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FUNDAMENTALS OF SYNTAX AND MORPHOLOGY



 

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a general overview of the grammatical structure of the English language with a more detailed discussion to follow in later chapters.

 

Syntactic units

 

1.1. Sentence and phrase

 

The basic unit in English is the sentence. The sentence is built up of words according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a communicative purpose.

(1) Silence. (2) Then a door opened. (3) A light foot touched the ground. (4) More silence. (5) Even the crickets were silent.

 

Each of the above mentioned sentences follows a definite syntactic pattern and states a fact in the affirmative form.

Example sentences 2, 3, 5 consist of a noun followed by a verb. This is the basic English sentence pattern.

When nouns and verbs follow each other in this sequence they become subjects and predicates, the two elements upon which most English sentences are built. A small minority of sentences have neither subject nor predicate:

(1) Come in. (2) Don’t do that. (3) Silence. (4) Then a laugh. (5) A strange sound in that place.

Sentences comprise phrases of various degrees of complexity, ranging from a single word to several words: eyes; her photo; a cosy sort of office.

 

1.2. Classification of sentences. Communication types

 

Communicatively, sentences may be subdivided into four major syntactical classes.

(1) Declarative sentences, or statements. They are sentences which give information, or state facts in the affirmative or negative. They are mostly characterized by the subject-predicate word order and generally pronounced with a falling intonation:

The press conference had gone off fairly well; Nobody was able to answer the question.

 

(2) Interrogative sentences, or questions. They are typically sentences by which someone asks his hearer to give information. They are subdivided into the following groups:

(a) general questions (‘yes-no’ questions). They are usually formed by placing an auxiliary verb before the subject and giving the sentence a rising intonation.

Have you done it?; Did she go there?

(b) special questions ( WH -questions). They are formed with the aid of one of the following interrogative words; who/whom/whose, what, which, where, how, why. As a rule the interrogative word comes first with the auxiliary following it (e.g. Why did you do that? ), yet when the question refers to the subject no auxiliary is needed (e.g. Who told you that? )

(c) alternative questions. The alternative question expects as an answer one or more alternative mentioned in the question. There are two types of alternative questions, the first resembling a general question, and the second a special question:

Would you like chocolate or strawberry ice-cream?; Which ice-cream would you like? Chocolate or strawberry?

(d) disjunctive questions (tag questions). They ask for confirmation of the truth of the statement. The tag question added to the end of the statement consists of an auxiliary verb plus pronoun, with or without a negative particle. In most cases if the statement is positive, the tag question is negative, and vice versa:

He likes his job, doesn’t he?; Nobody was watching me, were they?

 

(3) Imperative sentences, or commands. They are aimed at getting someone to do something.

Shut the door; Just look at this mess.

 

A command differs from a statement in that (i) it has no subject, (ii) it has a verb in the imperative: Be careful; Please hurry up.

 

(4) Exclamatory sentences, or exclamations. They are used to express the speaker’s feeling or attitude. The exclamation as a sentence type begins with what as predeterminer in noun phrases or HOW as a degree word with adjectives or adverbs*. In contrast to WH -questions, there is generally no subject-predicate inversion:

What a good dinner she cooked! How delightful her manners are!; How beautifully she dances!

 

1.3. Structural types

 

According to their structure, sentences may be simple and composite. Sentences with only one subject-predicate group are called simple.

I stared for a moment at Arnold’s face.

 

Sentences with more than one subject-predicate are called composite. They are further subdivided into compound (1) and complex (2):

(1) He waved his hand and I went in through the half-open gate.

(2) I laid the hundred dollar bill the Indian had given medown on the desk.

Simple sentences may be subdivided into two-member and one-member sentences.

Two-member sentences contain both principal parts - the subject and the predicate.

The door was shut; So far I had only made four mistakes.

 

A two-member sentence may be complete and incomplete. It is complete when it has a subject and a predicate.

I sat still for a moment.

 

The sentence is incomplete or elliptical when one of the principal members or both are omitted. The missing part (or parts) of such sentences can be easily understood from the context or the situation. Elliptical sentences are used in colloquial style, most commonly in dialogue. They enable the speaker to avoid repetition and focus attention on new material.

Did somebody phone you? – Carol;

‘Any ideas? ’ he asked softly. - About what?

 

There are sentences which comprise only one central element which can be identified neither with the subject nor with the predicate.

The floor was covered with green and grey linoleum in squares. The walls were painted white. A clean room! Marvellous!; My poor lamb! To think of the work you’ll have getting straight in that stupid Vale View.

These sentences are called one-member sentences. They are marked out as a structural and semantic type of sentence.

Both one-member and two-member sentences may be extended and unextended.

An unextended sentence contains no other parts but the subject and the predicate (or only one central member in case of one-member sentences).

I knocked. Silence.

An extended sentence contains not only the main members - the subject and the predicate (or the central element in a one-member sentence), but one or more secondary members: objects, attributes or adverbial modifiers.

The garage was full of nothing. Rubbish, garbage, junk, rusted gardening tools, old cans, plenty of those, in cartons.

 

1.4. Sentence parts

 

The subject and the predicate are traditionally regarded as the principal (main) parts of a sentence because they constitute the backbone of the sentence. The object, the attribute and the adverbial modifier are secondary members.

 

The subject

The subject is the main part of the sentence which is expressed by any word, phrase or clause functioning as a nominal unit.

The room beyond was large and square (a noun); She wrote fast and easily (a pronoun); Five are missing (a numeral); То err is human (infinitive); Seeing is believing (a gerund); For a bridge to collapse like that is unlikely (a phrase); That the driver could not control his car was obvious (a clause).

 

1.5. The predicate

 

The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence. It expresses an action, or state or property characterising the subject.

Structurally, predicates are classified into simple (1) and compound (2).

(1) He pattered her shoulder and walked out of the kitchen.

(2) I could just see her face; The water is beginning to boil; She’s the secretary of a client.

 

Simple predicates are verbal, i.e. they are expressed by a verb in its finite form (synthetical or analytical) or by a set expression.

Oh, I forgot I had told you; She made no reply ( = did not reply).

 

Compound predicates may be verbal and nominal. Compound verbal predicates comprise two verbs, the second element always being a non-finite form.

The first element in a compound verbal modal predicate is a modal verb, its equivalent or a verb having some modal force about it.

She must pay for it; We were to meet at five; I tried to save her.

The first element of a compound verbal aspective predicate is a verb which indicates the beginning, duration or end of the action denoted by the infinitive or the gerund.

He continued to work all summer; I’ve only just finished dusting.

 

Compound nominal predicates consist of a link verb ( be, become, feel, look, remain, seem, etc) and a predicative, which is a nominal part expressed by a noun or its equivalent.

If I were you I would become an actor: That really seems final: My aim was to prevent the accident.

 

1.6. The object

 

The object is a secondary part of the sentence which refers to the words denoting actions and qualities and completes their meaning. It is expressed by nouns and their equivalents.

Nobody knows anything about him. He was conscious of her trouble: Life shall be worth living again; He shivered at the very thought of it.

Objects can be direct and indirect.

A direct object denotes someone or something directly affected by the action of the verb. It is used after transitive verbs. A sk, answer, forgive, envy take two direct objects.

They helped her; He asked me my name.

 

It may be also combined with the adjectives like, busy, worth.

I felt like laughing; He was busy writing.

An indirect object denotes a living being to whom the action of the transitive verb is directed.

She never told him anything; He had given it her himself.

 

Some transitive verbs and adjectives, as well as nouns derived from verbs and adjectives are followed by prepositional objects.

It’s years since I heard from him; Hans was clever at carving in wood; Is there any objection to my seeing her?; The boy began to take a great interest in football.

 

1.7. The attribute

 

The attribute is a secondary part of the sentence qualifying the noun or its equivalent. The attribute may be expressed by an adjective, a pronoun, a noun, a numeral, a participle, a gerund, an infinitive, an adverb and a prepositional phrase.

Anne Crowder walked up and down the small room in her heavy tweed coat; The station clock marked there minutes to midnight; He saw their smiling faces raised under the great lamp; Robert works at a motoring school; Bigg’s boy was the first to come round; The sun danced on the warm lawn outside; Far off I heard the whine of a vacuum cleaner; I hate the idea of Larry making a mess of his life.

 

1.8. The adverbial modifier

 

The adverbial modifier is a secondary part of the sentence which gives additional information about the action or state expressed in various parts of the sentence. For example, it may point the time when the action happened, the place where it happened, the manner in which it happened, etc. Accordingly, adverbial modifiers are divided into those of time (1), place (2), manner (3), comparison (4), attending circumstances (5), cause (6), purpose (7), result (8), condition (9), concession (10), degree (11).

 

Adverbial modifiers may be expressed by adverbs, nouns, numerals, participles, infinitives; nouns, pronouns and gerunds introduced by prepositions.

(1) They started at seven.

(2) The paper lay on the floor at Mr. Davis’s feet.

(3) He slept heavily.

(4) He complains like mad when things go wrong.

(5) Now with the telephone within reach he began to read the memorandum on his desk.

(6) The weather being unusually mild, the lake did not freeze over.

(7) I turned my face away to conceal a smile.

(8) The name was too complicated to read upside down.

(9) But for his open eyes, he might have been asleep.

(10) I’ll do it in spite of everyone.

(11) It is not so big as I thought it would be.

Phrases

 

1.9. Morphological classification

 

The phrase is a meaningful unit which consists of one or more words denoting phenomena and their properties. Morphologically, the following types of phrases are distinguished:

noun phrase (NP), characterized by a nominal element:

John, a voice, each child, anything new, a fine strong set of teeth;

verb phrase (VP), characterized by a finite or non-finite verbal element:

grow, smokes heavily, explained in slow English, to smoke like that, explaining in English;

adjectival phrase (AjP), characterized by an adjective element:

tiny, very good;

adverbial phrase (AvP), characterized by an adverbial element:

before, almost softly, weeks later;

prepositional phrase (PP), characterized by prepositional element:

in the ocean, at first, of it.

 

1.10. Syntactic relations

 

In order to state general rules about the construction of phrases which comprise more than one word, it is necessary to refer to syntactic relations.

When two or more words are connected syntactically, their relation may be described as coordination, subordination and predication . Accordingly, there exist coordinate, subordinate and predicative phrases .

Joined through coordination, the words are equal in rank, they are not dependent on one another:

man and wife tired but satisfied
now or never slowly, stealthily

Coordination may be sуndetic, as in the first three instances given above - when coordinators (coordinating conjunctions) are present – and asyndetic, as in the last instance - when coordinators are absent but could be supplied:

Slowly, stealthily, he crept towards his victim.

Slowly and stealthily, he crept towards his victim.

Sometimes the coordination of two elements is made more emphatic by the addition of a word before the first element: both... and, either... or, not only... but (also). This is called correlative coordination.

He plays both the flute and the horn; His doctor allows him neither to drink nor to smoke; She’s not only an excellent housewife, but (also) a first class mathematician.

Joined through subordination, the words are not equal in rank: one word (adjunct) is subordinated to the other (head). Subordination realizes itself through agreement, government, adjoinment and enclosure.

Agreement (or concord) consists in making the adjunct take a form similar to that of the head, It is practically found only between the demonstrative pronouns this and that and the noun:

this day - these days that day - those days

Government consists in the use of a certain form of the adjunct required by the head. This holds for some personal pronouns and the interrogative and conjunctive whom dependent on a verb or preposition. Hence verbal government (1) and prepositional government (2) are distinguished. (1) loved them; saw him; (2) by her; to whom

Adjoinment implies such subordination of the adjunct to the head which is achieved by their position and their meanings. The most typical example of adjoinment is the relation between an adverb and its head, whether this is an adjective or a verb, or another adverb:

ran fast; very proud; much more

Adjectives, nouns and other words used as prepositive attributes, except the demonstratives this and that, are also merely adjoined to their heads:

old friends; library tables; some notes

Enclosure consists in the putting of a component of a phrase between two constituents of another component. The most widely known instance of this is the enclosing of a word between an article and the noun to which the article belongs:

a private detective; the spoken word

A component of a phrase can be also enclosed between a pronoun or a preposition and the head. Any word thus enclosed is known to be an attribute to the noun:

some other day; his own radiantly imagined future; in her composed voice

The predicative relation unites the subject and the predicate: The components of a predicative phrase predetermine each other.

he went; they have gone; (the) cattle are grazing

Predication builds up the basis of the sentence:

He went after her along the hall; They have gone out;

The cattle are grazing in the fields.

In most sentences this is the only predication they contain. However, there are sentences which contain one more predication which is called secondary predication:

Then he sawa girl coming towards him over the grass;

Heis consideredfoolish.

In the example sentences predication realizes itself not only through ‘he saw’ and ‘he is considered’ but also through the phrases ‘a girl coming’ and ‘he foolish’ as their components have the same relation as the subject and the predicate of the sentences. ‘A girl was coming toward him over the grass’ and ‘He is foolish’. The phrase ‘a girl coming’ functioning as a complex object of the first example sentence comprises a participle used as an objective predicative. The phrase ‘he foolish’ functioning as a complex subject of the second example sentence comprises an adjective used as a subjective predicative.

Of the three main types of syntactic relations discussed above two are used to form composite sentences: coordination and subordination. Accordingly, compound (1) and complex (2) sentences are distinguished.

(1) The headmaster did not like us very much and he seldom gave us any praise.

(2) It was clear that the headmaster did not like us, because he seldom gave us any praise.

 

1.11. Parts of speech

 

Sentence members realize themselves through units which can be referred to as parts of speech. These can be exemplified as follows:

(a) noun - John, room, idea, snow

adjective - happy, new, large, round

pronoun - he, they, anybody, one, which

adverb - happily, closely, very, then

verb - write, have, do, be

numeral - two, three, second

(b) prepositions - of, at, without, in spite of

conjunctions - and, that, when, on condition that

particles - not, to, only, just

modal words - certainly, indeed, really

words of affirmation and negation - yes, no

interjections - oh, ah, ugh, phew

The parts of speech are listed in two groups, (a) and (b), and this introduces a distinction of very great significance. Set (a) comprises words called notional parts of speech. Notional parts of speech are words denoting things, their qualities, actions and states. Notional words have distinct meanings and perform independent syntactical functions in the sentence - they function as principal or secondary members of the sentence.

Set (b) comprises form words, or structural words. Form words differ from notional words semantically - their meaning is more general than that of notional words. Moreover, they are sometimes altogether devoid of it: the conjunction that, the preposition of, etc. Form words do not perform any independent syntactical functions; they express relations between words in a sentence (e.g. the trees in the garden; Tom and Joe) or specify the meaning of a word (e.g. only tomorrow; very nice indeed). Prepositions and conjunctions are called connectors.

It is noteworthy that the division of words into parts of speech can be accepted only with certain reservations - there are words which cannot be classed among any of the above mentioned parts of speech (e.g. please, anyway).

 

1.12. Nouns

 

Nouns are one of the four large parts of speech, the others being verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Nouns name things. They also name people, places, processes and qualities.

There are several ways to identify and classify nouns in English. Semantically, nouns fall into proper (e.g. Ned, Shakespeare, London) and common (e.g. table, air, anger). Both proper and common nouns can refer to something animate (e.g. Ned, friend) and inanimate (e.g. London, table).

The most reliable way to identify nouns is by form. We find that most nouns in English can be identified by their ability to form the plural number (e.g. toy - toys, bird - birds). Nouns that inflect for number are called countable nouns. They are always either singular (naming one object) or plural (naming more than one). The singular form has no inflection; it coincides with the root of the word. The plural has the ending - s or -es (A few irregular nouns form their plural in other ways)..

Nouns that cannot have a plural form (e.g. bread, harm, furniture) are called uncountable.

English nouns have a two-case system: the common case and the genitive case. The common case coincides with the stem of the noun.

The genitive singular has an apostrophe - s inflection added to the root of the noun (e.g. pilot’s, newcomer’s). The genitive of regular plurals has no ending in speech; in writing these nouns only add an apostrophe (e.g. pilots’, newcomers’).

The genitive case is generally used with proper and common nouns denoting human beings and animals. The genitive with inanimate nouns though grammatically possible (e.g. the chair’s leg, the tree’s leaves, the storm’s strength) is not regularly used.

In the sentence nouns mainly function as subjects (1) and objects (2).

(1) A bell began to ring furiously;

(2) He opened the door: I looked at the ornaments on the desk.

Nouns can also be predicatives.

This is just an old politician.

Many nouns in the common and genitive cases function as attributes.

They lived in a country house; The policemen’s words came back to him.

It is very common to use nouns as attributes by putting them before other words: e.g. car door, cassette box, table leg. But it is not always possible to put two nouns together in this way. Sometimes it is necessary to use the construction with ‘of’ (a loaf of bread, but not *a bread loaf) or the genitive (a miner’s lamp, but not *a miner lamp).

Quite often nouns used attributively are introduced by prepositions. In such cases they follow the head noun: e.g. the contents of the chapter; the man in the road.

Nouns can function as adverbial modifiers.

They visit their parents every year.


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