Exercise
Draw a phrase tree for
Last week, the students were enrolled for Stage 2
Last week, the students enrolled for Stage 2
S
Adverbial
NP
aux
VP
NP
AdjP
Det
N
V
PP
N
Adj
last week
the students
were
enrolled
P
NP
for
N
Stage two
LING 103
Introduction to
English Linguistics
2016
Review: Form vs Function
The structure of phrase, as created by our phrase rules, is the form that a phrase
takes (NP, AdvP, VP etc).
In a sentence, each phrase contributes something to the overall grammaticality
sentence. The contribution a phrase makes to the sentence is called the phrase’s
function.
We examined the following functional categories
Phrase function
Phrase form
Subject
NP
Predicate
VP
Direct object
NP
Indirect object
NP or PP (an Oblique Obj.)
Adverbial
PP, AdvP, NP
Functional
Syntax
Adverbial vs AdvP
The difference
An adverb phrase (AdvP) is a FORM that contains an adverb.
Adverbial is a FUNCTION that can be performed by various types of phrase.
Adverbials are ALWAYS optional and can be used with any type of verb.
AdvP
The wombat moved stealthily
PP
The cats fought each other in the hall
NP
They bought a car last week
Adverbials do not occur between the verb and its direct object.
*He loaded on the truck the uranium.
What adverbials do
Adverbials typically provide information on where, when , and how things
described by the sentence are taking place.
Place:
The cats fought each other [in the hall].
Time:
The aardvark was kidnapped [on Friday] [last week]
They meet [on the first Monday of the month].
Manner:
The wombat moves [stealthily]
John walks [with a limp]
Adverbials may also indicate degree and cause:
Degree:
I know them [very well]
Cause:
My partner is ill [with the flu]
Exercise:
Identify all the formal and functional categories in the sentence below
Form
PP
On Thursday,
Function
Adverbial
NP
VP
the girl [gave
subject
[pred.
NP
PP
the mouse
to the cat
for lunch]
INDO
Adverbial]
DO
PP
(OBLIQUE)
Placement
Sometimes care is needed with adverbial placement
‘Tanner is ready to serve the ball with a curly hair cut.’
‘Waving in the strong breeze, we watched the flags as the hurricane approached.’
Our revised set of rules
S  (Adverbial) NP aux VP
NP 
pron
(Det) *(AdjP) N (PP)
name
NP
VP  (AdvP) V (AdvP) (NP)
(PP) (Adverbial)
PP
PP  P NP
AdjP (Deg. Adv.) Adj.
AdvP  (Deg. Adv) Adv
Note: Adverbial may be an NP, PP or AdvP
Sentences
There are three basic sentence types
Declarative:
The cat is sitting by the mouse
Interrogative :
Is the cat sitting by the mouse?
Imperative:
Sit!
But other types are also recognised
Exclamatory:
How terrible!
Conditional:
If I were you, I would study Linguistics
Simple declarative sentence
Is the basic form of a sentence
The aardvark
subject
likes
verb
ants
object
(SVO)
Unmarked / marked
A simple declarative sentence is considered the basic (‘unmarked’) sentence form
in any language.
All other sentence forms (‘marked’) that is, they are derived from it.
from which all other sentence types can be created
Important functions of a declarative sentence:
A statement of fact, an argument, an idea
Declares something to be the case
Does not require an answer or action
Declarative:
The wombat has eaten the food
S
NP
aux
VP
NP
det
the
N
wombat
has
V
det
N
eaten
the food
Exercise.
Form a question that requires yes or no as the answer using only the words in
the declarative sentence
‘The wombat has eaten all my melons’
Yes / No Interrogative:
Has the wombat eaten all my melons?
‘marked’ sentence forms are derived from declarative sentences.
Interrogatives
Interrogative sentences ask a question.
Yes/No
Three question types
Whtag
Yes/No Question
requires yes or no as the answer
The last word is pronounced with rising intonation
Would you like some coffee?
Word order in a Y/N interrogative
The first or only auxiliary verb is moved before the Subject
decl.
The alligator has escaped.
Y/N.
Has the alligator escaped?
The cat was fed
The cat could have been hungry
Was the cat fed?
Could the cat have been hungry?
If there is no aux. verb, insert do + tense of the lexical verb
insert do + tense before the Subject
decl.
The alligator escapes often.
Y/N.
Does the alligator escape often?
Notice that the lexical verb in the question is now an infinitive
Creating a ‘yes / no’ tree
S
S
aux
NP
aux
VP
has
the
wombat
eaten the food
Rule: move the first aux past the Subject to create a yes / no question
Wh-Question
Begin with a wh- word (where, why, how, when etc)
Requires an answer
The last word is pronounced with a falling intonation
When did the alligator escape?
In formal language a preposition moves to the front
To which institute did you apply?
In informal use, the preposition often appears at the end
Which institute did you apply to?
The wh- word may be moved into the sentence
You applied to which institute?
Tag-questions
Tag-questions are attached to a clause that is not already interrogative
Dec. The weather is cold today
Tag. The weather is cold today, isn’t it?
Form
The tag consists of either the
aux + -n’t
or
do + -n’t
He is sitting at home, isn’t he?
He went home, didn’t he?
Generally, if the sentence is positive, the tag is negative and vice versa.
He is sitting at home, isn’t he?
He isn’t sitting at home, is he?
Unbalanced tags
The sentence and tag can be both positive or both negative
He is sitting at home, is he?
Unbalanced tag questions are often used for irony or confrontation
Imperative
expresses a command, request, instruction, warning etc.
2nd person imperatives are the most common form.
Typically the subject is implied:
you can be added for emphasis:
[
] Exterminate!
[ ] Catch the ball!
You do the assignment and I’ll copy it
1st person imperatives can be formed using
let’s
let’s go home now
Imperatives are common in instruction manuals, cook books etc.
take two eggs, beat them . . .
Negative Sentences
English
aux + not
(contracted to -n’t)
I cannot / can’t catch the bus.
The students never complain.
Nobody asked them why.
The double negative ‘rule’ in English I didn’t do nothing!
A prescriptive rule
That’s not inconceivable!
Other languages
Russian:
Они ничего не могут сделать
They nothing not can
do
Serbian:
Niko
nikada
Nobody never
nigde
nowhere
ništa
nothing
‘They can’t do anything’
nije
didn’t
uradio
do
‘Nobody has ever done anything, anywhere’
Exercise: Identify the sentence types in the transcript below:
A: Hello, I need to know how to cite the CIA world fact book.
B: Good evening. Ok, MLA style?
A: It doesn't really matter, so I'll say sure.
B: Please hold while I search.
A: OK.
B: I have accepted the downloaded Cobrowse on your behalf.
A: Thanks . . . sorry . . . I have a slow computer.
B: Take your time.
A: Is the CIA World Factbook considered an electronic source?
B: yes
CLAUSE vs SENTENCE
Traditionally, sentences are classified as
Simple:
The aardvark is making his last appearance.
Compound: Cats eat mice and alligators eat zookeepers.
coordinated
Complex:
It is well known that cats do not eat numbats.
subordinated
All three are single sentences
We can also analyse these single sentences in terms of their clause structure
Simple:
The aardvark is making his last appearance.
single lexical verb = single independent clause
Compound: Cats eat mice and alligators like zookeepers.
Cats eat mice
two lexical verbs = two independent clauses
Alligators like zookeepers
Complex: It is well known that cats do not eat numbats.
one independent clause: It is well known
two lexical verbs
one dependent clause:
*that cats do not eat numbats.
A last note on tense:
Not every clause must have a tensed verb BUT if its tense is missing, then it
MUST attach to a second clause with tense marked.
Finite and Non-Finite Clauses
We call a clause that has tense marked on its verb a ‘finite’ clause
A finite clause contains a tensed verb or a modal aux
[The cat jumped the fence]
Modal verbs are a bit oddball – they have no tense marking BUT they
are considered finite
Compare
[He should leave the mice alone]
[He has eaten mice]
Note that finite clauses can stand alone as simple sentences
A non-finite clause contains NO tense or modal
They contain
the infinitive marker 'to':

I want [the cat to leave the mice alone]


I saw [the cat stalking the mice]




OR a participle
OR a bare infinitive
I made the cats [leave the mice alone]
c.f. I made the cats [*left the mice alone]
They cannot stand alone as simple sentences