Cursul de sintaxa urmareste ntelegerea principiilor majore care stau

la baza structurii propozitiei engleze. Abordarea analizei sintactice in

prima parte a cursului predata studentilor, se axeaza pe sintaxa
transformationala, n care fenomenele sintactice sunt descrise
pornind de la regulile de structurare a locutiunilor verbale,
substantivale, adjectivale, prepozitionale, adverbiale ('Phrase
Structure Rules'), respectiv a propozitiilor ('Sentence Rules'). Aceste
structuri de adncime ('D-Structures) sunt secondate de structuri de
suprafata ("Inversion, Wh-Movement').
Aspectele teoretice abordate n cadrul cursului sunt urmate de
exercitii aplicative, care constituie un suport real n constientizarea
analizei sintactice la nivel de locutiune si propozitie realizata prin
construirea de structuri arborescente ('branching trees').
Cursul cuprinde si o terminologie de specialitate pentru a facilita accesul studentilor la ntelegerea att de
complexei analize sintactice abordata n stil modern, din perspectiva sintaxei transformationale.
PART ONE
PART ONE: SYNTAX
MOTTO:
"Before we take to sea we walk on land
Before we create we must understand."
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m

LINGUISTICS is the discipline that studies the nature and use of
language, i.e. its system of rules and categories.
BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS:
1. PHONETICS studies the sounds of language
2. PHONOLOGY studies the function and patterning of sounds
3. MORPHOLOGY deals with the analysis of word structure.
4. SYNTAX deals with the analysis of sentence structure.
5. SEMANTICS deals with the analysis of meaning.
SYNTAX is a component of grammar that deals with the system of rules
and categories that underlies sentence formation in human language, i.e.
with the manner in which words are combined to form various types of
sentences.
The precise rules for sentence formation differ from language to
language. However, the same general types of devices are used in the
analysis of sentence formation. They are:
syntactic categories
phrase structure rules
transformations
Transformational syntax is an approach to syntactic analysis in
which syntactic phenomena are described in terms of phrase structure
rules and transformations.
SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES show how words are grouped together into
a relatively small number of classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
prepositions, numerals, pronouns, interjections, and conjunctions). A
word's syntactic category can be determined according to:
a) the type of meaning the word expresses;
b) the type of affixes that it takes, i.e. inflection;
c) the type of structures in which it can occur, also called distribution.
A potential source of confusion stems from the fact that some
items can belong to more than one syntactic category:
e.g. The child stood near the fence. (preposition)
The runners neared the finishing line. (verb)
The end is nearer than you might think. (adjective)
a) according to meaning, a word is a:
- noun: when it denotes entities and objects, e.g. Mark, desk
*abstract nouns, e.g. happiness, truth
- verb: when it designates: - actions, e.g. run, jump
12412c221m 12412c221m - sensations,
e.g. feel, hurt
- states, e.g. have, remain
- adjective: when it designates properties and attributes of the entities
denoted by nouns, e.g. a high mountain
- adverb: when it denotes properties and attributes of the actions,
sensations and states denoted by verbs, e.g.Tom walked slowly.
b) according to affixes, i.e. inflection:
- nouns: plural - s, e.g. teacher-teachers
*knowledge, news, advice, money, luggage, etc.
- verbs: -ed, e.g. start-started
-ing, e.g. feel-feeling
- adjectives: comparative/superlative forms, e.g. taller, tallest
- adverbs: -ly, e.g. happily, slowly
*hardly
c) according to structures, i.e. distribution:
- nouns can typically appear with a determiner: a clerk
- verbs can typically appear with an auxiliary: has left
- adjectives can typically appear with a degree word: very rich
PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES: Sentences are not formed by simply
stringing words together like beads on a necklace. Rather, sentences
have a hierarchical design in which words are grouped together into
successively larger structural units. Such syntactic units can be built
around nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs andprepositions. They are
called phrases. Consequently, there are:
Noun Phrases (NP)
Verb Phrases (VP)
Adjective Phrases (AP)
Adverb Phrases (AdvP)
Prepositional Phrases (PP)
Phrases are built around a Head, which is at the word level:
A noun for a NP
A verb for a VP
An adjective for an AP
An adverb for an AdvP
A preposition for a PP
Phrases can consist of just one word, i.e. the head of the phrase:
E.g. (he likes)cats NP 12412c221m (all
cats) eat VP
12412c221m 12412c221m N
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
V 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m

(she is)sure AP (he went) in PP
12412c221m 12412c221m A
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m P
(he left) early Adv
12412c221m 12412c221m Adv
12412c221m
In addition to the head of the phrase, phrases can also include
a second word, which is calledspecifier. Specifiers are placed before the
head of the phrase. The syntactic category of specifiers (determiner,
qualifier, degree word) differs depending on the category of the head of
the phrase. Thus:
a) determiners are specifiers of nouns, e.g. a/an, the, this that, these,
those, no, his, her, my, your, their, etc.
b) qualifiers are specifiers of verbs, e.g. never, ever, always, perhaps,
also, etc.
c) degree words are specifiers of adjectives and some prepositions,
e.g. very, quite, more, almost.
In more complex phrases the head of the phrase can be preceded by
specifiers and followed by a third word, which is called complement.
Complements are placed after the head of the phrase. They provide
information about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the
meaning of the head. They are alsophrases. A verb can have one, two or
more complements.
E.g. NP - the books about the war
VP - never leave a friend
AP - quite certain about Mary
PP - almost in the house
AdvP - early towards home

Complement options. The term subcategorization is used to refer to
information about a word's complement options (See Appendix) Thanks to
subcategorization information, heads occur only in tree structures where
they have compatible complement phrases.

a) Transitive verbs must be followed by an object. The object is usually the
thing or person affected by the action. We can use intransitive verbs
without an object:
E.g.
Dominic kicked the ball. When he fell flat on his back, I laughed.
b) We can use some verbs both transitively and intransitively, sometimes
with different meanings:
E.g.
After the match, he went home and walked the dog.
He walked back from the penalty spot looking sheepish.
c) After transitive verbs we can use noun phrases or clauses:
E.g.
I like the topic. S = NP + Infl + VP (V + NP)
I like what he is talking about. S = NP + Infl + VP (V + CP)
d) Some transitive verbs can have two objects (complements), the first of
which is usually a personal object:
E.g.
Harry gave me a call. S = NP + Infl + VP (NP + NP)
e) With some verbs, we can use either two objects (i.e. complements) or
an object + prepositional phrase:
E.g.
I sent you the package. S = NP + Infl + NP (NP + NP)
I sent the package to you. S = NP + Infl + NP (NP + PP)
f) We can follow some intransitive verbs with prepositional phrases or
words referring to place or time:
E.g.
It occurs to me that my licence is due for renewal soon.
S = NP +Infl + VP (V + PP)
They are coming tomorrow.
S = NP + Infl + VP (V + QUAL)
g) We can follow link verbs, e.g. seem, sound, be, with adjectives and
noun phrases:
E.g.
I am a little nervous about the concert.
S = NP + Infl + VP (V + AP + PP)
The whole thing seems a waste of time to me.
S = NP + Infl + VP (V + NP +PP)
h) Prepositional phrases usually begin with a preposition which may not
be connected with the preceding noun, verb or adjective:
E.g.
I arrived at the checkout out of breath.
S = NP + Infl + VP (V + PP + PP)
I find his arrogance beyond belief.
S = NP + Infl + VP (V NP + PP)
i) After some verbs we use as + NP:
E.g.
He is going to stand down as President at the next election.
S = NP + Infl + VP (V + NP + PP)
To sum up what has been said so far, the phrase structure
template shows as follows:
12412c221m
12412c221m XP
X = N, V, A, Adv, P.
Specifier 12412c221m
12412c221m Complement
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m X
12412c221m Head
We can see from the template above that the five different phrase
types share structural properties.
THE SENTENCE (S) is the largest unit of syntactic analysis. Sentences
are formed by combining a NP (often called the subject) with a VP (often
called the predicate).
So the S RULE is: 12412c221m S =
NP+VP
If we compare the structure of a phrase with the structure of a sentence we
can conclude the following:
The two structures (phrase and sentence) are similar in form:
NP = Specifier
VP = Complement
Head = Inflection (past or non-past)
The Head position being obligatory is taken at the level of the
sentence by an abstract category, INFL (Inflection) which accounts for the
fact that all sentences of English have tense (past /non-
past). Auxiliaries (e.g.will, can, may), when present are used instead of
the Infl category.
So the sentence can be shown like that : InflP = S
S = NP + Infl + VP
Whole sentence-like constructions can function as complements:
E.g.
The doctor knows that his patient will recover.
S = NP + VP (V + S)
Words such as that, if, whether are known as complementizers
(Cs). They introduce an S complement forming the CP (complemetizer
phrase). In a CP, the complementizer (C) functions as the head,
while the sentence (S) functions as the complement of the CP.
E.g.
that his patient will recover:
12412c221m S = CP = C + S
The doctor knows that his patient will recover:
12412c221m S = NP + VP (V + CP)
In conclusion, the phrase structure rule (XP rule) determines
the architecture of a sentence's DEEP STRUCTURE. This structure
can be visualised by assigning to sentences an appropriate tree
structure.
E.g.
The man repaired the car.
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
S

12412c221m
NP 12412c221m Infl VP
12412c221m 12412c221m Pst
Det 12412c221m N V
12412c221m NP
The 12412c221m man repaired the
car
According to the syntactic analysis presented here the words that
make up a sentence form intermediate structural units called phrases.
Words are grouped together into phrases, called syntactic units
or constituents(the man, repaired, the car). The existence of constituents
within sentences can be verified with the help of 3 (three) special tests:
1. The substitution test: NPs are syntactic units or constituents because
they can be replaced by an element such as they, it, do so. It is the same
for VPs, PPs, etc.
E.g.
The students left when they finished the classes.
NP = the students = they
E.g.
The students will leave the hall if the teachers will do so.
VP = leave the hall = do so
E.g.
They left for the mountains and we left there too.
PP = for the mountains = there
2. The movement test: a constituent can be moved as a single unit to a
different position within the sentence.
E.g.
For the mountains they left / They left for the mountains.
3. The co-ordination test: Patterns built around a conjunction (and, or,
but) are called co-ordinate structures. Co-ordinate structures can link only
structures of the same type: NP + NP; VP + VP; AP + AP; PP + PP. A
group of words forms a constituent if it can be joined to another group of
words by such a conjunction.
E.g.
Mary is keen on calculus but tired of chemistry. 12412c221m

AP + but + AP
COMPLEMENT CLAUSES = sentence-like constructions that are
embedded within larger structures.
E.g.
Tom told Mary that he loved her.

In the above example 'Tom told Mary that he loved her' is called the matrix
clause, while 'that he loved her' is called a complement clause.
There is no limit on the number of embedded clauses that can occur in a
sentence:
E.g.
The teacher said that there was a student that another student reported
that.

S
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m
NP Infl VP
Pst CP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m S
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m NP Infl VP
12412c221m 12412c221m
Pst 12412c221m NP 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m CP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m S 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m NP Infl VP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m Pst
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
CP
Det N V C N
V Det N C Det N V C
The teacher said that there was a student that another student reported
that.
A CP may serve as a complement to a V, N, A, Adv, or a P:
E.g.
He said that he was right
They lack proof (that) he was right
He was certain that he was right
They talked about whether he was right
12412c221m S
NP 12412c221m Infl VP
12412c221m Pst 12412c221m
CP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m C S
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m NP VP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m AP
N 12412c221m 12412c221m
V N V A
12412c221m 12412c221m
He 12412c221m
said he was right
12412c221m 12412c221m NP
12412c221m 12412c221m N CP
12412c221m Proof that he was right
12412c221m 12412c221m AP
12412c221m A CP
12412c221m certain that he was right
12412c221m
12412c221m PP


12412c221m P CP
12412c221m (talk) about whether he was right
TRANSFORMATIONS = a type of syntactic rule that can move an
element from one position to another.


While phrase structure rules generate deep structures (D-
structures), transformations generate surface structures (S-structures).
There are two types of transformations:
A. Inversion (the sentence contains an auxiliary verb to the left of the
sentence)
B. Wh-Movement (the sentence begins with a wh-word).
A. Inversion = a transformation that moves Aux from its position
within the VP to a position to the left of the subject, formulated as:
Move Aux to C.
Inversion in yes-no questions. Their syntactic analysis involves
transformations in addition to the usual phrase structure rules.
E.g.
Can the boy jump over the fence?
Can = Infl (Aux)
the boy = NP (Det +N)
jump over the fence = VP (V + PP)
Stages:
1. In order to determine the deep structure, we must 'return' the auxiliary
verb to its position under Infl. Thus, the usual XP rule is used to form a
structure in which the auxiliary can occupies its normal position in Infl (head
position), between the subject (its specifier) and the VP (its complement).
12412c221m
12412c221m S
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m D-structure
12412c221m NP 12412c221m
12412c221m VP
Det N Infl V PP


The boy can jump over the fence
2. In order to determine the surface structure (i.e. the question structure) a
transformation known as inversionmoves the auxiliary from the Infl position
to a position to the left of the subject:
e.g. Will the boy ____ leave? 12412c221m
12412c221m S-structure
Inversion
Inversion: Move Infl to the left of the subject NP
Since no position is available to the left of the subject for the auxiliary
verb can we assume that sentences occur within larger CPs
(complementizer phrases), whether they are embedded or not:
12412c221m CP
12412c221m C S
(head) (complement)

When embedded within a larger sentence, the CP can contain
anovert complementizer such as that or whether. Elsewhere, the C
position in the CP shell is present but is simply left empty (O):



E.g.
I don't know whether she comes.
CP = whether she comes
C = whether 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
S = she comes
12412c221m S
NP 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m VP
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m CP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m S
12412c221m
12412c221m
12412c221m Infl 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
N 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m V C NP NPst VP
I don't know whether she comes
E.g.
I know (that) she comes.
12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
S
NP 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m VP


12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m CP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m S
12412c221m 12412c221m Infl
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m NPst
N 12412c221m 12412c221m
N 12412c221m
12412c221m
V C NP Infl VP



I 12412c221m 12412c221m
know (that) she comes
RULE: Move Infl to C (empty position)
12412c221m CP
C 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m S


Infl 12412c221m NP Infl VP


12412c221m Det N
12412c221m V
Will 12412c221m the boy e jump


Trace = the empty element, marked by the symbol e, that is left in syntactic
structure after an element has been moved (from the head position within
S)
NOTE:
a) a transformation can change only an element's position.
b) it does not change the categories of any words











c) it cannot eliminate any part of the structural configuration created by the
phrase structure rules:
E.g. can retains its Infl label even though it is moved into the C position,
and the position that it formerly occupied remains in the tree structure.
Do Insertion (to form questions corresponding to sentences that
contain no auxiliary).
E.g.
The students attended the lecture.
STAGES:
1. The usual XP rule gives the deep structure which contains no auxiliary
verb in the Infl position.
12412c221m
12412c221m CP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m S
12412c221m C
12412c221m
12412c221m NP Infl VP
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
Pst 12412c221m NP
12412c221m 12412c221m
Det 12412c221m
N V Det N
The students attended the lecture
12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
Through transformation, the special interrogative auxiliary 'did' is
inserted into the empty Infl position.
12412c221m CP
12412c221m 12412c221m S
C 12412c221m 12412c221m

12412c221m NP 12412c221m
VP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m NP


Det N Infl V Det N



The students did attend(ed) 12412c221m
the lecture
2. Inversion applies, moving interrogative 'did' to the C position and giving
the desired surface structure.
12412c221m
CP
C 12412c221m 12412c221m S

12412c221m NP 12412c221m
VP
Infl 12412c221m Infl 12412c221m
NP








Det N 12412c221m
V Det N
Did the students e attend the lecture


B. 1. Wh-Movement = a transformation that moves a wh-phrase to the
beginning of the sentence: Move a wh-phrase to the specifier position
under CP.
E.g.
Which book should he buy?
NOTE: who/which/what = simple nouns
Which = determiner
Wh-phrase = fulfil the complement function (of a verb or preposition) in
the sentence.
Stages:
1. Deep structure for the wh-question:
He should buy which book 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
S 12412c221m 12412c221m D-structure
12412c221m NP 12412c221m
VP








12412c221m 12412c221m
Infl 12412c221m NP
12412c221m N 12412c221m
12412c221m V Det 12412c221m N

He should buy which book

Through transformation (Wh-movement) the wh-phrase is moved
from its position in deep structure to a position at the beginning of the
sentence.
Wh-Movement: Move the wh-phrase to the beginning of the sentence.
2. The desired question structure (S-structure) is formed by applying W-
Movement and inversion to the deep structure.
Which book should he ----- buy -----?
12412c221m Inversion
Wh-Movement
NOTE: The wh-phrase is moved to the specifier position under C.
12412c221m CP
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m S-structure
NP C 12412c221m S
12412c221m NP 12412c221m
VP

12412c221m Infl 12412c221m Infl
12412c221m NP
12412c221m
12412c221m N 12412c221m
12412c221m V
Which book should he e buy e



12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m

Wh-Movement in sentences where the wh-word is the subject.
E.g.
Who called Tom?
Since there is nothing for the subject wh-word to move over in such
cases, there is no visible change in word order.
e.g. Who ------------- called Tom?
Wh-Movement
12412c221m
AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES:
E.g.
A. Who called Tom? (subject)
B. Who did Tom call? (direct object)
Surface structure:
A. Who -------------- called Tom?
Wh movement
12412c221m CP
NP 12412c221m C
12412c221m S
12412c221m 12412c221m
NP Infl VP
12412c221m 12412c221m Pst
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m NP
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m V N
Who 12412c221m e 12412c221m
called Tom


B. Who did Tom ---------- call ----- ?
12412c221m 12412c221m
Inversion
12412c221m
12412c221m Wh-Movement



CP
NP C 12412c221m S



12412c221m 12412c221m
Infl VP
12412c221m Infl NP 12412c221m
V NP
Who did Tom e call e


OTHER STRUCTURAL PATTERNS
1. Co-ordinate structures
2. Modifier constructions
3. Relative constructions








4. Passive structures
NOTE: 1, 2, and 3 are employed by practitioners of transformational
syntax.
1. Co-ordinate structures
= a phrase that is formed by joining two (or more) categories of the
same type with a conjunction such as 'and', 'or', 'but'.
E.g. a man and a woman
Co-ordination = the operation that groups together two or more
categories of the same type with the help of a conjunction:
Ns: the book and copy-book
Vs: repair and paint the house
Ps: up and down the stairs
As: beautiful and expensive dress
Advs: a beautifully and smartly-dressed woman
NPs: a man and a woman
VPs: go home and read a book
PPS: on the desk and under it
APs: quite beautiful and very expensive
AdvPs: very calmly and quite rapidly
Ss: The teacher entered the room and the
students stood up.
E.g. quite beautiful and very expensive
12412c221m
12412c221m AP
AP 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m AP
Deg A Con Deg 12412c221m A
Quite beautiful and very 12412c221m
expensive
E.g. The teacher entered the room and the students stood up.
12412c221m
12412c221m S
12412c221m
S 12412c221m Con 12412c221m S
NP Infl VP NP Infl VP
12412c221m Pst 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m Pst
12412c221m
V NP V PP
12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
The teacher entered the room and the
students stood up
The Co-ordinate Structure Constraint does not allow an element to
be removed from a co-ordinate structure.
Island = a constituent that does not permit extraction of a component
part:
E.g.Dave and Pam; a poem or a story.
The Co-ordination rule is the phrase structure rule that states the
composition of a co-ordinate structure:
X
n
X
n*
Con X
n
X
n
= either an X or an XP can be co-ordinated
* = one or more categories can occur to the left of the
conjunction
E.g. a book, a copy-book and a pencil
2. Modifier Constructions
A modifier = an optional element that describes a property of a
head.
E.g. that blue car
the book that Sue read
RULE: we will attach modifiers at the XP level of phrase structure:
E.g. a famous writer
12412c221m NP
12412c221m
12412c221m AP
DET A N
A famous writer
E.g. never listen attentively
12412c221m
12412c221m VP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
AdvP
Qual 12412c221m V 12412c221m
Adv

Never listen attentively
Types of modifiers that can modify Ns or Vs:
A. APs as modifiers of Ns:
E.g. a very high building
12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m
12412c221m NP
12412c221m 12412c221m AP
12412c221m Det Deg A N
12412c221m
A very 12412c221m high building
APs as complements of Vs (become/seem)
E.g. She seemed quite happy.
12412c221m 12412c221m
S
12412c221m NP Infl VP
12412c221m 12412c221m Pst
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m AP


12412c221m N 12412c221m
12412c221m V Deg A
12412c221m
12412c221m
She seemed quite happy
B. AdvPs as modifiers of Vs:
E.g. She left early.
12412c221m
12412c221m S
12412c221m NP 12412c221m
Infl 12412c221m VP
12412c221m 12412c221m Pst


12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m AdvP
N 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m V
12412c221m She 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221mleft early
C. PPs as modifiers of Vs:
D.
E.g. He stayed for two days.
12412c221m S


NP 12412c221m Infl 12412c221m VP
12412c221m Pst
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m PP
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m

N 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m P NP



12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m V


He 12412c221m 12412c221m
stayed for two days
So, the RULE is:
XP (Spec) (Mod) X (Complement*) (Mod)
E.g. a happy couple 12412c221m (Spec) X
always talk carefully 12412c221m (Mod) X (Mod)
tell the news very rapidly X (Complement) (Mod)
3. Relative Clauses
= a CP-sized modifier that provides information about the noun head to its
left.
E.g.
the man that Sue met.
Like other modifiers, relative clauses occur within the same phrase as
the head that they modify.
12412c221m
12412c221m CP








NP 12412c221m
C 12412c221m 12412c221m S
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m

12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
NP Infl VP
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m Pst
Det N 12412c221m 12412c221m
N 12412c221m 12412c221m V

The man that Sue 12412c221m
met
They resemble embedded wh-questions:
a) They begin with a wh-word such as 'who'/ 'which'.
b) There is an empty position within the sentence from which the wh-
phrase has apparently been moved.
e.g.
She may read the book which Tom bought.
S
NP 12412c221m VP
12412c221m Infl 12412c221m
NP
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m

12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m CP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m C 12412c221m S
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m NP Infl VP
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m Pst
N 12412c221m
V Det N N 12412c221m V
She may read the book which Tom bought
3. Passive Sentences
= a sentence in which the NP bearing the theme role is encoded as
subject.
E.g. The report was written by the students.
The transformational analysis of passives makes use of both deep
structure and surface structure. In order to account for thematic role
assignment, the NP that receives the theme role occurs as complement
of the verb in deep structure while the NP that receives the agent role, if
present occurs as complement of the special preposition 'by'. A
transformation then moves the NP bearing the theme role from its deep
structure position to the subject position in surface structure, giving the
correct final form of the sentence.
E.g. The report was written by the students. (the agent role is suppressed
or appears as complement of the preposition 'by'; the preposition 'by'
assigns its agent role to its complement 'the students'):
12412c221m S
NP Infl VP
12412c221m Pst
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m VP
12412c221m 12412c221m V
12412c221m NP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m V


12412c221m 12412c221m
Was written the students
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m *<ag, th>






12412c221m 12412c221m * passive verb
cannot assign agent role
In the surface structure, a NP movement takes place: Move NP
(bearing the theme role) from the direct object position to the
subject position when the latter is empty.
12412c221m S
12412c221m VP
Infl
12412c221m Pst
12412c221m VP


12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m NP PP
NP 12412c221m 12412c221m
V V 12412c221m P NP


The thief was arrested e by the police



Thematic roles = the parts played by a particular entity in an event
(agent, theme, source, goal, location)
a) Agent = the thematic role of the doer of the action designated by
the verb.
E.g. the students (The report was written by the students)
b) Theme = the thematic role of the entity directly affected by the
action designated by the verb.
E.g. the report (The report was written by the students)
c) Source = the starting point for a movement
e.g. from (He comes from India)
d) Goal = the end point for a movement
E.g. to (He goes to India)




e) Location = the place where an action occurs
E.g. London (He learned at London)

It results that:
Thematic roles are associated with each NP in a sentence
Thematic roles are implied by their meanings:
E.g. hit <agent>, <theme>
walk <agent>
to <goal>
from <location> (e.g. the prepositions 'to' and 'from' assign a thematic
role to their complement NP, 'India').

PP 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m PP
P 12412c221m 12412c221m
NP P 12412c221m NP

From India 12412c221m
to India
<Source> 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m <goal> 12412c221m








NOTE:
Theme roles are assigned to the V's complement:
E.g. He bought the present.
<theme>
Agent roles are assigned to the V's subject:
E.g. He bought the present.
<agent>


So we have:
He bought the present.
<ag, th>


Verbs assign agent roles to their subject and theme roles to their
complement:
e.g. He bought the present.
<ag, th>
In a passive construction a passive V cannot assign agent role:
E.g. The present was given by him.
12412c221m <ag, th> < th>







12412c221m S
NP Infl VP
12412c221m Pst
12412c221m
VP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m NP PP


Det N V V 12412c221m
P NP
The present was given e by him








Thematic role assignment in a wh question:
E.g. What should the man bring?
The man should bring what
12412c221m <ag, th>

(role received by virtue of its position in Deep Structure, not Surface
Structure, where it occurs at the beginning of the sentence)
It results that a NP's deep structure position determines its thematic
role. The relevance of deep structure to the assignment of thematic roles is
important for two reasons:
1. It shows that syntactic structure not only represents the way in which
words are organised into phrases, but also is relevant to semantic
interpretation.
2. The fact that a NP's position in deep structure determines its
thematic role provides additional support for the existence of this
underlying level of syntactic structure; there are at least two types of
syntactic rules.

The fact that a NP's position in deep structure determines its thematic
role provides additional support for the existence of this underlying level
of syntactic structure; there are at least two types of syntactic rules.

ANNEX
COMPLEMENT OPTIONS FOR VERBS:
e.g.
NP Proved The professor proved
(NP the theorem)
0 Vanish The child vanish
AP Become The man became (AP
very angry)
PP Dash The dog dashed (PP to
the door)
NP NP Hand We handed (NP the
man) (NP a map)
PP PP Talk I talked (PP to a
doctor) (PP about Sue)

COMPLEMENT OPTIONS FOR OTHER CATEGORIES (Ns, As, Ps).
e.g.
Complement options
(Ns)
Sample heads Example
PP PP Presentation the presentation (PP of
a medal) (PP to the
winner)
Adjective
complements
Sample heads Example
O Tall very tall-
Preposition
complements
Sample heads Example
NP In in (NP the house)















EXERCISES
1. Each of the following phrases consists of a specifier and a head.
Draw the appropriate branching tree for each example:
a) the zoo
b) always try
c) so witty
d) perhaps pass
e) less bleak
f) this house
g) very competent
h) quite cheap
i) never surrender
j) those books
2. The following phrases include a head, a complement, and (in some
cases) a specifier. Draw the appropriate tree structure for each
example.
a) into the house
b) repaired the telephone
c) full of mistakes
d) more towards the window
e) a film about pollution
f) always study this material
g) perhaps earn the money
h) that argument with Owen
i) the success of the programme
3. Draw phrase structure trees for each of the following sentences:
a) Those guests should leave.
b) Maria never ate the brownie.
c) That shelf will fall.
d) The glass broke.
e) The student lost the debate.
f) The manager may offer an increment
g) The judge often sentences shoplifters.
h) The teacher often organised a discussion.
i) A psychic will speak to this group.
j) Marianne could become quite fond of Larry.
4. Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences;
Then, draw the appropriate branching tree structure for each
sentence:
a) The tutor told the students to study.
b) The customer asked for a cold beer.
c) He have the Red Cross some money.
d) The jet landed.
e) A journalist wrote the article.
f) Julie is tired of her job.
5. Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences;
Then, draw the appropriate branching tree structure for each
sentence:
a) That glass suddenly broke.
b) A jogger ran towards the end of the lane.
c) These dead trees might block the road.
d) The detective hurriedly looked through the records.
e) The peaches never appear quite ripe.
f) Gillian will play the trumpet and the drums in the orchestra.
6. Apply the substitution test to determine which of the bracketed
sequences in the following sentences form constituents; Then
draw appropriate branching trees for each sentence:
a) [The tragedy] upset the entire family.
b) They hid [the cave].
c) The [computer was very] expensive.
d) [The town square and the civic building] will be rebuilt.
e) Jane [left town].
f) The goslings [swam across] the lake.
7. Apply the movement test to determine which of the bracketed
sequences in the following sentences form constituents; Then
draw appropriate branching trees for each sentence:
a) We ate our lunch [near the river bank].
b) Steve looked [up the number] in the book.
c) The [island has been] flooded.
d) I love [peanut butter and bacon sandwiches].
e) The environmental [movement is gaining momentum].
8. Lexical categories are divided into subcategories on the basis of
their complements. For each of the following words, two potential
complement options are given. For each of the words:
i) Determine which one of the two options better matches the
subcategorisation requirements of the verb, noun or adjective.
ii) Justify your choice by creating a sentence using that complement
option.
Verb 12412c221m Options
a) Expire or NP NP
b) Destroy NP or
c) Observe NP or PP
to
PP
about

d) Discuss NP or
e) Clean NP PP
for
or NP NP
f) Mumble NP or NP NP
g) Throw or NP PP
loc

h) Paint NP PP
to
or NP PP
for

Noun 12412c221m Options
a) Debate PP
of
PP
to
or PP
with
PP
about

b) Hammer or PP PP
with
PP
about

c) Success PP
of
PP
to
or PP
of

d) Transfer PP
with
PP
about
or PP
of
PP
to

e) Sickness or PP
with
PP
about

Adjective Options
a) Strong or PP
about

b) sick 12412c221m NP or PP
of

c) bored PP
with
or PP
of

d) knowledgeable PP
to or
PP
about

e) small PP
of or


9. The following sentences all contain embedded clauses that
function as complements of a verb. Draw a tree structure for each
sentence:
a) The reporter said that an accident injured the boy.
b) The fishermen think that the company polluted the bay.
c) Barbara reported that a student asked whether the eclipse would occur.
10. The following sentences all contain embedded clauses that
function as complements of an adjective, a preposition or a noun.
Draw a tree structure for each sentence:
a) The police appeared happy that the criminal would surrender.
b) That officer was sure that Gerry often speeds down the motorway.
c) Anna wondered about whether the exam would cover that section.
d) The jury will never believe the claim that the driver wrecked the
Porsche.
11. The derivations of the following sentences involve the
inversion transformation. Give the deep structure and the surface
structure for each sentence; Then draw a tree structure for each
sentence:
a) Will the boss hire Hilary?
b) Can the dog bring the Frisbee?
c) Should the student report the incident?
d) Must the musician play that music?
e) Is that player leaving the team?
12. The following sentences involve the rules of Wh- Movement and
inversion. Give the deep structure and the surface structure for each
of these sentences. Then draw a tree structure for each sentence:
a) Who should the director call?
b) Who should call the director?
c) What is Joanne eating?
d) Who will those immigrants live with?
e) What might Chris bake for the party?
f) What was Anne bringing to the gathering?
13. The following sentences contain modifiers of various types. For
each sentence, first identify the modifier(s), then draw the tree
structures:
a) A large iguana suddenly appeared.
b) The headteacher made an important announcement after the class.
c) An unusual event occurred before the game.
d) The very hazardous waste seeped into the ground quickly.
e) A huge moon hung in the black sky.
f) Timothy drew an enormous map during the afternoon.
14. Each of the following sentences contains a relative clause.
Draw the deep structure and the surface structure trees for each of
these sentences., then draw the tree structures:
a) The animals which Sam saw came from Kenya.
b) Kyle likes the girl whom June befriended.
c) The woman whom Keith lives with recycles plastic.
d) Helen recited a poem which Wordsworth wrote.
e) The canoe which Crusoe built was too heavy.
15. In each of the following sentences, indicate below each NP
whether it is agent or theme. The, draw the tree structures:
a) Maria purchased a present.
b) The class was conducted by an expert.
c) Those books were read by young children.
d) An expert conducted the class.
e) A present was purchased by Marie.
16. Analyse the following sentences from a transformational point
of view drawing appropriate branching trees for each sentence:
a) All classes were cancelled because the weather was bad.
b) I can't understand why you did such a thing.
c) This is such a beautiful piano that I'm sorry I have to sell it.
d) Mary tried hard and solved the exercises quickly.
e) This swimming pool is used by over a thousand people
each week.
f) The new central heating is being put in today by the men.
g) Helen's book has been just published by her publishers.
h) The meal, which wasn't very tasty, was very expensive.
i) What do you think I should do?
j) The student read a tragedy by Shakespeare and a story
by Hemingway.
k) Who carries the luggage?
l) Who meets Mary at the station?
m) Who does Mary meet at the station?
n) Harry, who was tired, went to bed very early.
o) Do you ever get annoyed by people/
p) My radio, which isn't very old, has suddenly stopped working.
q) Last week I ran into an old friend whom I hadn't seen for ages.
r) I think that my boss is the person whom I admire most.
17. Show structural ambiguity by drawing different branching trees
for the following sentences:
a) John loves money more than Mary.
b) The ambassador did not leave London to take up an appointment
in Africa.
c) She fed her dog biscuits.
d) There are wealthy men and women.
e) Nicole saw the people with binoculars.

18. The following sentences all contain conjunctions. Draw a tree
structure for each of the sentences. Show two possible tree
structures (a conjunction can link two phrases or two sentences):
a) The cyclist drank a gallon of water and a litre of Coke.
b) The airplane will land at the airport and taxi to the terminal.
c) The dog went down the stairs and out the door.
d) Crusoe landed on an island and ate a goat.
e) Jill should recycle that book and magazine.
f) Hillary knows that spring will come and that the snow will melt.
g) Mary is keen on calculus but tired of chemistry.













LANGUAGE TERMINOLOGYY
[1] ADJECTIVE = (A) A lexical category that designates a property that
is applicable to the entities named by nouns, can often take
comparative and superlative endings in English, and functions as the
head of an adjective phrase (e.g. red, obese, hearty).
[2] ADVERB = (Adv.) A lexical category that typically names
properties that can be applied to the actions designated by verbs
(e.g. quickly, fearfully).
[3] AGENT = The thematic role of the doer of the action designated by
the verb (e.g. Mary in Mary fed the cat).
[4] ARGUMENT = A NP which is syntactically a grammatical
dependent of a verb and about which semantically the verb says
something (e.g. Her friends showed the inspector her letters).
[5] AUXILIARY VERB = A functional category that serves as the
specifier of a verb (e.g. was in was talking).
[6] COMPLEMENT = The element or elements for which a head is
subcategorised and which provide information about entities and
locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head
(e.g. the book in bought the book).
[7] COMPLEMENT CLAUSE = A sentence-like construction that is
embedded within a larger structure (e.g. that her father had been a
teacher in Mary told her friend that her father had been a teacher).
[8] COMPLEMENTIZER (C) = A functional category that takes an S
complement, forming a CP (complementizer phrase) (e.g. whether he
knows the truth in I wonder whether he knows the truth).
[9] CONJUNCTION = A functional category that joins together two or
more categories of the same type, forming a co-ordinate structure
(e.g. and in a man and his dog).
[10] CONSTITUENT = One or more words that occur together as a
syntactic unit (e.g. the doctor in The doctor consulted the patient).
[11] CO-ORDINATE STRUCTURE CONSTRAINT, THE = A constraint on
transformations that does not allow an element to be removed from a
co-ordinate structure (e.g. a man and a woman).
[12] CO-ORDINATE STRUCTURE = A phrase that is formed by joining
two (or more) categories of the same type with a conjunction such
as but, and, or (e.g. those men and women).
[13] CO-ORDINATION = The operation that groups together two or
more categories of the same type with the help of a conjunction
(e.g. Tom and his beautiful bride).
[14] CO-ORDINATION RULE, THE = The phrase structure rule that
states the composition of a co-ordinate structure: X
n
X
n
*ConX
n.

[15] CO-ORDINATION TEST = A test used to determine if a group of
words is a constituent by joining it to another group of words with a
conjunction such as and, or but (e.g. beautiful but expensive).
[16] DEEP STRUCTURE = The structure generated by the phrase
structure rules in accordance with the subcategorization properties of
the heads.
[17] DEGREE WORD = (Deg) A functional category that serves as the
specifier of a preposition or an adjective (e.g. quite in quite
tired; very in very near the house).
[18] DETERMINER = (Det) A functional category that serves as the
specifier of a noun (e.g. a, the, these).
[19] DIRECT OBJECT = The NP complement of a verb (e.g. a
fish in J udy caught a fish).
[20] FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS = An approach to syntactic analysis
that attempts to understand syntactic phenomena in terms of their
communicative function.
[21] FUNCTIONAL CATEGORY = A word-level syntactic category
whose members are harder to define and paraphrase than those of
lexical categories (e.g. auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, determiners, and
degree words; also called NON-LEXICAL CATEGORY).
[22] HEAD (of a phrase) = The word around which a phrasal category
is built (e.g. V, N, A, P).
[23] INFL (INFLECTION) = The node that appears directly under S in a
phrase structure tree and dominates tense as well as other verbal
inflection (i.e. person and number); the constituents of INFL take part
in subject-verb agreement. INFL is often abbreviated to I).
[24] INVERSION = A transformation that moves Aux from its position
within the VP to a position to the left of the subject, formulated as:
Move Aux to C.
[25] ISLAND = A constituent that does not permit extraction of a
component part (a co-ordinated phrase like the dog and the cat).
[26] LEXICAL CATEGORY = The word-level syntactic categories noun
(N), verb (V), adjective (A), and preposition (P).
[27] LINGUISTIC UNIVERSALS = Structural characteristics that occur
across the languages of the world.
[28] LINGUISTICS = The discipline that studies the nature and use of
language.
[29] MATRIX CLAUSE = The larger phrase in which a complement
clause occurs (e.g. I knew that he was right; CP = that he was right).
[30] MODIFIER = An optional element that describes a property of a
head (e.g. blue in the blue sky; the book that I read in I liked the book
that I read).
[31] MOVEMENT TEST = A test used to determine if a group of words
is a constituent by moving them as a single unit to a different position
within the sentence (e.g. Yesterday I stayed home; I stayed home
yesterday).
[32] MORPHOLOGY = The system of categories and rules involved in
word formation and interpretation.
[33] NOUN = (N) A lexical category that typically names entities, can
usually be inflected for number and possession (in English), and
functions as the head of a noun phrase (e.g. key, Bob, perception).
[34] NP MOVEMENT = A transformation that moves a noun phrase
into the subject position.
[35] PASSIVE SENTENCE = A sentence in which the noun phrase
bearing the theme role is encoded as subject (e.g. The paper was
written by a good student).
[36] PHONETICS = The branch of linguistics that examines the
inventory and structure of the sounds of language.
[37] PHONOLOGY = The component of a grammar made up of the
elements and principles that determine how sounds pattern in a
language.
[38] PHRASE LEVEL = The metrical level on which the stress
patterning of phrases is represented.
[39] PHRASE = One or more words that are built around a 'skeleton'
consisting of two levels, a phrase level and a word level, and act as a
syntactic unit (e.g. the apple, Bob, hurried to class).
[40] PHRASE STRUCTURE RULE = A rule of grammar that states the
composition of a phrase (e.g. XP(Specifier) X).
[41] PREPOSITION = (P) A lexical category that functions as the head
of a prepositional phrase and occurs before its complement (e.g. into,
with, for).
[42] RELATIVE CLAUSE = A CP-sized modifier that provides
information about the noun (e.g. that she wants in the book that she
wants)
[43] S RULE, THE = The phrase structure rule that states the
composition of a sentence: S NP Infl VP
[44] SEMANTICS = The study of meaning in human language.
[45] SPECIFIER = A word that helps to make more precise the
meaning of the head of the phrase and that occurs immediately
beneath XP (e.g. will in will leave).
[46] SUBCATEGORIZATION = The classification of words in terms of
their complement options (e.g. eatis subcategorised for a complement
NP)
[47] SUBJECT = The NP occurring immediately under S (Mary in Mary
is a student).
[48] SUBJECT CONSTRAINT, THE = A constraint on transformations
that prevents elements from being removed from a subject phrase).
[49] SUBSTITUTION TEST = A test used to determine if a group of
words is a constituent by replacing them with a single word
(e.g. them instead of Tom left his old friends).
[50] SURFACE STRUCTURE = The structure that results from the
application of whatever transformations are appropriate for the
sentence in question.
[51] SYNTACTIC CATEGORY = The category into which an element is
placed depending on the type of meaning that it expresses, the type
of affixes it takes, and the type of structure in which it occurs
(includes both lexical and functional categories).
[52] SYNTAX = The system of rules and categories that underlies
sentence formation in human language.
[53] TEMPLATE = The innate blueprint of birdsong that predisposes
birds to perform a general song that is extremely simplified.
[54] THEMATIC ROLE = The part played by a particular entity in an
event (e.g. agent, theme, source, goal, location).
[55] TRACE = The empty element. Marked by the symbol e, that is left
in syntactic structure after an element has been moved.
[56] TRANSFORMATION = A type of syntactic rule that can move an
element from one position to another (e.g. Will he leave?)
[57] TRANSFORMATIONAL SYNTAX = A widely accepted approach to
syntactic analysis in which syntactic phenomena are described in
terms of phrase structure rules (which generate deep structures) and
transformations (which generate surface structures).
[58] TREE STRUCTURE = A diagram that represents the details of a
word's or phrase's internal structure.

[59] VERB = (V) A lexical category that typically designates actions,
sensations, and states, can usually be inflected for tense, and
functions as the head of a verb phrase (e.g. see, feel, remain).
[60] WH MOVEMENT = A transformation that moves a wh phrase to
the beginning of the sentence: Move a wh phrase to the specifier
position under CP.

[61] WH QUESTION =A sentence that begins with a wh word
(e.g. Who did you call?)
[62] WORD LEVEL = A level of metrical representation above the foot
level.

PART TWO
PART TWO: SYNTAX
PHRASES. CLAUSES. SENTENCES

PHRASES
A phrase is a sequence of one, two or more words arranged in a grammatical
unit and lacking a finite verb or such elements of clause structure as subject and
verb, as a preposition and a noun or pronoun, an adjective and noun, or an adverb
and verb, especially such a construction acting as a unit in a sentence. Phrases are
usually classified according to their central word Head, e.g. Noun Phrase (NP),
Verb Phrase (VP), Adjective Phrase (AP), Prepositional Phrase (PP), Adverbial
Phrase (AdvP), Conjunction Phrase (ConP), Complementizer Phrase (CP), etc.
Eg.
NP = Tom, the book, the red cat
VP = writes, reads a book, watched a good film yesterday
AP = eager to help people
PP = in the classroom, near the table
AdvP = today, last week.
ConP = a man and a woman
CP (+S) = that he comes

CLAUSES
A clause is a syntactic construction containing a subject and predicate (a
finite verb) and forming part of a sentence or constituting a whole simple sentence.
E.g.
Mary said that she was tired. (two clauses)
I waited.
She married a young engineer.
Because I was late, they went without me. (two clauses)
Clauses can be: main (independent) and subordinate (subclause, dependent),
finite or non-finite.

A main clause (also called simple clause) is a finite clause that has a subject
and a finite verb.
e.g. She failed.
I hurried.

A subordinate clause is a finite clause that gives more information about a
main clause, and is introduced by a conjunction such as because, if, that, or a wh-
word. Subordinate clauses can come in front of, after, or inside the main clause.
E.g.
I hurried (independent clause) because I was late (dependent clause).
When he stopped, no one said anything.
They were going by car because it was more comfortable.
I said that I should like to come.
The man who came into the room was short.

A non-finite clause is a subordinate clause which is based on a participle or
an infinitive (with no subject or conjunction).
E.g.
Not knowing what to do, I telephoned Robin.
I persuaded her to try a new method.
A clause is different from a phrase.
A phrase is a group of words which form a grammatical unit. A phrase does
not contain a finite verb (of a verb form: distinguishing person, number, and tense,
as well as mood or aspect, as opens in She opens the window; of a clause:
containing a finite verb) and does not have a subject-predicate structure.
For example:
I liked her expensive new car.
George hated working in the garden.

SENTENCES
A sentence is the largest unit of grammatical organisation within which parts
of speech (e.g. word, phrase, clause) are said to function. It is a structurally
independent grammatical unit of one or more words, in speech often preceded and
followed by pauses and in writing begun with a capital letter and ended with a
period or other end punctuation, typically consisting of a subject and a predicate
containing a finite verb and expressing a statement, question, request, command or
exclamation.
E.g.
Summer is here.
Who is it?
Stop!
Sentences are made up of one or more clauses, which are the basic units of
grammar. In English, a sentence normally contains one independent clause with a
finite verb. Units which are larger than the sentence (e.g. the paragraph) are
regarded as examples of discourse.
There are 4 (four) types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and
compound-complex (or composite).

A simple sentence consists of one main clause, which has a subject (NP) and
one predicate (VP) with one finite verb (The car has stopped) or elliptical (Where
is John? In the garden); I like milk (predicate).
E.g.
The teacher left.
Her father died ten years ago.
I did not open the letter at once.
Little is known about her way of living.

A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses that are equally
important which means they are jointed by co-ordination:
E.g.
We must all eat proper food, or we'll get sick.
He went to the bar, ordered a drink, and then drank it.
'I came, I saw, I conquered' . (Julius Caesar)
It is an interesting book and yet difficult to follow.
Tom uttered something and then remained silent.
It is strange yet it is true. (two co-ordinated simple sentences)
He is a small boy (ind cl) but he is very strong (ind cl)
I'll either phone you or I will send you a note.
The clauses are joined into one by:
a) punctuation alone (asyndetically, without any conjunction)
e.g. The weather was very bad; all classes were cancelled.
b) punctuation and a conjunctive adverb:
e.g. The weather was very bad; therefore all classes were cancelled.
Conjunctive adverbs are:
copulative (addition): moreover, in addition, besides, not only . but (also),
neither . nor, now, then, furthermore, likewise, moreover, again.
disjunctive (condition): otherwise, else.
adversative (concession): however, still, 12412c221m
12412c221m nevertheless, but, yet, none the less, all the same, on the other
hand, whereas, while.
resultative (result): therefore, consequently, 12412c221m
12412c221m accordingly, so, then, thus, hence.
c) a co-ordinate conjunction (syndetically): and, or, but, yet, so, for.

Co-ordinate conjunctions:
copulative (addition): and
disjunctive (choice): or
adversative (concession, contradiction, contrast): but
resultative (result, consequence, conclusion): so
explanatory (cause): for
E.g.
He is an intelligent student, and he takes interest in students.
We must eat proper food, or we'll get sick.
There are many mistakes but I prefer not to speak about them.
He is a good boy so he'll manage on his own.
I cannot give you the book, for there is great demand for it.
Similarly, compound sentences may be of the same types:
a) copulative (denoting addition): and, not only. but (also), neither . nor, now,
then, furthermore, besides, likewise, moreover, again, in addition, etc.
e.g. First he did his homework, then he went to the cinema.
b) disjunctive (indicating choice): or, either . or, else, otherwise, etc.
e.g. Either come in or go out.
c) adversative (denoting contradiction or contrast): but, yet, still, however,
nevertheless, none the less, all the same, on the other hand, whereas, while, etc.
e.g. I like tea, whereas / while Joe likes coffee.
d) resultative (denoting inference, consequence, conclusion): so, therefore, then,
thus, hence, accordingly, consequently, etc.
e.g. They broke the rules; so they had to leave.
e) explanatory (giving explanations): for
e.g. I went to bed, for it was late.
The act or state of co-ordinating or of being co-ordinated is known as co-
ordination.
Co-ordination is the linking by co-ordinators of clauses and other sentence
parts of equal meaning and grammatical value, e.g. He was conscious of the
elegance of his beard and beautiful hands; He seemed extremely troubled and
looked up nervously. (When we co-ordinate 2 (two) clauses into a compound
sentence we do not repeat the same subject and auxiliary in the second clause).
Co-ordination can link:
Nouns: He made a few friends and many enemies.
Adjectives: She was lean and half-starved.
Adverbials: Autumn is lengthening into winter, slowly but surely.
Conjunctions: I don't know if or when.
Co-ordination can link:
Words: He works quickly and efficiently.
Phrases: Bored by the conversation, but not wanting to leave, he walked out
into the garden.
Clauses: He said that he was tired and that he was going to bed.
A complex sentence has one main clause (on which the subclause depends)
and one or more subclauses (subordinate/dependent clauses) joined by subordinate
conjunctions, e.g. as if, when, after, before, etc.

A dependent (subclause, subordinate) clause contains a full subject and a
predicate with a finite verb and begins with a word that attaches the clause to an
independent clause (called the main clause). According to function in the sentence,
sub-clauses may be:
1. Noun Clauses
E.g. I can't understand why you did such a thing.
2. Adjective Clauses (Relative)
E.g. Children who are under twelve must be accompanied by parents.
3. Adverbial Clauses
E.g. All classes were cancelled because the weather was bad.

Besides conjunctions, relatives, e.g. as, that, some wh-words (relatives),
related adverbs, e.g. so, once, or correlatives, e.g. but . also, either . or, rather .
than, but . and, neither . nor, not only . but also, just as . than, not so much . as,
never . nor, both . and, can be used as subordinators. It is a combination of
independent and subordinate (dependent) clauses.
The act or state of subordinating or being subordinated is known as
subordination. Subordinating conjunctions introduce subordinate clauses. They do
not have to link two clauses. They can introduce the first clause in a sentence.
E.g.
All classes were cancelled because the weather was bad.
He looks as if he needs sleep.
Once you have decided, you have to stick to it. (related adverb)
You can either take the book or leave it with me. (correlatives)
From then on, John was more careful.
When the jar was full, he turned the water off.
He speaks very little English, so I talked to him through an interpreter. (related
adverb)
Mary neither likes him, nor wants to see him. (correlatives)
Not only has she been late three times but she has also done no
work. (correlatives)
The man I was talking to is a professor. (subordinate clause with no
introductory subordinator).
I would rather like a cup of coffee than a glass of wine. (correlatives)
I could never forgive him, nor forget what he had done. (correlatives)
A compound-complex (composite) sentence is a mixture of compound and
complex sentences. It contains two or more independent clauses and one or more
dependent clauses.
E.g.
All classes were cancelled because the weather was bad, and students were told to
listen to the radio to find out when classes would begin again.
Shakespeare wrote his plays (main clause) while he was working for the Lord
Chamberlain's Men (subordinate clause) andthis explains (main clause) why he
knew so much about stagecraft. (subordinate clause).


THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
The smallest sentence unit consists of: NP + VP
The NP has the syntactic function of subject, and has the pattern: DETERMINER + MODIFIERS + NOUN
The VP has the syntactic function of predicate, and has the pattern: VERB (auxiliary / operator)
+ PREDICATION (OBJECT: DO, IO, PIO, PO) / COMPLEMENT (SC / OC) / ADVERBIAL MODIFIERS (Adverbial Clauses)
E.g.
His good friend gave him a nice present on his birthday.
NP = his good friend
VP (predication) = gave him a nice present on his birthday
Verb = gave
Objects = him (IO); a nice present (DO)
Adverbial Modifier = on his birthday
They elected him chairman.
NP = they
VP (predication) = elected him chairman.
Verb = elected
Object = him (DO)
Complement = chairman (OC)

Main Structures of Simple Sentence. Clause Types

Languages are generally classified in typological groups according to the clause pattern that is the most frequent in
that particular language. As such, there are 7 (seven) basic patterns in English: one is a two-element pattern, two are three-
element patterns, and three are four-element patterns.
1. SV - The child was laughing.
2. SVOd - We need a teacher.
3. SVCs - John is a teacher.
4. SVAdvM - Mary is here.
5. SVOdCo - We have proved him wrong.
6. SVOdAdvM - I put the plate on the table.
7. SVOiOd - She gives me expensive presents.
Other possible clause patterns, mostly used in speech, are:
1. SVOiOdCo - She gave us our coffee black.
2. SVOiOd - She gave us our coffee.
3. SVOdAdvM (Co) - They dragged him home (blind drunk).
4. SV (Co) OdC - We have proved wrong the clerk.
5. SV (AdvM) OdAdvM - He took from his pocket a handful of gleaming coins.
6. (AdvM) SV (AdvM) - Sometimes she sings beautifully.
7. S (AdvM) V OIOd - She has kindly sent us some photographs.
THE SUBJECT AND PREDICATE GROUPS

Modern conceptions state and prove the fact that in a sentence most
of the information is transmitted through the PREDICATE GROUP (the
verb plus objects, plus complements, or plus adverbial modifiers), while
theSUBJECT GROUP (the noun or noun equivalents plus attributes) is the
element spoken about, described, analysed, positioned, etc., or merely a
referential element, used as a support for the new quantity of information
conveyed. In the same terms, the subject group is defined as the theme or
topic, while the predicate group is described as the rheme (Cf. A. Bantas),
or experiencer / comment (Cf. Quirk) i.e. the element of action, of
movement, the carrier of the essential information about the theme.
The subject of a sentence may consist of a clause (That she
answered the question correctly pleased him enormously), but usually of
a NP. It may consist of a pronoun (It rained steadily all day; He had given
the girl an apple), or of a single common or proper
noun (Universities gradually became famous in Europe during the Middle
Ages; John heard the explosion from his office when he was locking the
door). But it may be anindeterminately long structure (uncommon) having a
noun as head, preceded by other words such as an article, an adjective, or
another noun, and followed by a PP or/and by a relative clause. (The new
gas stove in the kitchen which I bought last month has a very efficient
oven). Again, a subject may be a nominal relative (Whoever breaks this
law deserves a fine).
Subject complements, direct objects, and object complements may
be realised by the same range of structures as subjects, but subject and
object complements have the additional possibility of being realised by AP
(having an adjective as head) (She made him very much happier; His
brother grew happier gradually).
Indirect objects, on the other hand, have fewer possibilities than
subjects, and their realisations are chiefly NP (He had given the girl an
apple; That she answered the question correctly pleased him enormously);
unlike direct objects and subjects they cannot be realised by that-clauses
(She saw that it rained all day; That she answered the question
correctly pleased him enormously).
Finally, adverbials can be realised by AdvP (having an adverb as
head), e.g. John carefully searched the room; It rained steadily all day; by
NP (It rained steadily all day; They make him the chairman every year); by
PP (structures consisting of a NP dominated by a preposition), e.g. The girl
is now a student at a large university; and by finite clauses (His brother
grew happier when his friend arrived) or non-finite clauses (Having been
challenged rudely in the street, John was angry).


A. THE SUBJECT GROUP (THE NOUN PHRASE).
THE NOUN / NOMINAL CLAUSE)

The Subject Group consists of the noun or noun equivalents (e.g. pronouns, numerals) plus attributes. The Subject
Group is also called the Noun Phrase (NP) and has the syntactic function of Subject.
The subject, or NP (in English grammar):
a. typically precedes the main verb in a sentence and is most
closely related to it.
b. determines Concord
c. refers to something about which a statement or assertion is made
in the rest of the sentence.
That part of the sentence containing the verb or Verb Group (VP)
and which may include Objects, Complements, or Adverbials) is known
as the Predicate (syntactic function). The predicate is that part of the
sentence which predicates something of the subject. For example:
Subject 12412c221m Predicate
The woman smiled.
Fish 12412c221m is good for you.
DEFINITION

The term phrase is used to mean group(s) of words e.g. the
student or single words, e.g. Henry, they.
The Noun Phrase (NP) is a word or group of words with a noun or a
noun substitute (pronoun or numeral) as its head and functioning like a
noun in a sentence.
CHARACTERISTICS
Its function is equivalent to that of a noun, e.g. Living alone in the
sentence Living alone has its advantages.
The NP can consist of a single noun or pronoun, or of a noun or
pronoun with modifiers, e.g. Henry, theassignment, happiness, he, it,
somebody, the white iron gate of the house, the assignment which Henry
had to write, he who runs, etc.
Besides nouns as heads (Mary, staff, friend, present, word),
occasionally we use pronouns and adjectives as heads of NPs, e.g. One of
the worst (pronoun as head); the blue of his eyes (adjective as head).
In some Traditional Grammars, a Participial or Infinitive phrase which
could be replaced by a noun or pronoun, for example, the participial
phrase mowing the lawn in:
George just hates mowing the lawn.
could be replaced by it:
12412c221m George just hates it.

CONSTITUENTS (of a NP)
A Deteminer (Det) is a word which is used with a noun, and which
limits the meaning of the noun in some way. For example, in English the
following words can be used as determiners:
a. ARTICLES, e.g. a pencil, the garden
b. DEMONSTRATIVES, e.g. this box, that car
c. POSSESSIVES, e.g. her house, my bicycle
d. QUANTIFIERS, e.g. some milk, many people
e. NUMERALS, e.g. the first day, three chairs.
The Head is the central part of a phrase. Other elements in the phrase are
in some grammatical or semantic relationship to the head. For example, in
the English NP: the fat lady in the floral dress the noun lady is the head of
the phrase.
A Modifier is a word or group of words which gives further information
about ("modifies") another word or group of words (the Head).
Modification may occur in a NP, a VP, an AP, an AdvP, etc.
a. Modifiers before the head are called premodifiers, for
example expensive in this expensive camera.
b. Modifiers after the head are called postmodifiers, for example with a
stumpy tail in The cat with a stumpy(short and thick) tail.
A Constituent is a linguistic unit, (usually in sentence analysis) which is
part of a larger construction.
The Constituents of a NP are:
Determiner + Premodifier + Noun Head + Postmodifier
E.g. The nice lady in grey
the = determiner
nice = premodifier
lady = noun head
in grey = postmodifier
E.g. the sheltered western site away from the ocean
the sheltered western = premodifier
site = head
away from the ocean = postmodifier
a white door which led to a beautiful walled garden
a white = premodifier
door = head
which led to a beautiful walled garden = postmodifier
Determiners can be specified or non-specified
E.g. The students are good.
Students are good.
Premodifiers can be quantifiers or qualifiers.
E.g. The two beautiful women
two = quantifier
beautiful = qualifier

A Qualifier is, in Traditional Grammar, any linguistic unit (e.g. an adjective,
a phrase, or a clause) that is part of a Noun Phrase and gives added
information about the noun.
For example, her, expensive, and from Paris are qualifiers in the
NP: her expensive blouse from Paris.
In Halliday's Functional Grammar, a qualifier is any linguistic unit that
is part of a group, gives added information about the Head of the group,
and follows the head.
For example, from Paris is a qualifier in the noun group her
expensive blouse from Paris.
A Quantifier is a word or phrase which is used with a noun, and
which shows quantity. Some quantifiers in English are: many, few, little,
several, much, a lot of, plenty of, a piece of, a loaf of, three kilograms of,
etc.
SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS
Noun phrases may function:
a) as subject of a sentence:
E.g. Mary looked at the boy attentively.
The red dress on the bed is hers. The blue one is mine.
The cinema staff was very polite.
b) As object:
E.g.
Have you seen these Romanian paintings? I've seen all of them. (direct
objects)
He gave his friend a nice present. (indirect object; direct object)
c) As subject complement:
E.g. He is one of the worst candidates. He is one of them.
d) As object complement:
E.g. They elected him President of the company.
e) As object of a preposition:
E.g. She left without another word.
He lives in a big house.
I am waiting for one of them.
f) As adverbial modifier:
E.g. Walk that way. I wrote to him last month.
g) As premodifier:
E.g. This is the Queen of England's Palace.
h) As postmodifier:
E.g. It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the great American romancer.
i) As free modifier:
E.g. A professional man, he retired when his wife died. He felt helpless, a
spectator who had enough troubles of his own.
DETERMINERS
A determiner / a determinative is a word used in front of a noun
and before any adjectives in the phrase to indicate whether you are
referring to a specific thing or just to something of a particular type. It may
function as an adjunct word (a. modifying word or phrase depending on
some other word or phrase; b. an element of clause structure with adverbial
function. in a noun phrase)
E.g.
all the day
three whole years
enough trouble
either arm
There are two types of determiners: specific and general.
Specific determiners are used to help to identify persons or things, when
the person you are talking to will know which person or thing you are
referring to. They are:
a) articles: a / an, the
b) possessive determiners: my, your, his, her, our, your, their.
c) demonstrative determiners: this, that, these, those.
e.g. The man began to run towards the boy.
e.g. I'd been waiting a long time to park my car.
E.g. Young people don't like these operas.
We cannot put two determiners from any group a, b, c together,
e.g. a / my / this/ book.
General determiners (most of them quantifiers) say how much or
how many we are talking about. They are used when you are mentioning
people or things for the first time, or talking about them generally without
saying exactly which ones you mean. They are:
Some, any, no
Each, every, either, neither
Much, many, more, most
Little, less, least
A few, fewer, fewest
Enough, several
All, both, half
What, whatever, which, whichever
One, two, three, etc., other
E.g.
There were several reasons for this.
You can stop at any time you like.
There was a man in the lift.

We can put together two general determiners if the combination
makes sense,
E.g.
We meet every few days.
Have you got any more coffee?
Determiners usually precede the noun they determine, but we do not
use them in random order. According to that criterion, we identify 3 (three)
groups of determiners: predeterminers, central determiners,
postdeterminers.
a) Predeterminers
E.g.
some quantifiers: all, both, half
multipliers: once, twice, double, etc.
intensifiers: such, what.
b) Central determiners (the most important group)
E.g.
articles: a, an, the
demonstratives: this, that, these, those
possessives: my, your, his, her , our, their
some quantifiers; some, any, no, etc.
wh-determiners: what, which, whose
Not all predeterminers can be used with all central determiners - for
semantic reasons. But where we use two or more determiners together, the
order is as follows:
Predeterminer + Central + Noun
E.g.
all that year
both these girls
half the distance
just her appearance
only the prize

Predeterminer + of + Central Determiner + Noun (Countable Nouns)
E.g.
each of these girls
enough of his money
a large number of books
either of the films

Predeterminer(s) + of + Central Determiner + Noun (Countable Nouns)
E.g.
a few more of those cakes
plenty more of our books
two or three more of the teachers
any more of my brothers
Central + Postdeterminer + Noun
E.g.
the other side
the third time
her two hands
the same thing

Predeterminer + Central Determiner + Postdeterminer(s) + Noun (less
frequently)
E.g.
all these six boys
only the first two days
half my books
all the other days
MODIFIERS
A modifier is a word or group of words which comes in front of a
noun and adds information about the thing which the noun refers to. They
usually stand between any determiners and the head in a NP, making its
meaning more precise:
e.g. the two leading social orders
the two = determiners
leading social = premodifiers
orders = head

Modification is a structure and it may be described in terms of the
arrangements of the units of which it is composed:
PREMODIFIER + NOUN HEAD + POSTMODIFIER
A premodifier (quantifier or qualifier) is a unit (a word, phrase, or
sometimes a clause) that is placed between the determiner(s) and the noun
head (unless it is one of the degree modifiers of a modifier):
e.g. a very interesting book
Premodifiers (determiners and pronouns) are also called quantifiers
because they show quantity or amount, e.g. all, both, each, half, every,
neither, nor, no one; they are also called qualifiers because they show
quality, e.g.beautiful, gorgeous, ugly, interesting.
A postmodifier is a unit (a word, a phrase, or a clause)
immediately following the noun head, giving more precise meaning to the
head. Postmodification is also called noun complementation, i.e. these
postmodifiers, mostly abstract nouns, are complements that complete the
meaning of the head.
E.g.
a very interesting book to read.
a man of strong will

Premodifiers can be:
a) adjectives:
E.g.
This is the main part of the course.
A harder mattress often helps with back injuries.
After the crossroads look out for the large white building.
b) nouns:
E.g.
The tennis teacher is in the gym.
. the music industry
c) adverbs:
E.g.
The overhead projector is there.
. merely a matter of routine
. the now secretary
the downstairs television room
d) compounds:
E.g. . easy-going people
. heavily-built machine
. a four-month-long winter
. the floor-washing mornings
e) sentences:
E.g.
a live-and-let-live individualism
devil-may-care characters
stick-in-the-mud opinion
a wash-at-night-and-wear-in-the-morning dress
Postmodifiers can be:
a) adjectives:
E.g.
William the Silent
It is the only thing notable
It is the only solution possible. (which is possible)
A road fifty feet wide
The house ablaze (on fire) is next door to ours.
Compare: the stars visible (at a time specified)
12412c221m the visible stars (at appropriate times)
Notes:
1. The following adjectives: elect ('soon to take office'), proper ('as strictly
defined'), absent, present, concerned, involved
E.g. the president elect
syntax proper
all the people present
The idea came from the party concerned.
You will be informed about the event by the person available.
2. In a few fixed phrases: court martial, attorney general, body politic,
heir apparent, letters patent, Knighterrant, the Theatre Royal, the
Post Laureate, from times immemorial, the Postmaster General,
proof positive, chairman elect, heir presumptive, postmaster general,
lords spiritual, lords temporal, astronomer royal.
b) adverbs:
E.g. down in the cellar beneath
the long march back
he alone
the crowd outside
a reflection of life today in Romania
The house there is ours.
The discussion afterward was very interesting.
c) prepositional phrase:
E.g. a man with long hair
his criticism of the project
authors of today
The walls of my room are white.
Look at the wings of this butterfly.
They helped the children of the poor.
. pile of stones ('Partitive Genitive')
. a man of tact ('Qualitative Genitive')
. his angel of a wife ('Appositive Genitive')
. We'll be staying with friends of Joe's, ('The Double Genitive')
d) noun (apposition)
Apposition is the use of a word or phrase immediately following
another word or phrase and referring to the same person or thing.
E.g.
Paris, the capital of France
This novel was written by Dickens, the great English writer.
A noun (phrase) in apposition is used to qualify or identify another
noun. Noun phrases in apposition are of equal rank, stand next to each
other and refer to the same person or thing.
With the stress upon the apposition, we have: Uncle Tom, Professor
Albu, Aunt Mary, My friend Joe, Captain Cook, The river Thames, etc.
e) clauses (relative and appositive)
E.g.
That's the boy who found it. (relative clause)
The belief is that Michael has been sent to India. (appositive clause)
I bought this dictionary, which has helped me a lot. (relative clause)
The news that he has died is not true. (appositive clause)
He was no older than his brother, who had been killed at his side. (relative
clause)
It's a question of how to attain it. (appositive clause)
12412c221m
Notes:
The head preceding an appositive clause is always an abstract noun,
like: appeal, belief, decision, idea, news, thought, hope, sign, indication,
rumour, doubt, certainty, certitude, likelihood, possibility, probability,
evidence, fact, proof.
Appositive clauses are nominal clauses marked off by commas, which
have a similar relationship to the preceding noun head. They may be:
- That clauses, e.g. She sent a message that Castor would be out.
- Wh clauses, e.g. Lewis knew what bitterness was in his mind.
- To- Infinitive clauses, e.g. I do not mean to be rude.

Both appositive and relative clauses may start with that. But appositive
clauses may not start with which, as relative can. So where which can
alternate with that, the clause is likely to be relative and not appositive.
E.g.
The premature news that this battle was lost . caused
consternation. (appositive clause)
The premature news that / which said the battle was lost . caused
consternation. (relative clause)
Appositive clauses may be defining and non-defining:
E.g.
Mary had a strong belief that her husband intended to leave her. (defining)
Mary's belief, that her husband intended to leave her, resulted in
reality. (non-defining)

THE NOUN (also NOMINAL) CLAUSE
A noun clause is a clause which acts as the subject or object of a
sentence.
E.g. Lucy told me why she was worried.
Nominal is:
1. a term used instead of a Noun.
2. A term for a linguistic unit which has some but not all characteristics
of a noun, e.g. wounded in The wounded were taken by helicopter to the
hospital.
Although wounded is the Head of the noun phrase the wounded and
is preceded by an article, it would not be modified by an adjective but by an
adverb, e.g. the seriously wounded.
A Nominal Clause (also a Noun Clause) is a clause which
functions like a noun or noun phrase; that is, which may occur as subject,
object complement, in apposition, or as prepositional complement.
For example:
Nominal clause as subject: What she said is awful.
Nominal clause as object: I don't know what she said
Nominalization is the grammatical process of forming nouns from
other parts of speech, usually verbs or adjectives. For example, in English:
nominalized forms from the verb to write: writing, writer as in: His writing is
illegible. Her mother is a writer.

Noun clauses are introduced by the following subordinators:
Conjunctions: that, whether, if (as if);
Pronouns: who (whoever, whomever), what (whatever,
whatsoever), which (whichever, whichsoever);
Adverbs: where, when, how, why.

NOTES:
- the most common subordinator is that
- whatsoever and whichsoever are archaic.
SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS:
Noun clauses may function as:
1. Subject (S)
E.g.
That all of them are happy is visible.
What she said is unclear.
How he got into the house is a mystery.
It (preparatory) + V + SC + S (sentence)
E.g.
It is strange that they did not come at all.
It is necessary that we should learn for the exam.
It + V + S (sentence)
E.g. It seemed that the meeting would never end.
Does it matter whether I tell you the truth or not?
NOTE: The subject clauses are never separated by a comma.
2. Subject Complement (SC)
E.g.
You became what you you had always wanted to be.
That is why she came to see me.
It looks as if it were going to rain.
This is where we work.
The trouble is that I am short of money.
3. Object (O)
NOTE: This is the most usual function of the noun clause.
An object clause (i.e. a noun clause which is the object of a verb) may be:
A statement:
a. S + V + DO (=that-clause; lest, etc.)
E.g.
She said that she had been ill.
He suggested that we should read the whole novel.
I think that they will accept the invitation.
I feared lest he should fail. (formal style)
I am afraid he might fail. (informal style)
b. S + V + (to + IO) PIO + DO
We suggested to her that he might be the thief.
S + V + it (DO) + OC + DO (clause)
E.g. We considered it a compliment that the BC should visit our university.
I thought it right that he should be invited.
S + V + DO (=Subordinator + Clause)
E.g. He asked whether I had bought a new car.
I wonder what it is.
I know how hard you worked.
S + V + IO + DO (clause)
E.g. He told me what the time was.
S + V + PO (Preposition+ Subordinator + Clause)
E.g. It depends on whether they arrive in time.
THE SUBJECT
DEFINITION
The subject is a syntactic unit that functions as one of the two main
constituents of a sentence, the other being the predicate, and that consists
of a noun, noun phrase, or noun substitute typically referring to the one
performing the action or being in the state expressed by the predicate,
as I in I gave notice.
E.g.
The students like to listen to good music.
Men are used to working harder than women.
The chief export of Cuba is sugar.

In an active clause, the subject is the part of the clause that refers to
the person or thing that does the action indicated by the verb, or that is in
the state indicated by the verb.
E.g.
Helen broke another glass today.
Oil floats on water.
In a passive clause, the subject refers to the person or thing that is
affected by an action or involved in someone's thoughts.
E.g.
She had been taught logic by an uncle.
The examination is regarded as an arbitrary, unnecessary barrier.
The subject is that principal part of the sentence which shows who /
what performs the action expressed by the predicate or to whom / to what a
feature or characteristic expressed by the predicate is ascribed.
You do not add a pronoun after the subject in a clause, e.g. you do
not say 'My sister she came to see me yesterday'. You say 'My sister came
to see me yesterday'.

AGREEMENT
The verb in a clause should agree with the subject. This means it
should have an appropriate form depending on whether the subject is
singular, uncountable, or plural.
E.g.
He wears striped shirts.
People wear wollen clothing here even on hot days.
POSITION

The subject occupies fixed positions in the English sentence.
In a statement, the subject usually comes in front of the verb.
E.g. I want to talk to the teacher.
In questions, the subject comes after an auxiliary or after the verb 'be',
unless the subject is a wh-word or begins with a wh-word.
E.g.
Has he been to the seaside?
Why are you here?
Who taught you to read?
Which library has the book?
In an imperative clause, there is usually no subject.
E.g. Show the draft of the paper.
In writing mainly, the main verb is put in front of the subject when an
adverbial of place is put at the beginning of a clause.
E.g. Behind the desk was a middle-aged woman.
Inversion also takes place in speech after here and there when you are
drawing attention to something.
E.g.
Here comes the cloud of smoke.
There's another one.
*You do not use inversion when the subject is a personal pronoun.
E.g.
Here he comes.
There she goes.
Inversion occurs when broad negative adverbs or other negative
adverbials, E.g. only when / then are put at the beginning of a clause for
emphasis. This structure is used in formal speech and writing.
E.g.
Never in my life have I met such a beautiful girl.
Only when he saw her again, did he realise he was in love with her.
Only then did he start meeting her again.
You use inversion after so when you are saying that the previous
positive statement also applies to another person or group.
E.g.
'I read a lot. ' So do I'.
*When so is used to express surprise or to emphasise that someone
should do something, inversion does not occur:
E.g.
'It is on the table behind you'. 'So it is'.
'I feel very guilty about it'. 'So you should'.
You use inversion after neither and nor when you are saying that the
previous negative statement also applies to another person or group.
E.g.
You have read neither the book nor have written the report.
'I cannot remember'. 'Neither can I'.
Inversion of subject and predicate also occurs in conditional clauses that
are not introduced by a conjunction. This structure is formal.
E.g.
Had he been to the party, he would have met Jane.
Inversion can also occur in comparisons after as:
E.g.
I read a lot for this exam as did all my colleagues.
KINDS OF SUBJECTS
Subjects may be simple, compound, coordinated, complex, and
double.

Simple subjects are expressed by one word, usually a noun or a
noun equivalent, possibly accompanied by attributes.
E.g.
A train was coming in.
Whistling would be heard.
Compound subjects, although expressed by two or several
elements (nouns), represent one person or one thing.
E.g.
Here comes my lord and master.
Drinking and smoking ages man.
Michelangelo, the painter and poet was born in Florence.
The agreement is in the singular. Sometimes they may not refer to one thing but they are perceived as one entity.
E.g.
Strawberries and cream is delicious.
To read and to write until midnight is tiring.
Coordinated subjects include two or more elements which refer to
several notions joined by coordinating conjunctions. Agreement is usually
in the plural.
E.g.
A boaster and a liar are cousin-germans.

In the case of two alternative subjects connected by or, the predicate
will agree with the noun closer to the verb.
E.g.
The teacher or the pupils are at fault.
Either she or we are going home.

In the case of two subjects linked by as well as, besides, like, unlike,
in addition to, together with, and not, except, but agreement is with the first
subject:
E.g. Liese together with some other colleagues is in the classroom.

In the case of two subjects connected by not only . but, the predicate
agrees to the subject closer to the verb:
E.g. Not only I but the teacher thinks it right.
Complex subjects are subjects (or rather subject phrases) made up
of heterogeneous elements.
a. The for-to phrase
E.g.
For him to do that is rather difficult.
b. The Nominative with the Infinitive
E.g.
He is said to be a good student.
c. The Nominative with the Indefinite Participle
E.g.
The students were seen taking part in the course.

d. Subordinate Subject Clauses
E.g. That he will manage is beyond any doubt.
Double subjects appear only in folk poetry, in nursery rhymes and
in careless speech and consists in both a noun and a pronoun which is a
substitute for the former (clearly a case of redundancy).
E.g.
O, my trade it is the rarest one.
The subject may be expressed by:
1. NP (including noun substitutes)
E.g.
Every ass loves to hear himself bray. (English proverb)
Beauty is but skin-deep. (abstract noun)
Riding is joy. (verbal noun)
The Henry I knew was another man. (proper name)
"Petru Maior" University is a state university. (fixed group of words)
He is absent. (pronoun).
Five of them were present. (numeral)
But is a conjunction. (substantivised part of speech)
Yesterday will not be called again. (substantivised part of speech)
2. Verbal Phrase (Infinitive Phrase, Gerundial Phrase)
E.g.
To promise and to give nothing is comfort to a fool. (IP)
He said that bringing home his mother would save his mother. (GP)
3. A clause
E.g. Whoever broke it needs a good lesson.
That they come is not certain.
What is worth doing is worth doing well.
Classification
From the point of view of their semantic content / value, i.e. the
amount of meaning which they convey:
grammatical subject = is connected with the predicate and there is
agreement between the two.
Logical / real / notional subject = points to the agent, i.e. to the real
author or doer of the action.
Usually, the grammatical subject is identical with the logical subject.
There are, however, two categories of exceptions:
a. passive constructions
E.g.
This bed (grammatical subject) has not been slept in by anyone (logical
subject).
b. introductory constructions (it, there, here)
It (grammatical subject) is nice of you to have come (logical
subject); There it comes again. (anticipatory it andthere)
Here we ride (exclamatory)
It is he who broke the window. (real subject is emphasised)
It was his sister that I met in the hall. (direct object is emphasised)
It was to him that I spoke, not to her. (indirect object is emphasised)
It was about you that I was talking, not about him. (prepositional object
is emphasised)
It is but reluctantly that I gave my consent. (adverbial modifier of manner is
emphasised)
It was in a frightful snowstorm that he arrived at the chalet. (adverbial
modifier of attending circumstances is emphasised)
It was at the library that I lost my book. (adverbial modifier of place is
emphasised)
It was long ago that I met him. (adverbial modifier of time is emphasised)
Introductory it (grammatical subject) also known as anticipatory it or
preparatory it is used to start a sentence when the it replaces a subject
clause which is now placed at the end of the sentence:
E.g.
. it was plain that her interest was in England. (the usual word order
would be That her interest was inEngland was plain.)
When the subject is a clause, we often prefer to replace the subject +
predicate structure by the introductoryit + predicate + subject structure.
Any kind of noun clause can take introductory it. There is a tendency
in English to put longer parts of a sentence towards the end, giving them
end-weight. We often use introductory it with a that-clause, to show our
attitude:
e.g. It was quite clear that she could not make head or tail of my
announcement (logical subject).
The normal word order would be That she could not make head or
tail of my announcement was quite clear, is less acceptable than the
example with introductory it.
In fact, with one exception, the -ing clauses, the end-position subject
clause after introductory it is more common than the corresponding normal
sequence of subject + predicate.
E.g.
It is obvious that to lead such an existence and make so great a success of
it, you must both have needed a strong will and a determined character!
Smoking is forbidden!
For the it construction using appear, follow, happen, seem,
transpire and other verbs, there is no possible normal equivalent:
E.g.
It appeared that everything was settled.
The following types of clauses can follow introductory it:
A to-infinitive clause
E.g.
It was impossible not to laugh.
A wh-clause
E.g.
It was known where he was staying.
A as if / though clauses
E.g. It looked as if it was going to rain.
A -ing clause:
E.g.
It was nice taking care of him.
A since clause:
E.g.
It is a long time since I last saw him.

Remember that introductory it always occurs first in a sentence, or
immediately after an adverbial. Do not confuse introductory it with
empty it as in It was about five years after the event that I decided to live
in Paris for a time.
Introductory (also existential there)
Many English sentences start with an unstressed there usually
followed by some form of be.
E.g. There is something strange about his way of behaving.
In such sentences, there is an empty, grammatical subject, with the
notional subject place later (postponed) in the sentence, thereby giving it
focus:
e.g. There are six people present in my room already. (also called
existential there)
There = grammatical subject
are = verb
six people = notional / logical subject
present = complement
in my small room / already = adverbial modifiers
A less likely sentence would be: Six people are present in my small
room already.
There is / are, however, introduce not only the idea of existence, but
of happening as well. In that case, we can substitute there by to exist or to
occur.
E.g.
There has been an accident on the road to Oradea.

Impersonal subjects (also Impersonal Constructions) do not refer to a
definite /well-established person or thing. Such subjects may be used to
denote time and weather, distance or the state of things in general.
They refer to:
time (chronological)
E.g. It was nearly the time of full moon.
lapse of time
E.g. It is a month since we last met.
weather
E.g. It is cold.
natural phenomena
E.g. It thunders / lightens
distance
E.g.
It is 5 miles to the next town.
PECULIARITIES OF ENGLISH USAGE
The subject is not repeated in an enumeration of predicates:
E.g.
He came, saw, and conquered.
The subject is generally omitted in constructions beginning with as:
E.g.
as usual, as is normal, as is but natural, as was to be expected, as
was shown elsewhere.
Unlike Romanian grammar, English grammar requires an expressed
subject in the great majority of cases. The omission of the subject, much
less frequent than in other languages, is however possible (in certain
styles) with co-ordinated predicates and in set phrases.
Reflexive-passive constructions in Romanian, with an impersonal
subject (se) are generally rendered in English by passive constructions
whose subject is:
a. it - se spune -It is said.
b. Nominative + Infinitive - He is said.
c. The object - Films were shown.
Dative constructions (imi place, mi-e foame) - I liked / enjoyed the
picture.
B. THE PREDICATE GROUP (THE VERB PHRASE)

DEFINITION

The predicate is a syntactic unit that functions as one of the two
main constituents of a sentence, the other being the subject, and that
consists of a verb and any words governed by the verb or modifying it,
as objects,complements, or adverbs, the whole often expressing the action
performed by or the state attributed to the subject, as is here in The
package is here.
E.g.
I turned my head.
I = Subject / Topic
turned my head = Predicate / Comment / Experiencer

The predicate in complete sentences always contains a verb, a
complement, or a direct object and an indirect object, and sometimes an
adverbial.
The two parts of the predicate are the operator and the predication.
E.g.
I must go home these days.
I = subject
must go = predicate (verb phrase)
must = operator (inflection)
go home these days = predication (verb + adverbial modifiers)
The operator is the first, or the only auxiliary verb in a sentence. In
the sentence I may have just missed the party, there are two
auxiliaries, may and have, but only the first one, may is the operator. The
operator is important in the forming of interrogatives, negative declarations
and other constructions. Where there is no operator in a simple declarative
sentence, like I know, we use the verb do as a dummy operator to form
questions, e.g. Do you know?, and negatives, e.g. I do not know.

The predication is always the rest of the predicate, in this case have
just missed the party.
We change the order of the subject and the operator to make other
kinds of sentences from declaratives. This inversion is found in:
Yes / No questions: Have you parted company?
Wh-questions: Why have you parted company?
Negative questions: Can't you understand that?
Question tags: I'll pack them, shall I?
Response questions: I gave Tim a present. Oh, did you?
Fronting of negative and semi-negatives: Nor is there anything like one's
hatred for an ex-spouse.
Fronting of so (meaning me too): I feel shy now. So do I.
Hypothetical conditions with omitted if: I Should we meet again, I would
reveal my love for her.
The operator is important in the process of ellipsis.
A. We often omit the subject and operator, e.g. in:
Statements: Where's Ann? Gone to the cinema.
Questions: It is far more likely she will laugh. Laugh?
Coordinate clauses: There were murmurs from the kitchen, then silence.
Sub-clauses: The town seemed deserted at that hour, though shining in
the daytime.
B. We sometimes omit the operator alone, e.g. You love me?
C. We usually omit the predication in:
Short answers: Why have you married her? I haven't.
Response questions: She agrees. Does she?
Question tags: You still love Danny, don't you?
Sub-clauses: So you want to be a writer. I feel I can.
The operator and predication also figure in the process of substitution.
Substitutes for the predication include:
Do: I couldn't meet him. At least, I could have done it, if I didn't mind his
meeting another girl, but I do, I'm jealous.
So: So am I.
Do this: Other women have done this.
Do so: A woman has always kept to self-esteem and vanity. In doing so,
she has lost many times.
The operator is important in 3 (three) ways:
1. We add not or n't to the operator to form negative declaratives and
interrogatives:
E.g.
Why shouldn't you have a private place?
2. In affirmative sentences with an operator, the middle position for
adverbs is immediately after the operator:
E.g.
I should instantly (Adv) have been sick.
3. When we want to put emphasis on the modal meaning of a spoken
sentence, we put the intonation nucleus on the operator, whether the
meaning is positive or negative:
E.g.
Well, I think it was like that.
How could you have told her?

The verb (phrase) may be finite (showing tense, mood, aspect and
voice) or non-finite (not showing tense or mood but still capable of
indicating aspect and voice):
E.g.
He had given the girl an apple. (finite)
Having been challenged rudely in the street, John was angry. (non-
finite)
Formal Classification of Verb Phrases (Predicates)

According to form VP may be:
1. V: The phone rings. He has arrived.
2. V + NP: We saw this film. I know him.
3. V + AP: It is nice. He is proud of her.
4. V + ValP (Verbal Phrase): I want to meet her.
5. V + PP: He is waiting for his brother.
6. V + AdvP: Come here. He behaves well.
7. V + CL (Clause): I know where it is. He asks if I am happy.
Combinations:
8. V + NP + NP: She gave the child an apple; They elected him president.
9. V + NP + AP: He painted it blue.
10. V + NP + ValP: We made them do it; She saw the thief running
away.
11. V + NP + PP: He gave them to his brother; Thank you for coming.
12. V + PP + NP: She dictated (to) me the letter.
13. V + NP + Cl: She asked me if I knew him; He told us that he had not
found it.
14. V + PP + CL: He confessed to her that he had spent all his money.
C. Functional Classification of VP (Predicates)
According to function VP can be:
1. V (Predicate): Birds fly. He has been hurt.
2. V + SC: She is happy. The leaves have turned red.
3. V + DO: I cut my finger. He enjoys playing golf.
4. V + DO + DO: I asked him a difficult question.
5. V + IO + DO: She ordered herself a new dress.
6. V + (DO) + (To /For + IO) PIO: I gave (the money) to my mother;
He bought a gold watch for me; I have written (a letter) to them
7. V + PO: It depends on the weather; He called on me.
8. V + DO + OC: We found the bag empty; I must get my hair cut.
Adverbial modifiers can be added to any of the above patterns:
1. V + AdvM: The sun is shining brightly.
2. V + SC + AdvM: She is ill now.
3. V + DO + AdvM: I cut my finger yesterday.
4. V + DO + DO + AdvM: I asked him a question when he came home.
5. V + IO + DO + AdvM: She ordered herself a new dress last week.
6. V + DO + PIO + AdvM: He bought a gold watch for me in London.
7. V + PO + AdvM: He called on me yesterday afternoon.
8. V + O + OC + AdvM: I must get my hair cut tomorrow.
KINDS OF PREDICATES

All predicates fall under 2 (two) main divisions: simple (verbal) and
compound (nominal or verbal)

The simple verbal predicate, which denotes an activity performed
(or suffered) by the subject is expressed by a finite verb (in a simple or
compound form: present, past and future tenses, Indicative, Imperative and
Conditional Moods, active and passive voice); adverbial modifiers can
complete the meaning of the predicate.
E.g.
She speaks fluently.
I have been speaking for two years.
The compound nominal predicate denotes a certain state or
quality of the subject. It consists of a link verb, or a verb of incomplete
predication (non-finite) and a subject complement (element predicativ
suplimentar).
The subject complement (SC) is an adverb of location, a (pro)noun,
or an adjective, or the equivalent, which completes the predicate and refers
to the subject. It follows either be or copulative (linking) verbs and
intransitive verbs in the passive voice.
The SC may be expressed by:
E.g.
They are friends. (NP)
He is /became a teacher. (NP)
The room is mine. (NP)
The man became angry. (AP)
He felt awkward. (AP)
The ring is of gold. (PP)
We are out of sugar and coffee. (PP)
The SC is also expressed by:
A numeral: He is the first.
An infinitive: To decide is to act.
A gerund: Seeing is believing.
An adverb: He is off; The meeting is at eight.
A Val Cl: The greatest problem is for you to understand.
The link verb is in the main clause. There are certain link/linking
verbs (verbe copulative; copule):
Verbs of being or state: to be, stand, feel.
E.g.
The meeting stands adjourned. (ridicam sedinta)
Verbs of remaining or continuing: continue, keep, remain, hold, stay.
E.g.
The rule still holds good.
Verbs of becoming or of transition from one state to another: become,
get, grow, turn, fall, run, go, prove, turn out.
E.g.
He appeared vexed.
The compound verbal predicate are predicates which, by the use
of semi-auxiliaries of modality or aspect besides the notional verb, indicate
both the action and the way in which it is performed or its relation to the
time factor. They are sub-divided into modal and aspect verbal predicates.
A. A modal compound verbal predicate consists of a modal verb
(or modal phrases + verb) followed by an infinitive. The modals may be
either defective (must, can should, etc.) or non-defective (to have to, to
want, to intend, to wish, etc.). The modal phrases may have various
structures (I would rather, you had better, I would sooner, I can't help + -
ing, etc.)
E.g.
We are to meet at seven.
I can't help loving him.
B. A compound aspect verbal predicate is made up of a personal
form of a verb denoting a lexical aspect and a non-personal form (i.e. a
verbal) of the principal / predicative verb. It indicates the beginning,
duration, end, or repetition of an action followed by an infinitive or gerund.
The main verbs used in this pattern are: begin, start, stop, finish, end,
cease, give up, continue, go on.
E.g.
He stopped to read / reading.
THE OBJECT. THE OBJECT CLAUSE
DEFINITION
An object (O) is a noun, a noun phrase, or pronoun representing
either the goal or the recipient of the action of a verb or the goal of a
preposition, e.g ball in I hit the ball; her in He asked her a
question; table in under the table.
THE DIRECT OBJECT (DO) is a person or thing upon which the action of a verb is performed or towards which it is
directed, as the pronoun it in I saw it.

The direct object may be expressed by:
A noun phrase or a noun substitute
E.g.
He loved his mother.
Don't forget that.
Have you seen him?
I have none.
He cut himself.
Give me the first.
A verbal phrase
E.g.
He enjoys lying in the sun.
Would you prefer to watch a film?
A clause
E.g.
Nobody knows whose it is.
I'll ask when he comes.
He said he was busy.

Kinds of DO:
Simple DO: expressed by a single word, possibly determined and
modified by attributes or even by a whole attributive clause:
E.g.
Read it to me.
I accepted the terms he offered and took his place.
Co-ordinated DO: two or several nouns or noun equivalents in the
Accusative discharging an identical syntactical function in relation to a v.t.
or a verbal phrase:
E.g.
You have leisure, comfort and calm.
Compound DO: similar to co-ordinated DO in structure and function but
dissimilar in that the two or several nouns refer to only one person, object
or abstract notion:
E.g.
He is my friend and adviser.
Double DO: connected with the same v.t., yet answering different,
separate questions (who, what). They usually follow a limited number of
verbs such as: to ask, answer, forgive, envy.
E.g.
Ask me no questions.
There are verbs that take 2 (two direct objects): to ask, to answer, to
take, to envy, to hear, to forgive, to save, to strike. V + DO + DO
E.g.
They envy him his success.
Forgive them their rudeness.
Some transitive verbs may take two objects: an indirect object and a
direct object.
E.g.
I gave him the book.
I made myself a cup of tea.
THE INDIRECT OBJECT (IO) usually refers to the person who
benefits from an action or receives something because of it. You can put an
IO in front of the DO or in a prepositional phrase (PP) after the DO.
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
V + IO + DO
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
V + DO + PIO
E.g.
Dad gave me a car.
He handed his room key to the receptionist.

The IO may be expressed by a noun phrase (NP) or a noun
substitute (pronouns are commoner as IO than nouns):
E.g.
We owe you many apologies.
I read my friend the letter.
I made myself a cup of coffee.
She showed us her new dress.

The IO of a great number of verbs may correspond to the subject of
a verb in the passive, whose DO is retained:
E.g.
Somebody gave the child an orange. (IO)
The child was given an orange. (S)
THE PREPOSITIONAL INDIRECT OBJECT (PIO)
corresponds to an IO preceded by the preposition to or for. It usually
follows the DO.
V + DO + (for/to) PIO
E.g.
He wrote to me two days ago.
He always reads to us with pleasure.
The PIO is used:
When the speaker / writer wants to emphasise the DO or to place it in
contrast with another IO (explicit or implicit)
E.g.
I shall show the letter to you . (but not to her)
I shall show the letter for her (but not for you)
When the DO is expressed by a pronoun, while the IO is expressed by a
noun:
E.g.
He gave them to his mother.
When both objects are expressed by personal pronouns:
E.g.
Send her to them.
When the IO is placed at the head of the sentence (in the interrogative
form):
E.g.
To whom did you lend it?

When the IO heads a relative clause (post-modifier):
E.g.
The boy to whom I gave the letter has lost it.
After the verbs: announce, ascribe, attribute, communicate, contribute,
declare, dedicate, deliver, describe, dictate, explain, hint, indicate, interpret,
introduce, open, owe, point out, present, propose, relate, repeat, report,
return, say, speak, submit, suggest, talk, translate.
E.g.
He ascribed the mistake to her.
He introduced his friend to her.
When a verb is used without its DO:
E.g.
He wrote to me two weeks ago.
When the IO is much longer than the DO:
E.g.
She told the news (DO) to everybody in the town (PIO).
I have written letters (DO) to most of my ex students (PIO).
THE PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT (PO)
Some verbs govern their object by means of a preposition. Such an
object is called a prepositional object. (It is not always easy to tell whether
a PP stands for an object, or an adverbial modifier). V + PO
E.g.
It consists of two parts.
They live on rice.
He recovered from his illness.
They were listening to music.
Who cared for your opinion?
What are you about?

The PO may correspond to the S of a verb in the passive to which
the preposition remains attached:
E.g.
They sent for the doctor. (PO)
The doctor was sent for. (S)
Kinds of PO:
PO of agent: it denotes the person (more rarely the thing, the natural
element or abstract notion) performing the action:
E.g.
The pupils were badly treated by the nurse.
I learned of his through him.
PO of instrument / instrumentality: it denotes the instrument through
which the action is performed, or the material for building.
E.g.
He always writes with a sharp pencil.
PO of means: similar to the PO of instrument but it refers mainly to the
means of transportation; the prepositionby is used.
E.g.
He travels by plane.
PO of association: it denotes the person (rarely the animal, object,
etc.) participating in the action (more rarely the state) with the speaker or
writer. The preposition with (also together with, alongside of / with)
E.g.
I went there with my bother.

PO of relation: it includes various kinds of relations, as well as
attitudes, feelings, etc.:
E.g.
My reaction / response to such proposals is always the same.
THE OBJECT CLAUSE
functions as a noun clause when the clause acts as the object of a sentence.
E.g.
Lucy told me why she was worried.
COMPLEMENTS. COMPLEMENT CLAUSES

A complement completes a grammatical construction in the
predicate and describes or is identified with the subject or object,
e.g. small in The house is small or president in They elected him president.
It can also refer to any word or group of words used to complete a
grammatical construction, especially in the predicate, including adverbials,
infinitives, and sometimes objects.
There are Subject Complements (SC) and Object Complements
(OC).

A COMPLEMENT CLAUSE is a subordinate clause that functions as the
subject (S), direct object (DO), or prepositional object (PO) of a verb, e.g. that you
like it in I am surprised that you like it.
12412c221m
THE SUBJECT COMPLEMENT (also called SUBJECTIVE
COMPLEMENT) is a word or group of words usually functioning as
an adjective or noun, that is used in the predicate following a copula / a link
verb, e.g. to beand which describes or is identified with the subject of the
sentence, E.g.
sleepy in The travellers were sleepy. V + SC
The SC may be expressed by:
An adjective:
E.g.
We were very happy.
The other child looked neglected.
Their hall was larger than his whole flat.
Adjectives can be used as SC after the following link verbs: appear,
be, become, come, feel, get, go, grow, keep, look, pass, prove, remain,
seem, smell, sound, stay, taste, turn.
A NP (or substitutes):
E.g.
I feel a bit of a fraud.
He'll make a good president.
He always seemed a controlled sort of man.
It's me again. (pronoun)
This one is yours. (pronoun)
You're someone who does what she wants. (pronoun)
It's an easy mistake to make.
A NP can be used as SC after the following link verbs: be, become,
comprise, constitute, feel, form, look, make, prove, remain, represent,
seem, sound
.
After the following verbs which refer to actions: be born, die, emerge,
escape, hang, lie, return, sit, stand, survive.
E.g.
He died young.
I used to lie awake watching the rain seep through the roof.
George stood motionless for at least a minute.
THE OBJECT COMPLEMENT (also called OBJECTIVE
COMPLEMENT) is a noun, a noun phrase, pronoun, or adjective used in the
predicate following a factitive verb (a verb that takes a DO and an additional word
or phrase indicating the result of the process, e.g. made in They made him king)
and referring to or identified with its direct object, as treasurer inWe appointed
him treasurer. or white in They painted the house white. 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m V + OC
The OC describes the object. The following transitive verbs are used
with an adjective as OC: believe, call, certify, consider, declare, eat, find,
hold, judge, keep, label, leave, like, make, prefer, presume, pronounce,
prove, reckon, render, serve, term, think, want.
E.g.
Tom's jokes made her uneasy.
He had proved them all wrong.
Do you want it white or black?
The OC may be expressed by an adjective (AP):
E.g.
He has painted the house blue.
I want everything ready by seven o'clock.

Some verbs are used with a very restricted range of OC: to drive
someone crazy / mad, to burn someone alive, to get someone drunk /
pregnant, to knock someone unconscious, to paint something red / blue,
etc, to pat something dry, to pick something clean, to plane something flat /
smooth, to rub something dry / smooth, to send someone mad, to shoot
someone dead, to sweep something clean, to turn something white / black,
etc, to wipe something clean / dry.
E.g.
She painted her eyelids deep blue.
He wiped the bottle dry with a dishcloth.
The following transitive verbs are used with a NP as OC: appoint,
believe, brand, call, consider, crown, declare, designate, elect, find, hold,
judge, label, make, presume, proclaim, prove, reckon, term, think.
E.g.
They consider him an embarrassment.
In 1990 they appointed him manager.
I consider this picture a masterpiece of art.
The following transitive verbs are used with a name as OC: call,
christen, dub, name, nickname.
E.g.
Everyone called her Molly.
He was dubbed a hero.

An OC may be also expressed by a verbal phrase:
E.g.
What do you want me to do?
I heard my name called.
I could feel my heart beating wildly.
What makes you think so?
The OC is related to the DO or PO in such a way that, if the O + OC
were expanded into a clause, the O would be the S and the OC the
predicate (= VP)
E.g.
a) I saw him cross the street.
DO 12412c221m OC
He crossed the street.
V 12412c221m V + DO

We were waiting for them to come.
PO 12412c221m OC
They came.
S V
b) She swept the floor clean.
12412c221m DO OC
The floor is clean.
S V + SC
They elected his father chairman.
DO OC
His father is chairman.
S V + SC
In a passive construction the OC becomes a SC:
E.g.
They saw him cross the street. He was seen to cross the street.
12412c221m O OC S SC

ADVERBIAL MODIFIERS. ADVERBIAL CLAUSES.
A modifier is a word, phrase, or sentence element that limits or
qualifies the sense of another word, phrase, or element in the same
construction.
An adverbial modifier comprises both simple adverbs and adverb
phrases (noun or verbal phrases with or without a preposition). This term
may also be used for adverbial clauses. V + ADV M
Adverbs:
E.g.
I'll see you tomorrow.

Adverb Phrase (locutiune circumstantiala):
E.g.
He is in the bathroom.
Adverb Clause:
E.g.
I'll see you when you come back.
Adverbials can be finite or non-finite:
E.g.
He fell in love, just as he was afraid of. (finite)
Students listened to learn the words in the classroom. (non-finite)
When asked where his wife was, Henry replied she was lying down.
TYPES OF ADVERBIAL CLAUSES (COMPLEX SENTENCES)
TIME: (WHEN?) introduced by the conjunctions when, after, as, as long
as, as soon as, before, by the time (that), directly, during the time (that),
immediately, the moment (that), now (that), once, since, until / till,
whenever, while. We generally use a comma when the adverbial clause
comes first.
E.g.
After she got married, she changed completely.
You did not look very well when you got up this morning.
PLACE: (WHERE?) introduced by the conjunctions where, wherever,
anywhere, everywhere. They normally come after the main clause:
E.g.
The church was built where there had once been a Roman temple.
You cannot camp anywhere you like these days.
MANNER: (How?) introduced by the conjunction as or by the
conjunctions as if / as though after the verbs act, appear, behave, feel,
look, seem, smell, sound, taste. They normally come after the main clause.
E.g.
This fish is cooked as I like it. (colloquial: how / the way I like).
She trembled as if she had seen a ghost.
REASON: (Why?) introduced by the conjunctions because, as, seeing
(that), since.
E.g.
As / Because / Since there was very little support, the strike was not
successful.
I am afraid I cannot go to the party as I feel very tired.
CONDITION: introduced by the conjunctions assuming (that), on
condition (that), provided (that), providing (that), so / as long as, unless.
E.g.
Unless it stops raining soon, they will have to cancel the ball game.
I am not afraid of anything, as long as you are near me.
CONCESSION (CONTRAST): introduced by the conjunctions although,
considering (that), though, even though, even if, much as ., while, whereas,
however much / badly / good, etc, no matter how, no matter where.
E.g.
However far it is, I intend to drive there tonight.
Try as he might, he could not solve the problem.
PURPOSE: (What for? For what purpose?) introduced by the
conjunctions so that, so as to, in order that, in case, lest, for fear (that).
E.g.
I have bought tickets so that I can see the whole game better.
They must have worn gloves in order not to leave any fingerprints.
RESULT (CONSEQUENCE): introduced by that after so + adjective to
answer, e.g. How (quick) .?
E.g.
His reactions are such that no one can match him.
He reacts so quickly (that) no one can match him.
NOTE: CLAUSES OF PURPOSE COMPARED WITH CLAUSES OF
RESULT
In a purpose clause we can always replace so that by in order that,
which we cannot do in a result clause:
E.g.
We arrived early so that / in order that we could get good seats.
A result clause always follows the main clause, whereas a purpose
clause can precede the main clause:
E.g.
So that I should not worry, he phoned me on arrival.
COMPARISON: (How? followed by or implying in relation
to or compared with). They involve the use ofas + adjective + as (as quick
as), as + adverb + as (as quickly as), not so / as , -er than, more . than,
less . than, the . the.. .
E.g.
He is as quick in answering as his sister (is).
The more you practise the better you get.
He did not sell half as / so many videos as he thought he would.

ABBREVIATED ADVERBIAL CLAUSES: by deleting the subject (S)
and the verb be after the conjunction:
E.g.
While (she was) at college, she wrote a novel. (time)
Where (it is) necessary, improvements will be made. (place)
He acted as if (he was) certain of success. (manner)
If (it is) possible, please let me know by this evening. (condition)
Though (he was) exhausted, he went to bed very late. (concession).
Clauses of reason cannot be abbreviated in this way. However, they
can often be replaced by participle constructions. Such constructions also
have the effect of shortening clauses.
E.g.
Being (Since she was) unable to print the letter herself, she asked
her brother to do it.
THE VERBAL PHRASE
A verbal is a word, especially a noun or adjective, derived from a
verb, as a gerund, infinitive, or participle.
A gerund is a form regularly derived from a verb and functioning as
a noun, used in all cases but the nominative, as writing in Writing is easy.
An infinitive is a nonfinite verb form, in many languages the simple
or basic form of the verb, that names the action or state without specifying
the subject and that functions as a noun or is used with auxiliary verbs or,
in English, after the word to, as eat in I want to eat.
A participle is a nonfinite verbal form that can function as
an adjective or be used with certain auxiliaries to make compound verb
forms, as burning in a burning candle or devoted in your devoted friend.
INFINITIVE (IP), GERUNDIAL (GP) AND PARTICIPIAL (PP) PHRASES.
Syntactic functions:
Subject (S):
IP: To leave unexpectedly is shameful.
GP: Leaving unexpectedly is shameful.
With preparatory it:
IP: It is essential to read the compulsory bibliography.
GP: It is useless trying to learn by heart.
Subject Complement (SC):
IP: To make mistakes is to acknowledge we are not perfect.
He was said to have been a hero.
GP: Making mistakes is acknowledging we are not perfect.
Object (O):
IP: Why does he refuse to help you?
I do not know how to proceed.
GP: Would you mind helping me with this heavy luggage?
Object Complement (OC):
IP: The captain ordered his soldiers not to shoot.
PP: I heard the baby crying.
He found himself chosen for the job.
Adverbial Modifier (ADV M):
IP: I stayed late to finish the paper.
GP: On listening to the old song, I was overwhelmed by memories.
PP: Having lost our way, we asked a stranger for directions.
Noun modifier:
a) premodifier:
GP: I have met a limping-boy at the party.
PP: Look at that smiling boy.
He is a learned man.
b) postmodifier:
IP: Here is something for you to eat.
PP: The girl lying on the beach is a friend of mine.
The pictures taken by Tom are excellent.
Adjective modifier (postmodifier):
IP: You are very rude to leave her alone.
I am sad for you to leave so early.
GP: I am fond of listening to good music.


THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (PP)
The preposition is a member of a class of words that are typically
used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives (functioning as nouns)
to form phrases with adverbial, nominal, or adjectival function, and that
typically express a spatial, temporal, or other relationship, as on, by, to,
with, or, since.
Usage. The often-heard " rule " that a sentence should not end with a
preposition is transferred from Latin, where it is an accurate description of
practice. But the Latin rule does not fit English grammar. In speech, the
final preposition is normal and idiomatic, especially in questions: What are
we waiting for? Where did he come from? You didn't tell me which floor you
worked on. In writing, the problem of placing the preposition arises most
often when a sentence ends with a relative clause in which the relative
pronoun (that; whom; which; etc.) is the object of a preposition. In edited
writing, especially formal writing, when a pronoun other than that introduces
a final relative clause, the preposition usually precedes its object: He
abandoned the project to which he had devoted his whole life. I finally
telephoned the representative with whom I had been corresponding. If the
pronoun is that, or if the pronoun is omitted, then the preposition must
occur at the end: The librarian found the books that the child had scribbled
in. There is the woman he spoke of.
Syntactic Functions:
Prepositional Object (PO):
E.g.
I could not help looking at the beautiful girl.
She was waiting for her friend.
Prepositional Indirect Object (PIO):
E.g.
Give the apple to your younger brother.
I wanted to but a present for my father.
Adverbial Modifier (ADVM):
E.g.
We have English classes on Mondays.
He lives with his parents.
Postmodifier:
a) to a noun phrase (NP): NP + PP
E.g.
She promised me a ticket for the concert.
The cover of the book is white.
b) to an adjective phrase (AP): AP + PP
E.g.
Milk is good for babies.
I am bad at drawing.

Compare:
He is looking at the window. (PP)
He is standing at the window. (AdvM)
The boy at the window is my brother. (Postmodifier)
Subject Complement (SC):
E.g.
She was in bad shape.
It was of no good.
Postmodifier to an adverb:
E.g.
He worked independently of the others.
He argued very strongly for the proposal.
Free modifier:
E.g.
In brief, the meeting was a success.
In a way, he is mistaken.
THE ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AP).
THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE (also called RELATIVE CLAUSE)
An adjective is a member of a class of words functioning as
modifiers of nouns, typically by describing, delimiting, or specifying
quantity, as nice in a nice day, other in other people, or all in all dogs, and
in many languages distinguished by formal characteristics, as often in
English by the ability to be used in comparative and superlative forms.
An adjective phrase (AP) consists of one adjective, e.g. I am hungry,
or in connection with another adjective, e.g. short and plump.
An adjective clause is a clause (introduced by a relative pronoun)
which does the same job as an adjective, e.g. a baby that wants to eat.

Syntactic Functions:
Premodifier of a noun:
E.g.
She is a very beautiful lady.
Where are my new trousers?
Postmodifier of a (pro)noun:
E.g.
It is a problem very easy to solve.
He is a man very fond of his wife.
Subject Complement (SC):
E.g.
The students are good.
The weather is keeping fine.

Object Complement (OC):
E.g.
She painted the house too red.
She made the cake quite tasty.
Adverbial Modifier (AdvM):
E.g.
When sour, the milk is not good.
He is educated, though very poor.
Free Modifier:
E.g.
Happy, I went to meet him at the station.
Most important, he is a good father.
An Adjective Clause is also known as a RELATIVE CLAUSE.

Relative clauses may be introduced by:
A relative pronoun: who, whom, that, whose, which.
E.g.
He paid the money to the man who had done the work. (subject)
He paid the money whom he had hired. (object of a verb)
He paid the man from whom he had borrowed the money. (object of a
preposition)
This is the girl whose picture you saw. (possessive adjective)
Here is a book which / that describes animals. (subject).
The chair which / that he broke is being repaired. (object of a verb)
She was wearing the coat for which she had paid a lot. (object of a
preposition)
A relative adverb:
E.g.
This is the year when the Olympic Games are held. (time)
Here is the house where I live. (place)
Give me one good reason why you did that. (reason)
A conjunction: before, after, as
E.g.
He became sick the day before he was to leave for his vacation.
She made the same mistakes as (=that) her sister did.
Relative clauses are restrictive and non-restrictive.
A restrictive clause is a clause that identifies or limits the meaning
of a modified element, as the relative clause that just ended in The
year that just ended was bad for crops. In English a restrictive clause is
usually not set off by commas.
A non-restrictive clause is a clause that describes or supplements
a modified element but is not essential in establishing its identity, as the
relative clause which has been dry in the sentence This year, which has
been dry, was bad for crops. In English a non-restrictive clause is usually
set off by commas.

Sample sentence
The two houses sit concurrently,
1
but in legislation a
bill is introduced in one House, normally the Commons,
2
and after it
completes its stages there
4
it is passed on to the other House.
3



I. 1. Main Clause
2. Main Clause 12412c221m Composite
Sentence
3. Main Clause
4. Subordinate Clause
II. 1. S (NP) + V + Adv M (Adv P)
2. Adv M (Adv P) + S (NP) + V + Adv M (Adv P)
3. S (NP) + V + Adv M (PP)
4. S (NP) + V + DO (NP)
III. A. SG = NP
1. The two houses = Simple Subject
2. A bill = Simple Subject



3. it = Simple Subject
4. it = Simple Subject
NP 1. Determiners = the 12412c221m
12412c221m 2. Determiners = a
12412c221m Pre - Modifiers = two 12412c221m
Pre - Modifiers =
12412c221m Head - Noun = houses 12412c221m
Head - Noun = bill
12412c221m Post - Modifiers = 12412c221m
Post - Modifiers =
12412c221m
12412c221m 3. Determiners = 12412c221m
12412c221m 4. Determiners =
12412c221m Pre - Modifiers = 12412c221m
12412c221m Pre - Modifiers =
12412c221m Head Noun = it 12412c221m
12412c221m Head Noun = it
12412c221m Post - Modifiers = 12412c221m
Post - Modifiers =

B. PG = VP
1. sit concurrently = Simple Verbal Predicate
2. in legislation .... is introduced on One House, normally the
Commons = Simple Verbal Predicate
3. completes its stages there = Simple Verbal Predicate
4. is passed on to the other House = Compound Verbal Predicate

12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m Verb: 1. sit
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
2. is introduced
12412c221m VP 12412c221m
12412c221m 3. is passed on
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
4. completes
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m Predication 1.
concurrently
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
2. in legislation..in one House, 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m normally the
Commons
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
3. to the other House
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
4. its stages there
IV. A. State the kind of subordinate clauses:
12412c221m 4. adverbial clause of time
B. Write the non - finite clauses:
___________
C. Write the syntactic function of:
- there = Adv M (Adv P)
- other = Pre - Modifier (Det)
- in legislation = Adv M (PP)
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m
\
SYNTAX EXERCISES
1. Assign appropriate parts of speech ( ) to the words in each
sentence: S, V, DO, IO, SC, OC, AdvM
a) John carefully searched the room .
b) His brother grew happier gradually .
c) It rained steadily all day .
d) He had given the girl an apple .
e) The girl is now a student at a
large university .
f) They make him the chairman every year .
g) She saw that it rained all day .
h) His brother grew happier when his
friend arrived .
i) That she answered the
question correctly pleased him enormously .
j) The girl is now a student at a
large university .
2. Analyse the sentences syntactically:
a) His parents don't live in this town .
b) I will give the conch to the next person
to speak .
c) Their hall was larger than his whole flat .
d) He wiped the bottle dry with a dishcloth .
e) She painted her eyelids deep blue .
f) He finished the second page and
passed It to the editor .
g) I climbed up the tree .
h) He handed his room key to the receptionist .
i) George stood motionless for at least a minute
j) Everyone called her Molly .
3. Classify the following sentences according to their structure
(simple, compound, complex, composite):
a) A new hospital is being built there.
b) Whoever did it needs a good lesson.
c) Shakespeare wrote his plays while he was working for the
Lord Chamberlain's Men and this explains why he knew so much
about stagecraft.
d) The weather was very bad; all classes were cancelled.
e) John was sick; however, he came to school.
f) He hadn't behaved as a gentleman should have.
g) Consequently, he set out to conquer all of Europe.
h) Having no money, he simply said he would go without dinner.
i) The teacher corrected the papers while he was away
to Paris and explained to the students why he had left them at home.
j) He used to be a very good husband but now he seldom buys
flowers or remembers his wife's birthday.
4. Classify the following sentences according to their
function (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative -
positive or negative):
a) He plans to be back by Saturday.
b) She gave him a nod of encouragement.
c) Many people don't fancy it, either.
d) Have you never met him?
e) How cold it is getting!
f) Won't you have an ice cream?
g) You take care of yourself!
h) He hasn't come yet, has he?
i) Here come the gold-diggers.
j) Do stop crying!
k) The child's illness gave them much trouble.
l) She could hardly believe her eyes.
5. State the syntactic function of the predicates in the
following sentences:
a) He is good at swimming.
b) He introduced himself.
c) She is always at home in the evening.
d) They have got a house of their own.
e) He doesn't give her any money.
f) I told them the truth.
g) She cooked me a meal.
h) She made a cake for her son.
i) He explained to his students the sequence of tenses.
j) He gave a present to my daughter.
k) He speaks English well.
l) We were listening to the news.
m) It seems a very long way.
n) This is a difficult job.
o) She did her homework after lunch.
p) You look very funny in that hat.
q) I say 'good-bye' to them.
r) I ordered it for your father.
s) I ask you to help me.
t) They elected Paul (as) their leader.
u) He gets his hair cut regularly.
v) She got her son to buy some milk.
w) He wants to become a doctor.
x) They are getting rich.
y) I can't understand you wanting to do that.
z) She went on speaking for half an hour.
aa) She is bored with studying.
bb) It makes him feel less homesick.
cc) He asked me three questions.
dd) I heard the baby crying.
ee) He noticed the lady drop her handkerchief.
6. Translate into English:
a) Se spune ca e grozav la matematica.
b) Se crede ca este singura solutie.
c) S-au creat conditii.
d) Problema se studiaza de catre o comisie.
e) Ne era somn.
f) Iti sade bine.
7. Decide upon the type of determiners (specific or general):
a) My, your
b) Enough, both
c) A, an
d) What, much
8. Analyse the noun phrases:
a) The two leading social orders
b) A man of strong will
c) A man with long hair
d) Neither of the boys
9. Analyse the clause and state whether it is an appositive or relative clause. Argue your point.
'The belief is that Michael has been sent to India'.
10. The co-ordinating conjunction and shows addition, result, condition, sequence, or contrast:
a) He felt heavily and broke his arm.
b) Tom's fifteen and still sucks his thumb.
c) We were talking and laughing.
d) Learn and you'll be rewarded.
e) He finished lunch and went shopping.
11. State the type of sentence (simple, compound or complex, or composite):
a) He neither speaks French, nor understands it.
b) He couldn't find his pen, so he wrote in pencil.
c) However hard I try, I cannot remember people's names.
d) That the match will be cancelled is now certain.
e) What a terrible temper he has.
f) I can't understand why you did such a thing.
g) To get there, you must turn right at the bridge.
h) Mr Smith doesn't like his aunt; he invited her to his wedding anyhow.
i) All classes were cancelled because the weather was bad, and students were told to listen to the radio to
find out when classes would begin again.
12. State the syntactic function of the following noun clauses:
a) That money doesn't grow on trees should be obvious.
b) Everybody knows that money doesn't grow on trees.
c) He boasted that he was successful.
d) The question is whether he has signed the contract.
e) When he did it is a mystery.
f) I'm concerned about whether he has met her
13. State the syntactic function of the following noun clauses:
a) I want to see whoever deals with complaints.
b) You can call me whatever you like.
c) Home is where your friends and family are.
d) What he is looking for us a wife.
e) He gave whoever came to the door a winning smile.
f) His ambition, to be a straight actor, was never fulfilled.
14. Analyse the underlined parts syntactically:
a) The most important thing is for us to reach the place
of destination before daybreak.
b) The train was expected to arrive in time.
c) I can't understand you wanting to do that.
d) She is bored with studying.
e) She is too young to marry that man.
f) It was of no good to go there.
g) The child sleeping in the car is my son.
h) The book lying on the first desk is mine.
i) How careless of him to drive so fast.
j) She was the last to learn the news.
k) I heard my name called.
l) It does not seem much good staying here.
m) I can't avoid meeting them.
n) I made my influence felt.
15. Find the subject in the following sentences and state
what it is expressed by:
a) Your reading so carelessly prevents your enjoying
this poetry.
b) It is no use talking to him.
c) To do things well means to live well.
d) It would be a great mistake not to follow his advice.
e) Reading is a pleasant way of spending an evening.
f) To ask him to help me with money was useless.
g) It will cost you a fortune to spend your holiday in Italy.
h) His being ill will spoil everything.
i) It took us a long time to understand him.
16. Which of the three predeterminers all,
both, and half could acceptably replace X as predeterminers?
Note that more than one answer may be acceptable:
a) I have read X of this book already.
b) I have read X of these books already.
c) X the students were away.
d) X students were too ill to get up.
e) X had influenza.
f) They X had a high fever.
g) X of them had to go to hospital.
h) X the medicine they took was no use.
i) It X cost a lot of money.
j) They were X away for weeks.
17. The non-finite clauses in the sentences below are open to
more than one interpretation. Illustrate this by expanding each
dependent clause in two different ways:
a) I ran over a dog crossing the square.
b) To see him alone would be indiscreet.
c) Though shouting as loud as possible, the rescuers could not hear
us.
d) Dressed in white robes, we thought the visitors looked like priests
in some strange ceremony.
e) I regret speaking to you so bluntly.
f) Walking fast after breakfast could be fatal.
g) He was so ill as to be obliged to give up work altogether.
h) It will take several hours to finish this.
i) Whether here or not, his application will have to be considered.
j) Always afraid of snakes, we shut every door and window at night.
18. Supply an acceptable preposition to fill each of the gaps.
a) Chalk is different ____ cheese.
b) When is John due ____ promotion?
c) He is eager _____ more responsibility.
d) Don't be envious _____ anyone.
e) He is not equal _____ the task.
f) He's not expert _____ anything.
g) Have you been faithful _____ me?
h) I'm not familiar _____ this town.
i) Fred is not fit _____ this job.
j) John is fond _____ Mary.
19. Which of the sentences below contain nominal that -
clauses:
a) Everyone tends to think that he is not sufficiently appreciated.
b) Everyone that thinks so is not necessarily conceited.
c) My opinion that you disagree with so strongly has not been
properly represented.
d) My opinion, that no action need be taken yet, is shared by most of
us here.
e) The main difficulty lies in the fact that we have nobody
properly qualified for this work.
f) We are at a serious disadvantage in that we have nobody
properly qualified for this job.
g) I understand you have had some trouble with your telephone.
h) You've had some trouble with your telephone, I understand.
i) That John actually took the money, I can't believe.
j) John never actually took the money, I believe.
20. Point out the subject. State what it is expressed by.
a) Someone wants to speak to you.
b) What he says is always worth listening to.
c) A pretty large number of books have been published this year.
d) How do you do that is a very difficult question.
e) Flying is a glorious and thrilling sensation.
f) It was necessary to argue with him on this point.
g) His was a lucky lot.
h) What an easy question it is!
i) Whoever broke it needs a good lesson.
j) The apple on the table is yours.
k) It is no use staying here.
l) It is a long way to the station.
m) On the wall there are nice pictures.
n) You always feel nervous the first time you speak in front of
many people.
o) To climb this tree would be difficult.
p) That they are right is certain.
q) Twenty were present.
r) It was after midnight that he came.
s) It is pleasant to live in a village.
t) There is a cat on the roof.
u) Here comes my best friend.
21. State the nature of it, whether it is a personal, or an
impersonal pronoun; an introductory itor a demonstrative it:
a) I looked at my watch. It was eight o'clock.
b) It is windy today.
c) It was nearly time to leave.
d) It is him that I like.
e) It is nice of you to have come.
f) It is a very nice poem.
g) The strike went on for a year before it was settled.
h) I like it here.
i) She was frightened, but tried not to show it.
j) So you don't like then? It's a pity.
k) It's Sunday morning.
l) It's nice hearing your voice again.
m) It was warm in the restaurant.
n) It's a pity you don't stay.
o) It's funny how people change.
p) It's like the ticking of a clock.
q) It's three months since you were here last.
r) It was good of you to phone.
s) It doesn't interest me what you think.
t) It seems that he forgot to buy the tickets.
22. State the nature of there; choose from existential there,
indefinite subject, subject in to -Infinitive clauses, subject in ing
- clauses, exclamatory there, definite subject, subject in yes /
noquestions.
a) There must be a reason.
b) There is a fire on the fourth floor.
c) There happened to be a man passing by at that very moment.
d) There still remains the point about creativity.
e) There came the crack of a shot.
f) There seems to be a misunderstanding.
g) Is there any more soup?
h) There is a pen on the desk.
i) I don't want there to be any mistake.
j) He was disappointed at there being so little to do.
k) There he comes.
l) There's a hole in my tights.
m) There were no footsteps to be seen.
n) Where can he sleep? Well, there's always the attic.
o) There was this man, sitting on the porch. (in stories)
23. Analyse the following sentences syntactically (Subject
Group and Predicate Group), also stating the type of sentence and
writing the pattern of the sentence. There is a model given at the
key:
a) Two thousand innocent people have been killed in an attack by
fascist bombers on a small town in Spain.
b) An artist living in Paris, read this terrible news one April morning
in 1937.
c) His heart stirred with anger as he thought back to the days when he
lived as a boy among the very people who had been killed.
d) He also told me that my grandfather was the ugliest little man he
ever saw.
e) Petrol and garage facilities on almost all roads in Britain are really
good and distances between filling stations are short.
f) The two houses sit concurrently, but in legislation a bill is introduced
in one House, normally the Commons, and after completing its stages
there it is passed on to the other House.
g) The room was filled with massive furniture, and on each of the sofas
were three big cushions.
h) The clouds hung heavily, and there was a rawness in the air that
suggested snow.
i) Then a friend of one of his brothers said that if the boy's head
was plunged into a bucket of cold water and the eyes held open
beneath the water for five minutes or so at a time, several times a day,
this would bring hardiness to the most stubborn weakness any eye ever
had.
j) Richard Skate had taken a couple of hours away from the Ministry to
see whether his house was still standing after the previous night's raid.
k) As long as certain occupations require higher levels of ability
and training, some form of examinations will be needed to determine
those best able to benefit from such training and to determine whether
in fact they have, in the end, measured up to the required standards.
24. Identify the following underlined phrases as Cs or Co:
a) - We consider him an idiot.
b) - The reports were believed false.
c) - They made them angry.
d) - He entered the room in a foul mood.
25. Choose the right definition for 'complementizers'
and 'subordinators' as introducers. Give two examples for each:
a) - they have no special meaning of their own.
b) - they have a very specific meaning.
26. Choose the right type of clause (embedded or
subordinate) that fits this definition:
- they are clauses that are not arguments of a predicate. They are thus
not used as subjects or objects.
27. State the type of clause for the underlined clauses:
a) - That Sharon's car had broken down astonished the mechanic.
b) - We visited the Olympics, although we avoided the crowds.
28. Choose the appropriate characteristics referring to non-
finite clauses, mentioning the letter:
a) They can function on their own as grammatical sentences or as the
main clause of a larger clause.
b) They cannot function as declarative or interrogative clauses.
c) They don't need to have overt subjects.
29. The contrast between finite and non-finite clauses must be shown as a mood contrast on the trees.
How is the mood marker called and how is it abbreviated on a D-structure tree?
30. Analyse the following sentences into clauses. Write out
each clause separately and specify whether it is finite or non-finite,
what its subject is (even if it is just (e)), and what tensed verb or
modal it has, if any. Where the clause has another clause
embedded in it, include the embedded clause in parentheses.
- Eliot ordered his deputy to arrest the smugglers.
31. Sentences are simple, compound, and complex. State the
type of sentence:
a) - The wife of a friend of mine has had an accident.
b) - Jack came up the hill, but Jill went down the hill.
c) - I didn't know what to do.
e) - If he were drowning, I'd watch.
32. A simple sentence may be a declarative, an interrogative,
an imperative, or anexclamation. State the type of the following
sentences:
a) - You're coming with us?!
b) - What happened?
c) - She fell?
d) - Have a safe journey!
e) - What a student you are!
33. Subjects can be double, simple, complex, compound,
and co-ordinated. State the type of subject in each of the following:
a) - A train was coming in.
b) - Drinking and smoking ages man.
c) - For him to do this is rather difficult.
d) - He is said to be a good student.
e) - Oh, my trade it is the rarest one.
34. How are the two parts of the predicate below called:
- I must go.
35. Predicates can be simple verbal, compound
nominal, compound verbal. State the type of the predicates below:
a) - I have been speaking for two years.
b) - He felt awkward in the presence of ladies.
c) - Seeing is believing.
d) - We are to meet at seven.
e) - He stopped to read.
36. Choose the right form:
a) - American and Dutch beer is/are both much lighter than British.
b) - Helen's and Mary's cars were/was badly damaged.
c) - Either you or I was/were to go there.
d) - Either your eyesight or your brakes is/are at fault.
e) - The Minister, as well as the trades unions is/are responsible for it.
f) - No people of that name live/lives here.
g) - I sent cards to Mary and Michael but neither has/have answered.
h) - Nobody, not even the teachers, was/were listening.
i) - It is I who am/is to blame.
j) - Every man and woman want/wants peace.
37. State the difference in meaning between the two
sentences by translating them into Romanian:
a) - Each answer question sets.
b) - Each answer questions sets.
38. Analyse the following phrases stating the determiners,
premodifiers, head, postmodifiers, quantifiers, and the part of
speech or clause they represent:
E.g. The two leading social orders: the two-determiners (article,
numeral);
leading social-premodifiers (adjectives);
orders-head (noun)
a)- this curious history
b) - the established custom
c) - the frontier provinces
d) - two youths on white horses
e) - the only truth he spoke
f) - a window overlooking the sea
g) - the crowd outside
h) - heir presumptive
i) - both boys
j) - something strange
39. Both appositive clauses and relative clauses may start
with that. But appositive clauses may not start with ------ as relative
can. Which of the two underlined clauses below is an appositive
clause and which is a relative clause:
a) - The premature news that this battle was lost caused consternation.
b) - the premature news that said the battle was lost caused
consternation.
40. Explain the difference in meaning between the two
phrases below:
a) - the stars visible
b) - the visible stars
41. Use the appropriate for of the verb:
a) - A number of people (was, were) standing in front of the booking-
office.
b) - The red and green plaid (is, are) in the cupboard.
c) - The number of books in my library (has, have) increased.
d) - A lecture and a report on this subject-matter (is, are) to be delivered
on Friday.
e) - Not only the professor, but also the students themselves
(disapprove, disapproves) of his behaviour.
42. State the type of the underlined subordinate clauses:
a) - What this country needs is a period of peace.
b) - If you follow my instructions, nobody will be hurt.
c) - The man who owes me money lives in Australia.
d) - Kicking the ball, he injured his foot.
43. State the type of the main clauses below:
a) - We are lucky.
b) - How are you?
c) - Don't be silly.
d) - I'm so hungry!

SYNTAX KEY
1.
a) S; AdvM; V; DO.
b) S; V; OC; AdvM
c) S; V; AdvM; AdvM;
d) S; V; IO; DO.
e) S; V; AdvM; SC; AdvM
f) S; V; DO; OC; AdvM
g) S; V; O (S; V; AdvM)
h) S; V; SC; AdvM (S; V)
i) S (S; V; DO; AdvM); V; DO; AdvM
j) S; V; AdvM; SC; AdvM
2.
a) S; V; AdvM
b) S; V; DO; IO.
c) S; V; SC.
d) S; V; DO; OC; AdvM
e) S; V; DO; OC.
f) S; V; DO; V; DO; PO.
g) S; V; PO.
h) S; V; DO; IO.
i) S; V; SC; AdvM
j) S; V; DO; OC.
3.
a) simple
b) complex
c) composite
d) compound
e) compound
f) complex
g) simple
h) complex
i) composite
j) compound
4.
a) declarative (negative)
b) declarative (negative)
c) declarative (negative
d) interrogative (positive)
e) exclamatory (positive)
f) interrogative (negative)
g) imperative (positive)
h) interrogative (negative)
i) exclamatory (positive)
j) imperative (positive)
k) declarative (positive)
l) declarative (negative)
5.
a) SC; PIO
b) IO
c) AdvM; AdvM; AdvM
d) DO; of; IO
e) IO; DO
f) IO; DO
g) IO; DO
h) DO; for; IO
i) PIO; DO
j) DO; PIO
k) DO; AdvM
l) PIO
m) DO
n) DO
o) DO; AdvM
p) SC; AdvM
q) DO; PIO
r) DO; for; IO
s) DO; DO
t) DO; OC
u) DO; OC; AdvM
v) DO; OC
w) DO
x) SC
y) DO; OC
z) DO; AdvM
aa) SC; with; IO
bb) DO; OC
cc) DO; DO
dd) DO; OC
ee) DO; OC
6.
a) It is said that he is an adept at mathematics.
b) It is believed that it is the only solution.
c) Conditions have been created.
d) The problem is being examined by a commission.
e) We were sleepy.
f) It suits / fits you well.
7.
a) specific
b) general
c) specific
d) general
8.
a) the two - determiners; leading social - premodifiers; orders - head.
b) A man - head; of strong will -postmodifier (qualifier).
c) A man - head; with long hair - postmodifier.
d) Neither of - premodifier (quantifier); the boys (head).
9. Appositive clause - that cannot be replaced by which, possible only
in relative clauses.
10.
a) result
b) contrast
c) addition
d) condition
e) sequence
11.
a) compound
b) compound
c) complex
d) complex
e) simple
f) complex
g) simple
h) compound
i) composite
12.
a) subject of a verb
b) object of a verb
c) object of a verb
d) complement after be
e) subject
f) object after a preposition
13.
a) D
o

b) O
c

c) S
c

d) S
e) I
o

f) Apposition
14.
a) S
b) S
c

c) D
o;
O
c

d) S
C;
P
IO

e) S
C

f) S
C;
S
g) S; S
C

h) S; S
C

i) S
C;
S
j) S
C

k) D
O
; O
C

l) S
C
; S
m) D
O

n) D
O
; O
C

15.
a) Your reading so carelessly = Verbal Phrase
b) It (introductory); = Verbal Phrase
c) To do things well = Verbal Phrase
d) It (introductory); = Verbal Phrase
e) Reading = Verbal Phrase
f) It (introductory); = Verbal Phrase
g) It (introductory); = Verbal Phrase
h) It (introductory) ; Verbal Phrase
i) His being ill; Verbal Phrase
j) It (introductory); Verbal Phrase
16.
a) all, half
b) all, both, half
c) all, both, half
d) both
e) all, both, half
f) all, both
g) all, both, half
h) all, half
i) all
j) all, both.
17.
a) As it was crossing / As I was crossing
b) For you to see her / For me, or someone else, to see her.
c) Though we were / Though they were
d) We, dressed in white robes / The visitors, dressed
e) I regret that I am speaking now / I regret that I spoke
f) If I walked fast, it could be / If you, or someone else walked
g) So ill that he was obliged / so ill that he is now obliged
h) For me to finish this / For you, or someone else, to
i) Whether he is here / Whether it is here
j) We were always afraid / We are
18.
a) from cheese
b) for promotion
c) for more responsibility
d) of anyone
e) to the task
f) at anything
g) to me
h) with this town
i) for this job
j) of Mary
19.
a); d); e); I)
20.
a) someone = NP (noun substitute)
b) what he says = clause
c) a pretty large number of books = NP (a = determiner; pretty
large = premodifier; number = head noun; of books = postmodifier)
d) how do you do that = clause
e) flying = verbal phrase (GP)
f) It . to argue with him on this point = It + verbal phrase (IP)
g) A lucky lot = NP (a = determiner; lucky = premodifier; lot =
head noun)
h) It = NP (noun substitute)
i) Whoever broke it = clause
j) The apple on the table = NP (the = determiner; apple = head
noun; on the table = postmodifier)
k) It . staying here = preparatory it + verbal phrase (GP)
l) It . a long way to the station = formal subject (it) + NP
m) There. nice pictures = formal subject (there) + NP
n) You . you = indefinite subject (NP: noun substitute)
o) To climb = verbal phrase (IP)
p) That they are right = clause
q) Twenty = NP (noun substitute)
r) It. that he came = preparatory it + clause
s) It . to live in a village = formal subject + logical
subject (verbal phrase: IP)
t) There = indefinite subject + a cat on the roof (NP)
u) Here = NP (noun substitute)
21.
a) personal pronoun
b) impersonal pronoun
c) impersonal pronoun
d) introductory / emphatic
e) introductory / emphatic
f) demonstrative
g) personal pronoun
h) impersonal pronoun
i) impersonal pronoun
j) impersonal pronoun
k) impersonal pronoun
l) introductory / preparatory
m) impersonal pronoun
n) introductory / emphatic
o) introductory / emphatic
p) personal pronoun
q) impersonal pronoun
r) preparatory / introductory
s) preparatory / introductory
t) preparatory / introductory
22.
a) existential
b) existential
c) indefinite subject
d) indefinite subject
e) exclamatory
f) indefinite subject
g) subject in yes / no questions
h) existential
i) subject in to- infinitive clause
j) subject in ing - clause
k) exclamatory
l) existential
m) indefinite subject
n) definite subject
o) definite
23.
l) An artist living in Paris, read this terrible news one April morning
in 1937.
1. type of sentence = complex sentence
(1) An artist read this terrible news one April morning in 1937 =
main (independent), finite clause.
(2) living in Paris = subordinate (subclause, dependent), non-
finite clause; attributive (relative clause).
2. pattern of the complex sentence:
S + V + AdvM + V + DO + AdvM
3. Syntactic analysis of the complex sentence:
Sentence (1):
A. Subject Group (NP): an artist
(simple subject)
Determiners:
Pre-modifiers:
Head Noun: an artist (NP)
Post-modifiers:
B. Predicate Group (VP): read this terrible news one April morning
in 1937. (simple predicate)
Operator: (did)
Predication: verb: read (VP)
DO: this terrible news (NP)
AdvM: one April morning in 1937 (NP)
Sentence (2):
A. Subject Group (NP): (an artist - elliptical)
Determiners:
Pre-modifiers:
Head Noun:
Post-modifiers:
B. Predicate Group (VP): living in Paris.
12412c221m (simple predicate)
Operator: (was)
Predication: verb: living (VP)
12412c221m AdvM: in Paris (PP)
24. a) Co; b) Cs; c) Co; d) Cs;
25. a) - complementizers; b) - subordinators;
26. subordinate;
27. a) -embedded; b) - subordinated;
28. a) b; b) c;
29. INFLECTION, abbreviated I;
30. 1. Eliot ordered his deputy ( [e] to arrest the smugglers)
finite Eliot ordered
2. [e] to arrest the smugglers
non-finite [e] (none)
31. a) simple; b) compound; c) complex; d) complex;
32. a) declarative; b) interrogative; c) interrogative; d) imperative;
e) exclamation;
33. a) simple; b) compound; c) complex; d) complex; e) double;
34. a) operator; b) predication;
35. a) simple verbal; b) compound nominal; c) compound nominal;
d) compound verbal; e) compound verbal;
36. a) are; b) were; c) was; d) are; e) is; f) live; g) has; h) were; i) am;
j) wants;
37. a) - Fiecare raspunde la setul de ntrebari; b) - Fiecare raspuns se
refera la ntrebare;
38. a) - determiner (demonstrative pronoun), premodifier (adjective), head
(noun); b) premodifier (participle); c)premodifier (noun); d) postmodifiers
(prepositional phrase-preposition+adjective+noun); e) head (NP-
article+adverb+noun), postmodifier(relative clause); f) postmodifier
(adverbial); g) postmodifier(non-finite clause);h) postmodifier
(adverbial); i) postmodifier (adjective); j) quantifier (pronoun); k) quantifier
(pronoun);
39. a) which; b) appositive; c) relative;
40. a) - temporary; b) - always when appropriate;
41. a) were; b) is; c) has; d) are; e) disapprove;
42. a) noun clause; b) adverbial; c) relative; d) non-finite -ing;
43. a) statement; b) question; c) imperative; d) exclamation.
LANGUAGE TERMINOLOGY
[1] ADJUNCT
Adverbials may be classified as adjuncts, conjuncts, or disjuncts.
An adjunct is part of the basic structure of the clause or sentence in which
it occurs, and modifies the verb. Adverbs of time, place, frequency, degree,
and manner, are examples of adjuncts.
He died in England.
I have almost finished.
Conjuncts are not part of the basic structure of a clause or sentence. They
show how what is said in the sentence containing the conjunct connects
with what is said in another sentence or sentences.
Altogether, it was a happy week.
However, the weather was not good.
Disjuncts (also called sentential adverbs) are adverbs which show the
speaker's attitude to or evaluation of what is said in the rest of the
sentence.
Naturally, I paid for my own meal.
I had to pay for my own meal, unfortunately.
[2] ADVERBIAL (Adv) = any word, phrase, or clause that functions like
an adverb. An adverb is a single-word adverbial.
[3] ADVERBIAL CLAUSE (Adv Cl) = a clause which functions as an
adverb.
For example:
When I arrived I went straight to my room. (adverbial clause of time)
Wherever we looked there was dust. (adverbial clause of place)
We painted the walls yellow to brighten the room. (adverbial clause
of purpose)
[4] ADVERBIAL PHRASE (AdvP) = a phrase that functions as an adverb.
For example:
After dinner, we went to the movies.
[5] APPOSITION, APPOSITIVE = When two words, phrases, or clauses in
a sentence have the same reference, they are said to be in apposition.
For example, in the sentence:
My sister, Helen Wilson, will travel with me.
My sister and Helen Wilson refer to the same person, and are aclled
appositives.
The sentence can be rewritten with either of the two appositives
missing, and still make sense:
My sister will travel with me.
Helen Wilson will travel with me.
[6] CLAUSE (Cl) = a group of words which form a grammatical unit and
which contains a subject and a finite verb. A clause forms a sentence or
part of a sentence and often functions as a noun, adjective or adverb.
For example:
I hurried home.
Because I was late, they went without me.
[7] COMPLEMENT (C), COMPLEMENTATION = (in grammar) that part of
the sentence which follows the verb and which thus completes the
sentence. The commonest complements are:
o Subject Complement (SC): the complement linked to a
subject by be or a linking verb:
She is a doctor.
o Object Complement (OC): the complement linked to an
object:
We made her the chairperson.
o Adjective Complement (AC): the complement linked to an
adjective:
I am glad that you can come.
o Prepositional Complement (PC): the complement linked to a
preposition:
They argued about what to do.
While Adjuncts are optional parts of sentences, complements are often
obligatory parts of the sentences in which they occur.
[8] COMPLEMENT (ARY) CLAUSE (CCL) = a clause which functions as a
complement. For example:
The question is why you did it.
[9] COMPLEX SENTENCE = a sentence which contains one or
more dependent clauses, in addition to its independent, or main, clause.
For example:
When it rained, we went inside.
(dep cl) (ind cl)
[10] COMPOUND SENTENCE = a sentence which contains two or more
independent clauses which are joined by co-ordination. For example:
He is a small boy but he is very strong.
(ind cl) 12412c221m (ind cl)
I'll either phone you or I will send you a note.
[11] COMPOUND SUBJECT = a subject which consists of two or more
elements joined by and and normally taking a plural verb. For example:
Beer and wine do not mix.
[12] CONSTITUENT = a linguistic unit, (usually in sentence analysis) which
is part of a larger construction.
[13] CONSTITUENT STRUCTURE = the arrangement of linguistic units
(Constituents) in a phrase, clause, sentence, etc., in order to show their
relationship to one another. A constituent structure can be represented in
various ways. A popular way is to use a tree diagram.
For example, the constituent structure of the sentence The penguin
swallowed the fish can be shown as:
12412c221m 12412c221m
Sentence
12412c221m NP 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m VP


Determiner Noun 12412c221m
12412c221m Verb NP
12412c221m 12412c221m
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
Det N


The 12412c221m penguin 12412c221m
swallowed the fish 12412c221m
12412c221m
[14] DETERMINER (Det) = a word which is used with a noun, and which
limits the meaning of the noun in some way. For example, in English the
following words can be used as determiners:
ARTICLES, e.g. a pencil, the garden
DEMONSTRATIVES, e.g. this box, that car
POSSESSIVES, e.g. her house, my bicycle
QUANTIFIERS, e.g. some milk, many people







NUMERALS, e.g. the first day, three chairs.
[15] EXISTENTIAL = (in linguistics) describes a particular type of sentence
structure which often expresses the existence or location of persons,
animals, things, or ideas.
In English, a common existential sentence structure is:
There + a form of the verb be
For example:
There are four bedrooms in this house.
Another frequently used existential structure uses the verb to have.
For example:
This house has four bedrooms.
[16] EXTRAPOSITION = the process of moving a word, phrase, or clause
to a position in a sentence which is different from the position it usually has.
For example, the subject of some sentences can be moved to the
end of the sentence:
Trying to get tickets was difficult.
It was difficult trying to get tickets.
In sentence two, It is called anticipatory subject, and trying to get
tickets is called postponed subject.
[17] HEAD = the central part of a phrase. Other elements in the phrase are
in some grammatical or semantic relationship to the head. For example, in
the English NP: the fat lady in the floral dress the noun lady is the head of
the phrase.
[18] IMPERSONAL CONSTRUCTION (SUBJECT) = a type of sentence in
which there is no mention of who or what does or experiences something.
For example: It's cold; It's raining.
[19] LOGICAL SUBJECT = a NP which describes, typically, the performer
of the action. Some linguists make a distinction between the grammatical
subject and the logical subject.
For example, in the passive sentence:
The cake was eaten by Vera.
the cake is the grammatical subject but Vera is the logical subject as
she is the performer of the action. In:
Vera ate the cake.
Vera would be both the grammatical and the logical subject.
[20] MODIFIER, MODIFICATION, MODIFY = a word or group of words
which gives further information about ("modifies") another word or group of
words (the Head).
Modification may occur in a NP, a VP, an AP, etc.
Modifiers before the head are called premodifiers, for
example expensive in this expensive camera.
Modifiers after the head are called postmodifiers, for example with a
stumpy tail in The cat with a stumpy tail.
[21] NOMINAL is
a term used instead of a Noun.
a term for a linguistic unit which has some but not all characteristics
of a noun, e.g. wounded in The wounded were taken by helicopter to the
hospital.
Although wounded is the Head of the noun phrase the wounded and is
preceded by an article, it would not be modified by an adjective but by an
adverb, e.g. the seriously wounded.
[22] NOUN PHRASE (NP) = (in Structuralist Linguistics,
Transformational Generative Grammar and related grammatical
theories) a group of words with a noun or pronoun as the main part
(the Head).
The NP may consist of only one word (for
example Gina in Gina arrived yesterday) or it may be long and complex (for
example, all the words before must in: The students who enrolled late and
who have not yet filled in their cards must do so by Friday).
[23] NOMINAL CLAUSE (also NOUN CLAUSE) = a clause which
functions like a noun or noun phrase; that is, which may occur as subject,
object complement, in apposition, or as prepositional complement.
For example:
Nominal clause as subject: What she said is awful.
Nominal clause as object: I don't know what she said
[24] NOMINALIZATION = the grammatical process of forming nouns from
other parts of speech, usually verbs or adjectives. For example, in English:
nominalized forms from the verb to write: writing, writer as in: His writing is
illegible. Her mother is a writer.

[25] NOTIONAL GRAMMAR = a grammar which is based on the belief
that there are categories such as tense, mood, gender,
number, and case which are available to all languages although not all
languages make full use of them. For example, a case system is found in
German, Latin, and Russian, but not in modern English.
Traditional Grammar was often notional in its approach and
sometimes attempted to apply some categories to a language without first
investigating whether they were useful and appropriate for describing that
language.
[26] NOUN PHRASE (NP) = (in some Traditional Grammars) a participial
(see Participles) or Infinitive phrase which could be replaced by a noun or
pronoun.
For example, the participial phrase mowing the lawn in:
George just hates mowing the lawn.
Could be replaced by it:
George just hates it.
[27] OBJECT (O) = the noun, noun phrase or clause, or pronoun in
sentences with transitive verbs, which is traditionally described as being
affected by the action of the verb. The object of a verb can be affected by
the verb either directly or indirectly.
If it is affected directly, it may be called the Direct Object (DO). In
English, the direct object of a verb may be:
created by the action of the verb, as in:
Terry baked a cake.
changed in some way by the action of the verb, as in:
Terry baked a potato.
perceived by the Subject of the verb, as in:
Terry saw the cake.
evaluated by the subject of the verb, as in:
Terry liked the cake.
obtained or possessed by the subject of the verb, as in:
Terry bought the cake.
If the object of a verb is affected by the verb indirectly, it is usually
called the Indirect Object (IO). In English, the indirect object may be:
the receiver of the direct object, as in:
Terry gave me the cake. (= "Terry gave the cake to me")
the beneficiary of the action of the verb, as in:
Terry baked me the cake. (= "Terry baked the cake for me")
In English, direct objects and many indirect objects can become
subjects when sentences in the active voice are changed to the passive
voice:
The cake was given (to) me.
I was given the cake.
[28] PREDICATE = that part of a sentence which states or asserts
something about the subject and usually consists of a verb either with or
without an object, complement, or adverb. For example:
Joan is tired.
The children saw the play.
The sun rose.
Adjectives, nouns, etc. which occur in the predicate are said to be
used "predicatively". For example:
Her behaviour was friendly. (predicative adjective)
These books are dictionaries. (predicative noun)
[29] QUALIFIER (Qual), QUALIFY = (in Traditional Grammar) any
linguistic unit (e.g. an adjective, a phrase, or a clause) that is part of
a Noun Phrase and gives added information about the noun.
For example, her, expensive, and from Paris are qualifiers in
the NP: her expensive blouse from Paris.
12412c221m 12412c221m = (in
Halliday's Functional Grammar) any linguistic unit that is part of a group,
gives added information about the Head of the group, and follows the head.
For example, from Paris is a qualifier in the noun group her
expensive blouse from Paris.
[30] QUANTIFIER = a word or phrase which is used with a noun, and
which shows quantity. Some quantifiers in English are: many, few, little,
several, much, a lot of, plenty of, a piece of, a loaf of, three kilograms of,
etc.
[31] SIMPLE SENTENCE = a sentence which contains only
one predicate. For example:
I like milk.
(pred)
[32] SUBJECT = (in English grammar), generally is the noun, pronoun,
or Noun Phrase (NP) which:
typically precedes the main verb in a sentence and is most
closely related to it.
determines Concord
refers to something about which a statement or assertion is
made in the rest of the sentence.
That part of the sentence containing the VERB or Verb Group and
which may include Objects, Complements, or Adverbials) is known as
the Predicate. The predicate is that part of the sentence which predicates
something of the subject. For example:
Subject 12412c221m Predicate
The woman 12412c221m smiled.
Fish 12412c221m is good for you.
[33] TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR = a grammar which is usually based on
earlier grammars of Latin or Greek and applied to some other language,
often inappropriately. For example, some grammarians stated that English
had sixCases because Latin had six cases. These grammars were often
notional and prescriptive in their approach (seeNotional Grammar,
Prescriptive Grammar). Although there has been a trend towards using
grammars which incorporate more modern approaches to language
description and language teaching, some schools still use traditional
grammars.
[34] VERB PHRASE (VP) = (in Transformational Generative Grammar)
the part of a Sentence which contains the main verb and also any Object
(s), Complement (s), and Adverbial (s):
For example, in:
Tom gave a watch to his daughter.
All the sentence except Tom is the verb phrase.
BIBLIOGRAPHY - Part I
[1] Bantas, A. (1996). Descriptive English Syntax. Institutul European Iasi: Editura
Didactica.
[2] Budai, Laszlo. (1999). Gramatica engleza. Teorie si exercitii. Bucuresti: Teora.
[3] Chomsky (1957). Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton.
Reprint. Berlin and New York (1985).
[4] Chomsky (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
[5] Chomsky (1981). Lectures on Government and Binding:
The Pisa Lectures. Holland: Foris Publications. Reprint. 7th
Edition. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1993.
[6] Grady, William O'. (1996). Contemporary Linguistics. An
Introducation. London and New York: Longman.
[7] Haegeman, L. (1993). Introduction to Government and Binding
Theory. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.
[8] Jacobs, R. (1995). English Syntax. A Grammar for English Language
Professionals. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
[9] Quirk, R. (1990). A Grammar of Contemporary English. Longman Group Ltd:
William Clowes & Sons Ltd. Beccles & London.

BIBLIOGRAPHY - Part II
[1] Bantas, A. (1996). Descriptive English Syntax. Institutul European Iasi: Editura
Didactica.
[2] Broughton, G. (1990). The Penguin English Grammar A - Z for Advanced
Students. London: Penguin.
[3] Budai, Laszlo. (1999). Gramatica engleza. Teorie si exercitii. Bucuresti: Teora.
[4] Capota, T. (2000). Dictionar explicativ de termeni gramaticali. Cluj
Napoca: Dacia.
[5] ------------. (1992). Collins Cobuild English Usage. Birmingham: Harper
Collins.
[6] Haegeman, L. (1993). Introduction to Government and Binding
Theory. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers:
[7] Iacob, Olimpia (2002). English Syntax through Exercises. Cluj
Napoca: Dacia Educational.
[8] Jacobs, R. (1995). English Syntax. A Grammar for English Language
Professionals.
[9] Lacatusu, T. (2000). Essentials of English Syntax. Complex Structures. Iasi:
Demiurg.
[10] Popa, E. (1997). Elemente de sintaxa engleza. The Simple Sentence. Cluj:
Presa Universitara Clujeana.
[11] Quirk, R. (1990). A Grammar of Contemporary English. Longman Group
Ltd.: William Clowes & Sons ltd. Beccles & London.
[12] Wilson, Misty. (1998). Syntax. Pembroke: University of North Carolina at
Pembroke.

CONTENTS - Part I
Linguistics - definition
Branches of Linguistics:
Phonetics
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Syntax - Definition
Rules of Sentence Formation:
Syntactic Categories
Phrase Structure Rules: NP, VP, AP, PP, AdvP.
Transformations
D-Structures: Constituents; Special Tests:
12412c221m Substitution Movement
Co-ordination
The Head of a Phrase
Specifiers of:
Nouns (determiners)
Verbs (qualifiers)
Adjectives (degree words)
Adverbs (degree words)
Adverbs (degree words)
Complements. Complement options
Phrase Structure Template:
12412c221m Specifiers + Head + Complements.
The Sentence. The Sentence Rule: NP + Infl + VP.
Complemetizers (C)
Complementizer Phrase (CP)
Complement Clauses
S-Structures: Transformations Inversion ; Do Insertion
12412c221m 12412c221m Wh-Movement
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
Rules of Transformation
12412c221m 12412c221m 12412c221m
Trace element
Ambiguous Sentences
Other Structural Patterns: Co-ordinate Structures
12412c221m 12412c221m Modifier
Structures
12412c221m 12412c221m Relative
Structures
Passive Structures; thematic roles: agent, theme, source, goal,
location.
Annex: Complement Options
Exercises
Language Terminology
Bibliography
CONTENTS - Part II
Phrases. Clauses. Sentences
Phrases (P)
Clauses Cl)
Sentence (S)
The Simple Sentence
The Subject and Predicate Groups
A. The Subject Group (The Noun Phrase: NP)
The Noun Clause
The NP
Determiners
Modifiers
The Subject
B. The Predicate Group (The Verb Phrase: VP)
The operator. The predication
Classification of Predicates
Kinds of predicates
The Predicative Clause
The Object (O). The Object Clause (OCl)
The Direct Object (DO)
The Indirect Object (IO)
The Prepositional Indirect Object (PIO)
The Prepositional Object (PO)
Complements (C). Complement Clauses (CCl)
The Subject Complement (SC)
The Object Complement (OC)
Adverbial Modifiers (AdvM). Adverbial Clauses (AdvCl)
Types of Adverbial Clauses
Abbreviated Adverbial Clauses
The Verbal Phrase (GP / PP / IP)
The Prepositional Phrase (PP)
The Adjective Phrase (AP). The Relative Clause (ACl)
Restrictive / Non-restrictive Relative Clauses
Syntax Exercises
Key to Syntax Exercises
Language Terminology
Bibliography