TOPIC 23

THE STRUCTURE OF THE

SENTENCE: POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
STATEMENTS, QUESTIONS AND
EXCLAMATIONS.
 OVERVIEW

THE SENTENCE
PARTS OF THE SENTENCE
THE DECLARATIVE SENTENCE
NEGATIONS
QUESTIONS
EXCLAMATIONS
The sentence
The highest unit of grammatical organization, consists of one independent
clause or two or more related clauses. Orthographically & rhetorically, it is
that unit which starts with a capital letter and comes between full stops.
TYPES

Simple- one independent clause, John sold his house.

Compound- two independent clauses, linked in a relationship of coordination,
John sold his house and Peter bought it.
Complex- sentence, consisting of one independent clause and one or more
dependent clauses, linked in a relationship of subordination ,
While John bought the tickets, Mary parked the car.
Subordinate clauses 3 groups:
Nominal clauses, ACT as a noun, relative clauses, function of adjective DEFINING
& NON-DEFINING CLAUSES Non-defining
clauses, separated from the main clause by a comma, Adverbial clauses, act
as adverbial: of place, time, manner, condition, purpose, result, reason and
concession.

SIMPLE sentence classified according to different criteria.-The syntactic structure

depends on the type of lexical verb used & the type of complementation it requires.
Patterns of sentences 8 patterns
1-SV: the child laughed; 2-SVOd: The goalkeeper caught the ball 3-
SVOi: She told me. 4-SVOiOd: My grandparents gave me expensive presents 5-SV
Adv.: Diana is in the house: 6-SVC: Diana is kind/ a princess 7-SVOdAdv.:
Tony put the plate on the table; 8-SVO dC: We have proved him a fool/wrong.
4 major syntactic sentence classes:
-Declaratives,subject always present (generally precede verb):Tony will speak to his boss
today. -
Interrogatives: 3 main groups of questions: Yes/No: Whatever the kind, the basic pattern
is altered by the inversion of subject-verb order. 3 ways
-Wh-Questions.:Wh-particles in front position; particle being the complement of a
preposition, there are 2 choices: preposition first (formal): "In what are you interested?";
preposition at the end (common): "What are you interested in?";

- Alternative Questions:are the same as common questions except for intonation

with a rising-falling pattern "Would you like tea or coffee?"
IMPERATIVES
-Normally have no overt grammatical subject
- Verb has the base form Pass me the salt.

EXCLAMATIVES -
Initial phrase introduced by what or how,, What a beautiful house!

According to the semantic values of these elementary structures there are 4 classes of
discourse functions associated with the former sentence types:

1-Statements primarily to convey information. 2-

Questions primarily to seek information on a specific point. 3-
Directives, primarily to instruct somebody to do something
4 -Exclamations, primarily expressing extent to which speaker is impressed by
something.
Pragmatic classification of sentences: the “Speech Act” Theory by Searle.

The four semantic classes distinguish discourse functions at the most general level.

- More refined distinctions. Utterances are speech acts.

- A locutionary act A person utters a particular utterance, a speech act, - The
illocutionary force of an utterance is dependent on the context, -A
particular utterance has different illocutionary force in different contexts, ,
I will see you tomorrow, intended as a promise, a threat or a warning.
 The philosopher Searle ´s five-part classification of Speech Acts:

-Commissives: Commits the speaker to doing something in the future, a promise or threat. If
you don’t stop fighting, I’ll call the police. (threat) I’ll take you to the movies tomorrow,(promise) .-
Declaratives: Changes the state of affairs in the world. During the wedding ceremony the act
of marriage is performed “I now pronounce you man and wife” -
Directives: Function of getting the listener to do something: suggestion, a request, or a
command. Please sit down or Why don’t you close the window? -
Expressives: Speaker expresses feelings and attitudes about something: an apology, a
complaint, or to thank someone, to congratulate someone.the meal was delicious. -
Representatives: Describes states or events in the world: an assertion, a claim, a report.
The assertion: this is a German car.
 PARTS OF THE SENTENCE
.The most frequent type of sentence has two interrelated parts: subject and predicate.

According to QuirkThe Subject, has number & gender concord with the verb phrase. It
occurs before the verb in declarative clauses and immediately after the operator
in questions, normally a noun phrase but it can also be a that-clause, a wh-clause, a
non-finite clause and an empty “it”.

Following semantic criteria, the subject can express several meanings & be:

-Agentive, when it causes the action: He broke the glass;

-Instrumental, when it is a material cause of the action: The earthquake destroyed the town; -
it can also be affected by the action: Tom fell down;
PARTS OF THE SENTENCE The Subject.
-It can have a recipient role with verbs such as “own or possess”;

-It may express time, place and events, it would be temporal

Tomorrow is my birthday, locative The path is wet, & eventive: The party is at 7.

- A subject with no meaning, an empty subject, has a merely grammatical function. It

is snowing.

The Predicate may be divided into: verb(V), complement(C), object(O) & adverbial(A) +
THE Subject form the sentence, but not all these elements are always present.

A simple sentence= one subject and one verb, ( possible more than one adverbial and
more than one object): He wrote her a letter last night.
PARTS OF THE PREDICATE
. The Verb usually contains a finite form, it may contain also a non-finite form. 2 types :
Intensive (copular) verbs & extensive verbs.

- INTENSIVE verbs (copular verbs) require a subject complement; linking verbs

between subject & predicate or the obligatory adverbials:”be, appear, turn, grow, seem,
taste, sound, smell, look, become, etc."

- EXTENSIVE verbs
Transitive verbs: take an Od; 3 subcategories: monotransitive:requires Od:The boy
booked the table; Di-transitive:require Od & Oi: She gave him a kiss; Complex transitive:
takes Od +an Object Complement: She called him sweetheart.
Intransitive verbs: don't require any obligatory complementation: I smiled.
Prepositional verbs: require a prepositional complement: He looked at me.

These types of verbs mark the type of complementation used within a sentence.
The Object DIRECT & INDIRECT

-The direct object is usually the affected participant

- The indirect object, normally the recipient of the action.

- O.D & o.I are normally placed after the verb phrase; when both appear in a
sentence the o.D usually follows the o.I, (the reverse order is used for emphasis).

- In passive sentences the object assumes the subject function.

The indirect object can be a noun phrase or a prepositional phrase “ her” is the Oi in the
sentence I read her the book.
A direct object admits more forms, a noun phrase, a that-clause, a wh-clause,
& a non-finite clause He asked me to help him.
The Complement.
Follows the subject, verb phrase & object . -
It cannot become subject through a passive transformation.

English distinguishes two complements:

The Subject complements, an attribute of the subject, directly connected with the
subject, not with the verb,He was a gentleman. Realised by a noun phrase, an adjective
phrase & by a “that-clause”, a “wh-clause”, and a “non-finite” clause.

The Object complements describe the object, co-referentially related

He likes his coffee warm. As a noun phrase, an adjective phrase and a nominal relative
clause.

The adverbial is the last sentence element, generally optional, can be omitted:
Adverb/noun/prepositional phrase & a non-finite or adverbial clause. Position may vary.
Yesterday I bought a new dress, or I bought a new dress yesterday”.
THE DECLARATIVE SENTENCE
To make statements, it is the most basic form of a clause .
SUBJECT & PREDICATORY obligatory but whether a O., a C. or an A. are obligatory
depends on the main verb.

-HIERARCHY of the principal clause: S, P, Od, Oi, C, A.

The predicator as the reference point, the further we move down the
hierarchy, the more likely the clause function is to be optional,
Different patterns are admitted

-The subject precedes the verb and this position is quite fixed. However there are a few
cases in which there is inversion, Predicator -Subject.
 Inversion of subject/ verb
-Structures with “here” & “there” in front position requires inversion of subject with
a verb denoting state or movement: Here comes the train at last. -
OPENING SENTENCE with an object preceded by much/ many verb-subject inversion:
Many a trout has he fished.
EMPHATIC FRONT POSITION w/o inversion, objects referring to what immediately
precedes in the context, emphatic and emotional style: Dates I could never remember.

-When the subject is given special emphasis the verb comes first: Out rushed the thief. -
Inversion is also required when a negative adjunct “never, no sooner, scarcely...”
take front position in the sentence: Never had she been so nervous.

-As alternative structure to if-clause: Had he been here, the accident wouldn’t have happened. -
Another case is no inversion but a situational ellipsis of the subject:
“see you later”, it is understood that the omitted subject is “I”.
 Position of Objects.
In declarative clauses , they follow the verbal predicate to which they belong.
-2 objects in a sentence---- Oi. precedes Od.

-When the latter is the most important one, the Oi takes “to” & the Od appears first,
The teacher gave the student a book or The teacher gave a book to the student.is possible.

With PHRASAL VERBS, verb + object pronoun + adverb (less usual with noun phrases).

Nothing is inserted between the S & the verb “be” or between the S and modal
auxiliaries.

ADVERBIALS position vary a lot.

 NEGATIONS.
Declarative sentences are also negative. Expressed through
verb/sentence negation; word negation & word-formation.

NEGATION SCOPE - Verb Negation.

Simple sentence: OPERATOR +NOT + PREDICATIVE;
In colloquial English contracted form “n’t” The man couldn’t book a table

- PRESENT or PAST SIMPLE sentences without operator need do- periphrasis. “ -

Not” added to “do” + the bare infinitive: The man didn’t book a table.
“HAVE” as main verb may use do-periphrasis for negation, negative
imperatives & in sentences with S-V inversion. Never did he imagine such an event.
- NOT with non-finite forms, It would be a pity not to book a table.
 Word Negation
An alternative way for expressing negation is to use words with negative
meaning. Sometimes both form & meaning are negative:
not, never, nothing, nowhere, nobody and no one.

-With a negative meaning but not form, they transfer a negative orientation to a
positive statement, seldom, hardly, few, little, rarely, scarcely, barely ; in initial
position in sentences where there is a subject-operator inversion,
Hardly ever does he practice sport.

Negation in Word Formation.

Common negative prefixes: a-, anti-, counter-, de-, dis-, ex-, il-, im-,mis-, un-.
Suffixes also express negation -less and -free.
The Scope of Negation; it spreads from the negative word to the end of the clause,
influencing subordinate clauses: I wouldn’t help him.
MODAL VERBS the scope of negation does not include the main verb,
You may not go in there, negation affects the modal expressing permission, not the lexical verb.

3 main QUESTIONS groups: yes/no Wh-questions & alternative questions.

According to Quirk, questions are sentences marked by one or more of these

criteria: -
Operator immediately in front of the subject, with “be” placed before the subject
-With a verbal group of auxiliary/modal and lexical verb the subject between both verbs;

The1st. criteria >> the present & past simple, lexical verb needs the “do” operator.
-The 2nd criteria>> initial placing of an interrogative wh-element.
-The 3rd criteria>> - Rising intonation.
 Yes/No Questions. They expect a negative or affirmative answer.
Formed by inverting the verb and the subject if the verb is “be” or “have”:
Have they won the match?;
-if verb is in perfect or progressive aspect or used with a modal auxiliary the
subject & the auxiliary are inverted: Can they lose?;
- If the main verb in the present / past simple the do-periphrasis is used: Did you watch
the match on TV?
NEUTRAL there is no expectation for positive or negative answer;
NON- ASSERTIVE “any, ever or yet” can be used,. Does anyone want to come with me?.
POSITIVE ASSERTIVE some.. indicates that the expected answer is positive:
Can you pass me some water?.
NEGATIVE ASSERTIVES nothing, never...imply a negative answer
,Did nobody tell you the truth?. Within this group

Tag questions, declarative questions, rhetorical questions and echo questions.

Tag questions:operator + a pronoun subject at the end of the statement. Commonly
negative if the statement is positive and vice versa. You enjoyed the film, didn’t you?.
There may be cases where both are positive.

Declarative questions formed without subject-operator inversion. Same form as a

statement but pronounced with the rising intonation of a question:You didn’t pass your exam?

Rhetorical questions Interrogative, but they don’t demand the answer; used as a
strong assertion: Is that a reason for despair?

Echo questions repeat part of what has been said for confirmation or for personal
involvement. I have to do three exams. Three exams?.
WH-Questions. With a prepositional complement, two options;
In Formal English> preposition may precede interrogative form: In what do you believe?,
In most cases at the end of the question: What do you believe in?.

-Falling intonation. Normal statement order is altered by placing the interrogative at the
beginning OR by the inversion of subject and operator when does he play football?.--- -
NO inversion Interrogative element functioning as subject: who watched the match?.

FORMS who, formal whom to ask about a person’s identity, whose to ask about
possession, what to ask about non-human reference, which to identify one out of a
number of persons or things, how to ask about a manner, when to ask about a time,
where to ask about a place and why to ask about a reason.
The particle “how” +“much”& “many” to ask about quantity, + “long” to ask about
duration & + “often” to ask about frequency.
 Alternative Questions.
Rising-falling intonation. Alternative answers, the speakers may decide. yes-
no alternative questions: would you like tea or coffee? wh-
alternative questions : which would you like tea or coffee?

EXCLAMATIONS. We must also take into account interjections, same

functional meaning although grammatically different. -
Interjections do not take a subject-verb pattern but are usually ONE-WORD
expression used as reactions to given stimuli.: “great!”, “wou!”

An exclamatory sentence also responds to a given verbal, audio or visual

stimulus What a nice car! and He is so silly!. T
EXCLAMATIONS
Beginning with WHAT or HOW (in initial position + their complementation). “What”
combines + noun phrase pre-modified by an adjective or not, followed by “a/an” if the
noun is singular, What a marvellous day!. How with adjectival phrases, How wonderful!”

Beginning with the emphatic particles SO and SUCH.. “Such” + a noun phrase
pre-modified by an adjective or not . He is such a nice boy!. “So” + adjective
phrases, This house is so big!
ECHO Exclamations. Repeat part or all of a preceding utterance.
Usually express surprise. “my great-grandmother ran in a race” Echo exclamation:
“Your great-grandmother!” or “in a race!”
irregularities in the grammar , verbs can be used in their stem form and pronouns
may be used. So for the sentence above we could say: Her run in a race!. But this type
of constructions is not frequent.