gej2

Verbless/adjective clause

Adjective clauses consist solely of adjective phrases with the finite verb form of be and the subject left out, but recoverable with context (unhappy with the score, she quit the game). Their position can be initial or final. Contingent adjective clauses are verbless clauses introduced by a subordinator (if possible, the plant should be watered every day). There are also exclamatory adjective sentences.

The position of adjective phrases in noun phrases

Adjective phrases can have premodifying position, postmodifying position, and they can be discontinuous. The premodifying position is typical of attributive adjective phrases and since adjectives can co-occur in this place, there is a rule of order for them: subjective measure, objective measure and head noun. Objective measure is: general, size, shape, age; colour, participle, origin, material, noun; head noun. If it happens that two adjectives of the same type co-occur the shorter one comes first. The postmodifying or postpositive position is typical of adjectives coming after compound indefinite pronouns (somebody important; president elect). Discontinuous adjective phrases are split into two parts where the adjective head comes before the head noun it modifies while its modification comes after (too difficult a champion to play). Adjective phrases can also be heads of the noun phrases when they personal or general reference (the British; the evil)

Characteristics of the adjective: syntactic function, paradigm, form

Adjectives are traditionally described as part of speech that describes a noun. Most adjectives can be modified with intensifiers very, too, so. Based on the category of degree there are three types of comparisons: lower degree, same degree and higher degree. Adjectives and adjective phrases can have an attributive function when they stand as premodifiers of a noun phrase (a very happy girl) or predicative function when they function independently (she is happy). Adjectives are recognised through suffixes that are distinctively adjectival (-able, bile, -full, -less, -ice, -vie, -ant, -oust, -al, -is, -lee), and participles (-ed and -ing), however some -ed forms are just adjectives without a corresponding verb.

Semantic classification of adjectives

Adjectives are typically stative because they denote permanent properties (tall, intelligent), however there are also dynamic adjectives referring to temporary properties (rude, naughty, foolish). Adjectives can also be gradable or non-gradable. Gradable adjectives refer to properties that can be graded on a scale, whereas non-gradable don't. There is always an unmarked term in measure expressions with gradable adjectives, where the upper degree is always the unmarked word. Adjectives can also be inherent or non-inherent. Adjectives that characterize the referent of the noun directly are inherent, and those that do not are non-inherent.

Syntactic subclassification of adjectives

Adjectives can be central or peripheral. Central adjectives have both attributive and predicative function (she's a happy girl; the girl is happy), whereas peripheral adjectives can only have predicative or attributive function. Peripheral adjectives (he's an utter fool) that have attributive function only are intensifying (real, great, slight), restrictive (main, only, particular), related to adverbials (heavy smoker), and denominal (criminal law). Peripheral adjectives that have predicative function only are A-adjectives like ashamed, asleep and adjectives with complementation (keen on, conscious of)

Semantic subclassification of adjuncts

Adjuncts can be classified as process, space/place, time, contingency, focusing, degree, respect/viewpoint, and subjuncts. Process subjuncts are further classified into adjuncts of manner, instrument, means and agent; space/place adjuncts into position, direction, source, goal and distance; time adjuncts into time when/position, duration, frequency; contingency adjuncts into cause/reason, purpose, result, concession, condition; adjuncts of respect/viewpoint are divided into respect and viewpoint; focusing into limiters and additives; degree/intensifier adjuncts into amplifiers and downturners; and subjuncts into formulaic/courtesy, and general/volitional

Adjuncts of respect/viewpoint

Adjuncts of respect are predication adjuncts (she is advising me legally/on legal issues/in respect to law). Viewpoint adjuncts are sentence adjuncts (politically, this is a problem)

Characteristics of the adverb: syntactic function, paradigm, form

Adverb is a word or a phrase that modifies the meaning of an adjective, verb, adverb or a sentence. So, adverbs function as adverbials or modifiers of other phrases. Their form can be simple, complex or derivational. Derivational adverbs are most commonly built with the -ly suffix, derived from adjectives. Adverbs that are derived have different meaning from simple ones (hard/hardly). Adverb paradigm, like adjectival paradigm consists of three forms: positive, comparative and superlative. Based on the category of degree there are adverbs of same degree, lower degree and higher degree.

Adverbial clauses: functional classification

Adverbial clauses are dependent clauses which function as adverbials in the sentence. They can therefore function as adjuncts, conjuncts, and disjuncts. As adjuncts, they carry multiple meanings: of time, place, condition, concession, circumstance/reason, purpose, result, manner, comparison, proportion, or preference. Adverbial phrases functioning as conjuncts are: what is more, summing up, to cut a long story short... Adverbial clauses functioning as disjuncts are so called comment clauses as they add the speakers comment (I'm not sure what to do, to be honest), they can also be sentential relative clauses (he passed the exam successfully, which surprised everyone)

The nominal paradigm

A paradigm is a set of grammatically conditioned word forms all derived from the same. The nominal paradigm of count nouns in English consists of four forms: the singular and plural of the common case and genitive case

Parts of the sentence: subject and predicate

A subject and a predicate make the sentence. Subject is a noun phrase or a clause with nominal function that occurs before the verb phrase in declarative clauses and immediately after the operator in questions. Subject has several roles: the doer of an action (Jimmy took the book); the theme of the sentence (cyberpunk is an interesting genre); the location (the bus holds under 40 people); the instrument (the key opened the door); temporal (Tomorrow is my birthday).

Syntactic forms of adverbials

Adverbials can be realised as phrases and clauses. As phrases they take form of Adverbial Phrases (he speaks English well), Noun Phrases (we see each other every day) and Prepositional Phrases (call me in the morning), and as clauses they can be finite (call me when you feel like it), non-finite (wishing to impress her, he sang a song) and verbless (nervous, he opened the letter).

Adjective phrase

An adjective phrase is a structure built around an adjective head word. There are simple and complex phrases. Simple adjective phrases comprise only of the adjective, whereas complex ones can be with premodification (Adv+Adj [very intelligent]; Adj+Adv [intelligent enough]) or with complementation (Adj+PP [intelligent beyond our expectation]; Adj+Clnon-finite[intelligent {enough} to quit a job]; Adj+Clfinite[so intelligent that I hate even looking at him lmao])

Category of case: form and meaning

Case is a nominal grammatical category which allows for variation in the morphological form of the noun, indicating the syntactic relationships between words in a sentence. The case system in English consists of two cases morphologically expressed on nouns, the common case and the genitive case. Additionally, the accusative case can be expressed on pronouns (him, whom)

Classification of sentences: simple, complex, compound

Based on the number and type of clauses in a sentence, they can be classified into three types: simple sentences, complex sentences, and compound sentences. Simple sentences consist of a single independent clause. All sentence elements are realized as phrases (the students[S/NP] didn't know[V/VP] the answer to that question[O/NP]). Complex sentences have one or more sentence elements realized as clauses. Thus, a complex sentence consists of one main clause and at least one dependent clause within it (The students [S/NP] know [V/VP] that the project deadline is difficult to meet [O/Clause]). The compound sentence consists of at least two main clauses (She [S] took [V] the test [O] in June [(A)] and [Conj] she [S] passed [V] it [O] with flying colours [(A)])

Structural subclassification of clauses: finite, non-finite, verbless

Based on the structure of the verb element in a given clause, they can be finite dependent clauses, non-finite dependent clauses, and verbless dependent clauses. Finite dependent clauses have a finite verb phrase as its verb element and it agrees with the subject (I couldn't go outside because I was studying). Non-finite dependent clauses have a non-finite verb as its verb element, and in that case the clause can use to-infinitive (I expected her to quit), bare infinitive (all I did was push the red button) or the -ing participle (leaving the camp, they dented the RV), and the past participle (his job finished, John left Cambodia). Verbless clauses are verbless, they have no verb element, are usually ellipsis of BE and the subject, however both the verb and the subject are recoverable from context (when ripe, bananas taste even worse than they look)

Coordination and subordination

Both coordination and subordination involve linking at least two unit. In case of coordination the units are on hierarchically same syntactic level, whereas in subordination they are not. The linked units can be phrases or clauses. Phrases cannot be subordinated.

Semantic roles of the complements

Both subject and object complements have the role of the attribute of the subject, that can be current (he seems unhappy/I like my tea a lot) and resulting (he turned pale/he painted the wall blue)

Concord: types of concord; notional and proximity concord; collectives; coordination

Concord is agreement between two sentence elements with respect to certain grammatical features. Depending on the sentence elements there are various kinds of concord: subject-verb concord (marry was in London), subject-complement (john is an actor), object-complement (john considers bill an actor); and the grammatical features, concord of number, person, and gender (john considers bill an actor). Subject-verb concord features concord of number and concord of person. Notional concord refers to the idea of number instead of grammatical number, like in collective nouns, such as government, police, audience... Proximity concord denotes agreement of the verb with a closely preceding noun phrase in preference to agreement with the head of the noun phrase that functions as a subject (no one except his supporters agree with him). Conflict between grammatical concord and proximity concord increases with the distance between the head of the noun phrase of the subject and the verb phrase. Proximity concord occurs in unplanned discourse, however, in writing it will be corrected to grammatical concord. In British English collectives are largely plural, meaning that the verb will most often be in plural form (the audience was enormous), however it depends whether the group is considered as a single undivided body or as a collection of individuals. Coordination occurs when a subject consists of one or more noun phrases or clauses coordinated by and. There is coordination proper and coordination apposition. Coordination proper refers to cases when we have two entities coordinated by and (his brother and the editor of his papers were with him at the party), and appositional coordination is when the second part of the subject refers back on the first part, like an apposition (his brother and the editor of his papers was with him at the party). There is also coordination with either/or and neither/nor. In this type of coordination, when the coordinated items have the same number, the concord is grammatical; if not they follow the principle of proximity.

Adverbial clauses of condition

Conditional clauses are subordinate clauses which convey a condition upon which the situation in the main clause is dependent. They are introduced by subordinators. Depending on the type of condition, conditional clauses can be classified into direct conditional clauses, indirect conditional clauses and rhetorical conditional clauses. Direct conditional clauses convey a condition upon which the situation in the main clause is directly dependent and they can be open or hypothetical. Indirect conditional clauses convey a condition upon which the situation in the main clause is indirectly related (if you're going my way, I need a lift). Rhetorical conditional clauses are used as figures of speech to emphasize the negation of the main clause. Open conditional clauses convey real conditions. Open conditional clauses have future, present or past time reference. There are no restrictions on the use of verb forms, meaning that the combination of tenses is free as long as they are in sequence. Hypothetical conditional clauses convey unreal condition, whose fulfilment is not open. Hypothetical conditional clauses can also have past, present, and future reference. There are restrictions on the use of verb forms in both the if-clause and main clause. The use of tenses in the if clause is hypothetical, thus these clauses are not subject to sequence of tenses. Subject-operator inversion is possible in case of conditional clauses with the verbs should/had and were (had he called me earlier, I would have helped him)

Conjuncts

Conjuncts have a connective function between sentences. Most typically, they take the initial position, but they aren't restricted to it, they also take the medial or final position. There are many classifications of conjuncts, but are the most frequent ones: enumerative/listing (in the first place, secondly, next; moreover, furthermore), summative (altogether, in sum, to sum up), appositive (namely, specifically), resultive (therefore, consequently), contrastive (in other words; on the other hand; however, whereas), transitional (by the way, incidentally; meanwhile, eventually)

Constituency tests

Constituency tests are used to determine the syntactic constituents in a sentence. There are six tests: Substitution, ellipsis, movement, constituent questions, deletion and focalizing.

Contingency adjuncts

Contingency adjuncts are adjuncts of cause/reason (She died of cancer; working hard, she got promoted), purpose (you should study harder in order to pass the exam), result (we ignored him totally, so he left), concession (in spite of his hard work, he failed the test), condition (if he invites me, I'll come). They mostly occur in the initial and final position; if they co-occur in the final position their order is respect, process, space, time, and contingency.

Functional classification of dependent clauses

Dependent clauses can function as syntactic constituents of larger, complex sentences or as postmodification of phrases. As independent syntactic constituents [S, O, C, A] in the superordinate clause, in which case they are either nominal, functioning as subject, object, or complement; or adverbial, functioning as adverbials. Dependent clauses may also function as parts of noun, adjective, adverb and prepositional phrases. Depending on their meaning and function as complementation or postmodification of nouns, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions they can be relative, comparative, appositive, and nominal.

Classes of adverbials

Depending on how integrated they are into the structure of the clause, there are three syntactic classes of adverbials. They are conjuncts, adjuncts, and disjuncts. Conjuncts are peripheral to the structure of the clause and have a connecting function (it was a difficult exam. Nevertheless, he passed it successfully); disjuncts are also peripheral, but convey the speaker's comment (naturally, I do not approve); adjuncts are integrated (he lives in a small village).

Generic reference and the use of articles

Generic reference of the noun phrases means that a noun phrase refers to the whole class of beings, without special reference to a specific entity. It is realized through different articles depending on the type of the noun: a, the for the singular count nouns; zero for plural count and non-count nouns

Determiners: classes and positions

Determiners are closed-system parts of speech that function as premodifiers in the noun phrase. Based on their position in the phrase in relation to each other they are divided into predeterminers, central determiners and post determiners. Their use and distribution is dependent on the class of the accompanying noun

Semantic roles of the object

Direct object can have the semantic roles of the patient/theme/affected (Mary kissed John), locative (The crossed the river), result/effected (I wrote a letter), and instrument (he is playing the guitar). Indirect object can have the role of possessor/recipient (I gave her a book), and patient/theme/affected (I gave the car a wash)

Disjuncts

Disjuncts are typically prepositional phrases and clauses. There are style disjuncts and attitudinal disjuncts. Style disjuncts covey either speaker's assertion to truth or speaker's indication of generalization. Attitudinal disjuncts comment on truth value of the sentence. It can be general (certainly), general +perception (obviously), general +comment on reality of content (really). Attitudinal adjuncts also comment on the content of communication (evaluation); it can be general (understandably, have a great day) or general with a comment on clause sub0ject (wisely)

Gender: basis of distinction, gender classes

English has natural gender, meaning that the gender of the nouns matches the one of real-life entities. There are ten gender classes in English based on the natural features: +/- animate, human, masculine, feminine. The basis for distinguishing gender classes is pronoun substitution, relative pronouns and indefinite pronouns.

Comparison of adjectives and adverbs - semantic aspect

First there is a comparison of degree, which is a grammatical category marked by inflectional morphemes used to specify the extent of comparison of adjectives and adverbs. Only gradable adjectives and adverbs express comparison. There are several types of comparisons: comparison of equivalence and comparison of non-equivalence. Comparison of equivalence is comparison of the same degree. Comparison of non-equivalence can be to a higher degree, to a lower degree. Comparatives can also be made weaker or stronger by premodifying adverbs. Structures that used to express comparison with the adjective phrases are with complementation, either a prepositional phrase or with a clause. Expressing comparison can also be achieved with adverbial phrases and their complementation that are clauses and prepositional phrases. Through noun phrases its expressed with a quantifier as premodification, the head noun and a clause or a prepositional phrase as complementation.

Focusing adjuncts

Focusing adjuncts are limiters and additives. Limiters are exclusives and particulizers (he only wants to help); additives (we also brought pizza). They don't favour any position in particular, but the general rule is that they are placed before the focused element; if the whole predication is focused, they take a medial position; however not all focusing expressions are really adjuncts (she only wanted to help [adjunct] vs. only she wants to help [mod NP])

The category of number: invariable nouns

Invariable nouns have only singular or only plural forms (singularia and pluralia tantum). Singularia tantum nouns are non-count nouns (water, luggage, music), some nouns ending in -s and -ics (news; measles, darts; physics), proper names (Tom), and abstract adjectival heads of noun phrases (the evil, the unknown). Pluralia tantum nouns are summation plurals (scissors, glasses, trousers), pluralia tantum nouns in -s (arms, clothes, contents, the Middle Ages), some proper names (the Alpes, the Pyrenees), unmarked plural nouns (folk, cattle, police, youth), personal adjectival heads of noun phrases (the poor, the famous, the rich).

Syntactic function of adverbs: adverbial, modifier, complement of the preposition

Independently, adverbs function as adverbials, whether as adjuncts (they ran fast), disjuncts (frankly, I do not trust her) or conjuncts (anyway, he's gone now). As a part of other phrases, they are modifiers of adjectives, in which case the adverb serves as an intensifier (extremely calm), denotes manner (easily debatable) or viewpoint (technically possible). They are also modifiers of adverbs (surprisingly well), noun phrases (quite a mess), prepositional phrases (straight through the wall), and of determiners (over ten victims); and complements of the preposition (till then)

Modal verbs: form, function and meaning

Modal verbs normally don't convey past tense, although there are past tense forms of modals like could, should and might. There are two modal meanings intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic modality refers to human control over events like permission, obligation, ability and volition, whereas extrinsic modality refers to human judgement of what is or isn't likely to happen like possibility, prediction and necessity. Modal verbs used to express ability are can, could and be able to. They refer to a natural or learned ability (can you hear that?), a general ability in the past (I could run very fast when I was a child), a specific ability in the past (I was able to buy tickets yesterday) and an action not preformed (I could have lent you the money if you had asked me). Modal verbs used to express permission are may, can, could and might and have a reference to a permission in the present or future and in the past. (May I smoke here; on Sundays we could stay up late). Modal verbs used to express obligation are should, ought to, must, have to, needn't and mustn't and are used to present obligation or duty, past unfulfilled obligation, strong obligation, lack of obligation and a lack of obligation in the past. Modal verbs used to express possibility are may, might, could and can; refer to a present or future possibility, general possibility and a possibility in the past. Modal verbs used to express deduction are must, can't and couldn't use for expressing positive or negative deduction. Modal verbs used to express assumptions are will, should and ought to, refer to present actions, past actions and future assumptions. Modal verbs used to express past habitual use are used and would and refer to a past state or habit. Marginal modal verbs need and dare used with

The present simple tense: present and non-present time uses

Present time reference is the basic meaning of the present simple tense. It denotes state present, habitual present and instantaneous present. State present refers to a timeless present, meaning universal truths (2+2=4) and permanent state (she is tall). Habitual present refers to actions that are repeated (she makes her own dresses) and instantaneous present refers to momentary actions like commentary, performatives, ceremonies, exclamations, and demonstrators. Non-present time uses of present simple tense refer to past time and future time. Past time is expressed through the narrative present, verbs of communication, discussing works of art, newspaper headlines and photographic captions. Future time reference is expressed in temporal clauses, conditional clauses, relative clauses, and main clauses.

Mood

Mood is a verbal category that expresses the attitude of the speaker towards the factual content of the uttered sentence. Finite sentences can be marked with mood. In English, mood can be expressed in three ways: indicative (he works hard), subjunctive (I suggest that he work harder) or imperative (work harder!)

Negation: negative items and non-assertive forms; scope and focus of negation

Negation is a logical operation of implying the opposite of something that is without it regarded as actual, positive or affirmative, by using the particle not or other negative items. There are clause negation, local negation, phrasal negation and predication negation. Negative items are used for creating verb negation and non-verbal negation. For verb negation the particle NOT is always used. For non-verbal negation, many different negative items are used, such as nuclear negatives no, none, never, and not; items negative in meaning only, but not in form: rarely, seldom, scarcely, barely, little, few; verbs, adjectives, and prepositions with implied negative meaning: refuse, deny, fail, reluctant, unaware, without, against, useless. Negatives with positive word-form (rarely, seldom, scarcely, only, few...) are treated as negative forms because they are followed by non-assertive forms (I seldom get any sleep), when they're placed in the initial position, they cause negative inversion (rarely DOES crime PAY so well as Mr. Benn seems to think), and they can be followed by question tags (she scarcely cares about you, does she). Scope of negation is the stretch of language over which the negative meaning operates and within which non-assertive items are used. It extends from the negative word to the end of the clause, or to the beginning of a final adjunct (I definitely didn't speak to him / I didn't definitely speak to him). The focus of negation is the part of the sentence with special stress, within the scope of negation. It's a special nuclear stress which is placed on a particular part of a clause in order to indicate that the contrast of meaning implicit in the negation is located at that spot and also that the rest of the clause can be understood in a positive sense, it can also make the scope discontinuous

Nominal categories

Nominal categories are categories that can be morphologically be expressed on the noun by means of inflection. These categories are number, case and gender.

Process adjuncts

Process adjuncts are adjuncts of manner (I treated him badly), instrument (he examined it microscopically/with a microscope), means (I go to work by bus) and agent (penicillin was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming). Process adjuncts favour the final position; however, some may take the medial position.

Nominal clauses: subclassification

Nominal clauses are subordinate clauses that can have nominal functions. Based on the formal indicators of subordination, nominal clauses can be classified into five types: that clauses, wh-interrogative clauses, yes/no interrogative clauses, nominal relative clauses, and non-finite nominal clauses. That-clauses may function as subjects (that she is still alive is a consolation), direct objects (I think [that] she is crazy), subject complements (the assumption is that things will change); noun phrases ([your assumption, that things will improve], is wrong), and adjective phrases (I am [sure that he will win the race]). Wh-interrogative clauses can function as subjects (how the book will sell depends on the author), direct objects (I do not know what made her do that), subject complements (The problem is who will stay here); noun phrases ([My question, why he did that], has not yet been answered), adjective phrases (I am not certain whose house I'm in), and prepositional phrases (they talked [about who should win the prize]). Yes/no interrogative clauses are introduced by the subordinators if or whether. They function as subjects (whether he will come or not is not my concern), direct objects (I don't know if they'll come), subject complements (the problem is whether she'll arrive on time); noun phrases ([my question, whether she will come or not,] has not been answered yet), adjective phrases (I am not [certain whether I should stay]) and prepositional phrases (they talked about whether they should enter the competition). Nominal relative clauses is a term commonly used despite the fact that clauses can't be both nominal and relative in the same time. These clauses however refer to individuals or entities and are introduced by the subordinators who, whoever; what, whatever; where. They function as subjects (what he's looking for is a wife), direct objects (I want to see whoever deals with complaints), indirect objects (he gave whoever came a winning smile), subject complements (home is where your heart is), object complements (you can call her whatever you like); noun phrases (let us know your college address; that is, where you live, in term time) and prepositional phrases (vote for whoever you think is best). Non-finite nominal clauses depending on the structure of the verb phrase, non-finite with nominal function can be to-infinitive nominal clauses and bare infinitive clauses. Non-finite nominal clauses can have the same function as finite nominal clauses: subject (for such a thing to happen is terrible), direct object (he likes everyone to be happy), subject complement (all I did was turn off the light); noun phrase ([my wish, to be a pilot, cannot be fulfilled]), adjective phrase (it is nice to see you)

Structural deficiencies of non-finite clauses

Non-finite clauses express no mood, tense or modality. They also frequently have no subordinator and subject to syntactic compression, meaning that they can be realized without the subject and the auxiliary verb too ([because they were] determined to do it, they jumped). The subject can be either implied (when ripe, these apples are tasty) or overt (lunch finished, the guests left). Because of the non-finiteness, they may cause ambiguity (we met him leaving the room)

Classes of nouns

Nouns can be grammatically classified into common and proper nouns. Common nouns are further classified into countable and non-countable nouns which both include concrete and abstract nouns. Count nouns denote individual countable entities whereas non-count denote undifferentiated mass; some have dual membership (he drinks coffee; can I have two coffees please). The countability of non-count nouns can be expressed by partitive constructions that denote part of a whole like quantity partition and quality partition

Semantic roles of sentence elements

One syntactic constituent can have various semantic roles. Semantic roles refer to a meaning syntactic constituents can have in relation to the verb. The verb can have one or more participants (arguments) and each of them has a semantic role.

Functions of the operator

Operators are auxiliary verbs. Such verbs are DO in cases of do-support, LEXICAL BE and HAVE in BrE. Operators are used in negative transformation (I don't like pears), question-tags (You do like pears, don't you?), interrogative transformation (Do you like pears?), emphasis (You DO like pears) and avoiding repetition of the predication (They like pears and so do we)

The past simple tense: past and non-past time uses

Past time reference is the basic meaning of the past simple tense. It denotes event past (I was born in 2001), state past (I played video games), and habitual past (in those days, we played hide and seek every night). Non-past references are present-time and future-time. Present time reference is expressed through the attitudinal past (I was wondering if you could do the dishes), indirect speech and hypothetical/modal past expressed through hypothetical condition (if you knew him, you wouldn't say that), hypothetical comparison (he treats her as if he knew her), wishes (I wish I knew that) and other expressions (it's time we left). Future time reference is expressed through attitudinal past (I was wondering if you could make lunch tomorrow) and hypothetical/modal past through hypothetical condition (what would you do with a drunken sailor?), wishes (I wish you weren't leaving tomorrow) and other expressions (Imagine you left the stove on after making lunch).

Post determiners

Post determiners are a type of determiners that usually occur after another determiner. These can be classified into numbers and quantifiers. Numbers are cardinal (one, two), ordinal (first, second) and general ordinal (next, last).

Predeterminers

Predeterminers are a type of determiners that precede other determiners in the noun phrase. They are used to express proportion. Predeterminers are special quantifiers all, both and half; multipliers double (the), twice (a); fractions (one-fifth); and what, such

Syntactic function of the PP

Prepositional phrases can have an independent function in the sentence. They can function as adjuncts (he lives in a village), conjuncts (In a nutshell, things didn't work out as expected) and disjuncts (To my surprise, she didn't show up), complements of the subject (The play is by Shakespeare) or object (I consider them at great risk), and rarely as subject (In the house is where I want to be). Prepositional phrases can also have a dependant function. In that case they function as part of a noun phrase (the girl with the funny red hat), part of an adjective phrase (grateful for your help) or part of an adverbial phrase (he drives faster [than John]). PPs can also function as particles of phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs are combinations of verbs followed by particles which change the initi

Characteristics of prepositions

Prepositions are a closed class of elements connecting two units in a sentence and specifying a relationship between them. Prepositions can be simple and complex. Prepositions are heads of prepositional phrases which are always followed by a noun phrase. Prepositional phrases can function as independent sentence elements (he lives in a village) or as complements of noun phrases (in the house) and adverb phrases (suitable for the job). They can also function as prepositional particles of phrasal verbs (look after the children)

Semantic classification of prepositions

Prepositions express a wide range of meanings that can be analysed as either meanings denoting pure notions of physical space or meanings which have been metaphorically derived. Basic prepositional meanings are space (he is in the house), time, contingency, process and other meanings.

Stranded prepositions

Prepositions normally precede their complements; however, the simple preposition is sometimes stranded from its noun phrase complement. Stranding can be obligatory and optional. It is obligatory in passive constructions and when the prepositional complementation is thematized in sentences with -ing/infinitival clauses. It is optional in questions, relative clauses,

Classification of pronouns

Pronouns are a heterogeneous class of pro-forms associated with noun phrases. They can be classified as specific or indefinite. Specific pronouns can further be classified into central, reciprocal (each other, one another), relative (who, whom, whose, which, that), interrogative (who, whom, whose, which, what), and demonstrative (this, these, that, those). Central pronouns are personal (I, me, you...), reflective (myself) and possessive (mine, yours...). Indefinite pronouns are further classified into indefinite one (one, one's, oneself), universal (all, both; every, each), partitive and quantifying. Partitive pronouns are replacive one (one, ones), assertive (some, someone, something), non-assertive (any, either, anyone, anything) and negative (none, neither, no one, nothing) pronouns. Quantifying pronouns are general (multal many, much; paucal few, little, half, several, enough) and enumerative pronouns (cardinals and ordinals).

Propper nouns and use of articles

Propper nouns are a specific type of nouns that have unique reference that is realized through the definite and the zero article. They are actually names of specific entities, people, countries, cities, mountains, rivers, magazines, holidays etc. These two groups differ significantly. Nouns that take the definite article are nouns that are plural names like the United States of America or the Netherlands; singular geographical names and institutional names like theatres or museums. Zero articles is used for personal names, temporal names, names of festivals (months, days), continents etc.

Specific reference and the use of articles

Reference is a category applicable to the Noun Phrases. Specific reference refers to referents that are specific members of a class. Specific reference can be definite, indefinite and unique. The definite article gives the noun phrase definite reference, meaning that such noun phrases refer to something or someone that can be identified uniquely in the contextual or general knowledge shared by both the speaker and hearer. According to that, there are situational definite reference and grammatical definite reference. Situational definite reference is derived from the shared extralinguistic situation: immediate situation (can you pass me the sugar), larger situation (based on general knowledge) (the Pope, the president) and unique role (aka zero article) (JFK was [the/o] President of the USA in 1961). Grammatical definite reference is logic, anaphoric and cataphoric. Logical reference refers to the nouns premodified by superlatives or ordinals (the next, the best), anaphoric reference is when the definite article indicates identity of referent established earlier (Tom bought a TV and a stereo, but he returned the stereo), cataphoric reference is when the definite article indicates identity of referent to be established (do you know the girl who is sitting next to John). Indefinite reference is marked by noun phrases that refer to someone or something which cannot be identified by both the speaker and the hearer but only by the speaker. Depending on whether the noun is count or non-count, either the indefinite or zero article is used. The indefinite article is used with singular count nouns (I am moving into an apartment near yours), while the zero article is used with plural count and non-count nouns (I'd like [some] milk in my coffee; I brought her some apples). Unique reference is restricted to proper nouns and can be realized with the definite or zero article.

Sentence types and discourse functions: statements, questions, commands, exclamations

Simple sentences are divided into four major types which correspond to four discourse functions. Declarative sentences express statements which convey some information. Interrogative sentences are used to ask information from the hearer by asking questions. Imperative sentences are used to express command or requests. Exclamative sentences are used for the expression of the speaker's feelings.

Space place adjuncts

Space place adjuncts are adjuncts of position (he lives in a village), direction (he followed her up that hill), source (they followed him from his office), goal (they followed him to the bank), and distance (they travelled a long way). Co-occurrence is possible. But relative order is fixed: distance-position (he swam a mile in the open sea), direction-position (he fell into the water near that rock), distance-direction (she walked a few steps towards him), if there are two of the same subtype, they go more specific or smaller first, followed by the less specific or bigger one. Goal-source or source goal. Space adjuncts generally take the final position, however if they are clustered, the order is distance-direction-position (she walked a few steps towards him in the dark), space adjuncts can be moved to the initial position (on top of the building, two men were gesticulating wildly)

Semantic properties of open-class words: stative and dynamic

Stative means that the noun, adjective, adverb or verb refers to a stable, unchanging entity (house, idea), quality (short), state or condition (be, see, have), whereas dynamic means that the noun, adjective, adverb or verb refers to a changing, temporary activity (run), property or quality(naughty) or entity (nuisance)

Subjuncts

Subjuncts can be formulaic/courtesy (he humbly offered his apologies) and general/volitional (resentfully, she went to the party). They are very similar to adjuncts of manner, and favour the initial position.

Formal indicators of subordination

Subordinators are formal indicators of subordination, they introduce subordinate clauses and are classified into the following groups: single word (that, if, although, as, because, since, when...), multi-word (in order that, provided that, as soon as, as though...), correlative (no sooner...than, hardly... when), marginal (the moment, once...), and zero (did you..., had he done...)

Syntactic realization of sentence elements

Syntactic constituents (subject, verb, object, complement, and adverbial) can be realized in different forms, phrases and clauses. The subject can have the structure of a phrase (The man you are talking to is my boss) or a nominal clause (What I do is not your concern). Verbs are realized as phrases that can be finite or non-finite (He wants to leave the room). The subject complement can be realized as a noun phrase (He became president of the party), an adjective phrase (He is very happy), a prepositional phrase (their behaviour is beyond reproach), and as a nominal clause (He became what he'd always wanted). Direct object can be structured as a noun phrase (I wrote a letter) or as a nominal clause (I think you're right); indirect object too. Object complement is realized as a noun phrase (They elected him president of the party), an adjective phrase (I imagined her angry), a prepositional phrase (I consider myself at risk) and as a nominal clause (I imagined her whoever she pretended to be), and adverbials are realized as adverb phrases (I will explain everything soon), prepositional phrases (I will explain everything in the morning), noun phrases (I will explain everything next week) and adverbial clauses (We will discuss the matter if necessary).

The verbal categories of tense and aspect

Tense is a linguistic category different from Time, which is a universal, non-linguistic category. In English tense can be either present or past, but can have a future reference. Tense locates the situation somewhere on the timeline, thus a grammaticized location in time expressed by verbal inflections, and aspect views the internal temporal structure of the situation. Tenses have basic and secondary meanings depending on the time reference of the verb phrase. The use of tenses depends upon the verb, which denotes situations classified as states (she lives in London), events (She visited London) or habits (She visits London once a year)

Adjectival paradigm

The adjectival paradigm consists of three forms: positive, comparative and superlative. The comparative and superlative can be inflected or periphrastic and the choice between the two depends on the length of an adjective. Monosyllabic adjectives take the inflected form (happy-happier-happiest). Disyllabic adjectives that end in -y, - ow, -er/ure, common, handsome, polite, quiet, wicked. The periphrastic form take on adjectives that are trisyllabic or longer. There are also irregular forms. Paradigm is limited only to gradable adjectives.

The structure and the function of the NP

The noun phrase is a structure that is built around a head word, in this case, a noun, which is an obligatory part of a noun phrase. The noun phrase can optionally have nominal premodification (the two pretty girls in the corner) and postmodification (secretary-general). A noun phrase can function independently or as a part of a prepositional phrase as a complement (she is in her bedroom). Independently they can function as a subject (my bike is green), object indirect (I showed them the city) and direct (I showed them the city), a subject or object complement (Mary is my best friend; John made Mary his wife) or as an adverbial (I met Tom last week).

The imperative mood

The imperative mood is used mainly to express commands. It consists of the base form of the verb, it is finite but restricted, meaning that there is no tense, modality or perfective aspect, while progressive aspect (be preparing the dinner) and passive voice are possible (be prepared for dinner). It usually has an implied 2nd person subject, often omitted. Imperative can also be negative (don't touch that!) or persuasive (Do have some more!).

Sentence elements/syntactic constituents: their number and mutual relationships

The level of structure refers to words, phrases and clauses that are marked as nouns, verbs, adjectives, clauses, phrases etc. whereas the level of function refers to SVOCA: Subject, Verb, direct and indirect object, subject and object Complements, and optional and obligatory Adverbials.

The perfect aspect

The perfect aspect can convey continuing duration of a previous action, continuing relevance of a previous action or a result, and completion and emphasis on completion. Depending on the type of situation expressed by the verb (state, event or habit) there are event perfect, state perfect and habitual perfect. Event perfect refers to indefinite past use, the perfect of result and definite past use. Indefinite past use signifies past time with current relevance, relation between past situation and present moment, or before-past situation and past moment and is only compatible with indefinite past expressions. There are experimental perfect and recent past time used in past (I had never been there; the play had just begun) and present (have you ever been to China; she has called me this morning). The perfect of result uses present perfect (she's lost her keys and is looking for them now) and past perfect (she had lost her keys, and was looking for them everywhere) through which it shows that the result of a past activity is now valid. Definite past use creates a point of view from the past and refers to a time earlier in the past time (they (had) moved to the house before the baby was born).

The perfect progressive aspect

The perfect progressive aspect combines the perfect aspectual meanings and the progressive aspectual meanings. Depending on the verb there are event perfect progressive and habitual perfect progressive which are both expressed by present perfect progressive and past perfect progressive

The prepositional phrase

The prepositional phrase typically consists of a preposition head and a noun phrase complement, an adverb phrase complement, or wh- finite clause complement or an adverb premodification

The progressive aspect

The progressive aspect focuses on the situation being in progress at a certain point in time, conveying meanings of duration, temporariness, incompleteness or emotional coloring. Depending on the type of situation expressed by the verb (dynamic/stative), here are the uses of the progressive aspect combined with tense: Event progressive and habitual progressive. Event progressive expresses temporariness (she is living with her parents while her flat is being renovated) incompleteness (I'm writing a letter) in present and duration (she was studying grammar all night) and incompleteness (I was writing a letter last night) in the past. Habitual progressive expresses temporariness (she usually goes to work by bus, but today she is going to work by car) and emotional coloring (she is always calling me when in trouble) in the present.

Sentence elements/syntactic constituents: their number and mutual relationships

The sentence can be analyzed in terms of sentence elements or syntactic constituents and their functional parts or syntactic functions. A syntactic constituent is a group of words, phrases or clauses which has one function. Therefore, every sentence can be analyzed at the level of structure and the level of function.

Semantic roles of the subject

The subject can have as many as thirteen semantic roles. Those are: Agent (Mary broke a cup), instrument (The key opened the door), cause (The wind destroyed the roof), patient/theme (Jack fell down a well), possessor (they have a big house), recipient (bill got a letter), experiencer (john is sleeping), locative (the bus holds twenty people), temporal (tomorrow is Monday), eventive (the concert is at 8), identified (tom is a student), characterised (tom is very energetic), and dummy IT subject (it is raining)

The subjunctive mood

The subjunctive is a set of forms of a verb that express non-facts. There are two kinds: the present subjunctive and the past subjunctive. The present subjunctive is the same as the base form of the verb (I, you, he, we, you, they BE) and no -s inflection for the third person singular. There are three uses of the present subjunctive: The mandative subjunctive, in clauses condition, concession and purpose and formulaic subjunctive. The mandative subjunctive refers to the present subjunctive in subordinate that-clauses after suasive verbs that imply an intention to bring about a change in the future. Such verbs are: beg, suggest, urge, insist, demand... (I suggest you buy the Doran's Blade) and adjectives like necessary, essential, crucial (it is crucial you avoid dying in-game); and nouns like decision, decree, resolution (the team has decided he be reported). The subjunctive is used for clauses of condition (if need be, lower the graphics), concession (even if that be the official view, it cannot be accepted) and purpose (the president must reject the proposal, lest it cause strife and violence). The formulaic subjunctive is used in established expressions (God save the queen; God forbid...) The past subjunctive is also called were-subjunctive because it refers only to the verb TO BE, where it takes the form WERE. It is used in hypothetical states with present-time reference in hypothetical condition (If I were you, I'd stop playing League of Legends), hypothetical comparison (he's flaming us as if he knew how to play), wishes (if only I knew how to play!) and other expressions (Imagine we were in-game now).

Verb classes and clause types

The verb is a central element in the sentence because it determines the other obligatory elements in it. Based on their valency, the number of obligatory arguments they take, verbs can syntactically be classified as intensive and extensive. Intensive verbs are copular linking verbs that are followed by a subject complement or an adverb (Mary seems happy; John is in his room). Extensive verbs are further classified into intransitive and transitive verbs. Intransitive verbs require no obligatory complement (the sun is shining). Transitive verbs can be monotransitive, ditransitive or complex transitive. Monotransitive verbs require the direct object (I have written two letters), ditransitive verbs require both an indirect and direct object (he gave her a book), and complex transitive verbs are followed by an object and an adverbial (he put a book on the desk). Sometimes one verb can belong to more than one class, this is called multiple class membership (she made a chocolate cake vs she made her kids chocolate cake). Verbs create specific sentence patterns or clause types, these are: intensive [SVCS, SVA] (your dinner seems ready; my room is on the first floor), intransitive [SV] (the sun is shining), monotransitive [SVO] (the lecture bored me), ditransitive [SVOiOd] (I must send her a birthday card), complex transitive [SVOCo, SVOA] (most students found her helpful; she put the plate on the table). The single verb element of a simple sentence is always a finite verb phrase. Naturally the optional adverbial can be added to sentences of any type.

The verb phrase: simple/complex, finite/non-finite

The verb phrase is a structure centered around a phrase head that is a verb. It can be classified according to its structure, form and finiteness. According to its structure, verb phrases can be extended or restricted; extended is the verb form with all its complements and modifiers (Mary gave John an apple), whereas restricted is just the verb. Based on its form, they can be simple (Mary gave John an apple) or complex (Mary had given John an apple). Based on finiteness, verb phrases can be finite or non-finite. Finiteness means that the verb expresses an agreement in person and number with the subject and that it can be marked with all the verbal categories (tense, mood, aspect, voice, modality), whereas non-finite verbs don't express concord and may only be marked with aspect and voice. (he is working; having been offended)

Prepositions expressing spatial relations

There are numerous prepositions which express spatial relations depending on the type of reference ground and whether the position is static or dynamic. Reference ground can be point, line/surface, and area/volume and position refers to location(static), direction, and passage(movement)

Adverbial positions

There are three main sentence positions that adverbials can take: initial, medial and final. Adverbials that are in the initial position come before the subject. Those that take the medial position come after the subject, but before the main verb or obligatory complements; there may be more than one medial adjunct. Adjuncts taking the final position come after the lexical verb and other obligatory complements

Degree/intensifier adjunct

These are amplifiers and downturners like I entirely agree/i kind of like him

Time adjuncts

Time adjuncts typically favour the final position; however, they can also take the initial position; short adjuncts often take the medial position. Time adjuncts are adjuncts of duration, time when/position, frequency. Time when/position adjuncts answer the question when; there are two of the same type: more specific and less specific, however if one of them is longer the order goes shorter, followed by longer. Adjuncts of duration have three subtypes: duration of specific or indefinite length (how long?) (He played it for 6 hours), duration and forward span (till when) (he plays it till 4am), duration and backward span (since when) (he plays it since it came out). Frequency adjuncts have four subtypes: frequency of occasion, frequency of period, definite frequency and other time relationships. Frequency of occasion answers to HOW MANY TIMES? (He did it twice), frequency of period answers the question HOW OFTEN (he is paid daily). Definite frequency gas four subsets: universal (always), high (often, frequently), usual (usually, generally), low (seldom, hardly, ever, never). Among other time relationships are previously, again, already etc. When time adjuncts co-occur, their relative order is duration, frequency, position

Variable nouns

Variable nouns have both singular and plural. The vast majority have the regular plural. The regular plural inflectional morpheme -s has three allomorphic realizations /z, s, iz/. Several groups of nouns have irregular plural which is expressed through voicing (half/halves), mutation (tooth/teeth), -en plural (ox/oxen), and zero plural (sheep/sheep). Some foreign words take the foreign plural, some regular plural, and some have both. Latin: us-i (cactus/cacti), a-ae (alga/algae), um-a (bacterium/bacteria), ex-ices (codex/codices); Greek: is-es (crisis/crises), on-a (criterion/criteria); nouns of Italian origin: o-I (paparazzo-paparazzi)

Verbal categories

Verbal categories are grammatical categories that can be expressed on the verb by means of inflectional morphemes. These categories are mood, aspect, tense, voice and modality. Mood can be indicative, subjunctive or imperative. Aspect can be progressive or non-progressive and finite or non-finite. Tense is present or past, voice active or passive and modality can refer to ability, probability, assumption, deduction, permission etc.

The verbal paradigm

Verbal paradigm is a set of grammatically conditioned verb forms that have derived from the same verb. The verbal paradigm in English consists of 5 forms: Base form, 3rd person singular present tense form, past tense (-ed1) form, present participle, past participle (-ed2 regular) form. The base form is used in the infinitive, the present tense, imperative and present subjunctive. The present participle is used in the progressive aspect, adjectival use, non-finite relative and adverbial clauses, and the past participle is used in the perfect aspect, passive voice, adjectival, and non-finite clauses. (speak, speaks, spoke, speaking, spoken; stop, stops, stopped, stopping, stopped)

Categories of verbs

Verbs are central parts of the sentence and therefore determine all the other obligatory elements. Verbs are either intensive(copular) or extensive. Intensive verbs build SVCs and SVA sentence patterns. Extensive verbs can be further categorized into intransitive and transitive. Intransitive verbs cannot build sentences that have objects, complements or adverbials, therefore the sentence pattern they build is SV. Transitive verbs, however, can and can further be categorized as monotransitive SVO, ditransitive SVOiOd, and complex transitive SVOCo and SVOA

Verb classes: lexical and auxiliary

Verbs are part of speech denoting activities or states and based on their meaning they can be classified as lexical(full) or auxiliary. Lexical verbs function as main verbs in a verb phrase. Auxiliary verbs can be classified into primary, modal and marginal modal. Primary auxiliary verbs (be, have, do) can function as both main and aux, whereas modal aux (can, may, could, shall, will, could, should, would, must, ought to, used to) function only as auxiliary since they have no third person inflected form, no non-finite forms or tense distinctions. Marginal modal verbs (need, dare) can function as main verbs as well. There are two additional categories of verbs and verbal expressions with modal meanings: modal idioms (had better, would rather, have to...) and verb idioms (be going to, be about to, be able to)

Category of voice

Voice is a grammatical category that makes it possible to view the activity expressed in a sentence in either of the two ways, active or passive, without a change in the facts reported. Voice can be expressed with both finite and non-finite verb phrases. The transition between active and passive applies only to the verb phrases here the verb is transitive, so there are some constraints on the process of passivization, such as with stative transitive verbs (he resembles his father) or object constrains when the object is a noun phrase in examples like John loves Mary or is a clause like He thought she was pretty.

Means of expressing future time

WILL/SHALL + INFINITIVE is used to make: -predictions or state facts about the future: if the crop fails, there will be a famine. -spontaneous decisions: I'll give you a lift to the airport. -willingness: I will be there in half an hour. will we help our friend? GOING TO' FUTURE :-future fulfillment of a present intention: they are going to get married. -future result of a present action: watch out! you're going to fall! THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE :-arrangement, plan, program in the near future: we are meeting him at three tomorrow. THE SIMPLE PRESENT :-mainly in subordinate clauses: what will you do if he offers you the job? -also, in main clauses (timetable, calendar, itinerary): school starts on 1st September. THE FUTURE PROGRESSIVE :-unplanned future: we'll be seeing each other. -an action in progress at a point in the future: at 10 o'clock tomorrow, I will be cleaning my flat. THE FUTURE PERFECT :-an action that will have been completed by a future point in time: we will have moved to another flat by next Wednesday. THE FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE :-an activity lasting for some time up to a point in the future (for...by...): by the end of next month, I will have been working for this company for ten years. BE (ABOUT) TO INFINITIVE : BE TO = future arrangement, plan, formal style: there is to be an official enquiry. BE ABOUT TO = near future , the train is about to leave.

Structural realization of words: phrases and clauses

Words are combined into structures called phrases, which are built around a head word, called the phrase head which is an element that determines the syntactic function of the whole phrase. Accordingly, there are noun phrases (you, John, car), verb phrases (run, runs, has run, is running...), adjective phrases (special, rather shy), adverb phrases (here, surprisingly well) and prepositional phrases (at the corner, in front of the house). Units larger than phrases are clauses, which consists of one subject-predicate unit, the predication.

Parts of speech; word classes

Words are grouped into morphosyntactic classes called parts of speech. There are two classes of parts of speech: open-class and closed-class. Open-class is a class of words with a potentially unlimited word membership and they have lexical meaning. Parts of speech that belong in the open class are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Closed-class is contrary to the open-class and has grammatical or functional meaning. Such parts of speech are: prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, determiners, conjunctions, and interjections

Fixed expressions with zero article

Zero article is often used in fixated expressions with various meanings: go to bed, be at sea, travel by car, at dawn, after dark, in winter, on Monday, have dinner, by heart, speak French

Substitution

a constituency test that replaces constituents with pro-forms, which refer back to an expression without repeating it (the student will meet his friend at the cafe, after class > he will meet them there then)

The sentence, parsing and defining it

a primary language unit comprising a minimum sense of completeness; a string of words expressing a complete thought; a string of words between two full stops; a basic meaningful unit of a language. Formally speaking, sentences are ultimately divisible into words, however, it is a harsh oversimplification to define sentences as linear strings of words, and words as their only constituents

Ellipsis

a test that leaves out a constituent under identity conditions (My dad promised to try the vegetarian lunch I made, and he will (try the vegetarian lunch that I made))

Deletion

erves to determine optional constituents as they can be removed from the sentence (The student will meet his friend [at a café] [after class])

Focalizing

serves to make an emphasis on a constituent (It is the student that will meet his friend after class)

Constituent question

used to determine a constituent by asking a question so that the constituent we're testing be an answer to it (John is waiting for his old friend from China > Who is John waiting for? > His old friend from China)

Movement

used to move whole constituents around in a sentence ([After class,] the student will go home [after class])