Dr. Monira Al-Mohizea MORPHOLOGY & SYNTAX WEEK 10

Adverbs Adverbs Adverbs are a particularly vague class of words to define. We can distinguish three major types of adverb: but there is considerable overlap between them. ① Most adverbs add some kind of circumstantial information (of time, place, manner, etc.) to the state of affairs expressed in the main part of the clause:  E.g. [(We) (sold) (the car) (hurriedly) (yesterday)]

Adverbs ② Some adverbs modify adjectives and other adverbs in terms of degree (e.g. fairly new, very hurriedly). ③ Sentence adverbs, which apply semantically to the whole clause or sentence, express an attitude to it, or a connection between it and another clause or sentence: E.g. [(so) (the whole thing) (was) (frankly) (too awful for words)]. All three types can be illustrated with the same adverb, seriously, which is a circumstantial adverb. Compare: 1.They listened to her complaints seriously. ('in a serious manner') 2.This cake is seriously scrumptious. (‘to a serious degree’) 3.Seriously, do you mean that? ('I'm asking you seriously')

Adverbs (1) Function the primary function of an adverb is to be head (or main word) of an adverb phrase. It can stand alone as a minimal adverb phrase, or it can be preceded and/or followed by another word, which is often itself an adverb. E.g. 1. [She spoke (softly)]. 2. [She spoke (very softly indeed)]. 3. [She spoke (too softly for me)]. These examples show us a second function: an adverb can act as modifier in an adjective phrase (e.g., very, rather, quite and somewhat) or in an adverb phrase (e.g., very, indeed and too)

Adverbs (2) Form Many adverbs are formed by adding —ly to an adjective. a few adverbs resemble adjectives, in having comparative and superlative forms:  E.g. soon, sooner, soonest; well, better, best. there is a major group of adverbs that have no suffix and do not resemble adjectives. Among these adverbs are some of the most common:  E.g. now, then, so, too, etc.

Adverbs (3) Meaning Adverbs can express many different types of meaning, especially as adjuncts in the clause. We can only give some important categories;  Test: to distinguish them, it is useful to use a question test; e.g. Where...?  Where did Stefan go?  He went home.

Some types of adverbs Types of Adverb Eliciting Question Examples?? Adverb type How? Manner adverb Where to? Place adverb Where to? Direction adverb Where from/to? Time-when adverb When? Frequency adverb How often? Degree adverb To what degree? Sentence adverbs (e.g. fortunately, probably, actually, and however) can be divided to: 1. Attitude or stance adverbs: (e.g. fortunately, perhaps, actually, surely) -- [(fortunately) (elephants) (cant fly)]. 2. Connecting adverbs: (e.g. so, moreover, however, therefore, though) -- [(some of them) (can run) (pretty fast), (however)]

‘Function word' classes There are seven function word classes. Unlike 'content word' classes they have relatively few members, so it is possible to identify each of them by listing their members. But as the term 'function word' implies, it is their functional role that is most important, and on which we will focus.

Determiners Determiners begin noun phrases, and are sometimes obligatory. If the head of a noun phrase is a singular count noun, then some determiner has to be added. SO *[(Dog) (bit) (man)]. Vs. [(The dog) (bit) (a man)] The, a, an are the most common determiners, and are important They are called respectively, the definite article and the indefinite article. Common determiners: the, a/an, this, that, these, all, some, any, no, every, each, many, which, what, his, our.

Pronouns Pronouns are words which are in a sense 'dummy' nouns or noun phrases, because they have a generalized or unspecific meaning.  E.g. the pronoun she can refer to any female person, because they usually stand alone in noun phrases, we consider pronouns to be the head of such phrases, though they are limited as to what words can be added to them. (e.g. we cannot say *a strange it or *the old everybody. Some common pronouns: me, mine, myself, we, he, she, it, they, this, that, these, everything; some, many, who, which, what.

Compare: Is there an overlap between determiners and pronouns?? Consider these sentences: [(this juice) (is) (much too sweet)] Vs. [(this) (is) (an excellent drink)]

Numerals Numerals include:  Cardinal numbers (e.g. one, two, three,... ten,... 29)  Ordinal numbers (first, second, third,... tenth, th). They are exceptional as a function word class: as there is an infinite number of numerals. However, the vast majority of the numerals are compounds made up from a few basic number words.  E.g. two hundred and twenty (or 220) is composed of the basic numerals two, hundred and twenty. Some basic numerals: one, two, three, four, five, ten, eleven, twenty, eighty, hundred, thousand, million first, second, third, fourth, fifth, tenth, eleventh, twentieth, hundredth, thousandth

Prepositions Prepositions introduce prepositional phrases, and express relations of possession, place, time, and many other meanings: (of the world), (by it), (on the coldest night of the year). What follows the preposition in the prepositional phrase is typically a noun phrase. Some common prepositions: (in order of frequency) of, In, to, for, with, on, by, at, from, as, into, about, like, after, between, through, over There is large overlap between prepositions and adverbs, particularly adverbs of place or direction: Compare: [(I) (looked) (up the chimney)]. Vs. [(I) (looked) (up)].

Conjunctions Conjunctions, such as prepositions, are introductory linking words; but they often introduce clauses rather than phrases. They subdivide into two different classes:  Subordinating conjunctions (e.g. ‘in order of frequency’ that, as, if, when, than, because, while, where, although, whether, before, since, so)  Coordinating conjunctions (e.g. ‘in order of frequency’ and, but, or, nor)

Auxiliaries Auxiliaries are a small class of verbs which precede the main verb in the verb phrase.  They fall into two main categories: The modal auxiliaries: are considered invariable words, though for some purposes (e.g. could, would, might and should) can be regarded as ‘ed-forms’ (past tense forms) of can, will, may and shall. The primary verbs: are the three most important verbs in English, and we will refer to them by their plain forms: (be, have and do). They are very irregular, and are the only English verbs that have an irregular s-form (is, has, does). Another important thing is that they can function as auxiliaries or main verbs. modal auxiliaries: can, will, may, shall, could, would, might, should, must primary auxiliaries: (be, have and do) in plain form, s-form, ed-form, ing-form, and en-form.

Discourse markers Discourse markers are peripheral to grammar: they usually occur (particularly in speech) at the beginning, middle or end of utterances, without obvious constraints on position. Their role is: 1. to signal feelings and interactive meanings between speakers in dialogue 2. to indicate how the discourse is developing. They include: ① exclamatory words (e.g. ugh, um, oh, ouch) only loosely integrated into the language system. ② swear words (heck, etc.), ③ greetings (e.g. hello), ④ response words (e.g. yes, no) ⑤ other signaling words (e.g. goodbye, right, okay, hey). They can occur in combination: Oh heck well you'll have to go on the bus.

The fuzzy boundaries of grammatical classes Classifying words is not a clear-cut operation. As most grammatical categories have fuzzy boundaries. Defining grammatical terms (e.g. noun and verb) is like defining many other concepts of the language, such as cup, chair, bird. We identify the features of the most typical members of a class:

Example…  E.g. a 'prototype' chair — the typical chair you might see in your mind when asked to imagine a chair — has four legs, a back and a seat, is made of wood, and is used for sitting on.  there are objects that we would be less likely to call chairs, though they are marginally so (e.g. a sofa, a settle, a pew) so there is no yes-or-no answer to the question: Is this a chair?  So, this Chair is a prototypical example

Prototype theory Prototype theory was developed by Eleanor Rosch in 1970s. The same idea of prototype categories with degrees of membership applies to grammar, just as some birds are less ‘birdy’ than others, so some nouns, verbs are ‘less nouny or ‘less verby’ than others. The typical nouns are those referring to people, animal, things. And among these are those which children learn first. The typical verb is a ‘doing word’. E.g. walk, eat. Therefore, when defining grammatical terms, we use ‘typical’ or ‘general’ to indicate that there are fuzzy boundaries of grammatical classes especially in relation to meaning.  Discuss examples of typical vs. less typical noun.

Conclusion.. Grammar is not a precise logical or mathematical system. It has much in common with systems or organisms in real life- in the sense that it involves typical vs. atypical membership.

Word classes and frequency Comparing nouns and pronouns: Type: is a unique form of a word (e.g. v+ed pattern) If we count the tokens (i.e. individual instances) of word classes in texts, we find that the use of word classes varies greatly in frequency. In general, then, content word classes have become more frequent, and function words less frequent.  The most notable difference is in nouns and pronouns: nouns are very common in typical written texts - especially in newspapers - while pronouns are very common, in speech. Here are typical examples from a written text and a spoken dialogue. The aviation and casino kingpin Kirk Kekorian finally sold MGM’ film entertainment division to Path boss Gincarlo Parretti inNovembr…) I think you'll find it counts towards your income.

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