[Marjolijn Verspoor] English Sentence Analysis An PDF

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English Sentence Analysis English Sentence Analysis An Introductory Course Marjolijn Verspoor and Kim Sauter University of Groningen John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam / Philadelphia TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National 8 Standard for In...

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English Sentence Analysis

English Sentence Analysis An Introductory Course Marjolijn Verspoor and Kim Sauter University of Groningen

John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam / Philadelphia

8

TM

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.

Design by Françoise Berserik

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Verspoor, Marjolijn. English sentence analysis : an introductory course / Marjolijn Verspoor and Kim Sauter. p. cm. 1. English language--Sentences. 2. English language-Syntax. I. Sauter, Kim. II. Title. pe 1441.v47

2000

428.2--dc21

00-034227

isbn 978 90 272 2566 5 (Eur.) / 978 1 5519 661 4 (us) (alk. paper) © 2000 – John Benjamins B.V. 12 11 10 09 08 07

10 9 8 7 6 5 4

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, micro¼lm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. John Benjamins Publishing Company · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa

Installing the Practice Program

The Practice Program CD-Rom runs on Windows 95/98/2000/NT/XP/Vista (and Windows 3.1, see CD-Rom for instructions). To start using the Practice Program, you must install it on your hard disk as follows: 1

Click SETUP.EXE from the CD Rom-drive (usually Drive D).

2

Click on Next on the page with the English Sentence Analysis logo.

3

Click on Next on the Welcome screen.

4

Read the licence agreement carefully; select I acccept the terms in the license agreement and click on Next.

5

Click on Next on the Support screen.

6

On the next screen, accept the folder in which the program is installed. (The Practice Program is installed by default in the folder C:\HOLOGRAM.)

warning If you must change the default directory avoid a long ¼le name, such as C:\PROGRAM FILES\HOLOGRAM. It won’t work. 7

The program is now installed and has automatically added two icons to the Windows Start menu.

8

starting up Click Start on the Windows Start menu on the left-hand bottom of your screen. Then point to Programs º Hologram º English Sentence Analysis.

5

Installing the Practice Program

9

Enter your name to identify yourself to the Practice Program. Your name can be no longer than 20 characters. (If your teacher wants you to report results, be sure to use a name your instructor recognizes.)

10 Click Yes on the question Are you a new user? Keep using the same name every time you enter the program as the program saves your results under that name. (If you want, though, you can enter a new name and start doing the exercises all over. You can enter up to three di¬erent names.) hardware specifications Processor Intel 80486/66 MHz or better (Pentium 100 MHz or better recommended). 8 Mb internal memory (16 Mb or more recommended). 20 Mb free disk space. Graphic card with 16 colors or more. Screen resolution of 800

600 pixels or more.

restrictions on use You are granted a limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable licence to use this CD-Rom on a single workstation. You may print out selected data or copy it to a computer disk exclusively for your own personal use. You may only copy the software in accordance with the installation procedures supplied (above), and you may not alter the software in any way. By using this CD-Rom you accept the terms and conditions of the Licence Agreement. no liability for consequential damages In no event shall the Copyright owner or its suppliers be liable for any damage whatsoever arising out of the use of or inability to use this product. In any case, the Copyright owner’s entire liability under any provision of this agreement shall be limited to the amount actually paid by you for the software. support For comments and queries, write to [email protected] Make sure you put ESA in the subject line. Website: http://www.benjamins.com/jbp/esa

6

Installing the Practice Program

Table of contents

List of tables

12

Acknowledgements Introduction

13

14

Chapter 1 Sentences: Communicative functions and typical patterns 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

1.6 1.7 1.8

Introduction 16 Declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentence patterns Participants, process, attributes, and setting 18 Subject, predicator, object, attribute, and adverbial 21 Typical sentence patterns 23 1

The running pattern (intransitive verbs)

2

The being pattern (copula verbs)

3

The doing/seeing pattern (monotransitive verbs)

4

The giving/buying pattern (ditransitive verbs)

5

The making/considering pattern (complex-transitive verbs)

Same verb, di¬erent patterns English word order 30 Summary 31

7

Table of contents

24

25

28

26 26 27

16

Chapter 2 Sentences: Simple, compound and complex 2.1 2.2 2.3

2.4 2.5

Introduction 33 Sentences versus clauses Sentence types 35

34

1

Simple sentences

35

2

Compound sentences

3

Complex sentences

4

Compound-complex sentences

36 37 42

Phrases 44 Summary 45 Chapter 3 Verbs I

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

3.5

3.6 3.7

Introduction 46 Simple versus complex verb phrases 47 Lexical versus auxiliary verbs 48 Finite versus non-¼nite verb forms 48 1

Finite verb forms

2

Non-¼nite verb forms

Auxiliary verbs

49 50

53

1

Progressive be + present participle

2

Perfect have + past participle

3

Modals + (to) in¼nitives

4

Passive be + past participle

5

Do for questions, negation and emphasis

6

Ordering of auxiliary verbs

54

54

55 57

One form, several senses: be, have and do Summary 61

8

Table of contents

57

58

60

Chapter 4 Verbs I I 4.1 4.2

4.3

4.4 4.5

4.6 4.7 4.8

Introduction 64 Sub-types of lexical verbs 1

Intransitive verbs

2

Copula verbs

3

Transitive verbs

65

65 65

Sub-types of transitive verbs 1

Monotransitive verbs

2

Ditransitive verbs

3

Complex-transitive verbs

67

67

67 67

Direct object forms 69 Passive constructions 72 1

Ditransitive verbs and passive constructions

2

Complex-transitive verbs and passive constructions

3

Non-¼nite clauses and passive constructions

4

Past participles as adjectives

73 73

74

77

Identifying type of lexical verbs in complex sentences Multi-word verbs 80 Summary 83 Chapter 5 Word classes

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6

64

Introduction 86 Nouns 88 Verbs 91 Adjectives 92 Adverbs 92 Pronouns 95 1

Personal pronouns

2

Possessive pronouns

9

Table of contents

96 96

78

5.7 5.8

3

Relative pronouns

4

Interrogative pronouns

96

5

Demonstrative pronouns

6

Re½exive pronouns

7

Reciprocal pronouns

8

Inde¼nite pronouns

9

So

97 97

98 98 98

99

Numerals and articles Connectors 101 1

Coordinators

2

Subordinators

3

Prepositions

99

101 104 109

5.9 Interjections 112 5.10 Summary 113 Chapter 6 Phrases 6.1 6.2

6.3

6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9

Introduction 118 Noun phrases 120 1

Determiners

122

2

Specifying versus classifying genitives

Post-modi¼ers of nouns

123

125

1

Restrictive versus non-restrictive post-modi¼ers

2

Relative pronouns

3

Ellipsis in relative clauses

129

Verb phrases 135 Adjective phrases 137 Adverb phrases 139 Prepositional phrases 141 Functions of phrases 143 Summary 147

10

Table of contents

133

126

Chapter 7 Sentence constituents realized as clauses 7.1 7.2

7.3 7.4

7.5

Introduction 151 Subjects, objects, and attributes

154

1

Finite clauses

154

2

Non-¼nite clauses

3

Extraposed subject or object clauses

Adverbials 162 Punctuation marks

156 161

165

1

Punctuation of compound structures

2

Punctuating sentence/clause constituents

Summary

165 166

169

Chapter 8 How to analyze sentences at all levels 8.1 8.2

8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7

Introduction 171 How to analyze non-canonical constructions 1

Passive constructions

2

Extraposed constructions

3

Ellipsis

4

Existential constructions with there

5

Cleft constructions

171

172 173

174 176

177

How to go about analyzing long and complex sentences 180 How to go about analyzing long and complex noun phrases 182 How to go about analyzing sentences at di¬erent levels 189 Analyzing sentences at di¬erent levels on your own 195 Summary 201

Key to the exercises

203

Users’ Guide to the Practice Program Index

242 11

Table of contents

234

List of tables

Table 01 Roles and functions of sentence constituents

21

02 Copula verbs (verbs used in the being pattern)

25

03 Sentence constituents: A complete overview 04 Coordinators

32

36

05 Finite verb forms

50

06 Non-¼nite verb forms

51

07 Basic verb forms of regular and irregular verbs 08 Auxiliary versus lexical verbs

52

61

09 Verb forms: A complete overview

61

10 Auxiliary verbs: A complete overview

62

11 Ordering of auxiliaries and lexical verb in the verb phrase 12 Multi-word verbs

81

13 Types of lexical verbs

83

14 Passive constructions

84

15 Analyzing conventionalized passive constructions 16 ‘Open’ versus ‘closed’ word classes 17 Open word classes

85

88

113

18 Pronouns, articles, and numerals 19 Connectors

63

114

115

20 Prepositions, subordinators, coordinators, and conjunctive adverbs 21 Types of phrases 22 Noun Phrase

119

147

23 Adjective phrase 24 Adverb Phrase

148 148

25 Prepositional phrase 26 Verb phrase

149

149

27 Distinguishing sentences, clauses and phrases 28 Review of typical sentence patterns

12

List of tables

172

170

116

Acknowledgements

Many thanks are due… To our students at Groningen University Who endured and worked through Earlier versions of this course patiently; To Elly van Gelderen and Hans Jansen for their corrections And Marieke Rijpma for reformatting time Spent on the Course Book’s many sections; To Paul van Linde, Irene Visser, Allan Wilcox for prose and rhyme; To Sake Jager, whose electronic creation Formed the basis of the virtual publication; To programmer André Rosendaal for busting bugs In the Practice Program and not pulling the plugs; To all those authors we quoted eclectically; and ¼nally, To the Arts Faculty of Groningen University and John Benjamins Publishing Company. Marjolijn Verspoor (author of the Course Book) Kim Sauter (author of the Practice Program)

13

Acknowledgements

Introduction

English Sentence Analysis consists of a text book and a supporting interactive practice program. It is an introduction to English syntax for students at the university level majoring in English literature or linguistics or another language related ¼eld who are not familiar with syntactic terms and analyses. The course prepares not only for more theoretical courses in syntactic argumentation but also for practical courses such as grammar and writing. The main purpose of English Sentence Analysis is to make students aware of di¬erent levels of analysis at the sentence, clause and phrase level. It is also meant to make students familiar with traditional terminology for sentence constituents such as subject, predicate, and direct object; word classes such as noun, verb, adjective; and phrase constituents such as head, premodi¼er, postmodi¼ers. The material is meant for a classroom-taught introductory course of about 10 weeks, but students may also use it as a self-study guide. Because the chapters are incrementally ordered, they are meant to be dealt with in sequence. Each chapter contains a few exercises to help see whether the material is understood. The answers to these exercises are in the back of the book. More exercises are available on the CD. Each chapter of the Practice Program has about 100 exercises with feedback, presented in two or three sets. One set may take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours depending on the level of the student. If the student scores less than 80% on a set, he or she is presented with a completely new set. Should the student still not score adequately, he or she is presented with random sets made up of previously presented material. The Practice Program also contains theory modules linked to the exercises, and feedback.

14

Introduction

How to use English Sentence Analysis English Sentence Analysis consists of a textbook and an exercise program. For best results, you should proceed as follows: – –

First read and study a book chapter and do the exercises. Check your answers in the back of the book. Once you understand the terms and concepts, do the exercises.

Even though you may be tempted to start the exercises on the computer and expect to learn by going through the program, we have found that this does not work e¬ectively nor e~ciently. The exercises are meant to help you practice that what you already understand. – –

If you do not understand why an answer is incorrect (or correct), you can get feedback, and you can read the information in the theory module. The Practice Program keeps a record of all your attempts, so you can leave and reenter the program whenever you want and determine your own pace.

Instructions for installing the CD on your computer and sending results to your teacher are in the Users’ Guide (pp. 220–228) and in the Practice Program itself.

15

Introduction

1 Sentences Communicative functions and typical patterns

1.1

Introduction If we want to describe the English language, we ¼rst have to decide which type of language we are going to focus on. Not only are there hundreds of di¬erent English dialects all over the world, even within dialects there are varieties, ranging from substandard and slang to informal and formal ones, which in turn may be spoken or written. In this book, we will concentrate mainly on a rather formal, standard, written variety, not only because this is the variety that we will come across most in academic books and articles, but especially because it is more carefully thought about before put on paper and therefore does not show the kinds of gaps and un¼nished sentences that may occur in spoken language. Another reason is that a more formal written variety often contains sentences that are longer and are therefore more complex than spoken sentences. Actually, many of the exercises in this book contain passages from famous authors, who are known to be especially creative in their sentence use. In the Practice Program you will also ¼nd ‘real’ examples from ¼ction and popsongs. In this chapter, we will ¼rst take a look at sentences in general to narrow down our object of analysis, then we will introduce you to the basic constituents of a sentence, and ¼nally we will show you how these may or may not be combined in typical sentence patterns.

1.2

Declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentence patterns When people communicate, they do so for various reasons; the four main reasons are: 16

Sentences: Communicative functions and typical patterns

to inform someone of something to get information from someone to get someone to do something to express one’s attitude about something Each of these communicative functions has a typical sentence pattern: John is leaving. Is John leaving? Leave! How awful John is leaving! What a shock John is leaving!

These patterns have the following syntactic characteristics: subject–whole verb part of verb–subject–rest of verb verb by itself How … or What a … followed by remainder of sentence These sentence types with these patterns are named as follows: declarative interrogative imperative exclamatory If you were to look at any large body of written text, you would ¼nd that most sentences are informative and will have the declarative sentence pattern. That is why we will concentrate mostly on those, but note that almost any linguistic sign (including a typical sentence pattern) may have more than one sense. For sentence types this means that in the right context, with the right intonation, a sentence type may very well be used to express a di¬erent communicative function.

17

1.2 Declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentence patterns

exercise 1

Say the words “John is leaving” in such a way that it expresses the following communicative functions: 1 2 3 4

informing asking for information getting someone to do something expressing feeling/attitude

Exercise 1 is based on the fact that the same declarative pattern can have di¬erent communicative functions. In this book we will take the stand that we will analyze the forms of the sentences as they are presented to us; so even though “John is leaving?” has the function of a question, its form still has the declarative pattern. In this course, we will name such a sentence by its grammatical form, not its communicative ...