PART I

Finite Clauses
CHAPTER 1: APPROACHES TO
GRAMMAR
1.2.1 Definitions of Language.

• Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,

emotions and desires by produced symbols. (Sapir 1921)
Language is used for communications. This is said to be the traditional view
of language. Language is used exclusively by human beings to communicate with each
other throughout certain symbols.

• Language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out
of a finite set of elements. (Chomsky 1957)
Noam Chomsky focused on the acquisition of language by an ideal native
speaker of his/her mother tongue through a scientific approach. It is central to comprehend
both the principles and parameters of a universal Grammar and how a speaker of a certain
language can understand and generate novel sentences of his/her language out of a limited
set of elements. This theory later evolved into what was later called the generative
perspective.

• Language is a network of systems, or interrelated sets of options for making meaning.

(Halliday 1994)
Halliday is interested in the social aspects of language. He has argued that
users of a certain language make and create meaning by choosing, unconsciously, how to
express themselves.

1.2.2 Definitions of Grammar.

• Grammar is the study of morphology, which deals with the form of words and syntax,
which deals with the arrangement of words into sentences. (Collins & Hollo 2000)
• The grammar of a language is to be thought of as device of some sort for producing the
sentences of the language under analysis. (Chomsky 1957)
• A grammar is a collection of descriptive statements concerning sentences understood
independently of the mind. (Chomsky 1986)

The traditional approach to Grammar considers that Grammar in its narrow sense is devoted
to the study of morphology and syntax. Grammar also includes the branch of phonology
which covers the sound-system of the language; and semantics, whose subject matter is
meaning in language. For Chomsky, Grammar is equated with Syntax, the science that
focuses on the generation or derivation of sentences. The phrase: independently of the
mind, in the third definition refers to the operations produced in the brain in ideal situations,
irrespective of its actual use or performance.

CHAPTER 2: SENTENCES AND

CLAUSES
2.2 Structural Hierarchy.

Texts are written or spoken following a certain structure so that readers or interlocutors can
understand them.
The written texts, are generally divided into paragraphs. Every paragraph itself is
made up of a number of sentences. Each sentence contains one or more clauses. Each clause
is made up of different phrases of groups. Each phrase or group consists of one or more
words. Each word is made up of one more morphemes. (Halliday 1961 “The rank scale of
Grammar”)
Sentences and clauses comprise the highest structural units of syntax. Each clause
can be divided into Subject and Predicate.

2.3 Types of Sentences.

Sentences are classified into four different types:
1. Simple
2. Compound
3. Complex
4. Compound-complex

Clauses can be divided into:

1. Main clauses
2. Subordinating clauses

If a sentence contains only one finite verbs or two or more finite verbs whose Subject is the
very same expression, the sentence is said to be made up of only one main clause and
therefore the sentence is said to be a simple sentence.
[(I’m not very interested in my schooldays, and don’t feel any nostalgia for
them).]
[(We just registered his presence and waited).]
In the first example, the two finite verbs refer to the very same Subject, namely I. This
means that the person who am not very interested in my schooldays is I and the one who
don’t feel any nostalgia for them is the very same I. This sentence is made up of only one
main clause and is therefore a simple sentence.

If a sentence is made up of two or more main clauses and more than one main verb
(without a subordinate) is called compound sentence.
[(There were three of us,) and (he now made the fourth).]
[(For the first day or two, we took little notice of him): (at our school there
was no welcoming ceremony, let alone its opposite, the punitive induction).]
In the two examples, the clauses can stand on their own since they are independent from
each other.

If a sentence contains one main clause BUT AT LEAST one subordinating clause it is
called complex sentence.
[(‹If I can’t be sure of the actual events any more›, I can at least be true to the
impressions those facts left).]
[That’s the best ‹I can manage›).]
[His name was Adrian Finn, a tall, shy boy ‹who initially kept his eyes down
and his mind to himself›).]

If a sentence is made up of two or more main clauses, the first of which contains a
subordinating clause, and the second contains two subordinating clauses is called
compound-complex.
[But (school is ‹where it all began›), so (I need to return briefly to a few
incidents ‹that have grown into anecdotes›, to some approximate memories ‹which time has
deformed into certainty›).]

2.4 Clause Connectors.

The elements that join the clauses together can be lexical elements called conjunctions or
punctuation marks, also called asyndetic conjunctions, such as the comma, the semicolon or
the colon. Conjunctions can be classified into:
1. Coordinating conjunctions
2. Subordinating conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions are lexical items that join structural elements that are at the same
hierarchical level. The most frequent are:
• Cumulative coordinating conjunction: and
• Alternative coordinating conjunction: or
• Adversative coordinating conjunction: but
Subordinating conjunctions are lexical items that join structural elements that are in
different hierarchical levels. They introduce a subordinating clause that depends on a main
clause.
[(‹If I can’t be sure of the actual events any more›, I can at least be true to the
impressions those facts left).]
The subordinating conjunction if, introduces the subordinating clause if I can’t be
sure of the actual facts any more.

The main difference between coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions

refers to their clause position. While coordinating conjunctions lie outside the main clauses
that they join, subordinating conjunctions appear within the subordinating clause that they
introduce.

2.5 Finite and Non-Finite Verbs

Finite verbs carry a number of grammatical features such as tense, aspect, modality and
voice. Tense refers to the propositional or clausal time from the point of view of the speaker
or writer, and can be said to be either present or past. Aspect expresses the progress and/or
completion of the event or state denoted by the verbs and can be said to be either
progressive or perfective. Modality conveys attitude on the part of the speaker of writer
through modal verbs like must, can, may, could, might, shall and should. Voice
communicates the relationship between the verb and the participants it selects and can be
said to be either active or passive.

AUXILIARIES
• aux prog asp (Auxiliary progressive aspect) — AM, IS, ARE,WAS (ANY FORM OF THE
VERB TO BE + ING.
• aux perf asp (Auxiliary perfective aspect) — HAVE, HAD, HAS + PAST PARTICIPLE
• aux mod (Auxiliary modality) — MAY, MUST, CAN, COULD, MIGHT, SHALL,
SHOULD, WILL + BARE INFINITIVE
• aux pass v (Auxiliary passive voice) — AM, IS, ARE + PAST PARTICIPLE
• aux int (Auxiliary interrogative) — DO, DOES, DID QUESTION
• aux neg (Auxiliary negation) — DO, DOES, DID QUESTION or NEGATION
• aux emph (Auxiliary emphasis) — DO, DOES, DID AFFIRMATIVE

The Non-Finite forms of English Grammar are the infinite and the ing-form, which can be
gerundial or present participial, and the past participle.
Non-finite forms are hybrid forms that have nominal, adjectival or adverbial functions.
They are originally verbal forms that behave as nouns, adjectives or adverbs.

The infinitive can be either bare infinite or full infinite.

The bare infinite is very limited in its use, for example after modal verbs, after the causative
verbs make and let in the active voice and after verbs of perception.
The full infinite is the infinite with infinitival particle to and is more frequent used in
English with either a nominal, adjectival or adverbial function.
BARE INFINITE
I made him analyse the sentences. (Causative verb MAKE as made)
I saw him cross the street. (Verb of Perception SEE as saw)
To travel is not my favorite pastime. (INFINITIVAL PARTICLE TO)

2.6 Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Sentences.

These types of sentences are used in English for pragmatic reasons of focus or with
emphatic purposes, in particular to replace a misunderstanding in oral communication or to
avoid it in written discourse.
Typical cleft sentences are made with the pronoun it, a form of the verb be, a focused
phrase and a clause typically introduced by that or who.
Typical pseudo-cleft sentences start with a nominal relative clause, a form of the verb be
and a non-finite clause.
 • Bolivia’s first communications satellite vaulted into space Friday atop a Chinese
rocket as the Andean nation’s president, Eve Morales, looked on. (ORIGINAL
VERSION)
• Bolivia’s satellite vaulted into space last Friday. (ORIGINAL VERSION
ADAPTED)

CLEFT CONSTRUCTIONS
• It was Bolivia’s satellite that vaulted into space last Friday (not Argentina’s satellite)
• It was into space that Bolivia’s satellite vaulted last Friday (not into the sea)
• It was last Friday that Bolivia’s satellite vaulted into space (not last month)
PSEUDO-CLEFT CONSTRUCTION
• What Bolivia’s satellite did was vault into space last Friday (not hover)

2.7 Tests for Constituency.

Separation of clauses into their two major syntactic constituents, SUBJECT and
PREDICATE.
Constituents and their recognition are a central concern of syntax since it is vital that we can
tell whether a certain string of words fulfills a certain syntactic function within a clause.
My cousin head the explosion in the market. (ORIGINAL
SENTENCE)
My cousin head the explosion when he was in the market.
My cousin heard the explosion that occurred in the market.

In the first sentence, the referred explosion may have taken place in the market itself or in
some other place, but my cousin was clearly in the market at the time when the explosion
occurred. It shows that the two strings of words the explosion and in the market of the
original sentence are two different constituents.
In the second sentence, my cousin may have been in some place other than the alluded
market and even the distance between that other place and the market can be a sing of the
magnitude of the explosion, since the explosion necessarily took place in the market. The
bigger the distance, the higher and more destructive the explosion.
This shows that the string of words like the explosion in the market of the original seance
makes up a single constituent. These two different readings of the original sentence will lead
to two different syntactic analyses of the sentence.

Five different test for constituency:

1. Coordination
2. Fronting
3. Passivisation
4. Clefting
5. Pseudo-clefting

Coordination is a test that can be applied through the addition of some element that is of the
same category as the constituent under test.
For example, in the original sentence: “My cousin head the explosion in the market” with
the interpretation given in the second sentence: “My cousin head the explosion when he was
in the market” the string of words the explosion, which is a noun phrase, can be conjoined
with other noun phrase such as the commotion.
If we take the interpretation given in the last sentence: “My cousin heard the explosion that
occurred in the market” we can coordinate the postmodifier noun phrase the explosion in
the market with another postmodified noun phrase the commotion in the suburbs which
shows that the string of words the explosion in the market in the original sentence is a
constituent.
My cousin heard the explosion and the commotion in the market.
My cousin heard the explosion in the market and the commotion in the
suburbs.

Fronting, applies by displacing the constituent under test to the front of the sentence.
The explosion, my cousin heard in the market.
The explosion in the market, my cousin heard.
Passivation, can be carried out only in the case of sentences that contain a transitive verb in
the active voice and its corresponding Direct Object. The Direct Object of the active
sentence becomes the Subject of its passive counterpart.
The explosion was heard by my cousin in the market.
The explosion in the market was heard by my cousin.

Cleft and Pseudo-clefting.

It was the explosion that my cousin heard in the market.
It was the explosion in the market that my cousin heard.
What happened to my cousin in the market was that he heard the explosion.
What happened to my cousin was that he heard the explosion in the market.

A further simplified sentence can be obtained by applying the so called substitution test.
This is done by replacing a certain element in the sentence with a simpler constituent.
But school is where it all began, so I need to return briefly to a free
incidents, to some memories. (ORIGINAL SENTENCE)
But school is the initiating place, so I need to return briefly to a few
incidents.
All the subordinating clauses of the original sentence have been eliminated, which proves
that the removed or substituted constituents are precisely subordinating clauses.

CHAPTER 3: SUBJECT AND

PREDICATE
3.2 Clauses and Phrases
Each clause consists of one or more phrases. All clauses, even verbless clauses, can be
divided into Subject and Predicate.
The main difference between clauses and phrases in particular lies in the number of required
syntactic elements in the structural hierarchy that clauses and phrases must contain.
Clauses require two or more phrases, phrases are made up of one or more work.
While clauses are divided into Subject and Predicate, phrases must contain at least one
lexical word which heads the phrase onto which it projects all its properties.
Noun phrases are headed by a noun, adjectival phrases are headed by an adjective, adverbial
phrases are headed by an adverb, and so on.

CLAUSES PHRASES

Are divided into Subject and Predicate Are Headed

3.3 Functions and Categories.

[(He quickened his pace).]

[(His pace was quickened).]
In both examples the string of words his pace is said to be a noun phrase headed by the
noun pace. This is the category of the phrase.
By contrast, the function of this phrase within the clause does depend on its connection with
the other phrases in the clause. The phrase his pace is said to fulfill the function of Direct
Object in the first example and the function of Subject in its passive counterpart.
We will signal syntactic functions with an initial capital letter.
Nine different categories:

CONTENTIVE OR
LEXICAL CATEGORIES
1. Noun FUNCTION CATEGORIES
2. Verb 6. Determiner
3. Adjective 7. Pronoun
4. Preposition 8. Auxiliary
5. Adverb 9. Conjunction
Contentive categories are regarded as more informative and even a necessary part of the
phrase, function categories convey more formally syntactic information such as person or
number.

3.4 Separation into Subject and Predicate.

Clauses are divided into Subject and Predicate. The Subject of a clause is a nominal
expression of which some predication is mentioned. A nominal expression is a noun
phrase, pronominal phrase or a noun clause.
A noun phrase can be made up of only one word, which must be a noun, or more than one
word.
A pronominal phrase is a phrase made up of one or more words, the most important of
which is its Head Pronoun.
A noun clause is a clause with a nominal function which very frequently can be replaced for
a simpler noun phrase.

For the nominal expression to be the Subject of a clause, it has to agree in person and
number with the finite verb(s) of the Predicate of the clause and, has to be in the
nominative case.

[(The theft of his watch, his wallet, his fountain pen and his mobile phone was not so
meaningful).]

It is clear that the narrator is talking about the lack of meaning of the theft. Besides, the only
finite verb is the singular past inflected form of the verb be, namely was, which agrees with
the singular nominal phrase the theft of…. Which is the only nominal expression in the
clause. Therefore, such noun phrase is the Subject and the remaining of the clause is the
Predicate.

Grammatical or morphological case:

 Is a syntactic property of nominals that is very limited in present day English.
However, overt inflectional case is seen only with limited variation in some personal
pronouns. There are at least two unquestionable types of case:
1. Nominative
2. Accusative
[(They have been taken for a couple).]
The pronominal Subject of the example is in the nominal case.
[(Them have been taken for a couple).]
This example is in the nominative case, where a pronoun in the accusative case would have
resulted in an ungrammatical sentence.

Person Number Gender Case

Nominative Accusative

1st Singular - I me
Plural -
2nd Sing/pl - You
3rd Singular Masculine He him
Singular Feminine She her
Singular Neuter It
Plural - They them

English Personal Pronominal System

So, in sentences with a noun phrase as Subject, the replacement of such nominal by its
corresponding pronoun can also help in the recognition of the Subject.

ORIGINAL SENTENCES
[(Treslove knew that ‹because something had made him look at his watch the moment
before›).]
[(The streets were not deserted).]

NOMINATIVE CASE
[(He knew that ‹because something had made him look at his watch the moment before›).]
[(They were not deserted).]
 ACCUSATIVE CASE
[(Him knew that ‹because something had made him look at his watch the moment before›).]
[Them were not deserted).]

The pronoun in the nominative case lead to grammatical sentences, whereas the pronouns
in the accusative case lead to ungrammatical sentences.

3.5 Anticipatory Subject

Sentences - or clauses - can have, apart from noun phrases and pronominal phrases, other
grammatical categories as Subject, namely nominal clauses or noun clauses.

[(‹When the attack occurred› was exactly 11.30 pm).]

[(‹What moved him› was this proof of the destructibility of things).]

The sentences have the italicized nominal clause in angular brackets as Subject.
Sentences whose Subject is a noun clause tend to have their Subject postponed to a post
verbal position. When this is the case, the Subject of the sentence is anticipated by a
grammatical Subject devoid of meaning. This is the so called Anticipatory Subject it, which
is a pronoun-like entity called Anticipatory it. This is an expletive or dummy entity (also
called pleonastic). With no semantic content itself.

[(It was exactly 11.30 pm ‹when the attack occurred›).]

[(It was this proof of the destructibility of things ‹what moved him›).]
The Real Subjects are anticipated by an Anticipatory Subject, whose category is an
expletive.

The Principle of End-Weight and the Principle of End-Focus:

The Principle of End-Weight lies in the relative length of two competing elements. Longer
constituents have more weight than shorter one and thus they tend to appear after shorter
constituents.
The Principle of End-Focus measures the relative informativeness of two competing
elements. More informative constituents or constituents with newer information tend to
appear after less informative ones or constituents with relatively older or already mentioned
information.
Both the relative length and the degree of information of the Subject clause and the
Predicate can be compared.

[(It was exactly 11.30 pm ‹when the attack occurred›).]

This sentence may be preferred to its equivalent, since in this case, the Subject
clause is longer than the Predicate.
[(‹When the attack occurred› was exactly 11.30 pm).]
Equivalent.

[(‹What moved him› was this proof of the destructibility of things).]

This sentence seems to be preferred to its paraphrased counterpart because the
Predicate is longer than the Subject clause.
[(It was this proof of the destructibility of things ‹what moved him›).]
Equivalent.
As for the expletives that serve as Anticipatory Subjects in English, two lexical items can
have this function:

1. It
2. There
They do not necessarily anticipate the same category as Subject. While expletive it can
anticipate all types of clauses, it cannot anticipate noun phrases or pronominal phrases.
Expletive there can anticipate noun phrases and pronominal phrases together with gerundial
clauses, whereas there cannot anticipate infinitival clauses or noun clauses.

Category of Anticipatory Subject It There

Noun phrase / np no Yes

Pronominal phrase / pr p no Yes
Infinitival clause / icl yes No
 Category of Anticipatory Subject It There

Noun clause / n cl yes No

Gerundial clause / g cl yes Yes

3.6 Categories of the Subject

Two groups:
• Phrases
• Clauses
Phrases are headed, whereas clauses can be divided into Subject and Predicate.

The typical phrase that can have the function of Subject is a noun phrase or nominal phrase.
However, sometimes, nouns can be replaced by pronouns, pronominal phrases can also
fulfill the function of overt Subject.
Phrases, whether nominal or pronominal, can be made up of only one word, a noun or a
pronoun. If nominal or pronominal phrases consist of only one word, this word is said to be
the Head of the phrase.

The function of Subject can be fulfilled by clauses. These clauses can be either finite
nominal clauses or some type of nominal non-finite clauses, such as Infinitival clauses and
Gerundial clauses.
[(Padma is almost beside herself with anguish).]
Noun phrase made up of only one word

[(Ahmed and Amina Sinai were amongst the worst victims of the renewed disease of
optimism).]
Compound Noun phrase

3.7 Categories of the Predicate

The predicate is more versatile than the Subject, although mainly the category of the
Predicate is a verbal phrase a vast majority of the time. The predicate can be a phrase of
virtually every type (this happens when there is elision of a form of the verb be or other
verb).
The predicate can also be the same categories as that of the subject, or even a prepositional
phrase, and adverbial phrase and an adjectival phrase.
[(The white ladies had their dinner in a large dinning-room).] [The colored servants, in a
backyard hut).]
Prepositional phrase
[(He was fond of football, basketball and rugby).] [She, uninterested in team sports).]
Adjectival phrase
[(Lucy had an ear for all types of melodies, and sang wonderfully).] [Her sister, awfully).]
Adverbial phrase

CHAPTER 4: STRUCTURE OF THE

SUBJECT
4.2 Head
Noun phrases are headed by a noun and pronominal phrases are headed by a pronoun. The
Head of a phrase is the most important word in the phrase.

4.3 Premodifier
Most Heads are pre modified by a number of structures.
The most common categories of Premodifiers are:
1. Determiners
2. Adjectives

[(This experimental study investigates the acquisition of Italian accusative and dative clitics
by English adult speakers).]
The Head noun study is premodified by the determiner this, which is a demonstrative
adjective, and the adjective experimental.

English, unlike Spanish, is a language with a very inflexible word order. The order of the
Premodifiers of a noun phrase is fixed and cannot be altered. When Premodifiers of
different categories are placed before their Head, they follow a certain order.
Determiners appear before adjectives, and these in turn appear before noun Premodifiers.

Determiners can be subclassified into:

• Predeterminers
• Central determiners
• Post determiners
Predeterminers precede central determiners, which in turn precede post determiners.

4.4 Postmodifier
Postmodifiers are structural elements that are found after the Head of a nominal or
pronominal phrase. They are prepositional phrases, though they can also be relative clauses.

[(Results from a grammatically judgement task).]

This example contains a prepositional phrase as Postmodifier.
The structure of prepositional phrases shows an instance of the grammatical phenomenon
called recursivity. Prepositional phrases are headed by a preposition.
Apart from their Head, they require an additional structural element. This element tends to
be a nominal phrase or a pronominal phrase.
Prepositional phrases are recursive since they contain an additional phrase within.
This inner phrase of prepositional phrases has the syntactic function of the so called Object
to the Preposition.
A prepositional phrase is structurally divided into its Head, which is a preposition, and its
Object to the preposition, which is a further nominal or pronominal phrase.

The whole noun phrase fulfills the function of Subject of the sentence. This is headed by the
noun results, which is postmodified by the prepositional phrase from a grammatically
judgement task. This prepositional phrase is divided into its Head, the preposition from, and
its Object to the preposition, the noun phrase a grammatically judgement task. The Head
noun task of this nominal phrase has two Premodifiers, the determiner a and the noun
phrase grammatically judgement. This nominal phrase is headed by the noun judgment and
premodified by the noun grammatically.

4.5 Apposition.
The Apposition is a noun phrase that is either co-referential with, encompassing or
encompassed by a noun phrase previously mentioned. Appositions can be classified into:
• Non-Restrictive
• Restrictive

• Non-Restrictive Apposition

It is a structural element separate from the Head of the nominal phrase by a comma,
semicolon or any other parenthetical marker, and provides additional information which
is indicated in speech by a separate tone unit.

[My best friend, Aldo, teaches syntax]

[The most important element for life, namely water, is produced by this company.]
Aldo, is a Non-Restrictive Apposition and namely water is also a Non-Restrictive
Apposition since it provides additional information to the previous noun phrase.

Since the information given by a Non-Restrictive Apposition is additional, it can be taken

away without affecting the informative content of the proposition.

[My best friend teaches syntax]

[The most important element for life is produced by this company]
The Non-Restrictive Appositions have been eliminated and still the informative
content of the proposition remains the same as the original.

Non-Restrictive Appositions can be placed preceding the nominal expressions to which they
have been added.
[Aldo, my best friend, teaches syntax]
[Water, the most important element for life, is produced by this company]
Now, the postponed italicized nominal expression is now the Non-Restrictive
Apposition

Non-Restrictive Appositions can take the place of the nominal expressions to which they are
added, in whose case they become the Heads of the Subject, which has now no Apposition.
[Aldo teaches syntax]
[Water is produced in this company]

• Restrictive Apposition

It is a nominal expression that delimits or specifies the reference of the first nominal, from
which is not separated either in writing or speech.
[Our colleague Thompson was appointed the head of the board.]
[His sister Janet graduated from medical school last year]

The difference between Non-Restrictive Apposition and Restrictive Apposition can be seen
from this examples:
 [My uncle, Jack, is fond of pasta.]
[My uncle Jack is fond of pasta.]
In the first sentence, Jack is the only uncle of the writer/speaker, in the second sentence
the writer/speaker has more than one uncle and the one who he/she is referring as fond
of pasta is Jack.

Makers of Apposition
[Dairy products, e.g milk and butter, have been reduced in consumption.]
[The journey, particularly the flight, was amazing]
[Shakespeare’s plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth were read in class]
[The thought of getting up early troubled him]

4.6 Adjectival Complements

Adjectival Complements are structural elements that are required by some adjectives.
They tend to be prepositional phrases, although they can also be finite nominal clauses and
non-finite nominal clauses, especially infinitival clauses.

That is to say and Such as / like

That is As follows Especially

i.e For example particularly
Namely e.g In particular
viz For instance notably
To wit Say chiefly
In other words For instance mainly
or Included mostly
Or rather including of
Or better Simply To put it simply

Adjectives that require a Complement are predicative adjectives that express an attitude
characteristic of the nominal expression in the Subject or a strong connection between the
Subject and the Adjectival Complement by means of the adjective that heads the
predication.

[I’m interested in Grammar]

[Cortázar was fond of individual sports]
[She is proud of her garden]
[The scientific was confident in her findings]
[His suggestion was devoid of sense]

Difference between Postmodifiers and Adjectival Complements.

Postmodifiers are structural elements that are placed and give details of a certain Head noun
to which they modify.
Adjectival Complements are syntactic elements required by an adjective rather than a noun.

CHAPTER 5: STRUCTURE OF THE

PREDICATE
5.2 Verbal Group
The Verbal Group can be considered in its narrow sense or in its broad sense.
In the narrow sense, the verbal group constitutes the Head of the vast majority of the
Predicates of finite clauses.
In the broad sense, the verbal phrase is the verbal group Head of the finite Predicate together
with the remaining constituents of the Predicate.
[The group secretary and Eagle were still waiting in the hall]
[Mrs Bostock has explained this to me]
[He could discover no rational cause for this impatience]
In the narrow sense the verbal groups are:
Were waiting
Has explained
Could discover
In the broad sense, the verbal phrase of the last example is:
 could discover
And the remaining phrase no rational cause for this impatience.

[(Ads on mobile devices will have been downloaded in advance).]

The verbal group will have been downloaded is made up of three auxiliary verbs and the
past participle form of the main verb download. These auxiliary verbs are the modal
auxiliary will, the auxiliary for the perfect aspect have and the auxiliary for the passive
voice been.
Auxiliaries are function words that precede main verbs, in the same way as determiners
precede adjectives.
The first auxiliary, if there is more than one, is traditionally called operator.

As for the main verbs, they are classified according to the types of complement that they
require.
Verbs are classified into intransitive, transitive and copular

• Intransitive Verbs do no take complements.

[(Human-kind beliefs can change)]

ES UN IV porque no requiere complements. (iv)

• Transitive Verbs require a complement called Direct Object.

They can be subclassified into:

A. Monotransitive (tv)
They take only a Direct Object
B. Ditransitive (ditv)
They take both a Direct Object and an Indirect Object
C. Complex transitive
They take both a Direct Object and a Objective Complement

• Copular Verbs are those that require a Subjective Complement and no Direct Object, as
the verb be.

Complements are structural elements that are required by the verb.

Adjuncts are structural elements that provide additional information that can be added to all
types of verbs.

5.3 Direct Object

Direct Objects are nominal expressions - Noun Phrases, Pronominal Phrases, Noun Clauses
- that can become the Subject of the clause through passivisation.
They follow directly the verb to which they complement, unless an Indirect Object is placed
in between.
From the semantic point of view, Direct Objects are the entity, person or thing that is
affected by the verb or undergoes the action that the verb indicates.

[(A few years later, a Dutch experiment found a milder, but similar effect).]
ORIGINAL

[A few years later, a milder, but similar effect was found)]

IT CAN BECOME THE SUBJECT OF THE PASSIVE SENTENCE

[A few years later, a Dutch experiment found milder, but similar effects)]
PLURALISATION

[A few years latter, a Dutch experiment found it)]

[A few years later, a Dutch experiment found them)]
PRONOMINALIZATION, THE OVERT ACCUSATIVE CASE IS MANDATORY.

[A few years later, a Dutch experiment found)]

ELISION RESULTS IN UNGRAMMATICAL SENTENCE

• Sometimes, some verbs that are considered to be intransitive such as live admit a Direct
Object.
[Millions of people live their lives in a way not possible before the belief existed).]
• Some Intransitive Verbs are used Transitively when they take a Locative Direct Object, a
Cognate Direct Object or a Direct Object as a hyponym of the lexical item incorporated
into the lexical verb.

• When a Transitive Verb takes a Direct Object that corefers with the Subject, the Direct
Object is a reflexive pronoun.
[She hurt herself)]

Not all Direct Objects can undergo passivisation. This happens with Noun clauses as Direct
Object and in the case of Direct objects of the middle verbs.
- Verbs of possession: have, posses
- Lack of possession: lack
- Measure Verbs: cost, measure, suit, fit

5.4 Indirect Object.

Indirect Objects are nominal expressions - Noun phrases, Pronominal phrases, Noun
clauses, Prepositional phrases-
Indirect objects alternate their position with that of Direct Objects, though the category of
the Indirect Object is different according to the position they take.
If the precede Direct Objects, they are nominal expressions, they are Prepositional phrases
when they follow Direct Objects.

Indirect objects are structural elements required by ditransitive verbs, typically verbs of
giving and verbs of telling.
The are usually considered the Recipient of the goods or things given or the information
told. However, with some verbs like: offer, buy, make, bring, etc. the Indirect Object used
with these verbs is not necessarily the Recipient but is called the Intended Recipient or
Beneficiary.

5.5 Complement
Complement is a structural element that is required by the verb.
From their point of view of its function, it can be said to refer to the Subject of the clause or
to the Direct object.
If they refer to the Subject they are Subjective Complement.
If they refer to the Direct Object they are Objective Complement.
From their point of view of its category, it can be Predicative Complement and Adverbial
Complement.

5.5.1 Subjective Complement

Subjective Complements are required by copular verbs such as be, become, resemble,
sound, feel, etc. This verbs are stative verbs that in general they are not used in the
progressive aspect and do not admit passivisation.
PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENTS:
[Essentialism should be a dead letter in a world run on a mountain of statistics)]
NOUN PHRASE

[This doesn’t sound too different from Francis Galton’s idea)]

ADJECTIVAL PHRASES

ADVERBIAL COMPLEMENTS:
(Prepositional phrases or adverbial phrases)
[All these human kinds certainly don’t feel like inventions]

5.5.2 Objective Complement.

Objective Complements are also structural elements required by the verb, which refer to the
Direct Object rather than the Subject of the clause.
They seem restricted to the type called predicative complements, to those whose category is
a nominal expressions or an adjectival phrase.
They can also be adverbial Complements that belong to the category prepositional phrase.
 [Hacking has called this sort of change a looping effect)]
NOMINAL EXPRESSION

[Their constant decoding keeps you alive)]

ADJECTIVAL PHRASE

[An 1894 case classed Japanese as Mongolian)]

ADVERBIAL COMPLEMENT THAT BELONG TO THE CATEGORY PP
5.6 Adjunct.
Adjuncts are more peripheral elements than Complements in the sense that they give
optional information whose deletion does not necessarily affect the propositional content of
the clause.
They are typically adverbial phrases or Prepositional phrases, they can also be nominal
phrases that indicate temporal or spatial location such as home, or this afternoon. They can
be predicative in category - nominal or adjectival phrases.
Adjuncts can be tested by cleating and fronting, although this is not possible with Sentential
Adjuncts.
Like Objects and Complements, Adjuncts can be tested by cleating and fronting. They are
more structural elements than Objects and Complements. From their semantic point of view,
Adjuncts are classified into Adjuncts of Place, Time and Manner, Instrument, Company,
Cause, Result, Purpose, Condition and Concession.

ADVERBIAL PHRASE
[(In the United States courts, an 1854 decision held that Chinese people were Indians under
American law).]
ADJUNCT OF PLACE

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
[(In the spring of 2004, the Republican Party of Illinois found itself with a problem).]
ADJUNCT OF TIME
[(You blink constantly).]
 ADJUNCT OF MANNER

[(An 1854 decision, in the United States courts, held that Chinese people were Indians
under American law)]

[(An 1854 decision held that Chinese people were Indians under American law in the
United States courts)]

[(An 1854 decision held, in the United States courts, that Chinese people were Indians
under American law)]
In this examples, the Adjunct is placed between the verb and its Object or Complement, is
highly infrequent in English, and seems to be only admitted when the Object or
Complement has more weight than the Adjunct.

[(It was in the United States courts that an 1854 decision held that Chinese people were
Indians under American law)]
This example shows testing by clefting.

[(An 1854 decision held that Chinese people were Indians under American law)]
This example shows that their deletion does not necessarily affect the propositional content
of the clause since they are not structural elements required by the verb.

5.7 Sentence Adjunct.

Sentence Adjuncts are structural elements that affect the whole sentence, and are not
integrated into the propositional content expressed by the verb of the clause. They are
usually placed in initial clausal-position and even paragraph-initial.
They can be classified into:
 • Conjuncts
• Disjuncts
Conjuncts establish a connection with the previous sentence or paragraph, Disjuncts convey
some attitude
or

evaluation of the
speaker/writer.

5.7.1 Conjunct
 Second Last In the same way On the one hand
And But However Conversely
So After all Hence For example
Rather Originially Meanwhile Well

EXAMPLES OF CONJUNCTS

5.7.2 Disjunct
One possible distinctive feature of some Disjuncts, as opposed to Conjuncts, is the fact that
they can be paraphrased with a presumably more detached construction through which the
writer/speaker hides himself/herself in the discourse. This seemingly more objective
construction is the paraphrase through an anticipatory it and the postposition of an
evaluative adjective.
[(It is obvious that this is not a claim that you were born knowing your native language.)]
[(It is apparent that you do it by ignoring some of what you know, while paying heightened
attention to the rest)]
 In fact In a real sense Obviously Of course
Apparently Perphaps

EXAMPLES OF DISJUNCTS

5.8 Predicative Adjunct

Predicative Adjuncts, also traditionally called Quasipredicatives, are further optional
structural elements, though they seem less mobile than true Adjuncts. They are either
nominal expressions or adjectival phrases.

[(You weren’t born a blank slate).]

Nominal Expression (passive construction)
[(Stigma increases your chances of dying young).]
Adjectival phrase (placed next to intransitive verb)
[(They married rich).]
(Placed next to intransitive verb)
[(He left the room sad).]
[(They did their homework tired).]
[(Around here, they ride horses young).]
[(She married him innocent).]
5.9 Agent.
The Agent occurs in passive clauses. Passive constructions are usually resorted to into order
to avoid mentioning the doer of the action, so frequently the Agent is absent in these
clauses. However, if it does appear, it is introduced through the preposition by and therefore
the Agent is always a Prepositional Phrase.

[(Some can be affected by conscious thought)]

[(Morse code can be sent by telegraph clicks or signal flags or a hammer banging on a
drainpipe)]
[(Such techniques helped establish that some brain codes can be read by solitary neurons)]
5.10 Adjectival Complement.
Adjectival Complements are structural elements that are required by an adjective rather than
by a verb. This happens with adjectives that are plausible of - and tend to - carry the
predication of the clause and are therefore used with a verb devoid of lexical content such as
the dummy be. These adjectives usually take a prepositional phrase as Complement such as:
• Fond of
• Afraid of
• Conscious of
• Proud of
• Interested in
• Good at

They can also take an infinitival clause as Complement such as:

• Certain to
• Likely to
• Willing to
The fact that these adjectives tend to carry the predication of the clause makes them and
their Adjectival Complements more likely to appear in the Predicate of the clause. They can
additionally appear in the Subject.

[(People prone to cancer were drawn).] [(Maybe people prone to ill health get stressed
easily, which makes them less able to succeed)]
The adjectival phrases that postmodify the Heads of the Subject in the sentence are reduced
relative clauses, whose Head adjectives are part of the Predicate of the non-reduced relative
clause.
[(People who are prone to cancer were drawn)] [Maybe people who are prone to ill health
get stressed easily, which makes them less able to succeed)]
5.11 Sample Analysis

CHAPTER 6: ADVERBIAL
CLAUSES
6.2 Adverbial Clauses
Adjuncts are typically realized by adverbial phrases or prepositional phrases.
Adjuncts are very frequently realized by adverbial clauses.
Adverbial Clauses are types of finite subordinating clauses that naturally appear within the
Predicate of main clauses since they fulfill the function of Adjuncts in the main
superordinate clause.
Adverbial Clauses are linked to their main superordinate clause by means of a subordinating
conjunction.
This conjunction is included in the subordinating clause but has no syntactic function
either the Subject or the Predicate of the subordinating clause.

The subordinating clause when I was waiting the room has the function of Adjunct of Time
within the Predicate of the main clause of the sentence.
This can be tested on the fact that the information conveyed by this clause is peripheral and
therefore can be eliminated without altering the meaning of the sentence. Though, this
adjunct is mobile since it can be positioned at the front of the sentence without much
variation in its meaning

[(I discovered the envelope).]

LO PUEDO SACAR
[‹When I was waiting the room›, I discovered the envelope).]
LO PUEDO PONER ADELANTE DE LA ORACIÓN.
The

connector that links the subordinating clause to the main clause of the sentence has no
syntactic function. This is a distinctive feature of adverbial clauses and some of the noun
clauses.

Adjuncts are traditionally classified into:

• Place • Result
• Time • Purpose
• Manner • Comparison
• Instrument • Condition
• Company • Concession
• Cause or Reason

Some Adjuncts are plausible of subclassifications.

Since adverbial clauses have the function of Adjunct, and since adverbial clauses are
divided into Subject and Predicate, they can contain another adverbial clause within their
own Predicate.

[(That did seem curious, ‹especially because she put it on the table instead of setting it on
the floor ‹as I would have expected››)]
 The Predicate of the main clause contains in its Predicate an adverbial clause with the
function of Adjunct of Reason and also one inside as Adjunct of Manner.

6.3 Adverbial Clauses with No Subordinating Conjunction.

Certain adverbial clauses admit subordination without the presence of an overt
subordinating conjunction. This occurs with Adjuncts of Condition and Adjuncts of
Concession which undergo inversion of order.

[(Women have been impeded by they generative responsibility, ‹he might have gone to say
‹had he been given time or encouragement from the chairperson›, or ‹had he been
sufficiently embarrassed at drawing such an immense public blank››)]
This sentence contains two italicized adverbial clauses of condition with no overt
subordinating conjunction.

[(These words hurt my feelings slightly), but (then the reviews, ‹good as they were›, had
subtly injured me too)]
This sentence exhibits a more infrequent case that contain an adverbial clause with the
function of Adjunct of Concession. In it, the adjective good is clause-fronted, while the
insertion of the subordinating conjunction as in post adjectival position replaces the
subordinating conjunction even though typically in initial position.

6.5 Position of Adjuncts.

Although Adjuncts are relatively free in their position, final position tends to be preferred
over initial and medial positions, ircrespectebly of their category.
The position of Adjuncts tends to be influenced by a number of discourse factors that
interact with each other.
CHAPTER 7: NOMINAL CLAUSES
7.2 Types of Nominal Clauses
Four different types of Nominal Clauses:
1. That-noun clauses
2. Whether/if-noun clauses
3. Nominal relative clauses
4. Wh-focused nominal clauses

1. [(On the other hand, Leech finds ‹that semimodals like need to and have to increased in
both language varieties›)]
THAT-NOUN CLAUSE
The are the most frequent type of nominal clauses and they are used to express facts, ideas
or reporting statements.

2. [(This would help to determine <whether a word is a true lockword> or <whether there
are hidden grammatical changes occurring with this usage>)]
WHETHER/IF-NOUN CLAUSE
They are used to express alternatives, doubts or reporting questions.

3. [(The higher the number, the greater the difference between <what was expected> and
<what occurred>)]
NOMINAL RELATIVE CLAUSE
They convey ideas or events previously referred to in the discourse of the speaker/writer or
assumed to be known to the listener/reader.

4. [(This is interesting in its own right and raises questions about <why the word was so fre-
quent at this point in time>)]
WH-FOCUSED NOMINAL CLAUSE
They convey focused elements such as exclamations or direct or indirect questions.
7.3 Categories and Functions of Connectors
The four type of finite nominal Clauses can be grouped into two big classes that differ from
the point of view of the connector that introduces the subordinating nominal clause.
1. Class I
That-noun clauses
whether/if noun clauses
They are introduced by subordinating conjunctions that have no syntactic function
within the subordinating clause.

2. Class II
Nominal relative clauses
wh-focused nominal clauses
They are introduced by connectors that do have a syntactic function within the subordinat-
ing nominal clause.
When we compare the syntactic analysis of a subordinating nominal clause Class I (figure
7.2) with that of a subordinating nominal clause Class II (figure 7.3) we can see that the
analysis of the connector is different.
The first one, the connector is a subordinating conjunction that lies outside the Subject an
the Predicate of the clause.
The second one, does have a syn-
tactic function in the clause.
7.4 Syntactic Functions of Nominal Clauses
Nominal Clauses can have eight different syntactic functions which are:
1. Subject 5. Object to the Preposition
2. Direct Object 6. Adjectival Complement
3. Subjective Complement 7. Objective Complement
4. Apposition 8. Indirect Object

Nominal Relative Clauses differ from the other three types in that they cannot have the
function of Adverbial Complement.

1. Subject: Nominal Clauses as Subject are the most frequent realized by that-noun clauses.
They are frequently extra posed to final position and anticipated by expletive it.

[(It seems likely <that round will remain in usage but as a noun and adjective>)]
THAT-NOUN CLAUSE

2. Direct Object: Nominal Clauses as Direct Object are the most frequent of the eight syn-
tactic functions.

[(This suggests <that American English is more concerned with legal matters and violence,
<while British English focuses more on the penal function of the law>>)]
THAT-NOUN CLAUSE

[(Concordance and collocation analyses were used to ascertain <whether the change in cer-
tain is due to one usage in particular <that is facing>>)]
WHETHER-IF-NOUN CLAUSE
[(It produces a single score <that indicates <how far the data deviate from the mean>>)]
NOMINAL RELATIVE CLAUSE

[(The purpose of the present research is to examine <how British vocabulary has developed
over the past eight decades>>)]
WH-FOCUSED CLAUSE

3. Subjective Complement: Nominal Clauses as Subjective Complements are also possible

with all four types of clauses.

4. Apposition: Although all four types of nominal clauses are possible, by far the most re-
current realization is in the form of
that-noun clauses. Most nouns that
are complemented with a that-noun
clause as Restric- tive Apposition are
abstract nouns de- rived from verbs,
also called dever- bal nouns, or
nouns devoid of contentive meaning

5. Object to the preposition:

[(It is an example of <what I call a lockword>.
NOMINAL RELATIVE CLAUSE THAT COMPLEMENTS THE PREPOSITION OF

[(Textbooks <that are not based on empirical evidence can show mismatches between <how
language is actually used>)]
WH-FOCUSED NOMINAL CLAUSE AFTER THE PREPOSITION BETWEEN
 [(Table 2 is useful in <that it shows the grammatical ranges of these two words>)]
THAT-NOUN CLAUSE AS THE OBJECT TO THE PREPOSITION IN

6. Adjectival Complement: they are structural elements that are required by a Head adjec-
tive. The most recurrent additives that take a nominal clause as Adjectival Complement are
epistemic modal adjectives such as:
• (Un)sure
• (Un)certain
• (Un)likely
• (Im)probably
[(I am not sure <whether it is the perfect way of capturing change for a small number of
very high frequency words>)]

7. Objective Complement:
[(I didn’t find the novel <what I expected it would be>)]

8. Indirect Object:
[(I asked <whoever I met> the right way to Harlington)]

9. PREDICATE:
It is very infrequent since it is typical of verbal phrases, but it is still possible. It can also be
nominal if there is elision of the main verb
[(The constant surprise of this land, <that it is actually green and actually unpleasant>)]

7.5 Differences between Two Types of Nominal Clauses

Nominal relative clauses and wh-focused nominal clauses are often confusable.
The main difference between these two types lies in the possibility for the wh- introductory
word to attract phonological stress or not.
While this is not possible for nominal relative clauses, wh-focused nominal clauses tend to
attract this phonological stress. This is natural in the case of direct questions and exclama-
tions but the wh-focused nominal clause does not necessarily have to report a question or
exclamation.

Wh-focused nominal clause Nominal relative clause

CUÁNDO CUANDO
DÓNDE DONDE
CUÁL CUAL
QUÉ QUE

7.6 Categories of Connectors in Clauses Class II

The connectors in the Nominal Relative Clauses and the Wh-Focused Nominal Clauses have
a syntactic function within the subordinating nominal clause.
The categories of these connectors belong to either of three types:
1. Pronoun
2. Determiner
3. Adverb
They are given a Class II types of nominal clause, which makes six categories of connec-
tors:
1. Nominal relative pronoun
2. Nominal relative determiner
3. Nominal relative adverb
4. Wh-focused pronoun
5. Wh-focused determiner
6. Wh-focused adverb
• Connectors that fulfill the function of Head of a nominal category such as Subject or Di-
rect Object are realized by pronouns.
• Connectors that have the function of Premodifier of a nominal expression are realized as
determiners.
• Connectors that have the function of Adjunct are realized by adverbs.
[(It is an example of <what I call a lockword>)]
 The connector WHAT has the function of DIRECT OBJECT of the verb CALL. It is a
nominal relative pronoun.

[(Having obtained this table for only the 1000+ frequency words, a way of identifying
<which words showed the most and least change over time> was required)]
The connector WHICH is a wh-focused DETERMINER.

[(Figure 4 shows <how these four grammatical uses of round are changing in frequency
over time>)]
The connector HOW has the function of ADJUNCT OF MANNER within the wh-fo-
cused nominal clause and is a WH-FOCUSED ADVERB

7.7 Omission of That

• A particular feature of that-nominal clauses is that very frequently the subordinating con-
junction that tends to be omitted, in particular in oral language.
This can be done only under certain circumstances in which the meaning is clear.

[(In addition, Hoffman argues <that there is evidence for grammaticalization in complex
prepositional use when examining historical corpora>)]
[(In addition, Hoffman argues <there is evidence for grammaticalization in complex prepo-
sitional use when examining historical corpora>)]
The omission of the connector does not interfere with the meaning of the sentence.

• The presence of the connector is compulsory when the function of the nominal clause. Is
the Subject of the sentence, whether anticipated by expletive it or placed in initial posi-
tion.

• The subordinating conjunction that cannot be omitted when the that-nominal clause has
the function of RESTRICTIVE APPOSITION.
• In the second coordinated element of a that-nominal clause, irrespective of its syntactic
function, especially in the first coordinated element is long, the subordinating conjunction
cannot be omitted.

7.8 Differences between Adverbial and Nominal Clauses

In order to tell them apart, we have to focus on the superordinate clause and the functions of
the syntactic constituents in it.

[(The match was cancelled <if there was violence in the field>)]
The verb CANCEL is a transitive one, but since it is in the passive voice, it does not re-
quire a Direct Object. The constituent realized as a subordinating clause need to have a
syntactic function that conveys additional information in the main clause.
This is an ADJUNCT OF CONDITION, which is an ADVERBIAL CLAUSE.

[(I don’t know <if there was violence in the field>)]

The transitive verb KNOW in the main clause does require a Direct Object because the
sentence is in the active voice. The subordinating clause needs to have the function of Di-
rect Object of the verb KNOW.
This is a NOMINAL CLAUSE.

[(The match was cancelled)]

LO PUEDO SACAR EL SUBORDINATE Y LA ORACION TIENE SENTIDO
[(I don’t know)]
NO PUEDO SACAR LA SUBORDINATE PORQUE SINO NO TIENE SENTIDO

CHAPTER 8: RELATIVE CLAUSES

8.2 Relative Clauses
Finite relative clauses are clauses that refer back to a noun or pronoun called the antecedent
by means of a connector that can be a relative pronoun, determiner or adverb.
The semantic function of relative clauses is to determine or specify, or provide additional in-
formation on the antecedent to which they refer.
Relative clauses are used to stack information into the nominal phrase or pronominal phrase
in which they are embedded.

Two types of relative clauses:

1. Defining relative clauses (will always be a POST M)
2. Non-defining relative clauses (will always be a NRAPP)
They are similar to Apposition. Restrictive and Non-restrictive.
1. Defining relative clauses define or specify their antecedent by providing necessary in-
formation of the antecedent to which they refer and are not separate from it in speech or
writing. They are also called Identifying or restrictive relative clauses.

[(He thought <it might be some vengeance <that came with the end of the world>)]
[(I had one friend <who was a Deadhead>) but (he was also involved with local politics)]

2. Non-defining relative clauses give additional information of their antecedent and are
separate from it by commas or other parenthetical marker.

[(Three weeks earlier he had left his home near Marseillan, <which his stepfather had
willed to his moder[….]>)]
[(The boy, <whose name was Rafael>, longed for information and practical lessons and
constantly asked the opinions of the old writer)]
• The relative pronoun who cannot be used as the Object to the Preposition, unless the
preposition is left stranded.

• The relative pronoun which cannot be replaced by the relative pronoun that after a prepo-
sition.

• The advisers where, when and why cannot immediately follow a preposition in relative
clauses and need to be replaced by the relative pronoun which.

• The pronoun which can also be used in non-defining relative clauses which refer back to
a previous clause.

• The pronoun whom is infrequently used and is limited.

• Occasionally, the antecedent of the relative pronoun who is a noun that denotes a thing or
an animal rather than a person.

• The determiner whose which indicates possession and is used in both defining and non-
defining does not depend on whether its antecedent is a person, a place or a thing.

THAT-NOUN CLAUSE VS DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

[(The idea <that we should practice> was a good one)]
RAPP (THAT NCL)
[(The ideas <that he gave us> was a good one)]
POST M (DEF REL CL)

1. Puedo poner el verb to be entre el noun y la subordinate?

The idea WAS that we should practice.
The idea WAS that he gave us.
2. Puedo sacar el abstract noun y la subordinate se sostiene sola?
That we should practice was a good one.
That he gave us was a good one.

SI PUEDO SACAR ESAS DOS COSAS VA A SER RAPP (THAT- NCL) SINO, VA A
SER POST M (DEF REL CL)

8.3 Structural Embeddedness.

Relative clauses represent an exception that they break up the rank scale of Grammar. Rela-
tive clauses are clauses that are part of a lower structural element in the hierarchy, namely

nominal - or pronominal - phrases.

This phenomenon is called embeddedness. Relative clauses are clauses embedded in nomi-
nal or pronominal phrases.
The nominal phrase the great mystery he had come to love is the Subjective Complement of
the copulative verb was. The Head of this phrase is the noun mystery, is postmodified by the
defining relative clause he had come to love.

8.4 Syntactic Functions of Relative Clauses.

Defining relative clauses have an adjectival function, Non-defining relative clauses have a
nominal function. As both clauses refer back to an antecedent, they need to have a syntactic
function located after the noun to which they refer.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES = POST MODIFIERS
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES = APPOSITIONS
Relative clauses can also be present in both the Subject or the Predicate of a clause.

• If they are in the Subject, they will have a major syntactic function as Postmodifier or
Apposition.

• If they are in the Predicate, they are positioned within other structural element such as the
Direct Object or an Adjunct.

• Some relative clauses contain a GAP within. This means that when we reach the syntactic
analysis of the relative clause, we see that some element is not present since in actual

fact, it is referred to in the superordinate clause. This structural element has already a
syntactic function within the superordinate clause and cannot have a syntactic function in
the relative clause.
The transitive verb love of its Predicate requires a DO that is not present in the relative
clause. The referent of this DO is the noun mystery, which is present in the superordinate
clause, with the function of Head of the Subjective Complement. It cannot have a syntactic
function within the relative clause.

8.5 Relative Connector As

[(The concept communicated by use of a word may be narrowed (more specific) or broader
(more general) than the lexical meaning (or it may be narrower in some respects and
broader in others, <as is often the case in metaphor>)]
The relative connector as introduces a non-defining relative clause that refers back to a pre-
vious clause, sentence or even a paragraph. In the example, the antecedent of the relative
clause is the previous parenthetical clause.

• The relative connector as can be replaced by the relative connector which.

[(He’d been gathered into this fold by a neighbor <whose wife died a few months later in
childbirth>)]
The antecedent of the relative clause is the previous parenthetical clause.

[(The concept communicated by use of a word may be narrowed (more specific) or broader
(more general) than the lexical meaning (or it may be narrower in some respects and
broader in others, <as is often the case in metaphor>)]
The replacement is not possible, since the antecedent is a longer stretch of text and since the
relative clause functions as a comment clause that anticipates the point to be argued.

• The relative connector within the relative clause, we can see that it fulfills the function of
Subject of the clause, which is why it competes with and precludes the occurrence of an
alternative pronominal Subject such as the pronoun it.

• From the point of view of its category, the relative connector as needs to be a non-defin-
ing relative pronoun, since this is the only category that can fulfill the function of Sub-
ject.
 PART II

Non-Finite Clauses
CHAPTER 9: INFINITIVAL
CLAUSES
9.2 Preposition to vs. Infinitival Marker to.
To help
To this,
To kick
To do
To the ground
To jump

The word or phrase that follow the lexical item to can be either a nominal expression or a
verb one. To is followed in two instances by the nominal expressions this and the ground
and in the remaining four occasions by the verbs help, kick, do and jump.
In the first ones, the lexical item to is said to be a preposition.
In the second ones, the particle to is an infinitival marker.
Verbs used after a preposition take the ing form which is not the case in the examples.

While the preposition to is a contentive word, the infinitival marker to is a function word.
Infinitival marker to, unlike the preposition to, cannot be premodified by the adverbs right
or straight.
[(His forehead returns right to the ground)]
[(Someone might arrive right to help him out)]

There are arguments that show similarities between infinitival marker to and auxiliaries.
Complement of infinitival marker to can be elided, while the complement of preposition to
must always be overt.

9.3 Types of Infinitival Clauses.

There are two types of infinitival clauses:
1. Full infinitival clauses
Contain the infinitival marker to before the verb.
2. Bare infinitival clauses
This particle is not present.

[(He watches her do it)]

Bare infinitival clause
[(to haul herself up)]
Full infinitival clause

• Full infinitival clauses are wider in use.

• Bare infinitival clauses are more restricted.

They are used after verbs of perception like: see, watch and hear
They are used after causative verbs like: let and make in the active voice.
[(They do not make you sit alone, and by this miserable fire, surely)?]
If we paraphrase this sentence into its passive voice, the bare infinitival clause complement
of the verb make becomes a full infinitival clause.
[(You are not made to sit alone, and by this miserable fire, surely)?]

• While bare infinitival clauses require the presence of an overt Subject, while the full
infinitival clauses can have either an overt or a covert Subject.

• The difference between bare and full infinitival clauses is that the bare clauses are only
restricted to the DO of verbs of perception or causative verbs, whereas full clauses
have a wider range of syntactic functions.

9.4 Syntactic Functions of Full Infinitival Clauses.

Full infinitival clauses can have three types of syntactic functions:
 1. Nominal:
Subject, Direct Object, Subjective Complement, Objective Comple-
ment, Apposition, Adjectival Complement.
The most frequent syntactic function is Subject in initial position, or especially postponed
Real Subject anticipated by expletive it, and Direct Object.
[(But not to laugh is painful too)]
Subject
2. Adverbial:
Adjunct of Purpose, Adjunct of Result, Adjunct of Cause.
[(He writes to ask for flower seeds)]
Adjunct of Purpose
3. Adjectival:
Postmodifier.
[(There are many ways to do this) and (John is going to help me out with them)]
The infinitival clause postmodifies the noun ways

• Infinitival clauses are the non-finite alternative of their finite counterparts.

• Infinitival Clauses are the only possible option as the Direct Object of some verbs such
as: want or hate.
An additional choice to their finite that-noun clause with verbs such as: want or hope.

9.5 Features of Infinitival Clauses.

Finite clauses carry the features tense, aspect, modality and voice and that non-finite clauses
may lose some of these features.
[(So he gets up, to read his German book <before Liz can do anything about it>)]
We do not get information whether he starts to read or, if he does, whether he finishes
reading his German book. The infinitival clause does not convey aspectual information
on the point at which the action takes place in actual fact.
Non finite clauses are outranked by finite subordinating clauses, which in turn are outranked
by finite main clauses.

9.6 Syntax of Infinitival Clauses.

• The main difference between phrases and clauses is that while Phrases are headed,
Clauses are divided into Subject and Predicate.

• Within non-finite clauses and infinitival clauses we can find syntactic structural elements
that traditionally appear in the Predicate.

• Some infinitival clauses contain within their Predicate verb modifiers such as: Direct
Object, Indirect Objects, Complements and Adjuncts.
• In-

finitival clauses are divided into Subject and Predicate.

The transitive verb want requires a Direct Object, in this case, the full infinitival clause
the Commons to take lessons from the last time.
This infinitival clause is divided into Subject and Predicate.

• The syntac-
tic anal-
y- sis of
in-
fini-
ti- val

clauses with an overt Subject in unproblematic. But in the case of infinitival clauses with
no overt Subject, frequently the Subject of the subordinate non-finite clause is recogniz-
ably controlled by the Subject in the main clause.

The Subject of the infinitival clause is an empty category controlled by the Subject in the
main clause.
 This
empty

category is called PRO and is assigned the subindex (i) to signal the coreference with its
controller, the Subject of the main clause.

The infinitival clause that fulfills the function of Real Subject is in turn divided into Subject
and Predicate. This Subject is realized by an empty category PRO with an universal arbi-
trary reference, which is given the subindex arb to differentiate it from the other type.

• Infinitival clauses have different syntactic functions that depend on the syntactic structure
of their superordinate clauses, which to some extent hangs around the structural element
that heads the Predicate.
Infinitival clauses are controlled by predicates that are said to be either Subject-control
predicates or Object-control predicates.
 Object-control predicate
The verb persuade requires two Objects, an Indirect Object realized by the personal
pronoun you and a Direct Object realized by the infinitival clause to never mention this
to me again. The Subject of the cause is the empty category PRO that refers to and is
controlled by the Object you.
CHAPTER 10: GERUNDIAL
CLAUSES
10.2 From Nominals to Gerunds.
Nominal expressions are very frequent expressions of the language. We use language to talk
about things.
There are different realizations of nominal expressions, such as words, phrases or clauses.
Nominal Clauses can have eight different syntactic functions which are:
1. Subject 5. Object to the Preposition
2. Direct Object 6. Adjectival Complement
3. Subjective Complement 7. Objective Complement
4. Apposition 8. Indirect Object

[(I realized from your analyses <that I actually missed a couple of processes>)]
This sentence shows an instance of a finite subordinating that-noun clause with the syn-
tactic function of Direct Object of the verb Realized.

[(It’s extremely useful to have the analyses checked so carefully)!]

This sentence exhibits a case of infinitival clause with the function of Real Subject in ex-
tra position anticipated by expletive it.

[(So thank you for helping me to correct the mistakes <when I write up the paper>)]
This sentence illustrates an instance of non-finite clause with a nominal function, in this
case the function is Object to the Preposition for
This type of clause is called GERUNDIAL CLAUSE.

Gerundial Clauses are non-finite clauses with or without an overt Subject that have a nomi-
nal function. These clauses, are divided into Subject and Predicate, the Head if which is an
ing-form that contains verbal complements such as the Direct Object, or Adjunct.
Ing-forms are hybrid categories between nouns and verbs that are called gerunds when they
are closer to the nominal end of the cline and participles when they are closer to the verbal
end of the cline.

10.3 Degrees of Nominalization of the ing-Forms.

ing-Forms are deverbal expressions that have undergone a grammaticalization process to-
wards the nominal end. We can distinguish at least three different levels of nominalization
depending on whether the type of modification or complementation that they receive is
more typical of a verb or a noun together with their syntactic function.
1. Ing-forms that have undergone a complete nominalization and are considered
gerunds.
2. Ing-forms that are part of the grey area between nouns and verbs and require
a paraphrase for their differentiation between gerunds and participles.
3. Ing-forms are gerunds that take verbal complements.

10.3.1 Complete Nominalization.

Ing-forms in this case are full nominals. The extent to which they can be considered nomi-
nals is such that in some cases the verbs from which they derive is no longer used in
present-day English.
In some cases they clearly denote entities, and admit both pre and postmodification.
This can be separated into countable and uncountable. If countable, they inflect for plural.
[(Every cloud has a silver lining)]
[(The buildings in this city are mainly made of concrete)]
[(She no longer enjoyed those Sunday outings)]

10.3.2 Partial Nominalization.

Ing-forms that have undergone partial nominalization can have the syntactic function of Pre-
modifiers of noun either in the Subject or Predicate of a clause.
The rule traditionally applied for the identification of gerunds and participles in this case is
the paraphrase of the noun phrase.
• If it can be paraphrased as ‘X for doing Y’, then the Premodifier is said to be a gerund.
• If the noun phrase can be paraphrased as ‘X that does/is doing/was doing Y’, then the Pre-
modifier is said to be a participle.
• There is a phonological difference: while gerunds that premodify a noun attract the stress
of the noun phrase, participles that pre modify a noun reject the stress, which tends to fall
on the noun.

A walking stick (Gerund)

a stick for walking
A walking doll (Participle)
a doll that walks

The gerund in the first example can be considered noun, whereas the gerund in the second
example can be regarded as adjectives.

10.3.3 Gerundial Clauses.

They are nominal from the point of view of the syntax of the clause in which they appear.
However, they are still verbal if we consider the types of complements that they take in their
internal structure.
They are regarded as gerunds.
The clauses in which these ing-forms appear are said to be gerundial clauses. The focus of
these gerunds tends to be on the activity, rather than on the way in which it is carried out.
[(His good teaching of English at school earned him a scholarship)]
[(I prefer reading to watching TV)]

10.4 Syntax of Gerundial Clauses.

The syntactic analysis of Gerundial Clauses depends on the degree of grammaticalization
undergone by these hybrid entities that gerunds constitute.

• If they are closer to their nominal end, with pre and postmodification typical of the nomi-
nal expressions, they can be considered simply noun phrases.

• If they are closer to the verbal end because of their complementation or adjunct, typical
of Predi-
cates
of

clauses, they need to be regarded as gerundial expressions with a nominal function.

The first example presents no difficulty, since the insertion of the preposition of drives the
category of the Subject closer to the nominal end.
The second example, needs to be considered a gerundial clause, since in this case the noun
phrase the book fulfills the function of Direct Object of the transitive verbs reading and the
prepositional phrase at night has the function of Adverbial Adjunct of Time.
The subject of this clause is the Notional or Logical Subject his.
 [(Reading books at
night annoys her)]

The Subject of the gerundial clause is realized as an empty category PRO that has the same
reference as the objective
personal pro- noun her.
[(Reading books at
night is re- laxing)]

This sentence has an arbitrary PRO as an universal reference.

CHAPTER 11: PARTICIPIAL
CLAUSES
11.2 The Concept of Participle.
Participles are non-finite verbal forms that can have adjectival or adverbial functions.
[(His breaking marriage is common knowledge)]
Present Participle
[(His broken marriage is common knowledge)]
Past Participle
In the first sentence, his marriage is in the process of breaking, while in the second sentence
his married has already broke.

• Very frequent, the present participle has an active interpretation, whereas the past partici-
ple has a passive interpretation.

• The psych verbs such as: terrify, frighten, amaze, astonish, amuse, interest, etc.. The
present participle is said to modify the AGENT or NOTIONAL SUBJECT. While the past
participle tends to modify the PATIENT or NOTIONAL OBJECT.
A terrifying/astonishing/interesting movie.
It is the movie that terrifies, astonishes or interest its audience.
A terrified/astonished/interested child.
It is the child that is terrified, interested or astonished.

11.3 The Syntax of Participial Clauses.

The difference between participle and gerund clauses is that gerunds have a nominal or an
adjectival function, present participles have mostly an adverbial or also an adjectival func-
tion.

• There are a few syntactic functions that can be realized by both gerunds or gerundial
clauses and participles or participial clauses.
These are the functions of:
1. Subjective Complement (it can be a nominal or adjectival function)
2. Premodifier.
• The clearest
case of syntactic
func- tion of
par- ticipial
clauses is that of
Ad- junct.
[(Looking at herself
in the mirror,
Marie de- lights in
her youth and
beauty)]

The un- derlined

ing-clause has the
function of Ad-
junct, since it
provides additional
informa- tion to the
proposi- tional con-
tent of the sentence.
It has the function of Adjunct of Time or Manner.

• In the case of participial clauses with no overt Subject, the empty category made overt as
PRO needs to corefer with the Subject in the main clause. Otherwise, the sentence is con-
 sidered ungrammatical.

• In which the Subject of the participial clause is an overt phrase different from the phrase
working as Subject of the main clause of the sentence. This is called Absolute Construc-
tion. Which does not allow for the insertion of the empty category PRO as Subject of the
participial clause, since this participial clause already has its Subject expressed overtly.
[(With John playing the drums, his father found it difficult to sleep a wink)]
The subject of the main clause is the noun phrase his father and that of the participial clause
is the noun John.

• Participial clauses can have the adjectival function of Postmodifier of a noun within a
noun phrase either in the Subject or in the predicate of a main clause. The participial
clause can also be considered a reduced defining relative clause in which there is elision
of the defining relative pronoun and of a form of a copulative verb be.
[(The boy climbing the stairs was my cousin)]
[(The boy <who was climbing the stairs> was my cousin)]

• There are some functions that can be realized both by gerunds and participles. This is the
case of Premodifiers and Subjective Complement.
Premodifier is a typical adjectival function that can be realized as a gerund or
a participle. This is said to be a nominal function.
Subjective Complement is a qualifying adjectival structure that modifies the
Subject of a clause.
PART III

Categories
CHAPTER 12: NOUNS AND PRO-
NOUNS
12.2 General Concepts on Words and Categories.
Word is an abstract unit that generally corresponds to a set of word-from of a same word.
The citation form of the lexeme is the form that is used for the alphabetical citation of lex-
emes in a dictionary.

• Different lexical items are created and used in the language by means of the addition of
inseparable particles called affixes.
According to their position within words, affixes are classified into:
1. Prefixes
2. Suffixes
Affixes can be said either inflectional or derivational.
If the category of the word changes with the addition of an affix, the process is said
to be derivational.

• Grammar is said to be an arbitrary science in the sense that it cannot be accounted for in
terms of more general logical and psychological principles.
Furniture is uncountable in English
Mueble is countable in Spanish.
The grammatical concept of gender is different in different languages.

• Categories are usually divided into contentive or lexical on the one hand, and function
words or functional categories in the other.
within the first are included the categories of:
1. Noun 4. Adverb
2. Adjective 5. Preposition
3. Verb
In the latter, are included categories of:
 1. Pronoun 3. Auxiliary
2. Determiner 4. Conjunction

12.3 Nouns
Nouns constitute one of the so called open-class categories of grammar since they allow for
the creation and incorporation of more entities and concepts to be regarded as nouns.

• From the point of view of semantics, noun denote or refer to people, animal, things or
places, but also to abstract entities like emotions, feelings, states, deadjectival qualities,
and deverbal concepts.

• From the point of view of syntax, noun are the Heads of the noun phrases that can appear
in either the Subject or the Predicate of a clause.
Nouns are frequently premodified by articles, adjectives and other determiners.
They can be postmodified by prepositional phrases and other.
They can have the function of Subject of a clause, or Apposition within the Subject, Di-
rect Object, Indirect Object, Subjective Complement or Objective Complement within
the Predicate.
They can be the Object to the Preposition in all structural elements.

• From the point of view of morphology, nouns, if countable, can inflect for plural.

12.4 Classification of Nouns.

Nouns can be classified in terms of their gender and number properties.
A. Gender B. Number
A.1 Masculine B.1 Invariable Nouns
A.2 Feminine B.1.1 Singular Invariables
A.3 Neuter B.1.1.a Proper Nouns
A.4 Common B.1.1.b Concrete Uncountable Nouns
B.1.1.c Abstract Uncountable Nouns
B.1.1.d Nouns with s-ending
B.1.2 Plural Invariables B.1.2.a Proper Nouns
B.1.2.b Summation Plural B.2.1.e Ending in f, fe, ff
B.1.2.c Pluralia Tantum B.2.2 Irregular Plurals
B.1.2.d Unmarked Plural B.2.2.a Mutation Plural
B.2 Variable Nouns B.2.2.b Adding en
B.2.1.a Adding s B.2.2.c Zero Plural
B.2.1.b Adding es B.2.2.d Foregin Plural
B.2.1.c Ending in y B.2.2.e Voicing Plural
B.2.1.d Ending in o

12.5 Pronouns.
Pronouns are function words that constitute one of the close-set systems, which are rather
inflexible to the addition of new items to the whole set.
Pronouns are said to replace noun phrases when they have previously been referred to, when
there are non-linguistic contextual cues that contribute to their specification, or sometimes
when their reference is either unique or indefinite.
Pronouns can replace noun phrases, so they can fulfill all the functions of noun phrases:
1. Subject 5. Objective Complement
2. Direct Object 6. Apposition
3. Indirect Object 7. Object to the Preposition
4. Subjective Complement

12.6 Classification of Pronouns.

Pronouns are traditionally classified into eight different types.

12.6.1 Personal Pronouns.

Personal pronouns inflect for the four grammatical features of:
1. Person 3. Number
2. Gender 4. Case
• The first and second person
pronouns I, me and you are called deictic because their reference depends on the relative
situation in which they are used.

• The plural pronouns we and to a lesser extent you can be used as either inclusive or ex-
clusive pronouns.

• Inclusive we includes the addressee, Exclusive we does not.

• The pronouns he and she are preferred to to when referring to an animal or event a thing
to which the speaker or writer feels great attachment.

• The plural the replaces the singular pronoun he or she when the reference is unspecific.
This is called use of epicene pronoun that is know common to avoid sexist language.

• Subjective pronouns can realize the function of Subject of a clause while Objective pro-
nouns realize the objective functions of Direct Object, Indirect Object and Object to the
Preposition.
Subjective Complements can be realized by subjective pronouns, or by objective pro-
nouns.
If lexical items such as but, than and as are considered prepositions, they are fol-
lowed by objective pronouns; if they are taken as conjunctions, they are followed by
subjective pronouns.

12.6.2 Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns.

• Reciprocal and Reflexive pronouns are said to be controlled pronouns by a controller or
antecedent and are pronouns with anaphoric reference.

• They can have a pure reflexive use, or an emphatic use.

[(She(i) taught herself(i) Grammar)]

[(When he went fishing, he(i) got a fish bigger than himself(i)]
• Reflexive pronouns in their purely reflexive use have all the syntactic functions of objec-
tive pronouns:
1. Direct Object.
2. Indirect Object.
3. Object to the preposition.

• In their emphatic use, they can have the syntactic functions of:

1. Apposition
2. Subjective Complement

• They are made up by the addition of the suffix self to the possessive.

• They are not used after prepositions that indicate position or location.

[(She didn’t have any money on her/*herself)]

[(They closed the door behind them/*themselves)]

• Reflexive pronouns are also required with unergative verbs that appear in resultative
constructions.

• Reciprocal pronouns are also anaphoric pronouns that need to be controlled by an an-
tecedent. The reciprocal pronouns are: each other and one another.
The syntactic functions of reciprocal pronouns are:
1. Direct Object.
2. Indirect Object.
3. Object to the Preposition.

Difference between Reciprocal Pronouns and Reflexive Pronouns

[(Jack and Jill hate each other)] = Jack hates Jill and Jill hates Jack.
[(Jack and Jill hate themselves)] = Jack hates himself and Jill hates herself.
12.6.3 Pos- sessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are very infrequent, they are used in conversation, especially in the
first and second person in the singular.

12.6.4 Demonstrative Pronouns.

Demonstrative Pronouns are a further type of deictic pronouns.
They only inflect for number.
In the singular, they can refer to
both countable and uncountable nouns.
They can have anaphoric reference,
cataphoric refer- ence or exophoric
reference.

[(Those shoes are more expensive than these)]

[(This is my favorite dish)]
[(Have you seen this)?]
[(This is my uncle Tom)]

• Demonstrative pronouns are rarely used with reference to people, except in Subject posi-
tion to introduce a person.
• The most frequent demonstrative pronoun is that especially in conversation.

12.6.5 Relative Pronouns.

Relative pronouns are pronouns that introduce relative clauses with an anaphoric reference.
Relative pronoun have an antecedent in the matrix clause in which the relative clause that
they introduce is embedded.

• All the connectors that introduce non-defining relative clauses whose antecedent is a
thing or a person are relative pronouns:
1. Which
2. Who
3. Whom

• The connectors that introduce defining relative clauses with the function of Subject of the
clause are also relative pronouns:
1. Which
2. Who
3. That

• When the connector that can be elided, when it introduces defining relative clauses with
the function of Object, it is not a relative pronoun but a subordinating conjunction.

12.6.6 Nominal Relative Pronouns and Wh-Focused Pronouns.

Nominal Relative Pronouns and Wh-focused Pronouns are those that introduce nominal rela-
tive clauses and wh-focused nominal clauses.

• English nominal relative and wh-focused pronouns are:

1. What 4. Whom
2. Which 5. Whose
3. Who
• The problem is that some of these pronouns - Which, Who and Whom - can be both rela-
tive pronouns and nominal relative or wh-focused pronouns.
- They can be told apart, by focusing on the clause that they introduce.
- Defining relative clauses have the adjectival function of specifying the antecedent to
which they refer, an non-defining relative clauses give additional information of their an-
tecedent.
- Nominal relative and wh-focused nominal clauses are arguments, they constitute a
structural element required by the predication of the matrix clause.

• While relative pronouns have an anaphoric reference, nominal relative pronouns and wh-
focused pronouns have a cataphoric reference.

[(The person(i)<who(i) you admire> is a linguist)]

Who you admire refers back to the noun person, which is shown by means of the coindexa-
tion between the relative pronoun that introduces the clause of the antecedent.

[(I know <who you admire>)]

The clause who you admire has the syntactic function of Direct Object of the transitive verb
know in the main clause and therefore it cannot be taken away from the sentence without af-
fecting its propositional content.

• This anaphoric or cataphoric reference is what distinguishes the connectors which and
what. While which is a relative pronoun with anaphoric reference, what is always a
nominal relative or wh-focused pronoun with cataphoric reference.

[(The accident(i) <which(i) you manage to recall> was not your fault)]
The relative pronoun which refers back to the noun accident in the main clause.

[(The past is <what you manage to recall>)]

The nominal relative pronoun what is the Direct Object of the verb recall in the nominal rel-
ative clause which is in turn the Subjective Complement of the copulative verb is.
The relative pronoun which has anaphoric reference.
The nominal relative pronoun what has
categoric reference.

12.6.7 Indefinite Pronouns.

Indefinite pronouns are quantitative or
quantifier pronoun that can be divided
into:
1. Universal
2. Assertive
3. Non-assertive
4. Negative

• Many of the indefinite pronouns can be postmodified by a prepositional phrase headed by

the preposition of.

• The pronouns each, every and the compounds derived from this one are also called dis-
tributive.

• Each, as opposed to every, is said to refer to two entities.

• The pronoun one, which is said to be relatively formal, can be pluralized and also turned
into reflective oneself.
CHAPTER 13: ADJECTIVES AND
DETERMINERS
13.2 Adjectives.
Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns, or when the noun they modify is a general word such
as people or thing, the can be used as fused Heads.
Fused Heads are nominalized adjectives (two categories that conflate into one)
[(The rich are down on the poor)]

• Adjectives are generally used to modify nouns - or pronouns and after copulative verbs
like: be, seem, result, look, taste, etc.

• From the morphological point of view, some adjectives inflect for the comparative and
superlative degrees, by adding the suffixes er and est.

• Many adjectives admit the formation of an antonym with the addition of a negative prefix
like in-, un-, im-, dis-, mis-, non-, etc.

• Many adjectives admit a derivational suffix -ly to be turned into adverbs, for example:
quick - quickly, short - shortly, etc.

• From the syntactic point of view, adjectives can have the functions of:
1. Premodifier
2. Postmodifier
3. Subjective Complement
4. Objective Complement
The most frequent of these is by far that of Premodifier of a noun and in the second
place Subjective Complement.
Adjectives as Postmodifiers are rather infrequent, sometimes as part of a longer
phrase that contain an Adjectival Complement, a comparison phrase ore when the noun or
pronoun they postmodify is a general word without much contentive information.
 [(He is the teacher accessible to ask every question)]
Postmodifier that contain an Adjectival Complement.

[(She has two daughters more hard-working than herself)]

A comparison phrase.

[(We have met several people very intelligent)]

The noun or pronoun they postmodify is a general word without much contentive infor-
mation.

• Adjectives that are used as Premodifier of a noun are called attributive or in attributive
use. (Are those that have the suffix -al)

• Adjectives that are used as Subjective Complement or Objective Complement are called
predictive or in predicative use. (Are those that have the prefix a-)

13.3 Classification of Adjectives.

From the semantic point of view, adjectives are traditionally classified into stative and dy-
namic, gradable and non-gradable, and inherent and non-inherent.

• Most adjectives tend to be stative, but some can be used dynamically. If they take or ac-
cept a dynamic interpretation, they can be used with the progressive aspect or in the im-
perative mood.
You are rich. You are being rich. Be rich.
You are fat. You are being fat. Be fat.

• Gradable adjectives, as opposed to non-gradable adjectives, admit premodification with

adverbs such as very and the comparative and superlative degrees.
That is a very big animal / a bigger animal than that / the biggest animal.
 This a very wooden chair / more wooden that that chair.

• Inherent adjectives characterize the noun or pronoun that they modify in a direct way, as
opposed to non-inherent adjectives that give a feature or attribute less associated to the
noun they modify.
A big cushion, a big house, a strong man
Inherent adjectives
A heavy smoker, a perfect stranger, a true friend.
Non-inherent adjectives.

We can say that the cushion is soft, the house is big and the man is strong.
But, we cannot say that the smoker is heavy, the stranger is perfect or the friend is true.

13.4 Determiners.
Determiners are function words that constitute another of the close-set systems. They can
sometimes be confused with adjectives.

• As opposed to adjectives, they cannot be stacked before the noun they premodify.

• Determiners are an obligatory category that precedes a noun under certain circumstances.

[(Jack bought a (new) shirt)]

[(Jack bought (new) shirt)]
The determiner “a” needs to premodify the singular countable noun shirt, whereas the
adjective new is optional.

• If there is one - or up to three - determiners together with one or more adjectives preced-
ing a noun, determiners always precede the adjectives.

• Another feature that differentiates determiners from adjectives is that Determiners can be
pronominalized, (they can be used as pronouns).
Adjectives do not admit pronominalization.
13.5 Selectional Restrictions.
Determiners, unlike adjectives, select noun with specific number and countability properties
but do not impose semantic restrictions on the noun they premodify.

• Adjectives do not impose restrictions on the countability and number properties on the
noun they premodify, so that, all adjectives that can premodify the singular countable
noun table are also possible for its plural counterpart tables and for the uncountable or
mass noun furniture.

• Adjectives, unlike determines impose semantic restrictions on the noun they premodify.

13.6 Classification of Determiners.

Determiners are classified into three big groups according to their relative pronoun:
1. Predeterminers
2. Central Determiners
3. Postdeterminers

• Central determiners are obligatory with singular countable nouns.

Not two determiners of the same group can be placed together before the noun they pre-
modify, but there can be up to three determiners preceding a noun, as long as they belong
in the three different groups.
CHAPTER 14: VERBS AND AUXIL-
IARIES
14.2 Auxiliaries
English auxiliaries constitute a functional category that conveys the formal meanings of
modality, tense, aspect and voice.
English auxiliaries are the modal auxiliaries and the form of the verbs: be, have and do,
when they are not the main verb of the verb group.
Modal auxiliaries are the only ones that exclusively have the function of auxiliaries and if
they are used with other auxiliaries, modals must precede all other auxiliaries.
Modal auxiliaries are:
1. Can 6. Could
2. May 7. Might
3. Must 8. Would
4. Will 9. Should
5. Shall

The forms of be contribute to the formation of the progressive aspect and the passive voice.
The forms of have contribute to the formation of the perfective aspect.
The forms of do are more restricted in that they only contribute to the formation of interrog-
ative, negative and emphatic sentences when there is no other auxiliary available.

14.4 The Operator

The first auxiliary (if there is more than one) or the only auxiliary in a verbal group is called
the Operator. This operator carries the formal features of tense and finiteness and shows
agreement with the Subject. They are very limited.
• Agreement is overtly expressed only in the third person singular in the present with non-
modal auxiliaries.

• The operator is the auxiliary that undergoes inversion of order with the Subject to from
the corresponding interrogative sentence in the case of polar or yes/no questions.

• In the case of wh-questions, in which a wh-word such as what, when, how and why is
placed in sentence-initial position, the operator is also the only auxiliary that undergoes
inversion of order with the Subject.
[(Where has the bridge been built)?]
[(When is the bridge being built)?]

• Inversion of order triggered by negative expressions placed in initial position affects the
operator but no the remaining auxiliaries.
[(Never has a bridge been built in this city)]
[(Rarely is a bridge being built in these days)]

• The operator can be triggered by the insertion of a post-clausal question tag.

[(The bridge has been being built, hans’t it)?]

[(The bridge is being built, isn’t it)?]

• The insertion of modality adverb that expresses doubt, infrequency or partial negation or
complete negation.
The obligatory position of such adverbs is always immediately after the operator.

• Other times adverbials that are usually placed in post-operator position, and always pre-
ceding all other auxiliaries, are adverbs such as already, the frequency adverbs always,
usually, seldom, never, etc.
They can be also placed in initial or final position.
• Other elements that can be placed in post-operator position are the so called floating
quantifiers.
The bridges have all been built (= All the bridges have been built)
The bridges are both being built (= Both the bridges are being built)

• Features of operators are the possibility to be attached to the Subject as a contracted en-
clitic auxiliary form, their emphatic use in assertive clauses, and the possibility to work
as pro-forms in short answers to yes/no questions replacing a whole clause.

• The forms of the main verbs be and have are conflated with the operator when there is no
other auxiliary present and hence they present all the features above mentioned for opera-
tors.

• With other main verbs, when there is no auxiliary, all the abovementioned features are
carried by the obligatory auxiliary verbs do/does and did.

• All the abovementioned features differentiate operators in particular and auxiliaries in

general from main non-auxiliary verbs, which in present-day English do not admit any of
the constructions that are possible for auxiliaries.

14.5 Selectional Restrictions

The operator, if present, imposes formal selectional restrictions on the following auxiliary,
and this on the following auxiliary in a successive fashion.
The bridge may have been being built
If the operator is a modal verb, it selects a further auxiliary or a verb in the bare infinite
form.
In this sentence, the modal operator may selects the bare infinite have
ORIGINAL SENTENCE

The bridge may be being built.

 If the auxiliary modal is followed by an auxiliary for the progressive aspect, this has to
appear in the bare infinite form.

• An auxiliary for the perfective aspect have or has selects an auxiliary or a main verb in
the past participle form.

• An auxiliary for the progressive aspect selects a verbal form in the present participle, ex:
in the ing- form.

• An auxiliary for the passive voice also selects a verbal form in the past participle.

• Unlike verbs, auxiliaries do not impose semantic selectional restrictions on the arguments
that have the functions of Subject, Object or other Complement.

14.6 Main or Lexical Verbs

Main or lexical verbs are said to denote actions or states. They inflect for the third person
singular form in the simple present tense by means of the addition of the inflectional suffix -
s or -es, in the case of regular verbs, for the simple past form and the past participial form by
means of the ad- dition of the in-
flectional suffix -ed, for the
gerundial or present particip-
ial form by means of the ad-
dition of the in- flectional suffix
-ing.
The inflectional system of regu-
lar verbs con- sists of up to
four different forms and that
of irregular verbs is made
up of up to five different inflec-
tional forms.
The verb be is more variable, with up to eight different variants.

• From the syntactic point of view, verbs follow modals and other auxiliary verbs and if
no auxiliary is present, which is the case of the simple present and simple past forms, the
tense and Subject-agreement features are attached to the base-from of the verb.

• Verbs constitute the Head of the Predicate of a clause. Verbs are classified into:

1. Copular
2. Intransitive
3. Transitive
1. Copular verbs are necessarily followed by a Subjective Complement.
2. Intransitive verbs take no complement.
3. Transitive verbs require a Direct Object. They are also divided into Monotransitive and
ditransitive.
Monotransitive verbs require only the presence of a Direct Object.
Ditransitive require and Indirect Object in addition to their Direct Object.

• From the semantic point of view, main or lexical verbs are the central elements of the
predication that select (and determine the number of) the arguments in a clause.
• According to the number of arguments, verbs are said to be one-place predicates, two-
place predicates, three-place predicates and fourth-place predicates.
Whether verbs such as rain or snow are called zero-place predicates since the Subject that
they take represents a syntactic requirement devoid of lexical semantic content.

Thus Intransitive verbs tend to be one-place predicates which select only one argument that
occupies the Subject position; Copular verbs and Transitive verbs are usually two-place
predicates which select two arguments, one in Complement or Object position and one in
Subject position. Ditransitive verbs are in general three-place predicates which select two
internal arguments in Object position and an external argument in Subject Position.

They are working.

The Transitive verb work is a one-place predicate.

These oranges taste so good.

The Copulative verb taste is a two-place predicate.

Her aunt gave Susan a present.

The Ditransitive verb give is a three-place predicate.

14.7 Transitive and Intransitive Uses of Verbs.

Some Intransitive verbs are also used transitively. This occurs with some intransitive verbs
that admit a cognate Direct Object or a hyponym of the Direct Object that has been incorpo-
rated into the lexical verb.

A cognate Direct Object is an Object that is closely related to the base form of the verb and
most of the times it requires a Premodifier to avoid redundancy
He sang a song.
She danced a jolly dance.
The girl smiled a happy smile.
The soldiers fought a terrible fight.
 The patient died a miserable death.

A hyponym is a semantic concept that denotes a noun or phrase that lies within one of sev-
eral subtypes of a superordinate term.
He sang a ballad/an opera
Ballad an Opera can be considered subtypes of songs.
She danced a tango/a rock-and-roll
Tango and a rock-and-roll are subtypes of dances.

• Many transitive verbs are used without an Object under certain circumstances and are
considered Object-deleting verbs.

• According to Liu (2008) transitive verbs that are used intransitively can be classified into
three different categories:
1. Ergative intransitive verbs
2. Transitive converted intransitive verbs of activity
3. Object-deleting verbs.

1. Ergative intransitive verbs are verbs that inherently transitive verbs that can be used in-
transitively when their only argument in Subject position is truly a notional Object with
the semantic role of THEME.
In their intransitive use, their AGENT, INITIATOR, or CAUSE has been lost while
the sentence remains in the active voice.
The child has broken the glass.
The child is held responsible for the action of breaking the glass.

The glass has broken.

The sentence has been deagentivised, but the glass is still entity that undergoes the break-
ing.

2. The case of Ergative intransitive verbs is not possible with Transitive converted Intran-
sitive verbs of activity.
Jack is eating an apple.
 Jack is eating.
The intransitive use in the first sentence of its intransitive counterpart in the second sen-
tence, the nominal Jack is still the AGENT responsible of the predication rather than the
entity that undergoes the eating.

Transitive converted Intransitive verbs of activity experiment a shift of focus from

their Object to the activity and in there intransitive use there is no movement or raising of an
argument from an Object to a Subject position.

3. Object-deleting verbs are verbs used intransitively whose Object has been deleted be-
cause of discourse or contextual reasons.
There is no need to repeat the Direct Object because it has already been introduced in
the previous discourse.
A: Jessica is dating Jack.
B: I know.
The transitive verb Know is used intransitively because there is no need to repeat what A
has already said.

Object-deleting verbs can also be warranted by contextual non-discoursal elements.

Handle with care.
It is clear from the context that what is supposed to be Handled with care is the box to
which the warning has been stuck.

Sorry, madam, we don’t deliver. (Assistant on the phone)

The context of the telephone conversation provides evidence that what they Don’t deliver
is the food offered in the shop.

14.9 Phrasal Verbs vs. Prepositional Verbs.

Verbs with a particle can be either prepositional or phrasal, or even phrasal prepositional,
depending on the category of its particle(s).
If the particle is a preposition, the set of lexical verb and preposition is considered a
prepositional verb.
If the particle is an adverb, the set is called a phrasal verb.
If the set is made up of a lexical verb, an adverb and a preposition, the whole set is
called a phrasal prepositional verb.

The problem to tell them apart is that in the case of particles, the same lexical item can very
frequently work as both a preposition and as an adverb. They can be disambiguated through
their features of transitivity and separability.
Separability constitutes the possibility of inserting the Direct Object between the lexical
verb and its particle.

• Prepositional verbs are always transitive inseparable. Their particle is always inseparable
from the lexical verb and thus their Direct Object always follows the prepositional parti-
cle.

• Phrasal verbs can be either intransitive or transitive, if transitive, they are separable
Their particle can be separated from the lexical verb through the insertion of their Direct
Object between the lexical verb and the particle.

(i phr v) — Intransitive
(t phr v) — Transitive (SEPARABLE, DO INSERTION)
(prep v) — Transitive (INSEPARABLE)
(phr prep v) — Transitive
[(He listened to the teacher)]
Part DO (np)
(p)
H(prep v)
He listened the teacher to
CAN’T BE INSERTED.

[(He picked up the language)]

Part DO (np)
 (adv)
H(t phr v)
He picked the language up
 CAN BE INSERTED.

CHAPTER 15:
ADVERBS
15.2 Adverbs.

• Adverbs have traditionally been considered the wastebasket of grammatical categories

into which linguistics place all the lexical items difficult to categorize.

• Adverbs constitute a further lexical category that is different from all other lexical cate-
gories in that adverbs have no function category as counterpart.

• Adverbs are used with the prototypical syntactic function of Adjuncts but also as Modi-
fiers of virtually every part of speech.

• From the morphological point of view, only adverbs of manner are productive in that
they admit the suffix -ly.

15.3 Syntactic Functions of Adverbs.

• The most common function of Adverbs is that of Adjunct, which contributes to the classi-
fication of adverbs into adverbs of place, time, manner and also degree, negation, etc.

• Adverbs are used as Premodifiers of: adjectives, adverbs, determiners, pronoun, preposi-
tional phrases, clauses, and noun phrases.

• Adverbs are also used as Object to the Preposition and Subjective Complement.
15.4 Classification of Adverbs.
Adverbs can be classified from the point of view of their meaning, their scope and their po-
sition.

15.4.1 Semantic Classification of Adverbs.

1. Time: The triggering question is when.
They soon understood the source of her reactions.
We will see more examples tomorrow.

2. Frequency: they can be considered a subtype of adverbs of Time. The triggering ques-
tion is how often.
We always take this exit.
The Smith usually go to the beach on holiday.

3. Place: The triggering question is where.

Her aunt lives there.
We went for a conference abroad.

4. Manner: they are used exclusively with dynamic verbs. The triggering question is how.
She walks delicately.
My grandad drives carefully.

5. Degree: They can amplify, intensify, or reduce the effect of the proposition.
Honestly, I don’t like it.
They were absolutely right.

6. Modal: They affect the assertiveness of the proposition.

The criminal has certainly been arrested.
 They have not made mistakes.

7. Cause / Reason:
I think, therefore I exist.
He was sent into exile, thereby leaving those who loved the most.

15.4.2 Classification of Adverbs According to Scope.

1. Vp-Adverbs: They affect the lower content of the proposition, that is to say the affect
the verb and its internal complement (s).
They can be paraphrased with a prepositional phrase “in a X manner”/
They cannot be inserted before the auxiliary.
They have kissed each other passionately. (= in a passionate way)
They passionately have kissed each other.

2. Sentential Adverbs: They have scope over the whole sentence and can therefore be
placed before the auxiliary without the need for a contrastive stress or a parenthetical pause.
They tend to admit the periphrastic paraphrase through a that-nominal clause. “It is X that..”
He certainly must have a point there (= it is certain that he must have a point there)
They obviously have had their reasons (= it is obvious that they have had their reasons)

3. Subject-oriented adverbs:
Intelligently, he gave no answer (= he was intelligent in giving no answer)

15.4.3 Classification of Adverbs According to Position.

Adverbs tend to be comparatively freer in their position. The only ungrammatical position
for many adverbs is between the verb and its Object.
The students must have been listening to the teacher attentively.
The students must have been listening attentively the teacher,
Some adverbs must obligatory be placed in initial position with respect to the clause that
they introduce. This is the case of wh-focused adverbs and relative adverbs.
I know where she lives
Wh-focused adverb
This is the city where I was born
Relative adverb

Some adverbs necessarily follow the verb which they modify. For example, hard, much and
well take mainly a post verbal position.
Jack is working hard.
Lately, she doesn’t laugh much
She sings well

When an adverb modifies an adjective or any other construction they generally precede the
expression they modify.
Prices are increasingly higher
He’s too stubborn to understand

15.5 Order of Adverbs and Adverbial Expressions

When two or more adverbials of the same class are placed together the one with a more
specific reference normally precedes the one with a more general reference. Otherwise, a
pause is signaled in writing through a comma, and in oral language the adverbial placed in
end-position is interpreted as an afterthought.
He lives here in this neighborhood
The parcel is on the desk in the studio in the second floor.
CHAPTER 16: PREPOSITIONS AND
CONJUNCTIONS
16.2 Prepositions.
Prepositions are the last category of lexical or contentive words. However, unlike all other
lexical categories, prepositions are traditionally considered to constitute a closed-class sys-
tem.
Together with the functional category of conjunctions, prepositions constitute linkers or
linking words. Unlike adverbs, prepositions are always transitive. They always take com-
plement with the function of Object to the Preposition.
Prepositions can be said to link a word or previous expression to a nominal or adverbial ex-
pression. If the Object to the Preposition does not directly follow it, because it has been dis-
placed from its original place to some other part of the clause, the preposition is said to be
stranded.

As most lexical categories, prepositions - or prepositional phrases - can be premodified.

Their Premodifiers are adverbs with an intensifying or downgrading effect.
They went straight to the police station.
Your keys are right on the table.

16.3 Categories of the Object to the Preposition.

Expression that can fulfill the function of Object to the Preposition are typically nominal ex-
pressions such as
1. nouns
2. pronoun in the objective case
3. noun phrases
4. finite nominal clauses
5. gerundial clauses.
1. The refugees came from Asian
 2. Alice is interested in him
3. Caravaggio’s art had influence on the emerging Baroque style
4. Education is the best investment in that it allows for social progress
5. She is good at leading her team to victory

The Object to the Preposition can be an adverbial category such as an adverb or a preposi-
tional phrase
Can we smoke in here?
ADVERB
The bandits appeared from round the corner
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

16.4 Functions of the Prepositional Phrase.

The most common syntactic functions of prepositional phrases are Postmodifier of a noun
which is the Head of the Subject or of a nominal expression in any position, and Adverbial
Adjunct within the Predicate.
The invitations on the front desk must be sent tomorrow
Head of the Subject

They found the poems by Walt Whitman ahead of his time.

NOMINAL EXPRESSION IN ANY POSITION

The guests are arriving on Wednesday afternoon

ADVERBIAL ADJUNCT

Prepositional phrases can have the function of Indirect Object (especially when it follows
the Direct Object), Subjective Complement and Objective complement, and Adjectival com-
plement.
Alfred donated all his money to charity
INDIRECT OBJECT
 The lift was out of order
SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT

Helen caught her students off guard

OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT

Jack is fond of documentaries

ADJECTIVAL COMPLEMENT

Prepositional phrases can realize Sentence Adjuncts

From the social point of view, education is the best investment.

Prepositional phrases can, in some cases, have the traditionally nominal functions of Subject
and Direct Object
By tube is the quickest way to travel in the city.
SUBJECT
He bought like ten shirts
DIRECT OBJECT

16.5 Classification of Prepositions.

Prepositions can be classified from different perspectives.
• From the point of view of their structure, prepositions can be classified into simple, com-
plex and derived. If they are complex, they can be divided into combined and phrasal.
• Simple prepositions are the most frequent and consist of only one lexical item. They are
monosyllabic prepositions, but also disyllabic prepositions. Monosyllable prepositions are
unstressed unless they are emphatic. Most disyllabic or longer prepositions are made up of
more than one morpheme, at least one of which is prepositional in origin.
• Complex prepositions consist of more than one lexical item. If they contain a nominal ex-
pressions within, they are considered phrasal prepositions.
• Derived prepositions resemble or derive from verbal forms
16.6 Semantic Classification of Prepositions.
From the semantic point of view, prepositions have a wide variety of meanings and many of
them are used to introduce complements with more than one meaning. Among the most
common relations established by prepositions are Place, Time, Manner, Cause, Reason,
Purpose, Concession and others.

For the meanings of Place, at indicates a punctual relation, at is used for a surface relation
and in for a relation of volume.

16.7 Conjunctions.
Conjunctions are function words that join words, phrases, clauses or introduce clauses. Even
though the structural elements linked by coordinating conjunctions are at the same level,
they are not always reversible in order.
16.8 Classification of Conjunctions.
Conjunctions are divided into coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions,
which introduce main clauses, or subordinating and reporting clauses.
Coordinating conjunctions are conjunctions that join structural elements of the same
hierarchical level, and are subclassified into cumulative, alternative, adversative and illative.

Subordinating conjunctions introduce nominal clauses, relative clauses and adverbial

clauses. Nominal clauses introduced by subordinating conjunctions are those grouped under
Class I: that-nominal clauses and if/whether nominal clauses, which are introduced by the
conjunctions that and whether or if.
Defining relative clauses are introduced by the conjunction that when the antecedent of the
relative clause is a nominal expression in the matrix clause the coercers with a gap in the
relative clause whose function is an Object.

Adverbial clauses are the only type of subordinating clause that is always introduced by a
subordinating conjunctions. These subordinating conjunctions are classified according to the
function of the clause that they introduce into conjunction of Place, Time, Manner, Cause or
Reason, Result, Purpose, Comparison, Condition and Concession.

16.9 Prepositions vs. Conjunctions.

Within the multicategory words, there are many that at least share the category of
preposition and conjunction. For example, after, behind, since, until and others can be both
prepositions and conjunctions.
Prepositions are followed by a nominal expressions, whereas conjunctions are followed by
clauses.
The show started after his arrival
PREPOSITION
The show started after he arrived
CONJUNCTION

Some of them can be adverbs, if they take no complements at all.

The show started soon after