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.
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