Durán 2017 An Introductory Course in English Grammar PDF

An Introductory Course in
English Grammar
José Manuel DURÁN

Picture on cover: “Amanecer” by Pablo Corletti (2008), exhibited at International Fair of Contemporary Art, Madrid Estampa.
If you are writing in English, you are following a tradition. The language itself is a
tradition. (di Giovanni, Halpern & MacShane, 1973:74)
To Sol, Agustín, Miguel and Francisco

Contents
Contents ................................................................................................................. i
List of Tables .............................................................................................................. vii
List of Figures ............................................................................................................ viii
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... x
Abbreviations............................................................................................................... xi
Conventions ............................................................................................................. xiii
Part I: Finite Clauses

Chapter 1: Approaches to Grammar .......................................................................... 1
1.1. Outline ..................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Basic Definitions ..................................................................................... 1
1.2.1. Definitions of Language ..................................................................................... 1
1.2.2. Definitions of Grammar ..................................................................................... 2
1.3. The Approach Taken in this Book ............................................................ 3
1.4. Aim of the Book ...................................................................................... 3
1.5. The Study of English Grammar ................................................................ 4
1.6. Structure of the Book ............................................................................... 5
1.7. Further Reading ....................................................................................... 7
Chapter 2: Sentences and Clauses ............................................................................. 8
2.1. Outline ..................................................................................................... 8
2.2. Structural Hierarchy ................................................................................. 8
2.3. Types of Sentences .................................................................................. 9
2.4. Clause Connectors ................................................................................. 12
2.5. Finite and Non-Finite Verbs ................................................................... 12
2.6. Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Sentences........................................................... 14
2.7. Tests for Constituency ........................................................................... 15
2.8. Summary ............................................................................................... 17
2.9. Further Reading ..................................................................................... 18
2.10. Exercises ............................................................................................... 18
Chapter 3: Subject and Predicate ............................................................................. 20
3.1. Outline ................................................................................................... 20
3.2. Clauses and Phrases ............................................................................... 20
3.3. Functions and Categories ....................................................................... 21
3.4. Separation into Subject and Predicate .................................................... 22
3.5. Anticipatory Subject .............................................................................. 26
3.6. Categories of the Subject ....................................................................... 27
3.7. Categories of the Predicate ..................................................................... 28
3.8. Summary ............................................................................................... 29
3.9. Further Reading ..................................................................................... 29
3.10. Exercises ............................................................................................... 29
Chapter 4: Structure of the Subject .......................................................................... 32
4.1. Outline ................................................................................................... 32
4.2. Head ...................................................................................................... 32
4.3. Premodifier ............................................................................................ 33
4.4. Postmodifier .......................................................................................... 34
4.5. Apposition ............................................................................................. 36
4.6. Adjectival Complements ........................................................................ 38
4.7. Summary ............................................................................................... 39
4.8. Further Reading ..................................................................................... 39
4.9. Exercises ............................................................................................... 39
Chapter 5: Structure of the Predicate ....................................................................... 41
5.1. Outline ................................................................................................... 41
5.2. Verbal Group ......................................................................................... 41
5.3. Direct Object ......................................................................................... 43
5.4. Indirect Object ....................................................................................... 44
5.5. Complement .......................................................................................... 45
5.5.1. Subjective Complement .................................................................................... 45
5.5.2. Objective Complement ..................................................................................... 46
5.6. Adjunct .................................................................................................. 47
5.7. Sentence Adjunct ................................................................................... 48
5.7.1 Conjunct. .......................................................................................................... 48
5.7.2. Disjunct ............................................................................................................ 50
5.8. Predicative Adjunct................................................................................ 50
5.9. Agent ..................................................................................................... 51
5.10. Adjectival Complement ......................................................................... 51
5.11. Sample Analysis .................................................................................... 52
5.12. Summary ............................................................................................... 53
5.13. Further Reading ..................................................................................... 53
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5.14. Exercises ............................................................................................... 53
Chapter 6: Adverbial Clauses .................................................................................. 55
6.1. Outline ................................................................................................... 55
6.2. Adverbial Clauses .................................................................................. 55
6.3. Adverbial Clauses with No Subordinating Conjunction .......................... 57
6.4. Application ............................................................................................ 58
6.5. Position of Adjuncts............................................................................... 59
6.6. Summary ............................................................................................... 60
6.7. Further Reading ..................................................................................... 61
6.8. Exercises ............................................................................................... 61
Chapter 7: Nominal Clauses .................................................................................... 62
7.1. Outline ................................................................................................... 62
7.2. Types of Nominal Clauses ..................................................................... 62
7.3. Categories and Functions of Connectors ................................................ 63
7.4. Syntactic Functions of Nominal Clauses ................................................ 64
7.5. Differences between Two Types of Nominal Clauses............................. 66
7.6. Categories of Connectors in Clauses Class II ......................................... 67
7.7. Omission of That ................................................................................... 67
7.8. Differences between Adverbial and Nominal Clauses ............................ 69
7.9. Summary ............................................................................................... 69
7.10. Further Reading ..................................................................................... 70
7.11. Exercises ............................................................................................... 70
Chapter 8: Relative Clauses .................................................................................... 72
8.1. Outline ................................................................................................... 72
8.2. Relative Clauses .................................................................................... 72
8.3. Structural Embeddedness ....................................................................... 75
8.4. Syntactic Functions of Relative Clauses ................................................. 76
8.5. Relative Connector As............................................................................ 78
8.6. Summary ............................................................................................... 79
8.7. Further Reading ..................................................................................... 79
8.8. Exercises ............................................................................................... 79
Part II: Non-Finite Clauses

Chapter 9: Infinitival Clauses .................................................................................. 83
9.1. Outline ................................................................................................... 83
9.2. Preposition to vs. Infinitival Marker to ................................................... 83
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9.3. Types of Infinitival Clauses ................................................................... 84
9.4. Syntactic Functions of Full Infinitival Clauses ....................................... 85
9.5. Features of Infinitival Clauses ................................................................ 87
9.6. Syntax of Infinitival Clauses .................................................................. 87
9.7. Summary ............................................................................................... 92
9.8. Further Reading ..................................................................................... 93
9.9. Exercises ............................................................................................... 93
Chapter 10: Gerundial Clauses .................................................................................. 94
10.1. Outline ................................................................................................... 94
10.2. From Nominals to Gerunds .................................................................... 94
10.3. Degrees of Nominalisation of the Ing-Forms .......................................... 95
10.3.1. Complete Nominalisation ................................................................................. 95
10.3.2. Partial Nominalisation ...................................................................................... 96
10.3.3. Gerundial Clauses ............................................................................................ 97
10.4. Syntax of Gerundial Clauses .................................................................. 98
10.5. Summary ............................................................................................. 100
10.6. Further Reading ................................................................................... 101
10.7. Exercises ............................................................................................. 101
Chapter 11: Participial Clauses ............................................................................... 102
11.1. Outline ................................................................................................. 102
11.2. The Concept of Participle..................................................................... 102
11.3. The Syntax of Participial Clauses ......................................................... 103
11.4. Summary ............................................................................................. 106
11.5. Further Reading ................................................................................... 106
11.6. Exercises ............................................................................................. 106
Part III: Categories

Chapter 12: Nouns and Pronouns ............................................................................ 111
12.1. Outline ................................................................................................. 111
12.2. General Concepts on Words and Categories ......................................... 111
12.3. Nouns .................................................................................................. 113
12.4. Classification of Nouns ........................................................................ 113
12.5. Pronouns .............................................................................................. 115
12.6. Classification of Pronouns ................................................................... 116
12.6.1. Personal Pronouns .......................................................................................... 116
12.6.2. Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns ................................................................ 116
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12.6.3. Possessive Pronouns ...................................................................................... 118
12.6.4. Demonstrative Pronouns ................................................................................ 118
12.6.5. Relative Pronouns .......................................................................................... 119
12.6.6. Nominal Relative and Wh-Focused Pronouns ................................................. 119
12.6.7. Indefinite Pronouns ........................................................................................ 120
12.7. Summary ............................................................................................. 121
12.8. Further Reading ................................................................................... 121
12.9. Exercises ............................................................................................. 122
Chapter 13: Adjectives and Determiners ................................................................. 124
13.1. Outline ................................................................................................. 124
13.2. Adjectives ............................................................................................ 124
13.3. Classification of Adjectives ................................................................. 127
13.4. Determiners ......................................................................................... 127
13.5. Selectional Restrictions ........................................................................ 128
13.6. Classification of Determiners ............................................................... 129
13.7. Summary ............................................................................................. 130
13.8. Further Reading ................................................................................... 131
13.9. Exercises ............................................................................................. 131
Chapter 14: Verbs and Auxiliaries .......................................................................... 133
14.1. Outline ................................................................................................. 133
14.2. Verbal Group ....................................................................................... 133
14.3. Auxiliaries ........................................................................................... 134
14.4. The Operator........................................................................................ 135
14.5. Selectional Restrictions ........................................................................ 138
14.6. Main or Lexical Verbs ......................................................................... 139
14.7. Transitive and Intransitive Uses of Verbs ............................................. 142
14.8. Classification of Intransitive Verbs ...................................................... 144
14.8.1. Auxiliary Selection ........................................................................................ 145
14.8.2. Possibility of Appearing in Causative Constructions ....................................... 146
14.8.3. Possibility of Appearing in Resultative Constructions..................................... 147
14.8.4. Selectional Restrictions on Animate Arguments ............................................. 148
14.8.5. Admissibility of Expletive There .................................................................... 148
14.8.6. Acceptability of Attributive Participial Adjectives .......................................... 149
14.9. Phrasal Verbs vs. Prepositional Verbs .................................................. 149
14.10. Summary ............................................................................................. 152
14.11. Further Reading ................................................................................... 152
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14.12. Exercises ............................................................................................. 153
Chapter 15: Adverbs ............................................................................................... 156
15.1. Outline ................................................................................................. 156
15.2. Adverbs ............................................................................................... 156
15.3. Syntactic Functions of Adverbs............................................................ 157
15.4. Classification of Adverbs ..................................................................... 157
15.4.1. Semantic Classification of Adverbs ................................................................ 157
15.4.2. Classification of Adverbs According to Scope ................................................ 158
15.4.3. Classification of Adverbs According to Position ............................................. 159
15.5. Order of Adverbs and Adverbial Expressions ....................................... 160
15.6. Summary ............................................................................................. 160
15.7. Further Reading ................................................................................... 161
15.8. Exercises ............................................................................................. 161
Chapter 16: Prepositions and Conjunctions ............................................................. 162
16.1. Outline ................................................................................................. 162
16.2. Prepositions ......................................................................................... 162
16.3. Categories of the Object to the Preposition ........................................... 163
16.4. Functions of the Prepositional Phrase ................................................... 163
16.5. Classifications of Prepositions ............................................................. 164
16.6. Semantic Classification of Prepositions ................................................ 165
16.7. Conjunctions ........................................................................................ 165
16.8. Classification of Conjunctions ............................................................. 165
16.9. Prepositions vs. Conjunctions .............................................................. 166
16.10. Summary ............................................................................................. 167
16.11. Further Reading ................................................................................... 167
16.12. Exercises ............................................................................................. 167
Chapter 17: Perspectives on Grammar .................................................................... 169
17.1. Language as Science ............................................................................ 169
References ............................................................................................................ 172
Index ............................................................................................................ 182
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List of Tables
2.1 Finite Verbs in Sentences of Extract 2.1 ................................................................. 9

2.2 Symbols for Sentences and Clauses ...................................................................... 11
2.3 Features of the Finite Forms ................................................................................. 13
2.4 Syntactic Analysis of Example 2.17...................................................................... 13
3.1 English Personal Pronominal System .................................................................... 24
3.2 Expletives and categories of Anticipatory Subject ................................................. 27
4.1 Order of Adjectives .............................................................................................. 34
8.1 Connectors in Relative Clauses ............................................................................ 73
10.1 Differences between the Analyses of Examples 10.38 and 10.39 ........................... 99
11.1 Syntactic Functions of Gerunds and Participles ................................................... 103
12.1 Classification and Examples of Affixes .............................................................. 112
12.2 English Personal Pronominal System .................................................................. 116
12.3 Reflexive Pronominal System ............................................................................ 117
12.4 Possessive Pronouns .......................................................................................... 118
12.5 Demonstrative Pronouns .................................................................................... 119
12.6 Indefinite Pronouns ............................................................................................ 121
13.1 Determiners from their Countability and Number Properties ............................... 128
14.1 Variants of Regular Verbs .................................................................................. 139
14.2 Variants of Irregular Verbs ................................................................................. 139
14.3 Variants of Verb Be............................................................................................ 140
16.1 Coordinating Conjunctions ................................................................................. 166
List of Figures
2.1 Extract 2.1 ............................................................................................................. 9

2.2 Higher Structural Hierarchy of Extract 2.1 ............................................................ 11
2.3 Extract 2.2 ........................................................................................................... 14
3.1 Difference between Clauses and Phrases .............................................................. 21
3.2 Extract 3.1 ........................................................................................................... 22
4.1 Extract 4.1 ........................................................................................................... 33
4.2 Structure of the Noun Phrase ................................................................................ 34
4.3 Syntactic Analysis of Example 4.6 ....................................................................... 35
4.5 Types of Apposition ............................................................................................. 37
4.6 Markers of Apposition ......................................................................................... 38
5.1 Structural Functions in the Predicate..................................................................... 43
5.2 Classification of Conjuncts ................................................................................... 49
5.3 Syntactic Analysis of Predicates ........................................................................... 52
6.2 Syntactic Analysis of a Subordinating Clause ....................................................... 56
6.3 Extract 6.1 ........................................................................................................... 58
6.4 Analysis of a Subordinating Clause ...................................................................... 58
6.7 Adjuncts in Initial Position ................................................................................... 60
7.1 Types of Nominal Clauses.................................................................................... 63
7.2 Syntactic Analysis of a Nominal Clause ............................................................... 63
7.3 Syntactic Analysis of a Nominal Clause ............................................................... 63
7.4 Transitive Verbs that Take Nominal Clauses as DO .............................................. 65
7.5 Nouns that Take Nominal Clauses as Apposition .................................................. 65
8.2 Complete Syntactic Analysis of Example 8.23 ...................................................... 76
8.3 Syntactic Analysis of the Relative Clause in Example 8.24 ................................... 77
9.1 Extract 9.1 ........................................................................................................... 83
9.6 Partial Syntactic Analysis of Example 9.38 ........................................................... 90
9.8 Partial Syntactic Analysis of Example 9.40 ........................................................... 91
9.9 Modalised Analysis of Example 9.40.................................................................... 92
9.10 Traditional Analysis of Example 9.40 ................................................................... 92
10.1 Extract 10.1 ......................................................................................................... 94
10.2 Syntactic Analysis of Examples 10.21 .................................................................. 97
10.3 Structure of Gerundial Clauses ............................................................................. 97
10.4 Syntactic Analysis of Example 10.38.................................................................... 98
10.7 Syntactic Analysis of Example 10.41.................................................................. 100
11.1 Extract 11.1 ....................................................................................................... 104
11.3 Summary of Present Participial Clauses .............................................................. 105
12.1 List of Different Words in a Sentence ................................................................. 111
12.2 Classification of Nouns ...................................................................................... 114
12.3 Classification of Pronouns .................................................................................. 115
13.1 Common Adjectival Suffixes.............................................................................. 124
13.2 Comparative and Superlative Suffixes ................................................................ 125
13.3 Adjectives with Negative Prefixes ...................................................................... 125
13.4 Adjectives Ending in ly ...................................................................................... 125
14.1 Extract 14.1 ....................................................................................................... 133
14.2 Analysis of Example 14.13................................................................................. 135
14.3 Syntactic Classification of Verbs ........................................................................ 140
14.4 Examples of Verb Types .................................................................................... 140
14.5 Syntax of a Prepositional Verb ........................................................................... 151
14.6 Syntax of an Intransitive Phrasal Verb ................................................................ 151
14.7 Syntax of a Transitive Phrasal Verb .................................................................... 151
14.8 Syntax of a Phrasal Prepositional Verb ............................................................... 152
16.1 Structural Classification of Prepositions ............................................................. 164
16.2 Representation of Prepositions of Place .............................................................. 165
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Pablo Corletti for permission to include his work in the cover of this
book.
I wish to express gratitude for permission to include sentences or extracts from the
following copyrighted material:
Howard Jacobson, Claire Weatherhead and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for an
extract from Jacobson, H. (2010). The Finkler Question. New York & London:
Bloomsbury Plc. David Berreby for sentences from Berreby, D. (2005). Us and Them:
Understanding your Tribal Mind. New York & Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Roman Rossi Pool and Gabriel Mato for their abstract of Rossi Pool, R. & Mato, G.
(2011). Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity and Reliability Optimization: The Role of
Neuron Dynamics. Neural Computation, Vol. 23, N° 7: 1768-1789. Paul Baker for
sentences from Baker, P. (2011). Times May Change, But We Will Always Have
Money: Diachronic Variation in Recent British English. Journal of English Linguistics
39(1) 65–88. Michael Ondaatje, Ellen Levine and Brittany Lloyd for an extract and
sample sentences from Ondaatje, M. (2007). Divisadero. New York: Vintage Books.
Beth Levin for example 2b on Levin, B. and Rappaport Hovav, M. (2004:480). The
Semantic Determinants of Argument Expression: A View from the English Resultative
Construction. In Guéron, J. and Lecarme, J. (Eds.) The Syntax of Time. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: The MIT Press. J. M. Coetzee, Marigol Atkey and Anthony Goff from
David Higham for an extract from Coetzee, J. M. (2003). Elizabeth Costello. New
York: Viking. Edwin H. Gaylord Jr. for an extract from Gaylord, E. H. & Gaylord, C.
N. (Eds.) (1968:6-37). Structural Engineering Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Every effort has been made to trace all holders of copyrighted material.
However, if any has been overlooked, we will be delighted to make the necessary
arrangements without delay.
Abbreviations
A Adjunct DO Direct Object

AA Adverbial Adjunct ditv ditransitive Verb
AACp Adverbial Adjunct of dradv defining relative adverb
Company drc defining relative clause
AAM Adverbial Adjunct of Manner drd defining relative determiner
AAP Adverbial Adjunct of Place drpr defining relative pronoun
AASM Adverbial Adjunct of Subject ec empty category
Matter expl expletive
AAT Adverbial Adjunct of Time g gap
adj adjective ger gerund
Adj C Adjectival Complement ger cl gerundial clause
adj p adjectival phrase H Head
adv adverb icc illative coordinating
adv cl adverbial clause conjunction
adv cc adversative coordinating IO Indirect Object
conjunction ic infinitival clause
adv p adverbial Phrase IM Infinitival Marker
AF Adjunct of Frequency int interjection
Ag Agent i phr v intransitive phrasal verb
alt cc alternative coordinating iv intransitive verb
conjunction Loc DO Locative Direct Object
AN Adjunct of Negation mod aux modal auxiliary
ant it anticipatory it mv main verb
Ant S Anticipatory Subject n noun
ant there anticipatory there n cl noun clause
AP Adjunct of Place nd negative determiner
APp Adjunct of Purpose N or Log S Notional or Logical Subject
App Apposition np noun phrase
AR Adjunct of Reason nrc nominal relative clause
art article NRA Non-Restrictive Apposition
AT Adjunct of Time nrpr nominal relative pronoun
aux pass auxiliary for the passive voice OC Objective Complement
aux perf asp auxiliary for the perfective O/P Object to the Preposition
aspect pass passive voice
aux prog asp auxiliary for the progressive PAdj Predicative Adjunct
aspect pd predeterminer
bi bare infinitive P Predicate
b inf cl bare infinitival clause p Preposition
cd central determiner part cl participial clause
c clause PM Premodifier
C Complement poss adj possessive adjective
comp compound post d postdeterminer
Conj Conjunct PostM Postmodifier
Cx S Complex Sentence pp prepositional phrase
CCx S Compound Complex Sentence pr pronoun
Cp S Compound Sentence prep v prepositional verb
conj conjunction pr p pronominal phrase
cc coordinating conjunction rc relative clause
ccc cumulative coordinating R App Restrictive Apposition
conjunction RS Real Subject
cop v copulative verb S Subject
d adj demonstrative adjective SC Subjective Complement
d determiner sc subordinating conjunction
that n cl that-noun clause voc vocative
t phr p v transitive phrasal prepositional vp verbal phrase
verb wh-adv wh-adverb
t phr v transitive phrasal verb wh-fncl wh-focused noun clause
tv transitive verb wh-fpr wh-focused pronoun
v verb wh/if ncl whether/if noun clause
vg verbal group
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Conventions
 Initial Capitals are used to indicate syntactic functions, e.g. Subject, Direct
Object.
 low-case letters are used for grammatical categories, e.g. noun, defining relative
clause.
 SMALL CAPITALS are used for semantic categories, e.g. THEME, AGENT.
 Bold font is used for first mention of a technical term.

 Italic font is used for grammatical and lexical items and examples cited in the
body of the text, as in:
Similarly, in the fourth sentence, the only finite form of a verb is the
plural past form were, which agrees with the only nominal expression the
streets in the sentence.
 Underlined elements are focused items in an example, as in:
4.3. results from a grammaticality judgement task
 Bracketed suspensive point […] is used to indicate elided material from the
original source, as in:
In private transcripts of Kissinger’s conversations with Nixon – […] in
the midst of a new controversy about the U.S. role in the breakdown of
Chilean democracy – the two men exchange words about the coup.
 An asterisk * before an example indicates an ungrammatical example, as in:
3.15. *[(Them have been taken for a couple).]
 A bracketed number after an example indicates the page number in the cited
source, as in:
5.52 [(For neuroscientists and psychologists, there is no conundrum
there).] (102)
 [Square brackets] are used for sentences.
 (Curved brackets) are used for main clauses.
 <Angular brackets> are used for subordinating clauses.
Part I
Finite Clauses
.
Chapter 1: Approaches to Grammar
But, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.
(Shakespeare, 1601, 1.2.277)
1.1. Outline
This chapter starts with some basic definitions of language and Grammar from different
approaches together with a very succinct discussion of their main tenets. Section 1.3
outlines the approach chosen in this book and the reasons for such a choice. Finally, the
aims of the book, the approach chosen to the study of English Grammar and the
structure of the book are given in subsequent sections.
1.2. Basic Definitions
We will start this work with some basic definitions given by linguists, grammarians and
practitioners that adopt different and to some extent conflicting approaches to language
and grammar.
1.2.1. Definitions of Language
 Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating
ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols (Sapir
1921:8).
 Language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of a finite set of elements (Chomsky 1957:13).
 Language is a network of systems, or interrelated sets of options for making
meaning (Halliday 1994:15).
The first definition above can probably be considered an instrumental one. It contains a
word that my students frequently mention when I ask them what language is on the first
class of every course I teach. This word is communicate, communication, or some
variant of it. So language is used for communication. This is said to be the traditional
view of language. For Sapir, first a linguist and then an anthropologist, language is used
exclusively by human beings to communicate with each other through certain symbols 1.
The second definition, changes the approach to language radically. In mid-
twentieth century, linguist Noam Chomsky revolutionised the study of language when
1
Sapir first studied Comparative Linguistics between European languages and later did research on oral
American Indian languages, from which he developed the concept of phoneme.
.
Approaches to Grammar
he focused on the acquisition of language by an ideal native speaker of his/her mother

tongue through a scientific approach. Thus, for Chomsky it is central to comprehend
both the principles and parameters of a universal2 Grammar and how a speaker of a
certain language can understand and generate novel sentences of his/her language out of
a limited set of elements. This new theory of language, later evolved into what was later
called the generative perspective, is focused on one aspect of language, namely syntax,
which is the science that deals with the arrangement of words into sentences.
Conversely, Halliday, who also published his earliest works in the 1960s, is
interested in the social aspects of language. He has extensively argued that users of a
certain language make and create meaning by choosing, most of the times,
unconsciously, how to express themselves. Speakers systematically make choices out of
the possible alternatives available in language and it is the task of the linguist, Halliday
argues, to unveil what the systems are, what the choices made are and for what purpose.
Thus the third definition above adopts a functional approach to language that differs
strikingly from the other perspectives and consequently leads to contrastive approaches
to Grammar.
1.2.2. Definitions of Grammar
 Grammar is the study of morphology, which deals with the form of words, and
syntax, which deals with the arrangement of words into sentences (Collins &
Hollo 2000:3)
 The grammar of a language is to be thought of as a device of some sort for
producing the sentences of the language under analysis (Chomsky 1957:13).
 A grammar is a collection of descriptive statements concerning sentences
understood independently of the mind (Chomsky 1986:20).
 Grammar is the study of the paradigmatic aspects of language – language as a
meaningful choice between oppositions, where meaning is the function of a unit
in a context (Brisard, Östman & Verschueren 2009:5).
 Grammar is the natural, inherent, meaning-making system of the language, a
system that governs the way words come together to form meanings; grammar is
also the study of that system, the various theories or perspectives that attempt to
understand and describe it (Hancock 2005:6).
We can see that the three different conceptualisations of language lead to three different
approaches to Grammar. The traditional approach, expressed in the first definition,
considers that Grammar in its narrow sense is devoted to the study of morphology and
syntax. Grammar in a broader sense also includes the branch of phonology, which
covers the sound-system of the language; and semantics, whose subject matter is
meaning in language. For Chomsky, however, Grammar is equated with Syntax, the
science that focuses on the generation or derivation of sentences. The phrase
independently of the mind in the third definition refers to the operations produced in the
2
The claim that there must exist a universal Grammar with principles common to all languages can be
tracked down in very traditional approaches to Grammar (Lowth 1799:1). Even earlier, Priestley
(1762:32) posits the existence of universal rules applied to as different languages as Latin, Hebrew,
Chinese and others. In a literary source, Universal Grammar is mentioned at least as early as the XVIII
century in Swift (1726:175).
José DURÁN
2
brain in ideal situations, irrespective of its actual use or performance. On the contrary,
the last two definitions of Grammar concentrate on meaning in its actual use depending
on the actual contexts of occurrence. For functionalist grammarians, meaning is
understood as a choice between alternative elements available in the language, and it is
– or should be – the main concern of Grammar.
1.3. The Approach Taken in this Book
In this first volume, I will follow the traditional approach to Grammar based on both
historical and methodological reasons. First, the study of English Grammar from the
traditional approach has its origins in the study of Greek rhetoric, which has been
applied to English at least since the seventeenth century (Kerl 1861). Traditional
Grammar has been the prevailing perspective even in most part of the twentieth century.
So much so that the works by Nesfield (1898), Poustma (1929) and Jespersen (1933)
among others are resumed in much later publications such as probably the most
extensive treatment of English Grammar so far (Quirk et al 1985). Even at the turn of
the XXI century, Biber et al (1999), a detailed description of both spoken and written
English with extensive support from corpus analyses; and the recent book by Lockwood
(2002), for example, follow a traditional perspective.
Besides, Corpus Linguistics, a branch of Linguistics that has advanced a great
deal in the latest years and is still very promising, follows, in most cases, a traditional
approach. The advent of technological devices and the development of computer
programs have helped to make considerable progress in Corpus Linguistics. Yet, most
automatic annotating and parsing programs, once tested work well enough under the
traditional approach but with severe limitations so far under the generative or functional
perspective and still require additional manual intervention (Moore 2011).
Furthermore, introductory sources that follow the generative or functional
approaches aimed at undergraduate students assume a certain command of the
traditional one. For example, the generativists Radford (1997) and Carnie (2013) and
the functionalists Eggins (2004) and Thompson (2014) presuppose knowledge of and
hence provide little information of traditional notions such as Subject and Direct
Object. Similarly, those who take a traditional perspective as a point of departure
(Coffin et al 2009) fall short of reaching an adequate level of description.
Therefore, the approach chosen in this first volume is the traditional one,
although advances produced in the past fifty years cannot be neglected and have been
adapted to the traditional framework3. After reading this book, the reader can – and
hopefully will – continue developing their studies to a more detailed level of delicacy
either within the traditional approach, or exploring alternative approaches to English
Grammar.
1.4. Aim of the Book
This book has arisen out of the need to present tertiary-level and university students
with a step-by-step but comprehensible introduction to English Grammar. I have
intended to make it accessible and student friendly while trying to systematically cover
all the grammatical concepts a student is expected to master. The main focus of the
3
For example, we will see in Part II of this book that non-finite constructions are no longer considered to
be phrases but clauses with or without an overt Subject.
José DURÁN
3
book in particular is English Syntax, though further connections with the Morphology
of English have also been given throughout, in particular in Part III of this work.
Additionally, some examples from languages other than English have occasionally been
given.
Besides, while the application of English syntax to real examples, both literary
and non-literary, both classic and modern, is one of my main concerns, I have tried to
include as strong links between theory and practice as possible. Thus, technical
definitions have been avoided unless strictly felt necessary. At the same time, real
examples from a variety of sources have been provided throughout with the addition of
invented examples when the need to focus on particular rather infrequent features arose.
This has not been a typical feature of works that follow the traditional approach but has
been an innovation of later works.
The intended audience of this book is originally students of English at tertiary
and university levels whose native language is Spanish. However, it is also expected
that the book can help teachers and researchers alike. Additionally, since the focus of
the book is the English language, the book can also be applied both by native speakers
of English and readers of other languages interested in English Grammar.
1.5. The Study of English Grammar
When a student enters university and starts his/her course of studies, he/she attends
introductory courses that naturally offer the basic notions of the subject matter focus of
study in a simplified way. However, it may be argued that the first classes overwhelm
the student with a great variety of technical terms. Additionally, different curricula,
courses or teachers do not necessarily agree on where to start. For example, biology and
anatomy are some of the first subjects that a student of medicine encounters. However,
while biology is traditionally studied following a bottom-up approach, the study of
anatomy tends to select a top-down approach. In biology, the starting point tends to be
the minimal unit that constitutes all other parts of a human body, namely the cell.
Different types of cells are introduced, their structure and functions are given, and from
there, the study progresses to more global structural components. Conversely, anatomy
takes as a point of departure, larger structural units, such as the circulatory system or the
digestive apparatus, to descend into their constitutive organs until their most elementary
structural elements are reached.
Similarly, the study of Grammar can progress from a bottom-up or a top-down
approach. Traditional Grammar textbooks have tended to prefer the former. Thus many
Traditional Grammar books have introductory units devoted to the typical categories of
Grammar such as nouns and verbs, their detailed classification and inflectional systems,
their regularities and irregularities. Once the whole grammatical categories have been
dealt with, larger structural units such as phrases or sentences are explored.
By contrast, I have chosen to write this book with a top-down approach. The
starting point is the structure of texts, or extracts of texts, to go down to the sentence,
the clause, the phrase and the word. This may represent a challenge for both the student
and the teacher but it is expected that the student can progress at a faster speed. Such an
approach requires a great deal of explanation at the beginning. At the same time,
however, it has proved to lead to fewer difficulties of analysis, which makes the study
of English Grammar a more appealing enterprise to the student and with more
José DURÁN
4
satisfactory results in the end. A further reason for choosing such an approach is that it
reflects the evolutionary process of acquisition of a first language or the learning of a
second language by an individual, which is probably what makes it a simpler
endeavour.
1.6. Structure of the Book
This book is divided into three parts. Part I, the longest; and Part II, the shortest, are
devoted to the syntax of English. Part III is concerned with the categories of English
Grammar. Part I consists of eight chapters that provide a concise but thorough
development of the syntax of finite clauses of English and constitute the scaffolding for
the more advanced topics seen in Part II, namely the analysis of non-finite clauses. Part
III is not necessarily a follow-up of the previous ones and can be read4 in a parallel
fashion to them, as the need arises.
Chapter 2 starts with the structural hierarchy of English Grammar from the
grammatical sentence, to the clause, the phrase or group, the word and the morpheme.
Then we introduce the concept of finite verbs to reach the traditional classification of
sentences in terms of the types of clauses that they contain. Some mention of the clause
connectors and their position is made and the non-finite counterparts of finite verbs are
introduced. Finally, we summarise some tests for constituency, which help determine
the structure of phrases. Chapter 3 is devoted to the separation into Subject and
Predicate, but first the differentiation between functions and categories needs to be
clarified. We have also introduced the concept of Anticipatory Subject to turn to the
possible categories of the Subject and of the Predicate.
In chapter 4, we have focused on the structure of the Subject and have given
succinct descriptions of the Head, the Premodifier, the Postmodifier and the Apposition
and the Adjectival Complement. This is considered to be vital for the analysis of every
structural element even within the Predicate, since many of them reflect the structural
hierarchy of Subjects because of the feature of recursivity of Grammar and of language
in general. In chapter 5, the focus is the structure of the Predicate. The starting point is
the difference between the verbal group and the verbal phrase, where auxiliaries are told
apart from main or lexical verbs, the concept of operator is introduced and a short
classification of verbs is given. Subsequent sections deal with the Direct Object, the
Indirect Object, the Complement – Subjective and Objective, the Adjunct and the
Sentence Adjunct – Conjunct and Disjunct, the Predicative Adjunct and the Agent.
Once this point is reached, a detailed sample analysis of a simple sentence is explained.
The remaining three chapters of Part I deal with the analysis of finite dependent
clauses, namely adverbial clauses, nominal clauses and relative clauses. Adverbial
clauses are unexceptionally the simplest and thus are seen first, in chapter 6. Adverbial
clauses are almost invariably introduced by subordinating conjunctions, with the only
exception of clauses of condition which have undergone inversion of order and clauses
of concession. The position of Adjuncts is briefly explained and exemplified at the end
of the chapter. Nominal clauses can be grouped into two classes that present two
different structural descriptions and are therefore treated in chapter 7. We have seen the
categories and functions of their connectors, the syntactic functions of the nominal
clauses and an elaboration of the difference between adverbial and nominal clauses.
4
In actual fact, it is advisable that students read Parts I and III in a parallel way.
José DURÁN
5
Finally, relative clauses are treated in chapter 8. Relative clauses are classified into non-
defining and defining. Defining relative clauses are instantiations of embedded clauses
and hence the concept of embeddedness needs to be introduced at this point. Finally, the
explanation of the use of the relative connector as closes the chapter and also Part I of
the book.
Part II of the book consists of three chapters that deal with the analysis of non-
finite clauses, namely infinitival clauses in chapter 9, gerundial clauses in chapter 10
and participial clauses in chapter 11. Chapter 9 begins with the differentiation between
preposition to and infinitival marker to, continues with the types of infinitival clauses
and the functions and further features of infinitival clauses, and finishes with a long
section on the syntax of infinitival clauses. Chapter 10 regards gerundial clauses as a
syntactic instance of deverbal clauses that have undergone different degrees of
nominalisation and is thus devoted to the syntax of gerundial clauses. Finally, chapter
11 has an introductory section on the concept of participle to turn to the syntax of
participial clauses and its contrasts with the gerundial clauses dealt with in chapter 10.
Part III is devoted to the categories of English Grammar. Lexical categories and
their functional counterparts are studied in a parallel fashion in subsequent chapters.
Chapter 12 introduces general features of words, lexemes and affixes, and turns to the
features and classification of nouns and pronouns. Chapter 13 unravels in a similar way
from adjectives to determiners, though it also develops the concept of selectional
restrictions, as this is sometimes problematic for students who are non-native speakers
of English.
Chapter 14, which deals with verbs and auxiliaries, is the longest of the book.
This is based on the grounds that the verb is the structural element on which the syntax
of clauses and sentences depends the most. The chapter specifies the verbal group, types
of auxiliaries, the special one called operator and its features, the selectional restrictions
imposed on subsequent elements and the classification of main verbs. To put it simply,
verbs can be copulative, transitive or intransitive. Still, after a deeper analysis, the big
grey area between transitive and intransitive verbs needs further elaboration. Finally, in
the same way as transitive verbs are traditionally subclassified, intransitive verbs are
also divided into unaccusative and unergative verbs.
Chapter 15 treats the mobile and rather disturbing lexical category of adverbs.
We study here their syntactic functions and outline a classification in terms of
semantics, scope and position. Finally, chapter 16 gives features and classification of
prepositions and conjunctions and owing to the fact that several multicategory words
can work as either prepositions or conjunctions, they are contrasted in a final section.
Each chapter in all three parts of the book starts with an outline of the main
concepts to be seen and ends with a summary of those topics. A further-reading section
has also been included in all the chapters, with suggestions for a more detailed and
advanced study. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that other authors frequently
use alternative terminology, which might generate certain confusion at times. Finally,
each chapter finishes with an exercise section arranged in a gradual progression from
the simplest to the most advanced.
José DURÁN
6
1.7. Further Reading

For types of Grammar, you can read chapter 1 of Berry (2012).Theories of Grammar are
treated from a diachronic perspective in Stuurman (1990). A well documented story-like
account of English Grammar is given in Part III of Crystal (1994), which covers from
its origins until part of the twentieth century. A more extensive selection of leading
theorists and evolution of theories on English Linguistics can be consulted in de
Beaugrande (2013). Different approaches to Grammar can be read at a basic level in
chapter 11 of Collins & Hollo (2000) and in chapter 1 of Coffin et al (2009). The study
of English Grammar following a top-down approach can be seen in chapter 4 of Hurford
(2012). Mair, C. and Leech, G. (2006) discuss advances in English Syntax. Johansson
(1991) provides one of the simplest accounts of Universal Grammar. A critical view on
the syntactocentric approach to Grammar is summarised in section 2.4 by Jackendoff
(2007).
José DURÁN
7
Chapter 2: Sentences and Clauses
Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him
till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
(Twain 1899)
2.1. Outline
In this chapter we will see the structural hierarchy of English Grammar, from texts to
morphemes. However, as our focus is the syntax of English sentences, we will
concentrate on the higher structure of sentences and clauses. We will classify the types
of sentences and clauses from the point of view of their structure; and we will introduce
the clause connectors, namely coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. For the
classification of sentences and clauses, we need to mention the concept of finite verbs
and therefore we will briefly introduce their non-finite counterparts. The chapter ends
with an overview of two particular types of sentences, cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences,
which are used as two of the constituency tests that are developed in the last section of
the chapter.
2.2. Structural Hierarchy
Texts are written or spoken following a certain structure so that readers or interlocutors
can understand them. If we focus on written texts, we will see that in general they are
divided into paragraphs – unless they are rather short. Every paragraph in itself is made
up of a number of sentences. Each sentence contains one or more clauses. Each clause is
made up of different phrases or groups. Each phrase or group consists of one or more
words. Each word is made up of one more morphemes. This structural hierarchy
constitutes what Halliday (1961) calls the rank scale of Grammar. Within this rank
scale, sentences and clauses comprise the highest structural units of syntax. Besides,
each clause can be divided into Subject and Predicate, which is the topic of the
following chapter. The structure of Subjects will be dealt with in Chapter 4 and that of
Predicates will be covered in Chapter 5.
For the time being, let us concentrate on the highest structural syntactic units of
a text, namely sentences and clauses. As an example I have chosen a short extract from
a novel by Julian Barnes.
.
Sentences and Clauses
I’m not very interested in my schooldays, and don’t feel any nostalgia for them. But
school is where it all began, so I need to return briefly to a few incidents that have
grown into anecdotes, to some approximate memories which time has deformed into
certainty. If I can’t be sure of the actual events any more, I can at least be true to the
impressions those facts left. That’s the best I can manage.
There were three of us, and he now made the fourth. We hadn’t expected to add
to our tight number: cliques and pairings had happened long before, and we were
already beginning to imagine our escape from school into life. His name was Adrian
Finn, a tall, shy boy who initially kept his eyes down and his mind to himself. For the
first day or two, we took little notice of him: at our school there was no welcoming
ceremony, let alone its opposite, the punitive induction. We just registered his presence
and waited.
BARNES, Julian (2011: 4). The Sense of an Ending. London: Vintage.
Figure 2.1: Extract 2.1
This extract is divided into two paragraphs, the first of which introduces the setting for
the novel, school. The second paragraph introduces the main character.
The next structural element in the hierarchy is the grammatical sentence. In
writing, each sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, a question
mark or an exclamation mark. The first paragraph of the above extract is made up of
four sentences and the second paragraph contains five sentences. Now we will turn to
the classification of sentences from the point of view of their structure, i.e., we will pay
attention to the types of clauses that constitute these sentences.
2.3. Types of Sentences
Sentences are structurally classified into four different types: simple sentence,
compound sentence, complex sentence and compound-complex sentence. Clauses can
be divided into main clauses and subordinating clauses. We will explain this from the
simpler to the more complex, taking examples from Extract 2.1 above. In order for us to
do this, we need to focus on the conjugated or finite verbs within each sentence. A
conjugated or finite verb is a verb that agrees with the Subject of its clause. Table 2.1
summarises the finite verbs and the number of finite verbs in each of the nine sentences
of the extract above.
Sentence Nº Finite
Finite Verbs
Nº Verbs
1 ’m; don’t feel 2
2 is; began; need; have grown; has deformed 5
3 can’t be; can […] be; left 3
4 ’s; can manage 2
5 There were; made 2
6 hadn’t expected; had happened; were […] beginning 3
7 was; kept 2
8 took; there was 2
9 registered; waited. 2
Table 2.1: Finite Verbs in Sentences of Extract 2.1
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9
If a sentence contains only one finite verb or two or more finite verbs whose Subject is
the very same expression, the sentence is said to be made up of only one clause and
therefore the sentence is said to be a simple sentence. For example, in the extract
above, sentences 1 and 9, reproduced below as Examples 2.1 and 2.2, are simple
sentences.
2.1. [(I’m not very interested in my schooldays, and don’t feel any nostalgia
for them).]
2.2. [(We just registered his presence and waited).]
In Example 2.1 above, the two finite verbs refer to the very same Subject, namely I.
This means that the person who am not very interested in my schooldays is I and the one
who don’t feel any nostalgia for them is the very same I. Thus we can say that this
sentence is made up of only one main clause and is therefore a simple sentence. In
Example 2.2 the finite verbs registered and waited refer to the same Subject we, so this
sentence is also made up of one main sentence and is therefore also a simple sentence.
Conversely, sentences 5, 6 and 8, repeated below as 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5 have more
than one finite verb each. These two or three verbs correspond to two or three different
Subjects, which means that these verbs belong in different clauses.
2.3. [(There were three of us,) and (he now made the fourth).]
2.4. [(We hadn’t expected to add to our tight number): (cliques and pairings
had happened long before,) and (we were already beginning to imagine
our escape from school into life).]
2.5. [(For the first day or two, we took little notice of him): (at our school
there was no welcoming ceremony, let alone its opposite, the punitive
induction).]
Sentences 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5 are made up of main or independent clauses and are thus
called compound sentences. The clauses in these three sentences can stand on their
own since they are independent from each other. They could have been written as
simple sentences with a full stop in between the clauses and still the meaning would not
have been affected, as is shown in Examples 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 below.
2.6. [(There were three of us).] [(He now made the fourth).]
2.7. [(We hadn’t expected to add to our tight number).] [(Cliques and pairings
had happened long before).] [(We were already beginning to imagine our
escape from school into life).]
2.8. [(For the first day or two, we took little notice of him).] [(At our school
induction).]
This is not possible in the case of sentences 3, 4 and 7, repeated below as 2.9, 2.10 and
2.11, respectively.
2.9. [(<If I can’t be sure of the actual events any more>, I can at least be true
to the impressions those facts left).]
2.10. [(That’s the best <I can manage>).]
José DURÁN
10
2.11. [(His name was Adrian Finn, a tall, shy boy <who initially kept his eyes
down and his mind to himself>).]
The first sentence of Example 2.12 below, which is derived from its original version
2.9, is ungrammatical because it is incomplete. This shows that the first clause of
Example 2.9 is not a main clause but a subordinating clause and the sentence in which
it appears is called a complex sentence.
2.12. *[(If I can’t be sure of the actual events any more).] [(I can at least be
true to the impressions those facts left).]
The last type of sentence is a combination of compound and complex sentences. For
example, the second sentence from Extract 2.1, repeated below as 2.13 is an example of
a compound-complex sentence, which contains two main clauses, the first of which
contains a subordinating clause, and the second of which contains two subordinating
clauses.
2.13. [But (school is <where it all began>), so (I need to return briefly to a few
incidents <that have grown into anecdotes>, to some approximate
memories <which time has deformed into certainty>).]
We still need to mention the symbols that have been added to the sentences, main
clauses and subordinating clauses. These are square brackets [ ], ordinary brackets ( )
and angular brackets < >, respectively, as is shown in Table 2.2 below.
Structural Element Symbol Example

Sentence [] [Sentence]
Main Clause () (Main Clause)
Subordinating Clause <> <Subordinating Clause>
Table 2.2: Symbols for Sentences and Clauses
The higher structural hierarchy of Extract 2.1 above can be seen in Figure 2.2 below.
[(I’m not very interested in my schooldays, and don’t feel any nostalgia for them).] [But
(school is <where it all began>, so (I need to return briefly to a few incidents <that have
grown into anecdotes>, to some approximate memories <which time has deformed into
certainty>).] [(<If I can’t be sure of the actual events any more>, I can at least be true to
the impressions <those facts left>).] [(That’s the best <I can manage>).]
[(There were three of us), and (he now made the fourth).] [(We hadn’t expected
to add to our tight number): (cliques and pairings had happened long before), and (we
were already beginning to imagine our escape from school into life).] [(His name was
Adrian Finn, a tall, shy boy <who initially kept his eyes down and his mind to
himself>).] [(For the first day or two, we took little notice of him): (at our school there
was no welcoming ceremony, let alone its opposite, the punitive induction).] [(We just
registered his presence and waited).]
BARNES, Julian (2011: 4). The Sense of an Ending. London: Vintage.
Figure 2.2: Higher Structural Hierarchy of Extract 2.1
José DURÁN
11
2.4. Clause Connectors

Let us briefly turn to the elements that join the clauses together. These can be lexical
elements called conjunctions5, or punctuation marks, also called asyndetic
conjunctions, such as the comma, the semicolon or the colon. Conjunctions can be
classified into coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
Coordinating conjunctions are lexical items that join structural elements that are at the
same hierarchical level, for example two or more main clauses. The most frequent
coordinating conjunctions are the cumulative coordinating conjunction and, which
indicates addition; the alternative coordinating conjunction or and the adversative
coordinating conjunction but (Biber et al 1999:81). Sentence 2.3, repeated below as
2.14 exemplifies the use of a coordinating conjunction and to link two main clauses.
Sentence 2.5, repeated as 2.15 shows the use of a punctuation mark, in this case the
colon, to join two main clauses within a sentence.
2.14. [(There were three of us,) and (he now made the fourth).]
2.15. [(For the first day or two, we took little notice of him): (at our school
induction).]
Subordinating conjunctions6 are lexical items that join structural elements that are in
different hierarchical levels. They introduce a subordinating clause that depends on a
main clause. Sentence 2.9, repeated here as 2.16, shows an example of the subordinating
conjunction if, which introduces the subordinating clause if I can’t be sure of the actual
facts any more.
2.16. [(<If I can’t be sure of the actual events any more>, I can at least be true
to the impressions those facts left).]
The main difference between coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions
refers to their clause position. While the former lie outside the main clauses that they
join, the latter appear within the subordinating clause that they introduce.
2.5. Finite and Non-Finite Verbs
In Section 2.3 we introduced the notion of conjugated verbs, which are more technically
speaking finite verbs. Finite verbs carry a number of grammatical features such as
tense, aspect, modality and voice7. Tense refers to the propositional or clausal time
from the point of view of the speaker or writer, and can be said to be either present or
past. Aspect expresses the progress and/or completion of the event or state denoted by
the verb and can be said to be either progressive or perfective. Modality conveys
attitude on the part of the speaker or writer through modal verbs like must, can, may,
could, might, shall and should. Finally voice communicates the relationship between the
verb and the participants it selects and can be said to be either active or passive. These
features are summarised in the examples shown in Table 2.3 below.
5
Conjunctions are dealt with in Chapter 16 of this work.
6
There are other types of subordinators like those that introduce Noun Clauses, dealt with in Chapter 7;
and Relative Clauses, seen in Chapter 8.
7
In languages other than English, which is a poorly inflected language, finite verbs can carry a number of
additional features. For example, in Spanish finite verbs carry the features person and number. Besides,
these grammatical features are not present in languages such as Chinese, which does not inflect for tense.
José DURÁN
12
Feature
N Sentence
Tense Aspect Modality Voice
1 John builds houses. Pres -- -- Act
2 John built houses. Past -- -- Act
3 John is building houses. Pres Prog -- Act
4 John was building houses. Past Prog -- Act
5 John has built houses. Pres Perf -- Act
6 John had built houses. Past Perf -- Act
7 John has been building houses. Pres Perf Prog -- Act
8 John must be building houses. Pres Prog + Act
9 John must have been building houses. Pres Perf Prog + Act
10 Houses are built. Pres -- -- Pass
11 Houses were built. Past -- -- Pass
12 Houses are being built. Pres Prog -- Pass
13 Houses were being built. Past Prog -- Pass
14 Houses have been built. Pres Perf -- Pass
15 Houses had been built. Past Perf -- Pass
16 Houses must be built. Pres -- + Pass
17 Houses must have been built. Pres Perf + Pass
Table 2.3: Features of the Finite Forms
The carrier of the finite form conflates with the lexical verb if there are no auxiliaries, as
is shown in sentences 1 and 2, which are in the simple present and simple past tense,
respectively. If there is one auxiliary or more auxiliaries, the first of them is the carrier
of the finite. Thus, in sentence 17, repeated as Example 2.17 below, the first auxiliary is
the modal auxiliary must. The remaining two auxiliaries are non-finite forms: have is
the auxiliary for the perfective aspect and been is the auxiliary for the passive voice.
2.17. Houses must have been built.
Houses must have been built.
Aux Aux Perf Aux Main
Subject
Modality Asp Pass Verb
Table 2.4: Syntactic Analysis of Example 2.17
Together with the finite forms of verbs, English makes use non-finite forms of verbs for
a number of purposes. The non-finite forms of English grammar are the infinitive and
the ing-form, which can be gerundial or present participial, and the past participle8.
Non finite-forms are hybrid forms that have nominal, adjectival or adverbial functions.
They are originally verbal forms that behave as nouns, adjectives or adverbs. They
have lost (some of) the features of finite forms, tense, aspect, modality and voice and
will be studied in detail in Part II of this work.
The infinitive can be either bare infinitive or full infinitive. The former is very
limited in its use, for example after modal verbs, after the causative verbs make
(Example 2.18) and let in the active voice and after verbs of perception (Example
2.19). The latter is the infinitive with infinitival particle to and is more frequently used
8
The past participle form is also referred to as en-form or en-participle because of the frequent addition
of the morpheme en to the base form of many irregular verbs to form their corresponding participial form.
In this way, they are differentiated from the ed-form that is characteristic of the simple past form.
Examples of participles ending in en are bitten, chosen, driven, fallen, forgotten, forgiven, frozen, hidden,
risen, shaken, spoken, stolen, taken, woken, woven, written and others.
José DURÁN
13
in English with either a nominal (Example 2.20), adjectival (Example 2.21) or adverbial
function (Example 2.22). The infinitival forms have been italicised in these examples.
2.18. I made him analyse the sentences.
2.19. I saw him cross the street.
2.20. To travel is not my favourite pastime.
2.21. This is a good place to eat.
2.22. He visited Beijing to understand their culture.
Ing-forms can be said to be either gerunds or present participles, but this will be
clarified later in the second part of this book. For the time being, let us see Figure 2.3 as
an example of a text taken from the Internet wherein all the non-finite forms have been
underlined. The high frequency of non-finite forms – over 6 per 100 words – can be
perceived in the text.
EFE: December 20, 2013 6:48pm
http://www.globalpost.com/
China launches Bolivia’s 1st satellite
Bolivia’s first communications satellite vaulted into space Friday atop a Chinese rocket
as the Andean nation’s president, Evo Morales, looked on.
The Long March 3B/E rocket carrying the TKSat-1, or Tupac Katari, lifted off at 1642
UTC from China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province.
The $302 million project was largely financed with a loan from the China Development
Bank and the Tupac Katari, named for the leader of an 18th-century indigenous
rebellion, was developed from the Chinese-made DFH-4 platform.
China also provided special training for the roughly 80 Bolivian military and civilian
personnel who will control the satellite from two ground stations in Bolivia.
Built by the China Great Wall Industry Corporation under a contract with the Bolivia
Aerospace Bureau, the TKSat-1 weighs 5,200 kilos (11,453 pounds) and is expected to
function for 15 years.
The satellite will improve telecommunications and Internet access in isolated rural areas
of Bolivia.
The TKSat-1 is also equipped to relay radio and television signals and to provide
service for neighbouring countries in South America.
Bolivia expects to save around $15 million as La Paz will no longer need to lease
capacity on foreign-owned satellites.
2.6. Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Sentences

Before turning to the last item in this chapter, we will devote a section to two types of
constructions that are frequently used in English, namely cleft and pseudo-cleft
sentences. These types of sentences are used in English for pragmatic reasons of focus
or with emphatic purposes, in particular to replace a misunderstanding in oral
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communication or to avoid it in written discourse. They are very frequently used in

conversation and to a lesser extent in academic registers (Biber et al 1999:961).
In order for us to understand the use of cleft and pseudo-cleft constructions, let
us take Example 2.23, adapted from the first sentence of Extract 2.2 above. Example
2.23 reproduces the original version of the sentence, while sentences 2.24, 2.25 and 2.26
exemplify cleft constructions and sentence 2.27 shows a pseudo-cleft construction.
2.23. Bolivia’s satellite vaulted into space last Friday.
2.24. It was Bolivia’s satellite that vaulted into space last Friday. (not
Argentina’s satellite)
2.25. It was into space that Bolivia’s satellite vaulted last Friday. (not into the
sea)
2.26. It was last Friday that Bolivia’s satellite vaulted into space. (not last
month)
2.27. What Bolivia’s satellite did was vault into space last Friday. (not hover)
Typical cleft 9 sentences are made with the pronoun it, a form of the verb be, a focused
phrase and a clause typically introduced by that or who. Typical pseudo-cleft sentences
start with a nominal relative clause, a form of the verb be and a non-finite clause.
2.7. Tests for Constituency
The following chapter deals with the separation of clauses into their two major syntactic
constituents, Subject and Predicate, which are analysed in subsequent chapters.
Constituents and their recognition are a central concern of syntax since it is vital that we
can tell whether a certain string of words fulfils a certain syntactic function within a
clause10. Besides, we need to be able to detect – and ultimately avoid – ambiguities in
the language, and many syntactic ambiguities are related to their constituents. Let us see
Example 2.28, which can have two different interpretations, shown in the paraphrased
Examples 2.29 and 2.30, respectively.
2.28. My cousin heard the explosion in the market.
2.29. My cousin heard the explosion when he was in the market.
2.30. My cousin heard the explosion that occurred in the market.
In 2.29, the referred explosion may have taken place in the market itself or in some
other place, but my cousin was clearly in the market at the time when the explosion
occurred. The interpretation of sentence 2.29 shows that the two strings of words the
explosion and in the market of the original sentence 2.28 are two different constituents.
In the second interpretation of 2.28, given in 2.30, my cousin may have been in some
place other than the alluded market and even the distance between that other place and
the market can be a sign of the magnitude of the explosion, since the explosion
necessarily took place in the market. The bigger the distance, the higher and more
destructive the explosion. This shows that the string of words the explosion in the
market of the original sentence 2.28 makes up a single constituent. These two different
9
Cleft is the past participle of the verb to cleave, which means split, separate.
10
There can be certain constituents within other syntactic units, for example a phrase.
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readings of sentence 2.28 will lead to two different syntactic analyses of the sentence,
which is why it is important to be able to tell constituents apart.
We will develop five different tests for constituency: coordination, fronting,
passivisation, clefting and pseudo-clefting. The first test is applied through the
addition of some like-constituent to the constituent under test. The second test concerns
the displacement of the constituent under test to the front of the sentence. The remaining
tests are connected with a syntactic transformation.
Coordination is a test that can be applied through the addition of some element
that is of the same category as the constituent under test. For example, in sentence 2.28,
with the interpretation given in 2.29, the string of words the explosion, which is a noun
phrase, can be conjoined with other noun phrase such as the commotion. If, we take the
interpretation given in 2.30, we can coordinate the postmodified noun phrase the
explosion in the market with another postmodified noun phrase the commotion in the
suburbs, which shows that the string of words the explosion in the market in the original
sentence is a constituent.
2.31. My cousin heard the explosion and the commotion in the market.
2.32. My cousin heard the explosion in the market and the commotion in the
suburbs.
A second test for constituency is that of fronting, which applies by displacing the
constituent under test to the front of the sentence. This is shown in Examples 2.33 and
2.34, which are paraphrases of sentence 2.28 with the two different interpretations 2.29
and 2.30, respectively.
2.33. The explosion, my cousin heard in the market.
2.34. The explosion in the market, my cousin heard.
The third test for constituency, passivisation, can be carried out only in the case of
sentences that contain a transitive verb in the active voice and its corresponding Direct
Object. The Direct Object of the active sentence becomes the Subject of its passive
counterpart. Obviously, the two different interpretations of sentence 2.28 have two
different passivised versions, which is shown in Examples 2.35 and 2.36 below.
2.35. The explosion was heard by my cousin in the market.
2.36. The explosion in the market was heard by my cousin.
The last two tests, clefting and pseudo-clefting are shown in the paraphrased sentences
2.37 and 2.38, and 2.39 and 2.40, respectively.
2.37. It was the explosion that my cousin heard in the market.
2.38. It was the explosion in the market that my cousin heard.
2.39. What happened to my cousin in the market was that he heard the
explosion.
2.40. What happened to my cousin was that he heard the explosion in the
market.
Now, in the case of some actual sentences, it is fairly difficult to apply the
abovementioned tests, in particular with longer strings of words, e.g. actual clauses.
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This happens in fairly more complicated examples as is the case of the clauses of
second sentence in Extract 2.1 above, repeated below as Example 2.41.
2.41. But school is where it all began, so I need to return briefly to a few
incidents that have grown into anecdotes, to some approximate memories
which time has deformed into certainty.
This sentence may seem to be daunting to the novel analyst. I have already classified
this sentence as a compound-complex one, and I have subdivided it into its clauses in
2.13 above. You may have wondered how this was carried out. One possible solution is
to try to simplify the sentence by doing away with some of the informative details that
are given in the original sentence. For example, we can do this by eliminating from the
original sentence the clauses that tell details of the incidents and of the memories
mentioned in the original. We can thus obtain the simplified version 2.42.
2.42. But school is where it all began, so I need to return briefly to a few
incidents, to some memories.
This shows that the clauses that have grown into anecdotes and which time has
deformed are subordinating clauses that modify the nouns incidents and memories,
respectively. Yet, we can see the noun memories represents a rewording of the noun
incidents. Therefore, we can even shorten the original sentence a bit more by avoiding
such rewording and still maintain the gist of the information conveyed by the original
sentence. However, version 2.42 remains a complicated sentence. A further simplified
sentence can be obtained by applying the so called substitution test. This is done by
replacing a certain element in a sentence – or clause or phrase – with a simpler
constituent. For example, version 2.42 can be simplified even more by replacing the
clause where it all began with the phrase the initiating place.
2.43. But school is the initiating place, so I need to return briefly to a few
incidents.
In this way, all the subordinating clauses of the original sentence have been eliminated,
which proves that the removed or substituted constituents are precisely subordinating
clauses. While no subordinating clauses remain in version 2.43, we have arrived at a
presumably compound sentence. If this is true, the two pieces of information that are
conjoined into one sentence can be split into two different sentences – or as many as
main clauses appear in the compound sentence. This is shown in Example 2.44 below,
in which the square brackets signalling sentences and the ordinary brackets signalling
main clauses have been added.
2.44. [But (school is the initiating place).] [So (I need to return briefly to a few
incidents).]
Thus we have obtained a simplified version of the original sentence and still kept the
gist of its message. This is what can be done when we are faced with challenging
sentences.
2.8. Summary
Let us summarise the information we have given in this chapter. The structural
hierarchy is a rank scale wherein each structural element in the hierarchy consists of one
of more elements of the level below. In syntax, the structural elements of the hierarchy
are the sentence, the clause, the phrase – or group, the word and the morpheme. This
José DURÁN
17
chapter is concerned with the first two elements in the hierarchy, namely the sentence
and the clause. We have classified them from the structural point of view. From this
perspective, there are four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex and
compound-complex. Simple sentences are made up of only one main clause. Compound
sentences are made up of two or more main clauses. Complex sentences are made up of
only one main clause, which in turn contains one or more subordinating clauses.
Compound-complex sentences are made up of two or more main clauses, at least one of
which in turn contains one or more subordinating clauses.
Besides, clauses have been classified into their two types: main and
subordinating. Main or independent clauses can stand on their own and can be part of
all types of sentences. They can constitute the only clause of a simple sentence or can be
conjoined with other main clauses. Subordinating clauses, conversely, cannot stand on
their own because they depend on a main clause and the sentence in which they appear
is either a complex or a compound-complex sentence. Section 2.4 outlines the
connectors between the different clauses and classifies them into coordinating and
subordinating conjunctions.
Sections 2.5 and 2.6 have a retrospective and a prospective purpose,
respectively. The former gives an overview of finite verbs, already mentioned in Section
2.3 for the classification of clauses and sentences, together with their main features –
tense, aspect, modality and voice – and introduces their counterparts, the non-finite
forms of verbs. The latter anticipates two types of constructions, clefts and pseudo-
clefts, which are used in the following section of the chapter. This last section
summarises the tests for constituency most frequently cited in the literature.
For the types of sentences and clauses, a clear short introduction is given in Collins &
Hollo (2000), chapter 7. A more detailed discussion can be consulted in Quirk &
Greenbaum (1973), chapter 7 and in Quirk et al (1985), chapter 14. The features of
finite verbs are dealt with from a very traditional perspective in Long (1961), chapter 6,
and Palmer (1965, 2nd edition 1974). See also Leech (1971, 3rd edition 2004). Tense in
particular is extensively treated in chapters XXIII and XXIV of Jespersen (1933).
Modality is thoroughly treated in Palmer (1979) and Nordström (2010). Cleft and
pseudo-cleft sentences can be seen in Collins (1991) and Nelson (1997), and their
difference with extraposed elements in Calude (2008). Tests for constituency are clearly
explained in Downing & Locke (1992, 2nd edition 2006), Module 2, and from a different
perspective in chapter 2 of Haegeman (2006).
2.10. Exercises
Exercise 2.1: The following sentences have been taken from Ishiguro (2005). Underline
all the finite verbs in them. Add square brackets [ ] for sentences and identify the
clauses in each sentence. Add ordinary brackets ( ) for main clauses and angular
brackets < > for subordinating clauses. Identify and classify the conjunctions that join
and introduce the clauses. Classify the sentences in the extract into simple, compound,
complex and compound-complex. Then complete the chart below.
1) My donors have tended to do much better than expected. (3)11
11
The numbers in brackets indicate the page number in the source novel.
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2) The Sales were important to us because that was how we got hold of things from
outside. (41)
3) I’ll never forget the strange change that came over us the next instant. (35)
4) I just picked up my book and walked off without another word. (123)
5) We’d start talking about something, something completely innocent and for no
obvious reason we’d come to a halt. (210)
6) The guardians sometimes went in there to mark our work or get on with reading.
(89)
7) What made the tape so special for me was this particular song: track number three,
‘Never Let Me Go’. (69)
8) When I think about my essay today, what I do is go over it in some detail. (113)
9) At Hailsham, the guardians were really strict about smoking. (67)
10) Didn’t we all dream from time to time about one guardian or other bending the rules
and doing something special for us? (60)
11) I now felt awful, and I was confused. (60)
12) In those days I had this secret game. (88)
13) You can imagine what this shock was. (68)
14) I’d assumed Ruth was something of a chess expert and that she’d be able to teach
me the game. (52)
15) ‘I don’t know but I’m sure she is.’ (33)
Type of Sentence Sentences Nº

Simple [( )]
Compound [( ) cc ( )]
Complex [( < >)]
Compound Complex [( ) cc ( < >)]
Exercise 2.2: The following extract appears in the blurb in the back cover of the novel
from which the fifteen sentences of the previous exercise have been taken. Underline all
the non-finite verbs in it.
In one of the most acclaimed and original novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro
imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of
contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go
hauntingly dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the
seemingly idyllic Hailsham School, and with the fate that has always awaited her and
her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never
Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life.
Exercise 2.3: The following sentences contain different two-word curly bracketed
expressions. Identify which of them are constituents and justify your answer with some
of the tests given above.
1) {John does} his homework every day.
2) John {does his} homework every day.
3) John does {his homework} every day.
4) John does his {homework every} day.
5) John does his homework {every day}.
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Chapter 3: Subject and Predicate
[…] the distinction between human and non-human depends on whether or not you know the difference
between a subject and a predicate.
(Coetzee, 2003:111)
3.1. Outline
We have seen in Chapter 2 that all types of sentences are made up of at least one main
clause and that in particular, compound and compound-complex sentences consist of
more than one main clause. This chapter advances into the internal structure of clauses.
Thus we deal with the two major syntactic functions into which clauses are divided,
namely Subject and Predicate. First, we need to make clear the difference between
clauses and phrases in Section 3.2; and between functions and categories in Section 3.3.
Then we explore some features that help us recognise the Subject and the Predicate of a
clause, namely agreement and case. Later we turn to more difficult instances of
Subjects, the anticipatory Subject. We close the chapter with the analysis of the possible
categories for both the Subject and the Predicate.
3.2. Clauses and Phrases
This section is devoted to the difference between clauses and phrases. As was said in
the previous chapter, structurally speaking, each clause consists of one or more phrases.
In actual fact, this is not completely true since all clauses, even verbless clauses, can be
divided into Subject and Predicate, which are two different phrases. Hence, the clause is
the structural element that differs from all other syntactic elements in the rank scale in
the sense that it contains at least two of the elements in the next downward level in the
hierarchy. Therefore, the first difference between clauses and phrases in particular lies
in the number of required syntactic elements in the structural hierarchy that clauses and
phrases must contain. While clauses require two or more phrases, phrases are made up
of one of more words.
A further difference between clauses and phrases is the fact that while clauses
are divided into Subject and Predicate, phrases must contain at least one lexical word
which heads the phrase onto which it projects all its properties. Let us see some
examples of simple clauses taken from a novel by Jacobson (2010) to clarify this
concept.
3.1. [(Treslove shrugged).] (16)
In this simple sentence, whose only clause is made up of only two words, we cannot tell
that either the word Treslove is more important than the word shrugged of the main
.
Subject and Predicate
clause or the other way about. In Example 3.2 below, which exhibits a longer though
still simple sentence with only one main clause, it cannot be discerned which of its four
words is the most important in the clause either.
3.2. [(He quickened his pace).] (7)
Unlike clauses, phrases contain a word that can be said to be more important than the
remaining words of the phrase. For example, in the noun phrase his pace of 3.2, the
noun pace is semantically more important than the determiner his and thus is said to
be the Head of the phrase and to project its categorial properties onto the phrase to
which it belongs. This can be generalised to all types of phrases, so that noun phrases
are headed by a noun, adjectival phrases are headed by an adjective, adverbial phrases
are headed by an adverb, verb phrases are headed by a verb, prepositional phrases are
headed by a preposition and so on.
This can be summarised in Figure 3.1 below.
Clauses Phrases
are divided into are

Subject and Predicate headed
Figure 3.1: Difference between Clauses and Phrases
3.3. Functions and Categories

We now turn to the difference between functions and categories. For us to understand
this, let us consider Example 3.2, repeated here as 3.3 and a paraphrased variation of
such sentence, represented in 3.4 below.
3.3. [(He quickened his pace).]
3.4. [(His pace was quickened).]
In both examples the string of words his pace is said to be a noun phrase headed by the
noun pace. This is the category of the phrase, which is inherent to the phrase itself,
irrespective of its position within the clause and of its relation to the other phrases in the
clause. By contrast, the function of this phrase within the clause does depend on its
connection with the other phrases in the clause. The phrase his pace is said to fulfil the
function of Direct Object in 3.3 and the function of Subject in its passive counterpart
3.4. To give an analogical metaphor, we can think of a Grammar book, for example,
which is still a Grammar book, irrespective of the function for which it is used. Its
function is different, however, if we use it to read or consult a topic of our interest from
its function when we use it as a prompt to maintain a shelf in its position. A further
analogy can be taken from Mathematics. If we consider for example a palindrome
number such as 373, each digit has a certain category irrespective of its position. Thus
the category 3 is different from the category 7. Apart from the category of the number,
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number 3 has a different function according to the position in which it appears. So, the
first 3 is worth a hundred times the second 3.
Conventionally, we will signal syntactic functions with an initial capital letter.
Subject and Predicate are two of the syntactic functions of phrases that we will study in
this chapter. Direct Object, Indirect Object and Adjunct are some of the functions that
we will study in Chapter 5, where we deal with the Predicate of clauses.
The categories – or parts of speech – of English Grammar have, in the traditional
approach, been taken from the study of Greek Grammar and are fairly limited. There is
not general consensus on the number – or even the names – of the categories of English
Grammar, but we will consider nine different categories: noun, verb, adjective,
preposition, adverb, determiner, pronoun, auxiliary, and conjunction. It has been agreed,
however, that the first five are called contentive or lexical categories and the
remaining categories are function categories. This grouping of categories is based on
the degree of information that is conveyed by the categories. Whereas contentive
categories are regarded as more informative and even a necessary part of the phrase,
function categories convey more formally syntactic information such as person or
number. Categories are dealt with in Part III of this book. Now we turn to the
separation of clauses into their two most important components, Subject and Predicate.
3.4. Separation into Subject and Predicate
Clauses, as we have already said in Section 3.2, are divided into Subject and Predicate.
This is a vital and not so straightforward concept and in order to understand it we will
resort to the analysis of an extract of a novel by Jacobson (2010), given in Figure 3.2
below. In it, we have numbered the sentences for ease of reference and have already
separated it into its main and subordinating clauses and have added the square brackets,
ordinary brackets and angular brackets to its sentences, main and subordinating clauses,
respectively.
1. [(It was exactly 11.30 p.m. <when the attack occurred>).] 2. [(Treslove knew that
<because something had made him look at his watch the moment before>).] […] 3.
[(With the brightness of the street lamps and the number of commercial properties lit up
[…] it could have been afternoon).] 4. [(The streets were not deserted).] 5. [(At least a
dozen people might have come to Treslove’s rescue), but (none did).] 6. [(Perhaps the
effrontery of the assault […] perplexed <whoever saw it>).] 7. [(Perhaps they thought
<the participants were playing or had become embroiled in a domestic row on the way
home from a restaurant or the theatre>).] 8. [(They could […] have been taken for a
couple).]
9. [(That was <what Treslove found most galling>).] 10. [(He did not find
annoying the shocking suddenness of the attack).] 11. [(A hand had seized him by the
back of his neck and shoved him so hard into the window of Guivier’s violin shop <that
the instruments twanged and vibrated behind the shattering pane>).] 12. [(The theft of
his watch, his wallet, his fountain pen and his mobile phone was not so meaningful).]
13. [(Yet, <what upset him beyond all these> was the fact <that the person <who had
robbed, assaulted and, yes, terrified him> was ... a woman>).]
Adapted from JACOBSON, Howard (2010: 10-11). The Finkler Question. New York: Bloomsbury.
José DURÁN
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For the time being we will focus on the main clauses only. The Subject of a clause is a
nominal expression of which some predication is mentioned. A nominal expression is a
noun phrase, a pronominal phrase or a noun clause. A noun phrase can be made up
of only one word, which must be a noun, or more than one word, one of which is the
most important noun in the phrase and is therefore its Head. Similarly, a pronominal
phrase is a phrase made up of one or more words, the most important of which is its
Head pronoun. A noun clause is a clause with a nominal function which very frequently
can be replaced for a simpler noun phrase.
For the nominal expression to be the Subject of a clause, it has to agree in
person and number with the finite verb(s) of the Predicate of the clause and, has to be in
the nominative case. The problem is that English, in comparison with the so called
Romance languages like Spanish, Portuguese or Italian, is a poorly inflected language,
and therefore neither agreement nor case are very helpful in this respect. So we will
have to resort to other strategies for recognising the Subject of the main clauses. But let
us start with the simplest examples in the extract above, bearing in mind the first feature
that contributes to the recognition of Subject and Predicate, agreement.
For example, in the twelfth sentence of Extract 3.1, it is clear that the narrator is
talking about the lack of meaning of the theft. Besides, in this sentence, the only finite
verb is the singular past inflected form of the verb be, namely was, which agrees with
the singular nominal phrase the theft of […], which is the only nominal expression in
the clause. Therefore, such noun phrase is the Subject and the remaining of the clause is
its Predicate. Similarly, in the fourth sentence, the only finite form of a verb is the plural
past form were, which agrees with the only nominal expression the streets in the
sentence. Therefore, this nominal expression is the Subject of the only main clause and
by transitive character, of sentence 4.
In the second and sixth sentences, which have as finite verbs the forms knew and
perplexed, respectively, the fact that these verbal forms are in the simple past tense does
not contribute to the identification of the Subject of the clause. From the point of view
of the agreement – or concord – between the Subject and the finite verb of the clause,
there is no variation in the inflection of the verb for each of the different persons in the
simple past. Yet, a possible solution is to turn the sentence into its simple present
counterpart. Thus, these two sentences are transformed into Examples 3.5 and 3.6,
respectively, in which some additional transformations have been made.
3.5. [(Treslove knows that <because something made him look at his watch a
moment before>).]
3.6. [(Perhaps the effrontery of the assault […] perplexes <whoever sees
it>).]
With these transformations, it can be seen that the Subjects of the main clauses of
Examples 3.5 and 3.6, and therefore of sentences 2 and 6 of Extract 3.1 are the nominals
Treslove and the effrontery of the assault, respectively. A parallel transformation can be
done in the case of sentence 5. In this case, the lexical word that affects the visibility of
the agreement between Subject and finite verb is the modal auxiliary might. Modal
auxiliaries, already introduced in the previous chapter, are special verbal forms in the
sense that they are invariable in person or number. Thus, if they are used in a finite
verbal form, they do not reflect agreement with the Subject of the clause. So, for
example, irrespective of the fact that we use a singular or a plural noun phrase as the
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Subject of a clause, the modal auxiliary does not reproduce this change. In both
examples, 3.7, which has a singular noun phrase as Subject, and 3.8, which has a plural
noun phrase as Subject, the modal auxiliary remains the same.
3.7. [(At least a person might have come to Treslove’s rescue).]
3.8. [(At least a dozen people might have come to Treslove’s rescue)).]
One possible solution for us to identify the Subject of a clause with a modal auxiliary
would be to eliminate such modal and see what the remaining auxiliary or verb agrees
with. This is what we have done in Examples 3.9 and 3.10. It can be seen that in the
former, the singular nominal expression at least a person agrees with the singular
auxiliary has; whereas in the latter, the plural nominal expression at least a dozen
people agrees with the plural auxiliary have. Thus we can see that the Subject of
sentence 5 of Extract 3.1 is the noun phrase at least a dozen people.
3.9. [(At least a person has come to Treslove’s rescue).]
3.10. [(At least a dozen people have come to Treslove’s rescue)).]
Analogously, the Subjects of sentences 9, 7, 3 and 8 are the pronouns that, they, it and
they, respectively. The Subject of sentence 9, repeated below as 3.11, is more
straightforward since the demonstrative pronoun that is the only one that agrees with
the singular finite verb was.
3.11. [(That was <what Treslove found most galling>).]
Sentences 7, 3 and 8 require similar transformations to the abovementioned ones. Thus,
by turning sentence 7 into the present tense (see Example 3.12), it can be seen that its
Subject is the plural personal pronoun they, which agrees with the finite form think.
The replacement of this Subject with a singular personal pronoun he would have
required the inflected form thinks.
3.12. [(Perhaps they think <the participants are playing or have become
embroiled in a domestic row on the way home from a restaurant or the
theatre>).]
By removing the modal auxiliaries could in sentences 3 and 8, as was done in sentence
5 above, the agreement between their Subjects and finite verbs is made overt. With this
slight change, sentence 3 becomes 3.13, wherein it is clear that its Subject is the
singular pronoun it, which agrees with the singular perfect auxiliary has. Similarly, in
sentence 8, transformed into Example 3.14, the Subject is clearly the plural personal
pronoun in the nominative case they, which agrees with the plural perfect auxiliary
have.
Case
Person Number Gender
Nominative Accusative
Singular -- I me
1st
Plural -- we us
2nd Sing/pl -- you
Singular Masculine he him
Singular Feminine she her
3rd
Singular Neuter it
Plural -- they them
Table 3.1: English Personal Pronominal System
José DURÁN
24
3.13. [(With the brightness of the street lamps and the number of commercial
properties lit up it has been afternoon).]
3.14. [(They have been taken for a couple).]
So far, we have developed one of the features that help us recognise the Subject of a
clause, namely agreement between Subject and finite verb. Now we turn to the other
syntactic feature of Subjects of English clauses, namely case. Grammatical or
morphological case is a syntactic property of nominals that is very limited in present-
day English. Other languages like Turkish, Finnish or German make a wider use of case
features and with a wider variation of meanings (Blake 1994). However, in present-day
English overt inflectional case is seen only with limited variation in some personal
pronouns. In English, there are at least two12 unquestionable types of case: nominative
and accusative. We can see this in Table 3.1 above, which summarises the personal
pronominal system of English.
The case features of pronouns are highly instrumental in the separation of
clauses into Subject and Predicate. Thus, for example the pronominal Subject of
Example 3.14 is in the nominative case, where a pronoun in the accusative case would
have resulted in an ungrammatical sentence, as is shown in 3.15 below.
3.15. *[(Them have been taken for a couple).]
So, in sentences with a noun phrase as Subject, the replacement of such nominal by its
corresponding pronoun can also help in the recognition of the Subject. Thus, if we
replace the noun phrases of sentences 2 and 4 of Extract 3.1, repeated below as 3.16 and
3.17, by their corresponding personal pronouns, we can see that the pronouns in the
nominative case – Examples 3.18 and 3.19 – lead to grammatical sentences, whereas the
pronouns in the accusative case – Examples 3.20 and 3.21 – lead to ungrammatical
sentences.
3.16. [(Treslove knew that <because something had made him look at his
watch the moment before>).]
3.17. [(The streets were not deserted).]
3.18. [(He knew that <because something had made him look at his watch the
moment before>).]
3.19. [(They were not deserted).]
3.20. *[(Him knew that <because something had made him look at his watch
the moment before>).]
3.21. *[(Them were not deserted).]
Hence, grammatical or morphological case can also contribute to the recognition of the
Subject of a clause. It remains to be seen what the Subjects of sentences 1 and 13 of
Extract 3.1 are, which is the topic of the next section, since they are probably more
difficult instances of sentences.
12
Some authors also include the genitive case, but we will not do so here since our focus is the
recognition of the Subject of a clause now.
José DURÁN
25
3.5. Anticipatory Subject

Sentences – or clauses – can have, apart from noun phrases and pronominal phrases,
other grammatical categories as Subject, namely nominal clauses or noun clauses. For
example, Sentence 3.22 below has the italicised nominal clause in angular brackets as
Subject. Something similar happens in Examples 3.23 and 3.24, from pages 15 and 90-
91, respectively of the same source novel.
3.22. [(<When the attack occurred> was exactly 11.30 p.m.)]
3.23. [(<What moved him> was this proof of the destructibility of things.)]
(15)
3.24. [(<What annoyed the two women most> […] was the discovery <that
they had both so far capitulated to Treslove´s influence as to call their
children Rodolfo and Alfredo>.)] (90-91)
However, sentences whose Subject is a noun clause tend to have their Subject
postponed to a postverbal position. When this is the case, the Subject of the sentence is
anticipated by a grammatical Subject devoid of meaning. This is the so called
Anticipatory Subject it, which is a pronoun-like entity called Anticipatory it. This is
an expletive or dummy entity – also called pleonastic – with no semantic content itself.
So Examples 3.22, 3.23 and 3.24 are traditionally said to be equivalent to their
respective counterparts, 3.25, 3.26, and 3.27, respectively, in which the Real Subjects
are anticipated by an Anticipatory Subject, whose category is an expletive.
3.25. [(It was exactly 11.30 p.m. <when the attack occurred>).]
3.26. [(It was this proof of the destructibility of things <what moved him>).]
3.27. [(It was the discovery […] <what annoyed the two women most>)]
Now you may wonder which of the two alternatives is the preferred version: the
sentence in which the Subject clause is in initial position or the sentence with the
Anticipatory Subject. This depends on two interacting principles: the Principle of End-
Weight and the Principle of End-Focus. The former lies in the relative length of two
competing elements. Longer constituents have more weight than shorter ones and thus
they tend to appear after shorter constituents. The Principle of End-Focus measures the
relative informativeness of two competing elements. More informative constituents or
constituents with newer information tend to appear after less informative ones or
constituents with relatively older or already mentioned information. So both the relative
length and the degree of information of the Subject clause and the Predicate can be
compared. Example 3.25 may be preferred to its equivalent 3.22 since in this case, the
Subject clause is longer than the Predicate. Sentence 3.23 seems to be preferred to its
paraphrased counterpart 3.26 because the Predicate is longer than the Subject clause.
Similarly, Example 3.27 seems to be preferred to 3.24 as its Predicate is longer and less
informative than its Subject clause.
In the case of sentence 13 of Extract 3.1 above, the wh-clause is comparatively
shorter and also less informative than its Predicate. This helps us realise that the clause
is the Subject of the sentence, which is repeated below as Example 3.28.
3.28. [(Yet, <what upset him beyond all these> was the fact <that the person
<who had robbed, assaulted and, yes, terrified him> was ... a woman>).]
José DURÁN
26
Category of Anticipatory
It There
Subject
noun phrase np no yes
pronominal phrase pr p no yes
infinitival clause i cl yes no
noun clause n cl yes no
gerundial clause g cl yes yes
Table 3.2: Expletives and categories of Anticipatory Subject
As for the expletives that serve as Anticipatory Subjects in English, two lexical items
can have this function: expletives it and there. They do not necessarily anticipate the
same category as Subject. While expletive it can anticipate all types of clauses, it cannot
anticipate noun phrases or pronominal phrases. Expletive there can anticipate noun
phrases and pronominal phrases together with gerundial clauses, whereas there cannot
anticipate infinitival clauses or noun clauses. This is summarised in Table 3.2 above,
though we still have to see the categories that can serve as Subject in general, which is
the topic of the next section.
3.6. Categories of the Subject
The previous section concerns Anticipatory Subjects and the categories of Extraposed
Subjects that can be anticipated by the two English expletives. Now we turn to all the
grammatical categories that can have the function of Subject. Prototypically, all of these
categories are nominal expressions, since they can be replaced by a noun most of the
times. These categories can be grouped into two main types: phrases and clauses. As
was mentioned in Section 3.2 phrases are headed, whereas clauses can be divided into
Subject and Predicate.
The typical phrase that can have the function of Subject is a noun phrase or
nominal phrase. However, as under certain circumstances, nouns can be replaced by
pronouns, pronominal phrases can also fulfil the function of overt13 Subject. Phrases,
whether nominal or pronominal, can be made up of only one word – a noun or a
pronoun, respectively; or more than one word. If nominal or pronominal phrases consist
of only one word, this word is said to be the Head of the phrase. If nominal or
pronominal phrases consist of more than one word, they will contain one word that has
the function of Head of the phrase – a noun or a pronoun, together with certain words
with the function of Modifiers (see Chapter 4). Besides, nominal or pronominal phrases
can have either one Head and are therefore called simple phrases; or more than one
Head usually conjoined by a coordinating conjunction, in which case they are said to be
compound phrases.
Additionally, the function of Subject can be fulfilled by clauses. These clauses
can be either finite nominal clauses, the topic of Chapter 7; or some type of nominal
non-finite clauses, such as infinitival clauses (Chapter 9) and gerundial clauses (Chapter
10). Let us illustrate the categories of the Subject with some sentences from a novel by
Salman Rushdie (1981), in which the Subjects are italicised and the Heads of the
Subjects are underlined. For example, the Subject of 3.29 is a noun phrase made up of
only one word, that of 3.30 is a compound noun phrase and that of 3.31 is a noun phrase
13
In English, Covert or Implied Subject occurs in the case of imperative sentences wherein the Implied
Subject is you.
José DURÁN
27
that includes Modifiers, while the noun phrase Subject of 3.32 is anticipated by
expletive there. Pronominal phrases as Subject are illustrated in Example 3.33, whose
Subject is a simple pronoun; and in 3.34, whose Subject is a modified pronoun.
3.29. [(Padma is almost beside herself with anguish).] (496)
3.30. [(Ahmed and Amina Sinai were amongst the worst victims of the
renewed disease of optimism).] (416)
3.31. [(The tragedy of Mutasim the Handsome is only a subplot in our story).]
(451)
3.32. [(In those days there was no army camp at the lakeside).] (5)
3.33. [(I was alone in the balcony).] (343)
3.34. [(The three of us remained inside the hut for a night and a day).] (517)
Finally, noun clauses14 as Subjects can be seen in Examples 3.35 and 3.36. As was said
before, since these Subjects are clauses, they can in their turn be divided into Subject
and Predicate.
3.35. [(<What we have left> are your feet and face).] (38)
3.36. [(Rhythmically, in silence, their jaws move); (then all of a sudden there
is a pursing of lips), but (<what emerges> is not air-made-sound).] (52)
3.7. Categories of the Predicate
The Predicate of a clause is even more versatile than the Subject, although mainly the
category of the Predicate is a verbal phrase a vast majority of the times. Additionally,
the Predicate, can also be, though to a much lesser extent, a phrase of virtually every
type. This usually happens when there is elision of a form of the verb be or other verb
that is understood from the context of the previous discourse. Thus the Predicate can
also be the same categories as that of the Subject or even a prepositional phrase, an
adverbial phrase and an adjectival phrase. Let us see some examples from the same
novel by Rushdie (1981) as above, in which the Predicates of the sentences are
italicised.
The categories of the Predicates of these examples are a verbal phrase in 3.37, a
simple noun phrase in 3.38 and a compound noun phrase in 3.39.
3.37. [(Relations between the sisters had been somewhat strained since Nadir
Khan´s disappearance).] (80)
3.38. [(Permanent alteration: a hole).] (7)
3.39. [(And what grew best in the heat: fantasy, irrationality, lust).] (422)
Additionally, in the second sentence of the following pairs of invented examples, the
italicised Predicates are a prepositional phrase (3.40), an adjectival phrase (3.41), and an
adverbial phrase (3.42).
3.40. [(The white ladies had their dinner in a large dining-room).] [(The
coloured servants, in a backyard hut).]
14
For the different types of noun clauses, see Chapter 7.
José DURÁN
28
3.41. [(He was fond of football, basketball and rugby).] [(She, uninterested in
team sports).]
3.42. [(Lucy had an ear for all types of melodies, and sang wonderfully).]
[(Her sister, awfully).]
3.8. Summary
In this chapter we have seen the differences between clauses and phrases and between
functions and categories. This paved the way for the detailed treatment of the separation
of main clauses into their highest constitutive elements: Subject and Predicate. We have
seen how the features of agreement and case can contribute to the recognition of the
Subject. Anticipatory Subjects are dealt with in Section 3.5. The chapter closes with the
categories of the Subject and the categories of the Predicate.
The difference between functions and categories is outlined in Greenbaum & Nelson
(2002), chapter 3. Categories are explored in Van Valin (2001), chapter 1, wherein the
author includes treatment of categories in additional languages. For recognition of the
Subject, see Aarts (1997, 4th Edition 2014), chapter 2. Categories of the Subject can be
seen in Aarts (1997), chapter 5, though this author includes categories such as the
adjectival phrase and the adverbial phrase as additional possible categories for the
Subject. The gerund and infinitive as Complements of transitive verbs and as Subjects
are compared in Duffley (2000, 2003). From a different perspective, though still simple
generation of phrases, see Larson (2010). Questions on categories and functions are
raised in chapter 1 of Millikan (1984). Anticipatory Subject and Extraposed Subjects are
seen in Kim (2005), though from a different perspective. For expletive there as
Anticipatory Subject, see a very traditional analysis in Long (1967) and a more modern
account in Crawford (2005) and Durán (2012b)
3.10. Exercises
Exercise 3.1: The following sentences are simpler invented examples. Add square
brackets [ ], ordinary brackets ( ) and angular brackets < > to sentences, main clauses
and subordinating clauses, respectively. Separate the sentences into Subject and
Predicate and indicate the category of the Subject. Then complete the chart below.
Category of Subject Sentences Nº

Noun Phrase np
Pronominal Phrase pr p
Infinitival Clause i cl
Gerundial Clause g cl
Noun Clause n cl
1) That Jack is dressed elegantly is a strange thing.

2) Seeing is believing.
3) Mammals tend not to lay eggs.
4) When she told me such a lie I was not listening.
5) To love her is to suffer.
6) The nation’s ongoing debate over the death penalty is now centred in Boston.
José DURÁN
29
7) To understand you is not that easy.

8) It’s been raining all day.
9) In the southernmost tip of the continent lies Argentina.
10) When I met her, she was not in the best of moods.
11) The fact that I was late was very unusual.
12) In that locker Sheila could not find her books.
13) Whatever you’re thinking is none of my business.
14) Working in this office has not changed her life.
15) When he’s coming, I don’t know.
16) To win the prize you’ll have to make an effort.
17) Lying on your bed all day long will not help you.
18) Why we’re analysing so many sentences will be understood later.
19) Practising time and again will benefit you.
20) If you jump a red light, you can be fined.
Exercise 3.2: The following is a selection of twenty sentences from an article taken
from the Internet. Add square brackets [ ], ordinary brackets ( ) and angular brackets < >
to sentences, main clauses and subordinating clauses, respectively. Separate the
sentences into Subject and Predicate and indicate the category of the Subject.
Monday, August 26th, 2013
Selling War on Syria
BBC’s a longstanding imperial tool. It’s owned, operated and controlled by Britain’s
government. BBC’s selling war on Syria. It does so by misreporting. BBC manipulates
viewers and listeners.
BBC’s a weapon of mass deception. Lies substitute for truth. Pressure builds
toward military intervention. It sells war. It promotes US global military dominance. It
urges replacing them with pro-Western subservient ones.
Big Lies launch wars. Public opinion’s manipulated. Truth is suppressed. Fear
and misinformation substitute. Syria was largely peaceful until Washington initiated
conflict. So were Libya and Iraq earlier. Iran’s moment of truth awaits. The worst of all
possible outcomes may follow. Where things end, who knows.
Lendman (2013)
Exercise 3.3: Separate the following sentences into Subject and Predicate. Indicate the
categories of the Real Subjects. Then complete the chart below with a tick ( ) or a
cross ( ), according to the categories that the expletives it/there can anticipate.
Category of Subject It There Sentences Nº

infinitival clause i cl
noun clause n cl
gerundial clause g cl
pronoun/noun phrase pr p/n p
1) It was interesting to deliver my talk in front of such a challenging audience.

2) It is no good hoping for fortune.
3) There is nobody outside.
4) There are plenty of serious mistakes in this essay.
5) There should be no problems with the money.
José DURÁN
30
6) It was nice to see her at the party.

7) It was sad that you couldn’t participate.
8) It was very unfortunate that unemployment kept increasing.
9) It was a mystery how the keys disappeared.
10) Is it possible that I saw you at the market last Sunday?
11) It would be very disappointing if I happen to find out something odd.
12) Can there possibly be life on that planet?
13) It’s no use trying to force him.
14) It will be advisable to obey the king.
15) It’s very rude to stare at people.
16) It is a fact that he jumped a red light.
17) It is no good wasting so much money on that.
18) It is pointless going on like that.
19) It is doubtful whether he will be successful.
20) There are too many people outside.
21) There is no use trying to hide your problems.
22) It was unbelievable that she came up with such a proposal.
23) It doesn’t matter when the decision is arrived at.
24) It is uncertain whether he will win the tournament that easily.
José DURÁN
31
Chapter 4: Structure of the Subject
All I ever needed was a subject (Dwele, 2003)
4.1. Outline
This chapter explores the functions of the different components of the Subject of main
clauses. The focus of this chapter is on noun phrases and pronominal phrases and their
modifiers, while nominal clauses are the topic of Chapter 7. The modifiers of noun
phrases are the Premodifier and the Postmodifier. Additionally, there can be an
Apposition, which is a further function that can have the same categories as those of the
Subject itself (see Section 3.6 in the previous chapter). Finally, Section 4.6 deals with
Adjectival Complements. The importance of the present chapter lies in the fact that
noun phrases and pronominal phrases can have a number of functions, apart from the
Subject of the clause. These structures can fulfil additional functions in the Predicate
which will be dealt with in the following chapter.
4.2. Head
As we said in Section 3.2, noun phrases are headed by a noun and pronominal phrases
are headed by a pronoun. The Head of a phrase is the most important word in the phrase
and is vital for the understanding of the sentence and ultimately, of the text in which it
appears. Let us see this in the following five noun phrases, whose Heads are underlined.
4.1. this experimental study
4.2. these pronouns
4.4. the placement properties
4.5. the possible implications of these findings for theories of the L2 initial
state
The Heads in the previous phrases – study, pronouns, results, properties, implications –
give a clue of the topic of the sentences in which the phrases appear. If such sentences
are linked in a text, they may reveal what the text is about, namely a study on pronouns
whose results have certain implications. This is what happens in the following extract,
from the abstract of an academic research article, reproduced in Figure 4.1. Herein, the
bracketing mentioned in Chapter 2 has been included and the Subjects of its five
sentences, the five noun phrases abovementioned, are underlined.
.
Structure of the Subject
[(This experimental study investigates the acquisition of Italian accusative and dative
clitics by English adult speakers).] [(These pronouns are non-existent in English).]
[(Results from a grammaticality judgement task show that Italian accusative and dative
clitics develop slowly but gradually in Italian second language (L2) grammars).]
[(Interestingly, the placement properties appear to develop earlier than their case
properties).] [(The possible implications of these findings for theories of the L2 initial
state are considered).]
Santoro, M. Second Language Acquisition of Italian Accusative and Dative Clitics. Second Language
Research 23,1 (2007); pp. 37–50.
Apart from their Heads, phrases usually contain other structural elements that give
additional information of these Heads by classifying, qualifying or delimiting the
Heads. If these elements are placed before their Heads, in traditional Grammar they are
called Premodifiers (Section 4.3); whereas if they are placed after their Heads, they are
called Postmodifiers (see Section 4.4).
4.3. Premodifier
Most Heads, especially if they are nouns, are premodified by a number of structures.
Thus, all but one of the five underlined noun phrases of the sentences of Extract 4.1
above contain Premodifiers. The most common categories of Premodifiers are
determiners and adjectives15 or adjectival phrases, though English, unlike Spanish,
frequently resorts to nouns and noun phrases as Premodifiers as well.
Thus the Head noun study of the first sentence of Extract 4.1 above is
premodified by the determiner this, which is a demonstrative adjective, and the
adjective experimental; the Head noun pronouns of the second sentence has as its
Premodifier the determiner these, which is a plural demonstrative adjective. The Head
noun properties of the fourth sentence of the extract has two Premodifiers: the
determiner the, which is a definite article, and the noun placement, which is classifying
the type of properties referred to. Finally, the Head noun implications in the fifth
sentence of the extract is premodified by the determiner the, which is a definite article,
and the adjective possible, which is qualifying the noun implications.
English, unlike Spanish, is a language with a very inflexible word order. The
order of the Premodifiers of a noun phrase, for example, is fixed and cannot be altered.
When Premodifiers of different categories are placed before their Head, they follow a
certain order. Thus determiners appear before adjectives, and these in turn appear before
noun Premodifiers. At a deeper level of delicacy, determiners can be subclassified into
predeterminers, central determiners and postdeterminers and when they jointly
premodify a Head, they do so following a certain order. So predeterminers precede
central determiners, which in turn precede postdeterminers. The structure of the English
noun phrase is shown in Figure 4.2 below, in which the brackets indicate optional
elements.
15
The difference between adjectives and determiners is given in chapter 13.
José DURÁN
33
(Premodifier) + Head + (Postmodifier)
(determiner) + (adjective) + (noun)
(predeterminer) (central (postdeterminer)

determiner)
Figure 4.2: Structure of the Noun Phrase

In a similar fashion as determiners, adjectives also follow a certain order if they are
stacked before a noun. When this occurs, evaluative or subjective adjectives are placed
first; they are followed by size adjectives, adjectives referring to age, temperature,
shape, colour, origin and material. Examples of each type are given in Table 4.1 below.
Evaluative Size Age Temperature Shape Colour Origin Material
nice huge ancient hot square brown Kenyan wooden
lovely large old warm round blue British steely
amazing big mature tepid circular violet Italian metallic
friendly thick modern lukewarm elliptic green French plastic
ugly small new cool irregular red Czech glassy
hideous tiny young cold pointed pink Tasman feathery
Table 4.1: Order of Adjectives
4.4. Postmodifier
Postmodifiers are structural elements that are found after the Head of a nominal or
pronominal phrase. Typically, they are prepositional phrases, though they can also be
relative clauses. Relative clauses are seen in Chapter 8. Additionally, they can be other
types of phrases, such adjectival or adverbial phrases, which can also be considered
reduced relative clauses, and defining relative clauses (see Chapter 8).
Examples of Postmodifiers can be seen in the third and fifth sentences of Extract
4.1 above, whose noun phrases are repeated here as Examples 4.6 and 4.7, respectively.
These phrases contain prepositional phrases as Postmodifiers that have been italicised in
the examples.
4.7. the possible implications of these findings for theories of the L2 initial
state
The structure of prepositional phrases shows an instance of the grammatical
phenomenon called recursivity. Prepositional phrases, as was mentioned in Section 3.2,
are headed by a preposition. Yet, they are unique in the sense that apart from their Head,
they require an additional structural element. This element tends to be a nominal phrase
or a pronominal phrase. Therefore, prepositional phrases are recursive since they
contain an additional phrase within. This inner phrase of prepositional phrases has the
José DURÁN
34
syntactic function of the so called Object to the Preposition. Thus a prepositional

phrase is structurally divided into its Head, which is a preposition, and its Object to the
Preposition, which is a further nominal or pronominal phrase. This inner phrase can in
turn contain Modifiers of the types seen so far, which is a recursive phenomenon. As an
example, let us analyse syntactically the Subject of the third sentence of Extract 4.1,
Example 4.6.
S (n p)
Results from a grammaticality judgement task
PM (n) H (n)
PM (d) PM (n p) H (n)
H (p) O/P (n p)
H (n) PostM (p p)
Figure 4.3: Syntactic Analysis of Example 4.6
The whole noun phrase of Example 4.6 fulfils the function of Subject of the sentence.
This is headed by the noun results, which is postmodified by the prepositional phrase
from a grammaticality judgement task. This prepositional phrase is divided into its
Head, the preposition from, and its Object to the Preposition, the noun phrase a
grammaticality judgement task. The Head noun task of this nominal phrase has two
Premodifiers, the determiner a and the noun phrase grammaticality judgement. Finally,
this nominal phrase is headed by the noun judgement and premodified by the noun
grammaticality.
The syntactic analysis of Example 4.7 exhibits the presence of two
Postmodifiers, the second of which presents a two-level recursion of Postmodifiers,
which is shown in Figure 4.4 below.
S (n p)
The possible implications of these findings for theories of the L2 initial state
PM PM PM
H (d) (adj) (adj)
H (n)
PM
H (n) (p) O/P (n p)
(d)
H H H (n) PostM (p p)
PM PM (p) O/P (n p) (p) O/P (n p)
(d) (adj) H (n) PostM (p p) PostM (p p)
In this case, the whole noun phrase is the Subject of sentence 5 of Extract 4.1 above,
Example 4.7. This noun phrase is headed by the noun implications and premodified by
the determiner the and the adjective possible, and postmodified by the prepositional
phrases of these findings and for theories of the L2 initial state. The first prepositional
phrase is divided into its Head, the preposition of and the Object to the Preposition, the
noun phrase these findings. This noun phrase is headed by the noun findings, which is
premodified by the determiner these. The second Postmodifier, the prepositional phrase
for theories of the L2 initial state is in turn divided into its Head, the preposition for and
the Object to the Preposition, the noun phrase theories of the L2 initial state. This noun
phrase is headed by the noun theories, which is postmodified by the prepositional
phrase of the L2 initial state. This prepositional phrase is divided into its Head, the
preposition of and the Object to the Preposition, the noun phrase the L2 initial state.
This noun phrase is headed by the noun state, which is premodified by the determiner
the, the adjective L2 and the adjective initial.
José DURÁN
35
All this may seem too complicated and even discouraging, but with practice and
if a certain order of analysis is followed, from the outside elements to the inside
elements, the final stage can be reached. Here are some tips that can help organise the
analysis.
 For each phrase, try to find its Head.
 Find the Modifiers of this Head.
 In the case of Premodifiers, see whether each element stands on its own or
one – or some of them – has an internal structure itself. For example, in 4.6
analysed in Figure 4.3, the noun grammaticality refers to and modifies the
noun judgement. This whole noun phrase, in turn, refers to and modifies the
noun task.
 In the case of Postmodifiers that are prepositional phrases, they are always
divided into a Head preposition and an Object to the Preposition, which is a
nominal or pronominal phrase. This nominal or pronominal phrase will be
headed by a noun or a pronoun, respectively; and in its turn can have
Premodifiers and/or Postmodifiers.
4.5. Apposition
A further structural element component of the Subject and other nominal phrases in the
Predicate or within an Object to the Preposition, for example, is the Apposition. The
Apposition is a noun phrase16 that is either co-referential with, encompassing or
encompassed by a noun phrase previously17 mentioned. Appositions can be classified
into non-restrictive and restrictive.
Non-Restrictive Apposition is a structural element separate from the Head of the
nominal phrase by a comma, semicolon or any other parenthetical marker, and provides
additional information which is indicated in speech by a separate tone unit. In Example
4.8 the italicised noun phrase made up of only one word, Aldo, is a Non-Restrictive
Apposition. In 4.9, the italicised expression namely water is also a Non-Restrictive
Apposition since it provides additional information to the previous noun phrase.
4.8. My best friend, Aldo, teaches syntax.
4.9. The most important element for life, namely water, is produced by this
company.
Since the information given by a Non-Restrictive Apposition is additional, it can be
taken away without affecting the informative content of the proposition. Thus, in
Examples 4.10 and 4.11 corresponding to 4.8 and 4.9, respectively, the Non-Restrictive
Appositions have been eliminated. Still, the informative content of the proposition
remains the same as that of their original counterparts.
4.10. My best friend teaches syntax.
4.11. The most important element for life is produced by this company.
16
For appositives with a category other than nominal, see Quirk & Greenbaum (1973:291). Noun clauses
in Apposition are seen in chapter 8.
17
Conventionally, the second nominal expression is considered the Apposition, except when the first
nominal is an Appositive Title such as Mr., Mrs., Dr, Prof. and others.
José DURÁN
36
A further piece of evidence for the recognition of Non-Restrictive Appositions is the

fact that they can be placed preceding the nominal expressions to which they have been
added. In this case, the postponed italicised nominal expression is now the Non-
Restrictive Apposition (see Examples 4.12 and 4.13).
4.12. Aldo, my best friend, teaches syntax.
4.13. Water, the most important element for life, is produced by this company.
Finally, Non-Restrictive Appositions can take the place of the nominal expressions to
which they are added, in whose case they become the Heads of the Subject, which has
now no Apposition (see Examples 4.14 and 4.15).
4.14. Aldo teaches syntax.
4.15. Water is produced by this company.
The other type of Apposition is the Restrictive Apposition. The Restrictive Apposition
is a nominal expression that delimits or specifies the reference of the first nominal, from
which it is not separated either in writing or speech. See Examples 4.16 and 4.17.
4.16. Our colleague Thompson was appointed the head of the board.
4.17. His sister Janet graduated from medical school last year.
The difference between Non-Restrictive Apposition and Restrictive Apposition can be
seen from the comparison of Examples 4.18 and 4.19 below. While in the former, Jack
is the only uncle of the writer/speaker, in the latter the writer/speaker has more than one
uncle and the one who he/she is referring as fond of pasta is Jack. This difference is
illustrated in Figure 4.5 below.
4.18. My uncle, Jack, is fond of pasta.
4.19. My uncle Jack is fond of pasta.
Non-Restrictive Restrictive
Apposition Apposition
Figure 4.5: Types of Apposition
The uniqueness of the appositive nominal in 4.18 leaves no room for the
misidentification of the nominal referred to and thus makes this Apposition a Non-
Restrictive one. Conversely, the fact that in 4.19, the set of uncles referred to consists of
more than one element plausible of reference makes it necessary to restrict the whole set
of uncles to one item in order to avoid misinterpretation. We have now a Restrictive
Apposition.
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that is to say and such as / like

that is as follows especially
i.e. (id est) for example particularly
namely e.g. (exempli gratia) in particular
viz (videlicet) for instance notably
to wit (fml., esp. legal) say chiefly
in other words for instance mainly
or included mostly
or rather including of
or better simply to put it simply
Figure 4.6: Markers of Apposition

Figure 4.6 above gives a number of explicit Markers of Apposition, some of which are
used in Examples 4.20 to 4.23 below.
4.20. Dairy products, e.g. milk and butter, have been reduced in consumption.
4.21. The journey, particularly the flight, was amazing.
4.22. Shakespeare’s plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth were read in class.
4.23. The thought of getting up early troubled him.
Finally, let us mention that nouns such as fact, idea, suggestion, thought, and many
others are very frequently followed by a Restrictive Apposition, which is usually a noun
clause and is therefore seen in Chapter 7. These nouns are in general abstract nouns
without much descriptive content, which makes them prone to precede a Restrictive
Apposition.
4.6. Adjectival Complements
Adjectival Complements are structural elements that are required by some adjectives.
From the point of view of their category, they tend to be prepositional phrases, although
they can also be finite nominal clauses (see Chapter 7) and non-finite clauses, especially
infinitival clauses (Chapter 9). Adjectives that require a Complement are predicative
adjectives that express an attitude characteristic of the nominal expression in the
Subject or a strong connection between the Subject and the Adjectival Complement by
means of the adjective that heads the predication. See Examples 4.24 to 4.28 below, in
which the italicised Adjectival Complements are all prepositional phrases.
4.24. I’m interested in Grammar.
4.25. Cortázar was fond of individual sports.
4.26. She is proud of her garden.
4.27. The scientific was confident in her findings.
4.28. His suggestion was devoid of sense.
It is necessary to make a distinction between Postmodifiers and Adjectival
Complements. The former are structural elements that are placed and give details of a
certain Head noun to which they modify. The latter are syntactic elements required by
an adjective rather than a noun.
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4.7. Summary
This chapter is concerned with the structure of nominal phrases as Subject, and
ultimately with nominal expressions with other functions that will be seen later. In
particular, we have focused on noun and pronominal phrases, whose Head is a noun or a
pronoun. Optionally, there can appear one or more Premodifiers, which must precede
the Head; and/or a Postmodifier, which must follow it. The category of the Premodifier
is a determiner, an adjective or a noun, which follow a fixed order. The category of the
Postmodifier is typically a prepositional phrase, though it can also be other types of
phrases and even clauses that are dealt with in Chapter 8. A further structural element
usually present in noun and pronominal phrases is the Apposition. There exist two types
of Apposition, Non-Restrictive and Restrictive, and we have seen their differences and
their explicit Markers of Apposition. The chapter closes with the syntactic function of
Adjectival Complements.

Heads and their Modifiers can be read with reference to different languages in
Tallerman (1998, 2nd Edition 2005), chapter 4. The noun phrase is dealt with from a
different perspective but still in a simple fashion in chapter 9 of Delahunty & Garvey
(2010). A very good account of Apposition is given in Meyer (1987) and Gómez Penas
(1994).
4.9. Exercises
Exercise 4.1: The following is an extract from a classic novel by Jonathan Swift (1726).
We have underlined all phrases in Subject position in all its clauses, main and
subordinating ones. Analyse them syntactically and give their categories in brackets.
[(The first project was, to shorten discourse, by cutting polysyllables into one,
and leaving out verbs and participles, <because, in reality, all things imaginable are but
norms>).] [(The other project was, a scheme for entirely abolishing all words
whatsoever); and (this was urged as a great advantage in point of health, as well as
brevity).] [(For it is plain, <that every word <we speak> is, in some degree, a
diminution of our lunge by corrosion, and, consequently, contributes to the shortening
of our lives>).]
Swift, J. (1726). Gulliver’ Travels.
Exercise 4.2: The following is an extract from a novel by Desai (2006). Insert the
bracketing as was done before and separate the main clauses of its eight sentences into
Subject and Predicate. Analyse the Subjects syntactically, giving both the functions and
categories of each structural element.
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All day, the colors had been those of dusk, mist moving like a water creature across the
great flanks of mountains possessed of ocean shadows and depths. Briefly visible above
the vapor, Kanchenjunga was a far peak whittled out of ice, gathering the last of the
light, a plume of snow blown high by the storms at its summit.
Sai, sitting on the veranda, was reading an article about giant squid in an old
National Geographic. Every now and then she looked up at Kanchenjunga, observed its
wizard phosphorescence with a shiver. The judge sat at the far corner with his
chessboard, playing against himself. Stuffed under his chair where she felt safe was
Mutt the dog, snoring gently in her sleep. A single bald lightbulb dangled on a wire
above. It was cold, but inside the house, it was still colder, the dark, the freeze,
contained by stone walls several feet deep.
DESAI, Kiran (2006: 1). The Inheritance of Loss. London: Penguin.
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Chapter 5: Structure of the Predicate
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time
For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme
(Gore, 2008)
5.1. Outline
This chapter is concerned with the structure of the Predicate. We start with the
difference between the verbal group in its narrow sense and the verbal phrase in its
broad sense. Obligatory structural elements, Objects and Complements, are explained in
contrast with additional structural elements, Adjuncts. After reading this chapter, you
are expected to analyse simple sentences in detail.
5.2. Verbal Group
The verbal group can be considered in its narrow sense or in its broad sense. In the
narrow sense, the verbal group constitutes the Head of the vast majority of the
Predicates of finite clauses. In the broad sense, the verbal phrase is the verbal group
Head of the finite Predicate together with the remaining constituents of the Predicate.
Let us clarify this point with some examples taken from James (1963).
5.1. The group secretary and Nagle were still waiting in the hall. (99)
5.2. Mrs Bostock has explained this to me. (168)
5.3. He could discover no rational cause for this impatience. (204)
In the narrow sense the verbal groups of Examples 5.1 to 5.3 are the groups were
waiting, has explained and could discover, respectively. In the broad sense, the verbal
phrase of Example 5.1 includes both the verbal group were waiting and its additional
constituents still and in the hall. Similarly, the verbal phrase of Example 5.2 includes
the verbal group has explained and the remaining constituents this and to me. Likewise,
the verbal phrase of Example 5.3 consists of the verbal group could discover and the
remaining phrase no rational cause for this impatience. In this section we will
concentrate on the verbal group in its narrow sense, while the analysis and properties of
the remaining constituents will be covered in the rest of the chapter.
Let us start with a sentence taken from an Internet article, wherein we have
inserted the bracketing as was done before.
.
Structure of the Predicate
5.4. [(Ads on mobile devices will have been downloaded in advance 18).]
The verbal group will have been downloaded is made up of three auxiliary verbs and
the past participle form of the main verb download. These auxiliary verbs are the modal
auxiliary will, the auxiliary for the perfect aspect have and the auxiliary for the
passive voice been. Additionally, we should mention the auxiliary for the progressive
aspect such as the form were of the verbal group were waiting of Example 5.1 above.
Auxiliaries are function words that precede main verbs, in the same way as determiners
precede adjectives. Similarly, when two or more auxiliaries are placed together, they
follow a certain order: modal auxiliaries precede perfect auxiliaries, which in turn
appear before progressive auxiliaries. Finally, the last auxiliary to be found in a certain
chain is the auxiliary for the passive voice. Additionally, we must include as a further
auxiliary, the one resorted to in interrogative, negative and emphatic sentences in the
simple present and simple past tenses, namely the forms do, does and did. The first
auxiliary, if there is more than one, or the only auxiliary in a verbal group is
traditionally called the operator.
As for the main verbs, they are classified according to the types of complement
that they require, if any at all. The five following examples, taken from Berreby (2005),
are different in this respect.
5.5. [(Human-kind beliefs can change).] (167)
5.6. [(A few years later, a Dutch experiment found a milder, but similar
effect).] (178)
5.7. [(The inspector asked him some innocuous questions).] (55)
5.8. [(An ornithologist would call them herring gulls and laughing gulls).]
(71)
5.9. [(For these writers, keen selection theory is a lovely way to banish the
individual mind (…) from the question of human-kind behavior).] (366)
Verbs are classified into intransitive, transitive and copular. Intransitive Verbs do not
take complements, as the verb change in Example 5.5. Transitive verbs require a
complement called Direct Object. They can be subclassified into monotransitive, if
they take only a Direct Object, as the verb find in 5.6; ditransitive, if they take both a
Direct Object and an Indirect Object, as the verb ask in 5.7; and complex transitive, if
they require both a Direct Object and an Objective Complement, as the verb call in
5.8. Finally, copular verbs are those that require a Subjective Complement and no
Direct Object, as the verb be – or its finite form is – in 5.9.
The subsequent sections deal with all these structural elements, but first we need
to differentiate between the two types of functions. Complements, in the broad sense,
are said to be structural elements that are required by the verb; whereas Adjuncts are
structural elements that provide additional information that can be added to all types of
verbs. At a deeper level, Complements are subdivided into Objects – Direct Object and
Indirect Object – and Complements in their narrow sense, which can be either
Subjective Complements or Objective Complements. This is seen in Figure 5.1 below.
18
Facebook launches auto-play video ad son news feeds, 17 December 2013, Last updated at 12:24 GMT.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25414894, accessed on January 2nd, 2014.
José DURÁN
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Direct Object
Objects
Indirect Object
Complements
Subjective Complement
Complements
Objective Complement
Adjuncts
Figure 5.1: Structural Functions in the Predicate
5.3. Direct Object

Direct Objects, like Subjects, are typically nominal expressions – noun phrases,
pronominal phrases and noun clauses that can, in the majority of cases, become the
Subject of the clause through passivisation. If they are countable nominals in the
singular, they can generally be pluralised or coordinated with another nominal. If they
are pronominal phrases, they appear in the accusative case. They are considered
obligatory structural elements, though they can be elided or deleted19 under certain
circumstances (Liu 2008). They follow directly the verb to which they complement,
unless an Indirect Object is placed in between.
Thus, in Example 5.6 above, repeated below as 5.10, the italicised nominal
phrase a milder, but similar effect can become the Subject of the passive sentence in
5.11. Example 5.12 shows pluralisation of the Direct Object, whereas pronominalisation
is shown in Examples 5.13 and 5.14, wherein the overt accusative case is mandatory.
Example 5.15 illustrates the obligatoriness of the Direct Object, as its elision results in
an ungrammatical sentence.
5.10. [(A few years later, a Dutch experiment found a milder, but similar
effect).]
5.11. [(A few years later, a milder, but similar effect was found).]
5.12. [(A few years later, a Dutch experiment found milder, but similar
effects).]
5.13. [(A few years later, a Dutch experiment found it).]
5.14. [(A few years later, a Dutch experiment found them).]
5.15. *[(A few years later, a Dutch experiment found).]
Occasionally, some verbs that are considered to be intransitive such as live admit
however a Direct Object. This is shown in 5.16 and 5.17 from the abovementioned
source.
5.16. [(Millions of people live their lives in a way not possible before the
belief existed).] (59)
5.17. [(A surprising amount as we now live it traces back to this faith).] (46)
19
For noun clauses as Direct Objects, see chapter 7; for Object-deletion see chapter 14.
José DURÁN
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Additionally, some intransitive verbs are used transitively when they take a so called
locative Direct Object (5.18 and 5.19), a cognate Direct Object (5.20) or a Direct
Object that is a hyponym of the lexical item incorporated into the lexical verb (5.21), as
is seen in the following invented examples.
5.18. [(They ran a race).]
5.19. [(She has walked two miles).]
5.20. [(He’s singing a song).]
5.21. [(We are fishing trout).]
When a transitive verb takes a Direct Object that corefers with the Subject, the Direct
Object is a reflexive pronoun, as in 5.22.
5.22. [(She hurt herself).]
We must also mention that not all Direct Objects can undergo passivisation. This
happens mainly with noun clauses as Direct Object and in the case of Direct Objects of
the so called middle verbs. Examples of middle verbs are verbs of possession, such as
have or possess; or lack of possession, such as lack; or measure verbs such as cost,
measure, suit, or fit. The transitive verbs have and take also require a Direct Object that
resists passivisation in a number of informal expressions that can be classified as
eventive: have a good time, have a row, have/take a look, have/take a swim, have/take a
nap, etc.
Finally, from the semantic point of view, the Direct Object is the entity, person
or thing that is affected by the verb or undergoes the action that the verb indicates,
though this would be a fairly weak definition since the Direct Object can have a number
of additional THEMATIC ROLES20, which are beyond the scope of this work. For
example, of the several examples given above, only that in 5.22, herself; and probably
the one in 5.21, trout, can be considered affected Direct Objects.
5.4. Indirect Object
Indirect Objects, like Direct Objects, are nominal expressions: noun phrases,
pronominal phrases or noun clauses. Additionally, Indirect Objects can be prepositional
phrases, in particular when they follow the Direct Object. In English, unlike Spanish,
Indirect Objects parallel Direct Objects in the sense that they can undergo passivisation.
Besides, Indirect Objects alternate their position with that of Direct Objects, though the
category of the Indirect Object is different according to the position they take. If they
precede Direct Objects, they are nominal expressions. However, Indirect Objects are
prepositional phrases when they follow Direct Objects.
Let us start with an example taken from the abovementioned source, in which
the Indirect Object has been italicised.
5.23. [(The inspector asked him some innocuous questions).] (55)
Example 5.23 admits two possible passive transformations, one in which the Indirect
Object has become the Subject of its passive counterpart (Example 5.24); and one in
which the Direct Object has become the Subject of the passive sentence while the
Indirect Object remains in situ (Example 5.25).
20
Also called semantic roles or theta roles.
José DURÁN
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5.24. [(He was asked some innocuous questions (by the inspector)).]
5.25. [(Some innocuous questions were asked to him (by the inspector)).]
As is shown in 5.25, in passive sentences in which the Direct Object of their active
counterparts has become the Subject of the passive one, the Indirect Object is also
necessarily a prepositional phrase.
Indirect Objects are structural elements required by ditransitive verbs, typically
verbs of giving and verbs of telling (Examples 5.26 and 5.27), though they are also
possible with some other verbs. From the semantic point of view, they are usually
considered the RECIPIENT of the goods or things given or the information told. In this
case, the preposition preferred is to.
5.26. [(Invented tradition gives to the resulting belief a reassuring flavor of
timeless essences).] (78)
5.27. [(We assume that categories like “German” and “Hindu” and “old
person” tell us much more about people).] (74)
In addition, Indirect Objects can occur with other verbs such as offer, buy, make, bring,
and many others (see the invented Examples 5.28 to 5.31). The Indirect Object used
with these verbs is not necessarily the RECIPIENT, but is called the INTENDED RECIPIENT
or BENEFICIARY. The preferred preposition in these cases is for, though preposition to is
also possible in some cases.
5.28. They offered him a promotion. They offered a promotion to him.
5.29. We bought her a present. We bought a present for her.
5.30. She made me a cake. She made a cake for me.
5.31. He brought her the bucket. He brought the bucket to/for her.
5.5. Complement
Complement in its narrow sense is a structural element that is required by the verb.
From the point of view of its function, it can be said to refer to the Subject of the clause
or to the Direct Object. The former is called Subjective Complement and the latter is
called Objective Complement. Some authors classify Complements from the point of
view of their category into Predicative Complement and Adverbial Complement
(Wekker & Haegeman 1985). As in this book we follow a more functional approach, we
will stick to the first classification. Let us remember that in this work, we have chosen
to follow the convention of indicating functions in capital letters and categories in small
letters in brackets after the function.
5.5.1. Subjective Complement
Subjective Complements are required by copular verbs such as be, become, resemble,
sound, feel, etc. These verbs are stative verbs that in general are not used in the
progressive aspect and do not admit passivisation. We will illustrate this with some
examples taken from the same source as above, Berreby (2005). Subjective
Complements in the examples below are italicised.
Subjective Complements are usually noun phrases (Examples 5.32, 5.33 and
5.34) or adjectival phrases (5.35). These are the so called predicative Complements.
José DURÁN
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5.32. [(Essentialism should be a dead letter in a world run on a mountain of

statistics).] (60)
5.33. [(But categories are not arbitrary, whimsical thoughts, either).] (69)
5.34. [(The mother resembles other women more than she does her husband).]
(66)
5.35. [(This doesn’t sound too different from Francis Galton’s idea).] (73)
In addition to predicative Complements, Subjective Complements can be prepositional
phrases or adverbial phrases, the so called adverbial Complements. However, they are
more limited in use, prototypically with a form of the copular verb be (5.36) or some
other copular verb that can be replaced by be (5.37), and even with an intransitive verb
such as lie (= remain in a horizontal position), live (5.38) and go (5.39).
5.36. [(Among the world’s other invented traditions is the strict divide between
Hutu and Tutsi, which was the basis for genocidal killings in Rwanda in
the 1990s).] (76)
5.37. [(All these human kinds certainly don’t feel like inventions).] (90)
5.38. [(Human kind exists because of human minds).] [(But <how you choose
to live with them> is up to you).] (331)
5.39. [(In 1969 El Salvador and Honduras went to war over a soccer match).]
(25)
In all these examples, deletion of the Subject Complements leads to ungrammatical
sentences, which is precisely what gives these structural elements the name
Complements. See, for example, 5.40 derived from 5.32; and 5.41, from 5.37.
5.40. *[(Essentialism should be in a world run on a mountain of statistics).]
5.41. *[(All these human kinds certainly don’t feel).]
5.5.2. Objective Complement
Objective Complements are also structural elements required by the verb, which refer to
the Direct Object rather than the Subject of the clause. They seem restricted to the type
called predicative Complements, that is to say, to those whose category is a nominal
expression (Examples 5.42, 5.43 and 5.44) or an adjectival phrase (5.45 and 5.46) 21.
However, they can also be adverbial Complements that belong to the category
prepositional phrase (5.47) or adverbial phrase.
5.42. [(Albert Einstein once considered the cosmological constant in his theory
of the universe to be his “greatest blunder”).] (10)
5.43. [(Their Persian enemy Xerxes declared himself the king of many
different kinds of people).] (83)
5.44. [(Hacking has called this sort of change a looping effect).] (57)
5.45. [(Their constant decoding keeps you alive).] (97)
5.46. [(Others in the room found it merely unpleasant).] (80)
21
An alternative analysis would be to consider DO and OC a DO with a category of verbless clause.
José DURÁN
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5.47. [(An 1893 case classed Japanese as Mongolian).] (91)

Deletion of the Objective Complement results in ungrammaticalty (5.48 and 5.49).
5.48. *[(Hacking has called this sort of change).]
5.49. *[(An 1893 case classed Japanese).]
Finally, some verbs like put (5.50), place and others require the presence of an
Objective Complement, without which the sentence becomes ungrammatical (5.51).
5.50. [(To put it in grammatical terms, we imagine ourselves in a world of
nouns, like “France,” “the Muslim world,” or “old people.” (321)
5.51. *[(To put it, we imagine ourselves in a world of nouns, like “France,”
“the Muslim world,” or “old people.”
5.6. Adjunct
Adjuncts are more peripheral elements than Complements in the sense that they give
optional information whose deletion does not necessarily affect the propositional
content of the clause. They are typically22 adverbial phrases23 or prepositional phrases
though they can also be nominal phrases that usually indicate temporal or spatial
location, such as home or this afternoon. In addition, they can be predicative in category
– nominal or adjectival phrases, and because of their peripheral quality and relative
infrequency, they are usually treated as a separate function, the Predicative Adjunct or
Quasipredicative.
Like Objects and Complements, Adjuncts can be tested by clefting and fronting,
although this is not possible with Sentential Adjuncts. However, Adjuncts are more
mobile structural elements than Objects and Complements. From their semantic point of
view, Adjuncts are classified into Adjuncts of Place, Time and Manner, which are the
most frequent and indisputable types, though other classes must also be considered,
such as Adjuncts of Instrument, Company, Cause, Result, Purpose, Condition and
Concession, among others. Besides, frequently Adjuncts express a conflation of these
classes and are therefore difficult to classify. Let us see some examples from the
abovementioned source.
5.52. [(In the United States courts, an 1854 decision held that Chinese people
were Indians under American law).] (91)
5.53. [(In the spring of 2004, the Republican Party of Illinois found itself with
a problem).] (32)
5.54. [(You blink constantly).] (72)
The Adjunct in Example 5.54 is an adverbial phrase, whereas those in 5.52 and 5.53 are
prepositional phrases. From the point of view of their class, 5.52 is an Adjunct of Place;
5.53 illustrates an Adjunct of Time; whereas 5.54 is an example of an Adjunct of
Manner. Their mobility can be seen in 5.55, 5.56 and 5.57. Example 5.57, wherein the
Adjunct is placed between the verb and its Object or Complement, is highly infrequent
in English, and seems to be only admitted when the Object or Complement has more
22
For example, Quirk et al (1985:489) find in a corpus of 75,000 words that 45.7% of Adjuncts are
adverbial phrases and 40.2% are prepositional phrases.
23
For adverbial clauses as Adjuncts, see Chapter 6.
José DURÁN
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weight than the Adjunct. Testing through clefting is exemplified in 5.58, while 5.59
shows the fact that their deletion does not necessarily affect the propositional content of
the clause since they are not structural elements required by the verb.
5.55. [(An 1854 decision, in the United States courts, held that Chinese people
were Indians under American law).]
5.56. [(An 1854 decision held that Chinese people were Indians under
American law in the United States courts).]
5.57. [(An 1854 decision held, in the United States courts, that Chinese people
were Indians under American law).]
5.58. [(It was in the United States courts that an 1854 decision held that
Chinese people were Indians under American law).]
5.59. [(An 1854 decision held that Chinese people were Indians under
American law).]
5.7. Sentence Adjunct
Sentence Adjuncts are structural elements that affect the whole sentence, and are not
integrated into the propositional content expressed by the verb of the clause. They are
usually, though not necessarily, placed in initial clausal-position and even paragraph-
initial. They can be classified into Conjuncts and Disjuncts. Whereas the former
establish a connection with the previous sentence or paragraph, the latter convey some
attitude or evaluation of the speaker/writer.
5.7.1. Conjunct
Figure 5.2 below shows the classification of Conjuncts. Here the numbers in brackets
make reference to the examples, taken also from the abovementioned source.
5.60. [(Second, […] millions of people all over the world don’t have the
freedom to speak about human kinds in this fluid, subjective way).] (322)
5.61. [(Last, the law protects “us” – citizens of a particular nation, law-abiding
members of a community).] (327)
5.62. [(In the same way, human kinds can’t be understood objectively).] (18)
5.63. [(On the one hand, philosophy and psychology, at least in the West, have
largely focused on the individual soul).] (30)
5.64. [(And anyone can unfold it; whether you’re familiar with its imagery or
alienated by it).] (94)
5.65. [(But toddlers do, every day, everywhere).] (100)
5.66. [(However, a link between two measurements does not reveal which is
cause and which is effect).] (264)
5.67. [(Conversely, the mind described by specialists in animal behavior is a
bottom-up kind of system).] (114)
5.68. [(So does that make human kinds all fiction?)]
José DURÁN
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enumerative (5.60 &5.61)
listing equative (5.62)
replacive (5.63)
additive (5.64)
alternative (5.65)
concessive (5.66)
logical contrastive (5.67)
illative (5.68)
deductive (5.69)
consecutive (5.70)
exemplifying (5.71)
appositive
reformulative (5.72)
source (5.73)
temporal (5.74)
discoursal (5.75)
Figure 5.2: Classification of Conjuncts

5.69. [(After all, chemistry, the linguist Noam Chomsky has pointed out, has
nothing to do with my opinion about how the hot water in my mug turns
into tea).] (4)
5.70. [(Hence we feel anger).] (242)
5.71. [(For example, modern neuroscience rests on the successes of the great
Spanish anatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who finished publishing his
masterpiece on the brain and nervous system in 1904).] (29)
5.72. [(Rather, it’s likely a pattern of coordinated firing by millions of
neurons, all over your brain).] (105)
5.73. [(Originally, as the writer and critic Terry Eagleton points out, ideology
meant the opposite of what we intend today).] (90)
5.74. [(Meanwhile, the politics of science – or rather, the way science is used
in politics – creates a different kind of pressure for new ideas).] (31)
5.75. [(Well, as the cognitive scientist George Lakoff of the University of
California at Berkeley has put it, ask different questions, you get
different answers).] (29)
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5.7.2. Disjunct
The following are examples of Disjuncts from the source text mentioned above.
5.76. [(Some researchers, in fact, now think the best model for a developing
child’s mind is the scientist’s)] (67)
5.77. [(In a real sense, then, that sentence is in code).] (95)
5.78. [(Obviously, this is not a claim that you were born knowing your native
language).] (100)
5.79. [(Of course, if there is a human-kind faculty in the brain, it will likely
draw on many different regions).] (152)
5.80. [(Apparently, you do it by ignoring some of what you know, while
paying heightened attention to the rest).] (71)
5.81. [(Perhaps a true science of human kinds will not traffic in everyday
language at all).] (321)
One possible distinctive feature of some Disjuncts, as opposed to Conjuncts, is the fact
that they can be paraphrased with a presumably more detached construction through
which the writer/speaker hides himself/herself in the discourse. This seemingly more
objective construction is the paraphrase through an anticipatory it and the postposition
of an evaluative adjective. Thus, for example, 5.78 and 5.80 are paraphrased in 5.82 and
5.83, respectively.
5.82. [(It is obvious that this is not a claim that you were born knowing your
native language).]
5.83. [(It is apparent that you do it by ignoring some of what you know, while
paying heightened attention to the rest).]
On the other hand, what differentiates both Disjuncts and Conjuncts from true Adjuncts
is the fact that neither Disjuncts nor Conjuncts can be tested through clefting, precisely
due to their marginality from the propositional content of the clause.
5.8. Predicative Adjunct
Predicative Adjuncts, also traditionally called Quasipredicatives, are further optional
structural elements, though they seem less mobile than true Adjuncts. They are either
nominal expressions (Example 5.84) or, more frequently, adjectival phrases (5.85 to
5.90). Further invented examples have been provided.
5.84. [(You weren’t born a blank slate).] (100)
5.85. [(Stigma […] increases your chances of dying young).] (257)
5.86. [(They married rich).]
5.87. [(He left the room sad).]
5.88. [(They did their homework tired).]
5.89. [(Around here, they ride horses young).] (251)
5.90. [(She married him innocent).]
José DURÁN
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As all Adjuncts, Predicative Adjuncts can be used with every class of verbs. Thus,
Example 5.84 shows a passive construction; 5.85 and 5.86 are placed next to
intransitive verbs; 5.87 to 5.90 illustrate their use with transitive constructions.
Examples 5.84 to 5.87 indicate a state when the action takes place. That is why they
admit a paraphrase with the nominal or adjectival phrase as Complement to the copular
verb be and the action expressed by the original verb in a subordinating clause (see
Examples 5.91 to 5.94, respectively).
5.91. [(You weren’t a blank slate <when you were born>).] (100)
5.92. [(Stigma reduces your chances of being young <when you die>).]
5.93. [(They were rich <when they married>).]
5.94. [(He was sad <when he left the room>).]
Examples 5.88, 5.89 and 5.90 are a common construction in English in which the
Predicative Adjunct conveys the state expressed by the transitive verb24, or
compositionally the transitive verb together with its Direct Object. Thus they can be
paraphrased with a complex sentence (Examples 5.95 to 5.97).
5.95. [(They did their homework <when/even though they were tired>).]
5.96. [(Around here, they ride horses <when they are young>).]
5.97. [(She married him <when she was innocent>).]
5.9. Agent25
A further function within the Predicate in English clauses is the Agent, which occurs in
passive clauses, as is seen in Examples 5.98, 5.99 and 5.100, taken from the source
book mentioned above. Passive constructions are usually resorted to in order to avoid
mentioning the doer of the action, so frequently the Agent is absent in these clauses.
However, if it does appear, it is introduced through the preposition by and therefore the
Agent is always a prepositional phrase.
5.98. [(Some can be affected by conscious thought).] (101)
5.99. [(Morse code can be sent by telegraph clicks or signal flags or a hammer
banging on a drainpipe).] (95)
5.100. [(Such techniques helped establish that some brain codes can be read by
solitary neurons).] (104)
5.10. Adjectival Complement
Finally, the last function to be mentioned is the Adjectival Complement. Adjectival
Complements are structural elements that are required by an adjective rather than by a
verb. This happens with adjectives that are plausible of – and tend to – carry the
predication of the clause and are therefore used with a verb devoid of lexical content
such as the dummy be. These adjectives usually take a prepositional phrase as
Complement such as fond of, afraid of, conscious of, proud of, interested in, good at
24
Cf. the transitive verb did with auxiliary did.
25
Quirk et al (1985) regard Agent as a type of Process Adverbial, within which they also encompass
Manner, Means and Instrument Adverbials.
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51
(5.101). However, they can also take an infinitival clause as Complement such as
certain to, likely to (5.102), willing to (5.103).
5.101. [(Studies of large populations are good at exploring relationships among
traits and describing how strongly one is tied to another).] (263)
5.102. [(A stressed mother is more likely to give birth to babies with physical
and emotional difficulties).] (257)
5.103. [(Unlike ropes, though, people must decide if they’re willing to be
known).] (254)
The fact that these adjectives tend to carry the predication of the clause makes them and
their Adjectival Complements more likely to appear in the Predicate of the clause. This
is why Adjectival Complements are dealt with in this chapter. However, they can
additionally appear in the Subject, as in shown in Example 5.104 below.
5.104. [(People prone to cancer were drawn).] [(Maybe people prone to ill
health get stressed easily, which makes them less able to succeed).] (264)
Yet, the adjectival phrases that postmodify the Heads of the Subject in 5.104 are in
actual fact reduced relative clauses, whose Head adjectives are part of the Predicate of
the non-reduced relative clause. This is shown in 5.105 below.
5.105. [(People who are prone to cancer were drawn).] [(Maybe people who are
prone to ill health get stressed easily, which makes them less able to
succeed).]
5.11. Sample Analysis
Now that we have all the elements to analyse a simple sentence, we show the detailed
syntactic analysis of the Predicates of two of the four simple sentences of Figure 4.1 of
the previous chapter. This is shown in Figure 5.3 below, in which the syntactic elements
typical of Subjects seen in the previous chapter are included.
P (v p)
investigates the acquisition of Italian accusative and dative clitics
PM H (adj) (ccc) H (adj)
H (adj) PM (comp adj p) H (n)
PM (p) O/P (n p)
(d) H (n) PostM (p p)
H (t v) DO (n p)
P (v p)
by English adult speakers
H PM (adj) PM (n) H (n)
(p) O/P (n p)
Ag (p p)
P (v p)
are non-existent in English
H H (p) O/P (n)
(cop v) SC (adj) AA Pl (p p)
Figure 5.3: Syntactic Analysis of Predicates
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5.12. Summary
This chapter is devoted to the syntactic analysis of the Predicate. We start from the
analysis of the verbal group in its narrow sense, with the main verb as its Head and its
possible auxiliaries, in contrast with the verbal phrase in its broad sense, which
comprises the verbal group and all its Complements and Adjuncts. Following sections
deal with the obligatory structural elements in the Predicate, Direct Object, Indirect
Object, Subjective Complement and Objective Complement. Additional information is
seen in Section 5.6 that deals with Adjuncts. Sentence Adjuncts – Conjuncts and
Disjuncts – express more marginal information that is not necessarily integrated into the
propositional content of the clause. Besides, Predicative Adjuncts are a type of Adjunct
in that they convey additional information, but differ from pure Adjuncts in their
category, which is adjectival or nominal. We have included Section 5.9 on Agents, a
type of Adjunct that occurs in sentences in the passive voice. Finally, Adjectival
Complements are obligatory structural elements required by certain adjectives. All the
information given is applied in Section 5.11 in the sample analysis of some Predicates.
The verbal group in its narrow sense is clearly given in Hudson (1998). Objects can be
read in Aarts (1997). Complements are treated from a different approach in Wekker &
Haegeman (1985), chapter 3, where the distinction in terms of category rather than in
terms of function is followed. The basic grammatical functions are summarised in
Newson et al (2002). Adjuncts can be consulted in any of Greenbaum’s works
(Greenbaum 1969, 1991, Greenbaum & Nelson 2002, Greenbaum & Quirk 1990). The
shortest though deep treatment of Adjuncts is given in Quirk (1995), chapter 11.
Probably the longest and most detailed appears in Quirk et al (1985), chapter 8.
Predicative Adjuncts can be seen in Jespersen (1933), chapter XIII, where this author
calls them Quasipredicatives.
5.14. Exercises
Exercise 5.1: Analyse syntactically the following simple sentences. Include for each of
the items both its function with an initial capitalised and its category in brackets.
1) She has made a cake.
2) She has made a cake for my birthday.
3) He bought a new car.
4) He bought a new car for his wife.
5) They did their homework yesterday.
6) They were painting the house.
7) They were painting the house light yellow.
8) We were watching football in my bedroom.
9) We were playing in my bedroom.
10) Jack was reading the newspaper on the bus.
11) Jack was reading on the bus.
12) Helen put her books on the table.
13) Helen left her books on the table.
14) Many students don’t like grammar.
15) Many students don’t find grammar interesting.
16) They were selling goods at the market that cold morning.
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53
17) He set the car on fire.

18) She put the parcel on a chest.
19) He carefully placed the folder in his desk drawer.
20) They gave him a prize.
21) He was given a prize.
22) She sent me a long letter of complaint.
23) He told his wife a white lie.
Exercise 5.2: The following is the abstract of an academic research article published by
two Argentinean researchers in a MIT journal. Analyse syntactically the Predicates of
its ten sentences.
Plastic changes in synaptic efficacy can depend on the time ordering of presynaptic and
postsynaptic spikes. This phenomenon is called spike-timing-dependent plasticity
(STDP). One of the most striking aspects of this plasticity mechanism is that the STDP
windows display a great variety of forms in different parts of the nervous system. We
explore this issue from a theoretical point of view. We choose as the optimization
principle the minimization of conditional entropy or maximization of reliability in the
transmission of information. We apply this principle to two types of postsynaptic
dynamics, designated type I and type II. The first is characterized as being an integrator,
while the second is a resonator. We find that, depending on the parameters of the
models, the optimization principle can give rise to a wide variety of STDP windows,
such as antisymmetric Hebbian, predominantly depressing or symmetric with one
positive region and two lateral negative regions. We can relate each of these forms to
the dynamical behavior of the different models. We also propose experimental tests to
assess the validity of the optimization principle.
Rossi Pool, R. & Mato, G. (2011).
Exercise 5.3: Direct Objects can be anticipated in the same way as Subjects. Analyse
syntactically the following sentences and then complete the chart below.
A) Category of Real Subject in Extra Position It There Sentences Nº
infinitival clause i cl
noun clause n cl
gerundial clause g cl
noun phrase/pronominal phrase np/pr
B) Grammatical Function Anticipated It There Sentences Nº
Subject
Object
1) It is no good hoping for fortune.

2) There is nobody outside.
3) It would be very disappointing if I happen to find out something odd.
4) I find it a pleasure working here once he made it his main concern to organise
the company.
5) The prosecutor put it into his head that they had applied a red code.
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Chapter 6: Adverbial Clauses
This is the time, this is the place
So we look for the future
But there’s not much love to go around
Tell me why this is a land of confusion
(Rutherford, M., Banks, T. & Collins, P. 1986)
6.1. Outline
So far, we have studied the syntactic constituents that are found in a simple sentence.
However, along with them, very frequently finite subordinating clauses are part of a
main clause either as a required constituent with the function of Subject or
Complement, or as an additional constituent with the function of Adjunct. This chapter
is devoted to the simplest type of finite subordinating clauses, adverbial clauses. Finite
adverbial clauses are the last category in which Adjuncts are realised. Section 6.3 deals
with two peculiar constructions of adverbial clauses. The application of the detailed
syntactic analysis is shown in 6.4. Finally, we make mention of the position of
Adjuncts.
6.2. Adverbial Clauses
We saw in Section 5.6 of the previous chapter that Adjuncts are typically realised by
adverbial phrases or prepositional phrases. Additionally, Adjuncts are very frequently
realised by adverbial clauses. Adverbial clauses are types of finite subordinating
clauses (Section 2.3) that naturally appear within the Predicate of main clauses since
they fulfil the function of Adjuncts in the main superordinate clause. Adverbial clauses
are linked to their main superordinate clause by means of a subordinating conjunction.
This conjunction is included in the subordinating clause but has no syntactic function in
either the Subject or the Predicate of the subordinating clause (Section 2.4). Let us see
this in a sentence from a novel by Shields (2003). The analysis of Example 6.1 is shown
in Figure 6.1 below.
6.1. [(I discovered the envelope <when I was painting the room>).] (53)
S (pr p) P (v p)
I discovered the envelope when I was painting the room
PM (d) H (n)
H (pr) H (t v) A T (adv cl)
DO (n p)
.
Adverbial Clauses
It can be seen that the subordinating clause when I was painting the room has the
function of Adjunct of Time within the Predicate of the main clause of the sentence.
This can be tested on the fact that the information conveyed by this clause is peripheral
and therefore can be eliminated without altering the meaning of the sentence, which is
shown in Example 6.2. Additionally, this Adjunct is relatively mobile and thus it can be
positioned at the front of the sentence without much variation in its meaning (see
Example 6.3).
6.2. [(I discovered the envelope).]
6.3. [(<When I was painting the room>, I discovered the envelope).]
Now, for the analysis of the subordinating clause, we need to mention first that the
connector that links the subordinating clause to the main clause of the sentence has no
syntactic function within either the Subject or the Predicate of the subordinating clause.
This linker is a subordinating conjunction with no syntactic function and we will just
indicate its category. This is a distinctive feature of adverbial clauses and some of the
noun clauses that we will see in the following chapter. The syntactic analysis of the
subordinating clause can be carried out in the very same position as it occurs in the
main clause. Alternatively, this can be done separately, which is what we will do here
for the sake of transparency (see Figure 6.2).
S (pr p) P (v p)
when I was painting the room
aux prog asp H (t v) PM (d) H (n)
(sc) H (pr)
H (v g) DO (n p)
Figure 6.2: Syntactic Analysis of a Subordinating Clause
We saw in Section 5.6 above, and we exemplify below by italicising the corresponding
type, that from their semantic point of view, Adjuncts are traditionally classified into
Adjuncts of Place (6.4), Time (6.5), Manner (6.6), Instrument, Company, Cause or
Reason (6.7), Result (6.8), Purpose, Comparison (6.9), Condition (6.10) and Concession
(6.11), and probably other less common types. Besides, some Adjuncts are plausible of
subclassification. For example, Adjuncts of Place are subdivided into Location, Origin
and Direction; Position, Frequency, Extent and Duration are considered within Adjuncts
of Time; Adjuncts of Manner are said to be either Usual or Hypothetical; while
Adjuncts of Condition are divided into Positive and Negative. Let us see some examples
from the abovementioned novel.
6.4. [(They didn’t worry <as I did> about the halo around the head of the baby
Jesus, <what it was made of>, <what kept it hovering over his head and
travelling along with him <wherever he went>>).] (149)
6.5. [(She was a biologist <before she decided to get her librarian’s
qualifications>).] (38)
6.6. [(Cheryl slides the little tower of books toward me slowly, <as though they
were gathered treasure aboard the deck of a schooner>).] (43)
6.7. [(He didn’t attend his own university graduation, <because the ceremony
involved wearing academic dress>).] (72)
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56
Adverbial Clauses
6.8. [(This is <how political prisoners were tortured in China – <or was it
Argentina?> – with an intricate and automatic alarm system cutting in five
minutes <after sleep commenced> <so that the already tormented bodies
were shocked by sleep deprivation and whipped with chronic distrust>>).]
(111)
6.9. [(Probably this old house is not as lovely <as I believe>).] (57)
6.10. [(Michael Hammish will be best man at Roman and Alicia’s wedding,
<which is coming up soon, <unless I do something quickly to prevent
it>>).] (122)
6.11. [(We kept it for years, <though now it seems to have vanished>).] (52)
Very frequently, two subtypes of Adjuncts conflate in one subordinating clause, as is
shown in Example 6.12, which indicates both Time and Condition; and in 6.13, which
illustrates the conflation of Manner and Concession.
6.12. [(Yes, and <when they do finally develop sufficient curiosity>, it’s too
late).] (142)
6.13. [(They can’t simply be flung onto the page <as though they had
metamorphosed from warm mud>).] (139)
A further point to mention of adverbial clauses is their recurrent feature of recursivity,
already mentioned in Section 4.4. Since adverbial clauses have the function of Adjunct,
which appears in the Predicate of a clause, and since adverbial clauses, as happens with
all clauses unlike with phrases, are divided into Subject and Predicate, they can contain
another adverbial clause within their own Predicate. This is shown in 6.14, wherein the
Predicate of the main clause contains in its Predicate an adverbial clause with the
function of Adjunct of Reason. If we analyse this adverbial clause by separating it into
Subject and Predicate, we can see that in its Predicate there is an adverbial clause with
the function of Adjunct of Manner.
6.14. [(That did seem curious, <especially because she put it on the table instead
of setting it on the floor <as I would have expected>>).] (93)
6.3. Adverbial Clauses with No Subordinating Conjunction

As was mentioned in the previous section, adverbial clauses are linked to the main
clause to which they are subordinated by means of a subordinating conjunction.
However, certain adverbial clauses admit subordination without the presence of an overt
subordinating conjunction. This occurs, in formal or literary contexts, with Adjuncts of
Condition and Adjuncts of Concession which undergo inversion of order. Let us see the
following two examples from the abovementioned literary source.
6.15. [(Women have been impeded by their generative responsibility, <he might
have gone to say <had he been given time or encouragement from the
chairperson>, or <had he been sufficiently embarrassed at drawing such
an immense public blank>>).] (100)
6.16. [(These words hurt my feelings slightly), but (then the reviews, <good as
they were>, had subtly injured me too).] (80)
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57
Adverbial Clauses
Example 6.15 contains two italicized adverbial clauses of condition with no overt
subordinating conjunction. We have made them overt in the paraphrased Example 6.17
below by inserting the subordinating conjunctions if and restoring their Subjects to their
pre-operator position.
6.17. [(Women have been impeded by their generative responsibility, <he might
have gone to say <if he had been given time or encouragement from the
chairperson>, or <if he had been sufficiently embarrassed at drawing such
an immense public blank>>).]
In its turn, Example 6.16 exhibits a more infrequent case that contains an adverbial
clause with the function Adjunct of Concession. In it, the adjective good is clause-
fronted, while the insertion of the subordinating conjunction as in postadjectival
position replaces the subordinating conjunction even though typically in initial position.
The paraphrase of 6.18 restores the Adjunct of Concession to its more familiar
realisation.
6.18. [(These words hurt my feelings slightly), but (then the reviews, <even
though they were good>, had subtly injured me too).]
6.4. Application
Finally, now that we have enough information, we can apply the resources that we have
at our disposal to the syntactic analysis of actual extracts. In particular, let us
concentrate on the first two paragraphs of the final chapter of the novel mentioned
above, reproduced in Figure 6.3 below. In it, we have underlined its adverbial clauses,
which are analysed syntactically in Figures 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6 below.
A
LIFE IS FULL of isolated events, but these events, if they are to form a
coherent narrative, require odd pieces of language to cement them together,
little chips of grammar (mostly adverbs and prepositions) that are hard to
define, since they are abstractions of location or relative position, words like therefore,
else, other, also, thereof, theretofore, instead, otherwise, despite, already and not yet.
My old friend Gemma Walsh, who has just been appointed to a Chair in
Theology (hello there, Chair) tells me that the Christian faith is balanced on the words
already and not yet. Christ has already come, but he has not yet come. If you can bring
the opposing images together as you would on a stereoscopic viewer, and as traditional
Christians bring together the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of the Trinity, then you will
have understood something about the power and metaphysicality of these unsorted and
yet related words.
SHIELDS, C. (2003: 313). Unless. London: Fourth Estate.
S (pr p) P (vp)
if they are to form a coherent narrative
mod aux H (tv) PM (d) PM (adj) H (n)
(sc) H (pr) H (vg) DO (np)
Figure 6.4: Analysis of a Subordinating Clause
José DURÁN
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Adverbial Clauses
S (pr p) P (v p)
since they are abstractions of location or relative position
H H (n) (alt cc) PM (adj) H (n)
H H H (n) (p) O/P (comp n p)
(sc)
(pr) (cop v) PostM (p p)
SC (n p)
S (pr p) P (v p)
S (pr p)
If you can bring the opposing images together as you
mod H
aux
PM (d) PM (adj) H (n) PAdj
(sc) H (pr) (t v) (sc) H (pr)
(adj)
H (v g) DO (n p)
P (v p)
P (v p) S (n p)
would on a stereoscopic viewer and as traditional Christians
PM
H H (d)
PM (adj) H (n)
(mod (p) O/P (n p) (ccc) (sc) PM (adj) H (n)
aux)
AAP (pp)
P (v p)
P (v p)
bring together the Father Son and Holy Ghost of the Trinity
PM (d) H (n)
PM PM H (p)
O/P (n p)
H PAdj H (n) H (n) (ccc) H (n)
(d) (adj) PostM (p p)
(tv) (adj)
DO (comp n p)
6.5. Position of Adjuncts

Now that all categories of Adjuncts have been seen, we turn to their position within the
clause. Although Adjuncts are relatively free in their position, final position tends to be
preferred over initial and medial positions, irrespective of their category. For example,
Quirk et al (1985:501) mention that the percentage of Adjuncts in final position is twice
as much that of Adjuncts in initial position (66% and 33%, respectively). We must bear
in mind, however, that these figures include all types of adverbials, which I have
separated here into Adverbial Complements (Section 5.5); Adjuncts (Section 5.6) and
Sentence Adjuncts (Section 5.7). If we leave aside Adverbial Complements, whose
position is almost invariably fixed – immediately after the verb in the case of Subjective
Complements and immediately after the Direct Object in the case of Objective
José DURÁN
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Adverbial Clauses
Complements – and Sentence Adjuncts, which prefer the initial position26; Adjuncts
tend to occur in final position in an outstanding majority.
Additionally, the position of Adjuncts tends to be influenced by a number of
mainly discoursal factors that interact with each other. Among them, we need to
mention reasons of focus, weight and type of information. Focused items, as opposed to
topicalised items are generally placed in final position. The same holds true for longer
or weightier items and elements that convey new(er) information. Very frequently, these
factors converge to position Adjuncts in final position, especially if they are realised by
prepositional phrases or adverbial clauses.
However, this is not always the case. For example, the following extract,
adapted from a classic novel by London (1905), is structured with a high focus on
location. Thus, eight out of its thirteen sentences contain prepositional phrases as
Adjuncts of Place, seven of which are placed in initial position. This gives this highly
descriptive extract a locally focal structure, as if the reader’s eye were to be focused
subsequently on the land, the waterway, the dogs, the sled, the first two men, the box,
and the third man. Therefore, in this case it can be said that there are good reasons for
placing Adjuncts in initial position.
The Trail of the Meat
The land was cold and white and savage. Across it there ran a thread of frozen
waterway […]. Along this waterway toiled a string of wolfish dogs. The dogs were
hauling a sled of birch-bark. On the sled, was lashed a long and narrow oblong box. In
front of the dogs, on wide snowshoes, toiled a man. Behind the sled came a second man.
On the sled in the box lay a third man. The life of this man was at an end. The Wild had
beaten him down. The bodies of the live men were covered with soft fur and leather.
Their faces were blurred and shapeless under a coating of crystals from their frozen
breath. All around them was silence.
Adapted from LONDON, J. (1994:3, 1st Ed. 1905). White Fang. London: Penguin.
Figure 6.7: Adjuncts in Initial Position
6.6. Summary
This chapter is concerned with the study of the first type of finite subordinating clauses,
adverbial clauses, which are introduced by and linked to their superordinate clause by
means of a subordinating conjunction. We have seen that adverbial clauses realise the
syntactic function of Adjunct and thus complement the treatment of this syntactic
function started in the previous chapter. Apart from the most common Adjuncts, of
Place, Time and Manner, which we saw in Chapter 5 realised as adverbial phrases or
prepositional phrases, we have extended here the analysis of Adjuncts to those of Cause
or Reason, Result, Comparison, Condition and Concession. Some of these Adjuncts,
like those of Condition and Concession, are exclusively realised as adverbial clauses.
Section 6.3 deals with the atypical cases of adverbial clauses with no subordinating
conjunction. This occurs in adverbial clauses of condition that have undergone
inversion of order and similarly in adverbial clauses on concession. We have shown the
application of the concepts seen to the detailed analysis of some examples. Finally, the
26
See for example Durán (2012a), who finds 60% of however as Conjunct in initial position.
José DURÁN
60
Adverbial Clauses
position of Adjuncts, however mobile, needs further reasons for their displacement from
their natural end-position, which is seen in the last section of the chapter.
A short summary of adverbial clauses can be read in chapter II of Part V of Zandvoort
(1975). Clauses of concession are analysed by Aarts (1988). The connection between
subordinate clauses and register is dealt with in Halliday (1985) and Kirk (1997). Two
kinds of adverbial clauses are contrasted in Broccias (2008). A more extensive view of
adverbial clauses with reference to European languages is given by Hengeveld (1998).
A deeper analysis of adverbial clauses in English in an accessible way is Pérez Quintero
(2002).
6.8. Exercises
Exercise 6.1: Identify all adverbial clauses in the following sentences. Consider their
syntactic function in the main clause.
1) I wonder if she is worried about the earthquake.
2) If she is worried about the earthquake, she will call us.
3) When dinner is ready, I’ll stop doing the housework.
4) You’ll be called when dinner is ready.
5) The Brussels sprouts tasted nice after the addition of some drops of E-621.
6) The Brussels sprouts tasted nice after we added some drops of E-621.
Exercise 6.2: Analyse syntactically the following extract from a book.

The Socialist-led government committed serious mistakes in a vibrant democratic
period, but even before it had adopted a single measure, the CIA and Chilean right-wing
groups were already attempting a coup d’état against President-elect Allende. Though
the coup was indeed Chilean-made, it was undoubtedly U.S.-sponsored.
In private transcripts of Kissinger’s conversations with Nixon – […] in the midst
of a new controversy about the U.S. role in the breakdown of Chilean democracy – the
two men exchange words about the coup.
Muñoz, H. (2008:83-4). The Dictator’s Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet. New York: Perseus
Books.
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61
Chapter 7: Nominal Clauses
It was really extraordinary how in certain people a simple apprehension about a thing like
catching a train can grow into serious obsession.
(Dahl 1959:47)
7.1. Outline
In Chapter 6 we saw the first type of finite subordinating clauses, i.e. adverbial clauses,
which naturally fulfil the adverbial function of Adjuncts. This chapter is devoted to the
second type of finite subordinating clauses, i.e. nominal clauses. We will see that there
are four types of nominal clauses, namely that-noun clauses, whether/if noun clauses,
nominal relative clauses and wh-focused nominal clauses. There exist similarities and
differences between them, which makes us group them into Class I and Class II. Then,
we turn to the categories and functions of the connectors that introduce them and the
syntactic functions of the nominal clauses. Nominal clauses within Class II are
sometimes confusing and are further elaborated in Section 7.5, and their connectors in
Section 7.6. Finally, we close the chapter with the distinction between the adverbial
clauses seen in Chapter 6 and the nominal clauses seen in this chapter.
7.2. Types of Nominal Clauses
In English, we must consider four different types of nominal clauses with different
featuring properties, namely that-noun clauses (Example 7.1), whether/if-noun clauses
(7.2), nominal relative clauses (7.3) and wh-focused nominal clauses (7.4). These are
illustrated below with examples from an academic article (Baker 2011). For ease of
reference, we have underlined the nominal clauses in the examples.
7.1. [(On the other hand, Leech finds <that semimodals like need to and have
to increased in both language varieties>).] (68)
7.2. [(This would help to determine <whether a word is a true lockword> or
<whether there are hidden grammatical changes occurring with its
usage>).] (83)
7.3. [(The higher the number, the greater the difference between <what was
expected> and <what occurred>).] (70)
7.4. [(This is interesting in its own right and raises questions about <why the
word was so frequent at this point in time>).] (73)
That-noun clauses are by far the most frequent type of nominal clauses and they are
used to express facts, ideas or reporting statements. Whether/if-noun clauses are used to
express alternatives, doubts or reporting questions. Nominal relative clauses convey
ideas or events previously referred to in the discourse of the speaker/writer or assumed
.
Nominal Clauses
to be known to the listener/reader. Finally, wh-focused nominal clauses convey focused

elements such as exclamations or direct or indirect questions. The first two types are
straightforward enough and need no further elaboration. The last two types of nominal
clauses are sometimes confusing and will require further clarification, which is done in
Section 7.5 below.
7.3. Categories and Functions of Connectors
The four types of finite nominal clauses can be grouped into two big classes that differ
from the point of view of the connector that introduces the subordinating nominal
clause. Class I, which comprises that-noun clauses and whether/if-noun clauses, are
introduced by subordinating conjunctions that have no syntactic function within the
subordinating clause. In this respect, these two types of nominal clauses reflect the finite
adverbial clauses seen in the previous chapter. On the other hand, Class II comprises
nominal relative clauses and wh-focused nominal clauses, which are introduced by
connectors that do have a syntactic function within the subordinating nominal clause.
This is shown in Figure 7.1, while the analysis of the subordinating clauses of Examples
7.2 and 7.4 above is illustrated respectively in Figures 7.2 and 7.3 below.
that-noun clauses
Class I
whether/if-noun clauses
the connector has no syntactic function within the subordinating clause
nominal relative clauses

Class II
wh-focused nominal clauses
the connector does have a syntactic function within the subordinating clause
Figure 7.1: Types of Nominal Clauses
S (n p) P (v p)
whether a word is a true lockword
PM (d) PM (adj) H (n)
(sc) PM (d) H (n) H (cop v) SC (n p)
Figure 7.2: Syntactic Analysis of a Nominal Clause
P (v p) S (n p) P (v p)
why the word was so frequent at this point in time
H (n) O/P (n)
H PM H PM (d) H (n)
PostM (p p)
AR PM (adv)
H (adj)
H (n) (cop (p)
(wh-adv) (d)
v)
O/P (n p)
SC (adj p) AAT (p p)
Figure 7.3: Syntactic Analysis of a Nominal Clause
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Nominal Clauses
When we compare the syntactic analysis of a subordinating nominal clause Class I

(Figure 7.2) with that of a subordinating nominal clause Class II (Figure 7.3), we can
see that the analysis of the connector is different. While in the former, the connector is
merely a subordinating conjunction that lies outside the Subject and the Predicate of the
clause; in the latter, the connector does have a syntactic function in the clause, in this
case it is an Adjunct of Reason within the Predicate of the clause.
7.4. Syntactic Functions of Nominal Clauses
Now that we have dealt with the types of nominal clauses we turn to the syntactic
functions that they fulfil within their superordinate clauses. Nominal clauses can have
eight different syntactic functions, which are – exclusively or not – nominal functions.
These are any of the eight following syntactic functions: Subject, Direct Object, Indirect
Object, Subjective Complement, Objective Complement, Apposition, Object to the
Preposition and Adjectival Complement.
However, not all four types of nominal clauses can have the eight syntactic
functions. For example, only nominal relative clauses – as opposed to the other three
types – can have the functions of Indirect Object and Object to the Preposition, which
incidentally, are the most infrequent functions of nominal clauses. Additionally,
nominal relative clauses differ from the other three types in that they cannot have the
function of Adjectival Complement. The following are examples from the
abovementioned source.
Nominal clauses as Subject are most frequently realised by that-noun clauses,
although the other three types are also possible. That-noun clauses as Subject are
frequently extraposed to final position and anticipated by expletive it. This may be due
to the relative weight in terms of the number of words of the nominal clause in
comparison with that of the Predicate (see Example 7.5).
7.5. [(It seems likely <that round will remain in usage but as a noun and
adjective>).] (80)
Nominal clauses as Direct Object are the most frequent of the eight syntactic functions
by far. Examples 7.6 to 7.9 illustrate the use of a that-noun clause, a whether/if-noun
clause, a nominal relative and a wh-focused clause as Direct Objects of the transitive
verbs suggest, ascertain, indicate and examine, respectively.
7.6. [(This suggests <that American English is more concerned with legal
matters and violence, <while British English focuses more on the penal
function of the law>>).] (68)
7.7. [(Concordance and collocation analyses were used to ascertain <whether
the change in certain is due to one usage in particular <that is falling>>).]
(81)
7.8. [(It produces a single score <that indicates <how far the data deviate
from the mean>>).] (72)
7.9. [(The purpose of the present research is to examine <how British
vocabulary has developed over the past eight decades>).] (66)
There are a great number of transitive reporting verbs that usually take nominal clauses
as Direct Objects. A sample list is given in Figure 7.4 below
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Nominal Clauses
argue ensure point out

ask feel propose
assume hope prove
claim imply show
conclude indicate suggest
declare maintain suspect
determine notice think
Figure 7.4: Transitive Verbs that Take Nominal Clauses as DO

Nominal clauses as Subjective Complements are also possible with all four types of
clauses, three of which are exemplified in 7.10 to 7.12.
7.10. [(A potential effect of says in this context is <that it gives such
interviews a sense of immediacy>).] (77)
7.11. [(One question this raises is <whether change in frequency always
coincides with change in usage>).] (80)
7.12. [(An additional motivation for this study was methodological—<how can
change (or lack of change) over time be identified automatically>)?] (66)
The fourth function of nominal clauses that we will show is that of Apposition.
Although all four types of nominal clauses are possible, by far the most recurrent
realisation is in the form of that-noun clauses (7.13). Most nouns that are complemented
with a that-noun clause as Restrictive Apposition are abstract nouns derived from verbs,
also called deverbal nouns, or nouns devoid of contentive meaning such as fact, which
is probably the most recurrent one. Figure 7.5 below exhibits a list of some of the nouns
that most recurrently take that-noun clauses in Apposition.
7.13. [(Research in cross-cultural pragmatics would certainly be helped by
taking into account the fact <that languages and cultures are not static>
and <that multiple corpora can help to trace the ways and extent <that
cultures change over time>).] (66)
assumption indication
fact statement
feeling suggestion
hope suspicion
idea thought
Figure 7.5: Nouns that Take Nominal Clauses as App
A further function of nominal clauses is that of Object to the Preposition, which is
illustrated in Examples 7.14 to 7.16 below. The first of them shows a nominal relative
clause that complements the preposition of. 7.15 exemplifies a wh-focused nominal
clause after the preposition between. Finally, 7.16 shows a that-noun clause as the
Object to the preposition in.
7.14. [(It is an example of <what I call a lockword>: a word <which may
change in its meaning or context of usage <when we compare a set of
diachronic corpora together>, yet appears to be relatively static in terms
of frequency>).] (66)
7.15. [(<As corpus-based research by Ljung (1990) and Mindt (1996) shows>,
TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) textbooks <that are not
based on empirical evidence can show mismatches between <how
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Nominal Clauses
language is actually used> and the emphasis placed on particular

linguistic constructions>).] (66)
7.16. [(Table 2 is useful in <that it shows the grammatical ranges of these two
words>).] (79)
The sixth function of nominal clauses is that of Adjectival Complement. Adjectival
Complements, as seen in Section 4.6 above, are structural elements that are required by
a head adjective. The most recurrent adjectives that take a nominal clause as Adjectival
Complement are epistemic modal adjectives such as (un)sure, (un)certain, (un)likely,
(im)probable and others. Let us see an example from the abovementioned source.
7.17. [(I am not sure <whether it is the perfect way of capturing change for a
small number of very high frequency words>).] (82)
The last two functions of nominal clauses, which are far less common that the six
functions seen above, are Objective Complement and Indirect Object. These are
illustrated with the invented Examples 7.18 and 7.19, respectively.
7.18. [(I didn’t find the novel <what I expected it would be>).]
7.19. [(I asked <whoever I met> the right way to Harlington).]
Finally, let us mention an additional function of nominal clauses, which however
infrequent since it is typical of verbal phrases, it is still possible. This is the function of
Predicate of a clause, which can also be nominal if there is elision of the main verb (see
Section 3.7 above). Example 7.20 has been taken from a literary source (Enright
2007:41)
7.20. [(The constant surprise of this land, <that it is actually green and actually
unpleasant>).]
7.5. Differences between Two Types of Nominal Clauses
As was mentioned in Section 7.2 above, nominal relative clauses and wh-focused
nominal clauses27 are sometimes confusable and need further clarification, which is the
topic of this section. The main difference between these two types of nominal clauses
lies in the possibility for the wh- introductory word to attract phonological stress or not.
While this is not possible for nominal relative clauses, wh-focused nominal clauses tend
to attract this phonological stress. This is natural in the case of direct questions and
exclamations but the wh-focused nominal clause does not necessarily have to report a
question or exclamation, as Examples 7.21 and 7.22 illustrate.
7.21. [(The chi-square test was initially used, <although it was decided <that
this test would not identify exactly <what was required> (continuous
change)>>).] (70)
7.22. [(Instead, I hope <that this article has shown a snapshot of <what is
possible for corpus-driven diachronic corpus research, <where the
analyst does not begin with specific hypotheses but allows the data to
drive the research>>>).] (82)
27
The treatment I have given here to the clauses that I call wh-focused nominal clauses is different from
that given in most literature on Traditional Grammar. Elsewhere, wh-focused nominal clauses are called
wh-interrogative noun clauses, which cover nominal clauses that either report questions or expressed
information unknown to the speaker/writer.
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Nominal Clauses
7.6. Categories of Connectors in Clauses Class II

As was mentioned in Section 7.3 above, the connectors in the last two types of nominal
clauses, grouped under the label Class II, have a syntactic function within the
subordinating nominal clause. Besides, as was clear from Section 3.3, all structural
elements that have a syntactic function are plausible to be classified into a specific
category, and the connectors that link a finite subordinating nominal clause to its
superordinate clause are no exception in this respect. This is the focus of this section.
The categories of these connectors belong into either of three types: pronoun,
determiner and adverb. Additionally, they are given a name of the Class-II type of
nominal clause, which makes six categories of connectors in all. They are:
 Nominal relative pronoun
 Nominal relative determiner
 Nominal relative adverb
 Wh-focused pronoun
 Wh-focused determiner
 Wh-focused adverb
There is a strong relationship between the function of the connector within the Subject
or Predicate of the subordinating nominal clause and its category. Thus connectors that
fulfil the function of Head of a nominal category such as Subject or Direct Object, for
example, are realised by pronouns. Connectors that have the function of Premodifier of
a nominal expression are realised as determiners. Finally, connectors that have the
function of Adjunct are realised by adverbs.
For example, in 7.23 the connector what has, within the nominal relative clause,
the function of Direct Object of the verb call, and is thus a nominal relative pronoun. In
Example 7.24, the connector which is a Premodifier to the lexical item words, and these
two items constitute the Subject of the wh-focused nominal clause underlined.
Therefore, which is here a wh-focused determiner. Finally, in Example 7.25, the
connector how has the function of Adjunct of Manner within the wh-focused nominal
clause and is therefore a wh-focused adverb.
7.23. [(It is an example of <what I call a lockword>: a word <which may
change in its meaning or context of usage <when we compare a set of
diachronic corpora together>, yet appears to be relatively static in terms
of frequency>).] (66)
7.24. [(Having obtained this table for only the 1,000+ frequency words, a way
of identifying <which words showed the most and least change over
time> was required).] (70)
7.25. [(Figure 4 shows <how these four grammatical uses of round are
changing in frequency over time>).] (80)
7.7. Omission of That
A particular feature of that-nominal clauses that needs mentioning is the fact that very
frequently the subordinating conjunction that tends to be omitted, in particular in oral
language. However, this can be done only under certain circumstances in which the
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Nominal Clauses
meaning is clear. For example, in 7.26, since the that-nominal clause is the Direct
Object of the transitive verb argue, the omission of the connector does not interfere with
the meaning of the sentence, as shown in 7.27 below.
7.26. [(In addition, Hoffmann (2005) argues <that there is evidence for
grammaticalization in complex prepositional use when examining
historical corpora>).] (77)
7.27. [(In addition, Hoffmann (2005) argues <there is evidence for
grammaticalization in complex prepositional use when examining
historical corpora>).]
However, the presence of the connector is compulsory when the function of the nominal
clause is the Subject of the sentence, whether anticipated by expletive it or placed in
initial position. For example, in 7.28 and its alternative paraphrase 7.29, the connector
that cannot be omitted, as shown in their ungrammatical counterparts 7.30 and 7.31
below.
7.28. [(On the other hand, it should not be assumed <that innovation comes
only from speech>)]. (69-70)
7.29. [(On the other hand, <that innovation comes only from speech> should
not be assumed)].
7.30. *[(On the other hand, it should not be assumed <innovation comes only
from speech>)].
7.31. *[(On the other hand, <innovation comes only from speech> should not
be assumed)].
Secondly, the subordinating conjunction that cannot be omitted when the that-nominal
clause has the function of Restrictive Apposition, as shown in 7.32 and 7.33 below. This
is even worse in the second coordinated structural element of the Apposition, as shown
in the following example.
7.32. [(Research in cross-cultural pragmatics would certainly be helped by
taking into account the fact <that languages and cultures are not static>
and <that multiple corpora can help to trace the ways and extent <that
cultures change over time>).] (66)
7.33. *[(Research in cross-cultural pragmatics would certainly be helped by
taking into account the fact <languages and cultures are not static> and
<multiple corpora can help to trace the ways and extent <that cultures
change over time>).]
Similarly, in the second coordinated element of a that-nominal clause, irrespective of its
syntactic function, especially if the first coordinated element is long, the subordinating
conjunction cannot be omitted. For example, in 7.34 the that-nominal clause is the
Direct Object of the verb point out, but since this Direct Object is made up of two
clauses in coordination, the second connector that cannot be omitted (7.35).
7.34. [(In addition, Leech and Fallon (1992) point out <that the corpora in the
Brown family contain only about 50,000 word types in total, <which is
relatively small for lexical research>>, and <that the majority of words
will be too infrequent to give reliable guidance on British and American
uses of language>).] (70)
7.35. *[(In addition, Leech and Fallon (1992) point out <that the corpora in the
Brown family contain only about 50,000 word types in total, <which is
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Nominal Clauses
relatively small for lexical research>>, and <the majority of words will
be too infrequent to give reliable guidance on British and American uses
of language>).]
7.8. Differences between Adverbial and Nominal Clauses
Finally, let us contrast adverbial clauses, dealt with in the previous chapter, and nominal
clauses, explored in the present chapter. In order for us to tell them apart, we need to
focus on the superordinate clause and the functions of the syntactic constituents in it.
Let us compare two pairs of apparently confusing examples in which the subordinating
clauses are the same.
In 7.36, the verb cancel is a transitive one, but since it is in the passive voice, it
does not require a Direct Object. Therefore, the constituent realised as a subordinating
clause needs to have a syntactic function that conveys additional information in the
main clause. In this case, the subordinating clause is an Adjunct of Condition, which is
an adverbial clause. By contrast, in 7.37 the transitive verb know in the main clause
does require a Direct Object because the sentence is in the active voice. Thus, the
subordinating clause needs to have the function of Direct Object of the verb know and is
therefore a nominal clause. This difference becomes clearer if we eliminate the
subordinating clause, which is possible in the first case (7.38) but not in the second
(7.39).
7.36. [(The match was cancelled <if there was violence in the field>).]
7.37. [(I don’t know <if there was violence in the field>).]
7.38. [(The match was cancelled).]
7.39. *[(I don’t know).]
Analogously, in Example 7.40, the subordinating clause has the function of Adjunct of
Place and its category is an adverbial clause; whereas in 7.41, the subordinating clause
is the Direct Object of the verb know and thus its category is a nominal clause.
7.40. [(She has lunch <where she works>).]
7.41. [(She knows <where she works>).]
7.9. Summary
This chapter explores the second type of finite subordinating clauses: nominal clauses.
There are four types of nominal clauses, namely that-noun clauses, whether/if-noun
clauses, nominal relative clauses and wh-focused nominal clauses. We have grouped
them into two big classes, in the first of which the connector has no syntactic function
within the subordinating clause, as opposed to the nominal clauses in Class II. Section
7.4 deals with the eight syntactic functions of nominal clauses. Section 7.5 elaborates on
the differences between the two types of nominal clauses in Class II. We have seen that
the connectors in these two types of nominal clauses can belong to three different
categories: pronoun, determiner and adverb. In addition we have specified the cases in
which the connector of that-noun clauses can be omitted. Finally we make clear the
distinction between adverbial clauses seen in Chapter 6 and nominal clauses, the topic
of this chapter.
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Nominal Clauses

A very clear summarising account of nominal clauses is given in Guaragna et al (1991),
set 1. In particular, the syntax of that-nominal clauses is studied on a variety of English
by Hudson-Ettle (2002). That-nominal clauses in extraposition are analysed from a
different perspective in Yong (2012).
7.11. Exercises
Exercise 7.1: Analyse syntactically the following sentences.
1) George thinks that Jeremy is a good friend.
2) I wonder whether they will remember me.
3) That Jack should have betrayed his girlfriend was extremely shocking.
4) It is likely that his application will be accepted soon.
5) It would be fantastic if you could visit us on Sunday.
6) I doubt whether he will analyse those sentences correctly.
7) I do not know if we will finish this novel.
8) I hope that they will contact me on their arrival.
9) John thinks that Mary went home early.
10) He asked me if I had written that letter of complaint.
11) It is impossible that she fails her test.
12) I asked her whether she understood my explanation.
13) The idea that we, the youngest generation, could have a surprise party seemed
fantastic after all the serious difficulties overcome.
14) Jeremy told me that he thought that his teacher couldn’t get his point.
Exercise 7.2: The following sentences have been taken or adapted from Díaz (2008).
Analyse syntactically the following sentences.
1) You can see where this is headed. (219)
2) It was doubtful whether she would forget her suffering in her Lost Years. (Ad.,
107)
3) She had always seemed ageless […], but now he could see that it wasn’t true.
(284)
4) She did what I recommended her. I can’t see why she failed. The problem was
where she would get the money from. (113)
5) All the people in that room were watching how she was crying. (42)
6) Her experience made her what she was. There was no happiness in her life now.
(213)
7) What you believe is not important. (Ad., 256)
8) Oscar couldn’t understand if she was addressing his mother. (Ad., 315)
9) I would think we’re just in time. (Ad., 330)
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Nominal Clauses
Exercise 7.3: Analyse the following paragraph in detail.

My friend Jane couldn’t understand where she had gone wrong. When she set
out that morning, the weather had been fine. As she sat down and looked at the map, she
realised that she must have taken the wrong path. Some time later, she heard what
sounded like a car engine. She turned her head and in the distance she saw a car’s
headlights. She felt that she was safe now.
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Chapter 8: Relative Clauses
[…] from the point of view of the idea it conveys to us, every motion must be considered only as
a relative motion. (Einstein 1916:54)
8.1. Outline
This chapter explores the last type of finite subordinating clause: relative clauses.
Relative clauses are said to be defining or non-defining, which is reflected in the
different range of introductory connectors with which they are introduced and also in
the different syntactic functions of the relative clauses. Before dealing with the syntactic
function of a relative clause we will need to introduce the concept of embeddedness.
When analysing the syntax of relative clauses, we will introduce the concept of gap,
which refers to a missing constituent in the relative clause. Finally, we close the chapter
with a brief mention of the comparatively unexplored relative connector as.
8.2. Relative Clauses
Finite relative clauses are clauses that refer back to a noun or pronoun called the
antecedent by means of a connector that can be a relative pronoun, determiner or
adverb. In this respect, they reflect the nominal clauses grouped under Class II seen in
the previous chapter. The semantic function of relative clauses is to determine or
specify, or to provide additional information on the antecedent to which they refer.
From the point of view of discourse, relative clauses are used to stack information into
the nominal phrase or pronominal phrase in which they are embedded.
There are two types of relative clause, defining relative clause and non-defining
relative clause. They parallel the two types of Apposition, Restrictive and Non-
Restrictive seen in Section 4.5 above. The former define or specify their antecedent by
providing necessary information of the antecedent to which they refer and are not
separate from it in speech or writing. Thus they are also called identifying or restrictive
relative clauses. The latter, by contrast, give additional information of their antecedent
and are separate from it by commas or other parenthetical marker. Let us see some
examples from a novel by Ondaatje (2007), in which the underlined relative clause
refers back to a bold antecedent.
A) Defining Relative Clauses
8.1. [(He thought <it might be some vengeance <that came with the end of
the world>>).] (185)
8.2. [(But pool was by necessity a game of disguises <by which you coaxed
your mark to the table>).] (42)
.
Relative Clauses
8.3. [(But birdsong was the great mystery <he had come to love>).] (234)
8.4. [(I had one friend <who was a Deadhead>), but (he was also involved
with local politics).] (157)
8.5. [(Vea was the only person <Claire talked to about <where she came
from>).] (104)
8.6. [(The section of the casino <where the Brethren always sit> is a small
room […]).] (54)
8.7. [(There were nights <when he did not bother to even light the old lamp>
[…]).] (78)
8.8. [(He’d been gathered into this fold by a neighbour <whose wife died a
few months later in childbirth>.)] (24)
B) Non Defining Relative Clauses

8.9. [(Three weeks earlier he had left his home near Marseillan, <which his
stepfather had willed to his mother […]>).] (172)
8.10. [(Only Coop, […] <who’d worked on the farm since he was a boy>, had
known her as someone alive).] (9)
8.11. [(He recalled a metal pencil box <he had owned as a child>, he
remembered the young grisette <he once shared a train carriage with>,
<whom he would name Claudile in three of his books>).] (224)
8.12. [(They went up the stone stairs wide enough for three horses, along the
corridor, into her small room, <where she bent down to turn on the
electric heater and waited for the appearance of its three red bars>).] (74)
8.13. [(Years later, <when Roman was in prison for assault>, he would return
to this moment […]).] (213)
8.14. [(The boy, <whose name was Rafael>, longed for information and
practical lessons and constantly asked the opinions of the old writer).]
(176)
The plausible relative connectors depend on the type of antecedent and in some cases on
the syntactic function of the connector within the relative clause. For example, the
pronominal connectors which, that and who can be omitted if they are the Object within
a defining relative clause. This is summarised in Table 8.1 below, in which the numbers
in brackets refer to the corresponding examples above.
Non-Defining Relative
Antecedent Function Defining Relative Clauses
Clauses
Subject which/that (8.1)
Things which (8.9)
Object28 which (8.2)/that/--- (8.3)
Subject who (8.4)/that who (8.10)
People
Object who/whom/that/--- (8.5) who/whom (8.11)
Place where (8.6) where (8.12)
Time when (8.7) when (8.13)
Reason why why
Possession whose (8.8) whose (8.14)
Table 8.1: Connectors in Relative Clauses
28
Objects here encompass all types of Objects: Direct Object, Indirect Object and Object to the
Preposition.
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Relative Clauses
We need to mention some points concerning the connectors:

 The relative pronoun who cannot be used as the Object to the Preposition,
unless the preposition is left stranded.
 Similarly, even in the case of defining relative clauses, the relative
pronoun which cannot be replaced by the relative pronoun that after a
preposition (see Example 8.15).
8.15. [(What night gave Rafael was a formlessness <in which everything had a
purpose>).] (78)
 The adverbs where, when and why cannot immediately follow a

preposition in relative clauses and need to be replaced by the relative
pronoun which (8.16).
8.16. [(They will emerge after three or four hours, <at which point Cooper
walks to his tent and crashes into sleep>).] (49)
 The pronoun which can also be used in non-defining relative clauses which
refer back to a previous clause. In this case, the antecedent is the whole
clause, or part of it, rather than just a noun or a pronoun (8.17).
8.17. [(<While she walked those last few yards towards him>, she realized
<she must have also heard his playing when she entered the clearing,
a subliminal hum and strum, a rhythm and a melody—<which was
why the woman had needed none in her song>>).](67)
 In present-day English, the pronoun whom is infrequently used and is

limited to formal contexts. For example, in the abovementioned novel
from which all examples have been taken, the relative pronoun who is used
58 times, whereas whom is used only five times. However, in all 58
instances, who is used as Subject of the relative clause, while whom has
the function of Object.
 Occasionally, the antecedent of the relative pronoun who is a noun that
denotes a thing or an animal rather than a person. However, in these cases,
the antecedent is personified or close to personification (8.18 and 8.19)
8.18. [(He had insisted on working alone), and (the only living thing to keep
him company during those months of building was Alturas the cat,
<who roamed everywhere and never settled within anyone’s sight>).]
(24)
8.19. [(There was a leap), and (Dorn’s dog, <who had been deciding from
which side to enter the bed>, burrowed next to her under the covers, its
claws towards her).] (160)
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Relative Clauses
 The determiner whose, which indicates possession and is used in both

defining and non-defining relative clauses, does not depend on whether its
antecedent is a person (8.20), a place (8.21) or a thing (8.22).
8.20. [(The boy, <whose name was Rafael>, longed for information and
practical lessons and constantly asked the opinions of the old writer).]
(176)
8.21. [(He would remain faithful to this person in the town of Auch <whose
fate he’d invented and shared with readers>).] (173)
8.22. [(She had been the woman <who brought a chemistry book with her into
a restaurant, <whose seeming mystery and boundlessness he had been
drawn to before this flashed-by month>>).] (118)
Now, before we turn to the syntactic function of relative clauses and we deal with the
structural analysis within relative clauses, a new concept needs to be introduced:
embeddedness and embedded clauses.
8.3. Structural Embeddedness
In Section 2.2 of Chapter 2, we saw the structural hierarchy in Grammar, which
determines a rank scale, so that each structural element in the scale is made up of one or
more of the elements below in the hierarchy. This scale, let us remember, goes from the
sentence, through the clause, the phrase, the word, to the morpheme. Eventually, for
some of the structural elements in the scale there can be subscales. For example, there
are main clauses that can contain subordinating clauses within. However, no structural
element at some level in the hierarchy can be made up of structural elements that belong
to a superordinate level. If we consider an analogy from biology, an organ is made up of
cells, but no cell contains organs within. For example the brain contains neurons and
other cells, but a neuron cannot contain a brain.
Nevertheless, in this respect, relative clauses represent an exception in that they
break up the rank scale of Grammar. Relative clauses are clauses that are part of a lower
structural element in the hierarchy, namely nominal – or pronominal – phrases. This
phenomenon is called embeddedness. Thus we can say that relative clauses are clauses
embedded in nominal or pronominal phrases. Let us illustrate this with the analysis of
Example 8.3, repeated here as 8.23.
8.23. [(But birdsong was the great mystery <he had come to love>).] (234)
S (n p) P (v p)
S (pr p) P (v p)
But birdsong was the great mystery he had come to love
aux
H
perf mod aux
asp (t v)
Conj PM PM H (pr) H (v g)
H (d) (adj) H (n) PostM (drc)
H (n) (cop v) SC (n p)
In this example, the nominal phrase the great mystery he had come to love is the
Subjective Complement of the copulative verb was. The Head of this phrase, the noun
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Relative Clauses
mystery, is postmodified by the defining relative clause he had come to love. Thus, a
clause is part of a nominal phrase, which represents an exception to the structural
hierarchy already mentioned. This is why defining relative clauses are said to be
embedded clauses.
8.4. Syntactic Functions of Relative Clauses

From the point of view of syntax, the functions of relative clauses depend on the type of
relative clause. While defining relative clauses have an adjectival function, non-defining
relative clauses have a nominal function. Yet, as both defining and non-defining relative
clauses refer back to an antecedent, they need to have a syntactic function located after
the noun to which they refer. Thus while defining relative clauses are Postmodifiers of
their antecedents, non-defining relative clauses are Appositions to their antecedents.
Let us remember that since nominal expressions can appear, as seen in Chapters
4 and 5, both within the Subject and the Predicate of a clause, relative clauses can also
be present in both the Subject and the Predicate of a clause. If they are in the Subject,
they will have a major syntactic function, typically Postmodifier or Apposition to the
Head of the Subject. If in the Predicate, they are positioned within other structural
element such as the Direct Object or an Adjunct, but also within any structural element
that contains a noun, which is of course the antecedent of the relative clause.
An additional exception that relative clauses present from the point of view of
syntax is the fact that some of them contain a gap within (Biber et al 1999:608, 621-3).
This means that when we reach the syntactic analysis of the relative clause, we see that
some element is not present since in actual fact, it is referred to in the superordinate
clause. However, this structural element has already a syntactic function in the
superordinate clause and thus cannot have a syntactic function in the relative clause.
For example, in the analysis of the finite relative clause of Example 8.23 shown
in Figure 8.1 above, we can see that the transitive verb love of its Predicate requires a
Direct Object that is not present in the relative clause. Of course, the referent of this
Direct Object is the noun mystery, which is present in the superordinate clause, with the
function of Head of the Subjective Complement. Therefore, it cannot have a syntactic
function within the relative clause. A plausible analysis then is to indicate this gap in the
syntax of the relative clause, which we signal by < – >. Thus the complete analysis of
Example 8.23 above would be the one shown in Figure 8.2 below.
S (n p) P (v p)
S (pr p) P (v p)
But birdsong was the great mystery he had come to love < – >
aux H DO
perf mod aux
asp (t v) (g)
Conj H PM PM H (pr) H (v g)
(cop (d) (adj) H (n) PostM (drc)
H (n) v) SC (n p)
Figure 8.2: Complete Syntactic Analysis of Example 8.23
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Let us see the analysis of the relative clause in Example 8.5 above, repeated here as
8.24.
8.24. [(Vea was the only person <Claire talked to about <where she came
from>).] (104)
S (np) P (vp)
P (vp) S (pr p) P (vp)
Claire talked to <–> about where she came from
O/P ( wh -fpr) H (p)
H (p) O/P (g) AAP (pp) H (pr) H (i v) AAP (pp)
H (p) O/P (wh-fncl)
H (n) H (iv) IO (pp)
AASM (pp)
Figure 8.3: Syntactic Analysis of the Relative Clause in Example 8.24
The gap in the relative clause of Example 8.24 refers to its antecedent, the noun person,
which is the Head of the Subjective Complement of the superordinate clause (not shown
in Figure 8.3).
Now, only those relative clauses in which the relative pronoun can be elided (see
Table 8.1 above) present a gap within29. Otherwise, the relativiser that introduces the
clause conflates with the relative pronoun, adverb or determiner that has a syntactic
function in the relative clause, and this is precisely why the relative connector cannot be
elided. Let us see, for example, the analysis of the relative clauses in Examples 8.1, 8.4,
8.6 and 8.8, repeated below as 8.25 to 8.28, respectively (see Figures 8.4 to 8.7).
8.25. [(He thought <it might be some vengeance <that came with the end of
the world>>).] (185)
8.26. [(I had one friend <who was a Deadhead>), but (he was also involved
with local politics).] (157)
8.27. [(The section of the casino <where the Brethren always sit> is a small
room […]).] (54) [(He’d been gathered into this fold by a neighbour
<whose wife died a few months later in childbirth>.)] (24)
8.28. [(He’d been gathered into this fold by a neighbour <whose wife died a
few months later in childbirth>.)] (24)
S (prp) P (vp)
that came with the end of the world
PM (d) H (n)
H (p) O/P (np)
PM (d) H (n) PostM (pp)
H (p) O/P (np)
H (drpr) H (iv) AACp (pp)
S (pr p) P (vp)
who was a Deadhead
PM (d) H (n)
H (drpr) H (cop v)
SC (np)
29
Cf., however, Biber et al (1999:608), who claim that all relative clauses contain a gap.
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Relative Clauses
P (vp) S (np) P (vp)

where the Brethren always sit
APl (dr adv) PM (d) H (n) AF (adv) H (iv)
S (np) P (vp)
whose wife died a few months later in childbirth
PM H PM (d) H (n) PostM (adj) H (p) O/P (n)
H (iv)
(drd) (n) AT (np) AAM (pp)
It can be seen from the previous analyses that there is no gap in these cases. Thus, in
Figures 8.4 and 8.5 the defining relative pronouns that and who have the function of
Head of the Subject of their relative Clauses. Similarly, in Figure 8.6 the defining
relative adverb where fulfils the syntactic function of Adjunct of Place; and in Figure
8.7 the defining relative determiner whose is the Premodifier of the Head noun wife of
the Subject of its relative clause.
8.5. Relative Connector As

Finally, in addition to the relative connectors mentioned, we need to make reference to
the use of the relative connector as, which seems to be restricted to formal academic
contexts30. Let us see two examples taken from academic research articles.
8.29. [(The concept communicated by use of a word may be narrower (more
specific) or broader (more general) than the lexical meaning (or it may
be narrower in some respects and broader in others, <as is often the
case in metaphor>)).] (Wilson 2010:44)
8.30. [(<As was the case with causation>, we can distinguish a range of factors
<that enter into the maintenance of a state>).] (Neeleman & van de Koot
2010:92)
In these examples, the relative connector as introduces a non-defining relative clause
that refers back to a previous clause, sentence or even a whole paragraph or longer
stretches of text. In Example 8.28, the antecedent of the relative clause is the previous
parenthetical clause. In Example 8.29, the relative clause is paragraph-initial and refers
back to an argument dealt with in a stretch of several pages.
Frequently, the relative connector as can be replaced by the relative connector
which.31 This can be done, for example, in 8.28 since the clause antecedent immediately
precedes the relative clause introduced by as. By contrast, in Example 8.29 this
replacement is not possible, since the antecedent is a longer stretch of text and since the
relative clause functions as a comment clause that anticipates the point to be argued.
30
Cf., however, Biber et al (1999:609), who consider relativiser as a non-standard form used in
conversation in some dialectal varieties of English. Quirk et al (1985:1115-7) include the relative function
of as in comment clauses, though with no mention of its use in formal academic registers.
31
See also Example 8.17 above, wherein the non-defining relative pronoun which refers to a clausal
antecedent.
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From the point of view of the syntactic function of the relative connector within
the relative clause, we can see that it fulfils the function of Subject of the clause, which
is why it competes with and precludes the occurrence of an alternative pronominal
Subject such as the pronoun it (see the ungrammatical Examples 8.30 and 8,31 below).
From the point of view of its category, the relative connector as needs to be a non-
defining relative pronoun, since this is the only category that can fulfil the function of
Subject in this case.
8.31. *[(The concept communicated by use of a word may be narrower […]
than the lexical meaning (or it may be narrower in some respects and
broader in others, <as it is often the case in metaphor>)).]
8.32. *[(<As it was the case with causation>, we can distinguish a range of
factors <that enter into the maintenance of a state>).]
8.6. Summary
This chapter completes the syntax of all finite clauses with the analysis of the last type
of finite subordinating clauses, namely relative clauses. Relative clauses are divided into
defining and non-defining relative clauses. Defining relative clauses give necessary
information that contributes to the identification or specification of their antecedents.
They have the adjectival function of Postmodifier of their nominal antecedent. They can
be introduced by defining relative pronouns, determiners or adverbs. If their connector
is a defining relative pronoun whose function is not Subject of the clause, it can be
omitted, which produces a gap in the structural analysis within the clause. Non-defining
relative clauses give additional information that does not play a role in the identification
of their antecedents. They have the nominal function of Non-Restrictive Apposition.
They are introduced by a non-defining relative pronoun, determiner or adverb, which
cannot be elided. Clausal or sentential non-defining relative clauses refer back to a
clausal or sentential structural element rather than a noun or pronoun, and are
introduced by the connector which. In formal academic registers, the non-defining
relative pronoun which is replaced by as.
Weintraub (1968) gives a simple hierarchical analysis of relative clauses and compares
them with other structures of English Grammar. Van Der Auera (1985) compares
different traditional views on relative clauses. Medley (1996) investigates the tense
system in English relative clauses. Comrie (1998, 2006) and Comrie and Kuteva (2005)
analyse relative clauses from a typological perspective, i.e. contrasting their structure in
several supposedly unrelated languages.
8.8. Exercises
Exercise 8.1: All the following sentences contain relative clauses, but some of them are
ungrammatical. Identify all the ungrammatical sentences and justify your answer.
Explain what the difference in the meaning of the grammatical sentences below is.
1) The students who have read the article will understand this topic.
2) The students, who have read the article, will understand this topic.
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Relative Clauses
3) Those students who have read the article will understand this topic.
4) Those students, who have read the article, will understand this topic.
Exercise 8.2: Analyse the following extract in detail.

He left the room very worried. The news that Mr Thompson had received that
cold Saturday morning was not encouraging. When he was driving his car to the
hospital he remembered that it was not the first time he was feeling so miserable. Now
he regretted the decision he had taken. He had given his son the keys to his Volvo. If
Henry could overcome this, he would never make such a mistake again. He was now
daydreaming in the corridor of the hospital but his wife was not with him.
Exercise 8.3: The following is an extract from the abovementioned novel by Ondaatje
(2007:103). Analyse syntactically the whole extract in detail.
Claire had once researched the history of a man who was up for the death
penalty, and discovered an earlier violent assault he had committed in the past, when he
was twenty. She found that he had attacked a man who had been viciously beating his
dog. Bingo. That turned out to be the detail that got him a life sentence, and saved him
from lethal injection. As Vea had said at the time, if it had been discovered that he’d
read all of Herman Melville, it would have had no effect, but the mutt had returned to
save him.
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.
Part II
Non-Finite Clauses
.
Chapter 9: Infinitival Clauses
It is not the man who points out where the doer of deeds could have done them better who counts. The
credit belongs to the man who does actually strive to do the deeds.
(Roosevelt, T., 1910)
9.1. Outline
We start this chapter with the differences between infinitival to and preposition to. Then
we turn to the two types of infinitival clauses, bare and full. The latter have a wider
range of syntactic functions, which is the topic of Section 9.4. In Section 9.5 we
mention some of the features of infinitival clauses, which justify their consideration at a
lower level than finite subordinating clauses. Finally, we deal with the syntax of
infinitival clauses with or without an overt Subject.
9.2. Preposition to vs. Infinitival Marker to
Let us start with an extract from the beginning of a novel by Mantel (2009), in which
the six instances of the word to together with (parts of) its complement have been
underlined.
‘So now get up.’
Felled, dazed, silent, he has fallen; knocked full length on the cobbles of the
yard. His head turns sideways; his eyes are turned toward the gate, as if someone might
arrive to help him out. One blow, properly placed, could kill him now.
Blood from the gash on his head – which was his father’s first effort – is
trickling across his face. Add to this, his left eye is blinded; but if he squints sideways,
with his right eye he can see that the stitching of his father’s boot is unraveling. The
twine has sprung clear of the leather, and a hard knot in it has caught his eyebrow and
opened another cut.
‘So now get up!’ Walter is roaring down at him, working out where to kick him
next. He lifts his head an inch or two, and moves forward, on his belly, trying to do it
without exposing his hands, on which Walter enjoys stamping. ‘What are you, an eel?’
his parent asks. He trots backward, gathers pace, and aims another kick.
It knocks the last breath out of him; he thinks it may be his last. His forehead
returns to the ground; he lies waiting, for Walter to jump on him. The dog, Bella, is
barking, shut away in an outhouse.
Mantel, H. (2009: 3).
.
Infinitival Clauses
It can be seen that the word or phrase that follows32 the lexical item to can be either a
nominal expression or a verbal one. Thus to is followed in two instances by the nominal
expressions this and the ground and in the remaining four occasions by the verbs help,
kick, do and jump. In the former case, the lexical item to is said to be a preposition,
whereas in the latter, the particle to is an infinitival marker 33. The first piece of evidence
that we have to reach this conclusion is the fact that verbs used after a preposition take
the ing form, which is not the case in the examples given.
Additionally, while the preposition to is a contentive word, the infinitival marker
to is a function word. Besides, infinitival marker to, unlike the preposition to, cannot be
premodified by the intensifying adverbs right or straight. For example, the string of
words his forehead returns right to the ground is possible, whereas the expression
someone might arrive right to help him out is ungrammatical.
Finally, there are arguments that show similarities between infinitival marker to
and auxiliaries. Thus, for example, complement of infinitival maker to can be elided,
while the complement of preposition to must always be overt. The parallel between
infinitival particle to and auxiliary will is illustrated in the pair of Examples 9.1 and 9.2
below.
9.1. He waits for Walter to jump on him and he knows he will.
9.2. He knows Walter will jump on him though he prays for him not to.
Infinitival particles are a central part of (some type of) infinitival clauses, but first we
need to mention the types of infinitival clauses.
9.3. Types of Infinitival Clauses
There are two types of infinitival clauses in English: full infinitival clauses, which
contain the infinitival marker to before the verb; and bare infinitival clauses, in which
this particle is not present. Example 9.3, from the abovementioned novel, illustrates two
instances of bare infinitival clauses and one of full infinitival clause. Conventionally,
we will not indicate infinitival clauses – or other types of non-finite clauses – in
brackets. Instead, in the examples in question, infinitival clauses are underlined.
9.3. [(She pushes the table away from her); (he watches her do it), (and his
heart lurches).] [(Because he has seen a woman do this before, his own
wife), and (he has seen <how she puts her palms down on the surface, to
haul herself up>).] (476)
While full infinitival clauses are wider in use, bare infinitival clauses are more
restricted. Bare infinitival clauses are used after verbs of perception like see (9.4), watch
and hear; and the causative verbs let (9.5) and make (9.6) in the active voice.
9.4. [(I’ve seen him do it to my mother).] (4)
9.5. [(<‘So let me be sure <I have this right>>,’ Morgan says).] (7)
9.6. [(‘They do not make you sit alone, and by this miserable fire, surely)?’]
(554)
32
This point is related to what Chomsky (1965:95, 1966:73) has called ‘selectional rules’ or ‘selectional
restrictions’, a concept applied in Generative Grammar, rather than in Traditional Grammar. It must be
acknowledged that some of the concepts seen in this and following chapters, and even the ways of
arguing for some points depart from strictly Traditional Grammar and borrow from Generative Grammar.
33
Carnie (2013:54) calls this particle a non-finite tense marker.
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Infinitival Clauses
However, if we paraphrase Example 9.6 into its passive counterpart, the bare infinitival
clause complement of the verb make becomes a full infinitival clause (9.7).
9.7. [(‘You are not made to sit alone, and by this miserable fire, surely)?’]
Finally, a further difference between bare and full infinitival clauses is that while the
former require the presence of an overt Subject, the latter can have either an overt or a
covert Subject. Thus, in Example 9.4, the Subject of the bare infinitival clause is the
objective pronoun him; in 9.5 it is the pronoun me; and in 9.6, it is the pronoun you.
By contrast, full infinitival clauses can have an overt Subject (9.8) or a covert
Subject (9.9 and 9.10). In 9.8, the overt Subject of the full infinitival clause is the noun
phrase his head34. In 9.9, the covert Subject of the full infinitival clause is interpreted to
have the same reference as that of the Subject in the superordinate clause, namely the
noun phrase Thomas More. In Example 9.10 the covert Subject of the full infinitival
clause has a universal or indefinite interpretation and could have been filled by the
universal pronoun everybody or the indefinite pronoun anybody (see alternative
Examples 9.11 and 9.12).
9.8. [(He beheaded him in Hereford marketplace and set his head to rot on the
market cross).] (95)
9.9. [(Many years ago, Thomas More began to write a book about him).]
(231)
9.10. [(It´s hard to fault <what the duke says>).] (256)
9.11. [(It´s hard for everybody to fault <what the duke says>).] (256)
9.12. [(It´s hard for anybody to fault <what the duke says>).] (256)
Now, from the point of view of syntax, the difference between bare and full infinitival
clauses is that the former are only restricted to the Direct Object of verbs of perception
or causative verbs; whereas full infinitival clauses have a wider range of syntactic
functions, which is the topic of the following section.
9.4. Syntactic Functions of Full Infinitival Clauses
Full infinitival clauses can have three types of syntactic functions: nominal, adverbial
and adjectival – in order of relative frequency. Infinitival clauses can have the nominal
functions of Subject, Direct Object, Subjective Complement, Objective Complement,
Apposition and Adjectival Complement. Besides, infinitival clauses can have the
adverbial functions of Adjunct of Purpose and also of Cause or Result. Finally,
infinitival clauses can fulfil the adjectival function Postmodifier to a noun. Let us start
by illustrating with some of the less frequent examples, taken from the abovementioned
novel.
a) Adjectival Function: In Example 9.13, the infinitival clause postmodifies
the noun ways; and in 9.14, the underlined full infinitival clause postmodifies the noun
bloc.
9.13. [(There are many ways to do this) and (John is going to help me out with
them).] (126)
34
However, we will present later in Section 9.6 below a counterargument that shows that the noun phrase
his head is not the Subject of the infinitival clause here.
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Infinitival Clauses
9.14. [(<Once that nullity is recognised> (…) he will readjust the balance of
Europe, allying England with France, forming a power bloc to oppose the
Emperor Charles, Katherine’s nephew).] (28)
b) Adverbial Function: Examples 9.15 and 9.16 show instances of Adjuncts
of Purpose.
9.15. [(He writes to ask for flower seeds).] (217)
9.16. [(I therefore believe, and will continue to believe, <that he will turn out
to this path of error, in order to be at peace with himself>).] (454)
c) Nominal Function: The most frequent syntactic functions of infinitival
clauses are Subject in initial position (9.17), or especially postponed Real Subject (9.18)
anticipated by expletive it, and Direct Object (9.19). Other nominal functions of
infinitival clauses are Subjective Complement (9.20), Objective Complement (9.21),
Apposition and Adjectival Complement (9.22).
9.17. [(But not to laugh is painful too).] (64)
9.18. [(It’s no disgrace to be a royal bastard).] (208)
9.19. [(He will hate to kill her), but (he doubts she will be much use this
season).] (223)
9.20. [(The Treasurer Gascoigne comes in and says, <‘I hear Your Grace is to
go straight to the Tower>).’]
9.21. [(By then he will be far from here), and (presumably no one will hold
him to account, <because no one will know him or care>).] (12)
9.22. [(He´ll be good to do the heavy work, <when he’s healed up>).] (8)
Additionally, infinitival clauses are the non-finite alternative of their finite counterparts.
Although this is not possible for that-noun clauses, or if-noun clauses, whether-noun
clauses allow for this alternative (9.23). The finite alternative of 9.23 is shown in 9.24.
9.23. [(He could not decide whether to compose in English or Latin), so (he
has done both, <though he has never finished it, or sent any part of it to
the printer>).] (231)
9.24. [(He could not decide <whether he should compose in English or
Latin>), so (he has done both, <though he has never finished it, or sent
any part of it to the printer>).]
Infinitival clauses are the only possible option as the Direct Object of some verbs such
as want or hate (see 9.19), or an additional choice to their finite that-noun clause with
verbs such as decide or hope. Thus, The Direct Object of the verb decide in 9.25 below
has as an alternative paraphrase by means of an infinitival clause (9.26), which is not
possible when the verb in the superordinate clause is want (9.27). See also 9.28, in
which the paraphrase with a finite that-noun clause is ungrammatical (9.29).
9.25. [(He offers them fifteen), and (they confer and decide <that fifteen will
do>; (they think <he’s younger>, but (they don’t want to shame him).]
(14)
9.26. [(They decide fifteen to be enough).]
9.27. *[(They don’t want <that they shame him>).]
9.28. [(He doesn’t want them to think <he’s some failed robber>).] (15)
9.29. *[(He doesn’t want <that they think <he’s some failed robber>>).]
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Infinitival Clauses
9.5. Features of Infinitival Clauses

In Section 2.5, we mentioned that finite clauses carry the features tense, aspect,
modality and voice and that non-finite clauses may lose some of these features. Let us
consider the following example, from the same novel by Mantel (2009) as we have
worked in this chapter.
9.30. [(So he gets up, to read his German book, <before Liz can do anything
about it>).] (38)
From this sentence we do not get information whether he starts to read or, if he does,
whether he finishes reading his German book. The infinitival clause does not convey
aspectual information on the point at which the action takes place in actual fact 35.
However, infinitival clauses can indicate perfective or progressive aspect (9.31), and
passive voice (9.32) as well.
9.31. [(He affects to be pressing his arms by his sides, in smiling restraint).]
(51)
9.32. [(Nothing will ensue, <if you wish to be rid of your wife>, but a great
deal of trouble and expense).] (25)
Because of the possibilities they offer, we argue that non-finite clauses are outranked by
finite subordinating clauses, which in turn are outranked by finite main clauses. This is
why we have followed the convention of not inserting any kind of brackets to non-finite
clauses, as we said before.
9.6. Syntax of Infinitival Clauses
Now, as we said in Section 3.2 above (see also Figure 3.1), the main difference between
phrases and clauses is that while the former are headed, the latter are divided into
Subject and Predicate. Additionally, even within non-finite clauses in general and
infinitival clauses in particular, we can find syntactic structural elements that
traditionally appear in the Predicate. For example, some infinitival clauses, the same as
finite clauses do, contain within their Predicate verb modifiers such as Direct Object,
Indirect Object, Complements and Adjuncts. Therefore, it can be said that infinitival
clauses are also divided into Subject and Predicate. This is uncontroversial in non-finite
clauses with an overt Subject, and requires some refinement for those non-finite clauses
whose Subject is covert. Let us see some examples, first of infinitival clauses with an
overt Subject.
9.33. [(I wanted the Commons to take some lessons from the last time).] (53)
H P (vp)
(pr p)
S (np) P (vp)
I wanted the Commons to take some lessons from the last time
H H (tv) PM H (n) I H PM H (n) H (p) PM PM H (n)
(d) (d)
(pr) (d) M (tv) (d)
O/P (np)
H (vg) DO (np) AAP (pp)
DO (i c)
35
Only in the following two pages do we get the information that he actually starts reading and that at
some point “he closes the new book” on page 40 of the novel.
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Infinitival Clauses
In 9.33, the transitive verb want requires a Direct Object, in this case the full infinitival
clause the Commons to take lessons from the last time. That is to say, what I wanted is
not the noun phrase the Commons, but the whole infinitival clause the Commons to take
some lessons from the last time. This infinitival clause is in turn divided into Subject
and Predicate. Its Subject is the noun phrase 36 the Commons and its Predicate is the
verbal phrase to take some lessons from the last time. This Predicate contains within
some structural elements that are traditionally part of the Predicate, such as the Direct
Object some lessons required by the transitive verb take and the Adjunct from the last
time. The rest of the analysis is rather straightforward and can be deduced from Figure
9.2 above.
As we said above, the syntactic analysis of infinitival clauses with an overt
Subject is unproblematic. However, in the case of infinitival clauses with no overt
Subject, frequently the Subject of the subordinate non-finite clause is recognisably
controlled by the Subject in the main clause. Let us see this with the analysis of
Example 9.34.
9.34. [And (I promise never to assault you).] (75)
S (pr p) P (vp)
S (ec) P (vp)
And Ii promise PROi never to assault you
IM H (tv)
AN (adv) DO (pr)
Conj H (pr) H (tv) H (vg)
DO (ic)
The main clause of Example 9.34 is divided, as we know, into Subject and Predicate. Its
Subject is the pronominal phrase made up of only one word, the personal pronoun I. Its
Predicate is the remaining verbal phrase promise never to assault you, whose Head is
the transitive verb promise. The Direct Object of this transitive verb is the infinitival
clause never to assault you. This clause needs to be divided into Subject and Predicate.
The Subject of the infinitival clause is an empty category controlled by the Subject in
the main clause. So that it is I that will never assault you. This empty category37 is
called PROi and is assigned the subindex i to signal the coreference with its controller,
the Subject in the main clause. Within the Predicate of the infinitival clause, its Head is
the transitive verb assault, which is preceded by the infinitival marker to. The personal
pronoun you is the Direct Object of the verb assault and never is an adverb that realises
the function of Adjunct of Negation.
In the following example, we see a different type of PRO, which rather than
corefer to a previous nominal expression, has a universal or arbitrary interpretation. This
is the so called arbitrary PRO.
36
This overt Subject of non-finite clauses in general, and of infinitival clauses in particular, has
traditionally been called Notional or Logical Subject.
37
Empty categories, one of which is PRO, are in actual fact categories that do not belong to Traditional
Grammar, but are borrowed from Generative Grammar. Thus, it must be acknowledged that by
introducing empty categories we are departing from a strictly traditional approach to English Grammar.
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Infinitival Clauses
9.35. [(Is it good policy to make people angry)? (70)
Ant S
P (vp) (expl)
P (vp) RS (ic)
S (ec) P (vp)
Is it good policy PROarb to make people angry
H PM (adj) H (n) IM H (tv)
DO (n) OC (adj)
(cop v) SC (np) H (vg)
The main clause of Example 9.35 is also divided into Subject and Predicate. The
Subject is the infinitival clause to make people angry, which is anticipated by the
expletive it. The Predicate is the verbal phrase is good policy, which requires no further
elaboration. The infinitival clause that fulfils the function of Real Subject is in turn
divided into Subject and Predicate. This Subject is realised by an empty category PRO
with a universal arbitrary reference, which is given the subindex arb to differentiate it
from the other type of PRO that is coindexed with a nominal expression. The Predicate
of this infinitival clause is headed by the complex transitive verb make, whose Direct
Object is the noun people and whose Objective Complement is the adjective angry.
Now, as seen before, infinitival clauses have different syntactic functions that
depend on the syntactic structure of their superordinate clauses, which to some extent
hangs around the structural element that heads the Predicate. Thus infinitival clauses are
controlled by predicates38 that are said to be either Subject-control predicates or Object-
control predicates. Example 9.34 analysed above contains a Subject-controlled
predicate, the verb promise, because the Subject in the infinitival clause is controlled by
the Subject of the main clause. In the following example, we see two instances of
infinitival clauses, one of which contains a Subject-control predicate and the other
contains an Object-control predicate.
Sentence 9.36 contains as the Head of the Predicate of the main clause, the
ditransitive verb give. This verb requires two Objects, a Direct Object and an Indirect
Object. The former is realised by the wh-focused pronoun what and the latter is the
personal pronoun you. Then, the infinitival clause to persuade you to never mention this
to me again provides additional information with the function of Adjunct of Purpose.
The Subject of this clause is the empty category PRO that is controlled by the Subject of
the main clause, which is signalled with the subindex j.
The Predicate of this clause is headed by the verb persuade, an Object-controlled
predicate. This verb requires two Objects, one of which is an animate entity – the
persuadee; and the other a clause of persuasion. In this case, the persuadee is the
personal pronoun you and the clause of persuasion is the infinitival clause to never
mention this to me again. The fact that the verb persuade requires two Objects as
complements can be seen in Example 9.37 below. In this additional clearer example, the
38
In this case the lexical item predicate is used from the point of view of semantics rather than of syntax.
In this sense, predicate – or predicator – is different from the syntactic function of Predicate. In this case,
predicate, with a low-case p is the lexical item that establishes the predication of a proposition, very
frequently, though not necessarily, the verb (see Hurford & Heasley 1983, chapter 5).
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Infinitival Clauses
persuadee is the personal pronoun her and the clause of persuasion is the finite
subordinating clause this is not so. This example is clearer since the clause that
expresses the persuasion is realised as a finite clause.
9.36. [(Thomas, what can I give you, to persuade you to never mention this to
me again)?] (21)
P (vp) S (prp) P (vp)

S (ec) P (vp)
Thomas what can Ij give you PROj to persuade

IM H (ditv)
DO mod aux H (ditv) IO
voc H (pr) H (vg)
(whfpr) H (vg) H (vg) (pr) APp (ic)
P (vp)
P (vp)
S (ec) P (vp)
youi PROi to never mention this to me again
IM AN H (ditv) DO H (p) O/P (pr) AT
IO (pr) H (vg) (adv) H (vg) (pr) IO (pp) (adv)
DO (ic)
APp (ic)
But let us continue with the analysis of Example 9.36. As we said, the verb persuade
requires two Objects, an Indirect Object realised by the personal pronoun you; and a
Direct Object realised by the infinitival clause to never mention this to me again. The
Subject of this infinitival clause is the empty category PRO that refers to and is
controlled by the Object you, which is shown by means of the coindexation i. The
Predicate of this infinitival clause is headed by the ditransitive verb mention, which
takes the Direct Object this and the Indirect Object to me. The analysis of the Predicate
is completed with the infinitival marker to and the Adjuncts never and again.
9.37. [(He falls on to his back and wonders how to persuade her <this is not
so> (…)).] (39)
A further example of an Object-controlled predicate is given in Example 9.38, only part
of which is analysed in Figure 9.6 below.
9.38. [(Poverty, chastity and disobedience: these are <what you stress <when
you tell some senile prior what to do>>).] (21-2)
P S P (vp)
(vp) (prp)
S P (vp)
(prp)
S (ec) P (vp)
what you stress when you tell some senile priori PROi what to do
H
H PM DO IM
H H (sc) H PM (d)
(adj)
H (n) (whfpr)
(tv)
DO H (vg)
(pr) (ditv)
(nrpr) (pr) (tv) IO (np) DO (ic)
AT (adv cl)
Figure 9.6: Partial Syntactic Analysis of Example 9.38
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In this case we will concentrate on the nominal relative clause what you stress when you
tell some senile prior what to do. The Subject of this clause is the personal pronoun you
that appears first, the remaining of the clause is its Predicate. Within the Predicate, the
Head is the transitive verb stress, whose Direct Object is the nominal relative pronoun
what. Once the verb is satisfied with its complement, the rest of the clause is necessarily
an Adjunct, in this case realised as the adverbial clause when you tell some senile prior
what to do. As is the case with all adverbial clauses, this is introduced by the
subordinating conjunction when and the rest is divided into Subject, the pronoun you
and Predicate, the rest of the clause.
This Predicate is headed by the ditransitive verb tell that takes as its Indirect
Object the noun phrase some senile prior and as its Direct Object the infinitival clause
what to do. The Subject of this infinitival clause is the empty category PRO
coreferential with the noun phrase headed by prior. Finally, within the Predicate of the
infinitival clause we can see the infinitival marker to, the transitive verb do and the wh-
focused pronoun what.
Finally, a distinction needs to be made between infinitival clauses and finite
modalised clauses as the ones shown in Examples 9.39 and 9.40. For example, as can be
seen in the analysis in Figure 9.7 below the Direct Object of the transitive verb think is a
finite that-noun clause. In this subordinating clause, the passive construction be found is
modalised by the auxiliary ought to, which requires no insertion of an empty category
PRO.
9.39. [(He thinks, also, <that people ought to be found better jobs>).] (87)
S (prp) P (vp)
S (np) P (vp)
He thinks also that people ought to be found better jobs
aux H (ditv PM
H mod aux
pass (adj)
H (n)
H A (sc) pass)
(n)
(tv) (adv) H (vg) DO (np)
DO (that-nc)
Similarly, Example 9.40 exhibits a case with both modality and also the presence of an
infinitival clause. On the one hand, the epistemic modal auxiliary seem to precedes the
intransitive verb pause. On the other hand, the infinitival clause provides additional
information with the function of Adjunct of Purpose, not shown in detail in Figure 9.8.
9.40. [(In a halo of light he seems to pause, to examine his handful of
nothing).] (71)
P (vp) S (prp) P (vp)

S (ec) P (vp)
to examine his
In a halo of light hei seems to pause PROi handful of nothing
PM H (p) O/P (n)
H (d)
H (n)
PostM (pp)
mod aux H (iv)
H
(p) O/P (np) APp (ic)
(pr) H (vg)
AAP (pp)
Figure 9.8: Partial Syntactic Analysis of Example 9.40
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Infinitival Clauses
This modalised type of analysis offers an alternative possibility for some clauses that
contain very frequent English verbs like the aspectual verbs begin, continue and stop;
and verbs of desideration such as like. Example 9.41 shows a compound sentence made
up of two conjoined clauses with the verb like as Heads. Figures 9.9 and 9.10 below
illustrate alternative analyses of the first of these main clauses. The former considers the
expression like to as a modal auxiliary and the copular verb be as its main verb. The
latter is a more traditional view in which the verb like is regarded as a transitive verb
that takes as its Direct Object the infinitival clause to be in the woods and fields.
9.41. [(He likes to be in the woods and fields) and (he likes to hunt).] (36)
S (pr p) P (vp)
He likes to be in the woods and fields
mod H H PM (d) H (n) (ccc) H (n)
H (pr) aux (copv) (p) O/P (comp np)
H (vg) SC (pp)
Figure 9.9: Modalised Analysis of Example 9.40
S (pr p) P (vp)
S (ec) P (vp)
Hei likes PROi to be in the woods and fields
H H PM (d) H (n) (ccc) H (n)
IM
H (copv) (p) O/P (comp np)
H (pr)
(tv) H (vg) SC (pp)
DO (ic)
Figure 9.10: Traditional Analysis of Example 9.40
The fact that I have considered the second analysis the most traditional version may
seem ironic since it is this version that contains the insertion of the empty category
PRO, which is in actual fact not a traditional concept.
9.7. Summary
This chapter deals with the functions and syntax of infinitival clauses. First, we have
seen the difference between preposition to and infinitival marker to, in terms of the type
of complement that they take and the type of category of these two lexical items.
Preposition to can be intensified by the adverbs right or straight, while this is not
possible with infinitival to. There are also similarities between infinitival to and
auxiliary verbs. Additionally, there are two types of infinitival clauses: bare and full
infinitival clauses.
Full infinitival clauses can have three different types of syntactic functions:
nominal, adverbial and adjectival. The most common of these is the nominal function of
Subject of a clause, in particular as a postponed Real Subject anticipated by expletive it;
or the function of Direct Object. Infinitival clauses can lose some of the possible
features of finite clauses, such as tense, aspect, modality and voice, and are thus at a
lower rank of finite subordinating clauses.
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Infinitival Clauses
Infinitival clauses are, like all clauses, divided into Subject and Predicate. This is
unproblematic in the case of infinitival clauses with an overt Subject. However, when
the Subject of an infinitival clause is covert, an empty category called PRO can be
recognised to fulfil the function of Subject despite its lack of phonological realisation.
This PRO can be coreferential with other nominal entity or can have an arbitrary
interpretation.
The difference between preposition to and infinitival particle to can be consulted in
Radford (2009), chapter 1, though, as said before, from a different perspective. A short
account of non-finite clauses in general, and of infinitival clauses in particular, is given
in Miller (2002, 2nd edition 2008), chapter 8. Van Linden (2010) makes a diachronic
analysis of infinitival clauses. Declerck (1983) provides an analysis of an early but not
less troublesome infinitival construction in English. Close (1987) offers a systematic
scrutiny of the so called split infinitive and arrives at very interesting conclusions.
Hornstein, Martins & Nunes (2006) consider the infinitival complements of perception
and causative verbs. Ojea (2008) analyses infinitival clauses from a different
perspective.
9.9. Exercises
Exercise 1: Identify the category of the underlined words in the following sentences.
Justify your answer.
1) I wanted to drink a cup of coffee once I got to my office.
2) Due to the fog, our plane had to be redirected to Boston.
3) Jack’s father was in doubt whether Jack was to blame for not listening to him.
Exercise 2: Analyse the following sentences in detail.

1) She wants me to leave immediately.
2) He wants us to study syntax.
3) Jessica tried to send them a letter of application.
4) Before he found out the news, he intended to contact the lady in charge of the
editions.
5) When she was ironing my shirts I wanted her not to listen to the radio.
6) It will be impossible for me to arrive before he leaves his office.
7) It would be a tragedy for her not to find her keys where she leaves them every
morning.
8) It’s been nice of you to bring such an expensive present.
9) It has been hard for him to understand her feelings.
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Chapter 10: Gerundial Clauses
Th[e] interstitial passage between fixed identifications opens up the possibility of a cultural
hybridity that entertains difference without an assumed or imposed hierarchy.
Bhabha (1994:4)
10.1. Outline
This chapter is about the structure of gerundial clauses. Gerunds are a hybrid category
that shares features of nouns and verbs. They have nominal functions and can frequently
be replaced by other nominal expressions. Gerunds have different degrees of
nominalisation that influence their syntactic structure. Section 3 deals with these
degrees of nominalisation and the difference between gerund and participle. Finally, we
turn to the syntax of gerundial clauses, with or without an overt Subject.
10.2. From Nominals to Gerunds
Nominal expressions are very frequent expressions of the language. After all, we use
language to talk about things. Now, there are different realisations of nominal
expressions, such as words, phrases or clauses. Let us see an example from an email
that I have received.
Dear Jose,
Many thanks for this. It’s extremely useful to have the analyses checked so carefully!
I realised from your analyses that I actually missed a couple of processes - rather
inexcusable, I know ... So thank you for helping me to correct the mistakes when I write
up the paper! The other differences are because I analyse certain processes differently:
for example, for me existential clauses are strictly only those with ‘there’ as explicit (or
sometimes implicit) Subject; and behavioural processes can only have human Behaver,
except in clear cases of personification (and I don’t see the ‘tumours’ as being
personified). I’ve added comments on the differences in the attached.
Best wishes
Geoff
All nominal expressions in the extract above have been underlined according to the
following convention: nouns, pronouns and clauses. From the point of view of syntax,
nominal expressions can have eight different syntactic functions, already mentioned in
Section 7.4 when we dealt with the functions of noun clauses: Subject, Direct Object,
.
Gerundial Clauses
Indirect Object, Subjective Complement, Objective Complement, Object to the

Preposition, Apposition and Adjectival Complement.
In this section we will concentrate on the three nominal clauses in the extract
above, repeated below as Examples 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3. The first example shows an
instance of a finite subordinating that-noun clause with the syntactic function of Direct
Object of the verb realised. This type of noun clause was already seen in Chapter 7. The
second example exhibits a case of infinitival clause with the function of Real Subject in
Extra Position anticipated by expletive it, already seen in Chapter 9.
10.1. [(I realised from your analyses <that I actually missed a couple of
processes>).]
10.2. [(It’s extremely useful to have the analyses checked so carefully)!]
10.3. [(So thank you for helping me to correct the mistakes <when I write up
the paper>)!]
The third example illustrates a further instance of non-finite clause with a nominal
function, in this case its syntactic function is Object to the Preposition for. This type of
clause is the one called gerundial clause, which is the topic of the present chapter.
Gerundial clauses are non-finite clauses with or without an overt Subject that
have a nominal function. These clauses, as all clauses, are divided into Subject and
Predicate, the Head of which is an ing-form that contains verbal complements such as
the Direct Object or Adjunct. Ing-forms are hybrid categories between nouns and verbs
that are called gerunds when they are closer to the nominal end of the cline and
participles when they are closer to the verbal end of the cline. It can be deduced from
their hybrid condition that ing-forms are sometimes difficult to differentiate between
gerunds and participles. Therefore, the following section deals with the different
degrees of nominalisation of these ing-forms.
10.3. Degrees of Nominalisation of the Ing-Forms
Ing-forms are deverbal expressions that have undergone a grammaticalisation process
towards the nominal end. We can distinguish at least three different levels of
nominalisation depending on whether the type of modification or complementation that
they receive is more typical of a verb or a noun together with their syntactic function.
The first group consists of the ing-forms that have undergone a complete nominalisation
and are thus considered to be gerunds. The second group is made up of the ing-forms
that are part of the grey area between nouns and verbs and require a paraphrase for their
differentiation between gerunds and participles. The ing-forms in the third group are
gerunds that take verbal complements.
10.3.1. Complete Nominalisation
Ing-forms in this case are full nominals, i.e. the process of grammaticalisation
undergone by the original verb forms has achieved its final state and thus the resulting
ing-forms are considered gerunds. The extent to which they can be considered nominals
is such that in some cases the verb from which they derive is no longer used in present-
day English (Examples 10.4 and 10.5). Besides, in some cases they clearly denote
entities (Examples 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9), and admit both pre and postmodification.
What is more, the gerundive nominals in this group can be separated into countable and
uncountable, the same as nouns. If countable, they inflect for plural.
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Gerundial Clauses
10.4. Every cloud has a silver lining.

10.5. Michelangelo painted the ceiling of Sistine Chapel.
10.6. The buildings in this city are mainly made of concrete.
10.7. There were not many famous paintings on the walls.
10.8. He used to work in the morning/evening.
10.9. A funny drawing was made on the table.
10.10. My father is fond of fishing.
10.11. Look up the meaning of unknown words.
10.12. He was just a human being without a soul.
10.13. There was some sort of misunderstanding.
10.14. Swimming is the healthiest sport.
10.15. There was a reception after the wedding.
10.16. The tower was struck by lightning.
10.17. He wants to study marketing.
10.18. The beginning of the novel was rather shocking.
10.19. Boxing should be banned.
10.20. She no longer enjoyed those Sunday outings.
10.3.2. Partial Nominalisation
Ing-forms that have undergone partial nominalisation can have the syntactic function of
Premodifiers of nouns either in the Subject or Predicate of a clause. The problem in
disambiguating gerunds from participles in this case lies in the fact that English admits
premodification of a noun by both nouns and adjectives. The rule traditionally applied
for the identification of gerunds and participles in this case is the paraphrase of the noun
phrase. If it can be paraphrased as ‘X for doing Y,’ then the Premodifier is said to be a
gerund. By contrast, if the noun phrase can be paraphrased as ‘X that does/is doing/was
doing Y,’ then the Premodifier is said to be a participle. There is also a phonological
difference: while gerunds that premodify a noun attract the stress of the noun phrase,
participles that premodify a noun reject the stress, which tends to fall on the noun.
GERUNDS PARTICIPLES
(stress on the gerund) (stress on the head noun)
10.21. a) a `walking stick b) a walking `doll
(a stick for walking) (a doll that walks)
10.22. a) `sleeping pills b) sleeping `babies
(pills for sleeping) (babies that are sleeping)
10.23. a) a `fishing rod b) a fishing `man
(a rod for fishing) (a man that is fishing)
10.24. a) a `hunting dog b) a hunting `people
(a dog for hunting) (a people that hunt)
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Gerundial Clauses
10.25. a) `dancing shoes b) dancing `girls

(shoes for dancing) (girls that are dancing)
10.26. a) a `steering wheel b) a steering `car
10.27. a) a `boarding pass b) a terrifying `movie
10.28. a) her `dressing room b) a screaming `child
10.29. a) a `swimming pool b) a flying `bird
10.30. a) a `washing machine b) a creaking `hinge
10.31. a) my `hearing-aid b) She gave me a telling-`off.
10.32. a) her `bathing suit b) a gripping `novel
10.33. a) `chopping board b) a chopping `lumberjack
(board for chopping) (one that is chopping wood)
From the point of view of the syntax of the abovementioned examples, the gerunds in
the a-examples above can be considered nouns, whereas the participles in the b-
examples can be regarded as adjectives. Let us see the analysis of Examples 10.21
above.
a walking stick a walking doll
PM (d) PM (n) H (n) PM (d) PM (adj) H (n)
Figure 10.2: Syntactic Analysis of Examples 10.21
10.3.3. Gerundial Clauses

Ing-forms that belong in the third group have a dual character. They are nominal from
the point of view of the syntax of the clause in which they appear. However, they are
still verbal if we consider the types of complements that they take in their internal
structure. Traditionally, they are regarded as gerunds, i.e. their quality from above is
said to prevail over their inner quality.
The clauses in which these ing-forms appear are said to be gerundial clauses.
The focus of these gerunds tends to be on the activity, rather than on the way in which it
is carried out. Their overall structure is represented in Figure 10.3 and some examples
are given below.
the
possessive
(adj) Ving (of np) (adv39)
noun in Genitive Case
no
Figure 10.3: Structure of Gerundial Clauses
10.34. His good teaching of English at school earned him a scholarship.

10.35. I prefer reading to watching TV.
10.36. My brother’s criticising of politicians upsets his wife.
39
Exception: Adverbials of Manner
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Gerundial Clauses
10.37. No hunting of endangered animals is allowed.

10.38. His stubborn reading of the book at night annoyed her.
10.39. His stubborn reading the book at night annoyed her.
10.40. Reading books at night annoys her.
10.41. Reading books at night is relaxing.
10.42. His careful reading of Freud made him understand that.
10.43. His careful reading Freud made him understand that.
10.4. Syntax of Gerundial Clauses

The syntactic analysis of gerundial clauses depends on the degree of grammaticalisation
undergone by these hybrid entities that gerunds constitute. If they are closer to their
nominal end, with pre and postmodification typical of the nominal expressions, they can
be considered simply noun phrases. By contrast, if they are closer to the verbal end
because of their complementation or adjunction, typical of Predicates of clauses, they
need to be regarded as gerundial expressions with a nominal function. Let us see the
analysis of some contrasting examples.
S (np) P (vp)
His stubborn reading of the book at night annoyed her
H PM (d) H (n) H O/P
PM PM (adj) H (n) (p) O/P (np) (p) (n) H (tv) DO
(d) (pr)
PostM (pp) PostM (pp)
S (ger cl) P (vp)

N or Log S P (vp)
His stubborn reading the book at night annoyed her
PM (d) H (n) H (p) O/P (n) DO
PM (adj) H (tv) H (tv)
DO (np) AAT (pp) (pr)
Example 10.38 presents no difficulty, since the insertion of the preposition of drives the
category of the Subject closer to the nominal end. The prepositional phrases of the book
and at night can be considered here Postmodifiers to the Head of the Subject and the
determiner his and the adjective stubborn are clear Premodifiers. Therefore, in this case
the category of the Head of the Subject is interpreted as a noun.
By contrast, the Subject of Example 10.39 needs to be considered a gerundial
clause, since in this case the noun phrase the book fulfils the function of Direct Object
of the transitive verb reading and the prepositional phrase at night has the syntactic
function of Adverbial Adjunct of Time. These syntactic functions, as we know, appear
within the Predicate of a clause. Thus the category of the Subject is a gerundial clause, a
type of non-finite clause which is divided into Subject and Predicate. The Subject of this
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Gerundial Clauses
clause is the Notional or Logical Subject his. This analysis is not uncontroversial since
it seems to indicate that the adjective stubborn is premodifying a verb. Yet, the category
of the Subject, signalled as gerundial clause lends support to the analysis proposed,
indicating that the adjective is in actual fact modifying a gerund, which has nominal
properties.
It can be seen that the insertion of the preposition of in the Subject of Example
10.38, adds to the degree of nominalisation of the Subject of the sentence and leads to
two completely different analyses. Table 10.1 below summarises the differences
between the suggested analyses of Examples 10.38 and 10.39 presented in Figures 10.4
and 10.5 above.
Example 10.38 (Fig 10.4) Example 10.39 (Fig 10.5)
Presence of preposition of Absence of preposition of
Category of Subject noun phrase gerundial clause
Head of Subject noun transitive verb
Nominal Head followed by Separated into Subject and
Subject of the sentence
its Complements Predicate
Notional or Logical
Premodifier of the nominal
Function of His Subject of the gerundial
Head
clause
Verbal Complements in the
Complements of reading Postmodifiers Predicate of the gerundial
clause
Function of the phrase Postmodifier of the Head Direct Object of the
(of) the book of the Subject transitive verb
Category of the phrase
prepositional phrase noun phrase
(of) the book
Function of the phrase Postmodifier of the Head
Adverbial Adjunct of Time
at night of the Subject
Category of the phrase
prepositional phrase prepositional phrase
at night
Table 10.1: Differences between the Analyses of Examples 10.38 and 10.39
In a parallel fashion, Examples 10.40 and 10.41 exhibit cases of gerundial clauses with
no overt Subject. Their syntactic analyses are shown in Figures 10.6 and 10.7 below.
These gerundial clauses, as all clauses, are divided into Subject and Predicate. The
difference is that the Subject of the gerundial clause is realised as an empty category
PRO that can either corefer with some structural element in the sentence or in the
previous discourse, or can have an arbitrary interpretation. Thus, in Figure 10.6, PRO
has the same reference as the objective personal pronoun her with the function of Direct
Object of the verb annoy in the main clause. In Figure 10.7, PRO has an arbitrary
universal reference.
S (ger cl) P (vp)
S (ec) P (vp)
PROi Reading books at night annoys heri
H (p) O/P (n) DO
H (tv) DO (n) H (tv)
AAT (pp) (pr)
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Gerundial Clauses
S (ger cl) P (vp)

S (ec) P (vp)
PROarb Reading books at night is relaxing
H (p) O/P (n) H SC
H (tv) DO (n)
AAT (pp) (cop v) (adj)
Similarly, Figures 10.8 and 10.9 show the analysis of Examples 10.42 and 10.43,
respectively. Again, the insertion of the preposition of in Example 10.42 makes the
category of its Subject plausible to be analysed as a noun phrase, whose Head is the
noun reading, which has Premodifiers and a Postmodifier. The absence of the
preposition of makes the category of the Subject closer to the verbal end and thus the
need to consider the category of this Subject a gerundial clause.
S (np) P (vp)
N or Log S
(pr p) P (vp)
Her careful reading of Freud made her understand that
PM H (p) O/P (n) H (pr) H (tv) DO (pr)
(d) PM (adj) H (n) H (tv)
PostM (pp) DO (b inf cl)
S (ger cl) P (vp)

N or Log S
N or Log S P (vp) (pr p) P (vp)
Her careful reading Freud made her understand that
DO H H (pr) H (tv) DO (pr)
PM (adj) H (tv)
(n) (tv) DO (b inf cl)
10.5. Summary
This chapter starts with the identification of gerunds, which are deverbal nominal
expressions that have some of their original verbal features. Frequently, especially when
they have the adjectival function of Premodifier of a noun, they can be mistaken for
participles. In order to differentiate gerunds from participles, usually they are
substituted or paraphrased by an equivalent structure. If they can be substituted by a
simpler nominal expression or paraphrased as X for doing Y, they are considered
gerunds.
The degree of nominalisation undergone by gerunds covers from the complete
nominalisation, through the partial nominalisation to the clausal nominalisation. In the
case of complete nominalisation, gerunds share all the features of nouns, so that for
example, they can be pluralised the same as pure countable nouns. Those with partial
nominalisation are easily confused with participles and require a paraphrase for their
identification. Those with clausal nominalisation can be analysed as noun phrases if
they take Premodifiers and Postmodifiers typical of nouns. If they take verbal
complements, they need to be analysed as gerundial clauses, which will be divided into
Subject and Predicate. Gerundial clauses can have an overt Notional or Logical Subject
or an empty category called PRO, either with a coreferential or an arbitrary
interpretation.
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Gerundial Clauses

A deeper analysis of gerundial clauses can be consulted in Chomsky (1970) and in
Blevins (2005). A constituent analysis of gerundial clauses in the context of
premodification to nouns is carried out by Shen (1978). A critical view of the analysis
of gerundial clauses is offered by Dienhart & Jakobsen (1985). A gerundial pattern after
into is studied in detail by Rudanko (2006). A contrast between the gerunds in English
and Spanish is given in Ojea (2011).
10.7. Exercises
Exercise 10.1: Analyse the following sentences.
1) Carrying all those bags would be unthinkable for me.
2) She regretted leaving the door unlocked.
3) She apologised for wrecking the boss’ car.
Exercise 10.2: Analyse the following extract in detail. Indicate whether each of the ing-
forms found in the extract is a gerund or a participle. Justify your answer.
When she woke up, Mary Ann knew that she would remember that nightmare all
her life, but she had no indication of its meaning yet. She enjoyed driving her car along
a winding road. She avoided running over a dog, but not an elderly man with a walking
stick. Three long years would go by until she realised what the walking stick in the
nightmare meant. By then, ‘accidents’ had become very frequent in her household and
would still accompany them for many years.
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Chapter 11: Participial Clauses
I sat upon the shore
fishing, with the arid plain behind me
(Eliot 1922: 423-4)
11.1. Outline
This chapter is devoted to the last type of non-finite clauses, participial clauses.
Participial clauses are very similar in form to the gerundial clauses analysed in the
previous chapter. Still, their syntactic functions are in general strikingly different. We
start with some features of participles and then we turn to the syntax of participial
clauses. We will see that while some participial clauses, the absolute constructions, are
grammatical; others, called dangling participles, are considered ungrammatical.
11.2. The Concept of Participle
Participles are non-finite verbal forms that can have adjectival or adverbial functions.
Let us start by comparing two sentences and their interpretations
11.1. His breaking marriage is common knowledge.
11.2. His broken marriage is common knowledge.
While in the first example ‘his marriage’ is in the process of breaking, in the second
sentence such process has already reached its final point. Both adjectives premodifying
‘marriage’ in Examples 11.1 and 11.2 are said to be participles. The former is called a
present participle, whereas the latter is said to be a past participle. Besides, very
frequently, the present participle has an active interpretation, whereas the past participle
has a passive interpretation. Compare Examples 11.3 and 11.4.
11.3. a chopping lumberjack
11.4. a chopped carrot
Additionally, in the so called psych verbs such as terrify, frighten, amaze, astonish,
amuse, interest, and many others, the present participle is said to modify the AGENT or
notional Subject, while the past participle tends to modify the PATIENT or notional
Object. Let us compare Examples 11.5 and 11.6. In the former, it is the movie that
terrifies, astonishes or interests its audience, whereas in the latter, it is the child that is
terrified, astonished or interested in something.
11.5. a(n) terrifying/astonishing/interesting movie
11.6. a(n) terrified/astonished/interested child
.
Participial Clauses
11.3. The Syntax of Participial Clauses

As was mentioned in Chapter 10, present participles can easily be confused with
gerunds. However, the types of syntactic functions that gerunds and participles have are,
in general, different. While gerunds have mainly a nominal or also an adjectival
function, present participles have mostly an adverbial or also an adjectival function. Let
us see some examples in Table 11.1 below.
Syntactic
Gerunds Participles
Functions
Climbing mountains is a
S ––––
dangerous sport.
I love climbing
DO ––––
Nominal
mountains.
He’s interested in
O/P ––––
climbing mountains.
My favourite sport,
App climbing mountains, is ––––
very dangerous.
His favourite sport is
Nom/Adj SC That sport is boring.
climbing mountains.
The climbing expedition
His climbing boots are
Adjectival
PM will reach the summit in

expensive.
the morning.
The boy climbing the
PostM ––––
stairs was my cousin.
Climbing the stairs, I
Adverbial A ––––
dropped my wallet.
Table 11.1: Syntactic Functions of Gerunds and Participles
From the abovementioned examples, it can be seen that some syntactic functions are
realised exclusively by either gerunds or participles. For example, the syntactic
functions that are exclusively fulfilled by nominals are realised by gerunds or gerundial
clauses but not by participles. This is the case of Subject, Direct Object, Object to the
Preposition and Apposition. Thus, the clauses Climbing mountains in the first four lines
of Table 11.1 above have the functions of Subject, Direct Object, Object to the
Preposition and Apposition, all of which are nominal functions and therefore, they are
gerundial clauses. On the other end of the cline we find the adverbial function, which is
realised exclusively by participles and participial clauses but not by gerunds. This type
of syntactic function is that of Adjunct. This is the case of the clause Climbing the stairs
of the last line of Table 11.1. Since this clause has the syntactic function of Adjunct,
which is adverbial in category, it can only be considered a participial clause.
However, there are a few syntactic functions that can be realised by both
gerunds or gerundial clauses and participles or participial clauses. These are the
functions of Subjective Complement, which can be a nominal or adjectival function;
and the adjectival function of Premodifier. Because of their more versatile condition,
they require further clarification but let us start with the clearer examples.
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Participial Clauses
The clearest case of syntactic function of participial clauses is that of Adjunct,

and we now turn to their analysis. In order to contextualise the use of a sentence with a
participial clause, we will see an extract from the brochure of an opera performed in
Madrid in 2007.
Act II
I. Marie’s room. Looking at herself in the mirror, Marie delights in her youth and
beauty. The drum has given a pair of earrings. Wozzeck catches her off guard and
begins to suspect the truth, but he keeps calm. He gives some money to Marie and
leaves.
Brochure of Wozzeck, opera by Alban Berg. 2006-7 season, January 12th 2007. Royal Theatre, Madrid.
There is one sentence in the extract above that contains a non-finite clause with the
function of Adjunct. This sentence is repeated below as Example 11.7. The underlined
ing-clause in this example clearly has the function of Adjunct, since it provides
additional information to the propositional content of the sentence. As we know,
Adjuncts can be taken away from the sentence without affecting its informative
character. This is naturally possible in Example 11.7, the analysis of which is shown in
Figure 11.2.
11.7. [(Looking at herself in the mirror, Marie delights in her youth and
beauty).]
P (vp) S (np) P (vp)
S (ec) P (vp)
PROi Looking at herselfi in the mirror Mariei delights
PM (d) H (n)
H (tv) Part (p) DO H (p) O/P (np)
(pr) H (n) H (iv)
H (prep v) AAP (pp)
AT (part cl)
P (vp)
in her youth and beauty

PM (d) H (n) (ccc) H (n)
H (p)
O/P (comp np)
AAP (pp)
The participial clause in the previous example has the function of Adjunct of Time or
probably Manner. Its Subject is the empty category PRO which corefers with the
reflexive pronoun herself and the noun Marie, Head of the Subject of the main clause.
Its Predicate is headed by the prepositional verb look at, which takes the pronoun
herself as its Direct Object and the prepositional phrase in the mirror as Adverbial
Adjunct of Place.
We need to mention that in the case of participial clauses with no overt Subject,
as Example 11.7 above, the empty category made overt as PRO needs to corefer with
the Subject in the main clause. Otherwise, the sentence is traditionally considered
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Participial Clauses
ungrammatical. This is the type of construction referred to as dangling participle. Let us

compare Examples 11.8 and 11.9 below to clarify this point.
11.8. [(Climbing the stairs, Jack dropped his wallet).]
11.9. *[(Climbing the stairs, his wallet fell).]
The Subject of the main clause of 11.8 is the noun Jack and the participial clause with
the function of Adjunct of Time within the Predicate of the sentence has as its Subject
the empty category PRO that corefers with this noun Jack. By contrast, in Example 11.9
the Subject of the main clause is the noun phrase his wallet, with which the Subject of
the participial clause cannot corefer, since it is he that was climbing the stairs rather
than his wallet. Thus this sentence is said to be an instance of a dangling participle,
which results in an ungrammatical construction.
A further type of construction with participial clauses is that in which the
Subject of the participial clause is an overt phrase different from the phrase working as
Subject of the main clause of the sentence. This is the so called absolute construction,
which of course does not allow for the insertion of the empty category PRO as Subject
of the participial clause, since this participial clause already has its Subject expressed
overtly. This can be seen in Example 11.10, in which the Subject of the main clause is
the noun phrase his father and that of the participial clause is the noun John. Figure 11.3
below summarises the possibilities of present participial clauses.
11.10. [(With John playing the drums, his father found it difficult to sleep a
wink.)]
Present
Participial Clauses
with Overt Subject with No Overt Subject
Absolute Construction
PRO corefers with PRO does Not
Subject in main corefer with Subject
clause in main clause
Dangling Participle
Grammatical Ungrammatical
Figure 11.3: Summary of Present Participial Clauses

In addition to the adverbial function of Adjuncts, participial clauses can have the
adjectival function of Postmodifier of a noun within a noun phrase either in the Subject
or in the Predicate of a main clause. In this case, the participial clause can also be
considered a reduced defining relative clause in which there is elision of the defining
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Participial Clauses
relative pronoun and of a form of the copulative verb be. For example, sentence 11.11
can be understood as a reduced version of its finite counterpart shown in Example
11.12.
11.11. [(The boy climbing the stairs was my cousin).]
11.12. [(The boy <who was climbing the stairs> was my cousin).]
Finally, as was mentioned earlier, there are some syntactic functions that can be realised
both by gerunds and participles. This is the case of Premodifiers and Subjective
Complement. Premodifier is a typical adjectival function that can be realised as a
gerund or a participle. Let us remember that the distinction between the categories can
be carried out in this case through a paraphrase. If the ing-form is paraphrased as X for
doing Y, it is considered a gerund, whereas if it is paraphrased as X that is/was doing Y,
it is considered a participle.
The other syntactic function that can be realised by both a gerund – or gerundial
clause – and a participle is that of Subjective Complement. However, while the former
is said to be a nominal function, the latter is a qualifying adjectival structure that
modifies the Subject of the clause.
11.4. Summary
This chapter has dealt with the structure of participial clauses. First, we mentioned that
participles are a second type of hybrid form in between nouns and verbs, but closer to
the verbal end. Participles can be either present or past participles and they have
different semantic interpretations. From the point of view of syntax, participial clauses
are non-finite constructions with or without an overt Subject. If their Subject is overt,
they are said to be absolute constructions. If their Subject is covert, it must corefer with
the Subject in the main clause; otherwise the sentence is the ungrammatical construction
called dangling participle. Some participial clauses, the ones with the syntactic function
of Postmodifiers can also be considered reduced relative clauses.
Participial clauses can be read in a relatively simple fashion in chapter 7 of Hancock
(2005).
11.6. Exercises
Exercise 11.1: Analyse the following sentences.
1) Travelling by bus is a nuisance these days.
2) Travelling by bus, I received an important message that morning.
3) Having cleaned the seventh floor, the janitor sat down on a mahogany arm-chair.
4) She adored getting up so late on Sundays and now she would miss intruding sun
rays through the blinds of her bedroom.
Exercise 11.2: The following article contains sixteen underlined ing-forms. Classify
them into gerunds and participles and give their syntactic function in the sentences in
which they appear.
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Participial Clauses
Killer Whale: Ocean’s Best Hunter Learns to Kill on Land

Feb. 7, 2010
By JOHN BERMAN
Killer whales, or orcas, are the top predators in the sea. But new footage from
National Geographic shows the massive creatures doing some of their most startling
hunting not in the ocean but on the beach.
On Peninsula Valdes on Argentina’s coast, there are two very unusual orcas that
have taken the notion of beach-combing to a new level. Researchers have named the
two Mel and Maga.
Using the force of the sea and propelled by the surf, the whales burst past the
water’s edge, seizing unsuspecting seals and sea lions.
“It’s just awesome, awe inspiring to see these creatures launch themselves onto
the beach and snatch these baby seals,” said Howard Rosenbaum of the Wildlife
Conservation Society, who has studied the whales’ behavior.
It may be all the more awesome considering the enormous size of a killer whale
– 30 feet long and weighing more than 6 tons.
Once they’ve grabbed hold of their prey on the beach, Mel and Maga slide back
into the deep on the smooth, round beach stones.
The whales pull plenty of seals off the beach. Just one orca will eat 500 pounds
of food a day, and Mel and Maga aren’t just hunting for themselves – they’re providing
for an entire family.
This kind of behavior does not come naturally – the whales’ instinct is to stay in
the safety of the water.
“One of the most amazing things is that this is learned behavior,” said
Rosenbaum. “The whales actually teach each other how to do it.”
Just a few whales ever try this, and Mel and Maga are already passing on their
skills to a new generation – in an underwater killing school that is now beyond the
water’s edge.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/killer-whales-orcas-learn-kill-beach/story?id=9746870
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.
Part III
Categories
.
.
Chapter 12: Nouns and Pronouns
There are no nouns in Tlön’s conjectural Upsprache.
(Borges 1941)
12.1. Outline
This chapter starts from some general concepts on words, affixes and categories. We
will need to introduce the more technical concept of lexeme in order to avoid
ambiguities. Although the focus of this work is not the morphology of English, at least
we need to mention the classification of affixes into prefixes and suffixes on the one
hand, and into inflectional and derivational affixes on the other hand. Then we turn to
some distinguishing features of nouns and pronouns in a very succinct way and to the
classification of nouns and pronouns.
12.2. General Concepts on Words and Categories
In order to avoid ambiguities, before we turn to the categories of nouns and pronouns,
we need to mention some concepts related to words in general and to the category of
words in particular. For example, when checking the number of words of the previous
sentence, the word-count can be 34, if all instances of words are considered; or 23, if
only the instances of different words40 are counted (see Figure 12.1 in which the
different words are listed in alphabetical order). Besides, the lexical items category and
categories are of course connected, and thus the word-count can still be reduced to 22.
The purpose of such word-count will trigger different answers.
ambiguities, and, avoid, before, categories, category, concepts, general, in, mention,
need, nouns, of, order, particular, pronouns, related, some, to, the, turn, we, words
Figure 12.1: List of Different Words in a Sentence
Linguists have found an alternative to the concept of word. This is the lexeme, which is
an abstract unit that generally corresponds to a set of word-forms of a same word. The
citation form of the lexeme is the form that is used for the alphabetical citation of
lexemes in a dictionary. All the forms of a lexeme other than its citation form are its
inflectional forms. Thus in the example above, we can say that there are 34 words in all,
with 23 different citation forms in all, from 22 different lexemes.
Different lexical items are created and used in the language by means of the
addition of inseparable particles called affixes. According to their position within
40
Additionally, the five instances of the lexical item to are used as a preposition three times and as an
infinitival marker the remaining two occasions (see Section 9.2).
.
Nouns and Pronouns
words, affixes can be classified into prefixes and suffixes. According to the production
of new words, affixes can be said either inflectional or derivational. While the
distinction between prefixes and suffixes is uncontroversial, that between inflectional
and derivational affixes is more problematic. It is traditionally agreed that if the
category of the word changes with the addition of an affix, the process is said to be
derivational. Some grammarians consider derivation to be a more restrictive word-
formation process41 according to which the formation of a new lexeme – of the same or
different category – is produced so that all inflectional morphemes in English are
considered to be suffixes. The eight unquestionable inflectional suffixes in English are
the morpheme –s added to singular countable nouns that inflect for plural as in beds, the
suffix –’s added to some nouns to make up its genitive form as in Julia’s; the
comparative and superlative suffixes –er and –est added to some adjectives and adverbs
as in faster and fastest; and the four inflectional forms –s, –ing, –ed and –en added to
verbs to make up the third-person present, the present participle, the simple past and the
past participle forms, respectively, as in listens, listening, listened and broken. Table
12.1 below shows the classification and some additional examples of affixes.
Suffixes Prefixes
longer
Inflectional ideas -----
thinking
broaden
enslave
Derivational stubbornness
afloat
reaction
Table 12.1: Classification and Examples of Affixes
A further point that we need to mention is that Grammar is said to be an arbitrary
science in the sense that it cannot be accounted for in terms of more general logical and
psychological principles. For example, while the word furniture is uncountable in
English, its equivalent mueble in Spanish is countable. By the same token, the
grammatical concept of gender is different in different languages. For example, while
the Spanish words mesa, canasta, razón and mano are feminine in gender, and the
words problema, fantasma, corazón and hermano are masculine in gender, other
languages have a different treatment of the concept gender. Whereas in Spanish el sol is
masculine and la luna is feminine, its German equivalents work precisely the opposite
way: die Sonne is feminine and der Mond is masculine. English has also a different
gender system.
Moreover, as was said in Section 3.3, categories are usually divided into
contentive or lexical on the one hand, and function words or functional categories on the
other. Traditionally, within the former are included the categories of noun, adjective,
verb, adverb and preposition42; whereas pronoun, determiner, auxiliary and conjunction
are part of the latter. Additionally, other minor categories are not covered by any of the
previously mentioned parts of speech. For example, interjection is a minor category that
comprises lexical terms such wow, alas, oh and others that are strictly speaking not
41
Word-formation is the subject matter of the area of Grammar called Morphology and is beyond the
scope of this book. See for example Katamba & Stonham (2006).
42
Cf., however, Carnie (2013:52), who regards prepositions as functional words since they are elements
whose main function is to join parts of a sentence together.
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Nouns and Pronouns
completely part of the predication of a sentence. Besides, we have already mentioned

expletives it and there as a category in Section 3.5, and the infinitival marker to and the
empty category PRO in 9.6, which are not easily classified within any of the other nine
bigger categories.
There seems to a correspondence between some of the lexical categories and
their functional counterparts. For example, there are some similarities between nouns
and pronouns, adjectives and determiners, and verbs and auxiliaries. Hence we have
treated them in a parallel fashion in the remaining part of this book. In this chapter in
particular, we deal with nouns and pronouns.
12.3. Nouns
Nouns constitute one of the so called open-class categories of grammar since they allow
for the creation and incorporation of more entities and concepts to be regarded as nouns.
From the point of view of semantics, nouns denote or refer to people, animals, things, or
places, but also to abstract entities like emotions, feelings, states, deadjectival qualities
and deverbal concepts. They can also be the names of school or university subjects,
professions, practices, materials, and many other items. They can be real or imaginary.
From the point of view of syntax, nouns are the Heads of the noun phrases that
can appear in either the Subject or the Predicate of a clause. Nouns are frequently
premodified by articles such the, a or an, and other determiners and also by adjectives.
Besides, nouns can be postmodified by prepositional phrases and other more complex
structures such as defining relative clauses. Noun phrases can have the function of
Subject of a clause, or Apposition within the Subject; Direct Object, Indirect Object,
Subjective Complement or Objective Complement within the Predicate. Finally, noun
phrases can be the Object to the Preposition in virtually all structural elements.
Therefore, nouns can have a wide variety of functions. Nouns and noun phrases can be
substituted by pronouns or pronominal phrases.
From the point of view of morphology, nouns, if countable, can inflect for
plural, typically through the addition of the affix –s or –es, though there are also
irregular plurals. Many abstract nouns are derived from adjectives through the addition
of derivational suffixes such as –ness, –ty, –tion, –ance, –ence, and also from other
nouns through the addition of suffixes like –hood and –ship.
12.4. Classification of Nouns
Nouns can be classified in terms of their gender and number properties.
A. Gender
A.1. Masculine: man, boy, son, father, nephew, widower
A.2. Feminine: woman, girl, daughter, mother, niece, widow
A.3. Neuter: book, desk, pencil, classroom, radio, shelf, floor
A.4. Common: child, doctor, assistant, pilot, teacher, student
B. Number
B.1. Invariable Nouns
B.1.1. Singular Invariables
B.1.1.a. Proper Nouns: Jonathan, Mary, Atlantic, Thames, Italy
B.1.1.b. Concrete Uncountable Nouns: furniture, silver, music, luggage, iron
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Nouns and Pronouns
B.1.1.c. Abstract Uncountable Nouns: homework, accommodation, happiness

progress, envy, pride, work, lust, simplicity
B.1.1.d. Nouns with s-ending: news, measles, mumps, physics, maths, billiards
B.1.2. Plural Invariables
B.1.2.a. Proper Nouns: Maldives, The Netherlands, The Malvinas, United States
B.1.2.b. Summation Plural: scissors, pyjamas, trousers, pincers, tongs
B.1.2.c. Pluralia Tantum: thanks, clothes, premises
B.1.2.d. Unmarked Plural: police, clergy, people, cattle, youth
Invariable: scissors
Variable: books
Variable: book
Singular
Uncountable: progress
Uncountable: furniture
Plural
Countable
Singular: France
Plural: Malvinas
Concrete
Abstract
Common
Proper
Nouns
Figure 12.2: Classification of Nouns
B.2. Variable Nouns

B.2.1. Regular Plurals
B.2.1.a. Adding s: 1990s, MPs, PhDs, IQs, the haves and the have-nots
B.2.1.b. Adding es: buses, boxes, classes, dresses, buzzes, churches, lashes
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Nouns and Pronouns
B.2.1.c. Ending in y43: flies, ladies, babies, boys, days, toys, monkeys
B.2.1.d. Ending in o: heroes, tomatoes, potatoes, radios, pianos
B.2.1.e. Ending in f, fe, ff: calves, shelves, thieves, halves, knives, wives, lives
But: surfs, giraffes, cliffs
Besides: scarfs or scarves; hoofs or hooves
B.2.2. Irregular Plurals
B.2.2.a. Mutation Plural: men, women, feet, teeth, geese, mice, lice
B.2.2.b. Adding en: children, oxen
B.2.2.c. Zero Plural: sheep, fish, deer, swine, bison
B.2.2.d. Foreign Plural: curriculum, curricula; stimulus, stimuli; cumulus, cumuli
B.2.2.e. Voicing Plural: house /haus/ houses /hauzΙz/, mouth /mauØ/ mouths /mauðs/
12.5. Pronouns
Personal
Reflexive and Reciprocal
Possessive
Demonstrative
Relative
Pronouns
Nominal Relative
Interrogative
Wh-Focused Exclamative
Focused
Universal
Assertive
Indefinite
Non-Assertive
Negative
Figure 12.3: Classification of Pronouns
Pronouns are function words that constitute one of the close-set systems, which are
rather inflexible to the addition of new items to the whole set. Pronouns are said to
replace noun phrases when they have previously been referred to, when there are non-
linguistic contextual cues that contribute to their specification, or sometimes when their
reference is either unique or indefinite.
43
The difference lie in whether the previous letter to the final y is a consonant or a vowel.
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Since pronouns can replace noun phrases, they can fulfil all the syntactic
functions of noun phrases: Subject, Direct Object, Indirect Object, Subjective
Complement, Objective Complement, Apposition and Object to the Preposition. Like
nouns, most pronouns inflect for number, but additionally personal pronouns inflect for
person and case. However, since the properties of pronouns are highly dependent on the
type of pronoun, let us start with a classification of pronouns.
12.6. Classification of Pronouns
Pronouns are traditionally classified into eight different types. Nevertheless, the most
common type of pronouns – personal pronouns – can be considered from a wider or
from a more restrictive perspective. For example, some authors consider that possessive
and reflexive and reciprocal pronouns are a subtype of personal pronouns. We will take
here the narrower stance and therefore consider eight different types of pronouns, as
shown in Figure 12.3 below.
12.6.1. Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns inflect for the four grammatical features of person, gender, number
and case. However, gender is only realised in the third person in the singular. The
second person you is used for both the singular and plural number. Case is also
neutralised in the second person and the neuter gender of the third person in the
singular.
Case
Person Number Gender
Subjective Objective
Singular I me
1st
Plural we us
2nd Sing/Pl you
Masculine he him
Singular Feminine she her
3rd
Neuter it
Plural they them
Table 12.2: English Personal Pronominal System
The first and second person pronouns I, me and you – and their derived forms such as
the possessives – are called deictic44 pronouns because their reference depends on the
relative situation in which they are used. Besides, the plural pronouns we and to a lesser
extent you can be used/interpreted as either inclusive or exclusive pronouns. While
inclusive we includes the addressee, exclusive we does not. Plural exclusive you refers
only to the addressees and plural inclusive you includes other person(s) in addition to
the addressees. Frequently, the pronouns he and she are preferred to it, when referring to
an animal or even a thing to which the speaker or writer feels great attachment.
Similarly, she is used for a ship or boat. On the other hand it tends to refer to babies, i.e.
in this case it refers to a person rather than to a thing. By the same token the plural they
replaces the singular pronoun he or she when the reference is unspecific. This is the so
called use of epicene pronouns that is nowadays common to avoid sexist language.
44
There are other deictic forms such as the adverbs here, there, now and then.
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Still, the grammatical feature that marks the greatest influence of syntax on
pronouns is case. Clearly, subjective pronouns can realise the function of Subject of a
clause while objective pronouns realise the objective functions of Direct Object, Indirect
Object and Object to the Preposition. Subjective Complements can be realised by
subjective pronouns, in a more prescriptively traditional fashion; or probably more
modern and informal way, by objective pronouns. Because of the multicategorial
property of some words, they can also be followed by both objective and subjective
pronouns. If lexical items such as but, than and as are considered prepositions, they are
followed by objective pronouns; if they are taken as conjunctions, they are followed by
subjective pronouns.
12.6.2. Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns
Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns are said to be controlled45 pronouns by a controller
or antecedent and are thus pronouns with anaphoric reference. Reflexive pronouns can
have a pure reflexive use as shown in Examples 12.1 and 12.2, or an emphatic use as
shown in 12.3. Reflexive pronouns in their purely reflexive use have all the syntactic
functions of objective pronouns: Direct Object, Indirect Object and Object to the
Preposition. Additionally, in their emphatic use, they can have the syntactic functions of
Apposition and Subjective Complement.
12.1. Shei taught herselfi Grammar.
12.2. When he went fishing, hei got a fish bigger than himselfi46.
12.3. Shei did it herselfi.
Reflexive pronouns are made up by the addition of the suffix self to the possessive from
in the case of the first and second persons and to the objective pronominal form in the
case of third person pronouns. The set of reflexive pronouns is given in Table 12.3
below.
Number
Person Gender
Singular Plural
1st myself ourselves
2nd yourself yourselves
Masculine himself
rd
3 Feminine herself themselves
Neuter itself
Table 12.3: Reflexive Pronominal System
Reflexive pronouns are used in some idiomatic expressions (12.4 and 12.5) and with
some inherently reflexive constructions (12.6 to 12.9). However, they are not used after
prepositions that indicate position or location (12.10 and 12.11).
12.4. Help yourself.
12.5. We enjoyed ourselves at the party.
12.6. She prides herself on her children’s education.
45
Control is not necessarily a term of Traditional Grammar but borrowed from Generative Grammar
(Chomsky 1981).
46
This example is taken from the full version of Durán (2013:116), recording by participant Ann,
sentence 29.
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12.7. She availed herself of the opportunity to travel abroad.

12.8. The president of the company absented himself from the meeting.
12.9. She perjured herself in front of her son.
12.10. She didn’t have any money on her/*herself.
12.11. They closed the door behind them/*themselves.
Additionally, reflexive pronouns are also required with unergative verbs – as opposed
with unaccusative verbs – that appear in resultative constructions, as can be seen in
Examples 12.12 to 12.16.
12.12. The competitors ran themselves exhausted.

12.13. The crowd screamed themselves hoarse.
12.14. The slaves worked themselves to death.
12.15. The gambler bet himself to ruin.
12.16. The tourists walked themselves tired47.
Reciprocal pronouns are also anaphoric pronouns that need to be controlled by an
antecedent. The reciprocal pronouns of English are each other and one another. Very
traditional approaches establish the difference that in the case of each other involves
two people, whereas in the case of one another there are more people involved.
However, not all linguists agree on this distinction or at least it seems to have become
neutralised in present-day English. The syntactic functions of reciprocal pronouns are
Direct Object, Indirect Object and Object to the Preposition.
The difference between reflexive pronouns and reciprocal pronouns can be seen
in the following two examples.
12.17. Jack and Jill hate each other. = Jack hates Jill and Jill hates Jack.
12.18. Jack and Jill hate themselves. = Jack hates himself and Jill hates herself.
Finally, from the phonological point of view, both reflexive pronouns in their non-
emphatic use and reciprocal pronouns are unstressed.
12.6.3. Possessive Pronouns
Number
Person Gender
Singular Plural
1st mine ours
2nd yourself yours
Masculine his
3rd Feminine hers theirs
Neuter its
Table 12.4: Possessive Pronouns
47
This example is taken from Levin & Rappaport (2004:480).
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Possessive pronouns are very infrequent in English, though they are used in
conversation, especially in the first and second person in the singular. Yours is also used
in the expressions yours sincerely and yours faithfully in formal letters. An additional
common expression is the double genitive a friend of mine/yours. The possessive its is
extremely rare, possibly because of phonological reasons, since while possessive
pronouns attract stress, it pronominal forms reject stress.
12.6.4. Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are a further type of deictic pronoun. They only inflect for
number. In the singular, they can refer to both countable and uncountable nouns. They
can have anaphoric reference (Example 12.19), cataphoric reference (12.20) or
exophoric reference (12.21).
Number
Reference
Singular Plural
Close this these
Distant that those
Table 12.5: Demonstrative Pronouns
12.19. Those shoes are more expensive than these.
12.20. This is my favourite dish.
12.21. Have you seen this?
12.22. This is my uncle Tom.
Demonstrative pronouns are rarely used with reference to people, except in Subject
position to introduce a person (12.22). The most frequent demonstrative pronoun is that,
especially in conversation, probably because it represents the emphatic counterpart of
unstressed it. Demonstrative this is frequently used in academic texts, especially with
anaphoric reference to a previous sentence or longer stretch of text. Demonstrative those
is considerably less frequent, most of the times with a relative clause in
postmodification. The demonstrative pronoun that is frequently replaced by pronoun
such with a demonstrative character, with or without a resultative clause (12.23).
12.23. Such was my surprise (that I got paralysed)!
12.6.5. Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are the pronouns that introduce relative clauses (see Chapter 8) with
an anaphoric reference. Thus relative pronouns have an antecedent in the matrix clause
in which the relative clause that they introduce is embedded.
All the connectors that introduce non-defining relative clauses whose antecedent
is a thing or a person are relative pronouns: which, who and whom (see Table 8.1 in
Section 8.2). Besides, the connectors that introduce defining relative clauses with the
function of Subject of the clause are also relative pronouns: which, who and that.
However, when the connector that can be elided, i.e. when it introduces defining
relative clauses with the function of Object, it is not a relative pronoun but a
subordinating conjunction and this is precisely why it can undergo elision. If the
connector chosen to introduce a defining relative clause with the function of Object is
who or whom, it is also a relative pronoun. Additionally, the clausal or sentential
connectors which and as are also relative pronouns (see Section 8.5).
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12.6.6. Nominal Relative Pronouns and Wh-Focused Pronouns

Nominal relative pronouns and wh-focused pronouns are those that introduce nominal
relative clauses and wh-focused nominal clauses, respectively (see Chapter 7). English
nominal relative and wh-focused pronouns are what, which, who, whom and whose.
As can be seen, the problem is that some of these pronouns – which, who and
whom – can be both relative pronouns and nominal relative or wh-focused pronouns.
They can be told apart, however, by focusing on the clause that they introduce. As we
know, defining relative clauses have the adjectival function of specifying the antecedent
to which they refer, and non-defining relative clauses give additional nominal
information of their antecedents. By contrast, nominal relative and wh-focused nominal
clauses, in particular the ones introduced by pronouns, are argumental, i.e. they
constitute a structural element required by the predication of the matrix clause.
Additionally, while relative pronouns have an anaphoric reference, nominal
relative pronouns and wh-focused pronouns have a cataphoric reference. Let us compare
the following two examples.
12.24. [(The personi <whoi you admire> is a linguist).]
12.25. [(I know <who you admire>.)]
In Example 12.24, the relative clause who you admire refers back to the noun person,
which is shown by means of the coindexation between the relative pronoun that
introduces the clause and its antecedent. In Example 12.25, by contrast, the clause who
you admire has the syntactic function of Direct Object of the transitive verb know in the
main clause and therefore it cannot be taken away from the sentence without affecting
its propositional content.
This anaphoric or cataphoric reference is precisely what distinguishes the
connectors which and what. While the former is more typically a relative pronoun with
anaphoric reference, the latter is always a nominal relative or wh-focused pronoun with
cataphoric reference. Let us compare Examples 12.26 and 12.27.
12.26. [(The accidenti <whichi you manage to recall> was not your fault).]
12.27. [(The past is <what you manage to recall>).]
In 12.26, the relative pronoun which refers back to the noun accident in the main clause.
In 12.27, the nominal relative pronoun what is the Direct Object of the verb recall in the
nominal relative clause which is in turn the Subjective Complement of the copulative
verb is in the main clause. Therefore, it can be seen that the relative pronoun which has
anaphoric reference whereas the nominal relative pronoun what has cataphoric
reference. The wh-focused pronoun which when used with a cataphoric reference
implies a choice between a set of alternatives (12.28).
12.28. Which do you prefer, vanilla, chocolate or strawberry?
12.6.7. Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are quantitative or quantifier pronouns that can be divided into
universal, assertive, non-assertive and negative.
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Nouns and Pronouns
Reference
Type Number Countable
Uncountable
Person Thing
each, everyone, each,
Singular all
Universal everybody everything
Plural all, both
some, enough,
one, someone,
Singular something most, more,
somebody
Assertive much, a little
some, several, enough,
Plural
most, more, many, a few
anyone,
Singular anything, either any
Non-assertive anybody, either
Plural any
no one,
Singular nothing, neither little, none
Negative nobody, neither
Plural few, none
Table 12.6: Indefinite Pronouns
Many of the indefinite pronouns can be postmodified by a prepositional phrase headed
by the preposition of. The pronouns each, every, and the compounds derived from this
one are also called distributive. Each, as opposed to every, is said to refer to two
entities. The pronoun one, which is said to be relatively formal, can be pluralised and
also turned into reflexive oneself.
12.7. Summary
This chapter starts from some general concepts on ‘words’ and some possible
ambiguities expressed in this lexical item. A more technical an abstract version is the
lexeme, which refers to all the instances of the same lexical item, with or without affixal
variations. Affixes can be either prefixes or suffixes, according to their position; and
inflectional or derivational, if they keep or change the original category of word.
Categories or parts of speech can be grouped into lexical or contentive, or functional.
Then we saw some general properties of the big category of nouns, which are
traditionally defined in terms of their semantic property of referring to people, animals,
things and places. More specifically, syntactic and morphological properties are
considered important for their identification. We saw the classification of nouns into
proper and common, countable and uncountable, concrete and abstract. Pronouns are the
functional counterpart of nouns and can replace nouns or noun phrases. They are
classified into personal, reflexive or reciprocal, possessive, demonstrative, relative,
nominal relative, wh-focused and indefinite.

A general introduction on words, inflections and the categories of Grammar can be
consulted in Lyons (1981). Tanskanen (2006) further discusses words and lexical units
in section 1.6. Valeika & Buitkiené (2003) cover the classification of words from
different perspectives. Inflections in English can be read in chapter 6 of Lieber (2010).
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A good introduction to affixes is Plag (2003). Derivational affixation and its contrast
with inflectional morphology is discussed in chapter 5 of Haspelmath & Sims (2010).
García (2004) studies the modification of nouns in English and Spanish. Longobardi
(1994) analyses reference and proper names. The difference between inclusive and
exclusive pronouns is explained in St. Clair (1973). A more modern but still simple
view of reflexive pronouns is given in König & Gast (2003). For the rise of epicene
pronoun they, see Balhorn (2004). For a different perspective on nominal expressions,
see section 1.8 of Reuland (2011). A detailed analysis of case is given in Pesestky and
Torrego (2011). An advanced analysis of pronouns is treated in chapter 4 of Jackendoff
(1973).
12.9. Exercises
Exercise 12.1: The extract below has been taken from a novel by Martel (2002). All
noun phrases in its second paragraph have been underlined.
1) Which of the underlined nominals have a generic/specific reference? What

nouns are not pre- or postmodified? Why? Can a pattern of premodification of the
nouns in the extract be found? What is its purpose?
2) Classify all Premodifiers into determiners (predeterminers, central determiners
and postdeterminers) and adjectives.
My suffering left me sad and gloomy.

Academic study and the steady, mindful practice of religion slowly brought me
back to life. I have kept up what some people would consider my strange religious
practices. After one year of high school, I attended the University of Toronto and took a
double-major Bachelor's degree. My majors were religious studies and zoology. My
fourth-year thesis for religious studies concerned certain aspects of the cosmogony
theory of Isaac Luria, the great sixteenth-century Kabbalist from Safed. My zoology
thesis was a functional analysis of the thyroid gland of the three-toed sloth. I chose the
sloth because its demeanour – calm, quiet and introspective – did something to soothe
my shattered self.
MARTEL, Yann (2002:3) Life of Pi. London: Walker Canongate.
Exercise 12.2: The following chart shows six sentences in simplified Mandarin
Chinese. Each sentence is represented in four different lines: the first line is the original
Chinese version; the second and third lines are phonological and literal glosses; finally,
the fourth line gives the English equivalent translation.
Compare the two columns and try to detect what categories – nouns, pronouns or verbs
– inflect for the plural in Chinese. As a clue, you can focus on one word – or pictogram
– that remains invariable in all six sentences. What Chinese particle contributes to the
pluralisation in Chinese?
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我是老師。我們是老師。
Wǒ shì lǎoshī. Wǒmen shì lǎoshī.
I be teacher. We be teachers.
I am a teacher. We are teachers.
你是高手。你是老師。
Nǐ shì gāoshǒu. Nǐ shì lǎoshī.
You be teacher. You be teacher.
You are a teacher. You are teachers.
他是一名教師。他們是教師。
Tā shì yī míng jiàoshī. Tāmen shì jiàoshī.
He be teacher. They be teacher.
He is a teacher. They are teachers.
Exercise 12.3: At least since the 1960s, the problem of the acquisition of their mother
tongue by native speakers of a certain language has attracted increasingly considerable
attention (Braine 1963). For example, Labelle (2005) argues that certain grammatical
categories are acquired earlier than others and also before the acquisition of
subcategories can take place.
Have a look at the following cartoon by Quino and try to detect what
grammatical categories have already been acquired by the baby and what other
grammatical categories have still to be acquired.
DeBT (2010, August 9). Sunday comics debt [Web log post]. Retrieved February 15, 2014, from
http://sundaycomicsdebt.blogspot.com.ar/2010/08/quino.html
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Chapter 13: Adjectives and Determiners
Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts. (Lee 1960:32)
13.1. Outline
In this chapter we deal with two further categories of Grammar: the lexical or contentive
category of adjectives and the functional category of determiners. We mention some of
the prototypical features of adjectives and the traditional classification of adjectives.
Then we turn to describe and classify determiners.
13.2. Adjectives
Adjectives constitute another type of lexical category. They modify nouns or pronouns,
or when the noun they modify is a general word such as people or thing, they can be
used as fused Heads. Fused Heads are nominalised adjectives, i.e. two categories that
conflate into one (see Example 13.1).
13.1. The rich look down on the poor.
Adjectives are generally used to modify nouns – or pronouns and after copulative verbs
like be, seem, result, look, taste and others.
13.2. Tania is a beautiful girl. Tania is beautiful.
13.3. His argument seems solid.
13.4. His answer resulted satisfactory.
13.5. The visitor looked interested.
13.6. That food tastes awful.
Some common affixes that help characterise an adjective are given in Figure 13.1.
ful: wonderful, careful ous: dangerous, disastrous

less: ruthless, priceless ish: foolish, feverish
ic: plastic, cosmetic y: angry, trustworthy
al: analytical, natural able: formidable, valuable
ent: ardent, confident ible: responsible, impossible
ant: redundant, pleasant like: childlike, birdlike
ary: stationary, voluntary esque: picturesque, Kafkaesque
Figure 13.1: Common Adjectival Suffixes
.
Adjectives and Determiners
From the morphological point of view, some adjectives 48 inflect for the comparative and
superlative degrees, by adding the suffixes er and est, respectively.
light, lighter, lightest sad, sadder, saddest

small, smaller, smallest funny, funnier, funniest
nice, nicer, nicest happy, happier, happiest
Irregular forms:
good, better, best bad, worse, worst
far, farther or further, farthest or furthest
Figure 13.2: Comparative and Superlative Suffixes49
In addition, many adjectives admit the formation of an antonym with the addition of a
negative prefix like in–, un–, im–, dis–, mis–, non–, and others.
inflexible disrespectful
unnecessary misplaced
immature nonexistent
illogical irresponsible
Figure 13.3: Adjectives with Negative Prefixes
Besides, many adjectives admit a derivational suffix –ly to be turned into adverbs, for
example quick, quickly; short, shortly; fluent, fluently. However, some lexical items
ending in ly are adjectives rather than adverbs (see a non-exhaustive list in Figure 13.4).
a friendly person an early arrival a ghostly appearance

an elderly woman lively music brotherly advice
a daily newspaper a likely outcome motherly instincts
monthly payments a deadly sin a manly voice
Figure 13.4: Adjectives Ending in ly
From the syntactic point of view, adjectives can have the functions of Premodifier,
Postmodifier, Subjective Complement and Objective Complement. The most frequent
of these functions is by far that of Premodifier of a noun and in the second place
Subjective Complement. Adjectives as Postmodifiers are rather infrequent, sometimes
as part of a longer phrase that contains an Adjectival Complement (13.7), a comparison
phrase (13.8), or when the noun or pronoun they postmodify is a general word without
much contentive information (13.9 and 13.10). These adjectival phrases can, however,
be interpreted as reduced relative clauses.
13.7. He is the teacher accessible to ask every question.
13.8. She has two daughters more hard-working than herself.
13.9. We have met several people very intelligent.
48
In actual fact only gradable adjectives that are monosyllable or disyllable ending in “y” admit the
suffixes “er” and “est.” Some exceptions are adjectives that phonologically end in the /r/ sound, such fair,
more fair, most fair, or rare, more rare, most rare. Some adjectives ending in ly admit both possibilities:
friendly, friendlier, friendliest or the periphrastic forms more friendly, most friendly. The adjective
common admits more common and most common, but also commoner, commonest.
49
For physical distance, both forms farther and further, and farthest and furthest can be used. With the
meaning of ‘additional,’ only further and furthest are applied. The adjective old takes the inflectional
forms older and oldest, but also elder and eldest, when talking about members of a family: My elder
brother.
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13.10. I have learned something interesting.

Adjectives that are used as Premodifier of a noun are called attributive or in attributive
use; and those that are used as Subjective Complement or Objective Complement are
called predicative or in predicative use. Most adjectives have indistinctively an
attributive or predicative use and are therefore called central, but some are only or
mostly attributive or only or mainly predicative. Within the (mostly) predicative
adjectives are the ones that have the prefix a– (13.11). Within the (mainly) attributive
adjectives are those that have the suffix –al (13.12). Also the adjectives utter, mere and
sheer are predominantly attributive.
13.11. afraid, ajar, alike, alive, alone, ashamed, aware
13.12. economical, illogical, political, pronominal, social, structural
Sometimes the meaning of some adjectives changes when used predicatively or
attributively. Compare the following pairs of examples.
13.13. The patient was seriously ill.
13.14. He is full of ill will (= hatred).
13.15. My best friend became old.
13.16. He’s an old friend of mine.
13.17. The exercise was easy.
13.18. She’s an easy woman.
13.19. Social progress in the past was considered impossible.
13.20. He’s such an impossible character.
13.21. I’ll be glad to help you.
13.22. She was the first to bring the glad tidings (= good news).
13.23. She was sure that she’d win.
13.24. That black bird was a sure sign of bad luck.
A very frequent construction with predicative adjectives in English is the so called
resultative construction, in which two predications are conflated into one with an
adjectival result. This is common in the case of unaccusative 50 intransitive verbs or their
causative transitive alternation (see Examples 13.25 to 13.27). The syntactic function of
the adjectives of the examples in the first column is Predicative Adjunct or
Quasipredicative (see Section 5.8), and that of the adjectives in the second column is
Objective Complement.
13.25. The door broke open. The police broke the door open.
13.26. The kettle boiled dry. The maid boiled the kettle dry.
13.27. The prisoner broke loose. The guardian broke the prisoner loose.
50
See the explanation of unaccusative verbs in Section 14.8 in the following chapter.
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For the order of adjectives, see Section 4.3; for adjectives that take an Adjectival
Complement, see Section 5.10 and for the use of participles with adjectival function, see
Section 11.2.
13.3. Classification of Adjectives
From the semantic point of view, adjectives are traditionally classified into stative and
dynamic; gradable and non-gradable; and inherent and non-inherent.
Most adjectives tend to be stative, but some can be used dynamically. If they
take or accept a dynamic interpretation, they can be used with the progressive aspect or
in the imperative mood. Compare the examples below.
13.28. You are rich *You are being rich. *Be rich.
13.29. You are fat. *You are being fat. *Be fat.
13.30. You are kind. You are being kind. Be kind.
13.31. You are careful. You are being careful. Be careful.
Gradable adjectives, as opposed to non-gradable ones, admit premodification with
adverbs such as very and the comparative and superlative degrees.
13.32. That is a very big animal/a bigger animal than that/the biggest animal.
13.33. This is a very interesting book/the most interesting book I have read.
13.34. He’s a very hard-working student/more hard-working than her.
13.35. *He’s very Dutch/*more Dutch than her.
13.36. *This is a very wooden chair/*more wooden than that chair.
13.37. ?This is very scientific/*more scientific than that.
Inherent adjectives characterise the noun or pronoun that they modify in a direct way
(13.38), as opposed to non-inherent adjectives (13.39) that give a feature or attribute
less associated to the noun they modify.
13.38. a soft cushion, a big house, a strong man
13.39. a heavy smoker, a perfect stranger, a true friend
If we compare the examples in the two lines above, we can say that the cushion is soft,
the house is big and the man is strong, but we cannot say that the smoker is heavy, the
stranger is perfect or the friend is true.
All dynamic adjectives are gradable and generally but not always inherent. All
inherent adjectives are also gradable. Finally, all inherent adjectives can be used
predicatively.
13.4. Determiners
Determiners are function words that constitute another of the close-set systems. They
can sometimes be confused with adjectives. However, as opposed to adjectives, they
cannot be stacked before the noun they premodify. Besides, while adjectives represent
an additional category which may be present preceding a noun to which they modify or
not, determiners are an obligatory category that precedes a noun under certain
circumstances. Compare Examples 13.40 and 13.41, which show that the determiner a
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needs to premodify the singular countable noun shirt, whereas the adjective new is
optional.
13.40. Jack bought a (new) shirt.
13.41. *Jack bought (new) shirt.
In addition, if there is one – or up to three – determiner(s) together with one or more
adjectives preceding a noun, determiners always precede the adjectives. Compare
Examples 13.42 and 13.43.
13.42. I read those three interesting postmodern novels.
13.43. *I read interesting postmodern those three novels.
A further feature that differentiates determiners from adjectives is that the former, but
not the latter, can be pronominalised, i.e. they can be used as pronouns. Thus, in
Example 13.44 his is a determiner and in 13.45 his is a pronoun. Similarly that is a
determiner in 13.46 but a pronoun in 13.47. By contrast, adjectives do not admit
pronominalisation. So, for example in order to turn the ungrammatical sentence of 13.48
into a grammatical sentence, we need to add the indefinite pronoun ones, as shown in
Example 13.49.
13.44. We understood her explanation but not his explanation.
13.45. We understood her explanation but not his.
13.46. This city is less dangerous than that town.
13.47. This city is less dangerous than that.
13.48. *She is afraid of small spiders but not of big.
13.49. She is afraid of small spiders but not of big ones.
13.5. Selectional Restrictions
Finally, determiners, unlike adjectives, select nouns with specific number and
countability properties but do not impose semantic restrictions on the noun they
premodify. For example, a selects a singular countable noun; few and many select a
plural countable noun; little and much select singular uncountable nouns. The
determiners this and that select singular nouns, while these and those select plural
nouns. Table 13.1 summarises some of these determiners according to their number and
countability properties. It can be seen, however, that some determiners are multiple or
universal. For example, the determiner the is universal.
Type of Determiner Examples
a, an, the, this, that, such a, what a,
Singular Countable
every, each,
the, these, those, such, what, all, some,
Plural Countable any, no, many, more, few, a few,
several, a great/large number of
the, this, that, such, what, some, no,
Singular Uncountable much, more, little, a little, plenty of,
a great/good deal of
Table 13.1: Determiners from their Countability and Number Properties
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13.50. He bought a table/*a tables/*a furniture.

13.51. He bought three tables/*three table/*three furniture.
13.52. He bought much furniture/*much table/*much tables.
By contrast, adjectives do not impose restrictions on the countability and number
properties on the noun they premodify, so that, for example, all adjectives that can
premodify the singular countable noun table (13.53) are also possible for its plural
counterpart tables (13.54) and for the uncountable or mass noun furniture (13.55) from
which the countable table is a hyponym.
13.53. a large/round/wooden/conference table
13.54. three large/round/wooden/conference tables
13.55. large/round/wooden/conference furniture
Conversely, adjectives, unlike determiners, impose semantic restrictions on the noun
they premodify. For example, some (13.56) but not all (13.57) adjectives are possible
Premodifiers of the noun table. However, those adjectives that are possible Premodifiers
of the singular countable noun table (13.58) are also possible for the plural countable
noun tables (13.59) and the uncountable furniture (13.60).
13.56. a folding/dressing/clean/high/negotiating table
13.57. a(n) ?intelligent/*fat/*woollen/*cotton/*handsome table
13.58. two folding/dressing/clean/high/negotiating table
13.59. two ?intelligent/*fat/*woollen/*cotton/*handsome tables
13.60. no folding/dressing/clean/high/negotiating furniture
13.61. no ?intelligent/*fat/*woollen/*cotton/*handsome furniture
Now that we have seen general features of determiners and their differences with
adjectives, let us turn to the classification of determiners.
13.6. Classification of Determiners

Determiners are classified into three big groups according to their relative position:
predeterminers, central determiners and postdeterminers. Central determiners are
obligatory with singular countable nouns. However, no two determiners of the same
group can be placed together before the noun they premodify, but there can be up to
three determiners preceding a noun, as long as they belong in the three different groups.
For example, in 13.62 and 13.63 respectively, all and what are predeterminers, my and a
are central determiners and three and fourth are postdeterminers, which makes the
examples grammatical. In 13.64 and 13.65, however, the, my, no and this are central
determiners, hence the choice of one of them precludes the choice of the other.
13.62. all my three books
13.63. what a fourth scene
13.64. *the my pencil case
13.65. *no this evidence
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1. Predeterminers:
1.1. all, both, half both your car and my house; all the theory
1.2. Multipliers thrice his size
double your weight
twice her earnings
four times his willingness
ten times its height
1.3. Fractions three quarters (of) my salary
five eighths (of) the cattle
two thirds (of) the cake
one ninth (of) the class
1.4. such, what such a nightmare
what a journey
2. Central Determiners
2.1. Articles a/the book; an article
2.2. Demonstrative Adjectives this/that sentence
these/those days
2.3. Possessive Adjectives my/your/his/her/our/their best student
its tail/cap
2.4. Interrogative Adjectives which/whose house
2.5. Negative Determiner no sugar/time/excuses/buses
2.6. Indefinite Adjectives every day/each passenger
either/neither road
2.7. Partitives a cup of coffee/a loaf of bread
a speck of dust
a bar of chocolate
a flake of snow
a rasher of bacon
2.8. Noun in the Genitive Case Jack’s sister
3. Postdeterminers
3.1. Cardinal Numbers my three classes
3.2. Ordinal Numbers the first/fourth/last/next/other day
3.3. Closed-Set Quantifiers much/most furniture/many/more chairs
(a) little milk; (a) few shops
3.4. Open-Class Quantifiers plenty of food/a lot of drinks
a great deal of/a small amount of rice
a great number/a large number of coins
13.7. Summary
In this chapter we have seen the properties and classifications of the contentive category
of adjectives and of the functional category of determiners. Adjectives and determiners
share some features. For example, they are used as Premodifiers of nouns. However,
while adjectives can be stacked before the noun they premodify, determiners cannot.
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Besides, adjectives unlike determiners admit negative prefixes to form their antonyms.
Some adjectives admit inflections for the comparative and superlative degree and some
admit the derivational ly suffix to form the corresponding adverb.
The main syntactic function of adjectives is Premodifier of a noun, but also they
can be Postmodifiers, Subjective Complements and Objective Complements. Adjectives
can be classified as predicative or attributive. From the semantic point of view, most
adjectives are stative but they can also be dynamic. Besides, they can be gradable or
non-gradable and inherent or non-inherent.
Determiners, if placed together with adjectives, always precede them.
Determiners are classified into predeterminers, central determiners and postdeterminers.
When premodifying a noun, only one of each subtype, and in their corresponding order
can be chosen, so that at most three determiners can premodify a noun.

A simple account of adjectives and some of their properties is summarised in Bolinger
(1967). A clear introduction to determiners is given in chapter 7 of Burton-Roberts
(1986, 3rd Edition 2011). Smith (1906) summarises the case inflections of Old English
with a full list of illustrations from literary sources. Botley and McEnery (2001) conduct
a study of demonstratives.
13.9. Exercises
Exercise 13.1: Decide which of the following sentences are grammatical and which are
not. Focus on the (subcategory of) determiners and on their selectional restrictions.
Justify your answer and, for the wrong examples, provide their grammatical version.
1) Most students have read all my three books.
2) The that my son is playing outside.
3) This people are so careless!
4) We have had such a terrible weather lately.
5) What day have I had at work today!
6) This chapter contains plenty of exercises.
7) A spendthrift is a person who spends a great number of money recklessly.
8) Unfortunately, the four mountaineers were killed in the blizzard.
9) This pictures by an impressionist painter were part of the decoration of every
room in the hotel.
Exercise 13.2: The following extract has been taken from a novel by Smith (2005).
Find all twenty adjectives in the extract using morphological criteria and syntactic
distribution. Justify your answers.
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He was bookish, she was not; he was theoretical, she political. She called a rose
a rose. He called it an accumulation of cultural and biological constructions circulating
around the mutually attracting binary poles of nature/artifice. Claire had always been
curious how a marriage like that worked. Dr Byford went so far as to suggest that this
was exactly the reason Claire had chosen to get involved with Howard after all these
years. At the moment of her own greatest emotional commitment she intervened in the
most successful marriage she knew. And it was true: sitting behind her desk, examining
this abandoned, rudderless man, she had felt perversely vindicated. Seeing him like that
had meant she was right, after all, about academics. (And shouldn’t she know? She’d
married three of them. They had no idea what the hell they were doing. Howard had no
way of dealing with his new reality. He was unequal to the task of squaring his sense of
himself with what he had done. It was not rational, and, therefore, he could not
comprehend it. For Claire, their affair was only confirmation of what she knew of the
darkest parts of herself. For Howard, it was clear revelation.
Smith, Z. (2005:225-6). On Beauty. New York: Hamish Hamilton.
Exercise 13.3: The following extract has been taken from a novel by McEwan (2001).
Underline all determiners and circle all adjectives in the extract. Justify your answer.
The play – for which Briony had designed the posters, programmes and tickets,
constructed the sales booth out of a folding screen tipped on its side, and lined the
collection box in red crêpe paper – was written by her in a two-day tempest of
composition, causing her to miss a breakfast and a lunch. When the preparations were
complete, she had nothing to do but contemplate her finished draft and wait for the
appearance of her cousins from the distant north. There would be time for only one day
of rehearsal before her brother arrived. At some moments chilling, at others desperately
sad, the play told a tale of the heart whose message, conveyed in a rhyming prologue,
was that love which did not build a foundation on good sense was doomed. The reckless
passion of the heroine, Arabella, for a wicked foreign count is punished by ill fortune
when she contracts cholera during an impetuous dash towards a seaside town with her
intended. Deserted by him and nearly everybody else, bed-bound in a garret, she
discovers in herself a sense of humour. Fortune presents her a second chance in the form
of an impoverished doctor – in fact, a prince in disguise who has elected to work among
the needy. Healed by him, Arabella chooses judiciously this time, and is rewarded by
reconciliation with her family and a wedding with the medical prince on ‘a windy sunlit
day in spring’.
MCEWAN, Ian (2001: 3). Atonement. London: Jonathan Cape.
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Chapter 14: Verbs and Auxiliaries
“Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be;
but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That's logic.”
(Carroll 1871:160)
14.1. Outline
This chapter is about probably the most important part of speech in English Grammar,
the verbal group, since the verb is the central element of the predication of a clause,
which selects the arguments and determines the number of arguments or obligatory
structural elements in the clause. The verbal group is made up of the functional category
of auxiliary and the lexical category of verb. Frequently in English, in particular in oral
discourse, the actual verb also consists of a particle that is added to the lexical verb and
hence changes its meaning. This is the case of the so called phrasal and prepositional
verbs, which are analysed in Section 14.9. If more than one auxiliary is present, this is
called the operator, which has special functional properties. We will deal with some
selectional restrictions, both formal and semantic, which affect the classification of
verbs.
14.2. Verbal Group
We will start the analysis of the verbal group by having a look at how finite verbal
forms are used in an extract of a recent novel by Coetzee (2003). In this extract, some
finite verbal forms have been underlined.
THERE IS FIRST of all the problem of the opening, namely, how to get us from where
we are, which is, as yet, nowhere, to the far bank. It is a simple bridging problem, a
problem of knocking together a bridge. People solve such problems every day. They
solve them, and having solved them push on.
Let us assume that, however it may have been done, it is done. Let us take it that
the bridge is built and crossed, that we can put it out of our mind. We have left behind
the territory in which we were. We are in the far territory; where we want to be.
Elizabeth Costello is a writer, born in 1928, which makes her sixty-six years old,
going on sixty-seven. She has written nine novels, two books of poems, a book on bird
life, and a body of journalism. By birth she is Australian. She was born in Melbourne
and still lives there, though she spent the years 1951 to 1963 abroad, in England and
France. She has been married twice. She has two children, one by each marriage.
Coetzee, J. M. (2003:1). Elizabeth Costello. New York: Viking.
.
Auxiliaries and Verbs
Some clauses from the previous extract contain a one-word verb group. For example, in
14.1, the main verb is the copulative verb is; and in 14.2, the main verb is the transitive
verb solve. Similarly, the verbs makes, lives, has and spent constitute the finite verbs of
Examples 14.3 to 14.6.
14.1. It is a simple bridging problem […]
14.2. People solve such problems every day.
14.3. […] which makes her sixty-six years old
14.4. [She] still lives there […]
14.5. She has two children, one by each marriage.
14.6. […] she spent the years 1951 to 1963 abroad, in England and France.
Other clauses contain verb groups made up of a verb preceded by one or more
auxiliaries. Such is the case of the following four examples, in which the main verbs
done, built, written and married are preceded by the auxiliaries may have been, is, has
and has been, respectively.
14.7. […] however it may have been done […]
14.8. […] the bridge is built […]
14.9. She has written nine novels […]
14.10. She has been married twice.
The problem in telling lexical verbs apart from auxiliaries is that some verbal forms are
used as lexical verbs and as auxiliaries alike. For example, the verbal form is in
Example 14.1 constitutes the lexical verb of the clause, while the same item in Example
14.8 works as an auxiliary for the passive voice. The verbal form has in Example 14.5
constitutes the lexical verb of the clause, whereas the same form works as an auxiliary
for the perfective aspect in Examples 14.9 and 14.10.
Additionally, many English verbs are made up of a verb and a particle like the
adverbial particles out and behind of Examples 14.11 and 14.12 below. Verbs made up
of a lexical verb and a particle can be phrasal or prepositional verbs and are dealt with
in Section 14.9. Auxiliaries are dealt with in Section 14.3 below.
14.11. […] we can put it out of our mind.
14.12. We have left behind the territory in which we were.
14.3. Auxiliaries
English auxiliaries51 constitute a functional category that conveys the formal meanings
of modality, tense, aspect and voice. English auxiliaries are the modal auxiliaries and
the forms of the verbs be, have and do, when they are not the main verb of the verb
group. Modal auxiliaries are the only ones that exclusively have the function of
auxiliaries and if they are used with other auxiliaries, modals must precede all other
auxiliaries. Modal auxiliaries are can, may, must, will, shall, could, might, would and
should. The forms of be contribute to the formation of the progressive aspect and the
51
Unlike the previous two chapters, in this chapter we will deal with the functional category first and with
the contentive category later.
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passive voice; and the forms of have contribute to the formation of the perfective aspect.
The forms of do are more restricted in that they only contribute to the formation of
interrogative, negative and emphatic sentences when there is no other auxiliary
available. This is the case of unmodalised sentences in the simple present or simple past
tense.
When more than one auxiliary is used in a clause, their order is fixed: (modal) +
(aux perfective aspect) + (aux progressive aspect) + (aux passive voice) + main verb.
For example, if we complete Example 14.8 with all full possibilities we would have
14.13 below, the syntactic analysis of which is shown in Figure 14.2.
14.13. The bridge may have been being built.
S (np) P (vp)
The bridge may have been being built
aux perf aux prog aux pass H (pass
mod aux
PM (d) H (n) aspect aspect voice tv)
H (vg)
Figure 14.2: Analysis of Example 14.13
14.4. The Operator

The first auxiliary, if there is more than one, or the only auxiliary in a verbal group is
traditionally called the operator. This operator carries the formal features of tense and
finiteness and shows agreement with the Subject, though due to the poorly inflectional
system of English, agreement is a very limited feature. Agreement is overtly expressed
only in the third person singular in the present with non-modal auxiliaries. Thus, in the
following pairs of examples, while the first option is grammatical because the operator
agrees with the number features of the Subject, the second counterpart of each pair is
ungrammatical since it carries number features that do not agree with the Subject.
14.14. The bridge has/*have been being built.
14.15. The bridges have/*has been being built.
14.16. The bridge is/*are being built.
14.17. The bridges are/*is being built.
14.18. The bridge is/*are built.
14.19. The bridges are/*is built.
The operator is the auxiliary that undergoes inversion of order with the Subject to form
the corresponding interrogative sentence in the case of polar or yes/no questions. So, for
example, 14.20 below is the interrogative counterpart of Example 14.13 above.
14.20. May the bridge have been being built?
In the case of wh-questions, in which a wh-word such as what, where, when, how or
why is placed in sentence-initial position, the operator is also the only auxiliary that
undergoes inversion of order with the Subject.
14.21. Where has the bridge been being built?
14.22. When is the bridge being built?
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Inversion of order triggered by negative expressions placed in initial position affects the
operator but not the remaining auxiliaries (14.23 and 14.24).
14.23. Never has a bridge been built in this city.
14.24. Rarely is a bridge being built these days.
Additionally, the operator can be triggered by the insertion of a post-clausal question
tag. See Examples 14.25 and 14.26.
14.25. The bridge has been being built, hasn’t it?
14.26. The bridge is being built, isn’t it?
A further trigger of the operator is the insertion of a modality adverb that expresses
doubt (14.27 and 14.28), infrequency or partial negation (14.29 and 14.30) or complete
negation (14.31 and 14.32). The obligatory position of such adverbs is always
immediately after the operator. In the case of the adverb of negation not, it can also be
added to the operator in a contracted form.
14.27. The bridge has perhaps been being built.
14.28. The bridge is perhaps being built.
14.29. A bridge has hardly/barely/rarely/scarcely been built.
14.30. A bridge is hardly/barely/rarely/scarcely being built.
14.31. The bridge has not/hasn’t been being built.
14.32. The bridge is not/isn’t being built.
Other time adverbials that are usually placed in post-operator position, and always
preceding all other auxiliaries, are adverbs such as already (14.33), the frequency
adverbs always, usually, seldom, never (14.34 and 14.35) and others, though they can
also be placed in initial52 or final position.
14.33. The bridge has already been built.
14.34. A bridge is always/usually being built.
14.35. A bridge has seldom/never been built.
Further elements that can be placed in post-operator position are the so called floating
quantifiers (14.36 and 14.37).
14.36. The bridges have all been built. (= All the bridges have been built.)
14.37. The bridges are both being built. (= Both the bridges are being built.)
Additional features of operators are the possibility to be attached to the Subject as a
contracted enclitic auxiliary form (14.38 and 14.39), their emphatic use in assertive
clauses (14.40, 14.41 and 14.42) and the possibility to work as pro-forms in short
answers to yes/no questions replacing a whole clause (14.43 and 14.44).
14.38. The bridge’s been built. (= The bridge has been built.)
14.39. The bridge’s being built. (=The bridge is being built.)
52
In the case of adverbs with a negative meaning, if they are placed in initial position, they trigger
inversion of order (see Examples 14.23 and 14.24)
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14.40. The bridge HAS been built.

14.41. The bridge IS being built.
14.42. The bridge WILL have been built by March.
14.43. Has the bridge been built?
Yes, it has.
14.44. Is the bridge being built?
No, it isn’t
The forms of the main verbs be and have are conflated with the operator when there is
no other auxiliary present and hence they present all the features abovementioned for
operators (14.45 to 14.51).
14.45. Is/*Are this bridge dangerous?
14.46. Are/*Is these bridges dangerous?
14.47. Why is this bridge dangerous?
14.48. This bridge is dangerous, isn’t it?
14.49. This bridge has many visitors, hasn’t it?
14.50. This bridge’s dangerous.
14.51. This bridge IS dangerous.
With other main verbs, when there is no auxiliary, all the abovementioned features are
carried by the obligatory auxiliary verbs do/does and did. This occurs with main verbs
in the simple present and simple past tenses if there is no auxiliary available. The
insertion of these auxiliaries receives the name of do-support. See Examples 14.52 to
14.56.
14.52. Does this bridge receive many visitors?
14.53. This bridge does not/doesn’t receive many visitors.
14.54. This bridge DOES receive many visitors.
14.55. This bridge receives many visitors, doesn’t it?
14.56. Seldom does this bridge receive many visitors.
All the abovementioned features differentiate operators in particular and auxiliaries in
general from main non-auxiliary verbs, which in present-day English do not admit any
of the constructions that are possible for auxiliaries. This is shown in the following
ungrammatical constructions.
14.57. *Receives this bridge many visitors?
14.58. *This bridge receives not many visitors.
14.59. *This bridge receives many visitors, receives it not?
14.60. *Seldom receives this bridge many visitors.
The following section deals with selectional restrictions, which is a further point that
differentiates auxiliaries from verbs in general.
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14.5. Selectional Restrictions

The operator, if present, imposes formal selectional restrictions on the following
auxiliary, and this on the following auxiliary in a successive fashion. Let us illustrate
this with the analysis of Example 14.13, repeated below as 14.61. If the operator is a
modal verb, it selects a further auxiliary or a verb in the bare infinitive form. Thus, in
14.61, the modal operator may selects the bare infinitive have. If the modal is followed
by an auxiliary for the progressive aspect, this has to appear in the bare infinitive form
(14.62). The same holds true when after a modal verb comes an auxiliary for the passive
voice (14.63) or a main verb (14.64).
14.62. The bridge may be being built.
14.63. The bridge may be built.
14.64. The bridge may collapse.
Similarly, an auxiliary for the perfective aspect have or has selects an auxiliary or a
main verb in the past participle form (see Examples 14.65 to 14.68).
14.66. The bridge has been being built.
14.67. The bridge may have been built.
14.68. The bridge may have fallen down.
Likewise, an auxiliary for the progressive aspect selects a verbal form in the present
participle, i.e. in the ing-form (14.69 to 14.71).
14.69. The bridge may be being built.
14.70. The bridge is being built.
14.71. The bridge is collapsing.
Finally, an auxiliary for the passive voice also selects a verbal form in the past participle
(14.72 and 14.73).
14.72. The bridge may be built.
14.73. The bridge is built every month.
However, unlike verbs, auxiliaries53 do not impose semantic selectional restrictions on
the arguments that have the functions of Subject, Object or other Complement. Thus, in
14.74 the presence of auxiliaries does not affect the grammaticality of the sentence.
Likewise, in Examples 14.75 to 14.77 certain Direct Objects but not all can be selected
by the verb buy, irrespective of the auxiliaries that precede the verb. The same holds
true for the Subjects of Examples 14.78 to 14.80, in which the presence of an auxiliary
does not affect the (un)grammaticality of the sentence.
14.74. The patient can die/will die/is dying/has died.
53
Formal restrictions of auxiliaries and semantic restrictions of verbs are parallel to the formal restrictions
of determiners and semantic restrictions of adjectives seen in Section 13.5. Hence, it can be generalised
that formal restrictions affect functional categories while semantic restrictions affect content categories.
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14.75. He bought a house/three books/friendship/?unhappiness/*anger/*blame/

*choice.
14.76. He will buy a house/three books/friendship/?unhappiness/*anger/
*blame/*choice.
14.77. He may be buying a house/three books/friendship/?unhappiness/*anger
/*blame/*choice.
14.78. The witnesses/teacher/senator/monkey/?country/*news/*article/*pain
remained calm.
14.79. The witnesses/teacher/senator/monkey/?country/*news/*article/*pain has
remained calm.
14.80. The witnesses/teacher/senator/monkey/?country/*news/*article/*pain
must have remained calm.
14.6. Main or Lexical Verbs
Main or lexical verbs are traditionally said to denote actions or states. They inflect for
the third present singular form in the simple present tense by means of the addition of
the inflectional suffix –s or –es; in the case of regular verbs, for the simple past form
and the past participial54 form by means of the addition of the inflectional suffix –ed; for
the gerundial or present participial form by means of the addition of the inflectional
suffix –ing. Thus the inflectional system of regular verbs consists of up to four different
forms (see Table 14.1) and that of irregular verbs is made up of up to five different
inflectional forms (see Table 14.2). The verb be is even more variable, with up to eight
different variants (see Table 14.3).
3rd Person Simple Past/ Gerund/
Base
Sing Past Part Pres. Part
borrow borrows borrowed borrowing
carry carries carried carrying
listen listens listened listening
study studies studied studying
work works worked working
Table 14.1: Variants of Regular Verbs
3rd
Simple Past Gerund/
Base Person
Past Participle Pres. Part
Sing
eat ate eaten eats eating
fall fell fallen falls falling
lend lent lends lending
let lets letting
run ran run runs running
Table 14.2: Variants of Irregular Verbs
54
For irregular verbs, the past participle form is not necessarily the same as the simple past form and thus
the corresponding suffixes are usually referred to as –en and –ed, respectively, in order to make the
differentiation between them.
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Simple Past Simple Gerund/

Base
Past Participle Pres. Pres. Part
be was/were been am/are/is being
Table 14.3: Variants of Verb Be
From the syntactic point of view, verbs follow modals and other auxiliary verbs and if
no auxiliary is present, which is the case of the simple present and simple past forms,
the tense and Subject-agreement features are attached to the base-form of the verb.
Additionally, verbs constitute the Head of the Predicate of a clause. From this
perspective, verbs are classified into copular, intransitive and transitive. Copular verbs
are necessarily followed by a Subjective Complement, intransitive55 verbs take no
Complement or Object and transitive verbs require a Direct Object. Transitive verbs are
also subdivided into monotransitive and ditransitive. Monotransitive verbs require only
the presence of a Direct Object, while ditransitive verbs require an Indirect Object in
addition to their Direct Object. This is summarised in Figure 14.3 and exemplified in
Figure 14.4 below.
Copular
Verbs Intransitive
Monotransitive
Transitive
Ditransitive
Figure 14.3: Syntactic Classification of Verbs
Copular Intransitive Monotransitive Ditransitive

be arrive buy give
become get up read provide
seem work defeat offer
feel laugh write tell
result smile analyse say
look cry wear advise
taste sing break inform
smell die kill lend
Figure 14.4: Examples of Verb Types
In actual fact, a correct syntactic classification of main or lexical verbs requires a
contextual analysis of the verbs in the clause in which they appear, since many verbs
have more than one meaning. Additionally, some intransitive verbs can be used
transitively and many transitive verbs can be used intransitively. First, let us have a look
at some examples of clauses from Extract 14.1 above, in which the main verbs have
been underlined.
55
In Section 14.8 we also subclassify intransitive verbs into unaccusative and unergative verbs.
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14.81. People solve such problems every day.

14.82. We are in the far territory.
14.83. Elizabeth Costello is a writer
14.84. She has written nine novels, two books of poems, a book on bird life, and
a body of journalism.
14.85. She has two children.
The verbs solve (14.81), write (14.84) and have (14.85) are transitive; and the verb be
(14.82 and 14.83) is copulative. As we said before, transitive verbs require a Direct
Object and copulative verbs require a Subjective Complement. Hence, the absence of
these syntactic elements makes Examples 14.81 to 14.85 ungrammatical, which is
shown in Examples 14.86 to 14.90.
14.86. *People solve every day.
14.87. *We are.
14.88. *Elizabeth Costello is
14.89. *She has written.
14.90. *She has.
Before turning to the transitive use of intransitive verbs and the intransitive use of
transitive verbs, we will mention some semantic features of verbs.
From the semantic point of view, main or lexical verbs are the central elements
of the predication that select (and determine the number of) the arguments in a clause.
According to the number of arguments that they select, verbs are said to be one-place
predicates, two-place predicates, three-place predicates and very rarely four-place
predicates. Besides, weather verbs such as rain and snow are called zero-place
predicates since the Subject that they take represents a syntactic requirement devoid of
lexical semantic content.
In general terms, there is a clear correspondence between the syntactic
classification of verbs and their semantic classification. Thus, intransitive verbs tend to
be one-place predicates which select only one argument that occupies the Subject
position; copular and transitive verbs are usually two-place predicates which select two
arguments, one in Complement or Object position and one in Subject position; and
ditransitive verbs are in general three-place predicates which select two internal56
arguments in Object position and an external argument in Subject position. For
example, in 14.91 the intransitive verb work is a one-place predicate, the copulative
verb taste in 14.92 and the transitive verb defeat in 14.93 are two-place predicates and
the ditransitive verb give in 14.94 is a three-place predicate.
14.91. They are working.
14.92. These oranges taste so good.
14.93. The boxer defeated his opponent.
56
Williams (1981) shows that arguments selected by a verb can be classified into internal and external
arguments. Internal arguments are Complements and Objects since they bear a closer connection with the
verb than the external arguments that unmarkedly occupy a higher position in the sentence.
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14.94. Her aunt gave Susan a present.

However, there is not a direct syntactic-semantic correspondence since, for example
some transitive verbs such as put is a three-place predicate that requires two internal
arguments – a Direct Object and a Locative Complement and one external argument in
Subject position. This is illustrated in Example 14.95, whose counterparts 14.96 and
14.97 are ungrammatical because of the omission of one internal argument.
14.95. The clerk put the letters in the in-tray.
14.96. *The clerk put the letters.
14.97. *The clerk put in the in-tray.
14.7. Transitive and Intransitive Uses of Verbs
Some intransitive verbs are also used transitively. This occurs with some intransitive
verbs that admit a cognate Direct Object or a hyponym of the Direct Object that has
been incorporated57 into the lexical verb. A cognate58 Direct Object is an Object that is
closely related to the base form of the verb and most of the times it requires a
Premodifier to avoid redundancy (14.98 to 14.102). A hyponym is a semantic concept
that denotes a noun or phrase that lies within one of several subtypes of a superordinate
term. For example, in 14.103 ballad and opera can be considered subtypes of songs;
and in 14.104 tango and rock-and-roll are subtypes of dances.
14.98. He sang a song.
14.99. She danced a jolly dance.
14.100. The girl smiled a happy smile.
14.101. The soldiers fought a terrible fight.
14.102. The patient died a miserable death.
14.103. He sang a ballad/an opera.
14.104. She danced a tango/a rock-and-roll.
In addition, many typical transitive verbs are used without an Object under certain
circumstances and are thus considered Object-deleting verbs, though there is no general
consensus in the literature as to what are the verbs that can be regarded as Object-
deleting. Liu (2008) argues that some of the verbs that Biber et al (1999) regard as
Object-deleting do not truly fall within such category because they experiment a shift in
meaning. For example, the verbs eat and read most probably change their focus from
the Direct Object to the activity when they are used intransitively. Besides, the
supposedly deleted Object of the abovementioned verbs has an indefinite interpretation.
Following Liu (2008) we will consider that transitive verbs that are used
intransitively can be classified into three different categories: ergative intransitive verbs,
transitive converted intransitive verbs of activity and Object-deleting verbs.
57
The concept of incorporation was introduced by Baker (1988), who argues that many intransitive verbs
have undergone such grammatical process incorporating their Direct Object to the lexical root of the verb.
For example to fish is to catch fish, to laugh is to give a laugh and to lie is to tell lies.
58
Properties and analysis of cognate Objects can be seen in Jones (1988), Massam (1990) and Real-
Ruigdollars (2008).
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Ergative intransitive verbs are verbs that are inherently transitive verbs that can
be used intransitively when their only argument in Subject position is truly a notional
Object with the semantic role of THEME. That is to say, in their intransitive use, their
AGENT, INITIATOR or CAUSE has been lost while the sentence remains in the active
voice. For example, in 14.105, the child is held responsible for the action of breaking
the glass. In its intransitive counterpart in 14.106, the sentence has been deagentivised,
but the glass is still the entity that undergoes the breaking. The same holds true in the
pairs of examples 14.107 and 14.108, and 14.109 14.110.
14.105. The child has broken the glass.
14.106. The glass has broken.
14.107. The wind closed the door.
14.108. The door closed.
14.109. The government has increased prices.
14.110. Prices have increased.
This interpretation is not possible in the case of transitive converted intransitive verbs of
activity. For example, in the intransitive use 14.112 of its transitive counterpart 14,111,
the nominal Jack is still the AGENT responsible of the predication rather than the entity
that undergoes the eating. The same holds true in the pair 14.113 and 4.114.
14.111. Jack is eating an apple.
14.112. Jack is eating.
14.113. The student is reading a novel.
14.114. The student is reading.
Transitive converted intransitive verbs of activity experiment a shift of focus from their
Object to the activity and in their intransitive use there is no movement or raising of an
argument from an Object to a Subject position.
Finally, Object-deleting59 verbs are verbs used intransitively whose Object has
been deleted because of discoursal or contextual reasons. That is to say, there is no need
to repeat the Direct Object because it has already been introduced in the previous
discourse or because its reference is clear from the context in which the sentence is
uttered. For example, in 14.115 the transitive verb know is used intransitively because
there is no need for B to repeat what A has already said. It is clear from the previous
discourse that what B knows is that Jessica is dating Jack and hence the Direct Object
has been deleted in B’s utterance. Object-deleting verbs warranted by the previous
discourse frequently, though not exclusively, occur in conversation. Such is also the
case of Example 14.116, wherein it is also clear from the previous discourse that what B
will find out is whether daddy has arrived or not.
14.115. A: Jessica is dating Jack.
B: I know.
14.116. A: Has daddy arrived?
B: I’ll find out.
59
Additionally, Liu (2008) provides a clear semantic classification of Object-deleting verbs.
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14.117. A: How are you feeling today?

B: Don’t ask.
14.118. Handle with care. (warning on a box)
14.119. Sorry madam, we don’t deliver. (assistant on the telephone)
14.120. Don’t touch. (notice below an exhibited item)
Object-deleting verbs can also be warranted by contextual non-discoursal elements. For
example, in 14.118 it is clear from the context that what is supposed to be handled with
care is the box to which the warning has been stuck. Likewise, in 14.119 the context of
the telephone conversation provides evidence that what they don’t deliver is the food
offered in the shop. Finally, in 14.120, what is not to be touched is the element
exhibited. In the following section we deal with a subclassification of intransitive verbs.
14.8. Classification of Intransitive Verbs
Intransitive verbs have been defined as those “verbs that denote an activity or event60
that require an only semantic participant or argument” (Mendikoetxea 1999:1578-9). In
his seminal paper, Perlmutter (1978) introduced a subcategorisation of intransitive
verbs, dividing them into unaccusatives and unergatives.
From the point of view of semantics, the distinction between both categories is
realised in terms of argument selection. While unaccusative verbs select an internal
argument, irrespective of the possibility of admitting an additional external argument,
unergatives select only an external argument and no internal argument. Whereas the
semantic role assigned to the internal argument of unaccusative verbs is THEME or
PATIENT, the one assigned to the external argument of unergative verbs is AGENT,
CAUSER, ACTOR or EXPERIENCER.
From a syntactic point of view, the difference between unaccusatives and
unergatives is understood in terms of selectional restrictions or what is equivalent, in
terms of the underlying syntactic function fulfilled by the argument that the verb selects.
Unaccusatives select a Complement that can remain in situ or that can be moved out of
this position into a Subject position of the verb. Unergatives, on the other hand, do not
select a Complement but another argument that is originated in the canonical position of
the Subject. According to Mendikoetxea (1999:1579) unaccusative verbs share
properties of transitive verbs and unergative verbs. Both unaccusatives and unergatives
select only one argument, but while the argument selected by an unergative verb is both
a syntactic and a notional Subject, that selected by an unaccusative is a syntactic Subject
and a notional Object.
Examples 14.121 and 14.122 below seem to have parallel structures. However,
while in the former John does originate in the canonical position of Subject and receives
the semantic role of AGENT, in the latter John is assigned the semantic role of THEME
and originates as Complement of the verb and is subsequently moved to the syntactic
position of Subject61. While the verb lie is unergative, die is unaccusative.
60
Activity and event, together with state are the three aspectual classes of verbs within the oldest
semantic taxonomy or Aktionsart proposed by Vendler (1967) and elaborated on by Verkuyl (1972).
61
Thus, while the most frequent translation of 14.121 into Spanish is John mintió, that of 14.122 is murió
John.
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14.121. John lied.

14.122. John died.
There are a number of tests to differentiate unaccusative from unergative verbs. Among
them, the most widely mentioned in the literature (Alexiadou et al 2004, Levin &
Rappoport Hovav 1994, Mendikoetxea 1999) are the auxiliary selection, the possibility
of appearing in causative and resultative constructions, the (lack of) imposition of
selectional restrictions of animate argument, the (im)possibility of admitting expletives
and the (un)acceptability of attributive participial adjectives.
14.8.1. Auxiliary Selection
Most languages make use of different perfective auxiliaries for unaccusative and
unergative verbs. While unaccusatives generally take perfective be, unergatives resort to
perfective have. The following examples have been adapted from Sorace (2004:256-7).
14.123. Unaccusative Predicates
a. Paolo è venuto/*ha venuto all’appuntamento. (Italian)
Paolo is come/has come to the meeting.
Paolo has come to the meeting.
b. Marie est arrivée/*a arrivé en retard. (French)
Marie is arrived/has arrived late.
Marie has arrived late.
c. De brief is/*heeft aangekomen. (Dutch)
The letter is/has arrived.
The letter has arrived.
d. Der Zug ist/*hat spät angekommen. (German)
The train is/has late arrived.
The train has arrived late.
e. Maria est/*at arrivata a domo. (Sardinian)
Maria is/has arrived at home.
Maria has arrived home.
14.124. Unergative Predicates
a. I delegati hanno parlato/*sono parlati tutto il giorno. (Italian)
The delegates have talked/are talked whole the day.
The delegates have talked the whole day.
b. Les ouvriers ont travaillé/*sont travaillés toute la nuit. (French)
The workmen have worked/are worked whole the night.
The workmen have worked the whole night.
c. De trompettist heft/*is met bolle wangen geblazen. (Dutch)
The trumpeter has/is with all his might blown.
The trumpeter has blown with all his might.
d. Kurt hat/*ist den ganzen Tag gearbeitet. (German)
Kurt has/is the whole day worked.
Kurt has worked the whole day.
However, other languages such as English and Spanish are not sensitive to such test,
since the perfective is formed by means of auxiliary have/haber, indistinctively for
unaccusative and unergative verbs. Not to mention the fact that Río de la Plata Spanish
does not resort to any auxiliary whatsoever. For example:
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a. Jack has/*is arrived/fallen thrice/died this week. (English)
b. Jack ha/*está llegado/caído tres veces/muerto esta semana. (Spanish)
c. Jack llegó/se cayó tres veces/murió esta semana. (Río de la Plata)
a. Jack has/*is fished/sung/eaten. (English)
b. Jack ha/*está pescado/cantado/comido. (Spanish)
c. Jack pescó/cantó/comió. (Río de la Plata)
14.8.2. Possibility of Appearing in Causative Constructions
Unlike unergative predicates, most unaccusatives admit a causative transitive
construction without an underlying change of meaning (Levin & Rappoport Hovav
1994). Within both unaccusative constructions, the only difference is that while in the
intransitive use there appears only one argument, namely the THEME, in its transitive
counterpart, the AGENT that performs the action is mentioned. For example:
Unaccusative Use Causative Use
a. The vase has broken. Peter has broken the vase.
b. The butter has melted. Ann has melted the butter.
c. The door has opened. The wind has opened the door.
d. The child shut up. The mother shut up the child.
e. Her skirt shortened. She shortened her skirt.
This can be explained since in the unaccusative use of the previous examples, the vase,
the butter, the door, the child and her skirt are not canonical Subjects but notional
Complements of their respective verbs that have been moved into Subject position
because of syntactic reasons when the AGENT of the sentence is not present. The fact
that these nominal phrases are notional Objects renders the causative use of the
intransitive verb possible. Conversely, unergatives do not admit thematic Subjects but
require an agentive Subject. Consequently, for a causative construction to be introduced,
they require the presence of a lexical verb.
a. The soldiers have marched. The sergeant made the soldiers march.
b. The bird has flown away. The noise made the bird fly away.
c. The girl smiled. His jokes made her smile.
d. The burglar escaped. The alarm made the burglar escape.
e. The journalist lied. The politician made the journalist lie.
Hence, it may be argued that those intransitive verbs that require a lexical verb to
provide its causative interpretation are most probably unergative. Nevertheless, this
cannot be considered a determinant rule since, on the one hand, not all unaccusative
verbs participate of the causative alternation, i.e. they do not admit a causative
construction.
a. The parcel arrived. *The postman arrived the parcel.
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b. The guest left. *The bad weather left the guest.

c. A rabbit appeared. *The magician appeared a rabbit.
d. The elderly fell. *A step fell the elderly.
e. The flower bloomed. *The sun bloomed the flower.
On the other hand, the causative alternation is not always productive since there exist
many unaccusative verbs whose causative counterpart is lexically manifested through a
transitive verb not rooted in the unaccusative predicate.
a. The patient has died. The heir has killed/*died the patient.
b. The child disappeared. The murderer kidnapped/*disappeared62 the child.
c. The class left. The teacher dismissed/*left the class.
d. The child’s glasses fell. The child dropped/*fell his glasses.
e. Serious problems arose. Her phone-call caused/*arose serious problems.
14.8.3. Possibility of Appearing in Resultative Constructions
Result phrases are said to be predicated of a noun phrase. If this noun phrase surfaces as
Subject, the result can be directly predicated of the Subject in the case of unaccusative
predicates but indirectly predicated through a quasi or fake reflexive Object in the case
of unergative predicates (Levin & Rappaport Hovav 2004). For unergative predicates to
appear in resultative constructions, they need the insertion of a reflexive pronoun as can
be seen in the following examples. Compare examples 14.131 and 14.132 below.
a. The door broke open. The police broke the door open.
b. The kettle boiled dry. The maid boiled the kettle dry.
c. The prisoner broke loose. The guardian broke the prisoner loose.
d. The climbers froze to death. The snow froze the climbers to death.
e. The tickets sold out. The agency sold out the tickets.
a. The competitors ran themselves exhausted.
b. The crowd screamed themselves hoarse.
c. The slaves worked themselves to death.
d. The gambler bet himself to ruin.
e. The tourists walked themselves tired. (from Levin &Rappaport Hovav 2004)
Nevertheless, the resultative construction is not always productive in the case of
unaccusatives and some of them resort to a different lexical item not derived from its
unaccusative counterpart. For example, the unaccusative verbs in the first column of
14.133 are ungrammatical in a resultative construction in their counterparts in the
second column of 14.133 and require a different lexical item to become grammatical.
a. The alarm went off. The burglars set off/*went off the alarm.
b. The handle came off. *His awkwardness came off the handle.
c. The milk went sour. The heat turned/*went the milk sour.
62
The Spanish equivalent of this verb seems to have undergone a grammaticalisation process that allows
the transitive use of desaparecer.
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14.8.4. Selectional Restrictions on Animate Argument

A further test generally mentioned to help distinguish unaccusative predicates from
unergative ones is the fact that the former tend not to impose selectional restrictions on
their argument, whereas the latter do require the presence of an animate argument.
a. My brother/pet/pencil/vase fell.
b. A(n) ghost/actor/mistake/new disease appeared.
c. A passenger/customer/letter/plane arrived.
d. The whale/phone/machine/her love for him died.
e. My strength/his resolve/the patient/the dollar has weakened.
a. The children/comedian/clown/*play/*script/*joke laughed.
b. The tourists/clients/audience/*hotel/*pizza/*lesson complained.
c. The choir/artist/bird/*instrument/*radio/*shower sang.
d. The campers/natives/duck/*rod/*beak/*arrow fished.
e. The patient/swimmer/baby pet/*whisper/*agony/*gas breathed.
14.8.5. Admissibility of Expletive There
A further difference between unaccusative and unergative predicates is that the former
admit the insertion of expletive there as opposed to the latter, which do not. (Levin &
Rappoport Hovav 1995, Radford 1997)
a. There still remain several doubts.
b. There comes a time of peace.
c. There occurred a serious accident.
d. There lies a dead animal on the sand.
e. There stands a village down the hill.
a. *There complained many customers.
b. *There shouted the fans.
c. *There socialised the people in the waiting room.
d. *There solidified the jelly.
e. *There roared the lion.
However, not all unaccusative verbs admit the insertion of expletive there, as can be
seen in the following examples.
14.138. *There broke a vase.
14.139. *There has opened the window.
14.140. *There ceased the eco.
14.141. *There melted the snow.
14.142. *There bleeds my nose.
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14.8.6. Acceptability of Attributive Participial Adjectives

Participles of unaccusative predicates can occur as attributive adjectives modifying the
noun phrase they precede. By contrast, it is impossible for unergatives to appear in such
constructions (Alexiadou et al. 2004).
a. the broken glass
b. the frozen lake
c. the overflowed river
d. a crowded theatre
e. a burned cake
f. the lost child
g. the arranged marriage (T)
a. *the cried child
b. *the moaned client
c. *the apologised lady
d. *the argued brothers
e. *the croaked frog
Again this test is problematic in the sense that it cannot be accepted as a conclusive test
since there exist a number of unaccusative predicates that do not admit attributive
participial adjectives.
14.145. *The plummeted share prices
14.146. *The appeared mistake
14.147. *The risen smoke
14.148. *The blackened sky
14.149. *The shrunk shirt
Now that we have dealt with auxiliaries and main or lexical verbs, we will turn to the
verbs made up of a lexical base and a particle. They are the so called phrasal and
prepositional verbs.
14.9. Phrasal Verbs vs. Prepositional Verbs
Verbs with a particle can be either prepositional or phrasal, or even phrasal
prepositional, depending on the category of the particle(s). If the particle is a
preposition, the set of lexical verb and preposition is considered a prepositional verb. If
the particle is an adverb, the set is called a phrasal verb. Finally, if the set is made up of
a lexical verb, an adverb and a preposition, the whole set is called a phrasal
prepositional verb. The problem to tell them apart is that in the case of particles, the
same lexical item can very frequently work as both a preposition and as an adverb. They
can be disambiguated through their features of transitivity and separability. Separability
constitutes the possibility of inserting the Direct Object between the lexical verb and its
particle.
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Prepositional verbs are always transitive inseparable. Their particle is always

inseparable from the lexical verb and thus their Direct Object always follows the
prepositional particle. Phrasal verbs can be either intransitive or transitive; if transitive,
they are separable, i.e. their particle can be separated from the lexical verb through the
insertion of their Direct Object between the lexical verb and the particle. However,
while their Direct Object must be inserted between the lexical verb and the particle if its
category is a pronoun, it can occupy two different positions if it is a noun phrase, either
between the lexical verb and the particle, or after the adverbial article. Let us clarify all
this with some examples in which Directs Objects are underlined and particles are
italicised.
A) Prepositional verbs:
A1) He looked at the picture. *He looked the picture at.
A2) She counted on her friend. *She counted her friend on.
A3) We sided with our father. *We sided our father with.
A4) She sent for the doctor. *She sent the doctor for.
A5) The child listened to his mother. *The child listened his mother to.
A6) They engaged in a legal battle. *They engaged a legal battle in.
A7) I tripped over my son’s toys. *I tripped my son’s toys over.
A8) She was toying with her pen. *She was toying her pen with.
A9) The child lives for his computer. *The child lives his computer for.
A10) She burst into tears. *She burst tears into.
B) Intransitive Phrasal verbs:

B1) We checked in at dawn.
B2) He sat down next to his friend.
B3) The World Cup kicks off next week.
B4) He got up very early.
B5) He calmed down soon.
B6) A car pulled up outside.
B7) We’re hanging on at the office.
B8) Look out! There’s a car coming!
B9) She’ll come back later.
B10) The milk boiled over.
C) Transitive Phrasal verbs:

C1) He picked up the fruit. He picked it up.
C2) She ate up her food. She ate it up.
C3) He made up a story. He made it up.
C4) He can’t work out his wife. He can’t work her out.
C5) She jotted down my address. She jotted it down.
C6) He turned over the page. He turned it over.
C7) She turned down the offer. She turned it down.
C8) I called back my friend. I called him back.
C9) He did his laces up. He did them up.
C10) He turned off the TV. He turned it off.
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D) Phrasal Prepositional Verbs:

D1) He came up with an idea.
D2) We caught up with our homework.
D3) I’m looking forward to your answer.
D4) He got away with the crime.
D5) He just stands up for his rights.
D6) We came up against a serious problem.
D7) She looked down on the poor.
D8) He looked up to his father.
D9) The minister has come in for a lot of criticism.
D10) She was brimming over with joy.
It can be seen that in the A-examples, Direct Objects must be placed necessarily after
the preposition and that their insertion between the lexical verb and the particle leads to
ungrammatical sentences. In the B-examples, there are no Direct Objects present
because the phrasal verbs are intransitive. In the second column of the C-examples the
only possible position for the Direct Object is between the lexical verb and the adverbial
particle since the category of the Direct Object is in this case a pronoun. In the first
column of the C-examples, the Direct Object can be inserted between the verb and the
particle or it can follow the particle, since the category of the Direct Object is a noun
phrase. Finally, in the D-examples the first particle is an adverb and the second particle
is a preposition and therefore the Direct Object must follow the second particle.
Let us see the syntactic analysis of some of these examples.
A) Prepositional Verbs
S (pr p) P (vp)
We listened to the music
H (m v) Particle (p) PM (d) H(n)
H (pr)
H (prep v) DO (n p)
Figure 14.5: Syntax of a Prepositional Verb
B) Intransitive Phrasal Verbs:
S (pr p) P (vp)
We checked in at dawn
H (m v) Particle (adv) H(p) O/P (n)
H (pr)
H (i phr v) AAT (pp)
Figure 14.6: Syntax of an Intransitive Phrasal Verb
C) Transitive Phrasal Verbs
S (pr p) P (vp)
She turned down the offer
H (m v) Particle (adv) PM (d) H(n)
H (pr)
H (t phr v) DO (np)
Figure 14.7: Syntax of a Transitive Phrasal Verb
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D) Phrasal Prepositional Verbs

S (pr p) P (vp)
He stands up for his rights
Part PM
H (m v) (adv) Part (p) (d) H(n)
H (pr)
H (t phr p v) DO (np)
Figure 14.8: Syntax of a Phrasal Prepositional Verb
14.10. Summary
In this chapter we have taken a closer look at probably the most important category of
the clause, the verb. The formal counterpart of the lexical verb is the auxiliary, which
contributes to the formal features of modality, aspect and voice. The first of the
auxiliaries is called the operator and has special features. For example, it is the one that
undergoes inversion of order in interrogative clauses, in question tags and after negative
triggers in initial position. Besides, the negative adverb63 not is unanimously placed
after the operator in all English clauses. Finally, each auxiliary imposes formal
restrictions on the form of the following auxiliary or main verb. If there is no auxiliary
at all, in the simple present and simple past tenses, the morphological features that
signal tense are attached as an inflection to the main or lexical verbs. Moreover, since in
this case the lexical verb cannot undergo inversion, it resorts to do-support to form
interrogative and negative clauses.
As already introduced in Chapter 5, main or lexical verbs can be classified into
copular or copulative, intransitive and transitive. Transitive verbs are also subdivided
into monotransitive and ditransitive. Intransitive verbs are subclassified into
unaccusatives and unergatives. Because they are difficult to tell apart, we have
summarised some of the most common tests to differentiate between unaccusatives and
unergatives. Additionally, some verbs are made up of a lexical item and a particle,
which can be considered either a preposition or an adverb. These are the so called
prepositional and phrasal verbs. The former are always transitive. The latter can be
either transitive or intransitive. If phrasal verbs contain two particles, the first is an
adverb and the second is a preposition. These verbs are considered phrasal prepositional
and are always transitive.
Features of auxiliaries and their importance in the treatment of tense, aspect and
modality can be consulted in Comrie (1976), Haegeman (1980), Dahl (1985), Bybee &
Pagliuca (1987), Bybee & Dahl (1989), Bybee, Pagliuca & Perkins (1991) and Bybee,
Perkins & Pagliuca (1994). Vendler (1957) provides a starting point for the
classification of English verbs in terms of their aspectual properties. A feature analysis
verbs and of verbal complements is carried out by Ney (1979). A detailed account of
aspect can be read in Michaelis (1998). A more comprehensive and still approachable
book on the aspectual classes of verbs is Rothstein (2004). A very good semantic
classification of English verbs is Levin (1993). A semantic analysis of verbs in terms of
63
The lexical item not is considered a special one-word category called negation in more modern
approaches (Carnie 2013:54).
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features is covered by Van Valin (2006). A fuller account of the causative alternation in
unaccusatives is chapter 4 of Schäfer (2008). An alternative analysis of phrasal verbs
and prepositional verbs is given in chapter 9 of Aarts (1997).
14.12. Exercises
Exercise 14.1: The following is an extract from a book by Clarke (2004). There are 24
instances of finite verbs in the extract. Find all finite verbs and all auxiliaries in the
extract. Classify all the auxiliary verbs and say which of them are operators.
RAN THROUGH THE WEST WING to the Vice President’s office, oblivious to the
I stares and concern that brought. I had been at a conference in the Ronald Reagan
Building three blocks away when Lisa Gordon-Hagerty called to say an aircraft had
struck the World Trade Center: “Until we know what this is, Dick, we should assume
the worst.” Lisa had been in the center of crisis coordination many times in exercises
and all too often in the real world.
“Right. Activate the CSG on secure video. I’ll be there in less than five,” I told
her as I ran to my car. The CSG was the Counterterrorism Security Group, the leaders
of each of the federal government’s counterterrorism and security organizations. I had
chaired it since 1992. It was on a five-minute tether during business hours, twenty
minutes at all other times. I looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was 9:03 a.m.,
September 11, 2001.
As I drove to the White House gate Lisa called again: “The other tower was hit.”
“Well, now we know who we’re dealing with. I want the highest-level person in
Washington from each agency on-screen now, especially FAA,” the Federal Aviation
Administration.
Clarke, R. A. (2004:1). Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror. New York: Free Press.
Exercise 14.2: The following is an extract from a novel by Atwood (2000). Underline
and classify all auxiliaries and circle and classify all verbs in the extract.
Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge. The bridge
was being repaired: she went right through the Danger sign. The car fell a hundred feet
into the ravine, smashing through the treetops feathery with new leaves, then burst into
flames and rolled down into the shallow creek at the bottom. Chunks of the bridge fell
on top of it. Nothing much was left of her but charred smithereens.
I was informed of the accident by a policeman: the car was mine, and they’d
traced the licence. His tone was respectful: no doubt he recognized Richard’s name. He
said the tires may have caught on a streetcar track or the brakes may have failed, but he
also felt bound to inform me that two witnesses—a retired lawyer and a bank teller,
dependable people—had claimed to have seen the whole thing. They’d said Laura had
turned the car sharply and deliberately, and had plunged off the bridge with no more
fuss than stepping off a curb. They’d noticed her hands on the wheel because of the
white gloves she’d been wearing.
It wasn’t the brakes, I thought. She had her reasons. Not that they were ever the
same as anybody else’s reasons. She was completely ruthless in that way.
ATWOOD, Margaret (2000: 3). The Blind Assassin. New York: Random House.
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Exercise 14.3: The following sentences were produced by a native speaker of English
in response to visual stimuli made up of pictures/cartoons and are part of a corpus
gathered and analysed in Durán (2013). Classify them according to the following
conventions:
Transitive T Passive Pass
Unaccusative Unacc Existential Exist
Unergative Unerg Stative Stat
Ty from Utah:
1) A bomb went off and a tree hit a car.
2) A bird is died from uh, distraction.
3) The phone has rung.
4) [laughs] A snowman is smoking cigars [laughs].
5) There was a car accident on the freeway.
6) Uh, someone’s lost all their files on a computer.
7) Uh, it’s the end uh [laughs] the end of a classic movie.
8) Strong is the link in the chain.
9) A baby’s sleeping.
10) The Russians have their boat frozen.
11) Someone dropped a plate.
12) A car went off.
13) Oh, the bridge collapsed.
14) It has flooded, oh my god!
15) Flowers are dying from the sunlight.
16) [laughs] It’s a blue gun going into a tyre [laughs].
17) A car is flipped on a highway.
18) A car is on fire after a riot.
19) Uh, he’s fishing.
20) The laundry shrank.
21) This guy fell asleep after a long party night of party.
22) Uh, a rock hit a windshield.
23) This guy’s hat fell off in the wind.
24) Someone’s drowning in a pool.
25) Flowers are bursting in kind of springtime.
26) Uh, the phone’s ringing.
27) This guy got hurt.
28) Two bicycles hit each other.
29) The Pope is praying.
30) A soldier died in the war uh World War Two.
31) Uh, Santa fell down the chimney.
32) Kids are cheating in a test.
33) This guy, uh, the policeman slipped on the wet concrete.
34) Ice is melting.
35) Uh, nurse passed out on the procedure of blood.
36) The flowers (2.2421)64 are blooming.
64
Numbers in brackets indicate a pause in seconds.
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37) Uh it’s the wind that’s coming into a house.

38) Oh, the igloo melted.
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Chapter 15: Adverbs
I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.
(King 2000:125)
15.1. Outline
This chapter is about the lexical category of adverbs. Adverbs have mainly the syntactic
function of Adjuncts and Sentential Adjuncts, but they can also modify mainly verbs,
adjectives and other adverbs and even virtually every category. There are different
possible classifications of adverbs, among them from the semantic point of view, but
also according to their scope and to their position. We will also briefly mention some
points on the order of adverbs.
15.2. Adverbs
Adverbs have traditionally been considered the wastebasket of grammatical categories
into which linguists place all lexical items difficult to categorise. Yet adverbs constitute
a further lexical category that is different from all other lexical categories in that
adverbs have no functional category as counterpart. Adverbs are used with the
prototypical syntactic function of Adjunct but also as Modifiers of virtually every part
of speech. Etymologically, adverb was adopted around late XIV century from Late
Latin adverbium “adverb,” which in literal translation means “that which is added to a
verb,” from the particle ad- “to” + verbum “verb, word.” By contrast, adjective also
adopted from Late Latin adjectivum means “that is added to the noun” (Klein 1966).
Compare the following pairs of examples.
15.1. He is formal. He speaks formally.
15.2. She is obsessive. She works obsessively.
From the morphological point of view, only adverbs of manner are productive in that
they admit the suffix ly (15.3), and also adverbs of direction through the suffix wards
(15.4). Adverbs are invariable, i.e. they have no inflections (15.5).
15.3. quickly, slowly, frankly, interestingly, financially, conscientiously
15.4. inwards, outwards, afterwards, backwards, forwards, northwards
15.5. He/She works/They work/worked constantly.
.
Adverbs
15.3. Syntactic Functions of Adverbs

The most common function of adverbs is that of Adjunct, which contributes to the
classification of adverbs into adverbs of place (15.6), time (15.7), manner (15.8), and
also of degree (15.9), negation (15.10) and others. Besides, adverbs are used with the
function of Sentence Adjuncts (15.11).
15.6. She found her keys there.
15.7. We have had many customers today.
15.8. They speak English fluently.
15.9. We were absolutely starving.
15.10. We barely understand each other.
15.11. Unfortunately, the crime rate has increased in the last decade.
Additionally, adverbs are used as Premodifiers of adjectives (15.12), adverbs (15.13),
determiners (15.14), pronouns (15.15), prepositional phrases (15.16), clauses (15.17),
and probably noun65 phrases (15.18). In addition to Adjuncts and Premodifiers, adverbs
are also used as Object to the Preposition (15.19) and Subjective Complement (15.20).
15.12. She is extremely intelligent.
15.13. The police acted very responsibly.
15.14. Almost sixty houses were flooded.
15.15. Only two were killed.
15.16. We went straight to the museum.
15.17. He fell asleep just after the plane took off.
15.18. This is the very guitar Keith Richards played.
15.19. We knew all the answers by then.
15.20. His birthday was yesterday.
15.4. Classification of Adverbs
Adverbs can be classified from the point of view of their meaning, their scope and their
position.
15.4.1. Semantic Classification of Adverbs
A) Time: The triggering question is when.
15.21. They soon understood the source of her reactions.
15.22. We will see more examples tomorrow.
15.23. The baby was born yesterday.
15.24. We crossed the border and there was no signal afterwards.
65
Alternatively, the lexical item very in this example can be considered an adjective rather than an
adverb.
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Adverbs
B) Frequency: They can be considered a subtype of adverbs of Time. The

triggering question is how often.
15.25. We always take this exit.
15.26. The Smith usually go to the beach on holiday.
15.27. Seldom do we get up early on Sundays.
C) Place: The triggering question is where.
15.28. Her aunt lives there.
15.29. We went for a conference abroad.
15.30. The kitchen is downstairs.
D) Manner: They are used exclusively with dynamic verbs. The triggering
question is how.
15.31. She walks delicately.
15.32. My granddad drives carefully.
E) Degree: They can amplify, intensify or reduce the effect of the proposition.
15.33. Honestly, I don’t like it.
15.34. They were absolutely right.
15.35. I found them rather dull.
F) Modal: They affect the assertiveness of the proposition.
15.36. The criminal has certainly been arrested.
15.37. They have not made mistakes.
15.38. He will probably win the race.
G) Cause/Reason
15.39. I think, therefore I exist.
15.40. He was sent into exile, thereby leaving those who loved the most.
15.41. He lost all his money in Las Vegas and consequently had to beg for
weeks.
15.4.2. Classification of Adverbs According to Scope
A) Vp-Adverbs: They affect the lower content of the proposition, that is to say
they affect the verb and its internal complement(s). Frequently, they can be
paraphrased with a prepositional phrase ‘in an x manner.’ Besides they
cannot be inserted before the auxiliary.
15.42. They have kissed each other passionately. (= in a passionate way)
*They passionately have kissed each other.
15.43. She sings ballads wonderfully. (= in a wonderful way)
*She wonderfully sings ballads.
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Adverbs
15.44. She has decorated the house carefully. (in a careful way)
*She carefully has decorated the house.
15.45. We will kindly give you an answer. (in a kind way)
*We kindly will give you an answer.
In Example 15.42, the adverb passionately has scope over the expression [kiss each
other]; in 15.43, the adverb wonderfully has scope over the verbal phrase [sing ballads];
in 15.44, carefully has scope over [decorate the house]; and in 15.45 kindly has scope
over [give you an answer].
B) Sentential adverbs: They have scope over the whole sentence and can
therefore be placed before the auxiliary without the need for a contrastive
stress or a parenthetical pause. They tend to admit the periphrastic
paraphrase through a that-nominal clause ‘it is x that …’
15.46. He certainly must have a point there. (= It is certain that he must have a
point there)
15.47. They obviously have had their reasons. (= It is obvious that they have had
their reasons)
15.48. Babies apparently can recognise their mother at birth. (= It is apparent
that babies can recognise their mother at birth)
C) Subject-oriented adverbs:
15.49. Intelligently, he gave no answer. (= He was intelligent in giving no
answer)
15.50. Stupidly, he left the door unlocked. (= He was stupid in leaving the door
unlocked)
15.4.3. Classification of Adverbs According to Position
Because of their additional quality, adverbs tend to be comparatively freer in their
position so that all positions of the adverb from 15.51 to 15.55 are possible. The only
ungrammatical position for many adverbs is between the verb and its Object (15.56).
15.51. The students must have been listening to the teacher attentively.
15.52. The students must have been attentively listening to the teacher.
15.53. The students must have attentively been listening to the teacher.
15.54. The students must attentively have been listening to the teacher.
15.55. The students attentively must have been listening to the teacher.
15.56. *The students must have been listening to attentively the teacher.
However, some adverbs must obligatorily be placed in initial position with respect to
the clause that they introduce. This is the case of wh-focused adverbs (15.57 and 15.58)
and relative adverbs (15.59 and 15.60).
15.57. I know where she lives.
15.58. We asked her when the baby was due.
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Adverbs
15.59. This is the city where I was born.

15.60. That is the reason why he misbehaved.
Moreover, some adverbs necessarily follow the verb which they modify. For example,
hard, much and well take mainly a postverbal position.
15.61. Jack is working hard.
15.62. Lately, she doesn’t laugh much.
15.63. She sings well.
When an adverb modifies an adjective or any other construction they generally precede
the expression they modify. Exceptions are the adverbs enough and ago.
15.64. Prices are increasingly higher.
15.65. He’s too stubborn to understand.
15.66. He is curious enough to become a scientist.
15.67. They disappeared three days ago.
15.5. Order of Adverbs and Adverbial Expressions
When two or more adverbials of the same class, for example of place or of time, are
placed together, the one with a more specific reference normally precedes the one with a
more general reference. Otherwise, a pause is signalled in writing through a comma, and
in oral language the adverbial placed in end-position is interpreted as an afterthought.
15.68. He lives here in this neighbourhood.
15.69. The parcel is on the desk in the studio in the second floor.
15.70. The parcel is in the studio in the second floor, on the desk.
15.71. We boarded the plane at half past three on Monday.
15.72. We boarded the plane on Monday, at half past three.
15.73. The storm started at dawn last Sunday.
15.74. The storm started last Sunday, at dawn.
If adverbials of different types are placed together, normally the unmarked order is
given as adverbials of manner + of place + of direction + of frequency + of time.
15.75. We have flown in a hurry to Cardiff frequently this year.
15.76. You can come back home whenever you want in the summer.
15.6. Summary
In this chapter we have seen some formal features and properties of adverbs. We have
also dealt with the syntactic functions of adverbs and have summarised their
classification from the points of view of their meaning, their scope and their position.
Finally, we have commented on the order of adverbs or adverbial expressions.
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Adverbs

Adverbs are covered in a straightforward way in chapter 14 of Roberts (1954). Knowles
(1974) focuses on adverbs of degree. Lindquist (2007) studies the rise of a new English
adverb. A deeper treatment of adverbs is given in Thomason and Stalnaker (1973).
Bartsch (1976), Alexiadou (1997), Cinque (1999) and Tenny (2000).
15.8. Exercises
Exercise 15.1: Tell the category of the underlined words in the following sentences.
Justify your answers.
1) Gerard speaks fluent English.
2) Gerard speaks English fluently.
3) Sean drives a fast car.
4) Sean drives fast.
5) Helen needs to study hard.
6) It is hard for Helen to study syntax.
7) The groom was late for the wedding.
8) It was unforgivable that the groom should arrive so late.
9) The theatre is straight in front of you.
10) The columns were not arranged in a straight line.
Exercise 15.2: The following extract has been taken from a technical book by Gaylord
& Gaylord (1968). Identify all the adverbs in the extract and justify your answer.
Because of relatively large fit-up tolerances and greater operational flexibility,
the filled weld is probably the most commonly used tap to connect lapping and
intersecting parts. Ideally, its cross section forms a 45° isosceles triangle with the
connected parts. There is some difficulty in obtaining a perfectly flat weld face, so that
convexity and concavity normally results. Although the possibility of cracking due to
shrinkage is reduced in a convex fillet weld, it results in excess weld metal which does
not enhance the strength. On the other hand, a concave fillet weld is more likely to crack
as a result of shrinkage, particularly when used to join hard-carbon steels.
Gaylord, E. H. & Gaylord, C. N. (Eds.) (1968:6-37). Structural Engineering
Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Chapter 16: Prepositions and Conjunctions
It was also possible, as in present-day English to modify the meanings of almost any word by
prepositional affixes such as ante-, post-, up-, down-, etc.
(Orwell 1949:315)
16.1. Outline
In this chapter, we summarise some features of the lexical category of preposition and
of the functional category of conjunction. Prepositions introduce mainly nominal
expressions and are always transitive, so they require a complement with the syntactic
function of Object to the Preposition. We will see the categories of the Object to the
Preposition and the functions of the prepositional phrases. Prepositions can be classified
at least from the point of view of their structure and from the semantic point of view.
Conjunctions link or introduce clauses. They are classified into coordinating
conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
16.2. Prepositions
Prepositions are the last category of lexical or contentive words. However, unlike all
other lexical categories, prepositions are traditionally considered to constitute a closed-
class system, even though English prepositions outnumber Spanish prepositions by far.
Together with the functional category of conjunctions, prepositions constitute linkers or
linking words. Unlike adverbs, prepositions are always transitive, i.e. they always take a
complement with the function of Object to the Preposition, which is mainly a nominal
expression but also an adverbial expression. Therefore, prepositions can be said to link a
word or previous expression to a nominal or adverbial expression. If the Object to the
Preposition does not directly follow it, because it has been displaced from its original
place to some other part of the clause, the preposition is said to be stranded (Examples
16.1 to 16.3).
16.1. I know what she is interested in.
16.2. What she is looking for is her Grammar book.
16.3. The language this article has been translated into belongs to the Hopi
group.
As most lexical categories, prepositions – or prepositional phrases – can be
premodified. Their Premodifiers are adverbs with an intensifying or downgrading effect.
16.4. They went straight to the police station.
16.5. Your keys are right on the table.
.
Prepositions and Conjunctions
16.6. The solution to this problem is just round the corner.

16.3. Categories of the Object to the Preposition
Expressions that can fulfil the function of Object to the Preposition are typically
nominal expressions such as nouns (Example 16.7), pronouns in the objective case
(16.8), noun phrases (16.9), finite nominal clauses (16.10, 16.11 and 16.12) and
gerundial clauses (16.13). However, that-nominal clauses (16.14) and infinitival clauses
are ungrammatical as Object to the Preposition (16.15).
16.7. The refugees came from Asia.
16.8. Alice is interested in him.
16.9. Caravaggio’s art had influence on the emerging Baroque style.
16.10. Education is the best investment in that it allows for social progress.
16.11. His salary will depend on whether he works efficiently.
16.12. We were unaware of what would lead to the crisis.
16.13. She is good at leading her team to victory.
16.14. *She is good at that she leads her team to victory.
16.15. *She is good at to lead her team to victory.
Additionally, the Object to the Preposition can be an adverbial category such as an
adverb (16.16) or a prepositional phrase (16.17).
16.16. Can we smoke in here?
16.17. The bandits appeared from round the corner.
16.4. Functions of the Prepositional Phrase
The most common syntactic functions of prepositional phrases are Postmodifier of a
noun which is the Head of the Subject (16.18) or of a nominal expression in any
position (16.19) and Adverbial Adjunct within the Predicate (16.20 to 16.22).
16.18. The invitations on the front desk must be sent tomorrow.
16.19. They found the poems by Walt Whitman ahead of his time.
16.20. The guests are arriving on Wednesday afternoon.
16.21. He used to spend his holidays in the south of the country.
16.22. He replied in such a rude way for no reason.
Additionally, prepositional phrases can have the function of Indirect Object (16.23),
especially when it follows the Direct Object; Subjective Complement (16.24 and 16.25),
Objective Complement (16.26) and Adjectival complement (16.27).
16.23. Alfred donated all his money to charity.
16.24. The lift was out of order.
16.25. I couldn’t get in touch with the architect.
16.26. Helen caught her students off guard.
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16.27. Jack is fond of documentaries.

Moreover, prepositional phrases can realise Sentence Adjuncts (16.28 and 16.29).
16.28. From the social point of view, education is the best investment.
16.29. In the second place, carbohydrates are necessary for our health.
Finally, prepositional phrases can, in some cases, have the traditionally nominal
functions of Subject (16.30) and Direct Object (16.31).
16.30. By tube is the quickest way to travel in the city.
16.31. He bought like ten shirts.
16.5. Classifications of Prepositions
Prepositions can be classified from different perspectives. From the point of view of
their structure, prepositions can be classified into simple, complex, and derived. If they
are complex, they can be divided into combined and phrasal.
Simple prepositions are the most frequent in English and consist of only one
lexical item. They are mainly monosyllabic prepositions, but also disyllabic
prepositions or even longer. Monosyllable prepositions are unstressed unless they are
emphatic. Most disyllabic or longer prepositions are made up of more than one
morpheme, at least one of which is prepositional in origin. Complex prepositions
consist of more than one lexical item. If they contain a nominal expression within, they
are considered phrasal prepositions. Finally, derived prepositions resemble or derive
from verbal forms.
as, at, but, by, down, for, from, in, like, near, of,
Monosyllable off, on, out, past, per, round, since, than, through,
till, to, up, via, with
about, above, across, after, against, along,
Simple amid(st), among(st), around, aside, before, behind,
Disyllable
below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond,
(or more than
despite, during, except, inside, into, onto, opposite,
2 syllables)
outside, over, throughout, toward(s), under,
underneath, unlike, until, upon, within, without
according to, ahead of, apart from, as for, as to,
away from, because of, close to, due to, except for,
Combined
instead of, next to, out of, owing to, regardless of,
together with, up to
at the back of, at the expense of, by means of, by
way of, for the sake of, in accordance with, in
Complex
addition to, in aid of, in contact with, in exchange
for, in front of, in lieu of, in need of, in relation to,
Phrasal
in return for, in spite of, in terms of, in (the) place
of, on account of, on behalf of, on top of, with a
view to, with reference to, with regard to, with
respect to
concerning, considering, excluding, following,
Derived
given, granted, including, regarding
Figure 16.1: Structural Classification of Prepositions
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16.6. Semantic Classification of Prepositions

From the semantic point of view, prepositions have a wide variety of meanings and
many of them are used to introduce complements with more than one meaning. Among
the most common relations established by prepositions are Place, Time, Manner, Cause,
Reason, Purpose, Concession and others. The wide variety of meanings cannot be
explored here but some contrastive meanings are shown below.
For the meanings of Place, for example, at indicates a punctual relation, on is
used for a surface relation and in for a relation of volume (see Figure 16.2 and
Examples 16.32 to 16.34). Compare also Examples 16.35 and 16.36.
at on in
Figure 16.2: Representation of Prepositions of Place

16.32. The number is shown at the bottom of the page.
16.33. The picture is on the wall.
16.34. Your keys are in the drawer.
16.35. We arrived at school/at the office/at the airport soon.
16.36. We arrived in London/in England yesterday.
Similar contrasts are indicated for relations of Time in the following examples.
16.37. We left at dawn/at five o’clock/at night.
16.38. We stayed there in the morning/in July/in 2012.
16.39. We left on Monday/on Christmas/on Monday morning.
16.7. Conjunctions
Conjunctions are function words that join words (16.40, 16.41 and 16.42), phrases
(16.43) or clauses (16.44) or introduce clauses (16.45). Even though the structural
elements linked by coordinating conjunctions are at the same level, they are not always
reversible in order (16.42).
16.40. Martin and John drive lorries.
16.41. My son studies and works.
16.42. The guests checked in and unpacked.
16.43. This company and its competitors have raised the salaries.
16.44. We visited the Coliseum and they bought some souvenirs.
16.45. We visited the Coliseum when we travelled to Rome.
16.8. Classification of Conjunctions
As seen in Section 2.4, conjunctions are divided into coordinating conjunctions and
subordinating conjunctions, which introduce main clauses, or subordinating and
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reporting clauses, respectively. Coordinating conjunctions are conjunctions that join

structural elements of the same hierarchical level, and are subclassified into cumulative,
alternative, adversative and illative (see Figure 16.2).
Type Meaning Prototype Others
as well as, both … and,
Cumulative Addition And neither … nor, not only
… but also, too
either … or, otherwise,
Alternative Choice Or
or else
however, nevertheless,
nonetheless, still, yet,
Adversative Contrast But
whereas, while, on the
other hand
then, therefore, thus,
Illative Inference So
consequently, hence, for
Table 16.1: Coordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions introduce nominal clauses (Chapter 7), relative clauses
(Chapter 8) and adverbial clauses (Chapter 6). Nominal clauses introduced by
subordinating conjunctions are those grouped under Class I: that-nominal clauses, and
if/whether nominal clauses, which are introduced by the conjunctions 66 that and whether
or if, respectively (see Section 7.3). Defining relative clauses are introduced by the
conjunction that when the antecedent of the relative clause is a nominal expression in
the matrix clause that corefers with a gap in the relative clause whose function is an
Object. Otherwise the connector that introduces a defining relative clause is a pronoun,
a determiner or an adverb.
Adverbial clauses are the only type of subordinating clause that is always
introduced by a subordinating conjunction. These subordinating conjunctions are
classified according to the function of the clause that they introduce into conjunctions of
Place (where, wherever), Time (when, after, before, since, whenever, once, until),
Manner (as), Cause or Reason (because, since, for, in order that), Result (so that),
Purpose (for), Comparison (more … than), Condition (if, unless, provided, providing)
and Concession (although, even though, though), and others.
16.9. Prepositions vs. Conjunctions
Within the multicategory words, there are many that at least share the category of
preposition and conjunction. For example, after, behind, since, until and others can be
both prepositions and conjunctions. In the following examples, the lexical item in the
first example of each pair is a preposition, while the second is a conjunction. What tells
them apart is the category of their Complement67. Prepositions are followed by nominal
expressions, whereas conjunctions are followed by clauses.
16.46. The show started after his arrival.
66
In Generative Grammar, however, that and if are considered to be a different category, namely finite
complementisers, which introduce declarative and interrogative clauses, respectively. By contrast,
whether is regarded as an adverb that occupies a different position in the derivation.
67
Cf., however, Aarts & McMahon (2002), who claim that there is no difference between the
categorisation of these lexical items in terms of their Complements.
José DURÁN
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16.47. The show started after he arrived.

16.48. The trains are running behind schedule.
16.49. The trains are running behind what is scheduled.
16.50. The couple have slept very little since their baby’s birth.
16.51. The couple have slept very little since their baby was born.
16.52. Sales were low until the beginning of the decade.
16.53. Sales were low until the decade began.
Additionally, some of them can also be adverbs, if they take no complements at all.
Compare the previous pairs with the following examples.
16.54. The show started soon after.
16.55. The couple have slept very little since.
16.10. Summary
In this chapter we dealt with prepositions and conjunctions. These parts of speech,
grouped as linkers, differ in that while prepositions constitute a lexical category,
conjunctions are a functional category. Besides, prepositions link a certain element
mainly to a nominal expression. By contrast, conjunctions link clauses – but also words
and phrases. Conjunctions are subdivided into coordinating and subordinating
conjunctions.
A very simple traditional approach to conjunctions and prepositions is summarised in
Richardson (1898). Meanings of prepositions are given in chapter 9 of Thomson and
Martinet (1986). Prepositions from a diachronic perspective are characterised by
Gordon & Patterson (1979). A different approach to conjunction can be consulted in
Halliday & Hasan (1976). Interesting studies on the compound prepositions according
to and out of are offered by Bolinger (1990) and Cappelle (2001), respectively. Studies
of the preposition through and on are Lee (1998) and Navarro I Ferrando (1999). Two
phenomena that affect English prepositions are analysed from a different perspective by
Hoffmann (2005).
16.12. Exercises
Exercise 16.1: In the following sentences, decide whether the underlined word is a
preposition or a conjunction. Justify your answers.
1) She was waiting for the delivery boy.
2) The soldier was rewarded for his bravery.
3) After she graduated, she travelled to India.
4) After the graduation, she travelled to India.
5) I couldn’t start work before finishing my breakfast.
6) I couldn’t start work before my breakfast.
7) The plane was delayed because of the terrible weather.
José DURÁN
167
8) The plane was delayed because the weather was terrible.

9) We remained outside until they opened the doors.
10) We remained outside until eight o’clock.
11) Despite the heavy rain, the match was not cancelled.
12) Although it was raining heavily, the match was not cancelled.
Exercise 16.2: Find all instances of prepositions –sixteen in all – in the following poem
by Borges.
JUNE 1968
On a golden evening,
or in a quietness whose symbol
might be a golden evening,
a man sets up his books
on the waiting shelves,
feeling the parchment and leather and cloth
and the satisfaction given by
the anticipation of a habit
and the establishment of order.
Stevenson and that other Scotsman, Andrew Lang,
will here pick up again, in a magic way,
the leisurely conversation broken off
by oceans and by death,
and Alfonso Reyes surely will be pleased
to share space close to Virgil.
(To arrange a Library is to practice,
in a quiet and modest way,
the art of criticism.)
The man, who is blind,
knows that he can no longer read
the handsome volumes he handles
and that they will not help him write
the book which in the end might justify him,
but on this evening that perhaps is golden
he smiles at his strange fate
and feels that special happiness
which comes from things we know and love.
Jorge Luis Borges
José DURÁN
168
Chapter 17: Perspectives on Grammar
It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.
(Eliot, G. 1874)
17.1. Language as Science

In the previous sixteen chapters I have given what I consider to be an introduction to the
introduction of the introduction to English Grammar. We have seen that all “linguistic
objects – words, phrases, sentences – are made up of elements combined in a
hierarchical fashion” (Hornstein 2009:53). We have seen some possible combinations of
clauses, phrases – or groups – and words. We have introduced some technical terms that
are the subject matter of the science of English Grammar such as Subject, Direct Object,
determiner, unaccusative, tense, derivation, agreement, selection.
As Chomsky (1995) puts it, “science is tentative, exploratory, questioning,
largely learned by doing [, science ...] is to a large extent a common enterprise in which
students are expected to come up with new ideas, to question and often undermine what
they read and are taught [….]” Still, for students to be able to come up with new ideas,
to be able to question and challenge what they read and are taught, they need to have
been equipped with the tools that allow them to develop a passion for doing science.
But science does not originate as a big bang whereby all the scientific
knowledge is generated in a spontaneous fashion. Science builds up and progresses
from the discoveries and achievements of the previous decades and centuries through
the efforts and dedication of former scientists.
For example, in chemistry the discoveries by Dalton, who at the turn of the XIX
century questioned the paradigm of the Greeks, were necessary for Rutherford to come
up with the idea of an atomic model, later challenged and improved by Bohr, which
ultimately led to the current theory of atomic structure. Yet, every student of the fission
chain reaction in every university of the world must study Dalton’s law of partial
pressures first.
In physics, the ideas of the Greeks were challenged by Galilean modern
mechanics in the XVII century, which in turn was revolutionised with the publication of
Principia by Newton, who developed the theory of universal gravitation, which
eventually led to Einstein’s theory of relativity. However, no student of physics can
understand Einstein’s theory without prior knowledge of elementary mechanics.
Linguistics as a science has also a long tradition of evolution from the study of
the grammar of Sanskrit by Panini in the IV century BC to Saussurean structuralism and
.
Perspectives on Grammar
the advances by Sapir and Bloomfield in America. Their traditional conceptualisation of

language and grammar has later been challenged in mid-twentieth century by
generativist Noam Chomsky, on the one hand, and systemic functionalist Michael
Halliday, on the other hand. These two revolutionary linguists and their followers have
contributed considerable progress in the study of Language and Grammar.
Still, students of Language and Grammar, in particular students of English
Grammar who are non-native speakers of English, need also to be equipped with the
tools that allow them to do English Grammar successfully. First-year students of
English Grammar at tertiary/university levels need to master the nuts and bolts of
Traditional Grammar first in order for them to be able to challenge the principles that
govern the traditional approach. They need to know how to differentiate between the
various types of clauses, the functions and categories of different phrases and words for
them to be able to question the proposed analysis.
Besides, they can hardly resort to the introspective reasoning and knowledge of
the generative school to tell whether Example 17.1 or 17.2 is (un)grammatical and
justify their answers with solid foundation.
17.1. Who do you think that was late for the concert?
17.2. Who do you think was late for the concert?
Or, for example, they can barely recognise that the internal argument of the verb
consider in Example 17.3 is the small clause or verbless clause Grammar difficult
(Rutherford 1994, Rothstein 1995), when the sentence admits as its passive counterpart
Example 17.4, wherein only the noun Grammar has become the Subject of the passive
construction. Additionally, since at least there is some evidence to support the
traditional analysis, this perspective cannot be disregarded as unscientific.
17.3. Students consider Grammar difficult.
17.4. Grammar is considered difficult by students.
On the other hand, in order for students to comprehend the meaning potential of the
language and to be able to describe the meaning of a sentence or a clause from a
functional perspective can sometimes be a difficult task. In order for students to “do
grammar” explorations to unravel the choices available in the systems of the language
(Thompson 2014, Halliday and Matthiessen 2014), basic knowledge of the structure of
the language and the functions and categories of its constituents can certainly make that
enterprise a more fruitful undertaking.
My aim in writing this work was to help students approach the study of English
Grammar in as accessible way as possible. In doing this, I meant to give students the
basic tools to embark on future projects and encourage them to challenge the ideas and
analyses suggested here. However, for students to be able to question these ideas, it is a
first step to comprehend their underpinnings and master most concepts of Traditional
English Grammar. After all, the advances produced in the studies of Language and
Grammar in the last decades do not mean that former theories have not contributed to
their evolution. In the same way as after the Copernican revolution, which replaced the
Ptolemaic geocentric model of the universe for the heliocentric paradigm, has not meant
that the former model is no longer taught.
José DURÁN
170
Perspectives on Grammar
Finally, there has been a long tradition of theoretical descriptions of English

Grammar from different perspectives and with a variety of purposes and foci.
Fortunately, this tradition has increasingly attracted the attention of grammarians and
scholars from all walks of science. As a historical linguist has recently put it: “after half
a millennium, and despite the decline in the formal study of English grammar in British
and American schools, the writing of English grammars has never been more vigorous
than it is now” (Linn 2006:87). With this book, I have attempted to add a humble drop
of water to the vast ocean of knowledge.
José DURÁN
171
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José DURÁN
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Index
a, 113, 127 Aktionsart, 144

Aarts, 53 alas, 112
absolute construction, 105 Alexiadou, 145, 149
abstract, 114 all, 121, 129
abstract noun, 38, 65 already, 136
academic, 119 alternate, 44
accommodation, 114 alternation, 126
accusative, 43 alternative, 49
action, 139 always, 136
active, 102 amaze, 102
active voice, 84, 143 amuse, 102
activity, 97, 142, 144 an, 113
ACTOR, 144 anaphoric, 117, 118, 119, 120
additive, 49 ance, 113
addressee, 116 and, 12
adjectival, 85 animate argument, 145, 148
Adjectival Complement, 38, 51, 64, antecedent, 72, 117, 118, 119
66, 85, 125, 127 anticipatory it, 26, 50
adjectival phrase, 33, 50 Anticipatory Subject, 26
adjective, 33, 51, 99, 112, 113 antonym, 125
attributive participial, 145 any, 121
Adjunct, 22, 42, 47, 55, 67, 103 apparent, 50
position, 59 Apparently, 50
Adjunct of Manner, 57 Apposition, 64, 72, 76, 85, 103, 113,
Adjunct of Negation, 88 116
Adjunct of Place, 78 appositive, 49
Adjunct of Purpose, 85, 89 arbitrary, 99, 112
Adjunct of Reason, 57 arbitrary PRO, 88
Adjunct of Time, 56 argument, 138, 141, 144, 148
adverb, 67, 72, 112, 116, 125, 149 argument selection, 144
adverb of negation, 136 argumental, 120
adverbial, 85 article, 130
adverbial clause, 55, 69 as, 57, 58, 78, 117, 119
Adverbial Complement, 45 as though, 56
adverbial particle, 151 aspect, 12, 87, 134
adverbial phrase, 55 perfective, 12
affix, 111, 112, 124 progressive, 12
afraid of, 51 aspectual verb, 92
age, 34 assertive, 115, 120, 136
Agent, 51 astonish, 102
AGENT, 102, 143, 144, 146 attitude, 48
agentive Subject, 146 attributive, 126
agree, 23 auxiliary, 84, 112, 134
agreement, 23, 135, 140 auxiliary selection, 145
.
Index
auxiliary verb, 42 nominal relative, 15

Baker, 142 subordinating, 11
bare, 83 wh-, 26
bare infinitival clause, 84 Clause
bare infinitive, 138 Connectors, 12
be, 45, 51, 92, 106, 124, 134, 137, 139 clause of result, 51
because, 56 Clauses
become, 45 and Phrases, 20
been, 42 cleft, 14, 47, 50
begin, 92 close-set, 127, 130
BENEFICIARY, 45 close-set system, 115
between, 65 cognate, 44, 142
Biber, 3, 76, 142 cognate Direct Object, 142
Bloomfield, 170 coindexation, 90, 120
both, 121, 130 colour, 34
bottom-up, 4 comment clause, 78
but, 12, 117 common, 113
by, 51 Company, 47, 56
can, 134 comparative, 125, 127
canonical Subject, 146 Comparison, 56
cardinal number, 130 Complement, 42, 45, 138, 140, 141, 144
case, 116 complex transitive, 42
accusative, 24 compositionally, 51
genitive, 25 Concession, 47, 56, 57
grammatical, 25 concessive, 49
nominative, 23 concord, 23
cataphoric, 119, 120 concrete, 113
category, 4, 16, 21, 45, 111 Condition, 47, 56
cattle, 114 conflate, 51, 57, 77, 126
causative, 126 conflation, 47
causative alternation, 146 conjugated verbs. See Finite Verbs
causative construction, 145, 146 Conjunct, 48
causative verb, 84, 85 conjunction, 12, 112, 117
Cause, 47, 56, 85 adversative coordinating, 12
CAUSE, 143 alternative coordinating, 12
CAUSER, 144 asyndetic, 12
central, 126 coordinating, 12
central determiner, 33, 129 cumulative coordinating, 12
certain, 66 subordinating, 12
certain to, 52 connector, 63, 67
change of meaning, 146 conscious of, 51
choice, 2, 3 consecutive, 49
Chomsky, 1, 2, 84, 101, 170 constituent, 15, 41, 69
citation form, 111 contentive, 112, 125
Class I, 63 contentive categories, 22
Class II, 63, 72 contentive category, 134
clause, 74, 87, 113 contentive word, 84
main, 10 context, 2
José DURÁN
183
Index
contextual, 143 double genitive, 119

continue, 92 doubt, 136
contracted form, 136 dummy, 26, 51
contrastive, 49 Duration, 56
control, 88, 117 dynamic, 127
conversation, 143 each, 121
coordination, 16 each other, 118
copulative, 42, 141 easy, 126
copulative verb, 75, 124, 134 ed, 139
corefer, 44, 99 elder, 125
corpus, 3 elide, 77
Corpus Linguistics, 3 elision, 66, 119
cost, 44 embedded, 72, 119
could, 134 embedded clause, 75
countability, 128 embeddedness, 75
countable, 43, 95, 112, 119, 128 emphatic, 42, 117, 119, 135, 136
covert Subject, 85 empty category, 88, 99, 113
dangling participle, 105 en, 115, 139
deadjectival, 113 ence, 113
deagentivise, 143 enclitic, 136
deductive, 49 End-Focus, 26
defining relative clause, 72, 113 End-Weight, 26
definite article, 33 enough, 121
degree, 125, 127 enumerative, 49
deictic, 116, 119 epicene, 116
delete, 143 epistemic, 66
deletion, 46 equative, 49
demonstrative, 115, 130 er, 125
demonstrative adjective, 33 ergative intransitive verb, 142
demonstrative pronoun, 119 est, 125
derivation, 2, 111, 112 evaluation, 48
determiner, 21, 33, 67, 72, 98, 112, 113, evaluative adjective, 50
127 even though, 58
deverbal, 95, 113 event, 144
deverbal noun, 65 eventive, 44
diachronic, 7 every, 121
Direct Object, 16, 21, 42, 43, 51, 64, 85, exclamation, 63
103, 113, 116, 140, 150, 151 exclamation mark, 9
direct question, 63 exclamative, 115
Direction, 56 exclusive, 116
discoursal, 49, 60, 143 exemplifying, 49
Disjunct, 48, 50 exophoric, 119
distributive, 121 EXPERIENCER, 144
ditransitive, 42, 140, 141 expletive, 26, 145
ditransitive verb, 91 expletive it, 86
do, 42, 134, 135, 137 expletive there, 148
doer of the action, 51 Extent, 56
do-support, 137 external argument, 142, 144
José DURÁN
184
Index
extraposed, 64 good at, 51

fact, 38, 65 gradable, 125, 127
fake reflexive Object, 147 grammar, 2
farther, 125 Grammar
farthest, 125 Universal, 2
feature, 87, 135 grammaticalisation, 95
feel, 45 Greenbaum, 53
feminine, 112 Haegeman, 53
few, 121, 128 half, 130
final position, 59 Halliday, 1, 2, 8, 170
finite, 133 have, 42, 44, 134, 135, 137
finite adverbial clause, 63 he, 116
finite subordinating clause, 55 Head, 21, 32, 41, 52, 67, 140
finite verb, 12 hear, 84
finiteness, 135 Hence, 49
fit, 44 here, 116
floating quantifier, 136 hierarchy, 8, 75
focus, 60, 97 him, 85
focused, 115 his, 98, 128
fond of, 51 homework, 114
For example, 49 hood, 113
formal, 121 how, 135
four-place, 141 hybrid, 95
fraction, 130 hyponym, 44, 142
Frequency, 56 Hypothetical, 56
frequency adverb, 136 if, 58
frighten, 102 ill, 126
fronting, 16 illative, 49
full, 83 imperative, 127
full infinitival clause, 84 impossible, 126
function word, 42, 84, 127 in, 65
functional, 2, 45 in fact, 50
functional category, 112, 134, 138 inclusive, 116
Functions and Categories, 21 incorporation, 142
furniture, 112, 113, 129 indefinite, 115, 130, 142
further, 125 indefinite pronoun, 120
furthest, 125 Indirect Object, 22, 42, 44, 64, 66, 113,
fused Head, 124 116, 140
gap, 76 indirect question, 63
gender, 24, 112, 116 infinitival clause, 30, 38, 83
generative, 2 infinitival marker, 84, 88, 113
Generative Grammar, 84 infinitival particle, 13
genitive, 130 infinitival to, 83
Genitive, 97 infinitive, 13
gerund, 13, 95, 106, 139 bare, 13
gerundial clause, 30 full, 13
glad, 126 inflection, 111
go, 46 inflectional form, 111
José DURÁN
185
Index
inflectional system, 135 Liu, 43, 142

information, 60 live, 46
ing, 84, 106, 138 location, 60
ing-form, 95 Location, 56
inherent, 127 locative, 44
initial clausal-position, 48 Locative Complement, 142
initial position, 58, 86 logical, 49, 112
INITIATOR, 143 look, 124
inseparable particle, 111 luggage, 113
Instrument, 47, 51, 56 ly, 125
intensifying adverb, 84 main clause, 55, 87, 88
interest, 102 main verb, 42, 134, 140
interested in, 51 make, 13, 84, 89
interjection, 112 Manner, 47, 51, 56
internal argument, 142, 144 many, 121, 128
interrogative, 42, 115, 130, 135 Markers of Apposition, 38
intransitive, 42, 51, 126, 140, 141, 151 masculine, 112
intransitive use of transitive verbs, 141 material, 34
intransitive verb matrix clause, 119
classification, 144 may, 134
introspective, 170 me, 85
invariable, 113 meaning, 2
inversion of order, 57, 135, 136 Means, 51
irregular verb, 139 Meanwhile, 49
it, 27, 64, 68, 113, 116 measles, 114
Jespersen, 3 measure, 44
lack, 44 measure verbs, 44
language medial position, 59
acquisition, 2 Mendikoetxea, 144
social aspects, 2 mere, 126
Language middle verb, 44
Definitions, 1 might, 134
paradigmatic aspects, 2 modal adjective, 66
let, 84 modal auxiliary, 42, 92, 134
Levin, 145, 148 modal verb, 12
lexeme, 111 modality, 12, 87, 134
lexical, 112 modality adverb, 136
lexical categories, 22 monotransitive, 42, 140
lexical category, 124 more, 121, 125
lexical verb, 139, 146, 149, 151 morpheme, 75
lie, 46 morphological
like, 92 case, 25
likely, 66 morphology, 2
likely to, 52 Morphology, 112
Linguistics, 3 most, 121, 125
linker, 56 mother tongue, 2
listing, 49 movement, 143
little, 121, 128 much, 128
José DURÁN
186
Index
multicategory, 117 Object-deletion, 43

multiplier, 130 Objective Complement, 42, 45, 60, 64,
mumps, 114 66, 85, 113, 116, 125
must, 134 objective pronoun, 85, 117
my, 129 obligatory, 127
native speaker obvious, 50
ideal, 2 Obviously, 50
negation, 136 of, 65, 98, 121
negative, 42, 115, 120, 130, 135, 136 Of course, 50
Negative, 56 oh, 112
neither, 121 old, 126
ness, 113 older, 125
neuter, 113 one, 121
never, 88, 136 one another, 118
news, 114 one-place, 141
no, 97, 129 open-class, 130
nominal, 26, 50, 85 open-class category, 113
nominal clause, 62, 69 operator, 42, 58, 135, 136, 137
nominal relative, 115 optional, 128
nominal relative clause, 62 or, 12
nominalisation order, 135
degree of, 95 order of adjectives, 127
nominalised adjective, 124 Order of Adjectives, 34
non-assertive, 115, 120 ordinal number, 130
non-defining relative clause, 72 origin, 34
non-discoursal, 144 Origin, 56
none, 121 Originally, 49
non-finite, 86 ought to, 91
non-finite clause, 38, 95 overt, 58
non-gradable, 127 overt Subject, 83, 95, 105
non-inherent, 127 Panini, 169
non-reduced relative clause, 52 paragraph, 9
Non-Restrictive Apposition, 72 paragraph-initial, 48
not, 136 part of speech, 112
notional Complement, 146 partial negation, 136
notional Object, 102, 143, 146 participial clause, 102
Notional or Logical Subject, 88 participle, 13, 95, 102, 106, 127, 149
noun, 4, 21, 33, 72, 111, 112, 124 particle, 84, 134, 149
classification of, 113 partitive, 130
noun clause, 23, 56 passive, 16, 85, 102
noun phrase, 16, 21, 23 passive voice, 42, 69, 87, 134, 135, 138
now, 116 passivisation, 43, 44, 45
number, 24, 116, 128 past, 135
Object, 73 past participle, 42, 102, 138, 139
Object to the Preposition, 64, 65, 103, PATIENT, 102, 144
113, 116 people, 114
Object-deleting verb, 142 perfective aspect, 42, 87, 134, 135, 138
semantic classification, 143 perfective auxiliary, 145
José DURÁN
187
Index
perfective be, 145 principles and parameters, 2

perfective have, 145 PRO, 88, 99, 105
performance, 3 probable, 66
Perhaps, 50 Process Adverbial, 51
periphrastic, 125 pro-form, 136
Perlmutter, 144 progressive aspect, 42, 45, 87, 127, 134,
person, 24, 44, 116 138
personal pronoun, 88, 116 pronominal
phoneme, 1 phrase, 23
phonology, 2 pronominalisation, 128
phrasal, 134 pronoun, 30, 67, 72, 99, 106, 111, 112,
phrasal prepositional verb, 149 124, 128, 150
phrasal verb, 149, 151 demonstrative, 24
phrase, 4, 87 personal, 24
physics, 114 proper, 113
place, 47 propositional content, 48
Place, 47, 56 proud of, 51
pleonastic, 26 pseudo-cleft, 14
plural, 24, 95 psych verbs, 102
polar, 135 Purpose, 47, 56
police, 114 put, 47, 142
Position, 56 quantifier, 130
Positive, 56 quantifier pronoun, 120
possess, 44 quantitative, 120
possession, 44, 75 Quasipredicative, 47, 50, 126
possessive, 97, 115, 130 question mark, 9
possessive pronoun, 119 question tag, 136
postdeterminer, 33, 129 Quirk, 3, 47, 51, 53, 59, 78
Postmodifier, 16, 33, 76, 85, 103, 105, Radford, 148
125 raising, 143
predeterminer, 33, 129 rank scale, 8, 75
predicate, 89, 149 Rather, 49
Predicate, 41, 52, 87, 113 Real Subject, 86, 89
Categories, 28 Reason, 56
predication, 51, 141, 143 RECIPIENT, 45
predicative, 126 reciprocal, 115
predicative adjective, 38 recursivity, 57
Predicative Adjunct, 47, 50, 126 reduced defining relative clause, 105
Predicative Complement, 45 reference, 99, 115, 116
prefix, 111, 112, 125 reflexive, 115
prefix a–, 126 reflexive pronoun, 44, 51, 147
Premodifier, 33, 67, 78, 103, 106, 125 reformulative, 49
preposition, 112, 117, 149, 151 regular, 114, 139
prepositional phrase, 44, 47, 51, 55, 113 relative, 115
prepositional verb, 134, 149 relative clause, 72, 119
present, 135 relative connector, 73
present participle, 102, 138, 139 relative pronoun, 72
pride, 114 relativiser, 78
José DURÁN
188
Index
replacive, 49 some, 121

reporting verbs, 64 sound, 45
resemble, 45 sound-system, 2
Restrictive Apposition, 65, 68, 72 source, 49
result, 124 Spanish, 145
Result, 47, 56, 85 spatial, 47
resultative construction, 51, 118, 126, specific, 128
145, 147 specification, 115
right, 84 stack, 127
root, 142 state, 139, 144
Sapir, 1, 170 statement, 62
Saussure, 169 stative, 127
science, 2, 112 stative verbs, 45
scissors, 114 still, 41
see, 84 stop, 92
seem, 91, 124 straight, 84
seldom, 136 stress, 66, 96
select, 128, 144 structural hierarchy, 8
selectional restriction, 145, 148 subcategorisation, 144
selectional restrictions, 144 subindex, 88
selectional rule, 84 Subject, 21, 64, 78, 85, 87, 103, 113,
self, 117 116, 135, 138, 142, 143, 144, 147
semantic, 44 Categories, 27
semantic restriction, 128 Real, 26
semantic role, 143 Subjective Complement, 42, 45, 59, 64,
semantic roles, 44 85, 103, 106, 113, 116, 125, 140
semantics, 2, 89, 113, 144 subjective pronoun, 117
sentence, 1, 4, 9 subordinating clause, 51, 63, 75
complex, 11 subordinating conjunction, 55, 63, 119
compound, 10 substitution, 17
compound-complex, 11 such, 119, 130
simple, 10 suffix, 111, 139
Sentence Adjunct, 48 suffix –al, 126
Sentential Adjunct, 47 suggest, 64
separability, 149 suggestion, 38
separable, 150 suit, 44
several, 121 summation, 114
sexist language, 116 superlative, 125
shall, 134 superordinate, 142
shape, 34 superordinate clause, 55, 67, 76, 86
she, 116 sure, 66, 126
sheer, 126 syntax, 2, 85, 113
ship, 113 system, 2
should, 134 system network, 1
simple past, 139 take, 44
singular, 24, 128 taste, 124
size, 34 taxonomy, 144
small clause, 170 tell, 91
José DURÁN
189
Index
temperature, 34 ungrammatical, 46
temporal, 47, 49 unique, 115
tense, 12, 87, 134, 135, 140 universal, 115, 120, 128
terrify, 102 universal Grammar, 2
Tests for Constituency, 15 unless, 57
than, 117 unmarked, 114
that, 67, 73, 78, 119, 128 unspecific, 116
that-noun clause, 62, 65, 86 Usual, 56
the, 33, 97, 113, 128 usually, 136
thematic roles, 44 utter, 126
THEME, 143, 144, 146 utterance, 143
then, 116 Vendler, 144
there, 27, 113, 116, 148 verb, 4, 51, 112
these, 119, 128 causative, 13
theta roles, 44 perception, 13
they, 116 transitive, 16
thing, 44 verbal group, 41, 133
this, 33, 119, 128 verbal phrase, 41
those, 119, 128 verbless clause, 20, 170
though, 57 verbs of desideration, 92
three, 129 verbs of perception, 84, 85
three-place, 141 Verkuyl, 144
Time, 47, 56 voice, 12, 87, 134
time adverbial, 136 active, 12
tion, 113 passive, 12
to, 83, 113 voicing, 115
top-down, 4 warrant, 143
topical, 60 watch, 84
traditional, 3 weather, 141
Traditional Grammar, 4, 84 weight, 60
transitive, 42, 51, 140, 141 Well, 49
transitive converted intransitive verbs of what, 67, 120, 128, 135
activity, 142 when, 73, 135
transitive inseparable, 150 where, 73, 78, 135
transitive use of intransitive verbs, 141 whether/if-noun clause, 62
transitive verb, 64, 76, 88, 134, 142, wh-focused nominal clause, 62, 65
144 wh-focused pronoun, 120
transitivity, 149 which, 67, 73, 119
twice, 130 wh-interrogative noun clause, 66
two-place, 141 who, 73, 78, 119
ty, 113 whom, 73, 119
Types of Sentences, 9 whose, 73, 120
unaccusative, 126, 144, 145 wh-question, 135
construction, 146 why, 73, 135
unaccusative verbs, 118 will, 42, 84, 134
uncountable, 95, 112, 119 willing to, 52
unergative, 51, 144 word order, 33
unergative verbs, 118 word-formation, 112
José DURÁN
190
Index
words, 2 you, 85
work, 114 yours, 119
would, 134 youth, 114
wow, 112 zero, 115
yes/no question, 135, 136 zero-place, 141
José DURÁN
191
.

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An Introductory Course in

José Manuel DURÁN

To Sol, Agustín, Miguel and Francisco

Part I: Finite Clauses

Part II: Non-Finite Clauses

Part III: Categories

2.1 Finite Verbs in Sentences of Extract 2.1 ................................................................. 9

2.1 Extract 2.1 ............................................................................................................. 9

A Adjunct DO Direct Object

 Bold font is used for first mention of a technical term.

he focused on the acquisition of language by an ideal native speaker of his/her mother

1.7. Further Reading

2.2. Structural Hierarchy

Structural Element Symbol Example

2.4. Clause Connectors

2.6. Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Sentences

communication or to avoid it in written discourse. They are very frequently used in

Type of Sentence Sentences Nº

are divided into are

Figure 3.1: Difference between Clauses and Phrases

3.3. Functions and Categories

3.5. Anticipatory Subject

Category of Subject Sentences Nº

1) That Jack is dressed elegantly is a strange thing.

7) To understand you is not that easy.

Category of Subject It There Sentences Nº

1) It was interesting to deliver my talk in front of such a challenging audience.

6) It was nice to see her at the party.

(Premodifier) + Head + (Postmodifier)

(determiner) + (adjective) + (noun)

(predeterminer) (central (postdeterminer)

Figure 4.2: Structure of the Noun Phrase

syntactic function of the so called Object to the Preposition. Thus a prepositional

A further piece of evidence for the recognition of Non-Restrictive Appositions is the

Figure 4.5: Types of Apposition

that is to say and such as / like

Figure 4.6: Markers of Apposition

4.8. Further Reading

Figure 5.1: Structural Functions in the Predicate

5.3. Direct Object

5.32. [(Essentialism should be a dead letter in a world run on a mountain of

5.47. [(An 1893 case classed Japanese as Mongolian).] (91)

enumerative (5.60 &5.61)

listing equative (5.62)

logical contrastive (5.67)

Figure 5.2: Classification of Conjuncts

17) He set the car on fire.

1) It is no good hoping for fortune.

6.3. Adverbial Clauses with No Subordinating Conjunction

6.5. Position of Adjuncts

Exercise 6.2: Analyse syntactically the following extract from a book.

to be known to the listener/reader. Finally, wh-focused nominal clauses convey focused

the connector has no syntactic function within the subordinating clause

nominal relative clauses

Figure 7.1: Types of Nominal Clauses

When we compare the syntactic analysis of a subordinating nominal clause Class I

argue ensure point out

Figure 7.4: Transitive Verbs that Take Nominal Clauses as DO

language is actually used> and the emphasis placed on particular

7.6. Categories of Connectors in Clauses Class II

7.10. Further Reading

Exercise 7.3: Analyse the following paragraph in detail.

B) Non Defining Relative Clauses

13.50. He bought a table/a tables/a furniture.

14.75. He bought a house/three books/friendship/?unhappiness/anger/blame/