Lecture 2 and Lecture 3

1.Guiding principles 1) Grammatical concordGrammatical concord 2) Notional concordNotional concord 3) ProximityProximity

Grammatical concord The principle of grammatical concord refers to the rule that the verb must match its subject in number. If the subject is plural, the verb should take the plural form; if, on the other hand, the subject is singular or is a mass noun, the verb should take the singular form, e.g.: Both boys have their own merits. Every girl comes on time. Much effort is wasted. back back

Notional concord The principle of notional concord refers to the rule that the verb can sometimes agree with the subject according to the notion of number rather than to the actual presence of the grammatical marker for that notion, e.g.: The government have asked the country to decide by a vote. Fifteen miles seems like a long walk to me. backback

Proximity The principle of proximity denotes agreement of the verb with a closely preceding noun phrase in preference to agreement with the head of the noun phrase that functions as subject, e.g.: Either my brothers or my father is coming. No one except his own supporters agree with him. Neither Julia nor I am going. backback

2. Problems of concord with nouns ending in –s 1) 1) Disease and game names ending in –s 2) Subject names ending in –ics 3) Geographical names endings in –s 4) Other nouns ending in -s

英语中一些以 -s 结尾的疾病名称通常作单 数用： Mumps is kind of infectious disease. Phlebitis( 静脉炎 ) is a swollen condition of the blood vessels. 但有一些疾病既可作单数又可作复数用： Generally ， Measles occurs in children. Measles are sometimes caused by a tapeworm.

表示游戏的名称通常作单数用： Darts （投镖游戏） is essentially a free and easy game. 但也有个别表示游戏的名称作复数用： Cards( 打纸牌 ) are not allowed here.

3. Problems of concord with collective nouns as subject 1) Collective nouns usually used as plural 2) Collective nouns usually used as singular 3) Collective nouns used either as plural or as singular 4) A committee of, etc + plural noun

4. Problems of concord with a coordinate subject 1)Coordination with “and” or “both…and” 2) Coordination with “or”/ “either…or”, “nor” / “neither…nor”, “not only…but also”

5. Problems of concord with expressions quantity as subject 1) Concord with expression of definite quantity as subject 2) Concord with expression of indefinite quantity as subject

6. Other problems of subject-verb concord 1) Problems of concord with a nominal clause as subject 2) Subject-verb concord with a non-finite clause as subject 3) Subject-verb concord in relative clauses 4) Subject-verb concord in cleft-sentences 5) Subject-verb concord in existential sentences

Assignment Exercise in the Textbook

Lecture 5 Genitive Noun

Introduction: Case is a grammatical category. It Case is a grammatical category. It denotes the changes in the form of a noun or a pronoun showing its relationship with other words in a sentence. Modern English have not a complicated case system like that of Latin, German or modern Russian.

5.1 Formation, meaning and uses of genitive nouns 1) Formation of genitive nouns Rules: (a) ’s singular noun and plural noun do not end in –s Milton’s poems, my mother’s arrival women’s clothes (b) ’ plural nouns ending in –s the girls’ dormitory a teachers’ college

(c) In compound nouns or a post-modified noun phrase, the genitive endings is added to the end of the compound or to the end of the noun phrase. e.g.. My mother-in-law’s death an hour and a half’s talk somebody else’s opinion

(d) Coordinate nouns genitive marker to each element when denoting respective possession, and to the last element when denoting common possession e.g.. Mary’s and Bob’s books Mary and Bob’s books( 两人共有的书）

“noun phrase + appositive” (e) “noun phrase + appositive” the genitive ending is added to the end of the appositive, or both to the end of the noun phrase and to the appositive e.g.. Basel the bookseller’s Basel’s, the bookseller’s

( f) In personal names ending in sibilant /z/, the genitive ending can either be ’s or an apostrophe only, but it can only be ’s when personal names end in other sibilant sounds. e.g.. Dickens’ / Dickens’s Marx’s, Ross’s

2) Meanings of genitive nouns Possessive genitive Subjective genitive Objective genitive Genitive of origin Descriptive genitive Genitive of time, distance, measure, value, etc

3) Uses of genitive nouns Genitive nouns are mostly used as central determiners and therefore Perform the same function as “possessive determiners”.

5.2 Independent genitive and double genitive 1) Independent genitive A genitive noun can sometimes be used independently, that is, without a following noun. This use of the genitive may be termed as the independent genitive.

2) Double genitive An independent genitive can sometimes be used as prepositional complementation. The prepositional phrase that takes an independent genitive as complementation is called “double genitive”.

Assignment Please finish the exercises in the textbook.