Grammatical Functions

I. SYNTAX: The grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence.

II. NOUN PHRASE:
1. Definition:
- Noun phrase is a group of words in a sentence that together behave as a noun.
- Category of noun:
• Common noun: refers to people or things that exist.
Ex: boy, girl, country, city,…
• Proper noun: identifies a particular person, place or thing.
Ex: Lucy, London, British, The US,…
• Collective noun: refers to group of people or things.
Ex: audience, family, team,…
• Concrete noun: refers to people or things that exist physically and can be
seen, touched, smelled or tasted.
Ex: tree, coffee, building, train,…
• Abstract noun: refers to ideas, qualities and conditions, things that cannot
be seen or touched and things which have no physical reality.
Ex: happiness, time, friendship, humor,…
• Countable noun: a noun that can be count
Ex: apple, tree, student, teacher,…
• Uncountable noun: a noun that cannot be count.
Ex: water, air, money, advice,…
=> A noun can be belong to more than 1 category.

A noun phrase consists of a noun and all the words

that belong with the noun and cluster around it.
(Richard, 1987)

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 2. Structure and Function:
- Most sentence positions that are occupied by noun can also be replaced by noun
phrase.

Pre-modifiers Headword Post modifiers

¬Order of Adjective:

Opinion Size Qualities Age Color Origin Material Type Purpose

Nice Large Famous New Red American Stone Electric Bath

Lovely Small Quiet Old Blue British Plastic Political Breath

III. VERB PHRASE:

1. Definition:
- A verb phrase consists of verb and all the word groups that belong with the verb
and cluster around it.
- Category of verb phrase:
• Linking verb: connects or links a subject to a noun.
Ex: be, seem, become, look,…
• Transitive verb: has an object (a noun/noun phrase).
Ex: buy, play, listen,…
• Intransive verb: doesn’t have direct object.
=> Some verbs can be used with an object (transitively) or without an object
(intransitively). Sometimes the meaning is the same.
• Helping verb (auxiliary): helping the main verb.
Ex: can, could, will, must,…
A verb phrase consists of a main verb alone with a main verb
plus any modal/auxiliary verbs. The main verb always comes last
in verb phrase.
(Cambridge Dictionary)

2. Structure and Function:

Pre-modifiers
Post modifiers
Auxiliaries Headword
Complements
Adverbs

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 3. Differences between Noun phrase and Verb Phrase:
The cat slept in the kitchen
det N V pre. det N

Noun Phrase Noun Phrase

Preposition Phrase

Verb Phrase

4. Order of Verb Phrase:

VERB PHRASE
Verb Phrase

Pre-modifier Adverbial phrase HEAD Post modifier

(auxiliary)
Optional Optional Main V Optional

VERB GROUP

Modal Primary aux. Primary aux. HEAD

Optional Optional Optional Obligatory

5. Kinds of Verb Phrase:

• Finite: Present and past tense. Has relation with subject and usually the main
verb of a clause or sentence.

Ex: I eat
She ate

• Non-finite: not change due to tense or subjects (infinitive and gerund).

Ex: I go there to meet my friends.

She found them studying hard.

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• Tense: real-world time.

Ex: It is amazing weather today.

They will fly to The US.

• Aspect: action/event, lexical meaning.

Ex: She talked a lot.

They haven’t seen each other for a long time.

• Mood: attitude/relationship of speakers to actions, modal verbs of ability.

Ex: Has the student copied the assignment ?

I would not mind helping her.

Ex: Voice: active or passive.

Ex: The mouse was caught by a cat.

The house has been built for many months.

IV. GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION:

1. Category of grammatical function:
• Subjects: the person or think that perform the action of the verb or is joined
to a description by a verb.

Ex: The beautiful girl with black hair is studying English.

His homework is very difficult.
Mom always works overtime at weekend.

¬ How to identify a subject?

“The teacher holds class every day”

Noun-verb relationship
“tie test” (noun “is tie to” Asking “who” or “what”
or “agree with” the verb) of the verb

• Subject complements: “a noun/an adjective + noun”

Follow a subject and a linking verb to identify or to describe a subject.

Ex: They feel tired at learning syntax.

The test seems difficult for under grade students.

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 The boys over there look very happy with their marks.

• Verbs: assert action or state.

Ex: Their monkeys climbed the trees.

His claims seems ridiculous.

• Direct objects: undergoes the action of a verb.

Ex: She cooked a very delicious dish.

They like playing football with their friends at school yard.
The girl is wearing a blue hat and a white jacket.

• Indirect objects: that person or things for whom an action is performed.

Ex: He gave his girlfriend a diamond ring.

Her mom bought her a flat.
The students send their teacher a postcard.

• Object complements: completing the direct object and describing or

identifying it.

Ex: I saw the kids sleeping.

They elected Nam monitor.
You can tell her what you wish.

• Preposition compliments: relating to the other words by a preposition.

Ex: We are studying in the classroom.

They are angry with the children.
They are waiting for whoever will pick them up.

2. Identifying subjects:
• Based on the verb
• Who/what: a person or thing that doing an action.
• “Front-shift” test: change the statement into a yes or no question.

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 Basic

Sentence
Sentence Patterns
Patterns
I. SENTENCE:
- A collection of words that expresses a complete thought.
- Usually consists of a subject (S) and a verb (V).
II. BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS:
1. P1: SV:

Subject + Verb (Intransive verb)

Ex: The sportman fished.

Tet is coming.

2. P2: SVC:

Subject + Verb + Subject Complement

• P2A: NP + Linking verb + Adjective/Adverbial

Ex: The police task is getting tougher.

The bees are in their hives.
The concert is at 8 pm.
My mother is in a good mood.
The vegetable in the bin looked disgusting and spoiled.

• P2B: NP + Linking verb + NP

Ex: The teenagers over there are my students.

The workers are their parents.
The eggs smell like rotten ones.
Tomatoes are main ingredients.

3. P3: SVA:

Subject + Verb + Adverbial

¨ Be = be located.
¨ No SubP2A.
¨ The 3rd position goes with adverbial rather than adjective.

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 Ex: The language books are on the selves.
The game is over.
They are standing outside the gate.
My friend works in a fruit factory.

4. P4: SVO:

Subject + Verb + Direct object

Ex: The famous chef makes a tasty cake.

The refugee passed the new language test.
The team leader holds the meeting.

5. P5: SVOO:

Subject + Transitive verb + Indirect object + Direct object

Ex: Describing a subject gives you a brief understanding about what you
are going to learn.
The pilot bought his girlfiend a new diamond ring.

6. P6: SVOC:

Subject + Verb + Direct object + Object complement

- A complement after the object describes or renames it.

Ex: They painted the house white.

She named her cat Lucy.
Jane considered the book great.
They elected him president.

7. P7: SVOA:

Subject + Verb + Object + Adverbial

Ex: The famous chef are cooking potatoes in a new pot.

James did his homework upstair.

8. Other types:

1 SV Jane laughed

2 SVC Jane became a student

3 SVA Jane lives in London

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 4 SVO Jane is reading a research paper

5 SVOO Jane sent her sponsor a letter

6 SVOC Jane calls me darling

7 SVOA Jane parks her car in the parking lot

• Other type 1:

There + be + Subject + Adverbial of place or time

Ex: There is a sock under my bed.

There are two socks under my bed.

- From P3 (SVA)

Ex: A sock is under my bed.

Two socks are under my bed.

• Other type 2:

There + be + Subject + ing (participle) + O. (P1, P4, P5)

Ex: P1: A student is writing.

=> There is a student writing.
P2: Some people were cooking their dinner.
=> There were some people cooking their dinner.
P3: Several teachers were offering their students a free course.
=> There were several teachers offering their students a free course.

• Other type 3:
- The passive of (P4, P5, P6)

Ex: P4: The engineer built the house.

Passive: The house was built by the engineer.
There + be: There was a house built by the engineer.
P5: The chef made the children some cakes.
Passive: Some cakes were made for children by the chef.
There + be: There were some cakes made for children by the chef
P6: They elected a Swede captain.
Passive: A Swede was elected captain.

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 There + be: There was a Swede elected captain.

III. THREE MODES OF CLASSIFICATION:

- Classification by Function
- Classification by Form
- Classification by Position

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 Parts of Speech

Positional Classes
I. OPEN-CLASS WORDS:
1. Nouns:
- Noun plural (-s pl): buses, babies,…
- Noun singular possessive (-s sg ps): man’s, boss’s,…
- Noun plural possessive (-s pl ps): children’s, bulls’s
2. Verbs:
- Present third-person sungular (-s 3rd): goes, says,…
- Present participle (-ing vb): looking, booking,…
- Past tense (-D pt): looked, thought,…
- Past participle (-D pp): looked, presented, gone,…
3. Adjectives – Adverbs:
- Comparative (-er cp): earlier, faster, worse,…
- Superlative (-est sp): earliest, fastest, worst,…
II. STRUCTURE CLASSES (CLOSED CLASSES):
1. Determiners:
- Determiners are words which come at the beginning of the noun phrase.
- They tell us whether the noun phrase is specific or general.
- Types of Determiners:

Articles Demonstrative Possessive Adjectives

The This My, your

An That His, her
A These Your, their
Those Its, our

Quantifiers Numbers Ordinals

Some, any One, two First, second

Few, little Three, four Third, last

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 More, much Twenty, hundred Next
Any, every

2. Personal pronouns:
- Pronouns are words we use in the place of a full noun.

PERSONAL PRONOUN

Subject Object

I Me

You You

SINGULAR She Her

He Him

It It

We Us

PLURAL You You

They Them

3. Auxiliary:
- A verb that gives grammatical information not given by the main verb of a
sentence.

PRESENT FORM PAST FORM

Be Verb Am, is, are Was, were

Do Verb Do, does Did

Have Verb Have, has Had

Modal Verb Shall Should

Will Would

4. Quantifier:
- We use quantifier when we want to give someone information about the number
of something: how much or how many.
- Sometimes we use a quantifier in the place of a determiner.

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 A few
Some
Several Countable Nouns
Many
A lot of

A little
Some
Uncountable Nouns
A lot of
Much

5. Preposition:
- A word that connects a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun to another word, esp.
to a verb, another noun, or an adjective.
6. Expletive:
- A rude or offensive word used to express anger, pain, annovance,…
- Word, phrase perform syntax role without meaning.

Ex: Here
There
It
In fact

7. Restrictors:

Ex: The food is nearly cooked

Just one moment
Particularly, she will pass the test

8. Predeterminer:
- A word or phrase that occurs before a determiner, typically quantifying the noun
phrase, for example both or a lot of. “

Ex: All, half, double, twice

9. Post determiner:

Ex: Numbers: two , five …

Ordinals: first , second

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 10. Subordinating Conjunction:
- Joint a clause to the others in a complex sentence.
11. Coordinating Conjunction:
- Joint two clauses to make a compound sentence.

Function Similar word

For reason because as a result of

And addition moreover in addition to
Nor. negation -
But contrast whereas
Or. Connect -
Yet concession although, though, despite,
nevertheless
So. Effect
therefore, that’s why

12. Relative:
- Relative pronouns: That, went, which, whichever, who, whoever, whosoever,
whom, whomever, whomsoever, whose, whosesoever, whatever
III. Positional Classes
1. Nominal:
- Showing an identify

Subj Subject of verb

SC Subject complement
DO Direct object of verb
IO Indirect object of verb
OC Object of complement
OP Object of preposition

• Subject of Verb:
- Relationships between subject & verbs

Ex: 1. She waters the flower garden

2. They water the flower garden

• Subject Complement:
- A noun/an adjective
- Follow a subject and a linking verb to indentify or to describe a subject

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 Ex: They feel tired.
The test seems difficult for under grade students.
The boys over there looks very happy.

• Direct Object of Verb:

- Recevice a direct action of the verb.

Ex: She cooked a very delicious dish

They like playing football with their friends at school yard
The girl is wearing a blue hat and white jacket

• Indirect Object of Verb:

- Answer the question to whom, for whom.

Ex: He gives his girl friend a diamond ring.

Her mom bought her a flag.
The students sends their teacher a postcard.

• Object of Complement:
- Can be a noun, a pronoun or an adjective that defines or describe objects.

Ex: I saw the kids sleeping.

They elected Nam monitor.
You can call her what you wish.

2. Verbal:
- A word fromed from a verb that has the function as a part of speech : a noun or
an adjective.

Ex: Having booked

Cooking
To identify
Being

• Finite Verbs:
- Having full assertion in a sentence and can change their form to indicate person,
number and tense.
• Non-Finite verbs:
- Not having full assertion in a sentence and cannot change their from to indicate
person, number and tense.

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 Ex: Present Participle: v.ing, and to infinitive

¶ Note:
- A non-finite verb form appears alone in a Noun position, it is labeled a nominal.

Ex: Present Participle: v-ing

Past Participle: v-ed and to infinitive

3. Adjectivals:
• Appearing between the determiner and noun:

Ex: An outdoor event

The recommended staff
A stressful job
That humorous activity
The school gate

• Appearing at the 3rd slot of Pattern 2:

Ex: The singer seems sparkling.

They look pale.
These people are in the blue moon.
This was scary.

• Appearing after the Noun:

Ex: The river, dense and polluted, is over there.

A manager alone works overtime.
Their discussion above is interesting.
That shop, too expensive, is closed.
She is studying her master’s degree abroad.

• Appearing at the beginning of sentence before Subjects in written

English:

Ex: Poor and unemployed, the guy feels lonely

Beautiful and intelligent, that girl has a good job

• Appearing after words: something, nothing, any, no… the Noun:

Ex: Would you like something spicy?

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 No one perfect is available for you.
We cannot look for someone available.

4. Adverbials
• Appearing before the pattern, with or without juncture:

Ex: Honesty, you can improve your English day by day

Well, it is time for a new start

• Appearing after the subject and before the auxiliary or verb:

Ex: They sometime offer a special free dish

He frequently searches for his new opportunities
She rarely would forget her belongings

• Appearing after the auxiliary or the first auxiliary:

Ex: Tom can never forgive his friend.

They would often hold the event.

• Appearing after the verb in pattern 1 and after be in pattern 2 and 3:

Ex: Laura drives carefully.

Tome is always on time.
He is totally a good student.

• Appearing after the complement of the verb (SC, DO, OC):

Ex: Children can hide themselves wherever in their house

They may have a meeting next week

IV. VERB-ADVERBIAL COMPOSITES

- Verb-adverbial consists of two words, a verb followed by an adverbial such as:
up, down, in, out, over.

INTRANSITIVE VERB-ADVERBIAL COMPOSITE (VAC)

TEST A: Meaning TEST B: Immovability TEST C: Inseparability

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 1. Test A: Meaning:
- Meaning of the Intransitive VAC is different from the original meaning of two
parts added together.

Ex: We took off for London = (departed)

He turns up at seven o’clock = (appeared)
The violence of the storm may let up soon = (lessen)

2. Test B: Immovability:
- The elements of the Intransitive VAC is not moveable.

Ex: We took off = Off we took

He turns up = Up he turns
Up The storm let.

3. Test C: Inseparability:
- The two parts of an Intransitive VAC are inseparable.

Ex: We took immediately off for London = (departed)

He turns suddenly up at seven o’clock = (appeared)
The violence of the storm may let soon up = (lessen)

INTRANSITIVE VERB-ADVERBIAL COMPOSITE (VAC+O)

TEST A: Adverbial TEST B: Relative TEST C:

Postpositioning Transformation Inseparability

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 I. MODIFIERS
- A word or phrase that is used with another word or phrase to limit or add to its
meaning. (Cambridge Dict.)
- A sentence modifier is an adverbial that modifies, as its head, all the rest of the
sentence, and is often set apart by terminals-rising, subtained, or falling.
II. SENTENCE MODIFIERS
- A sentence modifier is an adverbial that modifies, as its head, all the rest of the
sentence, and is often set apart by terminals-rising, subtained, or falling. (Norman
C.Strageberg)
1. Single-word Adverbial:

Ex: Honestly, she is a good student.

Frankly, I disagree with her opinion.

2. Clause Adverbial:

Ex: Unless I pass the final test, I can register for the next course.
When I was a child, I used to swim in the swimming pool.

3. Preposition phrases:

Ex: In the first term, I can register for the next course.
In my point of view, students should learn to swim in the swimming
pool for their good health.

4. Absolute structure:

Ex: The car having repaired, you can drive home later.
Your parent waiting for you outside, you should have a talk with
them.

5. Infinitive phrases:

Ex: To prevent from the flu, you should drink orange juice every day.
To get a good job, it is necessary to have your working experience, it
is necessary to have your working experience.

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 6. Participle phrase in -ing:

Ex: Preventing from the flu, you should drink orange juice every day.
Getting a good job, it is necessary to have your working experience.

7. Relative in -ever

Ex: Whatever you do, you should think about the sequences.
Whenever I have free time, I often visit my friends.

¶ Note:
- Sentence modifiers may appear in medial and final position.
III. THE NOUN PHRASE: PRENOMINAL MODIFIERS
The three tail gray U.S Government buildings.

Determiners, Adjectives Prenominal Head noun

numbers, nouns
quantifiers

1. D NH:
- Articles: the/a/an
- Poss. Aj: his/her/its/my/your/our/their
- Poss of Names: John’s,…
- Demonstrative: this/that/these/those

Ex: the book, her ring, John’s girlfriend, this idea,…

2. D Aj NH:

Ex: That interesting story

Her diamond ring
John’s beautiful girlfriend
These cold days

3. D N NH:

Ex: That school gate

The student dormitory
The garden trees

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 4. D Aj N NH:

Ex: That old school gate

The new diamond ring

5. D D Aj N NH:
- All, both, half, double,…

Ex: All that old school gate

Both their long assignment paper
Half her fresh vegetable dish

6. R D D Aj N NH: (VI V IV III II I p.289)

- Restricter: just, even, especially, merely, only, particularly, almost, nearly,…

Ex: Just another romantic college girl

Only other handsome school boys

IV. THE NOUN PHRASE: POST NOMINAL MODIFIERS

Ex: Her party last night

People standing in front of the gate
Student in their uniform

1. Modified Adjectives:
- An adjective in the post nominal position is usually modified by a qualifier: more,
less, many, few, most, often, rarely,…

Ex: She has not taught students more carefully

They saw the vegetable less fresh

2. Compounded Adjectives:

Adj + Past Participle Narrow-minded, old-fashioned, short-haired

Adv + Past Participle Well-behaved, well-educated, highly-respected

Noun + Past Participle Sun-baked, child-wanted, middle-age

Noun + Present Participle English-speaking, time-saving, mouth-watering

Adj + Present Participle Good-looking, long-lasting

Adv + Present Participle Never-ending, forward-thinking

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 Noun + Adj World-famous, ice-cold, sugar-free

Adj + Noun Full-length, last-minute, long-distance

Noun + Noun Part-time, north-west, bullet-proof

Adj + Adj Fat-free, big-blue

3. Non-suffixing Words:
- Non-suffixing words that are often adverbials can modify a noun: below, upstairs,
outside, now, here, there,…

Ex: The student here

The guests upstairs

4. Adverbs:
- An adverbs can modify a noun that precedes it: then, particularly, especially, later,
only,…

Ex: The discussion later was heated.

The members only are invited.
My boyfriend especially likes watching footy.

5. Noun Phrase Adjectival:

- A noun phrase may modify a preceding noun

Ex: The lesson last week

Your course the next time
The dicision that time

6. Prepositional Phrase Adjectival:

- A preposition phrase may modify a noun or pronoun (telling you what kind or
which one).

Ex: The climate of Australia is cool.

Your course in VHU
The music show with famous people

7. Participle or participial phrase, -ing Adjectival:

- A participial phrase may modify a noun or pronoun.

Ex: Your PG course planning to in VN center must be adapted from other

countries.

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 Student planning to graduate in August must finish their
internships before May.

8. Participle or participial phrase, -ed Adjectival:

The cracked windows have been fixed.

(past participle ending in -ed) The windows cracked yesterday have
been fixed.
The broken window was expensive to repair.
The coin lost since the last trip was
(past participle ending in -ed) never found.
The wall painted in red appears in the
The lost coin was never found. picture.
(past participle irregular ending)

9. Infinitive Phrase Adjectival, to-:

- An infinitive phrase is used after a noun as an adjective to modify a noun (telling
you what kind or which one).

Ex: The film to watch is “The life of Budha”.

The lesson to remember is to forgive.

10. Relative clause Adjectival:

- A relative clause that function as an adjective to modify a noun.

Ex: The beautiful girl stared at me.

The girl who was beautiful stared at me.

11. Appositive Adjectival:

- Appositive defines a noun (can be a noun phrase) that function as an adjective to
modify a noun.

Ex: A school boy is working overtime.

The Spice Girl, a music band is performing.

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