Syntax

The Verb Phrase: summary

• The VP consists of a head verb, either alone or accompanied by one or more auxiliaries • If the VP contains only one verb, it is a lexical verb (arrived) • If the VP contains more verbs, one is a lexical verb and the others are pre-modifying auxiliaries or modals (is arriving, has arrived, may arrive, might be arriving, etc.)

The role of auxiliary verbs

• They are used to express grammatical categories such as aspect, voice and modality.

• The primary auxiliary

be

is used to form the passive voice (the man was hit by a car) and the progressive aspect (I am working) • The primary auxiliary

have

is used to form the perfect aspect (I have worked) • The primary auxiliary negative and interrogative forms (I don’t know, Do you know?) do is used to form the

modal verbs and modality



they are frequently used in English and belong to the Germanic core of the language



they express a wide range of meanings referring either to actions controlled by humans ( deontic modality) or to the levels of certainty of an event ( epistemic modality)



the same modals can express different meanings; the same meanings can be expressed in different ways

the main meanings of modal verbs

1. permission e.g. Can I ask you a question? Could I borrow your notes? (Am I allowed to ask a question?) 2. ability e.g. I can ski (I know how to do it) 3. possibility e.g. She may be ill. She might be ill (Perhaps she is ill) 4. obligation attention. e.g. You must stop talking. You should pay 5. logical necessity (probability) is very likely to be ill) e.g. She must be ill (She 6. volition e.g. I’ll do it for you 7. prediction e.g. It will rain tomorrow

what about modal verbs in Italian?

Translate the following expressions into English: Devi smettere di fumare Dovresti smettere di fumare Posso fumare?

Potrei fumare?

Domani può piovere Domani potrebbe piovere Domai pioverà Sa sciare molto bene Sapeva sciare bene quando era giovane Italian has the verbs potere, sapere and dovere Some modal expressions are expressed through the conditional mood or the future tense , which do not exist as morphologically marked forms in English

other phrases

• Adjective Phrase (AdjP)

e.g. extremely important , very languages unhappy , good at

• Adverb Phrase (AdvP)

e.g. very badly , perfectly well

• Prepositional Phrase (PP)

e.g. in the garden, (see pp. 153-158) to London

How can a clause be analysed?

1. Subject + predicate John (what is talked about) is English (what is said about the topic) 2. The main functional elements of the clause

Clause and clause elements

• A clause is a syntactic unit made up of one or more phrases, containing at least one VP: e.g. Run!

John sang.

My brother gave me a beautiful dress.

Did you like the concert last night?

5 major clause elements (constituents)

• Subject (S) • Verb (V) or Predicator • Object (O) • Complement (C) • Adverbial (A)

Word Order (p. 136)

• Translate the following clauses into English: 

Seguiranno alcuni esempi Some examples will follow



Nel capitolo 3 verrà presentata la grammatica Grammar will be presented in Chapter 3



Giovanni parla molto bene l’italiano /l’italiano molto bene John speaks Italian very well



Odio stirare I hate ironing



Piove forte da molte ore It’s been raining heavily for many hours

• C’è un gatto in giardino

There is a cat in the garden

CONCLUSION

:

• The unmarked word order in English in

SVO, while in Italian this order can vary to a certain extent.

• The subject is compulsory in English, and

not in Italian.

• If there is no subject, a ‘dummy’ subject will

be used (it/there).

The Verb (p. 159)

… is the central part of the clause since it determines the other elements (e.g. verb complementation or valency)

She was laughing one-place verb She was playing the piano She was very beautiful She gave him a kiss She made him happy two-place verb two-place verb three-place verb three-place verb

S

clause elements

V O The black labrador (NP) has bitten (VP) Mr Allington (NP) C He (NP) put (VP) the keys (NP) A in the garden (PP) Optional A in his bag (PP) Obligatory A Sue (NP) is feeling (VP) very sleepy (AdjP)

S It (dummy subject) Armstrong (NP) Chris (NP) V is going (VP) O C to rain (non- finite VP) A became (VP) the first man on the moon (NP) made (VP) Sara (NP) really angry (AdjP) yesterday (AdvP) What I don’t understand (clause) is (VP) why you lied to me (clause)

S V

S+V+Oi+Od (di-transitive)

O i (Indirect Object) O d (Direct Object) My told friend me Sue gave her sister a lie a glass of wine John showed his friends his new car

SV (intransitive verb). No complementation The black labrador was barking

clause S:NP P:VP det. mod.(adj.) head (n.) aux. head (v.) the black labrador was barking

A new teacher has arrived

SVO d (monotransitive) Andrew bought a sports car

clause S:NP P:VP V O d :NP head (n.) head (v.) det. mod. (adj.) head (n.) Andrew bought a sports car

My sister plays the piano

SVA (+ an obligatory Adverbial) The taxi is waiting outside clause S:NP P:VP V A:AdvP det. head (n.) aux. head (v.) head (adv.) The taxi is waiting outside

The waiter put the bread on the table

SVC

s

(copular verb) The weather has turned very nasty

clause S:NP P:VP V C:AdjP det. head (n.) aux. head(v.) mod.(adv.) head(adj.) The weather has turned very nasty

The news sounds very interesting

• My 80-year-old grandmother is in good health

Copular verbs

• be, feel, seem, appear, look, remain, stay, become, sound, taste e.g. I am / feel rather tired (C: AdjP) She became a nurse (C:NP) You look extremely happy (C:AdjP) Mary appeared in good health (C:PP) That is what I mean (C: clause)

SVO i O d (di-transitive) Gill told her child a bedtime story clause S:NP P:VP V O i :NP O d :NP head(n.) head(v.) det. head(n.) det. mod.(n.) h(n.) Gill told her child a bedtime story

She should tell me the truth

Di-transitive verbs

• Give, tell, bring, buy, show e.g. John showed me (Oi) his new car (Od) They bought him (Oi) a new racket (Od) Tell us (Oi) the truth (Od)

SVO d C o (complex transitive) The judges declared Jackie the winner clause S:NP P:VP V O:NP C o :NP det. head (n.) head (v.) head(n.) det. h(n.) The judges declared Jackie the winner

Rebecca considers her brother a genious

SVO

d

A Terry put the rubbish in the dustbin

clause S:NP P:VP V O:NP A:PP head (n.) head(v.) det. h(n.) h (prep) C:NP det. h(n.) Terry put the rubbish in the dustbin

The linguistics professor will introduce the chapter on lexis tomorrow

The 7 basic clause patterns

• SV • SVA (intransitive+obligatory A) • SVC s • SVO d • SVO i O d • SVO d C o (copulative) (monotransitive) They are waiting outside You look great I miss my family (di-transitive)John showed me his new car (complex-transitive)The judges declared Jackie the winner • SVO d A (intransitive) The dog is barking (transitive with obligatory A) The waiter put the bread on the table

In the summer A:PP high humidity levels S:NP make P:VP the weather O:NP unbearable Co:AdjP

Luckily A:AdvP he S:NP found P:VP all the exam questions O:NP very easy Co:AdjP

Complement

• Cs

complemento predicativo del soggetto

It follows copular verbs be, feel, seem, appear, look… I am/feel tired You look/ appear/ seem tired.

• Co

complemento predicativo dell’oggetto

It follows a direct object and occurs with complex transitive verbs make, elect, consider, find, call… This experience made me stronger I found his reaction stupid

Adverbial

• Optional elements added to the obligatory elements of the clause • Circumstance adverbial: additional information e.g. The taxi is waiting outside • Stance adverbial: speaker’s feeling / attitude e.g. Hopefully I will pass all my exams in June • Linking adverbial e.g. In conclusion , all’s well that ends well.

Obligatory adverbial

• Adverbials that are required to complete the meaning of the verb • E.g. Sally put the bread on the table (obligatory Adverbial) vs. Sally cut the bread on the table (optional Adverbial) Verbs: put, last, live

Adverbials vs. complements

• John was very quiet (C) • John was in bed (A) • They are in danger (C) • They are in the garden (A) • You should stay sober (C) • You should stay here (A) Complements describe or characterize the S (or O) Adverbials typically express place or direction.

main and subordinate clauses

1. Mary had been waiting for more than an hour 2. Suddenly , she stood up and went out 3. She said that she was not feeling well because the air in the room was stuffy 4. She wanted to get some fresh air

• a main clause always contains a finite verb and typically contains an overt subject • a subordinate clause cannot stand alone and needs to be attached to a free-standing clause • a non-finite clause is always subordinate • simple clauses consist of a clause, compound clauses consist of two coordinate clauses, complex clauses consist of a main and one or more subordinate clauses.

Types of Clauses

typical functions of clause types Form declarative interrogative imperative exclamative Function statement question directive exclamation You’re wearing a new dress. Are you wearing a new dress?

Buy yourself a new dress!

What a lovely dress you’re wearing!

declarative clauses

• declarative clauses are normally used to make statements • declarative sentences typically have an overt subject, a verb element and any necessary verb complementation • declarative sentences may also have optional adverbials

Philip will see his dentist in London today

interrogative clauses

• • •

yes-no questions: Are you happy?

wh- questions: Where do you live?

question-tag : She’s Australian, isn’t she? She doesn’t love him, does she?

So, you have changed your mind, have you?

• • •

the interrogative structure implies a subject-operator inversion any auxiliary which is used to make interrogative sentences is labelled operator (be, have, do) questions tags may have contrastive or constant polarity

marked structures: Clefting • to highlight the sentence a particular element of • the focussed element is introduced by a dummy Subject and followed by a relative clause

it-cleft structure

Terry plays jazz piano for fun.

It is Terry who plays jazz piano for fun.

It’s jazz piano that Terry plays for fun It’s for fun that Terry plays jazz piano The man hit the boy It was the man who hit the boy

wh-cleft structure

I would like a book for my birthday What I would like for my birthday is a book I want a book for Christmas What I want for Christmas is a book

sentence

• •

the largest unit of syntactic structure a sentence must consist of at least one clause (main clause) I agreed to go with them although I wasn’t really happy with the idea.

• •

in writing, a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop in speech sentences are not always complete

types of subordinate clauses

1.

2.

3.

4.

Nominal

I just hope (that) they will understand

Relative

The man

Adverbial

who is sitting next to Tom is John Call me as soon as you get home (time) because I have to talk to you (reason). The boy stood on the box so that he could see better (purpose). Even though I am tired (concession), I’ll do it.

Comparative

This hotel is not as nice as I expected

types of relative clauses

In what ways do the following relative clauses differ? which relative pronouns can be used in each context?

This is the best hotel (that, which, who, whom, whose, zero pronoun) I was able to find This hotel, ( which, that, who, whose, whom, zero pronoun) was renewed last year, is one of the best in the city The man ( which, that, who, whose, whom, zero pronoun) you see in the photo is my brother

The man ( which, that, who, whose, whom, zero pronoun) is coming towards us is my brother The music (that, which, who, whose, whom, zero article) we are listening to is Mozart We stayed in a lovely hotel, ( which, that, who, whom, whose) owner is a good friend of mine We stayed in a lovely hotel, ( which, that, who, whom, whose) we booked on the Internet

rule of relative clauses

Relative clauses can be either defining (or restrictive) or non defining (non-restrictive) depending on whether they define the antecedent or add extra information (no commas)

The tourists who got up early could see the dawn on the Nile

The use of relative pronouns is conditioned by the antecedent , whether it is human ( who,whom, whose, that) or non-human (that, whose, which), whether it plays the role of subject (who, that, which) or object (whom, that, which, zero pronoun), whether it is defining ( who, whose, whom, that, which) or required) non-defining (who, whose, which). (commas are

The tourists, who got up early, could see the dawn on the Nile

conditional sentences

1) If the weather is nice , tomorrow we will go to the seaside ( it is an open possibility) * If the weather will be nice, … 2) If the weather were/was nice , we would go to the seaside ( it is unlikely) *If the weather would be nice, 3) If the weather had been nice , we would have gone to the seaside (it did not happen)

• • • • • •

My friends sent me an invitation to their wedding.

I put some poison for the mice in the garage.

Chris made Sara really angry yesterday.

Yesterday the doctor told the patient the good news The car keys are on the table.

The cash machine is faulty.