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SYNTAX - prednáška & seminár 11.3.2008 (Lojová+Brychová) (syntax_11.3.2008.doc)

SYNTAX PREDNÁŠKA                11.3.2008

 

 

NEGATION

 

  1. how to negate a sentence
  2. normally there is only one negative element in an English sentence
  3. two negative elements negate one each other
  4. singer and poets don’t care of grammar rules
  5. Afro-American English allows as many negations as possible (the same in Slovak)
  6. but in standard British English there is just one negation

 

 

I don’t think he likes me this is more native, sound more native like

 

I think he doesn’t like me this is also right, but a native speaker wouldn’t say it so

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW CAN A SENTENCE BE NEGATED

 

 

THROUGH VERB NEGATION

 

  1. the uses of operators can / can’t
  2. if there is no operator, we must ad Do / DON’T
  3. often the use of contraction

 

I haven’t done it standard

 

        I have not done it if we want to emphasize, we say it all

 

 

THROUGH WORDS NEGATIVE IN FORM AND MEANING

 

  1. never
  2. no
  3. nobody
  4. nowhere
  5. nothing

 

 

THROUGH WORDS NEGATIVE IN MEANING BUT NOT IN FORM

 

  1. grammatically the behave as negative elements, but the form itself must not be negative
  2. hardly, barely, seldom, a little, scarcely, not quite, only just, few

 

  1. we can’t use any other negative element with them

You can hardly do that neither can I.

 

  1. uses in question tags

You can hardly do that, can you?

 

 

OTHER NEGATIVE WORDS

 

  1. they are negative semantically, but not grammatically
  2. they are negative in meaning
  3. to refuse, to deny, unhappy

 

She is unhappy, isn’t she? semantically negative, not grammatically

 

 

NON-ASSERTIVE ITEMS

 

  1. they have to be adapted to the meaning in a given context
  2. somebody, anybody, at all

 

 

 

 

 

SCOPE OF NEGATION

 

- the range (rozsah) of negation

 

  1. normally the scope is a sentence, when there is a negative element

 

I wasn’t listening all the time

 

 wasn’t listening all the time = I was sleeping all the time

 

 

  1. sometimes the scope is just a part, not the whole sentence

 

I wasn’t listening all the time

        

          wasn´t listening = I was listening just time and again, at the beginning and at the end

 

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I don’t like all the students.

 

  1. I don’t like any students
  2. I don’t like the students we are talking about (in one group)

 

 

ADJUNCT - time adjunct - usually it’s this - that helps us to limit the scope (all the time)

 

 

I wasn’t listening to some of you presentation there might be an ambiguity

 

  1. some I was, some I wasn’t
  2. I wasn’t listening at all

 

 

You are not allowed to use all of my books the right scope of neg. we know from the context

 

  1. you are allowed to use some
  2. you are not allowed to use any of them

 

 

FOCUS OF NEGATION

 

 

- we might emphasize just one negative element from the sentence

 

I didn’t take John to swim in the pool today.

 

I didn’t take John - but I took Mike

I didn’t take John to swim - but I took him to basketball

I didn’t take John to swim in the pool today - but I took him yesterday

I didn’t take John at all

 

 

 

LOCAL NEGATION

 

- not the whole sentence is negated, just a part of it

 

I saw him not long ago.      not long ago = adjunct - time

   

      this is a positive sentence

 

   

                       I saw him recently

 

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She lives not too far from here not too far = adjunct - place

She lives near by

 

 

I read a not very interesting book not very interesting book = noun phrase

 

      It was quite interesting

 

 

NEGATION OF MODAL AUXILIARIES

 

- the auxiliary verbs are negated by adding NOT after them (You mustn’t come / She will not come)

- in a modal verb phrase the negation element is between the modal and the verb

 

        You may not listen to me 1 sentence / more meanings

 

  1. smieš ma nepočúvať - deontic meaning (may not)
  2. možno ma nepočúva - epistemic (not listen)

 

 

when two negative elements do not negate each other

 

  1. normally if we have 2 negatvie elements in 1 sentence they negate each other and the meaning is than positive - but no always

 

She is not unhappy

 

  1. she is happy
  2. she isn’t unhappy, but she must not be happy

 

 

INVERSION IN NEGATIVE SENTENCES

 

 

  1. if we put a negative element in the front of the sentence, we have to change the word order of an interrogative sentence

 

Never did I read the book.

 

Never have I read the book.

 

SYNTAX SEMINÁR                11.3.2008

 

 

 

MODIFYING PARTS OF THE SENTENCE

 

MODIFIERS

 

  1. secondary part of the sentence
  2. they modify the sense of various parts of the sentence - the subject, the object, the predicate, the verb
  3. they may be divided into 3 groups:

 

NOUN MODIFIERS

ADJECTIVE, ADVERB, VERB MODIFIERS

PHRASE AND SENTENCE MODIFIERS

 

 

NOUN MODIFIERS

 

I. WHEN WE MODIFY SUBJECT

 

  1. can expressed by an adjective and possessive case but they are used attributively,                     because they modify the subject of the sentence
  2. there can be a definite or an indefinite article
  3. it can be a noun in the possessive case, an adjective, a numeral, demonstrative pronoun, participle, indefinite article, past participle, prepositional phrase, definite article, a group o words, apposition, the infinitive verb phrase in passive voice

 

The little children had a lot to eat.

The little - modifier

the little children - subject

 

 

The unhappy woman burst out crying.

The unhappy - modifier (used attributively)

The unhappy woman - subject

 

 

Henry’s brother is a teacher.

Henry’s - modifier (possessive case)

Henry’s brother - subject

 

 

Tom´s grandfather is ill.

Tom´s - modifier (used traibutively)

Tom´s grandfather - subject

is - linking verb

ill - subject complement (expressed by an adjective / used predicatively)

 

 

 

 

 

That sleeping child is smiling nice.

That sleeping child - subject

That sleeping - modifier

That - demonstrative pronoun

sleeping - participle

is smiling nice - predicate

smiling - subject complement

nice - complement adverbial

 

 

A registered letter must not get lost.

A registered letter - subject

A registered - modifier

A - indefinite article

registered - past participle

must not get lost - predicate

must not - finite verb form

get lost - infinite verb form

 

 

The books on my desk are from Auntie Jane.

The books on my desk - subject

on my desk - modifier (expressed by a prepositional phrase)

are from Auntie Jane - predicate

from Auntie Jane - prepositional phrase

 

 

Nine students are sitting around the des.

Nine - numeral

 

 

The car there is a Mercedes.

The - definite article

there - modifier (expressed by an adverb)

 

 

The three month long holiday were never forgotten.

The three month long - modifier (expressed by a group of words)

 

 

William Shakespeare, one of the best dramatists, didn’t study at the university.

one of the best dramatists - modifier (expressed by an apposition)

 

 

The question to be answered was extremely difficult.

The - definite article

to be answered - modifier (expressed by the infinitive verb phrase in passive voice)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II. WHEN WE MODIFY object direct

 

 

John bought two cinema tickets.

John - subject

bought two cinema tickets - predicate

bought - verb

two - numeral

cinema - adjective

two cinema tickets - object direct

 

 

Charles likes your thrilling stories.

Charles - subject

likes your thrilling stories - predicate

likes - verb

your - possessive pronoun

thrilling - participle

your thrilling stories - object direct

 

 

He saw their new house.

He - subject

saw their new house - predicate

saw - verb

their - possessive pronoun

new - adjective

their new house - object direct

 

 

 

III. WHEN WE MODIFY object direct AND OBJECT INDIRECT

 

We showed those English students the sights of our town.

We - subject

showed - verb

those - demonstrative pronoun

English - adjective

those English students - object indirect

the - definite article

of our town - prepositional phrase

the sights of our town - object direct

 

 

IV. WHEN WE MODIFY SUBJECT COMPLEMENT

 

He is the best player in our team.

He - subject

is - verb

the best player in our team - subject complement

the - definite article

best - adjective in superlative

in our team - prepositional phrase

 

VERB MODIFIERS

 

- can be expressed by adverbs or by an adverbial phrase

 

You study hard.

hard - verb modifier

 

That man drives fast.

fast - verb modifier

 

They answered in a friendly way.

They - subject

answered - verb

in a friendly way - verb modifiers

 

 

ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB MODIFIERS

 

  1. the adjective can be modified by adverbs
  2. the adverb can be modified by adverbs

 

We saw a highly amusing play.

We - subject

saw a highly amusing play - predicate

a highly amusing play - object direct

saw - verb

a - indefinite article

highly - adverb

amusing - adjective

 

 

We were awfully sorry.

We - subject

were awfully sorry - predicate

were - verb

awfully - adverb

sorry - adjective

 

 

He spoke very well.

He - subject

spoke very well - predicate

spoke - verb

very - adverb

well - adverb

 

 

It was too late.

It  - subject

was too late - predicate

was - verb

too - adverb

late - adverb

 

SENTENCES

 

  1. SIMPLE SENTENCE is a sentence that consists of a subject and a predicate.

 

We study.

We - subject

study - verb

 

 

  1. there are also ONE MEMBER SENTENCES

 

  1. consisting of 1 verb

 

  1. imperative Go!   Silence!   Study!   Mother!
  2. questions   What?   Where?   Why?   Really?
  3. other         Ouch. No. Yes.

 

  1. sometimes consisting of more words, but they don’t have a predicate or a verb

 

Good idea.

Another cup of tea.

See you on Tuesday.

Anything missing?

At home.

At school.

 

 

  1. there are UNEXTENDED TWO MEMBER SENTENCES (holá, nerozvitá veta)

 

        We study.

 

 

  1. there are EXTENDED SENTENCES (rozvitá veta)

 

        We study hard every day.

 

 

  1. there are also COMPOUND SENTENCES that consist of two or more coordinate elements

 (priraďovacie súvetia)

 

        

  1. there are also COMPLEX SENTENCES (podraďovacie súvetia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES OF WORD ORDER

 

- the English language has a fixed word order (SV….)

 

 

        EXCEPTS OF THIS ARE:

 

1) questions, interrogative clauses - there is an inversion (subject + operator)

 

 

 

                                 exception is in subject questions (Who did it?) and W-words (Who did what?)

 

2) contrast

 

3) fronting

 

  1. fronted objects        - typical for demonstrative pronouns  

          This I do not understand.

          That I also like.

 

        - examples with “such a…”

                Such thing you must tell me.

 

  1. fronted predicatives        - expressed by “best of all / “even” / “also” / “the more” / “so different”  

                                           at the beginning of the sentence

                

                - mainly when we use linking verbs

                  Also it is very popular for travelling.

        

  1. fronting of predicative with subject front order without inversion

        

Right you are.

Bloody amazing it was.

You are a little deedle, you are!

 

  1. fronted  -ed  &  -ing  predicates - uses in newspapers and official documents

 

Standing at the airport we saw a…..

Considering the situation…..

Focusing ……..

Aiming…….

 

  1. fronting in exclamation

 

How clever you are!

Charming you are!

 

4) formulaic clauses with subjunctive verb forms and archaic verb forms

 

        Long live the Queen.                So help me God.

        Be it proclaimed.                So be.

 

 

5) degree adverbs

 

        So greatly had he suffered.

        So badly was he affected.

6) inversion

 

  1. in opening time adverbials

 

                THEN - Then came voices all shouting together.

                AGAIN - Again came the sounds.

                FIRST - First came the shouts.

                NEXT - Next came the crowd.

                NOW - Now comes the fear.

 

  1. after linking forms SO, NOR, NEITHER

 

She jumped, so did we.

 

Please do help me, she said.

Will you help me, please?

 

  1. in use of indirect speech - mainly in news when you use quotation

 

“Are you going home?” - someone asked.

“This is very interesting.” - said he.

 

 

7) Subject after negative and restricting coordinators and adverbials

 

        NEITHER                NEVER

        NOWHERE                 NOT ONLY

        REALLY                SELDOM

        LITTLE                 LESS

        ONLY                        NOR

        HARDLY  

 

I haven’t done this. NOR have I.

 

NO DOUBT he will issue his instruction.

 

NOT SURPRISINGLY he won.

 

NOT MANY YEARS AGO there was a park.

 

IT SEEMED TO BE too easy.

 

 

 

 

8) clauses opening with the auxiliary “MAY”

 

        May he forgive you.

        Long may be so.

 

 

9) hypothetical conditional clauses         - mainly in formal writing style

        - if we want to replace it we use “SHOULD” or “HAD”

 

 

 

10) position of direct and indirect object - we can change it        

 

 

 

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