Lecture 4, selected slides Flashcards
Lexical, primary, and modal verbs
• Lexical verbs
– function as main verbs in verb phrases
– form an open class (i.e. we expect their numbers to
change, e.g. by loan-words and word-formation processes)
• Modal verbs (more in lecture 5)
– function as auxiliary verbs in verb phrases
– form a closed class (fixed number)
• Primary verbs
– Function either as main verbs or auxiliaries in verb phrases
– form a closed class (be, have, and do)
The possible patterns of obligatory
elements in English
- SV
- SVO
SVP
SVA
• SVOO
SVOP
SVOA
Transitive patterns
- monotransitive
- ditransitive
• Transitive patterns always involve an OBJECT
• Monotransitive – ONE object
Bill killed the cat. NP
Bill said that Mary was nice. Dependent clause
Bill asked if she wanted another beer. Dependent clause
• Ditransitive – TWO OBJECTS
Bill told Mary that he was sorry. NP+Dep.clause
Bill gave Mary the cat. NP+NP
Bill gave the cat to Mary. NP+PP
– The last pair illustrates the so called ’dative alternation’, which
has received a lot of attention from syntacticians.
Copulas vs monotransitive verbs
• Compare:
He seemed a very nice guy. S V P
He met a very nice guy. S V O
• The predicative ascribes a property to the subject.
• The object denotes a participant in the event.
• A predicative can have the form of AdjP, an object typically cannot.
He seemed very nice.
*He met very nice.
• A predicative can be a ’bare’ NP referring to a job, role, etc., an
object cannot.
He became chairman of the board.
*He met chairman of the board.
• An object can become the subject of a passive clause, a predicative cannot.
Bill insulted a good friend of mine.
Bill became a good friend of mine.
A good friend of mine was insulted by Bill.
*A good friend of mine was become by Bill.
Complex transitive patterns:
SVOP and SVOA
Again, as with copular verbs, LSGSWE collapses patterns
with predicatives and adverbials
- This is OK, as long as we’re aware that not all complex-transitive verbs accept both patterns (in fact, very few do)
She made him happy. (SVOP)
*She made him into the room. (*SVOA)
hey rendered it useless. (SVOP)
*They rendered it in the garbage bin. (*SVOA)
She called him stupid.
She called him in the wrong room. (Only grammatical as an
intransitive verb followed by an optional adverbial)
She called him into the room.
Multiple valency patterns:
One and the same verb may appear in different patterns
• Transitive intransitive (object left unexpressed)
Bill drank some water. (SVO)
Bill drank. (SV)
• Transitive intransitive (object adverbial)
They shot him. (SVO)
They shot at him. (SV(A))
• Ditransitive monotransitive (indirect object ’missing’)
They offered us $500 (for the car). (SVOO(A))
They offered $500 (for the car). (SVO(A))
• Ditransitive monotransitive (direct object ’missing’)
They fined me $500. (SVOO)
They fined me. (SVO)
• What’s the analysis of
– They called off the strike.
– They called on their new neighbors.
The answer:
– They [called off] [the strike] S V O
– They [called] [on their neighbors] S V A
• The argument for [call off] as a unit
– call offis a semantic unit
– call off cannot be broken up by adverbials:
*They called immediately off the strike.
– off and a following NP do not form a unit:
*Off what did they call?
• The argument for call on as a ’non-unit’
– call on can be broken up by adverbials
They called immediately on their neighbors.
– on and the following NP can move as a unit
• [On whom] did they call?
• Further differences between call off and call on
– call off may take its object between the verb and the particle. (If the object is a pronoun this order is obligatory)
They called the strike off.
They called it off.
– call on cannot take the NP between the verb and the
preposition.
*They called their neighbors on.
*They called them on.
[This follows quite naturally from the fact tha PPs always have the
order P + complement, and never *complement + P]
Phrasal verbs vs prepositional verbs
• call off is a PHRASAL VERB
– The verb and the particle form a complex verb
• call on is a PREPOSITIONAL VERB
– There is a dependency relation between the verb and the preposition: The verb ”selects” the preposition, but the verb and the preposition do not form a complex verb.
