o Sentence

o Clause
o Phrase
o Word
o Morpheme: The smallest unit of language that has a meaning of its own:
 cat – one morpheme
 Cats – two morphemes (s – meaning of its own, either shows
plural or third person singular)
 Mice – two morphemes: mouse and plural.

Morphemes can be free and bound. A free morpheme for instance is ‘cat’, ‘dog’,
‘girl’. A bound morpheme has to be attached to free morphemes to make sense, for
instance ‘-ed’, ‘-lly’, ‘-ing’.

Word: a linguistic unit that is made up of morphemes. Only words can form a
sentence, morphemes cannot.

Phrase: a linguistic unit that is situated between a word and a clause. A phrase has
a head (most important element, can be a noun, a verb or adjective, an adverb or a
preposition). If the head is a noun, the phrase is called a noun phrase, if the head is
a verb, then it’s a verb phrase, and so on. (adverbial, adjective, prepositional)

Clause: grammatical unit, it operates between a phrase and a sentence. A clause

has a subject and a finite verb. A clause is part of a sentence. Many languages use
the words ‘clause’ and ‘sentence’ interchangeably.

Sentence: consists of clauses.

THE NOUN PHRASE
Has a noun as its head (or a pronoun).

Structure:

1. The head alone. ex.: boy, dog

2. Determiner + the head. Ex.: the boy

3. Determiner + Modifier + The head. Ex.: A young man.

Pre-nominal modifiers are classified into:

a.) Determiners are a set of items that belong to a closed class, that occur before
the head and can limit the meaning (ex. This, my). They are sometimes called
limiting adjectives. Determiners very often give information about the head noun
(definitiness, indefiniteness, possession, quantity, etc.)

b.) Modifiers describe properties of the head noun. (age, colour, origin, material
and so on). Adjectives can occur one after the other, determiners can not.
Adjectives have superlative and comparative forms.

Several types of determiners are identified:

1. Articles: a, an, one, the

2. Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
3. Possessives: my, yours, his, her, its, our
4. Indefinite pronouns: some, any, no, each, every, either, neither
5. Interrogative pronouns: wh-forms, which, what, whose
6. Fractions: two thirds
7. Multipliers: twice, double
8. Partitives: loaf of, slice of, a bar of
9. Quantifiers: many, few, little, much
10.Cardinal and ordinal numbers.
Relative order:

1. Central determiners: traditionally in the class of central determiners we

include: articles, demonstratives, possessives, indefinite pronouns and wh-
forms. They cannot co-occur.

2. Pre-determiners: can combine with central determiners, which they precede.

We include words like quantifiers, multipliers, fractions and intensifiers. If
other determiners, followed by OF constructions precede central determiners,
they may also be considered pre-determiners. Occasionally there may be two
words at a pre-determiner position, ex.: ‘Many more of his apples’, ‘Much more
of your time’ or ‘A few more of my books’.

3. Post-determiners: follow central determiners. Among the most frequently

used post determiners are ordinal and cardinal numbers, partitives and
quantifiers.

Demonstratives: this, that, those, but they can also be classified as pronouns.
The meaning distinction applies to four aspects:

o The physical distance: this, these (close) that, those (more distant)
o The dimension of time: We bought a car this summer. (more immediate)
We bought a car that summer. (more distant in time)
o Information packaging: ‘this’ and ‘these’ often introduce new
information ( ‘There is this hotel in London, where…’ - to convey
something new to the listener). ‘That’ and ‘those’ constitute information
that the speaker presumes is familiar to the listener. (‘John kept on saying
all those dirty jokes.’)
o Relevance (high or low): ‘this’ and ‘that’ precede nouns that have high
relevance for the speaker. (‘The police know where this terrible crime
was committed’). ‘That’ and ‘those’ – low relevance (‘The country where
that crime was committed…’)
Ordinal numbers are preceded by central determiners: He is the first student who
signed up for this course.

Fractions cannot precede a noun, so they are followed by an article: This statue is
half the size of the big one.

Modifiers: a word that affects the meaning of another element, usually the head. In
a phrase we identify the head noun, the modifier that comes before the head (pre-
modifier) and if it follows the head it is a post-modifier.

The following items may function as pre-modifiers to noun heads: adjectives,

nouns, the participle, gerund, adverbs and phrases or whole clauses.

1. The adjective as a pre-modifier: two features are said to be characteristic of

adjectives:

a.) adjectives can occur in pre-modification of a noun: ‘young man’ (attributive

position)

b.) adjectives can function as subject complements (predicative position):

John is a teacher. Mary looks happy (adj.). This coffee tastes bitter (adj.)

-subject complement: John is a teacher – completes the meaning of the subject.

Ex.: They elected John president. – The subject is ‘they’ and ‘president’ does
not complete their meaning. ‘President’ is an object complement, because it
completes the meaning of the object that is John.

There are two other features:

-adjectives can be modified by intensifiers: very, too, so, etc.

-adjectives can take comparative and superlative forms.

2. Nouns as pre-modifiers: Nouns are often used as pre-modifiers, sometimes they

are closely associated with the head noun. Ex.: head-master

3. Non-finite forms of the verb: an interesting story, a very distinguishes scientist.

4. The adverb as a pre-modifier: Some adverbs can pre modify nouns.

Ex. The then president of the US.

The above statement.

An away game.

Even adverbial phrases can be used as pre-modifiers: down-to-earth person.

5. Phrases or clauses as pre-modifiers: A do-it-yourself device.

Post modifiers:

1. The adjective: sometimes adjectives can function as post-modifiers.

- adjectives ending in –able, -ible: the type of government imaginable, the only
person visible, the only thing notable.

- A- adjectives: the only person alive

- Romance adjectives (mainly in stock phrases): the president elect, court

martial.

2. The adverb as post modifier: some adverbs denoting place and time post-modify
noun phrases; the room upstairs, the sentence below, the night before.

3. The noun as a post-modifier: as post-modifiers, nouns occur mostly in

prepositional phrases or in apposition to the head noun: the atmosphere in London,
the clock above my bed, the woman at the window.

For two or more units to be in apposition they must be identical in reference, or

the reference of one must be included in the reference of the other. The term
apposition is applied when three conditions are met:
-each of the appositives can be separately omitted without affecting the
grammaticality of the sentence.
 -each of the appositives has the same syntactic function in the sentences.
-the reference of the two resultant sentences must be the same.
Ex. A student, John Smith, wants to talk to you.

4. Clauses as post-modifiers: relative clauses function as post-modifiers.

The girl who spoke to me was Mary.
-Non-finite clauses; the infinite may be used in post-modification: I have no
wish to quarrel with you.

5. Participles as post-modifiers: The language spoken in Wales is Welsh.

A poem describing authentic passion.

A – determiner
Poem – head
Describing authentic passion – another noun phrase, post-modifier

The German occupation of France.

The – determiner
German – pre-modifier
Occupation – head
Of France – post-modifier

DETERMINERS; PRE-D; C-D; POST-DET:

PRE-MODIFIER; N; ADJ; NON-FINITE FORMS; PHRASES OR

CLAUSES; ADJ; ADV

NP
HEAD: NOUN; PRONOUN; ADJECTIVE

POST-MODIFIER: RELATIVE CLAUSES; PREP PHRASES;

NON-FINITES; ADVERBS
Antecedent: a word/phrase/clause (generally a noun phrase) to which a pronoun
refers back:
Ex: My brother phoned to say that he would be late.

Antecedent pronoun

Despite its name, an antecedent can follow rather than precede.

Anaphor/-ic: a word or a phrase that refers back to a previously mentioned word or

phrase.

John said that he would come.

Antecedent anaphor for ‘John’

of he

Cataphor/-ic: the use of a word to point to a later word, phrase or clause. (usually a
pronoun or a pro-form)

Ex. What I say is this: Do not smoke.

This – cataphor

Deixis/deictic: the process of showing time and place in relation to the utterance. A
deictic word is the unit that has the function of relating to the utterance to its extra
linguistic context. Prime deictics include demonstratives, adverbs (here, there,
today) and personal pronouns.
Pro-form: a linguistic unit that can substitute for another word or a linguistic unit.

Dummy word: a word that has a grammatical position but no meaning, it is also
called empty it.

Ex. It is nine o’clock. (empty it)

There will be a lot of fun. (existential there)

THE NOUN

A word that:

 Belongs to the word-class, that can be inflected or plural.

 Can function as a subject, objects, attribute, subject or object complement in
a sentence.
 Can be preceded by articles, and adjectives (determiners and modifiers)

A noun is the name of anything that is the subject of discourse. A noun is a naming
word. A part of speech that names beings, things, objects, concepts, phenomena
that can be described by means of grammatical categories of case, number and
gender.

Classfication:

1. S, C, PN: simple, compound and plural nouns.

Sn: boy, girl

Compound: bathroom, blackboard, bookcase

Phrasal: mother-in-law

2. C, P: common and proper nouns.

Common: includes objects that belong to the same class. A common noun is a
noun that is not the name of any particular person, place, thing, quality, etc.
Proper: refer to a particular, unique person, place, object etc. They do not freely
allow determiners.

3. C, A. concrete and abstract nouns.

Concrete: denote a physical object, a person, an animal, a touchable or observable

thing, perceived by our senses.

Abstract: an action, an idea, a quality, a state, things that are perceived by our
mind.

4. I, C: individual and collective nouns

Common nouns, both concrete and abstract can be individual and collective.

Individual: in their singular form, they denote one object (idea, joy, husband)

Collective: denote a plurality of nouns seen as a whole. (army, galaxy, flock,

audience, majority, government)

5. Countable and uncountable

Countable: nouns that can be counted, they have singular and plural forms.

Uncountable: nouns which have no plural form and cannot be used with numeral
values.

In other classifications, words like singularia tantum and pluralia tantum are used.

Singularia tantum: in singularia tantum, nouns which refer to substances, concepts

or notions are included. These nouns cannot be counted, they have no plural and
the agreement with the verb is in singular. Ex. Uncountable nouns: oil, sugar,
water, fat ; Nouns that express actions/states (rest, thinking, singing); Nouns that
refer to qualities (childhood, whiteness, magic, wisdom) or literary terms (realism,
romanticism) or substantivized adjectives (the beautiful, the good, the old)

Pluralia tantum: we include nouns that have plural meaning and the agreement
with the verb is in plural. Ex. Summation plurals (objects that are made up of two
parts: trousers, scissors, shorts, pyjamas; parts of the body: bowels, tonsils) Verbal
nouns, -ings: surroundings, doings, etc.; substantivized nouns; collective nouns.
CASE

The Case of English nouns refers to the function/role of a noun or a noun phrase in
relation to other words. There are two identified cases:

a.) Common – the normative, prepositional genitive, the dative, the accusative.

b.) Genitive/possessive

Other grammarians identify 3 cases: nominative, genitive and the objective cases
(dative and accusative).

Vocative – a form of the nominative case – N of address.

The nominative is used for the subjects of the sentence (subjective case), its
primary function is to name the subject of a finite verb or the subject complement
of a verb apposition (John, the butcher has just left. The butcher – apposition).

The nominative is also used in some special constructions, in a construction called

Nominative with a participle: John was found sleeping.

It may also be the subject in a construction called absolute nominatives: His work
done, John left the room.

The dative case expresses an indirect object or recipient. This case is marked by
prepositions such as ‘to’, ‘for’ or ‘by’. It has a strict word order, SWD.

This case can be governed by verbs (A new idea came to him. Much has happened
to John.) It can also be governed by nouns (This may cause injury to people.). It
can also be governed by adjectives (John was rather cold to his mother.).

There are cases when the dative case can modify a whole sentence – sentence
dative:

1. The dative of references.

Ex.: To me, John is clever.

To me, this novel is extremely interesting. – ‘to me’ designates the referent for
whom the statement is true.
2. The dative of interests.

Ex.: For you, I shall do all I can.

A. Dative of direction – shows a person/thing towards whom/which another person

or thing tends. Ex.: John waved his hand to his sister.
B. Internal dative – indicates mental/abstract relation. Ex.: John was kind to his
children.

The accusative is marked by strict rules of word order synthetically – the

accusative is the case of direct object (You must read the letter), the case of
prepositional object (John went through the forest). It is also the case of an
adverbial (John is at school). It is also the case of the object complement (They
appointed John manager). It is the case of the attribute (The man at the door is
John). The accusative is the case of all prepositions.
A large group of verbs take cognate accusatives, accusatives whose meanings are
related to the meanings of the verbs they accompany (to sleep a sound sleep, to
laugh a happy laughter).

The genitive case designates the case of nouns that shows possession. From the
point of view of its form, there are two types:
-synthetical genitive/ ‘s’ genitive/ inflected genitive
-analytical genitive/ ‘of’ genitive/ prepositional genitive

In English, there are different types of genitives:

a. Possessive genitives – shows possession

ex.: John’s car

b. Genitive of origin – shows authorship

John’s poem (John wrote it), Shakespeare’s Hamlet

c. Genitive of dependence - expresses the idea

the cover of the book, the key of the door
d. Descriptive genitives – describes the head noun
Today’s paper, Women’s shoes, A faking of joy.

e. Subjective genitive – expresses the subject of the action when it has verbal
origin.
John’s arrival, The crying of the baby.
f. Objective genitive – expresses the object of a noun of verbal origin.
The child’s education, a reader of poetry.

g. The appositive genitive: the month of august.

h. Partitive genitive: a slice of bread.

i. Genitive of gradation – the song of songs, the poem of poems, the king of kings.

j. The synthetical genitive: this type of genitive is the result of an Old English
genitive and it is closely related to the gen. in ‘-es’. Can be rendered in two ways:
a. apostrophe + s (sg)
My son’s name
Irregular plural: children’s toys.
b. apostrophe only:
The students’ boots

k. Implified genitives: names of companies, and corporations:

United nations organization, names of persons, collective nouns (The
government’s policy, notion’s development)

Nouns that denote beings than persons:

The cat’s tail
The dogs’ barking

Nouns denoting measurement: time, space, value.

An hour’s work, A week’s vacation.
Inanimate nouns that can be referred to as he or she if personified: countries, cities,
universities.

m. The elliptive genitives:

1. The head noun has been mentioned before and we want to avoid repetition. The
cat is John’s.
2. The head noun denotes an institution or a public building. He is a friend of
John’s.
3. The head noun occurs in a double genitive construction. John’s at the butcher’s.

n. The analytical genitive:

Form of a noun preceded by the preposition ‘of’.
Characteristics of neuter nouns – the analytical genitive is preferred to synthetical
genitives.

Ex. The hair of the child in the corner.

The daughter of the man who lives next door
The father of John and Matthew.

With proper and an animate nouns that occur in complex noun phrases:
1. The plays of Shakespeare – emphasizing the head noun
2. Shakespeare’s plays – both nouns are equally important.
3. The struggle of the poor – with substantivized adjectives denoting a group of
people
4. The murder of Caesar – with objective genitive
5. A friend of my mother’s. –double genitive

THE ARTICLE
The article is considered to be a type of adjective. There are two articles, ‘a’and
‘the’. It is also considered a class of determiners. Types:
a. definite
b. indefinite
c. zero article

The definite article

Functions:

1. Demonstrative – the definite article is derived from a demonstrative pronoun, so

in certain contexts it has a demonstrative. Ex.: At the moment, at that moment.

2. The definite article may be used with specific reference, suggesting that the
following noun refers to a definite or a particular person or object, distinct from all
other persons or things of the same kind.
We may distinguish between situational specific reference and linguistic specific
reference.
Situational specific reference: implies the use of the definite article with nouns
whose reference is immediately understood from the context. One type of
situational use of the definite article is with nouns considered unique (the sun, the
moon, the West, the East). Another type of situational use of the definite article is
with nouns that denote parts of the body.
Linguistic specific reference: can be anaphoric if the definite article refers to a
noun already mentioned it is said to have an anaphoric function. If it has a forward
reference it has cataphoric reference.

3. The definite article can be used with generic reference – it suggests that the noun
it determines is used in its most generic sense, so the definite article may perform a
generic function before a singular countable noun.
Ex. The dog is my favourite animal.
-before collective nouns: The poor
-before nationalities: The French, The Irish
- ‘of’ constructions: The rivers of Romania

4. Distributive function – used with nouns that express a unit. Ex.: I am paid by the
hour.

5. The definite article may be used with nouns that have unique reference. Proper
nouns: The Alps, The Himalayas.

The indefinite article

Functions:
1. Numerical function: There was a table and four chairs in his room.

2. The indefinite article may be used with specific reference. The noun it
determines is considered as a single indefinite specimen or a sample of a class. Its
most frequent indefinite specific reference is cataphoric: The is a boy outside.
The cataphoric function can also be shown in sentences where the indefinite article
determines a subject complement or an object complement, denoting a profession,
trait, class, religion, and so on. Ex.: John is a teacher. Mary called John a fool. He
was taken for a linguist.
The indefinite article may also be used cataphorically in appositions: John, an old
friend of mine, came rather late.

In certain structures the definite article may aslo have an anaphoric function,
referring together with the noun it determines to an anticident implied: What a nice
person. What a great idea.
The form without the definite article (John was manager) indicates a tone of full
consideration, the form with the definite article is nothing but a simple statement,
an assertion.

3. The indefinite article may be used with generic reference assigning a person, a
thing or an object to a class or a type, and considering it in its most generic sense:
What a dog.
4. The indefinite article may be used with nouns that have unique reference.
-With proper names to show that the person is unknown to the speaker: I’m
looking for a Mr. Smith.
-to show that the person in case is a member of a family: He is Johnson.
-to show that it has the qualities or characteristics typical of someone else: He
thinks he is a Da Vinci.

5. The indefinite article also occurs in set phrases:

As a rule, In a hurry, What a shame, Have a great time, Have a walk

After ‘such’, ‘what’, ‘without’ followed by a singular noun with or without an

adjective. It is not used in cases where these word receive plural forms or nouns
that do not usually have plural nouns. When the adjective ‘such’ is preceded by
‘some’ or ‘no’ or when ‘what’ is an interrogative adjective, the noun does not take
the indefinite article. Ex.: There is no such thing.
What day of the month is this?

For emphasis, or in cases where the nouns or adjectives denote different things the
article is repeated: My car is the best and the smartest in the world.

The zero article

Cases of zero determination should not be mixed up with cases of article omission,
where the article is intentionally left out from the noun phrase, and can be easily
supplied. The omission of the article may occur: in newspaper titles, in stage
directions and even in literary writings.
The zero article is used:

1. With nouns denoting family relations with unique reference. These nouns
behave like proper nouns and take the zero article: Uncle is late. Dad has just left.
2. The nouns ‘man’ and ‘woman’ when used generically in the sense of the human
race or in the sense of female sex, take the zero article: Man is mortal, Woman is
stronger than man.
3. The zero article is used with subject complements, object complements when
they denote a profession or office, normally held at one time by one person only:
Mary is secretary of our school.
John is captain of…

4. The zero article is used with appositive nouns denoting title, rank, office.
He married Mary Brown, daughter of John Brown.

There are nouns that take the zero article in abstract or specialized use, mainly in
certain expressions, containing the verb ‘be’ or other verbs of movement: names of
meals, names of meals denoting the meals.
I usually have breakfast late.
Stay for sinner.
Note: Stay for the dinner I have cooked – specific reference

Nouns like ‘bed’, ‘can’, ‘church’, ‘school’, ‘hospital’, ‘work’, ‘town’ used in an
abstract sense, they take the zero article: Stay in bed.
If these nouns are used in their concrete meaning, definite articles are used: I put
the book on the bed.

Nouns denoting time division preceded by ‘last’ and ‘next’ take the zero article, if
‘next’ and ‘last’ express time relations. If they express order, we use the definite
article:
John arrived last night.
I will go there next week.
The last month of the year is December.

Direct address: What is the matter, young lady?

Set phrases: hand in hand, day by day, face to face.

ARTICLES AND PROPER NOUNS

I. Geographical and place names with the definite article.

 a. Groups of islands: The Channel Islands, The British Isles, The
Orkney Islands
b. Mountain ranges: The Alps, The Himalayas, The Rocky
Mountains
c. Geographical regions: The Midlands, The South of England
d. Deserts: The Sahara, The Gobi Desert
e. Rivers, streams, canals: The Nile, The Thames, The
Mississippi, The Panama Canals
f. Seas and oceans: The Black Sea, The Atlantic Ocean
g. Other sea features: The Gulf of Mexico, The English Channel
II. Geographical and place names without an article
a. Continents: Europe, Asia, Africa
b. Countries: France, Italy, Germany
Exceptions: The United Kingdom, The United States (these
names contain a common noun); The Netherlands, The
Philippines (they are plural forms); two possibilities for Sudan
and The Sudan, Yemen and The Yemen, Ukraine or The
Ukraine, Ivory Coast or the Ivory Coast, Argentina or the
Argentine, Cameroon or the Cameroons (the tendency today is
to use them without the definite article).
c. Political and administrative regions of countries: Sussex,
Wessex, Bavaria
d. Villages, towns and cities: London, Paris, Bucharest (exception:
the Hague)
e. Bays: San Francisco Bay (but: The Bay of San Francisco, The
Bay of Bengal)
f. Lakes: Lake Michigan, Lake Geneva or The Lake of Geneva
(exception: The Great Salt Lake)
g. Individual islands: Sicily, Iceland (The Isle of Man)
h. Individual mountains: Everest, Mont Blanc, (The Jungfrau, The
Matterhorn)
III. Names of buildings and institutions
The following usually have the definite article:
 a. Hotels, restaurants and pubs: The Hilton, The Ritz (but:
Luigi’s) restaurants whose name is the possessive form of a
person’s name have no article.
b. Theatres and cinemas: The Odeon, The Globe
c. Museums and Galleries: The British Museum, The National
Gallery
The following usually have no article:
d. Stations and airports: Heathrow Airport, Houston Airport
e. Schools, colleges, universities: Cambridge University,
Manchester Grammar School (exc: The University of Wales,
UCLA when abbreviated takes no article, but in full form it is
the University of California at Los Angeles.
f. Churches, cathedrals, abbeys: Westminster Abbey, Cantherbury
Abbey (but: The Dominican Abbey, The Abbey of Cluny –
names of abbeys that are named after religious orders, we use
the definite article)
IV. Names of Streets, roads, squares tend to have no article: Oxford
Street, Broadway (exceptions: The High Street, The Mall)
Highways tend to have the definite article: The M6
Names of foreign streets or squares keep the definite article if
there is one in the original language: La Via Veneto – The Via
Veneto
V. Ships, Trains, Spacecraft
The Titanic, The Queen Elizabeth, (if they are large ships, they take
the article, and not if they are small)
Important train services take the definite article: The Orient Express
Spacecraft usually take no article.
VI. Sporting events:
Names of sporting events have the definite article: The Olympic
Games, The World Cup
Wimbledon (tennis), Ascot (horse racing), Henley (rowing) take no
article because their names come from places.

VII. Names of festivals:

Usually no article: Christmas, St. Valentine’s Day, Easter
 If you select one particular festival, you use the definite article: I
remember the Christmas when…
VIII. Musical Groups:
No rule, depends on the group’s name: Queen, The Beatles, The
Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, The Doors
IX. Names of organizations:
Names of important, well-known organizations take the definite
article: The BBC, The FBI, The United Nations
If an abbreviation is pronounced as a word, there is no article: NATO,
UNICEF
Chains – usually no article: Nissan, Sony, Shell, General Motors, IBM
X. Newspapers, periodicals
Names of newspapers published in English have the definite article:
The Guardian, The Times (exception: Today)
Names of foreign newspapers – no definite article: Der Spiegel
Names of journals, magazines may have or not have the definite
article: News Week, Punch, The Spectator
XI. Political institutions
They have the definite article: The House of Lords
Without: Parliament, Westminster, Whitehall, Downing Street
XII. Personal names:
No article, but there are cases when the definite article is used:
Plural: The Simpsons
An important person (emphasizing): You mean the John Travolta? He
thinks he is a Shakespeare

Sentence
S – NP+V P
VP – AUX+VB (notional verb)
AUX – (MODAL) (TENSE) (ASPECT)
TENSE – (PRESENT) (PAST)
ASPECT – (BE+-ING – PROGRESSIVE) (HAVE+PP – PERFECT ASPECT)
MODAL VERBS
Mood – grammatical category that shows the degree of reality of a proposition as
perceived by the speaker. Indicative, imperative and subjunctive. The indicative
mood has to do with factual assertions, the subjunctive has to do with non-factual
assertions. Mood distinctions are expressed by:
a. Verb inflections
b. The use of specialized lexical items, called modals.

Modality – A synonym for mood, but a distinction between the two is not clearly
observed. Modality is used a semantic term.

Proposition – refers to the unit of meaning that forms the subject matter of a
statement.
These beautiful black Italian leather jackets are expensive – 5 propositions.

Defective – refers to a lexical item that does not have the grammatical forms
usually shown by members of its class. For example, ‘must’ does not have a past
form, it is a defective verb.

Epistemic and Deontic modality

A: John may have a car.

B: John must be very smart.

The two examples mean at least two different things:

A1: probably, perhaps John has a car
A2: John is permitted to have a car

B1: In my view, John is smart. I conclude that he is very smart.

B2: John is required to be smart.

In A1, B1 the speaker conveys his subjective opinion. In A1, B1 the concern is
with knowledge and belief - EPISTEMIC modality has to do with KNOWLEDGE
and BELIEF. – possibility, probability, certainty.
In A2, B2 the concern is with permission, obligation and prohibition – DEONTIC
modality has to do with PERMISSION, OBLIGATION an PROHIBITION.
The car must be ready – can be both
She loved him so much so she must miss him a lot – epistemic

Dynamic modality – unlike epistemic and deontic modality, dynamic modality is

not subjective. It is subject oriented, and the subject’s willingness is central, and
usually makes factual statements. Ex. I can read a novel in an evening.

The English modal verb can be classified into two groups:

Central: can, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would
Marginal: ought to, used to

Features of modal verbs:

1. Modals are followed by the bare infinitive: I can read.
2. Not inflected in the third person present: He can, she should
3. Negative, interrogative form: Can I, I can’t
4. Modals cannot occur in non-finite structures.
5. Modals do not take direct objects
6. Modals do not normally co-occur.

MODAL MEANINGS

CAN
1. Ability (in general): ex.: My students can speak English
- Used to show that someone is in a position to perform an activity:
Ex.: I can give you an answer if you want.
I can take care of it myself.
- Both of the two refer to the potential performance of an action. The two
examples do not refer to an actual performance of the action.
Ex.: John could speak English fluently, when he was young. – refers to
the possession of the ability to speak English, not the actual performance
of speaking.
- If you refer to the actual performance of an activity, we use ‘be able to’
 - Verbs of perception (see, hear, understand) form a special class, because
the ability to see, to hear, to understand and the performance of the
activity are inseparable.
‘I can remember’ and ‘I remember’ are hardly different, same with ‘I
cannot understand’ and ‘I do not understand’
2. Permission: in everyday speech, ‘can’ means you have permission, I give you
permission. Ex. You can smoke here.

3. Possibility: Ex. Even teachers can make mistakes.

- we state a possibility, and not a fact.
- this use of ‘can’ is not very frequent in positive statements, but it is common in
negative and interrogative clauses.
- it is not easy to distinguish ‘can’ for possibility from ‘can’ for ability. The two
meanings are very close, because ability implies possibility. That is if someone is
able to do something (x) then x is, in a sense, possible.
- As ‘can’ for ability and ‘can’ for permission require a human subject, or at least
an animate subject, the possibility meaning is the only one available when the
subject is inanimate.
Ex. Smoking can be dangerous.
-Another important mark of the possibility meaning is its occurrence in passive
clauses: This game can be played by children – meaning it is possible for this game
to be played by children.

4. Suggestion/order: in everyday speech, ‘can’ can be a suggestion for future

action: We can see about it tomorrow. We can do it tomorrow.

5. Strong advice/recommendation: the permission sense of ‘can’ is strengthened to

do something like strong advice.
Ex. You can go and … yourself.
You can go and jump in the lake.

6. General characteristics: ex.: Learning English can be difficult – refers to a

quality that shows itself from time to time.
COULD
In point of past reference expresses ability, permission, possibility, very often
interchangeable with ‘may’ or ‘might’.

MAY

1. Permission: shows permission given by the speaker, usually in colloquial

English.
- In formal context the meaning is not restricted, but is extended to general
permission (without respect to who gives permission)
-In questions and if-clauses ‘may’ typically shows permission (not given by the
speaker, but by the person questioned) ex. May I smoke? – Meaning: will you
allow me to smoke?

Ex. You may sit, John.

You may leave, John. (these two are almost imperatives)

2. Possibility: ex. Be careful, the gun may be loaded.

- in the possibility sense, ‘may’ is stressed.
He may leave the room. – possibility or permission? Ambiguity, blurred.

3. Concessive use:
Not very frequent, colloquial use.
Ex. Mary may not be pretty, but at least she knows her job.

4. Benediction/Malediction.
- exclamatory sentences (usually)
-very formal
- not very productive, rarely found in English.
Ex. May God grant you happiness. – benediction
MUST

1. Obligation (imposed by the speaker)

Ex.: You must be back by 10 o’clock.
The speaker is the person in authority
In questions and if-clauses ‘must’ involves the authority of the listener, not the
speaker: Must I answer all these questions? – meaning: Am I obliged to?
When external factors are involved, use ‘have to’. Ex.: I have to leave, I have to
catch the train.
For absence of obligation: don’t have to, needn’t.

2. Prohibition: must is used in its negative form.

3. Conclusion (logical conclusion)

Ex. John must be working late at the office.
You must have left your handbag in the classroom – ‘must’ is used here to express
knowledge arrived at by reasoning (not real facts)
Connected to this sentence, ‘must’ can express logical inference (weaker
conclusion): You must be XY.

4. Necessity: ex. Any dog must have a master.

WILL

1. Willingness (weak volition)

Occurs in question or requests: Will you open the door for me? Will you give me a
lift?
Common with second person requests, in this sense will is unstressed, and can be
abbreviated to ‘ll.

2. Insistence (strong volition)

Ex I will go, you cannot stop me.
‘Will’ is stressed and cannot be abbreviated.
3. Intention (intermediate volition)
Ex. We will celebrate tonight.
Usually with first person subjects.

4. Predictability: ex. That will be the postman.

‘Will’ for predictability belongs to contexts that are similar to those with ‘must’ for
logical conclusion.
In many general statements, predictability has the force of characteristic behaviour:
A lion will attack a man.
Characteristic behaviour is also the meaning of ‘will’ in structures like: Whenever
he has a seminar, he will stay in a pub.

Ex.: Boys will be boys.

‘Will’ here may have either predictability or volitional interpretation. If will is
stressed, it is insistence, if will is unstressed we refer to predictability meaning.

‘Used to’ is used for states, ‘would’ is used for characteristic behaviour, past
habits. Do not use ‘would’ or ‘used to’ to say how often something happened.

SHALL

1. Willingness (weak volition on the part of the speaker)

Ex. John shall be rewarded if he is patient.
The main idea is that the speaker is conferring a favour – shall in this sense is very
rare.

2. Insistence (strong volition on the part of the speaker)

Ex. You shall obey my orders.
The tone of this meaning is demanding, imperative. The meaning is rather
undemocratic, the will of the listener is not important at all.

3. Intention (intermediate volition on the part of the speaker)

Ex. We shall celebrate tonight.
‘Shall’ in this case can be used interchangeably with ‘will’.
4. Promise: in this meaning the speaker ensures the truth of the others.
Ex. You shall go to the Zoo, if you pass your examination.
‘Will’ signifies the subject’s volition, while ‘shall’ signifies the speaker’s volition.

‘Should’ is used for advice and recommendation, expectation or probability.

Marginal modals:

DARE
Can be a regular verb (He does not dare to say…) or a modal verb (How dare you
say that?)
As a modal verb this marginal verb is rare, usually in questions and negative
statements. When used in questions, the meaning is advice (Dare I tell her?). In
negative statements ‘dare’ has two extended meanings:
1. Warning, reproach, admonition
2. Impossibility: I dare not to tell my mom about it.
The modal verb ‘dare’ must be distinguished from 1. The intransitive verb ‘dare’
(the meaning is ‘have the courage to’: he does not dare to hit me), 2. The transitive
verb ‘dare’ (meaning to challenge somebody to do something)

NEED
-expresses necessity
Ex. Need I remind you that…? (Is it necessary for me to remind you?)
You needn’t tell her. (it is not necessary)
‘Need’ can be a regular verb and a modal verb. ‘Need’ as a modal is usually in
questions and negative structures:

The knives needn’t be sharpened today. – the task is excused.

The knives don’t need to be sharpened today. - they are already sharp
Need you have eaten all the cakes? – necessity is negated rather than the event
You needn’t have done it – not necessary, but done.
You didn’t need to do it. – not necessary, not done.
OUGHT TO
Conveys the same meaning as should: advice, probability, obligation. Past
subjunctive of the verb ‘to owe’. You ought to do it = I think you owe me the
doing of it.

Modals and negation

The effect of negation on the meaning of sentences that contain modal verbs is
complex. There are two elements available for negation:
1. the action, activity, event, state (main verb) can be considered as negative
2. the modality (modal verb meaning) can be considered as negative.

Epistemic modality (knowledge oriented).

For some modals in epistemic functions, it is the action, event that is affected:
Tom may come – possible (TOM COME)
Tom may not come – possible, the main verb is negated (TOM NOT COME)

This pattern ‘modality + not + action’ is described as INTERNAL NEGATION,

and indicates that the level of what is known is not negated but the action is.
It will not rain – predictability (NOT RAIN)
It should not last too long – probability (NOT LAST)

In deontic (socially oriented) functions, it is the modality that is affected by the

negation:
Tom may leave – permission (TOM LEAVE)
Tom may not leave – NOT permission (TOM LEAVE)

This pattern ‘NOT + modality + action’ is descried as EXTERNAL NEGATION,

and it shows that some parts of what is socially determined can be negated.

He cannot smoke here – NOT PERMISSION (HE SMOKE)

You must not keep us waiting – OBLIGATION (NOT KEEP)
Verbal categories: tense, aspect, mood, voice and transitivity.

Tense: grammatical category which correlates with distinctions of time. English

lacks a distinct future tense. English has a minimal tense system: present, past.

Aspect: refers to the way in which the speaker sees the event, describes the quality
of an event as observed by the speaker. In English two constructions are identified:
PROGRESSIVE (be + ‘-ing’) and PERFECT (have/participle).

PROGRESSIVE NON-PROGRESSIVE
PERFECT He has been writing. He has written.
NON-PERFECT He is writing. He writes.

Progressive: action in progress, limited period of time, incompleteness

Perfect: beforeness/anteriority

Voice: grammatical category which shows two different ways in which the action
can be viewed: ACTIVE and PASSIVE.
Middle voice: I bought myself a book.

Transitivity: a transitive verb is a main verb which requires an object to complete

its meaning. An intransitive verb requires no object to complete its meaning.

-EN-form (3rd participle): a way of referring to the past participle of any verb.
-ED-form: a way of referring either to the past tense or the past participle form.

Auxiliary verb: be, do, have + modal auxiliaries

-A helping verb which cannot occur without a main verb.

Linking verb (copula, copular, copulative): links a subject to a subject

complement.
‘John is a teacher.’
Ex.: look, taste, feel, seem, grow, etc.
Some verbs are not really compatible with progressive:

Compatible:
A.) Momentary verbs (temporary, quick, short): jump, kick, knock, hit.
B.) Transitional event verbs: arrive, fall, leave, stop
C.) Activity verbs: read, write, play, work, drink
D.) Process verbs: change, grow, widen
Not compatible:
E.) Verbs of perception: hear, see, smell, taste
F.) Verbs of cognition: to know, imagine, understand, believe
G.) Verbs of HAVING and BEING: consist of, contain, belong to, be, have
Both simple and progressive:
H.) Verbs of physical sensation: hurt, ache, feel

EXCEPTIONS:
- Verbs in class E can show perception but also active perception:
I smell perfume – perception
I’m smelling perfume – active perception
I’m hearing you – only acceptable if said by a radio operator.
-Verbs in class F are rarely used with the progressive aspect:
I’m thinking about what happened – activity verb
-Verbs in class G are used with the progressive aspect when there is activity
meaning:
John is rude – in general, by nature
John is being rude – activity in this situation, in this moment.

I’m walking to school these days, because… - habit that exists over ‘these days’, a
limited time.

John takes swimming lessons this summer.

John is taking swimming lessons this summer. – the second one implies a shorter
period of time.
John is leaving tomorrow.
The sun is rising at 6 o’clock tomorrow. X – This use of the progressive aspect is
important, because in this case we express the future, anticipated events in the
future, or plans/arrangements already made in advance.

THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE:

-time orientations with reference to the present time:
The statue of liberty is heavy today. X – do not use an adverbial when an essential
property is shown.

1. Unrestrictive use of the simple present (unlimited, unbounded, free)

Ex. Our friends live in London

How many languages do you speak?
Truth is the best policy.
Racism solves no problem. – state verbs

It is called unrestrictive because there is no stretching, expansion of the state in the

past or future. In some cases there are limits to the duration of the state, ex.: At
present our friends live in London.

As subpoints we have Timeless present or Generic present.

Timeless/Generic present expresses general, eternal truth, proverbs, geographical
statements.
Ex.: London stands on the river Thames.
State verbs usually do not collocate with definite time adverbials, ex: I understand
your answer this week. X.
States do not imply a limited span of time.
I understand now – a state is initiated.

2. Instantaneous use (immediate, rapid, instant)

Occurs in sports, for example comments. Ex.: X passes the ball to Y, who scores
the first goal.
The use here makes the gain more dramatic.
It also occurs in tricks made by magicians: Take this card…
In demonstrations: Pour some milk, mix together the flour and the…
The person who demonstrates concentrates on each step of the process that is seen
as a whole/unit.
If you use the progressive, you focus on the actions of the demonstrater.
The verbs are event verbs.
-Subjective

Exclamations: Here comes the train!

Stage directions: Door opens, boy comes in.
Declarations: I accept your proposal. I give you my word. I swear on my honor. –
performative verbs – denote official, legal, ceremonial acts of declaration
(simultaneous and identical)

I am saying that you are wrong – what I am doing is saying.

I say that you are wrong - performative verb

3. Habitual use

John walks to work. – a series of repeated events

John has coffee at the Hilton.
Whenever he drinks, he sings Irish songs.
-Event verbs.

John begins the letter for half an hour – acceptable in one condition: the beginning
is repeated during that half an hour.
He’s playing the piano in the afternoon. X – the progressive is incompatible with
the idea of repetition (associated with durative verbs)
- Simple present: He plays the piano in the afternoon.