Grammar analysis: Where to begin¶
The main thought¶
A sentence is typically divided into two main pillars:
The Subject: The person, place, or thing the sentence *is about*.
The Predicate: Everything *else*
The predicate is the verb and all the words that follow it to provide detail. It must contain a verb.
Without a verb, you don’t have a predicate, and without a predicate, you don’t have a complete thought.
By simply substitute with a personal pronoun (I, you, he, she, it, they) for the subject, what remains is the predicate.
Main structure & conjunctions¶
- Subject & Predicate
- Verb
- Coordinating (FANBOYS)
- Subordinating
- Correlative
- Coordination-like (discourse markers)
Gotcha: “That”¶
- Relative pronoun
- Subordinate conjunction
- Demonstrative
See: That, roles of
Phrases¶
- Head word
- Complements
- Adjucts: supplements, modifiers (can be left out)
Complements¶
A complement is selected (licensed) by the head; selection is never optional. It may or may not be overtly realized. Whether a complement is realized can be optional or obligatory, but this does not affect its status as a selected complement.
Optionally realized:
She ate *a sandwich (“She ate” is grammatically acceptable)
Obligatory realized:
She put the book on the table (“She put” is ungrammatical)
Adjective complements occur only with predicative adjectives because only in predicative position can the adjective act as a head that licenses (selects) a complement. Attributive adjectives are embedded in the NP and cannot do this.
Complements depend on the head word and reflect the specific requirements and idiosyncrasies of individual words.
- Subject (predicative complement, often an adjective) → is ...
- Object complelement → Follows the direct object
- Adjective complement → A clause or phrase, follows predicate adjective
Adjuncts¶
Optional, non essential, not selected, recursive nature (freely iterates). The results without them would still be grammatical and sensible
Supplements or modifies. Not determiners - determiner “specify” (quantify, specific), a modifier “describes”.
- Adjectival: Can grade. About what/which/how big
- Adverbial: About where/when/why/how/how often something happens.
- Nominal adjuncts: NP modifying another noun
Adjectival is about what something is (what sort), also: which one, how big etc.
Of nouns, in NP¶
- Attributive adjective (inside an NP): modifies, can grade
- Determiner: Specifies: define, possesive, quantity, demonstrate, specifies, makes particular
- Pronoun: Refers to, replaces
- Appositive: Renames, describes in another way
- Nominative case: The noun is the subject
- Predicate nominative (complement): Linked to a noun & renames/identifies
- Nominal adjuncts (modifier): NP functioning adjectevial, "type of", classify, pre-modifier
Who is doing it?¶
- Agent
- Subject
Who/what is affected?¶
- Patient/Theme
- Object
- Subject in a passive
Who benefits?¶
- Identify adverbials
- Attached to the verb
She baked a cake for her friend. (for her friend attaches to ‘baked’, adverbial)
- Two objects constructions
- PPs of benefit
Helps distinguish two-object constructions from ones with PPs of benefit (for him, to him), with direct and indirect object
She gave a gift to her friend (gift direct, to her friend indirect)
When/where/how/why does it happen?¶
- Time
- Place
- Manner
- Cause
- Reason
These indicate or describe aspects of the event. Typically adjuncts (optional), making them useful for identifying non-arguments that can be added or omitted freely.
Semantic role to grammatical function¶
- Agent → usually subject or by-phrase (passive)
- Patient/Theme → object or subject (passive), often complements
- Experiencer → subject/object in psychological constructions
Usually adjuncts: Instrument, Location, Temporal, Cause, Goal, Source