ENGLISH SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES14 Engiah syntactic stucres wo different functions in one and the same sentence. In the following cxamples the noun phrase nex? week realizes four different functions (25) He leaves nent week (26) New week isthe time to do it (7) Lets call next week period A 08) Suppose we give next week priority In the next two examples, on the other hand, the same function (that of direet abject) is realized by different categories, «moun phrase aml 3 (rabshitted) sentence respectively (29) He understood se problem G0) He understood whar was talking about Even though there is no one-to-one correspondence between categories and functions, itis trve that most categories have a typical function associated with them, Tspical functions of noun phrases are, for instance, those of Eubject and direct object. while the verd phrase is associated with the function predicator (on sentence functions see Chapter 7). In this book a great deal of attention is paid to the category-function dichotomy, Part One is mainly concerned with the categories of the units of linguistic description. The order of the chapters reflects the rankscole hierarchy: the morpheme (Chapter 1). the word (Chapter 2), the phrase (Chapter 3) and the sentence (Chapter 4). In Part Two the emphasis is on Structures. Here the units of linguistic description are examined with respect 10 their internal structure as well as with respect t0 the ways in hich they funetion as constituents in larger structures. Again, the rank scale order is followed; since the internal structure of the morpheme falls Outside the scope of this book, Chapter 5 deals with the structure of the ‘word and Chapter 6 examines the structure of the phrase. The discussion of the sentence is divided over two chapters; in Chapter 7 the structure of the sentence is discussed, hile Chapter 8 deals with the relation between senence fonctions and the categris by which these functions may be realized. Part One The Units of Grammatical Description1. The morpheme al he , “The morpheme is the minimal uait of grammatical deseriptionjn the sense that it cannot be segmented any further at the grammatical level of analysis. The word wfriendly, for example. is composed of three morphemes, since swe can distinguish three irreducible elements. viz. un. friend and ly. These orphiemes obviously belong to different categories in that friend can be tsed independently, whereas wi- and -ly cannot. Friend is therefore a So-called free morpheme. un- and -ly being bound morphemes. In the Structure of the word unfriendly the free morpheme friend is the root (friendly is the base, from which unfriendly is derived; on the difference between root and base see p. 101. In English most roots are free morphemes. However. there are a number of English words whose roots are bound morphemes, since they cannot occur independently. Examples are the second elements in: con «ta con - fer re = tain re fer de - ceive de tain de = fer With respect to bound morphemes itis necessary to consider the concept of the allomorph. We shall illustrate this by first looking at the way nouns are pluralized in English. The plural of English nouns can be said to be formed Ey 'means of a plural morpheme. which may be represented as (sy) (where the subscript I serves to distinguish the plural morpheme from the genitive morpheme {s2}). As appears from the examples in Table 1.1, (si) has a ‘number of phonological variants. depending on the environment in which it appears. These variants ae called allomorphs., There are some nouns in English, such as deer and sheep. which do not change their form in the plural. in such cases we can say that the plural morpheme is realized by @ Eero allomorph, represented as /g/. Note that morphemes are enclosed within braces, allomorphs within slant lines Table Fert morpheme Allomorphs Examples ‘a second example to llustrat the omcep of the sllomorp is provided by Rete malerabl, impossible, tegBle and irresponsible (see Table ”18 English syntactic stuctres 12). If we compare these with their positive counterparts. toleruble, possible, legible and responsible, we can say that their first element fe ¢ Phonological variant of the negative morpheme {in}: Table Negative monpheme Ali Tevsolerabte, cave IWiegile. W:toea hn:potubt, ‘obi i i itesponsibie ny egar iy L_hi-competent syed ‘Apart from /n/, Competent and capable allow the allomorph /in’. Bound morphemes like (5) and {in) ate called affixes. Affixes which are added to the beginning of a word are prefixes, affixes which are added to the end of a word are suffixes. Affixes are either inflexional or derivational Tablet a Free | Root 34 boy example re | | € is i [oe Pee sentn i mine lla { : Vow: oncom! ' oun Same I |e erecoet Bound) | e 27 he credo con haga eriraion ee empl r hood: childhood iy money i fi, toe sere hp ey sat splat sexs teatre sh Frc ese foteion Jpn sngsar = ats pa ee tee fl pargple ated eee FES compare peat superistive reste always derivational and many_of them Biker derivational or inflexonal, tbe Co & esiheoa iP book: book-s), the present tense/past tense contrast in verbs (walk: slfvefcomparatve Cont Tr aajectives (smell: smal Toelasschanging. Suffixes are iat Sulines are a3 iajority of dervational fx-changing. The above distincions are sumiva2. The word eC Eee EE eee ee ESE 21 Introductory Words can be grouped together into word classes (also called parts of speech). If we assign words to the sume cliss we imply that they share fhumber of properties. Word class membership may’ be std to dependon least two kinds of properties: morphological and syntactic. The class to which a word belongs can be established on morphological {grounds if the word in question has inflexional and/or derivational charac- teristics that are typical ofthat class. Thus words that belong to the elass of verbs generally take the inflexional endings -s. -ing and -ed. Typical inflexional endings for nouns are -s and 's. Typical endings of adjectives are the comparative and superlative endings -er and -est. Although «hese sulixes can also be added to some adverbs (eg hard and fast) they cannot be said to be characteristic of the adverb class, The same three classes also contain many members that are derivationally identifiable, Thus words ending in ify ana -ize are verbs. words ending in -ation, ~ity and -ness are nouns and words that are formed by the suffixes -able, -ish and -less are adjectives. Typical sulfites of the class of adverbs are -ward(s) and vise Some examples are given in Table 2.1 Syntactic properties of word classes are reflected by the typical ways in which their member: function in sentences and phrases. Thus verbs are ‘ypically associated with the sentence function predicator (see subsection 7.3.1), nouns with the functions subject (see section 7.2) and object (see subsections 7.3.2.1-7.3.2.3). adjectives with the functions subject attribute and object attribute (see subsections 7.3.2.4-7.3.2.5) and adverbs with the function adverbial (see section 7.4). Moreover, on a lower level. adjectives play a characteristic role in the structure of noun phrases (see subsection 5.1.2), adverbs in the structure of adjective and adverb phrases (see subsections 6.2.1 and 6.3.1), ‘Attempts have been made to identity word classes on the basis of semantic siiteria. Thus nouns have traditionally been defined as words denoting petsons, animals, plants, objects, etc. Verbs have been delined as words denoting actions, states’ and processes, adjectives as words referring to gualiies. Semantic criteria, however, are, on the whole, less reliable indicators of word class membership than morphological and syntactic ones For example, if we were to apply the above definitions 10 words ike handshake anid death, we would have to assign them to the class of verbs (Cather than to the lass of nouns), sive they may be said to refer to an setion anda state, respectively. Similarly, words like roundness and strength 2 Table |: Word class Tnlexonal endings “Types derivational endings Verbs vwalles Grd pers se- pres. | amplify ‘egatine tease) cody modernise veallng (ing participle) | diver ify popular ice ‘lk-ed (pact tense) Simplify tinal. walked (-ed participle) wey ares Nouns boys (paral) ‘complementation banality ‘boy's (pen. st) [cation dats ‘men’s (gen Pi) found-aion torah ‘lacstion Suffxaion rapids “levers darker rearness lipmesr ‘acne gem Company =a ook, ere caest(supelaiv) ‘arable chldish fruiess, fe ‘sable foolish Weress readable freensh though less erkable effi _toplest avert hard. (comparative) ‘fiermards clock nie hardest (superiauve) Deck-ward(s) — erabwise downwards) crosswise ‘cstmards)——lengihwise tpwerdi)__otbernise ‘ould have to be called adjectives (rather than nouns), since they denote ‘qualities, In view of the above we attach greater importance 10 morphological and syntactic criteria than to semantic ones. We consider syntactic criteria to lake precedence over morphological ones since the morphology of English ‘words does not alvays enable us to asign them 1 a particular class. Inthe first place there are numerous English words whose morphological shape does not provide any clue to their possible classification. Examples are words ike brie, fly, lock, tear and walk Secondly, there are sever! affixes Which cannot unambiguously be associsted with’a particular word class. ‘Thus the suffix iy does not necessarily mark a word as belonging to the ‘class of adverbs (cf adjectives like lively, lovely and seemly) nor does a suffix like-er characterize a word as a compared adjective (ef words ike cooler and drier, which are either adjectives or nouns). Many English words, if considered in isolation, cannot be classified as belonging to this or that word class. I is only when we consider their funetion in a particular context that we are able to say to which part of speech they belong. If a word is felt to belong primarily to class X, but is ‘wed in a function associated with members of class Y, we reler'to the mm22 English syntactic structures phenomenon in question as conversion. Thus words like sir and inevitable Primarily belong to the elass of nouns and adjectives, respectively. How. Ever. they may be said to be converted into a verb and a noun in contexts Tike: Don’t sir me, please We are prepared for the inevitable to happen In many cases words are not felt to belong primarily to one particular chiss X. but to more than one class at the same time, For instance, itis had to tell whether words like answer and desire are primarily verbs oF nouns. In such cases it is perhaps better to speak of multiple membership rather than ‘of conversion. Some more examples are given in Table 2.2, 2.2 Word classes It is possible to distinguish between major and minor word classes. The former are also called open classes; their membership is unrestricted and indefinitely large since they allow the addition of new members. Minor word classes are closed classes; their membership is restricted since they do not allow the creation of new members. Moreover, the number of items they comprise is, as a rule, so small that they can easily be listed. In English there are four major word classes: nouns. adjectives, adverbs and verbs The minor word classes are: prepositions. conjunctions, articles, numerals, Pronouns, quantifiers and interjections. We shall deal with each of these classes separately 24 Within the class of nouns we can distinguish members which are wentifiable as nouns on the basis of typical derivational suffixes. Moreover, most nouee are morphologically characterized by their ability 0 take typical inllexionel suffixes, Typical derivational suffixes of nouns are: ‘age: anchorage, coverage, postage vance: acceptance, appearance, utterance vation: affirmation, information, transformation soredom, freedom, kingdom ivorcee, employee, payee ngineer, mountaineer, profiteer difference, existence, preference ess, governess, murderess te 3 cigarette, maisonette, usherette hood ; childhood, knighthood, parenthood vim: idealism, modernism, organism “ir: Manist, royalist, specalat, -ment 3 amendment, commandment, shipment nest; bilerness, exactness, whitch Ship Kinski oN 4 see oa” -a\ Wt Table this honesty wave my doubt ibaa: iyigi 2 S z ef? bal24 English syntactic sevctues Most nouns can take two inflexional suffixes, one t mark number (the plural) and one to mark case (the genitive) Te pirat The plural morpheme (s1) is regularly realized in three ways: ‘sz after bases ending in voiceless sounds except sibilants, 2: books Fools, lips, hats, births i+ alter bases ending in voiced sounds except sibilants, eg: trees bars, laws, 2005, days, boys. ribs, beds, dogs. flames, pens, bottles ‘af: alter bases ending in a sibilant: Is! + horses, nurses, kisses ta) noises, sizes, noses MS) + brushes, dishes, clashes 3) + mirages hurches, torches, witches Id + pledges, bridges, languages ‘There are four exceptions to the plucalization rule formulated above 1. Change in the base + regular suffiv. eg (0/—+ 101 + lal: baths, mouths, paths Hi + Isl + fad: halves, knives, thieves ‘sl (al + hal: houses 2. Change in the base without a suffix (= mutation) foot "feet louse ~lice man men tooth ~teeth mouse - mice woman — women goose — geese 3. No change (= zero plural), eg: deer grouse species Chinese Portuguese (air)cralt sheep salmon series Japanese Swiss 4. em plural child ~ children (with mutation) ox oxen The speling ofthe regular plural of English nouns iss or -es. The spelling is found in: E : sete 1. words ending ins -2-ch, sh and x, sass, cesses, walle, matches, wished, boxes; 2 many words ending in consonant symbol * oo, eg hoes, potatoes, tomatoes (but ote: kilos phote, pianos. The speling «ess alo found in thorollowing two cases, where thespeling of the base is affected: Te hers te span Ore Thewod 25 [. in words ending in a consonant symbol + -y, where y changes into i, ee bodies, countries, flies; 2. in the following words, where the fof the base is changed into v calves, halves, Knives, lives, wives, leaves, sheaves, thieves, loaves, wolves, elves, selves, shelves. Foreign words in English form their plural in theee different ways, First there are those that take a regular native plural, eg dilemma dilemmas _ prospectus ~ prospectuses, encyclopedia — encyclopedias virus ~ viruses museum = —museums asylum = — asylums Some foreign words tke both a aaive and foreign pla formula formulas formulae cactus = cactuses = cacti syllabus — syllabuses — syllabi index ~ indexes = indices memorandum ~ memorandums - memoranda Finally there are foreign words that take a foreign plural only. eg analysis analyses desideratum ~ desiderata basis = bases erratum =~ errata diagnosis diagnoses stratum strata thesis = theses criterion ~ criteria alumnus ~ alumni phenomenon ~ phenomena stimulus ~ stimuli TMragentve ‘The genitive is one of the two cases of the English noun, the other being the ‘common (or unmarked) case In the singular the genitive morpheme {s3) is regularly realized in three ways: J: after bases ending in voiceless sounds except sibilants, eg: Dick — — Dick's car ship = the ship's crew dentist — the demtist’s drill wie — his wife's lover ‘hl: after bases ending in voiced sounds except sibilants, eg: Fred ~ Fred's salary play the play's tite brother ~ my brother's cottage firm ~ the firm's losses26 English sytacticsictces iz) + after bases ending in a sibilant, eg horse —a horse's tail i Keats ~ Keats's poetry George ~ George's children village — the village's population Church ~ the Church's teachings Proper nouns ending in /2! take either /i/ of il, the reguler form being /iz Dickens ~ Dickens's) ~ ‘dikinzi2"dtkinz Forbes = Forbes'(s) = "fa:batz"farbe ‘The genitive singular suffix is realized by (pin two cases 1. ina number of fixed expressions, eg for goodness’ sake for Jesus’ sake 2. with Greek names of more than one syllable. eg: Sophocles’ plays z Xerxes strategy In the plural the genitive morpheme is realized in two w2ss: ad with irregular plurals not ending in men ~ ‘men's clothes children ~ children’s Sooks women- women's lib Jp! im all other cases, eg: boys = 2 boys’ school students — the students’ union officers ~ the officers’ mess teachers ~ 2 teachers’ association ‘The spelling of the genitive suffix in both the singular andthe plucal is either “sor . The possibilities and the relations between spelling and promuncia- tion ate set out in Table 2.3, Table 23 Genve TSpeting [Pronunciation Eames i ‘Wind ship si brer', Georges Siniar sor Tia” | Deetnran Oo ‘at emer Pha . & nen women's hen Ht fo bows sce Classes etnouns Nouns can be subdivided into: 1, common nouns; these are further subdivided into count nouns and mass ‘nouns; 2. proper nouns. . « Ose’ the word 7 a7 {As Table 2.4 shows, this classification cam be base on a numberof syntactic criteria, Plural “Numerats]many. few | much, tinte [ Def articte [Indef. article ert Proper nouns do not occur in the plural and cannot be preceded dy ‘numerals and by quantifiers such as many, few, several, much and lite. Nor can they be preceded by the definite and indefinite articles. The subelassi: fication of common nouns into count nouns and mass nouns is based on the fact that count nouns are positive with respect to five of the criteria used, whereas mass nouns are positive with respect to only to criteria: they collocate with the quantifiers much and litle as well as with the definize article, Consider: Criteria Examples Plural count : chair ~chairs, book ~ books mass! music — "musics, despair ~ “despairs proper ; Erie — *Erics,' France ~ “Frances Numerals count: 160 chairs, two books mass: tuso musics, *two despairs proper : “two Eries, *two Frances Many/fewlseveral count. : many chairs, many books mass: ‘many musies, *many despairs proper : *many Eries, *many Frances Machilile count: much chair, “much book mass uch despair proper *much France count: the chair, the book mast! the musie, the despair proper : *the Eric, *the France Indefinite article count :a chair, a book mass: ta music, *a despaic proper : tan Eric, *a France |, Proper nours normally have unique reference, that is they refer to one particular person, country, town, etc. This semantic property explains why they occur inthe singular only and cannot be preceded by articles, numerals, and quantifiers. Occasionally, however, proper nouns lose theit unique reference, in which case they ave treated 3s count nouns, so that they ean be Pluralized and be preceded by numerals, articles and by quantifiers like many, few and several:28 English sytacte suuctues I know twolseveral Erics ‘The France | used to know does not exist any more Does your brother think he is a Rembrandt? Just as proper nouns can be treated as count nouns, so can mass nouns: Mass Count {Lam not fond of cheese Joha likes French cheeses only Coffee is expensive Two coffees, please We drink little wine Let's buy a good wine next year She has red hair ‘There is a hair in your soup Many psychologists are John speaks several languages interested in language Don’t make so much noise There's egg on your chin ‘That grammar is out of pi ‘They heard strange noises last night Do vou like eggs? Hubert collects Japanese prints 2.2.2 Adjectives Many members of the class of adjectives are identifiable on the basi \ypical derivational suffixes. Many adjectives are also characterized by the fact that they inflect for the comparative and the superlative. I derivational suffixes of adjectives are: Some ty} cable (ible) — : preferable, reasonable. visible -ful beautiful, harmful, useful “ic (ical): economic(al), historic(al), allergic. nonsensical ish Danish, greenish, tallish| vive + abortive, massive, restive sless endless, speechless, thoughtless ike # ladylike , mantike, warlike Many adjectives take inflexional suffixes to form the comparative (-er) and the superlative degrees (-est). Comparison by inflexion is characteristic of monosyllabic adjectives: bright ~ brighter — brightest tall) taller — tallest 7 ‘These suffixes are also found with many disyllabic adjectives, for example ‘those that are stressed on the second ssllable and those ending in er, -Ie, ‘ow and -y: mature ~matucer ~ maturest lite — politer ~ politest sincere ~sincerer ~ sincerest clever —cleverer — cleverest simple simpler ~ simplest artow ~ nartower ~ narrowest “ happy happier — happiest Ore eee A number of adjectives have irregular degrees of com; are the following: ison. Among the bad - worse = worst far {farther — farthest further ~ Yfurthest good better ~ best Adjectives that do not inflect for comparison ate modified by more and expensive ~ more expensive ~ most expensive intelligent ~ more.intelligent ~ most intelligent mysterious ~ more mysterious ~ most mysterious From a syntactic point of view we can distinguish between the attributive and the predicative use of adjectives. Most adjectives can be used attribu. lively as well as predicatively. Attributive adjectives are constituents of the ‘noun phrase and precede the noun phrase head (see subsection 6.1.2) Predicative adjectives function in the structure of the sentence as either subject attribute (see subsection 7.3.2.4) or object attribute (see subsection 73.2.5). Examples: Atrowtive green door that foolish idea ‘many witty remarks John's beautiful wife Attributive adjectives normally precede the noun phrase head. In some ‘eases, however, they follow it (see subsection 6.1.3): heir apparent the persons responsible somebody important ‘members willing to serve on the committee students interested in Chomsky’s theory of language Predcatve subject atribue The door is green ‘Your plan seems foolish My tea is hot object attribure We painted the door green Teonsider your plan foolish | prefer my tea hot ‘Apart fiom the majority of adjectives which can be used both atiributively and predicatively, there are adjectives.that can only be used in one of these ways. Examples:20 English syntactic structures Aston oy a mere gi the later solution : he upper storey the principal reason fn utter fo! sheer nonsense alive wire ask srt his sole argument a metal tube the main cause his god watch a former headmaster a previous occasion the inner court the outer suburbs Pracsatve only Most adjectives beginning wi a are used predicatively only. Examples: asleep awake alive afraid alike ashamed ‘alone aware ‘The class of predicative adjectives also includes the following: oath (to) dependent (on) tantamount (to) intent (on) ‘ush (with) prepared (to) subject (to) Note that some adjectives can be used both attributively and predicatively in one meaning. but are restricted to attributive use in another meaning: Aibutive and precicalive: an old book = that book is old fa scue story = that story is true a perfect solution ~ that solution is perfect real gold = that gold is real the right approach — that approach is right ‘Ativan: ‘An old friend ~ "that friend is old atrue hero ~ “that hero is true A perfect foo! - “that fool is perfect ‘real coward — ‘that coward is‘real the right man — *that man is right eld % In other cases there is a semantic difference between the attributive and predicative use. Compare: the present King ~ the King is present his late wife his wife is late 22.3 Adverts Many adverbs can be identified on the basis of typical derivational suffixes. Some adverbs inflect for comparison ‘Typical derivational suffixes for adverbs are: ly fully, intelligently. wisely “ward(s) + afterwards, homewards, upward(s) vise: clockwise, edgewise, lengthwise Although - is the most productive of these suffixes, it should be borne in mind that not all words ending in -y are adverbs. For instance, words like Beastly, friendly and lonely belong to the class of adjectives. Only a small number of adverbs inflect for comparison, The majority of these are identical in form with adjectives. Examples: ‘early ~ earlier ~ earliest soon - sooner ~ soonest fast — faster ~ fastest well ~better ~ best hhard — harder ~ hardest badly = worse ~ worst quick - quicker ~ quickest Syniactically speaking we can distinguish two major functions of adxerbs ‘They are either constituents of the sentence, in which case they function 2s adverbial (see section 7.4) or they modify the head in adjective and adverb phrases (see subsections 6.2.1 and 6.3.1), ‘When functioning as sentence constituents adverbs express such meanings as time, place, manner and degree. Examples: ‘The plane arrived yesterday Peter is waiting outside ‘The soldiers were punished cruelly He absolutely refused to come ‘They can also express the altitude of the speaker towards what he is saying. Honestly, I don't have any money left Unfortunately, they don’t seem 10 undérstand Finally, adverbs also have a linking function between one sentence and another: John was ill, Nevertheless he turned up for the meeting She is very kind-hearted. However, she is not 2 foo! ‘The Joneses were very disappointed."So they left early22 English syntactestctres ‘Adverbs can also be constituents of phrases. In this function they n the head of an adjective or adverb phrase _ modifier of adverb phrare head wily modifier of adjective phrase head very interesting hardly ever t exceptionally brave faiely well i truly astonishing rather quickly 5 really good st optimistically linguistically correct 22.4 Verbs v ‘There are three derivational suffixes that are typical of the class cf verbs cen: broaden, darken, lengthen \wacoes, \y “ify slosify, nullify, si sizelise : eéonomide> Most English verbs can add four 1. (ss): Sed perton singular present tense indicative Zi bess 2. (edi) : past tense (eda) sed partite 3 ing) tng pape ‘The various verbal forms and their uses are exemplified in Table 2.5 (on the terms imperative, subjunctive and indicative see section 3.5) Table 25 Form Use Examples 1 infnnive 1. He must five in Londba He wsed to live i London 2 imperative 2, Live now pay later BASE 5 presen tense indeative 3, Uyoulae hey vein Londos Fescept 3rd pers. ing) 4 preset tense sbjane 4, Long tive the Queen! He fives in London BASE + (s) Sed perso singular present tense indiatve He lived ia London He has lived in London BASE + (ech), past tense BASE + (ei) |-e¢patple BASE + (ing! | ing participle He i living in London ‘si: after bases ending in voiceless sounds except sibilans;eg walks, coughs, stops, prints ‘a; alter bases ending in voiced sounds except sibitants, eg t frees, mars, chews, purrs, snores, destroys, dries. pays, i lows, rubs, begs, climbs, grins, seitles, breathes ‘The present ens morphme (1) i regal realized inves WAY, 6 46 J WSe8s 5 L The word gigs ial ter bases ending in a sibilant: mixes, promises, tosses ul dy : alleges. budges, lodges “The past tense morpheme {ed,) and the -ed participle morpheme {edz} of in three way IU + alter bases ending in voiceless sounds except /V, €8: kissed, tripped, walked 1a) + alter bases ending in voiced sounds except /d!, eg: loathed. : parted, rotted, loaded, scolded “The -ing participle morpheme (ing) is always realized as /n/: playing, nodding. kissing ‘The regular spelling of the present tense suffix (s3} is -s or -es. The later spelling is found is 1. verbs ending ins. -2, -ch, -sh and hisses, buzzes, catches, fishes. taxes 2, verbs ending in a consonant symbol + -0, eg: echoes, goes, veloes. Note the pronunciation of does daz! 3. verbs ending in a consonant symbol + -y (y changes into i), eg cries, fancies, tries + CB “The regular spelling ofthe past tense and -ed participle sulfixes (ed) and {ed} i -ed of d, The later spelling is found when the verb ends in mute cg: baked, loved, moved. < In four cases the speling of the base is affected before the ending ec 1. in verbs ending in a consonant symbol + -y (where y changes into). e5 denied, fancied, pitied, tried; 2. in verbs ending in a consonant sjmbol preceded by a single vowel symbol final consonant symbol is doubled ifthe verb is monosyllabic or encs ina stressed syllable. eg: hugged, nodded, rubbed, stopped. admitted. occurred, preferred regretted. \. Note the following exceptions to this rule: humbugged, handicapped. Kidnapped, worshipped: 3. in verbs ending inl. preceded by a single vowel symbol, {is doubled cancelled, quarrelled, ¢ebelled, signalled, travelled; 4 final -c is changed into Sek; bivouacked, pinicked, trafficked. In three verbs final -y is changed into i before the ending -< lay Inid, pay pa, say ~ sad sed!34 English syntactic structures int tg re alt at nr eg he ~ doubling of final consonant ~ nodding, stopping, adm regretting, worshipping ancelling, quarreling travelling = pienicking, tealficking Im adit. the pling ofthe base is aeted inthe owing eases 1. ie “eis dropped ep changing. having. taking Exceptions: age ~ ageing singe singeing je changes ito. eg sing, Wing, tying, ying English has well over 200 regular verbs. An i lar verbs. An irrégular verb forms its past tense or-ed participle (or both) in other ways than those described above for egular verbs. There ate four posite, as ilustrated in Table 26 = doubling of final «1 ~es ck dye ~ dyeing, hoe ~ hoeing, Be [owes (ea) | tae Oe) aj os ‘ | 32 sere) Cora eee sy re Se = |e Sen Sa Base = (ed,) came A come asses vets in the class of verbs two subclasses can be distinguished ry I verbs. The former constitute a closed class. the latter an wit verbs and Ie open class. ‘There are four major differences between lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs 1. Lexical verbs require periphrastic do in negative sentenc Auniliaries can co-oecur with not and can have special contracted negative forms, Compare: Frank likes hamburgers = *Frank likes not hamburgers Frank does not like hamburgers He can come tomorrow = He cannot (can't) come tomorrow 2. Lexical verbs require peripifatic™ do in yes'no questions. in WH. Gquestions where the VH-item isnot the subject and in sentences opening ith negative adverbial. Auilares con come before the subject Compare: Mary plays the piano = *Plays Mary the piano? Does Mary play the piano? Mary can play the piano -_Can Mary play the piano? Frank leaves tomorrow = *When leaves Frank? When does Frank leave? Frank is leaving tomorrow = When is Frank leaving? ‘A doctor seldom visits all his ~ Seldom 2 doctor vs all his vient aliens 7 seldom does a doctor visit all his patients {A doctor can seldom vst all ~ Seldom ean a doctor sisi al his patients his patents 3. Lexical verbs cannot be used in ‘code’. Compare. ‘Should I see a doctor? Yes, you should see 2 doctor Yes, you should You can do it and I ean dot You ean do it and so can 1 Do your students love linguistics? *Yes, they love linguisties Yes, they do John writes and Peter writes “John writes and so writes Peter John writes and so does Peter “The frst two examples show that, instead of repeating the auxiliary verb together with the lexical verb (and its complement), it is possible to repeat the auxiliary verb only. The auxiliary in such sentences is said to be used in ‘code’, the key to the code being provided by the preceding context. ‘The last two examples sfiow that lexical verbs (and their complement, if any) must be ‘picked up’ by a form of do.aoe 36 English sytace structures 4. Lexical verbs cannot be used Je used emphatically to express require emphatic do. Auxiliaries, on the othe: ate el isis Sato on the other hand, san be used Your son didnot see her ~*Yes, he SAW her Yes, he DID see her Yes, he HAS seen her ‘A number of verbs (ll of which are followed by 10-infnitives) suchas end te open i, al, certo, sapear tr ott, bet het aad 6 semouniines) intermediate between aun Serb ed ee aes We shall look upon them as lexical verbs. Seren Your son has not seen her— Auiany vores ‘Asa rule an auiliary verb cannot stand lexical vt except in eases where te lene ed (one eek Sentence constituents) is understood. Seer Can Harry come? Yes, he can (1 2 Yes, he can (come) Will Mary meet us at the station? ‘Yes, she will (meet us at the station) ‘Airy vets for “helping verbs") fall into two classes: modal auxiliaries modal austere and pinay sstanee Tea rene between invadably occur as the fist element of the vero phase The mens guar have and be have fnte 85 well a nonfnte forms (ee, 33) 'y occur in initial as well as in medial position in the verb a Primary auxiliary do always occurs initially. is invariably fi eee he ‘fot generally co-occur with other auxiliaries, “Compare: oe Sinitelinitial: i tele lea eb my have written may be witn way be writen ie been writing ie being wren write Moca autores ‘The class of modal ausit Iria thal an aay, elites comprises the following items: can, may aglish modal auxiliaries are mutually exch Consider: usive 11 shall can come _ He will mustdo ie 08) ‘must can be done “He will not may go out | Coe" ewe 757 Dare, need, ought (10) and used (to) ace marginal urilaries because of the following reasons: 1. dare and need can be used both as auxiliaries bers of this class of nd as lexical verbs: LY: He dares to ask me that! LV_: He needs to be careful ‘Aux; He daren’t ask me that ‘Aux : He needn't be careful LViAux : He doesn't dare (to) ask LV: He doesn’t need to be ‘me that careful ‘Aux + Dare he ask me that? ‘Aus : Need he be careful? LV’aux : Does he dare (10) ask me LV. : Does he need to be that? careful? £2, Unlike the other auxiliaries ought and used are followed by at: infinitive. In addition used may co-occur with do in negative and interrogative sentences: He usedn’t to drive a car Used he (o drive a car? He didn’t use(d) to drive a car Did he use(d) to drive a car? Primary suxiianes English has three primary auxiliaries: do, have and be Do differs from have and be in that it usually co-occurs with lexical verbs ‘only. This means that ver’ phrases with do contain only two verb forms, since verb phrases cannot have more than one lexical verb: Do come, John! Do you believe him? ‘You don't believe him Have and be co-occur not only with lexical verbs but also with modal auailiaries; they always follow the latter: He may have escaped You will be punished You should be preparing your lecture Have and be also co-occur with each other; have always precedes be: He has been sent abroad ‘The children have been messing about in the library “The prisoners have been being interrogated by the police Do is used as an auxiliary of periphrasis and of emphasis. In the former function it occurs in negative sentences with not, in interrogative sentences (with the exception of WH- questions opening with the subject) and in declarative sentences opening with a negative adverbial. Examples: He sloes not realize what he is doing id ot see John last night38 English synsctie stucures interrogative Do you think you can come? Who did he see? (ef Who saw him?) Why doesn’t he leave tonight? Didn't you get up in time? negative/interrogative: negative adverbial: Only then did he realize his position Rarely did they leave the house Emphatic. do can be used in dsstiative sentences, in WH- questions ‘opening withthe subject and in imperative sentences, Examples: declarative: He DOES know what he is talkin DID tock the door, you know But who DOES understand him? What then DID cause the explosion? DO try and be careful! DO be sensible! bout WH. questions opening with the subject: imperative: Note that emphatic forms of periphrastic do also occur in semtences like the following in which do is required as an auxiliary anyway: negative; ; But he DOESN'T know the answer! interrogati But DOES he know the answer? But who DOESN'T know the answer? But DOESN'T he know the answer? negativedinterrogative: Periphastic and emphatic do do not co-occur with be except in negative and emphatic imperatives, Cf; : 7 tHe doesn’t be careful "He does be careful Don't be a fool! Don’t be tempted! Don't be saying things like that! Do be careful! Periphrastic do is optional in negative and interrogative sentences containe ing the verb have meaning “possess e: He hasn't any money - He doesn't have any money Has she any children?~ Does she have any children? [The use of periphrastic dois as a rule preferred in the past tense. Sentences like He didn't have any money and Did he have any children? are ure gommon than He hadn't any money’and Had he any children? ‘The various uses and forms of the auxilisry do are listed in Table 2.7, | fee Crxe The word 39 Oe Peoana | arroese relay einte sea) imperative Apart from its use as an auxiliary there are 1wo other uses of do (in both uses do has the full range of forms) 1. Lexical verb. Examples He is doing a good job Does Jennifer Jo the household? Pro-verb substituting forthe verb phrase (often iosether with other ¥ Semone of tenor es foeiondorony eo carol 32 et Subsection 2.29 8) thar andi. Examples {Who knows the ansver? John does Peter knows the answer So does John So he does Who broke that sase? I think Mary dd that Peter promised vo send me his new hosel next werk but T doubt ithe wil tot hve ade ; Fave and be function as auxiaies of aspect. Have is auxiiaey perfective aspect when fllowed bythe ed participle of another ver. Be ovary ofthe progresie aspect shen 1 combines wath the “ng parti af another verb Example He has writen anew novel He may have writen # new novel He is writing» new novel He may be witng 3 new novel ‘The following examples illustrate co-occurrence of have and be a asec wal auxiliaries: He has ben writing 2 new novel He may have been writing a new novel Beis aso used as aviary of the patve vole when followed by the -ed participle of atranive (lesa) verb: The theatre was bal in 1970 The theatre may be built next year éc auxiliary of the The following examples ilstrate co-docurteness of be a8 ain oft withthe aspectial auxiliaries have and be:19 English syntacte stuctures The theatre has already been built ‘The theatre is being built ‘The theatre has been being built for three years now . Both aspectual and passive be exhibit all finite and non-finite forms, So does aspectual have with the exception of the -ed participle part from their use as auxiliaries have and be also occur 4s lexical verbs Examples Did you have a good time? He has two children John's wife is a good cook ‘The meeting is at six The above classification of auxiliary verbs is summarized in Table 2.3 Table 2.8 CAN, MAY. MUST, SHALL. WiLL DARE, NEED. OUGHT (TO), USED (10) s0slay of periph Autiares uriliary ofthe pevesive aspect i rime | | aualiany of the progressive aspect pee prog pe # { ausitary ofthe passive voice Leva! verbs Lexical verbs constitute the principal part of the verb phrase. They can be accompanied by auxiliaries, but they can also occur in verb phrases that do ‘ot contain any other verbal forms. CE: John may move next week John may be moving next week John moved last week There are two ways of classifying lexical verbs, The first is based on complementation, the second involves the distinction between one-word and multi-word verbs. ee Complement verbs and ntransive verbs ‘A classification based on complementation depends on whether oF not the lexical verb in a sentence can occur on its own (ie without a complement) or § obligatorily followed by words that complement its meaning, Ths two ‘major classes that can be set up in this way are those of verbs that do not Goce. Towoa 4 require a complement (Intransitive verbs) and verbs that Jo (complement verbs). The following examples contain intransitive verbs Dogs batk The leaves are falling ‘The baby is sleeping My head aches ‘The brooch had disappeared The judge yawned ‘The class of complement verbs consists of two subclasses: transitive complement verbs and non-transitive complement verbs. Some transitive complement verbs require only a direct object (DO: see subsection 7.3.2.1), Others are. in addition, accompanied by another complement, ie by an indirect object (10; see subsection 7.3.2.2). a benefactive object (BO; see subsection 7.3.2.3), am object attribute (Oa: see subsection 7.3.2.5) or 1 predicator complement (PC; see subsection 7.3.2.6). The four classes of transitive verbs thus distinguished are: 1, monotransitive verbs (DO only): ‘The farmer kicked the horse 2. ditransitive verbs (IO + DO/BO + DO): He gave her a book He called her a taxi 3. complex transitive verbs (DO + OA): They find him a bore 4. transitive PC verbs (DO + PC): ‘That play reminds me of Shakespeare Non-transitive complement verbs comprise two sub-classes: copulas (or linking verbs), ie verbs that are followed by a subject attribute (SA; see subsection 7.3.2.4) and verbs that are followed by a predicator complement without an accompanying direct object (see subsection 7 3.2.6, exs. 190- 19 1. copulas (SA): John is a teacher Mary fell il 2. non-transitive PC verbs (PC): He resembles his father ‘This book belongs to Jane ‘The above classification of lexical verbs is summatized io Table 2.9. Table 29 (00 oni) Transitive Monotransive verbs complement | itranive verbs. (10 + DOIBO + DO) | vero [Complex transitive verbs (00 + OA) Transitive PC verbs (D0 + PC) ‘ransiive | Copalas Ga [complement verbs | Non-yanstive PC verbs _ (PC only) Tetanstve verb no complement42 English syntacte stuctues (One.word verbs and mult: mord verbs Onesard verbs consist of sige | least two. Muliword vert fain four substance wart verbs Of 1 phrasal verte 2 Repti Bee ae ss see 4 Verb + Noun + Preposition idioms Pamper cress become fall lack read convince give make swim Meitoword vero Ihrasal verbs: bring about catch on make up stand out Verb + Noun + catch sight of give ' ive way 10 lay csim to Preposton idioms: get hold cf Feep rack of late touch with Set fire to take leave of Phrasal verbs are combinations of a verb and ei 2 verb anda member ofa closed set of adverbs: about, across, along, around, aside, awa) forth set: abou ros elon, rund aie aay ack, by, dv, ot Phrasal verbs are either complement verbs (a) or intransiive verbs ( (a) His father drew up a new will Did you make up this story? (b) John’s new idea did not catch on We set out at dawn reposiiona verbs ae combinations of rep mbinations ofa verb and a preposition. They are esualy monotransive complement verbs, in ther wores the content that flows the fancions a dec obese How do you account for this phenomenon? Hor eto san ls phsarezet Why did nt you tsten to his tye? We'sre lokiag for an alternate alton Oa ¢ The word 2a ad prepositional verbs: 1¢ two major differences between phrasal sessed. In prepositional verbs ion being unstressed. Compare: sere drut the adver in phrasal verbs i 1 Asa son he ver the prepost sry hae aed pal applizats for an itesiew Taster not to el on fim ; Fei me yo tok ip the word in a to Just Wok a hin! In transitive phrasal verbs the adverb a para dec bject constituent. Compare a you make up this story? ~ Did you make ths O48 a Yo8 ake eis phenomenon? = “How Jo saeco a“ . this phenomenon for nary? can generally oceur both before Ia. " Note that the adverb in a phrasal verb must follow the direct object sven i his pronoun id you give it up? ~ “Did you give wp it? sat prepositional verbs are combinations of «er, an aver ene? mari of them ate nonansve PC verbs, Examples Tram afraid 1 do nt fel up to the job Wen not get on with out neighbous Do you go i for squash? ‘Phe pote caught up witht In Verb + Noun + Prep In Yerh tthe subject of a pase sentence, Consider We caught sight ofthe plane We caught sudden sgh of the plane They kept rack of all his movements Trades Kee of all is movernets ons we look upon sich iioms as indi. ore eee Gee subsection 63-1) in the struct Sa scr ae alvays monotranstse te the cach ight of the speeding car near Marble Arch mms the noun cannot be modified nor can le units having the For these reas having the function of sentence, These muti-wor Other Verb + Noun + Prepostion sequences resem {ype ilustrated above. Some examples ate make allowance for __put pressure on make fun of {ake advantage of make use of take care of pay attention to take notice of “These are similar to the catch sight of tyPe thatthe constituent tha follows ther can sentence: i over the edge of the cliff He was last caught sight of disappearing over th His iliness should have been made allowance for in that they are monotransitive, become the subject of passive44 Engl syste structures ‘They difer, however, from the cach sgh of type in two respects: (a) the noun in the sequence can De modified and (8) he noun can function a the subject of a paive sentences (3) Fay bas not taken proper care of bis car We have pa considerable stention to your crim (b) Great presure has been put on the Government to redice taxation Hardly any notice was taken of what they were saying. ms constitute a closed word class, and are formally invariable, We distinguish simple (one-word) and complex (multi-word) prepositions. Examples: Simple Complex at in according to in front of before of as 10 in spite of between on because of in terms of by since by means of ‘on account of| despite until by virtue of on behalf of during up in accordance with out of from” with in addition to with regard to 2.2.6 Conjunctons Like prepositions, conjunctions constitute a closed set of words which do not vary in form. On formal grounds conjunctions can be divided into two classes: simple and complex. Examples: ne Simple Complex and if as if [ in case Because since 2s long as instar before that 38 soon a8 toner bat ile 3s though ro that On functional grounds we can distinguish between coordinating conjunc tions (coordinator) and subordinating conjunctions (subordinates), Cove Ginators uneionaslinkers between seatenees, lausoe and phrases Engen has fous coordinates: and, Bur, or and for. The coordinalor but anno ink noun phrases, wile or cannot link clases and phases, Examples and : Tom is staying in England and we are going to France We can only go if Mary looks after the children and Peter takes care of the dogs John and his colleagues have decided to resign but : Susan is nice, but she is rather stubborn We gather that he is likeable but that he is also boring. ‘Veronica isa rather plain but very intelligent girl O2£c The word 45 cor: {John still married or has his wife divorced him? Was he late because. he had overslept or because he had missed his train? Do you take your tea with lemon or with milk? for: Alex cannot come to the wedding, for his father died last night jon (see subsection 4.3.1) often inv id (1 saw) Catherine interesting but (the book is) expensive id or (is she) single? This is impossible after for. Compare: Harry cannot come for he is ill “Harry cannot come for is ill Sentences like the above can be described as cases of phrasal oF of sentential coordination, depending on whether or aot we want 10 fecount syntactically forthe understood elements. The following sentences, however, can only be regarded as containing instances of phrasal coordination: understood” elements: ‘This beautiful car and example of British craftsmanship is yours at the price of £16,000 John’s friend and lifelong companion died in France last week ‘The poet and painter Hugh Windmill is now having an exhibition at the Tate Gallery Coordinators also sometimes link words. Compare: Word coordination: ‘The man was waving a black and white flag The jockey wore a red and white cap “The Stars and Stripes was flying {rom a flagpole in the garden of the ‘White House Phrasal coordination: ‘The students were waving black flags and white ones ‘The jockey wore a red cap and a white shirt How many stars and stripes are there on the American flag? Neither and nor are marginal coordinators, since they do not only occur by themselves but can be preceded by and or but: Dick did not apply for his job, (and) nor did Tom Jaguars are not particularly cheap, (but) neither are Bentleys And, but, nor and or also function, as the second members of so-called correlative pairs: both. . . and, nor only... . but (also), neither. . nor and either... or.46 English syntactic structures Examples: Both Wordsworth snd Coleridge lived in the Lake District He not only invited her to dinner but also took her to a nightclub am neither enthusiastic nor disappointed ‘We shall either leave early or stay until the end Subordinators introduce subclauses, that is clauses functioning, as consti tuents of sentences or phrases. The subordinators in the following examples introduce clauses that function as sentence constituents ‘That she is in love is obvious do not know whether he is in “Do you mind if | smoke? Teannot come since my mother is ill Let us wait in case he turns up Why do not you talk to him as | did? ‘Though the situation is alarming, he will not commit suicide ‘ors also introduce clauses that function as constituents of noun idjective phrases and adverb phrases: the day before he died the hope that he would recover easier than we expected as unfriendly as he used to be more bravely than he had ever behaved before as effectively as we had hoped 2.2.7 Articles English has two types of article, which function exclusively as constituents of the noun phrase. The definite article is spelled the, the indefinite article is spelled a (before consonants) or an (before vowels). The pronunciation depends on the inital sound ofthe following word or on whether the article is stressed or unstressed (see Table 2.10). roe Proaunciaion Anicle | Speling — | Unsresed a ie Thal (belore consonant) Det t 1u (betore vowel) albetoreconsonans) |, ta Indefinite 39 belore vowels) ood 05 The word 47 Examples Mal: the man, the use 1Ov/_: the error, the hour 16i/_: John is the man for the job Jai a book. a unit fon) :an uncle, an honour Tel: U said ‘a man’. not ‘the man Fa : He understood ‘an option", not ‘ie option Note that the indefinize article is @ of an before some words spelled with initial h, depending on whether the h is pronounced or not: at) tel. aft) historical event. 2.2.8 Numerals We distinguish two sets of numerals: cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers. Cardinal numbers 0 nought, 2er0 20 twenty 1 one 21 twenty-one 2 two 22 wenty-iwo 3three thirteen 23 twenty-three 30 thirey 4 four fourteen 24 twenty-four 40 forty 5 five fifteen 25 twenty-five 30 fifty 6 six 15 sixteen 26 twenty-six 60 sisty 7 seven I seventeen 27 twenty-seven. 70 seventy 8 eight IS eighteen 28 twenty-eight 80 eighty 9 nine 19 nineteen 29 twenty-nine 90 ninety 10 ten UL eleven 12 twelve 100 one hundred, a hundred 101 one hundred and one, ete 200 1,000 1,001 1,100 one thousand and one hundred, eleven hun 2,000 two thousand, ete 10,000 ten thousand, ete 100,000 one hundred thousand, a hundred thousand, ete 1,000,000 one million, a million, etc Note that hundred, thousand and million may be preceded not only by one but also by a. They can also be pluralized, as in hundreds of thousands of victims millions of locusts48 English syntactic stuctures Ordinal numbers Ist first 13th thirteenth, ete . 2nd second 20th twentieth 3rd third 2st twenty-first th fourth twenty-second Sth fifth twenty-third, ete Gh sixth thirtieth, ete Tih seventh one) hundredth, ete Sih eighth, (one) hundred and first, ete Sth ninth (one) thousandth 10th tenth LO001st (one) thousand and first, ete Ih eleventh 100,000th (one) hundred thousarch. etc 12th twelfth 1,000,000ch (one) millionth. ete Both cardinal and ordinal numbers function in the structure of the noun Phrase or as constituents of the sentence Forty is an interesting age There were forty guests at Jim’s party Forty of the passengers were killed Did your horse come first? ‘The first concert starts at eight He was the first to arrive Cardinal numbers can be modified by adverbs such as abcut, almost, ‘approximately, nearly, over, ete: ‘There were about 200 students Mr McPherson is over 70 years of age 22.9 Pronouns Pronouns are usually treated as forming one word class with several subclasses. We shal follow this classification. although both syntactically, morphologically and semantically it is hard to find properties that all Pronouns share. We distinguish the following subclasses of pronouns, all of which are closed classes: Personal pronouns Relative pronouns -self pronouns Interrogative pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Reciprocal pronouns Possessive pronouns So and one 2231 Personal pronouns As Table 21 shows, the personal pronouns are marked for person (ist Berson, 2nd person and 3td person) and ao (with he excsplion ato for case (subjective case and objective ese) and nurnioe Wien sg Plural). The third person singular personal pronouns are aoe eee Fender (masculine, feminine and neat) Ose The word 49 PreeeeCree Numer fie ia singular pal | subjective 7 we ae objective me oa subjective vou 1nd perso aa : subjective feminine he they fee mmwcine chon | hs objective tcriane cle | sonal pronouns may ve loked upon as noun phrases ofthe simplest ponkiesrature, which, a ul, alow sete prenodiaton ror Poumon They ocr in th suet case when fnconng a the jew atasemence, nthe objet abel oer neo, Both aes Se found when the pronoun fancions as subject abut (sce subsection 15.24) the subjective case being more formal. Examples Lam your new secretary She gave them to me Itis Ume : fs Would you mind shutting that window? Who, me? i heiher and it show third person singular personal pronouns he/him, sheiker and Tester dincons Hea hm af aed to feet rune with ale felerens he and her to refer to nouns with female referents andi 19 reet to inanimate nouns. Note that names of countries and ships can be referr to by both shelher and it. 2282 setgrnouns umber, bat ot for ese. In The sepronouns are marked for person and number, cca In "ion ed person sing se groncuns re markedor gene se {able 212). The self pronoun cortesponding (othe pronoun one ones ain Cone should never compromise oneself inthis way Self-pronouns can be used rellesvely, in apposition, in coordinated phases | and after the words as, but, except and like. When reflexive they are either ‘emphatic or non-emphiatic.50 Engleh syntactic structures Reflexive sel/pronouns replace coreterental noun phases and usual function as constituents of the sentence: I watched myself nthe miror That man isnot himset Ae you going to give yourself a trea? Reflexive self-pronouns also occur in prepositional phrases: John is very proud of himself Why don't you speak for yoursell? ‘They are obviously very pleased with themselves Note that after prepositions denoting place the objective case of the personal pronouns is used instead of the corresponding self-pronouns He had a pile of books in front of him Meg looked behind her to see where her dog was T wrapped the blanket around me When the preposition is used in a nomliteral sense, however. the self: Pronoun is sometimes obligatory, as in ‘The man was beside himself with anger Self-pronouns are used in apposition to nouns and pronouns: Did you have lunch with the President himsell? The chairman himself abstained from voting She herself is not to be blamed Note the mobility of the self-pronoun when itis part of the subject of the sentence: He himself was not there He was not there himself The use of self:pronouns in coordinated phrases js illustrated by the examples below, where they occur in free vatiation with personal pronouns: John and myself (John and 1) were the only visitors For her brother and herself (for her brather and her) this must have been a terrifying experience snd penon ! irl yarn : | ieee aioe | aoe ey og The word 51 Theinvitation was adresed tthe Joneses and ourselves (the Joneses ‘od set, sefpronouns occu in (ee variation wth personal pronouns fer eebids a un excepe an Tike he must be about the same age 28 yours (904) Stone out myself (ut me) wes wored Meio excep ourselves (exept) seme tobe ging er ke yourselt (ike yo) the are sot ook beh ere are fur demonstrative pronouns in Meee ane uray Thsoesereterto whats er atl ie chelogealy), ihaihese to. what i remoe. Demonstaie seam pase Examples Is this book yours? This is John’s book Lam seeing Dorothy this afternoon When | came out of Harrods I saw this lovely git ‘These are my friends ‘These photographs are the best Was that what you had expected? What do you think of that” don’t like that man ‘Those were the days Were those Mary’s children? We have all heard those stories before Both that and those can be followed by relative clauses, The relative pronoun after that is which (this usage is fairly rare, what being more usual than that which), The relative pronoun after shose’is either whic (nom personal reference) or who (personal reference). Examples: ‘That which used to be old-fashioned is now all he rage (What used to be old-fashioned . . -) Did you read those which came in this morning? John taught those who were only beginners 21294 possessive pronouns Within the elas of possessive pronouns we can distinguish the categories person (st person, 2nd person and 3rd person), number (except fr the 2rd Peon) an pede (te Sefton sg oly), Thee ae two Subclass of possessive pronouns: these which function dependenty, that as dererminers in the structure of the naun phrase (see section 3.2) and ot’52 English symtacte stuctures those which function ind ction independently. that is a heads of aoun various forms are listed Table 2 is Coe rae The ee Tables Sets ir | CE {apse a Tae hd person a your 7 masculine a perion | feminine, er she # neuter hs TS person nine Ingependent veviavee! sours masculine is Jed person 4 Feminine hers Brame: Is this your present? What about mine? Some friends of ours live in France Their house is up for sale Are you sure this bag is hers? 2285 Relative pronouns Te relative pronouns ate wh ive pronouns ate who, whose, whom, which sed to introduce relative clauses, that is it normally (angie te Fesmoifers inthe structure ofthe noun hee Ge yee SS a ieee pies ‘may have a noun phrase as well as a sentence = isis case we havea sete tie pronoun Wosgcat only be used asa determiner, which can beused pi cee a ‘pendently, who, whom’ and that are used As Table 2.14 shows, ‘elerence of the anteceds the pronoun occurs, the choice of, ela .telatve pronoun depends of the lem as wells athe typea clave clase ina 6 od met LH Examples Restncive lave causes Personal reference: The man who caused the accident escaped People who live in glasshouses should not throw stones Is he the boy whose bike was stolen? ‘The gitl who(m) the police suspect was arrested last night ‘The man to whom you were talking (who(m) you were talking to) is our chairman John is a man that knows about such things on-personal Telerence: The situation in which he found himself was desperate ICI is a company whose export figures are likely to improve next year “This is something that requires immediate attention ‘Any book that he writes is bound to sell well Note that the relative pronoun in restrictive relative clauses can be left out unless iti the subject of the relative clause or is preceded by a preposition. Hence some of the above sentences have the following alternative forms: The girl the police suspect was arrested last night ‘The man you were talking to is our chairman ‘The situation he found himself in was desperate ‘Any book he writes is bound to sell well i should also be noted that the pronoun shat is used instead of which when : the antecedent is modified by a superlative or when the antecedent is all, anything and everything; that is used instead of who in the function of subject attribute: This is the best film that was released last week was not convinced by anything that was said Bill is not the optimist (that) he used to be54 Engish syntactic stuciues onrestreive relative clauses Personal reference: My sister, who lives in New York, is coniing over for Christmas Two of my friends, whose wives have jobs, take the children t0 school in the morning The proofs were read by Bill Frazer. to whom Lan realy indebted His grandmother, who(m) | greatly every winter in Spain \dmire, spends Non.personal reference: These houses. which are owned by the Town Council are going 10 be pulled dovn The committee proposed two solutions, neither of which is acceptable Why don’t you fly KLM, whose service is said to be very good? ‘The ambulance arrived an hour later, by which time the boy had died Sentential reference: Christopher has pneumonia, which explains his absence Graham is going to divorce his wife, which does not Surprise me in the last at which the audience ‘urst out laughing Thad Ma yes 268 result of which I missed my train ‘AS appears from the above examples the objective case whom is oblig tory when immediately preceded by a preposition. In all other cases whom can be replaced by who, the former being more formal. ‘The pronoun what can be used independently, that is without an antece- dent. Semanticaly its equivalent to “that which", What is used in sentences like the following: What 1 don’t understand is that he refused This is what I have always wanted Does this account for what he has done? She does not believe what I say ‘The compound pronouns whatever, whoever and whichever ae sel inthe me way: ‘You can do whatever you like, Whoever says that is wrong The prize will go to whichever arrives first O> tne word 53 Unlike what, the pronoun who is rarely used independently in the meaning DI thesthose who". It occurs in standard expressions like ‘Who delays pays. Whom the Gods love die young Normally, however, who is replaced by Thela man (person) who Pnyone (anybody) who... those who .. oF by whoever: smb should be sent to prison he person who planted that be fae i “tin touch with the Anyone who witnessed the acident i asked 10 Be ce srs ito want to ake the exam should cont! the secretary Whosver makes such eaims cannot bein his ight mind “The interrogative pronouns are who, whose, whom what and which, They are used to introduce direct WH-questions, 2s in Who did that? What ithe mater with io? aswell a indirect WH. questions (after reporting verbs such as ask, wonder fojasin Me asked who dd tha Teonder aati the mater with him ‘The interroqatve pronouns who and whom are wed independently on Tria und which can fonction as determiners as Wel a independent Ire tits” hose and sehom have personal reference ony, which and what Ca nace” both personal” and. son-personal reference. The difference fataen who and’ sharon the one hand and whi onthe other is thatthe cot ie later implies that a selection made from a ited st. On the the ofthe abjectve case whom sce tlative whom Examples: Who wrote Sons and Lovers? Whose books are these? Whose are these books? Who(m) are you looking at? To whom did you address the letter? ‘What man would follow such advice? What is the square root of 144? What dictionaries of English do you know? Which dictionary would you recommend? Which of them was published by Longman? Which of your children pliys the piano? “The word ever can be added as an emphatic element to the interrogativeX 30 English syacie stucties Pronouns who, what and which. The resulting compounds are usually written in two words Who ever told you that? What ever made you change your mind? Which ever should we vote for, Bill or John? 2.2.9.7 Reciprocal pronouns ‘The reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another. They are used independently (but notin the function of subject) in sentences with plural 8f coordinated subjects. One another is sometimes preferred to each other when reference js made to more than two. Both pronouns can occur in the genitive, Examples: Margaret and Sandy accuse each other of disloyalty My sisters have never written to each other since their marriage The children were admiring one another's Christmas presents 2.298 Soand one Since these words are dificult to classify, they are given separate treatment. So is mainly used: 1. Asa substitute for a shat-clause: Do you think he is going to marry her? Tthink so John told me so I suppose so So they si I hope so So I was given to understand Vm afraid so So I hear Itseems so 2, Together with the verb do, the combination do s0 substituting for the verb phrase and other constituents (if any) ‘The manager told him to lock the safe but he forgot to do so Thad hoped she would give me a present on my bitthday ard she did so ‘The doctor advised her to go on a diet and she must have done so Verb phrases containing a verb of bodily sensation or a verb of involuntary Perception or cognition are usually replaced by do rather than do 1 Compare: ‘Agnes felt very sick. I know she did “I know she did so | suddenly smelled gas. I did, too 1 did'so, too He understands my problems... Yes, he does. *Yes, he does so % One 2 I position, followed by be, have, do or a modal The word 3. In sentence auxiliary: John is a bachelor and so is his brother Our neighbours are going off tomorrow, So are we England was beaten but so was Holland Jennifer's father has a cottage in France. So has mine Uhave told him not to do it. So has John -© Phil spends all his money on horses and so does his son Jill should work a bit harder. So should you “XNote that in the above examples the same thing is said about different Subjects, I the same subject i involved there is no inversion. Compare John is wearing new spectacles. So he (ie John) is So is Peter So he (ie Peter) does Peter works hard So does Jane One is not only used as a cardinal number, but also as: L.A substitute word. In this function one is either @ substitute for an indefinite noun phrase, as in Could you lend me a bike? I haven't got one 'm going to buy a record player. I thought you had one or a substitute for a noun phrase head. in which case it must be preceded andior followed by a modifying word. phrase or clause: Which girl do you mean? The one in the blue jeans ‘This book is cheap but I'd rather have that one John reviews books but not the ones I'm interested in If you are going to buy a car, why don’t you buy a small one? In formal style char and shose can be used instead of the one and the ones ‘This camera is better than that (the one) you bought I prefer these skis to those (ihe ones) you borrowed from Henry Note that one cannot be used as a substitute for a’mass noun. Ia that function the only possible pro-form is that: ‘The cheapest gas is that from Holland ‘The President's dishonesty is worse than that of his Ministers Note also that one is not used after numerals, after a genitive and after “the word own: We've got three children and the Johnsons have got two : This car is Jack's Is this house your own? -58 English syntactic structures 2. A word referring to people in general, including the speaker or writer: ‘One cannot deal with such problems on one’s own One should never pity oneself too much He always gives one the impression that he is faking 2.2.10 Quaniiiers Quantifiers constitute a closed word-class, which can be divided into three subelasses: 1. Quantifiers which can only function as the head of a noun phrase: someone anyone everyone noone none somebody anybody exerybody nobody something anything everything nothing Examples: Someone must have left the door open ‘We cannot invite just anybody I seem to have forgotten everything No one in his right mind would marry Jane None of the girls has/have been invited ‘The word none has pronorhinal characteristics in that it can serve as a substitute for plural count nouns and mass nouns: John has got lots of friends but I've got none We asked for petrol but they had none 2. Quantifiers which can function both as the head of a noun phrase and as determiner. To this subclass belong: some — much | more, mast any many each little tess, least all few, Tewer, fewest both — enough : either several neither Examples: ‘Some of the boys are orphans Each student should have a medical examination Trang my parents but both were out Much of what he said is irrelevant So far I have discovered few mistakes We've got enough problems already 3. Quantifiers that function as determiner only, To this subclass belong every and no: Every politician is responsible for his own constituency He has no money and no prospects The word 22.11 Intejections word class consists of items th Da wo rons uch sis, dE. sure. pai, pi ples: Een ey ey ouch Sut) yippee dame, ok tuhta vow F Blan thiev oho. ugh oe ee ‘ One3. The phrase 341 Introductory cs Send hr’ ose es i fea nee tn eat oe = ase, verb phrase and prepositional phrase. wrase be Sdverb phrase, the dominant el sent phase he donna element that which en pase without affecting the sructure of the sentence, as rte ean Fill phrase: Repl eplaceble by. (1) Wetthe meiend music Welike masa (2) New books on linguistics Books are very are very expensive expensive (©) John is very worried Sobn'is worried abou his younger son (8) las 0 cold that my” Tt was cold ace mints carefully than her es, ‘naband (6) He spoke 100 hesiar ingly 10 be convincing Following raiionalnomencl Flowing a enclature, we cll the element that gives it name Jeanoun phrase, adjective phrase or adverb phrase he head tc iA 1 clements in the phrase stand, as the examples show, relation of dependency on, or subordination to the head. oo A fourth ype of phrase, the verb fourth se, the ver phase, also characterized by ar subordination holding between the less important canes ce Type of phrase noua phrase ‘noun phrase adjective phrase adjective phrase adverb phrase He spoke hesitauingly adverb phrase ‘The phase 61 dominant element in the phrase. It differs, however, from the three phrases discussed above in that the dominance of the essential element mainly derives from semantic considerations and is only indirectly based on syntactic facts. In other words, the dominant member of a verb phrase ‘cannot replace the whole phrase without causing serious harm to syntactic structure. Consider: John has been killed by Bill—John killed Bill tis clear that, although from a semantic point of view kills the dominant ‘member in the phrase has been killed, it cannot replace the entire phrase Phrases like has been killed are called verb phrases since they are exclusive ly made up of verbs. This holds without exception for every verb phrase Prepositional phrases are different from noun, adjective and adverb rases, in that the element that gives its name to the phrase cannot be called its head since it cannot replace the whole phrase. Consider: Johan darted from the room—"Fohn darted from {tis obvious that the prepositional phrase is also different from the verb phrase in that only one ofits constituents is a preposition, whereas ina verb Dhease all the constituents are verbs. ‘The prepositional phrase differs from all other phrase types inthe relation holding between the preposition and the other constituents of the phrase ‘This relation is not one of subordination but one of government. In a bepostona phrase, the prepstion can be sad 1 govern the tes Constituent of the phase. In other languages this government relation is often more clearly manifested than it is in English, In a language like German, for instance, the preposition imposes a panicular case on the constituent that it governs. In English this is only apparent when the preposition is followed by. pronouns that show a distinction between Hbjective case and objective case. The preposition imposes the objective tase on such pronouns: Are you talking fo me? John's coming with us For whom did you buy it? ‘The global characteristics of phrases that we have discussed so far, are summarized in Table 3.1. Each phrase is discussed individually in more detail in sections 3.2-3.6, 3.2 The noun phrase As we have seen in the previous section, itis characteristic of a noun phrase that it has a dominant member (the head) which can replace the entire Phrase; a characteristic that the noun phrase shares with the adjective phrase and the adverb phrase, At least as characteristic is a function in its internal structure that sets it apart from adjective and adverb phrases: the52 Engtsh syntactic stuctues Table 3 Relation between dominant member and other constituent Characteristics of Pheace type saominant member Nour phrase ‘subordination ‘an replace the woe pi Adjective phrase subordination ca eelace the whole phase Adserb phrase subocination| cam epee the whole ph eth phease ‘subordination cannot replace the whole Phrase: semantically mos Inportant element Preposiona phrase sovernme Positional pl ent cannot replace the whole Phrase: imposes abjectve Ease om other ee suen determiner function, The words italicized inthe fal phrases realize this function: See (7) That tall black man in the corner (8) The book that I need (tbe sui }) Every boy in my class who has read the article (11) Any major problem you may experience (12) A well-designed car (13) Another marble AAs the examples show the fenction of det D function that i ealized inthe noun phrase. In (2). () (11) at (13), for example, it would be impossible to pa the determiner tem immediately in front of the noun. Ii aso typical of the determiner function that, uke ther funetios in the noun phrase, iteannot be realized more tha ones ‘Ths, examples (14) and (13) are unacceplable (14) *Every the book (15) *His a ear 4 inl syntactic characteristic of the determines function i thai a fenera only be realized by members rom a slosed css (oe ubsccton 1.) From a semantic pin of view, the determine function cam te ad to determine the reference of the noun phrase “whether ie se definite or indefinite, whether one or more telerents te intended Cleary, the heads of the example y oe h mmple noun phrases (7)(13) are man, book, hich ike the determiners, are subordinated to these heads, ate sa "0 lunction as modifier, Three differences between determiners and modifies ate immediately obvious. fn the frst place modifiers cn aceur both before and after the heads of noun phrases, If they precede the head, they ave {alled premoditiers, if they follow thé head they are called postmadifiers. ws we have premodifies in examples (7). (9). (Il) and (ID); post The phase 69 eeur, im (7), (8), (10) and (11). A second difference with iefis thatthe modifier function may be realized more than once in fe fouNphrAse: In (7), for example, we have to premodifiers, all and epyin-(l0)¥ve have two postmadifiers, viz. in my class and who has read fons of also eln "Mottover, In examples (7) and (11) we have combin’ andipastmodifier. In section 6.1 we shall see that i ntodifier to be interrupted by the head of the noun ph ‘ve speak of a discontinuous modi focettrence of a modifier is never essential for the inter ‘thoutt phrase’ In none of the examples above, for instance. could the determiner be left out without rendering the phrase unacceptable. All of 5, however, could easily be omitted without affecting the lity of the noun phrases. From a semantic point of view modifiers show such a large variety of relations to the head word that itis impossible to discuss these relations heté: One important semantic distinction, however, may be mentioned, viz that between descriptive and classifying modifiers. A descriptive modifier describes the referent of the noun phrase in terms of» particular quality of the referent, whereas a clasifying modifier ereates a subclass.of the class denoted by the head of the noun phrase. The distinction i illustrated ia the txamples below; examples of descriptive modifiers are given in (16) and {i7), while (18) and (19) exempliy classifying modifiers (18) a polar bear (19) a criminal court (19) his preity wite (17) that all boy “The distinction between descriptive and classifying modifiers largely corre- lates with the syntactic fact that descriptive modifies may themselves be premodified by intensifying words lke very to indicate the degree to which the referent of the noun phrase possesses the quality denoted by. the modifying adjective; classifying modifers, on the other hand, do not admit of intensification. Compare: (16) a. his very prety wife (9) a that vers tll boy Jn summary, we can say that in the internal structure of the noun phrase, three functions can be distinguished: determiner, modifier and head. The funetion of modifier is an optional one which may be realized more than nee, may occur both in front of the head and after it, and may even be tetrupted” by the head. The function of determiner is, in the majority of tases, an obligatory one which can be realized only once, is positionally BE resccted to the intial slot in the noun phrase and is usually realized by items from a number of closed classes. The item realizing the function of head determines the category of the phrase and is therefore realized by a (18) a, ‘a very polar bear (19) a, ‘a very eriminal court64 English syntactic structures noun or pronoun (for some exceptions see section 6.1); the head is, without exception, an obligatory function. ; Noun phrases can function both as immediate constituents o! sentences and a immediate constituents of other phrases. Sentence functions that are typically realized by noun phrases are those of subject (cf section 8.2), direct object (cf subsection 8.3.2.1), indirect abject (cf subsection 8.3.2.2), benefactive object (ef subsection 8.3.2.3), subject attribute (cf subsection 8.2.2.4) and object attribute (cf. subsection 8.3.2.5). Since the use of noun phrases in these functions is illustrated extensively in the sections referred to, we shall here give only one example of each (for sentence {unctions see ‘Chapter 7): (20) His wife failed her driving-test subject 21) Shall we plant some rose-bushes in that corner? ‘direct object (22) They gave their old colleague an encyclopedia indirect object (23) Will you call Mr Deighton a t (24) Jimmy is the best student of his class (25) The Board consider this a very grave error of judgment benefactive object subject atribute object attribute ‘There ate two sentence-functions that are less closely associated with the noun phrase, that of predicator complement (ef subsection 8.3.2.6) and that of adverbial (cf section 8.4): (26) His performance holds much promise: predicator complement (27) He suddenly turned up last week a adverbial From the above survey of sentence functions realized by noun phrases it follows that, with the exception of the predicator function (ef subsection 8.3.1), all constituents of sentences-ean be noun phrases. As far as phrase-internal functions are concerned, the only phrase type in ‘which the noun phrase functions as a typical immediate constituent, is the prepositional phrase. In prepositional phrases the noun phrase is the usual realization of the function prepositional complement (f section 6.5). Examples: (28) within che danger zone (29) opposite the supermarket (G0) in Spite of dhe measures that were taken ‘Occasionally noun phrases are found to perform certain phrase-internal functions which are usually realized by other constituents than noun phrases. Since these functions are non-typical of the naun phrase, they are ot or only cursorily discussed in Chapter 6, where the more usual realizations of phrase-internal functions are dealt with. For that reason they are briefly discussed and illustrated'below (examples 31-52}. The ptvase 65 Sometimes a noun phrase is found within another noun phrase. where +) FPfollows the head of that phrase in a function resembling that of postmodifie, for example SQU) a city the size of Amsterdam (33 a apparatus he ie ofa washing. machine (G3) two children your age GA) a car she colour of red cabbage ‘nouns that can function 3s head in such postmodifying noun The rows ted in ume Moreover the determine nats efinite, as the examples show. by in adjective. and adverb phrases denoting measure (Kime. saee, te ght etc) noun phrases may function as temas hon WA sate phase edit init 2 29p diccve phases ps 40) ears SL th) Bere oi eater P SD marcos preriulliy we (3) seve mules taster (as) aweek later =. a, (95) 2 yard long (G6) one year old 1) two pounds heavier (G8) four fathom deep 69) to fingers thick ‘The examples show that the adjective or adverb th | cgefers to such concepts as space, time, velocity, weight, etc. The ‘premodifying noun phrase must have a head de ‘unit by whic Ihese-concepis can be *measured’. The premodifying noun phrase may ‘ther aot contain_a determiner (40) of, if it does, the determiner “function is realized by the indetinite article (35, 41), a numeral (36, 37, 3,39, QYoraquantiier GT, )——— iat is premodified smples adjective and adverb phrases with rather than noun phrases with an adjective tion, is the fact that in each the whole phrase jective or adverb (cf 45a and 46a). In none of ‘Can the noun phrase function as the dominant member (cf ‘2What makes the above exai ‘premodifying noun phrases, ‘or adverb in postmodi can be replaced by the the examples: (45) This box is two pounds heavier than that (46) They had moved house some months earlier (45) a. This box is heavier than that (46) a. They had moved house earlier (45) b. ‘This box is two pounds than that (46) b. *They had moved house two months (0, Noun phrases denoting time and distance may also be used in premod: ification to prepositional phrases: 15 (67) three yards behind me te U8) two miles down the road (dS) a week after his d = (30) two hours before his arrival65 Engich syntactic suchres ‘That inthe above exampl i amples we are dealing wth prepiel prepos: Nona hse er ha ih un spied repo se ra paren om he fa ta ch ee ituent can be replaced by the prepositional phrase, noun phrase, Comptve, fr examples nnn ens Donat by the (48) a. He lives two miles down the road b. He lives dawn the road tHe lives two miles 1 way, aoun phrases denoting measures of time can 0 ers of temporal subordinstors ieinieesaied (51) a weok ater he died (52) two hows before he arived One type of phaseke constituent vie the appotion. We duce it here because i componem prs see ‘noun phrases. An apposition usually con foun phase An appost ly contains two noun phrases. Some (53) Peg Gibson, my bet frend, runs (3) Jl ete. ric mo aught a Keston (58) Fausto Copp: he reas cyl he wot fas zon, was orn Ocoee aca Cyclist ihe word hes Szown, was bon in “The committee has appointed Der Theeommite hs spied Derek Matson ren pein ‘The general characteristics of appositions are the following: (a). Usaly, either of the to noun phrase consent ths bythe side of (3) we can have: Te ME SHOE (53) a. Peg Gibson runs a extche in N OL My beat frend vans a esc i Neaaden ‘The elation between the two noun phases is neither one of sbord ton no of agreement, bu rather one of concatenation thatthe noun phrases are of equal syntactic weight. Serer (0) In genera, he oer othe wo noun phrases a be iver without Ching change in easing. An nferaive fern 3) woud (53) e. My beat frend, Peg Gibton runs aeréche in Neasden (©) From a semantic point of view, the of view the two noun phrase in an apposition ser tho pate ip ht bth nen Pate ae eferentialy ident Ga intel (3) fr ezampe Peg Gon aM be ender (4) Finaly trom the fact that i i Final tan apposition is one constuent, that ete ase can replace the content and thatthe wo noun phases Tho prvase 67 are idemtical in reference, it follows that the 1wo noun phrases always Meatize one and the same function inthe sentence. In examples (53-56) this is the subject function, in (57) itis the function of direct object. 3.3 Theadjectve phrase [Apart from the adjectival head we distinguish only one othe Mfective phrase, that of modifier. Similarly to the modifier in the n ‘hase, i is called premodifier when the constituent realizing this func precedes the head, postmodifier when this constituent follows Poltowing examples contain adjective phrases with a premodilier Wiha postmotifier (59); they also illustrate that a premodificr and 2 Tostmodifier may oceur in combination (60) and that the function of Premodifer aswell 5 postmodifier may be realized more than once (61 and 62, respectively) The (58) Lam reading an extremely interesting book (5) Peter felt doubyfud about the outcome of the experiment {60) You shouldn't be so very impatient with him (61) Me Crother was extremely and unexpectedly ill-tempered {62} He found it dificult to be loyal to the company and to his frends “As we saw in the preceding section, modifiers are optional in the structure af the noun phrase. In adjective phrases they have the same status: they are Ponvessential elements in the structure of the phrase. There are. however, two exceptions to the rule that modifiers ate optional in adjective phrases ‘The first concerns a group of adjectives which never allow either pre- oF ostmodifcation and which, consequently, always constitute one-word Aajective phrases. Another characteristic of this group of adjectives is that they ean only realize phrase-internal functions. Some of them ae former: the former president mere: a mere gil inner; the inner circle outer: outer space iter; his latter years principal: the principal characters ive: a live wire Sheer: sheer luck main: _ the main issue upper: the upper storeys “The second group is constituted by a number of adjectives that cannot occur “without a modifier; they all require postmodifiation, Some examples are: loath (to do it) subject (to delays) tantamount (to a command) apt (10 go wrong) averse (fo hard work) fond (of chocolate) Like most other phrases, the adjective phrase can realize functions within the structure of other phrases as wel as functions on sentence or clause level. The most usual phrase-internal function of the adjective phrase is that Tina noun phrase. Adjective phrases of litte complexity usually