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SYNTAX

Languages are by nature extremely complex and describing a


language is not an easy task. To help with description and analysis it is
better to divide a language into separate components or different
areas of analysis. Thus, Phonology looks at and describes the sound
system of a language, Morphology looks at the way words are formed,
Syntax seeks to describe the way words fit together to form sentences
or utterances, and Semantics and Pragmatics study meaning. Although
these components interact with each other, they can, to some extent,
be looked at and described individually.

Syntax, or sentence structure means looking at the way words


combine together to form sentences. One way to study syntax is to
look at sentences which we already know to be considered
syntactically “well-formed” sentences.

e.g. (1) I shot the sheriff. – Well formed.

(2) * The shot sheriff I.

By analysing or describing sentences such as (1) in term of their


constituent parts, we can see the patterns that words follow when they
fit together. It seems clear that sentences are made up of units and
that at one level these units are words. So, a sentence consists of
words or alternatively words are constituents of a sentence.

We use S to stand for sentence, and an arrow, →to mean consists of.
Thus S → word + word+....

There are rules governing the way in which words can be put together
to form syntactically well-formed or grammatical sentences.

e.g. (1) The girl likes the dog. What about:

(2) The dog likes the girl.

Here we have changed the word order, but the sentence still works.
This suggests that the words dog and girl are interchangeable. Of
course changing the words over changes the meaning but the
sentence is still well-formed. Because dog and girl are
interchangeable, they belong to the same word category. This
category is called Noun.

S→ The + Noun + likes + the Noun.

girl dog

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E.g. This girl likes the dog.

This girl likes that dog.

This girl likes this dog.

Again, this, that, the are interchangeable, they belong to the same
word category, Determiner. They act to limit or determine the noun
they refer to.

S→ Determiner + Noun + likes + Determiner + Noun

This girl the dog

This girl that dog

If we have This girl likes the dog, we may replace likes with: loves,
hates. They are verbs and they belong to the same category.

S→ Determiner + Noun + Verb + Determiner + Noun

This girl likes the dog

loves

hates

Another way of representing this abstract structure is in a Tree


Diagram.

S →Determiner + Noun + Verb + Determiner + Noun

This girl likes the dog

This is a much more detailed and informative description about word


order and the kinds of words which can go together. It describes
sentences in terms of the categories the individual words belong to.

Phrases and Phrase Structure

E.g. A dog chased that girl.

Phrase A ←S→ Phrase B

↙ ↘ ↓ ↙ ↘

Det Noun verb Det Noun

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

A dog chased that girl

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Determiner, Noun, Pronoun→ Noun Phrase→ N.P

A dog=subject (NP)

Likes that dog =Predicate. The Predicate here consists of a verb and a
noun phrase.

Verb Phrase (VP)

But: The dog barked.

S P

The cat sat on the table.

Again: This girl likes that dog.

↙ ↘

NP VP

↙ ↘ ↙ ↘

Det Noun verb NP

↙ ↘

Det Noun

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

This girl likes that dog

S→NP + VP

VP→ verb + NP N.P here has the function of D.O

Adverbs and Adverb Phrases

As far as meaning is concerned, adverbs often add information in


relation to circumstances of manner, place or time.

E.g. Ken snores loudly = Adverb Phrase(Adv.P)

The baby cried continually

Ken snores very loudly very=degree adverb

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S

↙ ↘

NP VP

↓ ↙ ↘

N V Adv. P

↙ ↘

deg Adv.

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Ken snores very loudly

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases:

The Preposition is part of a Prepositional Phrase (PP)

Sally looked up

↙ ↘

NP VP

↓ ↙ ↘

N V PP

↓ ↓ ↓

Sally looked up

Sally looked up the chimney

Adjectives and Adjective Phrases (AP)

The fat dog chased the thin girl.

In this example the adjectives are said to modify the nouns. Just as an
adverb with a verb, an adjective works to narrowly define the sense of
the noun by ascribing certain attributes or characteristics to it.

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Disgustingly fat AP

↙ ↘

Adv.P A

↓ ↓

Disgustingly fat

The Verb Phrase.

Transitive verbs:

1) Kate hugged the baby.

↙ ↘

NP VP

↓ ↙ ↘

N V [trans] NP

↓ ↓ ↙ ↘

Det N

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Kate hugged the baby

2) The dog found a bone

↙ ↓ ↘

NP V NP

↙ ↘ ↙ ↘

Det N Det N

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

The dog found a bone

3) Jenny hit him.

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↙ ↘

NP VP

↓ ↙ ↘

N V [trans] NP

↓ ↓ ↓

Jenny hit him

Intransitive verbs:

1) Ken snores.

↙ ↘

NP Vp

↓ ↓

N V [intrans]

↓ ↓

Ken snores

2) The baby cried.

↙ ↘

NP VP

↙ ↘ ↓

Det N V [intrans]

↓ ↓ ↓

The baby cried

Ditransitive Verbs: DO + I.O

Roy told the children a story.

↙ ↘

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NP VP

↓ ↙ ↓ ↘

N V [ditrans] NP NP

↙ ↘ ↙ ↘

Det N Det N

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Roy told the children a story

Intensive Verbs:

1) Sally became a doctor.

↙ ↘

NP VP

↓ ↙ ↘

N V [intens] NP

↙ ↘

Det N

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Sally became a doctor

2) George is in the garden.

↙ ↘

NP VP

↓ ↙ ↘

N V [intens] PP

↙ ↘

P NP

↙ ↘

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Det N

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

George is in the garden

3) Sue seems unhappy.

↙ ↘

NP VP

↓ ↙ ↘

N V [intens] AP (adjective phrase)

↓ ↓ ↓

Sue seems unhappy

Complex-transitive Verbs:

Kate thought John a fool.

A fool= (object complement); John= D.O

↙ ↘

NP VP

↓ ↙ ↓ ↘

N V (complex) NP NP

↓ ↙ ↘

N Det N

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

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Kate thought John a fool

The Sentence
The sentence is the main object of linguistic description. This is due
to its being the unit or prime at the highest level of linguistic form - the
syntactic level. The sentence enjoys a status of independence at its
own level of occurrence- i.e. structural dependence, as well as at the
other levels such as the phonological level, the sentence being marked
off by a unique phonological contour and by boundary signals - the
junctures, or the semantic level, the sentence being assigned a global
semantic interpretation.

At the same level there also occur the phrasal units, also
representing syntactic categories. They share a number of properties
and relational properties. They both help to the realization of endo-
centric and exo-centric configurations. Attempts to define the
sentence in traditional grammars failed precisely because of the fact
that the sentence is a very complex linguistic object. Most
traditionalists were inclined to limit their definitions to the semantic
peculiarities of sentence. Curme, for instance, says that a sentence is
an expression of a thought or feeling by means of a word or words
used in such form and manner as to convey the meaning intended.
The definition is followed by a discussion of the form and functions of
sentence. It is only at the end of the discussion that Curme mentions
the structural aspect of sentence, its make-up (subject + predicate).

Structuralists focused on the formal independence of the unit S.


Bloomfield, for instance, defined S as a grammatical unit between the
constituent parts of which there exist distributional limitations and
dependences, but which can itself be put into no distributional class.
He argues that a set of utterances including “How are you?””It’s a fine
day” cannot be grouped on grammatical grounds into one larger form.
Hence S is the maximum unit upon which the distributional properties
can be best studied.

The sentence is a string of lexical formatives (words) organized


according to the following principles:
a) An underlying hierarchy of syntactic relations holding between the
categorial constituents of S, minimally actualized by the relation of
predication between an NP functioning as Subject and a VP functioning
as Predicate of the S.

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b) A superficial linearization of the lexical items corresponding to the
lexical categories making up the constituents of S.
c) An underlying semantic correlate, residing in the global meaning
interpretation of S and minimally representable as a logical predication
(a predicate and its associated arguments).

d) A phonetic shape, made up of a specialized intonational contour,


the pitch and the juncture, a graphic form which marks some of the
phonological aspects by specialized graphic signals.
e) Pragmatic properties regarding the functionality of S in concrete
communicative contexts.

The logico-semantic correlate of the grammatical unit S is its


propositional context which reflects a certain state-of-affairs by means
of: a)
Predication, realized by a predicate which assigns a property or a
relation to one or several arguments.
b) Reference for each of the constituents of the predications part.

The arguments are realized grammatically by NP-S, while


reference is mainly realized by the system of Determiners in the
respective language.
The predicate is realizable in each language by a number of verb
semantic subclasses. The syntactically relevant aspect consists in the
word order possibilities for each language.

Taking into account the form of sentences (including, on the


one hand, the deep and surface configuration and, on the other hand,
the phonological/graphic peculiarities) and the communicative
function of each formal type, there are four types of
sentences: 1) Declarative sentences
specialized for giving information under the form of statements.

2 Interrogative sentences specialized for requesting missing information.


3) Imperative sentences (or commands) specialized for requesting action,
under the form of orders.
4) Exclamatory sentences, specialized for expressing subjective reactions,
feelings etc.

The speech-act approach of S forms is not however as helpful as it might


appear. If we judge in terms of illocutionary force corresponding to each S
forms we shall find that a declarative like ‘I would be grateful if you could
pass me the salt’ may request for action, while by using interrogative
forms, the speaker may request an action: ‘Will you repeat the question?’,
it may convey a piece of information (Did you know they’ve married this
morning?)or express both a feeling of reproach and a request for action
(How many times have I told you not to do that?) In conclusion, there is no
one-to-one correspondence between a certain S form and the illocutionary

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act the speaker performs when opting for the respective form. We can only
say that within the ranges of illocutionary force, some are more typical of a
certain S form.
Further sub-class obtain if we take into account the possibility each of the
type has, of saying according to:
1) polarity: positive and negative variants for each S type.
E.g. Didn’t he mail the letter yesterday evening? (Negative-interrogative S)
2) emphasis. Sentence types, such as declaratives and imperatives may
have emphatic variants resulting from the application of Emphasis (which
inserts the heavily stressed verb do).
3) Reduction. Each S type may undergo reduction processes by ellipsis.

Classification of sentences according to the degree of


structural complexity:

a) Simple sentences (simplexes) are based upon one predication


relation, realized by a finite verb form.
b) Compound sentences are based upon the coordination (conjoining)
of two or more sentences.
E.g. Dinner was over and the kids went to bed.
c) Complex sentences based upon subordination (embedding) of at
least one S. The tree structure of complex sentences contains at least
one S mode (dominated by another S mode) besides the initial S.
E.g. Sarah admitted she was wrong.

↙ ↘

NP VP

↙ ↘

Aux MV

↙ ↘

V NP

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Sarah -ed admit S (she was wrong).

The S modes on branches lower than the initial S signal embedded


clauses. Clauses may be, in their turn, sub-classified according to the V
form of their predication:

a) Finite clauses, those whose V form carries the markers of Mood,


Tense and Aspect.

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b) Non-finite clauses: Whose V form is an infinitive, a Gerund or a
Participle.

E.g. John’s telling a lie shocked his friends


Ger-cl
It is a shame to tell a lie
Inf-cl

Basic S configurations

An inventory of the main S configurations of English may be carried


out along two levels:

a) By supplying the relatively small set of deep structure


configurations; b)
by supplying a very long list of the surface configurational possibilities
dictated by the word order.
There are two essential aspects of S structure that help us differentiate
the basic S configurations:
A. Constituent structure of S.
B. Relational sequence in S.

A. The Constituent structure of S:


Sentences have an internal organization, based upon a part-whole
relation between larger units and the smaller units they contain.
Syntactic processes at the level of S mainly operate with constituent
sequences.
1) Constituents of same type enjoy the same distributional properties
and may be substituted for one another. Nominal phrases, for
instance, represent a large class of constituents of the same type,
which includes inter-substitutable sub-types:

-NP.s of various degrees of complexity: Tony, my dog, three blind


mice, an old Romanian folk custom, etc.
–Pronouns: he, all of them, mine, everybody

-Nominalization: the building of new libraries


-clauses: that Susan will marry next month, James’s sitting up
late.
2) It is only constituent sequences that may be substituted, deleted,
moved or inserted in sentences, in other words transformations affect
only constituents:

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Substitution: Bill repeated his lesson yesterday morning and by
Pro-VP his sister did to yesterday evening.
. Pro-VP

Movement: Mother bought a necklace for Janet.


. NP
NP

Mother bought Janet a necklace.

NP NP

3) Location of certain morphemes (the possessive ‘s morpheme in


English) is conditioned by constituency, ‘s being placed at the end of
an NP constituent.

E.g. The Queen of England’s Speech

* the Queen’s of England Speech

4) Explanatory analysis of ambiguities is also made possible by


constituency demarcations. Two seemingly identical sequences are
interpreted differently, on the basis of the differences between
constituent types:

a) They were rolling over the carpet. Adv P

b) They were rolling over the carpet. Direct Obj.

5) Sequences of modal verbs are ungrammatical in English.

* Student must can solve the whole test in 2 hours.

Nevertheless, such modal sequences are allowed to occur if the


modals belong to two different constituents:

E.g. People who must can learn English in month.

6) Idioms in English have a constituent status. Thus a dog in the


manager is an NP idiom, go to the dogs-a VP idiom, Time and tide
wait for no man an S idiom.

B.The relational sequence in S

The constituents making up a S enter a number of well defined


grammatical relations, mainly materialized as relations between the
predicating verb and each of the NPs positions on its left and right.

e.g. The boys were flying a big kite.


. NP Main Verb
NP

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Relational sequences: subject----V---- Direct Object.

The simplest sentences are those whose base contains just one S
mode. Such sentences are based on one predication relation. Among
these sentences we may distinguish a subset, characterized by the
highest degree of structural simplicity. Early generativists called these
S-s “kernels” or “simplexes”. They are declarative, assertive and
active.

The main configurational differences are dictated by the various


semantic-syntactic properties of verbs. Verb sub-categorization into
copulative and non-copulative, transitive and intransitive,
monotransitive and ditransitive will turn out to determine a variety of
types and sub-types. The fact that there exists a strong relationship
between the inner organization of sentential configurations and the
semantic-syntactic nature of verbs has led a number of linguists to the
conclusion that properties such as transitive and intransitive apply to
the whole sentence configurations, rather than to isolated verbs. There
is a close correlation between the syntax of the verb and the syntax of
the sentence it predicates.

Type 1 (copulative Predicate configurations)

The general characteristic of Type 1 is the fact that predication is


realized by a copula (BE) or a copula-like V (become, taste, etc.) in
conjunction with a Predicative Adj. P or NP.

E.g. This boy is clever.

This table is square.

Sub-type 1.a (NP) (be Pred. Adj P)

↓ ↓ ↓

Subj V Predicative

Sentences of this type are one-term configurations, i.e. the verb takes as co-
occurent term the Subject NP. This NP may be simple or phrasally coordinated if
the Pred. Adj. is reciprocal:
e.g. The problem is interesting .
Men and women are equal.
In case the be Pred. Adj. renders properties pertaining to exterior circumstances
(temperature, weather, atmosphere, etc) the Subj. NP is unspecified in deep
structure and It Insertion applies so as to produce surface strings:

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e. g It was frosty outside.
It will be cold tomorrow.

The Subject may be clausal in case the Pred. Adj. belongs to the
subcategory including: advisable, necessary, possible, recommendable. As a
result of extraposition of the Subject Clause and It insertion, the following
surface structure configurational type is produced:
e.g. [That Bill has been to Africa] is incredible -> It is incredible [that Bill has
been to Africa]
With Pred. Adj. of the subcategory including (un)likely, certain, some, besides
the above surface variant, there may be obtained a surface configuration of the
form:
e.g. John is likely to win the contest.
from [ John to win the contest ] is likely .
The Subject of the Subject Clause has been ‘raised’ in the position of Subject
of the main clause.
Sub. Type 1.b. {[NP]^[be ^Pred NP]}

Subj v Predicative
a) Indefinite NP as Predicative:

Marian is a beauty/ His aim is freedom.

Definitive NP as Predicative

We are the owners.


She will be the president.

The copulative verb may also take a Prepositional NP as Predicative:

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e.g His disease is of a hidden nature.

The Subject may be sentential and it may undergo Extraposition and It-
insertion, if the NP is a relatively fixed phrase such as: a pleasure, a necessity,
no good, no use, fun. The clause may be finite (a that clause) or non-finite
(infinitival or gerundial).
e.g. [That he should learn a foreign language] is a necessity.
(It is a necessity that he should learn a foreign language)
[To visit people/ visiting people] is fun.
(It is fun to visit people/ visiting people.)
The NP functioning as Predicative may also be expressed by a Complement
clause (that Cl, Inf. Cl, Ger. Cl)

e.g. The probability is that the experiment has failed.


His pastime is to collect stamps/ collecting stamps.

The embedded sentences may be indirect questions, relative clauses without


expressed antecedent , other complement clauses.
e.g. [What puzzled her] was [that he should have said such a thing]
Subject Clause Predicative Clause

Sub-type 2 { [NP]^ {[be^ Adj P]^ [PNP]}}


Subj ^ v ^ Predic ^ Prep Obj
The VP has one more constituent, a Prepositional NP functioning as Indirect
Object (marked by the Prep: to/for/of) or as Prepositional Object:
a) With I.O The document was quite surprising to me.
Subj Pred. Adj IO/PNP
Ski-running is difficult for Sarah.

b) With P.O I am aware of the difficulties.

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He was pleased with my answer.
They were panicked at the news.
We are all interested in science fiction.
The Prepositional Object may be sentential (That Cl., Inf. Cl., Ger Cl.). In this
case the preposition is deleted when the clause is introduced by that or is
expressed by an infinitival construction:
e.g.
I am aware that things must be changed.
Nobody was willing to give in.
The Ger.Cl retains the deep structure preposition:
e.g. That man was afraid of being bitten by dogs.

Type II (Non-Copulative) Intransitive Predicate Configurations

As different from Type 1, these configurations are predicated by meaningful


intransitives (including the existential BE)
Sub-type 1: { [NP]^ [v] } The kids are sleeping.
Subj v Spring has set in.
These are one-term configurations which may optionally include Adverbial
Phrases of various kinds : Manner, Place, Time, Purpose, Cause.
e.g. The man was crying (with pain) - Adv P- Cause
The woman was crying. (bitterly) – Adv. P- Manner
The pupils were working. (hard) (in the school-yard) (at 5)
Adv.P Manner Adv. P Place Adv P.Time
Some intransitive verbs such as seem or happen take a Complement
Clause as sentential Subject. The Subject Clause undergoes transformational
operations which finally result in surface configuration:
E. g. It seems that prices will go down.
Prices seem to have gone down.
It happened that Gloria was missing.

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Gloria happened to be missing.
Some configurations are predicated by verbs that obligatory take [+set] Subject
(often expressed by a phrasally conjoined NP)
e.g. The car and the motor-bike collided.
With ‘weather’ verbs, the unspecified deep Subject is realized in surface by
inserted it:
e. g. It frosted (hard) (yesterday).
It had been snowing (for three days)
It is drizzling.

Sub. Type 2 [NP] ^ [ v ^ {PNP, Adv. P}]


Subject ^ v {Indirect Obj., Prep. Obj., Adv. Modifier}
This sub-type is predicated by the so-called complex intransitive verbs. They
take as obligatory co-occurent adjunct a PNP or an Adv. P. The PNP may be an
Indirect Object marked by to or a Prepositional Object:
e.g. He finally submitted to their pressure. (PNP/ I.O.)
The river abounds in fish. (PNP/ Prep O)
The book consists of five sections. (PNP/ Prep O)
He was looking for his old shoes.
You can rely on this fellow.

Most ‘prepositional’ verbs (except the ones that take to I.Os, as well as abound
in, consist of and a few others) allow passivization:
e.g . This fellow can be relied upon.
A subgroup of the same verbs may take a Complement Clause functioning as
Prepositional Object:
E.g. Jack insisted on our coming earlier. (Ger.Cl./Prep.Obj.)
Jack insisted that we should come earlier. ( that Cl./ Prep. Obj.)
Gerundial Cl. preserves the deep Prep., while in a that Cl. the Prep. is deleted.

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Sub-type 3 {[NP] ^ [v ^ PNP ^ PNP]}
Subject ^ v ^ IO/PO1^PO2

Intransitives with two Prepositional Objects predicate configurations such as:


1. Mr. Shandy will lecture to us on the West Indies.
I.O
2. I have quarrelled with my sister about our project trip.
PO1 PO2
One of the two Objects may undergo Deletion:
e.g. Mary disagreed with her father.
PO1
(Deletion of PO2)

Type 3 Transitive Predication Configurations


Sub-type 1: {[NP] ^ [[v] ^ [NP]] }
Subject ^ v ^ D.O.

e.g The kid broke the window.


They have (got) a new car.
I love all my pupils.
The accident horrified her.
We drank tea and milk.
All these are two-term configurations; the second term is a Direct Object.
Reversion of these terms is made possible by the Passive Transformation, which
applies to most transitive configurations (with a few exceptions such as the
sentence above predicated by have (got)).
In case the subject NP is co-referential with the Direct Object NP the latter is
obligatory replaced by the reflexive pro-form:

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e.g. Mother cut herself.

With some of the verbs entering such monotransitive strings there is the
possibility of deleting this object:
e.g. Sarah was reading (a/ some book)
He drinks too much (alchoolic stuff)
Adverbial Phrases co-occur freely with these constructions. Non-stative
transitives can be modified by Manner Adverbials, while stative ones usually
cannot allow this type of modification:
e.g. He was driving the car carefully.
*He knew the lesson carefully.

Transitive verb subcategories that may take a [+abstract] Object NP are


generally [+ Complementation]. The complement clause functioning as Direct
Object may be a that Cl., Inf. Cl., Ger, Cl.:
e.g. She knows that you are lying.
They wanted to see the movie again.
She likes being praised.
Indirect questions may also occur as direct objects:
e.g. She did not know where to go.
Relative Clauses (without expressed antecedent) freely appear in direct object
position:
e.g. She always understands what she is told. / Whatever you tell her.
The Direct Object Clause may be anticipated by the formal ‘it’ Object. In
between the latter and the former there occurs a Predicative Adjunct to the Direct
Object, expressed by an Adjective. It is only a limited number of transitive verbs
that enter this construction:
e.g. John considered it necessary [to warn his friends about the thief]
Predicative adjunct to the DO
Sub-type 2 [ [NP] ^ V^ [NP] ^ [PNP] ]
Subj. ^ ^ DO ^ IO where Prep= to/for (+dative)

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e.g The girl offered the bunch of flowers to the soloist.
The great majority of verbs predicating these constructions allow a
transformation called Dative, consisting of the reordering of the I.O (to/for NP)
and the D.O. and the deletion of the dative prepositional marker:
e.g. The girl offered the soloist a bunch of flowers.
With some categories there occur various types of embedded clauses as Direct
Obj. The Indirect Obj. is often deleted in such contexts:
e.g. She promised (me) that she would leave off smoking. (that Cl)
Steve told me what to do next. (Indep Rel Clause)
He could not explain (to us) why the experiment had failed. (Ind Obj)
Passivization of the basic strings results in two configurations: one with the deep
Direct Object, the other with the Indirect Obj. as Subject:
e.g. The bunch of flowers was handed to the soloist ( by the girl)
The soloist was handed the bunch of flowers. (by the girl)
The verbs answer, ask, teach, only occur in the following type of surface
configuration:
[ [NP] ^ [v ^ NP ^ NP]]
Subj ^ ^ O1 ^ O2
Both Objects are prepositionless.
e.g. She will teach the students modern grammar.
The kid asked Mother odd questions.
I answered Stephen all his questions.

The strings with ask may take embedded indirect questions (optionally
accompanied by I.O deletion):
e.g. We asked (the teacher) whether the paper should be handed in at 9.
Strings with answer may take that-compliment clauses as DO (optionally with IO
deletion)
e.g. She answered (me) that she hadn’t seen the man.

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Sub-type 3 [[NP] ^ [[v] ^ [NP] ^ [PNP]]]
Subj ^ v ^ DO ^ PO
These sentences are predicated by verbs that take a Direct Obj. and a
Prepositional Obj. whose Preposition is not a dative marker:
e.g. The jury accused him of murder.
I shall remind George of his promise
The man took him for his brother.
Passivization results in just one surface configuration, with the former D.O as
Subject; the PO is retained:
e.g. He was reminded of his promise
He was accused of murder.

Complement Clauses may be embedded as prepositional Object (with Prep. Del


for that and Inf. Cl.):
e.g. I reminded him (D.O) that he should leave earlier( that Cl/ Prep. Obj)
I reminded him (DO) to leave earlier. (Inf Cl/ Prep. Obj)
Sub-type 4 [[NP] ^ [ [v] ^ [NP] ^ [ Adv P]]]
Subj. ^ v ^ DO ^ Adv Place/ Direction
e.g. Andrew laid the map on his desk.
He thrust the knife in (to) the trunk.

The Direct Obj. is obligatorily followed by an Adv.P (Place/Direction).The strings


may be passivized, in which case the Place adv is retained:

e.g. The volume was placed on the upper shelf. (by them)
No complementation is possible.

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Syntactic Relations
Predication

Before passing on to the three types of predication proper: intransitive


copulative, intransitive non-copulative and transitive, we should discuss the
morphological and syntactic realization of predication at VP level.
The constituents of the VP are grouped into the following sub-strings:
a) The Auxiliary
b) The Main Verb

The Auxiliary sub-string consists of grammatical formatives that make the


grammatical categories pertaining to v. It is characterized by a sequence of
affixes (bound morphemes): -s, -ed, -en, -ing that alternate with auxiliary verbs
(free morphemes): modals, aspect auxiliaries –have and be.

Copulative Predication: The Adjectival and Nominal Types


1. The structure of Copulative Predicates

The semantic and syntactic tasks of predication may be carried out by either a)
a single lexical item - typically one of the class v, or, b) by the joint contribution of
two items, one of which belongs to the class v. On the latter case the predicate is
labelled by traditionalists as nominal. The structure of such predicates is in
functional terms:

Copula ^ Predicative where the Predicative is realized by one of the following


syntactic categories:

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1) Adj. Phrase
2) Noun Phrase, which may be non-prepositional, prepositional (PNP) or
causal.
The copula is almost uniformly the verb BE (or one in some V subcategories
with a copula-like behaviour. Therefore, such structures are called copulative
predicates and further specify the type (adjectival/ nominal)
The role of the copula is confined to the syntactic and morphological tasks of
predication. The typical copula BE is totally empty semantically, as different from
the existential BE verb. What BE does as part of the predicate is:
1) To link or connect the subject NP to the Adj.P/NP functioning as
Predicative
2) To realize agreement with the Subject NP.
3) To carry Tense and Aspect, i. e. the morphological category markers.
In conclusion BE only performs the formal tasks of predication, ‘verbalizing’ the
meaning carried by the second constituent of the predicate.

Subcategorization of copulative verbs in English

We start from the formal criterion that a copula is a verb that realizes predication
according to the rule:
MV-> v ^ Pred. Adj. P
Pred. NP

Consequently we obtain a class which is homogenous formally, but not


semantically. Further subcategorization obtains if one takes into account:
1) Subject selection
2) Semantic features pertaining to each sub-class or to individual items.
We first obtain two classes:
a) Semantically empty/dummy- the verb BE

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b) Semantically poor, but having one or several specified features such as:
(+inchoative)- become, go, run; (+ aspectual)- remain, rest; (+existential)- lie,
stand

Copula-like Verbs:
MAKE: If you work hard, you will make a good engineer.
Jack and Mary make a handsome couple.
He made friends with my daughter.
The meaning is: be, develop into, turn out to be. The predicative is a NP, usually
[-definite].
FALL: His best jokes all fell flat.
He fell a victim to his wife’s cruelty.
He fell into disgrace.
Meaning: be (unsuccessful), come to be/ become / reach a state. The
predicative is an Adj. Phrase, a nonprepositional NP or prepositional NP (into
NP)
LIE: The book lay open on the table.
The snow lay thick on the ground.
Meanings: remain in a certain state/position. LIE exclusively takes an Adjectival
Predicate, followed by a Place Adverbial.
HOLD: The argument still holds good/ true.
STAND: Tom stands alone among his colleagues.
(V ^ Pred. Adj. ) : We will stand firm.
V ^ NP: Who stands first on the list.
V ^PNP: We stand in need of help.
REST: You may rest assured that nothing else will interfere.
SIT: resembles LIE, its meaning being even stronger felt.
e.g. To sit tight is to remain firmly in one’s place.
Figuratively it means to stick firmly to one’s purpose, opinions, etc.

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PASS: They pass for rich. PNP
She passes as an experienced doctor. PNP
The Predicative is a PNP required by the fixed prepositions for and as (the latter
a weakened conjunction). Its meaning is consider to be ^ Adjective.
To the above mentioned non-empty verbs, we have to add the subcategory of
intransitive inchoative verbs underivable from deep structures containing a
copula BE. Among them are: become, turn (as distinct from turn out {to be},
which, like to prove may take the be completion), run, go, wear.
All these verb patterns differ from structures resulting from reduction of two
clauses to one (‘double predicates’, ‘predicates of result’) in that they cannot be
paraphrased by coordinate (compound sentences) or by complex sentences :
*She will make and be a good wife.

The Predicative
The Predicative is the non-empty constituent of the copulative predicate.
Concerning the relation holding between the Subject and its Predicate, one might
notice that it is unmarked in English. The Predicative may be basic, if taken by
the verbs discussed as copulas, or derived from a compound / complex sentence
with a clausal Subject or Object. The derived Predicative goes by the name of
Predicative Adjunct to the Subject / Object or Subject (ive)/ Object (ive)
Complement in traditional grammars.
e.g. They appointed Professor Jones head of the department.
Pred. Adjunct to D.O

The Adjectival Type

e.g. That shop-assistant is tall/ (very) polite.


The Adjectives that feed these rules are either non-derived or deverbal, i.e.
obtained by the lexical transformation of Adjective from the Verb class.
Deverbal Adjectives that appear in Pred. Adj. position.
Part of them actually are adjectives from participles (-ing or – en) some others
are derived by suffixation or prefixation.

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Attitudinal verbs are an important source of Pred. Adjs. Basically they are
transitive verbs which evince a derivation from the general subject selection rules
in that the [+human] NP is taken as D.O, rather than Subject:
e.g. The idea surprised everybody present.
Subj.[-animate] [+causative] D.O [+human]
Other attitudinal verbs: please, frighten, puzzle, astonish, amaze, scare, delight,
disappoint, disgust, etc.
Their –ing participles occur as Pred. Adjs. which take Prepositional Indirect
Objects expressing the Experiencer.
e.g. The idea was surprising to (cop. ^ Pred. Adj.) everybody present. (I.O
[+human])
Reversion of the two terms -> Passivization:
e.g. Everybody present was surprised by the idea.
DO-> Subj. BE+ -en ^v Subj.-> PO
Past participles gives rise to an interpretation as Cop ^ Pred. Adj.
e.g. The walls were painted.
The village was deserted.
A series of Pred. Adjs. are derived by suffixation of transitive verbs when D.O
becomes a Prepositional Obj. of the type of+NP:
e.g. to forget smth.-> (to be) forgetful of smth.
to hope smth.->(to be/ fell) hopeful of / about smth.
to envy smth.->(to be) envious of smth.

Subcategorization of the Adjective Class


Co-occurrence of adjectives with nouns which they modify or with copulas which
they help predicate determines a Subcategorization of adjectives:
a) Exclusively predicative adjectives
b) Exclusively modifying adjectives
c) Adjectives that may occur in either position / function, but with meaning
differences.

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a) Exclusively predicative adjectives are made up of a series of ‘adverb-like’
adjectives prefixed by a and indicating states or conditions: ablaze, afraid, akin,
alike, alive, alone, asleep, awake, etc.
e.g. The whole building was ablaze.
He stood aghast at the terrible sight.
He was fast asleep.
Some of these Pred. Adjectives take Prepositional Objects (the Prep they
require is included into their lexical entries):
e.g. Pity is often akin to love.
The town was ablaze with lights.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
The rule feature [+/- Complementation] further subcategorizes these Pred. Adjs.
Thus, afraid, ashamed, awake may take complement clause :
e.g. I was afraid of hurting his feelings. (Ger. Cl)
She was afraid to wake her husband up. (Inf. Cl.)
I’m afraid that I might hurt her feelings. (That Cl)

Most Pred. Adjectives may appear in derived configurations, as Predicative


Adjunct to the Direct Object. The respective constructions are [+causative]: to
set a house ablaze.
If quantified, some of them may occur as Noun Modifiers: a half asleep person,
a very ashamed girl, a fully aware convict.
b) Another group of Pred. Adjs. Includes ‘prepositional adjectives’ which can
never function as pre-nominal modifiers:
e.g. Is your child subject to colds? (a subject child)
Youngsters are fond of pop music.
Another subcategory includes Prepositional Pred. Adjs. which are [+
Complementation], the complement clause functioning as Prep. Obj. Clause:
e.g. Mary was glad of/about your success/ that you have succeeded.
I am always glad to meet your family, (Inf. Cl)
He is content with his present salary. (P.O)

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I’m sorry that I couldn’t join you. (that Cl)
Exclusively modifying adjectives mainly consist of Adjectives hypothetically
derived from Adverbs or Avd Ps. in the source sentence: eventual, main,
principal, utter, actual, favourite, former, mere.
E.g. The main purpose of his enterprise has never been known.
Don’t overestimate the actual importance of the election.
c) Many adjectives may appear in both positions, but with distinct meanings:
slow, hard, heavy, frequent, occasional, possible, apparent, traditional.
e.g. The march was slow the slow march
His child acts slowly (His child is) a slow child.

His luggage was heavy a heavy luggage


He smoked heavily He was a heavy smoker. (Adj NP)

A more complex derivational process underlies the so-called ‘pseudo-adjectives’


which may be: a) both predicative and modifying in one of the meanings; b) only
modifying when used with a different meaning:
e.g. She gave me a very civil answer/ her answer was very civil.
He specializes in civil engineering / * the engineering is civil.
Similarly, there occur Adjectives like dramatic in dramatic work/ criticism,
performance, atomic in atomic science. Exclusively modifying are past participles
which never occur in passive, such as departed and escaped.
e.g The guest have departed/ * The guests are departed, but
The departed guests.

Subcategorization of Predicative Adjectives


A) Subcategorization as to the left term – the NP Subject

1. Pred. Adjs. with impersonal it subjects, denoting weather, or characterizing


time, space, temperature:

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It is frosty
It is very near.
It was too stuffy.
This it has a situational reference, which is never made definite.
2. Pred. Adjs. With clausal subject: necessary, possible, advisable, surprising,
unexpected, commonly appear in surface structure introduced by an anticipatory
It subject , while the Subject Clause is extraposed:
e.g [That he should act like a fool] is regrettable-> It is regrettable [that he
should act….](it= formal subj.)
The adjectives: likely, sure, certain, etc predicate strings which can be converted
into two surface structure forms:
a) It^ be^ Pred. Adj. ^ Cl.
b) A complex S whose matrix clause has as Subject the subject of the
subordinate Subject Clause:
[HE IS LIKELY TO ARRIVE BEFORE NOON]
Raised Subject Pred. Adj. Subject Cl.
Adjectives like difficult, easy which predicate strings with the surface forms:
a) It ^ be^ Pred. Adj. ^ Cl.
b) A complex S whose Subject is The D.O of the Subject Clause.
e.g. This French sound is difficult to pronounce.

B) Subcategorization as to the right term.


Like verbs, adjectives may take Object NPs., which are exclusively Prepositional
at the deep structure level. The object NP may be:
1) Non-clausal i) Indirect Object, the NP selected as such being [+human]
and the Preposition being to/for/of.
e.g. The lesson was too difficult for those beginners.
ii) Prepositional Object - the Pred. Adjs. taking [+abstract]
Objects
e.g. Mary was afraid of nightmare/snakes.

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A cross-classification of Copulative Predicates
The classification into the Adjectival and Nominal sub-types is cut across by one
based on a logico-semantic criterion – The Attributive Type and the Equative
Type (also called Identifying).
A) The Attributive Type is based upon the formula A is B, where A is not equal
to B, in which A is The Attributed , i.e. the entity to which the predicate assigns a
property , and B is the Attributant, i.e. the one designating the respective
property. A and B are irreversible , this being a one-term Subject; A is
grammatically realized by a definite or indefinite NP, while B may be: 1. Adj. P-
Freddy is smart
2 . Indefinite NP- Freddy is a fresher.
3. A PNP: The district is in a state of change.
4. A clause: Seeing is believing.

Semantically all these Copulative Predicates express a class of entities. This


relation may be of two kinds:
1. Class-membership: AEB , A is [+specific] and [+definite] and B designates
a member of potential referents to A:

e.g Mary is beautiful/ a beauty.

2. Class-inclusion : ACB in which A is [+specific] NP singular (a generic


indefinite or definite NP) or plural ( a generic zero article NP) designating a set of
entities included into a larger set designated by B.
e.g. The pigeon is a bird.
Pigeons are birds.
B) The Equative Type is based upon the formula: A= B, B= A. The A term is
the Identified and the B term is the Identifier. A is grammatically realized by a
definite NP and B by: 1. A definite NP: This girl is John’s fiancée.
2. A Pro-N form (including a Determ. P in a Pro- N position)
e.g. I couldn’t tell whether that fellow was he/him or not.

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3. A Superlative Adj. P or a comparative Adj. P with a superlative force: This
girl is the most attractive of all. This girl is the more attractive of the two.
4. A clause: Her attitude was what puzzled everybody in our form.

Predicatives with Undeletable Preposition


a) Of-phrases , occurring in rather fixed constructions such as:
They are of the same opinion.
The event was of a great importance.
Be ^ of has a possessive meaning.
b) Prepositional NPs in which Preposition is not of.
About: It was 7 o’clock and people were already about their business.
Above: His behaviour was above reproach.
Against: These recent steps are against the public interest.
At: John’s mother is at him again.
Before: He claimed he had been before me in that queue.
Behind: What could be behind his interest in my career?
Below: The quality of product should not be below the last year’s level.
Beside: Whoever did it is beside the point.
Between: This is strictly between you and me.
For: What is she for a woman, I wonder?

Predicatives with Deletable Preposition


A whole group including of NPs which indicates attributes connected with colour,
size, age, quality, shape may undergo Prep. Del. and thus result in zero article
NP Predicates.
e.g. These shoes are (of) the right size.
She is (of) the same age.

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The Predicative NPs above are all determined by definite articles and Post
determiners. Indefinite NPs may also occur in this position. (more seldom)
e.g. The leaves were (of) a dark shade.
The deletion process may extend over the article as well and the result is a zero
article NP:
e.g. Her family was of the poor class
Her family was poor class.

Reciprocal Copulative Predicates


Mary and Susan are alike.
All women are alike.
They are alike.
Between the terms that make up the Subject a relation of reciprocity holds,
neither of them being subordinate to the other ones.
This selectional peculiarity can also be encountered with the reciprocal verb
categories including: agree, differ, resemble, mix, which confirm the hypothesis
that the adjectives are similar to verbs.

Predicative Adjectives further subcategorize as to the meaning and form of their


Reciprocal Object:
a) Pred. Adjs. that indicate a positive reciprocal relationship: equal, join,
married, attached, engaged, close with to NPs.
b) Prep with or with / to: equivalent (with), identical (with), correlated(with/to)
c) Pred. Adjs. that indicate dissimilarity or other negative reciprocal
distinctions, all of which take the Preposition from: different, distinct, far,
separate, isolated etc.

Non-copulative Intransitive Predications

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Intransitive predicates minimally contain one NP –the Subject of the sentence.
These will be considered to be simple intransitives.
If a second NP co-occurs with an intransitive verb, it can possibly be a
Prepositional NP, which functions as a Prepositional Object. A second possibility
is for an intransitive verb to take as an adjunct an Adverbial Modifier. Such
intransitive configurations including adjuncts of the kinds mentioned above as
well as Predicative Adjuncts are called complex intransitives.
1. Simple Intransitives
Simple intransitive verbs are what traditional grammars used to call ‘verbs of
complete predication’. Semantically they express events of all types: activities,
processes or states with reference to a wide range of possible subjects. Because
of the fact that they occur as one-place or one-term verbs, predicating an act
pure and simple of some particular person or thing, they are also called
‘subjective verbs’.
Syntactically, these predicates can take as optional adjuncts semantically
independent Prepositional Objects, as well as Adverbial Modifiers of various
kinds:
e.g. The lilies have (splendidly) bloomed.(in my garden)- Manner Adv. / Place
Adv.
The little boy has slept (two hours) – Q. Adv. (this afternoon) - Time Adverb

Simple Intransitives with Particle


A relatively rich subcategory of intransitive verbs which no obligatory adjuncts
groups lexically complex items, made up of Verb and Adverbial Particle
(traditionally labelled as Complex Phrasal verbs). They evince a high degree of
idiomaticity. The transition from the structure verb ^ Adv. P to that of verb ^ Prt.
is made by a subgroup of intransitives that combine freely a number of Particles ,
mostly Directional ones.
e.g. A gang of thieves broke in last night.
The balloon went up.
The pilot took off smoothly.

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Particles like along, away, back, by, down, forward, in, off, on, out, past,
round, through, under, up, etc. evince a whole scale of meaning values, from
very concrete ones, when they combine with verbs of motion, to very abstract
ones, in combination with most of the basic verbs in English.
Besides locative and directional particles, mention should be made of the
aspectual particles, which refer to the temporal dimension of the event.
e.g. They set out to win support for their scheme.
A hostile reaction has set in. / The cold weather had set in.
The cars set off in a cloud of dust.
The durative aspect is rendered by on and away which are specialized for
indicating the continuation of the event.
e.g. He was laughing /grumbling away.
He passed away quietly at midnight.
Simple intransitives may derive from basically transitive verbs with particle, by
means of Object Deletion:
e.g. Moore throws in the ball near the half-line.
Moore throws near the half-line.
Another class of simple intransitives which evinces lexical complexity includes
intransitive verbs, which are inherently reflexive: absent oneself, perjure oneself.
Some of these verbs belong to the larger syntactic class of complex intransitives,
in that they take Prepositional Object: avail oneself of smth., pride oneself on
smth.

2. Complex Intransitives
Complex intransitives are two-place verbs, i.e. they take two obligatory co-
occurent phrases- the Subject NP as a left neighbour of verb and the Predicative
Adjunct / Prepositional Object /Adverbial Modifier as a right neighbour.
e.g. A gang of thieves broke into Smith’s house last night.
The company has fallen into dispute in recent years.

Intransitives with Particle and Preposition: the class includes phrasal Verbs
which take a fixed Preposition followed by its object:
e.g. They had done away with this piece of legislation.

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I cannot put up with his interruption.
In between the Particle and the Prepositional Object there may be inserted
Adverbs of Manner:
e.g. They had done away reluctantly with this piece of legislation.
We put up cheerfully with these interruptions.

Intransitives with a Prepositional Indirect Object

Several subclasses of intransitives, among which eventive Vs., experience Vs.,


relational Vs., take an Indirect Object marked by the Preposition to.

e.g What’s happened to the old man?

The experience type verbs are seem, appear, occur, sound, taste.

e.g. How does it seem to you?


That possibility had never occurred to anyone.

Intransitives with two Prepositional Objects


A number of intransitive Vs may be followed by two PNPs, Prepositional Object
Deletion often applies.
e.g. I’ll speak to the manager about my future projects.
Other verbs are: argue with somebody about, discuss with smb. about smth.,
disregard with smb. about smth., quarrel with smb. about smth.
Some intransitive verbs are used with Adverbial Modifiers, those denoting
existence in space such as be, remain, lie, sit, stand.

e.g The man was standing by the window.


The man was lying on the ground.

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Intransitivization
One can speak of a ‘floating’ phenomenon which goes both ways, from
transitives to intransitives and vice versa.
In order to derive an intransitive configuration, a verb which is basically transitive
has to ‘lose’ its D.O by the deletion of the D.O if their object NP is more or less
specialized semantically.
e.g. Whenever I see her, she is smoking (cigarettes->none)
Another process by which transitives are made intransitive is that in which the
D.O is promoted rather than demoted. This occurs in ‘active-passives’ and in
genuine passive constructions. What happens is that the deep Object is pre-
posed in Subject position. The former Object comes to acquire some of the
Subject properties (position, case-marking, agreement trigger).
Eg. This material washes well.
Intransitivization can be characterized more generally as a process of term
reduction. Deep structure configurations with the primary terms - Subject and
Direct Object - turn into one-term sentences.

Transitive Predications
1. Simple transitive verbs are transitive verbs with one object -Direct Object.
The greatest majority of transitive verbs in English express human activities,
events in which humans play an agentive part being initiators and controllers of
actions or processes which affect or effect concrete entities - physical objects or
substances.

e.g *John cut/ dropped [that cl]

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The first subclass includes monotransitives which indicate activities associated
with affected objects: accumulate (goods, a library), adapt, adjust, decorate, air
(the room).
A subcategory apart includes verbs which take as direct objects parts of the
human body: bite (one’s tongue), bump (one’s head), clap (hands), clean, cock,
snap, fix, nod, drag.
A special type are verbs with effected/ resultative object which are so called
Cognate Object, taken by inherently intransitive verbs, that re-categorize, in this
way, as transitives: to dream a melancholy dream, to smile an amiable smile, to
sleep the sleep of the just.
Some transitive verbs, like MAKE are characterized by a wide range of co-
occurrence possibilities, materialized syntactically in the non-clausal or clausal
object and semantically in the selection of [+concrete] or [+abstract] NPs.
Make with [+concrete] effected object: to make bread/coffee/a fire/clothes/tea/a
toy, a.s.o. This make often enters ditransitive configurations, in which the
resultative object is followed by a for Indirect Object indicating the beneficiary:
e.g. She was very fond of making toys for her little boy.
Make with [+ abstract] effected object: to make amends/arrangements/a
change/a decision/a demand/a difference/an effort/ a request.
In many of the instances included here make occurs as a quasi-dummy verb,
the meaning being mainly carried by the resultative object.
The latter is often a nominal derived from the verb that corresponds to the whole
combination:
-to make arrangements=to arrange
- to make a promise=to promise
-to make a request=to request
-to make a sacrifice= to sacrifice oneself
The nominals derived from the respective meaningful verbs express the result of
the activity or process; despite the synonymy with the corresponding verb, there
appear several differences between the two ways of rendering the same
meaning:
a) The dummy vb+Obj. of result sometimes differs aspectually from the purely
verbal one:
e.g. Promise to come back!
Make a promise to come back!

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By nominalisation, the resulting NP acquires most of the specific N features and
adjuncts. Thus, countability is very obviously realised by the specialized
determiners:
e.g. He made a profit of shilling on every article sold.

MAKE can also occur with a more abstract meaning than the `manufacturing`
meaning. It is one of the important general causative verbs in English and
syntactically, it becomes (+complementation) in this case. Causative make takes
a [+abstract] Direct Object, expressed by an Infinitival Clause.

e.g. His gestures would make [everybody laugh]

DO co-occurs less than Make with [+concrete] objects, which is partly


explainable by the absence of the `manufacturing` meaning. DO is semantically
specialised for rendering the performance of certain activities such as writing,
cooking, cleaning, etc and the object is either affected or effected.
e.g. Mr. Booth does the fiction for the Saturday Review.
She does her hair every 3 days.
I have a lot of correspondence to do. (read /write letters)
DO- may be ditransitive verb which takes [+abstract] Direct Objects in a great
number of dative construction: to do smb. credit/ a favour, to do smb. harm, to
do smb. honour.
-DO and Make only very seldom vary freely as in: to make/to do a copy; to
make/to do a translation.
-DO never takes clausal Direct Objects
-DO, unlike Make is a VP substitute, i.e. it is a pro-form which, in combination
with the neuter pronoun it or the pro-adjective/adverb so, may be used
anaphorically to replace a whole VP antecedent:
e.g. Tom has asked me to write him a letter as soon as I arrive in Paris, but I
don’t think I’ll be able to do it before next week.

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A relatively small number of monotransitives with [+concrete] Direct Object
denote the use of an instrument for the performance of a certain activity.
e.g. Tom refused to show Peter how to handle the gun.
Another limited group of monotransitives with [+concrete] Direct Object express
position or movement in space. The directional or locative meaning is
incorporated into the meaning of the respective verb: to enter a place, to
approach a place (get near), to inhabit a flat, to join a club (get in), to leave a
town (depart from), to reach a destination (arrive at).
The next subcategory includes other classes of verbs which take an inanimate
Direct Object. The group includes: to accept (a gift/idea), to acknowledge (a
parcel/ truth), to approach (a place or a topic), to claim (a lost object/ a right), to
analyse (a substance or a cause), to collect (stamps or one’s thoughts), to deny
(a signature or a proposal), to examine (a paper). Some of them are marked by
[+complementation].

Transitives verbs which occur only with [+abstract] objects will be themselves
subdivided into those which are [-complementation] and those which may appear
as [+complementation]:
a) [-complementation] Vt with abstract D.O: abrogate (a law), accomplish (a
task) achieve (a purpose), adopt (a method), control (prices), contract (a
marriage, friendship)
b) [+/- complementation] Vt with abstract D.O: mental process verbs and
verbs of linguistic communication: admit, advise, announce, believe, consider,
declare, dream, fancy, learn, prove, propose, realize, suppose, suggest, think
etc

The verbs in the class below take [+animate] Subjects, but evince no selectional
restrictions for the NP- Direct Object.
a) Verbs of liking or disliking: to admire (a person, object, a plan), to love (a
person, a country, comfort), appreciate (someone, a gesture), like or dislike (a
person, a thing or an idea) etc.
b) Mental process verbs: know, remember, forget
c) Sense perception verbs: to hear someone/ some noise, some news.
d) Relational verbs (to have, lose, miss, abandon, adopt)
e) Causative: to change oneself, one’s baby, one’s clothes, the furniture)

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Causative verbs
Causative verbs (periphrastic, lexical, morphological) are transitive verbs
inherently marked by [+causative] or intransitive ones recategorized as
transitives and occurring contextually as causatives. They express either mere
causation of an event (cause, determine, have, make, set) or an event in which
causation is implied, e.g. kill (cause smb. to die), teach (cause smb. to learn),
show (cause smb. to see).
Causative meaning has a number of overt grammatical realizations. Thus all
causative constructions are transitive, owing to the fact that causation always
implies two participants:
a) A causer and
b) An affected or effected entity.
They are expressed by two NPs, of which one is selected as Subject and the
other one as Object:
e.g. The war caused great human losses.
NP1=causer Vt [+caus] NP2= effected

By passivization the effected entity may become Subject and the causer
Prepositional Object:
e.g. Great human losses were caused by the war.
While it is true that only transitive verb constructions may render causative
meaning, it is also true that not all causative verbs are inherently transitive.
There are intransitive verbs that behave contextually like transitive causatives.
In point of selectional restrictions, causative may take a Subject NP
characterized by one of the three kinds of semantic-syntactic features:
a) A [+animate] NP, expressing the agent or animate causer of the action,
process or state:
e.g. Tristam ^ caused ^ the cheese ^ to become ^ a paste.
[+causer] [+causative] [+ affected] [+inchoative] [+ affected]
[+animate] [+controlled] [-animate/+abstract] [-animate/-abstract]

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b) A [-animate], [-abstract] NP, expressing physical Object that operates as an
instrumental causer:
e.g. The mixer ^ caused ^ the cheese to become a paste
[+causer] [+causative]
[-animate]
[-abstract]
c) A [-animate], [+/- abstract] NP, expressing an exterior cause which is
neither directly nor indirectly controlled.
e.g. The heat ^ in the room ^ caused ^ the cheese to become a paste.
The Direct Object NP may have the following features:
a)[+animate] and [+/- human]
e.g. She fed her dog macaronis.(=caused her dog to eat macaronis)
The [+human] D.O. may be followed by a Prepositional Object introduced by the
preposition into:
e.g. The war turned Bob into a coward.
(Paraphrase: The war caused Bob to become a coward)
a) The D.O may be a [-animate], [-abstract] NP.
e.g. He felled ^ some trees in the forest.

The accident ^ caused ^ great damage to the car.


The D.O expressing the affected physical object may be followed by a
Prepositional Object marked into:
e.g. The storm broke the window into pieces.
The D.O may be followed by an Adverbial of Place.
e.g. Janet laid the ash-tray on the table.
(Paraphrase: Janet caused the ash-tray to lie on the table)
b) The D.O may also be a [-animate] , [+abstract] NP
e.g. The Renaissance brought about a new outlook.
(Paraphrase: The Renaissance caused a new outlook to appear)

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The verb CAUSE is the most general causative; it may select any types of
causer and any kind of affected entity as Subject of the D.O:
e.g. Sarah caused her fiancé a car accident.
A dynamite explosive caused his car accident.
His own carelessness caused his car accident.
The verbs MAKE, HAVE and GET, often called in traditional grammars
‘causative auxiliaries’ are specialized for rendering the idea of a person’s
instigation to action by another person. Grammatically, they only take a clausal
D.O, having as Subject in the active form the person expected to execute the
commanded action:
e.g. John’s parents caused /got [him to marry a rich girl]
John’s parents made/had [him marry a rich girl]

Periphrastic Causatives: cause, determine, make, have, get.


Semantically, they render the idea of causation quite neutrally, with the
exception of have and get which may take an additional range of compulsion or
order and can only take an animate, agentive causer as Subject NP:
e.g. I shall have the boy re-write the exercise five times.
The complex verb to bring about also belongs here but with the meaning of:
produce, generate.
The main characteristics of periphrastic causatives which differentiate them from
the subcategories of lexical and morphological causatives are the following ones:
a) The absence of a corresponding intransitive verb for each;
b) The participation in ampler syntactic constructions which often include a
Direct Object Clause;
c) Their productivity in present-day English.

Lexical Causatives

43
Lexical Causatives form pairs with intransitive verbs, denoting the resultative
aspect of the respective activity, process or state by means of a lexically distinct
item.
a) Caesar died.
b) Brutus killed Caesar.
The verb die occurs as one-term verb, taking the Patient as Subject. The
same Patient occurs as Object of its causative counterpart kill, which is a two-
term verb, with an Agent as Subject. The relation between the transitive and
intransitive verb configurations is localized, in that the possibility of using the
same V lexeme: Brutus died Caesar.
This is the main difference between the verbs in this class and those
belonging to the ergative class, which evince no lexical differences when used
transitively or intransitively:
e.g. Our foreign trade is developing.(Vi) Vi=Vt
We are developing our foreign trade. (Vt)

Here are some more members of this class, with the paraphrase including the
corresponding intransitive verb (the paraphrase is a discontinuous expression
based on the periphrastic CAUSE:
-convince=cause smb. to believe
-persuade= cause smb. to believe or act
-remind= cause smb. to remember
-teach= cause smb. to learn
-give= cause smb. to have smth.
The same type of semantic-syntactic relation between a V t and a Vi
characterizes a number of pairs of verbs, which are closely similar
phonologically. The transitive V in each has developed historically out of
intransitive one as a causative counterpart:
Vi Vt
Fall - fell (cause smth. to fall)
Lie - lay (cause smth. to lie)
Sit - set (cause smth. to sit)
Bite - bait ( cause smth to bite)

44
Drink - drench (cause smth. to be wet)
Morphological causatives
A great number of causative transitives are converted from adjectives which
denote an attribute acquired as a result of a cause. Most of these verbs can also
be used intransitively with an inchoative meaning. The word-formation process
may be:
1) Conversion: She cooled the soup.(Adj->V; paraphrase: She caused the
soup to be cool)
Other derivatives: to bare, black, blind, calm, clean, clear, dry, empty, free.
2) Affixation subdivided into: a) prefixation: BE-: becalm, belittle; DIS-:
discontent, disjoint, disanimate; EN: enlarge, enrich, ennoble. b) Suffixation:
-ate: activate, differentiate; -ify: amplify, happify, solidify; -ize: civilize,
americanize, legalize, fertilize; -en: blacken, darken, deeper, fasten, harder,
shorten, soften, widen.

Attitudinal causatives/ Experience Causatives

Transitive attitudinal Verbs are also [+causative] as they express a


psychological reaction aroused in a human being by an exterior stimulus. The
causer occurs as Subject of S, The Experiencer as D.O.
e.g. The news puzzled everybody.

Dative Causatives
This subcategory includes causatives that take two objects, one of which is
indirect:
-give=cause smb. to have
-sell= cause smb. to buy
-send= cause smb. to receive
From among the transitive non-causative verbs that have developed a causative
meaning we shall mention: earn, lose, lead, win.

45
e.g. She led him a dog’s life.
The poem has earned him a great rename
The trick won him the game.

Complex Transitives (Transitives with two Adjuncts)

A few subcategories of Vt – s take a post D.O. obligatory adjunct, functioning as


Predicative Adjunct / Indirect Object/ Prepositional Object/ Adverbial Modifier (of
Manner, Place, Quantity, etc). These Vt configurations are not to be mistaken for the
lexically complex ones, which include verbal phrases that behave like single units.

Transitives with Prepositional Object

Their syntactic function is that of Prepositional Object.


The greatest majority take abstract Prepositional Objects which are realizable by a
that Clause. Semantically, most of these verbs denote inter-human relationships: acquaint
smb.with something; advise smb. of/about something; blame smb. for something,
congratulate smb. on/for something; convince smb. of something, inform smb. of/about
something; warn smb. of/about something.

They blamed Tony for their failure.

Complementation is possible with some of them: convince, inform, remind, warn (the
complement Cl function as Prepositional Object).

He informed/ warned me that the test was going to be very difficult.

Reflexivization is possible with some of them, if the subject NP is co- referent with the
Object NP.

He would blame himself for the accident.

Transitives with Particle

Transitives with Adverbial Part subcategorize as the rule feature for the local
transformation of Particle Movement .
1. Verbs with Optional Particle Movement:
The Particle basically precedes the Object NP; it is moved optionally in post – Object
position if the NP is non-pronominal and obligativity, if the NP is a personal pro - form.

The man filled in the application incorrectly.=> Particle Movement =>

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The man filled the application in incorrectly.

There are some other strings in the domain of Particle Movement: to break down, to
clean out (a room), to play back (a programme); to wake up (a story), to bring up (the
children).

As a result of Nominalization, hyphenated or non-hyphenated compounds may be


obtained; they behave like the ones derived from intransitives with Particle:

The travel agentt made a complete mess-up of our bookings.


The accountant did a break down of expenditure.

Transitives with Obligatory Particle Movement

 The subcategory includes verbs which never take the Prt. as immediate neighbour
surface structure: the Object NP always precedes the Part as a result of Part Movement.

The government will see the crisis through.

 Other contexts include, for instance, to knock (a blow) off; to throw (the ball) in.

Transitives with No Prt. Movement

 Except in cases when the Object is a pro-form, the verb Prt. combination does not
allow Prt. Mov.

The search party has given up all hope.

Transitives with Particle and Preposition

 The last category is that of transitive V Prt. combinations that are followed by a
PNP functioning as Prepositional Object. In most cases Prt Mov is obligatory.

We brought them around to a different way of thinking.


1) Obj Prt P Obj

 There are some other verb contexts of the same type: to bring subject up against
something; to put subject up to something; to put subject down to something.

They were brought around to a different way of thinking.

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Recategorization of Intransitives as Transitives or Transitivizations

 Intransitive verbs recategorized as transitive by their affected object include: to cry


(tears), flash (fire), shine (a light)

She put her arms down and cried quiet tears.

 An interesting recategorization which may acquire a metaphorical use occurs in the


case of “impersonal” weather verbs:
It rained a November drizzle.

Syntactic Relations.
NP Functions

The place held by syntactic relations and functions is syntax consisting of the
treatment of the main functions of sentence constituents: subject, predicate, objects,
modifiers, determiners. Traditional grammars define syntactic functions by recourse to
criteria other than the formal ones. Thus, the intuition – based definitions they supply are
given in terms of the contribution to sentence meaning of each and every function (Subj.
= doer of the action; Obj. = recipient of the action). Besides, in the case of Subject and

48
Predicate, traditional syntax resorts to Discourse criteria. Subject is defined as what the S
is about, Predicate as the comment upon the Subject.
Structural grammars, which only approach Surface structures, define syntactic
functions in terms of their distribution in linear order.
The distinction basic – derived function is impossible within such a frame (in traditional
grammar it still existed, being couched in the terms “logical” versus “grammatical”.
In G.T. grammars, the essential defining element is the disposition of nodes in the
constituent structure of the sentence.

THE SUBJECT

Basic Subject Properties


Semantically, basic S.s are less meaning dependent on other (sentential) structures than
non-basic S.s are: The sentence The parrot spoke is semantically more independent (i.e.
we understand it without recourse to another S) than I was surprised that the parrot
spoke/ at the fact the parrot spoke.
S.s in this set cannot be understood unless we understand the simpler, basic S we
mentioned first. Basic S-s are also characterized by semantic “simplicity”, they are the
semantically primitive S-s of a language, mostly declarative and affirmative.
Formally, basic S-s exhibit the greatest morphological and syntactic potential of the S-s
in a language:
a). the greatest range of markers for the categories pertaining to their essential
constituents;
b). the greatest privileges of occurrence;
c). syntactically they will lend themselves most easily to the main syntactic process in
language.
Another characteristic of basic S-s is related to their minimal degree of structural
ambiguity. The fact that the basic structures are in general unambiguous can be
accounted for by their constituency properties: having less constituents than compound
S-s, they evince fewer possibilities for the interpretation.
English turns out to be more subject – oriented than other languages.
To illustrate, Romanian is less subject – oriented than English in that the presence of the
Subject in surface structure, as well as its fixed position are not among the obligatory
subject properties of Romanian, while they are so in English.
The object can be tentatively defined by taking into account the extent to which an
NP in a S has the properties pragmatic, semantic and syntactic.
1). Independent Existence
The property refers to the independent existence of the entity exposed by the basic
sentence as to the action of property exposed by the predicate. Some of the non – subject
terms, more especially the objects, denote effected entities, whose existence is rather
dependent on the act expressed by the predicating verb:

A very ingenious designer has built up this telephone model.

49
The entity “this telephone model” results from the very act of building up, which has
been performed by the entity grammatically exposed by the NP Subject a very ingenious
designer.
The independence is apparent only in the case of some V subcategories, whose
semantics is based on a certain orientation as in the case of causative verbs (oriented
from causer – the Subject – to affected or effected entity – the Direct Object).
Indispensability. The property refers to the fact that a non-subject term may, under
certain conditions, be deflected from the surface string, while a Subject cannot remain
unexpressed.

John writes poems for a living.


John writes poems.
John writes for a living.
* writes poems.

d) Autonomous Reference. It is a rather undeniable fact that the reference of the NP


Subject in basic sentences is to be determinated pragmatically, that is by a certain
addressee and at a certain moment of a speech act performance. This reference does not
depend on the reference of other NP-s that follow it.

e) Subjects in basic sentences are controllers of coreference phenomena in the following


two ways:
1. Control of reflexive pronouns
2. Control of coreferential deletions and of pronominalization.

Beatrix quarreled with Helen for almost an hour and then she decided to leave the
room.
Beatrix quarreled with Helen for almost an hour and then [symbol] decided to leave the
room.

f) Absolute Reference is connected with the truth value of the basic S versus the
reference property of the Subject NP. This means, more especially, a concrete or abstract
entity which is referred to or has the property expressed by the basic Subject.

John bought a present for the prime minister.


John is talking about the perfect woman.

There is a requirement for the NP. Subject to refer to some entity, in this case to refer
uniquely to the person called John. The same is not true for the other NP in the respective
sentences – there is no requirement that there exist the prime minister , the perfect
woman.
In strings such as It is snowing/ drizzling which are generally considered as basic, the
subject NP is “dummy”, i.e. non – referential.

g) Topic. In basic sentences, the Subject functions as Topic, i.e. it identifies what the
speaker is talking about. It normally carries the given information, thus functioning as
Comment. Consequently, the nominal phrase in subject position more often than not

50
contains anaphoric items specialized for signaling given information – definite articles or
demonstratives.

h) Definiteness Of Reference. Subjects are very often expressed by “highly referential”


NP-s, such as personal or demonstrative pronouns, as well as proper names. In some
languages subjects have to be definite, while objects have to be indefinite. In English this
property becomes more obvious if we associate it with the ‘Topic’ property. The ’Topic’
has to be definite for the progress of communication. Indefinite NP-s introducing new
information are, in general, evident. If no definite NP can be placed in subject position in
such sentences, a ‘dummy’ subject is preferred. This accounts for insertion
transformations, such as There –In S.

A bowl was on the shelf => There was a bowl on the shelf.
[- def] [def]

THE DIRECT OBJECT

The main syntactic function discharged by NP constituents at the level of the Verb
Phrase is that of Object. The government relation holding between the predicating verbs
and its right-hand neighbor – the Object – may be of two distinct kinds:

a) Direct or non-oblique, if the V governs a non-prepositional NP at the deep


structure level. The function of the NP is that of a Direct Object and it actualizes the
subcategorial regime of transitive verbs. There are non- prepositional NP-s that may
occur on the right of the main verb in surface structure. Their functions may be that of
derived non-prepositional object (the Indirect Object), or Adverbial Modifier.
b) Oblique, if the V governs a prepositional NP at the deep structure level. If the PNP
co-occurs with the V as part of its basic non-categorial regime, then the possible
functions of this PNP are:
1. Indirect Object, if the preposition is the dative to or for;
2. Prepositional Object, if the preposition is other than the dative to/for
PNP-s may also occur at Sentence or VB level as free, therefore, optional adjuncts (the
Indirect Object functionong as Sentence Dative, or Prepositional Objects, as well as
Adverbial Modifiers whose NP is governed by a meaningful preposition.
In pre-theoretical grammars the Direct Object was frequently labeled as Accusative
Object. Despite this label, Curme, for instance, points out that the form (case) markers
are irrelevant for this function, as in: They chose him (acc.) king; versus They chose him
(dat.) a wife. Therefore, morphologically, the only distinction recoverable is that between
the nominative pronominal forms and the “objective” forms.
Semantically, the Direct Object is said to express “the goal, the real object of the
activity”, or “the thing representing the goal”.
The former corresponds to affected object (the object affected by the activity) and the
latter to the effected object (the real object of the activity, i.e. its result).

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The Thematic Structure Perspective
Somewhat related to the case-frame is the theory of Thematic Relations. Theme is
defined (by Gruber, Anderson) as the logical topic of the S, what the S is about. Thus,
identifying the theme is considered as part of the process of semantic interpretation.
According to the Theme Rule formulated by Anderson, the theme is in Subject position
if the verb is intransitive and in Direct Object position if the verb is transitive.
Consequently, if an NP occupying the DO position in a basic S is shifted into some other
position, such as that of an Oblique Object or Adverbial, it ceases to be a Theme.

The poet read his poem => The poet read from his poem
The farmer plowed the field => The former plowed in the field.

THERE INSERTION

1. There Insertion reorders the deep Subject as to some verbal part of the VP (the
Aux, the head of MV).
2. The Dative Transformation reorders the two Objects taken by alternative verbs:
Indirect Object is promoted in the position specific to DO in deep structure. Besides, an
operation of Preposition Deletion makes the deep I.O. lose its to/for marker.
3. The Passive Transformation reorders the deep Subject and Object (Direct, Indirect,
Prepositional).

“There” in Traditional Approaches


There is discussed in scholarly traditional grammars as well as it, as one of the two
possible “anticipating Subjects” in English.

The Domain of There Insertion


There insertion applies mostly to strings predicated by Intransitive verb subcategories,
among which existential verbs (be, happen, occur, exist, live), verbs of seeming (seem,
appear), aspectual verbs (begin, start, remain), verbs of motion (come, run, arrive, a.s.o.).
Very few configurations may undergo this transformation, e.g. the verbs need, want and
require.

e.g. There needed/wanted/required two more months to carry it through.


Passive sentences may turn into “there” construction owing to the presence of auxiliary
BE. Besides, continuous verbs forms, be they transitive or intransitive, may yield “there”
constructions.
The verb BE prevails in the domain of this transformation. All configurations whose
predicate contains one of the following types of BE occurrences: main verb (“existential”
BE), auxiliary (be as a marker of Aspect – the continuous or Voice – the Passive),
configurations predicated by copulative verb BE
1) There will be an adequate supply of goals | “existential” be
2) There are faires at the bottom of the garden | =>locative existential be
3) There was a lady asking for help. | auxiliary be occurrence
4) There has been a deer killed by a poacher. | for the Cont. Aspect and Passive Voice

52
5) There was a concerto being played by a famous cellist. => combination of the
Continuous Passive

The common feature of those examples, besides the presence of a BE verb, is the
indefiniteness of their Subject NP-s.

Other Verbs in the Domain


As far as the verb is concerned, the domain of Insertion also includes verbs other than
BE:

There appeared some marks on the X-ray plates.


There happened to be a few students in the hall.
There occurred an unexpected incident during the meeting.
There came a stranger who broke the news to us.
There existed some poor families in that district.
There once lived in this flat an excentric lady.
There resulted a big discrepancy between their testimony and ours.
There were arising new progressive forces in those years.
There seemed to be no escape.

The Indefinite Subject NP Condition


Starting from a sentence such as: The small dog was in the yard. The following
ungrammatical string results if we apply There Insertion:
*There was the small dog in the yard.
The main condition for this transformation to apply is the indefiniteness of the NP
functioning as deep Subject. Indefinite reference of this NP may be realized by indefinite
Determiners (a, any, some) as well as the “zero” article. The determiner may incorporate
negation:

There was no trace left by the thieves.


There will be no other changes in the document.

The determiner may be numerically specified or an indefinite Quantifier:

There are two cakes on the dish.


There is much noise in the street.

Indefinite Pro-forms may function as Subjects of “there” constructions (anything,


something, everything, nothing). Quite often they are followed by Adj. P:

There was something wrong/nothing wrong in her behaviour.


There isn’t anything new in the article.
There was something add in his conduct.

The definite article may appear as a constituent of the NP-Subject in a limited number of
contexts. Thus, it may be part of the Determiner Phrase (Determiner + Postdeterminer) as
in:

53
There was the same man in front of the gate.
There is the other delegate taking the floor.

Exceptionally though, “there” constructions may have a [+definite] Subject in the


context of an existential question asking for (supplementary) information. Sometimes the
answer consists of an enumeration of definitely determined NP, as in:

Question: What else is there in that drawer?


Answer: There is the rubber, the red pencil and the writing paper.

There are some more contexts in which the definite Subject can be encountered:

There has arisen the new problem of the status of the worker in his own trade-
union.

Determiners occur because of the modifier phrase which further specifies the meaning of
the indefinite NP. That is why examples of this kind are considered apparent exceptions.
The deep Subject is indefinite in deep structure and undergoes a transformation of
definitization as a result of its being modified by a clausal or non-clausal Noun Modifier.

The Transformation of There Insertion

This transformation consists of two operations:


1. Movement of the Subject NP into the VP Relationally, this means that the deep
Subject becomes a Non-term, as it ceases to bear a GR to its verb.
2. Insertion of the expletive THERE in the position left empty by the moved Subject.
The inserted dummy item THERE becomes Subject of the S.

Agreement in THERE sentences is always with deep Subject:

There is a man at the front door.


sg sg

There are three men at the front door.


pl pl

The syntactic status of THERE

In traditional grammars dummy THERE is often discussed in correlation with the


Adverb whose homophone it is. In GT frame no such relation is established, form of the
adverb “there”). In GT frame no such relation is established, owing to the completely
divergent syntactic properties of the two items. Thus dummy “there” is immediately
dominated of the node S, which lends it the function of surface subject, while the deictic
Place Adverbial is dominated by the VP node. In a way “there” is similar, by the
anticipatory role, to the surface subject “it”, inserted transformationally, as a dummy
theme of the sentence. The difference between these two items precisely lies in the fact

54
that “it” may be assigned to a class of words (the pro-forms), while “there” is hard to
class morphologically. As different from the adverb “there”, it is unstressed and way co-
occur with place adverbials, “there” included:

There was a man there waiting for you.


Adv

The stressed adverb may appear in front position as in:

There is the accident!

We shall supply below the main arguments supporting the Subject status of the dummy
“there” at the level of the surface structure:
1) The behaviour of “there” in questions (question – tags included)
a) Are there three cats on the roof? (derived from the affirmation sentence)
There are three cats on the roof.
b) There are three cats on the roof, aren’t there?
In both a) and b) “there” behaves like a subject, i.e. it undergoes inversion with the verb
(in this case, existential be)
2) The occurrence of “there” as Subject in finite clauses (relative clauses in which the
realized constituent is not subject of the clause) and non-finite ones (infinitive, participial
or gerundial):

I eventually read the article about which there had been so many divergent
commentaries.
For there to be so much time left/bothers me.
There being so much time left bothers me.
3) Raising applies on sentences with seem and happen:
There seemed/ happen to be no one in the hall.
4) The behaviour of “there” is non-inverted “so” patterns:
John said there would be a commotion and so there was.
5) The behaviour of “there” is negative or restrictive emphatic sentences:
Never has there been such an opposition.
Hardly was there any time left.

Parallel Structures with IT and THERE

It an There often share the feature of forward reference to the real subject they
anticipate. The difference here lies in the tendency of “it” to anticipate [+def] Subjects,
while “there” usually anticipates indefinite ones

It’s time we left (The time has come for us to leave)


There is time, we needn’t hurry (There is enough time; notice the deletion of
enough)

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“Impersonal Subject” constructions have alternative forms with “it” or “there” as
Subject:

It frosted heavily last night =><=There was a heavy frost last night.

If we compare the two patterns, we notice the [-stative] feature of the “it” construction
which makes use of the respective “weather” verb; as different from it the “there” pattern
in stative, it being predicated by the existential verb BE and its real subject being the
nominalized “weather” verb/ a heavy frost.
It sentences with complement clauses may also have two variants:

It is possible for them not to know the whole truth =><= It is no use doing this
=><= There is no use doing this.

There is a/ the possibility of their not knowing the whole truth.

“There” sentences may also contain gerundial clauses introduced by prepositions, such
as:

There is no use/ good in saying/ of your saying such a thing.

THERE in Complex S
There occurs as a Subject not only in simple sentences, but also in Complex ones. Thus,
starting from the deep structure:

[An accident to have been in the street] seemed.

We can obtain, after There-Insertion in the embedded Subject Clause, and Raising of the
formal Subject there:

There seemed to have been an accident in the street.

A similar surface structure results if we start from deep string predicated by transitive V-
s than allow S/O Raising:
Someone believed [an accident to have been in the street]

We shall obtain the following surface string after There Insertion in the DO Clause,
Raising and Passivization:

There was believed to have been an accident in the street.

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THE DATIVE TRANSFORMATION

Contemporary English includes in its range of surface structure sentence


configuration pairs of sentences predicated by intransitive verbs which evince a great
semantic similarity, coupled with a regular syntactic dissimilarity. The former consists in
the transfer meaning of the verb and the recipient/ beneficiary meaning of the animate
(personal) Object; the latter lies in word order peculiarities (the position of the animate
Object as to the V and the DO) and the presence versus absence of the preposition to or
for (functioning as a case marker for the Dative).

a). Father gave a new toy book to little Bob.


b). Father gave little Bob a new toy book.
a). Father bought a new toy book for little Bob.
b). Father bought little Bob a new toy book.

In traditional approaches such configurations are studied first of all in the


Morphology section, when Dative is discussed as a case and secondly in the Syntax
section, more precisely under the heading Indirect Object and, in some grammars, under
Prepositional Object as well.
Diachronically speaking we should notice the disappearance in Middle English of
the old inflectional dative, which was superseded (a înlocui) by the preposition to.
Besides its directional meaning in O.E., this preposition acquired an abstract locative
sense.

We sent a book parcel to Paris.


We sent a book parcel to our old aunt.

In the second case, the directional meaning is associated with the change of
possession meaning: the animate Object our old aunt designates the person who will
come into possession of the parcel, while Paris simply represents a destination point.
We should also notice the coexistence in O.E. of verbs with a single accusative object
and verbs with a single dative object which resulted in a competition of the two.
The old dative used as a single object expressed “a person as involved in an activity
directed toward him. The accusative object used to denote a person or thing affected by
a certain activity. The formal differences between the two cases were gradually leveled
down, so that verbs that used to govern the dative, among which advise, believe, help,
injure, oppose, please, serve came to be used with an accusative object.
The dative object survived with verbs that select a personal object like apologize,
complain, occur/ come to smb’s mind, belong, pertain to smb, remain, fall to smb. The
dative NP used with these verbs is considered to function as a special kind of Indirect
Object.
Considering the Indirect Object function, three distinctions are commonly made,
namely:
1).The Dative of Reference The Object denotes in this case a personal point of
view with respect to the prepositional content of the sentence. The dative case is used

57
with the noun which takes in its scope the whole sentence, and which designates the
referent for which the statement holds true.

a. For him, to submit would be quite shameful.


b. To me, he is a great hero.
c. That is nothing to her.

a. The fact seemed incredible to me.


b. It looks to me as if the shirt is too long.

In (a) BE is completely asemantic, while in b) it is a near synonym of transitives like to


mean or to represent. These verbs take an Experience which occurs as a Dative Object. In
the second set, the predicates are verbs of seeming or of sense perception which, like
mean take an Experience that occurs as a to Dative Object.

1) The Dative of Interest


English Noun Phrase in the Dative case may also express the person to whose advantage
or disadvantage an action takes place.
The for NP Object is more frequently used to express advantageous events:
His heart beat for all humanity.
To Objects occur with both semantic values. Sometimes, from is used to express clearly
the idea of disadvantage.
He stole the purse from the old woman.
“On” dative is specialized for the idea of disadvantage.

He shut the door on me.


He has gone back on me.

The Dative of Interest often occurs as a prepositionless NP:

He has already done me a lot of harm.


John lent Susan his dictionary.
She made her boy a new coat.

2) The Ethical Dative


This is a prepositionless form which was by far more frequent in older Engl. than it is
used today. It denotes the person who is likely to have an emotional or sympathetic
interest in the respective statement:

Now heed me what I say.


This usage is very limited

GT Approaches
Most GT models argue in favor of a transformational relation holding between
strings with a to/for I.O. and synonymous strings with a prepositionless I.O. The
transformational approach of dative constructions vary as in the input – output strings in
the following way:

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1. The strings with a prepositional I.O. are taken as basic; the Dative derives surface
strings by means of Reordering and Prep. Deletion. One of the arguments in favor of this
solution is the fact that the preposition to or for is part of the lexical character of the V or
V Object complex.
2. The strings with a prepositionless I.O. form the underlying structure out of which
their synonymous counterparts are derived by a Dative which consists of Reordering and
Pre. Insertion. In this case it is the respective transformation that should specify which
verbs govern to and which for.
Strings predicated by verbs such as announce, communicate, deliver, demonstrate,
describe, return, transfer never occur without a to Object.

The postman delivered the parcel to Mrs. Smith.


The postman delivered Mrs. Smith the parcel.
I described the scene to my wife.
I described my wife the scene.

The Dative Movement Transformation

Standard GT approaches describe Dative Movement as a transformation that applies on


the V- NP to/for NP sequence producing a structural change which consists of:
a) Deletion of the Prep. to or for
b) Reordering of the two postverbal NP-s

Mary gave a collection of old stamps to her best friend.


D.O. I.O.
Mary gave to her best friend a collection of old stamps.
I.O. D.O.
Mary gave her best friend a collection of old stamps.
I.O. D.O.

Dative is also ordered as to the Passive rule. The I.O. is promoted as subject of sentence.
The preposition does not appear in the passive string.

I promised to John a scholarship.


John was promised a scholarship.

Dative also interrelates with the local transformation of Particle Movement.

The man paid back his loan to the bank.


The man paid his loan back to the bank.
The man paid the bank back his loan.

Mary has brought down some cigars for George.


Mary has brought some cigars down for George.
Mary has brought George down some cigars.

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This optional transformation can only move the Prt. after the Object NP immediately
following the V.

Dative Construction and other Transformations


Besides Passive and Particle Movement, Dative sentences are also sensitive to:
a) Object Deletion - In most cases, either the D.O. or the I.O. may be deleted
John has bought some flowers (I.O. del. for smb./ for Mary/ for himself)
He will hand in the paper tomorrow (I.O. del. = to his teacher)

b) D.O. deletion occurs by far less frequently, but it is quite possible with a number
of verbs:
She hasn’t written (to) us for ages (D.O. = a letter)
Has he paid you? (D.O. = the money)
Will he sell to whoever wants to buy (D.O. = goods)
D.O. deletion is blacked with some verbs, after Dative has applied (in other words, the
prepositionless construction is only possible when a D.O. is present)

Susan read a story to little Tom.


Susan read little Tom a story.
Susan read to little Tom.
*Susan read little Tom.

b) Object NP Pronominalization. If DO is a personal Pro. N., Dative is generally


blocked.

I offered it to John.
*I offered John it.

In case I.O. is a Pro - form, Dative Movement seems to be facilitated by the shortness of
the item:

I sold my old bicycle to him =>Dat. Mov.=> I sold him my old bicycle.

If both Objects are Pro - forms, Dative is blocked:

I handed it to him => *I handed him it.

The verb give allows Prep. Deletion:

I gave it to him => Prep. Del. => I have it him.

c) Reflexivization If we only consider strings with Subject and I.O. coreferential NP -s,
Dative and Reflexive may apply in any order:

Mary bought some flowers for Mary. => Refl.


Mary bought some flowers for herself. => Dative

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Mary bought herself some flowers.

Subcategorization of Dative Verbs >>described by Green (1974)


The criterion used is primarily semantic, although syntactic peculiarities are mentioned
in each case.

1) Classes
The verbs in these classes take a to I.O. that denotes the actual or potential Recipient
of a transfer.
a) the 'bring' class includes verbs denoting the direct and accompanied physical
transfer of an object from an Agent to a Recipient expressed by the I.O.: bring, carry,
hand, pass, pull, push.
b) the 'give' class includes verbs denoting the direct and unaccompanied transfer
of an object to a recipient expressed by a I.O.: advance, award, feed, give, lend, loan,
pay, rent, sell, serve.
c) the 'send' class includes verbs denoting an unaccompanied physical transfer of
an Agent to a Recipient: fling, float, forward, mail, push, relay, roll, ship, throw, slide.
d) the 'communication' verb class is further subdivided into:
> the 'radio' class: radio, wire, cable, telephone.
> verbs denoting the verbal expression of a message: tell, quote, read, write.
e) the 'promise' class: assign, grant, guarantee, offer, owe, permit, promise.
'owe' 1 expresses (moral) indebtedness and never undergoes Dative:
I owe my success to my parent/ to good luck.
'owe' 2 - denotes a material debt and it undergoes Dative:
He owes me a great sum of money/ 5000 lei.

2). For-Classes The verbs that take a for NP as I.O. and may undergo Dative display a
very wide range of meanings; they denote all sorts of actions undertaken by the Agent for
the benefit of the I.O. referent. The semantic role corresponding to I.O. is the
Beneficiary.

a). the 'make' class: boil, cook, draw, knit, make, paint.
b). the 'buy' class: verbs denoting activities involving selection: buy, choose, get, find,
gather, leave, pick out, save.
c). artistic performance verbs: verbs indicating an object performed upon, but they do
not undergo Dative: chant, dance, play, recite, sing.
She danced us a few bars of 'The Blue Danube'.
She played us the trombone.
She hummed us 'Let it be'
d). the 'earn' class: gain, earn, win
Selling books will earn Bob a lot of money.
The publication of his translation will earn him a world wide reputation.

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Passive and Passivization

The Passive is a complex linguistic phenomenon, which manifests itself at several levels
of linguistics analysis:
a). the morphological level, by specialized Passive Voice markers attached to the verb:
the auxiliaries be and get and the -en affix for the main verb.
b). the syntactic level, by a change in the position and status of the active Subject and
Object NP-s. Passivization thus appears as a syntactic process resulting in a
disturbance of the basic order of sentence constituents: it fronts the deep (active) Object
NP, concomitantly converting the deep (active) Subject NP into a Prepositional by
Object, which is placed in post-verbal position and becomes deletable under certain
circumstances.
c). the semantic level by a change in the relation between the underlying role-structure
of the sentence and its functional organization.
The agent role ceases to be 'central hero' of the sentence, its topic and, syntactically, its
Subject, while the patient (sufferer of the action and process) acquires precisely the
syntactic functions and becomes the protagonist of the sentence.
The Passive evinces some relevant aspects at the super sentence level, that of
Discourse or Text. By the changes it induces in the information structure of the sentence,
Passivization plays a special role in the thematic progress of the text. Besides, recourse to
passive rather than active sentences in a Text sequence frequently turns out to have some
peculiar rhetorical and stylistic effects.

The Traditional Approach


Traditional grammarians used to discuss the Passive as one of the manifestation of
the category of Voice (by 'Voice', traditionalists mean the linguistic expression of the
relation between the performer of the action and the action itself, or between this
performer <<agent>> and the recipient <<patient>> of the action). Syntactically, Voice
is centred on the relation between the Subject and the Object of the sentence.
Despite its important syntactic aspects, the Passive Voice was included into the
Morphology of Grammar, although the criteria and topics were not purely
morphological. One can find in Scholarly traditional Grammars the approach of the
following problems connected with the Passive:
=> the description of the change brought about by Passivization in semantico-
syntactic structure of the sentence in terms of a turning of the 'logical Object' of sentence
into its 'grammatical Subject' also called 'inverted Object'.
The logical Subject becomes a prepositional adjunct of the predicate labelled as
'inverted' or 'converted' Subject. By 'logical', they mean the functioning as Subject of the
sentence of the Noun expressing the performer of the action.
The traditional approach is still valuable for the intuition of the process-like
character of Passivization, as well as for the discussion of a very rich corpus of passive
contexts.

The Passive in Modern Linguistic Theory

In early GTG, the transition from active to passive sentences was an essential cue

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and proof to the theory itself. Passivization was described as a transformation that moves
about the NP constituents in a sentence and inserts the Preposition by and the passive
markers on the active V (be -en), all this without altering the semantic reading of the
sentence.

The Agentive by Phrase

Passive sentences have two surface realizations that differ by the presence/ absence
of the agentive by Phrase. The deep structure of these sentences is described as including
an (un)specified by NP which must or may be left out under certain conditions. In GT
models Passivization possibly includes a deletion nule which derives agentless passive
sentences.
1. In the BBC version, Hamlet was played by Derek Jacob.
2. The room has been cleaned (by the maid).
3. All my bills are paid (by me).
In the first sentence the agentive by Object is obligatory; the focus is on the very author
of the action. The second sentence is focused on a resultative activity without necessarily
requiring the expossion of its author in surface structure. In the third sentence, the
presence of the agentive by Phrase is redundant, making the whole string hardly
acceptable.

Agentive Passives
The marker of agency in present-day English is the preposition by, which also
surfaces in nominalized phrases of the form: the delivery of the message by an unknown
person. Other agentive prepositions used to compete with by in older English, among
which of, through, with and in.
The preposition of was the ordinary agency marker, while through and by were
used with an instrumental meaning. In present-day English, we still find some survivals
of the use of the above Prepositions Object. They are mostly characteristic of highly
literary style.
'OF' is used infrequently (and only in the above mentioned style) with some classes of
stative experience verbs (to be admired/ loved/ hated/ honoured/ understood of smb; to
be seen/ observed of smb). It is used in current English after born, when it indicates the
source of origin:
There was a boy born of our marriage eight months after I left you.
'WITH' occurs with a type of instrumental meaning in passive sentences:
The Minister was met with opposition.
'IN' has a quasi - agentive meaning
We were caught in the rain.
The chair was covered in black leather.
'FROM' may occur as a close alternative to by, indicating the source or origin.
We listened to a speech by/ from the Prime Minister.
'TO' is used with the verb to know:
She is known to me.

Agentless Passives
Language resorts to agentless sentences in the following main circumstances:

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1. In case the identity of the Agent is unknown to the speaker:
John was killed in the war (by an enemy/ in an ambuscade)
2. In case the Agent is indefinite; it may be generic or specific:
Pets are rarely ill-treated. (by people who keep them)
The lost pet was eventually found. (by a certain person)
3. When the Agent is not relevant for the topic which is being discussed.
Has the doctor been sent for?
4. When the speaker feels no need to name the Agent because it is very well known (it
being implicitly or explicitly present in the discourse).
Eventually, the thieves were caught and severely punished.
5. In case the speaker does not wish to name the Agent.
A confidential plan has been recently entrusted to me.

=> With get + Past Participle


The little boy got hurt on his way school.

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