SYNTAX

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SYNTAX
Corso diLingua Inglese 1
M. De Meo M. Cordisco
Fisciano - SA 26 - 28 novembre 2007
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• 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.

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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?

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• 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.

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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.

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

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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

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

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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.

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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

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Complex noun phrases can include subordinate
clauses.

• The woman I told you about yesterday is coming
  now.

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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)

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

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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

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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

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Adjective phrases contain an adjective, which may
follow one or more other adverbs.

• not very old
• really quite glamorous

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Adverb phrases contain an adverb, which may
follow one or more other adverbs.

• rather unwisely
• only once

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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)

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• 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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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• 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

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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)

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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• 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.

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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.

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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.

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• 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.

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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

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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.

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• 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

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• 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.

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grammaticization
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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.

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• 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

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• 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.

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• Talk of genetically enhancing human intelligence
  is nonsense.
• It is foolish to talk of the genetic
  ___________ of human intelligence.