Group A: carmen.gregori@uv.

es
2021-2022

PRACTICAL EXERCISES1

Task 1. Finite vs. non-finite clauses

The following uncontextualised sentences contain non-finite clauses. Identify the

subordinate clause, and its function within the sentence, then identify and classify the non-finite
element as infinitive, past-participle, present-participle

Non-finite Function Sentence

element of the
non-finite
clause
To live S (subject) [To live in a cosmopolitan city] has been his life-long goal.
(infinitive)
To believe Complement of That’s difficult [to believe.]
(infinitive) the adjective
Having finished work early, the team celebrated by going
out for pizza.
Exhausted after a day’s work, the bus driver decided to
take a cab home.
The plumber found the leak causing the flooding quite
fast.
They went away for the weekend to relax from the stress
of the week.
John ran out the door, waving cheerfully as he left.

I prefer for the students to do most of the talking.

1
Examples have been taken from Downing & Locke (20026); Carter and McCarthy (2006); Mark Davies,
https://corpus.byu.edu; Toby Litt. Corpsing ; the internet in general.
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

The proposal provided by the city did not satisfy city

council.

I don’t know what to do.

Exam instructions: in the exam you can either write the full name for the function or
the abbreviation.
Failing to use the right abbreviations (the ones available in your handouts) invalidates
the answer. Each incorrect item (e.g, each omission of brackets, arbitrary use of small
and capital letters etc. counts as -0.3. A sentence value in points varies between 2-4-6
points)

e.g. The exam is next Tuesday  CORRECT

Cs
The exam is next Tuesday  INCORRECT (0 points)
*Sc /SC etc…

realisations, as shown in the example

REMEMBER: Sentences can be described by specifying the functions that their constituents
have in sentence structure and the categories the constituents belong to.
e.g. The little girl bought a new toy
function (sentence level) realisation
The little girl Subject NP
bought P v
a new toy Od NP
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

[Sentence 1] His excuse sounds suspicious

Constituent Function Realisation

[Sentence ] The concert was on Friday

Constituent Function Realisation

[Sentence ] Mr. Karanja is teaching the students Swahili

Constituent Function Realisation
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

[Sentence ] You haven't made the sleeves the same length

Constituent Function Realisation

TASK 3. Identify (underline) the function of the underlined elements at sentence level
and say what type of unit they are realised by.

Function Realisation
subject Cl-non-fin 1. To take such a risk was rather foolish

Od NP
2. Do you always tell the truth?

Cs NP
3. Are these socks wool? No, they're cotton

Subject
4. What he said shocked me
Cl-fin

Cs NP
5. They fear that there may be no survivors

6. The doctor gave the injured man treatment for shock

Oi NP

7. What I don't enjoy is standing in queues

Cs Cl-non-fin

8. The hotel was rather noisy. On the other hand, it wasn't

Cs AdjP
expensive
9. That the number plate had been changed struck me
Od pron/NP

10. Circumstances have made the brothers enemies

Co NP

11. He hastily hid the book in her office

A PP
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

12. Hastily, she hid the letter.

A AdvP

13. Most people recognise that some form of taxation is

Od NP necessary

Subject NP 14. The police have identified the victim

NP 15. The exam is next Tuesday 2
cloc
A PP 16. The news reached us on Tuesday

A PP 17. Under what circumstances would you do a thing like that?

Exam instructions: in this type of exercises, both the function or the realisation have to be
correct for the answer to be counted as such.
Failing to identify either of the options correctly invalidates the whole item:
e.g. S Clnf To take such a risk was rather foolish  CORRECT
S NP To take such a risk was rather foolish  INCORRECT (0 POINTS)
S Clf To take such a risk was rather foolish  INCORRECT (0 POINTS)

Cloc PP The exam is next Tuesday  CORRECT

Od PP The exam is next Tuesday  INCORRECT (0 POINTS)

He / hastily / hid / the book / in her office The news / reached / us / on Tuesday
(pron) (adv) (verd) (det)(noun)(prep)(det)(noun) (det)(noun) (verb) (pron) (prep)(noun)

h h p d h d h d h p h h c

(NP) (AdvP) (VP) (NP) (NP) (NP) (VP) (NP) (PP)

h c P Od A

(PP) S PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

A P Od A

S PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

2 When be is followed by an expression of location in space or time (in the garden, at

10 o’clock), this Complement is analysed as locative (Downing & Locke, 2006: 66)
 Vicky / arrived / just after eleven
(noun) (verb) (adv)(prep)(n)
Group A: [email protected]
h m h c
2021-2022
(NP) (VP) (PP)

P A
TASK 4.
S PPPPPPPPPPPPPP

REMEMBER: Sentences can be described by specifying the functions that their constituents
have in sentence structure and the categories the constituents belong to.

[Sentence 1] Hastily, the little girl hid the letter, when her father called her.
Constituent Function Realisation

A AdvP
Hastily

she S NP

hid P VP

the letter Od NP

[Sentence 2 ] Fortunately, the news reached us on Tuesday.

Constituent Function Realisation

Fortunately D AdvP

the news S NP

reached P VP

us Od pron

on Tuesday A PP
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

TASK 5. Some of the following clauses contain Subject Complements (Cs), others
Object Complements (Co). Underline each and state the class of unit/ which realises
it/them as shown.

Function/ element Realisation

Co= alone AdjP 1. Leave him alone

AdjP
2. They must prove themselves fit for the task
Co

Cs NP 3. Spying on firms has become a multi-million pound

industry

Co 4. What will they call the baby?

NP

Cs AdjP 9. The weather has turned unexpectedly cold lately

6. Life is a series of accidents

Cs NP

Co AdjP 7. He made his films accessible to a wide public

cl-non-fin
8. He kept us laughing all evening with his jokes
Co
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

TASK 6: Prepositional / Phrasal verbs. Some verbs in these examples are followed by propositions:
are they phrasal verbs or prepositional verbs? Do at least two tests which support your answer
3) In those cases in which you have aPrepV, Identify the Op and say what is realised by.

TESTS
1) Verb: object + to
I strongly object to what you are insinuating
I strongly object to it
*I strongly object it to
I object strongly to what you are insinuating

2) He believes in getting things done as quickly as possible This is a Op: PP (c= Cl-non-fin)
He believes in it (correct)
He believes it in (wrong)
He believes strongly in getting
things done (correct)

Thus, PrepVerb
3) It depends entirely on what’s going on at the time. Op realized by a fin-cloc
It depends on it
It depends it on (wrong)
It depends strongly on what’s going
on

Thus, PrepVerb
4) Could you please check into this problem and correct it? 3 Op
Check into it
Check it into (wrong) the test with the adv is not always possible
Check quickly into it

Thus, PrepVerb
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

Identify the Prepositional Objects in the following examples. Write the answer on the left column
ANSWER ANSWER
element realisation of
the
completive
to what you are insinuating Clf 1) I strongly object to what you are
insinuating
2) He believes in getting things done as
quickly as possible.

3) It depends entirely on what’s going on at

the time.

4) Could you please check into this problem

and correct it? [iWeb
https://corpus.byu.edu/iweb/]

• Prepositional verbs: Prepositional verbs consist of a verb and a preposition which are
closely syntactically linked with each other (go against the mainstream, look after) (Carter
& McCarthy 2006:235) and are followed by an object mediated by the preposition (Op)
He/ never/lied/ to me
I/ could rely/ on her
P (VP)+ Op (PP)

• A pronoun follows a preposition but precedes the particle of a phrasal verb:

He broke with her *He broke her with  PREPOSITIONAL VERB
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

*He broke up it He broke it up  PHRASAL VERB

TASK 7. Break the sentences into its functional constituents and say what they are realised
by.

REMEMBER: Sentences can be described by specifying the functions that their constituents
have in sentence structure and the categories the constituents belong to.

My advice is to withdraw

constituent function realisation/realisation

my advice Subject NP
is Predicator VP
to withdraw Cs Clnf

For everyone to escape was practically impossible texto

constituent function realisation/realisation

For everyone to escape subject PP

was predicator VP

practically impossible Cs AdjP

She thanked the lost property officer for the trouble he had taken
constituent function realisation/realisation

subject
She NP
predicator
thanked VP
Od
the lost property officer NP
Op
for the trouble he had taken PP
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

*Please notice that with this type of exercise we do not need to identify the whole
PREDICATE.

Do the same with the sentences listed below.

1. All the students should have read this article

constituent function realisation

2. The train to London is now standing at the platform and the high-speed train from York
is drawing into the station.
constituent function realisation

The train to London Subject NP

is Predicate VP

now Adj Adv

standing P v

at the platform cloc PP

and conj

the high-speed train from York subject NP

is drawing predicate VP

into the station Cloc PP

4. I'm terrible, let me rub out the entire thing and start again.

4 Remember: Transitive Phrasal verbs usually take a direct object and allow placing the
adverb particle before or after the object as in: They turned the offer down; They
turned down the offer;
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

constituent function realisation

I Subject NP

am Predicate VP

terrible Cs Adj

let predicate V

me Od NP

rub predicate V

out part. part./adv

the entire thing Od NP

and conj

start predicate VP

again Adjunct AdvP

5. I ran some cold water into the kettle

constituent function realisation

I Subject pron/NP

ran predicate VP

some cold water Od NP

into the kettle Cloc PP

It Subjetc. pron/NP

was predicate VP

practically impossible to distinguish the players in midfield Cs AdjP

and conj

the teams subject NP

were predicate VP

like moving figures in shadowland Cs PP

• But if the Object is a pronoun, the particle is placed after the Object:
e.g., I'm sorry I let you down vs. *I let down you.
 Group A: [email protected]
2021-2022

ANSWERS
P+S+P+A 1. Did everyone leave early?

S+ P+ Cs 2. He returned a broken man

S+ P+ neg.part+ P+ 3. You haven't made the sleeves the same length
Od+ Cd
S+ P+ Od 4. Tom waved the flag
S+ P+ Od+ Op 5. They robbed her of her watch and jewels.
S+ P+ Op+ A 6. Not many people would object to that suggestion, would they?
S+ P+Cs 7. His excuse sounds suspicious
S+ P+ Od+ Op 8. I congratulated Janet on her success
S+ D+ P+ A 9. He obviously smiled when he saw me
S+ P+ Cs 10. Jean and Bill are my friends
S+ P+ Od+ Op 11.This sunblock will protect your skin from the sun’s rays.

S+ P+ Cs+ A 12. The weather is rather unpredictable in these parts of the country

S+ P+ Cloc 13. The concert was on Friday

S+ P+ Oi+ Od 14. Mr. Karanja is teaching the students Swahili

S+ P+ Od+ Op
15.They charged him with assault.

She Subject. pron/NP

thanked predicate VP

the lost property officer Od NP

for the trouble he had taken Op PP