Appunti inglese II - sintassi syntax

Phrases

Five classes of phrases

The five classes of phrases are noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases. All phrases can be expanded but the head is always the same, and it is the first thing to identify to translate the sentence. Prepositional phrases consist of a preposition that doesn’t mean anything alone and an embedded noun phrase.

Noun phrase

A noun phrase is a word or group of words containing a noun and functioning in a sentence as subject, object (direct, indirect), or object of a preposition.

• Subject: The yellow house is for sale.
• Direct object: I want a skateboard.
• Indirect object: Lisa gave the little boy a candy.
• Object of a preposition: Jeff rode on a skateboard.

Components of noun phrases

Determiners determine the reference of the noun. Pre-modification includes all the modifying or describing constituents before the head, such as noun, noun phrase, or adjective. The head is the lexical item central to the phrase, and some crucial information would be missing without it (usually a noun). Post-modification involves the modifying constituents after the head, like prepositional phrases and clauses.

Determiners

You can have three determiners in one sentence, but they have to be from different subcategories (pre, central, post).

Predeterminers

• Quantifiers (all, both, half): followed by the+noun or this/these+noun
  • All/All of the ministers resigned
  • All of them
  • Both/both of the boys are clever
  • Both of them
  • Half/half of the size
  • Half of them
• Intensifiers: such, quite, rather, what
  • It was quite a small house
• Multipliers (twice, double): followed by the+noun
  • She earns twice the salary of her husband
• Fractions (one-third, two fifths):
  • He spends one-third of his salary on transportation

Central determiners

• Articles
• Pronouns
• Negative

Post determiners

• Numbers: cardinals and ordinals. Ordinals always precede cardinals.
  • The first two apples
• General ordinals: last, next, other, another, previous
• Quantifiers: many, few, several, much, little, etc. They precede the noun.
  • The few remaining apples (central d., post d., pre-modifier, head).

Premodifiers

Pre-modifiers are words that modify the head they refer to and come before the noun itself. They can be nouns, adjectives, and nouns in the possessive form, or participles (-ing and -ed forms).

• A leather jacket
• These sweet donuts
• The children’s playground
• A deserved success
• The then teacher
• A rather nice invitation (central determiner, adverb phrase, adjective phrase, head)

AdvP and AdjP are embedded in the NP.

Head

Pronouns, cardinal numerals, and some adjectives in a pronominal position may function as the head in a noun phrase:

• Anyone may come
• The magnificent seven
• The innocent were allowed to leave

Postmodifiers

They can be phrases and clauses.

Phrases

• Prepositional phrases: very common. Example: A game of cards.
• Adverb phrases: only occur after the noun when referring to time or place. Example: The trip abroad.
• Adjective phrases: very rarely after the noun. Example: The president elect.

Clauses

• Relative clauses: The man I met yesterday.
• That-clauses: The belief that God exists.
• Comparative clauses: Rachel gave a louder cry than Miriam did.
• Non-finite clauses: -ing, -ed, infinitive clauses. Example: The book devoured by Chiara; The storm brewing at sea; a place to stay (both relative clauses).

Adjective phrases

An adjective phrase consists of an adjective and all of its modifiers and complements. The smallest possible adjective phrase therefore consists of just an adjective. The adjective is always the head of the phrase.

Adjective phrases (AdjPs) function in two ways:

Within a noun phrase

To modify a head noun or pronoun (attributive and postmodifying): the adjective can either precede or follow the head. If the head is an indefinite pronoun, an AdjP that modifies it must follow the pronoun. If the head is a noun, the AdjP must precede it.

• Anybody clever should be able to turn that thing into something quite useful.
• A clever person should be able to turn that thing into a quite useful object.

Directly in a predicate

To predicate something about a subject or object. If a predicate adjective phrase is about the subject, the AdjP is a subject complement; if it is about the object, then it is an object complement.

• Sharon is clever (subject complement)
• They called me stupid (object complement)

Constituents of adjective phrases

The adjective phrase in English has three functional constituents:

• Premodification: Modifying, describing, or qualifying constituents which precede the head (intensifiers, adverbs).
• Head: Adjective or participle serving as the focus of the phrase.
• Postmodification: Complements the specification of a meaning implied by the head (prepositional phrases or infinitive clauses).

Examples:

• It’s partly cloudy
• She is so extremely sweet
• He was excited indeed
• He is very energetic for his age
• It’s too good to be true

Adverb phrases

Adverbs

Adverbs answer questions like:

• When? She always arrives early.
• How? In what way? He drives carefully. She eats slowly.
• Where? They go everywhere together.
• To what extent? It is terribly hot.

Common adverbs in English:

• Only, just, well, still, how, next
• Adverbs of manner (modo): really, well, slow, fast, hard, better, together
• Adverbs of degree: more, just, so, very, quite, rather, almost, enough, too, rather, very.
• Adverbs of frequency: always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, never.
• Adverbs of time: now, today, yesterday, tomorrow, later, before, after.
• Adverbs of place: here, there, nowhere, inside, underground, everywhere, upstairs, east.

Structure of adverb phrases

An adverb phrase consists of an adverb head and all its modifiers. Only adverb phrases can modify adverbs, but adverbs can have various types of complementation.

• Premodifiers: adverb or adverb phrase
• Head: adverb
• Postmodifier: adverb (enough or indeed), prepositional phrase, infinitive clause

Examples:

• It doesn’t matter however fast you run
• She is formerly of Cincinnati
• She skates so very well indeed
• We drove too quickly to see well

Adjectives and adverbs are usually premodified by intensifiers.