- Form and Function of constituent Sentence structure

- Concord
- Types of English Phrases: their forms and Functions
Part -1-
4th Stage
Subject Lecturer:
1 Alaa Nawzad Awla
Assistant Lecturer
M.A holder
Course’s name: Advanced Syntax
Last week of January
 Form and Function
2
▪ Form refers to the name of a thing; however, function, refers to how that thing
is acting or operating in a particular context.
Forms Functions
Nouns- noun phrases Pre-modifiers-post-modifiers
Adjective-adjective phrases Adverbial complement
Adverb-adverb phrases Subject complement
Verb-verb phrases Object complement
Preposition-prepositional phrase Prepositional complement
Gerund-infinitive-participle Noun complement
Pronouns-articles- demonstratives Adjective complement
Indefinite pronouns- quantifiers Sentence complement
Intensifiers-Wh-pronouns-numerals Subject-Verbs
Ordinals-negatives- Conjunctions Direct object-indirect object
Interjections -Types of clauses- Adverbials
relative pronoun- possessive
pronouns- reflexive pronoun
 What is a Concord?
3
 Concord is the need for grammatical agreement between the different parts of
speech in a sentence. The word concord comes from the Latin word for
agreement.
 Concord is needed for our sentences to make sense. All the words in a
sentence need to have the correct relationships to each other, otherwise the
sentence just won’t sound right.
 While there are nine parts of speech that make up English grammar, only two
are absolutely necessary in a sentence: the verb and the subject. For this
reason, concord in English is sometimes referred to as subject-verb
agreement.
 The verb has to agree with the subject in number.
 There are different Concords; Grammatical, Proximity, Notional, Indefinite
pronoun, Measurement Concords.
 Types of English Concord
4
1. Grammatical Concord: is the easiest type of subject-verb agreement to
grasp. Put simply, it means that if the sentence has a singular subject, it must also
have a singular verb. If the subject of the sentence is plural, the verb must be
plural, too. The subject of the sentence is the person, animal or thing doing the
action. The subject might be singular or plural. Let’s look at these sentences:
1. The teacher speaks to the class.
2. The books in the cupboard are stacked neatly.
3. The dog in the garden is running around.
4. Jack and Ali were caught in the rain.
 However, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule.
  The first exception is when both subjects are the same person or thing. For
5 example:
- The largest animal and loudest sea creature is the blue whale.
- The singer and songwriter is Harry Styles.
 In both of these cases, the subjects are the same person or animal, so we use
the singular verb ‘is’ in both sentences.

 The second exception is when two things are always linked together in
people’s minds, to the point where, when spoken about together, we think of
them as one thing. Here’s an example:
- Fish and chips is my favourite dinner.
 We always think of fish and chips as one dish, even though they’re different
things and can be eaten separately. When we refer to them together, we use the
singular verb ‘is’.
 2. Proximity concord: refers to the closeness of two things. In the case of
sentences, we often show proximity between two subjects by using the correlating
6 conjunctions ‘either / or’ or ‘neither / nor’. If both subjects are singular, the verb
takes the singular form, as in these examples:
- Either the Prime Minister or the Chancellor is attending the meeting.
- Neither Mary nor her mother eats meat.
 But, when one subject is singular and the other is plural, the verb takes the form
of the subject nearest to it in the sentence, like this:
- Either the Prime Minister or other Government ministers are attending the
meeting.
- Neither Mary nor her parents eat meat.
 Both of these sentences put the plural subject closest to the verb, so the verb
takes its plural form in both cases. If we reversed these sentences, so the
singular subject was second, the verb would take its singular form (‘Neither
Mary’s parents nor Mary eats meat’).
 3. Notional concord: the idea of notional concord relates to collective nouns. We
7
use these to refer to a group of people, animals or things. Some examples include:
class/choir/audience/congregation/team/flock.
 When we’re using collective nouns, the verb takes its singular form if there is
no action being taken in the sentence. If there is action happening, the verb
should be plural, as the people or animals in the collective are all taking action
as individuals, even if it’s the same action as each other. Let’s take a look at two
examples:
- The class has the best exam results in the school.
- The class are sitting at their desks.
 In the first example, there is no action being taken; the sentence is simply stating
a fact, so the verb here is singular. In the second example, the children in the
class are individually taking the action of sitting at their desks, so we use the
plural form of the verb.
 4. Indefinite pronoun concord: are pronouns that refer to things vaguely rather
8
than specifically. They give us ways to talk about people, things and quantities in
abstract terms. Some examples of indefinite pronouns are: anything / anyone /
anybody/ something / someone / somebody/ everything / everyone / everybody/
nothing / no-one / nobody.

 When the subject of a sentence is an indefinite pronoun, we always use a

singular verb. For example:
- Everyone is coming to the party.
- Something has to be done about this.
- Is anybody there?
  5. Measurement concord: we use all kinds of measurements in our speech and writing, so it’s
important to know how to make the verb agree with the measurement we’re describing. If we’re
talking about measurements of time, money, amount or distance, we always tend to use a
9 singular verb, even if the measurement is plural. Here are some examples:
- Two weeks is not long enough for our Christmas holiday.
- Three hundred dollars is too much to spend on a concert ticket.
 So, whether we’re talking about hours, kilometres or teaspoons, we always use the singular
form of the verb.
 However, things change when we’re talking about percentages or fractions. In these cases, the
verb takes the same form as the subject, like this:
- 50% of the building is occupied.
- Half the students are boys.
 In the first sentence, the subject (the building) is singular, so the verb is singular, too. In the
second case, the subject (the students) is plural, so the verb takes the plural form.
 We should also mention comparative measurements here, such as ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’.
If we’re using these expressions to talk about amounts of something, the verb needs to correlate
with the subject, whether it’s singular or plural. For example:
- More than one child is singing a solo in the concert.
- Fewer than ten days have been dry this month.
 We can see here that the first example has a singular subject, so the verb is also singular. In the
second sentence, which has a plural subject, we use a plural verb.
10

What is a Phrase?
 A Phrase: is a group of words that is part of a sentence. “In linguistics, a phrase is a group
11 of words in the syntax of a sentence.” Traditionally “phrase” is defined as “a group of
words that does not contain a verb and its subject and is used as a single part of speech.”

A Word A Phrase Dependent clause Independent clause

Smart The smart After the smart student The smart student studies hard.
student

Its characteristics:
1- No subject and verb combination.
2- No meaning if used alone.
3- They can occur in different positions of a sentence.
4- If used in a sentence, it has a unique meaning.
5- Their structure can give one sentence different meanings.
6- A phrase can contain another phrase.
7- A phrase can be one words (without modification or complementation) or a group of
words.
 Meaning and Phrase Structure
12
 In the sentence like “I was reading the letter to John,” we have got two meanings.
This sentence might mean:

(1) There was a letter addressed to John which I was reading (perhaps to myself).
Or it might mean:
(2) There was a letter (to me, perhaps) which I was reading aloud to John.
 The sequencing of words does not by itself produce a meaning; instead there is a hidden organization
of the words which gives them their meaning. For the sequence of words in this sentence there are
two alternative organizations of the words, each of which delivers a different meaning: because the
ambiguity is based on two different structures for the same sequence of words. As people who
understand English, we are able to understand the two meanings, and this means that we are
unconsciously organizing the words either one way or another.
 (1)I was reading the letter to John.
13

(2)I was reading the letter to Jhon.

In (1) the sequence of words the letter to John forms a single phrase,
while in (2) the sequence is broken up into two phrases: the letter forms
one phrase and to John forms another separate one. This explains why a
sentence can have two different meanings, because the same string of
words can be grouped in two different ways, and each grouping relates to
a meaning.
The structure of (1) thus, is SVO. While the second meaning makes SV+
Direct object+ Indirect object.
 A phrase can contain another phrase
14
 Words are in boxes inside the big box of the sentence. But phrases can also be inside
phrases – that is, the sentence can contain boxes which contain boxes which contain
words. Consider the following sentence:
John seems to be very happy with his new bathroom.
 By applying the two tests ‘Replacement test’ and ‘movement test’, we know that his
new bathroom is a separate phrase apart from very happy and with his new bathroom.
 We do have three phrases here: adjective phrase- prepositional phrase- noun
phrase.
  A new, improved definition of “phrase” can be a phrase is a grammatical unit,
15 intermediate between a word and a clause, which may consist of just one word (its
head only) or its head and expressions (including other phrases) that modify or
complement it.
 This definition retains the traditional distinctions between word and phrase and
between phrase and clause. It adds the requirement that phrases have heads and
allows a phrase to consist of just its head.
 The head determines three aspects of the phrase structure:
1. It determines the phrase’s grammatical category: if the head is a noun, the phrase
is a noun phrase; if the head is a verb, the phrase is a verb phrase, and so on.
2. The head can also determine the internal grammar of the phrase: if the head is a
noun, then it may be modified by an article; if the head is a transitive verb, it
must be complemented by a direct object.
3. Heads also determine such things as the number of their phrases: if the head of
an NP is singular, then the NP is singular; if the head is plural, then the NP is
plural.
 Modification and Complementation
16
 The head of a phrase may be modified or complemented by other words, phrases, or
sentences within the phrase.
 Complementation is when one element in an expression creates the grammatical
expectation that another expression will also occur, the expected element complements the
expecting element this is called one element complements the other. Consider the
following examples:
1. Transitive verbs create the expectation of an object, as in Sheila fractured [her ankle].
2. Bitransitive verbs create the expectation of two objects, as in Sally gave [her] [a shot of
morphine].
3. Certain other verbs create the expectation of two complements, though one or both need
not be an NP, as in She put [her first aid kit] [in the truck].

Note: Generally, although verbs (in English) require a subject, subjects are not usually said to
complement the verb.
 Verbs are the primary complement-requiring elements in language,
17 but other parts of speech may require complements too.
Prepositions typically require an NP complement—on may be
complemented by a phrase denoting notions such as location or time,
as in on [the pavement], on [your mark], on [time].
Certain nouns may be complemented by clauses, as in the belief [that
diseases are caused by evil spirits].
Modification occurs in a construction in which an expression is
accompanied by an element not grammatically required by it. For
example, because nouns do not typically require adjectives, eager
modifies fans in eager fans. Verbs and adjectives do not typically
require that they be accompanied by adverbials, so violently modifies
swore in swore violently, and disappointingly modifies slow in
disappointingly slow.
  There are two main classes of modifying words in English: they are
18 adjectives and adverbs.
 Adjectives modify nouns and adverbs modify pretty much everything
else—verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and sentences. They modify these
in much the same way as adjectives modify nouns—by adding criteria
that must be met.
 For example, in ran quickly, quickly modifies ran and therefore
requires that whoever ran didn’t run in any old way, but did it quickly.
Other examples include expressions like take regularly, needs help
immediately. Likewise, intensely in intensely bright requires that the
brightness be intense. Irritatingly in irritatingly slowly requires that
whatever is going on must not only be going on slowly, but so slowly as
to be irritating to someone.
 Unfortunately in Unfortunately, he didn’t make it back requires not
only that he didn’t make it back, but also that (the speaker feels that) it is
unfortunate that he didn’t.
 Nouns may be restrictively modified by clauses, called
19 relative or adjective clause. Consider the following
example:
1. The man who knew too much
Notice that there is no comma between the noun man and the
beginning of the restrictive relative clause.

Sentences may be restrictively modified by adverbial

clauses. Consider the following example:
2. Though he liked her a lot, he was afraid to ask her for a date.
Here a comma is preferred, especially if the adverbial clause is
relatively long.
 Notice that none of the modifiers are required or implied by the
20 words, phrases, or sentences they modify. These words, phrases, and
sentences would be grammatically complete without the modifiers
though of course adding or removing modifiers affects the meaning
and potential referents of the modified elements.
Non-restrictive modifiers, or appositives, add information that is not
essential for the identification of the referent of the phrase so
modified. In written English, appositives are set off by commas.
Consider the following example:
The President of the US, who is in his 7th year in office, has only one more year
to serve.

In cases like this, the writer assumes that the reader will know who
the President of the US is and so does not need the appositive
information to identify him.
 The Five Major types of Phrases
21

1. Adverb Phrase (AdvP)

2. Prepositional Phrase (PP)

3. Adjective Phrase (AP)

4. Noun Phrase (NP)

5. Verb Phrase (VP

 1. Adverb Phrase (AdvP)
22
 Adverb phrase: is one or more words work together to give more information about the
verb of a sentence. [(Modifier) + Head Adv.]

Examples:
1. She spoke out adamantly. (adverb alone)
2. He drinks the tea quite reluctantly. (Adverb modified by intensifier)
3. The students hold the books extremely clumsily. (adverb modified by degree adverb)
4. The linguists wrote the book extremely well.

 The term “adverbial” refers to adverb phrases and all other expression types that function in
the ways that adverb phrases do. Adverbial phrases are groups of words that function like
adverbs. They can modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs in a sentence. Adverbial
phrases can be formed in many different ways, including prepositional phrases, infinitive
phrases, and participial phrases.
 Functions of Adverbial Phrases
23
1. The dog ran through the park. (prepositional phrase)
2. She decided to go for a walk. (infinitive phrase)
3. He walked whistling a tune. (participial phrase)
4. The police will question anyone found lurking around the dormitories.
(participial phrase)
5. I saw Maria running for the plane. (participial phrase)
6. The car moved slowly on the road clogged with traffic. (participial
phrase)
7. She will leave at night. (prepositional phrase)
8. Eaten by wolves, we wished we had stayed at home. (participial phrase)

Note: Clauses function as adverbials too. They are called adverbial clauses.
 2. Prepositional Phrase (pp)
24  Prepositional phrase: one or more words work together to give more information about time,
location, something or possession. [preposition+ noun phrase].

 The noun phrases that occur within the prepositional phrases function as prepositional
complements.

 PP can have different functions. Examples:

1. He always speaks in a loud voice. (Adverbial)
2. She is a friend of mine. (Subject complement)
3. He gave the letter to everyone. (Indirect Object)
4. He is sleeping on the carpet. (Subject complement)
5. She was a girl with a long black shiny hair. (Subject Complement)
6. At the end of the day, he is always very tired. (Adverbial)
7. We will all take course in History. (Noun Complement)
8. The politician are aware of the need of huge financial contributions. (Adjective Complement)

 Typically prepositions have meanings and these meanings connect their objects to other parts
of the sentences in which they occur. Notions such as recipient and beneficiary are called
semantic roles.
 3. Adjective Phrase (AdjP)
25
 Adjective phrase: is one or more words work together to give more information
about a noun. Its structure is [(Modifier) + Head + (Complement)].

Examples:
1. They were impertinent. (adjective alone)

2. The spokesperson is very impertinent. (intensifier + adjective)

3. We are unaware of any wrongdoing. (adjective + PP)

4. It made us so disappointed that someone had lied. (adjective + clause)

5. She is afraid to make a move. (adjective + infinitive)

6. My grandma was Fully aware of his surroundings. (adverb + adjective + PP)

  The modifiers may be either intensifiers or degree adverbs; the complements may be PPs, finite
clauses, or infinitives.
26  Only some types of adjectives take complements; mainly those that denote mental or emotional
states, e.g., aware, afraid, sorry, disappointed, astonished, hopeful, sad.
 APs have four main functions. First, they may directly pre-modify a nouns. In this function they
are often called attributive adjectives, see the following example:
1. The fat dog chased the thin girl.
2. The friendly dogs were kept silent.

 Second, APs may complement subject NPs. In this function they are referred to as predicative or
subject complements. Predicate adjectives occur after verbs to be and linking verbs. See the
following examples:
1. Faust is anxious.
2. Mephistopheles became despondent.
3. Wagner seems puzzled.

 Third, an AP may function as an object complement, that is, as the complement of the object of a
clause:
1. We consider him foolish.
2. Your attitude makes me angry.
  Fourth, an AP may function as a post-modifier of a noun, and that happens
27 ONLY with fixed expressions like [Someone elder/younger, something new,
notary public, family medicine or secretary general]. See the following examples:
1. Students need something new.
2. They need someone younger.

 Most of the adjectives can come preceding and following the noun they describe,
but not all of them because there are some adjectives that can never precede a
noun; all they can do is follow a noun and come at the end of the sentence. See the
following adjectives:
1. We saw an afraid dog*. (incorrect)
2. The asleep child* (incorrect)
 4. Noun Phrase (NP)
28
 Noun phrase acts like a noun in a sentence. The left-hand column represents the
NP in its simple or a single word phrase.

Noun, count Wombats are playful. Examples of

categories of
Noun, non-count Cabbage is nutritious. single-word
single words that
NPs
may constitute an Subject and object personal pronouns They saw her. belonging to
NP, and which
Genitive personal pronoun Mine are chartreuse. the
must consequently
correspondin
be its head. Indefinite pronoun/quantifier None were found.
g category.
Wh-word/pronoun Who placed the call?

 NPs are not that simple, they have very complex structures. In a nutshell, NPs can occur in these
two following formulas:

1. (Pre-modifier*) + HEAD + (Post-modifier*) (Asterisks denote elements that may appear more than once.)
2. HEAD + (Complement*) Ex/ There are Variations in the degree of the bitterness of the taste.
  The first formula abbreviates several possibilities:
1. Head
29
2. Premodifier(s) + head
3. Head + postmodifier(s) = N + PP(s)
4. Premodifiers(s) + head + postmodifiers(s)
Examples for each pattern:
1. Joe could run alone. One pre-modifier Two pre-modifiers

2.
 Examples of phrasal pre-modifiers
30

3. They sang songs about rebellion.

There were clocks on the wall.
We put the cake under the tree for the birds.
I love walks with my mother.
There were heat arguments about abortion.
The doctors argued about reasons for my hesitation.
They were very good sources of concern.
 4. Examples of post-modifiers

31
 5. Verb Phrase (VP)
32
 Verb phrase: consists of main verb and helping verb within a sentence.
 [(AUXILIARY*) + HEAD + (OBJECT*) + (COMPLEMENT*) + (MODIFIER*)]. The VP
formula abbreviates some possibilities:
1. Simple VPs: head alone
a. Hector walks.
b. All the employees agree.
c. The lemmings followed.
d. Cynthia lied/laughed/coughed/died/…………..
2. VPs: auxiliaries and head
a. Hector is acting strangely. (be + head verb in Ving form)
b. Hector has never looked at me like that. (have + head verb in pp form)
c. Hector does not eat vegetables. (do + head verb in infinitive form)
d. Hector has been consorting with the zombies. (have + be in pp form + head verb in Ving form)
e. Hector should put a lot of effort. (modal + head verb)
f. Hector is been punished by the officer. (be + be in pp + head verb in pp form)
 3. VP: head + object(s)/complement
33

4. VP: head + modifier(s) (that one element modifies a verb is said to be called adverbial)
34
Analyze the structure of these sentences.
Old men and women will be served first.

She has appointed her assistant

personnel manager.

My solicitor gives the poorest free

advice.

You will make a good model.

The park gate is closed.