SYNTAX - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 42
About This Presentation
Title:

SYNTAX

Description:

I'll see you on Friday but all of us will be keeping our fingers crossed. The phrase level ... 3. 1. Eat five portions everyday. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:131
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 43
Provided by: uni67
Category:
Tags: syntax | fingers | five | shoes

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: SYNTAX


1
SYNTAX
Corso diLingua Inglese 1
M. De Meo M. Cordisco
Fisciano - SA 26 - 28 novembre 2007
2
  • The study of the rules governing the way words
    are combined to form SENTENCES
  • If we take any sentence of English, it is clear
    that the words are arranged in a specific order.
  • To change the word order is to alter the meaning.

3
WORD ORDER
  • The term word order is used to refer to the
    order of elements in a sentence.
  • Affirmative sentences
  • subjectverbobjectother information.
  • Someboby stole my car.
  • Questions
  • auxiliary verbsubjectmain verb other
    information
  • Did you speak to him?

4
  • THE right TERMINOLOGY
  • ? When we consider a sentence, the smallest
    elements are represented by a word. There are two
    types of words
  • - lexical words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives,
    adverbs.
  • function words such as articles, demonstratives,
    quantifiers, auxiliary verbs, prepositions,
    conjunctions, pronouns.

5
Look at the following conversation
  • A Coffee?
  • B Please.
  • A Milk? Sugar?
  • B No milk. One sugar? Thanks.
  • A Toast?
  • B No Thanks.
  • A Juice?
  • B Mmm.

6
  • Now, can you develop the conversation using
    sentences? Try to use as much syntax as possible.
  • In pairs

7
Something like this
  • A Would you like some of this coffee?
  • B Yes, I would like some of that coffee, please.
  • A Do you take milk? Do you take sugar?
  • B I dont take milk, but I will take one sugar,
    thanks.
  • A Would you like some of this toast?
  • B Id prefer not to have any of that toast,
    thanks.
  • A Can I offer you some of this juice?
  • B Yes, I would like some of that juice

8
  • ? A sentence can be divided in smaller units and
    therefore considered at different levels such as
  • clause level and phrase level

9
The clause level
  • If you cant wait any longer, just give her a
    call.
  • Ill see you on Friday but all of us will be
    keeping our fingers crossed.

10
The phrase level
  • Noun phrases can contain one or more words.
  • A rather old woman walked into my office
    yesterday.
  • woman headword
  • a rather old pre-modifier
  • His recent book on global capitalism was a big
    success.
  • his recent pre-modifier
  • book headword
  • on global capitalism post-modifier

11
Complex noun phrases can include subordinate
clauses.
  • The woman I told you about yesterday is coming
    now.

12
Noun modifiers and number
  • Many common ideas in English are expressed with a
    noun noun compound. In this structure the first
    noun describes or modifies the second.
  • Milk chocolate (a kind of chocolate)
  • A horse race (a kind of race)
  • The airport bus (a bus that goes to the airport)
  • Noun modifiers remain singular
  • Shoe polish (polish for shoes)

13
  • However we can only say
  • A feeling of disappointment (NOT a disappointment
    feeling)
  • Cows milk (NOT cow milk)

14
Verb phrases can consist of
  • a single word main verb
  • a multiword main verb
  • one or more auxiliary verbs and a main verb
  • two main verbs
  • listen
  • stood up
  • has been waiting
  • went to speak

15
Preposition phrases are groups of words that
begin with a preposition and contain a noun
phrase.
  • on
  • with
  • Noun phrase
  • the corner
  • many additional features

16
Adjective phrases contain an adjective, which may
follow one or more other adverbs.
  • not very old
  • really quite glamorous

17
Adverb phrases contain an adverb, which may
follow one or more other adverbs.
  • rather unwisely
  • only once

18
Adjectives
  • There are two tips of words which can modify
    nouns.
  • Classifiers are nouns or adjectives that tell us
    what type something is (e.g. a kitchen table, a
    wooden table.)
  • Describers are adjectives which tell us about the
    quality/or the writers opinion (a large towel, a
    nice sofa.
  • Describers come before classifiers (e.g. a large
    wooden table)

19
  • Fact adjectives (they give us factual information
    about age, size, colour etc.)
  • Opinion adjectives (they tell us what somebody
    thinks of something or somebody)
  • A nice long summer holiday

20
When we use more than one fact adjective
  • Opinion before size before age before shape
    before colour.
  • An interesting old film
  • A big yellow truck
  • A long narrow street

21
The order of adjectives
  • 1º opinion (beautiful, important)
  • 2º size (small, tiny)
  • 3º age (old, new)
  • 4º participle (ruined, used)
  • 5º shape (round, flat)
  • 6º colour (red, white)
  • 7º substance (wooden, silky)
  • I bought a wonderful big new red house.

22
1. Ads
Matching them up
  • Delightful country house hotel
  • Unique four-bedroom lodge set in own grounds
  • Lightweight cross-training shoe
  • Attractive, fun-loving male seeks
  • Air-conditioned rooms
  • Slightly balding but fit and active divorcee
    seeks
  • With private lake frontage and jetty.
  • Independent-minded, mid-twenties partner
  • Sport-loving, energetic companion
  • With dual-density midsole.
  • With private bath and WC.
  • With log fires and oak beams.

23
2. Adverbs Learning the rules by finding examples
  • RULES
  • A) adverbs of manner usually come after the verb
  • B) sentence adverbs are often the first word in
    the sentence
  • C) adverbs of place and adverb phrases usually
    come after the verb
  • D) Adverbs of frequency usually come before the
    main verb
  • EXAMPLES
  • Unfortunately, Rosie did not get to the station
    in time
  • When I was a boy, I would often sit and listen to
    my parents talking until late at night.
  • A large white mouse sat under the table
  • James Bond looked carefully round the room.

24
  • Adv of manner (carefully)gt after the verb
  • Adv of place (here) gt after the verb
  • Adv of time (soon)gt beginning or end of sentence
  • Adv of frequency (often) gt before the main verb
    but after to be
  • Adv of degree (hardly) gt before the adj or adv
    they modify
  • Sentence adv (actually)gt usually the first word
    in the sentene
  • THE MOST USUAL ORDER IS
  • MANNER , PLACE and TIME

25
The order of multiple pre-modifiers
  • Adverb adjective headword
  • A really hot day
  • Adjective noun headword
  • Thick winter coat
  • Adjective adjective headword
  • Major industrial nation
  • (descriptors before classifiers)
  • Clear blue eyes
  • (colour adjectives follow the other adjectives)

26
Pre-modification
  • Nouns can be modified by subordinate clauses, as
    in We visited their house, which is charming.
    Alternatively, one can write
  • We visited their charming house

27
Premodification can be accomplished by many
means
  • Adjective. We visited their delightful house.
  • Participles. We visited their decayed house.
  • -s genitive. We visited their fisherman's house.
  • Noun. We visited their country house.
  • Adverbial. We visited their far-away house.
  • Sentence. We visited their pop-down-for-the-weeken
    d house.

28
Premodification of nouns by nouns
  • The book is on the table in the corner becomes
  • The book is on the corner table (because the
    table is relatively immobile)
  • whereas
  • The girl in the corner has the book
  • Cannot be changes

29
Try your new knowledge! Rewrite the following
sentences...if you think you should.
  • 1. The instrument in the lab doesn't work.
  • 2. The professor in the lab doesn't work.
  • 3. The windows in the corner are cracked.

30
  • 1. The instrument in the lab doesn't work. The
    lab instrument doesn't work.
  • 2. The professor in the lab doesn't work.
  • 3. The windows in the corner are cracked. The
    corner windows are cracked.

31
3. Magazine headlines
  • Find and correct the mistakes
  • 1. Fresh fruit and vegetables are good for you.
    Eat everyday five portions.
  • 2. Tv comic takes on holiday famous model but
    who is she?
  • 3. Rock legend invites to his wedding five
    hundred guests!
  • 4. City council builds up opposite the school a
    new leisure centre.
  • 5. Boy, 8, finds in the garden a tarantula.

32
4. Choose the most natural word order
  • She quietly was talking on the phone in her
    office.
  • She was talking on the phone quietly in her
    office.
  • She was talking quietly in her office on the
    phone.
  • She was talking quietly on the phone in her
    office.
  • The new computer system very badly worked at
    first.
  • The new computer system worked at first very
    badly.
  • Very badly the new computer system worked at
    first.
  • The new computer system worked very badly at
    first.

33
  • He organizes always everybody very well.
  • He always organizes everybody very well.
  • He always very well organizes everybody.
  • He always organizes very well everybody.
  • They should repair it tomorrow quickly.
  • They should tomorrow repair it quickly.
  • They should repair it quickly tomorrow.
  • They quickly should repair it tomorrow.

34
Answer key
  • 1. a) 6, b) 1, c) 4, d) 2, e) 5, f) 3
  • 2. A4, B1, C3, D2
  • 3. 1. Eat five portions everyday. 2. TV comic
    takes famous model on holiday, 3. Rock legend
    invites 500 guests to his wedding, 4. City
    council buils up a new leasure centre opposite
    the school, 5. Boy, 8, finds a tarantula in the
    garden.
  • 4. D, D, B, C

35
Generative grammar
  • Noam Chomsky
  • I will consider a language to be a set (finite
    or infinite) of sentences
  • Attempts to produce a particular type of grammar
    which would have a very explicit system of rules
    specifying what combinations of basic elements
    would result in well-formed sentences.

36
  • weekend going am to I next disco the
  • going am I I am going (or am I going?)
  • the to disco to the disco
  • weekend next next weekend

37
  • Sentences are made up of individual groups of
    words which form patterns with other groups of
    words.
  • The basic grammatical pattern provides a
    structural frame within and across which there
    are changing partnerships of words.

38
grammaticization
39
Look at the following sentences
  • 1. Foot passengers jostled one anothers umbrella
    and lost their foothold at street corners.
  • 2. Foot passengers jostling one anothers
    umbrella and losing their foothold at street
    corners.

40
  • 1. the main finite verb provides a kind of anchor
    to the action.
  • 2. Here you are left suspended, knowing that the
    action is ongoing but still waiting for the main
    verb

41
  • 1. a finite verb is a verb which tells you when
    something happened (past or present)
  • 2. a non-finite verb (-ing, been and be) refers
    to any number, tense or person.

42
  • Talk of genetically enhancing human intelligence
    is nonsense.
  • It is foolish to talk of the genetic
    ___________ of human intelligence.
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com