Transcript Diapositiva 1

Syntax
The Verb Phrase: summary
• The VP consists of a head verb, either alone or
accompanied by one or more auxiliaries
• If the VP contains only one verb, it is a lexical
verb (arrived)
• If the VP contains more verbs, one is a lexical
verb and the others are pre-modifying
auxiliaries or modals (is arriving, has arrived,
may arrive, might be arriving, etc.)
The role of auxiliary verbs
• They are used to express grammatical categories
such as aspect, voice and modality.
• The primary auxiliary be is used to form the
passive voice (the man was hit by a car) and the
progressive aspect (I am working)
• The primary auxiliary have is used to form the
perfect aspect (I have worked)
• The primary auxiliary do is used to form the
negative and interrogative forms (I don’t know,
Do you know?)
modal verbs and modality

they are frequently used in English and belong to
the Germanic core of the language

they express a wide range of meanings referring
either to actions controlled by humans (deontic
modality) or to the levels of certainty of an event
(epistemic modality)

the same modals can express different meanings;
the same meanings can be expressed in different
ways
the main meanings of modal verbs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
permission e.g. Can I ask you a question? Could I
borrow your notes? (Am I allowed to ask a question?)
ability e.g. I can ski (I know how to do it)
possibility e.g. She may be ill. She might be ill
(Perhaps she is ill)
obligation e.g. You must stop talking. You should pay
attention.
logical necessity (probability) e.g. She must be ill (She
is very likely to be ill)
volition e.g. I’ll do it for you
prediction e.g. It will rain tomorrow
what about modal verbs in Italian?
Translate the following expressions into English:
Devi smettere di fumare
Dovresti smettere di fumare
Posso fumare?
Potrei fumare?
Domani può piovere
Domani potrebbe piovere
Domai pioverà
Sa sciare molto bene
Sapeva sciare bene quando era giovane
Italian has the verbs potere, sapere and dovere
Some modal expressions are expressed through the
conditional mood or the future tense, which do not
exist as morphologically marked forms in English
other phrases
• Adjective Phrase (AdjP)
e.g. extremely important, very unhappy, good at
languages
• Adverb Phrase (AdvP)
e.g. very badly, perfectly well
• Prepositional Phrase (PP)
e.g. in the garden, to London
(see pp. 153-158)
How can a clause be analysed?
1. Subject + predicate
John (what is talked about) is English
(what is said about the topic)
2. The main functional elements of the
clause
Clause and clause elements
• A clause is a syntactic unit made up of one or
more phrases, containing at least one VP:
e.g. Run!
John sang.
My brother gave me a beautiful dress.
Did you like the concert last night?
5 major clause elements (constituents)
•
•
•
•
•
Subject (S)
Verb (V) or Predicator
Object (O)
Complement (C)
Adverbial (A)
Word Order (p. 136)
• Translate the following clauses into English:
 Seguiranno alcuni esempi
Some examples will follow
 Nel capitolo 3 verrà presentata la grammatica
Grammar will be presented in Chapter 3
 Giovanni parla molto bene l’italiano /l’italiano molto bene
John speaks Italian very well
 Odio stirare
I hate ironing
 Piove forte da molte ore
It’s been raining heavily for many hours
• C’è un gatto in giardino
There is a cat in the garden
CONCLUSION:
• The unmarked word order in English in
SVO, while in Italian this order can vary to a
certain extent.
• The subject is compulsory in English, and
not in Italian.
• If there is no subject, a ‘dummy’ subject will
be used (it/there).
The Verb (p. 159)
…is the central part of the clause since it
determines the other elements (e.g. verb
complementation or valency)
She was laughing
one-place verb
She was playing the piano
two-place verb
She was very beautiful
two-place verb
She gave him a kiss
three-place verb
She made him happy
three-place verb
clause elements
S
The black
labrador
(NP)
V
has bitten
(VP)
O
C
Mr Allington
(NP)
A
in the garden
(PP)
Optional A
He (NP)
put (VP)
the keys
(NP)
in his bag
(PP)
Obligatory A
Sue (NP)
is feeling
(VP)
very
sleepy
(AdjP)
S
V
O
C
A
It (dummy
subject)
is going
(VP)
to rain
(non- finite
VP)
Armstrong
(NP)
became
(VP)
the first
man on the
moon (NP)
Chris (NP)
made (VP) Sara (NP) really angry yesterday
(AdjP)
(AdvP)
What I don’t
understand
(clause)
is (VP)
why you
lied to me
(clause)
S+V+Oi+Od (di-transitive)
S
V
Oi
(Indirect Object)
Od
(Direct Object)
My
friend
told
me
a lie
Sue
gave
her sister
a glass of wine
John
showed
his friends
his new car
SV (intransitive verb). No complementation
The black labrador was barking
clause
S:NP
det. mod.(adj.)
the
black
P:VP
head (n.)
labrador
aux.
head (v.)
was barking
A new
arrived
teacher
has
SVOd (monotransitive)
Andrew bought a sports car
clause
S:NP
P:VP
V
head (n.)
head (v.)
Andrew
bought
Od:NP
det. mod. (adj.) head (n.)
a
sports car
My sister
plays
the
piano
SVA (+ an obligatory Adverbial)
The taxi is waiting outside
clause
S:NP
P:VP
V
det.
The
head (n.)
taxi
A:AdvP
aux. head (v.)
head (adv.)
is waiting
outside
The waiter put the bread on the
table
SVCs (copular verb)
The weather has turned very nasty
clause
S:NP
P:VP
V
det.
The
head (n.)
aux. head(v.)
weather
has turned
C:AdjP
mod.(adv.) head(adj.)
very
nasty
The news sounds very
interesting
• My 80-year-old grandmother is in good
health
Copular verbs
• be, feel, seem, appear, look, remain, stay,
become, sound, taste
e.g. I am / feel rather tired (C: AdjP)
She became a nurse (C:NP)
You look extremely happy (C:AdjP)
Mary appeared in good health (C:PP)
That is what I mean (C: clause)
SVOiOd (di-transitive)
Gill told her child a bedtime story
clause
S:NP
P:VP
V
head(n.)
Gill
head(v.)
told
Oi:NP
Od:NP
det. head(n.) det. mod.(n.) h(n.)
her child
a
bedtime story
She
should tell
me
the truth
Di-transitive verbs
• Give, tell, bring, buy, show
e.g. John showed me (Oi) his new car (Od)
They bought him (Oi) a new racket (Od)
Tell us (Oi) the truth (Od)
SVOdCo (complex transitive)
The judges declared Jackie the winner
clause
S:NP
P:VP
V
O:NP
Co:NP
det. head (n.)
head (v.)
head(n.)
det. h(n.)
The judges
declared
Jackie
the winner
Rebecca considers her brother a genious
SVOdA
Terry put the rubbish in the dustbin
clause
S:NP
P:VP
V
head (n.)
O:NP
head(v.) det. h(n.)
A:PP
h (prep)
C:NP
det. h(n.)
Terry
put
the rubbish
in
the dustbin
The linguistics professor
will introduce
the chapter on lexis
tomorrow
The 7 basic clause patterns
•
•
•
•
•
•
SV
(intransitive)
The dog is barking
SVA (intransitive+obligatory A)
They are waiting outside
SVCs
(copulative)
You look great
SVOd
(monotransitive)
I miss my family
SVOiOd (di-transitive)John showed me his new car
SVOdCo (complex-transitive)The judges declared
Jackie the winner
• SVOdA (transitive with obligatory A)
The waiter put the bread on
the table
In the summer A:PP
high humidity levels S:NP
make P:VP
the weather O:NP
unbearable Co:AdjP
Luckily A:AdvP
he S:NP
found P:VP
all the exam questions O:NP
very easy Co:AdjP
Complement
• Cs complemento predicativo del soggetto
It follows copular verbs be, feel, seem, appear, look…
I am/feel tired
You look/ appear/ seem tired.
• Co complemento predicativo dell’oggetto
It follows a direct object and occurs with complex
transitive verbs make, elect, consider, find, call…
This experience made me stronger
I found his reaction stupid
Adverbial
• Optional elements added to the obligatory
elements of the clause
• Circumstance adverbial: additional information
e.g. The taxi is waiting outside
• Stance adverbial: speaker’s feeling / attitude
e.g. Hopefully I will pass all my exams in June
• Linking adverbial
e.g. In conclusion, all’s well that ends well.
Obligatory adverbial
• Adverbials that are required to complete
the meaning of the verb
• E.g. Sally put the bread on the table
(obligatory Adverbial)
vs. Sally cut the bread on the table (optional
Adverbial)
Verbs: put, last, live
Adverbials vs. complements
•
•
•
•
•
•
John was very quiet (C)
John was in bed (A)
They are in danger (C)
They are in the garden (A)
You should stay sober (C)
You should stay here (A)
Complements describe or characterize the S (or
O)
Adverbials typically express place or direction.
main and subordinate clauses
1. Mary had been waiting for more than an
hour
2. Suddenly, she stood up and went out
3. She said that she was not feeling well
because the air in the room was stuffy
4. She wanted to get some fresh air
• a main clause always contains a finite verb and
typically contains an overt subject
• a subordinate clause cannot stand alone and
needs to be attached to a free-standing clause
• a non-finite clause is always subordinate
• simple clauses consist of a clause, compound
clauses consist of two coordinate clauses,
complex clauses consist of a main and one or
more subordinate clauses.
Types of Clauses
typical functions of clause types
Form
declarative
interrogative
imperative
exclamative
Function
statement
question
directive
exclamation
You’re wearing a new dress.
Are you wearing a new dress?
Buy yourself a new dress!
What a lovely dress you’re wearing!
declarative clauses
• declarative clauses are normally used to make
statements
• declarative sentences typically have an overt
subject, a verb element and any necessary verb
complementation
• declarative sentences may also have optional
adverbials
Philip will see his dentist in London today
interrogative clauses
• yes-no questions:
Are you happy?
• wh- questions:
Where do you live?
• question-tag : She’s Australian, isn’t she?
She doesn’t love him, does she?
So, you have changed your mind, have you?
• the interrogative structure implies a subject-operator
inversion
• any auxiliary which is used to make interrogative
sentences is labelled operator (be, have, do)
• questions tags may have contrastive or constant polarity
marked structures: Clefting
• to highlight a particular element of
the sentence
• the focussed element is introduced by
a dummy Subject and followed by a
relative clause
it-cleft structure
Terry plays jazz piano for fun.
It is Terry who plays jazz piano for fun.
It’s jazz piano that Terry plays for fun
It’s for fun that Terry plays jazz piano
The man hit the boy
It was the man who hit the boy
wh-cleft structure
I would like a book for my birthday
What I would like for my birthday is a book
I want a book for Christmas
What I want for Christmas is a book
sentence
• the largest unit of syntactic structure
• a sentence must consist of at least one clause
(main clause)
I agreed to go with them although I wasn’t
really happy with the idea.
• in writing, a sentence starts with a capital letter
and ends with a full stop
• in speech sentences are not always complete
types of subordinate clauses
1.
2.
3.
4.
Nominal
I just hope (that) they will understand
Relative
The man who is sitting next to Tom is John
Adverbial
Call me as soon as you get home (time) because I
have to talk to you (reason). The boy stood on the
box so that he could see better (purpose). Even
though I am tired (concession), I’ll do it.
Comparative
This hotel is not as nice as I expected
types of relative clauses
In what ways do the following relative clauses differ?
which relative pronouns can be used in each
context?
This is the best hotel (that, which, who, whom, whose,
zero pronoun) I was able to find
This hotel, (which, that, who, whose, whom, zero
pronoun) was renewed last year, is one of the best
in the city
The man (which, that, who, whose, whom, zero
pronoun) you see in the photo is my brother
The man (which, that, who, whose, whom, zero
pronoun) is coming towards us is my brother
The music (that, which, who, whose, whom,
zero article) we are listening to is Mozart
We stayed in a lovely hotel, (which, that, who,
whom, whose) owner is a good friend of mine
We stayed in a lovely hotel, (which, that, who,
whom, whose) we booked on the Internet
rule of relative clauses
Relative clauses can be either defining (or restrictive) or nondefining (non-restrictive) depending on whether they define
the antecedent or add extra information (no commas)
The tourists who got up early could see the dawn on the Nile
The use of relative pronouns is conditioned by the
antecedent, whether it is human ( who,whom, whose, that) or
non-human (that, whose, which), whether it plays the role of
subject (who, that, which) or object (whom, that, which, zero
pronoun), whether it is defining (who, whose, whom, that,
which) or non-defining (who, whose, which). (commas are
required)
The tourists, who got up early, could see the dawn on the Nile
conditional sentences
1) If the weather is nice, tomorrow we will go
to the seaside ( it is an open possibility)
* If the weather will be nice, …
2) If the weather were/was nice, we would go to
the seaside ( it is unlikely)
*If the weather would be nice,
3) If the weather had been nice, we would have
gone to the seaside (it did not happen)
• My friends sent me an invitation to their
wedding.
• I put some poison for the mice in the garage.
• Chris made Sara really angry yesterday.
• Yesterday the doctor told the patient the good
news
• The car keys are on the table.
• The cash machine is faulty.