Test 2 (Chapters 1-6) Flashcards
Why is the notion of parts of speech unreliable?
We can’t memorize the specific parts of speech categories because they change based on usage.
“Look UP a word”
Run UP the hill”
Why is the list of parts of speech variable?
It varies because people come to the language from different backgrounds.
“To fire someone”
“Start a fire”
Finite vs. Nonfinite
A finite verb carries tense, a nonfinite verb does not.
In the sentence, “Austin has carried books before”
“Has” is finite
“Carried”is nonfinite
Differentiate between a verb phrase and a verb particle
A verb phrase is a sequence of words that occur together to form 1 verb function
ex– Karen (has been baking) cakes all day.
A verb particle is a word that is locked into another word to constitute another meaning
ex–(look up) something
How do prepositions appear alone?
They appear alone in phrases.
“this is the book I was talking about”
Deontic modals
obligation, permission
“You must leave now”
Epistemic modals
ability, speculation, knowledge
“I can run a six minute mile”
Constituency
refers to membership in a hierarchical syntactic group
Prep Phrase constituent of NP Subject
DO constituent of a VP Predicate
Intensifier
constituent of a verb
“too much”
“very little”
Intransitive Verb
Action verb with no direct object
Linking Verb
If you can substitute the word for “seems” it is a linking verb
“The president LOOKED weary.
Transitive Verbs
action verbs with a direct object
“The boy swatted the fly”
Vg Verbs
Transitive verbs that can be replaced with the word “give”
must have a DO and IO
Don BOUGHT Mary a rose.
Vc Verbs
Transitive verb that can be replaced with the word “consider”
Many people BELIEVE vanilla to be the best flavor.
BE Verbs
am is are was were be being been
Adverbs
characterize the conditions or circumstances of actions or events
Adverb of Manner- tells how
Adverb of Duration- tells how long
Adverb of Reason- Explains why
Adverb of Cause- shows motive
Adverb of time- shows when
Adverb of instrument- tells with what
Adverb of agency- tells by who
Tense
two forms- past and present
first word in the main verb only carries the tense
Modality
refers to the purpose of the sentence
-statement, question, order, etc.
Aspect
refers to whether or not the action of a verb is completed or ongoing
-perfect—completed
and progressive—continuous
Past tense
played
Modal Auxiliaries
Words like “may” “should” or “must” that are added to make sentences conditional
-makes the Main Verb either “past conditional” or “present conditional”
past- could, should, would, might, must
present– can, shall, will, may
Perfect Aspect
indicates that the action of a verb is completed
“the astronomer had predicted”
Past Perfect- verb has been completed in the past
Present perfect- verbs are completed in the present
Past Participle
form of a verb that can follow “have”
have predicted
had driven
Progressive Aspect
denotes continuing action
Past progressive- Travolta was dancing
present progressive- beth is crying
Present particple
always the -ing form of a verb
Determiners
closed class of words that give information about the noun they precede
numbers articles prearticles possessive pronouns demonstratives
EX—–the hat (def art = the = determiner)
demonstratives
this that these those
prearticles
Why / how are they confused with Prep Phrases?
Consider how they would be diagrammed differently in RK
attributes ofdeterminers
Prearticles are confused with prep phrases because they can contain words like “of”
–ex….”A cup of” —-prearticle showing measurement
In an RK diagram: prearticles are diagrammed as prepositional phrases
Post noun modifiers
“all” and “both”
when they occur after a noun
-“The kennedy’s all drove”
why is genitive more accurate than possessive?
Genitive is more accurate than possessive because people don’t always ACTUALLY own whatever is being referenced
EX—Martha Stewart’s book
———Martha owns the book = possessive
——–Martha wrote the book = genitive
-Genitive represents a relationship rather than possession
Why can’t Reflexive Pronouns fill subject slots?
Because they always refer back to the subject noun
EX—— Himself went to the airport. (doesn’t work)
Indefinite Pronouns
somebody, someone
anybody, anyone
everyone, everything
nothing, no one
Negatives
changes the meaning of the sentence by inserting the word “not” into the auxiliary component of the main verb
“Voters are NOT supporting the proposal”
considered an aux
Do
functions as an aux
Does
Did
Didn’t
Doesn’t
Also labeled as aux
Turning yes/ no questions into core sentences for diagramming
you must move the part of the main verb or the modal to the appropriate place in the sentence that makes it not a question. You do this by drawing a line underneath the diagram and them diagramming the sentence from there.
"”Have social problems affected police work?”
Becomes:
“Social problems have affected police work.
Turning Wh- questions into core sentences for diagramming
You must move the part of the main verb or the modal to the appropriate place in the sentence that makes it not a question by drawing a line underneath the sentence. Then you must move the Wh- question word to likely the end of the sentence, or wherever it fits and diagram it as it would be from there.
“what had the officers worried about”
Becomes
“The officers had worried about what.”
Changing active to passive
Introduce BE verb into aux
add prep phrase
change verb to past participle
move both subject and object noun phrase
“Congress funded the clean up”
becomes
“The clean up was funded by congress”
-only transitive verbs can be made passive
Diagramming imperatives
you do not need to add a subject to an imperative sentence.
The VP: Pred line will extend across the entire sentence
Above the type of verb (VT, VI, VG, VC) you will put MV: Imp
Coordinating conjunctions
For And Nor But Or Yet So
Correlative Conjunctions
both…and…
Either…or….
Neither…nor…
not only….but also…
to diagram correlative conjunctions, the first conjunction word must be moved in front of the second one in the sentence by drawing a line under the sentence.
“She went either to the bed or to the field
When diagrammed, would look like:
“She went to the bed either or the field.”
Certain core sentences with BE verbs can be rearranged into……
“Existential there” sentences
Diagramming passive voice
be wary of diagramming passive. A passive verb must be labeled as such next to MV in the diagram
“the jaguar is called an XJR.”
“is called” is a present passive
Diagramming interrogative sentences
In an interrogative sentence, the verb must be diagrammed as “Int” next to the MV
“why do school buildings sit?”
“do sit” is a Present interrogative, or PresInt
Diagramming imperative sentences
in an imperative sentence, MV must have Imp next to it
“Bake the cake”
Bake : Imp
Restrictive Relative Clauses
dependent clauses that function as adjectives within noun phrases.
Start with relative pronouns
“the soccer team who went to state is in town”
Relative Pronouns
Who
Whom
Which
that
What is the difference between determiners and adjectives?
Adjectives are an Open Class, can be inflected, more can be added
The tall man met a fat woman.
tall and fat are adjectives
Determiners are a Closed Class, not inflected, you cant make up new determiners.
The man took her Porsche.
her– Possessive Pronoun–determiner
Deixis
how is it rhetorically useful?
rhetorical device that points, or shows proximity or distance.
it can align a speaker to something, or show separation from something.
“I did not have relations with that woman” (distance)
“i love this guy” (close)
Rhetorically, how are definite and indefinite articles useful
Definite Article– expresses shared information, one specific thing. Only “the”
Ex----The chair (Specific)
Indefinite Article– doesn’t express any shared information
Ex— A chair (nonspecific)
Independent Possessive Pronouns
Stand Alone and are not determiners
—the locker is HERS
NOT becomes an attribute of AUX
NOT makes an aux constituent with HAVE or BE
How can DO act as a modal?
Does it carry the conditional component of modal verbs?
DO acts as a modal when asking a question or when placed with NOT in an aux
DO carries the tense
EX—Do the dishes.
How can DO be considered a proverb?
Used in place of many other action verbs just as a pronoun is used in place of a noun
-EX…..Karen did the dishes
Explain how the default active pattern NP+VP+NP changes to passive
1) D.O. moves to the subject slot
2) Add a form of BE to the main verb
3) at minimum, the pattern must change to NP + AUX + VP
- the agent may or may not be added via prep phrase
EX———- Karen baked a cake —–»> A cake was baked (by Karen)
agentless passives
when are they useful?
No agent “doing” the verb
EX—-A cake was baked.
Last night a man was murdered
useful when the agent is unnecessary, unknown or purposefully withheld
Explain expletives
Expletives = Lexically empty. Has a grammatical function in a sentence but no meaning of its own
Ex. There are two days left.
Can fill a noun phrase slot– but it is NOT a noun or pronoun
Expletives are placeholders– point out certain info
The argument stems from grammatical subjects vs. logical subjects
Why is an unstated YOU not part of imperatives?
English forbids an unstated YOU. It is a rhetorical feature, not a syntactic one
When diagramming compounds, where do you attach the conjunction in a single constituent?
Conjunctions are always attached to the constituent on their right
EX——I’m going to the mall or the movies.
Can VERB + TENSE carry a negative?
are there limits?
it can, but it is limited and not as direct
Prefixes are commonly used, but if a prefix or “not” aren’t used, the tense changes.
We only have words that imply negativity
–Never, unlikely, anti
-EX—–She never goes.
Explain how restrictive relative clauses embed in independent clauses
—They are always constituents of NP’s
—and become adjective clauses
Restrictive clauses are separated by commas, they are embedded in the Independent Clause by using a subordinator.
Adding commas makes restrictive clauses nonrestrictive
EX—-The bus drivers who were on strike attended the meeting.
specifies that not all bus drivers are on strike
"who" -- functions as a subordinator in the sentence
Why don’t we punctuate restrictive relative clauses?
It would make them nonrestrictive and change the meaning
commas are how we distinguish between restrictive & nonrestrictive
Restrictive clauses contain necessary info
- narrow down
- are part of the subject
EX— Bus driver sentence again
