Seminar: Actual division of the sentence. Communicative types of sentences.

Points for discussion:

1. Actual division of the sentence: general information.

2. Theme.

3. Rheme.

4. Types of sentences according to the types of communication.

5. Types of sentences according to the structure of the sentences.

Exercises:

Ex. 1 Analyze sentences according to the types of communication.

1. Ireland is often called the “Emerald Isle” because of its lush green countryside.

2. What’s the best way to learn a foreign language?

3. Respect other people’s customs when you travel.

4. Example is the only way of educating.

5. Get out of the car right now!

6. Would you give him my message, please?

7. You are forgetting yourself!

8. Curiosity is the beginning of knowledge.

9. What a beautiful sunset it is!

10. Finish your work, please.

Ex. 2 Construct a declarative, an interrogative, an imperative or an exclamatory sentence.

an interesting book (excl.)

my friend’s address (inter.)

Peter’s library (decl.)

a map of the United States (imper.)

a small island (excl.)

mountains of Great Britain (decl.)

Shakespeare’s birthplace (inter.)

an exciting thriller (excl.)

a different example (imper.)

the capital of the Republic of Ireland (inter.)

an inexpensive way of travel (decl.)

a strange remark (excl.)

a good time (imper.)

Ex. 3 Different types of fronting.

Part A

What kinds of fronting are illustrated in the examples below? For each example, choose one item from the clause list:

fronting clause

1. of object 1) in an independent declarative clause

2. of predicative 2) in an exclamatory

3. of non-finite construction 3) in a dependent adverbial clause

1. A more general treatment is possible using the method of Markoff. This we shall now describe, following the account of Chandrasekhar.

2. All-wise Khrishna may be, but you wouldn’t buy a used chariot from him.

3. The prejudices remained beneath the surface of benignity, waiting for some unwary blunder on my part to crack the surface and let them burst through. Such a blunder I’d now committed.

4. Such a sure hand my son has with his people!

5. What a gullible lot we are.

6. Brave though he is in facing adult audiences, the result is a bit of a cringe.

Part B

Rewrite each of the examples in Part A, changing the word order with fronting to a more usual word order such as subject + verb + direct object. (In one type, this more usual word order is impossible without a change of wording. What example illustrates this?)

Ex. 4 Subject-verb inversion and subject-operator inversion.

Underline the example of inversion in each of the following examples, and tell what type of inversion it is: subject-verb inversion or subject-operator inversion.

Note: When the same word has a role both as main verb and as operator, the inversion can be described either as subject-verb inversion or as subject-operator inversion. Which examples are like this?

1. On the sideboard stood a decanter of Haut Brion, and another of old Lanning port.

2. The number of Chinese Characters soared to 23,000 in the twelfth century and to almost 49,000 in the eighteenth. Equally striking is the high proportion of semantic-phonetic compounds relative to the other three categories

3. Such has been the success of the piece on a short provincial tour, that it has been snapped up by The Globe in the center of London’s theatreland.

4. Kelly finished fourth overall, and came close to losing the King of the Mountains honour. Only on the final climb of Sally Gap did he clinch victory as his rival, Gary Backer, was struggling back from two punctures.

5. “Hold it, darling”, interrupted Khalehla.

6. Hide your ankle boots and put away your sensible lace-ups when summer arrives. Now is the time for cool, light shoes that you can slip straight on your feet.

7. What are you eating?

8. Had she known that he was looking for her, she thought, she would not have let herself sit there.

9. Can the health service cope with the growing needs of older people?

10. Into this circle stepped Captain Bierce, confident, huge, beaming, straight-speaking, simple and uncomplicated as only a man in uniform can appear to be. He courted her.

Ex. 5 Conditions for inversion.

Inversion takes place only in special conditions.

Identify the conditions for inversion that apply to the examples in exercise 4. Choose from the following conditions:

1. yes/no questions

2. wh-questions

3. fronted adverbial of place/time

4. fronted predicative

5. degree expression

6. negative or restrictive opening element

7. hypothetical or tentative conditional clause

8. dependent interrogative clause

9. reporting clause

Ex. 6 Quiz yourself.

Answer each of the following questions on existential there.

1. What is the syntactic role of existential there in it’s clause?

2. What is the noun phrase following existential there + be called?

3. Which of the following illustrates existential there? Which illustrates place there?

Oh look, there’s that bird.

There is nothing wrong really.

4. After be, what is the most common verb that occurs after existential there in academic prose?

5. Which of the following statements relating to discourse functions of existential clauses are true?

1. Existential clauses are always used when new elements are introduced into the discourse.

2. Existential clauses are useful in focusing on a new topic.

3. Existential clauses help the information flow principle.

4. Existential clauses hardly ever occur in the series.

5. The notional subject rarely begins with the.

6. Existential there cannot occur in a question tag.