CLASS

HANDOUTS

ESTUDOS DE LINGUA INGLESA

2023-2024
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Handout-ELI-1 ............................................................................................................... 1
Handout-ELI-2 ............................................................................................................... 2
Handout-ELI-3 ............................................................................................................... 8
Handout-ELI-4 ............................................................................................................... 9
Handout-ELI-5 ............................................................................................................. 10
Handout-ELI-6 ............................................................................................................. 11
Handout-ELI-7 ............................................................................................................. 12
Handout-ELI-8 ............................................................................................................. 13
Handout-ELI-9 ............................................................................................................. 14
Handout-ELI-10 ........................................................................................................... 18
Handout-ELI-11 ........................................................................................................... 19
Handout-ELI-12 ........................................................................................................... 21
Handout-ELI-13 ........................................................................................................... 23
Handout-ELI-14 ........................................................................................................... 24
Handout-ELI-15 ........................................................................................................... 25
Handout-ELI-16 ........................................................................................................... 27
Handout-ELI-17 ........................................................................................................... 29
Handout-ELI-18 ........................................................................................................... 30
Handout-ELI-19 ........................................................................................................... 32
Handout-ELI-20 ........................................................................................................... 33
Handout-ELI-21 ........................................................................................................... 34
Handout-ELI-22 ........................................................................................................... 36
Handout-ELI-23 ........................................................................................................... 38
Handout-ELI-24 ........................................................................................................... 41
Handout-ELI-25 ........................................................................................................... 46
Handout-ELI-26 ........................................................................................................... 50
Handout-ELI-27 ........................................................................................................... 51
Handout-ELI-28 ........................................................................................................... 52

ESTUDOS DE LINGUA INGLESA

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1. An overview of grammatical units

1.2. Category vs. function

Function: It is the role that a particular unit plays with respect to the syntactic unit to which it
belongs (subject, head of a NP, etc.).
Category: A unit is said to belong to a certain class or category when it has the same
individual characteristics as other members of the same class or category.

One-to one correspondence between function and category is not necessary.

The same category may realize different functions:

-The car/ The car door
-My daughter loves music. / I love my daughter. / I've done it for my daughter. / She is my
daughter.
-A very irresponsible behaviour/They are very irresponsible.

The same function may be realized by different categories:

-She will be here soon. /She will be here in two hours. /She will be here next week.
-The expensive car/The garage key

1.3. Rankscale and rankshift (terms introduced by Halliday)

Rankscale: Hierarchy of units of linguistic description

-morphemes: -er
-words: driv-er
-phrases: a very good driver
-clauses: My sister is a very good driver.
-sentences: My brother drives too slowly, but my sister is a very good driver.

Rankshift: Quite often, a unit of a given rank functions as a constituent of a unit of the
same rank or even of a unit which is a step lower down the rankscale. In other words,
rankshift is a phenomenon by which units are composed of units of the same rank or of a
higher rank in the hierarchy. (Aarts, F., and J. Aarts. 1988. English Syntactic Structures. Functions &
Categories in Sentence Analysis. Prentice Hall Europe)

-The man in black

-The woman you admire
-She didn't give it to me, although she promised that she would.
-The fact that he is annoyed disappoints me
-The fact that if she stays he'll be angry worries me.
-washing-machine
-earphones

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• Kernel clauses [Huddleston 1984] // Canonical structures [Huddleston and Pullum 2002]

•Marked vs. Unmarked

The degree of markedness is measured by FREQUENCY and SIMPLICITY.

A kernel clause is the unmarked form, the basic form, which shows:
-no addition of elements
-no omission of understood elements
-no rearrangement of elements
-no selection of certain elements

• General characteristics of a kernel clause:

-It forms a sentence on its own.
-It is structurally complete.
-It is declarative.
-It is positive.
-It is unmarked with respect to all the thematic systems of the
clause.

Thematic systems: marked members which serve the purpose of organizing the clause elements in
a different way so that the emphasis and focus are different.
[Quirk et al. 1985: 18.20-18.54]

“The thematic systems of the clause are those where corresponding members of the contrasting
classes (such as active My father wrote the letter and passive The letter was written by my father)
are prototypically thematic variants. Thematic variants have the same propositional content, but
differ in the way it is ‘packaged’ as a message. We select one rather than another from a pair or
larger set of thematic variants depending on which part(s) of the message we wish to give
prominence to, on what we regard the message as being primarily about, on what parts of it we
assume the addressee already knows, on what contrasts, if any, we wish to make, and so on.
[Huddleston (https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139166003.013)]

1. Active vs. Passive

2. Extraposition
This process shifts a unit to the end of the clause and inserts dummy it into the vacated position.

That he could feel the pain was obvious.

It is obvious that he could feel the pain.

His pain was obvious.

*It was obvious his pain

It's extraordinary the amount of money he wastes every week.

It surprised me the way she stared at him.

With appear, seem, chance, happen (finite clause subjects), remain and the passive of hope and
intend (infinitival subject) extraposition is obligatory.

It appears/seems that he left.

*That he left appears/seems.
It remains to consider the possible conditions.
*To consider the possible conditions remains.
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It is hoped/intended to go on with this discussion in the following class.

*To go on with this discussion in the following class is hoped/intended
It happened/chanced to be true.
*To be true happened/chanced.

Effect: to place a heavy NP at final position, which makes the sentence more balanced and easier to
utter and understand.
(Principle of END-WEIGHT)

3. Thematic fronting
I haven't read the revised edition.
I always use the old version. The revised edition I haven't read.

An element we want to emphasize is moved to the front of the clause into pre-subject position.

-Complement:
He is not clever.
I had to explain the same thing three times, for clever he is not.

-Adjunct:
I told you wouldn't be able to repair your car with that old hammer. With the proper tools you
could have repaired it.

-Part of a clause or a PP:

He promised he would read your novel.
Your novel he promised he would read.

They all have arrived, but I am still waiting for your daughter.
They all have arrived, but your daughter I 'm still waiting for.

4. Cleft construction
The highlighted part is made complement of the verb to be with it as subject.

It was John who/that broke the glass.

It is John I like.
It is John that she is looking at.
It is at John that she is looking.
It is in the evening that he is arriving.

5. There construction
A couple of big dogs were in the garden.
There were a couple of big dogs in the garden.

The subject is shifted to postverbal position and the dummy subject there is inserted initial subject
position.

There was some sugar on the floor (be+locative).

There were some women present (be+predicative compl).
There are many different types of fish (bare constr.).

There remain many problems.

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Exercise:

Are the following structures canonical or non-canonical? Justify your answer.

1. The discussion they have postponed till next week.

2. It is them who have left the discussion until next week.

3. There he is!

4. John was listened to with great enthusiasm.

5. There was a mistake in his plan.

6. It is surprising that she married so young and in such a

hurry.

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Other non-canonical constructions

Dislocation (Huddleston and Pullum 2002: 255)

The prototypical dislocation construction has an extra NP located to the left or right of the main
part of a clause, consisting of a subject and predicate, which is called the nucleus. The extra NP
serves as antecedent or referential element for a personal pronoun within the nucleus. This
personal pronoun occupies the place filled by the NP in the non-dislocated version.

One of my cousins, she has triplets.

He can be very judgemental, her father.

The man next door, I think his car was stolen.

Compare:

(i) It annoyed us both, having to do the calculations by hand (Cf. they annoy me, these
calculations).
(ii) It annoyed us both that we had to do the calculations by hand.

-Note the difference in punctuation.

-The right dislocated phrase is required to be discourse-old, whereas the extraposed constituent
may be discourse-new.

Pseudo-clefts:

Just like cleft constructions, in pseudo-clefts we have a division between foregrounded (in
bold) and backgrounded elements, with the backgrounded material representing presupposed
information. The backgrounded material forms a fused relative construction.

What we need is more time.

What he claims is that he was insulted.
What I´ll do is postpone the meeting.

Canonical or non-canonical?

1. Christians are being persecuted in China.

2. What´s his name, your son?
3. It is next week that they are arriving.
4. Why is it always me who has to clear up?
5. There were several students among the injured.
6. It remains a mystery why she married him.
7. But his mother, I really admire her.
8. It is undoubtedly the best one to buy.
9. It was Tom who was responsible.
10. It is incredible that he didn´t check the brakes.
11. My sister, someone threw a rock at her at the beach.
12. It makes me mad to see them behave like that.
13. I really like him, your dad.
14. Never before have I seen anything like this.
15. There's at least one to suit everyone.

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[Subject Extraposition]
[Object Extraposition]

Another type of EXTRAPOSITION

Extraposition from NP (Wekker, H. & L. Haegeman. 1985. A Modern Course in English Syntax.
London and New York: Routledge, pages 147-148. // also called Thematic postponement
(Huddleston 1984: 456// also called Discontinuous noun phrases (Quirk et al 1985:1397-1398)

• It implies postponement of part of a NP phrase:

(1) The fact remains that you stole it.

(2) A difficulty arose that no one had foreseen.

Here the clauses inside the NP are moved to final position. This way, heavy material
is moved to the end, and therefore the sentence does not end with a short predicate
of relatively little information value.

• It is a further method of balancing the sentences, following the general English tendency to
move heavy constituents to the right.

(3) A new book by Professor Winters has just appeared which deals with the
suppression of women in the fifteenth century.

(4) Did you hear the news the other day that unemployment benefits are going to be
cut by 10 per cent?

• The most commonly affected part is the postmodification of a noun phrase, and the units
most readily postponed are nominal clauses, although other postmodifying clauses or even
phrases can be postponed.

(5) A rumour circulated widely that he was secretly engaged to the Marchioness.
(6) The loaf was stale that you sold me.
(7) The time had come to decorate the house for Christmas.

• The discontinuous noun phrase can be a subject but also a complement or an object.

(8) We heard the story from his own lips of how he was stranded for days without
food.

So, there appear to be two major motivations for the postponement:

a) To achieve a stylistically well-balanced sentence in accordance with the norms of

English structure, in particular to achieve end-weight.
(9) The story is told of her phenomenal success in Australia.

b) To achieve an information climax with end-focus.

(10) She rapidly spotted the book right on my desk that I had been
desperately searching for all morning.
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1.4. Constituent structure

(1) Old Sam. What kind of unit is it?

(2) A full syntactic description of the English language consists in explaining why
some string of words are well-formed expressions and why others are not. The
syntactic analysis of a sentence will assign to it a constituent structure which
identifies a full hierarchy of constituents.

(3) Types of constituents

(4) Is Old Sam always a constituent?

(5) How to identify constituents. Syntactic evidence.

[5.1. Burton Roberts 1997: 12-18]
5.1.1. Omission. The cat sleeps on the mat.
5.1.2. Replacement. Old Sam sunbathed beside the stream.
5.1.3. Wh-questions.
5.1.4. Movement. I need money
[5.2. Radford 1888: 69 ff]
5.2.1. Phrasal constituents can be replaced by an appropriate phrase of a given
type.
5.2.2. Only phrasal constituents can undergo preposing or postposing.
5.2.3. Only phrasal constituents can serve as sentence-fragments.
5.2.4. Shared constituent coordination
5.2.5. Possible use of pro-forms
5.2.6. Constituents can be conjoined.

(6) Parallel in structure?

Drunks would get off the bus.

Drunks would put off the customers.

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(1) This is something useful.

Anyone intelligent can do it.
We are not going anywhere very exciting.

(2) The city of London proper

(3) The president elect, heir apparent, attorney general, notary public, body politic,
proof positive.

(4) The best use possible

The greatest insult imaginable
The only actor suitable
The last offer available

(5) The stars visible

The people present/concerned/involved

(6) At the time appointed

In years past

(7) An actor suitable for the part

The boys easiest to teach were in my class.
A student brave enough to attempt the course
A man so difficult to please must be hard to work with.

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Draw tree diagrams for the following verb groups:

Has been doing

Will be written

Would have been studying

Can dance

Might have been being discovered

Must be sleeping

• David Foster Wallace. "The Depressed Person" (Harper's, January 1998)

The approximately half-dozen friends whom her therapist-who had earned

both a terminal graduate degree and a medical degree-referred to as the depressed
person's Support System tended to be either female acquaintances from childhood or
else girls she had roomed with at various stages of her school career, nurturing and
comparatively undamaged women who now lived in all manner of different cities and
whom the depressed person often had not laid eyes on in years and years, and whom
she called late in the evening, long-distance, for badly needed sharing and support
and just a few well-chosen words to help her get some realistic perspective on the
day's despair and get centered and gather together the strength to fight through the
emotional agony of the next day, and to whom, when she telephoned, the depressed
person always apologized for dragging them down or coming off as boring or self-
pitying or repellent or taking them away from their active, vibrant, largely pain-free
long-distance lives.

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2.1 Complementation patterns

(Greenbaum & Quirk 1990; Quirk et al 1985; Downing and Locke 2006; Burton Roberts 1997)

A) INTRANSITIVE VERBS

They do not take any kind of complement: no complementation occurs. Semantically, only one
participant is involved in the action expressed by the verb. They can be divided into:

1) Pure intransitives are verbs which are almost exclusively intransitive:

It is snowing. The sun rose. The clouds disappeared.

Time elapsed but no one arrived and the show didn’t materialize.

Many of these verbs express behaviour which is involuntary or semi-involuntary:

blink, blush, collapse, cough, cry, faint, laugh, sleep, smile, yawn.

2) Intransitive verbs such as live, come, go, lie, remain, stand, and stay, whose positional or
directional meaning is completed by an adverbial element. Downing and Locke call them spatial,
temporal locative or directional complement although they are not always clearly obligatory.

My aunt lives in Toronto.

They are staying nearby.
Come here.
(How does he keep fit?) He runs (pure intransitive). vs. He runs to the bus-stop (with a directional
complement).

3) Verbs used transitively and intransitively:

(i) The direct or indirect object may be left unexpressed when its referent is understood by social
convention or when it is not specific:

It is dangerous to drive if you have been drinking.

They are saving to buy a house.
Have you ordered yet?
Many people gave generously (when what is given is a donation).

In some cases, the intransitive verb acquires a more specific meaning: e.g. John drinks (heavily)=
John drinks alcohol.

(ii) Verbs which have a corresponding causative use. The intransitive construction forms part of an
‘ergative pair’:

The door opened. (X opened the door.)

The ball rolled. (X rolled the ball.)
The bell rang. (X rang the bell.)
The car stopped. (X stopped the car.)

(iii) Pseudo-intransitives, which express the properties of potential of an entity to undergo the
action expressed by the verb. There is no corresponding transitive use.

Your essay reads well.

This material won’t wash; perhaps it will dry-clean.
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(iv) Verbs with the meaning of ‘reciprocal participation’, where there is a corresponding
construction with a complement.

My sister and her boyfriend met at a dance.

The two rivers join to form the Amazon.

B) ONE-COMPLEMENT VERBS (MONOTRANSITIVE VERBS)

Monotransitive verbs require an object, which may be a noun phrase, a finite clause or a non-
finite clause. Some scholars include in this category verbs which take a prepositional complement
(not in this course).

(i) Verbs which take a direct object are numerous:

She lost the plane tickets.
He believes that he is right.
He asked what I meant.
He doesn’t enjoy dancing.

Monotransitive verbs ar e usually possible in the passive: believe, bring, call, keep,
receive, understand,
etc.

e.g. The problem was understood (by everyone).

A few stative monotransitive verbs normally do not allow the passive. They are called MIDDLE
verbs by Greenbaum and Quirk: have, fit, suit, resemble, equal, mean (Oculist means eye doctor),
contain, comprise, lack.

(ii) Verbs which take a prepositional complement: (prepositional and phrasal-prepositional)

The Prime Minister can’t account for the loss of votes.

He would never resort to cheating.
What are you hinting at?
I am looking forward to your reply.

C) COPULAR VERBS (also called INTENSIVE): also one complement (subject complement)

A verb has copular complementation when it is followed by a subject complement (also called
predicative complement) . This element cannot be dropped without changing the meaning of the
verb.
Copular verbs fall into two main classes, according to whether the subject complement has the
role of current attribute or resulting attribute. Current copulas are: be, appear, feel, look, seem,
smell, taste, sound. Resulting copulas are: become, get, go, grow prove, turn.

The reason is simple.

The city by night looked medieval and Cosmopolitan.
Such behaviour appeared rather childish.
I felt rather nervous.
Fast food doesn’t taste good.
His latest novel has become a best-seller.
We began to grow uneasy when the diver didn’t appear.

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The principal copula that allows an adverbial element as complementation is be. These adverbials
are mainly used to indicate space "(e.g. The kitchen is downstairs.); time adverbials are common
with eventive subjects (e.g. The party will be at 9.); other types are possible too (She is in good
health).

D) DITRANSITRIVE VERBS: VERBS WITH TWO COMPLEMENTS (DO and IO)

This type of complementation expresses situations in which three participants are involved,
encoded syntactically as the subject and the two objects.

The verbs which occur are typically verbs of transferring or benefitting:

He gave Esther a present.
He promised Bill a rise in
salary.
She told the children a story.
Verbs which take recipient indirect objects take to-prepositional phrases as indirect
objects. (NOTE that not all authors agree with this analysis. Quirk et al do, but Huddleston
and others believe that the to-PP is not an Oi but a Prep Complement): give, promise, grant, read,
hand, send, leave, show, offer, teach, owe, throw, pass, write.

We are offering our clients a unique opportunity.

We are offering a unique opportunity to our clients.

He owes several people money.

He owes money to several people.

Verbs which take beneficiary indirect objects take for constructions: book, find, save, bring, get,
spare, build, keep, write, buy, leave, cash, make, cut, pour, fetch, reserve.

Book me a seat on the night train.

Book a seat on the night train for me.

She cut the boys some slices of ham.

She cut some slices of ham for the boys.

E) COMPLEX TRANSITIVE verbs: VERBS WITH TWO COMPLEMENTS (ONE

DIRECT OBJECT AND ONE OBJECT/PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENT)

According to Downing and Locke, the direct object generally represents a person or thing, and the
object complement adds information about this entity from the standpoint of the subject.
Greenbaum and Quirk say that in complex-transitive complementation, the two elements following
the complex-transitive verb have a subject-predicate relationship: "She considered her mother a
sensible woman"= "She considered that her mother was a sensible woman".
PCos, instead of qualifying or predicating a quality of the subject, predicate a quality o f th e o b je c t.
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Hold your hands steady!

He called her an angel.
He considered her a good doctor/very clever.
He drove her crazy.
He elected her president.
The secretary left the letters unopened.
The long walk made us all hungry.
I prefer it with water.

Some verbs take a prepositional object/predicative complement, mainly with as: They
described her as a genius. They elected me (as) their leader. He took me for a fool. Also define as,
mistake for, regard as, treat us, use as, choose as, etc.

The SVOC pattern includes a number of verb-adjective collocations: boil (an egg) hard, buy (sth)
cheap, paint (sth) blue, push open, shake loose, set free, wipe clean.

NOTE that the following examples show complex-transitive complementation too.

I slipped the key into the lock.

Take your hands out of your pockets.
I left the key at home.
I put the car in the garage.

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Ergative pairs (Downing and Locke 1992: 119)

Pat boiled the water.

I rang the bell.
The child flew the kite.
Peter rolled the ball.
A stone broke the window.

A causative Agent causes the Affected participant to undergo or perform an action.

Causative Agents initiate the causative process and are not necessarily human, but may
be instrumental participants, such as a stone in A stone broke the window.
The affected is the essential participant, though, the one which is primarily involved in
the action. It is the water that boils, the bell that rings, the kite that flies, the boll that
rolls and the window that breaks.

Those situations with the causative Agent expressed as Subject can also be expressed
with the causative Agent suppressed. The subject is the Affected in a one-participant
process:
The water boiled.
The bell rang.
etc.
Processes such as boil, ring, fly, stop, roll, burn, close, etc., in which the Affected
Object in a transitive clause can be the Affected subject in an intransitive clause are
called ergative pairs.

Pseudo-intransitives (Downing and Locke 1992: 124)

Glass breaks easily.

This novel reads like a government report.
Colloquial language translates badly.

They differ from other intransitives in the following ways:

(i) They express a general property or a potentiality of the entity. Compare with
the glass broke, which refers to a specific event.
(ii) Although no agent is mentioned, the possible activity of an Agent is
necessarily implicit; we do not mean that glass breaks spontaneously, or that
the novel can be read without a reader.
(iii) These intransitives are usually accompanied by a modal or some adjunctive
specification such as easily, like a government report.
(iv) There is no corresponding transitive construction with Agentive Subject,
despite the fact that these verbs can normally be used transitively. It is not
equivalent to say, for instance, He reads the novel like a government report. or
He translates colloquial language badly.
(v) Frequently, certain lexical changes or additions are necessary in order to
express the meaning in an alternative form. The difficulty of paraphrasing this
clause meaning shows how specific and useful it is. This novel is written in the
style of a government report or It is impossible to wash some synthetic fibres.

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Complementation patterns. Further practice.

1. What kind of verb group do the following examples contain?

His health has improved.

He was tired of the sea.
Many different factors overlap.
Frank turned up late.
The dictator held him prisoner for seven years.
He looked sullen and bitter.
The goods arrived yesterday.
We'll buy you a ticket.
That night she left her parents.
Naomi found me a good seat.
I live in France.
His wife stood at the gate.
Our neighbour baked a cake.
Dean is out of work again.
She will bring up their children.
We saw our children happy.
Naomi found me a good pal.
Put the books where we can see them.
They said a few welcoming words to the audience.
His landlady kept him alive.
Evelyn promised her customers a discount.
Many Texans think the Queen's accent funny.
They found the house comfortable.
That music drives me mad.
I keep my car outside the house.
My mother dyed her white dress blue.
They are lying.
Paul lacks confidence.
Book me a seat on the train.
Would you like your shoes cleaned?
The bell rang.

2. Using any of the following phrases, construct (a) a sentence in which smelt is used as an
intransitive Verb Group; (b) a sentence in which it is used as a monotransitive Verb Group;
(c) a sentence in which it is used as an intensive Vgrp.

(i) smelt (ii) the apprehensive butler (iii) Jim’s attempt at a stew (iv) loathsome

3. Compare the examples below in terms of their complementation patterns.

1. Peter will make Pamela a disastrous husband. vs. Peter will make Pamela a good wife. vs. Peter
will make Pamela lots of money.

2. Peter appeared rather jumpy. vs. Peter appeared a veritable tyrant. vs. Peter appeared in a
flurry of snow. vs. Peter appeared in a dangerous mood. vs. Peter appeared.
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4. Find the clauses which present intensive verb groups in the following text.

The NHS continues to go through cataclysmic change and presently we seem survivors in the new
competitive environment. The department has cleared all local contracts up till April’95 and is
trying to attract fee generating patients from other areas...by advertising in Women’s magazines!
All this while telling our patients that they must wait for operations until the new contract starts in
April next year. Our catchment areas and work load are likely to increase substantially if the recent
recommendations are carried out. The recession is also very obvious; friends are losing businesses
and jobs, shops are being closed and houses are for sale everywhere. Our salaries have frozen solid
as well, but most prices do seem stable, so perhaps it is working, but at a considerable social cost.
The way things look at the moment our future remains all but certain.

5. Identify the major functions in the following sentences. Identify the Vgrps and sub-
categorise them. Then, draw phrase markers for numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11.

1. William baked a cake for Goneril.

2. The girl in the palace had dyed her hair deep purple.
3. It doesn’t sound much fun.
4. We don’t allude to his third ear.
5. The main witness for the prosecution has disappeared.
6. The committee nominated her Acrobat of the Year.
7. The candidate’s antics did not amuse the board of examiners.
8. The gallery wouldn’t lend them the triptych.
9. The condition of the cakes left out overnight had deteriorated.
10. They voted the Grand Master out of office.
11. I touched the man with the umbrella.
12. He may have been referring to the fact that you had no clothes on.
13. The exhausted team members made for the nearest pub.
14. Bill has made a brilliant picnic table.
15. He called up his boss.
16. The waitress puts the cups on the tray.
17. We only need the cups on the tray.
18. He liked the box in her hands.

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[6] [2]

[22]

[19]

[46a] [46b]

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[32] [26]

[56] [51]

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2. Other, others, the other and another

(1) The embassy website has general information about visas. Other travel
information can be obtained by calling the freephone number.
(2) Some music calms people; other music has the opposite effect.
(3) This one’s too big. Do you have it in other sizes?

(4) I don’t like the red one. I prefer the other colour.
(5) This computer here is new. The other computer is about five years
old.
(6) Joel and Karen are here, but where are the other kids?
(7) Where are the other two dinner plates? I can only find four.
(8) Jeremy is at university; our other son is still at school.
(9) He got 100% in the final examination. No other student has ever achieved that.
(10) There’s one other thing we need to discuss before we finish.

(11) Mandy and Charlotte stayed behind. The other girls (*the others girls) went
home.

(12) We have to solve this problem, more than any other, today.
(13) I’ll attach two photos to this email and I’ll send others (*other) tomorrow
(14) Some scientists think we should reduce the number of flights to prevent global
warming; others (*other) disagree.
(15) He had his hat in one hand and a bunch of flowers in the other.
(16) She has two kittens, one is black and the other is all white.

(17) Would you like another (*an other) cup of coffee?

(18) Other (*another) interesting places to visit include the old harbour and the
casle.
(19) I don’t like this place. Is there another (*other) café around here we could go
to?

(20) The applications are examined by one committee, then passed on to another.
23
 Handout-ELI-14

24
 Handout-ELI-15

Verbs of intermediate function

In this section we examine verbs whose status is in some degree intermediate between
auxiliaries and main verbs. They form a set of categories which may be roughly placed
on a gradient between modal auxiliaries at one end and full verbs, such as hope, which
take a non-finite clause as object at other. The extremes of the scale may therefore be
represented by I can go and I hope to go.

1. Marginal Modal Auxiliaries

They are closer to modal than to main verbs, but they have characteristics of main
verbs too, such as the fact that they are followed by a to infinitive, while central
modals are not.

The marginal modal auxiliaries are used to, ought to, dare, and need.
(i) Used to always takes the to-infinitive and occurs only in the past tense.

She used to attend regularly.

It is used both as an auxiliary and as a main verb with do-support:

He usedn’t (or used not) to smoke <BrE>

He didn’t use (d) to smoke <BrE and informal AmE>
The normal interrogative construction is with do-support, even in BrE: Did he
use to drink?
He used to drink, didn’t he?

(ii) Ought to normally has the to-infinitive, but the to is optional following ought in
ellipsis:

You oughtn’t to smoke so much.

A: Ought I to stop smoking? B: Yes,

I think you ought (to).

(iii) & (iv) Dare and need can be used either as modal auxiliaries or as main verbs. The
modal construction is restricted to non-assertive contexts, i.e., mainly negative and
interrogative sentences, whereas the main verb construction can always be used, and
is in fact more common.
Blends of the two constructions (modal auxiliaries and main verb) are widely
acceptable for dare:

They do not dare ask for me.

Do they dare ask for more?

2. Modal Idioms: This category contains the following multi-word verbs

had better, would rather, have got to, be to

They all begin with an auxiliary verb and are followed by an infinitive (sometimes
preceded by to).

You'd better leave soon.

25
 Handout-ELI-15

I'd rather not say anything.

I've got to leave soon.
No one is to leave the building without the permission of the police.

Just like modals, they do not have non-finite forms, so they cannot follow other verbs
in the verb phrase, they are always the fist verb in the verb phrase.

Only the first word alone acts as operator in negative and interrogative sentences.
Hadn´t we better lock the door? Would
you rather eat here?
We haven´t got to pay already, have we?
They weren't to meet again.

(They all have meanings classifiable as modal):

had better: advisability, similar to the obligational meaning of should and ought to

Would rather has a volitional meaning ("would prefer to")

Have got to has meanings of obligation and logical necessity (similar to must)
Be to expresses futurity, with varied connotations of compulsion, plan, destiny,
etc.
Two types of negation for had better and would rather:

I'd rather not stay alone

You'd better not lock the door
Wouldn´t you rather live in the country? No, I would not. (negative questions or
short answers)
The two kinds of negation may be associated with different meanings: Had we
better not go? (Would it be advisable if we didn´t go?)
Hadn´t we better go? (I think we had better go, don't you agree')

The contracted verb form followed by not is unacceptable with these two idioms.

3. Semi-auxiliaries are a set of verb idioms which express modal or aspectual

meaning and which are introduced by one of the primary verbs have and be. They have
non-finite forms and can therefore occur in combination with preceding auxiliaries.
Indeed, two or more semi-auxiliaries can occur in sequence. Common semi-auxiliaries
include:

be able to, be about to, be bound to, be due to, be going to, be likely to, be supposed to,
have to (this is the only semi-auxiliary beginning with HAVE rather than BE, but its
inclusion in this category is partly justified by its occurrence in the full range of non-
finite forms, a respect in which it differs from the semantically parallel have got to: I
may have to leave; people have had to do that)// Have to patterns either as a main verb or
an auxiliary with respect to operator constructions Do we have to? Have we to? (Br E
Old fashioned).

4. Catenative verbs (ELI-16)

(From: Greenbaum, S. and R. Quirk. 1991. A Student's Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman)
26
 Handout-ELI-16

Catenative verbs (Quirk et al 1985: 3.29 and 3.49)

They are considered “verbs of intermediate function”, somehow in between auxiliaries

and main verbs.

They are close to modals because they have meanings related to aspect or modality, but
they are close to main verbs because they take do-support.

The most common are the following: appear to, happen to, seem to, tend to, turn out
to, fail to, come to +infinitive

Example: She didn't appear to realize the importance of the problem.

Apart from their semantic similarity, most of them ALSO resemble auxiliaries in some
formal aspects:

(i) They allow the construction with existential there:

There must be a school (central modal auxiliary)

There seems to be a school (catenative verb)

UNLIKE full verbs:

*There hoped to be a school (hope: full verb followed by the infinitive; it
cannot be used with there)

(ii) They admit the change from one voice to the other (active vs passive) without a
change of meaning, as opposed to sentences in which a full verb occurs as first finite
verb:

Thousands of people will meet the president = The president will be met by
thousands of people. (No change of propositional meaning)

Sam appeared to realize the importance of the problem = The importance of the
problem appeared to be realized by Sam. (No change of propositional meaning)

UNLIKE full verbs:

Thousands of people hope to meet the president.

≠
The president hopes to be met by thousands of people. (The
propositional meaning changes)

27
 Handout-ELI-16

PLEASE NOTE:

Unlike full verbs such as expect to, want to, attempt to, catenative constructions are in
no way syntactically related to transitive verb constructions in which the verb is
followed by a direct object or prepositional object:

John appeared to attack the burglar.

*John appeared an attack. (NOT POSSIBLE with catenatives)

John attempted to attack the burglar.

John attempted an attack. (Possible with full verbs)

Also included among catenatives are certain verb which resemble the verb to be in
combining either with the -ing participle in progressive constructions or with the -ed
participle in passive constructions

get+ed participle Our team got beaten by the visitors.

keep+ing participle The girl kept workin.g

28
 Handout-ELI-17

Adjuncts vs. Complements

The non-nuclear status of Adjuncts and the nuclear status of Complements are related to
certain other characteristics:

1. Adjuncts are not conditioned by any particular type of verb, as are complements.

He disappeared suddenly.
He found the answer suddenly.

The occurrence of a complement of a given type, though, depends on the presence of a

verb of an appropriate subclass.

My uncle was using an electric drill at that very moment.

*My uncle was arriving an electric drill at that very moment.

2. Adjuncts are syntactically omissible but complements are obligatory.

My uncle was using an electric drill at that moment.

*My uncle was using at that moment.
My uncle was using an electric drill.

3. The number of complements that can occur is more grammatically determined than is
the case with Adjuncts. There is no limit to the number of Adjuncts that can be included
in a clause.

He ate the apple very fast at 2 o’clock with his left hand in his pocket.
*He ate the apple the car a girl to me.

4. Ordering restrictions: complements occur closer to heads than adjuncts.

He laughed at the clown at ten o’clock.

*He laughed at ten o’clock at the clown.

5. A NP in a complement PP can generally be passivised whereas a NP in an Adjunct

PP cannot.

Everyone laughed at the clown. vs. The clown was laughed at by everyone.
Everyone laughed at ten o’clock. vs. *Ten o’clock was laughed at by everyone

6. Differences in pronominalisation. The “do so test”.

John will (buy the book on Tuesday) and Paul will do so as well. John
will (buy the book) and Paul will do so on Thursday.
John will (put the book on the table) and Paul will do so as well.
*John will (put the book) on the table and Paul will do so on the chair.

29
 Handout-ELI-18

"This analysis has the effect of creating two levels of VP in [12] and thus allowing us to
represent, within the phrase-marker configuration, the difference in function between the NP
those wildcats (functioning as a COMPLEMENT, more specifically as direct object) and the PP
in the Spring (a MODIFIER, more specifically, an adjunct adverbial). Thus, adjunct adverbials
are modifiers of VPs. As such, they must be represented, in phrase-markers, as sisters of VPs.
If there is just one big idea in this chapter, it is this: the difference in function between (obligatory)
complements of the verb and (optional, modifying) adjunct adverbials is to be represented in phrase-
markers as follows":
• COMPLEMENTS of the verb are sisters of Verb Group (Vgrp)
• ADJUNCT ADVERBIALS are sisters of Verb Phrase (VP)

1. "Identify the sub-category of the Vgrp and the functions of the major elements in the
following sentences in terms of S, V, dO, iO, sP, oP, PC, aA (for adjunct adverbial), and sA
(for sentence adverbial).
(i) This so-called music will drive me mad very quickly.
(ii) We can celebrate this with an Indian take-away tonight.
(iii) The academy has turned out some inspired confidence tricksters in its time.
(iv) Incidentally, I have sold your vests to the museum for a small fortune.
(v) Luckily, they gave in in seconds.

Let’s agree that the following sentence is ungrammatical:

(i) *Tim went to the circus and Max did so to the zoo.
And let’s assume that it is supposed to mean (or is an ungrammatical way of saying)
(ii) Tim went to the circus and Max went to the zoo.

30
 Handout-ELI-18

Now tackle the following questions in order:

a) What string of words does did so replace in (i)?
b) What does the UNgrammaticality of (i) tell you about the CATEGORY of the string it
replaces?
c) On the basis of your answers to (a) and (b), decide whether the PP to the circus is an
adjunct or a complement of the verb.
d) On the basis of your answer to (c), how should we sub-categorise go in (i)?
e) Look at the following conversations:
(iii) A: Where’s Maria? B: She went.
(iv) A: Great party, wasn’t it! B: Even Maria went!
How do you suggest we handle the sub-categorisation of go in each of these uses?"

"As mentioned, instead of modifying some element within the sentence, the S- adverbial
relates to the sentence as a whole, considered as a unit. So, as suggested by the terms ‘VP-
adverbial’ and ‘S-adverbial’, the distinction between [51a] and [51b] is the distinction between
frankly functioning as a modifier of VP within a higher VP vs. functioning as a modifier of S
within a higher S, as in [55]".
[55a] [55b]

Beside a stream is a VP-adverbial. As an [intrans] V, sunbathed forms a VP in its own right. Notice
that we could continue with . . . and Ferdinand did so on the verandah, meaning ‘Ferdinand sunbathed
on the verandah’. Here did so replaces the [intrans] VP, sunbathed.

31
 Handout-ELI-19

DO SO (From Hewings, M. (1999) Advanced Grammar in Use. Cambridge: CUP)

1. Make the two sentences into one, joining them with either AND or BUT as
appropriate. In the second part of the sentence use DO SO, DID SO, DOES SO, or
DOING SO instead of repeating the verb + object/complement.

1. She felt capable of taking on the job. She was well qualified to take on the job.

2. I have never met the ambassador. I would welcome the opportunity of meeting
the ambassador.

3. Janet doesn't normally sell any of her paintings. She might sell her paintings
if you ask her personally.

4. I thought the children would be unhappy about clearing away their toys. They
cleared away their toys without complaining.

5. Amy's piano teacher told her that she must practise every day. She has
practised every day since then without exception.

6. We have always tried to give the best value for money in our shops. We will
continue to try to give the best value for money in our shops.

2. Complete these sentences with DO/DID/DOES/DOING + so if possible.

Otherwise, complete the sentences with DO/DID/DOES/DOING alone.

1. Anyone who walks across the hills in this weather .......................... at their own risk.
2. I didn't think Don knew Suzanne, but apparently he ……………….
3. I thought the book was really good, and Barbara ......................... , too.
4. I don't like going to the dentist. None of us in our family ………………..
5. They went to the police station. They .......................... entirely voluntarily.
6. I gave her the medicine, and I take full responsibility for ……………….
7. You can call me Mike. Everyone ……………….

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 Handout-ELI-20

Sentence adverbials (Burton Roberts 1997 and Quirk et al 1985; supplements in

Huddleston and Pullum’s terminology)

A) Disjuncts:

Disjuncts vs. Adjuncts (modifiers of VP in Huddleston and Pullum’s terminology).

Compare:

(1) Peter admitted everything frankly.

(1a) Peter admitted everything, frankly.

(2) Max can only do the tango rather awkwardly.

(2a) Max can only do the tango, rather awkwardly.

(3) Mildred interfered between you and me.

(3a) Mildred interfered, between you and me.

–Examples of adverbs which can only function as disjuncts are:

Unfortunately, admittedly, certainly, of course, perhaps, possibly, sadly,

Two types of disjuncts: Style and content disjuncts (see handout 21)

B) Conjuncts.
“They have the function of conjoining independent units rather than one of contributing
another facet of information to a single integrated unit.” (Quirk et al 1985: 631)
Nevertheless, therefore, furthermore, thus, however, incidentally, by the way, etc.

(see ELI-21 for the semantics of conjuncts)

33
 Handout-ELI-21

"Disjuncts can be divided into two main classes: STYLE disjuncts (by far the smaller
class) and CONTENT disjuncts. Style disjuncts convey the speaker's comment on the style
and form of what he is saying, defining in some way under what conditions he is
speaking as the 'authority' for the utterance. Content disjuncts (also known as attitudinal
disjuncts) make observations o n the actual content of the utterance and its truth conditions.
These two classes and their subclasses are displayed in Fig 8.123. "

The semantics of conjuncts

We now group some of the commoner conjuncts according to their semantic roles:
A: LISTING
(i) Enumerative, as in:
In the first place, the economy is recovering, and secondly unemployment
is beginning to decline.
Cf also for one thing (. . . for another thing), next, then (again). finally;
especially in formal and technical use, we find a . . . b ... c . . ., one . . . two . .
. three ...
(ii) Additive, as in:
She has the ability. the experience. and above all the courage to tackle the
problem.
Cf also furthermore, moreover, what is more, similarly, in addition, on top of
that.
B: SUMMATIVE, as in:
He was late for work, he quarrelled with a colleague, and he lost his wallet; all
in all, it was a bad day.

34
 Handout-ELI-21

Cf also altogether, overall, therefore, in sum, to sum up.

C: APPOSITIVE, as in:
There was one snag; namely, the weather.
Cf also that is (to say), ie, for example, eg, in other words, specifically.
D: RESULTIVE, as in:
I got there very late, so I missed most of the fun.
Cf also therefore, as a result, accordingly, in consequence, of course.
E: INFERENTIAL, as in:
You haven't answered my question; in other words, you disapprove of the
proposal.
Cf also in that case, so, then, otherwise, else.
F: CONTRASTIVE
(i) Reformulatory and replacive, as in:
She's asked some of her friends — some of her husband's friends, rather.
Cf also (or) better, more accurately, in other words, alias, worse.
(ii) Antithetic, as in:
They had expected to enjoy being in Manila but instead they both fell ill.
Cf also on the contrary, by contrast, on the other hand, then.
(iii) Concessive, as in:
My age is against me: still, it's worth a try.
Cf also, however, nevertheless, yet, all the same, of course, that said, and several
informal expressions such as anyhow, anyways <esp AmE>, still and all <esp
AmE>, only, though.
G: TRANSITIONAL
(i) Discoursal, as in:
Let me introduce you to my sister, and by the way, did I tell you that I'm moving?
Cf also incidentally, now.
(ii) Temporal, as in:
The ambulance got stuck in rush-hour traffic and in the meantime the child became
delirious.
Cf also meanwhile, originally, subsequently, eventually.

35
 Handout-ELI-22

PHRASAL CATEGORIES: NPs

William Rutherford (1998) A Workbook in the Structure of English

Formal linguistics commonly distinguishes between complements and modifiers. These

can be represented within the NP by the kind of prepositional phrase (PP) that may
follow the head noun. For example, the PP following the noun teacher in a teacher of
linguistics is a complement; that following teacher in a teacher from Harvard is a
modifier. Listed below are some criteria for drawing these distinctions; each is
sufficient, though not all are necessary.

• Ordering (complements before modifiers)

a teacher of linguistics from Harvard / *a teacher from Harvard of linguistics
• Wh-question (only for complements):
What is she a teacher of? / *What is she a teacher from?
• Pro-N’ (only for modifiers: “one” replaces the noun which is MODIFIED):
the one from Harvard / *the one from linguistics [N’ is the same as NOMINAL]
• Stacking (only for modifiers):
a teacher from Harvard from England
*a teacher of linguistics of history
• Co-occurrence (limited for complements):
a teacher/student/*girl/*letter/*offer/*degree/etc. of linguistics
a teacher/student/letter/offer/degree/etc. from Harvard

For the NPs in each of the following pairs, indicate if they contain a complement, a
modifier or if they are ambiguous. Modifiers and complements are italicized.

1. the article on desks

2. the article on the desk
3. a constant search for knowledge
4. a constant search for nothing
5. interest in a university course
6. interest in a bank account
7. a mad dash after the bus

36
 Handout-ELI-22

8. a mad dash after the bus`s arrival

9. a ruler of no consequence
10. a ruler of no country
11. pain over his failure
12. pain over his face

37
 Handout-ELI-23

NOUN PHRASES

1. Identify the NPs in the following structures.

1. Those eyewitnesses willing to testify about what they had seen
2. Students of Latin who find the case system intolerable
3. The assumption that he will return home was proved wrong
4. The ban on belts with studs has caused resentment
5. The woman who was sitting next to you is an engineering student
6. The beautiful girl on the stage is my girlfriend
7. The rattlesnake, a venomous animal capable of causing death in human
beings, makes a rattling noise with its tail
8. The discussion in the bar was full and frank
9. He sent me a book on Buddhism which his wife had written
10. I didn´t like the suggestion that the candidate should be listed on the
ballot-paper in alphabetical order
11. My sister, who worked for the government
12. Unreasonable expectations of an improvement in conditions
13. Several remarkably good student essays on the theory of evolution

2. In each of the following sentences, underline the FULL NP whose head is

italicized.
1. The army wants women for special training.
2. Nobody will know the answer to a question like that, I bet.
3. If you think that problem’s hard, wait till you see the one on the
homework we have to hand in tomorrow.
4. We happened to see the accident on the way home from the beach.
5. Last night a TV program about wild animals came on too late for us to
watch.
6. Where does it say that immigrants have to swear an allegiance to the
state?
7. So you are looking for a book about linguistics that can serve as an
introductory text in course for advanced undergraduates.
8. Don’t forget to put the books on the shelf.

38
 Handout-ELI-23

9. Don´t forget to put the books on the shelf back where they belong.

3. Draw tree-diagrams for the following phrases:

1. The man
2. Books
3. John’s book
4. The boy’s house
5. Hieronimo’s brother’s behaviour
6. Hieronimo’s brother’s employer’s
behaviour
7. All the books
8. The beautiful house
9. The very beautiful house
10. The new red car
11. Very many books
12. Those many pages
13. That many pages
14. Some large greasy uneaten fritters
15. Those two very charming atomic scientists
16. More ferocious curries (2 interpretations)
17. The dying king’s final message

20. Those observations on alchemy by Newton

21. An interpretation of that sentence in Proust’s novel
22. A book of quotations from Shakespeare
23. A book of quotations from Oxford University Press

4. Decide whether the string of words in bold is a complement or a modifier.

1. The ban on the belt with studs has caused resentment
2. The beautiful girl on the stage is my girlfriend
3. The discussion in the bar was full and frank
4. The rattlesnake makes a rattling noise with its tail
5. Students of Greek find the case system intolerable
39
 Handout-ELI-23

6. My belief in God saved my life

7. The man in the grey suit seems to like the play
8. Contributions from unknown sources
9. The destruction of the building
10. The destruction of April 1944
11. The applicant in the waiting room
12. The adviser to royalty
13. The application for the job
14. A nuclear scientist
15. An attentive student
16. A criminal lawyer
17. A pessimistic engineer
18. Contributions to the fund
19. A royal adviser
20. A charming scientist
21. Your reply to my letter
22. The book on the table
23. The advertisement on the TV
24. The attack on the PM
25. Her disgust at his behaviour
26. The loss of the ship
27. The fight after the match
28. A cup with a broken handle

40
 Handout-ELI-24

NPs in English

Examples (6b):

41
 Handout-ELI-24

MODIFICATION – COMPLEMENTATION

MODIFIERS: COMPLEMENTS:
sister constituents of NOM sister constituents of N

42
 Handout-ELI-24

MAIN DIFFERENCES:

1) Complements are located closer to their heads.

2) There is a greater connection between heads and complements.
3) Certain deverbal nouns tend to be followed by a complement (the
complement of the verb in the non-nominalized version).
4) There is no limitation in the number of modifiers.
5) "One" can replace the head which precedes or follows modifiers (this is not
possible with complements). Remember "one" replaces NOMINALS.

Examples:

A: An interesting book C: The nuclear engineer

B: The students in the class D: The students of Linguistics

43
 Handout-ELI-24

Different combinations
1. COMPLEMENT + MODIFIER

2. COMPLEMENT with COMPLEMENT inside

44
 Handout-ELI-24

3. COMPLEMENT with MODIFIER inside

4. MODIFIER + MODIFIER

5. COMPLEMENT + COMPLEMENT (NOT POSSIBLE)

a. *The book of linguistics of Syntax
45
 Handout-ELI-25

SENTENCES WITHIN SENTENCES1: The functions of that- and whether-clauses

General:

I shall consider the following functions:

1. Subject – and extraposed subject.

2. Complement of Vgrp within VP.

“In support of having clausal subjects dominated by NP, notice that they can be
replaced by pronouns (it disconcerted her; this has not been noted by the critics;
that’s undeniable).”

1 i.e. SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

Information and examples from (Burton-Roberts 1997: 194-206)

46
 Handout-ELI-25

3. Complement of A within AP.

4. Complement of N within NP.

The clause is said to ‘complement the noun’ because it is in the same relation
to the N within NP as clauses that complement the Vgrp in VP. The same,
incidentally, goes for clauses complementing A in AP. Compare the following:

▪ His absence [INDICATES that he disapproves]. (VP)

▪ His absence is [INDICATIVE that he disapproves]. (AP)
▪ His absence is [an INDICATION that he disapproves]. (NP)
Information and examples from (Burton-Roberts 1997: 194-206)
47
 Handout-ELI-25

5. Complement of P within PP.

Complement of P within PP
In illustrating an interrogative clause functioning as a noun-complement clause,
B.R. gave The question whether they should establish a Website. This sounds less
natural than [a], in which a preposition has been introduced. See also [b] and [c].

a) The question of whether they should set up a website (was raised).

b) Sarah’s concerns about whether anyone had enough time were ignored.
c) Sergeant Gourmet was worrying about whether the rations would arrive.

These show that an interrogative clause can function as the complement of a

preposition within PP. In [a]–[b], the PP is modifying a noun. In [c], the PP is
functioning as the complement of the Vgrp (was worrying). These PPs will have the
representation given in 5 (Complement of P within PP).

EXERCISE 1: Identify the type that-clause

1. It is a disappointment that his monocle was not stolen.
2. One small difficulty is the fact that dinosaurs were extinct at that
moment.
3. It was a message that the party had been cancelled.
4. It is a well-known fact that beavers build dams.
5. It is our contention that you could dispense with that stupid monocle.

Information and examples from (Burton-Roberts 1997: 194-206)

48
 Handout-ELI-25

EXERCISE 2: Draw tree diagrams

1. That the spicy sauce had been a mistake soon became clear.
2. It is not my fault Max crushed your monocle.
3. I told him that his shirt was hanging out.
4. It has been noted by the critics that Goneril had a third eye.
5. The consensus is that you should taste the stew first.
6. She made him aware that he had overstepped the mark.
7. It is certain that her hair is dyed.
8. William is certain that her hair is dyed.
9. The announcement that Frank has resigned will be made after the plane
takes off.
10. It was unfortunate that the first lecture was cancelled.
11. His friends were sure he would not pass the text.

SENTENCES WITHIN SENTENCES: Adverbial clauses

Information and examples from (Burton-Roberts 1997: 194-206)

49
 Handout-ELI-26

SUBORDINATION

Relative vs Complement clause

–The news that she is leaving soon surprised everyone.

–The news that she gave us surprised everyone.
–There is a hidden flip side to being perfectionists that we may not be aware of.
–The policy that European nations should not interfere with America was known as
Monroe Doctrine.
–We are changing the deal that such people have anticipated for many years
–The use of "nurture" as a synonym for "environment" is based on the assumption that
what influences children's development, apart from their genes, is the way their parents
bring them up.
–Many people have the idea that meditation means just sitting quietly and doing
nothing. That is not true. It is an active training of the mind that increases awareness,
and different meditation programs approach this in different ways.

Wh clauses:

In the sentences below, identify the subordinate clause. Then, state what its
function is. When possible, indicate the function of the complementiser.

1. Martha was enquiring why he wore it on his foot.

2. How he would fare on the trapeze preoccupied him.
3. It is my affair what I wear at night.
4. Marcel was not certain who he had sent the flowers to.
5. The immediate problem was where they could hide those fritters.
6. The little matter of who is going to pay for all this has yet to be resolved.

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 Handout-ELI-27

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

All of them have an overt or covert complementiser.

All of them realize a function within the superordinate clause or within the phrase they
depend on.

Types:

-NOUN/CONTENT CLAUSES: that/ whether/interrogative or wh-clauses

-ADJECTIVE/RELATIVE CLAUSES: restrictive or non-restrictive
-ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
-(NON-FINITE CLAUSES)

➢ Remember: In interrogative or wh-clauses and Adjective/Relative clauses the

complementiser has a function within the subordinate.

1. That he was referring to me was quite obvious.

2. It is wonderful that she has a friend like Susan.
3. Why he made that decision remains a mystery.
4. How he would manage alone preoccupied him.
5. It is my affair what I wear at night.
6. He told me that she was not sure yet.
7. He asked me what I would have replied.
8. The problem is that some markets may be experiencing oversupply.
9. The question is what we have to lose.
10. The question is what we do about it.
11. The immediate problem was where they could hide those fritters.
12. Peter was not sure who he had seen.
13. Marcel was not certain who he had sent the flowers to.
14. We have to reframe the question of whether education can change society.
15. The little matter of who is going to pay for all this has yet to be resolved.
16. The fool that lent you a fiver was fired.
17. The thought that occurred to him led to a disaster.
18. The news that she had given John shocked them all.
19. The news that she had given John a good kick shocked them all.
20. The usher I showed my ticket to has left.
21. A friend whose car we borrowed wants it back
22. The place where you dropped your wallet is to far away now.
23. Triangles, which have three sides, have interesting properties.
24. The students of French left when the students of German arrived.
25. The classes will continue until the teachers go on holidays.
26. That she was so worried implied that she had something to hide.
27. The trouble is that you think you have time.
28. What I should do with the money she gave me when he died was what she
thought that I would ask.
29. As she was so stressed out, the doctor made the decision that she should have a
rest.

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 Handout-ELI-28

Draw complete phrase-markers for the sentences below, following the model proposed by
Burton-Roberts 1997.

1. Your suggestion that the students in the class should stay did not worry her at the
moment.
2. I told all the workers that Peter is positive that she will be dismissed after his
resignation.
3. In my opinion, it is undeniable that the driver of the car has put the corpse under the
vehicle after his visit to the little church in the village.
4. The fact that your sister’s friend has been looking for you the whole morning does not
imply you should smile when you see her.
5. My little sister’s friend told me that she is aware that her father will make her unhappy
when he marries that student of Latin.
6. I believe he has put the book of linguistics from the library behind the sofa on purpose.
7. The rumour that the two applicants for the job have given all their money to the beggars
in the street will be made clear next week.
8. Peter is certain she will go into the details thoroughly.
9. It appears that the new chef thought he could slip away.
10. We should have been given those exceedingly exciting books.
11. The gallery’s defence was that they didn’t realise they were copies until it was too late.
12. The announcement that Frank has resigned will be made after the plane takes off.

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