AsurveyofEnglishgrammar

Quirkquicklypresentsanoutlookongrammaticalunits,mentioningthatrelationbetween
oneunitandanotherunitofwhichitisapartisitsCONSTITUENCY.Thenhegoesontoprove
thisthroughthepresentationoftreediagrams(seeYule,muchclearerandmuchmoretothe
point).Constituentsarethesmallerpartsintowhichaunitcanbedividedfromclauseto
phrase,phrasetowords,wordstomorphemes.
Theeveningshaveturnedverycoldjustrecently
[Theevenings][haveturned][verycold][justrecently]
[The][evenings][have][turned][very][cold][just][recently]
Inthistreediagramwecandistinguishalltheconstituentsoftheclause.Also,wecan
seetheimmediateconstituentsineachunitwhicharethepartsintowhichanotherunitis
immediatelydivisible:
[haveturned]VP immediateconstituentofthewholeclause
auxiliary[have]+mainverb[turned]immediateconstituentsoftheverbphrase
Eachunitofaclausecanbeformedbyanunitaryconstituentoramultiple
constituent.Whenasentenceconsistsofasingleclause,itisconsideredasimplesentence.
Whenthesentenceconsistof2ormoreclauses,itcanbeeitheracomplexoracompound
sentence.Thesenotionsdependontheconceptofclause.Now,aclauseconsistsofphrases.
Thetermphrasereferstoaconstituenteitherof1ormorethan1word.
Bysegmentingspeech/textintounitaryconstituents,wearefacedwiththetaskof
makingahierarchicalorganizationofthem.Asaparticularunitmayconsistofone,ormorethan
oneunitofadifferentkind,itfollowsthatwecannotsaywhichoneislongerorlargerthanthe
other.Becauseofthis,welookintothepossiblerealizationsofaunittodetermineahierarchy:
HighestunitSENTENCEwhichconsistsofoneormore
CLAUSES,whichconsistofoneormore
PHRASES,whichconsistofoneormore
WORDS,whichconsistofoneormore
LowestunitMORPHEMES
SENTENCE
Itsanindeterminateunitinthesensethatitisoftendifficulttodecidewhereoneends
andanotherbegins.Theclause,however,isinmanywaysmoreeasilydefinedthanthe
sentence.Thus,wedefinesentencesbasedonwhethertheyhaveoneclauseormorethanone
clause,settingthelimitsofthesentencebasedonwherevergrammaticalrelationscannotbe
establishedbetweenclauses.
Embedding
Thisis,however,anoversimplifiedviewoftherelationbetweenunits,asmostofthe
timestheunitsareindefinitelyextensiblethroughtheprocessofembedding,ascanbeseenin
thesentence:
Somestudentswillbeworkinglate[intheirrooms.]
[intheirrooms]prepositionalphrase
[theirrooms]nounphrase
Also,throughtheprocessofembedding,thesephrasescanbeindefinitelyextended.
Subordination
Anothertypeofembeddinghappenswhenoneclauseismadeaconstituentofanother
clause,aprocessknownassubordination.Thetwoclauses[1]and[2]aresimplesentences
buttheycanalsobecombinedintoacomplexsentencebysubordinatingonetoanother.
[1]Theweatherhasbeenremarkablywarm
[2]WereturnedfromItalylastweek
[3]Theweatherhasbeenremarkablywarm[since(subordinateconjunction)
wereturnedfromItalylastweek.]advclause
Therearealsoclauseswhichareconstituentsofphrases,andwhichthereforeareonly
indirectlyembeddedwithinalargerclause.
Theroomhasalargewindowwhichfacessouth.
Coordination
Itisalsopossiblefortwoormoreunitsofthesamegrammaticalhierarchyyoconstitute
asingleunitofthesamekind.Thisisknownascoordinationand,justasithappenswith
subordination,itissignalledbyacoordinatingconjunction.Clauses,phrases,andwordscan
becoordinatedthroughtheseconjunctions.Itsbaseprinciple,however,isthatunitsand
structurescanbeduplicatedwithoutaffectingtheirpositioninthegrammaticalhierarchy.
[[ItwasChristmasDay,]and[thesnowlaythickontheground]
CLAUSE
Theconstituencyofclausescanbedescribedasfollows:
SUBJECTVERBOBJECTCOMPLEMENTADVERBIAL
GenerallyspeakingwecansaythattheVisthemostcentralelement,andthatitis
canonicallyprecededbytheS.WesaythattheViscentralinthatitspositionismedial,itis
normallyobligatory,itcannotusuallybemovedandithelpstodeterminewhatotherelements
mustoccur.FollowingtheVtheremaybeoneortwoOsoraC,whichfollowstheOifoneis
present.ThemostperipheralelementistheA,whichcanoccureitherinitially(infrontofS)or
finally(afterV,OorC).TheAsisperipheralinthattheirpositionismostcommonlyfinal,theyare
usuallyoptional,theyaremobileandtheyhavenoregency.ThecanonicalWOinEnglishcanbe
seeninexamplessuchas:
Mymotherusuallyenjoyspartiesverymuch.
*Usuallyenjoyspartiesmymotherverymuch
Usuallymymotherenjoyspartiesverymuch.
*Enjoysusuallymymotherpartiesverymuch
Mymotherenjoyspartiesverymuchusually.
*Mymotherpartiesusuallyenjoysverymuch
Itisclearherethat,themoreperipheraltheelement,themoremobilityithaswithina
clause.Regardlessofthis,theadverbialsarequiteheterogeneous,existingsomewhichare
morecentralandsomewhicharemoreperipheral.
ThemostcentraladverbialsarethosewhichareelementaltothecompletionoftheVs
meaning.Theyareobligatoryandwhichhavearelativeimmobilityand,assuch,resemble
complements.
Ihavebeeninthegardenallthetimesincelunch.
Attheotherendofthespectrumwefindwhatiscalledsentenceadverbials,whichtend
toqualifyawholesentenceorclauseratherthanjustapartofit.
Tomyregret,herefusedtoofferanyhelp.
Clausetypes
IfwetakeouttheoptionalAs,wecangettoaclearclassificationofeachclause
structure.
Patterns Subject Verb Object(s) Complement Adverbial
SV Someone waslaughing
(intransitive
vbs)
SVO Mymother enjoys
(monotrans
vbs)
parties
SVC She is(copular
vbs)
happy
(subject
complt)
SVA I am
(copularvbs)
inthegarden
SVOO Many gave
(ditransvbs)
thevisitor
(IO)
aglassof
milk(DO)
SVOC Mostpeople consider
(complex
transvbs)
thesebooks expensive
(object
complt)
SVOA You mustput
(complex
transvbs)
allthetoys upstairs
Object.vs.Complement
Object
DirectObject(DO)
IndirectObject(IO)
Complement
SubjectComplement(SVC).Thecomplementappliesanattributeordefinitiontothe
subject.
Thecountrybecameaseparatenation
ObjectComplement(SVOC).Thecomplementappliesanattributeordefinitiontothe
subject.
MostpeopleconsideredPicassoagenius
TheSVOCclausecanalsobecorrespondedtoaclausewithaninfinitiveorthatclause.
IconsideredO[her]C[beautiful]
Iconsideredhertobebeautiful
Iconsideredthatshewasbeautiful
IOandPrepPhrases
ItisalsopossibletoturnanSVOOclauseintoanSVOAclausebysubstitutingaPP
followingtheDOfortheIOprecedingit.
ShesentJimacardShesentacardtoJim
SheleftJimacardSheleftacardforJim
PHRASE
Theconstituentswhichfunctionaselementsofaclausestructureareeitherphrasesor
subordinateclauses.Therearefiveformalcategoriesofphrases:verbphrases,noun
phrases,adjectivephrases,adverbphrases,andprepositionalphrases.
SUBJECTVERBOBJECTCOMPLEMENTADVERBIAL(SUBJECT)
NPVPNPNPNP
ADJ.PADV.P
PP
Thenameofeachphrasecomesfromaclassofwordwhichhasaprimaryand
obligatoryfunctionwithinit.
VERBPHRASES
operatesastheVelementintheclause
mostcentralandindispensablepartoftheclause
composedoftwokindsofelement:auxsandmainverbs.
Finitescontainamainvbbutnotnecessarilyanaux
Nonfinitescontainamainvbwhichcannotstandonitsownin
independentclauses,suchasJackcanplaythetrombone
NOUNPHRASES
operateswithmultiplefunctions,exceptforthatofV
dependingonthenounwhichoperatesastheheadofthephrase,wecanor
cantaddotherelementstoit.
Theroomcontains{(some)(beautiful)(Flemish)vases
{a(beautiful)(Flemish)vase
seesummaryofstructuresonsamechapter