EVENT SENTENCES
Group A
• The ‵phone´s ringing. (Compare with: It´s ringing)
• The ∨car won´t start! (Cp. It won´t start)
• The ‵handle´s fallen off!
• The ∧train´s coming!
• The ‵brakes have failed.
• The ‵taxi is here.
Group B (The event involves an adjective)
• Your ‵zip´s come undone.
• The ∧door´s open!
Group C (The event describes the weather)
• The ∧sun´s shining again!
• There´s some ‵wind springing up!
Group D (The event is related to unpleasant body sensations)
• My ‵arm hurts.
• My ∧nose is bleeding!
• Your ‵nose is all red!
Group E (The causative use of “have”)
• I´ve just had the ‵house painted!
• She´ll have her ‵tooth taken tomorrow.
Let´s analyse these sentences. As we can see, the nucleus is placed
on a noun (the subject, except in Group E) rather than on a verb in
the predicate as it usually is because these sentences describe
events.
Besides, they apparently involve a BROAD FOCUS as they can
perfectly be the answer to the question “What happened?”.
“What´s wrong?” or “What´s the matter?”. However, the
nucleus is not on the last lexical item adding new information
because the verb (intransitive, except in Group E) or the adjective
at the end is predictable or expected from the context so it doesn´t
need to be in focus. That´s why, event sentences are said to be
closer to a NARROW FOCUS.
