SYNTAX:

VALENCY
PREPARED BY:
ROLAND JOHN M. PENIANO
MAT – ENGLISH
Do you have any idea of what
Valence in Syntax is?
What is Valence in Syntax?
 It is the ability of a verb to combine
grammatically with noun phrases in a
given clause.
 In linguistics, valence is the number and
type of connections that syntactic
elements can form in a sentence. Also
known as complementation.
 The term “valency” is derived from the
field of study of chemistry.
6.1 SUBJECT AND OBJECT COMPLEMENT
(24) A. John snores loudly.
 (How does John snores?)
 (It answers the questions How)

B. John wrote a long homework.

 (What does John had written?)
 (It answers the question What)
 C. A long homework was written by John.
 (A long home homework was written by
whom?)
 (It answers the question Who)
 Roughly: Subject is the active participant in the
active sentence.
(25) A. John writes a letter.
B. However, John underwent torture (at the
hands of the terrorist).
 Note: We are defining a syntactic notion using semantics. It
works in most of the cases, however not always.
 Objects (complements) are the other participants.
 Most of the active sentences can be transformed into passive
sentences – an object becomes the subject and the subject the
object by adding PP or can be omitted.
 (26) A. John loves Mary. (Active)
 B. Mary is loved by John. (Passive)
 C. Mary is loved. (Passive)
All English sentences (except
imperative) have a subject. Many
(but not all) have an object. In
some languages, (e.g Spanish),
the subject can be omitted if it is
understandable from the context.
 The pronoun in the tag questions refers to
the subject.
(27) A. The boy wrote the book, didn’t
he?
B. The girl wrote the book, didn’t she?
C. John underwent torture at the hands of
the terrorists, didn’t he?
D. John underwent torture at the hands of
the terrorists, didn’t they?
 ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE
The voice of the verb is active, The voice of the verb is
when the subject performs passive, when the subject is
the action. acted upon by the object of
the verb.
Example Sentence: Example Sentence:
Kyla cleans the vases. The vases are cleaned by Kyla

S V O S V O
Doing Active Receiving Doing Passive Receiving
Action Verb Action Action Verb Action
 Examples of Active and Passive Sentence
ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE
1. Samuel eat an apple. 1. An apple was eaten by Samuel.

2. The dog bit the man. 2. The man was bitten by the dog.

3. Ethan writes a song. 3. A song was written by Ethan.

4. Anna has written a story recently. 4. A story has been written by Anna
recently.
5. I will write a letter. 5. A letter will be written by me.
List of Common Irregular Verbs
Base Form Present Tense Past Tense Past Participle
be is was / were been
bite bites bit bitten
blow blows blew blown
break breaks broke broken
choose chooses chose chosen
do does did done
draw draws drew drawn
hide hides hid hidden
know knows knew known
List of Common Irregular Verbs
Base Form Present Tense Past Tense Past Participle
ride rides rode ridden
rise rises rose risen
see sees saw seen
shake shakes shook shaken
steal steals stole stolen
take takes took taken
tear tears tore torn
throw throws threw thrown
wear wears wore worn
write writes wrote written
Group Activity
Transform the following active sentences to passive ones.
ACTIVE SENTENCES PASSIVE SENTENCES
1. The article discusses the effects of 1. The effects of inflation are discussed
inflation. in the article.
2. My sister will learn the lesson. 2. The lesson will be learnt by my sister.
3. Our manuscript will be passed next
3. We will pass our manuscript next week.
week. 4. Wuthering Heights was written by
4. Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Emily Brontë.
Heights. 5. It has been decided by the class that
5. The class has decided that everyone everyone should passed the test.
should passed the test.
 ACTIVE SENTENCE PASSIVE SENTENCE

1. The teacher asked a question. 1. A question was asked by the

2. Mother was preparing food for teacher.
lunch. 2. A food was being prepared by
3. Ann has thrown the garbage. mother for lunch.
4. Faith had finished the assignment. 3. The garbage has been thrown by
5. Charlie will buy a car. Ann.
4. The assignment had been finished
by Faith.
5. A car will be bought by Charlie.