（ ）The students are busy __ for the exam.A to get everything ready B getting everything ready C being ready D to be ready( ）My teacher often helps me __ my English.A with B of C in D on ( ) Don't read __ the sun.A under B in C on D of( ) __Tom's mother lets him look after the baby .A At times B Some time C At the same time D all the times( )Now you get __ ,go out and try your luck .A dressing B dressed C dress D dresses可以的话请说明一下原因,还有 the next month 和 next month 有什么区别?
任丶男人TA1d0
next month 即是从现在算起的下个月the next month 是从当事人说话的那个month 算起的下个月B busy doing sth.是忙于做某事的意思,排除AD; get ready for 为什么做准备,是固定搭配A help sb.with sth 帮助某人做某事 固定搭配B in the sun 在阳光下；under the sun 意思是天下,究竟,明显不对,排除；on the sun 都不想解释了,排除；of the sun 太阳的什么什么,不对,排除 A At times 有时,偶尔； Some time 在未来的某时,不对,排除；At the same time同时,然而的意思,不对,排除；all the times 总是的意思,意思上可以,但是该短语不能放句头,所以排除B get dressed 穿上衣服,固定搭配
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扫描下载二维码Structure of English
The Structure of English Language
Introduction
This web page is intended for students who are following GCE Advanced level (AS and A2) specifications in English Language. This resource may also be of general interest to language students on university degree courses, trainee teachers and anyone with a general interest in language science. It contains a basic guide to the structure of the English language.
Please note that I have not set down prescriptive rules which must be obeyed. I have described language, using both traditional terms and some of the categories and descriptions of modern grammar. English is not “derived” from Latin (whatever Prince Charles thinks) but has a Germanic origin, although much of our lexicon comes from French and the classical languages of Greek and Latin. None of this classical lexis was found in Old English, of course - it has entered English from the Renaissance onwards, most of it in comparatively modern times, thanks to its extensive use in science.
Some of the language categories of traditional grammar have more coherence than others. Nouns and verbs are fairly coherent, while adverbs (or all the words classed by lexicographers as such) are certainly not.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the guide, please contact me.
We can study the structure of language in a variety of ways. For example, we can study
classes of words (parts of speech),
meanings of words (semantics), with or without considering changes of meaning,
how words are organised in relation to each other (syntax),
how words are formed (morphology),
the sounds of words (phonology) and
how written forms represent these (lexicography).
There is no universally accepted model for doing this, but some models use the notion of a hierarchy, and this may prove fruitful for you. The framework (description of structure) you will study here is written to be comprehensive yet succinct. Elsewhere, in studying language theory, you will focus on a selective area, and investigate this in more detail.
The most basic units of meaning are simple words (e.g.: dog, yes and swim) or the elements of complex words (e.g.: un- -happi- and -ness in unhappiness). These basic elements are called morphemes, and the study of how they are combined in words is morphology.
The study of how words are organised into phrases, clauses and sentences is usually referred to as syntax.
A longer stretch of language is known as discourse, the study of its structure as discourse analysis.
This hierarchy is partly explained by the table below, from David
Crystal's The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. The right hand column should be read upwards, in the direction of the arrow.
Outline structure of English
are analysed into
are analysed into
are analysed into
are analysed into
↓ ↑
are used to build
are used to build
are used to build
are used to build
The following table shows a three-part model of the structure of
Three-part model of English
Morphology
relationships between sentences in longer stretches of
Morphology
This is the study of the structure of words. The name comes from Greek morphos (=shape or form). The smallest units of meaning may be whole simple words (e.g. man, run, big) or parts of complex words (e.g. un-, -faith- and -ful in unfaithful) which are called morphemes.
Some morphemes, such as faith in un-faith-ful or dream in dream-ing can stand alone as words which make sense. These are known as free morphemes. You will see how very many simple words are free morphemes, but can combine with other morphemes, both free and bound (see below) to form complex words.
Where two simple words are joined together to form a new complete word, this is called a compound word. Examples include teapot, starlight and careworn. When these terms are first coined, they are shown in some dictionaries with a hyphen, as light-house or fish-finger.
Other morphemes, such as prefixes and suffixes
(collectively called affixes), cannot stand alone - they need to be part of a complex word to make sense. Examples are dis- in dis-miss, dis-pute or dis-grace, -ing
in dream-ing, -ness in happi-ness or sad-ness and even -s used to form plurals, as in boy-s or horse-s. These morphemes are said to be bound
morphemes.
Inflection and derivation
Bound morphemes are traditionally divided into two further classes. Sometimes a word is changed in its form to show the internal grammar of a sentence (&#agreement&#). Examples would be plural forms of nouns (dog + s → dog-s) or past (imperfect) tenses of regular verbs (want + ed → want-ed). The study of such changes is inflectional morphology (because the words in question are inflected - altered by adding a suffix).
Other compound or complex words are made by adding together elements without reference to the internal grammar of a sentence. For example, the verb infect suggests a new verb disinfect (=to undo the action of infecting). New words are often formed by noun + -ize, noun + ism, or verb + able (scandalize, Stalinism, disposable). The study of such words, &derived& from existing words or morphemes is derivational morphology. The elements of which the word is made may have a grammatical relationship within the word (you may find this idea difficult), but their formation is independent of the syntax of the clause or sentence in which they occur. If you find this puzzling, two things may help:
Inflectional morphology is much easier to recognize. A relatively small number of types of inflection (showing number or tense, say) covers most cases.
All compound and most complex words show derivational morphology. If a complex word does not show inflection it will show derivation.
But note: a complex word may show both inflection and derivation! A derived word may be inflected to show, for example, tense or number: deported or disposables (as in nappies or diapers).
This table shows how the most common kinds of inflection are found
in three word classes:
Inflection of nouns, verbs and qualifiers
Adjectives and adverbs
Addition of terminal s to show plural
( two cats);
Addition of 's to show possession
(Henry's cat).
Ending shows tense (wanted)
or person ([she] wants).
Addition of -er → comparative (
likelier);
Addition of -est → superlative (
This table illustrates how derivation can occur:
Derivational morphology in complex words
Base of Word
Complex Word
Disgraceful
tolera(te)
Intolerable
Revisionist
Uncooperatively
likely (y becomes i)
Unlikelihood
Remember that morphology is the study of the structure of words. The structure of words can also be studied to show how the meaning of a given morpheme, or its relation to the rest of the word, varies from one complex word to another. Consider how sun works in the following words: sunbeam, sunburnt, sundial, sunflower, sunglasses, sunlight, sunrise, sun-spot (scientific sense), sun-spot (tourist sense), suntan.
Inflection does not really yield “new” words, but alters the form of existing ones for specific reasons of grammar. Derivation, on the other hand, does lead to the creation of new words. David Crystal (Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language; p. 90) lists four normal processes of word-formation, of which three are examples of derivation:
Four kinds of word-formation
Prefixation
(derivational)
Suffixation
(derivational)
Compounding
(derivational)
Conversion
(not derivational)
Affix placed before base of word, e.g.
Affix placed after base of word, e.g.
Two base forms are added together, e.g.
Word changes class, without any change of form,
e.g. (the) pet (n) becomes (to) pet (vb.)
Words considered as wholes can be categorized according to how
they work within phrases, clauses or sentences. These categories,
traditionally called parts of speech are now more usually
known as word classes. Parts of speech are labels for
categories in which words are usually placed. But in a given
sentence a word from one category may behave as if it were in
another. A dictionary will only record established or standard usage.
The traditional parts of speech were of eight kinds, excluding the
two articles (a/an, the). These were nouns, pronouns,
adjectives, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, and
interjections. Modern linguists prefer to list words in classes that
are coherent - all the words in them should behave in the same
way. But if this principle were applied rigidly, we would have
hundreds of classes, so irregularities are tolerated!
Closed and open word classes
Some classes of words are called closed because they
contain a relatively small number of items to which no new words can
normally be added. These are words (prepositions and conjunctions)
which make connections (connectives or connectors),
pronouns and words (including articles) like the, some, each
that co-occur with nouns - these are called determiners.
Other classes of word are constantly being added to. Each contains
a vast number of terms already. They are open to new words
being introduced. The open classes are nouns, verbs and the words
which qualify them, adjectives and adverbs. These form the bulk of a
language's vocabulary or lexis (also lexicon, though
this sometimes refers to a published version). These classes may be
called lexical whereas the closed-class words are
structural or functional. These tables illustrate the
two kinds of word class.
Closed word classes
Determiner
Preposition
Conjunction
A, the, any, my, those, which
She, them, who, that, himself
In, across, at, by, near, within
And, but, if, or, while, unless
Open word classes
Abstract: fear, joy
Concrete: chair, mud
Common: boy, town
Proper: Fred, Hull
Transitive: bite, steal
Intransitive: live, cry
Modal: can, will, may
Auxiliary: be, have, do
Descriptive: lazy, tall
Comparative: lazier
Superlative: tallest
Manner: reluctantly, keenly, easily,
Time: soon, often
Place: here, there
Problems of classification
Some words are difficult to classify. Not all grammatical descriptions will place them in the same word class. This, these or those are sometimes classified as demonstrative (or distinctive) adjectives or pronouns. Possessives, like my, his, their, are sometimes classified as pronouns (showing the word from which they are formed), sometimes as adjectives, showing their grammatical function of qualifying nouns: usually they are pronouns when alone (I like that) and adjectives when they precede a noun (I like this weather).
Traditional lists of adverbs contain words like very which qualify other adverbs or adjectives. This word class is sometimes called a &dustbin& class, because any word which defies classification will be put in it! Among words which have sometimes been classified as adverbs are the following: however, just, no, not, quickly, tomorrow and when.
This incoherence has long been recognized by grammarians who
subdivide adverbs into further categories, such as adverbs of
time, place or manner.
In trying to organize words into coherent classes, linguists will
consider any or all of the following: what they mean
(semantics), their form (morphology), provenance
(historical origin) and function in a phrase, clause or
sentence (syntax).
Some words, such as numbers, do not fit in any of the word classes given above. They can behave as adjectives (one loaf or two?) or pronouns (I want one now!). And no one description of word classes is regarded as finally authoritative. Some classes (such as verbs or conjunctions) are fairly coherent. You should be able to discuss the problems of how or where to classify words which seem not to &fit&.
Also note that a dictionary does not (or should not) prescribe, but indicates the word class or part of speech where a word is usually placed. But in a given sentence, if the speaker or writer has used it as if it were in a different class, then this is where it should be placed.
For example, toilet is usually classified as a noun. But UK primary school teachers often speak of toileting children (I had to toilet John twice today). In describing such a sentence, you should be guided by the internal grammar of the sentence (syntax) rather than the dictionary. Here toilet is a transitive verb. If this usage becomes standard, lexicographers will record it. This kind of word formation is called conversion, a self-explanatory name.
Kinds and Functions of Words: Word Classes or Parts of
Every statement is a combination of words, and every statement says something to communicate information. The simplest possible kind of statement - for example, Dogs bark - has two kinds of words in it. It has a what word, dogs, and a what happens word, bark. These kinds of words are the most basic parts of any statement. If a person only says dog, no statement is made, and no information is conveyed. A sound is made that calls to mind a common, four-footed animal, but nothing regarding it is learned.
The what words are called nouns. They tell what is being talked about. They are identifying words, or names. Nouns identify persons, places, or things. They may be particular persons, places, or things: Michael Jackson, Reykjavik, World Trade Center. Or they may be general nouns: singer, town, building. Concrete nouns indicate things that can be seen such as car, teapot, and potato. Abstract nouns denote concepts such as love, honesty,and beauty.
It is rather odd that English grammar should retain this abstract-concrete distinction for nouns. It appears to be a survival from the philosopher Plato, who divided the world into mind and matter.
If it has any value it is in the philosophical field of epistemology (theory of knowledge). It does not really reveal anything for linguists beyond itself. That is, we can, if we wish, try to place nouns in the sub-categories of concrete and abstract, but once we have done so, this categorization has no further value for the study of language. Moreover, modern science confuses the issue, since it shows that many things we once supposed to belong to mind, are in fact, embodied in matter. A thrill is not only abstract, since it involves matter at the level of biochemistry.
The what happens words are called verbs. They are the action words in a statement. Without them it is impossible to put sentences together. It is the verb that says something about the noun: dogs bark, birds fly, fish swim. Verbs are the important words that create information in statements. Although nouns alone make no statement, verbs can occasionally do so. Help! gives the information that someone is in trouble, and Go away! tells someone or something emphatically to leave.
Besides nouns and verbs there are other kinds of words that have different functions in statements. They are pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, articles, prepositions, and a very few words that can be called function words because they fit into none of the other categories. All of these kinds of words together are called parts of speech. They can just as well be called parts of writing because they apply to written as well as to spoken language.
Nouns and articles
Nouns can be particular or general: the house, a house. The words the and a are articles, or, in more technical terms, determiners. A house can be any house, but the house is a quite definite building. When a noun begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u, and, occasionally, y) the indefinite article a becomes an for the sake of easier pronunciation - an apple, an elephant, an orange. Sometimes an is used before words that start with h, especially if the h is silent: an honorary degree. If the h is sounded a is the standard form: an 'otel, a hotel.
Nouns can be singular or plural in number: cat, cats.
In some cases es is added to make nouns plural: dress, dresses.
Some nouns change their forms in the plural, without adding an s but by changing or mutating a vowel: foot, man, mouse, goose, geese.
Some nouns do not change at all in the plural: sheep, fowl.
There are also group nouns, called noun phrases. This means that two or more nouns, or a noun and an adjective, are put together to form what amounts to, or works like, one noun: football stadium, rock concert, orange tree. In each case certain nouns - football, rock, orange - are attached to other nouns, and each modifies or describes the second noun in some way to convey a different kind of object. A football and a football stadium are two entirely different things, though they both have to do with the same game.
Some nouns are one-of-a-kind names: Suez Canal, Elvis Presley,
Empire State Building. Also called proper nouns, they are capitalized to set them off from general nouns. Sometimes adjectives (words that describe nouns) are also capitalized. This normally happens when the adjective is made from a proper noun, especially a place or person: American literature, English countryside, Elizabethan theatre.
Proper nouns are contrasted with common nouns (naming words for general classes of things which contain many individual examples). In fact many of the nouns that we consider proper are still names for more than one individual, as with the name of a model of car (like Ford Escort or VW Beetle, which might have been produced in the millions). Like the abstract-concrete distinction, the common-proper categories may originate in Platonic philosophy, which contrasted the many things in the real world with unique ideal originals of which they are imperfect copies. It is of more practical concern, since it is meant to inform the written representations of words (whether or not to use an initial capital). Unlike German (which uses a capital for all nouns) or Norwegian (which never does), English has a mixed and inconsistent system which changes over time, and which is confused by the individual tendencies of writers. One problem is that a descriptive phrase (like the second world war) can become petrified into a title, so that we write Second World War or World War Two. And Queen Juliana is or was the queen of the Netherlands, but Queen Elizabeth II is, to many of her subjects, simply the Queen, or even The Queen. In these cases, the &correct& forms are not universally standard for all writers of English, but more a matter of publishers' house styles.
Many introductions to English grammar for schoolchildren are to blame for presenting this common-proper distinction as if it were very straightforward - by referring only to well-behaved kinds of proper noun, such as personal names or the names of cities, rivers and
planets. In such introductions the distinction is introduced chiefly to lead onto instruction about the use of capital letters in writing such nouns.
Nouns are used in different ways: The dog barks. The man bit the dog. In the first case, dog is the actor, or the one that initiates the action of the verb. In the second, dog is acted upon. In The dog barks, dog is the subject of the verb. In the other sentence, dog is the object of the verb.
Sometimes a noun is the indirect object of a verb: He gave the dog a bone. Bone
it is what was given. Because it was given to the dog, dog is considered the indirect object of the action.
Nouns can also be objects of prepositions - words like to, in, for, and by - so the above sentence could read: He gave a bone to the dog. The words to the dog are
called a prepositional phrase.
Some verb forms take nouns as objects: Drinking milk is good for you. In this sentence, milk is the object of the verbal form drinking. Such a combination of verb and noun is called a verbal phrase.
Nouns can show possession: The dog's collar is on the table. The collar is possessed, or owned, by the dog. All possession does not indicate ownership, however. In The building's roof is black, the roof is on, but not owned by, the building. Adding an apostrophe and an s to a noun shows possession ('): the cat's tongue, the woman's purse. If the noun is plural or already has an s, then often only an apostrophe need be added: the mothers' union (that is, a union of many mothers). The word of may also be used to show possession: the top of the house, the light of the candle, the Duke of Wellington.
There are several words that are used to replace nouns. They are called pronouns. Pro in Greek means &for& or &in place of&.
Personal pronouns
Some pronouns are called personal pronouns because they take the place of specific names of persons, places, or thing, as in: Has Fred arrived? Yes, he is here. Here he is the personal pronoun that replaces Fred. As indicated in the table, there are both subject and object personal pronouns as well as those that show possession. In His house is the white and green one, his is a personal possessive pronoun.
Personal pronouns: subjects, objects and possessives
Possessive
First person
Second person
your, yours
Third person
he, she, it (one)
him, her, it (one)
his, her, hers, its (one's)
Possessive
First person
Second person
your, yours
Third person
their, theirs*
*Some authorities give my, your, his, her, our, your and their as possessive adjectives or pronominal adjectives, as they qualify nouns.
Some personal pronouns are formed by the addition of -self or -selves as a suffix: myself, ourselves, yourself, himself, herself, itself, and themselves.
Demonstrative pronouns
Some pronouns - this, that, these, those - refer to particular people or things: This is mine, and that is yours. These are demonstrative pronouns.
The demonstrative words can also be used as adjectives: this house, those cars.
Indefinite pronouns
Pronouns that refer to people or things in general are called indefinite pronouns. Like the demonstrative pronouns, they can be used as adjectives: another day, both animals, many weeks.
Relative and interrogative pronouns
The words who, whose, whom, that, which, and what are called relative pronouns. (The word that can be a demonstrative or a relative pronoun.) They create relative clauses in a sentence: The committee, which met last night, discussed your report. The words which met last night form a relative clause that describes the subject of the main clause, the committee.
Sometimes a relative pronoun is used as the subject of a question such as Who ate the pizza? Here it is classed as an interrogative pronoun. Interrogate means &ask& (questions).
Verbs are the action words in a statement. They tell what is happening - what a noun is doing or what is being done to it, or the state of being, becoming, thinking or feeling. A verb with a subject, which will be in a particular tense is a finite verb. Without a subject it will be the infinitive form (for example, to think, to dream) or a gerund (the present participle, used as a noun: smoking is bad for you).
When a verb denotes what a noun is doing, the noun is said to be the subject of the verb: The man speaks. When the verb denotes what is being done to a noun, the noun is the object of the verb: The man eats jelly. The noun jelly is the direct object of the verb. Verbs can also take indirect objects: Parents give children toys. In this sentence, toys is the direct object, (what is given) and children is the indirect object. The parents do not give children but toys.
Verbs that take objects are called transitive verbs, and those that normally do not take an object are intransitive verbs (but note that an intransitive verb may be used transitively in non-standard speech or writing). Some common transitive verbs are: tell, give, show, eat, buy, take, and see. Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive: Tell a story (transitive), andTime will tell (intransitive). Verbs like sleep, walk, rest, come, and go are nearly always intransitive. The most common verb of all, to be, is intransitive in all of its forms: am, are, is, was, were, and been.
Tenses (time signals): Verb tenses tell the time when an action takes place. Any action or condition may be in the past, present, or future: he was, he is, he will be. Most common verbs simply add an -ed to show the past time, or form the past tense, as it is normally called. Thus walk becomes walked. Other verbs, sometimes called irregular (or strong) verbs, do not add -ed. Instead they undergo an internal change: sing, sang, fly, flew, go, went, gone.
Auxiliary verbs: In the sentence She will sing even though he cannot stay, the verbs will and cannot are called auxiliary, or helper, verbs. Other auxiliary verbs are the incomplete or modal verbs: can, could, may, might, shall, should, and would.
The various forms of the verb to be can also be used as auxiliaries: I am going. He was singing. They have been shopping. The verb have - and its other forms has and had - are also common auxiliaries to indicate past action.
Participles: The verb form used with auxiliaries is the participle. There is a present participle, talking, and a past participle, talked. Thus, a person can say either I talk (present tense) or I am talking (present continuous) to show present action and I talked (imperfect), I have talked (perfect), or I had talked (pluperfect) to show past action. When a present participle is used with an auxiliary verb, the purpose is to show continuing or ongoing action. She is doing the laundry. He was speaking when someone interrupted him. Note that this uses a present participle with a past tense auxiliary verb (was) to indicate continuous past action.
Verb flexibility: Verbs and verb forms can be used in a number of ways in sentences. A verb can be the subject of a statement (To walk is good exercise) or its object (I like to walk). In each case, the infinitive form to walk is used as a noun. Participles can be used in the same way: He likes swimming. Flying is great sport. In the first sentence, swimming is the object of the verb, and in the second, flying is the subject.
Verb forms can also be used as adjectives, or words that describe nouns. In a wrecked car, the word wrecked is a past participle used as an adjective.
Occasionally a verb form or verb phrase can be used as an adverb: He was pleased to meet her. The phrase to meet her modifies the adjective pleased.
Adjectives and adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words, sometimes called modifiers because they restrict meaning. They add detail to statements. The difference between the two is that adjectives modify only nouns, pronouns, and verb adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Adjective function: An adjective may be a single word: blue, tall, funny, warm. As a single word, it may come before the noun - the blue sky - or after the verb - the sky is blue. Adjectives may be positive (tall), comparative (taller) or superlative (tallest). Adjective phrases usually follow the noun they describe: the girl with blond hair. The phrase with blond hair describes girl. Adjective clauses also usually follow the noun: The child who finds the most Easter eggs wins. The clause who finds the most Easter eggs modifies child.
Adverb function:The most common use of an adverb, of course, is to describe verbs: He ran quickly. Actually, however, adverbs can modify anything but nouns or verb forms used as nouns. Typically adverbs express:
time (now, then)
manner (happily, easily)
degree (less, more, very)
direction and place (there,
affirmation or negation
(certainly, not)
cause and result (thus,
consequently), and
qualification or doubt
(however, probably).
Although many adverbs are formed by adding -ly to adjectives (quick, happy, happily), adverbs have no characteristic form. They must be identified by the function they perform in a sentence. In the sentence That is a fast car, fast is an adjective. But in He ran fast, it is an adverb.
Certain adverbs (how, when, where, why, whenever, and wherever) are called relative adverbs because they introduce relative clauses in a sentence: The keys are upstairs where you left them. The clause where you left them modifies the adverb upstairs.
Other adverbs are called conjunctive adverbs because they join one clause with another. Some of these adverbs are: therefore, accordingly, besides, furthermore, instead, meanwhile, and nevertheless.In the sentence H therefore he stayed home, the word therefore modifies the clause of which it is a part and connects that clause to the previous part of the sentence. Note that therefore is not to be used as a conjunction, hence the semi-colon.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions are joining words: they connect words, phrases, or entire clauses. There are two general kinds of conjunctive words: coordinate and subordinate.
Coordinate conjunctions join elements that are grammatically the same: two or more words, two equivalent phrases, or two equivalent clauses. The most common coordinate conjunctions are: and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet.
Red and white (two
equal words joined in a phrase).
Taking walks and
looking at nature (two equal phrases in a relative
She ran to the corner,
but she missed the bus (two
equal clauses in a complete sentence).
A correlative conjunction is a special kind of coordinate conjunction. It connects equivalent elements, but it works in pairs of words: both, and; either, or; neither, nor; whether, or; not only, but also.
He wants both money
and power.
Neither money
nor power matters.
Either she will go,
or she will stay.
Subordinate conjunctions. While coordinate conjunctions
connect equal grammatical elements, subordinate conjunctions
introduce dependent or conditional clauses.
Although she has money, she buys few
Because he was late, he missed the
After the movie is over, we shall have
Other word uses. Words that operate as conjunctions can
often be used in other ways: as adverbs, prepositions, adjectives, or
even pronouns.
We have met before
(before is an adverb).
Before they leave, let us
have dinner (before is a conjunction).
There are other words besides conjunctions that serve as
connectors (or connectives) in sentences. The relative pronouns
who and which are often so used.
That is the man who was speaking to
The dessert is strawberries, which give
him a rash.
Some of the conjunctions work both as adverbs and conjunctions in
the same sentence. This is often true of consequently, however,
therefore, and nevertheless.
H nevertheless he went to
S consequently she
lost her job.
Note the semi-colon (;). This is standard here but is non-standard before but or and. (This appears to be changing, as speakers and writers treat words like nevertheless as conjunctions.)
It is possible to make clauses with conjunctions into separate sentences, especially when writing for literary effect.
He did it. And he was
Stay away from here.
Unless you want trouble.
In the second case the clause is so obviously dependent that it
would not stand alone as a sentence and make sense. It can only be
written that way for emphasis or some other effect.
Prepositions
Prepositions are words or groups of words, th and these phrases modify some element in a sentence. What follows a preposition is normally a noun, pronoun, or noun clause. A word that follows a preposition is its object, and, in the case of pronouns especially, this affects the form of the word.
He walked near her (never He walked
near she).
He gave them to her and me (never
He gave them to she and
I or He gave them to her
One of the problems in spotting prepositions in a sentence is that
many of the words that are usually prepositions can also be used as
He never saw them before (here before
is an adverb).
They sat before the counter
(before is a preposition,and the whole prepositional phrase
serves as an adverb, modifying sat).
Parts of speech: a summary
Noun: A noun is a name for someone or
something. It can be someone or something in particular,
or someone or something in general.
Pronoun: A pronoun is a substitute for
a noun or a noun phrase.
Verb: A verb is the action word in a
statement. Some verbs link the subject to a noun,
pronoun, or adjective.
Adjective: An adjective is a modifier.
Usually it modifies, or makes more exact, the meaning of
a noun or pronoun.
Adverb: An adverb is a modifier.
Usually it modifies a verb, an adjective, or another
Conjunction: A conjunction is a
connector. A coordinate conjunction connects words or
groups of words that are grammatically the same. A
subordinate conjunction connects a subordinate, or
dependent, clause to a main clause.
Preposition: A preposition is a connector that introduces a prepositional phrase. It usually connects a noun or noun phrase to the part of the sentence modified by the whole prepositional phrase, and it shows the relation between the two.
Modern language scientists have devised other categories of word in relation to syntax, which you should know. A few of these are explained in the table below.
New word classes
Auxiliary: A word whose function is to assist the main
verb in a clause to express basic grammatical contrasts such as
person, number and tense. The primary auxiliaries are forms of be,
have, do. The modal auxiliaries are such verbs as may, might,
Connective: A word which links language units, such as conjunctions and some adverbs
Determiner: A word which co-occurs with a noun to show meanings such as number, quantity or identity (the, some, each)
Head: The main it may be pre- or post-modified
Intensifier: Traditionally classed as
a word which adds force or emphasis to a
qualifier (extremely stupid,
very cleverly)
Modifier: Word or phrase which gives more information about the head element in a phrase (All the beautiful (pre-modification) fish (head) in the ocean (post-modification)
Syntax and syntactic structures
Parts of speech, or word categories, indicate what words usually do, or may be expected to do. Some of these categories - such as nouns and pronouns - make sense when we consider words in isolation. Others - such as conjunctions or prepositions - only make sense within a longer structure, a phrase, clause or sentence.
Note that these three terms are traditional, and do not easily describe how strings of language work. All are broad categories. The sentence, especially, is much more characteristic of written than of spoken English, and of formal rather than informal usage. Alternatively, we may say that spoken English contains sentence types not usually found in writing.
The internal grammar of phrases, clauses and sentences refers to the principles (sometimes mistakenly called “rules”) of structure and organization. Be aware of the tension between model structures devised for textbooks and guides for learners of the language, and the syntax of real sentences (those you have found in speech or writing), which you are subjecting to analysis.
A phrase is a useful all-purpose name for any short sequence of words (or even a single word, considered as an element in the structure of a clause or sentence), especially a grouping which could be replaced by a single word. A phrase which works like, or equates to, a noun is a noun phrase, one which qualifies a verb is an adverb phrase and so on.
A clause may be short or long, but must contain at least one main, finite verb. A short clause may in fact be identical with a verb phrase: the two terms reflect differences of emphasis or analysis in regard to the language string in question. If you are analysing a sentence, you will lo if you wish to see how words have been combined in simple sequences, you will look for phrases. Phrases are especially important for analysing spoken data, and some kinds of written text (such as advertisements or information leaflets) where (written) sentence forms are not considered essential.
Noun phrases
The noun phrase (NP) is the main construction which can be the object, subject or complement of a clause. It must contain a noun or noun-like word (such as a pronoun) which is the main element, and which is called the head. It may contain other elements, either before or after the head. These could include predeterminers, determiners, postdeterminers, premodifiers and postmodifiers. The examples in the table below show how noun phrases can grow in length, while their structure remains fairly clear.
Noun Phrases
Noun phrase structure
Verb phrase
Predeterminer
Determiner
Postdeterminer
Premodifier
Postmodifier
(not part of noun phrase)
are for sale.
are for sale.
are for sale.
Not quite all
are for sale.
Not quite all
hot tasty currant
are for sale.
Not quite all
hot tasty currant
on the table
are for sale.
Not quite all
hot tasty currant
on show on the table
are for sale.
Not quite all
fine hot tasty currant
which I cooked
are for sale.
Adjective phrases
These are usually formed from an intensifier, followed by the head
(an adjective, shown in bold below). Examples include very happy, not too awkward, and cold enough. They may also be formed from an adjective and a verb construction, such as easy to please, loath to do it.
Adverb phrases
These are intensifying expressions formed from an intensifier (optional), followed by the head (an adverb, shown in bold below), followed by a postmodifier (optional). Examples would be: terribly slowly, very happily indeed, exceptionally carefully, completely utterly dangerously, quite often and very soon.
Prepositional phrases (adverbials/adjectivals)
These are formed from the head (a preposition, shown in bold in the examples), followed by a noun phrase. Examples of prepositional phrases are in the teapot, on the bog, and round the bend.
They may be called adverbials since their usual function is to qualify a verb in the same way as an adverb does. You can test this by replacing a given prepositional phrase with an adverb - for example: Fred swam in the river and Fred swam swiftly. Both of these are grammatically standard forms.
They may also function as adjectives: the pirate with the
wooden leg.
Pronoun phrases
These are restricted to a small number of constructions, and are sometimes regarded as a minor type of noun phrase. They are formed from a head (a pronoun, shown in bold below) with a pre- or postmodifier. Examples would be: Silly me! You there! she herself, we all, nearly everyone, and such relative clause types as those who knew Fred.
Verb phrases
These are quite simple syntactically, although the verb in them may contain important grammatical information, such as tense, number, active or passive voice and so on. (All of these are explained above in the section on word categories). One or more auxiliaries may precede the head (a verb participle, shown in bold below). Examples would be: has died, may have gone, might have been listening. You may be puzzled by the simplicity of these models. Don't be. In order to explain the more complex function of verbs in the predicates of sentences (what they say about their subject), we use the structural model of the clause.
Sentences and clauses
In the syntax of English and other modern European languages, such as Dutch, French, German or Italian, the two most important structures are almost certainly clauses and sentences. Please note that:
the sentence as we know it, is not found in all languages
the sentence is not a necessary structure in natural
many written texts and most spoken data are not organized into regular sentence forms
Before you look at descriptions of either structure, you may wonder why they appear together in the heading above. This is because neither makes sense without the other. Writers of language textbooks may put either of them ahead of the other, depending upon whether their structural model builds (or synthesises) smaller structures into larger ones (“bottom up”) or analyses larger structures into smaller ones (“top down”). This is explained at the start of this guide, and briefly again below, under the heading Building or analysing? This guide places clauses before sentences, in keeping with its "bottom up" or synthetic approach. You should try to explain the subject with both synthetic and analytic models.
We can understand a clause in several ways. Simply it can be seen as a verb and the words or phrases which cluster round it. Professor Crystal (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, p. 449) describes it as &a structural unit smaller than a sentence but larger than phrases or words&. The problem here is that in some cases a clause may appear identical with a sentence or phrase, but the term we use tells us about a different structural feature. A more difficult explanation to follow is that a clause is a syntactic unit consisting of a verb, together with its associated subject, objects or complements and adverbials. Note that the only obligatory ("must have") elements are the subject and the verb (usually, but not always, in this order). So before you can go further, you need to know about these different clause elements (parts of the clause).
Clauses and clauses
You may have met the term clause in other contexts - it is used to identify short passages within longer ones (such as paragraphs) in such texts as legal or parliamentary documents. The writers of these will often construct artificial sentences which are broken into a series of clauses, so that these can be named. This allows us to write such things as &Paragraph x , clause y of the Sale of Goods Act, 1979 protects consumers.& Here clause identifies the unit of syntax (and its meaning or semantic content) but may not in every case exactly match the models explained here or in grammatical reference works.
Clause elements
These are well worth learning about, as you will certainly want to use them to explain the syntax of language data you are studying in exams or investigations. If you are not able to describe or identify clause types, it is usually acceptable and always helpful to consider how these elements work together. You may use them to explain how sentences work, also. They are:
subject (S), object (O), verb (V), complement (C), adverbial (A)
The subject is a noun or noun phrase, pronoun or
subordinate clause.
was sick. Fred felt funny.
Mad dogs and Englishmen
go out in the midday sun. (NP)
I am happy. They
are jealous. (pn.)
What she said is
untrue. (sub.clause)
In this kind of analysis a series of noun phrases is a
single clause element.
Pronouns used as subject are in the subject case (I, she,
not me, her, them)
The subject controls singular-plural verb agreement (You
go; she goes) and agreement of reflexive pronoun objects (I injured
myself; they amused themselves)
A subject is usually present in a clause, but it may be
omitted in non-standard (especially spoken) structures (Drinks like a
fish. Gets here when?) or imperatives (Listen to this).
Objects usually follow the verb. They may be direct or
Direct object: Fred
bit his thumb. The chimpanzees groomed
each other.
Indirect object: Jane gave the
gorilla a kiss. Jane gave a kiss to the
gorilla. (Note that here there is also a direct object
Just as with subjects, they may be nouns, noun phrases,
pronouns or subordinate clauses.
Just as subjects are, pronouns are in the appropriate
(object) case (me, her, them).
As above, reflexive pronoun objects agree with their
subjects (They amused themselves).
But unlike subject, the object has no effect on agreement
This is the central and obligatory element. A clause must
contain at least one verb phrase, which may be a single verb: Jesus wept. They are drowning. The cow jumped over the moon.
The choice of verb will largely determine what other
elements are in the clause.
The verb usually has a subject. A transitive verb is one
which takes a direct object. (Strictly this is a tautology since
transitive = "taking a direct object")
Complement
Complement (verb) means &go with&. (Do not confuse
with compliment). In clause syntax, the complement is anything which adds to the meaning of the subject (subject complement) or object
(object complement).
Subject complement usually follows the verb. The most common verb for a subject complement is the verb to be, but some other verb may be substituted where the meaning of be is expressed. These are called copular (= linking) verbs or simply copulas. In the examples complements are in bold, copular verbs underlined: She is a doctor. That smells heavenly. The students are feeling dazed and confused.
Object complement usually follows the direct object: Football makes me very happy. The voters elected Clinton president of the USA.
Adverbials
These clause elements add to or complete the meaning of the verb element. They may be single adverbs. But they also include nouns, noun or verb phrases and subordinate clauses: They ran quickly. He went home twice nightly. We walked on the playground. My girlfriend phoned me this morning. I was happy when I saw her again.
Adverbials may appear in several positions in the clause,
but are most common at the end: Often I dream. I often dream. I dream
Adverbials may perform different functions:
Adding information: I walked quietly.
Linking clauses: The bus was full. However,
Fred found a seat.
Adding a comment on what is expressed: Quite
frankly we disapprove of violence.
Some verbs (like put) must have an adverbial to complete their meaning: Please put the gun down. The path runs around the field.
These are optional elements used to show the person to whom a sentence is addressed. They may occur in various positions in the clause. They include names, titles, evaluative labels, the pronoun you and certain kinds of clause: John, it's me. It's me, darling. Hello, Susan, how are you? You daft git, what do you mean? Honey, I shrank the kids. Come out, whoever you are. Come in, ladies, and sit down. Madam Speaker, I will give way.
Clause types
Clause elements combine to form clauses.
The number of patterns is small. According to David Crystal (The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, p. 221) there
are only seven basic types.
S + V: I / yawned
S + V + O: Fred / opened / the door
S + V + C: The dinner / is / ready
S + V + A: Dick Whittington / went / to London
S + V + O + O: Romeo / gave / Juliet / a
S + V + O + C: Henry / got / his feet / very
S + V + O + A: Sam / put / the bottles / in
the cellar
We can vary these patterns using directives (such as advising, instructing or commanding): Turn left at the junction. Help yourself to a drink. Go to hell! You be quiet.
We can also vary the patterns through pro-forms (words which replace long constructions) and ellipsis (omitting an understood element).
Pro-forms: I've
got a lovely cold drink and you've got one as well. (Here one is the pro-form, understood to mean a lovely cold drink.)
Ellipsis: I'd
like to drink some tea, but I won't. (Here drink some tea is understood to follow but I won't.)
Building or analysing?
These are contrasting ways of organizing the same
theoretical model. We may either analyse long structures (and find the smaller elements in them) or think of how smaller elements are combined to form longer structures. The second approach has been seen as akin to what really happens in speech and writing (phrase structure grammar). Noam Chomsky argues that real language users start with longer structures and alter these by means of transformations (transformational grammar). For example, a model or paradigm with an active verb is changed by a transformational rule into a structure with a passive verb.
To understand the contrast in these approaches, see the table at the start of this guide to structure. The two approaches are shown in simple form below:
"Bottom up"/synthetic model: morpheme
& sentence
"Top down"/analytic model: sentence
& morpheme
Clause functions and sentence structures
Coordinate clauses
The simplest sentences may contain a single clause. (Simple is a standard description of one kind of sentence.) Where a sentence
contains more than one clause, these may be considered of equal
grammatical importance. If this is so, these are coordinate clauses.
They are joined by a coordinating conjunction, such as and or but. (Some grammarians call the first clause of the sentence the main clause, and the others coordinate
clauses). Here are some examples. Apart from the conjunctions (or, so
and and, everything else is a main/coordinate clause):
You can travel by tube, you can drive or you can take the train.
The weather was hot, so I went on my bike.
Lucy opened her window, and in came Count Dracula.
Subordinate clauses
Sometimes the clauses are placed in a hierarchy: the more important ones are main clauses, while the less important are subordinate clauses. A main or coordinate clause could stand on its own as a sentence, but a subordinate clause works only within a sentence. A subordinate clause can do the job of other clause elements. It can work as subject, object, complement and adverbial, as in these examples:
Subordinate subject clause: What
you say is stupid.
Clause as subject = What you say; main clause
= X is stupid, verb = is
Subordinate object clause:
I did not know that you
were here.
Clause as object = that you were here; main
clause = I did not know X; verb = did not know
Subordinate complement clause:
Your first job is learning this grammar.
Clause as complement = learning this grammar;
main clause = Your first job is X; verb = is
Subordinate adverbial clause:
Come round when you're ready.
Clause as adverbial = when you're ready;
main clause = Come round (X); verb = Come
Clauses that function as subject, object or complement replace noun phrases, so they are called nominal clauses. Those that function as adverbs/adjectives are adverbial/adjectival clauses.
Some other kinds of nominal clauses are shown below. For clarity, they
are all shown in object position. This is not the only place where
they may occur, but is the most common.
That clause: I think (that) you know each other. (That
may be omitted if understood.)
Wh- clause: I know what you did last summer. (Clause
introduced by who, when, what, why, whether.)
-ing clause: I don't recall seeing her there. (Clause introduced by present participle.)
inf. clause: I wish to confess to my crimes. (Clause introduced by to + infinitive.)
Adverbial clauses
These are introduced by a subordinating conjunction, which explains the adverbial meaning of the clause. These include when/before/after/while (time); because/since (reason); if/unless/lest (condition), as in these examples:
When the bell sounds, you may leave the room.
We cannot send you the goods, because we are out of stock.
Unless you are good, Father Christmas will bring you
Two minor types of adverbial clause are inf. and -ing
Inf. clause: I went to the shop to buy some bread. (Clause introduced by to + infinitive.)
-ing clause: Jane broke her arm while fighting.
(Clause introduced by present participle.)
Adjectival clauses
A familiar type is the relative clause, introduced by a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that, which), as in these examples:
Here is the woman (whom) I married.
This is the book (which) I am reading.
The drink (that) I most like is orange juice.
The relative pronouns are in brackets, as they may be omitted if
understood.
Two minor types of adjectival clause are -ing and -ed
-ing clause: The train now standing at platform four is
the 5.30 to Leeds.
-ed clause: She is the celebrity pursued by the press.
Since past participles do not all end in -ed we may find other
verb forms in such clauses: The tea drunk by the students
or the exam taken by the pupils.
Clause elements may be single words of the appropriate category, they may be phrases or even some kinds of subordinate clause. Explaining even simple structures is difficult. Verbal explanations are less easy to make than diagrams. These work best when there is a hierarchical level, as sentences are analysed into clauses, which are further analysed into (more clauses and) phrases, which are analysed into words, which are analysed into morphemes.
In an exam, you are very unlikely to be required to analyse long sequences. Use clause analysis (or phrase analysis) selectively, to establish some point about language acquisition (learning to make or understand structures), about language and society (how structures embody social attitudes to language), language change (how structures or paradigms change over time) or stylistics (how structures embody style).
The sentence
Sentence types
In many respects, sentences can be analysed in the same terms as clauses, that is separating the elements into the categories of subject, object, verb, complement and adverbial.
However, sentences are also described in terms of:
how clauses are arranged
functions of the sentence
traditional patterns which are used for particular
effects in speech and writing
Clause structures in sentences
The most basic sentence form contains a single clause.
This is known as a simple sentence:
Mary had a little lamb.
Chocolate is delicious.
Down fell the rain.
A compound sentence joins two coordinate clauses
Mary had a little lamb and took it to school.
I drank some tea and felt better.
Here is a wug and here are two wugs.
A multiple sentence links clauses of essentially similar
type, with coordinating conjunctions.
I came home, sat down, put the kettle on, lit the fire
and sat down with a book.
A complex sentence uses subordination to link clauses. It is not necessarily very "complex" in the everyday sense (that is, difficult to analyse), but it may be:
I hope that she will come.
Lest you forget, here is my address.
Having played football, I sat in the bath, while the
kettle boiled, thinking of how to spend the evening, which loomed
before me promisingly.
Functions of the sentence
This is a simple kind of classification. Sentences are traditionally categorized into four types: statement, command, question or exclamation. These are readily illustrated by examples (note alternative names).
Statement or declarative: This is my porridge.
Command, wish, imperative or directive: Go and never
darken my doors again.
Question or interrogative: Who's been eating my porridge?
Exclamation: How happy I feel!
Other sentence types
David Crystal (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, p. 218) notes some other categories. Among these are:
Tag questions
Here a statement is turned into a question, with an interrogative
tag at the end. Tags are typical of speech where the speaker changes
the function of the sentence in mid-utterance:
Jolly nice day today, isn't it?
Exclamatory questions
Here the structure is that of a question, but the meaning
(indicated in speech by intonation) equates to an exclamation:
Didn't she do well? Have I got news for you?
Rhetorical questions
Again the structure is that of a question, but the speaker (or
writer) expects no answer. They are used as emphatic statements:
How on earth should I know? Is the Pope a Catholic? Do bears crap
in the woods?
Directives
These are akin to imperatives, but Crystal expands the category to include related functions of instruction, direction and so on. He lists: commanding, inviting, warning, pleading, suggesting, advising, permitting, requesting, meditating, expressing wish or imprecation. Crystal notes that many use the verbs let and do in non-standard ways:
Let me see. Let's go. Let us pray.
Do come in. Do be quiet. Don't do that again.
These sentences of a special kind, which reflect the structure of a preceding sentence from a different speaker in a language interaction (usually conversation):
Echo of statement: A: It took me five hours to get here.
B: Five hours to get here?
Echo of question: A: Have you seen my wife? B: Have I
seen your lice?
Echo of directive: A: Sit down there. B: Down there?
Echo of exclamation: A: What a plonker! B: What a
complete plonker!
Special or minor sentence types
Professor Crystal (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, p. 216) records some unusual types of sentence, which cannot be analysed in a regular way. They are found in particular kinds of text and discourse - some are common in real speech or fictional dialogue, while others are found in such things as headlines or slogans, where a message is presented as a block of text. They do not follow all the rules of normal grammar, such as verb agreement. Among the types noted by Crystal are:
Formulae for set social situations: Cheers, Hello, Ciao,
See you, How do you do? Ta!
Emotional or functional noises (traditionally
interjections): Hey! Ugh! Agh! Ow! Tut! Shh! (Note how such forms are
subject to change over time. Consider Tush, eh, hein?)
Proverbs or aphorisms: Easy come, easy go. Least said,
soonest mended.
Short forms as used in messages, instructions or
commentaries: Wish you were here. Shearer to Beckham. Simmer gently.
Hope you are well.
Elliptical words or phrases with a structural meaning
equivalent to a complete exclamation, question or command: Brilliant!
Lovely day! Coming? Drink? All aboard! Drink up!
Structure and style in sentences
For purposes of analysing style, sentences may be described as
loose, balanced or periodic.
Loose sentence
Here the writer or speaker states fact after fact
as they occur, seemingly freely and artlessly, as in the opening of The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe:
“I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull: he got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson K but by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called, nay we call ourselves, and write our name Crusoe, and so my companions always called me.
Balanced sentence
Here the writer or speaker has a concern for
symmetry - the second half of the sentence contains a similar or
opposite idea to the first half. These techniques are very effective
in persuasion, and are sometimes known as parallelism or antithesis.
Consider this from Francis Bacon ():
“Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter: they increase the cares of life, but they mitigate the remembrance of death.”
Or this from Viscount Grey of Fallodon, on the eve of the First
World War:
“The lamps are going out all over Europe: we shall not see them
lit again in our lifetime.”
Or, finally, this, spoken by President John F. Kennedy:
“Ask not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country.”
Periodic sentence
Here the climax of the sentence comes at its
end. A good example is in the opening of Edward Gibbon's 18th century
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:
“It was in Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.”
Studying Language: sources of information
A comprehensive bibliography is published by AQA/NEAB. You and
your teachers will use some of the reference works on this list. In
addition you may make use of any of the following sources of help.
Dictionaries are an excellent source of information. The best of
these give etymologies, identify word classes, record standard and
non-standard words and show variant spellings. Some modern
dictionaries use a language corpus to indicate words among the
thousand (or other number) most commonly used. The Oxford English
Dictionary (OED) and The Shorter Oxford Dictionary are the
traditional authorities, but there are excellent dictionaries
published by Chambers, Longman, Collins, Cambridge and others.
The most comprehensive reference works are The Cambridge
Encyclopedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the
English Language by David Crystal. The former can often be purchased
at a discount by joining a book club. At the opposite extreme an
excellent introduction to traditional grammar can be found in Dorothy
Paull's The Ladybird Book of Spelling and Grammar.
Broadcast material can also be helpful, and some is available on
video or audio-tape from the broadcasters. This includes Professor
Jean Aitchison's 1996 Reith Lectures for BBC radio: The Language Web,
and Robert McCrum's TV history: The Story of English. A long-running
radio series, which investigates a comprehensive range of language
issues is R4's Word of Mouth.
For a very full explanation of syntax, especially the function of
the independent main clause, see Shirley Russell's Grammar,
Structure and Style (OUP, Oxford, 1993; ISBN 0-19-)
The World Wide Web has a huge range of sites dedicated to language
use, too many to list here. Very helpful are translation engines
(most browsers or search engines have these) which will alter a given
text into English (or a different variety of English). The Web also,
of course, will give you access to the language departments of many
academic institutions.
for a link to many more on-line
sources of information.
Index of tables
& Andrew Moore, 2000;
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