English Syntax Topics in this document:

The documents consists of the following topics:

1.Types of sentences according to the type of communication
2 .One member sentences and Elliptical sentences
3. The Main Parts of the Sentence
4. The Predicate
5. The Predicative
6. Subject-Verb Concord
7. The Object
8. The Attribute
9. Apposition

1.Types of sentences according to the type of communication

Simple sentences can be classified according to the communicative principles (type of communication they
convey). There are 4 types of sentence: 1) declarative (statements) 2) interrogative (questions) 3) imperative
(commands) 4) exclamatory (exclamations). They are subdivided into subtypes.
Declarative sentences
They are used to convey information about a certain extralinguistic fact, either asserts smth or denies smth, it’s
most ususal types of sentence in narartive. Declarative sentences have the arrangement S-V-O => the English
language belongs to SVO-languages. The subject is present & precedes the verb usually. Of course, there are
exceptions: subjectless declaratives the subject is implied, it is elipsed. Ex. See you later=I will see you later. B)
verb is before the subj. Ex. Never have I seen such a sight. Came frightful days of cold and frost.
Interrogative sentences: they fall into several types. An interrogative sentence - asks about missing
information to be supplied. It meets all or one of the following criteria:
1) placing the operator in front of the subject.
Ex. Will John speak to the boss today?
2) The initial position of an interrtogative word:
Ex. What have you found out?
3) Intonation rising.
The interrogative sentences are divided coording to the answer they expect. Some expect the words Yes, No - so
they are called Yes/No Question, the general questions, declarative questions and tagquestion. Other
Interrogative expect the missing info by an interrogative word, special question - “what” question.
There are questions which expect as an answer 1 of 2 alternatives mentioned in the questions.
Ex. Would you like coffee or beer? - The answer is one of the coordinated words. General questions are yes/no
and they are formed following the mechanism: Subject - Operator - Predication=>Operator.
Subject - Predication
Ex. John is writing a book.=> Is John writing a book? All general qestions have operator. The Declarative
Question has the structure of a statement, but the intonation is rising and the question seldom asks for info but is
exclamation.
Ex. John speaks Tagalog? The Tag Questions - consist of 2 parts:
A statement + a question (tag)
v v
Positive Negative
v v
Negative Positive
v v
The intonation may be rising and falling. We have the following types of tg questions:
1) He likes his job, doesn’t he? - positive assumption + partial expectation
2) He doesn’t like his job, does he? - negative assumption + neutral expectation
3) He likes his job, doesn’t he? - positive assumption + positive expectation
4) He doesn’t like his job, does he? /нали?/ negative assumption + negative expectation
The statement expresses the speaker’s assumption while the tag expresses the speaker’s expetation..
5) positive statement + positive question
6) negative statement + negative question
???????are rarely used to express suspicion, sarcasm (превод: така ли?)
Ex. You’ve had an accident, have you?
So, that’s your little game, is it?
So you haven’t touched a drop for years, haven’t you?
Analyse into clausal elements and sentence patterns ?????????
1) My colleague explained that he considered her words very rude. - type 7
^ ^
dynamic extensive monotrans object dynamic extensive

2) The man went (dynamic, extensive, intrans .) to the bedroom, where his wife was still asleep and woke her
(monotrans).
3) Although he had now reached (dyn, extens) flatter ground and the trees had thinned out (dynam, trans),
movement was becoming increasingly difficult. - 4 type.
4) He had read (dynamic, monotransitive) that the dangerous European brown bear was (stative, intensive - Cs -
7 type) common in these parts.
Sunject or object complement?
1) The half hour he had with her left him extremely happy and supremely satiffied with life.
2) How to be shown things and make appropriate comments seems to be an art in itself.
3) He did not grow vexed (Cs); though I continued ???????????????
4) Johnie felt a different man now.
5) I would suggest that the meantime these matters remain perfectly quiet and keep these matters secret (Co)
even from Oliver himself.
6) Emet held him immobile (Co) for only an instant.
7) He wasn’t poor. (Cs)
8) He had named his son Francis (Co).
Other Communicative types of sentences:
1. questions (interrogative sentences)
2) imperative sentences (commands)
3) exclamatory sentences (exclamations)
1. one-member sentences 2. Elliptical sentences
The WH questions are also known as special questions.
They are the second major category. They are formed with 1 of the following interrogative words: who(m),
whose, what
Whom - is AKK of who and whose is gen. of who
Which - they are interrrogative pronouns. There are also interrogative adverbs: when, where, how, why, which
also form special questions. The interrogative word takes initial position in the sentence. This is true of English,
but not of all languages. The only exception is when the interrogative word is a prepositional object. In this case
there are 2 possible constructions: 1) formal 2) colloquial
In formal style the preposition precedes the interrogative word. Ex. On what did you base your predictions?
In colloquial style the interrogative word comes first and the preposition is at the end of the sentence. Ex. What
did you base … it on? This colloquial construction can be undesiriable sometimes: 1) when the preposition is
remote from the object 2) when the preposition is syntactically closer to the object that verb. Questions like these
are avoided: Ex. What time did you tell him to meet us at? What did you bring this book to be read out for? In
WH questions the normal word order is upset by 2 factors: 1) by the initial placement of the interrogative word 2)
by the inversion of subj & operator: Who has ever seen her dance? - There is no inversion because the
interrogative word is the subject. If there isn’t no operator “do” is introduced. Ex: When did you see her for the
last time? “Be” “have” function as operators in sentences like: What have you to say? How are you? WH
questions have falling intonation - Every WH can be matched with a statement which is called it’s preposition -
statement which in place of the interrogative word contains an indefinite expression such as: somebody,
somewhere, somehow. The presupposition is used to clarify the syntactycal ordering of the question in relation to
a statement. Ex: Who opened my letter? => Somebody opened my letter? Smb is the subj => who is (subj)
When (adverbial) will you come back? => You’ll come back (presupp.) some time (adverbial).
There can be more than 1 interrogative word in 1 question. Ex: Who said what to whom? - Only 1 interr. Word is
fronted, the other interr. Words remain in their normal place. We have a choice which word to front. => the
same question may be put in different way. Ex. From the presupposition. You’ve hidden smth somewhere. =>
What have you hideen where? When have you hidden where?
Alternative question:
It expects as an answer 1 of 2 alternatives mentioned in the question. Ex: Would you like steak or chicken. There
are 2 types of alternative questions: 1) resembles yes-no question
Ex: Would you like chokolate, stake or whore?
It’s different only of intonation from yes-no question. The intonation is rising on each alternative, but the last one
has falling intonation => it indicates the speaker comes to an end on the list of alternatives. This difference is
important because if we ignore it , it can lead to misunderstandings.
Ex: Shall we go by bus or train? By bus. By train.
Shall we go by bus or train? (plain intination) - No, let’s take the boat.
2) resembles a WH question
Ex: Which ice-cream would you like: chokolate, vanilla?
It’s a compound of 2 separate questions: a WH question + elliptical alternative question. Any positive yes/no
question can become alternative by the addition of “or not”, or by matching negative clause. Ex: Are you coming
or not? Are you coming or aren’t you coming.
The Exclamatory Question - sentence which is question in form but functionally an exclamation. Ex: Negative
yes/no question with a final falling tone: Ex: Hasn’t she grown! Isn’t she beautiful!
The form is negative but the meaning is strongly positive. It invites the listener’s agreement to smth for which the
speaker has strong feeling.
2) Positive Yes/No question with falling tone:
Ex: Am I angry? Did he look annoyed?
Subject + operator are stressed emphatically.
The meanings are: Has she grown? => She has grown.
3) Rhetorical question functions as forceful statement. There are 2 types: a) positive rhetorical question b)
negative rhet. quest. The positive one is like a strong negative assertion. Ex: Is that a reason for despair? = Sure,
it’s not a erason for despair? Can anyone doubt the wisdom of this action? = Surely none an doubt the wisdom of
the action. The negative one is like a strong positive assertion. Ex: Is no one going to defend me? (Нима никой
няма да ме защити?) = Surely someone will defend the speaker. The Rhetorical questions have rising
intonations. There is rhetorical WH question - the interrogative word can be replaced by negative element to see
the meaning. Ex. Who knows? = Noone knows. Who cares. What difference does it make! The intonation is of
the ordinary WH question.
Imperative Sentences - they are used to urge the listener to action. They normally have no grammatical
subject and the verbs are in the imperative mood.
Ex: Speak to the boss today! The most ordinary type of command is the one which is different from statement
by: 1) no suspect 2) the verb is in the imperative. The imperative mood is restricted as to tense , aspect, voicem
and modality. There are not tense distinction, no perfect forms and passive nsd progressive occurs very rarely in
imperative sentence . Ex: Be preparing the dinner when he comes! Ex: Get washed! In a few set phrases with all
like: Be prepared (seated) erassured! The imperative isn’t used with stative verbs: Ex: Sound louder! Is
ungrammatical. Modal auxilliary don’t occur in imperaive sentences. The usual type of command has no overt
subject. They have covert subjects which are implied. The covert subject is the second person pronoun “you” -
Ex: Open the door. => “you” is implied. Intuition tells us that “you” is the subject. Tag question tells us that
“you” is the subject.
Ex: Open the door, will you? Ex: Behave yourself! There’s a type of command in which the subject is overt. Ex:
You, be quiet! You mind your own business! They are usually warnings and frequently express irritation => they
an’t be combined with markers of politeness like “please”. These commands can be used to address several
persons like for example: You come here Jane and you go over these, Mary!
There’s 3rd persons subject command Ex: Smb opened that door? Everybody shut their eyes! There’s 1 st person
imperatives formed preposing the verb “let” followed by a subject in the objective case. Ex: Let me have e look!
Let us all work hard!
“Let” can be followed by 3rd person subject. Ex: Let each man decide for himself. In colloquial English “Let’s” is
used for 1st person sing. Let’s give you a hand=Let me. There are no 2nd person imperatives with “let”.
Types of command
1 pers. 2 pers. 3 pers.
Without subj Open the door.
With subj without let You open the Somebody open
door. the door.
With let Let me/us open Let smb open the
the door. door.

I. Don’t open the door!

II. Don’t you open the door!
III. Don’t anyone open the door!
IV. Let’s not open the door! In colloquial = Don’t let’s open the door!
V. Don’t let anyone open the door!
Exclamatory Sentences - they express the speaker’s feelings. There are numerous exclamatory sentences . We
shall consider those which form a syntactical class. Which contain an exclamatory element - expressed by “what”
& “how”. They resemble WH questions but their function is different not as interrogative but as exclamatory
elements. The syntactical order in exclamatory sentences is upset because the exclamatory ????????? is fornted.
In contrast to WH questions there’s no subj-operator inversion in exclamatory sentenes. The exclamaotry element
may have different syntactical functions. Ex: What an enormous crowd came. What (obj. dir) a time we’ve
had. ????? How delightful she is. It’s possible but rare for the whole prepositional phrase to occur initially. Ex:
What a mes we are in!
Exclamatory sentences are frequently reduced to the single exclamatory element => become 1-member
sentence. Ex: What a terrible wind! => no verb. How encouraging!
The 4 classes of sentences discussed so far have the following discourse functions. Statements convey info.
Questions express back of info. Commands - instruct smb to do smth. Exclamatory express the speaker’s
feelings. This usually neat arrangement is disrupted. Because the syntactical classes don’t always correspond 1 to
1 to the discourse function.
Ex: What an earth are you doing! => but it’s exclamation
Ex: I’d like a cup of tea. => command statement in form.

2 .One member sentences and Elliptical sentences

They have no separate subject and predicate ; they have 1 main part which is neither subject nor predicate. From
morphological structure they are classified nominal and infinitive. Nominal one member sentence. Main part is
expressed by noun phrase. (ex: freedom dusk of a summer night bells ringing loud, flowers, kisses, wine).
Infinitive sentence is a one member sentence the main part by which is expressed by infinitive. There are 2
types a) always exclamatory in which the ING with to stands at the beginning. The meaning of the sentence is
strong feeling on the part of the speaker, used in poetry and represented speech ; b) always interrogative
sentence which begins with “why” followed by bare infinitive without to. Often the infinitive is preceded by not.
There are two member-infinitive sentences – the infinitive is preceded by a noun phrase and it is exclamatory.
Elliptical sentences – Ellipsis is a natural syntactic phenomenon presented in all languages. It can be illustrated
by EX: I don’t think that she will come but she may. Ellipses is omission of some part of the sentence. To omit
sentence element a certain conditions must be met. The phrase that is missing is uniquely recoverable; it can be
inferred by the context unambiguously. It exists to avoid redundancy by omitting repeated words and phrases the
attention of the interacter is focused on the rheme of the s-ce.
Elliptical s-ces : in them some s-ce element is omitted because it can be inferred from the context. In s-ces
different parts can be ellipsed. There is an essential difference b/n ell. s-ce & member ~.In 1-member s-ce they
are complete in themselves, can stand alone, nothing is missing. In elliptical ~ some parts are ellipsed & the
listener is able to recover the ellipsed material.1)Ellipsis of Subject;2)~of Verb;3)Copular Verbs
Ellipsis;4)Subj.ComplementEll.;5)Ell. Of Obj.; 6)~of Auxiliaries in analytical tense forms;7)Ell. inscriptions turned
block language & telegraphic ellipsis.
3. The Main Parts of the Sentence

The main parts are only 2 – the Subj. and Predicate. Usually among the secondary parts are: obj., predicative,
adverbial mod. The main parts are main because without them the s-ce won’t exist at all, the S.& pred. form
main syntactic frame. The Subj. has no Nominative Case. Every initial Noun Phrase is a Subj. The S. is the
performer of the verbal action; it expresses the theme of the s-ce. There are many pseudo-subjects in E-sh ,
divested of meaning. In such cases the inpersonal ‘it’ / ‘there’ subject is added in order that such s-ce to conform
with the usual s-ce pattern. S-ces which have ‘there’ pseudo-subj. are called existential s-ces because they
denote they denote the existence of sth. Typically, in such s-ces we find the verb ‘to be’. The existential s-ce is
used as rheme-focusing device. According to one point of view, they have a formal subject ’it’, and a real one,
expressed by gerund, infinitive phrases or finite verb phrases. According to another point of view, ’it’ is the real
Subj. We adopt another view : cases of extra position of a clausal subject; extra position is a kind of
postponement, it involves filling in the empty syntactic slot. The ‘it’ subj. is called ‘the introductory it’. The
definition of the Subj. must state:1)the m-ng of Subj.-its relation to the thought expressed in the s-ce,2)the synt.
relations of the Subj .in the s-ce.3)the morph. realization of the subj.
Subj. denotes the thing whose action is expressed by the predicate. Morphologically it may be expressed by
noun, a pers. Pronoun in Nom., a demonstrative pronoun, non-finite clauses, symbols.
Semantic classification – 1)the agent of the action,2)instrumental Subj.,3)affected Subj.,4)recipient Subj.-it goes
normally with stative verbs,5)Locative Subj.-denotes the place of the action,6)Temporal S.-denotes the
time~,7)Eventive S.-is expressed by nouns denoting some event (be + adverbial of time).

4. The Predicate

The Pr. is 1 of the main parts of the s-ce which denotes action of the Subj. It includes the verb. There are simple
& compound Pr., they both have verbal and nominal Pr. ,there are also mixed types. Simple Verbal Pr. It’s
expressed by a finite verb in active & passive voice. The Pr expresses action performed or suffered by the Subj. A
subtype of the simple verbal pr. is the phraseological Pr.-it’s expressed by phraseological unit that consists of a
verb that has lost its lexical m-ng + deverbal noun.
There are 2 subtypes of phraseological Pr.:1)finite vb + verbal noun preceded by an article;2)abstract noun
without an article +vb.
The Simple Nominal Pr. lacks a vb form, it’s expressed by noun or adj. and is used in exclamatory s-ces.
The Compound Verbal Pr. consisits of 2 parts: a nominal part and a semi-auxiliary. The nominal part is expressed
by the infinitive or gerund; it denotes an action performed by the Subj. The semi-aux. part expresses person,
mood, tense. It has a lexical m-ng and it can give a modal or aspective m-ng to the Pr.
Compound Verbal /Modal Pr. shows if the action expressed by the non-finite vb is obligatory, desirable,
possible..This Pr .’s patterns are:1)modal vb + bare infinitive; 2)’be/have’+inf. =obligation,3) lexical vb with
modal m-ng + ‘ing’/gerund.
Compound Verbal Aspective Pr. – finite vb +’ing’/gerund.
Compound Nominal Pr.->intensive vb(=link vb)+subj. complement(=Pr-ve).The link vb connects the Subj.& the
Pr. and also carries the verbal the verbal categories of the Pr. They have lost their lexical m-ng; many of them
preserve their m-ng, and are no link vbs any more.
The Mixed Types of Pr. are similar to the Verbal – they contain 3 components:1)compound modal nominal(modal
vb +link vb + Pr.),2)compound aspective nominal Pr.(vb +link vb +Pr.),3)compound modal aspective (modal
vb+infinitive /gerund).
5. The Predicative

A part of the compound nominal predicate; it’s also considered as a secondary part of the s-ce. There’s an
intensive relation b/n Pr. & Subj. Morphologically it is on the same range as the Subj. It can also be realized by
Adj. and Adv. unlike Subj. (ex. he is well) The Pr. can be expressed by prepositional phrases, sometimes in the
position of the Subj. (ex. They looked of about my age).
Traditionally Pr. can be classified on 2 principles: 1) the link vbs; 2) the degree of connection b/n Pr-ve & the link
vb. According to the 1st principle there are Pr-ves of being and ~ of becoming. Pr. of being represent a
permanent quality of the Subj.(ex. She looks nice. She’s a teacher); The vbs which take Pr-ve of being are
divided into 2 groups: vbs of appearance and ~ of continuance in the same state (remain, continue, stay – He
remained silent). The vbs which take Pr-ve of becoming are: become, grow, get, go. The passive of result
corresponds to Pr-ve of being.
The 2nd principle – we have extrapositional Pr-ve that can be combined with both transitive & in~ vbs. There is
supplementary Pr-ve that completes the m-ng of the vb without being essential, we can omit it (ex. He died a
beggar). We can recognize it if we insert ‘as’ before the Pr-ve. It is expressed by adj., participle asp. with the link
vbs ‘live, die, lie, sit’. The use of suppl. with ’speak, talk’ in BE is vulgar, while in AE it’s normal. In BE the
adverbial suppl. Pr. is also used with active & passive vbs, but such s-ces are tricky for translation (ex. The meat
cuts tender).After a passive form it represents the predicative part of a nexus object(ex. They painted the door
green=>The door was painted green).
There are also true Pr-ves – most tightly connected with the link vb syntactically; we can’t omit it (ex. He is a
student). Many vbs take both supplementary & true Pr-ves, depending on whether or not the link vb loses its
lexical m-ng. The greater the loss, the closer we are to true Pr-ve; otherwise we’re closer to the supplementary
Pr-ves. (ex. He stood godfather to child–true Pr.,b’cos ‘stood’ has lost totally its lex. m-ng) .With vbs like ‘play,
act’ we may hesitate b/n Obj. and Pr.( ex.He played Hamlet–Obj., b’cos the s-ce can become in passive. He
played the fool– Pr., no passive is possible). The true Pr-ve may be expressed by different parts of speech. When
a Noun is used as Pr-ve, there occur some changes: 1) the N. can take Adv. of degree, [ex. I’m not
philosopher(Pr.) enough(adv. of degree) to determine it.] ;2) Shift of gender to a neuter ~, (ex. When we ask
about s.o.’s profession); 3) loss of definition at Articles– ‘a’ is omitted especially when the Pr-ve denotes posts,
titles, offices (ex. He is chairman). Sometimes the Pr-ve & Subj. cover each other and then their places change
[ex. John was the best worker(Pr.) in the factory].Then our choice depends on which part we want to make the
rheme. The Subj. and Pr-ve may differ in number. Pr-ves are often expressed by attributive N.( brick house)– in
such combinations the 1st N. functions as attribute (Adj.) => it may be used as a Pr-ve. There are parallel forms
with/without ‘of’. The omission of ‘of’ occurs with the phrases like ‘no use, no good’,etc. It’s frequent with
compound and semi~ N.
There are pronominal Pr-ves – independent possessive pronouns (ex. The earth is the Lord’s). Numerals are used
as Pr-ves when age is meant (ex. I feel 15); when age isn’t meant then the numeral must be qualified.
Adverbial Pr-ves – the ? is if they are Pr-ves or Adverbials (She danced bare-foot =Pr. bec. of the parallel use of
adv. and adj. in the function of Pr-ve).

6. Subject-Verb Concord

C. is a kind of synt. relation - such that if a partic element has a feature then another element must have the
same feature. The most important type of C. is the one of number b/n subject & the predicate (verb) of the s-ce.
Besides this one, there is a C. of person. C. of № is manifested overtly only with present tense verbs; with past
tense verbs C. isn’t obvious. It’s covert. The only exception is the verb “to be” which makes distinction in the past
tense. C. is based on sevsral Principles: 1/ grammatical P. (we have gram. C. according to it, 2/ notional C. which
is based on logical consideration, 3/ P. of proximity. The most usual type is the gram. C. According to it a singular
subj. requires a singular verb, a plural subj. - a plural verb. (Ex.: The window is open. The windows are open.)
Notional C. is C. of the verb acc. to the idea of number & and not acc. to the gram. expression of that idea. (Ex.:
Government is semant. plural but gram. sing. - we can say for Ex.: The government have made a lot of promises.
Measles is a dangerous disease. Proximity principle - C. not with the subj. of the s-ce but with same noun which
closely precedes the verb. Sometime the noun may follow the verb - attraction. (Ex.: No one except his own
supporters(pl.) agree(pl.) with him.) Difficulties over C. arise because of the interaction of these 3 principles in 3
diff. areas in Engl. grammar. When: 1/the subj. is expressed with collective nouns, 2/if the subj. is coordinated
noun, 3/subj. is expressed by an indefinite expression of amount. Collective nouns are notional plural but gram.
singular. In Br. Engl. they obey notional C. (Ex.: The public are tired of demonstrations. The audience were
enjoying every minute. Our committee have considered your request.) This doesn’t mean that a singular verb
can’t be used. On the contrary, sing. verbs are interchangeable with the plural verbs in these examples. What is
the choice b/n sing. & plur. verb based on? It is based on whether the group indicated by the collective noun is
considered as a single individual body or as a collection of individuals. In our examles plural is more likely
because consideration is given to the individ. actions of the groups (Ex.: The public consists of you & me. The
crowd has been dispersed. The audience was enormous.) Here the groups are considered as single indiv. body.
The plural is more popular in speech, while singular is preffered in writing. It is safest to obey gram. C. In Am.
Engl. collective noun subjects are Always used with singular verb, a plural is preferred when the plural is
obligatory elsewhere in the s-ce (Ex: The audience are raising their hands to signify their approval. C. with
coordinated noun subj. - the subj. may consist of 2 or more nouns conected by a conjunction. In this case the
nouns are coordinated. When we have such subjects like John & Mary, in order to decide on the form of the verb
sing. or plural we must make destinguish 2 kinds of coordination: 1/ non appositional coor., 2/ appositional. Non-
appos. coor. is “John & Mary are now ready.” - the s-ce can be regarded as a case of clause reduction in a larger
s-ce containing 2 clauses: “John is now ready & Mary is now ready.” This means that we have non-appos. s-ce,
the 2 nouns are noncrreferential, refer to differ. things (My very good friend & the chairman of the department
was/were here.) If they are 1 person we should use singular verb. Appos. coor. - When the 2 noun clauses refer
to the same person/thing, the nouns are coreferential. (His aged servant & the editor of his papers was/were with
him at his dedbed.) If they are the same person we use sing. verb, if they are 2 diff. people - plural. These all
were concrete nouns. If we have abstract nouns we can use both sing. & plural (Ex: Your fairness & impartiality
have/has been much appreciated) There is doubt whether these are 1 or 2 quality. (Ex: Conscience & cowardice
are really the same thing.) Coordination may be achieved not only with “and” but also with double conjunct.
correlative pairs: neither-nor, both...and. The correlative “both...and” occur only in non-appositional & plural verb
is used. (Ex: Both your fairness & impartiality have been appreciated. The principle of notional C. explains the
following: “Danish bacon & egg makes a good breakfast. The hammer & the sickle was flying in the air.”
Arithmetical sums illustrate nonappositional & require plural verb, but the idea of the final sum leads equally often
to a singular verb. (Ex: Two & two make(s) four. Twice two is/are four.) When a plural verb follows a singular
mass noun - the noun has modifiers joined by means of nonappositional coordination - which implies 2 separate
s-ces. (Ex: American & Dutch beer are both lighter than British.) The rules are different for “either...or” subj.
phrase. We have 3 possibilities: 1/ if the 2 subj. phrases are singular - the verb is also sing. (Ex: Either the mayor
or his deputy is bound to come.), 2/ if the 2 subj. phrases are plural - the verb is plural (Ex: Either the drinkers or
the bosses have misunderstood the claim.), 3/ if the 1 noun is sing. & the other is plural - proximity works in that
case. The noun that is closest to the verb determines the number: “Either your brakes or your eyesight is at fault.
Either your eyesight or your brakes are at fault.” Indeffinite expressions of Amount C. - they are gram. specified
determiners & pronouns including: no, none, all, some, any, fractions like: half. With noncountable nouns the
verbs are in singular (Ex: No money has been spent on repairs. None has been spent. Some cement has arrived.)
With plural countable nouns the verb is plural. (Ex: No people of that name live here. Some books have been
placed on the shelves.) The word “none” with plur. count. nouns can take both sing. & plural verb. (Ex: None has
been place on the shelves. None have been place on the shelves.) With “either & neither” the singular is used.
(Ex: The 2 guests have arived but neither is welcome.) A plural verb occurs with either & neither in informal
usage when n/either is followed by prepos. phrase with plural complement. (Ex: Either of them are welcome.)
There is C. of person too. (Ex: I am your friend. He is your friend.) The role of C. of person is not very great.
Some other cases: If the subj. is expressed by a clause – the predicate verb is in the singular. (Ex: How you get
there does’nt concern me.) Subj. expressed by non-finite clause take sing. verb. (Ex: To treat them as hostages is
criminal.) Prepositional phrases as subj. require sing. verb (Ex: After the meeting is the time to speak.) Plural
words may require singular verbs when used as names, quotations, headlines. (Ex: “Crime & punishment” is the
best of Dostoevski’s novels.) The titles of some books which are collections of stories use both numbers. (Ex:
“The Canterbury tales” is/are…) Such can be used with a sing. verb because they can be regarded gram. as
appositional str-res with a deleted sing. head (Ex: /The book/ Crime & punishment is the best novel.)

7. The Object

O. is secondary part of the s-ce refferring to a verb & completing the meaning of the verb in some way. The O. in
Engl. follows the verb, it is expressed by a noun phrase & a s-ce containing an O. can undergo the passive
transformation. The O. can be expressed by clauses (finite & nonfinite). The O. are divided into 2 major groups &
this is acc. to the relation of the O. to the thought expressed in the s-ce: direct & indirect. D.O. – a word which
denotes a thing – directly affected by the verbal action. I.O. – expressed by words/phrase which denote sth. that
is indirectly implicated in the verbal action. I.O. denote animate things/persons, most often a person which
receives sth. – a recepient. Sometimes the destinction b/n D. & I.O. isn’t clear but blurred. For Ex. words like
“give, show, send” – the diff-ce b/n D. & I.O. is clear (Ex: John showed him (I.O.) ….) Other verbs like “teach,
tell” the desti-on isn’t clear. (Ex: She teaches them (I.O.) English (D.O.). The presence of D.O is compulsory in s-
ces with verbs like “give, show, send” with s-ces with verbs like “teach, tell” – the D.O. may be removed (Ex: He
told me about it (prepos. O.) ). With verbs like “give, show, send” the s-ce undergo 2 passive constructions
because they have D. & I.O. (Ex: They gave him a present – A present was given to him (primary passive) & He
was given a present (Sec. passive) ). Secondary passive is possible only if there is D.O. Verbs like “teach, tell” –
sec. passive is possible with the D.O. missing. (Ex: The children are taught by a new teacher.) The I.O. always
precedes the D.O. with 1 exception – when the D.O. is expressed by a pronoun then it precedes the I.O. (Ex: I
gave it him. I gave him the book.) O. can be classified semantically. Semantic types of D.O.: 1/ Affected O. is
expressed by an animate or inanimate noun & it denotes sth. which is directly affected by the verbal action (Ex:
They criticized the chairman (animate noun, A.O.). John broke the Bible (inanim. noun, A.O.). 2/ Effected O. –
refers to sth. which exists only by virtue of the activity denoted by the verb. This O. has a resultative meaning.
(Ex: I am writing a letter (E.O.) ). The diff-ce b/n A.O & E.O. is not only semantic but also syntactic (Ex: They
ruined the house (A.O. – the house existed before the verbal action). John built the house (E.O. – the house did
not exist before the berbal action) ). The 1-st s-ce can be paraphrased by “do to” – “What did John do to the
house? – He ruined it”. But this question can’t be asked for the 2-nd s-ce. 3/ Locative O. – it superficially looks
like adverbial & can be replaced by adverbial. This O. denotes place. The O. are such because a s-ce containing a
L.O. can be turned into passive (Ex: We walked (across) the street. He swam (across) the river. He passed (by)
the notice. The rabbit jumped (over) the fence. ). 4/ Cognate O. - it repeats partially or fully the meaning of the
verb. It’s a kind of Effected O. It is derived from the same root of the verb. (Ex: Sing a song. Dream a dream.
Live the life of a saint. 5/ O. of Extent & Measure - (Ex: He ran a mile. It costs $10.). S-ce containing such O.
can’t be turned in passive. They aren’t pure O. - b/n O. & adverbials. Because we can ask 2 Quest.: What does it
cost? (Q. for O.) & How much does it cost? (Q. for adverbial).
Semantic types of I.O. - The I.O. is most often recipient on animate being passively involves in the action or
state. (Ex: I have found you a place.). The I.O is usually animated being. In some case it may be inanim. when
we have affected I.O. & a direct effected O. (Ex: I have the door (affected I.O.) 3 kicks (effected D.O.). The
Morphologecal expression of O. - O. are different by the part of speech they are expressed by. There are
Prepositional O. & Nonprep. O. - consists of preposition + noun or pronoun (Ex: He looked at the picture.) S-ce
with P.O. can be turned in passive (Ex: The picture was looked at. - thirtially passive. It shows that the picture is
O. & not adverbial.) (Ex: He gave me (I.O.) a present. - He gave a present to me (P.O.) ). P.O. don’t make
distinction b/n D. & I.O. There are also Complex O. - consists of 2 parts - b/n the parts we find a subject -
predicate selection. The 2 parts are syntactically very closely tied & make 1 sense unit. They constitute 1 part of
the s-ce (Ex: I hate you to go. John hated Mary to leave.) The 2 components are closely bound together & if you
remove 1 of them - change of meaning. The 1-st part is noun, noun phrase or pronoun. The 2-nd part is nonfinite
verb (infinitive, gerund). (Ex: I saw him running. I perceived her face clouded with embarrassement.). The C.O. is
often expressed by “for...to” infinit. construction - preposit. C.O. (Ex: They waited with impatience for the 3 years
to be at.). Verb + Noun O. - the verb is usually intransitive, only in this combination it becomes transitive. Such
combinations have special lexical meaning. Verbs undergo semantic changes - some verbs acquire a causitive
meaning (Ex: To run a horse. To sail a ship. To fly a plane). To make sth. do sth. - causitive meaning. When
involved in V+N pattern, verbs of seeing (look, gaze, stare) develop the meaning of “to express by looking”. (She
looked her surprised. He glanced a question.).
8. The Attribute

A. is a secondary part of the s-ce referring to a nominal part of the s-ce & modifying it as to quality or property.
The nominal part of the s-ce is morphologically realized by a noun, noun phrase, substantivised adj. & others. A
phrase which contains an A. (Ex: the green card) - the noun is antecedent - consists of A. & an antecedent. The
A. is the most mobile part of the s-ce bec. it can refer to any nominal part of the s-ce (subj., object, predicative).
The position of the A. depends on the position of the antecedent. We can have 2 types of A.: 1/ prepositive & 2/
postpositive. Prep.A. - precede their antecedents (Ex: green car). Post.A. - follow their ant-s (Ex: blood royal). A.
are divided into: Restrictive & Nonrest. - R.A. - the antecedent is regarded as a № of class identified only through
the A. The antec. is regarded as member of class & the A. has restrictive meaning (Ex: “the green card” - cards
can be many colors & green restricts the meaning.). N.A. - the A. merely adds some additional info. to the
antecedent, it has descriptive free (Ex: “the red blood” - “red” is nonrestrictive bec. blood is always red. Other
ex.: Yesterday I met his beautiful wife.). The Morphological realization of A. - they can be expressed by diff. parts
of speech: 1/adj. (delightful), 2/past participle (completed), 3/pres. participle (crumbling), 4/genitive noun
(fisherman’s), 5/adverbial phrase (The film was of the My-God-Harry-you-must-believe-me kind.). A whole s-ce
can fit b/n determiner & noun. This isn’t used in Bulgarian. (Ex: I don’t like his don’t-talk-to-me-or-I’ll-kill-you
air.). Post.A. can be restrictive & nonr. Restrictive can be expressed by: 1/pres. participle (The dog barking next
door sounded like a terrier.), 2/past partic. clause (The only car repaired by the mechanic was mine.), 3/infinitive
clauses (The next train to arrive at 5 o’clock is from Sofia.), 4/”for...to” sing. construction (The man for John to
consult is Peter. Nonrestrictive Post.A. can be realized by the same range of nonfinite clauses: 1/pres. pattic. (The
apple-tree, swaying gently in the breeze, has got a crop of fruit.), 2/past partic. (The substance, discovered
almost by accident, has revolutionized medicine.), 3/infin. (The scholar, to be sen daily in the library, has devoted
his life to the science.). The A. can be expressed by prepositional phrases & adjectives (The girl in the corner.
The road to London. The house beyond the church.) Some adj. may function as Post. A. under French influence
(blood royal, time inmemorial, the president elect). Post.A. can be expressed by single adverbs (the road back).
 9. Apposition

A. is a secondary part of s-ce which is an explanatory noun phrase denoting some office. proffesion
(captain Medicine, president Bush). More recently A. istreated like a kind of syntactic relation b/n noun
phrases which are coreferential & b/n which there exists an intensive relationship. (Ex: John Smith
(appositive noun phrase, subject), a teacher at the school (app. noun phr., complement), delivered a
lecture. - There is intensive relationship b/n subj. & compl. - J. S. is a teacher at the school.). Noun
phrases, to be appositives, must meet some conditions: 1/to be identical in reference (coreferential),
2/the reference of 1 of the appositives must be included in the reference of the other. There are diff.
types of A. on diff. criteria. There is Full & Partial A. : F.A. - each of the appos. can be separately
omitted bec. they have same synt. function (A neighbour, John Smith, is on the plane.). Either
appositive is omissible. P.A. - apposit. disregard the 2 conditions (John, at that time a student, wrote
several articles.). Only 1 appositive is omissible. Strict or Weak A. : S.A. is when the appositives belong
to the same syntactic class (Football, his only interest in life, has brought him friends.). W.A. - when
they belong to diff. synt. class (Playing football, his only interest in life, has br. him friends.).
Nonresrictive & Restr. A. : N.A. - the appositives belong to diff. info. units - they belong to diff. tone
units & in the written language are separated by commas (Mr. J., the lawyer, was here last night.). R.A.
- the 2 appositives belong to the same info unit & same tone unit & they aren’t sep. by commas (Mr. J.
the lawyer was here last night.). R.A. can take 3 forms: 1/the 1-st appositive is preceded by a definite
determiner & is more general in meaning than the 2-nd appositive (The river Thames, the year 1984,
my friend Joe), 2/the 2-nd apposition is preceded by a determiner (the) & is more general than the 1-st
one (Tomson the lawyer), 3/the 1-st is more general than the 2-ndq but there’s no determiner (leader
Robinson, lawyer Johnson).
B.