English Syntax

ÑAÏI HOÏC QUOÁC GIA THAØNH PHOÁ HOÀ CHÍ MINH

TRÖÔØNG ÑAÏI HOÏC KHOA HOÏC XAÕ HOÄI & NHAÂN VAÊN

Toâ Minh Thanh

TAØI LIEÄU OÂN THI

TUYEÅN SINH SAU ÑAÏI HOÏC CHUYEÂN NGAØNH Giaûng daïy tieáng Anh

(Taùi baûn laàn thöù nhaát, coù chænh söûa)

NHAØ XUAÁT BAÛN ÑAÏI HOÏC QUOÁC GIA

TP HOÀ CHÍ MINH – 2008

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CONTENTS

Content................................................................................................................................ i

Preface.............................................................................................................................. vii

Outline for revision............................................................................................................ ix

Table of notational symbols ........................................................................................... xii

Section one: WORD CLASSES

1 Parts of speech, word classes and grammatical categories ............................... 1

2 Classification of word classes ......................................................................... 2

2.1 Major classes vs. minor classes ................................................................... 2

2.2 English major classes ................................................................................... 3

2.2.1 English form classes ...................................................................... 4

2.2.2 English positional classes .............................................................. 6

2.3 English minor classes ................................................................................. 10

2.4 Word-class exercises ............................................................................... 10

2.4.1 Exercises for form classes........................................................... 10

2.4.2 Exercises for positional classes ................................................... 12

Section two: TYPES of PHRASES, CLAUSES and SENTENCES

3 Phrases vs. clauses............................................................................................... 15

4 Adjective phrases vs. adverb phrases ............................................................... 15

5 Attributive vs. predicative adjectives/adjective phrases .................................. 17

6 Noun phrases vs. verb phrases ........................................................................... 18

7 The N-bar (N’) as a level of NP-structure that is intermediate

between the phrasal (NP) level and the lexical (N) level ................................ 20

8 Types of pre-nominal modifiers........................................................................... 21

8.1 Determiners .............................................................................................. 21

8.2 Quanyifying adjectives ............................................................................. 23

8.3 Adjective phrases ..................................................................................... 26

8.4 Pre-modifying nouns .................................................................................. 27

8.5 Possessive common nouns ......................................................................... 28

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8.6 Verb participles ........................................................................................ 29

8.7 Gerunds ..................................................................................................... 30

8.8 Restricters ................................................................................................ 31

9 Types of post-nominal modifiers......................................................................... 32

9.1 Prepositional phrases ................................................................................. 32

9.2 Adjective phrases ...................................................................................... 33

9.3 Participial phrases ..................................................................................... 35

9.4 Infinitive phrases ...................................................................................... 35

9.5 Subordinate adjective clauses .................................................................. 36

10 Noun complements vs. optional post-nominal modifiers .................................. 36

11 Classification of English verbs/verb phrases ................................................... 38

11.1 Intensive verbs/verb phrases ................................................................. 39

11.2 Complex transitive verbs/verb phrases .................................................. 40

11.3 Ditransitive verbs/verb phrases ............................................................. 43

11.4 Monotransitive verbs/verb phrases ........................................................ 47

11.5 Prepositional verbs/verb phrases ........................................................... 51

11.5.1 Monotransitive Prepositional verbs/verb phrases ................... 51

11.5.2 Ditransitive Prepositional verbs/verb phrases ........................ 53

11.6 Intransitive verbs/verb phrases ............................................................. 55

11.7 Summary of the classification of English verbs/verb phrases ............. 57

11.8 Troublesome verbs ................................................................................... 59

12 Types of clause links .......................................................................................... 61

13 Types of clauses ................................................................................................. 62

13.1 Finite clauses vs. non-finite clauses ........................................................ 62

13.2 Independent clauses vs. dependent clauses ........................................... 63

13.3 Subordinate clauses vs. embedded clauses ............................................ 64

14 Covert subjects vs. overt subjects .................................................................. 66

15 Types of finite dependent clauses .................................................................... 67

15.1 Nonimal clauses ........................................................................................ 67

15.2 Relative clauses ........................................................................................ 67

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15.3 Adverbial clauses ..................................................................................... 68

15.4 Reporting clauses ..................................................................................... 68

15.5 Comment clauses ...................................................................................... 68

16 Types of non-finite clauses .............................................................................. 69

16.1 Infinitive non-finite clauses .................................................................... 69

16.2 Gerund non-finite clauses ........................................................................ 69

16.3 Participial non-finite clauses ................................................................... 70

16.4 Verbless clauses ....................................................................................... 71

17 Classification of sentences according to their structures ............................. 71

17.1 Simple sentences ...................................................................................... 71

17.2 Compound sentences ................................................................................ 72

17.3 Complex sentences ................................................................................... 72

17.3.1 Embedded nominal clauses .............................................................. 73

17.3.1.1 As the subject ...................................................................... 73

17.3.1.2 As the direct object/the predicator complement ............ 78

17.3.1.3 As the indirect object ........................................................ 89

17.3.1.4 As the subject(ive) complement .......................................... 90

17.3.1.5 As the object(ive) complement ........................................... 91

17.3.1.6 As the complement of a preposition .................................... 94

17.3.2 Subordinate/embedded adjectival clauses .................................... 95

17.3.3 Subordinate/embedded adverbial clauses ..................................... 96

17.4 Compound-Complex sentences ................................................................. 97

Section three: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS

18 Structure .......................................................................................................... 99

19 Endocentric structures vs. exocentric structures ...................................... 99

20 Types of syntactic structures ........................................................................ 100

20.1 Structures of modification ................................................................... 100

20.2 Structures of complementation ............................................................ 101

20.3 Structures of coordination .................................................................... 101

20.4 Structures of predication ..................................................................... 103

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21 Constructions vs. constituents ........................................................................ 104

22 Immediate constituents vs. ultimate constituents ........................................ 104

23 Immediate constituents of a sentence ........................................................... 105

24 Intervening level of organization between word and sentence ..................... 106

25 Modifiers vs. complements............................................................................... 106

26 Types of adjective complements ...................................................................... 108

27 Pre-adjectival modifiers vs. post-adjectival modifiers ................................. 108

28 Adjective complements vs. optional post-adjectival modifiers .................... 109

29 Classification of English adjectives according to their post-modifiers............ 111

30 Types of adverbial adjuncts ............................................................................. 112

31 Noun phrase analyses ....................................................................................... 123

32 Mis-diagraming.................................................................................................. 125

33 Structural ambiguity in English noun phrases ................................................. 126

33.1 Define a structurally ambiguous noun phrase .......................................... 126

33.2 Explain structurally ambiguous noun phrases ........................................... 128

33.3 Disambiguate structurally ambiguous noun phrases................................. 134

33.4 Account for structurally non-ambiguous noun phrases ........................... 138

34 Verb phrase analyses.................................................................................. 140

34.1 Noun phrases as the sP/sC of an intensive verb or as the dO of

a monotransitive verb ............................................................................. 140

34.2 NP direct objects of a monotransitive verb or NP adverbial

adjuncts of an intransitive verb.............................................................. 141

34.3 Prepositional phrases as the sP/sC of an intensive verb or as

the optional adverbial adjunct of any verb ............................................ 142

34.4 IntransVAC vs. intransV—Adv .............................................................. 143

34.5 MonotransVAC—NP vs. intransV—PP .................................................... 144

34.6 MonotransVAC—NP vs. monotrans-prepV—prepO ............................... 146

35 Sentence analyses ....................................................................................... 147

35.1 Identify the syntactic function of a PP ................................................... 147

35.2 Decide whether a PP is part of the complementation of a

ditransitive verb ..................................................................................... 148

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35.3 Explain the difference between two sentences ...................................... 151

35.4 Re-analyse sentence pairs, using tree-diagrams .................................. 154

36 Structural ambiguity in English verb phrases ................................................ 157

37 Phrase structure............................................................................................... 162

37.1 Definition ................................................................................................. 162

37.2 How to determine phrase structure? ..................................................... 162

37.2.1 Substitution .............................................................................. 162

37.2.2 Conjoinability ............................................................................. 165

37.2.3 Movement .................................................................................. 166

37.2.4 Checking the antecedent for a pro-form ................................ 167

37.3 Phrase structure exercises .................................................................... 167

38 Phrase structure rules ..................................................................................... 170

39 Surface structures vs. deep structures ......................................................... 172

40 Signals of syntactic structures ....................................................................... 174

40.1 Word order .............................................................................................. 174

40.2 Function words ......................................................................................... 174

40.3 Inflection ................................................................................................. 175

40.4 Derivational contrast .............................................................................. 176

40.5 Prosody .................................................................................................... 176

41 What is syntax? ............................................................................................... 177

Section four: SAMPLE TESTS IN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS ................................178

Bibliography ...................................................................................................197

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LÔØI NOÙI ÑAÀU

Thöïc teá laø khoâng phaûi saùch ngoân ngöõ cuûa taùc giaû ngöôøi nöôùc ngoaøi naøo

cuõng ñaùp öùng ñuùng vaø ñuû noäi dung oân taäp thi tuyeån sinh sau ñaïi hoïc chuyeân

ngaønh Giaûng daïy tieáng Anh (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

theo quy ñònh cuûa Tröôøng Ñaïi hoïc Khoa hoïc Xaõ hoäi vaø Nhaân vaên, thuoäc Ñaïi

hoïc Quoác gia Thaønh phoá Hoà Chí Minh. Taøi lieäu naøy ra ñôøi nhaèm ñaùp öùng nhu

caàu oân taäp thi tuyeån sinh sau ñaïi hoïc cho moân Ngöõ hoïc trong chuyeân ngaønh

neâu treân.

Ñeå giuùp caùc ñoái töôïng döï thi laøm quen vaø chuaån bò toát cho kyø thi cuûa

mình, taøi lieäu naøy (1) bao goàm nhöõng troïng ñieåm theo ñuùng qui ñònh veà noäi

dung oân taäp cuûa Ñeà cöông oân taäp Cuù phaùp cho kyø thi tuyeån sinh sau ñaïi hoïc

chuyeân ngaønh Giaûng daïy tieáng Anh vaø (2) ñöôïc trình baøy thaønh boán phaàn:

Phaàn 1: Caùc töø loaïi (Word Classes)

Phaàn 2: Caùc loaïi ngöõ, cuù vaø caâu (Types of phrases, clauses and

sentences)

Phaàn 3: Caùc moái quan heä ngöõ phaùp (Grammatical relations)

Phaàn 4: Moät soá ñeà thi vaø ñaùp aùn ñaõ thöïc teá ñöôïc duøng trong caùc kyø thi gaàn

ñaây.

Taøi lieäu naøy cuõng coù theå naèm trong thö muïc saùch tham khaûo giuùp sinh

vieân heä taïi chöùc vaø heä chính quy baèng 1 vaø baèng 2 cuûa chuyeân ngaønh Ngöõ

vaên Anh hoïc thaønh coâng moân Syntax trong chöông trình chính khoùa cuûa caùc

heä ñaøo taïo ñaïi hoïc naøy. Ngoaøi ra, caùc hoïc vieân cao hoïc chuyeân ngaønh Giaûng

daïy tieáng Anh vaø caùc thaày coâ cuûa khoùa Boài döôõng giaùo vieân taïi Tröôøng Ñaïi

hoïc Khoa hoïc Xaõ hoäi vaø Nhaân vaên, thuoäc Ñaïi hoïc Quoác gia Thaønh phoá Hoà Chí

Minh cuõng coù theå tham khaûo taøi lieäu naøy khi theo hoïc moân Linguistics PG

trong chöông trình chính khoùa cuûa caû hai heä ñaøo taïo sau ñaïi hoïc naøy.

Raát mong taøi lieäu naøy seõ giuùp caùc ñoái töôïng döï thi töï oân luyeän toát hôn duø

coù ñieàu kieän hay khoâng theå tröïc tieáp theo hoïc caùc lôùp luyeän thi taïi tröôøng.

Thaønh phoá Hoà Chí Minh, ngaøy 20 thaùng 1 naêm 2005.

Toâ Minh Thanh

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Ñaïi Hoïc Quoác Gia Tp. Hoà Chí Minh

TRÖÔØNG ÑAÏI HOÏC KHOA HOÏC XAÕ HOÄI & NHAÂN VAÊN

YUUUZ

ÑEÀ CÖÔNG OÂN TAÄP THI TUYEÅN SINH CAO HOÏC

Moân Cô sôû: LINGUISTICS

(cho chuyeân ngaønh Giaûng daïy tieáng Anh)

1. Linguistics

(a) Semantics

- The expression of meaning in English at the word and sentence level;

- The relations of different kinds of meaning;

- Meaning shifts or words;

- Use of language in social interaction.

(b) Syntax

- Word classes;

- Grammatical relations;

- Types of phrases, clauses & sentences.

2. Academic Writing

Write an essay of 250 - 300 words on an issue of second language

teaching and learning.

REFERENCES

Fromkin V. et al (1988) An Introduction to Language.

Sydney: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Hurdford, J. R. & Heasley, B. (1984) Semantics. A Course Book.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jordan, R.R. (1990) Academic Writing Course. Collins ELT. A Division of

Harper Collins Publishers.

Kaplan, J.P. (1989) English Grammar. Principles and Facts.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

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SEMANTICS

GUIDELINES FOR REVIEW

I. Semantic Properties and Semantic Fields

II. Reference and Sense

III. Denotation and Connotation

IV. Taxonomy—Hypernyms and Hyponyms

V. Multiple Senses of Lexical Items

* Primary Sense

* Secondary Senses (polysemy)

* Figurative Senses (metaphors, similes, metonymy, synecdoche,

euphemism, hyperbole, litotes, alliteration, assonance, consonance)

VI. Synonymy vs. Antonymy

VII. Homonyms (homophones and homograph), acronyms, anomaly

VIII. Speech Acts

Propositions-Utterances-Sentences

Performative sentences

Presuppositions and Implicatures

Felicity conditions

Speech events

Deixis (time, place, person)

Pragmatic meaning

Maxims of conversation

Maxims of politeness

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ENGLISH SYNTAX

Introduction

• Syntax: “the study of how words combine to

form sentences and the rules which govern the

information of sentences” (Richards, Platt &

Weber)

• Traditional grammar — Structural grammar —

Transformational grammar

Five signals of syntactic structures: Word order,

Prosody, Function words, Inflections, and

Derivational contrast (Francis, 1958: 234)

Word classes: open ad closed classes

• Open classes: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives,

Adverbs (Jackson, 1980)

• Closed classes: Pronouns, Numerals,

Determiners, Prepositions, Conjunctions

(Jackson, 1980)

• Chapters 1 & 2 in Jackson

(1980)

• Chapter 5 in Francis (1958)

• “The Grammar of English” by

Heatherington, in Clar et al

(1981: 329-42)

• What do native speakers know

about their language?

by Jacbs and Rosenbaum,

in Clark et al (1981: 343-49)

IC’s in Syntax

Four basic types of syntactic structures:

modification, predication, complementation,

and coordination (Francis, 1958)

Endocentric and exocentric constructions

(Bloomfield, 1933; Nida, 1966)

• Chapter 6 in Francis (1958)

• Chapter 6 in Fromkin et al

(1990)

• Chapter 1in Nida (1996)

• John Lyons (translated

version) pp. 368-70

Noun phrases

Types of modifiers in noun phrases

• Premodification: identifier, numeral/quantifier,

adjective, noun modifier

• Postmodification: relative clauses, non-finite

clauses, prepositional phrases

Chapter 3 in Jackson (1980)

Verb phrases: tense, aspect, mood, voice Chapter 4 in Jackson (1980)

Adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and

prepositional phrases

Chapter 5 in Jackson (1980)

Clauses

• Structures and types

• Dependent clauses

Chapter 6 & 7 in Jackson (1980)

Phrase structure rules & Transformational rules Chapter 5 in Fromkin et al (1990)

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NOTATIONAL SYMBOLS

Most of the symbols used in this text follow conventions, but since conventions

vary, the following list indicates the meanings assigned to them here.

A = adjective

Adv = (general) adverb

ART = article

AP = adjective phrase

AdvP = adverb phrase

C = complement

ComN = compound noun

Comp = complementizer

complex = complex transitive verb

Conj = conjunction

Co-P = a coordination of Prepositions

Co-PP = a coordinate Prepositional

phrase

Co-NP = a coordinate noun phrase

Co-AP = a coordinate adjective phrase

DEG = degree adverb

DEM = demonstrative

DET = determiner

dO = direct object

ditrans = ditransitive verb

ditrans-prep = ditransitive

prepositional verb

EmACl = embedded adjective clause

EmAdvCl = embedded adverbial clause

EXCLAMATORY DET = exclamatory

determiner

[E] = empty/covert/zero/implicit subject

H = the head

headN = the head noun

headPRO = the head pronoun

headPropN = the head proper noun

headA = the head adjective

headGer = the head gerund

IC = immediate constituent

InfP = infinitive phrase

intens = intensive verb

intrans = intransitive verb

intransVAC = intransitive verb￾adverbial composite

iO = indirect object

M = modifier

ModN = pre-modifying noun

monotrans = monotransitive verb

monotrans-prep = monotransitive

prepositional verb

monotransVAC = monotransitive verb￾adverbial composite

N = noun

N’ = N-bar

nC = noun complement

NP = noun phrase

NUM = numeral/number

opA = optional adverbial adjunct

obA = obligatory adverbial adjunct

oC = object(ive) complement

oP = object-predicative

POST-MOD = post-modifier

POST-DET = post-determiner

PRE-MOD = pre-modifier

PRE-DET = pre-determiner

PRO = pronoun

PropN = proper noun

Poss = possessive

PossA = possessive adjective

PossPropN = possessive proper noun

PossCommN = possessive common noun

PossMarker = possessive marker

PossNP = possessive noun phrase

predC = predicator complement

P = preposition

prep = prepositional verb

prepO = prepositional object

prepC = complement of a preposition

PP = prepositional phrase

PartP = participial phrase

Q = quantifier

QA = quantifying adjective

RESTRIC = restricter

S = sentence

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S’= S-bar

sC = subject(ive) complement

sP = subject-predicative

SubACl = subordinate adjective clause

SubAdvCl = subordinate adverbial clause

VP = verb phrase

Vgrp = verb group

V-Part = verb participle

V-Ger = gerund

Prt = adverbial particle

VAC = verb-adverbial composite

* = unaccepted form

? = doubtfully acceptable form

[ ] = embedded unit

/ = or

φ = unfilled

⇒ = one-way dependence

⇔ = two-way dependence

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SECTION 1: WORD CLASSES

1 Parts of speech, word classes and grammatical categories1

“The traditional term ‘parts of speech’ is puzzling; it’s not clear why

kinds of words — really, classes of words — would be ‘parts’ of speech

any more than, say, phonemes, allophones, morphemes, allomorphs, or

even phrases or sentences. In fact, instead of ‘parts of speech,’ linguists

usually employ the terms ‘word class’ or ‘grammatical category.’ The

term ‘grammatical category’ is a useful one, since it captures an important

aspect of a ‘part of speech,’ namely, that all tokens of a particular part of

speech share important grammatical characteristics that other parts of speech

lack. The term ‘word class,’ however, is valuable in its simplicity and is

certainly an improvement over ‘part of speech’.” [Kaplan, 1989: 105]

1 “The syntactic categories of words and groups of words are revealed by

the way they pattern in sentences. If you didn’t have knowledge of these

syntactic categories, you would be unable to form grammatical sentences or

distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences.” [Fromkin

et al, 1988: 214] For example, the child belong to a family that includes the

police officer, your neighbour, this yellow cat, he, and countless others.

Each member of this family can be substituted for the child without

affecting the grammaticality of the sentence, although the meanings of

course would change.

“A family of expressions that can substitute for one another

without loss of grammaticality is called a syntactic category.” [Fromkin

and Rodman, 1993: 79]