only for you to become language experts, but also to excel in reading comprehension and be keen on doing the practice exercises. This will prepare you to be quick on interpreting technical theory and swift (but accurate) on doing exercises related to that theory. Since you are going to do this at home, the skimming and scanning reading techniques will not be useful for our purposes. Consider intensive, thorough reading instead. You will not get any process points for this. Take into account that you are PAYING for this. Remember, we are NOT responsible for either your level of English or doing your reading assignments. It is entirely up to you. Reading Assignment. You are free to Read the Theory: Textbook, chapters 3 & 4 (pages 63 – 97 & 105 - 148) Practise the Exercises: Do Exercises from pages 98 – 104 and 149 – 156 from your textbook, [do NOT submit]. If you have any questions, do not hesitate on asking me. 32 Lic. Christian Cristóful Index Additional stem extension, 15, 30 Agreement, 4 Auxiliary, 9, 10, 19, 23 Bare infinitive, 4 Consonant substitution, 15, 30 Contingency, 23 Currency, 23 Ellipsis, 10 Enclisis, 1, 10 Estar, 15, 27 Exercise, 4, 7, 10, 21, 29 Locative adverb, 27, 30 Modal, 9 Obligation, 25 Participle, 29 Passive be, 9 Perfective have, 9 Permissive, 23 Potentiality, 24 Primary modifications, 1 Progressive be, 9 Ser, 16, 27, 30 Shortened stems, 15, 30 Spanish auxiliary, 2, 21 Stem vowel change, 16 Stems with consonant and vowel change, 16, 30 To-infinitive, 4 Verb phrase, 29 Willingness, 25 Sources Fromkin, Victoria and Robert Rodman. An Introduction To Language. Harcourt Brace. 1998 Hewings, Martin. Advanced Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press. 1999 http://www.sil.org/americas/brasil/fun/englboqz.htm. 1999 SIL International. Stockwell, Robert et all. The Grammatical Structures of English and Spanish. Chicago Press. Slabakova, R (1998), The L2 Acquisition of Telicity in English by Spanish and Slavic Native Speakers. Talk in GASLA1998, University of Pittsburgh The 1997 Groelier Multimedia Encyclopedia Verb Aspect. Invisible Lighthouse -> Language Lab from the 24th edition of Journal of Planned Languages. 1996-2002 by Richard K. Harrison 33