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ASHORTOVERVIEWOFENGLISHSYNTAXBasedonTheCambridgeGrammaroftheEnglishLanguageRodneyHuddlestonTheUniversityofQueenslandThis
paper presents a brief account of English syntax based on The
Cambridge Grammar of the
EnglishLanguage,[1]providinganoverviewofthemainconstructionsandcategoriesinthelanguage.Thepresentversionis
intended primarily for members of the English Teachers' Association
of Queensland (ETAQ), offering
analternativeapproachtothatpresentedinthe2007volumeoftheirjournalWords`WorthbyLenoreFergusonunderthetitle`GrammarattheCoalface'inparticularthearticles`Thestructuralbasics'(March2007)and`Functionalelementsinaclause'(June2007).ImakeuseofconceptsdiscussedinmyownWords'Worthpaper`Aspectsofgrammar:
functions, complements and inflection' (March 2008), and take over
Functional Grammar's
usefulconventionofdistinguishingbetweenfunctionsandclassesbyusingan
initialcapital letter for the former:
thusSubjectisthenameofafunction,nounphrasethenameofaclass.1SENTENCEANDCLAUSEWedistinguishtwomaintypesofsentence:aclausalsentence,whichhastheformofasingleclause,andacompoundsentence,whichhastheformoftwoormorecoordinatedclauses,usuallyjoinedbyacoordinator(suchasand,or,but):[1]iSuewenttoLondonlastweek.[clausalsentence]
iiSuewenttoLondonlastweekandherfatherwentwithher.[compoundsentence]NotethatsuchanexampleasWestayedatthehotelwhichyourecommendedisalsoaclausalsentenceeventhoughitcontainstwoclauses.Thisisbecauseoneclause,whichyourecommended,ispartoftheother,ratherthanseparatefromit(morespecifically,thewhichyourecommended
ispartofthenounphrasethehotelwhichyourecommended) the larger clause
is thusWestayedat thehotelwhich you recommended, and this
doesconstitutethewholesentence,likethatin[i].
The fact that the two types of sentence are distinguished in
terms of clauses implies thatwe take theclause to be amore basic
unit than the sentence,which reflects the fact that in speech it
tends to bemoredifficult
todeterminetheboundariesbetweensentencesthantheboundariesbetweenclauses.Formostofthisoverviewwewillfocusonclauses:wereturntocoordinationinSection14.2CANONICALANDNONCANONICALCLAUSESWe
can describe the structure of clauses most economically if we
distinguish between the most basic
andelementarykindsofclause,whichwecallcanonicalclauses,andtherest.Theideaisthatwecanpresenttheanalysismoreclearlyifwebeginwithcanonicalclauses,describingthemdirectly,andthendealinturnwiththevarious
kinds of noncanonical clause, describing these indirectly, in terms
of how they differ from canonicalclauses.
Thefollowingpairedexampleswillgivesomeideaofwhatisinvolvedinthisdistinction:
[2]CanonicalNoncanonicalia.Shehasreadyourarticle.b.Shehasn'treadyourarticle.iia.Sueiscomingfordinner.b.IsSuecomingfordinner?iiia.Theyknewthevictim.b.Shesaidthattheyknewthevictim.iva.Hemissedthetrain.b.Eitherhemissedthetrainoritislate.va.Thesecretarytookthekey.b.Thekeywastakenbythesecretary.
Theseillustratethefollowingpropertiesofcanonicalclauses:oTheyarepositivenegativeclauseslike[ib]arenoncanonical.o
They are declarative interrogatives like [iib] are noncanonical, as
are the other clause types:
imperatives(e.g.Pleasestandup)andexclamatives(WhatafoolI'vebeen).oTheyaremainclausestheunderlinedclausein[iiib]issubordinateandhencenoncanonical.oTheyarenoncoordinatethetwounderlinedclausesin[ivb]arecoordinatedandhenceeachofthemis
noncanonical.oTheyareactivepassiveclauseslike[vb]arenoncanonical.Thisisamatterofinformationpackagingand
we can say,more generally, that canonical clauses package the
information in the
grammaticallymostbasicway.ThusIhavenowreadmostofthemiscanonicalbutMostofthemIhavenowreadisnot.
Therearetwofurtherpointsthatshouldbemadeatthispoint.
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(a)Inalltheaboveexamplesthenoncanonicalclausesdifferintheirstructurefromcanonicalclauses,butthisisnotalwaysso.In[iiib]thesubordinateclauseisintroducedbythatbutwecouldomitthis,givingShesaid
theyknewthevictim,wheretheunderlinedclauseisidenticalwith[iiia]neverthelessitisstillsubordinateandhencenoncanonical.
It issubordinatebyvirtueofbeingComplementof theverbsaid,but
thesubordinationhappensnottobemarkedintheinternalgrammaticalstructureoftheclauseitself.(b)Aclauseisnoncanonicalifitlacksatleastoneoftheaboveproperties.Itmayofcourselackmorethanoneof
them. Thus Wasn't the key taken by the secretary? has three
noncanonical properties: it is negative,interrogative and passive.
In the discussion below we will take the noncanonical properties in
turn with
theunderstandingthattheycancombine.3INITIALLISTINGOFTHEPARTSOFSPEECHWedistinguishnineprimarywordclasses,orpartsof
speech, touse the traditional term. In
thisoverviewweneedn'tworryabout interjections (wow,ah,hello, and
the like), which leaves uswith eight classes. They
arenamedandexemplifiedin[3]:[3]iVerbHeisill.Sheleftearly.Wewanttohelp.
iiNounThedogbarked.Suewoneasily.Iloveyou.iiiAdjectiveHe'sveryyoung.I'vegotasoreknee.Itlookseasy.ivAdverbShespokeclearly.You'reextremelyfit.HeworksveryhardvDeterminativeThedogbarked.I'vegotasoreknee.Weneedsomemilk.viPrepositionHe'sinthegarden.It'sfromyouruncle.WewenttoParis.viiCoordinatorWesawKimandPat.Hurryorwe'llbelate.It'scheapbutgood.viiiSubordinatorIknowthatit'strue.Askwhetherit'strue.Iwonderifit'strue.
Notethatweuse`determinative'asthenameofaclassand`Determiner'asthenameofafunction[2]weneedto
invoketheclassvsfunctiondistinctionheretocater for theconstruction
illustrated in thedoctor'scar. Herethe doctor's has the same
function, Determiner, as the in the car, but it is not a word and
hence not
adeterminative:asfarasitsclassisconcernedit'sanounphrase.
Theaboveschemediffersfromthatoftraditionalgrammarinthreerespects:oWetakepronounstobeasubclassofnouns,notadistinctprimaryclass.o
Traditional grammars generally take our determinatives to be a
subclass of adjectives, though some
recogniseaclassofarticlesconsistingoftheanda.Ourdeterminativeclassismuchlarger,containingnotjusttheanda,butalsowordslikesome,any,all,each,every,no,etc.theseareverydifferentfromwordslikethoseunderlinedin[iii].
o We have coordinator and subordinator as distinct primary
classes,whereas traditional grammar has
aprimaryclassofconjunctionssubdividedintocoordinatingandsubordinatingconjunctions.
4PHRASESForeachofthefirstsixofthewordclassesin[3]thereisacorrespondingclassofphraseswhoseHeadbelongstothatclass.Inthefollowingexamples,thephraseisenclosedinbracketsandtheHeadunderlined:[4]iVerbphraseShe[wrotesomeletters].He[isstillinLondon].
iiNounphrase[Thenewlodger]ishere.[Theboss]wantstosee[you].iiiAdjectivephraseIt'sgetting[ratherlate].I'm[gladyoucouldcome].ivAdverbphraseIspoke[toosoon].It's[quiteextraordinarily]good.vDeterminativephraseIsaw[almostevery]card.We've[verylittle]moneyleft.viPrepositionphraseThey're[inthegarden].Hewroteabook[onsharks].
5THESTRUCTUREOFCANONICALCLAUSES5.1SubjectandPredicateAcanonicalclauseconsistsofaSubjectfollowedbyaPredicate.ThePredicateisrealisedbyaverbphrasetheSubjectismostlyrealisedbyanounphrase,butthereareotherpossibilitiestoo,mostimportantlyasubordinateclause:[5]SubjectPredicate
iOneofhisfriends|calledadoctor.[nounphraseasSubject]iiThathewaslying|wasobvious.[subordinateclauseasSubject]
IncanonicalclausesdescribinganactiontheSubjectwillbeassociatedwiththesemanticroleofactor,oragent,as
in [5i].Butmany clausesdon't expressactions:weheardanexplosion, for
example, describes a sensoryexperience,andheretheSubject
isassociatedwiththeroleofexperiencer.TherearenumerousdifferentkindsofsemanticrolethatcanbeassociatedwiththeSubject:whattheroleisinaparticularinstancewilldependon
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themeaningoftheclause,especiallyoftheverb.Meaningthereforedoesnotprovideareliablewayof
identifyingtheSubject.Butthisfunctionhasagood
fewdistinctivegrammaticalpropertieswhichtogethergenerallymakeiteasytoidentify.Herearesomeofthem.(a)Position.ItsdefaultpositiontheoneitoccupiesunlesstherearespecialreasonsforplacingitelsewhereisbeforethePredicate.(b)Formationof
interrogatives.Youcangenerallychangeadeclarativeclause intoan
interrogativeby
invertingtheSubjectwiththefirstauxiliaryverbifthereisnoauxiliaryinthedeclarativeyouneedtoinserttheappropriateformofdo.[3]IneithercasetheSubjectendsupfollowingtheauxiliaryverb:
[6]DeclarativeInterrogativeia.Thebossisinheroffice.b.Isthebossinheroffice?iia.Everyonesignedthepetition.b.Dideveryonesignthepetition?
(c) Interrogativetags. To seek confirmation of a statement you
can add an interrogative tag, consisting of
anauxiliaryverbandapersonalpronounSubjectwhichrelatesbacktotheSubjectoftheclausetowhichthetagisattached:Thebossisinheroffice,isn'tshe?Everyonesignedthepetition,didn'tthey?(d)Subjectverbagreement,Where
the verb has personnumber properties (in the present tense and the
pasttenseofbe),theyarenormallydeterminedbyagreementwiththeSubject:[7]a.Hersonplaysthepiano.b.Hersonsplaythepiano.5.2Predicator,ComplementsandAdjunctsAtthenext
layerofstructurebelowthePredicatewedistinguishthreefunctions.ThePredicator
is
thefunctionfilledbytheverb.TheverbistheHeadoftheverbphrase,andPredicatoristhespecialtermusedfortheHeadoftheverbphraseformingthePredicateofaclause.Thusin[7b]playthepianoisaverbphrasefunctioningasPredicatewhileplayisaverbfunctioningasPredicator.
Complement and Adjunct are different kinds of Dependent,
distinguished by the licensing condition.Complements can occur only
if they are licensedby theHead verb: the verbmust belong to a
subclass
thatpermits(orrequires)aComplementofthetypeinquestion.Adjunctsarenotsubjecttothisrestriction.Compare:[8]Imowedthelawnbeforeitstartedtorain.Herethelawnisadmissiblebecausetheverbmow(unlikedisappear,
forexample)allowsaDependentof
thiskind,sothelawnisaComplement.ButaDependentindicatingtimecanoccurwithanyverb,sobeforeitstartedtorainisanAdjunct.
Wewill
lookfurtheratComplementsinthenextsubsection.AsforAdjuncts,theyareusuallyrealisedbyadverbphrases,prepositionphrases,subordinateclauses,oraverynarrowrangeofnounphrases.Theycanbedividedintovarioussemanticsubtypes,suchasAdjunctsoftime,place,manner,etc.,asillustratedin[9]:[9]iShespokeveryclearly.[adverbphraseasAdjunctofmanner]
iiAsaresultofhisaction,hewasfired.[prepphraseasAdjunctofreason]iiiWecycletoworktosavethebusfare.[subordinateclauseasAdjunctofpurpose]ivTheyleftthecountrylastweek.[nounphraseasAdjunctoftime]
5.3ObjectandPredicativeComplementTwoimportantsubtypesofComplementaretheObjectandthePredicativeComplement:[10]a.Object:Edblamedtheminister.b.PredicativeComp:Edwasaminister..WhilethousandsofverbslicenseanObject,onlyafairlysmallnumberlicenseaPredicativeComplement,andofthesebeisbyfarthemostcommon:othersincludebecome,remain,appear,seem,etc.Theterm`PredicativeComplement'ismosteasilyunderstoodbyreferencetotheconstructionwithbe:theverbhaslittlemeaninghere(it
isoftencalled justa `linkingverb'),so that themainsemanticcontentof
thePredicate isexpressedby theComplement.
ThereareseveralgrammaticalpropertiesthatdistinguishObjectsfromPredicativeComplements,ofwhichthetwomostimportantonesareillustratedin[11]:
[11]ia.Edblamedtheminister.[Object]b.TheministerwasblamedbyEd.iia.Edwasaminister.[PredComp]b.*AministerwasbeenbyEd.iiia.Edwasinnocent.[PredComp]b.*Edblamedinnocent.
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oTheObjectofanactiveclausecanusuallybecometheSubjectofacorrespondingpassiveclause,buta
PredicativeComplementnevercan.Thus theObjectofactive
[ia]corresponds to theSubjectofpassive[ib], whereas [iib] is not a
possible passive version of [iia]. (Here and below the asterisk
indicates thatwhatfollowsisungrammatical.)
oAPredicativeComplementcanberealisednotonlybyanounphrase,asin[iia],butalsobyanadjectivephrase,
as in [iiia], whereas an Object cannot be realised by an adjective
phrase, as evident from theungrammaticalityof[iiib].
5.4DirectandIndirectObjectAclausemaycontaintwoObjects,distinguishedasDirectandIndirect.Incanonicalclauses,theIndirectObjectalways
precedes the Direct Object, and typically (but not invariably) is
associated with the semantic role
ofrecipientorbeneficiary:[12]iHegavetheprisonersomewater.[IndirectObject(recipient)+DirectObject]
iiShebakedmeacake.[IndirectObject(beneficiary)+DirectObject]5.5SubjectiveandObjectivePredicativeComplementsThe
Predicative Complements in [10b] and [11iia/iiia] are related to
the Subject, but it is also possible for aPredicativeComplement to
be related to theObject:weaccordingly distinguish two
subtypes,SubjectiveandObjective.Compare:[13]SubjectivePredCompObjectivePredComp
ia.Hebecameangry.b.Thismadehimangry.iia.Hewasacharlatan.b.Theyconsideredhimacharlatan.
5.6FivecanonicalclausestructuresOn the basis of the presence or
absence of theComplement types considered so farwe can distinguish
thefollowingcanonicalclausestructures:[14]ExampleStructureName
iTheydisappeared.SP(Ordinary)intransitiveiiTheywereecstatic.SPPCsComplexintransitiveiiiTheyboughtahouse.SPOd(Ordinary)monotransitiveivTheykeptitwarm.SPOdPCoComplextransitivevTheysenthersomeflowers.SPOiOdDitransitive
In the representationsof thestructures,Sstands forSubject,P
forPredicator,PCs forSubjectivePredicativeComplement,Od
forDirectObject,PCo forObjectivePredicativeComplement,andOi for
IndirectObject.Thenamesreflectthefactthattherearetwodimensionsofcontrast:o
Onehas todowithObjects:an
intransitiveclausehasnoObject,amonotransitiveclausehasasingle
Object,andaditransitiveclausehastwoObjects.o The other has
towith PredicativeComplements: if a clause contains a
PredicativeComplement it is
complex, otherwise ordinary, though the latter term is often
omitted (as it is in [v], since there is
nopossibilityofaddingaPredicativeComplementtoaditransitiveclause).
Thenamesapplyinthefirstinstancetotheclauseconstructions,andthenderivativelytotheverbsthatappear
in theseconstructions.Thusdisappear isan(ordinary)
intransitiveverb,beacomplexintransitiveone,andsoon.But
itmustbeborne inmind that themajorityof verbscanappear inmore
thanoneof
them,andhencebelongtomorethanoneclass.Find,forexample,commonlyappearsin[iii](Wefoundthekey),
[iv] (Wefoundhercooperative),and[v](Wefoundherajob).
5.7PrepositionalandclausalComplements.TheComplementsconsideredso
farhavebeennounphrasesoradjectivephrases,but thesearenot
theonlypossibilities.Complementsoftenhavetheformofprepositionphrasesorsubordinateclauses:[15]ia.ShewenttoParis.b.ShetookhimtoParis.
iia.Shereliedonherinstinct.b.Hecongratulatedheronherpromotion.iiia.Hesaidhewassorry.b.Hetoldherhewassorry.iva.WeintendtoleaveonTuesday.b.IadviseyoutoleaveonTuesday.
In the [a] examples here the underlined preposition phrase
([iii]) or subordinate clause ([iiiiv]) is the onlyComplement,
while in the [b] ones it follows an Object. We look at different
kinds of subordinate clause in
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Section13,but there isonepoint tobemadehereabout
theprepositionalconstructions. In [i] to contrastswithother
prepositions such as over, from, via, beyond, etc., but in [ii] on
is selected by the verb: any adequatedictionarywill
tellyou(ifonlybyexample)thatrelytakesaComplementwithon,consistwithof,referwith
to,andsoon.VerbslikethesethattakeasComplementaprepositionphraseheadedbysomespecifiedprepositionare
called `prepositional verbs'.Most ditransitive verbs also belong to
this latter class by virtue of licensing
aprepositionphrasewithtoorforinsteadoftheIndirectObject:compareHegavesomewatertotheprisonerandShebakedacakeformewith[12]above.6VERBS6.1VerbinflectionThe
most distinctive property of verbs is their inflection: they have a
number of inflectional forms that
arepermittedorrequiredinvariousgrammaticalconstructions.Thepresenttenseformtakes,forexample,canoccurastheverbofacanonicalclause,whereasthepastparticipletakencannot:Shetakescare,butnot*Shetakencare.
Thegreatmajorityofverblexemeshavesixinflectionalforms,asillustratedin[16]:[16]iPreteritecheckedShecheckedthefiguresherself.
ii3rdsingularpresentchecksShechecksthefiguresherself.iiiPlainpresentcheckTheycheckthefiguresthemselves.ivPlainformcheckShemaycheckthefiguresherself.vGerundparticiplecheckingSheischeckingthefiguresherself.viPastparticiplecheckedShehadcheckedthefiguresherself.
Itwillbenoticedthatalthoughwehavedistinguishedsixdifferentinflectionalforms,thereareonlyfourdifferentshapes:
checked, checks, check and checking. By `shape' wemean the spelling
or pronunciation. Thus thepreteriteandpastparticipleof the
lexemecheckhave thesameshape,asdo theplainpresent tenseand theplain
form.Thesameapplies toall other regular verbs, i.e. verbswhose
inflectional
formsaredeterminedbygeneralrules.Butthereareagoodnumberofirregularverbswherethepreteriteandpastparticipledonothavethesameshape:take,forexample,hastookasitspreteriteandtakenasitspastparticiple.
Thismeansthatitisveryeasytodecidewhetheranyparticularinstanceoftheshapecheckisapreteriteformor
a past participle.What youneed to do is askwhich formof a verb like
take would be needed in
theconstructioninquestion.Consider,then,thefollowingexamples:[17]iShemayhavecheckedthefiguresherself.
iiI'mnotsurewhethershecheckedthefiguresherselfornot.
Ifwesubstitutetakeforcheckin[i]theformweneedisthepastparticipletaken:Shemayhavetakenabreak.Sothischecked
is likewiseapastparticiple.And ifwemake thesubstitution in
[ii]weneed thepreterite
formtook:I'mnotsurewhethershetookabreakornot.Sothecheckedof [ii] is
thepreterite
form.Notethatwhenmakingthesubstitutionyouneedtokeepconstantwhatprecedestheverb(e.g.Shemayhave
in
[i])sincethisiswhatdeterminestheinflectionthatisrequired:whatfollowstheverbisirrelevantandhencecanbechangedtosuittheverbyouaresubstituting.
Letusnowbrieflyreviewthesixforms.(a)Preterite.This isa
typeofpast tense: thetypewherethepast tense ismarked
inflectionallyrather
thanbymeansofanauxiliaryverb.Manygrammarsusethemoregeneralterm`pasttense':wepreferthemorespecifictermtodistinguishitfromtheconstructionwheretheauxiliaryhavemarkstheotherkindofpasttense,asinShehascheckedtheproofs.(b)(c)Thepresenttenseforms.Therearetwopresenttenseforms,onewhichoccurswitha3rdpersonsingularsubject,
and onewhich occurswith any other subject: 1st person (Icheck), 2nd
person (you check) or plural(they check). We could call this latter
form `non3rd person singular', but `plain present' is simpler.
`Plain'indicates that it is identicalwith themorphologicalbase of
the lexeme, i.e. the startingpoint for the rules
thatproducethevariousinflectionalformsbyaddingasuffix,changingthevowel,andsoon.(d)Theplain
form. This is also identical with the base, but it is not a present
tense form. It is used in
threeconstructions:[18]iImperativeCheckthefiguresyourself!
iiInfinitivalIt'sbettertocheckthefiguresoneself.Iwillcheckthemmyself.iiiSubjunctiveIt'sessentialthatshecheckthefiguresherself.
The infinitivalconstruction isveryoftenmarkedby to,but it isalso
foundwithout to after such verbs ascan,may,will,do
(Shedidn'tcheckthefiguresherself),make
(Theymademecheckthefiguresmyself),etc.The
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subjunctiveismuchtheleastfrequentofthethreeconstructionsandbelongstosomewhatformalstyle.Therearetwomajorfactorsthatdistinguishtheplainformfromtheplainpresent:
o Theverbbe ishighlyexceptional in its inflection in that ithas
threepresent tense forms insteadof
theusualtwo(is,am,are)andallofthesearedifferentinshapefromtheplainformbe.It'sthelatterformthatappearsinthethreeconstructionsshownin[18]:Bequiet
(imperative) It'sbetter tobesafethansorry,
Iwillbereadyintime(infinitival)It'sessentialthatshebetold(subjunctive).Sowecantellwhetheragiveninstance
of check, say, is the plain present or the plain form by using the
substitution test
illustratedabove,butthistimesubstitutingtheverbbe.ThusthecheckofWemustcheckthefiguresisaplainform,notaplainpresenttensebecauseweneedtheplainformofbeinthisposition:Wemustbecareful.
oTheplainpresentdoesn'toccurwith3rdpersonsingularSubjects,buttheplainformdoes.CompareShechecksthefiguresherself(not*Shecheckthefiguresherself)andShewillcheckthefiguresherself
(not*Shewillchecksthefiguresherself).
(e) The gerundparticiple. This form always ends with the
suffix@ing. Traditional grammar distinguishes
twoformswiththissuffix,thegerundandthepresentparticiple:[19]iCheckingthefigurescanbeonerous[traditionalgerund]
iiPeoplecheckingthefiguresmustbealert[traditionalpresentparticiple]
Theideawasthatagerundiscomparabletoanoun,whileaparticipleiscomparabletoanadjective.Thusin[i]checking
the figures is comparable to such checks, where checks is a noun in
[ii] checking the figures
isModifiertopeopleandwasthereforeconsideredadjectivelikesincethemostcommontypeofModifiertoanounisanadjective.[4]Thereis,however,noverbinEnglishthathasdistinctformsfortheconstructionsin[19],andso
there isnobasis formakingany inflectionaldistinctionhere
inPresentdayEnglish:we
thushaveasingleformandthename`gerundparticiple'indicatesthatitcoversbothtraditionalcategories.(f)Thepastparticiple.Thisisusedintwomainconstructions,theperfectandthepassive:[20]iPerfectShehascheckedthefigures.
iiPassiveThefiguresmustbecheckedbytheboss.The perfect is a past
tense marked by the auxiliary verb have, while the most
straightforward cases of
thepassiveinvolvetheauxiliaryverbbe.Weretainthetraditionalterm`pastparticiple',thoughthe`past'componentofmeaningappliesjusttotheperfectconstruction.6.2TheinflectionaltensesystemWehaveseenthat
therearetwoinflectional tenses
inEnglish:preteriteandpresentwereviewnowthemajorusesofthesetenses.(a)Preterite.Threeusescanbedistinguished,asillustratedin[21]:[21]iPasttimea.Hearrivedyesterday.b.Sheknewhimwell.
iiBackshifta.Edsaidhewasill.b.Ithoughtitstartedtomorrow.iiiModalremotenessa.IwishIknewtheanswer.b.I'ddoitifyoupaidme.
oIn[i]weseethebasicuse,indicatingpasttime.Theeventofhisarrivingtookplaceinthepast,andthe
stateofherknowinghimwellobtainedinthepast(itmaystillobtainnow,butI'mtalkingaboutsometimein
thepast).This ismuchthemost frequentuse,but it's important
tobeaware that thepreteritedoesn'talwayshavethismeaning.
o
Example[iia]couldbeusedtoreportEd'ssaying`Iamill':presenttenseam
isshiftedbacktopreteritewas under the influence of the preterite
reporting verb said. In [iib] my original thought was `It
startstomorrow':againpresenttensestartsisshiftedbacktopreteritestarted.Thisexampleshowsveryclearlythatthebackshiftuseisnotthesameasthepasttimeuse,forclearlythestartingisnotinthepast.
oIn[iii]thepreteritehasamodalratherthantemporalmeaning:ithastodowithfactuality,nottime.In[iiia]the
subordinate clause has a counterfactualmeaning under the influence
ofwish: youunderstand that Idon't know the answer. The time is
present, not past: I don't know it now. The conditional [iiib] is
notcounterfactual(itdoesn'truleoutthepossibilityofyourpayingme),butitenvisagesyourpayingmeasasomewhatremotepossibilityratherlesslikelythanwiththepresenttensecounterpartI'lldoitifyoupayme.Notethatthetimeofyourpossiblypayingmeisinthefuture.Weusetheterm`modalremoteness'tocoverboththeseinterpretations(aswellasothersmentionedbrieflyinSection6.5).
(b)Thepresenttense.Thetwomostimportantusesareseenin[22]:[22]iPresenttimea.IpromiseI'llhelpyou.b.ShelivesinSydney.
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iiFuturetimea.Examsstartnextweek.b.I'llgohomewhenitgetsdark.oIn[i]weagainhavethebasicandmuchthemostcommonuse:toindicatepresenttime.In[ia]theevent
ofmypromising isactuallysimultaneouswith theutterance, for
Iperformtheactofpromisingbysayingthissentence.In[ib]wehaveastate,andthepresenttenseindicatesthatthestateobtainsatthetimeofspeaking.
o In [ii] the time is future. Inmain clauses this is
possibleonlywhen theevent is in
somewayalreadyscheduled,asin[iia].Butthisconstraintdoesnotapplyinvariouskindsofsubordinateclausesuchaswehavein[iib].
6.3AuxiliaryverbsWeturnnowto the
importantsubclassofverbscalledauxiliaryverbs,orauxiliaries:
theyarequitemarkedlydifferentintheirgrammaticalbehaviourfromotherverbs,whicharecalledlexicalverbs.6.3.1MembershipoftheclassThemainmembersoftheauxiliaryclassareshownin[23],wheretheyaredividedintotwosubclasses,modalandnonmodal:[23]iModalauxiliariescan,may,must,will,shall,ought,need,dare
iiNonmodalauxiliariesbe,have,do(Could,might,wouldandshould are
thepreterite formsofcan,may,will andshall respectively, though
theydifferconsiderablyfromotherpreterites,asweshallsee.)6.3.2DistinctivepropertiesThereareseveralconstructionswhichrequirethepresenceofanauxiliaryverb,thetwomostfrequentofwhichinvolveSubjectauxiliaryinversionandnegation.(a)Subjectauxiliaryinversion.WehaveseenthatincanonicalclausestheSubjectprecedestheverbwhereasinmost
interrogative main clauses the Subject follows the (first) verb.
The verb that precedes the
Subject,however,mustbeanauxiliaryverb:onlyauxiliariescaninvertwiththeSubject.Compare:[24]AuxiliaryverbLexicalverb
ia.Shehastakenthecar.b.Shetookthecar.[declarative]iia.Hasshetakenthecar?b.*Tookshethecar?[interrogative]
Ifthedeclarativedoesn'tcontainanauxiliary,asin[ib],itisnecessarytoinserttheauxiliarydosothatinversioncanapply:Didshetakethecar?Thisdohasnomeaning:
it issimply inserted tosatisfy thegrammatical
rulerequiringanauxiliary.(b) Negation. The construction where not
is used to negate the verb likewise requires that the verb be
anauxiliary:[25]AuxiliaryverbLexicalverb
ia.Shehastakenthecar.b.Shetookthecar.[positive]iia.Shehasnottakenthecar.b.*Shetooknotthecar.[negative]
Again,ifthereisnoauxiliaryinthepositive,domustbeinsertedtoformthenegative:Shedidnottakethecar.
A further, related,point is thatauxiliaries,butnot
lexicalverbs,havenegative formsending in
thesuffixn't:amoreinformalvariantof[25iia]isShehasn'ttakenthecar.6.3.3AuxiliariesasHeadsItisimportanttoemphasisethatauxiliariescontrastwithlexicalverbs,notwithwhatsomegrammarscall`mainverbs'.
Auxiliaries function as Head, not Dependent, in verb phrase
structure. They mostly take nonfiniteclauses as Complement, like
many lexical verbs. Compare the examples in [26], where the verb
phrase isenclosed in brackets, the Head is in capitals and
underlining marks the nonfinite clause functioning as
itsComplement:
[26]AuxiliaryverbasHeadLexicalverbasHeadia.They[OUGHTtoaccepttheoffer].b.They[INTENDtoaccepttheoffer].iia.We[CANanswertheirqueries].b.We[HELPanswertheirqueries].iiia.She[WAScheckingthefigures].b.She[BEGANcheckingthefigures].iva.He[WASattackedbyadog].b.He[GOTattackedbyadog].
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The particular type of nonfinite clause that is used depends on
the Head verb, whether auxiliary or lexical.Ought and intend
license infinitivalswith to,can andhelp infinitivalswithout tobe,
in one of its uses,
andbeginlicenseanonfiniteclausewithagerundparticipleformoftheverbbe,inaseconduse,andget
licenseonewithapastparticipleformoftheverb.
Note,then,thattheverbphrasein[iiia],say,isdividedintowas+checkingthefigures,notwaschecking+thefigures,justasthatin[iiib]isdividedintobegan+checkingthefigures,notbeganchecking+
thefigures.Andsimilarlywiththeotherexamples.6.4Thenonmodalauxiliaries,be,have,doLittlefurtherneedbesaidaboutdo:itisusedinconstructionslikeSubjectauxiliaryinversionandnegationwhenrequiredtosatisfytherequirementthattheconstructioncontainanauxiliary.Thereisalsoalexicalverbdousedin
clauses likeShedid her best, I did him an injustice, etc. here,
then, auxiliarydo must be added to
forminterrogativesandnegatives:Didshedoherbest?,Ididn'tdohimaninjustice.(a)Be.Threeusesofbecanbedistinguished,illustratedin:[27]iProgressivemarkera.TheyarewatchingTV.b.I'vebeenworkingallmorning.
iiPassivemarkera.ItwastakenbyJill.b.Hemaybearrested.iiiCopulaa.Shewasafriendofhis.b.Thatisverylikely.
oIn[i],wherebeisfollowedbyaverbinthegerundparticipleform,itisamarkerofprogressiveaspect.It
generallyservestoindicatethatthesituationtheaction,event,state,orwhateverwas,isorwillbeinprogressatthetimeinquestion.
o Theclauses in [ii]arepassive [iia] is
thepassivecounterpartofactiveJill took it,
thepresenceofbebeingoneofthemajordifferencesbetweenthetwoforms.Thereisnoactivecounterpartof[iib]becausethelatterhasnobyphrase(cf.Section15).
o In[iii]be is theonlyverb,but
itstillbehavesasanauxiliary.Thusthe interrogativeof [a]
isWassheafriendofhis?and thenegativeof [b] isThat isn't very
likely. In theseexamples theauxiliaryhasas itsComplement not a
nonfinite clause but a noun phrase (a friend of his) and an
adjective phrase (verylikely).
(b)Have.Thisverbbelongstobothlexicalandauxiliaryclasses.InShehadaswim
it isa lexicalverb, for theinterrogative andnegative counterparts
areDid she have a swim? andShe didn't have a swim. The
auxiliaryusesareseenin[28]:[28]iPerfectmarkera.Hehasbrokenhisleg.b.Hemayhavetakenityesterday.
iiStatichavea.Shehasenoughcredit.b.Wehavetoinvitethemall.
oTheperfectismarkedbyauxiliaryhave+apastparticiple.Itisbestregardedasasecondarypasttensetheprimarypasttensebeingtheinflectionalpreterite.Note,forexample,thatthepreteriteisfoundonlyinfinite
constructions such as He took it yesterday, so it can't occur after
may (cf. *He may took ityesterday:may takesan
infinitivalclauseasComplement),andperfecthave is thenused
instead,as
in[ib].Sincehaveitselfcaninflectfortense,[ia]isdoublymarkedfortense:itis`pastinpresent',thepastbeingmarkedby
the lexemehave and the present by the inflection onhave. This
reflects the fact
thatwhiletheeventofhisbreakinghislegislocatedinpasttimeitisseenashavingrelevancetothepresent.Themost
likely scenario is that his leg has not yet healed, so that he is
at present incapacitated. Thepresent tensecomponentalsoexplainswhy
it isnotnormallypossible toaddanAdjunct
likeyesterday:*Hehasbrokenhislegyesterday.
o Have in [ii] denotesa state,unlike thatof theaboveShehadaswim,
which is dynamic, denoting anevent.Usage isdividedas towhether
statichave isanauxiliaryora lexical
verb.ThosewhosayShehasn'tenoughcreditorHavewetoinvitethemall?andthelikearetreatingitasanauxiliary,whilethosewhosayShedoesn'thaveenoughcreditorDowehavetoinvitethemall?aretreatingitasalexicalverb.Manypeopleusebothconstructions,thoughthelexicalverbtreatmenthasbeengaininggroundforsometime.Notethatin[iia]have,likebein[27],doesn'thaveanonfiniteclauseasComplement.
6.5ThemodalauxiliariesInthissectionwefirstnotethatneedanddare,likedoandhaveabove,belongtobothauxiliaryandlexicalverbclasseswenextsetoutthemaingrammaticalpropertiesthatdefinetheclassofmodalauxiliaries,thenconsiderthepreteriteforms,andfinallylookatthekindsofmeaningtheyexpress.(a)Needanddare.Theseareauxiliariesonlywhenfollowedbyaninfinitivalconstructionwithoutto,asinNeedIbother?andIdaren'ttellthem,etc.ThusinIneedahaircut,Ineedtogetmyhaircut,Idareyoutorepeat
that,etc.wehavelexicalverbs.
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(b)Distinctivegrammaticalpropertiesofmodalauxiliarieso They have
only tensed forms: no plain form, no gerundparticiple, no past
participle. Hence the
impossibilityof*I'dliketomaygowithyou*We'remustinginvitethemall,*ShehascouldspeakFrenchsinceshewasachild.
o They are invariable in the present tense insteadof having a
distinct form in@s usedwith 3rd
personsingularSubjects:Shecanswim,not*Shecansswim,etc.
oWithoneexceptiontheylicenseafollowinginfinitivalComplementwithoutto:Shecanswim,not*Shecantoswim.Theexceptionisought:Theyoughttoaccepttheoffer(=[26ia]).
NotethatalthoughWehavetoinvitethemallhasessentiallythesamemeaningasWemustinvitethemall,
thishave isnotamodalauxiliary:
ithasnoneoftheabovethreegrammaticalproperties.It
isaspecialcaseofthestatichave,illustratedin[28ii],andassuchitisformanyspeakersnotanauxiliaryatall,butalexicalverb.(c)
The preterite forms.Could,might,would and should are the preterite
forms of can,may,will and
shallrespectively,buttheuseofthesepreteritesdiffersfromthatofotherpreteriteformsinPresentdayEnglish.oOnlycouldandwouldhavethebasicpreteriteuseofindicatingpasttime:IcoulddoiteasilywhenIwas
youngerIaskedhimtohelpbuthewouldn't.oThestatusofmightandshouldaspreteritesisestablishedbytheiruseincertainconditionalconstructions
and in thosecasesof reportedspeechor thoughtwherepresent tense
formsareexcluded.Thus
thoughwecanhavemayinIfyoucomebacktomorrowyoumayfindhimin,weneedmightinIfyoucamebacktomorrowyoumight
findhimin.[5]And ifatsome time in thepast Ihad the thought `Ishall
easily
finishbeforeshereturns'Iwouldreportthiswithshould,asinIknewIshouldeasily
finishbeforeshereturned(not*shall).
oThemajordifferenceisthatwhilewithotherverbsthemodalremotenessuseofthepreteriteisrestrictedtocertainkindsofsubordinateclause,withthemodalauxiliariesitoccursinmainclausesandwithawiderrangeof
interpretationwithmight andshould it isoverwhelmingly themost
frequentuse.Thepreteritestendtobeweaker,moretentativeorpolitethanthepresenttenseforms.
(d)Typesofmodalmeaning.Themodalauxiliariesexpressaconsiderablevarietyofmeanings,buttheycanbegroupedintothreemajortypes.o
Epistemicmodality.Hereweareconcernedwithwhat isnecessary,
likelyorpossible:Hemust have
oversleptDinnershouldbereadyinafewminutesShemaybeill.oDeonticmodality.Hereitisamatterofwhatisrequiredorpermitted:YoumustworkharderYoushould
bestudyingforyourexamYoucan/maygowiththemifyoulike.oDynamicmodality.Hereitisaquestionofpropertiesordispositionsofpersonsorotherentitiesinvolved
in thesituation:Shecan speak very persuasively (ability),Will
you helpme? (willingness). This kind
ofmeaningismainlyfoundwithjustcan,willanddare.
Insomecasesthereisaclearambiguityastowhichtypeofmeaningisintended.Youmustbeverytactful,
forexample,canbeinterpretedepistemically(I'minferringfromevidencethatyouareverytactful)ordeontically(I'mtellingyoutobeverytactful).Shecan'tbeseriousmaybeunderstoodepistemically(Sheisobviouslynotbeingserious)ordynamically(Sheisunabletobeserious).7NOUNSANDNOUNPHRASES7.1DistinctivepropertiesofnounsNouns
form much the largest word class. It contains all words that denote
physical entities, but also
greatnumbersofwordsthatdonothavethissemanticproperty:inordertobeabletoidentifynounswethereforeneedto
examine their grammatical properties. We consider them under three
headings: inflection, function
anddependents.(a)Inflection.Nounsgenerallyexhibitinflectionalcontrastsofnumberandcase:[29]NumberCase
PlainGenitiveiSingularstudentstudent'siiPluralstudentsstudents'
Schoolgrammarscommonlyusetheterm`possessive'
insteadof`genitive',butthattermisfartoospecificforthewiderangeofrelationshipscoveredbythiscase:compare,forexample,Kim'sparents,theboys'behaviour,thetrain'sarrival,themayor'sobituary,thesun'srays,today'snews.(b)Function.Nouns
can function asHead in noun phrases that in turn function asSubject
orComplement in
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clause structure, orComplement of a preposition, as illustrated
in [30],where nouns are underlined and
nounphrasesbracketed:[30]iSubjectinclause[Onestudent]wasarrested.
iiComplementinclauseTheyinterviewed[allthestudents].iiiComplementinprepphraseThetalkwasgivenby[astudent].
(c)Dependents.TherearesomekindsofDependent
thatoccurexclusively(oralmostexclusively)withanounasHead:[31]iCertaindeterminativesthestudent,aschool,everybook,whichexam
iiPreheadadjectives.maturestudents,anewbook,aneasyexamiiiRelativeclausesthestudentwhodirectedtheplay,abookI'mreading
7.2ThestructureofnounphrasesNoun phrases typically consist of a
Head noun alone or accompanied by one or more Dependents.
TheDependentsareofthreemaintypes:Determiners,ComplementsandModifiers.
(a)Determiners.Thesearefounduniquelyinthestructureofnounphrases.Theyhavetheformofdeterminatives(or
determinative phrases, as in almost all students, notmany people,
too few volunteers) or genitive
nounphrases(thegirl'svoice,somepeople'sbehaviour,mybook).Determinersservetomarkthenounphraseasdefiniteorindefinite.[32]iDefinitethePremierofNSW,thekey,thisbook,bothcopies,theman'sdeath
iiIndefiniteapolitician,somekeys,anyseriousbook,enoughcopies,threedogsWe
use a definite noun phrasewhenwe assume that its content is
sufficient, in thecontext, to identify thereferent.There'sonlyone
(current)PremierofNSW,so thedefiniteness in the firstexample
isunproblematic,butwiththesecondexamplethereisofcourseveryheavyrelianceoncontexttomakethereferentclear.The
isapuremarkerofdefiniteness,knownasthedefinitearticle.Itsuseeffectivelypreemptsawhichquestion:ifIsayWhere's
the key? I assume you won't need to askWhich key? Note that a
genitive Determiner confersdefiniteness on the nounphrase:
theman'sdeathmeans `the death of theman', andaman's death
likewisemeans`thedeathofaman'.Nounphrases likeblackcoffeeand
friends,whichhaveacommonnounasHeadandnoDeterminerarenormallyindefinite.(b)
Complements. The clearest cases of Complements involve preposition
phrases where the preposition
isspecifiedbytheHeadnoun,andcertaintypesofsubordinateclause:[33]iPrepositionphrasesherreviewoftheplay,abanonalcohol,hismarriagetoSue
iiSubordinateclausestheideathathemightbeill,anopportunitytomakefriendsNotethatnouns,unlikeverbs,donottakeObjects:wesayShereviewedtheplay,butnot*herreviewtheplayinsteadweneedof
theplay.Withbanandmarriage theprepositions requiredareon and to.
The subordinateclauses in [ii]clearlysatisfy the licensing
test:onlya fairlynarrowrangeofnounscan takeComplements
likethese.(c)Modifiers. The typical preHeadModifier is an adjective
or adjective phrase: a good book, a very
seriousmatter.Butthosearenottheonlypossibilities.Inparticular,nounscanalsofunctionasModifiertoaHeadnoun:a
school play, the unemployment situation, etc. PostHead Modifiers
are typically preposition phrases andsubordinate clauses that
occurmore freely thanComplements in that they do not have to be
licensed by theHeadnoun:amanofhonour, thehouseopposite
thepostoffice, theplay that shewrote, the guy who spokefirst.
ItisalsopossibletohaveModifiersthatprecedetheDeterminer:allthebooks,boththeseplays,toosmallacarforourneeds.Notethatadverbscanoccurinthisposition,butnotaftertheDeterminer:absolutelythebestsolution,butnot*anabsolutelysuccess.Insteadofthelatterweneedanadjective,anabsolutesuccess.7.3Numberandcountability(a)Nouns
with fixed number. Althoughmost nouns have an inflectional contrast
between singular and
plural,thereareagoodfewthatdonotthathaveonlysingularoronlypluralforms:[34]iSingularonlynounscrockery,dross,harm,nonsensenews,mumps,physics,...
iiPluralonlynounsbelongings,clothes,genitals,scissorscattle,police,...
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Note that the last three items in [i]end
in@sbutareneverthelesssingular,asevident, forexample, from
theagreement inThisnews isgood. Conversely, the last two items in
[ii] don't end in@s, but are
neverthelessplural:cf.Thesecattleareingoodhealth.(b)Countandnoncountnouns.Related
to
thedistinctionbetweennounswithvariablenumberandnounswithfixednumberisthatbetweencountandnoncountnouns.Countnounscantakecardinalnumerals(one,
two,three,etc.)asDependent,whilenoncountnounscannot.Comparecountstudent
(onestudent, two
students)andnoncountharmandclothes(*oneharm/clothes,*twoharms/clothes).
However,mostnounscanoccurwitheitheracountoranoncountinterpretation:[35]CountinterpretationNoncountinterpretation
ia.Hepulledoutawhitehair.b.Hehaswhitehair.iia.Haveanothercake.b.Havesomemorecake.iiia.CanIborrowyourfootball.b.Let'splayfootball.
Theinterpretationsin[a]allowforacontrastbetweenoneandmorethanone(cf.,forexample,Hepulledouttwowhitehairs),butthosein[b]donot.Whenwespeakofcountandnoncountnouns,therefore,wearereferringtonounsasusedwithacountandnoncount
interpretation.Thushair isacountnoun in [ia],anoncountnoun
in[ib],andsoon.(c) Subjectverb agreement. We noted in Section5.1
that where a verb has personnumber properties
theynormallyagreewiththoseoftheSubjectnounphrase,moreparticularlywiththoseoftheHeadnounofthatnounphrase:ThedogisbarkingvsThedogsarebarking.Thereare,however,certainsemanticallymotivatedtypesofdeparturefromthispattern,asillustratedin[36]:[36]iMeasureexpressionsTwohoursisn'tlongenoughforsuchajob.
iiQuantificationalnounsAlotofpeoplelikeit.iiiCollectivenounsThejuryhaven'tyetreachedadecision.
oIn[i]thehoursaren'tthoughtofindividuallybutasmakingupasingleperiod,sotheSubjectistreatedas
singular.oIn[ii]theverbformisdeterminednotbytheHeadnoun
lotbutbypeople,which isembeddedwithin the
Subjectnounphrase.oWithcollectivenounslikejuryin[iii]thereisdividedusage,withsingularhasn'talsoused.7.4SubclassesofnounThereare
threemainsubclassesofnoun:commonnoun,propernoun andpronoun. Common
noun is
thedefaultsubclassandneedsnofurthercommenthere.(a)Propernouns.This
subclass
includesnounssuchasJohn,Mary,Smith,Beethoven,Sydney,Egypt,Nile,Easter,Friday,etc.TheycharacteristicallyfunctionasHeadofnounphrasesservingaspropernames,namesindividually
assigned toparticular people, places, festivals, daysof theweek,
andsoon.Note, however,
thattheyalsooccur,derivatively,inotherkindsofnounphrase:That'snottheSmithIwasreferringto,Let'slistentosomeBeethoven.Conversely,notallpropernamescontainpropernouns:cf.CentralAvenue,NewYear'sDay,andsoon.Andsomepropernamescontainmorethanjustapropernoun:theNile,MtEverest,KingJohn.(b)
Pronouns. The grammatically distinctive property of pronouns is
that they do not normally combine
withDeterminers:Hearrived,not*Thehearrived.Thereareseveralsubtypesofpronoun,including:[37]iPersonalpronounsI,we,you,he,she,it,they,one
iiReciprocalpronounseachother,oneanotheriiiInterrogativeorrelativepronounswho,what,which,whoever,etc.
Wewillcommenthereononlythefirstofthesecategories.Personalpronounsarethosewherewefindcontrastsofperson.Iandwearefirstperson,usedtorefertothespeakeroragroupcontainingthespeaker.(`Speaker'istobeunderstoodascoveringthewriterinwrittentexts.)Youissecondperson,usedtorefertotheaddresseeora
group containing one or more addressees. The others are third
person: this doesn't encode reference
tospeakeroraddresseeandthereforeusuallyreferstoentitiesotherthanthespeakeroraddressee.ButIcanrefertomyselfortoyouinthethirdperson:Thewriterhasnoticed...Thereadermayrecall...
Thepersonalpronounshavefiveinflectionalforms:
[38]iNominativeI,we,you,...Ididit.ItwasIwhodidit.iiAccusativeme,us,you,...Itbitme.Itwasmewhodidit.iiiDependentgenitivemy,our,your,...Mysonishere.Isawyourcar.
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ivIndependentgenitivemine,ours,yours,...Minewasbroken.That'smine.vReflexivemyself,ourselves,...Ihurtmyself.Wetalktoourselves.
NominativesoccurmostlyasHeadofaSubjectnounphrase.InformalstyletheycanalsooccurincertaintypesofPredicativeComplement,withtheaccusativeasalessformalvariant:ItwasI/mewhodidit.
Inother types,however,only theaccusative
ispossible:Thevictimwasme,not*Thevictimwas I, and the
like.Dependentgenitives occur when there is a following Head in the
noun phrase, independent ones when there
isn't.ReflexivesusuallyrelatebacktotheSubjectnounphrase,asintheaboveexamples.8ADJECTIVESANDADJECTIVEPHRASES8.1TwomajorfunctionsofadjectivesMostadjectivescanbeeitherattributiveorpredicative:[39]iAttributiveahotday,somenewDVDs,thisexcellentplay,lonelypeople
iiPredicativeIt'shot.Theselooknew.Ifounditexcellent.Theyseemlonely.Attributive
adjectives are prehead Modifiers in noun phrase structure
predicative adjectives are
PredicativeComplementsinclausestructure(seeSection5.5).[6]
Thereare,however,someadjectivesthatarerestrictedtooneorotherofthesefunctions:[40]iAttributiveonlythemainspeaker,amerechild,theonlyproblem,myowncar
iiNeverattributiveI'mafraid.She'sasleep.Helookscontent.It'sliabletoflood.8.2GradabilityandgradeThemost
centraladjectivesaregradable: theydenoteproperties that canapply in
varyingdegrees.Assuch,they can bemodified by adverbs of degree and
(under conditions relating to length and form) be inflected
forcomparative(e.g.taller)andsuperlative(e.g.tallest)grade:[41]iDegreemodificationverygood,quitehot,ratheryoung,tooold,incrediblybad
iiInflectionforgradehotter,younger,older,betterhottest,youngest,oldest,bestGradableadjectives
thatdon't inflectmarkcomparativeandsuperlativedegreebymeansof
theadverbsmoreandmostrespectively:moreintelligent,mostintelligent.
Therearealsoagoodnumberofadjectivesthatdenotenonscalarpropertiesandhencearenongradable:alphabetical
order, the chief difficulty, the federal government, her right eye,
third place. Some adjectives,moreover, can be used in two different
senses, one gradable, the other nongradable (and usually the
morebasic). InThe door is open, for example,open is nongradable,
but inYou should bemore openwithus it
isgradable.8.3ThestructureofadjectivephrasesAdjectivephrasesconsistofanadjectiveasHead,aloneoraccompaniedbyoneormoreDependents,whichmaybeComplementsorModifiers:[42]iComplementsgoodatchess,gratefulforyourhelp,fondofanimals,keenongolf,
gladthatyoulikedit,unsurewhathadhappened,eagertohelpiiModifiersverybad,morallywrong,thisgood,mostuseful,muchbetter,two
dayslong,abitold,cautioustoexcess,dangerousintheextreme
TheComplements are preposition phrases or subordinate clauses in
the former case the adjective selects aparticular preposition to
head the Complement: fond takes of, keen takes on, and so on. The
Modifiers
areadverbs(e.g.very),determinatives(this),nounphrases(twodays)orpostHeadprepositionalphrases.AdjectivephrasescontainingpostHeadDependentscannotnormallybeusedattributively:He'sgoodatchess,butnot*agoodatchessschoolboy.9ADVERBSANDADVERBPHRASES.9.1AdverbsinrelationtoadjectivesThemajorityofadverbsarederivedfromadjectivesbyaddingthesuffix@ly:commoncommonly,rarerarely,etc.
There are a good number of adverbs not formed in this way, some of
them very common (e.g. almost,always,often,quite,rather,soon,
too,very),but
thesearenormallyrecognisableasadverbsbyvirtueofbeingreplaceablebyoneswiththe@lysuffix:compareIt'sverygoodand
It'sextremelygoodShealwayswinsandShefrequentlywinsIt'llbeoversoonandIt'llbeovershortly,andsoon.
Themajordifferencebetweenadverbsandadjectiveshas todowith their
functions.Wehaveseen thatadjectives
functionattributivelyorpredicatively,butadverbsdonotnormallyoccur
in these functions:compare
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attributiveasuccessfulmeeting,not*asuccessfullymeeting,andpredicativeThemeetingwassuccessful,not*Themeetingwas
successfully. Adverbs function asModifier to a wide range of word
or phrase classes,
asillustratedin[43],whereunderliningmarksthemodifyingadverbandcapitalswhatitmodifies:[43]Adverbmodifying:
iVerbSheSPOKEclearly.ShePLAYEDwell.iiAdjectiveIt'saremarkablyGOODplayItlooksveryGOODiiiAdverbHespokevirtuallyINAUDIBLY.TheyalmostNEVERreply.ivDeterminativeNearlyALLcopiesweresold.TooFEWcopieswereprinted.vPrepphraseSheiscompletelyINCONTROL.It'squiteBEYONDBELIEF.viRestofclauseSurprisinglyEVERYONEAGREEDFrankly,IT'SUSELESS.
In general adverbs that canmodify adjectives and other adverbs
can alsomodify verbs, but there are
someexceptions,mostnotablyveryand too (in thesense
`excessively').CompareHe'sveryFONDofher and
*HeveryLOVESher(weneedHelovesherveryMUCH).
A few adverbs inflect for grade (soon, sooner, soonest), but for
the most part comparatives
andsuperlativesaremarkedbymoreandmost:morecarefully,mostcarefully.9.2ThestructureofadverbphrasesThestructureofadverbphrasesisbroadlysimilartothatofadjectivephrases,butsimpler:inparticular,veryfewadverbslicensecomplements.[44]iComplementsLuckilyforme,itrained.Wehandleditsimilarlytotheothers.
iiModifiersShesangverywell.Itwon'tendthatsoon.Weleftabitlate.10PREPOSITIONSANDPREPOSITIONPHRASES.Themost
centralmembersof thepreposition classhavemeanings concernedwith
relations in timeor space:afterlunch,atschool,beforetheend, in
thegarden,off thebridge,onthedesk,etc. In thissectionwe
lookatthefunctionofprepositionsandthenat
theirComplements,andfinallyconsider
thephenomenonofprepositionstranding.(a)Functionofprepositions.PrepositionsfunctionasHeadinprepositionphrases,andtheseinturnfunctionasDependent(ComplementorModifier)toanyofthefourmajorpartsofspeech:
[45]Prepphrasedependenton:iVerbSheWENTtoLondon.TheyAREinthegarden.iiNounHe'saMANofprinciple.It'sontheWAYtoParis.iiiAdjectiveShe'sINTERESTEDinpolitics.I'mRESPONSIBLEforthemivAdverbLUCKILYforme,nooneknew.IsawherLATERintheday.
(b)Complementsof prepositions. Usually (as in all the examples
in [45]) prepositions take a noun phrase
asComplement.Thereare,however,otherpossibilities:[46]iPrepositionphraseHeemerged[fromunderthebed.I'llstay[untilafterlunch].
iiAdjectivephraseThatstrikesme[asunfair].Itookhim[fordead].iiiAdverbphraseIdidn'tknow[untilrecently].Ican'tstay[forlong].ivClauseItdepends[onwhatshesays].Itoldher[beforesheleft].[7]
(c)Prepositionstranding.
InanumberofclauseconstructionstheComplementofapreposition
isplacedat
thefrontoftheclauseoromittedaltogether,leavingthepreposition`stranded':[47]ia.Whatareyoulookingat?b.It'ssomething[whichIcandowithout].
iia.Thisisthebook[Iwasreferringto].b.Hewenttothesameschoolas[Iwentto].The
construction is characteristic of relatively informal style, but it
is a serious mistake to say that it
isgrammaticallyincorrect.11NEGATION(a)Clausalvssubclausalnegation.Negationismarkedbyindividualwordssuchasnot,no,never,orbyaffixessuchaswehave
inuncommon,noncompliant, infrequent,careless, isn't,won't, etc.We
need to distinguish,however, between caseswhere the negative
affects thewhole clause (clausalnegation) and those where
itaffectsjustapartofit(subclausalnegation):
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[48]iClausalnegationa.Heisnotwell.b.Surprisingly,hewasn'till.iiSubclausalnegationa.Heisunwell.b.Notsurprisingly,hewasill.
Theclausesin[i]arenegative,butthosein[ii]arepositiveeventhoughtheycontainanegativeelementwithinthem.Wesaythisbecausetheybehavelikeobviouslypositiveclauseswithrespecttotheconstructionsshownin[49]:[49]InterrogativetagsAndsovsandnor
iPositivea.Heiswell,isn'the?b.Surprisingly,hewasillandsowasshe.iiNegativea.Heisnotwell,ishe?b.Surprisingly,hewasn'tillandnorwasshe.iiiPositivea.Heisunwell,isn'the?b.Notsurprisingly,hewasillandsowasshe.
oIn[a]wehaveaclausefollowedbyaninterrogative`tag'usedtoseekconfirmationofwhathasbeensaid.
Theusualtypeoftagreversesthe`polarity'oftheclausetowhichit
isattachedthatis, it isnegativeifattachedtoapositiveclause,as
in[ia],andpositive ifattachedtoanegativeclause,as
in[iia].Andweseefrom[iiia], therefore,
thatHeisunwellcountsaspositivesince the tag isnegative: theclause
isnomorenegativethanHeissick.
o In the[b]exampleswehaveaddedatruncatedclause
introducedbyandsoorandnor.Wegetandsoafterapositiveclauseandandnorafteranegativeone.AndNotsurprisingly,hewasill
isshowntobeapositiveclausebecauseittakesandso.
(b) Nonaffirmative items. There are a number of words or
expressions that occur readily in negative
orinterrogativeclausesbutgenerallynotinpositivedeclaratives.Compare:[50]DeclarativeInterrogative
iNegativea.Hedidn'tfindanycracks.b.Didn'thefindanycracks?iiPositivea.*Hefoundanycracks.b.Didhefindanycracks?
Instead of [iia] we sayHe found some cracks. Such items as any
in [50] are called nonaffirmative (with`affirmative' understood as
combining declarative and positive). They include
compoundswithany@, such
asanybody,anyone,anything,etc.,atall,either,ever,yet,budge,canbear,canstand,giveadamn,
liftafinger,etc.Moreprecisely,thesearenonaffirmativeinatleastoneoftheirsenses:someofthemalsohavesensesinwhichtheycanoccurinaffirmativeconstructions.Theanyseriesofwords,forexample,canoccurinaffirmativeconstructionswhenthemeaningiscloseto`every',asinAnyonecandothat.12CLAUSETYPEANDSPEECHACTSWe
use sentences to make statements, ask questions, make requests,
give orders, and so on: these aredifferent kinds of speech act (a
term understood, like `speaker', to cover writing as well as
speech). Thegrammatical counterpart isclausetype, where we
distinguish declarative, interrogative, and so on.
Themaincategorieswerecognisehereareillustratedin[51]:[51]iDeclarativeYouareverytactful.
iiClosedinterrogativeAreyouverytactful?iiiOpeninterrogativeHowtactfulareyou?ivExclamativeHowtactfulyouare!vImperativeBeverytactful.
Weusedifferenttermsfortheclausetypesthanforthespeechactsbecausetherelationbetweenthetwosetsofcategoriesisbynomeansonetoone.Considersuchexamplesas[52]:[52]iYou'releavingalready?
iiIaskyouagainwhereyouwereontheeveningof14July.iiiIpromisetohelpyou.ivWouldyoumindopeningthedoorforme?
Grammatically, [i] is declarative, but it would be used as a
question: a question can be marked by risingintonation
(orbypunctuation) rather thanby thegrammatical structure.Example
[ii] is
likewisedeclarativebutagainitwouldbeusedasaquestion(perhapsinacourtcrossexamination):thequestionforcethistimecomesfromtheverbask,
inthepresenttensewitha1stpersonSubject.Promise
in[iii]worksinthesameway:thisexample would generally be used tomake
a promise. This illustrates the point that although we have just
ahandfulofdifferentclausetypesthereareagreatmanydifferentkindsofspeechact:onecanapologise,offer,congratulate,
beseech, declare a meeting open, and so on. Finally, [iv] is a
closed interrogative but
wouldcharacteristicallybeusedtomakearequest.Inthisuseitiswhatiscalledanindirectspeechact:althoughitisliterallyaquestionitactuallyconveyssomethingelse,apoliterequest.
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Allcanonicalclausesaredeclarativeandweneedsaynomoreaboutthistype,butafewcommentsareinorderfortheremainingfourtypes.
(a)Closedinterrogatives.Thesearesocalledbecausetheyaretypicallyusedtoaskquestionswithaclosedsetofanswers.UsuallytheseareYesandNo(ortheirequivalents),but
inexampleslike Is itaboyoragirl?
theyderivefromthetermsjoinedbyor:It'saboyandIt'sagirl.Grammatically
theyaremarkedbySubjectauxiliaryinversion (though such inversion is
not restricted to interrogatives: in the declarative Never had I
felt
soembarrasseditistriggeredbytheinitialplacementofthenegativenever).(b)Openinterrogatives.Thesearetypicallyusedtoaskquestionswithanopensetofanswers(e.g.very,quite,slightly,etc.
inthecaseof[51iii]).Theyaremarkedbythepresenceofaninterrogativephraseconsistingoforcontaining
a socalled `whword':who,what,when,where, how, etc. This phrasemay
be Subject (Who saidthat?),Complement (What do youwant?) or Adjunct
(When did he leave?). If it is Complement or Adjunct itnormally
occurs at the beginning of the clause, which has Subjectauxiliary
inversion, as in the last
twoexamples.Itispossible,however,forittoremaininpostverbalposition,asinAndafterthatyouwentwhere?
(aconstructionmostlikelytobefoundinacontextofsustainedquestioning).(c)Exclamatives.
These have, at the front of the clause, an exclamative phrase
containing eitherhow, as
in[51iv],orwhat,asinWhatafoolI'vebeen!(d)Imperatives.Themostcommontypeofimperativehasyouunderstood,asin[51v],orexpressedasSubject(as
inYoubecarefulDon't you speak tome like that). The verb is in the
plain form, butdo is used in
thenegative:Don'tmove.Wealsohave3rdpersonimperativeslikeSomebodyopenthewindow,distinguishedfromthe
declarative precisely by the plain form verb. 1st person plural
imperatives aremarked by let's: Let's
go!,Don'tlet'sbother.13SUBORDINATECLAUSESSubordinateclausesnormallyfunctioninthestructureofaphraseoralargerclause.Whereasmainclausesarealmostinvariablyfinite,subordinateclausesmaybefiniteornonfinite.13.1Finitesubordinateclauses.Themost
central type of finite clause is tensed, i.e. contains a verb
inflected for tense (preterite or presenttense), andmost finite
subordinate clauses are of this type. There is, however, one
construction containing
aplainformoftheverbthatbelongsinthefiniteclass,thesubjunctive:[53]iShesaysthatheiskeptwellinformed[tensed:isispresenttenseverb]
iiSheinsiststhathebekeptwellinformed[subjunctive:beisplainform]Subjunctiveisthusthenameofasyntacticconstruction,notaninflectionalcategory,asintraditionalgrammar.IthasaplainformverbandwhentheSubjectisapersonalpronounitappearsinnominativecase.
We distinguish three main types of finite subordinate clause:
content clauses, relative clauses
andcomparativeclauses.13.1.1ContentclausesTheseusuallyfunctionasSubjectorelseComplementofaverb,noun,adjectiveorpreposition:[54]iThattheyacceptedtheofferisveryfortunate.[Subject]
iiIKNOWshelikesit.[Complementofverb]iiiTheFACTthatit'ssocheapmakesmesuspicious.[Complementofnoun]ivWestayedinBECAUSEitwasraining.[Complementofpreposition]
Likemainclausestheyselectforclausetype,exceptthattherearenosubordinateimperatives:[55]iDeclarativeHedidn'tknowthateverybodysupportedtheproposal.
iiClosedinterrogativeHedidn'tknowwhethereverybodysupportedtheproposal.iiiOpeninterrogativeHedidn'tknowwhichproposaleverybodysupported.ivExclamativeHedidn'tknowwhatalotofthemsupportedtheproposal..
o Declarativesareoftenmarkedbythesubordinator thatandsince
thatoccurs inboththetensedclause
andthesubjunctivein[53]weincludebothinthedeclarativeclass.
o Closed interrogativeshavewhetheror if insteadof
theSubjectauxiliary inversionfound inmainclauses(compare the main
clause counterpart of the subordinate clause in [ii]: Did everybody
support theproposal?).
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o Open interrogatives have the interrogative phrase in initial
position and normally no Subjectauxiliaryinversion (again compare
the main clause counterpart of that in [iii]: Which proposal did
everybodysupport?).
oExclamativesmostlyhavethesameformastheirmainclausecounterparts,aswith[iv].13.1.2Relativeclauses(a)RelativeclausesasModifier.ThemostcentralkindofrelativeclausesfunctionsasModifier
innounphrasestructure:[56]ia.Iagreewith[theguywhospokelast].b.Iagreewith[theguythatspokelast].
iia.Helost[thekeywhichIlenthim].b.Helost[thekeyIlenthim].Suchclausescontainanovertorcovertelementwhichrelatesbackto
theHeadnoun,soweunderstand in [i]thatsomeguyspoke lastand in [ii]
that I lenthimakey.This `relativisedelement' isovert in [ia]
(therelativepronounwho)and[iia](which),butcovertinthe[b]examples.Thisisobviousinthecaseof[iib],andin[ib]that,although
traditionallyclassifiedasa relativepronoun, isbetter
regardedasasubordinator, thesameoneas isfound
indeclarativecontentclauses like [55i]on thisanalysis there
isnoovert relativisedelement in [ib]anymorethanin[iib].
Therelativisedelementcanhaveavarietyoffunctionsintherelativeclause:in[56i]itisSubject,in[56ii]Object,andsoon.(b)Supplementary
relative clauses.The relative clauses in [56] are tightly
integrated into the structure of
thesentence,butitisalsopossibleforrelativeclausestobesetoffbypunctuationorintonation,sothattheyhavethestatusofmorelooselyattachedSupplements,asin:[57]iI'velentthecartomybrother,whohasjustcomeoverfromNewZealand.
iiHeoversleptagain,whichmadehimmissthetrain.Inthistypetherelativisedelementisalmostalwaysovert,anddoesn'trelatebacktoanounbuttoalargerunit,awhole
noun phrase in [i] (mybrother) and a clause in [ii], wherewhich is
understood as `(the fact) that
heoversleptagain'.(c)Thefusedrelativeconstruction.Thisisstructurallymorecomplexthantheaboveconstructions:[58]ia.Whoeverwrotethismustbeverynaive.b.Youcaninvitewhoyoulike.
iia.Hequicklyspentwhatshegavehim.b.Whatbookshehasareintheattic.Theunderlinedsequencesherearenotthemselvesclausesbutnounphrases:clausesdon'tdenoteentitiesthatcanbenaiveorbe
invitedorspentor located in theattic.Note,moreover, thatare in
[iib]agreeswithapluralnoun phrase Subject, whereas Subjects with
the form of clauses take 3rd person singular verbs, as in
[54i].Whoeverin[58ia]isequivalenttothepersonwhoandwhatin[iia]tothatwhich,andsoon.Thisiswhywecallthisconstruction`fused':theHeadofthenounphraseandtherelativisedelementarefusedtogether,insteadofbeingseparate,asin[56ia/iia].
These constructionsmay look superficially like open
interrogative content clauses. Compare [58iib], forexample,with
Iaskedherwhatshegavehim. Themeaning is quite different: the
latter,where the
underlinedclauseisinterrogative,canbeglossedas`Iaskedhertheanswertothequestion,`Whatdidshegivehim?'',butthereisnosuchquestionmeaningin[58iia].Similarlycompare[58iib],meaning`The(few)bookshehasareintheattic',withWhatbookshehasisunknown,wheretheunderlinedclause
is interrogativeandthemeaning
is`Theanswertothequestion`Whatbooksdoeshehave?'isunknown'notethatthistimethemainclauseverbissingularis,agreeingwiththeclausalSubject.
13.1.3ComparativeclausesComparativeclausesgenerallyfunctionasComplementtotheprepositionsasandthan:[59]ia.I'masreadyasIeverwillbe.b.Aswasexpected,Suewoneasily.
iia.MorepeoplecamethanI'dexpected.b.Hehasmorevicesthanhehasvirtues.Thedistinctivepropertyofsuchclauses
is that theyarestructurally incomplete relative tomainclauses:
thereareelementsunderstoodbutnotovertlyexpressed. In [ia]and[iia]
there'samissingComplementand in [ib]amissing Subject. Even in [iib]
there's amissing Dependent in theObject noun phrase, for the
comparison
isbetweenhowmanyviceshehasandhowmanyvirtueshehas.Thefactthatthere'ssomekindofunderstoodquantifier
here is reflected in the fact thatwe can't insert an overt one: *He
hasmore vices than he has tenvirtues.
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13.2NonfinitesubordinateclausesTherearethreemajorkindsofnonfiniteclause:[60]iInfinitivala.Hewantstoseeyou.b.Ican'thelpyou.
iiGerundparticipiala.Buyingacarwasamistake.b.He'stheguystandingup.iiiPastparticipiala.Allthingsconsidered,it'sOK.b.Wegottoldoff.
Infinitivalscontainaplain formof theverb,withorwithout
thespecialmarker to gerundparticipials and
pastparticipialshaveverbsinthegerundparticipleandpastparticipleformsforfurtherexamples,see[26]above.
MostnonfiniteclauseshavenoovertSubject,butallthreekindsallowoneundercertainconditions.o
In infinitivals, it occurs in the tovariantwith initial for as
subordinator:For them to be so late is very
unusual.o
IngerundparticipialsapersonalpronounSubjectusuallyappears
inaccusativecase,butgenitivesare
foundinrelativelyformalstyle:Weobjectedtothem/theirbeinggivenextraprivileges.oExample[iiia]isapastparticipialwithanovertSubject.Infinitivalsaremuchthemostfrequentofthethreeclassesofnonfiniteclause,andappearinaverywiderangeoffunctions.TheseincludeSubject(Toerrishuman),Complementofaverb(asin[60ia/b]:theHeadverbdetermines
whether to is included), Complement of a noun (I applaud [her
willingness to
compromise]),Complementofanadjective(She's[willingtocompromise]),Adjunct(Shewalkstoworktokeepfit),Modifierofanoun
(I need [an album to keep the photos in]). In general, prepositions
take gerundparticipials rather thaninfinitivals as Complement (He
left [without saying goodbye]), but the compound in order and so as
areexceptions(Shestayedathome[inordertostudyfortheexam]).14COORDINATIONCoordination
is a relationbetween twoormore itemsof equal syntactic status,
thecoordinates. They are
ofequalstatusinthesensethatoneisnotaDependentofanother.(a) The
marking of coordination. Coordination is usually but not invariably
marked by the presence of acoordinator, such asand,or,nor, but the
first three of thesemay also be paired with a determinative,
both,eitherandneitherrespectively.Themainpatternsareseenin[61]:[61]iWehavenomilkandtheshopsaren'topenyet.
iiHerbrothercametoo,butdidn'tstaylong.iiiWecanmeetonMonday,onThursdayorattheweekend.ivWecanmeetonMonday,oronThursdayorattheweekend.vBothJillandherhusbandattendedthemeeting.viHewasselfconfident,determined,egotistical.
Examples[i][iii]
illustratethemostusualcase:acoordinatorinthelastcoordinate.In[iv]thereisacoordinatorinallnoninitialcoordinates,in[v]adeterminativeinthefirst,andin[vi]noovertmarkingofcoordinationatall.(b)Functional
likenessrequiredbetweencoordinates.Coordinationcanappearatmoreor
lessanyplace in thestructureof
sentences.Youcanhavecoordinationbetweenmainclauses
(givingacompoundsentence,as in[61i]), between subordinate clauses,
between phrases, between words (e.g. Have you seen my father
andmother?).But thecoordinatesneed tobegrammaticallyalike.Usually
theybelong to thesameclass,as inalltheexamples in
[61].Theydonothave tobe,however: thecrucialconstraint is that
theybealike in
function.Compare,then:[62]iSheisverybrightandagoodleader.
iiIdon'tknowthecauseoftheaccidentorhowmuchdamagewasdone.iii*We'releavingRomeandnextweek.
o In
[i]wehavecoordinationbetweenanadjectivephraseandanounphrase,and in
[ii]betweenanoun
phrase and a subordinate clause (an open interrogative content
clause). These are acceptable becauseeachcoordinatecouldstandon
itsownwith thesame function: inSheisverybright andShe isagoodleader
the underlined units are both Predicative Complements, and in I
don't know the cause of
theaccidentandIdon'tknowhowmuchdamagewasdonetheyarebothComplements.
o But [iii] isunacceptable,even though thecoordinatesareof
thesameclass,nounphrase,because thefunctional likeness condition is
notmet. The function ofRome inWe're leaving Rome is
Complement,whereasthatofnextweekinWe'releavingnextweekisAdjunct.
(c)Jointcoordination.Onespecialtypeofcoordinationisseenin[63]:
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[63]a.SamandPatareahappycouple.b.SamPatandAlexlikeeachother.Whatisdistinctiveaboutthistypeisthatthepropertiesconcerned,beingahappycoupleandlikingeachother,apply
to the coordinates jointly rather than separately.Sowe can't say
*Sam isahappycouple or *Pat likeseachother. The functional likeness
in this type is that the coordinatesdenotemembersof a set towhich
therelevantpropertyapplies.Theconstruction ismorerestricted thanthe
type illustrated in [61] in that itexcludesdeterminatives (*Both
Sam and Pat are a happy couple), doesn't allow but as coordinator,
and does
requirelikenessofclassbetweentheccoordinates.15INFORMATIONPACKAGINGThegrammarof
theclausemakesavailableanumberofconstructions thatenableus
toexpressagivencoremeaning indifferentwaysdependingonhowwewish to
topresentor `package' the
information.Forexample,Kimbrokethevase,ThevasewasbrokenbyKim,ThevaseKimbroke,ItwasKimwhobrokethevase,WhatKimbrokewas
the vase all have the samecoremeaning in the sense that there is no
situationor context
inwhichoneofthemwouldbetrueandanotherfalse(assumingofcoursethatwearetalkingofthesameKimandthesamevase).Thefirstofthem,Kimbrokethevase,isthesyntacticallymostbasic,whiletheothersbelongtovariousinformationpackagingconstructions.Themostimportantoftheseconstructionsareillustratedbytheunderlinedexamplesin[64]:
[64]NameExampleBasiccounterpartiPreposinga.Thisoneyoucankeep.b.Youcankeepthisone.iiPostposinga.I'velenttoJilltheonlycopyb.I'velenttheonlycopythatthathasbeencorrected.hasbeencorrectedtoJill.iiiInversiona.Inthebagwasagoldwatch.b.Agoldwatchwasinthebag.ivPassivea.ThecarwasdrivenbySue.b.Suedrovethecar.vExistentiala.Therewasadoctoronboard.b.Adoctorwasonboard.viExtrapositiona.It'sclearthatsheisill.b.Thatsheisillisclear.viiClefta.ItwasKimthatsuggestedit.b.Kimsuggestedit.viiiPseudoclefta.WhatIneedisacolddrink.b.Ineedacolddrink.ixDislocationa.It'sexcellent,thiscurry.b.Thiscurryisexcellent.
Inthefirstthreeweareconcernedsimplywiththeorderofelements,whiletheothersinvolvemoreradicalchanges.oThebasicpositionfortheComplementthisonein[i]
isaftertheverb,but in[a] it ispreposed,placedat
thefrontoftheclause.oIn[ii]thebasicpositionfortheObject,theonlycopythathasbeencorrected,isjustaftertheverbbutlong
orcomplexelementslikethiscanbepostposed,placedattheend.oIn[iii]thepositionsoftheSubjectandComplementofthebasicversion[b]arereversedintheinversion
construction [a]. (Moreprecisely, this isSubjectDependent
inversion, incontrast to theSubjectauxiliaryinversion construction
discussed earlier. The Dependent is usually a Complement but can
also be anAdjunct,asinThreedayslatercamenewsofherdeath.)
oIn[iv](theonlyonewherethebasicversionhasadistinctname,`active')theObjectbecomesSubject,theSubjectbecomesComplementofbyandtheauxiliarybeisadded.
o Theexistentialconstructionappliesmainlywiththeverbbe:
thebasicSubject
isdisplacedtofollowtheverbandthesemanticallyemptypronountheretakesovertheSubjectfunction.
oIn[vib]theSubjectisasubordinateclause(thatsheisill)in[a]thisisextraposed,placedaftertheverbphraseandthistimetheSubjectfunctionistakenoverbythepronounit.
oIn[vii]thecleftclauseisformedbydividingthebasicversionintotwoparts:one(Kim)
ishighlightedbymakingitComplementofaclausewith
itasSubjectandbeasverb,whiletheother
isbackgroundedbyrelegatingittoasubordinateclause(adistinctsubtypeofrelativeclause).
oThepseudocleftconstructionissimilar,butthistimethesubordinatedpartisputinafusedrelative(what
Ineed)functioningasSubjectofbe.
oDislocationbelongstofairlyinformalstyle.Itdiffersfromthebasicversioninhavinganextranounphrase,setapartintonationallyandrelatedtoapronouninthemainSubjectPredicatepartoftheclause.Intheleftdislocationvariant
thepronounoccurs to the leftof thenounphrase inrightdislocation it
is theotherwayround,asinHisfather,shecan'tstandhim.
Therearetwofurthercommentsthatshouldbemadeabouttheseconstructions.(a)Basiccounterpartneednotbecanonical.Forconveniencewehavechosenexamplesin[64]wherethebasiccounterpartsareall
canonicalclauses,butofcourse theydonotneed tobe.Thebasic
(active)counterpartofpassiveWas the car driven by Kim? isDid Kim
drive the car?, which is noncanonical by virtue of
beinginterrogative.LikewisethenoncleftcounterpartofItwasSuewhohadbeeninterviewedbythepoliceisSuehadbeen
interviewed by the police, which is noncanonical by virtue of being
passive: note then that certain
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combinationsoftheinformationpackagingconstructionsarepossible.
(b) The informationpackaging construction may be the only
option. The second point is that under
certaincircumstanceswhatonewouldexpect tobe thebasiccounterpart is
in factungrammatical.ThuswecansayThere was an accident, but not *An
accident was: here the existential construction is the only option.
Onedifferencebetweenactivesandpassivesisthatthebyphraseofthepassiveisanoptionalelementwhereastheelement
that corresponds to it in the active, namely the Subject, is
generally obligatory in finite
clauses.Compare,then:[65]iPassivea.SomemistakesweremadebyEd.b.Somemistakesweremade.
iiActivea.Edmadesomemistakes.b.*Madesomemistakes.Passiveslike[ib]calledshortpassives
thushavenoactivecounterpart.Theyareinfactthemorecommontypeofpassive,allowinginformationtobeomittedthatwouldhavetobeexpressedintheactiveconstruction.
[1]WrittenbyRodneyHuddleston&GeoffreyK.PullumincollaborationwithateamofthirteenlinguistsandpublishedbyCambridgeUniversityPressin2002.Ashorterversion,designedasanundergraduatetextbook,appearedin2005asAStudent'sIntroductiontoEnglishGrammar.IamgratefultoGeoffPullumandAnneHoranforcommentsonanearlierdraftofthispaper.
[2] InmyWords'Worth paper I relied simply on the convention of
upper vs lower case initial to
distinguish`determiner'asaclasstermand`Determiner'asafunctionterm.
[3]Weusebolditalicsforlexemeslexemeisamoreabstractconceptthanwordasitignoresinflection,sothatdo,does,did,etc.areallformsofasinglelexeme,do.
[4]Traditionalgrammaralsoclassifiesasparticiplesverbformswhichitregards(mistakenly,inourview)aspartofacompoundverb,suchascheckinginShewascheckingthefigures(cf.Section6.3.3).
[5]Infactthereisdividedusagehere,andsomespeakersdoallowmay
inthisconstruction.Forthemitwouldseemthatmayandmightarenolongertreatedaspresentandpreteriteformsofasinglelexeme,butaspresenttenseformsofdistinctlexemes.
[6]Thisisthestandardterminology,butnotethatFunctionalGrammaruses`Attribute'forthemostcommontypeofPredicativeComplement.
[7]Intraditionalgrammaritisnotsheleftbutbeforesheleftthatisanalysedasaclause,withbeforebeinghereasubordinatingconjunctionratherthanapreposition.Wepresentargumentsinfavourofouranalysisonpp.101114and12930respectivelyofthetwobooksmentionedinfootnote1.WealsodepartfromtraditionalgrammarintreatingwordslikethoseunderlinedinComeinorIfelloffasprepositionsratherthanadverbs.