2. CLASS #1: AP
MIDTERM
CLASS #2: AP/AdvP
CLASS #3: AdvP, PP
CLASS #4: PP
CLASS #5: ADVERBIALS
CLASS #6: ADVERBIALS
CLASS #7: ADVERBIALS AND MIDTERM OVERVIEW
CLASS #8: MIDTERM OVERVIEW and SIMPLE SENTENCE
CLASS #9: SIMPLE SENTENCE
CLASS #10: SIMPLE SENTENCE
CLASS #11: COMPLEX SENTENCE
CLASS #12: COMPLEX SENTENCE
CLASS #13: COMPLEX SENTENCE , WRAP-UP & ORAL EXAM HINTS

3. SINCE WE ARE SLIGHTLY BEHIND SCHEDULE IN TERMS OF PRACTICE CLASSES…
THE MIDTERM EXAM IS RE-SCHEDULED FOR
MAY 15, 2012
THAT’S TUESDAY FOUR WEEKS FROM NOW.
THE EXACT TIME WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON, BUT IT WILL BE IN THE AFTERNOON AND IT WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE AUDITORIUM (‘AMFITEATAR’)

4. MIDTERM TEST - OVERVIEW
WHAT IT REALLY LOOKS LIKE…
IT’S WORTH TAKING A GOOD LOOK, BECAUSE IT’S WORTH 25% (OF YOUR FINAL GRADE)

5. 5 1 6 2 3 7 4
Identify the word class of the underlined items in the following sentences
Underline the required phrases in the following sentences and analyze their structure and syntactic function.
Arrange the adjectives into the correct order within the NP
Transform the following sentences by changing the nouns with adjectives into verbs followed by suitable expressions (AdvP, AdjP, PP):
Rephrase the sentences so that they begin with the words in italics (never…., scarcely….)
Underline the adverbs in each of the following sentences and determine their syntactic functions (1. Adverbial - adjunct, conjunct, disjunct; 2. Modifier of – NP, AdjP, AdvP, PP, Det; 3. Complement of P): 8

6. 5 1 6 2 7 3 4 8

7. NOW, LET ME WALK YOU THROUGH EACH TASK…
SO THAT YOU CAN BE FULLY PREPARED…

8. 1

9. 1. Identify the word class of the underlined items in the following sentences:
ADJ
He was the last person to hear the news. __________
He finished last __________
She thinks highly of her teachers. __________
I’ve been feeling under stress lately. __________
It may be many years before the situation improves. __________
The task before us is a difficult one. __________
We drove up to Inverness to see my father. __________
In case of emergency, take the up escalator. __________
You should have told me so before. __________
The travel agent recommended a cruise up the Neva. __________
Don’t you ever give up! __________
ADV
ADV P
CONJ. P
ADV
ADJ
ADV P
ADVERB PARTICLE OF A PHRASAL VERB

10. 1 2

11. 2.1. APs – Adjective phrases
2. Underline the required phrases in the following sentences and analyze their structure and syntactic function. Examples:
She is [very happy] S: AdjP=Adv+Adj; F: Cs
He speaks [fluently enough]. S: AdvP=Adv+Adv; F: A
She has [a house in the woods] S: PP=P+NP; F: complement of NP
2.1. APs – Adjective phrases
a) This is a very interesting book.
S: _____________________ F: ______________________
b) She isn’t old enough to get married.
S: _____________________ F: _____________________
c) We are delighted that you have made it.
S: _____________________ F: ____________________
d) He found her prettier than her sister.
AP=Adv + ADJ
premodication in an NP
AP=Adv + ADJ +Cl (n.f.) Cs
AP=ADJ +Cl (f.) Cs
AP=ADJ +PP Co

12. 2. Underline the required phrases in the following sentences and analyze their structure and syntactic function. Examples:
She is [very happy] S: AdjP=Adv+Adj; F: Cs
He speaks [fluently enough]. S: AdvP=Adv+Adv; F: A
She has [a house in the woods] S: PP=P+NP; F: complement of NP
2.2. AdvPs – Adverb phrases
e) He plays the piano surprisingly well
S: ___________________ F: ___________________
f) I hope to meet him soon enough.
S: ____________________ F:___________________
g) He spoke too fast for us to take notes.
S: _________________ F: _____________________
AdvP=Adv + ADV
A(dverbial)
AdvP=Adv + ADV
A(dverbial)
AdvP=Adv + ADV+ Cl(non-f.)
A(dverbial)

13. 2. Underline the required phrases in the following sentences and analyze their structure and syntactic function. Examples:
She is [very happy] S: AdjP=Adv+Adj; F: Cs
He speaks [fluently enough]. S: AdvP=Adv+Adv; F: A
She has [a house in the woods] S: PP=P+NP; F: complement of NP
2.3. PPs – Prepositional phrases
h) An extra £10 million will be sent to the flooded region.
S: ___________________________ F: _________
i) For certain personal reasons I shall not be able to attend.
j) We’re very sorry about the damage we caused.
S: ___________________________ F: ______________
k) From what I heard, the company’s in deep trouble.
S: ___________________________ F: _____________
PP=P +NP
obligatory ADVERBIAL
PP= P + NP
optional ADVERBIAL
PP=P +NP
complement of AP
PP=P +Cl (finite, wh)
optional ADVERBIAL
PP=P +NP
obligatory ADVERBIAL

14. 1 2 3

15. 3. Arrange the adjectives into the correct order within the NP:
dress (silk/ long/ extravagant/ red) _____________________________________________________
dog (brown/ friendly/ large) _____________________________________________________
biscuits (home-made/ delicious/ chocolate) _____________________________________________________
skirt (striped / tight / silk) _____________________________________________________
woman (thirty-year old / attractive / tall / blonde) _____________________________________________________
an extravagant long red silk dress
a friendly large brown dog
delicious home-made chocolate biscuits
a tight striped silk skirt
SUBJECTIVE MEASURE + OBJECTIVE MEASURE (general, size, shape, age, color, participle, origin, material) + NOUN
an attractive tall thirty-year old blonde woman

16. 1 2 4 3

17. 4. Transform the following sentences by changing the nouns with adjectives into verbs followed by suitable expressions (AdvP, AdjP, PP):
There has been a drastic fall in the dollar. _________________________________________________________
Why did she give me such a stern look? _________________________________________________________
Tom is a good cook. _________________________________________________________
I gave her a fatherly talk. _________________________________________________________
The flowers had a fragrant smell. _________________________________________________________
The dollar has fallen drastically.
Why did she look at me so sternly?
Tom cooks well.
I talked to her in a fatherly way/manner.
The flowers smelt/smelled fragrant.

18. 5 1 2 3 4

19. 5. Rephrase the sentences so that they begin with the words in italics:
I have never met such a man.
_______________________________________________
You should not sign the document on any account. ____________________________________
I realized what happened only when they left. _________________________________________
A truer word has seldom been spoken. ______________________________________________
Never have I met such a man.
On no account should you sign the document.
Only when they left did I realize what happened.
Seldom has a truer word been spoken.

20. 5 6 1 2 3 4

21. 6. Underline the adverbs in each of the following sentences and determine their syntactic functions (1. Adverbial - adjunct, conjunct, disjunct; 2. Modifier of – NP, AdjP, AdvP, PP, Det; 3. Complement of P):
Understandably, the project was a success.
She has an awfully bad temper.
He showed us straight to our seats.
Mary works very hard.
He is quite a nice man.
Yet, she could never forgive him.
Over twenty people came to the party.
This letter came from abroad.
ADVERBIAL - disjunct
MODIFIER - AP
MODIFIER - PP
1:MODIFIER - AdvP
2:ADVERBIAL- adjunct
MODIFIER - NP
1: ADVERBIAL - conjunct
2: ADVERBIAL- adjunct
MODIFIER - Determiner
Complement of P

22. 5 1 6 2 3 7 4
Identify the word class of the underlined items in the following sentences
Underline the required phrases in the following sentences and analyze their structure and syntactic function.
Arrange the adjectives into the correct order within the NP
Transform the following sentences by changing the nouns with adjectives into verbs followed by suitable expressions (AdvP, AdjP, PP):
Rephrase the sentences so that they begin with the words in italics (never…., scarcely….)
Underline the adverbs in each of the following sentences and determine their syntactic functions (1. Adverbial - adjunct, conjunct, disjunct; 2. Modifier of – NP, AdjP, AdvP, PP, Det; 3. Complement of P): 8

23. Exercises 7 & 8 deal with ADVERBIALS
STRUCTURE, POSITION AND SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION

24. a) It is my opinion, personally, that she is totally wrong.
7. Underline all the adverbials in the following sentences and specify their a. type (adjunct, conjunct, disjunct), and subtype; b. position in sentence (I, M, F):
Example: The people upstairs are noisy [in the evening]. type: adjunct (time, time-when); position: F
a) It is my opinion, personally, that she is totally wrong.
b) Studying hard, she got a scholarship.
c) I go to school by bicycle.
d) The lady in the last row was talking very loudly.
e) In spite of his excellent knowledge, he failed the exam.
DISJUNCT
STYLE
POSITION: M
ADJUNCT
CONTINGENCY: REASON
POSITION: I
ADJUNCT (to school)
SPACE/PLACE: GOAL
POSITION: F
ADJUNCT (by bicycle)
PROCESS: MEANS
POSITION: F
ADJUNCT
PROCESS: MANNER
POSITION: F
ADJUNCT
CONTINGENCY: CONCESSION
POSITION: I

25. g) To sum up, the initial hypothesis was flawed.
7. Underline all the adverbials in the following sentences and specify their a. type (adjunct, conjunct, disjunct), and subtype; b. position in sentence (I, M, F):
Example: The people upstairs are noisy [in the evening]. type: adjunct (time, time-when); position: F
f) I miss you so much!
g) To sum up, the initial hypothesis was flawed.
h) She is probably going to dump him.
i) As far as science is concerned, this is irrelevant.
j) He usually sees his child twice a week.
ADJUNCT
DEGREE/INTENSIFIER: AMPLIFIER
POSITION: F
CONJUNCT
SUMMATIVE
POSITION: I
ADJUNCT
MODALITY: APPROXIMATION
POSITION: M
ADJUNCT
VIEWPOINT (sentence adjunct)
POSITION: I
ADJUNCT (usually)
TIME: FREQUENCY
POSITION: M
ADJUNCT (twice…)
TIME: FREQUENCY
POSITION: F

26. k) Resentfully, she accepted his invitation.
7. Underline all the adverbials in the following sentences and specify their a. type (adjunct, conjunct, disjunct), and subtype; b. position in sentence (I, M, F):
k) Resentfully, she accepted his invitation.
l) I only tried to illustrate a problem.
m) By the way, talking softly like that, I hardly kept my cool.
n) Frankly speaking, he did not drive fast enough, so I could not pass Massa.
ADJUNCT
SUBJUNCT: GENERAL/VOLITIONAL
POSITION: I
ADJUNCT
FOCUSING: LIMITER
POSITION: M
CONJUNCT (by…)
TRANSITIONAL
POSITION: I
ADJUNCT (talking…)
CONTINGENCY: CAUSE/REASON
POSITION: I
ADJUNCT (hardy)
DEGREE/INTENSIFIER: DOWNTONER
POSITION: M
DISJUNCT (Frankly…)
STYLE
POSITION: I
ADJUNCT (fast enough)
PROCESS: MANNER
POSITION: F
ADJUNCT (so I …)
CONTINGENCY: RESULT
POSITION: F

27. Example: The people upstairs are noisy [in the evening]. structure: PP
8. Underline all the adverbials in the following sentences and specify their syntactic structure (type of phrase or clause):
Example: The people upstairs are noisy [in the evening]. structure: PP
a) When red, these apples are ripe.
b) From an ecological point of view, these cars are considered to be very similar.
c) The man in the corner complained very angrily.
d) The woman standing behind you is rather sad, although she has just received her salary.
VERBLESS ADJECTIVE CLAUSE PP
AdvP
FINITE CLAUSE

28. Example: The people upstairs are noisy [in the evening]. structure: PP
8. Underline all the adverbials in the following sentences and specify their syntactic structure (type of phrase or clause):
Example: The people upstairs are noisy [in the evening]. structure: PP
e) Hardly anyone went to the meeting on Wednesday because they were not given enough time to prepare.
f) Driving home, I ran into some problems.
g) To be honest, I don’t think that she is telling the truth.
h) She risked her job in order to solve the problem. PP PP
FINITE CLAUSE
NON-FINITE CLAUSE
NON-FINITE CLAUSE
NON-FINITE CLAUSE

29. Example: The people upstairs are noisy [in the evening]. structure: PP
8. Underline all the adverbials in the following sentences and specify their syntactic structure (type of phrase or clause):
Example: The people upstairs are noisy [in the evening]. structure: PP
i) She learns English with great enthusiasm.
j) They had covered a long distance. PP
X = THERE ARE NO ADVERBIALS IN THIS SENTENCE.
In “He swam a long distance.”, “a long distance” is an ADVERBIAL, because you can ask a question “How much did he swim?”, although it is ambiguous, since it can also be an object (A long distance was swum.).

30. THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
LECTURE #1 –

31. WHAT IS A SENTENCE?
Basic concepts of a science are notoriously difficult to define, e.g. atom, number, society, etc.

32. SENTENCE In the traditional view, a sentence is defined:
“A sequence of words that is complete in itself, conveying a statement, question, exclamation or command, typically containing a subject and predicate.” (OED)
“A group of words that usually contains a subject and a verb, and expresses a complete idea” (LDOCE)
“A grammatical unit that is syntactically independent and has a subject that is expressed or, as in imperative sentences, understood and a predicate that contains at least one finite verb.” (MWED)

33. SENTENCE In computational linguistics, a sentence is defined:
“A sequence of words that begins with capital letter and ends in “.”, “!” or “?”.” (Manning and Schutze)

34. SENTENCE: some examples
“A dog sleeps.”
“A friendly dog in the kennel next to our house sleeps like a baby.”
“Yes.”
“No!”
“Good.”
“Aaaah, a dog!”
“The more, the merrier!”
“To hell with Skyrim!”

35. SENTENCE: some examples
“A dog sleeps [wherever it finds a suitable place].”
“I know [that a friendly dog in the kennel next to our house sleeps like a baby].”
“Stop [doing that]!”
“Stop that!”
“Stop!”
“Wow!”
“A-ha.”

36. SENTENCE: what examples tell us
Not all sentences contain the subject and the verb:
Structures such as “Wow!”, “Yes.”, “Aaaah, a dog!”, “The more, the marrier.”, which do not contain a subject and a verb, are called SENTENCE FRAGMENTS or MINOR SENTENCES.
Structures such as “A dog sleeps.” and “I bought a book yesterday in a nice bookstore somewhere on the West Side.”, which do contain both a subject and a verb, are called FULL SENTENCES or MAJOR SENTENCES.

37. SENTENCE: what examples tell us
Not all sentences contain just one subject and one verb:
Structures such as “A dog sleeps.” and “I bought a book yesterday in a nice bookstore somewhere on the West Side.”, which contain just one subject and one verb, are called SIMPLE SENTENCES.
Structures such as “A dog sleeps [wherever it finds a suitable place].” and “I know [that a friendly dog in the kennel next to our house sleeps like a baby].”, which contain more than one subject and a verb (i.e. which contain more than one clause), are called COMPLEX SENTENCES.

38. WHAT IS A CLAUSE?
SENTENCE vs. CLAUSE
SENTENCE
CLAUSE

39. CLAUSE In the traditional view, a clause is defined:
“A unit of grammatical organization next below the sentence in rank, and in traditional grammar said to consist of a subject and predicate.” (OED)
“A group of words that contains a subject and a verb, but which is usually only part of a sentence.” (LDOCE)
“A group of words containing a subject and a predicate and forming part of a compound or complex sentence.” (MWED)

40. EVERY SENTENCE IS A CLAUSE. NOT ALL CLAUSES ARE SENTENCES.
SENTENCE vs. CLAUSE
CLAUSE – a syntactic unit which is larger than a phrase and which consists of ONE PREDICATION. Clauses can be both FINITE and NON-FINITE, and DEPENDENT and INDEPENDENT.
SENTENCE – the biggest syntactic unit. It consists of at least one clause. Sentences are always FINITE. Sentences are always INDEPENDENT.
E.g.
To be happy means to be in love.
clause (non-finite), function: S, structure: VCs
clause (non-finite), function: Od, structure: VA
EVERY SENTENCE IS A CLAUSE.
NOT ALL CLAUSES ARE SENTENCES.
clause (finite) = sentence, structure: S(clause) V Od(clause)

41. SENTENCE vs. CLAUSE Some other examples: I am happy.
I want to be happy.
I know that he wants to be happy.
clause (finite) = sentence, structure: S V Cs
clause (non-finite), function: Od, structure: V Cs
clause (finite) = sentence, structure: S V Od(clause)
clause (finite), function: Od, structure: S V Od (clause)
clause (non-finite), function: Od, structure: VCs
clause (finite) = sentence, structure: S V Od(clause)

42. SENTENCE vs. CLAUSE
The previous example showed us an important feature of all human languages including English:
LANGUAGES ARE RECURSIVE
IN OTHER WORDS, YOU CAN EMBED A CLAUSE INTO ANOTHER CLAUSE AND THEN EMBED YET ANOTHER CLAUSE INTO THAT CLASUE, AND THEN DO IT AGAIN…
Mary is telling the truth.
I know [that Mary is telling the truth].
I know [that John knows [that Mary is telling the truth]].
I know [that John knows [ that Bill knows [that Mary is telling the truth]]].
I know [that John knows [ that Bill knows [ that the police believe [that Mary is telling the truth]]]].

43. CLASSIFICATION OF SENTENCES
STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION

44. CLASSIFICAITION OF SENTENCES
STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION = based on the NUMBER AND TYPE of clauses in a sentence:
SENTENCE
SIMPLE
COMPLEX
COMPOUND
SIMPLE SENTENCE – consists of a SINGLE INDEPENDENT/MAIN CLAUSE.
[The students] [didn’t know] [the answer to that question] = SVO
SIMPLE SENTENCE – consists of a SINGLE INDEPENDENT/MAIN CLAUSE.
[The students] [didn’t know] [the answer to that question] = SVO
COMPLEX SENTENCE – consists of a MAIN/SUPERORDINATE CLAUSE and AT LEAST one DEPENDENT/SUBORDINATE CLAUSE.
[The students] [know] [that the project deadline is difficult to meet] = SVO (O realized as clause)
COMPUND SENTENCE – consists of a at least TWO MAIN CLAUSES.
[She] [took] [the test] [in June] and [she] [passed] [it] [with flying colors].
S V O (A) Conj. S V O (A)

45. VERB CLASSES One of the properties of verbs is VALENCY.
VALENCY is the number of obligatory elements that a particular verb takes.
On the basis of VALENCY verbs can be divided into five types.

46. VERB CLASSES VERBS INTENSIVE EXTENSIVE INTRANSITIVE TRANSITIVE
COMPLEX TRANSITIVE VERBS – they require the DIRECT OBJECT and either the OBLIGATORY ADVERBIAL or the OBJECT COMPLEMENT:
I put the book on the desk. = SVOA
I elected him chairman. = SVOCo
DITRANSITIVE VERBS – they require both the DIRECT OBJECT and the INDIRECT OBJECT:
I gave her two letters. I showed the lady her new car. She sent me the statue. = SVOiOd
MONOTRANSITIVE VERBS – they require the DIRECT OBJECT
I wrote two letters. I own a small boat. She broke the statue. = SVO
VERB CLASSES
VERBS
INTENSIVE
EXTENSIVE
INTRANSITIVE
TRANSITIVE
monotransitive
ditransitive
complex transitive
Sometimes one verb can belong to more than one class. If one verb belongs to more than one class we talk of MULTIPLE CLASS MEMBERSHIP.
e.g. MAKE can be DITRANSITIVE, MONOTRANSITIVE and COMPLEX TRANSITIVE
She made her children a chocolate cake. = DITRANSITIVE
She made a chocolate cake. = MONOTRANSITIVE
She made them extremely happy. = COMPLEX TRANSITIVE
Verbs which can belong to more than one class, can sometimes cause AMBIGUITY:
I called her a doctor. => two possible interpretations:
DITRANSITIVE: She is sick. I called a doctor to help her.
COMPLEX TRANSITIVE: She is a doctor. I addressed her as a doctor.
INTENSIVE VERBS = also known as COPULAR or LINKING VERBS = verbs which are always followed by Cs or an obligatory A(dverbial):
Mary seems happy. => “happy” is a subject complement = SVCs
John is in his room. He lives in Paris. => “in his room” and “in Paris” are obligatory adverbials = SVA
INTRANSITIVE VERBS – require no obligatory complement , e.g. disappear, run, sleep, vanish, etc.
The sun is shining. That piece of evidence disappeared. The baby is sleeping. = SV
TRANSITIVE VERBS – they require at least one obligatory element, depending on the number and type of obligatory elements that they take, they can be divided into three subgroups.

47. CLAUSE TYPES
ON THE BASIS OF VERB CLASSES

48. CLAUSE TYPES VERBS CLAUSE TYPES INTENSIVE/LINKING VERBS 1. SVCs 2. SVA
EXTENSIVE
INTRANSITIVE
3. SV
TRANSITIVE
MONOTRANSITIVE
4. SVO
DITRANSITIVE
5. SVOiOd
COMPLEX TRANSITIVE
6. SVOCo
7. SVOA
THE SINGLE VERB ELEMENT OF A SIMPLE SENTENCE IS ALWAYS A FINITE VP.
SO, THESE ARE THE 7 TYPES OF SIMPLE SENTENCES IN ENGLISH

49. CLAUSE TYPES
Naturally, OPTIONAL ADVERBIAL may be added to sentences of any type:
(Luckily) the sun is (already) shining.
I (definitely) must send her a birthday card (tomorrow).
The S, V, O and C are OBLIGATORY sentence elements, whereas the A can be either OBLIGATORY or OPTIONAL. The A is obligatory in the SVA and SVOA clause types:
John often goes to the cinema. S(A)VA
She kept the children in bed during the storm. SVOA(A)

50. SENTENCE ELEMENTS SYNTACTICALLY DEFINED
SYNTACTIC CONSTITUENTS (S, V, O, C, A) can be realized in different forms:
PHRASES and CLAUSES

51. SENTENCE ELEMENTS syntactically definedPP
In the state of nirvana is how I want to feel.
AdvP
Here is the latest report from Tripoli.
Tomorrow is Thursday. AP
Beautiful beyond words is how I would describe her.

52. SENTENCE ELEMENTS syntactically defined

53. SENTENCE ELEMENTS syntactically defined

54. SENTENCE ELEMENTS syntactically defined

55. SENTENCE ELEMENTS
SEMANTICALLY
DEFINED

56. SENTENCE ELEMENTS semantically defined
Let’s take a simple sentence as an example: Eric Cartman killed Kenny with a knife.
SUBJECT
VERB
OBJECT
ADVERBIAL
A syntactic analysis of the sentence would yield the following syntactic structure: SVOA
However, there is another way to analyze the sentence – from the semantic point of view.

57. SENTENCE ELEMENTS semantically defined
Semantically speaking, every verb describes a SITUATION in which one or more PARTICIPANTS are involved. If we look at the sentence “Eric Cartman killed Kenny with a knife.” we can say that the verb KILL describes a situation which involves three different participants:
1 = THE PERSON WHO PERFORMED THE ACTIVITY
2 = THE PERSON WHO WAS KILLED
3 = THE INSTRUMENT USED FOR KILLING
Semantically, these participants are said to have specific SEMANTIC ROLES:
1. is THE AGENT,
2. is THE THEME/PATIENT, and
3. is the INSTRUMENT

58. SENTENCE ELEMENTS semantically defined
One SYNTACTIC ELEMENT/CONSTITUENT can have VARIOUS SEMANTIC ROLES. For example, the SUBJECT can have three different semantic roles: John opened the door. (SUBJECT is the AGENT) The key opened the door. (SUBJECT is the INSTRUMENT) The door opened. (SUBJECT is the THEME/PATIENT) Actually, this is just the tip of the iceberg: the subject can have as many as THIRTEEN (13!!!) different semantic roles.

59. SUBJECT – semantically defined

60. DIRECT OBJECT – semantically defined

61. INDIRECT OBJECT – semantically defined

62. COMPLEMENTS – semantically defined

63. NOW…

64. …SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

65. CONCORD

66. UNLIKE CONCORDE, CONCORD IS A GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY.
BUT THIS IS NOT CONCORD!
THIS IS CONCORDE.
UNLIKE CONCORDE, CONCORD IS A GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY.

67. CONCORD
Concord is AGREEMENT between two sentence elements with respect to certain grammatical features. Officially: CONCORD (sometimes termed AGREEMENT) is the relationship between TWO GRAMMATICAL UNITS such that one of them DISPLAYS A PARTICULAR FEATURE (e.g. plurality) that ACCORDS WITH A DISPLAYED (or semantically implicit) FEATURE in the other unit. There are several types of concord. Even in English! But more about it later.

68. WHERE CAN WE SEE CONCORD?
*Mary were in London yesterday. S-V concord (person & number)
*John cut herself. S-O concord (gender, person, number)
*John cut themselves. S-O concord (gender, person, number)
*John is an actress. S-Cs concord (gender, person, number)
*John considers Bill an actress. S-Co concord (gender, person, number)
*John considers them an actor. S-Co concord (gender, person, number)

69. CONCORD – types of CONCORD Depending on GRAMMATICAL FEATURES
Depending on SENTENCE ELEMENT
Subject-verb concord
Subject-complement concord
Object-complement concord
Depending on GRAMMATICAL FEATURES
Concord of NUMBER
Concord of PERSON
Concord of GENDER

70. S-V concord: NOUN PHRASES
The CHANGE in male attitudes is most obvious in industry. The CHANGES in male attitude are most obvious in industry. When the subject is realized by a noun phrase, the phrase counts as singular IF ITS HEAD IS SINGULAR.

71. S-V concord: AdvP and PP
Slowly does it! In the evenings is best for me. Prepositional phrases and adverb phrases functioning as subjects count as SINGULAR.

72. S-V concord: CLAUSES
How they got there doesn’t concern me. To treat them as hostages is criminal. Smoking cigarettes is dangerous to your health. Finite and non-finite clauses generally count as SINGULAR. However, there are some apparent exceptions.

73. S-V concord: clauses add-on
What were supposed to be new proposals were in fact modifications of earlier ones.
What was once a palace is now a pile of rubble.
Whatever book a Times reviewer praises sells well.
What ideas he has are his wife’s.
These are NOMINAL RELATIVE CLAUSES:
their number depends on the interpretation of the number of the WH-ELEMENT, e.g. with determiners WHAT and WHATEVER the concord depends on the number of the determined noun (the last two examples)

74. S-V concord: general rules
General rule of S-V concord: A subject which is not clearly semantically plural requires a singular verb. In other words: SINGULAR is the UNMARKED FORM which is to be used in neutral circumstances when there is no positive. This explains why in informal speech we can often hear: There is hundreds of people in the streets.

75. S-V concord: exceptions
Measles is sometimes serious. Our people are complaining. Apparent exceptions include SINGULAR NOUNS ending in –S (e.g. measles, billards, mathematics, etc.) and PLURAL NOUNS lacking the –S (e.g. cattle, people, clergy, etc.).

76. S-V concord: exceptions
Crime and Punishment is a great novel. Brother Karamzov is his masterpiece. The Cedars has a huge garden. ‘Senior citizens’ means people over sixty. Plural noun phrases (including coordinate phrases) count as singular if they are used as NAMES, TITLES, QUOTATIONS, etc. Such NPs can be regarded as appositive structures with an implied singular head: the book ‘Crime and Punishment’, the expression ‘senior citizens’, etc.

77. S-V concord: exceptions
The Canterbury Tales exists in many manuscripts. The Canterbury Tales exist in many manuscripts. The titles of some works that are collection of stories may be counted as either singular or plural.

78. Principles of grammatical concord: NOTIONAL concord & PROXIMITY
No one except his own supporters AGREE with him.
The head is NO ONE, but the verb agrees with SUPPORTERS – this is called PROXIMITY.
PROXIMITY (also called ‘ATTRACTION’) denotes agreement of the verb with a closely preceding NP in preference to agreement with the head of the NP that functions as subject:
Proximity is here reinforced by NOTIONAL CONCORD (‘Only his own supporters agree with him’).
NOTIONAL CONCORD – how the speaker understands the concept denoted with the NP (singular or plural) regardless of the grammatical form

79. EXAMPLES OF NOTIONAL CONCORD
Ten dollars is all I have left.
[That amount is…]
Fifteen years represents a long period of his life.
[That period is…]
Two miles is as far as they can walk.
[That distance is…]
Two thirds of the area is under water.
[That area is…],
BUT:
Sixty people means a huge party.
[That number of people means…]

80. Principles of grammatical concord: NOTIONAL concord & PROXIMITY
Conflict between grammatical concord and proximity increases with the distance between the NP head of the subject and the VP (e.g. when an adverbial or a parenthesis intervenes between the subject and the verb).
Proximity concord occurs mainly in unplanned discourse – in writing it will be corrected to grammatical concord.
We will discuss GRAMMATICAL CONCORD, NOTIONAL CONCORD and PROXIMITY in the following cases:
Collective noun head
Coordinated subject
Indefinite expressions

81. COLLECTIVE NOUNS
The audience were enjoying every minute of it. The public are tired of demonstration. England have won the cup. Our Planning Committee have considered… Singular collective nouns may be notionally plural. In BRITISH ENGLISH the verb may be EITHER SINGULAR or PLURAL.

82. COLLECTIVE NOUNS
The audience was enormous. The public consists of you and me. The crowd has been dispersed. The choice between singular and plural verbs depends in BRITISH ENGLISH on whether the group is being considered as a single undivided body or as a collection of individuals. On the whole: the plural is more popular in speech, whereas in writing the singular is preferred.

83. COORDINATED SUBJECTS
When a subject consists of TWO or MORE noun phrases (or clauses) coordinated by AND, we must make a distinction between: COORDINATION (PROPER) COORDINATIVE APPOSITION

84. COORDINATION (PROPER)
Tom and Alice ARE now ready.
=[Tom is now ready and Alice is now ready.]
What I say and what I think ARE my own affair.
=[What I say is my own affair and what I think is my own affair]
BUT:
What I say and do IS my own affair.
COORDINATION REFERS TO CASES WHEN WE HAVE FULL COORDINATED FORMS (not REDUCED FORMS).
A PLURAL VERB IS USED EVEN IF EACH CONJOIN IS SINGULAR.

85. COORDINATION (PROPER)
His camera, his phone, his money WERE confiscated by the customs officials.
A PLURAL VERB IS ALSO NEEDED WHEN THERE IS NO COORDINATOR.

86. COORDINATION (PROPER)
You problem and mine ARE similar.
=[Your problem is similar to mine and mine is similar to yours.]
What I say and do ARE two different things.
=[What I say is one thing and what I do is another thing.]
Conjoins expressing MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP are also PLURAL.

87. COORDINATION PROPER TRICKY ISSUE
Every adult and every child was holding a flag.
Each senator and congressman was allocated two seats.
Each of them has signed the petition.
BUT:
They have each signed allocated two seats.
PREPOSED EACH AND EVERY HAVE A DISTRIBUTIVE EFFECT AND REQUIRE A SINGULAR VERB.

88. COORDINATIVE APPOSITION
This temple of ugliness and memorial to Victorian bad taste was erected in the main street of the city.
BUT:
His ages servant and the subsequent editor of his collected papers was with him at his deathbed.
His ages servant and the subsequent editor of his collected papers were with him at his deathbed.
SINGULAR IS USED IF THE SERVANT AND THE EDITOR ARE THE SAME PERSON (APPOSITIVE COORDINATION) AND PLURAL IS USED IF THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT PERSONS (COORDINATION PROPER).

89. COORDINATION WITH OR AND NOR
Either the Mayor or her deputy IS (ARE) bound to come.
What I say or what I think IS(ARE) no business of yours.
Either the strikers of the bosses (HAS) HAVE misunderstood the claim.
Either your brakes or your eyesight IS (ARE) at fault.
Either your eyesight or your brakes ARE (IS) at fault.
When coordinated items have the same number, there is pure grammatical concord: when they are both singular (1 and 2) the verb is also singular, when they are both plural (3), the verb is also plural.
When coordinated items do not have the same number, English follows the principle of PROXIMITY: whichever phrase comes last determines the number of the verb. (4 and 5).
NOT…BUT and NOT ONLY…BUT behave like EITHER…OR.

90. INDEFINITE EXPRESSIONS AS SUBJECT - CONCORD

91. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!
CU NEXT WEEK!
THE END