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Shivaji University, B.A III, English Special, Language and Linguistics (CBCS), Semester VI Paper XVI (DSE E- 140), , MODULE VIII, BASIC AND DERIVED STRUCTURES, , 1
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MODULE VIII, BASIC AND DERIVED STRUCTURES, Contents:, 1. Objectives, 2. Introduction, 3. Presentation of the Subject Matter, 2.1 Section I - Inversion, Fronting and Negation, Check Your Progress, 2.2 Section II -Interrogation, Exclamation and Omission, Check Your Progress, 2.3 Section III- Passivisation, Subject Raising and Style Transformation, Check Your Progress, 4. Summary, 5. Terms to Remember, 6. Answers to Check Your Progress, 7. Exercises, 8. Reference for Further Study, OBJECTIVES:, ● Generate awareness amongst the learners about a CONSTITUENT, STRUCTURE three-dimensional model of grammar, ● To acquaint the learners the exceptional orders of English word order., ● To introduce the learners the basic and derived structures, ● To accustom the learners with range of grammatical patterns especially, variations of order and stylistic transformations, After studying this unit learners will be able to:, ● apply a CONSTITUENT STRUCTURE three-dimensional model of, grammar., ● provide complete syntactic analysis for complex sentences of English., ● use various experimental methods of syntactic structure- the basic and, derived structures, ● design and run their own experiments for spoken and written modes., , 2
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1. INTRODUCTION:, In previous modules, we have studied phonology, morphology, and syntax, (phrase, clause and sentence structures) of English language. A description of, English so far has been aimed at the analysis of various structures that make up the, language, paying attention to notions like ‘form’ and ‘function’ i.e., CONSTITUENT STRUCTURE model of grammar. However, this approach, sometimes fails to account for certain structures. In this module, we review the, notions of:, ● BASIC STRUCTURE which does not show application of transformation, rules,, ● DERIVED STRUCTURE which results after rules have been applied to, basic structures, and,, ● TRANSFORMATIONS which can be considered as rules that allow a, clause to change its structure to a different one., Parts of speech, or word categories, indicate what words usually do, or may be, expected to do. Some of these categories - such as nouns and pronouns - make sense, when we consider words in isolation. Others - such as conjunctions or prepositions, - only make sense within a longer structure, a phrase, clause or sentence., These three terms are traditional, and do not easily describe how strings of language, work. The internal grammar of phrases, clauses and sentences refers to the principles, (sometimes mistakenly called “rules”) of structure and organization., In the syntax of English there are the, structures: clauses and sentences. You may know that:, ●, ●, ●, , two, , most, , important, , the sentence as we know it, is not found in all languages, the sentence is not a necessary structure in natural language, many written texts and most spoken data are not organized into regular, sentence forms, , The sentence, especially, is much more characteristic of written than of spoken, English, and of formal rather than informal usage. Alternatively, we may say that, spoken English contains sentence types not usually found in writing. It means that, in English there is fixed word order but exceptional orders are also allowed. The, normal declarative clause has a neutral, basic order of clause elements - S, P, 0, C,, 3
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A . The other clause types - e.g. questions, relative clauses - can be explained as, systematic deviations from this expected order. For example:, 1. A. [(I) (like) (Ice-cream)]. --BASIC ORDER (SPO), B. [(Ice-cream) (I) (like)].-- DERIVED ORDER (OSP), 2. A. [(He) (fell)(down)]. --BASIC ORDER (SPA), B. [(Down) (he) (fell)].-- DERIVED ORDER (ASP), In above examples, there are the variations of order. These rules are considered as, transformations as they change one clause structure into another. The, transformation allows us to keep the idea of a ‘basic’ or ‘neutral’ ordering., Transformations are either ‘optional’ (as either order is grammatical) or, ‘obligatory’ (as only derived order is possible), PRESENTATION OF THE SUBJECT MATTER:, The word-order of the clause creates a number of sentence structures that allow us, to communicate a given core meaning in different ways depending on how we, want to present. This is also referred as ‘package’ the information /, transformations., For example,, Krishna broke the buttermilk pot,, The buttermilk pot was broken by Krishna,, The buttermilk pot Krishna broke,, It was Krishna who broke the buttermilk pot,, What Krishna broke was the buttermilk pot, All have the same core meaning. But the first of them, Krishna broke the buttermilk, pot, is syntactically most basic, while the others are derived constructions. Let us, see other examples:, Name, 1 Fronting/, Preposing, 2 Postponing, , Derived, , Basic counterpart, , Gossiping I hate., , I hate gossiping., , I have lent to Archiet the only I have lent the only copy that, copy that has been rectified., has been rectified to Archiet., 4
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3 Inversion, 4 Passive, 5 Existential, 6 Extra position, 7 Cleft, 8 Pseudo-cleft, 9 Dislocation, , In the suitcase was a diamond, necklace., Bananas are adored by, monkeys., There was nobody around., It is well known that coffee, grows in Brazil., It was Chinmay who ate the, cake., What you need is a good, sleep, It is delicious, this food, , A diamond necklace was in, the suitcase., Monkeys adore bananas., Nobody was around., That coffee grows in Brazil is, well known to all., Chinmay ate the cake., You need a good sleep., This food is delicious., , In the first three we are concerned simply with the order of elements, while the, others involve more radical changes., ● The basic position for the Object, Gossiping in [1] is after the verb, but in [a], it is preposed, placed at the front of the clause., ● In [2] the basic position for the Object, the only copy that has been rectified,is, just after the verb but long or complex elements like this can be postponed,, placed at the end., ● In [3] the positions of the Subject and Complement of the basic version [b], are reversed in the inversion construction [a]. (More precisely, this is SubjectDependent inversion, in contrast to the Subject-auxiliary inversion, construction. The Dependent is usually a Complement but can also be an, Adjunct, as in Ten hours later came news of his mother’s death due to Corona, virus.), ● In [4] (the only one where the basic version has a distinct name, `active') the, Object becomes Subject, the Subject becomes Complement of by and the, auxiliary be is added., ● The existential construction applies mainly with the verb be: the basic Subject, is displaced to follow the verb and the semantically empty pronoun there(a, dummy subject) takes over the Subject function., ● In [6] the Subject is a subordinate clause (That coffee grows in Brazil); in [a], this is extraposed, and the pronoun it functions as a Subject., 5
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● In [7] the cleft clause is formed by the basic version: Chinmay is highlighted, by making it Complement of a clause with it as Subject., ● The pseudo-cleft construction is similar, but this time the subordinated part is, put in a fused relative (what you need) functioning as Subject of be., ● Dislocation belongs to fairly informal style. It differs from the basic version, in having an extra noun phrase, set apart intentionally and related to a pronoun, in the main Subject-Predicate part of the clause. In the left dislocation variant, the pronoun occurs to the left of the noun phrase; in right dislocation it is the, other way round, as in His father, she can't stand him., 2.1 SECTION I: INVERSION, FRONTING AND NEGATION:, Now let us see in detail English structures containing inversion of a clausal, operator/ auxiliary, the Fronting (preposing, left dislocation) of a phrasal constituent, and Negation., 2.1.1 Inversion: [A + S + P → A + P + S], e.g. There stood the Commander in chief, Here come the police cars, Most often inversion is defined as “a reversal of position, order, form or, relationship: such as a change in the canonical SVO word order; especially: the, placement of a verb before its subject” (Merriam Webster Dictionary), Another definition states: “Inversion happens when we reverse (invert) the, normal word order of a structure most commonly the subject-verb word order. For, example, a statement has the subject (S) before the verb (V), but to make question, word order, we invert the subject and the verb, with an auxiliary (AUX) or modal, verb (M) before the subject (S). Sometimes inversion in questions is explained as “a, change of the places” of the auxiliary verb and the subject or as “a switch” of the, subject with the auxiliary., Negative Inversion (NI) is a non-canonical syntax phenomenon in which a, negative constituent appears in a non-canonical position in the left periphery of the, sentence triggering subject-auxiliary inversion. For example:, ● I have never seen such a big lion. → Never have I seen such a big lion., ● When will you go? → When you will go?, ● Muffins, I will eat tomorrow →Muffins, will I eat tomorrow, ● None of them he found useful. → None of them did he find useful, 6
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● Nothing I have seen that could rival the pyramids. → [There is] nothing I, have seen that could rival the pyramids, Check your progress:, Transform the following structures into inversion, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , I implore your forgiveness., I was shocked, The decision will come tomorrow., She made there an excellent decision, I think I know whose woods these are., , 2.1.2 Fronting: S + P + O/C/A → O/C/A + S + P, ● I like mangos → Mangos I like, ● He has a great surprise →What a great surprise he has, ● [*I can’t read he is writing what]→I can’t read what he is writing, Fronting refers to the initial placement of core elements which are normally, found in post-verbal position. There are patterns which differ in stylistic effect and, in register distribution. Fronting has different functions such as organizing, information flow to achieve cohesion, expressing contrast, enabling particular, elements to gain emphasis., Fronting with subject-operator inversion : In some instances, fronting a negative, adverbial constituent or an adverbial constituent expressing extent, degree, or, comparison gives a more emphatic or exclamatory reading to the sentence as a, whole; in such cases, subject-operator inversion accompanies the constituent, fronting (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman,1999)., Present participle fronting:, ● Our missing uncle was sitting at the kitchen table. →Sitting at the kitchen, table was our missing uncle., Past participle fronting:, ● Several barrels of wine were hidden in the cellar. →Hidden in the cellar were, several barrels of wine., 7
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Comparative fronting:, ● What he said was more important than what he did. →, than what he did was what he said., , More, , important, , Fronting with or without subject-verb inversion:, Adverbial fronting: There are many types of adverbial fronting that occur in, English. Some of them are:, Adverbials of time: He jogs in the morning. →, , In the morning he jogs., , Adverbials of manner:, ● Ammu proceeded to carve the roast skillfully. → Skillfully, Ammu, proceeded to carve the roast., Adverbials of reason:, ● I made some unfortunate remarks at the meeting because I was annoyed. →, Because I was annoyed, I made some unfortunate remarks at the meeting., ● Jimmy ran into the house. → Into the house Jimmy ran., Check your progress:, Replace the word order in the following sentences by using Fronting, Transformation structures., 1. A large white cat sat in the middle of the bed., 2. The robbers ran out of the bank., 3. They rushed into the street., 4. An old man sat quietly in the corner., 5. There's a small store room next to the kitchen., 6. I've never seen such careless work., 7. I've rarely eaten such a delicious meal., 8. We don't know when he left., 9. I can't understand why she didn't tell us., 10.We have no idea where she has gone., 2.1.3 Negation:, 8
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Negation, (Merriam Webster refers to) as “the action or logical operation, of negating or making negative”. In English grammar, there are some different ways, for negating. First of all, the grammatical tense of the verb needs to be considered, and not merely ‘not’. Sometimes an auxiliary verb is additionally required. In most, cases, ‘not’ is inserted in the clause and attached to the auxiliary in its short, form ‘n’t’. If the context is formal or if the negation needs to be emphasized then,, ‘not’ can also appear as a separate word after the verb. In any case, the type of, sentence does not matter and it can therefore be interrogative, declarative or, imperative. Compare the possibilities:, 1. The auxiliary verb ‘to do’ is only required in negations in simple tenses –, present and past., For example:, ● I eat a mango. → I don’t eat a mango., ● She eats a mango → She doesn’t eat a mango., ● He ate a mango. → He didn’t eat a mango., 2. Verb tenses that already have an auxiliary in their positive statements, simply need to be complemented with ‘not’. It occurs in the continuous forms (ingforms), constructions with passive voice and all perfect tenses. In a similar, way, modal verbs solely need ‘not’ for their negation as they also belong to the, group of auxiliary verbs., For example:, ● Meera is talking with Krishna. → Meera isn’t talking with Krishna., ● Sachin has been playing cricket since his childhood → Sachin hasn’t been, playing cricket since his childhood, ● Harish can read English Newspaper → Harish cannot read English, Newspaper, The verb ‘to be’ is an exception here. Even as a full verb, it is negated with ‘not’ :, ●, , Samira is at home. → Samira is not at home., , 9
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3. Sometimes, clauses can also be negated by using other words. Such words, already bear a negative meaning and hence do not require ‘not’ in the sentence. Here, are some examples of words that carry negative meaning:, ●, , The adverb of frequency ‘never’:, ●, ●, , ●, , neither:, ●, ●, , ●, , Neither of us passed the exam., (We both didn’t pass the exam.), , Prefixes that express the negative opposite:, ●, ●, , ●, , They never go to bed after 11 o’clock., (They don’t go to bed after 11 o’clock.), , What you’re doing is illegal., (What you’re doing is not legal.), , Indefinite pronouns, such as ‘nobody’ or ‘none’:, ●, ●, , Nobody could help me yesterday., (Not anybody could help me yesterday.), , Check your progress:, Change the sentences into negative:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , A brave man alone can do this., I need a book only., You have to drink clean water., He ate eggs and vegetables., Everybody dislikes a liar., , 10
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2.2 SECTION II: INTERROGATION, EXCLAMATION AND OMISSION:, 2.2.1 Interrogation:, Interrogative transformation provides questions that will produce more than, a yes/no answer. It may be used with any of the sentence patterns. To create the, transformation,, ● an interrogative word is placed at the beginning of the sentence,, ● positions of the subject and verb are reversed, and, ● do/does/did if needed are added (action or linking verb without auxiliary verb)., Interrogative, how when, , words:, where, , why, , what, , which, , who, , whom, , For example:, ● Ritu is happy → Why is Ritu happy?, ● The dog is eating the bone. →Where is the dog eating the bone?, ● The grass has grown tall. → How has the grass grown tall?, ● The dog eats the bone. → How does the dog eat the bone?, ● The grass grew tall. → When did the grass grow tall?, Sentences using which or whose to create the interrogative may not require, adding do/does/did or transposing the positions of the subject and verb., ● The dog eats the bone →Whose dog eats the bone?, ● The dog is eating the bone → Whose dog is eating the bone?, ● The grass has grown tall. → Which grass has grown tall?, Transformation of interrogative with yes-no answer may be used with any, of the sentence patterns. To transform sentences into the interrogative with yesno answer,, A. with a verb of being as the main verb: the position of the subject and the, verb is transposed., e.g. Moti is my dog. →Is Moti my dog?, 11
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B. with an action or linking verb that has an auxiliary, verb (have or be): The position of the subject and the auxiliary verb is transposed., e.g. The dog is eating the bone →Is the dog eating the bone?, , 12
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C. with an action or linking verb that does not have an auxiliary, verb: The appropriate number and tense of do is added., e.g. The dog eats the bone →Does the dog eat the bone?, Check your progress:, 1. He said nothing about the matter., 2. There is no use of this book., 3. Smoking is a bad habit., 4. All hates a liar., 5. Anyone can do it., 2.2.2 Exclamation:, Transformation of exclamatory creates a surprise statement. It may be used with, all sentence patterns. To make the exclamatory transformation,, ● what or how is placed at the beginning of the sentence, ● words in the sentence are rearranged as needed, ● an exclamation point is placed at the end of the sentence, Examples:, ● The dog eats the bone→ What a bone the dog eats!, ● I consider Shakti intelligent → How intelligent I consider Shakti!, ● The grass grows tall. → How tall the grass grows!, ● Archiet is happy → How happy Archiet is!, Check your progress:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , It is a great river., The night is very beautiful., It is a very wonderful scene., I wish I had the wings of a bird., You draw very well., , 13
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2.2.3 Omission:, In spoken and written English, omission is used as linguistic mechanism, which helps specific linguistic structures to be expressed more economically, at the, same time maintaining their clarity and comprehensiveness. This mechanism, include mainly those linguistic structures that enable the avoidance of repetition,, either by choosing alternative (usually shorter) words, phrases, or by complete, omission of words, phrases or clauses., Omission or Ellipsis is a way in which to improve your writing style by, avoiding the repetition of words previously used in a sentence. Ellipsis is, distinguished by the structure having some missing elements. These elements are, obvious from the context hence need not be raised. Ellipsis is the omission of, “elements in a sentence”, but what is left out is understood from the immediate, environment (Thornbury 2006, p.73)., 2.2.3.1 Relative Pronouns:, Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses. A relative clause is a type of, adjective clause used to modify a word or phrase in the main clause. The word or, phrase thus modified by the relative clause is called its antecedent., ● The purse that Jennie bought was expensive., Here the relative clause that Jennie bought modifies the noun purse. Therefore the, word dress is the antecedent of the relative clause. We can omit relative pronouns, when they are not the subject of the clause (without affecting the structure or, meaning of the sentence). For example: This is the dress (that) I bought yesterday., Since that doesn’t change the meaning or structure of the sentence, we can omit, relative pronoun, that., Note that Relative Pronoun can be omitted if it is an object, but not if it is a, Subject., The relative pronoun may be omitted when it acts as the object of the, relative clause., 14
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●, ●, ●, ●, , I know the person whom you are talking about. (More formal), I know the person who you are talking about. (Less formal), I know the person you are talking about. (Informal), The bookstore did not have the book that I wanted. (Formal), , 15
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●, ●, ●, , The bookstore did not have the book I wanted. (Informal), This is the house in which I lived when I was younger. (Formal), This is the house where I lived when I was younger. (Formal), , The word whom is not used very often. It is almost always omitted while speaking., In a less formal style, people sometimes use who instead of whom., Whom cannot be omitted when it is preceded by a preposition because in this, case whom acts as the object of the preposition., ●, ●, , At last, the officer for whom we were desperately waiting arrived. (Formal), This is the woman that we were talking about. OR This is the, woman we were talking about., , If we have a defining Relative Clause, using the verb “be’, it can be dropped. The, end result may be a Relative Clause or an Adjective Phrase or a Participle Phrase, modifying the Noun. For Example:, ● The man, who was walking ahead, was an undercover agent., ● The man, walking ahead, was an undercover agent., Check your progress:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., , The dog that Mary is petting is very fluffy., The water that I drank was very cold., The cat that Mary is petting can be dangerous., That’s the circus in which I work., That’s the girl whom I would marry., The elephant, who was interested in the bananas, was rather genial., , 2.2.3.2 Comparative Clauses:, Comparative deletion is different from many of the other optional ellipsis, mechanisms. Usually, the omission in a comparative clause is obligatory. More, women arrived than we expected (women would arrive)., ●, ●, ●, ●, , Ritu ordered more beer than we could drink (beer)., Raju looks more satisfied than Ritu (looks satisfied)., Kapil has friends in more countries than you have friends in (countries)., She is right more often than the others (are right)., 16
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However, words must be omitted to a point where the sentence does not become, ambiguous. Let’s see ambiguous sentences:, ● John loves money more than his wife., The comparison in this sentence is ambiguous as it may have two meanings., Meaning 1, where the intended comparison is between “money” and “his wife”,, then the sentence must be written this way:, ● John has more love for money than for his wife., Meaning 2, where the intended comparison is between “John” and “his wife”,, then the sentence must be written this way:, ● John has more love for money than has his wife., Check your progress, Find out the omitted elements in the following structures:, 1. Sweta was working more quickly than he was., 2. Revati and Priti are a bit shorter than I., 3. This apple is tastier than the other one., 4. Minu runs faster than his sister., 5. Charu liked the movie more than we., 2.2.3.3 Omission in Coordinate Constructions:, The conjunction links units within sentences, the conjunct can links clauses, within sentences and make links between sentences. Thus conjuncts play an, important role in establishing cohesion within texts. Conjunctions are words which, join clauses or smaller units of a sentence together. We have seen that coordination, of words and phrases often implies ellipsis. Let’s see how the sentences work being, derived by ellipsis., Ellipsis in coordinated clauses, ● Ellipsis of subject, ● Ellipsis of auxiliary only, ● Ellipsis of predicate/predication, ● Ellipsis of Od /Cs only, ● Ellipsis of A, ● Ellipsis of Head-noun/C prep, 17
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1. Ellipsis of Subject (& auxiliary) in subsequent clauses. + Identical subjects of, coordinated clause are ellipted., E.g.: John played piano and (John/he) sang a song., Peter ate a sandwich and (Peter/he) drank a cup of tea., Sometimes, ellipsis of both Subject and auxiliary occurs., E.g.: Tim was drinking milk and (Tim/he was) watching TV., She has finished the homework and (she has) washed the clothes., 2. Ellipsis of auxiliary alone., E.g.: Pan should clean the bed and Jack (should) open the door., He was sleeping and (he was) snoring., 3. Ellipsis of predicate or predication., Ellipsis of first part of predicate/ predication:, VP only or lexical Verb only., e.g. We are studying Grammar now and (we) will be (studying) next Friday., I work in a factory and he (works) on a farm., VP + Subject compliment, e.g. It’s cold in December in England, but (it’s cold) in July in New Delhi., Brazil was the winner of USA 94 and France (was the winner) of France 98., VP/ lexical Verb + direct Object, e.g. I go to school in the morning and my brother (goes to school) in the, afternoon., Ronaldo plays football for Real Madrid and Messi (plays football) for, Barcelona., Ellipsis of whole predication, e.g. They can pay the full fee, but (they) won’t (pay the full fee)., 4. Ellipsis of direct Object / Subject compliment, e.g. Jim opened (the door), but Marry closed, the door., 5. Ellipsis of head of Noun phrase, e.g. She wore a black dress, but the blue (dress) suits her better., He wanted boiled fish, but they gave him fried (fish)., 6. Ellipsis in phrasal coordination, E.g.: We wanted fried fish, but they gave us boiled (fish)., She wore the black dress, but the blue (dress) suits her better., Bob is bored with (music), but Peter enjoys music., 18
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Check your progress:, Find out the omitted elements in the following structures:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , They were tired but happy., She was pleased although slightly disappointed., They have painted the house and the garage., She has cleaned and repaired the door., I have washed the car and painted the door., , 2.2.3.4 Tag Questions: The most interesting type of elliptical clause is the Tag, Question—an interrogative clause which is tagged on to the end of a declarative, clause and which acts as a request for confirmation. Basically, the rule applied in, Tag Question is that in positive sentences a negative question tag is needed and, in negative ones a positive. However, there may be other combinations depending, on meaning and pronunciation. Here are some examples of Tag Questions:, ● You can drive, can’t you?, ● Pass me the salt, would you?, ● Don’t be late, will you?, ● Let’s go for movie, shall we?, ● There weren’t a lot of things left at the sale, were there?, ● I’m very lazy, aren’t I?, Check your progress:, Find out the omitted tag questions in the following structures:, 1. Helen is from London., 2. Archiet plays the piano., 3. She isn’t very happy about her new job., 4. We are not allowed to leave., 5. Your neighbors never use their car., , 19
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2.3 SECTION III: PASSIVISATION, SUBJECT RAISING AND STYLE, TRANSFORMATION:, 2.3.1 Passive transformation:, Passive sentences are derived from their active counterparts by a rule of, transformation which moves their object NPs to the subject position, in addition to, making other modifications. The sentence may be any of the following patterns:, NP1 + V-tr + NP2, The dog ate the bone., NP1 + V-tr + NP2 + NP3, Rita gave Mita a ring., NP1 + V-tr + NP2 + Adj, We consider Rita intelligent., NP1 + V-tr + NP2 + NP2, The people made Sam king., The passive is used, essentially, in three situations:, ● To put more emphasis on the word that would be the object of an active, sentence., ● To write an impersonal sentence., ● To simplify the structure of a complex sentence, In many instances, we delete the agent in passive sentences (Passive Agent, Deletion) For example: The cake was eaten., When the subject agent is not identified, we use an indefinite pronoun to fill, the slot where it would appear in the basic structure. For example:, [Someone] ate the cake. → The cake was eaten [by someone]., We can say, therefore, that sentence has undergone two transformations- passive, and passive agent deletion., Here are some examples of passive transformation:, ● Sara cheated Dhara. → Dhara was cheated (by Sara)., ● The teacher put the glasses in the drawer. →The glasses were put in the, drawer (by the teacher)., ● They process sales data in a computer → Sales data is processed in a, computer, ● Someone stole Kevin’s bike yesterday → Kevin’s bike was stolen yesterday, ● She interviewed the writer at the conference →The writer was interviewed at, the conference, ● She sings new songs in this CD → New songs are sung in this CD, ● John Grisham wrote The Innocent Man → The Innocent Man was written by, 20
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John Grisham, ● They sell hamburgers at MacDonald’s Hamburgers → Hamburgers are sold, at MacDonald’, ● I must clean my room→ My room must be cleaned by me, ● I can drive a car. → A car can be driven by me., ● You should read this book. →This book should be read by you., Check your progress:, Give the passive transformations of the following structures:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , John drinks a cup of tea., Elsa saw the television., Frank has driven a bus., Kelly had broken a glass., I will win the lottery., , 2.3.2 Subject Raising:, Subject Raising involves raising the subject from a lower part of a sentence, (in other words, a subordinate clause) to become the subject of a higher part of the, sentence, usually the main clause. For example:, 1. It seems [that you’re worried]., 2. You seem [to be worried]., The subject of sentence 1 is ‘it’, a dummy subject, in other words, a subject, with no meaning. The dummy subject simply fills the role of subject in a sentence,, which can’t usually be left empty in English. However, that-clause in 1 has a real, subject, ‘you’, which certainly has meaning., Sentence 2 means the same as sentence 1. The only difference is that the, subject of the sentence is now ‘you’. It’s almost as if the subject from that-clause, has been lifted up to become subject of the whole sentence. In the process of losing, its subject, that-clause has been reduced to a mere to-infinitive. This process is, called subject raising and the subject of sentence 2 is called a raised subject. Here, are some more examples., 3a. It’s likely that they’re waiting in the office. → b. They’re likely to be, waiting in the office., 4a. It appears that we missed them. →b. We appear to have missed them., 5a. It happened that I saw Dave yesterday. →b. I happened to see Dave, yesterday., The progressive form in 3a (they’re waiting) leads to a progressive infinitive in the, 21
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raised version (to be waiting). Similarly, the past form in 4a (missed) leads to a, perfect infinitive (to have missed). But in 5a, the past form (saw) doesn’t lead to a, perfect infinitive – it’s just a normal infinitive (to see, not to have seen). The main, verb (happened) is in the past tense, and that’s enough to make it clear that the whole, sentence is about the past., In all these examples so far, a meaningful subject has replaced a dummy, subject (it). But this isn’t always the case. See the following examples:, 6a. I’m certain she’ll be here soon. → b. She’s certain to be here soon., 7a. It’s likely that it’ll rain tonight. → b. It’s likely to rain tonight., 8a. It is said that there are hundreds of fans. → b. There are said to be hundreds of, fans., 9a. I’m sure there’s a solution. →b. There’s sure to be a solution., In sentence 6, we’ve got one meaningful subject (she) replacing another, meaningful subject (I). This is much less common, and is mostly restricted to, sentences with ‘sure’ and ‘certain’, where the lost subject, ‘I’, is still obvious from, context., In sentence 7, in contrast, we’ve got a dummy subject (the ‘it’ from ‘it’ll, rain’) replacing another dummy ‘it’. The (a) and (b) versions both appear to start, with the same word, ‘it’, but it’s a different ‘it’ in each case., In sentence 8, we’ve got another dummy subject, in this case the ‘there’ from, ‘there is/are’, moving up to replace the dummy subject ‘it’., Finally, in sentence 9, we’ve got a dummy subject ‘there’ replacing a, meaningful subject, ‘I’., Study the structures carefully while you subject raising:, ● verbs of seeming: appear and seem (e.g. You seem/appear to be right). But, not look, sound, feel, etc., 22
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● adjectives of probability: sure, certain, likely, unlikely (e.g. You’re, likely/sure to be right). But not probable, possible, uncertain, inevitable, etc., ● passive reporting verbs: be said, be thought, be known, be believed, be, rumoured, etc. (He’s said/known/thought to be dangerous)., ● passive verbs of expectation: be expected, be required, be, supposed (e.g. He’s expected/supposed/required to be here soon), ● verbs of happening: happen (e.g. If you happen to see Jim, …) and turn, out (e.g. We turned out to be the only guests). But not occur., , 23
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Let’s conclude the unit. The motivations behind Subject Raising, transformation are: First, together with other transformations, it enables us explicitly, to characterize a host of synonymous sentences as being derived from the same, structure. Secondly, it enables us to capture certain linguistically significant, generalizations in a simple and straightforward way., Check your progress:, Transform the following sentences using a process of subject raising, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , John seems to be unhappy., The man appears to have witnessed the accident., The Anteaters are likely to lose again., They happen to have been invited to the same party., The answer turns out to be very simple., , 2.3.3 Style and Transformation:, Many transformations are primarily stylistic in function, e.g. passive,, ● The rainstorms have destroyed many houses, ● Many houses have been destroyed by the rainstorms, ● Many houses have been destroyed, Some other transformations involving transposition of clause elements include:, , a) Cleft sentences, The cleft sentence derives its name from the fact that a single clause is cleft, into two clause-like parts, even though it is generally analyzed as a single, clause with 2 predicates instead of as 2 separate clauses., Basic structure: John was wearing pink socks last night, Derived structures: (Sj) It was Rahul that was wearing white socks last night, (O) It was white socks that Rahul was wearing last night, (A) It was last night that Rahul was wearing white socks, b) Existential sentences:, , 24
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They resemble cleft-sentences in that they are introduced by a special particle, as Subject followed by TO BE. The prop subject in this case is the so-called, EXISTENTIAL particle ‘THERE’ introducing a proposition of existence., Rule: [S + BE + X → There + BE + Sj + X],, ● Nobody was around → There was nobody around, ● A few people are getting promoted → There are a few people getting, promoted, c. Extra position:, A construction in which a Nominal Clause, usually one functioning as Subject, is postponed to the end of the main clause and is replaced in its basic position, by the empty subject ‘IT’., ‘END-WEIGHT’, Rule: [S + P ] → [It + P + S], ● What you say to them doesn’t matter → It doesn’t matter what you say, to them, [S + P + C] → [It + P + C + S], ● That the dispute has been settled is encouraging → It is encouraging, that the dispute has been settled, [S + P + IO + DO]→[It + S + P + IO + DO], ● To move the exam causes him considerable pain →It causes him, considerable pain to move the exam, D. Fronting of Subordinate Clause Object:, There is the fronting of subordinate clause:, ● She is easy to please→ It is easy to please her, ● Sachin is a pleasure to watch when he bats→ It is a pleasure to watch, Sachin when he bats., ● It is difficult to play a piano→ A piano is difficult to play., ● It is a fun to be with friends→ Friends are fun to be with., There is the occurrence of verb fronting in subordinate clauses in English. One, example is the conditional clause:, ● We wouldn’t be in this mess if I had been in charge→ [Had I been in, charge] we wouldn’t be in this mess., E. Substitution of PP for Indirect Object:, , 25
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● The sun gave the garden a pocketful of sunshine. →The sun gave a, pocketful of sunshine to the garden., ● Reetu’s mom brought her a glassful of seashells. →Reetu’s mom, brought a glassful of seashells for her., ● Mitu gave her sister a sidelong stare. . → Mitu gave a sidelong stare, to her sister., ● Can we tell our friends the story of how we met? →Can we tell the, story of how we met to our friends?, F. Postponement of Postmodifier:, ● People who work hard succeed in life. → People succeed in life who, works hard., ● The road to a mastery of Grammar is very thorny. → The road is very, thorny to a mastery of Grammar., ● A meeting of all the members of editorial board was held. →A meeting, was held of all the members of editorial board., ● The book on the table is about syntax. →The book about syntax is on, the table., ● The book which is on the table is about syntax. →The book which is, about syntax is on the table., ● The dress that John likes is in the wardrobe. →John likes the dress, that is in the wardrobe., Check your progress:, Substitute the Indirect Objects in the following sentences by PP:, ●, ●, ●, ●, ●, , Sara assembled Mita a brand new office chair., Archiet’s mom offered him Mercedes on his 21st birthday., During the heavy rainfall, I wrote my parents a heartfelt letter., Let’s bring Mom and Dad the manuscript of our first play., Ajit finally gave Amrita the engagement ring., , 26
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ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS, 2.1.1 Inversion:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , Your forgiveness I implore, Shocked, I was., Tomorrow will come the decision., An excellent decision she made there, Whose woods these are I think I know, , 2.1.2. Fronting, 1. In the middle of the bed sat a large white cat., 2. Out of the bank ran the robbers., 3. Into the street they rushed., 4. In the corner, an old man sat quietly., 5. Next to the kitchen is a small store room., 6. Never have I seen such careless work., 7. Rarely have I eaten such a delicious meal., 8. When he left we don't know., 9. Why she didn't tell us I cannot understand., 10. Where she has gone we have no idea., 2.1.3. Negative:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , None but a brave man can do this., I need nothing but a book., You cannot but drink clean water, He ate not only eggs but also vegetables, Nobody likes a liar., , 2.2.1 Interrogation:, 1. Did he say anything about the matter?, 2. What is the use of this book?, 3. Isn’t smoking a bad habit?, 27
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4. Who doesn’t hate a liar?, 5. Who can’t do it?, , 2.2.2 Exclamation:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , What a great river it is!, How beautiful the night is!, What a wonderful scene it is!, Had I the wings of bird!, How well you draw!, , 2.2.3 Omission, 2.2.3.1 Relative Pronouns:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., , The dog Mary is petting is very fluffy., The water I drank was very cold., The cat, Mary is petting can be dangerous., That’s the circus I work in., That’s the girl I would marry., The elephant interested in the bananas was rather genial., , 2.2.3.2 Comparative Clauses:, 6. Sweta was working more quickly than he was (working), 7. Revati and Priti are a bit shorter than I (am)., 8. This apple is tastier than the other one (is)., 9. Minu runs faster than his sister (does)., 10.Charu liked the movie more than we (liked it)., 2.2.3.3 Omission in Coordinate Construction:, 1. They were tired but (they were) happy., 2. She was pleased although (she was) slightly disappointed., 3. They have painted the house and (they have painted) the garage, 4. She has cleaned and (she has)repaired the door, 5. I have washed the car and (I have)painted the door, 28
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2.2.3.4 Tag Questions:, 1. Helen is from London, isn’t she?, 2. Archiet plays the piano, doesn’t he?, 3. She isn’t very happy about her new job, is she?, 4. We are not allowed to leave, are we?, 5. Your neighbors never use their car, do they?, , 29
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2.3.1 Passive transformations, 1. A cup of tea is drunk by John., 2. The television was seen by Elsa., 3. A bus has been driven by Frank., 4. A glass had been broken by Kelly., 5. The lottery will be won by me., 2.3.2 Subject Raising, 1. It seems that John is unhappy., 2. It appears that the man has witnessed the accident., 3. It is likely that the Anteaters will lose again., 4. It happens that they have been invited to the same party., 5. It turns out that the answer is very simple., 2.3.3 Style and Transformation:, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., , Sara assembled a brand new office chair for Mita., Archiet’s mom offered Mercedes to him on his 21st birthday., During the heavy rainfall, I wrote a heartfelt letter to my parents ., Let’s bring the manuscript of our first play for Mom and Dad ., Ajit finally gave the engagement ring to Amrita ., , 3. SUMMARY, In this module, we have seen some complex areas of English Garmmar., Although parsing of the derived structures may seem unimportant as a grammar, topic, in fact, many of these structures occur frequently enough in spoken and, written English. Focus is a discourse-functional notion, related to what, speaker/writer wants to draw the listener/reader‘s attention to in the ongoing, discourse or text. As it was pointed out, such attention can be activated through the, use of marked word order and special focus constructions., Clefting occurs widely in conversation and basic function of them is to make, certain elements more prominent. It-clefts can be incorporated in regular oral, grammar practice and in composition instruction. On the other hand, wh-clefts used, to contradict something that has been said are good candidates for oral grammar, activities. Main functions of it-clefts are contradicting, arguing a point and, establishing a topic whereas the functions of wh-clefts are resuming a topic,, 30
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presenting the gist and contradicting. Fronting of prepositional phrases, adverbs,, and reduced relative clauses is used often in academic and popular writing, as leftdislocation., The main aim of the use of fronting are emphasizing an element, emphasizing, a contrast, introducing the topic of an article and introducing a topic shift. Thus,, knowledge of how to use these focus structures effectively could help advanced, students to improve their writing skills., 4. TERMS TO REMEMBER, ● Base form: the (at least apparently) uninflected form of the verb. It can be finite, or non-finite., ● Clause: a structure containing a (visible or invisible) subject and a predicate., ● Complement: an argument which follows the verb, or, more generally, a phrase, selected by a head., ● Constituent: a linguistic expression that functions as a unit in grammatical, structure. A group of words that undergo syntactic processes together., ● Deep-structure: the structure before movement takes place, a representation of, thematic relations., ● Ellipsis is the omission of one or more words in order to avoid repetition., ● Embedded clause: a clause that is part of a larger constituent (I know [that you, like him], the man [that you like]., ● Extra-position: a constituent (PP, CP) moved from the phrase where it belongs, to a sentence final position., ● focus fronting: focus can be indicated either by stress alone or by movement in, which latter case we speak about focus fronting, as the constituent that bears, focus stress moves to the front of the clause, as in Peter I wouldn't trust, ● Focus: the stressed element in a sentence that carries new information., ● Generative grammar: a grammar containing rules with the help of which we, can generate all and only the well-formed expressions of a language (therefore, excluding the ungrammatical structures)., ● Immediate constituent: the immediate constituent of a node is the node that is, lower than the given constituent and is connected to it by a single branch. It is the, constituent directly below the node it is the immediate constituent of., , 31
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● Interrogative clause: a structure mainly used to ask for information, either in, the form of a yes–no question or a wh-question., ● Main clause: a clause that is not embedded in another clause., ● Negative fronting: a movement type where a negative element is placed at the, beginning of the clause as in Never have I met such a talented musician!, ● Passive structure: a verb with the -en ending often (but not always) preceded by, an inflected form of be. Passive verbs do not have a VP-projection similar to VPs, in active structures., ● Passive voice: the subject of the passive sentence is interpreted as the object of, the verb., ● Subject–auxiliary inversion: a descriptive cover term for the reverse order of, the subject and the auxiliary in questions like Can you dance?, see also I-to-C, movement., ● Substitution is the replacing of one or more words in order to avoid repetition., ● syntax: the study of sentence structure, ● Tree diagram: a representation of grammatical structure containing nodes, connected by branches., 6. EXERCISES, A. Rewrite the sentences to emphasis the words underlined. (By using Cleft or, Pseudo cleft), 1. We need food and not blankets., 2. Two beautiful nurses helped him the street., 3. My right leg hurts., 4. I need desperately a new flat in Kolhapur., 5. I ignored his rudeness., 6. Hira failed the final exam., 7. Jitu went to London for some business., 8. I want a cup of coffee., 9. We need actions, not words., 10.You lean a foreign language only by practicing., , B. Make the following sentences more emphatic by ‘fronting’ part of them., Do not use any additional words., , 32
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(0) I can’t stand hypocrisy. → Hypocrisy I can’t stand!, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7., 8., , Though he was exhausted, he managed to reach the finishing line., My life’s ambition is to make the pilgrimage to Mecca., The ninth symphony is his most sublime work., I really can’t accept that proposal., An enormous gold Buddha was placed on the altar., An old man was lying in the shop doorway., It proved impossible to get to the bottom of the mystery., The pilot couldn’t regain control because the damage was so severe., , C. Which movement types can be spotted in the sentences below? (passivisation,, subject–auxiliary inversion, topicalisation, extraposition and preposing) Classify, them., 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7., , What is the meaning and purpose of life?, Is there any more coffee?, Him, I don’t like., In the afternoon, they went fishing., Mary, Peter often meets., Mary is said to be beautiful, Yesterday, they paid their electricity bill., , D. Rewrite the following sentences by using the omitted words., 1. Want some more chocolate?, 2. Hear that just now?, 3. Got some money to lend?, 4. Hard to do that., 5. Wow! Awesome!, , 33