THE VARIETY AND DISTRIBUTION OP SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES

IN THE

UNREHEARSED DISCOURSE OP NETWORK NEWSCASTERS

by

Ji! Howard Wells

II

A thesis
submitted in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts in the Department of English
Fresno State College

Deoember, 19^
 TABLE OP CONTENTS

Introduction: The purpose of the Study 1

ni .

A Beview of the Sentence in Studies of

Modern English 10

The procedure and Methods of Linguistic

Analysis 26

The Besuits of the Analysis; A Sample

Inventory of Syntactic structures 32
d.i ' • • • < : < r f ! -.yf,s.1-oa v

Some Implications of the Study 4-5

U'< JBI-.3,a g M ! K Hit, k''i 0;

Bibliography
a cr.-i.-r: in* of *|» the tfoM#
Appendices •» A : ,-r I -i|#rt4| 0"" V. t
Appendix A •>tud.€'w • fit: I 4 * fflliiRt a®©#p®
Appendix B . • # - ' ® ' s h f o v - i s if.
Appendix C

, r • a a ' , r«*.a mb >a a U nguis,

" - -* >*.,l ' „• I-i :J "A i ar"'iP ',"rf

»•*«.:» vivid
.-rrli r'<* J®##1 rleerl, L i- fui

asMsk .
•»»* lilt
 INTRODUCTION

An overview of linguistics in 1964 reveals a healthy

diversity of effort and opinion being directed to the study

and teaching of English, with studies ©f grammar at the focus

of attention. This combination of diverse opinion with pro­
fessional interest In grammar has produced a multiple assault
upon the structure of the English sentence in which the advo­
cates of traditional, structural, and transformational grammars
have become involved in a major controversy at the higher
levels of study. Several members of the profession, perhaps
those having a sense of history, have called for a respite,
a formative period, during which any single grammar is to be
abandoned in favor of a complex of grammars. In the words of
Nelson W. Francis, "We find ourselves studying not grammar, but
grammars. The present day student of grammar . . must
. accept
the fact that there are many grammars among which he must
1
choose."
A similar view is expressed by Paul Roberts, a linguist

who has specialized in teaching English as a foreign language,

2
in an article in the same publication. But the most vivid
appeal had been made two years earlier by James Sledd, in an

*»*rhe present State of Grammar," The English Journal, May,

1963, p. 321.
^"Linguistics and the Teaching of Composition," The English,
Journal. May, 1963, P« 331®
 article very appropriately entitled *A plea for pluralism,•3
What he asked for wap a blend of the old and the new that would
incorporate the contributions of both.

His plea was answered in part Just one year later by

Owen Thomas (Indiana University) in an address before the annual
convention of the National Council of Teachers of English at
Miami Beach, Florida, Dr Thomas outlined thoroughly and
clarified to some extent the underlying assumptions and opera­
tional procedures of traditional, historical, structural, and
transformational grammars, labeling them Grammars A, B, C, and
D, respectively.

However, since neither one of these attempts taken sepa­

rately yields a thorough and accurate description of the relation­

ships which make some statements grammatical and others not, I

look upon thera as four ma.lor contributions by grammarians to the
studies which seek to describe these grammatical relationships:
A) From the prescriptive efforts of the first grammarians
in the eighteenth century we inherited the authoritarian mold
and basic terminology of an English grammar cast in the image
of Latin, Some of the underlying assumptions of this remedial
effort were that Latin grammar, as described by scholars of the
classics, was the ideal world grammar, and that the English

language should be rescued from its obvious degenerate diver­

gence from that pattern. Such was the prestige of classical

3
College English, October, 19&1, P* 15*
4
"Grammatiei Certant," The English Journal, May, 1963, p. 322
learning that had rolled over England with the tide of Humanism,
The writings of Alfred and Caxton were Ignored by these first
grammarians, as was the flexibility, variety, and vitality of
the English language that they had written about In such an
admirable way,

B) During the nineteenth century the erroneous assumptions

and omissions of these first grammarians were gradually pointed
out by historical and comparative linguists, as they discovered
the language families that have evolved from proto Indo-Euro­
pean. Of primary importance to us among these discoveries are
the facts that English has developed from a Germanic rather
than an Italic progenitor, and that the differences in structure
between Latin and English are more important than the similari­
ties in vocabulary resulting from the influx of loanwords during

the Benaissance.
C) The descriptive studies of structural linguists since

the publication of Bloomfield's monumental Language in 1933

have proveded more than ample evidence that each language is
unique in structure as a result of cultural evolution. Within
the short span of one generation American linguists brought
about a revolution that terminated rather abruptly the two-hun­
dred year infancy of English grammar as described by grammarians.

The use of scientific methods, chiefly within the framework of

contrastive analysis, has permitted an accurate description of
the sound system of English and a classification of the forms

which govern syntactic relationships In discourse. Orammatlcal

and semantic categories of meaning are studied separately, and
the vague and ambiguous terminology of Grammar & has been re­
fined to refer to the objective signals carried by linguistic

forms. Equally important, the assumptions which underlie de­

scriptive linguistics contrast sharply with those which prompted

the first grammars of English. Language behavior, as a struc­

tured system, is studied within the framework of cause and
effect, as are other structured systems of human behavior within
a particular culture or sub-culture. As a culture changes, the
language used by its members changes, This change is normal
and constant, however gradual. Correctness is a matter of usage
and usage is relative, depending upon social environment and
personal requirements of style. More Important than all else:
language is what is spoken. It is the structured system of
speech sounds that evolved with man and his culture. Writing
is something else—soemthing man has consciously invented and
modified to represent language, as well as other forms of human

behavior.
D) The most recent attempt of grammarians to describe the

grammatical relationships in languages is that of transformation

theory, which seeks to explain the processes by which linguis­

tic forms are patterned in discourse. The basic assumption of

this theory is that the various complicated structures used in
English sentences (as well as in the sentences of other lang­

uages) are derived from a few basic patterns through a series

of transformations. This theory draws upon and unifies the

terminology and concepts used by the grammarians discussed
above, and provides the machinery with which the objective

forms of a language may be arranged into sentences which are

 grammatical, it is because of the potential of this new theory,
its dependence upon traditional and descriptive grammars, to­
gether with the urgent need for improvement in the teaching of
English everywhere, that the plea for pluralism by James Sledd
becomes an imperative for every serious student of the English
language.

Purpose of the present Study

The present study was undertaken to make a contribution

primarily to Grammar C — the attempts by linguists and anthro­
pologists to describe the forms and relationships employed in
utterances that are grammatical. My objective is a series of
descriptive studies for the purpose of obtaining data for a
grammar of modern spoken English. Specifically, in this initial
step, I have attempted a partial descriptive analysis of the
unrehearsed discourse of radio and television newscasters who
appear regularly on the three major networks. Some of the
assumptions which underlie my choice of topic, and which justify,
I feel, the value of having a description of spoken English will
be indicated by the following observations;
1) The degree of fulfillment of the bright promise of
transformation theory will depend in part upon descriptive
studies. If field studies do not continue to reveal in greater
detail the distinguishing structural characteristics of sig­
nificant varieties of English, the makers of transformational

grammars will soon have no grist for their new mill. This new
method of dealing with the complexity of the English sentence
calls for more field work, not less, and the objectives of
descriptive linguists are unchanged. The finer points of Eng­

lish syntax have yet to be described.

2) Descriptive grammars recognize the fact that what we
speak is language. The phonemic system of a language is the
basic stx*uctural foundation upon which morphological and syn­
tactic patterns are built. It follows logically froa this that
a complete and accurate grammar of modern English must be based
upon spoken English. This would seem to be the first require­

ment of any structural grammar.

3) Another important requirement for making a complete
grammar of modern English would seem to be the recognition of
the fact that generalizations about grammatical structures
based upon samples of one variety of English will not necess­
arily be valid for other varieties. Grammars which deal only
with the general characteristics of English have a limited use.
We must heed the advice of Kark Dykema, and discover more of
the facts of English usage. His ambition is nothing less than
-a complete and consistent description of every aspect and

variety of the spoken English language."5

4) In order to make sueh a description we must have

quantitative studies of the occurrence of specific structural

items in every kind of discourse. From these studies we can
v •• • / •••ivi tivt> kafrlfv%9t* iSSSS&lSS, JtM.
.

5-The Grammar of Spoken English: Its Relation to What is

Called English Grammar,* Readings in Applied linglis^i Linguistics
(New York), 1958» Pa
make valid generalizations about the structures that distin­
guish one variety of English from another. The value of such
quantitative studies, even though they may appear trivial, ha®
been demonstrated by a number of linguists. One very convincing
example is Roberts' quantitative analysis of the use of this in
periodicals.^ His findings reveal a high frequency of ambi­
guity with regard to the use of this in formal writing, and
leave no doubt that most of our handbook grammars are worth­
less as guides to current usage, at least on this point.

Furthermore, revised editions, if not based on analyses of

spoken English, will be equally worthless,
5) The Influence of mass communications upon entertainment
and education strengthens the demand for a grammar of spoken
English. Recent studies of linguistic geography have recognized
the language used by network newscasters as an example of the
standard usage prescribed by education. Jean Malmstrom and
Annabel Ashley, writing about the social forces which underlie
dialect distribution, have reported that "the dialect of the
network newscaster can be understood by everyone in the United
States. Furthermore, it is often copied by listeners and there­

fore helps to smooth out regional dialect differences."7 The

dialect referred to, of course, is a functional variety of formal

6-Pronominal This: A quantitative Analysis," Readings In

Applied English Ungulstlcs (New York), 1958, p. 26?.

^DIALECTS — U.S.A., NOTE, Champaign, 111., 1963, p. 3*.

 English read from scripts prepared before newscasts. While

worthy of analysis, it is not a variety of spoken English.

Spoken English may be prompted by notes, and it may use outlines

as a guide, but no script. It is because of this fact that the

unrehearsed discourse of network newscasters was used for this

study.
I have stated earlier that in this study I would attempt

a partial description of this discourse. A complete descrip­

tion, if possible at all, will be obtained only through sequen­
tial phases of analysis. In this first step I have been con­
cerned with the broader patterns of the structures which char­
acterize this variety of spoken English, with particular interest
in the distribution of specific clauses patterns. Therefore,
this study deals only with the following phases of the investi­
gation: 1) the identification of clause patterns used by the
participants and their frequency of use, 2) the manner in which
these clauses were combined in sentence strings, 3) the kinds
of questions used and the proportion of the discourse devoted
to questions, 4) the extent, if any, to which minor sentences
or "non-sentences" were used, and 5) the structural features,
if any, which detract from the effectiveness of the discourse.
The findings reported in part four of this paper represent

my attempt to answer the above questions, part two, which

immediately follows this introduction, contains a brief review
of the English sentence as discussed in studies of modern Eng­
lish. In part three I have described my methods of research

and linguistic analysis.

 Throughout the paper I have used expressions such as
studies of grammar, interest in grammar, grammar, grammatical,

and the grammar of English to refer to the 1actual patterned

• *\ . -• 0 ... $Si iv S 1 ,
relationships of contrasting linguistic forms which permit
members of a culture to use language as a means of communication.
I have used expressions such as traditional grammar, descriptive
grammar, transformational grammar, a grammar, and a modern
grammar to refer to the various attempts of grammarians to describe

those relationships. My use of the term grammar in this way

is consistent with the categories of meaning of the term gram-
8
mar as discussed by W. Nelson Francis in "Revolution in Grammar."

^Headings in Applied English Linguistics (Hew York), 1958,

P. **7.
 THE SENTENCE IN STUDIES OF MODERN ENGLISH

The most fitting work with which to begin a discussion

of the sentence in studies of modern English is The Structure
of English by Charles C. Fries.1 Fries' analysis of English
was based upon some fifty hours of telephone conversations,

and is the first widely-published example of the use of a sample

of spoken English for the purpose of up-dating existing grammars
of English. He outlined four major classes of words in English
on the basis of form only, to substitute for the traditional
eight parts of speech with their semantic definitions that have

little relation to the facts of English.

Fries was able to do this somehow, almost without refer­
ence to phonology, a fact which created some confusion in the
2
field of linguistic studies. However, of greater importance
is the fact that he provided the impetus and the machinery for
linguistics to deal with English at the level of the sentence,
and the data that he used were samples of spoken English. One
of the most important results of his study was that it led to
the use of sentence patterns based on the four major classes

of English word forms.

Within five years of the publication of £he Structure of

1
(New York), 1952»
2James H. Sledd, "Fries"s Structure of. Ensile^! A Bevlew,"

UsmSiS iS.Applied EPKllsh Llnsulstlos (New 5Cork), 1958, pp. 80-S

 English, the work of ZeUig S. Harris3 and Moam Chomsky** pro­

vided a second major contribution to the study of the English

sentence, it is the theory of structural transformation, which
attempts to explain the complicated structures used in English

sentences with reference to a finite set ©f kernel sentences,

The kernel of the language is the relatively few sentence
patterns which contain only the required syntactic components
for a grammatical sentence. Combinations, expansions, and
Inverted patterns are transformations of one or more of the
kernel patterns. A grammar which seeks to describe the rules
for producing a variety of sentences from kernel sentences Is
called a transformational grammar.

English Sentences, by Paul Roberts, was one of the first

grammars to incorporate transformation theory in a comprehensive
<
treatment of English syntax. An earlier grammar by Roberts,
6
Patterns of English. had been based on patterns suggested by

Pries* English Sentences is based on the theory of transformations

described by Chomsky. Roberts choose® ten basic sentences to
represent the kernel structures of English grammar. Each basic
sentence reflects a unique pattern of required syntactic com­
ponents. They are based on seven sub-classes of English verbs

3"Co-occurrence and Transformation in Linguistic Structure,"

Language. July-September, 1951* P P* 283-3^0«
^Syntactic structures (The Hague: Mouton & Co.), 1957.
3(New York) 1962.
^(New York) 195^«
 and a special treatment of the word be and its forms. These
patterns, together with the examples used by Roberts to illus­
trate them, are included in Appendix B. A few examples will
show how these patterns describe almost all of the relation­
ships into which the material of clauses is normally arranged.

The sentence .There's an old mam here with a long pointed

beard, running about, talking nonsense, handing our
pamphlets, and becoming a nuisance when the guard asks him
questions, as explained by transformational grammar, has the
following underlying basic sentences:

A) A man is here. (Pattern Right—Appendix I

B) The man is old, (pattern Nine)
C) The man has a beard. (pattern Four)

D) The beard is long. (pattern Nine)

E) The beard has a point. (pattern Four)
F) The man runs about. (Pattern One)
0) The man hands our employees pamphlets, (pattern Five)
H) The man talks nonsense. (Pattern Four)
1) The man becomes a nuisance. (pattern Three)
J) The guard asks the man questions. (Pattern Six)

The sentence An old man is here is derived from A and

B above, while The old man talked ponsense when the guard

questioned him is derived from A, B, H, and J. All sentences

of this type are transformed from *wo or more of the kernel
set of basic sentences. The results are expanded sentences
with varying degrees of complexity determined by the speaker's

personal requirements of style.

 In addition to the transformations which yield expanded
sentences, Roberts discusses five others which transform basic
sentence kernels in different ways and illustrate further the

essential features of grammatical relationships in English#

7

The X-X transformation permits the tense of verbs to be

.(• • -vt j •. • ,:? , ...• !».- •».
modified In a number of ways as Illustrated below:

A) The man will be here.

C) The man may have a beard.
D) The beard could be. longer,
g) The man is running about.
Q) The man has handed our employees pamphlets.

H) The man could talk sense.

I) The man will have become a nuisance,
j) The guard has asked the man questions.

The emphatic transformation modifies the intonation

pattern of a basic sentence or employs an auxiliary for the

purpose of stressing an affirmative action:

C} The man does have a beard, (or !)

D) The beard is long.

0) T
he man did. hand our employees pamphlets.

H) The man can talk sense.

1) The man will become a nuisance.
j) The guard fla& dshed the man questions.

The negative transformation uses some form of the word

p
7English Santenoes., pp. 221-228.
not (not, '1, n't) after a modal or after do:
A) The man Is riot here

0) The man did not had our employees pamphlets,

J) The guard should not have asked the man questions.

Transformations which permit questions in English are

illustrated by the following:

A) Is the man here?
Where is the man?
0) D
id the man hand our employees pamphlets?
What did the man hand our employees?
•> > .... I ft .'''.Hi ;la
. t

The Do trasnformatlon is used to transform basic sentences

into questions and into emphatic statements with patterns One

through Seven as illustrated by the following:

E) Does the beard have a point?

The beard did have a point I

The example Illustrating the above types of transformations

are not comprehensive, but serve to suggest the possibilities

only. Each example of a transformation or a derived sentence is

preceded by a reference to the basic sentence pattern Involved

as illustrated on page 12 above.

One other transformation as diecuesed by Bobarts should
be mentioned, Inasmuch as it occurs in the expanded sentence
used ma an example on page 12 above. It is a sentenee (or olauee
derived only from pattern Eight when the subject is preceded by

a determiner with non-definite meaning, like a, some, or magy.

rather than a determiner with definite meaning, like the, my.
or this. and is called the There transformation. In this
transformation the position of subject and predicate is reversed
and the result is preceded by there in a special function
which contrasts with its use as an adverbial. There is, a man
outside. There was. a glint, in his eye, and There are many
letters in the mailbox are examples used by Roberts.
a

Although Roberts introduces English Sentences as a trans­

formational grammar, he also discusses another method of dealing
with sentence structure which should be mentioned in this brief
9
survey of the sentence In studies of modern English. It is the
theory of Immediate Constituent analysis, which attempts to show
what goes with what by means of & dividing process in which re­
lated structures are set off in two parts. In the first step a
line is drawn between the complete subject and the complete pre­
dicate, and then subdivision is continued until each syt tactic
and morphological unit is shown in relation to its Immediate

constituent.
This method, as an innovation of structural linguist., modi­

fies the method of diagraming used so long by traditional gram­

marians. It has been used widely, but with varying approaehes

and results. It is used in Roberts' earlier grammars, as well

ae in the works of Pries. As an analytic approach to the study

of structure this theory is useful in the study of English gramma;

^English Sentences, pp. 1-6-^7•

9English Sentences, pp. 120-lW
However, it does not deal successfully with the synthetic fea­

tures of English, as does transformational theory, and this

seems t o be equally important. But the fact that English has

both analytic and synthetic features would seem to explain

Roberts1 having included a discussion of both la English Sentences
Roberts1 most recent grammar, English Syntax, is a pro-
10
grammed text based entirely on transformational theory. Al­
though it was not published until after the analysis for the
present study had been completed, it should be m entioned here

because of the refinement® which make it a sequel to, if not

a replacement for, English Sentences. In hi® pr omptness to
revise Roberts displays the efforts of linguists and grammarians
generally to explicate this new theory of sentence transforma­
tions. In English Syntax he has revised t he number of b asic
sentence patterns to include three sub-classes of int ransitive
verbs, five sub-classes of transitive verbs, and a small class
of verb s of the have type. The number of transformation rules
has been Increased to 27, and the terminology has been refined
to a much more precise and reliable degree than is the case in
English Sentences. These refinements will be important in the
follow-up studies suggested by the present study; however, they

do not significantly affect the findings reported here.

As a follower of Pries Boberts was the first linguist to

Chicago) 196^.
 incorporate^ strue tural Unguistics into a widely used grammar

of English.11 This Frles-Eoberts tradition is of great Impor-

nce in the study of the sentence in modern English, but It
does not deal with two significant features of English syntax

successfully, one of these Is the role of Intonation, which Is

recognized by this tradition, but given no systematic develop­
ment or application J th e other Is the importance of word order,

whloh, although given a aere thorough development, is marred

by problems of terminology, chiefly, a confusion of morpho-
logical and syntactic categories. In view of this we will

examine now the studies of other linguists who have been more
successful in dealing with the sound system of English and

more consistent in the use of terminology employed to describe

the grammatical components of sentences.

At least a dozen structural linguists have produced studies

12
on the sound system of English. In addition to Bloomfleld,
n 1^ IS
Kenneth L. Pike, W. Haas, and Robert p. Stockwell, J nine
others have published major works which attempt to reveal the
structure of English at the level of the phoneme. The work of
these nine linguists is referred to by dames H. Sledd in & Short
Introduction to English Grammar In the following manner; "The

— -t
^^patterns of English; (Mew fork), 1956•
"Language (New York), 1933•
13phonemlcs, A Technique for Seducing Language to Writing,
(Glendale), The Summer Institute of Linguistics, 19^37
l4"Linguistic Structures," Word, August, i960, pp. 251-276.

15«The
Place of Intonation in A Generative Grammar of
EogllshJ £a£2Ie; July-September, 196°, pp. 3«0-367.
interpretation of the English sound system in the present book
combines and modifies two main traditions, one represented by
Kenyon and Thomas, the other by Bloch, Trager, and Smith, Fran­

cis, Gleaeon, Hill, and Hockett follow the latter tradition, as

this book does too in its treatment of stress and pitch,"
This book by Sledd presents an unusual synthesis of struc­
tural linguistics with traditional grammar in which he seeks to
exonerate the ways of all grammarians to man. His concept of a
y
grammar as "one of several possible descriptions of a language? '
provides the key to his tone, and his approach to language study.
His purpose is an outline of Englis h syntax that will meet the
standards of modern descriptive linguistics, and retain the
terminology of tra ditional grammar with the refinements necessary
to permit descriptive efficiency. Within less than two-hundred
pages he co mbines the structural devices of stress, pitch, and
Juncture, as described by the linguists named above, with the
morphological and syntactic categories of Fries, Hill, Gleaeon,
and others, treating their achievements as sequential steps in
18
the continuing development of traditional grammar.
One of the results is a classification of the "parts of

speech" with corresponding terminology which Is summarized best

in Sledd's own words:

"First, we have recognized five classes of words

^(Chicago) 1959» P* 57,

"a Short r„t.roductloh la English Sraamr, p. 18t.
1SA Short Twi-.induction to English Graauaay, p. 181,
 distinguished by the endings with which they appear:
nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs. A
noun is a word which is inflected to mark the contrasts
between singular and plural numbers and between the
common and possessive cases; that is a noun is any
word belonging to a series like man, man's: men, men1 s.
Our pronouns include only the traditional personal
pronouns and who — words which have distinctive
object forms or two possessive forms which are not re­
lated one to the other as singular to plural, A verb
is a word which is inflected for tense and whose forms
will fit into a series like sing, sings, sang, sung,
singing. An adjective is a compared word. An adverb
is an uncompared word which consists of the possitlve
degree of an adjective plus the form -ly.
Second, we have defined a different set of classes
on the basis of the positions which words, phrases,
and clauses occupy in sentences. Using testing frames,
we distinguished four main positional classes—nominal®,
verbals, adjectly&ls, and adverbials—and eight smaller
positional classes—determiners, prepositions, conjunctions,
relatives, interrogatives, lntensivejreflexlves, aux­
iliaries, and adverbials of degree.

Not included in the above summary is his discussion of

predeterminers which appears in another section of the grammar.

He uses such. what (a aaa); M, feaBl (the mm.

all. nearly all, (the men) to Illustrate the syntactic function
of this class based on their ooourrenoe before determiners. In

both the two very: £4Mt£tona -alls, the sentence parts are de­
scribed by Sledd as (1) Dath: predeterminer (2) the: determiner
(3) two: limiting adjective (6) very: adverbial of degree (5)

flne; descriptive adjectival (6) fitgae: noun adjunct (?) walls:

20
nominal.
Sledd is syetematlo In his use of stress and juncture to

help Identify the syntactic components of sentences, and he Is

i^hort Traduction to EngllSH Osffimar, ». U0-U1.

20 short Tr,reduction is.SBeim grammar, p. 116.
equally careful In keeping morphological and syntactic cate­
gories separate when discussing these structures. His defi­
nition of the English sentences accounts for all of the struc­
tural devices which make sentences grammatical in e xpository
prose. Because of its value to the present study, it must be
quoted in full; because of its length, it has been included
In an appendix (C).
Like other linguists Sledd uses sentence patterns in his
description of E nglish, but they are accompanied by formulas
which represent the intonation patterns as well as the syn­
tactic components of grammatical structure. Of the eight
patterns which he discusses in A Short Introduction to English
Grammar, five describe basic sentence kernels as defined by

transformational theory. But these five patterns are based

upon only three eub-olasses of verbs, which combine Roberts'

patterns Two, Three, Pour, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten, as fol­
lows: (1) two patterns use transitive verbs, one Including an

Indirect object, as In Jha exp°sure ?W»,ld tba ^B. UiBSSa,

and She facers feed the wprldi (2) one pattern usee tran.ltlve

verba with complements (factitive verbs), as In She members

elected the secretary their spokesman; and (3) three patterns
use equatlonal verbs, as In file fitudles arg. a problem / Sour
nerves become a handicap / The gardpa SSSSS. failure• He
does not include a pattern using Intransitive verbs. Three of
hie eight patterns Involve transformations: one uses an apposl-
tive, as SB*- at the fpaee; one uses a

noun adjunct to expand the nominal phrase, as In The oil palat­

ini delighted the critic.! and the other uses an adverbial before
the subject, as in That winter the hunter bagged a deer.21
On the use of his sentence patterns Sledd makes the
following comment:

"Their value lies in the faot that they are a

generalized representation ©f thousands of sentences
which may be constructed on them: . .. but to all of
the many different sentences, a certain element of
meaning will be common. That common meaning will be
carried not by the individual words, which we can vary
freely, but by the grammatical structure symbolized in
the formula, ... In short, the formulas help to give
us a conscious, organized knowledge of the most abstract
and general patterns of our language. It is these pat­
terns which are the essentials of English grammar; it is
these patterns which shape our thought and control its
expression; yet it is Just thesggpatterae which native
speakers most easily overlook,®

Sledd concludes his grammar with the following statement:

"The most recent development in the study of
English syntax has been the transformational analy­
sis by the American linguist Noam Chomsky. Though
Chomsky's work is as yet largely programmatic, it Is
of the first Importance. No attempt has been made
to introduce his method or his attempt into the pre­
sent book, which was complete, in a trial version,
as long ago as 1953; but future grammars will take
account of (his ) studies , » , ®

Although few grammarians are likely to adopt Sledd's

narrow definitions of the noun (which excludes the word Qhaqs
because it does not infleot for plurality) and the adjective
(which excludes the word beautiful because It is not compared),
there is some evidence that his efforts to refine the terms of
grammar and clear-up the confusion of morphological with syn­

tactic categories have been effective. If not, then other

^Tihort introduction 52. English Orammar, pp. 133-15*.

23a Short Trtroductlon sa ffifilish assmar, p. 182.
linguists have reached similar conclusions independently. To
Illustrate, Roberts now defines the word angrily as "both an

adverbial and an adverb," and he n ow calls "words like quietly

adverbB, and groups like , , ,la a fury . » , both a prep­

like before. outside, and fast, adverbs, however.

Sledd stated clearly his objective in distinguishing be­
tween grammarians who use mixed classes and those who do not:
"The first grammarian will have a smaller number of classes
with m ore complicated definition®J the second will have a
larger number of classes with simpler definitionsj but if
both have done their work well, their statements should come
to much the same thing.'' lb is because Sledd uses a larger

number of terms with simpler definitions, and because these

terms combine traditional grammar with structural linguistics,
that th ey have been used, in conjunction with Roberts' patterns

(Including his special treatment of fee)* bo iden bify and de­

scribe the structures found in the sample used for this study.
In the absence of a grammar of spoken English, Sledd's terms
omprehensive, and present fewer difficulties, than
are more c
e found in any other single grammar of English.
would those
udles of a number of other linguists have been ex-
The studies
thelr possible application to the present analysis.
amlned

-Vngiish aaffii.' P* 82• ,,,

jntsoaaotlaa to EngUS* S2HBS£. p. 235.
Most of the major studies on syntax are accounted for In Sledd's
synthesis; the others are quoted throughout the paper. Only the
four cited below have reported on the frequency of occurrence
of sentenoe components as a significant factor in questions
of usage or the study of style, This may mean that the fre­
quency of sentence components in discourse has been found not
to be useful in making a grammar, or It may mean that many
linguists in the field have been guilty, a® charged by Dykes®,
of unsystematic and subjective selecting, and perhaps of sub­
jective distortion of other methods.
Pries used statistical evidence to reinforce his assertions
for a grammar based on formal signals. Virginia MoDavid has
discovered that we tend to omit the relative "that8 In noun
clauses beginning with personal pronouns.' 7 The study has
quoted already in which Roberts provides convincing evidence
28
that we must be quantitative in order to be descriptive.
More pertinent to the present anaylels, however, is a report
on grammar and style by Sumner Ives, in which he explains how
sentence patterns were counted to illustrate the qualities of
style, primarily the defects of style in students^ compositions.
Ivs. used s series of three charts to show the frequency of
occurrence of sentence components within a written composition.

26Amerlcan agjlafi. 2£SaaS£• <New Iork>' pp" !03-107-

23"That and Zero in Noun Clauses," American Samii, my, 196c
28« Pronominal ^
Applied English iJji&Eietlcs 1*"
 the value of having the structure of a paragraph visible at a
glance Is that it permits .

of'an ^u?horTstv?f " th® characteristics

cover how often S Li; * mor®ofef. It Is easy to die-
h£ often a« author uses inverted order, how much

h. } ?? gfaa"«atical continuity for coherence, how

non finite 5®?Slty of» say» constructions built on
non-finite verb forms as he moves from one kind of ex­
pression to another, as from description to narrative
tones?"2^ Varies the syntactic tempo for the different

The use of such charts or diagrams to point out defects

of style in students* compositions is negative, of course,
and should have no place in language teaching. Their use can
be of great value in language studies, however, and 1 will
discuss this in the final chapter, in connection with the
findings of the present study.

This survey of the sentence in studies of modern English

has attempted to show how the descriptive studies of structural
linguistics and the integrative insights provided by transfor­
mational theory have become the focus of attention in current
grammars of English. It concludes properly with references to
the relationship of grammatical structures to style, since the
study of syntax is undertaken to Improve discourse and thereby

permit a more complete use of language. The components of syn-

tax which may be employed In discourse are few In number-about
a dozea; the grammatical patterns Into which these units may be

ocblned are also few " and 88011 u"8ranoe »8

2'"Grammar and Style," The EB£iis8> ***. p. 367

grammatical. But at every juncture in discourse choices

among those few grammatically correct structures are avail­

able. These are the options which govern variety in position
as well as the types and methods of expansions and transfor­
mations, The larger patterns which reflect these choices
throughout a stretch of discourse constitute the distinguish­
ing characteristics of style, and make up what a. A, Gleason
oalls "a third layer of structure in the discourse."-^0 It is
on this level of structure that on© variety of English will
exhibit the contrasts that distinguish it from another variety,
!• : yx til 'I 1 •' &•'- Wttip
and this is the level of structure with which the present anal­

ysis is concerned.

In the chapter which follows I will describe the sample

and the method of linguistic analysis. This will be followed
by an inventory of structures found in the sample, and then
the study will conclude with a discussion of some Implications

of the analysis.

30""7~hat i3 English," College Composition and Communication.

October, 19^2, p. 5•
 THE METHOD OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

This section contains a description of the problems of

linguistic analysis encountered by the study and an explanation

of how their solution was attempted. Briefly, there were

these three: (1) the problem of securing a valid sample for
the analysis, (2) the identification and classification of the
grammatical structures found in the sample, and (3) the adop­
tion of grammatical terms sufficiently descriptive and compre­
hensive to permit a discussion of the findings. Since the use
of terms is so closely related to the problem of classification,

these two problems will be discussed together.

These three problems are represented in more detail by
the following questions: What constitutes a valid sample of
unrehearsed discourse that will meet the requirements of the
study, and how may it be obtained? What grammatical system

which includes an adequate treatment of syntax will best per­

mit the identification and classification of the structures

that might be found in the sample? What are the moet practical

procedures to follow In making the classifications? tad what

la the best approach to the problem of terms?

(1) The^^Chara^ier^stig®. ffis ^HiUpie

in most Investigations of language the major expenditure
of time and effort is centered on the search for slfflclent
data to yield a sample of occurrences from which valid
conclusions may be drawn. With the present study, however,
the problem was necessarily shifted to the analysis of a
virtually pre-existing sample, sine®, as the title may sug­

gest, the only effort involved in securing data was that of

connecting a tape recorder to a television set.

The program material chosen for this purpose was the

year-end, hour-long, round-table discussions broadcast by the
three ma jor radio and television networks. The format of

these discussion programs originated with the CBS network in

1949 under the moderation of Edward a. Kurrow with the titles
"Years of Crisis." It consists of a give-and-take discussion
of the s ignificant news events of the closing year by a team
of veteran world reporters, whose emphasis in these discussions
has been the interpretation of news events with regard to their
cause and effect and their probable effect on future events.
The title for NBC* s similar program is "projection". ABC's
title for the program used here was "nineteen Sixty-three:
Tragedy and T ransition," and was that network's first year-

end news analysis program since i960.

These unrehearsed discussions provide a sample of spoken
English that John S. Kenyon would classify as a functional

variety within the formal level of standard usage. 1 a

widely observed variety of spoken English It would be without
question one of the most Important among those Included in the

complete grammar of spoken English called for by Karl Dykema.2

:tt , ;; '•> i. w'uSs IfcaSid

1 1 T ennis and Functional Varieties of English,"
Headin:rLtU^l^e^hPUmUsUM <«« -rk). 1«8, p. 21.
2"The Grammar of S^ken ^gllsh:^t.^el^lon.to^l.^,
Called English Grammar,* leadings, m ~* '
(New Yo rk), 1958* P* 9
 The sample used for this analysis was taken from the three
one-hour programs that were shown toy the networks at the close

of 1 963. It consists of three segments of discourse (one from

each network), each twenty-two minutes in length, resulting

in a three-part sample. The length of twenty-two minutes was

chosen after a preliminary analysis of several short segments

revealed no significant variation in the frequency of clause

patterns, or the ratio of questions to statements, or the

ratio of non—clause to clause level structures. We should
point out, however, that although the sample is considered
adequate for the initial procedure, it will not toe sufficient

for the analysis of structures at the phrase level, or for

many problems that would involve the counting of specific

structures. For example, appositlves, initial dependent clauses,

and group relay sentences were noted in the sample, tout enough

only to raise questions, not enough to allow conclusions.

(2) and (3) Ratification and Terminology

The classification of structures in the sample was based

primarily on the positional classes of syntactic structures
recognized by Sledd and the clause patterns discussed by
Boberts, as described In the preceding review of the sentence
in studies of modern English. In addition to these the text

on descriptive linguistic methods, Beginning KorRhology-Syntax,

by Benjamin El.on and Velma B. FloXett. provided the basic pro-

cedure followed in the analysis.

3*(Heroes 53, "exlco: Institute bingulstlco de Verano), i960.

 Like Sledd in his Short Introduction Elson and Pickett
use the terms of traditional English grammar In their dis­
cussion of the grammatical hierarchies (levels of syntax)
within a number of language systems. Their "guess la that
the broad scheme of word-phrase-elause-sentence will, with
h.
modifications, fit any language." Their modifications in­
clude the concept of the tagmeme (a correlation of position,
or testing frame, with classes of syntactic units able to fill
them in a sentence), an approach to constituent string analysis,
and the use of a shorthad of rewrite formula© similar to those
employed by transformational grammars. However, these formulas
have not been used here, and the use of their worse that falls
within the scope of this initial analysis will be limited to

the following:
1) Their definition of syntax: "the study of the composition

of constructions larger than words.(Compare this with Sledd:

«the descriptive analysis of linguistic forms which are larger

than words.
2) Their assumption that the clause is the basic syntactic

structure on which to focus the initial phase of linguistic

analysis.7 (Their definition of the clause is very broad, and

~^Beginning Mnrohology-Syntax,,,, p. 33.

^Beginning Morphology-Syntax, p. 16 (also p. 2).
tk Short introduction to Ssg£l§& Grammar, p. 252.
7Beginning Morphology-Syntax, p. 23.
is based on the primacy of the verb. The word come is ®
clause in the following sentence: "Corae when 1 call." we
could paraphrase their definition of a clause by saying that
it contains at least one, but not more than on© predicate.
Other material included with intransitive verbs would be
optional, ©ther material with transitive verbs would be

required.)
3) The use of their suggested procedure for solving
problems of syntax. This procedure is reprinted in Appendix A.
If we examine the first three steps of Elson and Pickett's

procedure, it becomes apparent that Roberts has followed these

steps in discovering his ten basic clause patterns ©f English.
(He may or may not have used them as a source; his English
Sentences contains no references.) The basic sentence, as he
discusses it, is an Independent clause in one of the patterns
he describes. If English were made up of only basic sentences,
the clause level and the sentence level of English syntax would
be identical, as is thought to be the case of Black Carlb, an
Indian language of Guatemala.8 But in English our general ob­
servation (subjective, unsystematic) suggests that the majority

of utterances having intonatlonal olosure use strings of two

or more clauses. Approximately eighty percent of the patterns
in the sample under analysis occurred in multiple-clause strings

The clause patterns that they contain are the basic units of

their syntactic structure.

inning o roho1ogy-Syntax, p. 33.

 Thio description of methods concludes with the following
outline of procedure used in carrying out the analysis:

D A typewritten manuscript was prepared from the tape.

2) The tape was then replayed repeatedly for the purpose

of ma rking juncture 3 on the manuscript. Several listenings
were required for the placement of sustained junctures.

3) As clause patterns were identified, they were marked

on the manuscript with corresponding pattern numbers which
were placed above each clause subject {or predicate, in the
case of requests). Non-clause structures were so marked.

4) Several data sheets were then used for the tabulation

of frequencies of occurrence of the various structures. The
data accumulated on these sheets was then arranged and pre­

sented in four tables, which permit a more complete interpre­

tation of the findings than would a discussion only. They

are Included in the next chapter, immediately following the

inventory of structures found in the sample.
 A SAMPLE INVENTOR! OP STRUCTURES

The following types of structures illustrate the patterns

found in the sample of discourse. They have been presented in
terms of Sledd's system of classification, except that the fre­
quencies of clause patterns presented in Table III follow
Roberts' classification of basic sentence patterns as discussed
in English Sentences. The grammatical functions of the various
forms of pattern Pour clauses presented in Table IV are described
with Sledd's terms, as are all other structures found in the
sample, except when otherwise noted.
The number of each type of utterance found in the discourse
is shown in Table I. Approximately one-sixth of the utterances
were devoted to questions and nearly one-fourth of these ques­
tions (25 of the total 92) were minor (non-clause) questions.

A) Types of Minor Structures in the Discourse

Minor structures are non-clause structures which cannot

stand alone in discourse, although they are complete utterances.

Sledd describes such structures as "nonsentences.

A-l) Types of minor question question structures:

1) What about the nuclear partnership?

2) How about Cuba?

3) How c
ould we?
k) Why; should they want to?
5) How about in England, where we have a new leader?
 6) Alex, wh£ this phenomenon (sic), from where yon sit?
7) Blaine, anything of this sort apt to come?

A-2) Minor sentence types: Hepiles:

1) Certainly not!
2) well, not necessarily.
3) Not If. they could possibly help It.

^)' Igs, Adenauer, but he's not around anymore.

5) Not in Europe, he's not.
6) No. (Yes.)

A-3) Minor sentence types: Comments:

1) A continuation of 1211-
2) Very interesting.
3) Possibly. (Exactly!)

A-^+) Minor sentence types: Labels:

1) . .
. . direct subsidy payment.
2) Expressions of opinion, who will the candidate be?
3) But tM tendency of Lyndon Johnson, as with the West
German Chancellor Erhardt — you put a ten gallon hat
on the man's head and call it forty liters.

B) Types of Clause-level Structures In the Discourse

The clause-level structures in the discourse consist of

three main types: 1) questions, 2) requests, and 3) declarative

utterances or strings containing one or more independent clauses.
 B-l) gyp.es of. clause-level questions: There were four types
of clause-level questions recognized, as were minor question
types, by fade-rise terminals. Sledd has described them as
a) questions distinguished by intonation only, b) questions
which begin with an interrogative, c) Inversions which contain
a framed subject, and d) questions formed by the use of inter­
rogative tags.

B-l-a) Questions formed by Intonation signals only:

1) And this, you think, is good?

2) I take It you concur that the Public Accommodations
Section will become a fatality of this fight?
3) When those harrasagents on the Autobahn happened this
year. Ban, before then, some people said the £haw was
over — the cold war was on again?
4) Then you're saying that Germany does have nuclear;

aspirations?

B-l-b) Questions beginning with interrogates: Sledd

recognizes seven words as interrogative® (who, what, which,
when, where, why, and how), pointing out a simultaneous function
of each as either nominal, adjectival, or adverbial. In the
examples below (1) through (4) are nomlnals, (5) is an adjec­
tival, and (6) and (
7) are a
dverbial®.

1) What has changed in this period of relaxation?

2) Who do you think we should support?
 3) Mfco is SOlag t& be the Republican nominee?
**) What happens If the general persuades Italy that
what is good for France is also good for Italy,
even if it is bad for America?
5) What other danger spots are there?
6) How could It explode in latin America, for example?
7 ) . . . . why are wgJLoglqg the war in North Vietnam?

B~l-c) Inversions containing framed subjects: The use of

Inverted word order places the subject between two parts of the
simple predicate. Sled&'s formula for this structure is written

as S P2 with Pi representing an auxiliary.

1) Could I give you seven seconds on Communist diversity?

2) Do you want me to go on with it?

3) Winfcton. would Italy accept t£e leadership, sL France

to the continent? (sic)

^) Does anybody see, any in Africa, anymore?
5) is he going to give up, his. atomic bomb to the Chinese?

B-l-d) interrogative tags; These structures occur

medially and finally.

1) He has created part of this loosening, has he no£?

2) It has to do, doesn't it, with modernization?

B-2) Seauests: All requests in the sample have the same

structure. It is the same as that of the question with the

 36

subject included In the verb cluster (B-l-c above), except

that the auxiliary is always the word let, and the following
nominal is always a form that will fill object slots. Six of
the seven requests in the sample were made by moderators.

1) me finish. Petert
2) bet's move across to the other hemisphere.
3) Well, let's get to China. gentlemen, in a moment.
*0 Xou've named your candidate; let's let Bay name his.

B-3) Major Sentence Types;

One hundred twenty-three of the 566 closure terminals

in the sample were devoted to questions (92), requests (7),
and minor sentences (non-clause sentences)(2B), The remaining
terminals Involved the use of 9kQ clause-level structures
in both single-clause and multiple-clause strings (sentences) as
shown in Table II. The frequency of occurrence of each of the
different basic clause patterns is shown in Table III. Table IV
shows the various syntactic functions of pattern Pour clause
material. In addition to the U66 clauses of this pattern,
there are 57 passive transformations which are counted with

pattern nine because of the use of be. This method of class­

ification will not be used with follow-up studies. Some re­
finements are needed with regard to the use of participles
(derived from transitive verbs) and descriptive adjectives
(which can be inflected: strong, clear, broad) in filling the

following slot: The Chinese are (were, etc.) •

 In the strings represented by A through N below, the
clause patterns are shown in part of the context in which
they occurred. Conventional punctuation has been used to
indicate some of the features of intonation.

As It is the word "depolarization." It seems to mean

(10) that the particles of sovereignty around the world.
ftl.I sizes, &re not so much lined-up toward the magnetic
Poles of Russia on the one hand and the United States on
the other hand. as much as they used to be. *

B: Can I take just one step further — this word "depolar­

ization" (3) that you threw away before.

C: (1) jge have discovered that Africa is a have-not

place. 16 terms of (5) what you can grow and (5) what
*ou can get out of the ground.

D: There's a very real danger spot in the Middle East,

Eric, where trouble looks unavoidable, and (4) which
might involve a direct; diplomatic confrontation between
the United States and Great Britain, and that is in
Southern Arabia, in Aden, which is the biggest military
base (3) that Britain has overseas, and whose mission is
to protect"the biggest overseas Investment and biggest
overseas source of wealth (3) that Britain has, that is
the oil of the Persian Gulf.
E: (10) The British are convinced, it seems, (8) that the
British hold on Aden cannot survive the establishment of
a successful Nasserlst Republic In Yemen, which sits
right on top of Southern Arabia.
P: (7) what Krhardt has brought is the idea of an outward-
looking Europe.
G: What I'm saying is (8) that Germany does not have
nuclear aspirations.
H; I'm fascinated by the way (4) Peter's been describing
General de Gaulle's behavior, because it all sounds like
some colossal subversion.
I: (1) D® Gaulle now plans to have a renascence of French
leadership in Asia.
J: I think he thought about It as long ago as 1940, (6) when
he fled France, and came over to London to rally the
Free French,
 jd

^ 1 ) i i e - a n t i c i p a t e d a n o t h e r t h i n g . (ty) which is
M i£ going. to kick us out of Southeast Asia.
but tnat perhaps we will leave, either of our own accord,
or we'll just leave, In which case he wants to be the
next one in.
L: They've always resented Americans' dominance in the
area, and they've rather scoffed at the idea (#} that we
dould stem the communist tide (6) after they could not.
M: Well there's one thing (4) that puzzles us all in
France, and maybe it does in other parts of Europe, and
that is, here (1) you have a president (k) who has made
his first policy one of economy, of balancing the budget,
and one wonders, JZ) when one has that kind o£ policy,
if there's going to be the same thrust to (5) what the
man can possibly achieve, either abroad or at home,
particularly, and this is the other point, {6} when you
have a Hegro problem, that's a® grave as the one you have
here,' and whether that thing can be settled In terms, and
at the same time, as (10) the foreign problems, have to be„.
faced.
N; (1) He has the Prince cutting off all American aid to
Cambodia, and (2) Cambodia we've accepted as a neutralist
country.

The following string is included to illustrate the use of

sentences in which different components were composed by
different speakers. The structural features of these sentence
components are no different from those of similar sentences,
but the italicized component was contributed by a different
speaker.

0: Well, it's interesting that his political advisers

say that it would be a very good thing in an election
year for the president to have some kind of encounter
with Niklta Khrushchev, provided .there's, some bacon
there to come home with.

Many of the elements of intonation cannot be represented

by writing, or refinements In our writing system either, but I
have attempted, in the section below, to show more precisely
the general Intonation features as they were used in each of
the specific grammatical functions indicated. The k66 clauses

of this pattern were used in five contrasting syntactic

functions. Pour of these functions employed patterns using
both normal and inverted word order. The numbers of the cate­
gories below correspond to those used to identify the clauses

in A through N above.

1) Independent (sentence-level) clauses (N V M)

2 r / 22 a A . l 23 / t / 1
the Republicans will nominate Scranton #

2) Independent (sentence-level) clause: (K N V)

\ 2 3 /^ 2

3) Adjectival: Modifies prededing noun: (N W V)

2 \ A 2 2 \ 0 3 , / 2
which he Intro dueed —

h) Adjectival: Modifies preceding noun: (N V N)

2 \ /I ^ \ /2 2 i/ 3 / 2
that puzzles us all in France

5) Adverbial: Modifies preceding adjective: (N N V)

6) Adverbial: Sentence modifier: (M V N)

2 \ A .A 2 3 / 2
when he fled France —
 ko

7) Nominal: Subject of verb or be: U

2 /\ \ A 2 3 A
what w e face u now —(is a situation . ..)

8) Nominal; Direct object of verb or verbal: (N ¥ N)

2\ ^ A 2 3 / 1
(You might even say) we would lose Asia #

9) Nominal: Direct object of ve rb or verbal: (N N ¥)

2 A / 2 2 \3 A o x 1
(I think I see) what Dan is driving at #

10) passive transformations derived from transitive verbs,

counted with pattern Nine and not classified according to
function in this study,

2 c L 2 a \ (J 2 3 f 2 1 w A 1
the British are con vinced it seems —

In the examples above the numerals used to indicate

general pitch levels have been repeated at each level
juncture terminal. It should be pointed out that the stress
pattern changes in independent clauses when pronouns are
used instead of nouns or other nominals. The frequency of
occurrence of each of the above syntactic functions is shown

in Table IV.
 TABLE II

(Excludes questions and requests)

NUMBER Kind of String FfiSQUEMCX

204 Slngle-olause strings 204 204

152 Strings containing 2 clauses 152 304

72 Strings containing 3 clauses 72 216

28 Strings containing 4 clauses 28 112

9 Strings containing 5 clauses 9 ^5

5 Strings containing 6 clauses 5 30

1 String containing 7 clauses 1 7

1 String containing 8 clauses 1 8

1 String containing 14 clauses 1 14

Total number of sentences—.—,—„—,— -

Total number of clauses _ -1

 TABLE III

CLAUSE-LEVEL STRUCTURES*

PATTERN Syntactic Component® PREmmm

ONE (D) + N + V + (Adv) 158

TWO (D) + N 4 V + Ad,} 6

THREE (D) + N + V-b 4 (

L) + N ?

POUR (D) 4 N 4 V-t + (D) + N k66

FIVE (D) 4 N 4 V-g 4- (D) 4- N 4 (D) 4- N

SIX (D) -4 N * v-c 4 (

D) 4M 4 (D) -4 N

SEVEN (D) -4 N + V-e 4- (D) -4 N + (D) 4- N

EIGHT (£>} 4- N 4- be + Adv 35

" There" transformations There 4- be 4 (D) 4- N + Adv
58

NINE (D) 4N 4 be 4 A&4 90

TEN (D) 4 N 4 be 4 D)
( 4N 109
TOTALS 9&G

^Sentences illustrating the patterns symbolized above

have been Included in Appendix B.

 TABLE IV
.if fi j .. • ; ;..'v 1 + Ia<*.•*,0%%#J$
:

GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS OF CLAUSES: PATTERN FOUR

.. ,
Speolfic Function Syntactic pattern Frequency

1) INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (N V N) 289

2) INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (N N V ) 3

3) ADJECTIVAL: Modifies preceding noun (N N V) 2?

k) ADJECTIVAL: Modifies preceding noun (N V N) Jk

5) ADVERBIAL: Modifies preceding Adj (N N V) 9

6) ADVERBIAL: Sentence modifier (N V N) 9-8

7) NOMINAL: Subject of verb or verbal (N N V) 19

8) NOMINAL: Direct object (N V N) 18

9) NOMINAL: Direct object (N M V) 19

Total: b66

Examples illustrating the above patterns appear on

page 39 above.
 SOME IMPLICATIONS OP THE STUDX

The data presented in the preceding chapter indicates

the general patterns of the structures which characterize the
discourse under study. They also show the variety of syntactic
functions of one of the most important of these basic struc­
tures, the clause patterns using transitive verbs. The value
of these data can be seen, in part, in the Illustration and
tabulation of the occurrence of these structures, and also,
in a more important way, In what these patterns suggest as

a pilot study.
Of obvious importance is the fact that k&6 of 9^0 clauses
used in sentence-level strings contained transitive verbs.
Nearly two-thirds of these transitive verbs were used in
Independent clauses. An additional 109 clauses in pattern
Ten contain a nominal after the verbal be. It is important,

therefore, with regard to follow-up studies, to make a tho­

rough inventory of the expansions which may occur with the
nominal phrase. In a preliminary examination of this sample
I have counted more than fifty separate expansion patterns of
the nominal phrase used as direct objects. The more common

types are:
1) the edge: his finger: hi®. M i£M£> £*»&£ -ideal
2) a small pause; its ugly head; a maj&r Problem
3) these little gestures toward Bed China; a greafr
respect for religion; this mad world of ours,,,,,
My assumption is that the more elaborate patterns, which
occurred only once or twice, will be of more significance in
the study oi s tyle. Some examples of these are presented below.

1) his coming into office

2) !L of running conflict between idealism and reality

3) a significant part of this loosening
the rather historic echo
5) all of the communist parties in Asia

The nominal phrase, as used in this variety of English,

tends to be more elaborate when used as a direct object than
when used as the subject of a clause. More than half of the
466 pattern Pour clauses had personal pronouns as subjects.
I am interested in learning whether or not this Is a general
characteristic of other Important varieties of English.
In connection with style I want to return to the article
by Sumner Ives quoted on page 24 above, Below is the paragraph

which follows immediately the one quoted there:

Counting is often pointless, but sometimes

frequencies of occurrence are significant. The
fact Is at least Interesting that, in a sample
containing 275 sentences, James Thurber did not
use pattern Nine or Eleven, used pattern Eight
only ten times. In the same passage, he used
pattern Two 166 times. Also it contained only
one absolute construction and no initial parti-
olpial modifiers. The subjects of main clause®
included 14? personal pronouns (mostly he), 109
nouns, and nine indefinites. Although it con­
tained 211 adjectival prepositional phrases, in
144 the preposition was oft

1hGrammar and Style,n p. 367

 An explanation is required since Ives' patterns are
numbered differently from those used by ixoberts. The sample
of 275 sentences did not contain constructions like "Him we
understand," or " ... whom we know .. . ,* nor constructions
like "Never had he seen ..." The pattern used ten times
is the "there" transformation, and the pattern used 166 times
involved only transitive verbs. If these frequencies are
interesting in themselves, they become even more interesting
when we note that the ratio of these frequencies to the
total sample is almost exactly the same as for those same
structures in the discourse examined for the present study.
However, the significance of features of similarity must
await the identity of the passage by Thurber.
Frequencies of occurrence of the structures in any
discourse or composition may be interesting in themselves,
but their chief value in the study of style would seem to
lie in their use for comparison and contrast with similar
sets of data obtained from other varieties of English. A
series of charts, graphs, or diagrams could show profiles
of expanded nominal phrases, various types fcf inversions,
the types and distribution of sentence adverbials, as well
as sentence connectors and expanded verbals, with devices
designed to reveal graphically the occurrence patterns of
structures chosen for analysis, a language teacher or
student could study the distinguishing contrasts within
any selected appropriate group of speakers or writers.
One such Important group would be the students themselves.
DeyiceB representing accurately the larger patterns within
a segment of discourse would be of definite positive value
in attempts at completeness in language atudy — in attempts
to deal precisely and effectively with the "third layer of

structure." I will discuss now some of the structural

features of the discourse under analysis, in addition to the
nominal phrase and sub—classes of verbs mentioned above,

that would be important in such comparisons.

The figures in Table II show the number and frequencies

of the larger patterns, or sentence strings, which involve

9h0 clause patterns found in the sample. Questions, reguests,

and minor sentences {"nonsentences"} are not included.

Twenty-two percent (20h) of these clauses were used In simple

sentences, or single-clause strings; about thirty-three per­

cent (32.5)6) were used in t wo-clause strings; and about twenty

percent were used in three-clause strings. One-fourth of

them were used in strings containing four or more clauses,
thirteen percent in four-olause strings, and eleven percent

in strings containing five clauses or more.

It is clear without benefit of follow-up studies that
these long strings, the ones containing four and five clauses
or more, will constitute one of the distinguishing character­
istics of this unrehearsed discourse. In formal, expository
prose their use would attract attention as overlapping
subordination. In this discourse, howefer, the intonation
signals, most of whloh oannot be represented by our system
of writing, supply the structural requirements of unity and
coherence. (An example is provided by string jj on page 38
above.) In making a grammar of spoken English we will need
to identify the structural features which may be correlated
with the omission of intonation signals.

As an initial probe this study has raised more questions

than it has answered, and the answers attempted are not necessar
ily those most pertinent to the formulation of a grammar of
spoken English, Other follow-up studies, in addition to the
detailed analysis of the nominal phrase mentioned above, are
indicated by the following topics:
1) The features of style which may be attributed to
various patterns of subordination in multiple-clause strings.
2) Sub-classes of verbs used in Independent and

subordinate clauses.
3) The frequency and distribution of sentence modifiers

and other advertoials used in the discourse.

E) The correlation, if any, of the structural features
of questions with the Structural features of their replies.
In conclusion I will point out two major areas of English
grammar which seem to require refinements before such studies

can be successfully undertaken:

1) The use in this discourse of minor (non-clause)
sentences, and the use of the longer, multiple-clause strings,
indicate that a terminology more extensive than that discussed

by Sledd will be required for a grammar of spoken English.

My assumption here is that other forms of practical discourse
 50

also make use of these structures, and, that no grammar can

be complete without a comprehensive terminlolgy, correspond­

ing to all of the structures actually used.

2) The classification of verbs by Roberts, as shown la

Appendix B, must be refined to deal with sub-classes of tran­
sitive verbs, and perhaps Intransitive verbs as well. For
example, In the clause when he fled France (string J-6, p. 37
above), fled is a transitive verb, but we would not say when
France was fled. And in the relative clause that Britain has
(string D-3, p. 37 above), derived from "Britain has a military
base" we would not say the base Is- had by Britain. (In English
Syntax, published since the present analysis was completed,
Roberts discusses a have class of verbs, which must be followed
by a nominal phrase in basic sentences, but which will not pro­

duce a passive transformation.)

Another problem with verbs is the variety of patterns in
which they are combined with auxiliaries, infinitives, and
participles, often with an adverbial Included in the verbal
phrase: "We could certainly never hope to do that." In this
example hope is similar to plan in string 1-1, p. 37 above.

This study has sought to identify the structural bound­

aries of one functional variety of spoken English. The primary
objective has been a quantitative analysis to reveal the larger
patterns in which clause-level were used. These patterns,
represented by the findings under discussion, are to serve as
a base for follow-up studies to describe the patterns of
 51

lower level structures. The findings in each case will permit

a description of different varieties of English in linguistic
terms, that should be substituted for the non-linguistic
criteria (social, economic, political, and academic status)
commonly used to distinguish "educated" from "uneducated"

speech. Among the immediate applications of the findings

will be that of contrasting the inventory of structures with
those found in news broadcasts read from prepared scripts,
and with those found in other varieties of unrehearsed dis­
course.

Descriptive studies of this kind can broaden the base fro®

which generalization are drawn about usage, and be of practical
value in the transition from the prescriptive teaching of bits
and pieces of language in the form of oracles, to a descriptive
approach to the inductive discovery of systems, in which lang­

uage, as human behavior is patterned.

The responsibility for making refinements in terminology,
and in other areas which need improvement in the study of
English, rests with the leaders in this field. The obligation
to discover new structures and patterns that contribute to

the variety of English lies with all who study and teach it.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bloomfield, Leonard, Language. Hew York, Henry Holt and

Company, 1933.

Chomsky, Noam, Syntactic Structures. •s-Gravenhage,

Mouton and Co., 1957

Dykema, Karl W., "The Grammar of Spoken English: Its

Relation to What Is Called English Grammar,*
Readings in Applied English Linguistics. New York,
Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1958.
Elson, Benjamin, and Pickett, Velma B., Beginning
Horphology-Syntax. Heroes, Mexico, Instituto
Lingulstico de Verano, 196©.
Francis, W. Nelson, "The Present State of Grammar,"
The English Journal. Champaign, Illinois, May, 1963.
Fries, Charles C., American English Grammar. New fork,
Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 19^0.
Fries, Charles C., The Structure of English. Mew York,
Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1952.
Gleason, H.A., Jr., An Introduction to Descriptive
Linguistics. New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1955.
Gleason, H. A., Jr., "What Is English?", College
Composition and Communication. Champaign, Illinois.
Haas, W., "Linguistic Structures," Word. New York,
The Linguistic Circle of New York, August, i960.
Harris, Zellig S., "Co-occurrence and Transformation in
Linguistic Structure," Language;. Chicago, Linguistic
Society of America, July-Sesptember, 195?.
Ives, Sumner, "Grammar and Style," The English Journal,
Champaign, Illinois, NCTE, May, 1963.
Kenyon, John S., "Cultural Levels and Functional Varieties
of English," Readings in Applied English Llqgulst4.es,
New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1958.
McDavid, Virginia, "That and Zero in Noun Clauses,"
American Speech. May, i960.
Malmstrom, Jean, and Ashley, Annabel, DIALECTS — U.S.A..
Champaign, Illinois, NCTE, 1963.

Pike, Kenneth L., Phonemics. A Technique for Reducing

Languages to writing. Glendale, Summer Institute of
Linguistics, 19^6.
Roberts, Paul, English Sentences. New York, Harcourt,
Brace, and world, Inc., 19&2.
Roberts, Paul, English Syntax. New York, Harcourt, Brace,
and World, I nc., 19o4.
Roberts, Paul, "Pronominal This; A Quantitative Analysis,"
Readings in Applied English Linguistics. New York,
Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1958.
Sledd, James, "A Plea for Pluralism," College English.
October, 1961.
Sledd, James, A Short Introduction to English Grammar.
Chioago, Illinois, Scott, Poresman and Co., 1959.
Stockwell, Robert P., "The Place of Intonation In a
Generative Grammar of English," Language. July, i960.
Thomas, Owen, "Grammatici Certant," The English Journal,
Hay, 1963.
Whitehall, Harold, Structural Essentials of English.
New York, Haroourt, Brace As Co., Inc., 195®•
 APPENDIX B
FORMULAS FOR ROBERTS' TEN BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS*
PATTERN #
ONE: (D) N V (Adv) Requires a subject and an intransitive
verb (sing, go, arrive, occur). "The ship arrived."
"John went away."

TWO: (D) N V Adj Requires a subject, a verb, and an

adjective: "The man seemed young."

THREE: (D) N V-b (D) N Requires a subject, the verb become

or remain, and a noun or pronoun.
"John became a teacher," "He remained our friend."

FOUR: (D) N V-t (D) N Requires a subject, a transitive

verb, and a noun or pronoun. "John ate lunch."
"We enjoyed the movie."

FIVE: (D) N V- g (D) N(D) N Requires a verb of the give

class after the subject, with two nouns after the verb,
"He gave me the book." John sent us a message."

SIX: <D) N V-c (D) N (D) N Requires a subject, a verb of

the consider class, and two nouns or pronouns.
"John considered me a bore." "We thought him our
friend."

SEVEN: (D) N V-e (D) N (D) N Requires a subject, a verb of

the elect class, and two nouns or pronouns.
"The class elected John secretary."

EIGHT: (D) N be Adv Requires a subject, some form of

the word be. and an adverb. "John is here.®

NINE: (D) N be Adj Requires a subject, some form of

the word and an adjactlv©. nJohn Is angry®

TEN: (D) N be (D) N Requires a subject, some form of

the word be, and a noun or pronoun.
"John is a student." "This book is a grammar.

*Roberts, Paul, English Sentences, New fork: Harcourt,

Brace and World, Inc., 19«2, pp. 18-51•
 APPENDIX C

English Sentence as Defined by James Sledd

A sentence Is traditionally defined as a group of words

which expresses a complete thought; but the definition Is
useless, since It does not tell us what complete thoughts
may be or what forms express them. Since no useful defini­
tion can be framed to include all and only the things which
are often called sentences, we have provided a definition
which will be useful to writers and readers of expository
prose. We identify the stretches of speech that lie between
terminals, or sequences of these stretches, either as complete
sentences or as sentence fragments (nonsentencesO. A complete
sentence will always end in one of the terminals ( // ) and
( # ), never ( / ), and it may or may not contain occurrences
of ( // ) or( / ) within itself; but it will also contain, in
every case except that of the subjectless imperative, at least
one independent combination of complete subject with complete
predicate, expanded or unexpanded. fo a complete sentence
various elements may be added without destroying it complete­
ness; two or more sentenoes which in isolation would themselves
be complete may be variously linked up in one complete sen­
tence; but no utterance is a complete sentence if it contains
an unattached subject, an unattached predicate, (except an
imperative without subject) or an unattached fragment of a
subject or predicate. Whatever its intonation, a stretch of
speech which does not satisfy these conditions is treated in
this book as a sentence fragment or nonsentence, though our
method of description must not toe taken as implying condem­
nation of the sentence fragment.