PEC213.

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monesctor

Gramática Inglesa

3º Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura

Facultad de Filología
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

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 PEC LUNES

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1. Which of the following is NOT a syntactic element of a clause?:
A. Circumstantial adjunct.
B. Stance adjunct.
C. Subjunctive adjunct. *(70)

Circumstantial adjunct → details about what is described by the VERB (where, when,
how, etc.), so within its scope (70).
Stance adjunct → speaker' s comment on the CONTENT of the clause (as in the example in
73); often, before or after the clause, but it is solely related to it.
Subjunctive adjunct → ='CONNECTIVE' ADJUNCT in your textbook: show the “semantic
RELATIONSHIP between TWO UTTERANCES, or parts of an utterance” (74) “They are not
therefore elements of structures, but connectors of structure”. Contrary to the earlier adjuncts, it
does not refer to only one clause, but to two, and says how they are connected (as in “He is a
great scientist. However, he is hopeless with women”).

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2. Identify which of the following is NOT an element or function of a group:
A. Agent. *(18)
B. Head.
C. Complement.

The AGENT is not and element of (namely, within) a GROUP, but a PARTICIPANT in the
CLAUSE (128).
The elements of a group are (18):
·pre-modifier (in nominal groups we distinguish between 'modifiers' and 'determiners'):
m
·head (only element always there): h
·post-modifier=qualifier (1 type is the 'complement' of a noun or adjective, always
introduced by a preposition or 'that'-element): m

3. Which of the following elements are obligatory in a prepositional phrase?

(identify the most complete answer):
a. Head.
b. Head and complement. *(19)
c. Head, complement, and qualifier.

The obligatory parts of a PP are the head (the preposition) and the complement (the
nominal group). It may but often does not include a modifier before the preposition, normally an
adverb of degree. Your book mentions 'right' and 'quite' in sentences such as 'right in the middle'.
Obviously, 'right' is not an obligatory element in this sentence. (19)

4. What type of element corresponds to the structure: “lexical verb + particle + preposition”?:
a. Phrasal catenative verb.
b. Prepositional locative verb
c. Phrasal prepositional verb. *(62)

A phrasal catenative verb is one that controls (namely, requires right after it) a non-finite
complement. If such a complement has 'to', this 'to' will not correspond to the homonymous
preposition, to the 'to-infinitive' particle. Ex: I wanted to work with those teachers. (108)
Some intransitive verbs require a Complement of place, direction or destination (which

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 can sometimes be used to refer to time). Therefore, the obligatory Circumstance normally
contains a preposition, but there are exceptions, when they are performed by groups such as
'home' or 'there'. Ex: He lies on the floor/there.
Phrasal prepositional verbs always have the same elements and in the same
position (first particle, second preposition), as in 'I' ve run out of milk'. Because the last element
is a preposition, a pronoun will necessarily go after the whole group. (62)

5. Which of the following is an assertive word?:

a. Still. *(24)
b. Ever.

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c. Much.

Assertive items ('some', 'something', 'somebody', etc. ) have factual meanings. They
normally appear in positive declarative clauses (“There is some milk in the fridge”).
Non-assertive items ('any', 'anything',..., 'ever', 'yet', …) have non-factual meanings. They
appear in negative clauses, but also in questions and conditional, comparative clauses, as
well as others with words with words that have some negative meaning, such as 'hardly' and
'without'. The reason is that they appear where things seem hypothetical or unfulfilled.
('There isn' t any milk in the fridge', but also in 'If he had any friends, he' d be a happy man'.)
Regarding the words in this exercise, we see that 'still' appears in positive clauses with a
positive meaning, as in 'I still feel young' (I do feel so), while 'ever' either appears in negations ('I
haven' t ever visited Paris') or in statements that do not convey the idea of fulfillment

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('Barcelona more than ever').
As for 'much', it cannot be used exactly in the same contexts as 'a lot (of)', because the
latter can appear in any sort of clause, while 'much' can' t ('I have a lot of money', but 'I haven' t
a lot of/much money'). (24)

6. What is anticipatory “it”?:

a. It is a structurally empty subject.
b. It is a semantically empty pronoun. *(52)
c. It is a dummy constituent of the predicate.

Anticipatory 'it' is a pronoun that appears in the syntactic position of a clause which,
because it is so, is too 'heavy' (namely, long and harder to understand than a group would be) for
such Direct Object position. Therefore, 'it' is semantically empty, since the meaning that would
have been conveyed in that position is expressed by the postponed clause, whether that clause is
finite or non-finite. (52)
Ex: I consider it worrying that Mike won' t answer our phone calls.
Ex: I consider it worrying receiving no e-mails from Mike.

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 7. What two major patterns of “being” (as a relational process) are there in English?:
a. Possessive and circumstantial.
b. Identifying and attributive. * (144)
c. Value and token.

Relational processes say who/what/where/when/whose is some entity or what it is like,

thus expressing the idea of 'being'.
Ex: Peter is a teacher.
Ex: Peter is handsome.
Ex: Peter is at school.

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E: Peter is Sarah' s eldest son.

Relational processes follow on of two main patterns: attributive and identifying.

(144)
-Attributive pattern: 1 Carrier (1 entity) has 1 Attribute (some characteristic of the
Carrier). The Attribute is not a participant, and can' t become the subject in an alternative
clause. It can be 'current' or 'resulting' (the latter, when it exists as a result of the action).
Ex: Peter is a teacher/intelligent/at school.
CARRIER ATTRIBUTE

On the other hand, there are special types (rather than patterns) of relational processes:
circumstancial and possessive. In circumstancial relational processes the circumstance is

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central and an Attribute in intensive relationship with the Carrier. (145)
Ex: Peter is at school./This present is for you./That song was by Louis Armstrong.
In possessive relational processes contain two participants: the Possessor and the
Possessed. The possession can be denoted by the Attribute ('That car is mine') or by the verb ('I
own/have/possess two cars.' 'That mansion belongs to a film star'). (146, 147)
-Identifying pattern: there are two participants, Identified and Identifier (the latter
corresponds to the wh- word in the corresponding question). The clause is reversible; order and
tonic prominence depends on which element we want to identify.
Ex: My father (Identified) is Peter (Identifier) replies to 'Who is your father?
Peter (Identified) is my father (Identifier) replies to 'Who/What is Peter?

A related concept in these processes is that Token (entity that 'fills the role of the other')
and 'Value'. These concepts do not always match with those of 'identified' and 'identifier'.
Ex: My father(Identified & Token) is my boss (Identifier & Value). (148, 149)

8. Which participants take part in a process of transfer?:

a. An agent, a process, and a recipient or a beneficiary.
b. An agent, an affected, and a recipient. *(137)
c. A process, an affected, and a beneficiary.

Processes of transfer correspond to verbs such as 'give, send, lend, charge, pay, owe, etc.'
In them, the action applies to three particants: Agent, Affected and either a Recipient or
Beneficiary. The difference between the two latter ones is that the Recipient is inherent to the
action (in other words, obligatory and even logical), as in 'I sent a letter to my father' and the
Beneficiary is optional ('I bought flowers for my best friend', 'I baked a cake for my son Mark').
Obviously, a process (a verb) is never a partipant.

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 9. What are the participants of: “The snow covered the car”?
a. Agent and Phenomenon

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b. Carrier and Token
c. Force and Affected *(130)

For a participant to be considered an 'agent' it needs to include characteristics such as

'animacy, intention, motivation, responsibility and the use of one' s energy to initiate and control
a process'. In this sense, 'the snow' can never be an instance of this, since it clearly is not animate,
does not intend to do anything, has no motivation, etc. (in other words, it does not behave as a
human being would, which could be applied to some animals). An inanimate agent is called a
'force'. 'They can instigate a process but not control it' (130).
A phenomenon is whatever is seen, perceived, wished, etc. in a mental process, as in 'I
don' t understand his motives' but also in 'His motives elude me' (in subject position in the
second case). (14)0
The concepts of 'carrier' and 'token' have already been dealt with in previous points.

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10. What is “We” in “We were offered a great opportunity last night”?
A. Circumstance
B. Recipient *(55)
C. Beneficiary
As mentioned above, the recipient is the obligatory inherent partipant that is not the
agent in a structure that contains a separate 'affected' ('a great opportunity'). The only
distracting thing here is that sometimes it is easy to forget that the syntactic subject in a passive
sentence (but not only in passive sentences!) is no agent or even force.

11. What is “Everybody” in “Everybody noticed the stain on your dress”?

A. Source
B. Agent
C. Experiencer *(139)
The experiencer is the partipant that is not the phenomenon in the sort of mental
processes tackled above. The experiencer sees, feels, knows, enjoys, wants, etc.
Ex: 'I don' t understand his motives', 'His motives elude me'. (139, 140)

12. Which of the following sentences has an Existent?

a. Unicorns only exist in children’s imagination.
b. There is a cow in the middle of the road. *(153)
c. The public was pleased with the performance.

'Existential processes are processes of existing or happening', normally containing

'There' + be + Noun Group
they often do not always show that something exists, but also include extra information
They only have 1 participant: the 'existent'
Ex: 'There is a cow in the middle of the road' (extra information here: place)
Some intransitive verbs indicating position, coming into happening, occurring, etc. can go
in the same position as 'be'.
Ex: 'There occured many things at the same time'.
In a few exceptional cases, 'there' can be omitted. (153, 154)

In a and b there are several participants in each case, even if a sentence like a does talk
about existence.

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 13. Which of the following statements about existential processes is NOT true?
a. The process is typically expressed by ‘be’.
b. The process may be expressed by intransitive verbs of positional states.
c. The process may be expressed by transitive verbs of ‘occurring’ or ‘coming into view’. *(153)

As pointed out in the previous exercise, only intransitive verbs can replace 'be' in
existential processes. (153)

14. Which of the following statements is FALSE?

a. There may be a slight agency in behavioural processes.

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b. Behavioural processes are borderline between mental and material processes.
c. “See” and “hear” are examples of behavioural processes. *(153)

Behavioural processes are verbs such as 'cough, sneeze, yawn, blink, laugh, sigh, etc.' are
typically involuntary and one-participant, but sometimes a slight agency can be implied (as in
'He coughed discreetly', showing that he did something he could not help doing, but could at
least control the way he did it). Nevertheless, it is impossible to think of any agency with
behavioural verbs such as 'die, collapse, grow'.
The proof that this sort of verbs is borderline between mental and material processes is
that there are a few pairs behavioural-mental process: watch-see, listen-hear (dynamic and
volitional, with agentive subjects-stative, with subjects that are experiencers).
Besides, there are verbs that can be used both as behavioural or mental: see, taste, feel,

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think, enjoy (Ex: I am thinking about that issue-I think that is a serious issue). (152, 153)

15. What difference is there between the following two Phenomena in affectivity processes:
“I love going shopping” and “I love to go shopping”?
a. The former has a hypothetical meaning and the latter expresses certainty.
b. None; it is just a matter of style.
c. The former is actual/habitual and the latter one is potential. *(143)

Affectivity processes refer to the positive and negative reactions expressed by verbs in the
love-hate continuum (like, please, delight, dislike, detest, etc.). Their Phenomenon is expressed by
either a NG or a clause. When it is a clause, it can represent an event or a situation.
There are two ways to express the situation after an affectivity process:
--ing clause: shows it is actual or habitual
-to-infinitive clause: potential (thus, more unreal; similarly)
Ex: I love going shopping (I generally like it) /vs./ I love to go shopping (nearly the same
as 'I would love to go shopping today if that is what you feel like doing'). (142, 143)

16. What is a pseudo--‐intransitive?

a. A transitive process that usually occurs with an intransitive verb.
b. An intrinsically transitive process which is construed as an intransitive, with an Affected
subject. *(135)
c. A general property or propensity of some verbs to be exceptions (of rules or norms).

B is the best definition for a pseudo-intransitive, because processes such as 'break, read,
translate, wash, tan, fasten, lock' work in this fashion, as exemplified in 'Comic books read very
well' meaning 'It is easy to read comic books', whose meaning explains the problem in c: pseudo-
intransitives do show general properties or propensities, those of entities to undergo the process.
For this reason, they often appear with expressions such as 'easily', 'well', modal verbs ('Cars
won' t start quickly in this weather) , negation, etc. (135, 136)

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 17. What is an ergative pair?
a. A couple of sentences in which the Affected object of a transitive clause is the same as the
Affected subject of the corresponding intransitive clause. *(133)
b. A couple of sentences in which the Phenomenon object of a transitive--‐causative clause is
the same as the Existential subject of the corresponding intransitive clause.
c. A couple of sentences in which the Recipient/Beneficiary objects of a ditransitive--‐
causative clause is the same as the Agent subject of the corresponding intransitive clause.

The participants referred as Phenomenon, Recipient and Beneficiary have been already

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explained. For this reason, I will focus on a: ergative pairs are clauses with the same affected
participant having different syntactic functions and with different structures:
-transitive-causative: My brother opened a window. (an Agent did it to an Affected)
Peter broke an egg.
The general marched the soldiers. (here, this is the least common
structure)
-intransitive-anti-causative: A window opened. (1 participant only: Affected; intrans. vb)
An egg broke.
The soldiers marched.
It is important that we distinguish these pairs from the ones originating from pseudo-
intransitives, which, as already mentioned before, talk about general propensities. In 'A window
broke' there is no sense that that on any other window has a tendency to break, as in 'Glass

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breaks easily'. (132, 132, 135)

18. Which of the following sentences is an analytical causative with a resulting attribute?
a. The plan made me nervous. *(134)
b. He jumped the horse over the fence.
c. Colloquial language translates badly.

It has already been stated that resulting attributes are those that exist as a result of the
process in question: 'an Agent brings about a change of state in the Affected participant'.
Syntactically, we have a Subject-V-DO-Complement of the Object structure:
These clauses contain verbs such as 'make, turn, have' (the latter with a passive
meaning):
My children make me happy.
I' ve had my hair cut.
AFFECT. RESULTING ATTRIBUTE
DO. Co

The sentence in b is the Agent-Affected part of an ergative pair (with a typically intransitive
verb), that has a 'circumstance' participant. C is a pseudo-intransitive clause.

19. Which of the following is an ergative pair?

a. He closed her eyes. Her eyes were closed by him.
b. He closed her eyes. Her eyes were closed.
c. He closed her eyes. Her eyes closed. *(134)

The only ergative pair is the third one because it is the only one in which exactly
the same verb appears both transitively and intransitively, and in which in the second case it
changes from a two-participant process to a one-participant one.
If we consider a, we can see that we have exactly the same participants and meaning.

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 Their corresponding syntactic functions and ordering changes, as is the main goal when we
change from the active to the passive voice:

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He closed her eyes. Her eyes were closed by him
AGENT AFFECTED AFFECTED AGENT

B is different, because the second clause, 'Her eyes were closed', has a different verb,
'were', and an Attribute in intensive relation with the Carrier-subject. (133, 145, 252)

20. What does a clause represent from a semantic viewpoint?

a. A finite verb controlling a subject and a number of modifiers and/or complements.
b. A pattern of experience. *(122)
c. A process undertaken by participants or circumstances.

Semantically, a clause represents a pattern of experience, and is the most important

grammatical unit; it allows us to organise our experience so that we can talk about it, choosing
among a limited set ot patterns (or schemas). Thus, we can select one rather than another to

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express the same information. In order to do that, we select one of a number of situation types:
the main ones are material, mental and relational. The subsidiary ones are behavioural, verbal
and existential. The whole exercise here done has given you a number of examples of how they
work.
A is wrong because words such as 'verb' and 'subject' are within the scope of syntax
rather than semantics (even though we often use them to clarify things). C is not correct because
'process' is close to the meaning of 'verb', and only one part of the clause, not the clause or even
the situation itself.

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