- •The Subject Matter of Grammar
- •The Evolution of English Grammars
- •The XX th Century Linguistic Schools
- •Prague Linguistic School (Functional Linguistics)
- •American Descriptive Linguistics
- •Transformational and Transformational Generative Grammar
- •Semantic Syntax
- •Methods of Linguistic Analysis
- •Parsing (Traditional Syntactic Analysis)
- •The Oppositional Method
- •The Distributional method
- •The ic Method (method of immediate constituents)
- •The Transformational Method
- •The Method of Deep and Surface Structures
- •The Functional Sentence Perspective Method (fsp)
- •The Componential Method
- •The Contextual Method
- •The Levels of Language
- •The Morphological Structure of me
- •The Classifications of Morphemes
- •Paradigmatics and Syntagmatics
- •The Asymmetry of a Linguistic Sign
- •Parts of Speech Classifications of Parts of Speech.
- •Notionals and Functionals
- •Heterogeneity
- •Field and Periphery
- •Subcategorization
- •Onomaseological approach
- •The Noun The General Properties of a Noun
- •The Category of Gender.
- •The Category of Number
- •The Category of Case
- •Debated Problems within the Category of Case
- •Genitive Constructions (n’s n)
- •The Article Debated Problems
- •The Functions of Articles in a Sentence
- •The Verb The General Properties of a Verb
- •The Category of Tense
- •Classifications of Tenses
- •The Future Tense
- •The Present Tense
- •The Past Tense
- •The Future-in-the-Past Tense
- •The Category of Aspect
- •The Category of Time Relation (or Correlation)
- •The Category of Voice
- •The Category of Mood
- •The Indicative Mood
- •The Imperative Mood
- •The Subjunctive Mood
- •Points of Similarities with the Finites
- •Points of Differences with the Finites
- •Debated Problems within The Verbals
- •The Functions of Non-Finites
- •Types of Syntax
- •The theory of the phrase
- •Devices of Connecting Words in a Phrase
- •Debated Problems within the Theory of the Phrase
- •Classifications of Phrases
- •The theory of the simple sentence
- •The Definition of a Sentence
- •Syntactic Modelling of the Sentence
- •Semantic Modelling of the Sentence
- •The Notion of a Syntactic Paradigm
- •Structural Classification of Simple Sentences
- •Predicative Constructions Within a simple sentence we distinguish primary and secondary (independent/ dependent) elements, the structural nucleus and its adjuncts.
- •Syntactic Processes
- •The Principal Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •The Secondary Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •An Object
- •An Adverbial Modifier
- •An Attribute
- •Debated Problems within a Simple Sentence
- •A composite sentence
- •A Compound Sentence
- •I. The General Notion of a Complex Sentence.
- •2. The Status of the Subordinate Clause.
- •3.1. Classifications of Subordinate Clauses.
- •3.2. Types of Subordinate Clauses.
- •4. Connections between the Principal and the Subordinate Clause.
- •5. Neutralization between Subordination and Coordination.
- •6. The Character of the Subordinating Conjunction
- •7. Levels of Subordination
- •Syntactic Processes in the Complex Sentence.
- •9. Communicative Dynamism within a Composite Sentence( Compound and Complex) and a Supra-phrasal Unit.
Predicative Constructions Within a simple sentence we distinguish primary and secondary (independent/ dependent) elements, the structural nucleus and its adjuncts.
We have seen that there exist several syntactic ties within a sentence. Very peculiar is the secondary predicative tie. It is implicit, formally unexpressed. It is concealed in infinitival, gerundial, participial constructions, predicative constructions with nouns, adjectives, statives.
In a predicative construction we can distinguish a secondary subject and a secondary predicate. A secondary subject can be expressed by a noun in the common case, or a personal pronoun in the objective case (before an infinitive, a participle II, a gerund, a participle I, an adjective, a noun or a stative), a noun in the genitive case or a possessive pronoun ( before a gerund). A predicative construction functions usually as a complex subject, a complex predicative, a complex object, a complex attribute, a complex adverbial modifier, A simple sentence with any of these complex parts can be transformed into a complex sentence with a subordinate clause.
Predicative constructions with an infinitive are:
1.The Accusative (Objective) with the Infinitive construction (I saw him cross the street. I heard him sing. I want you to do it) which functions as a complex object.
2. The Nominative (Subjective) with the Infinitive construction (He was seen to cross the street). Some linguists believe it to function as a complex subject. There is an opinion, according to which “was seen to cross” is a predicate of double orientation.
3. The For-To-Infinitive construction (It is a book for you to read), which functions as a complex attribute, or a complex adverbial modifier.
4. The Nominative Absolute Infinitival construction (He was happy, with the whole universe to improve), which functions as a complex adverbial modifier of cause.
Predicative constructions with a participle are:
1. The Accusative (Objective) with the Participle construction (I saw him running), which functions as a complex object.
2. The Nominative (Subjective) with the Participle construction (He was seen to be crossing the street). ). Some linguists believe it to function as a complex subject. There is an opinion, according to which “was seen to be crossing” is a predicate of double orientation.
3. The Nominative Absolute Participial construction (with the preposition with or without it (The dishes done, children to bed, her book read, she watches news on TV (a complex adverbial modifier of attendant circumstances).He entered the room, (with) his dog following him).
4. The Absolute Participial construction (Riding side by side, the night was beautiful). The subject of the action expressed by the participle is beyond the borders of this sentence. The construction functions as a complex adverbial modifier of attendant circumstances.
Predicative constructions with a gerund:
1.The wholly gerundial construction with a noun in the genitive case or a possessive pronoun (John’s having come late has amazed me). It functions here as a complex subject.2. The half-gerundial construction (I am amazed at John having come late). It functions as a complex prepositional object.
There are predicative constructions with nouns, adjectives and statives. They function as a complex object. They can be transformed into sub-clauses (I find him a genius (a secondary subject and a secondary predicate )=> I find that he is a genius ; I found the house aflame(( a predicative construction with a stative) => I found that the house was aflame; I find him clever (a predicative construction with an adjective)=> I find that he is clever).