Transformations To the basic sentence patterns

There transformation The transformed sentence “looks right” and the underlying form is often hard to find. There are many reasons to vote in this election. – The reasons to vote in this election are many. reasons are many There 2

Active to Passive Only with patterns 7-10, the transitive verb patterns. Add “be + -en” to the active verb string – John cooked dinner Dinner was cooked pattern 7 active to pattern 7 passive – I gave her the kitten She was given a kitten pattern 8 active to pattern 8 passive – I gave her the kitten A kitten was given to her pattern 8 active to pattern 8 passive

Active to Passive Only with patterns 7-10, the transitive verb patterns. Add “be + -en” to the active verb string – You called the idea silly The idea was called silly pattern 9 active to pattern 9 passive – Ann made him an actor He was made an actor pattern 10 active to pattern 10 passive

-do Auxiliary or -do support With any pattern A form of “do” is used as an auxiliary when no other auxiliary is needed – To create a question Pete snores loudly Does Pete snore loudly? – Both pattern 6 – To emphasize a verb I washed the car I did wash the car. – Both pattern 7

Imperatives Works with any pattern Uses the base form of the verb Works with present tense Negative imperatives use “do” – Sit still! – Don’t sit still! Hence, negative imperatives involve 2 separate transformations! All of these are still pattern 6

Exclamatory transformations (do not confuse with “what cleft”) Works with patterns that have complements – Subject complements – Object complements – Direct objects Add “what” or “how” to the complement and begin with it. – I ate a hot fudge sundae What a hot fudge sundae I ate! Both these are still pattern 7 – She is a great nurse What a great nurse she is!

Cleft transformations—It Cleft The big difference with cleft transformations is that they ALTER sentence patterns. It-cleft – John cooked dinner (7) – It was John who cooked dinner (3, 7) The new “it clause” is the main clause – It was dinner that John cooked (3, 7) The new “it clause” is the main clause

Cleft transformations—What Cleft Cleft transformations alter patterns! What-Cleft – Fog caused the train wreck (7) becomes – What caused the train wreck was fog (7, 3) – That plan is absurd (2) becomes – What is absurd is that plan (2, 3)

Summary active passive statement imperative statement interrogative (may use “-do support”) positive negative (may use “-do support”) exclamatory How pretty you look today! it-cleft It was the bike that Alice stole. what cleft What Alice stole was a bike. Emphasis I do believe (not for support!) There Transformation adds an expletive “there”