Omission of Information, Reported Statements and Fact, Hypothesis and Neutrality Omission of information (esp in spoken English) we can

an omit information which is already obvious from the preceding context. Though they lack the structure of a complete sentence, they are acceptable because the structure omitted contains information already understood Other cases where an incomplete structure is permitted is when the situation outside language makes other info unnecessary. composed of a reporting clause and a reported clause. to report what somebody has stated, you can use either quotation marks (direct speech) or a thatclause(indirect speech) uses quotation marks the reporting clause can also be placed after or in the middle of the reported clause The reporting verb in a narrative is usually in the past tense. The following changes are usually made in converting from direct to indirect speech: 1. Change present tense verb into the past tense (applies also to present perfect and modal auxiliaries) 2. Change 1st and 2nd person pronouns into the 3rd person 3. (sometimes) change pointer words

EDL 113 Commands: Go! Chill. Careful! Not so fast! Questions: Drinks, anyone? How about joining us? More coffee? Slogans: Down with capitalism! Yes, we can. Republicans out. Exclamations: Perfect. Excellent! Oh my God! Alarm calls: Fire! Thief! Public notices: Exit. Flush after use. Casual speech: No problem. See you later.

Reported Statements

Marie said: I need money. (direct) Marie said that she needed money. (indirect)

Direct Speech

Marie said: I need money. I need money, Marie said. That child, she said, is a monster. DIRECT I like your dress. INDIRECT He said that he liked my dress. She told him that he had to submit the paper today.

Indirect Speech

You need to submit the paper today.

Ill wait for you at this He promised that he hotel the day after would wait at that hotel tomorrow. tomorrow.

Special cases in tense shifting

Omission of Information, Reported Statements and Fact, Hypothesis and Neutrality 1. Past perfect verbs are not changed. They cannot be moved further into the past. 2. Modal auxiliaries like must, should and ought to do not change since they do not have a past equivalent. But must can be converted to had to. 3. The idea expressed in the reported statement can also be applied to the time of reporting. 4. Some verbs of saying cannot be easily changed to indirect speech. The rules for changing direct statements into indirect are the same for changing direct questions to indirect questions. The only difference is that a wh-clause is used instead of a that-clause.

EDL 113 She had eaten her lunch He said that she had eaten before leaving the house. her lunch before leaving the house. You should watch the She told us that we should movie. watch the movie.

The soul is a prisoner of the body. I cant breathe, he gasped. Do you know where they are? Why did you leave her alone?

Plato said that the soul is a prisoner of the body.

He asked whether she knew where they were. She wanted to know why he left her alone.

finite verbs

(as opposed to) non-finite verbs

infinitives

subjunctive

Some definitions before moving on to Fact, Hypothesis and Neutrality: -the form of the verb that can take inflections The cheetah ran ever so fast. (number, tense, aspect, etc.) The door opened slowly. -finite verbs are simply verbs behaving as She talks loudly. verbs -verbs that cannot stand as the main verb of a Robert intends to go to school. clause(verbals, infinitives, participles, Patricia is running for office. nominals) Finding food became our most immediate -non-finite verbs function as parts of speech concern. other than verbs -an unmarked verb form which, when To sit around and read a good book is paradise preceded by to, functions as a noun to me. -sometimes, such as after modal auxiliaries, Always dare to dream. the to can be omitted, yielding a bare I simply must take care of my sister. infinitive You really should leave. -it is infinite in the sense that it is not marked by tense, aspect, number -a semantic categorization of a use of a verb If I were king, things would be different.

Omission of Information, Reported Statements and Fact, Hypothesis and Neutrality

EDL 113

to express doubt, wish, possibility, or a I moved that the meeting be postponed. condition contrary to fact, rather than matters of fact. -used to be expressed by the use of the verb were in conditions contrary to fact, and is almost always found in an if-clause -now, the simple if-clause conditional can serve the same purpose

Fact, hypothesis neutrality Fact/factual meaning

and

Hypothesis/hypothetical meaning

deals with statements where the truth or falsehood of a statement is assumed rather than directly stated. assumes the truth of the statement 1. expressed by a finite verb clause 2. by an ing clause 3. noun phrase with an abstract noun assumes the falsehood of the statement 1. expressed by the past tense in dependent clauses and by would + infinitive in main clauses 2. past time combined with hypothetical meaning is expressed as past perfect. 3. were subjective 4. were to +infinitive expresses hypothetical future 5. should + infinitive 6. conditionals with inversion- instead of having an if-clause, it begins with an operator(auxiliary verb) placed before the subject. This form tends to sound more literary or formal. In negative of clauses beginning with had, were and should, there

Im disappointed that the president was inactive. Im disappointed with the presidents being inactive. Im disappointed at the presidents inaction. If we won the game, we would throw a party.

If wed won the game, we would have thrown a party. Youd have a lot of friends if you were nicer. If the delegates were to arrive earlier, they would be shown into the art gallery. If he should find out you broke his vase, you would be in trouble. -Had I only known then that the plan would fail, I wouldnt have one through with it. -Were a serious crisis to arise, the government would have to act swiftly. -Should you change your mind, no one would blame you.

Omission of Information, Reported Statements and Fact, Hypothesis and Neutrality is no contracted form. the speaker assumes neither truth nor falsehood.

EDL 113

Neutrality

I want all of us to agree. ; It would be best for all of us to be cooperative. 2. open conditions with if or unless can also Unless we work together, we will not finish. be used to express neutrality. 3. also neutral are wh-clauses, which contrast Compare: with that-clauses Did you know that the professor has received my paper? Do you know whether the professor has received my paper? 4. putative should: should often expresses If you should receive the package early, please let me tentativeness in if-clauses know. In other dependent clauses, should is used to represent -Compare: something as a neutral idea rather than a fact. This is You will all submit the take-home exam on Friday. the use of the putative should. You should all submit the take-home exam on Friday. putative should also occurs in that-clauses, esp in BrE -Its unexpected that she should disagree. it can also occur in some questions or exclamations -How should I know? 5. subjunctive can be used -in some that-clauses, where the clause expresses an -Congress had voted that the present law continue to intention operate. -in some conditional, contrast, and purpose clauses -Whatever be the excuse, I will not accept late passers. -If you want to wager all your money on the success of -in certain idioms, in main clauses the project, so be it.

1. infinitive clauses usually express neutrality.