Syntax II (Grammatical Relations, Syntax Patterns, Verb Phrase)

Question 1

grammatical relations

Answer 1

syntactic functions of phrases and clauses in a sentence

Question 2

grammatical functions fulfilled by syntactic constituents

Answer 2

subject, predicator, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, adverbial

Question 3

Predicator (P/V)

Answer 3

• the verb or group of verbs that forms the verbal core of a clause /sentence
• follows the subject in declarative sentences

Question 4

Subject (S)

Answer 4

• the agent of the action expressed by the verb
• precedes the predicator in declarative sentences
• agrees with the verb in person and number
• pronouns occur in subject case
• typically expressed by a NP
• except for imperative sentences the subject slot always needs to be filled

Question 5

Direct object (Od)

Answer 5

• usually the person/thing affected by the action described by the verb
• follows the predicator
• pronouns occur in object case
• typically expressed by a NP

Question 6

Indirect object (Oi)

Answer 6

• typically, the “recipient” of the entity expressed by the direct object
• occurs between the predicator and the direct object
• pronouns have object case
• usually expressed by a NP

Question 7

Complement

Answer 7

• serves to assign a property to the subject or to the object
• subject complement (Cs): e.g. Einstein was a genius. (≠ direct object)
• object complement (Co): e.g. I declare this exhibition open.
• usually expressed by a NP or AP

Question 8

Adverbial

Answer 8

• indicates time, place, manner, purpose, cause etc.
• several adverbials can occur in one clause
• often optional, structurally dispensable constituents (“adjuncts”) in the sentence periphery, i.e. when deleted, the sentence is still well-formed
• sometimes required by the verb and therefore obligatory in these cases
• typically expressed by an AdvP or a PP

Question 9

The 7 basic clause patterns of English

Answer 9

SV
SVO
SVC
SVA
SVOO
SVOC
SVOA

Question 10

Grammatical relations in complex sentences

Answer 10

• whole clauses can function as subject, object, complement or adverbial

→ Subject clauses, object clauses and complement clauses can be subsumed under the label of nominal clauses (because they have syntactic functions similar to those of NPs).

→ Adverbial clauses are usually introduced by subordinating conjunctions

Question 11

Semantic roles

Answer 11

express the meaning relations between the constituents of a sentence with respect to the action or state described by the verb

Question 12

Agent

Answer 12

one who deliberately
performs an action

Question 13

Patient

Answer 13

person or thing that
undergoes an action

Question 14

Recipient

Answer 14

(typically animate) endpoint
of a transferred item

Question 15

Benefactive

Answer 15

person or thing to whose
benefit the action occurs

Question 16

Experiencer

Answer 16

person that perceives something

Question 17

Goal

Answer 17

place to which an action is directed

Question 18

Time

Answer 18

time of the action

Question 19

Location/Place

Answer 19

place of the action

Question 20

Instrument

Answer 20

means by which an action is performed

Question 21

inversion

Answer 21

pattern can only be reversed in interrogative sentences or subject follows the finite verb (Did you know? Never have I laughed like this.)

Question 22

Valency

Answer 22

ability of a verb to open a specific number and type of syntactic slots that must/can be filled by the “arguments” of the verb

Question 22

intransitive verbs

Answer 22

require only one argument (a subject) → monovalent

Question 22

transitive verbs

Answer 22

subject + min. one more argument → direct object (John wrote/read/forgot the message) → can be passivized (The message was written by John) →
monotransitive/divalent

Question 23

trivalent

Answer 23

either require an:
- additional indirect object (ditransitive verbs)
- object complement (complex-trans.)
- object adverbial (complex-trans.)

Question 24

many English verbs can be used transitively or intransitively

Answer 24

transitive verbs → intransitively by leaving the second required argument implicit (Mary was
eating; John writes)

intransitive verbs → transitively (The policemen stood the bank robbers against the wall; She
ran a horse in the derby.)

Question 25

Avalent verbs & dummy subjects

Answer 25

• semantically speaking, verbs of natural phenomena (rain, snow)
• don’t require any arguments, i.e. they have a valency of zero
  → English does not allow sentences without a subject → subject slot is filled by a semantically empty placeholder, the dummy subject it

Question 26

Copula verb

Answer 26

• linking verb → links the subject with its complement (SVC)
• main copula in English: be
• other verbs: become, remain,
  seem, appear, look, feel, get, turn, grow and sound

Question 27

Multiword Verbs - Phrasal verbs

Answer 27

• consist of a verb and a particle that form a single semantic unit, e.g. wake up (intransitive)

Question 28

Multiword Verbs - Prepositional verbs

Answer 28

• consist of a verb and a preposition e.g. stare at
• have a meaning that can be deduced from the verb alone
• always transitive but (unlike phrasal verbs) never separable

Question 29

Multiword Verbs - Phrasal-prepositional verbs

Answer 29

• consist of a verb followed by a particle and a preposition e.g. get away with
• their meaning is not fully compositional
• always transitive

Question 30

Structure of the English verb
phrase

Answer 30

• modular structure with a max. of five verb forms, which occur in a rigid order
• each auxiliary determines the
  form of the following verb
• predicate = main verb + partners
• every auxiliary determines the form of the verb following

modal auxiliaries + bare infinitive
perfect have + past participle (V-ed)
progressive be + present participle (V-ing)
passive be + past particple (V-ed)

Question 31

Subclasses of Auxiliaries - Primary auxiliaries (be, have, do)

Answer 31

• be: compulsory for marking the grammatical categories of passive voice and progressive as-
  pect
• have: compulsory for marking the grammatical category perfect
• do: compulsory in negation, question formation, emphasis and ellipsis when no other auxil-
  iary is present

Question 32

Subclasses of Auxiliaries - Modal auxiliaries

Answer 32

• can, could, may, might, must, shall, should etc.

Question 33

Subclasses of Auxiliaries - semi-auxiliaries

Answer 33

• be going to, have to, (had) better and used to
• distinction between main verb and auxiliary is not always clear-cut

Question 34

Tense

Answer 34

• grammatical category that locates an event in time
• three basic dimensions of tense: past, present and future

Question 35

Tense - Past

Answer 35

• form: marked by the inflectional morpheme {-ed}
• meaning: expresses events that occurred prior to the time of speaking

Question 36

Tense - Non-past

Answer 36

• form: unmarked or {-s} (3rd person singular)
• meaning: expresses events occurring at the time of speaking, but also future-time events;

Question 37

Aspect

Answer 37

• grammatical category that indicates the internal temporal makeup of an event and how an
  event unfolds over time
• e.g. an activity may be viewed as progressive through time (I was sleeping) or as bound without any reference to its temporal flow (I slept)

Question 38

Perfect

Answer 38

• formed by have + past participle (V-ed)
• grammatical category that combines features of both aspect and tense
• locates an event in time prior to another event

Question 39

Active voice

Answer 39

• the grammatical subject is usually the agent of the action designated by the main verb

Question 40

Passive voice

Answer 40

• form: be + past participle (V-ed)
• the direct object (= the patient) of the active sentence is promoted to subject position
• the logical subject (= the agent) is demoted to an adjust: the by-phrase
• the get-passive is a more informal alternative e.g. John got fired.

Question 41

Mood and Modality

Answer 41

allow to express hypothetical events, necessities, possibilities, beliefs etc.

Question 42

Mood

Answer 42

• inflectional grammatical category
• comprises: indicative (He leaves alone) , imperative (Leave me alone), subjunctive (If I were rich)

Question 43

Modality

Answer 43

• can be expressed by modal auxiliaries. can, may, must

Question 44

Tree Diagrams - Phrase Structure Trees

Answer 44

• sequential order of constituents
• elements: nodes & branches
  → branch nodes: carrying syntactic category labels (NP, VP,…)
  → leaf nodes: carrying words (“terminal nodes”)
• superordinated nodes = “parent/mother nodes”
• subordinated nodes = “children/daugter”

tree as a whole = representation of the syntactic structure of the sentence