GRAMÀTICA DESCRIPTIVA DE L’ANGLÈS II

1. GRAMMATICALITY

a) The children sang songs for the teacher

b) The teacher sang songs for the children
c) *Songs sang for the the children teacher (gramma7cal sentences are sequences
of words that conform to the rules of syntax; ungramma7cal sentences violate
them)

- The meaning of a sentence is more than the sum of the meaning of its words
- sentence is a string of words (or morphemes) but a string of words is not always
a sentence
- The rules of grammar determine how morphemes and words can combine to
express a specific meaning. Knowing a language means knowing which
combina7ons are possible and which are not
- Sentences are not simply random strings of words (and morphemes) but confirm
to specific paEerns
- Also, gramma7cality judgements are not based on whether the sentence has
been heard before, whether the sentence is meaningful or not, whether the
sentence is true or not

AMBIGUITY

Syntac7c knowledge may also account for mul7ple meanings, the same string may be
analysed differently

a) I like bi7ng dogs

b) I saw the man with telescope on the hill

FORM AND MEANING

Syntac7c knowledge also allows us to determine whether two sentences have the same
meaning

a) Pleasing Susan is fun for John

b) It is fun for John to please Susan

a) The student solved the problem

b) The problem was solved by the student
CONSTITUENCY

- Syntac7c rules determine how words are grouped in a sentence

- The groupings are called cons7tuents

We need to be aware of the fact that sentences have hierarchical structure not to
overlook poten7al ambiguity

2. THE ENGLISH SENTENCE I

Clause paEerns (verb complementa7on)

Verb type:
- Intransi7ve
o It’s raining/ the dog died (SV)
- Monotransi7ve
o Marta loves John (SVO)
o She insists on an answer (SVObl)
- Copular (or complex intransi7ve)
o Lucy seems bored (SVCs)
o Lucy is a doctor (SVCs)
o My office is upstairs (SVAdvC)
- Ditransi7ve (SVOO)
o I gave him a rose (SVOO)
o They gave a rose to him (SVOObl)
o They charged him with murder (SVOObl)
- Complex-transi7ve
o Consider Chris nice (a nice guy) (SVOCo)
o I put the key in my pocket (SVOAdvC)

a) Disappear, die, vegetate

à typically intransi7ve

b) Treat, inspect, throw

à typically transi7ve

c) Play, eat, elect

à the great majority of monotransi7ve verbs belong to the intransi7ve class as well
Elect: they elected her/they elected her our rep

d) Drink, propose, expect

à some verbs may belong to different classes with different meanings
Tes7ng for “arguments” (obligatory cons7tuents)
- Omission of cons7tuents:
o Dave became ill à Dave became (ungramma7cal)
- Change in meaning?
o Dave fell ill à Dave fell (it’s not ungramma7cal but we cannot omit “ill”
because it does not have meaning)
o Dave stayed in bed à Dave stayed (ungramma7cal)
o Dave kept Sue in bed à Dave kept Sue

3. THE ENGLISH SENTENCE II

SENTENCE VS CLAUSE
- I found her an interes7ng partner à simple sentence
- Winter had come and snow lay thick on the ground à compound sentence
- Although I admire her reasoning, I reject her conclusions à complex sentence
Clauses are part of a sentence

CLAUSE AND SENTENCE TYPOLOGY

- Hierarchical structure of a sentence:
Word > phrase > clause > sentence
- Types of clauses:
o Independent or main: (I like him)
o Subordinate: (I love (snowboarding in the Alps))
- Types of sentences:
o Simple or complex (I like him or I love snowboarding in the Alps)
o Compound: (I like him and he likes me)
- Sentences can be canonical or non-canonical. If they are canonical, we have (SV)
and some other paEerns, for example SVO, SVAdv… A non-canonical sentence is
when there is no order with the clause paEerns, for example OSV, mushrooms I
love.
- Structure of canonical sentence: ((subject (NP)) (predicate (VP)))

BASIC VS NON-BASIC SENTENCES

- Polarity (posi7ve vs nega7ve)
o He is very rich (basic)
o He isn’t very rich (non-basic)
- Clause type (declara7ve vs interroga7ve and impera7ve):
o She enjoyed the film (basic)
o Did she enjoy the film? (non-basic)
o Watch the film (non-basic)
- Subordina7on (main vs subordinate):
o She studies grammar (basic)
 o I think that she studies grammar (non-basic)
o Studying grammar was a great idea (non-basic)
o She is the girl who studies grammar (non-basic)
- Coordina7on of sentences:
o John washed the car (basic)
o Mary watched TV (basic)
o Compound: john washed the car and Mary watched TV (non-basic)
- Informa7on packaging (passives: ac7ve vs passive voice):
o The dog bit me (basic)
o I was biEen by the dog (non-basic)
- Preposing:
o I love mushrooms (basic)
o Mushrooms I love (non-basic)
- Extraposi7on:
o That I overslept was unfortunate (basic)
o It was unfortunate that I overslept (non-basic)

TYPES OF CLAUSES
- Finite clauses: clauses headed by a primary verb- form, an impera7ve and a
subjunc7ve. Main clauses are always finite and subordinate clauses may be finite
or non-finite
- Non-finite clauses: subordinate clauses headed by a gerund-par7ciple, a past
par7ciple or a plain form of the infini7val construc7on
- Verbless clauses: those which have an omiEed verb, typically be. For example:
he talked about the different pa7ents he was trea7ng, many of the mentally ill.

SENTENCE TYPE AND DISCOURSE FUNCTION

- Declara7ve: SV structure, situa7onal ellipsis: declara7ve clauses without explicit
subject, though I can be inferred from the context. VS structure: the fron7ng of
some complement of the predicate provokes S-V inversion, for example up went
the balloon.
- Interroga7ves:
o Closed interroga7ves clauses: limited range of possible answers. Polar
interroga7ves, alterna7ve interroga7ves and interroga7ve tags.
o Open interroga7ve clauses: open range of possible answers. For example,
Wh- interroga7ves
o Polar interroga7ves: they open with an auxiliary followed by the subject
and they expect affirma7on or nega7on (are you happy?)
o Alterna7ve interroga7ves: they open with an auxiliary followed by the
subject and they present alterna7ves (in the mee7ng today, tomorrow, or
next Monday?)
 o Interroga7ve tags: it consists of an auxiliary and a subject pronoun, the
choice of the auxiliary is given by the preceding declara7ve clause and
their main func7on is to elicit confirma7on or agreement rather than
elici7ng informa7on (we haven’t done anything wrong, have we?)
o Wh-interroga7ves: a wh-element is posi7oned ini7ally and there is
subject-auxiliary inversion (which version did they recommend?)
- Impera7ves:
o Posi7ve impera7ves: usually they don’t have an overt gramma7cal
subject. When there is an overt subject, it may be the subject pronoun
you or a 3rd person subject NP (you shut up!, somebody open this door,
parents with two children leave the room). The verb is the plain form.
o 1st person inclusive let-impera7ves: overt subject 1st personal plural,
subject in the objec7ve case just ader “let” (let’s consider the effect of
such an approach)
o Impera7ve with empathic “do”: it makes the message more persuasive or
insistent. “do” must appear in ini7al posi7on and also is possible if there
is no overt subject (do have some tea) and “let’s” is present (do let’s go
for a walk)
o Nega7ve impera7ves: “don’t” need to be added in ini7al posi7on so as to
negate an impera7ve clause. Replace asser7ve by non-asser7ve items
when necessary (don’t ask me anything else but no don’t ask me nothing
else)
- Exclama7ve: they have an ini7al phrase (introduced by “what” or “how”). For
example, what a disaster you are! or How wonderfully you dress! They normally
follow an SV order.

THE FOUR MAJOR COMMUNICATE FUNCTIONS

 4. APPROACHES TO CLAUSE ANALYSIS

HEADS AND DEPENDENTS

Dependents can have arguments structured by a subject and complements (arguments:
obj, C…) or non-arguments structured by adjuncts.

ARGUMENTS VS. NON-ARGUMENTS

- Arguments: subcategorized dependents, they are licensed by their head
- Non-arguments: not subcategorized by the head

ARGUMENTS VS. ADJUNCTS

- Arguments:
o Arguments of the verb
o Subcategorized dependents. (Their head selects the number and type of
complements and the head imposes selec7onal restric7ons on its
complements)
o They tend to be obligatory
- Adjuncts:
o Non-arguments of the verb
o Not subcategorized by the head. (They do not select the number and type
of adjuncts and the head does not impose selec7onal restric7ons on
adjuncts)
o They are always op7onal

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES (form/shape) vs SYNTACTION FUNCTIONS

- Gramma7cal categories:
o Phrases: NP, VP, AdjP, AdvP, PP
o Clauses: rela7ve Cl, that cl…
- Syntac7c func7ons:
o Subject
o Complements (arguments)
o Adjuncts

5. (CLAUSE STRUCTURE) SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS: SUBJECTS, OBJECTS,

COMPLEMENTS AND ADJUNCTS

COMPLEMENTS (ARGUMENTS) VS. ADJUNCTS

- Complements/arguments are licensed by the verb. Their occurrence depends on
the type of verb
- Adjuncts: are always op7onal. They occur independently of the verb
o Her dress was blue because it is her favorite color
 o I met her yesterday
o They s7ll believe you cheated them

ARGUMENTS (SUBJECT)
Tradi7onal grammars provide a seman7c defini7on for subject: subjects = performer of
the ac7on.
the defini7on fails in:
- She knows him well
- John suffered a heart aEack
- My mother was aEacked by the neighbor’s dog
The subject of an English clause cannot be iden7fied on the basis of seman7c role.

Dis7nc7ve syntac7c proper7es of the subject:

- Basic posi7on before the V or VP:
o John loves Mary / Mary loves John
- Case (only pronouns):
o He (nom) loves her (acc)
- Agreement (subjects-verb agreement)
o John (3sng) loves (3sng) Mary
- Subject-auxiliary inversion
o Does John love Mary?

ARGUMENTS (OBJECTS)
Dis7nc7ve syntac7c proper7es of objects:
- Prototypical form: NP
- Licensed by the verb and usually obligatory
- Prototypical objects passivise
- Accusa7ve case (pronouns)
- Basic posi7on immediately ader the verb
o John broke (a window) object
o John arrived (last week) adjunct

Direct object vs. indirect object:

- John gave (Mary) OI (the books) OD
- John bought (them) OI (come books) OD
The tradi7onal labels directs and indirect are based on the idea that in clauses describing
an ac7on the referent of the OD is apparently more directly involved in being acted on
in the situa7on than the referent of the OI.
Syntac7c differen7a7on: posi7on, OI precedes OD
- I won’t give (you) OI (anything) OD
- He lent (me) OI (his car) OD
Da7ve alterna7on:
Alterna7on of the OI with preposi7onal construc7ons “to” and “for” with most
ditransi7ve verbs.
- He gave (us) OI (a cake) OD
- He gave (a cake) OD (to us) Oblique
- She’ll cook (you) OI (a good dinner) OD
- She’ll cook (a good dinner) OD (for you) oblique

ARGUMENTS (PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENTS, PC, Cs, Co)

Prototypical forms:
- AdjP: john is happy
- NP: john is a linguist
- PP: john is under the weather
- AdvP: the news was over

Two paEerns:
PCs are always directed towards a predicant (subject or object)
- SVCs: they became friends
- SVOCo he painted the house blue
If the PC has the form of an NP then it contrasts directly with an object:
- Monroe was a millionaire
- Monroe married a millionaire
PC can be classified into resulta7ve or depic7ve depending on the seman7c implica7ons
of the verb.
- Depic7ve PC: describes the state of the predicant argument (subject or object).
No change is implied.
- Resulta7ve PC: describes the result of the event expressed by a verb deno7ng a
change of state.
Obligatory vs. op7onal PCs:

Sentences 1 and 3: the omission of the PC results in a change of meaning of the verb
Sentences 2 and 4: the omission of the PC results in an ungramma7cal sentence
Sentence 5 and 8: the omission of the PC neither results in a change of meaning of the
verb nor in an ungramma7cal sentence

OBLIQUES (preposiOonal complements/arguments)

- Oblique = argument introduced by a preposi7on

- Preposi7onal complements: some grammars dis7nguish between obliques and
adverbial complements. That is, not all arguments introduced by a preposi7on
(PP-Compl) are considered to be obliques. In some approaches adverbial
complements (AdvC) aren’t.
- The PP is lexically selected: the head licenses/determines a specific preposi7on.
The head of the PP is a dummy preposi7on. For example “(John) depends (on
Mary)” we have the NP (subject), V, and PP (oblique preposi7on), so the clause
paEern is: SVOprep
- (John) gave (a book) (to Mary), we have NP (subject), V, NP (Od) and PP (Oi,
oblique). The clause paEern is: SVOdOi (Oi, when introduced by a
preposi7on=oblique)
- Also the by-phrase in passive voice, The wall was painted (by my sister), we
have NP (subject), V, and PP (by, O =oblique)

ADVERBIAL COMPLEMENTS

The PP is seman7cally selected. The verb determines the role of the PP complement,
the head of the PP is a meaningful preposi7on. (John) lives (in London), we have NP
(subject), V, PP (loca7on, AdvC oblique). The clause paEern is: SVAdvC

ADJUNCTS

Types of adjuncts (the most frequent categories are):

- Manner, instrument, place, 7me, dura7on, frequency, degree, purpose, result,
concession, condi7on and company

Manner:
- It describes how the process expressed by the VP is performed
 - Realiza7on:
o AdvP (normally a gradable one)
§ She departed very has7ly (gradable)
§ Beat the eggs separately (non-gradable)
o PP (“with”, “without” and “in” + NP
§ She carried the baby with great care
§ She talked in a spontaneous way
o NP (less frequent)
o Don’t eat that way

Instrument:
- It describes the instrument used to perform the process expressed by the VP
- Realiza7on:
o PP (“with” and “without”, others)
§ They ate with their fingers
§ She opened the door without the key
§ The leEer was wriEen by hand
§ She worked it all out on her computer

Place:
- It refers to the place where the process expressed by the VP takes place
- Realiza7on:
o PP
§ I always have dinner in the kitchen
§ Next door they sell jewellery

Time:
- It locates in 7me the situa7on described by the verb
- Realiza7on:
o PP (the most common form)
§ I spoke to her before the mee7ng
o NP
§ I read your thesis last week
o AdvP
§ They finished it recently

Dura7on:
- It describes the extent in 7me that the process expressed by the verb takes
- Realiza7on:
o PP
§ They stayed there for three weeks
§ They built the house in a year
o NP
§ We argued about it all weekend
o AdvP
§ I will stay in your house temporarily
Frequency:
- It describes the frequency of the process expressed by the VP
- Realiza7on:
o AdvP
§ We periodically visit our friends
o NP
§ She plays tennis every two days

Degree:
- It refers to the level of intensity of the process expressed by the verb
- Realiza7on:
o AdvP (it’s the prototypical form)
§ I absolutely agree with you
§ I had modified it slightly
o PP (it’s not so common)
§ He had for the most part understood what they said
§ I didn’t like it in the least

Purpose:
- It describes the purpose of performing the process expressed by the verb (it
normally entails inten7on)
- Realiza7on:
o PP (prep+ clausal complement)
§ He phoned everybody in order that they may all remember
about the mee7ng
§ He phoned everybody in order to remind them about the
mee7ng
§ He phoned everybody so that they may all remember about the
mee7ng
§ He phoned everybody so as to remind them about the mee7ng
o PP (prep+NP)
§ I did it for fun

Result:
- It describes the result of the process expressed by the verb. It does not imply
inten7onality or agen7vity
- Realiza7on:
o PP
§ They forgot to turn off the light so that / with the result that the
bulb didn’t work when they return home ader their summer
holidays

Concession:
- It expresses contrast between two circumstances
- Realiza7on:
o PP
§ Though an American ci7zen, he has never lived in the States
 § While the first act was excellent, the second was dull
o AdvP
§ The term papers were very brief. S7ll, they were beEer than I
expected (conjunct)

Condi7on:
- It describes the necessary condi7on so that the process expressed by the verb
becomes true
- Realiza7on:
o PP (if (prototypical head) + clause)
§ If you touch that wire, you will get an electric shock
§ I won’t pass the subject unless I study harder

Company:
I went to the cinema with my sister

CAA2
3. VERBS WITH PREDICATIVE / RESULTATIVE COMPLEMENTS

HEAD-SHIFT

Resulta7ve:
- He hammered the metal flat
- The door banged shut
- He slammed the door shut
- He scared the passengers s7ff
- I laughed myself sick

Resulta7ve of movement:
- V + PP
o They bribed themselves out of the jail
- V + satellite
o This will scare the thieves off
o He bought his partners out

Examples with no objects:

- The liEle worm crawled up my leg
- The log floated into the cave
- He puffed up the stairs

4. CLAUSE STRUCTURE (posiOon of predicate dependents (predicate=verb))

POSITION OF DEPENDENTS

Core vs non-core complements / arguments

- Core complements:
 o NPs (objects)
o ADJPs (predica7ve complements: Cs, Co)

- Non-core complements:
o PP (obliques and some Adverbial complements)

Order of complements / arguments

- Head > Core > non-core
o Sam gave the boss his report (SVOO)
o Sam gave his report to the boss (SVOObl)
o Sam gave to the boss his report

Order of adjuncts
- Head > complements / arguments > adjuncts (default)
o Sylvia drove me to the sta7on ader the class
o Ader class Sylvia drove me to the sta7on
- (manner)
o Joe read slowly the book (head > adjunct > core)
o Joe read slowly to their children (head > adjunct > non-core)

MORE AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES

- She put the flowers in the vase in the kitchen
o In the vase which is in the kitchen
o Do it in the kitchen
o The flowers that are in the vase
- She decided on the boat
o When she was on the boat
o She picked up the boat
- She said they would leave last weekend
o Las weekend she said that
o Las weekend is the 7me when they would leave
- The design has big squares and circles
o Both the squares and circles are big
o Just the squares are big
- The train led the sta7on crowed and dirty
o The train was crowed and dirty
o The sta7on was crowed and dirty

5. THE SYNTAX-SEMANTICS INTERFACE: SEMANTIC ROLES

SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

The thief killed husband and wife with a gun

- Syntac7c func7on
o Clause structure (SVO (A))
o Clause paEern: SVO
- Syntac7c form (gramma7cal category)
 o Lexical paEern: kill<Subj-NP, Obj-Np>

SEMANTIC STRUCTURE

The specifica7on of the seman7c rela7ons that exist between a verb and its
complements.
Seman7c rela7ons=seman7c roles (we need to specify not only the number of
arguments a verb requires but also their seman7c roles).
This will account for seman7cally ill-formed sentences:
- The pizza ate the boy

Seman7c structure:
- Argument structure:
o Kill<Subj-NP-Agent, Obj-NP-Pa7ent> The thief killed husband and wife
with a gun

Seman7c roles:
Three levels of generality:
- Verb-specific seman7c role
- Thema7c rela7on
- Seman7c macroroles

1st level: verb-specific seman7c roles:

- (the thief) killed (the couple)
Killer vic7m

- (Sam) is running
Runner

Being over specific, one would have to iden7fy an individual role for each verb,
basically verb-specific seman7c roles such as runner, dancer, listener… but this
prevents us from overserving generaliza7ons among seman7c roles.

2nd level: thema7c rela7ons:

Generaliza7on across the verb-specific roles à agent, pa7ent…
- (the thief) killed (the couple)
Agent pa7ent
- (Sam) is running
Agent

3rd level: seman7c macroroles:

Generaliza7ons across thema7c rela7ons à actor, undergoer
- (the thief) killed (the couple)
Actor undergoer

- (Sam) is running
Actor
Being to general prevents us from observing the differences among seman7c roles.

Seman7c theore7cal considera7ons:

- theta roles are the formal device for represen7ng syntac7c argument structure
(the number and type of arguments required by a par7cular verb, the verb put
is said to assign 3 theta roles)
o an argument may only bear one theta role
o only arguments bear theta roles
o adjuncts do not bear theta roles
- a noun can bear only one theta role, but can take mul7ple thema7c rela7ons.
“Sean gave David the paper”. Sean bears both “agent” and “source” thema7c
rela7ons; but it only bears one theta role, the external “agent” role. One way of
thinking about theta roles is that they are bundles of thema7c rela7ons
associated with an argument posi7on
- each argument is assigned a special par7cipant role in rela7on to the verb.
Roles are not inherent proper7es of NPs, for instance, but are rela7onal no7ons
and depend on their occurrence in the context of a given sentence
- the verb controls the range of seman7c roles It takes, imposing selec7on
restric7ons on the seman7c characteris7cs of its arguments. There isn’t a one-
to-one rela7onship between syntac7c func7ons and seman7c role: instead,
there are typical matchings: cross-linguis7cally, languages show a preference for
the gramma7cal subject being agent or related animate seman7c roles,
whereas the object typically is pa7ent or theme

Drawbacks:
- no agreement among linguists on an inventory of seman7c roles
- even for the trained linguist, there are considerable difficul7es to clearly
iden7fy seman7c roles in a specific context. In many cases the proposed
inventory of roles does not seem to be sufficient to capture a specific seman7c
rela7on between a verb and its argument
- overlap of roles (one single argument may have more than one role)

PROPOSED INVENTORY
- agent: animate and voli7onal ini7ator of events
- causer: non-voli7onal en7ty which is directly involved in the causa7on of an
ac7on or an event
- pa7ent: en7ty which is acted upon, affected, or created, or of which a change
of state is predicated
- theme: en7ty which undergoes a change of loca7on or possession; or whose
loca7on is being specified (or about which something is being predicated). It
has a rather wide applica7on
- experience: animate en7ty which perceives a s7mulus or registers a par7cular
mental or emo7onal process or state
- s7mulus: object of percep7on, cogni7on, or emo7on; en7ty which is seen,
heard, known, remembered, loved, hated…
- recipient: animate en7ty which receives or acquires something (a s subtype of
goal applying in the field of possession)
 - beneficiary: usually animate; an argument that something is obtained for or
done for
- instrument: inanimate en7ty used by an agent to perform some ac7on
- loca7on: spa7al (and temporal) reference point of the event. The loca7on role
includes the subtypes source, foal and path, which respec7vely describe the
origin (or beginning-point), des7na7on (or end-point) and pathway of a mo7on
- state of affairs: situa7ons, events…
- preposi7ons (props): preposi7onal content of clauses

RECIPIENT VS BENEFICIARY
- da7ve shid (NP to NP)
- benefac7ve: a case of da7ve shid with for

gramma7cal differences:
- benefac7ves are taken to be structurally dis7nct from the cases with to. PPs
with for are op7onal while ditransi7ve to PPs are not
- do so test: do so subs7tutes for an en7re VP
- da7ve alterna7on (to):
o many of the verbs (but not all) are verbs of change of possession
o the to preposi7on is a goal preposi7on (communicate, describe, donate,
explain, report)
- benefac7ve alterna7on (for):
o verbs that can be broadly characterized as either verbs of obtaining or
verbs of crea7on (in an extended use)
o the for preposi7on is benefac7ve (construct, create, design, obtain,
purchase)

6. VALENCY ALTERNATIONS

PASSIVE ALTERNATION
- Pat must have washed the dishes (SVO)
o Was<Subj-Np-Agent, Obj-NP-pa7ent>
- The dishes must have been washed by Pat (SVObl)
o Washed <Subj-NP-pa7ent, Obl-PP-agent>
1. Voice: ac7ve to passive
2. Roles: agent, pa7ent
3. Clause paEern: SVO à SVObl

DATIVE ALTERNATION
- Pat gave Sam your phone number (SVOO)
o Give<Subj-NP-Agent, Obj-NP, recipient, Obj-NP-theme>
- Pat gave your phone number to Sam (SVOObl)
o Give<subj-NP-agent, Obj-NP-Theme, Obj-PP-recipient>
1. Roles: recipient, theme
2. Clause paEern: SVOO à SVOObl
ERGATIVE ALTERNATION
- The sun melted the ice (SVO)
- The ice melted (SV)
Clause paEern: SVO (V transi7ve) à SV (V intransi7ve)

- Passive alterna7on: SVO à SVObl

- Da7ve alterna7on: SVOO à SVOObl
- Erga7ve alterna7on: SVO à SV

7. DATIVE SHIFT AND PASSIVE

(NP V NP NP) / (NP V NP TO NP)

- Ac7ve: he gave Susan a book / he gave a book to Susan
- Passive: Susan was given a book / a book was given to Susan

(NP V NP NP)
- Ac7ve: he wished me a happy birthday / he wished a happy birthday to me
- Passive: I was wished a happy birthday / a happy birthday was wished to me
- He asked me the way
- The bank refused me a loan
(other verbs: allow, cost, deny, wish, forgive)

Warning:
- Verbs with very similar meanings are not used in the same structures:
o They’ll give some old books to the library
o They’ll give the library some old books

8. MIDDLE TRANISTIVITY ALTERNATION (pseudo-passive/middle construcOon) vs

ergaOve alternaOon
- The subject of the intransi7ve verb corresponds to the object of the transi7ve
use:
o Crystal vases shaEer easily (middle construc7on)
o The crystal vase shaEered (erga7ve alterna7on)
- Middle alterna7on does not denote an event, it need not have a specific 7me
reference
- Cristal vases shaEer easily
o It always implies an implicit agent
o It oden includes an adverbial or modal element
o There is a causing of a change of state
- In the erga7ve construc7on the meaning may not be described as passive
(there’s no agent required)
o The window broke
o The ice melted
o The balloon burst
o Verbs (of change of state or posi7on):
§ Break verbs: break, crack, crush, smash, split, tear, burst
 § Roll verbs: bounce, drid, drop, move, slide
§ Verbs of change of state: abate, age, blur, capsize, condense,
contract, melt
§ Color: blacken, tan
- Verbs that display the erga7ve alterna7on are found in the middle construc7on,
but there are a number of verbs found in the middle construc7on that do not
display the erga7ve alterna7on
o Colloquial language translates badly
o Colloquial language translates

9. PASSIVE VERB FORM OR ADJECTIVE? WHERE IS THE FRONTIER?

a) I’m excited
b) We were worried
c) She was frightened

a) I’m excited (by/at the prospect of the trip)

b) We were worried (about/by her silence)
c) She was frightened (of spiders)

1.
a) John and Sue were married by the same priest
b) They are s7ll happily married

2.
a) Her leg was broken while skiing
b) She could not ski that winter because her leg was broken

10. CLAUSAL COMPLEMENTS / ARGUMENTS

- X- complements (X-compl)
- Clause-complements (cl-compl)

X-COMPLEMENT (the CatenaOve construcOon)

Catena7ve complement:
- Non-finite clause func7oning as internal complement of a verb
- Simple catena7ve construc7on (SVX-compl)
- Complex catena7ve construc7on (SVOX-Compl)

SVX-compl and SVOX-compl

1. Bill wanted to visit the doctor

(Bill) subj wanted (to visit the doctor) Xcompl
<Subj X-compl=Subj>
 2. Bill wanted Laura to visit the doctor
(Sam) subj wanted (Laura) Obj (to visit the doctor) x-compl
<Subj X-compl=Obj>

- Verbs that subcategorize an X-Comp are examples of Control Verbs

- Control verbs may be classified as:
o Subject-control
§ Their syntac7c subject is seman7cally shared
o Object-control
§ Their syntac7c object is seman7cally shared

1. Manel tried to escape (tried: subject-control)

2. Manel convinced Sue to escape (convinced: object-control. Sue is syntac7cally
only the Od of convinced, but seman7cally both the pa7ent of convinced and
the agent of to escape)

CLAUSE COMPLEMENT

- Internal complements of a verb which have the form of a subordinate clause

- Types:
o That clause:
§ I think that you are a liar
o Whether / if clause
§ I can’t remember whether/if he went to the cinema
o Wh- clause (open interroga7ve content clause)
§ I don’t understand how they managed to get there
o For clause
§ He arranged for her to be interviewed first

- “that” = complemen7zer / subordinator

- The complemen7zer is likely to be omiEed under certain circumstances:
o In informal style
o With short and common verbs
§ I think it’s a good idea vs. this will demonstrate that this is
genuine
o When it is not separated from the verb by another phrase
§ They told me that you were out vs they said you were in town

- Contrary to closed interroga7ve clauses, closed interroga7ve content clauses

are not marked by the subject-auxiliary inversion
o Did he accept the offer? Vs. I’m unsure whether he accepted the offer
o Will you go to the party? Vs. he asked her if she will go to the party
- And wh-clause (open interroga7ve content clause)
o Why did you change your mind? Vs I can’t understand why she changed
her mind
- “for” func7ons as the complemen7zer/subordinator
- It is non-finite
- It has a syntac7c subject in the accusa7ve form
o He arranged for her to be interviewed first