英语原版语法EnglishGrammarinEnglish

EnglishGrammarinEnglish

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AnIntroductiontoWordclasses 3

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CriteriaforWordClasses .4

Meaning 5

Theformor'shape'ofaword 5

Thepositionor'environment'ofawordinasentence 6

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Openand ClosedWordClasses 7

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Nouns 7

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CharacteristicsofNouns 8

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CommonandProperNouns .9

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CountandNon-countNouns 10

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Pronouns 10

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OtherTypesofPronoun 11

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Numerals 12

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TheGenderofNouns 13

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Determiners 14

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NumeralsandDeterminers 15

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PronounsandDeterminers 16

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TheOrderingofDeterminers 17

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Predeterminers 17

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CentralDeterminers 17

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Postdeterminers 18

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Verbs 18

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TheBaseForm 19

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PastandPresentForms 19

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TheInfinitiveForm 20

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MoreVerbForms:inganded 20

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FiniteandNonfiniteVerbs 21

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AuxiliaryVerbs 22

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AuxiliaryVerbTypes 22

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TheNICEPropertiesofAuxiliaries 24

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Semi-auxiliaries 24

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Tense andAspect 25

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Voice 26

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Adjectives 26

CharacteristicsofAdjectives 27

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AttributiveandPredicativeAdjectives 29

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InherentandNon-inherentAdjectives 29

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StativeandDynamicAdjectives 30

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NominalAdjectives 31

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AdjectivesandNouns 32

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ParticipialAdjectives 33

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TheOrderingofAdjectives 37

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Adverbs 39

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FormalCharacteristicsofAdverbs 40

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AdverbsandAdjectives 41

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CircumstantialAdverbs 41

Additives,Exclusives, andParticularizers 42

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Wh-Adverbs .43

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SentenceAdverbs 43

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Prepositions .44

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ComplexPrepositions 44

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MarginalPrepositions 45

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Conjunctions .45

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CoordinationTypes 47

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FalseCoordination 47

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Minorwordclasses 48

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FormulaicExpressions .48

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Existentialthere 49

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UsesofIt 49

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Introducesphrases 50

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DefiningaPhrase 50

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TheBasicStructureofaPhrase 50

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MorePhraseTypes 52

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NounPhrase(NP) 52

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VerbPhrase(VP) 53

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AdjectivePhrase(AP) 53

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AdverbPhrase(AdvP) 54

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PrepositionalPhrase(PP) 54

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PhraseswithinPhrases 54

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Clausesandsentences 55

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TheClauseHierarchy 55

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FiniteandNonfiniteClauses 56

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SubordinateClauseTypes 57

RelativeClauses 58

NominalRelativeClauses 58

SmallClauses 59

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SubordinateClauses:SemanticTypes 59

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Sentences 61

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TheDiscourseFunctionsofSentences 61

Declarative 61

Interrogative 61

Imperative 62

Exclamative 62

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TheGrammaticalHierarchy:Words,Phrases,Clauses,andSentences 63

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FormandFunction 64

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SubjectandPredicat 64

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CharacteristicsoftheSubject 65

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RealisationsoftheSubject 67

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SomeUnusualSubjects 68

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InsidethePredicate 69

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TheDirectObject 69

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RealisationsoftheDirectObject 70

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SubjectsandObjects,ActiveandPassive 71

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TheIndirectObject 71

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RealisationsoftheIndirectObject 72

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Adjuncts 72

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RealisationsofAdjuncts 73

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SentencePatternsfromaFunctionalPerspective 74

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SomeUntypicalSentencePatterns 75

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FunctionsandPhrases 77

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Complements 77

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Complements inother PhraseTypes 79

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AdjunctsinPhrases 80

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Complements andAdjuncts Compared 81

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Specifiers 81

1AnIntroductiontoWordclasses

Wordsarefundamentalunitsineverysentence,sowewillbeginbylookingatthese.Considerthewordsinthefollowingsentence:

mybrotherdrivesabigcar

Wecantellalmostinstinctivelythatbrotherandcararethesametypeofword,andalsothatbrotheranddrivesaredifferenttypesofwords.Bythiswemeanthatbrotherandcarbelongtothesamewordclass.Similarly,whenwerecognisethatbrotheranddrivesaredifferenttypes,wemeanthattheybelongtodifferentwordclasses.WerecognisesevenMAJORwordclasses:

Verb

be,drive,grow,sing,think

Noun

brother,car,David,house,London

Determiner

a,an,my,some,the

Adjective

big,foolish,happy,talented,tidy

Adverb

happily,recently,soon,then,there

Preposition

at,in,of,over,with

Conjunction

and,because,but,if,or

Youmayfindthatothergrammarsrecognisedifferentwordclassesfromtheoneslistedhere.Theymayalsodefinetheboundariesbetweentheclassesindifferentways.Insomegrammars,forinstance,pronounsaretreatedasaseparatewordclass,whereaswetreatthemasasubclassofnouns.Adifferencelikethisshouldnotcauseconfusion.Instead,ithighlightsanimportantprincipleingrammar,knownasGRADIENCE.Thisreferstothefactthattheboundariesbetweenthewordclassesarenotabsolutelyfixed.Manywordclassessharecharacteristicswithothers,andthereisconsiderableoverlapbetweensomeoftheclasses.Inotherwords,theboundariesare"fuzzy",sodifferentgrammarsdrawthemindifferentplaces.

Wewilldiscusseachofthemajorwordclassesinturn.ThenwewilllookbrieflyatsomeMINORwordclasses.Butfirst,letusconsiderhowwedistinguishbetweenwordclassesingeneral.

CriteriaforWordClasses

WebeganbygroupingwordsmoreorlessonthebasisofourinstinctsaboutEnglish.Wesomehow"feel"thabrotherandcarbelongtothesameclass,andthatbrotheranddrivesbelongtodifferentclasses.However,inordertoconductaninformedstudyofgrammar,weneedamuchmorereliableandmoresystematicmethodthanthisfordistinguishingbetweenwordclasses.

Weuseacombinationofthreecriteriafordeterminingthewordclassofaword:

Themeaningoftheword

Theformor'shape'oftheword

Thepositionor'environment'ofthewordinasentence

Meaning

Usingthiscriterion,wegeneralizeaboutthekindofmeaningsthatwordsconvey.Forexample,wecouldgrouptogetherthewordsbrotherandcar,aswellasDavid,house,andLondon,onthebasisthattheyallrefertopeople,places,orthings.Infact,thishastraditionallybeenapopularapproachtodeterminingmembersoftheclassofnouns.Ithasalsobeenappliedtoverbs,bysayingthattheydenotesomekindof"action",likecook,drive,eat,run,shout,walk.

Thisapproachhascertainmerits,sinceitallowsustodeterminewordclassesbyreplacingwordsinasentencewithwordsof"similar"meaning.Forinstance,inthesentenceMysoncooksdinnereverySunday,wecanreplacetheverbcookswithother"action"words:

MysoncooksdinnereverySunday

MysonpreparesdinnereverySunday

MysoneatsdinnereverySunday

MysonmissesdinnereverySunday

Onthebasisofthisreplacementtest,wecanconcludethatallofthesewordsbelongtothesameclass,thatof"action"words,orverbs.

However,thisapproachalsohassomeseriouslimitations.Thedefinitionofanounasaworddenotingaperson,place,orthing,iswhollyinadequate,sinceitexcludesabstractnounssuchastime,imagination,repetition,wisdom,andchance.Similarly,tosaythatverbsare"action"wordsexcludesaverblikebe,asinIwanttobehappy.What"action"doesberefertohere?Soalthoughthiscriterionhasacertainvaliditywhenappliedtosomewords,weneedother,morestringentcriteriaaswell.

Theformor'shape'ofaword

Somewordscanbeassignedtoawordclassonthebasisoftheirformor'shape'.Forexample,manynounshaveacharacteristic-tionending:

action,condition,contemplation,demonstration,organization,repetition

Similarly,manyadjectivesendin-ableor-ible:

acceptable,credible,miserable,responsible,suitable,terrible

ManywordsalsotakewhatarecalledINFLECTIONS,thatis,regularchangesintheirformundercertainconditions.Forexample,nounscantakeapluralinflection,usuallybyaddingan-sattheend:

car--carsdinner--dinnersbook--books

Verbsalsotakeinflections:

walk--walks'--walked--walking

Thepositionorenvironment,ofawordinasentence

Thiscriterionreferstowherewordstypicallyoccurinasentence,andthekindsofwordswhichtypicallyoccurneartothem.Wecanillustratetheuseofthiscriterionusingasimpleexample.Comparethefollowing:

IcookdinnereverySunday

Thecookisonholiday

In[1],cookisaverb,butin[2],itisanoun.Wecanseethatitisaverbin[1]becauseittakestheinflectionswhicharetypicalofverbs:

IcookdinnereverySunday

IcookeddinnerlastSunday

Iamcookingdinnertoday

MysoncooksdinnereverySunday

Andwecanseethatcookisanounin[2]becauseittakestheplural-sinflection

Thecooksareonholiday

Ifwereallyneedto,wecanalsoapplyareplacementtest,basedonourfirstcriterion,replacingcookineachsentencewith"similar"words:

Noticethatwecanreplaceverbswithverbs,andnounswithnouns,butwecannotreplaceverbswithnounsornounswithverbs:

*IchefdinnereverySunday

*Theeatisonholiday

Itshouldbeclearfromthisdiscussionthatthereisnoone-to-onerelationbetweenwordsandtheirclasses.Cookcanbeaverboranoun--italldependsonhowthewordisused.Infact,manywordscanbelongtomorethanonewordclass.Herearesomemoreexamples:

Shelooksverypale(verb)

She'sveryproudofherlooks(noun)

Hedrivesafastcar(adjective)

Hedrivesveryfastonthemotorway(adverb)

Turnonthelight(noun)

I'mtryingtolightthefire(verb)

Iusuallyhavealightlunch(adjective)

Youwillseeherethateachitalicisedwordcanbelongtomorethanonewordclass.However,theyonlybelongtoonewordclassatatime,dependingonhowtheyareused.Soitisquitewrongtosay,forexample,Cookisaverb".Instead,wehavetosaysomethinglike"cookisaverbinthesentenceIcookdinnereverySunday,butitisanouninThecookisonholiday".

Ofthethreecriteriaforwordclassesthatwehavediscussedhere,theInternetGrammarwillemphasisethesecondandthird-theformofwords,andhowtheyarepositionedorhowtheyfunctioninsentences.

1.2OpenandClosedWordClasses

SomewordclassesareOPEN,thatis,newwordscanbeaddedtotheclassastheneedarises.Theclassofnouns,forinstance,ispotentiallyinfinite,sinceitiscontinuallybeingexpandedasnewscientificdiscoveriesaremade,newproductsaredeveloped,andnewideasareexplored.Inthelatetwentiethcentury,forexample,developmentsincomputertechnologyhavegivenrisetomanynewnouns:

Internet,website,URL,CD-ROM,email,newsgroup,bitmap,modem,multimedia

Newverbshavealsobeenintroduced:

download,upload,reboot,right-click,double-click

Theadjectiveandadverbclassescanalsobeexpandedbytheadditionofnewwords,thoughlessprolifically.

Ontheotherhand,weneverinventnewprepositions,determiners,orconjunctions.Theseclassesincludewordslikeof,the,andbut.TheyarecalledCLOSEDwordclassesbecausetheyaremadeupoffinitesetsofwordswhichareneverexpanded(thoughtheirmembersmaychangetheirspelling,forexample,overlongperiodsoftime).Thesubclassofpronouns,withintheopennounclass,isalsoclosed.

Wordsinanopenclassareknownasopen-classitems.Wordsinaclosedclassareknownasclosed-classitems.

Inthepageswhichfollow,wewilllookindetailateachofthesevenmajorwordclasses.

Nouns

Nounsarecommonlythoughtofas"naming"words,andspecificallyasthenamesof"people,places,orthings".NounssuchasJohn,London,andcomputercertainlyfitthisdescription,buttheclassofnounsismuchbroaderthanthis.Nounsalsodenoteabstractandintangibleconceptssuchasbirth,happiness,evolution,technology,management,imagination,revenge,politics,hope,cookery,sport,literacy

Becauseofthisenormousdiversityofreference,itisnotveryusefultostudynounssolelyintermsoftheirmeaning.Itismuchmorefruitfultoconsiderthemfromthepointofviewoftheirformalcharacteristics.

CharacteristicsofNouns

Manynounscanberecognisedbytheirendings.Typicalnounendingsinclude:

-er/-or

actor,painter,plumber,writer

-ism

criticism,egotism,magnetism,vandalism

-ist

artist,capitalist,journalist,scientist

-ment

arrangement,development,establishment,government

-tion

foundation,organisation,recognition,supposition

MostnounshavedistinctiveSINGULARandPLURALforms.Thepluralofregularnounsisformedbyaddingtothesingular:

Singular

Plural

car

cars

dog

dogs

house

houses

However,therearemanyirregularnounswhichdonotformthepluralinthisway:

Singular

Plural

man

men

child

children

sheep

sheep

ThedistinctionbetweensingularandpluralisknownasNUMBERCONTRAST.

Wecanrecognisemanynounsbecausetheyoftenhavethe,a,oraninfrontofthem:

thecar

anartist

asurprise

theeggareview

Thesewordsarecalleddeterminers,whichisthenextwordclasswewilllookat.

Nounsmaytakean's("apostrophes")orGENITIVEMARKERtoindicatepossession:

theboy'spenaspider'swebmygirlfriend'sbrother

John'shouse

Ifthenounalreadyhasan-sendingtomarktheplural,thenthegenitivemarkerappearsonlyasanapostropheafterthepluralform:

theboys'pensthespiders'webstheBrowns'house

Thegenitivemarkershouldnotbeconfusedwiththe'sformofcontractedverbs,asinJohn'sagoodboy(=Johnisagoodboy).

Nounsoftenco-occurwithoutagenitivemarkerbetweenthem:

rallycartabletopcheesegraterUniversityentranceexamination

Wewilllookattheseinmoredetaillater,whenwediscussnounphrases.

CommonandProperNouns

NounswhichnamespecificpeopleorplacesareknownasPROPERNOUNS.

John

Mary

London

France

Manynamesconsistofmorethanoneword:

JohnWesley

QueenMarySouthAfricaAtlanticOceanBuckinghamPalace

Propernounsmayalsorefertotimesortodatesinthecalendar:

January,February,Monday,Tuesday,Christmas,ThanksgivingAllothernounsareCOMMONNOUNS.

Sincepropernounsusuallyrefertosomethingorsomeoneunique,theydonotnormallytakeplurals.However,theymaydoso,especiallywhennumberisbeingspecificallyreferredto:

therearethreeDavidsinmyclasswemettwoChristmasesago

Forthesamereason,namesofpeopleandplacesarenotnormallyprecededbydeterminerstheora/an,thoughtheycanbeincertaincircumstances:

it'snothingliketheAmericaIremembermybrotherisanEinsteinatmaths

CountandNon-countNouns

Commonnounsareeithercountornon-count.COUNTnounscanbe"counted",asfollows:

onepen,twopens,threepens,fourpens...

NON-COUNTnouns,ontheotherhand,cannotbecountedinthisway:

onesoftware,*twosoftwares,*threesoftwares,*foursoftwares...

Fromthepointofviewofgrammar,thismeansthatcountnounshavesingularaswellaspluralforms,whereasnon-countnounshaveonlyasingularform.

Italsomeansthatnon-countnounsdonottakea/anbeforethem:

Count Non-count

apen *asoftware

Ingeneral,non-countnounsareconsideredtorefertoindivisiblewholes.Forthisreason,theyaresometimescalledMASSnouns.

Somecommonnounsmaybeeithercountornon-count,dependingonthekindofreferencetheyhave.Forexample,inimadeacake,cakeisacountnoun,andtheabeforeitindicatessingularnumber.However,inIlikecake,thereferenceislessspecific.Itrefersto"cakeingeneral",andsocakeisnon-countinthissentence.

Pronouns

Pronounsareamajorsubclassofnouns.Wecallthemasubclassofnounsbecausetheycansometimesreplaceanouninasentence:

Noun

Pronoun

Johngotanewjob

〜Hegotanewjob

Childrenshouldwatchlesstelevision

〜Theyshouldwatchlesstelevision

Intheseexamplesthepronounshavethesamereferenceasthenounswhichtheyreplace.Ineachcase,theyrefertopeople,andsowecallthemPERSONALPRONOUNS.However,wealsoincludeinthisgroupthepronounitalthoughthispronoundoesnotusuallyrefertoaperson.Therearethreepersonalpronouns,andeachhasasingularandapluralform:

Person

Singular

Plural

1st

I

we

2nd

you

you

3rd

he/she/it

they

Thesepronounsalsohaveanothersetofforms,whichweshowhere:

1

Person

Singular

Plural

1

1st

me

us

1

2nd

you

you

1

3rd

him/her/it

them

Thefirstsetofforms(I,you,he...)exemplifiestheSUBJECTIVECASE,andthesecondset(me,you,him...)exemplifiestheOBJECTIVECASE.Thedistinctionbetweenthetwocasesrelatestohowtheycanbeusedinsentences.Forinstance,inourfirstexampleabove,wesaythathecanreplaceJohn

Johngotanewjob~Hegotanewjob

ButhecannotreplaceJohninIgaveJohnanewjob.Here,wehavetousetheobjectiveformhim:Igavehimanewjob.

OtherTypesofPronoun

Aswellaspersonalpronouns,therearemanyothertypes,whichwesummarisehere.

PronounType

MembersoftheSubclass

Example

Possessive

mine,yours,his,hers,ours,theirs

Thewhitecarismine

Reflexive

myself,yourself,himself,herself,itself,oneself,ourselves,yourselves,themselves

Heinjuredhimselfplayingfootball

Reciprocal

eachother,oneanother

Theyreallyhateeachother

Relative

that,which,who,whose,whom,where,when

Thebookthatyougavemewasreallyboring

Demonstrative

this,that,these,those

Thisisanewcar

Interrogative

who,what,why,where,when,whatever

Whatdidhesaytoyou?

Indefinite

anything, anybody,anyone,

something,somebody,someone,

There'ssomethinginmyshoe

nothing,nobody,none,noone

Caseandnumberdistinctionsdonotapplytoallpronountypes.Infact,theyapplyonlytopersonalpronouns,possessivepronouns,andreflexivepronouns.Itisonlyinthesetypes,too,thatgenderdifferencesareshown(personalhe/she,possessivehis/hers,reflexivehimself/herself).Allothertypesareunvaryingintheirform.

Manyofthepronounslistedabovealsobelongtoanotherwordclass-theclassofdeterminers.Theyarepronounswhentheyoccurindependently,thatis,withoutanounfollowingthem,asinThisisanewcar.Butwhenanounfollowsthem-Thiscarisnew-theyaredeterminers.Wewilllookatdeterminersinthenextsection.

Amajordifferencebetweenpronounsandnounsgenerallyisthatpronounsdonottaketheora/anbeforethem.Further,pronounsdonottakeadjectivesbeforethem,exceptinveryrestrictedconstructionsinvolvingsomeindefinitepronouns(alittlesomething,acertainsomeone).

Whiletheclassofnounsasawholeisanopenclass,thesubclassofpronounsisclosed.

Numerals

Numeralsincludeallnumbers,whetheraswordsorasdigits.Theymaybedividedintotwomajortypes.CARDINALnumeralsincludewordslike:

nought,zero,one,two,3,fifty-six,100,athousand

ORDINALnumeralsinclude

first,2nd,third,fourth,500th

Weclassifynumeralsasasubclassofnounsbecauseincertaincircumstancestheycantakeplurals:

fivetwosaretenhe'sinhiseighties

Theymayalsotakethe:

thefourthofJulyaproductofthe1960sAndsomepluralnumeralscantakeanadjectivebeforethem,justlikeothernouns:

thehousewasbuiltinthelate1960she'sinhisearlytwentiesthetemperatureisinthehighnineties

Ineachofourexamples,thenumeralsoccurindependently,thatis,withoutanounfollowingthem.Inthesepositions,wecanclassifythemasatypeofnounbecausetheybehaveinmuchthesamewayasnounsdo.Notice,forexample,thatwecanreplacethenumeralsinourexampleswithcommonnouns:

heisinhiseighties -heisinhisbedroom

~thebeginningofJuly

~aproductoftherevolution

thefourthofJuly

aproductofthe1960s

Numeralsdonotalwaysoccurindependently.Theyoftenoccurbeforeanoun,asin

oneday

threepages

thefourthdayofJuly

Inthisposition,weclassifythemasdeterminers,whichwewillexamineinthenextsection.

Finally,seeifyoucananswerthisquestion:

Isthesubclassofnumeralsopenorclosed?

TheGenderofNouns

Thegenderofnounsplaysanimportantroleinthegrammarofsomelanguages.InFrench,forinstance,amasculinenouncanonlytakethemasculineformofanadjective.Ifthenounisfeminine,thenitwilltakeadifferentformofthesameadjective-itsfeminineform.

InEnglish,however,nounsarenotinthemselvesmasculineorfeminine.Theydonothavegrammaticalgender,thoughtheymayrefertomaleorfemalepeopleoranimals:

thewaiterisveryprompt -thewaitressisveryprompt

thelionroarsatnight -thelionessroarsatnight

Thesedistinctionsinspellingreflectdifferencesinsex,buttheyhavenogrammaticalimplications.Forinstance,weusethesameformofanadjectivewhetherwearereferringtoawaiterortoawaitress:

anefficientwaiter-anefficientwaitress

Similarly,thenaturaldistinctionsreflectedinsuchpairsasbrother/sister,nephew/niece,andking/queenhavenoconsequenceforgrammar.Whiletheyrefertospecificsexes,thesewordsarenotmasculineorfeminineinthemselves.

However,genderissignificantinthechoiceofapersonalpronountoreplaceanoun:

Johnislate〜Heislate

Maryislate〜Sheislate

Herethechoiceofpronounisdeterminedbythesexofthepersonbeingreferredto.However,thisdistinctionislostintheplural:

JohnandMaryarelate~Theyarelate

JohnandDavidarelate~Theyarelate

MaryandJanearelate~Theyarelate

Genderdifferencesarealsomanifestedinpossessivepronouns(his/hers)andinreflexivepronouns(himself/herself).

Whenthenotionofsexdoesnotapply--whenwerefertoinanimateobjects,forinstance--weusethepronounit:

theletterarrivedlate~itarrivedlate

Determiners

Nounsareoftenprecededbythewordsthe,a,oran.ThesewordsarecalledDETERMINERS.Theyindicatethekindofreferencewhichthenounhas.ThedeterminertheisknownastheDEFINITEARTICLE.Itisusedbeforebothsingularandpluralnouns:

Singular

Plural

thetaxi

thetaxis

thepaper

thepapers

theapple

theapples

Thedeterminera(oran,whenthefollowingnounbeginswithavowel)istheINDEFINITEARTICLE.Itisusedwhenthenounissingular:

ataxi

apaper

anapple

Thearticlestheanda/anarethemostcommondeterminers,buttherearemanyothers:

anytaxi

thatquestion

thoseapples

thispaper

someapple

whatevertaxi

whichevertaxi

Manydeterminersexpressquantity:

allexamplesbothparentsmanypeopleeachpersoneverynightseveralcomputersfewexcusesenoughwater

noescape

Perhapsthemostcommonwaytoexpressquantityistouseanumeral.Welookatnumeralsasdeterminersinthenextsection.

NumeralsandDeterminers

Numeralsaredeterminerswhentheyappearbeforeanoun.Inthisposition,cardinalnumeralsexpr