LINGUISTICS 2: SYNTAX A Basic Summary 1. Count the sentences (also: sentences within sentences and subordinate clauses).

. Pay extra attention when you see words like and, that,... 2. Identify the constituents and their appropriate categories. Every sentence consists of a subject (NP) and a predicate (VP). Always. Mind the difference between category (e.g. NP, VP) and function (e.g. subject, dO). - Phrasal categories (consisting of multiple words, i.e. phrases): NP, VP, PP, AdvP, AP. - Lexical categories (consisting of single words): N, V, P, Adv, A, etc... - Modifiers are optional, complements are obligatory. Modifiers are dependent of the head word. Modifier Head: one-way dependency Complement Head: two-way dependency 3. Draw the basic Verb Phrase (see Ch. 4), and, if appropriate, any adjuncts. 4. Look for auxiliaries, if any, and label them appropriately. Remember the fixed order: MOD PERF PROG PASS. 5. And then the real fun starts with questions, negative and passive sentences, adjuncts & more ! Chapter 4 The basic Verb Phrase (so, only lexical verbs!)

Transitive [trans] Intransitive [intrans] Ditransitive [ditrans]

subject (S) V direct object (dO) subject (S) V subject (S) V indirect object (iO) 1 direct object (dO) 2 or subject (S) V direct object (dO) indirect object (iO) subject (S) V subject-predicative (sP) 3 subject (S) V direct object (dO) object-predicative (oP) 4 subject (S) V prepositional complement (PC)

Intensive [intens] Complex [complex] Prepositional [prep]

STEP 1: Complements NO complements? [intrans] [trans] ONE complement? [prep] [intens] TWO complements? [ditrans] [complex] __________
1 2

STEP 2: Functions

STEP 3: Categories

direct object (dO) prepositional complement (PC) subject-predicative (sP) indirect object + direct object direct object + object-predicative (dO + oP)

NP only PP only AP or NP or PP NP + NP or NP + PP NP + AP or NP or PP

Meewerkend voorwerp (denk aan aan/voor). Lijdend voorwerp. 3 Datgene dat iets over het onderwerp zegt: het gezegde. 4 Datgene dat iets zegt over het lijdend voorwerp. 1

Chapter 6 Auxiliary VPs Part I: Lexical and auxiliary verbs Every full VP includes a LEXICAL verb and it may contain one or more AUXILIARY verbs. Auxiliaries are: be, have and do; and can/could, will/would, shall/should, may/might, must and need. Be, have and do are sometimes called PRIMARY AUXILIARIES, the rest are MODAL AUXILIARIES. The first verb in a sentence is always tensed. Tense and time Verb forms that are tensed are traditionally called FINITE verb forms. All other verbs are NONFINITE (not tensed). In the absence of any auxiliary, it is the lexical verb that is tensed (finite). If the lexical verb follows an auxiliary verb, it is the auxiliary that is finite. All verbs following an auxiliary verb are non-finite (neither present nor past). English has just two TENSES: present and past, there is no future TENSE as such. There is no simple correlation between the grammatical category TENSE and the notion of TIME. The contrast between lexical and auxiliary verbs The two most important differences between lexical and auxiliary verbs are these: (1) In questions, auxiliary verbs can move in front of the subject NP. A lexical verb cannot. (2) The NEGATIVE PARTICLE (not or nt) can attach to an auxiliary verb but never to a lexical verb. Also, auxiliary verbs never take an NP complement. A third distinction between auxiliary and lexical verbs: when a verb follows a lexical verb, it can be introduced by THE INFINITIVE PARTICLE to but not when it follows an auxiliary verb. 1.) Modal auxiliaries (MOD) Modals are always tensed (finite). They do not have untensed (non-finite) forms. The modal verb must and need dont even have a past tense form but just the one (present tense) form already given. A further peculiarity of modals is that they never show subject-verb agreement. Since modals are always tensed, they always come FIRST in any sequence of verbs. Also, in a sequence of verbs, there can be only ONE modal verb. The verb that follows a MODAL auxiliary always appears in its (non-finite) STEM form. 2.) The perfect auxiliary have (PERF) Auxiliary have is described as the PERFECT auxiliary. Perfect have is always followed by another verb. The perfect auxiliary have provides a way of referring to past TIME independently of past TENSE. The verb that follows perfect have always appears in its (non-finite) PERFECT PARTICIPLE form. With all regular verbs (e.g. fill) and some irregular verbs (e.g. put), the perfect participle form is identical to the past tense form. It is finite (past tense) only if the verb is the first verb in the sequence. If the verb is preceded by the perfect have, then it must be the non-finite, perfect participle of the verb. Remember that PERF will only have the tense feature if it is the first verb in the sequence. When perfect have co-occurs with a modal, it follows the modal: MOD before PERF before Lexical V. 3.) The progressive auxiliary be (PROG) Progressive be demands that the following verb has the (non-finite) -ing form, called the PROGRESSIVE PARTICIPLE. Like have, be can function either as an auxiliary or as a lexical verb. Just as with perfect have, PROG will only have the tense feature if it is the first verb in the sequence. MOD before PERF before PROG before Lexical V. 4.) The passive auxiliary be (PASS) All examples so far are said to be in the ACTIVE VOICE. Sentences that include the passive auxiliary verb be are said to be in the PASSIVE VOICE. The choice of passive be affects the form of
2

the sentence as a whole. How to distinguish between progressive be and passive be? Following passive be, a verb adopts the PASSIVE PARTICIPLE form (e.g. stolen). MOD before PERF before PROG before PASS before Lexical V. Where auxiliaries fit in the structure of VP Complements are sisters to the LEXICAL verb (V) and the form of a VP constituent with that lexical V. This is the case whether or not there happen to be auxiliaries in the sentence. Auxiliary verbs are necessarily followed by VPs. Auxiliaries are verbs that take VP complements. [Sister-ofVP-and-daughter-of-VP] IS the sign of a constituent functioning as an ADVERBIAL but NOT is that constituent is an AUXILIARY VERB (i.e. MOD, PERF, PROG or PASS). Verbs (whether lexical or auxiliary) never function as adverbials. So, each auxiliary verb is the HEAD of its VP and takes a VP COMPLEMENT. See pp. 121-122 for further explanation. Auxiliary VPs and adverbials Two assumptions: 1. If an adverbial precedes a verb, assume it modifies the FOLLOWING VP. What about when adverbials appear at the END of a sentence containing auxiliary VPs? 2. Assume that SENTENCE-FINAL adverbials modify (and form a constituent with) the LEXICAL VP. Part II: Constructions that depend on auxiliaries Passive sentences The OBJECT in an active sentence becomes the SUBJECT of the corresponding PASSIVE sentence. What about the subject of an active sentence when the sentence is passivised? This is solved by means of a PP with by as its head. The by-phrase is optional, it functions as an adverbial. Since converting an active sentence into its passive counterpart involves shifting the OBJECT into subject position, it follows that only lexical verbs that TAKE OBJECTS (direct or indirect) can figure in passive sentences. Only OBJECTS shift to subject position in passive sentences. The direct object required by a transitive verb wont be filled in the passive. In passive sentences, a GAP (represented by ) is created in the object position left by the movement of the object to subject position (see p. 127). With ditransitive verbs, it is always the FIRST object that becomes subject in the passive (leaving the other object in position). Negative sentences and auxiliary do The negative particle not is placed immediately after the TENSED AUXILIARY. (In fact, the negative particle can actually CONTRACT onto that auxiliary.) In negative sentences with not, auxiliary do is required to carry the tense in the absence of any other auxiliary. Auxiliary do is quite empty of meaning here. Its sole function here is to carry tense and negation instead of the lexical verbs. This is represented with the TENSE feature (see p. 129). Questions fronting the tensed auxiliary The tensed auxiliary verb moves in front of the subject. So, what STRUCTURAL position does the tensed auxiliary move to? As shown on p. 130, there is an S node (S-bar) and a C node (Complementiser). The Complementiser position is: sister of S and daughter of S-bar (S). So, the structural position that a fronted auxiliary moves to is the Complementiser position. As with passive, the movement has left a gap. Again, the auxiliary do is required to carry the tense in the absence of any auxiliary. More on have and be Have and be can function both as auxiliary verbs and as lexical verbs. When FUNCTIONING as auxiliaries, they BEHAVE like auxiliaries: fronting to C in questions and accepting the negative particle.