ENGLISH GRAMMAR 3: MASTER DOC
Introduction
A complex sentence is a sentence that contains more than one clause. A
clause is a group of words that has both a subject and a verb. A phrase
on the other hand, is also a group of words, but does not contain both a
subject and a verb.
A clause = a ‘mini sentence’, which has both a subject and a verb, which
can be dependent or independent
- E. g.: ‘She runs.’ (independent)
- E. g.: ‘When he arrived’ (dependent)
- E. g.: ‘that she is right.’ (dependent)
A phrase = just a group of words acting as a unit, missing the subject +
verb structure
- E. g.: ‘in the garden’ (prepositional phrase)
- E. g.: ‘running quickly’ (verb form + adverb)
- E. g.: ‘the tall man’ (noun phrase)
The phenomenon of ‘complementation’ has already been covered in
English Grammar 1, regarding verb complementations. Now we will be
doing the same thing, but the complements will be clausal instead.
A complement/complementation = a word or word group that
completes the predicate in a sentence. The word comes from ‘complere’ in
Latin, which means ‘to complete’. Complements are 100% needed to
complete the meaning of the sentence. This is in contrast to modifiers,
which are optional.
Now that the meanings of a ‘clause’ and a ‘complement’ are clear,
we will be moving onto ‘clausal complements’. This is a clause that
functions as an essential argument of a verb, adjective or noun.
o E. g. ‘I know that she lied.’ (‘that she lied’ = clause, and it is
obligatory, aka it is a clausal complement)
o E. g. ‘I wonder if he will come.’ (‘if he will come = clausal
complement)
o E. g. ‘I know what he did.’ (‘what he did = clausal
complement)
So the clause has a subject and a verb form. This verb form can be two
things: finite or non-finite. Finite verb forms are inflected forms; they are
,marked for a tense, person or number. Non-finite verb forms are not
marked for any of this and will always remain the same.
Finite Works
Worked
Non-finite Working
To work
Now back to complex sentences. So in general, there are three types of
sentences. Number 2 and 3 are complex sentences, but the focus here will
mainly lie with number 3, because of interesting different levels of
dependency0
1. Simple sentences.
2. Compound sentences (coordination).
o The different clauses are on the same level
o These clauses are often connected through coordinators (and,
or, but), but can also be connected asyndetically
3. Complex sentences (subordination).
o One clause is the superordinate clause, which governs the
subclause
Recursion is the idea that you could repeat an operation indefinitely in a
sentence; like, that you can make a sentence go on and on and on,
theoretically. Recursion is a unique feature of human language, and is one
of the many separators between human and animal language.
- E. g. ‘He said that she thought that he would come.’
A matrix clause is a subclause that dominates another subclause, while
not being the main clause in a sentence.
Rewrite rules
- Nominal clause: NP => S
- Modifier clause: AdjP => S
- Adverbial clause: AdvP => S
Phrasal complementation
There are various types of verb complementations, due to there being
various types of verbs.
Intransitive verbs are verbs that stand completely on their own; they do
not require anything to be meaningful. Intransitive verbs cannot be turned
into a passive, because they simply cannot take objects. Some verbs can
be used both transitively and intransitively, like the verb ‘to drink’.
, - E. g. ‘He drinks.’ (intransitive use of the verb)
- E. g. ‘He drinks water.’ (transitive use of the same verb)
- E. g. ‘She married young.’ (intransitive use of the verb, not a
copula!)
Short intermission about dummy “there” (existential there). This
word is used to introduce existence. It fills the subject position, but the
real subject comes after the verb. Dummy “it” (anticipatory it): this
word is to delay a heavy subject (often a clause) to the end. It fills the
subject slot, but the real subject is later. Key idea: both are dummy
subjects => they don’t carry meaning, they merely fill the grammatical
subject position.
- E. g. ‘There is a noise.’ (“a noise” = real subject)
- E. g. ‘It is a pity that you can’t come.’ (“that you can’t come” =
real subject)
Copula verbs are linking verbs that connect the subject of a sentence to
the subject complement. These verbs cannot be passivised and always
predicate a property of the subject referent. The primary form of a copula
verb is ‘to be’. There are also other verbs that can be copulas, however.
- E. g. ‘She was young’
- E. g. ‘She was a teacher’
These other verbs, that can be copulas too, are called secondary
copulas. There are three different types.
1. Inchoative Vs (express a change of state)
o E. g. ‘The milk went bad’
o E. g. ‘She became very confident after the presentation.’
o E. g. ‘The leaves turned green.’
2. Vs of the senses (two types: voluntary/involuntary perception)
o E. g. ‘The fish smells bad.’
o E. g. ‘The flower tastes good.’
3. Miscellaneous group
o E. g. ‘She seems very helpful.’
o E. g. ‘He is gonna wind up at the hospital.’
You have to watch out, though. The sentence ‘I can smell fish
everywhere’ does not contain a copula. Same with ‘my dog can
smell better than yours’.
Monotransitive verbs are transitive verbs that come with solely one
object (obligatorily): a direct object. Transitive verbs are passivisable. The
direct objects often have the semantic role of ‘patient’ (aka the
, affected/effected participant). This is in opposition to the ‘agent’, who is
initiating the action, often the subject.
- E. g. ‘She read the book.’
- E. g. ‘She kicked the ball.’
Mind pseudo-transitive verbs though: they are the exception. These
verbs take direct objects but are hard - or impossible - to passivise. The
type of direct objects they take is cognate objects.
- E. g. ‘They sung a song.’
- E. g. ‘It is raining cats and dogs.’
- E. g. ‘They died a cruel death.’
- E. g. ‘She smiled a sad smile.’
- E. g. ‘He slept a deep sleep.’
- E. g. ‘They laughed a bitter laugh.’
- E. g. ‘She danced a dance.’
Ditransitive verbs are obligatorily complemented by two object noun
phrases: an indirect object and a direct object. The IO can also have an
optional preposition (to/for). The role of the IO can be recipient, target or a
beneficiary. In sentences with ditransitive verbs, two different
passivisations are possible (since two different objects can be made
subject). You make the IO the subject? It is target topicalisation. You make
the DO the subject? It is patient topicalisation.
- E. g. ‘He gave flowers to his mother.’ (target)
- E. g. ‘She cooked us a meal.’ (beneficiary)
Complex transitive verbs are verbs that have two complements: a DO
and an object complement. Semantically, the OC denotes the situation
resulting from the SoA, which is then expressed by the complex transitive
verb. A difficulty is, when the DO is followed by an adverbial phrase. Is the
AdvP then an OC? Or is it part of a phrasal verb? Here, the edges are
fuzzy. Finally, there is one important thing to keep in mind: OCs are NOT
modifiers!
- E. g. ‘They elected her chairperson.’ (they elected her so that she
became..)
- E. g. ‘She was sizing her up.’ (object ‘her’ is a pronoun, and the ‘up’
is figurative)
o Two possible analyses: complex transitive OR verb = phrasal
words with ‘her’ being a simple object
- E. g. ‘They cut the tree down.’ (physical activitiy, the ‘down’ is
literal)
- E. g. ‘They painted the door red.’
Introduction
A complex sentence is a sentence that contains more than one clause. A
clause is a group of words that has both a subject and a verb. A phrase
on the other hand, is also a group of words, but does not contain both a
subject and a verb.
A clause = a ‘mini sentence’, which has both a subject and a verb, which
can be dependent or independent
- E. g.: ‘She runs.’ (independent)
- E. g.: ‘When he arrived’ (dependent)
- E. g.: ‘that she is right.’ (dependent)
A phrase = just a group of words acting as a unit, missing the subject +
verb structure
- E. g.: ‘in the garden’ (prepositional phrase)
- E. g.: ‘running quickly’ (verb form + adverb)
- E. g.: ‘the tall man’ (noun phrase)
The phenomenon of ‘complementation’ has already been covered in
English Grammar 1, regarding verb complementations. Now we will be
doing the same thing, but the complements will be clausal instead.
A complement/complementation = a word or word group that
completes the predicate in a sentence. The word comes from ‘complere’ in
Latin, which means ‘to complete’. Complements are 100% needed to
complete the meaning of the sentence. This is in contrast to modifiers,
which are optional.
Now that the meanings of a ‘clause’ and a ‘complement’ are clear,
we will be moving onto ‘clausal complements’. This is a clause that
functions as an essential argument of a verb, adjective or noun.
o E. g. ‘I know that she lied.’ (‘that she lied’ = clause, and it is
obligatory, aka it is a clausal complement)
o E. g. ‘I wonder if he will come.’ (‘if he will come = clausal
complement)
o E. g. ‘I know what he did.’ (‘what he did = clausal
complement)
So the clause has a subject and a verb form. This verb form can be two
things: finite or non-finite. Finite verb forms are inflected forms; they are
,marked for a tense, person or number. Non-finite verb forms are not
marked for any of this and will always remain the same.
Finite Works
Worked
Non-finite Working
To work
Now back to complex sentences. So in general, there are three types of
sentences. Number 2 and 3 are complex sentences, but the focus here will
mainly lie with number 3, because of interesting different levels of
dependency0
1. Simple sentences.
2. Compound sentences (coordination).
o The different clauses are on the same level
o These clauses are often connected through coordinators (and,
or, but), but can also be connected asyndetically
3. Complex sentences (subordination).
o One clause is the superordinate clause, which governs the
subclause
Recursion is the idea that you could repeat an operation indefinitely in a
sentence; like, that you can make a sentence go on and on and on,
theoretically. Recursion is a unique feature of human language, and is one
of the many separators between human and animal language.
- E. g. ‘He said that she thought that he would come.’
A matrix clause is a subclause that dominates another subclause, while
not being the main clause in a sentence.
Rewrite rules
- Nominal clause: NP => S
- Modifier clause: AdjP => S
- Adverbial clause: AdvP => S
Phrasal complementation
There are various types of verb complementations, due to there being
various types of verbs.
Intransitive verbs are verbs that stand completely on their own; they do
not require anything to be meaningful. Intransitive verbs cannot be turned
into a passive, because they simply cannot take objects. Some verbs can
be used both transitively and intransitively, like the verb ‘to drink’.
, - E. g. ‘He drinks.’ (intransitive use of the verb)
- E. g. ‘He drinks water.’ (transitive use of the same verb)
- E. g. ‘She married young.’ (intransitive use of the verb, not a
copula!)
Short intermission about dummy “there” (existential there). This
word is used to introduce existence. It fills the subject position, but the
real subject comes after the verb. Dummy “it” (anticipatory it): this
word is to delay a heavy subject (often a clause) to the end. It fills the
subject slot, but the real subject is later. Key idea: both are dummy
subjects => they don’t carry meaning, they merely fill the grammatical
subject position.
- E. g. ‘There is a noise.’ (“a noise” = real subject)
- E. g. ‘It is a pity that you can’t come.’ (“that you can’t come” =
real subject)
Copula verbs are linking verbs that connect the subject of a sentence to
the subject complement. These verbs cannot be passivised and always
predicate a property of the subject referent. The primary form of a copula
verb is ‘to be’. There are also other verbs that can be copulas, however.
- E. g. ‘She was young’
- E. g. ‘She was a teacher’
These other verbs, that can be copulas too, are called secondary
copulas. There are three different types.
1. Inchoative Vs (express a change of state)
o E. g. ‘The milk went bad’
o E. g. ‘She became very confident after the presentation.’
o E. g. ‘The leaves turned green.’
2. Vs of the senses (two types: voluntary/involuntary perception)
o E. g. ‘The fish smells bad.’
o E. g. ‘The flower tastes good.’
3. Miscellaneous group
o E. g. ‘She seems very helpful.’
o E. g. ‘He is gonna wind up at the hospital.’
You have to watch out, though. The sentence ‘I can smell fish
everywhere’ does not contain a copula. Same with ‘my dog can
smell better than yours’.
Monotransitive verbs are transitive verbs that come with solely one
object (obligatorily): a direct object. Transitive verbs are passivisable. The
direct objects often have the semantic role of ‘patient’ (aka the
, affected/effected participant). This is in opposition to the ‘agent’, who is
initiating the action, often the subject.
- E. g. ‘She read the book.’
- E. g. ‘She kicked the ball.’
Mind pseudo-transitive verbs though: they are the exception. These
verbs take direct objects but are hard - or impossible - to passivise. The
type of direct objects they take is cognate objects.
- E. g. ‘They sung a song.’
- E. g. ‘It is raining cats and dogs.’
- E. g. ‘They died a cruel death.’
- E. g. ‘She smiled a sad smile.’
- E. g. ‘He slept a deep sleep.’
- E. g. ‘They laughed a bitter laugh.’
- E. g. ‘She danced a dance.’
Ditransitive verbs are obligatorily complemented by two object noun
phrases: an indirect object and a direct object. The IO can also have an
optional preposition (to/for). The role of the IO can be recipient, target or a
beneficiary. In sentences with ditransitive verbs, two different
passivisations are possible (since two different objects can be made
subject). You make the IO the subject? It is target topicalisation. You make
the DO the subject? It is patient topicalisation.
- E. g. ‘He gave flowers to his mother.’ (target)
- E. g. ‘She cooked us a meal.’ (beneficiary)
Complex transitive verbs are verbs that have two complements: a DO
and an object complement. Semantically, the OC denotes the situation
resulting from the SoA, which is then expressed by the complex transitive
verb. A difficulty is, when the DO is followed by an adverbial phrase. Is the
AdvP then an OC? Or is it part of a phrasal verb? Here, the edges are
fuzzy. Finally, there is one important thing to keep in mind: OCs are NOT
modifiers!
- E. g. ‘They elected her chairperson.’ (they elected her so that she
became..)
- E. g. ‘She was sizing her up.’ (object ‘her’ is a pronoun, and the ‘up’
is figurative)
o Two possible analyses: complex transitive OR verb = phrasal
words with ‘her’ being a simple object
- E. g. ‘They cut the tree down.’ (physical activitiy, the ‘down’ is
literal)
- E. g. ‘They painted the door red.’
