Sentence analysis

Sentence Pattern =
atomic sentence =
kernel sentence
Elementary structure of a simple sentence based on the valence of the verb which remains after elimination of all structurally unnecessary (optional) elements.

Sentence Pattern =
atomic sentence =
kernel sentence
Syntactic
Morphological
S + P
S + P + Odir
S + P + Oindir + Odir
N + V (I think.)
N + V + N (I see the dog.)
N + V + N + N (I give the dog a bone.)

Syntactic relations in phrases
Predicative
Attributive
Objective
completive
Adverbial
I see;
the night being cold
happy meals
closed the window
to move noiselessly

Syntactical connections in the sentence
Predicative
Objective
Attributive
Adverbial
Parenthetical (introductory)
Secondary predicative
Frankly, I read this story in the morning paper.
I find the story very exciting.

Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
main
Subject bilateral
dependency/ interdependence
Secondary
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Objective predicative
Independent?
Parenthesis
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Direct object
Indirect object
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Direct object
Indirect object
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action))
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

I gave him the book yesterday.
Syntactic division
Semantic (nominative) division
Parts of the sentence
Predicate
Subject
Objects
Adverbial modifiers
Semantic roles (components)
Predicate (action)
Agent
(Semantic) Object
Recipient
Circumstances
Time
Place

Types of syntactic analysis
Traditional (mentalistic approach based on considering semantic relationships of the constituents)
Theory of the three ranks by O.Jespersen
Immediate Constituents (Am. structuralism) (mechanistic approach based on syntactic relations only)

Criticism of the traditional parts of the sentence
Logical origin
Focus on meaning rather than form
No rigid criteria for secondary parts of the sentence; a lot of intermediary cases
(I put it on the table.) (A.Peshkovsky)
O Dpl

Criteria for singling out parts of the sentence
Semantic: general meaning
Morphological: grammatical form (part of speech)
Syntactical connection and position

Subject
Main syntactic function
Not dependent on any other part of the sentence
In English, marked
morphologically (Common / Nominative Case)
positionally (initial)
structurally (? agreement with P)
Semantic role: agent + other roles

Semantic Types of Subject

Predicate
Main syntactic function
Action, process, state
Verb / link (copular) verb + predicative
Linked to the S through agreement
Determines the number and kind of obligatory complements
Position depends on the sentence type (VS? SV.)

Types of predicate

Compound nominal predicate
(verb complement)

Double predicate
? V = P + link
He came home tired.
She married young.
He was tired when he came home.
She was young when she married.

Objective Predicative /
Complement
A secondary part of the sentence
Expresses state or feature of an object
Double link – with the O and VP
Part of Complex Object.
I found Bergson good to read.

Dispute
We shall do it tomorrow.
simple verbal predicate.
Modal verb: The right of ownership for the goods shall pass from the Seller to the Buyer…
Compound verbal predicate?
Different meanings => different functions:
He grew potatoes. – He grew old.

Dispute:
I began to laugh.
Foreign linguists: object.
Russian linguists: part of a compound verbal (phasal) predicate
I began my work.
?

Dispute
He made a mistake.
She took a glance.
Phraseological unit: predicate.
Predicate + complement?
Lexicology is irrelevant for syntactic analysis: P O.

Object
A secondary syntactic function
Oblique case
Position: V+ O
Objective link through adjoining or government? (I looked at her / *she).
Denotes a thing or state of affairs which is affected by the event denoted by the verb.

Foreign linguistics
(R.Quirk, S.Greenbaum, G. Leech, J.Svartvik)
Complement
Object
Nominal phrase
Co-referential with the subject or object
Follows the S, VP, or O
Does not become S through the passive transformation.
He made her career a success.
Nominal phrase
Follows the S and VP
By the passive transformation, assumes the status of S.
He made her career.

Types of object

Direct or indirect object?
He told me the whole story.
She taught the children mathematics.
We’ll help our friends to do it.
He told me about it.
She taught children.
We’ll help our friends.

O3 or O1?
We spoke about recent events.
We bought about ten books.

Attribute
A secondary syntactic function
Modifies a nominal head
Expressed by Adj / N (stone wall) + Num, V (a book to read)
pre-position or post-position (books interesting to everyone)
Attributive connection through adjoining, rarely – agreement (these books)
Characterize, qualify, or identify persons or things

Semantic function:
predication
A beautiful flower
The flower is beautiful.

Dispute:
Part of a phrase or sentence?
Lower rank, not depending on a predicate
Hasty climbers have sudden falls. ? Climbers have falls.
My house is my castle. ? House is castle.

Specifics of English attribute
The proximity rule:
Children playing in the yard
*Playing in the yard children

Attribute or Object?
The gloom of winter twilight closed about her.

Apposition - приложение
Optional constituent of a noun phrase which agrees referentially with the nominal head:
Aunt Polly, Mr. Smith, President Obama;
Lake Ontario, Oxford University
Philip, my best friend.
Typically nouns.
Additional characteristics, specification.
Dispute: distinct part of the sentence or type of attribute?

Adverbial modifier (adjunct)
A secondary syntactic function
Characteristics of the action, circumstances
Modifies the V (or Adj, Adv)
Expressed by an Adv or prep+N
Adverbial connection through adjoining, often prepositional or conjunctive (if possible)
Optional element of the sentence

Semantic types of Adverbial Modifiers
Time (It happened yesterday.)
Place (He was working in the garden.)
Manner (The machine worked properly.)
Attending circumstances (She spoke crying.)
Subsequent event (He went to Africa to die there.)
Degree and measure (She felt extremely nervous.)
Reason (We stopped because of being tired.)
Purpose (The room was used for dancing.)
Condition (If found, the secret will be publicized.)
Result (He is too old to be elected.)
Concession (Though a grandmother, she didn’t look old.)

State the type of AdM
He went down sometimes to work in his garden.
He ate greedily.
Lying sleepless in his room he would think about it.
I was old enough to understand it.
Unwilling to go back to he hotel, he went to the theater.
But for your help, I’d have failed.
In spite of the rain, there were a lot of people outside.

Object or Adverbial modifier?
He walks the streets of London.
I put it on the table.
Wait a minute.
I was glad to see him.

Predicative or Adverbial modifier?
They are in London.
A.Smirnitsky: adverbial predicate.

Parenthesis
Dispute: a) not included in a sentence as a constituent = loose part
b) detached part of a sentence (V. Zhigadlo, L.Iofic, I.Ivanova):
Gr. meaning: speaker’s attitude towards the content;
Specific gr. connection that facilitates formal inclusion of the P. into the sentence
Morphological form: modal words (Perhaps,you are right) + adv., inf. …

Structural classification of parts of the sentence

Complex parts of the sentence make a specific feature of English syntax:
Complex Subject: He was known to have been there.
Complex Object: I saw her enter the house.
Complex Attribute : This is a book for you to read.

Structural classification of parts of the sentence

Theory of the three ranks
(Otto Jespersen 1937)
Extremely hot weather

a furiously barking dog =
a dog barking furiously

Junction vs. nexus
Nexus: a dog barking… => a dog barks
Junction: extremely hot weather
In the junction, the joining of elements is so close that they might be considered one composite name: a silly person = a fool
The nexus, a syntactic type of predicative joining, forms a sentence (clause).

Nexus
The dog barks (at the neighbors).
(I hear) the dog bark.
The dog’s barking (was heard all over the place).
The dog’s bark was terrifying.

Junction => nexus
the expensive book
=> The book is expensive.

Immediate Constituent (IC) Analysis
The concept introduced by Leonard Bloomfield.
Aimed to analyze a linguistic expression into a hierarchically defined series of constituents.
If the complex expression is movable or can be replaced in the sentence by a simple expression, it counts as a constituent.
The most basic principle of transformational grammar.

The professor gives a lecture.
S
NP VP
Det N V NP
Det N
The professor gives a lecture

ACTUAL DIVISION OF THE SENTENCE
or FUNCTIONAL SENTENCE PERSPECTIVE

Terms
ACTUAL DIVISION OF THE SENTENCE
Functional sentence perspective (Prague School: Vilém Mathesius 1929)
Communicative structure of the sentence
Informative perspective of the sentence
Informational structure of the sentence
the functional analysis of the sentence,
communicative analysis,
the actual division analysis,
the informative perspective analysis.

What is it?
the informative value of different parts of the sentence in the actual process of communication
showing which component of the denoted situation is informationally more important from the point of view of the speaker.
Habit is a second nature.
Habit is // a second nature.
T R

Theme – Rheme
theme ( “the basis” by V. Mathesius) = the starting point of communication, it usually contains some old, “already known” information (topic, given). < Greek the- ‘to set’
rheme ( “the nucleus” by V. Mathesius) = the basic informative part of the sentence, its contextually relevant communicative center, the “peak” of communication, or the information reported about the theme; it usually contains some new information (comment, focus). < Greek rhe- ‘to say’

How to find the rheme?
Intonation, logical stress.
Contrast.
Special question.
Telephone was invented by Alexander Bell.
Telephone was invented by Alexander Bell, not Einstein.
Who was telephone invented by?
.
What did Caroline sing? – She sang A SONG.
Who sang a song? - CAROLINE sang a song.

Theory of communicative dynamism (Jan Firbas)
FSP is not binary but is scalar with degrees of communicative dynamism: T has the smallest and the R the highest degree of communicative dynamism, as the R promotes the communicative process the most.
transitional parts
a secondary rheme, the “subrhematic” part of a sentence
Again Charlie is late.
There is a pond in the garden.

The rheme is the obligatory informative component of a sentence,
there may be sentences which include only the rheme; the theme and the transition are optional.
Who sang the song? – Caroline.

< logical analysis of the proposition
Theme = logical subject
Rheme = logical predicate

Actual & syntactic divisions

English rigid word order is compensated by a comparatively free functional sentence perspective:
R – T A woman enters.
T – R – T There is a book on the table.

Formal lingual means of expressing R
word order,
constructions with introducers,
contrastive and emphatic complexes,
articles and other determiners,
constructions with intensifying particles,
length of components,
and intonation contours (logical accent)
special graphical means
The bear was killed by the hunter.
There is a ferocious bear in the forest.
It was a bear who frightened us.
A bear, not a dog frightened us.
A bear appeared.
Only this hunter is able to kill the bear.
The hunter did kill a bear.
Many people saw it.

Importance for Text construction
T1 – R1
T2 – R2 (R1 = T 2)
T3 – R3 (R2 = T3)
Once upon a time there was a king. He had three daughters. Two of them were beautiful…

Aspects of the sentence
Parts of the sentence
Theme-rheme
objective/ subjective designation of the situation:
Participants and circumstances

Semantic aspect of the sentence
Sentence
Dictum/Proposition Modus
designatum
attitude towards the designated
The tree was cut with an axe
«minuture drama»
with participants and circumstances
оbject – instrument– (agentive)
The tree seems to have been cut by an axe.
doubt
desirablilty

Functional aspect of the sentence
Actual division
= informative value of a sentence constituent
Given
New information
theme
rheme
Who is playing the piano?
It is Alex who’s playing.
What instrument is he playing?
He is playing the piano.

Glossary
Ядерное предложение
(Не)распространенный член предложения
Предикативная связь
Атрибутивная связь
Объектная связь
Обстоятельственная связь
Комплетивная связь
Парентетическая связь
Вторично-предикативная связь
Взаимозависимость
Главные члены предложения
Второстепенные члены
Подлежащее
Структурное подлежащее
Сказуемое

Простое глагольное сказуемое
Сложное модальное сказуемое
Сложное фазовое сказуемое
Сложное именное сказуемое
Именной член сказуемого
Дополнение
Прямое дополнение
Косвенное дополнение
Предложное дополнение
Комплемент
Определение
Приложение