Predication Types

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Predication TYPesGopulative Predication

(40) Copula verb * Predicative Structure:

The typical copula verh is BE in which case it is semantically empty.Other copula-like or linking verbs can be identified depending on thesubject selection and semantic features:(41) o BECOME: In time, the carpet became an old rag'o FALL: Soon the guard fell asleeP.

r LIE: The ship lay deserted on the bottom of the sea'/ Theteam's failure lry heavy on the coach'ss houlder s / c o ns c ience -e SEEM: The mdnager seemed disappointed by ourpraiect.o sTAND: The accused stood coryectly during tlte trial. /His roam stood empty for one yeor after his death'o REST: We can test easy and celebrate as we havepassed our last exam.o SIT: The envelope sat unopened on the cupboard' / Sittight until the eisis Passes'.\\o r-o-o,-iV.q-'t vr ,gt$-\*.-\, tr'iiit"'o *-"'d {t; ' rrr,- i, I . C,** qir-.J,.t-.*r:i .- , \,"

--$cton' ''t ']"'.o.-tl,{ . 'r\ A 1..j ;'ll-L ,";, 'i-!';*-r.-t") Am* Lre-eT'l *i'y,! ,Tt'r" ho.l '.-,. r-r*, r.ht-ut*'t- t *{o ''oi;\ ' ift"'!' {6-\

:,b ..r -. i. bir.* O*r,r ,':.f ^ -. rklf "1 '-tI'n' 114 J t -i, '!'.^.,., .ir' | ^ g,Z0S{ 4,tn._hl,..aXrn',.r.-.", '.. .'.\. '\.r'.t-'r \5 I /)\- \ {!U


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o PASS: Due to his accent he could easily pass for anEnglishman.

,tctivity. Are verbs of perception always copular verbs? Provideexamples.

The predicative can be a Noun Phrase, an Adjectival Phrase, aPrepositional Phrase or a Complementizer Phrase (clausal constituent,finite/non-finite). Provide examples of each type. Traditionalistsoften label this function as Subject Complement.

Acttviqz. Provlde examples to illustrate the grammatical regime of theverb ,,to be" (copular BE,, existential BE, auxiliary BE, (Progressive;Passive), modal BE).

e.g. She is a student./ She is in the classroom./ She is drinking water./She is threatened by her mother./ She is to marry in August'

Despite the distinct syntactic and semantic features of the types of BE,they all share the same behavioural features, namely:(42)* BE, does not require "do-inversion" except for the negative

imperatives (Don't be so cruel!)* In interrogative sentences it undergoes inversion with thesubject: Is MarY at home?* The negation is inserted after BE,: The pupil is not writing!

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* All types of Be can be deleted in contexts like relative clauses:The man (who is) ringing at the door...* All types of Be can undergo "there-insertion" except for thecopula P.E: There ore no children in the garden.

.1. Only the existential BE assigns thematic roles to its neighbours:She is at school. BE

There are two main types of Copulative Predications, namely:1. the Attributive Type: A is B; A diffirs from B; A - the attributed- is the entity to which the Predicate assigns a property; B - theattribuant - is the entity denoting the respective property.(43) Money is important.l Bill is an engineer.2. the Equative Type: A is B and consequently B is A; A is theidentified; B is the identifier.(44) He is the Prime Minister of France./ My deskmate is thesmartest child in the classroom.

a.tinity. Distinguish between the attributive and the equative type inthe follow ing sentence s :1. His behaviour was above reproach.2.The weather has turned cold and windy.3. Dmitrii Anatolevich Medevedev became Russia's president on 2"dMarch 2008.4. Margaret Thatcher was the United Kingdom's first female Prirne-Minister in 1979.

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Reciprocal Copulative Predicates- The Subject is expressed by a finite number of nominal phrase(minimally two) or by a plural NP.- There is a relation of reciprocity between the terms that make

up the Subject; none of the terms is subordinated to the others.- The predicative adjectives may indicate positive/ neutral ornegative (different) reciprocal relationships.

(45) Martin and Denise are married. I The women and childrenwere separated -fro* the men. / Grammar ls similar toMathematics.

Non-copulative lntransitive PredicationThis type of predication is carried out by semantically independentverbs. Unlike in the case of transitive predication, the intransitive verbis never followed by a phrase functioning as a Direct Object as part ofthe intransitive predication.

Simple Intransitives

S + Vintr.: The dog is sleeping.46)

Unaccusative predicates are verbs that do not assign accusative caseto the complements that follow them. This feature distinguishes thernfrom the transitive verbs. Moreover, whereas in a transitive

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construction both the Subject and the Complement are assignedthematic roles, unaccusative structures have a non-thematic 'othere"subiect, which is not a theta-marked argument of the verb but a purelyexpletive one. Here are some examples:

(47) There came the three armed policemen.There goes my last pennY!There stood the Queen herself right infront of my humble desk!There remains little chance of stopping them.There have arisen several changes in the timetable.There have occurred some unexpected incidents.

The Subject NPs anticipated by "there" have the thematic role ofTheme. Generative Grammar explains the structure by analyzing thetwo transformations that take place, namely: movement of Subject NPinto the VP right after the main verb and then insertion of theexpletive "there" in the position left empty by the moved Subject'

Activity. Try to explain the required inversion betweenSubject I,{P after expletive "there" in terms of Movementframe of Government and Binding Syntax.

verb andwithin the

Unergative verbs differ from the unaccusatives in that their SubjectNPs carry the thematic role of Agent and they never follow the verb.

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(48) The children were sleePing.The old man laughed in amazement.The disappointed mother was muttering to herself.

Another structural difference noticeable from the examples above isthat unlike unergative verbs, the unaccusatives cannot be used in theProgressive aspect.

Complex Intransitive Predications

1. Prepositional Intransitive verbs (Vintr. + PO):(49) The visitors are looking at the paintings.She is waiting for her friends.The manager relied on her coming.I agree with your suggestion.

2. Intransitive verbs with particle and preposition (Vintr. +particle +PO):

(50) The manager came up with a solution.We can no longer put up with pollution.The spanish caught up with the English athlete iust before the

finish line.They have fallen behind with their instalments.

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3. Intransitive verbs with a Prepositional Indirect Object (Vintr. +ro):o eventive:(51) A teruible thing might happen to your aunt.o experiencer:(52) Your proposal sounds like blackmail to me.

The house smelled ofPerfume to me.o relational:(53) The Dean talked down to the teacher infront of the students.This car belongs to the moYor.

4. Intransitive verbs with 2 Prepositional Objects (Vintr. + PO/IO+ PO):o Vintr. + PO + PO(54) The student was arguing with his teucher about his mark.Down the shore you could bargain with the truders over the

price of uny item.John agreed wittr his parents about the change of itinerary.

o Vintr. + IO + PO(55) The manager talked to the employees about the crisis.They signaled to the waiter for another beer.Criminals would pray to Godfor mercy.

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5. Intransitive verbs followed by Adjuncts (Vintr. * AdverbialModifier):(56) The children have been playing for three hours.

The balconyfaces east.The train accelerated gradually.

6. Reciprocal intransitive verbs:(57) The dates of the two conferences have overlapped.Their parents divorced two years ago.None of these glasses match.

The Process of Intransitivization

Basically a transitive verb can become intransitive when it gives up onits Direct Object. This can take place by means of two importantprocesses:1. DELETION of the Direct Object:(55) In order to get on time to work she has to drive (her car) eachand every morning.

2. DELETION of the reflexive Direct Object3. PROMOTION of the Direct Object in Subject position:(59) The book sold well.

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Transitive PredicationAll transitives share the feature [_ NP]. This NP occupies theComplement position, being governed by the transitive verb. The verbgovernor assigns Accusative case to its governee.(60) You must send the letter today.

Mother is baking a cake.He always makes me laugh.

Simple Transitives

Linguists make the difference between monotransitive verbs, i.e.those transitive verbs that have only one argument functioning as DO,and ditransitive verbs or better ditransitive complementation whichincludes those transitive verbs that take two arguments functioning asDOs (The teachers have asked him a lot of questions-/ This car costhim a lot of money.) or one having the function of DO and the other ofIO (lftr father handed him the keys yesterday./ A clown has given usthe tickets.).

pinker (1989) suggests that productive use ofthe ditransitive syntax is the result ofa lexicosemantic rule which takes as input a verb with the semantics 'X CAUSESY fO CO TO Z'and produces the semantic structure 'X CAUSES Z fO URVpY,. The double object syntax, he argues, is then predictable from near-universallinking rules mapping the arguments of a verb with the meaning 'X CeUSgS ZTO HAVE Y' into the ditransitive form. (Goldberg, 1995: 8)

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Pinker's claim is clearly supported by examples under the headingdative causatives that will be discussed later on in this section.Here are some of the subcategories of simple transitive verbs mainlyfollowing Domnica Serban's classificatron (2002: 102- I 04):

1. Monotransitive verbs with affected DO:

(61) The dentist brushes his teethfour times a day'The child uunched the caruot noisily'Mother froze some vegetables last month'

The underlined NPs functioning as DOs are obviously affected by theaction denoted by the transitive verb. In the examples above the DOsare assigned the thematic role of Patient. However there are verbs thatdenote actions performed to the benefit of their arguments, as in:

(62) The children have decorated the -fir-tree'The mechanic has rePaired our car'

2. Monotransitive verbs with effected/resultative DO:

(63) Our partnershipfacilitates this transaction'This actress has sewn her own out-fit.The teacher gave an interesting talk on her visit toC al iforn i a Un iv er s itY.

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Vtransitive * affected DO Vtransitive .| effected DOShe fashioned the clay into a pot. She fashioned a pot from theclay.The child has painted the window

frame.The child has painted a nice

landscape.Grandma cut her finger by

mistake.This tailor cuts fashionable

clothes.

3. Monotransitive verbs with affected and/or effected DO:(64)

4. Monotransitive verbs with cognate DO involve homonymousterrns:(65) to dream a dream, to sleep one's sleep out, to fight a

fishror hyponymic terms:(66) to sleep the sleep of theiust, to dance the last dance, to

laugh a bitter laugh, to fight a battle

5. Monotransitive verbs with Instrumental DO:

(67) Martin turned the key to unlock the door.The waiter handled the plates carefully.Mother used the whisk to stir the eggs.

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6. Monotransitive verbs with Locative DO:

(68) The policeman crossed the street in a hurry.She entered the room all of a sudden.We have alreadY visited the Tower.

7. Monotransitive verbs with Abstract DO are verbs that denote anabstract activity or process followed by an Affected or Effected [-Animate] NP functioning as direct object:

(69) These methods should enhance fficiency'The red light denotes an error.The Netherlands amended the military criminal code.

8. Relational verbs:a. reciprocal verbs which express symmetric relations between thesubject and the DO:(70) She resembles her father.

These trousers don't fit me at all'This frame perfectly matches your photo'

b. verbs of possession:(71) The architect owned two flats in Germany'He evinced a strong desire to win the competition'She possessed that kind of self confidence that nobody could

defeat her.

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c. verbs of inclusion (to enclose, to include, tofeature, to contain)(72) This syringe contains the antidote.By midnight she had covered half of the subiects for the

exam.The university board comprises teachers and students as

well.

9. Causative verbsa. periphrastic causatives:(73) I had my car repaired yesterday.

The heat will make the windows steam up.They haven'tfound out what caused the accident.

b. lexical causatives have intransitive verbs as their counterparts, thetransitive verb expressing the cause of the process, whereas theintransitive verb denotes the caused action. Here are several examples:to remind : to cause somebody to remember; to raise : to causesb.isth. to rise; to teach: to cause sb. to learn; to kill: to cause sb. todie; to throw: to cause sth. to fall(74) That mail reminded me of her birthday.

The flood raised the water level.He has taught us Maths for one semester.

c. morphological causatives are transitive verbs that have beenderived from other lexical items by means of word-formationprocesses, such as:

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- conversion:(75) He has never feared the unknown.The collector has faked the signature on the painting.

His friends could never fault his honesty.She ironed thefolds of her skirt carefully.The lady suddenly faced the man who was following her.

- affixation:(76) The Town Hall decided to widen the main avenues.

The farmer tightened the rope around the horse's legs.

d. attitudinal causatives involve the presence of an Experiencer(which functions as DO) and of a Stimulus (the Subject):(77) Her performance disappointed the audience.

The roar of the lionfrightened the visitors at the Zoo.The child's song impressed his parents.

e. dative causatives are ditransitive causative verbs followed by a DOand an IO: give, send, sell, show(78) Will you do me a favour?

our company shall deliver the products to its purchaserin due time.There are also Some transitive verbs that have developed a causativemeaning, as in:(79) Grandparents wouldforgive him anything.

Victory would earn them a semi-final place againstSurrey or Kent tomorrow. (British National Corpus)

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f. ergative verbs are verbs that can functionintransitive without any change in form andsink, to Jloat, to dry, to ring, to break):

(80)Vtransitive Vintransitive

The sunfaded the T-shirt. The T-shirt faded in the sun.She dropped her voice dramatically. Her voice dropped (in a whisper).The heat steamed his glasses up. His glasses steamed up.

10. Lexically complex transitive verbs are phrasal verbs (verb +particle) followed by a direct object. The whole verb phrase can besubjected to particle movement or not. The particle must accompanythe verb or it may move after the direct object sometimes changing themeaning of the VP. For instance, considering the verb to run, one cannotice that in the phrase run into somebody with the meaning 'meetsb. by chance' no particle movement is allowed, whereas 'to knocksth. and kill it' can be expressed either by run sth. over or by run oversth. However the latter VP has a second interpretation, namely 'toread something carefully'.

(81) The terrorists blew the Towers up in September.I had to cut the article down to I500 words.Researchers have caruied out a survey on learning

standards.Your brother will find out the truth.The peacockfanned out its coloured tailfeathers.

either as transitive or aswithout passivization (to

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Complex Transitives

Complex transitive predications have the following underlyingsyntactic frame as it can be noticed in the analysis of the examplesbelow:(82) The weather conditions prevented the plane from landing.

[_ NP, PP]I have already told the news to ))our new English teacher.[_ NP, tolfor NP]

L. Transitive verbs followed by Predicative Adjunct (oc) arecalled factitive verbs (choose, elect, make, name, iudge). Unlikecausative verbs that make an action take place, factitive verbs causethe direct object NP to pass into a different state. The new state isexpressed by a Predicative Adjunct/ Object Complement that followsthe DO.(83) They elected him chairman.

Local authorities have iudged his nomination a great success.Yesterday the Association chose White (to be) their president.

2. Prepositional transitive verbs are verbs accompanied by a NPfunctioning as direct object and a PP functioning as prepositionalobject:(84) The policeman matched the prints against forensic evidence.

The con man talked the old lady into buying the old carpet'She couldn'tforgive himfor lying to her.

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3. Transitive verbs with particle and preposition are verbsaccompanied by Adverbial particle and obligatory preposition:(85) Nobody would have thrown her death back at Mike.

Her accurate style set Jamie apart from other competitors.The President managed to talk the iournalists round to ltis way

of thinking.

A.tirity. Identifi the type of predication and analyse the sentenceconstituents:

1. Her dream was to marry mY son.2. A gang of thieves broke in last night.3. She passes for an experienced doctor.4. The married couple has recently separated.5. That possibillty has never occurred to anyone.6. She talks to her husband about her latest success.

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