Lingua inglese 2

COMMAS AND RELATIVE CLAUSES

We use commas to mark non-defining clauses. Such clauses normally add extra, non-

essential information about the noun or noun phrase:

● The ambulance, which arrived after just five minutes, took three people to the

hospital immediately.

● Hong Kong, where the first ASEAN meeting was held, is a very different city now.

The same is true for non-finite clauses:

● The storm, lasting as it did for several days, caused serious damage to villages near

the coast.

We don’t use commas to mark defining clauses:

● Barcelona was the Spanish city that was selected for the Olympic Games.

SEMICOLONS

1. Semicolons join two completely independent clauses or sentences and work like a

full stop.

2. Semicolons can be used with sentence connectors followed by a comma.

3. As semicolons are a stronger type of punctuation than commas so they can be used

to break sequences into parts;

4. Semicolons can be used to separate long items in a list;

(See Swales and Feak (2012, p. 38-39)

Swales and Feak (2012)

TYPICAL PUNCTUATION:

● Air traffic delays due to high traffic volume have increased considerably over the last

decade; these delays have become a major public policy issue. (two independent

sentences)

● Although I wasn’t really happy with the idea, I agreed to go with them. (secondary

clause preceding the main clause)

● I agreed to go with them although I wasn’t really happy with the idea. (secondary

clause following the main clause)

● Increasing the size of airports is one solution to traffic congestion; however, this is a

long-term solution whose benefits may not be seen for many years in the future.

(semicolon preceding a sentence connector followed by a comma)

PRESS STYLE

Language is about much more than just about talking to each other; it's one of the bases of

identity and culture. But as the world becomes increasingly globalised and reliant on

technology, English has been reinforced once again as the lingua franca.

The technological infrastructure that now dominates our working and private lives is

overwhelmingly in English, which means minority languages are under threat more than

ever.

But it might also be true that technology could help us bring minority languages to a wider

audience. If we work out how to play the game right, we could use it to help bolster linguistic

diversity rather than damage it. This is one of the main suggestions of a series of papers,

the most recent of which looks at the Welsh language in the digital age.

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

There are two types of interrogative sentences depending on the type of answer they elicit,

either straightforward or requiring specific information:

Yes/no-questions and Wh-questions

The structure of an interrogative sentence differs from the structure of a declarative

sentence's change of position between the subject and the verb.

BEYOND SENTENCES

Discourse is a sequence of sentences which makes up a complete unit or text.

Although a text may consist of just one sentence (for example a slogan or a proverb), it is

not true that any sequence of sentences makes up a text:

● Life is a game, go for it!

● One of the most impressive ruins in England, this former royal castle was besieged

by parliamentary forces in 1646. It was darkening slowly outside. I'm going to be

sharing a flat with three others.

Sometimes the term discourse is used specifically to refer to conversation, but we are using

it in the more general sense of a linguistic unit, be it spoken or written, larger than a

sentence.

TEXT AND TEXTUAKITY

The phenomenon of sentences belonging together is known as textuality.

Cohesion is an umbrella term for a range of linguistic strategies which enable us to say that

sentences belong together:

- Lexical cohesion

- Grammatical cohesion

In Cohesion in English, M.A.K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan identify five general categories

of cohesive devices that create coherence in texts:

lexical cohesion, reference, ellipsis, substitution, and conjunction.

LEXICAL COHESION

Words and meaning of words can give a text cohesion through:

– repetitions

– synonyms, antonyms

– words which have a close connection

– words belonging to the same semantic field

– lexical links between sentences

● Lexical cohesion refers to the way related words are chosen to link elements of a

text. Two forms of lexical cohesion: repetition and collocation.

● Repetition uses the same word, or synonyms, antonyms, etc. For example, "Which

dress are you going to wear?" – "I will wear my green frock," uses the synonyms

"dress" and "frock" for lexical cohesion.

● Collocation uses related words that typically go together or tend to repeat the same

meaning. An example is the phrase "once upon a time".

EXTRACT 1

There’s much more to Italian food than pizza and pasta, and this Venice tasting tour offers a

delicious introduction to Venetian cuisine. Get an insider’s perspective on where to drink and

dine in the city, and sample an array of local specialties including fresh seafood, homemade

gelato, traditional Venetian cookies, and regional wines. Visit several bars, restaurants and

foodie hotspots around Venice. Sample different regional foods, like fresh seafood, Venetian

wines, and homemade ice-cream. Admire the beautiful canals and historic landmarks of

Venice on a guided walking tour. Small-group tour ensures a personalized experience.

EXTRACT 2

This tour will take you along some of the most beautiful art cities of Italy, giving you a real

taste of the food and culture of the region. Discover the most authentic Italian food and

culinary traditions from local markets to boutique wineries, meeting producers of excellent

“made in Italy” foods and wines. In this gastronomic adventure from South to North, you will

have the chance to taste high-quality products, get involved in cooking classes, learn about

the production process and understand the different regional cuisines. Through food and

wine, you will step into the most authentic side of Italy. Combining culture and taste you will

discover hidden gems of the most beautiful Italian cities eating like a local with locals!

EXTRACT 3

The aim of this article is to present the results of a questionnaire-based study carried out as

part of the author’s Master’s Degree dissertation about Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-

hearing (SDH). In particular, the need to gather specific information regarding audience

design will be highlighted in the paper, since this research field has long been neglected in

Italy. The questions were aimed at shedding light on the needs, cultural environment and

world-view of Italian SDH users, by eliciting personal data as well as subtitle-related

information. Moreover, the 232 respondents were asked to suggest improvements to SDH

services in Italy. Although these first results cannot allow definite conclusions because of the

limited number of respondents to the survey, they might prove to be helpful for professional

translators and subtitlers to better know their intended recipients." 29/03

Sentence types and other structural variations

SENTENCE TYPES

Type use example

declarative statement You are wearing a

new dress.

interrogative question Are you wearing a

new dress?

imperative directive Buy yourself a new

dress!

exclamative exclamation What a lovely new

dress you are

wearing.

Syntactic form function example

declarative statement You are wearing a new

dress.

interrogative question Are you wearing a new

dress?

imperative directive Buy yourself a new dress!

exclamative exclamation What a lovely new dress

you are wearing.

N.B sometimes form and function do no correspond

- That coffe is very hot! (statement or exclamation?)

- Are you wearing a new dress? (question or exclamation?)

DECLARATIVE SENTENCES

Declarative sentences are normally used to make statements. Their structure is as follows

(SVOC):

Overt Subject +verb element + necessary verb complementation

In addition they can also contain one or more adverbial elements

Philip will visit his dentist in Oxford today.

S V O A A

The adverbial elements provide additional information which are not essential for the

sentence to be complete.

A declarative sentence is normally used to make a statement, but it may have more specific

purposes.

Some verbs have a very precise purpose in that the actual uttering of those verbs performs

the function to which they refer. When they are used in the first person singular, they are in

the present tense and in the declarative context, they are called performative verbs.

For example:

● I promise I won’t tell anyone your secret -> make a promise.

● I swear I will tell the truth -> the oath is pronounced.

● I name this ship Titanic -> the ship obtains its official name.

● I now pronounce you husband and wife - > changes the status of the couple.

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

Interrogative sentences are normally used to ask questions. There are two types of

interrogative sentences depending on the type of answer they elicit, either straightforward

answers or answer requiring specific information (even if involving just one word)

1) Yes/no-questions ->Are you tired?

2) Wh-questions -> What are you doing?

The structure of an interrogative sentence differs from the structure of a declarative

sentence:

a change of position between the subject and the verb occurs in the case of the verb to be;

for other verbs we need an auxiliary verb which works as the operator. It is the operator

which changes places with the subject while the rest of the verb phrase retains its position

after the subject.

SUBJECT-OPERATOR INVERSION

● If the verb phrase already contains an operator - > in other words there is already an

auxiliary in the verb phrase -> no need to add the auxiliary do:

– Admitted dogs must be kept on a lead

– Must admitted dogs be kept on a lead?

● If the verb phrase contains more than one auxiliary, then it is the first auxiliary which

is the operator and it is the operator that carries tense;

– They should have arrived earlier

– Should they have arrived earlier?

● the formation of wh- questions also requires subject-operator inversion

WH-QUESTIONS

● The formation of Wh- questions usually requires a subject- operator inversion but

two additional processes are involved:

– the substitution of a sentence element with a Wh-word

– the bringing of this element to the front

● The Italian swimmer won the cup.

● What did the Italian swimmer win?

The object element (the cup) has been replaced by a wh-pronoun and brought to the

front of the sentence. In addition a subject-operator inversion has taken place. The

primary auxiliary verb did has been added