Week 5 Lecture Notes

THE GRAMMATICAL LEVEL

 

When beginning to understand the structure of English sentences we learn that a sentence can have a subject, a verb and an object, eg, The cat devoured the mouse. Or it might simply have a subject or a verb, eg, John yawned. In academic writing, however, sentences are much more complex.

 

noun group (1)	noun group (2)	and   noun group (3)	verb group….
The teacher (1),	the principal (2)	and the class (3)	are all going on the excursion

 

The same can happen in the object:

 

noun group	verb group	noun group (1)	noun group (2)	and   noun group (3)
A successful excursion	depends on	the teachers (1),	the principal (2)	and the students (3)

 

And the verb:

 

noun group	+ verb group….	+ verb group….	noun group
The excursion	must expand (1)	and (2) enhance	the students’ learning.

 

 

These are combined sentences. As seen above we can join all sorts of constituents (blocks in sentences), eg:

subjects -

John and Margaret ate lobster (S and S + V+ O)

and objects

John and Margaret ate seafood bisque and spaghetti (S and S + V + O and O)

and verbs

John and Margaret ate and ran (S and S + V and V)

and whole sentences

John ate the lobster and Margaret ate the seafood pancake (S + V + O and S + V + O)

 

Compound sentences

 

1                    Independent clauses

When whole sentences are joined they are called independent clauses (they have an equal relationship in the sentences):

 

• We are here 6000 feet above the sea and the equatorial sunshine is immensely hot and bright.
• The equatorial sunshine is immensely hot and bright and we are here 6000 feet above the sea.
• Susan walked home but the others caught the bus.
• Your could ring him at work or you could try him at home.

 

We use a lot of independent clauses when we speak:

• He came up along the airstrip and he tried coming up over these trees here and he started lifting up and then he just sort of suddenly started dropping and then the plane just tilted over to one side…

 

Complex sentences

 

2          Subordinate clauses

When there is a dependent relationship between sentences they are called dependent clauses:

• The Blue Nile grows steadily wider and warmer as it advances at a slower pace into the desert.
• As it advances at a slower pace into the desert, the Blue Nile grows steadily wider and warmer.
• Although the crash occurred in rugged terrain, it was witnessed by off-road enthusiast Brian Cotwell.

 

Some complex sentences have subordinate classes which don’t contain a finite verb (ie, a verb that is marked for tense – past, present etc):

You can get help	by dialling 999
You will need stock	to make chicken soup
To make chicken soup,	you will need stock

 

3          Time and Place clauses

In these examples the dependent clause describes a time or place using conjunctions such as, when, whenever, as , while, before, after, until, since, where, wherever:

 

• He had touched it before I could warn him.
• When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
• After the dust settled, we could see what the damage was.

 

4.         RELATIVE CLAUSES

 

Relative clauses are introduced by relative pronouns – who, whom, whose, which and nowadays that.

 

i) Who is used when the noun (eg, a person or a pet) modified is the subject of the relative clause verb:

• I saw the man who sold newspapers

• The woman who wore large earrings was the head of the department

 

 

ii) Whom (or now often who) is used when the noun (ie, a person or pet) modifies the object of the relative clause verb:

• The boy whom Gail contacted was living on the streets

 

Note that whom is optional but who (describing a subject) is not:

• The boy Gail contacted was living on the streets

• *I saw the man sold newspapers

 

Why? This is because ‘who’ is the subject of the relative, whereas ‘whom’ is the object:

• The boy whom(O) Gail (S) contacted(V) was living on the streets
• I saw the man who(S) sold(V) newspapers(O)

 

 

iii) When the noun is an indirect object then the relative clause ‘to’ is required:

• The boy to whom Gail gave money was living on the streets

but nowadays this is more often

• The boy (who) Gail gave money to was living on the streets

 

 

iv) If the noun is not a person then the relative pronoun is ‘which’ or 'that'

• The dog which/that piddled on the bed got severely punished
• The book which/that she stole was mine

regardless of whether it is a subject or object of the relative clause.

 

 

Note that there are two types of relative clause – Type 1: those that restrict information (restrictive relative clauses) and Type 2: those that add (incidental) information (non-restrictive relative clauses).

 

Compare the following:

See also

• My sister who lives in Edinburgh has just had twins. (the one who lives in Edinburgh - restrictive)
• My sister, who lives in Edinburgh, has just had twins. (only one sister non-restrictive)

 

1. Non-Restrictive relative clauses that add incidental information are set apart by commas and in Australian and British English we use 'which' for these but ‘that’ is becoming more common in Australian English. In these clauses the information is not being limited in any way:

 

 

2. Restrictive relative clauses refer to a particular group and are not set apart by commas and can be introduced by 'which' or 'that' (in American English these are always 'that' – also in Australian English):

 

Why does your word processor put a green line under ‘which’. In American English, which is only used for non-restrictive relative clauses, which are set off by commas(there’s one!). In American English, restrictive relative clauses will start with that. So if

a) you insert a comma – the green line goes away, or

b) you change which to that – the green line goes away.

 

But that may not necessarily satisfy a speaker of Australian or British English as we still use which for both types of clauses.

 

Which versus that

 

Note however that ‘that’ is often used instead of ‘which’ now:

• The dog that piddled on the bed got severely punished
• The book (that) she stole was mine

 

In fact ‘that’ is even replacing ‘who’ and ‘whom (who)’ in speech (and in some students’ writing!):

• I saw the man that sold newspapers
• The boy that Gail contacted was living on the streets
• The boy that Gail gave money to was living on the streets

 

v) When a relative clause indicates possession  then the relative pronoun is ‘whose’:

The person whose keys were stolen should go to the Lost Property office

 

v) Where, when and why are also used as relative pronouns:

• Show me the shop where you bought it
• It was raining on the day (when) the Wallabies played the Springboks
• The reason (why) they argued was money

 

‘Why’ and ‘when’ are optional:

• It was raining on the day the Wallabies played the Springboks
• The reason they argued was money

 

but not ‘where’:

• *Show me the shop you bought it

 

 

Summary

The following relative pronouns have been discussed above:

who ~ that (obligatory)

whom ~ who (optional)

whose            (obligatory)

to whom ~ who to (obligatory)

when  (optional)

where  (obligatory)

why (optional)

 

These relative pronouns reflect the case marking which we have seen on pronouns, but we can see that what remains of this system is under further threat:

subject	object	indirect object	possession
Who/which	Whom/which	to whom/which	whose
that	Who/which that Æ	who ... to

·        The subject (who/which) remains obligatory but can be reduced to that;

·        The object pattern (whom/which) is most threatened with replacement by who, that or no relative pronoun at all;                   

·        The indirect object survives as a reduced form (‘who’ not ‘whom’) with a different structural order (who...to);

·        The possessive (whose) remains the most stable.

Another type of complexity

You will notice above that relative clauses expand NOUNS. They give more information about the noun and they occur within the Noun Group and are linked by the relative pronoun (who, which etc.)

We also have clauses that give more information about verbs and occur within the Verb Phrase. These are called Sentential complements or Embedded Clauses. They are linked to the sentence by a complementiser. But some can occur without a complementiser.

 

SUBJECT	VERB	Complementiser                 COMPLEMENT
I I He He	know know thinks thinks	that                       you will come on Sunday           _                            you will come on Sunday          that                         we will come           _                             we will come

 

Sentential complements are just like the objects of the verb except that they contain a whole sentence of their own:

SUBJECT	VERB		COMPLEMENT
I I He He	know know thinks thinks	that  _ that  _	you (S) will come (V) on Sunday you (S) will come (V) on Sunday we (S) will come (V) we (S) will come (V)

 

There are other complementisers in English:

• I wonder if I will ever be rich
• We don’t know whether it will rain
• I am hoping for Ted to leave today

 

Note also that complementisers other than ‘that’ are not optional:

• *I wonder _ I will ever be rich
• *We don’t know _  it will rain
• *I am hoping _ Ted to leave today

 

You will notice that when complementisers introduce embedded clauses, the embedded subject may or may not be related to the subject of the main (matrix) sentence.

• I wonder if I can do that
• I am hoping that Ted will arrive soon

 

It is not possible for the embedded subject to be omitted:

• *I wonder if _ will ever be rich
• *We don’t know whether _ will rain

A further type of sentential complement is the embedded question. We call such embedded clauses WH-clauses (because of the words ‘who, what, when, where’):

• I forgot what she said
• The doctor didn’t know who to see next
• She told her mother when to visit
• I should know how to spell Linguistics

 

Summary

• Embedded sentences which provide further information about the verb are called sentential complements (and sometimes verbal complements);
• Some sentential complements can occur without any complementiser.
• Sentential complements can be introduced by a complementiser (that (optional), if, whether, for) or a WH-word;

 

Moving parts of a sentence around

 

Passive transformations: We have already seen in various examples that the structure of a sentence can be changed, (some) parts of it can be moved around without changing the meaning. For example an adjunct can move around the outsides of the sentence. Granny arrived on Sunday -> On Sunday Granny arrived.

 

The most common transformation is the passive.

 

• His girlfriend bought the computer (active)
• The computer was bought by his girlfriend (passive)

 

Passive transformations enable the object to be placed in subject position and the subject is placed in an agentive phrase by-.

You will see now that:

• the subject is the patient and not the agent
• the verb has a passive ‘be’ form added – ‘was’.

 

Note that the new subject can now influence the agreement on the verb:

• I gave the books to the boys
• The boys were given the books by me
• He gave me the books
• I was given the books by him

Note when the verb is ditransitive, ie., there is an indirect object, either object can be passivised

• He gave me the books
• I was given the books by him
• The books were given to me by him

Note that the indirect object is invariable – it can’t occur without its ‘to’ in a passive construction (not in my dialect of English at least)

• *The books were given me by him

 

The passive form of the verb contains the auxiliary verb ‘be’ and the past participle form of the lexical verb

• The books were given...
• The book was bought....

 

Note that passivisation can occur within a sentential complement:

• Karen believes (that) the judge gave the wrong sentence
• Karen believes (that) the wrong sentence was given by the judge

 

This construction also provides evidence for the argument that the NP ‘the judge’ is the subject of the sentential complement and does not function as the object of the matrix verb ‘believe’. Rather the whole proposition ‘the judge gave the wrong sentence’ is the complement of the verb ‘believe’.

 

It is even possible to have an agentless passive

• The books were given to me

where the agentive by- phrase is left off. So that, while the subject position must be filled in English sentences, the subject itself in a by- phrase is actually optional.

 

Passive constructions tell us some differing properties of transitive verbs. Passivisation applies to transitive verbs because there needs to be someone doing something to someone else (a subject and an object – except that the subject can be left off). But consider the following:

 

• Joan has a new car
• *A new car was had by Joan

 

• It costs ten dollars
• *Ten dollars is costed by it

 

• The exhibition lasted a week
• *A week was lasted by the exhibition

 

• She finished eating
• *Eating was finished by him

 

Such verbs are called pseudo-transitives: they can’t be passivised.

 

Note also that in informal spoken English there is a further passive construction – the get passive:

• He got vaccinated
• They all got sick
• Don’t get caught!

These are called periphrastic passives. We use another verb (got).

We also have other ways to moves parts of sentences.

 

We can move an object to the front of a sentence:

• I like German beer
• German beer, I like

 

Or an adjectival phrase

• Neurotic, I would say (Adjectival phrase)

 

Or a prepositional phrase

• In the large room, the small girl sat (Prepositional phrase)

 

Or an element within a dependent clause (a ‘though’ clause):

• Though the lecturer is usually quite calm, this week she is stressed to the eyeballs
• Quite calm though the lecturer usually is, this week she is stressed to the eyeballs

 

Some of these movements are called Cleft constructions (a focusing construction)

• I washed the towels yesterday  
• It was me who washed the towels yesterday

 

Or Pseudo-cleft constructions (another focusing construction)

•  I washed the towels yesterday  
• What I washed yesterday was the towels

 

We might move Noun Phrases which are too ‘heavy’:

• We brought six boxes of excellent French wine into the country
• We brought into the country six boxes of excellent French wine
  
  

Or we might takes bits out of a Noun Phrases 

• [Three little maids in clogs] appeared
  [Three little maids] appeared [in clogs]

 

Or we might repeat a subject at the beginning or at the end of a sentence for special effect.

• My Mum, she bought me a new T-shirt
• They were having an argument, those four sisters

• The other one, he came afterwards
• That girl, she didn’t know what happened

 

 

Conclusion

So we can see that sentences can be even more complex than those introduced at the beginning of the lecture.

 

Subject  + verb + [that Subject + verb/action + object)

The audience claimed [that the performers were unprofessional]

             S             V     [Comp       S                   V           O]

= Active sentence with active sentential complement

 

Subject  + verb + [that Subject + verb/action + [by actor])

My friends said [that the leading role was played by Maggie Smith]

     S            V    [Comp       O                     V            [by actor]         ]

= Active sentence with passive sentential complement

 

Eg:

The audience [which contained several well-known critics] claimed [that

          S           [Rel         V                    O]                                 V       [Comp

the performers, [who ranged in age and experience],         were unprofessional]

      S                [Rel      V        PP*     and        PP (non-Restr)] V          O

 

*Noun phrases introduced by prepositions are usually referred to as Prepositional Phrases (PP).

 

Eg (the whole of the above sentence can be made into a subject):

 

The audience’s claim [_Rel that the performers, [_Rel who ranged in age and experience], were unprofessional] upset the theatre management. (an eg with a non Restrictive Rel Cl)

 

The audience’s claim [_Rel that the performers [_Rel who were young] seemed unprofessional] upset the theatre management. (an eg with a Restrictive Rel Cl)

 

Compound sentences can also be complex

 

He knew that the lobster, which was imported, was expensive and she knew that

(S + V    [that         S,        [Rel           V] ,           V        O]        and  S + V    [that

 

the pasta was cheaper

    S +       V +  O])

 

Imperatives (commands) can also be complex

 

Take fresh heart and remember that    leftovers costs nothing at all

( V           O        and         V     [Comp      S        V             O             ])

 

So we can have

·        simple sentences

·        complex sentences

·        compound sentences

·        compound complex sentences

 

 

GRAMMATICAL CHOICES WHEN WRITING

When we ask students to write in the genres of particular learning areas we are asking them to adopt a choice of grammatical structures that have come to be used to describe the knowledge in those areas.  For example, scientific writing has developed out of objective scientific analysis and there is a choice of grammatical features that we use to write 'scientifically':

·        Passives

·        Nominalizations

·        Abstract and inanimate subjects

·        'Dummy' subjects.

Passive sentences
In English we can contrast an active sentence with a passive sentence:

Indigenous Australians have inhabited this country
for over 40,000 years. [active sentence]

This country has been inhabited for over 40,000 years
by Indigenous Australians. [passive sentence]

In the second (passive) sentence:

·                     The focus has been taken off the people who have lived here (the participants) - they are no longer the subject of the sentence and are seen as less active participants in the situation described than in the first sentence.

·                     The agents of the action/participants (Indigenous people) are no longer at the front of the sentence.

In fact, they can even be left out altogether in an agentless passive sentence:

This country has been inhabited for over 40,000 years.

In these subtle ways formal writing can take the focus away from 'people doing things' and instead present information as if it occurred without any human intervention.

Nominalizations
When we nominalise we make a subject from another portion of text. 
Again these subjects help us create an objective point of view:

Living in the city has certain advantages over living in the suburbs.
(Contrast with the less objective view of: People who live in the city have....)

The busy schedules that most adults face from day to day have created
a growing health problem in the modern world.
(Most adults have busy schedules....)

Another event that the world is able to watch on television is the launching of space shuttles.
(People watch events on TV…)

Abstract/inanimate subjects
Since we tend to factor out notions of agency (i.e. of people doing things) in formal writing we provide abstract entities with the power to do things in our place:

The twentieth century has certain advantages, such as a higher standard of living for many.
(Not people living in this century having advantages).

This paper will review the history of the science of earthquake prediction.
(Not the writer reviewing the history).

In the last few decades computer technology has made tremendous progress in the world of communication.
(Not computer technicians making the progress).

Some businesses have flexible hours
(Not the people having flexible hours).

'Dummy' subjects
In our tendency to factor out reference to people doing things, we even use 'dummy' subjects…those which do not refer to anything in particular but just fill in the subject/participant slot in the sentence:

It has been documented that heavy cigarette smoking affects the heart as well as the lungs.

There is a strong body of legal argument to support this petition.

It has been proven that men's and women's brains are different.

There are many exhibits of Greek art and artefacts in Western European museums.

It was a thrilling experience to meet the author of the book that we have been reading this term.

REFERENCES

Halliday, M.A.K. (1989) Some grammatical problems in scientific English.  Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. Genre & Systemic Functional Studies, Series 5 (6), 13-37.

 

Oshima, A., & Hogue, A. (1999) Writing Academic English.  New York: Longman.