Advanced Syntax

1
Advanced Syntax

• Course Outline

2
introduction

• In this course we will be
• Laying a more theoretical ground for
  understanding syntactic phenomena in English
• Going back over areas we have already looked at
• Specifically looking at ideas and material which
  we glossed over or completely ignored
• Introducing some new areas

3
Theoretical Development

• There will be three lectures which introduce
  theoretical apparatus which will help us to come
  to terms with the more complex aspects of English
  syntax
• Lecture 1 Trace theory
• What gets left behind when something moves
• Lecture 2 Constraints
• What prevents anything moving anywhere
• Lecture 3 Case theory
• Why can some DPs occupy some positions

4
Re-covering old ground the VP

• There will be three lectures in which we take a
  more detailed look at the structure of the VP
• Lecture 4 Double objects and datives
• Lecture 5 Prepositional and phrasal verbs
• Lecture 6 Verbs with clausal complements

5
Re-covering old ground the IP

• There will be two lectures in which we look at
  some more complex issues in the structure of the
  basic clause
• Lecture 7 Tense and negation
• Lecture 8 The position of Adverbs

6
News Stuff

• There will be three lectures in which we
  introduce material that we have not yet covered
• Lecture 9 The gerund
• Lecture 10 The front end of the clause
• Lecture 11 Pronoun reference

7
Conclusion

• In the final lecture we will introduce the notion
  of Universal Grammar and show how English is just
  one of the possible ways in which human language
  can be realised
• We will also point out that all languages are
  related to each other and when looked at at the
  right level, they are not so different
• Finally we will broach the question of how we
  learn language

8
Revision and Exam

• In the final session we will revise the course
  and go through a number of sample exam questions
  so that you know what to expect