Scarica Clauses and Sentences: A Comprehensive Guide to English Grammar e più Appunti in PDF di Linguistica Inglese solo su Docsity!
Clauses and Sentences
So far we have been looking at phrases more or less in isolation. In real use, of course, they occur in isolation only in very restricted circumstances. For example, we find isolated NPs in public signs and notices: [Exit]
[Sale]
[Restricted Area]
[Hyde Park]
We sometimes use isolated phrases in spoken English, especially in responses to questions: Q: What would you like to drink?
A: [NP Coffee]
Q: How are you today?
A: [AP Fine]
Q: Where did you park the car?
A: [PP Behind the house]
In more general use, however, phrases are integrated into longer units, which we call CLAUSES: Q: What would you like to drink?
A: [I'd like coffee]
Q: How are you today?
A: [I'm fine]
Q: Where did you park the car?
A: [I parked the car behind the house]
The Clause Hierarchy
The clause I'd like coffee is a SUBORDINATE CLAUSE within the sentence I think I'd like coffee. We refer to this larger clause as the MATRIX CLAUSE: The matrix clause is not subordinate to any other, so it is, in fact, co-extensive with the sentence. We say that the matrix clause is SUPERORDINATE to the subordinate clause. The terms subordinate and superordinate are relative terms. They describe the relationship between clauses in what is called the CLAUSE HIERARCHY. We can illustrate what this means by looking at a slightly more complicated example: He said I think I'd like coffee Here the matrix clause is: He said I think I'd like coffee This matrix clause contains two subordinate clauses, which we'll refer to as Sub1 and Sub2:
Sub1 is both subordinate and superordinate. It is subordinate in relation to the matrix clause, and it is superordinate in relation to Sub2. Subordinate and superordinate , then, are not absolute terms. They describe how clauses are arranged hierarchically relative to each other. We can bracket and label clauses in the same way as phrases. We will use the following abbreviations: Matrix Clause: MC Subordinate Clause: SubC Applying these labels and brackets to our first example, we get: [ MC I think [ SubC I'd like coffee] ]
Just as we've seen with phrases, we can have embedding in clauses too. Here, the subordinate clause is embedded within the matrix clause. There is a greater degree of embedding in our second example, where there are two subordinate clauses, one within the other: [ MC He said [ SubC I think [ SubC I'd like coffee] ] ]
Finite and Nonfinite Clauses
As a working definition, let us say that clauses contain at least a verb phrase: [MC [VP Stop] ]
[MC David [VP composed an aria] when he was twelve]
[MC My solicitor [VP sent me a letter] yesterday]
As these examples show, clauses can also contain many other elements, but for now we will concentrate on the VP. We have already seen that verbs (and therefore the VPs that contain them) are either FINITE or NONFINITE, so we can use this distinction to classify clauses. Clauses are either finite or nonfinite. Finite verb phrases carry tense, and the clauses containing them are FINITE CLAUSES: [1] She writes home every day (finite clause -- present tense verb) [2] She wrote home yesterday (finite clause -- past tense verb) On the other hand, NONFINITE verb phrases do not carry tense. Their main verb is either a to- infinitive [3] , a bare infinitive [4] , an -ed form [5] , or an -ing form [6] : [3] David loves [to play the piano]
[4] We made [David play the piano]
[5] [ Written in 1864] , it soon became a classic [6] [ Leaving home] can be very traumatic These are NONFINITE CLAUSES. Matrix clauses are always finite, as in [1] and [2] . However, they may contain nonfinite subordinate clauses within them. For example:
[ MC David loves [ SubC to play the piano]
]
Here we have a finite matrix clause -- its main verb loves has the present tense form. Within it, there is a nonfinite subordinate clause to play the piano -- its main verb play has the to -infinitive form. On the other hand, subordinate clauses can be either finite or nonfinite:
Another variant, the REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSE, has no relative pronoun, and the verb is nonfinite: The man [living beside us] is ill (Compare: The man [who lives beside us]... )
Nominal Relative Clauses
NOMINAL RELATIVE CLAUSES (or independent relatives) function in some respects like noun phrases: [What I like best] is football (cf. the sport I like best ...) The prize will go to [whoever submits the best design]
(cf. the person who submits ...) My son is teaching me [how to use email]
(cf. the way to use email ) This is [where Shakespeare was born]
(cf. the place where ...) The similarity with NPs can be further seen in the fact that certain nominal relatives exhibit number contrast: Singular: [What we need] is a plan Plural: [What we need] are new ideas Notice the agreement here with is (singular) and are (plural).
Small Clauses
Finally, we will mention briefly an unusual type of clause, the VERBLESS or SMALL CLAUSE. While clauses usually contain a verb, which is finite or nonfinite, small clauses lack an overt verb: Susan found [the job very difficult]
We analyse this as a unit because clearly its parts cannot be separated. What Susan found was not the job , but the job very difficult. And we analyse this unit specifically as a clause because we can posit an implicit verb, namely, a form of the verb be : Susan found [the job ( to be ) very difficult]
Here are some more examples of small clauses: Susan considers [David an idiot]
The jury found [the defendant guilty]
[Lunch over] , the guests departed quickly All of the clause types discussed here are distinguished by formal characteristics. On the next page, we will distinguish some more types, this time on the basis of their meaning.
Subordinate Clauses: Semantic Types
Here we will look at subordinate clauses from the point of view of their meaning. The main semantic types are exemplified in the following table:
Subordinate Clause Type Example Temporal I'll ring you again [ before I leave ]
David joined the army [ after he graduated ]
[ When you leave ] , please close the door I read the newspaper [ while I was waiting ]
Conditional I'll be there at nine [ if I can catch the early train ]
[ Provided he works hard ] , he'll do very well at school Don't call me [ unless its an emergency ]
Concessive He bought me a lovely gift, [ although he can't really afford it ]
[ Even though he worked hard ] , he failed the final exam [ While I don't agree with her ] , I can understand her viewpoint Reason Paul was an hour late [ because he missed the train ]
I borrowed your lawn mower, [ since you weren't using it ]
[ As I don't know the way ] , I'll take a taxi Result The kitchen was flooded, [ so we had to go to a restaurant ]
I've forgotten my password, [ so I can't read my email ]
Comparative This is a lot more difficult [t han I expected ]
She earns as much money [ as I do ]
I think London is less crowded [ than it used to be ]
The table does not cover all the possible types, but it does illustrate many of the various meanings which can be expressed by subordinate clauses. Notice that the same word can introduce different semantic types. For instance, the word while can introduce a temporal clause: I read the newspaper [ while I was waiting]
or a concessive clause: [ While I don't agree with her] , I can understand her viewpoint.
Sentences
Most people recognise a sentence as a unit which begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (period), a question mark, or an exclamation mark. Of course, this applies only to written sentences. Sentences have also been defined notionally as units which express a "complete thought", though it is not at all clear what a "complete thought" is.
This is a simple sentence (S), consisting of a matrix clause (MC):
[S/MC My brother won the lottery]
We can subdivide the clause into an NP and a VP:
[S/MC [NP My brother]
[VP won the lottery] ]
The VP contains a further NP within it:
[S/MC [NP My brother]
[VP won [NP the lottery] ] ]
So we have a total of three phrases. Each phrase consists of individual words:
[S/MC [NP [Det My]
[N brother] ] [VP [V won] [NP [Det the] [N lottery] ] ] ]
Each of the bracketed units here is a word, a phrase, or a clause. We refer to these as CONSTITUENTS. A constituent is defined as a word or a group of words which acts syntactically as a unit. As a means of illustrating the grammatical hierarchy, the labelled brackets we have used here have at least one major drawback. You've probably noticed it already -- they are very difficult to interpret. And the problem becomes more acute as the sentence becomes more complex. For this reason, linguists prefer to employ a more visual method, the TREE DIAGRAM. A tree diagram is a visual representation of syntactic structure, in which the grammatical hierarchy is graphically displayed. Here's the tree diagram for our sentence, My brother won the lottery : A tree diagram contains exactly the same information as its corresponding labelled bracketing, but it is much easier to interpret.
