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Lecture 1, 2:

Introductory remarks – Discourse – Sentence – Clause – Phrase – Word - Word class

1. Linguistic communication

A simple model of a linguistic communication process, involves one person (the sender) saying something to
another person (the receiver).
 A sender wishes to communicate a message (thought, idea) to a receiver.
 A coding system allows the sender to encode (translate) the message as a linguistic code, involving
words, sentences, etc.
 In the encoding process the sender can often choose between alternative ways of encoding the message.
This choice may be influenced by attitudes (e.g. Is dinner ready soon? may be more polite than Why
can you never have dinner ready on time?) and various aspects of the situation in which the act of
communication takes place (e.g. here or there will be used to refer to Iasi, depending on whether the
sender is in Iasi or not).
 The end product of the encoding process is a sound wave which is transmitted to the receiver.
 Assuming the receiver has access to the same coding system as the sender, (s)he decodes the incoming
sound waves (i.e. reconstructs the words and sentences produced by the sender).
 In addition, the receiver interprets the received message, i.e. tries to figure out the answer to questions
like Why did (s)he say that? Does (s)he really mean that? Is (s)he being ironic? (The decoded and
interpreted received message is written in brackets in the figure just to remind us that the received
message may be more or less, but perhaps not exactly, what the sender wished to communicate.)

A more complex model of linguistic communication would also take into account

• that the participants take turns at being speaker (sender) and addressee (receiver) in a conversation;

• that the participants' utterances, as well as their interpretations of each other's utterances, will be
influenced by their general background knowledge and assumptions about the other participant;

• that a receiver typically not only decodes and interprets an utterance, but also reacts to, or acts on, the
utterance (e.g. by starting to cook dinner or by apologizing for dinner not being ready yet).

2. The linguistic sign

The linguistic sign is the connection between a content (meaning) and an expression (form, code), e.g. our
mental representation of what a dog is (content) and the word dog.

The linguistic sign is conventional in the sense that the speakers of a language must use the same expression to
represent the same content (otherwise, the receiver's decoding would not recover the content encoded by the
sender, and we would not understand each other).

A simple linguistic sign is usually referred to as a morpheme. It is a unit which cannot be further subdivided
(if we consider the sounds /d/, /o/ and /g/ separately, we lose the connection with the content and we are thus no
longer dealing with the morpheme).
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A morpheme like dog is called a free morpheme: it can be used as a word on its own (She saw a dog). A
morpheme like -s (meaning 'more than one') is a bound morpheme (more specifically, a suffix), since it must
be combined with a free morpheme to form a word (She saw two dogs).

3. Grammar

Grammar, in a narrow sense, is (the study of) the rules governing the combination of morphemes to form larger
units that can express more complex messages than the individual morpheme can. Traditionally, a distinction is
made between morphology (the rules for combining morphemes to form words) and syntax (the rules for
combining words to form sentences).

But grammar must also account for many aspects of the connection between content (meaning) and expression
(form), especially the meaning of syntactic constructions. This part of grammar is known as semantics ('the
study of meaning without reference to situation').

Those cases where the choice of expression is influenced by attitudes and/or aspects of the speech situation are
usually held to be the domain of a special branch of grammar, pragmatics ('the study of meaning with reference
to situation').

Areas of language knowledge (Bachman and Palmer)

Organizational knowledge (how utterances or sentences and texts are organized)
Grammatical knowledge (how individual utterances or sentences are organized)
Knowledge of vocabulary
Knowledge of syntax
Knowledge of phonology/graphology
Textual knowledge (how utterances or sentences are organized to form texts)
Knowledge of cohesion
Knowledge of rhetorical or conversational organization

Pragmatic knowledge (how utterances or sentences and texts are related to the communicative goals of the
language user and to the features of the language use setting)
Functional knowledge (how utterances or sentences and texts are related to the communicative goals of
language users)
Knowledge of ideational functions
Knowledge of manipulative functions
Knowledge of heuristic functions
Knowledge of imaginative functions
Sociolinguistic knowledge (how utterances or sentences and texts are related to features of the language
use setting)
Knowledge of dialects/varieties
Knowledge of registers
Knowledge of natural or idiomatic expressions
Knowledge of cultural references and figures of speech
Registers are varieties of language associated with particular users, uses, and contexts. One of the primary
features of a register is the distinctive words and phrases used in it.

In spite of the bewildering variety of forms, language use is governed by rules. Stretches of language, either
spoken or written, can be broken down into meaningful linguistic units, which follow a regularly repeated
pattern. Grammatical units are characterized in terms of their
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a) internal structure (a clause consists of clause elements, a phrase consists of a head, a complement and
optional adjuncts, a word consist of a stem and, possibly, affixes)
b) syntactic role
c) meaning.

In English five types of units are usually recognized and hierarchically arranged on a rank scale:
(discourse)
sentence: I play tennis every weekend.
clause → I play tennis every weekend.
phrase → I/ play/ tennis/ every weekend/.
word → I/ play/ tennis/ every/ weekend/.
morpheme I/ play/ tennis/ every/ week/ end.

Grammatical units can be combined to form longer written texts or spoken interaction, which is known as
discourse. Thus, a sentence is the maximal grammatical unit. It can be simple (consisting of one clause) or
complex/ compound (consisting of more than one clause). The first stage of analyzing a sentence, then, is to
recognize whether it has a single main clause or more than one clause. It is made up of a subject (I), a predicate
(play tennis every weekend) and usually expresses a complete thought.

A clause is a major unit of grammar, defined formally by the elements it may contain: subject (S), verb phrase
(V), object (O), complement (C) and adverbial (A). The clause is made up of one or more phrases; each phrase
is made up of one or more words. Each word can be further analyzed as being made up of one or more
morphemes, the morpheme being the smallest meaningful unit.

In short,
A sentence consists of one or more clauses.
A clause consists of one or more phrases.
A phrase consists of one or more words.
A word consists of one or more morphemes.

3.1. Discourse
A sentence normally does not exist in isolation, but is part of a spoken or written discourse. Each sentence will
normally be tailored to fit in with the other sentences in the discourse. For example, in dialogue it is perfectly
normal to answer a question with a sentence fragment which provides just the information that the other speaker
asked for:
Q: Where is the squirrel?
A: In the tree.

When someone answers a question, it is also essential to relate the answer to the perceived purpose of the
previous speaker's question, and not just to the form of the question. Although a great number of grammatical
rules concerning the units on the rank scale (from the morpheme upwards) can be formulated without reference
to a specific discourse context, it is nevertheless important to keep in mind that properties of the discourse may
influence the speaker's/writer's choice of grammatical form. Similarly, what we know about the wider context in
which an utterance is made may influence our interpretation of that utterance.

In normal language use, words do not occur by themselves or in isolated sentences but as integrated elements of
whole texts and discourse. They belong in specific conversations, jokes, stories, letters, textbooks, legal
proceedings, newspaper advertisements and so on, and the way that we interpret a word is significantly
influenced by the context in which it occurs.
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3.2. Sentences
Sentences are most easily identified in written text, where the beginning of the sentence is conventionally
marked by a capital letter, and the end of the sentence is marked by a full stop, exclamation mark, or
question mark.
There are four major types of sentences:
1. Declaratives (or declarative sentences)
She was attracted to an open-air job.
The new proposals have galvanized the normally disparate community into a potent fighting force.
2. Interrogatives (or interrogative sentences)
Do you have internet access at home?
Where will you be going for your holiday?
3. Imperatives (or imperative sentences)
Open the door for me.
Take a seat.
4. Exclamatives (or exclamative sentences)
How well you look!
What a good friend you are!

These four sentence types differ in their form and correspond in general to four major uses:
1. Statements are used chiefly to convey information.
2. Questions are used chiefly to request information.
3. Directives are used chiefly to request action.
4. Exclamations are used chiefly to express strong feeling.
It is usual to refer to interrogatives more simply as questions.

Sentences are either positive or negative. If an auxiliary (‘helping’) verb is present, we can usually change a
positive sentence into a negative sentence by inserting not or n’t after the auxiliary. In the following examples,
the auxiliaries are has, is, and can:
Positive: Nancy has been working here for over a year.
Negative: Nancy has not been working here for over a year.
Positive: Dan is paying for the meal.
Negative: Dan isn’t paying for the meal.
Positive: I can tell the difference.
Negative: I can’t tell the difference.

A sentence may be negative because of some other negative word:

She never had a secretary.
Nobody talked to us.
This is no ordinary painting.

Sentences are either active or passive. We can often choose whether to make a sentence active or passive. The
choice involves differences in position and differences in the form of the verb:
Active: Charles Dickens wrote many novels.
Passive: Many novels were written by Charles Dickens.

Actives are far more numerous than passives. Their relative frequency varies with register. For example,
passives tend to be heavily used in formal scientific writing.

Depending on what combinations of main and subordinate clauses we find in the sentence, we can recognize the
following sentence types:
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• a sentence fragment does not contain a full main clause. The following
advertisement text is primarily made up of sentence fragments (underlined):
Indigestion? Reach for Rennie. Now in handy strips - for on-the-spot relief.
Rennie.
• a simple sentence consists of one single main clause: The dog was chasing the
cat.
• a compound sentence consists of two or more co-ordinated main clauses: Mary
sang, and John played the piano. / John likes Cajun food, but Mary can't stand
it.
• a complex sentence contains at least one main clause and one subordinate clause:
John went home because he was tired.

Subject, predicate, verb phrase

It is traditional to divide the sentence into two main constituents: the subject and the predicate. The predicate
consists of the verb and any other elements of the sentence apart from the subject:

subject predicate
I learned all this much later.
The chef is a young man with broad experience of the world.
The fate of the land parallels the fate of the culture.

The most important constituent of the predicate is the verb phrase. Indeed, it is the most important constituent in
the sentence, since regular sentences may consist of only a verb: imperatives such as Help! and Look!

The verb phrase may consist of more than one word: could have been imagining. The main verb in this verb
phrase comes last: imagining. The verbs that come before the main verb are auxiliary verbs (‘helping verbs’), or
simply auxiliaries: could have been.

Operator
The operator is the first or only auxiliary in the verb of the sentence. In [1], the verb phrase (VP) is could have
been imagining and the operator is could, the first auxiliary:
[1] You could have been imagining it.

In [2] the VP is can get, and the operator is can, the only auxiliary.
[2] Karen can get to the heart of a problem.

The operator plays an essential role in the formation of certain sentence structures:
1. We form most types of questions by interchanging the positions of the subject and the operator:
[1] You could have been imagining it.
[1a] Could you have been imagining it?
This is known as subject-operator inversion.

2. We form negative sentences by putting not after the operator. In informal style, not is often contracted to n’t,
and in writing n’t is attached to the operator; some operators have very different positive and negative forms
(e.g. will in [4] and won’t in [4a]):
[3] Barbara and Charles are getting married in April.
[3a] Barbara and Charles are not/ aren’t getting married in April.
[4] Nancy will be staying with us.
[4a] Nancy will not/ won’t be staying with us.
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3. Operators can carry the stress in speech to convey certain kinds of emphasis:
[5] A: Finish your homework.
B: I HAVE finished it.
[6] A: I am afraid to tell my parents.
B: You MUST tell them.

4. Operators are used in various kinds of reduced clauses to substitute for the predicate:
[7] A: Are you leaving?
B: Yes, I am.
[8] Karen and Tom haven’t seen the video, but Jill has.
[9] I’ll take one if you will.

Do, Be, Have

The operator is identified as the first or only auxiliary, but many sentences have no auxiliary, as in [1]:
[1] Terry works for a public authority.

If we want to form the structures specified above, we have to introduce the dummy operator do with the
appropriate endings (do, does, did):
[1a] Does Terry work for a public authority?
[1b] Terry doesn’t work for a public authority.
[1c] Terry does work for a public authority, and her sister does too.
The auxiliary do in these sentences is a dummy operator because it is introduced to perform the functions of an
operator in the absence of ‘true’ operators such as can and will.

There are two operators that are not auxiliaries. The verb be is used as an operator even when it is the main
verb, provided that it is the only verb:
[2] It was an awful system.
[2a] Was it an awful system?

Under the same condition, the main verb have is optionally used as an operator:
[3] Nora has just one daughter.
[3a] Has Nora just one daughter?
But with have there is a choice. We can introduce the dummy operator as with other verbs (Does Nora have just
one daughter?) or substitute get as the main verb (Has Nora got just one daughter?).

Regular sentences consist of a subject and a predicate, and the predicate contains at least a verb. Here are some
sentences consisting of just the subject and the verb:
subject verb
A door opened.
The sun is setting.
The baby was crying.
You must leave.
Many of us have protested.
They have been drinking.

Sentences usually contain more than just the subject and the verb. Here are several examples, with the subject
(S) and the verb (V) italicized and labelled:
His black boots (S) had (V) pointed toes and fancy stitching.
It (S) rained (V) every day of our vacation.
Every kind of medical equipment (S) was (V) in short supply.
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The subject need not come first in the sentence:
Eventually the managing director (S) intervened (V) in the dispute.
Over the years she (S) had collected (V) numerous prizes for academic achievement.

Sometimes, a word or phrase comes between the subject and the verb:
They (S) often stay (V) with us at weekends.

Or there is an interruption between parts of the verb:

We (S) can (V) never thank (V) this country enough.

The easiest way to identify the subject in a declarative sentence is to turn this sentence into a yes–no question
(one expecting the answer yes or no). The operator (op) and the subject change places:
[1] The baby (S) has (op) been crying.
[1a] Has (op) the baby (S) been crying?
[2] Every kind of medical equipment (S) was (op) in short supply.
[2a] Was (op) every kind of medical equipment (S) in short supply?
[3] Eventually the managing director (S) intervened in the dispute.
[3a] Did (op) the managing director (S) eventually intervene in the dispute?

It may be necessary to turn other types of sentences into declarative sentences to identify the subject for this test
and the next test. For example, the subject in [1a] is that part of the sentence that changes place with the
operator when the question is turned into a declarative sentence.

3.3. Clauses
Clauses are grammatical constructions which are used to represent events or situations typically involving one
or more participants (The dog was chasing the cat / The sky is blue / It is raining). In addition, the message
expressed by some clauses can be described as true or false.

Subordinate clauses
We can recognize three types of subordinate clauses (labeled A, B and C below) on the basis of the finiteness of
the VP used as V in the clause and the presence or absence of a subordinator, as shown in the following table:

FINITE SUBORDINATOR

Main clause + –

Subordinate clause A + +
Subordinate clause B – +
Subordinate clause C – –

Examples of the three types (with subordinator (if any) and finite verb (if any) underlined):
A:
John went home because he was tired.
the house that Jack built
B:
He wrote the book while working as a night clerk.
C:
Looking up, he saw her enter the room.

3.3.1 Clause elements

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In accordance with the rank scale principle, a clause is made up of one or more phrases (occasionally we
may find a rank-shifted clause instead of a phrase). Each phrase making up the clause has a specific
grammatical function in the clause. The labels used for these functions (or clause elements) are the following:

• subject (S): The dog was chasing the cat. / He gave her a rose.
• verb (V): The dog was chasing the cat. / He gave her a rose.
• object (O): -direct object (dO): The dog was chasing the cat. / He gave her a rose.;
indirect object (iO): He gave her a rose.
• complement (C): - subject complement/ subject predicative (sC/ sP): He was
amusing. / John became a lieutenant.; object complement/ object predicative (oC/
oP): She found him amusing. / They made him a lieutenant.
• adverbial (A): She lives in London. / He went to Paris last week.

This will be the end of the first lecture.

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The subject is the element of a clause which normally comes before the verb phrase and consists of a noun
phrase. Thus, in These cars are expensive and Recently they have raised taxes, these cars and they are the
subjects, preceding the verb phrases are and have raised. The subject of a clause may also be a subordinate
clause: [That he confessed to the crime] proves nothing.

Subjects can be recognized by a number of additional factors:

a) they have concord with the finite verb
b) they are placed after the operator in questions: Are these cars expensive? Have they raised taxes?
c) they typically refer to the doer of an action. This last factor, however, is unreliable, as in passive
clauses the subject does not refer to the doer, a role usually taken by the agent (if present) instead:
Taxes have been raised by the government.

Grammatical rules that refer to the subject.

1. The subject normally comes before the verb in declaratives, but in questions it comes after the operator:
[1] They (S) accepted (V) full responsibility.
[1a] Did (op) they (S) accept (V) full responsibility?

The subject comes before the verb even in questions if who or what or an interrogative phrase such as which
person is the subject:
[1b] Who (S) accepted (V) full responsibility?

2. The subject is normally absent in imperatives:

Help (V) me with the luggage.

3. The subject determines the form of reflexive pronouns (those ending in -self ; such as herself, ourselves,
themselves) that appear in the same clause:
I (S) hurt myself badly.
The child cried when he (S) hurt himself badly.
You (S) can look at yourself in the mirror.
She (S) can look at herself in the mirror.

4. When we turn an active sentence into a passive sentence we change the subjects:
Active: The police (S) called the bomb-disposal squad.
Passive: The bomb-disposal squad (S) was called by the police.
We can also omit the subject of the active sentence when we form the passive sentence, and indeed we
generally do so:
Passive: The bomb-disposal squad was called.

The verb phrase is a phrase consisting of one or more verb words. It consists of a main verb alone (the simple
verb phrase), or a main verb preceded by one or more auxiliaries. There is also an elliptical verb phrase which
consists of an auxiliary verb with ellipsis of the main verb.

The verb phrase involves five principal choices. The first choice, of tense, is between present and past tense,
and involves choosing the appropriate form of the finite verb, e.g., am/is/are ~ was/were; has/have ~ had;
write(s) ~ wrote. The remaining four choices are whether to use two-verb constructions, whether alone or in
combination. They are:
MODAL CONSTRUCTION
modal auxiliary + short infinitive must eat
PERFECT CONSTRUCTION
have + past participle has eaten
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PROGRESSIVE CONSTRUCTION
be + -ing participle is eating
PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION
be + past participle is eaten

These constructions can be combined in the order stated:

MODAL + PERFECT
modal auxiliary + have + past participle must have eaten
MODAL + PROGRESSIVE
modal auxiliary + be + -ing must be eating
MODAL + PASSIVE
modal auxiliary + be + past participle must be eaten
PERFECT + PROGRESSIVE
have + been +-ing has been eating
PERFECT + PASSIVE
have + been + past participle has been eaten
PROGRESSIVE + PASSIVE
be + -ing + past participle is being eaten

A further combination of three constructions is also possible, though rare:

MODAL + PERFECT + PROGRESSIVE
modal auxiliary + have + been + -ing must have been eating
MODAL + PERFECT + PASSIVE
modal auxiliary + have + been + past participle must have been eaten
MODAL + PROGRESSIVE + PASSIVE
modal auxiliary + be + being + past participle must be being eaten
PERFECT + PROGRESSIVE + PASSIVE
have + been + being + past participle has been being eaten

The object is the element of the clause which normally follows the main verb, and corresponds to the subject of
a passive clause.
For example:
Armadillos eat termites. (termites is the object)
Termites are eaten by armadillos. (termites is subject of the passive)

My best friend has bought the house next door.

Charles is visiting the Joneses tomorrow.

An object is usually a noun phrase (as in the examples above). If it is a personal pronoun, the
accusative/objective case is needed: me, him, her, us, them – not I, she, we, they.

An object can also be a nominal clause: Everyone knows [that mercury is a metal]; People rarely believe
[what she says].

In terms of meaning, the object is often identified with the person, thing, etc. that is affected by the action
described by the verb. Whereas the subject typically represents the doer, the object typically represents the
doee.

Transitive verbs and direct object

If a main verb requires a direct object to complete the sentence, it is a transitive verb. The term ‘transitive’
comes from the notion that a person (represented by the subject of the sentence) performs an action that affects
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some person or thing: there is a ‘transition’ of the action from the one to the other. Indeed, the direct object
(dO) typically refers to a person or thing directly affected by the action described in the sentence:
Helen received my email (dO).
They ate all the strawberries (dO).
I dusted the bookshelves in my bedroom (dO).
Anthony stroked his beard (dO).
One way of identifying the direct object in a declarative sentence is by asking a question introduced by who or
what followed by the operator and the subject. The object is the constituent that who or what questions:

Some grammatical rules refer to the direct object.

1. The direct object normally comes after the verb.
Carter has been photographing (V) light bulbs (dO) lately.

2. Some pronouns have a distinctive form when they function as direct object
She phoned us (dO) earlier this evening.
We phoned her (dO) earlier this evening.

3. If the subject and direct object refer to the same person or thing, the direct object is a reflexive pronoun:
The children hid themselves.

4. When we turn an active sentence into a passive sentence, the direct object of the active sentence becomes the
subject of the passive sentence:
Active: The tests revealed traces of anthrax (dO).
Passive: Traces of anthrax (S) were revealed by the tests.

A clause may have an indirect object, in addition to a direct object. In

Charles is cooking the family a meal,
the family is the indirect object (representing those who are indirectly affected by the action) and a meal is the
direct object.

Direct object and indirect object

We have seen that a transitive verb requires a direct object to complete the sentence. Some transitive verbs can
have two objects: an indirect object followed by a direct object. The indirect object (iO) refers to a person
indirectly affected by the action described in the sentence. The person generally receives something or benefits
from something:
[1] Ruth gave my son (iO) a birthday present (dO).
[2] I can show you (iO) my diploma (dO).
[3] My friends will save her (iO) a seat (dO).
[4] You may ask the speaker (iO) another question (dO).

The indirect object is usually equivalent to a phrase introduced by to or for, but that phrase normally comes
after the direct object. Sentences [1a]–[4a] parallel [1]–[4]:
[1a] Ruth gave a birthday present to my son.
[2a] I can show my diploma to you.
[3a] My friends will save a seat for her.
[4a] You may ask another question of the speaker.

The structures in [1]–[4] and those in [1a]–[4a] differ somewhat in their use, since there is a general tendency
for the more important information to come at the end. For example, if the son has already been mentioned, but
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not the birthday present, we would expect [1] to be used rather than [1a], though in speech we can indicate
the focus of information by giving it prominence in our intonation.

The grammatical rules that refer to the direct object also refer to the indirect object:
1. The indirect object comes after the verb:
Ruth gave my son (iO) a birthday present (dO).
Note that the indirect object comes before the direct object.

2. Some pronouns have a distinctive form when they function as indirect object:
I paid her (iO) the full amount.
She paid me (iO) the full amount.

3. If the subject and indirect object refer to the same person, the indirect object is generally a reflexive pronoun:
The managing director paid herself (iO) a huge salary.

4. When we turn an active sentence into a passive sentence, the indirect object of the active sentence can
become the subject of the passive sentence:
The principal granted Tony (iO) an interview.
Tony (S) was granted an interview.

The direct object can also become the subject, but in that case the indirect object (if retained) is generally
represented by a phrase introduced by to or for:
An interview was granted to Tony.

The complement is the element of the clause which typically follows the verb be, and which consists either of
an adjective phrase or a noun phrase:
Everyone was happy.
The party has been extremely enjoyable.
William is the new manager.

The most common linking verb is be. Other common linking verbs (with examples of subject complements in
parentheses) include appear (the best plan), become (my neighbour), seem (obvious), feel (foolish), get (ready),
look (cheerful), sound (strange).

This type of complement is called a subject complement, because it typically identifies or characterizes the
person or thing denoted by the subject (William, etc.).

Linking verbs and subject complement

If a verb requires a subject complement (sC) to complete the sentence, the verb is a linking verb. The subject
complement (underlined in the examples that follow)

Other complements are called object complements, because they follow the object, and describe what the
object refers to:
We found everyone happy.
They have appointed William the new manager.

For example, in Margaret has been keeping the house tidy, tidy is the object complement, and the house is the
object. The relation between the object and the object complement is representable by the verb be: an implied
meaning of the above sentence is that ‘the house is tidy’. The object complement can be an adjective phrase, as
above, or it can be a noun phrase, as in: The empress declared Catherine her heir.
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The set of verbs which permit an object complement is not large and includes to keep, declare, leave, call, like,
want, consider, find, think, get, make, send, turn, elect, appoint, vote.

The adverbial is the element of the clause which adds extra meaning about the event or state of affairs
described. Adverbials are the most peripheral of the clause elements which make up the structure of a clause.

Adverbials are normally optional, that is, they can be omitted without changing the relations of meaning and
structure in the rest of the clause: suddenly is optional in She left suddenly.( Compare She left.)

They are also typically mobile – i.e. can occur in more than one position in the clause, as in She left suddenly. ~
She suddenly left. ~ Suddenly she left.

A further point about the adverbials is that more than one of them can occur in the same clause:
At midnight, she secretly left to meet Heathcliff. (when?, how?, why?)

Adverbials belong to varied meaning categories, e.g. adverbials of time, duration, frequency, place, manner,
means, instrument, degree, purpose. In many cases, these categories can be distinguished as answering different
questions: when, where, how, why, how long, how often, how much, how far etc.

In spite of their name, adverbials do not necessarily contain adverbs. They may consist of an adverb phrase, as
in She left (very) suddenly, but they may also consist of a prepositional phrase (at midnight, through the
window), or of a noun phrase (last night, the weekend before last), or of an adverbial clause (as soon as she
could).

Adverbial complement
Adverbials are optional elements in sentence structure; however, some elements that convey the same
information as adverbials are obligatory because the main verb is not complete without them. Such obligatory
elements are adverbial complements (aC).

Contrast [1] with [1a]:

[1] The protestors were demonstrating outside the White House (A).
[1a] The protestors were outside the White House (aC).
In [1] the sentence is complete without the adverbial, but in [1a] the sentence is not complete without the
adverbial complement.

Typically, adverbial complements refer to space, that is, location or direction. Nevertheless, adverbial
complements may convey other meanings:
Their work is in the early stages (aC).
The show will last for three hours (aC).
The children were with their mother (aC).
These letters are for Cindy (aC).
The most common verb in the SVA structure is be.

3.3.2. Clause/verb patterns

A clause/verb pattern is a pattern which contains a main verb and whatever elements have to follow that verb to
complete its meaning grammatically.

The commonest clause pattern in English is that of a transitive verb, which has to be followed by a direct object:
S V O
The council/ has built/ a new office block.
 14

Note that The council has built is incomplete: something else is required, both grammatically and semantically,
that is an object. The element(s) required after the verb is/are called the complementation of the verb.

Using the symbols S (subject), V (verb phrase), O (object), C (complement) and A (adverbial) for the
elements of clause structure, we can represent a number of verb patterns as follows:
SV Jonathan’s pet hamster/ has died. (intransitive verb)
SVO The chef/ is preparing/ something special. (transitive verb)
SVC Everyone/ was feeling hungry. (linking verb)
SVA Your travel agent/ is/ on the phone. (pattern with obligatory adverbial)
SVOO We/ should have wished/ them/ a happy New Year. (pattern with indirect object)
SVOC Meg’s behaviour/ is driving/ her parents/ mad. (pattern with object complement)

Each pattern specifies what is required for completeness, but optional adverbials can always be added. For
instance:
The chef is preparing something special this evening.

There are more patterns than these, some of them requiring subordinate clause structures as part of the
complementation. They include:
V + that-clause I/ imagined/ that Jane was lonely.
V + O + to-infinitive clause I/ imagined/ her/ to be happy.
V + -ing clause I/ imagined/ meeting her in the street.

The meanings of the sentence elements

The sentence elements are grammatical, not semantic, categories. However, they are associated with certain
meanings.

Subject
1. agentive
In sentences with a transitive or intransitive verb, the subject typically has an agentive role: the person that
performs the action:
Martha has switched on the television.
Caroline is calling.
2. identified
The identified role is typical of structures with a linking verb:
Jeremy was my best friend.
Doris is my sister-in-law.
3. characterized
The characterized role is also typical of structures with a linking verb:
This brand of coffee tastes better.
Paul is an excellent student.
4. affected
With intransitive verbs the subject frequently has the affected role: the person or thing directly affected by the
action, but not intentionally performing the action:
They are drowning.
The water has boiled.
5. ‘it’
Sometimes there is no participant. The subject function is then taken by it, which is there merely to fill the place
of the subject:
It’s raining.
It’s already eleven o’clock.
 15
It’s too hot.
It’s a long way to Miami.

Verb
The major distinction in meaning is between verbs that are stative and verbs that are dynamic.

Stative verbs introduce a quality attributed to the subject or a state of affairs:

I am a French citizen.
Their children are noisy.
She has two brothers.
I heard your alarm this morning.

Dynamic verbs introduce events. They refer to something that happens:

Her books sell well.
We talked about you last night.
Your ball has broken my window.
I listened to her respectfully.

Dynamic verbs, but not stative verbs, occur quite normally with the -ing form:
Her books are selling well.
We were talking about you last night.
They have been playing in the yard.
She is looking at us.

When stative verbs are used with the -ing form, they have been transformed into dynamic verbs:
Their children are being noisy. (‘behaving noisily’)
I am having a party next Sunday evening.

Direct object
1. affected
This is the typical role of the direct object.
She shook her head.
I threw the note on the floor.
2. resultant
The direct object may refer to something that comes into existence as a result of the action:
He’s written an account of his travels.
I’m knitting a sweater for myself.
3. eventive
The direct object may refer to an event. The eventive object generally contains a noun that is derived from a
verb. In typical use, the noun carries the main part of the meaning that is normally carried by the verb, and is
preceded by a verb of general meaning, such as do, have, or make:
They were having a quarrel. (cf: They were quarrelling.)
I have made my choice. (cf: I have chosen.)

Indirect object
The indirect object typically has a recipient role: the person that is indirectly involved in the action, generally
the person receiving something or intended to receive something, or benefiting in some way:
They paid me the full amount.
He bought Sandra a bunch of flowers.
David has been showing Andrew his computer printout.
 16
Subject complement and object complement
The complement typically has the role of attribute. It attributes an identification or characterization to the
subject – if it is a subject complement (sC) – or the direct object – if it is an object complement (oC):
sC: Susan is my accountant.
sC: Ronald became a paid agitator.
oC: I have made David my assistant.
oC: The sun has turned our curtains yellow.

Adverbial
Adverbials have a wide range of meanings, some of which apply to adverbial complements. Here are some
typical examples:
1. space
My school is south of the river. (position in space)
She has gone to the bank. (direction)
2. time
They’re staying with us for a few weeks. (duration)
We come here quite often. (frequency)
Your next appointment is on the last day of the month. (position in time)
3. manner
The students cheered wildly.
I examined the statement carefully.
4. degree
I like them very much.
We know her well.
5. cause
My brother is ill with the flu.
They voted for her out of a sense of loyalty.
6. comment on truth-value (degree of certainty or doubt)
They certainly won’t finish on time.
Perhaps he’s out.
7. evaluation of what the sentence refers to
Luckily, no one was injured.
Unfortunately, both copies were destroyed.
8. providing a connection between units
I was not friendly with them; however, I did not want them to be treated unfairly.
We arrived too late, and as a result we missed her.

3.4. Phrase
The words that build up a clause can be put together in meaningful groups or phrases. A phrase is a
grammatical unit which may consist of one or more than one word, and which is one of the classes of
constituent into which simple sentences can be divided.

The head, as the most important element of the phrase, determines the relationships and the behavior of the
phrase as a whole. The main types of phrase are noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase,
and prepositional phrase. Phrases are named after the word-class (noun, verb, etc.) which plays the most
important part in their structure. Each phrase, except the prepositional phrase, can consist of the head only.

3.4.1. Syntactic functions of phrases

The way the different phrase types can be used as clause elements and as rank-shifted elements within other
phrases can be summarized as follows:
 17
Phrase type Syntactic function in clause Syntactic function in phrase
Noun phrase (NP) Subject; direct object; indirect object; subject Complement in PP; premodifier in NP; used
predicative; object predicative, advebial in apposition to other NP
Verb phrase (VP) Verb -
Adjective phrase Subject predicative; object predicative Premodifier in NP; postmodifier in NP; split
(AdjP) modifier in NP; (head in NP)
Adverb phrase Adverbial Modifier in AdjP, AdvP, NP
(AdvP)
Prepositional Adverbial Postmodifier in NP; complement in AdjP;
phrase (PP) (premodifier in NP)
The parentheses in the third column indicate uses that are subject to restrictions.

3.4.2. The noun phrase

The noun phrase (NP) is called so because the word which acts as its main part is typically a noun or a pronoun.
Minimally, it may consist in a noun (farmer) or pronoun (they) only, as in: They are farmers.
.
Often, the noun that is central to the phrase may be accompanied by other words, which provide information
relating to it: They are all nice farmers working hard all day long.

In describing noun phrases we may distinguish:

• the head (farmer), the word around which the other components group together and which controls concord,
that is the agreement in grammatical form between elements in a clause or a phrase.
• the premodifiers , which include all the items placed before the head: determiners (all), adjectives (nice), and
other nouns.
• the postmodifiers, comprising all the items placed after the head, especially prepositional phrases, relative
clauses and non-finite clauses (working hard all day long).

The structure of the noun phrase could thus be re-written as:

Noun Phrase (NP)
(Determiners(s)) + (Premodifier(s)) + Head + (Postmodifier(s))
The parentheses represent optional elements.

3.4.3. The verb phrase

The verb phrase (VP) usually consists of a head, which is a lexical verb, preceded by the optional elements,
the auxiliaries and/or the modals.

Lexical verbs express both lexical meaning (motion, perception, cognition, etc.) and grammatical meaning
(tense, aspect, person, number):
She went back to New York. [motion + past]
I know no secret recipe for certainty. [cognition + present]

Modal verbs add to the lexical verb a special semantic component such as: ability, possibility, permission,
obligation, necessity, etc.:
You can build this vacation cottage yourself. [ability]
This year prospects may be better. [possibility]
The problem must be faced squarely. [obligation]
 18
Auxiliary verbs (be, have, do) carry grammatical meaning only. They follow modals and occur in the order:
perfect, progressive, passive, (some of them may be omitted). In addition, all finite VPs are also marked for
tense (T).

3.4.3. The adjective phrase

Adjectives are words that typically modify nouns. Adjectives commonly specify the properties or the attributes
of a noun referent:
The house is old.
Sam is very angry with John.
He is so fond of music.

The adjectival phrase (AP) typically consists of a head, a specifier and a complement, which combine to form
the following basic structures:
specifier head complement
old
very angry with John
so fond of music

The head of the adjectival phrase is always realized by an adjective, which may function alone, or may be
optionally accompanied by specifiers (very, rather, so, too, etc.). Specifiers typically indicate the degree of the
quality denoted by the adjective. The elements following the head serve to complete the meaning of the
adjective and are generally called complements. Complements generally take the form of prepositional phrases.

3.4.4. The adverb phrase

Adverb phrases (AdvP) are normally composed of three elements: the head, the specifier and the complement:
He made up hid mind.
He made up his mind independently.
He made up his mind quite independently of me.
specifier head complement
independently
quite independently of me

Complements are typically realized by prepositional phrases. Adverb phrases are frequently optional in the
sense that they can be omitted without the clause becoming ungrammatical. They function as Adverbial
Modifiers of Manner, Place, or Time.

3.4.5. The prepositional phrase

English makes extensive use of prepositions. Prepositions never appear alone but in combination with a noun
phrase, that acts as complement of the preposition. Prepositions are semantically bound with the noun
following them:
He put the book right on the shelf.
They are at odds.
specifier head complement
right on the shelf
behind him
at odds

The complement of the preposition is typically realized by nouns and pronouns but also by wh-finite clauses,
gerundial clauses, and occasionally by adjectives and adverbs:
He was taken completely by surprise. (prep + noun)
 19
He knew them from before the war. (prep + prep + noun)
I know where he is, right near here. (prep + adv)
At last the call came. (prep + adj)
He insisted on being paid at once. (prep + gerundial clause)
He was interested in what they were up to. (prep + indirect question)

3.5. Words
Phrases are made up of words. Although they look familiar to everyone, their definition is far from simple.
Words are however identifiable by such criteria as:
a) a regular stress pattern, the possibility of being preceded or followed by pauses in speech or separated from
one another by means of spaces and punctuation marks, in writing:
The boy is reading a book.
b) being the minimal possible unit in an utterance:
John. (in reply to a question like: Who phoned?)
Tonight. (in reply to a question like: When shall we meet?)
c) being assigned one, or more dictionary meanings:
boy 1. a male child or a male person in general: The boys wanted to play football. 2. a son: How old is your
little boy? (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)
The manner in which the above-mentioned conditions are met varies considerably and depends on the nature of
each word.

3.5.1. Word vs. lexeme

A lexeme is a word in roughly the sense that would correspond to a dictionary entry. For instance, play would
have two entries in the dictionary, as a verb and as a noun. These are the lexemes, the basic forms. The verb
would appear in various forms when used in sentences, while the noun would have other forms: verb lexeme:
play. forms of the lexeme: play, plays, played, playing noun lexeme: play forms of the lexeme: plays (pl.),
play’s; plays’ (genitive)

3.5.2. Morphological structure of words

A word is built up of smaller constituents called morphemes. By definition, a morpheme is a minimal unit of
meaning, that is, a meaningful sequence of sounds which is not divisible into smaller meaningful units.

Morphemes are different from syllables. The word animal, for example, can be divided into three syllables (a-
ni-mal), yet it consists of one morpheme only, which in this case, is identical to the word. None of the smaller
units (a-, -ni-, -mal) bears a meaning of its own. However, the plural form animals, which retains the original
three-syllable structure, consists in two morphemes: the former is animal, meaning “a creature”, and the latter,
represented by -s (/z/ in speech) signifying “more than one”.

Morphemes are classified by linguists as free morphemes or bound morphemes and as roots or affixes. A
free morpheme is one which can stand alone (farm, job, task, man, child, box, etc.). The morpheme farm, for
instance, cannot be broken down into smaller bits, and it typically has semantic content, in our case, “an area of
land, and the buildings on it, used for growing crops and/or keeping animals”.

A bound morpheme is one which cannot occur as an independent word (re-, dis-, -tion, -er, etc.) and has to be
attached to other morphemes to build words: replay, dislike, education, farmer. Their semantic content is more
difficult to isolate. Bound morphemes are typically called affixes.

There are two types of affixes: prefixes (added to the beginning of a word) and suffixes (added to the end of a
word): un- unnecessary, untold mis- misunderstand, misfortune -ful fruitful, careful -tion construction,
exploitation
 20
Prefixes, together with some suffixes, generate new words and, for this reason, they are called derivational
morphemes, to be more precise, derivational prefixes or suffixes. Actually, affixes attach to the root (of the
word). A root is the portion of a word that is common to a set of derived or inflected forms.

When all affixes are removed the root is not further analyzable into meaningful elements, being
morphologically simple and carries the main portion of meaning of the words in which it appears: humanize,
humanism, humanitarian, humans, inhuman, humanly That part of a word to which affixes are added is called a
stem. The root is always a stem, but a more complex derived word structure may also be a stem. Unlike roots,
words may have more than one stem. Consider the word carelessness: care [root] care [root and stem 1] + less
[derivational suffix 1] > careless (adj) careless [stem 2] + ness [derivational suffix 2] > carelessness (n) Care is
also the stem of the verbal lexeme to care, whose inflectional forms are cares (present, 3rd person singular),
cared (past tense or past participle) and caring (present participle).

3.5.3. Word classes

According to their grammatical behavior and their main function, words can be broadly grouped into: lexical
words and function words.

Lexical words are the main bearers of meaning and they form the primary vocabulary of a language. Lexical
words have a complex internal structure, are morphologically variable, and they can be heads of phrases.

There are four main lexical words in English: nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Nouns
Nouns typically refer to concrete people and things as well as to abstract ideas and phenomena (John, teacher,
book, land, peace, rain).

Lexical verbs
Lexical verbs typically denote actions (work, write, play), processes (change, develop, increase) or states
(sleep, fear, frighten).

Adjectives
Adjectives typically describe qualities, characteristics, and properties of objects, people and phenomena
expressed by nouns. (nice, difficult, easy)

Adverbs
Adverbs specify the circumstances (place, time, manner) in which an action takes place (here, now, slowly).

Function words have little or no lexical meaning; their role is to express grammatical relationships between
lexical words or between lexical words and larger units. Function words can be conveniently grouped according
to the lexical word to which they are associated:

grammatical unit function words

clause subordinators, wh-words, the negator not,
the infinitive marker to
clause/ phrase coordinators
verb phrase auxiliaries, modals, adverbial particles
noun phrase determiners, pronouns, numerals,
prepositions

Exercise 3.1 Subject, predicate, verb

 21
In each sentence below, underline the subject and circle the verb constituent.
1. Since September, the airline industry has suffered its greatest ever slump in
business.
2. Analysts predict several years of diminished business.
3. Several thousand airline workers lost their jobs.
4. The general public is still nervous about flying.
5. People prefer to travel by train.

Exercise 3.2 Operator; Do, have, be

Use the contracted form n’t to make each sentence below negative.
1. Protesters were in the streets.
2. The party was at war with itself.
3. The tide of revolution toppled one European government after another.
4. The changes had been foreseen.
5. The party could be humbled soon.

Exercise 3.3 Operator; Do, have, be

Turn each sentence below into a question that can be answered by yes or no, and underline the
operator in the question.
1. Brain bulk is related to brain ability.
2. This correlation applies across species.
3. Within the human species, brain bulk is unimportant.
4. The largest human brains are those of idiots.
5. Humans are able to lose substantial portions of the brain without undue suffering.
6. The main part of the human brain is divided into two hemispheres.
7. Messages from one hemisphere can reach the other.

Exercise 3.4 Subject and verb

Identify the subject in each of the questions or exclamations below and underline it. Circle the
operator and (if relevant) the rest of the verb phrase.
1. How should I know?
2. How much does all this matter?
3. How we long to be home again!
4. Have you found any advantages in the present arrangements?
5. Can the roots of the decline in the standard of English cricket be traced back
a long way?
6. What a fuss they made!
7. Did Britain recognize the Argentine at that time?

*Exercise 3.5 Subject and verb

In each sentence below, underline the subject or subjects and circle the verb or verbs. If a sentence
contains more than one clause, it may have more than one verb. For example in the following
sentence there are three subjects and four verbs:
1. If you hold a strong man down for a long time, his first instinct may be to clobber you when he
climbs to his feet.
1. If the European Union is not built on democratic foundations, the whole edifice will never be
stable.
2. Even the most extreme Euro-zealots must acknowledge that fact.
3. On the other hand, the process of enlargement cannot be held up by one or two member
states.

Exercise 3.7 Subject

What evidence do you find in the sentence below to show that the implied subject of a subjectless
imperative sentence is you?
1. Help yourself to another piece of cake.
2. Can you think of any other evidence that points in the same direction?
 22

Exercise 3.8 Transitive verbs and direct object

The direct object is underlined in each declarative sentence below. Turn the sentence into a question
introduced by who or what, as indicated in brackets. Use one of these interrogative words to replace
the direct object. Position the operator and the subject after who or what:
1. She introduced the school head to her parents. (Who)
2. Norma’s parents met her English and Biology teachers at the Open Day. (Who)
3. Caroline submitted a poem about her dog to the school magazine. (What)
4. All the members of staff considered Janet the best student in the Upper Sixth. (Who)
5. The school head recommended a careers advice test. (What)
6. Marilyn chose Sussex as her first preference on her application form for university entrance.
(What)

*Exercise 3.9 Transitive verbs and direct object

In each sentence below, underline the direct objects. If a sentence contains more than one clause, it
may have more than one direct object. For example, in the following sentence there are two direct
objects:
The president has offered substantial concessions, but he should not expect much gratitude.

1. The president promised the end of racial discrimination, but he rejected the black demand for one
man, one vote.
2. That sort of democracy would mean rule by a black majority, which might feel an understandable
urge for retribution for past oppressions.
3. Whites, equally understandably, want safeguards for white rights, but you cannot ensure
safeguards once you surrender your power.

Exercise 3.11 Linking verbs and subject complement

Underline the subject complement in each sentence below.
1. Outside, the company sign seems modest.
2. Inside, the atmosphere is one of rush and ferment.
3. The company is a genetic engineering firm.
4. It has become a leader of a brand-new industry.
5. The focus of the project is DNA recombination.

Exercise 3.12 Intransitive verbs and adverbials

Underline the adverbials in the sentences below. Some sentences may have more than one adverbial.
1. Opossums frequently appear to be dead.
2. Sometimes they merely pretend to be dead.
3. In that way they avoid attacks by predators.
4. Often they simply are dead.
5. Few opossums remain alive far into the second year.

*Exercise 3.13 Adverbial complement

Complete these sentences by adding an adverbial complement.
1. My parents live __________
2. Unfortunately, nobody is __________
3. Everybody behaved __________
4. You can get __________
5. The soldiers are keeping __________

Exercise 3.14 Direct object and indirect object

Underline the indirect objects in the sentences below. Some sentences do not have an indirect object.
1. Can you tell me the time, please?
2. Who taught you how to do that?
3. Paul’s parents promised him a bicycle for his twelfth birthday.
4. You can save yourself the bother.
 23
5. The college provides accommodation for all first-year students.
6. I owe my parents several hundred pounds.

*Exercise 3.15 Direct object and indirect object

Use each verb below to make up a sentence containing both a direct object and an indirect object.
1. pay 6. make
2. bring 7. cook
3. leave 8. spare
4. read 9. ask
5. find 10. charge

Exercise 3.16 Direct object and object complement

In each of the following sentences, state whether the underlined phrase is an object complement (oC)
or an adverbial complement (aC).
1. Jack has put his coat and hat in my bedroom.
2. The noise is driving me mad.
3. They keep their house too warm.
4. I can see you home.
5. She made me her assistant.
.
*Exercise 3.17 Direct object and object complement
Use each verb below to make up a sentence containing both a direct object and an object
complement.
1. like 3. find 5. appoint
2. consider 4. call 6. declare

*Exercise 3.18 Direct object and object complement

Use each verb below to make up a sentence containing both a direct object and an adverbial
complement.
1. place 3. wish
2. keep 4. get

Exercise 3.19 The basic sentence structures

Identify each sentence element by writing the appropriate abbreviation in the brackets after it:
S (subject) sC (subject complement) V (verb) oC (object complement) dO (direct object) aC
(adverbial complement) iO (indirect object) A (adverbial). If the verb is split, put ‘v’ for the auxiliary.
1. Salt ( ) was ( ) the first food seasoning ( ).
2. Many people ( ) consider ( ) the accidental spilling of salt ( ) bad luck ( ).
3. The Romans ( ) gave ( ) their soldiers ( ) special allowances for salt ( ).
4. They ( ) called ( ) the allowance ( ) salarium ( ).
5. That ( ) is ( ) the original of our word ‘salary’ ( ).

*Exercise 3.20 The basic sentence structures

The sentences below are ambiguous. For each meaning, state the structure (the set of sentence
elements) and give a paraphrase of the corresponding meaning. For example:
They are baking potatoes.
S + V + SC – ‘They are potatoes for baking’.
S + V + dO – ‘They have put potatoes in the oven to bake’.
1. You will make a good model.
2. I’ll call you my secretary.
3. Your men are revolting.
4. They left him a wreck.
5. You should find me an honest worker.

Exercise 3.21 The meanings of the sentence elements

Identify the type of meaning that the underlined sentence element in each sentence conveys.
 24
1. The lecturer explained the functions of subjects.
2. That man is my father.
3. Tell me the result of the match.
4. I’m baking a cake.
5. The Department has offered me a post.
6. Joan is good at mathematics.
7. Don’t take offence.
8. You can put your clothes in the washing machine now.
9. I’m working for my father during the spring break.
10. Pay attention.

*Exercise 3.22 The meanings of the sentence elements

Make up a sentence for each of the sequences listed below.
1. Agentive subject + dynamic verb + affected object + degree adverbial
2. Identified subject + stative verb + attribute subject complement + time adverbial
3. Agentive subject + dynamic verb + recipient indirect object + affected direct object + space
adverbial

Identify the type of phrase (NP, VP, AP, AdvP).

1) anti-terrorist laws; 7) a student of Physics;
2) quite hot; 8) very kind to Mary;
3) pretty soon; 9) rather carelessly;
4) the urban young; 10) before the war;
5) in a hurry; 11) every bridge over the river;
6) a small black bag; 12) so efficient in his work.