Chapter 2: Function Flashcards
active
Active sentences present their subject as being actively engaged in something.
eg. My brother found this money.
Adjunct
Constituents that have the function of telling us the how, when, where or why of the situation expressed by the sentence. They can be stacked, are mobile, and can be omitted from the sentence.
passive
Passive sentences present their Subject as undergoing an action.
eg. This money was found by my brother.
Complement
A function label that denotes a constituent whose presence is determined, sometimes required, by a verb, noun, adjective or preposition.
Direct Object (DO)
In semantic terms, the DO typically ungergoes the action denoted by the verb. Syntactically, they are often NPs, they are usually placed after the main verb and they are closely related to the verb that precedes them. Finally, if we turn an active sentence into a passive sentence, the DO of the active sentence becomes the Subject of the passive sentence.
distribution
Refers to the arrangement of words or phrases in sentence structure. Words that distribute in the same way will belong to the same categories, eg noun phrases will distribute in the same way.
transitive verb
A verb that requires a DO to complete its meaning.
intransitive verb
A verb that does not require a DO to complete its meaning.
ditransitive verb
A verb that takes a DO and an IO.
dummy pronoun
A pronoun that syntactically acts as the Subject but does not refer to anything, such as the weather (nonreferential) ‘it’ or the existential ‘there’.
existential there
Is used in propositions to do with existence. Different from locative there.
function
A syntactical level of analysis - Subject, Object, DO, Adjunct etc.
Indirect Object (IO)
IOs typically have the semantic role of Goal/Receiver or Beneficiary. They are usually NPs, they cannot occur without a following a DO, they always precede the DO and like DOs they can become the Subject of passive sentences.
license
When one constituent X governs the form of another constituent Y, we say that ‘X licenses Y’.
locative there
A ‘there’ which specifies a location. Separate from existential there.