Summary English Linguistics 2 (Paul Pauwels)

Engels Taalkunde 2
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE................................................................................................................................... 3

TENSE AND ASPECT........................................................................................................................................ 3

PRESENT TENSES........................................................................................................................................................3
PAST TENSES.............................................................................................................................................................3
FUTURE TENSES.........................................................................................................................................................4
EVENT OR STATE........................................................................................................................................................4
BOUNDED EVENT TYPES..............................................................................................................................................5
UNBOUNDED EVENT TYPES..........................................................................................................................................5
UNBOUNDED STATE TYPES..........................................................................................................................................5
MODALITY..................................................................................................................................................... 6

MODALITY TYPES.......................................................................................................................................................6
MODALS AND TENSE..................................................................................................................................................6
MODALS AND ASPECT................................................................................................................................................6
BEYOND MODAL VERBS...............................................................................................................................................6
SENTENCE TYPES............................................................................................................................................ 7

MAJOR SENTENCE TYPES.............................................................................................................................................7
ARGUMENT STRUCTURE................................................................................................................................ 8

CLAUSE TYPES...........................................................................................................................................................8
DITRANSITIVITY.........................................................................................................................................................8
PO VS. PC VS. ADVERBIAL..........................................................................................................................................8
WORD ORDER...........................................................................................................................................................9
THE COMPLEX SENTENCE............................................................................................................................. 10

ANALYZING COMPLEX SENTENCES............................................................................................................... 10

TYPES OF COMPLEXITY..............................................................................................................................................10
LINKING VS. COORDINATION VS. SUBORDINATION.........................................................................................................10
ANALYZE VPS.........................................................................................................................................................10
ANALYZING: THE STEPS.............................................................................................................................................11
OBJECT AND COMPLEMENT CLAUSES........................................................................................................... 12

OBJECT AND COMPLEMENT CLAUSES...........................................................................................................................12
EQUI-NP DELETION: TO-INFINITIVE VS. GERUND...........................................................................................................12
VP + NP + NON-FINITE FORM...................................................................................................................................12
FINITE CLAUSES.......................................................................................................................................................13
SUBJECT AND SUBJECT-COMPLEMENT CLAUSES........................................................................................... 14

THE VERBS.............................................................................................................................................................14
SUBJECT CLAUSES....................................................................................................................................................14
RAISING SUBJECT/OBJECT TO SUBJECT.........................................................................................................................14
SUBJECT-COMPLEMENT CLAUSES................................................................................................................................14
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES.................................................................................................................................... 15

EXAMPLES..............................................................................................................................................................15
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES.................................................................................................................................................15
ADJECTIVAL COMPLEMENTATION................................................................................................................ 17

SYNTACTIC VARIATION..............................................................................................................................................17

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, TO-INFINITIVE COMPLEMENTATION.............................................................................................................................17
SIMILAR PATTERN WITH DIFFERENT SYNTAX..................................................................................................................17
HUNSTON’S ANALYSIS..............................................................................................................................................17
INDIRECT SPEECH (SYLLABUS P. 29).............................................................................................................. 19

TYPES OF REPORTING...............................................................................................................................................19
SHIFTS IN INDIRECT SPEECH.......................................................................................................................................19
NP-COMPLEMENTATION.............................................................................................................................. 20

POSTMODIFIERS......................................................................................................................................................20
CHOICE OF RELATIVE PRONOUN IN NOMINAL RELATIVE CLAUSES......................................................................................20
ADVERBIAL RELATIVE CLAUSES...................................................................................................................................20
MARKED PATTERNS..................................................................................................................................................21




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,The simple sentence

Tense and aspect
Present tenses

Non-progressive  stative verbs
e.g. I work  truth, fact
 habit or repeated action
 momentary present
 succession of events/actions
 historic present
Progressive  ongoingness
e.g. I am working  limited duration (temporariness)
 change, development
 habit with limited duration
 background information
 annoyance (with time/frequency adverbial)
 polite enquiry or careful suggestion
Perfect non-progressive  stative verb
e.g. I have worked  past action with present result (resultative)
 state-up-to-now (no interruption, adverbial)
 indefinite past
 new information
Perfect progressive  focus on duration
e.g. I have been working  explanatory-resultative
 open-ended, might continue in present
 annoyance (with time adverbial)
 focus on repetition (repeated indefinite past)



Past tenses

Non-progressive  completion
e.g. I worked  succession of actions in past
 habit in past (repeated action)
 characteristic behaviour
 tentativeness with present time reference
Progressive  cf. present tenses (but in past)
e.g. I was working  limited duration
 politeness with past/present time reference
 repetition in past
 time frame, background
 past habit with irritation/surprise speaker


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,Perfect non-progressive  past action with past result
e.g. I had worked  state-up-to-then
 indefinite past
 anteriority (definite past before past)
 counterfactuality
Perfect progressive  ongoingness up to past reference point
e.g. I had been working  emphasis on stative verb (not result)
 explanatory-resultative (focus on result)



Future tenses

Non-progressive  prediction of SoA in future
e.g. I will work  future-in-the-past (would), backshifted prediction
 characteristic behaviour
 promise, intention
 assumption
 command, order
 request, invitation
Progressive  prediction of SoA with limited duration
e.g. I will be working  backshifted prediction (SoA with limited duration)
 assumption with irritation speaker
 polite enquiry
Perfect (non-)progressive  state-up-to-…
e.g. I will have worked  completion in future + uninterruptedness
I will have been working  resultative with future reference point
 assumption
Be going + to-infinitive  premeditated intention ( will: spontaneous
e.g. I am going to work decision)
 prediction based on evidence (near-certainty, 
will: probability)
 backshifted intention (possible unfulfilled)
Be + to-infinitive  scheduled activity, official arrangement
e.g. The best is yet to come  predestination
Present tenses  prediction based on arrangement (near-certainty)
e.g. Tomorrow is Friday  timetable
She’s coming home soon  absolute certainty, fact



Event or state

Simple tenses Progressive tenses
Bounded event (dynamic, external view) Unbounded event (dynamic, internal view)
Lasting state (static, maximal view frame) Temporary state (static, imposed boundary)




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, Bounded event types

Duration Telicity Event type Example
+ - Activity The kids played in the garden.
+ + Accomplishment They’ve built a new school.
- - Act She didn’t bat an eyelid.
- + Achievement She opened the door.



Unbounded event types

Duration Telicity Event type Example
+ - Activity The kids are playing in the garden.
+ + Accomplishing activity They’re building a new school.
- - Iterative event When he’s nervous, he’s
constantly batting his eyelids.
- + Culminating event She was opening the door when …




Unbounded state types

Lasting state Temporary state (imposed boundaries)
Indefinitely lasting state (fact) Temporary state
e.g. He lay in bed all day e.g. He was lying on the sofa when …
Everlasting state (truth, no bounded Temporary habit
counterpart possible) e.g. My father was building bridges in China
e.g. Times Square is in New York
at the time
Habitual state (regular behaviour) /
e.g. He builds bridges for a living




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