E_English Grammar Course

Unit 7
The Simple Sentence
 Issues

1. Clause Patterns
2. Sentence Elements and their Meanings
3. Concord
4. Negation
5. Questions, Commands, Exclamations
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1 Clause Types

Clause Elements
Clause types

Obligatory vs. Optional

Clause types

Clause types transformed

 1/2

1 Clause Types

Clause Elements
Clause types

S, V, O, C, A Obligatory vs. Optional

They appointed him head of office last week.
S V O C A
Clause types

Clause types transformed

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1 Clause Types

Clause Elements
Clause types

Obligatory vs. Optional

Obligatory clause patterns are those which

Clauseare required
types
for the complementation of the verb.
Clause types transformed
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1 Clause Types

Clause Elements
Clause types

Obligatory vs. Optional

I put the book on the table (SVOA) vs. I put thetypes

Clause book.
He resembled his father (SVO) vs. He resembled.
(Sometimes) she sings (beautifully).
Clause types transformed
He is eating (the cake).
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1 Clause Types
1. SVA Mary is in the house.
2. SVC Mary is kind.
3. SVO Somebody
Clause Elements caught the ball.
Clause types 4. SVOA I put the vase on the table.
5. SVOC She has proved it wrong.
6. SVOO Obligatory
Momvs.buys me a new bike.
Optional
7. SV The lady smiled.

7 Clause types

Clause types transformed

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1 Clause Types
Clause Elements
Clause types

Obligatory vs. Optional

Passive transformation 7 Clause types

SV, SVC, SVA equivalents Clause types transformed

 1/7

1 Clause Types
Clause Elements
Clause types

Obligatory vs. Optional

Passive transformation

Many critics disliked the play 7 Clause types

(SVOd)
The play was disliked by many critics. Clause types transformed
(S + Vpass + [A])
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1 Clause Types
Clause Elements
Clause types

Obligatory vs. Optional

Passive transformation

Mom considered him a genius. 7 Clause types

(SVOO)
He was considered a genius (by Mom). Clause types transformed
(SVC [A])
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1 Clause Types
Clause Elements
Clause types

Obligatory vs. Optional

SV, SVC, SVA equivalents

1. SV SVC 7 Clause types

The baby is sleeping The baby is asleep
2. SV SVA Clause types transformed
Two loaves will suffice Two loaves will be sufficient
3. SVC SVA
He is jobless He is without a job.
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1 Clause Types
Which clause type does each of the following
sentences belong to?
1. He’s getting angry.
2. He got through the window.
3. He’ll get a surprise.
4. He got his shoes and socks wet.
5. He got himself into trouble.
6. He got her a splendid present.
 1/11

1 Clause Types
1. SVC He’s getting angry.
2. SVA He got through the window.
3. SVO He’ll get a surprise.
4. SVOC He got his shoes and socks wet.
5. SVOA He got himself into trouble.
6. SVOO He got her a splendid present.

One verb can belong to a number of different classes.

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2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Sentence elements Subject

syntactically defined
Object
See Quirk, pp170
Complement

Adverbial
 2/2

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive locative

instrumental temporal

affected eventive

recipient Empty It
 2/3

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive locative
She opened the door.

instrumental temporal

affected eventive

recipient IT
 2/4

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive locative

instrumental The key opens the door.

temporal

affected eventive

recipient IT
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2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive locative

instrumental temporal

affected eventive
The door opens.

recipient IT
 2/6

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive locative

instrumental temporal

affected eventive

She has a new

IT shirt.
recipient
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2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive
This room accommodates 20 people. locative

instrumental temporal

affected eventive

recipient IT
 2/8

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive locative

Tomorrow is my birthday.
instrumental temporal

affected eventive

recipient IT
 2/9

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive locative

instrumental temporal

The meeting ended successfully. eventive

affected

recipient IT
 2/10

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Subject

agentive locative

instrumental temporal

affected eventive

It’s wonderful to meet you. Empty IT

recipient
 2/11

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Object

Od Oi

affected We opened the door.

effected He invented the telephone.

locative We passed the building.

 2/12

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Object

Od Oi

We paid him a visit. affected

We gave him some money. recipient

 2/13

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Object

Cs Co

Current attribute He is tired.

Resulting attribute He becomes tired.

 2/14

2 Sentence elements and their meanings

Semantic Roles of the Complement

Cs Co

We found the room empty. Current attribute

They left the room empty. Resulting attribute

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3 Concords

CONCORDS Grammatical concord

Notional Concord

Concord by Proximity

Concord with coordinated

subject
 3/2

3 Concords

Grammatical Concord Subject - Verb

Subject - Complement

Subject - Object

Pronoun
 3/3

3 Concords

Grammatical Concord Subject - Verb

Subject - Complement
SUBJECT sing/plur  VERB sing/plur
This dish is dirty/ These dishes are dirty.
Subject - Object
SUBJECT (clause)  VERB sing
What they are doing now is my concern.
Pronoun
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3 Concords

Grammatical Concord Subject - Verb

Subject - Complement

Subject - Object
The child was an angel.

The children are angels. Pronoun

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3 Concords

Grammatical Concord Subject - Verb

Subject - Complement

He injured himself. Subject - Object

Pronoun
 3/6

3 Concords

Grammatical Concord Subject - Verb

Subject - Complement

The boy likes his toys

Subject - Object

Pronoun
 3/7

3 Concords

Notional Concord Nominal clause

Collective noun

The verb agrees with the

idea of plural rather None
than the actual
singular form of the noun
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3 Concords

Notional Concord Nominal clause

Collective noun
What he says isn’t true.
(= The thing he says isn’t true)
What they like best are None
tea and coffee.
( The things they like…)
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3 Concords

Notional Concord Nominal clause

Collective noun

The cabinet are having None

a rest.
(All members of the cabinet…)

The cabinet has reached an agreement.

(The cabinet as a whole)
 3/10

3 Concords

Notional Concord Nominal clause

Collective noun

None

None of the students like Grammar.

None of the cheese is fresh.
 3/11

3 Concords

Concord by Proximity Set phrases

Existential sentence with ‘there’

The verb tends to agree
with whatever noun or
Either… or
pronoun closely precedes
it, instead of the head
word of the subject
 3/12

3 Concords

Concord by Proximity Set phrases

Existential sentence with ‘there’

One in ten take drugs.
Either… or
 3/13

3 Concords

Concord by Proximity Set phrases

Existential sentence with ‘there’

Either… or
There are two chairs and a desk there.
There is a chair and two desks there.
 3/14

3 Concords

Concord by Proximity Set phrases

Existential sentence with ‘there’

Either… or

Either my brother or I am to blame for the error.

Either the teacher or the students need to do this.
 3/15

3 Concords

Concord with coordinated Coordinated subject

subject representing a single entity

normally takes When the NPs refer to the same

a plural verb thing/ person
 3/16

3 Concords

Concord with coordinated Coordinated subject

subject representing a single entity

The hammer and the sickle wasWhen

flyingthe
on NPs
top ofrefer
the to the same
building.
thing/ person
 3/17

3 Concords
Coordinated subject
Concord with coordinated
representing a single entity
subject

When the NPs refer to the same

thing/ person

His lawyer and former college friend, Max Weber, was with
him at his death.
 4/1

4 Negation
The negation of a sentence is accomplished
by inserting not between the operator and
the predication.
E.g.
The attempt has succeeded.
The attempt has not succeeded.
We may win the match.
 We may not win the match.
 4/2

4 Negation
1. Assertives vs. Non-assertives
2. Negative intensification
3. Alternative Negative elements
4. Scope of negation
5. Focus of negation
6. Relationship between scope and focus of
negation
7. Main verb negation vs. Auxiliary negation
 4/3

4 Negation
Assertives Non-assertives
Non-assertive forms = items
that do not naturally Some Any
occur outside negative, Someone Anyone
interrogative, and Somewhere Anywhere
conditional sentences. Somehow In any way
To some extent At all
E.g. Already Yet
A great deal Much
I saw him somewhere.
I didn’t see him Too Either
A long way Far
anywhere.
Too Very
A long time Long
(Quirk p.184)
 4/4

4 Negation

Negative Intensification = ways to give emotive intensification

to a negative.

I found nothing at all the matter with him.

I have no excuse whatever.
I'll never, never go there again.
I've never in all my life seen such a crowd.
She has never spoken to me even a single word.
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4 Negation

Alternative Negative Elements (Instead of the verb, another

element may be negated)

An honest man would not lie -> No honest man would lie.
I didn't see any birds -> I saw no birds.
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4 Negation
Normally extends from the negative
Scope of Negation word itself to the end of the clause.

E.g.
I definitely didn’t speak to him.
= The stretch of language
over which the negative
(It’s definite that I did not.)
meaning operates
I didn’t definitely speak to him.

(It’s not definite that I did.)

 4/7

4 Negation
Focus of Negation 1.‘JOHN doesn’t love Mary.
Somebody loves Mary but it’s not
The contrastive nuclear stress falling
John.
on a particular part of a clause 2. John doesn’t ‘LOVE Mary.
indicates that the contrast of John likes Mary but it’s not love.
meaning implicit in the negation is 3. John doesn’t love ‘MARY.
John loves somebody else but
located at that spot and the rest of
it’s not Mary.
the clause can be understood in a
positive sense.
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4 Negation
Scope & Focus of Negation I didn’t LISTEN all the time.

The scope must include the (I listened none of the time.)

focus, and by the position of I didn’t listen ALL the time.
the focus we can realize the
extent of the scope (I listened some of the time.)
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4 Negation
Scope & Focus of Negation In each of the following case,
does John love Mary or not?
The scope must include the
focus, and by the position of John doesn’t LOVE Mary
the focus we can realize the because she is a teacher.
extent of the scope.
John doesn’t love Mary because
she is a TEACHER.
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4 Negation

Main verb negation vs.

Auxiliary negation

Auxiliary Negation Main Verb Negation

 4/11

4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Auxiliary Negation TheMain

scope of negation
Verb Negation
includes the meaning
of the auxiliary itself
 4/12

4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

1. can’t (in all sense)

Auxiliary Negation You can’tMain Verb Negation
be serious.

(It is not possible that…)

You can’t go swimming.
(You are not allowed…)
She can’t ride a bicycle.
(She is not able to…)
 4/13

4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Auxiliary Negation Main Verb Negation

2. Needn’t
You needn’t pay that fine.
(You are not obliged to…)

It needn’t be my fault.
(it is not necessary that…)
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4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Auxiliary Negation 3. May not ( = Verb

Main permission)
Negation
You may not go swimming.
(You are not allowed to…)
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4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

1. May not (=possibility)

They may notAuxiliary
bother to Negation
come if it’s wet. Main Verb Negation

(It is possible that they will not

bother to come.)
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4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Will not/ won’t Main Verb Negation

Shall not/ shan’t

Must not/ mustn’t

Ought not/ oughtn’t

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4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Will not/ won’t Main Verb Negation

Shallworry.
Don’t not/ shan’t
I won’t interfere (I’m willing not to interfere.)

Must not/
He mustn’t
won’t do it (He insists on not doing it.)

Ought not/ oughtn’t

They won’t have arrived yet (I predict that they’ve not arrived yet.
 4/18

4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Will not/ won’t Main Verb Negation

Shall not/ shan’t

Must not/ mustn’t

Don’t worry, you shan’t lose your reward.
(I’m willing to see that you don’t lose your reward.
Ought not/ oughtn’t
 4/19

4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Will not/ won’t Main Verb Negation

Shall not/ shan’t

Must not/ mustn’t

I shan’t know when you return (I predict that I shall not know…)
Ought not/ oughtn’t
 4/20

4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Will not/ won’t Main Verb Negation

You mustn’tShall
keepnot/
us all waiting (You’ll oblige me for not keeping…)
shan’t

Must not/ mustn’t

Ought not/ oughtn’t

 4/21

4 Negation
Main verb negation vs.
Auxiliary negation

Will not/ won’t Main Verb Negation

YouShall
oughtn’t to keep us waiting (obligation)
not/ shan’t

HeMust
oughtn’t
not/to be long (necessity)
mustn’t

Ought not/ oughtn’t

 5/1

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Statements
Types of simple sentences

Questions

Commands

Exclamations
 5/2

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Statements
Types of simple sentences

Sentences in which the subjectQuestions

is always
present and generally precedes the verb.
Commands

Exclamations
 5/3

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Statements
Types of simple sentences

Questions

Commands
Yes – No Questions Wh - Questions Alternative Questions

Exclamations
 5/4

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Questions

Yes – No Questions Wh - Questions Alternative Questions

 5/5

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Questions

Yes – No Questions Wh - Questions

General Yes – No questionsAlternative Questions
Has the boat left?
Yes-no questions with positive orientation:
Has the boat left already?
Yes-no questions with positive orientation:
Hasn’t the boat left yet?
 5/6

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Questions

Yes – No Questions Wh - Questions Alternative Questions

Tag questions
• Rising tone = neutral assumption
• Falling tone:
Positive assumption + positive expectation
Negative assumption + negative expectation
 5/7

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Questions

Yes – No Questions Wh -Declarative

Questions Questions
Alternative Questions

You’ve got the explosive?

He didn’t finished it?

 5/8

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Questions

Yes – No Questions Wh -Exclamatory

Questions Questions
Alternative Questions
Negative Y-N

Hasn’t he grown!
Wasn’t it good!
Positive Y – N

Am I hungry!
Do I look annoyed!
 5/9

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Questions

Yes – No Questions Wh - Questions Alternative Questions

Wh- word pronouns: who, whom, which, what, whose

• Who went there with her? (Wh-word = S)
• Who(m) did he talk to? (Wh-word = Od)
• Which book have you lent him? (Wh-word = premodifier)
• Whose beautiful antiques are they? (Wh-word = determiner)
• Who did you lent to book to? (Wh-word = Oi)
 5/10

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Questions

Yes – No Questions Wh - Questions Alternative Questions

Wh- word adverbs: when, where, how, why, how + adj/adv

• When will you come back? (A time)
• Where should I put these? (A place)
• Why aren’t they coming? (A reason)
• How did they mend it? (A manner)
•…
 5/11

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Questions

Yes – No Questions Wh - Questions Alternative Questions

Would you like tea, coffee, or milk?

Which ice cream would you like. Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?

 5/12

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Statements
Types of simple sentences

Questions

Commands

sentences that make use of the imperative mood in the main,

or sometimes of questions with Exclamations
the initial modal
- particularly with invitations or requests.
 5/13

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Without subject
Commands

With subject

With ‘let’
 5/14

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Without subject
Commands

With subject
Positive: Be reasonable
Negative: Don’t make noise
With ‘let’
 5/15

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Without subject
Commands

With subject

‘You’ as subject WithInfinite

‘let’ pronoun S
 5/16

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Without subject
Commands

With subject

‘You’ as subject With ‘let’

-You there be quiet!
-You come here, Jack, and you come over there, Mary.
- Will you come in and sit down?
 5/17

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Without subject
Commands

With subject

Indefinite Pronoun S With ‘let’

Positive: Somebody open the door! Everybody shut their eyes!
Negative: Don’t anyone say anything!
 5/18

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Without subject
Commands

With subject

With ‘let’

Positive: Let’s go out./ Let each man decide for himself.

Negative: Let’s open the door/ Don’t let him lose heart.
 5/19

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Statements
Types of simple sentences

Questions

Full exclamation Commands

Short exclamation Exclamations

 5/20

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Statements
Types of simple sentences

Questions

Full exclamation What an enormous crowd came!

Commands
How delightful her manners are!

Exclamations

Short exclamation
 5/21

5 Questions, Commands & Exclamation

Statements
Types of simple sentences

Questions

What a book!
Short exclamation Commands
How wonderful!

Exclamations
Full exclamation
That’s the end of unit 7.