Topics in English Syntax: An Introductory Course

Topics in English Syntax
An Introductory Course
26.04.19 Lecture notes 1

Bibliography
The following works have been used and quaoted
extensively without this use being clearly marked.
Verspoor, M. (2000), English Sentence Analysis: An Intro-

ductory Course. Amsterdam: Benjamins
Burton-Roberts, N. (19972), Analysing Sentences. An
Introduction to English Syntax. London etc.: Longman
Huddleston, R.; Pullum, G. K. (2002), The Cambridge
Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: CUP
• Introduction to the practical analysis of Present-

day Standard English
• two especially favoured dialects „Standard Southern
British English“ and „American English“
• spoken or written by (educated) native speakers ( UK,
US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, ...)
• language of the government, broadcasting, print
media, education, science, public discourse
• any topic,
• for informal and formal events

• E - language, the externalized language seen as a

potentially infinite set of sentences
• performance (errors, slips, other problems)
• corpus data (representativity as a problem)
• I - language, the internalized language seen as a
finite set of rules and principles in the mind of a
native speaker / hearer
• competence (Chomsky 1986, Barriers)
• idealization
• introspection (methodological problems)

• Syntax: the branch of grammar dealing with the

organization of words into larger structures such as
phrases and sentences; the study of sentence
structure.
• Three basic assumptions:
– Sentences have parts which may themselves have parts.
– The parts of sentences belong to a limited range of types.
– The parts have specific functions within the larger parts
they belong to.

– Sentence patterns & functions of communication

• give information about something to someone
– [John] subject [is leaving] whole verb // declarative
• ask someone for information
– [Is] part of verb [John] subject [leaving] rest of verb
// interrogative
• make someone do something
– [Leave!] verb only // imperative
• express one‘s feeling or attitude
– [What] What a shock! Rest of sentence // exclamatory

In a declarative sentence speakers give information on
• one or more participants (subject, object)
• the event, state, process, activity (predicator)
• attributes of participants (attribute)
• the setting of the event or situation (adverbial)
– The little tiger is happy.
– The boy turned five years old yesterday.
– The boy considered the tiger dangerous.
– A bird hit the car.
– The boy gave the tiger some milk.
– He was holding his balloon up high.
– Pam bought him the book.

Roles Function abbrev.
1st participant subject S

process / event predicator P
2nd participant direct object DO
3rd participant indirect object / IO
benefactive object BO
attributes of 1st participant subject attribute SA
attributes of 2nd participant object attribute OA
the setting adverbial A

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences with

subject - predicate - other participants - attribute - setting
(predicator = verb;
predicate = predicator plus complements other than subject:
predication = predicate plus subject (external complement) )
(1) Intransitive verb pattern

Pam is jumping (high). - (1st participant , process) -
(subject, predicate, (adverbial)) - (predicator
= intransitive verb cycle,
listen, talk, swim, ...)

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences
(2) Copula verb pattern

Tiger is a nuisance.
- (1st participant, process / state)
- (subject, predicate, (subject attribute ))
- (predicator = copula
verb:
be, appear, grow, seem, look, make,
smell, sound, become, prove, taste, feel,
remain, turn)

(3) The (mono-)transitive verb pattern

Pam read the book.
A bird hit the car.
- (1st participant, process / activity, 2nd participant)
- (subject - predicate - direct object)
- (predicator = mono-transitive verb: see, hold, kick, hear,
believe, think, read, print, ...)

(3) The ditransitive pattern

Mother bought Pam a lolly.
John gave Peter the present.
(1st participant, process / activity, 2nd participant, 3rd
participant)
(subject, predicate, direct obj, indirect / benefactive obj)
(predicator = ditransitive verb: give, buy, tell, send , pass,
...)

(5) The complex transitive pattern

They elected John the president
- (1st participant, process / activity, 2nd participant,
attribute of 2nd participant)
- (subject, predicate, direct object, object attribute)
- (Predicator = complex transitive verb: make, wipe,
drive, call, crown, name, consider, assume, regard,
certify, declare, deem, ...)

• Note:
Many verbs can be used in several patterns
• He makes a good teacher. (1)
• He made a goal. (3)
• We made him a cake. (4)
• The troops made him emperor. (5)

• Note:
(1) the declarative sentence pattern can have different

communicative functions.
(2) words have different senses in different contexts
(3) „process, state, activity“ are loose or fuzzy labels for
events which are denoted by the predicates
(4) there exist terminlogical variants: e.g. subject
complement, object complement, used for subject / object
attribute

sentence
subject predicate
predicator complement adverbial*

no complement
subject attribute
direct object
dir obj + indirect or benef. obj
dir obj + obj attribute

• Structure: constituents, categories, function

sentence
old Sam sunbathed beside a stream
The divisible parts of a sentence are called constituents.

What does the diagram tell us about this sentence?
- linear order of words and well-formedness
* a sunbathed old beside Sam stream

- transition word x to word y / class of word x (e.g Adj) to

class of word y (N)?
A sentence has different kinds / categories of constituents

sentence Adj N V Prep Art N
N V Prep Art N
How many sequences of English words / word classes result
in well-formed (grammatical) sentences ?
Testing: - movement of constituents
- deletion of constituents

- substitutions of constituents
- adding constituents
He sunbathed beside the stream
Sam sunbathed.
Beside the stream, the old dog bathed in the sun.
The constituents are arranged in a specifiable manner
Structure def: some parts of an entity are constituents
of different kinds (categories) which occur in
specifiable arrangements and which have certain
specifiable functions

bicycle
frame crossbar wheel spoke handlebar pedal chain
bicycle
frame wheel handlebar
crossbar spoke rim pedal chain bell handbrake
• Diagram of structural relationships: immediate constituents

• Sentence and clause
Syntax is concerned with the way words combine to from sentences.
sentence = largest unit of syntax; (intuitively understood concept)
„a syntactically related group of words that expresses
an assertion, a question, a command, a wish or an
exclamation“
usually begins with a capital letter and ends with a
period, question or exclamation mark
word = smallest unit of syntax; (intuitively understood concept)

clause = basic syntactic construction consisting of a subject and a
predicate; occurs as main, co-ordinated or subordinated
clause

• Simple, compound and complex sentences

– a simple sentence consists of one main clause
Whales cannot breathe under water.
They have lungs instead of gills.
We will see several applications of this order of the primitives in
the course of the book.
The waitresses are basking in the sun like a herd of skinned seals,
their pinky-brown bodies shining with oil.

Is America streched too far?
Just give me a remote control for the planet.

– a compound sentence consists of two or more

(independent) main clauses, connected by
• a coordinate or a correlative conjunction
– coordinate conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
correlative conjuctions : both ... and, not only ... but also, either ... or,
neither ... nor
Whales cannot breathe under water, for they have lungs instead of gills.
• a conjunctive adverb and/or a semicolon
– conjunctive adverbs: moreover, so, therefore
Whales have lungs instead of gills; therefore they cannot breathe under
water.
...instead of gills; they therefore cannot breathe under water

– a complex sentence contains at least one full

dependent clause which functions as a constituent
and is introduced by a subordinating conjunction
– subordinating conjunctions: after, although, as, as if, as/even
though, because, before, how, however much, if, in order that,
now that, once, rather than, since, so that, that, though, unless,
until, what(ever), when(e), where(ever), whereas, whether,
which(ever), while, who(m)(ever), whose
• a dependent clause may function as adverbial
Whales cannot breathe under water because they have lungs instead of
gills
– a test for adverbials: move into different positions, e.g. sentenece
initial
• a dependent clause may function as a modifier of a
noun (relative clause)
Jane, who always drives fast, bought a Lotus.
Whales, which cannot breathe under water, have lungs instead of gills.
• a dependent clause may function as a subject, object,
or subject complement clause; no complete main
clause remains
That Jane drives fast is common knowledge.
What is surprising is that whales cannot breathe under water.
We all know that Jane drives fast.
A fact is that Jane drives fast

– a compound-complex sentence contains at least

two main clauses and one dependent clause
A tone is what you hear in music and a note is the symbol that you
write down for a tone.
– The notion of phrase

phrase def: a word or a group of words without a subject
and predicate but functioning as a unit in a sentence:
the old man / recently / in the corner / have mastered / beside the
pool

Topics in English Syntax: Verbs
• Subject, object, predicate and predicator“ name syntactic
functions which are realized by a certain type of word, or a
phrase, or a type of clause.
[ [The mother] subject
[ [gave]predicator
[the little boy] indirect object
[a balloon] direct object ]predicate]sentence
• The predicator is realized by a verb. The verb is the
syntactically most important element within the VP (VP = a
syntactic category). Verbs are the heads of the VP = they
determine what other kinds of element are required

Topics in English Syntax:Verbs
• Verbs are lexical verbs (write, swim, ride, tread) or

auxiliary which name events, processes, states, etc.
– i. (non modal) be, have, do
– ii. (modal) can, may, will, shall, must, ought, need, dare
– iii. dare, need, be, have, do (are also used as lexical verbs)
• verb forms are finite (tensed) or non-finite (non-tensed)

– most lexical verbs have six inflectional forms
finite: bake (plain present tense), bakes (3rd pers. sg present tense), baked (past
tense)
non-finite: bake (plain infinitive), baking (present participle/gerund), baked
(past participle)

– auxiliary verbs
• differ from lexical verbs in their morphology (cf. be, am, was ...);
• modals have no non-finite forms (*to shall ; *musting; *the musted sale);
do not occur in an environment where non-tensed forms are required
• do not enter into person - number agreement with the subject
• function in the complex verbal forms for tense, aspect, mood, modality
contrasts
• are distinguished syntactically from lexical verbs: they can be negated by
a following not and they invert with the subject in interrogatives
I have not seen him. *I saw not them.
Will you go with them? *Want you to go with them?
• Auxiliaries have negative forms
isn‘t. wasn‘t, can‘t, ...

• VP can be simple (gave) or complex, i.e. consist of aux

elements plus a lexical verb (will have given)
– progressive be + present participle to express progressive aspect

Max writes / wrote an interesting term paper
Max is writing an interesting term paper
Max was writing an interesting term paper
– perfect have + past participle to express perfect aspect

The men set out hours ago.
The men have already set out.
The men had set out hours before we arrived.

– modals + (to) infinitives to express mood and modality (degrees of

possibility, factuality, necessity, capability, obligation)
They found something horrible
They must have found something horrible
They may find something horrible
They may leave now.
– passive be + past participle

They found something horrible.
Something horrible was found
? Something horrible got found.

– do for questions, negation and emphasis whenever there is no aux

verb in the predicator
They walked with their heads down, as if they were ashamed?
Did they walk with their heads down, as if they were ashamed?
They did not walk with their heads down as if they were ashamed
They did walk with their heads down as if they were ashamed.

• Verb phrase: relative ordering of auxiliaries in the predicator

– the main verb may be preceeded by up to 4 auxiliaries:
modal perfect progressive passive in that order.
– order is rigidly fixed; each position is optional
– each auxiliary determines the inflectional form of the following verb
Auxiliary Inflectional form of following verb

modal base form: may take
perfect -en form: has eaten
progressive -ing form: is reading
passive -en form be taken

Modal perfect progressive passive lexical verb
takes
is taken
is taking
is being taken
has taken
has been taken
has been taking
has been being taken
may take
may be taken
may be taking
may be being taken
may have taken
may have been taken
may have been taking
may have been being taken

• Be, have, do as aux and lexical verbs

He is my friend. lex
He is writing a letter aux, progr.
This letter was written by Thomas Cook. aux, pass
He was to write many more letters. aux mood
He has many friends lex
He has written many letters. aux, perf
He has to leave now. aux, mood
He does a lot of work lex
Does he write many letters? aux, interrog

• Sub-types of lexical verbs

The verb is the syntactically the most important element
within the VP and the clause. Verbs are the heads of the VP
because they determine what other kinds of element are
required or permitted as complements of the predicator.
He | always | jogs| before breakfast.
C A P A
He | always | reads | the paper | before breakfast.
C A P C A
Adjuncts are free additions to the VP or clause, are loosely attached
Complements are central to the predicator, have sharply distinct
syntactic functions as subject or object, etc.

• Internal and external complement

the first constituent structure boundary in canonical clauses is between
subject and predicate; subjects are complements external to the
predicate, the other complements are internal to the VP.
• Transitivity
all canonical sentences have a subject, but depending on the verb, they
may or may not contain an object
S - P clauses are called intransitive :
The Imam fainted.
S - P - O clauses are called transitive
The Imam loved aubergines.

• Many verbs are dual-transitivity verbs

The door opened (intransitive)
She opened the door (transitive)
He reads / He is reading ( intransitive)
He is reading a novel (transitive)
• Intransitive verbs do not take objects or subject or object
complements / predicative complements: S - P
Mara dreams
Her heart beats.

• copula verbs like be, seem are called complex intransitive

verbs which allow a pattern of S - P- PC
Ed seems quite competent.
The soup tastes salty.
• transitive verbs are divided into mono-transitive and di-
transitive verbs depending on the number of objects they
have and into complex transitive
just one direct object = monotransitive (S - P - DO)
He is drinking whisky and milk.
The local council must observe the law
Troops quickly occupied the city.

ditransitive verbs have two objects, an indirect and a direct Object

(S - P - IO - DO)
She told him the truth.
Max gave mother some painkiller.
She baked a cake for her ssister
He bought me a book
complex transitive verbs admit a direct object and predicative
complement / object attribute
(S - P - DO - OA)
She considered Ed a decent guy.
They elected George W. the president.

• Note: the direct objects of the three types of transitive verbs may be
realised by different structures
– a phrase: I know him.
I know the student.
I know the student who lives next door.
– a clause with a finite verb
» I know that he moved to Münster last year.
» I asked him whether he would join us.
– a clause with a non-finite verb: (to inf, bare inf, plain inf)
» I enjoy listening to cool jazz.
» I forced him to eat the tuna sandwich.
» She made him paint the fence.

• Passive clauses
The positive, active, declarative clause is generally
considered the canonical clause. Other types of clauses are
made to fulfill certain functions:
– passive clauses are used to focus on the goal, the
recipient or experiencer rather than on the agent of an
action.
– passive clauses depend on transitive verbs (which have at least 2 roles /
participants )
Max bought an expensive painting.
An expensive painting was bought by Max.

• monotransitive verbs and the passive construction

active clause passive clause
subject by object
object subject
active predicator be + past participle
• ditransitive verbs have two passive alternants : two objects

may become the subject of the passive construction
• Max gave Mary the book
• The book was given to Mary by Max
• Mary was given the book by Max

• complex-transitive verbs: one object, one passive alternant

We consider him a nuisance
He was considered a nuisance (by us).
Note: The object attribute becomes a subject attribute
• non-finite clauses and the passive
I know [ him to be a noisy guy ]DO.
He is known to be a noisy guy.
I certainly expect [ him to clean up his act soon ] DO.
He is certainly expected to clean up his act soon.
Note: the subject of the non-finite clause, an indirect
object, becomes the subject of the passive construction

• multi-word verbs
– phrasal verbs: verb + adverb
write up, run off, ring off
– prepositional verbs: verb + preposition
run into, agree to
– phrasal prepositional verbs: verb + adverb +
preposition
keep away from
– idiomatic noun + preposition verbs
catch sight of, set fire to, lose count of

• Tests to distinguish a phrasal verb from a

prepositional verb
He looked into the problem.
He looked into it.
He looked up the word.
He looked it up.
Position of pronoun after a preposition but in front of an
adverb = phrasal verb.
If there is no direct object, the verb is a phrasal one.
He walked down.

• Phrases
We analyse sentences as consisting of smaller units
(constituents) which are called phrases.
We assume that the words of a phrase “belong together
naturally“. We can test this notion by deletion or addition
some words of a phrase or by testing different segmentations
of a sentence.
# A good knowledge of English # is essential # for
engineers # and # other staff in charge of aircraft
maintenance.#
*A good # knowledge of # English
– Each phrase has a core element which, if deleted, will

produce an ill-formed „unnatural“ phrase.
– This core element is called the head element; it
names the whole the phrase, e.g.
verb phrase, noun phrase; prepositional phrase, etc.
and determines its category or type.
– We describe the linear order of elements in a sentence
either by the sequence of phrasal categories VP, NP, PP or
by the syntactic function these units realize in the sentence.

– Functions are subject, direct object, indirect object,

predicate, adverbial of S
– Phrases realize functions; „ : “ = „realized by“
Subj: NP Pred:VP dir obj: NP

The white tiger # bit # the magnificent magician#.
– Words are the building blocks of phrases. To determine

the type or class of a word, we look for its form and for
the contexts in which it can occur.

• Word classes / Parts of speech

Traditionally (cf. Latin grammar), we distinguish approx. 11
different classes of words. Attributes of words:
- form (inflectional properties),
- potential of occurrence in specific contexts, i.e. their
syntactic features and their distribution,
- lexical meaning.
- POS determined by semantic features
arbeiten, v = activity; Arbeit, n = activity
arrival, n = activity; arrive, v = activity in, prep = ?

• distributional criteria („distribution“: the set of all
environments); homogeneity of approach,
- an objective procedure, intersubjective validity
- an operational procedure = substitution test for
determining POS; function of a word in a phrase
We walk to the office every day
We took a long walk
I put on my walking boots
You‘re a light weight.
Come on, light my fire.
Put the lights out, please, will you.

• noun: bird, freedom, uncle, walk, Henry, farmer, sand

• verb: walk, swim, cycle, ride, consider, think, perceive, write
• adjective: blue, exhausted, painful, big, strong, powerful
• adverb: hard, hardly, happily, very, however, up, merely
• preposition: in, on, at, under, after, amongst, like, since
• coordinator: and, but, or, nor
• subordinator: that, because although, since
• pronoun: we, her, mine, his, who, someone, which
• article: the, a, an
• numeral: three, third
• interjection: oops, , wow

• Noun
– proper nouns: Henry Miller, Ford, the United States, Warwickshire,
Thames (referential function); common nouns: table, wood, soap, sand,
sea, furniture, freedom, pleasure, pain (descriptive / predicative function)
• concrete : tangible things: car, bike, water; abstract: non-
tangible entities: ?? processes: idea, dream, thought; ?? move,
walk, transportation
• count: bounded, separable entitites: book, house; non-count /
mass nouns: grass, sand, oil, furniture, cattle, love,
• noun form
– nouns typically inflect for number (singular - plural) and case (plain
vs genitive)

Noun and Noun Phrase function

1. NPs are prototypically function as a complement in
clause structure ( subject, object, predicative complement)
The doctor arrived. We saw the doctor. Kim is a doctor
and as as complement in PP
They were talking to the Dean.
2. NPs also function as
specifying or classifying genitive („subject determiner“ in an NP)
adjunct in clause
modifier in PP, AdjP and AdvP
supplement (Apposition) and vocative (Anrede)

• NP structure
– nouns function as heads of NPs, alone or accompanied by one or
more dependents, such as determinatives (articles etc.), pre- and
postmodifiers (AdjP, relative clauses)
all of the very expensive vases on the shelf that broke in the quake
Note: nouns do not take objects

– Kim dislikes tiger; * his dislike it

– test for „nounhood“:

• 1) occurrence with articles: the ____; a_____
• 2) substitute word with a pronoun: it, they
– test for countability

one plate, two plates, three plates
* one furniture, *two furnitures, *three furnitures
– note: the count non-count distinction applies to uses of a

noun
BP developed three new motor oils

• Verb
– verbs denote processes, actions, activities, states, accomplishments,
achievments
• Verb form
– lexical verb paradigm: base, -s (3rd sg), plain (present), -ing,
(gerund participle) -ed (past tense), -ed (past participle)
note: syncretism between want - want; wanted - wanted
– forms of the auxiliary be: be, am, are, is, are, was, were,
negated: aren‘t, isn‘t, wasn‘t, weren‘t
– form distinctions of modal verbs (defective paradigm) :
can (plain present), could (past)
negated: cannot, can‘t, couldn‘t

• Verb and VP function
– verbs function as predicator and determine the number and kind of
dependents (complements); predicator and complement, possibly
with other dependents of type adjunct (modifiers) form the VP
• VP and clause structure
– verbs function as head elements in the VP and in the structure of the
clause;
– valency (mono-, bi- trivalent) determines the number of external and
internal complements (subject, objects),
– transitivity determines the kind of obligatory complements
(intransitive, complex intransitive, monotransitive, complex
monotransitive, ditransitive)

He died. (intrans., monovalent)
This depends on the price. (intrans., bivalent)
Ed became hungry. (intrans. complex, bivalent)
He reads the paper. (monotrans., bivalent)
He blamed me for the delay. (monotrans., trivalent)
This made Ed angry. (monotrans. cmplex, trivalent)
She gave him some food. (ditransitive, trivalent)
– verbs determine the choice of prepositions

The cream consists of egg and milk
It all depends on her father.
He supplied them with food and drinks.

– verbs determine the choice of subordinate clause construction

Whether /*That we go abroad depends on the cost.
I don‘t know whether / * that they will like it.
• Distinctive syntactic properties of auxiliary verbs

– 4 non-canonical constructions are found with aux verbs:
NICE: Negation, Inversion, Code, Emphasis
– He has seen it. vs He has not seen it.
– Has he seen it? (subject - aux inversion)
– He has seen it. And I have, too.
– They don‘t believe he has seen it but he has seen it.

• Distinctive syntactic properties of modal verbs
– central modals take bare infinitival complements
They must read the text
They will work on that problem.
They should help us finish the job.
– present tense modals don‘t show agreement with the subject
He can buy anything he likes; he has got tons of money.
John may insist on being invited.
Note: The person-number inflection in lexical verbs is determined by
agreement with the subject: knows agrees with the student.
The student knows the professor.
The students know the professor.

• Adjectives
Function of central members of the category
– Adjectives typically modify nouns: can be used in predicative,
attributive and postpositive function
• Max is / seems / appears sad.
• Max owns an expensive car.
• Here is someone clever.
Gradability
– The prototypical adjective is gradable, accepts degree modifiers and
has inflectional or analytic comparatives and superlatives
very many, too bright, much heat
pretty, prettier, prettiest; useful, more useful, most useful

• Dependents
– Adjectives characteristically take adverbs as modifiers
• remarkably tough; surprisingly sweet
• Adjective phrases as attributive and postpositive modifiers,

and predicative complements
• my new job; all other possibilities; good work
• this is new; they seem suitable; we found it easy
• something important; a man full of his own importance
1. APs function (mostly) as modifiers in the structure of the
NP as pre-head internal dependent, = part of a nominal,
located between he determiner and the head noun

• 2. as predicative complements APs are dependents in the

clause structure, licensed by particular verbs, such as be,
seem, find, become, make, appear, feel, look, sound
• 3. post-positive APs function as post-head internal modifier
in NP structure; occur commonly after compound
determinatives such as someone, anything, nobody
– Note: the majority of Adjs can occur in all three functions but a
sizeable number is restricted to either attributive or predicative
function
• mere, former, main vs. alone, asleep, glad
– a few Adjs are restricted to postpositive function
• gifts galore, president elect

– Note: predeterminer APs occur as external modifier in NP structure,
preceding the indefinite article a
• such a fool
• half a pint of bitter
• Adjectives as heads of complex phrasal categories

– Many adjectives license
• complements in post-head position and
• modifiers in pre-head and post-head position
• PPs, NPs and clauses in post-head position;
• AdvPs in pre-head position

– Complements of APs in post-head position

• fraught with danger;
• mindful of the danger; afraid of dogs
• concerned about the delay; angry about her behaviour
• angry at the news; astonished at the allegations
• distressed by these insinuations
• clothed in linnen; covered in dust
• insistent that the charge be dropped;
• amazed what a fuss she made
• happy to leave it to him

Adverbs
– Many adverbs are morphologically derived from adjectives ( -ly);
but note: fast, hard, early, better, worse
• a rapid improvement vs it rapidly improved
• a surprising depth vs surprisingly deep
• progress was rapid vs we progressed rapidly
– Adv modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb; they cannot

function as predicative complement
• They almost died in the accident.
• Max almost always gets it right.
• She was extremely unhappy with the proposal.

Prepositions
• relate entities; denote place, time, direction, duration,
manner, causality, ...
• they have a core function within the phrase which
they introduce - they are the head element of a PP and
introduce a dependent NP as prepositional
complement.
• they are mostly short, simple words of a closed class
of function words
• there are several types of complex prepositions:

about, above, across, after, against, along,

among, apart from, around, as at, because of,
behind, below, beneath, beside, between,
beyond, by, concerning, despite, down, during,
except, for from, in, in addition to, in case of,
in contrast to, inside, in spite of, into, like,
near, of, off, on, onto, out, out of, outside, over
past, regarding, since, through, throughout, to,
toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon,
with, with regard to, within, without

• 1. ADV or PREP +PREP

along with, as for, away from, out of up to, etc.
• 2. VERB / ADJ / CONJUNCTION etc + PREP:

owing to, due to, because of, etc.
• 3. PREP + NOUN + PREP

by means of, in comparison with, in front of, etc.

Prepositions precede the PP, postpositions occur in
• wh- questions:
Which town to you live in
• relative clause:
The old hag I was telling you about
• Wh-clause:
What I am convinced of is that terrorist acts will happen.
• Exclamations:
What a mess he’s got himself in.
• Passives :
She was sought after by all the leading impresarios
• Infinitive clauses:
He’s impossible to work with

• Syntactic functions of prepositions:
– complements of verbs, adjectives and nouns:
We depend on continued subsidies
I am sorry for his parents
– adjuncts:
The students were singing on the bus
– postmodifiers in NPs:
The people on the bus were singing loudly and out of tune
– disjuncts:
To our surprise, he survived the accident unharmed.
– conjunct:
On the other hand, he was supported by the whole family.

Pronouns and their Subclasses
• personal, reflexive, possessive, reciprocal, relative,
interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite
• may be used in two functions:
– 1. independently, in (pro)nominal function, replacing a co-referential
noun or a noun phrase
– 2. dependently, almost like adjectives, in determiner function
His book cost over € 75.-
That flower on the window-sill ..
When she arrived in Münster, Tiger went straight to class
Hers cost more than € 100.
And indeed she is impressive
Our American friends really like Sauerkraut.

Features of (major subclasses) of pronouns

– They do not admit determiners
* the each book; * the which girl ?
– They often have remnants of case marking
– I, me, mine;
– we, us, our,
– they , them, their
– who, whom, whose
– They often have person contrast
• 1st person : refers to speaker role
• 2nd person: refers to role of person(s) addressed
• 3rd person: refers to entity under discussion

– They often have gender contrast

he – him – himself – his
she – her – herself – hers
it – itself- ist
– They show number contrast; mostly by morphologically

unrelated forms

Personal pronouns possessive pronouns reflexive pronouns

subj case obj case determiner nominal
1st pers sing I me my mine myself
plur we us our ours ourselves
2ndpers sing you you your yours yourself
plur you you yourselves
3rdpers sing masc he him his his himself
fem she her her hers herself
non pers it its its itself
plur they them their theirs themselves

Personal pronouns:
– replace / substitute for co-referential NPs in neighbouring
a) preceding b) in following clauses:
Johni told Mary to wait for himi.
Whenever hei took off his glasses, Johni was difficult to deal with.
– objective case forms are used as (direct or indirect) objects
or as complements of prepositions; in informal usage also
as subject complements
Tiger spotted them immediately.
Max gave them some chocolate.
It’s me. Is it you?
I saw her with them.

Reflexive pronouns
– replace a co-referential NP within the same clause
John hurt himself badly.
– the indefinite pronoun one has its own reflexive oneself;
other indefinites use himself, themselves
No one must fool himself
Possessive pronouns
combine genitive functions, indicating ownership (my, her, your,
...), functioning attributively / syntactically as determiners,
with pronominal function in the second series: mine, yours,
hers ..

Relative pronouns
– reflect neutral, personal or non-personal gender of referent, and case
(genitive, and objective)
personal: who, whom, whose
non-personal: which, whose
neutral: that
– introduce dependent relative clauses in which they function as a

subordinating conjunction (subordinator) and as a constituent (subject,
direct object, indirect object, or prepositional object)
John knows the guy who / whom you met.
John is the guy who broke the record.

John is the guy whose daughter was recently married.

John is the guy for whom I have immense respect
... the house in which I was born
... the games that politicians play

Interrogative pronouns
– are used in questions, both in determiner function;
dependently,
personal: whose,
personal or non-personal: which, what
Whose book is it? Which picture do you like most?
What kind of weather do you expect?
On whom do you rely?
– and pronominally, independently,
This cat here. Whose is it?
Which do you prefer? What did he want?

– The interrogative pronouns may be used as

subordinators introducing dependent questions;
however, word order is then the same as in a declarative
sentence
Whom did you meet?
I asked whom you saw.
•

Demonstrative pronouns
– substitute for a pointing gesture, establish near
and distant reference (from the point of the
speaker) and function as determiner as well as
pronominally
near distant
singular this that
plural these those

Indefinite pronouns and universal pronouns

– the universal pronouns comprise each, every, all, the
every-compounds (everything, every body, every one
– most indefinite and universal pronouns can be used
dependently, functioning as determiners or
independently
Someone thought that all the apples were sweet.
Every man is expected to do their duty.
All (senators) agreed that a reform was needed.
each student: individual reference to two or more
every student: collective reference to three or more
– every one, each, each one have of-constructions
Every one of the students should have their own books
Each one /each student has his own book
– the indefinites comprise somebody, anybody, anything,
someone, something, nobody, no on; [several, much ,
both, enough can also be considered quantifiers, like
vague numerals; similarly a great many; a few, many a, a
lot of, a great deal of ]
once upon a time, someone told us a story about ...
several went into the kitchen
– either, neither have dual reference, none is the negation of
every among the universal pronouns
Numerals
– There are two series of numerals, cardinal numerals
(one, two, three...) and ordinal numbers (first, second,
third ),
– they can be used dependently (as premodifiers) and
independently / pronominally
The first student to arrive was ...
He is the first.

Reciprocal pronouns
– are each other and one another
They met each other regularly.
Wolf and Tiger are fond of one another.

Articles
• English has two articles, the, a, an.
• The articles are always used as determiners
preceding the noun.
• The is used for specific, definite reference, a / an for
indefinite reference.
• The can occur before any common noun

• Connectors
– coordinating conjunctions
• link parallel structures, i.e. units of „equal syntactic
value”
Tom and Otto
both the boy with the telescope and the girl with the apple
He studies for his exam for he is eager to succeed.
He is reading a book. So he must not be disturbed.
• Conjunctive adverb
He is reading a book; therefore, he must not be disturbed.

• Subordinators
– subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent
phrases or clauses
• are subclassified according to
– the type of dependent clauses they introduce
subject, and subject complement clause
object, and object complement clause
clauses modifying nouns
wh-clause; that clause; if-clause
– according to their function in the phrase or clause

I know where he lives. (DO)

I know how he works. (DO)
where and how are constituents of the clause and function

as interrogative adverbs with a subordinating function
If, whether and that are no clause constituents and function
solely as subordinating conjunctions
I don‘t know if he will come by himself.

We believe that he arrived on time (DO)
We asked whether he would be home.

• In relative clauses that post-modify a noun, the relative

pronouns who, whose, whom, that, which function as
subordinators
The boy [that/whom you met is my pal. ] Subject
Remember [the time when we were young.] DO
the relative pronouns and the subordinating relative adverbs
when, where, also function as constituents in clauses
In adverbial clauses introduced by words like when, where,
after, since, before, ... these adverbs do not function as
constituents of the clause and are called subordinating
conjunctions.

• Conjunctions
• coordinating conjunction
and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
• correlative conjunctions
not only .. but also, either ... or, both ... and, neither ...
nor
• conjunctive adverbs
moreover, however, otherwise, certainly, finally, similarly,
nevertheless, indeed, consequently,accordingly, likewise,
now, therefore, thereafter, hence, meanwhile, still,
undoubtedly, next, hence, instead, certainly, besides

• Subordinators
after, although, as , as if, as though, because, before, even

though, how, however much, if, in order that, now that,
once, until, unless, though, that, so that, since, rather
than, what(ever), when, whenever, where, whereas,
wherever, wheher, whichever, while, who, who(m)(ever),
whose

Interjections
OOPS

• Parts of Speech:
major word classes:
V, N (and pronouns), Adj, Adv, Prep
minor word classes:
subordinators, coordinators, determinative,
numeral,
major parts-of-speech are marked for the HEAD feature

Levels of description
clause
phrase syntax grammar
word ] morphology
clause: has subject and predicate

phrase : has head element and dependents
word : HEAD feature + or -; only major parts of speech
function as head elements (= N, V, Adj, Adv, Prep)
•
Phrases
consists at least of one word but may contain other phrases

phrases have constituents
constituents have functions
constituents have realizations
functions and realizations do not have a 1:1 relation

Noun Phrase
- the most complex type of phrase
- obligatory: headTopics in =
element English
noun / Syntax
nominal / pronoun
plus one or two dependents
- prehead and post-head dependents

Noun Phrase functions

– NPs prototypically function as a complement in clause
structure (subject, object, predicative complement
– and as phrasal complement in PP
– NPs also function
• as specifying or classifying genitive
• adjunct in clause
• modifier in NP, PP, AdjP and AdvP
• supplement (Apposition) and vocative (Anrede)

NP functions: example sentences

The doctor arrived.
We saw the doctor.
Kim is a experienced doctor.
They were talking to the Dean.
I liked Sue‘s analysis of the passive construction.
Fred departed the day before yesterday.
The nail was three inches long
Fred arrived a whole day late
The wreck was found a mile under the sea.
I like the novel „Ulysses“.
I finally met his wife, a distinguished linguist.
Michael, I found your book.

Functions of constituents of an NP
• predeterminer, determiner, postdeterminers, premodifier,
head, postmodifier
• examples of NP constituent functions and their realizations
John
he
the boy
exciting city life
half of the group of experts
the glass

the teacher’s glass
both of the very well known glitterati who intoned Britannia,
Britannia rule the waves
our old apple tree in the back yard
her skin beautifully tattooed with red dragons
England proper
the engine alone
a house as big as I have everseen
the night-life in Berlin
some wonderfully warm woollen blankets
photographs of Maja which her father had taken
a half of bitter

Realisations of constituent functions

- premodifiers of NP heads are mostly AdjP; N may be
premodified by one or several AdjP
- nouns which premodify nouns can be considered
adjectives
city [premod: AdjP] life [head:N]
- postmodifiers of Np heads are phrases or finite or non-

finite clauses, only some AdjP realise postmodifiers

Determiners
definite and indefinite article, demonstrative pronouns
preceding the noun: the, a , an, this, that, these, those
Predeterminers
both of, both those (copies), half of, all the, such a
Postdeterminers
those two, a half of

Specifying versus classifying genitives

a specifying genitive : an NP which has a genitive as the
head of a determiner as in
the child’s book
a specifying genitive can be substituted with a possessive
pronoun (his, her, its, theirs)
in a classifying genitive as in
a children’s book
the article functions as determiner of the head noun

Postmodifiers
restrictive (specifying) vs non-restrictive post-modifiers
post-modifiers may be added to an NP to help the addressee
identify the referent of the head noun , to specify vague
reference as in
My friend who has recently moved to London called
me last night. (intonation rising, no comma)
or to give additional information of an already identified
referent
Uncle Peter, who has recently moved to London, called
me last night. (intonation falling; set off with commas)

Relative pronouns and postmodification

who, whom, whose, which, that
serve a double function as
1. subordinators introducing a dependent clause,
2. as clause constituent realising the function of a subject,
an object or an adverbial of the clause
whose is a dependent pronoun and phrase constituent

Verb Phrase
A VP consists of a
- a lexical verb as head element
- or of a comlex verb which contains auxiliary elements and a
lexical verb as its head
- and of the dependent complements.
In a verbal complex, the auxiliaries carry tense, aspect, and mood
information.
The verbal head licenses complements, i.e. it determines the argument
structure of the clause.

Adjective Phrase
an AdjP consists of an adjectival head which in many cases
has a dependent (syntactically obligatory) complement in
postposition realised by a PP or a clause
She is afraid of dogs (optional). She is afraid
Peter was very keen to take part (optional) Peter was very keen.
We are happy to leave it to you (optional) We are happy.
He is mindful of the danger (obligatory) *He is mindful
The airlift was fraught with risks. (obligatory)
*The airliftwas fraught
They were fraught (= anxious, distressed)

Note
a large number of adjectives that require an obligatory
complement when used predicatively or in postposition
cannot be used attributively.
This is tantamount to a confession.

*their tantamount confession
They were heedless of the danger.
this heedless destruction od the rain forest

PP complements of adjectives
annoyed, concerned, mad, glad, happy about
astonished, adept, hopeless, delighted at
amused, distressed, hurt, unaffected by
anxious, answerable, greedy for
divorced, alienated, removed from
bathed, clothed, engaged, decisive in
desirous, reminiscent, scared of

Clausal complements of adjectives

I am glad that you were able to come
I am not sure whether you will understand
too good to participate in the games
Functions of the constituents of AdjPs

an Adj may be preceded or followed by a modifier;
- premodifiers are mostly realised by AdvP
- postmodifiers are realised by adverb phrases, NPs,
and mostly prepositional phrases or clauses

Note:
his [occasionally [very offensive ]] behaviour = stacked modification
his [[quite unbelievably] offensive] behaviour = submodification
AdjP AdjP
Mod: Head Mod Head

Adv AdjP AdvP Adj
Mod Head Mod Head

Adv Adj Adv Adv
occasionally very offensive quite unbelievably offensive

Determinatives as degree modifiers

the, this, that, no, any, much, little, a little, enough, all
The bigger it is the more likely it is to break
They are this tall
He seemes all confused
We‘re not getting any younger
NPs as modifiers
three years old
five centimeters thick
lots better
a trifle shy
two hours long

PPs as modifiers
cautious to excess
dangerous in the extreme
deaf in both ears
very good for a beginner
these in some respects highly controversial theories
an on the whole persuasive argument
Discontinuous modifier
so very good that he became a member of the team

Adverbialphrases
- Advs characteristically modify verbs, adjectives and
other Advs
- AdvPs have Adv as head element and may contain
dependent modifiers and / or complements

Complements in AdvPs
- complements are almost always PPs
Our company operates [almost entirely separately from the rest of
the enterprise]
We decide independently of an abstract principle of justice.
Luckily for them, President Clinton decided not to run again.
... concomitantly with the process of ageing
... analogously to the calculation above

Modification in AdvPs
Stacked modification and submodification in the AdvP are
similar to modification in the AdjP
Jill loses her temper [only [very rarely]]
Jack and Jill sing [[quite remarkably] well]
Premodifiers
very easily, fairly evenly, incredibly meticulously, all that well
later that morning, a bit slowly, arrive three hours late

Postmodifiers
easily enough / clearly enough,
old enough to know better
he behaved badly in the extreme,
later in the day,
faster than anyone could imagine
Discontinuous modifier
He won the race [so easily that he became a member of the
national team]

Prepositional Phrases
- headed by prepositions, taking complements and

modifiers as dependents which are realised as NPs,
finite and non-finite clauses, AdvPs, AdjPs, other PPs
- all PPs functioning as non-predicative adjuncts, many
as complements in clause structure

Ahead of the ship, there was a small island. (PP)
but note: Tired of the journey, the sailor saw a small island. (AdjP)

NP-complements of prepositions
He lived in London for two years.

She sent a photograph of their new house to her parents.
Our new friends are keen on golf.
Concerning the news that you told me ...
just inside the penalty area
He left after the accident.
I haven‘t seen her since last Easter.
note: I haven‘t seen her since. (Prep without a complement?)

Clausal complements of Prepositions
He left after he saw her.

He left after you promised to help.
It all depends on whether he saw her.
I am looking forward to seeing you.
afraid of what will happen.
We can‘t agree on whether we should call the police.

Prepositions plus non-NP constituents as complements
The magician emerged from behind the curtain. (PP)
I didn‘t know about the accident until recently. (AdvP)
cf. He stayed with us until last week.
She took him for dead. (AdjP)
(predicative complement)
She took him for a friend. (NP)
Modifiers of prepositions
two years after their divorce
just inside the building
very much in control of thngs

Position of the preposition relative to its complement

- in most cases, the preposition precedes ist complement
- some English prepositions can follow their
complement
notwithstanding the weather vs. the weather notwithstanding
Stranded preposition
What are you looking at?
What are you waiting for?

S : NP SA : NP
[He was [a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]]
SA : NP post-modifying : NP
[a Hindu [a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]]
post-mod : NP post-mod : PP
[a puny wisp [of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]]
post-mod : PP complement : NP
[of [a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]]
complement : NP post-mod: PP
[a man [with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]]
post-mod: PP complement : NP
[with [a shaven head and vague liquid eyes]]

Noun Phrase
Pre-det Determiner Post-det Pre-mod(s) Head Post-mod(s)
article AdjP noun AdvP
pronoun class. genit pronoun
AdjP
numeral PP
spec. Genitive NP
fin. clause
non-fin clause

Adjective Phrase
Function: Pre-modifier Head Post-modifier

realised by AdvP Adjective PP
clause

Adverbialphrase
Functions: Pre-modifier Head Postmodifier
Realisations: AdvP(s) Adverb AdvP

PP
finite clause
non-finite clause
discontinuous [Adverb] modifier

Prepositional Phrase
Functions: Modifier Head Complement
Realisation AdvP Preposition NP

finite clause
non-finite clause

Verb Phrase
Functions: AUX Head complements /adjuncts

Realisation: tense lexical verb NP
mood PP
perfect aspect AdjP
prog. Aspect finite clause
passive voice non-finite clause
do



Topics in English Syntax: An Introductory Course

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Topics in English Syntax

26.04.19 Lecture notes 1

Verspoor, M. (2000), English Sentence Analysis: An Intro-

• Introduction to the practical analysis of Present-

26.04.19 Lecture notes 3

• E - language, the externalized language seen as a

26.04.19 Lecture notes 4

• Syntax: the branch of grammar dealing with the

26.04.19 Lecture notes 5

– Sentence patterns & functions of communication

26.04.19 Lecture notes 6

26.04.19 Lecture notes 7

Roles Function abbrev.

1st participant subject S

26.04.19 Lecture notes 8

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences with

(1) Intransitive verb pattern

26.04.19 Lecture notes 9

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences

(2) Copula verb pattern

26.04.19 Lecture notes 10

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences

(3) The (mono-)transitive verb pattern

26.04.19 Lecture notes 11

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences

(3) The ditransitive pattern

26.04.19 Lecture notes 12

Basic / typical word order patterns of English sentences

(5) The complex transitive pattern

26.04.19 Lecture notes 13

26.04.19 Lecture notes 14

(1) the declarative sentence pattern can have different

26.04.19 Lecture notes 15

predicator complement adverbial*

26.04.19 Lecture notes 16

• Structure: constituents, categories, function

old Sam sunbathed beside a stream

The divisible parts of a sentence are called constituents.

26.04.19 Lecture notes 17

- transition word x to word y / class of word x (e.g Adj) to

A sentence has different kinds / categories of constituents

26.04.19 Lecture notes 18

26.04.19 Lecture notes 19

frame crossbar wheel spoke handlebar pedal chain

frame wheel handlebar

crossbar spoke rim pedal chain bell handbrake

• Diagram of structural relationships: immediate constituents

word = smallest unit of syntax; (intuitively understood concept)

26.04.19 Lecture notes 21

• Simple, compound and complex sentences

their pinky-brown bodies shining with oil.

26.04.19 Lecture notes 22

– a compound sentence consists of two or more

26.04.19 Lecture notes 23

– a complex sentence contains at least one full

26.04.19 Lecture notes 25

– a compound-complex sentence contains at least

– The notion of phrase

26.04.19 Lecture notes 26

26.04.19 Lecture notes 27

• Verbs are lexical verbs (write, swim, ride, tread) or

• verb forms are finite (tensed) or non-finite (non-tensed)

26.04.19 Lecture notes 28