CH 6 ENGLISH SYNTAX: PHRASES, CLAUSES, AND SENTENCES, 163-74 Theories of Grammar There are competing ways to approach grammar

Descriptive: Describes and exemplifies all possible grammatical constructions in a particular language based on data collected externally; popular in first half of 20th c.; practical, what people do, linguistic performance Generative: Gives rules (known subconsciously and internally) that can predict and generate all possible grammatical constructions; Chomsky, after 1950s; theoretical, what people know or can know, linguistic competence; transformational grammar is a part of this Syntax above Word Level Syntax cannot live by word alone Ch 6 concerns syntax not of individual words but of combinations of wordsin phrases, clauses, and sentences When we use language we understand words as functioning in grammatical contexts, in systematic, predictable relationships with other words (164); syntactic structures are rulegoverned and therefore predictable To test this: try reading a foreign language by looking up each individual word in a dictionary and trying to make sense of the sentences Garden path sentences: e.g., The horse raced past the barn fell; Fat people eat accumulates; Constituents and Hierarchies Grammatical syntax--of any individual language and language generally--relies on constituents: groupings of words that function together and in turn constitute or form sentences Constituents become part of larger constituents in a hierarchical structure within a sentence Hierarchy from smallest to largest: word phrase clause sentence

See example on p. 168; read right to left

Constituency Tests

Use these 4 tests to help you decide what is or is not a constituent (i.e., a group of words to be taken together as a functioning unit within a sentence): Substitution test: Can you substitute a single word for the larger unit, where both have the same syntactic function (e.g., N or PRON for NP, AUX for VP) Stand alone/Question test: Can it stand alone as the answer to a question Movement test: Can you move it elsewhere in the sentence and have the sentence still make sense Coordination test: Can you join it with a like Phrases English has 5 types of phrases: Noun Phrase (NP), Verb Phrase (VP), Adjective Phrase (ADJP), Adverb Phrase (ADVP) and Prepositional Phrase (PP) *We recognize and classify these different types of phrases according to phrase structure rules (more on which below) NB: Be careful to distinguish phrases from clauses (phrases DO NOT have a subject doing a verb, but clauses do); if you dont, you might have ungrammatical sentences Clauses Traditional grammar, especially important for teachers and writers A clause = NP (functioning as subject of sentence) + VP (functioning as predicate); thus phrases can be embedded in clauses There are 2 main kinds of clauses: independent (aka main) and dependent (aka subordinate) Independent clause: can stand alone as a sentence; or can combine with other clauses to form longer compound or complex sentences Dependent clause: cannot stand alone as a sentence; must combine with an independent clause to become a grammatical sentence; modifies the independent clause it is attached to More on Dependent Clauses There are various types of dependent clause: Adverb clause: modifies the verb in the main clause; often begins with a SUB CONJ and answers how/when/why; e.g., Because he has a PhD in Art, Bob still works at Starbucks Relative clause: modifies a N or NP; usually begins with a REL PRON that functions adjectivally; e.g., He is the star player who scores all the touchdowns. Complementizer clause: completes or complements a VP; usually begins with a complementizer and functions nominally; e.g., The professor thought that Bob drank too much.

Sentences A grammatical sentence = 1 main/independent clause + any number of other clauses, dependent or independent There are various kinds of sentence: Simple sentence: one independent clause standing alone as a complete sentence Compound sentence: two or more independent clauses joined together Complex sentence: an independent clause joined with a dependent clause People frequently mispunctuate these (more next class) CH 6 ENGLISH SYNTAX: PHRASES, CLAUSES, AND SENTENCES, 174-201 Phrase Structure Rules In generative grammar, phrase structure rules generate allowable constituents within the syntax of a language (171); i.e., these rules determine what groupings of words (constituents) into successively larger units are allowed in any language The particular rules will vary from language to language but all languages will have phrase structure rules (as part of Universal Grammar) We use these rules to express what we already know about syntax

*Study the terminology and rules on p. 171- 72, and know how to read them; theyre not exhaustive

Clause Types There are 5 basic clause types found in EN sentences, whether in independent or dependent clauses (to which adverbials can be added): SV S V Od SVOiOd

SVPRED SVOPRED As with POS, so with phrases and clauses: its all about function; e.g., constituents can function as nominals, adjectivals, adverbials

*Study tables 6.1 and 6.2 on p. 173 and 174

We can visually represent in phrase structure Clauses Reduced to Phrases We can reduce certain (often dependent) clauses to 3 types of phrase: infinitive, gerund, and participial (more below) Remember that these phrases are often reduced variants of the 3 main types of dependent clause: adverbial, relative, and complementizer Again, remember distinction between clause and phrase Infinitive Phrase An infinitive is a nonfinite, uninflected form of a verb that expresses the verbs core lexical meaning; it can be bare (walk) or marked (to walk) INF phrase contains an infinitive (INF) + an object (OBJ) or complement or modifier; e.g., to find the answer, to go out is fun, he never had the time to go out INF phrase can function as N(P), ADV, and ADJ, as subject, object, or modifier; in other words, can function nominally, adverbially, or adjectivally; I like to watch TV; I watch TV to relax; The desire to learn the force is strong in this one.

Gerund Phrase A gerund (aka a verbal noun) is a verb form containing ing and functioning as a noun; do not confuse with present participles Contains gerund (GER) + OBJ, COMPL, or MOD; e.g., becoming a prof took time, I thought about becoming a rock star, his greatest joy had been becoming an astronaut Can function as a NP as a SUBJ, OBJ, etc.; in other words, can function nominally; Smoking is cool; I like smoking

Reduction: They admit that they have issues with grammar > They admit having issues with grammar. Participial Phrase A participle (aka a verbal adjective) is a verb form functioning as an adjective; it can take past and present forms; it often combines with auxiliary verbs Contains participle (PART) [pres or past] + OBJ, COMPL, or MOD; e.g., drunk on wine, he fell over; Bob, remembering his lessons, snapped out of it (Can you expand this phrase to a clause?) Can function only as an ADJ; in other words, adjectivally (maybe sometimes adverbially); The horse racing past the barn fell; Bob got drunk drinking wine? Reduction: He got up and walked away > Bit of Prescriptive Grammar Sentence fragment: ungrammatical utterance lacking a subject or predicate or both; or a dependent clause trying to stand alone as a sentence Run-on sentence: too many sentences (or independent clauses) together without proper punctuation or coordination Comma splice: two independent clauses joined by a comma without proper coordination Dangling or misplaced participles: participial phrases that modify nothing or not the thing intended, respectively

Ch 6: The Essentials Be able to verbalize and exemplify the phrase structure rules on pp. 171-72 (esp. in the context of trees) Understand and be able to apply the phrase and clause functions on pp. 173-74 in the context of any grammatical English sentence *You must be able to diagram simple and compound sentences, pp. 175-79 (go through some together); good e.g., pp. 175 (top) and 177 (top); I will not ask you to diagram sentences containing dependent clauses. NB: I will not ask you to diagram any sentences requiring transformations, but do

Ch 6 Exercises and Problems

Go through Exercises 6.1, 6.2, try 6.3 and 6.4.1

Briefly describe different theories of grammar Define and exemplify different kinds of clauses and sentences (traditional grammar) Label POS and constituents and diagram the phrase structure of simple and compound sentences In preparation for the quiz, imagine youre given a sentence and asked to label and name all POS, phrases, and clauses (i.e. all constituents), and then to diagram the entire sentence as a tree

See example on p. 168; read right to left *Study the terminology and rules on p. 171- 72, and know how to read them; theyre not exhaustive *Study tables 6.1 and 6.2 on p. 173 and 174 Go through Exercises 6.1, 6.2, try 6.3 and 6.4.1