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Summary English Grammar 3: tool for the exercises
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This is a summary of the key concepts of English Grammar 3, and studying them will help you solve the exercises you will have to do on the exam.
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English grammar 32019-2020
Basics
Basic terms
• Sentence: words that are put together according to the rules of syntax
• Constituent: a group of words that functions as one whole
- A phrase: a group of words organized around its head, the word that
dominates the group and gives it its name
- A clause: a group of words that could be a sentence on its own right
• Parts of speech:
- Nouns
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Verbs
- Pronouns
- Prepositions
- Determiners
- Conjunctions (coordinators and subordinators)
- Interjections
• Complements and modifiers
- Modifiers are optional elements
- Complements are required elements
Basic sentence rule
• The basic sentence rule of English is: S → NP + VP = every sentence minimally
consists of a NP followed by a VP
Basics of phrase markers
• Tree diagrams
- = phrase markers
- Trees are hierarchical
- Trees consist of nodes
- A node dominates the ones below it
- Nodes are related to each other (mother, daughter, sister)
1
, Sentence and clause
Types of sentences
• Simple sentence : sentence consisting of one clause
• Compound sentence : sentence consisting of coordinated clauses/clauses at the
same structural level (with coordinating conjunctions like ‘and’, but’, …)
• Complex sentence: sentence consisting of subordinated clauses/clauses at
hierarchically relative to .
the terms ‘subordinate’ and
how clauses are arranged
different structural levels (with subordinating/superordinating conjunctions like
‘superordinate’ describe
‘because’, ‘if’, ‘after’, …)
• Different types of clauses:
- Subordinate clause
each other
o Example: We can buy ice cream if I find my wallet.
- Superordinate clause
o Example: I like John because he cares about you as a person.
- Main clause: the top superordinate clause
- Matrix clause: a clause that immediately dominates a sub-clause
.
o Example: He said that he liked me.
I consider it to be effective.
General rules generating clauses
Coordination rule
• Coordination rule = X → X1 (Coord) X2 if X1 = X2
= any element can be rewritten as 2 coordinating elements if they .
. are of the same type
• The coordination may be syndetic or asyndetic
- Syndetic: with an explicit coordinator (example: and)
- Asyndetic: without an explicit coordinator (example: ,)
Subordination rules
• A subordinate clause always fills a phrasal slot → = the result of rewriting a phrase as
. a clause
- Rewrite rule for a nominal clause: NP → S
- Rewrite rule for a modifier clause: AdjP → S
- Rewrite rule for an adverbial clause: AdvP → S
2
, Phrasal complementation (of verbs)
Subcategorisation of verbs (9)
• Intransitive verbs
- Require no complements
- Self-contained verbs → verbs which don’t need complements in order to be
meaningful (example: ‘he drinks’ has the connotation that he is an alcoholic
and therefore can’t be used like this in a different meaning)
- Of course, self-contained verbs may collocate with optional complements
(example: She can drink whenever she wants.)
- Existential construction: if the subject of ‘to be’ is indefinite, it will be
announced by ‘there’ or ‘it’
o Example: There is a noise.
o In this case ‘there’ is a dummy-element → it does not have a real
meaning and it doesn’t refer to anything, it just fills in the (nominal) slot
of subject
o In this case, ‘to be’ is not a copula
o If ‘there’ or ‘it’ does refer to something, then ‘to be’ is a copula
- ! Some verbs can be used intransitively and transitively
• Copulas
- Link a subject with a subject complement
o Subject complement = AdjP, NP, PrepP, AdvP
- Do not determine the kind of complementation → no constraints on
complements
- Primary copula: ‘to be’
- Secondary copulas:
o Inchoative verbs:
▪ Shows a process of beginning or becoming
▪ Example: The milk went bad.
o Verbs of the senses
▪ Involuntary perception → copula (example: The fish looks bad.)
▪ Voluntary perception → not a copula (example: The fish sees
badly.)
o Miscellaneous group
▪ Transfer an impression of something
▪ Example: She seems very helpful.
• Monotransitive verbs
- Require one obligatory complement: direct object in the form of an NP
- A transitive verb = passivizable → test to see if a verb is transitive or
intransitive (the DO becomes the subject in the passive sentence)
- The DO (= syntactic/grammatical function) expresses the patient (= semantic
role) of the action
o Affected participant: affected by the action
▪ Example: She drove his car.
o Effected participant: come into being as a result of the action
▪ Example: She painted a face.
- ! Pseudotransitive verbs
o Some NPs look like a direct object, but they cannot become the
subject in the passive sentence
o Example: He died a cruel dead. → A cruel death was died by him. (?)
3
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