Transformations

TREE DIAGRAMS
When you read this chapter, the first thing
you will notice is the Tree Diagrams.
If you have learned other ways of diagraming
sentences, you may ask yourself are tree
diagrams really necessary?
The answer is YES!
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 115-172)

BASIC TRANSFORMATIONS
John gave Mary a mink coat.

Question:
Did John give Mary a mink coat?
Negative:
John didnt give Mary a mink coat.
Negative Question:
Didnt John give Mary a mink coat?
Information Question:
Who gave Mary a mink coat?
Tag Question:
John gave Mary a mink coat, didnt he?

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 163)

Whos on First?

John gave Mary a mink coat.

Passive:
Mary was given a mink coat by John. A mink
coat was given to Mary by John.
Imperative:
Give Mary a mink coat!
Negative Imperative:
Dont give Mary a mink coat!
Contrastive Stress:
John gave Mary a mink coat.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 163)

SPECIAL PROBLEMS
Whiz Deletion: I met the girl (who was)
doing the dishes.
Extraposition: For John to be nice is very
difficult It is very difficult for John to be
nice.
Expletive: Thirty-seven students are in the
room There are thirty-seven students in
the room.

EMBEDDING TRANSFORMATIONS 1
Relative Clause as Substantive:
He didnt know who had the bicycle.
Relative Clause as Modifier:
Bill is the boy who has the bicycle.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 130)

EMBEDDING TRANSFORMATIONS 2
Present-Participle as Substantive:
The young girls watching the children
surprised everybody.
Present-Participle as Modifier:
I met the girl (who was) watching the
children.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 130)

EMBEDDING TRANSFORMATIONS 3
Infinitive as Substantive:
For John to be nice is very hard.
Infinitive as Modifier:
John came (in order) to be nice.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 130)

EMBEDDING TRANSFORMATIONS 4
That-Clause as Substantive:
That John didnt get angry was a
miracle.
That-Clause as Modifier:
I was surprised that John didnt get
angry.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 130)

 Possible only when information is

PRONOMINALIZATION
AND
recoverable
from linguistic context
(antecedant)
or social context:
DELETION:
John wanted Bill to buy the drinks.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 201-202)

TOPICALIZATION AND FOCUSING

TRANSFORMATIONS
Sentences consist of Subjects and Predicates.
The Subject is what we are talking about, and
the Predicate is what we say about it.
Therefore the Subject contains old information
(so speakers will have something to talk about),
and the Predicate contains new information (so
speakers will be able to say something new).
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 161)

 Any transformation that moves a

constituent up into the Subject or
Topic position is called a
Topicalization Transformation.
Any transformation that moves a
constituent down into the Predicate
position is called a Focusing
Transformation.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 161)

 The Passive Transformation is both a Topicalization

Transformation and a Focusing Transformation.
John saw the girl
The girl was seen by John
The girl has undergone a Topicalization
Transformation, and John has undergone a
Focusing Transformation.
Note that this has not affected the truth value.
John saw the girl is true if and only if The girl
was seen by John.

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 161)

 Notice that in a normal sentence the strongest

stress is on the last word. This is because this
is part of the Predicate or new information, and
is important enough to be stressed.
Therefore, changing the word that is stressed
in a sentence is a focusing transformation.

John saw ten girls on bicycles.

John saw ten girls on bicycles.
John saw ten girls on bicycles.
John saw ten girls on bicycles.
John saw ten girls on bycles.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 161)

Now lets have

some fun with
syntax!

CHIASMUS
Chiasmus is when words are repeated in inverted
order:
Mae West said, Its not the men in my life that counts;
its the life in my men.
A bumper sticker reads, Aging is mind over matter: If
you dont mind, it doesnt matter.
Another bumper sticker reads, Marijuana is not a
question of Hi, how are you but of How high are
you?
A one-liner that is popular around tax time reads, The
IRS: Weve got what it takes to take what youve got.

(Nilsen & Nilsen 179)

Source: Don L.F.Nilsen