Chapter 9: Syntactic functions

Question 1

1) semantic roles vs. syntactic functions

Answer 1

semantic roles:
- describe roles of participants in a situation being talked about

syntactic functions:
- describe the roles of constituents in a clause

(look at pics)

Question 2

2) subject

Answer 2

The subject is the agent…:

• agent = The man kicked the ball.
• experiencer = Peter enjoyed the meal.
• patient = The house exploded.
• recipient = John received a present.
• Location = Jena is in Thüringen.

criteria:

• the subject precedes the verb
• the subject agrees with the verb
• subject pronouns occur in nominative case

Question 3

3) predicator

Answer 3

= a VP considered as a constituents of clause structure, along w/ subject, object + adjuncts

(1) The man was kicking the ball.
° main verbs are “predicators”
° auxillary verbs are “operators”

transitivity:

• intransitive (no object) = The man was sleeping.
• transitive (one object) = The man was kicking the ball.
• ditransitive (takes 2 objects) = The man gave him the ball.

Question 4

4) direct object

Answer 4

= NP denoting a person or a thing that is the recipients of the action of a transitive verb

criteria:

• the direct object immediately follows the verb (in transitive clauses)
• object pronouns occur in “object case”
• role: typically patient

Question 5

5) the double object construction

Answer 5

(look at pics)

(1) She send .

criteria:

• both objects follows the verb
• both objects are expressed by NPs
• but the two objects serve different roles!!!

Question 6

6) oblique object

Answer 6

(1) She thought of something else.
(2) John talked about Jane.

criteria:

• the PP is obligatory
• the preposition is closely associated with the verb
• the preposition has abstract meaning

oblique objects can follow a direct object:

1. She send a letter to her friend.
2. Jill baked a cake for his mother.

Question 7

7) Adjunct

Answer 7

= word or phrase that constituents an optional element or is considered of secondary importance in a sentence

(1) She was working in the garden.
(2) He arrived on time.

criteria:

• semantic = place, time, manner, etc.
• optional

Question 8

8) subject + object complement

Answer 8

look at notes