Modern English Language 2005-2006

Essay topics

These essay topics are ordered roughly in the order in which they will be taught, so for your first essay choose one of
the earlier topics, and for your second essay choose one of the later topics. For your reading, please refer to the
Reading List, and to the Reference Works section in English syntax and argumentation.

1. Analyse the following sentences in terms of form and function:

The policeman bought a kebab at the station.

He always rides his bicycle on the towpath.
That dress suits you!
The film was very moving.
The signs encouraged me.
The signs were encouraging.
The innocent have no fears.

2. Examine the semantic and syntactic properties of Adjuncts in English, using the italicized examples in the
following sentences, and any others of your choice.

The Foreign Office’s point cannot be brushed aside, and Mr Rushdie himself has reluctantly accepted it.
We like your CV. However, we won’t employ you.
He did it because he was angry.
He did it to save money.
Typographically, the book is a disaster.
Ironically, it was his brother who got caught.
Stay in bed until you feel better.

3. Write an essay on the meanings expressed by means of modal verbs, using these examples, and others if you
wish.

It may rain tomorrow.

May I make a suggestion?
You might want to read the instructions before you open the box.
You can come in now.
You can leave me out of this.
He might be in his office.
They would say that, wouldn’t they?
John could speak three languages.
We could go now if you like.

4. Explain and illustrate the functions of the past tense in English.

5. Either:

With the help of example sentences containing the following verbal expressions, show how the meaning of
the progressive can vary according to context.

play the piano boil an egg reach the summit have a cold
believe hear voices knock on the door

Or:

The term ‘aspect’ applies to a system where the basic meanings have to do with the internal temporal
constituency of the situation. (Huddleston and Pullum)

Use this quotation as a starting point for an essay on aspect and aspectuality in English. (MEL exam 2003)
6. What are constituents? Discuss the following sentences in terms of their constituency:

I saw the woman.

I saw the woman on the boat.
The teacher with the blue jacket expelled the students from France.
He ran up the hill.
He ran up a bill.

7. Either:

Discuss the following examples of noun phrases in terms of their structure. Do any of them pose problems
from the point of view of X-bar syntax?

a tedious lecture
those heavy books
such a big house
those sort of people
every three weeks

Or:

Linda Thomas adopts the following tree structure for the sentence Kate will hug the baby:

NP VP

N Vgp NP

AUX V DET N

Kate will hug the baby

What do you make of this analysis? (MEL exam 2003)

8. Use the following passage as a starting point for a discussion of cohesive devices in English:

Next morning it appeared that the chauffeur had to take the Rolls-Royce up to town to get a part replaced,
and Margaret could not be brought from Wealdstone till the afternoon. It fell to me to fetch her. “At least,”
Kitty had said, “I might be spared that.” Before I started I went to the pond on the hill’s edge. It was a place
where autumn lives half the year, for even when the spring lights tongues of green fire in the undergrowth
and the valley shows sunlit between the tree trunks, here the pond is fringed with yellow bracken and tinged
bramble, and the water flows amber over last winter’s leaves. Through this brown gloom, darkened now by
a surly sky, Chris was taking the skiff, standing in the stern and using his oar like a gondolier.

(Rebecca West, The Return of the Soldier)

9. Use the following passage as a starting point for a discussion of information structure in English sentences:

On Sundays there was no work. Breakfast was an hour later than usual, and after breakfast there was a
ceremony which was observed every week without fail. First came the hoisting of the flag. ... After the
hoisting of the flag, all the animals trooped into the big barn for a general assembly which was known as the
Meeting. Here the work of the coming week was planned out and resolutions were put forward and
debated. It was always the pigs who put forward the resolutions. The other animals understood how to
vote, but could never think of any resolutions of their own. (George Orwell, Animal Farm)

10. Write an essay on the concepts of inflection and derivation as they relate to English word-formation.