Nglish Yntax Eminar: Sapientia University Syntax Seminar 1 Semester 2019/2020

Sapientia University
Syntax seminar
1st semester 2019/2020
ENGLISH SYNTAX SEMINAR (6)
Nominal Predicates
- a nominal predicate is made up of a descriptive predicative constituent together with a copula/link verb. The copula does
not have a descriptive content or it has an impoverished meaning. Yet, it is capable to express the grammatical categories
of the verb (mood, tense, agreement).
Types of predicative constituents

1. Adjectival phrase
- adjectives in English may be classified according to their attributive or predicative role. An attributive adjective in
English appears before a noun. A predicative adjective appears after a copula. Most adjectives may appear in both
positions.
e.g. a beautiful girl – The girl is beautiful.
-some types of adjectives are specialized for one of the two positions:
a) Adjectives which are attributive
- nominal adjectives: adjectives based on nouns
e.g. chemical engineer – an engineer who works in the domain of chemistry
* The engineer is chemical.
e.g. rural policeman, wooden bridge, golden ring
- adjectives of degree
e.g. utter confusion, complete misery, alleged murderer
b) Adjectives which are predicative

-adjectives which take a-
e.g. afloat, alive, afire, afoot, afraid, akin, alike
The boat was afloat. / The house was afire. / The man was afoot.
*the afloat boat, *the afire house, *the afoot man
- participial adjectives
e.g. drunk, bought, caught, lost, ironed, learned
- many predicative adjectives take as their complements prepositional phrases
e.g. fond of, glad about, satisfied with, inclined to, subject to
The prisoner was subject to torture.
c) Adjectives which appear in both positions

- they might slightly change their meaning when they change position
e.g. a real story (=quite a good story)
The story is real. (=the story is true)
- English does not allow adjectives that take complements to appear before a noun. Adjectives which appear pre-
nominally can only be used with degree words
e.g. a very tall man, an unbelievably good story, much more interesting movies
- however, adjectives which take complements can appear inside the noun phrase, but only after the noun
e.g. a man interested in arts, a girl fond of music
2. Prepositional phrase
- they frequently appear as predicative constituents
e.g. This wall is of stone. – a stone wall
- sometimes the preposition can be omitted (when the predicative expresses colour, size, age, quality or shape)
e.g. This house is (of) marble. / Your hair is (of) the same colour as mine. / The cathedral is (of the )16th century.
3. Noun phrase
- as predicative constituents, they are normally indefinite (preceded by a/an in the singular and with zero article in the
plural)
e.g. He is a teacher. / They are teachers.
- the noun may appear in the Genitive case or it may be replaced by a possessive pronoun
e.g. this house is John’s, the jewels are the Queen of England’s, this house is mine, the dictionaries are ours
4. CLAUSE
- the predicative constituent can be a sentence, as well
a. THAT-clause: The fact was [that the house was too expensive].
b. FOR-TO-construction: It is [for the critics to criticize].
c. INFINITIVE: To see is [to believe].
d. GERUND: Seeing is [believing].
Other copulas
- copula-like verbs have some descriptive meaning, unlike BE, yet they share their distribution with the verb BE, i.e. they
appear at least one of the following contexts: -DP/-AP/-PP/-IP and they do not assign Accusative case
e.g. GET get + DP My father is getting [an old man]DP.
get + AP It is getting [dark]AP.
get + PP It’s getting [near lunchtime]PP.
get + IP We’re getting [where we wanted to]IP.
e.g. become I became her friend. / They became poor. / She became of age.
come They came to power. / It came true. / It came to a standstill.
run The well has run dry. / We ran short of time.
go She went pale. / He went mute.
turn The girl turned red. / The water turned into ice. / When his wife is away, he turns into a cook.
fall It was falling dark. / She fell ill. / They fell in love.
look The child looked exhausted. / It looked out of place.
stand She was standing mute with grief. / He stands in need of help.
BE as a main verb – in existential sentences
- in natural languages existence is conceived as location in space, i.e. the main verb must be followed by an AdvP or a PP
when expressing location
e.g. The students are there. / The students are in a coffee shop.
- the existential verb BE allows THERE-insertion. THERE-insertion is possible in case of an indefinite subject
e.g. Students are in the cafeteria. – There are students in the cafeteria.
The students are in the cafeteria. – There are the students in the cafeteria.
- in case of THERE-sentences, the verb agrees with the post-verbal NP/DP, not with THERE, while in case of IT-
insertion, the verb agrees with IT itself
e.g. There is a book on the desk. / There are books on the desk.
Who’s there? It’s the students.
Subclassifying intransitive verbs

a. ERGATIVE verbs: verbs whose only argument is an object
b. UNERGATIVE verbs: verbs whose only argument is a subject
- only ERGATIVEs allow THERE-insertion

- evidence that THERE is a formal subject: (i) pre-verbal position, (ii) inversion in interrogative sentences, (iii) repetition
in question tags
e.g. (i) There was trouble in Paris.
(ii) Was there trouble in Paris?
(iii) There was trouble in Paris, wasn’t there?
ERGATIVE configurations
1. Intransitive verbs, like come, go, arrive, grow – they undergo THERE-insertion
e.g. There goes the bell.
There arrived a parcel for you.
Perform THERE-insertion on the following sentences:

A day will come when she is happy. -
A messenger with important news arrived. -
A strange man arrived in our office. -
- test for ergative verbs: the Past Participle of ergative verbs can be used as an adjective about the internal object
e.g. A man arrived. – a recently arrived man – There arrived a man.
A student came in. – a newly came student – There came in a student.
- the Past Participle of an UNERGATIVE verb cannot be used as an adjective
e.g. A child laughed. – *a laughed child - *There laughed a child.
2. Passive sentences:
- transitive verbs get detransitivized in a passive construction (their object is promoted into subject position), so passive
constructions are always ergative
e.g. The letter was written yesterday. – There was a letter written yesterday.
3. Middle-constructions (pseudo-passives): they have a passive interpretation, yet an active verb form
e.g. Coffee grinds well.
Glass breaks easily.
- middle-constructions usually need an adverb or some kind of modification on the verb (e.g. negation) and they are
always in the generic present
e.g. Good books sell easily.
*Good books sell.
*Good books sold easily.
EXERCISE
Assign subcategorization features to the predicates in the sentences below.
You should stop texting so much.
These figures add very easily.
The exhibition has been opened.
What did they charge him with?
They bought her flowers.
They put the books on the shelves.
The meeting was extended for another hour.
They appointed him chairman of the club.
They proved him guilty.
The shortage can be put down to bad planning.
They consider this a mistake.
He makes a good actor.
She makes a nice pudding.
The policeman gave the thief a black eye.

Nglish Yntax Eminar: Sapientia University Syntax Seminar 1 Semester 2019/2020

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Nglish Yntax Eminar: Sapientia University Syntax Seminar 1 Semester 2019/2020

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Nglish Yntax Eminar: Sapientia University Syntax Seminar 1 Semester 2019/2020

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sapientia University

ENGLISH SYNTAX SEMINAR (6)

Types of predicative constituents

b) Adjectives which are predicative

c) Adjectives which appear in both positions

BE as a main verb – in existential sentences

Subclassifying intransitive verbs

- only ERGATIVEs allow THERE-insertion

Perform THERE-insertion on the following sentences:

You might also like