English theoretical module II

English theoretical module: Syntax categories

Categories

Categories can be divided into two different classes: lexical and functional (or grammatical). The first one includes: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition. Lexical categories are the heads of phrases. The second one includes: determiner, auxiliary, coordinator and complementizer. They don’t contribute to the meaning of a sentence but determine the syntax of it.

Lexical categories

Noun

Morphology: Plural –s with few exceptions; possessive ’s; affixes: er, ism; some end in –ity, -ness, -ation, -er, -ion, -ment.

Syntax: May follow the/a and this/that/these/those; may be modified by an adjective; may be followed by preposition and noun.

Semantics: Person, place and things.

Verb

Morphology: Past tense –ed with a few exceptions; third person singular agreement –s; some end in –ize, -ate.

Syntax: May follow an auxiliary; may be modified by adverb; may be followed by noun or preposition and noun.

Semantics: Act, event, state, emotion.

Adjectives

(Adjectives can modify only a noun)

Morphology: End in –ous, -ary, -al, -ic; mostly have no –ly; can be participles.

Syntax: Modify nouns.

Semantics: Describe qualities typical of nouns (e.g., nationality, color, size).

Adverbs

Adverbs can modify a verb, an adjective or an adverb as well.

Adverb(ial) can be divided into:

• Adjuncts: Provide information on when, where, how, what (e.g., yesterday, there, quickly).
• Conjuncts: Used to conjoin clauses (e.g., besides, also).
• Disjuncts: Used to comment on what is being said (e.g., amazingly, Mara married Arnold).

Morphology: End in –ly, -wise, -ways or have no ending (e.g., fast, now).

Syntax: Modify verbs, adjectives or adverbs (DEGREE ADVERB).

Semantics: Describe qualities of verbs (e.g., place, manner, duration) and of adjectives/adverbs.

Grammatical or functional categories

Determiner

• Quantifier: Some, many, all, few(er).
• Article: The, a.
• Demonstrative: That, this, these, those.
• Possessive: My, your, etc. Possessive nouns.
• Interrogative: Whose, what, which, etc.
• Numeral: One, two, etc.

Auxiliary (AUX)

The auxiliary verbs cannot occur on their own and they can be divided into:

• Primary auxiliaries: do, have, be;
• Modals: can/could, shall/should, will/would, may/might, must

Modals are used to mark modality:

• Deontic: Degree of obligation.
• Epistemic: Degree of likelihood.
• Dynamic: Degree to do something.

Verbs like have and be can be lexical verbs or auxiliaries.

Examples:

• I have a book in my hand.
• I have worked here for 15 years.
• That man is a hard worker.
• That reindeer may be working too hard.

Conjunctions

They are divided into:

• Coordinating: and, or, but.
• Subordinating or Complementizer: although, because, after, that, as far as, provided that, neither ...nor, either ... or.

BCA: Complementizer introduces a sentence (e.g., because he left);

A preposition introduces a noun (e.g., about the book);

An adverb is on its own (e.g., she went out).

Pronouns

• Primary pronouns: Personal (SUBJ → I, you, he... OBJ → me, you, him...); Possessive (DEPENDENT → my, your, his... INDEPENDENT → mine, yours, his); Reflexive (myself, yourself...); ONE (that red one).
• Wh-words: Interrogative: who, whom, whose, what, which; INT CLAUSERelative: who, whom, which, that; RELCLAUSE Nominal relative pronouns: who, whoever, whom, whomever, which, whichever, what, whatever; NOM CLAUSE Conditional pronouns: whoever, whomever, whichever, whatever. COND CLAUSE
• Indefinite: Some, someone, somebody, something, any, anyone, none, no one, nobody, nothing, all, everyone...
• Demonstrative: This, these, that, those
• Numerals: Cardinal, ordinal, fractions

Wh-words

Wh-Adv: How, when, where, why

Examples: When did he telephone her? How irritating that person is.

Wh-pronoun: What, which, whom, whose

Examples: Who has a flat in Majorca? This is the car which I want to buy.

Wh-determiner: What, which, whose

Examples: Which book did you choose? This is the person whose car I’m buying.

Wh-relative pronoun:

Form

VP V + complements (NP-PP-ADJP) PP P+NPS NP+VP Coordinators (AND-OR-BUT) They have a 3-branches tree where NP-NP, VP-VP, PP-PP.

Example: Books and magazines NP NP + C + BP Apposition NP is sister to NP and the second NP can replace