LECTURE 1 - examples

There are differences between written communication and spoken communication in any
language. We express what we mean by relying on different mechanisms (compare the use of
body language, face mimic, gestures, intonation, contraction, hesitation, interruption, repetition,
interjections, onomatopoeia, deictic words, hedges, Vocatives, bad language, relying on context
in spoken interaction, and the use of writing conventions such as paragraph, title, footnotes,
cohesive devices, text layout, fixed formulae, page numbers, headers, footers, annotations,
punctuation, grammatical organization, graphic elements etc.).

Discourse elements
Inserts: yeah, okay, sorry
Deictic elements: pronouns (he, it, they, one etc.), adverbs (there, around etc.)
Hedges (show the speaker’s preferred vagueness in intended meaning): like, stuff like that, and
that, odd, something, whatever.
Fragments of utterances/sentences: Really? Whom to? Nice!
Attention-signaling forms: Hey, hey!, Say, You know,
Vocatives (Vocative case): Dad, baby, dude, Sir, Your Highness, dear(est)
Interjections: oh, wow, ugh
Expletives: damn, hell, my foot
Hesitators: er, um
Repeats: I – I, it – it
Repairs: Call it - Call her Suzy.
Lexical bundles (fixed constructions/chunks): not in the least, Never mind,
Prefaces: Suzy, she’s a nice clerk. London, that’s a nice place.
Tags: You know him, don’t you?

What we analyze in syntax is a standard construction – phrase, clause or sentence. The

expression of a complete thought is an utterance if spoken, or a sentence if written. For the
purposes of this course we will refer to sentences.

Phrase – the unit that is built on syntactic relationships between a dominant word and its
complementation. (NP, VP, AdjP, AdvP, PP)
Clause – the smallest unit that is built on syntactic relationships around a predication with any
verb form (finite or non-finite)
Sentence – the expression of a complete thought, marked by a first word written with a capital
letter, and punctuation. It contains at least one clause whose verb is always finite (matrix clause).
Sentences represent units of complete meaning, even if the meaning is recovered from ellipsis
(grammatical omission, missing parts of the sentence such as parts of noun phrases or parts of
the verb phrase). See Quirk p.260-261.

Ellipsis: _ Can’t come tonight., _ You John?, We do the same as you _, I know who
wrote that but not when _., We managed to sail through, _ barely., They are designed to
lift cars, but not _ boats.
What we do not analyze is syntactic non-clausal elements – elements whose structure does not
resemble a clause with a finite verb (Subject + Verb + verb complementation), whose meaning is
therefore not recoverable (that is why we do not analyze them).

Non-clausal units: anything that does not resemble, have, or belong to, a finite clause (the finite
verb must be completely recoverable), such as:

Condensed questions: You, too? More sugar? Milk?

Condensed directives: Upstairs! No whining!
Condensed statements: Much better., Too much sugar.
See above, inserts, hedges, fragments, attention-signaling forms, greetings, Vocatives,
interjections, expletives, hesitators, repeats, repairs, lexical bundles, prefaces, tags etc.

We analyze sentences that are complete or have fully recoverable elements. Also, we analyze
sentences that are built according to one of the seven canonic patterns – all their components are
obligatory to the meaning of the predication (not optional elements):

SV It is raining. It has been raining for days. It rained yesterday. It had been raining for a few
hours when we finally decided to find shelter. It will rain tomorrow. If it’s cold enough it will
rain even if not all night. When you turn the knob like this the tap leaks behind the sink. If you
had been more careful, the tap would not have leaked where you’d just fixed it. We have met.
SVO I love books. Since humans cannot rely on photosynthesis for nourishment, they must eat
whatever the food chain provides. When we were on our very brief honeymoon we met a lovely
couple of artists who agreed to make a portrait of our daughter.
SVC She seems beautiful. (Subject Complement) Again, you are right. Because water lacked
both in the atmosphere and in the deeper recesses of the soil, life became impossible on the
continent. You should get serious about your education this year.
SVA I live next door. (Adverbial) As soon as the clock struck seven we arrived at the gate.
Even if you don’t see the atrium yet, you will get through the first corridor.
SVOO Dennis gave her a ring. More often than not, children tell their parents lies because they
are afraid to lose the treats or privileges they know they receive for being good. Before you
mentioned the contract you asked me that question about the soil near the beach.
SVOC We found the hotel rather expensive (Object Complement) When the committee
finished counting the votes, the board quite predictably declared Michael the new CEO. Having
surpassed all the hardships that the dictator put in our country’s way, this nation has finally
elected its beloved son governor and first citizen. In front of the entire clan, the bishop anointed
James King over all the allied clans.
SVOA The machine inserts the filler into the depressurized cavity. (Object + Adverbial). This
car will get you to Oakwood. Before the barrier goes up you put the token in the slot in order to
identify yourself.
Syntactic types: Regardless of the model (see above): Declaratives, Interrogatives, Imperatives,
Exclamatives – including irregular sentences

Discourse types (purpose): Statements, Questions, Directives, Exclamations

Irregular sentences are recoverable in meaning, therefore analyzable:

a) Formulaic subjunctive (with or without inversion): Long live the Queen! God forbid!
b) Irregular wh-questions: Why me? Where to go now?
c) Subordinate clauses used as sentences (exclamations): If only I’d locked the door!, To think
that he could be our neighbour!, If that isn’t Michael!,
d) Proverbs: The more the merrier., Out of sight, out of mind.

Work on the following two texts: How many sentences? How many clauses?

Which pattern (sentence, clauses) of the seven above?

a) To be honest, I never wanted to buy such a lavish, yes, house on the beach. But, no! Your wife
wants a beach house, you get her a beach house. Never mind. I’ll leave it to her in August just
enough for me to join my friends in the Amazon.

b) And then, when you leave the north, turning west, to the wooded lands that rise in the
distance, to the aurochs’ old land, then, the deeper you go into a world of legends and strong
flavours of the past, the higher that mountain will rise, and the more often you will hear its name
like that of a primordial reality to which all the others relate.