CASE GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Prepared by Maryam
Yalova 31a18f
 The founder of the Case Grammar School is Charles Fillmore.
The school analyses deep cases which are established between words in a sentence.
There are such deep cases as:
• agent (A) – performer of an action
John opened the door.
• instrument (I) – inanimate doer of an action
John opened the door with a key.
• experiencer (E) – the person that experiences the action or event
John felt happy.
• factitive (F) – the thing produced by the action
John created a piece of music.
• patient (P) – the receiver of the action
The door was opened with a key.
• locative (L) – the place of the action
The building houses several organizations.
• temporative (T) – the time of the action
John goes there in winter.
• relative (R) – relations between people
John likes Mary.
• addressing (Add) – a person, who actively received an action
John got Mary a present.
 One deep case may act as different parts of sentence (their
structure is different).
Differentiation of 1-, 2- and 3-place Verbs:
1-place V needs 1 case role:
walk
2-place V needs 2 case roles:
break, cut P, (A), (I)
3-place V needs 3 case roles:
give (who? whom? what?)
Noun phrases representing same case roles can be joined. If 2
constructions allow the same transformations → their case
roles are the same.
 Semantic structure:
If the writer had not gone to Mentone in March 1892, (1) if he had not got acquainted with a
rich man (2) whom he calls Smith, (3) the present story would not have been written. (4)
Classes of words:
writer – a, had not gone – b, Mentone – a, March – a, he – a, had not got acquainted – b, rich –
c, man – a, he – a, calls – b, Smith – a, present – b, story – a, would not have been written – b.
Distribution:
e.g. writer (A) – right-hand distribution is a word of class B.
had not gone (B) – left-hand distribution is a word of class A, right-hand distribution is a word
of class A.
IC analysis:
If || the ||| writer | had not ||| gone || to |||| Mentone ||| in |||| March 1892, if || he | had not ||| got ||||
acquainted || with ||| a rich |||| man, whom || he | calls || Smith, the || present ||| story | would not
||| have ||||| been |||| written.
Kernel sentences:
The writer had not gone to Mentone. He had not got acquainted with a man. He calls Smith.
The story would not have been written.
Surface structure:
Conj+N+V+prep+N+prep+N+num+conj+pron+V+prep+adj+N+pron+pron+V+N+adj+N+V
Deep structure:
Writer – agent, Mentone – locative, March – temporative, he – agent, man – relative, he –
agent, Smith – addressing, story – factitive.
Semantic markers:
Writer – human, books. March – spring, cold. Man – human, male. Story – book, information.
 Semantic structure:
And if there was, (1) he wondered (2) if his uncle might be
killed in the crossfire. (3)
Classes of words:
there – d, was – b, he – a, wondered – b, his uncle – a, might be
killed – b, the crossfire – a
Distribution:
e.g. there (D) – right-hand distribution is a word of class B.
was (B) – left-hand distribution is a word of class D, right-hand
distribution is a word of class A.
IC analysis:
And ||| if || there | was, he | wondered | if || his ||| uncle | might ||||
be ||| killed || in ||| the |||| crossfire.
Kernel sentences:
There was. He wondered. His uncle might be killed.
Surface structure:
Conj+conj+adv+V+pron+V+conj+pron+N+V+prep+N
Deep structure:
He – agent, uncle – patient, crossfire – locative.
Semantic markers:
Uncle – human, male, family. Crossfire – danger.