Predication TYPes

Gopulative Predication

(40) Copula verb * Predicative Structure:

The typical copula verh is BE in which case it is semantically empty.

Other copula-like or linking verbs can be identified depending on the

subject selection and semantic features:
(41)
o BECOME: In time, the carpet became an old rag'
o FALL: Soon the guard fell asleeP.

r LIE: The ship lay deserted on the bottom of the sea'/ The

team's failure lry heavy on the coach's

s houlder s / c o ns c ience -

e SEEM: The mdnager seemed disappointed by our

praiect.
o sTAND: The accused stood coryectly during tlte trial. /
His roam stood empty for one yeor after his death'
o REST: We can test easy and celebrate as we have

passed our last exam.

o SIT: The envelope sat unopened on the cupboard' / Sit

tight until the eisis Passes'

*-"'d {t; ' rrr
.\\o vr ,gt$-\*.-\, tr'iiit"'o
r-o-o,-iV.q-'t :,

..-+
,- i, I . C,** qir-.J,.t-.*r:i
'r\
.- , \," --$cton' 1..''t '] b':...r -. i. bir.* O*r,r ,
"'.o.-tl,{ . *i'y,!
' f ^ -. r
A
-li klf "1 '-
t
I j ;'ll-L ,";, 'i-!';*-r.-t") Am* Lre-eT'l
,
Tt'r" ho.l '.-,. r-r*, r.ht-ut*'t- *{o
t ''oi;\ ift"'!'
'
{6-\

' 'n
t
^.,., .ir'114 |
'\.r'.t-'r \5 I ^
/)\-
J -i, '!'.
g,Z0S{ 4,tn._hl,..aXrn',
'.. .'.\.
.r.-.", \ {!
U
 o PASS: Due to his accent he could easily pass for an

Englishman.

,tctivity. Are verbs of perception always copular verbs? Provide

examples.

The predicative can be a Noun Phrase, an Adjectival Phrase, a

Prepositional Phrase or a Complementizer Phrase (clausal constituent,

finite/non-finite). Provide examples of each type. Traditionalists

often label this function as Subject Complement.

Acttviqz. Provlde examples to illustrate the grammatical regime of the

verb ,,to be" (copular BE,, existential BE, auxiliary BE, (Progressive;
Passive), modal BE).

e.g. She is a student./ She is in the classroom./ She is drinking water./

She is threatened by her mother./ She is to marry in August'

Despite the distinct syntactic and semantic features of the types of BE,
they all share the same behavioural features, namely:
(42)
* BE, does not require "do-inversion" except for the negative
imperatives (Don't be so cruel!)
* In interrogative sentences it undergoes inversion with the

subject: Is MarY at home?

* The negation is inserted after BE,: The pupil is not writing!

115
 * All types of Be can be deleted in contexts like relative clauses:
The man (who is) ringing at the door...

* All types of Be can undergo "there-insertion" except for the

copula P.E: There ore no children in the garden.
.1. Only the existential BE assigns thematic roles to its neighbours:

She is at school. BE <theme, location>

There are two main types of Copulative Predications, namely:

1. the Attributive Type: A is B; A diffirs from B; A - the attributed
- is the entity to which the Predicate assigns a property; B - the
attribuant - is the entity denoting the respective property.

(43) Money is important.l Bill is an engineer.

2. the Equative Type: A is B and consequently B is A; A is the

identified; B is the identifier.
(44) He is the Prime Minister of France./ My deskmate is the
smartest child in the classroom.

a.tinity. Distinguish between the attributive and the equative type in

the follow ing sentence s :

1. His behaviour was above reproach.

2.The weather has turned cold and windy.
3. Dmitrii Anatolevich Medevedev became Russia's president on 2"d

March 2008.
4. Margaret Thatcher was the United Kingdom's first female Prirne-
Minister in 1979.

lr6
Reciprocal Copulative Predicates
- The Subject is expressed by a finite number of nominal phrase
(minimally two) or by a plural NP.
- There is a relation of reciprocity between the terms that make
up the Subject; none of the terms is subordinated to the others.
- The predicative adjectives may indicate positive/ neutral or
negative (different) reciprocal relationships.
(45) Martin and Denise are married. I The women and children

were separated -fro* the men. / Grammar ls similar to

Mathematics.

Non-copulative lntransitive Predication

This type of predication is carried out by semantically independent

verbs. Unlike in the case of transitive predication, the intransitive verb
is never followed by a phrase functioning as a Direct Object as part of
the intransitive predication.

Simple Intransitives

(46) S + Vintr.: The dog is sleeping.

Unaccusative predicates are verbs that do not assign accusative case

to the complements that follow them. This feature distinguishes thern
from the transitive verbs. Moreover, whereas in a transitive

tr7
construction both the Subject and the Complement are assigned
thematic roles, unaccusative structures have a non-thematic 'othere"
subiect, which is not a theta-marked argument of the verb but a purely

expletive one. Here are some examples:

(47) There came the three armed policemen.

There goes my last pennY!

There stood the Queen herself right infront of my humble desk!

There remains little chance of stopping them.

There have arisen several changes in the timetable.

There have occurred some unexpected incidents.

The Subject NPs anticipated by "there" have the thematic role of

Theme. Generative Grammar explains the structure by analyzing the
two transformations that take place, namely: movement of Subject NP
into the VP right after the main verb and then insertion of the

expletive "there" in the position left empty by the moved Subject'

Activity. Try to explain the required inversion between verb and

Subject I,{P after expletive "there" in terms of Movement within the

frame of Government and Binding Syntax.

Unergative verbs differ from the unaccusatives in that their Subject

NPs carry the thematic role of Agent and they never follow the verb.

118
(48) The children were sleePing.
The old man laughed in amazement.
The disappointed mother was muttering to herself.

Another structural difference noticeable from the examples above is

that unlike unergative verbs, the unaccusatives cannot be used in the
Progressive aspect.

Complex Intransitive Predications

1. Prepositional Intransitive verbs (Vintr. + PO):

(49) The visitors are looking at the paintings.
She is waiting for her friends.

The manager relied on her coming.

I agree with your suggestion.

2. Intransitive verbs with particle and preposition (Vintr. +

particle +PO):

(50) The manager came up with a solution.

We can no longer put up with pollution.

The spanish caught up with the English athlete iust before the

finish line.
They have fallen behind with their instalments.

119
3. Intransitive verbs with a Prepositional Indirect Object (Vintr. +
ro):
o eventive:
(51) A teruible thing might happen to your aunt.
o experiencer:
(52) Your proposal sounds like blackmail to me.
The house smelled of Perfume to me.

o relational:
(53) The Dean talked down to the teacher infront of the students.
This car belongs to the moYor.

4. Intransitive verbs with 2 Prepositional Objects (Vintr. + PO/IO

+ PO):

o Vintr. + PO + PO
(54) The student was arguing with his teucher about his mark.
Down the shore you could bargain with the truders over the
price of uny item.
John agreed wittr his parents about the change of itinerary.

o Vintr. + IO + PO
(55) The manager talked to the employees about the crisis.
They signaled to the waiter for another beer.

Criminals would pray to Godfor mercy.

120
5. Intransitive verbs followed by Adjuncts (Vintr. * Adverbial
Modifier):
(56) The children have been playing for three hours.
The balconyfaces east.
The train accelerated gradually.

6. Reciprocal intransitive verbs:

(57) The dates of the two conferences have overlapped.
Their parents divorced two years ago.

None of these glasses match.

The Process of Intransitivization

Basically a transitive verb can become intransitive when it gives up on

its Direct Object. This can take place by means of two important
processes:

1. DELETION of the Direct Object:

(55) In order to get on time to work she has to drive (her car) each

and every morning.

2. DELETION of the reflexive Direct Object

3. PROMOTION of the Direct Object in Subject position:

(59) The book sold well.

t2l
Transitive Predication

All transitives share the feature [_ NP]. This NP occupies the

Complement position, being governed by the transitive verb. The verb
governor assigns Accusative case to its governee.
(60) You must send the letter today.

Mother is baking a cake.

He always makes me laugh.

Simple Transitives

Linguists make the difference between monotransitive verbs, i.e.

those transitive verbs that have only one argument functioning as DO,

and ditransitive verbs or better ditransitive complementation which

includes those transitive verbs that take two arguments functioning as

DOs (The teachers have asked him a lot of questions-/ This car cost
him a lot of money.) or one having the function of DO and the other of
IO (lftr father handed him the keys yesterday./ A clown has given us

the tickets.).

pinker (1989) suggests that productive use ofthe ditransitive syntax is the result of

a lexicosemantic rule which takes as input a verb with the semantics 'X CAUSES

Y fO CO TO Z'and produces the semantic structure 'X CAUSES Z fO URVp

Y,. The double object syntax, he argues, is then predictable from near-universal

linking rules mapping the arguments of a verb with the meaning 'X CeUSgS Z

TO HAVE Y' into the ditransitive form. (Goldberg, 1995: 8)

122
Pinker's claim is clearly supported by examples under the heading
dative causatives that will be discussed later on in this section.
Here are some of the subcategories of simple transitive verbs mainly
following Domnica Serban's classificatron (2002: 102- I 04):

1. Monotransitive verbs with affected DO:

(61) The dentist brushes his teethfour times a day'

The child uunched the caruot noisily'

Mother froze some vegetables last month'

The underlined NPs functioning as DOs are obviously affected by the

action denoted by the transitive verb. In the examples above the DOs
are assigned the thematic role of Patient. However there are verbs that

denote actions performed to the benefit of their arguments, as in:

(62) The children have decorated the -fir-tree'

The mechanic has rePaired our car'

2. Monotransitive verbs with effected/resultative DO:

(63) Our partnershipfacilitates this transaction'

This actress has sewn her own out-fit.

The teacher gave an interesting talk on her visit to

C al iforn i a Un iv er s itY.

r23
3. Monotransitive verbs with affected and/or effected DO:
(64)
Vtransitive * affected DO Vtransitive .| effected DO
She fashioned a pot from the
She fashioned the clay into a pot.
clay.

The child has painted the window The child has painted a nice

frame. landscape.

Grandma cut her finger by This tailor cuts fashionable

mistake. clothes.

4. Monotransitive verbs with cognate DO involve homonymous

terrns:

(65) to dream a dream, to sleep one's sleep out, to fight a

fishr
or hyponymic terms:

(66) to sleep the sleep of theiust, to dance the last dance, to

laugh a bitter laugh, to fight a battle

5. Monotransitive verbs with Instrumental DO:

(67) Martin turned the key to unlock the door.

The waiter handled the plates carefully.

Mother used the whisk to stir the eggs.

t24
 6. Monotransitive verbs with Locative DO:

(68) The policeman crossed the street in a hurry.

She entered the room all of a sudden.
We have alreadY visited the Tower.

7. Monotransitive verbs with Abstract DO are verbs that denote an

abstract activity or process followed by an Affected or Effected [-

Animate] NP functioning as direct object:

(69) These methods should enhance fficiency'

The red light denotes an error.

The Netherlands amended the military criminal code.

.4
8. Relational verbs:

a. reciprocal verbs which express symmetric relations between the

subject and the DO:

(70) She resembles her father.

These trousers don't fit me at all'

This frame perfectly matches your photo'

b. verbs of possession:
(71) The architect owned two flats in Germany'
He evinced a strong desire to win the competition'
She possessed that kind of self confidence that nobody could

defeat her.

t25
c. verbs of inclusion (to enclose, to include, tofeature, to contain)

(72) This syringe contains the antidote.

By midnight she had covered half of the subiects for the

exam.

The university board comprises teachers and students as

well.

9. Causative verbs

a. periphrastic causatives:
(73) I had my car repaired yesterday.

The heat will make the windows steam up.

They haven'tfound out what caused the accident.

b. lexical causatives have intransitive verbs as their counterparts, the

transitive verb expressing the cause of the process, whereas the
intransitive verb denotes the caused action. Here are several examples:
to remind : to cause somebody to remember; to raise : to cause
sb.isth. to rise; to teach: to cause sb. to learn; to kill: to cause sb. to

die; to throw: to cause sth. to fall

(74) That mail reminded me of her birthday.
The flood raised the water level.
He has taught us Maths for one semester.

c. morphological causatives are transitive verbs that have been

derived from other lexical items by means of word-formation
processes, such as:

126
- conversion:
(75) He has never feared the unknown.
The collector has faked the signature on the painting.
His friends could never fault his honesty.

She ironed thefolds of her skirt carefully.

The lady suddenly faced the man who was following her.

- affixation:
(76) The Town Hall decided to widen the main avenues.
The farmer tightened the rope around the horse's legs.

d. attitudinal causatives involve the presence of an Experiencer

(which functions as DO) and of a Stimulus (the Subject):
(77) Her performance disappointed the audience.
The roar of the lionfrightened the visitors at the Zoo.

The child's song impressed his parents.

e. dative causatives are ditransitive causative verbs followed by a DO

and an IO: give, send, sell, show

(78) Will you do me a favour?

our company shall deliver the products to its purchaser

in due time.
There are also Some transitive verbs that have developed a causative
meaning, as in:
(79) Grandparents wouldforgive him anything.
Victory would earn them a semi-final place against

Surrey or Kent tomorrow. (British National Corpus)

t21
f. ergative verbs are verbs that can function either as transitive or as

intransitive without any change in form and without passivization (to

sink, to Jloat, to dry, to ring, to break):
(80)

Vtransitive Vintransitive

The sunfaded the T-shirt. The T-shirt faded in the sun.

She dropped her voice dramatically. Her voice dropped (in a whisper).

The heat steamed his glasses up. His glasses steamed up.

10. Lexically complex transitive verbs are phrasal verbs (verb +

particle) followed by a direct object. The whole verb phrase can be
subjected to particle movement or not. The particle must accompany
the verb or it may move after the direct object sometimes changing the

meaning of the VP. For instance, considering the verb to run, one can
notice that in the phrase run into somebody with the meaning 'meet
sb. by chance' no particle movement is allowed, whereas 'to knock
sth. and kill it' can be expressed either by run sth. over or by run over

sth. However the latter VP has a second interpretation, namely 'to

read something carefully'.

(81) The terrorists blew the Towers up in September.

I had to cut the article down to I500 words.

Researchers have caruied out a survey on learning
standards.

Your brother will find out the truth.

The peacockfanned out its coloured tailfeathers.

t28
Complex Transitives

Complex transitive predications have the following underlying

syntactic frame as it can be noticed in the analysis of the examples
below:
(82) The weather conditions prevented the plane from landing.
[_ NP, PP]
I have already told the news to ))our new English teacher.

[_ NP, tolfor NP]

L. Transitive verbs followed by Predicative Adjunct (oc) are

called factitive verbs (choose, elect, make, name, iudge). Unlike

causative verbs that make an action take place, factitive verbs cause
the direct object NP to pass into a different state. The new state is
expressed by a Predicative Adjunct/ Object Complement that follows

the DO.
(83) They elected him chairman.
Local authorities have iudged his nomination a great success.
Yesterday the Association chose White (to be) their president.

2. Prepositional transitive verbs are verbs accompanied by a NP

functioning as direct object and a PP functioning as prepositional
object:
(84) The policeman matched the prints against forensic evidence.
The con man talked the old lady into buying the old carpet'

She couldn'tforgive himfor lying to her.

t29
3. Transitive verbs with particle and preposition are verbs
accompanied by Adverbial particle and obligatory preposition:
(85) Nobody would have thrown her death back at Mike.
Her accurate style set Jamie apart from other competitors.
The President managed to talk the iournalists round to ltis way

of thinking.

A.tirity. Identifi the type of predication and analyse the sentence

constituents:
1. Her dream was to marry mY son.

2. A gang of thieves broke in last night.

3. She passes for an experienced doctor.
4. The married couple has recently separated.
5. That possibillty has never occurred to anyone.
6. She talks to her husband about her latest success.

130