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MORFOLOGIA: pag. 13
SINTASSI: pag. 21
LINGUISTICS AND THE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE
LINGUISTICS is defined as the study of language systems. For the purposes of study, language is divided into levels or
components.
COMPONENTS
PHONOLOGY
MORPHOLOGY → SEMANTICS
SYNTAX
PRAGMATICS
INTRODUCTION
Although speech (sebbene la parola) is a continuum sound, it’s possible to break it into different types of sounds, known
as CONSONANTS, VOWELS and GLIDES (or semivowels).
The English Alphabet has 26 letters, but 44 sounds. While standard Italian has 30 sounds (7 vowels + 2 semiconsonants
+ 21 consonants), the English system has more vowel sounds (short and long).
Key Car The sound is the same, but the letters are different
↕ phonemic symbols
/ki:/ /ka:/
Usually, in a word the number of sounds is not the same as the number of letters.
EXAMPLE “duck” CVC /dʌk/
PHONETICS
PHONETICS is the study of the way humans make, transmit and receive speech sounds. It’s divided into:
- ARTICULATORY PHONETICS: the study of the way the vocal organs are used to produce speech sounds
- ACOUSTIC PHONETICS: the study of the physical properties of speech sounds
- AUDITORY PHONETICS: the study of the way people perceives speech sounds
PHONOLOGY
PHONOLOGY is the study of the sound systems of languages, and of the general properties displayed by these
systems.
By contrast with phonetics, which studies ALL possible sounds that the human vocal apparatus can make, phonology
studies ONLY those contrasts in sound ( the PHONEMES) which make differences of meaning within language.
PHONEME
This contrastive property is the basic operational test for determining the phonemes that exist in a language. If we
substitute one sound for another in a word and there is a change of meaning, then the two sounds represent different
phonemes.
With the exception of the indefinite article “a” [ǝ] and the present indicative plural of the verb “to be” “are” [ɑːr], discrete
units of sounds, such as [b] or [u], do not have any intrinsic meaning.
PHONEMES VS GRAPHEMES
A phoneme is a distinctive sound in a language capable of creating a distinction in meaning between two words.
In many cases, phonemes share the same mark or symbol (ex: <t> and /t/). In other cases, there is no correspondence
(ex: <c> represents the phoneme /k/ in cut [kʌt] and the phonemes /s/ in nice [naɪs];
<o> represents the phoneme /ʌ/ in come [kʌm]).
MINIMAL PAIRS
A MINIMAL PAIR is a set of different words consisting of all the same sounds except for one.
If we replace the phoneme /d/ in “dog” [dɒɡ] with the phoneme /l/, we obtain the word “log” [lɒg].
We could set up a phonetic environment (or a sequence of sounds) such as an environment containing the sound
sequence /æt/. If we then establish a blank slot preceding this sequence, /_ æt/, and substitute different consonants in
this slot, we can see if we get different words. If we do, then each of these consonants is a phoneme.
/_æt/ pat, bat, sat, mat, gnat, fat, that, vat, cat
We can conclude that /p/, /b/, /s/, /m/, /n/, /f/, /ð/, /v/, and /k/ are all phonemes. Thus, “bat” and “cat”, for example, form a
minimal pair, as do “gnat” and “vat”.
This same concept of a minimal pair holds true for vowels as well.
Substituting different vowels in the empty slot, we can generate numerous minimal pairs.
/p_t/ pit, peat, pate, pot, pout, put, putt, pat, pet
We can conclude that /ɪ/, /i/, /eɪ/, /ɒ/, /aʊ/, /ʊ/, /ʌ/, /æ/, and /ɛ/ are all distinct phonemes. Thus “pot” and “put” form a
minimal pair, as do “pat” and “pet”.
MINIMAL SET
When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme (always in the same
position in the word), then we have a MINIMAL SET.
For example, one minimal set based on the vowel phonemes of English could include feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot, and
another minimal set based on consonant phonemes could have big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig.
HOMOPHONES words which are pronounced the same but spelled differently, such as bear/bare [beǝ], meat/meet
[mit], or maid/made [meɪd].
HOMOGRAPHS words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently, for example: lead [li:d] (condurre) e lead
[led] (piombo); tear [tɪǝ] (lacrima) and tear [teǝ] (strappare).
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
Note that conventionally phoneme symbols (abstract segments) are enclosed within slashes /…/
Whereas the phonetic transcription (physically produced segment) of words is enclosed within square brackets […]
BASIC TERMINOLOGY
GRAPHEMES alphabetic signs which are independent from sound, enclosed within guillemets (or angle quotes): < >
PHONES sounds that are independent from their role in the phonological system of a given language, enclosed within
square brackets: [ ]
PHONEMES units capable of constituting meaningful oppositions in a given language system, enclosed within
slashes: / /
Since the writing system of English does not provide us with a one-to-one correspondence between oral sound and
written symbol, we need a tool for representing human sounds in a regular way when studying phonology.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) has been invented for this purpose. In it, each written symbol represents
one, and only one, speech sound, while each speech sound is represented by one, and only one, written symbol.
CONSONANTS
A CONSONANT is defined as a speech sound which is articulated with some kind of stricture, or closure, of the air
stream.
- When the vocal folds are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded. Sounds
produced in this way are described as voiceless.
- When the vocal folds are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes
through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiced.
VOICELESS CONSONANT PHONEMES are: /p/ as in pea; /t/ as in tea; /k/ as in coffee; /f/ as in fat; /θ/ as in
thin; /s/ as in see, /ʃ/ as in she; /h/ as in he.
VOICED CONSONANT PHONEMES are: /b/ as in ball; /d/ as in dog, /dʒ/ as in joke; /g/ as in good; /v/ as in
van; /ð/ as in that; /z/ as in zoo; /m/ as in mouth; /ə/ as in no; /ŋ/ as in thing; /l/ as in love; /r/ as in right; /w/ as in
why; /j/ as in you.
3. PLACE OF ARTICULATION
It is important to know our speech apparatus in order to understand and recognise the individual speech sounds that we
produce.
The place of articulation indicates the location inside the mouth where the constriction of the air passing through the oral
cavity takes place.
The tongue, lips, teeth, and various regions of the mouth constitute places of articulation in the oral cavity.
BILABIAL, LABIODENTAL, DENTAL OR INTERDENTAL, ALVEOLAR, PALATO-ALVEOLAR, PALATAL, VELAR,
GLOTTAL.
4. MANNER OF ARTICULATION
It refers to the way the sounds are articulated or pronounced.
APPROXIMANT (in English lateral, glide and liquid sounds are approximants, as they don’t involve friction in any part of
the vocal tract).
ALLOPHONES
In natural speech production sounds occur in groups in fast succession so individual sounds are influenced by the
sounds around them.
If /t/ occurs before a vowel it is aspirated more than if it occurs before a /r/. Ex: say: table and train.
In some varieties of English (American English, Cockney) [t] can have up to 6 different realisations, these are called
phonetic variants or allophones.
In transcription they are represented by diacritic symbols added to the phonemic ones.
They do not involve any change of meaning but differences in accents.
PRONUNCIATION OF -ED
FORTIS VS LENIS
Voiceless plosive consonants /p/ /t/ /k/ are also referred to as fortis (forti)
Voiced plosive consonants /b/ /d/ /g/ are also referred to as lenis (deboli)
This distinction has a repercussion on the vowels, which are longer with lenis consonants
ARTICLE THE
The definite article is pronounced /ōǝ/ before consonants (the dog), but is pronounced /ōi/ before a vowel (the apple).
/ʃ/ /ʒ/ - sounds of <ship> <measure> /ʃɪp/ /meʒǝ/ (the sound /ʒ/ is rarely at the beginning of a word)
The sound /h/ only happens before a vowel sound. /h/ has always the quality of the vowel it precedes.
Phonetically /h/ is a voiceless vowel with the quality of the voiced vowel that follows
Medially /ƞ/ occurs quite frequently but there is in the BBC accent a rather complex rule. Some words with orthographic
<ng> in the middle will have a pronunciation containing /ƞg/ and others will have /ƞ/ without /g/
A B
Words ending orthographically in -ng always have an ending in /ƞ/ (ex: sing - /sɪƞ/)
Exception is the comparative and the superlative which have a /g/ (ex: longer - /lɒŋgǝ/)
Only five vowels ever found preceding this consonant: /ɪ/ /e/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɒ/
VOWELS
To adequately define a VOWEL, we need to look at it in articulatory, acoustic, and functional terms:
- In articulatory terms, vowels are sounds articulated with no obstruction of the air stream, that is, with open
articulation. There is no central closure of the air stream, though the tongue may come into contact with the teet
on the sides.
- In acoustic terms, vowels are sounds that vary in pitch, which is determined by the quality of the sound wave
and refers to the degree of highness or lowness of a tone. Pitch is modified by changing the shape of the
resonating chamber (the oral and, sometimes, the nasal tracts) by changing the position and shape of tongue
and lips and by lowering or raising the velum.
- In functional terms, vowels constitute the nucleus, or necessary, part of the syllable.
If for consonants, we take into consideration four criteria: voicing, orality/nasality, place and manner of articulation, for
vowels, we need to consider only one criterion: the place of articulation.
In terms of their manner of articulation, all vowels are produced with open approximation.
Instead of determining which articulators are used and where stricture occurs, we determine where the highest point of
the tongue is during the production of the vowel sound.
The position of the tongue alters the quality of the sound produced.
Another determining factor is the shape of the lips, which can be more or less spread (smiling) or more or less rounded
(kissing).
To describe vowel sounds, we consider the way in which the tongue influences the shape through which the airflow must
pass.
To talk about a place of articulation, we think of the space inside the mouth as having a front versus a back and a high
versus a low area.
Thus, in the pronunciation of heat and hit, we talk about “high, front” vowels because the sound is made with the front
part of the tongue in a raised position.
In contrast, the vowel sound in hat is produced with the tongue in a lower position and the sound in hot can be described
as a “low, back” vowel.
FRONT VOWELS:
CENTRAL VOWELS:
BACK VOWELS:
So far, we have mainly been looking at features concerning individual sounds or phonemes ( consonants, vowels and
diphthongs). These are part of the segmental level, since each phoneme is usually assumed to be one segment of
speech.
Once we move on to look at larger chunks of speech that span a number of segments, such as whole words or phrases,
etc., we are dealing with features on the suprasegmental level.
This deals with features of pronunciation beyond the phoneme level, which determine the prosody of spoken language
( stress, intonation, rhythm, pitch and connected speech).
PROSODY
Features of pronunciation beyond the phoneme level are called suprasegmental features or prosody.
Each language has phonotactic constraints. These are restrictions to which sounds can occur together (number of
consonant sounds in a cluster, number of vowels, etc.).
Phonotactic constraints – as permitted arrangements of sounds – vary from one language to another.
THE SYLLABLE
Phonological unit made up of one or more phonemes. A syllable must contain a vowel or vowel-like sound, including
diphthongs. The most common type of syllable in language also has a consonant (C) before the vowel (V) and is typically
represented as CV.
Technically, the basic elements of the syllable are the onset (one or more consonants) followed by the rhyme (or rime)
which consists of a vowel, which is treated as the nucleus, plus any following consonant(s), described as the coda.
Minimum syllable is made up of one vowel (ex: the verb are [ɑ:] or the conjunction or [ɔ:]) V
Open syllables: tea [ti:], zoo [zu:] (onset and nucleus, but no coda) CV
Closed syllables: all [ɔ:l], arm [ɑ:m] (nucleus + coda or onset + nucleus + coda) VC or CVC. The most
common syllable in English is CVC (did, bag, look).
STRESS
STRESS is the relative prominence given to a syllable. In phonetic transcription it is indicated by a vertical line (stress
mark) preceding the stressed syllable. Money [‘mʌni]
WORD STRESS
Words with more than one syllable carry an accent or stress on one syllable.
2-syllable words with primary stress on the first syllable and a full vowel on the second:
type strong + strong background [‘bækgraʊnd], pillow [‘pɪlǝʊ]
2-syllable words with a full vowel on the first syllable and primary stress on the second syllable:
type strong + strong although [ɔ:l’ōǝʊ], myself [maɪ’self]
3-syllable words with primary stress on the first syllable and a full vowel on the third syllable:
type strong + weak + strong telephone [‘telɪfǝʊn], summertime [‘sʌmǝtǝɪm]
3-syllable words with primary stress on the first syllable, and a full vowel on the second:
type strong + strong + weak newspaper [ˈnjuːzpeɪpə], grandmother [ˈɡrænmʌðə]
3-syllable words with full vowel on the first syllable and primary stress on the second syllable:
type strong + strong + weak sensation [senˈseɪʃn], transparent [trænsˈpærənt]
3-syllable words with a full vowel on the first syllable and primary stress on the third syllable:
type strong + weak + strong afternoon [ˌɑːftəˈnuːn], understand [ˌʌndəˈstænd]
3-syllable words:
the stress is usually on 1st syllable
ex: int-eres-ting; beau-ti-ful; a-ny-one
but there are many words where the stress is not on the 1 st syllable
VOCALIC LENGTH
In connected speech we focus on stressed syllables rushing the less important ones
In polysyllabic words with /r/ in unstressed the syllable preceding /r/ disappears /ˈdɪkʃənəri/ /ˈdɪkʃənri/
STRESS-TIMED VS SYLLABLE-TIMED LANGUAGES
Different languages fit their syllables into the beat in different ways
In a syllable-timed language, every syllable is perceived as taking up roughly the same amount of time, though the
absolute length of time depends on the prosody. These languages tend to give syllables approximately equal
prominence and generally lack reduced vowels (e.g., Icelandic, Cantonese Chinese, Georgian, French, Welsh, Italian,
Turkish and Spanish)
In other languages, known as stress-timed languages, the length of the syllables varies, and so the time of an
utterance depends on the number of stressed syllables, rather than the total number
English is a stress-timed language. The interval between one strong beat and the next is said to be isochronous (that is,
each chunk is given, approximately equal amount of time)
- Rhythm has important consequences on the incidence of weak sounds, which typically occur in unstressed
syllables
- Tonicity is the assignment of rhythmic prominence
- Words stress versus sentence stress
As weak syllables in words are reduced to the schwa, vowels in function words are reduced to a neutral sound (strong
weak form)
SENTENCE STRESS
As in polysyllabic words we find primary and secondary stress, in sentences some words have stronger stress than
others (usually those providing new or important information)
CONTRASTIVE STRESS
Sometimes we emphasise one word rather than another in order to make intended meaning clear.
In (b), that is a determiner which refers to a particular reading (that reading, not this one), a specific text, and therefore is
stressed, and the vowel is pronounced fully (as in bat). Thus, the content which the word is intended to convey in the
utterance within a given context will determine whether or not it is stressed.
▪ Tonality refers to the segmentation of longer stretches of connected speech into shorter meaningful chunks
▪ An intonation phrase is an utterance with its intonation pattern (tone) and a nucleus (punctuation roughly reflects the
segmentation in chunks).
▪ The nucleus is the syllable receiving the greatest prominence and carrying intonation movement (usually the last
prominent lexical word in an intonation phrase)
Rhythm is about how we use a combination of stressed and unstressed words in sentences
Intonation is the way the pitch of a speaker’s voice goes up or down as they speak
RHYTHM
English tends to organise an utterance around stressed syllables according to a regular rhythm. One implication of this is
that the unstressed syllables between stressed syllables tend to contract or expand to fill the time available.
Here are some examples of phrases with zero, one, two, or three syllables between the stressed syllables (in bold)
INTONATION
Intonation refers to the way we use the pitch of our voice to express particular meanings and attitudes. It could be
described as “the music of speech”.
A change of variation in this music (or pitch) can affect the meaning of what we say. In fact, in English, intonation has two
main functions: grammatical and attitudinal.
In using intonation, we create contours or patterns that allow us to make clear what we want our listeners to focus on; we
also use intonation to convey our communicative function. Consider the difference between:
The rise and fall of pitch throughout is called its intonation contour. We can interpret meaning according to the final
intonation contour of the clause.
Intonation plays an important role in grammar and discourse, influencing the meaning of large stretches of speech.
↗ rising questions and incomplete clauses (was she glad to see him?)
↘ falling statements (I live in Moscow)
↘ ↗ fall - rise uncertainty and doubt (you may be right)
↗ ↘ rise - fall surprise and admiration, or strong emotions (it’s impossible!)
TONES
- He’s passed his exam – a (pure) statement Falling
- He’s passed his exam? – a question Rising
- He’s passed his exam? – a question as an expression of surprise / it is unbelievable that he has passed his
exam because he had not been studying a lot Rise – Fall
- He’s passed his exam – a statement suggesting that he must know something, he may not be so lazy and now
he deserves to take a rest after all Fall – Rise
ATTITUDINAL FUNCTION
- Expresses the speaker’s attitudes and emotions to the topic or as a response to the listener’s statement
(boredom, gratitude, scepticism, arrogance etc.)
- Adds additional meaning to the semantics of the statement
- We do this by tone. The choice of tone is context-dependent
- Voice quality, face and body expressions, loudness, speed contribute to this
GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION
ACCENTUAL FUNCTION
It involves the placement of the stress on the nucleus, thus indicating where the focus of the information is centred.
DISCOURSIVE FUNCTION
CONNECTED SPEECH
In spoken language, phonetic variability is caused by the influence of the phonetic environment, rhythm and the speed of
the utterance
Our talk is fast and spontaneous, and it requires our articulators to move from one sound to the next without stopping.
The process of making one sound almost at the same time as the next sound is called coarticulation
There are two well-known coarticulation effects, described as assimilation and elision
5 aspects of connected speech: similitude, linking (or catenation), assimilation, elision and vowel reduction and
weak forms
SIMILITUDE
Accommodation in the articulation of a sound segment to an adjacent segment, so that they become similar
- Eighth [eɪtƟ]
[t] is dental (not alveolar) because of its proximity to dental [Ɵ]
- Can’t (BrE) [kɑ:nt]; (AmE) [kænt]
the vowels are nasalized because of the presence of nasal [n]
LINKING
Linking (or catenation): ending consonant sound carried over to initial vowel sound.
- R-linking: BrE is a non-rhotic variety, the sound [r] is pronounced only when it appears between two vowel
sounds or before a vowel sound.
- Sometimes the [r] sound functions as a bridge between the two words (for example [fɔ:’ɪg’zɑ:mpl])
- How about [haʊ ǝ’baʊt]
- Friday evening [‘fraɪdeɪ ‘i:vnɪƞ]
- Other linking sounds:
/w/ : “have you ever” /juwevǝ/
/j/ : “yes I am” /aɪjæm/
/ƞ/ : “thinking of” /Ɵɪƞkɪƞgǝv/
ASSIMILATION
Assimilation (one sound similar to the following one). It may involve:
- Place of articulation
- Manner of articulation (progressive and only in casual speech)
- Energy of articulation (voicing)
The most common assimilation form involves the movement of place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and /n/ to
a position closer to that of the following sound.
For instance, in the phrase ten cars, the /n/ will usually be articulated in a velar position, /’teƞ ‘kɑ:z/ so that the organs of
speech are ready to produce the following velar sound /k/.
Similarly, in ten boys the /n/ will be produced in a bilabial position, /’tem ‘bɔɪz/ to prepare for the articulation of the bilabial
/b/.
Assimilation, which involves the replacement of a sound with another owing to the influence of an adjacent one, is of two
types:
EXAMPLE
It interests the sounds /t/ and /d/ followed by /j/. The results are /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ respectively
It is complete in words such as righteous /’raiʧǝs/ from /rait/ and is frequent in expressions containing you or your
ELISION
Elision: the dropping of a sound which once existed (historical elision) or which exists in slow speech (contextual elision)
Total elision of one or more sounds (in adjusting to the next sound) either within or between words
correct /krekt/ - just before /ʤʌsbɪfɔ:r/
In English the alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/ in final position are usually elided (in the first part of compounds or in some
expressions)
- didn’t /didn/ (followed by another word)
- postman /pǝʊsmǝn/
- next question /nekskwesʧǝn/
- Remarkable differences between the pronunciation of words in isolation and in connected speech
- The reduction of strong, longer vowels and diphthongs, when in a weak, unstressed position, to the neutral
schwa sound [ǝ] or to the short vowels [ɪ, i] and [ʊ, u]
EXAMPLES
Auxiliaries (are, have), modals (can, must), articles (a, the), conjunctions (and, but), personal pronouns (you, he) and
prepositions (to, from)
MORPHOLOGY
Morphology is the area of linguistics that deals with the structure or form of words
- Inflectional morphology deals with patterns of word structure that are determined by the role of words in
sentences (the identity of the word does not change)
- Derivational morphology deals with the creation of new words with different meaning, e.g. the adverb quickly
from the adjective quick (the identity of the word changes)
Morphology is the area of grammar concerned with the structure of words and with relationships between words,
involving the morphemes that compose them.
These two conditions are both necessary because elements may be recognisable from one word to another, but not
contribute to the meaning in any way
For example, -ish /ɪʃ/ is present in all the following words, but it does not contribute to the meaning, and therefore cannot
be considered a morpheme
- wish /wɪʃ/ - fish /fɪʃ/
Human beings are able to produce an infinite number of words, ranging from super-mega to podcast, from re-icing to
recessionwear, from reupload to Anglocentris…
MORPHOLOGY – BASIC TERMINOLOGY
Morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language (any part of a word that cannot be broken down further into
smaller meaningful parts)
Free morpheme is a morpheme which can stand alone or act as a base. They can be functional or lexical
Bound morpheme is a morpheme that cannot stand alone as an independent word, bust must be attached to another
morpheme/word
Base is an element (free or bound, root morpheme or complex word) to which additional morphemes are added. Also
called a stem. A base can consist of a single root morpheme or can also contain more than one morpheme
Root is a (usually free) morpheme around which words can be built up through the addition of affixes. The root is what
you find when you strip all other morphemes off of a complex word
Affix is a bound morpheme which attaches to a base (root or stem)
Prefixes attach to the front of a base
Suffixes attach to the end of a bae
Infixes are inserted inside a root
MORPHEME
For example, the word headphones consists of the three morphemes head, phone, and -s;
the word ringleader consists of three morphemes, ring, lead, and -er
Some of these morphemes may stand alone as independent words (head, phone, ring, lead), other must always be
attached to some other morpheme (-er, -s)
A word may consist of one or more morphemes, which shall, not be confused with its prosodic elements, i.e. its syllables
ex: the noun moralize contains the three syllables mo-, ra-, lize, but only two morphemes – namely moral and -ize
Compare the syllables and the morphemes: contrary to the syllables, each morpheme in moralize has a stable
“meaning”, which remains the same even if the respective morphemes appear in a different context (e.g., in im-moral,
moral-ity, or in to moral-ize
AFFIXATION
Affixes are bound morphemes. Two types of affix: inflectional and derivational
INFLECTION
The process by which affixes combine with roots to indicate basic grammatical categories such as tense or plurality
e.g.: in “cat-s”, “talk-ed” “-s” and “-ed” are inflectional suffixes
Inflection is the process of adding very general meanings to existing words, not the creation of new words
In English there are only inflectional suffixes (only 8) which are added to nouns, verbs and adjectives.
Inflection – when they take inflectional suffixes to signal meanings and roles (e.g. to mark the plural, past tenses, etc.);
the identity of the word does not change
DERIVATION
SUFFIXES
Normalizer V>N -ment Arrangement, judgement, advancement
-er worker, helper, leader
-(e)ation legalization, simplification, taxation
-al disposal, refusal, arrival, trial
-ance/-ence ignorance, performance, reference
REDUPLICATION
Reduplication is a process similar to derivation, in which the initial syllable or the entire word is doubled, exactly or with a
slight phonological change. Reduplication is not a common or regular process of word formation in English, though it may
be in other languages
In English it is often used in children’s language (e.g. boo-boo, putt-putt, choo-choo) or for humorous or ironic effect (e.g.
goody-goody, rah-rah, pooh-pooh)
1. Exact reduplication: papa, mama, goody-goody, so-so, hush-hush, never-never, tutu, fifty-fifty
2. Ablaut reduplication in which the vowel alternates while the consonants are identical: crisscross, zig-zag, flip-
flop, mish-mash, wishy-washy, clip-clop, riff-raff, achy-breaky
3. Rhyme reduplication in which the consonants change while the vowel remains the same: hodge-podge, fuddy-
duddy, razzle-dazzle, boogie-woogie, nitty-gritty, roly-poly, hob-nob, hocus-pocus
Reduplications can be formed with two meaningful parts, for example, flower-power, brain drain, culture vulture, boy toy,
or heart smart
Reduplication has many different functions: it can express disparagement (namby-pamby), intensification (super-duper),
diminution (teeny-weeny), onomatopoeia (tick-tock), or alternation (ping-pong), among other uses
Conversion is also common. A word may change its class with no accompanying change in form if it is used in a
particular syntactic context.
A Functional shift involves the conversion of one part of speech to another without the addition of a suffix, as in a phone
(N) > to phone (V)
- V > N (a) run, drive, walk, bruise, cut, look, call, dump, spy, bite, sneeze
- N > V (to) man, head, shoulder, telephone, lust, contact, ship, sign, skin, mail
- A > V (to) weary, better, empty, idle, dirty, bare, quiet, tame, lower
- A > N (a) daily, double, private, commercial, formal, red, elder, roast
- Prt > V (to) down, up, off, thwart, out
Phrasal verbs (to print out, to take over) also become nouns (a printout, a takeover). One complex verb combination
(want to be) has become a new noun, as in “He isn’t in the group, he’s just a wannabe”.
Verbs (see through, stand up) also become adjectives, as in see-through material or a stand-up comedian. Or adjectives,
as in a dirty floor, an empty room, some crazy ideas and those nasty people, can become the verbs to dirty and to empty,
or the nouns a crazy and the nasty.
BLENDS
A blend involves two processes of word formation, compounding and “clipping”. Two free words are combined and
blended, usually by clipping off the end of the first word and the beginning of the second word, although sometimes one
or the other morpheme is left intact. Blends are sometimes called “portmanteau” words
COMPOUNDING
Compounding is the combination of nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs or prepositions to form complex words is also
widely used. A compound is the combination of two or more free roots (plus associated affixes)
Often the semantics of compounds are not simply a sum of the meaning of the parts; that is, if we know the meaning of
the two roots, we cannot necessarily predict the meaning of the compound, as in firearm, highball, makeup, or handout
Common English compounds are bookcase, doorknob, fingerprint, sunburn, textbook, wallpaper, wastebasket and
waterbed.
All these examples are nouns, but we can also create compound adjectives (good-looking, low-paid) and compounds of
adjective (fast) plus noun (food) as in a fast-food restaurant or a full-time job
Form of derivation
More than one root/stem
BACK FORMATION
In back formation, speakers derive a morphologically simple word from a form which they analize, on the basis of
derivational and inflectional patterns existing in English, as a morphologically complex word
For example, by analogy with the very common derivational pattern in English in which the agentive suffix -er is added to
a verb to produce a noun (sing + er singer; work + -er worker), verbs have been formed from the following nouns by
the removal of an agentive suffix, as in sightseer -er > sightsee; babysitter -er > baby-sit.
Since the nouns predate the verbs in these cases, we say that the verbs are “back-formed”.
Other examples of words created by this process are: donate (from “donation”), emote (from “emotion”), enthuse (from
“enthusiasm”), liaise (from “liaison”) and babysit (from “babysitter”).
SHORTENING
The three types of shortening – acronyms, initialisms, and clipped forms – have in common the deletion of sound
segments without respect to morphological boundaries. That is, parts of words, but not usually entire morphemes, are
deleted.
A CLIPPING is the result of deliberately dropping part of a word, usually either the end or the beginning, or less often
both, while retaining the same meaning and same word class.
End
mic < microphone; porn < pornography
rehab < rehabilitation; fax < facsimile
fan < fanatic; mitt < mitten
Beginning
burger < hamburger; venture < adventure
spite < despite; gin (cotton gin) < engine
cello < violoncello; phone < telephone
English speakers also like to clip each other’s names, as in Al, Ed, Liz, Mike, Ron, Sam, Sue and Tom.
A particular type of reduction, favoured in Australian and British English, produces forms technically known as
hypocorisms. In this process, a longer word is reduced to a single syllable, then -y or -ie is added to the end. This is the
process that results in movie (moving pictures) and telly (television). It has also produced Aussie (Australian), barbie
(barbecue), bookie (bookmaker), brekky (breakfast) and hankie (handkerchief)
SAXON GENITIVE
Saxon Genitive is a term for the forms of the possessive associated with the apostrophe (boy’s, boys’), so called
because, along with the plural ending, they are the only noun inflections surviving from Old English or Anglo-Saxon.
The Saxon Genitive can be used alone with a place reference: See you at Tom’s; I got it at the grocer’s this morning.
Other usages include the subjective genitive (the man’s statement, to say that the man made the statement);
the objective genitive (the group’s leader, meaning that someone leads the group);
and the descriptive genitive (a moment’s thought, a ladies’ hairdresser, ship’s biscuits)
The possessive form is used with nouns referring to people, groups of people, countries and animals
A day’s work
For God’s sake!
A fortnight’s holiday
A month’s pay
The water’s edge
Today’s newspaper
A stone’s throw away
In a year’s time
At death’s door
In my mind’s eye
The possessive is also used to refer to shops, restaurants, churches and colleges, using the name or job title of the
owner. Examples: the doctor’s; Saint Mary’s; the grocer’s; the vet’s; Smith’s
Shall we go to Luigi’s for lunch?
I’ve got an appointment at the dentist’s at eleven o’clock.
It is often omitted. Mistakes can be found, for example, in shop signs or due to hypercorrection (i.e., people put it where it
is not needed for fear of making a mistake)
Every time we write or speak, we are faced not only with choices of what to say, but also of how to say it.
- Prescriptive grammars dictate how people “should” use the language. For example, a prescriptive grammarian
would insist that only “whom” should be used when the pronoun refers to a human and functions as an object or
prepositional complement. In contrast, speakers in conversation regularly prefer “who” in actual usage:
“There’s a girl who I work with who’s pregnant” (CONV)
- Descriptive grammars focus on describing the actual patterns of use and the possible reasons for those
patterns.
LANGUAGE VARIATION
- Registers (e.g., conversation, fiction, newspapers and academic prose) are varieties of language that are
associated with different circumstances and purposes
- Dialects are varieties according to the identity of speaker(s) or writer(s) – their geographic area, gender, socio-
economic class, and so on
REGISTER
Register is a conventional way of using language that is appropriate in a specific context, which may be identified as
situational (e.g. in church), occupational (e.g. among lawyers) or topical (e.g. talking about language)
Examples: we can recognize specific features that occur in the religious register (Ye shall be blessed by Him in times of
tribulation), the legal register (The plaintiff is ready to take the witness stand) and even the linguistics register (In the
morphology of this dialect there are fewer inflectional suffixes)
One of the defining features of a register is the use of jargon, which is special technical vocabulary (e.g. plaintiff, suffix)
associated with a specific area of work or interest (e.g. law, linguistics, business, tourism, etc)
Other examples of registers: Journalese, baby-talk, legalese, sports commentators, language of airline pilots, criminals,
doctors, engineers, politicians, students…etc
Different registers vary greatly in their grammar usage. Example: use of pronouns and nouns in:
CONVERSATION NEWS
Interactive, addressed to a specific Non-interactive, not addressed to a specific
interlocutor; reader, author not stated, conveys general
Frequent use of first-person pronoun I/we information;
and of second-person pronoun you Rare use of personal pronouns;
Common use of proper nouns to refer to people,
places and institutions
SUB-REGISTERS
Within each register there are also some sub-categories known as sub-registers:
DIALECT
Dialects are varieties according to the identity of speaker(s) or writer(s) – their geographic area, gender, socio-economic
class, and so on, and vary in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.
From the grammatical point of view, dialect differences are arbitrary, while register differences are functional, as they
vary according to the communicative purpose
- Standard English: spoken by the well-educated English speakers throughout the world;
- Received Pronunciation (the Queen English) or BBC English: the accent of the best educated and most
prestigious members of English society;
- Cockney: the accent of working-class Londoners, specifically of the East-End area of London
- Standard English: no official academy regulates usage for the English Language, but it is the language variety
that has been codified in dictionaries, grammars and usage handbooks
- Non-standard (or vernacular) English: especially in conversation or in fiction, where it represents the speech
of fictional characters, but generally rare in the written corpus
Ex: I ain’t done nothing (conv.)
SYNTAX
Syntax is the way in which words combine to form larger units of meaning, e.g. phrases, clauses, sentences
Example: word order in a noun phrase or in statements and questions, e.g. She is a beautiful girl NOT She is a girl
beautiful
GRAMMATICAL UNIT
Grammatical units are meaningful elements which combine with each other in a structural pattern → grammar is the
system which organizes and controls these form-meaning relationships.
Sentence: consists of one or more clauses “If I wash up all this stuff somebody else can dry it”
Clause: consists of one or more phrases “Somebody else can dry it”
Phrase: consists of one or more words “somebody else”, “can dry”, “it”
Word: consists of one or more morphemes “somebody”
Morphemes: parts of words, i.e. stems, prefixes and suffixes Some-body
- Structure: in terms of their internal structure (words in terms of bases and affixes, phrases in terms of heads
and modifiers, clauses in terms of clause elements);
- Syntactic role: subject, object, etc.;
- Meaning: expression of information (place, time, manner, etc.);
- Use or discourse function: the way they are used in discourse. How they behave in discourse (their use in
different registers, their frequency, factors which influence their use in speech or in written texts: ex. pronouns).
WORDS
Words are the basic elements of language; the items defined in dictionaries. Relatively fixed in their internal form – you
cannot interrupt them by inserting another word or morphemes inside them
FAMILIES OF WORDS
1. Lexical words
2. Function words
3. Inserts
Newspaper writing has the highest density of lexical words, while conversation has the lowest
Conversation has more use of inserts than the other registers
LEXICAL WORDS The main carriers of information in a text or speech act. They can be subdivided into the following
word classes (or parts of speech):
- Nouns
- Lexical verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
The most numerous word family, growing in time: they are an open class
They often have a complex internal structure and can be composed of several parts (un + friend + li + ness)
They can be heads (main words) of phrases
They are generally the words stressed most in speech
They are generally the words that remain if a sentence is compressed in a newspaper headline
INSERTS Inserts found mainly in spoken language. Do not form an integral part of a syntactic structure, but tend to be
inserted freely in a text
Often marked off by a break in intonation in speech, or by a punctuation mark in writing (‘Well, ...”)
Generally, carry emotional and discoursal meanings (oh, ah, wow; yeah, no, okay)
Generally simple in form, but with an atypical pronunciation (hm, uh-huh, ugh, etc.)
Peripheral to grammar
Closed class: contains a limited number of members, and new members cannot easily have added (coordinators,
pronouns, etc.)
Open class: indefinitely large, and can be readily extended by users of the language (nouns, adjectives thanks to
prefixes, suffixes, etc.)
Not always clear-cut difference
Multi-word unit: a sequence of orthographic words which functions like a single grammatical unit (on top of)
Idiom: a multi-word unit with a meaning that cannot be predicted from the meanings of its constituent words (fall
in love)
Collocation: the relationship between two or more independent words which commonly co-occur (broad and
wide + nouns)
Lexical bundles: a sequence of words which co-occur very frequently (I don’t think... Would you mind...)
Four main classes of lexical words: nouns, lexical verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
The classification of lexical words is not always clear-cut, and some words have borderline status between the two
classes (ex. words ending in -ing can be nouns, verbs, and adjectives)
NOUNS
Morphological characteristics: (what forms does a word have (e.g in terms of stems and affixes)?
Nouns have inflectional suffixes for plural number and for genitive case (Many nouns are uncountable and
cannot have a plural form: gold, information, etc.)
Nouns quite often contain more than one morpheme (compound nouns, nouns with derivational suffixes)
Syntactic characteristics (what syntactic roles does a word play in phrases or other higher units?):
Nouns can occur as the head of a noun phrase: A new book about the cold war
Common nouns can be modified by many kinds of words before and after them, while proper nouns rarely have
any modifiers
Nouns commonly refer to concrete entities e.g. book, friend, iron or denote abstract entities e.g. freedom, wish,
friendship.
LEXICAL VERBS Distinct from auxiliary verbs and modals like can and will (function words); primary verbs: be, have,
do are both lexical verbs and auxiliaries
Morphological characteristics:
Different forms signalling tense (present and past), aspect (perfect, progressive), and voice (active and passive)
Often have more than one morpheme (multi-word verbs and derived verbs)
Ex. bring up, rely on, look forward to, hyphenate, itemize, soften.
Syntactic characteristics:
Lexical verbs most frequently occur on their own, as the central part of the clause
He [writes] page after page about tiny details
They also occur in the final or main verb position of verb phrases
Semantic characteristics:
Lexical verbs denote actions, processes, and states of affairs that happen or exist in time
They also define the role of human and non-human participants in such actions, processes, or states
Ex. [You] [ate] [Chinese food].
ADJECTIVES
Morphological characteristics:
Many adjectives can take the inflectional suffixes -er (comparative) and -est (superlative) dark - darker - darkest
They can be complex in morphology (compound adjectives; derived adjectives: -able, -ful, -ial)
Syntactic characteristics:
Adjectives can occur as the head of an adjective phrase (eager to help, very dark, guilty of a crime)
Adjective and adjective phrases are most commonly used as modifiers preceding the head of a noun phrase, or
as predicatives following the verb in clauses
Semantic characteristics:
Morphological characteristics:
Many adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the suffix -ly, but others not
A few adverbs allow comparative and superlative forms: sooner/soonest; faster/fastest
Syntactic characteristics:
Adverbs can occur as head of adverb phrases (very noisily, more slowly than I had expected)
They are often used as modifiers of an adjective or another adverb (really old, very soon)
Otherwise, they can act as adverbials in the clause (again soon)
Semantic characteristics:
They most often express the degree of a following adjective or adverb (totally wrong, right now)
As elements of clauses, adverbs and adverb phrases have a wide range of meanings:
- They can modify an action, process, or state, by expressing such notions as time, place, and manner (I
learned German quite quickly);
- They can convey the speaker’s or writer’s attitude towards the information in the rest of the clause (Surely that
child’s not mine);
- They can express a connection with what was said earlier (It must be beautiful, though)
FUNCTION WORDS
Different classes:
- Determiners
- Pronouns
- Auxiliary verbs
- Prepositions
- Adverbial particles
- Coordinators
- Subordinators
o They usually indicate meaning relationships and show how the units are related to each other
o They belong to closed classes
o They tend to occur frequently
DETERMINERS
They normally precede nouns, and are used to help clarify the meaning of the noun
The definite article the indicates that the referent (i.e. whatever is referred to) is assumed to be known by the
speaker and the person being spoken to (or addressee)
The indefinite article a or an makes it clear that the referent is one member of a class
Demonstrative determiners indicate that the referents are ‘near to’ o ‘away from’ the speaker’s immediate
context (this, that, etc.)
Possessive determiners tell us who or what the noun belongs to (my, your, her, etc.)
Quantifiers specify how many or how much of the noun there is (every, some, etc.)
Determiner-like uses of wh-words and numerals
PRONOUNS
Pronouns fill the position of a noun or a whole noun phrase
Personal pronouns: refer to the speaker, the addressee(s), and other entities (more frequent than the other
classes of pronouns) (I, you, etc.)
Demonstrative pronouns: refer to entities which are ‘near to’ or ‘away from’ the speaker’s context (this, that,
etc.)
Reflexive pronouns: refer back to a previous noun phrase, usually the subject of the clause (myself, herself,
etc.)
Reciprocal pronouns: like reflexive pronouns, refer to a previous noun phrase, but indicate that there is a
mutual relationship (each other)
Possessive pronouns: closely related to possessive determiners, usually imply a missing noun head (yours,
mine, etc.)
Indefinite pronouns: broad, indefinite meaning
Quantifier + general noun (everything, someone, nobody, etc.)
A quantifier alone (all, some, many, etc.)
Relative pronouns: introduce a relative clause (who, whom, which, that)
Interrogative pronouns: ask questions about unknown entities (what, who, which)
AUXILIARY VERBS
They are added to a main verb to help build verb phrases. They precede the main or lexical verb in a verb phrase
PREPOSITIONS
Linking words that introduce prepositional phrases
Short, invariable forms: about, after, around, as, at, by, down, for, from, into, like, of, off, on, round, since, than, to,
towards, with, without
Ex. He'll go [with one of the kids].
Multi-word units that have a meaning that cannot be derived from the meaning of the parts
- Such as, as for, except for, apart from, because of, according to, due to, regardless of, instead of, out of, owing
to
- By means of, in spite of, on account of, on top of, in addition to, with regard to, as far as, as well as
ADVERBIAL PARTICLES
A small group of words with a core meaning of motion: about, across, along, around, aside, away, back, by, down, forth,
home, in, off, on, out, over, past, round, though, under, up
COORDINATORS
Two types of conjunctions: coordinators (coordinating conjunctions) and subordinators (subordinating conjunctions)
Coordinators: used to indicate a relationship between two units such as phrases or clauses
They link elements which have the same syntactic role, and are at the same level of the syntactic hierarchy
And; But; Or; Nor (used after negative clauses)
Correlative coordinators: Both ... And...; Not (only)... but (also...); Either... or...; Neither... nor...
SUBORDINATORS
Linking words that introduce clauses known as dependent clauses – clauses which cannot stand alone without another
clause, called the main clause
They show the connection of meaning between the main clause and the subordinate clause
If (condition)
Ex. You can hold her [if you want].
The dependent clause starting with the subordinator appears at the front or at the end of the main clause
Ex. [A flash of fire appeared [as they watched.]]
1. The great majority of subordinators introduce adverbial clauses, adding details of time, place, reason, etc. to the
main clause: after, as, because, if, since, although, while, etc.
2. 3 subordinators introduce degree clauses: as, than, that
3. 3 subordinators introduce complement clauses (or nominal clauses): if, that, whether (also called
complementizers: they introduce clauses following verbs, adjectives or nouns, complementing or completing the
meaning of these key words in the main clause.
For ex: I'm glad [that I've found you again])
COMPLEX SUBORDINATORS
WH-WORDS
Like subordinators, they introduce clauses, but they don’t form an independent word class (they are determiners,
pronouns, and adverbs). They begin with wh-, except for how
Usage:
- At the beginning of interrogative clauses or relative clauses (main usage)
- At the beginning of complement clauses of adverbial clauses)
- They could not improve upon that, whatever they might say
- However, they vary, each information comprises a distinctive set of rock layers
SINGLE-WORD CLASSES
Unique grammatically
Existential there
NUMERALS
A small set of simple forms (one, two, three...) and a large set of more complex forms (three million eight hundred and
fifty-five thousand...)
Cardinals
Ordinals
SYNTAX is the way in which words combine to form larger units of meaning, e.g. phrases, clauses, sentences
PHRASE – OVERVIEW
One or more words. Phrases can be identified by substitution and movement tests:
Phrases can be embedded (i.e. one phrase can be part of the structure of another phrase)
TYPE OF PHRASES
- Noun phrase
- Verb phrase
- Adjective phrase
- Adverb phrase
- Prepositional phrase
By interchanging the position of “Mommy” and “the kitty”, we have also changed their syntactic roles, resulting in a
phrase with a clearly different meaning
NOUN PHRASES
Head of a noun phrase:
- Proper nouns
- Pronouns
- Adjectives (occasionally)
These are noun phrases because their structure is typical of noun phrases and serve the same syntactic roles (e.g.
acting as subject or object of a clause)
Can be accompanied by a modified (i.e. elements that describe or classify whatever the head refers to: e.g. “good”,
“beautiful”)
- A house
- Their house
- The little girl next door
An abstract head noun can also be followed by complements, which complete the meaning of the noun, especially that-
clause or infinitive to-clause
The object noun phrase of a transitive verb can be moved to become subject of the corresponding passive clause
everyone deserted me / I was deserted (by everyone)
- Direct objects
- Indirect objects
It precedes the verb phrase (except in clauses with inversion, such as questions, where the subject follows the operator)
The subject determines the number of the verb phrase (singular or plural: she works vs they work)
The subject noun phrase of a transitive verb can be moved after the verb, and preceded by by to make a clause with a
passive verb (e.g. Kate saw; it was seen by Kate)
- It denotes the most important participant in the action or state denoted by the verb. With transitive verbs, this is
generally the “doer” or agent of the action
- It generally represents the topic, i.e. the entity that the clause is about. Sometimes English requires a subject,
even if the subject has no actual meaning (it is warm here / it’s very cold today) it = dummy pronoun (u.e. a
pronoun that fills the place of the subject but has no content)
VERB PHRASE
PERIPHERAL ELEMENTS
- Conjunctions
- Parentheticals
- Prefaces
- Tags
- Inserts (vedi sopra)
- Vocatives
More peripheral than adverbials; they are attached to the clause, but do not form part of the main message of the clause
They are often set off from the rest of the clause by punctuation (writing) or intonation (speech) or position (placed
immediately before or after the clause)
VOCATIVES
Nouns or noun phrases which generally refer to people, and serve to identify the person(s) being addressed
TAGS
Normally added at the end of a clause. Can be either noun phrase tags, question tags or declarative tags:
They are comparable to prefaces, except that they follow the main part of the clause
PREFACES
Prefaces are noun phrases placed before the subject, which typically have the same reference as a personal pronoun in
the clause:
- This woman, she’s ninety years-old
- But Anna-Luise what could have attracted her to a man in his fifties?
CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions in initial position in the clause, even abed of other peripheral adverbials:
PARENTHETICALS
Set off from the surrounding clause by parenthesis (in writing) or dashes:
Verb phrases + any other clause elements which follow the main verb (object, predicative, adverbial)
Some clauses consist only of a long verb phrase, as with imperative constructions
1. Linking: they serve a connecting function, rather than adding information to the clause
2. Stance: add speakers’ comments on what they are saying or how they are saying it
- Epistemic – (how true is the information in the clause?) comment on certainty, viewpoint, limitation of truth
value “From my perspective, it was a clear case of abuse”
- Attitude – (speaker’s evaluation or attitude) “Fortunately, this is far from the truth”
- Style – (speaker’s comment on the style or form of communication) “Quite frankly we are having a bad year”
3. Circumstance: most common type. They add something about the action or state described in the clause
They answer questions such as: how? When? Where? How much? How long? And why?
OPTIONAL ADVERBIALS
They can be added to the clause with any type of verb.
They are usually adverb phrases, prepositional phrases or noun phrases. They may occur in different positions (initial,
final or medial). More than one of them can occur in a single clause.
They are rather loosely attached to the rest of the clause (whereas the verb phrase is central, the adverbial is relatively
peripheral). They express place, time, manner, extent and attitude.
PREDICATIVES
A predicative follows the verb phrase and (if one is present) the direct object: VP + DO + P
INDIRECT OBJECTS
After ditransitive verbs such as give and tell, and comes before the direct object
Semantic role: it denotes people receiving something or benefiting from the action of the verb
He brought us the big menu first
DIRECT OBJECTS
However, a wide range of transitive verbs where the meaning of direct objects is less typical. The direct objects express
abstractions which are not affected by the action of the verb, yet grammatically they are direct objects.
Dummy pronouns can also be direct objects of some verbs (take) take it easy!
Three valency patterns contain direct objects: the monotransitive, ditransitive, and complex transitive patterns
CLAUSE PATTERNS
TYPES OF NOUNS
There is a distinction between common and proper nouns. Common nouns can also be countable and uncountable.
- Countable common nouns refer to entities which can be counted. They have both a singular and a plural form
(a cow, two cows). Both in the singular and in the plural form, there is a contrast between indefinite and definite,
showed through the articles: a cow – the cow / cows – the cows.
- Uncountable common nouns refer to something which cannot be counted. They cannot occur with the
indefinite article a (or an), but they allow a contrast between definite and indefinite: the milk – milk.
- Proper nouns are singular and definite. They only name an individual, while common nouns denote a class.
Sometimes, proper nouns have a possessive determiner: I’m gonna have to phone our Sue.
Concrete nouns refer to physical entities or substances; abstract nouns refer to abstractions (events, states, times)
Some nouns can be countable and uncountable, with a difference in meaning. For example:
- I think these are eggs from our new chickens (countable);
- Would you like some chicken for dinner? (uncountable)
Plural uncountable nouns: there are a few plural uncountable nouns, for example:
- Letters of thanks have been flooding into our office (news).
Though they end with an -s, they don’t have a singular form. But they are uncountable because there is no singular form:
*a cloth, a thank.
These nouns have no determiner and don’t have a contrast of number between singular and plural. They are
characterized by initial capitals, although not all words spelt with initial capitals are proper nouns.
Many names are actually multi-word expressions and contain ordinary lexical words: e.g. the Horn of Africa, the White
House. As these examples show, a name may also be preceded by the-something which can also occur with a single
proper name as in the Sahara (Desert), the Pacific (Ocean), the Vatican, the Kremlin. Some proper name with the are
plural (e.g. the Himalayas).
INITIAL CAPITALS: the use of initial capitals in spelling extends beyond proper names. Uses for which the capital letter
is conventional are:
- Geographical names: rivers, seas and canals (the Nile, the Indian Ocean)
- Plural geographical names (the United States)
- Buildings with public functions: hotels, restaurants, theatres, museums and libraries (the Ritz)
- Names of ships (the Titanic)
- Many newspapers and some periodicals (the New York Times)
PACKAGE NOUNS
Four special classes of countable common nouns are:
1- Collective nouns
2- Unit nouns
3- Quantifying nouns
4- Species nouns
They package together a series of entities. They are often followed by “of- phrases”, for example: a load of books.
1- Collective nouns. They refer to groups of people, animals, things (audience, committee, family, staff).
A subgroup, formed by nouns like group, crowd and flock are called of-collectives because they generally
precede of + plural noun (bunch of roses).
Some of-collectives, such as group, are quite general in meaning, whereas others have a more specific
application. Some typical collocations are:
- bunch of idiots / thieves / roses / grapes
- crowd of demonstrators / fans / spectators / shoppers
- flock of birds / doves / geese / sheep / children
- gang of bandits / hecklers / thugs
- group of adults / girls / animals / buildings / diseases / things
- set of assumptions / characteristics / conditions
Other examples are: herd of cows, host of stars, pack of lies, series of accidents, shoal of fish, swarm of bees,
troop of inspectors.
2- Unit nouns: they allow us to cut up a generalised mass into individual units. They are countable nouns followed
by an of-phrase including an uncountable noun. Each unit noun has a specific meaning, which shows up in the
different collocations it favors:
- a bit of cake / wood / fun / luck
- a chunk of chocolate / concrete / gold
- a grain of corn / dust / salt / sand
- an item of clothing / equipment / news
- a lump of clay / coal / soil / butter / fat
- a piece of cake / toast / chalk / land / wood / advice / evidence
- a sheet of cardboard / iron / paper
Other unit nouns are illustrated by: scrap of paper, slice of bread, speck of dirt, strip of cloth
3- Quantifying nouns: they are used to refer to quantities specified in a following of-phrase.
o NOUNS FOR A TYPE OF CONTAINER
- basket of eggs / flowers / bread / fruit
- box of books / candy / matches / soap
- cup of coffee / soup / tea
o NOUNS FOR SHAPE
- heap of ashes / blankets / bones / leaves / rubble
- pile of bills / bodies / bricks / rocks / rubbish / wood
o MEASURE NOUNS
- pint, gallon, quart, liter/litre of beer / blood / gas / milk / oil / wine
- foot, inch, yard, meter/metre of cloth / concrete / material / wire
- ounce, pound, gram, kilo(gram) of butter / cheese / flour / gold
- ton, tonne of aluminium / bricks / ore / sewage
o PLURAL NUMERAL NOUNS
- hundred, thousand, million, dozen and score of times
o NOUNS FOR LARGE QUANTITIES
- a load of fuel / garbage / junk / money / stuff
- loads of friends / money / things / work
- a mass of blood / detail / material / stuff
- masses of homework / money / people
o NOUNS ENDING IN -FUL
the noun suffix -ful can be added to almost any noun that can denote some kind of container, for
example: bowlful, earful, fistful, handful, mouthful, pocketful, spoonful, teaspoonful
o PAIR AND COUPLE
- pair of arms / eyes / glasses / gloves / hands / pants / pliers / scissors / shoes / socks
- couple of days / babies / balloons / boys / examples / hours / kids
o SPECIES NOUNS
they refer to a type rather than to the quantity of something, and they are often followed by an of-
phrase
- sort of: is used more in conversation
- kind of: is more for fiction
TYPES OF DETERMINERS
They are function words used to specify the kind of reference a noun has. In some cases, there is more than one
determiner: there are central determiners (these, those, a, the), predeterminers (last two, other, four) and
postdeterminers (all, both, half).
ARTICLES The most common determiners are a/an and the, which signal definite and indefinite meaning. They are
pronounced differently depending on whether the name begins with a vowel or not. When there is no determiner, we say
that there is a zero article.
• a/an:
- specific use, to introduce a new specific entity (news): a 12 years old boy got mad at his parents Friday night
- unspecific use, when it does not refer to a specific individual: I’m looking for a millionaire but I don’t see any around
- it can be used to classify an entity: my husband is a doctor.
- to refer generically to what is typical of any member of a class: a doctor is not better than his patient
• the:
- anaphoric reference, when the phrase “the” refers back to a previously mentioned item (when the earlier noun is not
repeated but an associated noun is used with the or with synonyms)
- cataphoric use of the, reference is established by something following later in the text
POSSESSIVE DETERMINERS They specify the noun phrase by connecting it to the speaker or writer. They correspond
to personal pronouns and make a noun phrase definite.
DEMONSTRATIVE DETERMINERS This/these and that/those are similar to the definite article the in conveying definite
meaning. However, they also specify whether the referent is singular or plural (this v. these) and whether the referent is
'near' or 'distant' in relation to the speaker.
- situational reference; very common in conversation, where the choice between this/these and that/those reflects the
speaker's perception of whether the referent is near or distant, the choice of determiner can also reflect emotional
distance: this/these can express greater sympathy than that/those.
- time reference, although the basic situational use of demonstratives is in reference to place (compare here/there),
another kind of situational use refers to time (compare now/then
- anaphoric reference, refer back to the preceding text
- cataphoric reference, that and those are used where a modifier following the head specifies the reference of the head
We apologise to those readers [who did not receive the Guardian on Saturday]
QUANTIFYING DETERMINERS (QUINTIFIERS) Specify nouns in terms of quantity or amount (all/much with the
uncountable, all/many with countable)
- inclusive are: all, both, each, every. All refers to the whole of a group or mass; both refers to two entities, and goes with
a plural noun. Each and every refer to all the individual members of a group but, in contrast to all, combine only with
singular countable nouns. Each stresses the separate individual, every stresses the individual as a member of the group.
Each can denote two or more, while every denotes three or more.
- large quantity: many and much, many with plural countable nouns, and much with uncountable nouns. They are used
especially with negatives, interrogatives, and some combinations such as very rnuch/many, so many/much, too
many/much, a great many, a good many. Other determiners signifying a large amount are multi-word units, like a lot of,
lots of, plenty of, a great/good deal of: A lot of and lots of often replace much and many in casual speech.
- moderate or small quantity; some usually denotes a moderate quantity and is used with countable and uncountable
nouns, a few and a little are used to indicate a small amount, few and little (without a) mean 'not many' and 'not much'
- an arbitrary or negative individual or amount; any denotes an arbitrary member of a group, or an arbitrary amount of a
mass. Either has a similar meaning, but it is used to denote a member of a group of two, and occurs only with singular
countable nouns. They occur with negative questions. No and neither have a purely negative meaning: no is used for
countables as well as uncountables, and neither is used for a choice of two.
NUMERALS AS DETERMINERS Cardinal numerals (like two) are similar to quantifiers, while ordinal numerals (like
second) are similar to the semi-determiners. Cardinal numerals (like two) are similar to quantifiers, while ordinal
numerals (like second) are similar to the semi-determiners. When the two types occur together in one noun phrase,
ordinal numerals normally precede cardinal numerals (the first three pages).
SEMIDETERMINERS Words like same, other, another, last, and such have some adjective characteristics and some
determiner characteristics. These forms lack the descriptive meaning that characterizes most adjectives, and like most
determiners, they can also double as pronouns.
WH-DETERMINERS Wh-determiners are used to introduce interrogative clauses (Which way are we going?) and
relative clauses (I had a girl whose dog was the bridesmaid)
REGULAR PLURALS The majority of nouns form their plural by adding –(e)s
NATIVE IRREGULAR PLURALS Irregular plurals can be divided into native plurals and plurals borrowed from other
languages. The plural form of these words can be obtained by:
- changing the vowel: man-men / foot-feet / tooth-teeth
- adding -en: child-children / ox-oxen
- changing -f to -ves: shelf-shelves / knife-knifes / wife-wives
ZERO PLURALS Zero plurals are plural forms which don’t change from singular to plural, as some animal nouns: fish,
sheep, deer, salmon
PLURAL-ONLY NOUNS AND SINGULAR NOUNS IN -S Moreover, there are nouns that look singular but are actually
plural, like people, police, staff, cattle. And there are also nouns that look plural but actually singular, like news, measles,
mumps, checkers
GENITIVES OF TIME AND MEASURE The genitive is often used to specify time, duration, distance or value:
- duration: a month’s holiday
- distance: I held the telephone at arm’s length and stared at it
- monetary value: she had to buy fifty pounds’ worth
INDEPENDENT GENITIVES Independent genitives are genitive phrases standing alone as a noun phrase. Some are
elliptic genitives, which are genitive phrases whose main noun head can be recovered from the preceding text, for
example: this isn’t my bag. It’s Selina’s.
Other independent genitives refer to people’s homes, for example: she’s going to a friend’s.
DOUBLE GENITIVES In this construction, either the independent genitive or a possessive pronoun occurs in the phrase,
for example: this was a good idea of Johnny’s.
GENDER AND NOUN FORMATION English doesn’t have masculine and feminine inflections for nouns or determiners
Four semantic gender classes can be distinguished: masculine, feminine, personal and neuter.
- Masculine nouns and pronouns refer primarily to male people
- Feminine nouns and pronouns refer primarily to female people
- Personal gender nouns and pronouns refer primarily to people, regardless of whether they are female or male
- Neuter gender nouns and pronouns refer primarily to inanimates
MASCULINE AND FEMININE NOUN REFERENCE There are four major ways of specifying masculine and feminine
contrast in nouns:
- Using totally different nouns: father-mother / son-daughter / uncle-aunt
- Using derived nouns with suffixes -er/or, -ess: actor-actress / master-mistress
- Using a modifier, such as male, female, man, woman, women: woman doctor / male dancer
- Using nouns in -man, -woman: Englishman / policeman
TYPES OF PRONOUNS
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
It is also possible for a pronoun to go before its antecedent, for example: on his arrival in Hobart, Mr Bond told
journalists he was not finished yet
The pronoun “it” can also be a dummy pronoun, where it has no specific reference, for example: it’s cold
GENERIC USE OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS we, you and they can be used to refer to people in general
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Possessive pronouns are like possessive determiners, but they constitute a whole noun phrase, for example: the house
will be hers when they are properly divorced.
REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Reflexive pronouns end with -self in the singular and -selves in the plural. The most common use of reflexive pronouns is
in their “reflexive” role. They refer back to the subject, for example: most consultants are just selling themselves.
EMPHATIC USE OF REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS A reflexive pronoun can be used for emphasis, put immediately after the
emphasised noun phrase, for example: unfortunately, I myself didn’t have this chance
RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS
“each other, one another” indicate a mutual relationship between two or more parties, for example: we always speak
French to each other
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
“this, that, these, those”, for example: what are these, mom? Those are called hot plates
Demonstrative pronouns can be used as alternatives to the personal pronoun “it”, but they are usually pronounced with
stress, for example: what a neat picture! Yeah, I should put that in a frame or something
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
There are three major classes of indefinite pronouns: the compound pronouns, the quantifiers and the pronoun one
- COMPOUND PRONOUNS There are four groups of compound pronouns, beginning with every, some, any and
no
- QUANTIFYING PRONOUNS Quantifying pronouns are usually followed by of- and a noun phrase: “bring all of
your friend”
They can stand alone: “I just want to get my bonus, that’ all”
They can have an elliptic meaning: “I’ll eat some of the steak. I’ll have some (some of the steak)
- THE PRONOUN ONE It can replace a countable noun that has been mentioned before in a context. A singular
noun is replaced by “one”; a plural noun is replaced by “ones”. It also refers to people in general, for example:
one doesn’t raise taxes with enthusiasm
- OTHER PRONOUNS There are other important pronouns: others, another, the other, the last, the latter, such
MAIN VERBS: they play a central role in clauses; the occur in the middle of the clause and they determine the other
clause elements. The pattern of this other clause elements is called valency pattern
AUXILIARY VERBS: they occur before a main verb and qualify its meaning, example: Jack could be staying there
(‘could’ and ‘be’ are the auxiliary verbs while ‘staying’ is the main verb)
SEMANTIC CATEGORIES OF LEXICAL VERBS We distinguish seven semantic categories of lexical verbs:
1. ACTIVITY VERBS (bring, get, buy, come, give, play, try, take, use, run, pay, show) They usually refer to a
volitional activity and so performed intentionally by an agent. They can be transitive, taking a direct object, or
intransitive, occurring without any object, for example: well, give it to the dogs (trans) / go to the hospital! (intran)
2. COMMUNICATION VERBS (ask, offer, call, claim, say, speak, talk, tell, thank, suggest, write) They are a
special category of activity verbs, that involve communication activities, particularly verbs describing speech and
writing, for example: you said you didn’t have it!
3. MENTAL VERBS (believe, find, think, listen, hear, love, want, see, feel, like, know, suppose) They refer to
mental states and activities; emotions, desires, perceptions. Mental verbs don’t involve physical action; some of
them convey volition others don’t, for example: I think it was Frankie.
4. CAUSATIVE VERBS (allow, force, help, let, require) They indicate that some person or thin helps to bring about
a new state of affairs. These verbs often occur with a derived noun (in academic prose) and a complement
clause, for example: what caused you to be ill?
5. VERBS OF OCCURRENCE (become, grow, change, happen, occur, die, develop) They report events that
occur without an actor; often the subject of these verbs are affected by the event that is described by the verb,
as in this example: the lights changed.
6. VERBS OF EXISTENCE OR RELATIONSHIP (appear, indicate, represent, live, seem, involve, look, stay)
These verbs report a state of existence or a logical relationship that exist between entities. Some of existence
verbs are copular verbs, such as seem and appear, for example: Witnesses said he appeared happy and
relaxed. / I go and stay with them. / The exercise will include random stop checks by police.
7. VERBS OF ASPECT (being, continue, keep, start, stop) They characterize the stage of progress of an event or
activity. These verbs occur with a complement clause following the verb, for example: she kept running out of
the room. / He couldn’t stop talking about me
Many verbs have more than one meaning and so they can two or more semantic categories simultaneously (say/get/go)
Also there are many irregular verbs that have regular alternatives (the verb “speed” can have the past tense as
“speeded” or “sped)
VERB FORMATION A prefix can be attached to the front base of a verb or a suffix can be attached to the end of the
base; verb prefixes do not change the word class, but the meaning of the verb, derivational suffixes change nouns and
adjectives into verbs: like dislike; cook overcook; active activate; simple simplify
There are many different derivational prefixes used to form new verbs in English. The most common are:
- Re: rebuild, redefine, reabsorb
- Dis: disallow, disarm, dislike
- Over: overbook, overcome, overreach
- Un: unlike, unbend, uncouple, unfold
- Mis: misbehave, mishandle, misinform
- Out: outbid, outdo, outgrow, outweigh
The prefixes -re- and -ize- are also frequently used to create new words
There are only few derivational suffixes used for verb formation, they are:
- Ize: computerize, energize, stabilize
- En: awaken, flatten, moisten
- Ate: activate, liquidate, regulate, pollinate
- (i)fy: beautify, codify, exemplify, notify
VALENCY PATTERNS The main verb in a clause determines the other elements that are required in that clause. The
pattern of these elements is called valency pattern for the verb. There are five major valency pattern:
- INTRANSITIVE: subject + verb (SV): more people came
- MONOTRANSITIVE: subject + verb + direct object (SVDO): She carried a long whippy willow twig
- DITRANSITIVE: subject + verb + indirect object (SVIODO): Fred gave her (id) a huge vote of confidence
- COMPLEX TRANSITIVE: subject + verb + direct object + object predicative (SVDOOP): People called him
Johnny (op)
- COPULAR: subject + copular verb + subject predicative (SVSP): Carrie felt a little less bold (sp)
The monotransitive, ditransitive and complex transitive patterns are the transitive patterns; they all require some type of
object. The common structure for the objects is a noun phrase. However, in some cases, other structure can function as
objects: complement clauses, prepositional clauses, adverbials
Most common verbs can allow more than one valency pattern, and some allow a wide range. For example, ‘speak’ and
‘help’ can occur with intransitive or monotransitive patterns:
- intransitive: Simon spoke first. Money helped, too
- monotransitive: The stewards all spoke French. Evans did a great job when he helped Alan Jones.
Also, many verbs can take both intransitive and transitive patterns, but these verbs differ their preference for one pattern
over another. For example, the verbs stand, change and meet are possible with both valency patterns
Many multi-word verbs function as a single verb; they usually have idiomatic meanings and so their meaning cannot be
predicted from the meaning of each individual word. The multi-word verbs fall into four classes:
1. Phrasal verbs: the verb is followed by an adverbial particle (ex. Carry on, find out, pick up)
2. Prepositional verbs: the verb is followed by a preposition (look out, talk about, listen to)
3. Phrasal-prepositional verbs: contain both an adverbial particle and a preposition (ex. Get away with).
Sometimes is possible to replace the multi-word verbs by single-words verbs with similar meaning (look at
observe / talk about discuss)
4. Other multi-word verb constructions can also be free combinations (come down, go back)
CHARACTERISTICS OF PHRASAL VERBS AND PREPOSITIONAL VERBS The meaning and the structure of phrasal
verbs, prepositional verbs, and free combinations differ in many ways. There are three criteria for distinguish among
multi-words combination:
- Whether or not there is an idiomatic meaning: intransitive phrasal verbs usually have an idiomatic meaning,
while the words in free combinations retain their own meanings. For example, the phrasal verbs come on, shut
up, get up, grow up, they all have their idiomatic meaning (ex. The verb ‘grow up’ meaning to act mature and
NOT literally to grow in an upward direction)
- Whether or not the particle movement is possible: if the adverbial particle can be placed both before or after the
object noun phrase. Transitive phrasal verb allows the movement (ex. I went back to Eddie’s to get back my
shirt -or ‘get my shirt back’). Particle movement is not possible with prepositional verbs; the particle always
come before the noun (waiting for, depend on, look at)
- How the wh-question is formed: in sentences with a prepositional verb, wh-questions are usually formed with
what or who; while for free combination verbs is used when and where. These questions indicate that the
prepositional phrase is an adverbial that follows the verb: where are you going? I’m walking to that place
MAIN VERB BE As a main verb -be- (the copula) is the most important copular verb in English. It links to the subject
noun phrase with a subject predicative or an obligatory adverbial, e.g.: Radio waves are useful
As an auxiliary verb, -be- has two main grammatical functions:
1. PROGRESSIVE ASPECT (be+ING+participle): the last night was fading by the time we entered the town
2. PASSIVE VOICE (be+ED+participle): this system is called fiscal federalism
MAIN VERB HAVE Have, as a transitive main verb, is the most common lexical verb in English. Similar to ‘get’, the main
verb ‘have’ can be used with many different meanings:
- For showing physical possession: they have two cars
- Telling family connections: she had a husband and child
- Describing eating or drinking: the kids had an ice cream
- Showing where something exists: it would be nice to have a young person in the house again
- Linking a person to an abstract quality: I hope she has fun
Also, the verb ‘have’ occurs as the semi-modal verb ‘have to’ and in idiomatic multi-word phrases, such as ‘have a look’
MAIN VERB DO As a main verb, -do- has an activity meaning. It can take a direct object (she did a wonderful thing) or
an indirect object + direct object (would you do me a favour?)
‘Do’ commonly combines with a noun phrase to form idiomatic expressions such as ‘do the job, do the dishes, do some
work, do your hair, do the wash’
- DO AS A TRANSITIVE PRO-VERB: it usually functions as a pro-verb, substituting for a lexical verb (done this,
done so), e.g.: well, that’s why he did it
- DO AS AN INTRANSITIVE PRO-VERB it provides an alternative to ellipsis (the omission from speech or writing
of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues), e.g.: A: they kicked him
out. B: they should have done, but they won’t
Do works as an auxiliary verb when lexical main verbs are made negative or used in interrogative, e.g.: he doesn’t
smoke or drink. This use of ‘do’ is known as ‘do support’
Emphatic ‘do’ occurs as an auxiliary verb in a clause that is not negate and is not a question. It’s used to empathize that
the meaning of the main verb is positive, in contrast with what one might expect: I did have a protractor, but it broke. I
really did go to see him.
Emphatic ‘do’ is also used in commands that use the imperative form (oh, do shut up!)
COPULAR VERBS The copular verbs are used to associate an attribute with the subject of the clause. The attribute is
often expressed by the subjective predicative following the verb, e.g.: You are very stupid!
‘You’ is the subject, ‘very stupid’ is the subjective predicative
Many copular verbs are also used to locate the subject of a clause in time or space and so there is an adverbial of
position that occurs after the copula, e.g.: I was in the kitchen
Several verbs, such as -grow, go, come- are used either as a copular verb or a transitive/intransitive verb, depending on
the contest, e.g.: your bones grow strong and healthy (copular) / she stated to grow sesame herbs (transitive) / I went to
Mexico (intransitive)
Many verbs can function as copular verbs; there are two main categories:
1. Current copular verbs: also divided into:
- state of existence (be, seem, appear, stay, keep), e.g.: we are all human / David seemed quite satisfied
- sensory perception (look, found, smell, taste), e.g.: I really do look awful / Oh, that feels good
2. Result copular verbs: they identify an attribute that is the result of a process of change, e.g.: she’ll end up
pregnant / My heart grew sick and I couldn’t eat
There are highly systematic patterns of use associated with copular verbs + complements.
VERB PHRASE
a) SIMPLE PRESENT: refers to habitual action; describe a state that exists at the present time
b) SIMPLE PAST: is used to refer to past time but sometimes it is used at the present time to show that the
speaker is being polite: “did you want a cup of coffee?”
c) FUTURE TIME: is usually marked in the verb phrase with a modal (will, shall) or semi-modal (be going to)
a) PERFECT ASPECT: describes an event or state taking place during a preceding period of time
b) PROGRESSIVE ASPECT: describes an event or state in progress or continuing
- PRESENT PERFECT
HAVE/HAS + PARTICIPIO PASSATO
“I have been” si usa per parlare di un’azione verificatasi in un tempo indeterminato del passato e indica la
durata di un’azione non ancora conclusa
- PAST PERFECT
HAD + PARTICIPIO PASSATO
“I had gone” si usa per esprimere un’azione avvenuta prima di un’altra azione passata, infatti l’azione
successiva va espressa con il past simple. “The plane had taken off when I got to the airport”
Verbs frequently used in the get-passive form: get married; get hit; get involved
MODALS
MODALS: can, could, may, might, must, should, will, would, shall
They act as an auxiliary verb in verb phrases and they don’t take inflections to show agreement or tense. Each modal
can have two different types of meaning: personal or logical (intrinsic, extrinsic)
- PERSONAL (intrinsic)
1) Permission can, could, may, might
2) Obligation must, should, have to, need to, ought to
3) Volition will, would, shall, be going to
- LOGICAL (extrinsic)
Logical modal meaning refers to the logical status of states or events. It usually refers to levels of certainty or
logical necessity
BE GOING TO – USED TO
The semi-modals “be going to” and “used to” are mostly used to mark time distinctions
- Be going to is a common way of marking future time in conversation: “I think I’m going to die”
- Used to shows past habitual behaviour or a past state: “He used to go to the gym”
ADJECTIVES
- CENTRAL: can be inflected to show comparative and superlative degree: big, bigger, biggest
They serve both attributive and predicative syntactic roles.
In attribute position the adjective precedes and modifies the noun phrase: “full impact”
Predicative adjectives usually follow the copular verb and characterize the noun phrase: “even Oscar Wilde
called it charming”
Central adjectives are gradable, so they can take comparative and superlative forms and can be modified by an
adverb of degree, such as ‘very’: “the two couples were very close”
- PERIPHERAL: share some but not all the defining characteristics of adjectives. Such as ‘beautiful’ has all the
characteristics of central adjectives but can’t be inflected to show comparative or superlative degree. Many
peripheral adjectives occur in only attributive or predicative roles, but not both!
FORMATION OF ADJECTIVES
- Participial adjectives most participial adjectives are derived from verbs with -ing or -ed participial forms:
surprised, promising
- Adjectives with derivational affixes many adjectives are formed by adding an adjective suffix to a noun or a
verb:
noun/verb + adjective suffix
effect + ive
adjectives can also be formed from other adjectives, especially by using the negative prefixes un-, in-, non-
(unhappy, insensitive)
- Adjectival compounds they are made from a combination of more than one word:
adjective + adjective: greyish – blue
adjective + noun: full – time
reduplication: goody – goody
Adjectives can serve other roles, for example like a postposed modifier is part of a noun phrase, but it follows the
head word; they are common with indefinite pronouns (somebody, anything): “you haven’t got anyone musical here”
ADVERBS
Adverbs can function as modifier: this means that they can be integrated into an element of the clause, for example “I am
almost positive”, or as an adverbial, so they themselves can be an element of the clause: “I think she’ll be married
shortly”
The same adverbs can function as modifiers and adverbials
FORMATION OF ADVERBS
- Simple adverbs they are not derived from another word; for example: well, too, rather, quite, soon, here
- Compound adverbs they are formed by combining two or more elements into a single word: anyway,
nowhere, heretofore
- Adverbs derived by suffixation many adverbs are formed by suffixing “-ly” to an adjective, such as ‘clearly’,
but not all the words ending in -ly are adverbs: weekly or fatherly.
Other suffixes used to form adverbs are: -wise, that can be added to nouns, and -ward(s), added to nouns and
prepositions (piecewise, onward)
- Fixed phrases some fixed phrases are used as adverbs: of course, kind of, at last
ADVERBS:
1. MODIFIERS
- Adjectives “this is quite good”
- Adverbs “he runs really fast”
- Pronoun “almost nobody”
2. ADVERBIALS
- Circumstance add information about the action described in the clause
- Stance express the speaker’s valuation of the preposition
- Linking serve to connect stretches of texts
THE CLAUSES
The CLAUSE is the key unit of grammar/syntax and it is capable of occurring independently. The clause can be
considered a unit that can stand alone as an expression of a ‘complete thought’ a complete description of an event or
state of affairs
1. CONVERSATION VS. NEWSPAPER
conversation:
- non-clausal material (e.g. right, yeah)
- many single-clause units
- little clause embodying
newspaper:
- all words and phrases belong to clauses
- no single-clause units
- the clauses contain many words
2. DEVICES OF ELABORATION AND CONDENSATION enable us to elaborate, combine and reduce the
structure of clauses. There are three kinds:
- coordination two clauses are connected, with each having equal status (e.g. It’s modern but it’s clean)
- subordination one clause is embedded as a part of another clause (e.g. although it’s modern, it’s clean)
- ellipsis is a device of simplification. It allows us to subtract words from the complete clause structure,
wherever their meaning can be “taken for granted”. This symbol ^ marks the ellipsis (e.g. it’s clean although ^
modern or it’s modern but ^ clean)
3. SUBORDINATION AND DEPENDENT CLAUSES In the case of subordination, one clause (a dependent
clause) is embedded as part of another clause (it’s main clause)
- independent clause can stand alone without being subordinate to another clause
- dependent clause have to be part of a larger clause
4. SUBORDINATORS AS CLAUSE LINKS Subordinators are like coordinators, but are different from linking
adverbials, because they are always in the same position at the front of the clause. But the clause introduced by
a subordinator is always a dependent clause, and it doesn’t necessarily follow the clause to which it’s linked.
5. SIGNAL OF SUBORDINATION Subordination can be signalled by:
1. An overt link, in the form of a subordinator or a wh-word
2. A non-finite verb phrase, that is, by a verb phrase introduced by an infinitive
3. Ing-participle or ed-participle
- finite clauses are marked for tense or modality and usually have an overt link, starting with a subordinator or
wh-word
- non-finite clauses have no tense and cannot include a modal verb. Usually they have no overt link, but the
non-finite verb form signals that the clause is subordinate, and the mostly have no subject, so the verb phrase
begins the clause.
6. COORDINATION can link words, phrases or clauses. Three major coordinators in English are:
- and is most common in fiction and academic writing (than in conversation and news). In conversation is
common as a clause-level link, while in academic writing is used mostly as a phrase-level link (coordinators in
conversation are primarily clause-level link)
- but is most common in conversation (than in the written registers; n.b. a coordinator can link more than two
elements. Structures of coordination can be embedded, one within the other)
- or is most common in academic writing
7. ELLIPSIS AND STRUCTURAL CONDENSATION Ellipsis is the omission of elements which are recoverable
from the linguistic context or the situation. The ellipsis condenses (or reduces) the same meaning into a small
number of words. Ellipsis can be:
- initial when the subject of the second clause can be omitted
- medial
- final
- textual the missing words can be found in the nearby text; it serves to avoid unnecessary repetition
- situational the missing words are clear from the situation in which language is used
8. THE SUBJECT-VERB CONCORDANCE RULE This rule states that in finite clauses, the verb phrase in a
clause agrees with the subject in number (singular or plural) and person (1, 2 and 3)
- coordination by “and” a subject that consists of noun phrases coordinated by “and” takes plural concord
(generally but not always)
- coordination by “or” a subject that consists of noun phrases coordinated by “or” takes singular concord if
both noun phrases are singular (generally but not always)
- coordination by “neither...nor” a subject that consists of noun phrases coordinated by “neither...nor” takes
singular concord when both noun phrases are singular, and plural concord when both are plural
- agreement of person with “or” and “neither...nor” in coordination of different grammatical persons, the verb
tends to agree with the closest noun phrase
9. VERBS AS OPERATORS The operator is the verb used for clause negation or for forming questions. Operators
have also another function: they’re used when in a sentence it is needed to omit everything that would be
useless to repeat. It’s a type of final ellipsis
NEGATION
- Clauses are either positive or negative
- Negative clauses are most commonly formed by using ‘not’ or its contraction ‘-n’t’
- The verb as operator is a key tool for forming negation with not/-n’t
- In clause negation, there is an important distinction between not-negation and no-negation
10. MAJOR TYPES OF INDEPENDENT CLAUSES An independent clause consists of a clause which is not part of
any larger clause structure. All independent clauses are finite, that’s to say, they contain a finite verb with the
specification of tense and modality. Independent clauses are used to perform speech-act functions. Four basic
speech-act functions correspond to four structural types of independent clauses:
1. STATEMENT gives information and doesn’t expect a specific response from the addressee
(speech-act informing)
2. QUESTION asks for information and expects a linguistic response (speech-act eliciting)
3. DIRECTIVE is used to give orders or requests and expects some action from the addressee
4. EXCLAMATION expresses the strong feelings of the speaker/writer, and expects no specific
response (speech-act expressing)
DECLARATVIVE CLAUSES
- SV (subject-verb) structure
- Express statements
- ‘Default’ type of independent clause-level occasionally used in asking a question
INTERROGATIVE CLAUSES
- VS (verb-subject) structure or initial wh-word grammatically
- Rising intonation (in speech) and question mark (in writing) non grammatically
- Three types of independent interrogative clauses:
1. Wh-questions used to elicit missing information, where the wh-word refers to the missing elements of the
clause
2. Yes/no questions used to ask if a proposition is true or false. They have VS structure (operator followed by
subject). The answer has to be a truth value (either yes or no)
3. Alternative questions used to ask which of two or more alternatives is the case. They open with operator +
subject structure, but the answer can be alternative. They are signalled by the word ‘or’ and by a falling
intonation at the end
4. Question tags used to ask confirmation to the statement of the speaker. They have operator + subject
structure. The operator is the same of the one in the declarative clause. If there is no operator, dummy ‘do’ is
used. The subject is also the same of the preceding clause. A positive statement is followed by a negative tag,
viceversa, a negative statement is followed by a positive tag. But the positive-positive question tags are used
too, generally to seek confirmation of a previous statement
EXCLAMATIVE CLAUSES
Can begin with a wh-word (what or how) followed by a SV pattern.
IMPERATIVE CLAUSES
- Lack of the subject, use of the base form of the verb, and absence of modal, tense and aspect markers
- Special kind of imperative is with the verb ‘let’ followed by ‘us’ (contracted to ‘s’) to express a suggestion
- An imperative urges the addressee to do something (or not to do something); for this limited function, tense,
aspect and modality are unnecessary
- Imperative clauses can be elaborated by the addition of question tags, discourse markers like ‘please’, and
adverbs like ‘just’
- Imperative can express a variety of directive speech acts (commands, offers, invitation)
NON-CLAUSAL MATERIAL
- Non-clausal material is common, particularly in conversation
- It consists of headings, public notices, book titles and headlines and they’re made of a series of noun phrase-
level
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
- Used as adverbials in the main clause
- Like adverbials they are optional, so they can be either at the beginning, middle or end of the main clause
- Generally introduced by a subordinator, such as ‘if, before, when and although’
- Expression of time, reason and condition. Sometimes they are just comment clauses
RELATIVE CLAUSES
- Postmodifier in a noun phrase
- Expand the meaning and specify the reference of the head noun
- Introduces by a ‘relativizer’, which has a grammatical role (subject or direct object) in the relative clause
- The relativizer points back to its antecedent, the head of the noun phrase
COMPARATIVE CLAUSES
- Complements in an adjectival phrase or an adverb phrase
- Spell out the basis of comparison and introduced by a conjunction (‘than’ unequal comparison / ‘as’ equal
comparison)
PERIPHERAL CLAUSES
1) REPORTING CLAUSES
- Introduce somebody’s direct speech or thought
- Can report who is speaking, who the addressee is, the nature of the speech act, and the manner of speaking
- Generally one-word subject + one-word verb phrase, but the order of S and V can variate
2) THE CLAUSES
- Loosely attached to the end (or sometimes the middle) of another clause
- Include ‘question tags’ and ‘declarative tags’ (which reinforce the commitment of the speaker)
12. NON-FINITE DEPENDENT CLAUSES Non-finite clauses are regularly dependent on a main clause. They are
more compact and less explicit. They don’t have tense or modality. They usually lack an explicit subject and
subordinator. Four types:
- ing-infinitive clauses
- ed-participle clauses
- supplement clauses
- verbless clauses special type of non-finite clause, they’re like as adverbial clauses with ellipsis of the verb
‘be’ and the subject
13. SUBJUNCTIVE VERBS IN DEPENDENT CLAUSES
- Rare in present day English
- Present subjunctive is the base form of the verb
- It occurs in special kinds of finite dependent clauses, particularly in some that-complement clauses and
occasionally in some adverbial clauses
- Past subjunctive is restricted to form ‘were’ used in the singular, especially to express unreal or hypothetical
meaning
14. DEPENDENT CLAUSES WITH NO MAIN CLAUSE In special circumstances, dependent clauses can be used
without being attached to a larger structure. Can occur in dialogs or in texts written in an informal style
2. TYPES OF PREMODIFIERS
There are four types of premodification:
1. General adjective (most common form of noun premodifiers)
2. Ed-participial modifier
3. Ing-participial modifier
4. Noun (noun are also extremely common as premodifiers)
TO-CLAUSES AS POSTMODIFIERS
To-clauses are more flexible than participle clauses for two reasons:
1. They can occur with both subject and non-subject gaps and 2. They can occur with an overt subject noun phrase. The
to-clauses constructions in conversation usually have object or adverbial gap. The most common head nouns taking a to-
clauses have general meanings, they are nouns common in conversation (thing, time way). The head nouns associated
with adverbial gaps cover the three major domains of time, place, manner (way)