ENGLISH GRAMMAR 12015

Juan Luis Stamboni

juanstamb@yahoo.com

ENGLISH GRAMMAR 12015

Randolph QUIRK; Sidney GREENBAUM; Geoffrey LEECH; Jan SVARTVIK (1972). A Grammar of Contemporary English. UK, Longman

Randolph QUIRK; Sidney GREENBAUM; Geoffrey LEECH; Jan SVARTVIK (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. UK/US, Longman

Andrew RADFORD (1997). Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English. A Minimalist Approach. UK, Cambridge University Press

Andrew RADFORD (2004). Minimalist Syntax. Exploring the Structure of English. UK, Cambridge University Press

Andrew RADFORD (2009). Analising English Sentences. A Minimalist Approach. UK, Cambridge University Press

LINGUISTICS is

the scientific study of language

Its investigation is done by means of

a) controlled and empirically verifiable observations b) with reference to some theoretical framework

Linguistics studies human languagefocusing on 3 general areas:

•the nature of human linguistic knowledge

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE•the development of this knowledge in children

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION•the use of this knowledge in communicative contexts

LINGUISTIC PERFORMANCE

Semantics analyses the logical aspects of language as used in thought, in science or in art

Pragmaticsspecifies the uses which the elements of language are put to in social interchange

Sociolinguisticsestablishes the degree of variability in the useof language according to age, sex, social class and ethnic, religious or regional characteristics.

Chomskyan linguisticstries to gain insight into

the patterns of human thoughtand linguistic competence

in order to discoverthe abstract principles

governing their structures.

History of the language studies

the origin of the elements of language

and

the changes they undergo in history

Grammar is the branch of linguistics which

deals with

a) the form and structure of words (morphology)

b) their interrelation in sentences (syntax)

MORPHOLOGY

1)How do we explain or justify the existence of

“word clases” (i.e. grammatical categories:

NOUNS, VERBS, ADJECTIVES, PREPOSITIONS, DETERMINERS, etc.) ?

2) What motivates or determinesgrammatical “accidence” on lexical itemsi.e.: CASE, PERSON, NUMBER, GENDER, TENSE, ASPECT,

DEGREE, etc. ?

SYNTAX

What motivates or determinesthe organisation of

lexical items in the sentence?

i.e.: TRANSITIVITY, AGREEMENT, WORD ORDER, etc.

Grammar is simplythe collection of principles defining

how to put together a sentence.

Every language has restrictions onhow words must be arranged

to construct a sentence.Such restrictions are principles of

syntax

Grammara)defines the elements of

languageb)formulates the principles

underlying their order and arrangement

The study of grammar reveals how language works

If linguistic expressions consist of pairings of FORM and MEANING

Grammarcan also be regarded as the study

ofTHE GRAMMATICALISATION OF

MEANINGinsofar as MEANING is conveyed

partly by LEXICAL ITEMS (i.e. words and affixes),

partly by SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

the study of GRAMMARthe study of GRAMMARinvolves building new involves building new

conceptsconcepts

● describing units of analysis

● defining categories for those units

● explaining the phenomenon of language

In the following sentence,identify the subject and the predicate. ______________________________________________________________________________________

I’ve been watching them

for quite a long while.

In the following sentence,identify the subject and the predicate. ______________________________________________________________________________________

That nothing else is good enough

shouldn't come as a surprise.

In the following sentence,identify the subject and the predicate. ______________________________________________________________________________________

The man who is standing over there

told me that he has just bought a ticket

to Hull.

In the following sentence,identify the subject and the predicate. ______________________________________________________________________________________

Whoever ignores disciplinedespises himself, butthe person who heeds

warninggains understanding.

In the following sentence,identify the subject and the predicate. ______________________________________________________________________________________

Be aware when you're planning to present your cake,

the final cake will be 4-5 cm wider than your template.

It is a miraclethat such a small country has won the

war.

In the following sentence,identify the subject and the predicate.

______________________________________________________________________________________

What was to be done, Orlando could not think.

They considered it inconvenientto have to remember a user name and

password.

They forced us to remember their user name and password.

What do these terms refer to?

SUBJECT

PREDICATE

OBJECT

… terms associated with a semantic –aswell as syntactic– analysis of the sentence.

semantically speaking, a PREDICATEdescribes an event or state

SUBJECT and OBJECT(s) are PARTICIPANTS in the event or stateexpressed by that PREDICATE

In dictionaries, lexical entries for VERBS specify whether they are

TRANSITIVEor

INTRANSITIVE

transitive verbs take 1 or 2 OBJECTS intransitive verbs may be OBJECTLESS

• Peter sent a letter yesterday.• Peter sent her a letter.• Peter sent a letter to Madrid.• Peter didn’t send us a letter.

She hung the receiver andvomited copiously on the floor.

He shut the book and put it carefully on the floor.

His eye fell on the fragments of the glass paperweight.

Some Eurasian prisoners, guilty of war crimes, were hanged in the Park that evening.

In another room someone with a comb and a piece of toilet paper was trying to keep tune with the military music which was still issuing from the telescreen.

PREDICATES are realised byverbs, adjectives, nouns or

prepositions

PARTICIPANTS are realised by• noun expressions

(denoting animate or inanimate entities)

or• (finite or non-finite) clauses

(denoting propositions)

Which participants are realisedby a noun construction and which by a clause?(“noun or nominal constructions” include pronouns)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

O'Brien might know that he had been arrested.

They can be granted intellectual liberty because they have no intellect.

He did not know whether the thing was really happening, or whether the effect was electrically produced.

She knew when to cheer and when to boo.

What you told me hasn't changed the way I feel about what I want to do.

Syntactically speaking, the

PREDICATEinvolves:

a HEAD

its OBJECT(S)

and ADJUNCTS(not every predicate contains

objects;adjuncts are generally optional)

The identification of a predicate and its participants results from the analysis of the meaning of the sentence or clause (semantic analysis).

Generalisations such as the idea that the subject is always in initial position might be misleading.

Recognise:

• PREDICATES• PARTICIPANTS

[ Subject and Object(s) ]

• ADJUNCTS

distinguish between:

a) Participants in subject and object position

b) Verbal, Adjectival, Nominal, and Prepositional predicates

c) Different verbal predicates

d) Objects, including Locatives, and Adjuncts

e) Nominal and Clausal participants

I’ve been watching them for quite a long while.

The man who is sitting over there told methat he has just bought a ticket to Tahiti.

Whoever ignores discipline despises himself,but the person who heeds warning gains

understanding.

What was to be done, Orlando could not think.

That nothing else is good enoughshouldn't come as a surprise.