KvdV Sentence analysis
Chapter 1 The sentence
Sentence = a word or usually a group of words that, when writen down, begins with a capital leter
and ends with a full stop, a queston ark or an excla aton arkk They are, in speech, preceded and
followed by a pausek
Sentences are classifed according to for and eaning
ak according to for :
- Si ple sentences Janet is a nice girlk
- Co plex sentences Janet is a nice girl, but her sister is even nicerk
bk according to eaning:
- Declaratve sentences (state ents) She speaks English fuently
- Interrogatve sentences (questons) Do you speak English?
- I peratve sentences (co and, prohibitons, request, invitaton, wish) Shut the door!
- Excla atory sentences (excla atons) Do be silent, please!
Chapter 2 Words
Word classes:
- Noun table, London, Ja es etck
- Artcle defnite artcle: the, indefnite artcle: a/an
- Adjectve cold, big, heavy etck
- Verb walk, read, be, beco e, see , can, ay etck
- Adverb quickly, seriously, alays, yesterday, when, where, why, how etck
- Partcle to (to go, to sit etck)
- Pronoun - personal pronoun: I, you, he, we, they; e, you, hi , us, the
- refexive pronoun: yself, yourself, hi self, the selves, oneself
- possessive pronoun: y, your, his, their; ine, yours, theirs
- de onstratve pronoun: this, that, these, those
- interrogatve pronoun: who( ), whose, what, which
- relatve pronoun: who( ), whose, which, that
- indefnite pronoun: so e, any, each, every, so ebody, so eone
- Nu eral - cardinal: one, two, three etck
- ordinal: frst, second, third etck; next, last
- Quantfer uch, any, ore, ost, enough, (a) litle, less, least, few, several, so e, half
- Prepositon at, on, on, behind, of, fro , than
- Conjuncton - coordinatng conjuncton: and, but, or, nor
- subordinatng conjuncton: because, if, when, though, that etck
, - Interjecton / excla aton oh, ouch, wow, hurray
Chapter 3 Phrases
Noun phrase = a phrase which usually has a noun or pronoun as its ost i portant word (head)k Also
the –ing for of a verb can functon as a noun: verbal nounk The head can replace the whole phrase
without changing the structure of the sentencek
Noun phrase structure: (deter iner) – (pre odifer) – head – (post odifer)
Modifers - pre odifer = odifer that precedes the head
- post odifer = odifer that follows the head
Deter iners
- Artcles: the, a(n)
- De onstratve pronouns: this, that, these, those
- Possessive pronouns: y, your, his, her, its, our, their
- The genitve (denotng possession): Peter’s
- Interrogatve pronouns: whose, which, what
- Indefnite pronouns: so e, any, every, each, all, both, (n)either, no, other, another, such
- Nu erals: one, two etck; frst, second etck; next, last
- Quantfers: uch, any, ore (than), ost, enough, (a) litle, less (than), least, (a) few,
several, so e, double, half, twice, three t es, a lot of, plenty of, a great nu ber of
Verb phrase = a phrase that consists of one or ore verbsk The last verb is called the head, the
pre odifers are called auxiliariesk A verb can either be lexical or copula
Verb phrase structure: (pre odifer) – head
Finite/non-fnite:
- Finite verb for (persoonsvor ) verb for that shows tensek All verb for s are fnites
except the infnitve, the –ing for and the past partciple (they are non-fnite)
- If the verb phrase consists of only one verb, this is always a fnite
- More verbs frst verb is fnite, other verbs are non-fnites
Adjectve phrase = a phrase that has an adjectve as its ost i portant word (head)k Also an –ing
for and a past partciple can functon as an adjectve (verbal adjectves)
Adjectve phrase structure: (pre odifer) – head – (post odifer)
Adverb phrase = a phrase that has an adverb as its ost i portant word (head)
Adverb phrase structure: (pre odifer) – head – (post odifer)
Prepositon phrase = a phrase that begins with a prepositon (head)
Prepositon phrase structure: (pre odifer) – head – prepositonal co ple ent
, Chapter 4 Sentence elements
Subject = the person, thing or ani al about who or which ‘so ething is said’k The subject ay
perfor the acton, undergo the acton or there ay be no acton at allk
There as provisional subject: ‘There is a beautful park in the townk’ ‘there’ has no eaning and is
used to introduce the subjectk The real subject is ‘a beautful park’k
It as for al subject: ‘It is Wednesdayk’ ‘it’ doesn’t express eaning nor does it refer to anythingk
It’s used in sentences referring to t e, weather, distance and situatonsk
Predicator = the verb phrase consists of auxiliaries/lexical verbs/copula verbs
Auxiliaries: be, be going, can/could, dare, do, have, have got, had beter, had rather, ay/ ight,
ust, need, ought, shall/should, used, will/would, would rather
Se i-auxiliaries A characteristc of auxiliaries is that ‘do’ isn’t required in interrogatve sentencesk
With se i-auxiliaries, you have to use ‘do’k So these verbs aren’t genuine auxiliaries, but are also not
lexical/copula, because they can’t for the predicator on their ownk
Most i portant se i-auxiliaries: appear, co e, dare, fail, get, happen, have, need, prove, see ,
tend, turn out, used
Subject co ple ent = a phrase which follows the predicator and which expresses what the subject is
or beco esk The verb between the subject and SC is called a copulak
Most i portant copulas:
- Be (zijn) This is ridiculous.
- Co e (worden) She beca e Queen.
- Get (worden) It is getng dark.
- Grow (worden) The noise grew louder.
- Turn (worden) His hair has turned greyk
- Go (worden) Have you gone mad?
- Fall (worden) She has fallen in love.
- See (schijnen) The soluton see s easy.
- Look (eruitzien) His wife stll looks very youngk
- Rese ble (lijken op) She rese bles her mother.
- Look like (lijken op) He looks like his father.
- Appear (blijken) The story appears true.
- Prove (blijken) The story proved quite false.
- Turn out (blijken) The party turned out a success.
- Re ain (blijven) She re ained silent.
- Stay (blijven) The weather has stayed cold.
- Contnue (blijven) The weather contnued calm.
- Keep (blijven) He kept calm.
- Feel (zich voelen) She felt tired.
- Sound (klinken) Does this sentence sound right?
- Taste (s aken) This eat tastes delicious.