Dr.

AZIZA CHOUAIBI MODULE3 - GRAMMAR 3 YEAR 2020/2021

CHAPTER II

SENTENCES AND THEIR CONSTITUENTS

The sentence is the largest unit of language. In writing, a sentence is

delimited by an initial capital letter and a final full-stop, or a question-mark
or an exclamation-mark.

A sentence is composed of smaller units such as clauses, phrases and

words. And it can be simple (= one clause sentence) or complex with more
than one clause.

Simple sentence: Clause (symbolised by CL)

Phrases (P)

Words (w)

Complex sentence: sentence (symbolised by S)

Clauses

Phrases

Words

Simple sentences: one-clause sentences

A simple sentence contains only one finite clause (FCL), so that the
structure of a finite clause is identical with that of a simple sentence.

A finite clause is a clause where the verb is finite, or conjugated:

- She is my best friend. FCL

∗She be my best friend is not a sentence, because the verb is not finite
(conjugated). As such, it does not agree with the subject ‘she’.

The units of Grammar: (i.e. sentence (S), clause (CL), phrase (P) and word
(w) can be ordered in terms of RANK. The highest unit is the sentence, and
the lowest one is the word.

Higher A sentence consists of one or more clauses

A clause consists of one or more phrases

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A phrase consists of one or more words

A word consists of one or more morphemes

This means that a unit of the higher rank consists of one or more of the
units of the next lower rank. So a sentence can consist of only one clause. A
clause can consist of only one phrase which itself can consist of only one
word... Imperative sentences are good examples:

Stop!; Run! These are two sentences consisting of one clause consisting of
one phrase consisting of one word.

Notations and bracketing:

- Phrase: P
- Noun phrase: NP
- Verb phrase: VP
- Prepositional phrase: PP
- Adjective phrase: AjP
- Adverb phrase: AvP
- Genitive phrase: GP
- Clause: CL
- Noun clause: NCL
- Adverbial clause: ACL
- Noun: N
- Verb: V
- Adjective: Aj
- Adverb: Av
- Main verb: Mv
- Auxiliary verb: Aux
- Modal verb: m
- Head: H
- Modifier: M
- Ungrammatical combinations: *
- Clauses are enclosed between square brackets: [CL].
- Phrases are enclosed between round brackets: (P).
- Optional elements in P are enclosed between curled brackets: { }
-

TYPES OF PHRASES

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Just as words are divided into word classes such as NOUN (N), VERB (V),
ADJECTIVE (AJ), ADVERB (AV), so are PHRASES. They can be subdivided
into:

- NOUN PHRASE (NP)

- GENITIVE PHRASE (GP)
- PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (PP)
- ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AJP)
- ADVERB PHRASE (AVP)
- VERB PHRASE (VP)

All these PHRASES have the same basic structure:

({Mn} H {Mn})

H stands for HEAD; H is an essential element for phrase construction; it

cannot be removed from the phrase, otherwise there will be no phrase.
That’s why it is not put between curled brackets. H is also that element
that gives to the phrase its label: If H is a noun the phrase will be an NP; if
it is an Aj then the Phrase will be an AJP…etc.
M stands for MODIFIER; modifiers are generally optional elements, we
can remove them without altering the phrase. To show their optional
status, we put the modifiers between curling brackets.
The superscript ‘n’ means that there can be one or more than one
modifier (M).
H and M refer to the functions of the units within the phrase. H is the
function of the most important element (nucleus) of the phrase; whereas
M is the function of all remaining elements in the phrase.

Why are phrases direct/immediate constituents of the clause/simple

sentence; and not words?

- Words do constitute sentences, but they are not immediate constituents

of sentences; between words and sentences there are intermediate units
called phrases.
- Phrases -being direct or immediate constituents of clauses- function
within clauses as subject, object, complement or adverbial (depending
on the grammatical category they belong to: NP, AjP, AvP...etc.
- Phrases may be parts of other phrases; in that case they function as
modifiers.

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- Functions such as subject, object, complement and adverbial are phrase

functions in simple sentences; and clause functions in
complex/subordinate sentences (clauses, too, may function as subject,
object, complement and/or adverbial in subordinate/complex sentences.
- Words function within phrases: they are either heads or modifiers.
1. NOUN PHRASES: form and function

FORM: the form of a phrase refers to its grammatical category (i.e. NP,
VP, AjP, AvP, PP, GP) and also to the way the structure of the phrase is
made up of words. The structures on NPs are very diverse. Let us consider
examples of different types of NPs in simple sentences (= one-clause
sentences), followed by corresponding structures:
1. [NP(PNHJohn) VP(Vwas) NP(DetMthe AjMbest NHstudent) PP(in the
classroom)].
2. [NP(DetMthe NHcat) VP(scratched) NP(DetMthe NHdog)].
3. [ NP(ProHHe) VP(is) NP(detMthe AjHbest)].
4. [NP(DetMthe NHlady PPM(in blue)) VP(is) NP (DetMthe NHpresident PPM(of this
association))].
5. [NP(DetMthe NHperson CLM[NP(ProHwho) was receiving NP(medical
N care)] PP (in room 01)) VP(died) PP(in the morning)].
H M

6. [NP(DetMthese NHapples) are ripe; NP(ProHthose) VP(are not)].

7. [NP(GPM(john’s) NHbike) is cheaper than NP(GP(Hmine))].
Notice that sentences are enclosed between square brackets [ ] and
phrases between round brackets ( ).

Structures of of the NPs in the above sentences:

1’- NP (HPN); NP(MDet M H

AJ N)

2’- NP (MDet H
N); NP(MDet H )
N

3’- NP (HPro); NP(MDet H

Aj)

4’- NP (MDet H
N
M(PP)); NP(MDet H
N
M(PP))

5’- NP (MDet H
N
M[CL] M(PP))

6’- NP (MDet H
N); NP(HPro)

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7’- NP (MGP N); NP(H(GP))

H

The structures above describe all NPs present in the preceding sentences.
Some of them are repeated (ex pro, Det N..). Just keep in mind that an NP
is a convenient term for any one of the following:

a. Proper names (PN): John, Palestine

b. Nouns (N): boys, people…
c. Nominal groups (NP): the student, john’s bike, that cat, the president,
in which a noun (student, bike, cat, president…) is the HEAD, and in
which the other words (the, john’s, that, my…) are MODIFIERS.
d. Pronouns: - personal pronouns (I, he, she, it…, us, them, myself…)
-Indefinite pronouns (everyone, something…)

e. Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.

f. Quantifier pronouns: all, some, any, several, everybody, someone,

anything, nobody, many, much, more, most, few, little, fewer, least…

Wh-pronouns: who, whom, whose, what, which, whichever…

The HEAD (H) of an NP may be:

(a) A noun (N): (the NHcat), (NHJohn)…

(b) A pronoun (N): see above.
(c) Less usually an adjective; in example (3) above (the AjHbest) is a NP
where best (Aj) is the head of the NP. In such cases there is usually a
noun which is semantically understood to be the head (H). Thus, (the
best Nperson or Nman or Nboy...) Other examples are: NP(DetMthe
H
Aj absurd); NP(DetMthe AJ Hpoor); NP(DetMthe AjHgreedy).
(d) An enumerator: one, two, twelve, fifteen…etc. Example: [NP(only
H
num two) were selected.]
(e) A genitive phrase: NP(GPHmine), NP(GPHjohn’s) (see (ex: 7) above)

MODIFIERS of NP
There are two types of modifiers, as you may have noticed in the
sentences above (1-7). Those that precede the head and they are called
Premodifiers and those that follow the head and they are called
postmodifiers

1) PREMODIFIERS

In an NP, the premodifiers are placed before the Head N. They may be:

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a) Determiners (=Det): ‘the’: (DetMthe NHcat); ‘this’: (DetMthis NHman), …

- Determiners introduce noun phrases and function as modifiers. They
are sometimes obligatory, especially when the head of an NP is a
singular count noun. For example (the cat) scratched (the dog) is ok,
but *(cat) scratched (dog) is not a grammatical combination in English.
- Determiners are: the, a/an, this, that, these, those, all, some, any,
no, every, each, either, neither, one, several, enough, such, many,
much, more, most, (a) few, fewer, fewest, (a) little, less, least, what,
which, whatever, whichever, half.
b) Enumerators: NP (numMfour H M
N students); NP (Det the
M
num first
H
N stage)…
c) Adjectives: (DetMa AjMblack NHpen); (DetMa AjMnice NHgirl); (AjMolder
H
N man)…
d) Adjective phrases (AjP): (a AjPM(very nice) NHgirl)
e) Nouns: (DetMa NMsilver NHring); (DetMan NMoak NHtree); (NMLondon
H
N pubs) ...
f) Genitive phrases (GP): (GPM(John’s) NHcar) (GPM(his) problem)…

2) POSTMODIFIERS

In an NP, the postmodifiers are placed after the Head N. They may be:

a) Prepositional phrases (PP): (DetMthe NHpresident PPM(of the

association)); (DetMthe NHlady PPM(in white)); (of the association) and
(in white) are PPs, that is phrases that are composed of a preposition
(in, on, under, above, between, at, across, over…) and an NP.
b) Relative clauses: the head of an NP may be postmodified by a whole
clause. ex: NP(the person who was receiving medical care) this is an
NP that comprises a N (=person) functioning as the Head of the NP
and a postmodifiers which has the structure of a simple sentence
(=one-clause sentence); that is: CL [NP(ProHwho) VP(was receiving) NP(Aj
Mmedical H
N care)]
c) Adjectives: (NHsomething AjMbad) (NHsomething AjMnasty PPM(in the
woodshed)). In an NP, when the Head is an indefinite pronoun like
‘something’, adjectives follow the head N and never precede it.
Compare (a nasty boy), but not (a boy nasty); conversely, (something
nasty), but not (nasty something). So in the first case (Mnasty Hboy) Aj
is a premodifier, wheareas in the second case Aj is a postmodifier
(Hsomething Mnasty)

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Postmodification and subordinate phrases

The idea of main and subordinate clauses is familiar; but here we will
introduce the same distinction for phrases. A main phrase is one which is
a direct constituent of a clause (a necessary component of the sentence,
since every sentence must have a subject, and only NPs can be subjects),
and not part of another phrase, while subordinate phrases are those
which are part of other phrases. For example (the lady in black) is an NP
in which there are two phrases: (the lady) which is the main phrase, and
it is a direct constituent of a sentence like: [the lady is very polite], while
(in black) is not a direct constituent of the sentence: *[in black is very
polite] is not a sentence in English. Rather, (in black) is a phrase (=PP)
within another phrase (NP) with the purpose of modifying (=specifying,
adding information about) ‘lady’; it is directly related to ‘lady’, whereas
(the lady) is an essential constituent of the sentence.

Actually, in postmodification there is in principle no limit to the length of

NPs. These may be indefinitely long. For example: (the president of the
association of handicapped); this NP can be expanded over and over. (the
president) is the main phrase, (of the association) is a PP that
postmodifies the head N ‘president’ and (of handicapped) is subordinate
to (of the association) postmodifying ‘association’.

Consider the following example where bracketing proves very useful:

(the Hgirl (by the table (with the carved legs)))

Here the PP (by the table) postmodifies the head N ‘girl’ (=it is the girl
who is sitting by the table); the PP (with carved legs), on the other hand,
describes the table (= it is the table which has carved legs, not the girl).
Notice that (by the table) is not enclosed between two brackets, there is
only one bracket at its left; this means that the PP (with the carved legs) is
directly related to ‘table’; it modifies ‘table’ not girl. Sometimes,
postmodifying PPs in an NP may all modify the head noun of the NP. For
example:

(the girl PP(by the table) PP(with the sunburnt legs))

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Here manifestly the PP (with the sunburnt legs) does not modify ‘table’,
but ‘girl’. Notice that the PP (by the table) is, now, enclosed between two
brackets; this means that both PPs modify ‘girl’ (i.e. the girl is sitting by
the table and she has sunburnt legs).

FUNCTION: in the clause, NPs function (=act) as subject (S), as object (O),
or complement (C). However, some NPs of time and place can act as
Adverbials:
[ S MThe Hhouse) Mquite Hempty].
NP (Det N VP(was) AjP(Av Aj NP=S
[NPS (ProHWe) (have bought) NPO(DetMthe NHhouse)]. NP=O
[NPS (ProHShe) VP(must be) NPC(the dean)]. NP=C
[NPS(we) VP(walked) NPA(five miles) NPA(last week)]. NP=A

2. Prepositional phrases (PP)

Structure: prepositional phrases are essentially noun phrases (NPs) with

an initial preposition (p) such as of; in; on; under…they have exactly the
same structures as NPs, except that they are introduced by a preposition.
Thus: PP = p NP
Ex: PP(pon NPMonday), PP(pin NPthe room), PP(pby NPtrain), PP(punder
NPthe table)
Note that normally prepositions are inseparable from the head and
modifiers which follow them. However, there are cases in which the
preposition may be separated from the following NP. For example:
(problems [PPA(with which) NP(one) VP(must live)]
(problems [NP(which) NP(one) VP(must live) p(with)]

Function: in the clause PPs act as adverbials (A) (to not confuse with
adverbs (Av) or adverb phrases (AvP)). As it is, Adverbial (A) is a function.
Example: [PP A(By Monday) (we) (had arrived) PP A(by train)].

3. Adjective phrases (AjP):

Structure: the head of an adjective phrase (AjP) is an adjective (Aj). An
adjective may be simple (big), comparative (bigger), or superlative
(biggest).

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Premodifiers are always adverbs, usually adverbs of degree (extremely,

rather, too, very, fairly, quite).
Postmodifiers can be either adverbs like “indeed”, “enough” or PPs. Here
are some examples:
AjP (AvMvery Hnice
Aj Av
Mindeed); AjP (AjHnice Menough);
Av AjP
(AvMrather AvMtoo AjHhot PPM (for comfort))
Certain kinds of clauses may function as postmodifiers in an adjective
phrase. For example:
AjP (AjHyounger CLM[than I thought])

4. Adverb phrases (AvP):

Structure: the head of an adverb phrase (AvP) is an adverb (Av).

Otherwise, the structure of an adverb phrase is the same as that of an
adjective phrase. For example: AvP (AvHquickly); (AvMtoo Av
H
quickly),

AvP (AvMmore H
AV quickly PPM(pthan last year)

5. Verb phrases (VP):

Structure: a verb phrase (VP) may contain just the main verb (=full verb)
(Mv), which corresponds to the head of the VP; for example (walked),
(eats)…etc; or a main verb preceded by auxiliaries (Aux): (has walked),
(has been walking), (was walking)… note that auxiliaries, just like
modifiers in the preceding phrases (NP, PP, AjP, AvP), are optional
elements in the verb phrase. The term ‘Aux’ refers to ‘have’
(Perf=perfect), ‘be’ (Prog=progressive) and ‘modals’ (m).

Note:

- the elements of the VP can only occur in a strict order; for example,
‘could have worked’ and ‘had been waiting’ are grammatical
combinations, but *have could worked and *been had waiting are not.
‘m’ always come before ‘Perf’, which comes before ‘Prog’, which itself
comes before Mv.
- Each auxiliary (Aux) determines the form of the verb which follows it,
e.g. ‘has worked’ occurs but not ‘has working’.

At the most general level the structure of the VP is:

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VP({Aux} {Aux} {Aux} Mv). Here are some examples:

VP(Mv talk);

VP(Auxis Mvtalking);

VP(Auxhas Mvtalked);

VP(Auxmust Mvtalk).

VP(Auxhas Auxbeen Mvtalking);

VP(Aux must Auxbe Mvtalking).

VP(Auxmust Auxhave Auxbeen Mvtalking);

Function: In a clause, VPs always function as predicates (P). Thus:

[John P(has been working) all day long]; [most people P

VP VP (love)
chocolate]…

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