ENGLISH SYNTAX

Dra. Rosario María BurneoMaster of Arts

ESCUELA: INGLÉS

NOMBRES:

FECHA: OCTUBRE 2008 – FEBRERO 2009

LANGUAGE

Language is a social, cultural and psychological phenomenon that

serves the purpose of communication among human

beings

LINGUISTICS

Linguistics can be defined as the study of human language

in all its manifestations.

LINGUISTICS

Linguistics focuses on different aspects of the language, such as:Word formation and inflection; (Morphology); Sounds (Phonology).Structure (Syntax).Meaning (Semantics), and The relationship between language use and society (Pragmatics).

UNIT ONE: BASIC SENTENCE

STRUCTURES Lexical categories are word

based: noun, verb, adjective.

Phrasal categories are phrase-based: noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, etc.

Linguistic PhenomenaThese phenomena support the

fact that human languages are category-based

Anaphora (or anaphor) is a linguistic phenomenon referring to entities mentioned before in the same sentence or discourse:

Mary likes her new job. Students and teachers feel tired.

Linguistic Phenomena

Coordination uses conjunctions to join words or phrases belonging to the same category:

Teachers and students are attending a lecture

Recursion enables speakers to make use of a finite set of rules to generate an infinite number of sentences.

Mike, who is a doctor, lives next door.

Linguistic Phenomena

Distribution states which words and phrases can appear in a particular position in a sentence.

For example: NPs can appear in subject or

object position.

LINGUISTIC PHENOMENA

Intrusión refers to the insertion of parenthetical expressions like “I guess”, “certainly”, usually” and others. Usually they visit us in October They usually visit us in October

Core Sentence Patterns

Core sentence patterns are

basic strings of words that express meaning and have an associated structural description called Base Phrase Marker.

Core Sentence Patterns

A Base Phrase Marker is a tree diagram used to show the structure of phrases, clauses and sentences in a graphic way.

The Five Core Patterns

PATTERN ONE S = NP + VP intransitive + (Adv.P) Mike walks slowly Elizabeth runs

PATTERN TWO

S = NP + VP linking + NP

George became a doctor

S = NP + VP linking + Adj. Phrase

Mr. Johnson looks tired

Pattern THREE

THREE: It is built around one-place transitive

verbs.

S = NP+VP one-place trans+ NP Robert washed his car

Pattern FOUR

FOUR: This pattern has two versions:

1.S = NP + VP transitive +NP + NP + (Adv.P)Rose gave him an interesting book- This structure takes two objects, a DO and an IO.- I bought a car for my son yesterday.

Pattern FOUR

2. S = NP + VP transitive + NP + NP He considers Bush a good person The first NP functions as the object and the

second one as the complement. S = NP + VP transitive + NP + Adj.P Most boys consider soccer important.

S = NP + VP + NP + Inf.P People consider politicians to be very bad

OBJECTS

DIRECT OBJECT Mike bought a new car INDIRECT OBJECT Mike gave me a book OBJECT OF PREPOSITION (also

called Oblique object) Mike bought a book for me

Pattern FIVE

This pattern is built around the verb BE.

S = NP + VP be + NP Martha is a teacher S = NP + VP be + Adj.P Martha is smart S = NP + VP be + Adv.P Martha is in the classroom

UNIT TWO: ENGLISH PHRASE STRUCTURES

Constituents can be lexical (words) or phrasal (phrases). Words form phrases: This new house det. Adj. nounPhrases form clauses: This new house is beautiful NP PV

The Noun Phrase

Three different types of noun phrases can be distinguished according to their structure:

1. Anaphor: reciprocal and reflexive:

Mike and Ann love each other Linda cut herself

The Noun Phrase

2. Pronominal noun phrase include personal pronouns.

Lupe believes that she is beautiful.

3. Lexical noun phrases include all other noun phrases.

The students Marco Reyes

PRONOUNS

Personal Pronouns: - Nominative pronouns function as

subjects (I, YOU ...) - Accusative pronouns function as

objects of verbs (me, us) - Dative pronouns function as

objects of prepositions (for me, ) - Genitive pronouns indicate

possession (mine, yours, etc.)

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns refer back to the subject of the clause they are in. They have anaphoric reference.

Reflexive pronouns can function as:

Direct object: I cut myself.

Indirect object: Tom bought himself a car.

Object of preposition: May lives by herself

Demonstratives

They may function as both, pronouns and determiners.

As pronouns: That is my book As determiners: That book is mine

Functions of Noun Phrases

A noun phrase is a string of words headed by a noun and which expresses meaning.

According to its external syntax, a noun phrase may function as a subject, as an object and as a complement:

Those boys play tennis very well

My friend sold his old car

He is a dentist

Types of Noun Phrases according to their

structure

Elementary noun phrases may consist of proper nouns and pronouns.

You came yesterday (Nominative NP) Mike gave me a book (Accusative NP) Mike is in his company (Genitive NP) Robert likes to hunt (Proper NP)

Types of Noun Phrases

Noun phrases have nouns as their heads. A head noun is the word that dictates the internal structure of the phrase.

Proper nouns Carlos is very smart Common noun phrases Cats are beautiful

Types of Noun Phrases1. Elementary noun phrases introduced

by determiners: This cat

The moon

2. Elementary noun phrases introduced by genitives: Mike’s car

Your house

3. Noun phrases introduced by quantity words: Some workers

Much water

Types of Noun Phrases

Partitive Noun Phrases can be:

1. Introduced by quantity words:

Some of his money

2. Introduced by measure words:

One pound of sugar

Types of Noun Phrases

3. Introduced by the words ALL and BOTH:

Rose met all her classmates. Rose met all of her classmates. Both students attended that

class. Both of the students attended

that class.

THE VERB: Tense, aspect and

ModalityTense communicates information

about the time in which an action or event happens.

Present tense Past tense Future tense (uses periphrastic

expressions). These are extra words as WILL.

Aspect

Aspect indicates the way an action or event is seen or experienced. It can be ongoing or resultant.

The progressive aspect is ongoing. María is washing her car. The Perfect aspect is resultant. Experts have predicted a new crisis.

Modality

Mood refers to the purpose of a sentence. It can be:

- Indicative for statements- Interrogative for questions- Imperative for commands- Subjunctive for wishes- Conditional for possibility, certainty,

obligation, necessity, promise o threat This book might become a best seller

Action and Belief Modalities

The Action (or deontic) modality involves language and potential action. It is used to make promises, to order, or to place an obligation.

No smoking (order) I promise to help you (promise) Can you help me? (request)

Belief Modality

The Belief (or epistemic) modality involves possibility, certainty, and necessity. I suppose that the children are hungry. It might rain tonight

The Internal and External Syntax of Phrases

Internal Syntax refers to the way words are put together to form phrases or clauses.External syntax refers to the function constituents (as phrases) might perform in a sentence or clause.Head words dictate the internal syntax of phrases. For example, a noun is the head word of a noun phrase; a verb is the head word of a VP, etc.

Subcategorization

Subcategorization refers to the complement properties of individual words.

Each word has a set of syntactic features h indicating the context in which it can be inserted.

Ken broke the window –Brake: V + NP

Subcategorization examples

We heard the boys asking questions–

Hear: V + NP + VP (present participle)

Catty put the pen on the desk– Put: V + NP + PP

Noun Phrases as Complements

NPs can function as subjects, objects and complements.

In complement position, they function as arguments and as predicates.

Arguments and Predicates

As arguments they indicate that the subject plays certain role:

My friend killed a tiger As predicates, they provide

information about the subject (person or thing mentioned earlier in the sentence). Mike is a soldier

Complements

Infinitives as verb phrase complements:

That bird seems to be sick Infinitives as complements of

adjectives: We are eager to travel to

Europe.

Complements

Infinitives as complement of nouns:

The plan to save wild life is important.

LIFE IS 10% OF WHAT Life is 10% of what happens to you, and 90% of

how you respond to it.

Thank you

GOD BLESS YOU