1) Classification of English and Slovak as language types;

varieties of English; criteria, varieties in grammar;

national standards of English; grammatical differences
between British and American English
Typology of languages:
1) ANALYTICAL (ISOLATING only monosyllabic words - Chinese)
- do not combine morphemes together
to longer words, they stay by themselves
- no
grammatical inflection, prepositions and other auxiliary words are
used to show
us the relation between word and the
strusture
- strict word order
English, Chinese, German...
2) SYNTHETICAL
- combine morphemes into words, it'
s important if morphemes are MONO or POLY
functional:
a) AGGLUTINATING
- use MONO functional morphemes
- order is very strictly given
each morpheme = 1 function
N.Sg: doktor /
N.Pl: doktor ok
D.Sg: doktor nak
D.Pl: doktor ok nak
(Hungarian)
- Hungarian, Turkish, Finish...
b) INFLECTING
- use POLY functional morphemes
- declension and
conjugation types
we don' t know, where 1 morpheme ends and the next begins
(ien)
- any member of given declension type takes
the same set of inflections, same
paradigms
- Slovak
+ all Slavic languages, Celtic and Latin...
- from the typological point of view English is closer to classical
Chinese than to the languages genetically related to it

- languages are genetically related by having something like a

common ancestor language (Slovak and Czech, English and
German)
English vs. Slovak:
- the two languages use two different processes (English
analysis, Slovak - synthesis)
- a synthetical process integrates in one word elements which
each carry their own meaning (morphemes) a word is realized
by one morpheme (analytical process) or several
morphemes (synthetical process)
- English = analytical (isolating) language (English, Thai,
Chinese) : Every word = just one morpheme. Word order is very
important. Not many inflections. A lot of auxiliary verbs and
prepositions. (e.g. to Peter)
- Slovak = synthetical language. Combines morphemes into
words. Morpheme can serve several functions at the same time.
So we get mono (agglutinatning languages Turkish)
/polyfunctional (inflecting languages Slovak) morphemes. (e. g.
Petrovi)
- But there is no typologically pure language in the world. Only
prevails the first or the second one...
- more and shorter words in English, fewer and longer words in
Slovak
Varieties of English:
- major types of variation:
a) region (people use variety because they live in a
region)
b) social group (people use variety because of their
affiliation with a social group)
c) field of discourse (relates to the activity in which
they are engaged law, cookery, engineering,
football)
d) medium (spoken or written writers must be far
more explicit to ensure that they are understood;
many of the devices we use to transmit language by
speech (stress, rhythm, intonation) are impossible in
written language)

e) attitude (conditioned by the relationship of the

participants in the particular situation often called
stylistic, gradient in attitude between formal and
informal)
the first two types relate primarily to the language user
the last three types relate to language use
a common core = however esoteric a variety may be, it
has running through it a set of grammatical and other
characteristics that are present in all the others
- varieties according to region dialects (resulted from the
regional separation of communities within the British Isles and
elsewhere in the world since the voyages of exploration)
- social variation according to education, socioeconomic
group and ethnic group, age, sex
important polarity between uneducated and educated
speech the former can be identified with the non-standard
regional dialect and the latter moves away from regional usage to
a form of English that cuts across regional boundaries
- medium variety written - you need to be very careful and
think twice how to phrase what you want to say so that the reader
can get the message properly, uses commas, colons, dots,
dashes...
spoken - you see your audience and you
can react accordingly. More spontaneous, intonation, gestures...
- attitude varieties formal = stiff, impersonal, polite...
informal = relaxed,
causal, friendly...
educated English used in government agencies, the
professions, the political parties, the press, the law court; it is
codified in dictionaries, grammars, taught in the school; it is
almost exclusively the language of printed manner standard
English
forms that are especially associated with uneducated
nonstandard

uniformity is greatest in orthography there is basically a

single spelling and punctuation system with two minor
subsystems:
subsystem with British orientation (used in
most English speaking countries other that the
United States) colour, centre
American subsystem color, center
in grammar and vocabulary, standard English presents
somewhat less of a monolithic character
National standards of English:
distinct from the standard English which we should think of as
being supranational, common to all
British and American English;
other national standards:
Scots perhaps nearest to the self confident
independence
Irish English regarded as independent of BrE by
educational and broadcasting services
Canadian English in many respects it follows
British rather than United States practice and has a
modest area of independent lexical use, but in
many other respects it has approximated to AmE
New Zealand English
Australian English
South African English vocabulary developed
under the influence of Afrikaans (other official
language)
Caribbean English
pronunciation standard = RP
Grammatical differences between British and American English:
AmE
BrE
I will
I shall
get- got- got/gotten
get
got got
take a bath/swim
have a
bath/swim

Do you have... ?
Have you... ?
I lost my key. Did you see it?
Have you seen it?
The government is...
government is/are...
IN the weekend
weekend
I will see you Friday...
you ON Friday...
There ' s no use...
use...
I insist you leave...
that you should leave...
Spelling:
traveling
travelling
color

I' ve lost my key.

The
AT

the

I will see
It/ There' s no
I insist

colour

theater
theatre
Lexical diff. :
lift

elevator
streetcar

tram

peripheral (marginal) to the word class - sharing less

(or even just one) properties of the word class
division of words into certain groups with similar
features = WC (major classes and subclasses)

Criteria:
main: - paradigmatic (vertical)
- syntagmatic (horizontal)
marginal: - phonological
- semantic
1. paradigmatic
words of the same class have similar paradigms - set of
inflectional morphemes a word can take
they are paradigmatically related - they can replace each
other in certain contexts, can be used in the same frame
Their _____________ disappeared.
were ______ pretty.

They

money, chair, trousers (all nouns)

so, very, too
2. syntagmatic
words are syntagmatically related if they can combine with
each other (adj&nouns, nouns&verbs...)

scholarship

A black cat caught a mouse.

bursary
- radio sets have had valves in BrE and tubes in AmE, television
sets have tubes in both; mass communication neutralizes
differences...

3. phonological
some sound groups are typically found with certain word
classes
-ize, ify - verbs

2) Word classes and conversion

4. semantic
nouns - name mostly people and things - but not all of
them
verbs - name processes - but have or must are no
processes

Linguist dont study each word separately, they form word classes
- a group of words sharing some grammatical properties. Words
can be:
central to the word class - sharing more (or all)
properties of the class

Classification is based on Greek and Latin

 In Slovak the class of a word can be determined by its form,

but in English the main criterion is function of the word, not its
form - the class of a word becomes evident only if its in context.
WC: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals, verbs, adverbs,
prepositions, conjuctions, particles, interjections, + in English:
determiners (articles)
partitives (to count uncountable nouns, e.g. a
unit of...)
Opened/Closed
Words are open and closed.
Closed = finite, comparatively stable (this, in, will). They are
called grammatical words/function words/structure words.
Pronouns (such, she), determiners (the, some, that), Primary
Verbs (be, do, have), Modal verbs (can, might), prepositions (in,
during), Conjunctions (and, or, yet, while)
Open = constantly changing. Old words drop out, new ones are
coined according to cultural changes in society. Called lexical
words. Nouns, Adjectives, Full Verbs, Adverbs.
1. closed
small finite classes with stable membership
called grammatical or functional words
pronouns - she, anybody
determiners - a, the, some
primary verbs - be
modal verbs - can, might
prepositions - in, during
conjunctions - and, or ,while
2. open
changing membership - old words are dropped, new ones
are added
a large number of words in one class
called lexical words
nouns
adjectives

full verbs
adverbs

A word can belong to more than one class, e.g.: round can be
preposition or adjective. In English we cant say what class does a
word belong to if we have no context lets take table as
example : they bought a new table (noun) He bought a table
lamp (adjective) It was my turn to table a proposal (verb)
Dynamic/Stative
Dynamic verb is a verb that relate to action/activity/temporary
condition : I hit him. But live is neither temporary nor active,
but in certain contexts it can be dynamic : The tigers are living in
a cramped cage. = temporary. Also words that lack motion or
activity can be dynamic : I was resting. Are you sitting?
Beware : not only verbs can be stative/dynamic. Adjectives/nouns
and others can be static/dynamic too. For example Jack is an
engineer/very tall is very unlikely to change and therefore it is
static. Once again : a word such as kind (mil) can seem to be a
permanent quality, but it can also be a dynamic word : You are
being very kind.
Mutually defining/exclusive words
Mutually defining = the meaning or function of an item is that
which is not contained in the other item or items of the same
class; This is a rose this rose carries more than one meaning
it means that we are talking about a flower and then it says what
kind of flower is concerned...
Mutually exclusive = two items of the same class cannot be used
in the same place together; you cant say the my brother >
the and my are mutually exclusive...

Derivation - using affixes to change the word class of a word

Conversion
also called zero derivation
phenomenon when a word passes from one word class to
another without any change in its form

exists also between subclasses - between countable and

uncountable or common and proper nouns
full - the converted word behaves as a member of its new
class in every aspect - criminal -> criminals
partial - distinction between number and the definite and
indefinite article cannot be made - eat the rich (not the
riches)

Bound morphemes
- derivational morphemes affixes, they are used to form new
words, to change the meaning of existing words
o prefixes - put before other morphemes to built up the
meaning of the whole word (un+tie)
o suffixes - put after other morphemes (teach+er), they can
change the word class of a word
-

3) Morphological elements (morphemes, morphs,

allomorphs, words) and syntactic elements (sentences,
clauses, phrases); obligatory and optional synstactic
elements
Some words can be broken down into smaller units which
are meaningful. (rain+coat, read+er) There are also words which
can`t be broken down into smaller still meaningful units. Words
like and, to can be broken into phonemes only and they are not
meaningful.
Morpheme
- basic unit of grammatical description
- smallest meaningful element, smaller than words
- morpheme is also the smallest grammatical unit
- words can consist of one or more morphemes
- there are free and bound morphemes
Morphological analysis: the process of dividing the words into
the smallest possible units
Free morphemes
- lexical - they cary the content of the message
o set of words like nouns, adjectives, verbs (open word
classes)
- functional - their content is specified only after they are
combined with lexical one
o prepositions, conjunctions (clossed word classes)

inflexional morphemes do not change word class, meaning;

they are used to indicate a certain grammatical function
(number, tense, degree)- 8 only!!!
o noun: plural -s (cats), `s genitive (Peter`s)
o verb: -s 3rd person singular (writes), -ing (writing), -ed
(played), -en (written)
o adjective: -er (older), -est (oldest)
paradigm complete set of inflexional morphemes a word
can take

- agglutinating languages stick morphemes together,

monofunctional morphemes (Hungarian)
- isolating languages one morpheme = one word (Chinese)
- inflecting languages polyfunctional morphemes, one
morpheme expresses several grammatical meanings
Morph a concrete unit, concrete realisation of morpheme in
speech
went = 1 morph speech (concret) level
{go}+ {-ed}= 2 morphemes, abstract level
Allomorph a concret realisation of a morpheme, variants of one
morpheme, depending on phonological surrounding
{-ed} 3 allomorphes: [d]
[t]
[id]
each allomorph is used where the other allomorphs are
excluded, they are in complementary distribution

Syntax examines the structure of the sentence, the grammatical

units of which the sentence is composed.
1. sentence
the largest unit of grammatical description

a combination of words which starts with a capitol letter

and end with a full stop

declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory

consists of one or more clauses

2. clause
a part of a sentence which consists of subject and
predicate
can be finite = we know identify the grammatical
categories
or non finite: a) TO- infinitive
b) BARE infinitive
c) ING participle
d) ED participle
clause as clause elements - they can sometimes function
as objects (Peter bought what he wanted) or adverbials (On
his arrival Peter saw an old woman)
3. phrase
a group of words which have the same function and of
which one is dominant and determines the use of the
phrase
consists of head (the dominant word of the phrase),
modifiers (elements preceding the head), qualifiers
(elements which follow the head)
within modifiers we distinguish premodofiers and
postmodifiers
according to the word class of the head we distinguish
noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverbial
phrases + prepositional cases (contain no head)
noun phrases typically function as subjects and objects, but
sometimes they can be used as complements or adverbials
and they combine with prepositions to form prepositional
phrases

4. Clause elements (parts of the sentence)

subject (S)
predicator (P)
object (O) can be direct (Od)(after transitive verb as a
result of the activity) or indirect (Oi)(cannot be the only
object in the clause, comes immediately after the verb and
precedes the direct object a recipient role, a person who
benefits from the action)
complement (C) subject (Cs)(after copular verb,
completes the meaning of the subject it has the same
referent, some additional info about S) or object (Co)
(completes the meaning of O)
adverbial (A) space, time, manner, degree, cause
Order of the clause elements
In Slovak clause elements can be put into various positions,
because their function is determined by their form (by the way
they are inflected) - Peter vera namaoval Barbaru or Barbaru
vera namaoval Peter. In English function of clause elements is
determined by their position in the sentence (Peter before,
Barbara after the verb), so there is usually only one possible
ordering of clause elements. Only adverbials can occur in various
positions in the sentence (Peter painted Barbara yesterday,
Yesterday Peter painted Barbara)
Obligatory and optional synstactic elements: ???
4) Phrases and their composition (phrase elements);
premodifiers and postmodifiers in noun phrases and other
phrase types; prederminers, central determiners,
posdeterminers in noun phrases
Phrase: is a group of words that are connected to one another. A
clause element is usually realized by a phrase or several phrases.
In a phrase one word is usually dominant and determines the use
of the phrase. This dominant word is called the head. If there is
only one word in a phrase its the head. According to whether
the head is a verb, an adjective, a noun, or an adverb, we have

noun, verb, adjective, adverb phrases. Elements that precede the

head are called modifiers (or premodifiers). The words that
follow the head are called qualifiers (or postmodifiers).
Phrase a word or a group of words of which one is dominant
and determines the use of the phrase
Head dominant word; can be noun, verb, adjective, adverb
determines the type of the phrase
(Pre)Modifier precedes the head
Postmodifier/qualifier follows the head
Noun phrase
- word group with a noun as head
- in Slovak noun phrases are held together by the concord
(zhoda, kongruencia) of gender, number and case between
the phrase elements
- in English the relationship between elements is indicated
by the position of elements
- term noun phrase is applied to phrases which have nominal
function, so we can include also the noun phrases where a
pronoun is the head
Noun phrase elements
Determiner is the obligatory element of a noun phrase, there can
be several modifiers and also qualifiers.
Premodifiers & postmodifiers
Premodifier
- it has an adjectival character it is an adjective or a word of
some other class converted into an adjective (noun
adjective)
- the subordination of a premodifier to a head is indicated by
the mutual position of these words, the first is premodifier, the
second is a head; when order is changed, their syntactic
relation changes (a television satellite a satellite television)

- has no singular/plural distinction because of its adjectival

features (my trouser pockets; while trousers have only plural
form)
premodifiers are formed as:
- adjectives converted from adverbs (the above picture)
- created by derivation (child childish answer)
- noun in the `s genitive form (children`s book)
- -ing forms or the past participle (a rocking chair, frozen
food)
- adjectives normally function as premodifiers, but they are also
used in postposition mostly legal or quasi-legal terms, often
of French origin
o adjective general (secretary general)
o adjective in able, -ible (goods available)
o adjective elect (president elect)
- numerals numerals and ordinal numeral are used as
premodifiers (the second lesson), cardinal numerals as
postmodifiers (lesson two)
- pronouns which cannot take any premodifier, can take
postmodifying adjective (nothing good)
- complex premodifiers a head word is premodified by a
whole NP, which includes another premodifier ( a table tennis
match)
- analysis of complex premodifiers can be ambiguous
e.g. the first complete English teacher`s book review (page 69
porov.gramatika I)
ambiguity can be omitted by shifting some of the lexical items
into postmodifier
e.g. the first review of a complete English teacher`s book
Postmodifier
- sometimes is an alternative to the premodifier, sometimes
it is the only possibility
- it is always connected with the head by a preposition (a
bottle of wine)
- in Slovak the relationship is expressed by genitive, dative
or instrumental case (faa vna)

typical postmodifier is prepositional phrase

adverbs of place are used as postmodifiers too (the way
back)
also the infinitive is used as postmodifier (the first thing to
do)

Meaning of the modifier

- restrictive makes the meaning of the NP definite
- non-restrictive does not make the meaning of the NP definite
on its own
depends on the context
Give me a red pen. there is only one red pen around
Give me the red pen. there are several pens around but only
one is red
-

noun phrase can have several modifiers and qualifiers

adjective phrase
o head is adjective,
o can be premodified by a restricted group of adverbs (very,
terribly, surprisingly)
o postmodified by some adverbs (enough), prepositional
phrases or infinitive clauses

adverb phrase
o head is adverb
o less complex than adjective phrase
o rarely contain postmodifiers

Determiner
- obligatory element of a NP
- it expresses the grammatical category of definiteness
indefinite determiners (some, a, one, any)
definite determiners (my, your, his, our, their, her, its, this,
these, that, those, every, the)
- definiteness of a NP depends on contextual reference
- marking of definiteness is the primary function of articles:

o `the` is used with common nouns as head word, count and

non-count nouns
o `a` is used with singular count heads
o zero article with non-count heads and heads in plural
- in Slovak definiteness is not always clearly marked and it is
not a grammatical category, determiner is not obligatory in
Slovak NP, it is optional
central determiners
- special class of modifiers which are obligatory in the NP and
they cannot co-occur in the same NP
- articles, demonstrative and possessive pronouns, quantifiers,
wh-determiners, some NPs in the s genitive form
predeterminers
- proceed central determiner
- words like all, both, half; multipliers double twice; such, what
postdeterminers
- words referring to number, definite or indefinite (three, fifth,
last, several)
Predeterminers & Postmodifiers
Determiners are in the noun phrases and cannot co-occur at the
same time. Such determiners are called central determiners and
they contain : articles (a, the), possessive pronouns (Johns),
quantifiers, wh-determiners. Central determiners can be
combined with :
Predeterminers (all, both, half, one third). So and too are not
classified as determiners they are followed by an adjective
(many a young man, so easy a question)
Postdeterminers : refer to number : one, three, last, several. Since
they are used with plural number they do not occur with an
indefinite determiner. If they do the indefinite determiner changes
to the zero article.
Quantifiers

two groups (in closed classes)

o many, few, several co-occur only with plural count nouns
o much, little co-occur only with non-count nouns
several rarely preceded by a determiner
few a few = several
few = not many
little a little = some
little = not much
phrasal quantifiers
- co-occur with non-count, plural count nouns plenty of, a lot
of, lots of
- co-occur with
o non-count nouns - a great deal of
- a large
amountg of
- good deal of
- a small
quantity of
o plural count nouns - a great
- a large number of
- a good
- can impose countability on non-count nouns:
o general partitives - two pieces
- a bit
of news, information
- an item
o typical partitives a slice of cake, a roast of meat, a
few loaves of bread, a bowl of soup
o measures a pint of beer, a spoonful of medicine, a
pound of butter
Specific, generic reference
- in generic reference
o opposition singular vs. plural and definite vs. indefinite is
neutralized
o we are speaking of a larger group of objects, a spieces
- in specific reference
o the opposition singular vs. plural and definite vs. indefinite
is clear
o we are speaking of a particular, specific object

The telephone was patented by A. G. Bell in... generic reference,

telephone as such
A telephone was patented by A. G. Bell in - specific reference,
concrete telephone
NPs without and with determiner
- proper nouns are always definite, they refer to unique items
and they are usually used in singular
- but proper nouns used in plural are proceeded by the definite
article (the Greens), also names of mountain ranges (the Alps),
groups of islands (the Shetlands), groups of towns (the
Potteries)
- proper nouns always combined with the definite article
geographical names referring to the bodies of water (rivers,
seas, channels, canals), but not lakes (the Thames, The
Atlantic, the English Channel, but Loch Ness), names of
newspapers (The Independent), names of hotels (the Ritz, the
Bratislava)
- no determiner in NPs like day and night; hand in hand; day
in, day out
Expliciteness
Is showing agreement between the head and the postmodifier. It
has to agree in terms of gender (2 gender system in English :
Jane, who and London, which). If u have a personality you
are living and you get who. If you dont you are a thing and
you get which. But babies can get which and pets can get
who. Ships can get a she-status but they remain a thing : Is
she the ship which is due to leave for Paris? Collective nouns can
get both depends on your point of view : The committee
who/which are responsible for this decision.
Complementation is when postmodifier is dependent on
premodifier : The prettiest girl in the world.
5) Clasification and characteristic features of nouns, their
morphological categories

names of people, animals, places, things + substances and

other notions regarded as substances
the largest class
there are 4 criteria (according to Barbara Strenght
Modern English Structure) for distinguishing nouns:
1. OPEN class (most of all classes)
2. FUNCTIONAL - work as subjects, objects and
complements (NP)
3. POSITIONAL - they can be found after adjectives,
articles and determiners
4. MORPHOLOGICAL- can be singular or plural, with or
without the Genitive form

Classification
1. countable or uncountable
2. concrete or abstract
3. proper (unique things, names of individuals, cant be
predictable without any knowledge / London, ale the Hage
!!!) or common (classes of things)
4. collective - a special subclass of nouns
some have singular form, but plural meaning - the
police have arrested a criminal, the government have
caused the crisis, the team are getting ready
Pl- sweepings, Sg- litter, waste, rubish, garbage, trash...
some have both numbers - information, knowledge
Morphological cathegories of nouns: NUMBER, CASE, GENDER,
DEFINITENESS
a) Number, differences between English and Slovak, plual
of English nouns (including foreign plurals), plural and
meaning
Number
expresses the difference between one and more than one

the singular - it has the meaning of oneness (for countable

nouns) or is used when the counting is irrelevant
(uncountable nouns)
the plural - indicates that the objects it refers to can be
counted and their number is more than one
the dual - used to be both in Slovak and in English indicates that the number is two
pluralia strata - nouns used in plural although they refer to
one object (pyjamas, Christmas, auspices, trousers)

Slovak vs. English

- English and Slovak nouns are either plural or singular. Plural = 2
or more. Singular = 1. Pairs such as sg. vs. pl. are called
assymmetric oppositions. Even in Slovak we do not always know
the difference between sg. and pl. : Nohavice som zabalil do
kufra theres no way of knowing whether I packed just one pair
of trousers or more of them. If we want to make sure that
someone knows we are talking about sg/pl we use lexical means
to do so I packed all my trousers.
- A funny thing is that Slovak and English plural differ : Vsetci
dvihli RUKU vs. They all raised their HANDS.
- Some languages have singular, dual and plural. English and
Slovak are descendants of such languages. This can be a source
of irregular plurals : oko 2 oci oka styroch ihiel or ucho 2
usi su to len mlade neskusene ucha. The cases of dual differ
from plural : N=usi G = u, while N = ucha G = uch. As for dual,
in English we have this neither/either/both stuff only refer to
2. If you want to say 3 or more you say none (or no if it is noncount)/all.
- Even Slovak has illogical stuff in sg/pl : kilo papriky(=sg) but
kilo zemiakov(=pl)
- Plural marker in Slovak is not monofunctional it expresses
gender and case, too.
- English has several irregular nouns : ox oxen, inner flexion =
foot feet, or half halves, child children. This happens in SK
too (ulice z ulic).
- Sometimes when you form a plural it has different meaning than
2 or more sg. things
compass = 1 kompas. compasses = 2, 3, 4... kompasy.
Compasses = 1 kruzidlo.

Hodina = 60 minut. Hodiny = niekolkokrat 60 minut. Hodiny =

pristroj na meranie casu. In English they say : hours (unit of time)
and clock (a mechanism to measure time).
- Pluralia Tantum = 1 pyjamas 2 pyjamas. 1 Christmas All the
previous Christmas... In SK we have nohavice, hodiny... In English
we use partitive words to differentiate units of plural tantum : a
cup of tea, a pair of trousers...
Plural formation
1. Regular plural
in the vast majority of words -s is added to the
singular form(horse - horses, prize - prizes)
if the singular ends with sibilant, -es is added
(bush - bushes, box - boxes)
if the singular ends with y, it is replaced by I
and -es is added(spy - spies), the plural ending
is -ies, but y remains if the singular ends with
-oy, -ey or -ay (boy - boys, day - days)
if the singular ends with o, the plural is usually
regular (studio - studios, piano - pianos), but
with some nouns -es plural is used (hero heroes, potato - potatoes)
2. Irregular plural
zero plural is used with words for some animals
(sheep, fish, salmon) or with nouns of quantity
(two dozen eggs, five thousand, three pound
fifty)
mutation plural is used with some nouns - vowel
change indicates plural (foot - feet, woman women, mouse - mice)
3. Foreign plural
is used with many loan words, especially from
Latin
-us -> -i (stimulus - stimuli)
-us -> -a (genus - genera)
-a -> -ae (nebula - nebulae)
-um -> -a (stratum - strata)

-ex, -ix -> -ices (matrix - matrices, index indices)

-is -> -es (analysis - analyses, crisis - crises)
-on -> -a (criterion - criteria, phenomenon phenomena)
Plural and meaning:
Ordinarily singular (words that tend to be sg.)
- Proper nouns cannot take plural under normal circumstances,
but we still can find some abnormal ones : Theres a city called
Richmond in the UK and theres a city called Richmond in the US.
These two Richmonds are completely different. or you can say
There were no Shakespears in the nineteenth century.
- Noncount nouns are singular but can become plural when in
partitive construction (a slice of meat, three flocks of sheep).
- Abstract nouns tend to be singular but abstract nouns in the
plural indicate instances of the phenomenon (many injustices
came to pass).
- physics is, mumps is, dominoes is, billiards is, statistics is
- Collective nouns (committee, team, government) in BrE tend to
be treated as plural (The team have lost) but in AmE they are
treated as singular (The government is responsible for this).
Ordinaliry plural (words that tend to be pl.)
- Binary nouns = nouns that are understood as comprising of two
parts : binoculars, scissors, forceps, trousers, pants, jeans.
- Aggregate nouns = nouns denoting entities that comprise of
indefinite number of parts : cattle, clergy.
Plural proper nouns
Article + plural Proper Names : the Netherlands, the Midlands, the
Hebrides, the Shetlands, the Bahamas, the Himalayas, the Alps,
the Rockies, the Pyrenees. the Wilsons = the Wilson family. the
Danube, the Euphrates. the Pacific, the Baltic, the Mediterranean.
the panam, the Erie.
Variable nouns
their form changes : they reflect distinction between sg. and pl.

- The most common way of putting a noun in plural is adding an

s at the end. This s is called plural indicator. But there are
other ways :
- stand vowel mutation : foot feet, zero plural : one sheep 2
sheep (we do not say that this noun is invariable there ARE two
forms of this noun they are identical, though [bloody
theoreticians] species will be variable too the same reason),
- voicing : shelf shelves
- foreign plurals : bacterium bacteria & index indices, faux pas
faux pas & larva larvae [l:vi:].
Invariable Nouns
they only have one form e.g.: news, scissors, Netherlands... we
call these plural tantum it means that we always say are even
if we mean just one : The news are (but I mean only one item of
news but I cant know theres no distinction between pl and
sg).
Partitive words are used when we want to count noncount nouns
: tea > a cup of tea this cup is a partitive word.
Invariable nouns can be singular (gold is, music is) or plural
(scissors are, the Netherlands are, the cattle are...)

b) Countability, countable and uncountable nouns, nouns

which can be either countable or uncountable, partitive
constructions

countable noun is a common noun which can be modified

by a numeral and occur in both singular and plural form, as
well as co-occurring with quantificational determiners like
every, each, several, most.
Uncountable noun is a common noun that presents entities
like an unbounded mass and it cannot be directly modified
by a numeral without specifying a unit of measurement or
combine with an indefinite article
Some nouns can be used as both countable or
uncountable - words like cake, brick, coffee can refer either
to substance or to units made of this substance

Countable (count) and uncountable (noncount) nouns

- Nouns are divided into proper (India...) and common nouns.
Common nouns can be countable and uncountable. Both
countable and uncountable are divided into concrete (a book,
clothing) and abstract (an idea, courage).
- Proper nouns usually have no article an begin with a capital
letter: personal names (Andrew), Geographical names (Asia),
Place names (Regent Street), Months/days (Friday), seasons can
be spelt either with a capital letter or a small letter
(Spring/spring.)
- Countability is crucial in English because it serves to distinguish
how to use plural/singular forms and when to use articles.
Unfortunately, there is no logical way to tell whether a noun is
countable or uncountable. Information is uncountable in English
but can be countable in other languages. Experience can be
both countable/uncountable: I had a strange experience/We
need someone with experiences for this job.
- Countable nouns:
we can use a/an in front of them
have plural and can be used in a question how many?
we can use number with them (one stamp. two stamps...)
- Uncountable nouns:
we dont use a/an in front of it.
have no plural. Can be used in question :how much
we cannot use number in front of it.
- Many countable nouns are concrete. Concrete uncountable
nouns are: materials/liquids/gases (cotton, milk, air), powder (rice,
flour), activities(camping, eating), languages (Italian),
- There is a few abstract countable nouns: (hope, an idea, a
nuisance, a remark, a situation). Many uncountable nouns are
abstract: anger, equality, honesty...
Nouns which can be either countable or uncountable
- nouns which can be either single items/substances: a
chicken/chicken (=kuracina). I tied up a ribbon/I bought a meter
of ribbon.
- nouns which refer to object/material: a glass/glass. a paper,
paper.
- uncountable nouns used as countables: when referring to
particular varieties: This is an excellent wine. In such instances

it is possible to use them as plurals: They sell some terrible

wines.
- nouns that refer to something specific or general:
specific(=countable : he has a good education, try not to make a
noise...) & general (=uncountable: Education shoul be free, noise
is a kind of pollution...)
- nouns ending in ing: uncountable = I am not good at drawing /
countable = This drawing by Picasso
- some uncountable words undergo a complete change when
used as countables: bread > a loaf, clothing > a garment,
laughter > a laugh, luggage > a bag/a case, poetry > a poem,
money > a coin/a note, work > a job.
- Nouns not normally countable in English: baggage, furniture,
spaghetti...
Partitive construction
Construction denoting part of a whole
May relate to quantity or quality and be singular or plural
Partitive constructions
are expressions that impose number on noncount nouns and refer
to quality or quantity and can be singular/plural.
Quantity partition :
Piece words
= a piece of cake
= a piece of info
but there are others that dont collocate so easily :
= a bar of chocolate
= a blade of grass
= a block of ice
= a drop of oil/water/vinegar
= a grain of sand
= an item of furniture/news/clothing
= a length of material
= a loaf of bread
= a lump of sugar
= a slice of cake/bread/cake
= a speck of dust
= a sheet of paper
= a stick of dynamite/chalk/celery

= a strip of cloth
= a suit of armour/clothes
Quality partition :
a kind of, a sort of, a type of, a variety of,
Quantity
Quantifiers
- quantifiers are words such as: few, little, plenty... they modify
NPs and show how many things or how much of something we
talk about.
- quantifiers combining with countable nouns = how many/a few.
- quantifiers combining with uncountable nouns: how much/ a
little
- some quantifiers combine with both: How many eggs do we
have? Plenty.
How much milk do we have? Plenty.
- quantifiers can function as determiners and pronouns and
adverbs (I dont like coffee very much)
- some quantifiers always use of: We have a lot of answers.
They are: a couple of, dozens of, the majority of, a number of, a
lot of, plenty of... Other quantifiers go directly before the noun
more people came. These quantifiers can take of if the
speaker needs to be specific. Determiner is added in such cases:
Have some of this cheese.
Quantifier + noun combinations
- quantifier + plural countable noun: both, a couple of, dozens
of/hundreds of..., a few, several, minority of...
- quantifier + uncountable noun: a small amount of, a bit of, a
drop of, a great deal of, a good deal of, little, less, the least,
much...
- quantifier + plural countable or singular uncountable noun: a lot
of, some, any, enough, half of, more, no, none of, part of
theplenty of, the rest of...
- quantifier + singular countable: another, any, each (of the man),
either, one...
Indefinite quantity
- quantity is definite if we know exactly how much/many of
something there is: We need six eggs and half a kilo of butter.

- indefinite quantity doesnt say how much/many of something

there is: Are there any apples?
Distributives
- all, both, each, every, either, neither. They refer to separate
items or to whole amounts.
Not before quantifiers
- not stands right in front of quantifiers: Not many people
arrived.
Quantifiers and their use
Numbers
- numbers: combine with plural (one with singular) countable
nouns: I bought two apples.
- adverbial expressions with numbers: They were coming one by
one/one at a time...
- fractions: Give me two an a quarter of that.
- multuplying/dividing: twice as much, half as much...
- approximate number: about, almost, exactly, fewer than, over,
nearly...
Some and any
- Some and any never answer the question: How many?/How
much?: How much do you want? Just a little (not: just some*)
- we use some and any when it is not important to state the exact
quantity.
- Some is used:
in the affirmative: There are some eggs in the fridge.
in questions when we expect the answer yes: Do you have
some paper-clips?
in offers: Have some tee.
to express certain but not all: I didnt understand some
of the information.
=approximately: I havent seen him for some years.
=extraordinary: Thats some radio you bought.
- Any is used:
in the negative: I havent any shirts.

in questions when we do not know whether the answer is

going tobe yes/no: Do you have any paper-clips?
in sentences with a negative word other than not: hardly,
seldom, never, without...
with at all and whatever: I havent any idea at all what
happened.
=not usual: This isnt just any cake
=I dont care which: Give me a plate. Any will do.

Not...any vs. no
- Not...any: There arent any buses
- No: There are no buses. This is more formal and emphatic. No
combines with singular noun.
No vs. none
- No is a determiner and must precede a singular noun.
- None is a pronoun and can stand on its own: Is there any
bread? Theres none
A few vs. a little
- few = hardly any at all. A few = some but not much. Both are
used with plural countables.
- little = hardly any at all. A little = some but not much. Both
are used with plural uncountable nouns.
Both & all
- they need to stand !before! full verbs: The girls all/both left
early.
- if the subject is a pronoun we need to use of after both or the
it can be at the end of the sentence: I love both of you/I love
you both.
- negative = neither & none.
All vs. whole
- the whole = singular concrete nouns. Not used with plurals and
uncountables. Can be preceded by a (a whole collection) and
followed by of the (Whole of the book/the whole book)
- All and whole combine with abstract nouns: All my business/My
whole business. All my life/my whole life.
- only all: all my hair, all the money

- only whole: the whole truth, the whole situation.

- All cannot be used with hour/century, but can be used with all
other time references (all the night/week...). Whole can be used in
all the time references including century and hour.
- with plural countable nouns whole/all have a different meaning:
All Indian forests were destroyed = not a single one was left
Whole Indian forests were destroyed = entire areas.
all vs. every
- I read all books in the library = the entire collection
- I read every book in the library = every single one.
Every vs. each
- each is more individual and means one by one. It is used to refer
to a definite and limited number: Each child in the school was
questioned (theres a limited number of kids in the school)
- every is less individual and refers to an indefinite number:
Every child loves Christmas.
- sometimes each and every are interchangeable: Every
time/each time I wash the car it rains.
- Each cannot be modified. Every can: almost, nearly...
- Not can stand in front of every but not in front of each.
- word-order is similar to both/all: They have each taken their
own share (=precede full verb) or it can be at the end: They
received $5 each.
Another vs. other
- Another has two meanings: additional (Do you need another
cup? No, I have had enough) and different (Give me another cup.
This one is cracked). I always goes with singular noun, unless it is
modified by few/a cardinal number (I need another 3 driving
lessons)
- Other means the second of two things (I am looking for the other
dumbbell), the opposite (the other side), but also additional
(theres no other work available) and different (I have no cash
isnt there other way to pay?). It can go both with plural and
singular nouns.
- Another and other are indefinite.
Each other vs. One another

- Each other = 2 items/people

- One another = more than 2 items/people.
- In everyday speech theyre interchangeable.
1. Quantity partition
of uncountable nouns - a piece of cake, two pieces of cake,
blade of grass, a slice of meat
of plural countable nouns - a series of concerts, a pack of
wolves
of singular countable nouns - a page of a book, two pieces
of a broken cup, two acts of a play
2. Quality partition
usually with words kind and sort
of countable nouns - a new kind of computer, several new
kinds of computer, a new sort of silk tie, two sorts of silk tie
of uncountable nouns - a delicious kind of bread, some
delicious kinds of bread, a fashionable sort of wallpaper,
fashionable sorts of wallpaper
c) Case of English and Slovak nouns, the English genitive
and its grammatical status, genitive meanings, choice of
the 's- genitive and the of- genitive, group genitive,
independent genitive, double genitive (or post genitive)

In Slovak case is indicated by a morpheme added to the

noun - the choice of the morpheme depends on the gender
and on phonological make - up of the noun
There are six cases in Slovak - nominative, genitive, dative
accusative, locative and instrumental - genitive case is thus
a constituent of a system of six cases, whereas in English it
is in opposition to Common case only
In English genitive case is sometimes used where
adjectives would be in Slovak (teachers book - uitesk
kniha, Peters present - Petrov dar)
There are only two cases in English - Common case and
Genitive (possessive) case

Genitive case can be premodifying (Janes car) or

postmodifying (the door of the car)
It is very often possible to use both forms (the inhabitants
of the island, the islands inhabitants), but in some cases
only one of the forms is possible - the s genitive tends to
be used with nouns of animate gender, especially with
those having personal reference (Janes key, my dogs
kennel) or with countries (Chinas foreign policy)

Case
When we connect words we use prepositions and word order in
English. In Slovak we use word endings added to nouns and
adjectives. Entering a space = to : She went to the classroom. In
Slovak we use both ending and preposition : do triedy. The ending
that is used in the same grammatical construction is called case.
Case indicates the function in which the word is used. Genitive
case is expressed in the postmodifier (the roof of the house).
Syntactic function of case is to hold the NP together.
English cases
There are 2 cases in English : unmarked common and marked
genitive (possessive or nominal case). The genitive inflection
works phonologically the same way as with number. In singular it
looks like cows in plural it looks like cows. However, the
distinction between number and genitive shows in longer NPs :
The chiefs of staff vs.
The chief of staffs
- s genitive is
always at the end of a NP. But if we were to say that the man in
the dark suit has name (the name belonging to the man in the
dark suit) we might be uncertain, so we use of-construction : The
name of the man in the dark suit.
Zero genitive = s genitive thats phonologically identical with the
plural : Socrates [...ti:z], Moses [...zz], for goodness sake. But,
Dickens (domestic nouns) can be read two ways we have a
choice : [dknz] or [diknzz].
The genitive and the of-construction
They are not always interchangeable. Generally, persons
possession is expressed by means of s-genitive, while the
possession of inanimate objects is expressed by of-genitive. The
rule for foreign learners is, that if not sure, use of-genitive.

Genitive meanings
Possessive - Mrs. Johnsons coat (Mrs. Johnson has a coat)
Genitive of attribute - The victims outstanding courage
(the victim was courageous)
Partitive - The hearts two ventricles
Subjective - The parents consent
Objective - The prisoners release
Genitive of origin - Mothers letter
Descriptive - A doctors degree
Grammatical status of genitive case
Determiner - Joans new briefcase
Modifier - a womens university
Independent genitive - if the reference is known from the
context, the noun following the genitive can be omitted
(Jennifers is the only face I recognize here), especially
when the genitive refers to homes and businesses (I arrived
at Freds, I hate going to the dentists, The butchers is
open till 6)
Post - genitive - this heart of mine, that new house of
Mary's, a friend of Johns
Gender and genitive
Personal gender (something with personality) take s-genitive
(rather than of-genitive) :
- persons (or pets viewed as having a personality) : students
possessions, dogs name,
- collective nouns : committees decision, Chinas policy, the
hotels occupants (hotel = institution).
- expressions with edge and sake neednt be of personal gender,
but they use s-genitive : He stood at the waters edge/He died for
countrys sake.
- worth : no of-construction is possible : get your moneys worth
(idiom)
Coordination

If we have coordinated NPs we add s only at the end of the

other one : Mary and Janes friends. If you said Marys and
Janes friends it would mean that the friends are not shared.
= Group genitive
Local Genitive:
I was at Mary's place yesterday.
I was at Mary's.
- refers to some place
time: a day's work
place: a mile's distance
idioms: it's a stone's throw / o by kameom dohodil
for conscience's sake / kvli svedomiu
ADNOMINAL CASE (NP) form of noun which stands next to the
other noun (my father's house) used with nouns denoting
persons or higher animals + element of personification
d) Gender phenomena in English and Slovak, grammatical
status of gender in the two languages
Category of gender is manifested in combining words into
clauses and NPs. It can be seen in subject-predicator concord, in
the determiner and modifier or elsewhere. Some languages do
not distinguish gender and some yes.
Slovak language has nouns grouped into three groups
masculine, feminine, neuter. Most of the nouns denoting
persons of male sex belong to the group of masculine gender
and those denoting persons of female sex belong to the group
of feminine gender. Nouns other than those denoting humans
belong to gender groups according to their grammatical
features not to the extralinguistic reality.
Noun classification is fully grammaticalised in Slovak. Every
noun must be included in one of the three groups. Also the nouns
taken over from other languages, regardless of their gender in the
source language are divided into gender groups. Classification is
made according to the final sound of the noun. (e.g. nouns ending
in a are classified as feminine)

In English nouns are not divided into gender groups. The

only instance when gender is important is the choice of gender
sensitive pronoun. Nouns denoting male persons are reffered to
as he, female as she and the rest by it. But there are also some
exceptions when speaking about dual gender.
In English special suffixes are not generally used to mark
gender distinctions.
There can be made some division in English nouns according to
gender:
1. personal masculine/feminine nouns
a. morphologically unmarked for gender (brother
sister, mother father, king queen)
b. morphologically marked for gender (duke duchess,
host hostess, hero heroine)
2. personal dual gender
- artist, criminal, enemy, parent, friend
- for clarity sometime are used gender markers = girl friend
- there is problem in decision which personal pronoun to use,
only context can decide
3. common gender nouns
- intermediate between personal and non-personal nouns
- gender comes with pronoun
- e.g. baby mother would never refer to her baby as it, but
for someone, not emotionally concerned it will be possible
4. collective nouns
- can take plural or singular pronoun, difference is in attidu
- the singular stresses the non-personal collectivity of the
group while the plural stresses the personal individuality
within the group
- there are tree subclasses:
o specific army, crowd, family, government
o generic the aristocracy, the clergy, the public
o unique (the) Congress, the United Nations, the Vatican

5. higher animals
- gender in higher animals is observed by people with a
special concern
- bull cow, gander goose, lion lioness
6. higher organisms
- here belong names of countries, their gender depends on
their use:
o as geographical units they are inanimate (Look at the map.
It is France here.)
o as political/economic units they are often feminine (France
has increased her exports)
o in sports countries are referred to as personal collective
nouns (France have improved their chance of winning the
cup)
7. lower animals and inanimate nouns
- they do not differ from inanimate nouns (snake and box both
can have which and it pronouns)
- but sex differences can be marked by means of gender
markers, when they are relevant (she goat he goat)
Slovak vs. English
Various languages differentiate various number of gender. Slovak
has : masculine, feminine and neuter. If we are talking humans
its easy to say whether the ones masc. or femin. But non-human
objects are more complicated : we do not denote them as it but
they can be it/he/she. Animals for example : we say ten bizon
even if its she. But sometimess we can make a difference by
saying : lisiak, liska (fox, vixen). But if we say ta liska it doesnt
mean that the fox isnt a guy.
Therere typical sounds belonging to gender. In Slovak a word
ending in a will most probably be she.
EN Gender he (who)= male, she (who)= female. the rest is just
it (which). Now, if u say clerk how do you know if it is she or he?
In order not to be called a sexist u use neutral form : so u dont
say spokesman but spokesperson.
Dual gender : father mother, actor actress...
The gender is only reflected in English in the pronoun.
( PERSONAL who, NON-PERSONAL which)

But we also have lower and higher animals. Higher animals are
more likely to be called he or she and low animals are most likely
to be called it. But it also depends on ur attitude towards them.
When you say she/her it expresses a positive emotional attitude.
(our car is she). If a dog bit u u refer to it as it = negative
attitude. In SK u use diminutive / augmentative instead : macicka,
psisko...
Gender in English
Gender in English is not part of the words themselves (as in
Slovak) but it relates to the meaning of the nouns and thus
determines selection of who/which, personal pronouns, and
reflexive. According to this there are 2 gender classes : personal
(human)and nonpersonal (nonhuman, inanimate). Only then do
we differentiate sex (male, female, dual).
Nouns with personal reference
male/female pairs : father/mother, brother/sister...
Dual gender : with no context you dont know whether the noun is
male/female = friend, guest, person, parent...
Common gender make gender irrelevant = child, baby (you say
it, even though you might be referring to boy/girl).
Collective nouns sex is irrelevant, and we use it/which :
committee, army, class, club, community, crowd, family,
government, team, university. the clergy, the intelligentsia, the
public.
Nouns referring to animals and inanimates
We refer as it/which to the animals, but if we have a relationship
to the animal, we can call it he/she (pets). But many animals form
male/female pairs even though we have no special interest in
them. In this case we use which, but as far as personal pronoun is
concerned we use he/she(/it) : This is the bull which has a brand
mark on his(/its) back.
These pairs are : ram/ewe, stallion/mare, hen/cock (even
peahen/peacock), lion/lioness, tiger/tigress, dog/bitch, duck/drake,
bull/cow (elephant cow/elephant bull), fox/vixen
Ships and countries can be referred to as she- but on the map
it.

sth pleasant she

death = he

Sun = He
Moon = She

e) Proper nouns, proper nouns and their definiteness

Proper nouns
Basically names
Designation of specific people, places, institutions, events
(written with capitals at the beginning)
Single - word nouns or longer phrases including a definite
article
Exclude determiner and number contrast
Elements of phrasal names are treated as parts of a unique
whole and cannot be grammatically modified - The Newer
York Times
Exceptions
People, places or institutions with the same name and time
periods or names of holidays
Places: Theres a Tesco in Skalica and another one in
Senica, There are many Springfields in the USA
People: Im trying to find Phillip Johnson. But there are so
many Johnsons in the phone book
Time periods or holidays: She always spends her Mondays/
Octobers/Christmases here.
Proper nouns and definiteness
1. Names with the definite article
Titular names (the King of Sweden, the God of Israel)
Geographical names with plural form- islands, mountain
ranges, some countries (the Bahamas, the Alps, the
Netherlands)
Rivers, canals, seas, territorial areas (the Themes, the
Suez, the Baltic Sea, the Sahara)
Names with of (the Isle of Men, the Cape of Good Hope)
Theaters, galleries, major buildings (the Globe, the
Hilton, the Taj Mahal)
Names of ships (the Mayflower, the Queen Mary)

Names of journals (the Times, the Economist)

2. names without an article
Personal names - forenames (Frank, John), surnames
(Atkinson, Jones), full names (John Doe), names with
title (Mr. Green, Doc. Brown)
Location names - extraterrestrials (Jupiter, Mars),
countries (Canada, Slovakia), lakes (Lake Michigan, Lake
Winnipeg), mountains (Mount Everest), cities (New York,
London), streets and buildings (Fifth Avenue, Canterbury
Cathedral)
3. Names related to region or nationality
- Begin with capital letter, even if changed into adjectives,
etc.: She speaks Russian, I saw two Russians.
As for denoting a citizen of a specific country, the general
pattern is adding an at the end : Hungary > Hungarian.
But there are some irregular nationalities : Japan/Japanese,
Switzerland/Swiss, England/English...
General adjective Russian
Language name - Russian
Singular and plural noun - Russian(s)
Plural noun with generic reference - the Russians
f) Definiteness, use of articles with individual classes od
nouns, noun phrases with zero determiner, generic and
specific reference, characteristic of English articles
(definite, indefinite, zero), definiteness in English and
Slovak
Definiteness
The opposition of definite and indefinite meaning
Definite determiners - the, this, your, my
Indefinite determiners - some, a
The indefinite meaning is considered neutral, the definite
meaning is considered marked
1. Definiteness in English
a grammatical and semantic category - it depends on other
grammatical categories (countability, number)

determiner is an obligatory element of noun phrases every noun phrase contains a determiner unless there is a
reason for its absence

2. Definiteness in Slovak
only a semantic category - its not grammatically
conditioned
there are no rules explaining the presence or absence of a
determiner
Articles
a subclass of determiners
their function is to determine definiteness
in English they are connected with the category of number
- with nouns taking the zero ending in the plural is the
number distinction indicated in the article (They were
looking for a sheep, They were looking for sheep)
The

marks a noun phrase as definite - referring to something

which can be identified uniquely in the contextual or
general knowledge shared by the speaker and the listener
used with common both countable and uncountable nouns
anaphoric function - referring to something the speaker
previously said
cataphoric function - indicates that the speaker will speak
about something
exephoric function - when the speaker points at the object
he means

used when the reference cant be regarded as uniquely

identifiable from the shared knowledge of the speaker and
the listener
used with singular countable nouns
connected with the "first mention"
developed from numeral expressing one and is used at
places where one can be used instead

functions as the indefinite article where definite article was

omitted
used with uncountable and plural nouns
with places connected to a certain activity (go to bed,
church, college, be in jail)
with means of transport with preposition by (by car, train,
bus)
with time expressions (at dawn, sunset, after dark, before
dusk, before sunrise)
with meals (have dinner, lunch, breakfast)
with illnesses (to have cancer, pneumonia, toothache,
diabetes)

Generic and specific reference

1. Generic reference
used to speak in general
the difference between singular and plural and between
definite and indefinite expression is neutralized (The ostrich
cant fly, An ostrich cant fly, Ostriches cant fly)
2. Specific reference
used to speak about something specific
the grammatical categories of number and definiteness
operate
the choice of the article cant be found in the noun phrase
itself, but its found in the previous or following context or
in the extralinguistic reality
Noun phrases with determiner
noun
phrases
with
heads
definite/indefinite variation
these heads can be:

that

dont

permit

1. Proper nouns
they are always definite - there is no need to express
definiteness with the article

with exception when more individuals are called the same

name (the Robinsons, the Alps, the Rocky Mountains) - then
the definite article is used

reality) the former are divided into anaphoric and

cataphoric, the latter may be called exophoric
Grammatical categories

2. Common nouns
if the noun phrase contains two coordinate heads which are
semantically close to each other (day and night, husband
and wife, head over heals, day in day out
6) Characteristic and division of pronouns, grammatical
caterories of pronouns, description of each pronoun class
pointing out the main differences between English and
Slovak
-

pronouns form a word class of items which are said to be

capable of standing instead of nouns
the pronoun is used either as a determiner or as a nounphrase equivalent (NP-pronoun)
can be divided into:
those used as both NP-pronouns and determinerpronouns
those used as NP-pronouns only
those used as determiner-pronouns only
syntactically pronouns will function as the elements they
stand for
differs from nouns in that the class in which we group them
is a closed class (but over longer periods changes in the
system occur thou, thee, thy, thine = second person
singular which are archaic; the rise of a new pronoun the
fact that)
pronouns may distinguish person, gender, number, case
and definiteness a grammatical opposition is
expressed by morphologically unrelated forms different
from nouns, f. e.: opposition in number with nouns (book books), with pronouns (he - they)
used referentially (pointing back or forward in the text) or
deictically (pointing to something in the extralinguistic

Person
- is distinguished in personal pronouns, possessive
pronouns and reflexive (emphatic) pronouns
- in Slovak reflexive pronouns do not distinguish this
category
Number
- morphologically unrelated forms are found with those
pronouns which distinguish person
- in the second person with personal and possessive
pronouns number is not distinguished in English(similar
in the Slovak pronoun vy when used in polite address)
- reflexive pronouns in English express the number
distinction twice (himself - themselves), in Slovak number
is not distinguished
- some pronouns are marked as singular only each,
everybody, someone
- the number can be considered as either indefinite
(everyone, no one, nobody) or definite (each, none) if
the umber is two, only the pronoun neither (either, both)
can be used (pronoun with the same meaning doesnt exist
in Slovak)
- pronouns unmarked for number = may be used as either
singular or plural none, the former, the same
Gender
- pronouns which distinguish person also distinguish gender
in the third person singular masculine, feminine
and neuter
- relative pronouns who/whom and which are gender
sensitive choice depends on whether their referent is
human or non-human (in Slovak they reflect the
grammatical gender of the referent ktor, ktor, ktor)

English and Slovak interrogative pronouns are gender

sensitive in the same sense (who, kto persons; what, o
everything else)

Case
- some pronouns participate in a subsystem of cases parallel
to that of nouns (someone someones ), some do not
distinguish case at all (all, each)
- personal pronouns have one form when used as the subject
(subjective case) and another form as the object
(objective case) he him
- almost all the Slovak pronouns can be inflected for
case (correspond to the cases of adjectives and nouns)

Definiteness
- two groups definite and indefinite pronouns (used with
definite or indefinite meaning )
- some pronouns are used with articles (the same, the
other, the one, another)
- some subclasses may be only definite or only indefinite,
some contain items of both kinds
Division of pronouns
Personal pronouns
- only as NP-pronouns, 1st and 2nd person used only
deictically (never referentially)
- English sentences without a personal pronoun used in the
subject refer to the third person
- usually understood as definite
- no distinction between the sg and pl in the second person
pronouns
- gender is distinguished in the third person singular (both
in English and Slovak), but in Slovak there is a gender
distinction in the plural (oni - ony)
- we is not the plural of I, but a pronoun meaning I and one
or more other people
- it has a much wider use than ono correspond to Slovak
to

in Slovak they are used in the subject only when they are
stressed (She came. Prila.) subject in English
cannot be left empty (it used as the filler pronoun It is
late.)
tendency in English to replace the subjective-case forms by
the objective-case forms (It is we/us.)
in Slovak stressed and unstressed forms in G, D, A
(ma ma, tebe - ti); special forms with and without
prepositions (ju pre u) in English we can hardly find,
only in pronunciation (me mi, mi:)
the only case of omission of the English personal pronoun
in the function of subject is that of you in the imperative
sentences (Come tomorrow. Pr zajtra.)

Possessive pronouns
- two sets of possessive pronouns those functioning as
NP-pronouns and those functioning as determinerpronouns (my - mine) in Slovak there is the same form
- possessive pronouns in both English and Slovak are
generally definite
- within possessive pronouns English distinguishes between
personal (his, her, etc.) and impersonal pronouns (ones)
Slovak svoj is not an impersonal possessive pronoun (it
is reflexive possessive)
- English possessive pronouns are not always translated into
Slovak by possessive pronouns in Slovak they are used
much less frequently than in English
- are not used in English if the possessed thing belongs to a
possessor who is the object of the clause (She kicked him
in the leg.)
- in Slovak a possessive pronoun may be preceded by a
demonstrative (T tvoja lenivos.), but in English two
determiners must not follow each other (That laziness
of yours.)
- generally used anaphorically if in Slovak is used
cataphorically, it is at the same time anaphorical (Dievat
si chystali aty. Svoje si zabalila aj Eva. svoje points
cataphorically to possessor Eva and anaphorically to
possessed thing aty )

in Slovak some may be substantivized Nai nie s

doma (not in English)

Reflexive, emphatic and reciprocal pronouns

- reflexive pronouns show that the person or thing
they refer to is the same as the subject of the clause
- used anaphorically, definite meaning
- Slovak and English reflexive pronouns differ in the
grammatical categories they express English
distinguish person, number and gender (show agreement
with the subject) not in Slovak, but Slovak reflexive
pronouns distinguish case
- the paradigm of the reflexive pronouns in Slovak lacks the
nominative case; in D and A both short and long forms
(seba - sa)
- in Slovak reflexive meaning must be expressed by the
reflexive pronoun, in English it is obligatory when it carries
new information (used long form in Slovak)
- never used without reflexive pronouns absent
oneself from, avail oneself of, pride oneself on,
perjure oneself, ingratiate oneself, behave oneself
- the English self/-selves pronouns are not only reflexive,
but also emphatic make the meaning of a nominal
element of the clause more salient
- additional functions of Slovak reflexives passive and
impersonal use, they may change the character of the verb
reciprocal pronouns (in English each other, one
another)
Relative pronouns
- used to connect the subordinate clause in the
function of postmodifier to the head of the NP by
showing that the word used in the head and the
relative pronoun have the same referent (This is the
picture that he bought)
- always anaphoric
- two series:
wh-items who, whom, whose, which
that and zero

in Slovak must agree with the head of the NP in gender and

number
only one relative with a case distinction who whom
who human head words, which non human ones
(including animals); both who and which may be replaced
by that only in restrictive postmodifying subordinate
clauses
no omission of the relative pronoun is possible in Slovak
the relative that and its zero variant cannot be used after a
preposition

Interrogative pronouns
- all relative (except that) are also interrogative pronouns
- one interrogative pronoun which is not used as a relative
pronoun what (Slovak o can function as both, but is
only interrogative)
- five of them who, whom, whose, which, what
- used in interrogative sentences asking about one
element of the clause
- always come first in English clause (can be preceded
only by prepositions or conjunctions for whom, and
who..?)
- in position other than initial echo questions (Shell marry
who?)
- emphatic by adding the morpheme ever (whoever)
- the interrogative pronoun which is not limited to nonhuman referents
Referential pronouns
- their only function is reference or deixis
- those which can be used both referentially and deictically
demonstrative pronouns
- the most typical are this and that
- when use deictically this/these shows close association
with the speaker or the moment of speaking as opposed to
that/those
- in Slovak ten, tento, tamten, onen, henten
- one is a referential pronoun which cannot be deictic no
direct counterpart in Slovak

Quantity pronouns
- used when we are not interested in the exact
number but the distinction between the singular and
plural is not sufficient
- may be either NP-pronouns or determiner-pronouns
- divided into:
positive universal, amount, assertive, non
assertive
negative
- universal pronouns indicate that the whole class of
items denoted is treated (all, both)
- pronouns of amount several, a few, much, many, little,
few
- assertive pronouns those of the some type (used in
positive declarative clauses),
- non assertive those of the any type (negative and
interrogative clauses, subordinate adverbial clauses of
condition); may be used in assertive clauses when their
meaning is no matter which
- in Slovak there is no distinction between assertive
and non-assertive pronouns
- negative pronouns make the meaning of the whole
clause negative and are used instead of non-assertive
pronouns if the clause does not contain any other negative
element in Slovak, several negative elements can be
used in one clause (nobody, no one, nothing, none)
Noun vs. pronoun
Difference between nouns and pronouns : nouns = closed word
class. Pronouns are closed word class. Archaic pronouns : thou,
thee, thy, thine. The fact that is also a pronoun. The former &
the latter = pronouns.
See this :
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia. The city has an excentric
position. It is situated on the Danube. The first sentence = noun,
the second one = continuum, the third one = pronoun : this is
how a noun changes into pronoun.
Pronouns can distinguish person, case, number and definiteness.
Opposition in nouns e.g.: opposition in numbers = book vs. books.

Opposition in pronouns = everybody vs. all and he (1) vs. they

(more than 1 he). But they is also an opposition of she and it
and this doesnt work like this in nouns.
Pro-form
Pro-form is a grammar phenomenon that provides us with means
of referring back to an expression without repeating it :
- Their car was damaged after it crashed into the wall.
- I was born in English town and you grew up in an American one.
- I brought it up 2 weeks ago but no-one was interested then.
- I wanted you to jump and you will do so.
Pronouns play an important role as pro-forms.
Slovak vs. English
- In EN we say all. In SK we have vsetci/vsetky/vsetko in
relative, interrogative and negative pronouns theres difference
btwn SK and EN pronouns.
- Plural only pronouns are followed by a plural verb (they, both).
But we have everyone which is followed by sg verb but it refers to
more than one entity. Definite number = each (or none),
indefinite number = every (or no-one). In SK we say kazdy and do
not differentiate btwn definite and indefinite.
- If the number in question is two they use neither/either theres
no such thing is SK : we dont need to say obaja we can easily
say ziaden.
- Interrogative : in SK we cant say : Kto sa o to idu postarat. But
in EN we can say : Who are gonna take care of this?
- Personal pronouns can have 2 forms : subjective case (I, you,
he) and objective case (She gave it to me, I saw him, Its them...).
Who = subjective, whom = objective.
Slovak pronouns, on the other hand, can be case-inflected.
- In Sk we can say : nepaci sa mi. But in EN we need to add this
it we cant say I dont like.
- In SK when the subject is not stressed we can leave it out : Prisla
vcera. Not so in EN.
- In EN we cant say is late. we need to put it before. This is
called filler pronoun phrase. We also call it anticipatory or
introductory function of it.
- sthg like Idem si ti lesom, ked tu ti na mna skoci spoza stromu
vlk cannot be translated into EN. You can say it this way :

Imagene how I am going through... and a frequent use of u

know and question tags.
- SK substantivization : Nasi nie su doma. povedala si svoje. No
such thing in English.
7) Characteristic and classification of adjectives, syntactic
functions of adjectives, adjectives in postposition,
substantivization of adjectives, nationality words,
complementation of adjectives, substantivization of
adjectives, meaning differences between converted and
derivated adjectives
-

1 of major calsses
adj mirror the nouns (the same gender, case, number)
to say sth about the nouns

Adjectives
central features:
1. They can freely occur in attributive function

they can premodify a noun, appearing between the

determiner and the head of a noun phrase

an ugly painting, the round table

2. They can freely occur in predicative function

they can function as subject complements or object

complements

The car is ugly, He thought the car ugly

Peripheral features:
1. They can be premodified by the intensifier very
They are very happy
2. They can take comparative and superlative forms

Periphrastic (more, most) or inflectional (-er, -est)

comparison

Syntactic functions of adjectives

1. Attributive
When an adjective premodifies a head of a noun phrase
A small garden, popular song
2. Predicative
When adjectives function as subject or object complements
(CO I find him careless, CS He seems careless)
Adjectives can function as subject complements to clauses
(That you need a car is obvious) or object complements to
clauses (I consider what he did foolish)
3. Postpositive
If the adjective immediately follows the noun it modifies
Something useful (predicative - the information is useful,
attributive - useful information)
Compound indefinite pronouns and adverbs ending in
-body, -one, -thing, -where can be modified only
postpositively (Anyone intelligent can do it)
Substantivization of adjectives
Adjectives as heads of noun phrases
They dont inflect for number or for the genitive case
They require a definite determiner
There are various types of adjectives which can function as
heads of noun phrases:
1. Adjectives which can premodify personal nouns
With plural and generic reference denoting classes,
categories and types of people (The poor are causing the
nations leaders great concern)
The adjectives itself can be premodified or postmodified
(The extremely old need our help, The young in spirit enjoy
life)
2. Adjectives denoting nationalities
Adjectives ending in -(i)sh (British, Spanish), -ch (Dutch,
French), -ese (Chinese, Japanese) + Swiss
The industrious Dutch are admired by their neighbors

3. Adjectives with abstract reference

The best is yet to come.
They ventured into the unknown.
Verbless clauses
An adjective or adjective phrase realizing a verbless clause
(Unhappy with the result, she returned to work, Glad to
accept, the boy nodded)
The clause is mobile (The chairman called for a vote,
anxious for a quick decision) or is implied to a noun phrase
other than the subject (She glanced at the cat, now quiet in
her daughters hands)
Coningent verbless clauses
Often introduced by a subordinator
Expresses the circumstances under which what is said in
the subordinate clause applies
If wet, these shoes should never be put close to heat
Exclamatory adjective clauses
Such clauses need not to be dependent on any previous
linguistic context
Wonderful! How cool!
Homomorphs
Some adverbs are not distinguished form adjectives by the
-ly suffix
1. Adverbs and adjectives with the same form
Bill has a fast car
Bill drives fast
2. Adverbs ending in -ly suffix having meaning different from
the meaning of the adjective
Have you seen her lately?
3. One form which can be used for both adjective and
adverb and -ly suffixed form which can function only as an
adverb

Take a deep breath, Breathe deep

Breathe deeply

4. -ly suffixed form which can be used both as an adjective

and an adverb
I caught an early train
We finished early today
Syntactic subclasses of adjectives
attributive only restricted to attributive position do
not characterize the referent of the noun directly =
noninherent adjectives (an old friend of mine cannot be
related to My friend is old.)
intensifying have a heightening or lowering effect on
the noun they modify - emphasizers (a true scholar, a clear
failure), amplifiers (a complete victory, a strong opponent),
downtoners (a slight effort, a feeble joke)
restrictive restrict the reference of the noun (a certain
person, the only occasion, the exact answer)
adjectives related to adverbs (a possible friend, the
present king, an occasional visitor)
adjectives related to nouns (an atomic scientist, a polar
bear, a medical school)
predicative only are most like verbs and adverbs; tend
to refer to a condition rather than to a characteristic (ill,
poorly, well, faint, unwell)
Semantic subclasses of adjectives
stative / dynamic adjectives are characteristically
stative, but many can be used dynamically (brave, cruel,
funny, good, jealous, noisy, tidy)
gradable / nongradable most are gradable;
nongradable denominal adjectives (atomic, hydrochloric)
and adjectives denoting provenance (British)
inherent / noninherent most are inherent (a wooden
cross a wooden actor)
Ordering of adjectives in premodification

in the premodification structure of the noun phrase,

adjectives are placed between the determiners and the
head of the noun phrase
four zones:
precentral peripheral, nongradable adjectives are
placed (certain, definite, complete)
central central adjectives (hungry, ugly, stupid,
rich)
postcentral participles and colour adjectives
(retired, sleeping, red)
prehead the least adjectival and the most nominal
items (Austrian, political, experimental, statistical)

Adjective phrases
- phrases with an adjective as head
- an adjective can be premodified by a restricted group of
adverbs (very, surprisingly) or postmodified by some
adverbs (enough), prepositional phrases or infinitive
clauses
- can function as a complement, premodifier in a NP
Complementation of adjectives
by a prepositional phrase (happy about, good at, sorry
for, different from, afraid of, keen on, due to, bored with)
by a finite clause
three types:
a) the indicative used with adjectives expressing
degrees of certainty or confidence (We were confident
that Karen was still alive.)
b) the subjunctive or putative should with adjectives
expressing volition (I am anxious that he be/should be
permitted to resign.)
c) the indicative or putative should used with emotive
adjectives (I am surprised that you didnt call the
doctor before. I am surprised that anyone of your
intelligence should swallow a lie like that.)
by a to infinitive seven kinds of construction, f. e.:
Bob is slow to react. Bob is hard to convince. The food is
ready to eat. It is important to be accurate.

by an ing participle clause (Shes not capable of looking

after herself.)
8) Adverbs, characteristics and classification,
morphological types, relationship between adjectives and
adverbs
-

adverbs are more difficult to define than adjectives they

have not much similarities and subclasses
most common characteristic of the adverb is morphological
the majority of adverbs have the derivational suffix ly
they have full lexical meaning
most of them are unchangeable words, only few have degrees
of comparison
some act very similar to adjectives but adverbs modify verbs
they include words yes, no there is a possibility of
exchanging them with adverbs (definitely, absolutely..)
old Greek viewed them as adjectives because they modify
words of other classes

Classification:
- adverbs of circumstances space, time (to the bank, last day
of)
- adverbs of manner (carefully)
- adverbs of degrees (very much)
- adverbs of cause (to be ill with flu)
- primary adverbs now, then
- adverbs derived from
o adjective alive, aboard
o nouns clockwise, westward
- phrase adverbs up-side down, inside-out, on the average,
at once (they are prepositional phrases)
- adverbs with preposition from here, in there, till tomorrow,
before long
Syntactic functions of adverbs

- adverb as adverbial
o adjuncts are integrated within the structure of the clause
to at least some extent (They are waiting outside.)
o disjuncts are not integrated with the clause, express an
evaluation of what is being said (Fortunately, no one
complained.)
o conjuncts are not integrated with the clause, are
connecting what is being said and what was said before (If
they open all the windows, then Im leaving.)
- adverb as modifier
o of verbs premodify particles in phrasal verbs (They left
him WELL behind.)
o of adjective most commonly the modifier is an intensifier
(very, so, pretty, rather, unusually, quite, unbelievably),
insifiers can modify adjectives, adverbs and verbs alike,
adverb as qualifier only one = enough (high enough)
o of adverb may premodify another adverb as intensifier
(smoking very heavily)
o of prepositional phrase (it went right through the wall)
o of determiner, predeterminer, postdeterminer (Nearly
everybody came.)
o of noun phrase (What a (big) fool he is!)
- adverb as complement of preposition
o mostly adverbs of space and time
prepositions since, till, until, after, before, by, from,
for
adverbs connected with them lately, recently, then,
today, yesterday, now, tomorrow, tonight, after,
afterwards, later, always, ever, once
- position in sentence of an adverbial
o initial secondary adverbial of time, less frequency, place
o medial secondary frequency (often, never, always),
betwee subject and verb
o final primary, most neutral position
Comparison

absolute
comparative between two
superlative more than two adverbs are involved

adverbs are not compared syntheticaly when they end in ly,

syntheticaly are compared those, which have same form as
adjective
for comparison are used constructions introduced by than
(including more, less), as and prepositional phrases with of

John is more/less stupid than Bob (is).

John behaves as politely as Bob (does).
John is the most stupid of the boys.
Gradability
-

it changes the intensity of meaning of modified word (toto

nejak nechapem)

Adverbs vs. adjectives

-

adverbs are regularly derived from adjectives by suffixation,

so a correspondence often exists between consturctions
containing adjectives and those containing the corresponding
adverbs
adverbs are regularly connected with verbs of motion,
whereas adjectives cant be (w
in some cases the adjective form and corresponding ly
adverb can be used interchangeably (He spoke loud and
clear/loudly and clearly)
main difference is that adverbs are used to modify the
meaning of verb, but the adjective modify the meaning of a
noun

Adverb-adjective correspondence
ADVERB
a heavy sleeper
heavily
a former student
formerly a student

ADJECTIVE
someone who sleeps
someone who was

a faithful friend
faithfully

a friend that acts

Adjective and adverb homomorphs

- normally, its quite easy to differentiate between adjective and
adverb adverb has ly at the end (rapid vs. rapidly). But some
words need not have this ly at the end and they still can remain
adverbs : She arrived late in the afternoon (adverb). She
arrived in the late afternoon (adjective).
- -ly skipping is typical for informal speech : Breathe deep(ly)
(adverb).
- Some ly words can work both as adjectives and adverbs : That
was a kindly gesture (adjective).
Will you kindly refrain from
smoking? (adverb)
- If there is a choice between 0/-ly some people prefer ly for
adverbials and 0 for adjectives.
- Should there be too many ly endings to a word, we rather say
it like this : She received us friendlily > She received us in a
friendly way.
Adjectives and adverbs beginning with a- Both adjectives and adverbs can begin with a- but the difference
is that a-adjectives can be used with be and copular verbs, while
a-adverbs can only be used with be. a-adjectives refer to
temporary state and cannot follow verbs of motion (I went alert*),
while a-adverbs can (I went abroad).
- a-adjectives : ablaze, afloat, afraid, alert, alone, ashamed,
asleep, aware, awake. a-adjectives can be used attributively only
when modified : a somewhat afraid soldier (not an afraid soldier
* ), fast asleep child. Exceptions = alert and aloof they dont
need to be modified.
Adverb phrase
-

head is adverb
less complex than adjective phrase
rarely contain postmodifiers

function mainly as adverbials, simple adverb phrases (without

modifiers) can also used as modifiers in NPs, AdjPs or other
AdvPs
9) Comparison of adjectives and adverbs, types and
means, regular and irregular comparison

comparative degree expresses comparison between two

persons, two items, two sets
superlative degree is used when more than two are
involved in comparison
there are three types of comparison in English

Comparison of adjectives and adverbs

- With gradable adjectives, there are 3 types of comparison :
Comparison to a higher degree is expressed by inflections
er/est or their periphrastic equivalents more/most. She is
cleverer/more clever than me.
Comparison to the same degree is expressed by as : She
is as tall as me. In negative constructions as can be
replaced by so : She is not so clever as me.
Comparison to a lower degree is expressed by less/least :
This problem is the least difficult of all.
- comparatives can be modified by intensifiers : much easier, a
great deal more easily, a good deal sooner, the most remarkable
result ever...
- Comparative (higher) is used to compare 2 persons, two items,
two sets.
- Superlative (highest) is used when more then 2 are involved.
1. Comparison to a higher degree
expressed by inflected forms in -er and -est or by their
periphrastic equivalents more and most
Anna is cleverer/more clever than Susan.
Anna is the cleverest/most clever girl of all.
2. Comparison to the same level

Expressed by as as
Anna is as tall as Bill.

3. Comparison to a lower degree

Expressed by less and least
This problem is less difficult
This problem is the least difficult of all the problems we
have faced so far.
Regular and irregular comparison
Regular comparison
Certain changes in spelling may occur
1. If the last syllable is stresses and the final consonant is
preceded by a short vowel, the final consonant is doubled (big
-> bigger -> biggest)
2. If the absolute form ends in y preceded by a consonant, y
changes into i (angry -> angrier -> angriest)
3. If the absolute form ends with a silent e, the e is dropped
(pure -> purer -> purest)
Irregular comparison
Some frequently used adjectives and adverbs have the
comparative and superlative form different from the
absolute form
Good (well) -> better -> best
Bad (badly) -> worse -> worst
Far (far) -> farther/further -> farthest/furthest
Inflectional and periphrastic comparison
1. Monosyllabic adjectives
By inflection
Low -> lower -> lowest
2. Disyllabic adjectives
Either by inflection or by periphrastic forms
Those disyllabic adjectives that can most readily from
inflected forms are those ending in unstressed vowel (early,
easy, happy, narrow, shallow) or syllabic l (able, gentle,
noble, simple)

3. Trisyllabic or longer adjectives

By periphrastic forms
Beautiful -> more beautiful -> the most beautiful
Exception - adjectives with the negative prefix un Unhappy -> unhappier -> unhappiest
The unmarked term in measure expression
The adjective old is used in measure expression in
sentences He is 75 years old, she is 2 years old
The word old indicates the upper range (young - old), but it
is also the unmarked term for the whole range
Deep (shallow), high (low), long (short), big (small), heavy
(light)
How heavy is your computer?
How long was it?
10) Characteristics and classification of verbs, verb forms
(synthetical, analytical, regular, irregular, finite,
nonfinite), verb phrase analysis, the structure of verb
phrases, complementation of verbs (types), syntactic
functions; grammatical categories
-

term verb in two senses:

one of the elements in the clause structure
member of the word class
a verb phrase consists of one or more verbs
major 3 categories (according to their function within the
verb phrase):
full (believe, follow, like)
primary (be, have, do)
modal auxiliary (can, may, shall, will, must, could,
might, should, would)
grammatical
classification
of
verbs
(complementation of verbs):
copular followed by the subject complement (be,
become, seem, remain)

 intransitive not necessarily followed by another

element (talk, come, fly)
transitive followed by an object
monotransitive (one object open, say, find)
ditransitive (two objects give, bring, buy)
complex transitive (object and an object
complement appoint, name, elect)
Verb forms
synthetical
analytical those with auxiliaries
regular four morphological forms (base form, -s
form, -ing, -ed)
irregular the past inflection, or the ed
participle inflection, or both of these are irregular
1 form: must, ought
2 forms: can could
3 forms: put puts putting
4 forms: read reads reading read
5 forms: write wrote written writes writing
8 forms: BE am are is was were been being
finite -s form, past form
non-finite -ing participle, -ed participle
Grammatical categories
person
number
tense
aspect
mood
voice
(correlation)
Verb phrase

analysed in terms of the main verb, or lexical verb and

several auxiliaries grammatical verbs which help to
express various grammatical categories that cannot be
expressed synthetically
- there can be more than four auxiliaries in an English VP
they always appear in the following order:
M modal auxiliary (must, may, will, should)
is always finite and followed by infinitive without to
(must do)
H perfective auxiliary (have) followed by an
element in the ed participle form (has done, has
been doing)
Bpr progressive auxiliary (be) followed by
an element in the ing form (was doing, will be
doing)
Bpas passive auxiliary (usually be, occasionally
get, become) followed by the lexical verb in the
ed participle form (are done, might be done)
- the most complex possible structure of a finite verb phrase
is MHBprBpasL
(She must have been being watched)
- in a finite VP, the first element id always a finite verb, the
rest are non-finite forms
non-finite VP never contain the M element, first element is a
non-finite form
-

Verb phrase analysis

- Verb phrase analysis is not usually analyzed in terms of head,
pre/postmodifiers (but it would be possible if someone insisted
lexical verbs would be treated as heads). Verb phrases are rather
analyzed in terms of the main verb (or lexical verb), auxiliaries
(grammatical verbs). There can be no more than 4 auxiliaries in a
verb phrase and they are always in this order : modal perfect
progressive - passive : She must have been being talked about.
thats the most complex possible structure. A verbal particle can
be either considered as a postmodifier (part of the verb phrase)
or as an adverbial (a clause element).
- In finite VP the first verb is always finite and the rest is always
nonfinite.

- auxiliary do (in questions/negatives) never appears with other

auxiliaries.
- Grammatical categories of person, number, tense are expressed
in the lexical verb itself. In analytical verb forms (=with
auxiliaries) these categories are expressed in the first auxiliary.
Grammatical categories
A verb phrase has :
- tense (contrast between present and past), aspect (perfect[has
done]/nonperfect[does] & progressive[is
doing]/nonprogressive[does]), mood (indicative, imperative, and
subjunctive), finiteness, voice (passive/active)
- it also can have the operator : Questions (operator + subjectoperator inversion), Negation (operator + not), Emphasis
(operator)
Stative vs. dynamic (and stance)
- Dynamic verb is a verb that relate to action/activity/temporary
condition : I hit him. But live is neither temporary nor active,
but in certain contexts it can be dynamic : The tigers are living in
a cramped cage. = temporary. Also words that lack motion or
activity can be dynamic : I was resting. Are you sitting?
- Whats the big deal about verbs being stative/dynamic? It is
because only dynamic verbs can be progressive (-ing). And only
dynamic can be imperative (you cant say Know it!).
- Typical stative verbs :
states of being/having : be, heve, contain, resemble
intellectual states : believe, know, realize, think,
understand
state of attitude : disagree, dislike, like, want
state of perception : feel, hear, see, smell, taste
state of bodily sensation : ache, feel, sick, hurt, itch, tickle
- Stance verbs (verbs that are between stative and dynamic) :
live, lie, sit, stand (He lives there = static. He is living there =
dynamic.)
- Dynamic durative :
inanimate force activity : (wind) blow, (engine) run, rain,
(watch) work...
animate agents activities : dance, eat, play, sing

change over a period : change, deteriorate, grow, widen...

accomplishment : finish, knit, read, write
- Dynamic punctual (with little or no duration) :
momentary acts : jump, nod, knock...
transitional events : arrive, die, drown, land, leave, stop...
The structure of verb phrases
Finite verb phrases
- in a finite verb phrase only the first verb is finite the rest are
nonfinite (past form and s form are finite, -ing and to infinitive
are nonfinite).
- tense contrast (distinguish time) & person and concord number
(but with modal verbs theres no concord : She may (not mays)
do it).
- mood (mood = distinction of form of a verb to express whether
the action or state it denotes is conceived as fact or in some other
manner [as command, possibility, or wish]). Indicative mood is
unmarked, whereas imperative (expressing commands) and
subjunctive (expressing a wish or a recommendation...).
Nonfinite verb phrases
- nonfinite = call/to call/calling/called : if a phrase has one of
these as the first verb it is a nonfinite verb phrase : To smoke is
dangerous. I regret having started smoking. The cigarettes
smoked here tend to be expensive. This is the last cigarette to
have been smoked by me.
Simple and complex verb phrases
- simple verb phrase : only one word
- complex verb phrase : 2 or more verbs
- word-order in complex verb phrases : modal perfect
progressive - passive : could have been being talked about.
A verb phrase has :
- tense (contrast between present and past), aspect (perfect[has
done]/nonperfect[does] & progressive[is
doing]/nonprogressive[does]), mood (indicative, imperative, and
subjunctive), finiteness, voice (passive/active)

- it also can have the operator : Questions (operator + subjectoperator inversion), Negation (operator + not), Emphasis
(operator)
a) Tense, tense vs. time, problem of determining the
number of tenses in English, comparison of English and
Slovak tenses, existence of the future tense, forms
reffering to the future, tense-shift

tense - a grammatical category that is realized by verb

inflection and relates the time of an event to the moment
of speaking
- only 2 tenses: Past & Non-past , future- considered
as a Mood (spsob) we only predict, it is possible
sth will not happen at all...
time - a continuum within which a point of reference can be
established and events can be located as simultaneous
with, preceding or following that point
- exists independently of a language a relative
category

English vs. Slovak

- In English tense means a grammatical category of the verb
which relates to time
In Slovak we say cas and it menas both tense and time.
- Slovak has 3 tenses : past, present, future
English has no future inflected form of the verb and therefore
English only has 2 tenses : past and present.
- if we were to search a correspondence between SK and EN
tenses, we would came to this conclusion : Present tense +
Present perfect tense = pritomny cas. Past tense + Past perfect
tense = minuly cas. Slovak has no predpritomny cas (past perfect
tense).
- In Slovak we say : Povedal, ze Maria to vie.
In English we say : He said Maria knew it.
Present tense
present tense in Slovak is similar to the one in English
used in various occasions

1. The event relates to the time of speaking

2. The event is not related to any particular time
atemporal use of the present tense
Electric current depends on voltage and resistance
3. with future reference
The time of the event is expressed outside the verb phrase
We have a meeting tomorrow
4. with reference to the past
Historical present - refers to past events as if the speaker
were viewing them at the time they happened (In 1945 the
World War II ends)
Verbs of saying or asking - with no further indication of
time of the event (My sister says she needs your help Moja sestra povedala, e potrebuje tvoju pomoc)
Past tense
In Slovak past events are referred to by past tense, but in
English there are 3 forms of referring to past events
1. Present perfect
Expresses a past event without any past temporal
specification -> the event can have taken place at any time
up to the present moment
The event must have current relevance
Time indications are acceptable if they dont refer to a
definite time in the past or if they refer to a period of time
including the present moment
Many people have died on cholera (this year).
2. Past tense
Expresses a past event which is specified with respect to a
point or period of time in the past which is disconnected
from the present moment
Many people died on cholera last year.

3. Past perfect tense

Expresses a past event as prior to another event in the

past
Many people had died on cholera before vaccination was
introduced.

Future tense
Integral part of Slovak system of tenses with two forms periphrastic (for imperfective verbs) and present tense
from with future meaning (for perfective verbs)
In English to future events is most frequently referred to
using will/shall construction + plain non - perfective
infinitive (events after now) or plain perfect infinitive
(events happening in the future and preceding other future
events)
English has no future inflected forms of verbs, so the future
tense is not firmly established + the verbs will and shall
retain some of their original modal meaning (willingness,
determination)
Means of expressing future
1. Will/shall + infinitive
The most common means
Shall is used with the 1st person
Almost neutral future, but covers some modal meanings
2. Be going to + infinitive
Future fulfillment of a present intention (She is going to
lend us her car)
Future result of a present cause (Its going to rain, Shes
going to have a baby)
3. Present continuous
Future based on present arrangements, plan or program
The match is starting at 2:30 tomorrow
4. Simple present
Expresses future in subordinate clauses (What will you do if
I marry him?)

Future of unusual certainty - calendar future (Tomorrows

Thursday) or stable events (When is the high tide?)
With stative and dynamic verbs - to convey a meaning of a
plan (I go on vacation next week, Im on vacation next
week)

5. will/shall + progressive
A future period of a time within which another event occurs
(When you reach the end of the bridge, Ill be standing
there to show you where to go)
Neutral future (Well be flying at 30,000 feet)
6. To be (about) to
To be to refers to future arrangements or plans (Their
daughter is to get married soon, If hes to succeed in the
new job, he must try harder)
To be about to simply expresses near future (The train is
about to leave)
b) Aspect in English and Slovak, aspect and tense, perfect
vs. non-perfect, verbs used in the progressive aspect,
characteristics and meanings of the English progressive
ASPECT IN SLOVAK
every verb fits into one of the two groups:
o imperfective verbs (nedokonav) referring to events
viewed as not completed
o perfective verbs (dokonav) referring to events viewed as
completed
choice is not dictated by the extralinguistic reality only, it also
depends on the communicative needs in the individual situation
-

O smej som otvorila obchod. = completed

O smej som otvrala obchod. (Vtedy prv raz zahrmelo.) = not
completed

Aspect and tense in Slovak

- present tense we can speak about events only as not
completed, imperfective verbs only
- past tense we can speak speak about event as completed
also as not completed, imperfective also perfective verbs
- future tense - we can speak speak about event as completed
also as not completed, imperfective also perfective verbs
Perfective
urobm
urobil som

Future
Present
Past

Imperfective
budem robi
robm
robil som

Aspect in English
- in each of the tenses of the verb the non-progressive and also
the progressive aspect form is used
- the progressive aspect is formed appropriate form of the
auxiliary be + -ing form of the lexical verb
- with verbs used in stative meaning, only the non-progressive
form is possible
- in some passive constructions, only the non-progressive form
is possible
future
future perfect

non-progressive
I will do
I will have done

present
present perfect
past
past perfect

I
I
I
I

do
have done
did
had done

progressive
I will be doing
I will have been
doing
I am doing
I have been doing
I was doing
I had been doing

progressive aspect expresses

- the event as connected to a certain time in the past,
present or future this time may be a period
- duration of the event (I was working on my paper the whole
of last week), working = durative verb

repetition of an event during the time specified, limited

duration (I am getting up early this month.) getting up =
terminative verb (no duration)
- the present moment , not necessarily complete event (I am
watching television now.)
events are taking place between two points of time, event is
viewed as limited to a period or a point of time
-

non-progressive aspect expresses

- an accomplished event in future or in past tense
correspondences between the aspectual forms in English
and Slovak
- Slovak perfective verbs usually correspond to the English
non-progressive aspect
He was reading it. = tal to.

tal to. = He was reading

it.
= He read it.
-

the English non-progressive aspect is trasnslated by either

a perfective or an imperfective Slovak verb
Pretal to. = He read it.

He read it. = tal to.

= Pretal to.
aspect in English and in Slovak are two different grammatical
phenomena
Verbal meaning
dynamic verbs used with the progressive tenses
- activity verbs abandon, ask, beg, call, drink, eat, help,
learn used in prog. aspect
- process verbs change, deteriorate, grow, mature, slow
down, widen used in prog. aspect
- verbs of bodily sensation ache, feel, hurt, itch used in
simple or progressive aspect, with little change of meaning
- transitional event verbs arrive, die, fall, land, leave, lose
used in simple or prog. aspect, with change of meaning

momentary verbs hit, jump, kick, knock, nod, tap in

progressive aspect suggest reptetion

stative verbs
- verbs of inert perception and cognition adore, believe,
desire, doubt, feel, forgive, guess, hate, hear, imagine,
know, like, love, realize, please.
- relational verbs apply to, belong to, consist of, cost,
depend on, possess, lack, matter.
Stative vs. dynamic (and stance)
- Dynamic verb is a verb that relate to action/activity/temporary
condition : I hit him. But live is neither temporary nor active,
but in certain contexts it can be dynamic : The tigers are living in
a cramped cage. = temporary. Also words that lack motion or
activity can be dynamic : I was resting. Are you sitting?
- Whats the big deal about verbs being stative/dynamic? It is
because only dynamic verbs can be progressive (-ing). And only
dynamic can be imperative (you cant say Know it!).
- Typical stative verbs :
states of being/having : be, heve, contain, resemble
intellectual states : believe, know, realize, think,
understand
state of attitude : disagree, dislike, like, want
state of perception : feel, hear, see, smell, taste
state of bodily sensation : ache, feel, sick, hurt, itch, tickle
- Stance verbs (verbs that are between stative and dynamic) :
live, lie, sit, stand (He lives there = static. He is living there =
dynamic.)
- Dynamic durative :
inanimate force activity : (wind) blow, (engine) run, rain,
(watch) work...
animate agents activities : dance, eat, play, sing
change over a period : change, deteriorate, grow, widen...
accomplishment : finish, knit, read, write
- Dynamic punctual (with little or no duration) :
momentary acts : jump, nod, knock...
transitional events : arrive, die, drown, land, leave, stop...

Temporal clauses
- finite adverbial clauses of time are introduced by
subordinators as after, before, since, until, when
- - ed clauses are introduced by once, until, when and while
(Once published, the book caused a remarkable stir.)
c) Mood, characteristics of the imperative, characteristic
features of subjunctive I and II (forms, uses)
-

indicates the factual, nonfactual or counterfactual status of

the predication
no mood distinctions are made in non-finite verb phrases
in finite verb phrases modal distinctions are expressed
mainly by a special class of auxiliaries (the modal verbs)
the few modal distinctions that are made in the lexical verb
are of relatively low frequency, with the exception of the
imperative mood, and some forms of the subjunctive mood
which are homonymous with the form of the unmarked,
indicative mood
indicative mood speaker presents an event as an
actual fact (She is very careful.)
used in main and also subordinate clauses
imperative mood speaker compels the person
addressed to carry out the communicated content (Be very
careful.)
domain of the imperative mood is the second person,
both in English and Slovak
Slovak has a special imperative for the first person
plural (pme)
in the third person no synthetical imperative forms,
but it is possible to express an imperative idea
periphrastically (let him write nech pe in English
also in the first person plural let us write)
in the negative imperative forms contain the
auxiliary do (do not be strict) the same is valid for the
emphatic imperative (do be quiet)

 two negative constructions of the periphrastic

form with or without do
dont lets write, lets not write
restricted to main clauses
-

subjunctive mood
two forms:
present subjunctive (subjunctive I or be
subjunctive) expressed by the base form of the
verb
with the verb to be the paradigm is different from
that of the indicative mood (am, are, etc.)
with other verbs the difference is in the absence of
an ending in the third person
tense is not distinguished in a subjunctive form,
but from the verb in the main clause
two main uses:
a) mandative subjunctive used in a thatclause after an expression of such notions as
demand,
recommendation,
proposal,
intention; is more characteristic of AmE (The
employees demanded that he resign The
headmaster requires that the teachers be
strict.)
b) formulaic (optative) subjunctive used in
certain set expressions (God save the
Queen. Long live the King. Heaven forbid that)
past subjunctive (subjunctive II or were
subjunctive)
form identical with that of the past tense
indicative, to be has the form were in all person and
both numbers
never used with a past meaning, it is used as a
present tense
hypothetical in meaning
used in subordinate clauses of condition,
concession or comparison (subordinators if,
suppose, even if, even though, as if) and after the
expressions I wish, it is time, if only, Id rather

(If I were a rich man, I would../ I wish the journey

were over.)
d) Voice, characteristics of the passive, verbs not used in
the passive, passive transformation with ditransitive
verbs, main motives for the use of the passive, English
passive constructions having active counterparts in Slovak
How to make a passive construction
- Voice distinguishes two categories : active & passive
- Only transitive sentences can be made into the passive.
- Voice, as a grammatical category, involves both verb phrase (it
adds auxiliary be followed by add) & clause (active subject
becomes the passive agent [He did it > It was done by him].
Active object becomes the passive subject [He did it > It was
done by him]. By is inserted before the agent). The by agent
is often omitted.
- We can use get instead of be. and it implies that the subject
has some responsibility for the action (He got himself fired).
- Sometimes, when the object is a clause, we need to ad it in
the passive : They thought that she was pretty > It was thought
that she was pretty.
The use of the passive
- If there is a choice between the active and the passive, the
active is a norm.
- We use passive :
we dont know the identity of the agent (the doer the one
that performs the activity)
we want to avoid identifying the agent
no reason to mention the agent
technical writing to avoid the constant repetition of I or
we
put emphasis on the agent
retain the same subject throughout a long sentence
In English the word order in the sentence expresses relations
between the agent, the action and the goal.

Peter invited Jane. ( Peter = agent, Jane = goal)

If the word is changed, the meaning is changed. In Slovak this
relation is expressed by cases.
Janu pozval Peter. (Janu = accusative, Peter = nominative)
So even if the word order is reversed, the roles of the agent and
the goal remain clear.
active voice
- unmarked form of the verb
- subject is also the agent
passive voice
- marked form of the verb
- subject should not be interpreted as the agent
voice is the property of the verb phrase and of the clause
active vs. passive clause:
- order of the NPs is changed (Peter invited Jane. Jane was
invited by Peter.)
- NP denoting the agent need not be expressed in the
passive clause (Jane was invited.)
form of the passive voice:
- appropriate form of the auxiliary to be and the ed
participle of the main verb
- often usage of by construction
forms not used in passive voice:
- progressive passive forms are not used been being, be
being non-progressive passive forms are used instead
forms used in passive voice - non-finite verb forms:
- infinitive
o to be done (indefinite - neurit)
o to have been done (perfect)
- ing-form

o being done (indefinite)

o having been done (perfect)
-ed participle done

Being and the passive

- We only use the passive with being in present simple tense (It
is being made) and in past continuous tense. No other tenses can
use being.
- Passive voice in infinitive & gerund : to be made, to have been
made & being made, having been made.
Ditransitive verbs
- Set phrases where we use active infinitive :
a house to let (= to be let)
no time to lose (= to be lost)
You are to blame
It is impossible to translate
It is too long to quote...
With some verbs we cannot use this structure : I was given a
present. More of such verbs : announce, convey, explain,
introduce, leave, mention, say. With all these you need to say :
The problem was explained to me.
meanings of passive form:
- processual use of the passive - at a given time the result of
a past process could be observed (The house was
reconstructed. maybe several times in its history)
- statal use of the passive, often with adverb already (we
could not see the original form of the house because it had
been reconstructed)
passive transformation with prepositional (ditransitive?)
verbs:
They called the man. The man was called on.
-

not all of the prepositional verbs occur in the passive freely,

but can do so in the presence of a particular modal:

Visitors cant walk over the lawn. The lawn cant be walked
over. (by visitors)
multi-word verbs and complex structures:
- consist of a verb followed by two particles (He puts up with
a lot of teasing.)
- transitive verbs with a noun phrase as direct object
- they allow pronominal questions and under certain
conditions can occur in the passive:
He cant put up with bad temper. What cant he put up
with?
Bad temper cant be put
up with for long.
- some of them have figurative meaning, others are fused
combinations and it is difficult or impossible to assign
meaning to any of the parts (put up with tolerate)
- examples: break in on (the conversation) interrupt; look
in on (somebody) visit; look up to (somebody) - respect
reasons for usage of passive construction
- context where the agent is unknown or unimportant
- passive subject corresponds to the indirect object of an
active clause (John was given a present. P They gave John a
present. A)
passive constructions without passive counterparts in
Slovak:
- in English passive is used to avoid expressing the agent, in
Slovak an active clause without the subject is used (That
old house is haunted. V tom starom dome stra.)
- English clause in which the passive subject corresponds to
the indirect object of an active clause. (John was given a
present. They gave John a present.)
in English the frequency of use of passive is much higher than
in Slovak, because:
o in Slovak in many cases we use active construction instead
of passive (clauses without subject in the third person

singular if a non-human agent is thought of, or third person

plural if the possible agent is human)
He was killed.

Zabilo ho. (non-human agent)

Zabili ho. (human agent.)

o English passive clauses with the expressed agent often

correspond to active clauses in Slovak with the subject in the
final position
He was run over by car.
It was caused by negligence.

Prelo ho auto.
Zaprinila to nedbalos.

e) Modal auxiliaries morphological characteristics, role in

the verb phrase, principal meanings and uses of individual
modal verbs, shift of meaning in negative forms and in
questions, marginal modal auxiliaries, modal idioms and
semi-auxiliaries, modal verbs + perfect infinitive, modal
equivalents
-

they do not stand alone, but in the connection with

infinitives of lexical verbs, which they modify
used to show the speakers attitude towards the action
or state indicated by the infinitive
are called defective are not inflected (they have no s
forms, -ing forms, past participle or imperative mood)
are followed by the infinitive without to (except for
ought and sometimes dare, need)
for the negative and the interrogative without the
auxiliary do (except dare and need)
two negative forms full and contracted (will not
wont)
role in the verb phrase

Verb phrase
- analysed in terms of the main verb, or lexical verb and
several auxiliaries grammatical verbs which help to

express various grammatical categories that cannot be

expressed synthetically
- there can be more than four auxiliaries in an English VP
they always appear in the following order:
M modal auxiliary (must, may, will, should)
is always finite and followed by infinitive without to
(must do)
H perfective auxiliary (have) followed by an
element in the ed participle form (has done, has
been doing)
Bpr progressive auxiliary (be) followed by
an element in the ing form (was doing, will be
doing)
Bpas passive auxiliary (usually be, occasionally
get, become) followed by the lexical verb in the
ed participle form (are done, might be done)
- the most complex possible structure of a finite verb phrase
is MHBprBpasL
(She must have been being watched)
- in a finite VP, the first element id always a finite verb, the
rest are non-finite forms
non-finite VP never contain the M element, first element is a
non-finite form

possibility if could is used, it indicates greater doubt,

or less certainty than use of can
could is treated as a past equivalent of can when used
in indirect speech (He told us we could discuss it later.)
could + perfect infinitive to make assumptions
about the past; way of reproaching people for something
they did (or didnt do) He could have missed the train.
You could at least have rung me up.
can + perfect infinitive express a virtual
impossibility in the past (He cant have got lost. = its
practically impossible)
ability
(physical,
mental,
ability
depending
on
circumstances)
permission asking permission, and giving or denying
permission (Can I leave you for a moment?)
with this meaning could may also be used to talk about
present or future and it is considered more polite than
can (Could I leave earlier today?)
can giving or denying permission is determined by the
circumstances/ may depends on the will of the person
addressed
-

Meanings of the modals

- two main kinds of meaning:
intrinsic modality (includes permission, obligation,
volition) intrinsic human control over events
extrinsic modality (possibility, necessity, prediction)
human judgement of what is or is not likely to
happen
Can / could
- use can to talk about ability and capability could =
one had the ability to do something in the past (Peter could
pass the examination.); to be able to = the achievement
of something in the past (Peter was able to pass the
examination.)

in the negative and interrogative forms the verb can

acquires the meaning of doubt or uncertainty the
indicative cannot rejects the action categorically (It cannot
be true)

May / might
possibility (In this museum you may see much of interest.)
may is also used to say what we assume, expect or
guess about present or future happenings
may + perfect infinitive offer a possible explanation
of something that has not happened as expected (Wheres
Martin? He may have missed the train again.)
might + perfect infinitive the action considered
advisable was not carried out in the past (You really might
have done it long ago.)
permission (in the negative form prohibition)

 in present tense may is sometimes a polite way in

which superior gives an inferior permission to leave if he
expects him to do so (You may go now.)
in any other tense be allowed to
Must
command, obligation, duty or necessity (You must pay for
it.)
the negative form must not (mustnt) prohibition,
an obligation not to do something that can be generally
forbidden or inadvisable (You mustnt park here.)
any other tense have to
must may be used in a past context in reported speech
(He said I must pay for it.)
something that cannot be avoided (Careless reading
must give but poor results.)
conclusions and assumptions from known facts =
probably, evidently (It must be very late because the streets
are quite deserted)
must + perfect infinitive drawing conclusions about
past events (She must have spent her summer in the South.
Look how sunburnt she is.)
Shall / should
- shall in everyday language in the first person to
ask other people what they wish us to do (Shall I make tea
or coffee?)
with future reference in second or third person to
make promises or threats (It shant happen again.)
in formal speech direct or reported commands,
proclamations, contracts, etc. (In case of dispute the
matter shall be submitted to arbitration.)
- should to express advice, recommendation (you
really should go there today)
to express reasonable assumptions (Its 10 oclock.
Father should be in Prague by now.)
should / shouldnt express likelihood = will probably
(The photos should be ready by tomorrow morning)
should + perfect infinitive reference to the past

affirmative sentence = action considered

desirable was not carried out (You should have
warned him that it was dangerous)
negative sentence = action considered
undesirable was carried out (You shouldnt
have bought a new one, I could have lent you
mine.)
Will / would
- expresses a definite intension, a firm decision
- in the second person used in requests (Will you have
another cup?)
- in the third person in negative sentences (I keep
telling him to listen, but he wont.)
- may occur in conditional clauses making the implied
request more polite (If you will lend me your car, Ill be very
grateful.)
- for expressing predictions specific, timeless, habitual
(The concert will be finished by now. Accidents will happen.
He will sit there for hours.)
- in the negative form rejection, reluctance, and with
thongs inability to work (The engine wont start. He will not
listen to reason)
- would in indirect speech as the past tense
equivalent of will (express an intention He said he
would continue his journey, whatever happened)
in polite requests, invitations, wishes (Would you
pass me the salt, please?)
shows that one is annoyed at something that always
happens or is typical (Thats exactly like him he would
lose the key.)
Marginal modal auxiliaries
- they behave like modals in some way, but not in all
Used to
- shows that the action described was a habit before, but
now it has finished (You dont practise as much as you used
to.)

Ought to
- to express the idea of moral obligation, duty,
desirability (You ought to help your mother in
everything.)
- in most cases it can be replaced by should ought to is
more emphatic
- ought to + perfect infinitive refers to the past and
shows that the obligation was not carried out (You ought to
have finished the paper long ago.)
Dare (to)
- means have the courage to and is usually found in
negative (Dont you dare try to walk across the road until
the light is green!)
Need / need not / neednt
- as an auxiliary it occurs only in the present tense
(negative sentences, questions - when the hopes to get
a negative answer)
- not used in affirmative sentences (only negative and
interrogative) affirmatively used with never, hardly,
scarcely
- need + perfect infinitive the action carried out in the
past was not necessary (You neednt have sent a telegram;
a letter would have done.)
Modal idioms
a combination of auxiliary and infinitive or adverb
none of them have non-finite forms and they are always the
first verb in the verb phrase
had better, would rather, have got to, be to
Semi-auxiliaries
set of verb idioms which are introduced by one of the primary
verbs have and be
be able to, be bound to, be going to, be supposed to, be
about to, be due to, be likely to, have to

Modal verbs in Slovak

8 basic modal verbs mc, ma, musie, chcie, da, da
sa, smie, vedie
have no imperative, do not form aspect couples, are always
followed by the infinitive
4 groups (according to their meaning):
1. expressing willingness
2. expressing duty
3. expressing possibility
4. expressing ability
f) Multi-word verbs
-

consisting of lexical verb + particle phrasal verbs (particle

adverb)
- prepositional
verbs
(preposition)
- phrasal-prepositional verbs
(adverb + preposition)
free combinations - multi-verbs that dont consist of lexical
verb + particles (cut short, put paid to)

INTRANSITIVE PHRASAL VERBS

The two girls have fallen out. (= quarreled)

phrasal verbs
cant predict the meaning
from the meaning of verb &
particle in isolation (
idiomatic combination)
particle cant be separated
from the LV
adverb cant be fronted

free combinations
predictable (possible substitutions
(walk past run past, trot past,
walk by); adverb has intensifying
(chatter away) or aspectual force
(drink up)
particle can be separated from the
LV
adverb can be fronted

TRANSITIVE PHRASAL VERBS

may take a direct object (She looked up her friends)

particle can generally either precede or follow the direct
object

TYPE

particle follow the object - object = personal pronoun

particle precede the object object is long or should
receive end-focus
distinguished semantically from free combinations in FC
two parts preserve their separate meaning (She took in her
parents [=deceived] She took in the box [=brought
inside])
if fully idiomatic (not in free combinations) particle cant
be separated from the LV by anything except the object
semi-idiomatic phrasal verbs allow limited number of
substitutions (turn on the light
turn = switch = put; on =
out = off = down = up)
I PREPOSITIONAL VERBS
lexical verb + preposition (semantically and/or syntactically
associated)
prepositional object - NP following the preposition
analogy with direct object (look at these pictures
examine these pictures)
passive is frequently possible
adverbial can easily be inserted betw the LV & preposition
no insertion betw verb & direct object (only if the direct
object is long)
2 complementary analyses:
analysis 1:
S
V
A
She
analysis2:

THE DISTINCTION
COMBINATIONS

BETWEEN

looked

after

her

PREPOSITIONAL

son
O

VERBS

AND

FREE

prepositional passive making the prepositional object the

subject of a corresponding passive clause (preposition is
stranded in its post-verbal position)
The dean was called on.
Lunch
was called after.
passive is acceptable if the preposition introduces a
prepositional phrase and isnt in idiomatic

combination with the verb (They played on this field

yesterday This field was played on yesterday.)
wh-questions eliciting the prepositional object who(m)
and what (rather than adverbial questions)
John called on her. Who(m) did John call on?
John called from the office Where did John
call from?

THE DISTINCTION
VERBS

BETWEEN

PREPOSITIONAL

- syntactic & phonological

prepositional verbs
particle must precede the
prepositional object
She called on her friends /
called her friends on .
object = personal pronoun
pronoun follows the particle
She called on them / called
them on.
adverb (as adjunct) can be
inserted betw verb & particle
She called angrily on her
friends.
particle can precede relative
pronoun or wh-interrogative
The friends on whom she
called.
particle is unstressed and has
the tail of the nuclear tone
that falls on the lexical verb

VERBS

AND

PHRASAL

phrasal verbs
particle can precede of follow
the direct object
She called up her friends /
called her friends up
precedes the particle
She called him up / called up
him.
cant be inserted betw verb &
adverb
She called angrily up her
friends.
particle cant precede relative
pronoun or wh-interrogative
The friends up whom she called
particle is stressed, in final
position bears nuclear stress

II PREPOSITIONAL VERBS
- ditransitive verbs followed by 2 NPs (separated by
preposition) 2nd is the prepositional object
The gang robbed her of her necklace.
- passive clause direct object subject (She was robbed
of her necklace)
- 2 subtypes in which the direct object is a part of the
idiomatic combination:

TYPE

make a mess of, make allowance for, take care of, pay
attention to, take advantage of
catch sight of, keep pace with, give way to, lose touch
with, cross swords with, keep tabs on, give rise to
only the prepositional object can become the passive
subject, but its clumsy

PHRASAL-PREPOSITIONAL VERBS

LV + adverb + preposition
the wh-question eliciting the prepositional object who(m)
or what
type I have only prepositional object (We are looking
forward to the party)
- prepositional passive is possible (The tantrums
couldnt be put up with any longer)
type II ditransitive (2 objects 2 nd is prepositional) (Dont
take it out on me!)
- passive is possible only active direct object (Our
sources can be put down to hard work)

OTHER MULTI-WORD VERB CONSTRUCTIONS

idiomatic verb constructions

verb-adjective combination similar to phrasal verb
(Meg put the cloth straight
Meg put the cat out.)
- may be - copular (break even,
plead guilty, lie low)
- complex transitive with a
direct object following
the verb (cut /trip/ short,
work /nail/ loose, rub
/herself/ dry)
- sometimes it allows additional
elements
(modifier
of
the
adjective /cut as short as
possible/, infinitive /play hard to
get/
or
preposition
/ride
roughshod over/)
verb-verb combination 2nd verb is nonfinite infinitive
(make do with,

verbs

with

make (N) do, let

(N) go, let (N)
be)
- participle with or
without
a
following
preposition (get
rid of, get going)
prepositions (developed frominto,
struggle withfor, compete with
for, apply tofor, talk to about)
g) Primary verbs

Be, do and have as auxiliary verbs

- Be is a full verb when combined with an adjective or a noun
(there it has the copular function). Have is a full verb when
meaning possess. Do is a full verb when meaning perform an
activity. However, if we use them in combination with other
verbs to help them complete their meaning, they function as
auxiliary verbs.
- Be is used to form progressive forms (I am doing, I have been
doing) and in combination with ed it is used in the passive voice.
- Have forms perfect tenses (I have done, I had done) and perfect
progressive (I have/had been doing) and passives (I have been
delayed). Moreover, have can function as an auxiliary and full
verb in the same sentence (Have[auxiliary] you had [full]
enough?).
- Do as an auxiliary combines with other verbs to form questions
and negatives. It is used instead of verbs in short answers and
question tags. It can be a full verb and auxiliary in the same
sentence (Do [auxiliary] you do [full] your shopping every
week?). It is used for emphasis.
Be as a full/main verb
- imperative :
be + noun :
idiomatic : Be a man!

it can also have a meaning of become especially in

advertisements : Be a better cook!
pretending (acting) : Be Cinderella and Ill be the witch
negative imperatives are more common : advice (Dont be
a race driver and slow down.) and behavior (Dont be an
ass and stop).
be + adjective : passing behavior : Be quiet!
Be + past participle (-ed) : Please be seated.
Do + be : can be used after any imperative : Do be
careful.
- Short forms (arent, Im...) cannot stand on their own : Yes I am
(not : Yes, Im).
In negative questions and tag questions we use arent instead
of I am not : Why arent I invited?/I am late, arent I?
aint is a nonstandard form used instead of am not, is not, have
not...
- Be in the simple present and simple past :
be + names : I am Jack.
be + adjective : state (I am hungry), mood (I am angry),
description (I am tall), nationality (I am English), weather
(Its cold)
be + adjective + noun : He is an interesting man.
Be + time reference, age, price : Its Monday.
Be + possessive : Its mine.
be + adverbs (or prepositional phrases) : I am here.
Be replacing have : The moment I turned away the car
was gone > ... the car had gone.
Empty subject be : Its foggy/Its 20 miles from here.
Be + infinitive : My aim is to start tomorrow.
- Be describing temporary behavior : My brother is being very
annoying today (but usually he is not).
- many languages require present/past of be where English uses
have/had been.
Have been has the meaning of visit a place and come
back : Where have you been? Ive been to a party.
Have gone has the meaning of being on a way or being
at a place : Hes gone to a party.

Have been and have gone can be interchangeable

when talking about experience : Have you ever been/gone
to Alps?
Since & for require have/had been : Ive been here
for six months.
- Will be has two meanings : a future fact (It will be sunny
tomorrow.) or a prediction (It will be John).
- Will have been has the meaning of past in future : How long
will you have been with IBM the next year?
- There + be
Theres is easy to pronounce (sometimes they say it like
[z]) and is informally often used instead of there are :
Theres lots of cars outside.
We use there + be when talking about existence and it is
more natural to say Theres a man at the door than
saying A man is at the door.
we use it to announce report events/facts : There will be a
reception.
Scene-setting : There had not been any rain for months.
The earth was parched.
Constructions withe there + a verb other than be are
possible but they are ugly. These verbs must be regarded
as variations of be (describe a state...) : There remains
one matter to be discussed. seem, appear... can work
like that, too : There appears to be little enthusiasm for
the project.
- uncertainty and be : He appears to be...
He will be... :
other verbs : look like, seem, sound, taste...
- process verbs related to be : verbs describing a change of
state. They are used in progressive. Instances : become, come,
go, get, grow, turn... : It was growing dark. The milk has gone
bad.
Process verb + adjective : The milk has gone bad.
Process verb + NP : He became a pilot.
Process verb + infinitive : Gradually, he grew to like me.
Be as auxiliary
- apart from being a main verb, be has two auxiliary functions :
it can serve as aspect (aspect = the form of a verb which shows

how the meaning of a verb is considered in relation to time)

auxiliary for the progressive (She is learning Spanish.) and as
passive auxiliary (She was awarded a prize).
- it is unique because of its plentiful forms (8 in total) : (be, being,
am, is, are, was, were, been) ( + aint but that is non-standard)
Have as a full verb
- Have is often interchangeable with have got meaning
possess/obtain. (it normally takes a direct object) Have got is
not used in past (it theoretically might be but it is largely
avoided). Have got is informal.
- In questions and negatives the form I havent a pen is
becoming rare. We prefer : I dont have a pen.
- have as a full verb is a stative verb but it cannot be used also in
the progressive form, especially when we want to stress the
duration of a process (I am having a bath.) or, sometimes, with
a shift in meaning (to have a child=ma diea; to be having a
child= rodi)
- Contracted forms : Ive & havent & hadnt & hes (=he has).
Aint is non-standard.
- Have is used with these meanings:
possess/own : I have a pen.
be able to provide : Do you have any ink?
physical characteristic : I have protruding ears.
possession of mental qualities : She has a quick temper.
human relationships : I have two sisters.
wear : I have black pants and I am just putting my hand
under them.
illnesses : I have bronchitis.
arrangements : I have an appointment.
In the sense of there is : I have a stain on my T-shirt.
- Have can substitute other verbs : I danced with her twice > I
had two dances with her. I drink a cup of coffee every morning
> I have a cup of coffee every morning. Thus have becomes a
stative verb. Have got cannot replace have in this dynamic
sense. I have a shower can be replaced by I take a shower in
American English. Common expressions like this one: have a
fight, have a look, have a rest, have a ride, have a talk, have a
swim, have a shower, have a drink...

Have as auxiliary
- combines with past participle to form perfective verb phrases.
(I have done it. It cant have been her.)
Do as a full verb
- Meanings of do
tasks : do + gerund (=ing form) : I have to do the washing
up.
general purpose (wide range of uses): Do the dishes.
Who does your car?
disapproval : Whats that doing on the floor?
- it can function as a pro-predicate or pro-predication referring to
some unspecified action, alone or in combination with so, it, this,
that, interrogative what , or an indefinite pronoun: I dont know
what to do, so I did nothing. Why are you doing that?
- Do vs. Make : Make = create : question : What are you doing?
reply : I am making a cake.
Typical combinations with do : do my best, do business, do
damage, it will do you good, do my duty, do an experiment, do a
favor...
Typical combinations with make : make an accusation, make an
appointment, make an agreement, make a bed
Sometimes both are possible : Ill make/do the bed this morning.
- Do in fixed expressions : What does he do (=job), How do you
do, That will do (=enough!), That wont do (its not enough; its
not acceptable), How did you do (=how did you manage), I could
do with a drink, It has nothing to do with me, I can do without a
car, you did me out of my share (=you cheated me).
Do as auxiliary
- Do as auxiliary has no individual meaning its a dummy
operator (=an added element, which means nothing by itself).
Auxiliary do is periphrastic (= Its difficult to put in words
example will be more suitable : simpler = normal/more simple =
periphrastic. Do it! = normal, Lets do it = periphrastic.) and is
used in :
questions with inversion : What did he say?. Exception :
wh-questions (What happened?)

tag questions: He said it, didnt he?

persuasive/emphatic constructions : He did say that!
emphatic imperative : Do tell me the truth.
negation with not (He didnt like it). Exception : Not to go
(not : to do not go) would be shameful.

h) Finite and non-finite verb forms, morphological and

syntactical characteristics, verbal and non-verbal
features; infinitive with and without to, split infinitive,
subjective and objective infinitive, infinitive clauses, for +
infinitive; -ing-forms, verbs followed by the infinitive
and/or ing-form; -ed-participle; constructions with the
ing-form and the ed-participle
-

differ in FUNCTION, FORM, USES

functions:
finite verb form = PREDICATOR
non-finite verb form i sused as S, O, Adv, q, some of them
can be followed by a preposition (can't be used as
a predicator)
we can't say: Peter to leave... (as a simple sentence) but
we can include it in a larger sentence: I asked Peter to
leave...
a non-finite verb (or a verbal) is a verb form that is not
limited by a subject and, more generally, is not fully
inflected by categories that are marked inflectionally in
language, such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender,
and person. As a result, a non-finite verb cannot
generally serve as the main verb in an independent
clause -ing (present participle, gerund), -ed (past
participle), infinitive. Nonfinite clauses lack tense
markers and can also lack modal auxiliaries, subject, and
subordinating conjunction all these are recovered from
the context : When (she was) questioned, she answered.
(If it is) Kept in refrigerator, it should remain fresh.
a finite verb is a verb that is inflected for person
(person and number concord between subject and finite
verb phrase) and for tense (distinction between present
and past tense), according to the rules and categories of

the languages in which it occurs. They can have indicative,

imperative or subjunctive mood. Finite verbs can form
independent clauses, which can stand by their own as
complete sentences. -s-form and past form
base form finite (present tense but the 3rd person sg,
imperative, subjunctive)
non-finite (bare infinitive, to-infinitive)
-ed finite in past tense, non-finite after have and be

Verbal and non-verbal features

- verbal we canidentify aspect and voice
- non-verbal we cannot identify person, number, mood
and tense
Infinitive with and without to
- generally used with to
- without to:
after modal auxiliaries
object + infinitive without to (let, make, see, hear, feel,
watch, notice I made them give me money.)
after why (not) Why not take holidays?
When 2 inf. are joined by and, or, except, but, than, as,
like, the 2nd is without to
After do All I did was
Split infinitive
- a structure in which to is separated from the rest of the
infinitive by an adverb (He began to slowly get up off the
floor); informal, some consider it incorrect it is often
avoided
Subjective and objective infinitive
- To jump is fun. infinitive clause as subject
in modern English it is rather unusual, informal
often use preparatory it (To make mistakes is easy.
It is easy to make mistakes.)

I like to ski., She wants to dance. infinitive clause as

object
as complement after be (My ambition was to retire at
thirty.)
inf. with its own subject introduced by for (For Ann to go
to France would make me very happy.)

For + infinitive
for + noun/pronoun + infinitive used when infinitive
needs its own subject (Ann will be happy for the children
to help you. = The children will help); often the same
meaning as a that clause
adjective + for + object + infinitive after adj.
expressing wishes, personal feelings (anxious, eager,
willing, etc.)
it + adjective + for + object + infinitive adj.
expressing possibility, necessity, importance, etc. (It is
impossible/necessary/important for the meeting to start
at eight)
after something, anything, nothing (Have you got sth
for me to do?)
after verbs normally followed by for (ask, hope, wait,
look, pay, etc. Ann asked for the designs to be ready by
Friday.)
after too and enough (This is too heavy for you to lift.)
as subject or object (For us to fail now would be a
disaster.)
for there to be (Im anxious for there to be plenty of
time for discussion.)
-ing form
- use not only as verbs, but also like adjective (a
smoking cigarette end), adverb (She walked out of the
room smoking.), or noun (Smoking is bad for you.)
- used after all prepositions
Gerundial and participial uses
- when ing forms are used as verbs, adjectives or adverbs,
they are often called present participles

when they are used more like nouns, they are called
gerunds
grammarians try to avoid these terms the general term
is used (-ing form)
-ing forms can be used as modifiers before nouns
A waiting room (noun-like ing form gerund)
A waiting boy (adjective-like ing form participle)
not the same meaning

Verbs followed by the infinitive or ing form

- -ing forms admit, appreciate, avoid, burst out,
consider, contemplate, delay, deny, detest, dislike,
endure, enjoy, escape, excuse, face, fancy, feel like,
finish, forgive, give up, (cant) help, imagine, involve,
keep (on), leave of, mention, mind, miss, postpone,
practice, put off, resent, resist, risk, (cant) stand,
suggest, understand
- infinitives afford, agree, appear, arrange, ask,
attempt, (cant bear), beg, begin, care, choose, consent,
continue, dare, decide, expect, fail, forget, go on,
happen, hate, help, hesitate, hope, intend, learn, like,
love, manage, mean, neglect, offer, prefer, prepare,
pretend, promise, propose, refuse, regret, remember,
seem, start, swear, trouble, try, want, wish
- both there is often difference in meaning advise,
allow, permit, forbid (ing if there is no object I would not
advise taking the car.), go on (ing continue, inf. change
of activity), regret (ing refers back to the past, inf.
announcement of bad news), remember, forget (ing refers
back to the past, inf. refers forward in time), see, watch,
hear (ing actions already going on, inf. complete
actions), try (ing make an experiment, inf. making an
effort to do sth. difficult), cant bear, begin, continue, go,
intend, like, love, hate, prefer, propose, start, stop
-ed participle
- with auxiliary verbs be (passive forms) and have (perfect
forms)

can be used as adjective (a broken heart) when it is used

as gradable adjective, it can usually be modified by very (a
very frightened animal)
by is used after passive verbs to introduce agents
a few older forms still used as adjectives in certain
expressions (drunken driving, rotten fruit, shrunken head,
sunken ship)

Constructions with the ing form and the ed participle

participle + be/have progressive, perfect and passive
verb forms
participles used like adjectives interested (how
people feel) interesting (describing people or things that
cause the feelings), bored boring, excited exciting
in phrases with adverbs (a well-read person, a muchtravelled man), compound structures (quick-growing
trees)
can change meaning according to their position (a
concerned=worried expression the people concerned =
affected)
participles used like adverbs (She ran screaming out
of the room)
clause-like structures + other words participle
clauses
after nouns (We can offer you a job cleaning cars.),
many conjunctions and prepositions (after, before,
since, when, while, etc.), verbs of sensation (hear, feel,
watch) I saw a girl (object) standing in the pound.
adverbial clauses normally the subject is the same
as that in main clause (My wife had a long talk with Sally,
explaining why) if not, it is called misrelated
participle (Being French, it is surprising that she is such
a terrible cook.)
Finite and non-finite clauses
- finite clause clause whose verb element is finite (takes,
took, can work, has worked)
- non-finite clause clause whose verb element is nonfinite (to work, having woked, taken)

4 subclasses:
to-infinitive (The best thing would be to tell
everybody/for you to tell)
bare infinitive (All I did was hit him. Rather than you do
the job)
-ing participle (Leaving the room, he. Her aunt having
left the room,)
-ed participle (Covered with confusion, The discussion
completed, he)
absolute clauses have an overt subject, but are not
introduced by a subordinator; -ing (No further discussion
arising, the meeting), -ed (Lunch finished, the guests)
or verbless clauses (Christmas only days away, the
family)
attachment rule = when a verbless or a nonfinite
clause has no subject, for identifying it we assume that it is
identical to the subject of the subordinate clause (The
oranges, when (they are) ripe, are picked)
non-finite clauses as direct object
She prefers to go by bus. (decide, dislike, forget)
wh-infinitive clause
They discovered how to isolate it. (explain, learn,
see) subjectless inf.
They like talking about it. (cant bear, dislike, enjoy)
subjectless -ing
He wants you to stand for election. (wish) to-inf.
clause with subject
I hate them gossiping about our colleagues. - -ing
participle with subject
direct object + to-infinitive clause (The police
reported the traffic to be heavy.)
direct object + bare infinitive clause have, let,
make (They had me repeat the message.)
direct object + -ing clause perceptual (feel, hear,
see), encounter (leave, catch, find), causative (have, get)
can never take genitive case (I saw him lying on the
beach. not I saw his lying on the beach.)

 indirect directives advise, command, instruct, order,

remind, etc. (I persuaded Mark to see a doctor)
Infinitive clauses with quasi-subject
Im eager for them (quasi-subject) to meet her.
Quasi-subject with the ing form
I object to Jeremys/ him (quasi-subject) receiving an invitation
11) Prepositions, prepositional phrases, morphological
and semantic classificaion; syntactic functions of
prepositional phrases, deferred prepositions, problems for
Slovak learners
-

prepositions are a closed class of items connecting two

units in a sentence and specifying a relationship between
them
prepositional phrases are constructions consisting of a
preposition and an object to the preposition (its
complement usually a noun phrase, occasionally an
adjective or an adverb) at + the cinema

Syntactic functions of prepositional phrases

1. postmodifier in a noun phrase (I saw a woman
with an umbrella)
2. adverbial:
a) adjunct (He didnt get home until two
oclock.)
b) disjunct (Much to my surprise, they offered
me the job.)
c) conjunct (I know this job of mine isnt well
paid, but on the other hand I dont have to
work long hours.)
3. complementation of a verb (I have nothing to say
to you about it.)
4. complementation of an adjective (Is he popular
with his students?)

Simple and complex prepositions

- the commonest prepositions monosyllabic items (at,
for, in, on, to, with) typically unstressed with reduced
vowel
- polysyllabic prepositions (inside, within, during, despite,
except)
- the number of prepositions has increased by combining
prepositions with other words complex prepositions
- two main types of complex prepositions:
a simple preposition preceded by a participle,
adjective, adverb, or conjunction (owing to, devoid of,
away from, because of)
a simple preposition followed by a noun and then a
further simple preposition (in charge of, by means of,
in addition to, as a result of)
Prepositional meanings
space
prepositions are contrasted as positive or negative
(such that off means not on)
between the notions of direction (movement with
respect to an intended location) and simple position
(static location) there is a cause-and-effect relation He
went to the station as a result: He is at the station
we have three dimension types prepositions which
refer to a point
to a line or surface
to an area or volume
relative position indicate the position of something
relative to the position of something else (The police
station is opposite my house) in front of, behind,
below, above, between, among
notions of passage combines position and motion,
disregarding destination (I love walking through woods in
spring) prepositions used for passage by, over,
across, under, past, through
time

time position answering the question When? (at

points of time, on referring to days , in time as a period)
time duration answering the question How long?
(for, throughout, all through, during, over, from-to =
for, between-and = during)
duration specifying only a starting point or o
terminal point by, before, from, after, since, till,
until, up to
cause purpose (because of, for, on account of, at, from)
means, instrument (by, with, without, like, as)
accompaniment (with, in company of, without)
support and opposition (for, with, against)
having (of, with, without)
concession (in spite of, despite, notwithstanding, for + all)
exception and addition (except for, apart from, except,
but, with the exception of, besides, as well as)

Modification
- prepositions and prepositional adverbs can be modified in terms
of measure and degree by means of intensifiers : She arrived
(shortly) after. He wanted to be (well) ahead but finished (just)
behind.
- Modification can apply just to the preposition (the examples
above), or to the entire prepositional phrase : Right in the
middle.
Prepositional phrase
- Prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and a phrase
(prepositional complement/object). This phrase can be :
Drink (verb phrase) out of a cup (prepositional phrase)
Grateful (adjective phrase) for the help (prepositional
phrase)
Man (NP) in the raincoat (prepositional phrase)
wh-clause
- Prepositional phrases can work as adverbials : In a few minutes
we will know that.
- syntactic function of PrepP :
postmodifier in a NP (I saw a man with an umbrella)

adverbial : adjunct (He didnt come till 2 oclock

time/space), disjunct (Much to my surprise, they offered it
to her. attitude/judgment), conjunct (on the one hand,
however... sentence connecters )
complementation of a verb (I have nothing to say to you
about it)
complementation of an adjective (Is he popular with his
students?)

Deferred prepositions
- though
prepositions
normally
precede
their
complements, there are circumstances in which this
cannot happen:
where the subject of a passive construction
correspond to the prepositional complement in the
active analogue (We have paid for the car The car
has been paid for.)
where the prepositional complement is thematized in
sentences with infinitive or ing clauses (It is
unpleasant to work with that man That man is
unpleasant to work with. / It is not worth listening to
his advice. His advice is not worth listening to.)
Problems for Slovak learners
- only one Slovak preposition is sometimes equivalent to 8
different prepositions and also some adverb
- a lot of mistakes have been recorded where the so-called
seeming equivalents (zdanliv ekvivalenty) were used
instead of those required by the English system
- Slovak learners have problems with the three basic
prepositions at, on and in
- Seeming equivalents : it is when you say in is v in Slovak.
This can be true, but the use in English can be different and then
someone who took you for your word can use this seeming
equivalent incorrectly. Seeming equivalents are : at (pri), on (na),
in (v).
- Sometimes Slovak uses prepositions where EN does not : join
the army, beg someones pardon, marry someone, talk politics,
climb the tree.

- Theres no way to logically guess which preposition should be

used with an word. It might be useful to learn the combinations :
To : alternative to, conformity to, victim to
For : famous for, desire for...
In : exam in, interested in...
On : congratulate on, lecture on...
About : comment about...
Over : control over...
From : letter from someone...

12) Conjuctions coordinators and subordinators,

morphological classificaion
Syndetic, asyndetic, and polysyndetic coordination
- Conjunct = an adverb or adverbial (as so, in addition, however,
secondly) that indicates the speaker's or writer's assessment of
the connection between linguistic units (such as clause
elements). Conjunction = an uninflected linguistic form that joins
together sentences, clauses, phrases, or words
- Syndetic coordination uses coordinating conjunction (or more
simply : coordinator), such as : and, or, but.
- In asyndetic coordination, coordinator is not present but can be
inserted : Slowly, stealthily, he crept out (asyndetic) > Slowly
and stealthily he crept out (syndetic).
- If there are more than two units, we usually put the coordinator
between the last two units : The wind roared, the lightning
flashed, and the clouds raced across the sky.
- Polysyndetic coordination puts the coordinator after each unit :
The wind roared, and the lightning flashed, and the clouds raced
across the sky.
Coordination and subordination
- Coordination = linking of units which are on the same syntactic
level. The units could stand as an independent sentence : They
are my neighbors, but I dont know them well. Coordinators =
and, or, but.

- Subordination = linking of units of which one is more

prominent/important : I dont know where they are staying.
Subordinators = as, that, though, moreover...
- The same idea can be expressed using sub/coordination : He
tried hard, but he failed (coordination) vs. He tried hard,
although he failed.
Coordinators
- Coordinators, subordinators and conjuncts are called linkers.
- Central coordinators = and and or. But differs in certain
aspects.
- Syntactic features of coordinators : (Note that note all of them
apply to all coordinators. These features apply all to the central
coordinators or and and)
Clause coordinators are restricted to clause-initial position.
(This is true also of subordinators. Only 3 subordinators can
occur non-initially : as, though, that)
Coordinated clauses are sequentially fixed : you cannot
change this sentence : They are living in UK, or they are
spending a vacation there. so that it looks like : Or they
are spending a vacation there, they are living in England *.
(The clause is fixed in relation to the previous clause.). This
is true also for conjuncts. But subordinators allow this
switch (exceptions are for and that) : Although Mary
wanted it, John gave it away > John gave it away,
although Mary wanted it.
Coordinators are not preceded by a conjunction.
Subordinators and conjuncts can be preceded by them :
He was unhappy, and yet he did it.
Coordinators and, but, or can link clause constituents = this
means that coordinators can connect units smaller than a
clause : I may see you tomorrow or may phone later.Most
of the other linkers cannot do this, with the exception of
yet, so, then.
Coordinators can link subordinate clauses
Coordinators can link more than two clauses : He asked to
be transferred, because he was unhappy and because he
saw no prospect of promotion.

Coordinators can link more than two clauses we call it

multiple coordination : The battery might be dead, the
mains can be off, or the bulb may be faulty.

Coordination of clauses and lesser constituents

- coordinators can link elements lesser than a clause : The
weather will be cold and cloudy.
- but can be replaced by : yet and if : The room was cozy if
a little cold.
Uses of coordinators
And
- expresses a relation between the contents of the linked clauses.
The relation can be made explicit by the addition of an adverbial
(in parentheses) :
The event in the second clause is chronologically sequent
to the first : I washed the dishes and (then) dried them.
The event in the second clause is a consequence of the
first : He heard an explosion and he (therefore) phoned the
police.
The second clause introduces contrast : Peter is secretive
and (in contrast) David is open.
The first clause has concessive force : She tried hard and
(yet) she failed
The first clause is a condition : Gimme some money and
(then) Ill do the shopping.
The second clause makes a point similar to the first :
Physics should be no problem, and (similarly) history could
be easily arranged.
The second clause is a pure addition to the first : He has a
long hair and (also) he often wears jeans.
The second clause adds a comment : They disliked him
and thats not surprising in view of his behavior.
Or
- is exclusive offers one possibility which excludes the other one.
The exclusive meaning can be strengthened by conjuncts else
or alternatively. Or{ remains exclusive even if it is clear from
the context that one possibility doesnt exclude the other

possibility : You can boil yourself an egg or (else) you can make
some sandwiches.
- or can be inclusive when you indicate it in a third clause : You
can boil yourself an egg, or you can make some sandwiches, or
you can do both.
- corrective function : He loves me, or (at least) he appears to
love me.
- negative condition : Switch on the radio or we will miss the
news.
- or can be equivalent to and in negative sentences : He
doesnt have long hair or wear jeans.
But
- expresses a contrast. It can be replaced by and yet : He is
poor, and yet he is happy.
- expresses in positive terms what the negation in the first clause
conveys : She didnt waste her time, but (on the contrary)
studied hard.
Correlatives
Either... or/neither... nor
- Either...or/both...and/neither...nor. The first item is called an
endorsing item and the second is a coordinator.
- Either expresses the exclusive meaning of or.
- Neither...nor is a negative counterpart of both...and. It
emphasizes the negation of both units.
- When either...or is within the scope of negation, it is
equivalent to neither...nor : He hasnt met either me or my
mother. = He has met neither me nor my mother.
- In written (formal) English we prefer putting either first rather
than in the central position : Either she is stupid or she pretends
to be. (rather than : She is either stupid or pretends to be.)
- When followed by a subject-operator inversion (do I instead of
I do) nor and neither can be used separately, not forming a
correlative pair. The previous clause needs to be negative
explicitly (He didnt do it, neither did he want to.) or implicitly
(All the students were unhappy. Nor were the teachers pleased.)
Both... and

- Both emphasizes the additive meaning of and : He both loves

her and wants to marry her.
- Correlatives are not used to link more than 2 elements : ??? We
were both willing, able, and ready to do it???

Not only... but

- Not only did they break into his office, but also stole his books.
This is inversed form. Non-inversed form can be used, too, but it
is less dramatic : They not only broke into...

Simple coordination
- Is a coordination in which single clause/clause constituent are
linked to others that are parallel in meaning/function/form. The
coordinated units are conjoins and the result is a conjoint.
Coordination analysis
- There are two ways to analyze simple coordination :
He has cleaned the house and mowed the lawn.
1) elliptical analysis : He = subject, has = verb. Both subject
and verb are ellipted from the second clause.
2) single-clause analysis : two coordinated verbs : He has
[[cleaned the house] and [mowed the lawn]]. This one is simpler
and preferred.
Types of single coordination
- coordination of clauses : I didnt know who she was or what she
wanted.
- coordination of predicates and predications : the same subject is
shared but theres a different verb : They were married in 1960,
but divorced in 1970.
- coordination and the scope of adverbials : Yesterday [the sun
was warm] and [melted the ice]. The meaning of adverbial
covers the entire sentence.
Coordination of NPs and their constituents
- Subject coordination : Some of the staff and all students joined
in
- Object coordination : They keep sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens.
- Combinatory and segregatory coordination of NPs :

segregatory = He and she know the answer = he knows

the answer and she knows the answer.
Combinatory : He and she make a pleasant couple = they
together make a couple, not he makes a couple* and she
makes a couple*.
But many times it is ambiguous and not possible to decide
whether the coordination is segregatory/combinatory :
John and Mary won a prize.
Indicators of segregatory meaning are : both...and,
neither...nor, each, respectively, apiece

Coordination within NPs

- if the heads are coordinates, the usual interpretation is that the
determiner, premodifier and postmodifier apply to each of the
conjoins : some pigs and cows from our farm = some pigs from
our farm and some cows from our farm.
- modifiers can be coordinated as well. If their meaning is
mutually exclusive the coordination is segregatory : old & new
furniture = old furniture and new furniture. Exception to this are
colors and singular count noun : a dishonest and lazy student =
1 person.
Coordination of other constituents
- verb phrases : Good cooking can disguise, but cannot improve
the quality.
- main verbs : Many people were killed and ijured.
- auxiliaries : The country can and must fight.
- adjectives : The journey was long and arduous.
- adverbs : She made it quietly but very confidently.
- prepositions and prepositional phrases : She climbed up and
over the wall.
- subordinators : I dont know where and when that happened.
- binominals = set coordinated phrases : big and ugly, cup and
saucer, ladies and gentlemen, odds and ends, by hook or by
crook, law and order... word order in these is important we
never say gentlemen and ladies.
Complex coordination
- conjoins are combinations of units rather than single units. It
requires some premeditation and therefore is more common in

written English : Richard admires, though Margaret despises, this

program.
He is even if people think he is not a major
composer.
- Gapping = a medial ellipsis in complex coordination : One girl
has written a poem, and the other (has written) a short story.
He finished in 5 minutes and I in 7.
Appended coordination
- is typical for informal speech and involves ellipsis that is
appended to a previous clause : My dad plays tennis, and
sometime even badminton.
Pseudo coordination
- typical for informal speech. In this coordination and is used
instead of a proper grammatical phenomenon : Ill try and come
tomorrow (to come) They sat and talked about the old times
(sat talking).
- when the same comparative form is coordinated it inspires the
notion of increasing : She grew more and more angry.
He
talked and talked.
- coordination of the same noun expresses a different kind :
There are teachers and teachers.
- 3 or more identical nouns in coordination indicate a large
number : We saw dogs and dogs and dogs all over the place.
Quasi-coordination
- quasi-coordinators : as well as, as much as, rather than, more
than : She publishes as well as prints her books.
Indicators of subordination
- the signal of subordination can be of various kinds : a-wh
element, that, subject-operator inversion. or the absence of a
finite verb.
- subordinators = subordinating conjunctions :
Single-word subordinators : after, although, as, before,
directly, for, if, immediately, like, lest, since, whereas,
when, whenever...
Multi-word subordinators : ending with that (but that, in
order that, in that, in the event that...), ending with
optional that (assuming, considering, excepting, give,

granted...), ending with as (as far as, as soon as, inasmuch

as, insofar as, insomuch as...), others (as if, as though, in
case...)
Correlative
subordinators
:
as...so,
as/so/suchas,
less/more...than,
no
sooner...than,
hardly/barely/scarely...when, the...the, whether/if...or
Marginal subordinators : adverb+subordinator (even if, if
only...), temporal NPs (every time, the moment...),
prepositional phrases ending in the fact that (in spite of
the fact that, because of the fact that...).
- The indicators to follow are not subordinators but they indicate
subordination, too : wh-elements, that, had (i known that), were(I
to ask you), should (you meet him), fronting with as/though
(Eloquent though she was, she couldnt persuade him).

13) The sentences and the clause, characteristic features,

means of connecting lower elements (words, phrases,
etc.) into higher elements (sentences)
Sentence
A sentence is a group of words, usually containing a verb, which
expresses a thought in the form of a statement, question,
instruction or exclamation and starts with a capital letter when
written:
A sentence consists of one or more clauses. Clause =
veta/vedlajsia veta.
1 clause : On his arrival at the library, Peter saw an old woman in
a bright red dress. (1 verb)
2 clauses : When he entered the library, Peter saw an old woman
in a brigh red dress. (2 verbs)
Clause
A clause usually has a subject (podmet) and a predicator
(prisudok). These are called clause elements.
Peter saw an old woman in a bright red dress.
Peter = subject

saw an old woman in a bright red dress = predicator (we dont

need to say predicator all the time we can call it verb, too)
These words in the predicator part are connected to one another
and we call it a phrase or a group of words.
A sentence which contains a predicator and a subject is a clause.
However there are more clause elements : subject, predicator (we
also call it a verb because in EN a verb is always used in this
element), object (predmet), complement, adverbial.
Clause Elements
A sentence which contains a predicator and a subject is a clause.
However there are more clause elements : subject, predicator (we
also call it a verb because in EN a verb is always used in this
element), object (predmet), complement, adverbial.
Clause types
SV
SVO (The lecture bored me)
SVC (The dinner seems ready)
SVA (My office is in the next building)
SVOO (I must send them this letter)
SVOA (You can puti it on the table)
Phrases
A phrase is a bunch of words that are connected to one another. A
clause element is usually realized by a phrase or several phrases.
In a phrase one word is usually dominant and determines the use
of the phrase. This dominant word is called the head. If there is
only one word in a phrase its the head. According to whether
the head is a verb, an adjective, a noun, or an adverb, we have
noun, verb, adjective, adverb phrases. Elements that precede the
head are called modifiers (or premodifiers). The words that follow
the head are called quantifiers (or postmodifiers).
John came late consists of the subject, the predicator, and the
adverbial. It has 3 phrases. We can extend these phrases :
Words

Sentences consist of words. A word is something that (in written

form) is separated by space (in speech, when pronouncing
carefully theres a short pause between them). All the subheadings that follow deal with words and word properties and
divisions and other idiotic linguistic phenomena :
Word Classes
Noun, verb, modal verb (might, can), adjective, preposition,
interjection (citoslovce), adverbial, determiner (some, a, the),
numeral, pronoun (she, they), conjunction (and, while)
Lexicon = vocabulary of a language. It would be difficult to study
each item in it separately (it can have over 100 000 items) and
therefore we have word classes: its a division of words into
certain groups with similar features. But because of the great
variety of words not all the grammatical features in one group are
the same. We have major classes and subclasses.
And why do we create all these classes and subclasses? Its
because it helps us talk about the language (make simple
statements).
Paradigmatical level / Syntagmatic level
Paradigmatic lvl - Is a set of forms the word may assume. The
words are paradigmatically connected if they can be replaced
in a certain context. For example: The ... can be
changed here you can put many words that would fit in the
gap - thats the paradigmatic level.
Items that can be used in the same frame are paradigmatically
connected.
Syntagmatic lvl - Is how words can combine with each other. E.g.:
Nouns can be preceded by adjectives, determiners, prepositions

Words that can combine together are syntagmatically

connected.

the placing of the operator immediately in

front of the subject:
Will John speak to the boss today?
the initial positioning of an nterrogative or whelement:
Who will you speak to?
rising intonation (occasionally without
inversion):
You will speak to the BSS? (we are
expecting positive answer)
- to gain some info, answer
o declarative sentences statements are sentences
in which the subject is always present and generally
precedes the verb
John will speak to the boss today.
- info is presented as a fact
- intonation is falling in the end of the clause, melody

Vertical (paradigmatic) relation

The ................ will be good.

(............... = all nouns)
A black cat caught a mouse.

imperative sentences commands are sentences

which normally have no overt grammatical subject,
whose verb is in imperative mood (2nd p. Sg most
frequent type)
Speak to the boss today.
- can be stressed with DO: 2 meanings: 1)Do sit
down! -more polite(self benefit)
2)Do go out!
less polite than Go out!
o exclamatory sentences exclamations are
sentences which have an initial phrase introduced by
what or how, without inversion of subject and
operator
- What a beautiful weather!
- unfinished sentences usually
o

Horizontal (syntagmatic) relation

14) Classification of sentences declarative, interrogative,

imperative and exclamatory; positive and negative;
assertive and non-assertive
-

simple sentences may be divided into four major

syntactic classes, each with different communicative
functions:
o interrogative sentences questions are
sentences of some typical features

Questions
- can be divide into three major classes according to the type
of answer they expect:
o

yes no questions expect only affirmation or

rejection

they are usually formed by placing the

operator before the subject and giving the
sentence a rising intonation (Has the boat
LFT?)
if there is no item in the verb phrase that can
function as operator, do is introduced as with
negation (Does he like Mary?)
as with negation, lexical be acts as operator
(Was John late?)
tag questions consits of operator plus
pronoun, with or wihtout a negative particle,
the choice and tense of th operator are
determined by the verb phrase in the
superordinate clause (The boat hasnt left,
has it?)
if the superordinate question is positive,
the tag is negative, and vice versa
there are four types of them

wh-questions contain one of th einterrogative

words: who/whom/whose, what, which, when, where,
how, why
the Question-element comes first in the
sentence
the Q-word itself takes first position in the Qelement (there is one exception when the Qword occurs in prepositional complement
there is choice between two construction
one more formal other one less formal:
On what did you bas your prediction? (formal)
What did you base your prediction on?
Q-element can operate in various clause
functions:
Who opened my LTter? (Q-element: S)
Which books have you LNT him? (Q-element:
Od)
Whose beautiful anTQUES are these? (Qelement: Co)

alternative questions two types first resembling

yes-no question, second one a wh-question:
first type differs from yes-no question in
intonation, there is rise not only on the final
word (Shall we go by BS OR TRAN? By BS.)
second type a wh-question followed by an
elliptical alternative question of the first type.
(Are you CMING OR NT?)

minor types of question

exclamatory question: question in its form,
but functions like an exclamation (Hasnt she
GRWN!)
rhetorical question functions as a forceful
statement
positive Is that a reason for desPIR?
(Surely that is not a reason)

RISING TONE
FALLING TONE
I.He likes his JB,
III.He

Positive + negative
likes his JB,

DESnt he?

DESN

T he?
Negative + positive
doesnt like his

II.He doesnt like his JB, IV.He

DES he?

JB, DES he?

I. positive assumption +neutral expectation II. negative

assumption+ neutral expectation
III. positive assumption + positive expectation IV. negative
assumption + negative expectation

declarative questions an exceptional type of

yes-no question identical in form to a
statemenet, except for the final rising
question intonation:
Youve got the exPLSIVE?
Boris will be THRE, I suppose?


Commands

commands without subject

- most common category of command, is different form a
statement because:
o it has no subject
o it has an imperative finite verb
e.g. Jump., Be reasonable., Put it on the table.
- the imperative verb is restricted as to tense, aspect, voice
and modality, there is on tense distinction or perfect aspect
- no modal auxiliaries occur in imperative sentences
- the can be marked politeness by word such as please
-

non-assertive forms where necessary (Open some windows.

Dont open any windows.)

negative Is no one going to deFND

me? (Surely someone is)

commands with a subject

in the meaning of the command is implied that the
omitted subject of the imperative verb is the 2nd person
pronoun you, it is confirmed by the occurrence of you as
subject of a following tag question and by the occurrence of
yourself as object
o
commands with retained subject you which always
carries the stress (You be quiet!), these are usually of
admonitory tone, frequently express strong irritation; in
other way, they are used to point out two or more distinct
addressees (You come here, Jack, and you go over there,
Mary.)
o
in these commands it is easy to confuse the subject
with a vocative noun phrase, but subject always precedes
the verb, the vocative can occur in final and medial, as well
as in the initial positions in the sentence
o

commands with let first person imperatives can be

formed by preposing the verb let, followed by a subject in the
objective case (Let us all work hard, Let me have a look.)

negative commands to negate 2nd and 3rd person

imperatives, one adds an initial Dont, replacing assertive by

persuasive imperatives is created by the addition of do

before the main verb (Do have some more sherry.)

Exclamations
-

exclamatory utterances introduced by what or how, which

express an extreme degree of some variable factor (How
beautiful!)
include exclamatory wh-element = X-element, which is put
into initial prominent position
X-element as subject: What an enormous crowd came!
X-element as object: What a time weve had today!
X-element as complement: How delightful her manners are!

Positive orientation of a sentence:

- a sentence has positive orientation if it contains assertive
forms (some, someone)
Negative orientation of a sentence:
- if sentence contains a negative form of some kind (any,
not, no one)
- express disappointment or annoyance
Assertive and non-assertive:
- assertive items are formal signals of positive orientation
some, someone, somewhere, somehow, sometime, some
extent, already, too, great deal
- non-assertive items occur mainly in negative,
interrogative and conditional clauses any, anyone,
anywhere, any way, never, rarely, yet, either, any longer
- half way between positive and negative meaning: UNTILL
Formulae (irregular sentences)
-

greeting formulae How do you do?

wh- questions without an auxiliary why (+not) +

predication Why get so upset?
verbless imperatives Off with the lid! Out with it!
exclamatory types To think I was once millionaire! Now
for some fun!
sentences which contain elements no longer
productive in present-day English the subjunctive
with an inversion Far be it form me to
may + subject + predication May you be happy!

NEGATION:
- in SVK multiple negation
- all words that can be negated within one sentence are
negated:
- Nikdy som ni tak nevidel.
- but in English - only 1 negation
- when 2 negatives are used = positive meaning
- You can't not go to that funeral. = You must go there...
- It is possible to use NOT with an element, although DO is
not used but NOT doesn't negate the whole sentence: I
want NOT this but that.

15) Simple, compound and complex sentences; minor

sentence types; types of clause structure
The simple sentence
- consists of a single independent clause (may be of 7
types SV, SVO, etc.)
- it needs to have a subject and a verb
The complex sentence
- has one main clause and one or more subordinate
clause
- the main clause is superordinate to the subordinate that
it contains
- matrix clause superordinate clause minus its subordinate
clause (only the main clause)

The compound sentence

- can have several main clauses, each may include one or
more subordinate clauses, each of which may in turn
include subordinate clauses
COORDINATION
Syndetic, asyndetic, and polysyndetic coordination
- Conjunct = an adverb or adverbial (as so, in addition, however,
secondly) that indicates the speaker's or writer's assessment of
the connection between linguistic units (such as clause
elements). Conjunction = an uninflected linguistic form that joins
together sentences, clauses, phrases, or words
- Syndetic coordination uses coordinating conjunction (or more
simply : coordinator), such as : and, or, but.
- In asyndetic coordination, coordinator is not present but can be
inserted : Slowly, stealthily, he crept out (asyndetic) > Slowly
and stealthily he crept out (syndetic).
- If there are more than two units, we usually put the coordinator
between the last two units : The wind roared, the lightning
flashed, and the clouds raced across the sky.
- Polysyndetic coordination puts the coordinator after each unit :
The wind roared, and the lightning flashed, and the clouds raced
across the sky.
Coordination and subordination
- Coordination = linking of units which are on the same syntactic
level. The units could stand as an independent sentence : They
are my neighbors, but I dont know them well. Coordinators =
and, or, but.
- Subordination = linking of units of which one is more
prominent/important : I dont know where they are staying.
Subordinators = as, that, though, moreover...
- The same idea can be expressed using sub/coordination : He
tried hard, but he failed (coordination) vs. He tried hard,
although he failed.
Coordinators
- Coordinators, subordinators and conjuncts are called linkers.

- Central coordinators = and and or. But differs in certain

aspects.
- Syntactic features of coordinators : (Note that note all of them
apply to all coordinators. These features apply all to the central
coordinators or and and)
Clause coordinators are restricted to clause-initial position.
Only 3 subordinators can occur non-initially : as, though,
that
Coordinated clauses are sequentially fixed : you cannot
change this sentence : They are living in UK, or they are
spending a vacation there. so that it looks like : Or they
are spending a vacation there, they are living in England *.
But subordinators allow this switch : Although Mary
wanted it, John gave it away > John gave it away,
although Mary wanted it.
Coordinators are not preceded by a conjunction.
Subordinators can be preceded by them : He was
unhappy, and yet he did it.
Coordinators and, but, or can link clause constituents = this
means that coordinators can connect units smaller than a
clause : I may see you tomorrow or may phone later.Most
of the other linkers cannot do this, with the exception of
yet, so, then.
Coordinators can link subordinate clauses
Coordinators can link more than two clauses : He asked to
be transferred, because he was unhappy and because he
saw no prospect of promotion.
Coordinators can link more than two clauses we call it
multiple coordination : The battery might be dead, the
mains can be off, or the bulb may be faulty.
Simple coordination
- Is a coordination in which single clause/clause constituent are
linked to others that are parallel in meaning/function/form. The
coordinated units are conjoins and the result is a conjoint.
Complex coordination
- conjoins are combinations of units rather than single units. It
requires some premeditation and therefore is more common in
written English : Richard admires, though Margaret despises, this

program. He is even if people think he is not a major

composer.
- Gapping = a medial ellipsis in complex coordination : One girl
has written a poem, and the other (has written) a short story.
He finished in 5 minutes and I in 7.
Appended coordination
- is typical for informal speech and involves ellipsis that is
appended to a previous clause : My dad plays tennis, and
sometime even badminton.
Pseudo coordination
- typical for informal speech. In this coordination and is used
instead of a proper grammatical phenomenon : Ill try and come
tomorrow (to come) They sat and talked about the old times
(sat talking).
- when the same comparative form is coordinated it inspires the
notion of increasing : She grew more and more angry. He
talked and talked.
- coordination of the same noun expresses a different kind :
There are teachers and teachers.
- 3 or more identical nouns in coordination indicate a large
number : We saw dogs and dogs and dogs all over the place.
Quasi-coordination
- quasi-coordinators : as well as, as much as, rather than, more
than : She publishes as well as prints her books.
Subordinate clause
- cannot stand alone as a sentence
- does not express a complete thought; therefore, it is
usually attached to an main clause
- 4 major classes nominal, adverbial, relative,
comparative
Syntactic functions
- subordinate clauses may function as subject, object,
complement or adverbial in a superordinate clause

in addition, they may function within these elements

postmodifier in a NP (few sportsmen retained the weight
they had gained before), prepositional complements (it
depends on what we decide) or adjectival complementation
(we are happy to see you)

Nominal clauses
- function as subject, object, complement, appositive and
prepositional complement
- rarer than NPs because they are semantically abstract
nominal that-clauses I noticed he spoke English. We
are glad that you are here. That the invading troops have
been withdrawn is news for me.
when it is direct object, complement or extraposed
(extraposition = subject is postponed until the end of the
sentence, comes after the verb) that is frequently omitted
leaving a zero that-clause (except in formal use) Its a
pity (that) you dont know Russian.
nominal wh-interrogative clauses I cant imagine
what they want. The problem is who will water my plants.
leave a gap of unknown info
nominal yes-no (introduced by whether, if) and
alternative clauses (introduced by whetheror, ifor)
Do you know if the bank is open? They didnt say whether it
will rain or whether it will be sunny. He didnt tell us whether
to wait or go on without him.
if cannot introduce a subject clause/to-infinitive clause
(Whether she likes the present is not clear to me. I dont
know whether to see my doctor)
nominal exclamative clauses Its incredible how fast
she can run. I remember what a good time I had at your
party
nominal relative clauses introduced by wh-element
that may express specific (without ever) or nonspecific
meaning (with ever) April is when the flowers bloom.
You can call me whatever you like.
nominal to-infinitive clauses He likes to relax. The best
excuse is to say that you have an exam tomorrow.

nominal ing clauses Watching TV keeps them out of

mischief. He enjoys playing practical jokes. Her first job had
been selling computers.
nominal bare infinitive clauses Turn of the tap was all I
did. They made her pay for the damage. She did everything
but make her bed.
nominal verbless clauses A friend in need is a friend
indeed.
Adverbial clauses
- function mainly as adjuncts and disjuncts
clauses of time introduced by subordinators such as
after, as, once, since, until, when, while, etc. (Buy the
ticket as soon as you reach the station.)
clauses of place introduced by where and wherever
(Where the fire had been, we saw nothing but blackened
ruins.)
indicates position, direction
archaic forms whence (from where), whither (to where)
clauses of condition they convey a direct condition
the situation in the matrix clause is directly dependant on
the situation in the conditional sentence (If you put the baby
down, she will scream.)
indirect condition the condition is not related to the
situation in the matrix clause (His style is florid, if thats
the right word.)
subordinators if, unless, given, on condition,
provided, supposing
can be open (leave unresolved the question of
fulfillment/nonfulfilment If he is in London, he is
undoubtedly staying at the Hilton.), hypothetical (speaker
s believe about nonfulfilment If he changed his
manners, hed be more pleasant.) or rhetorical (If they
are Irish, I am the Pope.)

clauses
of
concession

introduced
by
although/though, while, whereas, even if, etc. (No goal
were scored, although it was an exciting game.)

clauses of contrast introduced by whereas, while,

whilst, in contrast, by contrast (She teaches German,
whilst he teaches English.)
reason clauses relationship of cause and effect, reason
and consequence (I watered the flowers because they were
dry.)
introduced by as, for, because, since

Relative clauses
- refer back to predicate or predication of a clause or to the
whole sentence or even to a series of sentences (Things
then improved, which surprised me. He says he plays
truant, which he doesnt.)
Comparative clauses
- the proposition in the matrix clause is compared with the
proposition in the subordinate clause
- comparison includes comparisons of equivalence (asas),
nonequivalence (healthier than), sufficiency (he is
sensitive enough to understand) and excess (She was too
polite to ask.)
- comparative element can function as any of the clause
element apart from the verb
- ellipsis occur when two elements are repeated
ambiguity through ellipsis (He loves his dog more than
his children. = they or them)
- He is more relaxed than he used to be. She knows more
about the history than I do. More people use this brand
than any other.
Verbless clauses
- an elliptical clause structure without a verb
- are usually independent (Charming couple. Sorry.)
- can usually be expanded to a full clause by filling in a form
of the verb be
- tend to function either as an adverbial or as a free
predicative.
- E.g. When in Rome, do as the Romans. Whatever their
faults, they are not hypocrites. He drove on, wary and

shaken. (cf. when you are in Rome; whatever their faults

may be; and he was wary and shaken.)
Clause types
SV
SVO (The lecture bored me)
SVC (The dinner seems ready)
SVA (My office is in the next building)
SVOO (I must send them this letter)
SVOA (You can puti it on the table)

Cleft sentences
- Cleft sentences are sentences where prominence of one element
(we want to highlight this element) is achieved by means of
dividing the sentence into two clauses, each with its own verb :
- It is his callousness that I shall ignore
- What I shall ignore is his callousness
- His callousness is something I shall ignore...
- In a sentence, more elements can be emphasized : He wore a
white suit at the party. > I was a white suit John wore... or >
It was John who wore... or > It was last night that John...
- With prepositions, there are two possibilities : It was me he
gave it to / It was to me he gave it.
- Cleft sentences are divided into cleft sentences proper and
pseudo-cleft sentences.
Pseudo-cleft sentences are kind of cleft sentences in which the
subordinated clause is a relative clause (relative clause = clause
describing the referent of a head noun/pronoun) headed by an
interrogative pro-form(what mostly). In English they are of form :
wh-relative clause + be + X, where X can be a constituent of
many varieties. Pseudo-cleft sentence = What I gave her were
flowers. /What I wanted was this.
So called inverted pseudo-cleft sentence is = Flowers were
what I gave her./ This was what I wanted.

Existential sentences
- Normally, a sentence starts with something we know and then it
proceeds to give us the new information. There are some
situations, though, where the theme is entirely new. In such
circumstances we introduce a kind of dummy theme: There is, We
have, One finds... These constructions are known as existential
sentences. The most common is unstressed There + be.
- Block language doesnt have to use existential sentences. They
only say: DANGER!
- It can serve the same purpose as there in existential
sentence.
Existential there
- There in existential clauses is the grammatical subject. The
subject of the clause before adding there to it is the notional
subject.: Something (=subject) is wrong. There (=grammatical
subject) is something (=notional subject) wrong.
- Existential there-sentences:
SV: There was no-one waiting.
SVC: There must be something wrong
SVA: Was there anyone in the vicinity
SVO: There are plenty of people getting promotion
SVOC: There have been 2 bulldozers knocking the place flat
SVOA: Theres a girl putting the cattle on
passive constructions are allowed: There was a whole box
stolen.
- Existential sentences can be postponed if necessary: There was
in the vicinity a helpful doctor.
- There
follows the operator in yes-no questions and tag questions:
Is there any more soup?
It can be a subject in ing-clauses: He was disappointed at
there being so little to do.
has no locative function (describing the position) and
therefore can be form combinations such as: Theres a
screwdriver here. We need to differentiate between thereadjunct & existential-there. There-adjunct cannot form
combinations with other locatives: Theres the screwdriver
here*

Existential sentences with relative clauses

- There + be + NP + relative clause: There are 2 students
that/who would like to see you.
- The relative pronoun can be omitted.
- This construction is similar to cleft-sentences, where 2 tenses
can occur as well: There are some planets that were discovered
by the ancients.
- In negative it emphasizes the negativity: Theres nothing I can
do about it.
Existential sentences with verbs other than be
- There exists..., There may come..., There must..., Not long ago,
there occurred..., Will there come a time...
- Verbs that can replace be must be: verbs of motion (arrive,
enter, pass...), verbs of inception (emerge, spring up...) verbs of
stance (live, remain, stand. lie...) and the basic sentence pattern
is SVA: There occurred a shift in public taste.
Existential sentences with initial space adjuncts
- In the garden there was a tree. there can be left out: In
the garden was a tree. In the back of his stastionary car had
collided a massive goods vehicle. In the garden lay my father
asleep.
- So when you use there construction it has a presentative
character, while when you omit theres end focus.
The have-existential device
- Some existential sentences can have other than there
existential element. This element can be have: My coat has 2
buttons missing. Thus we can form a sentence My friend had a
watch stolen which has no causative meaning, but it means that
someone stole his watch

16) Word order in the English sentence, inversion and its

types
WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH:

= the order of the elements of the clause

- rules for ordering elements in frases:
* it is fixed, both in Eng and Svk
* elements that relate together stand closely attached
- rules for ordering elements in clauses:
cca fixed too, relatively (e.g. when we want to highlight
some particular element)
S before V main parts
S is immediatelly followed by V if there is something it
can be only Adv of
frequency
when V- transitive followed by O
when V- copular followed by C
ORDER IN SVK:
- more or less free
- Jano videl Petra. = Petra videl Jano.
Peter saw John.

BUT!

John saw Peter.

Basic rule & its violations

- The basic pattern is : subject group, verb group (=predicate),
object, adverbials of : manner/place/time.
- Verb must agree with the subject and this agreement is called
concord.
- each clause element can be made longer : A man kicked the
boy > A stout man wearing high black boots (S) kicked (V) the
powerless boy (OB) in the chest (A)... If you make a sentence
longer, you need to follow word-order rules.
- We avoid separating the subject from its verb, but there are
exceptions :
Questions : Did you take him/When did you take him...
reporting verbs in direct speech : Die! cried he.
Conditional sentences : Had I known that.../Were I to ask
you.../Should you see him...
Time reference with special emphasis : Last night we went
to the cinema.
-ly adverbs of manner/indefinite time : The whole building
suddenly began to shake/Suddenly, the whole building...
Adverb phrases : inside the parcel we found

Adverb particles : Down the chimney came St. Claus (St.

clause )!
Negative adverbs : Never have I seen a boy like that.
special emphasis : A fine mess you have made.

Simple sentence
- There are 5 patterns : SV, SVC, SVO, SVOO, SVOC
- Joining subjects : 2 simple sentences can be joined into one : He
was flying to NY. + She was flying to NY. = He and she were flying
to NY. Subject can be joined this ways : either...or, both...and, but
not.
Adjectives
- postmodification place : age (old) color (red) participle
(crumbling) provenience (Chinese) noun (church) denominal
(atomic)
- premodification :
precentral : peripheral and nongradable (sheer, certain,
complete, slight...)
central (hungry, ugly, stupid, rich...)
postcentral : participles (retired, sleeping) & colors (red...)
prehead : denominal adjectives, nationality (atomic,
Austrian)
- we use commas to separate two adjectives that are equally
important : a beautiful, bright clean room.
Adverbs
- at the end of the sentence they are placed as follows : manner,
place, time
- adverbs of manner
after object
after verb
after an adverb particle : He took it down carefully
We dont put adverb between the verb and its object, only
if it is very long : We could see clearly a strange light ahead
of us.
adverb of manner, if consisting of 1 word, can sometimes
occur between the subject and the verb : He angrily

slammed the door. But well and badly only can occur at
the end.
at the beginning
- adverbs of place
at the end of the sentence, if there are more adverbials,
they occur after the adverbial of manner, but before the
adverbial of time.
Initially : On many large farms, people live in cottages.
- adverbs of time
initially : This morning I had a telephone call
at the end
adverbs of indefinite time can be placed before the verb : I
recently went to NY. They are : another day, at last, early,
eventually, formerly, immediately, just, lately, nowadays,
once, one day, presently, then, these days, yet...
- inversion after adverbs :
place : Here comes the taxi! If the subject is a pronoun,
theres no inversion : Here she comes, Here you are,
There she is.
in descriptive writing : At the top of the hill stood the poky
little house. This exists in the passive, too : In the
distance could be seen the mountains.
after negative adverbs : At no time, Barely, Hardly, Never, Little,
No sooner, Not, Not only, Not until, Nowhere, On no condition, On
no occasion, Only, Only after, Only if, Only later, Only then, Only
when, Rarely, Scarcely, Seldom... : Never have I seen such a
boy.
So, Such, As : Such was the extent of our victory that our
opponents... So absorbed was he that she didnt dare...
We invested all our money, as did many other people.
Inversion
- the normal order is subject predicator in certain
constructions this order is changed and is called inverted
word order (inversion)
- two kinds of inversion:
subject operator inversion (PARTIAL) the
operator(the first of auxiliaries is called operator)
comes before the subject, the rest of the VP comes

after the subject (if there is no operator do is

introduced) Scarcely had he started speaking when
heckling broke out.
subject verb inversion (FULL) whole of the verb
comes before the subject (Especially remarkable was
her oval face.)
is either obligatory or optional
used in the following constructions:
yes-no questions
wh-questions
alternative questions requiring choice from two
or more given alternatives (Will you leave today or
tomorrow?)
tag question (She is your friend, isnt she?)
construction there is (There is enough time to do
it.)
constructions with a negative adverbial in front
position (Never will you achieve that.)
short responses in which the validity of the
statement is extended to a new subject (So do I.
Neither do I.)
any clause element which is not usual in the
front position expressive word order (Dark and
mysterious was the forest.)
adverbials here, there, up, down in front
position (Here comes the leader.)
short clauses introducing direct speech (I
know, said Pauline, that you dont trust me.)
with some operators (should, had, were) (Should
he arrive tonight, let me know.)
NO INVERSION! When we are asking about the S!!! ,
What happened?

17) Clause elements and their characteristics: subject,

predicator, complement (subject, object, complement),
object (direct, indirect, cognate, complex), adverbial
(adjuncts, conjuncts, disjuncts); syntactic functions of
clause elements, semantic roles of clause elements

Sentence
A sentence is a group of words, usually containing a verb, which
expresses a thought in the form of a statement, question,
instruction or exclamation and starts with a capital letter when
written:
A sentence consists of one or more clauses. Clause =
veta/vedlajsia veta.
1 clause : On his arrival at the library, Peter saw an old woman in
a bright red dress. (1 verb)
2 clauses : When he entered the library, Peter saw an old woman
in a brigh red dress. (2 verbs)
Clause
A clause usually has a subject (podmet) and a predicator
(prisudok). These are called clause elements.
Peter saw an old woman in a bright red dress.
Peter = subject
saw an old woman in a bright red dress = predicator (we dont
need to say predicator all the time we can call it verb, too)
These words in the predicator part are connected to one another
and we call it a phrase or a group of words.
A sentence which contains a predicator and a subject is a clause.
However there are more clause elements : subject, predicator (we
also call it a verb because in EN a verb is always used in this
element), object (predmet), complement, adverbial.
Clause Elements
A sentence which contains a predicator and a subject is a clause.
However there are more clause elements : subject, predicator (we
also call it a verb because in EN a verb is always used in this
element), object (predmet), complement, adverbial.
Phrases
A phrase is a bunch of words that are connected to one another. A
clause element is usually realized by a phrase or several phrases.
In a phrase one word is usually dominant and determines the use
of the phrase. This dominant word is called the head. If there is
only one word in a phrase its the head. According to whether

the head is a verb, an adjective, a noun, or an adverb, we have

noun, verb, adjective, adverb phrases. Elements that precede the
head are called modifiers (or premodifiers). The words that follow
the head are called quantifiers (or postmodifiers).
John came late consists of the subject, the predicator, and the
adverbial. It has 3 phrases. We can extend these phrases :
My best friend/will come/very late. The subject (but also the
other phrases) could be extended even further : my friend who
was with me on holiday/will come/very late.
We also have prepositional phrases theyre kind of weird
phrases that contain a preposition. The preposition is not the
head and cannot be reduced to a mere preposition it needs the
phrase :
The flying saucer appeared above the lake before it disappeared
into space. ABOVE is not an adverb because it has an object to
complete its meaning; therefore, ABOVE is a preposition and the
entire phrase is an adverb phrase.
The Subject
Features of the subject
- is expressed by an NP or a clause with nominal function (in
Slovak it can be left out)
- precedes predicator (verb)
- agrees with the predicator and with the subject complement in
number & person (in Slovak it agrees in gender as well)
- is an obligatory clause element
- In quotation anything can become a subject : Can you come in
the morning? In the morning will be fine. In this case a
Prepositional phrase becomes a kind of elliptical (ellipsis =
grammatical omission) NP.

Affected/agentive subject
- If there are more NPs in a clause, one of them has to be a
subject. The preference is : 1) agentive NP 2)recipient NP 3)
instruments NP
- Non-agentive subject needs sa in Slovak (Piesok sa sype). In
English many verbs that have agentive subject can also be used
with non-agentive subjects (we call them affected subjects then) :
That book reads well.
- Both types of subject are possible with : read, spoil, burn, open,
shut, cook, smell, divide. Only agentive with : find, see, lose,
introduce. Only affected with : appears, disappear, fall, die,
emerge...
- Thus we get spoilt. = pokazit, pokazit sa. But there are other
words that dont work according to this pattern : objavit, objavit
sa = discover, appear. Or the other way round : burn = horiet,
palit.
- Sometimes the verb only can be used along with an adverbial
and cannot stand by itself : The book reads well. (the book
reads would mean nothing).
- Intransitive verbs the subject is either agentive/affected
depending on whether the verb want an agent or not /animate
subject or not : Mary was cooking (agentive) vs. The stew was
cooking (affected).
- In some cases the verb can become transitive : John walked the
horse The commander marched the soldiers it is when the
subject doesnt perform the verb but rather makes someone else
do it.
impersonal subject it
- When there is no nominal element to be used as the subject
English has to use a formal subject impersonal subject it : It
rains (not rains). It is used with meteorological phenomena (its
getting dark), time phenomena (it is late), distance phenomena
(it a long way), and prepositional phrases with it (Were it not for
your laziness...). All these sentences are called impersonal. All
others (not having this it as impersonal subject) are personal.
Subject expressed by a clause & anticipatory it
- Expressed either by finite/non-finite clause (to do/doing).
To err is human (It is human to err).

That she knows it is surprising (It is surprising that she

knows it).
- but it is more usual to use introductory it, rather than this
subject-expressed-by-a-clause stuff. This it is not a real object.
It only indicates that the subject will follow. We therefore call it
anticipatory it. This anticipatory it and the real subject are in an
appositional relationship.
- anaphoric/cataphoric use of it : Go tell them. It is the best
thing you can do.
- that can also be used anaphorically : I opened the window,
leaned out, and that was the trouble: she could see me.
- It, that (and this) are called connectors they have a linking
function.

It in cleft sentences
- Cleft sentence = a sentence where it comes first and one
element is highlighted by being put towards the beginning of the
sentence : She lacks courage > It is courage she lacks. But
any other clause element (except for verb) can be highlighted :
It was John who did it (subject), or It was yesterday that John
did it (adverbial).
- pseudo-cleft sentences : begin with what : What she lacks is
courage the highlighted item comes at the end.
Split subject
- Is a subject consisting of there and a NP : Theres a lamp on
the table. There has some features of the subject : it precedes
the verb and follows the operator in questions. But it lacks the
agreement in number with the verb. But the NP agrees with the
verb in this respect.
- There makes us aware that the subject is yet to come. The
subject introduced by there is usually indefinite (a article :

There were a great number of people). In Slovak such

constructions are translated with the subject at the end of the
sentence (Theres a book on the table > Na stole je kniha).
There is usually followed by be and often, especially in
informal speech, it is is/was rather than are/were form that is
used (Theres a great number of people). There-construction
tends to be followed by a relative clause (Therere many people
who dunno anything about it).
The Predicator (=verb)
- A sentence always has the subject and the predicator. Therefore
theyre called Primary Clause Elements.
- In any English simple sentence the predicator is always in finite
verb form. It is either a lexical verb, or a combination of auxiliary
verbs with a lexical verb. The first of the auxiliaries is called the
operator. It combines with not and shows concord with the
subject and is used as a pro-form.
- The predicator agrees with the subject in number, person (, and
gender in Slovak). Usually, the verb follows the subject (except for
inversion).
Concord
is the agreement between the subject and the predicator in
number & person. There are 3 kinds :
Grammatical (A subject that is not semantically plural takes
a singular verb)
Notional (it is when it seems that the subject is singular,
but the speaker means plural : The committee have
decided.)
Proximity (agreement of the verb with an element that is
closer to it rather than what one would say is
grammatically correct : No one except his own supporters
agree with it > agree didnt take s at the end of the
word because supporters are plural).
Inversion
- subject-operator inversion (=partial inversion) : The operator
(do) comes before the subject. If there is no subject in the verb
phrase, we introduce one.

- Subject-verb inversion (=full inversion) : the entire verb comes

before the subject. It can be either obligatory or optional.
- Yes-no questions : subject-operator inversion
- Wh-questions : subject-operator
- Alternative questions : subject-verb
- Tag questions : contain only the operator and the subject
- There is constructions
- Constructions with a negative adverbial in front position (Never
have I seen such a mess).
- Short responses (So did I)
- Any clause element that typically doesnt occur at the beginning
once put there can cause inversion : Dark and mysterious was
the forest. Here comes the leader.
- Short clauses introducing direct speech : I love you,
whispered she (as opposite to she whispered, which is possible
too).
- Operators such as : had, were, should : Had I known I would
have done it. Should you see him call me.
- Exclamations such as : Are we ever glad to see you! (but not
What and How exclamations).
Predicator vs. Predicate
- predicator = verb : I saw him doing it.
- predicate = predicator + object, or complement, or adverbial... :
I saw him doing it. Since predicate is perceived as one element it
can be replaced by one word : The girl exclaimed with surprise
Yes, she did (did = exclaimed with surprise).
The Object
Object features
- expressed by a NP or a nominal clause
- It immediately follows the verb (predicator) (exceptions :
interrogative clause (What will they do?)& relative clause (Ill
show you the book that I bought yesterday)) (phrasal verbs the
object is either immediately after the verb or after the particle)
- It can be transformed into subject of a passive clause
- Ellipsis of the object is possible if we have identical objects and
we leave out the first one : He opened (the window) and closed
the window.

Kinds of objects
- In Slovak object is never in the nominative case. It can be in the
accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental. Indirect object is a
dative object. Not so in English. In English, indirect object is
always the first object (I brought him a pen). In most cases its
omissible. It only can exist together with the direct object and it
cannot be the only object of the verb. Indirect object usually
denotes a person, rarely a thing (I gave the door a hard push).
But sometimes both objects (indirect and direct) are omissible : I
envied them (indirect) their success (direct) > I envied them/I
envied their success. When you omit one of the objects, the
other one becomes direct object. Therefore we say that both are
direct objects.
Cognate object
- is usually used with transitive verbs but in some cases it is also
used with intransitive verbs too : He died a heroic death/I
dreamed a beautiful dream/I live this life of luxury. As evident,
the object has a semantic closeness to the meaning of the verb.
You cannot use other than cognate objects in this pattern : He
died a car accident * A cognate object is a NP that follows the
predicator and is bound to its place. It also needs to have a
pre/postmodifier ( He died a death * would be incorrect)
because the NP without the it carries no semantic meaning at all.
But since He sang a song can be replaced by melody, tune...
this last construction is not a real cognate object.
Differences between object in Slovak and in English
ENGLISH
SLOVAK
- climb a tree (object)
- liezt na strom
(adverbial)
- adding ad hoc object to intransitive verbs : He nodded
approval
- what is an object in English can be something else in Slovak : Worry
Robit
si
starosti
he graduated
Skoncil
studium
- more frequent passive construction : He was injured
less frequent passive constructions : ranilo ho

More instances are to be found in Bazlik Porovnavacia

Gramatika Anglickeho & Slovenskeho jazyka 2, pg.112
The Complement
The complement and its features
- 2 types of complement : subject complement and object
complement.
- Complement = a clause element connected to either subject or
object by a copular relationship. Subject and object are joined by
a copular verb (often be, smell, look, sound... > he is my
friend). Sometimes this verb is omitted : They considered him
(to be) a genius. The complement is expressed either by a NP
(This is a novel) or an AdjP (She is pretty) or a clause or a
prepositional phrase (I took him for my friend). Theres usually a
notional concord in number (in Slovak in gender too) rather than
grammatical (The US is a large country/My hobby is games).
- It is often possible to reverse the position of the complement
and the subject complement : Peter (subject) is my friend
(object) vs. My friend (subject) is Peter (object). Such a
change is not possible with AdjP.
- With AdjP as complements there are two possible analyses :
Mary was excited.
1) Mary = subject
Was = auxiliary
Excited = verb +
participle
2) Mary = Subject
Was = copular verb
Excited =
adjective=subject complement
- Object complement : expressed by NP, AdjP, PP with as, nonfinite clause with nominal function. Immediately follows object.
Has a notional concord with subject. If the object is transformed
into the passive subject, the object is simultaneously transformed
into the subject complement.
The complement vs. the object
COMPLEMENT
OBJECT
- can be replaced by AdjP.
- cannot
be replaced by an AdjP
- follows a copular verb
follows
a
transitive verb
- cannot be replaced by a NP with different number
can be replaced by a NP with different number (I saw two heroes)

(He returned heroes)

- cannot be transformed into the subject of a passive clause
- can be transformed into the subject of a passive clause
(A hero was returned by him *)
(the
hero was seen by him)
Analysis problems
- A funny thing is : She (subject) had (verb) a button too many
(object, too many = qualifier) unfastened (object complement)
- Mam hotove ulohy looks like I have done my homework, but it is
not really so Slovak mat lacks the character of an analytical
verb. Even in translation we do not translate this oblek mal
vyprany and such as He had his suite washed. That would
mean that he had someone else wash it for him.
Elliptical clauses with the complement
- In a clause containing an AdjP the entire clause can be reduced
to AdjP only :
If it is necessary, you can ask me.
If necessary, you can ask
me.
It is stupid!
Stupid!
How strange it is.
How strange.
You mustnt eat it when it is raw.
You mustnt eat it when
raw.

You mustnt eat it raw.

What is more surprising still, she refused.

More surprising
still, she refused.
It expresses exclamations, comment clauses, conditional
relations.
Adverbials
- are optional clause elements telling something extra about the
action, happening, or state described by the rest of the sentence.
- Divided into : adjuncts (integrated into the structure of the
clause) & peripheral (peripheral to the clause structure).
Peripheral are subdivided into : disjuncts and conjuncts
(connective function).
- Example (so that you know what an adverbial is) : I (subject)
arrived (verb) on the bus (adverbial) on Thursday (adverbial) in

the rain (adverbial) wearing a hat (adverbial) eating grapes

(adverbial).
- As for their position, the are numerous possibilities : (originally)
The book (originally) must (originally) have (originally) been
(originally) bought (originally) in the shop (originally). So we say
there are much more mobile than the rest of the clause elements
are.
- express : manner, place, time, frequency...
- Some SVA verbs (be, grieve (over), know, last, lean, lie, live,
worry... His hand went to his pocket) and SVOA verbs (inform,
keep, lay, place, put, tell... Did you put sugar in my coffee?)
require adverbials.
Adverbial structures
- Adverb phrase : I had to speak slowly.
- Prepositional phrases : We strolled around the park (adverbial 1)
for an hour or so(adverbial 2).
- Finite clause : They are generous although they are poor.
- Non-finite clause : infinitive (She played to win) & ing particle
(all being well, will do it)
- Ed particle : If urged by our friends, well stay.
- verbless clause : We went on, unaware of the danger.
- NP : Well go next Friday.
- NP followed by ago, long... : All night long its been raining.
Some years ago everything was cheaper.
Adverbial positions
- Frontal : Now she is happy
- Medial :
before operator : He really didnt mind.
between auxiliaries : I have never seen it.
before the verb : I always walk.
- End-position :
after intransitive verb : We travelled by bus.
after object/complement : I am sorry I took him into my
confidence.
Long Adverbials occur in end- position.
Adverbial meanings
- space (end position/initial position)

- time (order = duration + frequency + time-when

- process (manner, means, instrument, agent)
- respect (In many respects, advice on legal matters, concerned
for safety answering the question with respect to what?)
- contingency (cause [died of cancer], reason, purpose [i made a
note not to forget anything], result [so quick that we couldnt
see], condition [if you go there at once], concession [even though
its hard, I enjoy it])
- modality (emphasis [no doubt that]. approximation [hardly],
restriction [only])
- degree (amplification [badly], diminution [a bit], measure
[quite])
Syntactic functions
- Adjuncts : is the largest class. Adjunct is an adverb or adverbial
(as heartily in "They ate heartily" or at noon in "We left at noon")
attached to the verb of a clause especially to express a relation of
time, place, frequency, degree, or manner... Adjuncts are the only
adverbials that behave like subject/object.
They are extras
relating directly to the meaning of the verb or to the meaning of
the entire sentence. Accordingly, they are divided into :
Predication adjuncts appear only at the end of the
sentence. (On Friday) The dog bit her (on Friday).
Sentence adjuncts appear at the beginning or at the end
of the sentence. The dog bit her (on the leg).
- How do we recognize an adjunct? It needs to meet at least one
of these criteria :
1) It cannot appear initially in a negative declarative clause :
Immediately he didnt leave *
2) If it is possible to construct an alternative question to which the
answer would be the sentence we analyze : She visits her
parents because she wants to. > Does she visit her parents
because she wants to or does she visit her parents because she
wants something?
3) If it is possible to contrast the adverbial with another adverbial
in alternative negation : He went on Friday > He didnt go on
Friday, but he did go on Saturday.
- Semantic classification of adjuncts : viewpoint, focusin
(additive/restrictive),
intensifier
(emphasizer,
amplifier,
downtoner), process (manner, means, instrument), subject,

formulaic, place (position, direction), time (when, duration,

frequency, relationship), purpose, reason...
- Disjuncts : They dont modify anything and are only loosely
associated with the sentence. They use comma when in a
sentence. They tend to be at the beginning. They express
emotional reaction, judgment, or evaluation. They are of two
types :
Style disjuncts : briefly, frankly, honestly, in short, literally,
personally, to put it bluntly, so to say, strictly speaking... :
Frankly, I dont think you are right.
Content disjuncts : make an observation about the truth of
the clause or a judgment of its content : Surprisingly, none
of them objected.
Fortunately, they didnt come.
Some more disjuncts : admittedly, amazingly, hopefully, of
course, sadly, to our surprise, wisely...
- The difference between disjuncts and adjuncts is that we cannot
focus on disjuncts, nor can we answer a question by a disjuncts.

- Conjuncts : an adverb or adverbial (as so, in addition, however,

secondly) that relates to clauses, sentences, and paragraphs.
Used as linking items : ... he asked me not to go. However, Id
made up my mind, and as a result I went...
- Conjuncts are divided into : listing (first, firstly), summarizing (in
conclusion, after all, to sum up, in brief...), same or similar
meaning (namely, for instance, for example, i.e. [that is]),
expressing result (as a result, consequently, hence, therefore, so),
inferring (otherwise, in that case, then, in other words),
contrasting (rather, more, in other words, instead, however, on
the contrary), attention shifting (by the way, incidentally,
meanwhile in a separate developement).
GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS
Adjuncts

Predication Adjuncts
Predication adjuncts are related to predication (the post operator
section) rather than to a whole sentence : She put it on the
kitchen table. / She found the letter on the kitchen table. In the
first sentence the adverbials obligatory, in the second one it is
optional. As for the position, it is usually placed at the end, but if
there is a lengthy post-verb element in the clause, this adjunct
can be placed before it : She put on the table a letter she had
just received from her lawyer. Or if you want to make your
sentence sound more dramatic you can put the adjunct at the
beginning : From Australia he came and to Australia he
returned.
Sentence Adjuncts
With these there are two possibilities : He kissed her on the
cheek only end position is possible. Or :
He kissed her on the platform/On the platform he kissed her
initial and end positions is possible. We can put it at the beginning
because of the fact that on the platform has a rather peripheral
relationship to the sentence.
Sometimes there is a difference between the initial/end position :
I foresaw a disaster in June (I knew it would happen in June) / In
June, I foresaw the disaster (I had the vision in June).
Semantics Adjuncts of space
- Spatial adjuncts : expressed by a NP (They travelled several
miles) or PrepP or determiners that/this/which (Which way did he
come?)
- Direction adjuncts : only with dynamic verbs (Dynamic verb is a
verb that relate to action/activity/temporary condition : I hit him.
But live is neither temporary nor active, but in certain contexts
it can be dynamic : The tigers are living in a cramped cage. =
temporary. Also words that lack motion or activity can be dynamic
: I was resting. Are you sitting?) : The boy kicked the ball
through the window.
- Position adjuncts : He lives in London.
- Distance adjuncts : He lives 20 km from here.
- Space adjuncts : Eat in restaurants.

- Coordination : only adjuncts with the same semantic role can be

coordinated : Fly from A to B.
- In a sentence the order of space adjuncts is : distance-directionposition : She walked
a few steps
towards him
in the
dark corridor.
Semantics - Adjuncts of time
- Predominately expressed by PrepP : The music stopped at
midnight
- Finite-clause : Stay till I come.
- Nonfinite : travelling there, I missed you.
- Verbless clauses : I go there as often as possible.
- Time-position adjuncts
If it is possible to ask when the adjunct in question is timeposition one. At 10:15 / In 18th century.
they include now (He had known her for 2 years and now she
knew his faults), then
- Adjuncts of duration and span
She worked there for three years.
I waited till she returned.
- Time-frequency adjuncts
definite frequency : twice, daily....
indefinite frequency : usually, normally...
- Time-relation adjuncts
temporal sequence (previously)
concessive relation (even)
contrasting (agian)
- Position of time adjuncts
initial/end position. Adjuncts expressed by adverbs can have a
medial position : She has recently completed it.
Word-order : duration-frequency-position : I was there
a short
time
every day last year.
Semantics - Process adjuncts
- manner : She looked at him coldly
- means, instrument, agency : He was killed by a terrorist/with a
knife.
- respect : He advised me on legal matters.

- contingency (Why?, What for?) : He did it because he was angry.

He did it in order to procure it.
- Position of adjuncts : respect process space time contingency
Subjuncts
Subjuncts have no grammatical correspondence to the other
clause elements. They are divided into narrow orientated (related
to predication) and wide oriented (related to the entire sentence).
Wide orientation subjuncts
- related to the entire sentence.
- viewpoint subjuncts : expressed by nongradable adverb phrases,
an placed initially : Architecturally, the plans represent a
magnificent conception.
- Courtesy subjuncts : are -ly adverbs along with please. They
convey politeness : You are cordially invited to take your
places.
Narrow orientation
- related to predication
- item subjuncts : looks like an adverbial of manner, but this one
is placed initially or medially : She has consistently opposed the
lawyers arguments. More instances : Intentionally, with great
reluctance, still, already, any more, any longer, no more, just,
ever
- Emphasizers : reinforce the message of a sentence : just (I have
just come) , really, simply, the hell (Get the hell out of my land!),
always, certainly ( Can you help me? Yes certainly)
- Intensifiers : increase or decrease the degree. Placed medially :
They fully appreciate the problem (increase). They sort of
laughed at the idea (decrease). Sometimes they can occur at the
end : this means extreme degree : She wont mind in the
slightest.
- focusing subjuncts : restrictive (merely, only) and additive (also,
even) : I merely wanted to know his name.
She had only
done it the previous week.

Disjuncts
- style disjuncts : Frankly, I am tired. Other instances : If I may
say so, to be frank, putting it bluntly... generally, personally...
- content disjuncts : certainty (undoubtedly, apparently, perhaps)
& evaluation (wisely, naturally, curiously, unexpectedly, happily
sadly...)
Conjuncts
- Connect two utterances expressing the same semantic
relationship between them.
- listing : enumerative (in the first place, for one thing...) &
additive (above all, furthermore, moreover, what is more, in
addition, on top of that...)
- summative (all in all, therefore, to sum up...)
- appositive (namely, i.e., that is, in other words, for example...)
- resultive (so, as a result, in consequence...)
- inferential (in that case, so, then, else...)
- contrastive (still, instead, worse...)
- transitional (by the way, now, meanwhile...)
- more conjuncts can appear in one sentence : So I did
reasonably well, all in all.
Syntactic functions of clause elements vs. Semantic roles
of clause elements
- direct & indirect object = syntactic function (He poured Jim
some whisky)
- obligatory adverbials = syntactic function
- definition of verb, subject, object, complement, adverbial =
syntactic

18) Apposition, types of apposition

Apposition
- Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements,
normally noun phrases, are placed side by side, and refer to the
same person or thing. When this device is used, the two elements
are said to be in apposition. For example in the phrase "my friend

Alice" the name "Alice" is in apposition with the word friend.

Each of the two component noun phrases involved is also called
an appositive.
- The elements in apposition can occur in a different word order:
A neighbor of yours, John Milton... or John Milton, a neighbor of
yours...
- The relationship between subject and subject complement is
appositive : John Milton is a neighbor of yours.
- like complement
- when 2 elements are in apposition, we can't identify which is the
basic one and which is only its apposition
- special type of apposition: The Isle of Man, Ivan the Terrible...
Apposition is expressed by
- Juxtaposition: A professional singer, someone trained in Paris,
was hired for the concert.
- Separation: His birthday present lay on the table, a book on
ethics, the work of his professor.
- Conjunction: My husband, and my co-author, is dissatisfied with
the last chapter. Linguistics, or the study of language attracts
many students.
- That/namely: The outcome, that is her re-election, surprised
me.
- That-clauses : in that-clauses that is not a part of clause
structure. The head of the NP must be abstract noun, such as :
fact, proposition, reply, remark... : The belief that no-one is
infallible is well-founded. The apposed units can be linked with
be: The belief is that no-one is infallible. or the abstract noun
can be replaced by a corresponding verb : He believes that noone is infallible.
- Nonfinite clauses: in postmodification : The appeal to join the
movement was well received. We infer the subject from the
context or by using this construction: The appeal for her to
join...
- Prepositional phrases: using of-genitive : The pleasure of your
company. It can also use be construction : Your company is a
pleasure. If the postmodification has an ing-clause, the subject is
inferred from the context or a separate subject can be introduced:
Johns hope of his/Marys winning a prize...

Apposition:
- is when in one sentence two linking units have grammatical
affinity, units are called appositives they must be identical
in reference or the reference of one must be included in the
reference of the other (A neighbour, Fred Brick, is on the
telephone.)
- omission of either appositive is possible, because of coreference and grammatical similarity
A neighbour is on the telephone.
Fred Brick is on the telephone.
- the two appositives need not have the same grammatical form
(Playing football on Sunday, his favourite exercise, kept him fit.
(noun, non-finite clause))
- occasionally there may be more than two units in apposition
( They returned to their birthplace, their place of residence,
the country of which they were citizens.)

indicators of apposition
- can be inserted between appositives (The passenger plane
of the 1980s, namely the supersonic jet, will)
- express certain semantic relationships between the
appositives and therefore cannot be used for all cases of
apposition
- e.g. that is to say, that is, ie; namely, viz; to wit; in other
words; or, or rather, or better; and; as follows; for example,
for instance, eg, say, including, included, such as; especially,
particularly, in particular, notably, chiefly, mainly, mostly; of
- some precede or follow the second appositive (The President
of the United States, in other words Richard Nixon The
President of the United States, Richard Nixon in other
words)
- some can only precede the second appositive namely, and,
or, as follows, including, such as, of, ie, viz, eg
- included can only follow the second appositive
Non-restrictive and restrictive apposition
Restrictive apposition

o namely
o the second appositive is more specific, identifying what is
given in the first, which is typically an indefinite noun
phrase ( A company commander, (namely) Captain
Madison, assembled his men and announced their
mission.)
o unlike the two previous types of equivalence apposition,
replacement of the second appositive by a relative clause
is not possible

if a meaning us restrictive it means that it denotes one

concrete object
He was examined by Bob Ray the doctor.

Non-restrictive apposition
one of the appositives is subordinate in the distribution of
information (bonus information)
it is indicated in speech by separate tone units for the
appositives and in writing by comas
Mr Campbell, the lawyer was here last night.
- He was examined by Bob Ray, a doctor.
Explicit apposition
- is an apposition characterized precisely by an adverbial: for
example, for instance, especially, particularly, in particular,
mainly, namely...: The kids enjoyed watching the animals,
particularly the monkeys.
Equivalence (ie, in other words)
- appellation
o namely, who/which + BE
o both appositive noun phrases are definite and the second is
typically a proper noun (but need not to be)
The company commander, (that is to say) Captain Madison,
assembled his men and announced their mission.
the second appositive can be replaced by a
corresponding relative clause The company commander,
who was Captain Madison, assembled his men and
announced
the second appositive is often a finite clause He told
them the good news: (namely) taxes are to be reduced.
- designation
o who/which + BE
o the second appositive is less specific than the first, both
appositives are commonly definite noun phrases (Captain
Madison, (that is to say) the company commander,
assembled his men and announced their mission.
- identification

reformulation
o or
o is rewording in the second appositive of the content of the
first
based on linguistic knowledge - a terminological
inexactitude, in other words a lie
reformulation based on knowledge about the external
world, the second appositive is a co-referential
expression (Fred or Ginger as he is usually called)
o a synonymous word or phrase may replace the first
formulation in order to avoid misinterpretation or provide
a more familiar or a more technical term, or may be a
correction of what was said

Attribution
- who/which + Be
- involves predication rather than equivalence, the second
appositive can be replaced by a corresponding relative clause
- second appositive is commonly an indefinite noun phrase
The house, an imposing building, dominated the street.
- also can be definite
Many soldiers, the cream of the battalion, died in the
attack.
- typical attributive appositions
o an article is absent from the second appositive (Robinson,
leader of the Democratic group on the committee,
refused to answer questions.) newspapers and
magazines
o an adverbial that is a clause constituent is added to the
second appositive (Your brother, obviously an expert on

English grammar, is highly praised in the book I am

reading.)
- the second appositive has an internal structure of subject and
either complement or adjunct, participle being can be inserted
between the two constituents of the appositive (Jones and
Peters, both (being) of unknown address, were charged with
the murder of Williamson..)
Inclusion
- apposition where the reference of the first appositive is not
identical with that of the second, but instead includes it
o exemplification (for example) second appositive
exemplifies the more general term in the first appositive
(His excuses, say the breakdown of his car, never seemed
plausible.)
o particularization (especially) requires an explicit indicator
(The children liked the animals, particularly the monkeys.)
restrictive apposition
- Mr Campbell the lawyer was here last night. Mr Campbell the
lawyer as opposed to any other Mr Campbell we know
- three forms:
o first appositive is the more general expression and is
preceded by a definite determiner (and possibly
premodifier) that famous critic Paul Jones
o the second appositive is preceded by a determiner, always
the, and is more general that the first as in Paul Jones the
critic
o is like 1 but with omission of the determiner (Critic Paul
Jones)
- the first form of restrictive apposition is found with citations
and names of book, films (the term heavy water)
- restrictive apposition is common with such general noun
phrases as the fact, the idea, the view
- with participle clauses, and sometimes with wh-clauses, of is
used as an indicator (He didnt accept the idea of working
while he was studying.)

19) Subject-verb concord and other types of concord in

English and Slovak
Subject and predicate
- predicate = the part of the sentence related to the subject of the
sentence. Do not mistake predicate for predicator (=verb).
Concord
- is a grammatical agreement between two language elements.
- concord = the agreement (zhoda)
- three kinds of concord between the subject and the
verb:
grammatical a singular subject requires a
singular verb (She is working.)
a plural subject requires a plural verb (The girls
were playing.) also if the subject contains several
coordinated NPs (Mary and Jane were playing.)
the number of a noun phrase depends on the
number of its head (The change in male attitudes is
most obvious in industry. The changes in male
attitude are most obvious in industry.)
notional agreement according to the idea of
number rather than the presence of the grammatical
marker for that idea (singular NP refer to a plural unit
and vice versa)
in BrE grammatically singular collective nouns
are treated as notionally plural if the group is
considered as a collection of individuals (The
audience were enjoying every minute of it.)
singular head and plural postmodifier (A great
number of books were sold before Christmas) if the
meaning of postmodifier is more important than the
head, the verb agrees with this meaning in number
(books were)
coordinated NPs and both refer to one entity
verb in the singular (The president and secretary
general of the party was invited.); two different

entities verb in the plural (The president and

secretary general of the party were invited.)

plural
subject
with
singular
subject
complement verb is singular in English, plural in
Slovak (Cornflakes is my favourite dish. Kukurin
lupienky s moje obben jedlo.)
non-count nouns in the plural form (pluralia
tantum) which denote one unit understood as
singulars (Darts is played in every English pub.)
proximity if the verb comes next to the
postmodifier, it agrees with it, if it does not, it agrees
with the pronoun used as head (Nobody knows that
except my friends. Nobody except my friends know
that.)
Other types of concord
- subject complement and object complement
concord there is usually concord between subject and
subject complement (My child is an angel. My children are
angels.) and between direct object and object complement
(I consider my child an angel. I consider my children
angels.)
Subject + subject complement concord
- My children are angels.
- Pronopuns: they is used in the 3rd person singular: Everyone
thinks they have a solution this also helps avoid the gender
problem : everyone = he/she? In formal speech, however, we sat :
Everyone thinks he has a solution. or Everyone thinks he or
she has a solution. This last alternative is more prudent in this
world full of raging feminists
20) Finite and nonfinite clauses, verbless clausses
Finite and non-finite clauses
- finite clause clause whose verb element is finite (takes,
took, can work, has worked)
- non-finite clause clause whose verb element is nonfinite (to work, having woked, taken)

4 subclasses:
to-infinitive (The best thing would be to tell
everybody/for you to tell)
bare infinitive (All I did was hit him. Rather than you do
the job)
-ing participle (Leaving the room, he. Her aunt having
left the room,)
-ed participle (Covered with confusion, The discussion
completed, he)
absolute clauses have an overt subject, but are not
introduced by a subordinator; -ing (No further discussion
arising, the meeting), -ed (Lunch finished, the guests)
or verbless clauses (Christmas only days away, the
family)
attachment rule = when a verbless or a nonfinite
clause has no subject, for identifying it we assume that it is
identical to the subject of the subordinate clause (The
oranges, when (they are) ripe, are picked)
non-finite clauses as direct object
She prefers to go by bus. (decide, dislike, forget)
wh-infinitive clause
They discovered how to isolate it. (explain, learn,
see) subjectless inf.
They like talking about it. (cant bear, dislike, enjoy)
subjectless -ing
He wants you to stand for election. (wish) to-inf.
clause with subject
I hate them gossiping about our colleagues. - -ing
participle with subject
direct object + to-infinitive clause (The police
reported the traffic to be heavy.)
direct object + bare infinitive clause have, let,
make (They had me repeat the message.)
direct object + -ing clause perceptual (feel, hear,
see), encounter (leave, catch, find), causative (have, get)
can never take genitive case (I saw him lying on the
beach. not I saw his lying on the beach.)

 indirect directives advise, command, instruct, order,

remind, etc. (I persuaded Mark to see a doctor)
Infinitive clauses with quasi-subject
Im eager for them (quasi-subject) to meet her.
Quasi-subject with the ing form
I object to Jeremys/ him (quasi-subject) receiving an invitation
Verbless clauses
An adjective or adjective phrase realizing a verbless clause
(Unhappy with the result, she returned to work, Glad to
accept, the boy nodded)
The clause is mobile (The chairman called for a vote,
anxious for a quick decision) or is implied to a noun phrase
other than the subject (She glanced at the cat, now quiet in
her daughters hands)
Coningent verbless clauses
Often introduced by a subordinator
Expresses the circumstances under which what is said in
the subordinate clause applies
If wet, these shoes should never be put close to heat
Exclamatory adjective clauses
Such clauses need not to be dependent on any previous
linguistic context
Wonderful! How cool!
Absolute clauses
- are clauses that are not bound to the clause syntactically. They
are nonfinite and verbless adverbial classes : No discussion
arising, the meeting was brought to a close Lunch finished,
they left. Christmas then only days away, they strated buying
presents.
- Absolute clauses are formal and infrequent. But these have
become common : weather permitting, God willing.
Attachment rule

- When a verbless or a nonfinite clause has no subject, for

identifying it we assume that it is identical to the subject of the
subordinate clause. This applies to infinitive clauses, too : The
oranges, when (they are) ripe, are picked. But this rule can be
violated : (I was) Driving, the thought (it) struck me. But a
sentence like Reading the evening paper, a dog started barking
* is ungrammatical.
- Exceptions to this rule : Putting it mildly, you caused us some
inconvenience (the subject is I). I will help you if necessary.
When dining in the restaurant a jacket is required (When one
dines the subject is an infinite pronopun).
The subject of nonfinite and verbless clauses
- absolute clauses : nonfinite and verbless adverbial clauses not
introduced by a subordinator. They are not bound to the matrix
clause syntactically. They are : -ed, -ing, and verbless clauses :
No further discussion arising, the meeting was brought to a
close.
- attachment rule : When a verbless or a nonfinite clause has no
subject, for identifying it we assume that it is identical to the
subject of the subordinate clause. This applies to infinitive
clauses, too : The oranges, when (they are) ripe, are picked. But
this rule can be violated : (I was) Driving, the thought (it) struck
me. But a sentence like Reading the evening paper, a dog
started barking * is ungrammatical.
Exceptions to this rule : Putting it mildly, you caused us some
inconvenience (the subject is I). I will help you if necessary.
When dining in the restaurant a jacket is required (When one
dines the subject is an infinite pronopun).
- supplementive clauses : adverbial participle and verbless
clauses without a subordinator. They do not signal logical
relationships, but to a accompanying circumstance : : Reaching
the river, we pitched up camp for the night.