Chapter

COMPLEMENTATION

INTRODUCTION

You have seen in Chapters 28 and 29 how relative constructions can place one clause
within the structure of another larger clause of which it forıns a part. For example, the
vast majority of relative clauses function as modifiers of NPs within a sentence . However,
a'! will become clear in this and the next two chapters, relative constructions are not thc
only possible type of clause-within-clause in English.
This chapter is concemed with English clausal complenıentation. Complements, which
are constituents needed to complete the meaning ofa verb or an adjective, arc often
distinguished from adjtmcts, which are perceived not to be central to the propositional
meaning of the sentencc and which are never required to occur with a verb or adjective:
John believed that }il/ was coming.
(complement)

John (almost) believed that Jill was coming.

adjunct

Thc verb believe must take somc sort of object. This object may be an NP (/olın helier.ıed the
report), or it may be an embedded complement clause as in the fırst example above. By
contrast, the adverbial almost in the second example is not a structurally obligatory
constituent; it is an optional adjunct. Ordinary relative clauses, too, are a type of adjunct:
for example, there is no noun in English that is rcquired in every instance to be followed
by a rclative clause. Relative clauscs arc typically just rıwdijiers of nouns.
1n this chapter we discuss clausal complements that include, at least, a verbal element
with an assumed subject, and often an expresscd subjcct as well. These complements fall
naturally into fıve types:
1. full clausal that-<:omplements with tensed verbs
2. tenseles..'! subjunctive complements
3. infinitivcs
4. gcrunds
5. noun-participle constructions
These fıve types of clausal complements tend to be strictly associated with the occurrence
of certain verbs. Because there are many types of clausal complements and because the
relation of verb to complcmcnt type often seems arbitrary, the grammar of clausal
bn ,<:::::,, THE GRAMMAR BooK

complemcntation is somewhat complcx to lcarn. An ESL/EFL tcaclıer may expcct many

errors here evcn at advanccd lcvels of instruction, so İl is wcll worth a tcaclwr's time to be
aw·are of the stnıcturnl variations and difficultics.

THE FORM OF COMPLEMENTS

ORDINARY THAT-C0MPLEMENTS

Tensed t/uu-dauses arc one of thc most frcqucnt types of dausal complemcnt:
Scientists daim [that the globe is getting warmer].
We long expected [that nothing worthwhile would come from our effort].
People generally know [that bears don't make good pets].
in cadı case. we havca complete scnt.encc. Noticc that the matcrial inside thc hrnckets
looks cxactly like an ordinary clause cxccpt tlrnt it is prefaccd by tlıat. in cadı bracketcd
clause thcrc is a su ject and a vcrh, and thcrc may be various typcs of additional infonnation
such as one would find in an ordinary scntcncc. The first auxiliary verb may appcar in thc
prescnt or past tense, or it may be a moda! auxiliary. What is dificrent is that these brackcted
clauses camıot standby themsclvt$ as acceptablc scqucnces as long as thcy begin with tluıt.
*That the globe is getting warmer.
*That nothing worthwhile would come from our effort.
*That bears don't make good pets.
A.,, wilh thc adverbial clauses discussed in Chapter 25, such dauses arc callecl depcndcnt"
clauses bccause they dcpend on, or rcquirc tht- presence of, another clause to which they
are attached in some way. Moreovcr, in cadı ful! sentcncc abovc, thc dcpcnclcnl t/uıt­
clause seems to stand in a position in which an NP might ordinarily stand. Thc vcrhs daim,
ex/Jert, and know may under other circumstances take simple NPs as objccts:
Scientists often daim [great discoveries].
We expected [nothing else].
Everyone knows [the answer].
This suggcsts that we should rcgard thcse dcpcndcnt clauscs as noun-like in nature and
say that thcy arc eınb(ldd(ld into largcr, inclcpendcnl clauscs, forming an integral parl of
them-in thcse cascs, as dirc ct objects. Additional evidcnce to support thc bdicf that thc
embcdded clauscs are noun-like is thc fact that thcy bchave likc the corresponding NPs:
in all thc cases above, the bracketed matcrial can appcar in a passive scntcncc as thc sulajcct-
that is, in anot.her position whcre NPs occur:
[Great discoveries] are often daimed by scientists.
[That the earth is getting warmer] is daimed by scientists.
[Nothing else] was expected by us.
[That nothing worthwhile would come from our effort] was long expected by us.
[The answer] is known by everyone.
[That bears don't make good pets] is generally known (by people)_I
A third piccc of evidence for thc • ·p stat.us of thcsc clauscs is that cadı t/ınt-dausc above
answers the t>,>ical noun-likc question w/wt?just as docs cadı n,se ofa siınplc NP ol ject:
Question Answer
What do scientists often daim? --+ Great discoveries.
What do scientists often daim? --+ That the earth is getting warmer.
 Chapter 31: Complementation ,-.::::,,, fi31

üne way to incorporate this new possibility into our grammar is to rewrite the phrase-
structure rule for the expansion of NPs:
(det)(AP)N (-pl)(PrepP)}
NP pro
{
s
We will now say that it is possible foran S tofunction as an NP. 2
What sort of word is that,and where do we place it in the tree? it should be clear that
this use of that is not the same as the word that in relative clauses (see Chapters 28and 29):
it does not replace a full NP in the same way as relative that.
This is the shop that I told you about. (that = shop)
Scientists daim that the globe is getting warmer. (that = ?)
Nor is that in the above complement clauses identical to the demonstrative determiner that
(see Chapter 16); not onlydoes it not replace an NP, but it also cannot receive emphatic or
contrastive stress in the same way that a demonstrative can:
That's the type of bird I was telling you about.
We should pay attention to this sign, not that one.
?Scientists daim that the globe is getting warmer.
Indeed, it is hard to see what sort of contrast could possibly be intendcd in the last
example. Thus, in the case of complement clauses, it seems we have a third type of that,
one we shall call a "complementizer," a signal ofa complement clause. This complemen-
tizer is neither of the noun/pronoun category nor of any other grammatical category we
have introduced so far in the book. We will abbrcviate it in thc trce as "comp"; we will
placc it under S, in a position adjacent to (and to the lcft of) S

Scientists claim that the globe is getting warmer.

s
SUBJ PRED
1

(\
NP AUX VP
1
T V NP
1 1 1
scientist -pi -pres daim s
comp S'
1
that SUBJ PRED

1P
N -X--------------------VP
AU
/'---._ /'---._
det N T prog cop AP
1
the
1
globc
1
-pres
r---ı._
be get -ing
1
AOJ
1
warmer
h32 THE GRAMMAR BOOK

We also have to cxpand thc options for rewıiting the rule for S to include an optional
complementizer as follows:
S (comp) (sm") S'
Wc must leavc the complcmentizcr optional both becausc simple, single-clausc scntences
do not requirc them and because it is possible for complement clauses like those above to
appear without that.
Scientists often daim the globe is getting warmer.
People generally know bears don't make good pets.
Later in this chapter we will discuss some rcasons why that might be included Of omitted
in such clauses.
Thefe are many verbs that permit or require teıısed that-complements as objects.
Besides believe, daim, expect, and know, among the ınore common are assume, discover,
explain, find, find out, imagine, learn, perceive, point out, promise, prove, see, show, think, and
understand. For cxample,
The lecturer explained that the source of the error was human.
The dealer promised that my car would be fıxed for free.
New evidence shows that broccoli sprouts are more healthful than broccoli.

5UBJUNCTIVE COMPLEMENTS
An additional type of thaklause is supefficially similar to the type above but different in
that the form of the verb in the embedded clause does not vary, regardless of whethef the
subject is fırst, second , or third person Of singulaf/plural, and regardless of time
referencc. Snch clauses are called suhjunctive complements, as in the cascs below:
They insist [that ali the students sign up for counselors].
They insist [that this student sign up fora counselo r].
The customer is demanding [that the store return his money].
The customer demanded [that the store return his money].
The third person singular present tense -sis absent , and past-tcnse forms afe ungrammat-
ical, as the following examples show:
*They insist that this student signs up for a counselor.
*The customer demanded that the store retumed his money.
The fact that the embedded verh is ncver inflected or altered in any other way suggests
that in forming a subjunc tive, one uses only the base form of the verb; the resulting
clauses are then without any soft of tense at all. Furthef evidence fof this daim is that
whefe the vefb in the embeddcd clause is the copula be or thc auxiliary be (in a passive,
progressive, or phrasal moda!) only the hase form is employed aftef insist and demarul:
We insist that he be the one to make the cali.
The customer demanded that his money be returned.
Even strongef evidence comes from negative sentenccs. in subjunctive clauses, a negation
element is always placed directly before the main vefh rather than aftef an auxiliary vefb;
thus, no addition of the do operator is possible:
 Chapter 31: Complementatlon ti33

We insist that he not make the telephone call.

*We lnsist that he { ::es} not make the telephone cali.
Wıthout present Of past tense in the clause, it should be clear that ouf expansion rule fof
AUX will have to allow fof the possibility ofa tenseless AUX node. Fortunately, we already
have such a possibility in the [-iınpef] option fof iınperative sentences, which also lack
tenses. The tree fof a subjunctive sentence would then look like that below:

The aıstomer demanded that the store retum his money.

s
SUBJ PRED
1
NP AUX VP
1
det N T V NP
1 1 1 1 1
the customer -past demand S

comp S'
1
that SUBJ PRED
1
NP AUX VP
/"'-. 1
det N -imper V NP
1 1 1 /"'-.
the store return det N
1 1
his money

According to the PS rules, modal auxiliaries will not appear in subjunctive clauses; in
general, this holds true in nativ peakef use, although many people do accept shoul.d Of
had to rathef than imperative mood after insist, pefhaps in an attempt to achieve a
softening effect:
We insisted that he (should/had to) take the test again.
The customer demanded that the store (lmust/lhad to) retum his money.
Besides occurring after insist and demand, the subjunctive appears in embedded-clause
vefhs aftef such main-clause verbs of urging and advice such as ask (meaning "request"),
prefer, propose, recommend, request, requ.ire, and suggest:
We ask/request that you please keep a little quieter.
The members prefer that the constitution not be changed this year.
The city proposed that the land be retumed to the fanners.
We recommend that you order the fish.
fi34 THE GitAMMAR 8ooK

INFINITIVE COMPLEMENTS
We h.ave now expanded our notion of "clause" somewhat, to include subject-verb
sequences without tenses. Infinitives (so called because they are not "finite," or tensed)
are an additional, and far more common, type of tenseless clause than subjunctives.
Unlike the other complement clauses we have discussed, they h.ave fi.ve sub-types, each of
which we discuss in turn.
Infinitive Complements
1. believe type: The students believe their professor to be amazing.
2. advise type: We advised them to playbaseball outside.
3. attempt type: I attempted to avoid the ice on the road.
4. want type: I want to clean the house.
(Jor/to infinitive) I want (for) him to clean the house.
S. l,et type: The teacher let the students go home early.
(hare stem)

Belleve-type lnflnitives
The first type of infinitive follows main-clause verbs like believe and imagine. The bracketed
parts of the sentences below seem to show no evidence of tense:
a. The students believed [their professor to be amazing].
b. The citizens lmagined [the politiclan to have led an honest life].
If the above, past-tense main verbs are changed to indicate future time or present-habitual
time,for example, nothing inside the brackets wi11change:
c. The students will belleve [their professor to be amazing].
d. The students always beUeve [th e ir professor to be amazing].
e. The citizens wlll imagine [the politician to have led an honest life].
f. The citlzens currently imagine [the politician to have led an honest life].
In what sense, then, can infinitives be considered clauses? Like other clauses that we h.ave
considered, they seem to possess both subjects and verbs (and in the (b) example above,
a direct object as well). While there may be no marking of tense under the AUX node,
thre e does seem to be a marker-the AUX to-which stands roughly in the position in
which auxiliary elements usually occur. If we place the to under AUX, we will need an
additional expansion option for the AUX rule:

AUX { _@ (pe (prog)(pass)}

This new expansion suggests that we cannot have infinitive to co-occurring with a moda!
verb but that we can have perfect, progressive, and perfect progressive infinitives. In fa.et,
tb.ese daims are validated by data such as tb.e follo wing. (We cover passive infinitives in
Chapter 32):
*The students believe [their professor to can do almost anything].
The students belleve [their professor to be able to do good research].
The students believe [their professor to be correcting their homewo rk].
The students believe [their professor to have been lecturlng too much lately].
 Chapter 31: Complementation ,<=::,> fi35

The next question to answer is what position these infinitives occupy in the structure
of the whole sentence. Are they direct object NPs, as we argued for thaklauses? The
answer seems doubtful if we use the notional test that says that a direct object answers the
question what?about a main verb. The answers below seem odd:
Question Answer
What did the students believel lrrheir professor to be amazing.
What did the citizens lmaglnel ?lThe politician to have led an honest life.
Moreover, if these infinitival clauses are NPs, we might ex.pect them to appear in other NP
positions, such as subject position. Yet they cannot appear as subjects of passive verbs in
the way that "that" complement clauses can:
*[Their professor to be amazing] was believed by ali the students.
*[The polidcian to have led an honest life] was imagined by the citizens.
These facts then suggest that we add an S option to the phrase-structure ex.pansion for VP
to include infinitives (the optional NP before the S will be explained shortly):

VP cop {[J
V { (NP2) (PrepP)}
(NP) S
VPs will now be able to include the option [V+S]. This type ofinfinitive hasa peculiar
characteristic: although we have argued that the infinitive has an overt subject, this
"subject" has some of the characteristics ofa direct object witbin the main clause VP. If we
mak.e the subject of the infinitive a pronoun, it will be of the object type, not the subject
type, perhaps because of the preceding main verb:
The students believe [her to be amazing].
*The students believe [she to be amazing].
The cidzens imagine [him to have led an honest life].
*The citizens imagine [he to have led an honest life].
For example, the sentence "'The students believe slıe to be amazingis ungrammatical. At the
same time, we cannot really view the pronouns above (or the NPs for which they substi-
tute) as true direct objects of the verbs helieve and imagine, in spite of the fact that the
pronouns occur in the objective case. We cannot ask the question,
Who(m) do the students believel
and get as our answer, *Her, to be amazing. Nor can we ask the question,
Who do the cidzens lmaginel
and receive the answer, *Him, to have led an honest life. In fact, it hardly matters whether the
infinitive in the second example appears in the active or the passive voice, for the
meaning comes out approximately the same in either case (though the sentence becomes
stylistically awkward):
The cidzens lmagine [honest lives to have been led by their politiclans].
The fact that verbs like believe tak.e complements that may have object-pronoun subjects
has made the analysis of this type of infinitive diffi.cult for linguists, but we will assume the
amended PS rule as it stands.s The related tree structure is asfollows:
636 THE GRAMMAR BooK

The students believed their professor to be amazing.

s
SUBJ PRED

di t
1N P AUX VP

thc student -pi -pres believe SUBJ PRED

1
NP AUX VP
/"'-. 1
det N to V AP
1 1 1 1
their professor cop ADJ
1 1
be amazing

Some other mental cognition verbs of this type include assume,.find, know, perceive, prove,
show, think , and understand:
The players assumed their opponents to have practiced more.
They found the box to contain more money than they had expect ed.
The geologlsts knew the hills to contain gold deposits.
We perceived them to be uninterested in our proposal.

Advlse-type lnfinltives
There is a second similar, though not exactly structurally identical, class of verbs followed
by infinitives. Consider the following sentences:
We advised the children to play baseball o utside .
The police officer ordered myfriend to move his car.
Let us assume as before that the infinitives here have no tense and that the tois to be
analyzed as an element under AUX. in these cases, we get bettcr results when we ask who-
type questions:
Q uestion: Who(m} did we advisel
Answer: The children. (We advised them to play outside.)
Q uestion: Who(m} did the police officer orderl
Answer: My friend. (He ordered him to move his car.}
in these cases, it does seem to matter whether the infinitive is presented in the active or
passive; the sentences below-to thedegree that they are acceptable-show no synonymy
with those above:
lWe advised baseball to be played outside (by the children}.
?The police officer ordered my friend's car to be moved (by him}.
We cannot "advise" or "order" an inanimate object to do anything.
As in the case of the first type of infinitive-the type that occurs in embedded clauses
after verbs like believe--we can substitute an object pronoun by making use of the optional
NP that appears before S in the revised VP rule on p. 635:
We advised them to play baseball outside.
The police officer ordered him to move his car.
 Chapter 31: Complementation r-:::,,, fi37

However, since the main clauses here seem to have real objects (whereas the believe- and
expea-clauses did not), then we must ask what the status of the rest of the infinitive is. We
could analyze the remainder of the infinitive as a complement to this object, and reflect the
difference in the PS rules. However, if we wish to say thatall infinitives are clauses, and since
we have presented all clauses in the past as bearing subjects, then we must ask what occupies
the subject position of these infinitives. Following recent generative theory, we will say that
there is an empty subject position whose identity is controlled, or determined, in this case by
the object of the main clause and is identical to that object. We cali this empty element PRO;
it is not a lexical pronoun and doesnot show up on the surface. it merely signals that some
NP in the main clause functions semantically as the subject of the complement clause. The
tree for the sentence Weadvised the childmı to pfay baseball outsideis then:

We advised the ehi/dren to play baseba/1 outside.

s
SUBJ PRED

1N P AUX VP
1 1
pro T V NP s
wc
1 1
-past advise
1

m
the child -pl
SUBJ
1
NP
1
------ -------
AUX
1
to
PRED

VP Advl
1
PRO V
1
play
NP
1
N
X
Prep NP
1 1 1
baseball g N
1
outside

We will then have to allow this PRO element as an option for the expansion of NP in mır
phrase structure rules:
(det)(AP) N (-pl)(PrepP)}
NP pro
{ s
PRO
Other verbs that fit this infinitive pattern are manipulative verbs like allııw, cause,Jorce, help,
permit, persua<k, and u
Our parents allowed us to stay up late.
The wind caused the canopy to fall down.
Bad luck forced us to leave Las Vegas early.
1 helped my sister to find the answer.
Note that the "to"AUX is optional after the verb help.
b38 ,<:::::,., THE GRAMMAR BOOK

Aıtempt-type lnfinltives
A third type of infinitive also involves a type of control. in this case the control comes not
from the object of the main clause but instead from its subjcct lwo main-<:lausc verbs that
require this infinitive type are attempt and tend:
The driver attempted to avoid the ice on the road.
Bears tend to eat voraciously in the spring.
As before, the infinitive seems tenseless, and to is present; in this case, there is clearly no
object at ali. Infinitives following the verbs attempt4. and tend certainly cannot be construed
as direct objects:

Question: What did the driver attempt? Answer: UTo avoid the ice on the road.
Question: *What do bears tend? Answer: ?ffo eat voraciously in the spring.
How shall we rcpresent this type of infinitive in a tree? in the case of thc first sentence, the
driver is the agent who is both "attempting" and, hopefully, "avoiding." It is not possible
that the agents who avoid or eat in these sentences could be anyone other than the main-
clause subjects. For example, the following make no sense at ali:
*The driver attempted her to avoid the ice on the road.
* Bears tend chlpmunks to eat voraciously in the sprlng.
Following the pattem of the object control infinitive type, we could say that in these cases
the main-<:lause subject controls the identity of the missing infinitival subject, which we
will again call PRO:
The driver attempted to avoid the ice on the road.
s
SUBJ PRED

1 P
N AUX VP

det

t
1
,,,
driver
N
1
T

-past
V

attempt SUBJ
S

PRED
1
NP AUX VP
1 1 /---
PRO to V NP
1
avoid det N PrepP
11
th e icc prep NP
1
on det N
1 1
the road

Our two recently revised PS rules expanding VPand NP will work to permit the genera-
tion of infinitives that are complements to this class of main verb; the class also includes
the verbs begin, continue, decide, fail, forget, manage, offer, proceed, promise, refuse, regret,
remember, start,try, and vow. Some example sentences are:
 Chapter 31: Complementation r<:::::,,, ti39

That radio station continues to play horrible music.

We proceeded to seli off most of our furniture.
She forgot to buy her books.
1 promised (him) to work harder next time.
1 refuse to travel any farther tonight.

They are nearly all intransitive verbs when they appear with infinitives following them;
however, the verb promise is an exception for many speakers.5

Want-type lnfinitives {For/To lnfinitives)

A fourth class of main-clause verbs taking infinitive complements pemıits the option of
either the subject or object of the main clause providing the infinitive with a logical
subject. In the latter case, the object is overtly exp ressed, and some of the subjects of the
infinitives may be introduced with Jur.
1. a. 1 want to refinish the fumiture .
b. 1 want (for) him to refınish the furnitu re.
2. a. She intends to clean the house.
b. She lntends (for) him to clean the house.
In the (a) sentences in each pair, it is J and She who are doing the refinishing and
cleaning; in these cases, we might assign the same tree structure as we did with the subject-
control verbs above like attempt. The (b) sentences, which op tionally in troduced their
infinitives with for, are clearly somehow different; we do not seem to have a tree type that
these will fit. Let us apply the same tests that we did earlier. We can attempt to ask the
usu.al Who/What question that is normally associated with NP objects:
Question: What do you want? Answer: { ?Him to refinish the furnitu re.
For him to refinish the furnitu re.
Question: What does she intend? Answer: { ?Him to clean the house.
For him to clean the house.
Native speakers tend to find the /or-infinitive somewhat acceptable here, suggcsting that at
least the for-4.nfinitive may be seen as an NP object of the main-clause verb. At the same
time, ifwe ask the Who-ques tio n, we come up with unfavorable results, suggesting that thc
pronoun him is not by itself the direct object of the verbs want and intend:
Question: Who(m) do you want? Answer: ??Him (to refinish the fumiture).
Question: Who(m) do you intend? Answer: ?lHim (to clean the house).
In fact, as was true with the believK.lass of verbs , if the infinitives appear in the passive
voice the sentences are equally grammatical and convey the same general idea:
1 want (for) the furniture to be refinished by him.
She intends (for) the house to be cleaned by him.
This suggests that these verbs are much like believe when they occur without subject
control. What, then, do we make of the word Jor, which is in other environments a prepo-
sition? Since it appears in much the same position as the complementizer that in tensed
clauses, we will tre at it as such , following the tradition established in generative grammar.
The relevant tree structure is then asfollows:
fi40 . THE GRAMMAR BOOK

I want (for) him to refinish the furniture.

s
SlJBJ PRED

N1 P AUX P
V
1 1
pro T V NP
1 1 1 1
I -pres W'cUlt s
comp S'
1
for S UBJ PRI-:D
1.
NP AUX VP
1 1
pro lo V NP
1 1
hiın rdiııish det N
1 1
the fumiture

With some verbs such as uıant, expect, and lwpe, some native speakers find the Jor-phrase
either overly colloquial, cliale ctal , or bot:h, and simply use ot:her means to express the
same meaning; the factors that bear on this choicc medt further rescarch. Other future-
oriented and affectivc verbs in this class which more readily occur with Jor includ e arrange,
desire, expec,t lıate, hope, intend, like, love, p!,an , and j>refer;for exa mple,
The travel agent arranged (for us) to take another trip.
1 would hate (for you) to be stranded in the cabin this winter.
The doctor would like (for me) to try some new pills.
1 would love (for you) to visit Paris next year.
The tour leaders plan (for us) to visit more museums.
Thc subjcct of the infinitive will, of course, v·ary depending on the presence or absence of
the Jor-complementizer. When the Jor is present, the following NP represen ts the subject
of the infinitive; when there is no Jor-phrase, t:he su ject of the main clause represen ts the
subject of the infinitive, which is represcnted as PRO in thc tree.

let-type (Bare-Stem ) lnfinitives

T hc re is one mo re important class of infinitive that must be distinguished, although the
main-clause verbs with which it occurs are quite limited. This type is often called the
bare-stem infinitive, whc re the usual to is cithcr optionally or obligatorily abscnt.:
The teacher let the students go home early.
We saw our friend leave the station.
Applying thc usual test to detennine whether bare-stcm infinit.ives ar c objects of the main-
clause verb, we gct unacceptable results:
Question: *What did the teacher let? Answer: *The students go home early.
Question: What did you see? Answer: *Our friend leave the station.
 Chapter 31: Complementation r-:::::,., ti41

Applying the test to see if thc NPs tlıe stmlents and our friend are direct objects of the main-
clause vcrb, we again get odd results:
*Who(m) did the teacher let? Answer: *The students (go home early).
Who(m) did you see? Answer: ?Our friend (leave the station).
As with infinitives that follow instances ofverbs of the let/seecla-,s, we cannot say that bare-
stem infinitivcs are NP objects; we will assume that they arc simply clausal complements to
the main-clause verb. Since they includc no cxpressed to, the AUX position will show the
tcnsclcss [-imper], as it docs in the case of subjunctive complemenL<,. The trce structure
for such sentcnces will be like the following:
We saw our friend leave the station.
s
SUBJ PRED
1
pro AUX VP
1 1
wc T v s
1
1 ------------
-pa<il scc SUBJ PRED

N1 P AUX VP
1
det N -impcr V NP
1 1 1
our friend lcave det N
1 1
the station

Other verbs in this class includc feel, /ıave, lıear, help,6 make, observe, and watcl
We felt the door close behind us.
The teacher had us repeat the exercise.
They heard the bell ring twice.
Please help us move our furniture.

GERUND COMPLEMENTS
While t/ıat-clauses and infinitives cover a largc rangc of verbal complemcnts in English,
there is an additional type of complcment, sometimes callcd the -ing complcmcnt or
geru.ml, which must also be disrussed. Consider, then, an additional pair of sentences:
Fred disliked [making phone calls to John].
Mary preferred [doing other things with her time].
Thc brclcketed parts of the two scııtcnces have somc of thc eannarks of othcr clauses we
have secn-spccifically, subject-control infinitivcs like those that follow the verb attempt.
Wc sccm to have a vcrb-objcct order of elcmcnts, with the logical subjcct of the brackctcd
matcrial being the same as thc subjcct of the whole scntencc:
[(Fred) making phone calls to John] Fred made phone calls to John.
[(Mary) doing other things with her time] Mary did other things with her time.
ti42 lHE GRAMMAR BooK

So it appears that the m ing subject in these clauses is like the PRO-type subject for some
infinitives. Also, we seem to have an auxiliary element in the inflection -ing; though it is
not the -ingof the progressive, it is an affix that attaches itself to a verb stem. it is possible
in fa.et to have both perfect and progressive fonns in sequences like those above:
having made phone calls to John
having been making phone calls to John
However, there are differences between these sequences and normal clauses, just as there
were with infinitives. As with infinitives, there does not seem to be any tense presenL lf we
change the tense of dislike and ,preferin the sentences above, the complement does not
change at all:
Fred will dislike making phone calls to John.
Mary prefers doing other things with her time.
in contrast to infinitives, however, the verbal elements in the sequences-making and
doing-seem to have the characteristics of nouns. With the addition of -ing, verbs can
regularly be made into nouns that can serve as subjects and objects of sentences:
What is most enjoyable for youl Hiking is most enjoyable for me.
What do you enjoyl 1 enjoy swimming.

The "whatrness" of these verbal nouns, called gerund.f, extends to gerund clauses as well:
What did Fred dislikel Making phone calls to John.
What did Mary preferl Doing other things with her time.

We conclude that these gerund clauses are NP objects which happen also to have the
status ofa clausal (S). The relevant tree structure is

Fred disliked making phone ca/1s to John.

s
SUBJ PRED

N1 P AUX VP

1N 1T V--------------------------------------------------------------------------------NP
1 1 1 1
Fred -past dislike s
SUBJ PRED

N1 P -X --------------- VP
AU
1 1
PRO -ing V NP PrepP

rol. (\ prep
1
NP
1
phone cali -pi to N
1
John
 Chapter 31: Complementatlon 643

It is also possible to have a gerund phrase that has something that looks li.ke an expressed
subject, one different from the logical PRO su ect exemplified in the sentences above.
We can a1so have sentences like these:
Fred disliked (Susan's making phone calls to John].
Mary prefers [his doing other things wlth his time].

In each pair, we have what looks li.ke an [NP + possessive morpheme ora possessive deter-
miner] before the gerund noun. in both cases, it looks as if we have the basic structure of
clauses with subjects. Thus the tree representation above must be amended to accommo-
date such cases by replacing the PRO in the subject position with Susan or he and positing
a possessive s morpheme as a third type of complementizer. in this case the complemen-
tizer combines with the embedded subject during the mapping rules to yield the surface
possessive form.
Other verbs that take gerund complements include admit, appreciate, avoid, begin,
continue, defend, deny, enjuy, Jeet finish, Jorget, kate, hear, liJıe, love, prefer, quit, reca regret,
rememher, mume, risk, see, smell, start, stop, and try. Some occur only with PRO-NP subjects
(e.g., begin, continu.e), some require NP subjects-preceded by s complementizers that
may be different from the subject of the whole sentence (e.g., appreciate, see), and some
may occur eitherway (e.g., enjuy, remember).

Fred dislilced Susan\ maklng phone calls toJohn.

s
SUBJ PRED
1
NP AUX VP
1 1
N T V NP
1 1 1 1
Fred -past dislik.e s
comp S'
1
's SUBJ PRED
1
NP AUX VP
1 1
N -ing V NP PrepP
/'--.._
1
Susan l. (\ prep
1
NP
1
phone cali -pl to N
1
John
Just as the that complementizer was optional in informal speech, so is the 's complemen-
tizer that accompanies subjects of gerunds for some speak.ers (but see following page):
Fred dlsliked Susan making phone calls to John.
644 ..c::::.,, THE GRAMMAR BOOK

THE SUBJECT-PARTICIPLE COMPLEMENT

There is one additi.onal complement type in which --ingappears, one which is superficially
similar to the possessive gerund complement but which has an NP or object pronoun in
place of the possessive form. These may be statisti.cally more frequent than the possessive
gerund; while some of the following sentences (the .fi.rst three) can be viewed as colloquial
simplificati.ons of the possessive gerund constructi.on, others (the last three) cannot; so we
once again have a new structure here, i.e., the subject-parti.ciple complement:
Fred disliked [Susan making phone calls to John].
Mary prefers [him doing other things with his time].
1 didn't like [him coming in here ilke that].
He doesn't want [his employees sltting around with nothing to do].
1 watched [the ice melting in the sun].
The teacher had [th students drawing trees] yesterday.
ünce again, we have what looks like the general structure ofa clause without a tense. In
this case, it seems we have a stable element to place in subject positi.on, and it is plausible
to say that the enti.re bracketed clause functions as a unit as a noun object, much as free
relative clauses were viewed in Chapter 29 to function as nouns in subject and object
positions. Often this type of clause is found as the object of the preposition witlr.
With [Susan making phone calls to John], Fred was miserable.
Wlth [the employees sitting around with nothing to do], the finn won't survive.
With [the lce meltlng in the sun], there won't be any cold drinks left.
With [the students drawlng trees], the ldndergarten teacher could relax.
We may draw the tree representation for this type of construction in a way similar to
the first one for gerunds, (page 642), except that no PROis required, since an overtly
expressed subject is present to fili the same position.
Other verbs taking this sort of complement include discover, Jeet hate, have, hear, like,
love, observe, prefer, recaJJ, remember, see, and watch. For example,
The authorities dlscovered the dog hidlng behind the bushes.
We could feel the weather turning cold.
The tour leaders had us visiting museums day and night.
We observed the doves maldng their nest.
1 remember John telling me the same story last year.

SUMMARY

In this part of the chapter, we have revised our set of phrase-structure rules by adding a
number of options to S, NP, AUX, and VP as follows:

1. S (comp) (sm) S 1

2. comp {f }
(det)(AP) N (-pi)(PrepP)}
3. NP pro
{ s
PRO
 Chapter 31: Complementation , fi1:i

; } (perf)(prog)(pass)
4. AUX {
-ıng
-impcr

s. VP

These rcvisions allow us to generale all the t/uıt-dauses, infinitivcs, gerunds, and subject-
participle constructions that we have discusscd in this chapter.

THREADS OF COMMON MEANING

WITHIN COMPLEMENT TYPES

As the prcscntation abovc clcarly shows, there are many clausal coınplementation options
for English verbs. This situation is the sourcc of numcrous ESL/EFL errors. The most
common sourcc of crror is that while stuclent'I have leamed the various fonns of comple-
ment'I, they often couple the wrong complcmcnt with the wrong main verb. They do this
for understandable reasons: a student who generalizes by using some kind of meaning-
analogy may fınd thc errors on the ıight below somewhat puzzling givcn thc grammati-
cally similar models on the lcft:
The general commanded him to leave. *My father demanded me to study harder.
1 like to study history. *1 dislike to study math.
My sister advised me to go abroad. *My friend recommended me to stay home.
The teacher let us go home early. *Our parents allowed us stay up late.
A frequency count in writtcn tcxt by Butoyi (1977) showed that there is considerable
vari.ation in the actual occurrence of the vari.ous types of complemcnt, with tluıHypc comple-
ment clauscs constituting 46 pcrccnt of the total, subject-control infinitivcs (/ want to /,eave, I
tried to /,eave) constituting another 45 pcrccnl, with other complcment types distributed
among the remaining 9 percent. Interestingly, while structures akin to thak:larn,cs and infini-
tives are frequcnt in thc world's languagcs, genmd phrases are far less common. Ali else
being equal, we might expect ESL/EFL lcamers to experience thc greatest diflkulty with
gerund coınplcment use. lndeed, fuıther research by Butoyi (1978) anda study by Anderson
(1976) botlı indicate that thiı; is truc for spcakers ofa vaıiety oflanguagcs acquiring English.
Much does seem idiosyncratic about thc [vcrb + complcıncnt] combinations, and it would
be false to daim that no arbitrnri.ness exist'I in student ma'ltcry in thi'I arca of grammar.
However, there is also fortunatcly some rcgularity within this set!mingly complex array of
possibilities, and to a certain extent teachcrs can exploit these rcgulaıitics pedagogically.

5EMANTIC SIMILARITIES OF VERBS TAKING

THAT-COMPLEMENTS AND INFINITIVE CLAUSES
Up to now, wc have said that ccrtain vcrbs take a certain type of complcment cxclusively,
while some verbs may occur with more than onc. We havc said littlc about whether any
sense can be made of tlıc fact that daim takes a tensed /hak:omplcmcnt, insist a sul unctive
complement, belieııe either a t/ıat-complemcnt oran infınitiv.tl one, try eithcr an infinitival or
646 r<::::,.> THE GRAMMAR BooK

a gerund complement, and make a bare infinitive. in fa.et, a loose correlation docs seem to
exist between the semantics of the main-clause verb and the type of complement it tak.es.
The correlation has been sketched by Giv6n (1980; 1990, Chapter 13).
Verbs Taking That-Complements
The main verbs that take ordinary tensed that-complcments tcnd mostly to denote
mental states or attitudes regarding the truth of thc proposition in the complcment
clause. Thus, to say

think
assume
imagine
know that it will raln today.
understand
say

is to say something about the nature of the particular belief-its relative strength, among
other things (a topic which wc will retum to in the next chapter). Giv6n placcs such vcrbs
in the "cognition-utterance" category and says that a clause in which such a verb occurs is
(1) more "loosely" connected syntactically with the complement clause, and (2) not neces-
sarily well integrated semantically with the complement clause. The fırst quality means, for
instance, that it is easy to detach a that-complement from its main clause, omit the comple-
rnentizer, and be left with a perfectly well-fonned sentence; the second quality means that
it is not at all necessary for the subject of the complement clause to be identical to any
noun in the main clause.
Verbs Taking lnflnitive Complements
We may contrast cognition-utterance verbs with those which Giv6n calls more manipula-
tive; typically, these verbs take infinitival complements. "Manipulative" here means, in
effect, that an agent named in the main clause is in some way related to, or has some
interest in, the real or hypothetical occurrence of the event that is depicted in the comple-
ment clause. Thus, in the sentences, Mary wan'tedjohn to reıum sooneror The ıeacher allowed
the students to leave, Mary and the teacher have an intercst in John's returning or thc
students' leaving. in accordance with Giv6n's criteria, such infinitives tend to be more
integrated syntactically with their main clauses in that an infinitive cannot stand by itself
asa sentencc; it is "more dependent" syntactically on its main clause. The main clause and
infınitivc are also much more likely to share an NP referent in common-as with thc PRO
category, wherc the idcntity of the logical subject of the infinitive (Mary wanıed [PRO] to
go) is controlled by an NP in the main clause. In the case ofbarc-stem infinitives (Mary
madejohn stay,John had the thi,ef arrested), there is even more integration since there is no to
present and since a stronger sort of control or involvement is depicted: indeed, verbs like
let, make, and have together with their complements are often called causative verbs or
constructions since one agcnt is (to one degree or another) "causing" another to act.
Giv6n's correlations are very rough-there are many cxceptional cases-and may
have limited pedagogical value for language teachers who seek to present the English
complement options systematically to their students. However, Giv6n's description is of
some value to teachers who wish to understand why English complement options pattern
as they do. Fora few cases, the schema does make predictions in cases where options exist
in use, and here ESL/EFL leamers might bene.fit from explanation. Consider the
following two sentences:
She helped them to pick cherries.
She helped them plck cherries.
 Chapter 31: Complementation A>' ri47

in the first case, the woman mentioned may have provided a Jadder to the cherry-pickers,
while in the second case we are more likely led to believe that she was actually picking the
fruit together with the o thers . Her greater involvement is reflected in the use ofa bare-
stem infinitive. it thus makes sense that a corpus study like that ofLind (1983) would find
bare-stem infinitives appearing six times more frequently with animate subjects than
inaniınate when compared with t<>-infiniti ves.7

THE MEANING OF 5UBJUNCTIVE VERBS

As pointed out in Chapter 2, the subjunctive is one of the five moods of English--one of
the fi.ve sentence types that systematically exhibit the speaker/writer's attitude toward the
proposition expressed in a senten ce. Just as the interrogative involves the questioning ofa
proposition and the imperative marks a command, so the subjunctive exhibits the
speaker/ writer's orientation toward bringing a certain state of affairs into being. Verbs that
take subjunctive thaklauses are highly manipulative in a semantic sense, ifnot in Givon's
syntactic sense. We have said that subjunctive clauses occur with a relatively restricted set of
verbs, which include advise, ask, demand, insist, recommend, request, and and argued that
subjunctives have no tense forms. These forms will be particularly difficult for ESL/EFL
students since they have most likely been told that every clause in English contains a tense,
most often a tense which is overtly marked in some distinguishingway. Yet the verbs that
take subjunctive complements fit a special frame in which an agent, expressed or iınplied,
in the main clause attempts to exert some control over the occurrence of the event in the
embedded clause, usually through the action ofa different agent that is the subject of the
subjunctive clause. The verbs may express "weak" control (suggest, recommen<l), "strong"
control suggesting the existence of one individual's authority over the other (insist, demand,
require), or control of an in-between sort (ask, request).8 Thus, we get:
We suggest that you stay one more day.
The committee recommended that the plan be reconsidered.
The college requires that freshmen live in do rmitories.
We ask that you not smoke near this buildlng.
He requested that they give him an extra week to finish the project.
Verbs that simply express a desirefor some event to occur--that is, without any evidence of
influence or control at all-tend nottotake subjunctive complements. Thus we get no
subjunctive complement with hope:
*She hoped that her husband get a better job.
The relevant semantic characteristic shows up also in the fact that the subjunctive is used
in dependent clauses following certain main-clause adjectives like important, imperative,
and vital but not following other adjectives such as urulerst:nadabl.ein main clauses:
it is important that she be given another chance.
it was imperative that we act immediate ly.
What is vital is that we not become overly anxious.
*it is understandable that she begiven another chance.
Subjunctive clauses do not seem to fit Givon's strength-of-bond scale perfectly in that
while there seems to be strong manipulation, the syntax is almost as "loose" as with
cognition-utterance verbs like believe except that the verbs are tenseless. However,
sentences in which subjunctives occur exhibit a common semantic theme.
fi48 r:::::,, lHE GRAMMAR BOOK

THE MEANING OF VERBS TAKING GERUNDS

Verbs that require gerunds such as enjoy, risk, den)•, tnıoid, appreciate, <lefend, qttit, and
stop, among othcrs, encodc aclions in the gerund complcment that arc vivid, real,
ongoing in the prescnt or completcd in the past. They represent tht success of the
subject of the main verb-or thegerund-in accomplishing some outcome, which may
be positive or negative:
Bob enjoys going to the movies.
(= Bob succeeds in going to movies.)
Sue avoided talking to Barry.
(= Sue succeeded in not talking to Barry.)
This is very different from those main verbs taking infinitives which cncode future unful-
filled prc jections rather than past or present accomplishments in the complement.
Mary wanted to see the play.
(:;c Mary saw the play.)
We discus.'! this distinction further in the next section.

INFINITIVE To-COMPLEMENTSVERSUS
GERUND -ING COMPLEMENTS

There is considenıble overlap across the class of verbs that pennit subject-control infıni­
tive complements and those that permit gerund-ingcoınplements. The overlap is illus-
tnıted in the italicized forms in the lists below:
Verbs taking infınitives: begin, choose, continu,e, dare, expect, fail, Jorget, lıate,
hope, intend, like, loııe, manage, J>refer, proce e d , promise, refuse, regret, rememlıer,
start, ten ci, try, want, vow
Verbs taking gerund -ing: admit, appreciate, avoid, beg'in, contintte, defend, clcny,
dislike, eıtjoy, fınish, forget, Juıt e, intcnd, like, love, f>refer, q u it, recall, regret,
remember, resuıne, risk, start, stop, try
in many of the cases of overlap, there is a distinct meaning differencc implied, eme which
is worth focusing on here and pointing out to learners. in some cases, the difference is
substantial. Consider the options with Jorget:
He forgot to buy the books.
He forgot buying the books.

in thc case whcre the infinitive is chosen, no books were bought (because of forgetful-
ness), while the action described in thc second sentence above actually happened (but
was subsequently forgotten). Likewise with remeınber.
She remembered to do her homework.
She remembered doing her homework.

in the fırst case, thc meaning may be paraphrased by saying "She did not forget that shc
had to do her homework, so she did it," while in the second, the intention is to say,"Shc
did her homework, and Llıen later she remembered that she had done it."
Some degree of correlation exists between the choice of infinitives with events that
are "hypothetical, future, unfulfilled" and the choicc of gerunds with events that are
"real, vivid, fulfilled," a fact that was first pointed out by Bolinger (1968). in the case of
 Chapter 31: Complementation , 649

"forgetting" above, this principle is substantiated. it is also supported in the case of the
verb try. Compare the two sentences below:
Peter tried to go to Oxford.
Peter tried going to Oxford.
In the first instance, native speakers tend to interpret the sentence to mean that Peter
wanted to go to Oxford but did not in fact attend the school; in the second, the prcferred
interpretation is that Peter did go to Oxford but did not complete his studies. Compare
the additional two sentences below:
1 tried to cali you, but there was no phone anywhere.
1 tried calling you, but your line was busy.
in the first instancc, no calling took place; in the second, at least one (unsuccessful)
cali was made.
it is also worthwhile to look at how Bolinger's principle holds up with the extremely
frequent verb like. When someone expresses a desire to do something that he/ she has not
done before, it is common to use the modal constmction woul4 like and follow it with an
infınitive. A gerund is much less acceptable:
1 would like to go bungee-jumping someday.
ll would tike going bungee-jumping so meday.
On the other hand, if someone has already done bungee:iumping and wishcs to express
an affection for that activity, the gerund form is strongly preferred:
l like going bungee-jumping. (1 just did it last week, in fact.)
While the Bolinger principle does not yield such clear distinctions for ali of the overlapping
pairs in the lists above, it does provide teachers with a partial explanation for student.s who
want to understand the meaning differences with verbs taking both types of complements.

ASPECTUAL OPTI0NS iN INFINITIVES AND GERUNDS

We havc argued that infınitives have no tense markings and therefore do not by themselves
cxpress pastvcrsus nonpast time. However, infınitives do express aspectual relationships of
the sort discussed in Chapters 7 and 9. These include the full range of aspectual categories
with the exception that the distinction between habitual (i.e., durative) and punctual (i.e.,
"one time") is Iost in the simple fonn of the verb, as in the case of drink below:
1 want to drink espresso (regularly).
1 want to drink espresso (tonight).
The sense ofa specifıc ongoing activity is expressible with the progressive fonn:
1 would prefer to be drinking espresso (right now).
She expected to be doing homework during the time that her roommate was out.
The sense of the completion of one event prior to the occurrence of another may be
expressed with the perfect form:
1 would prefer not to have drunk so much espresso this evening.
in the above case, the "drinking" occurs prior to the "preferring." Progressive and perfcct
may be combined, just as they mayin ordinary main clauses:
l'm surprised to have been making so much progress these days.
tijO THE GUMMAR BooK

In this case, the ongoing condition, the "making of much progress," is (at least to some
extent) temporallyprior to the "surprise."
For main verbs that express attitudinal states, the sense of future-in-past is conveyed
with a main verb in the past tense plus a simple infinitive:
She wanted to go to Europe the following year.
We didn't expect the weather to change soon.
Where contrary-to-fact conditions exi.st (see Chapter 27), there are two options available.
üne can encode the counterfactuality either in the main verb through a perfect modal or
in the infinitive through use ofa perfect infinitive:
She would have ilkeci to vlsit Munlch on her trip.
She would ilke to have visited Munich on her trip.
An exacting attention to tense and aspect here may lead to two different inteıpretatio
thefirst in which the "liking" expressed by the person in question existed prior to the
moment of speaking and may not exist at that moment, and the second in which the
"liking" does exist at the moment of speaking. However, the two forms seem interchange-
able, at least in oral production. To add to the profusion of options, one frequently finds
the same meaning conveyed in colloquial speech through the use ofa doubly-marked
perfect, though this use is frowned on by prescriptive grammarians:
She would have llked to have vlsited Munich on her trlp.
The meaning normally intended in such cases is not one in which one past event or state
(the "visiting") is set temporally prior to another past event or state (the "liking"),
although again that meaning may be conveyed when the fonns are emphatically stressed.
Gerund forms are likewise not marked for tense, but they too may express aspectual
distinctions. When a simple gerund is used, the distinction between perfective, habitual,
and progressive may be lost:9
She remembered drlnking espresso (that night).
She remembered drlnking espresso (durlng her three years in ltaly).
She remembered drinking espresso (while the muslc was playing).
Where the gerund is in the perfect form, however, one may distinguish the progressive
from the perfect through the presence or absence respectively of -ing on the verb in the
complement:
She remembers having been listening to a Grieg concerto (ali e venlng).10
She remembers having listened to a Grieg concerto (at least once in her life).
ünce again, actua1 use may blur the distinction here,just as the distinction between I have
üved hm for ten years and J have beım living hm for ten years lies more in what is implied than
what is necessarily expressed by the form.s themselves.
it may be said with certainty that if tense and aspect in English is difficult for
ESL/EFL students to master in simple clauses, the juxtaposition of tense and aspect in
multi-clausal sentences is even more difficult to accomplish in a nativelike way. As we have
seen, even native speakers exhibit considerable variation in their own production in this
area and are often seen almost struggling to expreM intended tense-aspect relationships,
often rephrasing something that has already been said to make a relationship more
precise. We therefore do not recommend close attention to these relationships in multi-
clausal sentences until learners ofEnglish are well advanced.
 Chapter 31: Complementation .-<:::,,> b51

ORDINARY INFINITIVES VERSUS PURP0SE INFINITIVES

in our discussion of infinitive types, wc omitted mcntion of one additional typc of infıni­
tive. This type is distinct in not bcing regularly associated with any main-clause verb and
hence is nota true complemcnt infınitivc; it is called thc purj,ose in.finitive, illustrated in
the following sentences:

They covered the porch to shield out the sun.

This drill bit is used to drill holes in metal.

it is casy to distinguish purpose infınitives from other infınitives by attempting to substi­

tute in order to (or so as to) for to. You may also try to move the infinitive to fırst position in
the sentcnce and sce ifan acceptable sentencc rcsults:
We used a wrench to fix the sink. To fıx the sink, we used a wrench.
We hope to take our vacation soon. *To take our vacation soon, we hope.
Purpose infınitives, which are adverbial, may be moved, whilc ordinat)' infinitives may not.
Easily one of the most confusing altcrnations for lcarners conccrns the verb stop, which
takes a genmd complement in one context but often appears with a purpose
infinitive following. Note the difference in mcaning below:

:.:: : :::::::: :::::::i: ::::::u{I ! } ete.

to drink some water.)

We have said that gerund-type complcments are not well representcd in the world's languages
whilc infınitives arc common. This fact undoubtedly contributcs to the frequency of eıTors
where the (b) sentence pattern abovc is substituted for the (a) pattern. Teachers should
expect frcquent errors of this type and perhaps address the issue directly during class time.

THE BARE INFINITIVE VERSUS THE

SUBJECT-PARTICIPLE C0MPLEMENT
There is considerable overlap in the class of verbs that take bare-infinitive complements
and thosc that take subject-participle complements. The overlap is illustrated in the itali-
cized forms below:
Verbs taking hare infinitives: fee have, hear, help, let, make, see, watclı
Verbs taking subject + participle: dislike, enjoy, Jeel hate, have, hRm; like, love,
obscrve, prefer, recall, remember, see, wc1.nt, watclı

it may be noticed that most of the overlap concems sensory perception verbs. One view
(advanced by Kirsner and Thompson 1976) of the crucial differencc between pairs like
1 saw him break the branch.
1 saw him breaking the branch.
They heard the door close.
They heard the door closing.
They watched the boat disappear over the horizon.
They watched the boat disappearing over the horizon.
h52 ,-=- THE GRAMMAR BooK

reflects a difference between perfective and imperfective aspect: the simple form marks
an event seen as punctual, limited and bounded or perfective; in contrast, the -ing fomı
marks an impcrfective event which is represented as durntive, ongoing, or iterative, scen
without focus on its beginning or end. This account explains why a main verh in the
simple present tense may occur with an -ing form but nota hare infınitive:
Look! 1 see him leaving the building.
*Look! 1 see him leave the building.
Since the simple present is not used to mark discrete, punctual event.s (but instead states
or ongoing or repeated actio ns), it makes sense that it would not take a hare infinitive
incompatible by nature with this viewpoint. The account also explains why a perception
verb like obseroe can appear with a [subject + participle] complement but nota bare-infıni­
tive complement even in the simple past tense: part of the in he rent meaning of
"observing" involves the visual perception of something over an extended period of time
without focus on the event asa completed whole; one "observes" an action in progress.
We can "obseıve" the painting ofa picture aı; it progresses, but we would not nonnally
speak of"observing" a sudden, momentary event such as the switching on ofa light. Thus
we are likely to hear sentences like:
We observed them eating dinner at Spago.
but are unlikely to hear ones like:
?We observed them sit down.
Likewise, the capacity for independent action on the part of the su ject waı; also noted by
Kirsner and Thompson to account for pairs such as thesc:

1 saw the sunglasses {_yl nig } by the side of the road.

*lıe
Since "sunglasses"cannot act independently, the hare infınitive is not possible.
We can also cxtend Kirsner and Thompson 's proposal to a nonperception verb, the
causative verb lıave.
The boss had me turn off the light (a moment ago).
?The boss had me turning off the light (a moment ago).
The boss had me turning off the light (as part of my daily routine).
The second scntence, in order to be fully acceptablc, would have t.o mean that the
speaker's task-in itself a momentary, punctual event-was repeated over an unspecifıed
period of time, as in the more normal-sounding third sentence.

GERUND COMPLEMENTS VERSUS

5UBJECT•PARTICIPLE COMPLEMENTS
For some speakers of English there is a scmantic contrast for verbs taking both the posses-
sive gerund complement and the subject-participle constnıction:
1 appreciate his taking care of the dog.
1 appreciate him taking care of the dog.
Such spcakers report a grcater focus on the entirc evcnt in the possessive gemnd comple-
nıent anda greater focus on the agent NP in the subject-participlc construction.
 Chapter 31: Complementation ,--.::::,.., 653

CAUSATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
We have already spoken of causative constructions as those that depict one agent success-
fully causing another agent to perform an action. Some verbs which enter into these
constructions ( cause, force, get) fail syntactically into the object-control category; others
( make, have) take hare infinitive complements. How do they differ in meaning? Here we
will address have, get, and make, drawing on the work of Martin (1981).
Have. The verb have suggests a routine hiring or selecting in which a relation of authority
is implied, as between customer-businessperson or creditor-debtor:
We had Ray mow the lawn . (He does it every week.)
1 had the barber trim my hair. (it is his profession.)
Fred had John give him fıve dollars. (it was part ofa debt that John owed Fred.)
fHe had a stranger on the street give him directions.
The questioned example above is inappropriate since it suggests a relation of authority
which does not exist between two strangers in a chance meeting. The action performed
must also relate to the specific area of authority.
Get. The verb get often tends to convey the sense that some difficulty was involved;
perhaps the subject of the main clause used persuasion or coercion on the subject of the
embedded clause:
1 got Ray to give me five dollars. (He had refused earlier.)
M.ake. The verb maJu, suggests that the subject of the main clause has coercive power (though
not neceMa.rily authority in any conventional sense) over the subject of the infınitive:
He made a stranger on the street give him five dollars. (Threat was involved.)
Have and get, but not make, may also take passive complements in which these meanings
carry over well:
1 finally had the lawn mowed.
1 finally got the lawn mowed.
*I finally made the lawn mowed.

However, the ge sentence is now ambiguous as to whether the lawn was mowed by the
speaker or by someone else.
Martin (1981), in a discourse analysis of causatives, provides support for the distinc-
tions made above. in one of his native-speaker survey questionnaire items, 20 out of 23
respondents chose get when it was clear that some difficulty was involved:
1 had a lot of trouble finding someone to do it, but I fınally
(a) had the lawn mowed. (= 3) (b) got the lawn mowed. (= 20)
On the other hand, he also found native speakers favoring getfor some fairly routine activ-
ities such as "cashing a check," which may have involved some unexpected difficulties. (1
finally got the check cashed.)

THE USE OF COMPLEMENTS

THE PRESENCE VERSUS A8SENCE OF THAT

A question that ESL/EFL teachers will hear asked over and over again by students concerns
the environments in which an expressed that is or is not required in object that-complement
clauses.11 The answer seems to be statable partially in syntactic terıns and partially in terms
of discourse conditions. Bolinger (1972) suggests that one determining factor is the relative
 hj4 r-::::,,, THE GRAMMAR BooK

fonnality of discourse: the more forma} the register, the more likely it is for tlıat to be
cxpressed. Another factor concems specific verbs: the greater the relativc frequency of the
main vcrb in discourse, the more likcly it is that the coınplementizcr will be absent:
1. He said he wasn't inte rested .
2. He conceded he wasn't inte rested .
3. ?He snarled he wasn't interested.
A third factor is that the presence of intervening nıaterial between the verb and the
complement tends to increase the likelihood that tlıatwill be present:
He said he wasn't interested.
He said in a recent report he wasn't interested.
?He said in a report released yesterday by UPI he wasn't interested.
in the second and third case above, occurrence of tlıat would resolve any possible
processing problem. A fourth factor mcntioned by Bolinger concems whether tlıe verb in
the main clause "operates" on the verb in the complemcnt clause in a causative sense:
The court decided that wiretapping must stop.
1 decided I was too old.
in the first sentence, the court's power to stop the wiretapping makes tlıe use of that more
likely than in the second case, where no power over events or conditions is apparent.
Underhill (1986) suggests several other interesting factors, including relative degree
of claboratc "speakcr endorsement" of the truth value of the complement clause. The
idea is that the greater the degrec of speaker endorsement, tlıe more likely that the
complementizer wil1 be absent. This may partially contribute to why tlıat is so often absent
where the main clause hegins with / think, as in I tlıink I want to go home:. speakers are
presumahly most certain about their own mental states.
According to recent corpus-based research (Biber 1998), the deletion of the comple-
mentizer that does indeed appear to be sensitive to register differences. For example, that
is omitted most frequently in conversation and least frequently in academic prose, with
fiction and news reportage falling hetwecn the two extremes.

USE OF THAT COMPLEMENTS

Biber (1998) also provides infonnation on the frequency of tlıat complements according
to register: thcy are most frequent in conversation, next most frequent in fıction, then
news reportage, and least frequent in academic writing . He also reports that the most
coınmon verbs controlling tlu.ıt complements in both conversation and news reports are
think, say, know, see, belie-oe, show, find, and feel. Tlıese are verbs of cognition, perccption,
and specch often related to the speaker's or writer's stance. Such corpus-based infonna-
tion can be of great usc to language teachers for it indicates the verbs to empha.-,ize when
introducing tlıat com ple me n ts.

CONCLUSION

in this chapter, we have presented what we believc to be fairly uncontroversial analyses of

most of the English clausal complement typcs. in the following two chapters, we will carry
the discussionfurther. it should be dear by now that much of what is required ofa learner
in mastering complementation is similar to what is involved in leaming noun gender in
most Indo-European languages or noun classes in Clıinese or Bantu languages: a certain
amount of feel for the logic of semantic regularities, and a certain amount of simple
 - r.
Chapter 31: Complementation r-:::::,., b ., .J

meınorization. it would be unrealistic for an ESL/EFL teacher to expect students to

master all of the verb-complement pairs that exist in English in the course ofa term, but
with systematic teacher attention, students can be brought to the point where they are
conscious of the many options before them.

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS

1. Form. Students who wish to leam the information in this chapter simply through a fomı
of rote memorization should be advised that the most effective way to do this is probably not
to make list.s ofwhich verbs take which complements and then to memorize the lists. Ratheı
a more effective self-drill method would be for students to make up their own [verb + comple-
ment] sentences on a verb-class-by-verb-dass basis and-after verifying the grammaticality and
idioınaticity of these sentences-to reread or, betler, recite their sentences orally at home,
attending to their meaning. By making the relevant association ofverb with coınplement type
in this way, student5 will at least approach something resembling actual language in use.

2. Form. At lower class levels, and for review at higher class levels, a useful teaching
technique that will cue students to proper forms and give them practice in using verbs
meaningfully is for the teacher to model questions that incorporate the complement type
in the question itself, and then for the students to practice these forms with verb + verb
fonns written on the board. What follows is an outline of four lesson plans in the spiril of
suggestions made by Rosenzweig (1973).

on 1. Attenıpt-type infinitives (atlempt, tend, fail, pmceed, rııanage, wfuse, prom.ise, offer, decide)
The teacher asks questions that elicit model sentences that can be put on the board:
What will you attempt to do this weekend?
Where have you decided to go on your vacation next year?
The teacher then leads a drill in which students generale serıtences based on pairs of
verbs provided by the teache r, such as refuse/accept:
Student: 1 refuse to accept your offer.
Students can then work in small groups with pairings such as nıanage/finislı, fail/do,
offer/help, refuse/eat, and so on.

Lesson 2. Want-type irıjinitives (want, intend, expect, jn-efer, hate, like, love, lıojJe, desire, love)
The want-class of verbs, which may or may not have objects, make a good focus for
students interviewing other students. Most of these verbs give students ample
opportunity to express their teelings on topics which concern them directly.
The teacher may begin with:
What do you hate/love most to do?
What do you hate/love most for someone else to do?
A drill follows based on pairs provided, such as intend/ study:
Teacher: What do you intend to study?
Student: 1 intend to study engineering.
Teacher: What does your family intend (for) you to study?
Student: My family intends (for) me to study engineering, too.
 fi5fi THE GRAMMAR BooK

Student-to-student questioning follows with additional pairs: prefer/eat, hope/spend

the coming vacation, and so on, adding direct object forms where reasonable,
as above.

n 3. Verlıs taking only gerund ohjects (stop, quit, recal dislike, enjoy, avoid, admit, deny, dejend)
The lesson continues to follow essentially the same pattem as above.

Lesson 4. Verbs taking both gerunds and infinitives (forget, remember, try, like, start, begin,
continue, wve)
At this stage, the teacher may find it useful to present Bolinger's principle distin-
guishing gerunds from infınitives, supplying verbs where the distinction is most
clearly exhibited:
Teacher: What do you remember doing yesterday?
What did you remember to do yesterday?
With each student answer, the teacher should make sure to confiım that the student
intended to convey that he or she actually did or did not do the activity mentioned.
The lesson then continues to follow the same pattern as above but with student ques-
tioners cued to elicit alternating pairs, such as jjırgc1+ gerund, + infinitive,
would like + infinitive , liM + gerund or infinitive , and so on.

Lesson 5. Encourage integratwn and transfer of rul,es l,earned in the preced

i ng l,essons.
At this point, teachers may mix different types of [verb + complement] pairs and
either continue an activity like the above or have students write compositions or
carry out rolc-plays in which various [vcrb-verb] pairs suggested by the teacher
are used.

l . Meaning. For verbs that take both infınitives and gerunds-but with a differencc in
meaning-Bill Gaskill has suggested that explicit time sequences be used to tcach the
differences between infınitives and gerunds with main verbs such as remember and forget.
The teacher introduces these verbs along with a number of situations that can appropri-
ately serve as complemen ts:
call my parents lock the door
tell you the news smoke cigars

Then the notion of time sequence is introduced and an example provided to show that if
the action in the main verb precedes tlıe action in the complement, the infinitive is used:
This happened earlier This happened later
1 remembered 1 called my parents
(main clause) (complement clause)
1 remembered to call my parents.

The teacher must also show the reverse. That is, if the action in the main clause follows the
action in the complement, the gerund is used:
 Chapter 31: Complementation 657

This happened earlier This happened later

1 called my parents. 1 remembered.
(complement) (main clause)
1 remembered calling my parents.

Students can thcn generalize this activity to the verb forget.

4. Meaning. The distinction in use between verbs that altemate between taking hare
infınitives and [subject + participle] complements (see, hear, watch, Jeel, have) can be
modeled to some extent in the classroom by the teacher or by other students. Someone
can close the door slowly and incompletely while asking,
What do you see? (An swer: "I see you closing the doo r: ')

Someone can then close the door quickly and completely and ask,
What did you see? (Answer: "1 saw you close the door.")

Teachers can use their imaginations in coming up with ideas for other verbs. This sort of
activity can , incidentally, be done in conjunction with a review contrasting the simple
present/ present progressive and simple past/past progressive in main clauses ( "'7ıat am l
doing?"What did l do?"What was l doing?and so on).

5. Meaning/Use. A good role-play situation for practicing the causative have is to role-
play a beauty parlor/ barbershop scene. A role-play for three wil1include two customers
and a beautician/ barber. The beautician / barber will ask one customer, "What do want to
have done today?" The customer can then answer in a variety of ways using have: "l want to
have my hair permed," "l want to have my sideburns cut," and so on. This customer can
then ask the other customer what he or she wants to have done, and so on. it has even
been suggested (byJill Rosenheim and Sue Weingarten) that students actually visit a
beauty salon or barbershop as a type of field experience and make an inventory of services
available at the business.

6. Form. Frodesen and Eyring (1997:352) suggest that students role-play the solving ofa
problem to practice the use of subjunctive that-clauses. Two or more students take
opposite sides of an issue. For example:
A young man would like to attend an all-female co llege . The president of the college
wants to maintain the 100-year tradition of an all-female campus.

Students then use the following frames to make their arguments:

1 propose that .. .
1 suggest that .. .
We recommend that . . .

7. Use. Find a news article containing many cxamples of that complements with several
clauses having the that complementizer present and several others having it absent. Ask your
students to work in groups and underline all the that complements and circle ali the that
complcmentizers. Ask them to come up with generalİ.7..ations about why that appears before
some of complement clauses but not others. If they havc difficulties, give them Bolinger's
(1972) observations and see if they can apply these to the text they are analyzing.
fi51 ,--=:,., THE GRAMMAR Booıt

ExERCISES

Test your understandlng of what has been presented.

1. Give sentences that illustrate the following terms:
a. complement h. genınd
b. complementizer i. subject + parti.ciple construction
c. tensed thaklause j. purpose infinitive
d. subjunctive clause k. object control
e. infinitive 1. progressive infinitive
f. subject control m. perfect infinitive
g. PRO n. the Bolinger principle (for gerunds vs. infinitives)
2. Draw trees for the following sentences:
a. The sign told drivers to proceed slowly.
b. The players continued playing bridge.
c. We suggested that he return on the following day.
d. Let my dog go.
e. Some students wanted us to help on the project.
f. The teacher made everyone return to their seats.
g. I would hate for you to refuse the offer.
h. I have found my pickup truck to be useful.
3. Account for the ungrammaticality of the following sentences:
a. *I want that my brother will come home for New Year's.
b. *My friends insisted me to come with them.
c. *The teacher forced us drin.k hot chocolate.
d. *I understood for me to be the winner.
e. *They disagreed over to go to that movie.
4. Based on the various types of complement we have outlined in the chapter, which
category or categories of complement types would the following verbs appear with? These
verbs were not included in any of the lists given in the chapter. Use your intuitions (or
consult a dictionary) about the use of the verbs in ordinary English sentences together
with your kııowledge of the cat.egories of complement, and provide example sentences.
agree beg notice
argue dare resist
assist keep suspect

Test your abillty to apply what you know.

5. How would you teach ESL/EFL students to use infinitives and gerunds correctly with
the verb -try? Suggest a context and a teaching strategy.
6. in our discussion of get, we did not contrast this verb in the following two frames:
The teacher got the students to draw pictures.
The teacher got the students drawing pictures.
A student asks which of the two is the correct form. You say that both are correct, but
howwould you explain the difference between them?
7. Another student asks you to explain the difference between the two sentences below:
1 expect to leave by 4:15.
1 expect to have left by 4:15.
 Chapter 31: Complementation ,<::::,, h:i9

How would you respond to the question?

8. üne ESL tcacher said he had his students memorize thc vcrbs that take gerund
complement,; and told them to use infinitives everywhere else. Do you think that this
is a good teaching stratcgy? Why or why not?
9. Suppose you are prcsented with the following sentences in an ESL composition and
wish to mak.e explicit oral feedback on them. What would you tel1 the student?
a. *The kindergarten teacher made them to lie down.
b. *She told us that where the restaurant was located.
c. *We will go overseas for visiting our parents.
d. *The officer demanded that I had to show him my license.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

References
Anderson,J. I. (1976). "A Comparison of the Order ofDifficulty ofEnglish Scntential
Complements between Native Speak.ers of Spanish and Native Speakers of Persian."
Paper presented at the Los Angeles Second Language Research Forum, UCLA, 1976.
Biber, D. (1998). Teaching Actual Use in Conversation and Writing. Presentation at
TESOL '98 in Seattle, March, 1998.
Bolinger, D. (1968). "Entailment and the Meaning of Structures," Glossa 2:2, 119-127.
Bolinger, D. (1972). That's That. The Hague: Mouton.
Bolinger, D. (1975). "About Questions." Lecture, UCLALinguistics Colloquium,
February 12, 1975.
Bresnan,J. (1970). "On Complementizers: Towards a Syntactic Theory ofComplement
Types." Foundlıtions of Language6, 297-321.
Butoyi, C. (1977). The Accuracy Order of Sentential Complemımts bıy ESL Learners.
Unpublished M.A. thesis in TESL, UCLA.
Duffiey, Patrick (1992). The English lnfinitive. London: Longman.
Frodesen,J., andj. Eyring (1997). Grammar Dimensions: Farm, Meaning, and Use. Book 4
(2d ed.). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Giv6n, T. (1980). "The Binding Hierarchy and the Typology ofComplements." Studies in
Language4:3, 333-377.
Giv6n, T. (1990). Syntax: A Functional-Typologi.callntroduction (vol. 2). Amsterdam:John
Benjamins.
Kirsner, R. and S. Thompson (1976). "The Role of Pragmatic Inference in Semantics: A
Study of Sensory Verb Complements in English." Glossa l 0:2.
Lind, A. (1983). "Thc Variant Forms llelp to/Help 0." English Studies 64:3, 263-273.
Martin, W. (1981). "Causative Verbs in English." Unpublished lndependent Professional
Project, School for Intemational Training, Brattleboro, VL
Quirk, R., S. Grecnbaum, G. Leech, andJ. Svartvik (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of
Contemporary Engl,ish. London: Longman.
Rosenzweig, F. (1973). "A Strategy for Teaching Gerunds and Infinitives to Advanced
ESL Students." Unpublished English 215 paper, UCIA, Fall 1973.
Underhill, R (1986). "The Discourse Conditions for that-Deletion." Manuscript,
C..alifomia State Univcrsity at San Diego.
 Chapter

ÜTHERAsPECTS OF
COMPLEMENTATION AND
EMBEDDED CLAUSES

INTRODUCTION

in this chapter we continue our discussion of issues related to conıplementation from

Chapter 31. We also look at some clausal constructions where embedded clauses function
in ways other than as complements to verbs, and return to a discussion of passive voicc.
Finally, we introduce some additional semantic distinctions among complement types;
namely, factive versus nonfactive predicates and inıplicativc verbs.
The six new constructions we discuss in this chapter are:
• raising to suqject: the su ject of the complement becomes the subject of the higher
clause.
it seems [that they have succeeded].
They seem [to have succeeded].
• complex-NP complements: the that-clause or infinitive functions asa conıplement to
an NP.
The news [that a hurricane is coming] is worr iso me.
This is a good time [to open a bottle of champagne].
• adjective complements: the fact that adjectives, like verbs and nouns, can also take
complenıents.
Joan is eager [to see you].
• extraposition of complements: the tendency of 11011-final heavy or dominant
constituents to move to the end of the sen tence.
[That he left without any money] is unfortunate.
it is unfortunate [that he left without any money].
• constructions like easy-to-please:the object of the coınplement becomes the subject of
the main clause.
it is important [to solve the problem].
The problem is important [to solve].
6fi4 ,<::::,, THE GRAMMAR BOOK

• complex passives: either the main clause or complcment clause is in the passive voice,
thus making different word orders and structures possible.
[That he has won the toumament] is rumored.
it is rumored [that he has won the toumament].
He is rumored to have won the toumament.

RAISING TO SUBJECT

Every sentence in English must have some ovcrt element in subject position. However, in
certain constructions the subject position is filled with a word that does not fit our
intuitive notion ofwhat a subjcct "should be." We have already seen in Chapter 23 that
there in the there-construction has very general meaning and is placed in subject position
primarily to allow for new information to appear in predicate position. We also saw in
Chaptcr 23 that the word it in the sentence lt is raining has no real-world referenL in this
and the following sections of this chapter, we will look at some additional instances in
which it is used in nonreferential ways.

STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF RAISING

in Chapter 31, we discussed verb classes that are associated with certain types of comple-
menL One additional type ofverb that takes an obligatory complement is a copular verb,
exemplified here by the verb seem. This verb commonly appears in three fnımes:
The offer seems good.
They seem to have succeeded.
it seems that they have succeeded .
in the first case, we have a sentence that we can already generale by the base rule for VP,
one of whose possible expansions is [cop + AP]. The other sentences cannot be so easily
generated. We follow a standard analysis by which the second type of scntence is
generated through a rule called raisingt-o-subject, which gcnerates the subject of the main
clause in the embedded sentence and then moves it forward and up into the main clause
subject position:
[ ] seem [they to have succeeded] roising
They seem [[ ] to have succeeded].
in one way, the verb seem is like the verb hope in cases where the latter is followed by an
infinitive. Wherever the vcrb seem is used with an infinitive following, the infinit:ive has as
its logical subject the subject of the main clause. We can not have, for example:
*They seem their friend to have succeeded .
However, the similarity cnds there. Onc reason for the raising analysis is that this type of
structure is not quite like that for verbs likc hope, where thc subject of the scntence
controls a PRO in the dependent infinitive clause:
They hope [PRO to win the game]
(PRO = they)
The two structures are differcnt because, among other things, it is possible to have the
seınantically vague there in subject position in the main clause if the main verb is seem, but
not if the main verb is hope:
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementation and Embedded Clauses ,<::::::,.> 665

There seems to be something wrong.

*There hopes to be ...
The idea is that something must be controlling the reference of the subject of the
embedded infinitive if the main verb is hope, and the word there cannot fulfill this require-
ment since there does not refer to anything specific. With seem, however, control does not
seem to be an issue; after all, we can say There seımıs to be something uırong. So an assumption
in generative graınmar, at least, has been that the subjcct of the main clause in these
sentences is generated as an empty slot and, because every sentence in English must have
an overt subject, the subject of the infinitive moves up to first position in the main clause:
What, then, of the third type of sentence? These are sentences such as:
it seems that John is happy.
We cannot have raising here, since the result would be ungrammatical:1
*John seems that [ ] is happy.
t 1
We may simply assume, then, that the thak:lause in this case is a complement generated in
the position after the verb and that the nonreferential subject it is placed in initial
position to fulfill the requirement for a surface subject. Other verbs that follow the
pattern of seem in the relevant respects include turn out, happen, and appear:
it tumed out that John got the promotion.
John tumed out to get the promotion.
it happens/appears that you are right.
You happen/appear to be right.
Three other verb-like constructions that are sim.ilar but not completely parallel are seem
like, sound like, and look like:
it seems like (*that) something is wrong.
Something seems like it's wrong.
it sounds like (*that) you don't agree.
You sound like you don't agree.
it looks like (*that) our roof is going to cave in.
Our roof looks like it is going to cave in.
Here the unacceptability of the complementizer that is probably related to the fact that
these verbs involve a prepositional construction; as we have already notcd in chapter 31, a
tensed that clause cannot be the object ofa preposition.2
Raising is also sometimes held to operate in the case of certain adjective constnıctions
such as be (un)likely, be certain. Wc get the same stntctural alternations as with verbs like
seem, and the same pattem.s of ungrammaticality:
it is unlikely/certain that we will be able to retum the merchandise.
*We are unlikely/certain that will be able to retum the merchandlse.
We are unlikely/certain to retum the merchandise.
We derive the last of these sentences exactly as we did seem + infinitive, by gcncrating the
subject NP in the embedded clause and then promoting it into subject position in the
main clause.
hti6 THE GRAMMAR BooK

ESUEFL ISSUES WITH RAISING 5TRUCTURES

As with other instances in which it plays a mainly formal role in English sentences-
namely, to fulfill the requirement that a surface subject be expressed-ESL/EFL teachers
may fınd their students omitting the it in sentences with seem and similar verbs. This is
because othcr languages may exhibit no such requirement. pennitting sentences like
Seems (that) John is sick today.
Looks like we won't be able to do it.
in fa.et, in highly colloquial speech even native English speakers ınay omit it in these
sentences. However, in more formal registers this is not an option, especially not in academic
writing, and teachers maywant to stress this fact in classes. Student leamers will also produce
sentences like these, which mix the possible syntactic frames for seem and be cerlain:
* He seems like to be not very honest.
(it seems like he is not very honest.)
*1 am certain for the assignment to be very easy.
(1 am certain that the assignment will be very easy.)
A teacher faced with sentences Iike the starred ones above should be aware of the struc-
tural options available to native speakers and the confusion that ESL/EFL learners may
experience in trying to select among them.

0THER TYPES OF CLAUSAL COMPLEMENTS

Upto now, all of the clausal complements we have presented have been complemcnt'i to
verbs. However, these are not the only types of complements: both nouns and adjectives
may take complements as well.

COMPLEX-NP COMPLEMENTS
We have seen many cases in C...1ıaptcr 31 of that-clauses that function as embedded complement
objects of main verbs. Thaı-clauses often function as complements ofNPs as well, especially in
conjunction with certain NPs that represent a cognitive stance or indicatc the presumed truth
value of the proposition expressed in the complement clause. Such NPs are often callcd
comp!,ex NPs. Some example sentences include those below, with the head noun in italics:
The be/ief(that petroleum reserves are infinite] is again common nowadays.
1 don't agree with the notion [that there is no future in electric cars].
Do you believe the claim [that Sam is really a bigamist]l
Her interest in Menet lies in the fact [that he was a French painter].
The news [that a hurricane was coming our way] made us worry.
lt's time [to give up and go to bed].
This is a good occasion [to open a bottle of champagne].
Each complex NP includes a simple NP plus a complement cla1L'ie. Note carefully that
although the that-clause examples look similar to relative clauses, thcy are grammatically
distinct. For instance, the that at the beginning of the complement clause cannot be identi-
fied with any NP in tlıc clause (as can the word that in a clause like Mary saw the coat [that she
wanted to buy [ ]], where tlıat is moved forward from object position and ili identical to coat).
Our phrase structure rule for NP must be adapted again to permit an expansion of this type:
NP NP S
S comp S 1
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementation and Embedded Clauses .-<::::,ı tih7

The tree structure will be the following:

The belief that petroleum reserves are infinite is misguided .

s
SUBJ PRED
1
NP AUX VP
NP s T1 cop AP

-- 1 1
1

det N -pres be AD]

comp ------------------ S'
1 1 1 1
the belief that SUBJ PRED misguided

1N
P -X---------------- VP
AU

i
AD] rcserve -pi
·f
-pres
cl i
be AD]
1 1
petroleum infinitc

Some types of noun complement with the phrase theJact, where the NP is a preposi-
tional object, have become part of complex prepositional-phrase chunks which, when
spoken, may be uttered so quickly that they seem like single words:
1 turned off the projector because of the fact that no one liked my movie.
Parrots don't understand what they say due to the fact that they aren't smart.
She was angry on account ofthe fact that he hadn't called her back.
They left town in spite of the fact that they loved the place.
The formulaic nature of these sorts of sequences may partially be accounted for by the
inability ofa full that-clause to appear as the object ofa preposition and the need for a
grammatical means to serve the same function-a need that is fulfılled by NPs like theJact.
Teachers will probably see the following sentence type produced by ESL/ EFL students
whoare unaware of this restriction:
* My friend drove me home in my car because of I was too tired to drive .
* T he principal scolded me in spite of I hadn't done anything w ro ng.
it is tlıerefore worthwhile for a teacher to make students aware of exp ressions involving
thefact and to provide them with examples in use, especially in writtcn prose.3
As a final note, if NPs of urging or recommendation take that-clause complements,
the verbs in these complement.s will appear in the subjunctive,just as they do for verbs of
urging or recommendation taking subjunctive clauses:
Ordinary subjunctive verb complements:
We rccommended that he take an carly plane.
The govemment demanded that truck drivers bespecially testcd.
Sentenu,s wi.th complex NP subjunctive complements:
The recommendation that he take an carly plane was a wise one.
Thc government's demand that truck drivers hespecially tested was excessivc.
titi8 ,..;::::,., TllE GRAMMAR BooK

ADJECTIVE COMPLEMENTS

Adjectives, like nouns and verbs, may also take clausal complements; tht..--y may be infinitival,
or they may be tensed that-dauses, depending on the adjective. 0/Ve mentioned some su unc-
tive cases in Chapter 31.) You will recognize the idiomatic pairings in the sentences below:
Susan is eager [to know your birthday].
She was fascinated [to learn the truth].
We're happy [that you could be here with us tonight].
The students are disappointed [that they have to sit and watch another movie in class].
Such clauses can be said to branch from the AP node and will necessitate a revision of the
AP phrase structure rule to read:

AP (intens) Adj ({ repP})

Theresulting tree structure for the sentence Susan is eager to know your birthday is:
Susan is eager to know your birthday.
s
SUBJ PRED

1 P
N -X---------------------VP
AU
1 1
N T cop AP
1 1 1
Susan -pres be ADJ S
1
cager SUBJ PRED

,,
1
NP

PRO
AUX

to V
VP
NP

,
know det
1
your
N
1
birthday
As with earlier infınitives, the analysis makes use of PRO, which suggests that some adjec-
tives, like many verbs, incorporate a "control" type meaning. Other similar adjectives
include unwilling, willing, disappointed, inclined, anxious, and uverjayed; most express emotional
states. Most are not sources of many ESL/EFL errors, except for the occasional confusion of
which type of complement-that-clause or infinitive-goes with which adjective.

COMPLEMENTS AND EXTRAPOSITION

THE FORMAL ASPECTS OF EXTRAPOSITION

There are instances other than seem-type sentences where it appcars in subject position
andan embedded clause follows the main verb. However, they are distinctly different in
that in these cases, the eınbedded clause could replace the it in subject position and yicld
an acccptable paraphrase. For instance, we cannot have sentences like
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementation and Embedded Clauses 669

*That John is happy see ms.

With othcr vcrbs, the situation is much different. Consider the following related pairs:
[That he left without any money] is unfort unate.
lt's unfortunate [that he left without any money].
[That he spent all day watching MTV] didn't help his grades.
it didn't help his grades [that he spent all day watching MTV].
[That someone would say that] indicates a complete lack of understanding.
it indicates a complete lack of understanding [that someone would say that] .
Classical gcnerativc grammar (for example, Akmajian and Heny 1975) rclatcs such
sentcuce pairs by a rule of extraposition, whcre a clausc is generated in subject position4
and then moved, or extraposed, to the end of the sentence. The nonreferential subject it
is then placcd in subject position to satisfy the requirement foran ovcrt subject in every
English sentence. Note that wlıen that-dauscs arc placed at the beginning of the sentence
in this way, we cannot omit the complementizer that under anycircumstances:
* He left without any money is unfortunate .
However, extraposcd thaklauses may sometimes omit the complementizer, probably for
somc ofthe same reasons we noted conceming that-deletion in Chapter 31:
lt's unfortunate he left without any money.
We see the same kind of altemativc forms with infinitives as well as the free relatives
discussed in Chapter 29:
Infinitiv es:
[For her to quit like that] was scandalous.
il was scandalous [for her to quit like that].
[To do that] would take more time than I have right now.
it would take more time than I have right now [to do that].
[To buy onc of those cars] is well worth it.
It's wcll worth it [to buy one of those cars].
Free relatiVf-S:
[Who did that] is unknown.
it is unknown [who did that].
[Where we' re going] is a mystery to me.
Jt's a mystery to me [where we're going].
Gerunds are lcss amcnable to extraposition than that-clauses or infinitives; they do not
extrapose well with possessive subjects, but they somctimes occur extraposed without
expressed subjects in colloquial English:
[Her whistling old songs] woke up the neighborhood.
*it woke up the neighborhood [her whistling old songs].
[Spending the aftemoon with you] is nice.
lt's nice [spending the afternoon with you].
[Living without acar in this city] is not easy.
lt's not easy [living without acar in this city].
fi70 THE GRAMMAR 8ooK

[Watching the election results] mademe angry.

it mademe angry [watching the electlon results].
in our tree stnıcture, extraposition involves the following stnıctural change taking place:
That he left without his money Is unfortunate.

s
SUBJ PRED
1
NP AUX VP
1 1
s T cop AP
1 1 1
comp S' -pres be AD]
1
1t
t SUBJ -------------------------PRF.D unfortunate

1P
N -X---------------- VP
AU
1 1
pro T V PrepP
1 1 1
he -past leave Prep NP
1
without det N
1 1
his money

it is unfortunate that he left without his money.

------77--.S.:.:..::1.:e:xtr:apo
== sition (from SUBJ)

SUBJ PRED s
1
NP AUX VP comp S'
1 1 /"--...

[1] 1 cip 1 J ------------ P-R-ED

t1 at SU
-
-
B
1
AUX VP
- p res be ADJ NP
1 1 1
2. (it insertion) unfortwıate pro T V PrcpP
1 1 1
he -past leave Prep NP
1 /"-.
without det N
1 1
his money

Extraposition, in these cases, shifts an entire subject clause" to thc end ofa sentence,
where complements usually occur.
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementation and Embedcled Clawıes fi7 l

The same sort of movement seems to be taking place in sentences such as the
following, where extraposition occurs from an object position. In these cases, the first
alternative is clearly interpretable but may be awkward:
ll doubt [that she has the answer] very much. Note: the optional
1 doubt (it) very much [that she has the answer]. it in panmtheses Is
a pronomlnal reflex
lWe appreclate [that you had the dme to help us] greatly. for the extraposed
We appreciate (it) greatly [that you had the time to help us]. that clause.
We want [to go back to our dorrnitory] very much.
We want very much [to go back to our dormltory].
An extraposition rule has been claimed to operate elsewhere as well. Sometimes just
one part ofa subject, such as a relative clause or a complement, may detach and move to
sentence-final position; such movement in structures other than complements is most
common in colloquial usage but is not considered good forma! written style:
Extraposed NP complement:
The fact [that you have won the lottery] is irrelevant.
The fact is irrelevant [that you have won the lottery].
&traposed re'tative cl.awes:
The plan [which the president proposed] has been approved t.oday.
The plan has been approved t.oday [which the president proposed].
The problem [that I told you about] has been diagnosed.
The problem has been diagnosed [that I told you about].
&araposed participial phrase:
Any questions [regarding the contract] should be dealt with im.med.iately.
Any questions should be dealt with im.mediately [regarding the contract].
Such movement is sometimes called extraposition from NP.6

THE USE OF EXTRAPOSITION

Extraposition is usually regarded as a stylistic rule. As we have seen in cases of extraposi-
tion from object position, the failure to extrapose can result in awkward constructions
that may even cause interpretation difficulties.
English has a tendency for "heavy" or dominant elements to move to the end ofa
sentence, where heaviness or dominance is calculated mainly in terms of the length ofa
constituent. This movement is presumably a processing strategy since dominant NPs are
harder to encode and decode in initial or medial position than in final position. This is
true especially where subjects are concerned, but may occur even with other NPs in
certain cases; NPs followed by relative clause modifiers, for example, are relatively long
compared to other NPs and frequently undergo a shift toward the end of the sentence:
We saw [the movle which she had spoken about] Sunday.
We saw Sunday [the movie which she had spoken about].
Note that this would not be a possibilitywith shorter, simple NPs:
We saw the movie last Sunday.
*We saw last Sunday the movle.
h72 ,<::::,,.> THE GRAMMAR BooK

Since NPs can in principle be of indefinite length, it should therefore not be surprising
that a rule like extraposition regularly operates in English.
Extraposition may serve an additional function. As we have mentioned in earlier
chapters, English tends to place old, given information in subject position and new infor-
mation in the predicate. Since old information is typically encoded in brief form relative
to the rest of the sentence (because known or assumed information requires no elabora-
tion), a sentence like the following tends to sound better with an extraposed subject:
Unextraposed form:
That the govemor will fonnally announce the new sales tax bill is likely.
Extraposed form:
It is likely that the governor will formally announce the new sales tax bill.
If the bili in question is already famHiar to hearers/readers and is mcntioned within the
subject, it would be far more likely to appear in shorter form, approximately as follows:
The govemor's new sales tax bill is likely to be announced today.
Thus, the given/new distinction may play a considerable role in an utterer's decision to
extrapose.
Conversely, we might ask why someone chooses not to extrapose--why a full clause
might be retained in subject position. üne fairly clear case is that in which the pred.icate
of thc main clause itself contains a clause. The operation of extraposition in such cases
may present serimıs problems for sentence processing:
That he always selects the correct answer shows that he has studied the material.
llt shows that he has studied the material that he always selects the correct answer.
That you brought this matter to our attentlon helps us to see the real problem.
lft helps us to see the real problem that you brought the matter to our attentlon.
in fact, a careful discourse analysis of the use of clausal subjects would be useful since it
might confirm that subject complements occur most frequently in cases exactly like these.
In terms ofwhere we find such structures, Lisovsky (1988) shows that formal writing hasa
significantly higher number of clausal that subjects than spoken or infomıal written genres.

THE EAsY-TO-PLEASE CONSTRUCTION

A similar but distinct syntactic pattern, often called the easy-top!,ease constru c tion ,7 causes
frequent d.ifliculties for ESL/EFL students, for reasons that we outline below.

5TRUCTURALISSUES
The easy-to-please structure depends on the presence of certain adjectives denoting
personaljudgments about something: easy, hard, challenging, difftcult, annaying, important,
(im')possible, safa, dangerous, nice, boring, interesting, and fun:
lt's easy to please my friend John = My friend John is easy to please.
lt's fun to play this game. = This game is fun to play.
lt's impossible to solve the problem. = The problem is impossible to solve.
lt's not safe to eat those mushrooms. = Those mushrooms are not safe to eat.

The alternation may occur in embedded structures as well, as in the following bare-infinitive
complement:
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementation and Embedded Clauses ,.-=::::,,., 673

The teacher made it easy to follow the lectures.

The teacher made the lectures easy to follow.
This construction may appear with aJo,c,phrase, similar to verbs like prefer (see Chapter 31).
Where the.for-phrase is present, the understood subject of the infinitive is the object of far:
lt's easy for me to please my friend John.
The teacher made it easy for us to follow the lectures.
When there is no /01'-phrase, the understood PRO-type subject of toin all these cases is
normally understood to be a rather vague "anyone" or "someone." While the easy-to-pkase
construction is usually associated with infinitives, at Ieast one very common verb-like
construction, be worthV + -ing, seems to follow a similar pattem:
lt's worth watching a good program. = A good program is worth watching.
Which of the structures is basic, and how is the derivation done? While there hasbeen no
consensus among linguists on this point, one possibility is to derive the second sentence in
each pair from the first, by raising the embedded object to main clause subject in a
manner reıniniscent of wh-fronting :
[ ] is impossible to solve the problem
[The problem] is impossible to solve [ ]

The basic structure is then one in which the embedded clause originates as the comple-
ment to an adjective like easy, difficult or impossihle. The relevant part of the tree is illus-
trated as follows:
it is impossible to solve the problem.
(The problem is impossible to solve.)
s
SUBJ PRED
1
NP AUX VP
1 1
[l_.] T cop AP
\ 1 1
-pres be ADJ S

Altemativc 2. (it inser\ti n) impo1 ssible SU-B-J ---------- P-R-ED

\ 1 ----------
\ NP AUX VP
\ 1 1
'•,,,_·,·,,,, PRO to V NP
·. 1 --- -----
solve /,, det N '\
, , 1 1 )
·------------ \ the problem/
Altemative 1. raising to subject ---------------------... ,

If the object NP in the complement is raised to fili the empty slot in the main clause, it
insertion does not take place: The problem is impossible to solve. Alternatively, if the
embedded object NP is not moved out of the infinitive to serve as the higher subject,
nonreferential itfills thesubject slot: [it] is impossihle to solve this problem.
fi74 THE GRAMMAR 8ooK

Our earlier revision of AP to permit cxpansion with an optional complement S will

accommodate this structure. As before, where no movement tak.es place, the semantically
empty element it fills the subject position.
While the above movements are from direct object position, they may occur from a
prepositional object position as well when the verb phrase of the main clause includes a
PrepP, as for exaınple,
to work on o computer Computers are fun to work on.
to deal with o problem This problem is hard to deal with.
to play with o toy That toy is dangerous to play with.
to run around o trock The track is easy to run around.
aııd so on. in these cascs, we are lcft with a stranded preposition aftcr movement:
[ ] be fun to work on computers
[Computers] are fun to work on [ ]

ESLJEFL ISSUES WITH THE

''EASY-TO-PLEASE" CONSTRUCTION
Wc know of no published work on raising based on an examination ofa large corpus of
utterances that can provide an explanation of native-speaker choice bctween the basic
and the derived forms. it may be that relative focus is thc key distinction here, just as it
appears to be where raising occurs in seem-type structures. An unpublished snıdy by Terry
Santos does indicate that nonnative spcakers tend to disprefer raising to subject in cases
where native speakers would raise an NP. Consider the following example (adapted from
Time 4/27/98, p.33):
Much has happened since Betty Currie fırst faced the Grand Jury back
in January. Old friends who have been speaking with her say
a) it seems she is calm and unfazed about Round 2.
b) she seems to be calm and unfazed about Round 2.
in Santos' snıdy nonnative speakers preferred sentences like version (a) with nonraised
subjects whereas native spcakers prefcrred sentences like (b) with raised subjects bccause
they express bctter topic continuity, given the discourse context. Whatever might be the
reason for this pattcrn of prcferences, we do know that this type of strucnıre occasions
many ESL/EFL lcarner errors. Therc are several reasons for this. For one thing, when we
consider that extraposition is also an option in some of these sentences, we are now faced
with a sinıation of thrtı'-way synonymy among sets like those below:
1 am easy to please. That is easy (for me) to do.
it is easy to please me. it is easy (for me) to do that.
To please me is easy. To do that is easy (for me).
Many leaıncrs seem to blend the structures, producing sentences like
*1 am easy to do that.
whcre the intended meaning is, it is easy for me to do that.8 The confusion is unde rstand-
able. Asecond problem is that there is also something passivelike in the sentence lam easy
to pkase: it mcans that someone else, not the speaker, is doing thc pleasing.9 Since the
underlying PRO that heads the infinitive is a vague, unnamed agent (rathcr than an easily
inferrable one as in Slıe likes PRO to play tennis), there is some leaıner logic in expecting a
passive here. in fact, this logic is the sourcc of another learner error type:
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementation and Embedded Clauses ,.c.::,,., h7 j

*I am easy to be pleased.
Such an error is readily understood in view of the overall meaning of thc sentcnce, but a
passive infinitive is not acceptable here: the unnamed PRO makes the sentence active. A
third source of error arises from a lack of awareness of the fact that with raising an NP is
moved to the left in a manner similar to relative pronoun fronting, where there can be no
pronominal reflex in the original NP position; thus the ungrammaticality of the under-
lined pronouns:
*1 am easy to please me.
*The movie is worth watching n.
Teachers working at intermediate to advanced levels would do well to help students sort
out thc dilliculties in these structures, whose similarities of syntax and meaning make them
highly confusing. Though they are syntactically marked constructions, they arc frequcnt in
everyday spccch and writing, and it makes sense to devotc somc attention to them.

COMPLEX PASSIVES

At this point it is uscful to rcturn to a structure that was covered in Chaptcr 18 on thc
passive voicc and to see how the structure and its uscs integrate into the grammar of
multiclausal sentences. As you rccall from Chapter 18, a passive structure hasa patient or
recipient in thc su jcct position of the sentence and places thc agcnt of the scntence into
a sccondary position, appearing (if at all) in a by-phr.:ıse in the VP.
We will treat reportcd spccch and writing in the next chapter; however, it is worth
mentioning at tlıis point that passives frequently appear in reports wherc the agent-that
is, thc reporter-is of no particular intcrcst, and thc report, or message, is the focus.
Rather than saying Peopl,e believe that ... with a clatıse following, it is more common to sce
sentences likc thosc below:
it is believed that weather patterns are changing worldwide.
it is not known for ce rta.in who Homer was.
it is rumored that Dick has been fired.
A"ı you will recall from thc discussion in Chapter 18, the passive construction is a mcans to
topicalizc the recciver of an action or the patient of tlıc scntcncc rather than the agent. in
the case of the sentences abovc there are no real "actions," hence no real agents.
However, thc "logical" subjects of believe/know/rumorarc unstated, possibly because they
are unknown or not being divulged but also because they seem relatively irrelevant to the
main message, which is the information in the embedded clauses. As we noted in Chapter
18, the vcrb rumored does not even have an active countcrpart, as in
*People have rumored that Dick has been fired.
in these sentences extraposition of the subject clauscs also seems to have taken place, as
elsewhere seemingly for tlıe reasons (a) that heavier, lengthier constituents tend to be
placed at the end of the sentence and (b) that new information tends to fall within the
prcdicate. in these commonly employed ways of reporting other•s utterances, then, we see
thc functional interaction of two grammatical structures.
Passivcs ınay occur witlıin emhedded clauses as well and arc prcsumably subject to the
same conditions of use in discourse. Howcvcr, thc syntactic options are somewhat more
limited, depending on which type of complement among those outlined in Chapter 31 is
present. We will mention some of the possibilities here. Passives may occur with cognition-
utterance verbs taking tensed or infınitival complements:
b7ti r<-:::::,1 THE GRAMMAR BooK

Mary believed (that) her son had been given the grand prize.
Mary thought her son to have been treated unfairly.
The choice of the passive in the second scntence abovc seems motivated by a desire to
focus on the recciver/paticnt (i.e., her son) rathcr than the agcnt. Note that while passives
may occur in infınitival clanses as we ll, the forms of bl' must be untcnsed in such cases:
be/bP.en/beingoccur, but am/is/are/was/werl' do nol. For want-typc vcrbs, for cxample, wc
mayhave:
Mary wanted her son to be given the grand prize.
Again, the passive seems prcferable to its active counterpart. in the case of allow-type vcrbs
(allow, cause, order; persuade), thc choice of passive may sometimes be required, since the
active would have a completcly different meaning:
Mary persuaded her son to be examined by a podiatrist.
Mary persuaded a podiatrist to examine her son.
in thc case ofbare--infinitive or NP + participle cornplements, passives may occur, bearing in
mind the usual conditions of use. Recall that these complement types follow verbs of
perception (see, hem; waıch, notice) and manipulation (make, /.et, have). While thc ı,yntax of the
following two pairs of sentences is idcntical, thcy differ decidedly in temıs of naturalness:
We saw a squirrel eating a nut.
?We saw a nut being eaten by a squirrel.
We saw a bear chasing a man.
We saw a man being chased by a bear.
The reason is that we would normally find it odd for a speaker obscrving the event
depicted in the first pair of sentenccs to focus on the nut; however, wc would not find it at
all strange in the second pair to focus eithcr on the bcar or on thc man, i.c. the animacy
of the noun phrase is higlıly relevaut here.

MORE COMPLEMENT 5EMANTICS:

FACTIVES AND IMPLICATIVES

in this and the last chapter we havc talked about complcments in tcrms of syntactic types,
verbal frames, and thc semantic classes ofverbs that pattern with one or another of thesc
frames. üne dimension we have not explored involves the issue of truth versus falsity of
complements.

FACTIVE VERSUS NONFACTIVE PREDICATES

Kiparsky and Kiparsky ( l968) distinguished verbs and adjectival predicates according to
whetlıer they carry presuppositions, or inherent assumptions, regarding thc factual status of
their complcments. Some exaınples are listcd below:
Factive Nonfactive
coınprchend believe
regret daim
bearin mind maintain
be signifkant seem
bcodd be likely
be clear be possible
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementatlon and Embedded Clauses fi77

A fa.eti.ve complement clauseis a clause that is true regardless of whether the higher clause
is affirmati.ve, negati.ve, or interrogative:
John regrets that he eommitted the erime.
John does not regret that he eommitted the erime.
Does John regret that he eommitted the erime?
in a1l three examples, it rcmains a presumed truth thatJohn committed the erime. in a
courtroom trial, the defense attomey would likely object if the questi.on above were posed
directly to the defendant as "Do you regret that you committed the erime?" Whether the
question is answered "yes" or "no ," the response amounts to an admission of guilt. The
same quality holds with the other words and expressions on the above list of factives:
Whether thc sentence Tt is odd that our.friend disappeared is negated, questioned, or left in
thc affirmative, it remains true that our friend disappeared.
Compare now a nonfactive eomplcment, which yields different results:
The pollee maintain that John eommitted the erime.
The police do not maintain that John eommitted the erime.
Do the poliee maintain that John eommitted the erimel
in these sentences, there is no presumption about whetherJohn did or did not eommit
the erime, regardless of whether the police have strong beliefs about John's guilt or
innoeence. in a similar way, to say it is likely that the Yankees won the game does not presume
that the Yankees won or did not win; nor is this presumed if the sentenee is made negative
or cast as a question.
Factivity carries over to NP complements as wcll. C...omplements of the NP the jact are,
obviously, facti.ve:
the fact that the President is elected every four years
lthe fact that the President is elected every month
Complements of the daim, the supposition, the beliej, and other nouns are not fa.eti.ve:
the bel ief that the earth is round
the daim that the earth is flat
in Chapter 31 we spoke of the Bolingcr principle, which says that gerunds tend to
depict events which are "vivid, real, fulfilled" while infinitives tend to depict events which
arc "hypothetieal, futurc, and unfulfilled." As it turns out, gerunds-especially those with
possessive subjects-and infinitives pattem to a large extent along the faetive-nonfaetive
dimension as well. The use of gerunds in subjeet position, for example, involves a
presuınption that the event asserted in the gerund is true; if the event is asserted not (yet)
to have oeeurred, the sentenee is slightly odd:
Do hn('s) doing that] annoyed me.
ljohn's doing that would annoy me.
If the event has not (yet) oecurred, the far more idiomatie construetion would be an
infinitive:
For John to do that would annoy me.
The same holds for gerunds in object position. If a gerund is used with hate, we expeet
that the event is fulfılled and thus find use of the infinitive less idiomatic:
1 hate his having talked like that.
ll hate for him to have talked like that.
fi78 lııE GRAMMAR IOOK

With the conditional w<ndd, indicating an unfulfilled condition, we get the opposite results:
1 would hate for hlm to say that.
ll would hate his saying that.
The same distinctions may be observed with the verbs likeand l.ove.

IMPLICATIVE VERBS
Karttunen (1971) identified a further distinction among verbs in which the factuality or
nonfactuality of the complement depends both on the verb itself and on whether the
main clause asserts or denies the complement. These verbs can be "positive implicatives"
or "nega tive implicatives" as follows:
Posilive implicative Negative implicative
manage fail
succeed neglect
remember forget
lf wesay, Mary managed to finish herwoik, we assume thatMaıy did in factfinish it. lf we say,
Mary failed ıo fmish her work, we assume that she did not. The same holds for the other
verbs on the list. When implicatives are negated, however, the situation reverses:
Mary did not manage to finlsh her work. (She dld not finlsh it.)
Mary did not fail to flnlsh her work. (She flnished it.)
In the first case (a negated positive implicative)Mary did not finish her work, while in the
second (a negated negative implicative) she did.
Though the above examples are infinitival, it should be pointed out that the majority
of verbs taking infinitives are not of the impli.cative type. Most tend simply to be ordinary
nonfactives: the use of allaw, believe, prefer, kate, or imaginewith the infinitives following
them presupposing nothing about the truth of the event expressed in the complement,
regardless of whether the sentence is affirmed or denied. Factive verbs like regret and
factive adjectival predicates such as be odd tend to take that-clause complements, though a
great many nonfactive verbs take that-clause com plemen ts as well.

CONCLUSION
in this chapter we have focused most strongly on a nuınber of structures in which stylistic
variation comes into the picture-that is, where one has the choice of usingone syntactic form
or another when the options produce roughly synonymous sentences but when discourse
considerations tend to dictatea certain formfor certain functions. These structures include:
a. Raising to subject in a seem-type clause or usinga tensed seem-complement
b. Extraposing or not extraposing
c. Moving or not moving an easy-to-pkase object into main clause subject position
d. Using a complex passive or using the roughly synonymous active form
The fact of rough synonymy here means that issues of use as well as form come to the fore
as elements of ESL/ EFL teaching. High-intermediate as well as advanced writing students
may benefit tremendously from a knowledge of the options available to them once they
master the more basic synt.actic structures of the language.
in the next chapter you will see how com plex sentences are put to use in reported
speech and writing. We also carry the discussion of factive versus nonfactiveverbsfurther to
seewhat bears on choosing one or the other in the course of reporting others' utterances.
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementatlon and Embedded Clauses ,c:::::,., fi79

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS

1. Form/ Use. Learning the rules for raising, extraposition, easy-to-pkase, and complex
passives help students to become aware ofa variety of syntacti.c fonns thatshare essenti.ally
the same meaning. Because the variations are roughly synonymous, there is some value
simply in presenting students with one form and having them transform sentences into
roughly synonymous variants, as for example:
That Seattle is so rainy does not bother me.
(>it does not bother me that Seattle is so rainy.)
To work with clay is interesting.
( > lt's interesting to work with clay. / Clay is interesting to work with.)
People believe that electric cars may soon be popular.
(>it is believed that electric cars may soon be popular.)
The fact thatJohn passed the exam is not surprising.
( > John's passing the exam is not surprising.)
However, it is also of immense value where more complex constructions are concerned
for students to see how the constructions pattem in naturally occurring discourse. After
covering the constructions and their functions in class, teachers should present whole
paragraphs from written texts they have collected and ask students why a writer may have
chosen one structure over the other. (in many cases, of course, no definitive answer may
be obvious.) Another option would be for students to collect their own exaınple para­
graphs containing one or more of these structures from the opinion section of the daily
newspaper (where syntax tends to be somewhat more complex) and to present them to
the class, offering their own explanations ofwhy the writer chose to write thc sentences in
the way that they appeared.

2. Form. Practicing easy-to-pkase constructions might go hand-in-hand with practice in

stranding prepositions in a nativelike way (see Chapter 21). Both might be practiced in
the context of small groups, with each student having to solve a relati.vely quickly solvable
problem such as a scrambled-word sentence or a small crossword puzzle. Each group
works in pairs or threes to perform their tasks. The teacher then writes the alternative
grammatical fonns on the board and proceeds to model questions in both forms for the
first group of students approximately as follows:
T: What was Ali working onl
SI: He was working on a crossword puzzle.
T: Was it hard for Ali to solve the puzzle, or was the puzzle easy to solvel Ask him.
SI: Was it hard for you to solve the puzzle, or was it easy to solvel
Ali: it was very hard for me to solve. it was impossible to solve.
The teacher can then present a larger range of adjectives-jun, interesting, boring, chal-
knging, and impossible---and have students query each other in their groups as to the diffi-
culty of their tasks. They can then report their results to the class as a whole.
An alternative to this task might be a questi.on-and-verification sequence in which the
teacher models the first question and the verification questi.on, using altemative forms in
each sentence. The students then reply directly to the form of each type of question:
Teacher: Alicia, is it hard to drive a carl
Student I: Yes, it is hard to drive a car.
Teache:r Grace, is a car really hard to drivel
Student 2: No, a car is really not hard to drive.
ti80 THE GRAMMAR 8ooK

Studcnts can then work in groups, taking turns asking each other such questions while
using the adjectives on the blackboard as options.

3. Form. A clause<ombining cxercise may help students integrate some of the constnıc­
tions in this chaptcr and the last in such a way as to allow them not only to master the
formal aspects but also the stylistic ones. it is important to point out the usefulness of
expressions like the fact (that . . . ) in clause combining in view of the impossibility of tW
clauses occurring after prepositions. With these things in mind, teachers can set scntences
like those below side by side and have students turn them into all the possible grammat-
ical sentenccs they can think of, allowing them to bring in other clause types they know
(such as relative clauses and adverbial clauses, for example). The resulting sentences may
or may not express identical ideas:
a. My brother sleeps late.
That bothers me.
I can't play ıny music.
That is a fa.et.
1) it bothers me that my brother sleeps late because of the fa.et that I can't play
mymusic.
2) The fact that my brother slceps late bothers me because I can't play my music.
3) My brother's slceping late means that I can't play my music, and that fact
bothers me.
b. It's unfortunate.
You won't be able to join me for lunch.
My friend is in town.
You wanted to meet my friend.
1) (The fact) that you won't be able to join me for lunch is unfortunate because
my friend who(m) you wanted to meet is in town.
2) It's unfortunate that you won't be able to join mc for lunch becausc my friend
is in town who(m) you wanted to mcet.
c. Somcthing is (not) likely.
My brother will remember something.
Next Friday is my bir thday.
My parents will call my brothcr.
My parents will remind my brother.
1) it is not likely that my brother will remember my birthday, which is next Friday,
evcn though my parents will call him to teli him thaL
2) it is likely that my parents will call my brother to remind him that next Friday
is my birthday, but my brother will not rcmember.
One advantage of this kind of activity is that teachers have the opportunity to guidc
studcnts away from the less fclicitous combinations that result and toward more natural-
sounding ones. At the same time, however, students often come up with quite sensible
combinations that the teacher would never have thought of!
There is an altemative, more contextualized way of doing this sort of cxercise, but it
will somewhat constrain the possible combinations. With some integration, individual
combincd clausc sets may be sequenced in such a way as to form a coherent story or other
text, provided the right combinations are chosen. Tcachers choosing this option may
sclect paragraphs from newspapcrs or magazines and adapt them for the purpose of the
exercise, creating threc- and fouHentcnce sets of short clauses to combine.
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementation and Embeclded Clauses ,-.::::,,., fiil

4. Use. The form of raising structures, as well as their use, can be practiced with the
help ofa series of pictures that depict a progression of events (see, for example, the
Longman Picture Series, which provides ready-made materials for this sort of activity). The
teacher can teli students that they cannot be absolutely certain of what is happening in
the pictures, so they will have to hedge their descriptions with verbs like seem, appear,
and look like. This can be a good opportunity for students to practice relatively focused
raising structures and relatively unfocused it-structures. The teacher can ask a general
question :first:
What is happening in this picturel
Appropriate responses might be,
it seems that it is a very windy day.
it looks like it is a very windy day in the mountains.
The teacher can then zero in on ind.ividuals in the picture and ask,
What is the man doingl
An appropriate response which focuses on the man would be,
The man seems to be holding onto his hat.
This sort of questioning can continue for the other pictures, until the last picture:
Teacher: How did the story tum outl
Sıudenr it tumed out that everyone was safe inside a cabin.
Teacher: Who did the man turn out to bel
Studenr He tumed out to be a very farnous movie star.
The task is also easily adaptable as a written exercise involving narration and description.

S. Form/Meaning. Complex-NP complement structures like the fact that, the recommenda-
tion that, and so on can be practiced by providing students with a list of possible NPs like
the following:
the fact the news
the claim the belief
the idea the announcement/report
the possibility/ chance therecommendation/proposal
the likelihood/ probability the demand
the suggestion the argument
Students are then given sentences to be tumed into complements of suitable NPs chosen
from the list; these may include NPs that take subjunctive complements. The sentences
represent controversial statements likely to elicit inspired responses of d.ifferent types:
a. it has just been announced on the news that engineering students wil1 pay higher
college tuition because they will make higher salaries in the future.
Possible responses:
1) The idea that engineering students should pay higher tuition is ridiculous
because they will not necessarily make higher salaries.
2) There is no possibility that engineering students wil1 pay higher tuition.
3) I anı surprised to hear the news that engineering students will pay higher
tuition, because it does not seem fair.
682 r-:::,,., THE GRAMMAR BooK

b. Cars should be banned completely from the downtown area.

Possible responses:
1) I completely agree with the recommendation that cars be banned from the
downtown area because it will reduce traffic.
2) The proposal that cars be banned from the downtown area will cause big
problems.
3) There is no likelihood that cars will be banned from the downtown area
because people need to drive through this area.
This exercise can be adapted to an essay-writing task in which students develop an argu.-
mentative response to one or another of the statements.

ExERCISES

Test your abillty to understand what has been presented.

1. ldentify the following terms and provide an example sentence in which each occurs.
a. raising to subject g. easy-to-please constructions
b. complex NP h. complex passive
c. adjective complement i factive verb
d. clausal subject j. nonfactive verb
e. extraposition k. iınplicative verb
f. extraposition from NP
2. State why the following sentences are ungrammatical:
a. *it seemsJohn to be a successful businessman.
b. *They avoided that hotel due to it was so expensive.
c. *To watch Tanya skate it's interesting.
d. *Nobody ever complains proves this is a happy office.
3. Draw trees for the base forms of the following sentences and show, where necessary,
how mapping rules produce the surfa.ce forms.
a. The f.act that our car has broken down forces us to change our plans.
b. That the record was a smashing success helped to make the singer famous.
c. lt seems clear that someone has made a mistake.
d. John disagreed with the daim that his senator was unsympathetic to motorists.
e. The idea is preposterous that parrots are linguistic geniuses.
f. it is usually assumed that parrots do not understand what they say.
g. A sponge cake is simple to make with this new recipe.

Test your ablllty to apply what you know.

4. Suppose that a writing student who has produced the following sentences asks why
you have identified them as incorrect. How would you answer?
Is not true that Olivia missed her train.
1 thought I was easy to walk that far.
This kind of movie Is boring to be watched.

5. One way has been mentioned in this chapter for distinguishingbetween relative clauses
with that and noun complements with that: the word that at the beginning of the
complement clause cannot be identified with an NP in the clause the way the relative
pronoun that can. Can you think of another test that can serve to distinguish them?
 Chapter 32: Other Aspects of Complementation and Embedded Clauses ,-c;;::,., bHl

6. in this chapter we havc presented the categories "factive" and "nonfactivc" to classify
verbs. How wou1d you classify the verbs see and understand based on the following
examp1e sentcnces?
1 see that you've bought a new car.
The drunken sailor saw snakes crawling on the floor.
1 now understand that there is a faster route to Houston.
1 understood Mary to say that she was from Houston.
Exp1ain your answcr based on the criteria presented in the chapter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

References
Akmajian, A., and F. Hcny (1975). An lntroduction to the Princip!,es of1ransf<mna1,ional
Syntax. Cambridge: MiT Press.
Baker, C. L. (1989). Englislı Syntax. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Emonds,J. E. (1976). A Transfarmationol Approach toEnglish Syntax. New York: Academic Press.
Giv6n, T. (1990). Syntax: A Functional-Typol<>gical Introduction (vol. 2). Philadelphia:
John Benjamins.
Karttunen, L. (1971). "lmplicative Verbs," l.,anguage47:2, 340-358.
Kipa rsky, P., and C. Kiparsky (1970). "Fact." in M. Bierwisch and K. Heidolph (eds.),
Progress in, l i n guistics. The Hague: Mouton.
Kostcr,J. (1978). "Why Subject Sentcnces Don't Exist." in S.J. Keyser (ed.), Recent
Transformational Studi.es in European Languages, Cambridge: MIT Press, 53-64.
Lisovsky, K. (1988) . A Discourse Analysis of Nominal Th,u-dauses in Eng1ish.
Unpublished Master's thcsis, UCLA.
Santos, T. (undated). "The Frequency and Usage of Raised and Non-Raised Structurcs in
English Discourse." Unpublished paper, UClA.

Suggestions for further reading

Raising to subject and extraposition are discussed in a traditional generative framework in
Chapters 8 and 9 of:
Akmajian, A. and F. Heny (1975). Full reference above and in a more recent framework
in Chapter 8 of:
Radford, A. (1988). Transformational Grammar: A .First Course.Cambridge: Caınbridge
University Pre ss.
A functional discussion of raising, including theeasy-to-please constnıction appea:rs in Chapter 17 of:
Giv6 n, T. (1990). Full rcfcrence above.
The types of extraposition outlined here and some additional proposed types are discıtsse.d in:
Baltin, M (1981). "SLrict Bounding" in C. L. Baker &J.J. McCarthy (eds.) ThR Logical
Prob/,em of Language Acquisition. Cambridgc, MA: MIT Press.
Quirk, R et al. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English l.,anguage. London:
Longman (see Chapter 18).
Radford, A. (1988). Full reference above. Chapters 7 and 8; also pays considerable
attention to passives within clausal complements.
 Chapter

Focus AND EMPHASIS

INTRODUCTION
in English, focus and emphasis are related notions; however, the structures used for focus
center primaril:y on :issues of use, whereas the words and structures used to express emphams
are priman1y concemed with meaning. Focus and emphasis can be expressed in three
different ways: (1) phonologically (through special stress and intonation), (2) lexically or
nonphonologically (through special words and ph.rases), and (3) syntactically (through
marked word order or special focus constructions). We will present the form, meaning, and
u.se of these devices in this chapter, giving particular emphasuı to the syntactic means for
conveying focus and emphasis in English.

THE FoRMS THAT Focus ANDEMPHASIS CAN TAKE

PHONOLOGICAL FORM
Consider the following sentence:
John cooked the dinner.
When produced in a normal, unmarked style, the speaker stresses the accented syllable of
the !ast content word and uses this syllable as a pivot for the rising-falling intonation
contour that normally accompanies a declarative English sentence:
John cooked ttıej di
However, a nonemphatic sentence such as this one may contain an emphatic constituent
ifthe speaker assigns special stress or prominence to one ofthe constituents (see also mır
earlier discussion ofstress-focused yes/no questions in Chapter 11):
J cooked the dlnner. (not someone else)

(as opposed to doing somethlng else with respect to the

dlnner)
John cooked thelDIN (not somethlng else)
In these cases, the stressed (or prominent) syllable also serves as the pivot for a marked
intonation contour.

MORPHOLOGICAL AND LEXICAL DEVICES

English also has several morphological and lexical means for expressing special emph asis.
fi12 ,<:::,, THE GIIAMMAR 8ooK

Emphatic Do
An entire sentence reccives grcater emphasis if the auxiliary isstressed. Dois introduced
whcn no auxiliary verb is present to carry emphatic strcss:
That w6uld be nice!' it does taste nice!
Do occurs as a marker of emphasis in affırmative declarative sentences (like the second
one above) that have no becopula or auxiliary verb to serveas the stress bearing operator.
It also occurs in the two following constructions:
• Affirmative wh-<jues tio ns that ask about the subject (other auxiliary verhs may occur
with stress here too)

What dld happen? Who { d es } earn that k.ind of mdney?

can
What wis happening?
• Emphatic affirmative imperatives (even for those with the copuJa, do is th c only
auxiliary used here)
Do come ln! Do be d vil this time.
Emphatic Reflexlve Pronouns
Emphatic reflexive pronounsgenerally follow thc nouns thcy refer to:
The owner himself built the house.
The victims themselves can't explain how the accldent occurred.
1 saw the president himself.

However, it isalso possible to postpose the reflexive pronoun emphasizing the subject and
havc it at thc end of the sentence:
1 saw the president myself.
This use of reflexives is different from thcir referential use, which was discussed in
Chapter 16 (e.g., John cut himsclf) in that they do not rcplace a coreferential noun
phrase but occur after a noun phrase and refeı·back to it to mak.e it more emphatic. They
arc al<ıo different from the adverbial use of reflexives that means "all alonc; without assis-
tance." When used with the lattcr meaning, the rcflexive pronoun is often preceded by
the prepo sition by:
T he owner built thls house (by) himself.

Emphatic Own
Possessivc determiners (and somctimes nouns with a possessive intlection) that modify a
head noun can be madc emphatic by the additioo of own, which in turn can be intensified
by the addition of vcry:
(After having accepted Chomsky's analysis of comparatlve sentences for several years),
1 later developed my own analysis for such se nte nces.
Is that Johnny'svery own Ferraril (1 d idn't know he had the money to buy such a car.)

Emphatic Adjectlves and Adverbs

Emphatic adjectives, a subcategory of reference adjectives, occur only in attributive
position (see Chapter 20):
 Chapter 30: Focus and Emphasis ,._,,.,, ti13

a pure fabrication *That fabricatlon Is pure.

an outright lie *This ile is outright.
a mere child *The child is mere.
We distinguish these emphatic adjectives from amplifying adjectives, which may occur in
both attribute and predicate position:
a complete victory (The victory was complete.)
their extreme condemnation (Their condemnation was extreme.)
hisgreat folly (His folly was great.)

Emphatic Logical Connectors

Halliday and Hasan (1976) suggest thatsome logical connectors are more emphatic tlıan
otlıers. Thus, foT expressing addition, and is a nonemphatic connector wheTeasJurtlıer­
more, moreover, and some others are emphatic and thus not appropriate unless tlıe
discourse context merits special emphasis with respect to the logic of the connection (see
ChapteT 26 for more discussion on when to use.furtherm<,re and momroer):
John went to the store, and he bought some bread.
1John went to the store·{ furthennore} he bought some bread
· ' moreover ' ·
John talked us into going out for dinner; moreover, he insisted on paying the bili.

5YNTACTIC MEANS FOR Ex:PRESSING

Focus AND EMPHASIS
MARKED W0RD ORDER
Marlıed word ardercan be defined as the movemenl ofa constitueot into a position in the
sentence where wewould not ordinarily expect to find it (i.e., it would not be generated by
the phrase st:ructure rules in that position). Sometimes othersyntactic elements present in
the sentence must be moved around to produce a grammatical senteoce. The reasoos foT
employing word-oTder focus tlıat havemost frequently been identified and described are:
discourse constraints (e.g. the management of given and new infoTmation) and the
expression of counterexpectancy,contrast, OT emphasis.
Next, we outline several different types of marked word order.

ObJect-SubJe Verb Word Order

Fronting the object to firstposition in a sentence tends to bea stylisıic feature of spok.en ratheT
than written English, and it can appear in contexts where a strong contrast is being made:
Him l like; her I don't. (1 like hlm but I don't [ilke] her.)
John I can comprehend; the others speak gibberish. (1 can comprehend John--but as
for the others, they speak gibbeıish.)

Predlcate AdJectlval/Nomlnal-Subject-Copula Word Order

Fronting a predicate adjective OT noun to initial position is also a possibility in certain

written genres, such asfiction:
Ambitious she must have been, or she wouldn't have come.
A professor he was, but in name only.
fi14 ,_ THE GIWINII 800K

in addition to an appropriate d.iscourse context explicitly or implicitly mentioning the

fronted item, all such orderings seeın to require a clau.se or phrase thatfoilowıı the sentence
with the inversion. The following clause or phrase is needed to m.ake explicit the counter-
expectation or contrast implied by the inversion.
Frontlng wlth SubJec:t-Operator lnverslon
in some instances, fronting a negative adverbial constituent or an adverbial constituent
expressing extent, degree, or comparison gives a more emphatic or exclamatory reading
to the sentence as a whole; in such cases, subject-operator inversion accompanies the
constituent fronting:
Negative fronting:
Never have I seen such a mess!
Under no clrcumstances will he enter this house again!
Extent/degree/comparison fronting:
So absurd was his manner that everyone laughed at him.
Even more rogulsh was John's younger brother.
Several constituents other than noun phrases, adjectives, and adverbials regularly get
fronted in a similar manner; in these cases, subject/ operator inversion also occurs:
Present participle fronting:
Sitting at the kitchen table was our missing uncle.
Past participle fronting:
Hldden in the cellar were several barrels of wlne.
However , as Bresnan (1994) correctly points out, the locative element in such participle
fronting examples is often quite strong (at the kitdıen table; in the celi.ar) and if the locative
adverbial is deleted, the sentence becomes less grammatical:
lSlttlng was our missing uncle.
lHiddenwere several barrels of wlne.
But if there is no participle, the sentences seem fine; they are simply cases of an initial
adverbial prepositional phrase with required inversion of the subject and operator2:
At the kitchen table was our missing uncle. *At the kltchen our uncle was.
in the cellar were several barrels of wine. *in the cellar the barrels were.

Frontlng with or without SubJect-Verb lnverslon

Two other instances of fronting occur that seem somewhere between the two categories
above; i.e., they involve fronted adverbials and are grammatical whether or not the subject
an d main verb (not the operator, but the verb) are also inverted. Thus, for these two
following instances of adverbial fronting, two types of adverbial fronting are possible:
Adverbials of direction
a. lnto the house John ran.
John ran lnto the house. { b . Into theh ouse ranJ oh n.
 Chapter 30: Focııs and Emphasis i 1:i

Adverbials of position

a. in the garden an elm tree { :.a ds}.

15
An elm tree stands in the garden.
{ st a nds}
b. in the garden { is an elm tree.

in both of these cases the (a) version, which could in fact be direclly generated by our
phrase stnıcture nıles, seems to signal discourse emphasis or contrast of the initial
adverbial element, whereas the (b) version of the two sentences appears to give focus to
the delayed subject of the sentence. it is the inverted (b) versions that are of particular
interest to us here and will be discussed again later in the use section.

SPECIAL Focus CONSTRUCTIONS

A focus construction is a structure that frames (i.e ., gives explicit gramroatical focus to)
the constituent appearing in the focus slot. The two most important focus constructions
in English are passive voice and nonreferential t"here which have already been discussed in
Chapters 18 and 23, respectively. Two other important focus constmctions that we discuss
next are it-clefts and wh-clefts.

lt-Clefts
An ikleft isa specially marked construction that puts some constituent, typically an NP,
into focus. The constnıction implies contrast. (Note that contrastive stress alone without
the cleft. transformation could signal the same meaning as the cleft.)
Neutral: John wants acar.
Cleft It's acar thatjohn wants (nota house).
Neutral: The manager mows the lawn.
Cleft: lt's the manager who mows the lawıı (nota gardener).
It is difficult to formulate a rulc that wouJd generate all iklefts since many different
constituent5 such as subject NPs, object NPs, and even prepositional phrases and adverbial
clauses can be put into the focus slot that follows it+ be:
lt's the teacher who corrects the papers (not the aide).
lt's power that the president wants (not money).
lt's in the kitchen that I study (not in the den).
it was because he was jealous that Bobby lied about his sister's prize. (not for some
other reason).
in each case, not only can the negative presupposition be expressed overtly, but if it is, it
can be moved forward; for example, It's the teacher, not the aide, who corrf>,ets the papers. Note
that a oegated vel'8ion of this construction yields sentcnces like the following (i.e., if the
focus is negative, the affirmative presuppo sitioo. is contrastive and is often expressed in a
phrase marked by but):
lt's not the gardener who mows the lawn (but the manager).
Again, the contrastive presupposition may be moved forward if it is expressed overtly:
lt's not the gardener, but the manager, who mows the lawn.
fi16 THE GRAMMAR Booıc

The foJlowing formula is, therefore, an approximation for describing an it-cleft:

S lt + AUX + be + (Not) + D. + { ; } + S
focused (minus focused
constituent constituent)

in particular, our use of the "AUX" ı.-ymbol in the cleft fonnula is a gross approximation.
it has been suggested to us that only the ''tense" constituent of the auxiliary be u ed in
the It + be segment of the rule rather than the entire auxiliary. The logic behind this
suggestion is that in Standard orth American English the it+ be segment of the cleft can
never take a phrasal modal, a have . . . -en (perfectivc), ora be . . . -ing (progressive):
lt's in the kitchen that I am able to study.
* it is able to study that I amin the kitchen.
lt's these books that Peter has written.
*lt's have written these books that Peter has do ne.
lt's the teacher who was correcting the papers.
* lt's correcting the papers that the teacher was (doing).
(in other dialects of English some of the st.an·ed scntences are possible).
it is, however, possible for the it+ be segınent ofa cleft to contain a modal auxiliary
(logical use) in standard North American:
it might be Marty who stole the money.
it must be the butler who killed Mr. Smith.
Also, it has been claimed that the tense of the it+ he segınent is merely a copy of the tense
used in the main sentence. This daim is not always true, however, because defts such as the
following occur, where different tenses are used in the il+ be segmenı and the main sentence:
So, it's the butler who killed Mr. Smith (not his wife).
pres past
Thus, unril ali thcse comple x factors have been resolved, we will continue to usc the
symboE "AUX" in Lhis rule-with the added condition lhat ehe AUX may cont.ain only a
tense or a logical (i.e., epistemic) moda!. Furlhermore, if a moda) and nol are both
present in the il + be segment, the not will follow the modal and precede the be:.
it can't be Peter who wrote this book. (someone else did)
Note that who may come between the focused constituent and the S only if the former
refers to a person. Otherwise, lhat is used to refer to objects and prepositiona1 phra.ses as
well as to persons when the register is infonnal.
Ex.cept for the presence of contrastive stTess in cleft sentences, they sometimes
resemble relative clauses. For example, note the ambiguity of the following sen te nce
dted by Schachter (1973) in his discussion of cleft sentcnces a focus constıuctions that
sometimes resemblc relative clauses:

lt's the woman { ! } cleans the house.

(answer to "Who's that?" = relative clause)

(answer to "Who cleans the house-the man or the woma n?" = it-cleft)
When spoken, however, the scntence would have different stress patterns since the iklefL
reading would give special stress to woman and the relative clause reading would not.
 Chapter 30: Focus and Emphasis h1 7

Wh-Clefts
Wh-clefts (also referred to as "pseudoclefts") are tlıe other important focus constnıction in
English. Consider the following examplcs;
What he is, is a complete fool.
Where we found the key was in the flowerpot.
What I said wa.s that we shouldn't go there.
What he does is get himself in t ro uble. 3
Now compare these wh-clefts with their neutral counterparts:
He is a complete fool.
We found the key in the flowerpot.
1 said that we shouldn't go there.
He gets himself in trouble.

The wh<left sentences give special emphasis to the constituent(s) fo11owing some form of
the copula be:
What he is a complete fool.
presumed shared knowtedge: ..he is something'' (element recetving focus, emphasis)

As the examples above demonstrate, the constinıent receiving special focus can be a noun
phrase, a verb phrase, a prepositional phrase, oran embedded noun clause (see Chapters
31 and 33). lf there are two forms of the verb be presen t, the second one is the pivotal be
structure.
Wh-clefts sbould not be confused with the less emphatic free relative clausc construc-
tion discussed in the preceding chapter.
WTı,cleft:
What I said was that we shouldn't go there.
Free relative:
What he said doesn't concem me.
in the free relative, the what = the thing that, and there is no pivotal form of be. Also, in the
free relative, what he said.functions as the suiject of the sentence. in the wh<.left, thcre is a
pivotal form of be (i.e., was), and the initial wh-clause, what I said, get.s elaborated and put
into focus in the material tlıat comes after the pivot, that we shotılıln'l go f.here.
Free relatives can occur wherever NPs normally occur. so they can occur as objects of
verbs or prepositions as easily as thcy can occur as subjects:
l' m not lnterested in what he said. (free relative)
Wh-clefts can be reversed, although they occur primarily in initial position, as our examples
above have shown:
We shouldn't go there was what I sald.
A complete fool is what he is.

MEANING AND USE OF SOME EMPHATIC FORMS

EMPHATIC Use OF Do
Emphatic dois used in at least five context.s, according Lo Frdllk (1993:94): 1
1. Affımıative contrc:1.dictions of negative statements (often used with but ):
My teacher daims that I didn't turn in my paper but I did turn it in.
 18 ,c::,,., THE GRAMMAR 8ooK

2. Emphasis ofa verb used with a preverbal adverb (see Chapter 25):
The horse he bet on always did win.
The guest we were waiting for never did arrive.
3. Emphasis ofa positive outcome after some initial doubt.
l'm relieved to know that he does ilke beef stroganoff.
(because that's what we're having for dlnner)
◄. Strong concession bordering on contrast:
Even though I dislike most nonclassical muslc, 1 do find myself drawn to Dixieland jazz.
5. Emphasis ofa whole sentence (de often occurs with an in tensifying adverb such as
r.ertainly, really, <kfinitely):
1 certainly do like that color on you.
They definltely did win the game.
Of course, when sentences contain auxiliary verbs that can be used as operators, the
auxiliary verbs can be stressed in the same contexts as those identified above for emphatic
use of do:
1. You predict we won't win the match, but wewiH win. You wait and see!
2. Aaron never can figure out problems like that.
3. l'm happy to hear you are plannlng to be there.
4. Although he hasn't made a donadon this year; he has contributed generously in the past.
5. We certalnly will support your elecdon to the board.

MEANING AND UsE OF OWN

in nonemphatic sentences the posse. ive (or genitive) case can be u.cıed to express an agent
(e.g., Holbem's portrait of Henry V//1),a possessor (e.g., Al'shouse),an event (e.g.,John's d,.aıh),
and so on. (see Chapter 16); however, the use of emphatic oum with a possessive determiner
or noun usually signa ls the meaning of ownership or special interest rather than other
possible meanings ofthe possessive. Thus, ifwe take the above example for the possessive
expressing aıı agent and add oum (c.g., / prefer Holhein's oum portrait of Henry VIII), English
speakers who are naive about thc historical names and facts involved will tend to under-
stand that Holbein is the owner of-rather than the artist who produced-the portrail.
The use of {lUJn to emphasize an agent is appropriate only when the peı:-son referred to in
the possessive form is both the agent and the possessor of the head noun. There isa special
constnıction in English for expressing this double relationship:
head noun + of+ possessive form + own + gerund
possession agency

Examples: That's a problem of his own making.

You will have an escort of your own choosing.
in voluıne 7 of his multivolume grammar ofthe English language,Jespersen (1961) notes
that emphatic reflexives and emphatic own often function as paraphrascs of each other:5
He cooks his own meals. He cooks his meals hlmself.
 Chapter 30: Focus and Emphasis ti19

COLLOQUIAL USE OF EMPHATIC HERE AND

THERE WITH DEMONSTRATIVES
The English language also has man y colloquial a.nd clialectal marken; of emphasis suclı as
the use of here and tlıere to emphasize the demonstrntives this/these and tlıaı/tJıose, respcctively:

Thls { ba. here hcow} has aJways given a lot of milk.

• cow ere

What do you think of that { ba. therehhousel}

,
• house t ere!

Ali the sequenccs above occur only in somewhal nonstandard colloquial usage; howcver,
the (b) sentences reprcsent a more acceptable variant than the (a) ones do.

Use OF MARKED WoRD ORDER

What is the motivation for fronting adverbials of direction or position in sentences where
subject-verb inversion also occurs?
lnto the house ran Jo hn.
in the garden stands an elm tree.
A pilot study by C':ıary (1974) suggests that the speaker/ writer has selected the subject NP-
now in final position- to sutprise the speaker/ reader, create suspense, and spccifically to
go counter to the expectati.ons of lhe listener/ reader. For example, using tcxts such as the
following, Gary claims that the counter-Lo-expectation function of the (b) version of the text-
final sentencc carries a special presupposition of counterexpectancy and that this contrasts
with the neutral, noninverted (a) version, which has no special prcsuppositions:
Keith Sebastlan had given me detailed instrUctions on how to find his house; he
was to meet me there with the money. 1 drove up the driveway and got out of my car.
Just as the car door dosed, 1 heard the main door to the house open.

Keith Sebastian}
a. Dan Carlyle stepped out of the ho use.
{
The Sheriff

#Keith Sebastian}
b. Out of the house stepped Dan Cariyle .
{ the Sherlff
(Note: #=not acceptable given the discourse context)
hı the (b) vcrsion, Keith Sebastian is not acceptable as the postposed subject, according
to Cary, because there is no countcrexpectancy; that is, thc reader would normally expect
Keüh Sebas-ıian to be the subject just as he is in the first option of thc (a) version, but given
the use of the (b) construction, which signals counterexpectancy, the readcr is invited to
be swprised when somcone else is the postposed subjecL
Gary convincinglydemonstrates that concepts such as definitcncss versus indefiniten
oroew infonnation versus given infonnation do not adequately explain this example-and
the olher exaınples he cites-as effectively as does the notion of counterexpectancy.
Gary provides evidence that use of present and past participle fronting may also
signal sutprise or count.crexpectancy to the listener/reader in the samc way that fronting
of adverbials of directi.on and position do:6
Sitting in the front seat of the car was my cousin Joe.
Hidden at the back of my father's wine cellar was an old bottle of Chateau d'Yquem.
ti20 ,-=:::::., THE Gıwowt 8ooK

On the other hand, Gary does not feel that the fronting of negative or of degree or cxtent
constituenL accomplishes the same discourse function:
Never have I seen such a mess!
So absurd was his pro position that no one believed him.
We agrec with Gary and feci that these !ast two cases of fronting express an emphatic
cxclamatory meaning. Use of negative or degree/extent/comparison fronting reflects
cxclamatory speaker/ writcr stance rather than signaling the possibility of surprise or
countercxpectation on the part of the listcner/reader.
Gary (1974) uscd fiction (i.e., paperback novels) as his source for examples. Yang
( 1989) uscd a largcr and more diversified database that induded transcribed specch,
short stories, academic writing, and journ alism. One interesting finding she made is that
markcd word order with inversion did not occur at all in her oral corpus (about 24,500
words), which had only onc instance of direct object fronting:john I tike. In her written
<.·orpus (about 70,000 words drawn from fıction,journalism, and academic writing), Yang
found 29 instances of inverted word order, only five of which (17 pcrcent) cxpressed
contrast or counter expectation. However, she found 16 cases (55 percent) whcre the
marked word order with inversion servcd to maintain thematic continuity and eight cases
(28 percent) where it established or resumed a topic.7
In tlıe following example, thematic continuity is maintained through use of marked
word orcler and inversion:
(A short LA Times artide describes Mother Teresa's visit to South Africa. Having
reported what Mother Teresa said upon arrival at the airport, the writer continues:)
Accompanylng her (Mother Teresa) were four nuns who will run the new mission....
(Yang 1989:23)
Here thc present participle fronting and inversion serve to keep Mother Teresa as the
initial noun phrase in the clause. Thc same goal could have been achieved, of course, by
using passive voice (a focus construction we have discussed previouslyin Chapter 18).
She was accompanied by four nuns who ...
The following text begins a paragraph and is an example of using marked word order
with invcrsion to introduce or present a character or participant:
Across the aisle was an elderfy woman, dressed resolutely in black--dress, scarf,
stoc kings, shoes. [paragraph continues to describe the old woman]
(Yang 1989 : 15)
Since the preccding paragraph had described anotl1er character in thc short story, one
might say that this construction is being used to express contrast in addition to intro-
ducing a new participant or topic. In fact, Yang acknowledges that the three discourse
functions she idcnıifıed can overlap and that often two occur in any one instance of
marked and inve rted word order.
Thcre was at lcast one clear case of contrast (or countcrexpectation) that Yang found
in academic writing dealing with language acquisition:
These dause types are followed by relative clauses modifying common nouns in object
positio n. Stil/ missing at age 4 are relative dauses built on sentence subjects.
(Yang, 1989:20)
 Chapter 30: Focus and Emphasis . h21

Bimer (1994) also looked al a largc number of naturally occurring tokens of

sentences with invcrsion-type markcd word order, and shc proposes that ..inversion serves
an information-packaging function: that of prcsenting iııfonnation which is ınore faıniliar
in the discoursc before information which is lcss familiar"(p. 255). She also fclt it was
signilicant that inforınation inferr,ı,ble from contcxt was treatedjust as if it wcre given
infonnation (for purposes of inversion). Bimcr's account, however, docs not fully explain
tl10sc cases where a sense of cmphasis or contrast secms to be achieved through the use of
inversion, which sevC'ral of the examples from Gary and Yang have illustratcd.

D IFFERENCES iN THE D IS T RIBUT IO N, M EAN ING,

AN D Use OF IT-CLEFTS A N D W H-C LEFTS
Kim ( 1988} cxamincd a clatabase of over 500,000 words (about 230,000 spoken and
290,000 writtcn) and found a strong preference for wlı-clefts in the spoken data: 147
spokcn versus 50 written tokens anda prefcrence (through less marked) for it,-clefts in
the writtcn da ta- 68 written tokens versus 32 spoken. Wh-clefts occurred twice as
frequently in Kim's database as iklefts. Kim also found that definite NPs are frequently
the focused element in iklefts, which tend to have a contrclStive function and to occur in
planned discoursc (Ochs 1979), whereas indefınite NPs arc frequently thc focused
element in wh-clefts, whiclı often function to present the speakcr's pcrspective to ıhc
listcner and tend to occur in unplanned discourse.
Kim was building on the work of Prince (1978). who did the earliest cmpirical
research showing that il-deft and wh-clefü were not at ali synonymous in tenns of presup-
position and function and that neither eme should be dcrived from the other. Princc
pointcd out that the prcsupposed part of wh-clefts contains given information that the
speakcr assumes the hearcr is thinking about, whilc the presupposed part of it-defts
contains known information that the rcader either knows or can dt duce but is not
thinkiııg about. Slıe also notcd tlıat in iklefts the average length of the prcsupposed part
is grcater than the focm,ed part, whilc the re'\·e rsc is truc for wh-defts.

Use of lt-Cle fts in W riting

Prince (1978} distinguishes two typcs of iı-cleft sentences in English-stressed focus (SF)
and infonnativc-presupposition (iP}. Thc formcr contaiııs known information in its
presupposed parl (i.e., the relative clausc) and is used for emphasis, while thc latter
contains new information in its presupposed part and introduccs this new infoımation at
the end of the scntencc for rhetorical cfTect:
Sınssed fOl'us: it isn 't higher prices but changed cxpectations thal have caused pcople
to buy morc at thc prcsent time.
lrıformationpres1t/>J>0sition: It was in 1979 that Piet Kornhof rather boldly announccd,
..Apaıtheid is dead."
Kim 's (1988) corpus rcveals that such iı-clefts occur most frequently in writtcn genres sudı
as historicalnaıTativc, pcrsuasive discourse, andjoumalistic writing. in his corpus, about
three-quarters of thc iklefts were of thc SF varicty-that is, they were uscd to cxprcs.'i thc
author's emphasis or focus rather than to provide a backdrop for rhctorically salicnt new
infomıation.
Celce-Murda (1996) shows that a good source of data for it-clefts is Time magazine.
For cxamp le, the May 22, 1995, U.S. edition had sevcral tokens of iklefts. The following
onc occurred on page 4 in thc fourth paragraph ofa short fıve-paragr.ıph article titled "To
our rcadcrs," whkh cliscusscd two Timecorrespondcnts, Michael Duffy and Wendy Cole.
622 ..-:::,,., THE GılANMAR Booıt

The article is clearly more about Colc than Duffy, since she is the topic of four of thc para-
graphs, including this one:
itwas Cole who chose Fargo as the microcosm for the debate on federal benevolence
and intrusion. Says Duffy, who wrote the story, "She saw it as a fascinıating mix of
frontler and front page. Then she dissected the town until she knew more about it than
Fargoans. Late last week, needlng an anecdote, she ran down to a local bowllng alley,
dld three lntervlews and delivered a freshly minted kicker for the story inside an hour:'
The placement of Gole in the infonnation focus of the paragraph initial, stress focus üdeft
sentence signals that Cole will be the topic of the paragraph. it alsa provides stylistic
variation in that the othcr three paragraphs about Cole begin: OJ/ıı luıs . _ . , Wendy luıs... ,
CoJe/011:nd . . . .
Use of Wh lefts in Conversation
Kim ( I995) has carried out one of the most completc snıdies of w/tclefts in English conver-
sation. He found 76 instances of wh-clefts in naturally occurring conversations and found
that ali but seven of thc tokens had four types of verbs in the w/,clausc (Kim 1995:251):
1. Verbs expressing a speaker-internal statc (29 tokens): realiz.e, want, fr.e think, nıjoy,
know, objecı to, ete.
2. Verbs expressing a metalinguistic dimension (22 tokens): ll'U'.an, say. ask,ete.
3. Verbs marking meta-events (12 tokens): lıaf>pf.n (c.g., W1ıat do,s lıappen is (that) thm'.r a
lerulency to forget. tlıis.)
4. Verbs marking ıneta-actions (6 tokens): do (e .g., What l'tn doing righl 1W'W is the
vacuuming.)
Therefore, the types ofverbs used in the wh-clause are highly constrained and give usa
good general sense of the interactional functions of wh-clefts, which according to Kim
(1995:253) are:
1. Discours<."-<>rgani1.ation uses, such as marking a topic shift or cxpressing the gist of
prior talk:
(Context: The therapist, Dan, marks the gist of exchanges between two teenagers,
Ken and Louise, about how parents never get over treating offspring as children):
K: My father's 45 or 43, an' he'II go over to my grandmother's house, and insteada my
grandmother offering him a drink of beer, she'II say
L: Wanna glassa milkl
[minor digression by K and L)
K: Wouldja like a peanut butter an' jelly sandwicM
D: So, in a way, what you're saying is you'II never get through that
(adapte<! from Kim, 1995:256)
2. Intcractional managcment uses such as cxpressing or dcaling with disagreement or
initiating repair (see Schegloff, 1979):
(context: A is Brad Crandall, a talk show host, and 8 Is the caller. They are having a
disagreement about the caller's Medicaid eligibility)
A: They won't be taking you off Medicaid.
8: They will!
 Chapter 30: Focus and Emphasls 623

A: So you would still be eligible. it wouldn't change your eligibility.

8: Well, what I know is they gave me a letter and they never sent me my Medlcaid card.
(adapted from Kim, 1995:258-259)
3. Display of speak.cr affect:
(Context: Louise is telling a story, and she self-interrupts and reformulates with a wh-
cleft as an aside to add her affective stance)
... or ilke you come and they're talking-what I love is when they're talking about
somethlng-you know, ..You had radio when you were a litde girW'
(adapted from Kim, 1995:266)
Kim concludes (p. 268) that ..these various interactional uses cannot be explained from
the informational perspective alone in terms of presuppositioıı/focus or given/ new,
because what is consciously involved in them is the speaker's inter.:tctional exploitation of
the gramınatical form and the function of tlıe wJı.cleft asa stance marker." Wh-clefts are
uscd by spcakers to accomplish interactional tasks in W-<:lys that serve to convey their
attitudc toward their interlocutor(s) and towards the topic.

CONCLUSION
There are problems from the outset in trying to define focus and empbasis in English
becausc they overlap with other topics such a. exclamation and intensification. in addition,
it ınust be recognized that emphasis is essentially a semantic notion, and we have shown
that it may be signaled in many ways, including usc of special stress and intonation
patterns, choicc of words, choice of grammatical markcrs, and so on. Focus, on the other
hand, seems to be a discoursc-functional notion, related to wbat the speak.er/writer wants
to draw the listener/reader's attention to in the ongoing discourse or texL As we have
tried to point out, such attention can be activated through the use of marked word order
and special focus constructions. We make no daim to having provided an exhaustive
treatment of focus and emphasis in English, but wc hope to have drawn attention to this
iınportant arca.

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS

J. Form/Meaning. For teaching it.cleft sentences, the teacher should give several
cxamples showiııg how ik:lefts embody certain presuppositions and differ from their
nonnal aflimıative and negative stateınent counterparts. For examplc:
Sam studies physics. John doesn't drive a Ford.
(Cue: He doesn't study chemistry.) (Cue: He drives a 8uick.)
lt's physic.s that Sam studies, not lt's not a Ford that John drives, but a
chemistry. Buick.
-or- -or-
lt's physics, not chemistry, that lt's not a Ford, but a Buick, that
Sam studies. John drives.
in groups of three, students should be given one 3 x 5 card, cach with a false affimıative
or negative statement asa cue. The statements will be about their fellow students. They
should write a mini-dialog that makes natura} use of an ikleft construction.
 24 .-<:::::,, THE GIWIMAR Booıc

On cue card: Kim comes from Hong Kong. (It's a false statement.)8
Sample student-generated dialog:
A: Is anyone in this class from Hong Kong!
8: Yes, Kim comes from Hong Kong.

C: No, he doesn't. { lt's Lee who comes from Hong Kong. not Kim.
lt's Korea that Kim comes from, not Hong Kong.

These dialogues can then be preseııted to the c asa whole for evaluatioıı and correction.

2. Meaning. You might want to ı.ry the following sequence of activitics for teaching
emphatic reflexives.
a. Show the class sentences with emphatic reflexives:
Subjr.ct r.mphasis:
1. The owner himself built the house. l. Did you yourself have a good time?
Object emphasis (all objects):
3. 1 met Troy Aikman himself.
4. We gave the President himself a copy of the proclamation.
5. Susan did her term paper on Einstein himself.
b. Read these sentences and have the class repeat. Ask them to paraphrase thc
sentences and to describe the function of the reflexive pronoun.
c. Point out the position of the reflexivc and ask them to explain what is emphasized
in each sentence.
d. Show the class several picture cards with sentcnces and have studcnts supply
correct reflexive pronouns to emphasize the subjeccs, For exaınple:
Cue: Mary made the dress.
Si: Mary herselfmade thc dress.

e. Then a student selects a card, and someone else in the class asks a yes/no
question based on the card. The studcnt who selected the card should give a
ıneaningful response. For example:
Sl: Did you yourself make that dress!
S2: Yes, 1 did. / No, 1didn't. My mother did.

3. Meaning. Empha tic do might be introduced using the following context:

a. The teacher can givc the class practice in using emphatic d-0 to contradict
negative statements by giving some false ncgative st:atements asa cue and then
putting an edited version ofthe dialogue on the board. For cxample:
T: Ali, you dldn't tum in your homework
Ali: That's not tru e. 1 did tum in my homework I gave it to you a few minutes ago.
b. The cla.'IS should discuss the func tion of do in such a dialogue.
c. The students are divided intosmall groups and asked to write a dialogue that
incorporates use of emphatic do to contradict a fal<ıe negative statemenL
d. The dialogues are performed in front of the class, cvaluated, and corrected.
 Chapter 30: Focus and Emphasis ..- fi25

4. Use. Fronting directional adverbs. R.ead a short paragraph or anecdote to your dass.
For example:
Everyone but Harry had arrived on time for the meeting. We waited 15 mlnutes.
There stlll was no sign of Harry. We had just decided to proceed wlthout hlm, when
into the corıference room dashed Harry!
Ask them about the word order of the Jast clause. Why does the adverbial come first? See
if they can explain the fact that the others had decided Harry wouldn't come, and when
he did, they were surprised because their expectation that Hany would not come tumed
out to be false.
Divide the class into small groups and give each group a sentence involving some
class member(s) with the directional adverb fronted (e.g., Out of the house came Maria
and Rosa). Have each group write a paragraph that uses the inverted cue sentence as the
Jast sentence. Groups will then excbange paragraphs so that each group canjudge the
appropriateness and accuracy of another group's story.

5. Form/ Use. Melinda Erickson (personal communication) suggests that pseudocleft

sentences can be learned and practiced in the context ofa small-town planning committee
meeting. Each member of the com.mittee is trying to present a different proposal.
Sample dialogue:
Oıairman: What our town needs is careful development. May I hear your
proposals?
Head llbrorian: What we see as important is a new library branch to supple-
ment the main library.
High school prindpat What we need Is better athletic facilltles for the hlgh school.
Businessman: What we should have is a Chamber of Commerce ilke ali the
other towns in dıe area.
The class can be split into groups to practice and role-play the sample dialogue. The
followup activity could be for each group to make one or more suggestions/proposals
conceming tbeir ESL/EFL class. For example:
What we need Is fewer exams.
What we would ilke Is less homework.
What we would prefer is more conversation.

6. Use. Show intermediate or advanced students authentic ex:cerpts from written texts
containing ik:lefts. Ask tbem to decide in pairs or groups what tbe iı-defts are doing in
tbe written textıı. Have each pair or group compose their own passage with an il-cleft.

ExEilCISES

Test your understandlng of what has been presented.

1. Provide example sentences that illustrate tbe following terms. Underline the pertinent
word(s) in your examples.
a. wh<left d. emphatic do
b. i&-cleft e. emphatic reflexive
c. fronting ofa directional adverbial f. emphatic possessive
fiti TIE GIAMMM BooK

2. Why are the following sentences ungrammatical (or at best awkward)?

a. *On his cara bumper sticker is: Have you hugged your kid today?
b. *What we meant to say we are sorry.
c. *He is Robert who wrote the letter. (not someone else)
3. Explain the ambiguity in the following sentences:
a. It's the graduate studcnt who corrects the papers in our class.
b. Our chainnan criticized the dean himself.
◄. Do the following sentences illustrate w/Klefts or free relatives? Give reasons to
support your choice of construction:
a. I forgot what he said. c. What he said is of little concem to us.
b. A big lie is what he told. d. What he said is thatyou are ajerk..

Test your ablllty to appfy what you lmow.

5. lfyour students produce the following sentcnces, what errors have they made? How
will you make them aware of the errors, and what exercises will you prepare to correct
the errors?
a. *Never I have tasted such a delicious sandwichl
b. *Who you mean is that Oscar did iL
c. *Sitting on the front porch my long-lost brother was.
6. Develop a mini-lesson for teaching appropriate use of sentence-initial negativc
con. tituents (e.g., Under no cin:umstances wül we tolerale that-') to an advanced ESL/EFL
class.
7. Describe differences in usc of mcaning, if any, in the following pairs of sentences:
a. (I) What he said is that he wasn't coming.
(2) He said that he wasn 't coming.
b. (I) The misbehaving child was standing in the comer.
(2) Standing in the corner was the misbehaving child.
c. (1) Coıne back ag-.tln.
(2) Do come back again.
d. (1) Why doesn't.Jim use his book?
(2) Why doesn'tjim use his own book?

BIBUOGRAPHY

References
Bimer, B.J. (1994). "lnformation Status and Word Order: An Analysis ofEnglish
Inversion. "Language 70:2, 232-259.
Bresnan,J. (1994). "Locative Inversion and the Architecture of Universal Grammar."
La 70:l, 71-131.
Celce-Murcia, M. (1996). "Describing and Teaching English Grammar with Reference to
Written Discourse." TheJoumal of 1ESOL France 3:1, 5-18.
Frank, M. (1993). Modem English: A Practical Re/erence Gııide. (2d ed). Englewood Cliffs,
NJ.: Prentice-Hall Regents.
Gary, N. (1974). "A Discourse Analysis ofCertain Root Transformations in English."
Unpublished paper. Department ofLinguistics, UCI.A (Repmduced and distrib-
uted by the Indiana University Linguistics Club.)
Halliday, M.• and R. Hasan (1976). ('.,o/ıesion in Englislı. London: Longman.
 Coordinating Conjunction
Conjunction (coordination) is the process of combining two constituents of the same type to produce another, larger
constituent of the same type.

We enjoyed the sun and the sea.

They could travel and visit friends.
She is both energetic and ambitious.
The problem was solved neatly and effectively.
You and I worked very hard and deserved some time off.

Other than and, the traditionally labeled simple coordinating conjunctions include: or, nor, so, but, yet, and for.
He is friendly but/yet vain.
I will have coffee or tea.
 Coordinating Conjunction
Syntactic Options for Simple and Complex Conjunctions
The easiest way to begin a discussion of conjunction is by mentioning the most common signal used to conjoin: the
coordinating conjunction «and»:
 Coordinating Conjunction
Syntactic Options for Simple and Complex Conjunctions
A conjunction of two noun phrases seems to behave syntactically exactly as a single, simple noun phrase: it can
figure as subject, direct object, indirect object, object of preposition, and so on.
 Coordinating Conjunction
Syntactic Options for Simple and Complex Conjunctions
Now let us examine the following tree diagrams:
 Coordinating Conjunction
* Ellipsis (deletion): occurs frequently in English to eliminate the redundancy.
Birds can fly and I can fly too. = Birds can fly and I can too. (uninverted)
Birds can fly and so can I. (inverted)
She hasn’t left and he hasn’t left either. = She hasn’t left and he hasn’t either. (uninverted)
She hasn’t left and neither has he. (inverted)

* Gapping: may occur provided the conjoined sentences have (a) nonidentical subjects and (b) at least
one nonidentical predicate constituent apart from the verb.
Jack trimmed the tree and Ellen the hedge.
The wind was brisk, the sun bright, and the ocean calm.
 Coordinating Conjunction
* Correlative Conjunction: two-part correlative structure where one part precedes the first conjunct
and the other precedes the second.

Both Jack and Mike played football.

Ellen is both funny and energetic.
Sam did his homework both quickly and efficiently.

Either Jack or Mike played football. / Neither Jack nor Mike played football.
Ellen is either funny or energetic. / Ellen is neither funny nor energetic.
Sam did his homework either quickly or efficiently.
Sam did his homework neither quickly nor efficiently.
 Coordinating Conjunction
The Meaning and Use of Coordinating Conjunctions
A straightforward account of the meaning of the coordinating conjunctions might look like this:
 Coordinating Conjunction
The Meaning and Use of Coordinating Conjunctions
1. «and»as logical operator: Stu is a cook and Fred is a waiter.
2. «and» as marker of many meanings: Ann is in the kitchen and she is making doughnuts.
3. «and» as inferential connective: John fell down and hurt his knee.
4. «and» as marker of speaker continuation: … and I told him.
5. «but/yet» in denials of expectations: She is friendly but/yet introverted.
6. «but/yet» as marker of semantic contrast: Winter is warm in Miami but cold in Moscow.
7. «but» as marker of speaker return: … but that was not true!
8. Inclusive «or»: We will serve fish or chicken.
9. Exclusive «or»: You can study or you can play.
10. «or» as warning: Do it or …
11. «or» in paraphrases: This is a matsutakeor pine mushroom.
12. «or» as self-correction device: You are a joy to be around. Or, to put it another way, I love you.
13. «so»: The rope broke so the box fell down.
 Coordinating Conjunction
Complete the sentences with correct conjunctions.
1. I'm going to go shopping on Sunday …….. buy some new clothes.
2. I've just eaten dinner ….. I'm not hungry .
3. Why don't you ring Sue …… find out what time she's coming over tonight?
4. Don't tell john about his birthday party ……. you'll spoil the surprise .
5. I have been saving my money this year ……. next year I plan to take a long holiday in Europe.
6. Secretary to boss: Do you want anything else ….. can I go home now?
7. I love to travel ….. I hate travelling by bus .
8. I'm bored! Let's go out to dinner …. see a movie.
9. I like living in the city …… my brother prefers living in the country.
10. Betty's just got a promotion at work ……. she's very happy.
11. You're thirty now. Don't you think it's time that you settled down …… got married?
12. Tom got a great Christmas bonus from work this year ….. he and his family can have a good vacation this year .
 Coordinating Conjunction
13. It's late. You should go to bed now ….. you'll be tired tomorrow.
14. The taxi stopped at the train station …… two men got out of it.
15. I was in the area …… I thought I'd drop in and say hello.
16. I really hate to have to sell my car ……. I need the money.
17. My friend fell down the stairs …… sprained his ankle.
18. I won't be home for Christmas ….. I will be there for New Year's.
19. Julia was very angry with Tom …… she went for a long walk to cool down.
20. Can you stop at the shop …… get some milk on your way home from work?
21. Are you busy this weekend ….. do you have some free time? I need some help moving to my new house.
22. You've been working hard in the garden all day. Why don't you sit down …….. I'll bring you a nice cold drink .
23. Nobody was home when I rang Jenny ….. I left a message for her.
24. I've been dieting ……. I'm not losing any weight.
 Adverbials
• Adverbials are the most diverse grammatical structures in English
morphologically and syntactically.

• Adverbs are words that modify a verb, an adjective or another

adverb.

• Adverbials may be words, phrases or clauses and can modify entire

sentences or clauses.
 Adverbials
Form of Sentence-Final Adverbials
• Sentence-final adverbials occur in the form of adverbial clauses,
adverbial phrases or prepositional phrases.

Mary danced while John played the piano.

Mary danced very gracefully.
Mary danced in the living room.
 Adverbials
Meaning of Sentence-Final Adverbials

• Not every form combines with every semantic sub-type of sentence-

final adverbial:
• Direction: northwards (AdvP), to the store (PrepP)
• Position: where Main St crosses First Ave (AdvCl), (quite) locally
(AdvP), in the garden (PrepP)
• Goal: at the station (PrepP)
• Manner: just as I do (AdvCl), (very) quickly (AdvP), with gusto (PrepP)
 Adverbials
Meaning of Sentence-Final Adverbials

• Not every form combines with every semantic sub-type of sentence-

final adverbial:
• Time: after he saw the report (AdvCl), (quite) recently (AdvP), at six
o’clock (PrepP)
• Frequency: as often as you can (AdvCl), (almost) always (AdvP), every
Monday (PrepP)
• Purpose: in order to finish the job (AdvCl), for the glory (PrepP)
• Reason (Cause): because we were able to go there (AdvCl), because
of the weather (PrepP)
 Adverbials
Use of Sentence-Final Adverbials

• Direction occurs before position: I last saw Jack walking across the
street in Atlanta.
• Manner occurs before time or frequency: Mr. Lee worked very
efficiently yesterday.
• Position or direction before time or frequency: Tourists travel to the
Caribbean every December.
• Goal before time or frequency: The train arrived at the station before
dinner.
• Reason or purpose come last: Sam studies hard to get good grades.
 Adverbials
Form of Sentence-Initial Adverbials

• Sentence-initial adverbials can be phrasal (which includes single

words), prepositional or clausal:

Fortunately Ellen won the election.

With our help, Ellen won the election.
After we held a recount, Ellen won the election.
 Adverbials
Meaning of Sentence-Initial Adverbials

• There are four functional categories for sentence-initial adverbs, all of

which refer to a different facet of speaker attitude:

• Probability: maybe, perhaps, certainly, surely

• Usuality: usually, generally, typically, occasionally
• Presumption: obviously, clearly, evidently
• Desirability: (un)fortunately, luckily, hopefully, regrettably
 Adverbials
Use of Sentence-Initial Adverbials

• maybe vs perhaps
• maybe tends to cluster with other tokens of maybe, emphasizing
the speaker’s uncertainty as well as the different alternatives
possible: So maybe just maybe I could work my way.
• maybe is weaker in terms of probability than perhaps: Maybe
there was no divinity in this whole thing at all.
• perhaps rarely clusters and tends to collocate with positive
superlatives: Perhaps the most hopeful sign for the future is…
 Adverbials
Use of Sentence-Initial Adverbials
• sometimes
• sometimes presents the topic and provides a transition with what preceded
when used paragraph-initially: Sometimes the truth itself is better than
fiction.
• sometimes elaborates upon or restates the preceding argument when used
paragraph- or episode-medially: Well, there are some aspects that overlap.
Sometimes, for instance, the matter of point of view will come up with a
poem.
• sometimes is used to sum up the preceding arguments to show the result of a
process or some change or to offer a final alternative when used paragraph-
or episode-finally: I feel comfortable again in moments of repose. Sometimes
I feel very happy.
 Adverbials
Use of Sentence-Initial Adverbials

• of course vs obviously
• of course has a persuasive rhetorical function and presumes the
listener shares the opinion expressed by the speaker.
• obviously tends to reinforce a negative or self-effacing perspective and
it does not presume that the listener agrees with the speaker.
 Adverbials
Use of Sentence-Initial Adverbials

• fortunately vs unfortunately
• unfortunately tends to co-occur with other grammatical and lexical
items indicative of a negative or problematic situation as the
speaker/writer signals negative assessment and regret about
circumstances.
• fortunately indicates the speaker’s conviction that the reality of things
is in fact less negative and more positive than prior information might
lead one to expect.
 Adverbials
Reduced Forms of Adverbial Clauses

Some adverbial clauses of time may appear in subordinate clauses in which the subject and
sometimes the auxiliary verb seem to have been deleted:

Until I came to this city, I did not know what excitement was.
Until coming to this city, I did not know what excitement was.

He did his homework while he was listening to music.

He did his homework while listening to music.

Although he was rather late to the party, he was still able to get some food.
Although rather late to the party, he was still able to get some food.
 Adverbials
Participles Functioning as Adverbials

Not all adverbial participials retain an adverbial subordinator; in fact,

many simply begin with and –ing verb form or an –en verb form:

Turning the corner, John was surprised to see Alice walking toward him.

Written in Spanish by his grandmother, the letter was incomprehensible

to Jose.
 Adverbials
The Form of Adverbial Participles
• The –ing participle has three possible forms
• Basic form: signals a time overlapping with the time expressed in the main
clause:
Working diligently on his paper, Jack began to type up the bibliography.
• Perfective form: signals a time preceding the time expressed in the main
clause:
Having worked on his paper since 4pm, Jack stopped at 8 to watch the game.
• Perfective-progressive form: signals an action in progress at a time
preceding the time expressed in the main clause:
Having been working on his paper for more than a week, Jack decided he would
turn it in without further revision.
 Adverbials
Preverbal Adverbs of Frequency

• PAFs are used to express approximately how many times a habitual action or
condition is repeated.
• Sentence-final PAFs: I brush my teeth every day.
• Sentence-initial PAFs: Every now and then you should write to your parents.
• PAFs in the middle of a sentence: She is always late for the meeting.
• PAFs modify the entire sentence in which they occur: Sandra never smiles at
strangers.
• Negative PAF (never) may not co-occur with the particle not: Jim is not never
on time.
Practice
Rewrite the complete sentence using the adverb in brackets in its usual position.
1.I must see a dentist. (also)
2.I was joking. (only)
3.Did you enjoy the film? (both)
4.Jane watches TV. (hardly) (ever)
5.She drives her car. (carefully)
6.The men are digging a hole. (in the garden)
7.I go to the library. (often)
8.Sean fell off the chair. (almost)
9.I will go to Spain for a holiday. (probably)
10.My sister is getting married. (definitely)
Logical Connectors

 Logical connectors allow a listener/reader to infer

connections between two segments of discourse – usually
adjacent sentences.

 Logical connectors are lexical expressions that may add

little or no propositional content by themselves but serve
to specify the relationships among sentences.
 Logical Connectors
Types of Logical Connectors

 Clauses with Adverbial Subordinators

 Simple adverbial subordinators: after, although, as, because,
before, if, though, until, unless, since, lest, once, when/ever,
where/ver, whereas, while
A whole crowd came out to see him when he arrived.
 Complex adverbial subordinators: so/as long as, as soon as,
even if, even though, given that, inasmuch as, in case (that), in
order that, insofar as, in that, now that, provided that, so that
Bring an umbrella in case it rains.
Logical Connectors
Types of Logical Connectors

 Conjunctive Adverbials
They do not subordinate a clause; rather, they
connect independent clauses.
Jack should leave; however, Harry will object.

additionally, after all, also, in contrast, as a result,

despite that, furthermore, therefore, in fact,
moreover, still, on the other hand, etc. (p. 522)
Logical Connectors
Problems with Logical Connectors
 because vs because of
We were late because we had car problems. (adverbial
subordinator)
We were late because of car problems. (requires a noun object)
 for example vs such as
We like beaches that have good surf. For example, we like
Rincon. (conjunctive adverbial)
We like beaches that have good surf, such as Rincon. (followed
by a noun, not by a full clause)
Logical Connectors
Problems with Logical Connectors
 during vs while
During 1979, I was working in Europe. (appears before noun phrases)
While I was making dinner, the phone rang. (adverbial subordinator)
 truth conditional vs inferential
Truth conditional connectors like before/after contribute to propositional
content and the truth-falsity of the sequences in which they occur: Caesar’s
career was finished long before Napoleon rose to power in France.

Inferential connectors like thus and therefore do not contribute to truth or

falsity but clarify the logical relationship the speaker/writer intends: He won
the game; therefore, he was happy.
Logical Connectors
All languages seem to have some means to use
clauses to modify other clauses . The types of
clausal modifiers are:
Time Reason Concessive
Location Circumstantial Substitutive
Manner Simultaneous Additive
Purpose Conditional Absolutive
Logical Connectors
English has adverbial subordinators that fall into most of these categories and most of
them are truth conditional:
Time: after, as long as, as soon as, before, since, when, whenever, until
Location: where, wherever
Manner: as, in that
Purpose: so that, in order that
Reason: since, because, as, inasmuch as, now that
Circumstantial: -----
Simultaneous: while, as
Conditional: if, even if, as long as, in case, provided that
Concessive: although, even though, though, while
Substitutive: -----
Additive: -----
Absolutive: -----
Logical Connectors
Complete the paragraph with connectors:
Two 12-year-old girls are standing outside a mini-mart. They are wearing matching tube
tops and short skirts like Britney Spears clones. One holds a cigarette, like an adult, where
everyone can see her. She looks around to make sure other girls are noticing her. When
asked why she dresses the way she does, she says that she likes it. ----- it seems that the
reason for her behavior is more complex. More specifically, it has more to do with her
ambiguous role as a pre-teen in society. A young girl's wanna-be look is ----- personal
insecurity and peer pressure.

----- for mimicking teen-idols is personal insecurity. Preteens are in between child and
adult stages. They are no longer children, ----- the ways they behaved in the past are no
longer appropriate. ----- they are not yet adults; ----- they do not know the ways of the
adult world. This conflict can ----- feelings of insecurity. ----- when they were younger, they
could whine and cry to get attention from their parents and other children. ----- that kind
of behavior would be "uncool" around their teenage peers. Often, ----- the preteen does
not know how to act his or her age. ----- preteens do no know what to do, they often turn
to copy-cat behavior as a way to fit in and be more secure.
Logical Connectors
A second cause is that preteens feel they need to be popular ----- be more secure within
their own age group. -----, they turn toward models of popularity - teen idols - and start
dressing like them. Unfortunately, many of their idols dress and behave in ways that are
not age-appropriate. Teens need better role models than Hollywood currently has to
offer. ----- they interpret "dressing up" as wearing provocative, sexy clothing, rather than
clothing that makes them look good and feel comfortable and secure. ----- of their need to
be popular, young girls start dressing and acting as if they were much older than they really
are.

----- for young girls mimicking teen idols is peer pressure. They often see the adults closest
to them, their parents and teachers, as "uncool", ----- as enemies. ----- they turn to peers
who pressure each other to look, act, and dress exactly alike. This peer group can exert ---
-- pressure ----- often preteens do things as a group that they would not normally do. One
of these things is spending ridiculous amounts of money on idol clothing-lines. That's
right! Young Hollywood celebrities are making money off their twelve-year old "peers"
who give in to peer pressure. The peer pressure here is ----- great ----- most normal girls
will succumb. ---- we can see that personal insecurity, desire to be popular and peer
pressure can cause a young girl to look like a little "tart" standing outside of a mini-mart.
Conditional Sentences
A conditional sentence is a complex sentence that consists of a main clause
and a subordinate clause; the latter typically begins with the adverbial
subordinator if:

If you go, I will go.

Had I known that, I would not have said anything. (subject/operator inversion)

Should the guests arrive early, no one will be here to greet them.
(subject/operator inversion)

Would you like to make a class presentation? If so, volunteer. If not, you don’t
have to. (conditional clause pro-forms)
Conditional Sentences
English conditional sentences express three different kinds of semantic
relationships:
1. Factual conditional relationships
 timeless
 generic
 habitual
 time-bound
 implicit inference
 explicit inference
2. Predictive conditional relationships
 strong condition and result
 degrees of weakened condition and result
Conditional Sentences
English conditional sentences express three different kinds of semantic
relationships:
3. Imaginative conditional relationships
 hypothetical
 present
 future
 counterfactual
 present
 past
Conditional Sentences
Factual Conditional Sentences
 Generic factual conditionals: express relationships that are true and
unchanging.
If you boil water, it vaporizes.
Because of their unchanging truth value, these conditionals normally
take a simple present tense in both clauses.
 Habitual factual conditionals: express relationships that are based on
habits instead of physical law.
If he washes the dishes, she dries them.
Both clauses usually have the same tense. Simple present in both clauses
if the habitual relationship refers to extended present time. Simple past
in both clauses if the sentence refers to a past habit.
Conditional Sentences
 Implicit inference conditionals: express inferences about
specific time-bound relationships.
If it’s Friday, it’s Sam’s birthday.
These conditionals tend to maintain the same tense and
aspect or the same modal in both clauses.
 Explicit inference conditionals: is the only case where
there is no strict parallelism of tense, aspect or modal in
both clauses because the conditional is used as the basis
for making an explicit inference and the result clause
contains an inferential modal.
If anyone has the answer, it should be Gandalf.
Conditional Sentences
Predictive Conditional Sentences
 Strong condition and result: express future plans or contingencies.
If it rains, we will stay home.
The normal pattern for this type of conditional is simple present tense in the if clause and
some explicit indication of future time (will or be going to) in the result clause.

 Degrees of weakened condition or result: sometimes the future outcome expressed in

the result clause is not sufficiently certain to warrant use of will or be going to, in
which case a weaker modal of prediction such as may or should can be used.
will, be going to= certain (strong result)
should= probable
may= possible (stronger than might)
might= possible (weaker than may)
If you finish your vegetables, I may buy you an ice cream cone.
Conditional Sentences
Imaginative Conditional Sentences

 Hypothetical conditionals: express what the speaker perceives to be

unlikely yet possible events or states in the if clause.
If she had the chance, she would move to Spain.

 Counterfactual conditionals: express impossible events or states in the if

clause.
If my grandfather were alive today, he would experience a very different
world.

* The choice reflects the degree of confidence in the speaker’s mind

concerning the fulfillment of the condition.
 Conditional Sentences
1. I would have read the letter if I ____________________ (know) it was from you.
2. If Tony doesn’t help in the garden I ____________________ (not finish) my work in
time.
3. If you ____________________ (not tell ) me about Maxwell’s birthday I would
forget it.
4. We _________________________ (catch) the train earlier if Mary had found her
purse.
5. If Susan ____________________ (learn) the poem she would have known the
answer.
6. If it ____________________ (be) too hot we will stop and get a cold drink.
7. If it ____________________ (not rain) today I would stay at home.
8. If the Professor spoke clearly we __________________________ (understand) him
better.
9. If you go on talking like that we ____________________ (throw) you out.
10. If Sasha ____________________ (go) home now he would meet his own brother.
 Conditional Sentences
11. If it rained , the streets ____________________ (be) wet.
12. If I ____________________ (not tell) Jim the address he wouldn’t have found
you.
13. The bird ___________________________ (die) if you had caught it.
14. What ____________________ (you, do) if you won the lottery ?
15. If the weather ____________________ (not change) we will reach the top of the
mountain.
16. Dinner ____________________ (be) fine if the meat weren’t cold.
17. I’m sure Benny ____________________ (come) if you wait a bit longer.
18. If you ring the bell, somebody ____________________ (answer) it.
19. If Bert ____________________ (see) you, he would have talked to you.
20. You ____________________ (find ) your ticket if you had looked into your
pockets.
Conditional Sentences
21. You ____________________ (fall) ill if you eat so much.
22. What ____________________ (happen) if the door had not been opened?
23. If Chris asked you for a cigarette, __________________________ (you, give)
him one?
24. If you ____________________ (buy) that big car, you would need a lot of
money.
25. ____________________ (You, change) the color of your hair if I asked you to
do so ?
26. If you give me the letter, I ____________________ (post) it for you .
27. ____________________________ (You, post) the letter if I had given it to
you?
28. If the weather is fine, I ____________________ (go) swimming.
29. If you____________________ (not work) harder, you won't pass the exam.
30. If they ____________________ (be) rich, they would travel around the world.
Conditional Sentences
31. The children ____________________ (go) skating if the lake were frozen.
32. What would you have done, if you ____________________ (lose) your
handbag?
33. What will happen if you ____________________ (not know) the answer?
34. She ____________________ (go) on holiday, if she hadn't been ill.
35. If I ____________________ (notice) you, I would have said hello.
36. If I ____________________ (be) like you, I wouldn't watch such films.
37. If you opened your eyes, you____________________ (see) a wonderful
world.
38. People ____________________ (live) in peace if they stop fighting.
39. If Tom drinks so much, he _____________________________ (cannot drive)
home.
40. If we ____________________ (not hurry) we would miss the train.
Conditional Sentences
41. He ____________________ (not spend) so much money if he weren't a happy
person.
42. ____________________________ (You, come ) , if you had had more time ?
43. If Jim ____________________ (study) the new words he would have got a
better mark.
44. If he were rich, he ____________________ (buy) the house.
45. If you don't hurry you ____________________ (be) late.
46. If it wasn't so hot, we ____________________ (play) football.
47. If I ____________________ (be) ill, would you visit me?
48. If Sean ____________________ (not be) driving so fast, the police would not
have stopped him.
49. If I had sold my house, I ____________________ (get) 4 million pounds.
50. If I ____________________ (be) you I would I would do it.
 Relative Clauses

Relative clauses encode complex adjectival

modifiers that are easier to process than complex
attributive structures and are less wordy than two
independent clauses:
San Antonio is a city that has experienced very rapid
growth.
A relative clause derives from a basic structure
consisting of more than one sentence:
The baby walked before she crawled.
 Relative Clauses

The basic structural relationship among the sentences here is

different from that of subordinating or coordinating conjunction.

The children dressed up for Halloween and they carved jack-o-

lanterns out of pumpkins.
The relationship here is called embedding, the generation of one
clause within another higher-order or superordinate clause such that
the embedded clause becomes a part of the superordinate main
clause:
The fans who were attending the concert had to wait in line for
hours.
 Relative Clauses
English has a rich system of relativization with only a few
restrictions on the kind of noun phrase that can be relativized or
replaced by a relative pronoun:

Subject NP: The book that is on the table was written by Wallace.

Direct object NP: The authors that she mentioned are well known.

Indirect object NP: The girl (to) whom I gave the message is not
here.

The girl who I gave the message to is not here.

 Relative Clauses

Oblique object NP: The child from whom you took the candy is crying.

The child whom you took candy from is crying.

Genitive NP: The man whose name you wanted to know is Anthony.

Object NP of comparison: The only person than whom I was shorter

was Sam.
 Relative Clauses
There are three dimensions along which English
relative clauses can differ:

1. English relative clauses follow the head noun.

2. English uses a relative pronoun (for example: who)

to mark that what follows is a relative clause.

3. In English the relative pronoun substitutes for the

identical NP in the embedded sentence.
 Relative Clauses

In some English relative clauses, the subject of the

embedded sentence become relativized:

The girl who speaks Spanish is his cousin.

It is also possible to have an embedded sentence with

a relativized subject modifying an NP that is the object of
the main clause:

She saw the man who stole the car.

 Relative Clauses

In some English relative clauses, the object NP of the

embedded sentence is affected:

The man whom you met is her teacher.

It is also possible have an embedded sentence with a

relativized object modifying an NP that is the object of the
main clause:

I read the book that you mentioned.

 Relative Clauses
So far we have examined four basic types of relative
clauses:

1. Subject-subject: Subject of the embedded sentence is

identical to the subject of the main clause:

The girl who speaks Spanish is his cousin.

2.Object-subject: Subject of the embedded sentence is

identical to the object of the main clause:

She saw the man who stole the car.

 Relative Clauses

3. Subject-object: Object of the embedded sentence is

identical to the subject of the main clause:

The man whom you met is her teacher.

4. Object-object: Object of the embedded sentence is

identical to the object of the main clause:

I read the book that you mentioned.

 Relative Clauses
who vs whom:
I spoke with the student who I loaned the book to.
I spoke with the student to whom I loaned the book. (fronted
preposition)
that vs who/which:
The latest novel that/which he wrote was excellent.
The man who stole the car got arrested.
whose:
This is the man whose dog was lost.
This is the dog whose name is Umpa.
 Relative Clauses

Restrictive vs Nonrestrictive Relative Clauses

The climbers who reached the summit were exhausted.

(those who were successful at reaching the summit)

The climbers, who reached the summit, were exhausted.

(refers to the entire group of climbers, provides
additional information)
 Relative Clauses
Restrictive vs Nonrestrictive Relative Clauses

 1. RRC provides information needed to identify or limit a

noun in the main clause while NRC provides additional
information that is nonessential to determining the identity
of a noun in the main clause.

 2. RRC is derived from an underlying embedded source

while NRC is derived from two independent underlying
sentences.
 Relative Clauses
 3. For the RRC no pauses or special punctuation (commas,
parenthesis, dashes) is needed to set off the relative clause
from the main clause but for NRC commas (or parenthesis
or dashes) in writing and special pauses and lower pitch in
speech is needed to set the relative clause off from the
main clause.

 4. RRC may not modify an entire proposition (only a head

noun) while NRC may modify either a head noun or an
entire proposition in the form of a comment.
 Relative Clauses
 5. In RRC «that» is freely used as a relative pronoun as well
as who/m, which, etc. while in NRC «that» cannot be used
as a relative pronoun (only wh- pronouns are possible).

 6. RRC does not usually modify proper nouns; however,

NRC may modify proper nouns as well as common nouns.

 7. RRC may modify a head noun with a generic determiner

like «any» or «every» but NRC may not modify a head noun
with a generic determiner like «any» or «every».
 Relative Clauses
Choose the correct relative pronoun or relative adverb.

 1. The woman ....... is sitting at the desk is Mr. Winter's secretary.

 2. I cannot remember the reason ……. he wanted us to leave.

 3. Jane, ……. mother is a physician, is very good at biology.

 4. She didn’t see the snake …….. was lying on the ground.

 5. Do you know the shop …….. Andrew picked me up?

 Relative Clauses
Combine the sentences with relative clauses. (Decide whether to use
commas or not.)

 1. A monk is a man. The man has devoted his life to God.

 2. I have one black cat. His name is Blacky.

 3. A herbivore is an animal. The animal feeds upon vegetation.

 4. Carol plays the piano brilliantly. She is only 9 years old.

 5. Sydney is the largest Australian city. It is not the capital of Australia.

 Relative Clauses
Choose the correct relative pronoun.
 1. I cannot remember the reason ________ he wanted us to leave.
 2. She's the most hard-working student ________ I've ever had.
 3. The company gave a promotion to John ________ department
performed best last year.
 4. I didn't get a pay raise but this was not the reason ________ I left.
 5. I went to the party ________ I was going to see Mark.
 6. We don't know all the guests ________ were invited to the party.
 7. Do you know the man ________ lives across the street?
 8. The party ________ was organized by Mary gave us much pleasure.
 9. Do you remember the date ________ we have to submit the essay?
 Relative Clauses
Complete the sentences.

 1) February, which is the second month of the year, is the month ---- many
of my colleagues take vacation for skiing.

 2) The dress ---- the movie star is wearing weighs about fifty pounds.

 3) Playing fetch, our dogs, ran after the tennis ball ---- bounced across the
kitchen floor.

 4) The old words you see on the board, most ---- were becoming obsolete,
are now trending again.

 5) The family ---- house was decorated the most beautifully for the holidays
will receive a trophy.
 Relative Clauses
Write relative clauses without using the relative pronoun.
• I gave you a book. It had many pictures.
→ The book

• I am reading a book at the moment. It is very interesting.

→ The book

• You live in a town. The town is very old.

→ The town

• The sweets are delicious. I bought them yesterday.

→ The sweets

• The football match was very exciting. My friend played in it.

→ The football match
 Relative Clauses
Write relative clauses without using the relative pronoun.
• The letter hasn't arrived yet. I posted it three days ago.
→ The letter

• He lives in a house. The house is not very big.

→ The house

• They are playing a song on the radio. Do you like it?

→ Do you like

• Jane wore a beautiful shirt yesterday. Did you see it?

→ Did you see

• Sue is going out with a boy. I don't like him.

→ I don't like
STRUCTURE OF
ENGLISH

WEEK 1
 Grammar: the mental system
that allows people to speak and
understand a language
 Question: What is the
purpose of learning/teaching
grammar? Using language
grammatically or being able to
communicate?
 Approaches to Teaching
Language
O Focus on language use (by
communicating)

O Focus on language forms (by learning

lexicogrammar)
 Grammar
Three levels that grammar operates at:
O Subsentential (morphological)
past progressive= be(past tense)+base form of verb+-ing

O Sentential (syntactic)
She was walking home from school.

O Suprasentential (discourse)
She has never been so lucky as she ran into a friend when she was
walking home from school.
 Grammar Rules?
O airtight formulations?

O fuzzy boundaries?

O rules or reasoning?
Three Dimensions
Grammatical Metalanguage
O Subsentential terminology

O Sentential terminology

O Suprasentential terminology
Subsentential Terminology
O Parts of Speech

O Major word classes (open): nouns,

verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

O Minor word classes (closed):

auxiliary verbs, prepositions,
pronouns, determiners, and
conjunctions
 Nouns
noun: the name of a person, place, or thing
teacher, school, book, etc.

• have derivational endings: sadness

• have grammatical morphemes or
inflections: learners
• are preceded by determiners (such as
articles)
 Nouns serve as:
O direct object of verbs: He watered his lawn.
O subject noun predicates: We are all learners.
O object noun predicates: They elected Ann
president.
O indirect object of verbs: Ann gave the people
confidence.
O appositives: Albany, capital of New York, is located
on the Hudson River.
O objects of prepositions: Troy is also located on the
Hudson River.
O vocatives: Let me tell you, my friend, grammar is fun
 Types of Nouns
O Common nouns
O count nouns: flowers, trees, ocean
O non-count/mass nouns: air, juice

O Proper nouns: Legolas, Gandalf

O Collective nouns: family, team

 Verbs
verb: donates an action or state of being

Four inflections can be used with English

verbs:
1. –s of third person singular present tense
verbs
2. –ed of past tense verbs
3. –en of the past participle
4. –ing of the present participle
 Types of Verbs
O intransitive verbs, which take no
following object: He smokes.

O transitive verbs, which require an object:

She raises horses.

O ditransitive verbs, which take two objects:

I handed the book Max.
 Types of Verbs
O linking verbs, where what follows the verb
relates to the object: We are all learners.

O complex transitive verbs, where what follows

the object relates to the object: They considered
the project a waste of resources.

O prepositional verbs, which require a

prepositional phrase to be complete: Sam
glanced at the headlines.
 Qualities of Verbs
O Tense
refers to the time of an event’s occurrence
(present, past, or future tenses)

O Aspect
denotes whether or not the event has
occurred earlier (perfect aspect) or is still
in progress (progressive aspect)
 Adjectives
adjective: describes or denotes the qualities of
something
-able (likeable)
-ish (childish)
-ful (thoughtful)
-y (lazy)

Their function is to modify or complement nouns.

 Types of Adjectives
O Attributive which precede nouns
The old bucket sprang a leak.

O Predicative which follow linking verbs

He became angry at the very thought.
 Adverbs
adverb: modifies verbs and contributes meaning of
various sorts of sentences

O direction: Jim pointed there.

O location: Jane shops locally.
O manner: She sang joyfully at the concert.
O time: Soon he will retire.
O frequency: We visit our friends occasionally.
 Attention!
Many phrases and clauses can occupy the same
position in a sentence and convey the same meaning
as adverbs:
O direction: Jim pointed at the stars.
O location: Jane shops at the mall.
O manner: She sang as if she was especially inspired.
O time: Next year he will retire.
O frequency: We visit our friends every once in a
while.
 Pronouns
pronoun:
O refers to or replaces a noun and noun phrases
my aunt ----- she

O occupy the same place as a noun or NP does in

a sentence
 Types of Pronouns

O subject: I, you, he, she, it, we, they

O object: me, you, him, her, it, us, them
O reflexive: myself, yourself, himself, herself,
itself, ourselves, themselves
O possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours,
theirs
O demonstrative: this, that, these, those
 Determiners
determiner: limits the nouns that follow them
I put my backpack on the front porch and
now I can’t find it.

Major determiners are:

1. articles (a/an, the)
2. demonstratives (this, that, these, those)
3. possessives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their)
 Prepositions
preposition:

O connects words to other parts of a sentence

O comprises a prepositional phrase with a
noun
O usually one word (in, to, at) but sometimes
can be two or three (out of, on top of)
O signals spatial relationships
 Conjunctions
conjunction: words that join
1. coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, etc.)
that join grammatically equal elements:
Diane lives in New York but Mary lives in
California.
2. subordinating conjunctions (because,
although, etc.) that join a subordinate clause to a
main one:
Although they live far apart, they are still
best friends.
 Before moving on…
*** Any construction containing a subject-verb
relationship is a clause:

Although they live apart ----

subordinate/dependent clause

they are still best friends ---- main/independent

clause
 Before moving on…
*** A phrase is a group of words that function
together

NP: our friends, the car

VP: has been singing, will see
Adv.P: very carefully, quite easily
Adj. P: beautiful house, exciting movie
PP: with my brother, for me
 Sentential Terminology
O Simple sentences contain at least one subject
and one verb and can stand alone

O subject + verb: The building collapsed.

O subject + verb + object: They bought a new car.
O subject + verb + indirect object + direct object:
She wrote him a letter.
O subject + verb + subject predicate: Mike’s my
friend.
O subject + verb + object + object predicate: They
make me happy.
 Sentential Terminology
O Compound Sentences consist of two or
more clauses of equal grammatical
importance

They went to the party but I stayed at home.

 Sentential Terminology
O Complex sentences
O main clause + one/more subordinate clauses
He calls frequently because he wants to stay in
touch.
O a dependent clause is embedded or included in
an independent clause
That he did not want to go to the concert was
obvious. (It was obvious)
I argued that it would be a mistake.
The person who was responsible for the accident
fled.
 Sentence Moods
Mood conveys the speaker’s attitude toward the
factual content of the sentence.

O Main moods:
O declarative /indicative
O interrogative
O imperative
O Minor moods:
O exclamatory
O subjunctive
 Sentence Moods

O declarative: Today is Thursday.

O interrogative: Where were you last night?
O imperative: Pass the salt, please.
O exclamatory: What a wonderful movie that
was!
O subjunctive: I wish I were going with you.
 Theme/Rheme
O Theme provides the framework for interpreting
what follows (subject)
O Rheme is what follows, the remainder of the
message (predicate)

The scouts held the carwash despite the rain.

The carwash was held by the scouts.
(here the theme) (here the rheme)
 Suprasentential Terminology
O Backgrounding and Foregrounding

Yesterday I went to the market. It has lots of fruit

that I like. I bought several different kinds of
apples. I also found that plums were in season so
I bought two pounds of them….
 Suprasentential Terminology
O Cohesion: one of the two qualities that give a
written or spoken text unity and purpose

O reference: The boy wanted a new bike. One day he

……
O ellipsis: A: Who wrote the letter?
B: Marty.
O substitution: I plan to move to New York. If I do,
.....
 Suprasentential Terminology
O Cohesion

O conjunction: Jane wanted to learn how to drive.

She, therefore, asked her father.

O lexical cohesion: He was grateful for the money

he had been given. He slipped the coins into his
pocket and hurried down the street.
 Suprasentential Terminology

O Register is simply defined as the level of

formality of language.
O field: refers to the social activity in which the
language is being used and what is being
talked about.
O tenor: is concerned with the roles and
relationships of interlocutors.
O mode: refers to the channel of
communication (written or spoken)
Suprasentential Terminology
O Genre is linguistic variation due to the
communicative purposes to which the
language is put.

medical genre
literary genre
news genre
 Next Week:

The Lexicon
The Copula and Subject-Verb
Agreement
Introduction to Phrase
Structure
 THE LEXICON
«mental inventory of words and productive word derivational
processes»
We treat lexical units at three levels:
1. that of the individual word and its
components
2. that of word compounds and co-
occurrences
3. that of conventionalized multiword
phrases
What does it mean to know a word?

■ spelling (orthography)
■ phonetic representation (pronunciation, syllabification,
and stress)
■ morphological irregularity (if any)
■ syntactic features and restrictions (including part of
speech)
■ common derivations and collocations
■ semantic features and restrictions
■ pragmatic features and restrictions
Example: «child»
■ c-h-i-l-d
■ /čayld/
■ irregular plural: children
■ common countable noun
■ common derivatives: childlike, childish, childhood &
common collocations: child’s play, child labor, child
psychology
■ includes the concept «human», neutral regarding gender,
contrasts with «infant, baby, adult, adolescent»
■ My kids are home from school. (acceptable)
My kid is home from school. (questionable)
 The Form of Words: Morphological
Affixation
Morphemes can be divided into two basic categories:
Morphological Affixation

■ Free morphemes with lexical content: nouns,

verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
■ Free morphemes with grammatical function:
articles, prepositions, and conjunctions
■ Bound morphemes which are lexical in
nature: derivational
■ Bound morphemes which are more
grammatical in nature: inflectional
Bound Morphemes

■ Derivational affixes: can be «prefixes» (e.g.,

unbend) and «suffixes» (e.g., argument)

***results in either a different part of

speech or the same part of speech with a
different lexical meaning
Bound Morphemes
■ Inflectional affixes: are all suffixes (e.g., books)
*** simply adds some element of meaning required by
grammar.
There are eight inflectional affixes in English:
1. present participle (watching)
2. present tense-third person singular (walks)
3. past tense (jumped)
4. past participle (eaten)
5. Possessive (Jane’s)
6. Plural (bags)
7. comparative (cleaner)
8. superlative (fastest)
Bound Morphemes
The only inflectional affixes that are not suffixes
involve irregular forms (plurals, past tenses, past
participles, comparatives, superlatives):

■ internal vowel change: mouse ---- mice

ring ---- rang ----rung
■ no change: one deer ---- several deer
hit ---- hit ---- hit
■ suppletive form: go ---- went
good ---- better ---- best
Syntactically Relevant Lexical Features

■ Determiners/Adjectives Plus Nouns

• a few determiners co-occur only with

uncountable nouns (e.g., much, little)
• other determiners co-occur only with singular
countable nouns (e.g., a/an, each)
• others co-occur only with plural countable
nouns (e.g., these, many, few)
Syntactically Relevant Lexical Features

■ Determiners/Adjectives Plus Nouns

• some others co-occur with all nouns
irrespective of countability or number (e.g., the,
my, his)
• some adjectives co-occur only with plural nouns
(e.g., various)
• singular proper nouns referring to people do not
occur with articles (e.g., Alex, Mr. Tesla)
• common nouns referring to people do occur
with articles (e.g., a man, the men, some men)
Syntactically Relevant Lexical Features

■ Adjective-Prepositional Phrase Restrictions

• some adjectives are inherently intransitive
Legolas is handsome.
• other adjectives are intrinsically transitive
Merry is related to Pippin.
• some adjectives can be used both transitively
and intransitively
Frodo is nervous. Frodo is nervous about the
task.
Syntactically Relevant Lexical Features

■ Verb-Noun Restrictions
• transitive-intransitive verbs
The stain disappeared.
The man brought a gift.
• prepositional verbs require an adverbial of location,
direction, or a recipient
The child lay on the bed.
The boy headed home.
I handed the note to Alex.
Syntactically Relevant Lexical Features

■ Co-occurrence Restrictions Involving

Prepositions
• a verb frequently must be followed by a
particular preposition (e.g., to rely on, to
distinguish from)
• a transitive adjective frequently must be
followed by a particular preposition (e.g., to
be cognizant of)
Syntactically Relevant Lexical Features

■ Co-occurrence Restrictions Involving

Prepositions
• a given noun phrase must be preceded by a
given preposition (e.g., in my opinion, to my
mind, from my point of view)
• a given noun phrase must be followed by a
given preposition (e.g., in lieu of, with regard
to)
Productive Lexical Processes

■ Compounding
house (n): household, housemate, houseboat,
housebound, housefly, housekeeper,
houselights, housewife, housework, etc.

The most frequent English compounding

patterns are:
• noun + noun: baby blanket, rainbow
• noun + verb: homemade, rainfall
Productive Lexical Processes
■ Compounding
The most frequent English compounding patterns
are:
• noun + verb-er: can opener, screwdriver
• adj. + noun: greenhouse, cold case
• adj./adv. + noun + -en: quick-frozen, nearsighted
• prep. + noun: overlord, underworld
• prep. + verb: underestimate, overstep
• verb + particle: makeup, breakdown
Productive Lexical Processes

■ Derivational Affixation
• combine with stem/base forms to derive
new words
• can be prefixes that often change the
meaning (expatriate, unrepentant)
• can be suffixes that usually change the
part of speech of the word stem
(washable, childish)
Productive Lexical Processes
■ Derivational Affixation
• A word stem can have both a derivational prefix
and suffix (unthinkable) or more than one suffix
(governmental)
• most common and useful derivational prefixes are:
anti-, bi-, inter-, intra-, pre-, un- & suffixes are: -able,
-er, -ism, -ist, -less, -ness
• which words take which affixes is not always
predictable (e.g., suggestment or resent)
• when both a derivational and an inflectional suffix
are fixed to the same word, the inflectional suffix
occurs last: weaknesses vs. weaksness
Productive Lexical Processes

■ Conversion occurs when one part of speech is

converted into another part of speech without any
derivational affixation
• most conversion in English takes place:
• when the verb has a very general meaning
• and the meaning of a noun object becomes
incorporated into the verb to show
• that something has been (1) added, (2)
taken away, or (3) used for something
Productive Lexical Processes

1. He put butter on his bread.

He buttered his bread.
2. Jo removed dust from the desk.
Jo dusted the desk.
3. Sue gathered the leaves with a rake.
Sue raked the leaves.
The Lexicon

■ Homonymy: same word, different meanings

(e.g., bear)
– homophony: identity with sound (e.g.,
there, their, they’re)
– homography: identity with spelling (e.g.,
wind blowing vs wind the clock)
■ Polysemy: one form with the same part of
speech has a range of meanings (e.g., live)
Semantic Features and Restrictions

■ Hierarchy of Semantic Features (going from low

to high):
■ common nouns are abstract or concrete
■ concrete nouns are living or nonliving
■ living nouns are plant or animal
■ animal nouns are human or non-human
■ Human and non-human nouns are
masculine, feminine, or gender-neutral
Semantic Features and Restrictions
The idea developed. *The idea laughed.
The dog sneezed. *The worm sneezed.

The harsh winter killed the plants.

* The winter killed the rocks.

The basement was mildewed.

* The government was mildewed.

The mare was pregnant. * The stallion was pregnant.

Meaning Extension
A great many word meanings are figurative or metaphorical in
addition to being literal:

Literal Metaphoric
The wind blew. The wind whispered.
Put it into the basket. Put it into words.
He is in the garage. He is in love.

It is in the bag (=the object is located in the bag)

(=the proposal is accepted)
Denotations, Connotations, and Cultural
Associations

• denotation: dictionary definition or referential meaning

• connotation: emotional association with a word
• cultural association: determined by speakers’ interests and
attitudes

I am going to buy that pen. It is only/merely/just 50 cents.

only= more neutral

merely= depreciative
just= mildly positive
Semantic Classes of Verbs

■ punctual verbs: meaning that the action is

momentary, having no duration (e.g., kick, hit)
She is hitting the rug with a stick.
(repeatedness)
■ Durative verbs: meaning that action takes
place over time (e.g., live, work)
She is working in New York for the summer.
(temporarily)
Argument Structure of Verbs
“describes the number of nouns or participants typically
associated with a verb”
■ One argument: Alex jogs. (subject)

■ Two arguments: Alex lives in Chicago. (subject + locative

prepositional phrase)

■ Three arguments: Alex gave me a book. (subject + direct

object + indirect object)
Semantic Fields
“a cluster of words that cover a particular semantic area
and can best be understood in relation to one another
”

Adjectives denoting physical attractiveness (e.g.,

beautiful, lovely, pretty, attractive, handsome, good-
looking, etc. )
Adjectives denoting personality traits (e.g., honest, loyal,
punctual, hardworking, etc. )
Parts of the body (e.g., head, shoulders, knees, toes, etc.)
Collocation
“groups of words that occur together governed by
conventional use rather than form or meaning”

adjective-noun: a tall person/building

adverb-adjective: statistically significant
verb-direct object: ask/answer a question

binominals: high and dry, pick and choose

trinominals: a king’s ransom, a raw deal
Discourse Communities
"Discourse is the way in which language is used socially to
convey broad historical meanings. It is language
identified by the social conditions of its use, by who is
using it and under what conditions. Language can
never be 'neutral' because it bridges our personal and
social worlds."
(Frances Henry and Carol Tator, Discourses of
Domination. University of Toronto Press, 2002)
“A discourse community is a social group that uses
language to accomplish work in the world and that
discourse maintains and extends a group’s knowledge.”
(Swales, 1990).
Form: The Structural Roles of ‘be’

■ Auxiliary be always occurs in conjunction with another

verb.
Gandalf is talking to Sam.
■ The copula:
■ links nonverbal predicates (nouns, adjectives,
and certain adverbials) with their subjects
■ serves as a carrier for tense and subject-verb
agreement
Sam is a hero/short/in Rivendell.
Why the Copula be is Different from
Other Verbs

1. be has more distinct forms with respect to

person, number, and tense.

walk: two present tense forms, one past tense

form

be: has three distinct present tense and two past

tense forms
Why the Copula be is Different from Other
Verbs
2. be is the most frequent and semantically most neutral
copula.
– can be followed by adjective phrases
Arwen is attractive.
– can be followed by noun phrases
Arwen is an elf.
– can be followed by adverbial prepositional phrases
Arwen is in Rivendell.
Why the Copula be is Different from
Other Verbs

3. The syntactic behavior of the copula be has

operator function with regard to
– question formation
Is Gandalf a wizard?
– negation
Gandalf isn’t a dwarf.
4. The copula be does not occur in all languages.
Subject-Verb Agreement

■ Form: Third Person Singular Present

number agreement between the subject and verb poses a
problem only in the present tense
• simplifying or leaving off altogether the third
person singular inflection
• overgeneralizing the inflection and applying to
uninflected forms
• Overusing it as an agreement marker with
subjects of inappropriate person and/or number
Subject-Verb Agreement

■ Meaning: Problems in Subject and Verb Number Choice

We use the third person singular inflection if the subject
refers to one entity:
The water tastes funny.
She wants to drive.
If the subject refers to more than one entity or for the first or
second person pronouns referring to one entity, no inflection
is used in the present tense:
The Browns walk to church.
I/You want an apple.
Rules for Persistently Troublesome Cases

■ Collective nouns may take either a singular or

plural verb inflection depending on the
meaning:
The team has won all the games. (=the team as a
whole)

The team have won all the games. (=individual

team members)
Rules for Persistently Troublesome
Cases

■ Some common and proper nouns ending in –s,

including –ics nouns and certain diseases, are
always conceived of a single entity:
No news is good news.
Measles is a contagious disease.
Physics is a difficult subject.
Rules for Persistently Troublesome
Cases
■ Titles of books, plays, operas, films, and such works
take the singular verb inflection:
Great Expectations was written by Dickens.
The Pirates of the Caribbean is her favorite movie.
■ A number of normally takes the plural while the
number of normally takes the singular:
A number of students have dropped that course.
The number of students in this course is 20.
Rules for Persistently Troublesome
Cases

■ Nouns occurring in sets of two take the singular

when the noun pair is present but take the
plural when pair is absent:

This pair of shoes needs new heels.

These shoes need new heels.
Rules for Persistently Troublesome
Cases
■ Fractions and percentages take a singular verb inflection
when modifying a noncount noun and the plural verb
inflection when they modify a plural noun:
One half of the toxic waste has escaped.
Two thirds of the students are satisfied with the class.

When they modify a collective noun, they either take the

singular or the plural verb inflection:
One tenth of the population in Egypt is/are Christian/s.
Ten percent of the population in Egypt is/are Christian/s.
Rules for Persistently Troublesome
Cases

■ The nouns majority and minority are variously

described as singular, plural, or collective:
The great majority is helpless. (referring to
superiority of numbers)
The majority was/were determined to press victory.
(grammatically collective)
A majority of my friends advise it. (referring to an
explicit set of persons)
Rules for Persistently Troublesome
Cases
■ Plural unit words of distance, money, and time take the singular
verb inflection when one entity is implied:
2 million dollars is a lot of money.
5 years is a long time to finish your program.
1000 miles is a long distance.

They take the plural verb inflection when more than one entity is
implied:
2 dollars are on the table.
3 years are missing from this file.
10 miles are to be run.
Rules for Persistently Troublesome
Cases
■ Arithmetical operations (add, subtract, multiply, and
divide) take the singular:

Four minus two is/equals two.

Two times two is/equals four.
Ten divided by two is/equals five.
One plus one is/equals two.
Rules for Persistently Troublesome
Cases
■ The quantifiers “all, a lot of, lots of, plenty of” take
singular verb agreement if the subject head noun is
noncount:
A lot of nonsense was published about that incident.

But they take plural verb agreement if the subject head

noun is plural:
A lot of people were present when the accident happened.
Word Order in English

■ The basic underlying word order in an English sentence

is subject-verb-object (S-V-O):
Sam writes historical stories.
■ This fixed order operates in conjunction with
prepositions:
Sam agrees with Galadriel.
■ English requires that a subject noun of some sort
appear in all sentences (except some imperatives):
Aragorn can speak Elvish.
 NEXT WEEK:

Phrase Structure Rules

The Tense and Aspect System

Modal Auxiliaries and Related

Phrasal Forms
 TODAY:
The following topics will be covered in this class:
Phrase Structure Rules
 The Internal Structure of Noun Phrases
 The Internal Structure of Adverbials
 Structural Variation in Prepositional Phrases
 The Ordering of Sentence-Final Adverbials
The Structure of the English Verb System
Phrase Structure Rules for the Auxiliary
 Phrase Structure Rules of the Verb Phrase
 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES

Phrase structure rules provide us with a parsing

device to make explicit three important basic
properties of sentence grammar:
linearity: the words and morphemes of any English
sentence need to be produced in sequence
hierarchy: some words group together and these
groups in turn contribute to other groups and
ultimately to a larger whole
categoriality: some words and groups of words
behave grammatically in very similar ways and in
ways that are different from other words or groups of
words
 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES

S= sm (sentence modifier) + S’

S’= subject + predicate

Subj= noun phrase

NP= determiner + noun

NP= pronoun
 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES

Adj.P= adjective phrase= adjective + noun/prepositional

phrase

PrepP= prepositional phrase= preposition + noun

Adverbials= Advl CL, Advl P, PrepP

 INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF NOUN
PHRASES
NP as subject:
Pronoun
uninf lected lexical noun: sword, blood, Treebeard
a noun with a plural inf lection: oaths, rings
a noun with up to three determiners: all his other duties
a noun with a preceding adjective phrase: a very precious
ring
a noun with a following prepositional phrase: a man of
honor
a noun with various combinations of the above options:
the famous gardens of Rivendell, all the little half lings,
many very bright beacons
 OBJECT-NOUN PREDICATES

One further sentence type: sentences with object noun

phrases that take nouns, adjectives, and adverbial
prepositional phrases as predicates:

1. They elected Harry captain.

2. Ron considers Draco dangerous.
3. Hermione placed the book on the table.

Underlined constituents refer to the object NP

and predicate something with respect to that object
noun phrase.
 SYNTACTIC ROLES OF NPs IN
PREDICATE
Under the predicate node, NPs can function as
objects or predicates.
They function as three types of objects:
 Direct objects: Hermione read a book.
 Indirect objects: Ron gave mom some flowers.
 Objects of prepositions: Weasleys live in a small
house.
They function as two types of predicates:
 Subject noun predicate: Snape is a professor.
 Object noun predicate: They elected Dumbledore
headmaster.
 STRUCTURAL VARIATION IN
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
Normally, a sentence in which a noun functions
adverbially must have a preposition:
The ring was in his pocket.

In some environments, prepositions are optional:

Saruman has lived in the White Tower ( for) many
years.

In some others, they do not occur:

Gimli went home.
The King of Gondor will return tomorrow.
 SYNTACTIC ROLES OF PREPOSITIONAL
PHRASES

Prepositional phrases can be generated as parts of NPs,

VPs, AdjPs, adverbials, or object noun predicates:
PrepP in NP: a man of honor, an ounce of potion
PrepP in VP: be in the house, give the book to Nevil
PrepP in AdjP: fond of dogs
PrepP in adverbials: do homework on Saturday
PrepP in object noun predicate: put the roses in the
vase
PrepP as the part of the VP
PrepP as the object noun predicate
PrepP as an adverbial modifying the whole sentence
 INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF
ADVERBIALS
There are three structural possibilities for each
sentence-final adverbial:
adverbial clause
Frodo and Sam left before Urukhai could find them.
adverbial phrase
The Ents move very slowly.
prepositional phrase
The Fellowship eat lunch in the woods.
An adverbial clause can be expanded to include an
adverbial subordinator followed by a new sentence .
 ORDERING OF SENTENCE-FINAL
ADVERBIALS
There are many semantically different types of
sentence-final adverbials:
manner adverbial: Gollum runs quickly.
direction adverbial: Orcs ran to the keep.
position adverbial: Arwen is at home.
time adverbial: Gandalf smokes at night.
frequency adverbial: Eomer rides every day.
purpose adverbial: Fellowship fights to win the
battle.
reason adverbial: Frodo cried because he was set
up.
 ORDERING OF SENTENCE-FINAL
ADVERBIALS
When more than one adverbial occurs in a sentence, the
ordering is not random:

Direction and manner have variable order with respect to

each other.

Manner and position have variable order with respect to

each other.

Direction tends to precede position and they tend to be

adjacent.
He ran quickly around the track at the park.
He ran around the track at the park quickly.
 ORDERING OF SENTENCE-FINAL
ADVERBIALS
When more than one adverbial occurs in a
sentence, the ordering is not random:
Time and frequency tend to follow manner,
direction, and position.
Time and frequency are variable in order with
respect to each other.

She eats lunch quickly (every day at noon/at

noon every day)
 ORDERING OF SENTENCE-FINAL
ADVERBIALS
When more than one adverbial occurs in a sentence, the
ordering is not random:

Purpose and reason tend to follow all other adverbials.

Purpose tends to precede reason.

Gollum talks to Frodo secretly every day because he has

his plans.

Frodo went to Mordor to destroy the ring because he

wanted to save the Middle-Earth.
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH VERB
SYSTEM

Every non-imperative English sentence must

have either a modal auxiliary (e.g., can, must,
will) or a grammatical tense.

 English has only two tense forms: past and

present.

English has two optional structural markers of

aspect: the progressive aspect and the perfect
aspect.
 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES FOR THE
AUXILIARY
The English verb has many potential auxiliary
elements:
 J.K. Rowling wrote a book. = past tense + write
(wrote)

 J.K. Rowling should write a book. = modal should +

write (should write)

 J.K. Rowling has written a book. =present tense +

perfect have … -en + write (has written)
 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES FOR THE
AUXILIARY
The English verb has many potential auxiliary
elements:

 J.K. Rowling is writing a book. = present tense +

progressive be … -ing + write (is writing)

 J.K. Rowling is going to write a book. = present tense

+ the phrasal modal be going to + write (is going to
write)

 Write a book! = imperative mood + write (write)

 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES FOR THE
AUXILIARY

Beyond tense or a modal, three optional auxiliary

verb types may be present:
 a phrasal modal (e.g., be going to, have to, be
able to)
 the perfect aspect (have plus the past participle)
 the progressive aspect (be plus the present
participle)
If no tense-bearing auxiliary verb is present, the
main verb will carry past or present tense:
J.K. Rowling wrote a book.
 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES FOR THE
AUXILIARY
 Sometimes much more than tense or a modal auxiliary
occurs in the AUX of a single sentence:

1. Rowling had to be writing a book. (AUX=past tense,

phrasal modal, and progressive aspect)

2. Rowling has been writing a book. (AUX= present

tense, perfect and progressive aspects)

3. Rowling should have written a book. (AUX= modal

and perfect aspect)
 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES FOR THE
AUXILIARY
 Sometimes much more than tense or a modal auxiliary
occurs in the AUX of a single sentence:

4. Rowling will have been writing a book. (AUX= modal,

perfect and progressive aspects)

5. Rowling will have to have written a book. (AUX=

modal, phrasal modal, and perfect aspect)

6. Rowling had to have been writing a book. (AUX= past

tense, phrasal modal, perfect and progressive
aspects)
 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES FOR THE
VERB PHRASE

1. Rowling is a writer. (VP= cop + NP)

2. Hermione is smart. (VP= cop + AP)
3. The students are in the hall. (VP= cop + PrepP)
4. Ron snores. (VP= V)
5. Harry studies Potions. (VP= V + NP)
6. Harry gave the book to Ginny. (VP= V + NP +
PrepP)
7. Harry gave Ginny the book. (VP= V + NP1 + NP2)
8. Luna is allergic to cats. (VP= cop + AP + PrepP)
NOUN PHRASE DIAGRAMS
NOUN PHRASE DIAGRAMS
NOUN PHRASE DIAGRAMS
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE DIAGRAMS
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE DIAGRAMS
VERB PHRASE DIAGRAMS
VERB PHRASE DIAGRAMS
 ASSIGNMENT

Draw tree diagrams of the following phrases using the

rules given in the last chapter s.

the books all his other friends

very swiftly a man of honor
a very dark sky in the city
all the brave soldiers on the table
the famous city of New York
at the parking lot very old man
for many years
 NEXT WEEK:

The Tense-Aspect-Modality
System in Discourse
Negation
Yes/No Questions
 Week 4

The Tense and Aspect

System
 The Tense and Aspect System

 Tense: relates to time

Present
Past
 Aspect: refers to the internal structure of the
action occurring at any time
Simple (zero)
Perfect
Progressive
Perfect progressive
The Tense and Aspect System
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System

-ed as a past tense marker:

If I walked home after school today, it would

take me all afternoon.
They said they loved magic.
Host to guest: Did you want something to eat
before the game?
Sales clerk to customer: What sort of price did
you have in mind?
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Simple Aspect

 Simple Present Tense: conveys immediate factuality.

 Habitual actions in the present: She practices magic
every day.
 General timeless truths such as physical laws or
customs: Water freezes at 0 degrees centigrade.
 With be and other stative verbs to indicate states: The
flying car belongs to Mr. Weasley.
 In the subordinate clauses of time or condition when
the main clause contains a future-time verb: After he
graduates, he will travel around the world.
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Simple Aspect

 Simple Present Tense: conveys immediate factuality.

 Expresses future (when a scheduled event is involved,
usually with a future-time adverbial): Harry has a
meeting with Prof. Snape next Wednesday at that
time.
 Present event/action (usually in sporting events or
demonstrations): Now I add two eggs to the mixture.
 Present speech acts (where the action is accomplished
in the speaking of it): I resign from the commission.
 Conversational historical present (used to refer to
certain past events in narration): «So he stands up in
the court and looks her in the eye»
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Simple Aspect

 Simple Past Tense: conveys a sense of remoteness and

completeness.
 A definite single completed event/action in the past: I
attended the meeting last week.
 Habitual or repeated action/event in the past: It rained
almost every weekend last fall.
 An event with duration that applied in the past with the
implication that it no longer applies in the present:
Professor Dumbledore taught at Hogwarts for thirty years.
 With states in the past: He owed me a lot of money.
 Imaginative conditional in the subordinate clause: If he took
better care of his cat, she would be alive.
 Social distancing: Did you want to borrow the book?
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Simple Aspect

 Simple Future Tense with will: cannot be reported on

factually, is used for strong predictions, not factual reports.
 An action to take place at some definite future time:
Hagrid will teach the course next year.
 A future habitual action or state: After this summer,
Harry will take the train to Hogwarts every September.
 A situation that may obtain in the present and will obtain
in the future but with some future termination in sight:
She will live in Spain until she improves her Spanish.
 In the main (result) clause of future conditionals: If you
fail this class, you will regret it.
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Perfect Aspect

 Present Perfect: is used retrospectively to refer to a time prior to

now.
 A situation that began at a prior point in time and continues
into the present: I have been a teacher since 2001.
 An action occurring or not occurring at an unspecified prior
time that has current relevance: I have already seen that
movie.
 A very recently completed action (often with just): I have just
finished reading his latest novel.
 An action that occurred over a prior time period and that is
completed at the moment of speaking: The value of this land
has doubled in the last a few years.
 With verbs in subordinate clauses of time or condition: If you
have done your homework, you can watch TV.
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Perfect Aspect

 Past Perfect: offers a retrospective point of view on some past

time.
 An action completed in the past prior to some other past event
or time: He had already left before I could speak with him.
 Imaginative conditional in the subordinate clause: If you had
studied harder, you would have passed the exam.

 Future Perfect: offers a retrospective point of view on some

future time.
 A future action that will be completed prior to a specific future
time: I will have finished reading your papers by Friday.
 A state or accomplishment that will be completed in the future
prior to some other future time or event: At the end of the
course, you will have been immersed in English grammar.
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Progressive Aspect

 Present Progressive
 Activityin progress: He is playing piano now.
 Extended present: She is studying medicine at the University
of New York.
 A temporary situation: He is living with his parents.
 Repetition or iteration in a series of ongoing actions: Alex is
kicking the soccer ball around at the backyard.
 Expresses future (when event is planned; usually with a future-
time adverbial): They are coming tomorrow.
 Emotional comment on present habit: She’s always reaching
out to people in need.
 A change in progress: Ela is becoming more and more like her
mother.
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Progressive Aspect

 Past Progressive
 An action in progress at a specific point of time in the
past: She was walking to school at 7.30 this morning.
 Past action simultaneous with some other event that is
usually stated in the simple past: While he was
sleeping, someone broke into his apartment.
 Repetition or iteration of some ongoing past action:
The baby was coughing all night long.
 Social distancing: I was hoping you could lend me your
car.
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Progressive Aspect

 Future Progressive
An action that will be in progress at a specific
time in the future: She will be flying to Chicago
at 9a.m. tomorrow.
Duration of some specific future action: Alex
will be working on this project for the next two
years.
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Perfect Progressive Aspect

 Present Perfect Progressive

A situation or habit that began in the past and that
continues up to the present: Harry has been going out
with Ginny.
 An action in progress that is not yet completed: I have
been grading your papers.
 A state that changes over time: You have been getting
better and better.
 An evaluative comment on something observed over
time triggered by current evidence: He has been
drinking again!
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Perfect Progressive Aspect

 Past Perfect Progressive

 An action or habit taking place over a period of time in
the past prior to some other past event or time: She had
been working hard so her doctor told her to take a
vacation.
 A past action in progress that was interrupted by a
more recent past action: We had been planning to
vacation in Maine but changed our minds after the
recent news.
 An ongoing past action or state that becomes satisfied
by some other event: I had been wanting to meet him
in person so I was pleased when I was given the
chance.
 Meaning in the English Tense-Aspect
System: Perfect Progressive Aspect

 Future Perfect Progressive

Durative or habitual action that is taking place
in the present and that will continue into the
future up until or through a specific future
time:
She will have been working on that project for
five years next month.
 Lexical Aspect of Verbs

Verbs can be divided into four categories

based on their inherent lexical aspect:
1. Activity: are durative and describe an ongoing
action (run, walk, swim, live, study)
2. Accomplishment: durative but each has a well-
defined end point (paint, make, build, write)
3. Achievement: have a well-defined end point but
have no duration (recognize, realize, lose, find)
4. State: depict a stable situation that is assumed to
last more or less indefinitely (have, contain, seem,
want, like)
 Lexical Aspect of Verbs

 With Simple Aspect

 The simple tenses can express either specific or general
facts, events, habits, and states with all four verb types.

 With Perfect Aspect

 Activity verbs are used with perfect aspect to describe a
prior experience/activity: I have run before.
 Accomplishment and achievement verbs signal prior events
that are completed: Rowling has written many novels.
 Stative verbs signal a state that may or may not have ended
at the time of speech: I have owned a Rolls Royce
before/since 1987.
 Lexical Aspect of Verbs

 With Progressive Aspect

 Activity verbs readily take the progressive: He is
washing the car.
 Accomplishment verbs focus on progress toward a
particular end that has not yet been completed: The
contractors are building the new center.
 Achievement verbs give the meaning of iteration: She is
nodding her head in agreement.
 Stative verbs can occur with progressive to achieve
certain effects.
 Lexical Aspect of Verbs

 With Perfect Progressive Aspect

 Activity verbs imply that the action began in the past
and has duration at the present time: Alex has been
running for two hours.
 Accomplishment verbs indicate that the action has
been going on for some time and is not yet complete:
They have been repairing the bridge for months.
 Achievement verbs can be used if achievement is
iterative: He has been winning that race for years.
 Stative verbs in perfect progressive add the notion of
inception signaling that the state has history: I have
been wanting to see you.
 Adverbs of Tense and Time

Has Chris finished her M.A. thesis?

1. Yes, she has just finished it (recent completion)

2. Yes, she has already filed it (result that occurred
previously)
3. No, she hasn’t finished it yet (noncompletion-less certain)
4. No, but she’ll finish it soon (noncompletion-future
completion implied)
5. No, she’s still working on it (a state persisting in the
present)
6. No, she’s not working on it anymore (noncompletion-task
abandoned)
 Use of the Tense-Aspect System

 Simple Present vs Present Progressive

 action happening at the moment of speaking vs a habit:
Why are you wearing glasses?
Why do you wear glasses?
 temporary event vs permanent situation:
Linda is living with her parents.
Linda lives with her parents.
 specific event vs general situation:
What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
What do you do for Thanksgiving?
 activity vs state:
I am thinking about the answer.
I think it is 144.
 Use of the Tense-Aspect System

 Present Perfect vs Present Perfect Progressive

 specific and possibly still ongoing activity vs prior event:
I have been visiting my relatives.
I have visited my relatives.
 strong implication of continuation vs continuation being
only a possibility:
I have been teaching for 20 years.
I have taught for 20 years.
 single accomplishment, incomplete vs a completed
accomplishment:
She has been remodeling her home.
She has remodeled her home.
 Use of the Tense-Aspect System

 Simple Past vs Present Perfect

 Use of specific past time adverbials vs use of certain
more general temporal adverbials:
yesterday, last year, in 1990, etc.
already, since, yet, etc.
 a completed historical period vs an incomplete one:
My father lived here all his life.
My father has lived here all his life.
 indefinite vs definite query:
Have you ever gone to Phoenix?
Did you go to Phoenix?
 Use of the Tense-Aspect System

 Simple Past vs Past Progressive

 incomplete vs complete action:
He was drowning in the lake so the lifeguard raced into
the water.
He drowned in the lake.
 no room for change vs room for a change:
She left when he came in.
She was leaving when he came in.
 Permanent vs temporary state:
They lived in Spain all their lives.
They were living in Spain during the 70s.
 Use of the Tense-Aspect System

 Simple Past vs Past Perfect

The past perfect is used to mark the completion of
some event before a past time period or bef0re
another past event that is in the simple past:

By the end of the 1920s, women in the U.S. had

won the right to vote.
Pat had blamed them for the problem before he
considered all the evidence.
 Use of the Tense-Aspect System

 Simple Future (will) vs Other Ways of Indicating

Futurity
 will is used for future predictions and spontaneous
decision when the person has control over the action:
Jack will be 40 next year.
I’ll get the door.
 be going to is used for future predictions, future
intentions, and future certainty based on current
condition or evidence:
Jack is going to be 40 next year.
They are going to get married in October.
It is going to rain today.
 Use of the Tense-Aspect System

 Simple Future (will) vs Other Ways of Indicating

Futurity
 present progressive is used for future plans that have
already been made:
She is marching in the parade next week.
 simple present is used for fixed scheduled events and
subordinate clauses of time or condition:
You get paid next Friday.
If the train arrives on time, we will be home on time.
 Use of the Tense-Aspect System

 Simple Future vs Future Progressive

 allowsfor the possibility of change with regard to some
future event:
We will offer that class next semester.
We will be offering that class next semester.

 Simple Future vs Future Perfect

 the future perfect marks an event/activity that is complete
prior to some other time or complete prior to some other
future event:
Megan will move when she completes her studies.
Megan will have moved by the time she completes her
studies.
 Assignment

Provide original example sentences to

illustrate the following terms. Underline the
pertinent words in your examples:

Simple future present perfect past perfect

accomplishment verb past progressive
future perfect present perfect progressive
simple present stative verb
future progressive
 Form of Modals

In English, modals are derived from verbs that did carry tense
and take agreement markers during much earlier stage of the language.
However, English no longer inflects modals for tense and
number.

You can go.

She must study harder.
He should listen to his supervisor.

Present Tense Past Tense

can could
will would
may might
shall should
Ø must/had to
 Modals and Their Phrasal Modal
Counterparts
Multiword forms ending in infinitive to are called
phrasal/periphrastic/pseudo/quasi- modals.

Modal Phrasal Modal

can, could be able to
will, shall be going to, be about to
must have to, have got to
should, ought to be to, be supposed to
would used to
may, might be allowed to, be permitted to

* The phrasal forms behave syntactically much more like ordinary

verbs than they do like true modals.
 The Meanings of Modals

 Modals are used for several reasons: to give a

proposition a degree of probability, to express one’s
attitude, and to perform various social functions.

 Modals have at least two distinctly different

functions: an epistemic meaning expressing logical
probability and a deontic function expressing a use
related to social interaction.

 Virtually, all modals can express both logical

probability and social interaction.
 Logical Probability Meanings of Modals

 The logical meanings of modals typically deal with the speaker making an inference or
prediction. What increases is the degree of certainty regarding our inference:
John: Someone’s knocking.
Jake: That must be William.
That will be William.
That should be William.
That may be William.
That could/might be William.

 The same set of modals can be used for past as well:

John: Someone was asking for you.
Jake: That must have been William.
That would have been William.
That should have been William.
That may have been William.
That could/might have been William.
 Social Functions of Modals

 Making Requests:
 Historical past forms of modals are considered more
polite and less presumptuous than the historical
present forms.
Could you help me with this math problem?
Can I leave the room now?
 When asking for permission, the selection of may or
can is socially significant.
May I talk to you for a minute?
Can I talk to you for a minute?
 Social Functions of Modals

 Giving Advice
 Modals can be ordered according to the speaker’s degree of
authority or urgency of the advice.
You must see a doctor.
You should/ought to see a doctor.
You might/could see a doctor.

You (had) better/best not say things like that.

You ought not (to) say things like that.
You shouldn’t say things like that.
You’re not supposed to say things like that.
You don’t need/have to say things like that.
 Contexts of Meaning and Use for Some
Modals and Phrasal Forms

 be able to is much less frequent and seems more formal than can.
 shall is usually found in requests for a decision or for advice from the
addressee.
 be going to is more informal and interpersonal than will which is
more formal and neutral as an expression of future time.
 will conveys a sense of promise or commitment in the statement but be
going to conveys a plan or intention.
 should expresses someone’s internal moral judgment or a higher
moral authority.
 ought to is a marker of some general external moral or social
standard.
 be supposed to refers to explicit, externally agreed-upon standards,
schedules, or expectations that may be restricted to a certain group.
 Contexts of Meaning and Use for Some
Modals and Phrasal Forms

 have to is used in speech to express both external and

internal social necessity.
 have got to expresses either inference or social necessity
with a special degree of urgency.
 (had) better/best conveys special affect by sometimes
suggesting the possibility of unpleasant consequences.
 can is preferred in contexts that are more interactional,
affective, and empathy building.
 used to suggests a factual report of past habit.
 be/get used to expresses familiarity and possibly some
positive attitude.
 Assignment

Explain the semantic difference between the two sentences

in each of the following pairs:

1. It must be nighttime. / It must have been nighttime.

2. Will you help me with this problem? / Would you help me with this
problem?

3. I was able to go to the library last night. / I could have gone to the
library last night.

4. The ground is wet. It may have rained last night. / The ground is
wet. It must have rained last night.

5. You should do your homework. / You had better do your homework.

 WEEK 5
Negation
Yes/No questions
Imperatives
 Negation
Negation in English affects words, phrases, and sentences.

Affirmative Negative
Sméagol likes to fish. Sméagol doesn’t like to fish.
Tolkien is a professor. Tolkien is not a professor.
Ramsey can cook well. Ramsey cannot cook well.
 The Negation System:
The Lexical Level
The way to make many adjectives and adverbs negative is to add a
negative derivational prefix to the word:
happy---unhappy happily---unhappily
appropriate---inappropriate appropriately---inappropriately
possible---impossible possibly---impossibly
logical---illogical logically-illogically
relevant---irrelevant relevantly---irrelevantly
ordered---disordered orderly---disorderly
typical---atypical typically---atypically
 The Negation System:
The Lexical Level
«in-», «dis-», and «un-» tend to be pejoratively evaluative of the stems to which
they attach while «non-» and «a-» prefixes are more descriptive and objective:

Pejorative/Evaluative Descriptive/Objective
irrational nonrational
disbeliever nonbeliever
disfunctional nonfunctional
unprofessional nonprofessional
untheoretical atheoretical
immoral amoral
 The Negation System:
The Lexical Level
• «-less» can be used to negate nouns by expressing their absence or
nonexistence, thus forming adjectives such as : hopeless, penniless, speechless,
lifeless, shameless.
• A similar suffix is «-free» with a more positive connotation: carefree, smoke-free,
fat-free.
• Certain indefinite pronouns and an adverb beginning with «no-» can also be
used to give a negative meaning: nothing, nobody, nowhere.
• Negative adverb of frequency: never
• Negative coordinating conjunction: nor
• Negative correlative conjunctions: neither …. nor
• Quantifiers: little, few
 The Negation System:
The Lexical Level
• Negative adverbial subordinator of conditionals: unless
• Negative adverb of time: yet
• Negative intensifier: too
• Negative adverbs of frequency: seldom, rarely, scarcely, hardly.
• Negative content words: fail, forget, absent, lack, exclude, etc.
 The Negation System:
The Phrase Level
• «no» can function as a negative determiner in a noun phrase:
I am surprised that no alternative was proposed.
No plans have been made.
No way! / No wonder! / No sweat!
No kidding! / No running. / No smoking.
• Before infinitive verbs in infinitive phrases, «not» is used to make the
phrase negative:
She decided not to go.
 The Negation System:
The Sentence Level
• «not» is the main sentence-level negator:
Statement: I am not surprised.
Question: Are you not going?
Command: Don’t move!
Exclamation: Isn’t that grand!
• «no» can also make a sentence negative by negating the subject:
No one was home to welcome him.
 The Negation System:
The Sentence Level
• «no» can be a substitute for an entire sentence:
A: Are you going to the party?
B: No.

• «not» can be a substitute for a negative subordinate clause:

Are you coming? If not, please let me know.
 Assignment
Provide original example sentences to illustrate the following terms. Underline
the pertinent word/s in your examples:

sentence-level negation no determiner phrasal negation

lexical negation negative intensifier

negative correlative conjunctions

negative determiner negative equative functional negative

 Yes/No Questions
• Subject-Operator Inversion: the mapping rule that accounts for the
auxiliary verbs at the head of each sentence is a movement rule called
subject-operator inversion.

• Subject-Operator Inversion with an Auxiliary Verb:

Will they be in Ankara on Friday? Was she able to finish in time?
Has he gone home? Are you doing anything this
weekend?
 Yes/No Questions
• Subject-Operator Inversion with the Be Copula:
Was she a graduate student at the time?
Is he an engineer?

• Subject-Operator Inversion with Other Verbs:

Do they play football on Sundays?
Did you use to go skiing when you lived in Vermont?
Does she have to work on Saturdays?
 Yes/No Questions
• Intonation in Yes/No Questions: Max is learning to use a computer. Is Max learning to
use a computer?
• Short Answers to Yes/No Questions:
• Is he an engineering student? Yes, he is. / No, he isn’t. (copula be)
• Can we go? Yes, we can. / No, we can’t. (modal)
• Is she able to go? Yes, she is. / No, she isn’t. (phrasal modal)
• Has he gone? Yes, he has. / No, he hasn’t. (perfect aspect)
• Are you going? Yes, I am. / No, I am not. (progressive aspect)
• Will they have gone? Yes, they will have. / No, they won’t have. (modal and perfect)
• Will she have been worrying? Yes, she will have (been). / No, she won’t have (been) (modal,
perfect, and progressive)
• Does he play football often? Yes, he does. / No, he doesn’t. (do as the operator)
 Yes/No Questions:
The Meaning
• Negative Yes/No Questions: Isn’t he playing soccer this year?
Aren’t we going to the concert?
• Focused Yes/No Questions: Did Megan play a practical joke on Max?
• Uninverted Questions: A: I just got back from Chicago.
B: You had a good time there?
• Some vs Any: Do you have any paper I can borrow?
(open/unmarked)
Would you like some dessert? (positive quantity)
 Yes/No Questions:
The Meaning
• Other Functions:
* Can I get a ride home with you? (direct request)
* Could I get a ride home with you? (less direct)
* Would you like to sit for a while? (offer or invitation)
* Would you please stand up straight? (command)
* Aren’t you a little old to be doing that? (reprimand)
* Have you ever stayed home all day with a two-year-old? (complaint)
 Imperatives
Imperatives are used when there is a status difference
between the speaker and listener such that the speaker has
the power to order or command the listener to do something:
Go away!
Be quiet!
Listen up!
 Imperatives: The Form
The subject of an unmarked form of an imperative is the
second person singular or plural subject pronoun: «you»
(You) go away!
(You) be quiet!
(You) listen up!
Imperative sentences are tenseless: (You) be quiet!
 Imperatives: The Form
Negative imperatives with «do» have three types:
Don’t you run! (contracted negative, subject present)
Don’t run! (contracted negative, subject absent)
Do not run! (uncontracted negative, subject absent)
 Imperatives: The Form
Negative imperatives with «be» require the operator «do» to combine with
the particle «not»:
Don’t you be late! (contracted negative, subject present)
Don’t be late! (contracted negative, subject absent)
Do not be late! (uncontracted negative, subject absent)
Elliptical imperatives are the ones with deletions of verbs or objects:
Door! (Open/Close the door)
These two. (Put these two books/bags/etc. together)
 Imperatives: The Meaning
«you»: Its Retention and Its Deletion
You wait here for a moment.
Mr. Holmes, you sit over there.
Diffuse Imperatives
Somebody help me!
Nobody move!
Let’s: Inclusive Imperative
Let us pray.
Let’s not stay here any longer.
 Imperatives: The Use
In addition to commands, imperatives are used for:
Offers: Have another drink.
Suggestions: Let’s go to a movie tonight.
Requests: Close the door, please.
Advice: Don’t forget Mother’s Day.
Directions: Do left at the next corner.
 Imperatives: The Use
In addition to commands, imperatives are used for:
Prohibitions: Do not pick the flowers.
Warnings: Watch out!
Procedures: Add a teaspoon of baking powder to the flour.
Invitations: Come in.
Threats: Watch your step.
Wishes: Have a great day!
 Imperatives: The Use
Least polite (most direct)
Imperative-elliptical A glass of water.
Imperative Give me a glass of water.
Declarative-no modal I want a glass of water.
Declarative-historically present tense modal I’ll have a glass of water.
Declarative-historically past tense modal I’d like a glass of water.
Interrogative-no modal Do you have a glass of water?
Interrogative-historically present tense modal Can you give me a glass of water?
Interrogative-historically past tense modal Could you give me a glass of water?
Most polite (least direct)
 Assignment
Provide original example sentences to illustrate the following
terms. Underline the pertinent word/s in your examples:

inclusive imperative «you» retention

diffusive imperative
elliptical imperative «you» deletion
 WEEK 6
• Articles
• Reference
• Possessive forms
• Partitives
• Collectives
• Quantifiers
 ARTICLES

English articles:
• definite the
• indefinite a/an
• unstressed some
• no article
 ARTICLES
Form-based information about English articles
depends on the English noun classification system:
• Noncount nouns are singular in number for purposes of
subject-verb agreement but cannot take the indefinite
article and the plural inflection: a water, some waters, a
luggage, some luggages
• Noncount nouns and plural count nouns take the zero
article or indefinite some: water, some water, suitcase,
some suitcases
• Proper nouns are a special case: they are like common
count nouns because they are countable but they are
different because they are inherently definite: Mr. Brown,
America
• When proper nouns take the plural inflection, they
require the definite article to retain proper noun status:
the Browns, the Americas
 ARTICLES

The distinction between count nouns and

noncount nouns:
The life of the old man was forfeited.
A life is not proper payment for that.
C The lives lost in the war were wasted.
Some lives were saved.
Lives are always lost in war.
The life in the old man was fading fast.
N Some life can be detected in the old man.
Life can be difficult at times.
 ARTICLES
Mass-to-count noun shifts:
• If a noun is conceived as «a kind or a type of», we make
it countable: cheese=a cheese/cheeses, wine=a
wine/wines
• If the mass noun is conceived as «a unit or a serving
of», we make it countable: coffee=a coffee/coffees,
chocolate=a chocolate/some chocolates
• Often the same mass noun can occur with both of the
count noun interpretations depending on the context:
How many different teas do they sell here? (types)
We will have two teas with lemon. (servings)
 ARTICLES
Shifts involving proper and common nouns:
• Proper nouns that are being used as common nouns: The
Mark that called yesterday called again today.
• Trade names that can shift to common noun use: a
kleenex, a xerox
• Unique common nouns that become proper nouns: the
Sudan=Sudan, the Ukraine=Ukraine
• When a geographical term is used and mentioned
frequently, the definite article drops and creates a proper
name: the green park=Green Park, the river road=River
Road
 ARTICLES
The syntax of articles and other determiners:
• The definite article is considered a core determiner and can
optionally be preceded by one pre-determiner and followed by one
or two post-determiners: all the other boys, the first three cars
• Some common patterns involving the co-occurrence of a/an with
other determiners:
• In fractions and frequencies in the sense of each, every, per: half
a gallon, twice a day
• After what and such and before singular nouns in exclamations:
What a day! Such a nuisance!
• Before the quantifiers few and little to impart a positive sense of
quantity: a few friends, a little money
• A necessary part of lot of, number of, great/good deal of when
these are used as quantifiers: a lot of energy, a great deal of
money
 ARTICLES
Meaning of Articles:
• Articles can convey generic meaning in which all or
most members of a set are referred to:
The lion is a ferocious animal.
A lion is a ferocious animal.
Lions are ferocious animals.
• Articles can convey non-generic meaning in which one
or more individual members of a set are being referred
to:
The lion escaped from the zoo.
A lion escaped from the zoo.
Lions escaped from the zoo.
 ARTICLES
Meaning of Articles: The Meaning of the Indefinite
Articles
• Non-specific noun phrases can only be marked with
indefinite articles: Let’s watch a movie or listen to some
music.
• To classify a particular type or class as opposed to another
type or class, the singular indefinite article is used: This is a
book.
• With a plural subject noun predicate, only the Ø article can
be used: These are pencils.
• The indefinite singular noun and the Ø article can be used
generically:
A stamp can be very valuable.
Dolphins are intelligent.
Water sustains life.
 ARTICLES
Meaning of Articles: The Meanings of the Definite
Article

• With singular nouns, the generic usage of the is formal

and abstract: The lion is the king of beasts.
• With plural and collective nouns, the definite article
signals a sense of generic collectivity:
The Germans realize that reunification has come
with problems. (plural)
The clergy are divided on that issue. (collective)
 ARTICLES
Meaning of Articles: The Meanings of the Definite
Article
Three sub-textual categories for the use of the to locate
the co-referent:
• Anaphoric use (prior mention): Fred left a book on his
desk this morning. He returned home in the afternoon
to get the book.
• Deductive anaphoric use (prior mention of a
schematically-related notion): Fred bought a book at
Barnes&Noble. He later spoke to the author about it.
• Cataphoric use (subsequent mention of something
related): Here is the bottom line: you don’t get to take
the exam again.
 ARTICLES
Topic-Specific Uses of Articles
• Body parts: the heart, the liver, the eyes, the lungs
• Diseases: the flu, the plague, a cold, a headache, the measles,
the chickenpox, malaria, cancer
• Geographical names:
* Continent: Asia, Africa * Country: Canada, Spain
* County: Cook County * City: Tokyo, London
* Mountain: Mount Whitney * Lake: Lake Michigan
* Island: Staten Island * Point: Point Dume
* Bay: Tampa Bay * Cape: Cape Cod
* Park: Douglas Park * Region: Siberia
* Street, road, avenue, boulevard, etc.: Fifth Avenue
* Square: Trafalgar Square
 ARTICLES
Topic-Specific Uses of Articles
• Geographical names (exceptions):
• Countries: the USA, the UK
• Lakes: the Great Lakes
• Mountain ranges: the Alps
• Islands: the Canary Islands
• Regions: the Caucasus
• Deserts: the Sahara Desert
• Peninsulas: the Iberian Peninsula
• Oceans and Seas: the Pacific Ocean, the Black Sea
• Gulfs: the Persian Gulf
• Rivers: the Amazon River
• Canals: the Panama Canal
 Reference

There are three types of reference in English:

1. Personal Reference
2. Demonstrative Reference
3. Comparative Reference
 Reference
1. Personal Reference: The personal pronouns in their various
permutations constitute the personal reference system in English.
• Subject pronouns: function as subject NPs (I, you, he/she/it,
we, you, they)
• Object pronouns: function as direct, indirect or prepositional
objects (me, you, him/her/it, us, you, them)
• Possessive pronouns: perform two syntactic functions
(determiner function=my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their;
pronominal function=mine, yours, hers/his, ours, yours, theirs)
This is her book. (possessive determiner)
This book is hers. (possessive pronoun)
• Others: reflexive pronouns that replace NP objects (myself,
yourself, herself/himself/itself, ourselves, yourselves,
themselves) and reciprocal pronouns that replace NP objects
when the subject is conjoined or plural (each other, one
another)
 Reference
2. Demonstrative Reference
• Demonstrative determiners vary along two
dimensions: proximity and number (this, that,
these, those)
• They can also function as pronouns and represent
an entire subject or object NP:
Please fill this form/these forms out. (determiner
function)
Please fill this/these out. (pronominal function)
• They are core determiners that can occur with a
pre-determiner and a post determiner:
all these other issues
 Reference
3. Comparative Reference
• Identity: are used mainly as determiners (same, self-same)
The same/self-same young man had been there the day
before.
• General similarity: have different grammatical functions
(such, so, likewise)
Such argumentation tends to bore me. (precedes noncount
noun)
Such lectures bore me. (precedes plural count noun)
Such a lecture tends to bore me. (followed by a/an when it
modifies a singular count noun)
Our table is so long.
He made a generous donation. We were hoping you would do
likewise. (refers to a previously occurring verb phrase)
 Reference
3. Comparative Reference
• Difference: refers to some target item other than
the antecedent (other, (the) others, another, else)
I couldn’t find Mike, so I looked for someone else.
• Particular comparison: can be used like
pronouns or adverbs to refer to something in prior
discourse (more, less, better, worse, etc.)
I finished my coffee. He offered me more.
A: How are you feeling?
B: Better.
 Possessive Forms
In addition to the possessive determiners and
possessive pronouns, there are two other major ways of
signaling possession in English:
1. In writing, the first is by inflecting regular singular nouns
and irregular pronouns not ending in s with ‘s as in: the
women’s grace
or by adding an apostrophe after the s ending of regular plural
nouns and singular forms that already end in the sound s: the
boys’ trip, Kansas’ farmlands

2. The second way is by using the periphrastic of possessive

form: the man’s name=the name of the man
 Possessive Forms

Syntactically, we treat a noun inflected with the

possessive ‘s as a determiner but a possessive determiner
would always precede a possessive noun determiner:

NP

det det N

my neighbor’s son
 Possessive Forms

Syntactically, the periphrastic possessive with of is

generated as a noun phrase with a modifier prepositional
phrase following the head noun:
NP

det N PrepP

the son prep NP

of det N
my neighbor
The Scope of Referential Forms
• The basic difference between the reflexive and reciprocal pronouns
and all the other personal pronouns: the antecedent for reflexive
and reciprocal pronouns must be in the same sentence or clause:
Mike can take care of himself.
Ryan and Sam can’t stand each other.
• For possessive pronouns: the antecedent can be either within the
same clause/sentence or in an earlier clause:
Shez loves his dog.
Do you know Shez? I walk his dog.
• Subject and object personal pronouns typically refer to an
antecedent in a preceding clause:
Do you know Jack? He’s just moved to Atlanta.
Do you know Jack? Yes, I have known him for years.
 Interaction of Demonstratives,
Personal Pronouns, and Articles
• Demonstratives give the referent more emphasis than use of an
article or pronoun:
I heard a speaker on campus this afternoon.
1. The speaker was talking about the dangers of nuclear power.
(emphasis is on the topic of nuclear power)
2. This speaker was the best I’ve heard regarding the nuclear
power issue. (emphasis is on the speaker)

• Personal and demonstrative pronouns are often used to avoid

repetition and wordiness when antecedents are in adjacent clauses:
I asked my instructor if I needed to submit a bibliography with
my draft. She told me that would be unnecessary.
This paper is the best I’ve written. I am sure my classmates
will enjoy it.
 The Meaning and Use of Possessive
Forms
• Possession: John’s car, her book
• Agency/Source: Shakespeare’s sonnets, his ideas
• Human relationships: kinship (Jack’s cousin, my father),
professional (Joe’s teacher, their doctor), and other social
(Anne’s neighbor, your boyfriend)
• Traits: Arwen’s eyes, his ego
• Representation: Tesla’s portrait, his statue
• Evaluation: the project’s importance, its value
• Named after: St. Paul’s cathedral
• Measurement: an hour’s time
• Subject + Nominalized Verb: the earth’s rotation, her actions
 The Use of Inflected versus
Periphrastic Possessives
• ‘s form is used with human head nouns: Mary’s husband
• of form is used with nonhuman head nouns: the end of the
road
• ‘s form is preferred with inanimate head nouns when the
noun could be viewed as performing an action: The train’s
arrival was delayed.
• ‘s form is used with double possessives: Hank’s brother’s car
• ‘s form is used with nouns of special interest to human
activity: the game’s history
• ‘s form is used with natural phenomena: the earth’s rotation
 The Use of Inflected versus
Periphrastic Possessives
• of possessive is preferred with inanimate objects: He
stood at the foot of the bed.
• of possessive is preferred with human head nouns when
the modifier noun is long: He is the son of the well-
known politician.
• of possessive is preferred with long double possessives:
What can I do for the husband of Dr. Smith’s daughter?
• of possessive is preferred if formality is desired: the
novels of Tolkien
 Partitives
• A partitive is a phrase typically consisting of a count noun
followed by of that precedes another noun: a grain of
• The same pattern can be used to quantify noncount nouns: a
drop of water, two drops of water
• The same pattern can be used to delimit the quantity of
count nouns as well: a deck of cards, two decks of cards
• Partitives can modify both nonspecific and specific nouns:
I need a deck of cards to show you my new magic trick.
Will a deck of these cards do?
When the partitive noun is part of the subject, the verb
agrees with it:
A mountain of dirty laundry was piled up.
Mountains of dirty laundry were piled up.
 Partitives
Common types of partitives are:
• Precise measure phrases: a gallon of gas, two cups of
sugar
• Container-based: a jar of jam, two cans of oil
• Portion-based: a slice of bread, two servings of ice-
cream
• Individual members of a category: a word of advice, two
pieces of luggage
• Parts of fractions: a part of life, a segment of society
• Shape of: a column of smoke, two streams of water
• Pair of: a pair of scissors
 Partitives
Common types of partitives are:
Idiomatic partitives:
• Vegetables: an ear of corn, a head of cabbage
• Other food items: a bunch of grapes, a clove of garlic
• Animals: a school of fish, a pride of lions
• People: a crew of helpers, a team of ball players
• Three partitives, with a definite determiner, used to express an
entire thing or some specific part thereof:
I’d like the whole of/the rest of/the remainder of that piece of
meat.
The whole of Quebec is francophone. In the rest of/the
remainder of the country, English is spoken.
• Partitives used to show proportion of some explicit set:
A majority of people feel that educational reform is a priority.
Only a minority of students are willing to participate in social
work.
 Partitives
Exception with numbers:
• When the number is specific and the second noun is not, no of is
used:
hundreds of people (nonspecific plural numbers can be used to
approximate)
* a hundred of people (specific numbers preceding nonspecific
nouns cannot be followed by of)
a hundred people
• of must be used when both the partitive number noun and the
noun being modified are specific:
a hundred of the old people
three hundred of them
• hundred remains singular with a specific number even the
number preceding it is more than one:
* three hundreds of them
 Collectives
Three main types of collective nouns:
1. Common collectives: talk about a particular collection of
people or animals.
(a/the) class, (a/the) team, (a/the) herd, (a/the) government
2. Unique collectives: represent the sole member of a particular
set.
the Vatican, the Kremlin, (the) Parliament
3. Generic collectives: refer to all members of a class.
the clergy, the aristocracy

Exception: adjective-based collectives that always take plural

verbs:
The elderly are increasingly asserting their rights.
 Quantifiers
• Quantifiers indicate a nonspecific amount or quantity of
the noun that follows. They can be pronouns when the
referent is clear or determiners:
I want some ice cream.
I want some.
• Negative quantifiers not only convey quantity but also
convey a negative assessment of the quantity:
Not all people are created equal.
• While a few or a little can occur in the first utterance in a
discourse, few and little require more context as a
negative or contradictory tone must be established:
Do you have a few minutes?
Henry was lonely and desperate; he had few friends and little
money.
 Quantifiers
• Some quantifiers occur only with count nouns, others with
noncount nouns, and still others with both:
There weren’t many students in the class.
There wasn’t much food left after the dinner.
There weren’t a lot of students in the class.
There wasn’t a lot of food left after the dinner.
• When many is used as a pronoun, it requires a plural verb:
Many are killed every year.
• When much is used as a pronoun, it requires a singular verb:
Much is done by nonprofit organizations.
• With a lot of, the verb agrees with the number of the noun being
quantified:
A lot of flowers were sent to her on her birthday.
A lot of time was wasted.
 Quantifiers
• The quantifiers can be made to modify specific noun phrases by
adding of and the definite article before a specific noun phrase:
«a few flowers» vs «a few of the flowers»
«some first-year students» vs «some of the first-year students»
• any is used as a quantifier referring to «one or more, no matter
which»:
Any of those answers will do.
• both is a pre-determiner having a dual number and; thus, can be
followed only by plural nouns signaling quantities of two:
Both of the boys felt ashamed of what they had done.
• each refers to all members of a group but does so individually.
Therefore, it modifies a singular noun and takes a singular verb:
Each one of the participants was selected by the supervisor.
 Quantifiers
• every is more collective and too takes a singular verb but it must
be followed by a noun or one as it can never function as a
pronoun:
Every one of the participants was selected by the supervisor.
• either can substitute for both:
Either date is preferable to September 7.
• either can also offer a choice between two alternatives:
When you are through, you can ask either of us to help you clean up.
• neither can be a determiner or a pronoun:
Neither one of us ever remembers his birthday.
Neither of the twins has ever married.
• enough means sufficient and can be a determiner or a pronoun:
We have enough volunteers to finish the work.
He eats enough to kill a horse.
 The Order of Determiners in a
Noun Phrase
1. Predeterminers: quantifiers (all, both, half), multipliers
(double, twice, three times, etc.), fractions (such a, what a)
2. Core determiners: articles, possessives, demonstratives,
quantifiers (some, any, no, each, every, either, neither, enough)
3. Postdeterminers: cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers,
general ordinals (next, last, another, etc.), quantifiers (many,
much, few/a few, little/a little, several, more, less, most, least),
phrasal quantifiers (a great deal of, a lot of, a good number of,
etc.)

All our many hopes were kept alive by her encouraging words.

These next two weeks before the school starts will be hectic.
 Assignment
Explain the ungrammaticality or semantic problems in
each of the following sentences:
1. A lot people were at the garage sale.
2. Although he had few close friends, he was very lonely.
3. She has a deal of energy today.
4. Almost people like Mexican food.
5. I still have much problem in learning English.
6. Larry bought a dozen of eggs.
7. We have much homework tonight.
8. Mike needs to get some informations.
9. She needs a couple a minutes.
10. Some of books on the table may be yours.
 Assignment
Rewrite the paragraph with definite article and/or indefinite articles.

Ability to use language requires complex of knowledge and skills that is automatically
available to everyone when they acquire L1 as child. However, comparable level is
seldom achieved in L2, even if learners expend great deal of time and effort on learning
task. Different linguistic approaches have explored basic questions about SLA with
either internal or external focus of attention. Views on what is being acquired range
from underlying knowledge of highly abstract linguistic principles and constraints, to
ability to structure and convey information in second language; views on how SLA
takes place differ in their emphasis on continued innate UG capacity for language
learning or on requirements of communicative processing; views on why some learners
are more or less successful range from factors which are largely internal to language and
mind, to explanations which involve communicative need and opportunity. Purely
linguistic approaches, though, have largely excluded psychological and social factors.
To gain in-depth, “stereoscopic” understanding of L2 acquisition, we unquestionably
need to view process through more than one lens. Still-fuzzy nature of present picture
reflects need for more refined theoretical models and additional research.
 NEXT WEEK

QUESTION FORMS
 WEEK 7
• Wh- questions
• Other question structures
 Wh- Questions

wh- questions are used when the speaker is

missing one specific piece of information:

Who walked the dog?

Where is he going?
What are you going to do?
 The Form of Wh- Questions
A variety of constituents can be queried in a wh-
question:
Subject NP: Who wrote an angry memo to his boss before
he quit?
Object NP: What did Lee write to his boss before he quit?
Object of the Prep.: To whom did Lee write an angry
memo before he quit?
VP: What did Lee do before he quit?
Det.: Whose boss did Lee write an angry memo to before
he quit?
Adj.: What kind of memo did Lee write?
Adv.: When did Lee write the angry memo to his boss?
The Meaning of Wh- Questions
An inventory of common wh- words and their
syntactic/semantic correspondences:

Subject NP [+human]= who

Who did it?
Subject NP [-human]= what
What went wrong?
Subject Noun Predicate [+human]= who
Who is that?
Subject Noun Predicate [-human]= what
What is that?
The Meaning of Wh- Questions
An inventory of common wh- words and their
syntactic/semantic correspondences:

Object NP [+human]= who(m)

Whom did you tell? To whom did you tell?
Object NP [-human]= what
What did she say?
Det [possessive]= whose+NP
Whose idea is it?
Det [demonstrative]= which+NP / what+NP
Which excuse did they give?
What alibi did they use?
The Meaning of Wh- Questions
An inventory of common wh- words and their
syntactic/semantic correspondences:

Det [quantifier; -count]= how much+(NP)

How much (money) did they get?
Det [quantifier; +count]= how many+(NP)
How many students are there?
Det [quantifier] + measure word= how long
How long does it take?
The Meaning of Wh- Questions
An inventory of common wh- words and their
syntactic/semantic correspondences:

Adj [quality]= how / what …. like?

How did she look?
What did she look like?
Adj [type]= what kind of (NP)
What kind of car does he drive?
Adj [color, size, nationality]= what + NP
What color is it?
Intensifier= how + Adj / how + Adv
How calm did he seem?
How fast did they run?
The Meaning of Wh- Questions
An inventory of common wh- words and their
syntactic/semantic correspondences:

Adj [quality]= how / what …. like?

How did she look?
What did she look like?
Adj [type]= what kind of (NP)
What kind of car does he drive?
Adj [color, size, nationality]= what + NP
What color is it?
Intensifier= how + Adj / how + Adv
How calm did he seem?
How fast did they run?
Social Uses of Wh- Questions
Display Wh- Questions
Wh- Questions Diagrams
Wh- Questions Diagrams
Wh- Questions Diagrams
Wh- Questions Diagrams
Wh- Questions Diagrams
Wh- Questions Diagrams
Tag Questions
Tag Questions
Use of Tag Questions
Alternative Questions
Exclamatory Questions
Rhetorical Questions
 NEXT WEEK

 The Passive Voice

 Indirect Objects
 The Passive Voice

 It is the grammatical feature of voice, which pertains to

who or what serves as the subject in a clause:

Darwin studied the fauna of the Galapagos Islands.

(Active voice)

The fauna of the Galapagos Islands was studied by

Darwin. (Passive voice)
 The Passive Voice

 Paul McCartney was knighted by the Queen

 The Passive Voice

 The Passive with tense and aspect (a few of the combinations):

• With modals: Diamonds can be mined in South Africa.
• With simple present: Diamonds are mined in South Africa.
• With present perfect: Diamonds have been mined in South
Africa.
• With present progressive: Diamonds are being mined in South
Africa.
• With simple past: Diamonds were mined in South Africa.
• With past progressive: Diamonds were being mined in South
Africa.
• With be going to for future: Diamonds are going to be mined in
Botswana.
 The Passive Voice

• get-passive
• get does not function as a true auxiliary in questions and
negatives the way that be does:
A: Was Bruno arrested? A: Did Bruno get arrested?
B: No. He wasn’t even caught. B: No. He didn’t even get caught.

• get-passive can occur more readily with the perfect progressives:

His plans have been getting sidetracked for years.

• get-passive should not be confused with the main verb get:

Unfortunately, Lou got sick just before the big game.
Unfortunately, Lou got disposed just before the big game.
 The Passive Voice

• have-passive
Mary had her purse snatched. (experiential-beyond control)
Mary had her purse snatched. (causative)

• be in complex passives
It is rumored that he will get the job.
That he will get the job has been decided.
John is thought to be intelligent.
 The Passive Voice

• Only transitive verbs may be in the passive:

He was born in Chicago.

• The more definite the subject is, the more acceptable the
sentence in the passive form is:
This poem was written by Nazım Hikmet.
 The Passive Voice

• With stative verbs, the more definite the object in the by phrase
is, the more likely it is to be acceptable in its passive form:
The movie was seen by everybody in town.

• The more the verb denotes a physical action, as opposed to a

state, the more acceptable its use in a passive sentence is:
The ball was kicked over the goalposts.
 The Passive Voice

 Certain transitive verbs, when used statively, are not likely to

occur in the passive voice:
• Verbs of containing (e.g., contain, hold, comprise): Two gallons
of water are held by the watering can.
• Verbs of measure (e.g., weigh, cost, contain, last): Five dollars is
cost by the parking fine.
• Reciprocal verbs (e.g., resemble, look like, equal): Lori is
resembled by her father.
• Verbs of fitting (e.g., fit, suit): He is suited by the plan.
• Verbs of possession (e.g., have, belong): A car is had by him.
 The Passive Voice

 Adjective or Passive?

In cases of ambiguity, the only distinguishing sentence-level

feature we are left with is the use of by with a noun phrase to mark
an agent in the passive voice:

The paintwork was peeling and the windows were broken.

The windows were broken by the force of the explosion.

 The Passive Voice

The passive is used:

• when the agent is not to be mentioned because
• it is redundant or easy to supply: Pineapples are grown in
Hawaii.
• it is unknown: The bank was robbed yesterday.

• it is very general: The US can no longer be described as a

white nation.
• the speaker/writer is being tactful: She was given some bad
advice about selecting courses.
• the speaker is being evasive: An error was made in the
budget.
 The Passive Voice

The passive is used:

• when the nonagent is more closely related than the agent to the
theme of the text:
I was much respected by the management even though I drove
the people I worked with insane.
• when the nonagent is a participant in the immediately
preceding sentence:
Lorenzo arrived in Paris as a political refugee without friends or
money; luckily for him, France at that time was ruled by an
Italian…
 The Passive Voice

Agented passives are used:

• when the agent is new information:
When I was walking down the street, my purse was snatched by
a young man.
• when the agent is nonhuman:
All the lights and appliances in the laboratory are switched on
and off by this electrical device.
• when the agent is a well-known personage and should be
included as propositional information:
The Mona Lisa was painted by da Vinci.
 The Passive Voice

Distribution of the passive differ among genres:

Least number of passives per number of words

 conversation
 fiction
 journalism
 science

Highest number of passives per number of words

 Sentences with Indirect Objects

Decide whether the words in bold are subjects, direct objects or indirect
objects:
1. She sent her friend an email .
2. Sally will help you with your housework.
3. Where did you put the keys?
4. He gave them a bag full of money.
5. Alice wrote a book on the French revolution .
6. I need your help.
7. He offered her a flower.
8. My father bought us a new TV set.
9. John sold me his car.

10. I wish you good luck.

 Sentences with Indirect Objects

Respond to the questions. Use the words in brackets and prepositions if necessary.
Example: Did she give Mary the book?
 No, she didn't. She .................... . (it, Sam)

 No, she didn't. She gave it to Sam.

 Can you sell Bill your car?

 I'm sorry. I can't sell ........................................ . (him, it)

 Susan, we don't need this old cup anymore.

 Please, mum, keep ................................. (me/it)

 Do you want to watch TV?

 No, I don't. Will you read ..............................., please? (me)
 Sentences with Indirect Objects

Complete the sentences with the words in brackets.

1. I will never ............................................. again. (money/you/lend)

2. Shall I say ....................................................... ? (address/Mr. Clark/to/my)

3. Liz made this ..................................................... (me/nice/for/present)

4. I need to give .................................................... (to/this parcel/Joe)

5. My grandma cooked ......................................... (us/some/for/cakes)

6. Could we offer .................................................? (eat/you/to/something)

7. They sold ........................................................... (a/family/house/our)

8. I'll bring ........................................... tomorrow. (you/for/it)

 Sentences with Indirect Objects

Rewrite these sentences putting the indirect object first after the verb. Note
that the new sentence often sounds more natural to the English ear.
 Note: drop «to» and «for».
1. The doctor has given a pill to Robert.
2. John told the news to peter.
3. Please fetch the newspaper for your father.
4. The waiter offered chicken and fried potatoes to the guests.
5. Will you please bring back a pot of jam for me?
6. My father wrote a long letter to me when I was on holiday.
7. We will send a telegram to your parents at once.
8. Some students give a lot of their time to English lessons.
9. I'll fetch a cushion for you to sit on.
10. A baker makes bread for us to eat.
 Sentences with Indirect Objects

11. If you know, tell the answer to me, please.

12. These large pipes bring water to the town.
13. John's father gives fifty pence pocket money to each of his children.
14.When you come back from school please bring your report to me.
15. The girls are sending some flowers to their friends on their birthday.
16. Those ships bring our food to us from all over the world.
17. We must give all our attention to the lesson.
18. Our teacher tells historical stories to the class.
19. My wife is making a new dress for our younger daughter.
20. The gentleman offered a tip to the porter.
 NEXT WEEK

Adjectives & Prepositions

 TODAY
• ADJECTIVES
• PREPOSITIONS
• PHRASAL VERBS
 Adjectives

• An adjective is a word that describes a quality of a noun.

• Adjectives do not have any typical form but there are some derivational
affixes that are commonly associated with adjectives: -al (mental, special), -
able (commendable, possible), -ar (particular, popular), -full/-less (hopeful,
hopeless), -ic (scientific, basic), -ive (attractive, expensive), -ous
(dangerous, delicious), and –y (pretty, dirty).

• Adjectives also have two inflectional morphemes: comparative –er (larger)

and superlative –est (largest)
 Adjectives
There are two basic positions for adjectives in a sentence:
1. Attributive position (before a noun)
NP= (det) (AP) N (-pl) (PrepP)
the scary clowns
a perfect match
2. Predicative position (after be copula and other copular or linking verbs –seem,
appear, feel, look, etc.)
VP= cop AP
The clowns are scary.
The weather turned cold.
 Adjectives
Attributive Adjectives
There are eight categories of adjectives that occur exclusively in attributive
position:
1. Adjectives that show the reference of the head noun has already been
determined: the particular man I was seeking
2. Adjectives that show us the importance or rank of the head noun: their
main faults
3. Adjectives that show the head noun is recognized by custom or law: the
rightful heir
 Adjectives

Attributive Adjectives
4. Adjectives that identify the reference of the noun itself (that may occur
after copula be): a medical doctor
5. Adjectives that qualify the time reference of the noun: the future queen
6. Adjectives that qualify the geographical reference of the noun: the urban
crisis
7. Adjectives that intensify or emphasize the head noun: a total stranger
8. Adjectives that show the uniqueness of the head noun: the only survivor
 Adjectives

Saying that the adjectives are prenominal simply means that they
occur before a noun. Thus, wherever nouns can occur, so can adjectives:

 subject: thoughtful guests

 indirect object: give their deserving hosts
 direct object: personal gifts
 object of the preposition: of special value
 Adjectives

Predicative Adjectives
Certain adjectives can only be predicative. There are three such
categories:

1. Adjectives that begin with an –a prefix: The boy is asleep.

2. Health adjectives: She feels faint.
3. Adjectives that must be followed by prepositional phrases or infinitives: He
seems inclined to agree.
 Adjectives

Adjectival Participles vs Verbal Participles

 -ing adjective: The magician is amazing.

 -ing verb: The magician is amazing the kids.

 -en adjective: The guard was relieved.

 -en verb: The guard was relieved by the night watchman.
 Adjectives

Some adjectives look as if they were past participles: the one-legged man,
the naked truth

Both present and past participles can be modified by nouns or adverbs to

create compound participial adjectives:
 noun+present participle: a man-eating tiger
 noun+past participle: a flea-bitten dog
 adverb+present participle: a fast-rising star
 adverb (intensifier)+past participle: a much-loved story
 Adjectives
The following order of the adjectives in a noun phrase can be adopted:
1. predeterminer
2. core determiner
3. post determiner
4. intensifier
5. descriptive adjectives
6. noun adjunct or modifier
7. head noun
Both of John’s last quite rare history books
All of the dozen very long-stemmed American beauty roses
 Adjectives
1 - The people I work with are ____ with their jobs. satisfying/satisfied

2 - John was ____ by the news report. disgusted/disgusting

3 - We thought that the instructions were ___ . confused/confusing

4 - It's an ___ little story. You should read it. amusing/amused

5 - Working late every day is ___ . tiring/tired

6 - I'm not really ___ in sport. interesting/interested

7 - Do you feel ___ about them? worrying/worried

8 - All this information is making me ___. confused/confusing

9 - I had a ___ weekend because of the rain. boring/bored

10 - Young children are often ___ of the dark. scaring/scared

 Prepositions
* Prepositions have the function of showing role relationships
* Prepositions make nouns adverbial: He gets off work at night.
* Prepositions create noun modifiers: the mayor of New York
* Prepositional phrases follow verbs: She is in school.
* Prepositional phrases follow adjectives: Ela is good at Math.
* Prepositions are free morphemes, not bound inflectional affixes
* Prepositions are followed by NPs: for us
* Some prepositions consist of two or more words that function as a single preposition:
because of, out of, on top of, etc.
 Prepositions
* A number of verbs and adjectives co-occur with particular prepositions:

Verb + Prep: to rely on, to detract from, to consist of, to substitute for, to part with

Adj + Prep: to be dependent on, to be free of/from, to be afraid of, to be sorry for, to be content
with

* Sometimes the same verb with two different prepositions will have significantly
different meanings:

You should provide for your old age now.

Kızılay provided them with blankets.
 Prepositions
* If certain noun phrases are preceded or followed by a preposition, there may be only
one possible option: in my opinion, to my mind, from my point of view, objection to, awareness
of.

* Sometimes noun phrases are both preceded and followed by prepositions to form
multiword clusters: with respect to, at odds with, in return for.

* Some of these multiword preposition clusters include the following combinations:

in + noun + of: in case of, in charge of, in favor of
on + noun + of: on account of, on behalf of, on grounds of
in the + noun + of: in the course of, in the habit of, in the name of
on the + noun + of: on the advice of, on the basis of, on the strength of
 Prepositions
* It is possible to delete the preposition. Sometimes the deletion is optional; at other times,
the preposition must be deleted.
Optional deletion:
* When the preposition for expresses a span of time: We have lived here (for) 12 years.
* When the preposition on is used before days of the week: He went cross-country skiing (on)
Saturday.
* In responses to questions that would cue temporal use of in, at, on, or for: When do you
wake up? (At) 6 a.m.
 Prepositions
* It is possible to delete the preposition. Sometimes the deletion is optional; at other times, the preposition
must be deleted.
Obligatory deletion:
* When the temporal noun phrase contains a determiner used deictically (i.e., last, next) : We were busy last
week.
* When the head noun of the noun phrase contains before, after, next, last or this as part of its meaning (e.g.,
yesterday, tomorrow, today, tonight): He will be in town tomorrow.
* When the temporal noun phrase contains a universal quantifier like every or all: We stayed in Spain all
summer.
* When a locative noun, such as home or downtown, or the pro-adverbs here and there are used with a verb
of motion or direction: She went home.
 Prepositions
* at denotes place as a point of orientation: Meet me at the corner.
* on denotes physical contact between trajector and landmark (one- or two-dimensional space): Don’t sit
on the desk.
* in denotes the enclosure of the trajector in the landmark (two- or three-dimensional space): She is in the
room.
* from denotes separation from a point of orientation: He took it from me.
* off denotes separation from contact with a line or surface: The vase fell off the table.
* out of denotes separation from inside of a landmark: The water spilled out of the vase.
* by denotes the idea of «connection»: He lives by me.
* with denotes both a point of orientation and idea of connection and can occur only with animate nouns
as landmark: He walks with me to school.
 Prepositions
* through structures space as a tunnel or channel: Take the first path through the woods.

* about denotes spatial movement in any direction: He walked about the room searching for where he
left the keys.

* under denotes a trajector that is at a lower point than a landmark: Don’t sit under the stairs.

* over denotes a trajector that is at a higher point than a landmark: They peered over the fence.
 Prepositions
Write the correct preposition in each of the following:

1. The clerk provided us _____ all the information we needed.

for/about/with
2. What _____ taking a day off and spending it in the mountains?
of/about/for
3. I want two tickets _____ Romeo and Juliet for Friday night.
about/to/for
4. I object _____ being kept waiting. Why can't you be on time?
about/to/for
5. I am sorry _____ Monday. I didn't mean to leave you with all that work.
to/for/about
6. Mother was furious _____ children for coming too late.
about/with/by
7. I'm waiting _____ my friend. He'll be here in a moment.
about/with/for
8. I disapprove _____ people who make all sort of promises which they have no intention of keeping.
about/with/of
 Prepositions
Write the correct preposition in each of the following:

9. "In accordance _____ the wishes of my people," said the president, "I'm retiring from public life."
to/of/with
10. I was so afraid _____ missing the train that I took a taxi to the station.
for/about/of
11. It never occurred _____ me that I was living with a liar.
with/for/to
12. She made a point _____ coming late so that everyone would look at her.
for/of/about
13. My neighbor takes care of my little boys in the afternoon. She's so good _____ children.
about/to/with
14. He has worked _____ this company for 20 years, but now they're going to dismiss him.
with/for/in
15. In fairy tails, stepmothers are always unkind _____ their stepchildren.
for/of/to
16. This regulation doesn't apply _____ us. We don't live here.
about/to/for
 Phrasal Verbs
Consider the following sentences and explain the function of «up» in each sentence:

* She walked up the street.

* I live up north in Springfield.

* I am sorry that I messed you up.

* He never gives up.

Phrasal verbs are made up of two (or more) parts that function as a single verb.

PV= V «prt»
PV= turn out
 Phrasal Verbs
* Like single-word verbs, phrasal verbs can be transitive (e.g., turn on, pass out, do over, look over, fill
out, find out): I called off the meeting.

* Phrasal verbs can also be intransitive (e.g., take off, play around, come back, come over, make up): His
car broke down.

* Some phrasal verbs can have this dual function:

An arsonist burned down the hotel. (transitive)
The hotel burned down. (intransitive)

* Many phrasal verbs take a specific preposition. In that case, the phrasal verb and preposition
must be learned as a unit:
put up with get along with cut down on
look in on check out of break up with
get back to stand up for run up against
(p. 427)
 Phrasal Verbs
* The only thing that can be added to such a string is an adverb or adverbial phrase between the particle and
the preposition:
I haven’t kept up fully with the work.
He has cut down almost completely on his smoking.

* There is one syntactic characteristic peculiar to transitive phrasal verbs: sometimes the particle can be
separated from the verb by the direct object and sometimes it cannot. Separation is obligatory when the
direct object is a pronoun:
Mark threw away the ball. Mark threw it away.
Mark threw the ball away. Mark threw away it.

Others: look up, take up, leave out, pass out, bring back, turn down, etc.

* There are inseparable phrasal verbs where the particle cannot be separated fro m its verb:
I came across an interesting article last night. I came across it last night.
I came an interesting article across last night. I came it across last night.

Others: get over, run into, go over, look into, go for, etc.
 Phrasal Verbs
* A few phrasal verbs seem to occur only with the verb and particle separated:

How can I get the message through to him? (get … through: convey, transmit)

We will see this ordeal through together. (see … through: survive)

* Avoid the ambiguity with the inseparable phrasal verbs that have the same form but a
different meaning:

get through the lesson: finish

see through his excuse: not be deceived by

 Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs vs Verb + Preposition Sequences

* Only prepositions (not particles) allow:

- adverb insertion: We turned quickly off the road.
We turned quickly off the light.
- phrase fronting: Up the hill Jack ran.
Up the bill Jack ran.
- wh-fronting: About what does he write?
Up what does he write?

* Only particles in separable phrasal verbs (not prepositions) allow:

- passivization: The light was turned off.
The road was turned off.
- verb substitution:The light was extinguished/turned off.
- NP insertion: We turned the light off.
We turned the road off.
 Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs vs Verb + Preposition Sequences

Consider the following examples and adopt the following hierarchy of tests:

Jack looked up the new word.

Jack looked at the newspaper.
Jack looked into the matter.

1. Can you put the object noun between the verb and P?
Jack looked up the new word. = Yes: separable PV (look up)
Jack looked at the newspaper. = No: Inseparable PV or V + Prep
Jack looked into the matter. = No: Inseparable PV or V + Prep

2. Can you front the P in a wh-question?

At what did Jack look? = Yes: V + Prep (look at)
Into what did Jack look? = No: Inseparable PV (look into)
 Phrasal Verbs
Semantic Categories of Phrasal Verbs

* Literal: Since the particle retains its prepositional meaning, the result is a phrasal verb whose meaning
is fully compositional: sit down, stand up, hand out, take down, throw away, climb up, fall down, etc.

* Aspectual: The meaning is not as transparent and the verbs to which certain particles contribute
consistent aspectual meaning: take off, set out, start up, run on, work away, mess around, sing through,
think over, burn down, catch up, etc.

* Idiomatic: Phrasal verbs whose meaning seems difficult, if not possible, to figure out by combining the
separate meanings of its parts: chew out, tune out, put off, etc.
 Phrasal Verbs
Decide whether the phrasal verbs are separable or inseparable. Choose the correct sentences.
1. turn on → He turned on the light. / He turned the light on.
2. hand in → Hand in your homework on time. / Hand your homework in on time.
3. get on → They got on the bus. / They got the bus on.
4. look up → Look up the words in a dictionary. / Look the words up in a dictionary.
5. grow up → He grew up in north Carolina. / He grew in north Carolina up.
6. check in → We checked in at our hotel. / We checked at our hotel in.
7. give up → They gave up smoking. / They gave smoking up.
8. ask out → Henry asked Jenny out. /Henry asked out Jenny.
9. mix up → We mixed up the numbers. / We mixed the numbers up.
10. look after → Dennis looked after his brother. / Dennis looked his brother after.
 Phrasal Verbs
Use the following verbs(believe, fill, get, look, put, switch, take, throw, turn, try) and the prepositions(away, down,
for, in, off, on, out) and form meaningful sentences:
1. Quick! ……. the bus. It's ready to leave.
2. I don't know where my book is. I have to ……. it.
3. It's dark inside. Can you ……. the light, please?
4. ……. the form, please.
5. I need some new clothes. Why don't you ……. these jeans?
6. It's warm inside. ……. your coat.
7. This pencil is really old. You can ……. it ……...
8. It's so loud here. Can you ……. the radio a little?
9. The firemen were able to ……… the fire in church street.
10. Does your little brother ……. ghosts?
 Phrasal Verbs
1. Quick! Get on the bus. It's ready to leave.
2. I don't know where my book is. I have to look for it.
3. It's dark inside. Can you switch on the light, please?
4. Fill in the form, please.
5. I need some new clothes. Why don't you try on these jeans?
6. It's warm inside. Take off your coat.
7. This pencil is really old. You can throw it away.
8. It's so loud here. Can you turn down the radio a little?
9. The firemen were able to put out the fire in church street.
10. Does your little brother believe in ghosts?
 NEXT WEEK:

Coordinating Conjunctions
Adverbials
Logical Connectors