Lingua inglese 2

INDEFINITE RELATIVE PRONOUNS

Three major types of non-finite postmodifying clauses are:

• ing-clauses > can be used only if the action of the main clause is contemporary to that of the relative clause;
• ed-clauses > can be used only if the meaning is passive;
• to-clauses > common after a superlative form, an ordinal, and 'only'.

Some examples:

• There aren't many tourists visiting (= who / that are visiting) the city.
• Nobody can understand the meaning of the message left (= that has been left).
• It's the last thing to do (= that we have to do) today!
• It was the most useless sentence to say (= that you could say)!
• She was the first to answer my question.
• What's the next step to take?
• He's the only person to know the truth.

14/20/21.10.2022 The English Verb Phrase

According to the specific features, English verbs can be

LEXICAL VERBS ACROSS REGISTERS

LINGUA INGLESE 2, 2022-2023

SEMANTICS OF LEXICAL VERBS

We can distinguish seven semantic categories of LEXICAL verbs:

• activity verbs, which usually refer to a volitional activity. Some of the twenty most common are: to bring; to get; to make; to play; to take.
• communication verbs - a subcategory of activity verbs which includes verbs describing speech and writing (e.g. to ask; to talk; to write; to suggest)
• mental verbs, which refer to mental states and activities not involving

physical action (e.g. to think; to know; to love; to want; to hear; to see; to wonder, to like; to feel)

• I think we should stay home tonight.
• Somehow, I doubt it.
• I decided not to join the meeting.

causative verbs to indicate that some person or thing helps to bring out a new state of affairs (e.g. to allow; to help; to let; to require)

• What caused the disaster?
• Let me be!
• They didn't allow the kids to play in the park.

verbs of occurrence to report events that occur without an actor (e.g. to become; to grow; to happen)

• The lights changed.
• It occurred to me I had to pay the bill.
• She died a year ago.
• How could you let this happen?

verbs of existence or relationship, which report a state of existence or a logical relationship that exists between entities. Some of the most common are copular verbs, such as to appear and to seem.

• I go and stay with them.
• What does this stand for?
• I live in New York.

verbs of aspect, which

COPULAR VERBS (INTENSIVE)

COPULAR verbs:

• are only MAIN verbs;
• indicate an intensive relationship between subject and complement;
• fall into three major categories:

CURRENT COPULA VERBS (state-of-existence and sensory)

e.g., to be, to appear, to feel

He was English / a journalist. - It appears strange. - It feels good

RESULTATIVE COPULA VERBS

e.g., to become, to get, to go, to grow, to prove

I want to become a singer. - It is proving too difficult.

INCHOATIVE COPULA VERBS

e.g., to become, to get, to come, to fall

The rope came undone. - My hair is turning grey. - My daughter has fallen ill.

VALENCY

In linguistics, VALENCY (or valence) refers to the number and type of arguments controlled by a predicate.

The main verb in a clause

determines the other elements that are required in that clause.

The pattern of the clause elements is called the valency pattern for the verb.

The patterns are differentiated by the required clause elements that follow the verb within the clause (e.g., direct object, indirect object, subject predicative).

More in general, valency is also described as the ability of words to combine syntactically with other words.

Valency is an important area of the description of English, one which is on the boundaries of lexis and grammar.

10LINGUA INGLESE 2, 2022-2023

VALENCY PATTERNS: NON-COPULAR VERBS (EXTENSIVE)

Non-copular, extensive verbs, is the largest group of verbs, which divides into TRANSITIVE (followed by a direct object) and NON-TRANSITIVE (which cannot take a direct object, but are often followed by a prepositional object, or an adjectival complement).

I read a book. (transitive)

I stood up. (intransitive)

I spoke to a police officer. (intransitive)

It sounds strange to me.

(intransitive)We can identify six sub-categories of transitive verbs:

1. Monotransitive verbs > only one direct object (I bought some apples.)
2. Ditransitive verbs > followed by a direct and indirect object (I gave Mary a gift. | I gave a gift to Mary. | I ordered a book for Mary)
3. Ambitransitive verbs > both transitive and intransitive (Boil the water. | Water boils at 100°.)
4. Reflexive verbs > involve the use of reflexive pronouns (I did it myself. | The cyclist hurt himself.)
5. Reciprocal verbs > involve the use of reciprocal pronouns (They love each other. | They called upon one another.)
6. Complex transitive verbs > followed by a direct object and noun or adjective complement pattern (I declare you husband and wife.)

CATENATIVE VERBS

Catenative verbs are verbs followed by other verbs in a close semantic and syntactic relationship, a "catena", to create complex verb phrases (Falinski 2008: 315).

▪ Lexical aspect

Verbs

such as to start, to stop, to continue indicate the beginning, end, duration, repetition, of an action or event and are expressions of lexical aspect. Another common way to do so in English is by means of adverbial particles in phrasal verbs:

He started to laugh.

She stopped crying.

It continued to rain.

He went on reading.

He spoke on.

VERB PATTERNS

How to classify catenative verbs: syntactic or semantic criteria?

According to syntactic criteria, there are five basic patterns + that-clauses:

1. Verbs followed by only the to-infinitive

2. Verbs followed by only the -ing form

3. Verbs followed by either the to-infinitive or the -ing form, with different emphasis, or with a radical change in meaning

4. Verbs followed by the bare infinitive

5. Verbs followed by the past participle

Inside any one group, different semantic relationships between the catenative and main verb can be set up.

LINGUA INGLESE 2, 2022-2023

TYPES OF VERBS: SEMANTIC AND SYNTACTIC

CLASSIFICATION

Verbs can be classified according to their semantics and syntax.

SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION > SEVEN CATEGORIES

• Activity verbs
• Communication verbs
• Mental verbs
• Causative verbs
• Verbs of occurrence
• Verbs of existence or relationship
• Verbs of aspect

Consider the following sentences. How would you analyse the verb phrase(s) in them?

1. We hate to travel by bus on a Monday morning. They're always crowded!

➔ hate followed by infinitive - the pattern is to infinitive when the action is specific

◆ (they only hate traveling by bus on Monday)

2. He was tired, but he went on running.

➔

3. If you want to have more energy, try having a banana as a snack instead of pizza!

➔ try to eat/try eating a banana and see whether the effect you'd like to have

◆

4. Can you try to open that jar for me? | I'll try and guess what the code is...

➔ this is not a pattern, this is a specific construction - no prescriptive grammar - it's

◆ descriptive

grammar - informal construction used in conversation. it’s similar to goand talk5. I stopped studying because it was dinner time.➔ you quit the action of studying. you were studying and then you decided you wanted◆ to do something else

6. I stopped to look at a dress in a shop.➔ here, you were doing something else. you stopped what you were doing to look at a◆ dressinfinitive of purpose◆ from one action to another◆

7. We started to fix this tent two hours ago.➔

8. Remember to pay the bill!➔ remember, forget…◆ you must remember about something that has not accrued◆

9. The carpet needs to be washed➔ the meaning is that an action is◆

11. The policeman allowed parking there. | The policeman allowed us to park there.➔ allow= general verb◆ 12LINGUA INGLESE 2, 2022-2023COMPLEX VERB PHRASESPREPOSITIONAL VERBSPrepositional verbs keep the same meaning of the basic verb.➔ They are INSEPARABLE, i.e., pronoun complements come after the preposition.◆ ● ▪