CHALIMBANA UNIVERSITY

DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

ELE 2100-STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX

FIRST EDITION 2022

CHALIMABANA UNIVERSITY
PRIVATE BAG E 1,
LUSAKA
AUTHOR: HANDILI JIMAIMA
Copyright:
© 2022 Chalimbana University
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or
recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copy write owner,
Chalimbana University.

[ii]
Acknowledgements

The Directorate of Distance Education wishes to thank Handili Jimaima for the
contribution to this course.

[iii]
Introduction

Welcome to module 2– ELE 2100: Structure of the English language: Morphology

and Syntax. The module is the second one of the two and is about Morphology and
Syntax, the second and third parts of the course.

Rationale

This course is divided into Phonetics and Phonology, Morphology and syntax.
Phonetics and Phonology, the first part of the course, as you saw in the first module,
explains to you how English language is pronounced in the accent deemed as the
standard for people learning the English spoken in England. The course also provides
principles that regulate or account for use of sounds spoken in English. In addition,
the course also presents information contextually about speech sounds and how these
are produced and classified. The second part, which is Morphology, in this module,
involves detailed study of the internal structure of English words and word formation
processes. The study includes derivational and inflectional Morphology. Syntax, the
third part (also in this module) engages and is devoted to the syntactic analysis of
language. It concerns itself with the ways in which words combine to form sentences
and the rules which govern the formation and analysis of sentences, making some
sentences possible and others not possible within a particular language.

Aim

The course is designed to introduce you to English morphology and syntax. The aim
of this course is to equip you with analytical skills for examining the nature of
morphology and the various ways of forming words in the English language. The
course will enable you to achieve, through comprehension and practice, skills and
aptitude in analyzing different types of word structures, not only in English, but also
in other languages. The second part of the course is syntax, the part of linguistics that
studies the structure and formation of sentences. It explains how words and phrases
are arranged to form correct sentences. The course also explains that, to create
grammatically correct and acceptable English sentences, we have to follow the
English rules for syntax.

[iv]
Course Outcomes

Having successfully completed this course, you should be able to:

 Describe what morphology is all about

 Discuss the two major division of morphology
 Analyse the three basic elements in morphology
 Classify morphemes
 Analyse elements and aspects of the word
 Examine word formation processes
 Describe syntax and its main concerns
 Identify different criteria of word classification
 Demonstrate functions of various word categories
 Analyse phrases and clauses
 Describe sentential classification
 Distinguish between tense and aspect
 Discuss mood and modality
 Trace the birth of the Transformation and Generative Grammar model (TGG)
 Apply the TGG model to the analysis and diagram of sentences
 Appreciate the superiority of the TGG model over others in the analysis of
aspects of English language

Summary of Module

The module is divided into two parts. On the one hand, first part deals with
morphology, the study of the internal structure of words and related issues. Related
issues include such things as word elements, word segmentation and word formation
processes. On the other hand, the second part deals with syntax which deals with the
organisation of words into sentences and the rules that govern such organisation.

[v]
Study Skills

As an adult learner, your approach to learning will be different to that from your
school days: you will choose what you want to study, you will have professional
and/or personal motivation for doing so and you will most likely be fitting your study
activities around other professional or domestic responsibilities. Essentially, you will
be taking control of your learning environment. As a consequence, you will need to
consider performance issues related to time management, goal setting, stress
management, etc. Perhaps you will also need to reacquaint yourself in areas such as
essay planning, coping with exams and using the web as a learning resource. Your
most significant considerations will be time and space i.e. the time you dedicate to
your learning and the environment in which you engage in that learning. We
recommend that you take time now - before starting your self-study - to familiarize
yourself with these issues. You can find a number of excellent resources on the web.
So, familiarise with the information technology.
Time frame

This module is to be covered in the period of 9 months. You will be expected to spend
at least 60 contact hours with the lecturer and 60 hours of self-study.

Course material

The main course materials in this course are:

 Study units
 Text books
 Dictionaries
 Charts
 Pre-recorded Audio lessons &
 DVDs

Need help (contacts)

If you should need help, you can contact email jimaimahandili@[Link] or call
+260 977 508 566. You may also see us physically at Chalimbana - Department of
Literature and Languages.

Recommended readings
[vi]
 Assessment
Assessment Percentage
Course Work 50%
One Assignment 25%
One Test 25%
Final Exam 50%
Final Mark 100%

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... iii

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... iv
Rationale................................................................................................................................................ iv
Aim ......................................................................................................................................................... iv
Course Outcomes ................................................................................................................................... v
Summary of Module............................................................................................................................... v
Study Skills ............................................................................................................................................. vi
UNIT ONE: INTRODUCING MORPHOLOGY ....................................................................................... 1
1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
Learning Outcomes ........................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Defining Morphology .................................................................................................................. 1
1.1.1 Inflectional morphology .......................................................................................................... 1
1.1.2 Derivational Morphology ........................................................................................................ 1
1.2 The Morph ........................................................................................................................................ 2
1.2.1 The plural Morpheme: ............................................................................................................ 2
1.2.2 The Comparative Morpheme: ................................................................................................ 2
1.2.3 The Tense Morpheme: ............................................................................................................. 2
1.2.4 The Agentive Morpheme: ........................................................................................................ 2
1.2.5 The Possessive Morpheme: ..................................................................................................... 3
1.2.6 The superlative Morpheme: .................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Morpheme: ....................................................................................................................................... 3
1.3.1 Structural Approach ................................................................................................................ 3
1.3.2 Semantic Approach .................................................................................................................. 4
1.3.3 Phonological Approach ........................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Allomorph .................................................................................................................................... 5
1.4.1 The plural Morpheme.............................................................................................................. 5
1.4.2 The Past Tense Morpheme ...................................................................................................... 6
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 1.4.3 The third person Singular Morpheme ................................................................................... 6
1.4.4 The Possessive Morpheme ....................................................................................................... 6
1.5 Phonological Conditioning ......................................................................................................... 6
1.5.1 Phonological Conditioning Rules .............................................................................................. 7
1.6 Morphological Conditioning ............................................................................................................ 7
1.7 Activity .............................................................................................................................................. 8
UNIT TWO: CLASSIFICATION OF MORPHEMES...................................................................................... 9
2.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 9
2.1 Types of morphemes ........................................................................................................................ 9
2.1.1 Morphemes and their Compositions ........................................................................................ 9
2.1.2 Lexical and Grammatical Morphemes .................................................................................... 10
2.1.3 Free and Bound Morphemes .................................................................................................. 10
2.1.4 Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes ........................................................................... 11
2.1.5 Inflectional Affixes .................................................................................................................. 11
2.2 Free, Full, Bound and Empty Morphemes ................................................................................. 11
2.2.1 Free and Full Morphemes ....................................................................................................... 11
2.2.2 Bound Morpheme: .................................................................................................................. 12
2.2.3 Empty Morpheme: .................................................................................................................. 13
2.2.4 Inflectional Bound Morphemes .............................................................................................. 13
[Link] Grammatical roles of an inflectional morpheme in English ............................................... 13
2.2.5 Derivational Bound Morphemes ............................................................................................ 14
(s) Adjectives from nouns ............................................................................................................... 14
(t) Nouns from Adjectives .............................................................................................................. 15
(u) Verbs from Adjective ................................................................................................................ 15
(w) Verbs from nouns ..................................................................................................................... 15
UNIT THREE: THE WORD ............................................................................................................... 17
3.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 17
3.1 Defining Word ............................................................................................................................ 17
3.2 Characteristics or Features of a Word in the English language ................................................ 18
3.2.1 Syntactic Information .......................................................................................................... 18
3.2.2 Semantic Information ......................................................................................................... 18
3.2.3 Phonological Information ................................................................................................... 18
3.2.4 Pragmatic Information ........................................................................................................ 18
3.2.5 Morphological Information................................................................................................. 18
3.3 Elements and Aspects of the Word ............................................................................................... 18
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 3.3.1 Stem ......................................................................................................................................... 18
3.3.2 Root ......................................................................................................................................... 19
3.3.3 Base.......................................................................................................................................... 19
3.3.4 Affixes ...................................................................................................................................... 19
3.3.5 Inflectional Affixes .................................................................................................................. 20
3.3.6 Derivational Affixes ................................................................................................................. 20
3.4 Inflection ..................................................................................................................................... 20
3.5 Derivation ................................................................................................................................... 20
3.6 Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes .................................................................................... 21
3.6.1 Inflectional Morphemes generally: ........................................................................................ 21
3.6.2 Derivational morphemes generally ........................................................................................ 22
3.7 Word Segmentation ....................................................................................................................... 22
3.7.1 Constituent structure of morphemes ......................................................................................... 23
3.7.3 Activity .................................................................................................................................... 24
UNIT 4: WORD FORMATION PROCESSES (Morphological Processes)......................................... 26
4.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 26
4.1 Defining Word Formation Process ............................................................................................. 26
4.1.2 Word Formation Processes ..................................................................................................... 26
4.1.3 Clipping .................................................................................................................................... 27
4.1.4. Types of Clipping .................................................................................................................... 27
[Link] Apocope (Final Clipping) .................................................................................................. 27
[Link] Apheresis/Procope (Initial Clipping)................................................................................ 28
[Link] Syncope (Midial Clipping) ................................................................................................ 28
[Link] Complex Clipping.............................................................................................................. 28
4.2 Compounding ................................................................................................................................. 29
4.2.1 Transparent Compounds......................................................................................................... 29
4.2.2 Opaque Compounds................................................................................................................ 29
4.3 Affixation .................................................................................................................................... 30
4.3.1 Positional classification of affixes ....................................................................................... 30
4.3.2 The prefix ............................................................................................................................. 31
[Link] Reversative Prefixes ......................................................................................................... 31
4.3.3 The Suffix ............................................................................................................................. 31
[Link] Quality Suffixes ................................................................................................................ 31
4.3.3.2Causative and Activity Suffixes ......................................................................................... 32
[Link] Classification of Affixes Based on Function ......................................................................... 32
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 [Link] Inflectional Affixes ........................................................................................................... 33
[Link] Derivational Affixes .............................................................................................................. 34
4.4 Borrowing ................................................................................................................................... 34
4.4.1 Loan-Word ........................................................................................................................... 35
4.4.2 Loan-Blend ........................................................................................................................... 35
4.4.3 Calque or loan translation .................................................................................................. 35
4.5 Blending ...................................................................................................................................... 36
4.6 Stress – Shift ............................................................................................................................... 36
4.7 Conversion .................................................................................................................................. 37
4.7.1 Partial and Full conversion.................................................................................................. 38
4.7.2 Full conversion .................................................................................................................... 38
4.7.3 Back Formation ....................................................................................................................... 40
4.7.4 Reduplication .......................................................................................................................... 40
4.7.5 Nominalisation ........................................................................................................................ 41
[Link] Verbs (nominalised or changed to nouns) ............................................................................ 41
[Link] Adjectives (nominalised or changed to nouns) ................................................................. 41
4.7.6 Acronymy................................................................................................................................. 42
4.7.7 Coinage or Neologism ............................................................................................................. 42
UNIT FIVE: SYNTAX ........................................................................................................................ 44
5.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 44
5.1 Defining Syntax........................................................................................................................... 45
5.2 The main concerns of syntax ..................................................................................................... 46
5.3 The architecture of grammatical sentences .............................................................................. 46
5.4 A Hint on the Theories of Syntax ............................................................................................... 46
5.4.1 Formalist theories ................................................................................................................... 47
5.4.2 Functional theories ................................................................................................................. 48
5.5 Criteria for Word Classification ...................................................................................................... 49
5.5.1 Classification of Words by the Notional Criterion (Meaning) ............................................... 49
[Link] Nouns.................................................................................................................................... 49
[Link] Verbs ..................................................................................................................................... 49
[Link] Adverbs and Adjectives........................................................................................................ 50
5.5.2 Classification of Words by the Form Criterion ....................................................................... 50
[Link] Nouns.................................................................................................................................... 50
[Link] Verbs ..................................................................................................................................... 50
[Link] Adverbs and Adjectives........................................................................................................ 51
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 5.5.3 Classification of Words by the Function Criterion ................................................................. 51
5.5.4 Activity ..................................................................................................................................... 59
5.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 59
5.7 Summary..................................................................................................................................... 59
UNIT SIX: THE VERB .......................................................................................................................... 60
6.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 60
6.1 Defining the Verb (Meaning) ..................................................................................................... 60
6.2 Form ............................................................................................................................................ 60
6.3 Position of Verb .......................................................................................................................... 60
6.4 Function ...................................................................................................................................... 61
6.5 Verb Types .................................................................................................................................. 61
6.5.1 Lexical Verbs ............................................................................................................................ 61
6.5.2 Those which show the state of being and having .............................................................. 61
6.5.3 Those which refer to involuntary sensations ..................................................................... 62
6.5.4 Those which refer to mental states and processes ............................................................ 62
6.5.5 Those which refer to emotions ........................................................................................... 62
6.6 Classification of Lexical Verbs .................................................................................................... 63
6.6.1 Intransitive Verb.................................................................................................................. 63
6.6.2 Monotransitive Verb ........................................................................................................... 63
6.6.3 Bitransitive Verb (ditransitive) ........................................................................................... 63
6.6.4 Complex Transitive Verb ..................................................................................................... 64
6.6.5 Intensive Verb ..................................................................................................................... 64
6.7 Finite and Non-Finite Verbs ....................................................................................................... 65
6.7.1 The Bare or Zero Infinitive .................................................................................................. 65
6.7.2 The To-Infinitive .................................................................................................................. 65
6.7.3 The Participial ...................................................................................................................... 66
[Link] The Present (–ing) Participial ........................................................................................... 66
[Link] The Perfective Participial ................................................................................................. 66
[Link] The Past (–ed) participial ................................................................................................. 67
6.7.4 Activity ......................................................................................................................................... 67
UNIT SEVEN: THE ADJECTIVE.......................................................................................................... 68
7.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 68
7.1 Defining an Adjective ................................................................................................................. 68
7.2 Distributive Nature of Adjectives (Position of adjectives) .................................................... 68
7.2.1 Attributive position ............................................................................................................. 68
[xi]
 7.2.2 Predicative position ............................................................................................................ 69
7.2.3 Postpositive position ........................................................................................................... 69
7.3 Function ...................................................................................................................................... 70
7.4 Complementation ...................................................................................................................... 70
Prepositional phrase as in: ........................................................................................................... 70
The to-infinitive ............................................................................................................................ 70
7.4.3 The Noun Clause.................................................................................................................. 71
7.5 Activity ............................................................................................................................................ 72
7.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 72
UNIT EIGHT: THE ADVERB ............................................................................................................. 73
8.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 73
8.1 Defining the Adverb ................................................................................................................... 73
8.2 Distribution of Adverbs in Sentences ........................................................................................ 74
8.2.1 Adverb Position With Adjectives and Other Adverbs ........................................................ 74
8.2.2 Adverb position with verbs ................................................................................................. 74
8.3. Adverbials .................................................................................................................................. 75
8.3.1 Adjuncts ................................................................................................................................... 76
8.3.2 Disjuncts .................................................................................................................................. 77
8.3.3 Types of Disjuncts.................................................................................................................... 78
[Link] Style Disjuncts .................................................................................................................. 78
[Link] Content Disjuncts ............................................................................................................. 79
[Link] Certainty Disjuncts ........................................................................................................... 80
[Link] Evaluation Disjuncts ......................................................................................................... 80
[Link] Disjuncts: Semantics and Syntax ..................................................................................... 80
[Link] Syntactic Realizations (forms) of Disjuncts ..................................................................... 81
8.4 Conjunct Adverbials ................................................................................................................... 81
8.4.1 Semantic Categories of Conjuncts .......................................................................................... 82
[Link] Enumeration and Addition: ............................................................................................. 82
8.5 Classes Types of Adverbials ....................................................................................................... 83
8.5.1 Adverbs of manner .................................................................................................................. 83
8.5.2 Adverbs of Place ...................................................................................................................... 83
8.5.3 Adverbs of Time ...................................................................................................................... 84
8.5.4 Degree...................................................................................................................................... 84
8.5.5 Sentence Adverbials ................................................................................................................ 84
8.6 Activity ............................................................................................................................................ 84
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8.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 84
UNIT NINE: PHRASES....................................................................................................................... 86
9.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 86
9.1 Defining the Phrase .................................................................................................................... 86
9.1.1 Form and Function of Phrase .................................................................................................. 87
9.2 Kinds or Types of Phrases .......................................................................................................... 87
9.2.1 The Noun Phrase ..................................................................................................................... 87
[Link] Subject .............................................................................................................................. 89
[Link] Direct object ..................................................................................................................... 89
[Link] Indirect object .................................................................................................................. 89
[Link] Subject Complement ........................................................................................................ 90
[Link] Object Complement ......................................................................................................... 90
[Link] Adjunct of time................................................................................................................. 90
[Link] Complement of a preposition .......................................................................................... 90
[Link] Pre-modifier of noun or noun phrase.............................................................................. 90
9.2.2 Gerundial ................................................................................................................................. 91
9.2.3 The infinitive............................................................................................................................ 91
9.2.4 The Appositive......................................................................................................................... 92
9.2.5 Modification in the Noun Phrase................................................................................................ 92
[Link] Pre-modification............................................................................................................... 93
[Link] Determiners...................................................................................................................... 93
[Link] Adjectives ......................................................................................................................... 93
[Link] Participles ......................................................................................................................... 93
[Link] Other nouns...................................................................................................................... 94
[Link] Adverbs ............................................................................................................................. 94
9.3 Post-modification ....................................................................................................................... 94
9.3.1 Prepositional Phrase (PP).................................................................................................... 94
9.3.2 Adjectives ............................................................................................................................ 95
9.3.3 Finite Relative Clause .......................................................................................................... 95
9.3.4 Non-finite Clause ................................................................................................................. 95
9.3.5 Adverbs ................................................................................................................................ 95
9.4 The Verb Phrase ......................................................................................................................... 96
9.4.1 Types of Verb Phrase .............................................................................................................. 96
[Link] Finite Verb Phrase ............................................................................................................ 96
[Link] Non-Finite Verb Phrase .................................................................................................... 96
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 9.5 The Adjective Phrase .................................................................................................................. 97
9.5.1 Function of Adjective Phrase .................................................................................................. 97
[Link] Subject Complement ........................................................................................................ 97
Object Complement ..................................................................................................................... 97
9.6 The Adverb Phrase ..................................................................................................................... 98
9.6.1 Adjunct of time .................................................................................................................... 98
9.6.2 Adjunct of manner .............................................................................................................. 98
9.6.3 Conjunct............................................................................................................................... 98
9.6.4 Disjunct ................................................................................................................................ 98
9.7 The Prepositional Phrase ........................................................................................................... 99
9.7.1 Nouns ................................................................................................................................... 99
9.7.2 Pronouns.............................................................................................................................. 99
9.7.3 Wh- Clause ........................................................................................................................... 99
9.7.4 –ing Clause ........................................................................................................................... 99
9.7.5 Adverbs ................................................................................................................................ 99
9.7.6 Adjective ............................................................................................................................ 100
9.8 Functions of the Prepositional phrase..................................................................................... 100
9.8.1 Adjectival ........................................................................................................................... 100
9.8.2 Adverbial ........................................................................................................................... 100
9.8.3 Verb Complement ............................................................................................................. 100
9.8.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 102
UNIT TEN: THE ENGLISH CLAUSE ................................................................................................ 103
10.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 103
10.1 Defining the Clause ................................................................................................................ 103
10.2 Clause Elements ..................................................................................................................... 103
10.3 Basic Clause Patterns ............................................................................................................. 103
10.3.1 The SV Pattern ................................................................................................................. 104
10.3.2 SVO Pattern ..................................................................................................................... 104
10.3.3 SVOO Pattern .................................................................................................................. 104
10.3.4 SVOC Pattern ................................................................................................................... 104
10.3.5 SVOA Pattern ................................................................................................................... 105
10.3.6 SVC Pattern ...................................................................................................................... 105
10.3.7 SVA Pattern ..................................................................................................................... 105
10.4 Use of Verb ............................................................................................................................. 105
10.4.1 +Verb Clauses..................................................................................................................... 105
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 [Link] Finite Clauses .................................................................................................................. 105
10.4.2 Non-Finite Clauses ............................................................................................................. 106
[Link] Participial ...................................................................................................................... 106
[Link] To-infinitive .................................................................................................................. 106
[Link] Bare infinitive ............................................................................................................... 107
10.5 Verbless Clauses (- Verb Clauses) .............................................................................................. 107
10.5.1 Form of the verb be omitted........................................................................................... 107
10.5.2 Omitted Subject Same as Subject of the Main Clause ................................................... 108
10.5.3 An Adjective and Adjective Phrase as Verbless Clause.................................................. 108
10.6 Clause Functions ......................................................................................................................... 108
10.6.1 Nominal Clauses .................................................................................................................. 108
[Link] Nominal That- Clause ................................................................................................... 108
[Link] Wh-Interrogative Clause .............................................................................................. 109
[Link] Nominal Relative Clause .............................................................................................. 109
[Link] Nominal to-Infinitive Clauses ...................................................................................... 110
[Link] Nominal –ing Clauses ................................................................................................... 110
[Link] Activity .................................................................................................................................. 110
10.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 110
10.8 Summary..................................................................................................................................... 111
UNIT ELEVEN: RELATIVE CLAUSES ................................................................................................. 112
11.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 112
11.1 Defining Relative Clauses ..................................................................................................... 112
11.2 Types of Relative Clauses ....................................................................................................... 112
11.2.1 Restrictive Relative Clauses ............................................................................................ 113
[Link] The subject of the Relative Clause............................................................................... 113
[Link] The direct object of the relative clause ....................................................................... 113
[Link] The complement of a preposition ............................................................................... 113
[Link] The possessive .............................................................................................................. 114
[Link] Indirect Object .............................................................................................................. 114
11.2.2 Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses ...................................................................................... 115
11.3 Sentence Relative Clauses .................................................................................................... 115
11.4 Comment Clauses.................................................................................................................. 115
11.5 Comparison Clauses ............................................................................................................. 115
11.6 Adverbial Clauses ................................................................................................................. 116
11.6.1 Of Time ............................................................................................................................ 116
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 11.6.2 Of Place ............................................................................................................................ 116
11.6.3 Of Contrast or Concession............................................................................................... 116
11.6.4 Of Cause or Reason ......................................................................................................... 116
11.6.5 Of Purpose ...................................................................................................................... 117
11.6.6 Of Result ......................................................................................................................... 117
11.6.7 Of Condition .................................................................................................................... 118
11.6.8 Of Manner ....................................................................................................................... 118
11.6.9 Activity ................................................................................................................................. 118
11.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 119
11.8 Summary................................................................................................................................. 119
UNIT 12: TENSE, ASPECT AND MODALITY..................................................................................... 120
12.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 120
12.1 Tense ....................................................................................................................................... 120
12.2 Aspect ..................................................................................................................................... 122
12.3 Modality ................................................................................................................................. 122
12.4 Mood....................................................................................................................................... 123
12.4.1 Indicative Mood .................................................................................................................. 124
12.4.2 Imperative Mood ................................................................................................................ 124
12.4.3 Interrogative Mood ............................................................................................................. 124
12.4.4 Conditional Mood ............................................................................................................... 124
12.4.5 Subjunctive Mood ............................................................................................................... 124
12.5 Activity ................................................................................................................................ 125
12.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 125
12.7 Summary............................................................................................................................. 125
UNIT 13: THE ENGLISH SENTENCE ................................................................................................. 126
13.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 126
13.1 Structural Classification of English Sentences ....................................................................... 126
13.1.1 Simple sentence .............................................................................................................. 126
13.1.2 Compound sentence ....................................................................................................... 127
13.1.3 Complex Sentence ........................................................................................................... 127
13.1.4 Compound Complex Sentence ........................................................................................ 127
13.2 Functional Classification of English sentences ...................................................................... 128
13.2.1 Declarative Sentence ...................................................................................................... 128
13.2.2 Interrogative Sentence.................................................................................................... 128
13.2.3 Imperative Sentence ....................................................................................................... 129
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 13.2.4 Exclamatory Sentence ..................................................................................................... 129
(q) What a wonderful event this is! .......................................................................................... 129
13.3 Activity ................................................................................................................................ 129
13.5 Summary............................................................................................................................. 129
UNIT 14: TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR (TGG ................................................. 131
14.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 131
14.1 Brief History of the TGG ......................................................................................................... 131
14.2 Principles of the Transformational Generative Grammar .................................................... 132
14.3 Assumptions Regarding the Sentence ................................................................................... 133
14.4 Deep structure ........................................................................................................................ 135
14.5 Surface structure .................................................................................................................... 135
14.6 The architecture of the Transformational Generative Grammar ......................................... 137
14.6.1 The Base Component .......................................................................................................... 137
14.6.2 Details on Phrase Structure Rules (PS) Rules ................................................................. 137
14.6.3 Categorical Rules ................................................................................................................. 139
14.6.4 Lexical Rules ........................................................................................................................ 140
14.6.5 The Transformational Component ..................................................................................... 141
14.6.6 Units of Syntactic Structure ............................................................................................ 143
14.7 Transformations ..................................................................................................................... 145
14.7.1 Types of Transformational Rules ........................................................................................ 146
[Link] The Passive Transformational Rule (Passivisation Rule) ............................................ 146
[Link] The Agent deletion transformational Rule: ................................................................ 148
[Link] The Conjunction Reduction Transformational Rule .................................................... 150
[Link] The Yes/No Question Transformational Rule ............................................................. 151
[Link] The Affix hoping Transformational Rule ..................................................................... 152
[Link] Negative Transformational Rule .................................................................................. 153
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 154
14.8 Activity .................................................................................................................................... 154
Summary......................................................................................................................................... 154
REFERENCES AND BIBIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................... 155

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[xviii]
UNIT ONE: INTRODUCING MORPHOLOGY

1.0 Introduction

This unit introduces you to Morphology. It discusses what Morphology is and what it
is all about. In looking at what Morphology is all about, the unit discusses the two
basic divisions of Morphology, which are Inflectional and Derivational Morphology.
Not only that, the unit also looks the morph, morpheme and allomorph; the three
central units of analysis in morphology.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
 Explain the concept morphology
 Discuss the two divisions of morphology
 Explain the different types of morphemes
 Analyse the different approaches to the study of the morpheme

1.1 Defining Morphology

Morphology is the third level of linguistic analysis after Phonetics and Morphology. It
is the study of the internal structure of words in a language and the rules by which
words are formed. Morphology deals with word units rather than sounds. It deals with
words in terms of units of meaning and grammatical structure. The central units of
analysis in Morphology are the Morph, Morpheme and Allomorph. Traditionally,
morphology is divided into inflectional and derivational morphology.

1.1.1 Inflectional morphology

(Crystal 1987: 90) argues that inflectional Morphology studies the way in which
words vary (or inflect) in order to express grammatical contrast, such as
singular/plural or past/present tense.

1.1.2 Derivational Morphology

Derivational morphology studies the principles governing the construction of new
words, with reference to specific grammatical role a word might play in a sentence.
Consider the following examples:

[1]
1.2 The Morph

You will notice that the word Morph has several definitions. It can be described as the
smallest structurally significant unit that has constant semantic value. It is also said to
be an element of language; an element of speech or writing that represents and
expresses one or more Morphemes. Each morph represents a particular morpheme.
Such a morpheme may be the plural Morpheme, the Root Morpheme, the Tense
Morpheme, the Agentive Morpheme, the Possessive Morpheme or the Superlative
Morpheme. A Morph is the physical realisation or exponent or representation of a
Morpheme. It can also be said to be the phonological representation of a Morpheme.
In other words, a Morph is a word segment that represents a Morpheme in sound or in
writing. The following are some examples:

1.2.1 The plural Morpheme:

chairs as a word can be split into chair and s which are the two morphs which make
up the word chairs. As a morph of the word chairs, chair is the physical
representation of the Root Morpheme while s is the physical realisation of the plural
Morpheme.

1.2.2 The Comparative Morpheme:

Bigger as a word can be split into big and – er. The two segments big and – er are the
two Morphs that make up the word bigger. As a Morph of the word bigger, big is the
physical representation, or realisation or exponent of the Root Morph while –er is the
physical realisation of the Comparative Morpheme.

1.2.3 The Tense Morpheme:

Walked as a word can be split into walk and - ed. The two segments walk and - ed are
the two Morphs that make up the word walked. As a morph of the word walked, walk
is the physical representation of the Root Morpheme while – ed is the physical
realisation of the Past Tense Morpheme.

1.2.4 The Agentive Morpheme:

Preacher, as a word can be split into two morphs; preach and -er which are the two
morphemes that make up the word preacher. Preach and -er are the exponents of the
Root and the Agentive Morpheme respectively.
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1.2.5 The Possessive Morpheme:
Cat‟s as in Cat‘s tail can be split into cat and‗s which are exponents of the Root and
the Possessive Morpheme respectively.

1.2.6 The superlative Morpheme:

Tallest can be split into tall and -est which are exponents of the Root and the
Superlative morphemes respectively.

1.3 Morpheme:
Ever since the term morpheme was introduced, a high number of different linguistic
scholars have had a critical look at this phenomenon, which appears to be so
important to the field of morphology. Even though it has been investigated deeply
throughout the past century, scholar‘s opinions still differ according to their definition
of the morpheme as well as to its importance to linguistics in general. There are
however three approaches that linguists have adopted when it comes to defining the
morpheme. You will notice that each approach looks at the morpheme from a
different perspective.
1.3.1 Structural Approach
All linguists agree that, within words, meaningful parts can be perceived; any exercise
that is aimed at studying those meaningful elements within a word is said to be termed
morphology. Morphology therefore is the study of the meaningful parts of words. The
word ‗teacher‘ for instance comprises two components namely teach (verb) and –er
(suffix). This is what morphology seeks to explain.

Oloruntoba-Oju (1994:71) defines a morpheme in terms of its placement among other

units of grammar as ―the smallest meaning-bearing unit in a word‖. Ayodele
(2001:75) defines it as ―the smallest unit, which exhibits an internal structure and
meaning of its own but which cannot be further broken up‖. An attempt to analyse the
structure of this component parts leads to morphology. Morphology thus deals with
the internal structure of word-forms. Lyons (1974:81) quoted in Odebunmi (2006:39)
views morphemes as ―minimal units of grammatical analysis, the units of lowest rank
out of which words, the unit of next ‗higher‘ rank are composed‖. Bello (2001:92)
coming from the perspective of the status of morpheme in the units of grammar
defines it as ―the smallest meaningful unit in the structure of a language‖. By smallest

[3]
meaningful unit, she meant the unit which cannot be further broken up without
destroying or drastically altering its meaning. For example, though the word reality
can be further broken down into real and –ity (making two morphemes), it cannot be
further broken down without altering its meaning. This shows the common difference
between reality and realities: an attempt to further break down the former results into
producing an entirely different meaning in the plural sense.

One may also not be able to add a morpheme to an utterance without altering the
meaning of such utterance. For example, adding un- to known changes it to unknown
and so alters the meaning of the former. Bloomfield (1933:24) quoted in Nida
(1974:6) corroborates this description by defining it as ―a linguistic form which bears
no parallel phonetic-semantic resemblance to any form‖.

1.3.2 Semantic Approach

From the semantic approach, a morpheme is defined as ―the smallest bit of language
which has a meaning‖ (Crystal 1976). As the smallest meaningful unit of the grammar
of a language, it cannot be broken down into any other meaningful unit. It is the
minimal unit for building words in a language which cannot be further split without
altering its meaning. For example, ―if you add a morpheme to an utterance, or take
away, by definition you alter the meaning of the utterance‖. For example, adding -tion
to locate changes it to location which, with the addition of –s becomes locations. In
attempting to classify morphemes into types, Odebunmi states that the forms and the
formations of the words passes and disregarded can only be understood when defined
in terms of their meaning relations. In these two examples, pass and regard will be
said to be free morphemes for without them, –es, dis-, and –ed, are not capable of
making any sense.

1.3.3 Phonological Approach

Bello describes the morpheme in terms of its phonological properties. In this sense, a
morpheme could be said to make up just a phoneme. For instance, each of the plural
markers in English (e.g. –s as in boy – boys) could be considered as morpheme. Thus,
the /z/ in boys counts as a morpheme. She stresses that if morphemes are the smallest
meaningful unit of any language and are made up of either single phonemes and or

[4]
more than one phoneme as the case may be, then a combination of phonemes must
conform to certain rules or possess given characteristics to qualify as morphemes.

We can conclude on the morpheme as follows: A morpheme is an abstract linguistic

element which functions as a minimum syntactic unit or which functions as a
minimum unit of grammar. It is a minimal unit having more or less constant meaning
and more or less constant form. It is the smallest meaning bearing unit in a word, or
the smallest unit, which exhibits an internal structure and meaning of its own but
which cannot be further broken up.

Since the morpheme is abstract, it is realised in speech and writing by discrete units
known as morphs; as discussed above.

1.4 Allomorph
We wish to introduce the allomorph to you. Note that English has several morphemes
that vary in sound but not in meaning such as for the past tense and for the plural. For
example, in English, a past tense morpheme is – ed in regular verbs. It occurs in
several allomorphs depending on its phonological environment, assimilating voicing
of the previous segment. And so, by definition, an allomorph is any one of the
different phonological realisations of a morpheme. An allomorph occurs when a
morpheme is phonologically represented by different morphs in different
environments and the morphs cannot be substituted for each other. Such morphs are
said to be in Complementary Distribution. So when a morpheme has more than one
phonological realisation, each of these realisations is an allomorph. Let us consider
the following examples:

1.4.1 The plural Morpheme

This morpheme, represented by‗s‘ in regular nous is phonologically realised
differently in different environments. It realised as:

/s/ in books, pots and puffs.

/z/ in bags, pads and serves.

/iz/ in churches, bridges and buses.

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From these examples, /s/, /z/ and /iz/ are allomorphs of the Plural Morpheme. They
are the different phonological realisation of the Plural Morpheme. Each of this is an
allomorph of the Plural Morpheme.

1.4.2 The Past Tense Morpheme

This morpheme, represented by – ed in regular verbs, is phonologically realised
differently in different environments. It is realised as:

/t/ in puffed, kissed and laughed

/d/ in loved, filled and mined

/id/ wedded, united and needed

1.4.3 The third person Singular Morpheme

This Morpheme is represented by‗s‘ and is realised differently in different
environments. It is realised as:

/s/ in He/She talks, shops and paints

/z/ in He/She loves, grabs and brings

/iz/ in He/She judges, watches, and washes

1.4.4 The Possessive Morpheme

The morpheme is represented by‗s‘ in bold and italicised and is realised differently in
different environments. It is realised as:

/s/ in cat‘s tail

/z/ in dad‘s tummy

/iz/ in the judges‘ decision, ladies‘ skirts.

1.5 Phonological Conditioning

Phonological conditioning is the process in which the type by which a given
morpheme is realised in a given environment is determined by the phonological form
(of the sound) of the Morph to which it is attached. Looking back to the allomorphs
discussed earlier, we notice that they are phonologically conditioned. This means that
they are determined by the phonological of the last sound of the Morpheme to which
it is attached: whether it is voiced or voiceless, whether; whether it is an affricate or a
plosive.
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1.5.1 Phonological Conditioning Rules
The behaviours of morphemes in environments above are based on the following
phonological rules.

Rule 1:

The Plural Morpheme, the third person Singular and the Possessive Morpheme are
realised as /s/ after voiceless consonant sounds.

Rule 2:

The Plural Morpheme, the third Person Singular and the Possessive Morpheme are
realised as /z/ after voiced sounds (both vowels and consonants).

Rule 3:

The Plural Morpheme, the third Person Singular and the Possessive Morpheme are
realised as /iz/ when they appear after voiced affricates and fricatives.

Rule 4:

The Past Tense Morpheme is realised as /t/, /d/, and /id/ when it appears after
voiceless consonant sounds (both vowels and consonants) and alveolar plosives
respectively.

1.6 Morphological Conditioning

In irregular verbs and irregular nouns, the Past Tense and the Plural Morpheme are
realised by vowel change in some cases and vowel addition in others. As a result,
vowel change and vowel addition are considered allomorphs of the two morphemes
on the basis of Complementary Distribution. They are in Complementary Distribution
with the other allomorphs of the two Morphemes.

For example, in changing the verb come from the Present Simple to Past Tense, the
morph –ed representing the Past Tense Morpheme is not visible in the word came (as
it is, for example, in talked) but it is understood. The Past in this case is formed by
vowel change. Vowel change is, therefore, another allomorph of the Past tense
Morpheme. The allomorph is not determined by the phonological form of the morph

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to which the Past Tense Morpheme is attached. It is triggered by the nature (internal
structure) of the morpheme is attached. This is called Morphological Conditioning.
Another example is the Plural Morpheme in men from the singular man. Here too the
morpheme is realised through Vowel Change and so vowel change is yet another
allomorph of the Plural Morpheme on the basis of Complementary Distribution.

Reflection

Think of the different approaches to the definition of the morpheme. Do you think
they provide appropriate definitions?

1.7 Activity

1. Describe the different approaches to the description of the morpheme

2. With tangible examples, describe a morph and an allomorph
3. Distinguish between phonological and morphological conditioning
4. Discuss inflectional and derivational morphology

1.8 Conclusion

The unit has endeavoured to bring to your attention the two basic divisions of
morphology. In addition to that, discussed in the unit are the morph morpheme,
classification of morphemes and the allomorph.

1.9 Summary
It is hoped that you have gained insight on the important concepts in morphology
covered in this unit. It is also hoped that you have clearly understood and can also
apply them in your morphological analyses. In the next unit, you will be introduced to
the classification of morphemes.

[8]
UNIT TWO: CLASSIFICATION OF MORPHEMES
2.0 Introduction
This unit exposes you to the types and characteristics of morphemes and gives
copious examples. Since this course is English Morphology, most of our examples
will be drawn from the English Language.
Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 state what free morphemes are, and how they can be identified
 state what bound morphemes are, and how they can be identified
 identify inflectional and derivational bound morphemes and their roles in
morphology
 explain the difference between inflectional and derivational bound
morphemes.

2.1 Types of morphemes

Morphemes can be classified into two broad categories namely; Lexical and
Grammatical morphemes, which are further sub-classified into Free, Full, Bound
and Empty.
2.1.1 Morphemes and their Compositions

Speakers of a language can recognize that word forms may include a number of units.
For example, we can make out that English word forms like plays, player, played and
playing can be split into pieces; they are made up of one unit play, and a number of
other elements like -s, -er, -ed and -ing. All these elements are called morphemes, the
minimal units of meaning or grammatical function that are used to form words
(Lieber, 2009, p. 32).

From this definition of a morpheme we can say that units of meaning include forms
like play and units of grammatical function include elements used to show present
tense or plural. The word visitors consist of three morphemes. One minimal unit of
meaning is visit, another minimal unit of meaning –or, (marking ―person who does
something‖), and the other minimal unit of grammatical function -s (indicating
plural). In the news headline ―Shopping center in Lusaka reopened after ‗suspicious
package‘ turned out to be empty suitcase, the word reopened also contains three
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morphemes. Open is a minimal unit of meaning, re- is another minimal unit that
means ―again‖ and – ed is the other minimal unit of grammatical function that shows
past tense. In linguistics, a morpheme is conventionally indicated between braces. For
example, the word refill consists of {re}+ {fill} + {-ed}. In this unit, this form of
technical notation has not been used for practical purposes.

Morphemes have many characteristics that will be examined in the next sections. For
now, it is worth emphasizing a few. One or more morphemes may represent a single
word, as exemplified in (a) – (d).

(a) One morpheme child

help
mean
(b) Two morphemes child + ish
help + less
mean + ing
(c) Three morphemes child + ish + ness
help + less + ness
mean + ing + ful
(d) Four morphemes gentle + man + li + ness
un + desire + able + ity

2.1.2 Lexical and Grammatical Morphemes

Lexical morphemes are those that have meaning by themselves (more accurately, they
have sense). Grammatical morphemes specify a relationship between other
morphemes. But the distinction is not all that well defined. Nouns, verbs, adjectives
({boy}, {buy}, {big}) are typical lexical morphemes. Prepositions, articles,
conjunctions ({of}, {the}, {but}) are grammatical morphemes.

2.1.3 Free and Bound Morphemes

Free morphemes are those that can stand alone as words. They may be lexical
morphemes ({serve}, {press}), or grammatical morphemes ({at}, {and}). Bound
morphemes can occur only in combination—they are parts of a word. They may be

[10]
lexical morphemes (such as {clued} as in include, exclude, preclude) or they may be
grammatical (such as {PLU} = plural as in boys, girls, and cats).

2.1.4 Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes

We can make a further distinction within the set of morphemes that are both bound
and grammatical. Bound grammatical morphemes (those that don‘t have a sense by
themselves and, additionally, always occur in combinations) are commonly known as
affixes. They can be further divided into inflectional affixes and derivational affixes.
Here is some of the evidence for the distinction between inflectional and derivational
affixes (the book has more):

2.1.5 Inflectional Affixes

English has only eight inflectional affixes as demonstrated in (e) (i) – (viii)

(i) {PLU} = plural Noun -s boys

(ii) {POSS} = possessive Noun -‘s boy’s
(iii){COMP} = comparative Adj -er older
(iv) {SUP} = superlative Adj -est oldest
(v) {PRES} = present Verb -s walks
(vi) {PAST} past Verb -ed walked
(vii) {PAST PART} = past participle Verb -en driven
(viii) {PRES PART} = present participle Verb -ing driving

2.2 Free, Full, Bound and Empty Morphemes

Morphemes are categorised into various as discussed in 2.2.1. Pay particular attention
so that you grasp the concept of morpheme classification.

2.2.1 Free and Full Morphemes

Words are made up of morphemes either free or bound. The free morpheme is the
core part which usually sit anywhere within a word. On its own, it can function as an
independent word, that is, a word that can stand on its own because it carries meaning.
So, Free morphemes can stand alone as words and can be lexical or grammatical. The
following words are free morphemes: school, church, boy, girl, teach, courage,
examine, etc. Another name for the free morpheme is the base or stem or root. As the
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base or core, it can accept other elements either before it or after it. Note that whether
the free morpheme or base or core is attached to another element or not, it can stand
on its own. Most free morphemes are content or lexical words. It is a meaning
carrying unit. Some linguists also refer to the free morpheme as a full morpheme. The
full morpheme is one which is meaningful, which has inherent meaning. Examples of
the full morpheme are content words e.g. Verbs, Adjectives and some Adverbs.

2.2.2 Bound Morpheme:

A bound morpheme is that morpheme that cannot stand or occur as an independent

word. It has to be attached to a free morpheme or word to have a clear meaning. There
are two types of bound morphemes: inflectional morpheme and derivational
morphemes. Examples of bound morphemes are –ment, -en, -ing, -ed, -ness, -ful, mis-,
-anti, -less, etc. in the following free morphemes or words. ‗government‘,
‗encouragement‘, ‗dancing‘, ‗accepted‘, ‗happiness‘, ‗hopeless etc. Another name for
the bound morpheme is empty morphemes. They can also be called grammatical
indicators because they have the tendency to affect grammar. For example, this
sentence.

(f) *Mundiwa glad praised God.

The omission of –ly in glad renders the sentence ungrammatical. Grammatically, the
sentence should read, ―Mundiwa gladly praised God‖. Most bound morphemes are
grammatical or functional elements in language. Bound morphemes are of two types.
Some bound morphemes have the ability of changing word class or forming or
generating new words while others only inflect the word they are added to. This takes
us to another segment in this discussion. We can further discuss morphemes at
another level as follows:

This is a morpheme that cannot stand on its own and can only occur as part of a word.
e.g. –ing, -ed, -ful, -mis, -anti, -less, etc. Affixes, (both suffixes and prefixes) are
examples of Bound morphemes.

Bound morphemes may be lexical e.g. (clude) as in include, exclude, preclude, or may
be grammatical such as (plural-s) as in boys, girls, cats.

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2.2.3 Empty Morpheme:

This is a morpheme which is devoid of meaning of its own; it is devoid of inherent

meaning. Affixes and some grammatical functions are examples of this type of
morpheme. Consider examples in (g) – (h).

(g) mis -when separated from the word misfortune

(h) –ful when separated from the faithful

2.2.4 Inflectional Bound Morphemes

A major division in the morpheme concept is free and bound. A free morpheme has
been referred to as an independent word. The bound morpheme is of two types:
inflectional and derivational. An inflectional morpheme, which is a type of a bound
morpheme, is defined by linguists as a mere grammatical indicator or marker. An
inflectional morpheme cannot generate or create new words nor can it affect the
grammatical class of a word. Let us look at the examples in (i) – (j).

(i) come + -ing = coming

(j) book + s = books

[Link] Grammatical roles of an inflectional morpheme in English

An inflectional plays three grammatical roles as has been demonstrated in the

subsequent examples.

It indicates tense – Tense relates to a verb. It then means that to indicate tense, it
affects verb. A verb is affected in the following ways; see (l) – (m).

(l) come + s, come + ing,

(m) walk + s, walking, walk + ed

write walk + s, write + ing, (writing), write + en (written) ‗s‘ is the third person
singular marker, ‗ed‘ is the past tense marker while ‗ing‘ is the continuous tense
marker.

It indicates number – plurality. Plurality deals with nouns. Nouns are affected by
number. Nouns are subdivided into singular and plural. Plural regular nouns are
indicated with‗s‘. Thus, (n) - (p) shows the examples.
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 (n) boy + s = boys

(o) school + s = schools

(p) table + s = tables

The‗s‘ above is a plural marker and it is an additive morpheme. It indicates that the
morpheme carrying it is ‗more than one‘.

It indicates comparison. Adjectives are used to compare. Thus, this third part affects
adjectives. Adjectives have comparative (for two people) and superlative (more than
two people) forms as in (q) - (r).

(q) fat + ‗er‘ fatter + ‗est‘ to fattest

(r) fast + ‗er‘, est faster, fastest

The ‗er‘ and ‗est‘ morphemes are used to indicate comparative superlative forms of
the adjectives fat and fast above.

2.2.5 Derivational Bound Morphemes

A derivational morpheme which is also called a derived morpheme is a type of bound

morpheme which generates or creates new words by either changing the class of word
or forming new words.

This change in word class, caused by the addition of a derivational bound morpheme,
is not restricted to a particular class of words. It affects all classes of words. This
transformation does not, however, affect the lexical meaning of the base forms of the
free morpheme. That is, the lexical meanings of the core or base or free morpheme
remain unchanged. See this in (s) - (w).

(s) Adjectives from nouns

Suffix Noun Adjective

- ful care careful

- less fruit fruitless
-n Zambia Zambian
- able love lovable
- ly friend friendly
- ous desire desirous
-y library librarian
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 (t) Nouns from Adjectives
Suffix Adjective Noun

- ity rapid rapidity

- ness kind kindness
- ce fragrant fragrance
- ity humble humility

(u) Verbs from Adjective

Suffix Adjective Verb

- en weak weaken
- ize liquid liquidize
- fy solid solidify

(v) Adjectives from verbs

Suffix Verb Adjective

- able wash washable

- ive digest digestive
- tory satisfy satisfactory

(w) Verbs from nouns

Suffix Nouns Verbs

-ize special specialize

From these classes and examples, we can make three conclusions:

1) All affixes are Empty and Bound

2) All content Words, Verbs, Adjectives and some Adverbs are Full and Free.
3) All Prepositions, Articles and Conjunctions are Free but Empty.

Example:

Bigger = big + -er

Big = Full, Free Root Morpheme
-er = Empty, Bound, Comparative Morpheme.

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2.6 Conclusion

In this unit, we have discussed types of morphemes, thereby looking at free and bound
morphemes. We also looked at the sub types of the bound morpheme – inflectional
and derivational morphemes with the characteristic features displayed by each of
them. We also looked in an affixation as an aspect of bound morpheme, though with
more of it to come under morphological processes or word formation processes.

2.7 Activity

1. Distinguish between derivational and inflectional with evidence from

English words
2. With tangible evidence in English language, describe the following
morphemes: Free Morpheme, Bound Morpheme, Empty Morpheme
3. Demonstrate change of word class by the addition of derivational bound
morphemes to the Root

2.8 Summary

We are convinced that you have had an experience on the important concepts the
types of morphemes covered in this unit. We envisage that you have clearly
understood and can also apply them in your morphological analyses of not only the
English language but African languages in general and Zambian languages in
particular. In the next unit, you will be introduced to the word.

[16]
UNIT THREE: THE WORD
3.0 Introduction

This unit exposes you to the word and elements that make up the word. The unit also
discusses different elements that make up a word. In the unit, other aspects discussed
are word segmentation and word formation processes.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
 discuss characteristics or features of a word
 elements and aspects of a word
 distinguish between inflectional and derivational affixes
 segment words into their constituent parts and name the parts appropriately
 describe the constituent structure of a morpheme

3.1 Defining Word

The term word is not quite easy to define, but we know, intuitively what a word is and
we can distinguish word from what is not a word quite easily. Different scholars have
defined the word differently. Some have said it is a single distinct meaningful element
of speech used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence and typically
shown with a space on either side when written/printed. In linguistics a word is the
smallest element that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content.

The word and morpheme are important concepts in morphology. This is because one
or more morphemes make a word. The dictionary defines a word as a single unit of
language which has meaning and can either be spoken or written. It is also a lexical
item that becomes meaningful when used in a context or in discourse where it now
has some grammatical properties.

The word is a most fundamental unit of grammar of a language. It is an independent

linguistic unit that has identifiable meaning and grammatical function with some
emphasis on phonological shape. For example, the forms sing, sings, singing, sang
and sung are all forms of a single word sing. Each of these forms has a unique
environment it can occur in, as well as the verbs (auxiliary) that they can occur with.

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3.2 Characteristics or Features of a Word in the English language

3.2.1 Syntactic Information

Note that every word has its world-class, that is, it has information as to whether the
word is a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a verb. The syntactic information helps us
to know the appropriate environment for the word. In other words, the right position it
would occupy in a sentence as well as its role.

3.2.2 Semantic Information

The semantic information demonstrates that every word has a meaning whether
integral, inherent or contextual. This semantic meaning helps us to know, for
example, whether we have been abused or commended or indeed requested.

3.2.3 Phonological Information

Each word has its distinctive way of being pronounced by the native speakers.
Whether borrowed into the English language or not, whether anglicized (make or
become more English) or not, the phonological information aids pronunciation.

3.2.4 Pragmatic Information

Every word has a particular context of usage. This is also referred to as situational
usage of words. The focus of Pragmatics is on the principles that govern language use,
which are: the producers‘ (speaker, writer) intentions and receivers (hearer and
reader) and principally on contexts.

3.2.5 Morphological Information

All words have their own peculiar internal structure or shape. This has to do with the
way phonemes and morphemes in the language are arranged. Morphological
information enables us to know what combinations of items are permissible and
which ones are not.

3.3 Elements and Aspects of the Word

3.3.1 Stem
This is the part of a word which remains after all inflectional affixes have been
removed, or a part of a word to which inflectional affixes can be added. For example,

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in the word untouchables, there is only one inflectional affix, the plural Morpheme s.
Removing the ‗s‘ gives us untouchable, which is our stem in this case.

3.3.2 Root

A root is that part of a word which remains after all the inflectional and derivational
affixes have been removed. In other words, a root is what remains of a word after all
the affixes have been removed. It is for this reason that a root is sometimes referred to
as that part of a word which cannot be analysed into any smaller units. This further
implies that a root can also be a stem in some cases. In the word treated, for example,
the removal of the inflectional affix –ed gives us the stem treat which is, at the same
time, the root because it cannot be analysed or split into any more smaller units.

3.3.3 Base

This is an element (free or bound, root morpheme or complex word) to which

additional morphemes are added. The base is also called a stem. You need to note
that a base can consist of a single root morpheme, as with the 'kind' of 'kindness'. But
a base can also be a word that itself contains more than one morpheme. For example,
we can use the word 'kindness' as a base to form the word 'kindnesses'; to make
'kindnesses', we add the plural morpheme, spelled '- es' in this case, to the base
'kindness'.

3.3.4 Affixes

An affix is any linguistic unit attached to (or affixed to) a word. (Put simply, affixes
are bound morphemes which may occur either at the beginning or at the end of a
word). An affix may be attached to the beginning of a word or at the end. An affix
attached to the beginning of a word is called a prefix while the one attached at the end
is called a suffix. There is need to mention here that a detailed account of affixes has
been given in unit four under word formation processes. Here we only discuss them
on the surface since they occur in the word which is under discussion in this unit.
From here on, we can interchangeably use the expressions bound morphemes and
affixes comfortably so that we do not confuse ourselves.

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3.3.5 Inflectional Affixes

Inflectional affixes are affixes which when attached to a word change neither the part
of speech nor the meaning of the word to they are attached except the structure of the
word. This type of affixes is attached at the end of the word, so they are all suffixes
and are Bound and Empty. These include plural markers (boy + s = boys), tense
marker (talk + - ed = talked), comparative (tall + - er = taller), the possessive (dog +
„s = dog‟s), and the superlative (tall + -est = tallest).

3.3.6 Derivational Affixes

Derivational affixes on the other hand are those which when attached to a word will
change both the structure of the word to which they are attached and the meaning.
Derivational affixes basically create new words. Like inflectional affixes, they are
bound and empty as in the following: (teach + - er = teacher), (un + known =
unknown), (nation + - al = national).

3.4 Inflection

Inflection is the process by which a change is made in the form or structure of a word
to express its relation to other words in a sentence in terms of number (Plural) Case
(Possessive) degree (Comparative/Superlative) and time (Tense). Inflection is
achieved through inflectional morphemes. These include the Plural Morpheme, the
Possessive Morpheme, third Person Singular, the Past tense, the Comparative and the
Superlative. All inflections are suffixes. These aspects have been explained further in
unit four.

Write - writ -ing (Tense)

Book - book -s (Plural)
Tall - tall -er (Comparative)
Tall - tall -est (Superlative)

3.5 Derivation

Derivation is the process whereby new words are formed from existing ones by
affixation. Like inflectional affixes, these too have been explained in detail in unit
four.

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 Teach - Teach -er (Agentive)
Leader - leader -ship (Noun to Noun)
Accept - accept -able (Verb to Adjective)

In inflection, both meaning and word class of the word involved are maintained while
in derivation the meaning of the word always changes, and in some cases, the word
class also changes.

3.5.1 Inflectional morphemes: vary (or "inflect") the form of words in order to
express grammatical features, such as singular or plural or past or present tense. Thus
Boy and boys, for example, are two different forms of the "same" word; the choice
between them, singular vs. plural, is a matter of grammar and thus the business of
inflectional morphology (Crystal, 1976). Refer to inflectional affixes.

3.5.2 Derivational morphemes make new words from old ones (Crystal, 1976). Thus
creation is formed from create by attaching –ion to the word. But the two are distinct
and separate words. Refer to derivational affixes.

3.6 Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes

3.6.1 Inflectional Morphemes generally:

 Do not change basic meaning or part of speech, e.g., big, bigg-er, bigg-est are
all adjectives.
 Express grammatically-required features or indicate relations between
different words in the sentence. Thus in Rhoda love-s John: -s marks the 3rd
person singular present form of the verb, and also relates it to the 3rd singular
subject Rhoda.
 Are productive. Inflectional morphemes typically combine freely with all
members of some large class of morphemes, with predictable effects on
usage/meaning. Thus the plural morpheme can be combined with nearly any
noun, usually in the same form, and usually with the same effect on meaning.
 Occur outside any derivational morphemes. Thus in ration-al-is-ation-s the
final -s is inflectional, and appears at the very end of the word, outside the
derivational morphemes -al, -is,-ation
 In English, inflectional morphemes are suffixes only
 Always one in a word
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3.6.2 Derivational morphemes generally

 Change the part of speech or the basic meaning of a word. Thus -ment added
to a verb forms a noun (judg-ment). re-activate means "activate again."
 Are not required by syntactic relations outside the word. Thus un-kind
combines un- and kind into a single new word, but has no particular syntactic
connections outside the word -- we can say he is unkind or he is kind or they
are unkind or they are kind, depending on what we mean.
 Are often not productive -- derivational morphemes can be selective about
what they'll combine with, and may also have erratic effects on meaning. Thus
the suffix -hood occurs with just a few nouns such as brother, neighbour, and
knight, but not with most others. e.g., *friendhood, *daughterhood, or
*candlehood. Furthermore, "brotherhood" can mean "the state or relationship
of being brothers," but "neighbourhood" cannot mean "the state or relationship
of being neighbours."
 Typically occur between the stem and any inflectional affixes. Thus in
governments, -ment, a derivational suffix, precedes -s, an inflectional suffix.
 In English, derivational morphemes may appear either as prefixes or suffixes:
pre- arrange, arrange-ment.
 Can be more than one in a word

3.7 Word Segmentation

Segmentation is the process of splitting or segmenting words into their constituent
parts and naming these parts. It may also be simply referred to as the process of
determining word boundaries.
Example: untouchables

untouchable - stem
touch - root
able - derivational affix, suffix
un - derivational affix, prefix
s - inflectional affix, suffix

Note that segmentation is done on the basis of:

(a) Phonological form /s, z, iz/ and /t, d, id/; for the Plural marker s and the
Past Tense marker – ed respectively.
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 (b) Recurrence with regular meaning as in:

ill natured
ill mannered
ill treat
where ill has a constant/regular meaning of ‗bad or badly’. In splitting words on the
basis of recurrence with regular meaning, the remaining units must have either
semantic or grammatical meaning.

It is not possible to split the following words the way they have been split.

understand un derstand
underhand un derhand
undergo un dergo

because the remaining segments –derstand, -derhand and –dergo are meaningless.

3.7.1 Constituent structure of morphemes

The constituent morphemes of a word can be organized into a hierarchical structure.
Watch how this we illustrate this structure by means of tree diagrams.
To figure out how to draw the diagram, we need to see whether un-
or -able can be attached directly to use. According to Language
Files, "The prefix un-, meaning 'not', attaches only to adjectives
and creates new words that are also adjectives. (Compare with
unkind, unwise, and unhappy.) The suffix -able, on the other hand, attaches to verbs
and forms words that are adjectives. (Compare with stoppable, doable, and
washable.) Therefore, un- cannot attach to use, since use is a verb and not an
adjective. However, if -able attaches first to the stem use, then it creates an adjective,
usable, and the prefix un- is allowed to combine with it. Thus, the formation of the
word unusable is a two-step process whereby use and -able attach first, then un-
attaches to the word usable."

Now let's consider the word unlockable. We can see that there are two different
meanings for this word: the one corresponding to the left-hand figure, meaning "not
lockable," and the one corresponding to the right-hand figure, meaning "able to be
unlocked."

[23]
 Fig 1

By making explicit the different possible hierarchies for a single word, we can better
understand why its meaning might be ambiguous. And, in fact, un- can indeed attach
to verbs: untie, unbutton, uncover, uncage, unwrap... Larry Horn (1988) points out
that the verbs that permit prefixation with un- are those that effect a change in state in
some object, the form with un- undoing (!) that change. And thus we can account for
the two senses of unlockable: the sense derived from the suffix -able combining with
the verb lock to form an adjective lockable and then the adjective combining with the
prefix un- to form a new adjective unlockable, as in the lefthand in fig 1, vs. the sense
derived from the prefix un- attaching to the verb lock to form a new verb unlock and
then combining with the suffix -able to form an adjective unlockable, as in the
righthand tree in fig 1.

3.7.2 Conclusion

This unit has exposed you to the word and its features. In addition to that, the unit also
covered elements and aspects of the word and further looked at processes of
inflection, derivation. Furthermore, the unit has also dealt with inflectional and
derivational affixes as well as word segmentation.

3.7.3 Activity

1. Distinguish between inflectional and derivational morphemes/affixes

2. Identify the elements and aspects of word
3. Distinguish between inflection and derivation
4. What inflectional affixes are to be found in English nouns, verbs and adjectives, and
discuss the function of each individual affix
5. How would segment each of the following words and describe the resulting
segments:
i. encouragement
ii. disembarking
iii. unhappiness

2.7.4 Summary

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We are hopeful that your interaction with this unit has been exciting educative. Our
hope is that you were able to see the value of features of words in morphology and
how important the elements of words are in morphological analysis. If there are some
concepts you may not have understood, go back to the unit and read again. The next
unit exposes you to word formation processes or morphological processes.

[25]
UNIT 4: WORD FORMATION PROCESSES (Morphological Processes)

This unit introduces you to the word formation or morphological processes. In the
unit, you will be exposed to different word formation processes and what is involved
in each case.

4.0 Introduction

Word-formation processes are as important as morphology itself. This is because it is

an attempt to generate new words in the language. If new words are not generated in
the language, then that language will be dead because there would be monotony in the
language. The word formation process in this module concentrates on English
language. Of course, there may be some examples in one or two Zambian languages.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 explain what is meant by word-formation process

 identify different word-formation processes
 discuss the different word-formation processes

4.1 Defining Word Formation Process

The ‗Word Formation Process‘ is regarded as the branch of Morphology, and it has a
significant role in expanding the vocabulary that helps us communicate very
smoothly. The main objectives of the word-formation process are to form new words
with the same root by deploying different rules or processes.

At this point, we can say that the word-formation process is a process in which new
words are formed by modifying the existing terms or completely changing those
words.

4.1.2 Word Formation Processes

It is important to note that word formation processes are of different types and
include: clipping, compounding, affixation, blending, backformation, reduplication,

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acronymy and many more. In the subsequent section, we look at each of the types of
morphological processes in detail.

4.1.3 Clipping

In linguistics, clipping, also called truncation or shortening, is word formation

process by removing some segments of an existing word to create
a synonym. Clipping as a morphological process, is very productive; not only in the
English language but also in many African languages. It involves some element of
reduction in the length of a word. Clipping differs from abbreviation, which is based
on a shortening of the written, rather than the spoken, form of an existing word or
phrase. Clipping is also different from back-formation, which proceeds by (pseudo-)
morpheme rather than segment, and where the new word may differ in sense
and word class from its source

Clipping can also be seen as extracting a shortened form of a word from its longer
morphological from. In English, for instance, ‗telephone‘ becomes phone; brassiere is
bra; In some cases, the clipped version has more or less completely replaced the
original longer word, e. g. flu from influenza. Note that a clipped form is a complete
lexical unit which should not be confused as abbreviation of its full form.

Crystal (1999) defines ‗clipping as a type of word formation in which new words are
derived by shortening another word‘. Some of the examples he gave include, exam
from examination, and ad for advertisement. However, Aronoff (1997) defines
clipping as a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more
syllables.

4.1.4. Types of Clipping

[Link] Apocope (Final Clipping)

In a final clipping, the most common type in English, the beginning of the prototype
is retained. The unclipped original may be either a simple or a composite. Examples
include these as provided in (a) – (e).

(a) ad/advert – from advertisement

(b) cable – from cablegram

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 (c) doc – from doctor
(d) exam - from examination
(e) memo – from memorandum

[Link] Apheresis/Procope (Initial Clipping)

Initial/fore or aphresis or indeed procope clipping is the kind of clipping in which the
first part of the word and maintain the last part or final. Consider the following in (f) -
(i).

(f) bot – from robot

(g) chute - from parachute
(h) roach – from cockroach
(i) pike – from turnpike
[Link] Syncope (Midial Clipping)

This is the kind of clipping where the middle part of the word is left out. Of course, it
must be stated that words with this kind of clipping are few. They are of two kinds.
The first kind includes words I which the final-clipped stem retains the functional
morpheme while the second kind includes contractions due to a gradual processes of
elision under the influence of rhythm and context. Consider examples in (j) - (m).

(j) maths – from mathematics (functional morpheme maintained)

(k) specs – from spectacles (functional morpheme maintained)

(l) fancy – from fantasy (contraction due to gradual process of elision

influenced by rhythm and context)

(m) ma‟am – from madam (contraction due to gradual process of elision

influenced by rhythm and context)

[Link] Complex Clipping

In this type of clipping, the clipped forms are also used in compounds. What basically
happens is that one part of the original compound most often remains intact.
Examples include the following as in (n) - (o).
(n) cablegram – from cable telegram (one part (cable) remains intact)
(o) navicert – from navigation certificate (navigation certificate)
[28]
4.2 Compounding
Compounding is a morphological process in which two or more words (Roots) are put
together to act as a single lexical word with a distinct meaning. The words so formed
by this process are called compounds. Odebunmi (2006) observes that in forming
compounds, two or more words are combined. Compounds can either be transparent
of opaque and are further sub-categorised into three. They may be solid - cardboard,
hyphenated – mother-in-law or two-word – hot dog.

4.2.1 Transparent Compounds

Transparent compound words are those whose meaning can easily be interpreted or
understood from the constituents. The meaning of the compound airmail, for
example, can easily be understood as mail delivered by air. Other examples would
include examples in (p) – (q).

(p) teacup
(q) notebook

4.2.2 Opaque Compounds

Opaque compounds on the other hand are those whose meaning cannot be interpreted
from the constituent parts. The meaning, for example, of the compound blackmail
cannot be understood from the constituent parts. Other examples would include (r) -
(s).

(r) lady-killer
(s) put out
You may wish to know that other different combinations are actually possible.
Consider the following in (t) – (y).
(t) Noun + Noun compounds – heartbroken, home sick, airport, basketball
(u) Noun + Adjective compound - bloodthirsty, praise worthy, colour-blind
(v) Adjective + Noun – greenhouse, bluebird, whiteboard, smart phone
(w) Verb + Noun – rest house, washing machine, pickpocket, typewriter
(x) Noun + Verb – rainfall, haircut, sidesteps, airlift
(y) Verb + Preposition – roll on, take away, stand by, stick on, tear up
(z) Adjective + verb – whitewash, blacklist, highlight, proofread

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We wish to state here that these combinations cannot be exhausted. You are therefore
encouraged to use the web to source many other possible combinations. A few more
have been listed in the following section.

 Adjective + adjective - blue-green

 Adverb + preposition - forthwith
 Verb + adverb - tumbledown
 Preposition + adjective - overripe, off-white
 Verb + adverb - takeout
 Preposition + adverb - without
 Compound Adverbs - moreover, however, nonetheless, furthermore,
meanwhile
 Determiner-Noun Combinations or wh-forms - anyhow, somewhere,
nowhere, sometimes, anytime

4.3 Affixation

The expression ‗affixation‘ can be defined as a morphological process of attaching an

affix to the root or base of a word. In unit four, the word affix was discussed to some
extent. In this unit, we add a little more that you may need to know about affixes.
Affixes are classified based on two criteria. The first criterion is the position in which
the affix occurs relative to the location of the root of the word, while the second is the
function an affix performs when it is attached to the root of a word. If you recall,
affixes were partly dealt with in the preceding unit and it is hoped that you will now
clearly understand them and their role in morphology. Let us examine these criteria
one by one.

4.3.1 Positional classification of affixes

If we use the position in which an affix occurs in relation with the location of the root
of a word as the basis for classifying affixes, then we have the following types: prefix,
suffix, infix, interfix, circumfix, and superfix or suprafix. In this unit and module,
however, we have only attempted to discuss prefixes and suffixes. You may read
about the others from the web.

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4.3.2 The prefix

A prefix is an affix which occurs before the root or base of a word. Examples of
negative prefixes in English are presented in table:

Prefix Meaning Host Examples

a- ‗lacking in‘ adjective Asexual
de- the opposite of‘ noun Demerit
verb Demystify
dis- ‗the opposite of‘ adjective ,verb noun Disloyal Disrespect
Dishonour
il- ‗the opposite of‘ adjective Illegal
im- ‗the opposite of‘ adjective Impossible
in- ‗the opposite of‘ adjective Insensitive
ir- ‗the opposite of‘ adjective Irregular
mis- ‗the opposite of‘ noun verb Misconduct, Misdirect
non- ‗not‘ various Non-starter Non-binary
un- ‗the opposite of‘ adjective Unwise

[Link] Reversative Prefixes

Prefix Meaning Possible Host Examples

de- ‗to reverse an action‘ Verb Defrost, Delocalize
deforestation
dis- ‗to reverse an action‘ verb Disconnect, Disorganise
un- ‗to deprive of‘ verb Unmask, Unhorse
un- ‗to reverse an action or verb Untie, Undress, unlock
‗to reveal‘

4.3.3 The Suffix

The suffix is an affix which occurs after the base or root of a word. Some examples of
suffixes in English are presented in tables.

[Link] Quality Suffixes

Suffix Meaning Possible Host Examples

-(e) ry ‗behaviour‘ Noun-Adjective mastery, thuggery
bravery
(-(i) ty ‗state‘ Adjective- Noun Equality, gentility
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 -able/ ‗worthy of‘ Verb-adjective Forgivable, Forcible
-ible
-al/ial/ ‗quality of being‘ Noun-Adjective Logical, memorial
-ical periodical
-er ‗occupational‘, Varied Teacher, Taller, Cooker
comparative, instrumental, Player
agentive, etc.
-ess ‗effeminate‘ Noun Portress
-est -superlative‘ Adjective Smallest, Soonest
Adverb
-ful ‗having the quality of‘ Noun -Adjective Careful, Dutiful
-hood ‗status‘ Noun Womanhood
-ic ‗quality of being‘. Noun-Adjective Metallic, alcoholic
-ish ‗having the character of‘ Noun-Adjective Boyish, Childish
-less ‗lacking‘ Noun-Adjective Motherless, Powerless
-ness ‗state‘ Noun -Noun Sadness, Goodness

4.3.3.2Causative and Activity Suffixes

Suffix Meaning Possible Host Examples

-age ‗the result of‘ Verb Noun Linkage, leakage
-ation ‗the act of‘ Verb Noun Importation, fertilization
-ed ‗past‘ Verb talked
-en ‗past participle‘ Verb beaten
-en ‗to cause to become‘ Adj Verb Deafen, gladden
-ify ‗cause to become‘ Noun, Verb Testify, exemplify
-ing ‗progressive‘ Verb Singing
-ize ‗cause to become‘ Adj, Verb Regularize, Familiarize
-ment ‗the act of‘ Verb Noun Amendment, Entertainment
[Link] Classification of Affixes Based on Function

In the preceding section, affixes have been classified based on the position they
occupy in relation to the position of the root or base of a word to which they have
been attached. In this part of the unit, we classify affixes based on the function they
perform when attached to a word.

Note that affixes can perform essentially three functions when they are attached to the
root of a word. These are inflectional, derivational and extensional functions. We
shall discuss these functions under inflectional, derivational and extensional affixes.

[32]
Of course, remember that inflectional and derivational affixes were partly touched in
unit four. However, this unit simply adds a little more clarity on them.
[Link] Inflectional Affixes

An inflectional affix is the kind of affix which performs a grammatical function

without altering the part of speech of the word to which it is attached. Therefore,
inflectional affixes are never used to create new words; rather they are used to show
whether a word is singular or plural, whether the tense of the verb is past or non-past,
if the word expresses comparative or superlative degree, or to show the case feature of
the word in question. Case is a grammatical category which is concerned with the
ability of a nominal (noun or pronoun) to change its form with respect to the
environment in which it occurs, for example, the possessive case. Examples of
inflectional affixes in English have been presented in table…:

Inflectional Affix Function/meaning Examples

-s (N) plural books
-ed (V) past tense jumped
-ing (V) progress eating
-s (V) 3rd person singular present simple walks
-en (V) past participle eaten
-er comparative taller
-est superlative tallest
-‗s Possessive Mulala‘s
Table …
As you may have observed already, all the inflectional affixes in English are suffixes,
and they are few. By implication, they are ‗morphemes of the outer layer‟, because it
is not possible to have another suffix after an inflectional affix. This fact was pointed
out in unit four when inflectional morphemes were compared with the derivational
type.

Another interesting quality of inflectional suffixes in English is that it is not possible

to have more than one of them hosted by the same root at a time. It is, however,
possible for a semantically empty formative to occur between the root or stem and the
inflectional suffix. Such semantically empty formatives have been referred to as stem
extenders. An example of a stem extender in English is the –r- which occurs between
the root child and the –en plural marker, as in child-r-en.

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[Link] Derivational Affixes

A derivational affix is one which changes the part of speech or alters the meaning of
the word to which it is attached. These too were referred to in the preceding unit.
However, like inflectional affixes, a little more detail has been given in this unit.
Robins (1964) argues that derivational affixes are divided into class changing and
class maintaining types. Both the class changing and class maintaining derivational
affixes affect the lexical meaning of the word to which they are attached, while only
the class changing ones affect the syntactic value (i.e. the part of speech) of the word.
It has now become a common practice to treat affixes which extend or modify the
meaning of their hosts separately from the class-changing ones.

Presented in the following table are the major differences between inflectional and
derivational affixes in English:

Examples showing derivational affixes that change the part of speech of their
hosts.
Prefix Function (s) Example
a- Verb to Adj. Afloat
be- Noun to Verb bewitch
Adj. to Verb befool
de- Noun to Verb defrost
em- Adj. to Verb embitter
en- Noun to Verb enslave

Note: The derivational prefix em- is a variant of en- when it occurs before bilabial
consonants

4.4 Borrowing

Borrowing stands out as one of the commonest ways of creating new words in human
language. It simply means the process or taking words from one or more languages to
fit into the vocabulary of another. It is must be noted that no language is free from
borrowing. Borrowing presupposes some element of cultural contact. According to
Donwa-Ifode (1995), two or more languages are said to be in contact if they are used
by the same individuals or group of persons alternately. The individual using the
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languages is referred to as the ‗locus‘ of the contact. The language that borrows from
the other is said to be the ‗recipient‘ language, while that from which the item is
borrowed is known as the ―donor‘ language‖.

Borrowing involves different forms which include loan-word, loan-blend and calque
or loan-translation.

4.4.1 Loan-Word

A loan-word is that which is adopted from a foreign language with little or no

modification. In other words, ―a recipient language has lifted from a donor language
to mean the same object and practice to which it originally referred in the donor
language‖ (Donwa-Ifode 1995). Examples of loan-words in English include some of
the following as shown in (aa) - (ii).

(aa) Piano (from Italian),

(bb) Alcohol (from Arabic),
(cc) Zebra (from Bantu),
(dd) Tycoon (from Japanese),
(ee) Angel (old French and Ecclesiastical Latin),
(ff) Advertise (French)
(gg) Adventure (from old French)
(hh) Browse (from Old French)
(ii) Tailor (from Latin) and many more etc.

4.4.2 Loan-Blend

A load-blend is that word composed of parts from different languages. The

combination involves foreign loan with a native form. e.g. the word monolingual has
a Greek prefix and Latin Root. Loan-blends are quite rare try to find some on your
own. Two more examples are in (jj) - (kk).

(jj) Ditransitive where the prefix di has its etymology in Greek and transitive,
English though originally Latin.
(kk) Bitransitive where bi has its origin in Latin and transitive English.
4.4.3 Calque or loan translation

A calque or loan-translation is a word created by using the morphemes of a recipient

language to represent all the senses in a donor language. A calque is basically a word
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or phrase whose meaning or idiom is adopted from another language by word-for-
word translation into existing words or word-forming roots of the recipient language.
Some examples of calques are as shown in (ll) - (nn).

(ll) From French: pomme d‘Adam - Adam‟s apple

point de vue -Point of view
(mm) From English: Angel - mungelo (Tonga), umungeli (Bemba)
(nn) From English: Motor car - motokala (Tonga), mota (Lozi)
motoka (Bemba)

4.5 Blending

Blending is a morphological process of creating a new word by combining parts of

two or more already existing words in the same language. Other literature defines
blending as a type of word formation process that refers to the joining of the
beginning of one word and the end of another to make a new word with a new
meaning. Examples of blends in English include the subsequent ones in (oo) - (tt).

(oo) brunch derived from breakfast + lunch,

(pp) modem derived from modulator + demodulator,
(qq) smog derived from smoke + fog,
(rr) intercom derived from internal + communication,
(ss) motel derived from motor + hotel,
(tt) telecast derived from television plus broadcast.

Looking at the examples in (oo) - (tt), it seems that a blend, as other literature state,
is achieved by taking only the beginning part of one word and joining it to the end of
another word. But it is essential to mention that the decision as to where to begin or
end the cut is arbitrary.

4.6 Stress – Shift

This is a word formation process in which a new is formed by virtue of shifting the
stress from syllable to the next. Sometimes this is also referred to as functional shift.
Put simply, we can say it is a change in lexis that is as a result of change that occurs in
stress placement e.g. re'cord (v) and 'record (noun). Indeed, a change in stress

[36]
placement on a word may classify two utterances into different category of the units
of grammar. Consider the following examples in (uu) – (vv):

(uu) Lulu and Handili like Mulala (that is, both ‗Lulu‘ and ‗Handili‘ have
affection towards ‗Mulala‘).
(vv) Lulu and Handili, like Mulala love table tennis. (that is, ‗Lulu‘ and
‗Handili‘ both love to play table tennis game as much as ‗Mulala‘).
In example (uu), ‗like‘, which is said with a rising tune is a linking verb that connects
the subjects ‗Lulu‘ and ‗Handili‘ to the object ‗Mulala‘. In (vv), the ‗like‘, produced
with a falling tone changes its role as a verb to an adverb and turns ‗Mulala‘ to a
qualifier element in the adverbial group.

In the following two-column table, examples in English have been used to show how
a change in stress placement can trigger a meaning difference between segmentally
identical words:-

NOUN VERB
'Insult In'SULT
'CONvert Con'VERT
'Import IM'port
'Rebel re'BEL
'Export ex'PORT
'SUBject sub'JECT
'CONtest con'TEST
'PERmit per'MIT
'SURvey sur'VEY

4.7 Conversion

Conversion, as a morphological process, involves neither the addition nor subtraction

of any morpheme. This derivational process simply involves a change in the function
of a word. For example, a verb may be used as a noun or vice-versa, without adding
any suffix. We would simply say, conversion is a word formation process in which
new words are formed without the use (addition) of affixes. Examples include verbs
changing into nouns. See (ww) - (yy).

(ww) Talk - The talk was lengthy. (the verb talk changed into a noun)
(xx) Cheat - The boy is a cheat. (the verb cheat changed into a noun)
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 (yy) Guess - He made a guess. (the verb guess changed into a noun)

Nouns too may be converted into verbs, e.g. bottle (she bottles up her anger); also,
referee (He referees the match). This process makes the creation of new words a daily
occurrence. It is important to mention that conversion is categorised into partial and
full conversion.

4.7.1 Partial and Full conversion

In partial conversion, the new word that has been formed does not take up all the
characteristics of the new word class into which it has been changed. This has been
demonstrated in the subsequent section.

The word ‗kind‘ which is an adjective for example, if changed to a noun would not
take up the plural and therefore would not inflect for number. E.g. the adjective kind
changed to a noun. See (zz) - (aaa).

(zz ) Mary‘ mother is kind (adjective)

(aaa) The kind will inherit the kingdom (noun)

(The noun, ‗The kind‟ cannot inflect for number to become The „kinds‟), for it would
be ungrammatical.

4.7.2 Full conversion

As opposed to partial conversion, in full conversion, the item that has been changed
into another class takes up all the characteristics of the new class to which it has been
changed.

Derivation refers to all the essential components of an underlying base which are
incorporated into another meaning, belonging to a distinctly different semantic
domain. For example, compare man in the following two contexts

(bbb) I saw a man approaching

(ccc) They man the house in case of emergency.

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The meaning of man is included within the meaning of man in (bbb) which refers to a
human being and man in (ccc) which refers to an activity. The two belong to entirely
different semantic domains.

It is important to note that figurative extension of meaning involves a drastic shift in

semantic domains in which the semantic relations between base and extended
meaning depend upon either a ‗supplementary‘ or ‗secondary‘ component or a
reinterpreted diagnostic component. For instance, if you hear a wife addressing her
husband in a sentence such as ―You are a dog‖, the meaning of dog obviously does
not have as a referent a particular quadruped (four-footed) of a canine class. Rather,
this meaning of a dog is roughly equivalent to the abstract contemptible, and in this
meaning dog belongs to the semantic domain of such words as disgraceful, base,
mean, worthless, despicable, distasteful, loathsome, disreputable with which it
overlaps meanings.

Peripheral clustering involves linked sets of diagnostic components, which form a

semantic chain binding a series together. There may also be certain common
components which serve to unite such a set. Compare, for example, paper in the
following contexts: (ddd) - (ggg)

(ddd) I know a famous company that manufactures paper.

(eee) Bubu just bought the paper from the vendor.
(fff) Professor Phiri‘s paper was the first to be presented at the conference.
(ggg) Nchimunya will paper his defaced and cracked walls soon.

What is observable in the four contextual uses of the single English lexical item paper
would seem to make it clear that the meanings of the first three italicized (ddd) - (fff)
items constitute central - peripheral meanings, while the meaning of the last italicized
item (ggg) is a derivation of the first. The question deducible from this analysis is
which of the ‗papers‘ can be considered the central or base meaning of ‗paper‘? Thus
it is established that it is almost impossible to provide a semantically neutral text. To
resolve this seeming crack, linguists prefer to examine the nature of lexical meanings
and their distribution in English not only in terms of their specific ‗semantic‘ uses as
individual item but also in terms of their relations to certain features of certain critical
[39]
area of experience in which lexical items have been used. This entails the observation
of the sum of its syntactic features or possible grammatico-semantic (and
phonological) manifestations.

4.7.3 Back Formation

Back-formation is the process of creating a new lexeme by removing actual or

supposed affixes from the existing word. This reduction process occurs when a word
(root morpheme or combination of morphemes) that is usually a noun is reduced to
form another word which belongs to a different word-class. Consider examples in
(hhh) - (kkk).

(hhh) enthuse (verb) derived from enthusiasm (noun)

(iii) abduct (verb) derived from abduction (noun)
(jjj) absorb (verb) derived from absorption (noun)
(kkk) alliterate (verb) derived from alliteration (noun)

As can be seen in (hhh) – (kkk), in backformation, a shorter word is created from a

longer one by a subtraction method most especially where a structure gap exists in
language. Usually, back forms are derived from conceptual or agentive nouns, and are
turned into verbs.

4.7.4 Reduplication

A word formation process involving compounding or repetition of identical (goody-

goody) or slightly different morphemes (wishy-washy). Usually, the difference in the
different morphemes types in single phonemes at either initial or medial positions.
Their use is usually informal. There is identity relationship between the items so
repeated in terms of their phoneme make-up, as well as their morphologically shapes.
In English, such examples include:

(lll) wishy-washy – (wavering or lacking in commitment)

(mmm) walkie-talkie – (a portable, bi-directional radio transceiver)
(nnn) tick-tock – (clicking sounds like those of an analog clock)
(ooo) hanky-panky – (mischievious behaviour/dishonest or shady activity)

[40]
The examples from (lll) - (ooo) illustrate reduplication as a morphological process.
We may want to add that these are not the only words that are formed as a result of
reduplication. There are several others such as dilly-dally, shilly-shally and more, and
you can find them on internet.

4.7.5 Nominalisation

Words other than nouns or pronouns converted from other word classes and are made
to behave as nouns are called nominalisations. They include verbs and adjectives –
determiners, ordinals, or genitive phrases. As converted nouns, they function as
headword in the group in which they occur. The bold and italicised are the examples
of the nominalisations.

[Link] Verbs (nominalised or changed to nouns)

These can be in any of the following forms. Gerundive nominalisations are
morphologically marked by the –ing suffix. The examples in (ppp) - (rrr) demonstrate
this aspect.

(ppp) Writing is a lot easier than singing.

(qqq) Eating vegetables has been a good habit.
(rrr) John‘s paintings of yesteryears are no longer available.

Infinitival nominalisation – the verbs are usually marked by ‗to‘ e.g. to be, to
sing, to err, to sleep, etc. Consider (sss) - (ttt)
(sss) To err is human but to forgive is divine
(ttt) To write has been a Herculean task.

[Link] Adjectives (nominalised or changed to nouns)

This may function like noun as in (uuu) - (xxx)

(uuu) Ugly/Absurd is the best way to describe the incident.
(vvv) Red is his usual colour.
(www) The rich also cry.
(xxx) The young must be protected.

The suffix –ness can be added to an adjective to form a noun as in (yyy) - (aac).

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 thoughtful + ness = thoughtfulness; careful + ness = carefulness

big/good + ness = bigness/goodness; kind + ness = kindness as in

(yyy) The man‘s kindness has earned him an award.
(zzz) His goodness endures forever.
(aab)The bigness of a problem is not equal to defeat.
(aac) People‘s thoughtfulness makes them do good things.

Other adjectives functioning as nouns include: all, both, some, such, first, a few, etc.
(aad) All are cordially invited.
(aae) Both are acceptable options.
(aaf) Some will not come.
(aag) A few were present.

4.7.6 Acronymy

This is a word formation process that involves the creation new words from the initial
letters of a set of other words. Words formed in this way are called acronyms.
Acronyms often consist of capital letters. The subsequent section shows some
examples of acronyms are as in (aah) - ().

(aah) UNO (derived from ‗United Nations Organization‘)

UNESCO (derived from United Nations, International Children‘s Emergency

Fund)

AIDS (derived from Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome),

RADAR (derived from ‗radio detecting and ranging‘) and
SARS (derived from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
WHO (derived from World Health Organisation)

4.7.7 Coinage or Neologism

Coinage is the word formation process in which a new word is created either
deliberately or accidentally without using the other word formation processes and
often from seemingly nothing. This is a morphological process of creating new words
to name previously non-existent objects or phenomena that result from cultural
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contact. The coined word, with the passage of time, gains currency within a speech
community. Invented trade names such as Xerox and Kleenex are recent additions to
the English language. They have quickly become everyday words in the language.
The word Xerox used to refer only to a company that produces a type of
photocopying machine. Recently, the word has come to be used to refer to the process
of photocopying in general. Also the Kleenex used to refer to a brand of facial tissue,
but now it has come to denote facial tissue in general. Again, the word crane is a
name for a very large bird with very long neck. But now there is a heavy-duty
machine called crane which is used for lifting heavy objects. This machine also has a
long neck. In a way, the machine has taken its name from the bird.

4.78 Conclusion
In this unit, we looked at morphological processes and hope that you can easily
describe what happens in each process as new words are being formed.

Activity

1. With tangible examples, discuss the morphological processes studied in

this unit.
2. Distinguish each process from another by giving elaborate explanations
on how the actual word formation occurs

4.7.9 Summary
In this unit, you have studied the different morphological processes and what actually
what happens in the formation of new words. We are hopeful that you took note of the
differences that exist among different morphological processes.

[43]
UNIT FIVE: SYNTAX

Welcome to Syntax, the third and last component of the course ELE 2100 – Structure
of the English Language. We hope you have gained mastery of the first two parts.
This unit exposes you to syntax and syntactic analyses of the English language.

5.0 Introduction

Besides sleeping, eating and drinking, talking is one of the most common of human
activities. Hardly a day goes by when we don‘t talk, if only to ourselves! When we
speak, we utter a stream of sounds with a certain meaning, which our interlocutors can
process and understand, provided of course they speak the same language. Apart from
the spoken medium, language also exists in written form. It then consists of a string of
letters which form words, which in turn make up sentences.

If you have thought about language, you will have realised that whether it is spoken or
written, it has structure, and that it is not a hotchpotch of randomly distributed
elements. Instead, the linguistic ingredients that language is made up of are arranged
in accordance with a set of rules. This set of rules we call the grammar of a language.
Grammar is a vast domain of inquiry and it will be necessary to limit ourselves to a
subdomain. In this part of the module we will only be concerned with the part of
grammar that concerns itself with the structure of sentences. This is called syntax.

The question is; how can we go about describing the structure of sentences? Well,
before we can even start, we will need to specify what we mean by ‗sentence‘. This is
not as straightforward a question as it may seem, and linguists have come up with a
variety of definitions. In this module, we will say that a sentence is a string of words
that begins in a capital letter and ends in a full stop, and is typically used to express a
state of affairs in the world. This definition is not without problems, but will be
sufficient for present purposes. Let‘s now see what kinds of issues syntax deals with.
First of all, one of the principal concerns of syntax is the order of words. In English
we cannot string words into a sentence randomly. For example, we can have (1), but
not (2) or (3):

1. The President ate a doughnut.

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 2. *The President a doughnut ate.
3. *doughnut President the ate a.

NB: An asterisk (*) placed before a sentence indicates that it is not a possible
structure in English.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 state what syntax is

 recognise criteria of word classification
 discuss the function criteria of word classification
 identify different kinds of phrases
 demonstrate knowledge of different kinds of sentences
 identify different clause patterns and be able to plot them on tree diagrams.
 demonstrate understanding of Tense and Aspect
 state assumptions underlying Transformational Generative Grammar

5.1 Defining Syntax

Etymologically, the word syntax is of the Greek origin – syn-taxis - which means ―the
putting together in order, arranging (tying together)‖ or ‗arrangement.‘ Thus, syntax is
defined as the study of the arrangement of words in sentences and of the means by
which such relationships are shown (Hartmann & Stork 1972: 231). Syntax, therefore,
concerns itself with the meaningful organization of words into larger units such as
phrases, clauses, sentences & the analysis of such units. In this case, the sentence is
usually taken as the largest unit amenable (friendly) to meaningful linguistic analysis.
We can safely say, syntax is the level of linguistic analysis which deals with the
arrangement of words and morphemes into sentences and states the rules/principles
which govern such arrangements.

The syntax of a language describes the various ways in which words of a language
may be strung together to form sentences.

Note that these words are arranged in a certain/particular order based on the rules that
govern language and not just any how. e.g.

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5.2 The main concerns of syntax

Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical

sentence structure (constituency), agreement, the nature of cross linguistic variation,
and the relationship between form and meaning. There are numerous approaches to
syntax which differ in their central assumptions and goals. In achieving all this, we
argue that syntax looks at the word category, the phrase, clause and the sentence as
shown in

Word (lexical & functional categories)

E.g. {A} D {student} N {painted} V {the} D {house} N

Phrase (phrasal category)

e.g. {A student} NP {{painted} VP {the house} NP}

Clause (clausal category)

e.g. {A student painted the house} C

Sentence (sentential category)

e.g. {A student painted the house} S

5.3 The architecture of grammatical sentences

The manner in which words are combined to form various types of sentences is
orderly, and based on rules. We thus note that the syntactic component of the
grammar is both creative and systematic. Creativity accounts for the ability of the
native speakers to combine words in acceptable ways, forming sentences that they
have neither heard nor seen before. Systematicity refers to the predictability of the
structures formed as grammatical or ungrammatical by speakers of that language.
Pattern and rule governed constructions.

5.4 A Hint on the Theories of Syntax

Theories of syntax are commonly grouped into two broad types – formal and
functional.

[46]
5.4.1 Formalist theories

Formalism is an approach to the study of texts which focuses on their form and
structure and is often contrasted with a functional approach. The term is also used to
refer to a particular linguistic and literary movement, including Russian Formalism,
the proponents of which were interested in identifying the formal distinguishing
features of different literary genres. In linguistics, the term formalism is used in a
variety of meanings which relate to formal linguistics in different ways. It is in fact
synonymous with the grammatical model or syntactic model in common usage. The
formalists focus on the structural aspects the language. They stress the form, the
structural configuration of language. It is a method for analysing sentence structures
and it includes different methodologies of generative grammar which are designed to
produce grammatically correct strings of words.

Additionally, formalism can be thought of as a theory of language. It is most

commonly a reference to mathematical formalism which argues that syntax is purely
(axiomatic) self evident and being based on sequences generated by mathematical
operations. The central assumption of linguistic formalism is called the autonomy of
syntax, according to which syntactic structures are built by operations which make no
reference to meaning, discourse, or use.

Put clearly, formalists look upon language as a rule governed system. It is the rules
that are used to generate only grammatical structures. It is the rules that are used to
govern sentential organisation.

A characteristic stance of formalist approaches is the primacy of form (like syntax),

and the conception of language as a system in isolation from the outer world. An
example of this is de Saussure's principle of arbitrariness of sign, according to which
there is no intrinsic relationship between a signifier (a word) and the signified
(concept) to which it refers. This is contrasted by the principle of iconicity, according
to which a sign, like a word, can be influenced by its usage and by the concepts it
refers to. The principle of iconicity is shared by functionalist approaches, like
cognitive linguistics and usage-based linguistics, and also by linguistic typology.

[47]
  Formal theories of syntax tend to stress the linguistic form or structure to the
neglect of meaning.
 Grammar (Rules) are conceptualised as an abstract precise system specifying
the acceptable strings of symbols (words) that make up language.
 Syntax is looked upon as constituting an autonomous system.

5.4.2 Functional theories

Functional linguistics has been looked upon differently by different scholars. The
subsequent definitions are some among the many. Iscan, (2007 as cited in Vardar et
al., 1998) has defined Functional linguistics as the structural linguistics movement
that studies the elements of a language and their correlations in terms of their
functions, prioritising and privileging the function of communication in detecting and
assessing language facts, and striving to perform linguistic descriptions through this
concept. Functional linguistics emphasizes ―examining the elements of a language
system and the correlations of these elements in terms of their functions in
communication‖ (Rifat, 2000). Functionalist linguistics is an approach to the study of
language characterized by taking systematically into account the speaker's and the
hearer's side, and the communicative needs of the speaker and of the given language
community. Functionalism sees functionality of language and its elements to be the
key to understanding linguistic processes and structures. Functional theories of
language propose that since language is fundamentally a tool, it is reasonable to
assume that its structures are best tasks of conveying meaning and contextual
information. ―Functional‖ approaches take the idea that the main purpose of language
is communication and that grammars have in large part been shaped to reflect
communicative needs (Tomasello, 1998).

Systemic linguistics is an admittedly functionalist approach to language which has

been arguably most developed. As opposed to other approaches, the systemic
linguistics explicitly attempts to combine purely structural information with social
factors in a single integrated description. Like other functionalist frameworks, the SL
is deeply concerned with the purposes of language use. Owing to this, systemicists, as
argued by Trask and Stockwell (2007) relentlessly ask the following questions: What
is this writer (or speaker) trying to do? What linguistic devices are available to help

[48]
them do it, and on what basis do they make their choices? Functional linguistics
therefore holds that:
 Language use is functional
 The function of language is to make meanings
 These meanings are influenced by social and cultural context in they are
exchanged
 The process of using language is a semiotic process, a process of making
meaning by choosing
 Syntax is organised to serve these functions.
 Extremists within the functional theories of syntax deny the existence of
structure in syntax.

5.5 Criteria for Word Classification

Four types of criteria are employed to set up word classes. These include; the
syntactic criterion (functional approach; that is, the type of structures in which they
can occur (or syntactic role the word plays in a sentence), morphological (form; the
type of affixes a word will take), morpho-syntactic (dealing with inflectional
morphology) and semantic criterion (to do with meaning the words express also
known as the notional approach). In this module, we deal only with the three and
exclude the morpho-syntactic criterion.

5.5.1 Classification of Words by the Notional Criterion (Meaning)

[Link] Nouns

Under meaning, noun is a word that denotes a person, a place and or thing. However,
this criterion is not adequate to be used in the classification of words as nouns because
it does not account for all words that are nouns. For example, abstract nouns have not
been accounted for. Such nouns as „beauty‟, ‗thought‘, do not name things but some
kind of quality and perception respectively.

[Link] Verbs
Under meaning, a verb is a word that denotes an action. From this definition, we note
that not all verbs are accounted for. Truth is that not all verbs denote action. Others

[49]
are non-dynamic or stative. So, to say a verb is a word that denotes action is to not
describe the verb appropriately. Such verbs as know, possess, hate and adore do not
necessarily denote an action that can be visible, and they have not been accounted for
in the definition of verb under meaning, but they are verbs. Thus, use of meaning to
classify words as verbs is inadequate because it leaves out those that do not denote
action, yet they are verbs. Read more on classification of verbs under meaning.

[Link] Adverbs and Adjectives

We encourage you to make discoveries on your own concerning what adverbs and
adjectives are under meaning. Try doing so and supply examples, and state why use of
meaning as a criterion to classify adverbs and adjectives is inadequate.

Meaning (or Notional Approach) = naming something

Form (morphological behaviour) = inflects for plural

We note that the two criteria are not sufficient because:..

 Abstract nouns don‘t name things/entity or person e.g. ‗thought‘, ‗beauty‘

 Not all nouns inflect for plural with the help of an affix –s
 Even in Bantu languages not all nouns show the binarity between singular &
plural by affixation

5.5.2 Classification of Words by the Form Criterion

[Link] Nouns
A noun under form is a word that inflects for number (takes the plural). But not all
nouns inflect for number with the help of an affix – s as in boy + s = boys. Other
nouns inflect for number via internal (vowel) change (morphologically) as in man +
plural = men. So, classifying a noun under form as a word that inflects for number is
not adequate as has stated because nouns (irregular nouns) that do not take the – s for
plural are not accounted for, yet they are nouns.

[Link] Verbs
A verb under form is word that inflects for tense, that is taking the – ed to indicate
past tense as in talk + - ed = talked. However, a look at some verbs (irregular verbs)
shows that not all verbs inflect for tense in the same way. This would mean that those
[50]
(irregular verbs) have not been accounted for the classification of verbs as verbs under
form.

[Link] Adverbs and Adjectives

Adverbs and adjectives have similarities in some cases when it comes to form. For
example, the words fast, hard would be said to be adverbs as well as adjectives when
looked upon as words. Only context of use would distinguish them. Some adjectives
like helpful has the same form as handful which is a noun. And so, form also as a
criterion to be used in the classification of words as adverbs or adjectives is
inadequate. This means that we remain with only one criterion which we may rely
upon. And this criterion is function. Before we look at function as the most reliable
criterion to be used in the classification of words in their parts of speech, find more
examples that prove that form as a criterion in the classification of words is not
adequate.

5.5.3 Classification of Words by the Function Criterion

Function has to do with the syntactic role played by a given element in the sentence or
in a structure. Function is a more reliable criterion than form or meaning.

Sentences are not random collections of words, but strings of words which are
organised according to certain rules. It is the task of syntax to give an account of those
rules. We saw in the introduction that sentences can be analysed into subparts which
we would refer to as constituents. In this part of the module, we will look at how these
constituents function in the sentences of which they are a part.

Just as a reminder, it has been pointed out earlier that function is the most reliable
criterion for classifying words as nouns or as any other word. We begin discussing the
function criterion with the noun.

In a sentence, a noun functions as either subject or object. We can now extend the
number of roles a noun can play in a sentence. In terms of function, a noun plays a
number of roles. Consider again the subsequent sentences:

Subject:

(a) The cat devoured the rat

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 (b) The rat devoured the cat

As we can see, these sentences contain exactly the same words, but differ quite
radically in meaning. This meaning difference comes about as a result of the different
roles played by the various constituents. In 1 (a) and (b) distinct entities, namely the
cat and the rat respectively, carry out the action denoted by the word devoured. We
will call words that denote actions verbs.

We can now define the Subject of a sentence as the constituent that on the one hand
tells us who performs the action denoted by the verb (i.e. who is the Agent), and on
the other hand tells us who or what the sentence is about. So to find out what is the
Subject of a particular sentence we can ask ‗Who or what carried out the action
denoted by the verb?‘ and also ‗Who or what is this sentence about?‘ The answers to
these questions will pinpoint the Subject.

You should have noticed that in each of the sentences we have looked at so far the
referent of the Subject was indeed engaged in performing the action denoted by the
verb, and the Subject also indicated what the sentence was about. However, referents
of Subjects need not always be doing something. Consider the sentences (c) and (d).

(c) The girl with the red hat stood on the platform.
(d) This car stinks.

Although the italicised Subjects in (c) and (d) do have a relationship with their
Predicates, their referents cannot be said to be instigating any kind of action:
‗standing on a platform’ and ‗stinking‘ are not activities. What these sentences show,
then, is that Subjects can also precede stative Predicates.

The Predicates we have encountered up to now, by contrast, were dynamic. Note here
that our initial definition of the notion Subject turns out to be problematic in another
respect: in addition to the referent of a Subject sometimes not performing any kind of
action, Subjects can be elements that are meaningless, and cannot therefore be said to
tell us what the sentences of which they are the Subject are about Consider the
following:

(e) It is raining in England.

(f) It was hot.
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 (g) There were three lions in the cage.
(h) There exist ways of making you talk.

The element it in 1 (e) and (f) is often called weather it, because it is used in
expressions which tell us about the weather. It is also called non-referential it. This
second term brings out the important fact that this element does not refer to anything
in the way that referential it in (i) does:

(i) Where did I put my hat? Ah, I put it in the car.

Here it refers back to the string of words my hat which in its turn refers to a concrete
object in the real world.

There in sentences (g) and (h) is called existential there because it is used in
propositions that have to do with existence. Existential there should be kept apart
from locative there which, as the name implies, specifies a location, as in (j):

(j) I saw the cat a minute ago. There it is!

Non-referential it and existential there are said to be meaningless because all they
seem to be doing in the sentences in which they occur is fill the Subject slot. It would
be odd to say that it and there tell us what (e) – (h) are about.

What emerges from (c)–(h) is that although our earlier (semantic) definition of
Subject is practical and useful, we must use it only as a general guideline. If we want
to define the notion Subject more precisely, we will need to do so in structural terms,
i.e. in terms of syntactic configurations.

Direct Object

After our discussion of Subjects we now turn to a second type of grammatical

function of the noun: the Direct Object (DO). Note that the direct object of the
sentence answers the question what? or whom?, and will always to a person, a thing
or a place. Consider the following sentences:

(a) Lulu‘s girlfriend bought this computer.

(b) That silly fool broke the teapot.
(c) Our linguistics lecturer took this photograph.

[53]
 (d) My sister found this book.

The Subjects of these sentences are the first NPs in each case: his girlfriend, that silly
fool, our linguistics lecturer and my sister. The Predicates are bought this computer,
broke the teapot, took this photograph and found this book. The Predicators are
bought, broke, took and found.

We now assign the function of Direct Object to the NPs this computer, the teapot,
this photograph and this book.

How can we characterise the notion Direct Object? In semantic terms Direct Objects
are said to be constituents that refer to entities that undergo the activity or process
denoted by the verb. In 2 (a) the referent of the NP this computer undergoes a buying
activity; in (b) the referent of the NP the tea pot undergoes a breaking process, in (c)
the referent of this photograph undergoes a picture-taking process, and, finally, in (d)
the referent of this book undergoes a process of being found.

The characterisation of Direct Objects given is in terms of the kind of role they play in
sentences: in the same way that Subjects typically play an agentive (i.e. instigator)
role, Direct Objects have a Patient role (though of course not in the medical sense!).
As we have just seen, what this means is that the referent of the constituent that we
can identify as Direct Object typically undergoes the action or process denoted by the
verb. However, although this semantic characterisation is useful, and in most cases
enables us to find the Direct Object of a sentence, we will also need to define DOs
syntactically, i.e. in terms of their structural properties.

So what can we say about the structural properties of Direct Objects? Well, like
Subjects, DOs are often Noun Phrases (though not exclusively, as we will see later).
Secondly, their usual position, as in 2 (a) – (d) show, is after the main verb. Thirdly,
Direct Objects have a strong relationship with the verb that precedes them.

Indirect Object (IO)

In this section we will be looking at a further type of verbal Complement; the indirect
Object (IO). This is yet another syntactic role of noun in a sentence. The indirect
object answers the question to whom?, to what?, for whom?, or for what? In the
subsequent sentences the IOs have been italicized and are in bold:
[54]
 (a) We gave the boys the CDs
(b) The publisher sent her a copy of the book.
(c) Mr. Jimaima lent the student a book.
(d) My father always told us stories.
(e) Mutale bought Chileshe a car.

When we discussed Subjects and Direct Objects in the previous sections we saw that
Subjects typically have the role of Agent, and that Direct Objects typically have the
role of Patient/Undergoer. In 3 (a) – (e), the typical role associated with the italicised
Indirect Objects is Goal/Receiver or Beneficiary. Notice that (a) – (e) also contain
Direct Objects, namely the phrases the CDs, a copy of the book, the student and
stories. Verbs that take a Direct Object and an Indirect Object are called ditransitive
verbs. Apart from their semantic properties, Indirect Objects have a number of
syntactic characteristics.

Firstly, they are usually Noun Phrases. Secondly, they cannot occur without a
following Direct Object. Compare the sentences in 3 (a)-(e) with those in (f)–(i): if we
leave out the Direct Objects, the sentences become ungrammatical.

(f) *We gave the boys.

(g) *The publisher sent her.
(h) *She lent the student.
(i) *My father always told us.

Of course, (f)–(i) are possible, but only if we interpret the NPs following the verbs as
Direct Objects. We need to state here that it is possible for IO to precede the DO as in
(i) and (j) or come after the DO in the sentence as in (j) and (m).

(j) The teacher gave the boys the books.

(k) Mulala bought Mutinta a cake.
(l) My father told stories to us.
(m) Mr Jimaima lent a book to the student.

Subject Complement (SC)

[55]
A subject complement is a word or phrase that follows a linking verb and identifies or
describes the subject. We wish to state that a linking verb (copula verb) is that verb
which is used to link the subject to a new identity or description. The new identity or
description is what is called the subject complement. Put simply, a verb that is a
copular is sometimes called a copulative or copular verb. Common examples of
linking verbs are to be, to become, to appear, to feel, to look, to smell, and to taste.
Before we may lose it, it is important to state here that a complement may be a noun,
pronoun or adjective.

In the subsequent sentences the subject complements have been italicized and in bold.

(a) This soup tastes bad.

(b) Bubu and Emeldah are students.
(c) Handili is a lecturer.
(d) Mundiwa became a teacher.

Note that when a subject complement is a noun or pronoun, it is called predicate

nominative. A predicate nominative re-names or re-identifies the subject. On the other
hand, when the subject complement is an adjective, it is called a predicate adjective.

(e) Mulala was a professor.

(f) Akokwa appears friendly.

In 4 (e), ―professor‖ is a noun and the predicate nominative while ―friendly‖ in (f) is
an adjective and the predicate adjective.

Object Complement (OC)

An objective or object complement is a noun or an adjective that completes the

meaning of the verb and modifies, names or re-names the direct object. Since these
modify, name and re-name the direct object, they can only be found in sentences that
have Direct Objects. This also means that the sentence will have a transitive verb.
(We shall talk about the transitive verb when we discuss verbs in subsequent units).
When the objective complement is an adjective, its function is to describe the direct
object as in 5 (a) and (b) and when the object complement is a noun, its function is to
re-name the direct object as in (c) and (d).

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 (a) The music makes me happy.
(b) Zulu dyed his hair pink.
(c) They elected my uncle mayor.
(d) Mkosa considers Ngamanya a friend.

Note that ―happy‖ in (a) and ―pink‖ in (b) are adjectives. They are describing direct
objects me and hair respectively. Therefore, their functions are to describe the direct
objects. ―Mayor‖, in (c) and ―a friend‖ in (d) on the other hand nouns and are
therefore re-naming the objects uncle and Ngamanya respectively.

Vocative Case

The vocative case is a word or a phrase that is used to address someone directly,
usually in the form of a personal name, title or endearment (i.e., to show or indicate
that you are talking to someone or something directly). In English, words (the
addressee‘s name) used in the vocative case are offset using commas. Examples in 6
(a)-(d), the italicized and bold entities demonstrate the vocative case.

(a) I know your sister, John.

(b) Leonard, fetch the stick.
(c) Where is my book, Ruth?
(d) Lulu, I do not know what I would do without you.

Note that cases where there is failure to use vocative case gives rise to ambiguity.
Consider (e) the correct one and (f), the ambiguous one.

(e) I want to, mate.

(f) *I want to mate. (absence of comma renders (f) ambiguous)

There are some Key takeaways from vocative case that should be common to all.
Firstly, it must be known that when you are addressing someone directly, you are
using the vocative case. Secondly, when you write a sentence with direct address, you
set off the name with vocative commas. Thirdly, note that in speech, the vocative case
is indicated by intonation, meaning that an utterance is usually accented or
empahasised.

Appositive
[57]
In grammar, an appositive noun is a noun or noun phrase that follows another in
apposition to it, that is, it provides further information that defines or identifies it. The
bonus facts that define the other are framed by a comma. Put simply, appositives are
two nouns that work together, where one identifies or further defines the other. An
appositive can come before or after the main noun, and it can be at the beginning,
middle or end of a sentence. It has to sit beside the noun it defines. The sentences in 7
(a)-(d) are examples of the appositive.

(a) "The boy, an avid sprinter, raced ahead to the finish line."
(b) The best student in the intake, Lulia received an award.
(c) They couldn't believe it when the little boy stood up to John, the biggest
bully in school
(d) The spider, a big and hairy creature, scared the children as they played in
the park.

You may wish to know here that appositives are of two types; restrictive and non-
restrictive. A restrictive appositive provides information essential to identifying the
phrase in apposition. It limits or clarifies that phrase in some crucial way, such that
the meaning of the sentence would change if the appositive were removed. In English,
restrictive appositives are not set off by commas. The sentences in (e) and (f) use
restrictive appositives.

(e) My friend Chris Malakwa likes baked beans. – I have many friends, but I
am restricting my statement to the one named Chris Malakwa.
(f) He likes the television show The Oxygen of Democracy. – There are many
television shows, and he likes that particular one – The Oxygen of
Democracy.

A non-restrictive appositive on the other hand provides information not critical to

identifying the phrase in apposition. It provides non-essential information, and the
essential meaning of the sentence would not change if the appositive were removed.
In English, non-restrictive appositives are typically set off by commas as has been
demonstrated already. The sentences in (g) and (h) use non-restrictive appositives.

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 (g) Chris Malakwa, my friend, likes baked beans. – The fact that Chris is my
friend is not necessary to identify him.
(h) I visited Canada, a beautiful country. – The appositive (a beautiful
country) is not needed to identify Canada.

It is important to note at this point that the same phrase can be a restrictive appositive
in one context and a non-restrictive appositive in another. Consider sentences (i) and
(j).

(i) My brother Inambao is here. – Restrictive: I have several brothers, and the
one named Inambao is here.
(j) My brother, Inambao, is here. – Non-restrictive: I have only one brother
and, as an aside, his name is Inambao.

5.5.4 Activity

1. Describe and exemplify the different syntactic roles played by the noun
in the sentence.
2. How would you distinguish an object complement from a subject
complement?
3. Form and meaning as criteria to be used in the classification of words as
nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives are inadequate. With tangible
examples from your readings, substantiate the authenticity of this
assertion.

5.6 Conclusion
The unit has introduced syntax and its concerns. Introduced also are criteria of word
classification and syntactic roles of the noun. We hope you have gained insight on
what syntax is.

5.7 Summary
This unit has discussed syntax and concerns of syntax. Theories to the study of syntax
have also been looked upon. Dealt with also in the unit are criteria of word
classification and functions of nouns in the sentence.

[59]
UNIT SIX: THE VERB
6.0 Introduction

This unit introduces you to the verb. The unit describes what the verb is and discusses
verb types and the function of the verb. It is hoped that you will pay particular
attention what the unit discusses.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Identify verbs in given sentences

 Describe different verb types
 Demonstrate understanding how various verb types operate in operate

6.1 Defining the Verb (Meaning)

A verb is a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the
main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen and so on. As
pointed out earlier, meaning is not a reliable criterion in classifying words as verbs.
Much of what shall be discussed in the unit therefore, shall concentrate on function.

6.2 Form

This is a more reliable criterion in classifying words as verbs. Under form, any word
which inflects for tense is a verb. Examples (a) - (b) demonstrate this.

(a) Walk – walked – walks - walking

(b) Cook – cooked – cooks - cooking

6.3 Position of Verb

In terms of position, a verb is a word, in a sentence, which can link the subject to the
predicate. The predicate is the word or group of words which comes after the verb as
in (c) - (e)

(c) The boy (S) is clever (PRED)

(d) The boy (S) walks carefully (PRED)
(e) The boy (S) killed the dog (PRED)

[60]
6.4 Function

In terms of function, a verb always functions as verb. That is; indicating an action,
event or state of being as well as linking the subject with the predicate.

6.5 Verb Types

There are two types of verb: lexical or main verbs and auxiliaries. Lexical verbs are
those which carry the full dictionary meaning. Auxiliaries do not carry full dictionary
meaning and are split into Primary and Modal verbs. Examples of Primary are (have,
do, be, was, has, is). Modal verbs include; (may, can, could, would, might, will,
should shall). Auxiliaries like is, does and have can be used as lexical verbs as in (f) –
(h).

(f) He is sick
(g) He does the work well
(h) I have a headache

6.5.1 Lexical Verbs

Lexical verbs convey semantic (or lexical) meaning in a sentence. Lexical verbs are
divided into dynamic (which refer to actions, process or sensation) and stative or non-
dynamic (which do not refer to actions). Since we are quite familiar with dynamic
verbs we will not dwell on them. Let us proceed and look at stative verbs. Stative
verbs are used primarily to describe a state or situation and are sub-classified into:

6.5.2 Those which show the state of being and having

Verbs of being identify who or what a noun is, was, or will be. Although in English
most being verbs are forms of to be (am, are, is, was, were, will be, being, been),
other verbs (such as become, seem, appear) can also function as verbs of being.
Others include: sound, mean, own, possess, belong to, consist of, comprise, contain,
include, involve, hold, concern, depend on, apply to/for, deserve, cost, owe, weigh,
resemble.

Note that stative verbs do not take the progressive aspect. If they do they become
dynamic as in:

(i) Kapaya is appearing in a play tonight.

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 (j) Muzeya is applying for a new job.

6.5.3 Those which refer to involuntary sensations

Involuntary verbs refer to actions that happen independent of one‘s will, not done by
one‘s choice or done unwillingly. These verbs include: hear, see, notice, feel, smell,
taste. These also do not take the progressive aspect. When they do they become
dynamic. Consider sentences (k) – (m).
(k) The doctor is seeing the patients.
(l) He is tasting the relish for salt.
(m) He was carefully feeling the object when it exploded.

6.5.4 Those which refer to mental states and processes

Literally, mental refers to anything related to mind or intellectual process and Verbs
are words which show actions. Therefore, Mental Verbs refer to cognitive (that deals
with logic) state in which actions are mostly abstract. These Verbs give meaning
which is mostly unsuitable for outside evaluation as they are not so concrete actions.
However, we can evaluate these types of verbs through our knowledge. Mental Verbs
provide meanings which are connected with our sensory capabilities, deciding,
understanding and planning. Included in this verb type are: believe, agree, understand,
doubt, know, think, forget, and remember. These also do not take the progressive.
When they do they become dynamic as in:
(n) He is thinking about her.
(o) I am doubting the truth of her statement.

6.5.5 Those which refer to emotions

This type of verbs include adore, care, mind, matter, prefer, detest, dislike, hate, love,
want, wish. Like all other stative verbs these do not take the progressive aspect. When
they do they become dynamic as in:

(p) He was minding the baby.

(q) He was busy mattering something when I called him on phone.

[62]
6.6 Classification of Lexical Verbs

In linguistics, as earlier stated, a lexical verb is a member of an open class that

includes all verbs except auxiliary verbs. Lexical verbs typically express action, state
or other predicate meaning and are categorised into the following:

6.6.1 Intransitive Verb

In grammar, intransitive verbs are those verbs which never take an object. This is
distinct from a transitive verb which takes one or more objects. The verb property is
called transitivity. Intransitive verbs are often identified as those that cannot be
followed by who or what. Some examples include: sneeze, ran, cry, sleep, die and
many others. Consider the following:

(r) Precious sneezed.

(s) Careen slept.
(t) The dog ran.
6.6.2 Monotransitive Verb

In grammar, a Monotransitive verb is a verb that takes only a direct object. Other
literature argues that a Monotransitive verb is one that takes two arguments: a subject
and a single direct object. Some examples of this verb type are: bite, break, get, kick,
kill as in:

(u) The cat bit the dog.

(v) Manganya broke the cup.
(w) Ivwananji killed the lizard.

6.6.3 Bitransitive Verb (ditransitive)

In grammar, bitransitive or ditransitive verbs are verbs with two arguments in addition
to the subject: a ―recipient‖ or ―addressee‖ argument, and a ―theme‖ argument. Put
simply, Bitransitive verbs take two objects, one direct and the other indirect. Typical
bitransitive verb meanings are ‗give‘, ‗sell‘, ‗bring‘, ‗tell‘. Since different bitransitive
verbs occur in different constructions in many languages, only a single verb meaning
was taken into account for this chapter: the verb ‗give‘, which is probably the most
frequent bitransitive verb in all languages.

[63]
 (x) Mwaka gave Mweshi a book.
(y) Ngenda told us stories.
(z) Vwambanji sold Mulenga a phone.

6.6.4 Complex Transitive Verb

In English grammar, a complex transitive is a verb that requires both a direct

object and another object or an object complement. In a complex-transitive
construction, the object complement identifies a quality or attribute pertaining to the
direct object.

Complex-transitive verbs in English include believe, consider, declare, elect, find,

judge, keep, know, label, make, name, presume, pronounce, prove, rate, regard, call,
take and think. Note that verbs often belong to more than one category. For
example, made can function as a complex transitive (as in "Her thoughtless
remarks made him unhappy") and also as an ordinary transitive verb ("She made a
promise").

The adjective or noun phrase that qualifies or renames the object that appears before it
is sometimes called an object predicate or object predicative. Consider the following
sentences.

(aa) The lecturer considered Misozi intellgent.

(bb) Students elected Munsaka president.
(cc) Soldiers called James a traitor.

6.6.5 Intensive Verb

Intensive means to focus on one thing; in this case, the subject. The words or phrases
following an intensive verb work as the subject complement. This means they apply
to the subject, not the verb. Examples: ―Rose is a student‖ – The focus of this
sentence is Rose and what she is. Put simply, an intensive verb is usually called a
linking or copula verb – one which is used to describe the subject. Examples are verbs
like be, seem, appear, become. After the verb, we can use a noun, noun phrase or an
adjective or prepositional phrase as subject complement. To make it clearer, the

[64]
intensive verb takes no object, but takes either a subject complement as in the case of
the verb is and become or an adverbial (prepositional phrase) as in the case of stay
and live. Consider the subsequent sentences.

(dd) Inonge is a student.

(ee) Mulenga became a student.
(ff) Suwilanji stays in Kabwe.
(gg) Mutinta lives in the village.

6.7 Finite and Non-Finite Verbs

Verbs are also classified into finite and non-finite. Finite verbs are those which inflect
for tense or can inflect for tense in the context in which they are used. In addition to
showing tense, these verbs also show person and number. Non-finite verbs on the
other hand are those which do not inflect for tense in the context in which they are
used. Typically, they are infinitives with or without to. These include: the bare
infinitive, the to-infinitive (full infinitive) and the participial. This section deals with
non-finite verbs. Consider the subsequent examples of these verbs.
6.7.1 The Bare or Zero Infinitive

This is the base form of the verb, one without to. It is used as the main verb and can
appear after the verb do or most modal auxiliary verbs like should, can, will etc. the
bare infinitive may also be used with common verbs of perception after the object
(watch, hear, feel, see) and common verbs of permission or causation (make, have,
let)

(hh) I do know him

(ii) You can play the piano
(jj) I watched it happen.
(kk) We bid them goodbye.

6.7.2 The To-Infinitive

This is also referred to as the full infinitive-one which is preceded by the word to. It is
important to note that the full infinitive is used I sentences to perform certain

[65]
functions – to express purpose, as a noun phrase, as an adjective, or as adverb.
Consider the following examples in:

(ll) You need to exercise regularly to lose weight (in order to lose weight)
(mm) To err is human. (to err is a noun phrase - subject)
(nn) I intended to marry her. (to marry is a noun phrase - object)
(oo) This is the game to watch. (to watch is an adjective, modifying the
noun game)
(pp) Handili is ready to go. (to go is an adverb, modifying the adjective
ready)

6.7.3 The Participial

A participial is a phrase made up of a participle and its modifiers. It is a verbal (verb

form) that can be used as an adjective to modify nouns and pronouns - The italicized
elements in bold in the sentence, ―The children, crying and exhausted, were guided
out of the collapsed house,‖ are participials. Crying is a present participle, formed by
adding –ing to the present form of the verb (cry). Exhausted on the other hand is a
past particple, formed by adding –ed to the present form of the verb (exhaust). Both
participles of course, modify the subject children. We can, at this point state that the
participials are divided into the present, the perfective and the past participial.

[Link] The Present (–ing) Participial

This is formed by adding the –ing to the present form of the verb. This is as
exemplified in the sentences…

(qq) Removing his glasses, the professor shook his head with
disappointment.
(rr) Rising out of the sea before us, the sun started to warm our face.

[Link] The Perfective Participial

This is formed by having + the past participle. Consider the examples in …

(ss) Having read your book, I now understand your position.

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 (tt) Having signed the document, Chingi felt the weight of responsibility lift
from his shoulders.
[Link] The Past (–ed) participial

This is formed by adding the –ed to the present form of the verb. The subsequent
examples demonstrate this.

(uu) Raised by a single parent, Thengisiwe sold vegetables to raise her

school fees.
(vv) Blinded by a dust storm, they fell into disorder.
6.7.4 Activity

1. Distinguish between dynamic and non-dynamic verbs.

2. What do you understand by the expressions transitive and intransitive
verb?
3. Indentify and exemplify subcategories of transitive verbs

6.7.5 Conclusion
In the unit, you were exposed to the verb. You have learnt about the role of the verb in
the sentence and you have also how it assumes other labels as it used in different
situations. It is hoped that you have gained mystery of the verb and that you will use
the web to learn more about the verbs and be able to identify and use them
appropriately.

6.7.6 Summary
The unit has looked at the verb is and various types of verb and how they are used. In
addition, words that look like verbs have been looked at in the unit and we hope this
will not confuse you anymore.

[67]
UNIT SEVEN: THE ADJECTIVE
7.0 Introduction

This unit exposes you to adjectives. The unit explores what adjectives are, the types,
form, their distribution and their role in sentences.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 State what an adjective is

 Identify different types of adjectives
 Discuss the distribution of adjectives in sentences
 Demonstrate the different roles of adjectives in sentences

7.1 Defining an Adjective

On the basis of meaning, and adjective is a word which modifies the state or quality
of a noun. An adjective may also describe the quantity of nouns.

7.2 Distributive Nature of Adjectives (Position of adjectives)

In English, occurrence of adjectives can generally be classified into one of three

categories. The adjective can come before the noun it is describing – attributive or
may occur after the noun being described – predicative, or indeed immediately after
the noun being modified - postpositively. Occurrence of an adjective after the noun
would be discussed at two levels. One is when the adjective appears after the linking
verb (assuming the label subject complement) and the other one is when the adjective
appears immediately after the noun playing the role of object thereby being labelled
object complement. Each of these positions has been discussed further with examples
for clarity.

7.2.1 Attributive position

In this position, adjectives appear before the noun being described as earlier stated.
They attribute a quality or characteristic to the noun as in a small boy, a charming
lady, a huge aeroplane. Consider other examples in (a) – (b) show this pattern.

(a) Tall trees.

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 (b) A charming lady.
7.2.2 Predicative position

An adjective may also come after the noun – predicative as alluded to earlier. In this
case the adjective functions as subject complement if it comes after the noun
functioning as subject and after the linking verb (copula verb) as in: The woman is
beautiful. In the predicative position, the adjective may also function as object
complement if it comes after the noun functioning as object as in: Lulia considered
Handili intelligent. Additional examples of the predicative nature of adjectives are as
shown in (c) - (e).

(c) Ms. Chipalo is kind.

(d) The flowers are blue.
(e) The syntax class made Rose captain.

At this point, it is important to say something on the expression complement. In

grammar, a complement is simply a word, phrase or clause that is necessary to
complete the meaning of a given expression form.

7.2.3 Postpositive position

As mentioned already, in this position, the adjective occurs immediately after noun as
it modifies as shown in (f) - (g):

(f) The governor general addressed the meeting this morning.

(g) The princess Royal could not marry the Prince.
(h) Transparency international is a global organisation.

In terms of form, adjectives are not completely predictable. Some characteristic

endings include: -able or –ible as in desirable, contemptible; -ish or –like as in
childish, childlike; -ful or –less as in hopeful, hopeless. The endings cannot be relied
upon because while hopeful is an adjective, mouthful is a noun. Many other examples
can be cited. See if you can find other examples.

[69]
7.3 Function

Adjectives function as subject complement (SC) or object complement (OC). Some

examples you will see in this section, are similar to what you may have seen when
positions adjectives take were being clarified. Note examples in (i) - (m):

(i) The headman is generous. (SC)

(j) Syntax students are good. (SC)
(k) The president declared the new park open. (OC)
(l) The lecturer found the book questionable. (OC)
(m) I consider studying grammar exciting. (OC)

7.4 Complementation

An adjective complement is a word that modifies an adjective. It follows the adjective

in the sentence and offers more information about it. Adjectives take three types of
complements. These are prepositional phrase, the to-infinitive and noun clause:
consider the following detail in the examples provided in each case.

Prepositional phrase as in:

A preposition phrase consists of a preposition and the object of the preposition, for
example, ―…in Florida.‖ In this prepositional phrase (…in Florida), ―in‖ is the
preposition and ―Florida‖ is the object of the preposition or what the preposition is
referring to. Basically, prepositional phrases provide further information about a
sentence. However, when dealing with adjective complements, prepositional phrases
provide further information about the adjective in the sentence. Common prepositions
include: about, at, from, by, of, in, to, with. See some examples in (n) - (p).

(n) Beene is amazing in gymnastics.

(o) Hambaba is afraid of spiders.
(p) Mwale married a woman with long hair.

The to-infinitive

An infinitive phrase consists of the preposition-word to function as an infinitive

marker and followed by the rest of the verb phrase. Put simply, an infinitive in

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English is ‗TO + V1‟ form (base form) of a verb that functions as a noun, adjective, or
adverb. An infinitive phrase has an Infinitive and its object, or modifier, or both. Note
that when an infinitive phrase functions as an adjective complement, it talks about the
reason for the adjective (state).

We clarify the foregoing point in the sentence “I am happy to see you again”.
‗to see you again’ is an infinitive phrase that‘s coming next to the adjective ‗happy‘
and telling us the reason for this state of existence. It completes the meaning of the
adjective by telling us why the speaker is happy. If it were not there, we would not
know why the speaker is happy. This completely changes the meaning of the
sentence. Consider the examples in (q) - (s).

(q) We were excited to attend the party.

(r) Nancy was scared to see me.
(s) It is absolutely silly to argue with them.

7.4.3 The Noun Clause

A noun clause is a dependent clause that functions as a noun in a sentence. Noun

clauses often start with the following subordinating conjunctions: what, who, whom,
that, where, why, when, and how. However, note that noun clauses, when they
function as adjective complements, do not function as a noun; they just give
information about an adjective and complete its meaning. We try to clarify this point
in the subsequent example in the sentence ―It is evident that she is angry with us‖.

In the given sentence, the noun clause ―that she is angry with us‖ is giving more
information about the adjective ‗evident‘ and telling us what is evident. It actually
should not be called a noun clause here as it is functioning as a noun; it is functioning
as a modifier: giving information about an adjective. For more practice, look at the
examples in (t) - (w).
(t) It is shocking how Jane survived the accident.
(u) Tina is happy that she is back home.
(v) We were shocked when Chikondi came back to our team.
(w) They not are certain whether or not they have made the right decision.

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7.5 Activity

1. Discuss the three positions that adjectives can possibly take in

sentences with tangible examples.
2. With clarity, illustrate the complements that adjectives would take.
3. In the following sentences, classify and sub-classify the underlined
parts:
(a) Misozi is eager for her birthday to arrive.
(b) The man is interested in making money.
(c) The mother was startled at the sudden cry of the baby.
(d) The girl was glad to leave the village
(e) Nchimunya was a genius.
(f) Jumbe called Sakala a traitor.

7.6 Conclusion

In this unit, you have read about adjectives and their importance in grammar. You
surely must have seen how clarity is enhanced when adjectives are used as
descriptors. We hope you found the unit interesting and insightful. Now look out for
other adjectives and see if you can use them in the same way they have discussed in
the unit.

7.7 Summary
The unit has discussed adjectives: what they are and the positions they occupy in
sentences. Not only that, the unit has clearly dealt with how they interact with nouns
in describing them. Explained further in the unit is complementation. That is the types
of complements adjectives take. The unit has stated that complements that adjectives
can take are: prepositional phrases, the to-infinitive and the noun clause.

[72]
UNIT EIGHT: THE ADVERB
8.0 Introduction

This unit introduces adverbs to you. The unit states what adverbs are, what they show,
when and where they occur in sentences. Our hope is that you will pay particular
attention as you read through the unit in order to gain mastery.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
 Identify different types of adverb in context
 State what is meant by adverb
 Describe the syntactic role of adverbs in sentences
 Describe and exemplify when and where adverbs occur in sentences

8.1 Defining the Adverb

An adverb is a word that is used to change, modify or qualify several types of words
including an adjective, a verb, a clause, another adverb, or any other type of word or
phrase, with the exception of determiners and adjectives that directly modify nouns. A
good way to understand adverbs is to think about them as the words that provide
context. Specifically, adverbs provide a description of how, where, when, in what
manner and to what extent something is done or happens. See the examples in (a) -
(d).

(a) She is very beautiful. (very modifying an adjective beautiful)

(b) She eats slowly. (slowly modifying the verb eats)
(c) Because he loved her, he didn‘t believe she had an affair. (clause
modified)
(d) She eats terribly slowly. (terribly modifying another adverb)
Form
In terms of form, core adverbs have the characteristic –ly ending as in extremely,
carefully, kindly, soundly. Some of the core adverbs inflect for the comparative and
superlative degrees as in:
Fast faster fastest
Hard harder hardest

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8.2 Distribution of Adverbs in Sentences

The positions of adverbs are not a fixed or set thing. As you have seen, adverbs can
appear in different position in a sentence. However, there are some rules that help us
decide where an adverb should be positioned. The rules will be different depending on
whether the adverb is acting to modify an adjective or another adverb, a verb or what
type of adverb it is. Positional adverb examples in the following sentences are in bold
for easy identification.

8.2.1 Adverb Position With Adjectives and Other Adverbs

These adverbs will usually be placed before the adjective or adverb being modified.
Look at the examples in (e) - (g).

(e) We gave them a really tough match. (The adverb really modifies the
adjective tough).
(f) It was quite windy that night. (The adverb quite modifies the
adjective windy).
(g) We don‘t go to the movies terribly often. (The adverb terribly modifies
the adverb often).

8.2.2 Adverb position with verbs

The position of the adverb in this situation can be a bit tricky because, it will depend
on the type of adverb; whether of place, position, time etc. – and there are many
exceptions to the rules. However, a basic set of guidelines is shown below:

Adverbs of manner or place are usually positioned at the end of the sentence as shown
in (h) - (k).

(h) She laughed timidly.

(i) I stroked the cat gently.
(j) Janine lived here.
(k) There is money everywhere.

The adverb is of definite time it will be placed at the end of the sentence. See
examples in (l) - (n).

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 (l) I did it yesterday.
(m) We can discuss it tomorrow.
(n) Let‘s go to Paris next week.

However, if it is an indefinite period of time, it will go between the subject and main
verb as in (o) - (q).

(o) We often go to Paris in the springtime.

(p) Mutinta regularly comes here.
(q) Kalaba and Mutale always loved fishing by the lake.

Adverbs may also appear before the subject as in (r) – (s).

(r) Now we are learning Syntax.
(s) Sometimes she wishes it was not so hot.

Adverbs may also appear after an intransitive verb, or object or complement as in (t) -
(v).

(t) He died suddenly.

(u) They searched the house thoroughly.
(v) They elected him chairperson today.

8.3. Adverbials

These are words or groups of words (not adverbs) which can occupy the adverb slot
in a sentence and convey the same meaning as a single adverb. Adverbials can take
the following forms as in (w) - ().

Noun Phrase

(w) I saw Ngenda last night.

Prepositional Phrase as in:

(x) We arrived at night.

Sentence Adverbial as in:
(y) In my opinion, the wedding should be cancelled.
(z) To be honest, Mary will fail.
Non-finite Clause as in:
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 (aa) He played to win.
(bb) Being captain, he played to win.
(cc) When urged by teammates, he played.
Verbless Clause as in:
(dd) When drunk, people get excited.
Adverb as in:
(ee) Peter played well.

8.3.1 Adjuncts

In English grammar, an adjunct (pronounced A-junkt) is (a type of adverbial) a word,

phrase, or clause—usually, an adverbial—that is integrated within the structure of
sentence or clause (unlike a disjunct) and yet can be omitted without making the
sentence ungrammatical. Adjective: adjunctive or adjunctival. Adjuncts are also
known as adjunctival, adverbial adjunct, adjunct adverbial, and optional adverbial.

In The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics (2007), Peter Matthews

defines adjunct as "[an]y element in the structure of a clause which is not part of its
nucleus or core. E.g., in I will bring it on my bike tomorrow, the nucleus of the clause
is I will bring it; the adjuncts are on my bike and tomorrow."

Clarifying further, "[A]djunct (-ival) [is a] term used in grammatical theory to refer
to an optional or secondary element in a construction: an adjunct may be removed
without the structural identity of the rest of the construction being affected. The
clearest examples at sentence level are adverbials, e.g. John kicked the
ball yesterday instead of John kicked the ball, but not *John kicked yesterday, etc.;
but other elements have been classed as adjunctival, in various descriptions, such
as vocatives and adjectives. Many adjuncts can also be analyzed as modifiers,
attached to the head of a phrase (as with adjectives, and some adverbs)." (David
Crystal, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics Blackwell, 1997). Consider
examples in (ff) - (ii).

(ff) He spoke fully and honestly. (He spoke)

(gg) He spoke fully and with honesty. (He spoke)

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 (hh) She readily loaned the money (She loaned the money)
(ii) I drove the car very slowly. (I drove the car)

8.3.2 Disjuncts

People, as stated by Crystal (2004: 229), often wish to make a comment or express an
attitude about what they say or the way they are saying it. An important role in this
regard is played by a type of adverbials called disjuncts. Some disjuncts convey the
speaker's comment about what is being said and others, comment on the truth or value
of a clause or sentence. Disjuncts may be words or phrases or clauses. Most disjuncts
are seen by Quirk (1989) to be prepositional phrases or clauses as shown in (jj) - (kk).

(jj) In all fairness, she did try to call the police.

(kk) As a rough approximation, you can expect a group of fifteen.
Disjuncts, as Crystal (2003) views them, are a group of optional structure whose
function is to add parenthetic comment to the clause in which they occur and which
play an important role in ensuring the smoothness and natural flow of conversation.
These adverbs, or adverbials, as viewed by Tipping (1959), are said to modify the
whole sentence in which they occur, rather than a particular word in that sentence
(e.g. verb, object, etc.). They are, hence, called Sentence Adverbs/Adverbials.

Disjuncts are words that comment on the content, behavior, or manner of the content
within the text. Put simply, they are adverbs and adverbials which do not relate to any
individual element of the sentence but state or present the speaker‘s position or
attitude. See (ll) - (mm)
(ll) Do it now. (Ordinary adverb)
(mm) Now this is the story. (Sentence adverb)
Nash (1986) also confirms this fact and adds that Disjuncts are defined as being
parenthetical, i.e. not integrated within the clause whose meaning they qualify. He
gives the following examples to compare the use of "amazingly" as an adverb in the
first example and as a disjunct in the second:

(nn) He cycled across the Sahara amazingly. (i.e. in an amazing manner)

(oo) Amazingly, he cycled across the Sahara. (i.e. I am amazed by this)

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8.3.3 Types of Disjuncts

As classified by Crystal (2004), disjuncts are divided into two major types which are
furthermore sub classified into other groups: Style Disjuncts and Content Disjuncts.

[Link] Style Disjuncts

Style Disjuncts are divided into two categories; Modality and Manner and Respect
convey the speaker's comment about the style or form of what is being said -
expressing the conditions under which the listener should interpret the sentence.
Greenbaum & Quirk (1991) give the following example to compare (pp) & (pp).

(pp) Mr. Banda neglects his children.

(qq) From my personal observation, Mr. Banda neglects his children.
More examples of the use of style disjuncts are provided by (Quirk & Greenbaum,
1989). See (rr) - (tt).

(rr) Seriously, do you intend to resign?

(ss) Personally, I don‘t approve of her.
(tt) Strictly speaking, nobody is allowed in here.

Modality and manner Disjuncts

The subsequent-mentioned Disjuncts are grouped under modality and manner. They
include: Candidly, flatly, honestly, seriously, strictly, truly, trustfully, confidentially,
roughly, in short and simply. For example:

(uu) I don't want the money, confidentially.

This type of style disjuncts can also come in the form of prepositional phrases and
clauses. For example: In short, he is mad but happy & Putting it bluntly, he has little
market value.

Respect Disjuncts

Respect Disjunct adverbials of this type include the following: Figuratively,

generally, literally, metaphorically, and strictly. For example:

(vv) Generally, the rainy season has already begun by September.

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Frequently, respect disjuncts can come in the form of longer phrases or clauses. See
(ww)…

(ww) Generally speaking, the rainy season has already begun by September.
To mean;

If I may say so/with respect, none of you are competent to make the legal
judgment required

For some adverb phrases, Quirk, et al (1985), as style disjunct, there is a sense
corresponding to them in other structure. For example, in place of "frankly" in: (xx).

(xx) Frankly, he has not a chance.

We could use:

- Prepositional phrase: in all frankness ·

- Infinitive clause: to be frank, to speak frankly, to put it frankly. ·
- ing participle clause: frankly speaking, putting it frankly. ·
- ed participle clause: put frankly. ·
- Finite verb clause: if I may be frank, if I can speak frankly, if I can put
frankly.

However, not every style disjunct will allow such a full range of structures.

[Link] Content Disjuncts

Greenbaum & Quirk (1991) argue that Content Disjuncts (also called Attitudinal
Disjunct), are of two kinds; those that relate to certainty and those that relate to
evaluation. Content Disjuncts as explained by Quirk & Greenbaum (1989), convey
the speaker's comment on the content of what he is saying. They can generally appear
only in declarative clauses:

(yy) Obviously, nobody expected as to be here today.

Eastwood (2000) agrees with Quirk, et al. (1985) in saying that the content disjuncts
like: "surprisingly", "fortunately", and "luckily" are possibly used to make an
"evaluation" and "comment" on what we are saying:

(zz) The newspaper was not interested in the story, surprisingly.

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Content disjuncts can also be realized by prepositional phrases and clauses:

(aaa) To my regret, he did not accept our offer.

(bbb) What is even more remarkable, he manages to inspire confidence in the

most suspicious students.

[Link] Certainty Disjuncts

These disjuncts comment on the truth value of what is said, firmly endorsing it,
expressing doubt, or posing contingencies such as conditions or reasons. For example:

undoubtedly
(ccc) The play was apparently written by Francis Beaumont.
Perhaps

[Link] Evaluation Disjuncts

These disjuncts express an attitude to an utterance by way of evaluation.

(ddd) Wisely, Mrs. Musonda consulted her lawyer.

[Link] Disjuncts: Semantics and Syntax

There are a number of aspects related to different meanings that disjunct adverbials
can convey the syntactic forms of disjuncts and their distribution in sentences. This is
in addition to presenting some syntactic functions and properties of these adverbials.
The following are the Semantic Categories as provided by Biber, et al. (2000).

Doubt and certainty: no doubt, certainly, perhaps, of course, I guess,…etc.

Actuality and reality: in fact, really and actually. ·
Source of knowledge: evidently, according to, as Mr. John notes,…etc.
Limitation: in most cases, mainly, typically, generally, largely ...etc.
Viewpoint or perspective: in our view, in my opinion, …etc.
Imprecision: like, sort of, if you can call it that, about, roughly,…etc.
Attitude: fortunately, as you might guess, to my surprise, hopefully,…etc.
Style: honestly, frankly, confidentially, figuratively speaking, in short,…etc.

It must be noted that other grammarians, like Alexander (1997), use other headings
for these groups. See the following as expressed in

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 (eee) I don't want you to repeat this: between ourselves, and in strict
confidence ·
(fff) It is just as I expected: characteristically, logically and typically.
[Link] Syntactic Realizations (forms) of Disjuncts

Disjuncts, Biber, et al. (2000) argue, are realized by a variety of syntactic forms. The
forms are exemplified in

Single Word Adverb

(ggg) They had evidently been too scared of their captain to report his tribal
traits.
Adverb Phrase:
(hhh) But quite frankly I can't see myself ever getting-given the same sort of
circumstances.
Prepositional Phrase:
(iii) His bedside manner was, in a word, menacing.
Noun Phrase:
(jjj) Some will no doubt accuse Mutale of stealing meat from the pot.
Finite Clause:
(kkk) Well, then, I have come here to heal myself, if you like to put it that
way.

Disjuncts are words that comment on the content, behavior, or manner of the content
within the text. Put simply, they are adverbs and adverbials which do not relate to any
individual element of the sentence but state or present the speaker‘s position or
attitude.

8.4 Conjunct Adverbials

Conjunct Adverbials, as defined by Crystal (2004), are a class of words whose main
function is to link independent grammatical units, such as clauses, sentences and
paragraphs; for example meanwhile, however and otherwise. In traditional grammar
these words were called adverbs. In general, conjuncts are adverbials that introduce
link between the sentence they occur in and what has already been said, i.e. the

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preceding context. They are necessary to maintain cohesion and coherence in both
speech and writing.
Biber et al (2000), state that conjuncts are important devices for creating textual
cohesion as they express the type of connection between clauses. They are more
peripheral to the rest of the clause structure in which they occur than Adjuncts
adverbials and they do not form part of the sentence. They have a more primary
connective function rather than adding additional information to the clause. They
share some characteristics with Disjunctive in that they are mobile and often
prosodically and orthographically separated from the rest of the clause, moreover they
cannot be elicited by question forms. Conjuncts adverbials should be distinguished
from coordinators. They are adverbials whose function is to connect units of discourse
of different size (sentences, units larger than sentences or to-clause) to a preceding
main clause

8.4.1 Semantic Categories of Conjuncts

Biber, et al. (2000) and Quirk et al. (1985) give six different relationships expressed
by conjunct adverbials:

[Link] Enumeration and Addition:

Conjuncts can be used for the enumeration of pieces of information and for adding
items of discourse to one another. They include such as: first(ly) and second(ly), one,
two, three, a, b, c, first of all, to begin with, then, to conclude, finally, in the same
way, further, above all, …etc

[Link] Summation:
These include: in sum, altogether, then, to conclude, overall, in conclusion, and to
summarize.
[Link] Apposition:
These include: which is to say, in other words, i.e., that is, for example, and e.g.
[Link] Result/Inference:
These include: therefore, consequently, thus, as a result, so, hence, in that case,
otherwise, then and in consequence.
[Link] Contrast/Concession: These include: on the other hand, in contrast,
alternatively, though, anyway, yet, conversely and after all
[Link] Transition:

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These include, as stated by Greenbaum & Quirk (1991), Discourse, e.g. incidentally,
by the way, and now and Temporal types, e.g. meanwhile, meantime, originally,
subsequently and eventually.

Syntactic Realizations (forms) of Conjuncts

The forms are exemplified in the subsequent section.

Single adverbs: however, nevertheless, so, though and therefore.

Adverb phrases: even so, first and foremost and more precisely.
Prepositional phrases: by the way, in conclusion, and on the other hand.
Finite clauses: that is and that is to say
Non-finite clauses: added to that and to conclude
Distribution of Syntactic Forms

The two registers: conservation and academic prose are considered, by Biber, et al.
(2000), as related to the most frequent use of conjuncts. Corpus findings show that:

In both conservation and academic prose, the majority of conjuncts are realized by
"Single Adverbs".
In conversation, almost all conjuncts are "Single Adverbs". The most common of
these are so, then, anyway and though.
In academic prose, "Prepositional Phrases" are also common as conjuncts.

Note that Disjuncts and conjuncts are also called sentence adverbials.

8.5 Classes Types of Adverbials

There are five classes/types of adverbials

8.5.1 Adverbs of manner

These are adverbs used to describe the manner of doing something. These answer the
question how as in (lll) - (mmm).
(lll) He was climbing the ladder carefully.
(mmm) Children were doing their work quietly.

8.5.2 Adverbs of Place

These adverbs are used to describe the place of action. They answer the question
where as in (nnn) - (ooo).

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 (nnn) The meeting will be upstairs.
(ooo) They drove to the farm.

8.5.3 Adverbs of Time

These are used to describe time when an activity is taking place. They refer to when,
how long and how often as in (ppp) - (rrr).

(ppp) They came recently.

(qqq) They prayed all night long.
(rrr) John visits us regularly.

8.5.4 Degree
These either heighten or lower the intensity of the segment which they modify as in
(sss) - (ttt).
(sss) Jesus is definitely going to come.
(ttt) We nearly missed the lecture.

8.5.5 Sentence Adverbials

These are peripheral to the sentence, are not integrated into the sentence and cannot
be affected by negation as in (uuu) - (vvv).
(uuu) Naturally, people behave well they are sober. (Sentence Adverb)
(vvv) People behave naturally. (Adverb)
8.6 Activity

1. With examples of your own, discuss adjuncts, disjuncts and conjuncts.

2. Discuss the distribution of adverbs in the English sentence.
3. Using your knowledge from this unit, illustrate the classes/types of
adverbials
4. Discuss subcategories of adjuncts, disjuncts & conjuncts

8.7 Conclusion
In this unit, you have been exposed to adverbs and their grammatical function. You
surely must have seen how clarity is enhanced when adverbs are used in sentences. It
is hoped that you found the unit interesting and insightful. The topic on adverbs is so
wide and what has been covered here is only meant to help you have a basis for
further exploration.
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8.8 Summary
The unit has discussed adverbs: what they are and the positions they occupy in
sentences. Not only that, the unit has clearly dealt with how they interact with other
word classes in modifying them. Explained further in the unit are the types or classes
of adverbs and their roles in sentences. The unit has also dealt with adverbials –
adjuncts, disjuncts and conjuncts, bringing out their syntactic role in grammar. Read
further on these because they have not been exhaustively dealt with.

[85]
UNIT NINE: PHRASES
9.0 Introduction

This unit introduces phrases to you. Phrases play a significant role in grammar and
have to be mastered as required. There are several kinds of phrases but this unit and
module considers only the common types. And so, the unit shall deal with each of the
common types and provide detail. It is hoped that you will pay attention as you
familiarise with this unit.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
 Describe what a phrase is
 Identify various types of phrases
 Identify the form of each types of phrases
 Discuss functions of the different kinds of phrases

9.1 Defining the Phrase

The phrase has been looked upon differently by different scholars. We thus draw
some definitions from a few sources. You can expand your knowledge by consulting
other literature on the phrase. In English grammar, a phrase is a group of two or more
words functioning as a meaningful unit within a sentence or clause. A phrase is
commonly characterized as a grammatical unit at a level between a word and a clause.

A phrase is made up of a head (or headword) which determines the

grammatical nature of the unit and one or more optional modifiers. Note that phrases
may in some cases contain other phrases within them.

Richard, et al. (1985:39) said that ―a phrase is a group of word which forms a
grammatical unit, a phrase does not contains a finite verb and does not have a subject-
predicate structure‖.

Merriam Webster dictionary defines a phrase as a word or group of words forming

a syntactic constituent with a single grammatical function.

A phrase is, as Crystal (1992) defines it, ―an element of structure typically containing
more than one word, but lacking the subject-predicate structure usually found in a

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clause.‖ Finch (1999), in his definition of ‗phrase‘, states ―a phrase is a syntactic unit
which typically consists of more than one word and is intermediate between word and
clause level in sentences.‖ He adds that in a phrase words go together to form a
‗single syntactic entity‘ which can be moved ‗around‘ and also substituted by another
word. As an illustration, he gives the following example in which the words italicised
and in bold are capable of both movement (as in (a) & (b)) and substitution as in (c):

(a) The man went down the hill.

(b) Down the hill went the man.
(c) He went there.
Put simply, a phrase is a group of words that stand together as a single unit, typically
as part of a clause or sentence.

9.1.1 Form and Function of Phrase

‗Form‘, on the one hand, refers to the internal structure of the grammatical unit and in
the case of phrases, the form of a phrase is determined by the word which has a
primary and obligatory function within it. This word is referred to as the head of that
phrase. Function on the other hand, refers to the syntactic role that a phrase plays
within a sentence or a clause. Thus, we distinguish five kinds of phrases in this unit.

9.2 Kinds or Types of Phrases

Prastowo, Panca (2009:65) assumes that there are eight types of phrases, they are:
noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adverbial phrase, prepositional phrase,
infinitive phrase, gerundive phrase, and participle phrase. However, as stated in the
introduction, in this module we shall only deal with the common types of phrases, but
you are encouraged to study the other types that will not be covered here. The
common types of phrases include noun phrases such as: (a good friend), verb phrases
(drives carefully), adjective phrases (very cold and dark), adverb phrases (quite
slowly), and prepositional phrases (in first place). We start with the noun phrase (NP).

9.2.1 The Noun Phrase

The possible constituents of noun phrases are determiner, pre-modifier, head and
post-modifier. The central element of a noun phrase is called its head and must be a
noun or indeed function as one. The head may have words before it called determiners
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and pre-modifier and word after it called post-modifier. Pre-modifier of nouns are
always realized as adjective phrases. Note even when there is only one word to
modify a noun, it is still called a phrase because potentially it could have more than
one word. Put simply, in terms of form, a noun phrase is made up of a noun as head
and optional modifiers. This means that a noun phrase can be made up of a noun only.
In the subsequent noun phrase, we have dark eyes, that is, a pre-modifier (dark) and a
noun (eyes). However, as stated, it is possible to only have a single word (noun) e.g.
eye and qualify it as a noun phrase.

(d) dark eyes

Premod: adj head: noun

The main word in a noun phrase is a noun or a pronoun. There are a number of
subclasses of noun and pronouns that will be discussed later. The structure of typical
noun phrase may be represented schematically in the following way.

Determiner Pre-modifiers Noun Post-modifiers

Note that determiners when used introduce the noun phrase. Modifiers are units that
are dependent on the main word and can be omitted. There are two modifiers, pre-
modifiers (come before the noun) and post modifiers (come after the noun). The
subsequent are examples of possible structures of noun phrases.

Noun books
Determiner + noun those books
Pre-mod + noun history books
Determiner + pre-mod + noun some long books
Noun + post-mod books about Canada
Determiner + noun + post-mod some books on astronomy
Pre-mod + noun + post-mod popular books on psychology
Det + pre-mod + noun + post-mod some popular books on astronomy

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We at this point turn to some of the syntactic roles or functions of the noun phrase in
the sentence or clause. You will note that the noun phrase has the same syntactic roles
as those of a single noun. To understand the functions of the noun phrase therefore,
make as close reference as possible to the functions of the noun as discussed in unit
five. Rather, study the two alongside each other. The following are some of the roles
that a noun phrase would perform in sentences. As usual, the noun phrase is italicised
and is in bold.

[Link] Subject

We must by now know that the subject of the sentence is what the sentence is about.
That is true enough. More than that, it could be said to be said to be the noun that is
doing or being something. One point to underscore is that it is not always the case that
the subject noun phrase is always doing something. See (e) – (h). Note that (g) and (h)
demonstrate the fact that it is not always case that the subject is doing something.

(e) The people in the bus escaped through the emergency exit.
(f) A good friend does not count the number of times he visits.
(g) The window was broken by Simalimbu.
(h) The old woman is sick.
[Link] Direct object

The direct object is the entity that suffers the direct action of the verb. See (i) - (j).

(i) They are testing some new equipment.

(j) Mulenga killed a monkey.

[Link] Indirect object

We already know that the indirect object is the entity in the sentence which benefits
from the direct object consider examples in (i) - (j).

(k) The bank gave her a loan

(l) I sold my pen to the teacher.

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[Link] Subject Complement

Refer to unit five for details on subject complement and consider examples in as in (k)
- (l).
(m) The performance was a test of their physical endurance.
(n) Mabvuto‘s brother is a mortuary attendant.
[Link] Object Complement

Refer to unit five for information about the object complement and consider examples
as in (m) - (n).

(o) Most lecturers consider Chikondi the best debater.

(p) He kept us waiting.
[Link] Adjunct of time

The adjuncts here refer to a span of time within which, at some point of time, the
events took place. There are many different ways of expressing the notion of time?
When, how often, or how long. See examples in (o) - (p).
(q) I met her last year.
(r) The term finishes next week.
[Link] Complement of a preposition
Complement of a preposition or prepositional complements are defined as the word,
phrase, or clause that directly follows the preposition and completes the meaning of
the prepositional phrase. Prepositional complements are also called objects of
prepositions and complements of prepositions consider examples in (q) - (r).

(s) The box of chocolates is mine.

(t) The milk is intended for your children.

[Link] Pre-modifier of noun or noun phrase

When a noun phrase premodifiers another noun phrase, it appears before the noun
phrase it modifies as in (s) - (t).

(u) Milk production is not as good as last year.

(v) Child immunisation is key to curbing infant mortality.

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Note that the noun phrase can take various forms. It can take the gerundial form, the
infinitive or the appositive. Details of these have been provided in the subsequent
section.

9.2.2 Gerundial

A gerund is a noun made from a verb root plus ing (a present participle). A whole
gerund phrase functions in a sentence just like a noun and can act as a subject, an
object, or a predicate nominative. A gerund phrase may include the gerund plus
modifiers and complements. See in (w) – (z).

(w) Sneezing exhausts Steve who works in the mine. (subject)

(x) Playing cards is not allowed here. (subject)
(y) He contemplated marrying his cousin. (object of a transitive verb)
(z) He was punished for telling a lie. (object of a preposition)

9.2.3 The infinitive

An infinitive is a verbal which functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb. It takes the

form of ―to + verb‖ in its simplest form. An infinitive expresses an action or state of
being. This takes yet another definition as the infinitive form of a verb plus any
complements and modifiers. (aa) just demonstrates what has been said about the
infinitive. The sentence ―I want to bury treasure quickly‖ has been labelled to show

Infinitive form complement modifier

(direct object) (adverb)

I want to bury the treasure quickly

Infinitive phrase

Other examples of the infinitive noun phrase would include the following. Consider
(bb) - (dd).
(aa) To win a prize is my ambition.
(bb) He was told to dance like no one was watching.
(cc) He hopes to win the first prize.

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9.2.4 The Appositive

An appositive is a noun or phrase that renames or describes the noun to which it is

next. See (ee) - (ff).

(dd) Chingi, my brother, is taking me to the airport on Friday afternoon.

(ee) Dr. Kakoma, a well-known lecturer, will be speaking at the
conference.

In sentence (ee), the appositive ―my brother‖ renames Richard, thus identifying who
he is. In example (ff), the appositive ―a well-known lecturer‖ provides a description of
Dr. Kakoma. For further details on the appositive, refer to unit five on the function of
the noun.

9.2.5 Modification in the Noun Phrase

Modification is a syntactic construction in which one grammatical element (e.g.,

a noun) is accompanied (or modified) by another (e.g., an adjective). The first
grammatical element is called the head (or headword). The accompanying element is
called a modifier.

To determine if a word or phrase is a modifier, one of the easiest tests is to see if the
larger segment (phrase, sentence, etc.) makes sense without it. If it does, the element
you're testing is probably a modifier. If it doesn't make sense without it, it's probably
not a modifier.

Modifiers that appear before the headword are called premodifiers. Modifiers that
appear after the headword are called postmodifiers. In some cases, modifiers can
modify other modifiers as well. In short, it is possible to have pre-modification or
post-modification in the noun phrase.

Modification as a syntactic construction enhances changes in the sentence or clause

by use of elements called modifiers. A modifier changes, clarifies, qualifies, or limits
a particular word in a sentence in order to add emphasis, explanation, or detail.
Modifiers tend to be descriptive words, such as adjectives and adverbs. Modifier

[92]
phrases, such as adjective clauses and adverbial phrases, also exist and tend to
describe adjectives and adverbs.

[Link] Pre-modification

In a noun phrase Pre- modification is where information (the modifier) is added

before the noun. Modifiers in the noun phrase can be determiners, adverbs, adjectives
or nouns. Pre-modification in the noun phrase is achieved through determiners,
adjectives, participles, other nouns and adverbs. Detailed of these are as given the
subsequent section.

[Link] Determiners

In grammar, a determiner is a word which is used at the beginning of a noun group to

indicate, for example, which thing you are referring to or whether you are referring to
one thing or several. Common English determiners are 'a,' 'the,' 'some,' 'this,' and
'each. Other determiners exist and you can use the web to explore them. The words
italicised and in bold in (gg) - (hh) are examples of determiners used to achieve pre-
modification.

(ff) All rules must be learnt by heart.

(gg) Some people do not live within their means.

[Link] Adjectives

To remind yourself of what adjectives are refer to unit seven. Here we use them to
achieve pre-modification. Consider (ii) - (jj).

(ii) Difficult rules must be learnt by heart.

(jj) The ugly building has finally collapsed.

[Link] Participles

In grammar, a participle is an adjective or complement to certain auxiliaries that is

regularly derived from the verb in many languages and refers to participation in the
action or state of the verb; a verbal form used as an adjective. The participle does not
specify person or number in English, but may have a subject or object or show tense

[93]
and so on, as burning, in a burning candle, or devoted in his devoted friend. See (kk)
- (ll).
(kk) Nyimbili likes boiled eggs.
(ll) Mukumbe has a number of irritating habits.

[Link] Other nouns

We are not defining the noun here is because the definition has already been given in
unit five. Please refer to the unit to refresh your memory. Here we show how pre-
modification in the noun phrase can be achieved through another noun. See is as
shown in (mm) - (oo). The pre-modifier is italicised and in bold.

(mm) Grammar rules must be learnt by heart.

(nn) Mr. Njobvu drives a sports car.
(oo) Chiwaya lives in a glass house.

[Link] Adverbs

As with the noun, the adverb has already been defined in unit eight. So refer to that unit for
definition. Here we discuss how the adverb is used as a pre-modifier in the noun phrase.

(pp) His behaviour is quite a puzzle.

(qq) Esther visited John today.

9.3 Post-modification

In a noun phrase Post-modification is the adding of information (the modifier) after

the noun phrase. Post-modification in the noun phrase is achieved through many
grammatical units which include the prepositional phrase, adjectives, finite relative
clauses, non finite clauses and adverbs. Examples of these have been exemplified in
the subsequent section.

9.3.1 Prepositional Phrase (PP)

A prepositional phrase is a group of words containing a preposition, a noun or

pronoun object of the preposition, and any modifiers of the object. A preposition
sits in front of (is ―pre-positioned‖ before) its object. We may wish to point out here
that a prepositional phrase may be adjective or adverb prepositional phrase. See (rr) -
(ss).
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 (rr) I saw a girl with red hair. (PP with red hair modifying the noun girl)
(ss) We drove the car to the store. (PP to the store modifying the noun car)

The prepositional phrase in (rr) is adjective while the one is (ss) is adverb in nature.

9.3.2 Adjectives

By now we know what adjectives are because we have met them before in unit seven.
And so, we will not go into the definition of the adjective. Refer to unit seven where
the adjective has been discussed. Here we only demonstrate how we can achieve post-
modification through the adjective. See examples in (tt) - (uu).

(tt) The festival proper begins on Wednesday.

(uu) You should bring something good.

9.3.3 Finite Relative Clause

A relative clause is typically a clause that modifies a noun or noun phrase, and uses
some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments within the relative
clause has the same referent as that noun or noun phrase. For example, in the
sentence I met a man who slapped the school driver. When we say it is finite, it means
the verb in this clause inflects for tense or shows tense. See examples in (vv) - (ww).

(vv) The person who lives in this house has not been seen for days.
(ww) This is the place where I would like to live.

9.3.4 Non-finite Clause

A non-finite clause in one whose verb does not inflect for tense or does not show
tense in the context it has been used. Non-finite clauses include the present participle,
the past participle and the to-infinitive as has been exemplified in (xx) - (zz).

(xx) The farmer saw animals moving in all directions.

(yy) Singanda drove a lorry loaded with tomatoes.
(zz) He asked for a book to read.

9.3.5 Adverbs

Adverbs can as well be used to post-modify the noun phrase as has been shown in
(aaa) - (ccc).
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 (aaa) I requested for the way up.
(bbb) My children returned the morning after.
(ccc) Chikoye walked home alone.

9.4 The Verb Phrase

This part of the unit introduces you to the verb phrase. The verb phrase is significant
in the syntactic structure and must be well mastered if you are to understand other
phrase with which it is used. It is important to note that the verb phrase will always
function as a verb in the sentence.

In terms of from, a verb phrase or verbal phrase is a phrase made up of a main verb
(MV) following a modal or one of the auxiliary verbs. Examples are: ‗walked‘, ‗can
see’ and ‗had been waiting.‘ The form of the verb phrase is that it is headed by a main
verb (MV) or Main Verb + an auxiliary as shown in (ddd) - (eee).

(ddd) Lulia comes home every day. (MV)

(eee) Lulia is coming home this weekend. (MV+ AUX)

9.4.1 Types of Verb Phrase

Like the single verb, the verb phrase may be either finite or non-finite. You will
notice that there is no difference with the single verb in each of these. See how these
are realise in the subsequent section.

[Link] Finite Verb Phrase

The finite verb phrase is headed by a finite verb. A finite verb is the form of verb that
shows agreement with a subject and is marked for tense. See examples in (fff) - (ggg).

(fff) Mundiwa is eating nsima now.

(ggg) Handili eats nsima every day.

[Link] Non-Finite Verb Phrase

The non-finite verb phrase is headed by a Non-finite verb, the verb that does not
inflect for tense. This type of verb would be the bare infinitive, to-infinitive or the
participial. Consider the examples in (hhh) - (lll).

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 (hhh) I watched Mwaka sweep the house as fast as she could. (Bare infinitive)
(iii) The boys returned to help their lecturer. (To-infinitive)
(jjj) The waste basket sat in the corner, reeking with garbage. (-ing participial)
(kkk) Beaten beyond recognition, Mututwa was rushed to the hospital.
(-en participial)
(lll) Distressed by her lover, Mkosa vowed never to love again. (-ed
participial)

9.5 The Adjective Phrase

An adjective phrase is defined as a group of words that, together, function as an

adjective. That means that the phrase itself acts as an adjective in a sentence. An
adjective phrase includes at least one adjective, along with at least one other word.

With regard to form, an adjective phrase is headed by either an adjective or an

adjectival. An adjectival is a word or group of words which is not an adjective but
occurs and functions in the position of an adjective. See examples in (mmm) - (ooo).

(mmm) She chose lemony yellow paint for her room. (Adjective)
(nnn) Inonge proposed an interesting trip. (Adjective)
(ooo) The scones smell deliciously sweet president. (Adjectival)

9.5.1 Function of Adjective Phrase

In terms of function, an adjective phrase functions the same way as a single adjective
in the sentence, that is, as subject and object complement.

[Link] Subject Complement

The subject complement is a well known element. If you wish to remind yourself,
refer to unit where adjectives have been discussed. See (ppp) - (qqq).

(ppp) The girl is intelligent.

(qqq) We were saddened by the sad news.

Object Complement

Refer to unit five for information on object complement and consider examples in
(rrr) - (sss)

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 (rrr) Students consider their lecturer brilliant.
(sss) The president makes the citizens happy.

9.6 The Adverb Phrase

An adverb phrase consists of one or more words. The adverb is the head of the phrase
and can appear alone or it can be modified by other words. In terms of function, the
adverb phrase can function as an adjunct of time, adjunct of manner, conjunct or
disjuncts as has been demonstrated in subsequent section.

9.6.1 Adjunct of time

Refer to [Link] for information on adjunct of time then consider examples (ttt) -
(uuu).

(ttt) He called John yesterday.

(uuu) We visit grandmother every summer.

9.6.2 Adjunct of manner

These are a type of adverbs that describe how something happened. They answer the
question how as in (vvv) - (www).

(vvv) He spoke to her passionately.

(www) Muchindu presented his case carefully.

9.6.3 Conjunct

Conjuncts or Conjunctive adverbs are parts of speech that are used to connect one
clause to another. They are also used to show sequence, contrast, cause and effect, and
other relationships as in (xxx).

(xxx) He failed the exam. Therefore, he repeated the year.

9.6.4 Disjunct

Refer to unit eight (8) for more information on disjuncts as in (yyy) - (zzz).

(yyy) Honestly, Ntungo will win.

(zzz) In all honesty, I do not believe he to me.

[98]
9.7 The Prepositional Phrase

When we are talking about a prepositional phrase, we are referring to a group of

words which are made up of a preposition, the object of the preposition and words
which modify that object. In most instances, the prepositional phrase is used to
modify either a noun or a verb. The use of the prepositional phrase to modify a noun
or a verb is known as either an adjectival phrase or an adverbial phrase, respectively.
The typical prepositional phrase, however, is formed by a preposition and a noun as
exemplified in (aab). Put simply, in terms of form, a prepositional phrase is headed by
a preposition and may be followed by various word classes such as:

9.7.1 Nouns

See examples in (aab) - (aac).

(aab) John came from Mumbwa.

(aac) My sister built a house by the mountain.
9.7.2 Pronouns

Consider (aad) - (aae).

(aad) He bought it for us.

(aae) The police pointed a gun at him.
9.7.3 Wh- Clause

See this as exemplified in (aaf) - (aag)

(aaf) I can‘t rely on what she told me.

(aag) Lukundo was punished for what he did.
9.7.4 –ing Clause

This is as shown in (aah) - (aai)

(aah) I survive by selling Kapenta.

(aai) The shops are within walking distance.
9.7.5 Adverbs

See this in (aaj) - (aak)

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 (aaj) They should have all arrived by now.
(aak) Mulenga travelled to Kasama by bus.
9.7.6 Adjective

This is shown in (aal) - (aam).

(aal) In short, he will be fired.

(aam) With a knife in her hand, Mulopwe advanced towards her adversary.

9.8 Functions of the Prepositional phrase

Prepositional phrases perform various syntactic functions in sentences. The functions

include those described in the following section. Interact with the text and see what
they are.

9.8.1 Adjectival

We know what an adjectival is by now. To refresh our memory, we can simply say, it
is a word or group of words that occupies the slot of an adjective in a sentence and
plays the role of an adjective. See examples in (aan) - (aao).

(aan) I spoke to a girl with red hair.

(aao) Jessica married a man of Rwandan origin.

9.8.2 Adverbial

An adverbial is a word or phrase that functions like an adverb as in (aap) - (aaq).

(aap) I like sitting by the balcony.

(aaq) Kang‘ombe studies from the library.

9.8.3 Verb Complement

In grammar, a verb complement is is a word, phrase, or clause that follows the verb to
add more information. Verb complements strengthen the meaning and impact of the
verb in a sentence. It is important to point out that only transitive verbs will have
complements. Verb complements may be the noun phrase, adjective, prepositional
phrase or an adverb as in (aar) - (aas).

(aar) This consists of rubbish.

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 (aas) We are looking at awful paintings

9.8.4 Adjective Complement

An adjective complement is defined as part of the sentence that completes the

meaning of, or complements an adjective or an adjective phrase as in (aat) - (aau).

(aat) He is keen on football. (on football complement the adjective keen)

(aau) The students are bored with their coursework.

9.8.5 Subject to a to-infinitive as in (aav) - (aaw).

(aav) For him to go is foolish.

(aaw) For John to be arrested is not strange.

9.8.6 Complement of another preposition as in (aax) – (aay)

(aax) I will be there in under an hour.

(aay) The smoke hung in the air above the city.

9.8.7 Activity

1. For each of the italicised and bold phrases in the sentences given
below:
 State what type of phrase the item is.
 State the head of the phrase.
 State the grammatical function of the phrase.

(a) The police came at night.

(b) He spoke to a girl with blue eyes.
(c) The president addressed the crowd angrily.
(d) Honestly, Mambwe is genius.
(e) The meeting was held up in the dining hall
(f) Some people consider the chief weak.
2. In each of the sentences given below, indicate whether the
underlined item constitutes a subject, a direct Object, an Indirect
Object, a Subject Complement or an Object Complement.
(a) Ruth considered Priscilla a hero
(b) Michelo sent Mwanza a present.
(c) Elita is sickly.
(d) Fumbani became a lawyer.

[101]
9.8.8 Conclusion
In this unit, you have been exposed to phrases and their grammatical function. You
surely must have seen how clarity is enhanced when different phrases are used in
sentences. It is hoped that you found the unit interesting and insightful. The topic on
phrases is so wide and what has been covered here is only meant to help you have a
basis for further exploration.
9.9 Summary
The unit has discussed phrases: what they are and the positions they occupy in
sentences. Not only that, the unit has clearly dealt with how they interact with other
word classes in modifying them. We have learnt how phrases are made of individual
words and how all these words come together to perform one function. Explained
further in the unit are the types or classes of phrases and their roles in sentences. Read
further on these because they have not been exhaustively dealt with.

[102]
UNIT TEN: THE ENGLISH CLAUSE
10.0 Introduction
In this unit we look at the English clause. Discussed in the unit is the description of
the clause, clause patterns and functions. As you familiarise with this unit, ensure that
you master the clause patterns, clause elements, classification of clauses using the
function criterion.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of the unit, you should be able to:
 State the three ways in which clauses are described.
 State and illustrate each of the seven basic clause patterns.
 State and type of verb by which each of the clause patterns is realised.
 Distinguish between clauses with verbs and clauses without verbs.
 Classify and sub-classify clauses on the basics of clause functions.
 Distinguish between defining (restrictive) and non-defining (non-restrictive)
relative clauses.

10.1 Defining the Clause

Traditionally a clause was defined as a group of words containing a subject and a

finite verb. This definition leaves out verbless clauses and those which use non-finite
verbs. In modern grammar, clauses are described in three ways: Clause Elements, Use
of Verb and Clause Function.

10.2 Clause Elements

A clause may be analysed or split into seven different clause elements. These are
subject (S), Verb (V), Complement (C), Adverbial (A), Object (O), Object
Complement (OC) and Subject Complement (SC).

10.3 Basic Clause Patterns

The basic clause patterns differ from each other by the type of main verb in their verb
phrases, that is, their predicates. The verb types are differentiated from each other by
the functions and phrases they require to be present or to be absent in the VP.

[103]
The elements presented above give rise to seven basic clause patterns. The patterns
are determined by the verb classes to which the full verbs within the verb constituent
belong. The following are the seven patterns:

10.3.1 The SV Pattern

Formally, this pattern the noun phrase (NP) and verb phrase (VP) whose verb is
intransitive –one which does not take any object as in (a) - (b).

(a) The lecturer will speak.

(b) Samantha arrived ten minutes late.
10.3.2 SVO Pattern

The SVO pattern is realised through Monotransitive verb. A Monotransitive verb is a

subcategory of transitive verbs that takes only one object, the direct object as in (c) -
(d).

(c) The President will address the students at noon.

(d) The referee ended the game due to bad weather.

10.3.3 SVOO Pattern

The SVOO pattern is realised through the bitransitive or ditransitive verb. The
Bitransitive verb is one which takes two objects, the direct object and the indirect
object. The direct object in some cases may appear before the indirect object or vice-
versa as in (e) - (f).

(e) Lungowe gave some chocolates to her children.

(f) Lungowe bought her children some chocolates.

10.3.4 SVOC Pattern

This pattern is realised through the Complex Transitive verb. This is the verb which
takes one object plus an object complement as in (g) - (h).

(g) The grandson considers his grandfather weird.

(h) We proclaimed Mwamba our champion.

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10.3.5 SVOA Pattern

The SVOA pattern is realised through the complex transitive verb –one which takes
one object plus a compulsory adverbial as in (i) - (j).

(i) He put the plate on the table.

(j) Michelo slapped the boy on the cheek.

10.3.6 SVC Pattern

The SVC pattern is realised through the intensive verb –one which does not take any
object but takes a subject complement as has been shown in (k) - (l).

(k) Chikoye is beautiful.

(l) Mutukwa looks pale.
10.3.7 SVA Pattern

This pattern is realised through the intensive verb as well. In this case, however, the
verb takes an adverbial instead of a complement as in (m) - (n).

(m) Gwen lives here.

(n) Handima sat up.

10.4 Use of Verb

Under Use of Verb we look at whether the clause makes use of the verb or not, that is
to say whether the clause is + verb or – verb.

10.4.1 +Verb Clauses

+ Verb clauses are sub-categorised into the finite and the non-finite clause.

[Link] Finite Clauses

These are clauses whose verb element is a finite verb phrase. Examples (o) - (p)
demonstrate these.

(o) He loves hard work.

(p) He will not be back until ten.

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10.4.2 Non-Finite Clauses
These are clauses whose verb element is a non-finite verb phrase. There are two types
of non-finite clauses and these include the participial or participle and the infinitive.
The participle is subcategorised into the present and the past participle while the
infinitive is sub-divided into the to-infinitive and the bare infinitive.

[Link] Participial

Participial or Participial Phrases can be placed in various positions in a sentence and

always act as adjectives. Consider examples in (q) - (t).

(q) The dog saw many ducks swimming in the lake.

(r) Barking loudly, the dog approached the water.
(s) The ducks, startled by the noise, rose and flew away quickly.
(t) The disappointed dog returned to the campsite.

[Link] To-infinitive

The to-infinitive (also known as the full infinitive) has been discussed earlier in this
module. But to refresh your memory, we here provide a simple definition of what it is.
Put simply, the to-infinitive is a verbal consisting of the word to plus a verb (in its
simplest "stem" form) and functioning as a noun, adjective, or adverb. The
term verbal indicates that an infinitive, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on
a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. However, the infinitive may
function as a subject, direct object, subject complement, adjective, or adverb in a
sentence. Although an infinitive is easy to locate because of the to + verb form,
deciding what function it has in a sentence can sometimes be confusing. Consider the
examples in (u) - (y).

(u) To wait seemed foolish when decisive action was required. (subject)
(v) Everyone wanted to go. (direct object)
(w) His ambition is to fly. (subject complement)
(x) He lacked the strength to resist. (adjective)
(y) We must study to learn. (adverb)

[106]
[Link] Bare infinitive

The bare infinitive is the form of infinitive without 'to'. Sometimes it is referred to as
the base form of a verb. This is the verb‘s most basic form. For example, talk, sleep,
have, think and so on. Note that the bare infinitive is used in many ways in sentential
construction. It can be used as the main verb after the auxiliary verb do, or most
modal auxiliary verbs (z), (aa) after verbs of perception (bb), or common verbs of
permission or causation (cc) and can follow the question why (ee).

(z) I should do my English homework

(aa) Pililo can play the piano.
(bb) Emelia felt the snake move
(cc) Lukundo let the dog finish her food.
(dd) Miyoba, why sing like that?

10.5 Verbless Clauses (- Verb Clauses)

In English grammar, a verbless clause is a clause-like construction in which a verb
element is implied but not present. In most cases they are without subject, but
function as finite and non-finite. Such clauses are usually adverbial, and the omitted
verb is a form of be. They are also known as a free adjunct (or a free adjunct without
a verbal form) and a nominal sentence. The different forms that verbless clauses can
take include those discussed in the subsequent section.

10.5.1 Form of the verb be omitted

These have the form of the verb be omitted as in (ee) - (ff).

(ee) When in doubt, tell the truth. (without subject)

When you are in doubt, tell the truth.
(ff) Although not unfriendly to strangers, this dog will always protect the
family in times of danger.
Although it is not unfriendly to strangers, this dog will always protect the
family in times of danger.

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10.5.2 Omitted Subject Same as Subject of the Main Clause

These –Verb clauses have omitted subjects, but the omitted subject appears in the
main clause. This is as has been shown in (gg) - (hh).

(gg) Quite upset at the news, Mabvuto started strolling along the corridor.
(hh) Whether right or wrong, Mulenga always wins an argument.

10.5.3 An Adjective and Adjective Phrase as Verbless Clause.

The adjective or adjective verbless phrase is without a verb as the name states but
functions as modifiers as in (ii) - (jj).

(ii) Dressed in tattered clothes, Muyunda walked the roads of Lusaka.

(jj) Fearful of the road conditions, the driver begun to drive carefully.

10.6 Clause Functions

Clauses are of different types and as such have different functions. In the subsequent
section, we look at clause types and their functions.

10.6.1 Nominal Clauses

The most common nominal clauses are the that-clause and Wh-interrogative clauses.
These clauses are headed by nouns and function as nouns. They function as Subject
(S) Object (O) Subject Complement (SC) Adjectival Complement (AC) Appositive
(APP) and Prepositional Phrase (PC). We begin by highlighting that-clauses.

[Link] Nominal That- Clause

In English grammar, a "that"-clause is a subordinate clause that usually begins with

the word that. The nominal that-clause is also known as a declarative content
clause or a "that"-complement clause. Here we make one important clarification on
the expression nominal. In linguistics, the term nominal refers to a category used to
group together nouns and adjectives based on shared properties. You will note
therefore that the nominal that-clauses will function in sentences as the noun phrase
(NP) and other categories used with the noun as in (kk) - (nn).

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 (kk) That he is honest is known to all. (S)
(ll) I suspect that Lulia eloped with her boyfriend. (O)
(mm) Your suggestion, that I leave on Tuesday, should be considered. (APP)
(nn) The lecturer is angry that all students arrived late. (AC)
(oo) The problem is that you think driving is not easy to learn. (SC)

[Link] Wh-Interrogative Clause

The wh-interrogative nominal clause is introduced by a wh-word. Wh-words include:

‗what, who, which, how, when, why, where, etc.‘ the Wh-Interrogative clause can
function as subject, object, appositive, adjective complement or prepositional
complement. Consider the following examples in (pp) - (tt).

(pp) What he is looking for is a friend. (S)

(qq) I can‘t imagine what they want with your address. (O)
(rr) The issue whether Chingi is going is still under discussion. (APP)
(ss) I wasn‘t certain which courses Chikoye is taking. (AC)
(tt) The courts depend on what the witnesses say. (PC)

[Link] Nominal Relative Clause

This is a type of clause which has a nominal function, but which like many relative
clauses begins with a wh-word. The functions of a nominal relative clause include
those of subject, object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement,
appositive and prepositional complement as in (uu) - (aaa).

(uu) Whoever reported me to the lecturer should be ashamed. (S)

(vv) Inonge took what they offered. (O)
(ww) Nsofwa gives whoever visits a cup of tea. (IO)
(xx) The things they purchased were what they needed. (SC)
(yy) I made him what he is today. (OC)
(zz) Melody, who is a musician, loves Ramsey. (APP)
(aaa) The lady with whom the director talked, is my sister. (PC)

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[Link] Nominal to-Infinitive Clauses

At this point, we are familiar with the concept of to-infinitive and as such, we are not
giving the definition of this syntactic unit. Of course we remind you of the fact that
being nominal, the syntactic role or functions in sentences are just the same as those
of a single noun. So, the functions are as indicated in (bbb) - (fff).

(bbb) To be neutral in this conflict is out of question. (S)

(ccc) Lulu likes to be relax. (O)
(ddd) The best excuse is to say you have an examination tomorrow. (SC)
(eee) Your ambition, to become a singer, requires motivation. (APP)
(fff) I am glad to be of help. (AC)

[Link] Nominal –ing Clauses

The ing- clause is the verbal that ends in the –ing and performs the functions as in
(ggg) - (kkk).

(ggg) Killing game is not right. (S)

(hhh) Lusambo enjoys playing football. (DO)
(iii) Phiri‘s first job was selling computers. (SC)
(jjj) His current job, selling computers, is exciting. (APP)
(kkk) The children were busy doing homework. (AC)
[Link] Activity

1. Describe and exemplify the seven clause patterns

2. With tangible examples, distinguish + verb from – verb clauses
3. Describe various functions of nominal clauses
4. Describe and exemplify functions of nominal relative clause and
nominal –ing clauses

10.7 Conclusion
In this unit, you have been exposed to the English Clauses, their grammatical function
and the various types. You surely must have seen how their compositions affect their
functions. It is hoped that you found the unit interesting and insightful. The topic on

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clauses is so wide and what has been covered here is only meant to help you have a
basis for further exploration. So, go on and read further aspects not covered here.

10.8 Summary

The unit has discussed English Clauses: the elements in their composition, the
different types and various clause functions. You are encouraged to read further on
these because they have not been exhaustively dealt with.

Using the function criterion, classify and sub-classify each of the underlined
clauses in each of the following sentences.
(a) I am confident that he will pass.
(b) He went to Lusaka to look for a job.
(c) He came to see me because he wanted some money.
(d) The accident was caused by the driver‘s drunkenness.
(e) The film was less interesting than we expected it to be.

Identify the pattern for each of the clauses given below and state the verb by
which the pattern is realised.
(a) Dumbo bought his wife a ring.
(b) Saga was born in Monze in 1964.
(c) Melody became a doctor.
(d) Someone gave me this book.
(e) Chikumbe put the cat in his pocket.
(f) Simona cries
(g) Ngamanya ate the cake
(h) The board elected Tembo chairperson

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UNIT ELEVEN: RELATIVE CLAUSES
11.0 Introduction
This unit introduces you to relative clauses. Relative clauses can improve a sentence
by adding auxiliary or essential information about a noun or a noun phrase.
However, it is easy to forget the proper rules of how to use them. So, follow
through keenly as we give some detail on what relative clauses are, types and their
syntactic roles in the structure of the English sentence.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Describe what a relative clause is

 Identify a relative clause in a given sentence structure
 Distinguish between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses
 Account for the different functions of relative pronouns
11.1 Defining Relative Clauses

These are subordinate clauses which are linked to the main clause by a back pointing
element, usually a relative pronoun. The relative clause post-modifies a noun phrase
where the relative pronoun points back to the head of noun phrase. Relative clauses
are of two types: Restrictive and Non-Restrictive.

A relative clause, also known as an adjective clause or adjectival clause, is a type of

subordinate clause that offers additional information or extra information in a
sentence. They are used within a main or independent clause to modify a noun or
noun phrase. A relative clause is always a dependent clause, meaning that it
contains a subject and verb is not a complete sentence. Relative clauses are typically
introduced in a sentence by a relative pronoun (such as ―who,‖ ―whom,‖ ―which,‖
―whose,‖ or ―that‖) or a relative adverb (such as ―when,‖ ―where,‖ or ―why‖).

11.2 Types of Relative Clauses

Clauses are subcategorized into Restrictive (or defining Relative) Clauses and Non-
restrictive (or non-defining) Clauses. The next section discusses the two sub-divisions

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of relative clauses. It is hoped that you will pay particular attention to see what makes
the two types different from each other. We begin by dealing with the restrictive type
and its syntactic roles in sentence.

11.2.1 Restrictive Relative Clauses

These are clauses which restrict the meaning of the main clause. They are also called
Defining as they define the main clause. They rely heavily on the relative pronoun
which may be subject of the relative clause, direct object, complement of preposition,
possessive or indirect object.

[Link] The subject of the Relative Clause

The pronoun in this relative clause plays the role of the subject. At this point, we are
certain that we all know what is meant by subject in the English sentence structure. It
should be easy for you to identify this pronoun. Here is how you will identify it. If the
relative pronoun is followed by a verb, the relative pronoun is a subject pronoun.
Consider the examples in (a) - (b).

(a) The apple which is lying on the table is mine

(b) The boy who got arrested yesterday lives near our house.
[Link] The direct object of the relative clause
This relative pronoun performs the function of a direct object in the sentence.
Interestingly, as opposed to the subject relative pronoun which is followed by a verb,
the object relative pronoun is not followed by a verb, but by a noun or pronoun. Note
that object pronouns can be dropped in defining relative clauses which can then be
called contact clauses. The relative pronouns in the parentheses ( ) in (c) & (d) can be
omitted without affecting the grammaticality of the sentence. The See this in (c) - (d).
(c) The apple (which) George lay on the table is mine.
(d) That is the car (that) I intend to buy.

[Link] The complement of a preposition

In grammar, a prepositional complement is a word, phrase or clause that directly

follows a preposition and completes the meaning of the prepositional phrase. The five
relative pronouns that can function as prepositional complement of an adjective clause
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are: whom, which, Ø and that formally and who. We need to mention here that the
preposition may be marooned from the relative pronoun functioning as the
prepositional complements. The [Ø] used here means absence of pronoun. See the
examples in (d) - (j).

(e) Emelia is the woman for whom the Zambian flag flies.
(f) The information for which you asked me to look is unavailable.
(g) The information that you asked me to look for is unavailable.
(h) The issue Ø the politicians are arguing about affects us all.
(i) The field of medicine which you socialise in should be your passion.
(j) The man who you smiled at is my Syntax lecturer.

[Link] The possessive

Whose is the only possessive relative pronoun in English. The antecedent of "whose"
can be both people and things. In grammar, the meaning of antecedent is more
specific as it refers to a word that comes before a different term that represents the
original word. In the sentence, ―When John went out in the rain, he got wet.‖ John in
the sentence is the antecedent of he which represents it. Whose here is being used to
represent the nouns appearing immediately before it. Consider the examples in (k) -
(n).

(k) Kate, whose sister I used to share a house with, has gone to work in
Australia.
(l) The family whose house burnt in the fire was immediately given a
complimentary suite in a hotel.
(m) This is the man whose car has been abandoned at the lay by.
(n) It is a rambling Tudor house, whose sitting room looks out over a
wonderful walled garden.

[Link] Indirect Object

We are all familiar with the indirect object by now. Owing to this, we will not delve
into explaining what it is. We just refer you back to chapter in which the syntactic
roles of the noun have been discussed. In this part, we show you how a relative
pronoun can play the role of an indirect object. See the examples in (o) - (q).
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 (o) He does not know the woman that he bought the coffee yesterday.
(p) Paul, whom David passed the ball to, plays professional soccer.
(q) The rug, which Grandma gave a good beating, once belonged to a prince.
11.2.2 Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses
These are clauses that do not restrict or define the main clause. They merely provide
additional information about the main clause. Therefore, the clause may be separated
through the use of commas. The information contained in the non-restrictive clause
can be left out without affecting the meaning of the sentence as in (r) - (t).
(r) Our Syntax lecturer, who lives in Chongwe Township, drives a Gaia.
(s) This book, which I bought yesterday, is boring.
(t) Kambeu met Mbao, who invited him for supper.
11.3 Sentence Relative Clauses
These clauses function as sentence adverbials as in:
(u) James adores Thandiwe, which surprises everybody.
(v) Some people say there is no God, which I find strange.
Find time to read more on these on your own. You can use the internet and we are
sure you will find a lot of material there.
11.4 Comment Clauses
These clauses do not add anything to the information in the sentence but comment on
truth, the manner of saying it or attitude of the speaker. They are only loosely related
to the rest of the main clause and function as sentence adverbials. Of course, they give
a natural tone to the speech in which they are used. See examples in (w) – (y).
(w) At that time, I believe, Bingo worked as a driver.
(x) Stated frankly, our students will win.
(y) To be honest, patients have no chance of recovery.
11.5 Comparison Clauses
These clauses present comparisons of two things, people or actions. They are
introduced by subordinating conjunctions like ―as … as, not so/as … as, comparative
+ than.‖ There are three types of comparisons. We compare things to a higher degree,
same degree and to a lower degree. See examples of each of these in (z) – (bb).
(z) Divorce is more common than it used to be.
(aa) Patience earns as much money is as I do.
(bb) This road is not as crowded as other one.
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11.6 Adverbial Clauses
Adverbial clauses or Adverb clauses are groups of words with a subject and a
predicate that function as adverbs in a sentence. Just like adverbs, they answer the
questions ―when?‖, ―where?‖, ―how?‖, ―why?‖ to describe time, place, manner,
purpose, etc.: We ought to note that these fall into several categories such as of time,
place, contrast/concession, cause/reason, purpose, result and condition.
11.6.1 Of Time
These adverbials tell about when something happens. To express this, such
conjunctions as ‗when‘, ‗whenever‘, ‗before‘, ‗after‘, ‗as‘, ‗while‘ ‗until‘, ‗as soon
as‘, and ‗since‘ are used. Consider examples in (cc) - (dd).

(cc) The boys visited us whenever they needed help.

(dd) I took my drugs after supper.
11.6.2 Of Place
Adverbials of place tell us about where something happens. We can use the
conjunctions ‗where‘, ‗wherever‘, and ‗everywhere‘. Example in (ee) - (ff)
demonstrate this phenomenon.

(ee) I met Mary where Hurry and John had fight.

(ff) We met kind people everywhere we went.
11.6.3 Of Contrast or Concession
Adverbial clause of concession describes contrasting statements or circumstances
despite which something happens. They usually begin with ‗although‘, ‗though‘,
―even if‘, ‗even though‘, ‗while‘ or ‗whereas‘. See examples in (gg) - (ii).

(gg) Although it rained, they enjoyed their walk.

(hh) I enjoyed the meal, though it was expensive.
(ii) Even though I was full, I couldn‘t stop eating.
11.6.4 Of Cause or Reason
Clauses of cause are used to show why something happens. These clauses begin with
the conjunctions ‗because‘, ‗since‘, and ‗as‘. Examples (jj) - (ll) demonstrate this.

(jj) I listen to classical music because it sounds beautiful.

(kk) Since you‟re so kind to me, I will help you.
(ll) As it was so sunny, he walked to the park.
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11.6.5 Of Purpose
Adverbial clauses of purpose show why something is happening (the intended result).
To express this, we can use ‗so that‘, ‗lest‘ and ‗in order that‘, as in (mm) - (pp).

(mm) He took off his shoes so that he would not ruin the carpet.
(nn) Walk carefully lest you should fall.
(oo) The doctors did extensive research in order that they can find the cure
for that disease.
(pp) To prepare for their exams, the students intensified their studies.
11.6.6 Of Result
Result clauses are used to indicate result of an action or situation. Result clauses are
introduced by conjunctions such as so, so that …, or such … that. Consider the
examples in (qq) - (ss).

(qq) Muluso had challenges with English language, so he changed the

course.
(rr) There are so many books on syntax that Choolwe didn‘t know where to
begin.
(ss) There was such a lot of material to cover that Mabvuto found it difficult to
keep up with his studies.
It must be noted that there are other ways of talking about result of an action or
situation. In some situations, you may prefer to use and as a result or with the result
that. See examples in (tt) - (vv).
(tt) The lecture was boring, and as a result some students began to fall asleep.
(uu) The lecture was boring, with the result that some students began to fall
asleep.
(vv) The lecture was boring. As a result, some students began to fall asleep.
The following words and phrases are used in the same way.

Therefore, thus, in consequence, consequently, for this/that reason

Note that causal relations can be expressed by – ing-clauses of result as in the
following sentence in (ww).

(ww) The government increased duty on beer, resulting in a fall on demand.

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11.6.7 Of Condition
Adverbial clauses of condition tell us about the circumstances under which
something happens. These clauses often begin with ‗if‘, ‗unless‘, or ‗provided that‘.
The expressions in (xx) - (zz) demonstrate the condition.

(xx) I only watch TV if my favorite show is on.

(yy) He won‘t go to university unless he studies very hard.
(zz) You can play the game provided that you follow the rules.
Note that there are other ways of expressing condition. These include the use of ‘but
for‘, ‗even if’, ‗in case’, ‗whether or not’, ‗as long as’, ‗suppose/supposing’, ‗only if’,
‗on condition (that)‘ and ‗even though’. Examples of these are not provided in this
module. See if you can make a provision of these. Search them from internet or any
other sources.
11.6.8 Of Manner

Adverbial clauses of manner show us how something happens. They usually begin
with the conjunctions ‗like‘, ‗as though‘ or ‗as if‘: See how these have been shown in
(aaa) - (ccc).
(aaa) She looked as though she was in pain.
(bbb) Ryan walked past as if he hadn‘t seen us.
(ccc) He talked to me like I was a child.

11.6.9 Activity

1. Distinguish between restrictive and non restrictive relative clauses

2. How would you tell the difference between the subject pronoun and an
object pronoun?
3. Discuss the types clauses learnt in the unit with examples and account
for their different functions.

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11.7 Conclusion

In this unit, you have been introduced to relative clauses. You surely must have seen
how relative clauses can improve a sentence by adding auxiliary or essential
information about a noun or a noun phrase. In the unit, detail on what relative
clauses are, types and their syntactic roles in the structure of the English sentence
has been given.

11.8 Summary
Covered in the unit are the different relative clauses and how they are realised. The
subject and object pronouns have also been discussed bringing out how they too are
syntactically realised. Finally, the unit has discussed types of adverbial clauses and
their functions.

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UNIT 12: TENSE, ASPECT AND MODALITY

12.0 Introduction
This unit introduces you to Tense, Aspect and Modality. Tense and Aspect are the two
main grammatical categories which must be involved in clause or sentential
constructions in English as a tenseness language. Tense and aspect are the two
domains into which the grammar of time is traditionally divided. Modality on the
other hand is concerned with the speaker's assessment of, or attitude towards, the
potentiality of a state of affairs. In English grammar, it is essential to understand the
difference between tense and aspect carefully as they are important verb forms that
show many differences between them. In this unit, we deal with how each of these
grammatical categories is used in sentential construction in English as a tenseness
language. Keep a closer at each of them as it is explained in subsequent sections.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you should be able to;

 define the terms tense and aspect as grammatical categories in the English
language
 distinguish tense from aspect
 state the role of tense and aspect in sentential construction
 demonstrate how tense and account for sentential construction in English
 state the various forms that each of the concepts may take; and
 describe modality
 identify modal verbs used to express modality
 demonstrate various types of modality
 Show how the concept of future tense is misleading.

12.1 Tense
Tense is the linguistic device that is used to express time relations. It is the
grammatical expression of the location of events in time. Comrie (1995) assumes that
tense is the grammaticalised location in time. Time anchors an event to the speaker‘s
experience of the world by relating the event time to a point of reference. The
universal, unmarked reference point is the moment of speaking – speech time. In
narrative, a point in past time is usually taken as the reference point. Tense, in short

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describes the way in which events, processes and states relate to the time axis. In most
languages that have tense, tense is indicated on the verb, either by the verb
morphology, or by grammatical expression adjacent to the verb as with certain
auxiliaries. The different morphological structures of verbs as a result of tense
changes can be said to be verb-forms. Thus, the verb-forms that show differences in
time are called tenses. It is important to know, as earlier alluded to that tenses are
formed by changing the verb as demonstrated in (a) - (d).
(a) I know him very well.
(b) I knew he was lying.
(c) She works at the mall every Sunday.
(d) Chipego worked all through the night.

In sentences (a) - (d), you can see that the verbs have been changed to convey time and
hence (a) and (c) sentences are in present tense while (b) and (d) sentences are in past
tense. It is equally important to know that tenses are also formed by adding auxiliary
verbs as in the sentences given in (e) - (h):

(e) Kasonde will work hard to get the desired result.

(f) Chanda has gone already.
(g) Nyimbili had done a great job.
(h) We had all resigned from the government by the time the new law was
passed.

In grammar, the word tense refers to the time period in which the verb of a sentence
places an action.

Tense roughly means reference to the time at which events take place, or at which
processes or states hold. English, for example, clearly distinguishes between past and
non-past tense.

There are two tenses in English: present and past. Unlike many languages, English
does not have a future tense. To talk about the future, English requires either
the modal verb WILL or the present progressive. Go on google and LEARN how to

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talk about the future in the lesson future constructions in English. For each
grammatical tense, there are subcategories called aspects.

12.2 Aspect
Aspect refers to the duration of an event within a particular tense. In other words, the
aspect of a tense allows us to describe or understand how an event unfolds over time.
English language has four aspects: simple, progressive, perfect, and perfect
progressive. Here are all verbal aspects in English grouped by verb tense.

Comrie (1976) defines aspect as ―different ways of viewing the internal temporal
constituency of a situation‖. Aspect expresses whether the situation is complete,
ongoing, durative, iterative and habitual. Aspect characterizes perfective/imperfective
oppositions. Comrie (1976) defines the perfective/imperfective oppositions as
―perfectivity indicates the view of a situation as a single whole, without distinction of
the various separate phases that make up that situation; while the imperfective pays
essential attention to the internal structure of the situation‖.

Tense Aspect Example

Present Simple Present I wash the car
Present Progressive I am washing the car
Present Perfect I have washed the car
Present Perfect Progressive I have been washing the car
Past Simple Past I washed the car
Past Progressive I was washing the car
Past Perfect I had washed the car
Past Perfect Progressive I had been washing the car

12.3 Modality

In linguistics, as well as in philosophy, modality refers to the ways in which language

can convey various relationships to reality or truth. For example, a modal expression
may convey that something is likely, desirable, or permissible. Quintessential modal
expressions include modal auxiliaries such as ―could”, “should‖, or ―must‖; modal
adverbs such as possibly or necessarily; and modal adjectives such as ―conceivable‖
or ―probable‖. However, modal components have been identified in the meanings of

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countless natural language expressions, including counterfactuals, propositional
attitudes, evidential, habitual and generics.

In grammar and semantics, modality refers to linguistic devices that indicate the
degree to which an observation is possible, probable, likely, certain, permitted, or
prohibited. In English, these notions are commonly (though not exclusively)
expressed by modal auxiliaries, such as can, might, should, may and will. These
modals express ability, desirability, permission, obligation, and probability. They are
sometimes combined with not. Consider how these expressions have been achieved in
(i) – (m).
(i) Martha can ride a bicycle. (Ability – Present tense) (could – Past tense)
(j) I should go /I ought to go (Desirability)
(k) I may go (Permission)
(l) John must go (Obligation)
(m) He might be there; He may be there; He must be there. (Likelihood)

The simplest way to explain modality is to say that it has to do with the stance the
speaker adopts toward some situation expressed in an utterance...Modality reflects the
speaker's attitude toward the situation being described" ("Linguistic Perspectives on
English Grammar," 2010, Endley, J. M). Modality, then, is a resource speakers and
writers use when they are staking claims to knowledge: it allows them to formulate
different kinds of claims (e.g., assertions, opinions, hypotheses, speculations) and
indicate how committed they are to those claims." ("The Teacher's Guide to
Grammar," Oxford University Press, 2007). Find time to read more on modality,
particularly the types of modality and see how they relate to what has been covered in
this part. Search for such types as root and epistemic modality, which are sub-
categorised.

12.4 Mood
Usually, when we hear the word, mood, we connect to how someone is feeling.
However, mood of verbs has nothing to do with someone‘s feelings. No doubt, you
are asking what is meant by mood. Mood is the form of the verb that shows the mode

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or manner in which a thought is expressed. The moods are: indicative, imperative,
interrogative, conditional and subjunctive.

12.4.1 Indicative Mood

The indicative mood is the verb form that makes a statement. See the examples in (n)
- (o).

(n) Mazuba likes mashed potatoes.

(o) Julia called home because she wanted some money.

12.4.2 Imperative Mood

The imperative mood expresses a command. Examples in (p) - (q) just demonstrate
this concept.

(p) Please unload the dishwasher.

(q) Go to the grocery store to buy bread, milk and butter.

12.4.3 Interrogative Mood

Verbs in the interrogative mood ask a question. Sentences (r) - (s) express the
interrogative mood.

(r) Why does syntax so challenging to students?

(s) How many students are at Chalimbana University?

12.4.4 Conditional Mood

This mood is used to express a condition statement. The sentence contains an

auxiliary verb (helping verb) that supports a main verb. See how this has been
expressed in (t) - (u).

(t) If you want to visit your friends, you should study now.
(u) If I travelled to Orlando, I would visit Disney World.

12.4.5 Subjunctive Mood

This mood is used to express a wish, doubt, demand, or a hypothetical situation.

The verb in the subjunctive mood always changes. Consider the examples in (v) -
(x).

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 (v) If I were in her situation, I would never drive. (Expresses a hypothetical
situation)
(w) My mother demanded he prepare the luggage. (Expresses a demand)
(x) I wish my sister were faster at preparing food in the morning. (Expresses
a wish)

12.5 Activity

1. With tangible examples, distinguish tense and aspect.

2. Describe modality with examples.
3. What do you understand by mood?

12.6 Conclusion
The unit has introduced you to Tense, Aspect and Modality. It has shown that Tense
and Aspect are the two main grammatical categories which must be involved in clause
or sentential constructions in English as a tenseness language.

12.7 Summary
In this unit, we have dealt with how each of these grammatical categories (Tense,
Aspect, Mood and Modality) is used in sentential construction in English as a
tenseness language. Keep a closer at each of them as it is explained in subsequent
sections.

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UNIT 13: THE ENGLISH SENTENCE
13.0 Introduction
This unit introduces you to the English sentence. In the unit, we specifically expose
you to the classification of English sentences. You will notice that sentences in
English are classified in two forms. One classification is based on the sentence‘s
structural appearance or their syntactic classes (Structural Classification). The other
classification has to do with the functions English sentences perform (Functional
Classification).
Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 identify the two forms into which sentences are classified
 distinguish the structural from the functional classification of the English
sentence
 combine different types of sentences in academic writing process
 apply the different forms of sentences in real life situations

13.1 Structural Classification of English Sentences

You should remember from your academic writing course in first year that there are
four basic sentence structures in English. Sentence structures range from simple to
complex, or short to long sentences. Note that during your writing process, you will
need to combine different kinds of sentences to make the flow your writing smooth or
indeed well pertained. Remember, you will not only use short or choppy sentences or
indeed only long ones in your writing because your readers may criticize your work.
And so, a combination both of short and long, or indeed complex sentences will
enable you express simple and complex ideas clearly.

13.1.1 Simple sentence

This is a sentence with just one independent clause (also called a main clause) as
shown in (a). Simple sentences are pretty simple: just a single independent clause, no
more, no less. This includes subject and verbs, but can also include objects. Note that
a sentence will still be classified as simple even when it has a compound subject or
predicate as in (b):

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 (a) Judy laughed.
(b) Mutinta and Joyce ate nsima and rice.

13.1.2 Compound sentence

A compound sentence is a sentence that contains two independent clauses. In short,

the compound sentence joins together two or more independent clauses into a single
sentence. You can connect the independent clauses in two ways: you can use a
comma and a coordinating conjunction such as (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) between
clauses or by use of a semicolon as in (c) - (e)

(c) Our students studied hard and passed the examinations.

(d) It may seem difficulty at first, but everything looks difficulty at first.
(e) Be yourself; everything is already taken.
The sentence in (c) can be analysed as follows:
Our students studied hard is an independent clause, so is the last part; Our students
passed the examinations. These are the two independent clauses. Do the same with
the last two examples in (d) and (e).

13.1.3 Complex Sentence

A complex sentence uses one main independent clause with at least one dependent
clause. While compound sentences use coordinating conjunctions to join the clauses
together, complex sentences use subordinating conjunctions. Read more about
subordinating conjunctions. Note here that if the subordinating clause comes first, use
a comma before the independent clause. If the independent clause comes first, you
don‘t need a comma at all. Consider the examples in (f) - (g).

(f) Until the lion learns t write, every story will glorify the hunter.
(g) It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
13.1.4 Compound Complex Sentence
As the name suggests, compound-complex sentences combine compound sentences
with complex sentences. They require at least two independent clauses and at least
one subordinating clause. To combine them, follow the specific grammar rules for

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each. Read more about them and be sure you are using your coordinating conjunctions
and subordinating conjunctions in the right places. See this in (h) - (i).
(h) Chipego read her book and ate her meal while she listened to music.
(i) Ocean currents contain a great deal of energy, and can produce electricity
once we to harness them.

13.2 Functional Classification of English sentences

As regards the functions of sentences, note that there are four main types of sentences that can
be distinguished by their function and purpose. The sentences have been described and
exemplified in the subsequent section.

13.2.1 Declarative Sentence

A declarative sentence ‗declares‘. In other words, it is a sentence that makes a
statement; it states. Sentences expressing hope or wish are somehow declarative. We
also use Declarative Sentences to express an idea or give information. In its
formation, the declarative sentence has the subject appearing first and the predicate
following immediately. See this structure in the examples (j) - (k).

(j) The class over there is making noise.

(k) The sun is the centre of the solar system.

13.2.2 Interrogative Sentence

An interrogative sentence is a sentence that seeks to elicit information. When you

need to ask a question, the interrogative sentence comes handy. Before we give
examples of an interrogative sentence, it is essential, at this point, to let you know that
there are various types of questions in English. We have the following questions
which are all forms of interrogation and, therefore, fall under the category of
interrogative questions. In the syntactic of the polar question, there is subject-operator
(‗S-OP‘) inversion; that is, we inverse the primary auxiliary such that it takes the
place of the subject. We also call this ‗S-OP‘ inversion. See sentences in (l) - (m).

(l) Is the programme ending today?

(m) Was the course difficult?

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13.2.3 Imperative Sentence

An imperative sentence is one that makes or expresses a command, gives an order or

gives an instruction. Depending on the tone of the voice, a command sentence can
also be a request sentence. Note that we use ‗may‘ and ‗could‘ to make polite requests
in English. One another thing to note is that, in the syntactic formation of an imperative
sentence, the subject is deleted and an imperative verb is used. See examples of these
in (n) - (p).
(n) Stop the work immediately!
(o) Get out of here at once!
(p) May I have some salt, please!

13.2.4 Exclamatory Sentence

This type of sentence expresses an emotional feeling and it is usually ended with an
exclamatory mark. Examples are as shown in (q) - (r).
(q) What a wonderful event this is!
(r) How lovely she looks!
13.3 Activity

1. With tangible examples, discuss the two forms of sentential classification

2. What do you is the importance of using the different sentence structures
in academic writing?

13.4 Conclusion

The unit has exposed you to the English sentence, discussing the two forms of
classifying the sentence and why you should apply the different sentence structures in
your academic essay writing. It is hoped that you have carefully grasped the material
so learnt.

13.5 Summary
We hope you have had a good experience with the classification of the sentences and
consequently the reason for applying a variety of sentences in your writing. These, we
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are sure have given you insight on how you can improve on your continuous writing.
Get ready therefore, for the next unit on Transformation Generative Grammar.

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UNIT 14: TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR (TGG)

14.0 Introduction

This unit discusses the Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG), a system

of language analysis that recognizes the relationship among the various elements
of a sentence and among the possible sentences of a language and uses processes
or rules (some of which are called transformations) to express these
relationships. The unit discusses the origin of the TGG and how the model
assigns a deep and surface structure to show relationships of such sentences.
Carefully read through and appreciate the analysis of language through this
model.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 explain the origin of transformational grammar

 explain and illustrate what is meant by transformational , phrase
structure and morphophonemic rules
 describe and illustrate the concept of deep and surface structure
 use tree diagrams for sentential analysis
 apply phrase structure rules in sentential analysis

14.1 Brief History of the TGG

The Transformational Grammar (TG) was first formulated by Zellig Harris in
1951. It was further developed by Noam Chomsky, an American linguist of
Russian origin with the publication of his Syntactic Structures in 1957and
revised in 1965 with Chomsky‘s Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. The theory is
also known as the Chomskyan Revolution. This model focuses on the
components of a sentence and consequently on concept of Deep structure. The
main distinguishing feature of TG is the use of formulas; a practice which is not
new in the field of grammatical theory except TG uses formulas with a high
degree of accuracy and complexity. Compared with Traditional grammar TG is
said to be a more powerful model combining phrase structure and grammatical
transformations (Chomsky, 1957).

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One major concept which was not properly handled in Traditional and Structural
grammar is the case ambiguity, thus Chomsky developed the Transformational
Grammar and ambiguities are handled properly in the deep structure as
postulated by Chomsky. The TGG is primarily focused on Syntax than on
Semantics.

In syntactic structures, Chomsky gives a definition of language on which

grounds linguistic analyses and other works are based. He argued that a
language is a set of finite and infinite sentences, each finite and constructed out
of a finite set of elements.

This means that language is made up an infinite number of sentences, each

individual sentence finite in length and every sentence is constructed from a
relatively limited number of elements. From this argument, Chomsky derived
some principles about language.

14.2 Principles of the Transformational Generative Grammar

 Belief that language is a highly productive and highly creative system.
 All languages are made up of infinite number of sentences, yet each
sentence is finite in length.
 Every individual has innate knowledge of his or her language which is
called linguistic competence. And that they are born with the language
acquisition device.
 Every individual manifests the actual use of language in concrete situations
through what is called linguistic performance.

Note here that in linguistic competence, one knows the structure of the language
and the rules while in linguistic performance one knows how to use language
appropriately.

In the TGG, grammar is generative and transformative. Generative grammar is a

theory of language that seeks to relate sound to form meaning. Grammar in this
theory emanates from the fact that a language is said to consist of a finite set of
symbols and a finite set of rules, which by manipulation generate all and only
grammatically well formed sentences of a language. A transformational grammar
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is one which systematically uses transformational rules and transformational
rules are the ones that lay down procedures for converting structures into other
linguistic structures. A given string means a grammatically acceptable morpheme
as in (a)

(a) Mary killed the snake (SVO).

When converted to the passive voice it becomes

(b) The snake was killed by Mary.

A string may be a sentence or a part of a sentence as in Jolie’s husband; the

husband of Jolie. TG tries to explain how a native speaker forms and
understands sentences in his native language. The ability of a native speaker as
pointed out earlier on the principles of language is referred to as Competence.
What the native speaker does when he uses language on specific occasions is
referred to as Performance. Performance therefore reflects a native speaker’s
competence. T.G. attempts to explain the knowledge found in a native speaker of
a language which enables him to form sentences without being taught from his
knowledge of the language. TG. Rules suggest the principles that can aid
sentence formation.

The term generate is often used in T.G. which is also often referred to as
Transformational Generative Grammar. When a rule is said to generate a
sentence it means that the rule describes how the particular string or linguistic
element is formed and also how potential sentences can be formed. This makes
transformational grammar a grammar of competence rather than a grammar of
Performance like Traditional Grammar. TG relies on three levels of rules: Phrase
Structure, Transformational Structure and Morphophonemics. Each has its own
set of writing rules.

14.3 Assumptions Regarding the Sentence

According to Chomsky's TGG, the sentence is the central unit of analysis. Thus,
central in the early stage of the TGG, was the concept of ‘kernel’ sentences. The

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kernel consists of simple, declarative active sentences … all other sentences can
be described as transforms (Chomsky, 1957). Transforms are ‘these sentences
derivable by the largely nonrecursive phrase-structure level of the grammar
(Lees, 1957).

From the two definitions of ‘kernel’ sentences and transforms Chomsky makes
the following assumptions concerning the sentence. These assumptions are with
regard to what he refers to as the basic sentence.

 All sentences are active with passive ones as transformations of the

active.
 All sentences are declarative with interrogative ones as
transformations of declaratives.
 All sentences are affirmative with negative ones as transformations of
the affirmatives.
This means, according to Chomsky (1957), that: every sentence of the language
will either belong to the kernel or will be derived from the strings underlying one
or more kernel sentences by a sequence of one or more transformations.

This notion of the kernel sentence as the basis of generating other sentences was
however abandoned in the revised TG theory of 1965. It came to be understood
that a linguistic transformation is a process that involves the change of one
linguistic structure to another as for instance, the change of the active to the
passive. This type of change is recognized in traditional grammar too. The
sentences (c) - (d) demonstrate this structural change.

(b) Mwaka broke the window

(c) The window was broken by Mwaka

Transformational grammar then is a type of grammar that tries to explain the

rules which govern structural changes and the formation of utterances.
According to Allen and Buren (1971) ‗a grammatical transformation T operates

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on a given string with a given constituent structure and converts it to a new string
with a new derived constituent structure.

In addition to the assumptions about the sentence, Chomsky brings out concepts
of the Deep and Surface Structure. Kindly pay particular attention so that you do
not confuse the two concepts. Once you confuse the two, you will have trouble in
the transformations that will follow after these.

14.4 Deep structure

The concept of deep and surface structure was also developed in 1965 by
Chomsky. The deep structure of a sentence refers to the basic (underlying)
meaning of a sentence derived from its syntactic and semantic components. Put
simply, the deep structure of a sentence is the way the structure is understood to
mean or our interpretation of it.

14.5 Surface structure

The surface structure is the form in which the sentence appears phonologically or
orthographically. It is the written or spoken form of a sentence. The surface
structure is derived from a deep structure using transformational rules. In an
event that the deep structure and the surface structure are the same, it means that
no transformational rules are necessary in that context. To understand the
concepts of the deep and surface structure, a simple demonstration has been
made for you in the following examples:

(e) John and Mary are here. (Surface structure derived from 2 deep
structures).
(f) John is here (deep structure)
(g) Mary is here (deep structure)

(f) and (g) are the two deep structures from which 1, the structures have been
derived. Note that John and Mary are two separate entities, thus creating the two
deep structures that give rise to the surface structure; John and Mary are here
by applying one transformational rule called Conjunction Reduction
Transformational Rule. This shall be later discussed in detail.
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It is important at this point to understand that the distinction between deep and
surface structure can help to explain why some sentences are ambiguous on the
surface stricture. Chomsky argues that we have ambiguous sentences because
they come two deep structures but appear the same in the surface structure. In
English grammar, syntactic ambiguity (also called structural ambiguity
or grammatical ambiguity) is the presence of two or more possible meanings
within a single sentence or sequence of words, as opposed to lexical ambiguity,
which is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single word. To
clearly understand this concept, consider the following examples in (h) - (i2).

(h) They fed her dog food

The sentence in (h) has two deep structures (two interpretations)
Either:
(h1) They fed her / dog food

Meaning, of (h1) is that they gave her food intended for dogs. Focus is on ‘they
fed her' the object being ‘her'. The word dog functions as an adjective,
describing what kind of food.

or
(h2) They fed / her dog / food

The meaning of (h2) is that her dog was given food.

(i) Flying planes can be dangerous

Like sentence (h), (i) has two deep structures (2 interpretations) as well.
Either
(i1) Flying planes / can be dangerous

The actual act of flying planes is dangerous

or
(i2) Flying / planes / can be dangerous

The planes that are flying are the ones that are dangerous.

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14.6 The architecture of the Transformational Generative Grammar
The grammatical model refers to the organisation of grammar of a language.
According to Chomsky's TGG, the grammar of a language is divided into two
major components known as the base component and the transformational
component.

14.6.1 The Base Component

This is made up of phrase structure rules (P.S rules). These generate a string of symbols
which generate deep structure sentences. The base component is the initial stage in
which a sentence is made.

 Phrase Structure Rules

 Sub categorisation rules and
 The Lexicon

Of course, be reminded that, as earlier pointed out, other literature shows three
levels upon which Transformational Grammar (TG) relies. These are: Phrase
Structure, Transformational Structure and Morphophonemics.

14.6.2 Details on Phrase Structure Rules (PS) Rules

There are two types of phrase structure rules at this level of Transformational
grammar, namely: categorical and lexical. Categorical Rules expand
grammatical categories into other grammatical categories. Lexical Rules expand
grammatical categories into lexical categories or items – words. At this point, we
provide you with details on the phrase structure rules and will get back to
categorical, lexicon and finally, the transformational structure. You will be
required to pay particular attention here for you to fully understand the
subsequent section. So, follow closely so that you do not miss out on anything.
This part forms the foundation to sentence transformations and as such demands
your undisrupted attention. Provided in this part are details on the PS Rules.

To start with, a phrase structure in grammar is one that analyses utterances in

terms of its syntactic constituents (Tomori, 1977) which are S (Subject) V (verb)
O (Object) A (Adjunct) C (Complement). For instance the sentence Mulala
killed the snake has the syntactic components or constituents: subject + verb +
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object. This phrase structure grammar which is often considered an
improvement on Traditional Grammar only analyses the constituents of a
sentence without saying anything about how it is derived. For instance it does not
say how the sentence is derived neither does it explain the rules that allow the
use of killed rather than kill and why Mulala is placed before the verb and why
snake comes after the. What it does is simply describe the structure of the
sentence.

And so, in Phrase Structure Grammar, the instruction formulas are known as
Rewrite Rules (Transformational Rules). These rules are given by Chomsky in
Syntactic Structures (1957) as:

1. Sentence - NP + VP.
This means rewrite a sentence as NP (Noun Phrase) + VP (Verb Phrase) or
simply the constituents of a sentence are a Noun Phrase and a Verb Phrase.
2. NP = D + N
This means rewrite NP as D and N where D means a determiner such as a,
an or the and N means a noun. Note that Chomsky in his Syntactic Structures
uses T to mean determiner, but in module and course, we use D instead of T
to mean determiner.
3. VP = Verb + NP

Furthermore, in a phrase structure grammar, the phrase structure markers (or

phrase markers) include:
S - Sentence
NP - Noun Phrase
V - Verb Phrase
PP - Prepositional Phrase
D (ART) - Article
N - Noun
P - Preposition
ADJ - Adjective
PART - Particle
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Therefore, in a sentence such as: The student borrowed the book: D = the, N =
Student, Book and Verb = borrowed.
Basing on the rules of phrase structure grammar as given by Chomsky the full
derivation of the sentence: The student borrowed the book is as follows:

S NP + VP
D N + VP
D + N + Verb + NP
The + N + Verb + NP
The student + Verb + NP
The student + borrowed + D + N
The student + borrowed + the + N
The + student + borrowed + the + book

The constituent structure of the sentence can also be shown in what is known as
a tree diagram or a phrase marker thus:
S
NP VP

D N V NP

D N

The student borrowed the book

14.6.3 Categorical Rules

1. S (a) NP + AUX + VP
(b) CONN + Sn; n ≥ 2

2. NP (a) (Det) + N

(b) CONN + NPn; n ≥ 2

(c) S

3. AUX Tense + (Modal) + Perfective) + (Progressive)

4. VP MV + COMP
5. MV V
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 6. COMP (a) Prepositional Phrase (PP)

(b) Noun Phrase (NP)

(c) Adverb Phrase (ADV. P)

7. PP P + NP
8. ADV. P ADV

For practice at these phrase structure rules, the following Abbreviations for
syntactic categories have been provided for you. Kindly read and ensure you
master them. Throughout your practice of sentential diagramming, you will be
using these abbreviations.
 S Sentence
 NP Noun Phrase
 N Noun
 D Determiner
 VP Verb Phrase
 V Verb
 AP Adjective Phrase
 A Adjective
 AdvP Adverbial Phrase
 PP Prepositional Phrase
 P Preposition
 COMP Complement

It is important to clarify here that categorical rules enable us to determine the

type of phrase we are concerned or dealing with at any given time. Consider the
following demonstration of the sentence; John is here

John / is here

NP VP

N MV ADV

14.6.4 Lexical Rules

1. DET (determiner can be) the, a, an

2. N (the noun can be) any noun

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 3. No. Singular (sg.), Plural (pl.)

4. T Present (pres.), Past (pas.)

5. M (modal verb can be) will, shall, can.

6. Perf. Have –en.

7. Prog. be-ing.

8. V (verb can be) any.

9. CONN (connector can be) and; or.

At the level of the lexicon (lexical rules), we are inserting the actual words or
morphemes. The lexicon comprises various morphemes or words that make up
various types of phrases. In other words, it is at the level/stage of the lexicon that
we attach the morphemes. Insertion of actual words has been demonstrated in the
sentence: The man is here:

The man / is here.

NP VP

Categorical level

DET N MV ADV

The man is here The lexicon level

14.6.5 The Transformational Component

In linguistics, a rule of transformational grammar that relates two phrase markers

in the course of a derivation from the deep to the surface syntactic representation
of a sentence, as by reordering, inserting, or deleting elements; a rule that
converts deep structures into surface structures. The transformational component
is made up of transformational rules. When transformational rules are applied,
we derive surface structures from the base component and the deep structures,
and in turn the surface structure is subjected to phonological rules and semantic
interpretation.

Note: To clearly understand this part, refer to categorical rules already

presented.

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The sentence is the starting point of the primary constituent of any language. A
sentence is made of different components-;

Sentence = Noun Phrase + Auxiliary + Verb Phrase; thus:

S (NP + AUX + VP)

A sentence may have a question.

Q + NP + AUX + VP e.g. W

A sentence may be made up of a connector which could be and or or, it has a

number of sentences and that number of sentences may be greater than or equal
to two.

(CONN +) S

S {and/or} Sn, n ≥ 2 e.g. Mary and John went to town.

A sentence may be formed of negative as in:

(NEG) + NP + AUX + VP

The Noun Phrase

The noun phrase may be formed of the noun plus optional modifier as in:

NP (DET) + N

The Auxiliary

This is the component of the sentence that is made up of tense (modal) +

(Perfective) + (Progressive). Tense is the most basic, hence it has to always be
there. Tense can be past, present, etc. Rather, it can be any of the following:

It can be perfective e.g. - have + - en, eat - en.

It can also be Progressive; e.g. - ing.
The Verb Phrase

The verb phrase (main verb) may have the complement and this complement
may be an adjective phrase, or prepositional phrase, noun phrase or adverbial
phrase as already shown under the categorical rules.
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 VP V + (COMP)

Summary of the rules would read as follows:

 A S (sentence) consists of a NP (noun phrase) followed by a VP (verb

phrase).
 A noun phrase NP consists of an optional Det or DET (determiner)
followed by a N (noun).
 A N (noun) can be preceded by an optional AP (adjective phrase) and
followed by an optional PP (prepositional phrase).
The parenthesis (round brackets) indicates optional constituents.

14.6.6 Units of Syntactic Structure

Before we delve into the transformations, it is important to remind ourselves

about grammar. Note here that the basic unit with which a grammar is
concerned is the sentence. A grammar will specify what the components of the
sentence are, how ' they interact, in which order they occur, and so on. Partly, the
principles formulated will be of a universal nature; partly, they will have to be
parameterized (describe in terms of parameters) to bring out language specific
properties of individual languages.

Grammars have nothing to say about units higher than the sentence, such as the
paragraph, the discourse exchange, the text, etc. Such higher units will be the
object of another type of enquiry. In this section of the module we consider the
relation between the structure of the sentence and the words that make up the
sentence. We shall see that sentence structure is to a large extent determined by
lexical information.

As pointed out earlier, it is assumed that you are familiar with the basic
techniques and terminology of sentence parsing learnt in traditional grammar. In
this section, we briefly look at the basic notions of syntactic structure that will be
the starting point for our discussion and consequently an introduction to
sentential transformations. Consider the following example:

(j) Buumba will meet her employer at the office.

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Sentence (j) is a grammatical English sentence. When we look for its component
parts, the constituents, the units that perhaps come to mind first are the words of
the sentence: sentence (j) contains eight words. But, as anyone familiar with
traditional techniques of sentence parsing knows, words are not the immediate
constituents of a sentence. Rather, they are the ultimate constituents. The words
of the sentence are organized hierarchically into bigger units called phrases. In
the framework of generative syntax the constituent structure of a sentence is
represented in one of the following formats: by means of the tree diagram format
as in (2a), by means of phrase structure rules or rewrite rules as in (2b), or by
means of labelled brackets as in (2c).

(2a) S

NP AUX VP

N MV NP PP

DET N P NP

DET N

Buumba will meet his employer at the office

Note that it is also possible to add detail to this sentence by bringing out the
complement that lies after the main verb. It is in the complement that we find the
two (2) phrases; the NP – his employer and the PP – at the officer. Consider the
subsequent tree diagram (2aa). The diagram shows the verb complement whose
constituent parts are as stated the NP and the PP. In fact, what we see is that the
two (NP and PP) are Immediate Constituents (sisters) stemming from the
COMP, their mother.

Of course, some other aspects have still been left out in the tree diagram. Such
aspects as number (singular & plural) do not show, but they have been reflected
in the other diagrams that deal with different transformations.

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 (2aa) S

NP AUX VP

N T MV COMP

NP PP

FUTURE ASPECT DET N P N

Buumba will meet his employer at office

14.7 Transformations

A Transformation is a type of syntactic rule or convention that can move an

element from one position to another in a sentence. Transformations convert
linguistic structures into other linguistic structures. They rearrange and delete
constituents. Transformations do not change the meaning in the sense that the
meaning of the structure is retained even if the structure is subjected to
transformation. In Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965), Noam Chomsky
argued, ―A transformation is defined by the structural analysis to which it applies
and the structural change that it effects on these strings.‖

You ought to note here that Chomsky‘s grammar of the transformational type
implies that it makes precise the rules for generating new sentences not for
analysing existing ones; the rules themselves provide the analysis. Chomsky also
means that the rules are those for transforming one type of sentence into another;
affirmative into negative, simple into compound or complex, and so forth. The
transformations make the relationships among such sentences clear.

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14.7.1 Types of Transformational Rules
[Link] The Passive Transformational Rule (Passivisation Rule)

The passive transformational rule confirms one of the assumptions about the
sentence. The assumption which claims that “all sentences are active and the
passive ones as transforms of the active” This rule does the following:

 It moves the subject NP into the object NP slot/place or the reverse.

Mundiwa broke the window. (Active voice)

Sub NP Obj NP

The window was broken by Mundiwa. (Passive voice)

The subject noun phrase, Kambeu has been moved to the object NP position and
the window, the object noun phrase, has been moved to subject noun position.

 It inserts by to the immediate left of the juxtaposed subject NP.

In this case by has been inserted to the immediate left of Kambeu, the
juxtaposed subject noun phrase.

 It inserts been (passive -be) to the immediate left of the lexical main
verb or after the last unit of the auxiliary.

A practical example of the Passive Transformational Rule

To understand the example that follows, go back to the explanation on what the
Passive Transformational Rule does. Read the rule carefully as you read the
sentence and follow what happens at each step.

[146]
 The students stole the books from the library

NP AUX VP

DET N No Tense MV COMP

V NP PP

DET N No P NP

DET N No.

The student pl. pas steal the book pl from the library sg.

The Tree diagram of the Active voice “The students stole the books from the
library” shows the deep structure that has been referred to earlier in this unit. It
will be from this deep structure that the surface structure will be derived from.
From this sentence we derive the passive sentence (passive voice) as is shown
the following sentence and diagram.

The books were stolen by the students from the library.

Referring to the explanation done on the passive transformational rule, the

subject noun phrase, the students has been moved to the object NP position and
the books, the object noun phrase, has been moved to subject noun position.
There is the insertion of by to the immediate left of the juxtaposed subject noun
phrase, the students and also the insertion of the passive form of the verb be to
the immediate left of the lexical verb steal. Bear this explanation as you study
the passivised sentence.

[147]
 S

NP AUX VP

DET N No MV COMP

V PP PP

P NP P NP

Tense DET N No. DET N No.

(-en)

Pas.

The book Pl. be steal by the student Pl. from the library Sg.

Try to passivise the following sentences on your own

(a) The dog ate the fish.

(b) The students bought fish from the market.
[Link] The Agent deletion transformational Rule:
The Agent deletion transformation rule deletes the agent, that is the doer of the action
denoted by the verb represented in the sentence structures as by + subject. The rule
first passivises the active sentence then deletes the agent. The subsequent diagram
depicts the active sentence which gives rise to the passive and subsequently deletion
of the agent.

NP AUX VP

DET N No MV NP

V DET N No.

The dog Pl. Pas. eat the meat Sg.

[148]
The sentence The meat was eaten by the dog is the passive of the sentence The
dog ate the meat in the preceding Tree diagram. The subsequent diagram
demonstrates this.

NP AUX VP

DET N No MV COMP

V PP

P NP

DET N No.

(-en)

The meat Sg. be eat by the dog Sg.

And the subsequent diagram shows deletion of the agent. Thus, fulfilling The
Agent deletion transformational Rule; The line you see cutting between the VP
and COMP deletes the Agent introduced in the sentence by the preposition by; the
Agent being deleted in this case is the dog – by the dog.

NP AUX VP

DET N No MV COMP

V PP

P NP

DET N No.

(-en)

The meat Sg. be eat by the dog Sg.

[149]
 Agent “the dog” deleted
The sentence therefore reads:
The meat be eat - The meat was eaten

[Link] The Conjunction Reduction Transformational Rule

This is the transformational rule which collapses subject noun phrases of two
sentences into one. The sentence; The students and the lecturers fought is a
surface structure coming from the Deep Structure (DS): The students fought.
The lecturers fought. With the application of the Conjunction Reduction
Transformational Rule to the Deep Structure (DS), the sentence, in the surface
structure appears as The students and the lecturers fought.

CONN (and) S1 AUX S2

NP AUX VP NP AUX VP

DET N No. Tense MV Tense DET N No. Tense MV

The student sg. Pas. fight the lecturer sg pas. fight

affix hoping rule applied
Application of the conjunction reduction transformational rule

NP AUX VP

NP CONN NP

DET N No. DET N No. Tense MV

The student Pl. and the lecturer Pl. Pas. fight

[150]
[Link] The Yes/No Question Transformational Rule
The Yes/No Question Transformational Rule Adds an Auxiliary to the sentence and
Moves it to the front.

The word ―do‖ in ―Do I go,‖ incidentally, comes from the category of words we call
Auxiliaries. In this case it is name is the Dummy Auxiliary because it does not add any
meaning to the sentence. So why use it at all, you may ask.

Because in the rule we call the Yes/No Question Transformation (in other words to
ask a question that requires a yes or no response) we must move the auxiliary to the
front of the sentence.

Since the statement, ―I go,‖ contains no visible auxiliary, it is necessary to insert one
first, as in ―I do go.‖ (Transformation No. 1a).

We then move it to the front of the sentence, as in ―Do I go?‖ (Transformation No.
1b).

Now suppose I want to change that same statement to a negative sentence. We add
two auxiliaries -- the dummy ―do‖ and the negative ―not‖ (Transformation No. 3,) as
in ―I do not go.‖

So, in explaining the Yes/No Transformational Rule, we can simply say:

1. This rule inserts do to the right of Tense if the AUX of the declarative
sentence has Tense and other elements.

2. Then the rule shifts Tense and the first part of the AUX to the immediate
left of the subject noun phrase. e.g.

For the sake of the demonstration with the tree diagram, we can try the sentence:

She put the books on the shelf

She put the books on the shelf. – Deep structure

She (do) did put the books on the shelf (with the dummy do)

Did she put the books on the shelf? – Surface structure

[151]
 This situation has been demonstrated in subsequent tree diagrams.
(No. 1a)

do NP AUX VP

N No MV COMP

do NP PP

DET N No P NP

Tense DET N No.

She sg. Pas. put the book Pl. on the shelf Sg.

The question thus reads; Did she put it the books on the shelf?

(No. 1b) S1

AUX S

NP VP

T N MV COMP

V NP PP

past DET N P NP

DET N

Did she put the books on the shelf?

[Link] The Affix hoping Transformational Rule

The Affix hoping transformation moves affixes and attaches them to their appropriate
stems to give the immediate structure. This happens as has been shown in the diagram
on the question transformational rule and the conjunction reduction transformational
rule.

[152]
[Link] Negative Transformational Rule
The negative transformational rule inserts not to the immediate right of Tense and the
first part of the aux or to the immediate left of the lexical verb. e.g.

(1a) She will come. She + Present + will + come.

(1b) He was eating the food He + was + Prog + eat + food

She will not come.

NP AUX VP

N No. Pres + will (not) MV

Pro.

She Sg. come.

ADV S’

SUBJ PRED

NP AUX VP

DET N T Prog V

NOT the food Pres be eat - ING

NP AUX VP

[153]
Conclusion
Transformational grammar and Transformational generative grammar make up
what could be considered the third phase in the development of grammatical
models. Their most important contributions of this phase are the processes and
rules evolved to address structural transformations in language.

14.8 Activity

1. What do you understand by the term generative?

2. Using sentences of your own, demonstrate the conjunction reduction and
the passivisation transformational rules.
3. Discuss the following with tangible examples:
(a) Phrase structure rules
(b) Categorical rules
(c) Deep and surface structure

Summary
This unit has made the following points: Transformational grammar (TG) is a
type of grammar that tries to explain the rules which govern structural changes
and the formation of utterances. It tries to explain how a native speaker forms
and understands sentences in his native language. The ability of a native speaker
is referred to as Competence. What the native speaker does when he/she uses
language on specific occasions is referred to as Performance. TG relies on three
levels of rules: Phrase Structure, Transformational Structure and
Morphophonemics. Each has its own set of writing rules. A phrase structure
grammar analyses utterances in terms of its syntactic constituents which are
SVOAC. The second level in transformational grammar is that of
transformational structure.

[154]
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