LCIV

• Word classes: noun, adjective, verb, adverb, determiner, pronoun, conjunction, preposition
• Phrases: noun phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase, preposition phrase
• Clauses: main clause, subordinate clause, relative clause

• Subject
• Predicator
• Object
• Adverbial
• Complement
• Modifier

They can be in attributive position (a big house) or predicative position (The house is big.).

Adverbs express such semantic notions as time, manner, place, instrument or circumstance: yesterday, slowly, here. Note that the particles in phrasal verbs are also adverbs: to grow up, to break down, to turn on.

One can derive many adverbs from adjectives by adding –ly (timid timidly.) However, some adjectives (derived from nouns) already have a –ly suffix (friendly, lively). Also, many of the most common adverbs have no –ly suffix (just, well, near, quite). To differentiate the two classes check their function: adverbs can either function as adverbials (circumstance, stance or linking), or they can modify adjectives (quite mature) or adverbs (quite happily married). Adjectives can do neither.

Adverbial particles are a small group of words with a core meaning of motion, e.g. across, around, away, forth, through, up. They can be used to build phrasal verbs.

Prepositions typically precede a noun phrase. Most prepositions are short forms, e.g. about, after, round. Some consist of multi-word units (=complex prepositions), e.g. such as, except for, according to. There are also three-word prepositions which usually have the structure simple preposition + noun + simple preposition: by means of, in addition to, as far as

• Conjunctions can link words, phrases, or clauses. They can be coordinating (and, or,
• but) or subordinating (though, whether). When linking clauses, coordinators can
• produce compound sentences (I was waiting for them, and they didn’t come.) and
• subordinating conjunctions can form complex sentences (Though he is poor, he is
• happy.) However, when linking words or phrases within a single clause, we are still left
• with a simple sentence (Football and tennis are his favourite sports or Openly, though
• timidly, she talked about her problems.)

• Existential there introduces a clause expressing existence. Existential there is a
• function word which developed from the place adverb there but no longer has a
• meaning of place.
• examples:
• There's a mark on his chair.
• There's still no water there, is there?

• The main use of not is to make a clause negative, e.g. You can do this but you can't
• do that.

• The chief use of the infinitive marker is as a complementiser preceding the infinitive
• (base) form of verbs, e.g. What do you want to drink?

• Closed classes: word classes which contain a limited number of members; new members cannot be easily added: pronouns, articles, primary verbs, modal verbs, prepositions, conjunctions
• Open classes: word classes which are indefinitely large; can be readily extended by users of the language: nouns, adjectives, full verbs, adverbs

• noun phrase generally has a noun (or pronoun) as its main word.
• adjective phrase has an adjective as its main word.
• adverb phrase has an adverb as its main word.
• verb phrase generally has a main verb as its main word.
• prepositional phrase has a preposition as its first word.

• Subject
• Predicate
• Predicator
• Object
• Direct and indirect objects

• distinguishes the two main elements of a simple sentence 
• subject (topic of the sentence)
• predicate (what is said about this topic)
• predicate is everything but the subject

• Verb of the phrase
• most central element of a clause
• determines what other elements occur

• typically a noun phrase
• follows the predicator
• can be moved to become subject in a passive sentence

• verb + adverb (particle)
• phrasal verbs have idiomatic meanings beyond the seperate meaning of the two part
• grow up -> become more mature
• can be substituted by a single-word verb -> to call off = to cancel

• Ask for the part in question:
• e.g. They walked in the garden. Where did they walk? -> A
• They believe in God. In whom do they believe?-> Op
• Adverbials: They are typically elicited by question words such as where or when.
• Objects: They are typically elicited by question words such as who/whom or what.

• See if the supposed object can become the subject of a passive sentence:
• e.g. We called after lunch. *Lunch was called after. -> A
• We looked at the pictures. The pictures were looked at. -> Op
• Adverbials: They can NOT be moved to become the subject of a corresponding passive sentence.
• Objects (prepositional or direct): They can be moved to become the subject of the corresponding passive sentence.

• Replace the supposed object by a pronoun and see where it goes:
• e.g. I’ve handed in my resignation. I’ve handed it in. -> Od
• They walked in the garden They walked in it. -> A
• They believe in God. They believe in him. -> Op
• Direct object: The object changes position and directly follows the verb.
• Adverbial: The noun stays where it was and still follows the preposition.
• Prepositional object: The object stays where it was and still follows the preposition.
• Thus if the object moves, the predicator is a phrasal verb and the object direct.

• Try to stick an adverbial in between the verb and the supposed preposition:
• e.g. I’ve handed in my resignation.
• *I’ve handed quickly in my resignation. -> Od
• They believe in God. They believe only in God. -> Op
• Direct object: The adverbial cannot go in between the verb and the adverb particle
• of the phrasal verb.
• Prepositional object: The adverbial can go in between the verb and the preposition.

• typically adjective, noun or prepositinal phrases and clauses
• talk about the nature of the subject or the object

• Subject complements only exist in the sentence type subject + predicator + subject complement (optional adverbials can be added). The predicator has to be a copular verb (= linking verb). The most common copular verb is be (She is an
• architect.) Other copular verbs are become, appear, feel, look, seem, sound, smell, taste, get, grow, go, prove, turn.

• To identify a copular, try replacing it with the appropriate form of be:
• e.g.
• They went into the garden. *They are (into) the garden. No
• They went crazy. They are crazy. copular

If you replace a copular with be, the general attribution (e.g. of they with crazy) remains the same, only aspect or modality change.

• Circumstance
• Stance
• Linking

• adjuncts
• tell the circumstance relating to the clause
• time, process / manner, contingency / cause/reason, condition, degree, addition

• disjuncts
• express a speaker's feeöings, evaluation, comments about what the clause is about

• conjuncts
• connecting function, instead of adding information to the clause

• Stance and linking adverbials can best be kept apart by considering their function.
• Furthermore stance adverbials are superior to the other sentence elements, being somewhat detached from and superordinate to the rest of the sentence:
• e.g. If I may say so without giving you offence, I think your writing is rather immature.

• In the case of discontinuous prepositional phrases the prepositional complement can also precede the preposition, in which case the preposition is said to be stranded:
• e.g. What more could a child ask for?
• Your manifesto is not worth the paper it is written on.