ENGLISH SYNTAX
Dra. Rosario María BurneoMaster of Arts
ESCUELA: INGLÉS
NOMBRES:
FECHA: OCTUBRE 2008 – FEBRERO 2009
LANGUAGE
Language is a social, cultural and psychological phenomenon that
serves the purpose of communication among human
beings
LINGUISTICS
Linguistics can be defined as the study of human language
in all its manifestations.
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).
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.
Linguistic PhenomenaThese phenomena support the
fact that human languages are category-based
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.
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.
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.
LINGUISTIC PHENOMENA
Intrusión refers to the insertion of parenthetical expressions like “I guess”, “certainly”, usually” and others. Usually they visit us in October They usually visit us in October
Core Sentence Patterns
Core sentence patterns are
basic strings of words that express meaning and have an associated structural description called Base Phrase Marker.
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.
The Five Core Patterns
PATTERN ONE S = NP + VP intransitive + (Adv.P) Mike walks slowly Elizabeth runs
PATTERN TWO
S = NP + VP linking + NP
George became a doctor
S = NP + VP linking + Adj. Phrase
Mr. Johnson looks tired
Pattern THREE
THREE: It is built around one-place transitive
verbs.
S = NP+VP one-place trans+ NP Robert washed his car
Pattern FOUR
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.
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
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
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
UNIT TWO: ENGLISH PHRASE STRUCTURES
Constituents can be lexical (words) or phrasal (phrases). Words form phrases: This new house det. Adj. nounPhrases form clauses: This new house is beautiful NP PV
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
The Noun Phrase
2. Pronominal noun phrase include personal pronouns.
Lupe believes that she is beautiful.
3. Lexical noun phrases include all other noun phrases.
The students Marco Reyes
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.)
Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns refer back to the subject of the clause they are in. They have anaphoric reference.
Reflexive pronouns can function as:
Direct object: I cut myself.
Indirect object: Tom bought himself a car.
Object of preposition: May lives by herself
Demonstratives
They may function as both, pronouns and determiners.
As pronouns: That is my book As determiners: That book is mine
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
Types of Noun Phrases according to their
structure
Elementary noun phrases may consist of proper nouns and pronouns.
You came yesterday (Nominative NP) Mike gave me a book (Accusative NP) Mike is in his company (Genitive NP) Robert likes to hunt (Proper NP)
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
Types of Noun Phrases1. Elementary noun phrases introduced
by determiners: This cat
The moon
2. Elementary noun phrases introduced by genitives: Mike’s car
Your house
3. Noun phrases introduced by quantity words: Some workers
Much water
Types of 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
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.
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.
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.
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 o threat This book might become a best seller
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)
Belief Modality
The Belief (or epistemic) modality involves possibility, certainty, and necessity. I suppose that the children are hungry. It might rain tonight
The Internal and External Syntax of Phrases
Internal 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.Head words dictate the internal syntax of phrases. For example, a noun is the head word of a noun phrase; a verb is the head word of a VP, etc.
Subcategorization
Subcategorization refers to the complement properties of individual words.
Each word has a set of syntactic features h indicating the context in which it can be inserted.
Ken broke the window –Brake: V + NP
Subcategorization examples
We heard the boys asking questions–
Hear: V + NP + VP (present participle)
Catty put the pen on the desk– Put: V + NP + PP
Noun Phrases as Complements
NPs can function as subjects, objects and complements.
In complement position, they function as arguments and as predicates.
Arguments and Predicates
As arguments they indicate that the subject plays certain role:
My friend killed a tiger As predicates, they provide
information about the subject (person or thing mentioned earlier in the sentence). Mike is a soldier
Complements
Infinitives as verb phrase complements:
That bird seems to be sick Infinitives as complements of
adjectives: We are eager to travel to
Europe.
Complements
Infinitives as complement of nouns:
The plan to save wild life is important.
LIFE IS 10% OF WHAT Life is 10% of what happens to you, and 90% of
how you respond to it.
Thank you
GOD BLESS YOU