MODULE WEEK NO.

5
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College of Education
EL 100: Introduction to Linguistics
1st Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021

Introduction

Syntactical Meaning, also called structural grammatical

meaning refers to “the way words are combined in larger structures” and this,
according to W. Nelson Francis is “the business of grammar” this is the concern
of this module.
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In this module, you will examine word order or the different ways in
which words and sequenced one after another. These patterns of arrangement
are referred to as the syntactic structures of the language, In addition, you will
scrutinize the words themselves both function and content words in relation to
the position they may in the structure as well as the role they play in it. Content
words are either nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. These are also called
parts of speech by grammarians.

Rationale

You learned that the free morphemes or words that may occur
in isolation are of two types: those that work grammatical relations and those which
refer to items in the real world. Among those that mark grammatical relations are
function words which serve as signals of content words. They have little or no lexical
meaning in themselves but they either mark other a words or combine them into
larger structures.
 Charles Fries ‘categorization of function words numbered seven groups in
all W. Nelson Francis cites nine main groups of function words, including
some stereotyped phrase and some unclassified ones.

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The first group of function words are the noun determines which
mark or signal nouns. Among these are the articles ( a,/ an, the), possessive
pronouns (my, your, their, its) demonstrative pronoun (that] those, this/these) limiting
adjectives which come in the form of numbers [ one, two, ninety-nine] or
expressions indicating quantity I many, (a),more, several, both, all, some, no, every,
(a) few, other)

The second group of function words are the auxiliaries, which

serve to signal verbs. Among these are the module [can/could, may,/might,
will/would, shall/should, must, had better] periphrastic modals which act like modals
[ ought to, need to, used to be going to], auxiliaries that are used to mark questions,
tense, voice [ be, do, have, get, keep (on) ] and other auxiliaries like dare.
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The third group of function words are the qualifiers which serve to
signal modifiers, both adjectives and adverbs. They indicate the degree of intensity
of the modifiers that they mark. Examples of these qualifiers arranged according to
intensity from least intense to most intense.

Are a little, a bit, somewhat, rather, enough, pretty, mighty,

quite, very, so, too? Colloquial intensifiers are that, some, right, plenty, real, awful, a
(whole) lot a (good, great) deal. Other qualifiers are comparative in nature. Among
these are more/most, less, least. Still, other qualifiers are mainly for emphasis such as
indeed.

Whereas the first three groups of function words are mainly

signals or markers of content words, other groups establish connections between
and among content words in larger structures. Among these are preposition which
are followed by nouns that serve as objects of the preposition. The resulting
preposition phrase could mark time, place, reason, means, etc. In point of form, the
preposition could be simple [after, among, around, before, concerning, etc.] that is

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it consists of a single word. It could be a compound made up of two words [back of
due to, together with, etc.] Or it could be phrasal such as by means of, in front of,
on account of, etc.

Still, other groups of function words that establish connections

are coordinators which serve to link content words, phrase, or clauses. Examples of
these are and, not, but, rather than, either or, etc. and sentence linkers which serve
to connect one sentence with the preceding sentence. Form-wise, these sentence
linkers could be simple, that is made up of single words such as consequently,
furthermore, hence, however, moreover, nevertheless, therefore or phrasal like at
least, in addition, in fact, etc. Another group of function words that establish
connections is called includers, like after, although, lest, how, since etc. These
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connect subordinate clauses to the main clause.

The eight group of function words is called interrogators because

they mark questions. These could be interrogative pronouns like who, which, what,
whoever, etc. or simple interrogators like when, where, how, why, etc.
Finally, W. Nelson Francis includes under the category of miscellaneous attention
claimers [hey, okay, etc.] attention signals [yes, uh-huh] responses [yes, yeah, nope,
not, not at all, maybe, ok, etc.] the finite worker to, negator not and hesitator, well.

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, students are expected to:

A. Distinguish among the different part of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives and
adverbs) in so far as there features are concerned
-The function word that mark them.
-The inflections they have
-The derivational affixes they may take
-Their subclasses, in any, and

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B. Distinguish the focus syntactic structures- structure of predication, structure of
complementation, structure of modification and structure of coordination.
- The words in the structure: Markers and signals

Activity

On a separate sheet of bond paper, prepare a grid such as this one and
enter your findings concerning the position of the four form classes in the
sentence. For now, you will be filling – up only one of the signals of syntactic
structures, namely, word order of position of the parts of speech in the
sentence.

Signals of Syntactic Items:

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Part of Speech nouns verbs adjectives adverbs

signals
1. Word
order or
position in
the
sentence

Discussion

The Words in the Structure: Parts of Speech

You learned that the other type of free morpheme is the content word which
refers to items in the world. You also found out that where: content words are
concerned, there are four form classes, namely, nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverb.

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Previously, grammarians referred to them as parts of speech and defined them partly
according to what they referred to in the real word and partly according to their
function in relation to other words in a structure. Thus, old grammars defined as
“words that name persons, places, things, feelings and attribute.” Verbs on the other
hand were defined as “action words or words that indicated state of beings.”
Adjectives were “words that modified or described nouns” whereas adverbs were
“modifiers of verbs, adjectives or another adverb”.
Structural grammar, like traditional grammar, acknowledges that “these must be
different kinds of words, according to the positions they can fill and the functions they
can perform in various structures.”
However, unlike traditional grammarians, structuralists classify and identify those
words, not according to meaning but according to form.
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Structuralists more form to meaning because their main concern is how the forms of
language is used to express meaning.
Structural grammarians cite five signals of syntactic structures. The first is word order
or the way words are arranged one after another in a larger structure. Thus in these
sentences the word still is an adverb of manner in the first sentence but a mid-position
adverb of frequency in the second sentence.
He lies still. (The person does not move. He may be asleep or dead.)
He still lies (The person is a liar. He continues to tell lies.)
In this respect, the position occupied by nouns or noun substitutes are usually subject
position which in most statements in the active voice comes before the verb,
subjective complement which comes after a linking verb; direct object and indirect
object of transitive verbs, object of a preposition, and as an appositive right after
another noun. Examples of those positions occupied by nouns in a syntactic structure
follows where the noun dog occupies those different positions.

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Subject: Our dog is quite friendly.

Direct Object: We love our dog.

Indirect Object: We give our dog

Subject Complement: Man’s best friend is the dog

Object of the preposition: These bones are for our dog

Appositive: Roger, our pet dog, is everyone’s favorite.

Verbs, on the other hand, are usually in sentence-initial position in commands and
some yes-no questions. They come after the subject in statements in the active
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voice and some wh questions. Examples of the positions verbs may take are as
follows:

Command: Solve the puzzle.

Yes-No-question: a. Did you solve the puzzle?

b. In the problem difficult?

WH Question: a. How will you solve the problem?

b. who can solve the problem?

Statement : Nobody can solve it.

Present and past participles of verbs may occur in noun or adjective positions
depending on how they are used in the sentence on structure.
Adjectives are usually placed as subject complement after the linking verb, before
the noun described if they are single-word adjectives and after if they are phrasal
or clausal as shown in the examples that follow:

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Subjective complement: That dress looks lovely.

Pre-Noun Position: What a

Post-Noun Position: lovely dress!

*Those clothes, so lovely to look at when new, should not be machine

washed.

Adverbs of time may occur sentence-initial or sentence-final positions. Adverbs of

manner and of place on the other hand, are usually found after the verb and may
interchange their positions one coming after the other provided that single-word
modifiers. Thus, concerning those adverbs, the order would be any of the following:
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Time Initial: [Time + Sentence + Right now, Manner + Place]

The children are sleeping soundly in their beds.
Time Final [sentence + Manner + Place + Time]
The children are sleeping soundly in their beds right now.
[Sentence + Place + Manner + Time]
The children are sleeping there by themselves right now.

Although generally must adverbs are placed after the verb they modify, there is a
group of adverbs found in the middle of the sentence, hence, they are called mid-
position adverbs. These adverbs are adverbs of frequency, and their position in the
sentence depends on the verb they modify. If the verb is a verb to be (is, are, was,
were), the adverb of frequency comes after the verb. If the verb is an action verb,
And if the verb is a verb phrase, it is placed after the first auxiliary. These are shows
in the examples that follow:
(Verb to be + mid-position – adverb)- He is often late.
(Mid-position adverb + Action verb) – He seldom comes late
(Auxiliary + Mid-position adverb + main verb) –
a. According to him, he will never be tardy again.

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b. So far, he has always been known to keep his words.

The signal of a form class is the function word that marks it. These might be seen in
the sentences that follow:
a. None but the brave will survive.
b. Who will brave the storm?
c. Heroes are very brave.
d. Act real brave if you are quaking inside.

In sentence a brave is marked by the article “the” which is one of the function
words that signal nouns, so we can say that in sentence a brave is used as a noun.
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On the other hand, in sentence b brave is marked by the auxiliary will which signals
verbs, so, in that sentence, brave is used as a verb. Then in sentence c, brave is
marked by the intensifiers, very which signals modifiers, either adjective or adverbs.
In that sentence however, brave is, used as an adjective not as an adverb since it
comes after the linking verb are and serves as a complement of the subject heroes.
Finally, in sentence d, brave is marked by the colloquial qualifier real, making it a
modifier, either an adjective or an adverb. This time, brave is used as an adverb
because it modifier the verb and tells how one should act.
Would you like to try your hand at identifying how the underlined words are used in
these sentences by noting the italicized words that mark them?

a. The ship will sail at nine tonight.

b. Ship the sail at nine tonight.

________1. In which sentence is sail used as a noun?

________2. In which sentence is sail used as a verb?

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c. To whom it may concern

d. Health is our concerns.

________3. In which sentence is concern used as a noun?

________4. In which sentence is concern used as a verb?

Signals of Syntactic Items

Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs
Part of Speech
Signals
1. Word *Subject *sentence *subject *Time + sentence
Order or (pre-verb in initial in complement after + manner + place
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position most commands linking verbs *Sentence +

in the statements in and some *before the noun Manner + place
sentence the active yes-no described if *Sentence + place
voice) questions single-word + manner + time
*Subjective *after the adjectives *Mid-position
Complement subject in *after the word adverbs
(After a linking statement in modified if Verb to be +
verb) the active phrasal or frequency adverb
*direct object voice and clausal-adjectival Auxiliary +
(after a some wh expression frequency adverb
transitive verb) questions + main verb
*Indirect Object *split pre-
(between the and post
verb and the subject
direct object) positions in
*Object of the wh
preposition questions
*Appositive
(right after
another noun)

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Noun Auxiliaries
Determiners *modals Qualifiers Qualifiers
2. Function *articles (a, an, (Can / could *intensifiers (same as those
Words that the) may / might, (A bit, a little marking
mark it *possessive etc.) quite, somewhat, adjectives)
pronouns (my, *periphrastic etc.)
our, your, his, modals *comparative,
her, their, etc.) (ought to, (more, most, less
*demonstrative need to, used / least)
pronouns to, etc.) *for emphasis
(this / these, *used to (indeed)
that / those ) mark
*limiting questions
adjective ( one, tense, voice
two ) (be, do, have,
*expressions etc.)
indicating
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quantity
(many, several,
both )

Aside from word order and function words, there are other signals that mark the
different kinds of form classer. It could be a combination of stress, intonation and
juncture or prosodic features, as pointed out, there are words that may act as nouns
or as verbs. They differ, however, in their stress patterns, whereas nouns receive the [/
\] stress pattern that is they receive primary stress in the first syllable, verbs may
receive primary stress in the second syllable [\ /] as shown in the examples below:

Used as nouns used as verbs

[/\] [\/]
A récòrd to rècὀrd
A present to prèsént
A breakthrough to break through

Syntactic Structures
W. Nelson Francis points out that in English, there are four syntactic structures. These
are structures of predication, modification complementation and coordination.

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The structure of predication is concerned with the two main parts of any sentence,
the subject or topic of the utterance and the predicate or the comment or assertion
made about the subject. This structure is called structure of predication because in
English it is possible to have a sentence with just the predicate verb. The subject
maybe left out as in commands, e.g. “Come here” or “Please stay.”
The predicate of a sentence is generally a verb. In fact, one of the signals that tells
us the form class is a verb if it serves as the predicate of the sentence. In structures of
predications, therefore, we are concerned with the properties or features of the verb
which acts as the predicate and with the features of the noun which serves as the
subject of the sentence.
W. Nelson Francis points out that English verbs have seven distinctive properties or
features. The first is person of which are two types, common which talks on the verb
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base form and third singular which takes on the [verb + s] form. (Know-knows) the
former is used with plural subjects and I and you. The latter is used with singular
subjects and he, she, and it. This agreement in number between the subject and the
verb is called concord.
The second property of the verb is tense. This, too, is of two types, common, which is
usually called present and past which is referred to as preterit. The present tense is
usually in the verb base form although it may be marked with the [ - s] morpheme
depending on its agreement with the subject. The partform of the verb, on the other
hand, takes on the past tense-marking bound morpheme (know-knew).
The third property of the verb is phase which may be simple that is the verb base form
or the past tense, as contrasted with the perfect which takes the various forms of
[have + past participle].
In addition, there is a resultative phase made up of [be + past participle of intransitive
verbs].
Examples of these are as follows:
Simple- go, went
Perfect- has gone, will have gone
Resultative- was gone

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The fourth property of the verb is aspects and for this property, there are three
forms. These are the simple or verb phrase with or without the (-s) inflectional
morpheme, the durative made up of [verb to be + ing verb] and the inchoative
composed of [getting verb] Examples of these would be:
Simple ----- go, goes
Durative -------- is / are / was / were should be going
The fifth distinctive feature of verbs is mode. This has to do with the modals (can,
must, may, etc.) which are followed by the verb base as well as the periphrastic
modals [ought to, have to, used to etc.] which are also followed by the verb base.
The sixth property of the verb is voice of which these are two. One is the normal or
active voice made up of the verb base its past, perfect or durative forms. The other
is the passive voice made up of [verb to be + past participle] there is however,
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another form of the passive voice, namely the get passive since get is used instead
of the verb to be [get + past participle ]. Here are examples of three forms:
Active Voice Passive Voice Get Passive
Write/writes is written get written
Wrote was written got written
Is writing is being written are getting
written
Has written has been written are getting
written

Finally, the seventh property of the verb is its status of which there are four. Verbs in
the affirmative status have the subject coming before the verb. In the interrogative
status on the other hand, the subject comes after the helping verb or after the do
form. This status is called interrogative because the inverted form is what is generally
used in questions. Verbs in the negative status have the negative marker not placed
in between the helping verb and the main verb, hence the term negative. Finally,
the negative interrogative status has the auxiliary in the sentence initial position plus

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the negative marker coming before the main verb or attached to the auxiliary if the
contraction of not is used. Here are examples of the four estates.

Affirmative Interrogative Negative Negative

Interrogative
He is sick. Is he sick? He is not sick Is he not sick?
He feels weak. Does he feel He does not feel weak Isn’t he sick?
He knows you. weak? He doesn’t know you. Does he not feel
He lost his nerve. Does he know He didn’t lose his nerve weak?
He can do it. you? He can’t do it. Doesn’t he feel
He should Did he lose his He shouldn’t complain. weak?
complain nerve? Doesn’t he know
Can he do it? you?
Should he Didn’t he lose his
complain? nerve?
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Can’t he do it?
Shouldn’t he
complain?

The other main part of the sentence is its subject or topic. This is usually a
noun, which, just like the verb, has distinctive features or properties, too. One of
these is number. These must be agreement between the subject and the verb in
number. This is referred to as concord. Concerning number, nouns may be singular
or plural (boy-boys), count or non-count (bottles-water), concrete or abstract
(Tears-sorrow), discrete or collective (members, committee). Generally, the third
person singular form of verb, that is, the [ verb= s form) goes with the pronouns he,
she, it as well as singular nouns that are countable, concrete and collective but
only when referring to the group as one.
There are, in addition, nouns that are always singular like mathematics, news,
measles, etc.; nouns that are always plural such as scissors, police, cattle, which
require a singular (scissors-a pair of scissors), and nouns that may take on either the s
form of the verb or the verb base depending on special rules. It is usually these rules
of agreement and concerned that pose problems to non-native speakers of
English.

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In so far as agreement in number with the verb is concerned, the nouns and
pronouns maybe roughly grouped as follows.
Verb base – common
(are,were,they (& takes on am instead of
are)
1. We, you, they (I takes on am
instead of are)
2. Plural count nouns
3. Plural concrete nouns
4. Collective nouns when referring
to the individual members
5. Nouns always plural unless
marked by a singular counter
6. Subjects joined by and referring
to items not taken as one.
7. Subjects joined by or depends on
the subject nearer the verb
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Third Singular
[verb+s] (is,was,has,does)
1. He, she, it
2. Singular count nouns
3. Abstract nouns, and singular
concrete nouns
4. Collective noun acting as a group
5. Nouns always singular unless
marked by a plural counter
6. Subjects joined by and referring
to items taken as unit.
7. Subjects joined by or- depends
on the subject nearer the verb
8. Relative pronoun subjects (who,

8. Relative pronoun subjects (who, which, hat) depends on the

which, that) depends on the
referent
9. Indefinite pronouns all, some,
none-depends on the referent.
10. There are/ there is-depends on
the noun that follows
11. Nouns marked by the expression
a number of
referent
9. In definite pronouns: everybody,
someone, everyone, etc.
10. There are/There is-depends on
the noun that follows.
11. Nouns marked by the expression
the number

Another property of nouns is gender. This however has nothing to do with the
predicate. Rather, a knowledge of the gender of certain nouns is needed when it
pertains to the pronouns used when referring to those nouns. For example, there are
nouns referring to the feminine gender with counterparts in the masculine. Gender,
e.g. stewardess- steward, heroine- hero. This is where a knowledge of the gender-
marking derivational affixes would come in handy.
Gender, e.g., stewardess-steward, heroine-hero. This is where a knowledge of the
gender-marking derivation affixes would come in handy.
The second syntactic structure is the structure of modification which is made up of
two components: a head or mean word and a modifier which serves to “qualify,
broaden, specify or in some way affect the meaning of the head. In the expression

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angry men the head is men and the modifier is angry. The modifier may be a single
word as in young boy where young modifies boy. It may be a phrase as in boy in
blue jeans where the phrase in blue jeans modifies the headwork boy, or a clause
like boy who is seated next to me where the headword boy is modified by the
clause who is seated next to me. Thus, put together in the construction which
follows the head may be expanded by three types of modifiers: single word, phrasal
or clausal.
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It might be pointed out that single-word modifiers usually come before the head
while phrasal and clausal modifiers come after, with the phrase coming before the
clause. This, however is not a hard and fast rule since it is also possible for stylistic
purposes, to place the single word after the head and the phrasal before it as in the
examples that follow:

As might be noted, several single-word modifiers may be used to describe a

headword. When a string of single-word modifiers is used, some order of
arrangement is observed. Can you tell the order of arrangement of the indicated
modifiers in the construction below? State which of the features of the text are

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mentioned first, next, etc. Choose your answers from the features mentioned in
each number.
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You must have noticed that although a number of single word adjectives may
come one after another to modify a headword, these are not more than four of
them at a time and that they may-come in this order:

Generally, in adjectival structures of modification the head is a noun and its

modifiers are considered adjectives. W. Nelson Francis however, points out in the
table which is found on the next page, that any part of speech or form class may
act as head and as modifier. Nonetheless, when they do so, the head of a structure
serve as a noun while the modifier acts as an adjective.
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HEAD NOUN VERB ADJECTIVE ADVERB FUNCTION

WORD
Modifier
Noun the dog DAYS
a dog’s LIFE LIVED a stone COLD a foot a mile OFF base
a dining year Bone DRY AWAY
TABLE SAW a mile some way
UP
Verb running CAME boiling HOT
running
WATER HARD to get
MONEY CAME to
to burn scoff
Adjective the gloomy
ROOM
barbed WIRE RAN wild icy COLD
a pleasing FELL flat cold SOBER
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TABLE
Adverb PEOPLE here DRIVES wildly unusually exactly ON
FAMOUS the mark
EUROPE now rapidly everywhere EAGERLY soon AFTER
seldom DARK far AWAY dark

SPEAKS
Prepositional a MAN above CAME down GOOD for OUTSIDE MORE than
Phrase suspicion the nothing in Enough
a PLACE in the street GREEN as the (work)
sum LIVED in the grass cold ENOUGH for
country AWAY at now

school
Function The BOOK very STRONG very very MUCH
Word MONEY a lot EASILY rather MORE
enough much
STRONGER AHEAD

In adverbial structures of modification, the verb acts as head while the modifiers, no
matter what form class they may be, serve as adverbs. As was mentioned earlier,
there are different kinds of adverbs indicating time, place, manner and frequency.
The positions that these may take in relation to the verb and to each other were also
discussed earlier in the section “The Words in the Sentence: Parts of Speech”. One

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other type of adverb is the adverb of manner which also generally occupies post
verb position.

The third syntactic structure is the structure of complementation. This refers to the
different complements that linking and transitive predicate verbs may take to
complete the comment that they make about the subject.
The first type of structure of complementation concerns the linking verb. A verb is said
to be a linking verb if the words that come after it refer to or describe the subject.
Hence, the complement is called subjective complement and the sentence is called
an equational sentence because the pre-verb and post-verb items refer to the same
thing. The pattern, therefore, would be [Subject + Linking Verb + Subjective
Complement].
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Note in these examples that the subjective complement could be any part of
speech, a function word, a phrase or a clause, and the linking verb could be the
verb to be, verbs appealing to the senses and special verb like remain, stay, get, etc.
Types of Subjective Complements
1. Today is her birthday. - noun
2. Today is all there is. - function word
3. Today is dark and gloomy. - adjective
4. Today is almost over. - adverb
5. Her plan today is to settle unfinished business. - verb (infinitive)
6. Today has been quite taxing. - verb (present
participle)
7. Today will remain imprinted in our memory. - verb (pat participle)
8. Today seems of little consequence. - prepositional phrase
9. Today can become whatever you want it to be. - clause

The three other types of structure of complementation have to do with the transitive
verb. A verb is said to be transitive if it requires an object to complete its action. It
cannot stand by itself. Transitive verbs occur in three types of structure of
complementation. The first of these is
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[Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object]
Where the direct object could be a single word, a phrase or a clause. Although direct
objects may take on different form classes, they all serve as nouns because nouns
occupy the position of the verb.
Examples of these are as follows:
1. He knows nothing. - single word indefinite pronoun
2. He knows the answer. - single word (noun)
3. He knows to play the piano. - infinitive verb phrase
4. He enjoys playing piano. - present participial verb phrase
5. He knows where I live. - clause

Sometimes there are two objects of the verb coming one after another with
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the first object benefiting from the action and the second receiving the action
of the verb. In such a case, the first object is called the indirect object and the
second is the direct object. The pattern should then be:
[Subject + Transitive Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object]
The committee awarded him first prize.
At times, however, the beneficiary from the action of the verb comes after the direct
object in a prepositional phrase as in the example that follow. In such a case, the
pattern would be:
[Subject + Transitive Verb + Indirect Object + Object of the Preposition]
The committee awarded the first prize to him.
At other times, the word that come after the direct object modifies or describes it.
When this happens, then the object is said to have an objective complement and
the pattern would be:
[Subject + Transitive Verb + Indirect Object + Object Complement]
Everybody considers him very lucky.

Note that in the example, very lucky describes the direct object him so it serve as the
objective complement.

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Unlike linking verb which require a subjective complement and unlike transitive verb
which require direct objects to complete the comment that the predicate makes
about the subject, the third kind of verb, namely, the intransitive verb does not need
an object to complete its meaning. It can stand by itself as predicate of the
sentence. Those three types of verbs may be differentiated one from the other as
follows:

Intransitive Verbs : Has neither complement nor passive

Transitive Verbs : Has both complement and passive

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Linking Verbs : Has complement but no passive

The first syntactic structure is the structure of coordination which consists of two or
more syntactically equivalent units joined by connectors to form a structure which
acts as a single unit. The connectors may be single words like and, but, nor, not, or;
phrases such as rather than, as well as, together with and along with; or come in two
parts, e.g., not (only)…but (also), either.. or, neither.. nor and both .. and. Those that
come in two parts are called correlatives while the single-word connectors are called
coordinators. Coordinators appear between the elements that they join and so do
the phrasal connectors although the latter may also occur in split constructions. In
the case of correlatives, however the first part appears at the beginning of the
structure whereas the second part comes between the last two components being
joined.

The units being joined may come in the form of function words, any of the form
classes or even the more complex structures. Examples of these are as follows:

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With Coordinators as Connectors
Function Words : over and above, in not out
Adjectives : young but terrible
Verbs : to stay put or to leave
Nouns : books nor magazines

With Phrasal Connectors

Function Words : up rather than down
Adjectives : intelligent as well as good natured
Verbs : to stay put or to leave
Nouns : good looks together with good breeding
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With Correlatives
Nouns : not only books but also magazines
Clauses :Either you do this or you’re fired.

Exercise

Draw a circle around the letter of the sentence (s) in each set which the underlined
word is used as a function word and identify what type of function word it is.
1. a. He got sick
a. He got away in time
b. He got fired
2. a. She kept quiet.

b.She kept the book

a. She kept on hoping for the least.
3. a. I have no one else to turn to.
b.I have to turn to you for help.
c. I have always turned to you for advice.
4. a.Our boss is not around right now.
b.Our boss is attending to guests in his office
c. Our boss is respected by one and all.
5. a.My niece is so pretty
b. You are pretty close to the answer
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c. My nephew gets attracted to pretty girls
6. a. He attends to my every need.
b. Need I tell you what to do?
c. You need to cover up for him.
7. a. I dare not to go against his wishes.
b. I dared him and he accepted.
c. I’ll take you up on that dare.
8. a. Is that a real live rabbit?
b. Is it for real?
c. Are you real or just a figment of my imagination?

Assessment

A. Put the words and phrases in each set together to form a sentence with
structures of modification.
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A
older used to walk
sisters every morning
my around the park
briskly by themselves
three in the past

B
people young in their twenties
nowadays jogging who are figure
conscious
often go whenever they can
many

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C
too used to walk in the park
elderly every morning a few
frequently around the park be seen
persons by themselves whom I know

B. Since the intransitive verb requires no complement, then the sentence

pattern would be: [Subject + Intransitive verb]
There are some verbs that can serve as linking, transitive or intransitive verbs
depending on the syntactic structure of complementation where they occur.
Identify the type of verb used (linking, transitive or intransitive) and the syntactic
structure of complementation in the following sentences.
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1. a. He got sick.
b.I will get him some medicine.
c. the fish got away.
2. a. He doesn’t feel well.
b. I felt his pain, too.
c. I felt him move.
3. a. I will not stay there.
b. You should stay calm.
c. I asked him a question.
4. a. the patient remained serious.
b. we will remain here for some time.
c. Nothing remained the same after that.

Reflection
Where grammar or syntax is concerned, it is necessary to know first of all the units
that are to be arranged to form larger structures.

1. Do you know the function words or words that signal grammatical

relationships?

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2. Do you know the content words and how they are categorized into four form
classes?
3. Are you aware of how each of the four form classes are signaled? There are
five of these signals: word order, prosody, function in the structure, inflections
and derivational morphemes.

In addition to knowing the words that make up a syntactic structure, you should
also know what the four syntactic structures are and how the words are
arranged in each structures.
1. What are the components of structures of modification?
2. How are the components arranged in adjectival structures of modification?
In adverbial structures of modification?
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3. What do structures of predication consist of?

4. What are different properties of the predicative verb?
5. What are the types of verbs? How can you tell one from the other?

Resources and Additional Resources

O’Grady, William et. al. 2001. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction,

4th ed. New York: St. Martin’s.

Radford, Andrew et.al. 1999. Linguistics: An Introduction. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Paz, Consuelo et.al. 2003. Ang Pag-aaral ng Wika. Quezon City:

University of the Philippines Press.

Additional References:
Crowley, Terry. 1997. Introduction to Historical Linguistics, 3rd ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Salzmann, Zdenek. 2004. Language, Culture, and Society, 3rd ed. Oxford:
Westview Press.

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