These structures can be dealt with together for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is a significant overlap between interrogative pronouns, adjectives and adverbs and relative pronouns, adjectives and adverbs. Secondly, despite this, these terms function differently for reasons which are not immediately obvious. Thirdly, in both cases, the same ambiguity regarding the classification of terms arises; which terms are pronouns, which adjectives and which adverbs, and what is the basis for the classification. We can go further an ask how useful the classification is and whether these cases point to an underlying limitation.
Continue readingPronouns
Unlike nouns which are large classes of words which are constantly evolving, pronouns are a small and static class of word. There are around 60 in everyday use in English. However, because there is a cultural dimension to pronoun use, usage does change to reflect political and cultural changes. There are six types of pronoun:
Conjunctions
Like, prepositions, pronouns and determiners, conjunctions are a small and stable class of terms. There about 30 words used as conjunctions in English.
Conjunctions have the function of stringing together two or more grammatical elements together. Conjunctions are used to join multiple clauses into a single sentence and a string of adverbials in a single statement. They are also used in noun-terms, adjective-terms and adverb-terms to build a list of ideas.
Prepositions
Prepositions are another relatively small and stable class of words. There are around 50 in regular use in English. A preposition functions to identify relationships: of time and space, agency and instrumentality.
Adjectives & Adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs function to qualify other terms; adjectives qualify nouns and adverbs qualify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and occasionally prepositions. Both classes are extendible. In each case there is a relatively small core general purpose lexicon which changes rarely and a larger domain specific lexicon which is constantly being revised and updated.
Interrogative and relative adjectives and adverbs are dealt with more fully in sections 12 below which deals with questions and relative clauses.
Continue readingLists, Pairs, Nouns & Names
Verb chains are a means of placing multiple ideas into the same term by stringing together infinitives and gerunds. The equivalent structures for nouns and pronouns are lists and pairs. These are composite grammatical structures that can be used wherever a single noun, pronoun or name can be used. A noun or pronoun refers to only one entity whereas a pair refers to two entities and a list refers to multiple entities.
There are no restrictions with regard to the use of pairs, lists, nouns and names. They can be used as both the subject and complement with a copula, as the subject with an intransitive verb, as the subject, direct object and indirect object with a transitive verb and in a prepositional phrase as part of an adverbial component.
Continue readingFinite Verbs
Every syntactical well-formed statement must contain just one finite verb. Finite verb forms are tied to the grammatical subject and the morphology is inflected to indicate person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood.
It is possible to have more than one verb serving as the finite verb is such constructions as they come and go or you can walk but not run. These are really cases of elision, a short form of they come and they go and they can walk but they cannot run.
Similarly, although there is multiple verb form used in such statements as we must try and go, this is an idiomatic replacement for we must try to go rather than a syntactically correct form.
Continue readingVerb forms as Noun-terms
Non-finite verb forms can also be used as noun-terms to form subject, direct object, indirect object and adverbial components. As such they can also be strung together to create verb chains. This is probably one of the most, if not the most, complex structure in the syntax of the English language. The following table outlines the high-level possibilities.
Non-finite verb forms
Verbs come in both finite and non-finite forms.
A finite verb is the necessary component of every meaningful statement. Finite verbs are inflected to adapt to the grammatical subject. It is this bond between a single grammatical subject and a single finite verb that is the basic building block around which a statement is constructed. Finite verbs are analysed in section 6 below.
There are three non-finite forms, infinitives and present and past participles. The non-finite forms of a verb don’t adapt to the grammatical subject but do change to reflect the grammatical aspect and, in the case of transitive verbs, the grammatical voice. Infinitives, infinitives with past participles, and present participles in the form of gerunds can all function as noun-terms. These are analysed in section 5 below.
Continue readingStatement structure
A grammatical clause expresses a single complete idea. A grammatical sentence can either be a single clause or multiple clauses connected together by some linking mechanism. This means that a sequence of ideas can be expressed either by forming multiple sentences or by joining multiple clauses into a single sentence. The difference is largely a matter of style rather than grammar. For that reason, in these notes, I will refer to both sentences and clauses as statements.
Continue readingThe copula
The analysis begins some distance from where most investigations would start. It seems to me that the significance of the copula is not properly appreciated but without an understanding of the difference between a copula, a transitive verb and an intransitive verb, the syntax of the language cannot be understood. The basic semantic distinction between a state and an event is captured in the syntactic distinction between copulas, which describe a state or a change in state, and transitive and intransitive verbs, which describe events.
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