English theoretical module II

ADVERB).

SEMANTICS Describe qualities of verbs (e.g place,

manner, duration) and of adj/advs.

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.

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 (simple or complex): although, because, after, that, as far as,

provided that, neither ...nor, either ... or;

BC

A Complementizer introduces a sentence (because he left);

A preposition introduces a noun (about the book);

An Adverb is on its own (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 CLAUSE

Relative: who, whom, which, that; REL

CLAUSE

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

When did he telephone her?

How irritating that person is.

Wh-pronoun

What,which,whom, whose

Who has a flat in Majorca?

This is the car which I want to buy.

Wh-determiner

What,which, whose

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+NP

S NP+VP

Coordinators (AND-OR-BUT)

They have a 3-branches tree where NP-NP, VP-VP, PP-PP.

Ex.

Books and magazines

NP NP + C + BP

Apposition

NP is sister to NP and the second NP can replace the first.

Ex.

We the people of the United States or My cousin George

NP NP + NP

FUNCTION

Subject

It’s the NP which determines agreement on the verb.

There DUMMY subj. It’s used when no other subject occupies the position in the beginning of the sentence.

Indirect object

It’s preceded by TO in case of goal.

Ex.

I gave a letter TO Santa.

It’s preceded by FOR in case of beneficiary.

Ex.

I made some soup for Harry.

Subject predicate (complement)

it's usually used with copular/linking verb (How?)

It’s usually realized as an ADJP (but also can be NP or PP); it can’t be removed. Verbs used in the sentence

with it are: be, become, feel, look, grow, smell, act, go, get, fall, keep, look, remain, seem, smell, stay, sound,

taste, represent, known as, turn. You can put be or become instead of them.

we can’t remove them

Ex.

It’s nice/it feels nice +ADJP

He’s a nice person +NP

He’s in the garden +PP

Object predicate (complement)

It says something about the DIRECT OBJECT and it can be ADJP-NP-PP. Verbs used in the sentence with it

are: consider, think, find, know, put, call.

Ex.

I consider Sabina (d.O.) very smart (object predicate).

I know Chandra (d.O.) to be nice (object predicate).

 S + V + DO + OC

N.B.

Subject and predicate are both DAUGHTER of S.

Subject predicate and indirect or direct object are both sisters to V.

Types of verb

Intransitive: NO COMPLEMENT (sister to V);

Transitive: ONE DIRECT OBJECT (sister to V);

Ditransitive: ONE DIRECT OBJECT + ONE INDIRECT OBJECT (sister to V and 3branches tree);

Copula: ONE SUBJECT PREDICATE (sister to V);

Complex transitive: ONE DIRECT OBJECT +ONE OBJECT PREDICATE (sister to V and presence of a

small clause SC. A small clause is a clause where the verb is deleted (She found it to be nice.

Light verbs: verbs combine with nous such as take a look, give advice, make a decision.

Adverbials

We have to remember that we talk about adverb when we deal with the FORM, and adverbial when we deal

with the FUNCTION. Not always it’s realized as an adverb but it can be PP or NP or also clauses.

VP-adverbials (it modifies the action of the VP):

An adverbial can NEVER functions as a subject;

When it modifies a verb, it expresses information about place, time, manner (like a professional, with grace)

and cause but also duration (for 20 years), frequency (five times/for hours), means (by bus), reason (for love,

because of..)

S-adverbials (it doesn’t modify the action of the VP):

It expresses the mood and views of the speaker (fortunately, actually, indeed, of course ...);

ADVP sister to S and both daughter of another S.

N.B.

ADVERBIAL is sister to V’ and they could all be removed.

Prepositional object

We usually called prepositional verb those which require a PP that is considered as an object and not as an

adverbial. They can be passivized.

Verbs: abide by, refer to, glance at, add to, allow for, care for, insist on, apply for, reply to, put on, switch

on/off, lend in, make out.

When we draw the tree the preposition is separated by the verb and P+NP (PP) is sister to V.

Ex.

They abided by the contract ( prepositional object)

N.B.

By the contract is the PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT

The contract is the OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION

Phrasal object

The P with those verbs has became a particle (d.O.) because the preposition CAN’T be separated by the verb,

so there’s no PP but a separated NP. NP sister to V.

Phrasal prepositional verb

Verb + particle + preposition + NP

Ex.

Orrmm will not put up with that noise (prepositional object).

The verb group (VGP)

A VP can have only one lexical verb but up to four auxiliary verbs such as modals, perfetc have (have +ed),

progressive (be + -ing) and passive (be +ed).

Dummy do it’s only inserted in questions or negative sentences with NOT or for emphasis.

Ex.

Does he know the answer?

Dummy do occurs only when there’s no other auxiliary verb.

Finite sentence complete sentence where subject and verb group agree.

Non-finite sentence no complete sentence where there isn’t an agreement with the subject (NO TENSE);

Infinitive (to talk);

Imperative;

-ing form.

Modality

Epistemic: certain about something, unsure about something, deem something impossible, opinion. Verbs

such as think, believe, assume, guess, suppose, hear;

Deontic: order, promises, obligation, wanting or willingness;

Dynamic: ability or inability to do something.

The deontic modality can be directive (possibility or necessity) as in “You may leave or you must leave”;

it can be commissive (promises, undertaking) as in “You shall be rewarded”;

it can be imperative as in “Come in!).

It refers to act not to propositions or when a modal verb is used to affect a situation by giving permission etc.

Instead, the epistemic modality can be:

• Impossibile: He will not be there;

• Improbable: He will probably not be there;

• Possible: He will possibly be there;

• Probable: He will probably be there;

• Certain: He will be there.

It’s related to the speaker’s belief or opinion about the validity of the pro position (speaker’s confidence or

lack of confidence in the truth of the proposition).

Mood

Imperative: there’s the absence of an overt subject and there’s no perfect but concerning passive, we find it in

negative form;

Ex.

Be quiet/help yourself.

Don’t be alarmed by it!

Subjunctive: third person without S. It has always a deontic meaning and we find it in the if-clauses.

Finite clauses

Complementizer phrase (CP)

CP can function inside another phrase as subject, indirect object, phrasal object (often a phrasal verb) or

adverbial but NOT as indirect object, object of prepositional or object predicate.

S is sister to C and both are daughters to CP

Direct object: CP is sister to V (I asked wheter he had seen her);

Subject: CP is sister to VP (That she laughed is nice);

Subject predicate: CP is sister to V (The problem is that she reads junks);

Adverbial after the main clause (because, before, often, unless, since): CP is sister to V’ (He read books

because it was requie);

Adverbial before the main clause: CP is sister to duplicate S (Because it was required, he reads books).

Coordinator phrase (and,or,but, nor, neither, so)

Coordinated clauses have no function in another clause, they’re equal.

It has a 3-branches tree where:

C can be sister to S and S;

C can be sister to VP and VP;

C can be sister to PP and PP.

Non-finite clauses

Non-finite clauses can only function as part of another sentence.

There are three kinds of non-finite clause:

VGP contains infinitives;

There are two types of infinitives:

With TO (I expected her TO GO) where it is put inside the VGP and called “infinitive marker”;

Without to (She made him LEAVE).

VGP contains present participles (-ing);

VGP contains past participles (ed).

NO tense, NO person, NO number marking.

NOT nominative (but accusative = I want him to go)

Complementizer phrase

The structure of the non-finite CP is similar to the finite one but it’s a little more reduced and it can have

empty positions.

Case 1: lack of the Complementizer.

CP C(ø) sister to S

Ex. I saw ø him crossing the street.

Case 2: lack of the subject (present/past participle).

CP C sister to S in which NP (ø) sister to VP.

Ex. While ø doing that, she fell

Case 3: lack of the Complementizer and the subject (infinitive, present/past participle)

CP C(ø) sister to S in which NP (ø) sister to VP

Ex. I want ø ø to do well.

Case 4: C position filled by FOR (no empty positions).

Ex. I want FOR you to do your homework.

Modifiers vs complements (structure of the NP)

Modifiers can be compared to adverbials in the VP and can precede or follow the head (ADJP er

Modifier sister to N’ (PP or AdjP)

The adverbial of the VP is called modifier when it occurs in the adjP, advP and NP.

Complements can be compared to objects of verbs. Complements a