Topics in English Syntax An Introductory Course

Topics in English Syntax An Introductory Course
Lecture notes

Topics in English Syntax
Bibliography The following works have been used and quaoted extensively without this use being clearly marked. Verspoor, M. (2000), English Sentence Analysis: An Intro-ductory Course. Amsterdam: Benjamins Burton-Roberts, N. (19972), Analysing Sentences. An Introduction to English Syntax. London etc.: Longman Huddleston, R.; Pullum, G. K. (2002), The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: CUP Lecture notes

Introduction to the practical analysis of Present-day Standard English two especially favoured dialects „Standard Southern British English“ and „American English“ spoken or written by (educated) native speakers ( UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, ...) language of the government, broadcasting, print media, education, science, public discourse any topic, for informal and formal events Lecture notes

E - language, the externalized language seen as a potentially infinite set of sentences performance (errors, slips, other problems) corpus data (representativity as a problem) I - language, the internalized language seen as a finite set of rules and principles in the mind of a native speaker / hearer competence (Chomsky 1986, Barriers) idealization introspection (methodological problems) Lecture notes

Syntax: the branch of grammar dealing with the organization of words into larger structures such as phrases and sentences; the study of sentence structure. Three basic assumptions: Sentences have parts which may themselves have parts. The parts of sentences belong to a limited range of types. The parts have specific functions within the larger parts they belong to. Lecture notes

Sentence patterns & functions of communication give information about something to someone [John] subject [is leaving] whole verb // declarative ask someone for information [Is] part of verb [John] subject [leaving] rest of verb // interrogative make someone do something [Leave!] verb only // imperative express one‘s feeling or attitude [What] What a shock! Rest of sentence // exclamatory Lecture notes

In a declarative sentence speakers give information on one or more participants (subject, object) the event, state, process, activity (predicator) attributes of participants (attribute) the setting of the event or situation (adverbial) The little tiger is happy. The boy turned five years old yesterday. The boy considered the tiger dangerous. A bird hit the car. The boy gave the tiger some milk. He was holding his balloon up high. Pam bought him the book. Lecture notes

Roles Function abbrev. 1st participant subject S process / event predicator P 2nd participant direct object DO 3rd participant indirect object / IO benefactive object BO attributes of 1st participant subject attribute SA attributes of 2nd participant object attribute OA the setting adverbial A Lecture notes

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences with subject - predicate - other participants - attribute - setting (predicator = verb; predicate = predicator plus complements other than subject: predication = predicate plus subject (external complement) ) (1) Intransitive verb pattern Pam is jumping (high) (1st participant , process) (subject, predicate, (adverbial)) (predicator = intransitive verb cycle, listen, talk, swim, ...) Lecture notes

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences (2) Copula verb pattern Tiger is a nuisance. - (1st participant, process / state) (subject, predicate, (subject attribute )) (predicator = copula verb: be, appear, grow, seem, look, make, smell, sound, become, prove, taste, feel, remain, turn) Lecture notes

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences (3) The (mono-)transitive verb pattern Pam read the book. A bird hit the car. - (1st participant, process / activity, 2nd participant) - (subject - predicate - direct object) - (predicator = mono-transitive verb: see, hold, kick, hear, believe, think, read, print, ...) Lecture notes

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences (3) The ditransitive pattern Mother bought Pam a lolly. John gave Peter the present. (1st participant, process / activity, 2nd participant, 3rd participant) (subject, predicate, direct obj, indirect / benefactive obj) (predicator = ditransitive verb: give, buy, tell, send , pass, ...) Lecture notes

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences (5) The complex transitive pattern They elected John the president - (1st participant, process / activity, 2nd participant, attribute of 2nd participant) - (subject, predicate, direct object, object attribute) - (Predicator = complex transitive verb: make, wipe, drive, call, crown, name, consider, assume, regard, certify, declare, deem, ...) Lecture notes

Note: Many verbs can be used in several patterns He makes a good teacher. (1) He made a goal. (3) We made him a cake. (4) The troops made him emperor. (5) Lecture notes

Note: (1) the declarative sentence pattern can have different communicative functions. (2) words have different senses in different contexts (3) „process, state, activity“ are loose or fuzzy labels for events which are denoted by the predicates (4) there exist terminlogical variants: e.g. subject complement, object complement, used for subject / object attribute Lecture notes

sentence subject predicate predicator complement adverbial* no complement subject attribute direct object dir obj + indirect or benef. obj dir obj + obj attribute Lecture notes

Structure: constituents, categories, function sentence old Sam sunbathed beside a stream The divisible parts of a sentence are called constituents. What does the diagram tell us about this sentence? - linear order of words and well-formedness * a sunbathed old beside Sam stream Lecture notes

- transition word x to word y / class of word x (e.g Adj) to class of word y (N)? A sentence has different kinds / categories of constituents sentence Adj N V Prep Art N N V Prep Art N How many sequences of English words / word classes result in well-formed (grammatical) sentences ? Testing: - movement of constituents - deletion of constituents Lecture notes

- substitutions of constituents - adding constituents He sunbathed beside the stream Sam sunbathed. Beside the stream, the old dog bathed in the sun. The constituents are arranged in a specifiable manner Structure def: some parts of an entity are constituents of different kinds (categories) which occur in specifiable arrangements and which have certain specifiable functions Lecture notes

bicycle frame crossbar wheel spoke handlebar pedal chain frame wheel handlebar crossbar spoke rim pedal chain bell handbrake Diagram of structural relationships: immediate constituents Lecture notes

Sentence and clause Syntax is concerned with the way words combine to from sentences. sentence = largest unit of syntax; (intuitively understood concept) „a syntactically related group of words that expresses an assertion, a question, a command, a wish or an exclamation“ usually begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question or exclamation mark word = smallest unit of syntax; (intuitively understood concept) clause = basic syntactic construction consisting of a subject and a predicate; occurs as main, co-ordinated or subordinated clause Lecture notes

Simple, compound and complex sentences a simple sentence consists of one main clause Whales cannot breathe under water. They have lungs instead of gills. We will see several applications of this order of the primitives in the course of the book. The waitresses are basking in the sun like a herd of skinned seals, their pinky-brown bodies shining with oil. Is America streched too far? Just give me a remote control for the planet. Lecture notes

a compound sentence consists of two or more (independent) main clauses, connected by a coordinate or a correlative conjunction coordinate conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet correlative conjuctions : both ... and, not only ... but also, either ... or, neither ... nor Whales cannot breathe under water, for they have lungs instead of gills. a conjunctive adverb and/or a semicolon conjunctive adverbs: moreover, so, therefore Whales have lungs instead of gills; therefore they cannot breathe under water. ...instead of gills; they therefore cannot breathe under water Lecture notes

a complex sentence contains at least one full dependent clause which functions as a constituent and is introduced by a subordinating conjunction subordinating conjunctions: after, although, as, as if, as/even though, because, before, how, however much, if, in order that, now that, once, rather than, since, so that, that, though, unless, until, what(ever), when(e), where(ever), whereas, whether, which(ever), while, who(m)(ever), whose a dependent clause may function as adverbial Whales cannot breathe under water because they have lungs instead of gills a test for adverbials: move into different positions, e.g. sentenece initial Lecture notes

a dependent clause may function as a modifier of a noun (relative clause) Jane, who always drives fast, bought a Lotus. Whales, which cannot breathe under water, have lungs instead of gills. a dependent clause may function as a subject, object, or subject complement clause; no complete main clause remains That Jane drives fast is common knowledge. What is surprising is that whales cannot breathe under water. We all know that Jane drives fast. A fact is that Jane drives fast Lecture notes

a compound-complex sentence contains at least two main clauses and one dependent clause A tone is what you hear in music and a note is the symbol that you write down for a tone. The notion of phrase phrase def: a word or a group of words without a subject and predicate but functioning as a unit in a sentence: the old man / recently / in the corner / have mastered / beside the pool Lecture notes

Topics in English Syntax: Verbs
Subject, object, predicate and predicator“ name syntactic functions which are realized by a certain type of word, or a phrase, or a type of clause. [ [The mother] subject [ [gave]predicator [the little boy] indirect object [a balloon] direct object ]predicate]sentence The predicator is realized by a verb. The verb is the syntactically most important element within the VP (VP = a syntactic category). Verbs are the heads of the VP = they determine what other kinds of element are required Lecture notes

Topics in English Syntax:Verbs
Verbs are lexical verbs (write, swim, ride, tread) or auxiliary which name events, processes, states, etc. i. (non modal) be, have, do ii. (modal) can, may, will, shall, must, ought, need, dare iii. dare, need, be, have, do (are also used as lexical verbs) verb forms are finite (tensed) or non-finite (non-tensed) most lexical verbs have six inflectional forms finite: bake (plain present tense), bakes (3rd pers. sg present tense), baked (past tense) non-finite: bake (plain infinitive), baking (present participle/gerund), baked (past participle) Lecture notes

auxiliary verbs differ from lexical verbs in their morphology (cf. be, am, was ...); modals have no non-finite forms (*to shall ; *musting; *the musted sale); do not occur in an environment where non-tensed forms are required do not enter into person - number agreement with the subject function in the complex verbal forms for tense, aspect, mood, modality contrasts are distinguished syntactically from lexical verbs: they can be negated by a following not and they invert with the subject in interrogatives I have not seen him. *I saw not them. Will you go with them? *Want you to go with them? Auxiliaries have negative forms isn‘t. wasn‘t, can‘t, ... Lecture notes

VP can be simple (gave) or complex, i.e. consist of aux elements plus a lexical verb (will have given) progressive be + present participle to express progressive aspect Max writes / wrote an interesting term paper Max is writing an interesting term paper Max was writing an interesting term paper perfect have + past participle to express perfect aspect The men set out hours ago. The men have already set out. The men had set out hours before we arrived. Lecture notes

modals + (to) infinitives to express mood and modality (degrees of possibility, factuality, necessity, capability, obligation) They found something horrible They must have found something horrible They may find something horrible They may leave now. passive be + past participle They found something horrible. Something horrible was found ? Something horrible got found. Lecture notes

do for questions, negation and emphasis whenever there is no aux verb in the predicator They walked with their heads down, as if they were ashamed? Did they walk with their heads down, as if they were ashamed? They did not walk with their heads down as if they were ashamed They did walk with their heads down as if they were ashamed. Lecture notes

Verb phrase: relative ordering of auxiliaries in the predicator the main verb may be preceeded by up to 4 auxiliaries: modal perfect progressive passive in that order. order is rigidly fixed; each position is optional each auxiliary determines the inflectional form of the following verb Auxiliary Inflectional form of following verb modal base form: may take perfect -en form: has eaten progressive -ing form: is reading passive -en form be taken Lecture notes

Modal perfect progressive passive lexical verb takes is taken is taking is being taken has taken has been taken has been taking has been being taken may take may be taken may be taking may be being taken may have taken may have been taken may have been taking may have been being taken Lecture notes

Be, have, do as aux and lexical verbs He is my friend. lex He is writing a letter aux, progr. This letter was written by Thomas Cook. aux, pass He was to write many more letters. aux mood He has many friends lex He has written many letters. aux, perf He has to leave now. aux, mood He does a lot of work lex Does he write many letters? aux, interrog Lecture notes

Sub-types of lexical verbs The verb is the syntactically the most important element within the VP and the clause. Verbs are the heads of the VP because they determine what other kinds of element are required or permitted as complements of the predicator. He | always | jogs| before breakfast. C A P A He | always | reads | the paper | before breakfast. C A P C A Adjuncts are free additions to the VP or clause, are loosely attached Complements are central to the predicator, have sharply distinct syntactic functions as subject or object, etc. Lecture notes

Internal and external complement the first constituent structure boundary in canonical clauses is between subject and predicate; subjects are complements external to the predicate, the other complements are internal to the VP. Transitivity all canonical sentences have a subject, but depending on the verb, they may or may not contain an object S - P clauses are called intransitive : The Imam fainted. S - P - O clauses are called transitive The Imam loved aubergines. Lecture notes

Many verbs are dual-transitivity verbs The door opened (intransitive) She opened the door (transitive) He reads / He is reading ( intransitive) He is reading a novel (transitive) Intransitive verbs do not take objects or subject or object complements / predicative complements: S - P Mara dreams Her heart beats. Lecture notes

copula verbs like be, seem are called complex intransitive verbs which allow a pattern of S - P- PC Ed seems quite competent. The soup tastes salty. transitive verbs are divided into mono-transitive and di-transitive verbs depending on the number of objects they have and into complex transitive just one direct object = monotransitive (S - P - DO) He is drinking whisky and milk. The local council must observe the law Troops quickly occupied the city. Lecture notes

ditransitive verbs have two objects, an indirect and a direct Object (S - P - IO - DO) She told him the truth. Max gave mother some painkiller. She baked a cake for her ssister He bought me a book complex transitive verbs admit a direct object and predicative complement / object attribute (S - P - DO - OA) She considered Ed a decent guy. They elected George W. the president. Lecture notes

Note: the direct objects of the three types of transitive verbs may be realised by different structures a phrase: I know him. I know the student. I know the student who lives next door. a clause with a finite verb I know that he moved to Münster last year. I asked him whether he would join us. a clause with a non-finite verb: (to inf, bare inf, plain inf) I enjoy listening to cool jazz. I forced him to eat the tuna sandwich. She made him paint the fence. Lecture notes

Passive clauses The positive, active, declarative clause is generally considered the canonical clause. Other types of clauses are made to fulfill certain functions: passive clauses are used to focus on the goal, the recipient or experiencer rather than on the agent of an action. passive clauses depend on transitive verbs (which have at least 2 roles / participants ) Max bought an expensive painting. An expensive painting was bought by Max. Lecture notes

monotransitive verbs and the passive construction active clause passive clause subject by object object subject active predicator be + past participle ditransitive verbs have two passive alternants : two objects may become the subject of the passive construction Max gave Mary the book The book was given to Mary by Max Mary was given the book by Max Lecture notes

complex-transitive verbs: one object, one passive alternant We consider him a nuisance He was considered a nuisance (by us). Note: The object attribute becomes a subject attribute non-finite clauses and the passive I know [ him to be a noisy guy ]DO. He is known to be a noisy guy. I certainly expect [ him to clean up his act soon ] DO. He is certainly expected to clean up his act soon. Note: the subject of the non-finite clause, an indirect object, becomes the subject of the passive construction Lecture notes

multi-word verbs phrasal verbs: verb + adverb write up, run off, ring off prepositional verbs: verb + preposition run into, agree to phrasal prepositional verbs: verb + adverb + preposition keep away from idiomatic noun + preposition verbs catch sight of, set fire to, lose count of Lecture notes

Tests to distinguish a phrasal verb from a prepositional verb He looked into the problem. He looked into it. He looked up the word. He looked it up. Position of pronoun after a preposition but in front of an adverb = phrasal verb. If there is no direct object, the verb is a phrasal one. He walked down. Lecture notes

Phrases We analyse sentences as consisting of smaller units (constituents) which are called phrases. We assume that the words of a phrase “belong together naturally“. We can test this notion by deletion or addition some words of a phrase or by testing different segmentations of a sentence. # A good knowledge of English # is essential # for engineers # and # other staff in charge of aircraft maintenance.# *A good # knowledge of # English Lecture notes

Each phrase has a core element which, if deleted, will produce an ill-formed „unnatural“ phrase. This core element is called the head element; it names the whole the phrase, e.g. verb phrase, noun phrase; prepositional phrase, etc. and determines its category or type. We describe the linear order of elements in a sentence either by the sequence of phrasal categories VP, NP, PP or by the syntactic function these units realize in the sentence. Lecture notes

Functions are subject, direct object, indirect object, predicate, adverbial of S Phrases realize functions; „ : “ = „realized by“ Subj: NP Pred:VP dir obj: NP The white tiger # bit # the magnificent magician#. Words are the building blocks of phrases. To determine the type or class of a word, we look for its form and for the contexts in which it can occur. Lecture notes

Word classes / Parts of speech Traditionally (cf. Latin grammar), we distinguish approx. 11 different classes of words. Attributes of words: - form (inflectional properties), - potential of occurrence in specific contexts, i.e. their syntactic features and their distribution, - lexical meaning. - POS determined by semantic features arbeiten, v = activity; Arbeit, n = activity arrival, n = activity; arrive, v = activity in, prep = ? Lecture notes

distributional criteria („distribution“: the set of all environments); homogeneity of approach, - an objective procedure, intersubjective validity - an operational procedure = substitution test for determining POS; function of a word in a phrase We walk to the office every day We took a long walk I put on my walking boots You‘re a light weight. Come on, light my fire. Put the lights out, please, will you. Lecture notes

noun: bird, freedom, uncle, walk, Henry, farmer, sand verb: walk, swim, cycle, ride, consider, think, perceive, write adjective: blue, exhausted, painful, big, strong, powerful adverb: hard, hardly, happily, very, however, up, merely preposition: in, on, at, under, after, amongst, like, since coordinator: and, but, or, nor subordinator: that, because although, since pronoun: we, her, mine, his, who, someone, which article: the, a, an numeral: three, third interjection: oops, , wow Lecture notes

Noun proper nouns: Henry Miller, Ford, the United States, Warwickshire, Thames (referential function); common nouns: table, wood, soap, sand, sea, furniture, freedom, pleasure, pain (descriptive / predicative function) concrete : tangible things: car, bike, water; abstract: non-tangible entities: ?? processes: idea, dream, thought; ?? move, walk, transportation count: bounded, separable entitites: book, house; non-count / mass nouns: grass, sand, oil, furniture, cattle, love, noun form nouns typically inflect for number (singular - plural) and case (plain vs genitive) Lecture notes

Noun and Noun Phrase function 1. NPs are prototypically function as a complement in clause structure ( subject, object, predicative complement) The doctor arrived. We saw the doctor. Kim is a doctor and as as complement in PP They were talking to the Dean. 2. NPs also function as specifying or classifying genitive („subject determiner“ in an NP) adjunct in clause modifier in PP, AdjP and AdvP supplement (Apposition) and vocative (Anrede) Lecture notes

NP structure nouns function as heads of NPs, alone or accompanied by one or more dependents, such as determinatives (articles etc.), pre- and postmodifiers (AdjP, relative clauses) all of the very expensive vases on the shelf that broke in the quake Note: nouns do not take objects Kim dislikes tiger; * his dislike it Lecture notes

test for „nounhood“: 1) occurrence with articles: the ____; a_____ 2) substitute word with a pronoun: it, they test for countability one plate, two plates, three plates * one furniture, *two furnitures, *three furnitures note: the count non-count distinction applies to uses of a noun BP developed three new motor oils Lecture notes

Verb verbs denote processes, actions, activities, states, accomplishments, achievments Verb form lexical verb paradigm: base, -s (3rd sg), plain (present), -ing, (gerund participle) -ed (past tense), -ed (past participle) note: syncretism between want - want; wanted - wanted forms of the auxiliary be: be, am, are, is, are, was, were, negated: aren‘t, isn‘t, wasn‘t, weren‘t form distinctions of modal verbs (defective paradigm) : can (plain present), could (past) negated: cannot, can‘t, couldn‘t Lecture notes

Verb and VP function verbs function as predicator and determine the number and kind of dependents (complements); predicator and complement, possibly with other dependents of type adjunct (modifiers) form the VP VP and clause structure verbs function as head elements in the VP and in the structure of the clause; valency (mono-, bi- trivalent) determines the number of external and internal complements (subject, objects), transitivity determines the kind of obligatory complements (intransitive, complex intransitive, monotransitive, complex monotransitive, ditransitive) Lecture notes

He died. (intrans., monovalent) This depends on the price. (intrans., bivalent) Ed became hungry (intrans. complex, bivalent) He reads the paper. (monotrans., bivalent) He blamed me for the delay. (monotrans., trivalent) This made Ed angry. (monotrans. cmplex, trivalent) She gave him some food. (ditransitive, trivalent) verbs determine the choice of prepositions The cream consists of egg and milk It all depends on her father. He supplied them with food and drinks. Lecture notes

verbs determine the choice of subordinate clause construction Whether /*That we go abroad depends on the cost. I don‘t know whether / * that they will like it. Distinctive syntactic properties of auxiliary verbs 4 non-canonical constructions are found with aux verbs: NICE: Negation, Inversion, Code, Emphasis He has seen it. vs He has not seen it. Has he seen it? (subject - aux inversion) He has seen it. And I have, too. They don‘t believe he has seen it but he has seen it. Lecture notes

Distinctive syntactic properties of modal verbs central modals take bare infinitival complements They must read the text They will work on that problem. They should help us finish the job. present tense modals don‘t show agreement with the subject He can buy anything he likes; he has got tons of money. John may insist on being invited. Note: The person-number inflection in lexical verbs is determined by agreement with the subject: knows agrees with the student. The student knows the professor. The students know the professor. Lecture notes

Adjectives Function of central members of the category Adjectives typically modify nouns: can be used in predicative, attributive and postpositive function Max is / seems / appears sad. Max owns an expensive car. Here is someone clever. Gradability The prototypical adjective is gradable, accepts degree modifiers and has inflectional or analytic comparatives and superlatives very many, too bright, much heat pretty, prettier, prettiest; useful, more useful, most useful Lecture notes

Dependents Adjectives characteristically take adverbs as modifiers remarkably tough; surprisingly sweet Adjective phrases as attributive and postpositive modifiers, and predicative complements my new job; all other possibilities; good work this is new; they seem suitable; we found it easy something important; a man full of his own importance 1. APs function (mostly) as modifiers in the structure of the NP as pre-head internal dependent, = part of a nominal, located between he determiner and the head noun Lecture notes

2. as predicative complements APs are dependents in the clause structure, licensed by particular verbs, such as be, seem, find, become, make, appear, feel, look, sound 3. post-positive APs function as post-head internal modifier in NP structure; occur commonly after compound determinatives such as someone, anything, nobody Note: the majority of Adjs can occur in all three functions but a sizeable number is restricted to either attributive or predicative function mere, former, main vs. alone, asleep, glad a few Adjs are restricted to postpositive function gifts galore, president elect Lecture notes

Note: predeterminer APs occur as external modifier in NP structure, preceding the indefinite article a such a fool half a pint of bitter Adjectives as heads of complex phrasal categories Many adjectives license complements in post-head position and modifiers in pre-head and post-head position PPs, NPs and clauses in post-head position; AdvPs in pre-head position Lecture notes

Complements of APs in post-head position fraught with danger; mindful of the danger; afraid of dogs concerned about the delay; angry about her behaviour angry at the news; astonished at the allegations distressed by these insinuations clothed in linnen; covered in dust insistent that the charge be dropped; amazed what a fuss she made happy to leave it to him Lecture notes

Adverbs Many adverbs are morphologically derived from adjectives ( -ly); but note: fast, hard, early, better, worse a rapid improvement vs it rapidly improved a surprising depth vs surprisingly deep progress was rapid vs we progressed rapidly Adv modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb; they cannot function as predicative complement They almost died in the accident. Max almost always gets it right. She was extremely unhappy with the proposal. Lecture notes

Prepositions relate entities; denote place, time, direction, duration, manner, causality, ... they have a core function within the phrase which they introduce - they are the head element of a PP and introduce a dependent NP as prepositional complement. they are mostly short, simple words of a closed class of function words there are several types of complex prepositions: Lecture notes

about, above, across, after, against, along, among, apart from, around, as at, because of, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, concerning, despite, down, during, except, for from, in, in addition to, in case of, in contrast to, inside, in spite of, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, out of, outside, over past, regarding, since, through, throughout, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, with regard to, within, without Lecture notes

1. ADV or PREP +PREP along with, as for, away from, out of up to, etc. 2. VERB / ADJ / CONJUNCTION etc + PREP: owing to, due to, because of, etc. 3. PREP + NOUN + PREP by means of, in comparison with, in front of, etc. Lecture notes

Prepositions precede the PP, postpositions occur in wh- questions: Which town to you live in relative clause: The old hag I was telling you about Wh-clause: What I am convinced of is that terrorist acts will happen. Exclamations: What a mess he’s got himself in. Passives : She was sought after by all the leading impresarios Infinitive clauses: He’s impossible to work with Lecture notes

Syntactic functions of prepositions: complements of verbs, adjectives and nouns: We depend on continued subsidies I am sorry for his parents adjuncts: The students were singing on the bus postmodifiers in NPs: The people on the bus were singing loudly and out of tune disjuncts: To our surprise, he survived the accident unharmed. conjunct: On the other hand, he was supported by the whole family. Lecture notes

Pronouns and their Subclasses personal, reflexive, possessive, reciprocal, relative, interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite may be used in two functions: 1. independently, in (pro)nominal function, replacing a co-referential noun or a noun phrase 2. dependently, almost like adjectives, in determiner function His book cost over € 75.- That flower on the window-sill .. When she arrived in Münster, Tiger went straight to class Hers cost more than € 100. And indeed she is impressive Our American friends really like Sauerkraut. Lecture notes

Features of (major subclasses) of pronouns They do not admit determiners * the each book; * the which girl ? They often have remnants of case marking I, me, mine; we, us, our, they , them, their who, whom, whose They often have person contrast 1st person : refers to speaker role 2nd person: refers to role of person(s) addressed 3rd person: refers to entity under discussion Lecture notes

They often have gender contrast he – him – himself – his she – her – herself – hers it – itself- ist They show number contrast; mostly by morphologically unrelated forms Lecture notes

Personal pronouns possessive pronouns reflexive pronouns subj case obj case determiner nominal 1st pers sing I me my mine myself plur we us our ours ourselves 2ndpers sing you you your yours yourself plur you you yourselves 3rdpers sing masc he him his his himself fem she her her hers herself non pers it its its itself plur they them their theirs themselves Lecture notes

Personal pronouns: replace / substitute for co-referential NPs in neighbouring a) preceding b) in following clauses: Johni told Mary to wait for himi. Whenever hei took off his glasses, Johni was difficult to deal with. objective case forms are used as (direct or indirect) objects or as complements of prepositions; in informal usage also as subject complements Tiger spotted them immediately. Max gave them some chocolate. It’s me. Is it you? I saw her with them. Lecture notes

Reflexive pronouns replace a co-referential NP within the same clause John hurt himself badly. the indefinite pronoun one has its own reflexive oneself; other indefinites use himself, themselves No one must fool himself Possessive pronouns combine genitive functions, indicating ownership (my, her, your, ...), functioning attributively / syntactically as determiners, with pronominal function in the second series: mine, yours, hers .. Lecture notes

Relative pronouns reflect neutral, personal or non-personal gender of referent, and case (genitive, and objective) personal: who, whom, whose non-personal: which, whose neutral: that introduce dependent relative clauses in which they function as a subordinating conjunction (subordinator) and as a constituent (subject, direct object, indirect object, or prepositional object) John knows the guy who / whom you met. John is the guy who broke the record. Lecture notes

John is the guy whose daughter was recently married. John is the guy for whom I have immense respect ... the house in which I was born ... the games that politicians play Lecture notes

Interrogative pronouns are used in questions, both in determiner function; dependently, personal: whose, personal or non-personal: which, what Whose book is it? Which picture do you like most? What kind of weather do you expect? On whom do you rely? and pronominally, independently, This cat here. Whose is it? Which do you prefer? What did he want? Lecture notes

The interrogative pronouns may be used as subordinators introducing dependent questions; however, word order is then the same as in a declarative sentence Whom did you meet? I asked whom you saw. Lecture notes

Demonstrative pronouns substitute for a pointing gesture, establish near and distant reference (from the point of the speaker) and function as determiner as well as pronominally near distant singular this that plural these those Lecture notes

Indefinite pronouns and universal pronouns the universal pronouns comprise each, every, all, the every-compounds (everything, every body, every one most indefinite and universal pronouns can be used dependently, functioning as determiners or independently Someone thought that all the apples were sweet. Every man is expected to do their duty. All (senators) agreed that a reform was needed. each student: individual reference to two or more every student: collective reference to three or more Lecture notes

every one, each, each one have of-constructions Every one of the students should have their own books Each one /each student has his own book the indefinites comprise somebody, anybody, anything, someone, something, nobody, no on; [several, much , both, enough can also be considered quantifiers, like vague numerals; similarly a great many; a few, many a, a lot of, a great deal of ] once upon a time, someone told us a story about ... several went into the kitchen either, neither have dual reference, none is the negation of every among the universal pronouns Lecture notes

Numerals There are two series of numerals, cardinal numerals (one, two, three...) and ordinal numbers (first, second, third ), they can be used dependently (as premodifiers) and independently / pronominally The first student to arrive was ... He is the first. Lecture notes

Reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another They met each other regularly. Wolf and Tiger are fond of one another. Lecture notes

Articles English has two articles, the, a, an. The articles are always used as determiners preceding the noun. The is used for specific, definite reference, a / an for indefinite reference. The can occur before any common noun Lecture notes

Connectors coordinating conjunctions link parallel structures, i.e. units of „equal syntactic value” Tom and Otto both the boy with the telescope and the girl with the apple He studies for his exam for he is eager to succeed. He is reading a book. So he must not be disturbed. Conjunctive adverb He is reading a book; therefore, he must not be disturbed. Lecture notes

Subordinators subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent phrases or clauses are subclassified according to the type of dependent clauses they introduce subject, and subject complement clause object, and object complement clause clauses modifying nouns wh-clause; that clause; if-clause according to their function in the phrase or clause Lecture notes

I know where he lives. (DO) I know how he works. (DO) where and how are constituents of the clause and function as interrogative adverbs with a subordinating function If, whether and that are no clause constituents and function solely as subordinating conjunctions I don‘t know if he will come by himself. We believe that he arrived on time (DO) We asked whether he would be home. Lecture notes

In relative clauses that post-modify a noun, the relative pronouns who, whose, whom, that, which function as subordinators The boy [that/whom you met is my pal. ] Subject Remember [the time when we were young.] DO the relative pronouns and the subordinating relative adverbs when, where, also function as constituents in clauses In adverbial clauses introduced by words like when, where, after, since, before, ... these adverbs do not function as constituents of the clause and are called subordinating conjunctions. Lecture notes

Conjunctions coordinating conjunction and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet correlative conjunctions not only .. but also, either ... or, both ... and, neither ... nor conjunctive adverbs moreover, however, otherwise, certainly, finally, similarly, nevertheless, indeed, consequently,accordingly, likewise, now, therefore, thereafter, hence, meanwhile, still, undoubtedly, next, hence, instead, certainly, besides Lecture notes

Subordinators after, although, as , as if, as though, because, before, even though, how, however much, if, in order that, now that, once, until, unless, though, that, so that, since, rather than, what(ever), when, whenever, where, whereas, wherever, wheher, whichever, while, who, who(m)(ever), whose Lecture notes

Interjections OOPS Lecture notes

Parts of Speech: major word classes: V, N (and pronouns), Adj, Adv, Prep minor word classes: subordinators, coordinators, determinative, numeral, major parts-of-speech are marked for the HEAD feature Lecture notes

Levels of description clause phrase syntax grammar word ] morphology clause: has subject and predicate phrase : has head element and dependents word : HEAD feature + or -; only major parts of speech function as head elements (= N, V, Adj, Adv, Prep) Lecture notes

Phrases consists at least of one word but may contain other phrases phrases have constituents constituents have functions constituents have realizations functions and realizations do not have a 1:1 relation Lecture notes

- the most complex type of phrase
Noun Phrase - the most complex type of phrase - obligatory: head element = noun / nominal / pronoun plus one or two dependents - prehead and post-head dependents Topics in English Syntax Lecture notes

Noun Phrase functions NPs prototypically function as a complement in clause structure (subject, object, predicative complement and as phrasal complement in PP NPs also function as specifying or classifying genitive adjunct in clause modifier in NP, PP, AdjP and AdvP supplement (Apposition) and vocative (Anrede) Lecture notes

NP functions: example sentences The doctor arrived. We saw the doctor. Kim is a experienced doctor. They were talking to the Dean. I liked Sue‘s analysis of the passive construction. Fred departed the day before yesterday. The nail was three inches long Fred arrived a whole day late The wreck was found a mile under the sea. I like the novel „Ulysses“. I finally met his wife, a distinguished linguist. Michael, I found your book. Lecture notes

Functions of constituents of an NP predeterminer, determiner, postdeterminers, premodifier, head, postmodifier examples of NP constituent functions and their realizations John he the boy exciting city life half of the group of experts the glass Lecture notes

the teacher’s glass both of the very well known glitterati who intoned Britannia, Britannia rule the waves our old apple tree in the back yard her skin beautifully tattooed with red dragons England proper the engine alone a house as big as I have everseen the night-life in Berlin some wonderfully warm woollen blankets photographs of Maja which her father had taken a half of bitter Lecture notes

Realisations of constituent functions - premodifiers of NP heads are mostly AdjP; N may be premodified by one or several AdjP - nouns which premodify nouns can be considered adjectives city [premod: AdjP] life [head:N] - postmodifiers of Np heads are phrases or finite or non finite clauses, only some AdjP realise postmodifiers Lecture notes

Determiners definite and indefinite article, demonstrative pronouns preceding the noun: the, a , an, this, that, these, those Predeterminers both of, both those (copies), half of, all the, such a Postdeterminers those two, a half of Lecture notes

Specifying versus classifying genitives a specifying genitive : an NP which has a genitive as the head of a determiner as in the child’s book a specifying genitive can be substituted with a possessive pronoun (his, her, its, theirs) in a classifying genitive as in a children’s book the article functions as determiner of the head noun Lecture notes

Postmodifiers restrictive (specifying) vs non-restrictive post-modifiers post-modifiers may be added to an NP to help the addressee identify the referent of the head noun , to specify vague reference as in My friend who has recently moved to London called me last night. (intonation rising, no comma) or to give additional information of an already identified referent Uncle Peter, who has recently moved to London, called me last night. (intonation falling; set off with commas) Lecture notes

Relative pronouns and postmodification who, whom, whose, which, that serve a double function as 1. subordinators introducing a dependent clause, 2. as clause constituent realising the function of a subject, an object or an adverbial of the clause whose is a dependent pronoun and phrase constituent Lecture notes

Verb Phrase A VP consists of a - a lexical verb as head element - or of a comlex verb which contains auxiliary elements and a lexical verb as its head - and of the dependent complements. In a verbal complex, the auxiliaries carry tense, aspect, and mood information. The verbal head licenses complements, i.e. it determines the argument structure of the clause. Lecture notes

Adjective Phrase an AdjP consists of an adjectival head which in many cases has a dependent (syntactically obligatory) complement in postposition realised by a PP or a clause She is afraid of dogs (optional). She is afraid Peter was very keen to take part (optional) Peter was very keen. We are happy to leave it to you (optional) We are happy. He is mindful of the danger (obligatory) *He is mindful The airlift was fraught with risks. (obligatory) *The airliftwas fraught They were fraught (= anxious, distressed) Lecture notes

Note a large number of adjectives that require an obligatory complement when used predicatively or in postposition cannot be used attributively. This is tantamount to a confession. *their tantamount confession They were heedless of the danger. this heedless destruction od the rain forest Lecture notes

PP complements of adjectives annoyed, concerned, mad, glad, happy about astonished, adept, hopeless, delighted at amused, distressed, hurt, unaffected by anxious, answerable, greedy for divorced, alienated, removed from bathed, clothed, engaged, decisive in desirous, reminiscent, scared of Lecture notes

Clausal complements of adjectives I am glad that you were able to come I am not sure whether you will understand too good to participate in the games Functions of the constituents of AdjPs an Adj may be preceded or followed by a modifier; - premodifiers are mostly realised by AdvP - postmodifiers are realised by adverb phrases, NPs, and mostly prepositional phrases or clauses Lecture notes

Note: his [occasionally [very offensive ]] behaviour = stacked modification his [[quite unbelievably] offensive] behaviour = submodification AdjP AdjP Mod: Head Mod Head Adv AdjP AdvP Adj Mod Head Mod Head Adv Adj Adv Adv occasionally very offensive quite unbelievably offensive Lecture notes

Determinatives as degree modifiers the, this, that, no, any, much, little, a little, enough, all The bigger it is the more likely it is to break They are this tall He seemes all confused We‘re not getting any younger NPs as modifiers three years old five centimeters thick lots better a trifle shy two hours long Lecture notes

PPs as modifiers cautious to excess dangerous in the extreme deaf in both ears very good for a beginner these in some respects highly controversial theories an on the whole persuasive argument Discontinuous modifier so very good that he became a member of the team Lecture notes

Adverbialphrases - Advs characteristically modify verbs, adjectives and other Advs - AdvPs have Adv as head element and may contain dependent modifiers and / or complements Lecture notes

Complements in AdvPs - complements are almost always PPs
Our company operates [almost entirely separately from the rest of the enterprise] We decide independently of an abstract principle of justice. Luckily for them, President Clinton decided not to run again. ... concomitantly with the process of ageing ... analogously to the calculation above Lecture notes

Modification in AdvPs Stacked modification and submodification in the AdvP are similar to modification in the AdjP Jill loses her temper [only [very rarely]] Jack and Jill sing [[quite remarkably] well] Premodifiers very easily, fairly evenly, incredibly meticulously, all that well later that morning, a bit slowly, arrive three hours late Lecture notes

Postmodifiers easily enough / clearly enough, old enough to know better he behaved badly in the extreme, later in the day, faster than anyone could imagine Discontinuous modifier He won the race [so easily that he became a member of the national team] Lecture notes

Prepositional Phrases - headed by prepositions, taking complements and modifiers as dependents which are realised as NPs, finite and non-finite clauses, AdvPs, AdjPs, other PPs - all PPs functioning as non-predicative adjuncts, many as complements in clause structure Ahead of the ship, there was a small island. (PP) but note: Tired of the journey, the sailor saw a small island. (AdjP) Lecture notes

NP-complements of prepositions He lived in London for two years. She sent a photograph of their new house to her parents. Our new friends are keen on golf. Concerning the news that you told me ... just inside the penalty area He left after the accident. I haven‘t seen her since last Easter. note: I haven‘t seen her since. (Prep without a complement?) Lecture notes

Clausal complements of Prepositions He left after he saw her. He left after you promised to help. It all depends on whether he saw her. I am looking forward to seeing you. afraid of what will happen. We can‘t agree on whether we should call the police. Lecture notes

Prepositions plus non-NP constituents as complements
The magician emerged from behind the curtain. (PP) I didn‘t know about the accident until recently. (AdvP) cf. He stayed with us until last week. She took him for dead. (AdjP) (predicative complement) She took him for a friend. (NP) Modifiers of prepositions two years after their divorce just inside the building very much in control of thngs Lecture notes

Position of the preposition relative to its complement - in most cases, the preposition precedes ist complement some English prepositions can follow their complement notwithstanding the weather vs. the weather notwithstanding Stranded preposition What are you looking at? What are you waiting for? Lecture notes

S : NP SA : NP [He was [a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]] SA : NP post-modifying : NP [a Hindu [a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]] post-mod : NP post-mod : PP [a puny wisp [of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]] post-mod : PP complement : NP [of [a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]] complement : NP post-mod: PP [a man [with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]] post-mod: PP complement : NP [with [a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]] Lecture notes

Noun Phrase Pre-det Determiner Post-det Pre-mod(s) Head Post-mod(s) article AdjP noun AdvP pronoun class. genit pronoun AdjP numeral PP spec. Genitive NP fin. clause non-fin clause Lecture notes

Adjective Phrase Function: Pre-modifier Head Post-modifier realised by AdvP Adjective PP clause Lecture notes

Adverbialphrase Functions: Pre-modifier Head Postmodifier Realisations: AdvP(s) Adverb AdvP PP finite clause non-finite clause discontinuous [Adverb] modifier Lecture notes

Prepositional Phrase Functions: Modifier Head Complement Realisation AdvP Preposition NP finite clause non-finite clause Lecture notes

Verb Phrase Functions: AUX Head complements /adjuncts Realisation: tense lexical verb NP mood PP perfect aspect AdjP prog. Aspect finite clause passive voice non-finite clause do Lecture notes

Lecture notes

Topics in English Syntax An Introductory Course

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