A Linguistic Toolkit

Grammar
Chapter 7: What is grammar?
Chapter 8: Clause by Clause
Chapter 9: Verb phrases: whats going on?

What is grammar?
Chapter 7

What is grammar?
Chapter 7
Lexis alone allows us to label people, things, and
actions but not to show how they relate to each other
(p.45)
We internalize our grammar, and we use it
spontaneously when we are using vocabulary to label,
such as adding -s for plural, past tense forms,
derivational morphemes (as un-{happy}) or compound
words {wheelbarrow, suitcase} (p.46)
The relationships we make in our communication , that
is relationships of word order and word formation are
grammatical relations of syntax & morphology.

See Chapter 7 for examples on inflections and variation between Old

English and Modern English + examples on word groupings. Check

Activities 7.1, 7.2 & 7.3

Examples on Morphology (1)

Chapter 7
How does Morphology change the meaning? How have inflections changed? What does that
mean to word order in Modern English?
(See Examples on pp.46-7 )

When are you going to open your present?

When are you going to open your presents?
He works as a mechanic.
He worked as a mechanic.

Old English: Thou hierst You (singular) hear

Ye hiere You (plural) hear
Old English even changed the form of the
the angelse engel [subject]
of the angelthaes engeles / angels
the angelstha engelas [object]
the angelse engel [subject]
The possessive affix that still exists in Modern English has lost the vowel
(es/ ass)

Examples on Morphology (2)

Chapter 7

Pronouns in Modern English have kept case

inflection.

See examples below from:Early Modern English (Milton & Shakespeares time)

o Him followd Rimmon. / Dragon followed Rimmon.

o him there they found. / Satan there the angels found.
o Men calld him Mulciber. /Men called Satan Mulciber.
It is clear which is the subject (who did the action) and
which is the object (and to whom) when the
pronouns are used, but it gets confusing when nouns
replace them. The third sentence is clearer because
it follows Modern English word order.

Examples on Syntax(1)
Chapter 7

Syntax is not only word order but how words are grouped
together.
Turning the sentences into questions will be helpful in understanding
more about word groupings. (see pp.48-9)
o She can find a copy of the antique book.
o She has worked in this company for six years.
o Painkillers are helpful after an operation.
To form a question, you can replace the first word and move it after the second word.
But that doesnt always work.
o The new director of the school will develop the teaching methods.
o Everyone we meet will teach us something new.
o At the end of the year, all students were excited about the holidays.
She wondered how thin Mary was.
The agent will book out tickets as soon as we decide on the dates we prefer.

Syntax is not only a matter of stringing words along like beads. It involves words
that gptogether in groups, and then groups that go together with other groups.(49)
See Chapter 7 examples on word groupings pp. 49-51. Check Activities 7.1 , 7.2 & 7.3

Clause by Clause
Chapter 8

Clause by Clause
Chapter 8
Students of English try to identify patterns of usage that they
had been intuitively following . . . (and had) become
accustomed to over time.
Almost all sentences are built from only five basic elements.
(p.52)
The chapter will introduce basic technical terms that enable
you to talk about sentence structure a meta-language.
The first key term is the clause: It is the basic building block
of a sentence. The simplest sentence consists of just one
clause, but clauses can be combined in many different ways to
form more complex sentences.
A verb is the most important and in fact the only compulsory
element in a clause.
There are 4 other basic elements: subject --object(direct/
indirect ) complement -- adverbial

Clause by Clause
Chapter 8 Main Elements of a Clause
Subject: Who or what is doing something
Verb: provides information about doing something SV
Complement/ Predicative: (What? What like?) is an
element that doesnt bring in a new participant but describes
an existing participant. SVC
Object: Direct Object (Who(m)?What?) = the element which
is affected by the action SVO ; Indirect Object (Who to? Who
for?) =the element which receives benefits by the action.
SVOO
Adverbial: provides information about when, where, how
and why. Adverbials can occur in any clause pattern (SV, SVC,
SVO,SVOO) and several can occur in one clause. They may also
appear in different positions in the clause.
(pp. 53-6)
See examples of all these sentence patterns in the following slides.

Subject Verb
(+Adverbial)

Subject Verb Object

(+Adverbial)

Subject Verb Complement

Subject Verb Object

(direct + indirect)

Passive only possible if the original

sentence had an object
Subject = old
direct Object

Verb=
Adverbial

clause

verb to be +
past
participle

by +old subject

Clause by Clause
Chapter 8 Joining Clauses
Clauses can be simple, but can also be joined by
coordination where both sentences are of
equal status, or subordination where one
clause is dependent on the other, that is
cannot stand on its own. (p.57).
Clauses are joined together by conjunctions
coordinators [and, but, so, yet] or subordinators
[if, when, even if, although, because, after,
before, so that. . . ]. A subordinator and its
dependent clause can usually occur before or
after the main clause (See pp.57-9 for examples).

Verb phrases: whats going on

Chapter 9

Verb phrases: whats going on

Chapter 9
Clause

Determiner

My

Adjective

Noun/
Prepositional

Verb
Phrase

Noun
Phrase

Verb

Noun

neighbors

live

Phrase
Noun
Phrase

Prep.

in

Det

Adj

Noun

Or

are living/ must be living/ can live

/ have been living

Chaos

Verb phrases: whats going on

Chapter 9
In English there are two tenses, past & present.
Tense is a system of modifying the form of a verb to show
distinctions of time (past and present). It helps to set an
action, event or situation in time (pp.60,64-5).
A verb that is marked for tense is called a finite verb, and a
verb that is not marked for tense is called a non-finite
verb(p.61)
because she left early/ he is walking down the road/{finite}
how to get to class/ waiting for the reservation to be confirmed {non
finite} See Activity 9.1 & 9.3 A on DVD.
When forming a clause, you have to have a verb (at least), such as in
commands Wait!, but usually you also need other elements
He is waiting. (Subject: He + Verb: is waiting)
She pulled the string in. (Subject: She + Verb: pulled in+ Object: the string).

Verb phrases: whats going on

Chapter 9
When a verb takes an object it is called transitive
(bring, give, control, share, borrow, take,)
. When a verb doesnt take an object it is called
intransitive (wait, stand, fall, struggle)

Another common clause pattern is when a verb is

followed not by an object but by a complement
which describes the subject.
You look kind of tired/The cake smelled delicious. /
The salesman is an electrical engineer.
Verbs that fit this pattern [such as be, look, keep,
seem] are called copular.

Verb phrases: whats going on

Chapter 9
A verb phrase is a group of one or more words which together function as
a verb . (p.63)
In addition to the finite element and the lexical verb (lived), a verb phrase
may also include modal, perfect, progressive and passive elements must be
living / may have been broken. These elements are not compulsory but if they
occur they must be in this order. See Activity 9.2 on DVD.
While tense shows distinctions in time,
Aspect distinguishes between perfect and progressive it provides a
particular viewpoint, looking at an event from within (as it is in progress), or
retrospectively (occurring in a previous period of time) Using perfect and
progressive aspect are choices that a speaker makes in order to present an
idea in a particular way their use is (not) grammatically compulsory (and
produces not an error but) a slight change in meaning. (p.65)