2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
-
Upload
alex-cheung -
Category
Documents
-
view
224 -
download
0
Transcript of 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
1/66
2012/8/16 1
Constructing English Sentences
Unit 2
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
2/66
2012/8/16 2
Contents
Sentence components in
English Sentence patterns in English
Types of sentence
Movements of sentencecomponents
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
3/66
2012/8/16 3
2.1 Sentence components in English
English sentences can be brokendown into some distinct components.
These
components
include
the predicate verb (V)
the object (O for short)
the adverbial (A)
the complement (C)
the subject (S for short)
the predicative (P)
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
4/66
2012/8/16 4
(1) The interesting storymadethese little childrenvery happy.
SVOC(2)Jackbecamea professional
lawyerafter graduation.
SVPA
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
5/66
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
6/66
2012/8/16 6
articles (a, an, and the)
demonstrative pronouns (this,
that, these, and those)indefinite pronouns (some,
any, a, most, other, etc.)
numerals (one, first,
twenty, and the like)
possessive expressions
(my, sb.s, etc.)
Determiners
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
7/66
2012/8/16 7
(1)Jack became aprofessional
lawyer after graduation.
(2) Theinteresting storymade
theselittle childrenvery happy.
Att
Att
Att
D
D
D
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
8/66
2012/8/16 8
Note:
2. Some verbs take two objects.
(3) Jack gaveJoana ring.S V Oi Od
Oi= indirect object
Od= direct object
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
9/66
2012/8/16 9
Note:
3. Complements(part after a V,adding info. to the S or O)
subject complement (Cs) object complement (C
(1) Jack becamea professional
lawyerafter graduation.(2) The interesting story madethese little childrenvery happy.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
10/66
2012/8/16 10
4. Predicative: part of the predicateafter be, get, seem, look, turn,become, appear, etc.
You look fine today. It seems that you are right. Cf:The predicate is the part of a
sentence which states or assertssomething about the subject andusually consists of a verb eitherwith or without an object,complement, or adverb.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
11/66
2012/8/16 11
?PredicativeSubject complement
Jack fell to the ground dead.
S V A CsCan you think of other examples?
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
12/66
2012/8/16 12
5. appositive: when two words, phrases,or clauses in a sentence have the samereference, they are in apposition. Example:
My sister, Helen Wilson, will travel with me.
6.parenthesis: a word, phrase or sentence
inserted as an added explanation orthought, like Well, you know, as you cansee, etc
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
13/66
2012/8/16 13
2.1 Sentence components
in English
2.2 Sentence patterns in
English
2.3 Types of sentence
2.4 Movements of
sentence components
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
14/66
2012/8/16 14
a. SV (5) Jack arrived (yesterday).S V
b. SVO (6) Jack missed his train (by a minute).S V O
c. SVA (7) Jack weighed 200 pounds.
S V Ad. SVC/P (8) Jack was very sad this morning.
S V C/P
seven basic sentence patterns in English
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
15/66
2012/8/16 15
e. SVOA (9)Jack put the book on thedesk.
S V O A
f. SVOO (10) Jack gave Joan a kiss onthe forehead.
S V Oi Od
g. SVOC (11)Jack let Joan make herown decision.
S V O C
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
16/66
2012/8/16 16
Note:
1. Some components are notconsidered in the classification
of the sentence patterns Eg.
b. SVO (6) Jack missed his train (by aminute).
S V Oe. SVOA (9) Jack put the book on thedesk.
S V O A
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
17/66
2012/8/16 17
Note:
2.Compare the part in red
b. SVO (6) Jack missed his train(by a
minute).S V O
c. SVA (7) Jack weighed200 pounds.
S V ADoes each sentence still make sense if
we remove the part in red ?
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
18/66
2012/8/16 18
Lets have a try!
a. John seems happy.
b. The girls sing quite often.
c. They elected Bush presidentagain.
d. Chasing cats is fun for dogs.
What sentence pattern does eachsentence belong to?
SVC/P
SVA
SVOC
SVP/C
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
19/66
2012/8/16 19
e. John sent Jane a
bunch of roses.
f. John never keeps
his room clean.
g. The film lastedtwo hours.
h. John let Jane out.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
20/66
2012/8/16 20
SVOO or SVOC?
They elected Bush president again.
John sent Jane a bunch of roses. One way to distinguish is trying to
add a copular be between the two
nouns or noun phrases, if they makesense as a sentence, the latter nounis used as object complement in theoriginal sentence;
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
21/66
2012/8/16 21
if they can't, the noun is an object.Which of the following sentences
has an object complement?(TEM-4
2010) A. The directors appointed John
manager. B.I gave Mary a Christmas present. C. You have done Peter a favor. D. She is teaching children English.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
22/66
2012/8/16 22
Addition to sentence patterns
1. Independent elements
Hey! Where are you heading for?
2. Existential sentence:There-bepatteren
There can be very little doubtabout his guilt.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
23/66
2012/8/16 23
There appearsto be no doubtabout it.
3. It is +N./A.phr. +Subject.
Its very
important tolearn Englishwell.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
24/66
2012/8/16 24
2.3 Types of sentence
A simple sentence has onlyone subject and one predicate-verb, but may contain more
than one object, attribute oradverbial. Short simplesentences are usually emphatic;
they have special clarity, andprovide variety when used withlonger sentences.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
25/66
2012/8/16 25
1) The Middle Eastern Bazaar takesyou back hundredseven thousands-ofyears.
2) Hurried home. I would run under thedark, leafless trees. I would walk fastuphill. I would run down the hill. The
ground was freezing. I had to hurry. Ihad to run. I reached the long ridge thatled to our cow pasture.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
26/66
2012/8/16 26
A simple sentence is notnecessarily short. For example:
Anxious to check inflation andrising living costs, the federalgovernment appointed a board
of grain supervisors to handledeliveries from the crops of1917 and 1918.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
27/66
2012/8/16 27
3. compound sentence orcoordinated sentence: two ormore sentences joined byconnectives.
Not only did the garageovercharge me, but they hadn't
done a very good repair job either.She is a funny girl, yet you can't
help liking her.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
28/66
2012/8/16 28
4. Complex sentence: a mainclause plus one or more subordinateclause.
I can't imagine what made himbehave like that.
He had overslept, so that he was latefor class.
I had hardly left when the quarrel
started.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
29/66
2012/8/16 29
Sometimes, a comlex sentence hasmore than one subordinate clauseor embedded subordinate clause:
The researchers made greatprogress in the early 1970s,when they discovered thatoncogenes, which are cancer-causing genes, are inactive innormal cells.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
30/66
2012/8/16 30
Analysis of long sentences
(1)
(2)
(3)
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
31/66
2012/8/16 31
The study made clear that theworking class that is so over-
represented in crime statisticsconsists of lower-class peopleliving in the lower-class areas of
large cities.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
32/66
2012/8/16 32
(1)
The study made clear that theworking class that is so over-represented in crime statisticsconsists of lower-class people
living in the lower-class areas oflarge cities.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
33/66
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
34/66
2012/8/16 34
Practice
Analyze the sentence structure:
But "retirement" is not
sometning that suddenly occurswhen you are around 65; it'snot a matter of one day youare working and the next youare enjoying yourself living onyour social security benefit.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
35/66
2012/8/16 35
2.1 Sentence components in English
2.2 Sentence patterns in English
2.3 Types of sentences
2.4 Movements of sentence components
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
36/66
2012/8/16 36
Look at the following pairs ofsentences:(12) a. Jack arrived at the airport
yesterday.b. YesterdayJack arrived at the
airport.
(13) a. Jack stolea carlast month.
b.A carwas stolen by Jack last
month.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
37/66
2012/8/16 37
Inversion
(14) a. We needchange.
b. Changewe need.
(15) a. Jack should not cheat Joanunder any circumstances.
b.Under no circumstancesshould
Jack cheat Joan.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
38/66
2012/8/16 38
Note:
1.Some movements bring aboutminor changes in the other parts of
the sentences. Eg:(13) a. Jack stolea carlast month.
b.A carwas stolen by Jack last
month.active voice passive voice
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
39/66
2012/8/16 39
Note:
2. Some movements lead to somedifference in the communicative effect. Eg:
(14) a. We needchange.
b. Changeweneed.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
40/66
2012/8/16 40
Check Your Understanding
TRUEorFALSE
1. All sentences must explicitly or implicitly
contain the subject and the predicate.
2. The subject complement is another name
for the predicative.
3. Not all adverbials in a sentence are
grammatically obligatory.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
41/66
2012/8/16 41
4. The determiner is not an obligatory
sentence component because its
absence would not affect the
grammaticality of the sentence.
5. Components like the object and the
adverbial can be arbitrarily moved
within the sentence.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
42/66
2012/8/16 42
In-Class Activities
1. Affirmative sentences VS negative
sentences
2. Active-voice VS passive-voice
3. Transformation of SVOO sentence
4. THERE-BE sentences
5. Ambiguity
6. Transferred negation
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
43/66
2012/8/16 43
1.Affirmative sentences VS negative sentences
Look at the following pictures:
(1) What may be the special effectscommunicated by each of the negative
sentences?
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
44/66
2012/8/16 44
(1) Picture 1: By the use of thecapitalized NOT, one can alert
visitors to the need to buy tickets.Picture 2: By responding to the
presupposition that some may
belittle the card, one can beemphatic in promoting the sale ofthe card.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
45/66
2012/8/16 45
(2) How are the negative sentences different
from each other in the way they are
constructed? Are there other ways of
negating a sentence?
a. Nosmoking in this area.
b. Jack hasnosecret about Joan.c. Jackneverreally loves Joan.
d. Joan knowslittleabout Jack.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
46/66
2012/8/16 46
Ways of sentence-negation arevarious: the employment ofnot
following auxiliary; No+verb+ingadverbial; the use of negativefrequency adverbials (seldom, by
no means, etc..); the combineduse of negative adverbials withinversion, etc.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
47/66
2012/8/16 47
(3) Negation can be made emphatic by
some means, as in the following. Are
there other ways in English to achieve
emphatic negation?
a. I dont like Jack at all.
b. On no condition will Jack be
allowed to quit.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
48/66
2012/8/16 48
not a ;
Not a dime can be found in his
pocket. inversion + negation
not the least /
never in my life
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
49/66
2012/8/16 49
2. Active-voice VS passive-voice
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
50/66
2012/8/16 50
What are the situations in whichthe passive-voice sentences are
used? What possible reasons arethere for the choice of thepassives?
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
51/66
2012/8/16 51
They are usually used in thefollowing situations or for thefollowing reasons:
a. the agent of the action in questionis unknown or unnecessary to tell; b. the patient or the target of the
action is the focus of the topic;
c. the unwillingness to define theagent out of inconvenience,politeness or courtesy, etc.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
52/66
2012/8/16 52
d. a consideration of sentencedevelopment for coherence sake.
Besides, the choices of passivesshould also take into considerationthe stylistic differences. Passive-
voice sentences are usually formalthan their corresponding active-voice sentences.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
53/66
2012/8/16 53
3. Transformation of SVOO sentence
Look at the following pairs ofsentences:
A. i. Jack gave Joan a ring.
ii. Jack gave a ring to Joan.B. i. Jack bought Joan a ring.
ii. Jack bought a ring for Joan.
(1) Are there any other verbs behave like
give and buy respectively?
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
54/66
2012/8/16 54
bring, pass, promise, send, show, offer,prepare, etc.
(2) The following sentences are often
considered wrong. Why? Why doChinese students often make thesemistakes?
a. The company supplies us some spareparts of the autos.
b.Jack provided Joan a lot of money
for her education.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
55/66
2012/8/16 55
4. THERE-BE sentences
Categorization ofTHERE-BE sentences
Several variants ofBE
a.Therewasnothing Jack couldnt do forJoan.
b. Thereseemsto be a lot of problems
we need to tackle right now.c. Thereappeareda big mouse on the
table.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
56/66
2012/8/16 56
(1)The THERE-BE sentences are
sometimes transformable with
Sb. HAVE sentences, butsometimes not. Which of the
sentences above can and which
cannot? How do we generally
distinguish between the two
types of structures?
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
57/66
2012/8/16 57
a and b can, while c cannot.
The former has to do with
some kind of existence andownership, whereas the latterrelates to the
occurrence/appearance ofsomething.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
58/66
2012/8/16 58
(2) Why are the following sentenceswrong? Why do Chinese studentssometimes make these mistakes?
a. * There are many students failin the final exam.
b. * There are the boys on theplayground.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
59/66
2012/8/16 59
(3) In what context is thefollowing sentence acceptable?
c. There is the pollutionproblem that we must solve.
when there is a definite reference
for both sides,usu. mentionedearlier
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
60/66
2012/8/16 60
(4) The following sentences also seem toconstitute a unique category ofsentence pattern. How do you like to
describe it? Do we have its equivalentin Chinese?
d. It snowed last night.
e. It is Christmas today.
f. It is eight oclock.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
61/66
2012/8/16 61
5. Ambiguity
Look at the following pictures:
(1)Are the two sentences ambiguous? If so,use paraphrases to show their different
readings.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
62/66
2012/8/16 62
a. Do not put valuables in anunattended state.
b. Do not depart from valuablesthat are not attended.
Life needs a great deal:
a. One needs to do many things for
a good life.
b. Life requires a great transaction.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
63/66
2012/8/16 63
(2) Are the two sentences ambiguousfor the same reason? Why or whynot?
Not completely. leave + object /leave + N + object + objectcomplement;
a great deal: many things / a greattransaction.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
64/66
2012/8/16 64
(3) Are the following sentencesstructurally ambiguous?
a. Flying planes can bedangerous.
b. The professors appointmentwas shocking.
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
65/66
2012/8/16 65
More exercises
a. No smoking section is available.b. Are you tired of cleaning yourself? Let
us do it.c. Patent medicines are sold byfrightening people.
Which of the following sentences are
structurally ambiguous?
-
7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences
66/66
Project Work
Randomly collect 40 newspaper
headlines from some online
newspapers like The New York
Times, Washington Postand
U.S.A. Today,and report thedistribution of different sentence
patterns