English majors and minors, year II, autumn 2009-2010

Lecture 2
Function word classes
Function words can also be categorized in different classes: determiners, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, adverbial particles, coordinators, and subordinators. To distinguish these classes briefly, we will look at their semantic function and syntactic role, list their main forms, and consider their subclasses.

1 Determiners
Determiners normally precede nouns, and are used to help clarify the meaning of the noun. The most important are the following: 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 (a book). Demonstrative determiners indicate that the referents are 'near to' or away

from' the speaker's immediate context (this book, that book, etc.). Possessive determiners tell us who or what the noun belongs to (my

book, your book, her book, etc.). Quantifiers specify how many or how much of the noun there is (every book,

some books, etc.). There are also determiner-like uses of wh-words and numerals.

2 Pronouns
Pronouns fill the position of a noun or a whole noun phrase. The reference of a pronoun is usually made clear by its context. There are eight major classes of pronoun: entities: I won't tell you how it ended. Personal pronouns are used far more frequently than the other classes of pronouns. Anca Cehan autumn 2009 1 Personal pronouns refer to the speaker, the addressee(s), and other

Demonstrative pronouns refer to entities which are 'near to' versus 'away This is Bay City. / like those. Reflexive pronouns refer back to a previous noun phrase, usually the

from the speaker's context, like demonstrative determiners:

subject of the clause: I taught myself. She never introduced herself? Reciprocal pronouns, like reflexive pronouns, refer to a previous

noun phrase, but indicate that there is a mutual relationship: They know each other pretty well. Possessive pronouns (such as mine, yours, his) are closely related to possessive determiners (my, your, his, etc.), and usually imply a missing noun head: Is this yours, or mine? Ours is better thantheirs. These possessive pronouns include the meaning of a head noun. For example, yours might refer to your car or your pen. Indefinite pronouns have a broad, indefinite meaning. Some of them are

compound words consisting of quantifier + general noun (everything, nobody, someone, etc.). Others consist of a quantifier alone (all, some, many, etc.): Somebodytricked me. That's all I know. Relative pronouns (who, whom, which, that) introduce a relative clause: I had more friends that were boys. He's the guywho told me about this. Interrogative pronouns ask questions about unknown entities: What did he say? I just wonderwho it was. Most relative and interrogative pronouns (e.g. who, which, what) belong to the class of wh-words.

3 Auxiliary verbs
There are two kinds of auxiliary verbs: primary auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries. Both are 'auxiliary verbs' in the sense that they are added to a main verb to help build verb phrases.

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Auxiliary verbs precede the main or lexical verb in a verb phrase: will arrive; has arrived; is arriving; may be arriving, etc. Some common auxiliaries have contracted forms s, re, ve, d, ll used particularly in speech. A Primary auxiliaries There are three primary auxiliaries: be, have, and do. They have inflections like lexical verbs, but are normally unstressed. The same verbs be, have, and do can also act as main verbs.
base be have do present tense is, am, are has, have does, do past tense was, were had did ing-participle being having doing ed-participle been had done

In various ways, the primary auxiliaries show how the main verb is to be understood: . The auxiliary do is used in negative statements and in questions; this is The auxiliary have is used to form the perfect aspect: I've done that once. The auxiliary be is used for the progressive aspect or 'continuous' aspect: The auxiliary be is also used for the passive voice: It was sent over there

She was thinking about me.

know as do insertion: Did he sell it? This doesn't make sense. B Modal auxiliaries There are nine modal auxiliary verbs. As their name suggests, they are largely concerned with expressing 'modality', such as possibility, necessity, prediction and volition. The modals are: will would can could shall should may might must

Each modal in the lower row is historically the past tense of the modal directly above it. For example, would was historically the past tense of will. (Must has no matching historical past tense.) Nowadays, though, the relationship of will to would, or can to could, etc. has less to do with tense than with modal meaning. In practice the modals can be regarded as invariable function words, within inflections such as -ing and -ed. The modals will and would have contracted forms ('// and 'd), and most modals have a contracted negative form ending in n't, such as wouldn't. Modals occur as the first verb in a clause, and are followed by the base form of another verb, usually the main verb (underlined below): Anca Cehan autumn 2009 3

I can live here quietly. They would have a different view.

4 Prepositions
Prepositions are linking words that introduce prepositional phrases. The prepositional complement following a preposition is generally a noun phrase, so prepositions can also be seen as linking words that connect other structures with noun phrases. For example: Eleven fifty with the tip. And she's in a new situation. that picture of mother She's still on the phone. Most prepositions are short, invariable forms: e.g. about, after, around, as, at, in, down, for, from, into, like, of, off, on, round, since, than, to, towards, with, without. In the following examples, the preposition is in bold, and the prepositional phrase it introduces is enclosed in [ ]. The noun phrase functioning as prepositional complement is underlined: He'll go [with one of the kids]. Late one morning [in June], [in the thirty-first year of his life], a message was brought [to Michael] as he raked leaves [in the garden]. Prepositions can be linked to a preceding verb, such as rely on and confide in. You can't, you can't rely on any of that information. She confided in him above all others. These multi-word units are referred to as prepositional verbs. Complex prepositions Another set of prepositions consists of multi-word units known as complex prepositions, which have a meaning that cannot be derived from the meaning of the parts. Two-word complex prepositions normally end with a simple preposition: ending in as for from of to examples such as as for, except for apart from because of, instead of, out of, regardless of according to, due to, owing to

Three-word prepositions usually have the structure simple preposition + noun + simple preposition: ending in of to as examples by means of, in spite of, on account of, on top of in addition to, with regard to as far as, as well as

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As with many grammatical categories, there are borderline cases with complex prepositions. It is not always clear whether a multi-word combination is a complex preposition - that is, a fixed expression with a special meaning - or a free combination of preposition (+ article) + noun + preposition. At the expense of is an example of an inbetween case.

5 Adverbial particles
Adverbial particles are a small group of words with a core meaning of motion. The most important are: about, across, along, around, aside*, away*, back*, by, down, forth*, home*, in, off, on, out, over, past, round, through, under, up. All of these forms except those marked * can also be prepositions. Adverbial particles are closely linked to verbs. They generally follow verbs, and are closely bound to them in meaning: go away, come hack, put (something) on, etc. They are used to build phrasal verbs, such as the following;. Come on, tell me about Nick. I just broke down in tears when I saw the letter. Margotte rarely turned on the television set. They are also used to build extended prepositional phrases, where a particle precedes the preposition. For example: We were going back to the hotel when it happened. Adverbial particles have been called 'prepositional adverbs', because of their resemblance to both prepositions (in form) and adverbs (in syntactic role).

6 Coordinators
There are two types of words traditionally called conjunctions in English: coordinators (also called coordinating conjunctions), and subordinators (or subordinating conjunctions). Coordinators are used to indicate a relationship between two units such as phrases or clauses. Coordinators link elements which have the same syntactic role, and are at the same level of the syntactic hierarchy. Thus, in any structure [X + coordinator + Y], X and Y are equivalent. The main coordinators are and, but, and or. In the following examples, the coordinated elements are marked by [ ]: [Mother] and [I] saw it. [I don't want to speak too soon], but [I think I have been fairly consistent this season]. Is this necessarily [good] or [bad]? Anca Cehan autumn 2009 5

Or has a rather infrequently used negative counterpart, nor, which is used after negative clauses: [The donkeys did not come back], nor [did the eleven men], nor [did the helicopter]. As this example shows, coordinators can be used to connect more than two elements. Correlative coordinators Each simple coordinator can be combined with another word, to make a correlative coordinator: both [X] and [Y] not (only) [X] but (also) [Y] For example: The couple were both [shoved] and [jostled]. It's yes or no, isn't it? Either [you agree with it] or [you don't agree with it]. We used not only [the colors reflected from mineral surfaces] but also [the colors transmitted through minerals in microscopic thin sections]. Neither [Zack] nor [Jane] had slept that night, but they looked happy anyway. either [X] or [Y] neither [X] nor [Y]

7 Subordinators
Subordinators (also called subordinating conjunctions) are linking words that introduce clauses known as dependent clauses - clauses which cannot stand alone without another clause, called the main clause: You can hold her [if you want]. The subordinator shows the connection of meaning between the main clause and the subordinate clause. In the above example, the subordinator if shows a relation of condition. In the case of coordination, the two elements have the same status. However, in the case of subordination, the dependent clause starting with the subordinator is embedded (or included) in the main clause. This can be shown by nested brackets [[ ]]: [[As they watched,] a flash of fire appeared.] [A flash of fire appeared [as they watched.]] Notice the dependent clause can come at the front or at the end of the main clause. Subordinators fall into three major subclasses: 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. Anca Cehan autumn 2009 6

 Three subordinators introduce degree clauses: as, than, that. Three subordinators introduce complement clauses (or nominal clauses): if, that, whether. The subordinators in the first two subclasses indicate meaning relationships such as time, reason, condition, and comparison. The subordinators in the third subclass are called complementizers because they introduce clauses following verbs, adjectives or nouns, complementing or completing the meaning of these key words in the main clause: I'm glad [that I've found you again]. Sometimes he did not know [whether he was awake or asleep]. Dependent clauses can also be introduced by other forms, like wh-words and the relative pronoun that. These are not subordinators. Complex subordinators Like prepositions, subordinators may consist of more than one word. Most of these complex subordinators end with as or that (often the that is optional, as shown by parentheses ( ) below): ending in as that others examples as long as, as soon as given (that), on condition (that), provided (that), except (that), in that, in order that, so (that), such (that) as if, as though, even if, even though

Special classes of words

A few classes of function words have special qualities: wh-words, existential there, the negator not, the infinitive marker to, and numerals.

1. Wh-words
Wh-words, like subordinators, introduce clauses. However, wh-words form an independent word class. Instead, they are members of other word classes, especially determiners, pronouns, and adverbs. As their name suggests, wh-words begin with wh-, with the single exception of how. They are used in two main ways: at the beginning of an interrogative clause, and beginning of a relative clause. Two further uses are at the beginning of a complement clause and at the beginning of an adverbial clause. A Introducing an interrogative clause What do they want? Anca Cehan autumn 2009 7

When are you leaving? Which one do you mean? Why should I care? Interrogative wh-words can be: interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which interrogative determiners: what, which, whose interrogative adverbs: when, where, how, why

B Introducing a relative clause (relativizers) 1 the kind of person [who needs emotional space] 2 Graham Poole, [whose grandfather started the place in 1895] 3 a small place [where everyone knows everyone else] Relativizers can be: relative pronouns: who, whom, which, that relative determiners: which, whose relative adverbs: where, when, why

Relative pronouns stand for a noun phrase, as in 1 above, where who refers back to the kind of person. Relative determiners occur before the noun, as in 2 above (whose grandfather) or in the phrase by which time. Relative adverbs are used to refer to times (when), reasons (why), or places (where), as in 3 above (where refers back to a small place). C Introducing a complement clause (complementizers) I don't know [what I would have done without her]. I give them [whatever I have in my pocket]. Jane wonders [where she stands in her father's affections]. D Adverbial clause links 1 They could not improve upon that, [whatever they might say]. 2 [However they vary], each formation comprises a distinctive set of rock layers. In adverbial clauses as in 1 and 2, wh-words combined with -ever express the meaning 'it doesn't matter what/when/where/...'. Finally, the word whether is versatile: it is used as a subordinator but it can also be classed as a wh-word.

Single-word classes

The three words considered in this group are special in that they are each unique, grammatically, and do not fit into any other class. That is, they form singleword classes. Anca Cehan autumn 2009 8

A Existential there Existential there is often called an anticipatory subject. No other word in English behaves in the same way, heading a clause expressing existence: There's a mark on this chair. There were four bowls of soup. There are no trains on Sundays. Existential there should not be confused with the place adverb there. B The negator not The negator not is in some ways like an adverb, but in other respects it is unique. The main use of not (and its reduced form n't) is to make a clause negative. You can do this but [you cant do that]. [ ] marks the clause

Apart from negating whole clauses not has various other negative uses (as in not all, not many, not very, etc.). C The infinitive marker to The infinitive marker to is another unique word (not to be confused with the common preposition to). Its chief use is as a complementizer preceding the infinitive (base) form of verbs. What do you want to drink? I'm just happy to be here right now. In addition, infinitive to occurs as part of two complex subordinators expressing purpose: in order to and so as to: You don't have to live under the same laws as a foreigner in order to trade with him. Each has the job of writing his chapter so as to make the novel being constructed the best it can be.

3 Numerals
Numerals form a rather self-contained area of English grammar. As a word class, numerals consist of a small set of simple forms (one, two, five, etc.), and a large set of more complex forms which can be built up from the simple forms (e.g. three million eight hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and eighteen - 3,855,418). They are most commonly used in the role of determiners or heads in noun phrases. There are two parallel sets of numerals, cardinals and ordinals. A Cardinals Cardinal numerals answer the question 'How many?' and are most commonly used like determiners, with a following noun: Anca Cehan autumn 2009 9

Four people were arrested. However, cardinals also occur as heads of noun phrases: Four of the yen traders have pleaded guilty. In their nounlike use, cardinals can be made plural by adding -(e)s: Cops in twos and threes huddle and smile at me with benevolence. Damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds. B Ordinals Ordinal numerals answer the question 'Which?' and serve to place entities in order or in a series: first, second, third, etc. Similar to cardinals, they can be used either like determiners, before a noun: I was doing my third week as a young crime reporter and had just about finished my second and last story of the day when the phone rang. or like nouns, as head of a noun phrase: Three men will appear before Belfast magistrates today on charges of intimidation. A fourth will be charged with having information likely to be of use to terrorists. The fifth, a woman, was remanded on the same charge yesterday. Ordinals are also used to form fractions. Treated as regular nouns, ordinals such as fifth, tenth, and hundredth can take a plural -s ending: Probably two thirds of the people who live here now are not natives. The pupil can identify the place value of a column or a digit for values of tenths, hundredths and thousandths.

Word-class ambiguities
It is important to notice that English has a large number of word forms which occur in more than one word class. In other words, the same spelling and pronunciation applies to two or more different grammatical words. Some word-class ambiguities are systematic. For example, the class of quantifiers (e.g. all, some, any, much) can be seen as a 'superclass' of words which can function with similar meanings as determiners, pronouns or adverbs: as determiners: He kept whistling at all the girls. I have a little money in my room. as pronouns: Is that all I've got dad? 'Water?' -- 'Just a little, and a lot of ice'. as adverbs: Don't get all mucky. Anca Cehan autumn 2009 10 <Note: a little is considered as a single determiner>

It was a little hard for him to understand. As these examples show, it is impossible to identify the word class of many English words without seeing them in context. Words in more than one class
form before noun verb adj adv x prep x x early x x fight narrow as x x x x x x outside x x x sub examples
She had never asked him that before. He was there before her. Theyd started leaving before I arrived. Steele kicked an early penalty goal. He has also kicked a penalty goal early in the match. There was a hell of a fight. They're too big to fight. He plans to narrow his focus to certain markets. Current review programs are too narrow. This was the beginning of his life as a cultivator. As they watched, a flash of fire appeared. You can open the outside window. He's gone outside. It's sitting outside your house.

Introduction to phrases
Phrases and their characteristics
Words can be organized into higher units, known as phrases. The following example consists of three major phrases, as shown by bracketing [ ] each phrase: 1. [The opposition] [demands] [a more representative government]. A phrase may consist of a single word or a group of words. Phrases can be identified by substitution - that is, by replacing one expression with another, to see how it fits into the structure. In particular, a multi-word phrase can often be replaced by a single-word phrase without changing the basic meaning: [It] The opposition [demands] [something]. a more representative government.

We can also identify phrases by movement tests. A phrase can be moved as a unit to a different position. Compare 1 above with 1a, which has a similar meaning: 1a. [A more representative government] [is demanded] [by [the opposition]].

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When we place one set of brackets inside another, as at the end of 1a, this means that one phrase is embedded (i.e. included) inside another. The possibility of embedding sometimes means that a given structure can be understood in two or more different ways. Consider the following example: 2. They passed the table with the two men. Notice there are two possible meanings of this clause, corresponding to different ways of grouping the words (i.e. different phrase structures): 2a [They] [passed] [the table [with [the two men]]]. 2b [They] [passed] [the table] [with [the two men]]. The meaning of 2a is roughly: They passed the table where the two men were sitting. But in 2b the meaning is 'With (i.e. accompanied by) the two men, they passed the table'. In summary: Words make up phrases, which behave like units. A phrase can consist of either one word or more than one word. Phrases can be identified by substitution and movement tests. Differences in phrase structure show up in differences of meaning. Phrases can be embedded (i.e. one phrase can be part of the structure if another phrase). Phrase structure can be shown either by bracketing or by tree diagrams. Phrase structures of 2a Clause Noun phrase verb phrase noun phrase Prep phrase Noun phrase They passed Phrase structure of 2b Clause Noun phrase verb phrase noun phrase prep phrase Noun phrase They passed the table 12 with the two men the table with the two men

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Syntactic role of phrases

Phrase types differ in their internal structure and in their syntactic roles i.e. their relations to larger structures. Recognizing syntactic roles, like subject and object, can be crucial for the interpretation of phrases. For example, consider the difference between: Subject verb object [the kitty]. [Mommy] 1. [Mommy] [loves] 2. [The kitty] [loves]

Here the noun phrases at the beginning and end are interchanged, resulting in a clearly different meaning. Thus the first phrase in both 1 and 2 is the subject, and the second phrase is the object. By interchanging the positions of Mommy and the kitty we have also changed their syntactic roles.

Types of phrases
noun phrase verb phrase adjective phrase adverb phrase, and prepositional phrase

The head is the principal, obligatory word. In fact, each phrase type can often consist of just one word: the head. Once more, we need to take account of form/structure, syntactic role, and meaning. These three factors need to be recognized in describing phrase types: Form/structure: Our main test for the classification of phrases is structure, especially the word class of the head of the phrase and the other elements contained in the phrase. (This is analogous to the morphological structure of words.) Syntactic role: Phrases can be described according to their function or syntactic role in clauses (e.g. subject, object). Meaning: In general, the semantic nature of phrases is to specify and/or elaborate the meaning of the head word and its relation to other elements in the clause.

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