Word-Classes and Members of Sentences

Grammatical Word-Classes (Parts of Speech)

Notional parts of speech: Functional parts of speech:

the Noun the article

the Verb the preposition

the Adjective the conjunction

the Adverb the modal words

the Pronoun the interjection

the Numeral the particle

Grammatical word-classes:Notional parts of speech

Notional parts of speech have a naming function and express notions.

They function as the following members of a sentence:

1. the Subject

2. the Predicate

3. the Object

4. the Attribute and

5. the Adverbial Modifier

Grammatical word-classes:Functional parts of speech

Functional words, or form-words, have no naming function and express relations only.

They have a linking and specifying function.

They cannot make a sentence by themselves: e.g., A student entered the classroom.

They are playing golf.

Grammatical word-classes:Functional parts of speech

The words that are used to connect words and clauses are called “connectives” (prepositions, conjunctions),

e.g., The bag is at the desk.

The semi-notional words that are used to specify words and their combinations are called “specifiers” (articles, particles),

e.g., I saw a student in the hall. The student was dancing there.

Main parts of a sentence

The two-member sentence is a sentence with a full predication, i.e. subject-predicate relations:

e.g., He developed a plan.

The subject and the predicate are called headwords.

Main parts of a sentence

Words attached to headwords are called adjuncts.

They are:1. attributes2.adverbial modifiers3.predicatives, etc.

Headwords:The Subject (Who? What?)

Syntactically, the subject is an independent member in a two-member predication.

e.g., These students are smart.

Structurally, the subject may be simple or complex.

The Simple Subject

The simple subject may be expressed by different parts of speech:

1. The noun in the Common case: The teacher disliked Mary to talk like that;

2. The pronoun (personal, demonstrative, defining, indefinite, negative, etc.): I rely on you. That was interesting. All is well that ends well;

3. The substantivized adjective: The wounded were taken to the hospital;

4. The numeral (cardinal and ordinal): The first ran away;

5. The Infinitive: To live is to work;

6. The Gerund: Lying doesn’t go well with me.

7. By a group of words or a clause: The needle and thread is lost.

The Complex Subject

The complex subject is usually expressed by means of predicative constructions with the verbals that imply the idea of secondary predication:

e.g., For him to fail the test would be risky. Her being French might encourage him to learn French.

The Verbals: the Infinitive and the Gerund

The Subject: semantic features

Semantically, subjects fall into the following types:

1.the definite personal subject, expressed by notional parts of speech:

e.g., The green yards are wonderful there. It was a cozy study room.

2.the indefinite personal subject, expressed by the indefinite pronoun one or the personal pronouns they, you, we:

e.g., They say he is cool. You never know.

3.the impersonal subject, expressed by impersonal pronoun it: e.g., It is getting dark.

The Headwords:The Predicate (What to do?)

The predicate is the member of predication that denotes an action, a state or a property of the thing expressed by the subject.

The predicate contains the mood and tense features. e.g., She is a student. They were tired. You should go.

Grammatically, the predicate is a dependent element, as in most cases it agrees with the subject in number and person.

e.g., She is a student. They are students. You are students.

The Predicate

Structurally, the predicate is divided into a simple predicate and a compound predicate.

Morphologically, predicates fall into verbal predicates and nominal predicates.

Structural and morphological characteristic features determine the following types of predicates:

1.simple verbal predicate 2.compound verbal predicate and 3.compound nominal predicate

The simple verbal predicate

The simple verbal predicate is expressed by a verb in the following forms:

tense, voice and mood

e.g., She stayed. I will go. The poem was written by Shakespeare. They would rather go.

The Compound predicate

The compound predicate consists of 2 parts: e.g., She is 25.

She is a teacher. She is beautiful. She is getting nervous, etc.

The Compound predicate

The 2 forms are called a finite and a non-finite form.

1. a finite form is expressed with a verb: e.g., She is a student. They became students.

2. a non-finite form is expressed by various parts of speech –the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the Gerund, and the Infinitive: e.g., She is a student.

They got tired. She was supposed to go.

Types of the compound predicate

The compound predicate may be of 2 kinds: the compound verbal predicate andthe compound nominal predicate

The compound verbal modal predicate

It depends on the meaning of the finite verb – modal or aspect.

The compound verbal modal predicate consists of 2 parts:

1. a modal form of a finite verbe.g., I have to work to make a living.

2. the Infinitive or the Gerund of a non-finite form of the verbe.g., You are welcomed to join the group.

It shows whether the action (expressed by a non-finite form) is possible, obligatory, necessary, or desirable:

The compound verbal predicate

The compound verbal predicate may be of 2 types: 1. The compound verbal modal predicate

e.g., I must visit her in the hospital.

2. The compound verbal aspect predicatee.g., He began singing. She stopped crying.

2 types of the compound verbal predicate depend on the meaning of the finite verb –

modal or aspect

The compound verbal aspect predicate

The compound verbal aspect predicate consists of 2 parts:

1. the finite form of the verb to begin, to continue, to give up, to finish, etc.:e.g., It stopped raining.

2. the non-finite form expressed by the Infinitive or the Gerunde.g., He used to play a saxophone last year.

I kept watching her.

It indicates the beginning, repetition, duration or end of the action expressed by the non-finite form of the verb.

The compound nominal predicate

The compound nominal predicate consists of 2 parts:

a link verb and a predicative.

e.g., She is a student. He became angry.

It denotes a quality of a person or a thing expressed by the subject.

The link verb

Link verbs have partly lost their semantics and perform grammatical functions mostly: He is getting nervous.

The semantics of the whole predicate is presented by the second component called a predicative.

The predicativeThe predicative can be expressed by the following

word-classes:1.A noun: She is a beautiful girl. The car is my

brother’s.2.An adjective: She is kind and generous.3.A pronoun: That was he. The book was mine. What is

he?4.A numeral: She was 25. He was the first..5.The Infinitive: We are to have a test tomorrow.6.The Gerund: My hobby is reading.7.Participle II: He was surprised to know that…8.An adverb: It was enough to realize that…

The predicative

The predicative may refer either to the subject or to the object.

Hence, there exist 2 types of the Predicative:1.The subjective predicative and2.The objective predicative

The subjective predicative

The subjective predicative refers to the Subject in a sentence.

It may be expressed by the following word-classes:1.a noun in the Common case: She is still a kid.2. a pronoun: It is he who is responsible for the

incident. 3.an adjective The dish is superb! 4.a numeral: He is 25.5.the Gerund: He was seen running away.6.the Infinitive: His first thought was to go away.

The objective predicative

The objective predicative refers to the Object in a sentence.

It may be expressed by the following word-classes:1.a noun: He appointed her a secretary.2.an adjective: They painted the wall white.3.the Infinitive: He convinced me to join him4.The Gerund: I found him reading “The Times”.

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Mixed types of the compound predicate

There exist some mixed types of predicates:1. compound nominal modal predicate:

I longed to become a teacher. I didn’t mean to be rude.

2. compound nominal aspect predicate: He used to be a good student. I began to feel angry.

3. compound modal aspect predicate: I had to begin living again.You ought to stop talking nonsense.

The double predicate

The compound predicate has a subtype, the so-called double predicate.

The link verb there is expressed by a notional verb: They married young.

The Object (do what?)

They denote the object of an action. They are attached to the verb.The object may be expressed by the following word-classes:

1. a noun in the Common case: I am fond of reading books.

2. a pronoun: I want to know all about it. 3. a substantivized adjective:

Stop teasing the poor.4. the Gerund, etc.: She cannot stop loving you.

Prepositionless vs Prepositional

Prepositionless objects are subdivided into 1.direct objects

2.indirect objects 3.cognate objects

The Direct Object

The direct object is used after transitive verbs and denotes an object that is directly affected by the verb: They all are fond of reading books. What are you doing?

　　 Some verbs may have two direct objects. They are: to ask, to answer, to take, to forgive, to teach, etc.:

Answer me this question! She taught me English.

The Indirect Object

The indirect object denotes a person to whose benefit the action is performed.

It is usually used in a combination with the direct object and precedes it: Give me this book, please!

When the direct object precedes the indirect object, the latter is used with the prepositions to or for: Give it to Mary.

 

The Cognate Object

Cognate objects are frequently used with intransitive verbs that are expressed by nouns of the same root with the governing verb (to smile a smile, to live a life, to laugh a laugh, etc):

They live a happy life.

The Prepositional Object

The prepositional object is used with intransitive verbs and is expressed by means of various prepositions: You cannot depend on him. Thank you for your kindness.

The Complex ObjectThe complex object consists of two components of

which the second stands in predicate relations to the first one:

I saw her enter the building. The first component of the complex object is

usually expressed by a noun or a personal pronoun The second component – by the Infinitive: I saw her turn pale. We are

waiting for Mary to arrive. a participial construction or a gerundial

construction: He watched them talking. 

The Adverbial Modifier (Do how? Do when? Do which way?)

Express qualitative, quantitative or circumstantial features

Relations of time, place, reason, purpose, manner, degree, etc. I saw him in the afternoon (When?)

An adverbial modifier may be expressed by different parts of speech, such as

1. an adverb: I’ve seen him lately. 2. a noun with a preposition:

A few minutes later the train ran into the station. 3. a pronoun: She is older than I am. 4. an adjective: He looks old.

Types of Adverbial Modifiers

1.place and direction: I couldn’t find him anywhere;2.time: I’ll do it tonight;3.manner and attendant circumstances:

She looked excited;4.degree: He felt desperately lonely;5.cause: I felt ashamed of being watched;6.purpose: He opened the door for her to come in;7.result: They were too busy to notice him.

Complex Adverbial Modifier

1. the Infinitive: She rose to find him and talk to him seriously;

2. Participial constructions: When questioned, she answered very briefly. While waiting for her to come, we discussed the problem.

3. Gerundial constructions:She looked at me without speaking.

Extensions

They are modifiers of modifiers.

They are adverbial modifiers, which are adjuncts of adjectives and adverbs: You speak too loud. She is pretty nice.They are quite smart.

Attribute(What kind of object?)

It describes an object.The attribute may be expressed by a noun: She is a high school teacher. an adjective: She is a big girl already. an adverb: It’s an after effect.a numeral: Look at the second desk! a pronoun: Take care of your family. Participle I: I admired the snow glittering on the

branches of the trees.

Pre-position vs Post-position

A beautiful girl… (pre-position)A voice inside was loud. (post-position)The room above was small. (post-position)

Constructions and Phrases

The destroyed building…(Participle II)A dancing girl book Participle I)A dancing hall (Gerund)The idea of borrowing money (prepositional with

the Gerund construction) They’ve got work to do (Infinitive) A book for you to read… (for+to Infinitive

construction)