Grammar I Graciela PalacioLV/JVG 2012 (Revised 2015)

LESSON 13:SYNTACTIC CLASSIFICATION OF VERBSINTRANSITIVE VERBS OF COMPLETE PREDICATION

From a syntactic point of view, verbs can be classified into transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs were discussed in the previous lesson. When it comes to intransitive verbs. two types can be distinguished:

a. Intransitive verbs of complete predication (also known as true intransitive verbs, or unergative verbs and

b. Intransitive verbs of incomplete predication (or unaccusative verbs)

INTRANSITIVE VERBS OF COMPLETE PREDICATION

Consider the following sentence:

John sneezed.

Verbs like sneeze, which combine with only one argument, and which take no complements are called intransitive verbs of complete predication. Their only argument functions as the subject of the sentence:

Other examples of IVs of CP are walk, jump, work, shine, swim, fly, etc. Consider the following examples:

He walked (for an hour).He is jumping (on your bed).He is working (hard).The sun is shining.Fish swim.Birds fly.

As exemplified in the first three sentences, these verbs may be followed by adverbial adjuncts of different types, such as adverbial adjuncts of duration (for an hour), of place (on your bed), of manner (hard), etc but these are optional, in the sense that they are not required by the meaning of the verb. Adjuncts modify or tell us something about the event as a whole.

These verbs cannot occur in the passive voice. Since they have no noun phrase complement, there is nothing that can move to occupy the subject position (i.e. to become the subject of the passive sentence).

These verbs are known in modern linguistics as unergative verbs.

Which verbs belong to this group? Look at the following classification, which takes into account meaning:

1. Verbs of manner of motion (run, walk, crawl, etc)

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2. Verbs of emission (glow, cry, stink, sweat, etc)

Let us discuss each of them separately:

1. Verbs of manner of motion: crawl, dance, gallop, hop, jog, jump, leap, limp, march, run, skip, swim, trot, walk.

He is running.He is walking.He is swimming.The baby is crawling.(cf. gateando)The girl is dancing.He is jogging.She was limping1. (cf. rengueando)She was skipping2. (cf. salticar)He marched for an hour.The horse galloped.

2. Verbs of emission:2. a. Emission of light: flash, gleam, glitter, glow, shine, sparkle.

The light flashed.Her eyes gleamed3 (in the dark).The embers still glowed4 (in the hearth).The sun is shining.Her eyes sparkled.

2. b. Emission of sound: belch, burp, bark, cough, cry, chat, hum, laugh, ring, scream, sing, sneeze, speak, talk, shout, sob, whistle, yell.

He belched5 (loudly). (cf. eructar)He burped6. (cf. eructar)He coughed. (cf. toser)The baby was crying.He laughed (loudly) (to cover his nervousness).Julia screamed.He sneezed.He sobbed7 uncontrollably.

1 Limp: to walk slowly and with difficulty because one leg is injured: She had twisted her ankle and was limping.2 Skip: to move forward lightly and quickly making a little jump with each step: She skipped happily along beside me.3 Gleam: to shine with a pale clear light.4 Glow: (esp. of something hot or warm) to produce a dull steady light.5 belch: v. to let air come up noisily from your stomach and out through your mouth (cf. in Spanish eructar) He wiped his hand across his mouth and then belched loudly.belch: noun He sat back and gave a loud belch. The baby let out a loud satisfied belch.6 Burp verb AmE 1. to let out air from the stomach through the mouth, making a noise. If you burp a baby you rub its back gently to help air to come out of its stomach.7 Sob: to cry noisily, taking sudden, sharp breaths.

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2. c. Emission of smell: reek, smell, stink. These verbs make up a closed set, i.e. there are only three of them.

The onions reeked8. (the onions are the emitters of the smell)The drains smell.Your feet stink.

2. d. Emission of substance: bleed, gush, leak, sweat, etc. 9

He bled.The fountain gushed10.The tin was leaking.He is sweating.

We will go back to the characteristics of unergative verbs soon.

THE PICTURE SO FAR:

Subject Verb1. Mono TV + C/DO (Adjunct)

2. Bi TV + C/IO + C/DO (Adjunct)

3. Bi TV + C/DO + Preposition to +C/IO (Adjunct)

4. IVCP (Adjunct)

Examples which correspond to the patterns presented above:

1. The man painted the wall (yesterday).2. The man gave Mary the book (this morning).3. The man gave the book to Mary (this morning).4. The woman laughed (loudly).

Lesson 13 Activiy 1: (to be discussed in class)Analyse the following sentences from a semantic and a syntactic point of view:

1. The baby can walk!2. The roof was leaking.3. She had twisted her ankle and was limping.

Lesson 13 Activiy 2: (to be handed in as Assignment 13)1. Her eyes sparkled.2. The kids were screaming.3. The man belched loudly.

8 Reek: to smell very strongly of something unpleasant: His breath reeked of tobacco.9 These verbs may occur in other structures, sometimes with the substance emitted as direct object)10 Gush: to flow or send out quickly and in large amounts.

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