Riassunto esame Linguistica inglese, prof.ssa Maggioni, libro consigliato A handbook of presentday English, Pulcini

BE

The passive voice is employed in specific registers or with specific functions. For instance, it is used when one does

not know or does not want to specify the agent, or if one wants to highlight the receiver of affected entity of the

action. The passive voice is also frequently adopted in academic journal articles or essay. The main function of the

passive in such texts is to focus on the methodology and findings, as well to convey a more personal impersonal

and formal style. In the news, the passive voice is often adopted when reporting negative events of which the

agent is unknown or should be omitted.

The VP can also express a distinction in terms of shades of meaning through the use of modal verbs. English verbs

can thus be marked for modality. Modal verbs function as auxiliary verbs. There are nine central modal auxiliary

verbs in English: can, could may, might, shall, should, will, would and must. English also has some semi-modals,

which are multi-word verbs which behave like modals verbs: need (to), have to, have got to, ought to, had better,

used to, be supposed to, be going to.

In terms of meaning, modal auxiliaries express point of view or stance (the speaker's attitude towards what is

being said). Modals can be divided in three main groups according to their meaning:

1. permission/possibility/ability;

2. obligation/logical necessity;

3. volition/prediction;

Modality can be of two main kinds:

a) deontic or intrinsic modality: it refers to actions or events that can be controlled by humans. This type of

modality involves permission, ability, obligation, advise, volition or intention. Modal verbs that express

deontic or intrinsic modality are: can, could, may, might, must, should, have got to, had better, ought to, need

to, be supposed to, will, would, shall, be going to.

b) epistemic or extrinsic modality: it refers to different levels of likelihood or certainty of a specific event or

state. Epistemic modality expresses different degrees of possibility or probability of a fact; it is related to

human judgement of whether an event or state is possible, probable or certain. This type of modality involves

possibility, necessity and prediction. Epistemic modality is expressed by the modal verbs may, might, can,

could, must, have to, have got to, be supposed to, ought to, will, would, shall and be going to.

3.2.3 The Adjective Phrase – An adjective phrase is a phrase which has an adjective as its head. It can consist of a

single adjective or of an adjective with pre- and/or post-modifiers. Modifiers can be single words, phrases or

clauses.

A head adjective is frequently pre-modified by an adverb, while the most frequent post-modifiers are PPs or

clauses.

Pre-modifiers in an AdjP can be:

adverbs;

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occasionally, a NP.

-

Post-modifiers

adverbs;

- a PP made up of Prep + NP;

- a preposition followed by a VP;

- a that-clause;

- a -ing clause introduced by a preposition.

-

3.2.4. The Adverb Phrase – The adverb phrase is a phrase which has an adverb as its head. AdvPs can consist of a

single adverb or of an adverb accompanied by modifying elements. Modifiers are similar to the ones found in

AdjPs. Frequent pre-modifiers are degree adverbs such as very, rather, quite, extremely and fairly. Frequent

post-modifiers are the adverbs enough and indeed. An AdvPs conveys information related to circumstances such

as manner, frequency, time, modality, place, degree or point of view or it links clauses.

As regard they sybtactic role, AdvPs can modify:

an AdjP;

- a VP;

- a clause, if they express modality, point of view or evaluation.

-

3.2.5 The Preposition Phrase – A prepositional phrase (PP) is a phrase which has a preposition as head, which is

followed by another element, usually a NP. The element that follows the preposition is called the complement of

the preposition (C). The C of the preposition may sometimes be a clause (a relative clause, an -ing clause or a

wh-clause).

PPs can occur in different positions in clauses, as they usually modify other phrases and they can post-modify

head nouns. They can also post-modify head adjectives or adverbs in AdjPs and AdvPs. PPs are the most common

post-modifiers in NPs, and the most frequent PPs begin with of, in, for, on, to and with.

PPs can cause ambiguity of meaning in clauses → Ex: The doorkeeper hit the woman with the umbrella = The

doorkeeper used the umbrella to hit the woman VS The doorkeeper hit the woman who was carrying the umbrella.

3.3 Clause elements – Phrases function as clause elements. Each clause element has a specific grammatical

function in relation to the linguistic system. There are five major clause elements: subject (S), object (O), verb (V),

complement (C) and adverbial (A).



The subject element (S) in a clause is its topic, what the clause is about. The S it's obligatory in English, and its

position is typically before the verb element, except in interrogative clauses. The S determines the number of the

verb element. In term of form, the S element is most typically a NP or a pronoun.

There are clauses which contain a dummy S which do not carry semantic content. The dummy S it or there fills the

S slot before the verb element, but is semantically empty, while a second S follows the verb and is called

extraposed S. → It really hurts me to be going away or It was a big mistake to call him again.



The verb element (V) is a VP. As previously highlighted, the verb element can express tense, aspect, voice and

modality. It agrees in number with the S element, it is usually obligatory and it is the central part of the clause

since it controls the other elements. This means that the lexical verbs in the VP dictates what type of clause

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elements, if any, can follow the verb.

The omission of the A element would result in a grammatically incomplete clause. This close relationship between

the lexical verb and the other elements preceding or following the verb in the clause is called verb

complementation. This notion refers to the fact that the verb determines the type of obligatory clause elements

that “complement” or can be added to the verb in order to make the clause grammatically complete.

Lexical verbs are classified according to the number and type of clause elements that they require an the patterns

they can create, known as valency pattern. Verbs can thus be one-place verbs (they combine only with a S),

two-places verbs (they combine with a S and another element) and three-places verbs (they combine with a S

and two other elements). Depending on the verbs complementation or valency pattern they allow, lexical verbs

can thus be classified in:

intransitive: clause pattern S + V;

- monotransitive: clause pattern S + V + O (direct object);

- d

ditransitive: clause pattern S + V + O (indirect object) + O ;

- i d

complex transitive: two clause patterns → 1. S + V + O + C (object complement) or 2. S + V + O + A

- d o d

(obligatory adverbial);

copular: two clause patterns → 1. S + V + C (subject complement) or 2. S + V + A.

- s

A clause can be divided into two parts: the subject (what the clause is about, its topic) and the predicate (what is

said about the Subject). The predicate consists of the verb element and its verb complementation → You (S) must

tell me the truth (P).



The object element (O) follows the verb and is affected by it. Objects only occur after transitive verbs. There are

two types of objects:

the direct object (O ): it refers to the entity which is directly affected by the process or action denoted by the

- d

verb. The O is typically a NP, but it can also be a subordinate clause;

d

the indirect object (O ): is the entity which receive something or benefits from the action or process

- i

expressed by the verb. The indirect object is found only with ditransitive verbs but also the O is usually

i

placed between the verb and the O and immediately follows the verb element. The O is typically a NP, but it

d i

can also be a PP or a subordinate nominal clause.



The complement (C) is an obligatory clause element which characterises or describes the S or the O, providing

information about them.

There are thus two types of complement:

subject complement (C ) follows a copular verb such as be, feel, seem, appear, look, remain, stay, become,

- s

turn, sound, taste. The C is often an AdjP, a NP or a PP but it can also be a subordinate nominal clause and it

s

correspond to the Italian complemento predicativo del soggetto;

object complement (C ): follows the direct object it characterises, and occurs with complex transitive verbs

- o

such as make, elect, consider, name, find, regard (as), call, see and get. The C is typically a NP or an AdjP, but

o

it can also be a PP or a subordinate clause.

 Adverbials (A), also called adjuncts in some grammars, are usually optional elements added to the main,

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obligatory elements of a sentence. They can be of different types:

circumstance adverbials: they add information about the circumstance so the event, situation or state

- described by the clause. They answer to the question “Where? When? How? How much? Why? How long?”.

They can be adverbials of place, time, manner, process, reason, purpose, condition and degree;

stance adverbials: they add extra information about the speaker’s/writer’s feelings, attitude and opinion

- towards what is being said by the clause and this adverbials are always optional;

linking adverbials: they connect clauses or parts of clauses, therefore they do not add information as to what

- the clause is about; instead they have a linking function like nevertheless, however, in conclusion, yet, first.

The syntactic or grammatical role of adverbial can be filled by adverbs, AdvPs, PPs, NPs and subordinate clauses.

3.4 Types of Clauses – Phrases combine to form clauses. A clause is a larger grammatical unit which consists of

one or more phrases and which typically contains a VP around which other elements may be added (S - O - C - A ).

s s s

There are different types of clauses according to their structure or their function. We can distinguish:

finite VS non-finite-clauses: whether the VP is finite or non-finite and this distinction is based on the form of

- the clause;

main clauses VS subordinate clauses: whether the clause can stand on its own or whether it cannot stand

- alone and this distinction is based on the function of the clause;

declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamative clauses: this distinction is based on the clause structure

- and on its function – these are called clause types;

simple clauses, compound clauses and complex clauses: according to their structure, clauses can be classified

- as simple clauses if they consist of a main clause only, compound clauses if they are made up of coordinate

clauses or complex clauses if they consist of a main and a dependent clause.

3.5 Main Clauses – According to their structure, main clauses are classified into four major clause types.

1. declarative