Tài liệu Syntaxworkbook

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270568943 Syntax Workbook Book · January 2011 CITATIONS READS 0 5,169 1 author: Mick Perkins The University of Sheffield 89 PUBLICATIONS 1,299 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Mick Perkins on 07 January 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. SYNTAX WORKBOOK Mick Perkins NP m :NP m :A dj P h:n h:n q:PP h:pr e p h:a dj q:NP m :A dj P h:n h:a dj f i r st l evel c our s e i n s y nt a c t i c a na l y s i s 1 Syntax Workbook Mick Perkins Emeritus Professor of Clinical Linguistics Department of Human Communication Sciences University of Sheffield © 2011 by the author 2 CONTENTS 7   INTRODUCTION 1   SENTENCE AND CLAUSE TYPES 10   2   CLAUSE ELEMENTS 11   2.1   V(VERB) 11   2.2   S (SUBJECT) 11   2.3   O (OBJECT) 12   2.4   Od (DIRECT OBJECT) & Oi (INDIRECT OBJECT) 13   2.5   C (COMPLEMENT) 14   2.6   Co (OBJECT COMPLEMENT) 15   2.7   A (ADVERBIAL) 15   2.8   Voc (VOCATIVE) 16   3   WH- QUESTIONS 18   4   PHRASES 20   5   6   7   4.1   PHRASAL EXPANSION OF CLAUSE ELEMENTS 20   4.2   THE STRUCTURE OF PHRASES 21   22   VERB PHRASES 5.1   STRUCTURE OF VERB PHRASES 22   5.2   MAIN VERB: v 22   5.3   AUXILIARY VERB: aux 23   5.4   MODAL IDIOMS: aux 23   5.5   VERB PARTICLE: part 23   5.6   NEGATOR: neg 24   5.6   REVIEW 24   26   NOUN PHRASES 6.1   STRUCTURE OF NOUN PHRASES 26   6.2   HEADS (h) 26   6.3   MODIFIERS (m) 27   6.4   DETERMINERS (d) 27   6.5   INITIATORS (i) 28   6.6   QUALIFIERS (q) 28   31   ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB PHRASES 7.1   STRUCTURE OF ADJECTIVE PHRASES 31   7.2   ADJECTIVE PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS 32   7.3   ADJECTIVE PHRASES AS MODIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES 32   3 7.4   STRUCTURE OF ADVERB PHRASES 32   7.5   ADVERB PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS 33   7.6   ADVERB PHRASES AS MODIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES 33   8   35   PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES 8.1   THE STRUCTURE OF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES 35   8.2   PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS 35   8.3   PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS QUALIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES 36   8.4   PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AS QUALIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES 37   8.5   MULTIPLE EMBEDDED PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES 37   8.6   HEAD OF A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE OR A VERB PARTICLE? 38   9   42   COORDINATION 9.1   COORDINATION OF CLAUSES 42   9.2   COORDINATION OF PHRASES 42   9.3   COORDINATION OF WORDS 43   10   46   COMPLEX SENTENCES 10.1   OVERVIEW 46   10.2   TESTS FOR IDENTIFYING SUBORDINATE CLAUSES 47   11   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS CLAUSE ELEMENTS 49   11.1   SUBJECT 49   11.2   DIRECT OBJECT 49   11.3   INDIRECT OBJECT 50   11.4   SUBJECT COMPLEMENT 50   11.5   OBJECT COMPLEMENT 50   11.6   ADVERBIAL 51   12   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN PHRASES 52   12.1   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN NOUN PHRASES 52   12.2   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES 54   12.3   SUBORDINATE CLAUSES AS QUALIFIERS IN ADJECTIVE PHRASES 54   13   REVIEW EXERCISE 56   14   SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION 57   CHAPTER 1 SUPPLEMENT 57   CHAPTER 2 SUPPLEMENT 57   CHAPTER 3 SUPPLEMENT 58   CHAPTER 5 SUPPLEMENT 59   CHAPTER 6 SUPPLEMENT 60   CHAPTER 7 SUPPLEMENT 60   4 CHAPTER 8 SUPPLEMENT 61   CHAPTER 9 SUPPLEMENT 62   CHAPTER 10 SUPPLEMENT 63   CHAPTER 11 SUPPLEMENT 64   CHAPTER 12 SUPPLEMENT 65   ADVANCED REVIEW EXERCISE 69   15   71   KEY TO EXERCISES EXERCISE 1.2 71   EXERCISE 2.1 71   EXERCISE 2.2 72   EXERCISE 2.3 72   EXERCISE 2.4 73   EXERCISE 2.5a 73   EXERCISE 2.5b 74   EXERCISE 2.6 74   EXERCISE 2.8 75   EXERCISE 2.9 75   EXERCISE 3.1 76   EXERCISE 3.2 77   EXERCISE 5.1 77   EXERCISE 5.2 78   EXERCISE 6.1 79   EXERCISE 6.2 79   EXERCISE 7.1 81   EXERCISE 7.2 82   EXERCISE 8.2 83   EXERCISE 8.3 84   EXERCISE 8.4 85   EXERCISE 8.5 86   EXERCISE 8.6 86   EXERCISE 8.8 88   EXERCISE 9.1 90   EXERCISE 9.2 91   EXERCISE 9.3 92   EXERCISE 9.4 93   EXERCISE 10.1 94   EXERCISE 10.2 95   EXERCISE 11.1 95   EXERCISE 11.2 96   EXERCISE 11.6 97   5 EXERCISE 11.7 99   EXERCISE 11.7 100   EXERCISE 12.1 101   EXERCISE 12.2 101   EXERCISE 12.3 103   EXERCISE 12.5 104   13 REVIEW EXERCISE 105   16   KEY TO SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISES 109   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 1.1 109   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 1.2 109   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.1 110   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.2 110   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.4 110   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.5b 111   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 2.8 111   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 3 111   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 5 111   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 6 112   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 7.1 113   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 8.6 115   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 8.7 116   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 10.1 116   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 11.6 117   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.1 118   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.2 120   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.4 121   SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISE 12.5 125   SUPPLEMENTARY ADVANCED REVIEW EXERCISE 126   17   133   GLOSSARY 6 INTRODUCTION THE WORKBOOK This Workbook is an integral part of the Syntactic Analysis course. By working through the examples and exercises carefully, you should end up with a good working knowledge of English syntactic structure and, in addition, be able to analyse most English sentences you come across. THE TUTORIALS However, the Workbook is only a part of the Syntactic Analysis course. What it mainly does is show you how to label, analyse and set out your analysis. It is to be used in conjunction with weekly tutorials where you will have plenty of opportunity to ask questions and explore in more depth any aspects which you find problematic or unclear. Don't work too far ahead in the Workbook. You will be told in the tutorials which part you should be working on, and many exercises require knowledge which is not fully spelled out in the Workbook. READING The third key component of the Syntactic Analysis course – in addition to the Workbook and tutorials – is the guided reading which you do by yourself. Throughout the Workbook at the beginning of every chapter you are given reading to do. The reference to Crystal is to his book Rediscover Grammar (see below). This is essential reading, and should be done before you begin the chapter. The reference to Greenbaum & Quirk is to their A Student's Grammar of the English Language (see below). You may find this more heavy going but it will give you a lot of important background detail. More references are given below. SUPPLEMENTARY SECTION The syntax of English (and in fact of any language) is highly complex, and the version you will learn here simplifies much of this complexity, cuts a lot of corners and leaves out many details. The main part of the Workbook covers the basics of English syntax. However, there is also a Supplementary Section which provides additional practice exercises, in case you feel you need them, and also covers a few topics in more depth. You won’t be examined on these topics, but you may find it helpful to work through them anyway as they complement the rest of the Workbook. There are also suggestions for further reading below, and in footnotes, to help you explore areas not covered in the Workbook. EXERCISES AND THE EXERCISE KEYS Most chapters contain exercises – working through them carefully is the only way to achieve a full understanding of the concepts and structures presented. There are exercises on normal adult English and also on typical and atypical child language. There is a key to all exercises which contains suggested analyses. Sometimes there is more than one way of analysing the same sentence: it depends on how you define your categories and what theory of grammar you're using. As the categories used in this Workbook are not defined in a fully formal way and we are not subscribing to any particular theory, that leaves a lot of room for manoeuvre. If you think there are good reasons for analysing any sentence in a different way, say so in one of the tutorials. Discussion of alternatives is an important part of the course. ASSESSMENT 7 The Syntactic Analysis course is assessed by a 1½ hour exam. First, you are given ten ordinary sentences to analyse using tree diagrams as shown in the Exercise Key. In addition, you are required to analyse some child language sentences and to answer a few questions about them. GLOSSARY At the end of the Workbook you will find descriptions and definitions of the major syntactic terms used. REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK This Workbook is revised every year, and I would like to gratefully acknowledge the contribution of former students, and of Carrie Ankerstein, Richard Body, Lisa Clarkson, Christina Lawrence, Hannah Sowden and Vesna Stojanovik who have pointed out errors and shortcomings in previous editions and made helpful suggestions for improvements, many of which I have been able to incorporate in this edition. If, as you work through this book, you should notice any errors or have any ideas on how to improve it further, I would be grateful if you could pass them to via your tutor as a favour to next year's students. READING NB Library references are given in bold A) GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY Crystal, D. (1997) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd ed) CUP Chapter 16 'Grammar' Q403 & REF403 Palmer, F. (1983) Grammar (2nd ed) Penguin 415 B) REFERENCE GRAMMARS Crystal, D. (2004) Rediscover Grammar (3rd ed) Pearson/Longman 425 - an excellent, lively, painless (relatively), cheap introduction to English grammar. Its terminology is consistent with LARSP and Quirk et al (see below). Buy it. The first and second editions are still OK - the chapter references are still the same. Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. CUP. 425 - the standard and most comprehensive (1842 pages!) reference grammar of English. Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. (2005) A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar. CUP. 425 - a condensed version of Huddleston & Pullum (2002) with exercises. Worth buying as a grammar reference source. Hurford, J. R. (1994) Grammar: A Student's Guide CUP - less fun than Crystal, but clear, helpful and more detailed 428 Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language Longman 425 - until Huddleston & Pullum 2002 (see above) this was the standard reference grammar of English, and is still a worthwhile alternative. Terminology consistent with LARSP and Crystal. Greenbaum, S. & Quirk, R. (1990) A Student's Grammar of the English Language Longman 425 - A condensed version of Quirk et al. Halfway house between Crystal and Quirk et al. Worth buying as a grammar reference source. 8 C) FURTHER READING There is no published work which is both notationally and terminologically consistent with the analytical format used on this course and the books referred to above–hence this workbook! However, the following come closest and you may find them useful to refer to: Leech, G., Deuchar M. & Hoogenraad, R. (1982) English Grammar for Today: A New Introduction Macmillan 425 Perera, K. (1984) Children's Writing and Reading: Analysing Classroom Language Blackwell Chapter 2: 'A descriptive framework for grammatical analysis' 372.6 The following are also worth consulting, though beware different terminology and different approaches to that adopted in this workbook: Baker, C. L. (1995) English Syntax (2nd ed). MIT Press. 425.2 Börjars, K., & Burridge, K. (2001). Introducing English Grammar. Arnold. 425 (B) Burton-Roberts, N. (1997) Analysing Sentences: An Introduction to English Syntax (2nd ed) Longman 425.2 Fabb, N. (1994) Sentence Structure Routledge 425.2 Huddleston, R. (1984) Introduction to the Grammar of English CUP 425 Huddleston, R. (1988) English Grammar: An Outline CUP 425 (condensed version of Huddleston '84) Morenberg, M. (1991) Doing Grammar OUP 425 Radford, A. (1997) Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction CUP 415.8 Tallerman, M. (1998) Understanding Syntax. Arnold. 415.8 Thomas, L. (1993) Beginning Syntax Blackwell 425.2 Wardaugh, R. (1995) Understanding English Grammar: A Linguistic Approach Blackwell Also check out: The Internet Grammar of English at the following website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/home.htm. This is an online course in English grammar written primarily for university undergraduates. Visual Interactive Syntax Learning at http://visl.sdu.dk/visl/en/parsing/automatic/ . This website enables you to input sentences and provides an automatic tree-diagram analysis similar to those used in this Workbook. 9 1 SENTENCE AND CLAUSE TYPES Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chapter 3. Exercise 1.1 Label the clause elements in the following: (This is only exploratory–if you get some wrong, don't worry–explanation is at hand. The aim of the exercise is (hopefully!) to demonstrate why you need the information presented in Chapter 2.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The sun/rose Grimes/inspected/his fingernails Sometimes/I/feel/a complete idiot They/made/me/a cup of tea They/made/me/blackboard monitor Frankly/I/don't care The cow/jumped/over the moon Hopefully/I/'ll see/you/under the clock/at Charing Cross Station/at eight o'clock/with a briefcase of you know what Acid/turns/blue litmus paper/red Nerys/turned/red/with embarrassment 10 2 CLAUSE ELEMENTS Essential reading: Crystal (2004/1996) Chs. 8-14 Further reading: Greenbaum & Quirk 10.1-10.18 2.1 V(VERB) Examples: I bought a paper V Shut up! V They may be late V Will you help me? V-V TESTS FOR V: • V is always a Verb Phrase (including single verbs) (see Chapter 5) • V comes after the Subject (S) in declarative sentences • V is the element where tense (eg looked ) and aspect (eg looking ) are shown • V shows 'concord' with the number (singular/plural) and person of the Subject eg The dogs bark The dog barks I/You like it He/She/It likes it • V is the most obligatory of clause elements Exercise 2.1 Underline and label the V element: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.2 Stop! We missed the bus. Horace disturbed the burglars. Open your mouth. My uncle is arriving tomorrow.1 They can't afford the fare. Can they afford the fare? 2 The candidates paraded themselves in front of us. She would often cough violently. Jerry has been smoking again. S (SUBJECT) Examples: We laughed S V These shoes pinch S V Writing essays stinks S V The miserable-looking man in the background might be choking S V 1 Remember that the V element can consist of more than one word. The V element can be discontinuous - i.e. the words that it comprises may not always be next to each other. 2 11 TESTS FOR S: • S is always one of the following: a) a Noun Phrase (see Chapter 6) (including single nouns) - e.g. My ankle hurts b) a Pronoun - e.g. It hurts c) a Clause - e.g. Twisting my ankle hurts • S precedes V in declarative sentences • S can be substituted by a Pronoun - e.g. My ankle hurts -> It hurts • S is the only element identified by a pronoun in a following tag question - e.g. John broke the plates, didn't he? • S shows concord with V- e.g. He goes, They go_ • S typically identifies the origin of any action or the experiencer of any state expressed by V (except in passive sentences - see 2.3 below) Exercise 2.2: Underline and label the S and V elements: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.3 The dog bit me. John wouldn't have said that. It makes me sick. The green man is flashing. Are you sure of that? The strange-looking man is my cousin. Everything on the table looks mouth-wateringly delicious. Peter and Mary have invited us to a barbecue. Mrs Corbett has been attacked by her parrot.3 Have they? O (OBJECT) Examples: Your sister left a message S V O Eat it! V O I loathe what you stand for S V O TESTS FOR O: • O is always one of the following: a) a Noun Phrase (see Chapter 6) (including single nouns) - e.g. The dog bit my ankle b) a Pronoun - e.g. The dog bit it. c) a Clause - e.g. The dog loves biting my ankle ( d) a Prepositional Phrase when it's an Indirect Object - see 2.4) • O typically follows V in declarative sentences • O can be substituted by a Pronoun - e.g. I like your jacket -> I like it. • O becomes S when the sentence is passivized - e.g.: He (S) broke(V) the record (O) -> The record (S) was broken (V) by him (A)4 • O typically identifies the person or thing affected by the action, state, etc expressed by V 3 NB this is a passive sentence, so the final test above does not apply. See Crystal (1996:88-89) and Greenbaum & Quirk (1990:44-46) for more detail on how to convert actives to passives. 4 12 O occurs with a 'transitive' verb (Crystal Ch.8) • Exercise 2.3 Underline and label the S, V and O elements: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 He kicked the ball. I hate tennis. Hand over the money. Can I help you? He crashed his brand-new Porsche. Don't you understand plain English? I understand the whys and wherefores. We're planning a fairly casual thing with plenty of wine. They've chosen apples, oranges, grapes and melons. Your 'devil may care' attitude has undermined my confidence. 2.4 Od (DIRECT OBJECT) & Oi (INDIRECT OBJECT) Examples: Mary gave John a black cat S V Oi Od Karen bought me a chicken vindaloo S V Oi Od TESTS FOR Od • Same as the definition of O in 2.3 above • Od cannot usually be omitted from an S V O O clause without a radical change in meaning TESTS FOR Oi • Oi is semantically equivalent to a Prepositional Phrase (see Ch. 8) e.g.: Give me the book = Give the book to me. • Oi becomes a Prepositional Phrase with to or for if Od becomes S through passivization - e.g.: They bought Ian a car --> A car was bought for Ian. • Oi usually occurs before Od unless it is a prepositional phrase • Oi typically refers to an animate being who is the recipient or beneficiary of the action expressed in V • Oi occurs with a 'ditransitive' verb (Greenbaum & Quirk 16.31) Exercise 2.4 Underline and label the S, V, Od and Oi elements: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 5 I'll tell you the reason. Throw me a towel.5 He threw a towel to me. Give me it. I've bought myself a portable CD player. She prepared my lunch for me. Don't tell him any of your secrets. Hand your mother the money. Don't forget that this is an imperative sentence. 13 9 10 2.5 Give a prize to the best ones. Have you told Mary the news? C (COMPLEMENT) Examples: She looks a fool The government remained very determined Nigel fell ill S V C S V C S V C Mud wrestling is the only thing she will ever be good at S V C TESTS FOR C: • C is typically a Noun Phrase, Adjective Phrase (see Ch. 7) or a Clause • C is coreferential (ie refers to the same entity) with S - i.e. it is a Subject Complement (Cs) (But NB this criterion doesn't always work for 'reflexive' pronouns - eg myself, themselves, etc. Although these may be coreferential with S, their inflection – ie 'himself' not *'heself' – identifies them as Objects, which is how you should analyse them here. (But beware sentence 15 in Exercise 2.5b!) • C cannot become S through passivization • C follows be (= the 'copula') or one of the 'copulative' (or 'intensive') verbs - viz: a) 'Current' copulative verbs - e.g. appear (angry), feel (ill), lie (scattered), look (a fool), remain (a bachelor), rest (assured), seem (fine), smell (odd), sound (funny), taste (delicious) b) 'Resulting' copulative verbs - e.g. become (a teacher), get (ready), go (bad), grow (tired), fall (sick), turn (nasty) Exercise 2.5a Underline and label the S, V and C elements: Note: Only label Objects as Od or Oi if both kinds occur in the clause at the same time. If there is only one Object, it will nearly always be Direct and need only be labelled simply as O. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 It's amazing. Don't be an idiot. He's fallen ill. I feel somewhat subdued. That smells good. The president remained totally convinced. It seems a good idea. It's neither one thing or the other. My intentions were entirely honourable. The exercise must be getting tedious. Exercise 2.5b Underline and label the S, V, C & O elements: Hint: The passivization test (2.3) and the coreference test (2.5) are particularly helpful for telling Objects from Complements 1 Are you alright? 14 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 I'm growing tired. I'm growing cabbages. The judges tasted each of the entries. Some of the entries tasted awful. You're looking a lot better. My shares have made a profit. Tanya has gone berserk. Sound the bell.6 Peter Pan stayed young. 2.6 Co (OBJECT COMPLEMENT) Examples: We made John chairman S V O Co The general considered the defeat a disaster S V O Co TESTS FOR CO: • Co only occurs in SVOC structures • Co is typically a Noun Phrase, Adjective Phrase or a Clause • Co is coreferential with O • Co cannot become S through passivization Exercise 2.6 Underline and label the S, V, O and C elements: Note: It is not necessary to label Subject and Object Complements separately as Cs and Co, but simply as C. This is because in SVC clauses the Complement is always Cs, whereas in SVOC clauses it is always Co, so anything more than a simple C label is unnecessary. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.7 She made him an offer. She made him her deputy. The judge declared the best entries delicious. That hat flatters you. You have become the bane of my life. I found her irascible, meticulous but a civil enough colleague.7 She found me a three-bedroomed house. They elected themselves. They elected themselves another disastrous government. They elected him prime minister. A (ADVERBIAL) Examples: On Sundays I frequently ride quickly to Castleton on my bike A S A V A A A 6 Imperative sentences like this don't passivize. In order to try the passivization test you need to turn them into statements by adding a Subject - in this case They sound the bell. 7 Note: a clause can contain no more than one Complement and one Direct Object. 15 TESTS FOR A: • The A element specifies Where, When, How or Why. • A is more peripheral in clause structure than S, V, O and C • A can be an Adverb Phrase, Prepositional Phrase, Noun Phrase or Clause • A is often an optional element • A can sometimes be used in different positions - e.g.: (Sometimes) Bill (sometimes) smokes a pipe (sometimes) • There is no theoretical limit to the number of A elements in one clause • A most frequently expresses time, place or manner, enabling corresponding questions such as: When do you travel? (on Sundays) Where do you travel? (to Castleton) How do you travel? (quickly, on my bike) • A may also express a range of other meanings - eg: I opened it with the master key (instrument) She came with John (comitative) They rested for a few minutes (duration) She often faints (frequency) He worked late to impress the boss (purpose) They stayed in because of the rain (reason) I enjoyed it very much (degree) In my view it's a shambles (viewpoint) Perhaps he likes her (possibility) She resigned however (connectivity) 2.8 Voc (VOCATIVE) Vocatives are used to identify the person(s) to whom a sentence is addressed. They are not really a clause element like S, V, O, C and A. Examples: Do it now, Sir Colin Waiter, bring my soup You, John, came top V O A Voc Voc V O S Voc V C Exercise 2.8 Underline and label the S, V, O, C and A elements and Voc: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Come here, scumbag. They played in the rain. Sometimes I drive too fast. Frankly, I'm quite disgusted. I really mean it this time, ladies. She came across the road in her slippers. She came across the road by chance one fine sunny morning. Because of a serious illness he no longer plays squash. Do it here, now, with the light on. He possibly lives near Sheffield. 16 Exercise 2.9 Underline and label the S, V, O, C and A elements and Voc in the following child utterances. If any clause elements are missing, show them in parentheses. e.g. Want that. (S) V O 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Baby eat. Kick ball. Go there. Boy glasses. (describing picture of a boy wearing glasses) He doctor. (referring to appearance of a man in a white coat) Cat jumping. Mummy sad. Jumping now. Me want that. Mommy wear hat. Me did it now. You play snakes and ladders me. Me want make house for Kate. Me did some of those, Mummy. Her won’t be there tomorrow. 17 3 WH- QUESTIONS Essential reading: Greenbaum & Quirk 11.9 - 11.10 Further reading: Burton-Roberts (1997) Ch. 9 The clause elements S, O, C and A (but not V) can each be represented in questions by means of a 'Wh'-word which is usually placed at the beginning of the sentence. This is sometimes called Wh- 'fronting' or 'raising'. E.g.: Nigel has lost his umbrella S V O What has Nigel lost? O V- S -V 'What' is analysed as 'O' since it is an Object as well as a question word. Note that 'has' has also moved in front of the Subject: What has Nigel – lost –? In some cases8 an appropriate form of 'do' is added to carry the tense of the verb, as this also moves: Nigel lost his umbrella -> What did Nigel lose– –? Nigel loses his umbrella -> What does Nigel lose– –? The fronted elements act grammatically as though they are still in the positions they started in. A good way, therefore, to identify whether a Wh-word is acting as S, O, C or A is to move the Wh-word (and any other moved item) back to its starting position and apply the usual tests. Thus: a) What has Nigel lost? -> b) Nigel has lost what? 'What' in b) is an Object since, for example, it becomes S when the sentence is passivized (What has been lost by Nigel?). If it is not possible to move the Wh-word as in: Who said that? -> *Said that who?9 What kept you? -> *Kept you what? this means that the Wh-word is the Subject - i.e. its starting position is already at the front of the sentence. 8 9 i.e. when the verb is not a form of be or have. The asterisk indicates that the sentence is ungrammatical. 18 Since one of the main criteria for defining an Adverbial clause element is whether it gives information pertaining to 'why', 'where', 'when' or 'how', it follows that the words why, where, when and how will always be analysed as A. 'Whom' will always be analysed as O since the '-m' ending is a marker of Object case. The same is true of any instance of 'Who' to which it is posible to add '-m' - e.g. Who(m) did you see? but not: *Whom did that? Exercise 3.1 Underline and label all the clause elements in the following sentences: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 What are you doing? Why are you here? What did they tell you? Who sent you? How did you get here? Where did you park your car? What is your name? What makes you so angry? Who do you mean? Who is their representative? Exercise 3.2 Underline and label all the clause elements in the following child utterances. If any clause elements are missing, show them in parentheses. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Where go? Man where? Where your car? What he doing? Why those two nother things broke? Why are me so healthy? Why didn’t me get flu ever? Where chair went? Why did her have a runny tummy? What a skinny snake can wiggle really fast? (Attempted repetition of “What can a skinny snake wiggle really fast?”) 19