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English Grammar
1. Morphemes Morphology is the grammar component that studies how words are structured. Morphemes are the smallest units of grammatical description since they cannot be segmented any further. Free and bound morphemes Free morphemes occur on their own. Bound morphemes can occur only if they are attached to (an)other morpheme(s): − impossible: im-possible This is possible / * This is im- − employees: employ – ee - s The factory employs 400 people / *There are 400 – ee - s − unfriendly: un- friend – ly He is a friend, *He is – un / *He is – ly. Free morphemes Morphemes that can be used independently are called free morphemes. Free morphemes are also known as lexemes or as roots. Roots are the indivisible central part of a word. Affixes Bound morphemes are also known as affixes. Affixes can be classified according to the following criteria: − Their position in the word: o Affixes added at the beginning of a word are prefixes. o Those added at the end, suffixes :
- dis- (prefix) + agree = disagree
- book + s (suffix) = books − The type of information they add: o Derivational affixes : some affixes add lexical meaning. They are used to produce new words: happy + ness = happiness. o Inflectional affixes : some affixes can add grammatical meaning. They mark distinctions such as: singular/ plural, present/past tense or the degree in adjectives and adverbs, but notice the word is the same: pets/ asked , asking, asks/ louder, loudest. Plural (S 1 ) 3 rd^ person singular (S 3 ) Present participle (-ing) Comparative (-er) Genitive (S 2 ) Past simple(ED 1 ) Past participle (ED 2 ) Superlative (-est) Prefixes are always derivational, and suffixes can be either derivational or inflectional.
Affixation Some words have just one morpheme, the root, they are monomorphemic: promise, neighbor, chair, friend Other words are created when affixes are added either to: a root (friend + ly = friendly) or to a word that already contains another bound morpheme (friendly + ness = friendliness). Roots and bases Morphemes can be added to roots: colony + al = colonial. Morphemes can be added to bases: colonial + ize = colonialize. The part of a word to which an affix is attached is called base. A root is a base that cannot be analyzed any further into morphemes. Notice: All roots can be bases, but not all bases are roots. coloni /al / iz / ation root sd base base Segmentation of words Segmentation of words is not always easy. − Sometimes the constituents do not follow each other linearly un controll ed − Spelling may also be misleading. − The dividing lines may not be clear. − Irregular forms cannot be analyzed as regular forms. Irregular forms Irregular words such as verbs, the plural of some nouns or some adjectives and adverbs cannot be easily segmented. To solve this problem, they are analyzed on the basis of regular forms: books = book + S 1 men = man + S 1 walked = walk + ED 1 took = take + ED 1
Open and closed word classes There are two main word classes:
- Open word classes: membership is unrestricted, they allow the addition of new members: download, email, to google … In English there are four open word classes: nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs.
- Closed word classes: membership is restricted, they do not allow any new items. There are seven closed word classes in English: prepositions, conjunctions, articles, numerals, pronouns, quantifiers and interjections. Closed word classes types and examples Prepositions Simple : at, by, from, except… Complex : in spite of, except for, with the exception of… Conjunctions Subordinators : that, than, if, since, as if, as though… Coordinators : and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet… Articles Definite : the Indefinite : a Numerals Cardinal : one, two, three… Ordinal : first, second… Pronouns Personal : she/her… Self - : herself Relative : who, that… Demonstrative : this, that. Possessive : mine, hers… Interrogative : who, what… Indefinite : anything… Reciprocal : each other, one another Quantifiers Some, any, many, few, little, no… Interjections Ouch, ups, wow… Problems concerning classification Many English words, if considered in isolation, cannot be classified as belonging to one specific class.
- Multiple membership: Some words may belong to more than one category: − answer or desire can be verbs or nouns. − than can be a preposition or a subordinator. − that can be a subordinator, a demonstrative pronoun or demonstrative adjective.
- Conversion : Some words, although belonging to one specific class, may behave as members of a different one: − “poor” is an adjective, in examples such as “the poor” it behaves as if it were a noun.
3. Nouns English nouns English nouns can be identified on the basis of: − their syntactic function. − their meaning. − their morphological characteristics. Nouns: morphological characteristics Nouns can be identified thanks to some derivational suffixes associated with them: - ism (i.e. idealism) or - hood (i.e. childhood). But most nouns can be identified due to the two inflectional morphemes only they can take: plural (S 1 ) or genitive (S 2 ). Plural S 1 Number in English Most common nouns in English allow the plural/singular distinction: − Language/languages − Knife/knives − Mouse/mice Exceptions
- Invariable singular nouns, which do not have a plural form: ignorance, deafness, equipment, politics, ethics.
- Invariable plural nouns, which do not have a singular form: tongs, clothes, people S1: pronunciation (S1) is realized in pronunciation in three different ways − /s/ when the base ends in a voiceless sound: hats, roofs… − /z/ when the base ends in a voiced sound: days, ribs, laws… − /iz/ when the base ends in: /s/ horses /ʓ/mirages /ʤ/bridges /z/noises /ʃ/dishes /ʧ/churches Pronunciation: Exceptions to the rule
- Some nouns undergo a change in the base when S1 is added: /θ/ + S1 = /ð/ + /z/: bath /bæθ/ - baths /bæðz/
− They may take both a native and a foreign plural. − They may take a foreign plural only Singular Plural Analysis Basis Diagnosis Thesis Alumnus Stimulus Desideratum Stratum Erratum Criterion Phenomenon Analyses Bases Diagnoses Theses Alumni Stimuli Desiderata Strata Errata Criteria Phenomena Genitive: S 2 Case in English English nouns have two cases:
- the unmarked or common case: man.
- the genitive or marked case: man’s. S 2 : Pronunciation English nouns inflect for the genitive case (S 2 ). S 2 sounds the same as S 1 (see above). S 2 : Spelling For singular nouns, the ending is most often spelled with an apostrophe followed by an s : “Tom’s sister danced until the party’s end”. Most English plurals already end in - s, so add an apostrophe if they are regular, and treat irregular plurals as singular nouns: “The barbarians’ war cries disturbed the children’s sleep”, S 2 : special cases When adding S 2 to singular nouns ending in – s, you can either: Singular Plural Formula Cactus Syllabus Index Memorandum Formulas / formulae Cactuses / cacti Syllabuses / syllabi Indexes / indices Memorandums/ memoranda
- Follow the general rule for singulars in spelling and pronounce the extra “s” /-iz/ or not (Ø): “The Wings of the Dove is the best of James’s later novels”.
- Omit the - s: “The Ambassadors is James’ best”.
- In conventional expressions the – s is usually omitted : “For goodness’ sake, don’t get all hot and bothered about this issue”. The group genitive S 2 is normally found attached to a noun, but it can also appear at the end of noun phrases: − The Duke of Edinburgh’s latest wife passed away. − The old man in the car’s answer was unclear. − My sister’s friend’s name’s Melissa. S 2 and compound structures S 2 can be added to coordinated nouns or NPs:
- We add it to the ending of the second item when the two own the same thing: “We’ll stay at my mom and dad’s house”.
- We add it to both items when different things are “possessed,”: “I’ve been reading my mom’s and dad’s school reports”. Double Genitive Genitives can be found as complements of the preposition of in a formation called the double genitive: − Emily is a friend of John’s. − Beatrice ripped a coat of Alfie’s. (Notice that, in theory, the possessive ending is redundant) Genitive: use Genitives are normally associated with “possession”, but they can also be used to express other things: − Time expressions: o A week’s holiday. o A ten minutes’ break. o A winter’s morning. − Locative expressions: o You can buy it at the chemist’s. o I’m going to the dentist’s. o We met at Ann’s. o I've got a four o'clock appointment at the hairdresser's.
4. Verbs English verbs: morphological characteristics The inflectional morphemes that characterize verbs are: 1. S 3 : third person singular. S 3 is realized in pronunciation as /s/, /z/ or /iz/ (same rules as in the plural and genitive). It is spelled as – s or – es. The latter spelling appears when the verbs end in: − - s, - z, - ch, - sh, and – x: i.e. catch-catches − consonant + o : i.e. go-goes − consonant + y: i.e. cry-cries 2. ED 1 (past simple), ED 2 (past participle). Pronunciation /t/ after bases ending in voiceless sounds: kiss-kissed, walk-walked /d/ after bases ending in voiced sounds: play-played, sin-sinned /id/ after bases ending in – t or – d: rot-rotted, load-loaded Spelling The spelling of ED 1 and ED 2 is – ed or – d. The spelling - d, is found when the verb ends in a mute – e: love-loved, move-moved. Exceptions: irregular verbs In irregular verbs the past and the past participle are formed in other ways than those of regular verbs. There are four possibilities:
- All three forms of the verb are identical: burst, burst, burst cut, cut, cut
- All three forms of the verb are different: begin, began, begun choose, chose, chosen
- ED 1 and ED 2 are identical: bring, brought, brought find, found, found
- The base of the verb and ED 2 are identical: come, came, come run, ran, run
- ing is always pronounced /iŋ/. When this suffix is added, the base may undergo spelling changes such as the following:
- Doubling of final consonant : stop/stopping
- Doubling of final ”l”: cancel/cancelling
- “c” may become “ck”: panic/panicking
- Mute – e may be dropped: change/changing - have/having
- “ie” may change into “y”: die/dying; lie/lying Classes of Verbs Verbs can be subdivided into two subclasses: auxiliary verbs and lexical verbs. Auxiliary and lexical verbs: differences.
- Auxiliary verbs are a closed class, while lexical verbs are an open class.
- To form a negative sentence: − Lexical verbs require periphrastic do : He likes hamburgers. *He likes not hamburgers. He does not like hamburgers. − Auxiliaries can co-occur with not and they can have special contracted forms: He can come today. He cannot (can’t) come today.
- To form a question: Lexical verbs: − To form yes/no questions lexical verbs also require periphrastic do : o He likes surfing – *Likes he surfing? – Does he like surfing? − To form wh- questions lexical verbs also need periphrastic do : o He leaves tomorrow - *When leaves he? – When does he leave? − When the wh- word is the subject do is not needed, however: Who came? Auxiliaries: − Auxiliaries can appear directly before the subject in wh- questions: o When is he leaving? – What can I do?
- Substitutes: Auxiliary verbs can be used as substitutes, while lexical verbs cannot: Did he leave yesterday? Yes, he did [leave yesterday] Should I go now? No, you shouldn’t [go now] Auxiliary verbs Auxiliary or helping verbs can be divided into two classes:
- Modal Auxiliaries : can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would and must. Auxiliary verbs are mutually exclusive: *I shall can come *He will must do it.
- Primary Auxiliaries. English has three primary auxiliaries: do, have and be. They are considered “primary” due to their importance for the English language, and also because they may function equally as auxiliaries and as lexical verbs.
Lexical Verbs: classification Lexical verbs can be classified according to two criteria:
- The complement(s) they take.
- The number of words they consist of. Complementation A classification of lexical verbs based on complementation depends on whether or not:
- The lexical verb in a sentence can occur on its own (without a complement): “She was smiling” (Ø).
- The lexical verb is followed by other constituents that complement its meaning: “He doesn’t support any football team” (DO). *He doesn’t support. Intransitive and Complement verbs Two major classes of verbs can be set up initially:
- Intransitive verbs: verbs that do not require any complement. It is raining. / Dogs bark. The baby has been sleeping all day. The money has disappeared.
- Complement verbs: verbs which require one or more complements. Complement verbs can be subdivided into: 1. Transitive complement verbs. Characteristics: − Transitive verbs can be turned into the passive and preserve their meaning: o Active: they stole the wallet. o Passive: the wallet was stolen. − Transitive verbs must necessarily have a direct object (DO) as complement: o They stole the wallet. (DO) o I have just seen him. o I think so. − Transitive verbs can be “one-place” or “two-place”: o One complement (the direct object): “She found the keys”. o Two different complements (the D.O. and another one ): She gave me your keys. She found the film boring. Transitive verbs: subdivision Transitive verbs can be further subdivided into four classes: − Monotransitive verbs take only one object: a D.O: He bought a new pair of shoes. − Ditransitive verbs take two objects: a D.O and an indirect object or a benefactive object. There are two possibilities:
o I.O. + D.O. = I gave her a book (paraphrasis: “I gave it to her”) o B.O + D.O.= I bought her a book (paraphrasis: “I bought a book for her”). − Complex transitive verbs take a D.O. and an object attribute. D.O. + O.A. She called him idiot. I found the book interesting. − Transitive PC verbs need a D.O and a predicator complement (PC): D.O. + P.C. She reminds me of my father.
2. Non-transitive complement verbs. Verbs which require a complement different from an object are called non-transitive. They comprise two groups: − Copulas or copular verbs Copulas or copular verbs are accompanied by a subject attribute (S.A): Louise is a teacher. I feel/look ill. It looks/sounds/tastes good. Notice that In English, there are many copular verbs other than “ be ”: became, seem, look , sound, resemble, appear, remain, taste, turn, get … − Non-transitive PC verbs. Non-transitive PC verbs only need a predicator complement (P.C.). They cannot be turned into the passive, (they are not transitive) and their complement is different from a SA: I have two houses. It weights two tons.
5. Adjectives.
Comparison Gradeability is a property associated with many adjectives. It is expressed by three different forms: − Positive (absolute): Sally is tall. − Comparative: Sally is taller than Bill. − Superlative: Sally is the tallest in the class. Some adjectives, however, are non-gradable: my left hand, the main difficulty. Morphological Characteristics Many adjectives express the comparative and superlative degree inflectionally, adding the inflectional suffixes – er or - est. Other adjectives form them analytically, adding the degree adverbs “more” and “most”. Comparison by inflection
Attributive adjectives are constituents of the noun phrase (modifiers) and normally precede the head: o Our recent history o Violent disorders o Those witty ideas But they can also follow it (postpositive adjs.): o Somebody important. o Something new. o The persons responsible. o Students enrolled in the course. − Predicative Adjectives Predicative Adjectives are always immediate constituents of the sentence. They function as Subject Attribute or Object Attribute: − His answer was puzzling − The envelopes are small − It tastes good − They proved the teacher wrong − I found the film uninteresting − They became rich − It sounds strange Attribute and predicative uses: exceptions Most adjectives can be used both attributively and predicatively: Uninteresting:
- It was nice hotel in an uninteresting location (attributive).
- The location was uninteresting (predicative). But there are some exceptions:
- Attributive only. Some adjectives are attributive only (they are always modifiers): mere, latter, upper, utter, sheer, sole, main, former, previous, inner, outer, silk, golden, gold. i.e. the former headmaster/ *the headmaster was former
- Predicative only. Most adjectives beginning with a- are predicative only: asleep, awake, alive, afraid, alike, ashamed, alone, aware. i.e. he was alone / *the alone man The following adjectives are also predicative only: loath (to), dependent (on), tantamount (to), intent (on), prepared (to), subject (to). The flight is subject to delays / *a subject to delays flight The man was loath to depart / *a loath to depart man
- Both uses depending on meaning Some adjectives can be used attributively or predicatively in one meaning and only attributively in another meaning:
- An old book / the book is old
- An old friend / *the friend is old
- A perfect solution/ the solution is perfect
- A perfect fool / *the fool is perfect
- Real gold / the gold is real
- A real coward / *the coward is real
- The right position/ the position is right
- The right man/ *the man is right
- A true story/ the story is true
- A true hero/ * the hero is true
- Both uses with a change in meaning Some adjectives have one meaning when used attributively and another when used predicatively: The present King - the King is present Her late husband - her husband is late
6. Adverbs.
Morphological Characteristics Adverbs have typical derivational suffixes:
- ly*: early Some adverbs can also inflect for the comparative and the superlative: early – earlier – earliest soon – sooner – soonest well – better – best badly – worse - worst *Notice that not all words ending in – ly are adverbs, i.e. “friendly”
Types of Adverbial From a syntactic point of view, three types of adverbial are usually distinguished in English:
1. Adjuncts All other adverbials are adjuncts: He ate his meal quickly (manner) David gave blood last week (time) Susan went to school in New York (place) Bill opened the door with a key (instrument) He went home (direction) to see what had happened (purpose) 2. Disjuncts They usually provide the speaker’s comment on the content or on the form of the utterance. They are “comment” words: Fortunately, no lives were lost in the fire. Frankly, I don’t believe you. Surprisingly, he had no money at all. Obviously, he must have misunderstood you. Briefly, that is all I have to say. I was a bit disappointed, to put it gently. Notice they are normally separated by a comma. 3. Conjuncts Conjuncts function as a connection between the sentence in which they occur and the previous context. They connect independent units only: John always drives carefully. Nevertheless, he had an accident. He had promised to meet me at the station. However, he was not there. I wanted to buy his new book. It was very expensive, though (however). Adjectives and Adverbs Multiple membership is fairly frequent in English. It is very common that the same word can equally be an adjective and an adverb: fast, early, wrong, etc. In these cases, to decide the category we consider the function of the element. If the function of the constituent in question is typical of adjective phrases (modifier of noun, S.A or O.A) it will be considered an adjective. If, to the contrary, the function is typical of adverb phrases (Adverbial or modifier of adjs. or advs.) it will be considered an adverb. Adjectives function: be a modifier of a noun, a Subject Attribute or an Object Attribute. Adverbs function: be a modifier of an adjective or an adverb and Adverbial.
