Lecture 7. Structure-class Words Determiners, Qualifiers. English 3318: Studies in English Grammar. Dr. Svetlana Nuernberg

Transcription

1 Lecture 7 English 3318: Studies in English Grammar Structure-class Words Determiners, Qualifiers Dr. Svetlana Nuernberg

2 Objectives Determiners Qualifiers Relatives Interrogatives

3 Determiners It is a structure word that precedes and modifies a noun (the prototypical members - articles a/an and the) can substitute for a/an or the They differ from adjectives is several important ways: don't occur with any of the adjective-forming derivational suffixes, like -able and -ly don't have comparative or superlative forms: tall-tallertalest, *this-thiser-thisest do not fit in both slots of the adjective test frame sentence: The man seems very. always precede any adjective or noun modifiers of noun, as does the in the expensive car stereo

4 Main Groups of Determiners Articles a/an, the Demonstratives this, these, that, those Possessives my, our, your, his, her, its, their Indefinites some, any, no, every, other, another, many, more, most, enough, few, less, much, either, neither, several, all, both, each Cardinal Numbers one, two, three, four,... Ordinal Numbers first, second, third,... last

5 Articles The is called a definite article and a/an the indefinite the contrast between is related to knowledge about the noun that speaker/writer shares with the hearer/reader when the is used - it is known specifically what is being talked about could be replaced with this/that Please wash the car. Please wash this car Did you see the dog? Did you see that dog? when a/an is used such knowledge is not assumed could be replaced with some/any Please wash a car. Please wash any car Did you see a dog? Did you see some dog? without determiners, cars and dogs refer to any or all cars and dogs, but no specific ones

6 Count/Noncount Nouns & Determiners Noncount nouns can occur with the definite article the can occur without any article cannot occur with the indefinite article a/an The sand got in my shoe. Sand got in my shoe. *A sand got in my shoe. Singular, proper count nouns usually occur without a determiner Peter went to Seattle. - *The Peter went to the Seattle. Single common count noun cannot stand alone, it must be preceded by an article or another determiner A train passes this way regularly. vs *Trains pass this way regularly.

7 Many and Few vs Much and Little The indefinites many and few occur with count nouns The children gathered many stones Few trains pass this way anymore The indefinites much and little occur with noncount nouns These solar panels generate much electricity Little milk was left in the carton Usually only one determiner proceeds a noun some appear in combination with others half the Belgian chocolate the first two successful tries all those dirty windows both my English classes

8 Determiners as Pronouns Demonstratives, indefinites, and cardinal numbers can function either as determiners modifying nouns or as nominal substitutes for nouns (pronouns) Have you seen these new shoe styles? Have you seen these? This house will be yours someday. This will be yours some day. Possessives can also serve either as determiners or pronouns (some have two forms) Is that her convertible? Is that Kate's convertible? (determiners) Is that hers? (pronoun) Is that Kate's (noun)

9 Possessives Determiner Function Nominal Function First Person singular my mine plural our ours Second Person singular your yours plural your yours Third Person singular masculine his his feminine her hers neutral its its

10 Diagrams and Trees Sentence diagrams and phrase structure trees help to clarify visually the relationship between determiners and the nouns they modify In Reed-Kellogg Diagram modifies appear on lines slanted away from the headword they modify headwords are placed on horizontal lines car cars cars a all the the last two Phrase structure trees or phrase markers visually represent the way words are grouped into phrases to create sentences

11 Phrase Structure Trees Phrase structure rules (PS rules) say that the item on the left-hand side of the equals sign consists of the items on the right, and the rules give the order in which items occur A noun and its determiner is considered a noun phrase (NP) NP = (Determiner) + Noun NP NP Determiner Noun Determiner Noun a car all the cars the lack of parentheses around noun means that noun or a noun substitute must be present in order for the structure to be qualified as a noun phrase

12 Qualifiers Many words can act as qualifiers or intensifiers can be used with positive form of most adjectives (good, soft) and with adverbs of manner (rapidly) very, really, fairly, quite, pretty, mighty, rather, awfully, too can be used with the comparative degree of adjectives (better, nicer) and with comparative adverbs (sooner, nearer, farther) still, some, no, even, much have a limited distribution right now, wide awake, just so, just about there, almost there used in the colloquial expressions right nice, damn sure, darn right, real pretty Some of the adverbs of manner, the -ly adverbs, are themselves used as qualifiers with certain adjectives dangerously close, particularly harmful, absolutely true, politically expedient, technically possible, especially difficult

13 Summary In their relationship to the form-classes, qualifiers are different from the determiners and auxiliaries in that they are optional adjectives and adverbs they modify can appear without them nouns and verbs face different situation many nouns cannot appear without a determiner two of the verb forms the -en and -ing forms require auxiliaries to function as the main verb Like other structure word qualifiers signal the form classes they provide a useful test to differentiate adjectives and adverbs from other parts of speech