week 5 syntactic and semantic role of clause elements (with key)
TRANSCRIPT
T h e s im p le
s e n t e n ce
Nguyễn Hồng Diệu
HULIS VNU
(cont.)
Syntactic features of clause elements
• A SUBJECT– Is normally a NP or a clause with nominal
function– Occurs before the VP in declarative clauses,
and immediately after the operator in questions
– Has number and person concord, where applicable, with the VP
• An OBJECTIVE (Od or Oi)– Is a NP or clause with nominal function– Normally follows the S and the VP– Assumes the status of S by the passive
transformation– The Oi precedes the Od and is semantically
equivalent to a prepositional phrase
Syntactic features of clause elements
• A COMPLEMENT– Is a NP, and Adj phrase, or a clause with nominal
function– Has a co-referential relation with S or O
– Follows the S, VP, and O– Does NOT become S through the passive
transformation
• An ADVERBIAL– Is and Adv phrase, adverbial clause, NP, or
prepositional phrase
– Is generally capable of occurring in more than one position in the clause
– Is generally optional (may be added to or removed from a sentence without affecting its acceptability), except for the obligatory adverbial or the SVA and SVOA patterns
Semantic roles of clause elements
• Subject
• Object
• Complement
C a n y o u c o m m e n t o n t h e r o le o f t h e S u b je c t s in t h e f o l lo w in g s e n t e n c e s ?
• John opened the door.
• The wind opened the door.
• The door opened.
• John has a big house.
• This hall can hold about eighty students.
• Today is April Fool’s Day.
• The March Melody live show was on March 28th.
• It is getting hotter and hotter.
1. Agentive (most typical)
2. Instrumental
3. Affected
4. Recipient
5. Locative
6. Temporal
7. Eventive
8. ‘Empty’ It
S emantic roles of S UBJECT
Agentive Subject
Animate causer of the happening
John opened the door.
(The most typical semantic role of a subject is AGENTIVE;
that is, the animate being instigating or causing
the happening denoting by the verb)
Instrumental Subject
Inanimate causer of the happening
The wind opened the door.
The unwitting (generally inanimate)
material cause of an event
Affected Subject
One being affected by the event
The door opened.
This role of subject is found with:
Intransitive verbs: E.g.: Jack fell down
Intensive verbs: E.g.: The pen is lying on the table
Let’s look at the examples
• His English has been improved.
Transitive
• His English has improved.
Intransitive
Affected subject
Let’s look at the examples
• They have increased the price of shirts and decreased the price of trousers.
They Agentive subject• The price of shirts has increased and
that of trousers has decreased.
Affected subject
Increase/Decrease transitive/intransitve
Agentive Subject Affected Subjectvs.
John/the wind opened the door vs. The door opened
Terrorists blew up the dam vs. The dam blew up
Somebody raised an arm vs. An arm rose
She is improving her writing vs. Her writing is improving
They narrowed the road vs. The road became narrower
I am growing my roses vs. My roses are growing
Further
Practice
Rephrase the sentences so that
O affected becomes S affected
1. I have broken my glasses
E.g.: Terrorists blew up the dam The dam blew up
2. Her jealousy has killed my love for her
3. Someone has moved that picture
4. The driver stopped the train
5. The guard shut the gate quickly
My glasses have broken
My love for her has died
That picture has moved
The train stopped
The gate shut quickly
Recipient Subject
One that receives the happening
John has a beautiful wife
This role of subject is found with such verbs as have, own,possess, benefit (from)…
and more …
‘Do you love me, honey?’
‘Look into my eyes’ She said softly,
‘You’ll see my answer in there?’
I looked into her big, round,
blue eyes and I saw a fire burning there.
Do the subjects in the two coordinate clauses havethe same semantic role?
Answer
Perceptual verbs See, Hear require a recipient subject
in contrast to Look at, Listen to, which are agentive
Verbs indicating cognition or emotion may also require
a recipient subject. E.g:
I thought you were mistaken (It seemed to me …)
I liked the play (The play gave me pleasure)
How can you say this in English?
Em có nghe th y gió nói gì không?ấ
Can you hear what the wind is whispering?
The subject of the sentence is recipient
Locative Subject
One that denotes location
E.g.: The bus can hold forty people
(Forty people can sit in the bus)
Temporal Subject
One that denotes time
E.g.: Tomorrow is my birthday
(It is my birthday tomorrow)
Eventive Subject
One that denotes event
E.g.: The concert is on Thursday
Empty “IT” Subject
One that lacks semantic content
E.g.: It is getting dark
1. Affected (Od)
2. Locative (Od)
3. Effected (Od)
4. Recipient (Oi)
5. Affected (Oi)
S emantic roles of OBJECT
Affected direct object
A participant which does not cause the happening denoted by the verb
but is directly involved in some other way
E.g.: Many MPs criticised the Prime Minister
Locative direct object
One that shows location and is oftenfound after such verbs as turn, leave, reach, cross, surround, penetrate, climb ...
E.g.: They climbed the mountain
M o r e e x a m p le s
• I crossed the street. (locative)
• I dug the street up. (affected)• They climbed the mountain. (locative)
• They destroyed the mountain. (affected)
Effected direct object
1. Object that exists only by virtue of the activity indicated by the verb
E.g.: I am writing a letter
Baird invented television
I am burning a letterAffected
Effected direct object
2. Object that repeats partially or wholly the meaning of the verb
E.g.: Mary sang a song
We fought a good fight – and lost
Effected direct object
3. Object that takes the form of a verbal noun preceded by a common
verb of general meaning
E.g.: He did little work that day
The prisoner made no comment
Have, do, make, take, give, pay ....
Recipient indirect object
An animate participant being passivelyimplicated by the happening or state
E.g.: I have found you a place
He gave his son some money
Affected indirect object
He gave the door a kick
Affected
= He kicked the door
(Exceptional)
Affected
Affected indirect object
I paid her a visit
= I visited her
Affected
Affected Effected
1.Current attribute
2.Resulting attribute
S emantic roles of COMPLEMENT
• A current attribute denotes an already existing characteristic.– My father was a teacher.
– We found her attractive.
S emantic roles of COMPLEMENT
• A resulting attribute denotes a characteristic that comes about because of the event reported in the sentence.– He became a teacher in 1963.
– Her new dress made her attractive.
S emantic roles of COMPLEMENT
H O M E W OR K• Exercise 102-104 Workbook