2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences

7/31/2019 2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences

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Constructing English Sentences

Unit 2


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Contents

Sentence components in

English Sentence patterns in English

Types of sentence

Movements of sentencecomponents


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2.1 Sentence components in English

English sentences can be brokendown into some distinct components.

These

components

include

the predicate verb (V)

the object (O for short)

the adverbial (A)

the complement (C)

the subject (S for short)

the predicative (P)


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(1) The interesting storymadethese little childrenvery happy.

SVOC(2)Jackbecamea professional

lawyerafter graduation.

SVPA


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articles (a, an, and the)

demonstrative pronouns (this,

that, these, and those)indefinite pronouns (some,

any, a, most, other, etc.)

numerals (one, first,

twenty, and the like)

possessive expressions

(my, sb.s, etc.)

Determiners


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(1)Jack became aprofessional

lawyer after graduation.

(2) Theinteresting storymade

theselittle childrenvery happy.

Att

Att

Att

D

D

D


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Note:

2. Some verbs take two objects.

(3) Jack gaveJoana ring.S V Oi Od

Oi= indirect object

Od= direct object


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Note:

3. Complements(part after a V,adding info. to the S or O)

subject complement (Cs) object complement (C

(1) Jack becamea professional

lawyerafter graduation.(2) The interesting story madethese little childrenvery happy.


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4. Predicative: part of the predicateafter be, get, seem, look, turn,become, appear, etc.

You look fine today. It seems that you are right. Cf:The predicate is the part of a

sentence which states or assertssomething about the subject andusually consists of a verb eitherwith or without an object,complement, or adverb.


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?PredicativeSubject complement

Jack fell to the ground dead.

S V A CsCan you think of other examples?


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5. appositive: when two words, phrases,or clauses in a sentence have the samereference, they are in apposition. Example:

My sister, Helen Wilson, will travel with me.

6.parenthesis: a word, phrase or sentence

inserted as an added explanation orthought, like Well, you know, as you cansee, etc


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2.1 Sentence components

in English

2.2 Sentence patterns in

English

2.3 Types of sentence

2.4 Movements of

sentence components


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a. SV (5) Jack arrived (yesterday).S V

b. SVO (6) Jack missed his train (by a minute).S V O

c. SVA (7) Jack weighed 200 pounds.

S V Ad. SVC/P (8) Jack was very sad this morning.

S V C/P

seven basic sentence patterns in English


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e. SVOA (9)Jack put the book on thedesk.

S V O A

f. SVOO (10) Jack gave Joan a kiss onthe forehead.

S V Oi Od

g. SVOC (11)Jack let Joan make herown decision.

S V O C


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Note:

1. Some components are notconsidered in the classification

of the sentence patterns Eg.

b. SVO (6) Jack missed his train (by aminute).

S V Oe. SVOA (9) Jack put the book on thedesk.

S V O A


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Note:

2.Compare the part in red

b. SVO (6) Jack missed his train(by a

minute).S V O

c. SVA (7) Jack weighed200 pounds.

S V ADoes each sentence still make sense if

we remove the part in red ?


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Lets have a try!

a. John seems happy.

b. The girls sing quite often.

c. They elected Bush presidentagain.

d. Chasing cats is fun for dogs.

What sentence pattern does eachsentence belong to?

SVC/P

SVA

SVOC

SVP/C


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e. John sent Jane a

bunch of roses.

f. John never keeps

his room clean.

g. The film lastedtwo hours.

h. John let Jane out.


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SVOO or SVOC?

They elected Bush president again.

John sent Jane a bunch of roses. One way to distinguish is trying to

add a copular be between the two

nouns or noun phrases, if they makesense as a sentence, the latter nounis used as object complement in theoriginal sentence;


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if they can't, the noun is an object.Which of the following sentences

has an object complement?(TEM-4

2010) A. The directors appointed John

manager. B.I gave Mary a Christmas present. C. You have done Peter a favor. D. She is teaching children English.


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Addition to sentence patterns

1. Independent elements

Hey! Where are you heading for?

2. Existential sentence:There-bepatteren

There can be very little doubtabout his guilt.


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There appearsto be no doubtabout it.

3. It is +N./A.phr. +Subject.

Its very

important tolearn Englishwell.


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2.3 Types of sentence

A simple sentence has onlyone subject and one predicate-verb, but may contain more

than one object, attribute oradverbial. Short simplesentences are usually emphatic;

they have special clarity, andprovide variety when used withlonger sentences.


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1) The Middle Eastern Bazaar takesyou back hundredseven thousands-ofyears.

2) Hurried home. I would run under thedark, leafless trees. I would walk fastuphill. I would run down the hill. The

ground was freezing. I had to hurry. Ihad to run. I reached the long ridge thatled to our cow pasture.


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A simple sentence is notnecessarily short. For example:

Anxious to check inflation andrising living costs, the federalgovernment appointed a board

of grain supervisors to handledeliveries from the crops of1917 and 1918.


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3. compound sentence orcoordinated sentence: two ormore sentences joined byconnectives.

Not only did the garageovercharge me, but they hadn't

done a very good repair job either.She is a funny girl, yet you can't

help liking her.


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4. Complex sentence: a mainclause plus one or more subordinateclause.

I can't imagine what made himbehave like that.

He had overslept, so that he was latefor class.

I had hardly left when the quarrel

started.


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Sometimes, a comlex sentence hasmore than one subordinate clauseor embedded subordinate clause:

The researchers made greatprogress in the early 1970s,when they discovered thatoncogenes, which are cancer-causing genes, are inactive innormal cells.


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Analysis of long sentences

(1)

(2)

(3)


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The study made clear that theworking class that is so over-

represented in crime statisticsconsists of lower-class peopleliving in the lower-class areas of

large cities.


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(1)

The study made clear that theworking class that is so over-represented in crime statisticsconsists of lower-class people

living in the lower-class areas oflarge cities.


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Practice

Analyze the sentence structure:

But "retirement" is not

sometning that suddenly occurswhen you are around 65; it'snot a matter of one day youare working and the next youare enjoying yourself living onyour social security benefit.


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2.1 Sentence components in English

2.2 Sentence patterns in English

2.3 Types of sentences

2.4 Movements of sentence components


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Look at the following pairs ofsentences:(12) a. Jack arrived at the airport

yesterday.b. YesterdayJack arrived at the

airport.

(13) a. Jack stolea carlast month.

b.A carwas stolen by Jack last

month.


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Inversion

(14) a. We needchange.

b. Changewe need.

(15) a. Jack should not cheat Joanunder any circumstances.

b.Under no circumstancesshould

Jack cheat Joan.


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Note:

1.Some movements bring aboutminor changes in the other parts of

the sentences. Eg:(13) a. Jack stolea carlast month.

b.A carwas stolen by Jack last

month.active voice passive voice


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Note:

2. Some movements lead to somedifference in the communicative effect. Eg:

(14) a. We needchange.

b. Changeweneed.


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Check Your Understanding

TRUEorFALSE

1. All sentences must explicitly or implicitly

contain the subject and the predicate.

2. The subject complement is another name

for the predicative.

3. Not all adverbials in a sentence are

grammatically obligatory.


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4. The determiner is not an obligatory

sentence component because its

absence would not affect the

grammaticality of the sentence.

5. Components like the object and the

adverbial can be arbitrarily moved

within the sentence.


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In-Class Activities

1. Affirmative sentences VS negative

sentences

2. Active-voice VS passive-voice

3. Transformation of SVOO sentence

4. THERE-BE sentences

5. Ambiguity

6. Transferred negation


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1.Affirmative sentences VS negative sentences

Look at the following pictures:

(1) What may be the special effectscommunicated by each of the negative

sentences?


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(1) Picture 1: By the use of thecapitalized NOT, one can alert

visitors to the need to buy tickets.Picture 2: By responding to the

presupposition that some may

belittle the card, one can beemphatic in promoting the sale ofthe card.


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(2) How are the negative sentences different

from each other in the way they are

constructed? Are there other ways of

negating a sentence?

a. Nosmoking in this area.

b. Jack hasnosecret about Joan.c. Jackneverreally loves Joan.

d. Joan knowslittleabout Jack.


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Ways of sentence-negation arevarious: the employment ofnot

following auxiliary; No+verb+ingadverbial; the use of negativefrequency adverbials (seldom, by

no means, etc..); the combineduse of negative adverbials withinversion, etc.


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(3) Negation can be made emphatic by

some means, as in the following. Are

there other ways in English to achieve

emphatic negation?

a. I dont like Jack at all.

b. On no condition will Jack be

allowed to quit.


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not a ;

Not a dime can be found in his

pocket. inversion + negation

not the least /

never in my life


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2. Active-voice VS passive-voice


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What are the situations in whichthe passive-voice sentences are

used? What possible reasons arethere for the choice of thepassives?


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They are usually used in thefollowing situations or for thefollowing reasons:

a. the agent of the action in questionis unknown or unnecessary to tell; b. the patient or the target of the

action is the focus of the topic;

c. the unwillingness to define theagent out of inconvenience,politeness or courtesy, etc.


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d. a consideration of sentencedevelopment for coherence sake.

Besides, the choices of passivesshould also take into considerationthe stylistic differences. Passive-

voice sentences are usually formalthan their corresponding active-voice sentences.


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3. Transformation of SVOO sentence

Look at the following pairs ofsentences:

A. i. Jack gave Joan a ring.

ii. Jack gave a ring to Joan.B. i. Jack bought Joan a ring.

ii. Jack bought a ring for Joan.

(1) Are there any other verbs behave like

give and buy respectively?


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bring, pass, promise, send, show, offer,prepare, etc.

(2) The following sentences are often

considered wrong. Why? Why doChinese students often make thesemistakes?

a. The company supplies us some spareparts of the autos.

b.Jack provided Joan a lot of money

for her education.


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4. THERE-BE sentences

Categorization ofTHERE-BE sentences

Several variants ofBE

a.Therewasnothing Jack couldnt do forJoan.

b. Thereseemsto be a lot of problems

we need to tackle right now.c. Thereappeareda big mouse on the

table.


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(1)The THERE-BE sentences are

sometimes transformable with

Sb. HAVE sentences, butsometimes not. Which of the

sentences above can and which

cannot? How do we generally

distinguish between the two

types of structures?


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a and b can, while c cannot.

The former has to do with

some kind of existence andownership, whereas the latterrelates to the

occurrence/appearance ofsomething.


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(2) Why are the following sentenceswrong? Why do Chinese studentssometimes make these mistakes?

a. * There are many students failin the final exam.

b. * There are the boys on theplayground.


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(3) In what context is thefollowing sentence acceptable?

c. There is the pollutionproblem that we must solve.

when there is a definite reference

for both sides,usu. mentionedearlier


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(4) The following sentences also seem toconstitute a unique category ofsentence pattern. How do you like to

describe it? Do we have its equivalentin Chinese?

d. It snowed last night.

e. It is Christmas today.

f. It is eight oclock.


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5. Ambiguity

Look at the following pictures:

(1)Are the two sentences ambiguous? If so,use paraphrases to show their different

readings.


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a. Do not put valuables in anunattended state.

b. Do not depart from valuablesthat are not attended.

Life needs a great deal:

a. One needs to do many things for

a good life.

b. Life requires a great transaction.


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(2) Are the two sentences ambiguousfor the same reason? Why or whynot?

Not completely. leave + object /leave + N + object + objectcomplement;

a great deal: many things / a greattransaction.


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(3) Are the following sentencesstructurally ambiguous?

a. Flying planes can bedangerous.

b. The professors appointmentwas shocking.


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More exercises

a. No smoking section is available.b. Are you tired of cleaning yourself? Let

us do it.c. Patent medicines are sold byfrightening people.

Which of the following sentences are

structurally ambiguous?


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Project Work

Randomly collect 40 newspaper

headlines from some online

newspapers like The New York

Times, Washington Postand

U.S.A. Today,and report thedistribution of different sentence

patterns

Documents

2unit2 - Constructing English Sentences