Download - SYNTAX (II Bimestre Abril Agosto 2011)
English Syntax
ESCUELA:
NOMBRES:
Ciencias de la Educación, Mención Inglés
Mgs. Rosario María Burneo
BIMESTRE: Second Bimester
Abril Agosto 2011
TE X TO GUIA:
AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH SYNTAXBy Jim Miller
Pay attention
• Por favor, prepare sus preguntas con anticipación. Estas serán respondidas al final de esta presentación
Clauses II Clause and Sentence A clause is a structure built by two main
constituents: a noun phrase (subject) and a verb phrase (predicate). It expresses one single idea.
Sam built a new house NP VP
A sentence• It is more complex than a clause• A sentence can include two or more
clauses.• It usually expresses more than one idea.• Sentences can be complex or compound.
She cooks lunch and he sets the table
Sam didn’t know how to fix his car
Main and Subordinate Clauses
CLAUSES
MAINfull meaning
MAINfull meaning
SUBORDINATENot full
meaning
SUBORDINATENot full
meaning
Subordinate clauses• Subordinate clauses have some
characteristics.1.They cannot stand on their own.2.They are to a large extent
grammatically independent from the main clause.
3.The choice of the verb and complements are not controlled by the main clause.
• The farm which I bought is very small
Differences
-allows a variety of constructions;
- allows all distinctions of aspect, tense, and mood.
-allows tag questions.
-allows a variety of constructions;
- allows all distinctions of aspect, tense, and mood.
-allows tag questions.
-appears in the declarative form only;
- usually does not express full meaning by itself
-appears in the declarative form only;
- usually does not express full meaning by itself
Main clause Subordinate clause
Clauses III
Finite clauses
tensed verbs and modal auxiliaries
Finite clauses
tensed verbs and modal auxiliaries
Non-finite clauses
Verbs in the bare form, or the infnitive
form
Non-finite clauses
Verbs in the bare form, or the infnitive
form
1 2
Examples of non-finite clauses
• Victoria lives in a small town (finite clause, tensed verb)• Victoria wanted to marry Peter (reduced, non-finite, infinitive)• Fanny enjoyed talking to Mr. Jones
(reduced, gerund, non-finite)
Examples of non-finite clauses
• He saw the thief climb in the window. (bare, non-finite)
• He saw the thief climbing in the window.
(gerund, non-finite)• The man reading the newspaper did
not listen to me.
(reduced, relative, non-finite)
Grammatical functions
Functions
SubjectDirect object
Indirect objectOblique object
Roles
AgentPatient
Instrument
A B
The SubjectThe subject is a complex grammatical function. It has some characteristics:
1. The subject precedes the verb in declarative statements
These boys build houses2. It agrees in number with the verb3. It is compulsory in English structures.4. It goes after the preposition BY in passive
constructions.Houses are built by these boys
5. Single words, phrases and clauses might appear in subject position
Criteria• Syntactic criterion The subject controls the occurrence of reflexives
Mike bought himself a computer
• Morpho/syntactic criterion The subject is in the nominative case
Mike is in the nominative case
• Semantic criterion Subjects refer to entities that exist independently
of the action or state of the verb
Types of subject
• Grammatical subject Martha baked a cake Martha is the grammatical subject because it
has all the characteristics already mentioned. It is also the agent performing the action.
• Logical subject A cake was baked by Martha Martha is the logical subject, even though it is
not in subject position. It is after the preposition.
• Psychological subject It is the theme. The entity we are talking about.
Direct object• In active, declarative clauses, the direct object
happens after the main verb Martha baked a cake Cake = Direct object• It corresponds to the grammatical subject of
passive constructions A cake was baked by Martha a cake = grammatical subject• Direct objects typically refer to patients He broke the window The window = patient (is affected by the action
of the verb)
Indirect and oblique objects
• Oblique object refers to the noun phrase that happens after a preposition
She wrote a message to Sam Sam is the oblique object • Indirect object She wrote Sam a messageSam is the indirect objectIndirect object is the NP that benefits from
the action of the verb
Roles, grammar and meaning
Roles are semantic. They are played by participants (nouns) in syntactic constructions. These roles establish some semantic relations and denote several meanings:
Semantic roles• Semantic roles are the ones that
participants play in events and situations. They are part of the content of linguistic
communication, therefore they are defined in terms of prototypes.
According to Berk (1999), there are central and peripheral semantic roles.
• Central R oles: agent, patient and instrument
Agent• AGENT is the typical animate being
perceived as the doer of an action (Berk) Charles ate all the rice
The noun “Charles" expresses the AGENT as seen in these structures:
All the rice was eaten by Charles. Why did Charles eat the rice?
Patient
• PATIENT (Berk) is a participant that is affected by the action of a verb.
She dropped the flowerpot on Charles.
“flowerpot" refers to a PATIENT in the example above.
The more a participant is affected by the action of the verb, the better example of a PATIENT it is.
Instrument
• INST R UMENT (Berk) refers to an "intermediate cause."
Sam broke the window with a hammer.
“a hammer" refers to an INST R UMENT which is the intermediate cause.
Usually an AGENT acts upon an INSTRUMENT, and the INST R UMENT affects the event or situation.
Peripheral Roles• EXPERIENCER (Berk) refers to an animate
entity having a sensory impression or psychological state.
Edward heard a train coming. My dog died
“Edward” is who participates in the sensory
experience expressed by the verb.
Peripheral roles
• THEME is a participant whose properties, location or involuntary movement is predicated.
The ball rolled into the kitchenThe ball is in the kitchen.
The ball is red. "Ball" refers to the THEME; each clause
indicates action, location, or description.
Peripheral roles• R ECIPIENT is the typically animate
endpoint of a transferred item. “Edward" expresses a R ECIPIENT in the following examples:
Edward received the letter
• BENEFACTIVE is the animate entity that benefits from an action or situation.
This book is for Martha
Criteria for roles
• R oles are played by nouns. They are assigned to nouns by verbs.
Sam broke the window• R oles depend on the type of lexical verb
that follows the noun.The baby ate the soup
The baby cries
Clauses, sentences and text
• Clause It is a group of words containing a subject
(NP) and a predicate (VP) conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command.
• Sentence It is a set of words typically containing
more than one clause, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses
Grammar Text Text It is a body of language; it could consist of a
single word or phrase like ‘stop' or ‘do not enter” to a paragraph, essay, or complete book; it can be either written or spoken.
It refers to “any instance of spoken or written language that could be considered in isolation as a self-sufficient entity“
A coherent stretch of language that may be regarded as an object of critical analysis.
Organization of texts• The organization of clauses and sentences
into a text has to meet some demands:- To signal the topic of a text;
What is your proposal about?- To introduce new entities (new topic of
conversation); new entities are introduced with full noun phrases: lexical noun + adjective
There is a new play on stageSomeone is at the door
The tall guy at the door is sad
Organization of text- To refer to given entities;
The new play is very goodIt is very good
The use of pronouns for a given entity applies only if the first and second mentions are not far from each other.
- To highlight information that speakers or writers consider important:
CleftsWhat you are doing is to cause trouble
It was very late when they arrived
Description of entities
• New entity:• A wild onion = first mention, treated
as new, indefinite noun phrase.• Given entity:• The town of Chicago = given, already
mentioned, definite noun phrase
Aspect, tense and voice• Grammatical devices are central to the
organization of text. They are:- Aspect allows speakers and writers to
present events as completed or as ongoing.
Aspect in English has two forms: perfect and progressive.
Gabriella is singing outsideThey have played soccer all morning
Progressive aspect
• The progressive has this structure: BE + verb + -ing = aspect The progressive combines two features: Tense is represented by the verb BE Aspect is represented by the participle of
the main verb.Charles is writing a novel
IS = present tenseWriting = progressive
Aspect• Perfect aspect This indicates that the action performed by
a verb in a clause is completed. The perfect aspect is formed by a
combination of suffixes and auxiliaries:Have + verb + -ed = perfect
It can be in past and presentI had finished lunch when he arrived
Vargas Llosa has written a many of books
Present and past perfectThe present perfect indicates:- An event that began in the past and
continues into the present;- An event that is over, but which has effects in
the present;- An event that has happened in the recent
past I have lived in Loja for many years
They have broken the window (now they are fixing it)
Aspect
• The past perfect denotes: - An event that happened before
another event in the past.I had prepared lunch when my son
arrived• Some grammarians also refer to the
Simple aspect as in:Lucy plays the guitar
Lucy played the guitar
Active, passive, and middle voice
• Voice presents events from different perspectives:
- Active voice presents an event having the agent in subject position:
Mary baked a cake • Passive voice presents an event
having the patient in subject position:
A cake was baked by Mary
Passive forms• We can choose to keep agent and
patient out:There was an attack last night
• We want to convey all the details:Martha was attacked by a thief
• We want to mention the patient only:Martha was attacked yesterday
The short passive mentions only the patient and it is the most common in speech.
Middle passive• The middle passive is related to the
properties of entities being involved in the proposition.
This sweater washes easily
The middle passive can also represent a single episode or event.
These cars sold very well last year
Passive with GET
• The vase was broken It describes an event or a state
• The vase got brokenIt describes an event
Questions?
Think aboutYour worst days are never so bad that
you are beyond the reach of God’s grace;
And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of
God’s grace.
Thank youGod Bless
YouMgs. Rosario María [email protected]: 2570275 Ext.2326Tutoring: 13:00 to 15:00, Monday - Friday