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English Syntax

The document discusses the structure of noun and verb phrases in English syntax, highlighting the importance of phrase identification to resolve ambiguities in headlines. It explains the components of noun phrases, including headwords and modifiers, and categorizes nouns into count, mass, and proper nouns based on their syntactic behavior. Additionally, it outlines verb phrases and their components, emphasizing the differences in verb types and their syntactic requirements.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
42 views106 pages

English Syntax

The document discusses the structure of noun and verb phrases in English syntax, highlighting the importance of phrase identification to resolve ambiguities in headlines. It explains the components of noun phrases, including headwords and modifiers, and categorizes nouns into count, mass, and proper nouns based on their syntactic behavior. Additionally, it outlines verb phrases and their components, emphasizing the differences in verb types and their syntactic requirements.

Uploaded by

Huệ My
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Syntax

of English
Noun and Verb Phrases
and Grammatical
Functions

In the previous chapter, you briefly considered how the omission of deter -
miners in headlines can lead to ambiguity. The headlines below will illustrate
1
the importance of phrase identification in resolving ambiguity. Often when
a headline omits an article, the boundary of a noun phrase or even its iden-
tity becomes unclear.

Hershey Bars Protest (The absence of an article in front of the noun


Protest, allows it to be interpreted as a verb)

Carter Plans Swell Deficit (The absence of an article in front of Deficit al-
lows Swell to be interpreted as an adjective that forms part of the noun
phrase Swell Deficit).

Sometimes the headline itself may not have actually omitted an article, but
our expectations about headlines can condition us to expect possible omis -
sions and thus can lead to an ambiguity anyway.

Police Discover Crack In Australia (The drug known as “crack" does


not require an article because it is a mass noun . But the fact that another

type of noun , the "count noun” such as a dog, a pencil, a crack —, so
often appears in headlines without a necessary article leads us to see this
headline as possibly ambiguous).

' These headlines are reported in Anguished English by Richard Ledeter. New York: Dell Publishing, !<?&?.

203
204 Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

.
A Noun Phrases
to this point we have examined systematically the phonemic and mor -
phemic structure of English. Now we shall see how words are combined into larger

structures phrases, clauses, and sentences. This is the domain of syntax . The syn-
tactic architecture of the English sentence is extraordinarily complex and can be
blueprinted by various methods, none of them perfect. In the presentation that fol -
lows you will be shown the main outlines only, with the admonition that there are
different ways of interpreting the same syntactic facts and that English syntax con-
tains territories as yet uncharted.
A noun phrase consists of a noun and all the words and word groups that belong
with the noun and cluster around it. The noun itself is called the headword or head,
and the other words and word groups are modifiers of the noun .
Examples: The yellow tulips
The yellow tulips in the garden
The yellow tulips in the garden which were blooming
-
In these examples tulips is the head . Of the rest of the words, the modifiers, we ob
-
serve that the single word modifiers, such as the and yel!ow\ precede the head and
-
that the word group modifiers, such as in the garden and which were blooming; fol-
low the head .

Extreme 14 1 -
Underline the head of the following noun phrases.
1. the fence
2. the old fence
3. that new aluminum fence
4. the fence between the houses
5. the old fence which was painted green
6. the old fence between the houses which was painted green
7. a worn-out putter
8. -
my worn out putter lying in the attic
9. a used car, broken down by abusive driving
10. the children’s swings in the park which were in use all day long

Make each list of words into a noun phrase and underline the headword,
1. table, the, small, study
2 . European, any, opera, great
3. somber, evening, that, sky
4. my, shoes, roommate’s, tennis
5. linen, white, handkerchiefs, the, other, all
6. soft , a. on the head, pat
Some Syntactic Categories of Nouns 205

7. hard a, which staggered him, blow


8. ski * that, lying in the basement* broken
9. with a lame log , a, who was walking on crutches, junior
10. the * in the Front row, whose books he was carrying, girl
.
. . :« X . -
, or it can
A noun phrase can be rather complex , containing other noun phrases
consist of just one word ( a noun ) if that word can occur without any modifiers.
Examples: Boys often build dams in the spring.
Small boys who are not in school often build dams in the spring.
Jim wanted a car.
Jim wanted a new sports car with wire wheels which would have a
fast getaway.

~
;
• S
Enerofre 14 3 ' J

Expand the italicized noun phrases by adding modifiers before, after, or both before
and after. Then underline these resulting noun phrases.
Example: The lock was broken .
Expanded: The rusty lock on the front door was broken.
1. Sailboats are beautiful to watch.
2. They sailed under the bridge.
3. He makes jewelry.
4. The player under the basket is my brother
5. I gave the cat a dish of milk.
6. Her mother buys chairs at auctions and refinishes them.
7. Camping is not always fun .
8. She makes pottery on her wheel at home,
9. It is good exercise to do long cross-countries on skis .
IQ. The doctor remains in his office till five.
* .<
* :
• , . " .,- -* .. . .
••• > ' v " * < 7 * V . <r

In a later chapter on modification you will see that the premodifiers that accom-
pany nouns follow a particular word order Here it is enough for you to recognize
that nouns occur in noun phrases that function as a single syntactic unit.

.
B Some Syntactic Categories of Nouns
You have earlier seen that nouns do not all behave the same and may be placed in
various subclasses according to their behavior. You may recall that collective nouns
require particular choices about how accompanying verbs or pronouns display num -
ber. And animate nouns differ from inanimate nouns in how they express the posses -
sive notion.
206 Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

Now we will take a look at three more noun subclasses, which are based on the
ways nouns behave with determiners in conjunction with the singular and the plural.
These three classes are the count noun , the mass noun, and the proper noun In the
*

discussion that follows, remember that an asterisk indicates that a particular utter
ance is ungrammatical.
-
Count and Mass Nouns
-
The count noun class includes everything that is readily countable, such as beetles,
books, sounds , concepts, minutes. Count nouns have both singular and plural forms.
In the singular they must always be preceded by a determiner, e.g.,
A car drove by
The car drove by
but not
*Car drove by.
In the plural they may occur either with or without a determiner:
Cars are dangerous on slippery roads.
Those cars are dangerous on slippery roads.

-
The mass nouns ( sometimes called “ non count nouns" ) include everything that
is not readily countable, such as steam , music , justice, advice, water, bread , Latin,
silk . Mass nouns have no plural; they occur in the singular under these conditions:
Without a determiner: Information is useful.
With the: The information is useful .
But not with a: * An information is useful.
Many words may be mass nouns in one context and count nouns in a different
context, e.g.,
Mass: Lemonade is refreshing in summer
Count: They had two lemonades. ( Remember that mass nouns have no plural .
Here lemonades is shorthand for two cups or two cans of lemonade. )
Mass: Virtue is its own reward.
Count: Her virtues were well known.
Mass: You have egg on your chin.
Count: Eggs were served for breakfast.
Mass: They eat bread with every meal.
Count: Our cafeteria serves several breads. ( Here breads can refer to types of
bread such as sourdough , whole wheat, and french.)
As a rule of thumb it is worth remembering that count nouns can be modified by
many and mass nouns by much.
Some Syntactic Categories of Nouns 207

In the blanks write count or mass to classify the italicized words.


1 . The factory releases dangerous gases into the atmosphere.
2 The price of gas jumped over the weekend .
.
3. Hobson enjoys his leisure.
4. There is truth in what he says.
5. These truths you must never forget.
6. Mrs. Lopez buys juice every day at the market.
7. Please bring me a juice,
8. Charles studied Russian in college.
9. Today 's world puts a high value on knowledge.
10. We heard a Russian at the United Nations.

Proper Nouns
, persons,
The proper noun class consists of the names of particular* often unique
- Mary (ship ),
places, and things, e . g., Charlotte Brook , the Mona Lisa, the Queen
of
Maine, the Rocky Mountains, Mount Washington. They are considered a subclass
appear
nouns because most of them conform in part to the noun paradigm, and they
in noun positions. Syntactically, they behave like count nouns, with a
few restric -
tions that are worth noting :
1 . In the singular proper nouns usually appear without a determiner.
Examples: June is a month for weddings.
We talked with Margaret.
The inside of Chartres Cathedral is beautiful in the sunshine.
However, a determiner is used with singular proper nouns when such nouns
are restrictively modified, as in these cases:
The June in which she was married was warm.
It was a June to remember.
The Margaret whom I remember had red hair,
2. Proper nouns that are always plural are normally accompanied by the, occa -
sionally by a different determiner.
Examples: The Appalachians are an old mountain chain.
I don’t like your Bahamas, they’ are too commercialized.
We are going to visit the Hebrides.
3. Certain proper nouns are usually singular and take the.
Examples: We took the Maasdam ( ship ) to Rotterdam .
The Museum of Modern Art has a new show.
208 Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

He waded across the Rio Grande.


We stayed at the Americana.
The Atlantic Ocean is rough in winter.
These proper nouns, however, can also be used in the plural :
Several Americanos have been built on the Eastern coast.
There are two Atlantic Oceans in the Northern Hemisphere, the
warm one of the tropics and the cold one toward the Pole.

Classify the italicized nouns by count, mass, or proper. The proper names have been
left un capitali zed.
L Aunt Tilda’s favorite month is may.
2. There is dust on the mantelpiece.
3. The class had a picnic at riverview park. __ .
4. Cotton is more absorbent than linen. .
5. In the alps are many lovely valleys.
6. Do you like whipping cream on your sundae ?
7. Numerous injustices were perpetrated
by the invaders. .
8. Can one expect justice in this court?
9. The amencans are visiting us next week .
10. They sailed on the statendam for the
canary* islands.

C. Verb Phrases
A verb phrase consists of a verb and all the words and word groups that belong with
the verb and cluster around it. The verb itself is called the headword or head , and
the other words and word groups are the auxiliaries, modifiers , and complements of
the verb. Complements is the generic term for the completers of the verb, which we
will later learn to know as direct object, indirect object, objective complement, and
subjective complement. In the phrases below, the head is italicized.
Examples: soon arrived
arrived late
soon arrived at the station
arrived just as the plane came in
was waiting at the door
may have been stolen by the cashier
Verb Phrases 209

Exercise 14 6 -
Underline the head in these verb phrases.
1 . stepped lightly
2. stepped into the room
3. quickly stepped in
4. stepped where he was told
5. at once shouted to the crowd to stand back
6. without hesitation shouted for help
7. were watching for the signal
8. had been eaten by the cat
9. would have driven to the fair
10. spoke loudly

Here are some verb phrases containing complements. Never mind the details
now, for you will study them later; just notice that the words in each phrase are
con -
nected with the verb.
Examples: built a scooter
built his son a scooter
seemed gloomy and dejected
elected George a member of the fraternity
became president of his class

-
Exercise 14 7 • * n

Underline the head of these verb phrases.


1. sold his last semester’s books
2. sold me his last semester’s books
3. appeared happy in his new job
4. always chose Jim chairman of the dishwashing committee
5. still remained the best candidate
6. cheerfully gave a handsome contribution
7. never paid his bills on time
8. immediately called his uncle a name
9. often was weary after his workout
10. soon returned the book she had borrowed

English sentences can be divided into two parts, one consisting of a noun phrase,
the other a verb phrase.

Wmm•Mmi
Draw a vertical line separating these sentences into a noun phrase and a verb phrase .
Underline the noun head and the verb head.
210 Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

1 < The red pony in the pasture galloped along the fence.
2. Many students attended the Christmas party.
3. The senior who sells the most tickets wilt be honored at the prom.
4. The pipes in the classroom pounded noisily.
5. The choir in the loft sang the last hymn softly
- .
w i

In sentences like these the headword of the noun phrase is the subject of the verb;
you will hear more about this shortly The entire phrase may be called the complete
subject . The verb phrase is called the predicate. As with nouns, some verbs by them -
selves can constitute a phrase.

Add a verb phrase to each of these noun phrases, making complete sentences.
1. The tiny leak in the hose
2. The canoe that he wanted
3. The pie
4. The steaming apple pie
5. The passenger in the front seat who
was watching the speedometer

.s « - i r * -
*> . JIT*

Add a noun phrase to introduce each of the following verb phrases, making com
plete sentences.
-
1 . later regretted his decision.
2. , . came after his dog when school was over
3. . . will soon return to college ,
4. . always seemed to have a complaint to make.
5. . . merrily swung the heavy pack on his back
to begin the long hike.
r • *.
J '
- - *1

D. Some Syntactic Categories of Verbs


Just as there are differences in the syntactic behavior of noun phrases depending on
the type of head noun , there are also differences that occur within the verb phrase
depending on the kind of head verb. We will now look at three different verb types
that introduce different syntactic requirements in their own verb phrase. The first
kind of verb to discuss involves those that are followed by noun phrases (or nomi-
nals—to be discussed later ) that, loosely speaking, “receive” the action of the verb,
as in “Jack brought the car ” As you will see later, when we discuss grammatical
function, these verbs are called “transitive” verbs, and the noun phrases (or nomi
nals) they introduce are called “objects.”
-
Some Syntactic Categories of Verbs 211

parent
A second type of verb includes those such as weep, as in “The distraught
to receive
wept," which involve an action but do not require a following element
tive ” verbs . Sometim es a verb can func-
the action . These verbs are called “ intransi
tion transitively in one sentence and intransit ively in another . In the sentence “ We
are eating the sandwich ” the main verb is clearly transitiv e Howeve r , in the sen- .
and thus the main verb is intransi tive.
tence “We are eating ” there is no direct object
such as eating in the latter sentenc e
Some grammarians still like to consider a verb
as a transitive verb , because they argue that a direct object is implied even if it is not
expressed. But in our work in this course we will consider a verb as transitiv
e only if
it has a direct object that is present within the sentenc e.
The third type of verb to consider includes those verbs such as be becomet
,
or descript ive relation ship
seem, and look, which introduce a kind of equivalency
that introduc e such
as in “ Emily is a doctor” or “ Michael looked angry ” . Verbs
structures are called “ linking ” verbs. In the next chapter we will examine
But for
the sen
now it
-
tence types that involve transitive, intransitive, and linking verbs .
among these three differen t
will be helpful to get a little practice in distinguishing
types of verbs.

fifeorctoe -
14 11 V • * - i : - -* •’ c t.- » .
C
- '
*'

‘ .p * t

verb is
In each of the following sentences a verb is italicized. Indicate whether the
transitive, intransitive, or linking.
1 . Carlos felt very happy about how he did on the chemistry test.
2. She sang the anthem beautifully.
3. Your haircut looks great.
4. He wasn 't supposed to look
5. Susan prepared the manuscript for publication ,
6. Have you ever made taffy ?
7. When the store owner called, the police came quickly.
8. The instructions were clear.
9. The mold grew quickly.
10, The contestant grew confident during the competition.
> ' « t ' >« *1 f ,fi '1 i1 < L t i « •* ' -- T

Verbs may be classed according to a number of syntactic behaviors in addition to


those we have already mentioned. We will not attempt to illustrate the great variety of
structural differences that can be classified but will instead provide one more syntac -
tic example of the variability of verbs in the kinds of structures that they introduce.
Some English verbs may be followed immediately by a complement that uses either
the -ing form , as in “walking,” or an infinitive, as in “to walk ” Those verbs that allow
such complements may be classified in one of three ways. The first class contains
-
those followed by the ing form of the verb but not by to plus a verb stem:
He enjoyed eating.
not
•He enjoyed to eat ,
212 Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

Those of the second class are followed by to plus a verb stem but not by the -ing form:
He agreed to come.
not
He agreed coming.

-
Those of the third class are followed by either the to or the ing form :
He preferred sleeping .
and
He preferred to sleep.
There is no general principle that dictates which form to use immediately after a
verb. As a native speaker you know from long experience with our language which
forms are permitted with which verbs. But a nonnative speaker must go through the
arduous task of learning them one by one.
Verbs taking complements in -ing and to are called catenarives be-
cause they can co-occur in chains, such as
He wanted to stop trying to postpone working.

ExtrciM 44*12
Give the form of the verbal complement that immediately follows each verh by writ
ing in the blank -ing or to or both.
-
1 . wish 8. avoid
2. miss 9. hate
3. start 10. try
4. want 11 . decide
.
5 postpone 12. risk
6. continue 13. cease
7. promise 14. mention

.
E Grammatical Function
Up to this point we have looked at words in relation to their part of speech. We have
thus classified form and structure classes according to more specific classifications of
noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, and so on. But knowing the part of speech of a
particular word yields only a partial understanding about the identity of that word in a
particular sentence (or clause ). We must also know its grammatical function within
the sentence. For example, in a sentence such as “ John raked the leaves,” we should
know that the word John is not just a noun . The word John bears a special relationship
to the verb raked. In this case the noun John is the performer of the action represented
by the verb and is therefore the subject of the sentence. Thus while the word John is a
noun by its part of speech, it is a subject by its function within the sentence . The time-
Grammatical Function 213

tion of a particular constituent is highly correlated with its particular location


or posi -
tion in the sentence. For example , the subject usually occupies the first
noun phrase
of En -
position in the sentence. Later on we will discuss some basic sentence types
clear.
glish, and the common positions of grammatical elements will become more
ion and an
Below you will find seven functions listed along with a brief descript
e list
example or two to illustrate how they appear in sentences. This is a referenc
.
only, so do not try to master the concepts here and now But the material
should be
helpful to you at this point. In the next chapter we will examine some basic sentence
types that contain these important function s. Before moving on to this referenc e list,
element
it is important for you to remember that when we talk about a functional
such as a subject or direct object , you need to be thinking in terms of noun phrases
h some nouns or pronoun s by themsel ves
rather than just nouns or pronouns. Althoug
e subject or direct object , they can do so only if
can serve, for example, as a complet ' the word
they also constitute a noun phrase. In the sentence “ John raked the leaves /
. But
John by itself can serve as the subject because it constitutes a noun phrase
complex . Now consider the chart below.
phrases can, of course, be substantially more

Label of Function Grammatical Moaning


1. Subject of Verb That which performs the action of a verb,
is described or identified, or about which
an assertion is made.
Examples: The leopard stalked its prey.
The hook was large .

2. Verb That which asserts an action or state.


Examples: Their monkey climbed the trees.
His claim seems ridiculous.

3. Subjective Complement That which follows be or a verb like become


and identifies or describes the subject.
Examples: The woman was a doctor.
The artist seemed upset .
4. Direct Object That which undeigoes the action of the verb.
( Note that for simplicity of definition, even
a verb such as see or believe is considered
to be performing an action that an object
can undergo.)
Examples: Malcolm bought a chandelier.
She attended Southern Virginia
College.
5. Indirect Object That person or thing to or for whom an
action is performed.
Examples: The coach brought the athletes
some uniforms.
The realtor found the buyer a
nice house.
214 Noun and Vert Phrases and Grammatical Functions

6. Objective Complement That which completes the direct object and


describes or identifies it.
Examples: We considered the manager
incompetent.
They elected Henry treasurer.
7. Object of Preposition That which is related to another word by
a preposition.
Examples: The dog ran near the river; ,

Sally paid rent for her mother.


In addition to the functions listed above there are a few more that will be discussed
later. These include modifiers and connectors. The above functions are important to
consider at this stage, because an understanding of them is important in the analysis
of sentence types, which we will be discussing shortly.

i , •*

The italicized words below represent the grammatical functions of subject , verb ,
subjective complement , direct object indirect object; objective complement , and ob-
ject of a preposition. Identify the grammatical function of each of the italicized
words below. Note that a complete subject or object, like a complete noun phrase,
may consist of more than one word.
1. Wc sent Mathilda a letter.
2. We sent a letter to Mathilda.
3. The coach wearing the green shorts yells a lot ,

4. The campaign committee will locate potential donors.


5. The unscrupulous salesman has called his customers suckers.
6.
7.
8.
The scuba diver was an expert.
She read the book carefully.
___
Jason appeared confident with the decision.
9. We should buy Waldo a new suit.
10. They spoke to Jim about the problem.

.
F Identifying the Subject
Because the next chapter will be discussing grammatical functions primarily in the con-
-
text of basic sentence types, it will be important here to discuss one structural phenome
non that operates independently of the particular sentence type that we are dealing with.
More specifically, we will examine how the requirements for agreement {sometimes
called “concord") in form between the subject and verb can also help us in identifying
the subject of a sentence or clause. Let us begin with this simple sentence:
The teacher holds class every day.
identifying the Subject 213

If we change the word teacher to the plural form teachers we must change the
verb .
.
lo hold We describe this noun- verb relations hip by saying that the noun phrase “ is
tied to” or “agrees with the verb And
” . the noun phrase in the sentence that is tied to
the verb is the subject of the verb . Thus the tie or agreemen t shows that the teacher
subject
is the subject. This "tie” test is the most generally useful way to identify the
in various kinds of sentences, regardles s of the position of the subject.
Here are two simple exercises just to fix the subject verb relationship in
your -
mind. It will be enough to do them orally .
.
. t-. '' 1 <• V
.r , .
V ir - ,P U Wx . *Ti . '1 «'>i -.V • - •
*

in the
Change the plural subjects to singular ones and make the necessary changes
verbs. If you write out this exercise* use a double pointed arrow to connect the sub - -
ject and the verb: e.gChildrenplay.
1. The cats purr.
2. The students study.
3. The houses deteriorate.
4. The vases break .
5. The visitors depart.

m M ir -mt Ic - ,
• f ,% «T .*-"

Now reverse the process, changing the subject from singular to plural.
1. The cat prowls.
2. The musician plays.
3. The professor teaches.
4. The bus waits.
'

5. The comedian laughs.


.* »? .t r »
=- •
* f : .* It ;
! >
•«F, 1» If * # 1 *%
• • • > ** • < '
i i

When a noun phrase is in the subject position, it is the headword of the phrase
that is tied to the verb and is therefore the headword subject , or as we will call it
,
“the simple subject ”
A
— *
Examples: The duties of the center depend on the kind of offensive employed .

The height of the bushes varies.

Below each sentence write the simple subject and the verb to which it is tied .
L The purposes of the training make me eager to begin .

2, The leader of the trainees selects a deputy.


216 Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

3. One among the flock of swans maintains guard .

4. The difference between the two men appears when they are at a game.

5. The troublemakers on the squad were hard to locate .


•J : - rs*- -'
1 »*,

If a verb is preceded by auxiliaries, the subject is tied to the first auxiliary.

Examples: The visitor has gone.

The visitors have gone.

- i« i
- • fc'
- .
1 .1 , .
1
^ --
nr f 9* - JT

Rewrite these sentences, changing the singular subjects to plural ones. Underline
the auxiliary that is tied to the subject.
I . The patient is being watched .

2. The janitor has waxed the floor.

3. The wrestler does not smoke.

4. The car has been stolen.

5. The ship was disappearing beyond the horizon.


r

Thus we see that subject and verb, and subject and auxiliary, are tied together by
.
reciprocal changes in form But there is a difficulty here . Of all the auxiliaries only
be, have , and do have an inflectional -s ending for the third person singular. The

others can, could\ may. might , shall, should , will, would , must, ought have the
same form throughout the singular and plural.

Examples: Singular : He will go.
Plural: They will go.
Singular: The neighbor may help.
Plural: The neighbors may help.
-
Likewise, the forms of the past tense have no singular plural change of form that
can show a subject-verb tie.
Examples: Singular: I sang.
Plural: We sang.
Singular: The thief ran.
Plural: The thieves ran.
Identifying the Subject 217

How, then, can we find the subject where no tie is perceptible in the form of the verb
is
or auxiliary? It is done this way: Change the verb or auxiliary to another form that
capable of agreement . In the case of a past- tense verb, test its form in the present
tense with the third person singular and plural. For example, to find the subject
of

The sopranos in the choir sang well ,


change sang to sings and sing:
The sopranos in the choir sing well.
The soprano in the choir sings well.
Sopranos sing are the tied forms, or those that are in agreement; hence sopranos is also
the simple subject in The sopranos sang In the case of an auxiliary verb, such as those
mentioned above that do not alter their form, a testing strategy would be to remove it
temporarily from its verb phrase and test the next subsequent verb. This becomes
nec -
essary because a modal auxiliary such as can or should is not only uninflected , but also
followed by uninflected forms. By removing the modal you may test the next auxiliary
or main verb, which can then be inflected . We can see how this works with a sentence
such as “The boy could have sung ” Although no inflectional distinction occurs be -
tween the singular and plural sentence “The boy could have sung” or “The boys could
have sung ” the removal of “could” gives us an important inflectional distinction in the
sentences “The boy has sung” and “The boys have sung ” The test then confirms that
“the boy” was the subject in our original sentence containing the word could.
The following exercise will give you some practice in using verb forms to help
identify the subject of a clause or sentence. Remember as you do the exercise that
-
although noun plurals frequently take an s to show a plural the presence of an -s on
a verb is a sign of the third person present tense singular.

fxwtflK 14-18
•f

In each of the sentences below, locate the verb (or auxiliary) that you think is tied to the
subject and place it in the first blank provided. Then provide a third person present-tense
singular and present-tense plural form of that verb. Having done this, you are now able
to locate the simple subject of the sentence and test your decisions. The simple subject
will be the noun or pronoun that must change its form to accommodate the altered forms
of the verb. In the blanks next to the singular and plural verb forms, provide the appro -
priate form that the subject would have to take to accommodate the two different forms
of the verb.
1. The cat w ith the brown fur slept on the table.
Verb:
Present singular verb form: Noun singular:
Present plural verb form: Noun plural:
2. After several hours under the tree on a hot day, the schoolboy called softly to his
friends.
Verb:
Present singular verb form: Noun singular:
Present plural verb form : Noun plural:
218 Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

3. There went my papers.


Verb:
Present singular verb form: Noun singular:
Present plural verb form: Noun plural :
4. They chased the dog all over the park . ( Assume here that the pronoun refers to
girls. )
Verb:
Present singular verb form: , Pronoun singular :
Present plural verb form: Pronoun plural:
5. A junior among the students refuses to sign .
Verb:
Present singular verb form: Noun singular :
Present plural verb form : Noun plural :
6. The soldiers do not bring their canteens on short hikes. ( Identify the verb or aux-
iliary that can inflect . )
Verb:
Present singular verb form: Noun singular :
Present plural verb form: Noun plural:
7. The acrobat can join the circus. ( Note: Remember that in the case of an auxiliary
that cannot inflect , test with the main verb. )
Verb:
Present singular verb form : Noun singular:
Present plural verb form: Noun plural:
8. The roses in our backyard might have been blooming by the end of April .
Verb:
Present singular verb form: Noun singular :
Present plural verb form: Noun plural:

The sentences in the exercise above each contained only a single clause . But as you
might guess, many sentences contain more than one clause . In those cases, the
process of identifying the subject of a given clause within the sentence remains the
same. Consider the sentences below, each of which contains more than one clause.
The verbs ( and auxiliaries ) in the sentences below have all been italicized .

1 . When the insurance agent came he spoke very frankly to our family.
2 . The storybook character sits on a wall, and he has a great fall.
3. The workers know that the horses have traveled a great distance.
A second test for locating the subject of a clause or sentence is what we will call
the “front-shift" test. We will employ this test to locate the “complete subject" of a
sentence. To apply the front-shift test you simply change a statement into a yes or-
-
no question, as in these sentences:
Identifying the Subject 219

1 . Statemeni : [ That tall man with the yellow checked shirt] is her teacher.
Yes or no question: fs [that tall man with the yellow checked shirt ] her teacher?
- -
2 . Statement: [The student who told me ] could have been wrong.
Yes-or-no question: Could [ the student who told me] have been wrong?
3. Statement : [The cowboy who was leading the parade] rode a brown horse.
Yes-or- no question: Did [the cowboy who was leading the parade] ride a
brown horse?
Now note what happened in these sentences. In the first statement the verb be was
front -shifted to the beginning of the yes or- no question. In the second statement
- the
-
first auxiliary was front shifted. In the third statement, which has no auxiliary, the
auxiliary did was supplied and placed in the front -shift position at the beginning of
-
the yes-or-no question . The part of the statement around which the front shift occurs
is the complete subject .

-
Change each statement into a yes or- no question . Then underline the complete
subject .
1 . The boy who mows the lawn was ill .

2 . Her youngest brother broke his bicycle.

3. The students on the debate squad should be excused .

4, The monkeys playing on the swings are from India .

5. The old gymnasium , which was built in 1907, will be replaced .

t .m
•I V
• %

A third strategy for determining the subject of a sentence is to locate the main verb
and ask yourself who or what in relation to the verb. For example with a sentence
such as “The criminal in the blue jailhouse clothes made a daring escape, ’ we locate
1

the verb phrase “made a daring escape” and ask ourselves, “ Who or what made a
daring escape?” The answer to this question is the subject. Thus the simple subject
is “criminal ,” and the complete subject is “The criminal in the blue jailhouse
clothes.”
The ability to identify the complete subject helps in identifying the predicate of
the sentence. In English the predicate is the complete verb phrase, including all of
its objects and modifiers. Thus unless the sentence has included conjoined material
( such as another sentence that has been joined on with the conjunction and ) , every -
thing in the sentence besides the complete subject is the predicate. As it relates to
the English language, the term predicate can be synonymous with verb phrase, but
220 Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

sometimes linguists might prefer using the term predicate because some languages
other than English use sentences that consist of a subject and predicate and yet do
not contain a verb phrase. Speakers of such a language might, for example, say ‘The
instructor angry* rather than “The instructor is angry’
1
1

Some Observations and Applications


In this chapter you have learned that noun and verb subclasses may be identified not
only by their morphological behavior, as we saw in an earlier chapter, but also ac
cording to the kinds of syntactic behavior that they display. In the case of nouns, a
-
recognition of the difference between count and mass nouns has important implica
tions for teaching English to nonnative speakers . Although both count and mass
-
nouns use the definite article the, only count nouns may use the indefinite article a
or an. Count nouns may be pluralized, whether that involves an inflection like -s or
whether it involves mutating their forms, as in the word geese. Mass nouns, on the
other hand, occur only in the singular form. Similarly, although count nouns use the
quantifier many, mass nouns use the quantifier much. It would be incorrect to ask
someone whether they had many sugars on hand or whether they had much pencils
that you could borrow. Thus the distinction between count and mass is signaled in
our syntax and morphology and is useful for nonnative speakers to know about as
well as for those who teach them .
But the value of being able to distinguish between count and mass nouns is not
limited to teaching English to nonnative speakers. There are some stylistic choices
related to count and mass nouns that native speakers may not always realize but that
careful writers should consider. Although the word more can be used to express an
increase in a count or mass noun (“more dogs*' or “more mud’1), expressing a reduc-
tion requires us to make a decision between the words less and fewer. The word fewer
is used for count nouns whereas less is used with mass nouns. Careful writers also
maintain a similar distinction between expressions such as “number of ” ( used with
count nouns ) and “amount of ” ( used with mass nouns). For example, it is stylisti
cally preferable to say “We had a large number of people there” rather than “We had
-
a large amount of people there.”
The subclasses of verbs play an even more important role in syntax than the sub
classes of nouns, because verbs determine the overall pattern of a sentence. The next
-
chapter examines the sentence patterns of English, so we will not show applications
of verb phrase knowledge here.
In this chapter we have moved from nouns and verbs to a consideration of noun
.
phrases and verb phrases This consideration is necessary because nouns and verbs be
-
have as part of phrases and not as individual words . If l were to program a computer to
communicate like a speaker of English, I would need to incorporate information about
phrase structure. Consider the sentence “The manager gave his employee a book.” The
noun phrases in this sentence are the manager, his employee, and a book. If the com
-
puter is to answer questions and sound natural (like a native speaker ), it must answer
with noun phrases rather than just with nouns. For example, to the question “What did
Some Observations and Applications 221

the manager give his employee?” a native speaker wouldn’t answer with merely book
-
but rather a book . A single-word answer, of course, could be appropriate if it consti
tutes a noun phrase all by itself, as in “Tom brought a gift’ in which Tom is a subject
1

noun phrase*
This chapter has considered the matter of agreement between subjects and verbs.
For most sentences native speakers have no problem deciding whether to use a sin-
gular or plural verb form. But there are situations in which speakers can benefit
from a greater understanding of what constitutes the subject of the sentence - We will
examine this issue further in a later chapter on usage.
Basic Sentence
Patterns

Consider the structure of the two sentences below. How do the sentences
differ? What grammatical function does the word cars have in each sentence?
We sold the plastic model cars.
We sold the brunette model cars.

In the previous chapter you saw that the subject of the sentence typically pre-
grammatical meanings are commonly found
cedes the verb. In a similar way, other
in particular positions within the sentence . Consider the difference that position
makes in the grammatical interpretation of a noun such as boy If we say “The boy
saw the girl," it is clear that the boy is the one who has done the seeing and the girl
that has been seen. But if we reverse the position of boy and girl we get the sentence
"The girl saw the boy" in which it is clearly the girl who has done the seeing and the
boy who has been seen . Thus although the boy can be the subject when it precedes
the verb, it can alternatively serve as the direct object when it follows the verb.
But a noun phrase directly following a verb is not always a direct object. As we in-
terpret a sentence we must consider its overall structural pattern , which can influence
the grammatical meaning that we attribute to a particular noun phrase. For example, a
single noun phrase following a transitive verb is a direct object, but if we perceive two
noun phrases directly following a transitive verb, we will analyze the sentence pattern
differently and frequently identify the first noun phrase after the verb as an indirect
object rather than a direct object . Compare the sentence "Tarzan cooked the dog” with
the sentence “Tarzan cooked the dog some meat ” In the former sentence the position
of the single noun phrase the dog right after the verb helps us to interpret the dog
as the direct object and thus what is being cooked . But in the latter sentence even
though the dog occupies the same place after the verb, the presence of two noun
phrases after the verb causes us to alter our analysis of the sentence pattern and to in-
terpret some meat as the direct object ( what is being cooked), and the dog, fortunately
enough, as the indirect object (the person or thing for which the meat is being cooked).
As you might expect, our analysis of a particular sentence pattern is also related to
whether we interpret a particular verb as transitive, intransitive, or linking.

223
224 Basic Sentence Patterns

We can see from this that distinguishing grammatical meanings or functions in a


sentence and distinguishing sentence types are related activities. In this chapter we
will examine some basic sentence patterns and subpatterns of English . Included
within these sentence patterns are specific sentence positions, each representing the
home-slot of a particular grammatical meaning ( function ) . 1 Even as we speak of
“sentence types,” you should realize that we could be discussing the same material
in terms of “clause types” because a simple sentence is a single clause .

Pattern 1: SV (Subject + Verb)


Our girls smile.
In the basic patterns we will be looking at, the subject always occurs in the first noun
phrase position. In pattern l the grammatical meaning of the subject is “that which
performs the action ” The verb in pattern l is intransitive. As you recall, an intransi-
-
tive verb is self sufficient; it can stand alone with its subject.
1. The sportsman fished.
2. The sportsmen were fishing.
[t can be modified by words and word groups known as adverbs and advcrbials.
Examples: The sportsmen fished early.
The sportsmen were fishing in the stream.
The sportsmen were fishing when we drove up.
But an intransitive verb is usually not completed by a noun phrase ( which could in
volve a noun or pronoun ). For example, in
-
They finished late
finished is intransitive, but in
They finished the game
and
They finished it
finished is not intransitive because it is completed by a noun phrase . If you are in
doubt whether a word following the verb is a modifier that goes with an intransi-
tive verb or a completer of a transitive verb , a substitution can settle the matter. If
you can substitute him, hen it , or them , the word is a completer and the verb is not
intransitive.

' The taxonomy of seven basic sentence types , which we will use. is based on a list of clause types provided by Randolph
Quirk and Sidney Grccnbaum in their book A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English. San Diego:
Harcourt Brace
.
Jovancvteh 1973, pp. 166-16?.
Pattern 2 ; SVC (Subject + Verb + Subjective Complement) 225

Examples: 1 . He hammered fast.


2 . He hammered the nail.
In the first sentence you cannot substitute it without spoiling the structural mean -
.
ing. But in the second sentence He hammered it is a suitable equivalent for He
hammered the nail . Therefore the first hammered is intransitive and the second one
transitive.
The subject of the verb in pattern 1 , and also in patterns 4, 5, 6, and 7 to follow
(and sometimes in 3 ). has the grammatical meaning of “ performer of the action.”
Some intransitive verbs characteristically do not occur alone but take an adverbial
.
modifier. Examples: lurk, sneak , lurch , sally, sidle tamper lie; five. The last one live
, ,
takes an adverbial modifier in three meanings: “ reside” as in “He lives in Mexico ” ;
“stay alive” as in “ He lives on soy bean products”; “be alive” as in “He lived in the first
half of the twentieth century.” Also, intransitive verbs with a passive sensen based on
transitive verbs take an adverbial modifier, as in “ Your car rides comfortably, and Her
'

book is selling well .” If the intransitive verb requires an adverbial modifier in order to
be completed, consider that verb to be part of a pattern 3 (to be discussed later ).

Write InV after each sentence that contains an intransitive verb. All such InV sen -
tences will be examples of pattern 1, an SV sentence pattern .
1. The audience clapped.
2. The audience clapped loudly.
3. The audience clapped loudly after the main act.
4. The audience clapped their hands.
5. They were relaxing quietly at the table.
6. They were drinking bottled water.
7. She always paid .
8. He paid his bills on the first of the month.
9. Jack left early,
10. Jack left his clothes in the closet.
11. We traveled comfortably.
12. A strange man is waiting outside.
13. He studied through the night.
14. Who brought my fishing tackle?
15. The children behaved admirably.
k .
-i *
H i • »

Pattern 2: SVC (Subject +Verb


+ Subjective Complement)

The program became elaborate.


Our friend is a senator.
226 Basic Sentence Patterns

In pattern 2 the grammatical meaning of the subject is "that which is described or


which may be identified as." This pattern will be referred to as an SVC pattern ,
which means that it consists of a subject , verb, and complement . In n general sense
the term complement is broadly used for referring to an element that is necessary to
complete a phrase, but as we label sentence patterns we will be using the term more
specifically to refer to either a subjective or objective complement. In the case of the
SVC sentence type that we are discussing here, the complement is a subjective com
plement , describing or identifying the subject of the sentence. The subjective com
-
-
plement is joined to the subject with a linking verb. This pattern has two main sub-
patterns that we will consider. The first subpattem is
Subpattem 2A: NP + Linking Verb Adjective
The food is good.
The manager seems upset.
In subpattem 2A , the third term must be an adjective or adjectival (that is, an adjective
like element2).
-
The verb in this subpattern must be a linking verb. In addition to be ( or one of
its forms) the set of linking verbs includes the following verbs or their respective
forms: seem , appear, become , grow, remain , taste, look , feel, smell , sound, get, con
tinue, or go. Most of the verbs listed here can occur in other sentence patterns as
-
well, so it is important to know not only which verbs can occur in this subpattern
but also how to recognize and distinguish this subpattem from other patterns con
taining the same verbs. We will provide some tests that should prove useful to you.
-
With a little practice you should be able to distinguish these patterns without such
tests, but in the beginning, tests like these can be useful.
The first test involves distinguishing subpattem 2 A when it involves the linking
verb be. The test for this is simple . It involves this expansion:
That food is good > That good food is very good.
That food is poisonous > That poisonous food is very poisonous.
If a sentence will not undergo this expansion , it usually belongs to some pattern
other than subpattem 2 A . For example , the sentence
My mother is outside
cannot be expanded to
*My outside mother is very outside.

So this sentence does not belong to the subpattern 2A type. The adjective in sub
pattem 2A is, in grammatical meaning, a modifier of the subject.
-
Sometimes a prepositional phrase will, as a modifier of the NP, occupy the Adj
position, as in

*We will be examining the positional classes of nominal, verbals, adjectival , and adverbial in the next
.
chapter
* *
Pattern 2: SVC (Subject + Verb + Subjective Complement) 227

The teacher was in a bad mood. (- irritable)


His explanation was over my head. ( = incomprehensible )

•- »
*• * V » ; >1 .» i (

Apply the expansion test to see which of these sentences belong to subpattem 2A.
Write 2A after such sentences.
1 . The box is large.
2. The box is here.
3. My mother is kind.
4. My mother is out.
5. The boys were busy.
6. The boys were below.
7. The dahlias have been lovely.
8. The party must have been enjoyable.
9. The party was afterward.
10. Her brother was hungry.
* w,: * r

- t •. i\ * " .
« » - A!•>» .
-s .* * ** •: i - .• <.
» f «W.
- 1* 4

The foregoing test for subpattem 2A does not work in all cases. Nor, for that matter,
does any grammatical rule or test, unless it is accompanied by exceptions and quali -
fications. There is a limited number of adjectives that can occur in either the first or
the second slot, but not in both, in a subpauem 2A sentence like
The food (= any noun ) is very .
For example, some adjectives are used only before a noun, such as main and utter.
Some others appear, in this pattern, after be + very, such as afraid, but not before the
nonn. Still others are restricted in various ways.3 Furthermore, not all adjectives can
be modified by very. We do not say, for instance, *“the very main speaker.” But,
apart from such aberrations, the test for subpattem 2 A is useful.
The other test, which may be applied to not only a form of be but any of the link -
ing verbs, is to see whether the verb in question may undergo substitution with a
form of seem. The use of seem may change the meaning a little, but you are testing
to see whether the substitution will work syntactically, not whether the two sen -
tences will be synonymous semantically. If the substitution may be made and if what
follows the verb is an adjectival describing the subject of the sentence, then you
have a linking verb and a subpattem 2A. But if the substitution can’t be made, then
your verb is probably not a linking verb, and you probably have a pattern other than
2A. Consider the examples below:

"a
Tor example, faint and ready go in the first slot when che noon modified is inanimate, as in “a fa ini breeze" and
'

ready answer." But they do not go in the first slot when the noun is animate , that is, in cases like "a faint player" and
*

- .
ready coach." The last two both sound un English Again, consider due We can say “The train is due" bui not *“The
train is very due" Wc ordinarily do not use due before a noun, as in *“tbe due train," but we do use it before a noun in a
few set phrases such as "with due respect** and “in due time *’ .
228 Basic Sentence Patterns

Subject + Linking Verb + Adjectival 1. John appeared weary. ( John seemed


.
weary )
Subject + Verb + Adverbial 2. John grew quickly. ( *John seemed
quickly.)
In the examples above, only the first sentence could replace its main verb with a
form of seem. We can say ‘‘John seemed weary’* but not <*John seemed quickly ”
4

Thus we can say that the first sentence is a subpattern 2A and involves a linking
verb, whereas the second one does not .

tv **
* **
Write the subpattem number 2A or other after each sentence.
1. The milk remained sweet for a week .
2. The newcomer remained quietly in her room .
3. The dog smelled hungrily at the package.
4. The dog smells bad .
5. You look sharp today.
6. He looked sharply to the right .
7. The detective felt cautiously in the box.
8. He feels cautious about taking the risk.
9. That apprentice looks careful
10 . The apprentice looked carefully at the new machine.
11. Our teacher’s assignments were easy.
12. The book was costly.
13. Peter 's dogs were outside.
14. They were sleeping.
JIT 3* .
it Tiat*£ I--' *
** V *

Linking verbs may of course be preceded by auxiliaries.


Examples: The party may become lively.
Your sister must have seemed friendly.
In addition to the limited number of common linking verbs, other verbs not usu-
ally thought of as linking may on occasion be followed by an adjective and therefore
conform to subpattem 2A.
Examples: The screw worked loose.
The defendant stood firm.
His face went pale.
The well ran dry.
He proved true to his cause.
For verbs like these one can substitute be , become, or remain with no substantial
change of meaning.
Pattern 2: SVC (Subject + Vert? + Subjective Complement) 229

:
*
y • .•* it . - nv.r.
\ « r - I .-
' ' T;' . -
S

Write the subpattern number 2 A or other after each sentence.


1. The child stood for the flag.
2. Jameson stood loyal to his firm .
3. The students in the back row look sleepy.
4. The investigator looked outside.
.
5 Penelope turned red at the thought.
6. She lay motionless on the hospital bed.
7. Jim fell sick during the night .
8. The wind blew strongly through the tall pines.
9. The soda may stay cold until evening.
10. You will never keep slender that way.

The second subpattern of 2 is


Subpattem 2B: NP* + Linking Verb + NP1
My friend is a doctor.
The girl remained a good student.
The superscript after the second NP indicates that this noun phrase has the same ref -
erent as the first noun phrase; that is, in the first sentence both my friend and a doctor
refer to the same person, and in the second sentence both the girl and a good student
refer to the same person . The linking verbs in subpattem 2B mean “ be identified or
classified as.” The first NP {subject } has the grammatical meaning of “that which is
identified ” The second NP means grammatically “that which identifies the subject ”
and is a subjective complement just as the adjective is in subpattem 2A. The number
of Unking verbs that may occupy the verbal position in this subpattem is very small.
Among them are be , remain , become , appear, seem, continue, stay, and make. Sen -
tences that follow subpattem 2B should not be confused with those in which the noun
phrase after the verb does not have the same referent as the first noun phrase.
Examples: 2 B Donald continued my friend, despite our differences,
other Donald met my friend in the barber shop.
2B My brother became a doctor ,

other My brother was seeking a doctor.

* * i •

Write the subpattern number 2B or other after each sentence.


1. Alma became the class president.
2. After two years of faithful service the corporal
became a sergeant ,
3. The military police restrained the sergeant from
entering the hall.
230 Basic Sentence Patterns

4. A snake was under the rock.


5. The chief seemed a good fellow.
6. We saw the fellow.
7. We stayed partners for years,
8. The governor stayed the execution.
9. A cowboy is a hard worker.
10. They appeared friends to all of us.
11. We shall continue the discussion tomorrow.
12. Johannes had remained a bachelor for reasons of
his own.
13. My sister makes a delicious fruitcake.
14. A fruitcake makes a fine gift .
15. This is her husband.
- r . U .v. '

Up to this point, our discussion of subpattern 2B has involved subjective comple


ments that are nouns. But a pronoun can also serve as a subjective complement as in
-
the sentence “This is she.” This observation does not invalidate our structural de-
scription of subpattern 2 B ( NP 1 + Linking Verb + NP 1 ) because, as you will probably
recall, the term noun phrase does not include only nouns but can also be used to refer
to pronouns. Determining the appropriate form of pronoun to serve as a subjective
complement has sometimes posed a problem, even for native speakers. But an under -
standing of the kind of pattern involved and the pronoun paradigm that we have al
ready studied in an earlier chapter should help you understand the grammatical is-
-
sues involved. Because the subjective complement essentially renames the subject of
the sentence, the traditional prescriptive grammar rule requires that any pronoun
being used as a subjective complement use the subject form of the pronoun. Thus one
would not say “This is her” but rather “This is she ” because her is an object form.
As it turns out, understanding the traditional rule is a little easier than deciding
what might be appropriate for a given context. Some uses that clearly place a speaker
in good stead with prescriptive grammarians may not work well for a speaker in a
particular social setting. Saying something like “it is 1” instead of “ It s me” could
put a chill on an otherwise friendly and informal conversation. And even when the
use of traditional prescriptive rules is expected, the strict application of such rules
sometimes sounds incorrect. But being a capable speaker and writer of English re-
.
quires that a person be able to make informed choices in a given occasion Informed
choices are not available to those who are unfamiliar with the options of formal and
informal speech and writing. As a native speaker you are likely to be able to use the
informal forms quite naturally, so we will briefly practice the more formal or, as
some prescriptive grammarians would say, “correct” forms in the exercise below.

.
t t * Ti “ 'WH

Examine the sentences below. For each sentence decide whether the pronoun form
that is used in the subjective complement position follows the traditional rule. An-
swer either yes or no in each blank provided.
Pattern 3: SVA (Subject + Be + Adverbial) 231

1. The caller to the radio show was him.


2. It is me.
3. It was they.
4. That is she.
5. 1 am he.
6. This is it.
7. The people knocking at your door will be them.
i
- I .,
*

Some of the sentences in the above exercise likely sound a little different from what
you are accustomed to saying in your normal speech. And the kind of prescriptive
rule that we have shown you can lead to an occasional sentence that will probably
sound absolutely bizarre to a native speaker. Consider the sentence “The people
singing on the cassette tape were we.” In such a case it becomes important to make a
decision about which usage carries the greater risk: ( 1 ) using a form that is techni-
cally correct according to some traditional grammarians but will sound terrible and
unnatural to virtually everyone else * including even educated speakers, or ( 2) using
a form that although it might be inconect from a prescriptive viewpoint nonetheless
will sound correct to most people, including educated people, or ( 3) recasting your
sentence to avoid the issue altogether. In cases such as the one we have been dis-
cussing, options 2 and 3 are probably the most desirable.

4
Pattern 3: SVA (Subject + Verb + Adverbial)
The girl is here.
Pattern 3 usually consists of a subject followed by a form of be and an adverb or
other word ( s ) that can occupy the same kind of syntactic position and perform an
equivalent function to an adverb ( we will learn more about such adverbials in the
next chapter ). Sometimes the pattern involves an intransitive verb such as reside fol-
lowed by an obligatory adverbial as in “The president resides on this street.” A pat-
tern 3 sentence such as “ Ramon was inside” might superficially resemble a subpat -
tem 2A sentence such as “Ramon was ecstatic,” But there are important differences:
1. The verb be in this pattern usually has the meaning of “be located” or “occur.”
2. Pattern 3 is not capable of taking the subpattem 2A expansion.
3. The third position is occupied by an adverbial rather than an adjectival. Words
of this type are typically uninflected words and include here, there, up, down .
4
The label of SVA does not indicate a sentence type in which an intransitive vert> is followed by an optional advert) (or
adverbial ) as in He ran fast " RatheT we are following the practice of Quirk and Greenbaum in using this label for the
44

sentence type in which the presence of an adverb (or adverbial ) is necessary for the completion of the sentence. The ma -
jority of the main sentence types discussed io this chapter could optionally be followed by an adverb or adverbial, so dis -
tinguishing each of those additional options would result in an unnecessary redundancy in categories. It will suffice just
to acknowledge that most of the sentence types given could accommodate an additional adverb or adverbial.
232 Basic Sentence Patterns

in , out , inside, outside , upstairs , downstairs. 0/2 , 0 now, then , tomorrow,


^
yesterday, over, through, above, below, before, after. Up , in , and out are par-
tially and/or irregularly inflected with the forms upper, uppermost inner, in-
,

most , innermost , outer, outermostutmost outmost . For most words in the


third position one can substitute there or then .
Examples: The pingpong table is downstairs.
The game was yesterday.
The balls are outdoors .
Often a prepositional phrase with a there or then meaning will occupy the
third position.
Examples: The wolf is at the door.
The game will be at three o ’clock .
The grammatical meaning of the subject in pattern 3 is typically "that about
which an assertion is made ,” and that of the adverbial is “modifier of the verb ”

After each sentence place a number 2 A or 3 to identify the pattern it conforms to.
}. The picnic was outside.
2. The picnickers were happy.
3. The batter is tall .
4. The batter is inside.
5. They are on the lawn .
6. Our appointment is now.
7. The meeting will be in an hour.
8. The dean is in.
9. The dean is benevolent .
10. The bunks are below.
* r .
.> . . f -. ! . *

Pattern 4; SVO (Subject + Verb + Direct Object)


The girl bought a dress.
In pattern 4 the verb is transitive and is completed by a noun phrase , for which one can
readily substitute him, her, it, or them. This noun phrase is called the direct object of the
verb and has the grammatical meaning of “undergoer of the action” or “that affected by
the verb.” As a means for identifying direct objects these descriptions of meaning are
roughly adequate, but you must remember that a direct object does not always experi -
ence any actual action. This is evident in a sentence such as “We heard the radio” in
which “the radio” is the direct object but does not experience any real action.
Pattern 4 ; SVO (Subject + Verb +Direct Object) 233

Normally the direct object is not the same person or thing as the subject. How-
ever, with two kinds of pronouns, the direct object does have the same referent as
the subject . One is the set of -selfVselves pronouns, generally known as the reflexive
pronouns. These occur as direct object in sentences such as
She saw herself.
The lifeguards splashed themselves,
The other set consists of the reciprocal pronouns each other and one another, which
function as direct objects in such sentences as
They found each other.
They fought one another.

Exercise 15 8 - r '

After each sentence write the pronoun that you can substitute for the italicized di -
rect object , In the case of bracketed information, provide the reflexive or recipro-
cal pronouns that would be necessary to fill in the accompanying blank with an
equivalent idea .
.
1 The salesman sold the car.
2 . Both soldiers saluted the colonel.
3. Mrs. Grundy grew roses every year. „

4. At the desk we met the nurse.


5. The chauffeur repaired the tire.
6. The collision broke the wheel.
.
7 I met your sister.
8. The veterinarian carried the dog.
9. We trimmed the bushes. .
IQ, [Jill criticized Sarah, and Sarah criticized Jill.]
In fact, for two years they criticized .
11 , [Billy taught Billy.] He taught .
12. [Jessica apologized to me, and I apologized to her ]
We apologized to ,

>» - t -.
* -
r i ** * ^ % '.VI .9 * '

You have seen that a transitive verb such as those in the sentences above contrasts
with an intransitive verb of pattern 1, which does not take a direct object.
Examples: Intransitive: She sang beautifully.
Transitive: She sang a beautiful folk song.
As shown in the pair of examples above, most English verbs can occur transitively
and intransitively, and relatively few can occur only transitively or intransitively.
Examples: Intransitive only: The ship had vanished.
Transitive only: We enjoyed the party.
234 Basic Sentence Patterns

Exercise 1S~9 » - v* - -v
• M

In this exercise you are to distinguish , as a review, among linking verbs, intransitive
verbs, and transitive verbs. After each sentence place an LV, InT, and TV to label the
head verb. In the second blank write the number of the sentence pattern .
1. The center passed the ball to the quarterback .
2. She is inside.
3. Chris became a skillful tennis player.
4. The sheriff was the leader of the posse.
5. The sheriff was leading the posse.
6. Your doughnuts smell delicious.
7. Who is leading now?
8. Harris remained the assistant coach.
9. The dean made an important announcement.
10. Your violin tone sounds rather squeaky.
11. The announcement may be helpful to you.
12. The firm sent a form letter to all its customers.
13. A French poodle makes an affectionate pet.
14. The driver turned sharply.
15. The driver turned the car around .
16. Emily Walton was the judge in the case.
T . . t.

A transitive verb has two forms, which we call active and passive. The active form
is the one that is followed by the direct object, which we have seen in pattern 4. From
this active form we can make the passive form. Here is an illustration:
Active: The chef cooked the meal.

Passive: The meal was cooked ( by the chef ).


In this process there are four things to notice:
1 . The object of the active form becomes the subject of the passive form. This is
shown above in the shift of meal.
2. The passive is made up of a form of the verb be plus a past participle , as in
was cooked,
3. The subject of the active verb may be made the object of the preposition by
or it may be suppressed.
4. In the passive, two grammatical meanings are shifted around. The performer
of the action , chef \, is now the object of the preposition , and the undergoer,
meal is the subject.
Exercise fWO .er

These sentences contain transitive verbs in the active form . Change the sentences to
the passive form .
Pattern 4; SVO (Subject + Verb ^Direct Object) 235

1. The servant opened the window.

2. He rolled the dice.

3. Most adolescents enjoy dancing.

4. We chose the mountains for our vacation.

5. Jim has never read King Lear.

6. The tourists burned wood in the fireplace.

7. The shepherd counted the sheep.

8. We began the game at four o’clock.

9. The Smiths built a new house on the river.

10. The nature club spotted a pileated woodpecker.

-
CmrvfM f 5 4 f * .r >:- z *.
• : K'

These sentences contain transitive verbs in the passive form. For each verb con
.*V '

-
struction underline the be auxiliary once and the past participle twice. Then change
the sentences to the active form. In cases where there is no by phrase, you will have
to supply a subject.
1. The rat was killed by the terrier.

2. The pancakes were turned by the cook .

3. Much corn is raised in Iowa.

4. An early folk tune was heard .

5. The dishes have been washed.

6. A good time was had by all.

7. Jane was teased by Allison’s boyfriend.

8. The flag had been lowered.

9. The motorcycles were stopped by the traffic officer.


236 Basic Sentence Patterns

10. A carillon concert is played at 7:45 in the morning.

English also has a passive in which be is replaced by getr e.g.,


Active: Th e teacher excused Bill .
Passive: Bill got excused by the teacher.
Active: Helen rewarded him .
Passive: He got rewarded.
Thisger passive is useful in avoiding the occasional ambiguity of the be passive, as in
The gate was closed at ten o’clock .
This can mean either “Someone closed the gate at ten’’ or “The gate was not open at
ten.” With got only the first meaning is possible:
The gate got closed at ten.
Not all verbs accept the get passive, e .g.,
*The fiesta got enjoyed by the guests.

There is in English a tiny group of transitive verbs called middle verbs that do
not form the passive. These are illustrated in the sentences below. Try turning each
sentence into the passive and see if the result sounds English to your ears.
The box contains a pair of shoes.
She lacks the necessary money,
A wondrous adventure befell our hero.
Your humor eludes me.
He can afford a new car.
My mother has a new car.
The apple cost fifty cents.
They parted company.
Verbs with reflexive pronouns are not made passive, e.g.,
He scratched himself.

Pattern 5: SVOO (Subject + Verb


+ Indirect Object + Direct Object)
The mother bought the girl a dress.
In pattern 5 there are some important matters to be observed:
1. The verb of this pattern must be transitive .
Pattern 5: SVOO (Subject + Verb + indirect Object + Direct Object ) 237

2. We see two grammatical objects after the verb bought , These two objects are
called, in order, the indirect and the direct object . If we omit the first one, the
pattern becomes number 4 and dress is seen to be the direct object,
3. The indirect object may often be replaced by a prepositional phrase begin -
ning with to or for, or occasionally with a different preposition .
Examples: He sold the student a ticket .
He sold a ticket to the student.
He built them a playpen.
He built a playpen for them.
He played me a game of chess.
He played a game of chess with me.
He asked her a question.
He asked a question of her
4. The verbs that can be used in pattern 5 are in a restricted group. Some of the
common ones art give , make , find, tell, buy, write , send, ask , play, build,
.
teach , assign , feed, offer, throw, hand pass, sell, pay,
5 . A pattern 5 sentence may be transformed into the passive by making either
the direct or the indirect object the subject of the passive verb:
A dress was bought the girl by her mother.
The girl was bought a dress by her mother.
In some cases, however, the passive transformation does not sound fully
natural and seems to demand a preposition, as in
The sergeant found the recruit a rifle.
A nfle was found ( for ) the recruit by the sergeant .
6. The grammatical meaning of the indirect object is “ beneficiary of the action
of the verb-plus-direct-object.”
7 . If the direct object is a pronoun , it must precede the other object, which is
moved back within a prepositional phrase:
The mother bought it for the girl.
Not *The mother bought the girl it.
This movement occurs even if both objects in the sentence are pronouns:
The mother bought it for her.
Not *The mother bought her it.

b• t ‘ r # v r|* • - . -»

The following sentences follow pattern 5. Replace the indirect object by a preposi -
tional phrase. Put the latter where it sounds most natural.
1 . The librarian found me the pamphlet .
238 Basic Sentence Patterns

2. He assigned Jack the toughest job.

3, The spaniel brought his master the stick .

4. Susie fed the baby robins some juicy worms.

5. Her mother sent her a new sweater.

Exwctfw f &+ 1 S
These sentences also follow pattern 5. Transform each one into two sentences by
5
making first the indirect and second the direct object the subject of a passive verb.
1. She gave him a dirty look.

2. The company made the manager a fine offer.

3. The dealer dealt me a bad hand.

4. He offered his roommate the car.

5. The instructor asked her a question.

*. i ' • . .

*Whcn a pattern 5 sentence is made passive , one object becomes the subject and ihc other is retained after the verb. The
latter is called a retained object. Examples:
Bill gave George a tennis racket.
RO
George was given a tennis racket .
RO
A tennis racket was given George
ment) 239
Pattern 6 : SVOC (Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Objective Comple

Pattern 6: SVOC (Subject + Verb + Direct


Object + Objective Complement)

We considered Salvatore noteworthy.


The coach made their sister a manager.
s or
Pattern 6 is much like pattern 2 except that in this case the complement describe
subject of the sentenc e . As with pattern 2,
completes the direct object rather than the
the complement may involve either an adjective or a noun ( or pronou n ). Thus the ad -
red Salvato re notewo rthy ” functio ns
jective complement in the sentence “ We conside
like the predicate adjective complement in subpattem 2 A ( “The food is good ’
" ) And .
the noun complement in the sentence ‘The coach made their sister a
manager func 1
-
tions like the predicate nominative complement in subpatt em 2 B ( “Our friend is a
6 , unlike the main verb of pat-
senator’ ). And even though the main verb of pattern
1

, a linking verb is at least implied


tern 2 » is a transitive rather than a linking verb
ed by the way many SVOC
between the object and its complement. This is suggest
sentences, though not all, can be changed in form to use a linking verb while preserv -
sen-
ing the same meaning. In the three sets of sentences below, note how the SVOC
render the B and C version s;
tence represented by each sentence A can be altered to
1 A. The voters elected him president.
.
B. The voters elected him to be president.
2 . A . He considered her brilliant.
B. He considered her to be brilliant.
C. He considered that she was brilliant.
3. A. I thought the caller you.
B. I thought the caller to be you ,
C. I thought that the caller was you.

Bx&rcrsm 15 14 -
Translate each pattern 6 sentence into one of the two forms shown in the B
and C
% V . ,

sentences above.
1. The committee declared Isabelle the winner.
2. She believed George honest.
3. I imagined her capable.
4. We thought him a great scholar.
5. The owner of the newspaper appointed Marcos editor in chief. --
6. The inspector found the premises clean .
r : i if i • '• C -: •*-> Hi:
- .
> • -
J ' v It tn i - * -*

As pattern 6 is most commonly exemplified by an NP in the final position, we


will restrict our attention to this form of the pattern. Pattern 6, like its predecessor
pattern 5, has two NPs following the verb, as in the sentence “The basketball team
chose Charlotte captain ” But it differs from pattern 5 in three respects:
240 Basic Sentence Patterns

1 . In pattern 6 the first of the two NPs is the direct object. In some sentences, if
wc eliminate the second NP, we are left with pattern 4, which contains only
the direct object after the verb:
The basketball team chose Charlotte.
The second NP is called the objective complement , because it completes the
direct object.
2 . In pattern 6 both NPs following the verb have the same referent: that is, both
Charlotte and captain refer to the same person .
3 . In pattern 6, only the direct object can be made the subject of a passive verb.
We can transform the pattern sentence into
Charlotte was chosen captain
but we cannot make the objective complement such a subject, for
Captain was chosen Charlotte
makes no sense.
In the passive of pattern 6 the subject comes from the direct object of the
active.
DO OC
Example: Active: He appointed Ruth secretary.
Passive: Ruth was appointed secretary.
Only a very small group of verbs can be used for pattern 6 . Among them are
.
name, choose , elect , appoint; designate, select , vote , make, declare nominate ,
call , fancy, consider, imagine , think, believe , feel , keep, suppose , find , prove ,
label. judge.

-
Exercise 15 15
In each sentence determine the sentence pattern involved and confirm your decision
by striking out the indirect object or the objective complement . Then write the pat-
tern number, 5 or 6, after the sentence.
1. She taught him a trick .
2. We appointed Evelyn the committee chair.
3. You threw us a curve.
4. The student body selected Arabella their representative.
5. The faculty chose Sieverson the head counselor *

6. We found her a sandwich .


7. The dealer sold me an air mattress.
8. She gave the baby a toy.
9. The city elected Mouchy mayor.
10. He named his new boat Belle ,

; rt - >~:r- - V- *
Pattern 7: SVOA (Subject + Verb + Object + Adverbial) 241

Pattern 7: SVOA (Subject 4 Verb


4 Object 4 Adverbial)

Mr. Jensen set ( he cup on the table.


For most of the sentence patterns we have previously listed, an adverbial may ac
company the verb but is not required . But pattern 7 is listed here as its own pattern
-
because of the obligatory nature of the adverbial element.* In this regard it is like
pattern 3 except that pattern 3 involved be or intransitive verbs whereas pattern 7
contains transitive ones. The determination of whether an adverbial is required or
not of course depends on the verb. With some verbs, such as set leaving the adver . -
bial out makes the sentence sound ungrammatical as in an utterance such as "‘We
set the book.” With other verbs, the sentence does not sound ungrammatical , but the
meaning of the verb is significantly changed without the accompanying adverbial.
For example, consider what happens to the meaning of the verb kept in the sentence
“We kept the smelly dog outside” if the adverbial outside is removed from the sen -
tence. Without the adverbial it sounds as if the point of the sentence is that we kept
the dog (as opposed perhaps to selling it ). But the meaning of the verb in a sentence
containing the adverbial outside relates to how we maintain the dog.
With pattern 7 we complete the list of the basic sentence patterns in English .

flWDM* 16 16 - - r .* v•
'
* -
* *\ ?

After each sentence write the number of the pattern it represents . Remember that
i

the presence of an adverbial does not change the sentence pattern unless the adver-
bial is crucial to the sentence structure or meaning,
1. Your recital was wonderful ,
2. Mabel was here a moment ago.
3. The rancher told his guests a tall tale .
4. The archers were not successful hunters.
5. The frogs croaked in the marsh.
6. Jerry thought the proposal a mistake.
7. She had been a secretary.
8. The Romans won the first battle.
9. The judges believed Lightning the best horse in the show.
10. The director found him a new costume.
IL My uncle remains the worst bridge player in town.
12. The coach designated Jan the new manager of the team .
13. Migrant workers pick the strawberries in early June.
14. The pickles are near the wieners.
15. We considered his offer a fine gesture.
16. Her brother laid the camera on the park bench .

.
*Foi a discussion of this sentence type , as well as some examples of the verbs that are used within it see Randolph
Quirk et ak. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London and New York: Longman, 1985, pp. SS Sti.
-
For additional information consult also a learner's dictionary, such as the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
242 Basic Sentence Patterns

17. Your cologne smells so good.


18. He has always seemed a serious boy.
19. Who is at the cottage this week ?
20. They stayed roommates lor three years.
21. The board elected Mr. Stoopnagel the president.
22 . Don 't leave the car in the parking lot .

EXBTCIB* #5-17
Unless we recognize the pattern of a sentence, we do not know what the
sentence
means. The following sentences illustrate this thought . Each one is ambiguou be
s -
cause we do not know which of two patterns tt represents. After each sentence write
the numbers of the patterns that it can represent. In the case of a pattern , indicate
2
whether it is 2 A or 2B.
1 . He found her a pig.
2. The girl looked forward.
3. They are discouraging transfers.
4. I ' m getting her socks.
5. The man gave the library books.
6. It was a little uniform.
7. He accepted Wednesday.
8. Thorne taught himself during his young manhood.
9 . The doctor made them well .
10. He found the mechanic a helper
11 . Our spaniel made a good friend .
12 . The judges designated the girl winner
13. The detective looked hard .
14. Mary called her mother.

Other Sentence types


You should be aware that there are other types of sentences. Sometimes they repre
-
.
sent merely an expansion of one of the types above For example, we could join two
SVO sentences together to get a sentence like “1 brought the bowl, and Mortimer lost
it / Or a direct object of the SVO sentence type could itself be a sentence as in “l
1

*
knew ( that ) you were coming /' In this SVO sentence the direct object of knew is the
embedded sentence “( that ) you were coming," which is itself an SV sentence type.
But there are also sentence types that we have not discussed because they are not
basic types* though some of them are related to types already listed. We will ac -
knowledge just a few of them here. Two types seem similar to pattern 6 as they pro
vide more information about the object of the verb, but instead of using a noun or
-
adjective they use a present participle or a past participle form as in "l imagined her
eating" or "I believed him seated "
Other Sentence Types 243

Another important set of sentences includes those involving an expletive such as


there or it These sentence types deserve particular attention . First we will look at
the kinds beginning with there + be as in the following:
There is a sock under my bed.
Here there is an expletive, that is, a meaningless slot filler occupying the normal po-
-
sition of the subject. The subject itself comes after the be. Sentences beginning with
the expletive there arc rearrangements of basic pattern sentences, and most of them
conform to one of three types.
The first type, illustrated both above and below, follows the pattern of there + be
+ subject + adverbial of place or time, as in
There are two socks under my bed.
This type is a rearranged form of pattern 3:
A sock is under my bed.
Two socks are under my bed.
The second type is illustrated by this sentence:
There was a police officer looking for you .
This second type follows the pattern of there + be + subject + -ing participle + 0 or
remainder. It is usually derived from patterns 1 , 4, or 5 employing an ing verb.
Examples:
a. Pattern 1 : A politician was speaking.
There + he: There was a politician speaking.
b. Pattern 4: Some boys were eating apples.
There + be: There were some boys eating apples.
c. Pattern 5: Several jockeys were giving their horses water.
There + be: There were several jockeys giving their horses water.
The third type comes from the passives of patterns 4, 5, or 6, with pattern 6 being
the most frequent .
Examples:
a. Pattern 4: The police found a shotgun.
Passive : A shotgun was found by the police.
There + be : There was a shotgun found by the police.
b. Pattern 5: The company made him an offer.
Passive: An offer was made him by the company.
There + be: There was an offer made him by the company.
c. Pattern 6: They elected a Swede captain .
Passive: A Swede was elected captain .
There + be: There was a Swede elected captain.
-
The pattern of the preceding sentences is there + be + subject + ed participle + re-
mainder or 0.
244 Basic Sentence Patterns

In all of these cases the expletive there was followed by be Now and then a few
other verbs appear in this structure, for example:
There remained only three doughnuts.
There stood a handsome lad in the doorway.
The expletive there should not be confused with the adverbial there. Although
the expletive there is merely a slot filler, the adverbial there refers to a location (even
if sometimes only metaphorically ). Furthermore, the expletive bears weak or third
stress whereas the adverbial has secondary or primary stress.
Examples:
There (expletive ) are soldiers in town.
There (adverbial ) go the sbldiers.
They are there (adverbial ) .
There (adverbial ) they are.

^ - J "i ' ‘1 f ; i •

Change each sentence into one beginning with the expletive there .
1 . A rabbit is in your garden .

2 . Some squirrels were cracking nuts.

3. A moon craft was pictured by Life .

4. Some idiot was chosen commissioner.

5. Five men have been working on the rules.

j •
- srr * . i - 1
>•

Another expletive is if , which occurs as a “dummy” in the subject position be


-
fore the verb. It takes the place of the real subject, which follows later in the sen
tence, as in
-
It is nice that you could come.

- —
If you apply here the subject finding rule of thumb Who or what is nice? the an-
swer will give you the subject . . that you could come ” The subject is always a —
word group in this kind of sentence.

4'
r",

Underline the subject in these sentences.


1. It is odd that the tree fell in that direction .
2. It occurred to me that the road might be impassable.
3. It is hard to see the difference.
Other Sentence Types 245

4. It doesn 't matter whether she wears the green or the yellow suit.
5. It is necessary that you write a tactful letter.
.. . * i ;» i' * 1- •H *
_

< *. -
* H‘KV * D ' J

The expletive it may also represent a following direct object , as in


1 think it a shame that she lost the match.
Here \ . . that she lost the match" is the direct object .
l

*v V* •' • i*

Underline the direct object represented by a preceding expletive it .


1. She makes it a practice to revise all her papers.
2. I believe it unwise to set out in this storm.
3. He felt it unnecessary that we postpone the game .
4. The dean found it difficult to deny their petition.
5. I thought it strange his leaving so suddenly.
» .. I A . .
^

The expletive it should not be confused with the impersonal it , which also oc-
curs at the sentence beginning as a “dummy" subject . This it is usually found in
short sentences referring to weather, time, or space.
It is raining.
It seems cold.
It is seven-thirty.
It is a long way to London .
There are also idiomatic uses of it that are neither expletives nor impersonals.
We hoofed it to the fair.
You're going to get it when mom and dad get home.
Beat it . (= go away )
I’ll have it out with you.
How goes it?
It looks bad for the White Sox.

- -
i I T, iMz A %. . b - > TT * *
- --v
ft* - zmm .'i i v . •
V

Indicate whether the it in each sentence is an Exp (expletive) or an Imp (impersonal).


1. It is too bad that you can't attend.
2. It is bad outside. .
3. She considered it incomprehensible that he should fail.
4. It is snowing.
5. It is ten after three.
.K» U
> rUT>
*" 1 ' *I *mm ftorti
246 Basic Sentence Patterns

Three Modes of Classification


As a preliminary to the next chapter it will be useful to examine briefly the three
major modes of classification that you must keep clearly in mind .
1. Classification by Function. In classification by function, you will recall,
specific positions in specific patterns signal grammatical meanings. In
The boy gobbled the hamburger
the position of hamburger signals that its grammatical meaning, or FUNCTION,
is that of undergoer of the action , and this FUNCTION is labeled direct object of
the verb.
2. Classification by Form , In chapter 12, “ Parts of Speech: Form Classes,” you
-
classified words by word form alone, using inflectional and derivational suf-
fixes to determine the individual classes. The result was four form classes:
nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. But this was not satisfactory as a com
plete part-of-speech catalog because an embarrassingly large number of
-
words were unclassifiable as noun, verb, adjective, or adverb and had to be
-
put in a miscellaneous file called non suffixing words. This unsatisfactory sit
uation will be remedied in the next chapter, where you will encounter parts of
-
speech as distinguished by position.
.
3. Classification by Position In classification by position it is the part of speech,
not the function, that is associated with positions. Certain groups of positions
are normally occupied by particular parts of speech . For instance, the positions
that bear the functions of subject of the verb, subjective complement, direct ob-
ject , indirect object, objective complement, and object of the preposition are
frequently occupied by nouns. Thus we think of these six positions as noun po
sitions, and any word or word group occupying them, whether a noun or not,
-
we label a nominal by position, regardless of its function or form class. A few
cases will make this clear. In the illustrative sentences that follow, the items in
brackets are all uominals. The function of each is given in parentheses.
1. [The prettiest ] sat in the center. (Subject )
2. [Whoever desired] sat in the center. ( Subject)
3. [ Now] is the time to study. (Subject )
4. [ Under the pines] is the place to study. (Subject )
5. That is [she]. (Subjective complement)
6. That is [ whom 1 saw]. (Subjective complement)
7. He chose [ the prettiest], ( Direct object )
8. He chose [whatever he wanted] (Direct object)
,

9. She gave [ whomever she met] a cheery smile. (Indirect object)


10. Hard practice made Evelyn [a good swimmer]. (Objective complement )
11. Hard practice made me [what I am]. (Objective complement)
.
12 Can you see from [where you sit ]? ( Object of preposition)
Note that you can readily put a noun in each of these positions because each is the
customary abode of a noun .
Some Observations and Applications 247

Similarly, any word or word group occupying slots normally filled by a verb, ad -
jective, or adverb is by POSITIONAL classification a verba ) , adjectival, or adverbial.
-
The -al ( or ial ) is the suffixal signal that tells you that you are dealing with a major
positional class.

In addition the small closed parts of speech such as determiner and auxiliary —
are known as structure classes. You studied them in chapter 13 .
Here are three examples to illustrate this threefold classification, although they
will become fully meaningful to you only after you have completed the next chapter.
Take the sentence
The shouting boys will play tennis.
1. Shouting is a modifier by function, a verb by form, and an adjectival by position.
2. Boys is the subject of the verb by function, a noun by form, and a nominal by
position.
3. Tennis is the object of the verb by function, a non-suffixing word and thus in -
determinate by form, and a nominal by position.

Some Observations and Applications


Some people make usage decisions about which of two possible forms is more ‘‘cor -
rect ’ based on what sounds right. But this practice is sometimes risky because what
1

sounds right to them may just be what they are accustomed to hearing. A better alterna -
tive is for them to know the rule on which some particular prescriptive grammar rules
are based so that they do not have to rely on their ear alone but can make informed and
conscious choices about some of the forms that they will use. The ability to recognize
sentence patterns and to distinguish one sentence pattern from another is important for
understanding why some usage choices are sometimes prescribed over others. And
even if you don ’t agree with all of the traditional prescriptive rules, in some situations it
is important at least to understand the nature of the prescribed choices.
We have earlier noted the usage issue of deciding between subject or object pro-
noun forms in a pattern like ‘it is If we recognize this as a subject + verb
+ subjective complement pattern, then the prescriptive rule can be easy to remem-
ber. The subjective complement blank needs to be filled with a pronoun form that
.
matches the subject. This is clearly a pronoun form such as he. she or /. In a related
situation , an analysis of sentence or clause structure is also useful when making a
choice between who and whom. The use of whom is disappearing from the language,
but once again, there are some formal occasions or tasks in which an educated per-
son is at least expected to know how to make the distinction. In the case of a relative
pronoun the choice is determined by its function within the relative clause. Thus the
sentence “The engineer who designed the bridge appeared at the ceremony” uses
the relative pronoun who to represent the subject of the relative clause “(the engi-
neer ) designed the bridge.'” In a later chapter we will provide more information on
relative clauses, but we wish at least to acknowledge here the importance of recog -
nizing sentence or clause patterns when making usage determinations.
248 Basic Sentence Patterns

In another situation we might have to decide between “ I fee ) bad" and “ I feel
badly." ff we recognize that feel is a linking verb when it refers to our current mood
or disposition, then we understand the traditional rule which prescribes an accompa-

nying adjective in this case bad. If, on the other hand, we intend the less likely
meaning of feel , to express what we do as we reach out and touch things, then we
have an SV pattern that allows a following adverbial such as badly.
The recognition and analysis of sentence patterns and types can also be useful for
interpreting literary works because authors sometimes alter normal speech patterns to
achieve particular effects. Although such syntactic alterations may occur in poetry in
order to achieve a particular rhyme or meter ( just as they occur in lyrics lo songs ), they
can have interpretive significance, as is evident in some of the poetry of E . E. Cum
mings. Departures from normal syntactic behavior can also play an interpretive role in
-
literary prose. For example, Roger Fowler show's that one of the characters in
Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury displays unusual linguistic behaviors including,
within one passage, a “preponderance" of intransitive verbs. And even with one transi-
tive verb that the character uses repeatedly in the passage, there is no accompanying
direct object. Fowler explains that this linguistic behavior shows the character to have
“little sense of actions and their effects on objects: a restricted notion of causation.'17
A knowledge and understanding of nouns, verbs, and the patterns that they fit into
is very important for those who develop products and software that rely on such know-
ledge. Most people are probably not acquainted with what are called learners dictio -
naries. These dictionaries are very useful to nonnative speakers of a language and dif
fer from conventional dictionaries because they provide not only the definitions of
-
words but also the syntactic information necessary for using those words correctly in a
sentence. For example, in addition to defining a verb and identifying its morphological
behavior, a learner’s dictionary provides specific information about the kinds of sen -
tence patterns that a particular verb requires. You have seen that some verbs are intran-
sitive, some are transitive, some are linking, and some can be used either transitively
or intransitively. Furthermore some transitive verbs vary in the degree to which they
may be used in SVO, SVOO, SVOA, and SVOC patterns. And although nearly any
transitive verb may be used in a passive sentence, a learner's dictionary can alert a stu-
dent of the language about any verb that might resist such a transformation. In a simi
lar way, learner’s dictionaries also provide important information about other form and
-
structure classes in the language.
The kinds of grammatical information that have made learner’s dictionaries
valuable for students of the language have also been important to those engaged in
programming computers. We have previously noted the field of artificial intelli
gence , which works to program machines to perform tasks and produce output
-
-
similar to what is done by humans, including language related tasks such as speech
production and recognition as well as machine translation. Information about the
syntactic requirements of particular words and the kinds of patterns they require is
essential to the development of such language capabilities.

’"Studying Literature as Language


' "
.
in Linguistics and ihe Study of Literature, ed . Theo Dhaen . Amsterdam : Rodnpi
I 9S6, pp. 1S7-200.
Parts of Speech:
Positional Classes

MWho climbs the grammar-tree , distinctly knows


Where noun , and verb, and participle grows.” (Dryden)1

Ain English sentence is an arrangement of words, not as words but in their ca-
pacity as parts of speech. If we do not as listeners or readers, grasp the identity of
,
these parts of speech we cannot understand with certainty the message being com-
,
municated. Consider, for example.
They are encouraging reports.
Here the word encouraging is the stumbling block . It may be a verb, so that the sen -
tence means
They encourage reports
or it may be an adjectival , giving the meaning of
These reports are encouraging.
Not knowing the part of speech of this one word, we find the sentence ambiguous.
In a carefully controlled context, of course, this sentence might not be ambiguous.
As native speakers we already have an operational command of the parts of
speech. Now we will continue to approach them analytically and study the specific
ways by which we identify them.
But first here is a schematic overview of the parts of speech. If you will refer to
it occasionally, it may keep you from getting lost in a thicket of details.

L Form classes. These are large and open classes, admitting new members. They
are based on changes in form that a word can undergo, though as we noted in

.
'“Sixth Satire of Juvenal ," Line 533 as cited in Hoyt $ New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations compiled by Kate
Louise Roberts. New York : Funk & Wagnalls, 1940, p. 426.

249
250 Parts of Speech; Positional Classes

the chapter on form classes, some words belong to a form class and yet have
no distinctive change in form.
A. Noun
B. Verb
C Adjective
D. Adverb
II. Structure classes. These are small and closed classes, rarely admitting new
members. Members of these classes are normally uninflectedL and we recog -
nize them by position alone. You have already studied the first six below.
L Determiner 8. Predeterminer
2. Personal pronouns 9. Postdeterminer
3. Auxiliary 10. Subordinating
4. Qualifier conjunction
5. Preposition 11. Coordinating
6. Expletive conjunction
7. Restricter 12. Relative
ill. Positional classes . These are based on the positions occupied by the form
classes. The members of these classes are both words and word groups. You
have already seen brief references to the terms below as we have examined
sentence patterns.
1. nominal
2. verbal
3. adjectival
4. adverbial

.
A Nominate
Certain sentence positions are characteristically the habitation of nouns. You already
know that these positions are those occupied by items having these functions:
Subj Subject of verb
SC Subjective complement
DO Direct object of verb
IO Indirect object of verb
OC Objective complement
OP Object of preposition
But occupancy of these positions does not positively identify nouns because words
of other form classes can occupy them as well. Here are a few illustrative cases in -
volving the Subj position.
Pattern 3: The rich live on the bay.
Nominate 251

Here the Sub] slot is occupied by an adjective, recognizable as such because it can
-
be inflected with -er and est, e.g.,
The richest live on the bay.
Pattern 2: Steadily is the best way to work.
Here an adverb, formed of the adjective steady plus the adverbial derivational suffix
-ly sits comfortably at home in the Subj slot.
Pattern 4: Swimming develops the lungs.
We recognize swimming as a verb in form, a verb stem swim plus the verbal { JNG vbj . -
You may be tempted to call it a noun, but observe: ( 1) It cannot take a noun inflection ,
- >
either the {-s pi } , as in '‘Your paintings are beautiful,” or the { s ps , as in ‘The meet -
-
ing’s end ” ( 2 ) It does not contain a noun forming derivational suffix. So in form it
cannot be declared a noun.
In the three illustrative sentences above we have seen an adjective [ rich ) , an ad -
verb ( steadily ) , and a verb [ swimming ) each occupying a noun position . What we
will do is to set up a positional class called nominal. Any word, whatever its form
class ( noun , verb, adjective, or adverb ), will be tabbed a nominal if it occupies one
of the six noun positions listed above. This gives us a double-track classification for
parts of speech , one by form and the other by position. Such a procedure is perfectly
sound, for any given entity may be classified in various ways by using different bases
of classification. You yourself, for example, might be classified ‘'female” by sex,
“ junior” by class, “ brunette” by hair pigmentation, “ Unitarian ” by church affiliation,
-
and so on. The double track classification also helps us to classify words that don’t
have characteristic suffixes that could help determine their membership in one of the
form classes. A few more examples may be pertinent.
1. We enjoyed the game.
Game is a noun by form , because it can be pluralized in its context , and a
nominal by position, because it occupies the DO slot .
2. What can one expect from the young?
-
Young is an adjective by form because it is inflected by er and -esf. One could
say “from the younger” but not “from the youngs ” It is a nominal by position
because it is in the OP slot.
3. Now is the best time.
Now is a non-suffixing form that does not take any kind of suffix to indicate its
part of speech, but it is a nominal by position , occurring in the Subj position.

' .
JV 1:T*: t ..T* - - . * •.
f V* .

ir* , , 'r- --
f1

The italicized words are nominals because they occupy the sentence positions that
- ’ !• ! 73

are the home territory of nouns. The occupants of these positions perform the FUNC-
TIONS of Subj, SC, DO, IO, OC, and OP, but BY POSITION they are NOMINALS.
Fn the first blank give the form class of the italicized nominal, using N ( noun ),
-
V ( verb), Aj (adjective), or Av (adverb). If it is a non suffixing word, write NS.
252 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

In the second blank indicate the particular function of the position the nominal
occupies, the function of Subj, SC, DO, 10, OC, or OP.
Function
of
Form position

Example: The poor grew troubled. Aj Subj

1. The cheapest are on that counter.


2. The seniors held a class meeting.
3. The hearings were postponed.
4. He hated starving.
5. Can you see the game from here' }
6. The winners were the men from Homburg Hall .
7.
8.
-
That car is a gas guzzler.
We believed the letter a hoax.
9. The safest way to drive is carefully.
10. We gave the upstairs a good scrubbing.
11 . Below was dangerous.
12. Her roommate disliked the chaos in Jo’s room.
%
-•
# - • •
*

Word groups as well as individual words can be nominals, and they occupy the
usual noun positions In the sentence
About a plateful is my limit.
the opening word group about a plateful is a prepositional phrase occupying the Subj
position and is a nominal because the Subj is the position of a noun. In the next sentence
A chipmunk emerged from under the porch.
the prepositional phrase under the porch is the object of the preposition from. Be-
cause it occupies an OP position it is a nominal by position.

: t J Z . T
* T

The italicized word groups are nominals. In each blank indicate the function of the
group by Subj, SC, DO, 10, OC, OP.
1. Jerry knows that history is never completely true.
2. His greatest ambition is to win the match.
3. You made me what I am.
.
4 He assigned whoever was late an extra problem.
5. Do you object to what I wrote?
6. Petty gossiping makes one unpopular
7. Under seventeen requires an accompanying parent
.
* ' : f r£ 9.
Nominate 253

Whether or noi a word group is a nominal can be tested by substitution. A word


group is a nominal if it can be replaced by one of these: a noun or noun phrase, this,
that , /Atfjre, those, he/ him , she/her, it , they/them.

Cxmr&mB 16 3 -
The italicized word groups are nominate. Write in the first blank one of the substi -
tutes mentioned above. In the second blank indicate the function of the group.
1. To win the match was his greatest ambition.

2. Can you see from where you sit? (Try a noun phrase ).

3. 1 brought a scarf for my favorite aunt from Peoria.

4. He did not give finding the cat a second thought.

5. Where we are going has not been decided .

6. She became what she had hoped.

7. He hated arriving late

8. We found what we wanted.

9. That she is beautiful is evident to all.

10. They made him what he had always wanted to be.

II . We never anticipated all of the problems.

Erarcfoe / W
Underline each nominal word group . In the blank give the function of the word
group.
1. They heard what we said.
2. What you do is legal.
3. That was what 1 thought.
4. You must succeed with what you have.
5. Jack made whoever came there pancakes.
6. We will do whatever his grandfather wishes.
7. We came in the car.
8. FI I take whichever is the most durable.
9. Betty forgot to bring the notes.
254 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

10. George postponed mailing the letter


1 1 . To speak of her contributions is important .

.
B Verbals
Verbals are those forms that occupy verb positions. The kingpin verbal position is
that of the main verb. It comes after the opening NP slot . The verb by form is a verbal
by position.
Examples: The golf team may play tomorrow.
They have been loitering near the bank .
The victim must have been shot from the side.

Underline the verbal in each sentence.


1. The activity clubs had been making floats.
2. A survey is being made of TV watchers.
3. He has left for the summer.
4. Your tennis racket may have been stolen.
5. Gertrude had sung a solo.

To identify the other verbal positions, we must first make a distinction between
two kinds of verb forms. Certain verb forms and verb phrases have complete as -
sertive power; they are needed to make a sentence go. Here are some examples:
a . I choose carefully.
She chooses carefully. i Contrastive inflection for person
b She chooses carefully.
. Contrastive inflection for number
They choose carefully.
c They choose carefully.
.
They chose carefully. i Contrastive inflection for tense
d She has been chosen carefully.
. Contrastive inflection for
We have been chosen carefully. person and number
.
e am being chosen .
I Contrastive form for
They were being chosen . person , number, and tense
Two characteristics are noteworthy about these utterances:
1. You can comfortably place a period after each one; each has sentence com -
pleteness because each contains a fully assertive verb or verb phrase.
2. Each pair contains contrasting forms. Here are the explanatory details:
Verbals 255

In a , the verb form chooses. inflected for third person , contrasts with the
uninflected form in / choose.
In b. the verb form chooses, inflected for singular number, contrasts with the
uninficcted form in They choose.
In o the verb form chose, indicating past tense, contrasts with the uninflected
form in They choose.
In d. the primary auxiliary has, inflected for person and number in one form,
contrasts with the uninflected form in We have.
In e. the irregular primary auxiliary am contrasts with the verb form in He is for
first person , with the verb form in We are for singular number, and with the
verb form in / was for present tense. And the irregular primary auxiliary
were contrasts with the verb form in He was for plural number and with the
verb form in They are for past tense.
Verb forms that are capable of full assertion in a sentence and of changing their
form to indicate person , number, and tense are called finite verbs and by position they
are finite verbals.
The second sort of verb forms is the nonfinite. These do not assert fully and do
not change their form to indicate person, number, or tense. There are three nonfinite
-
verb forms: the present participle { - PNG vb } , the past participle { D pp } , and the in -
finitive ( to ) + verb stem. Do not be confused by the labels “present” and “past” par -
ticiple. These labels actually refer to words that are neither present nor past. In fact
they have no tense at all. Note that in a construction such as “ is growing” or “ was
growing ” the tense is carried by the auxiliary verbs preceding the so-called present
participle rather than by the present participle itself. The terms present participle and
past participle are traditional terms that are widely used, and so we will continue to
use them here, but it is important to note that descriptively they are not very accurate.
The nonfinite verb forms frequently appear in sentence portions, like the following:
1 a. Shaking his fist
.
lb Being angry
lc. The willow bending in the wind
2a . Having crushed the invaders
2b. Having stayed calm
2c. The guide having disappeared
3a . To stop this nonsense
3b. To be sensible
3c. His cousin to come

* i r - • T

Add something to each of the nine foregoing sentence portions to make a sentence
of each. Do not change the wording of the sentence portion.
* 7 % .
V s
- • *' -
r -a* va *
256 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

You may have observed that each sentence portion above conforms in part to
one of the seven basic sentence patterns. In la, 2a , and 3a there is a direct object,
.
respectively fist , invaders, and nonsense This is a partial pattern 4. In lb, 2 b, and 3b
.
there is a linking verb + an adjective, angry; calm, and sensible This is a partial pat-
,

tern 2 . In lc , 2c, and 3c there is a subject , namely, willow, guide, and cousin, used
.
with an intransitive verb This is characteristic of pattern 1 .
All of the verb forms above are nonfinite and participate partially in one of the
seven sentence patterns, but they do not have the full assertive power of the main
verb. These forms we call nonfinite verbals.

Erarctee 16 5 -
Indicate the number of the sentence pattern that each of the italicized nonfinite ver -
bals participates in . Your pattern analysis is not of the entire sentence but rather the
portion involving the nonfinite verbal .
1. Picking strawberries was her favorite occupation .
2. Perkins did not approve of assigning students long papers.
3. To give generously is a Christian virtue.
4. Being a minister, Prentiss spoke gently.
5. We regretted the warblers leaving for the South.
6. Remaining a conscientious objector, Harkness did not
return to his native country.
7. Seeing the photos is not being there.
8. Having been competent in camp activities, Juanita was
invited to return as a counselor.
9. He wanted to call the lawyer a fraud .
10. Heinrich congratulated Gretchen for becoming slender,
11. We watched George throw the discus.
12. We watched George throwing the discus.
13. We wanted George to throw the discus.
14. The camp director needed to put the tent poles in the truck .

ffxvrma 16 7 - t » .

Underline the nonfinite verbals and accompanying verbal group. Indicate in the
blanks the basic sentence pattern each verbal or verbal group participates in.
1. Having sprinkled the lawn, he turned off the water.
2. She remembered seeing the play before,
3. Do you like to be there?
4. We urged the guests to remain for dinner.
5. She was proud of being a member of the band .
6. He wanted the teacher to give him an A.
7. After having been cheerful for weeks, Chuck was now depressed.
8. Keeping quiet, she peered through the window.
Verbals 257

9. Harris made his brother repay the loan .


10. Calling Josephine an artist was a compliment.
11 . Jim s father did not object to his becoming a Marine.
\A » «


When a nonfinite verb form present participle { - ING vbb past participle } D pp },

and ( t o ) + verb stem appears alone in a noun position , it is labeled a nominal, as in
-
To err is human . ( Subj position )
.
She enjoys skiing { DO position )
Her hobby is gardening. ( SC position )
Likewise, the whole sentence portion containing a verbal and occurring in a noun
position is labeled a nominal, as in
Playing field hockey is her favorite pastime. (Subj position )
He liked to play the piano. ( DO position )
Their specialty is raising turkeys. ( SC position )
Jim got paid for mowing the lawn. ( OP position)

Exmrdse 16 6 - • •
• it

The italicized parts of the sentences below are nominals by position. Indicate the
function of each , using these abbreviations:
Subj su bjec t of verb DO direct object of verb
SC subjective complement OP object of preposition
la. Motorcycling always gives Genevieve a thrill,
b. Riding a roller coaster always gives Genevieve a thrill.
2a. Fred earned money by delivering.
b. Fred earned money by delivering papers .
3a. Charlotte likes to swim.
b. Charlotte likes to play volleyball.
4a. What can he do besides complain?
b. What can he do besides play the drums?
5a. Jerry enjoys fishing.
b. Jerry enjoys playing bridge.
6a. Its only purpose was swindling.
b. Its only purpose was soaking the rich.
i C - * "4
i f t. i

— ‘

Complements of the Verbal . The main verb, as we saw in the basic sentence
patterns, can be complemented by nominals functioning as subjective complement,
direct object, indirect object, and objective complement. These same kinds of com -
plements can follow not only the main verb but other verbals in the sentence as well.
A few examples will make this clear.
Her hobby was making prints.
258 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

Here the main verb was has as its subjective complement the nominal making prints.
Within this nominal prints is the direct object of the verbal making.
He enjoys playing golf.
In this case the main verb enjoys has as its direct object the nominal playing golf and
within this nominal the verbal playing has golf as its direct object. Here is another:
We wanted to teach her a lesson
In this example, the main verb wanted has as its direct object the nominal to teach
.
her u lesson And within this nominal the verbal to teach has an indirect object her
and a direct object a lesson. In the next sentence,
George asked her to drive the car
we say that the main verb asked has the direct object her to drive the car and that,
within this nominal, her is the subject of the verbal to drive and the car the direct
object.2 This analysis is supported by the possibility of substituting a nominal clause
like this:
George asked that she drive the car

Exercte* 16 B ~ - •

In the preceding exercise you investigated the function of nominals ( embodying


a verbal ) in the sentence. Now we will look inside such nominals to ascertain
the functions of their parts relative to the embodied verbal Each nominal em-
bodying a verbal is italicized, and after each such nominal , its function in the
sentence is given in parentheses . Within the nominal one or two words are printed
in small capitals . Indicate the function within the nominal of each word printed
in small caps.
Example: Eating CHOCOLATES mate her sick. (Subj ) DO
This tells you that eating chocolates is a nominal embodying a verbal ( eating ) ,
that it is the subject of the main verb made, and that you are to indicate the func
tion of chocolates within the nominal . Chocolates isT of course, the direct object
-
of the verbal eating. You will probably also notice that eating chocolates is a par ^

tial pattern 4.
For your answers, use these abbreviations:
Subj subject of the verb 10 indirect object
SC subjective complement OC objective complement
DO direct object OP object of preposition


An alternate analysis is to consider the slot before the verbal < i .e., to drive ihe ear ) an indirect object and
the rest , ihc direct object This is supported by the passive form of the sentence:
She was asked to drive the car by George,
Adjectivals 299

t . She hated to miss the PARTY: ( DO)


2. Dimitri tried io remain CALM . ( DO)
3. Shooting QUA / I . takes a great deal of skill. ( Subj )
4. I expect YOU to be TRUTHFUL . ( DO)
5. Finding the TRAIL again was no easy matter. (Subj )
6. Thank you for washing DISHES. ( OP)
7. Being a gol/\ aAMPION was exhilarating to Olga. (Subj)
8. I saw THEM break the WINDOW. ( DO )
9. The doctor advised HIM to stop SMOKING. ( DO)
)
10. Electing BEJTY PRESIDENT required a lot of campaigning. (Subj
11 . He wished to give HAROLO a BICYCLE . ( DO )
12. Fleming thought visiting MUSEUMS an exciting excursion into
the past. ( DO )
9 .

but
Verbals and sentence portions containing verbals occur not only as nominals
also as adjectivals and adverbials, functioning as modifiers. These will be dealt
with
at the end of the next chapter.

Cm Adjectivals
Adjectivals, like nominals and verbals , occupy certain characteristic sentence
positions.
I . The first position is that between the determiner (that is, words such as a the, .
this, that , these; those , his, her our. their, Johnny 's ) and the noun , for example,
That joyful freshman 3
In this noun phrase joyful is an adjective by form — the source noun joy plus
- —
the derivational suffix fu! and an adjectival by position. This position may
be occupied by two other form classes and by some non-suffixing forms. The
noun is shown in
That college freshman
The verb appears in
That laughing freshman
That recommended freshman
-
And here are non suffixing words in this adjectival slot:
An inside job
Her inmost thoughts

JThc determiner is also an adjectival by position, and it is a modifier by function.


260 Paris of Speech: Positional Classes

A series of adjectivals may occur between the determiner and the noun,
as in
The many earnest university seniors
Here there are three successive adjectivals in a fixed and unchangeable order
Because these are not interchangeable — that is, not mutually substitutable
we will set up subclasses of adjectivals, which will be discussed in the next

chapter under “ Prenominal Modifiers.”

Sxerctom 16- fO *
The italicized words are adjectivals. Indicate the form class of each w ith the sym -
bols N ( noun), V ( verb), and Aj ( adjective ). If it is a nonsuffixing word write NS.
1. A clean apron 11 .These broken boxes
2. An evening party 12. An inside connection
3. The college dormitory 13. Their garage door
4. The class dance 14. The office typewriter
5. A hopeful sign 15. Our school principal
6. Their back yard 16. The above statement
7. Those neighborhood cats 17. That funny hat
8. Sally’s new radio 18. A scenic drive
9. That paper book 19. Those chattering girls
10. A fighting rooster 20. Ris glass eye

The preceding exercise illustrates the first and most common adjectival
position,
2. The second adjectival position is the third slot in pattern 2 :
NP LV Aj
Those boys are young.
The boat remained shiny.
The man appeared aware.
The man seemed in the money ( - rich).

Underline the adjectivals in the following sentences and indicate whether they oc
cupy the first or second type of adjectival position.
-
1. The old farmer worked hard.
2. The forest seemed dark.
3. The visitor was very afraid.
4. The scouts seemed asleep.
5. This frog appears alive .
6. The student athlete came ,
Adjectivals 261

7. The hedge grew tall .


8. The contestant was becoming angry.
9. The contestant was becoming.
10. The professor taught the history class.
11. The catamaran remained dirty.
12. The villagers looked hostile.

3. The third adjectival position is the one after the noun. It accepts adjectives
,
adverbs, verbs (participles), non -suffixing words, and word groups.
Examples: adjectivals: The waitress, old and weary, sat heavily down.
The blondes especially wore blue.
That girl jogging is my sister.
The floor below is rented .
When an adjective is in this postnoun position, it usually does not occur
alone but with another adjectival, as in
A fire, red and yellow, threw shadows around the room.
or with a modifier, as in
The plumber, rather angry, threw down his wrench.
There are occasional instances, however, in which the adjective does appear
alone after the head noun . Examples : money necessary, resources available,
.
court martial God Almighty’, time immemorial , consul general , sum due.

-
Exorcism 16 12
J

Underline the adjectivals occuring in the third adjectival position, and in the blanks
indicate the form class by using the symbols: Aj (adjective ), Av (adverb), V ( partici -
-
ple ). If the word is non suffixing, write NS.
1 . One person alone heard the message.
2. Those coeds there are sophomores.
3. The surface, black and smooth, reflected the sunshine.
4. The weather today suggests a thunderstorm .
5. We started our trip homeward ,
6. The woman speaking became our vice president.
7. His demeanor, excessively grim, annoyed the guests.
8. Selmer canceled his trip abroad.
9 . The coach particularly ate in silence .
10. The door ajar worried the janitor.

In this postnominal position we find word-group adjectivals of different


structures:
262 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

It is time to go. ( Infinitive )


Andy watched his dog, which was swimming after a stick . ( Relative
clause )4
Andy watched his dog, [ which was] swimming after a stick . ( Reduced
relative clause )5
He was a man who was disturbed by many phantasies. ( Relative clause )
He was a man [who was] disturbed by many phantasies. ( Reduced
relative clause )5
The sweater that / prefer is the striped one. ( Relative clause )
The sweater / prefer is the striped one. ( Reduced relative clause )
Mount Washington is the place where we spent a strenuous week .
( Relative clause )
The second chapter of the book presented the problem. ( Prepositional
phrase )
This is a medic inc good for gastritis. (Modified adjective )

ffxwdM 1&~ 13 l .V

-
Underline the word group adjectival and encircle the word it modifies.
1. This will be a day to remember.
2. The chap sitting in that cubicle is Marge's friend.
3. This is not the size l ordered.
4. The drugstore on the comer sells the Times.
5. Our guests came on the week when I was housecleaning.
6. A girl spoiled by her mother is not a good roommate.
7. Just choose a time convenient to yourself.
8. Who is the head of this dub?
9. Have you finished the book l lent you?
10. He was a sight to behold.

4. A fourth position for adjectivals occurs in written English. This is the slot at
the beginning of a sentence before the subject:
Angry and upset. the applicant slammed the door.
But this presubject position is also an adverbial position:
Angrily, the applicant slammed the door.
In the former sentence we consider angry and upset to be adjectivals, not
adverbials, because they can be used in other positions that are dearly the
territory of adjectivals:

4Thc relative clause adjectival is presented in the next chapter.


5 Another name fora reduced relative clause employing a present or past participle is participle phrase.
Adverbials 269

The applicant was angry and upset.


The applicant appeared angry and upset.
The angry and upset applicant . . .
in a nominal position they would of course be nominais:
The angry make few friends.
The upset sometimes need treatment .
-
5. “Something ' adjectival. Words composed of any every , no-, or some plus
1
- -
-
-body, -one, place , or - thing can be followed by an adjectival.
Nothing good was on the table.

Exerdsa 16 14- • 7 » - 1 rw - nr *; w * . •

Underline the postnominal adjectivals.


1. Would you like something sweet?
2. We cannot find anyplace desirable.
3. Nothing exciting happened.
4. Everybody interested is invited to appear.
5 . An invitation was extended to everyone concerned .
r

.
D Adverbials
A positional description of adverbials presents some significant challenges. One dif -
-
ficulty is that there are numerous subclasses of one word adverbials, and each sub-
class has its own positions in the various sentence patterns. To illustate, let us look
at the traditional adverbial subclasses of time, place, and manner. We 'll choose two
examples of each class:
Time. a . soon b. tomorrow
Place: a . here b. outside
Manner: a. well b. skillfully
Now we’ll take a simple sentence of pattern 4 and see how these adverbials assume
their positions in this pattern. We’ll begin with the a group.
I 2 3 4 5
He will play tennis.
Time: Soon soon soon soon
Place: Here here
Manner: well
Next let’s look at the b group of the same three adverbial subclasses time, place, —
and manner.
264 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

I 2 3 4 5
He will play tennis .
Time: Tomorrow tomorrow
Place; outside outside
Manner: skillfully skillfully skillfully
Here it is evident that the members of the group a adverbials of lime, place, and
manner have a distribution that does not necessarily coincide with their mates in
group b. In other words we have positional sub-subclasses.

Exercise f 6 15-
Here is a simple pattern 2 sentence, with adverbial positions numbered above it .
" C '

Below the sentence are three adverbials. In the blanks write the numbers of the posi-
tions in which each adverbial sounds natural in spoken English. Compare these po-
sitions with those in the preceding example. The point is that each pattern dictates
its own adverbial positions.
I 2 3 4
NP LV Aj
Pattern 2: The leaves tunned brown.
Time: recently
Place: everywhere
Manner : gradually
i k

Next we divide adverbials of time into three subclasses.


Adverbials of definite time, answering the question “When?”:
yesterday, last week, at three o’clock, tomorrow, early, late, soon, then, now.
Adverbials of frequency, answering the question “ How often?"’:
always, never, seldom , rarely, frequently, often , sometimes, generally.
Adverbials of duration, answering the question “How long?”:
hours, for hours, a week, the whole night, until dawn , since yesterday.
Each of these subgroups of time adverbials has its favored or admissible positions,
as the next exercise will show.

Exercise f W f l • *

.
A In these two sentences which one of the three subclasses of time adverbials
normally occupies the empty slot?
1 . Pattern 3: The game was
2. Any pattern , preverb
position : We played ball.
Adverbials 265

B. In Che next sentence which two positions seem to be the most natural ones for
adverbials of duration, such as all afternoon?
2 3 4
3. Pattern 4: Jim studied chemistry.

With this brief discussion you may begin to suspect the complexity of the prob-
lem of describing adverbial positions. In addition there are further complicating cir-
cumstances that we cannot pursue here . So we will limit this description to a general
statement of five common adverbial positions, moving position by position from the
first one ( at the beginning of the sentence ) to the last one ( at the end ).
1. Before the pattern, with or without juncture:
Really, you should know better.
Now it 's time to go.
2. Afler the subject and before the auxiliary or verb:
She often would forget her keys .
He actually expects to marry her.
3. After the auxiliary or the first auxiliary :
He would seldom make the effort.
They could easily have made another touchdown .
4. After the verb in pattern 1 and after be in patterns 2 and 3 :
He drove recklessly.
Her brother is always a gentleman.
She is seldom late.
She is outside.
5. After the complement of the verb (SC, DO, OC ):6
Hoskins will be quarterback tomorrow.
Hoskins will play football tomorrow.
They may choose Hoskins captain tomorrow.
The postcomplement position of a pattern 4 sentence overlaps with the OC position
of pattern 6:
They elected Monty captain.
We considered her reasonable.
.
There need be no trouble here Because captain is a noun and reasonable an adjective,
we obviously have in these sentences a nominal and an adjectival, not adverbials. This
positional overlap, however, can produce ambiguity, as in

“You will recall that even though our discussion of sentence types such as SVC has limited the term complement
to those elements that may sene as a subjcclivc or objective complement , in a general sense the term can include any
clement that senes to complete a verb.
266 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

He considered the applicant hard.


Here hard can be looked at two ways. It is an adverbial at the end of pattern 4 , as
you can substitute for it an adverb, like carefully. But it is also an adjectival in pat -
tern 6, as it permits a substitute like unsuitable, hence the ambiguity.
In any of these five positions we can label a word an adverbial , unless we have
an instance of positional overlap. In such cases the form class that occupies a slot or
that can be substituted will determine the positional classification. Here is an illus
tration of each case.
-
He eats doughnuts.
The postverb position admits nominals, adjectivals, and adverbial s. In this example
the postverb slot is occupied by the form class of noun ( doughnuts ) so that the word
is positionally nominal. In the second illustration,
He eats fast,
we can substitute the adverb quickly for. fast Thus fast is called an adverbial .
The passive transformation offers another test to distinguish nominals from ad
verbials in this postverbal position . If we compare
-
He ate Wednesday
He ate sandwiches
we see that the first cannot be made passive, for no one would say
Wednesday was eaten by him
Hence Wednesday is not a nominal but an adverbial. But we can say
Sandwiches were eaten by him.
Therefore, in “He ate sandwiches ” the word sandwiches is a nominal .
Another way to spot adverbials is by their mobility. Most adverbials can be
moved to one or more positions in the sentence without disturbing the sentence pat-
tern or sounding un-English. In the illustrative “tennis’' sentences, for instance, five
of the six adverbials were movable.
As a last resort for identifying adverbials, try elimination. If the term in question
— —
is not a nominal, verbal, or adjectival and not a structure word then it is by elim-
ination an adverbial.
It must never be forgotten that we are dealing with a positional class and that
any form class can be an adverbial, e.g.,
Noun: He will come Sunday .
Verb: They stood eating. (= thus )
Adjective: They played dirty:
Come quick.
Adverb: Come quickly.
Advefbials 267

7
often em -
In the word- stock of English there are many non -suffixing words
a sample of
ployed in adverbial positions , and it may be useful to you to inspect
them before proceeding with the next exercise . They follow below:
:
1 . Non -sufH \ ing words used both as adverbials and prepositions
.
, in , inside, on, out,
above, about, after, around, before, behind, below , down
outside, since, to, under, up.

-
2. “ ward" scries, with optional -s:
afterward, backward, downward, forward, inward, outward upward
, .

3. “ Here" series:
here, herein , hereby, heretofore, hereafter.
4. “There" series :
there, therein, thereby, therefore, thereafter.
-
5. “ where" scries:
anywhere, everywhere, somewhere, nowhere.

-
6. “ way( s )" series:
crossways, sideways, anyway.

-
7. “ time( s )" series:
meantime, sometime, anytime, sometimes.
8. Miscellaneous:
today, tonight , tomorrow, yesterday, now, then , seldom, still , yet ,
8 already,
thus sidelong , headlong maybe , per-
meanwhile, also, too, never not forth
, , , , ,

haps, instead , indeed, hencefor th, piecemea l , neverthe less, downsta irs , in-
, s
doors, outdoors, offhand oversea unaware
, s, besides , furtherm ore , always .

Exmrcme 16 17 -
Underline each one- word adverbial. In each blank of the first column write the num
• 1 1

-
ber that shows which of the five numbered adverbial positions it occupies:
1 . before the pattern, with or without juncture
2. after the subject and before the auxiliary or verb
3. after the auxiliary or the first auxiliary
4. after the verb in pattern l and after be in patterns 2 and 3
5. after the complement of the verb (SC, DO, OC )
In each second blank identify the form class of the adverbial by N ( noun ), V ( verb),
-
Aj ( adjective ), Av ( adverb ), or NS ( non suffixing word ).

'
-
Some of the mm - suffixing words contain an s , which at one time may have constituted an inflection but probably no
longer does and thus such words will not be considered to be suffixed .
.
*A few of these words have noon homophones, eg. “And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death .
"
268 Parts of Speech: Positional Glasses

1 . Bob should talk loud.


2 . Indeed, bring him with you.
3. He drove the car madly around the track.
4. I certainly will .
5. They entered singing.
6. He frequently reads in bed.
7. The deer was standing below,
8. 1TI see you inside.
9. I will eventually make a report.
10. We usually stopped for tea.
11 . They stood around for ten minutes.
12. Will you set the plant here?
13. It is still a long distance to Albany.
14. The vice president had already signed the contract.
1 5. The bus approached rapidly.
16. We had seldom walked to the park .
17. Meanwhile Giovanni started the fire.
18. The ride was also tiresome.
19. They rode Saturday.
20. The ants were everywhere.
. t

Word groups as well as single words can occupy adverbial positions and thereby
be classified as adverbials. Here are some illustrative groups in the five positions.
1. Before the pattern, with or without juncture:
With a sharp ax you can do wonders.
By using a little red here , you can balance your colors.
Unless you follow the printed directions, the set will not fit properly
together.
2. After the subject and before the auxiliary or verb;
Angelina in her own way was a darling.
3. After the auxiliary or first auxiliary:
You may in this way be of great assistance.
4. After the verb in pattern 1 and after be in patterns 2 and 3:
He drove with abandon,
She is at any event happy.
He is without doubt an expert.
The wolf is at the door
When an infinitive ( to + verb) follows the verb, it may be in one of two positions:
Adverbial, after verb in pattern 1 , as in
Adverbials 269

They waited to escape.


Nominal , position 3 in pattern 4, as in
They expected to escape.
.
If in order to can be substituted for to the infinitive is in the adverbial posi-
tion ; ‘"They waited in order to escape ." If that or it can be substituted for the
infinitive, it is in the nominal position: “They expected that/it."
5. After the complement of the verb ( SC, DO, OC ):
My brother was a doctor for twenty years,
Tom put his watch where he could find it in the dark.
They believed the man crazy after questioning him.
A prepositional phrase after the object of the verb may be ambiguous;
They watched the hunter with the binoculars .
She spied the dog on the corner.
In these two sentences the prepositional phrase is either adjectival or adverbial.

-
Exmrctso 16 18 » * -* • 4 • > •

The adverbial word groups are italicized. In the blank indicate by number the adver
bial position of each.
-
1 . Ill dress while you shave.
2. When the dinner is ready, blow the whistle,
3. He might under the circumstances agree to the job.
4. Our guide split the log with ease.
5. Eating his food slowly, Antonio studied the manual ,
6. A hungry trout rose to the surface.
7. By that time the fish were no longer biting.
8. 7o find the camp, just follow the creek downstream.
9. From the hilltop you can see the sawmill.
10, Jake hunts to make a living.
11 , You must hold the knife this way.
12, My sister for a variety of reasons came later.

Eimromm 10 1» - ..
* . • .1 M^ If

1. Last Monday was a holiday.


2. The Monday washing is on the line.
3. Mrs. Reed always jogs Mondays.
4. Won 't you come in?
5 . The outs were angry with the ins.
270 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

6. They stomped upstairs.


7. They slept in the upstairs room.
8. One can see the airport from upstairs.
9. Jake was wrestling with his math.
10. The wrestling roommates were exhausted.
11 . Juniper found wrestling exciting.
12. They came in wrestling.
13. The student movie is presented weekly .
14. The student movie is a weekly occurrence.
15. His way is the best .
16. He did it his way.
17 . The mechanic ran the engine full speed.
18. By this means he burned out the carbon.
19. He raised the hood because the engine was hot.
20. They found the cabin just what they wanted.

Exerdmo 16 20 -
This is a review of the four form -class parts of speech. Classify the italicized words
by writing in the blanks N ( noun ), V ( verb ), Aj (adjective), Av (adverb ), or NS ( non-
suffixing word ). Remember to use derivational as well as inflectional criteria.
1. Minnie is fond of Siamese cats.
2. The island was colonized by the Northmen.
3. One of her stockings is torn.
4. What punishment do you think should be administered?
5 . Fritz always says the wrong thing.
6. Her room was in a state of chaos.
7. Well gladly refund your money.
8. The nurse puts a disinfectant on the cut.
9. Carl sleeps late mornings.
10. How peaceful the house seems today!
11 . You should shorten that dress.
12 . The salesman quietly turned away.
13 . Our ladder is not tall enough.
14. The class listened to a reading from Shakespeare.
15 . I don ’t know ojfhand.

E. Verb- Adverbial Composites9


The form we are about to examine is extraordinarily intricate in its behavior. As you
progress through the explanations, all may appear clear-cut and simple. But if you

'H’his structure has various names; " verb -adverb combination ” (


. .
A. G Kennedy ), “ phrasal verb” { Dwight Bohnger)
-
"verb- panicle combination ' I Bnxe Fraser ) , “iwo word verb” (G. A . Meyer ).
1
Verb- Adverbiat Composites 271

finding,
-
stray from this carefully laid out path to inquire into instances of your own
impasses . So be warned that beneath
you may meet with variations, exceptions and ,
the specious simplicity of what is to follow lies a tangle of complicati on .
A verb adverbial composite consists of two words, a verb followed by an adver
- -
,
bial such as up . down , in, out , over. There are two kinds, intransitive and transitive
each with partially different structural and transform ational characteri stics.

Intransitive Verb-Adverbial Composite (VAC)


We will begin with an example that illustrates the characteristics of the intransitive
verb-adverbial composite.
He turned up (- appeared ) at seven o’ clock.
There are three characteristics to be noted here which tend to be common to intran-
sitive VACs and which can be used as VAC tests.

— .
Test A Meaning The meaning of turned up as a unit is different from that of
the individual meanings of the two parts added together. Other examples:
We took oj}\= departed ) for Memphis.
The violence of the storm may let up ( = lessen ) soon.
.
Test B Immovability The adverbial element of an intransitive VAC is not

movable, for you would be unlikely to say
* Up he turned .
’•Off we took .
*Up the storm let .

— .
Test C Inseparability The two parts of an intransitive VAC are inseparable. A
modifier separating them results in a strange or non-English locution, as in
He turned suddenly up at seven o’clock.
We took immediately off for Memphis .
The violence of the storm may let soon up.
All three of these traits are not necessarily characteristic of every intransitive VAC,
and the meaning test in particular may result in uncertain decisions. Let us say, there-
fore, that if the expression in question shows ONE of the three characteristics, we can
label it an intransitive VAC.
In contrast to the intransitive VAC there is the simple verb plus adverbial, as in
He climbed up.
This does not have any of the three characteristics noted above for the intransi -
tive VAC:
.
A. The meaning is that of climbed plus that of up as shown by the question
"‘Where did he climb?” "Up "
B. The up can be moved, as in
Up he climbed with the agility of a squirrel.
272 Parts of Speech ; Positional Classes

C. The two parts can be separated by a modifier, as in


He climbed nimbly up the tree.

-
Classify the italicized words as VAC ( intransitive verb adverbial composite) or V +
A (verb plus adverbial ).
1. The two friends /*// out. (-quarreled )
2. The two friends walked out .
3. England will always earn* on.
4. Willard went in.
5. After drinking heavily, he suddenly passed out. ( lost consciousness
6. You should keep on with your investigation. ( =eontinue)
7. The dean gave in to the request of the committee. (=acceded )
8. He fell down unexpectedly.
9. The shop may close down.
10. Betsy likes to show off.

-
Transitive Verb Adverbial Composite (VAC 4 O)
The transitive verb-adverbial composite has an object , as you would expect , and is
symbolized by VAC + O. Here is an example:
He turned down ( = rejected ) the offer.
A distinction must be made here between the VAC + O and the verb plus preposi -
tional phrase, V + PP. The latter is illustrated in
He turned down the driveway.
There are three useful tests that enable us to make this distinction; and, as was the
case with the intransitive VAC, we will label a verb a VAC + O if it passes ONE of


these tests.
.
Test A Adverbial Postpositioning In a VAC + 0 sentence the adverbial
can be placed after the object of the verb:
He turned the offer down.
This change is impossible with the preposition :
*He turned the driveway down .
Furthermore, when the object of the VAC + O is a personal pronoun, the adverbial
MUST be placed after the pronoun object and only there:

He turned it down.
If one said
Verb -Adverbial Composites 273

He turned down it
the last two words would be a preposition and its object.

Emscfee 16 22 - composite
Using Test A , classify the italicized words as VAC + O ( verb-adverbial
and object ) or V + PP ( verb and prepositional phrase ).
1 . I will turn in the requisition.
2 . I will turn in the street .
3. We culled up the plumber.
4. Mother called up the stairs.
5 . He broke in his new car
6. The windshield broke in his new' cat:


Test B Inseparability. The verb-adverbial in the VAC + O cannot be
sepa-
rated by a modifier, but a modifier can occur between a verb and a prepositional
phrase. For example,
VAC + O: He turned up (= discovered ) a new manuscript.
V + PP: He turned ( sharply ) up the country road .

-
1& 2 S - *

italicized words
Insert a modifier wherever you can after the verb. Then classify the
as VAC + 0 or V + PP
1 . The wind blew down the canyon.
2 . The wind blew down the tree.
3. Jean ran up a bill.
4. Jean ran up a hill.
5. Will you turn on the light in that room?
6. My car can turn on a dime.

— .
Test C Relative Transformation The V + PP sentence can be transformed
into a relative structure in which the preposition is followed by a which or whom, thus:
V + PP: She ran down the hill
can be transformed into
The hill down which she ran .
In this relative structure, note that the preposition down is separated from the verb ran.
In the VAC + O sentence, this form of the transformation is not possible. For
instance,
VAC + O: She ran down { = criticized adversely) her roommate
274 Parts of Speech: Positional Classes

cannot become
* Her roommate down whom she ran.
Instead the two parts of the VAC + O must remain together:
Her roommate whom she ran down «

For each sentence that permits it make a relative transformation, following the first
example under Test C above as a model. Then label the italicized parts of each sen -
tence as VAC + O or V + PP.
1 . The police ran in the criminal.

2 . The horses ran in the pasture.

3. The teacher stood drinking in the moonlight.


( = observing with pleasure )

4. The teacher stood drinking in the moonlight.

5. Alice pricked up her ears.

6. Keith looked over her painting.

1. We prevailed on the dean.

8, He blocked over the chair.

9. He stepped over the chair.

10. Jake closed down his shop.

Apply all three tests to each pair of italicized words. Indicate by letter ( A, B, C )
which tests show the item to be a VAC + O.
L The butler carried in the tray.
2 . Marge made up her mind.
3. Marge made up the story.
4. She turned over the pancake.
5. Father turned off the light.
6. The Senate brought about a change.
7. Ed always puts out the fire.
8. The clerk wrapped up the meat .
Some Observations and Applications 275

9. Will you take over the job?


10. Willie soon wore out his shoes.

Some sentences similar to those we have been discussing may seem to have two
adverbials, as in
He can’t get along with them. ( = tolerate )
Such expressions are most simply analyzed as being composed of an intransitive
VAC ( or a verb plus adverbial ) followed by a prepositional phrase. It may seem to
you that with should belong with the verb and adverbial in a three-part verb because
no other preposition can replace it. But remember that many verbs are linked to one
-
specific preposition; for instance* we object to, flirt with, exclude from , and compen
sate for.
That the preposition is not a part of the verb is suggested when we make ques-
tions with such forms * as in
With whom can 't he get along?

Exvretoe 16 26- -v •U

Make a question of each sentence, following the model just above.


1 . She looked down on her former friends. ( = scorned )

2. McBride made off with the child. ( = stole, kidnapped)


'

3. We made up with the girls.


4. They won 't put up with that spoiled child. ( endure )

5. We should look in on the Smiths. ( = visit )

l tr
'

Some Observations and Applications


One of the most important concepts taught in this chapter is that a sentence position
normally occupied by a member of one form class may sometimes be occupied by
members cf another. In such situations the actual part-of -speech identity is sec -
ondary in importance to the position and function of the word in the sentence. Thus
-
although the word swimming is definitely a verb by its form class identification , it
can constitute a nominal by its position in a pattern such as “He taught swimming.”
The recognition that swimming is a nominal then helps in recognizing that, despite
its form , it can behave in ways normally associated with nouns. It can, for example,
270 Parts of Speech : Positional Classes

undergo the passive when it follows a transitive verb. Thus the sentence ‘The life
guard taught swimming" could be altered to become the passive “Swimming was
-
taught by the lifeguard." Once again , a native speaker does not need to learn such
information consciously in order to speak the language, but a conscious awareness
of positional classes could be useful for a variety of applications. This is certainly
true for teaching English as a second language ( ESL ) and programming computers
with language capabilities. But it can also relate to improving stylistic choices that
native speakers might make in their writing. For example , students who overuse the
passive voice in their writing could become better at recognizing when they are
using it if they are aware not only that the passive can use get as an auxiliary but
also that the transposed nominal in the passive could belong to other form classes
besides a noun, including even the form class of verbs.
In this chapter you also learned to distinguish between finite and nonfinite verbs.
By this point in the course you should recognize that subclasses of nouns and verbs
exist because of syntactic behavior that distinguishes members of one subclass from
another. What is important about the distinction between finite and nonfinite verbs?
Finite verbs are vital to the formation of complete sentences. You have probably
heard the claim that every sentence in English requires a subject and a verb in order
to be complete. But it would be more precise to note that every sentence needs a
-
subject and a T INITF. or modal verb within the main clause. Thus an utterance such as
"My friend Jenny
having seen only two or three snakes in her whole life” is not a
complete sentence because there is no finite verb or modal in the main clause. This
can be remedied in different ways. For example, one could provide a finite auxiliary
.
verb such as has to create has seen or include a main verb that is finite as in “ My
friend Jenny having seen only two or three snakes in her whole life came , ”
The following three jokes or humorous sayings all result from a postmodifier
that relates ambiguously to more than one preceding verb or noun. These
kinds of ambiguities are commonly found in student writing, but in some
cases jokes have actually been built around them.

“I feel like I’d like to punch the boss in the jaw again."
"Gosh! Did you say AGAIN?"
"Yeah. I felt like doing it once before today.» 1

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas How he got into my .


pajamas I'll never know.2

Bert; 11 know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.”


Uncle Albert: "What 's the name of the other leg?"3

The seven basic sentence patterns that we studied in chapter 15 were exempli -
fied by somewhat skeletal sentences in order to reveal the structure without interfer-
ence from unneeded parts. But in our actual speaking and writing we seldom use
sentences so spare and bony. Instead we flesh out our sentences with many kinds of
modifiers.

.
' Lupton, Martha , cti The Treasury of Modern Humor Indistnarvoi; w „^
.
Broke » Wp 329. 4
either/eeV tike or punch. **could modify
:Annbutcd to Groocho Mart , in my pajamas could modify
either shot or elephant

p. 181. Named Smith could modify either man or ywsoden te%


.
‘from the film Man Poppins as cilcd in More Anguished EnvUsh fev R Vh A I ederer New York: Delacorte Press, 1993
** .

277
278 Modification

A modifier is a subordinate element in an endocentric structure. 4 It is a word or


word group that affects the meaning of a headword in that it describes, limits, inten-
sifies, and/or adds to the meaning of the head. In the noun phrase the blue shirt, for
example, the word blue describes the shirt; it limits by excluding other colors; and it
adds to the plain meaning of shirt.
Modifiers may appear before or after the heads they modify, and sometimes they
are separated from the head by intervening words. Here are some examples of mod-
ifiers with heads.
Modifier Head Modifier
dirty dog
that dog
dog there
dog across the street
dog barking angrily
dog to be feared
dog which was howling
extremely dirty
reads rapidly
reads standing
reads when he wants to relax
reads nights
reads to calm his mind
often reads
quite often

The position of a modifier sometimes shows the head that it modifies:


The flower
This slot , which we call adjectival , is the position of a modifier of the following
noun , whether the slot is filled by an adjective ( lovely ) , noun ( garden ) , or a verb
{ blossoming ). At times there is no positional cue to show what is modified :

‘An cndocemric structure has the same function as one of its parts or is replaceable by one of its parts .

Emfocentric Structure Replacement


those dirty dogs dogs
extremely dirty djrty
dog across The streci dog
dog which was howling dog
reads rapidly reads
reads to relax his mmd reads
often reads reads
quite often often
The replacing part is the head . The other words and word groups are the modifiers. The replacing part may retain a
determiner from the endocentric structure because a certain class of nouns (count nouns ) requires a determiner in the
singular
Elisc bought a shiny nm bicycle.
Replacement: Elise bought a bicycle .
Modification 279

A butterfly in the garden which was fluttering among the flowers .


In this sentence it is the meaning that reveals that the which group modifies butterfly
and not garden. Al other times we rely on formal cues, not position or meaning, to
keep the modification dear:
The flowers in the garden which were blossoming beautifully.
The flowers in the garden which was blossoming profusely.
When neither position nor formal signals reveal the modification, and when the
meaning does not make it clear, we have an ambiguity, as in
A flower in the garden which was blossoming beautifully.

Exerci** 17 1 - '
Rewrite these sentences, replacing each italicized endocentric structure by its head.
Retain the determiner when necessary.
I . His laughter was extremely loud.

2. The jar on the shelf \ s filled with dates.

3. McPherson was a dour man who seldom smiled .

4. The two strolled through the park after they had finished work .

5. The constable laughed nastily.

6. We heard the loud rattling clank of the chain.

1. The angry squirrel in the pine scolded the blue jays.

8. The contract that he signed had paragraphs of fine print.

9. The searchers found the car lying on its side.


10. Claribel jumped into the deep pool.

v- t

In the above exercise the parts that you left out were modifiers, both single-word
and word -group modifiers. Take another look at these modifiers before going on to
the next exercise.

K * 1 'll' k '* -
ri
-
r

-
Write down the one word heads that are modified by the italicized words.
1 . A noisy motorcycle sputtered there ,
2. A noisy motorcycle sputtered there.
2BO Modification

3. The motorcycle in the yard had not been recently used.


4. He stopped far a second.
5. She stopped to pick up the agate.
6. It was very nice of you.
7. Lisa came to the shop rather often.
8. He stopped when the clock struck twelve.
9. That fellow making his bed is the supervisor.
10. Gerald owned a long black whip, which he could snap expertly:
A i• * '1
I
*

The two exercises above illustrate modification. Modification is a function , and


a word or word group that performs this function is a modifier. A modifier belongs
not with the form classes or the position classes but with the function classes, such
as the subject of verb, subjective complement, direct object , indirect object, objective
complement, and object of preposition. Words, you remember, have a threefold classifi -

cation by form, by position , and by function. Here is an example by way of reminder:
The jolly minstrel sang a ballad energetically.
In this sentence jolly is classified as an adjective by form, an adjectival by position,
and a modifier by function ; and energetically is called an adverb by form, an adver-
bial by position, and a modifier by function.
Now we are ready to look at modification systematically.

A. Sentence Modifiers
A sentence modifier is an adverbial that modifies, as its head, all the rest of the sen -

tence, and is often set apart by terminals rising, sustained, or falling ,5
Example: Naturally, he behaved at the party.
Here naturally modifies he behaved at the party. Compare this
He behaved naturally at the party.
In this sentence naturally
'
modifies the verb behaved , and the meaning is different
from that of the former sentence. Here are examples of seven structures that are
commonly used as sentence modifiers.
1 . Single-word adverbial:
Luckily, I knew how to swim.
2. Clause adverbial:
Since the door was closed , we climbed in the back window.
3. Prepositional phrase:
In fact, the contract is invalid.

5 For a review of terminals, consult chapter 5.


Sentence Modifiers 281

4. Absolute structure:6
The guests having departed. we resumed the normal household routine.
5. Infinitive phrase:
To keep dry in a tent , you should be provided with a fly.
6. Participial phrase in -ing:
Considering the circumstances, he was lucky to escape alive.
7. Relative in ever: -
Wherever she is. I will find her.
Each of these, wc note, is in initial sentence position , the most common one for sen-
tence modifiers . However, sentence modifiers may appear in medial and final posi -
tions as well .

Ex&rctsw 17 3 - ••r r

Rewrite the seven sentences above, placing the sentence modifiers in positions other
than initial .
].
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

It is not always possible to distinguish a sentence modifier from one that modifies a
part of the sentence. But often there is a difference between the meaning of a sen -
tence modifier and that of an identical expression that does not seem to be a sen -
tence modifier. The next exercise will illustrate.

17 4
Exercfso
-
Identify the sentence modifiers.

1. Oliver did not die happily.


2 . Happily, Oliver did not die.
3 . He was anxious to tell the truth.
4. He was anxious, to tell the truth .
5. Hopefully, we are going to London .
6. We are going to London hopefully.
7. Honestly, he is going to sell his car.
8. He is going to sell his car honestly.

4A noun plus a present of past participle or both . This structure is a sentence portion but never a complete sentence .
282 Modification

9. Frankly, I do not wish to speak.


10. I do not wish to speak frankly.

B. The Noun Phrase: Pronominal Modifiers


The noun phrase, you will recall , consists of a noun head together with all the modi-
fiers that accompany it, before and after.
Nil
Example: All my many old school friends of other days who have passed away
We shall take up first those modifiers that precede the head. These are known as
prenominal modifiers and constitute subclasses of the adjectival. Let us begin with
the simple modification structure of determiner plus noun head, e.g.,
D NH
the fence
In case your memory has misted over, here are the determiners again :
Article .
Poss Aj
- Pose, of Names Demonstrative
the her John 's this
a/an his that
its these
my those
our
their
your

Between the determiner and the noun head is the position for adjectives:
D AJ NH
that low fence
your sturdy fence
The same position is also occupied by nouns that modify the noun head, e.g.,
D N NH
our garden fence
their wire fence
When an adjective and a noun both precede the noun head, the adjective precedes
the modifying noun, thus:
D AJ N NH
our sturdy garden fence
that low wire fence
The Noun Phrase: Prenominai Modifiers 2S3

Ewmrcfse 17 5 -
Make each list of words into a noun phrase following the pattern of D Aj N NH
1. a, street , village, narrow
2. large, dormitory college, this
3.
*

players, tall, those, sophomore


_
4. photogenic, swimmer, that , girl
5. this, counselor, enthusiastic, senior
6. wool , blue, necktie, Georges
7. leather, her, shoes, old
8. desk , hardwood, large, his
9. cheap, ballpoint, these, pens
10. computer, laptop, my, portable

This pattern of D Aj N NH is often ambiguous, as the adjective may modify


either the first noun or the second noun. Consider
a decent college graduate.
This phrase may mean either “graduate of a decent college ' or “ decent graduate of a
1

college.*’ The overlapping of stress patterns may play a part in such ambiguities, as in
Those hot car deals.

-
Here the modifier plus-noun stress pattern of " ' ( hot car ) overlaps with that of the
compound-noun ' * ( car deals). Thus the meaning can be either “hot car-deals * ( car
1

-
deals that are hot ) or “hot car deals” (deals in hot cars).

Bx*rci»ei7 - r i

Give two meanings for each of these ambiguous noun phrases.


1 . A small arms factory a.
b.
2 . That greasy kid stuff a.
b.
3. The basic book service a.
b.
4. A foreign language teacher a.
b.
5 An old car enthusiast
, a.
b.
* T
•t v

We can now add to the prenominai modifiers another group, one that precedes
the determiners and whose members are called predeterminers. This group consists
of ail , both. half , double\ and a few others, as in
284 Modification

PRH/ D D AJ N NH
all my old school friends

Cxerc/m 17-7
Make each list into a noun phrase, beginning with a predeterminer.
1. blocks, your, cement , half, new
2 . long, copper, wires, all, the
.
3. engagement , both, lovely, her rings
4. fresh, those, flowers, prairie, all
5. young, both , rabbits, baby, my

The possessive of common nouns ( not proper nouns ) appears between the deter -
miner and the noun head . Let us examine its possible positions, using the pattern
D AJ N Nil
the red garden roses
We will use the noun possessive summer ’s and see where it fits.
D AJ NH
the summer's red roses
D AJ NH
the red summers roses
D N NH
the summer’s garden roses
D AJ N NH

the summer’s red garden roses


All these sound like normal English. But we would not say
D N NH

the garden summer’s roses


So it appears that the possessive of common nouns occurs anywhere between the
determiner and the noun head, except between N and NH . Yet what about
D N NH

a cotton man ’s shirt ?

This too sounds English. It is likely that different subclasses of the noun or the noun
possessive permit different positioning patterns. This is a matter that requires inves-
tigation. With this limitation in mind we can say here that the possessive of common
nouns can occur anywhere between the determiner and the noun head.
These noun possessives at times make for ambiguity in the noun phrase. For ex -
ample, we can interpret the late summer s roses as “the roses of late summer" or
‘‘the late roses of summer." Such ambiguities in the written words sometimes disap -
pear in the spoken form because of the ability of the suprasegmentals to distinguish
The Noun Phrase: Prenominal Modifiers 285

meanings. The noun phrase her new doll s house is ambiguous to the eye, but the ear
will distinguish between her new dolls house and her new dolls house.

Sxmroto* f 7 6 -
Give two meanings for each of these noun phrases in their written form.
I . An old girl s bicycle a.
b.
2. The world women ’s congress a.
b.
3. A nice woman ’s fur coat a.
b.
4. A large woman’s garment a.
b.
5. An advanced learner ’s dictionary a.
b.

The next step is to enlarge the class of determiners. The fourteen determiners
you have learned can all be preceded by the predeterminers all , both , and half. But
besides these fourteen there is a second set of determiners, and these are not pre-
ceded by predeterminers. There are twelve of the latter:
another either neither what ( a )
any enough no which
each much some whose
These belong in the determiner class because they precede adjectives and are
mutually exclusive both with one another and with the members of the first set. 7 The
first set we will label the the determiners, subset A ; the others are the another
determiners, subset B.
The order of the prenominal modifiers we have examined so far may be shown thus:
V IV HI II I NH
Pre D Dot (Class yet A/ Noun
A , tha to come ) .
.
B another

Exwofee 17 0 - * • V

Place above each modifier the number of the class to which it belongs. In this and
the following exercises be careful about two successive nouns. They may be either a
noun modifying a following noun, as in college death or a single compound noun,
as in class pin.

7
Don 't be misled by cases like this much cider. Here ihis is not a prenominal modifier. It does not modify much cider ot
.
cider: it is a qualifier like very and merely modifies much
286 Modification

IVb II I NH
Example: any small cloth rag
1. Another huge glass ornament
2. Each rural pumpkin patch
3. Some tong winter vacations
4. All our friendly neighborhood dogs
5. Either short cotton dress
6. Enough college friends
7. Both my studious roommates
8. No cold cheese sandwich
9. Much evening enjoyment
10. Neither tall Christmas tree

Above you noticed a blank Class III. This contains words that follow determin -
ers and precede adjectives and are called postdeterminers. The list is as follows:
ordinal numbers: first, second, . . . last
cardinal numbers: one, two, three . . .
every most
few other
less same
little ( quantity ) several
many (a) single
more such ( a )
This is an untidy class. Not all postdeterminers can follow all determiners, but each
one can follow at least one determiner. And within the group there are complicated
orders of precedence. For example, other usually follows, not precedes, another
postdeterminer, as in many other boys; several other boys, most other boys, few other
boys; but when other is combined with a cardinal number, either order is allowed:
the three other boys, the other three boys. If you try to plot the precedences of these
postdeterminers, you will end with about six columns. For our purpose it will suf -
fice to recognize the class as a whole without exploring its internal complications.

Exmnxw 17-10
Place the class number — V, IV, III , II, or I —above each modifier. In the case of class
IV, remember to specify a or b,
1. The last three pickles
2. His every wish
3. Many fine university seniors
4. Some other bad book reports
5. Much more white sand
6. Those same hungry ants
The Noun Phrase: Pronominal Modifiers 287

1. Both those two aimless fellows


8. Any such childish pranks
9 Harry s lew acquaintances
*

10. What oilier foolish ideas

Exercise 17 11 -
Make each list of words into a noun phrase. Above each modifier write the number
of the class to which it belongs.

1. summer, several, dowers, pink


2. garden, both , old his, hoes
3. junctures, three, these, all, terminal
4. bad, schedule, another, examination
5. two, silk , my, dresses, pretty

Exercise 17-12
Make each list into two noun phrases, and write above each modifier the number of
the class to which it belongs.
I . truck, delivery, any, large .

2. that, steel, heavy, construction

3. excellent, some, factory, parts

4. vacation , summer, long, student ’s, the

5. dog, first, good, her, house

One final class of prenominals remains, the restricted. This is a very small set of
words such as just, only, even , especially, merely. Like the other prenominals these
can modify the noun head alone
just girls

even water
especially candy
or the noun head with its modifiers
just college girls

just romantic college girls
just another romantic college girl ,
These precede the predeterminers and are therefore in column VI.
286 Modification

Exercise f 7- f 3
Make a noun phrase of each list and write above each modifier its class number.
1 . guests, all, our, especially
2. skills, photography, particularly, her
3. the, expensive, even, gift
4. white, socks, athletic, some, just
5. only, ten, minutes, short

A summary of the prenominal modifiers is given in the chart on page 289 .


This brief look at the six subclasses of prenominal adjectivals is perhaps enough
to give you an inkling of the complexity of the modifications that we practice in our
daily speech. We have left numerous questions of prenominal order unexplored, and
we might take just a quick look to see what they are like. Here are a few:
1 . What is the position of these classes?
-
a . non suffixing adjectivals: an inside look
b. { -JNG vb } verbs: an approaching stranger
-
c. { opp } verbs: fallen snow
2. In Class I which nouns precede which
,,
other nouns? For example, you would
probably say “an iron garden gate but not “ a garden iron gate ” What princi-
ple of precedence is operative here?
3. In Class II which adjectives precede which other adjectives? Would you say “a
pink Chinese flower” or “a Chinese pink flower”? “A wonderful little book” or
“a little wonderful book”? There are subclasses of adjectives in terms of prece-
-
dence, e . g., those of color, nationality, and shape size—and those inflected
-
with -er and est as opposed to those taking more and most. What orders of
precedence do we as native speakers follow in using these different subclasses?

C. The Noun Phrase: Postnominal Modifiers


Modifiers of the noun headword may be placed after the headword as well as before it.
Examples: 1. The apartment, spotlessly clean
2. The apartment, large and empty
3. The apartment downstairs
4. The freshmen especially
5. The weather this morning
6. The apartment in front
7. The apartment standing empty
8. The apartment located in the rear
9. The apartment to rent
10. The apartment which is empty
11. The apartment, the home of the Snopeses
PRENOMINAL MODIRERS
VI V rv III II I Noun Hoad
Restrictor Predeterminer Determiner Postdeterminer Adjective Noun
EXAMPLES: EXAMPLES: A. ARTICLES CARDINAL NUMBERS EXAMPLES: EXAMPLES:
especially ail a/an 1 , 2, 3. . . . red >choot
even both the ORDINAL NUMBERS blue college
jus! half POSSESSIVE ADJS . first, second green dormitory
merely double her . , . lasc old house
only his every new garden
particularly its few young fence
almost my less big garage
nearly OUT little ( quantity! little ( size ) gate
their many la ) large summer
your more small rock
POSS. OF NAMES most high wool cr
x
John ’s other low silk
DEMONSTRATIVES same tall steel o
this several short iron
TJ
that single thick clay
these
those
such ( a )
POSS. OF COMMON
thin
intellectual
plastic
cloth
iCD
B. another
any
NOUNS dogmatic
thoughtful
commendable
brass
copper
leather
i
each excellent nylon
either
enough
prevalent
Japanese
brick
cement
Is
paper
much Chinese
E
neither
no
some
American
silken
woolen
shoe
coat
skirt
s
what ( a ) wooden
which
whose
POSS. OF COMMON
NOUNS
8CD
290 Modification

After the next exercise these postnominal modifiers will be described in the order of
the examples above.

-
Exercise 17 14
Each of the italicized expressions above has the function of modifying the headword,
but each is different in form. In the following sentences similar noun modifiers are
italicized. After each sentence place the number of the modifier above to which it
corresponds.
1 . We watched the brown river, swollen with rain.
2. I want to rent the bicycle outside.
3. It was a large outdoor swing, the property of our neighbor.
4. The fireworks were a sight to behold.
5. The hoe leaning against the house is dull .
6. The mountaintop, high and craggy, was hidden in a cloud.
7. The building which is near the library is new .
8. The fan in the corner has only one speed.
9. I ll see you the day before you go.
10. The skiing last winter was good.
11. The car that is in front is mine.
12. There stood Jane, miserably tired .
13. The seniors especially arrived early.

Forms of Postnominal Modifiers


- .
1 Modified Adjective A bare adjective modifying a noun often occurs in the
prenominal position. But an adjective in the postnominal position is usually modi-
fied by a qualifier.
The mailman, exuberantly happy, whistled merrily.
He had never seen a woman more lovely.
.
2. Compounded Adjective When two or more adjectives modify a noun , they
can occur after the noun.
The mail carrier, weary and wet . trudged along in the rain.
A woman old and gaunt stood at the door.

Exerciss 17 15-
Underline the postnominal adjectivals.
1 . A new blossom, scarlet and exotic, excited his attention.
2. The emerald ring, inordinately expensive, was beyond his means.
.
3. There stood the quivering horse, stalwart and proud
and glossy into the luggage compartment.
4. He tossed the bag, new ,

complicat ed would not yield to his operations.


5. The problem, extremely ,
The Noun Phrase; Postncminal Modifiers 201

. - .
3 Non suffixing Word Nouns may be modified by some of the non suffixing -
words that are often adverbial .
The people upstairs
The poker game now
The uninflccicd word in this position usually has a place or time meaning.

Mxmrctoe 17-16
Underline each postnominal modifier and put a wavy line under the noun it modifies.
Insert primary stresses and juncture arrows.

Example: The river below » wound through the gorge.
1 . The paragraph above is too long.
2. The students here are a courteous group.
3. This matter too must be discussed .
4. The party yesterday had a large attendance.
5 . The weather outside is foul.

.
4, Adverb An adverb may modify a noun that precedes it.
My meaning exactly
The blue dress particularly
-
Structures like 3 ( non suffixing word ) and 4 ( adverb) above will now and then be
ambiguous in writing, as in
The blue dress particularly interested her.
This happens because the postnominal position coincides with the preverbal position.
In such cases the suprasegmentals usually show whether the word in the ambiguous
position modifies the preceding noun or the following verb; thus in speech the ambi -
guity is eliminated .

— —
The blue dress particularly > interested her.
The blue dress » particularly interested her.
BxBFcise 17-17 r

The sentences below are ambiguous. For each put in the primary stress and the sus-
tained juncture arrow that will indicate that the word in the ambiguous position goes
with what follows it .


Example: The meetings » thereafter took place in the Georgian Lounge.
1. My older brother especially likes to go fishing.
2. The discussion later was heated.
3. Her fianc£ then was Elmer Jukes, ( then = at that time )
4. The rabbits also enjoyed our lettuce.
5. The members only were allowed to buy shares.
4 .i’ I » >r
292 Modification

Oral Exardaa 17 A - ' t>

Read aloud each sentence in the preceding exercise as you have marked it. Then
read each one aloud in a different way to show a sustained juncture AFTER the modi -
fier instead of before it.
* . ••
" .: *. J

. .
0 Noun Phrase Adjectival A noun phrase may modify a preceding noun.
The party last night
Our vacation next summer

Emrurw f 7 1$ - > -- « i

Underline each noun phrase that modifies a noun.


1. The decision that time was correct .
2. The lecture this morning was sparkling.
3 Your dinner the next time had better be good.
*

4. My course last fall converted me.


5. Your class the third hour always begins late.

.
6 Prepositional Phrase Adjectival
The bend in the river
7 Participle or Participial Phrase, ing , Adjectival
. -
8

The woman weeping was escorted to the door.


The hawk, spotting his prey, swooped to the meadow.
.
8 Participle or Participial Phrase, -ed. Adjectival
They refused to pay the money demanded.
The snow, driven by the wind, sifted through the cracks.
.
9 Infinitive Phrase Adjectival, to
1 have a lesson to study.

Underline the words or phrases of the preceding four types of postnomtnal modi-
fiers (6-9 ). In the blanks indicate by number the type of modifier.
1. The majority of the voters appeared satisfied.
2. There was Al, licking his ice-cream cone.
3. She gave him a sandwich to eat.


*ln 7 and 8 the entire participial phrase is an adjectival modifying the preceding noun
hawk and snow Within these
phrases, spotting and driven are verbals. Other analyses are possible
.
The Noun Phrase: Postnomina/ Modifiers *
2 3

4. Johnny warned the red scooter with the white trim.


5. We watched the fullback, urged on by the crowd, fight his
way forward.
6. Do you have something to do?
7. The sailboat gliding across the bay looked majestic.
8. On the river bank sat little Robert, covered with mud .
9. The roof of the garage was beginning to leak .
10. The puppies lugging at the rope soon gave up,
!1. No man living has seen this tomb chamber
12. She was disappointed in the results obtained.

. .
10 Relative Clause Adjectival A noun may be modified by a relative clause.
In the examples that follow, the relative clauses are italicized.
1. The trees that had mistletoe were half dead.
2. The old carpenter, who had been laying the floor, stood up and straightened
his back.
-
3. The partner whom she selected was a bashful, red headed boy.
4. In the bargain basement he found his sister, whom he had been looking fan
5. It was the vice president to whom I sent the letter.
6. The client whose stock he was handling died .
7. The boat he wants is a catamaran.
8. The success that you become depends on your initiative.
With the help of these examples we can easily learn to identify relative clauses ,
which have these characteristics:
a. A relative clause is introduced by a relative: that , who. whom, whose, which,
and 0 ( = zero or omitted ).
b. The relative has a function in its own clause. For instance, in sentences 1 and
2 that and who are subjects of the verb. In sentence 3 whom is the direct ob -
ject. In sentences 4 and 5 whom is the object of a preposition . In sentence 6
whose is a modifier. In sentence 7 the relative is omitted. Such a zero relative
can always be replaced by a that functioning as the direct object or subjective
complement. In sentence 8 that is a subjective complement.

'fwrt/w 17+20 ..
•T i - •
* H * ^ 4

-
Underline each relative clause, double underline the relative, and tell in the blank
the function of the relative, using these abbreviations:
Subj = subject of verb SC = subjective complement
DO = direct object Md ~ modifier
OP = object of preposition 0 = relative omitted
1. The composer whom he studied with was Hindemith himself.
2. The doctor who performed the operation was Bernard Diamond.
294 Modification

3. That is the book I ordered.


4. -
The bait that Jack used was an old fashioned spinner.
5. This is Roger Stuffy whose mother is president of the PTA .
6. The old battered boathouse, which had long been our meeting
place, was torn down.
7. She is not the woman that her mother was.
8. He was a young, blue-eyed pilot , who immediately won our hearts.
9. Another boy who helps me is Skunky Hooper.
10. The girl whom I met at the play disappeared during the intermission .

We will next divide relative clauses into two kinds, a division that is useful for
punctuation and for control of meaning. The two kinds are traditionally called re -
strictive and nonrestrictive clauses.4* Let 's begin with examples:
Restrictive: He walked to the garage which he liked best.
Nonrestrictive: He walked to the garage, which was a mile away;
Do you sense the difference in the structural meaning of the two relative clauses?
The first clause points out one garage among many. Of all the garages, he walked to
the particular one that he preferred. This can be called a defining clause. In the sec-
ond sentence, however, there is only one garage, and as additional information we
learn that it is a mile away. This can be called a commenting clause. In short, the re-
strictive clause restricts the meaning to part of the total, but the nonrestrictive clause
makes no such limitation . This is the semantic way of distinguishing the two kinds
of relative clauses.
Now we will distinguish them structurally by means of terminal junctures. Look
at these two cases:
2 3 2 2 3 2 2 3 1
Nonrestrictive: The boy > who often ushers > has been calling me i
2 3

2 2 3 1

Restrictive: The boy who ushers -> is my latest steady l
The key is in the word that precedes the relative — in these examples, the word
boy. If this preceding word is lengthened { i .e., if it is followed by a terminal junc-
ture ), the relative clause is nonrestrictive, as in the first example above. But if no ter-
minal juncture is present at this point, the relative clause is restrictive, as in the sec-
ond example. Here are two more examples:
3 1
Nonrestrictive: Billie whistled to Rags, ir who thumped his tail on the floor.
(“Rags'’ is lengthened, i.e., is followed by a terminal.)

Note. The rest ctivc-nonrc strict tve distinction is characteristic of all post nominal - phrase modifiers: prepositional
’phrases, participial phrases in -rng and -ed. infinitive phrases apposifives
, , and rvown phrases. This is not surprising all
, ILS

of these can be considered as elliptical forms of relative clauses.


The Noun Phrase: Postnominal Modifiers 295

3 2
Restrictive : They like
didn ’t the hedge that I planted . ( “ Hedge" is not
lengthened, i .e., is not followed by a terminal )

Ex&rcfs* 17 21 -
on as a guide. If
Read each sentence aloud » n a natural manner, using the punctuati
junc-
you lengthen the word preceding the relative, insert the appropriate terminal
ture after the word .
the relative
At the end of the sentence place an R or NR to indicate whether
clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive .

Examples: 1 . The daughter who was eighteen won the pretzel baking
R
-
contest.10
2. Chris married the youngest daughter,1 who was a
winsome lass of eighteen. NR

1. The blouse that she preferred was made of sea island cotton.
2. She wore an old blue blouse, which had always been her favorite.
3. The house, which he had long admired, was built of bricks.
4. The house that he built was of steel.
5. Jane, who is fond of dictionaries, bought the new Webster s Third.
'

6. The man whom 1 marry must have curly hair .


7. I’ll take a man who respects me.
8. The car 1 want is a BMW
9 . The student whose purse he returned offered Dick a generous reward.
10 - Thomas bought a silk, red-and -gray -striped necktie, which his
roommate admired.

By this time you have probably noticed the relation between the type of relative
clause and its punctuation : a nonrestrictive clause is set off. And now you should
have no trouble in punctuating them. But here are a few practical hints:
1 . A that clause is always restrictive.
2. A clause with a zero relative is restrictive.
3. If you can substitute that for who. whom , or which, the clause is restrictive.
4. After a personal or geographical name, such as Elmer Perkins or Brandy
Branch, the clause is usually nonrestrictive.
Relative clauses may also begin with when, where, why, after, beforer and similar
words, e.g. f

t 0 Herc you may lengthen eighteen, producing a juncture, but this has nothing to do with the R/NR distinction, for in
long. It is what
speaking we normally place a juncture between the complete subject and the verb, when the subject is
happens at daughter who that counts . Here nothing happens . .
, so the clause is restrictive Bur in 2 you have

* hence the clause is nonrestrictive.


itdughur i
296 Modification

The hour when we leave has not been decided .


These relatives function as adverbials within the relative clause.

Ex&rchs* 17 22 -
Underline the relative clause and write the relative in the blank at the right.
1. Do you know the reason why she deserted him?
2. The woods where we camp are filled with mushrooms.
3. The year after he enlisted was a momentous one.
4. Let me know the minute when he comes in.
5. [ cannot find the place where I lost it .

The relative that belongs in the structure class of relatives. It should not be
confused with the that which is a member of the structure class of subordinating
conjunctions. These will be taken up very soon. The subordinating conjunction
that stands outside the sentence pattern of its clause and performs no function in it.
Example: I know that he is sick.

Exmmpim 17 23 -
Circle each relative and indicate its function. Underline each subordinating conjunction.
1. The lawyer said that the will must be filed .
2. The law7er that he chose was a shyster.
3. It cannot be doubted that he is competent .
4. Are you sure that you returned the book?
5. The book that cost me a fine was The Castle.

Similarly, the relatives when , where why, after, and before should not be con -
>

fused with their homophones, which are subordinating conjunctions connecting


nominal or adverbial clauses with The rest of the sentence. Here are five illustrative
sentences with the nominal or adverbial clauses italicized.

Underline the subordinating conjunction in each sentence, noting that it stands out -
side the clause and serves the function of connector.
1 . Phone me when you are about to leave ( adverbial clause)
,

2. Did you find out where she lives? ( nominal clause in DO slot )
3. We always pick up the litter after we have picknicked in a public park , ( adverbial
clause )
4. You must mow the lawn before you leave to play tennis ( adverbial clause )
,

5. I know why he bought the car (nominal clause in DO slot)


The Noun Phrase: Postnominaf Modifiers 297

11- Appositive Adjectival. The final postnominal modifier that


we will study
is.
is the appositive . The two examples following show what an appositive
2 3 2 2 3 2 2 3 1
The Bailey Bugle -» a college newspaper appears weekly i
2 3 1 2 3 l
The top awards were won by two sisters i horsewomen in the riding set i
in the
In these sentences the expressions a college newspaper and horsewomen
these sentence s we observe that
riding set are the apposittves. From
1. An appositive is a noun phrase:
a college newspaper
horsewomen in the riding set
2. An appositive follows a noun phrase:
The Bailey Bugle, a college newspaper
two sisters, horsewomen in the riding set
noun
Occasionally an appositive occurs in a position other than after a
phrase, e.g. .
That was what he wanted, a riding horse ,

was soon a favorite among his classmates.


A promising lad of eighteen, Harry

3. An appositive and the noun phrase it follows have the same referent that
is, —
they refer to the same entity. In our examples the Bugle and a college news -
paper are the same thing; the sisters and horsewo men are the same persons .

' * * .«
Emrcisan 17^25 *
?

Underline each appositive.


1. His heart was set on Alpha Gamma Beta, the debating club.
Saturday
2 . Mary Evans, a graduate in journalism , became a feature writer for The
Review.
3. The three puppies, offspring of registered parents, were taken to the veterinar -
ian 's office.
4. A Republican from Olga Valley, Ivanovitch sat at the speaker s table.
'

5. We pushed off with the boat into the river, a sluggish, slowly winding stream.
• . r .• ,- -
* . ‘r t•• s > t »,

Appositives may be divided into two kinds, restrictive and nonrestrictive, distin-
guished by the suprasegmentals that accompany them. Note the following:
2 3 1
Restrictive: Richard visited his friend the doctor, i
296 Modification

2 3 l 2 3 1
Non restrictive: Richard visited the doctor, i a friend from college days. 1
With the restrictive appositive there is no juncture between the noun phrase and its

following appositive in the first example above, between friend and the doctor. But
with the nonrestrictive appositive there is a terminal juncture at this point , shown in


writing by a comma . This terminal is usually a sustained > or a rising T juncture.
However, it is likely to be the fading juncture i if at this point the sentence pattern
may be considered complete. For example,
2 3 2 2 3 2 2 3 l

2
— 3 12

The motorcycle, > a secondhand contraption , > was in good shape l
3 1
They stopped before the house, i a decorated Victorian mansion i

EXWCSM 17 26 - * » * rrr
•<

Underline each appositive. Supply the marks of stress, pitch, and juncture on the
< *N

word before each nonrestrictive appositive. In each blank indicate, by R and NR,
whether the appositive is restrictive or nonrestrictive.
L We saw Hamlet , a play by Shakespeare.
2.Next week they will present the play Hamlet .
3.My brother Keith is a good tennis player.
4.Keith, my oldest brother, is a good tennis player.
5.The poet Shelley wrote “Adonais ” .
6.The river Severn is wide at the mouth.
7.William the Conqueror crossed the English Channel .
8.The class was studying Byron , a fiery, Romantic poet .

In writing, two postnominal modifiers are often placed in succession after the
noun head . This practice causes structural ambiguity when it is not clear what the
second modifier refers to. For example:
Many institutions are now offering plans other than straight savings accounts
that offer premium interest.
Here the second modifier, that offer premium interest , can modify either plans oi ac-
counts . The next case contains an ambiguity that had to be settled by the courts:
The law requires that the applicant be “conscientiously opposed to participation
in war in any form "
The question was whether in any farm modifies war or participation.

Point out the ambiguities caused by two successive postnominal modifiers. These
modifiers are set off by brackets.
The Verb Phrase: One-Word Adverbials 200

1. The poem was about the land [next to the poet ’s own ] [ which Mr Edwards uses
in the summer).
2. There were two stairways [ leading to each floor] [ which could accommodate all
the people in case of emergency].
3. Prominent people who have been robbed include Lord Peel, [a descendant of Sir
Robert Peel.] [ who lost SI 9,200 worth of antiques).
4. Few couples [ with children ] [that are not rich ] can afford to live in Manhattan.
5. We enjoyed the party [after the game] [ yesterday].

D. The Verb Phrase: One *Word Adverblals

A verb phrase, as you have already seen, consists of a verb and all the modifiers and
complements that cluster around it. The one-word modifiers are the adverbials which
you have already studied in some of their characteristic positions. All adverbials in
these positions are part of the verb phrase, except those that serve the function of
sentence modifiers. We classified the three common kinds of adverbials as express-
ing time, place, and manner. Then we subdivided the time adverbials into three sub-

classes adverbials of definite time, frequency, and duration. Although these five
categories account for the majority of one-word adverbials * there are also others that
are outside these classes, e, g. »
. . . will perhaps drive.
. . . should do it anyway,
. . . may dance instead.
Here a short review exercise may be helpful.

Exercise 17-27
Underline the one-word adverbials in these verb phrases. After each sentence clas-
sify them as P ( place), M ( manner ), DT (definite time ), F ( frequency ), D (duration ),
and O ( other ).
L . . . shouted angrily.
2. , , . often drove without her license. __ _
3. . . . rarely drove carelessly. ~

4. . . . felt fearfully in the drawer.


5. . . , never work long.
6. . . . was walking ahead.
7. . . . could even smell him.
8. . , . had always lived there.
9. . . . was sewing inside.
10. . . . may still snow.
1 1. . . . were happily chatting on the patio,
12. . . . put it anywhere.
300 Modification

13, . . cautiously looked sidewise.


14. . . read the story aloud.
15. . . tasted the ginger timidly.
.
16. . studies nights.
17. . * gnashes his teeth sleeping.
18. . . ate seated.
19. . . played cleaner than the others.
20. . . came prepared.
t ¥

. -
E The Verb Phrases Word Group Adverbials
In the verb phrase we find various kinds of word groups operating to modify the
verb headword. They are the following:
1. Prepositional phrase adverbials: eats in the kitchen
2. Noun phrase adverbials: eats every hour
3. Clause adverbials: eats when he is hungry
4. Infinitive phrase adverbials: eats to satisfy his appetite
5. Participial phrases in -ing as adverbials: came running to the table
6. Participial phrases in -ed as adverbials: returned wounded in the leg
1 • Prepositional Phrase Adverbials. Prepositional phrases that modify the
verb headword often come right after the verb, in adverbial position 4:
The car slid into the garage.
Two such modifying phrases may appear in succession, each modifying the verb:
The car slid into the garage with its headlights on.
-
Positions before the verb ( position 2 ) and within the auxiliary verb combination
( position 3) are also possible:

Harry at that time was studying Akkadian.


Harry was at that time studying Akkadian.
And after the direct object one may often find a prepositional phrase modifying the
verb head ( position 5 ):
He put the chair on the lawn.
Two of the positions mentioned above are subject to ambiguity. You can guess
which ones if you remember that in the noun phrase a prepositional phrase modifies
an immediately preceding noun , e.g. .
The chair on the lawn
The garage with the lights on
The Verb Phrase: Word -Group Adverbials 301


They are l he postnotninal positions, of course the one after the object of the prepo
sition and the one after the direct object Here is what can happen:
*
-
The car coasted into the garage with the lights on.
He found the chair on the lawn.
Each sentence here is structurally ambiguous *

Exercfee 17 28 -
After each sentence write N if the italicized prepositional phrase modifies a noun
headword, V if it modifies a verb headword, and Amb if it is structurally ambiguous.
1. He greeted the girl with a smile.
2. The child in the blue rompers ran into the kitchen.
3. Jake was fishing from the bridge for the first time.
4. He looked at the girl with the binoculars,
5. We watched the game on the front porch.
6. We had never until that time visited the tomb.
7. She hurried to the auditorium for her interview.
8. The flower between the pages was flat and dried *

9. She pressed the flower between the pages.


10. Georgia waited in her room for the news.

- 5 %’

.
2. Noun Phrase Adverbials Noun phrases are used as modifiers in the verb
phrase to modify the verb head or the head with auxiliaries, as in
. . . held the hammer that way.
. . . will pay the next time.
Exorefe* 17 29 - -
Underline the modifying noun phrases in these verb phrases.
Ik > * •
t i X ” - M i

1 . . , . will see you this Friday.


2. . . . sold the cat the following day.
3. . . . had come the whole way.
4. , . work a little while.
*

5. . .. return another time.


"
i i . 14 * :. *
- i f* ^
*1
-V a 1- « 1 Ktii *-VJ> •A -
. .
3 Clausa Adverbials 11 Clause adverbials in this context are those word groups
that have a subject and predicate and begin with such words as after, although, as, as
if as soon as, because, before, if once, since, that, unless, until, when, where, in case
(that), in order that. These words are called subordinating conjunctions. Unlike the

" Also called adverbial clauses.


302 Modification

relatives they have no function within the clause they introduce. They state a relation-
ship, e.g., cause, time, condition , and, in the function of connectors, make the clause
a part of a larger grammatical structure. When such clauses are separated from the
rest of the sentence by juncture, they are sentence modifiers, as we have learned. But
when they occur in the verb phrase with no junctural separation, they are modifiers of
the verb or modified verb.
Examples: The terrified lad ran until he was exhausted
Call when you need me.
Til scream unless you let go.
She telephoned as soon as she could.
He looked at the toad as ( f i t were poisonous.
Subordinating conjunctions constitute another part of speech, not a form class
but a structure class. The structure classes, you recall, are small and closed classes
that we identify by position. So far you have met the structure classes of determiner,
auxiliary, personal pronoun , qualifier, relative, and preposition, each occupying its
characteristic position.
Subordinating conjunctions perform the grammatical job of connecting, and so,
in function, are connectors. Some words in those other structure classes are also
connectors by function: prepositions and relatives, which you have already met, and
12
coordinating conjunctions, which will appear shortly.

SXWO/M 17 30 -
Identify the structure class of the italicized words, using Aux ( auxiliary ), D (deter-
miner ), P ( preposition ), Q ( qualifier), and SCj ( subordinating conjunction ).
1 . Each student can have one ticket.
2. Please shut the door when you leave.
3. She has been very happy since he asked her to
the prom.
4. It looks as if it may rain.
5. The job will be quite easy after you have started.

Cxerci 17 31
— -
Identify the function class of the italicized words, using Md ( modifier ) and C
(connector ).

1. They ran around the track .


.
2 Jake bought a motorbike.
3. Come early if you can .
4. Georgie seems rather gloomy today.
5. I’ll wait until class is over.

of the relatives functron in its clause, that is, Subj. DO, etc
J
’Relatives have a double function: that of connector and that
The Verb Phrase: Word-Group Adverbials 303

6. They walked to the pool.


7. We ll he late unless you hurry.
'

8. The dour of the room was open .


9. Those planes are easy to fly.
10. Jim lost the race because he stumbled .

Exercise 17-32
The modifying word groups m each verb phrase are italicized . Identify each one as
PP ( prepositional phrase ), NP ( noun phrase ), or CAv ( clause adverbial ).
1 . Come as you are.
2 . Gerald lias been working on his paper the whole afternoon.
3. I Ml wait lor you where the road forks.
4. Ill just sit a while.
5. The blue jay perched on the eaves.
6. Ellen has not written since she left.
7. Don 't touch that wire with your hare hands.
8. Please mail this before the post office closes.
9. Bcrnie walks two miles to school every day.
10. Let me know if you need assistance.
11. Why don't you come over this evening?
_
12. We must get home before the son rises ,

13 . Pll write that letter the first thing in the morning.


14. You can't stop once you have started.
15. He will be at the office until it closes.

4. Infinitive Phrase Adverbials. It is necessary to distinguish between the in -


finitive phrase as adverbial modifier and as a direct object of the verb. The distinc-
tion can easily be made by substitution, as you learned in the section on adverbials.
These sentences will remind you:
Adverbial Modifier: He works to (“ in order to ) succeed. (Sentence pattern 1 )
Object: He wants to succeed {= it/that ). (Sentence pattern 4 )

-
Exercise 17 33
In each blank label the italicized infinitive phrase as AM (adverbial modifier) or DO
( direct object of verb).

1. The children like to gather hazelnuts.


2. They waited to see the result.
3. O* Brian wanted to be relieved of the office.
.
4. O ’ Brian dieted to reduce his weight
5. She studied long hours to make an A in the course,
>* ••
i t •: -1
304 Modification

. -- -
5 Participial Phrases in /ng and in erf as Adverblals. You have previ-
ously met participial phrases in ing and -ed as modifiers of the noun . Their function
as modifiers in the verb phrase is similar, as these sentences will show:
Modifier of noun: The girl eating the sundae is a freshman.
Modifier of verb: The girl sat eating a sundae.
Modifier of noun: The sonata played at the recital was Beethoven ’s 32nd.
Modifier of verb: He returned defeated by the weather.

The participial phrases are italicized. Point out what they modify by NM ( modifier
of noun ) and VM (modifier of verb ).
.
1 He gulped his juice standing up.
2. She sat fascinated by the music.
3. Mary left encouraged by the interview.
4. The girl laughing at his sally is a flatterer
5. Hal spends every evening watching TV
6. Professor Doolittle had a good time arguing with his students.
7. The dog lay drowned by the high tide.
8. The bicycle smashed by the truck was a total loss.
9. He stood addressing the crowd.
10. The child entered singing a light tune.

V J
-.

-
Using numbers 1 to 6, classify the italicized word group adverbials in the verb
phrase as
1. Prepositional phrase 4. Infinitive phrase
2. Noun phrase 5. Participial phrase in ing -
3. Clause adverbial 6. Participial phrase in ed -
1. The patient lay on the operating table.
2. She labored to improve her flower garden.
3. We must send them a card this Christmas,
4. He fell wounded by the arrow.
5. Open your eyes when you hear the bell.
6 . She danced keeping her eyes closed.
7. Bring a chair if you can.
8. Jim’s work had much improved by that time.
9. You can do the problem either way
10. She sat splashing the water.
.
» !)
' ->3 rt -
Adverbial modifiers in the verb phrase, both single and successive modifiers, can be
a source of ambiguity. In the sentences below, such modifiers are enclosed in brack -
ets. Explain the ambiguity in each sentence.
The Verb Phrase: Word-Group Adverbials 305

1. She washed the chair [on the porch].


2. I want a copy of the picture [ in the paper],
3. He searched among the ruins ( had sifted [for artifacts].
4. Cuba called [for planes] [to aid its radar],
5. Carl had been found guilty [ of gambling] [in the municipal court].
6. He promised to call [at ten o’clock ].
7. Take the big bag [ upstairs],
8. It was a plot to sell industrial secrets worth millions [to the Dupont Company],
9. His work was drawn on [ largely] by later dictionary makers.
10. Hardman, who headed the negotiating team in Moscow, Russia, invited the
congressmen [to explain the situation ].

_
. i *
_ ••
T

.
Verbals Again In the previous chapter, exercise 16-8, we dealt with sentence
portions that contained verbals and were nominals by position. In this chapter, we
have observed sentence portions that contain verbals { infinitive phrase, participial
-
phrase in ing and ~ ed ) and that are not nominals, but adjectivals and adverbials.
Now, let us solidify your grasp of verbals by an exercise which contains sentence
portions that are nominal, adjectival , or adverbial. It may pay you to review section
A, near the beginning of this chapter, to refresh your mind on sentence modifiers.

- Exercise 17-36 *
• % .J

In each sentence below, a sentence portion containing a verbal is italicized. Indicate


whether it is a nominal, adjectival, or adverbial by using the abbreviations Nom, Aj,
or Av.
1. Jim wants to become a physical therapist ,
2. 7b become a physical therapist , one must have five years
of college training.
3. His ambition to become a physical therapist was strong.
4. That is a movie to see.
5. The weather having cleared up, we continued our game.
6. The player, dispirited and protesting , strode to the
dressing room.
7. Having been picking strawberries all morning, we were
quite tired .
8. The text chosen by the instructor was up to date.
9. Jenny admired the chip shot performed by Nicklaus .
10. Sue objected to taking the test over.
11. The girl taking the test over was Sue,
12. Karl opened his book bag to look for his term paper.
13. The desire to finish his term paper kept nagging at Karl .
14. His desire was to finish his term paper early.
15. The coach, having diagrammed the play; waited for questions.
• *• • i • '.
30» Modification

.
F Beyond Modification

.
1 Non-Modifying Complements
In this chapter you have looked at relative clauses, noting how they modify particu-
lar nouns. But before leaving this chapter, we should examine some complement
clauses that might superficially appear to be relative clauses but which actually func -
tion differently The term complement has primarily been used thus far to mean any
nominal completer of the verb, such as a subjective complement and direct object.
Now we will broaden the term to include two more kinds of completers. First we
will begin by looking at some complements of nouns.
.
a Complement of the Noun. Complements of nouns sometimes resemble
relative clauses but are in fact different. As a point of comparison we will briefly
look at an example of a relative clause, a complement of a verb, and a complement
of a noun . Compare the three sentences below:
The fear that he has is dangerous, ( contains relative clause )
I fear that they are lost , (contains complement clause of a verb )
My fear that they are lost has caused my depression , (contains complement
clause of a noun )
In the first sentence “that he has” is a relative clause. It describes or modifies the noun
fear. As we have noted, one feature that helps to identify relative clauses is that the
words introducing them (relatives such as that, who, whom, whose, or which ) have a
function in their own clause. In the sentence “The fear that he has is dangerous,’' the
relative pronoun that functions as a direct object in its own clause. In the second ex -
ample, the clause “that they are lost ” is not introduced by a relative but rather a subor-
dinating conjunction . The word that has no function within the subordinate clause.
The entire clause is a complement of the verb and serves as a direct object. In the third
example, the clause “that they are lost” might initially appear to be a relative clause
since it follows a noun ( not a verb ) and begins with the word that. Closer examination ,
however, reveals that once again that is not a relative since it has no function within its
own clause. Rather, that is a subordinating conjunction , which stands outside the
clause and connects it with the noun fear. In this case the clause functions as a com -
plement of the noun.
Some complements of a noun could arguably be called “appositive clauses ” In a
sentence such as “The fact that Henry came surprised everyone " the clause “that
Henry came” tells us something about the fact , serving to define or rename the fact.
For this reason , we might be tempted to label the modifying clause as an appositive.
But such an approach would ignore the similarities that exist between this kind of
complement and a complement of a verb. The sentences
He contended that war is evil.
His contention that war is evil . . .
bear a special relationship to each other. The first sentence contains a complement
of a verb that functions as a direct object . The second one ,which we are saying has

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