TÀI LIỆU ôn THI TUYỂN SINH SAU đại học CHUYÊN NGHÀNH GIẢNG dạy TIẾNG ANH

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KHOA HỌC XÃ HỘI & NHÂN VĂN

Tô Minh Thanh












TÀI LIỆU ÔN THI

TUYỂN SINH SAU ĐẠI HỌC

CHUYÊN NGÀNH

Giảng dạy tiếng Anh


(Tái bản lần thứ nhất, có chỉnh sửa)

NHÀ XUẤT BẢN ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA
TP HỒ CHÍ MINH – 2008

vi
LỜI NÓI ĐẦU
Thực tế là không phải sách ngôn ngữ của tác giả người nước ngoài nào
cũng
đáp ứng đúng và đủ
nội dung ôn tập thi tuyển sinh sau đại học
chuyên
ngành
Giảng dạy tiếng Anh (
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
)
theo quy đònh của Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, thuộc Đại
học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Tài liệu này ra đời nhằm đáp ứng nhu
cầu ôn tập thi tuyển sinh sau đại học cho
môn
Ngữ học trong chuyên ngành
nêu trên.

Để giúp các đối tượng dự thi làm quen và chuẩn bò tốt cho kỳ thi của
mình, tài liệu này (1) bao gồm những trọng điểm theo đúng qui đònh về nội
dung ôn tập của
Đề cương ôn tập Cú pháp
cho kỳ thi tuyển sinh sau đại học

chuyên ngành Giảng dạy tiếng Anh và (2) được trình bày thành bốn phần:
Phần 1
: Các từ loại

(
Word Classes
)
Phần 2
: Các loại ngữ, cú và câu

(
Types of phrases
,
clauses
and
sentences
)
Phần 3
: Các mối quan hệ ngữ pháp

(
Grammatical relations
)
Phần 4
: Một số đề thi và đáp án đã thực tế được dùng trong các kỳ thi gần
đây.

Tài liệu này cũng có thể nằm trong thư mục sách tham khảo giúp sinh
viên hệ tại chức và hệ chính quy
bằng 1 và bằng 2

của
chuyên ngành
Ngữ
văn Anh học thành công
môn
Syntax trong chương trình chính khóa của các
hệ đào tạo đại học này. Ngoài ra, các học viên cao học
chuyên ngành
Giảng
dạy tiếng Anh

và các thầy cô của
khóa
Bồi dưỡng giáo viên tại Trường Đại
học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, thuộc Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí
Minh cũng có thể tham khảo tài liệu này khi theo học
môn
Linguistics PG
trong chương trình chính khóa của cả hai hệ đào tạo sau đại học này.

Rất mong tài liệu này sẽ giúp các đối tượng dự thi tự ôn luyện tốt hơn dù
có điều kiện hay không thể trực tiếp theo học các lớp luyện thi tại trường.

Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, ngày 20 tháng 1 năm 2005.
Tô Minh Thanh


i
CONTENTS
Content i

Preface vii
Outline for revision ix
Table of notational symbols xii

Section one: WORD CLASSES
1
Parts of speech
,
word classes
and
grammatical categories
1
2
Classification of
word classes

2
2.1

Major classes
vs.
minor classes
2
2.2
English
major classes
3
2.2
.1 English
form classes

4
2.2
.2 English
positional classes
6
2.3
English
minor classes
10
2.4
Word-
class exercises
10
2.4.1
E
xercises
for
form classes
10
2.4.2
E
xercises
for
positional classes
12
Section two: TYPES of PHRASES, CLAUSES and SENTENCES
3
Phrases
vs.
clauses

15
4
Adjective phrases
vs.
adverb phrases
15
5
Attributive
vs.
predicative
adjectives/adjective phrases 17
6
Noun phrases
vs.
verb phrases
18
7
The N-bar
(
N
’
) as
a level of NP-structure
that is intermediate
between
the phrasal
(NP)
level
and
the lexical

(N)
level
20
8 Types of
pre-nominal modifiers
21
8.1

Determiners
21
8.2

Quanyifying adjectives
23
8.3

Adjective phrases
26
8.4

Pre-modifying nouns
27
8.5

Possessive common nouns
28

ii
8.6

Verb participles
29
8.7

Gerunds
30
8.8

Restricters
31
9 Types of
post-nominal modifiers
32
9.1

Prepositional phrases
32
9.2

Adjective phrases
33
9.3

Participial phrases
35
9.4

Infinitive phrases
35
9.5

Subordinate adjective clauses
36
10
Noun
c
omplements
vs.
optional post
-nominal
modifiers
36
11 Classification of
English

verbs/verb phrases
38
11.1
Intensive
verbs/verb

phrases
39
11.2
Complex transitive
verbs/verb

phrases
40
11.3

Ditransitive
verbs/verb

phrases
43
11.4
Monotransitive
verbs/verb

phrases
47
11.5
Prepositional
verbs/verb

phrases
51
11.5.1
Monotransitive Prepositional
verbs/verb

phrases
51
11.5.2
Ditransitive Prepositional
verbs/verb

phrases
53
11.6

Intransitive
verbs/verb

phrases
55
11.7
Summary of the classification of English
verbs/verb phrases
57
11.8
Troublesome verbs
59
12 Types of
clause links
61
13 Types of
clauses
62
13.1
Finite clauses
vs.
non-finite clauses
62
13.2
Independent clauses

vs.

dependent clauses
63

13.3
Subordinate clauses

vs.

embedded clauses
64
14
Covert subjects
vs.
overt subjects
66
15 Types of
finite dependent clauses
67
15.1
Nonimal clauses
67
15.2
Relative clauses
67

iii
15.3
Adverbial clauses
68
15.4
Reporting clauses
68
15.5

Comment clauses
68
16 Types of non-
finite clauses
69
16.1
Infinitive non-finite

clauses
69
16.2
Gerund non-finite clauses
69
16.3
Participial non-finite clauses
70
16.4
Verbless clauses
71
17
Classification of sentences
according to
their structures
71
17.1
Simple sentences
71
17.2
Compound sentences
72

17.3
Complex sentences
72
17.3.1
Embedded nominal clauses
73
17.3.1.1
As
the subject

73
17.3.1.2

As
the direct object/the predicator complement

78
17.3.1.3

As

the indirect object

89
17.3.1.4
As

the subject(ive) complement
90
17.3.1.5

As

the object(ive) complement
91
17.3.1.6
As

the complement of a preposition
94
17.3.2
Subordinate
/
embedded adjectival clauses
95
17.3.3
Subordinate
/
embedded adverbial clauses
96
17.4
Compound-Complex sentences
97
Section three: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS
18
Structure
99
19
Endocentric structures
vs.
exocentric structures

99
20 Types of
syntactic structures
100
20.1
Structures of modification
100
20.2
Structures of complementation
101
20.3
Structures of coordination
101
20.4
Structures of predication
103

iv
21
Constructions
vs.
constituents
104
22
Immediate constituents
vs.
ultimate constituents
104
23

Immediate constituents
of
a sentence
105
24
Intervening level of organization
between
word
and
sentence
106
25
Modifiers
vs.
complements
106
26 Types of
adjective complements
108
27
Pre-adjectival modifiers

vs.
post-adjectival modifiers
108
28
Adjective
complements
vs.
optional post

-adjectival
modifiers
109
29
Classification of English adjectives
according to
their post-modifiers
111
30 Types of
adverbial adjuncts
112
31

Noun phrase analyses
123
32
Mis-diagraming
125
33
Structural ambiguity in
English noun phrases
126
33.1
Define

a structurally ambiguous noun phrase 126
33.2
Explain
structurally ambiguous noun phrases 128
33.3

Disambiguate
structurally ambiguous noun phrases 134
33.4
Account for

structurally non-ambiguous noun phrases

138
34
Verb phrase analyses
140
34.1
Noun phrases
as
the sP
/
sC
of
an intensive verb
or as
the dO
of
a monotransitive verb
140
34.2
NP direct objects
of
a monotransitive verb
or
NP adverbial

adjuncts
of
an intransitive verb
141
34.3
Prepositional phrases
as
the sP
/
sC
of
an intensive verb
or as
the optional adverbial adjunct
of
any verb
142
34.4
IntransVAC
vs.

intransV—
Adv


143
34.5
MonotransVAC—NP

vs.

intransV—
PP

144
34.6
MonotransVAC—NP
vs.

monotrans-prepV—
prepO


146
35
Sentence analyses
147
35.1 Identify
the syntactic function

of

a PP
147
35.2 Decide whether
a PP
is

part of the complementation

of
a
ditransitive verb
148

v
35.3 Explain

the difference

between two sentences
151
35.4 Re-analyse

sentence pairs
, using

tree-diagrams

154
36
Structural ambiguity in
English verb phrases

157
37
Phrase structure
162
37.1
Definition

162
37.2
How to determine
phrase structure?
162
37.2.1
Substitution
162
37.2.2
Conjoinability
165
37.2.3
Movement

166
37.2.4
Checking
the antecedent
for
a pro-form

167
37.3
Phrase structure
exercises

167
38
Phrase structure rules

170
39
Surface structures

vs.

deep structures
172
40
Signals of syntactic structures
174
40.1
Word order

174
40.2
Function words
174
40.3
Inflection
175
40.4
Derivational contrast

176
40.5
Prosody

176
41

What is syntax?
177
Section four: SAMPLE TESTS
IN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

178

Bibliography

197




viii
Đại Học Quốc Gia Tp. Hồ Chí Minh

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KHOA HỌC XÃ HỘI & NHÂN VĂN








ĐỀ CƯƠNG ÔN TẬP THI TUYỂN SINH CAO HỌC

Môn Cơ sở: LINGUISTICS

(cho chuyên ngành Giảng dạy tiếng Anh)

1. Linguistics
(a) Semantics
- The expression of meaning in English at the word and sentence level;
- The relations of different kinds of meaning;
- Meaning shifts or words;
- Use of language in social interaction.

(b) Syntax
- Word classes;
- Grammatical relations;
- Types of phrases, clauses & sentences.

2. Academic Writing
Write an essay of 250 - 300 words on an issue of second language
teaching and learning.

REFERENCES
Fromkin V. et al (1988)
An Introduction to Language
.
Sydney: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Hurdford, J. R. & Heasley, B. (1984)
Semantics. A Course Book
.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jordan, R.R. (1990)

Academic Writing Course
. Collins ELT. A Division of
Harper Collins Publishers.

Kaplan, J.P. (1989)
English Grammar. Principles and Facts
.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

ix

x
SEMANTICS

GUIDELINES FOR REVIEW
I. Semantic

Properties and Semantic Fields

II. Reference and Sense

III. Denotation and Connotation

IV. Taxonomy—Hypernyms and Hyponyms

V. Multiple Senses of Lexical Items
* Primary Sense
* Secondary Senses (polysemy)
* Figurative Senses (metaphors, similes, metonymy, synecdoche,
euphemism, hyperbole, litotes, alliteration, assonance, consonance)

VI. Synonymy vs. Antonymy

VII. Homonyms (homophones and homograph), acronyms, anomaly

VIII. Speech Acts

Propositions-Utterances-Sentences

Performative sentences

Presuppositions and Implicatures

Felicity conditions

Speech events

Deixis (time, place, person)

Pragmatic meaning

Maxims of conversation

Maxims of politeness

xi
ENGLISH SYNTAX
Introduction

• Syntax: “the study of how words combine to

form sentences and the rules which govern the
information of sentences” (Richards, Platt &
Weber)
• Traditional grammar — Structural grammar —

Transformational grammar
Five signals of syntactic structures:
Word order,
Prosody, Function words, Inflections, and
Derivational contrast (Francis, 1958: 234)
Word classes: open ad closed classes
• Open classes: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives,
Adverbs (Jackson, 1980)
•
Closed classes: Pronouns, Numerals,
Determiners, Prepositions, Conjunctions
(Jackson, 1980)

• Chapters 1 & 2 in Jackson
(1980)
• Chapter 5 in Francis (1958)
• “The Grammar of English” by
Heatherington, in Clar et al
(1981: 329-42)
• What do native speakers know
about their language?
by Jacbs and Rosenbaum,
in Clark et al (1981: 343-49)
IC’s in Syntax

Four basic types of syntactic structures:
modification, predication, complementation,
and coordination (Francis, 1958)
Endocentric and exocentric constructions
(Bloomfield, 1933; Nida, 1966)
• Chapter 6 in Francis (1958)
• Chapter 6 in Fromkin et al
(1990)
• Chapter 1in Nida (1996)
• John Lyons (translated
version) pp. 368-70
Noun phrases

Types of modifiers in noun phrases
• Premodification: identifier, numeral/quantifier,
adjective, noun modifier
• Postmodification: relative clauses, non-finite
clauses, prepositional phrases
Chapter 3 in Jackson (1980)
Verb phrases:
tense, aspect, mood, voice

Chapter 4 in Jackson (1980)

Adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and
prepositional phrases
Chapter 5 in Jackson (1980)

Clauses

• Structures and types
•
Dependent clauses

Chapter 6 & 7 in Jackson (1980)

Phrase structure rules & Transformational rules

Chapter 5
in Fromkin et al
(1990)



xii
NOTATIONAL SYMBOLS
Most of the symbols used in this text follow conventions, but since conventions
vary, the following list indicates the meanings assigned to them here.
A = adjective

Adv = (general) adverb
ART = article
AP = adjective phrase
AdvP = adverb phrase
C = complement
ComN = compound noun
Comp = complementizer
complex = complex transitive verb
Conj = conjunction
Co-P = a coordination of Prepositions

Co-PP = a coordinate Prepositional
phrase
Co-NP = a coordinate noun phrase
Co-AP = a coordinate adjective phrase
DEG = degree adverb
DEM = demonstrative
DET = determiner
dO = direct object
ditrans = ditransitive verb
ditrans-prep = ditransitive
prepositional verb
EmACl = embedded adjective clause
EmAdvCl = embedded adverbial clause
EXCLAMATORY DET
= exclamatory
determiner
[E
EE
E]
= empty/covert/zero/implicit subject
H = the head
headN = the head noun
headPRO = the head pronoun
headPropN = the head proper noun
headA = the head adjective
headGer = the head gerund
IC = immediate constituent
InfP = infinitive phrase
intens = intensive verb
intrans = intransitive verb

intransVAC = intransitive verb-
adverbial composite
iO = indirect object

M = modifier
ModN = pre-modifying noun
monotrans = monotransitive verb
monotrans-prep = monotransitive
prepositional verb
monotransVAC = monotransitive verb-
adverbial composite
N = noun
N’ = N-bar
nC = noun complement
NP = noun phrase
NUM = numeral/number
opA = optional adverbial adjunct
obA = obligatory adverbial adjunct
oC = object(ive) complement
oP = object-predicative
POST-MOD = post-modifier
POST-DET = post-determiner
PRE-MOD = pre-modifier
PRE-DET = pre-determiner
PRO = pronoun
PropN = proper noun
Poss = possessive
PossA = possessive adjective
PossPropN = possessive proper noun
PossCommN = possessive common noun

PossMarker = possessive marker
PossNP = possessive noun phrase
predC = predicator complement
P = preposition
prep = prepositional verb
prepO = prepositional object
prepC = complement of a preposition
PP = prepositional phrase
PartP = participial phrase
Q = quantifier
QA = quantifying adjective
RESTRIC = restricter
S = sentence

xiii
S’
= S-bar
sC = subject(ive) complement
sP = subject-predicative
SubACl = subordinate adjective clause
SubAdvCl = subordinate adverbial clause
VP = verb phrase
Vgrp = verb group
V-Part = verb participle
V-Ger = gerund
P
rt

=
adverbial particle

VAC = verb-adverbial composite
* = unaccepted form
? = doubtfully acceptable form
[ ] = embedded unit
/ = or
φ
φφ
φ

= unfilled
⇒ = one-way dependence
⇔ = two-way dependence



1
SECTION 1:
WORD CLASSES

1
Parts of speech
,
word classes
and
grammatical categories
1

“The traditional term ‘parts of speech’ is puzzling; it’s not clear why
kinds of words — really, classes of words — would be ‘parts’ of speech
any more than, say, phonemes, allophones, morphemes, allomorphs, or
even phrases or sentences. In fact, instead of ‘parts of speech,’ linguists
usually employ the terms ‘word class’ or ‘grammatical category.’ The
term ‘grammatical category’ is a useful one, since it captures an important
aspect of a ‘part of speech,’ namely, that all tokens of a particular part of
speech share important grammatical characteristics that other parts of speech
lack. The term ‘word class,’ however, is valuable in its simplicity and is
certainly an improvement over ‘part of speech’.” [Kaplan, 1989: 105]


1

“
The syntactic categories
of
words

and
groups of words
are revealed by
the way they pattern in sentences
. If you didn’t have knowledge of these
syntactic categories, you would be unable to form grammatical sentences or
distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences.” [Fromkin
et al, 1988: 214] For example,
the child
belong to a family that includes
the

police officer
,
your neighbour
,
this yellow cat
,
he
, and countless others.
Each member of this family can be substituted for the child without
affecting the grammaticality of the sentence, although the meanings of
course would change.
“
A family of expressions that can substitute for one another
without loss of grammaticality
is called
a syntactic category
.” [Fromkin
and Rodman, 1993: 79]

2
2 Classification of
word classes
2.1 Major classes vs. minor classes:
Kaplan
, [1989: 106] divides
word
classes
into two main groups—
major
and

minor
.
major classes

minor classes

1.
The major classes — nouns,
verbs, adjectives,
and
adverbs —

have a great many members
, e.g. a
hundred thousand nouns.
1.
The minor classes — pronouns,
numerals, determiners, prepositions,
conjunctions
, and so on —
have few
members
. It’s easy to list all
the
articles
of English:
a
,
an
, and

the
.
There are maybe 70 prepositions and
approximately a dozen subordinate
conjunctions: when, since, because,
after, before, while, although, as, etc.
2.
Major class words
tend to have
referential meanings
, since they
involve, or allow, reference to actual
things, actions, events, or properties,
e.g. “
Horse
means that kind of
animals.” uttered while pointing to a
horse.
2.
Minor class words
tend not to have
referential meanings
. That is their
meanings are not easily specified by
means of a neat definition, e.g. how
would you define
the
or
of
? In other

words, “the open classes bear the
greatest load in terms of meaning, in
the sense of refrence to things in the
world while the function of closed
classes is oriented more towards
internal linguistic relationships.”
[Jackson, 1980: 7]
3.
Major classes

are receptive to new
members
. As a result,
major classes

are also called
open classes
[Jackson,
1980: 7]. Originating in slang or
casual contexts are the following new
nouns, verbs, and adjectives (new
adverbs are harder to come up with):
teflon, yuppie, nerd (nouns); scam,
boot up, book (verbs); rad, gnardly,
killer, tubular, (adjectives).
3.

Minor classes

are not receptive to

new members
; they are
closed
. It’s
unlikely you can think of any last new
slangy article, conjunction, pronoun,
or preposition you’ve learned.

3
2.2 English major classes:

In defining
major/open classes
,
Stageberg
[1965: 191-219] presents
a double-track classification
, one
by form
and the
other
by position
2
.

2
1. House and Harman
[1965] also

classifies

major/open classes
according to their
meaning
.
“According to the meaning they represent, nouns may be divided into several
classes:
common
or
proper
,
concrete
or
abstract
,
collective
,
individual
,
mass
,
material
, etc.” [House and Harman, 1965: 22]
“When classified as to meaning, adjectives are descriptive or definitive,
some of each class having definite and some indefinite application.” [House and
Harman, 1965: 73]
2.
Fromkin et al
[1988, 214-215] present
three types of criteria
to define

major/open classes:
- Form
:
The class of a word
may be apparent from
its form
. Certain
inflectional and derivational morphemes
are associated with certain word classes.
- Function
: The class of words may be indicated by
the way it functions in a
phrase or sentence
. For example, in the sentence
He will not score any more runs unless he runs faster.
The first runs is recognized as a noun and the second as a verb because of
their function.
- Meaning
: Some words are commonly classified according to
their semantic
type
, such as
abstract nouns
(truth, kindness, beauty) and
stative verbs
(be,
appear, resemble).
Unfortunately
meaning
is not a reliable guide because there are many words

which belong to more than one
word class
(kick, love, drink), but those whose
meaning remains essentially the same.
Meaning
is therefore best regarded as
a
secondary criterion
, to be used to check
the purely grammatical criteria
of
form
and
function
.
3.
Kaplan
[1989:108] points out that one problem with
the traditional definition

of
noun
and
verb
since
it
is
meaning-based
(
a noun

is
a word that names a person
,
place
, or
thing
;
a verb
is
a word that names an action or state
), it ought to be
universal — valid in all languages, that is. But concepts that are encoded
linguistically as nouns in one language may be encoded as verbs or adjectives in
others. In English, for example, we normally say I’m hungry, using an adjective to
describe how we feel; but in Spanish one says tengo hambre — literally, “I have
hunger”, using a noun, hambre, to describe the same feeling.

4
Stageberg’s
four form classes
are
nouns
,
verbs
,
adjectives
, and
adverbs
. Each form-class has its correlative
position class

, which will be
later labelled as
nominals
,
verbals
,
adjectivals
, or
adverbials
.
2.2.1 English
form classes
2.2.1.1 Nouns
Noun are identified as nouns by
two aspects of form
,
their
inflectional morphemes
, and
their derivational morphemes
.
2.2.1.1.1 The two
noun inflectional suffixes
in English are:
 The noun plural morpheme {–S
1
}: book–s, apple–s, box–es, etc.
 The noun possessive morpheme {–S
2
}: man–’s, girl–’s, students–’,

Alice–’s, etc.
2.2.1.1.2 Nouns are identified not only by
inflectional
morphemes
but also by
noun-forming derivational suffixes
added to
verbs, adjectives, nouns, and bound forms: accept → accept
ance
, big →
big
ness
, book → book
let
, dent- → dent
ist
, etc.
2.2.1.2 Verbs
Verbs are identified as verbs by
two aspects of form
,
their
inflectional morphemes
, and
their derivational morphemes
.
2.2.1.2.1 The four
verb inflectional suffixes
in English are:
 The verb third person singular present tense morpheme {–S

3
}:
walk–s, find–s, mix–es, etc.
 The verb present participle morpheme {–ing
1
}:
play–ing, typ(e)–ing, dig(g)–ing, etc.
 The verb past simple morpheme {–D
1
}:
flow–ed, work–ed, creat(e)–ed, drank, broke, thought, show–ed, etc.
 The verb past participle morpheme {–D
2
}:
flow–ed, work–ed, creat(e)–ed, drunk, broken, thought, show–n, etc.
2.2.1.2.2 Verbs are identified not only by
inflectional
morphemes
but also by
verb-forming derivational affixes
added to
nouns or adjectives: knowledge →
ac
knowledge, bath → ba
the
, ripe → rip
en
,
large →
en

large, etc.

5
2.2.1.3 Adjectives
Adjectives are identified as adjectives by
two aspects of form
,
their
inflectional morphemes
, and
their derivational morphemes
.

2.2.1.3.1 The two
adjective inflectional suffixes
in English are:
 The adjective comparative morpheme {
–er
1
}:
small–er, saf(e)–er, thinn–er, etc.
 The adjective superlative morpheme {
–est
1
}:
small–est, saf(e)–est, thinn–est, etc.
2.2.1.3.2 Adjectives are identified not only by
inflectional
morphemes
but also by

adjective-forming derivational suffixes
3

added
to nouns or verbs: athlete → athlet
ic
, child → child
ish
, collect → collect
ive
,
read → read
able
, etc.

In short, “a word which is inflected with –
er
and –
est
and which is
capable of forming adverbs with –
ly
and/or nouns with –
ness
is called an
adjective.” [Stageberg, 1965: 202]

Or, “an adjective will be any word which has one or more of the
following positive attributes:
i. it can occur between Article and Noun.

ii. it can occur in the slot (Art) N is _____.
iii. it can occur before (or contains) –er and –est, or after more and most.
and in addition has all of the following negative attributes.
i. it cannot occur with a plural.
ii. it cannot occur with a possessive.
iii. it cannot occur in the slot (Art) N _____Verb.” [Kaplan, 1989: 116]

3

There is a group of about seventy-five, mostly of two syllables, which begin with
the prefix

a-
: a
foot,
a
ground,
a
wake,
a
gape,
a
loud,
a
fresh,
a
lert,
a
droit, etc.

“
These are
uninflected words (UW’s)
because they
take no inflectional endings
.
Although they do have
the prefix

a-

in common, it seems unwise to label them
formally as either
adjectives
or
adverbs
since positionally they appear in both
adjectival and adverbial slots.” [Stageberg, 1965: 206]



6

2.2.1.3.4 Adverbs
2.2.1.3.4.1 The two
adverb inflectional suffixes
in English are:
 The adverb comparative morpheme {
–er
1

}: fast–er, hard–er, etc.
 The adverb superlative morpheme {
–est

1
}: fast–est, hard–est, etc.
2.2.1.3.4.2 Adverbs are identified not only by
inflectional
morphemes
but also by
the

adverb-forming derivational suffix
{–
ly
1
}
4

added to adjectives: just → just
ly
, beautiful→ beautiful
ly
, etc.

2.2.2 English
positional classes

According to
Stageberg

[1965: 196-219],

the four positional classes
in English are the nominal, the verbal, the adjectival and the adverbial.

2.2.2.1

“Any word, whatever its form-class (noun, verb,
comparable, pronoun, uninflected word) will be tabbed
a nominal
if it
occupies one of the seven noun positions” [Stageberg,1965:196] listed below:
1. The position of
the subject
:
- Upstairs

IS
the safest hiding place.

4

“In the word-stock of English there are

many uninflected words

often employed
in the adverbial positions:
1.
Uninflected words

used both as
adverbials
and
prepositions
: above, about,
after, around, before, behind, below, down, in, inside, on, out, outside, since, to,
under, up.
2. “
-ward
”
series
, with optional
–s
: afterward, backward, downward, forward,
homeward, inward, northward, outward, upward, windward.
3. “
Here
”
series
: here, herein, hereby, heretofore, hereafter.
4. “
There
”
series
: there, therein, thereby, theretofore, thereafter.
5. “
-where
”
series

: anywhere, everywhere, somewhere, nowhere.
6. “
-ways
”
series
: crossways, sideways; also, anyway.
7. “
-time
”
series
: meantime, sometime, anytime, sometimes.
8.
Miscellaneous
: today, tonight, tomorrow, yesterday, now, then, seldom, still,
yet, already, meanwhile, also, too, never, not, forth, thus, sidelong, headlong, maybe,
perhaps, instead, indeed, henceforth, piecemeal, nevertheless, downstairs, indoors,
outdoors, offhand, overseas, unawares, besides, furthermore, always.” [Stageberg,
1965:215]

7
- For Glenda to steal the diamond

WOULD BE
a shame.
2. The position of
the direct object
:
I
HATE
telling lies

.
I
WANT

to think critically
.

3. The position of
the indirect object
:
She
GAVE

whomever she met
different offers.
She
GAVE

nobody
a hand shake.

4. The position of
the retained object
:
We
WERE GIVEN

the thinnest
.

5. The position of
the subject
(
ive
)
complement
:
This book
IS
hers
.
My favorite pastime
IS

swimming
.

6. The position of
the object
(
ive
)
complement
:
You’
VE MADE
me
what I am
.
They

NAMED
the little dog
Neky
.

7. The position of
the complement of a preposition
:
He
IS
interested
in

nothing
.
The elevator has been used for many years without
being repaired
.

2.2.2.2

“
Verbals
are
those forms that occupy the verb
positions

… They come after the opening noun or noun phrase … There are
four verbals in
She

must have been loafing

last week
and two in
I

should leave

the house in ten minutes.
Also,
any verb form
taking a subject or a complement (OV, SC,
or Adj) or modified by an adverbial is a verbal, regardless of its position.
1.
Becoming
angry, she
broke
the dish.
2.
Being
a minister, Prentice
spoke
softly.
3. After
having eaten
the turnips, Prentice
tried

to look
satisfied.

4. The light
having gone
out, we
lighted
candles.

8
5.
Giving
to the poor
is
a Christian virtue.” [Stageberg, 1965: 201]
2.2.2.3 “
Adjectivals
, like nominals,
occupy certain
characteristic sentence positions
.” [Stageberg, 1965: 206]
1. The position between the determiner and the noun:
That
joyful/college/laughing/recommended
freshman is bright.
2. The position right after the noun:
The fellow
waving
drives a convertible.
3. The position right after an intensive verb: He always remains
quiet
.
4. The position right after the direct object of a complex transitive

verb: The management considered him
competent
.

“In other positions let us say that any
adjective
or
adjective
substitute
is
an adjectival
, unless it is in a nominal or adverbial slot”.
[Stageberg, 1965: 210]
Angry and upset
, the applicant slammed the door.

2.2.2.4
Adverbials
are
the word groups
as well as
the single
words
that
occupy the adverb positions
and
perform the adverb
functions
. Common adverbial positions are:

2.2.2.4.1 Initial position:
The adverbial
is in the first position in
the clause with or without juncture, occurring before the subject or other
obligatory elements of the clause:
(1)a.
Really
, you
SHOULD KNOW
better.
b.
Now
it
IS
time to go.
c.
With a sharp ax
you
CAN DO
wonder.
d.
By using a little red here
, you
CAN BALANCE
your colors.
e.
Unless you
FOLLOW
the printed directions
,

the set
WILL NOT FIT
properly together.

2.2.2.4.2 Medial position: This includes all positions between
obligatory initial and final clausal elements. Several more specific
positions can be distinguished:

 Between the subject and the beginning of the verb phrase:

9
(2)a. She
actually

EXPECTS
to marry him.
b. Mary
in her own way

WAS
a darling.
c. The environment secretary
yesterday

MOVED

to mitigate the effects of the inland revenue revaluation.

 After
THE MODAL/FIRST AUXILIARY VERB

and before
THE LEXICAL VERB
:
(2)d. He
WOULD

seldom

MAKE
effort.
e. You
MAY

in this way

BE
of great assistance.
f. Carrie
HAD

often

DREAMED
about coming back.
g. The utilization of computers
IS

not
of course

LIMITED
to business.

 After
THE LEXICAL VERB
but preceding other obligatory elements of
the clause.
(2)h. It
IS
still
three weeks away.
i. It
IS

no longer
a casino.
j. He
IS

always/at any event
happy.
k. He
IS

certainly/without doubt
an expert.
l. She
IS

cleverly

with her clients.


2.2.2.4.3 Final position: Sentence-finally,
the adverbial
can be
placed:
 After
THE LEXICAL VERB
, especially after
AN INTRANSITIVE ONE
.
(2)m. He
LIVES
independently/in the fast lane
.

n. He
DIED
last night
.
o. He
DROVE

recklessly/with abandon
.

 After all obligatory elements, i.e. the indirect object, the direct object,
the subjective complement, or the objective complement, of
THE LEXICAL

VERB
(though it may not be the last element if there are
other final
adverbials
in the same clause):
(3)a. Tom
WAS
a doctor
for many years
.
b. Tom
WILL
PLAY
football
tomorrow
.
c. Tom
SENT
a telegraph to his wife
yesterday morning
.
d. Tom
PUT
his watch
where he can find it in the dark
.
e. Tom
BELIEVED
the man crazy
after questioning him

.

10

2.3 English minor classes:

Jackson
’s

[1980: 9-11]
minor/closed classes
consist of
pronouns
that
“have to main function of substituting for nouns, once a noun has been
mentioned in a particular text”;
numerals
that “are of two kinds:
ordinal
and
cardinal
”;
determiners
that “are used with nouns and have the function of
defining the reference of the noun in some way”;
prepositions
the chief
function of which is “relating a noun phrase to another unit”; and
conjunctions
that “are of two kinds:

co-ordinating conjunctions
, such as
and
,
or
,
but
, which join two items on an equal footing; and
subordinating
conjunctions
, such as
when
,
if
,
why
,
whether
,
because
,
since
, which
subordinate one item to another in some way.”

Fromkin

et al
[1980: 9-11] add to
minor/closed classes

the form class
called “
auxiliaries
”, which includes
English helping verbs
(be, have, do)
and
the modals
(can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must).
However, these authors only identify one subtype of Jackson’s
determinrers
namely “
articles
” as
a minor/closed class
, completely
ignoring the other subtypes such as
possessives
,
demonstratives
, and
quantifiers
.

And
Stageberg
[1965] says nothing concerning
minor/closed classes
.

2.4 Word-class
exercises
:

2.4.1 Exercises for
form classes

EXERCISE 1
: Review

the derivational adverb-forming suffix

{-ly
1
} and

the derivational adjective-forming suffix
{-ly
2
}. Then place
a check after each word that qualifies as an adverb.

1. swift
ly


6. rich
ly

2. home
ly


7. neat
ly

{-ly
1
}
3. soft
ly


8. year
ly


4. cost
ly

{-ly
2
}
9. beast
ly


5. deft
ly

10. sour
ly




11
EXERCISE 2
: Identify the italicized -
ly
as either
the derivational adverb-
forming suffix
{-ly
1
} or
the derivational adverb-forming
suffix
{-ly
2
}. Complete the table.

1. The witness testified false
ly
.
{-ly
1
}

2. Gilbert has a dead
ly
wit.

3. Prudence always behaves with a maiden
ly
demeanor.
{-ly
2
}
4. He tiptoed soft
ly
into the room.

5. Jimmy received a week
ly
allowance.

6. The dear old lady has a heaven
ly
disposition.

7. He spoke quiet
ly
to her grandson.

8. What a time
ly
suggestion!

9. What an unmanner
ly
helot!

10. It was a coward
ly
act.


EXERCISE 3
: In the blank place a V to identify
the italicized inflectional
verb present participle morpheme
{-ing
1
} and an A to
identify
the italicized derivational class-changing
adjective-forming morpheme
{-ing
3
}
5
. Complete the table.

1. It was a charm
ing
spot.
{-ing
3

}
2. It was located by a sweetly babbl
ing
brook.
{-ing
1
}
3. It was excit
ing
to watch the fight.

4. From the bridge we can watch the runn
ing
water.

5. That bark
ing
dog keeps everyone awake.

6. He told a convinc
ing
tale.

7. The shin
ing
sun gilded the forest floor.

8. A refresh
ing
shower poured down.

9. The attorney made a mov
ing
appeal.

10. What an oblig
ing
fellow he is !


5
Notice
the derivational class-changing noun-forming morpheme
{-ing
2
} in
teach
ing
, a meet
ing
, dropp
ing
s, etc.

12
EXERCISE 4
: In the blank place a V to identify
the italicized inflectional
verb past participle morpheme
{-D

2
} and an A to identify
the
italicized derivational class-changing adjective-forming
morpheme
{-D
3
}
6
. Complete the table.
1. You should read the print
ed
statement.
{-D
2
}
2. Mary became a devot
ed
mother.
{-D
3
}
3. This is a complicat
ed
question.

4. His chos
en
bride had lived in India.

5. He bought a stol
en
picture.

6. The invit
ed
guests all came.

7. He had a reserv
ed
seat.

8. The skipper was a reserv
ed
(= quiet) man.

9. A celebrat
e
d
painter visited the campus.

10. A worri
ed
look crossed his face.


2.4.2 Exercises for
positional classes

EXERCISE 5

: The nominal word groups are italicized. In the blank, give their
syntactic function in the sentence. Complete the table.
1. They heard what we said. direct object
2. What you do is your own business. subject
3. That was what I thought too.
4. You must do the best with what you have.
5. Jack made whoever came there the same offer.
6. We will name the baby whatever his grandmother wishes.


7. We thought of paying cash.
8. I’ll take whichever is the most durable.
9. Betty forgot to bring the coffee.
10. George postponed mailing the letter.
11. I enjoyed the company of my favourite aunt from Leeds.
12. Where we are going has not been decided.
13. We found what we wanted.
14. That she is beautiful is evident to all.

6
Notice that {-D
1
} is
the inflectional verb past tense morpheme
.