DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR 3

LECTURE 1
Dr. Anna Ścibior-Gajewska
What to do ?
 Meet every. for 45 minutes
 Check out and download (and print) the presentation from
Class Materials
 Listen and watch carefully
 Make notes – possibly on the downloaded slides
 Learn about the issues that will be practised in the practice
classes
 DO NOT!!! record the meeting or make screenshots
 Contribute to the lecture if you can
 Ask questions whenever you feel confused (you can use the
chat)
 CLAUSES
in
COMPOUND AND COMPLEX SENTENCES
What’s up?
-multiple sentences: compound vs complex sentence
-subordination vs coordination
-main clause vs subordinate clauses
-recursion (embedding, nesting)
-subordinators
-how to find a subordinate clause
-structural classification of subordinate clauses [finite, non-finite, verbless;
infinitives, participles]
-functional classification of subordinate clauses [nominal: subject, object, etc.;
adverbial; disjunct (comment); postmodifier (ordinary relative clauses)]
 MULTIPLE SENTENCES – the basics
 Compound(zdaniezłożone współrzędnie) vs
complex(nadrzędnie) sentences:
A compound sentence uses coordination
 A complex sentence uses subordination
 Coordination vs subordination:
 Coordination is a symmetrical relation, and subordination is
not;
 Coordination combines two (or more) independent clauses;
 Subordination combines an independent (superordinate,
MAIN, matrix) clause with a dependent (subordinate,
embedded) clause;
Acomplex sentence may contain a subordinate clause
which in turn contains coordination

A compound sentence may also feature coordinate

clauses which in turn contain subordinate clauses in
them

A subordinate clause may be superordinate to

another clause, so we can in fact have an infinite
chain of subordination
 language productivity, language infiniteness and
recursion in language structure
RECURSION IS FUN!
(… also helps use a language productively …)

 WINE =???
 "WINEIs Not an  GRUNGE = ???
Emulator”  "Guitar Rock Utilizing
Nihilist Grunge Energy”
 GNU = ??? (Homer Simpson)

 ”GNU is not Unix”

This is the house that Jack built….
 This is the farmer sowing his corn,
That kept the cock that crow'd in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tatter'd and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milk'd the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
Recursion is the repeated sequential use
of a particular type of linguistic element
or grammatical structure.
https://www.thoughtco.com/recursion-grammar-1691901

Recursiveness leads to the “nesting”

property of language, the embedding of
elements within other elements.
The Structure of Modern English
TRY TO FIGURE OUT THIS ONE:
He had just thought that he might succeed
if he tried to engage in a conversation with
the man who was standing next to him
when he discovered that he had not
prepared a back-up plan which would
eventually save him from the necessity to
talk to the Princess when in fact he didn’t
feel like it because she was rather boring
to talk to.
He had just thought {that he might succeed
[if he tried (to engage in a conversation
with the man /who was standing next to
him /)]} {when he discovered [that he had
not prepared a back-up plan (which would
eventually save him from the necessity /to
talk to the Princess <when in fact he didn’t
feel like it | because she was rather boring
# to talk to.# | > /) ] }
COORDINATORS AND SUBORDINATORS

 Coordinators: AND OR BUT

 (and a long list of the so called CONJUNCTS: yet, however,
moreover, nevertheless, therefore, also, then, otherwise,
etc;)
 Subordinators: - subordinating conjunctions; there are
simple and compound subordinators; plus a set of
correlating subordinators - pairs of words of which one
appears in each clause:
 SIMPLE SUBORDINATORS: after, although, as, because, before,
if, lest, once, since, that, until, when, where, while, …
 COMPOUND SUBORDINATORS:
In that, so that, such that, except that, in order that, in order
to;
Now (that), provided (that), supposing (that), considering (that),
seeing (that),
As far as, as long as, as soon as, so long as, so as to…
Rather than, sooner than
As if, as though, in case, for fear that
 CORRELATIVE SUBORDINATORS: if…then; as… so;
more/-er/less…than; as…as; so…as; so…that; such…as; such…
that; no sooner…than; the…the…;
Other indicators of subordination:

 WH-elements: introducing an interrogative clause: I

asked her what she was doing; Why she resigned is a
mystery to me
 Inversion: Were we to repeat the whole
experiment, … Should you have any problems, …
[Sad though I was…]
 Relative pronouns, introducing relative
clauses: they belong to the NP and are not elements
of the main clause: That is the man whom I met
yesterday; this the book that you should read;

Possibly a subordinate clause appears
without a visible subordinator:
 final „comment” clauses - they are a separate tone
unit:
He is the president, I believe / presume
It’s the last season, I guess / suppose / think
 nominal clauses with that, which is optional:
I believe (that) he is the president;
 relative clauses with optional that:
This is the book (that) we have to read;
CLASSIFICATION OF CLAUSES
 Clauses can be classified according to their
 1 --- type (form) = category,
or
 2 --- use (role) = function

1 - CLAUSES BY STRUCTURAL TYPE

Three main classes: finite, non-finite, verbless;

2 - CLAUSES BY FUNCTION
Clauses may have the same functions as NPs, and
also may function as
ADJUNCTS, DISJUNCTS, and CONJUNCTS
1 --- CLAUSES BY STRUCTURAL TYPE

FINITE CLAUSE: contains a finite verb phrase – a tensed verb (marked for
tense, mood, aspect and voice);
Mr. President will arrive later; I haven’t seen him yet;
Although Mr. President is not here yet…
If he arrives in time, ….
NON-FINITE CLAUSE: contains a non-finite verb phrase (marked for
aspect and voice only): with a participle or infinitive verb;
Having met the President,….
For Mr. President to arrive earlier was….
VERBLESS CLAUSE: contains no verb form, but the verb is somehow
implied (to be), possibly there is a subject (with X) or not:
When in Rome, do as the Romans do
Although always helpful, John is rather disliked by his colleagues
With John in prison, his wife can finally lead a normal life
Whether right or wrong, the President always speaks with great certainty;
FINITE AND NON-FINITE CLAUSES

 Finite clause – must always have a SUBJECT and a predicate

IN AGREEMENT(=concord);

 (exceptions: commands, where the subject is implied;

ellipsis, where the subject is retrievable from the context)

 Non-finite clauses – may or may not have a subject; there is

no S-V agreement because a non-finite verb is an infinitive or
a participle (therefore the verb form cannot match the form
of the subejct);
Four classes of non-finite verb phrase – and non-finite clause:

 -FULL INFINITIVE: with or without the

subject:
What I expected was for John to be rewarded;
What I expected was to be rewarded
 -BARE INFINITIVE: with or without the
subject:
Rather than John do it, I prefer to do it myself;
All I did was hit him on the head;
She makes me eat porridge every day.
 -PRESENT PARTICIPLE: with or without the subject:
The parents having left the house, we could engage in a serious conversation;
Leaving the room, he said he would return next evening.
He left without saying good-bye.
With his parents listening, I really couldn’t tell him anything about our plan.

 -PAST PARTICIPLE: with or without the subject:

The job finished, we left the building;
His enemies defeated, he celebrated with his friends;
Defeated, he left the room;
Puzzled and confused, I couldn’t say a word;
With the tree grown tall, we have more shade now.
NON-FINITE CLAUSE: structural deficiencies:

 No finite verb = no marking of person, number, or mood;

 Frequently no subject;

 This contributes to their compactness or conciseness; but

since there is some syntactic information missing, finite
clauses are prone to AMBIGUITY;
e.g. what is the subject of this non-finite clause?

We met them (SUBJECT) leaving the room;

It is either WE or THEY
The subject should be identifiable from the context

If it is not, we assume it is either GENERIC (=somebody,

people in general) or it is the speaking subject:
To be a teacher is a tough job
= for somebody, anybody,
everybody;
There is no chance of promotion, to be honest
= If I am to be honest;
Dangling modifiers, or
misrelated participles
 a well known problem, not only in English:
a - Waiting on the bus stop, a brick fell on my head;
b - Walking towards the window, the sun blazed my eyes.
c - Having just arrived in town, the main hotel seemed to
Bill to be the best place to stay.
d - Women are undervalued while ??? discussing their jobs.
 Syntactically, the subordinate subject should be the same as the
main clause subject; notionally, the speaker often assumes it is the
speaking subject, the ”I” (a, b) ; sometimes, it is identified with
the perceived logical centre of the clause (c) ;
VERBLESS CLAUSE
implied verb = TO BE: it undergoes ellipsis= is deleted;
no visible subject = recoverable from the context:

Dozens of people were stranded, many of them children

= being children
Too nervous to reply, he stared at the floor – HIM being
too nervous
When in Rome, do as the Romans do – when YOU are
in Rome;
When ripe, the fruit is dark-purple
She slowly entered the room, the crown on her head.
With the car in the garage, I must commute to work .
2 -- SUBTYPES OF CLAUSES AS FOR THEIR GENERAL USE
(they will be discussed in more detail in the future )

 Clauses that can fulfil the functions of main sentence

elements and complements = the same functions that NPs
fulfil – are called NOMINAL CLAUSES (next topic )
 ADVERBIAL CLAUSES are those that fulfil the many
adverbial functions (also called: ADJUNCTS);
 COMPARATIVE CLAUSES – introduce comparison; are usually
adverbials of manner, or post-modifiers of a N or an Adj;
 COMMENT CLAUSES – separate tone units, interjected
clauses (function as DISJUNCTS) – express the speaker’s
attitude towards the proposition of the main clause
SPECIFIC SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS
OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

subject,
subject complement,
object direct,
object indirect (one type only-nominal relative
clause)
object complement (must be non-finite),
adverbial (=adjunct),
disjunct,
conjunct (just a few)
 Subject: That Lucifer loves Chloe is obvious
 Subject complement: The problem is that Chloe loves Lucifer
 Object direct: I suspect that Ella loves Lucifer, too.
 Indirect object: Linda will tell whoever comes first the whole
truth of their plot; (nominal relative clause)
 Object complement: I found Maze completely devastated with
regret.
 Adverbial of time: I will tell you the truth when the time
is right.
 Adverbial of place: Chloe hid the cake where Trixie
wouldn’t look.
 Adverbial of manner: Lucifer behaves as if he were the
king of the world.
 Disjunct: To be honest, watching too much Netflix can
ruin your health.
 Conjunct: What is more, it may ruin your significant
relationships.
Also: subordinate clauses function as
complements of adjectives and prepositions,
and as noun post-modifiers = ordinary relative clauses

 Adjectival complement:
Lucifer is always ready to act
and we are certain that he will win
 Prepositional complement:
The success of the mission depends on how fast Dan can run
 Ordinary Relative clause in a NP:
Chloe is the one who can save the world
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

NEXT THING –
TYPES OF NOMINAL CLAUSES