1 ENGLISH SYNTAX I Bimestre Escuela: Inglés Nombres: Dra. María Rosario Burneo B. Fecha: Abril/Agosto 2009
Jan 20, 2015
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ENGLISH SYNTAXI Bimestre
Escuela: Inglés
Nombres: Dra. María Rosario Burneo B.
Fecha: Abril/Agosto 2009
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FIRST PART
UNITS I, II AND III
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LANGUAGE
language is a social, cultural and psychological phenomenon that
serves the purpose of communication among human beings
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LINGUISTICS
Linguistics can be defined as the study of human language
in all its manifestations.
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LINGUISTICS
Linguistics focuses on different aspects of the language, such as:Word formation and inflection; (Morphology); Sounds (Phonology).Structure (Syntax).Meaning (Semantics), and The relationship between language use and society (Pragmatics).
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UNIT ONE: BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURES
Lexical categories are word based: noun, verb, adjective.
Phrasal categories are phrase-based: noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, etc.
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Linguistic Phenomena
Anaphora (or anaphor) is a linguistic phenomenon referring to entities mentioned before in the same sentence or discourse:
Mary likes her new job. Students and teachers feel tired.
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Linguistic Phenomena
Coordination uses conjunctions to join words or phrases belonging to the same category:
Teachers and students are attending a lecture
Recursion enables speakers to make use of a finite set of rules to generate an infinite number of sentences.
Mike, who is a doctor, lives next door.
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Linguistic Phenomena
Distribution states which words and phrases can appear in a particular position in a sentence.
For example: NPs can appear in subject or
object position.
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LINGUISTIC PHENOMENA
Intrusión refers to the insertion of parenthetical expressions like “I guess”, “certainly”, usually” and others.
I guess, it is fine
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Core Sentence Patterns
Core sentence patterns are basic strings of words that express meaning and have an associated structural description called Base Phrase Marker.
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Core Sentence Patterns
A Base Phrase Marker is a tree diagram used to show the structure of phrases, clauses and sentences in a graphic way.
S NP VP Det. N V NP My son wants a car
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The Five Core Patterns
PATTERN ONE S = NP + VP intransitive + (Adv.P) Mike walks slowly Elizabeth runs
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PATTERN TWO
S = NP + VP linking + NP
George became a doctorS = NP + VP linking + Adj. Phrase
Mr. Johnson looks tired
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Pattern THREE
It is built around one-place transitive verbs.
S = NP+VP one-place trans+ NP Robert washed his car
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Pattern FOUR
This pattern has two versions:1.S = NP + VP transitive +NP + NP +
(Adv.P)
Rose gave him an interesting book
- This structure takes two objects, a DO and an IO.
- I bought a car for my son yesterday.
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Pattern FOUR
2. S = NP + VP transitive + NP + NP
He considers Bush a good person
The first NP functions as the object and the second one as the complement.
S = NP + VP transitive + NP + Adj.P
Most boys consider soccer important.
S = NP + VP + NP + Inf.P
People consider politicians to be very bad
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OBJECTS
DIRECT OBJECT Mike bought a new car INDIRECT OBJECT Mike gave me a book OBJECT OF PREPOSITION (also
called Oblique object) Mike bought a book for me
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Pattern FIVE
This pattern is built around the verb BE.
S = NP + VP be + NP Martha is a teacher S = NP + VP be + Adj.P Martha is smart S = NP + VP be + Adv.P Martha is in the classroom
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UNIT TWO: ENGLISH PHRASE STRUCTURES
Constituents can be lexical (words) or phrasal (phrases). Words form phrases: This new house det. Adj. noun Phrases form clauses: This new house is beautiful NP PV
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The Noun Phrase
Three different types of noun phrases can be distinguished according to their structure:
1. Anaphor: reciprocal and reflexive:
Mike and Ann love each other Linda cut herself
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The Noun Phrase
Three different types of noun phrases can be distinguished according to their structure:
1. Anaphor: reciprocal and reflexive:
Mike and Ann love each other Linda cut herself
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PRONOUNS Personal Pronouns: - Nominative pronouns function as
subjects (I, YOU ...) - Accusative pronouns function as
objects of verbs (me, us) - Dative pronouns function as
objects of prepositions (for me, ) - Genitive pronouns indicate
possession (mine, yours, etc.)
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Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns refer back to the subject in the same clause. Reflexive pronouns can function as:
Direct object: I cut myself.
Indirect object: Tom bought himself a car.
Object of prep.: May lives by herself
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Demonstratives
They may function as both, pronouns and determiners.
As pronouns: That is my book As determiners: That book is mine
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Functions of Noun Phrases
A noun phrase is a string of words headed by a noun and which expresses meaning.
According to its external syntax, a noun phrase may function as a subject, as an object and as a complement:
Those boys play tennis very well My friend sold his old car He is a dentist
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Types of Noun Phrases according to their structure Elementary noun phrases may
consist of proper nouns and pronouns.
You came yesterday (Nominative) Mike gave me a book
(Accusative) Mike is in his company (Genitive) Robert likes to hunt (Proper NP)
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Types of Noun Phrases
Noun phrases have nouns as their heads. A head noun is the word that dictates the internal structure of the phrase.
Proper nouns Carlos is very smart Common noun phrases Cats are beautiful
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Elementary Noun Phrases
1. Elementary noun phrases introduced by determiners: This cat
The moon2. Elementary noun phrases introduced
by genitives: Mike’s car Your house3. Noun phrases introduced by quantity
words: Some workers Much water
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Partitive Noun Phrases
Partitive Noun Phrases can be:
1. Introduced by quantity words:
Some of his money
2. Introduced by measure words:
One pound of sugar
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Types of Noun Phrases
3. Introduced by the words ALL and BOTH:
Rose met all her classmates. Rose met all of her
classmates. Both students attended that
class. Both of the students attended
that class.
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THE VERB: Tense, aspect and ModalityTense communicates information
about the time in which an action or event happens.
Present tense Past tense Future tense (uses periphrastic
expressions). These are extra words as WILL.
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Aspect
Aspect indicates the way an action or event is seen or experienced. It can be ongoing or resultant.
The progressive aspect is ongoing. María is washing her car. The Perfect aspect is resultant. Experts have predicted a new crisis.
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Modality
Mood refers to the purpose of a sentence. It can be:
- Indicative for statements
- Interrogative for questions
- Imperative for commands
- Subjunctive for wishes
- Conditional for possibility, certainty, obligation, necessity, promise or threat
This book might become a best seller
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Action and Belief Modalities
The Action (or deontic) modality involves language and potential action. It is used to make promises, to order, or to place an obligation.
No smoking (order) I promise to help you (promise) Can you help me? (request)
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Belief Modality
The Belief (or epistemic) modality involves possibility, certainty, and necessity. I suppose that the children are hungry. It might rain tonight
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UNIT THREE The Internal and External
Syntax of PhrasesInternal Syntax refers to the way words are put together to form phrases or clauses.
External syntax refers to the function constituents (as phrases) might perform in a sentence or clause.
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Subcategorization
Each word has a set of syntactic features indicating the context in which it can be inserted.
Ken broke the window –Brake: V + NP
Catty put the pen on the desk– Put: V
+ NP + PP
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Noun Phrases as Complements
NPs can function as subjects, objects and complements.
In complement position, they function as arguments and as predicates.
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Arguments and Predicates
As arguments they indicate that the subject plays certain role:
That hunter killed a lion As predicates, they provide
information about the subject Mike is a soldier
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Complements
Infinitives as verb phrase complements: That bird seems to be sick Infinitives as complements of adjectives:
We are eager to travel to Europe. Infinitives as complement of nouns: The plan to save wild life is good.
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God bless you
Thank you
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