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 SYNTAX
WORKBOOK
Mick Perkins

NP

m :NP h:n q:PP

m :A dj P h:n h:pr e p q:NP

h:a dj m :A dj P h:n

h:a dj

f i r st l evel c our s e i n s y nt a c t i c a na l y s i s

1
 Syntax Workbook

Mick Perkins

Emeritus Professor of Clinical Linguistics

Department of Human Communication Sciences

University of Sheffield

© 2011 by the author

2
 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 7  

1   SENTENCE AND CLAUSE TYPES 10  

2   CLAUSE ELEMENTS 11  

2.1   V(VERB) 11  
2.2   S (SUBJECT) 11  
2.3   O (OBJECT) 12  
2.4   Od (DIRECT OBJECT) & Oi (INDIRECT OBJECT) 13  
2.5   C (COMPLEMENT) 14  
2.6   Co (OBJECT COMPLEMENT) 15  
2.7   A (ADVERBIAL) 15  
2.8   Voc (VOCATIVE) 16  

3   WH- QUESTIONS 18  

4   PHRASES 20  

4.1   PHRASAL EXPANSION OF CLAUSE ELEMENTS 20  

4.2   THE STRUCTURE OF PHRASES 21  

5   VERB PHRASES 22  

5.1   STRUCTURE OF VERB PHRASES 22  

5.2   MAIN VERB: v 22  
5.3   AUXILIARY VERB: aux 23  
5.4   MODAL IDIOMS: aux 23  
5.5   VERB PARTICLE: part 23  
5.6   NEGATOR: neg 24  
5.6   REVIEW 24  

6   NOUN PHRASES 26  

6.1   STRUCTURE OF NOUN PHRASES 26  

6.2   HEADS (h) 26  
6.3   MODIFIERS (m) 27  
6.4   DETERMINERS (d) 27  
6.5   INITIATORS (i) 28  
6.6   QUALIFIERS (q) 28  

7   ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB PHRASES 31  

7.1   STRUCTURE OF ADJECTIVE PHRASES 31  

7.2   ADJECTIVE PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS 32  
7.3   ADJECTIVE PHRASES AS MODIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES 32  

3
 7.4   STRUCTURE OF ADVERB PHRASES 32  
7.5   ADVERB PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS 33  
7.6   ADVERB PHRASES AS MODIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES 33  

8   PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES 35  

8.1   THE STRUCTURE OF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES 35  

8.2   PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS 35  
8.3   PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS QUALIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES 36  
8.4   PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS QUALIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES 37  
8.5   MULTIPLE EMBEDDED PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES 37  
8.6   HEAD OF A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE OR A VERB PARTICLE? 38  

9   COORDINATION 42  

9.1   COORDINATION OF CLAUSES 42  

9.2   COORDINATION OF PHRASES 42  
9.3   COORDINATION OF WORDS 43  

10   COMPLEX SENTENCES 46  

10.1   OVERVIEW 46  
10.2   TESTS FOR IDENTIFYING SUBORDINATE CLAUSES 47  

11   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS 49  

11.1   SUBJECT 49  
11.2   DIRECT OBJECT 49  
11.3   INDIRECT OBJECT 50  
11.4   SUBJECT COMPLEMENT 50  
11.5   OBJECT COMPLEMENT 50  
11.6   ADVERBIAL 51  

12   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN PHRASES 52  

12.1   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES 52  

12.2   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES 54  
12.3   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES 54  

13   REVIEW EXERCISE 56  

14   SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION 57  

CHAPTER 1 SUPPLEMENT 57  
CHAPTER 2 SUPPLEMENT 57  
CHAPTER 3 SUPPLEMENT 58  
CHAPTER 5 SUPPLEMENT 59  
CHAPTER 6 SUPPLEMENT 60  
CHAPTER 7 SUPPLEMENT 60  

4
 CHAPTER 8 SUPPLEMENT 61  
CHAPTER 9 SUPPLEMENT 62  
CHAPTER 10 SUPPLEMENT 63  
CHAPTER 11 SUPPLEMENT 64  
CHAPTER 12 SUPPLEMENT 65  
ADVANCED REVIEW EXERCISE 69  

15   KEY TO EXERCISES 71  

EXERCISE 1.2 71  
EXERCISE 2.1 71  
EXERCISE 2.2 72  
EXERCISE 2.3 72  
EXERCISE 2.4 73  
EXERCISE 2.5a 73  
EXERCISE 2.5b 74  
EXERCISE 2.6 74  
EXERCISE 2.8 75  
EXERCISE 2.9 75  
EXERCISE 3.1 76  
EXERCISE 3.2 77  
EXERCISE 5.1 77  
EXERCISE 5.2 78  
EXERCISE 6.1 79  
EXERCISE 6.2 79  
EXERCISE 7.1 81  
EXERCISE 7.2 82  
EXERCISE 8.2 83  
EXERCISE 8.3 84  
EXERCISE 8.4 85  
EXERCISE 8.5 86  
EXERCISE 8.6 86  
EXERCISE 8.8 88  
EXERCISE 9.1 90  
EXERCISE 9.2 91  
EXERCISE 9.3 92  
EXERCISE 9.4 93  
EXERCISE 10.1 94  
EXERCISE 10.2 95  
EXERCISE 11.1 95  
EXERCISE 11.2 96  
EXERCISE 11.6 97  

5
 EXERCISE 11.7 99  
EXERCISE 11.7 100  
EXERCISE 12.1 101  
EXERCISE 12.2 101  
EXERCISE 12.3 103  
EXERCISE 12.5 104  
13 REVIEW EXERCISE 105  

16   KEY TO SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISES 109  

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 1.1 109  

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 1.2 109  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.1 110  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.2 110  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.4 110  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.5b 111  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.8 111  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 3 111  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 5 111  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 6 112  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 7.1 113  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 8.6 115  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 8.7 116  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 10.1 116  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 11.6 117  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.1 118  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.2 120  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.4 121  
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.5 125  
SUPPLEMENTARY ADVANCED REVIEW EXERCISE 126  

17   GLOSSARY 133  

6
INTRODUCTION
THE WORKBOOK
This Workbook is an integral part of the Syntactic Analysis course. By working through
the examples and exercises carefully, you should end up with a good working
knowledge of English syntactic structure and, in addition, be able to analyse most
English sentences you come across.

THE TUTORIALS
However, the Workbook is only a part of the Syntactic Analysis course. What it mainly
does is show you how to label, analyse and set out your analysis. It is to be used in
conjunction with weekly tutorials where you will have plenty of opportunity to ask
questions and explore in more depth any aspects which you find problematic or unclear.
Don't work too far ahead in the Workbook. You will be told in the tutorials which part
you should be working on, and many exercises require knowledge which is not fully
spelled out in the Workbook.

READING
The third key component of the Syntactic Analysis course – in addition to the Workbook
and tutorials – is the guided reading which you do by yourself. Throughout the
Workbook at the beginning of every chapter you are given reading to do. The reference
to Crystal is to his book Rediscover Grammar (see below). This is essential reading, and
should be done before you begin the chapter. The reference to Greenbaum & Quirk is to
their A Student's Grammar of the English Language (see below). You may find this
more heavy going but it will give you a lot of important background detail. More
references are given below.

SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION
The syntax of English (and in fact of any language) is highly complex, and the version
you will learn here simplifies much of this complexity, cuts a lot of corners and leaves
out many details. The main part of the Workbook covers the basics of English syntax.
However, there is also a Supplementary Section which provides additional practice
exercises, in case you feel you need them, and also covers a few topics in more depth.
You won’t be examined on these topics, but you may find it helpful to work through
them anyway as they complement the rest of the Workbook. There are also suggestions
for further reading below, and in footnotes, to help you explore areas not covered in the
Workbook.

EXERCISES AND THE EXERCISE KEYS

Most chapters contain exercises – working through them carefully is the only way to
achieve a full understanding of the concepts and structures presented. There are
exercises on normal adult English and also on typical and atypical child language. There
is a key to all exercises which contains suggested analyses. Sometimes there is more
than one way of analysing the same sentence: it depends on how you define your
categories and what theory of grammar you're using. As the categories used in this
Workbook are not defined in a fully formal way and we are not subscribing to any
particular theory, that leaves a lot of room for manoeuvre. If you think there are good
reasons for analysing any sentence in a different way, say so in one of the tutorials.
Discussion of alternatives is an important part of the course.

ASSESSMENT

7
The Syntactic Analysis course is assessed by a 1½ hour exam. First, you are given ten
ordinary sentences to analyse using tree diagrams as shown in the Exercise Key. In
addition, you are required to analyse some child language sentences and to answer a few
questions about them.

GLOSSARY
At the end of the Workbook you will find descriptions and definitions of the major
syntactic terms used.

REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK

This Workbook is revised every year, and I would like to gratefully acknowledge the
contribution of former students, and of Carrie Ankerstein, Richard Body, Lisa Clarkson,
Christina Lawrence, Hannah Sowden and Vesna Stojanovik who have pointed out errors
and shortcomings in previous editions and made helpful suggestions for improvements,
many of which I have been able to incorporate in this edition. If, as you work through
this book, you should notice any errors or have any ideas on how to improve it further, I
would be grateful if you could pass them to via your tutor as a favour to next year's
students.

READING
NB Library references are given in bold

A) GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY

Crystal, D. (1997) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd ed) CUP Chapter 16
'Grammar' Q403 & REF403
Palmer, F. (1983) Grammar (2nd ed) Penguin 415

B) REFERENCE GRAMMARS
Crystal, D. (2004) Rediscover Grammar (3rd ed) Pearson/Longman 425
- an excellent, lively, painless (relatively), cheap introduction to English grammar.
Its terminology is consistent with LARSP and Quirk et al (see below). Buy it. The
first and second editions are still OK - the chapter references are still the same.
Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.
CUP. 425
- the standard and most comprehensive (1842 pages!) reference grammar of
English.
Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. (2005) A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar.
CUP. 425
- a condensed version of Huddleston & Pullum (2002) with exercises. Worth buying
as a grammar reference source.
Hurford, J. R. (1994) Grammar: A Student's Guide CUP
- less fun than Crystal, but clear, helpful and more detailed 428
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar
of the English Language Longman 425
- until Huddleston & Pullum 2002 (see above) this was the standard reference
grammar of English, and is still a worthwhile alternative. Terminology consistent
with LARSP and Crystal.
Greenbaum, S. & Quirk, R. (1990) A Student's Grammar of the English Language
Longman 425
- A condensed version of Quirk et al. Halfway house between Crystal and Quirk et
al. Worth buying as a grammar reference source.

8
C) FURTHER READING
There is no published work which is both notationally and terminologically
consistent with the analytical format used on this course and the books referred to
above–hence this workbook! However, the following come closest and you may find
them useful to refer to:
Leech, G., Deuchar M. & Hoogenraad, R. (1982) English Grammar for Today: A New
Introduction Macmillan 425
Perera, K. (1984) Children's Writing and Reading: Analysing Classroom Language
Blackwell Chapter 2: 'A descriptive framework for grammatical analysis' 372.6

The following are also worth consulting, though beware different terminology and
different approaches to that adopted in this workbook:
Baker, C. L. (1995) English Syntax (2nd ed). MIT Press. 425.2
Börjars, K., & Burridge, K. (2001). Introducing English Grammar. Arnold. 425 (B)
Burton-Roberts, N. (1997) Analysing Sentences: An Introduction to English Syntax (2nd
ed) Longman 425.2
Fabb, N. (1994) Sentence Structure Routledge 425.2
Huddleston, R. (1984) Introduction to the Grammar of English CUP 425
Huddleston, R. (1988) English Grammar: An Outline CUP 425 (condensed version of
Huddleston '84)
Morenberg, M. (1991) Doing Grammar OUP 425
Radford, A. (1997) Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction CUP 415.8
Tallerman, M. (1998) Understanding Syntax. Arnold. 415.8
Thomas, L. (1993) Beginning Syntax Blackwell 425.2
Wardaugh, R. (1995) Understanding English Grammar: A Linguistic Approach
Blackwell

Also check out:

The Internet Grammar of English at the following website:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/home.htm. This is an online course in English
grammar written primarily for university undergraduates.

Visual Interactive Syntax Learning at http://visl.sdu.dk/visl/en/parsing/automatic/ .

This website enables you to input sentences and provides an automatic tree-diagram
analysis similar to those used in this Workbook.

9
1 SENTENCE AND CLAUSE TYPES

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chapter 3.

Exercise 1.1 Label the clause elements in the following:

(This is only exploratory–if you get some wrong, don't worry–explanation is at hand.
The aim of the exercise is (hopefully!) to demonstrate why you need the information
presented in Chapter 2.)

1 The sun/rose
2 Grimes/inspected/his fingernails
3 Sometimes/I/feel/a complete idiot
4 They/made/me/a cup of tea
5 They/made/me/blackboard monitor
6 Frankly/I/don't care
7 The cow/jumped/over the moon
8 Hopefully/I/'ll see/you/under the clock/at Charing Cross Station/at eight
o'clock/with a briefcase of you know what
9 Acid/turns/blue litmus paper/red
10 Nerys/turned/red/with embarrassment

10
2 CLAUSE ELEMENTS

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs. 8-14

Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk 10.1-10.18

2.1 V(VERB)

Examples: I bought a paper Shut up! They may be late Will you help me?
V V V V- -V

TESTS FOR V:
• V is always a Verb Phrase (including single verbs) (see Chapter 5)
• V comes after the Subject (S) in declarative sentences
• V is the element where tense (eg looked ) and aspect (eg looking ) are shown
• V shows 'concord' with the number (singular/plural) and person of the Subject
eg The dogs bark The dog barks
I/You like it He/She/It likes it
• V is the most obligatory of clause elements

Exercise 2.1 Underline and label the V element:

1 Stop!
2 We missed the bus.
3 Horace disturbed the burglars.
4 Open your mouth.
5 My uncle is arriving tomorrow.1
6 They can't afford the fare.
7 Can they afford the fare? 2
8 The candidates paraded themselves in front of us.
9 She would often cough violently.
10 Jerry has been smoking again.

2.2 S (SUBJECT)

Examples: We laughed These shoes pinch Writing essays stinks

S V S V S V

The miserable-looking man in the background might be choking

S V

1
Remember that the V element can consist of more than one word.
2
The V element can be discontinuous - i.e. the words that it comprises may not always be next to each
other.

11
TESTS FOR S:
• S is always one of the following:
a) a Noun Phrase (see Chapter 6) (including single nouns) - e.g. My ankle hurts
b) a Pronoun - e.g. It hurts
c) a Clause - e.g. Twisting my ankle hurts
• S precedes V in declarative sentences
• S can be substituted by a Pronoun - e.g. My ankle hurts -> It hurts
• S is the only element identified by a pronoun in a following tag question - e.g.
John broke the plates, didn't he?
• S shows concord with V- e.g. He goes, They go_
• S typically identifies the origin of any action or the experiencer of any state
expressed by V (except in passive sentences - see 2.3 below)

Exercise 2.2: Underline and label the S and V elements:

1 The dog bit me.

2 John wouldn't have said that.
3 It makes me sick.
4 The green man is flashing.
5 Are you sure of that?
6 The strange-looking man is my cousin.
7 Everything on the table looks mouth-wateringly delicious.
8 Peter and Mary have invited us to a barbecue.
9 Mrs Corbett has been attacked by her parrot.3
10 Have they?

2.3 O (OBJECT)

Examples: Your sister left a message Eat it! I loathe what you stand for
S V O V O S V O

TESTS FOR O:
• O is always one of the following:
a) a Noun Phrase (see Chapter 6) (including single nouns) - e.g. The dog bit my
ankle
b) a Pronoun - e.g. The dog bit it.
c) a Clause - e.g. The dog loves biting my ankle
( d) a Prepositional Phrase when it's an Indirect Object - see 2.4)
• O typically follows V in declarative sentences
• O can be substituted by a Pronoun - e.g. I like your jacket -> I like it.
• O becomes S when the sentence is passivized - e.g.:
He (S) broke(V) the record (O) -> The record (S) was broken (V) by him (A)4
• O typically identifies the person or thing affected by the action, state, etc expressed
by V

3
NB this is a passive sentence, so the final test above does not apply.
4
See Crystal (1996:88-89) and Greenbaum & Quirk (1990:44-46) for more detail on how to convert
actives to passives.

12
• O occurs with a 'transitive' verb (Crystal Ch.8)

Exercise 2.3 Underline and label the S, V and O elements:

1 He kicked the ball.

2 I hate tennis.
3 Hand over the money.
4 Can I help you?
5 He crashed his brand-new Porsche.
6 Don't you understand plain English?
7 I understand the whys and wherefores.
8 We're planning a fairly casual thing with plenty of wine.
9 They've chosen apples, oranges, grapes and melons.
10 Your 'devil may care' attitude has undermined my confidence.

2.4 Od (DIRECT OBJECT) & Oi (INDIRECT OBJECT)

Examples: Mary gave John a black cat Karen bought me a chicken vindaloo
S V Oi Od S V Oi Od

TESTS FOR Od
• Same as the definition of O in 2.3 above
• Od cannot usually be omitted from an S V O O clause without a radical change in
meaning

TESTS FOR Oi
• Oi is semantically equivalent to a Prepositional Phrase (see Ch. 8) e.g.:
Give me the book = Give the book to me.
• Oi becomes a Prepositional Phrase with to or for if Od becomes S through
passivization - e.g.:
They bought Ian a car --> A car was bought for Ian.
• Oi usually occurs before Od unless it is a prepositional phrase
• Oi typically refers to an animate being who is the recipient or beneficiary of the
action expressed in V
• Oi occurs with a 'ditransitive' verb (Greenbaum & Quirk 16.31)

Exercise 2.4 Underline and label the S, V, Od and Oi elements:

1 I'll tell you the reason.

2 Throw me a towel.5
3 He threw a towel to me.
4 Give me it.
5 I've bought myself a portable CD player.
6 She prepared my lunch for me.
7 Don't tell him any of your secrets.
8 Hand your mother the money.
5
Don't forget that this is an imperative sentence.

13
9 Give a prize to the best ones.
10 Have you told Mary the news?

2.5 C (COMPLEMENT)

Examples: She looks a fool The government remained very determined Nigel fell ill
S V C S V C S V C

Mud wrestling is the only thing she will ever be good at

S V C

TESTS FOR C:
• C is typically a Noun Phrase, Adjective Phrase (see Ch. 7) or a Clause
• C is coreferential (ie refers to the same entity) with S - i.e. it is a Subject
Complement (Cs) (But NB this criterion doesn't always work for 'reflexive'
pronouns - eg myself, themselves, etc. Although these may be coreferential with S,
their inflection – ie 'himself' not *'heself' – identifies them as Objects, which is
how you should analyse them here. (But beware sentence 15 in Exercise 2.5b!)
• C cannot become S through passivization
• C follows be (= the 'copula') or one of the 'copulative' (or 'intensive') verbs - viz:
a) 'Current' copulative verbs - e.g. appear (angry), feel (ill), lie (scattered),
look (a fool), remain (a bachelor), rest (assured), seem (fine),
smell (odd), sound (funny), taste (delicious)
b) 'Resulting' copulative verbs - e.g. become (a teacher), get (ready), go
(bad), grow (tired), fall (sick), turn (nasty)

Exercise 2.5a Underline and label the S, V and C elements:

Note: Only label Objects as Od or Oi if both kinds occur in the clause at the same time.
If there is only one Object, it will nearly always be Direct and need only be
labelled simply as O.

1 It's amazing.
2 Don't be an idiot.
3 He's fallen ill.
4 I feel somewhat subdued.
5 That smells good.
6 The president remained totally convinced.
7 It seems a good idea.
8 It's neither one thing or the other.
9 My intentions were entirely honourable.
10 The exercise must be getting tedious.

Exercise 2.5b Underline and label the S, V, C & O elements:

Hint: The passivization test (2.3) and the coreference test (2.5) are particularly helpful
for telling Objects from Complements

1 Are you alright?

14
2 I'm growing tired.
3 I'm growing cabbages.
4 The judges tasted each of the entries.
5 Some of the entries tasted awful.
6 You're looking a lot better.
7 My shares have made a profit.
8 Tanya has gone berserk.
9 Sound the bell.6
10 Peter Pan stayed young.

2.6 Co (OBJECT COMPLEMENT)

Examples: We made John chairman The general considered the defeat a disaster
S V O Co S V O Co

TESTS FOR CO:

• Co only occurs in SVOC structures
• Co is typically a Noun Phrase, Adjective Phrase or a Clause
• Co is coreferential with O
• Co cannot become S through passivization

Exercise 2.6 Underline and label the S, V, O and C elements:

Note: It is not necessary to label Subject and Object Complements separately as Cs and
Co, but simply as C. This is because in SVC clauses the Complement is always Cs,
whereas in SVOC clauses it is always Co, so anything more than a simple C label
is unnecessary.

1 She made him an offer.

2 She made him her deputy.
3 The judge declared the best entries delicious.
4 That hat flatters you.
5 You have become the bane of my life.
6 I found her irascible, meticulous but a civil enough colleague.7
7 She found me a three-bedroomed house.
8 They elected themselves.
9 They elected themselves another disastrous government.
10 They elected him prime minister.

2.7 A (ADVERBIAL)

Examples: On Sundays I frequently ride quickly to Castleton on my bike

A S A V A A A

6
Imperative sentences like this don't passivize. In order to try the passivization test you need to turn them
into statements by adding a Subject - in this case They sound the bell.
7
Note: a clause can contain no more than one Complement and one Direct Object.

15
TESTS FOR A:
• The A element specifies Where, When, How or Why.
• A is more peripheral in clause structure than S, V, O and C
• A can be an Adverb Phrase, Prepositional Phrase, Noun Phrase or Clause
• A is often an optional element
• A can sometimes be used in different positions - e.g.:
(Sometimes) Bill (sometimes) smokes a pipe (sometimes)
• There is no theoretical limit to the number of A elements in one clause
• A most frequently expresses time, place or manner, enabling corresponding
questions such as:
When do you travel? (on Sundays)
Where do you travel? (to Castleton)
How do you travel? (quickly, on my bike)
• A may also express a range of other meanings - eg:
I opened it with the master key (instrument)
She came with John (comitative)
They rested for a few minutes (duration)
She often faints (frequency)
He worked late to impress the boss (purpose)
They stayed in because of the rain (reason)
I enjoyed it very much (degree)
In my view it's a shambles (viewpoint)
Perhaps he likes her (possibility)
She resigned however (connectivity)

2.8 Voc (VOCATIVE)

Vocatives are used to identify the person(s) to whom a sentence is addressed. They are
not really a clause element like S, V, O, C and A.

Examples: Do it now, Sir Colin Waiter, bring my soup You, John, came top
V O A Voc Voc V O S Voc V C

Exercise 2.8 Underline and label the S, V, O, C and A elements and Voc:

1 Come here, scumbag.

2 They played in the rain.
3 Sometimes I drive too fast.
4 Frankly, I'm quite disgusted.
5 I really mean it this time, ladies.
6 She came across the road in her slippers.
7 She came across the road by chance one fine sunny morning.
8 Because of a serious illness he no longer plays squash.
9 Do it here, now, with the light on.
10 He possibly lives near Sheffield.

16
Exercise 2.9 Underline and label the S, V, O, C and A elements and Voc in the
following child utterances. If any clause elements are missing, show them in
parentheses.

e.g. Want that.

(S) V O

1 Baby eat.
2 Kick ball.
3 Go there.
4 Boy glasses. (describing picture of a boy wearing glasses)
5 He doctor. (referring to appearance of a man in a white coat)
6 Cat jumping.
7 Mummy sad.
8 Jumping now.
9 Me want that.
10 Mommy wear hat.
11 Me did it now.
12 You play snakes and ladders me.
13 Me want make house for Kate.
14 Me did some of those, Mummy.
15 Her won’t be there tomorrow.

17
3 WH- QUESTIONS
Essential reading: Greenbaum & Quirk 11.9 - 11.10
Further reading: Burton-Roberts (1997) Ch. 9

The clause elements S, O, C and A (but not V) can each be represented in questions by
means of a 'Wh'-word which is usually placed at the beginning of the sentence. This is
sometimes called Wh- 'fronting' or 'raising'. E.g.:

Nigel has lost his umbrella

S V O

What has Nigel lost?

O V- S -V

'What' is analysed as 'O' since it is an Object as well as a question word. Note that 'has'
has also moved in front of the Subject:

What has Nigel – lost –?

In some cases8 an appropriate form of 'do' is added to carry the tense of the verb, as this
also moves:

Nigel lost his umbrella -> What did Nigel lose– –?

Nigel loses his umbrella -> What does Nigel lose– –?

The fronted elements act grammatically as though they are still in the positions they
started in. A good way, therefore, to identify whether a Wh-word is acting as S, O, C or
A is to move the Wh-word (and any other moved item) back to its starting position and
apply the usual tests. Thus:

a) What has Nigel lost? -> b) Nigel has lost what?

'What' in b) is an Object since, for example, it becomes S when the sentence is

passivized (What has been lost by Nigel?).

If it is not possible to move the Wh-word as in:

Who said that? -> *Said that who?9

What kept you? -> *Kept you what?

this means that the Wh-word is the Subject - i.e. its starting position is already at the
front of the sentence.

8
i.e. when the verb is not a form of be or have.
9
The asterisk indicates that the sentence is ungrammatical.

18
Since one of the main criteria for defining an Adverbial clause element is whether it
gives information pertaining to 'why', 'where', 'when' or 'how', it follows that the words
why, where, when and how will always be analysed as A.

'Whom' will always be analysed as O since the '-m' ending is a marker of Object case.
The same is true of any instance of 'Who' to which it is posible to add '-m' - e.g. Who(m)
did you see? but not: *Whom did that?

Exercise 3.1 Underline and label all the clause elements in the following sentences:

1 What are you doing?

2 Why are you here?
3 What did they tell you?
4 Who sent you?
5 How did you get here?
6 Where did you park your car?
7 What is your name?
8 What makes you so angry?
9 Who do you mean?
10 Who is their representative?

Exercise 3.2 Underline and label all the clause elements in the following child
utterances. If any clause elements are missing, show them in parentheses.

1 Where go?
2 Man where?
3 Where your car?
4 What he doing?
5 Why those two nother things broke?
6 Why are me so healthy?
7 Why didn’t me get flu ever?
8 Where chair went?
9 Why did her have a runny tummy?
10 What a skinny snake can wiggle really fast? (Attempted repetition of “What can a
skinny snake wiggle really fast?”)

19
4 PHRASES

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs 15, 27; Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) Ch 2.4

4.1 PHRASAL EXPANSION OF CLAUSE ELEMENTS

The following diagram shows which phrases can be used to 'expand', 'realize' or 'fill'
which clause elements. (The numbers refer to the examples in the box below.)

S V Od Oi C A
NP 1 2 3 4 5
VP 6
AdjP 7
AdvP 8
PP 9 10 11

NP = Noun Phrase; VP = Verb Phrase; AdjP = Adjective Phrase; AdvP = Adverb

Phrase; PP = Prepositional Phrase

The following sentences illustrate these possibilities. The relationship of 'realization' is

shown by means of a colon, thus 'S:NP' is shorthand for 'the Subject "slot" of the clause
is "filled" or "realized" by a Noun Phrase'. The triangle indicates that we are not
analysing the phrase in any more detail.

S:NP Od:NP

1 Even her best friends wouldn't tell her 2 I blame their lack of awareness
Oi:NP C:NP

3 We awarded a third of them a prize 4 He looks a rather unsavoury person

A:NP V:VP

5 I was off sick all last week 6 You might have told me!

C:AdjP A:AdvP

7 She seems very suitable indeed 8 I rather belatedly withdrew my offer

Oi:PP C:PP

9 Give the book to Marjorie Smith 10 I' m in a foul temper

A:PP

11 You' ve had them for at least six days

20
4.2 THE STRUCTURE OF PHRASES

All phrases have the following minimum structure:

(modifier) head (qualifier)

i.e. they consist of a single obligatory core element (head) which may optionally (shown
by parentheses) be preceded (modified) or followed (qualified) by other elements.10

In this workbook, the modifying function is labelled as m, the head function as h, and
the qualifying function as q. Most phrases will therefore look something like this:

Phrase

m h q

You should identify and label these functions for all phrase elements except in the case
of the Verb Phrase where functions are more predictable from the type of element.
Occasionally, additional functions over and above m, h and q will also be specified.

In addition to the 'm h q' role that each element has in a phrase, you should also label
what element it is. Role and category are separated by a colon. For example, the
following tree diagrams:

AdjP PP

m:int h:adj q:int m:adv h:prep q:NP

very nice indeed just behind the door

show that in the Adjective Phrase (AdjP) the head is the adjective nice, the modifier is
the 'intensifier' very and the qualifier is the 'intensifier' indeed, whereas in the
Prepositional Phrase (PP) the head is the preposition behind, the modifier is the adverb
just and the qualifier is the Noun Phrase (NP) the door.

10
NB sometimes the more general terms 'premodifier' and 'postmodifier' are used instead of modifier and
qualifier respectively. Also qualifiers are often called 'complements', but this is a different sense to how
the term is defined in 2.5.

21
5 VERB PHRASES

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs. 15-26

Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) Chs. 3-4

5.1 STRUCTURE OF VERB PHRASES

Verb Phrases have the following structure:

m h q
(auxiliary verb) main verb (particle)n
n

i.e. the obligatory head is a main verb; this may be premodified by one or more auxiliary
verbs or postmodified by one or more verb particles.11 In addition, negative elements
may also precede the main verb.

As the structure of the verb phrase is relatively simple (i.e. all main verbs are heads, all
auxiliaries are modifiers and all particles are qualifiers), we will only label the items
auxiliary (aux), main verb (v) and particle (part) and not their functions (i.e. modifier,
head, qualifier). Don't forget, though, that a tree-diagram such as:

V:VP V:VP

aux v part m:aux h:v q:part

is looking at is really shorthand for: is looking at

5.2 MAIN VERB: v

Many main verbs consist of a single word:

Examples:

V:VP V:VP V:VP V:VP

v v v v
Look! I like that Fred kicked the ball Mind your own business

There are also many other multi-word verbs. Some of these consist of a main verb plus
one or more particles (see 5.5 below).

11
Optionality is shown by parentheses, and ‘one or more’ by the superscript n.

22
5.3 AUXILIARY VERB: aux

There are two categories of auxiliary verb:

A Primary auxiliaries: i.e. be, have, do

B Modal auxiliaries: i.e. can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must, ought
to

Examples:

V:VP V:VP V:VP

aux v aux v aux aux aux v
I have seen it Did you hear that? They must have been helping her

5.4 MODAL IDIOMS: aux

Modal idioms are an intermediate category between modal auxiliaries and main verbs.
The most common ones are had better, would rather, have got to ('gotta'), going to, need
to and be to. Analyse these as idiomatic constructions with a triangle and label them
'aux' like auxiliary verbs.

Examples:
V:VP V:VP V:VP V:VP

aux v aux aux v aux v aux v

We had better go I would rather have died They have got to leave We are to marry

5.5 VERB PARTICLE: part

Verb particles join with the main verb to form a coherent whole. They may be either
adverbs (e.g. go astray) or prepositions (e.g. drink up). Either way, simply label them as
part to identify their role in the verb phrase. Some particles can occur after the Object
(e.g. He ran me over; I phoned my mother up; She threw it away).

NB Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether a word is a verb particle or a preposition

in a separate Prepositional Phrase. See Chapter 8.6 for help.

23
5.6 NEGATOR: neg

Examples:

V:VP V:VP V:VP

aux neg v aux neg aux v aux neg v part

I ' m not saying Couldn' t you have helped? Did they not sit down?

5.6 REVIEW

Example:
V:VP
aux neg aux aux aux v part part
Couldn't they have been being looked down on by their peers?

EXERCISE 5.1 Analyse the phrase structure of the V element in the following
sentences:

V:VP
aux v

e.g. The cat has caught the sparrow

1 Wait!
2 Carl left.
3 She forgets everything.
4 Do you mind?
5 I am feeling sleepy.
6 Are you really feeling sleepy?
7 You should have thought of that before.
8 I may have been reading at the time.
9 I've finally given up smoking.
10 Profits have been hit by the recession again.

24
EXERCISE 5.2 Analyse the phrase structure of the V element in the following
child utterances. Describe any verb phrase errors.

V:VP

E.g. Baby doing. (missing auxiliary)

1 Teddy bear went.

2 Can me take this to London?
3 Why did her have two sweets?.
4 How did that broke?
5 Why he can’t play with it?
6 Why not me sleeping?
7 What are you did?
8 I going to play this one.
9 Shall me do this floppy thing?
10 Is put some boots on this lady here.

25
6 NOUN PHRASES

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs 27-47.

Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) Chs 5-6

6.1 STRUCTURE OF NOUN PHRASES

Noun Phrases have the following structure:

n n
(Initiator) (Determiner) (Modifier) Head (Qualifier)

i.e. there are three categories of premodifying element (initiator, determiner, modifer)
and one category of postmodifier (qualifier); all elements apart from the head are
optional; there is only one initiator, determiner and head; there may be any number of
modifiers and qualifiers.

6.2 HEADS (h)

HEADS (h) may be NOUNS (n) or PRONOUNS (pron)

Examples:

S:NP S:NP S:NP O:NP S:NP Oi:NP Od:NP

h:n h:n h:pron h:pron h:n h:pron h:n
Grass is green John arrived I hate you Alcohol gives me headaches

Pronouns can be substituted for full Noun Phrases. Since only nouns - but not NPs - can
be preceded by a determiner, it follows that any word that appears to be a pronoun but
co-occurs with a determiner is in fact acting as a noun, and must be analysed
accordingly. For example:

S:NP S:NP
h:pron h:pron
One (=' I' ) is not amused Someone shouted.

26
 But:
NP NP NP

d m:adj h:n d m:adj h:n m:adj h:pron

a big one a certain someone silly me

6.3 MODIFIERS (m)

MODIFIERS (m) may be ADJECTIVE PHRASES (AdjP)12 or NOUNS PHRASES

(NP)

For the sake of simplicity, we will include cardinal numerals (e.g. one, two, three) and
ordinal numerals (e.g. first, second, third) in the category of adjective (when used to
modify nouns).

Examples:

S:NP NP NP

m:AdjP m:NP h:n m:AdjP h:n m:AdjP m:AdjP m:AdjP m:AdjP m:NP h:n

Little rubber men arrived Lucky you! small carved priceless purple stone objects

NB There can be an indefinite number of modifiers in a noun phrase, but only one head.

WARNING: After this chapter, you will also be required to indicate the head of
modifying AdjPs and NPs.

6.4 DETERMINERS (d)

DETERMINERS may be articles (i.e. the, a(n)), demonstratives (e.g. this, that, these,
those), quantifiers13 (e.g. some, any, each, every, no, either, neither, a few, a little14),
possessives (e.g. my, your, his, her, its, our, their, Fred's15) or wh-words (e.g. which
book, what name, whose idea). Determiners cannot co-occur.

12
These are covered in the next chapter.
13
As stated in 6.3, some words expressing quantification are being included under the heading of
'adjective'. As a general rule, if a quantifier cannot cooccur with a determiner, analyse it as 'd'; otherwise
as 'adj'.
14
'A few' and 'a little' should be analysed as indivisible units - i.e. with a triangle.
15
Only the possessive forms of proper nouns (i.e. names of people and places) can be determiners. In the
cat's whiskers 'cat's' is analysed as 'm:n'. Because it co-occurs with the it cannot be a determiner.

27
Here, we will simply label the role these words play within the noun phrase–ie 'd'
(determiner)–and not bother to identify the separate subcategories such as
'demonstrative' etc.

Examples:

S:NP C:NP S:NP O:NP S:NP C:NP

d h:n d h:n d h:n d h:n d h:n d m:AdjP h:n

The Lord is my shepherd These cups have no handles Which one is the right answer?

6.5 INITIATORS (i)

These are also sometimes called 'predeterminers' (i.e. they occur before the determiner,
if there is one) and are usually expressions denoting quantity or degree. As with
determiners, for simplicity's sake we will just label their initiating role 'i' and not bother
to indicate their form subcategories.

Examples

NP NP S:NP O:NP

i d m:AdjP h:n i d h:n i d h:n i d h:n

all the best pots just a minute Nearly half of the group gave some of their time

6.6 QUALIFIERS (q)

A variety of expressions can fill the role of qualifier in Noun Phrases: their defining
features are that they occur after the head and are not a constituent of any other phrase or
clause element. You will not be asked to analyse these structures yet.

Examples:
NP NP NP
d h:n q:AdvP h:pron q:AdjP d h:n q:PP
that man over there something very funny the girl in black jeans
NP

h:n q:NP NP
d h:n d h:n q:Cl

Pete the builder the maniac driving a Fiat

AdvP = Adverb Phrase; AdjP = Adjective Phrase;
PP = Prepositional Phrase; Cl = Clause

28
EXERCISE 6.1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:
Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP
d m:AdjPm:AdjP h:n v d m:AdjP h:n
eg The sleek brown fox annoyed the lazy dog

Analysis tip:
First ,use a ‘top-down’ strategy: identify which words are to be analysed as part of each
clause element. Underlining and labelling as follows may help:

S V O
The sleek brown fox annoyed the lazy dog

This will help you to keep in mind the topmost nodes of the tree diagram that you're
working down from.

Next, work from left to right, labelling the elements of each phrase as you go.

1 My head hurts.
2 The accident upset them.
3 No man is an island.
4 The brick wall collapsed.16
5 Give the next person another turn.
6 Which tall dark-haired man is my big brother?
7 Seven sevens are forty-nine.
8 That stupid fool has hurt himself.
9 All the glazed pots are my own work.
10 Will all the children give their parents another chance.

EXERCISE 6.2 Analyse the following child utterances at clause and phrase level.
Describe any errors.

NP17

m:AdjP h:n

e.g. Big tree. (no determiner)

1 My car.
2 Little one.
3 That ball. (in reply to ‘which ball’?)

16
Is brick a noun or an adjective? If it can be modified by an adj or n (e.g. baked/clay brick) then it's a
noun. Adjectives can only be modified by an adverb or an intensifier - cf. '*unusually/very brick'. Look up
Noun and Adjective in the glossary for more information. Adjectives are covered in more detail in Chapter
7.
17
It’s not possible to give a clause element label without knowing the context.

29
4 He doctor. (referring to appearance of a man in a white coat)
5 Shall I make a funny music?
6 Them got no drivers.
7 We didn’t have much songs.
8 Did her have two sweets?
9 Shall me do this floppy thing?
10 I didn’t see something.

30
7 ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB PHRASES

Essential reading: Crystal chs 48-51 & 52-58

Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk chs 7-8

7.1 STRUCTURE OF ADJECTIVE PHRASES

Adjective phrases have the following structure:

m m h q
(negator) (intensifier)/ adjective (intensifier)
(adverb phrase)

i.e. two optional modifiers and one optional qualifier18.

Examples:
AdjP AdjP AdjP
h:adj neg m:int h:adj m:int h:adj q:int
happy not very happy very happy indeed

(AdjP = adjective phrase; adj = adjective; int = intensifier)

(Adverb phrase modifiers are exemplified in 7.6 below.)

See the Glossary for the defining properties of Adjective.

Intensifiers (or degree modifiers) are words like very, quite, nearly, almost, rather,
somewhat etc (and indeed in qualifier position). Words like awfully, wonderfully,
frightfully etc are also intensifiers when they modify adjectives and mean 'very'.
Otherwise, they are adverbs. (Compare frightfully (=very) happy with He sang
frightfully (=in a frightful way).)

Test for intensifier/adverb:

If the following transformation produces an acceptable outcome:

terrifyingly angry (expression) -> so angry that it was terrifying

then 'terrifyingly' is an Adverb Phrase and not an intensifier. If the transformation does
not work - e.g.:

highly competent (secretary) -> *so competent that she was high

then 'highly' is an intensifier.

18
There is more on qualifiers in adjective phrases in Chapter 12.

31
7.2 ADJECTIVE PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS

Examples:
Cl Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP S:NP V:VP O:NP C:AdjP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP
h:pron v h:adj h:pron v h:pron h:adj h:pron v m:int h:adj

I feel ravenous He made her happy You look quite ravishing

7.3 ADJECTIVE PHRASES AS MODIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES

Examples:
NP NP NP NP
d m:AdjP h:n d m:AdjP h:n d m:AdjP h:n m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n

h:adj m:int h:adj m:int h:adj q:int h:adj m:int h:adj

a great friend a very great friend a very great friend indeed two rather obvious jokes

NB The analysis shown in these examples supersedes the simpler analysis used in
Chapter 6 where the constituents of the AdjP were not shown.

7.4 STRUCTURE OF ADVERB PHRASES

Adverb phrases have a similar structure to that of adjective phrases:

m m h q
(negator) (intensifier) adverb (intensifier)

i.e. two optional premodifiers and one optional qualifier19.

Examples:
AdvP AdvP AdvP
h:adv neg m:int h:adv m:int h:adv q:int
happily not very happily very happily indeed

(AdvP = Adverb Phrase; adv = adverb; int = intensifier)

See the Glossary for the defining properties of Adverb.

19
There is more on qualifiers in adverb phrases in Chapter 12.

32
7.5 ADVERB PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS

Examples:
Cl Cl
A:AdvP S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP A:AdvP
m:int h:adv h:pron aux neg v h:pron v m:int h:adv

Quite frankly, I don't know He appeared very quickly

7.6 ADVERB PHRASES AS MODIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES

Example:
Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v m:AdvP h:adj

m:int h:adv

He is almost certainly wrong

EXERCISE 7.1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level.

Analysis tip:
Having identified the clause elements first, some students find it helpful to analyse the
most deeply embedded parts first – e.g. in the example in 7.6 above, analyse 'almost
certainly'. This can help you to coordinate the different levels correctly.

Cl

A:AdvP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:adv d h:n v m:int h:adj

e.g. Fortunately, these exercises are extremely challenging

1 That is very interesting.

2 He rather cautiously opened the door.
3 He warily pushed the door open.
4 She sounded terribly anxious this morning.
5 You very probably find the result completely disastrous.
6 His really insensitive cutting comments offended everyone.
7 They very selfishly offered Margaret an embarrassingly small portion.

33
8 May I introduce the very lovely, very talented, simply gorgeous Edith Bloggs
9 Personally, I feel overwhelmingly responsible this time.
10 She is supposedly a very devious woman.

EXERCISE 7.2 Analyse the following child utterances at clause and phrase level.
Describe any errors.

1 Big one.
2 Quite nice.
3 A big red flower.
4 Make it dry.
5 That a big boat.
6 He go fast.
7 Did Hester be fast asleep, mummy?
8 Can our do it again?
9 Why are me so healthy?
10 What a skinny snake can wiggle really fast?

34
8 PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs 59-61

Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) Ch 9

8.1 THE STRUCTURE OF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

Prepositional Phrases have the following structure:

m m h q
(negator) - (AdvP) - preposition - Noun Phrase

Examples

PP

PP h:prep q:NP PP PP

h:prep q:NP d m:AdjP h:n m:AdvP h:prep q:NP neg h:prep q:NP

d h:n h:adj h:adv h:pron h:pron

to the lighthouse with my four aunts only for you not to me

(PP = Prepositional Phrase; prep = preposition)

Prepositions are words like in, at, to, of, with, from, down, out, during, since and
through which precede a noun phrase and commonly express a relationship of space or
time.

8.2 PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS

Examples:
Cl Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP A:PP S:NP V:VP A:PP S:NP V:VP C:PP
h:pron v h:prep q:NP h:pron v h:prep q:NP h:pron v h:prep q:NP
d h:n h:n d h:n
He jumped over the wall They arrive on Sunday They are on their guard

35
EXERCISE 8.2 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 Give it to me.
2 Without Humphrey, life was meaningless.
3 She looked into his eyes.
4 We are on our best behaviour.
5 In my opinion, it's for the part-timers.

8.3 PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS QUALIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES

Examples:

NP NP NP NP

d h:n q:PP h:pron q:PP h:n q:PP d h:n q:PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

m:AdjP h:n d h:n d h:n m:AdjP h:n

h:adj h:adj
the girl with long hair something on my mind man of the match a coat of many colours

PPs that qualify the head of an NP specify which one it is. For example, in The book on
the floor is mine 'on the floor' specifies which book and is therefore analysed as q:PP as
follows:
Cl
S:NP V:VP C:NP

d h:n q:PP v h:pron

h:prep q:NP
d h:n
The book on the floor is mine
However, in She threw the book on the floor 'on the floor' does not tell us which book
but where she threw it, and is therefore analysed as A:PP:

Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP
h:pron v d h:n h:prep q:NP

d h:n
She threw the book on the floor

36
EXERCISE 8.3 Analyse the following at phrase level:

1 something for the weekend

2 a man with an attitude
3 juggling for the complete beginner
4 a mark around 70
5 the private person behind the public mask

8.4 PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS QUALIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE

PHRASES

Examples:

AdjP AdjP AdjP AdjP

m:int h:adj q:PP h:adj q:PP h:adj q:PP h:adj q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
h:n h:n h:pron h:n
very good at football marvellous with children happy for you drunk on success

EXERCISE 8.4 Analyse the following at phrase level:

1 frightened of dogs
2 anxious about the future
3 hungry for stardom
4 taller than his brother
5 fit as a fiddle

8.5 MULTIPLE EMBEDDED PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

Examples:
NP
d h:n q:PP
NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n q:PP d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n q:PP d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n d h:n
the boy with his hand in the air a pig with a ring at the end of his nose

37
Compare the following:

A B
NP
d h:n q:PP
NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n q:PP q:PP d h:n q:PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n d h:n d h:n
a desk for a lady with no drawers a desk for a lady with no drawers
= the desk has no drawers = the lady has no drawers
(i.e. furniture) (i.e. underwear)

Test:
If the order of the two Prepositional Phrases can be reversed and the sentence still makes
sense and has essentially the same meaning, the structure is as in A; otherwise it should
be analysed as in B.

EXERCISE 8.5 Analyse the following at phrase level:

Analysis tip:
When analysing a series of prepositional phrases, some find it best to start labelling
from the right.

1 a man with a heart of gold

2 a women in her twenties with prospects
3 very pleased about the invitation to dinner
4 born with a lust for life
5 a note on the back of an envelope in unfamiliar handwriting

8.6 HEAD OF A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE OR A VERB PARTICLE?

Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether a preposition is the head of a following

prepositional phrase or a verb particle. For example, in:

John ran up a hill.

is up a preposition qualified by the NP a hill – i.e. is up a hill a single constituent - or is

it a verb particle linked to ran – i.e. is ran up a single contituent? There are several
‘constituency’ tests you can use to help you decide.20

20
Taken individually, these tests are not infallible. The more you apply, the surer you can be of the result.

38
1. The Conjunction Test:
Assume the word is head of a following PP and see if you can add a similar
prepositional phrase with a different preposition, e.g.:

John ran up a hill and down a valley

If this works–as it does in this case–then up a hill is a consitutent and therefore up is a

preposition with the following NP as its qualifier. In the following example, however:
John opened up a letter.
*John opened up a letter and down a parcel

it doesn't work: up a letter is not a constituent and up is therefore a verb particle.

2. The Ellipsis Test:

Only whole constituents can be elided:

A: Did John walk or run up a hill?

B: He ran.

therefore up a hill is a consituent and up is a preposition.

3. The Fronting Test:

Only constituents can be ‘fronted’:

Up a hill John ran.

therefore up a hill is a consituent and up is a preposition.

4. The Clefting Test:

In a ‘cleft’ sentence everything that comes between is/was and that is a single contituent:

It was up a hill that John ran.

therefore up a hill is a consituent and up is a preposition.

5. The Insertion Test:

You can only insert items at constituent boundaries:

John ran quickly up a hill.

therefore ran up cannot be a single consituent and up must be a preposition.

6. The Pronoun Test

Some particles can be moved after a following NP, particularly if it is substituted by a
pronoun:

39
 John opened up the letter -> John opened it up
John ran up a hill -> *John ran it up

therefore opened up is a single constituent (and up is a verb particle), whereas ran up

isn’t (and up is a preposition).

EXERCISE 8.6 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

Cl
S:NP V:VP A:PP
d h:n q:PP v h:prep q:NP
h:prep q:NP d h:n
d m:AdjP h:n
h:adj

e.g. The children from the other school ran across the road

1 The car cruised along the motorway.

2 On Sundays, I walk to the paper shop for an Observer.
3 See that girl with funny clothes?
4 My cousin is brilliant at chess.
5 I live in the house on the corner.
6 It's nice of you.
7 The man with bushy eyebrows is staring at us.
8 She blew up the horse's nose.21
9 The man in the black coat threw the ball over the bridge.
10 I have just22 seen a woman on the bus with six children.23

EXERCISE 8.8 Analyse the following child utterances at clause and phrase level.
Describe any errors.

1 Under chair.
2 Me make house for Kate.
3 Can me put it like that?
4 Baby in big bed. (in response to: ‘Where is the baby?’)
5 Been in water.
6 Teddy sitting on the cup.

21
This is ambiguous. Provide a different analysis for each meaning.
22
You may feel more comfortable analysing this adverb as a constituent of the VP since it clearly
modifies the verb. Other adverbs like only and temporal adverbs such as never, always and often may be
analysed similarly.
23
'on the bus' could be analysed differently depending on whether you see it as indicating 'which' or
'where'.

40
7 That not go in there.
8 Me always go with Maggie.
9 I didn’t stand on nothing.
10 Is put some boots on this lady here.

41
9 COORDINATION

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Ch 64.

Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) Ch 13.

Coordination refers to the joining together of two or more units which have the same
syntactic status. Coordinated units should be joined to a single higher node with the
same label. Note that coordinated units are frequently linked by a coordinator (e.g. and,
or, but, either/or) but not always. Compare: John and Jill and Ben. with John, Jill and
Ben.

9.1 COORDINATION OF CLAUSES

Examples:
Cl Cl Cl

Cl c Cl Cl c Cl Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP V:VP O:NP V:VP

h:n v part h:n v h:n v h:n v v d h:n v

John turned up and Mary fainted. Dan passed but Jan failed. Open the door, then leave
(c = coordinator)

EXERCISE 9.1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 We do all the work but they get all the praise.

2 Shut your eyes and open your mouth.
3 The food was awful yet they said nothing.
4 The bulb may have gone or the fuse could have blown.
5 I came, I saw, I conquered.

9.2 COORDINATION OF PHRASES

Examples:
Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

NP c NP v h:n v AdjP c AdjP

h:n d h:n m:int h:adj m:int h:adj

Mary and the twins survived. Pete is either extremely brave or totally stupid.

42
 Cl
S:NP V:VP C:NP

Cl h:pron v d h:n q:PP

V:VP O:NP A:AdvP PP c PP

v d h:n AdvP c AdvP h:prep q:NP neg h:prep q:NP

h:adv neg h:adv h:n h:n

Eat your food quickly but not noisily. She is a supporter of alcohol but not of drugs.

Note that there can only be one S, one V, one C, one Od and one Oi per clause. If there
appears to be more than one, it is almost certainly an instance of coordination.

EXERCISE 9.2 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 Gavin and his sister are twins.

2 This is a very cheap but temporary solution.
3 James is fascinatingly but not reassuringly untruthful.
4 I've bought a car with an M.O.T but without any tax.
5 Our carrots have been eaten by slugs and other pests.

9.3 COORDINATION OF WORDS

Examples:
Cl Cl

V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

v d h:n h:n v h:adj

n n c n adj c adj

Save the men, women and children. Mary is neither talented nor intelligent.

Cl Cl

S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP V:VP S:NP A:PP

h:n h:adv v d n v d h:n h:prep q:NP

adv c adv prep c prep d h:n

Harry slowly but surely adjusted the volume. Are the birds inside or outside the cage?

43
 Cl

S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP

h:n h:adv v d n

v c v

Kathrine quickly opened and closed the door

Note that phrases can only have one head. If there appears to be more than one, it is
almost certainly an instance of coordination.

It is sometimes not clear whether it is words or phrases that are being coordinated, and
therefore both of the following analyses may be possible:

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:n v h:adj h:n v AdjP c AdjP

adj c adj h:adj h:adj

Denise seems sad and lonely. Denise seems sad and lonely.

Also, different meanings of ambiguous phrases require a different analysis. For example,
in old men and women 'old' may refer just to men, or to both men and women. These
two cases would be analysed respectively as:
NP

NP c NP NP
m:AdjP h:n h:n m:AdjP h:n

h:adj h:adj n c n
old men and women old men and women

EXERCISE 9.3 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 Hand out the pens and pencils.

2 The Algerians set a fast and furious pace.
3 He loved her truly, madly and deeply.
4 Are you for or against the changes?
5 Lisa tried and tried but she couldn't stop the bleeding.

44
EXERCISE 9.4 Analyse the following child utterances at clause and phrase level.
Describe any errors.

1 Yellow and red.

2 Daddy and a little girl.
3 Fi and Andrea and Jennifer had to write something.
4 Boat going away and that boy’s sad.
5 Once our came back from somewhere and me found it there, mummy.

45
10 COMPLEX SENTENCES

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs 65-66

Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk chs 14 -15

10.1 OVERVIEW

Clauses can be seen as structures consisting of 'slots', with the labels S, V, O, C and A
describing the function they perform. So far we have seen how these slots can be 'filled'
by phrases. In addition, the S, O, C and A slots may also be filled by clauses. Compare
the following:

A) Her failure astonished me.

S V O

B) That she failed astonished me

S V O
S V

The Subject of A) is a phrase, whereas the Subject of B) is a clause. In B) the main

clause has the structure SVO whereas the subordinate clause (or embedded clause)
has the structure SV. We know that S is filled by a clause in B) because it can be
analysed in terms of SVOCA elements. Subordinate clauses are often introduced by a
subordinator (e.g. that in B) (see Crystal p.205 for a list) and are labelled as 's' - as in:

That she failed astonished me

S V O
s S V

though they can also occur without any formal marker of subordination as in:

Playing the piano is good for the soul

S V C
V O

Wh-words can also be used to introduce subordinate clauses, as in:

What he said surprised me. I don't know which piece you want.
S V O S V O .
O S V O S V

Analyse the pronouns who, what, whoever, whatever and the adverbs where, when, how,
why, wherever, whenever, however as clause elements where appropriate. Re-read
Chapter 3 to remind you how to decide which clause-element label to apply to wh-words
- the rules are the same whether they're used as question words or subordinators.
Analyse whether, whereas, while and whilst simply as 's'.

46
10.2 TESTS FOR IDENTIFYING SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

• Count the number of main verbs in the sentence. Every clause has one main verb, so a
sentence with, say, 3 main verbs will consist of 1 main clause and 2 subordinate
clauses.

• Because S, Od and Oi (when it precedes Od) are substitutable by a pronoun, any

subordinate clause in the S and O slots are similarly replaceable. (This does not apply
to the main clause.) For example:

That she failed (-> It) astonished me

S V O
I gave her what she requested (-> it)
S V Oi Od
Give whoever wants one (-> them) a free copy
V Oi Od

• Similarly, C is substitutable by a pronoun or adjective and A often by an adverb, as

in:

The question is whether we want one (-> this)

S V C
Call me whatever you like (-> that/stupid)
V O C
Drop by whenever you get a chance (-> then)
V A
Put it where you won't lose it (-> there)
VO A
They cut it how they wanted it (-> thus)
S V O A
No-one scored, though it was a good game (-> however)
S V A

EXERCISE 10.1 Underline all the clause elements in the following:

e.g. Tell me what you mean He said that he would come

V Oi Od S V O .
O S V s S V

Doing exercises isn't my idea of fun

S V C
V O

1 That he was unstable was never mentioned.

2 I hate doing the dishes.
3 When you come, bring a bottle.
4 Who you are doesn't bother me.
5 To improve your game is my sole intention.24

24
'To' here is an infinitive particle. Label to as 'inf' and as a constituent of VP. See Glossary.

47
6 Carla told them that she had finished it.
7 Give whoever comes last a piece of your mind.
8 The outcome is what we expected.
9 I think Keith is drunk.
10 Although she's lived here for years, she still can't speak the language.

EXERCISE 10.2 Underline all the clause elements in the following child
utterances. Describe any errors.

1 Me want daddy come down.

2 Me don’t know where box is now.
3 I thought it going to be today.
4 That lady posting cos it’s too big.
5 He fell off his bike cos he bumped into something on his bike.

48
11 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS

Essential Reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs 65-66; 19

Further Reading: Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) Chs 14-15; 3.18

11.1 SUBJECT

Example:
Cl
S:Cl V:VP O:NP

s S:NP V:VP v h:pron

h:pron v

That she failed astonished me

(s = subordinator)

EXERCISE 11.1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

Analysis tip:
Analyse the constituents of each clause element from left to right.
An alternative strategy: some (but not all!) students find it easier to get the levels right
by analysing the most deeply embedded parts of the sentence first.

1 That you came is a miracle.

2 What you said is a lie.
3 Touching slugs disgusts me.
4 To solve the mystery was his aim.
5 Where you live is beautiful.

11.2 DIRECT OBJECT

Example:
Cl

S:NP V:VP Oi:NP Od:Cl

h:pron v h:pron O:NP S:NP V:VP

h:pron h:pron v
I asked her what she did

49
EXERCISE 11.2 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 Tell us what you know.

2 He said that he was tired.
3 They like living dangerously.
4 Deirdre explained why she came.
5 Finish what you're doing.

11.3 INDIRECT OBJECT

Example:
Cl

V:VP Oi:Cl Od:NP

v S:NP V:VP O:NP d m:AdjP h:n

h:pron v h:n h:adj

Give whoever wants one a free copy

11.4 SUBJECT COMPLEMENT

Example:
Cl

S:NP V:VP C:Cl

d n v s S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v h:pron

The question is whether we want one

11.5 OBJECT COMPLEMENT

Example:
Cl
V:VP O:NP C:Cl
v h:pron O:NP S:NP V:VP
h:pron h:pron v

Call me whatever you like

50
11.6 ADVERBIAL

Example:
Cl

V:VP O:NP A:Cl

v h:pron A:AdvP S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:adv h:pron aux neg v h:pron
Put it where you won' t lose it

EXERCISE 11.6 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 Eating people is wrong.

2 I knew that they would explain the situation.
3 I don't like what you're wearing, Mrs Stubbs.25
4 Whether I should have telephoned is not clear.
5 When you've finished your painting, phone the garage.
6 Our main concern is that everyone should achieve satisfaction.
7 You have made me what I am today.
8 Although they hadn't settled down, the concert began.
9 Because you have not settled the account, we are withdrawing your overdraft
facility.
10 I found him a crashing bore.

EXERCISE 11.7 Analyse the following child utterances at clause and phrase level.
Describe any errors.

1 Me going to watch you doing your riding lesson.

2 Me don’t know where box is now.
3 Ask me if I not made a mistake.
4 He got to take his medicine cos his mommy cross.
5 He not behind the cup cos he standing next to the cup.

25
Here, Mrs Stubbs is a Vocative (see Chapter 2.8). It should simply be labelled as 'Voc' and not linked
into the structure of the clause.

51
12 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN PHRASES

Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs 41-42; 68

Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) Chs 17; 15.36-41

Like clauses, phrases too can be seen as structures consisting of 'slots', but in this case
with labels such as 'm', 'h' and 'q' describing the functions they perform. So far we have
seen how these slots can be filled by phrases. In addition, the q slot of noun phrases and
prepositional phrases may also be filled by clauses. Compare the following:

A) a man on a bike
d h q

B) a man riding a bike

d h q .
V O

The qualifier in A) is a phrase, whereas the qualifier in B) is a clause. We know that q is

filled by a clause in B) because it can be analysed in terms of SVOCA elements.

12.1 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES

Clauses which qualify the head of a Noun Phrase are like prepositional phrases in that
they provide information about the head specifying which one it is (see Chapter 8.3
above). For example, compare:

A) The man who arrived late caused some annoyance

B) Because he arrived late, the man caused some annoyance

The underlined subordinate clause in A) (called a relative clause) specifies which man,
and is therefore qualifying 'man'. The underlined subordinate clause in B) tells us the
reason for his late arrival, but not which man, and is therefore an Adverbial clause.

52
Examples:
Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:n q:Cl aux neg v h:n

S:NP V:VP A:PP

h:pron v h:prep q:NP

m:NP h:n
h:n

People who live in glass houses shouldn' t throw stones

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:NP

d h:n q:Cl v d h:n q:Cl

V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP A:AdvP

v h:n h:pron v h:adv

The woman doing press-ups is the one I admire most

EXERCISE 12.1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 The answer that he gave was suspect.

2 The things you say amaze me.
3 Show me the clothes you've bought.
4 Don't trust anyone wearing a wig.
5 The book that you borrowed is the one I want.

53
12.2 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN PREPOSITIONAL
PHRASES

Example:
Cl
Cl S:NP V:VP C:AdjP
V:VP Od:NP Oi:PP h:pron v h:adj q:PP

v h:pron h:prep q:Cl h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v h:pron v h:n

Give them to whoever wants one She is clever at explaining things

EXERCISE 12.2 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 He left without closing the door.

2 I sent the flowers to where you live.
3 Since learning karate, she's become more confident.
4 Peter is worried about driving in the snow.
5 Are you interested in going to the match?

12.3 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES

Example:
Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

d h:n v h:adj q:Cl h:pron v h:adj q:Cl

s S:NP V:VP V:VP

h:pron v inf aux v

The committee is grateful that you attended. I am delighted to have attended.

EXERCISE 12.3 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 We are surprised that you should have reacted like that.

2 It is now certain that she will be arrested.
3 I am sorry to hear it.
4 It is unclear what we should do.
5 It is important to be extremely careful about this.

54
EXERCISE 12.5 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 The man that we saw on the television was talking rubbish.

2 The snails he eats so voraciously are incredibly expensive.
3 That's the man I saw.
4 The woman blowing bubbles is Maureen.
5 I want to introduce Arnold, the man I intend to marry.

55
13 REVIEW EXERCISE

Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 You shouldn't be doing that!

2 Couldn't you have been sorting this mess out?
3 All the red-headed muscular athletes are wearing attractive multi-coloured shell-
suits.
4 That big boy there told those silly little girls something very naughty indeed.
5 Our most illustrious visitor is devouring an extremely mouth-watering date and
walnut cake.
6 Unfortunately, alcohol makes Marjorie almost incoherently violent.
7 On Sundays, we go on the tram to Meadowhall with our granny
8 The girl on your right gave the man behind her a punch in the face.
9 Mrs Smith, Millie and the vicar really have it in for you, don't they Igor?
10 Will either you or your friend open the window please.
11 He told me that he loved me.
12 That he didn't mean it became obvious when he stole my car.
13 I'd rather avoid people who hide their true feelings.
14 Can the man without a swimming costume doing butterfly please leave the pool.
15 David, my best friend, had badly broken his ankle.

56
14 SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION

CHAPTER 1 SUPPLEMENT

Exercise 1.1: Label the clause elements in the following:

(This is only exploratory–if you get some wrong, don't worry–explanation is at hand.
The aim of the exercise is (hopefully!) to demonstrate why you need the information
presented in Chapter 2.)

11 The book/was given/to me/by my cousin

12 Some people/foolishly/hide/their money/under the mattress
13 On Saturday night/we/certainly/painted/the town/red
14 That/sounds/a good idea
15 If you're not careful/you/will end up/ in jail

Exercise 1.2 Read Crystal (2004/1996) Chs. 1-7 and write down your own example
of the following.

1 Major sentence
2 Simple sentence
3 Multiple sentence
4 Minor sentence
5 Statement
6 Yes-no question
7 Wh- question
8 Alternative question
9 Tag question
10 Exclamatory question
11 Rhetorical question
12 Directive
13 Exclamation (minor)
14 Exclamation (major)
15 Echo

CHAPTER 2 SUPPLEMENT

Exercise 2.1: Underline and label the V element:

11 Did you understand that?

12 Don't look now.
13 The troublemakers have been singled out by the teacher.
14 She might have been being helpful.
15 What can they have been doing?

57
Exercise 2.2: Underline and label the S and V elements:

11 Pass me the screwdriver.26

12 The children and their teachers really need more protection.
13 Would you accept?
14 Stuff your argument about tax differentials! 27
15 The antagonism of the judge couldn't have been anticipated.

Exercise 2.4 Underline and label the S, V, Od and Oi elements:

11 Your shady deals have caused us no end of embarrassment.

12 Don't give the money to me.
13 Bring Mr and Mrs Smith and their children the set menu for four.
14 Will you do a favour for me?
15 Tell the police your feeble excuses.

Exercise 2.5b Underline and label the S, V, C & O elements:

11 The sky is turning grey.

12 The bus is turning the corner.
13 She turned into a pumpkin.
14 I've cancelled my subscription.
15 I'm not feeling myself.28

Exercise 2.8 Underline and label the S, V, O, C and A elements and Voc:

11 I find her an interesting person for the wrong reasons.

12 According to your horoscope your prospects are bleak.
13 Mom, save me a seat this afternoon.
14 The encore brought them to their feet in hysterical screams.
15 One day, I will probably live in the country with two cats and a goldfish.

CHAPTER 3 SUPPLEMENT

Exercise 3.1 Underline and label all the clause elements in the following sentences:

11 When are they arriving?

12 What did she buy her mother for Christmas?
13 Who did they elect leader?
14 How could they possibly know?
15 What did the wizard turn into?

26
This is an 'imperative' sentence - i.e. it has no overt subject.
27
See previous footnote.
28
Be careful - this is ambiguous and has two possible analyses.

58
CHAPTER 5 SUPPLEMENT

Note that the definition of Verb Phrase given in Chapter 5 differs from that found in
many other accounts where it is taken as including O and C elements as well as V. Such
an 'Extended Verb Phrase' (see Huddleston (1984:112-114)) is often called a Predicate
(see Glossary and Chapter 9.3). The more restricted version used here is equivalent to
what some (e.g. Burton-Roberts (1997) Ch. 6) call the 'Verb group'.

Multi-word verbs
In addition to the multi-word verbs referred to in 5.2, there is also an important class of
idiomatic verbs where the main verb consists of more than one word - e.g. put paid to,
cross swords with, take account of. These can be identified by their invariance - i.e. you
can't subsitute other words (cf *place paid to, *clash swords with, *obtain account of)
and their overall meaning is typically not predictable from that of the individual words.29
Analyse idiomatic verbs with a triangle to indicate their integral nature.

Examples:
V:VP V:VP V:VP
v v v

His hard work bore fruit. The house caught fire. The idea took root.

Verb particles
Some multi-word verbs have more than one particle:

Examples:

V:VP V:VP V:VP

v part aux v part part aux v part part
I got off I am getting out of this How do you put up with it?

Exercise 5.1 Analyse the phrase structure of the V element in the following
sentences:

11 Alice had better not give vent to her emotions.

12 These repairs could have been carried out better by a chimpanzee.
13 Why couldn't you have looked up the word in a dictionary?
14 James gave short shrift to their complaints
15 Don't do that!30

29
Things are not always this clear cut. Idioms start out as variable, productive constructions but gradually
become fixed over time and lose their original literal meaning. Many expressions are therefore only part
way through this process, and one may often be justified in analysing expressions such as turn the corner
and let off steam (in their figurative senses) either as idiomatic verbs or as Verb-Object structures.
30
Note that do can be a main verb as well as an auxiliary. So can have - e.g. She has (aux) had (v) one,
and be - e.g. She is (aux) being (v) good.

59
CHAPTER 6 SUPPLEMENT

Compound nouns

Many nouns consist of single words. However, there are also some compound nouns
which consist of more than one word. Sometimes they have coalesced into one word -
e.g. babysitter, blackbird. Some are hyphenated when writing - e.g. mother-in-law, but
some are not - e.g. post office, woman doctor. The difference is not clear cut. Compound
nouns start out as variable, productive combinations but gradually coalesce over time.
Many expressions are therefore only part way through this process, and one may often
be justified in analysing expressions such as paper bag or coffee table either with a
triangle as compound nouns or as modifier-head structures.

Exercise 6.1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

11 Most of my best ones have suffered the same sad fate.

12 The large glass vase was an exceptional example.
13 My botanist cousin keeps strange tropical man-eating plants.
14 He bought some expensive hand-made Italian designer underware.31
15 We didn't hope for such a huge improvement.

CHAPTER 7 SUPPLEMENT

Exercise 7.1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level.

11 You have quite unintentionally made me a very happy man indeed.32

12 Polly has chosen the attractive antique gold earrings.33
13 He nearly always spends his Saturdays here.
14 Their unusually generous contribution brought me some relief.
15 He gave her a rather unnervingly expensive present.

31
Regarding the analysis of 'Italian' and 'designer', see previous footnote. Consider the difference between
'Italian underware' and 'an Italian'. Opinions may differ on whether 'designer' is being used here as an
adjective or noun.
32
One could argue that indeed modifies all of 'a very happy man' since we can also say 'indeed a very
happy man' - and one would be right! The suggested analysis is a simpler compromise but will do for
present purposes.
33
This is actually ambiguous. Is it the gold or the earrings that are antique? Also, is antique a noun or an
adjective? Look these up in the glossary if you don't remember.

60
CHAPTER 8 SUPPLEMENT

PREPOSITIONS WHICH CAN OCCUR BY THEMSELVES

Most prepositions require an NP qualifier, though a few - e.g. up - can occur by

themselves. Compare, for example:

Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP Cl

h:pron v h:prep q:NP S:NP V:VP A:PP

d h:n h:pron v h:prep

They climbed up the hill. They climbed up.

Other examples are : We decided to stay in; Can you see over?34

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES WITH 'WH-' QUALIFIERS

The qualifying NP in a prepositional phrase can be questioned using a wh-word. When

the wh-word is moved to the front of the sentence it is still syntactically part of the
prepositional phrase and should be analysed accordingly, as follows:

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP S:NP V:VP A:PP

q:NP aux h:pron v h:prep q:NP aux h:pron v h:prep

h:pron h:pron
Who are you going with? What did they climb over?

These sentences are equivalent to You are going with whom? and They climbed over
what? respectively. They can also be expressed more formally as With whom are you
going? and Over what did they climb? in which case the preposition as well as the wh-
word move to the front of the sentence. Refer back to Chapter 3 for information about
wh-questions.

Exercise 8.6 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

11 What35 is Daisy hiding behind?

34
Prepositions that can occur by themselves are very similar to adverbs, and are in fact sometimes called
prepositonal adverbs (see Quirk & Greenbaum (1990:189-90)). It is also acceptable, therefore, to analyse
them as adverbs.
35
NB ‘what’ is a pronoun here. It’s the interrogative version of ‘that’.

61
12 The lady with a parrot on her head is my mother.
13 Tom placed the lid on the jar with a hole in it.
14 Have you seen the jacket with the leather collar in Next?
15 Put the book on the floor by the table in your bag.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS QUALIFIERS IN PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

Examples:
PP PP
h:prep q:PP h:prep q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n d h:n
from behind the cupboard down into the ground

NB Don't confuse examples like these with complex prepositions (Crystal Ch.60) such
as instead of and except for. The latter are fixed expressions and don't allow
substitution. Although we can say 'from under the cupboard' we can't say '*except
to me'. Analyse complex prepositions with a triangle as single lexical items.

EXERCISE 8.7 Analyse the following at phrase level:

1 back over the fence

2 due to the alterations
3 since before the war
4 up through the mountains
5 on behalf of the committee

CHAPTER 9 SUPPLEMENT

INTERMEDIATE UNITS

Chapter 9 presents a rather simplified account of coordination. As well as clauses,

phrases and words there are several other intermediate grammatical units which can be
coordinated. Coordinated predicates (see Glossary) as in David opened the drawer and
took out his revolver can be analysed as follows:

62
 Cl
S:NP Pred
h:n Pred c Pred
V:VP O:NP V:VP O:NP
v d h:n v part d h:n
David opened the drawer and took out his revolver.
(Pred = predicate)

There are also other intermediate units between word and phrase level. For example, the
single node to which coordinated units are linked is not in fact completely identical to
them as is suggested above by giving it the same label. However, a full treatment of such
units is not provided in this workbook. See Burton-Roberts (1997) or Baker (1995) if
you wish to know more.

CHAPTER 10 SUPPLEMENT

It is stated in 10.2 that every clause has a main verb. The only exceptions to this are
elliptical sentences - e.g. I brought the salad and John the dessert (i.e. 'brought' is
ellipted from the second clause) - and so-called verbless subordinate clauses (analysed
earlier as phrases) where the verb (and often the Subject) is missing. For example:

Too nervous to reply (A), he (S) stared at (V) the floor (O) and

Pat (S) sat (V) in the front (A), her hands in her lap (A).

It is also stated that C is substitutable by a pronoun or adjective and A often by an

adverb, but there are exceptions to this too. For example, If you put the baby down I’ll
scream; I shouted because I felt like it; I only did it in order to help you.

Exercise 10.1 Underline all the clause elements in the following:

11 I know where you're going.36

12 We shall go where you wish.37
13 Are you who you say?
14 What I said was what I meant.
15 When you leave, put the key where I showed you.

36
Note that in this sentence although 'where' is an Adverbial in the subordinate clause that it introduces,
the role played by this subordinate clause in the main clause is not A but O. There are several reasons for
this. Firstly, it can be substituted by a pronoun such as 'it' or 'that'. Secondly, it becomes S as a result of
passivization - i.e. Where you are going is not known by me.
37
Here, 'where you wish' is an Adverbial since it can be substituted by the (pro-)adverb 'there'. Unlike in
no.9 the sentence can't undergo passivization - i.e. *Where you wish shall not be gone by us.

63
CHAPTER 11 SUPPLEMENT

Exercise 11.6 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

11 Oceanographers know that reefs play a crucial role in an ocean's ecosystems.

12 Give whoever hands in their essay early five Mars Bars.
13 A woman with an outrageously large hat is restricting what we can see.38
14 To make the perfect omelette you need a very good quality frying pan.39
15 What I don't know is where you have put it and why you took it.

CATENATIVE VERBS

Catenative verbs are verbs such as appear to, manage to, seem to, fail to, want to, mean
to which are followed by an Object, Complement or Adverbial subordinate clause
beginning with an infinitive verb. There are also catenative verbs which are followed by
subordinate clauses beginning with either a present participle verb - e.g. start walking,
like working, keep on moaning - or a past participle verb - e.g. get beaten.

Examples:
Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP O:Cl S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron v V:VP O:NP h:pron aux neg v V:VP O:NP A:AdvP

v d h:n inf v d h:n m:int h:adv
I like doing these exercises I don' t want to do these exercises any more

Cl
Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl S:NP V:VP C:Cl

h:pron aux neg v V:VP O:NP h:pron v V:VP O:NP A:PP A:NP

inf v h:pron inf v d h:n h:prep h:n q:PP

h:prep q:NP

h:n
I don' t mean to bother you but you appear to have your shirt on back to front

38
With regard to laying out your analysis, note that the most deeply embedded section here is not the
subordinate clause but the phrase 'outrageously large'.
39
Is frying pan a modifier-head construction or a compound noun? See Chapter 6.2 if you don't remember.

64
 Cl
S:NP V:VP C:Cl

h:pron v V:VP O:Cl

inf v V:VP O:Cl

inf v V:VP A:Cl

inf v V:VP O:NP

inf v d h:n

He appeared to fail to want to come to see the show

Exercise 11.7 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 You promised to come

2 I want to ask you something.
3 We hate doing this to you40.
4 I managed to sell everything
5 I really enjoy trying to confuse them.

CHAPTER 12 SUPPLEMENT

Relative clauses simply provide additional information about the head noun (e.g. People
who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones). A further type of subrdinate clause is
the appositive clause which re-expresses the idea contained in the head noun (e.g. The
rumour that he has resigned is groundless). In appositive clauses, the subordinator that
cannot be replaced by which. Both types of clause, however, are analysed in exactly the
same way.

Example:
Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP
d h:n q:Cl v h:adj
s S:NP V:VP Oi:NP
h:pron v h:pron part
The suggestion that I pay you back is ludicrous

Exercise 12.1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:
6 We don't accept applicants who smoke or drink.
7 He propounded the theory that the universe is expanding.

40
See the footnote to Exercise 11.6, sentence 2.

65
8 Have you heard the rumour that lectures have been cancelled?
9 I appreciate the fact that you apologised.
10 Do you know the man doing frog imitations and wearing a Batman cape?

Exercise 12.2 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:
6 As far as I'm concerned, you can stuff your advice.41
7 He passed as a result of cheating.42
8 I'm bored with peeling potatoes.
9 Jenny is very close to finishing her novel.
10 My family and I are nonchalantly unafraid of calling your bluff.

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES

Some semi-auxiliary verbs are similar to adjective phrases with a subordinate clause
qualifier - e.g. be able to, be likely to, be supposed to. However, others such as be bound
to, be about to, have to and used to are more obviously idiomatic. If in doubt, analyse
expressions like these as idiomatic verbs43 with a triangle - e.g.

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP

h:pron aux v d h:n h:n aux v d h:n h:adv

They are supposed to feed the ducks. John has to catch the train now.

Exercise 12.5 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

6 You're more gullible than I thought you were.

7 This student has prepared his report so well that I can find nothing to criticize.
8 What I meant to tell you was that I've flushed my teeth down the toilet.
9 The Grand Jury received information that contradicts the committee's report.
10 Don't try to tell me that you didn't reach the pub before last orders.

COMPARATIVES

Comparative forms of adjectives, adverbs and certain pronouns can also take
subordinate clauses as qualifiers. The simplest form involves a prepositional phrase with
a noun phrase qualifier such as:

A) I am older than my brother.

NP

but the qualifier can also be a clause, as in:

41
As far as is a complex preposition (see Crystal (1996) Ch. 60) and should be analysed with a triangle.
42
As a result of is also a complex preposition. Although cheating is a single verb, it is also at the same
time the head of a VP which fills the V slot of a clause. Cheating could also be regarded as a noun since it
could be modified by an adjective such as 'covert'.
43
See Chapter 5.

66
 B) I am older than my brother is.
S V

The comparative form can either be expressed as the word-ending -er plus than, or as a
separate word as in: more/less _ than, as _ as. More and less are syntactically very
versatile. For example, more is an adjective in more grapes,44 an adverb in more
interesting and more interestingly, and a pronoun in I have more than you.

Comparative Adjective

Examples: Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

Cl h:n v m:AdvP h:adj

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP h:adv q:PP

h:pron v h:adj q:PP h:prep q:Cl

h:prep q:NP S:NP V:VP
h:pron
h:pron v part
I am older than you.
Sheila is more inhibited than she lets on.

Cl

Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP d h:n v neg m:AdvP h:adj

h:n v m:AdvP h:adj h:adv q:PP

h:adv q:PP h:prep q:Cl

h:prep q:NP S:NP V:VP

h:n h:pron v

Julian is as tall as Tristan. That vase is not as valuable as you think.

Comparative Adverb

Examples

44
More may also be regarded as a determiner in cases like this as it cannot cooccur with another
determiner.

67
 Cl
S:NP V:VP A:AdvP

h:n aux v m:AdvP h:adv

h:adv q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP A:NP

h:pron v d h:n
Time is passing less quickly than it did this morning.
Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:n v m:AdvP h:adj

m:AdvP h:adv

h:adv q:PP
h:prep q:Cl
S:NP V:VP

h:n v

Kelly is more severely handicapped than Peter is.

Comparative Pronoun

Example:
Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:n v h:pron q:PP
h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP A:AdvP

d h:n aux h:adv v

Mr Bridges knows more than his father will ever know.

EXERCISE 12.6 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 He's bigger than me.

68
2 She works harder than she used to.
3 She's as tough as old boots.
4 Be as discreet as you can manage.
5 Your candidate is less truthful than he will admit.
6 Angie has eaten more grapes than I have.
7 You drink more in a day than my whole family does in a week.
8 Corinne looks less elegantly dressed than her mother is.
9 His assessment was as positive as it could have been.
10 I've failed more exams than you've had hot dinners.

ADVANCED REVIEW EXERCISE

Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level:

1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level.

2 Please enter your Access number on reverse of cheque.
3 Rattle's ear for glissandi in la Valse produces unaccustomed menace from the
very start.
4 This seems strange coming from someone whose image is rock star by Central
Casting.
5 What makes you such an out-and-out little cad, do you think?
6 Currie Express offers you a unique opportunity to sample the oriental tastes of
traditional Indian food.
7 Surely you wouldn't resort to emotional blackmail?
8 The contortions achieved by the face of Rowan Atkinson are legendary.
9 Add a little sparkle to the season with this luxurious scoop-neck, one-size lurex
sweater.
10 Jamaican fishermen are uncannily good at seeing in the dark.
11 Christian Lacroix's45 fragrance C'est la vie! is so vibrant that it could have been
made for the festive season.
12 This matching of inner and outer selves seems to be the key to the facelift
business.
13 Ackroyd's magnificent biography sets the seal on Dickens' acknowledged
supremacy in the English novel.
14 Explain the role of the hypothalamus and its relationship to the sympathetic and
parasympathetic division.
15 There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid.
16 Dublin needed something like the Commitments, to get U2 out of its system.
17 Larger orders will take longer to cook so please ring in plenty of time.

45
Proper names in the genitive (i.e. with ‘s) are determiners. See Footnote 21 on p.24.

69
18 The Worcester tray, shown here, is available in Armacast and comes in a range of
colours.
19 A reduction in the cover offered by Bupa has caused fears for the future of private
psychiatric hospitals.
20 A man who turned into a human torch ten days ago after snoozing in his locked car
while smoking his pipe has died in hospital.

70
15 KEY TO EXERCISES

EXERCISE 1.2

1 The sun/rose
S V
2 Grimes/inspected/his fingernails
S V O
3 Sometimes/I/feel/a complete idiot
A S V C
4 They/made/me/a cup of tea
S V O O
5 They/made/me/blackboard monitor
S V O C
6 Frankly/I/don't care
A S V
7 The cow/jumped/over the moon
S V A
8 Hopefully/I/'ll see/you/under the clock/at Charing Cross Station/at eight
A S V O A A A
o'clock/with a briefcase of you know what
A
9 Acid/turns/blue litmus paper/red
S V O C
10 Nerys/turned/red/with embarrassment
S V C A

EXERCISE 2.1

1 Stop!
V
2 We missed the bus.
V
3 Horace disturbed the burglars.
V
4 Open your mouth.
V
5 My uncle is arriving tomorrow.
V
6 They can't afford the fare.
V
7 Can they afford the fare?
V- -V
8 The candidates paraded themselves in front of us.
V

71
9 She would often cough violently.
V- -V
10 Jerry has been smoking again.
V

EXERCISE 2.2

1 The dog bit me.

S V
2 John wouldn't have said that.
S V
3 It makes me sick.
S V
4 The green man is flashing.
S V
5 Are you sure of that?46
V S
6 The strange-looking man is my cousin.
S V
7 Everything on the table looks mouth-wateringly delicious.
S V
8 Peter and Mary have invited us to a barbecue.
S V
9 Mrs Corbett has been attacked by her parrot.
S V
10 Have they?
V S

EXERCISE 2.3

1 He kicked the ball.

S V O

2 I hate tennis.
S V O
3 Hand over the money.
V O
4 Can I help you?
V- S -V O
5 He crashed his brand-new Porsche.
S V O
6 Don't you understand plain English?
V- S -V O
7 I understand the whys and wherefores.
S V O

46
sure is not part of V. See preceding footnote.

72
8 We're planning a fairly casual thing with plenty of wine.47
S V O
9 They 've chosen apples, oranges, grapes and melons.48
S V O
10 Your 'devil may care' attitude has undermined my confidence.
S V O

EXERCISE 2.4

1 I'll tell you the reason.

S V Oi Od
2 Throw me a towel.
V Oi Od
3 He threw a towel to me.
S V Od Oi
4 Give me it.
V Oi Od
5 I've bought myself a portable CD player.
S V Oi Od
6 She prepared my lunch for me.
S V Od Oi
7 Don't tell him any of your secrets.
V Oi Od
8 Hand your mother the money.
V Oi Od
9 Give a prize to the best ones.
V Od Oi
10 Have you told Mary the news?
V- S -V Oi Od

EXERCISE 2.5a

1 It's amazing.
SV C
2 Don't be an idiot.
V C
3 He's fallen ill.
S V C
4 I feel somewhat subdued.
S V C
5 That smells good.
S V C
6 The president remained totally convinced.
S V C
7 It seems a good idea.

47
If you think that 'with plenty of wine' refers to the manner of planning rather than the nature of 'the
casual thing', then you can analyse it separately as an A (Adverbial).
48
A clause can only have one Direct Object.

73
 S V C
8 It's neither one thing or the other.
SV C
9 My intentions were entirely honourable.
S V C
10 The exercise must be getting tedious.
S V C

EXERCISE 2.5b

1 Are you alright?

V S C
2 I 'm growing tired.49
S V C
3 I'm growing cabbages.50
S V O
4 The judges tasted each of the entries.
S V O
5 Some of the entries tasted awful.
S V C
6 You're looking a lot better.
S V C
7 My shares have made a profit.
S V O
8 Tanya has gone berserk.
S V C
9 Sound the bell.
V O
10 Peter Pan stayed young.
S V C

EXERCISE 2.6

1 She made him an offer.

S V Oi Od
2 She made him her deputy.
S V O C
3 The judge declared the best entries delicious.
S V O C
4 That hat flatters you.
S V O
5 You have become the bane of my life.
S V C
6 I found her irascible, meticulous but a civil enough colleague.
S V O C

49
tired is not an Object because the passivization test doesn't work - cf. *Tired is being grown by me.
50
The passivization test does work here: Cabbages are being grown by me. Try the passivization test on
every sentence in the rest of this exercise, if you haven't already done so.

74
7 She found me a three-bedroomed house.
S V Oi Od
8 They elected themselves.51
S V O
9 They elected themselves another disastrous government.
S V Oi Od
10 They elected him prime minister.
S V O C

EXERCISE 2.8

1 Come here, scumbag.

V A Voc
2 They played in the rain.
S V A
3 Sometimes I drive too fast.
A S V A
4 Frankly, I'm quite disgusted.
A SV C
5 I really mean it this time, ladies
S A V O A Voc
6 She came across the road in her slippers.
S V A A
7 She came across the road by chance one fine sunny morning52
S V O A A
8 Because of a serious illness he no longer plays squash.
A S A V O
9 Do it here, now, with the light on.
V O A A A
or:
Do it here, now, with the light on.
V O A
10 He possibly lives near Sheffield.
S A V A

EXERCISE 2.9

1 Baby eat.53
S V
2 Kick ball.54

51
If you're confused by this analysis, read the Tests section of 2.5 again.
52
Here 'came across' is equivalent in meaning to 'discovered' and 'across' is part of the verb. There is a test
in Chapter 8 which will help you to distinguish examples like this from those like in the previous sentence
where 'across' is not part of the verb.
53
If the adult target was ‘The baby is eating his dinner’ then we would put SV(O). Without the context,
this is not clear.

75
 V O
3 Go there.
V A
4 Boy glasses. (describing picture of a boy wearing glasses)
S (V) O
5 He doctor. (referring to appearance of a man in a white coat)
S (V) C
6 Cat jumping.
S V
7 Mummy sad.
S (V) C
8 Jumping now.
V A
9 Me want that.
S V O
10 Mommy wear hat.
S V O
11 Me did it now.
S V O A
12 You play snakes and ladders me.
S V O A
13 Me want make house for Kate.
S V Od Oi
14 Me did some of those, Mummy.
S V O Voc
15 Her won’t be there tomorrow.
S V A A

EXERCISE 3.1

1 What are you doing?

O V- S -V
2 Why are you here?
A V S A
3 What did they tell you?
Od V- S -V Oi
4 Who sent you?
S V O

5 How did you get here?

A V- S -V A
6 Where did you park your car?
A V- S -V O
7 What is your name?
C V S
8 What makes you so angry?
S V O C

54
Likewise, this could match a number of contexts – e.g. ‘Kick the ball’ (VO), ‘She’s kicking the ball’
(SVO), ‘Kick the ball here’ (SVA).

76
9 Who do you mean?
O V- S -V
10 Who is their representative?
C V S

EXERCISE 3.2

1 Where go?
A (S) V
2 Man where?
S (V) A
3 Where your car?
A (V) S
4 What he doing?
O S V
5 Why those two nother things broke?
A S V
6 Why are me so healthy?
A V S C
7 Why didn’t me get flu ever?
A V- S -V O A
8 Where chair went?
A S V
9 Why did her have a runny tummy?
A V- S -V O
10 What a skinny snake can wiggle really fast?
O S V A

EXERCISE 5.1

V:VP V:VP V:VP

v v v

1 Wait 2 Carl left 3 She forgets everything?

V:VP V:VP V:VP

aux v aux v aux v

4 Do you mind? 5 I am feeling sleepy 6 Are you really feeling sleepy?

V:VP V:VP

aux aux v part aux aux aux v

7 You should have thought of that before. 8 I may have been reading at the time.

77
 V:VP V:VP

aux v part aux aux v

9 I' ve finally given up smoking. 10 Profits have been hit by the recession

EXERCISE 5.2

V:VP V:VP

v aux v

1 Teddy bear went. 2 Can me take this to London?

V:VP V:VP

aux v aux v

3 Why did her have two sweets?. 4 How did that broke?
(past participle error)

V:VP V:VP

aux neg v neg v

5 Why he can’t play with it? 6 Why not me sleeping?

(No Subject-auxiliary inversion) (missing auxiliary)

V:VP V:VP

aux v aux v

7 What are you did? 8 I going to play this one.

(Past tense instead of present progressive)

V:VP V:VP

aux v aux v

9 Shall me do this floppy thing? 10 Is put some boots on this lady

here.
(No progressive ending on main verb)

78
EXERCISE 6.1

Cl Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP C:NP
d h:n v d h:n v h:pron d h:n v d h:n
1 My head hurts 2 The accident upset them 3 No man is an island

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP

d m:NP h:n v v d m:AdjP h:n d h:n

4 The brick wall collapsed 5 Give the next person another turn.
Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP C:NP S:NP V:VP C:NP

d m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n v d m:AdjP h:n m:AdjP h:n v h:n

6 Which tall dark-haired man is my big brother. 7 Seven sevens are forty-nine.

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP C:NP

d m:AdjP h:n aux v h:pron i d m:AdjP h:n v d m:AdjP h:n

8 That stupid fool has hurt himself. 9 All the glazed pots are my own work.

Cl

S:NP V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP

aux i d h:n v d h:n d h:n

10 Will all the children give their parents another chance?

EXERCISE 6.2

NP NP

d h:n m:AdjP h:n

1 My car. 2 Little one.

79
 Cl

NP S:NP C:NP

d h:n h:pron h:n

3 That ball. 4 He doctor.

(verb element omitted)

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP O:NP

aux h:pron v d m:AdjP h:n h:pron v d h:n

5 Shall I make a funny music? 6 Them got no drivers.

(indefinite article used with mass noun) (wrong Subject pronoun;
auxiliary omitted)

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux neg v d h:n aux h:pron v m:AdjP h:n

7 We didn’t have much songs. 8 Did her have two sweets?

(wrong determiner – mass/count confusion) (wrong Subject pronoun)

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP O:NP

aux h:pron v d m:AdjP h:n h:pron aux neg v h:pron

9 Shall me do this floppy thing? 10 I didn’t see something.

(wrong Subject pronoun) (wrong agreement between neg and
Object pronoun)

80
EXERCISE 7.1

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v m:int h:adj h:pron m:int h:adv v d h:n
1 That is very interesting. 2 He rather cautiously opened the door.

Cl Cl

S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP A:NP

h:pron h:adv v d h:n part h:pron v m:int h:adj d h:n

3 He warily pushed the door open. 4 She sounded terribly anxious this morning.
Cl
S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP C:AdjP
h:pron m:int h:adv v d h:n m:int h:adj
5 You very probably find the result completely disastrous.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

d m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n v h:pron

m:int h:adj h:adj

6 His really insensitive cutting comments offended everyone.

Cl
S:NP A:AdvP V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP
h:pron m:int h:adv v h:n d m:AdjP h:n
m:AdvP h:adj
h:adv
7 They very selfishly offered Margaret an embarassingly small portion.

81
 Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP
aux h:pron v d m:AdjP m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n
m:int h:adj m:int h:adj m:int h:adj
8 May I introduce the very lovely, very talented, simply gorgeous Edith Bloggs

Cl
A:AdvP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP A:NP
h:adv h:pron v m:AdvP h:adj d h:n

h:adv
9 Personally, I feel overwhelmingly responsible this time.

Cl

S:NP V:VP A:AdvP C:NP

h:pron v h:adv d m:AdjP h:n

m:int h:adj

10 She is supposedly a very devious woman.

EXERCISE 7.2

NP NP

m:AdjP h:n AdjP d m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n

h:adj m:int h:adj h:adj h:adj

1 Big one. 2 Quite nice. 3 A big red flower.

Cl

Cl S:NP C:NP Cl

V:VP O:NP C:AdjP h:pron d m:AdjP h:n S:NP V:VP A:AdvP

v h:pron h:adj h:adj h:pron v h:adv

4 Make it dry. 5 That a big boat. 6 He go fast.

(V omitted) (No Subject-Verb agreement)

82
 Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP Voc S:NP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP

aux h:n v m:int h:adj aux h:pron v h:pron h:adv

7 Did Hester be fast asleep, mummy? 8 Can our do it again?

(wrong use of auxiliary to form (wrong Subject pronoun)
past tense of ‘be’)

Cl

Cl O:NP S:NP V:VP A:AdvP

A:AdvP V:VP S:NP C:AdjP h:pron d m:AdjP h:n aux v m:int h:adv

h:adv v h:pron m:int h:adj h:adj

9 Why are me so healthy? 10 What a skinny snake can wiggle really

fast?
(wrong Subject pronoun; wrong (No Subject-auxiliary inversion)
Subject-Verb agreement)

EXERCISE 8.2

Cl Cl
V:VP Od:NP Oi:PP A:PP S:N P V:VP C:AdjP

v h:pron h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:n v h:adj

h:pron h:n

1 Give it to me. 2 Without Humphrey, life was meaningless.

Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP

h:pron v h:prep q:NP

d h:n

3 She looked into his eyes.

83
 Cl

S:NP V:VP C:PP Cl

h:pron v h:prep q:Np A:PP S:NP V:VP C:PP

d m:AdjP h:n h:prep q:NP h:pron v h:prep q:NP

h:adj d h:n d h:n

4 We are on our best behaviour. 5 In my opinion, it 's for the part-timers.

EXERCISE 8.3

NP NP
h:pron q:PP d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n d h:n
1 something for the weekend 2 a man with an attitude

NP
h:n q:PP NP
h:prep q:NP d h:n q:PP
d m:AdjP h:n h:prep q:NP
h:adj h:n
3 juggling for the complete beginner 4 a mark around 70

NP
d m:AdjP h:n q:PP
h:adj h:prep q:NP

d m:AdjP h:n
h:adj
5 the private person behind the public mask

84
EXERCISE 8.4

AdjP
AdjP AdjP
h:adj q:PP
h:adj q:PP m:int h:adj q:PP
h:prep q:NP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n
h:n d h:n
1 frightened of dogs 2 anxious
2 rather anxious about about the future
the future

AdjP AdjP
h:adj q:PP h:adj q:PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

h:n d h:n

3 hungry for stardom 4 taller than his brother

AdjP
h:adj q:PP
h:prep q:NP

d h:n
5 fit as a fiddle

85
EXERCISE 8.5

NP
d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP NP
d h:n q:PP d h:n q:PP q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
h:n d h:n h:n
1 a man with a heart of gold 2 a woman in her twenties with prospects
AdjP AdjP
m:int h:adj q:PP h:adj q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n q:PP d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
h:n h:n
3 very pleased about the invitation to dinner 4 born with a lust for life

NP
d h:n q:PP q:PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n q:PP m:AdjP h:n

h:prep q:NP h:adj

d h:n

5 a note on the back of an envelope in unfamiliar handwriting

EXERCISE 8.6

Cl
S:NP V:VP A :PP
d h:n v h:prep q:NP

d h:n
1 The car cruised along the motorway.

86
 Cl
A:PP S:NP V:VP A:PP A:PP
h:prep q:NP h:pron v h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

h:n d h:n d h:n

2 On Sundays, I walk to the paper shop for an Observer.

Cl Cl
V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP
v d h:n q:PP d h:n v h:adj q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
m:AdjP h:n h:n
h:adj
3 See that girl with funny clothes? 4 My cousin is brilliant at chess.
Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP

h:pron v h:prep q:NP

d h:n q:PP

h:prep q:NP

d h:n

5 I live in the house on the corner

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP S:NP V:VP A:PP

h:pron v h:adj q:PP d h:n q:PP aux v h:prep q:NP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:pron

h:pron m:AdjP h:n

h:adj

6 It 's nice of you. 7 The man with bushy eyebrows is staring at us.

87
 Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP Cl

h:pron v h:prep q:NP S:NP V:VP O:NP

d m:NP h:n h:pron v part d m:NP h:n

h:n h:n

8a She blew up the horse's nose 8b She blew up the horse's nose (explosion version!)

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP

d h:n q:PP v d h:n h:prep q:NP

h:prep q:NP d h:n

d m:AdjP h:n

h:adj

9 The man in the black coat threw the ball over the bridge

Cl

S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux h:adv v d h:n q:PP q:PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n m:AdjP h:n

h:adj

10 I have just seen a woman on the bus with six children.

EXERCISE 8.8

Cl

PP S:NP V:VP Od:NP Oi:PP

h:prep q:NP h:pron v h:n h:prep q:NP

h:n h:n

1 Under chair. 2 Me make house for Kate.

(missing determiner) (wrong Subject pronoun; missing
determiner)

88
 Cl

Cl S:NP A:PP

S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP h:n h:prep q:NP

aux h:pron v h:pron h:prep q:NP m:AdjP h:n

h:pron h:adj

3 Can me put it like that? 4 Baby in big bed.

(wrong Subject pronoun) (missing Verb; 2 missing determiners)

Cl Cl

V:VP A:PP S:NP V:VP A:PP

v h:prep q:NP h:n v h:prep q:NP

h:n d h:n

5 Been in water. 6 Teddy sitting on the cup.

(missing Subject; missing auxiliary; (missing auxiliary)
missing determiner)

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP S:NP A:AdvP V:VP A:PP

h:pron neg v h:prep q:AdvP h:pron h:adv v h:prep q:NP

h:adv h:n

7 That not go in there. 8 Me always go with Maggie.

(missing auxiliary) (wrong Subject pronoun)

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP V:VP O:NP A:PP A:AdvP

h:pron aux neg v h:prep q:NP aux v d h:n h:prep q:NP h:adv

h:pron d h:n

9 I didn’t stand on nothing. 10 Is put some boots on this lady here.

(wrong Object pronoun after neg) (missing Subject; missing –ing inflection)

89
EXERCISE 9.1

Cl

Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v i d h:n h:pron v i d h:n

1 We do all the work but they get all the praise.

Cl

Cl c Cl

V:VP O:NP V:VP O:NP

v d h:n v d h:n

2 Shut your eyes and open your mouth.

Cl

Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP S:NP V:VP O:NP

d h:n v h:adj h:pron v h:pron

3 The food was awful yet they said nothing.

Cl

Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP

d h:n aux aux v d h:n aux aux v

4 The bulb may have gone or the fuse could have blown.
Cl

Cl Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP

h:pron v h:pron v h:pron v

5 I came, I saw, I conquered.

90
EXERCISE 9.2

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:NP

NP c NP v h:n

h:n d h:n

1 Gavin and his sister are twins.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:NP

h:pron v d m:AdjP h:n

AdjP c AdjP
m:int h:adj h:adj

2 This is a very cheap but temporary solution.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:n v m:AdvP h:adj

AdvP c AdvP

h:adv neg h:adv

3 James is fascinatingly but not reassuringly untruthful.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux v d h:n q:PP

PP c PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n d h:n

4 I 've bought a car with an M.O.T but without any tax.

91
 Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP

d h:n aux aux v h:prep q:NP

NP c NP
h:n d h:n

5 Our carrots have been eaten by slugs and other pests.

EXERCISE 9.3

Cl

V:VP O:NP

v part d h:n

n c n

1 Hand out the pens and pencils.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

d h:n v d m:AdjP h:n

h:adj

adj c adj

2 The Algerians set a fast and furious pace.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP

h:pron v h:pron h:adv

adv adv c adv

3 He loved her truly, madly and deeply.

Cl

V:VP S:NP C:PP

v h:pron h:prep q:NP

prep c prep d h:n

4 Are you for or against the changes?

92
 Cl

Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:n v h:pron aux neg v d h:n
v c v

5 Lisa tried and tried but she couldn' t stop the bleeding.

EXERCISE 9.4

NP

AdjP NP c NP

h:adj h:n d m:AdjP h:n

adj c adj h:adj

1 Yellow and red. 2 Daddy and a little girl.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:n aux v h:pron

n c n c n

3 Fi and Andrea and Jennifer had to write something.

Cl

Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:n v part d h:n v h:adj

4 Boat going away and that boy’ s sad.

(missing determiner and auxiliary)

93
 Cl Voc

Cl c Cl

A:AdvP S:NP V:VP A:PP S:NP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP

h:adv h:pron v part h:prep q:NP h:pron v h:pron h:adv

h:pron

5 Once our came back from somewhere and me found it there, mummy.
(wrong Subject pronoun in both clauses)

EXERCISE 10.1

1 That he was unstable was never mentioned.

S V- A -V
s S V C

2 I hate doing the dishes.

S V O
V O

3 When you come, bring a bottle.

A V O
A S V

4 Who you are doesn't bother me.

S V O
C S V

5 To improve your game is my sole intention.

S V C
V O

6 Carla told them that she had finished it.

S V Oi Od .
s S V O

7 Give whoever comes last a piece of your mind.

V Oi Od
S V C

8 The outcome is what we expected.

S V C
O S V

9 I think Keith is drunk.

S V O .

94
 S V C

10 Although she's lived here for years, she still can't speak the language.
A S A V O
s S V A A

EXERCISE 10.2

1 Me want daddy come down. 2 Me don’t know where box is now.

S V O S V O
S V A S V A
(wrong Subject pronoun; missing (wrong Subject pronoun; missing
infinitival particle) determiner)

3 I thought it going to be today. 4 That lady posting cos it’s too big.
S V O S V A
S V C/A s SV C
(missing auxiliary) (missing Object and auxiliary)

5 He fell off his bike cos he bumped into something on his bike.
S V O A
s S V O A

EXERCISE 11.1

Cl Cl

S:Cl V:VP C:NP S:Cl V:VP C:NP

s S:NP V:VP v d h:n O:NP S:NP V:VP v d h:n
h:pron v h:pron h:pron v

1 That you came is a miracle. 2 What you said is a lie.

Cl Cl

S:Cl V:VP O:NP S:Cl V:VP C:NP

V:VP O:NP v h:pron V:VP O:NP v d h:n

v h:n inf v d h:n

3 Touching slugs disgusts me. 4 To solve the mystery was his aim.

95
 Cl
S:Cl V:VP C:AdjP
A:AdvP S:NP V:VP v h:adj

h:adv h:pron v
5 Where you live is beautiful.

EXERCISE 11.2

Cl Cl

V:VP Oi:NP Od:Cl S:NP V:VP O:Cl

v h:pron O:NP S:NP V:VP h:pron v s S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron h:pron v h:pron v h:adj

1 Tell us what you know. 2 He said that he was tired.

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron v V:VP A:AdvP h:n v A:AdvP S:NP V:VP

v h:adv h:adv h:pron v

3 They like living dangerously. 4 Deirdre explained why she came.

Cl

V:VP O:Cl
v O:NP S:NP V:VP

h:pron h:pron aux v

5 Finish what you ' re doing.

96
EXERCISE 11.6

Cl

S:Cl V:VP C:AdjP

V:VP O:NP v h:adj

v h:n
1 Eating people is wrong.
Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron v s S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux v d h:n

2 I knew that they would explain the situation.

Cl Voc

S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron aux neg v O:NP S:NP V:VP

h:pron h:pron aux v

3 I don' t like what you ' re wearing, Mrs Stubbs.

Cl

S:Cl V:VP C:AdjP

s S:NP V:VP v neg h:adj

h:pron aux aux v

4 Whether I should have telephoned is not clear.

Cl

A:Cl V:VP O:NP

A:AdvP S:NP V:VP O:NP v d h:n

h:adv h:pron aux v d h:n

5 When you ' ve finished your painting, phone the garage.

97
 Cl

S:NP V:VP C:Cl

d m:AdjP h:n v s S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:adj h:pron aux v h:n

6 Our main concern is that everyone should achieve satisfaction.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP C:Cl

h:pron aux v h:pron C:NP S:NP V:VP A:AdvP
h:pron h:pron v h:adv

7 You have made me what I am today.

Cl

A:Cl S:NP V:VP

s S:NP V:VP d h:n v

h:pron aux neg v part

8 Although they hadn' t settled down, the concert began.

Cl

A:Cl S:NP V:VP O:NP

s S:NP V:VP O:NP h:pron aux v d m:NP h:n
h:pron aux neg v d h:n h:n
9 Because you haven' t settled the account, we are withdrawing your overdraft facility.
Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP C:NP

h:pron v h:pron d m:AdjP h:n

h:adj

10 I found him a crashing bore

98
EXERCISE 11.7

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron aux v S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v d m:NP h:n

h:n

1 Me going to watch you doing your riding lesson.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron aux neg v A:AdvP S:NP V:VP A:AdvP

h:adv h:n v h:adv

2 Me don’t know where box is now.

(wrong Subject pronoun; missing determiner)

Cl

V:VP Oi:NP Od:Cl

v h:pron s S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron neg v d h:n

3 Ask me if I not made a mistake.

(missing auxiliary; wrong past participle)

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP A:Cl

h:pron aux v d h:n s S:NP C:AdjP

d h:n h:adj

4 He got to take his medicine cos his mommy cross.

(missing auxiliary; missing Verb in subordinate clause)

99
 Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP A:Cl

h:pron neg h:prep q:NP s S:NP V:VP A:PP

d h:n h:pron v h:prep q:NP

d h:n

5 He not behind the cup cos he standing next to the cup.

(missing Verb in main clause; missing auxiliary in subordinate clause)

EXERCISE 11.7

Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP O:Cl S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron v V:VP h:pron v V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP

inf v inf v h:pron h:pron
1 You promised to come 2 I want to ask you something.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl Cl

h:pron v V:VP O:N Oi:PP S:NP V:VP O:Cl

v h:pron h:prep q:NP h:pron v V:VP O:NP

h:pron inf v h:pron

3 We hate doing this to you. 4 I managed to sell everything.

Cl

S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron h:adv v V:VP O:Cl

v V:VP O:NP
inf v h:pron

5 I really enjoy trying to confuse them.

100
EXERCISE 12.1

Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP S:NP V:VP O:NP

d h:n q:Cl v h:adj d h:n q:Cl v h:pron
s S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP
h:pron v h:pron v
1 The answer that he gave was suspect. 2 The things you say amaze me.

Cl Cl
V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP V:VP O:NP
v h:pron d h:n q:Cl aux neg v h:pron q:Cl
S:NP V:VP V:VP O:NP
h:pron aux v v d h:n
3 Show me the clothes you 've bought. 4 Don't trust anyone wearing a wig.
Cl
S:NP V:VP C:NP
d h:n q:Cl v d h:n q:Cl
s S:NP V:VP S:NP V:VP
h:pron v h:pron v
5 The book that you borrowed is the one I want.

EXERCISE 12.2

Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP A:PP S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP
h:pron v h:prep q:Cl h:pron v d h:n h:prep q:Cl

V:VP O:NP A:AdvP S:NP V:VP

v d h:n h:adv h:pron v
1 He left without closing the door. 2 I sent the flowers to where you live.

101
 Cl

A:PP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:prep q:Cl h:pron aux v m:int h:adj

V:VP O:NP
v h:n

3 Since learning karate, she' s become more confident.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:n v h:adj q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

V:VP A:PP

v h:prep q:NP

d h:n

4 Peter is worried about driving in the snow.

Cl

V:VP S:NP C:AdjP

v h:pron h:adj q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

V:VP A:PP

v h:prep q:NP

d h:n

5 Are you interested in going to the match?

102
EXERCISE 12.3

Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adj q:Cl

s S:NP V:VP A:PP

h:pron aux aux v h:prep q:NP

h:pron

1 We are surprised that you should have reacted like that.

Cl

S:NP V:VP A:AdvP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adv h:adj q:Cl

s S:NP V:VP
h:pron aux aux v

2 It is now certain that she will be arrested.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adj q:Cl

V:VP O:NP
inf v h:pron

3 I am sorry to hear it.

Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP
h:pron v h:adj q:Cl

O:NP S:NP V:VP

h:pron h:pron aux v
4 It is unclear what we should do.

103
 Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adj q:Cl

V:VP C:AdjP

inf v m:int h:adj q:PP

h:prep q:NP

h:pron
5 It is important to be extremely careful about this.

EXERCISE 12.5

Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP
d h:n q:Cl aux v h:n
s S:NP V:VP A:PP
h:pron v h:prep q:NP
d h:n

1 The man that we saw on the television was talking rubbish.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

d h:n q:Cl v m:int h:adj

S:NP V:VP A:AdvP

h:pron v m:int h:adv

2 The snails he eats so voraciously are incredibly expensive.

Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP C:NP S:NP V:VP C:NP
h:pron v d h:n q:Cl d h:n q:Cl v h:n
S:NP V:VP V:VP O:NP
h:pron v v h:n
3 That 's the man I saw. 4 The woman blowing bubbles is Maureen

104
 Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron v V:VP O:NP

inf v h:n q:NP

d h:n q:Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron v V:VP
inf v
5 I want to introduce Arnold, the man I intend to marry.

13 REVIEW EXERCISE

Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP S:NP V:VP O:NP
h:pron aux neg aux v h:pron aux neg h:pron aux aux v d h:n part
1 You shouldn't be doing that! 2 Couldn't you have been sorting this mess out?
Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP
i d m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n aux v m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n
h:adj h:adj h:adj h:adj
3 All the red-headed muscular athletes are wearing attractive multi-coloured shell-
suits.
Cl

S:NP V:VP O i:NP Od:NP

d m:AdjP h:n q:AdvP v d m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n h:pron q:AdjP

h:adj h:adv h:adj h:adj m:int h:adj q:int

4 That big boy there told those silly little girls something very naughty indeed.

105
 Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP

d m:AdjP h:n aux v d m:AdjP m:NP h:n

m:int h:adj m:int h:adj h:n

n c n
5 Our most illustrious visitor is devouring an extremely mouth-watering date and walnut cake.
Cl
A:AdvP S:NP V:VP O:NP C:AdjP
h:adv h:n v h:n m:AdvP h:adj
m:int h:adv
6 Unfortunately, alcohol makes Marjorie almost incoherently violent.

Cl
A:PP S:NP V:VP A:PP A:PP A:PP
h:prep q:NP h:pron v h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
h:n d h:n h:n d h:n
7 On Sundays, we go on the tram to Meadowhall with our granny

Cl
S:NP V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP
d h:n q:PP v d h:n q:PP d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n h:pron d h:n
8 The girl on your right gave the man behind her a punch in the face.

Cl Voc

Cl Cl

S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP V:VP S:NP

NP NP c NP h:adv v part h:pron v neg h:pron

h:n h:n d h:n

9 Mrs Smith, Millie and the vicar really have it in for you, don' t they Igor?

106
 Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP
aux NP c NP v d h:n h:adv

h:pron d h:n
10 Will either you or your friend open the window please.

Cl

S:NP V:VP Oi:NP Od:Cl

h:pron v h:pron s S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v h:pron
11 He told me that he loved me.
Cl

S:Cl V:VP C:AdjP A:Cl

s S:NP V:VP O:NP v h:adj A:AdvP S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux neg v h:pron h:adv h:pron v d h:n

12 That he didn' t mean it became obvious when he stole my car.

Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP
h:pron aux v h:n q:Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP
h:pron v d m:AdjP h:n

h:adj
13 I' d rather avoid people who hide their true feelings.

Cl

S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP

 
aux d h:n q:PP q:Cl h:adv v d h:n

h:prep q:NP V:VP O:NP

d h:n v h:n

14 Can the man without a swimming costume doing butterfly please leave the pool.

107
 Cl
S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP

h:n q:NP aux h:adv v d h:n

d m:AdjP h:n
h:adj

15 David, my best friend, had badly broken his ankle.

108
16 KEY TO SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISES

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 1.1

11 The book/was given/to me/by my cousin

S V Oi A
12 Some people/foolishly/hide/their money/under the mattress
S A V O A
13 On Saturday night/we/certainly/painted/the town/red
A S A V O C
14 That/sounds/a good idea
S V C
15 If you're not careful/you/will end up/in jail
A S V A

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 1.2

Here are some possible examples:

1 This is a major sentence.
2 This is a simple sentence.
3a This is one clause and this is another. (2 coordinated clauses)
3b It is obvious that this is a multiple sentence. (1 main clause and 1 subordinate
clause)
4 Never the twain shall meet.
5 This is a statement.
6 Is this a yes-no question?
7 What kind of question is this?
8 Is this a yes-no question or a wh-question?
9 This isn't a tag question, is it?
10 Is he stupid!
11 Could I just point out that this is a rhetorical question.
12 Don't lean out of the window.
13 Jesus wept!
14 How stupid he is!
15 How stupid who is?

109
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.1

11 Did you understand that?

V- -V
12 Don't look now.
V
13 The troublemakers have been singled out by the teacher.
V
14 She might have been being helpful.55
V
15 What can they have been doing?
V- -V

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.2

11 Pass me the screwdriver.56

V
12 The children and their teachers really need more protection.
S V
13 Would you accept?
V- S -V
14 Stuff your argument about tax differentials.
V O
15 The antagonism of the judge couldn't have been anticipated.
S V

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.4

11 Your shady deals have caused us no end of embarrassment.

S V Oi Od
12 Don't give the money to me.
V Od Oi
13 Bring Mr and Mrs Smith and their children the set menu for four.
V Oi Od
14 Will you do a favour for me?
V- S -V Od Oi
15 Tell the police your feeble excuses.
V Oi Od

55
There is no verb 'be helpful' - helpful is an adjective and a Complement. This will become clearer when
you have completed 2.5 and Chapter 7.
56
This is an 'imperative' sentence (see Crystal Ch.6) and has no subject. Imperative sentences have an
implicit 'you' subject which can be used for emphasis - e.g. You pass me the screwdriver

110
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.5b

11 The sky is turning grey.

S V C
12 The bus is turning the corner.
S V O
13 She turned into a pumpkin.
S V C
14 I 've cancelled my subscription.
S V O
15 I'm not feeling myself.
S V C/O57

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.8

11 I find her an interesting person for the wrong reasons.

S V O C A
12 According to your horoscope your prospects are bleak.
A S V C
13 Mom, save me a seat this afternoon.
Voc V Oi Od A
14 The encore brought them to their feet in hysterical screams.
S V O A A
15 One day, I will probably live in the country with two cats and a goldfish.
A S V- A -V A A

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 3

11 When are they arriving?

A V- S -V
12 What did she buy her mother for Christmas?
Od V- S -V Oi A
13 Who did they elect leader?
O V- S -V C
14 How could they possibly know?
A V- S A -V
15 What did the wizard turn into ?
C V- S -V

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 5

57
The different versions depend on whether 'feeling' refers to a mental state (C) or an action (O).

111
 V:VP
aux neg v part

11 Alice had better not give vent to her emotions.

V:VP

aux aux aux v part

12 These repairs could have been carried out better by a chimpanzee.

V:VP

aux neg aux v part

13 Why couldn' t you have looked up the word in a dictionary?

V:VP
v part

14 James gave short shrift to their complaints

V:VP

aux neg v
15 Don' t do that!

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 6

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

i d m:AdjP h:n aux v d m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n

11 Most of my best ones have suffered the same sad fate.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:NP

d m:AdjP m:NP h:n v d m:AdjP h:n

12 The large glass vase was an exceptional example.

112
 Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

d m:NP h:n v m:AdjP m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n

13 My botanist cousin keeps strange tropical man-eating plants.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v d m:AdjP m:AdjP m:AdjP m:NP h:n

14 He bought some expensive hand-made Italian designer underware.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux neg v part i d m:AdjP h:n

15 We didn't hope for such a huge improvement.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 7.1

Cl
S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP C:NP
h:pron aux m:int h:adv v h:pron d m:AdjP h:n
m:int h:adj q:int
11 You have quite unintentionally made me a very happy man indeed.

113
 Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:n aux v d m:AdjP m:NP h:n

h:adj m:AdjP h:n
h:adj

12 Polly has chosen the attractive antique gold earrings.

Cl

S:NP A:AdvP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP

h:pron m:int h:adv v d h:n h:adv

13 He nearly always spends his Saturdays here.

Cl
S:NP V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP

d m:AdjP h:n v h:pron d h:n

m:AdvP h:adj
h:adv
14 Their unusually generous contribution brought me some relief.

Cl
S:NP V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP

h:pron v h:pron d m:AdjP h:n

m:AdvP h:adj
m:int h:adv
15 He gave her a rather unnervingly expensive present.

114
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 8.6

Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP

q:NP aux h:n v h:prep

h:pron

11 What is Daisy hiding behind?

Cl
S:NP V:VP C:NP
d h:n q:PP v d h:n

h:prep q:NP
d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP
d h:n
12 The lady with a parrot on her head is my mother.

Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP
h:n v d h:n h:prep q:NP

d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP
d h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP
h:pron
13 Tom placed the lid on the jar with a hole in it.

115
 Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

aux h:pron v d h:n q:PP q:PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d m:NP h:n h:n

h:n
14 Have you seen the jacket with the leather collar in Next?
Cl
V:VP O:NP A:PP

v d h:n q:PP q:PP h:prep q:NP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP d h:n

d h:n d h:n
15 Put the book on the floor by the table in your bag.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 8.7

PP PP

h:prep q:PP PP h:prep q:PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n d h:n d h:n

1 back over the fence 2 due to the alterations 3 since before the war
PP
h:prep q:PP PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n d h:n
4 up through the mountains 5 on behalf of the committee

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 10.1

11 I know where you're going.

S V O
A S V

116
12 We shall go where you wish.
S V A
A S V

13 Are you who you say?

V S C
O S V

14 What I said was what I meant.

S V C
O S V O S V

15 When you leave, put the key where I showed you.

A V O A
A S V Od58 S V Oi

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 11.6

Cl
S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:n v s S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP

h:n v d m:AdjP h:n h:prep q:NP

h:adj m:NP h:n

d h:n

11 Oceanographers know that reefs play a crucial role in an ocean' s ecosystems.

Cl

V:VP Oi:Cl Od:NP

v S:NP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP m:AdjP h:n

h:pron v part d h:n h:adv h:adj

12 Give whoever hands in their essay early five Mars Bars

Bars.

58
This could also be analysed as A since it could be substituted by there as well as it ('the place').

117
 Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl

d h:n q:PP aux v O:NP S:NP V:VP

h:prep q:NP h:pron h:pron aux v

d m:AdjP h:n

m:AdvP h:adj

h:adv

13 A woman with an outrageously large hat is restricting what we can see.

Cl

A:Cl S:NP V:VP O:NP

V:VP O:NP h:pron v d m:NP h:n

inf v d m:AdjP h:n m:AdjP h:n

h:adj m:int h:adj

14 To make the perfect omelette you need a very good quality frying pan.
Cl

S:Cl V:VP C:Cl

O:NP S:NP V:VP Cl c Cl

h:pron h:pron aux neg v A:AdvP S:NP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP S:NP V:VP O:NP
h:adv h:pron aux v h:pron h:adv h:pron v h:pron

15 What I don' t know is where you have put it and why you took it.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.1

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux neg v h:n q:Cl

S:NP V:VP
h:pron v
v c v

6 We don' t accept applicants who smoke or drink.

118
 Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v d h:n q:Cl

s S:NP V:VP

d h:n aux v
7 He propounded the theory that the universe is expanding.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

aux h:pron v d h:n q:Cl

s S:NP V:VP

h:n aux aux v

8 Have you heard the rumour that lectures have been cancelled?

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron v d h:n q:Cl

s S:NP V:VP

h:pron v

9 I appreciate the fact that you apologised.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

aux h:pron v d h:n q:Cl

Cl c Cl

V:VP O:NP V:VP O:NP

v m:NP h:n v d m:NP h:n

h:n h:n

10 Do you know the man doing frog imitations and wearing a Batman cape?

119
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.2

Cl

A:PP S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:prep q:Cl h:pron aux v d h:n

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adj

6 As far as I 'm concerned, you can stuff your advice.

Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP

h:pron v h:prep q:Cl

V:VP

7 He passed as a result of cheating.

Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adj q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

V:VP O:NP
v h:n

8 I ' m bored with peeling potatoes.

120
 Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:n v m:int h:adj q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

V:VP O:NP

v d h:n

9 Jenny is very close to finishing her novel.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

NP c NP v m:AdvP h:adj q:PP

d h:n h:pron h:adv h:prep q:Cl

V:VP O:NP

v d h:n

10 My family and I are nonchalantly unafraid of calling your bluff.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.4

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adj q:PP

h:prep q:NP

h:pron

1 He 's bigger than me.

121
 Cl

S:NP V:VP A:AdvP

h:pron v h:adv q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP

h:pron aux

2 She works harder than she used to.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v m:AdvP h:adj

h:adv q:PP

h:prep q:NP

m:AdjP h:n
h:adj

3 She ' s as tough as old boots.

Cl

V:VP C:AdjP

v m:AdvP h:adj

h:adv q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP

h:pron aux v

4 Be as discreet as you can manage.

122
 Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

d h:n v m:AdvP h:adj

h:adv q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP
h:pron aux v

5 Your candidate is less truthful than he will admit.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:n aux v m:AdjP h:n

h:adj q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP

h:pron aux

6 Angie has eaten more grapes than I have.

Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP

h:pron v h:pron h:prep q:NP q:PP

d h:n h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP A:PP

d m:AdjP h:n v h:prep q:NP

h:adj d h:n

7 You drink more in a day than my whole family does in a week.

123
 Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:n v m:AdvP h:adj

m:AdvP h:adv

h:adv q:PP
h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP

d h:n v

8 Corinne looks less elegantly dressed than her mother is.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

d h:n v m:AdvP h:adj

h:adv q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP

h:pron aux aux v

9 His assessment was as positive as it could have been.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux v m:AdjP h:n
h:adj q:PP
h:prep q:Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux v m:AdjP h:n

h:adj
10 I ' ve failed more exams than you ' ve had hot dinners.

124
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.5

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v m:AdvP h:adj

h:adv q:PP

h:prep q:Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl

h:pron v S:NP V:VP
h:pron v

6 You ' re more gullible than I thought you were.

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP A:AdvP

d h:n aux v d h:n m:int h:adv q:Cl

s S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:pron aux v h:pron q:Cl

V:VP

inf v
7 This student has prepared his report so well that I can find nothing to criticize.

Cl

S:Cl V:VP C:Cl

S:NP V:VP O:Cl v s S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP

Od:NP h:pron v V:VP Oi:NP h:pron aux v d h:n h:prep q:NP

h:pron inf v h:pron d h:n

8 What I meant to tell you was that I 've flushed my teeth down the toilet.

125
 Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP

d h:n v h:n q:Cl

s V:VP O:NP

v d m:NP h:n
h:n
9 The Grand Jury received info that contradicts the committee's report.

Cl

V:VP O:Cl

aux neg v V:VP Oi:NP Od:Cl

inf v h:pron s S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP

h:pron aux neg v d h:n h:prep q:NP

m:AdjP h:n
h:adj

10 Don' t try to tell me that you didn' t reach the pub before last orders.

SUPPLEMENTARY ADVANCED REVIEW EXERCISE

Cl
V:VP O:NP A:PP

v d m:AdjP h:n h:prep q:NP

h:adj m:NP h:n

h:n
n c n
1 Analyse the following sentences at clause and phrase level.

126
 Cl
A:AdvP V:VP O:NP A:PP
h:adv v d m:NP h:n h:prep q:NP

h:n h:n q:PP

h:prep q:NP

h:n

2 Please enter your Access number on reverse of cheque.

Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP
m:NP h:n q:PP q:PP v m:AdjP h:n h:prep q:NP
h:n h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP h:adj d m:AdjP h:n
h:n h:n h:adj
3 R's ear for glissandi in la Valse produces unacc'd menace from the very start.

Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adj q:Cl

V:VP A:PP
v h:prep q:NP
h:pron q:Cl
S:NP V:VP C:NP

d h:n v h:n q:PP

h:prep q:NP
h:n

4 This seems strange coming from someone whose image is rock star by C Casting.

NB There are perhaps grounds for analysing the highest 'q:Cl' as 'A:Cl' in the main
clause.

127
 Cl

Cl Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP C:NP S:NP V:VP
h:pron v h:pron i d m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n aux h:pron v

h:adj h:adj
5 What makes you such an out-and-out little cad, do you think?

Cl

S:NP V:VP Oi:NP Od:NP

h:n v h:pron d m:AdjP h:n q:Cl

h:adj V:VP O:NP

inf v d m:AdjP h:n q:PP

h:adj h:prep q:NP
m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n
h:adj h:adj
6 CE offers you a unique opportunity to sample the or' tal tastes of trad Indian food

'to' could also be analysed as a preposition

Cl

A:AdvP S:NP V:VP O:NP

h:adv h:pron aux neg v part m:AdjP h:n

h:adj
7 Surely you wouldn't resort to emotional blackmail?

128
 Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP
d h:n q:Cl v h:adj
V:VP A:PP

v h:prep q:NP
d h:n q:PP

h:prep q:NP
h:n
8 The contortions achieved by the face of Rowan Atkinson are legendary.

You could also analyse 'achieved' as an adjective qualified by the PP 'by the face of
Rowan Atkinson'. The whole of this would then be q:AdjP.

Cl

V:VP O:NP A:PP A :PP

v d h:n h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n d m:AdjP m:N P m:NP m:NP h:n

h:adj h:n h:n h:n

9 Add a little sparkle to the season with this lux' scoop-neck, one-size lurex sweater.

Cl

S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

m:AdjP h:n v m:AdvP h:adj q:PP

h:adj h:adv h:prep q:Cl

V:VP A:PP

v h:prep q:NP

d h:n

10 Jamaican fishermen are uncannily good at seeing in the dark.

'Seeing in the dark' could also be analysed as an NP, with 'seeing' as the h:n and 'in the
dark' as a q:PP.

129
 Cl
S:NP V:VP C:AdjP
m:NP h:n q:NP v m:int h:adj q:Cl
h:n h:n s S:NP V:VP A:PP
h:pron aux aux aux v h:prep q:NP
d m:AdjP h:n
h:adj
11 C L's fragrance C' l' v'! is so vibr' that it could have been made for the fest' season.
Cl

S:NP V:VP C:Cl

d h:n q:PP v V:VP C:NP

h:prep q:NP inf v d h:n q:PP

m:AdjP h:n h:prep q:NP

h:adj d m:NP h:n

adj c adj h:n

12 This matching of inner and outer selves seems to be the key to the facelift bus' .

Cl

S:NP V:VP O:NP A:PP

d m:AdjP h:n v d h:n h:prep q:NP

h:adj d m:AdjP h:n q:PP

h:adj h:prep q:NP

d m:AdjP h:n

h:adj

13 A's mag' biog' sets the seal on D' acknowledged supremacy in the English novel.

130
 Cl

V:VP O:NP
v NP c NP

d h:n q:PP d h:n q:PP

h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP

d h:n d m:AdjP h:n

h:adj
adj c adj
14 Explain the role of the hyp' and its rel' to the symp' and parasympathetic division.

Cl
Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP A:AdvP C:NP A:PP S:NP V:VP C:AdjP

h:pron v h:adv d m:AdjP h:n h:prep q:NP h:pron v m:int h:adj

h:adj d h:n
15 There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid.
Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP A:Cl

h:n v h:pron q:PP V:VP O:NP A:PP

h:prep q:NP inf v h:n h:prep q:NP

d h:n d h:n

16 Dublin needed something like the Commitments, to get U2 out of its system.

Cl

Cl c Cl

S:NP V:VP A:AdvP SYN V:VP A:PP

m:AdjP h:n aux v h:adv q:Cl v h:prep q:NP

h:adj V:VP i h:n

inf v

17 Larger orders will take longer to cook so please ring in plenty of time.

131
 Cl
S:NP Pred
d m:NP h:n q:Cl Pred c Pred
h:n V:VP A:AdvP V:VP C:AdjP V:VP A:PP

v h:adv v h:adj q:PP v h:prep q:NP

h:prep q:NP d h:n q:PP
h:n h:prep q:NP

h:n
18 The Worcs tray, shown here, is available in Arm' and comes in a range of col' s.
Cl
S:NP V:VP O:NP
d h:n q:PP aux v h:n q:PP
h:prep q:NP h:prep q:NP
d h:n q:Cl d h:n q:PP
V:VP A:PP h:prep q:NP
v h:prep q:NP m:AdjP m:AdjP h:n

h:n h:adj h:adj

19 A red'n in the cover off'd by B' has c'd fears for the future of private psych' hosp's.
Cl
S:NP V:VP A:PP

d h:n q:Cl aux v h:prep q:NP

S:NP V:VP C:NP A:NP A:PP A:PP h:n

h:pron v part d m:NP h:n m:AdjP h:n q:AdvP h:prep Cl h:prep q:Cl

h:n h:adj h:adv V:VP A:PP V:VP O:NP

v h:prep q:NP v d h:n

d m:AdjP h:n

h:adj

20 A man who turned into a human torch ten days ago after snoozing in his locked car while smoking his pipe has died in hospital.

132
17 GLOSSARY

A (Adverbial) (clause element)

• more peripheral than S, V, O and C
• realised by an Adverb Phrase, Prepositional Phrase, Noun Phrase or Clause
• most frequently expresses time, place, manner or reason
• often an optional element
• can sometimes be used in different positions
• no theoretical limit to the number of A elements in one clause

adj (adjective) (phrase element)

• obligatory head of an adjective phrase (AdjP)
• most can occur in the frame d __ n
• many can be made into an adverb (adv) by adding -ly
• may be modified by an intensifier (int) or an adverb phrase (AdvP)
• may be qualified by an intensifier (int), prepositional phrase (PP) or a clause
• can often be made comparative and superlative by adding -er and -est

AdjP (Adjective Phrase)

• can be a complement (C)
• has an adjective as its head
• can modify a noun

adv (adverb) (phrase element)

• obligatory head of an adverb phrase (AdvP)
• often ends in -ly
• if it ends in -ly can be made into an adjective (adj) by dropping the -ly
• may be modified by an intensifier (int) or an adverb phrase (AdvP)
• may be qualified by an intensifier (int)

AdvP (Adverb Phrase)

• can be an adverbial (A)
• has an adverb (adv) as its head
• can modify an adjective (adj)
• can modify an adverb (adv)

aux (auxiliary verb) (phrase element)

• is either a form of be, have or do, or one of the modal auxiliaries
• always precedes the main verb
• if it's the only auxiliary verb it will carry the tense marking
• if there is more than one auxiliary verb, the first one will carry the tense marking

c (coordinator)
• usually and, or or but
• conjoins clauses, phrases and words of the same type

133
Cl (Clause)
• is made up of the elements S, V, O, C and A

Co (Object Complement) (clause element)

• is coreferential with O
• only occurs in SVOC structures
• cannot become S through passivization
• realised by a Noun Phrase, Adjective Phrase, Prepositional Phrase or a Clause
• substitutable by a pronoun or adjective

compound noun
• nouns which consist of more than one word - e.g. babysitter, mother-in-law, post
office
• examples like paper bag or coffee table may be analysed either with a triangle
or as modifier-head structures.

Cs (Subject Complement) (clause element)

• coreferential with S
• follows the copula be or a copulative verb
• cannot become S through passivization
• realised by a Noun Phrase, Adjective Phrase, Prepositional Phrase or a Clause
• substitutable by a pronoun or adjective

d (determiner) (phrase element)

• most common ones are a, the, some, any, no, this, that, each, every
• occurs in the frame __ (m) n
• cannot immediately follow or precede another determiner

h (head) (phrase element)

• the obligatory element of a phrase

idiomatic verb
• main verb which consists of more than one word - e.g. put paid to, cross swords
with, take account of.
• identified by its lack of productivity
• overall meaning typically not predictable from that of the individual words

i (initiator) (phrase element)

• anything which occurs before a determiner (d) in a noun phrase (NP)

inf (infinitive particle)

• to used before a verb in non-finite forms - e.g. to go; to have gone

int (intensifier) (phrase element)

• modifies adjectives (adj) and adverbs (adv)
• often equivalent in meaning to very

134
modal idiom
• intermediate category between modal auxiliaries and main verbs - e.g. had
better, would rather, have got to ('gotta') and be to.
• analyse with a triangle and labelled 'aux' like auxiliary verbs.

m (modifier) (phrase element)

• precedes the head of a phrase

neg (negator) (phrase element)

• a premodifying element in all phrases
• in the verb phrase can combine as -n't with auxilaries and be and have

n (noun) (phrase element)

• occurs as the head of a noun phrase (NP)
• some can inflect for plural by adding -s or -es
• common nouns can occur in the frame (d) (m) __ (q)
• can be modified by an adjective phrase (AdjP) or a noun phrase (NP)
• can be qualified by a prepositional phrase (PP), adverb phrase (AdvP) a noun
phrase (NP) or a clause

NP (Noun Phrase)
• can be a subject (S), object (O), complement (C) or adverbial (A)
• has a noun (n) or pronoun (pron) as its head
• can modify and qualify a noun (n)

Od (Direct Object) (clause element)

• may become S when the sentence is passivized
• typically follows V in declarative sentences
• cannot be omitted from an S V O O clause without a radical change in meaning
• typically identifies the goal of the action, state, etc expressed by V
• realised by a Noun Phrase or a Clause
• substitutable by a pronoun

Oi (Indirect Object) (clause element)

• can be moved after Od and transformed to a Prepositional Phrase with to or for
• typically follows V in declarative sentences
• typically occurs before Od
• may become S when the sentence is passivized
• typically identifies the beneficiary of the action, state, etc expressed by V
• realised by a Noun Phrase or a Clause
• substitutable by a Pronoun

part (verb particle) (phrase element)

• usually a spatial adverb or a preposition
• occurs after the main verb (v)
• fails the conjunction test: *John opened up a letter and down a parcel (i.e. up is a
verb particle and not a preposition (prep))

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PP (Prepositional Phrase)
• can be an Adverbial (A) or a Complement (C)
• can qualify a noun (n), an adjective (adj) or a preposition (prep)
• has a preposition (prep) as its head
• is not embedded in a preceding PP if both can be reversed without a change in
meaning

Pred (Predicate)
• all obligatory elements of the clause minus the Subject (S)
• substitutable by the pro-form so (e.g. John opened the door -> So did Fred)
• substitutable by one of the pro-forms do, have, be in tag-questions (e.g. John
opened the door, didn't he?)

prep (preposition) (phrase element)

• obligatory head of a prepositional phrase (PP)
• qualified by a noun phrase (NP) or a clause
• can be modified by an intensifier (int) or an adverb phrase (AdvP)
• passes the conjunction test: John ran up a hill and down a valley (i.e. up is a
preposition and not a verb particle (part))

pron (pronoun) (phrase element)

• can occur as head of a noun phrase (NP)
• can substitute for a Subject (S), Object (O) or Complement (C)

q (qualifier) (phrase element)

• follows the head of a phrase

s (subordinator)
• introduces a subordinate clause

S (Subject) (clause element)

• precedes V in declarative sentences
• typically identifies the origin of any action or the experiencer of any state
expressed by V (except in passive sentences)
• realised by a Noun Phrase or a Clause
• substitutable by a Pronoun

v (main verb) (phrase element)

• obligatory head of a verb phrase (VP)
• follows any auxiliary verbs (aux) and precedes any verb particles (part)
• inflects for tense, aspect and number if there is no auxiliary

V (Verb) (clause element)

• realised by a Verb Phrase
• comes after the Subject (S) in declarative sentences
• is the most obligatory of clause elements

Voc (Vocative)

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 • a means of referring to the addressee of a sentence
• not a syntactic element

VP (Verb Phrase)
• only occurs as Verb (V)
• has a verb (v) as its head

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