English Syntax The Simple Sentence: Ioana Murar Ana-Maria Trantescu Claudia Pisoschi

IOANA MURAR
ANA-MARIA TRANTESCU CLAUDIA PISOSCHI

ENGLISH SYNTAX
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

Editura Universitaria
Craiova, 2011
2
IOANA MURAR

ANA-MARIA TRANTESCU CLAUDIA PISOSCHI

ENGLISH SYNTAX
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

Editura Universitaria
Craiova, 2011

3
CONTENTS

UNIT 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................... 5
UNIT 2. SENTENCE TYPES ........................................................................... 9
1. Functional Classification of Sentences ............................................................. 9
1.1. Declarative Sentence ..................................................................... 10
1.2. Interrogative Sentences .............................................................. 13
1.3. Imperative Sentences .......................................... 16
1.4. Exclamatory Sentences ....................................... 18
UNIT 3. THE NOUN PHRASE 20
1. The Structure of The NP .......................................... 20
2. The Functions of The NP .......................................... 21
2.1. The Subject ............................................................... 21
2.2. The Object .......................................................... 24
2.3.The Predicative .................................................... 31
2.4. The Predicative Adjunct ............................................ 32
2.5 .The Apposition ............................................................ 33
UNIT. 4. THE VERB PHRASE.............................................. 34
1. The Structure of The VP ............................................. 34
2. The Function of The VP: The Predicate ........ 34
3. Subject Predicate Concord ....................................... 44
UNIT 5. THE ADJECTIVE PHRASE........................................ 48
1. The Structure of The Adjective Phrase ....... 48
2. The Functions of The Adjective Phrase ........................................ 48
2.1. The Attribute ............................................................. 48
2.2. The Predicative ................................................................ 49
2.3. The Predicative Adjunct .................................................. 50
UNIT 6. THE ADVERBIAL PHRASE.......................................... 52
1. The Structure of The Adverbial Phrase ..... 52
2. The Functions of The Adverbial Phrase ..... 52
2.1. Adverbial Modifiers of Place ........................................ 53
2.2. Adverbial Modifiers of Time ....................................... 54
2.3. Adverbial Modifiers of Manner .................................. 56
2.4. Adverbial Modifiers of Concession ................................. 59
2.5. Adverbial Modifiers of Cause ...................................... 60
2.6. Adverbial Modifiers of Purpose ................................ 60
2.7. Adverbial Modifiers of Result ........................................ 61
2.8. Adverbial Modifiers of Condition ................................. 61
UNIT 7. COMPLEX CONSTRUCTIONS ........................................ 64
REVISION TESTS ....................................................................... 70
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..... 75

4

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UNIT 1. Introduction to Syntax

Obiective: Studenii vor fi capabili:
1. S defineasc domeniul sintaxei.
2. S identifice elementele eseniale ale modelelor de analiz gramatical din
lingvistica secolului XX.
3. S identifice regulile de formare a propoziiilor.

Timp de studiu: 2 ore.

Most of the grammars written in the 19
th
and 20
th
centuries reflected the traditional
attitude that stems from the 18
th
century grammarians. They were rather rigid and
dogmatic, tended to reject actual usage, and were quite frequently under the influence of
Latin grammars. We find a different attitude in H. Sweets New English Grammar,
Logical and Historical (vol. I 1892, vol. II 1898). Sweet had the attitude of an explorer
rather than that of a legislator. He wrote In considering the use of grammar as a
corrective of what are called ungrammatical expressions, it must be borne in mind that the
rules of grammar have no value except as statements of facts: whatever is in general use
in a language is for that very reason grammatically correct
1
. Apart from Sweets works,
the most elaborate presentations of English grammar have been made by some
grammarians in the Netherlands and Scandinavia: E. Kruisinga, A Handbook of Present -
Day English (1911), H. Poutsma, A Grammar of Late Modern English (1926), O.
Jespersen, A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (7 vols: 1909-1949).
These grammars are fully documented, considerable attention is paid to the history of the
language and meaning is the main basis of treatment of syntax.
The past decades have witnessed - to a certain extent in Britain and to a larger
extent in the United States an increasingly changed attitude, viz. the rejection of old
conventions based on reason, the observance of actual usage, as well as modern and the
progressive methods of study. Since the nineteen thirties there have been several
approaches which have differed significantly from that of traditional grammars.
One of the first of these was the structural grammar, associated chiefly with the
name of the American linguist, L. Bloomfield (Language, 1933). As its name suggests,
the main thesis of this school was that language has a structure. This structure can and
must be discovered by a set of rigorously defined procedures (discovery procedures).
One of the procedures most emphasized was substitution in a frame, to find out what
particular class a word belongs to. For instance, in a sentence The birds are singing we
substitute other words such as children, people, crickets for birds. The words which
remain unchanged The are singing provide the frame in which the substitution takes
place. The words which can be substituted for birds are members of the same class. The
most extensive use for this procedure may be found in Ch. Fries The Structure of English
(1952). The chief characteristic of this approach was a rigid exclusion of considerations
of meaning. The structural method considers the traditional type of sentence analysis
unscientific because it starts from the total meaning of the sentence and bases the whole
analysis on this meaning: it therefore labels instead of analysing. Fries points out that the
meaning of a sentence is not just the sum of the meaning of all the words. It is a
combination of the lexical meanings plus the structural meanings, i.e. the relationships of
the words to each other.
As well as the emphasis on procedures, structural grammars developed the
technique of immediate constituent (IC) analysis. This is a technique for breaking down a
sentence into its immediate constituents; in turn, these constituents are broken into their
immediate constituents. Eventually, constituents are reached which cannot be divided up
further; these are the ultimate constituents. An illustration of IC analysis is provided by
the following sentence:

1
H. Sweet, A New English Grammar, p. 5.
6
[[The] [trees]] {[[were][lying]][[on][[the][ground]]]}
The most comprehensive grammars based on the principle of IC analysis are E.
Nida, A Synopsis of English Syntax (1960) and B. Strang, Modern English Structure
(1962). In structural grammars, linguistic systems are considered as ensembles formed of
elements subordinate to combination laws which characterize the whole ensemble.
Attention is focused not on the individual unit as such, but on the relations holding
between units. The definition of individual units through their position in the (whole)
structure of the language presupposes a clear notion of the organization of language into
hierarchical levels and a clear conception of the relations holding between the different
hierarchical levels of language. The hierarchical levels of language are interrelated and
they have isomorphic organization.
The most influential of all modern linguistic theories is transformational
generative grammar, TG for shorts. This theory was first made public through Syntactic
Structures (1957) by N. Chomsky. He has pointed out that a grammar must satisfy
various requirements: it must be based upon accurate observation of actual language and
also satisfy the native speakers intuition about language. It must, for example, be able to
account for his intuitions that:
- some sentences are related to each other (e.g. active-passive)
- some sentences are grammatically ambiguous: cases of syntactic ambiguity show
that one and the same string of words may represent entirely different constituent
organizations, correlated with different meanings. For instance, the sentence The
chicken is ready to eat has two readings depending on the function of the word
chicken: subject or direct object (to eat = to be eaten).
- some pairs of sentences, though alike on the surface, are different at a deeper level.
The sentences The man was eager to please and The man was easy to please show
the same arrangement of constituents in their surface structure but they are
understood in different ways because there hold different functional relations
between these constituents in the two sentences. In the first sentence the man is
understood as subject of the verb to please, while in the second the man is decoded
as direct object of the verb please.
Chomsky offered the view that grammar is a set of rules for forming sentences. A
sentence (S) such as The headlights penetrated the darkness consists of a noun phrase
(NP) followed by a verb phrase (VP). In turn, the VP consists of a transitive verb (V
t
) and
an NP; the last NP consists of a Det and a N. This information can be represented in a tree
diagram:
S
NP
Det N
the
headlights
S
V
t
penetrated
NP
Det N
The darkness

Such an analysis becomes generative when it is expressed in the form of rules:
1. N NP + VP
2. VP V
t
+ NP
3. NP Det + N
4. V
t
penetrate
5. Det the
6. N darkness, headlights
Rules such as those which allow for a single symbol at a time to be rewritten or
replaced by another symbol are known as phrase structure rules. By applying these rules
it would be possible to produce, to generate the sentence that we wanted.
7
The question of generation concerns the contrast between competence and
performance: the TG grammarians are interested not in the actual utterance of the speaker
(which are a matter only of performance) but in what is linguistically possible, in what
the speaker can say (his competence).
The new grammar focused on two major problems: linguistic creativity and the
learnability of grammars which leads to the conclusion that they are finite devices.
Chomsky put forth the concept of linguistic theory, in fact a universal grammar, having
both descriptive and explanatory adequacy.
Starting from the fact that the faculty of language is an attribute possessed by
everybody, the Universal Grammar contains the set of principles and elements of any
acquired system of linguistic knowledge, beginning with the specification of the assumed
levels of representation (Deep Structure and Surface Structure with its components
logical form and phonological form).
Sentences have both a deep structure (DS) which gives the meaning of the S, and a
surface structure (SS) which gives the form of the S, as it is used in communication. DSs
are converted into SSs by the application of syntactic operations which are called
transformations. As the term implies, a transformational rule has the effect of altering the
shape of the sentence: it may change a sentence by adding to it, or deleting from it, or
changing the order of its constituents.
The syntactical categories to operate with are of two types: phrasal and lexical (sets
of lexical items). Each lexical item is assigned to a lexical category in a given language,
according to its distribution and morphological properties. For instance, each verb may be
given a subcategorisation feature by specifying the syntactical categories it occurs with.
The subcategorisation frame is lexical knowledge, we take this information about
lexical items from out mental Lexicon. Each lexical item is associated with a feature
specifying the structure of a minimal phrase containing that lexical item.
In early 80s Chomsky set up a new model of grammar, Government and Binding
(GB), which presents phrases and sentences as developing out of the lexical properties of
words. Each word may project a phrase i.e. it may grow into a phrase. Phrase Structure
Rules are no longer necessary, being predictable from the lexical properties of words.
A more fundamental development concerns the relations between semantics and
deep structure: deep structure often accounts for semantic differences which cannot be
accounted for in surface structure. Some grammarians suggested that deep structure ought
to go even deeper and will thus be identified with semantics. One of the most interesting
theories that have come out of this approach is the case grammar associated with the
name of the American linguist Ch. Fillmore. The theory is based on the fact that we can,
for instance, say John broke the window, John broke the window with a hammer, The
hammer broke the window, and even the window broke. What is apparent from this is
that in the SSs the relations of subject and object do not seem in any way to indicate DS
relations. Thus, although we are talking about John as the one who did the breaking, the
window as the item that was broken and the hammer as the instrument which was used,
all three can appear as the subject of the sentence. Therefore, traditional functions
(Subject of etc.) are discarded as being semantically irrelevant. New functions cases -
are introduced, which receive semantic characterization, so that John is agentive,
hammer is instrumental, window is objective. Fillmores model takes us very close to
logical representation because he views the sentence as a relation expressed by the verb,
holding among a number of nominals.
Syntax is that branch of linguistics which describes the relation between
words and their correct arrangement in units of expression apt to reflect logical
units and patterns. While morphology studies words and their changes in various
situations and contexts, syntax describes the situations and contexts themselves,
deriving the principles, rules and patterns which govern the arrangement of
morphological elements as part of independent or connected sense units. Among the
various disciplines and branches of linguistics, syntax plays the role of offering the
structures of speech and writing which are most adequate for the communication of
peoples thoughts. That is why many of the notions and terms employed in syntax
are so closely connected with logic and philosophy.
8
The present series of lectures is focused on the description of units and the relation
between them at the syntactic level of linguistic analysis. It is also focused on the correct
arrangement by which the strings of units are constructed. The place held by function is
central in this course of lectures, syntax consisting of the treatment of the main functions
of sentence constituents: subject, predicate, objects, adverbials.
We have based our course on structural grammar but we have systematically tried
to include as much of the traditional grammatical insight as possible. The terminology
and the concept are broadly in accordance with those of R. Quirk et al.., A Grammar of
Contemporary English (1972). The type of English we are mainly concerned to describe
is contemporary standard British English (BE). But discrepancies between American
English (AE) and BE, as well as variations of style are noted where they are important.

BIBLIOGRAFIE:
Bdescu, A.. 1963. Gramatica limbii engleze., Bucureti : Ed. Stiintifica.
Banta, A.1977. Elements of Descriptive English Syntax. Bucureti: TUB.
Budai, L.1997 Gramatica engleza, Teorie si exercitii, Bucureti: Editura Teora.
Biber,D., Conrad, S., Leech, G. 2005. Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English.
London:Longman.
Gleanu, G., Comiel, E. 1982. Gramatica limbii engleze. Bucureti: Ed. Didactic i
pedagogic.
Murar I, Pisoschi C., Trantescu A.M. 2010 Essentials of English Syntax. The Simple
Sentence. Craiova: Editura Universitaria.
erban D. 1982. English Syntax, volume one, Bucureti.
tefnescu, I.. 1978.Lectures in English Morphology. Bucuret:, TUB..
Quirk R., Greenbaum S., Leech G., Swartvick J. 1972. A Grammar of Contemporary
English. London: Longman.
Thomson A., Martinet A.1969. A Practical English Grammar. London: Oxford
University Press.

AUTOEVALUARE:

1. Define the domain of Syntax.
2. Enlarge upon the major trends in the syntactic models of analysis of the 20 th
century.

9
UNIT 2. Sentence Types

1. Functional Classification of Sentences
1.1. Declarative Sentence
Positive Sentences
Negative Sentences
1.2. Interrogative Sentences
1.3. Imperative Sentences
1.4. Exclamatory Sentences

Obiective: Studenii vor fi capabili :
1. S identifice tipurile de propoziie n funcie de scopul comunicrii.
2. S identifice modurile de realizare ale negaiei.
3. S clasifice propoziiile interogative.

Timp de studiu : 4 ore.

In morphology we examined the morphemic structure of words (words are
structured strings of morphemes); in syntax we shall see how words are combined into
larger structures: phrases, clauses, sentences. The sentence is the main unit of syntactic
description. The sentence enjoys a status of independence at the level of occurrence, i.e. a
structural independence, as well as at the other levels, such as the phonological or the
semantic level. The sentence is a string of words organized according to the following
properties:
- grammatical properties: there is an underlying hierarchy of syntactic relations
holding between the constituents of sentences, minimally actualized by the relation of
predication between an NP functioning as Subject and a VP functioning as predicate of
the sentence.
- semantic properties: the sentence is assigned a global semantic interpretation;
- phonological properties: the sentence has a phonetic shape made up of a
specialized intonational (phonological) contour, the pitch and boundary signals;
- functional properties: (the functionality of sentences in concrete communicative
contexts): the sentence items may be analysed as items of discourse which serve most
efficiently the communicative function of the message. The sentential organization of
units of information is the following: the sentence is divided into theme (or topic) and
rheme (or comment). The theme renders old or given information; it tends to be
incorporated in the first part of the message roughly coinciding on the grammatical plane
with the subject group. The rheme is that part of the message that conveys new
information; it roughly coincides with the predicate group and the focus of information is
on the last constituent of this group.
Sentences may assume a variety of forms:
1. The overlapping between the form of sentences and the communicative
function of each formal type leads to the following classification of sentences:
1.1 Declarative sentences are primarily used to convey information under the
form of Statements;
1.2. Interrogative sentences (or Questions) express lack of information on a
specific point and request the listener to supply missing information;
1.3. Imperative sentences (or Commands) are specialized for requesting action
under the form of orders, invitations.
1.4. Exclamatory sentences are primarily used to express subjective reactions,
feelings. They are the proper field of applications of those modalities which are most
clearly connected with our emotions.
There is no one-to-one correspondence between a certain sentence form and its
discourse function.
e.g. I wonder if youd kindly open the window
is a statement according to form, but a command according to function.
10
Further subclasses obtain if we take into account the possibility that each type has
variations according to polarity, hence there are positive and negative variants for each
sentence type.
1.1 Declarative sentence (Statements) normally end in a period or full stop and are
uttered in a falling tone . A declarative sentence expresses some statement in the
affirmative or negative form.
Positive (Affirmative) sentences are sentences in which the subject is present and
generally precedes the verb; the predicate is in the positive (affirmative), form.
Negative sentences
The negation of a simple statement is accomplished in two ways:
- by negating the verb: verb negation is usually done by means of the negative
particle NOT which is attached to the operator, i.e. to the tense (modal)-bearing element
of the VP (be, have, modals).
e.g. John is not working these days. John has not been working for several days.
John could not have been working at the time.
I shant forget you, Jude. (T.H.) . You neednt be concerned about that (T.H.)
When the sentence contains no operator, i.e. when the verb is a simple present or
past tense form, the auxiliary DO is introduced
2

e.g. They do not understand my problem.
Peter did not answer.
In colloquial English the particle not occurs in an enclitic contracted form nt.
In circumstances where it is possible to abbreviate the auxiliary by the use of a
contracted form enclitic to the subject, two colloquial forms of negation are possible.
e.g. Were not ready We arent ready (more frequent)
Hed not notice anything He wouldnt notice anything.
As we have already mentioned, the negation of a whole sentence is done by means
of the adverbs no and not. No is usually followed by the subject (expressed by a
pronoun), the operator and the contracted negative from nt.
e.g. Do you like him? - No. Have you seen Tom? No. I havent.
Not is used after some verbs: believe, expect, hope, suppose, think in the Simple
Present or Past Tense.
e.g. Do you think it will rain? / I hope not.
A feature of the syntax of subordination in colloquial English is the transfer of the
negative from a subordinate that- clause where, semantically it belongs, to the main
clause. Thus, I didnt think he was happy, can have two meanings, one in which the
negation applies to the main clause, and one in which it applies through transferred
negation to the subordinate clause, i.e. I thought he wasnt happy. Transferred negation is
limited to verbs of belief or assumption, such as believe, expect, fancy, imagine, reckon,
think.
e.g. I didnt think/believe/suppose (that) hes paid for it yet.
He doesnt imagine/reckon that we need worry. = He imagines we neednt worry.
The negative status of the that/clause is shown by the occurrence of the
non/assertive form yet or of the verb need (which could not occur in an affirmative
sentence).
- by negating another part of the sentence: to negate other parts of the sentence, the
following negative pronouns, adjectives, adverbs can be used: no one, none, neither,
nothing, nowhere, never followed by the verb in the affirmative form.
e.g. Nobody come here yesterday. He is nowhere to be found.
Polarity Items

2
The old negative form without the use of the auxiliary do is still preserved in the poetic style, e.g.
Those ills that we know not of (W.S.); I speak not, I trace not, I breathe not thy name. (G.G.
Byron)
11
Roughly speaking, for any affirmative statement there is a negative counterpart,
usually obtained by negating the verb (by introducing the particle not).
e.g. John is happy John is not happy.
However, this is not always so. There are affirmative sentences which have no
negative counterpart (S/
*
Not
-
S). Similarly, there are negative sentences which do not have
affirmative counterparts (
*
S/Not
S). This lack of symmetry (regular correspondence

between affirmative and negative sentences) is due to the occurrence in such sentences of
certain grammatical and lexical items, which at least in some of their meanings or in
given collocations require only an affirmative or only a negative environment (context).
Such items have been called polarity items: those items which occur only in affirmative
contexts are called affirmative polarity items (API), those which are restricted to
negative contexts are called negative polarity items (NPI). They are subclassified into:
a) lexical items:
- items occurring only in an affirmative context: pretty (adv.), far, long since
e.g. Tom is pretty smart. *Tom isnt pretty smart.
He is far taller than his father - *He isnt far taller than his father.
He has long since given up smoking. *He hasnt long since given up
smoking.
- items occurring only in a negative context: verbs such as abide, bother, budge,
care (=like), adverbs such as at all, a bit, in the least/slightest.
e.g.
*He budged He didnt budge.
*I care to stay at home all day long I dont care to stay
*I like it at all I dont like it at all.
b) grammatical items
Certain regular correspondences between polarity items can be established in
affirmative and negative sentences: thus, for the indefinite some and its compounds there
are two corresponding items in the negative sentence: non-assertive items and negative
items.

Affirmative sentences Negative sentences
Affirmative items Non-assertive items Negative items
Some any no
something, somebody anything, anybody nothing, nobody
Somewhere anywhere nowhere
Sometime ever never
Still anymore/longer no more/longer
Already
a lot, a great deal
Too
yet
much
either

e.g. Ive bought something for you I havent bought anything for you/Ive bought
nothing for you
Ive seen them somewhere I havent seen them anywhere/Ive seen them
nowhere.
He smokes a lot He doesnt smoke much.
Her mothers coming, too Her mothers not coming, either.
In most cases (except possibly that of never) the combination of not + a non-
assertive item is more colloquial than the negative variant. Other grammatical NPI are
restrictive adverbs such as: barely, hardly, only, rarely, scarcely, seldom, little.
Sentences with this words behave like ordinary negative sentences. Thus:
- they are followed by non-assertive forms;
e.g. He seldom speaks to anyone.
Youll scarcely hear anything from here.
I know little about him.
- they correlate with positive tags.
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e.g. She scarcely seems to care, does she?
You could hardly understand the book, could you?
There are words which are negative in meaning but not in form (verbs deny, fail,
forget, prevent, adjectives difficult, hard, reluctant). Syntactically they dont make the
sentence negative:
e.g. I deny having been there but this doesnt prevent me from telling the truth.
The same happens with negative affixes: a-, in-, non-, un-, -less. They realize
negation at word level, but negation doesnt take scope over the whole sentence:
e.g. I think its not useless to do it.
I think its impossible to solve this matter.
As we can notice a negative prefix allows the verb in the negative form.
The initial negative element.
The mere consideration of these examples might lead to the supposition that the
rule of attaching the negative particle either to the verb or to another element, such as
pronouns, adverbs is an optional rule. In fact, there are certain restrictions on the
optionality of this rule, determined by the position of the pronoun/adverb with respect to
the verb.
When the indefinite pronoun/adverb precedes the verb, the negative particle is
always attached to the pronoun. The verb is not negated since non-assertive forms cannot
precede not in the sentence. Therefore, there is no alternative construction to the negative
pronoun when it occurs in initial position.
e.g. Something was missing Nothing was missing.
- *Anything wasnt missing.
- when the indefinite pronoun follows the verb, either the verb or the infinite
pronoun is negated.
e.g. John said something John didnt say anything,
- John said nothing.
Knowing this rule, one understands the alternation anything / nothing in active and
passive sentences.
e.g. Active: He never knows anything. Passive: Nothing is ever known by him.
Scope of negation.
If a sentence contains a negative element, the whole sentence is negative. This
means that after a negative, a non-assertive form must be used in place of every assertive
form that would have occurred in the corresponding affirmative sentence.
e.g. Ive never travelled anywhere by air yet.
I havent ever been on any of those big liners, either.
The non-assertive forms even occur in affirmative subordinate clauses following a
negative in the main clause.
e.g. Nobody has promised that any of you will be released yet.
The scope of the negative particle normally extends from the negative particle
itself to the end of the sentence.
e.g. I didnt listen to any of the speakers.
Assertive forms, however, can occur after a negative, so long as they fall outside
the scope of negation.
e.g. I didnt listen to some of the speakers.
Negative intensification (Emphasis).
A negative word can be given emphasis by placing it in front position. This is
followed by inversion of subject and operator.
e.g. I will never make that mistake again Never will I make that mistake again.
Nowhere have we seen the results more clearly than here. Not till then did they see the
disaster in the corridor. (J.G.)
There are several ways of giving emotive emphasis to a negative:
- the combination not one, not a are emphatic alternatives to no as a countable
determiner.
e.g. Not a word come from his lips (=No word)
- negative determiners and pronouns are given emphasis by at all, whatever, by any
means, a bit.
13
e.g. You have no excuse whatever.
- other familiar and emotively coloured expressions of negation are exemplified by
the following lexical NPI:
e.g. I didnt sleep a wink. I dont care a damn whether we lose or not.
Double negatives.
Two negatives
3
that occur in the same sentence cancel each other and produce an
affirmative. Such sentences show an interesting connection between logic and language:
in language, as well as in logic, two negations are equivalent to an assertion, e.g. I cant
not obey I have to obey.

Major points of the grammar bite:
Clauses are either positive or negative.
Negative sentences are most commonly formed by using not or its
contraction nt.
The verb as operator is a key tool for forming negation with not or nt
Sentence negation is the main type of negation.
The scope of negation is important for choosing non-assertive versus
assertive forms (polarity items).

1.2. Interrogative sentences
Interrogative sentences are usually subdivided into General questions, Special
questions, Alternative questions, Disjunctive questions.
General questions (Yes/No questions)
They are questions which require an affirmative or negative answer in relation to
the validity of an entire sentence
4
: yes, of course, rather, no, not at all, etc.
The intonation of General questions is rising .
General questions are formed by means of Subject-Operator inversion. This rule
inverts the order of the subject and the Operator moving the operator in front of the
subject:
- there is full inversion when the predicate is expressed by the verbs be, have in a
simple form.
e.g. Is the man in town? Has she sisters?
- there is partial inversion when the predicate is in a compound form or comprises a
modal verb.
e.g. Is he coming? Can you see the car over there?
When the sentence contains no operator, i.e. when the verb is in the Simple Present
or Past Tense, the auxiliary DO/DID is used.
e.g. Do you like that? Did John find the book?
The only alternative is to retain the statement organization of the sentence and to
mark it as a question by using the appropiate intonation, commonly a rising intonation
and punctuation.
e.g. Hes coming? John found the book?
If the interrogative sentence also contains the negative particle the result is a
negative question or an interrogative-negative sentence. Subject-operator inversion
applies normally as specified above, e.g. He did not leave from London Did he not leave
for London? However, if a contracted form of the negative particle is used, this is moved
with the operator (i.e. the contracted form precedes the subject), so we obtain the
following alternative construction:
Didnt he leave for London?
Dont you go there every day?

3
In substandard English there is an entirely different kind of multiple negation, where more than
one negative form is used, but the meaning is that of a single negative, e.g. No one never said
nothing (no one ever said anything).
4
Yes/no questions may however be focused upon some part of the sentence and this may be
achived by grammatical focus or prosodically (by stress and intonation): Was it John that found
the book? Was it the book that John found? Did John find the book?
14
Special questions (Wh- questions)
They elicit information on particular parts of the sentence:
Through the use of wh-forms we can ask for the identification of the subject,
object, predicative or adverbial of the sentence
5
. The wh-forms are represented by the
interrogative pronouns who, what, which and the interrogative adverbs when, where,
why, how .
e.g. What was he? A painter (J.G.) (Predicative) What have you told him?
That they were relations. (J.G.) (Object)
Why wont you come? (J.G.) (Adverbial modifier of cause).
- Who (for persons)
Who is coming?
Whose is the car?
- What (for objects)
What job did he like best?
- Which is used to indicate selection:
e.g. Which of these textbooks have you read?
- How
e.g. How did you managed?
- How many indicates number
e.g. How many arrived yesterday?
- How much indicates quantity
e.g. How much sugar did you buy?
- How old is used to indicate age
e.g. How old is she?
- How far (for distance)
e.g. How far did he get?
- Where shows place
e.g. Where was he yesterday?
- When and what time are used to indicate a certain moment:
e.g. When did you finish?
e.g. What time did you finish?
- How long indicates duration:
e.g. How long have you been studying French?
- Why indicates reason:
e.g. Why are you here?
The order of Special questions is:
Wh-form+Operator/Do+Subject+Predication
e.g. Why have you come?
How long will you stay?
What do you want?
6

Do does not occur when the wh-form questions the subject, i.e. when the
interrogative word is the subject or serves as an attribute to the subject.
e.g. Who told you? June. (J.G.) (subject)
Whose book is on the table? (Attribute to the subject)
The intonation of Special questions is falling (descending) :
e.g. When did he leave?
In Special questions the preposition is often placed at the end of the sentence:
e.g. What is it about?
What do you want the money for?
In spoken English there are several devices for emphasizing or intensifying the
emotive effect of the question:

5
Not all subjects, objects can be elicited by whquestions, It rained steadily all day. *What
rained steadily all day?
6
In the poetic style we come across the old interrogative form without the auxiliary DO: e.g.
Madam, how like you this play?
15
- by means of the intensifying element ever placed after the wh form; who ever,
what ever etc.
e.g. I have to get up at 5 oclock. What ever for?
Why ever didnt he tell me?
- other phrases used for emphasizing the speakers surprise, consternation or
annoyance on earth, in heavens name, the hell are highly colloquial and sometimes
denote an impolite use of intensification.
e.g. Who on earth opened my letter?
What in heavens name do you think you are doing?
Alternative questions
They expect as an answer one or two alternatives mentioned in the question. They
are a type of General questions, but they differ from the latter in intonation: instead of the
final rising tone they contain a separate nucleus for each alternative: a rising intonation on
the first alternative and the falling intonation on the second alternative The intonation
difference between alternative and general questions is important: the same syntactic
form can be interpreted either as an alternative or as a general question, conveying
different meanings and expecting different answers.
e.g. Shall we go to the theatre or to the movie ? A: To the theatre.
Shall we go to the theatre or to the movie ? A: No, wed better stay at home.
Disjunctive (Tag) questions
A tag questions is a very short question attached to a statement. Tag questions are
very frequent in conversation. Their meaning differs from that of general or special
questions in that they are not requests for information but for confirmation that a
statement or supposition is really correct. Compare:
Did John leave? general question.
John left, didnt he? A sentence with a tag is the paraphrase of I suppose John
left.
The rules for forming tag questions are:
a) the question consists of an operator (auxiliary) and a subject;
b) the operator is opposite in polarity to the verb of the statement: if the
statement is affirmative, the operator is negative and if the statement is negative, the
operator must be affirmative. The operator in the tag corresponds to the verb in the
statement, namely:
- if the verb in the statement contains an operator (be, have, do, can, must, will,
shall) the operator is repeated.
e.g. The Smiths are your friends, arent they?
You havent reed the book, have you?
I can depend on you, cant I? (G.B.S.)
You dont think we have lost our way, do you? (J.K.I)
- if the statement contains no operator, i.e. when the verb is in the simple present or
past tense, the auxiliary do/did is used as for questions formation in general.
e.g. He knows you, doesnt he?
c) the subject of the tag is always a pronoun which repeats or substitutes the subject
of the statement.
e.g. The girl/she is a beauty, isnt she?
Indefinite pronouns marked by [+animate] such as everyone, no one, everybody are
resumed in the tag either by he (as usually indicated in normative grammars) or by they
(often found in actual usage).
e.g. Everyone likes her, doesnt he/dont they?
Indefinite pronouns marked by [-animate] such as everything, anything, something
are resumed in the tag by it.
e.g. Something is missing, isnt it?
The intonation is either falling or rising:
- the tag with the falling intonation is used when the speaker is sure of the
correctness of his statement and awaits confirmation from the listener.
e.g. The vase is made of plastic, isnt it?
(= I know that for sure).
16
- the tag with the rising intonation is used when the speaker is no longer sure of the
correctness of his statement and is asking the listener to correct or confirm it.
e.g. The vase is made of plastic, isnt it?
(=Im not very sure so please correct me if it isnt so)
There is a further type of Tags in which the statement and the Tag have the same
polarity (very frequently positive). Such Tags sometimes called Reactive Tags, express a
whole gamut of feeling ranging from irony to incredulity, suspicion, sarcasm.
e.g. Thats your crooked notion of honour, is it? (G.E.)
Do as I say, Im giving orders here. Oh, you are, are you?
They have always falling intonation.
Echo questions
The echo question has no subject/auxilliary inversion. It is identical in form to a
statement, except for the final rising intonation. Such a question repeats part or the entire
message and expresses surprise, disbelief or more misunderstanding of the previous
statement.
e.g. I didnt like the book. You didnt like it?
The wh word can be left in its position (it is not fronted).
e.g. I saw Bill yesterday. You saw whom yesterday?
She dyed her hair green. She dyed it what color?
Some, any, no and their compounds in different types of sentences
Declarative sentence Negative sentence Interrogative
sentence
Affirmative verb +
some/ compounds
Affirmative verb
+ no/ compounds
Negative verb + any/
compounds
Interrogative verb +
any/ compounds
They need some
information.
They need no
information.
They neednt any
information.
Do you need any
information?
He has got
something.
He has nothing. He hasnt anything. Has he got
anything?
Someone/somebody
is asking for you.
Nobody/no one is
asking for you.
*Anybody isnt asking
for you.
Is anyone/anybody
asking for you?
He must be
somewhere.
He is nowhere to
be found.
He isnt anywhere to
be found.
Is he anywhere to
be found?

Major points of the grammar bite:
Questions are varied in forms and in function.
Major types of functions are wh-questions, yes/no questions, and
alternative questions.
Questions tags are also very common in conversation.

1.3. Imperative sentences (Commands)
Commands without a subject
This is the most common category of command, that which differs from a
statement in that:
a) it has no overt (formally expressed) grammatical subject;
b) the verb is in imperative mood (the 2
nd
person singular and plural). Commands
have a falling tone.
e.g. Write down these sentences in ink!
Speak to him today!
Commands are apt to sound abrupt unless toned down by markers of politeness,
such as please (placed at the beginning or end of the imperative sentences).
e.g. Please, come in!
Shut the door, please!
or if one changes the command into a question or a statement:
e.g. Will you shut the door?
17
Would you mind shutting the door?
I wonder whether you would mind shutting the door.
Turn the volume up, will you? (will you in final position gives the imperative
sentence the aspect of disjunctive question).
Commands with subject
It is implied in the meaning of a command that the omitted subject of the
imperative verb is the 2
nd
person pronoun you. This is intuitively clear, but it is also
confirmed by the occurrence of you as subject of the following tag question: Be quiet, will
you! and by the occurrence of yourself as object: Behave yourself!
There is, however, a type of command in which the subject you is retained. You
indicates:
- the speakers irritation (these commands are usually admonitory in tone),
e.g. You be quiet! You mind your own business!
- a differentiation: to single out two ore more distinct persons.
e.g. You come here, Jane, and you go over there, Mary!
A third person subject is also possible: an indefinite pronoun when the
imperative is addressed to any person in the group.
e.g. Somebody open the window!
Everybody write their names!
Commands with LET
In the 1
st
and 3
rd
person sg and pl, the imperative can be formed by means of let
followed by a (pro)noun in the objective case.
e.g. Now, brother, let her be at peace a while. (C.B.)
Tom closed the book and said, Now, let us go!(G.E.)
Let each man decide for himself!
The structural types of command may be summarized as follows
7
:

1
st
person 2
nd
person 3
rd
person
Without subject - (I) Open the door! -
Without let - (II) You open the
door!
(III) Someone
open the door!
With
subject
With let (IV) Let me
open the door!
(IV) Let someone
open the door!

Negative commands. To negate the first three classes of command, one simply
adds an initial dont, replacing assertive by nonassertive forms where necessary:
I. Open the door! Dont open the door!
II. You open the door! - Dont you open the door!
III. Someone open the door! - Dont anyone open the door!

1
st
person imperatives (class IV), on the other hand, are generally negated by the
insertion of not after the pronoun following let,
e.g. Lets not open the door!
Informally however, the negation with dont is frequently heard:
e.g. Dont lets open the door!
The same construction is available for class V,
e.g. Dont let anyone fool himself that he can get away with it.
Persuasive commands. A persuasive or insistent (emphatic) imperative is
created by the addition of do (with a nuclear tone) before the main verb. This construction
only applies to classes I and IV e.g. Do come and stay the night with us! (J.G.)
Do lets go to the theatre!
3.6. Other constructions having the value of command.
In lively speech, an imperative sentence may contain no verb but only a noun,
an adverb, a prepositional phrase.
e.g. No parking! No entry! Wet paint! Out with it! The salt, please!

7
See R. Quirk, op.cit., p. 405.
18

1.4. Exclamatory sentences
Exclamatory sentences resemble wh-questions in involving initial placement of
an exclamatory wh-element. The word which is emphasized by the speaker is placed after
the exclamatory word (except when the emphasized word is the predicate of the sentence,
which remains in its usual place, after the subject: How she sings!) On the other hand, in
contrast to wh-questions, there is generally no subject operator inversion.
e.g What an enormous crowd came! (Subject) What time weve had today!
How delightful her manners are! (Predicative) What a long time weve be waiting!
(Adverbial).
The range of wh-words that can be used in exclamations is restricted to what
used with reference to a noun (functioning as predeterminer in an NP) and how
functioning as intensifier of an adjective, verb, adverb.
e.g. What a fool I was! Said Kemp. (H.G.W.) What delightful weather we are
having! (O.W.) How silly I was in my happiness! (T.H./ How fast you walked! (C.B.)
Sometimes the exclamatory sentences are elliptical, the subject and predicate
being omitted.
e.g. What a wonderful voice (she has)! How true (this is)!
Exclamatory sentences may be also expressed by:
- declarative sentences, e.g. It was a pleasure to talk with her (What a pleasure
it was to talk with her!). The same functions are fulfilled by such as a determiner and so
as intensifier.
e.g. Weve had such a time. Her manners are so delightful.
- interrogative-negative sentences
e.g. Hasnt she improved! Isnt he clever!
The intonation of exclamatory sentences is falling .

According to their structure, sentences may be classified into:
1. simple sentences: are based upon one predication relation realized by a finite
verb form.
2. compound sentences: are based upon the coordination (conjoining) of two or
more simple sentences.
3. complex sentences: are based upon the subordination (embedding) of at least
one sentence. The embedded sentences are called clauses. Clauses may be, in their turn,
subclassified according to the verb form of their predication:
i. Finite clauses, whose verb form carries the markers of mood, tense, aspect;
ii. Non finite clauses whose verb form is an infinitive, a gerund or a participle.

Major points of the grammatical bite:
There are four main types of independent sentences: declarative,
interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences.
These correspond to four main types of speech act: statement, question,
directive and exclamation. However there are mismatches between
clause types and the associated speech- types.
Grammatically, although independent clauses are the main building
blocks of texts, non-clausal material is also common, particularly in
conversation.

BIBLIOGRAFIE:
.
19
London:Longman.
pedagogic.
University Press.

AUTOEVALUARE:
1. Classify sentences in point of their purpose.
2. Enlarge upon the negative polarity items.
3. What are the types of interrogative sentences?

20

UNIT 3. The Noun Phrase

The Noun Phrase
1. The Structure of The NP
2. The Functions of The NP
2.1. The Subject
2.2. The Object
2.3. The Predicative
2.4. The Predicative Adjunct
2.5. The Apposition

1. S identifice caracteristicile sintactice ale subiectului.
2. S identifice tipurile de subiect.
3. S enumere clasele de verbe urmate de un complement direct.

Timp de studiu : 6 ore

1. The structure of the NP
The NP consists of the Head (expressed by a noun, a pronoun or a nominal)
accompanied by one or several adjuncts. Adjuncts may be expressed by:
a) Determiners: articles, demonstrative, possessive, indefinite determiners;
b) Modifiers: adjectives, nouns, adverbs, prepositional phrases, clauses.
Adjuncts may appear:
1) in front of the head when they are expressed by:
a) determiners,
e.g. Her face was close to the window pane.(J.G.)
Every bough was swinging in the wind (J.G.).
Two or three days went by. (S.M.).
The boy was smiling.
These magazines are very interesting.
b) modifiers expressed by:
- adjectives, e.g. a low fence; old buses; a fine day
- nouns, e.g. A wire fence; London buses; Shaws plays
When an adjective and a noun modify the head, the adjective precedes the
modifying noun, e.g. That low wire fence.
8

- an attributive group of words.
e.g. A very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy.(C.D.)
2) after the head, when they are expressed by modifiers:
- some adjectives: present, proper, extant,
e.g. The story proper
- adverbs,
e.g. The examples above.
- prepositional phrases,
e.g. He was a young man of middle height.(J.G.)
- an infinitive, participle or gerund,
e.g. I have no time to spare.
He saw a figure standing by the door.
The conclusion arrived at is not encouraging.
The Importance of Being Earnest (O.W.)
- a relative clause,
e.g. The book which Im reading is interesting.

8
The pattern of Det.+Adj.+N+Head is often ambiguous as the Adj. may modify either the noun
modifier or the noun head, e.g. a decent graduate college: the phrase may mean either graduate
of a decent college or a decent graduate of a college.
21

2. The functions of the NP. The NP has the following functions in the sentence:
subject, object, predicative, apposition.

2.1.The Subject
1) Syntactic characteristics
The subject is expressed by means of noun phrase items:
- the noun (phrase), e.g. The library closes at 8 oclock.
- two or more coordinated nouns which make up:
i. A compound subject representing only one element, e.g. A great poet
and revolutionist was lost when Shelley died;
ii. Coordinated subjects, e.g. Tom and Maggie are the principal
characters in The Mill on the Floss.
- a noun substitute:
i. a pronoun (personal, possessive, demonstrative, interrogative,
indefinite, negative)
e.g. Can you drive?
His is a large family.
Thats his bad luck. (J. Al)
Whos there?
Nothing was said for a long time.
ii. a numeral,
e.g. Four were missing.
The first was a tall lady with dark hair. (C.B.)
iii. a non finite form (infinitive or gerund),
e.g. To escape would be difficult.
Reading aloud will help you a lot;
iv. a complex construction,
e.g. He happened to be in town at the moment.
Louise had been overheard to begin a conversation with her brother
(C.D.) (a Nominative with Infinitive construction)
He was noticed entering the house.
The children were seen running to the river (a Nominative with
Participle)
v. a subject clause,
e.g. Whether he admits it or not is another matter.
Owing to the scantiness of inflections for person and number in the verb, the
subject is always expressed with the exception of imperative sentences having you as
implied subject
9
.
The place of the subject.
The subject takes the first place in the sentence, place normally held by the
element which forms the theme/topic of discussion. The subject is placed
- before the predicate in declarative (affirmative and negative) sentences,
e.g. Turner was a landscape painter.
My brother has come.
- after the operator (auxiliary, copulative and modal verbs) in interrogative
sentences,
e.g. Can it be true?
Do you want the book?
- after the predicate when it is anticipated by introductory it, there,
e.g. One night there flew over the city a little swallow. (O.W)
2) Classification of subjects in point of content.

9
The subject is also not expressed in a) elliptical sentences in colloquial English, e.g. [I] hope to
see you soon; b) in enumerations (when the subject of 2 or more coordinated clauses refers to the
same element) the subject need not to be repeated, e.g. they were exhausted and (they) fell asleep
at once.
22
According to the criterion of content or semantic value, subjects may be
classified into: grammatical, impersonal, logical.
Grammatical (formal) subjects are directly connected with the predicate and
therefore usually determine concord between the latter and the subject, e.g. He knows
you.
Impersonal subjects do not refer to a definite person or thing; they lack
semantic content altogether. The impersonal subjects are expressed by the impersonal
pronoun it. It is an impersonal empty subject of:
- impersonal verbs: dew, lighten, rain, snow, thunder
e.g. It often rains in autumn. It dewed heavily overnight.
- sentences expressing time, weather, distance or a state of things in general,
e.g. It was late when I arrived, it was midnight.
It is getting colder and colder.
Its a log way to the station.
It was very pleasant at the seaside.
- Indefinite/Generic Subject: (subjects of vague or general meaning) are
expressed in English by the following pronouns:
- they, meaning an indefinite group of people
e.g. They say I am like my father, grandmother. (CD)
- we, you, one, meaning any person, people in general
e.g. We learn to restrain ourselves as we get older (GE). Here one could
wander unseen. (C.B.)
- he, people:
e.g. People drink a lot of tea in Britain.
Logical subjects point to the agent, that is the real author or doer/performer of
the action. Usually, the grammatical subject is identical with the logical subject. Yet,
there are two categories of exceptions where the grammatical subject is not identical with
he logical subject:
a. Passive constructions: the logical subject (the agent, the author of the action)
is not identical with the grammatical subject of the sentence,
e.g. New victories have been won by our sportsmen.
(gram. subj.) (logical subj.)
b. Constructions with introductory elements
a) Emphatic constructions may underline or single out any part of the sentence
(except the predicate). The grammatical subject is expressed by it, while the real (logical)
subject is placed within the framework of the clause, e.g. Its his stubbornness that
exasperates me.
b) Anticipatory constructions: the grammatical introductory subject is expressed
by it and there.
It anticipates the logical subject of the sentence when it is an infinitive, a gerund
or a subject clause,
e.g. It is necessary to start at once.
Its no use crying over spilt milk.
It seems he is right.
There is used in constructions where emphasis is laid merely on the existence or
absence of the logical subject. The introductory subject there anticipates the logical
subject of the sentence when the predicate is expressed by:
- existential verbs: be, exist, happen, live, occur
10
,
e.g. There will be an adequate supply of goods.
There once lived in the flat an eccentric lady.
There occurred an unexpected incident during the meeting.
- verbs of seeming: appear, seem,

10
As A. Banta] shows in Elements of Descriptive Syntax, p. 56, according to a frequency survey of
contemporary British and American usage in constructions introduced by there, that the verb be
occurs in about 95% of the instances, seem, appear in about 2% come, arrive another 2%, while all
other verbs taken together amounting to barely 1 per cent.
23
e.g. There appeared some marks on the X-ray plate.
There seemed to be no escape.
- aspectual verbs: arise, begin, emerge, remain, start,
e.g. There began to be a violent commotion.
There emerged a new philosophical trend at the turn of the century.
- verbs of motion: arrive, come, run,
e.g. At that moment there came a knock at the door.
There arrived a shabbily dressed man.
There is a regular transformational relation of equivalence between clauses with
there-subject and clauses of the standard type. There-constructions may be derived by
means of the rule:
S+V+O/ATHERE+V+S+O/A.
The insertion of there consists of the following operations: movement of the
subject NP in post-verbal position, i.e. in between the verb and the rest of the sentence;
insertion of there in the position left empty by the moved subject,
e.g. A book is on the table There is a book on the table.
There becomes subject of the sentence and behaves like a subject, i.e. it can act
as a subject in general and tag questions,
e.g. Is there any coffee? Theres nothing wrong, is there?;
it can act as subject in non-finite clauses,
e.g. I dont want there to be any misunderstanding.
He was disappointed at there being so little to do.
The NP functioning as logical subject is usually indefinite. Indefinite reference
of the NP may be realized by the indefinite and zero article, indefinite determiners and
pronouns (any, some, anything, something, everything, much), negative determiners and
pronouns (no, nothing), numerals.
e.g. There is a strange man in the hall.
There are no changes in the document.
There is much noise in the street.
There isnt anything new in his article.
The insertion of there is usually conditioned by the presence in the sentence of
an adverbial of place or time. When the adverbial of place is in initial position, there is no
longer obligatory
11
.
e.g. On the table there stood plates full of cakes. (W.I.)
High above the city on a tall column stood the statue of the Happy Prince.

Parallel structures with it and there:
It and there are often interchangeable; they often share the feature of forward
reference to the real subject they anticipate. The difference lies in the tendency of it to
anticipate[+definite]subjects, while there usually anticipates [definite] ones. Compare:
Its time we left (the time has come for us to leave). Theres time, no need to hurry
(Theres enough time).
Impersonal constructions have alternative forms with it and there as subjects,
e.g. It was still raining (A.J.C.). There had been rain the night before (J.G.).
We can account for the application of there in the light of the already discussed
principles of discourse (Ch. II). The subject is the element which, in most cases, contains
given information (is known to the listener, speaker) and, as is but natural, English
sentences begin with this element, that is they proceed from something which is already
known to something which is yet unknown (new information). However, when the
subject of a sentence is not known, when it is introduced for the first time (is an indefinite
NP), this means that contrary to general practice the subject introduces new information,
an indefinite expression being by definition a reference to something that has not been
mentioned. There has the function to insert in subject position a given information item,

11
According to R. Quirk, op.cit., p. 961, there as an introductory element provides the necessary
condition for inversion to take place (i.e. for the subject to be placed after the verb); if an initial
adverbial is also present, of course, such a condition already obtains, and there may be omitted.
24
and to postpone the item marked as new to a later, nonthematic position. Seen from a
functional perspective, there appears as a formal theme that secures the normal
progression of discourse, causing the items that are heavily loaded informationally to
occur in the sentence in the position commonly held by the comment.

The major points of the grammar bite:
The subject is a noun phrase.
It occurs with all types of verbs.
The subject denotes the most important participant in the action or
state denoted by the verb.
With transitive verbs it is usually the doer or the agent of the action.
English always requires a subject, even if the subject has no actual
meaning (dummy it).

2.2. The Object
The main syntactic function discharged by NP constituents at the level of the
verb phrase is that of Object. The government relation holding between the predicating
verb and the Object(s) may be of two distinct kinds:
a) non-oblique: the function of the NP is that of Direct Object and it actualizes
the regime of transitive verbs;
b) oblique: the verb governs a prepositional NP. The functions of this
prepositional NP are:
(i) Indirect Object if the preposition is the dative to or for
(ii) Prepositional Object if the preposition is other than to or for

The Direct Object
The direct object (DO) is expressed by means of noun phrase items:
a) a noun (phrase),
e.g. I enjoyed the book.
Have you met Dr. Jones?
b) coordinated nouns: two or more nouns - connected either by conjunctions or
asyndentically - discharge an identical syntactic function, viz. coordinated objects in
relation to a transitive verb
e.g. A cupboard with glass doors contained some books and an ancient set of
china. (C.B.)
c) a noun equivalent: pronoun, numeral, non-finite form (infinitive, gerund),
e.g. He didnt do anything.
Add fifty and thirty and you will get eighty.
I should like to explain.
She hates being contradicted.
d) a complex construction made up of a (pro)noun in the Accusative (Objective)
case + a non finite form of he verb (infinitive, participle, gerund):
- The Accusative with the Infinitive occurs after verbs of physical perception,
mental activity, feeling, order, permission (acknowledge, admit, advise, allow, ask,
assume, believe, cause, command, compel, conceive, consider, declare, deny, desire,
expect, feel, force, get, hate, have, hear, imagine, induce, know, let, like, make, mean,
notice, observe, order, perceive, permit, persuade, proclaim, pronounce, prove,
recommend, request, see, suffer, suppose, understand, want,watch, wish).
e.g. He conceived himself to be calm. (J.C.)
I never knew her to do such things before (C.D.).
At that moment she felt him tremble.
- The Accusative with the indefinite Participle after verbs of physical
perception, mental activity, feeling (like, notice, observe, see, set, want, watch, hear).
e.g. And they heard him walking to and fro late in the night. (C.D.)
25
Mr. Marvel felt his ears glowing. (H.G.W.)
- The Genitive/Accusative with the gerund after the verbs, excuse, hate, like,
mind, prevent.
e.g. She doesnt like my doing that.
Youll excuse me leaving earlier.
- The Accusative with the Past Participle after verbs expressing causative
relations, coercion, order (get, have, hear, like, want)
e.g. He had his hair cut.
I cant bear to hear them spoken badly of.
They had him brought before them.
- the Accusative with an Adverb occurs after verbs expressing feeling, order,
permission (desire, keep, order, permit, prefer)
e.g. I ordered him away. = I ordered him to go/stay away.
I prefer it there. = I prefer it to remain there.
The Infinitive is present in the deep structure.
e) an object clause, e.g.
I dont know where he lives.

The place of the Direct Object
The DO normally follows the verb phrase expressed by a transitive verb,
e.g. Put out the candle, so that they cant see the light when I open the shutters.
(G.B.S.).
The DO is sometimes separated from the transitive verb by a prepositional
object or adverbial modifier. This is often the case when the group of the object is rather
lengthy,
e.g. Felix saw on the branch of the apple-tree a tiny brown bird with a little
beak sticking out.(J.G.)
With complex verbs:
a) the DO expressed by a pronoun precedes the adverbial particle,
e.g. The noise woke him up. They have a radio but they dont switch it on
during the day;
b) the DO expressed by a noun precedes or follows the adverbial particle,
e.g. He had thought the problem out.
Mrs. Hall went to clear away the strangers lunch.
The DO may appear at the beginning of the sentence, for purposes of emphasis,
e.g. Talent, Mr. Micawber has; money, Mr. Micawber has not. (C.D.) The
presence of the DO in front position is usual when it is expressed by a group of words
including not a + noun. If the predicate contains neither an auxiliary, nor a modal verb,
to do must be used in these constructions,
e.g. Many a book have I consulted without finding an answer to this questions.
Many sweet little appeals did Miss Sharp make to him about the dishes at
dinner (W.M.T.).
Not a stone has he left unturned.
Not a hint did she drop about sending me to school (C.B.).
By the passive transformation the DO assumes the status of a subject, e.g. The
woman recognized the driver The driver was recognized by the woman.
2) Classes of verbs followed by a Direct Object:
a) transitive verbs
- transitive verbs followed by one Direct Object: drink, eat, love, meet, need,
read, seek, speak, write etc.
e.g. I need the book tomorrow.
He speaks English well.
The Passive Transformation: The Direct Object becomes the subject of the
passive sentence, and the subject becomes the Object of Agent.
The students loved their teacher.
The teacher was loved by his students.
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- transitive verbs followed by two Direct Object (the first DO denotes a person,
the second a thing): answer, ask, envy, forgive, save, spare, strike, teach.
e.g. We ask him several questions.
They envied us our success.
That will save us a lot of trouble.
He taught the children mathematics.
Passivization: Constructions with two Direct Objects have two transformations:
Mr. Bent taught us a new lesson. We were taught a new lesson (1)or A new
lesson was taught to us (2). The most frequent is the first one (the personal Object
becomes the subject and the other Direct Object is retained).
- transitive verbs followed by a DO and an Indirect Object: bring, give, hand,
lend, offer, read, show, write etc. The usual order is IO + DO, e.g. I gave Mary a book. I
handed him a letter.
Passivization: Both Objects can become the subject for the passive sentence:
They showed me the picture. I was shown the picture.
The picture was shown to me.
The first is the most common. The Indirect Object becomes the Subject and the Direct
Object is retained.
-transitive verbs followed by DO and a Prepositional Object: accuse (of),
charge (with), compare (with), congratulate (on), cure (of), deprive (of), prevent (from)
etc. The order of these objects is DO + PO:
e.g. They charged him with an important mission.
We congratulate him on his promotion.
I helped my friend with his project.
The Passive Transformation: the Direct Object becomes the Subject, and the
Prepositional Object is retained.
We congratulated him on his success.
He was congratulated on his success.
b) intransitive verbs
There are some intransitive verbs: die, laugh, live, sleep, smile etc. which can be
followed by DO. In such cases the verb behaves like a transitive verb. The object is a
lexical copy of the verb or a mere semantic one (cognate object). The peculiarity of the
Object NP lies in its consisting of a head N (the nominalization corresponding to the
verb) and a modifier expressed by an adjective which indicates the manner in which the
action/process takes place.
e.g. Last night I dreamt a strange dream.
He lived a long and happy life.
He died a terrible death.
A tendency is noticeable in contemporary English of replacing certain
intransitive verbs (cry, dance, walk etc.) by transitive constructions such as have a dance.
The construction contains a transitive verb of general meaning (do, give, have, take)
followed by a direct object a verbal noun which carries the actual semantic force or
value of the idiom. The transitive construction is more idiomatic than the equivalent
construction with an intransitive verb,
e.g. He did little work that day (=He worked little)
He made several attempts to contact them (He attempted several times)
3) Classification of DOs in point of semantic content
a) significant/meaningful objects
e.g. The members heard the minutes and approved them.
b) non-significant/meaningless objects are expressed by the pronoun it.
- it has an anticipatory function to introduce an object clause, an infinitive or
gerund after verbs such as believe, consider, find, leave, owe, think
e.g. I consider it my duty to warn you.
- it occurs after verbs such as catch, lord, overdo, rough e.g.
They find it easier to work in another town.
They had to rough it when the storm started.
He acted foolishly and he caught it.
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Such verbs often impart a peculiar liveliness to the description:
e.g. We therefore decided that we would sleep out on fine nights, and hotel it,
and inn it and pub it, like respectable folks when it was wet. (J.K.J.)

The Indirect Object
The indirect Object (IO) is expressed by means of:
- a noun (Phrase),
e.g. He spoke to the manager
- a pronoun: the pronoun is in the objective case when it is represented by a
personal pronoun or by the interrogative-relative pronoun who,
e.g. Please send me a postcard.
To whom did you lend it? (or: Who(m) did you lend it to?)

The place of the Indirect Object
- the IO is placed before the DO (the IO is used without any prepositions):
e.g. He sold us his car.
She bought her mother a blouse.
- the IO is placed after the DO (the IO is preceded by the preposition to/for):
e.g. He sold his car to our neighbour.
I bought a blouse for mother.
- the IO may be placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis:
e.g. To him, of all the younger poets, people accorded the right to say
something (J.G.)

The passive transformation
- the to - IO construction yields two passive forms:
a) the IO becomes the formal subject of the sentence,
e.g. The teacher gave John a book John was given a book (by the teacher);
b) the IO is retained,
e.g. A book was given to John.
- the for IO yields only one passive from, the one with the IO in subject
position being ungrammatical,
e.g. A book was brought for John. *John was brought a book.
2) Classes of words followed by an Indirect Object:
a) verbs
- transitive verbs followed by an IO and a DO (the order can be changed if the
preposition FOR is inserted): built, buy, choose, cook, cut, do, find, get, leave, make,
order, prepare, receive, reserve,
e.g. Buy me an ice-cream, please Buy one for me.
Ill telephone: they must find a room for me (J.G.).
- transitive verbs followed by an IO and a DO (the order can be changed if the
preposition TO is inserted): assign, cause, give, hand, lend, offer, owe, pay, promise,
read, return, sell, send, show, sign, write:
e.g. This has caused us much anxiety.
Youve caused trouble to all of us.
Please hand me that book.
He handed the book to the man at his side.
He showed me his pictures.
He has shown them to all his friends.
The obligatory sequence IO + DO occurs in constructions with the verbs give,
lend (the IO can refer to something inanimate); give sth. a wipe, give ones imagination
full rein/play, give sb a black eye, give sb a kiss/a punch, give sb a piece of ones mind,
lend sth an air/aura.
e.g. He gave the door a push/a kick (=He pushed the door).
They gave the house a new coat of painting.
He gave the rope a hearty tug.
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I gave the problem my full attention.
- transitive verbs followed by a DO and an IO preceded by the preposition to:
address, admit, announce, ascribe, attribute, communicate, confess, contribute, dedicate,
deliver, dictate, convey, demonstrate, describe, declare, entrust, explain, illustrate,
indicate, introduce, mention, narrate, point out, propose, refer, recommend, relate,
repeat, report, say, state, submit, suggest, translate, transmit
e.g. He ascribed the mild climate of the land to the warm stream.
He very often contributes articles to the Daily Worker.
I described to her all the grandeur of Lady Catherine and her mansion (J.A.).
The boy explained everything to his father.
Let me introduce my friend to your parents.
And you must not say these extravagant things to me (O.W.)
I suggested another solution to him.
Transitive verbs followed by a Direct Object and an Indirect Object are divided
into two groups according to passivization.
Some of these have a single transformation in which the Direct Object becomes
the Subject of the passive sentence, and the Indirect Object is preserved. The following
verbs belong to this category:
- verbs followed by a Direct Object and an Indirect Object in this order +
preposition to: address, announce, communicate, describe, explain, introduce, mention,
relate, repeat, say, translate, convey,
They conveyed the news to us. The news was conveyed to us.
- verbs followed by the preposition for: buy, choose, do, leave, make, order etc.
Have you left any chocolate for the others?
Has any chocolate been left for the others?
Other verbs like: give, offer, tell, show, promise etc. have two passive
transformations.
The most common transformation is when the Indirect Object becomes the
Subject, the Direct Object being retained.
They gave me a beautiful flower.
I was given a beautiful flower.
A beautiful flower was given to me. This is a variant seldom used.
- some intransitive verbs followed by a non-prepositional IO: last, take,
e.g. This umbrella has lasted me ten years.
It took me two hours to solve the problem.
- some intransitive verbs require an IO preceded by the preposition to:
apologize, belong, happen, occur, read, speak, talk.
e.g. It could have happened to anyone.
An idea occurred to me.
The secretary was late again this morning; youd better speak to her about it.
b) adjectives: dangerous, faithful, good, grateful, harmful, helpful, open
e.g. He always remained faithful to his principles.
Tom was good to her (G.E.).
c) nouns: benefit, gratitude, help, service, use
e.g. My gratitude to him cannot be expressed in words.
It was of great help to me.
3) Types of indirect Objects
a) The non-prepositional Indirect Object.
The non-prepositional IO is used when the IO is placed before the DO. The
non-prepositional IO is preferred in English because
(i) the object designating persons normally precedes that which designates
things;
(ii) spoken English manifests a preference for shorter constructions,
e.g. The colonel gave us a wintry smile (G.G.)
The Miller paid Hans a visit (O.W.)
We owe you many apologies, Maam. (C.D.)
Ill just read you a few of the leaders I wrote at the time (C.D.).
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b) The prepositional Indirect Object
The prepositional IO built up with the prepositions to/for is required in the
following situations:
- when the speaker or writer wants to emphasize the IO or to place it in contrast
with another IO,
e.g. Harry, promise me that you will never lend that book to anyone. (O.W.)
I shall show the letter to you (not to her).
- when the IO is followed by a subordinate clause,
e.g. He gave a book to his friend who is visiting him.
- when DO is expressed by a personal pronoun while the IO is expressed by a
noun,
e.g. He gave them to his mother.
I offered it to John.
- when both objects are expressed by personal pronouns,
e.g. He gathered a half-blown rose and offered it to me (C.B.)
Name them to me. (C.D.).
I handed it to him.
The verb give allows the omission of the preposition to (I gave it to her I gave
it her),
e.g. A gentleman gave it me (C.D.).
The Frenchwoman looked for her compact; I gave it her and she thanked me.
(G.G)
- when the DO is not expressed: the IO is usually employed with the DO;
nevertheless, there are cases when the IO is used without the DO, especially after the
verbs read, sing, speak, wire, write (the DO is implied),
e.g. I understand you have been in the habit of reading to your father (C.D.)
The verb to write may be followed by an IO without the preposition to,
e.g. On my being settled at Doctor Strongs I wrote to her again. (C.D.)
Wont you write me and tell me how you all are? (T.D.)
The Prepositional Object
Means of expression: Being a nominal part of the sentence, the PO can be
expressed practically by any of the nominal elements preceded by a preposition:
- a noun or an equivalent preceded by a preposition
e.g. He was looking for a pen.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
I got on very well with him.
- a gerundial phrase preceded by a preposition,
e.g. He insisted on doing it himself.
She was conscious of being admired by everyone present.
The place of the Prepositional Object.
a) the PO is placed after the predicate when it is expressed by an intransitive
verb,
e.g. He was talking with his friends.
Look at that honey-coloured moon that hangs in the dusky air; she is waiting
for you to charm her (O.W.).
b) The PO is placed after the Indirect Object,
e.g. Have you spoken to him about it?
This letter was send to me by my mother.
c) The PO is placed after the Direct Object when the predicate is expressed by a
transitive verb,
e.g. He informed her of his decision.
Have you compared the translation with the original?
He gave me a broad hint about it.
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d) The PO may be placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphatic
purposes (the front position of the PO is sometimes accompanied by Subject-Auxiliary
inversion),
e.g. With fire and sword the country round/They wasted far and wide (R.S.)
Oh, on what little things does happiness depend. (O.W.).
2) Classes of words followed by a Prepositional Object:
a) verbs
- intransitive verbs with obligatory preposition: argue about/with, aim at, boast
of, call for, care for, complain of, depend on, hint at, insist on, long for, look at/after/for,
pass for, resort to, wait for, wonder at, worry about.
e.g. She seems always to agree with other people (J.G.)
He boasts of being the best cricket player in the College.
Would you care for one of these books?
The success of the picnic will depend on the weather.
- transitive verbs with obligatory preposition: acquaint sb with, advise sb about,
assure sb of, blame sb for, bother sb with, congratulate sb on, convince sb of, cure smb of
smth, deprive smb of smth, help smb with smth, entrust sb with, mistake sb for, remind
sb of, warn sb about/against.
e.g. I am writing to acquaint you with the latest developments in the situation.
At first I resolved not to disturb you with such a useless piece of information
(T.H.)
We cannot entrust him with such a task.
The doctor cured the woman of that terrible disease.
The verbs assist sb in, charge sb with, dissuade sb from, force sb into, prevent
sb from are followed by a gerundial phrase.
e.g. Various obligations have prevented me from going earlier.
He charged me with neglecting my duty.
b) Adjectives or participles, which fulfil the function of a predicative in a
nominal predicate, followed by obligatory prepositions: angry at/about/with, aware of,
careful about/of, content with, concerned about/for, free from/of, good at, interested in,
proud of, satisfied with, successful in, surprised at.
e.g. Try not to be angry with her.
I am aware of your efforts.
There are many kinds of hunters engaged in the pursuit of happiness (C.D.)
He is interested in astronomy.
I am surprised at his behaviour.
c) nouns: anger at, attitude to/towards, reaction to, response to, surprise at,
e.g. What is your attitude towards this question?
The response to the appeal has not been very encouraging.
3) Types of Prepositional Objects
a) The Prepositional Object of Agent is expressed by means of a NP introduced
by the preposition by. It denotes the person (more rarely the thing, natural element or
abstract notion) performing the action. This doer or performer of the action appears as the
real/logical subject in passive sentences, being therefore closely connected with the
passive voice.
e.g. This was given me by a young French lady (M.H.)
The flowers were crushed by a hailstorm.
b) The Prepositional Object of Instrument is expressed by means of a NP
introduced by the preposition with. It denotes the instrument, agency through which an
action is performed.
e.g. Mr. Peggotty ruffled his hair with both hands (C.D.)
I managed to beat the dog off with a stick.
c) The Prepositional Object of Association is expressed by means of an NP
introduced by the prepositions with, together with. This PO denotes the person (more
rarely the animal and thing) participating in an action with the speaker or writer.
e.g. It is already creating widespread discussion and he with others had gone to
see it (T.D.)
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I am sending you a letter from the County Council together with a copy of my
reply.
d) The Prepositional Object of Relation is expressed by means of the
prepositions for, against, to, towards. It includes various kinds of relations as well as
attitudes, feelings etc.
e.g. Are his feelings towards us friendly?
They did not die; death being contrary to their principles they took precautions
against it (J.G.).

Summing up
An object is a noun phrase.
It only occurs with transitive verbs.
The object noun phrase of a transitive verb can be moved to become
subject of the corresponding passive clause. Compare: Everyone read
the book with The book was read by everyone.
Three valency patterns contain direct objects: the monotransitive,
ditransitive and complex transitive patterns.
The ditransitive pattern contains first an indirect object followed by a
direct object.

2.3. The Predicative (The Subject Complement)
The Predicative (Complement), occurs after link verbs forming with them
Nominal Predicates. The Predicative has the following syntactic characteristics:
a) It is expressed by means of
- a noun phrase, usually a [-definite] NP,
e.g. He is an engineer. She has remained a widow.
The undergraduates were boys in their teens.
He was a brilliant, original teacher.
There are very few cases in which [+definite] NPs function as predicatives, e.g.
White hats are the thing today.
- a prepositional noun phrase: (i) with deleteable preposition: a whole group
including of NP which indicates attributes connected with colour, size, age, quality, shape
may undergo preposition deletion,
e.g. These shoes are (of) the same size,
Her dress is (of) the same colour as mine.
(ii) with undeletable preposition,
e.g. They are of the same opinion.
His son is of a sound mind.(we notice that be of has a possessive meaning)
His behaviour is above reproach.
The car was beyond repair.
The screw was out of the plank.
She is in good health.
The phrase is often the same or almost the same as an adjective.
e.g. He was happy. At last he was at liberty, (at liberty=free). At last he was
free.
She is out of danger (out of danger=safe)
She is safe.
- a noun substitute:
(i) a numeral
e.g. Mike was the first.
She was seventeen then.
(ii) a pronoun (personal, possessive, interrogative, indefinite)
e.g. The house was no longer theirs. (CD) Who are you?, asked Tom; It is I
(In spoken English: It is me).The pronouns it, which, that and such are used to replace a
preceding subject complement:
She is very ill and looks it.
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We are loyal and you will always find us such.
(iii) a non finite verbal form (an infinitival or gerundial phrase),
e.g. His principal pastime is to drive in the countryside.
His hobbies are gardening and watching football.
A boy is missing.
Seeing is believing.
Sometimes the subject complement is expressed by an infinitival or gerundial
complex:
The most important thing was for them to finish the project in time.
The greatest trouble was our ignoring some details.
- a predicative clause,
e.g. The trouble is that I forgot the address.
The problem is that he never comes in time.
b) There is number concord between the subject and the predicative
e.g. He felt a fool (both subject and Predicative are singular).
They felt fools (both Subject and Predicative are plural)
b) The Predicative cannot became subject through passivization.
e.g. He looked a complete idiot.
*A complete idiot was looked by him.
2.4. The Predicative Adjunct (The Complement of the Object)
The Predicative Adjunct determines both the predicate expressed by a transitive
verb and the noun (or the noun substitute) heaving the function of a Direct Object of the
Predicate. The Predicative Adjunct has the following syntactic characteristics:
a) it is expressed by means of:
- a noun phrase which occurs after verbs such as: appoint, call, choose,
consider, declare, designate, elect, make, name, nominate, proclaim, prove, select, vote.
e.g. They appointed Paul Brown chairman.
They elected him president.
The parents named the boy Peter.
- a noun phrase preceded by as, after the verbs: accept, describe, designate,
disguise, engage, regard, look upon,
e.g. The jury accepted the woman as a witness.
He designated Smith as his successor.
b) The Predicative Adjunct is placed after the Direct Object
c) There is number concord between the Direct Object and the Predicative
Adjunct
e.g. They consider him a fool.
They consider the men fools.
d) The Predicative Adjunct does not become Subject through passivization,
e.g. They appointed Harry manager.
*Manager was appointed Harry.
Harry was appointed manager.
2.5. The Apposition
The apposition is an element which renders the main noun more precise or
definite. The apposition resembles coordination since two or more units in apposition are
constituents of the same level. For units to be appositives, i.e. in apposition, they must
normally be identical in reference or else, the reference of one must be included in the
reference of the other. For example, in
A neighbour, Frank Brown, is on the phone.
a neighbour and Frank Brown refer to the same person.
In terms of structure, appositions are subdivided into:
a) the simple (close) apposition is closely connected with the respective head
noun; it determines or defines names of persons, titles, professions, geographical names.
The close apposition precedes the head noun, except in some phraseological
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combinations, when the apposition follows the head noun (William the Conqueror,
Richard the Lion Hearted): Lord Nelson, Queen Victoria, Doctor Pitt,
e.g. Im afraid Aunt Augusta wont approve of your being here.
In geographical names the apposition follows the head noun e.g. Mount
Snowdon is 3500 feet high.
Doctor Johnson was a prominent figure of English letters.
A special case is when the head noun a common noun such as city, town, isle,
lake, straits etc. is followed by an appositive noun, a geographical proper name
preceded by the preposition of:
e.g. the City of London, the Isle of Man, the Straits of Dover.
b) The loose apposition is considered parenthetical, less important than the close
apposition; it is separated by commas even if it does not include more than one word. The
loose apposition follows the head noun and has the force of a descriptive attribute.
e.g. Lizzy, a black-eyed child of seven, looked very shy (G.E.)
An airplane droned its way over to the north, a silvery small noisy shape (J.G.)
Mr Smith, a friend of hers, visited her last week.

Summing up
Clauses (in their simplest form) are composed of phrases that function
as clause elements such as subject and object.
The main elements of clauses are: subject, verb phrase, object (direct or
in direct object), predicative and adverbial.

BIBLIOGRAFIE:
London:Longman.
pedagogic.
University Press.

AUTOEVALUARE:
1. Define the Subject.
2. Enlarge upon the syntactic characteristics of the Subject.
3. Classify the Subject in point of content.
4. What classes of verbs are followed by a Direct Object?

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UNIT 4. The Verb Phrase

The Verb Phrase
1. The Structure of The VP
2. The Function of The VP: The Predicate
3. Subject Predicate Concord
1. S identifice tipurile de verbe transitive.
2. S clasifice verbele intranzitive.
3. S clasifice verbele copulative.
4. S defineasc acordul i s recunoasc tipurile de acord subiect-predicat.


1. The Structure of the Verb Phrase.
The verb phrase (VP) consists of a verb the head accompanied by its
adjuncts. The head is expressed by a predicating verb or by a copulative verb + NP/Adj.P.
The adjuncts are expressed by adverbial phrases, noun phrases, prepositional phrases,
non-finite forms (infinitives, participles, gerunds), clauses.
e.g. adverb: He reads rapidly. She walks slowly.
Noun phrase: He will pay next time.
Prepositional phrase: He reads in the library.
Clauses: He reads when he wants to relax.
Adjuncts may be obligatory or optional in the verb phrase.
a) obligatory: adjuncts functioning as objects
- direct or indirect objects for transitive verbs
V+DO+IO e.g. He offers flowers to the teacher.
- indirect or prepositional objects for intransitive verbs
V+IO e.g. It happened to Mary.
V+PO e.g. Look at the picture
- non-finite or finite clauses, e.g. He wants to help.
b) optional: adjuncts functioning as adverbial modifiers
- V+Adv Modifier of Place e.g. The children play in the garden
- V+Adv Modifier of Time e.g. He wakes up early.
- V+Adv Modifier of Manner e.g. He drives carefully.
The main verb the head can be modified by nominals functioning as Object
(Direct, Prepositional Object). These same kinds of adjuncts can follow not only the main
verb, but other non finite forms in the sentence as well,
e.g. He enjoys playing golf.
Here the Direct Object of the main verb enjoys is the gerundial phrase playing
golf and within this phrase golf is the Direct Object of playing.
2. The function of the verb phrase. The VP has the function of a predicate
12
in
the sentence. The Predicate may be defined as part of the sentence which ascribes an
action, a state or a quality to the subject. The Predicate necessarily includes a verb in a
finite (personal) mood.
Morphological aspects of predication. The constituents of the predicate are
grouped into the Auxiliary and the Main Verb. the Auxiliary consists of grammatical
formatives that mark the grammatical categories pertaining to the verb. It is characterised
by a non-homogenous discontinuous structure, being a sequence of affixes (bound
morphemes: -s, -ed, -en, ing) that alternate with auxiliary verbs (free morphemes: modals,
aspect auxiliaries). Any auxiliary in a finite clause contains Tense as an obligatory
constituent; all the other elements modal and aspect auxiliaries combine with tense:
Aux Tense (Modal) (Perfect) (Progressive) (Passive)
Have ed Be-ing Be-ed

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I n gener al pr act i ce, however , t he t er m verb i s commonl y used for bot h
aspect s of t he ver b: i t s f or m as par t of speech and i t s meani ng as pr edi cat e.
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AUXILIARY Verb Verb form
Tense V asks
Tense Perf V has asked
Tense Progr V is asking
Tense Perf Progr V has been asking
Tense Modal V will ask
Tense Modal Perf V will have asked
Tense Modal Perf Progr V will have been asking

What is called the lexical meaning is contained in the last item which is the
main (lexical) verb; but only the first item is affected by person, number, tense and it is
the first item that makes the group finite. This first item in a VP is called the operator
since it is the key word in six important operations performed in the VP:
a) the negative of the VP;
b) the interrogative of the VP;
c) the negative-interrogative;
d) tag questions;
e) emphatic affirmative;
f) pro-forms of the whole VP.
The operators are a closed set, namely: be, have, do, the modals.

Syntactic aspects of predication
1) The place of the predicate in the sentence.
The predicate is usually placed after the subject, before the object(s) or
adverbial (s),
e.g. The sun was shining brightly.
This order is changed in a number of cases when the predicate or the operator is
placed before the subject:
- interrogative sentences:
e.g. Is your father at home?
- conditional clauses when the conjunction if is omitted and the predicate
contains an auxiliary or modal verb,
e.g. Had I time I should help him.
- sentences introduced by so, neither, nor (pro-forms)
e.g. I am very tired! So am I
I dont like the painting. Neither do I.
But there is no inversion when the statement is applied to the same subject,
e.g. I thought he was present at the meeting
So, he was.
- sentences expressing wish or concession (forms of Synthetic or Analytical
Subjunctive)
e.g. Long live peace.
May mercy be shown to me as I show it to others (C.D.).
- short sentences in the middle or at the end of direct speech. This type of
inversion is most found with the verbs say, ask, cry in the present or the past tense when
the subject is a noun.
e.g. What did I say to you? cried Mrs. Davidson (S.M.)
Was there anything found on him? said Dorian looking forward. (O.W.)
- thematic fronting of an item is usually associated with inversion (the reversal
of subject-verb or the reversal of subject-operator)
a) subject predicate inversion is virtually limited to simple present or past tense
verbs, usually dynamic verbs of motion (come, fall, go) and certain stative verbs of
position (be, lie, stand)
e.g. Away went the car like a whirlwind.
Subject-predicate inversion does not take place in a clause with a personal
pronoun as subject,
36
e.g. Down we went again towards the river. (G.G.).
Here he comes.
b) subject-operator inversion, to emphasize a certain part, of the sentence,
e.g. Never shall I forget what he did for me.
Only after prolonged discussion did they come to an agreement.
Under no circumstances must the switch be left on.
2) The syntactic function of predication may be carried out by
A) single item: a verbal predicate;
B) the joint contribution of two items a copula/link verb + a predicative: a
nominal predicate.
A) The Verbal Predicate
In point of composition verbal predicates can be classified into: (i) the simple
predicate proper (the simple verbal predicate) expressed by a verb in a personal mood in a
simple or compound tense (active or passive voice),
e.g. I had been shown the way to the post office and yet I didnt find it.
The phraseological predicate consists of a verb with a vague meaning and a
noun which usually expresses an action. In this combination both elements are so closely
connected as to form one sense unit,
e.g. The man gave a violent start. (J.C.).
Good-bye, my boy, take care of yourself (J.G.)
(ii) the compound predicate is such a predicate in which the primary lexical
meaning is expressed in one word a notional word -, and the additional grammatical
meanings (person, mood, tense etc.) are expressed in another word a semiauxiliary. The
compound predicate is of two types:
- the compound modal predicate includes a modal verb in a predicative mood +
a non-finite form of the verb to be conjugated,
e.g. I think you might work harder.
Real friends should have everything in common (O.W.)
- the compound aspect predicate which is made up of a verb denoting a lexical
aspect in a predicative mood and a non finite form of the verb:
His eyes keep questioning her face (J.G.)
The wind went on blowing the whole day.
My mother began to cry.
In some cases the predicate may be both modal and aspectual.
e.g. You must begin to study seriously.
Verbal predicates are expressed by means of transitive or intransitive verbs.
Verbs can be classified according to the type of sentence structure in which they occur:

Structure Type of verb
Intransitive S P
S P A
Transitive S P O
S P OOO

Some verbs occur regularly in a given structure and can therefore be named
after the structure,
e.g. arrive intransitive, chase - transitive.
On the other hand, some verbs may occur normally in more than one structure,
e.g. They watched the show.
They watched from behind the bushes.
It is obvious from these examples that watch can be used transitively or
intransitively and therefore it cannot be classified solely as either transitive or intransitive.
(i) Transitive predication is performed by the following types of transitive
verbs:
a) Simple Transitives (Monotransitive verbs). They include monotransitives
which indicate activities associated with affected objects. Here are some of these English
verbs; accumulate (goods, wealth), decorate (a room), beat (a carpet), break (a window),
37
burn (paper), carry (a box), (catch a ball, a train), drop (a pot, a glass), eat (food), drink
(water), move (a chair), open (a door), take (a book) etc.
b) Relational Verbs express symmetric or asymmetric interrelations between
sets or members of sets:
- reciprocal verbs which express symmetric relations between humans (divorce,
embrace, kiss, fight, marry, meet, resemble) are characterized by reversibility of their
Subject and Object, which explains their resistance to passivization, e.g. x married y y
married x * (y was married by x);
- unidirectional verbs (fit, match, suit) tend to resist passivization (with some
contextual exceptions) because of the strongly marked directionality of the established
relation,
e.g. The coat fits him.
The suggestion suits me perfectly.
Her shoes matched the colour of her dress;
- Verbs of possession (acquire, appropriate, get, have, possess, receive, own)
resist passivization. Reversibility of the two terms the subject and the Object is
possible only by recourse to other verb lexemes, basically the intransitive belong to which
takes the possessed item (the Object) as Subject,
e.g. The Browns own/possess/have an elegant villa The elegant villa belongs
to the Browns.
Some constructions with have are replaceable by be
e.g. We had a party next door last night.
There was a party next door last night.
Her shoes had the same colour as mine Her shoes were of the same colour as
mine.
Possessive have is to be distinguished from: have with a particular activity
meaning as in have coffee (=drink), have a roast beef (eat); have as a quasi-verb, with a
rather vague, general activity meaning (=experience, suffer), e.g. have a walk, have a
bath; have as a causative verb, in constructions of the form have something done, have
somebody do something;
- verbs of inclusive relationship (comprise, contain, cover, hold, include) are
semantically related to verbs of possession,
e.g. The box has 25 matches There are 25 matches in the box. Some of the
verbs of inclusion resist passivization,
e.g. * 25 matches are contained in the box.
c) Causative Verbs show that the subject makes somebody fulfil the action of
the basic verb. Causative verbs express either mere causation of an event (cause,
determine, get, have, make) or an event in which causation is implied (kill= cause sb to
die, persuade = cause sb to do smt., redden= cause sb/smt to come to be red). All
causative constructions are transitive, owing to the fact that causation always implies two
participants: a causer and an affected or effected (resulting) entity. They are expressed by
two NPs of which one is selected as Subject and the other as Object. There are several
types of causatives in English:
- periphrastic causatives: cause, determine, get, have, make. Cause is the most
general causative, e.g. The war caused great human losses. Grammatically speaking, the
periphrastic causatives render the idea of causation quite neutrally with the exception of
have and get which may have an additional tinge of compulsion or order and can only
take an animate, ergative causer as subject NP,
e.g. I shall have the boy rewrite the exercise five times.
Ill get him to read the book.
Periphrastic causatives are very productive in present day English.
- lexical causatives: they form pairs with intransitive verbs denoting the
resultative aspect of the respective activity, process or state by means of a lexically
distinct item,
e.g. Brutus killed Caesar Caesar died.
38
The relation between the transitive and the intransitive verb construction is
lexicalized in that the possibility of using the same verb lexeme in these cases is ruled
out,
e.g. * Brutus died Caesar. Here are some members in this class:
convince/persuade (=cause sb to belive), teach (=cause sb to learn), remind (=cause sb to
remember), extinguish (=cause sth to cease burning),
e.g. We convinced him of his guilt (=caused him to believe).
The same type of semantic-syntactic relation between a v
t
and a v
i
characterizes
a number of pairs of verbs which are closely similar phonologically (they differ by one or
two sounds). The transitive verb in each case has developed historically out of the
intransitive one as a causative counterpart: fell
vt
-fall
vi
,lay
vt
-lie
vi
, set
vt
-sit
vi
, raise
vt
-rise
vi
.
e.g. He felled some trees in the forest (=he caused them to fall).
- morphological causatives: a great number of causative transitives are
converted from adjectives which denote an attribute acquired as a result of a cause. The
word-formation processes may be:
- conversion (to bare, to clean, to cool, to dry),
e.g. She cooled the soup (=she caused the soup to come to be cool);
- affixation (be-, de-, dis-, en-, un-, -ate, -en, -ize, -ify) disable, enrich, amplify,
solidify etc.
e.g. That will simplify my task (=That will make my task simple(r))
Similar causative derivatives have nouns as sources. The means are similar to
those enlisted above: to age, to disarm, embalm, encourage, unbutton.
As Lyons points out, morphological causatives might be considered as
intermediate between lexical ones (the kill/die type) and ergatives like move, change,
grow etc. They are:
- attitudinal causatives verbs are also [+causative], as they express a
psychological reaction aroused in a human being by an exterior stimulus. The causer
occurs as Subject of Sentence, the Experiencer as direct Object.
The news

pleased

everybody.
[+cause] pleased [+affected Experiencer]

[+causative)
- dative causatives. This subcategory includes causatives that take two objects,
one of which is indirect.
Give = cause smb to have
Sell = cause smb to buy
Show = cause smb to see
- ergative verbs
Verbs which couple the basic regimes of transitives and intransitives form a
specialized system called ergative; the verb lexeme may predicate, without any difference
in its phonological form, a one term intransitive configuration or a two-term transitive
one.
John moved the branch.
v
t
Direct Object

The branch moved.
Subject v
i

Ergatives might be considered as a sub-class of causatives which, as different
from lexical and morphological causatives derive a transitive verb from an intransitive
one by a zero morphological modification.
Among the verbs behaving like this, we encounter begin, break, burn, change,
develop, grow, increase, roll, spread, turn, improve, melt etc. all of which denote a
change or a motion therefore a transition from a stage into another stage.
e.g. The child broke the china. (Causative)
The china broke. (Inchoative)
39
(= The child caused the china to be broken The china came to be / became /
got broken.)
Intransitives Recategorized as Causatives.
Some subclasses of intransitive verbs come to be recategorized as transitives
when they contextually incorporate the [+causative] feature.
Such verbs are said to form illogical predicates, as their subject does not
express the performer of the action.
He walked the horse up and down!
He worked his men ruthlessly.
Although the verbs walk and work are inferently intransitive, they are used in
the contexts above as transitive verbs which may be paraphrased by cause smth/smb
to+Vi. Other verbs belonging to this category are: dance, float, fly, march, run, sit,
stand.
e.g. The teacher stood the pupils in the row.
The woman was dancing the baby in her arms.
He flew a kite.
He was running his horse down to hill.
They could sit eight people round the table.
He stood the case against the wall.
The Causative Inchoative Relationship
There is a close semantic relationship between the inchoative meaning (entrance
into a new state or acquisition of a new attribute), on the one hand, and the causation of
this process of becoming on the other hand. The mutual semantico-syntactic
interrelationship between inchoative and causative structures is ilustrated by related pairs
such as.
e.g. Ellen cooled the soup The soup cooled.
d) Complex Transitives (Transitives with Two Adjuncts)
Quite a few subcategories of Vt-s take a post-DO obligatory adjunct,
functioning as Predicative Adjunct/Indirect Object/ Prepositional Object/Adverbial
Modifier of Manner, Place, Quantity etc.
Emmon Bach called these verbs Complex Transitives (see Bach E., In Defence
of Passive, in Linguistic and Philosopy, vol.3, 1980).
The subcategory of ditransitive Vs can be included here. Ditransitive verbs are
those followed by a Direct Object and an Indirect Object (bring, give, hand, land, offer,
read, show, right, buy, choose, do, leave, make, order), or by two Direct Objects (ask,
envy, save, strike, teach).
Transitives with Prepositional Object.
Semantically most of these verbs denote an inter-human relationship.
Here are some: accuse smb of smth; acquaint smb with sth, blame smb for smth,
charge smb with smth, congratulate smb on/for smth, deprive smb of smth, cure smb of
smth, entrust smb with sth etc.
The Direct object is [+human] while the Prepositional Object is in general
[+abstract.]
They blamed Pete for their failure.
Transitives with Adverbial Modifiers
Some motion verbs (fasten, lay, place, put etc.) take an Adverbial of Place after
their Object.
e.g. You should fasten the rope to the hook.
He laid the volume on the shelf.
40
A subgroup of similar verbs evince an interesting peculiarity: the Adverbial of
Place may be promoted to Object position while the former Direct Object becomes a
Prepositional Object and exchanges positions with the former locative NP,
e.g. John smeared some paint on the wall.
John smeared the wall with paint.
The team has unloaded the coal from the truck.
The team has unloaded the truck of coal.
Factitive transitives are nearly related to Causative Verbs: they express the idea
of making something or somebody acquire a certain quality (appoint, boil, break, burst,
choose, create, elect, drink, fling, make, name, paint, read, set, wipe etc.). The Direct
Object of these verbs is accompanied by a Predicative Adjunct which indicates a
resultative state,
e.g. We have appointed Smith chairman of the society.
They elected John director of the project.
He hammered the metal flat.
She wiped the surface clean.
She boiled the eggs hard.
Tom slammed the door shut.
There are some constructions in which the predicative evinces a semantic and
syntactic condensing of two different actions: besides its own semantic value, the Predicat
also has an implied factitive value,
e.g. To talk somebody into doing something (= to persuade somebody to do
something by talking)
To read somebody to sleep (=to put somebody to sleep by reading)
e) Transitives with Particles: bring up (children), call up (a person), clean out
(room), finish off (a letter), give away (a secret), give up (hope), hand in (a note), look up
(a word), make up (a story), pick up (an object), put on (a coat), sew on (a button), take
off (a coat) etc. The first subgroups include verbs with the rule feature [+/- Particle
Movement], the second, verbs that obligatory apply Particle movement, i.e. [+Part
Movement] verbs and the third, verbs that never undergo this transformation, i.e. [-
Particle Movement] verbs.
The great majority of transitives with particle represent the standard of regular
pattern: the particle precedes the Object NP; it is moved optionally in post Object position
if the NP is non-pronominal, and obligatorily if the NP is a personal pronoun,
e.g. The man filled in the application incorrectly.(Particle movement)
The man filled the application in incorrectly.
The man filled it in incorrectly.
The travel agent messed up our booking completely. (Particle movement)
The travel agent messed our bookings /them up completely.
There is a small subcategory of verbs in which the Object NP always precedes
the particle. The difference between non-pronominal and pronominal objects is thus
effaced:
To get an idea/it across or over (communicate)
To see sb. off
To set smb/sth off (start)
To fill sb in on sth (inform in full)
To let smb in on sth (allow sb to know about sth)
To put sb up to sth (encourage)
e.g. They saw John/him off at the airport.
We mustnt let Tom/him in on our secret.
The comedian didnt get his jokes/them across
f) Recategorization of Intransitives as Transitives or Transitivization
The huge category of transitive verbs is fed by the smaller category of
intransitives by means of some distinct lexical and/or syntactic processes.
- intransitive verbs are recategorized as transitive by means of a cognate object:
cry (tears), flash (fire), scintillate (sparkles) etc. The NP functioning as Direct Object
41
often contains a modifier expressed by an adjective which indicates the mode of the
action.
e.g. She cried quiet tears (cried quietly).
He wept hot tears upon his mothers grave.
The young mans eyes were flashing fire.
The verbs look, gaze, peer, peep, stare, glare as well as other verbs expressing
human gestures or attitudes: breathe, laugh, nod, smile, sob, all of which are basically
intransitive, appear as recategorized when they mean express by V-ing; the attitude
expressed appears as resultative Direct Object.
e.g. He nodded approval (=he expressed approval by nodding. He smiled
appreciation. She breathed relief. He was looking daggers. The girl beamed
satisfaction).
The stylistic advantage of this construction is great concision of the surface
structures, in which two underlying predicates are reduced to one.
The cognate object is a special type of resultative object expressed by a noun
from the same root as the intransitive verb. The noun is usually modified by an adjective,
e.g. to live a miserable life, to sleep a quiet sleep. The simpler synonymous construction
predicated by the respective intransitive verb is of the form v
i
+ Adv of Manner, e.g. to
live miserably, to sleep quietly.
- intransitive verbs are recategorized as transitive when they are used as
causative or factitive ones, e.g. to fly (intrans.) to fly a kite (causative); to talk
(intrans.), with a person to talk a person out of it/ sth (factitive).
Phraseological predicates are often preferred to simple verbal predicates based
on intransitive verbs (this tendency is particularly manifest in colloquial English), e.g. to
have a smoke (to smoke), to have a drink (to drink), to have a walk (to walk), etc.
- preposition deletion: when a verb contains within its own meaning the
meaning of a following preposition, it is possible to omit the preposition; the verb then
become transitive and the Prepositional Object becomes a direct Object e.g. to climb (up)
a mountain, jump over a fence, flee (from) a country, pass (by) a building, pierce
(through) the defences, turn (round) the corner.
(ii) Intransitive predication is expressed by the following types of intransitive
verbs:
a) simple intransitives are what traditional grammars call verbs of complete
predication. Semantically, they express events of all types of activities processes or states
with reference to a wide range of possible subjects. Syntactically, these predicates are not
followed by Direct Objects, but they can take as optional adjuncts Prepositional Object as
well as Adverbial Modifiers of various kinds.
e.g. The lilacs have bloomed (in my garden).
The boy slept (two hours) (in the afternoon).
b) intransitives with particle: they are lexically complex items, made up of a
verb and an adverbial particle (traditionally labelled as Complex/Phrasal Verbs).
- a number of intransitives combine freely with particles having a locative and
directional meaning. These particles preserve a relatively high degree of independence
from the verb they combine with. This independent status is confirmed formally by their
possible preposing for emphatic purposes,
e.g. A gang of thieves broke in.
The boy went out in tearless grief.
The balloon went up Up went the balloon.
- some intransitives combine with aspectual particles which refer to the
temporal dimension of the event (ingressive/incipient, durative, egressive/terminative
aspect),
e.g. We set forth on our last stage of our climb.
The car get off in a cloud of dust. She was muttering away.
He worked on.
His interest has died out.
The lights have gone out.
42
- the contribution of the particle to the global meaning of the complex verb may
be null, which happens in a large number of verbs: come round (regain consciousness),
get along (manage), give in (yield), turn up (appear),
e.g. He promised to come but he has not turned up.
c) intransitives with Prepositional Objects: this class is not homogeneous in
point of semantic-syntactic peculiarities. This lack of homogeneity is due to factors such
as the meaning contribution of the preposition, the degree of idiomacity:
- intransitives, with no change in the meaning of the verb: abound in/with,
allude to, belong to, consist of/in, depend on, long for, rely upon,
e.g. The river abounds in fish.
The book belongs to him.
I rely upon his professionalism.
- intransitives with a change in the meaning of the verb: account for explain,
call on pay a short visit, come across meet by chance, look after take care of, look
into investigate etc.
e.g. How do you account for this change?
d) intransitives with particle and preposition: this class includes phrasal verbs
(V+Part) which take a fixed preposition followed by its Object,
e.g. They had done away with this piece of legislation.
The office staff are looking forward to his retirement.
I cannot put up with his interruptions.
e) intransitives with adverbial modifiers:
- intransitives with locative adverbials: verbs denoting existence in space such
as be, lie, remain, sit, stand commonly take a locative phrase. This place adverbial
undergoes deletion if the position in space is indefinite, unspecified or already known,
e.g. The house stands on the hill.
He could hardly stand.
He has gone to London.
He has gone.
- intransitives with time adverbials: eventive verbs (happen, occur, take place)
as well as existential verbs (be, live) commonly occur with place and/or time adverbials,
e.g. The debates take place between 9 and 11 oclock.
The party is at 5 oclock.
- intransitives with manner adverbials: the verbs act and behave cannot occur
unless accompanied by adverbials of manner,
e.g. I think he has acted quite foolishly.
He has behaved properly.
- intransitives with quantifying adverbials (the verbs cost, owe, weigh take
quantifying adverbials):
e.g. The smart dress cost 20.
These two boxes weight 40 kg.
f) Intransitivization. One can speak of a floating phenomenon which goes
both ways, from transitives to intransitives and vice versa. In order to recategorize
transitive verbs as intransitives, a verb which is basically transitive has to lose its direct
object. The verb may become objectless by two important transformation processes.
- the simpler of the two is deletion of the direct object: a number of transitives
allow this deletion if their object NP is more or less indefinite referentially,
e.g. I dont particularly like the way she sings (songs-). Whenever I see her she
is smoking (cigarettes- ).
- The reflexive Direct Object can also be deleted with some transitive words,
among which dress, shave, wash,
e.g. Have you finished dressing (yourself- )
- the second process occurs in active-pasive and in genuine passive
constructions,
e.g. This material washes well.
This material has been washed very well.

43
Summing up:
The basic clause patterns are: intransitive, transitive, and copular
(copulative) patterns.
Many verbs can occur with more than one valency pattern, and they
often have different meanings with each pattern. Further, each verb
occurs with very different frequencies for the different patterns.

B) The Nominal Predicate is made up of a Copula (Link Verb and a
Predicative.
(i) The Copula. The role of the copula is to perform the normal (syntactic
and morphological) tasks of predication, verbalizing the meaning carried by the second
constituent of the Predicate (i.e. the Predicative). In other words the role of the Copula is:
to link or connect the subject NP to the Adj. P/NP functioning as predicative; to realize
agreement with the Subject NP (in person and number); to express the grammatical
categories of the finite verb, that is person, number, tense and aspect.
The class of copulative verbs is not homogeneous semantically; some verbs are
semantically empty (be), others are semantically poor, but having one or several specified
features, such as: - (+existential) (Verbs of state/Being): be, feel, lie, stand, stay.
e.g. Little Dorrit was a very timid girl (C.D.)
The room was long, low and gloomy (C.B.).
We all felt tired.
The book lay open on the table.
We will stand firm: you must stay quiet for a few days.
Will you stand grandmother to the child?
I stand corrected.
- (+aspectual) (Verbs of Remaining): continue, hold, keep, remain, rest.
e.g .The weather still continues fine (O.W.)
The rule still holds good.
He shouldnt hold aloof from company.
We kept silent.
The situations remained unchanged.
She remained a widow.
You must rest assured that there will be no danger.
- (+inchoative) (Verbs of Becoming): become, come, fall, grow, go, make, run,
turn
e.g. The heat became unbearable.
His elder son became a painter.
My dreams have come true.
He fell sick soon after.
We all get upset at times (C.D.).
You are going bald.
It s growing warm.
She will make an excellent wife.
This river runs dry in summer.
The milk has turned sour.
He turned traitor
- (+appearance) (Verbs of Seeming/Appearing): appear, look, loom, seem.
e.g. Why does she appear so sad?
You dont want to appear a fool.
The book looked dull.
The threats of the H-bomb looms large in their minds.
It seems quiet enough out there (J.G.)
Being completely devoid of lexical meaning, the verb be displays the largest
number of combinatory possibilities, with any part of speech that can have a nominal
function, i.e. with a noun, an adjective or a past participle, a pronoun, a numeral, an
infinitive, a gerund.
44
e.g. He is a teacher/very competent/impressed.
This umbrella is mine.
We were only three.
To learn is to know.
His hobby was collecting stamps.
Almost all copulative combine with adjectives: appear, become, continue, fall,
feel, get, go, grow, lie, hold, look, keep, remain, run, seem, stay, turn.
Note that the function of connecting the subject with the subject complement
may be performed not only by a verb which has lost its lexical meaning, but also by a
verb of full meaning:
The moon rose red. = The moon was red when it rose. (The verb rose performs
here the role of a link verb connecting, the subject moon with the subject complement
red.)
Other examples:
My friend stood pale before them.
The day broke cold and grey.
He went away a child and returned a real man.
The moon hung low in the sky.
Compare the following:
The sun shone brightly (Verb + Adverbial Modifier).
The sun shone bright and hot (Verb + Subject Complement).
The sun rose slowly and unclouded above the mountains (Verb + Adverbial
Modifier +Subject Complement)

(ii) The predicative expresses the meaning, i.e. the semantic force of the
Predicate. The predicative is realized by one of the following syntactic categories:
Adjectival Phrase, Noun Phrase (which may be prepositional or non prepositional), or a
non-finite form

Summing up
Copular verbs are used to link two NP-s: the subject with the
predicative.
They usually takes an obligatory subject predicative.
Some copulative verbs can also occur with an obligatory adverbial.
The copular verbs differ in their meanings and in the complements that
they can take.

3. Subject Predicate Concord
Concord (agreement) can be broadly defined as the relationship between two
grammatical elements, such that if one of them contains a particular feature (e.g.
plurality), then the other also has to have that feature. In English the problem of concord
between the predicate and the subject refers to the concord in person and especially in
number.

Concord in Person. The person of the finite verb corresponds to that indicated
by the subject: when the subject of the sentence is a personal pronoun, the verb (auxiliary
agrees in pers with the personal pronoun),
e.g. I am Romanian.
He doesnt remember a word; if the subject is expressed by a noun the verb is
in the 3
rd
person sg. or pl.,
e.g. What is that?
These lessons are difficult.

Concord in Number is the most important type of concord between subject and
predicate.
45
1) Grammatical concord refers to the rule that the verb matches the subject in
number.
(i) Concord of variable nouns. The normally observed rule is very simple: a
singular subject requires a singular verb, a plural subject requires a plural verb. This rule
is applied to countable nouns which are variable in form, having both a sg. and pl.
number
e.g. The window (sg) is (sg) open.
The windows (pl) are (pl) open.
Coordinated subjects agree with the verb in the plural,
e.g. The book and the pen are on the table.
His attitude, his smile were Byronic.
(ii) Concord of invariable nouns. With invariable nouns the predicate is either
in the singular (after singular invariable nouns) or in the plural (after plural invariable
nouns).
a) singular invariable nouns that agree with the verb in the singular.
- uncountable concrete nouns:
Butter contains animal fat
13

Fruit is good for health.
- uncountable abstract nouns:
His knowledge of English is good.
Here is the 11 oclock news.
- names of sciences:
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics
14
.
- names of games:
Billiards is a game for adults.
- names of diseases:
Measles is a contagious disease.
- some proper names:
Athens is the capital of Greece.
- substantivized abstract adjectives and participles:
In most fairy-tales the good fights against the evil.
b) plural invariable nouns agree with the predicate in the plural.
- summation plurals (nouns denoting objects made up of two equal parts):
Scissors are made of steel. Where are my glasses?
- some nouns ending in s annals, auspices, doings, earnings, proceeds,
valuables etc.(pluralia tantum):
The valuables have been locked in the safe.
The goings-on are not to my liking.
- unmarked plural nouns (nouns of multitude) cattle, folk, people, police,
poultry:
The cattle are grazing.
People walk in the park on Sundays.
When the police come, perhaps youll let me know (J.G.)
- substantivized adjectives and participles:
The handicapped attend special schools.
The wounded were taken to hospital.
- some proper nouns:
The Alps are the highest mountains in Europe.
2) Notional concord is the concord of predicate with subject according to the
idea of number rather than the actual presence of the grammatical marker for that idea.
This type of concord is used with the following nouns.

13
Some uncountable nouns agree with the verb in the plural when they denote varieties,
e.g. Romanian wines are famous.
14
Names of sciences may agree with the verb in the plural when they refer to certain properties
(they become concrete)
e.g. Her phonetics are bad.
The acoustics of the Palace Hall are very good
46
a) countable nouns that get zero ending in the plural (deer, sheep, works,
Chinese, Swiss) take a singular or plural predicate according to the meaning of the noun,
e.g. This sheep is very old.
These sheep give very good wool.
A Swiss was acting as our guide.
Among the passengers were several Swiss.
b) collective nouns (audience, committee, crew, family, government, team etc.).
The choice is based on whether the group is being considered as a single undivided body
(predicate: sg) or as a collective of individuals (predicate: pl).
e.g. The committee is made up of twenty people.
The committee have finally agreed on the agenda of the next meeting.
Supply the public with what the agenda of the public wants (O.W.).
The public are very reckless in that use of the word.(O.W.)
c) nouns denoting quantity or kind (kind, number, sort, variety).
e.g. The number of inhabitants has increased.
A number of interesting papers were read.
The variety of goods on display at the Exhibition is impressive.
A great variety of goods are on sale.
d) plural nouns denoting titles of books, newspapers magazines take either a
plural predicate (according to its formal aspect) or a singular predicate (according to
meaning = a book, a volume).
e.g. Sketches by Boz is/are known to be Ch. Dickens first book.
The Times has a literary supplement.
Your Lyrical Ballads was found on my table.
e) a singular noun preceded by two coordinated adjectives agrees with the verb
in the singular; when the two coordinated adjectives differentiate the noun, the verb is in
the plural:
e.g. A blue and white cloth was for sale.
Lyrical and epic poetry were both flourishing at the time.
Hot and cold water run at the tap.
f) some coordinated constructions looked upon as a whole agree with the verb
in the singular:
- two nouns coordinated by and, when are conceived as a single notion, as a
unit:
e.g. The poet and musician was invited to talk about his work.
Bread and butter is usually served for breakfast.
- two nouns coordinated by and when they are determined by each or every:
Each tree and every bush is in bud.
Each suggestion and each amendment has been carefully considered.
- two or more infinitives coordinated by and
e.g. To take care of the children, to do the shopping, and cook the meals is
exhausting.
- numeric expressions,
e.g. Two and three makes/make five.
Five kilometres is a long distance.
Two kilos of apples is what I need.
g) two subjects connected by with, together with as well as, no less than agree
with the predicate according to the number of the first subject (considered as the
headword).
e.g. The teacher, together with the pupils is expected today.
The pupils, together with the teacher are already here.
The ship, as well as the passengers, was lost.
No one except his own supporters agrees with him.
3) Concord by Attraction / Proximity. The principles of proximity denotes
agreement of the verb with whatever noun or pronoun precedes it sometimes in
preference to agreement with the headword of the subject.
This type of concord is used:
47
- with subjects coordinated by eitheror, not only, but also.
e.g. Either your friends or your neighbour is at the door.
Either your neighbour or your friends are at the door.
Not only Tom but also his parents are sending you their best regards.
- in sentences with the introductory subject there.
e.g. There is a pen, a rubber and some pencils in the pencil-case.
There was a concert and dancing at our club last night.
But when the nouns making up the enumeration are felt to represent a set of
distinct elements, the verb is in the plural:
There are a composer and a poet to come to the party.
- in sentences with the introductory subject here.
e.g. Here comes my friend and his twins. Here are your books and bag.
- in interrogative sentences,
Where is my coat and hat?
- after more than one, one or two
e.g. More than one pupil has expressed his satisfaction with the new teacher
(the phrase more than one, although plural in meaning, has the singular under the
influence of one pupil).
One or two children are still playing in the park.

Summing up
In finite clauses, the subject and verb need to match in terms of
concord.
There are some special cases of concord, such as collective nouns,
quantifiers, and coordinated noun phrases as subject.
Notional concord and proximity are two factors that influence
grammatical concord.
There is sometimes a mismatch between subject-verb concord and
pronoun reference.

BIBLIOGRAFIE:

London:Longman.
pedagogic.
University Press.

AUTOEVALUARE:
1. What are transitive verbs? Classify them and give examples.
2. What is intransitive predication? Give examples.
3. What is nominal predicate?
4. Classify the copulative verbs.
5. Define the agreement.
6. Enlarge upon the grammatical concord.

48

UNIT 5. The Adjective Phrase
1. The Structure of the Adjective Phrase
2. The Functions of the Adjective Phrase
2.1. The Attribute
2.3. The Predicative Adjunct

1. S identifice structura grupului adjectival.
2. S identifice funciile sintactice ale adjectivului.

Timp de studiu: 2 ore.

The Adjective Phrase
1. The structure of the Adjective Phrase:
The Adj. P is a group of words that has an adjective as its head word. The Head
is expressed by an Adjective. Its adjuncts may be expressed by:
a) quantifiers (comparison markers and adverbial intensifiers);
b) adverbs
c) prepositional phrases;
d) clauses.
Adjuncts may appear:
(i) in front of the Head (Pre-head adjuncts) when they are expressed by: a)
quantifiers,
e.g. more interesting, much better
b) adverbs,
e.g. He is enormously fat and lazy. It is surprisingly nice.
ii) after the Head (Post-head adjuncts) when they are expressed by:
a) quantifiers,
e.g. Those years seemed unprofitable enough.
b) prepositional phrases, e.g. He is good at sums;
c) non-finite forms (an infinitive or gerund),
e.g. He was eager to see her.
He was busy writing.
d) clauses,
e.g. He is happier than he used to be.

2. The Functions of the Adjective Phrase
2.1. The Attribute. The attribute determines or modifies any noun or noun
equivalent irrespective of the syntactic role it discharges (subject, predicative, object,
adverbial modifier).
1) Means of expression. The attribute may be expressed by :
a) qualifying adjectives (beautiful, good, kind, small, tall, ugly)
e.g. Almost from their feet stretched ripe corn dipping to a small dark copse
beyond (J.G.)
b) relative/denominal adjectives (English, gold(en), silk(en), stone, etc.)
e.g. Two more Italians with short Italian rifles come out of one of the cement
buildings (J. Al.)
This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. (O.W.)
c) verbal adjectives (adjectives derived from ing or-ed participles)
e.g. The next day we made an astonishing discovery.
Early in his married life Soames had laid down the rule. (J.G.)
d) adverbial adjectives (afraid, agape, alike etc.)
49
e.g. Who is the greatest man alive?
e) attributive clauses,
e.g. a man who is timid A timid man.
2) The place of the attribute
a) The attribute usually precedes the noun it determines, more precisely, it is
placed between the determiner and the head of the noun phrase. This position is taken
when the attribute is expressed by an adjective proper (a qualifying adjective), by a
relative or verbal adjective,
e.g. He was a careless, impetuous, good-natured, generous fellow! (A.J.C.)
b) The attribute is placed in postposition (after the word it determines) when it
is expressed by:
- adjectives in fixed constructions of French or Latin origin (the compounds are
mostly legal and quasi-legal): heir apparent, postmaster general, Court Martial, body
politic, Ambassador Extraordinary, attorney general, sum total, Poet Laureate, etc.
The Ambassador Extraordinary attended all the cultural manifestations.
He was appointed Attorney General.
- some adjectives ending in able, -ible (which are usually derived from verbs)
when the head is modified by a superlative or by only,
e.g. He was driving at the greatest speed possible.
He sat looking on, pen in hand, with one of the most loving smiles imaginable
(C.D.).
That is the only book available.
- a few adjectives which have a different sense when they occur attributively or
predicatively: present (pred. being in the place in question), proper (as strictly
defined), involved (connected with), concerned (involved in)
e.g. The members (who were) present were in favour of the resolution.
The story proper is very simple.
The people (who were) involved were not found.
- adverbial adjectives (with the prefix a: alive, awake, asleep etc.)
e.g. There were few passengers astir (C.D.)
Mouth agape with astonishment. No man alive.
Some adverbial adjectives precede the head when they are modified.
e.g. The half-asleep children; the fully awake patient; a somewhat afraid
soldier; a very ashamed girl; a completely aware woman.
For most adjectives postposition is possible if the adjective has a
complementation (the adjective is determined by some phrases).
e.g. A few traditional trends peculiar to this country.
Any rule liable to exceptions is only relative.
- adjectives determining or modifying an indefinite pronoun ending in one, -
body, -thing.
e.g. The evening passed quietly, unmarked by anything extraordinary.
There is something strange, but I dont understand it. (G.G)
There is nothing unusual.
- adjectives such as deep, high, long, old, square, thick, wide are placed after the
NP denoting measure or time.
e.g. He saw a wall six feet high.
The ice was an inch thick.
- in poetical language, when the unusual position of the attributive adjective is
felt as a sort of poetical licence
e.g. With fingers weary and worn/ With eyelids heavy and red/ A woman
sat(Th. Hood)

1) The Predicative (Complement) is placed after a copulative verb.
It may be expressed by an adjective or coordinated adjectives.
e.g. In the north of Scotland the streams are very rapid.
It was growing dark and foggy (C.D.).
50
We kept silent.
Most adjectives may occur as either noun modifiers (Attributes) or Predicatives,
i.e. they may occur in both frames: Det+Adj+N; NP+V+Adj (+Prep. P). The adjectives
that occur in both frames are either qualifying or verbal.
e.g. They look healthy a healthy man.
She is polite a polite woman.
I am very proud of your results a proud girl.
The tall man / The man is tall.
An astonishing discovery. The discovery is astonishing
Relative (denominal) adjectives cannot appear as Predicatives unless a
figurative meaning is intended:
e.g. She has a golden watch.
A wooden box.
*The box is wooden.
But: Her movements were wooden (=like wood).
These adjectives are:
- adjectives ending in en, derived from concrete nouns (see the examples
above)
- adjectives which indicate points of the compass:
Romania lies in Eastern Europe.
- other adjectives derived from nouns: medical advice; atomic structure
- some adjectives from which adverbs can be derived:
my former friend, her late husband.
Adjectives which can be used only predicatively:
- adjectives like: ill, well, drunk, worth, alert
She is ill.
I am well now.
- adjectives derived with the prefix a-: ablaze, afraid, alone, ashamed, alike,
asleep, awake, aware (Adverbial Adjectives)
She had risen before I was properly awake (G.G.)
I was still asleep then.
He appeared aghast.
Some of these predicative adjectives have a synonym with an attributive value:
afraid - frightened
alive living
alone - lonely
They can be used attributively when they are preceded by an adverb: the half
asleep baby, a completely aware person. Some of the predicative adjectives take
Prepositional Objects:
e.g. You should be ashamed of yourself.
The town was ablaze with lights.

The Predicative is occasionally placed in front position for stylistic reasons (for
purposes of emphasis or effectiveness).
e.g. Crimson was the girdle of petals and crimson as a rose was the heart
(O.W.).
So difficult was my position that I had no choice.
2.3. The predicative Adjunct (The Complement of the Object) determines both
the predicate expressed by a transitive verb and the noun having the function of a direct
object of the predicate. The adjective functioning as predicative adjunct often expresses
the results of the process denoted by the verb,
e.g. He pushed the door open (the result of the process can be stated: The door
is open).
The predicative Adjunct occurs after the following transitive verbs: bake (hard),
boil (hard), break (open), drive (crazy, mad),lick (clean), make (happy), open (wide),
paint (green, white), push (open, shut), set (free), slam (shut), wash (clean), wipe (clean).
e.g. She boiled the eggs hard.
51
She dyed her hair brown.
They have painted the fence white.
He made his wife happy.
It also occurs after verbs expressing mental activity: consider, deem, find, think,
e.g. They thought the idea very funny.

Summing up:
The Functions of the Adjective Phrase:
I. Attribute. The attribute determines or modifies any noun or noun
equivalent irrespective of the syntactic role it discharges (subject,
predicative, object, adverbial modifier).
The attribute may be expressed by :
a) qualifying adjectives
b) relative/denominal adjectives
c) verbal adjectives (adjectives derived from ing or-ed participles)
d) adverbial adjectives (afraid, agape, alike etc.)
e) attributive clauses,
II. Predicative
1) The Predicative (Complement) is placed after a copulative verb.
2) The predicative Adjunct (The Complement of the Object) determines both
the predicate expressed by a transitive verb and the noun having the
function of a direct object of the predicate. The adjective functioning as
predicative adjunct often expresses the results of the process denoted
by the verb,

BIBLIOGRAFIE:

London:Longman.
pedagogic.
University Press.

AUTOEVALUARE:
1. Define the Adjective Phrase (the structure of an Adjective Phrase).
2. Enumerate the functions of the Adjective Phrase and give examples in sentences
of your own.

52
UNIT 6. The Adverbial Phrase

. 1. The Structure of the Adverbial Phrase
2. The Functions of the Adverbial Phrase
Types of Adverbial Modifiers
2.1. Adverbial Modifiers of Place
2.2. Adverbial Modifiers of Time
2.3. Adverbial Modifiers of Manner
2.4 .Adverbial Modifiers of Concession
2.5. Adverbial Modifiers of Cause
2.6. Adverbial Modifiers of Purpose
2.7. Adverbial Modifiers of Result
2.8. Adverbial Modifiers of Condition
2.9. Adverbial Modifiers of Exception
2.10. Adverbial Modifiers of Relation

1. S identifice caracteristicile sintactice ale grupului adverbial.
2. S identifice tipurile de complemente circumstaniale.


1. The Structure of the Adverbial Phrase
The adverbial phrase is a group of words that has an adverb as its head. The
head may be accompanied by one or several adjuncts, expressed by means of quantifiers
or other adverb classes. The adjuncts may appear:
a) in front of the head when they are expressed by quantifiers, e.g. very fast; or
by adverbs, e.g. intolerably fast.
b) after the head when they are expressed by quantifiers, e.g. fast enough.
2. The functions of the Adverbial Phrase
The adverbial Phrase discharges the function of an adverbial modifier or of a
predicative in the sentence.
The adverbial modifier is a secondary part of the sentence which modifies or
renders more precise a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It expresses the various
circumstances that may attend an activity or a state such as place, time, manner, cause etc.
The adverbial modifier is expressed by means of:
- an adverb (including an adverbial phrase, i.e. a phrase with an adverb as its
head),
e.g. Well go there.
I dont know them well enough.
She smiled proudly.
- a prepositional phrase: the adverbial phrase may be realized by prepositional
phrases, i.e. structures consisting of a noun phrase dominated by a preposition,
e.g. The children were playing in the street.
Handle the box with care.
- a noun phrase,
e.g. It rained all day.
Peter came last week.
- non-finite verbs (infinitival, gerundial, participial phrases.
e.g. Working intently, she did not notice the man who had come up to her.
- a finite clause,
e.g. He was happy when his friend arrived.
The place of adverbial modifiers.
The position of adverbial modifiers is generally mobile, i.e. they are capable of
occurring in more than one position in the sentence.
Adverbial modifiers may occur:
53
- at the end of the sentence (end position), i.e. after the object if there is one, or
after the predicate if there is no object.
e.g. He stated his opinion clearly/yesterday/there.
He spoke clearly/yesterday/there.
- in the middle of the sentence, within the verbal phrase
e.g. She quickly realized the difficulty.
He had never used this machine.
- at the beginning of the sentence (front position),i.e. before the subject,
e.g. All his life he had hungered for her love.
Slowly she began to move.
Optionality of Adverbial Modifiers
a) Most adverbials are optional, i.e. they may be added or removed from a
sentence without affecting its acceptability.
e.g. He did this all afternoon.
He did this.
b) Adverbials are obligatory only after
- a small set of verbs that require either a predicative or a adverbial: be, lie, live,
put, stand.
e.g. He is in the garden.
He seems in a dangerous mood.
He lived in Rome/happily.
- a small set of verbs that require both an object and an adverbial place, put, set,
e.g. He put the book on the table.
He placed his arms around her shoulders.
(iv) Adverbial modifiers may occur more than once in succession in a clause,
e.g. He ran quickly down the stairs.

Types of Adverbial Modifiers
According to their meaning, adverbial modifiers may be classified as follows:

2.1. Adverbial Modifiers of Place
I. Adverbials of place are expressed by means of:
- an adverb(ial phrase)
e.g. Lets stop here.
The noise was coming from upstairs.
Outside was getting dark (E.H.)
- a noun phrase: verbs such as come, fall, go, move, rise, run, travel, walk can
take an adverb which has the form of an NP
e.g. We have come a long way.
Have I travelled a hundred miles just to see this? (W.M.T.)
They ran the distance in record time.
Step this way, please.
- a prepositional phrase,
e.g. We buy bread at the bakers.
There stood her mother amid a group of children (T.H.)
- an adverbial clause of place
e.g. We do our shopping where every body else does.
2) Position of place adverbials
a) Adverbials of place usually appear in end position:
- after a predicate when it is expressed by an intransitive verb
e.g. When I came downstairs , he was dressed sitting by the fire. (E.G.)
I am going to the country.
- after the direct object when the predicate is expressed by a transitive verb
e.g. Hes been reading a book in the library.
And Sorrow has set her seal upon his brow (I.W.)
Ill meet you downstairs.
54
The adverbial of place can occur between the verb and the direct object if the
direct object is too long or is expressed by a subordinate clause,
e.g. They took into the reading room all the dictionaries they needed.
- after the adverbial of manner,
e.g. Hes been working hard in the library.
The adverbial of place indicating direction sometimes occurs immediately after
the verb before the adverbial of manner.
e.g. She went to school in a hurry yesterday.
- the adverbial of place occurs before the adverbial of definite time,
e.g. Im going to the country the day after tomorrow,
Ive been here a long time (G.G.)
b) Adverbials of place (especially prepositional phrases) sometimes appear in
initial position (stylistic inversion):
- they may be put there for contrast or emphasis
e.g. From the window you had an excellent view of the harbour (S.M.)
High above the city in a tall column stood the statue of the Happy Prince
(O.W.)
- some adverbials of place denoting direction (away, in, off, out, up) may
occupy initial preposition: in that position they have a dramatic impact and normally co-
occur with verbs in the simple present or past tense.
e.g. Away he hastened into the field (T.H.)
Up the staircase he went, falling down, picking himself up, feeling no hurt
(A.J.C.)
If the subject is not a pronoun but a noun and therefore has greater
informational value, subject-verb inversion is normal.
e.g. Out came the chaise, in went the horses, on sprang the boys, in got the
travellers. (C.D.)
Off goes your train.
c) Two adverbials of place can co-occour in hierarchical relationship: the more
specific adverbial precedes the less specific.
e.g. Many people eat in restaurants in London.
He put out a complete set of garments on the bed in his dressing room (J.G.)
Only the less specific adverbial can be transposed to initial position,
e.g. In London many people eat in restaurants.
*In restaurants many people eat in London.
The adverbial expressed by an adverb normally comes before a prepositional
phrase,
e.g. They drove downhill to the village.
A middle-aged man was walking homeward from Shaston to the village of
Marlot (T.H.)
3) The meaning of adverbials of place: Adverbials of place are used to indicate
position (here, there, somewhere) or direction (forward(s), backward(s), right, left). Most
adverbials of place denote both position and direction,
e.g. He lived a long way from here. (Position)
He has came a long way. (Direction)

2.2. Adverbial Modifiers of Time
Adverbial modifiers of time are expressed by means of
a) an adverbial phrase
e.g. He arrived yesterday.
b) a noun phrase,
e.g. She had been hours in the attic (G.E.)
I halted there a minute (C.B.)
She spoke hours on end.
c) a prepositional phrase,
e.g He came here in the afternoon.
55
He was an undergraduate at the time.
d) a complex construction used for reducing an adverbial clause of time to an
adverbial modifier (a non-finite or verbless clause):
- an absolute nominative participial construction,
e.g. His homework written, the boy went out to play.
- a participle (sometimes preceded by a temporal conjunction)
e.g. Turning the corner, the lorry hit the tree.
She doesnt feel quite well when travelling by plane.
- a gerund preceded by a preposition,
e.g. On leaving the house she asked me to look after the child.
- a NP introduced by a temporal conjunction,
e.g. While in Australia, he learned English.
I remember heaving read the book when a boy.
e) an adverbial clause of time,
e.g. He is always air-sick when he travels by plane.
The place of Adverbials of Time
a) Adverbials expressing a point of time (now, nowadays, today, then,
yesterday, last week, at 5 oclock, etc.) usually have the last place in the sentence (after
adverbials of manner and place).
e.g. He came back yesterday.
We went to the cinema last week.
Time adverbials can be in a hierarchical relationship: the order of the adverbials
depends in part on information focus, but the tendency is for the adverbial denoting the
more extended period to come last,
e.g. I see you at nine on Monday.
They may appear in initial position with a slight degree of emphasis which is
usually achieved in this way.
e.g. Tomorrow youll feel much better.
The next day the expedition left for the Antarctic.
On Tuesdays he journeyed up to London by train (J.G.)
Only the adverbial denoting the more extended period can occur in initial
position,
e.g. On Monday Ill see you at nine.
*At nine Ill see you on Monday.
b) Adverbials denoting a temporal sequence (afterwards, before, eventually,
finally, first, then etc.) are usually placed at the beginning or in the middle of the
sentence.
e.g. This first day of our vacation is going to be very enjoyable for us: well first
play a game of tennis.
Afterwards well do some sun-bathing on the beach.
Eventually well take a walk.
c) Adverbials of indefinite time and frequency denote an imprecise, vague
period of time (just, lately, recently) or refer to the habitual, repeated nature of the action
(always, often, never, seldom). Adverbials of indefinite time and frequency may take the
following places in the sentence:
- between the subject and the predicate expressed by a simple verb
e.g. He often took Irene to the theatre. (J.G.)
Tom never disobeyed his father (G.E.)
I seldom read in the evening.
Englishmen rarely talk to strangers in trains.
Computers always perform accurate operations.
He generally leaves home at seven.
- immediately after the operator in any complex verbal group
e.g. I could never have imagined it (C.B.)
He had always been a reliable man.
He has never been to England.
56
You should always work like that.
He has often told me so.
- immediately after the verb be
e.g. He is never at home after 7 oclock.
Good novels are always worth buying.
- the modals dare, need, used to (regarded as marginal auxiliaries) generally
follow the adverbial
e.g. She never dares to open her mouth.
He often used to drop in for a chat.
- if emphasis is intended and the auxiliary or modal verb has a special stress, the
adverbial of indefinite time is placed before
e.g. I never was more surprised, said Mr. Dombey (C.D.)
I never shall forget the waking next morning (C.D.)
- adverbials may be placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis,
e.g. Generally/usually he doesnt drink coffee.
Usually I meet her at the conferences but yesterday I ran into her in a shop.
When placed in initial position never, seldom, rarely require an obligatory
inversion of subject and operator.
e.g. Never have I seen him so angry.
Never in all our life have we heard such nonsense.
- long adverbials normally take the last place in the sentence (like those of
definite time), but they may be placed at the beginning of the sentence (with a slight
degree of emphasis or for the sake of contrast).
e.g. He leaves the door unlocked time after time.
I have been in his office on several occasions.
As a rule, its quiet here during the day.
Of late, he has seemed to me rather aggrieved.
d) Adverbials denoting duration (long, since, for a long/short time, during
lunch, until summer etc.) are usually placed at the end of the sentence.
e.g. They slept (for)a long time.
They are on duty all night long.
You can buy fresh fruit here the whole year round.
He insulted me last year and I havent spoken to him since.
We always have to wait so long.
Relative positions of adverbials of time: there are three subclasses that can
occur in end position. Their relative position is duration (D) frequency (F) point of
time (P).
e.g. I was there for a short while (D)every couple of hours (F) on Monday (P).
Im paying my rent monthly (D) this year (F).
Our electricity was cut off briefly (D) today (P).

2.3. Adverbial Modifiers of Manner
The adverbials of manner can be divided into the following types:
Adverbials of manner proper denote the manner in which the action is
performed.
(i) Adverbials of manner are expressed by means of:
- an adverb(ial phrase): the main method of forming adverbs of manner is by
adding the suffix ly to an adjective slowly, quickly.
e.g. She was smiling happily.
He walked briskly.
- a prepositional noun phrase: the NP is introduced by the prepositions by, in,
with, without, at.
e.g. She started the car and drove at full speed (J.G.)
I took it by mistake.
Fish can be cooked in various ways.
You must handle it with care.
- a gerundial phrase introduced by the prepositions by, without
57
e.g. He finished by thanking them for their help.
Once more, he passed my table without stopping. (S.M.)
- an adverbial clause of manner
e.g. He drove the car as they had told him to.
An adverbial of manner can usually be paraphrased by in amanner in
away with the adjective base in the vacant position. Where an adverbial form exists, it
is usually preferred, over a corresponding prepositional phrase with manner or way.
Hence, He always writes carelessly is more usual than He always writes in a careless
manner/way.
(ii)The position of adverbials of manner-proper:
- when the verb has no object the adverbial of manner comes immediately after
the verb:
e.g. The car stopped suddenly.
She left quickly.
He spoke in a low voice.
- if the verb is transitive and followed by a direct object the adverbial of manner
is placed after the direct object,
e.g. He prepared his lessons carefully.
She opened the door quietly.
I have learned the lines by heart.
He examined the plants carefully (J.G.)
- the adverbial of manner is placed with the predicate, i.e. in front of the main
verb, especially when the direct object is long or determined (by a modifier, clause, etc.)
e.g. I clearly remember that day.
She quietly opened the door.
The door has been easily opened with the other key.
They quickly examined the situation thus created.
She hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming (L.C.)
He has been kindly asked not to postpone his lecture.
Every breath of the old scandal has been carefully kept from her (J.G.)
- adverbials of manner precede adverbials of place and time. The normal order
is: Manner Place Time,
e.g. They played very well at Wembley last Saturday.
The plane landed safely at Rome an hour later.
- adverbials of manner may be placed at the beginning of the sentence for
stylistic purposes (constructions without inversion are also used in this case)
e.g. Slowly old Jolyon got up out of his chair and sat down at the table (J.G.)
Silently and patiently did the doctor bear all this (C.D.)
Inversion is normal when the adverbs so, thus are placed at the head of the
sentence,
e.g. So ended the sorrows of that day (G.E.)
Thus ended Peggottys narration (C.D.)
Sentence adverbials (Viewpoint adverbials) usually qualify a whole sentence.
(i) Means of expression: they are expressed by adverbs ending in the suffix ly:
educationally, evidently, financially, naturally, normally, scientifically, theoretically etc.
(ii) Sentence adverbials are usually placed at the beginning of the sentence,
e.g. Evidently he was sensitive on the topic of operations and bandages
(H.G.W.)
Normally, there are several solutions that can be applied.
This, fortunately, wont happen.
There is a difference in meaning between sentence adverbials and adverbials of
manner proper. Consider the following pairs of sentences: a) Scientifically, the expedition
was a success. b) the expedition was planned scientifically. In a) scientifically answers
the question From what point of view?, while in b) it answers the question How? and
could be paraphrased by In a scientific manner.
In the pair a) He had naturally stated his opinion, b) He had stated his opinion
naturally, sentence a) could be paraphrased as He had stated his opinion and that was
58
natural (Here there is an alternative construction, viz. Naturally, he had stated his
opinion); Sentence b) is paraphrased as He had stated his opinion in a natural way. In
sentences like a) the adverbial is a sentence adverbial i.e. it modifies the whole sentence,
whereas in sentences like b) the adverbial modifies a verb only (here plan, state). In a) the
adverbial implies a personal comment on the rest of the sentence; this is not so in b).
3) Adverbials of quantity, degree, approximation can be subdivided into the
following semantic classes:
a) emphasizers: actually, certainly, indeed, obviously, really, surely
b) amplifiers: absolutely, altogether, badly, completely, entirely, extremely,
fully, greatly, most, highly, perfectly, quite, so, very, a lot, a great deal, etc.
c) downtoners (adverbials having a lowering or restrictive effect on the force
of the verb): almost, barely, enough, hardly, nearly, scarcely, slightly, a
little, to a certain/some extent, etc.
Adverbials of quantity, degree, approximation occur in the following positions
in the sentence:
(i) they take the same position as the adverbials of indefinite time and
frequency, that is they are placed: a) in front of the predicate when it is expressed by a
simple verb; b) after the operator (the verb be, the modals, the first auxiliary of a
compound verb)
e.g. I actually sat next to her.
He really likes her.
They greatly admire his music.
He completely ignored my request.
I absolutely adore it.
I hardly understand what you mean.
He was certainly funny.
He is obviously a fool.
I was completely happy (J.G.)
Silas did not highly enjoy smoking (G.E.)
They will surely object to his intervention.
I can scarcely ignore his views.
She could hardly be described as beautiful.
The degree adverbials: fairly, most, much, quite, very are placed before the
adjective or the adverb which they determine.
e.g. It was getting dark and snowing pretty heavily.(C.D.)
The sky was very gloomy (C.D.)
She speaks quite rapidly.
His behaviour is most surprising.
He speaks English very beautifully
15
.
Enough follows its adjective or adverb:
e.g. The lesson is easy enough.
They didnt work quickly enough.
(ii) Long adverbials take the last place in the sentence:
e.g. They annoy me a great deal.
We miss our friends a lot.
He likes her very much.
I admire his courage to some extent.
Adverbials of comparison can be subdivided into three classes:
(i) Adverbials of equality are expressed by means of:
- a noun phrase or an equivalent (pronoun, numeral, non-finite verb), an
adjective or an adverb preceded by the conjunction as:
e.g. She is as old as my sister.
Its as hot as in summer.

15
As can be seen, the role of some of these degree adverbials is mainly morphological, that is they
contribute to forming a relative or an absolute superlative for the respective adjective or adverb
which they accompany.
59
He walked as softly as the Ghost of Hamlet. (C.D.)
The conditions were the same as before.
- a NP (or equivalent) preceded by the preposition like
e.g. Like all other Forsytes of a certain age they kept carriages of their own.
(J.G.)
The albatross fell off and sank/Like lead into the sea (S.T.C.)
He behaves like a father to her.
It fits him like a glove.
(ii) Adverbials of unequality are expressed by means of
- a noun phrase or an adverb introduced by than (after a comparative form)
e.g. He went further than the other explorers.
Its cooler here than upstairs.
Then came another flash of lightning brighter than the other (C.D.)
- a noun phrase or an adverb introduced by as (in correlation with not so/as)
e.g. He is not so bright as his brother.
- a clause
e.g. Its cooler here than it is upstairs.
(iii) Adverbials of comparison-concession are expressed by means of a
prepositional NP, an adjective or a non-finite verb (infinitive, participle) preceded by the
conjunctions as if, as though
e.g. He studied me as though weighing up my points. (A.J.C.)
He rose as if to leave the room but sat down again (C.D.)
She cried as if in a terrible danger.
- a clause
e.g. She cried as if she were in a terrible danger.

The Adverbial of Attending Circumstances.
While the adverbial of manner proper refers to the way in which the subject
performs the action, the adverbial of attending circumstances refers to the condition
beyond/outside the subject in which the action is performed. It answers the questions In
what conditions?, under what circumstances?
Adverbials of attending circumstances are expressed by means of:
- a prepositional noun phrase
e.g. He went out in the pouring rain.
He ran into the house in defiance of the blaze.
With this terrible conclusion, Tom ran away from Maggie towards the mill
(G.E.)
- an absolute infinitival or participial construction (it may be introduced by the
preposition with)
e.g. The boy stayed as long as he could, the bitter struggle fascinating him
(T.H.)
The boys played on, with little Tom watching them.
Adverbials of attending circumstances may take a final or initial position in the
sentence:
e.g. After lunch we went sightseeing, with Tom as our guide.
With nothing to do that afternoon, he took a walk.

2.4. The Adverbial Modifier of Concession.
It may be expressed by:
a) a prepositional noun phrase. The introductory prepositions are: in spite of,
despite, notwithstanding, for, with.
e.g. I admire him in spite of his faults.
The patient figure, in spite of its youth and strength seemed to him pathetic
(J.G.)
Despite his vexation, Nicholas could scarcely help smiling (C.D.)
60
Th. Carlyle, notwithstanding his tedious rhetoric, is a master of the sublime in
prose style. (notwithstanding is formal in style)
The last two prepositions for, with occur in the construction:
for/with+all+NP
e.g. For all his technical skill, he is not really a great novelist.
For all his wealth, is not happy.
With all his roughness, he has a heart of gold.
b) a NP introduced by the conjunction though in the structure though + not/no +
NP
e.g. Though not a surgeon, I can tell a fracture from a sprain.
Though not a mechanic, he can repair all kinds of things.
c) an adjective, or a past participle introduced by the conjunctions (al)though,
however, whatever
e.g. It was not a bright summer evening, though fair and soft (C.B.)
Though pretty old she carries herself well.
Though tired he could not sleep.
However busy, they call on her every week.
The adverbials in b) and c) are verbless clauses, since they are based on the
ellipsis of the predicate.

2.5. The Adverbial Modifier of Cause (reason)
It is expressed by:
a) a prepositional noun phrase. The prepositions expressing cause are because
of, on account of, owing to, thanks to, from, out of, for, with, through.
e.g. Because of the soloists illness they cancelled the concert.
Trains for Newcastle may be up to 20 minutes late on account of repairs to the
tracks.
Owing to the rain we couldnt come earlier.
Thanks to his help we finished our work in time.
The two explorers died from exposure to the cold.
She could hardly speak for tears.
We were stiff with cold.
He did it out of curiosity.
b) a non-finite form
- a gerundial phrase introduced by a preposition (by, owing to, for, because of);
I couldnt talk to him because of his not being alone.
- a participial construction
e.g. Finding it useless to argue with him, I left the room.
- an absolute construction
e.g. It being very cold, we had to put on warm clothes.

2.6. The Adverbial Modifier of Purpose
It is expressed by:
a) an infinitival phrase in the following patterns
to
in order to
so as to
for + NP + to
The infinitive preceded by in order to is rather more formal and more emphatic
than the infinitive alone
e.g. Children go to school to learn things.
To speed up the delivery of letters the Post Office introduced automatic sorting.
We had to shout at the top of our voices in order to be heard.
In order to appreciate poetry you should read it aloud.
The infinitive preceded by so as is used especially when the idea of result is
also present.
e.g. I shall go on working today so as to be free tomorrow.
+Infinitive
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(Purpose + Result)
So as is frequently used with a negative purpose.
e.g. We hurried so as not to be late.
He came in quietly so as not to wake the child.
So as is also used where there is a personal object of the main verb but the
purpose refers to the subject
1
,
e.g. Peter sent his son into the garden so as to have some peace.(i.e. Peter was
to have some peace). Compare with Peter sent his son into the garden to play (i.e. the son
was to play)
The construction for + NP + to infinitive is employed when the two actions
have different subjects/agents.
e.g. We stood aside for her to pass.
I bought a book for you to read.
b) A gerundial phrase preceded by the prepositions for, with a view to,
e.g. This tool is for tightening bolts.
Automation will be introduced with a view to increasing productivity.
c) A noun phrase preceded by the preposition for.
e.g. Everyone ran for safety (in order to reach safety.)
George is saving up for a camera.
The Romanians fought in the 1877 war for independence.
2.7 . The Adverbial Modifier of Result
It is expressed by means of an infinitival phrase in four patterns:
a) a to-infinitive,
e.g. He lived to be very old.
She went away never to come back.
b) an infinitive preceded by as to whose correlative can be:
so-Adj./Adv.
Such + NP
e.g. I hope he will not be so weak as to yield.
You are not so foolish as to believe that.
Would you be so kind as to give us a lift?
Im not such a fool as to believe everything he has told me.
Behave in such a way as to be admired.
c) a to-infinitive whose correlative is too + Adj/Adv.
e.g. Ben was too busy to hear him now (J.Al.)
The offer of shelter was too unexpected to be resisted (C.D.)
He was too excited to speak.
He is too young to understand.
I am too tired to go out.
The construction for+NP is employed when the two actions have different
subjects.
e.g. The suitcase is too heavy for her to carry.
He ran too quickly for me to catch him.
The coffee is too hot for me to drink.
e) a to-infinitive whose correlative is Adj/Adv+enough
e.g. He was not tall enough to reach the shelf.
We were fortunate enough to be in London for the festival.
He spoke slowly enough to be understood.

2.8. The Adverbial Modifier of Condition
It is expressed by:
a) a noun phrase introduced by the prepositions with, without, but for
e.g. But for Gordon we should have lost the match (i.e. if it hadnt been for
Gordon).
But for the storm we should have arrived earlier.

1
See A. Thomson and A. Martinet, A Practical English Grammar, 3
rd
ed., p. 194.
62
Without his help I could not have been able to find the place.
With diligence he will succeed.
b) an adjective or participle introduced by the conjunctions if, unless,
e.g. If interesting, we might publish it.
c) a non finite form:
- a participial construction,
e.g. Taken in small amounts it can do no harm.
The construction may be introduced by the conjunctions if, unless,
e.g. If distilled, water becomes quite tasteless.
Ill be back by 6.pm. unless detained by some urgent matter.
Nobody spoke unless spoken to (C.D.)
- an absolute construction,
e.g. Weather permitting, the expedition will set out at the beginning of May
2.9. The Adverbial Modifier of Exception
It is expressed by means of a noun phrase introduced by except (for), with the
exception of, but, bar(ring).
e.g. Everybody was present except Tom.
We had a very pleasant time except for the weather.
With the exception of John none of us had any money.
I could answer all the questions but one.
The play was very good bar(ring) one or two scenes.
2.10. The Adverbial Modifier of Relation
It is expressed by means of a noun phrase introduced by the prepositions about,
on, concerning, regarding, respecting, as for, as to, with regard to, with reference to,
with respect to.
e.g. He knows everything about computers.
Have you any idea on the subject
We still have no information concerning his whereabouts.
The school board discussed the problem regarding the new school building.
As for the meals, he had to cook them himself.
The museum has a collection of documents with reference to the First World
War.
As we have mentioned an adverb can also discharge the function of a
Predicative:
The film is over.
Time is up.
They are off.
An adverb used as a subject complement loses its adverbial meaning and begins
to indicate state.
Compare: He speaks French so-so (An adverbial Modifier of Manner) and
How are you today? Im so-so(a subject complement).
The adverb so is used to replace a preceding subject complement
She is very sad and looks so.

Summing up
There are seven major semantic categories of circumstance adverbials:
place, time, process, contingency, degree, addition/restriction, and
recipient.
Place, time, and process( especially manner) adverbials are most
common overall.
Circumstance adverbials can appear in initial, medial, and final
positions.
Final position is the most common position.
Initial position is commonly used to maintain given/new information
structure or when the adverbial has scope over a series of clauses.
63
Medial position is common for addition/restriction and degree adverbs
that have limited scope, and for short adverbial of time.

BIBLIOGRAFIE:
London:Longman.
pedagogic.
University Press.

AUTOEVALUARE:
1. Define the Adverbial Phrase (the structure).
2. Types of Adverbial Modifiers.
3. Give examples of Adverbial Modifiers of Place, Time and Manner.

64
UNIT 7. Complex Constructions.

1. S defineasc i s identifice construciile complexe.
2. S identifice caracteristicile construciilor complexe.
3. S reduc o propoziie subordonat la o construcie complex.
Timp de lucru : 4 ore.

1. Definition
The term of complex constructions refers to the infinitival, participial and
gerundial constructions which are usually used to reduce subordinate clauses to secondary
parts of sentence.
These constructions are:
the Infinitive,
the Present Participle
the Past Participle

The For - To Infinitive
the Infinitive,

the Infinitive
the Past Participle
Gerundial Constructions

The Characteristics of the Complex Constructions

Complex Constructions have a predicative character, because there is an
implicit predicative relation between the two members of the construction: the nominal
group (NP), i.e. an Accusative or a Nominative and the verbal group (VP), represented by
an Infinitive, an -ing form or a Past Participle. The non-finite form of the verb functions
as a predicate of the nominal element, but this function is considered to be implicit, not
explicit, because the non-finite forms of the verb dont have the grammatical category of
person. The predicative character of the report between the two elements is obvious
because the function of these constructions is to substitute or to reduce elements
containing a predicate:
People consider him to be a responsible man = People consider that he is a
responsible man.

The action is seen differently in these three kinds of constructions:
a) Infinitival Constructions. We are interested in the action itself and consider it
finished: They saw her come. (= that she came).
b) Present Participial Constructions. The action is seen in progress: They saw
her coming. (= that she was coming).
c) Past Participle Constructions. The action is seen as a result:
We found the room deserted.
These constructions discharge the following functions:
1) Complex Direct Object (Accusative Constructions)
e.g. I heard Mary coming. I want this finished.
2) Complex Subject (Nominative Constructions)
e.g. He is believed to be a very intelligent man.
Mary was heard coming.
3) Adverbial (The Absolute Nominative)
e.g. Everything being ready, they left the room.
The work finished, they called her.
The Absolute Nominative with
The Nominative with
The Accusative with
65

Accusative Constructions
Accusative Constructions are formed with a noun or pronoun in the Accusative
and a verb in the Infinitive or in the Participle (Present or Past).
3.1. The Accusative with the Infinitive
This construction is required by the following transitive verbs expressing:
a) inert perception: feel, hear, notice, observe, perceive, see, watch:
e.g. Did you hear Peter come?
b) cognition (mental activities): believe, consider, expect, fancy, imagine, know,
suppose, think, understand
e.g. I expected you to be a good woman.
I knew her to have been seriously ill.
c) intention or wish: desire, intend, mean, want, wish
e.g. I want you to write your homewok at once.
Did you mean me to leave earlier?
d) feelings: dislike, hate, like, love, prefer
e.g. I hate you to be interrupted.
e) an order or permission: allow, command, compel, force, order, request
e.g. He allowed me to leave earlier.
He ordered the soldiers to be ready in time.
f) causative verbs: cause, get, have, induce, let, make
e.g. Peter made me laugh.
g) declarative verbs: declare, pronounce, report, usually with [+ animate]
subject
e.g. They declared him to be the best player.
h) some prepositional verbs: count on, depend on, hope for, wait for, etc.
e.g. We cannot wait for him to agree with us.
The verbs of perception (except for perceive), the verbs let, make and have are
followed by the Short Infinitive: I saw her enter the house.
The verb help is usually followed by the Long Infinitive in British English and
the Short Infinitive in American English:
Can you help me (to) repair my car?
Some verbs (except for want) can be also followed by That clauses. But there
are some differences between the use of a subordinate clause and of an Infinitival
Construction:
e.g. a) He requested me to come immediately (me [+ animate]).
He requested that the project should be finished in due time. (project [-
animate]).
b) I wish you to be careful.
I wish you would be careful (but I don't think you will).
c) We think him to be very intelligent. (formal English)
We think that he is very intelligent. (spoken English)
The Accusative with the Infinitive is used after verbs expressing cognition
especially in formal English (the Infinitive of the verb to be).
e.g. We believe Jane to be a good doctor.
These verbs are usually followed by a Direct Object Clause in spoken English.
We believe (that) Jane is a good doctor.
Modern grammars explain the differences between two examples like:
[I told you
i
] [
PRO
i
to read the book] = I told you that you should read
the book.

and
I want [you
i
[
trace
to read the book]] = *I want you that you should read
the book.

case role of subject
Apparently, there is no difference between the two sentences above; both seem
to be Accusative + Infinitive constructions functioning as Direct Objects. But actually
66
only the second contains an Accusative + Infinitive construction with you, subject of to
read, raised so as to depend on want which assigns it the Accusative case. The role of
subject is assigned to it by to read. This is en example of Subject to Object Raising.
The first example contains a false Acc. + Inf. construction because tell is a verb
with two Objects: Direct and Indirect. You depends on told for being assigned both the
case (Acc.) and the syntactic function (Indirect Object). To read is the Direct Object of
told.

The For - To Infinitive
An Accusative with the Infinitive can be also used after an adjective or noun,
being preceded by the preposition for:
e.g. It was important for him to be there.
It was madness for him to do such a thing.
There are some verbs followed by for which can be used with the For - To
Infinitive: arrange, ask, hope, long, plan, pray, provide, ring, send, telephone, wait, etc.
e.g. I arranged for them to bring the books.
They sent for the doctor to come.
The For - To Infinitive construction is formed with the preposition for followed
by a noun or a pronoun in the Accusative and by a Long Infinitive.
e.g. It was necessary for me to finish the work quickly.
This construction is used after:
a) adjectives: (it is/was) advisable, difficult, easy, imperative, impossible,
necessary;
b) nouns: idea, problem, subject, etc.;
c) some transitive and intransitive verbs.
The For - To Infinitive is used to reduce some subordinate clauses to parts of
sentence:
1 ) Real Subject introduced by anticipatory it:
e.g. It is advisable for you to pass the exam this term.
2) Predicative:
e.g. The best thing is for you to accept.
3) Direct Object:
e.g. He wished for the letter to be posted at once.
4) Prepositional Object:
e.g. I would be delighted for you to come to the party:
5) Adverbial Modifier of Purpose:
e.g.I went to the museum for my children to see the new exhibition.
6) Adverbial Modifier of Result:
e.g. This problem is too difficult for him to solve.

The Accusative with the Present Participle
The Infinitive considers the action to be completed, while the Present Participle
presents the action in progress:
e.g. I saw them come. (= That means they have arrived.)
I saw them coming. (= I saw them while they were coming.)
The Accusative with the Present Participle is used after:
a) verbs of inert perception: feel, hear, observe, notice, see, watch;
e.g. I heard you talking to her:
We watched them crossing the street.
b) find, leave, set, catch, send;
e.g. I caught her stealing.
The Accusative with the Past Participle
This construction is used after:
a) verbs of perception:
e.g. I heard my name called.
b) verbs which express an order:
e.g. I ordered it finished.
67
I want it done at once.
c) the causative verbs have and get:
e.g. You must have your car repaired.
Nominative Constructions
These constructions are formed with a pro(noun) in the Nominative case and a
verb in the Infinitive or in the Present Participle. A finite form of the verb is between
them:
e.g. She happened to be a kind woman.
She was seen entering.
4.1.The Nominative with the Infinitive is used after the following types of verbs:
1) intransitive verbs: seem, appear, happen, chance, prove, turn out which are
synonymic pairs:
e.g. They appeared/ seemed to be pleased with the issue.
She proved/turned out to be a good teacher.
2) declarative verbs in the Passive Voice: say, declare, report, announce:
e.g. He was reported to have been wounded.
3) the copulative verb to be and one of the adjectives: likely, unlikely, sure,
certain
e.g. The train is likely to be late.
Some constructions with the Accusative are transformed into Nominative
constructions (passivization). Thus, the Nominative + the Infinitive occurs after transitive
verbs which can be followed by the Accusative + the Infinitive in the Active Voice
(except for those expressing wish or intention):
a) verbs of perception: I was seen to leave the classroom. (Nominative + Long
Infinitive);
b) verbs of mental activity: think, know, consider, expect, understand, believe,
suppose, etc.
e.g. Dogs are considered to be intelligent and friendly animals.
c) verbs which express an order or permission: command, order, allow, let, etc.
e.g. He was ordered to come.
I was allowed to leave earlier.
d) verbs like: cause, make, have, force, compel:
e.g. He was compelled to assume responsibility.
4.2.The Nominative with the Present Participle
This construction is similar to the Nominative + the Infinitive construction with
a difference concerning the aspect (the action is seen in progress):
e.g. I was seen entering the house.
The Nominative with the Present Participle is used after those verbs followed
by the Accusative + the Present Participle in the Active Voice (see, hear, leave, catch,
find, etc.):
e.g. He was heard talking to Paul.
The Absolute Nominative Construction
The Absolute Nominative is used when the Infinitival or Participial construction
and the sentence containing a predicative verb have different subjects.
This complex construction is formed with a noun in the Nominative and a verb
in the Infinitive or Participle (Present or Past):
e.g. They gave her the grammar books, the dictionaries to be sent by mail.
The programme being so boring, he went to sleep early.
The project finished, he left the office.
The subject of the Absolute Nominative with the Present Participle can be
anticipated by it or there:
e.g. There being nothing else to say, they kept silent.
These constructions are used to reduce secondary clauses to Adverbial
Modifiers:
a) Adverbial Modifier of Time:
e.g. Lunch being ready, her family sat down round the table. (= When lunch
was ready . . . )
68
b) Adverbial Modifier of Reason:
e.g. The weather being unsettled, we left quickly (= as the weather was
unsettled .)
c) Adverbial Modifier of Condition:
e.g. Weather permitting, we will ski tomorrow. (= If the weather permits...).
This type of constructions is not common in spoken English, being specific to
the formal language.
Gerundial Constructions
The Gerund can be part of a complex construction together with a noun or a
pronoun. There is a predicative report between the two elements of the construction:
e.g. Your refusing to work with us amazed everybody.
The noun can be:
a) in the Synthetic Genitive:
e.g. I was surprised at Peter's calling me so early.
b) in the Accusative Case:
e.g. Did you mind him/Peter smoking here?
The Accusative is used:
1) with both animate and inanimate nouns:
e.g. I could feel the smell spreading in the whole house.
2) when the noun is followed by an Attribute:
e.g. I remember a friend of mine trying to change that.
3) in spoken English for persons, for animate and inanimate nouns.
If the nominal part of the construction is expressed by a pronoun, this can be a
possessive adjective, or a pronoun in the Accusative in spoken English:
e.g. I couldn't understand his/him acting like that.
I remember their/them trying to solve that.
The Gerundial Construction is required after the same words which require a
Gerund form.
This construction can replace:
a) Subject Clauses:
e.g. Your trying to tell the truth was obvious = That you tried to tell the truth
was obvious.
b) Direct Object Clauses:
e.g. I don 't like his visiting us so often. = I don't like that he visits us so often.
c) Adverbial Clauses:
e.g. She being absent, nothing could be done. = As she was absent, nothing could
be done.

Summing up
Complex Constructions
with the Accusative with the Nominative Absolute Nominative
Accusative + Infinitive Nominative + Infinitive Absolute Nominative
+Infinitive
I want you to start
immediately.
I was warned to start at
once.
He sent a post card first,
the letter to post later.
Accusative + Present
Participle
Nominative + Present
Participle
Absolute Nominative +
Present Participle
I could feel her
coming.
He was noticed
standing there.
Everything being ready
we left earlier.
Accusative + Past
Participle
- Absolute Nominative +
Past Participle
I want this finished now. - His work finished, he
left the office.

69
BIBLIOGRAFIE:

London:Longman.
pedagogic.
University Press.

AUTOEVALUARE:
1. Define the Complex Constructions.
2. What are the characteristics of the Complex Constructions?
3. What are the verbs which require the Accusative + Infinitive Construction?
4. Nominative Constructions. Give examples.

.

70
REVISION TESTS:

Exercise 1. State whether the following sentences are true or false:
1. Every sentence is a declarative, an interrogative, an imperative or an
exclamation.
T or F
2. Each has a typical, recognizable form. T or F
3. Declaratives usually start with a subject which is followed by a main
verb.
T or F
4. Interrogatives are recognizable from wh-words, inversion and typical
intonation patterns.
T or F
5. Imperatives are typically formed from a non-finite form of the verb. T or F
6. Written exclamations start with how or what and end with an exclamation
mark.
T or F
7. Interrogatives always ask questions. T or F
8. Declaratives can function as questions. T or F
9. Imperatives always give commands. T or F
10. Exclamations can be used for functions other than showing strong
emotion.
T or F

1. We use not to form declarative, interrogative and imperative sentences. T or F
2. When an affirmative sentence has no operator, we use do and not to
form the negative.
T or F
3. There is no difference in meaning between can't and cannot. T or F
4. We add n't or not to the operator to form negative interrogatives. T or F
5. Aren't I? is unacceptable grammatically. T or F
6. Negative imperatives are formed by do + n't or not. T or F
7. Only negative adverbs and semi-negatives can make a sentence
negative.
T or F
8. No is the only determiner which can make the sentence negative. T or F
9. There are no pronouns which can make a sentence negative. T or F
10. The position of a negative in a sentence can change the scope of
negation and therefore the meaning.
T or F

1. Interrogatives are a major sentence form which may or may not ask a
question.
T or F
2. Interrogatives are recognizable by their inversion, wh-question word and
/ or rising intonation.
T or F
3. All interrogatives are written with a final question mark. T or F
4. Used as questions, most interrogatives do not require an answer. T or F
5. We can use interrogatives to make commands, invitations, offers and to
show disbelief.
T or F
6. The form of a question never indicates whether we want a positive or a
negative answer.
T or F
7. Wh-questions are open questions, with unlimited answers. T or F
8. Yes/no questions are closed questions with limited answers. T or F
9. Ordinary wh-questions normally carry a falling intonation. T or F
10. Yes/no questions normally carry a rising intonation. T or F

Exercise 4. State whether the following sentences are true or false.
1. Wh-questions are the only open type of question. T or F
2. Inversion of subject and operator never occurs in wh-questions. T or F
3. Isn't that fun? (rising intonation) is a biased yes/no question. T or F
4. Isn't that fun? (falling intonation) is an exclamatory question. T or F
5. In tag-questions, a positive statement usually has a positive tag and vice- T or F
71
versa.
6. Echo questions repeat some or all of an earlier statement. T or F
7. Alternative questions are usually spoken with a final falling intonation. T or F
8. Response questions do not call for a reply. T or F
9. Declarative questions always have positive bias. T or F
10. Rhetorical questions have the function of forceful statements. T or F

1.Imperatives are one of the four forms of simple sentences in English. T or F
2. We form the imperative with the verb base usually without a subject. T or F
3.The only function of the imperative is to give commands. T or F
4. To avoid ambiguity or to give emphasis we can include the subject. T or F
5. The subject is always the addressee in the singular. T or F
6. The subject can be placed in front or end position. T or F
7. We negate imperatives with dont or negative pronouns or adverbs. T or F
8. To make the imperative emphatic, we can add do to the subject. T or F
9. In Indirect Speech the imperative takes the to infinitive pattern. T or F
10. We can also report imperatives using a that clause. T or F

1. Most transitive verbs have active and passive forms. T or F
2. Linking verbs sometimes have passive forms. T or F
3. A passive form may or may not repeat the active Subject. T or F
4. The passive can be a device to disguise the agent. T or F
5. Only finite verbs have passive forms. T or F
6. The active Object is the passive Subject. T or F
7. The passive is a device which effectively fronts the object of an active
verb.
T or F
8. Verbs like to have when in stative use do not have a passive form. T or F
9. All prepositional verbs have passive forms. T or F
10. To bear in one meaning is more commonly in passive use than
active.
T or F

Exercise 7. Specify the kind of Adverbial Modifier that the Infinitives express in the
following sentences:
1. To hear him, one would think he was as poor as a church mouse.
2. Jack moved a little, so as to be able to see beyond the group of men.
3. He rarely went out except to take part in the social life of the town.
4. He sneaked out of the house through the backdoor so as not to explain anything.
5. But I did not come here in order to gain anything.
6. He ran his hand through his hair as though to tidy it.
7. Take that novel to read on the train.
8. To hear him talk, you might think he was bossing it.

Exercise 8. Specify the kind of Adverbial Modifier that the ing forms express in the
following sentences:
1. I bumped into a man; without looking up I apologized and proceeded on my way.
2. The girl hesitated, as though not quite knowing what to say.
3. It must be swell to get anything you want just by wishing, I thought
4. The musicians had vanished without his having seen them go.
5. He had not, since leaving, written to her.
6. I took my temperature and, upon finding it was a hundred point four, went back
to bed again.
7. He hardly looked at her while talking.
8. She looked at him steadily before answering.
9. Though knowing what was there, he took the paper out and walked to the window
to read.
72
10. The little boy was sick after eating the whole box of chocolates.
11. Students should always read examination questions very carefully before
answering them.
12. I entered the room without his seeing it.
13. We postponed our visit because of Eddys being ill.
14. His brother was fined for having driven too fast.
15. He ended his speech by thanking everybody for their attention.

Exercise 9. Point out the Adverbial Modifiers in the following sentences and state by
what they are expressed:
1. We shall try it tomorrow. 2. After looking at the copy-book again, there seemed to be
something wrong somewhere. 3. I heard him knocking, so I ran downstairs to let him in.
4. These preparations happily completed, we set out at once. 5. He spoke to them in a
friendly way. 6. But for you, a terrible thing might have happened. 7. We were angry with
her for being nervous. 8. She turned red with anger. 9. She was too weak to lift the heavy
box. 10. The work will be ready after two oclock. 11. He came half an hour later. I was
waiting for him in the garden. 12. The river is a mile wide. 13. This lesson is rather long.
He cant read it through today. 14. You are too clever to argue about such nonsense. 15.
They walked miles without finding any habitation. 16. The warm fine sand of the beach
spread up and over everything. 17. If necessary, she must see the head manager. 18.
When questioned, she explained everything very carefully. 19. He looked up without
speaking. 20. He was too fond of his work to leave it right now. 21. So, on the following
evening, we again assembled to discuss and arrange our plans. 22. In a room within the
house, Cowperwood, his coat and vest off, was listening to Aileens account of the
troubles. 23. They were returning to the cottage, their hands full of flowers. 24. The men
faced the difficulties on their expedition with courage and resolution. 25. He was
exhausted from want of sleep. 26. During the interval they talked in the hall. 27. Mr.
Weller left the room, and departed slowly on his errand, with his hands in his pockets,
and his eyes fixed on the ground. 28. It was so difficult a task as not to be finished in a
week. 29. He looked at Mr. Micawber attentively, with his whole face breathing short and
quick in every feature. (Ch. Dickens)

Exercise 10. Analyse the Adverbial Modifiers in the following text:
Buck had accepted the rope with quiet dignity. To be sure, it was an unwanted
performance: but he had learned to trust in men he knew, and to give them credit for a
wisdom that outstretched his own. But when the ends of the rope were placed in the
strangers hands, he growled menacingly. But to his suprise the rope tightened around his
neck, shutting off his breath. In quick rage he sprang at the man, who met him half-way,
grappled him close by the throat, and with a deft twist threw him over on his back. The
rope tightened mercilessly, while Buck struggled in a fury, his tongue lolling out of his
mouth and his great chest panting futilely. Never in all his life had he been so angry. But
he is strength ebbed, his eyes glazed, and he knew nothing when the train was fragged
and the two men threw him into the baggage-car. (J. London)

Exercise 11. Insert the Adverbial Modifiers in the appropriate place:
1. I have a bath (generally, every other day, in the evening).
2. A taxi appeared (slowly, after half an hour, at the corner of the street).
3. Harry hasnt come back (yet, from school).
4. He plays his guitar (always, at night).
5. Ralph goes skiing (sometimes, in winter, to Poiana Braov).
6. It happened (at midnight, last summer, in a deserted house).
7. They go for a walk (often, in the park, with their children, on summer evenings).
8. John will come (surely, in time, for the meeting).
9. He goes to bed (early, usually).
10. I enjoyed seeing that film (last night, very much).
11. None of us had been here before and we shall want to come here again (ever,
never, certainly).
73
12. My uncle has been fond of children, though he has not had any himself (always,
never).
13. He played at the Palace Hall (last night, beautifully).
14. I can understand what you say (now, hardly).
15. We saw her (yesterday, there, distinctly).
16. The boy came (into the room, unexpectedly, quite).
17. The clock ticked (on the table, steadily).
18. The steamer gave a long hoot and steered away (south, slowly).
19. He comes (sometimes, on Sundays, to my place).
20. John will come (surely, in time, for the meeting).

Exercise 12. Insert where necessary the required prepositions (making Prepositional
Adverbial Modifiers):
1. He took up his work ...... enthusiasm. 2. His house was ......... the head of the village. 3.
After working ....... about ten minutes, she rose ....... her feet, starting out ....... the garden.
4. After the arrival of Mr. Winkle ...... Birmingham, Mr. Pickwick remained at home ......
a whole week. (Ch. Dickens) 5. The train was going ....... full speed. 6. The printing house
insists ....... the immediate correction of the proofs. 7. The airplaine flew ...... a very great
height, glistening ....... beautiful steel birds ....... the afternoon sunshine. 8. There is not
much ...... me that could possibly interest you. 9. Im sorry, but I really cannot agree .....
you. 10. Her mother never complained ...... her behaviour. 11. She came to stay ........ our
house ....... two months. 12. The pyramids were built ....... the Egyptians ....... very
primitive tools. 13. The boy was taller than his father ..... five inches. 14. We stopped
running ........ sheer exhaustion. 15. We were wet ...... the rain. 16. The boxer delivered a
powerful blow ..... his left hand. 17. The workers went on strike ........ the reduction of
wages. 18. The train was delayed ....... the snow storm. 19. The delay was ....... to the bad
weather. 20. Because he had lost his key, he climbed ......... the house ........ an open
window. 21. Will you visit any museums ....... your stay in France? 22. He will see you
........ the station and then come back ..... a taxi. 23. John was born ....... the 3
rd
......
February ..... a small village surrounded ...... vineyards. 24. ....... autumn people who live
...... the north watch robins gather ..... their backyard, or swallows settle ...... the hundreds
........ the telephone wires. 25. The boy knows many poems ....... Shelley ...... heart. 26.
....... your help I couldnt have solved the problem. 27. Whats the matter? Ive heard a
shout ....... help.

Exercise 13. Identify the type of Adverbial Modifiers:
1. Because of the lies she told, nobody wanted to have anything to do with her.
2. He is not able to explain what happened because of his state of confusion.
3. Johns coming back would remind Mary of the old times since she has always
loved him because of his qualities.
4. He was upset, though calm and on top of the situation.
5. If tired, please rest as much as you can.
6. They stopped to ask for indications for fear of having got lost.
7. We ran in order to catch the bus.
8. They were too far away to come back home.
9. He kept silent instead of answering the questions.
10. Apart from her luggage, she took nothing else.
11. Everybody was happy except for Mary.
12. Men are always careless as regards womens feelings.
13. In addition to painting, he could play the violin.
14. She took care of two old people besides her parents.
15. The more she tried, the better she felt.

Exercise 14. Rephrase the sentences so as to replace Adverbial Clauses by corresponding
Adverbial Modifiers:
1. He cannot be considered a winner because he has never managed to overcome his
fear.
74
2. He asked her to stay not that he couldnt do without her, but because he was too
lazy.
3. As everybody wanted to see them, they had to change their programme.
4. It was because he speaks defiantly that all his friends have left him.
5. No matter how hard it rains, he still goes running.
6. Tired as he was, he still helped us.
7. Put on your coat in case you get cold.
8. So long as you dont trust me, we cant be friends.
9. We must hurry lest we should be late.
10. Insofar as his private life is concerned, the press doesnt know much.
11. For all I know, she may be guilty of negligence.

Evaluation Questions:

1. How can words be connected in an English sentence?
2. Which are the functions of the Noun Phrase?
3. The syntactic characteristics of the Subject.
4. The syntactic characteristics of the Direct Object.
5. The syntactic characteristics of the Indirect Object.
6. The syntactic characteristics of the Prepositional Object.
7. Enumerate the types of the Prepositional Object.
8. Explain the structure and functions of the Verb Phrase.
9. How many types of Subject- Predicate agreement are in English? Give examples.
10. The syntactic characteristics of the Adjective Phrase.
11. The syntactic characteristics of the Adverbial Phrase.
12. How many types of Adverbial modifiers are in English?
13. Enumerate the complex constructions and discuss them briefly.
14. Which are the characteristics of complex constructions?
15. Enlarge upon the Accusative + Infinitive.
16. Enlarge upon the Accusative + Present Participle.
17. Enlarge upon the Nominative + Infinitive.

75
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S). This lack of symmetry (regular correspondence

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