A Course in English Grammar - Lecture Notes | ENGLISH 403, Exams of English Language

Download A Course in English Grammar - Lecture Notes | ENGLISH 403 and more Exams English Language in PDF only on Docsity! A COURSE IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR by Michael Noonan ENGLISH 403: Modern English Grammar A COURSE IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR Volume 1 Michael Noonan Version: 9/05 [6/94, 12/94 version compatible; 10/89, 8/90, 12/91 version compatible except for Chapter 6, Exercise A] © Michael Noonan Typography by Deborah L. Mulvaney iii CHAPTER 6: THE SIMPLE SENTENCE 6.1 The Position of Elements within the Sentence 6.1.1 Basic Order 6.1.2 Deviations from the Basic Order 6.2 Subjects 6.2.1 Subject-Verb Agreement 6.2.2 ‘Dummy’ Subjects 6.3 Objects 6.3.1 Indirect Objects 6.3.2 Oblique Objects 6.2.3 Objects as Arguments 6.4 Copular Sentences 6.4.1 Be 6.4.2 Copular Verbs 6.4.3 Objects in Copular Sentences 6.5 Quantifier Floating 6.6 Presentative Sentences 6.7 Negation and Scope 6.8 Questions 6.9 Tags and Confirmation Particles 6.10 Emphasis 6.11 Vocatives 6.12 Commands CHAPTER 7: VOICE 7.1 Voice: General Considerations 7.2 The Passive 7.3 Agentless Passives 7.4 The Passive in Context 7.5 The GET-passive 7.6 The Prepositional Passive 7.7 Passiving Ditransitive Sentences 7.8 EN-participles as Predicate Adjectives 7.9 The Quasi-Passive 7.10 Pronouns as Indicators of Voice 7.11 Activo-Passives VOLUME 2 CHAPTER 8: COMPLEX SENTENCES I — COMPLEMENTATION 8.1 Complex Sentences 8.1.1 ‘Sentence’, ‘Predication’, and ‘Clause’ 8.1.2 Subordination and Coordination 8.2 Complementation 8.2.1 Introduction iv 8.2.2 Finite Complement Clauses 8.2.3 Complementizers 8.2.4 Extraposition 8.3 Direct and Indirect Speech 8.4 Infinitival Complements 8.5 Participial Complements and Adjective Complements 8.6 Gerundial and Nominal Complements 8.7 Objective Complements 8.8 Overview of the Complement System CHAPTER 9: THE NOUN PHRASE REVISITED 9.1 Adjectivals and Arguments 9.1.1 Agentive Nouns and Nominalizations 9.1.2 Periphrastic and Combined Associatives 9.2 Relative Clauses 9.2.1 Basic Structure 9.2.2 Resumptive Pronouns 9.2.3 Pied-Piping 9.3 Non-Restrictive Clauses 9.3.1 With Noun Heads: Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses 9.3.2 With Adjective Heads 9.3.3 With VP and Clausal Heads 9.4 Headless Relative Clauses 9.5 Participial Relatives & Postposed AP Modifiers 9.6 Infinitival Relatives 9.7 Discontinuous Noun Phrases CHAPTER 10: COMPLEX SENTENCES II 10.1 Noun Complements 10.2 Detached Constructions 10.2.1 Free Participial Phrases 10.2.2 Free Adjective Phrases 10.2.3 Absolute Clauses 10.3 Identificational Constructions 10.3.1 Introduction: Equative be 10.3.2 The WH-cleft Construction 10.3.3 The It-cleft Construction 10.3.4 The Pragmatics of Clefts 10.4 Intrapositionals 10.4.1 Appositive NPs 10.4.2 Parentheticals 10.5 Resumptive and Summative Constructions 10.6 Negative Raising 10.7 Conditional Constructions 10.7.1 True Conditionals 10.7.2 Pseudo-Conditionals v CHAPTER 11: ADVERBIALS REVISITED 11.1 Subordination: A Review 11.2 Adverbial Clauses: S-Adverbials & S'-Adverbials 11.3 Subordinators 11.4 Temporal & Circumstantial Clauses 11.5 Locative Clauses 11.6 Purpose & Reason Clauses 11.7 Alternative Clauses 11.8 Concessive Clauses 11.9 Comparative Constructions 11.9.1 Degree Adverbials 11.9.2 Comparative Adjectivals 11.10 Focus Adverbs CHAPTER 12: COORDINATION 12.1 Coordination and Subordination 12.1.1 Introduction 12.1.2 The Coordination-Subordination Continuum 12.2 Coordinators 12.2.1 Syndetic & Asyndetic Coordination 12.2.2 The Coordinators 12.3 The Mechanics of Coordination 12.3.1 Basic Principles 12.3.2 Coordinated Constituents within Coordinated Constituents 12.3.3 Coordination of Partial or Incomplete Constituents 12.3.4 Coordination of Orphaned Phrases 12.4 Gapping, Stripping, and Right-Node-Raising 12.4.1 Gapping 12.4.2 Stripping 12.4.3 Right-Node-Raising 12.5 Correlative Coordinators 12.6 Order of Conjuncts 12.7 Pro-Verbs 12.8 Modes of Coordination 12.8.1 Segregatory and Distributive Coordination 12.8.2 Combinatory Coordination 12.8.3 Layered Modification 12.9 Special Constructions 12.9.1 The try and Construction 12.9.2 Pseudo-Conditionals 12.9.3 Sluicing LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN FORM/FUNCTION DIAGRAMS: CHAPTERS 1-7 LIST OF IMPORTANT TERMS FOR CHAPTERS 1-7 TEST YOURSELF — ANSWERS 3 CHAPTER 1 THE STRUCTURE OF THE SENTENCE: PRELIMINARIES Contents: 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Predications, Predicators, and Arguments: The Semantic Structure of Sentences 1.2 The Basic Syntactic Structure of Sentences 1.3 Non-Verbal Predicators: Copular Sentences 1.4 Objects, Complements, and Adjuncts 1.5 Sentence Types 1.6 Adverbials and Adjectivals 1.7 Pro-Forms 1.8 Word Classes 1.9 Form/Function Diagrams Important Terms Exercises Further Reading 4 CHAPTER 1: THE STRUCTURE OF THE SENTENCE: PRELIMINARIES 1.0 Introduction This chapter serves as an introduction to the terminology and general approach used in this book. None of the topics discussed here will be treated in depth. Most are discussed in greater de- tail elsewhere. 1.1 Predications, Predicators and Arguments: The Semantic Structure of Sentences When comparing a sentence of English with one from any other language we may note con- siderable differences in form together with the expected differences in vocabulary. For instance, the English sentence: (1.1-1) John hit Bill. has a counterpart in Irish, (1.1-2) bhuail Seán Liam. hit John Bill ‘John hit Bill.’ one in Turkish, (1.1-3) Can Bılı çarptı. John Bill hit ‘John hit Bill.’ and one in Fijian: (1.1-4) e a lauti Bili ko Joni. hit Bill John ‘John hit Bill.’ that differ considerably in form from English and from each other. Yet each sentence expresses the same idea, and it is this identity of meaning that concerns us here. All the sentences above express the same PREDICATION, consisting of a PREDICATOR meaning ‘hit’ and two ARGUMENTS, John and Bill, related to each other by the predicator. Any sentence in English, or any other language, constitutes a predication, and predications consist of predicators and their arguments. The meaning relations expressed in (1.1-1)—(1.1-4) can be expressed as follows: PREDICATION PREDICATOR ARGUMENT ARGUMENT hit John Bill bhuail Seán Liam çarptı Can Bılı lauti Joni Bili Consider, for example, the sentence: (1.1-5) Floyd fled. which is a predication consisting of the predicator fled and the argument Floyd. The sentence, also of course, a predication, (1.1-6) Nelson gave the kazoo to Algernon. consists of the predicator gave and the arguments Nelson, kazoo, and Algernon. Fled in (1.1-5) is con- sidered a ONE-PLACE PREDICATOR because it takes a single argument, and gave in (1.1-6) is a THREE-PLACE PREDICATOR because it takes three arguments. These sentences can be displayed as: 5 (1.1-5) PREDICATION PREDICATOR ARGUMENT fled Floyd (1.1-6) PREDICATION PREDICATOR ARGUMENT ARGUMENT ARGUMENT gave Nelson kazoo Algernon These diagrams represent the meaning or SEMANTIC STRUCTURE of sentences (1.1-5) and (1.1-6). The order of the predicators and arguments in these diagrams is set arbitrarily by convention with the predicator first. And notice also that in making these diagrams, we are concerned only with predicators and their arguments, not with ‘function’ words such as to in (1.1-6). Now consider the following sentence with the TWO-PLACE PREDICATOR know: (1.1-7) Irving knows Max. Know takes two arguments, Irving and Max: (1.1-7) PREDICATION PREDICATOR ARGUMENT ARGUMENT know Irving Max Know also occurs in sentences like: (1.1-8) Irving knows that Floyd fled. where what Irving knows, instead of being Max, is the predication ‘Floyd fled’. Floyd fled has the same semantic relation to know and Irving in (1.1-8) as Max does in (1.1-7), and hence Floyd fled is an argument of know: (1.1-8) PREDICATION PREDICATOR ARGUMENT ARGUMENT PREDICATION PREDICATOR ARGUMENT know Irving fled Floyd The function of predicators is to relate arguments to each other and to the external world. Know shows the relation between Irving and Max in (1.1-7) and between Irving and Floyd fled in (1.1- 8). It also relates Irving, Max, and Floyd fled to situations in the real world. As a working definition, we can say that arguments represent entities or ideas — things that can be talked about. A predica- tion consists of a predicator and its arguments. Arguments tend to be nouns and predicators tend to be verbs, not just in English, but across languages. But not all arguments are nouns [or their substitutes, pronouns] as Floyd fled in (1.1-8) shows. And not all predicators are verbs. Since a predicator is a word that shows the relation be- tween arguments and between arguments and the real world, other parts of speech can be shown to fulfill this function. In: (1.1-9) Boris is fat. requiring instead an overt subject, as in: (1.2-22) I came. But this too is not a universal requirement: (1.2-23) àcámò [Lango — spoken in Uganda] came [inflected for first person] ‘I came.’ (1.2-24) veni [Latin] came [inflected for first person subject] ‘I came.’ (1.2-25) lái le [Mandarin] come [perfective] ‘I came.’ The Latin and Lango verbs are inflected for first person subjects [e.g. ìcámò means ‘you come’ in Lango], but the Mandarin verb is not and depends on context for the correct interpretation. In all cases the word for ‘I’ can, of course, be overtly expressed: (1.2-26) án àcámò (1.2-27) ego veni (1.2-28) wŏ lái le Both the subject and the direct object take the form of NOUN PHRASES. Noun phrases con- sist of pronouns or nouns and their modifiers [or clauses] (Chapter 8). The following are all noun phrases: she it you Zeke the pregnant giraffe the monster that devoured Cleveland In organizing information about sentences, it is useful to distinguish labels of syntactic FORM from labels of syntactic FUNCTION. Form is the label of what kind of thing a grammatical entity is, and function describes what it does and how it relates to other grammatical entities. The term ‘sen- tence’ and labels of syntactic constituents, such as ‘noun phrase’, ‘verb phrase’ and ‘verb complex’, and word classes such as ‘noun’ and ‘adjective’ are labels of form. Terms like ‘predicator’, ‘subject’, and ‘direct object’ are labels of function. We can display information about form and function in diagrams like the one below: (1.2-29) The purple watermelon frightened Nell. S Abbreviations: Form: S = Sentence NP VP VP = Verb phrase NP = Noun phrase Art A N VC NP VC = Verb complex N = Noun N V = Verb Art = Article The purple watermelon frightened Nell A = Adjective Su = Subject Function: Su Pred DO DO = Direct object Pred = Predicator 8 In form/function diagrams like this, the lines in the upper, form half of the diagram define a ‘con- sists of’ relationship: the S [sentence] consists of an NP and a VP. The NP consists of an Art, an A, and an N. The VP consists of a VC and an NP. The Art consists of the article the, the A consists of the adjective purple, and so on. In the function half of the diagram, each constituent and each word within each constituent can [potentially] be labeled for function — we haven’t yet enough function labels to mark all the words and constituents even in a sentence as simple as (1.2-29), though even- tually we will. In diagramming the verb complex (VC), we will leave out form labels for the words therein until Chapter 3. We will do this even where the form label is perfectly obvious, as in (1.2-29), where frightened is straightforwardly a verb. The reason for omitting such labels is that we lack, for the time being, appropriate labels for VCs more complicated than the one in (1.2-29). The VC might be shucking will, until Chapter 3, be diagrammed as: VC Abbreviation: Aux = Auxiliary might be shucking Aux Pred 9 1.3 Non-Verbal Predicators: Copular Sentences Predicators are usually verbs, as in: (1.3-1) S Form: NP VP N VC NP N Zelda will discuss arthropods Function: Su Aux Pred DO But, as noted in Section 1.1, they can be other parts of speech as well. NPs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs can all function as predicators: (1.3-2) Floyd is a genius. PREDICATE NOMINAL (1.3-3) Mervin is insane. PREDICATE ADJECTIVE (1.3-4) Flora is in the truck. PREDICATE PREPOSITION (1.3-5) Sacheverell is here. PREDICATE ADVERB The PREDICATE NOMINAL genius, the PREDICATE ADJECTIVE insane, and the PREDICATE PREPOSITION in and PREDICATE ADVERB here all fulfill the function of a predicator, namely to relate arguments to each other and to the external world. (1.3-2) can be diagrammed as: S Form: Abbreviation: NP VP Cop = Copula N VC NP 10 Art N Floyd is a genius Function: Su Cop Pred In English, the verb complex is an obligatory sentence constituent even when it does not con- tain the predicator. In such cases, the last element of the VC must be a COPULAR VERB or COP- ULA such as be. We can contrast this situation with that in Russian, where no copular verb is re- quired: (1.3-6) Ivan ofitser Ivan officer ‘Ivan is an officer.’ (1.3-7) Nikita zdes Nikita here ‘Nikita is here.’ In English, a copula is required whenever there is a non-verbal predicator. The function of the cop- ula is to perform certain verbal tasks that these non-verbal predicators are incapable of. For in- stance, in: (1.3-8) Ivan is an officer. the copula is marked for tense or time reference. In English [but obviously not in Russian] overt tense marking is obligatory in every sentence. The predicate nominal cannot be so marked, so the copula fulfils the requirement. Following auxiliary verbs, certain grammatical forms are required that, again, only a verb is capable of assuming — here, too, the copula fills the requirement. (1.3-9) S Form: NP VP N VC A Zeke might have been nervous Function: Su Aux Cop Pred The semantic value of the copula, other than as a carrier of tense, is negligible. All predicators in English occur last in the verb complex or, when they are non-verbal, imme- diately follow it. Aside from the predicator and the copula, the remaining members of the verb complex are referred to collectively as AUXILIARIES or AUXILIARY VERBS. 1.4 Objects, Complements, and Adjuncts While there can be only one subject per sentence, there can be more than one object. We have already spoken of direct objects, but there are also INDIRECT OBJECTS: (1.4-1) Snidley gave the ophicleide to Clyde. 13 (1.4-17) Zelda hit Zeke on Monday. that Zelda and Zeke are arguments and on Monday is an adjunct since the predicator hit communi- cates information only about a relation between two entities and not about time. We must distin- guish what is implicit [arguments] from what can merely be inferred [adjuncts]. The peculiar status of adjuncts means that their presence is not required for a grammatical sentence. For instance, (1.4- 14)—(1.4-17) are all grammatical without their respective adjuncts: (1.4-18) Floyd saw Flora. (1.4-19) Nelson built his house. (1.4-20) Matilde disconcerted Anton. (1.4-21) Zelda hit Zeke. The omission of an argument, however, may result in an ungrammatical sentence: (1.4-22) *Floyd saw. (1.4-23) *Nelson built. (1.4-24) *Matilde disconcerted. (1.4-25) *Zelda hit. [this sentence may be grammatical, but only in a baseball context] This holds true even for obliques: (1.4-26) *Ralph depended. [c.f. Ralph depended on Melba.] (1.4-27) *Irv lay. [c.f. Irv lay on the couch.] This is not a necessary property of arguments, however, as the following sentences show: (1.4-28) Zeke forgot. [c.f. Zeke forgot his appointment.] (1.4-29) Mort ate. [c.f. Mort ate fish.] When an argument, or any other expected part of a sentence is missing for whatever reason, we say that sentence part is ELLIPTED. In (1.4-28) and (1.4-29) the direct objects were ellipted. As we shall see, ellipsis figures in the descriptions of numerous grammatical constructions. Adjuncts, if noun phrases, are almost invariably objects of prepositions. In this way, they can’t be confused with subjects or direct objects, which are never objects of prepositions. Adjuncts can be confused with obliques, however, and in truth it is sometimes difficult to decide the status of a given prepositional phrase. Nonetheless, a few guidelines can be suggested. Consider the following two sentences: (1.4-30) Elmer put the cow in the barn. (1.4-31) Elmer milked the cow in the barn. The prepositional phrase in the barn is an oblique object in (1.4-30) but an adjunct in (1.4-31) [we are not concerned here with the interpretation of (1.4-31), which can be paraphrased by Elmer milked the cow which was in the barn, where in the barn modifies cow. Rather, we are concerned only with the in- terpretation where in the barn specifies the place of the milking]. The verb put is a three-place predi- cator linking an agent, a patient [the cow], and a place. Each is an integral component of the predi- cation. If the oblique object is omitted, the sentence is ungrammatical: (1.4-32) *Elmer put the cow. [This sentence could be grammatical with a special sense of put, as in put a shot — but this interpre- tation is hardly likely here]. This contrasts with the adjunct phrase in the barn, whose omission does not result in ungrammaticality: (1.4-33) Elmer milked the cow. 14 The verb milk is a two-place predicator and specification of place is not an integral component of the predications it creates, unlike put. One further syntactic difference can be noted here. Oblique ob- jects like other sorts of objects cannot be freely moved out of post-verbal position, but adjuncts can. So while (1.4-34) In the barn, Elmer put the cow. (1.4-35) On Melba, Ralph depended. sound a bit strained at best with obliques in initial position, the sentences (1.4-36) In the barn, Elmer milked the cow. (1.4-37) On Saturday, Floyd saw Flora. with adjuncts in initial position are quite acceptable. As mentioned above, it is not always easy to tell an oblique object from an adjunct, especially adverbial adjuncts (Section 1.6). For practical purposes, this will cause few real problems, and all that is really necessary at this point is just an understanding of what, in principle, an oblique object is: an oblique object is an argument of a predicator that must take the form of a prepositional phrase. The chart below summarizes the information noted so far about the various objects: (1.4-38) OBJECT FORM OTHER CHARACTERISTICS Objects in General NPs or PPs, depending on type. All objects [as well as the subject] are arguments of predi- cators and therefore complete or complement the sense of the predicator. Direct Always an NP, never a PP. Indirect 1) A PP following the DO: I gave the kazoo to Lou. DO IO 2) An NP preceding the DO: I gave Lou the kazoo. IO DO 1) Never found without a DO in the same predication. 2) Represents semantically a recipient in a transaction. 3) Occurs only with the prepositions to and for [rarely of]. Note: to and for are also found with OOs and adver- bials, so to be sure you have an IO, make sure the other characteristics are present. Oblique Always a PP, never an NP. Some classes of predicators that commonly have OOs: 1) Verbs of positioning: put, place, stack, lay, etc. 2) Verbs of position: sit, lie, sleep, etc. 3) Verbs of motion: go [in, out of, onto, etc.], come [in, from, onto, etc.], travel, fly, etc. 4) Verb and preposition idioms: look at, rely on, confide in, etc. [In 6.3.1, a more comprehensive list can be found.] Examples: 1) Gertrude borrowed a truck. DO 2) Ralph delivered the vial to Igor. DO IO 3) Burt awarded Mary Lou the prize. IO DO 4) Sylvester lives on borrowed time. OO 5) Krimhilde placed the egg on Billy’s head. DO OO 6) Homer moved to Pismo Beach. OO 7) Gus worries about his pet duck. OO Note that NPs functioning as predicators are not DOs: (1.4-39) Gervase is a mailman. S NP VP N VC NP Art N Gervase is a mailman Su Cop Pred One sort of noun phrase that is, strictly speaking, neither an argument nor an adjunct is the OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT: (1.4-38) We made him a nervous wreck. (1.4-39) We elected him doorman. Objective complements properly belong to the class of complex sentences discussed in Chap- ter 8. Since we will have cause to refer to them before then, a provisional characterization will be provided here. The relation between a direct object [him in the above sentence] and its objective complement is a copular one. That is, just as a predicate nominal or adjective renames or describes its subject, an objective complement renames or describes a direct object [predicate nominals and adjectives have been called ‘subject complements’]. A tortuous rephrasing of the two sentences above might yield: (1.4-40) We made him so that he was a nervous wreck. (1.4-41) We elected him so that he was doorman. Indeed, the copula in the form of the infinitive to be is quite possible with many objective comple- ments [though not very colloquial]: (1.4-42) We made him to be a nervous wreck. (1.4-43) We elected him to be doorman. Noun phrases may function as objective complements, and so may adjectives: (1.4-44) We made him famous. (1.4-45) We painted it ochre. 15 (1.6-7) Abbreviations: S Adjl = Adjectival mod = Modifies Form: NP VP Art A N VC NP N The crafty elf startled Alf 18 Function: Su Pred DO Adjl mod elf Some adverbials are listed below: Adverb modifying verb: (1.6-8) Zeke ran fast. head modifier Adverb modifying adjective: (1.6-9) Vince watched the really beautiful sunset. modifier head Adverb modifying adverb: (1.6-10) Irving types extremely quickly. modifier head Adverb modifying sentence: (1.6-11) Surprisingly, Martha hates guavas. modifier head Prepositional phrase modifying verb: (1.6-12) Zelda plays with great skill. head modifier Sentence (1.6-9) can be diagrammed as: S Abbreviations: Form: NP VP Adv = Adverb Advl = Adverbial N VC NP Art Adv A N Vince watched the really beautiful sunset Function: Su Pred DO Adjl mod sunset Advl mod beautiful Adverbials and adjectivals will be discussed more fully in Chapter 4. In the last few sections, we have referred in various places to PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES. A typical prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and a noun phrase: PP P NP Abbreviations: PP = Prepositional phrase Art N P = Preposition 19 in the barn The noun phrase is referred to as the OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION or PREPOSITIONAL OB- JECT. As we have seen, prepositional phrases can function as indirect objects, oblique objects, adjec- tivals and adverbials: Indirect object: (1.6-13) Waldo presented the plinth to Count Zilch. Oblique object: (1.6-14) Nell remained in Lackawanna. Adjectival: (1.6-15) The warthogs in the zoo depressed Gertrude. head modifier Adverbial: (1.6-16) Roscoe dislikes working in the garage. head modifier Prepositions will be discussed in Chapter 5. Sentence (1.6-15) can be diagrammed as follows: Form: S Abbreviation: NP VP OP = Object of the preposition Art N PP VC NP P NP N Art N The warthogs in the zoo depressed Gertrude Function: Su Pred DO Adjl mod warthogs OP in 1.7 Proforms PROFORMS are words that replace other, more specific, grammatical elements, usually when the more specific information they contain is known to the hearer and hence its repetition would be redundant. The most familiar proform is the pronoun which replaces noun phrases: (1.7-1) Zeke met the Albanian girl and he really liked her. The function of pronouns is to avoid redundant specification of information and to communicate that the referent, the object or idea they represent, is known to the hearer. There are other sorts of proforms besides pronouns. For instance, there are various sorts of PRO-ADVERBIALS, replacing time, place and manner adverbials: (1.7-2 ) Ozzie will leave on Tuesday, but Harriet won’t leave then. (1.7-3) Margie is in Pismo Beach and Mr. Albright is there too. (1.7-4) Hiram studied the puzzle carefully, but Joel studied it less so. There is also a PRO-VERB do, which, together with so, replaces entire verb phrases save for auxiliaries: (1.7-5) Fess will mount his horse at full gallop, but Buddy won’t do so. Here do replaces the predicator mount and so replaces the object and adverbial. Proforms are really just specialized members of the word class they replace, so that pronouns are really just kinds of nouns, pro-adverbs are really just kinds of adverbs, and so on. In form/ function diagrams, only pronouns will be specially indicated, partly as a nod to tradition, partly out of recognition of the many special features that pronouns possess. Still, pronouns are just a special kind of noun, and in diagrams we will show this by making pronouns, like other nouns, heads of noun phrases. (1.7-6) S NP VP Form: Pro VC NP PP Art N P NP Pro She gave the crayon to me Function: Su Pred DO IO 1.8 Word Classes It should be clear from the preceding sections that word classes, or parts-of-speech, are essen- tial components of grammatical analysis. English has traditionally been analyzed as having ten word classes: (1.8-1) (a) Nouns [Alfred, Tonawanda, dog, beauty, act] Verbs [run, give, be, do, have, act] Adjectives [silly, old, good, beautiful] Adverbs [quickly, finally, very, yesterday] (b) Pronouns [he, we, who, no one] Prepositions [on, at, of, near] Conjunctions [and, that, when, for] 20 are read as follows: the S consists of an NP and a VP. The NP consists of the N Milt. The VP con- sists of a VC and an NP, the VC consisting of noticed [the precise labelling of which we will put off until Chapter 3] and the NP consisting of an Art the, an A enraged, and an N parrot. In constructing form diagrams, three additional principles must be observed: (1) All form labels, whether of word classes or the constituents that contain them, must eventually link up with the S label. The reason for this is that everything under the S is what the S consists of — for a constituent not to connect up ultimately with the S is tantamount to the claim that the constituent is not part of the S. (2) Lines in diagrams can’t cross: X Y (Incorrect diagram) Z W (3) Something below can only connect with one thing above: X Y (Incorrect diagram) Z That is, Z can only be a part of the constituent X or Y but not of both. NPs consist of the head N and any determiners and modifiers of the N. VPs consist of the VC, the predicator [verbal or non-verbal], objects, and any modifiers of the predicator. The VC contains the verbal predicator [or a copular if the predicator is not a verb] and any auxiliaries. PPs consist of a preposition and its object, which always takes the form of an NP. Immediately under the S will be found the subject NP, the VP, and any modifiers of the S. The latter would include place and time adverbials, as well as expressions like surprisingly, hopefully, and unfortunately, whose scope of modification includes the whole sentence. In diagramming function keep in mind that entire NPs [not just the head N] fulfill the func- tion of Su and DO, and that the entire PP is the OO. IOs, of course, will be either NPs or PPs, de- pending on whether they precede or follow the DO. A few sample diagrams are provided below: (1.9-2) S Adv NP VP N VC NP Art A N Sadly Gerald detested the unfortunate vole Advl mod S Su Pred DO Adjl mod vole 23 (1.9-3) S NP VP Art N PP VC NP P NP N Art N The guy under the table was drinking gin Su Aux Pred DO Adjl mod guy (1.9-4) S NP VP N VC NP PP Art N P NP N Nell blamed the fiasco on Dudley Su Pred DO OO (1.9-5) S NP VP PP N VC A P NP N Theodore might be crabby on Friday Su Aux Cop Pred Advl mod S IMPORTANT TERMS Predication Predicator Argument One-two-three-place predicator Semantic Structure Syntactic Structure 24 25 Word classes Constituent Subject Verb phrase Agreement Direct object Noun phrase Form Function Predicate nominal Predicate adjective Predicate preposition Predicate adverb Copular verb, copula Auxiliary Indirect object Oblique object/Oblique Objects Adjunct Ellipsis Objective complement Copular sentence Transitive Intransitive Ditransitive Adverbial Adjectival Modification, modifier Head Prepositional phrase Object of a preposition/prepositional object Proform Pro-adverbial Pro-verb Regular, irregular Open word classes Closed word classes Inflection In most technical linguistic work, and in logic, the PREDICATOR is referred to as the ‘predi- cate’. Predicator is chosen here to avoid confusion because the term ‘predicate’ is also the traditional synonym of VERB PHRASE. In place of ONE-, TWO- or THREE-PLACE PREDICATORS (or ‘predi- cates’ in technical works), one can refer to verbs as having a ‘valence’ of one, two, or three, respec- tively. ARGUMENTS have been referred to as ‘terms’ and ‘valents’, and, together with non-verbal predicators, are equivalent to the traditional term ‘complements’. The term ‘argument’ itself is now current in much theoretical linguistic work and stems ultimately from logic. The traditional term ‘complement’ has been accorded a new specialized use in modern linguistic work (Chapter 8). PREDICATE NOMINALS and PREDICATE ADJECTIVES have been referred to as ‘subjective com- plements’, and PREDICATE PREPOSITIONS and PREDICATE ADJECTIVES have been termed ‘adverbial complements’. COPULAS are often called ‘linking verbs’. The useful term OBLIQUE OB- JECT is taken from Relational Grammar, and again the term ‘adverbial complement’ has been used in its stead. In traditional grammar it is the HEADS of NPs that are taken to be subjects, objects, an- tecedents, etc. 28 CHAPTER 1 Test Yourself: Section 1.1 Identify predications, predicators and their arguments for each of the following sentences: 1. Murray donated the beer to the orphanage. 2. Virginia likes figs. 3. Melvin is stout. 4. Graham is a graphologist. 5. Daphne believes Ronald is guilty. Section 1.4 Determine whether each argument is a subject, direct object, indirect object, or oblique object. 1. William flunked Flemish. 2. Wilma sent Willard the willow. 3. Buffalo believes in the Bills. 4. Nigel nibbled on his food daintily. 5. Bertha takes her armadillo to school. Section 1.5 Determine whether the following sentences are copular, intransitive, transitive, or ditransitive. 1. Clive clobbered Cliff. 2. Marilyn is sick of Boris. 3. Tyrone eats his collards with raspberry vinegar. 4. Randolph was drunk. 5. Fritz relied on Gerry. 6. Marylou lent Harriet her sneakers. Section 1.6 For each of the sentences below, note all instances of modification, and 1) determine the head and modi- fier and 2) whether the modification is adjectival or adverbial: 1. Floyd takes ghastly pictures. 2. Norman ate quietly. 3. Amazingly, Zeke eats leeks. 4. That’s a truly disgusting pizza. 5. Historical atlases depress Mildred. Section 1.9 a) Provide form/function diagrams for each of the following: 1. Selwyn left Aberystwyth on Saturday. 2. Surprisingly, the awful play inspired Mortitia. 3. The woman near Roscoe threw a knife. 4. Irving had lived in Fresno for a year. 5. Morley accused Walter of egregious levity. b) For each of the diagrams below, identify the errors. Note: there may be more than one error per diagram. 1) S 2) S NP VP NP VP N VC PP N VC PP V P Art A NP P NP N N Ned went into the red shed Tim is grim on Fridays Su Pred Advl mod S Su Aux Pred Advl mod S 3) S NP VP N VC PP NP P NP Art N Art N A Bret set the wet net inside the jet Su Pred Adjl mod net IO DO 29 30 CHAPTER 2 THE NOUN PHRASE Contents: 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Nouns 2.3 Determiners 2.3.1 Definiteness and the Specific/Generic Distinction 2.3.2 The Articles and Demonstratives 2.3.3 Definiteness 2.3.4 The Specific/Generic Distinction 2.3.5 Comparison with Other Languages 2.4 Quantification 2.4.1 Introduction 2.4.2 Number 2.4.3 Partitives 2.4.4 Collective Nouns 2.4.5 Numeral Quantifiers 2.4.6 Non-Numeral Quantifiers 2.5 Case in Nouns 2.6 Personal Pronouns 2.7 Other Pronouns 2.8 Pronouns and Determiners as a System of Reference Important Terms Exercises Test Yourself Research Problems a problem *a water two problems *two waters *sòme problem sòme water *enough problem enough water a cow *a beef [N.B. not in the sense of com- two cows *two beefs plaint, where it is a count noun.] *sòme cow sòme beef *enough cow enough beef a potato *an English (language) two potatoes *two Englishes *some potato sòme English *enough potato enough English Some nouns can be used either in a count or mass sense, though such differences in class membership may be accompanied by differences in meaning. In some cases the count noun refers to a kind, instantiation, or unit of the entity denoted by the corresponding mass noun. For example bread is ordinarily a mass noun, but it can function as a count noun when it means ‘kind of bread’, as in: (2.2-4) This bakery is known for the many breads it bakes. [Note the plural –s]. Some other examples include: (2.2-5) Mass noun sense Count noun sense wine a wine cheese a cheese soap a soap A kind/type of wheat a wheat sauce a sauce experience an experience belief a belief philosophy a philosophy An instantiation of beauty a beauty war a war coffee a coffee beer a beer pastry a pastry A serving unit of aspirin an aspirin chocolate a chocolate In other cases the relation is more idiosyncratic, with the mass noun naming a substance and the count noun naming a kind of object historically made from it. Note, however, that the historic rela- tionship between the mass and count nouns need no longer hold; as words take on new meanings, as in changing from mass to count nouns, the new meanings take on a life of their own — for exam- ple, there is nothing contradictory about an iron [of either sort] made from aluminum. 33 (2.2-6) Mass noun sense Count noun sense iron an iron [for pressing clothes] an iron [for playing golf] glass a glass [container for holding liquids] paper a paper [an essay or report] wood a wood [a forest] a wood [for playing golf] film a film [a screen play] nickel a nickel [a US five-cent coin] Notice that when a mass noun is pluralized, it automatically takes on a count noun sense: (2.2-7) five wines [five kinds of wines] five experiences [five instances of experience] five coffees [five serving units/kinds of coffee] The classification of a noun as count or mass is often difficult for learners of English as a sec- ond language. While the assignment of nouns to one or the other class is usually predictable on general semantic grounds — names of substances are mass, names of familiar objects are count, etc. — the classification of particular nouns sometimes seems rather arbitrary. For example, bean is a count noun [one bean, two beans, etc.], but rice and corn are mass nouns [*one rice, two rices, etc.]; one eats a serving of beans or a serving of corn, not *rices or *corns. Similarly, assignment is count [‘I had three assignments yesterday’] but homework is mass [*I had three homeworks yesterday]. In such cases rules are of little use, and the student must simply memorize the class to which such nouns belong. Note also that one language’s count noun may be another language’s mass noun: the English noun grape is a count noun, but its German counterpart Traube and its Russian counterpart vinograd are mass nouns, like English rhubarb and corn. One further classification of nouns, one that cuts across the count/mass distinction, is that be- tween CONCRETE and ABSTRACT nouns. Concrete nouns denote material objects and abstract nouns denote non-material qualities and concepts. The chart below summarizes the noun classes discussed in this section: (2.2-8) 34 ALL NOUNS PROPER COMMON COUNT MASS CONCRETE ABSTRACT CONCRETE ABSTRACT Irving clock worry boron physics Cincinnati kangaroo assignment water homework Jupiter guava election wheat honesty 2.3 Determiners 2.3.1 Definiteness and the Specific/Generic Distinction: Introduction The DETERMINERS are a closed word class that includes the articles [the, a/an, sòme] and the closely related demonstratives [this, these, that, those]. Before discussing the demonstratives them- selves, it is necessary to examine a few important semantic distinctions. The first is the DEFINITE/INDEFINITE distinction. Definiteness is fundamentally hearer [or reader] oriented. It relates to assumptions made by the speaker [or writer] about the hearer’s ability to uniquely identify the reference of an argument. For example, suppose I want to communicate in- formation to you about some individual of my acquaintance. If I believe you know that this indi- vidual exists, I may provide him/her with a definite description: (2.3-1) I got a letter yesterday from Boris the man I met in Minsk Proper nouns like Boris and noun phrases preceded by the definite article the are both ways of pre- senting definite descriptions. If, on the other hand, I believe you don’t know about the individual I’m about to refer to, I will provide him/her with an indefinite description: (2.3-2) I got a letter yesterday from a man I met in Minsk. The indefinite article a is used to provide indefinite descriptions. The difference between the and a in these sentences doesn’t change the objective content of the information these sentences contain in any way. Rather, it is part of a strategy for effectively communicating that objective content. By us- ing a definite or indefinite description, I signal to you whether you should search your memory and try to recall who this individual is or whether you needn’t bother. Once reference is made to an ar- gument, the referent is, of course, known to the hearer, and thus further reference will always be in the form of a definite description. For example, if I say (2.3-3) I tripped over a cat last night. The cat screeched. The first mention of cat, presented as an indefinite, is meant to communicate that I don’t believe you know the benighted cat. But the second mention, framed as a definite, communicates that the cat is already familiar to you, having just been mentioned in the last sentence. If I were to say instead (2.3-4) I tripped over a cat last night. A cat screeched. I would be communicating that both mentions of cat were new to you and, therefore, must repre- sent different cats. There is another important aspect of definiteness: speaker inference. In presenting a referent as definite, the speaker assumes either that the hearer knows about the existence of the referent, as we have already seen, or that the hearer can infer the existence of the referent on the basis of what he/she already knows. For example, when I first introduce a car to you, the car, of course, would have to be indefinite: (2.3-5) I bought a car yesterday. If in subsequent sentences I mention parts of the car to you, they can all be introduced as definites, even though they have not specifically been mentioned before: (2.3-6) I bought a car yesterday. The fender is a little banged up, and the hood is a bit scratched and dented. The fender and the hood can be presented as definites with their first mention because I assume that, knowing what a car is, you know what its component parts are. Since the car is definite, so are the component parts whose existence you can infer from your knowledge of cars. Notice that if the car 35 (2.3-18) THIS Near to speaker THAT Near to hearer YONDER Distant to both speaker and hearer 2.3.3 Definiteness Let us now begin to examine the use of the various determiners. First we will look at the expression of definiteness. The definite article the is used with mass nouns and with singular or plural count nouns to in- dicate definite reference: (2.3-19) the grapefruit SINGULAR COUNT the grapefruits PLURAL COUNT the uranium MASS Of proper nouns, with exceptions to be discussed below, only plurals take the: (2.3-20) *the Fresno SINGULAR PROPER *the Zeke SINGULAR PROPER the Nixons PLURAL PROPER the Caroliners PLURAL PROPER the Rockies PLURAL PROPER the Indies PLURAL PROPER the Ivans PLURAL PROPER [if we know more than one person named Ivan] The indefinite article a/an occurs primarily with singular count nouns. The indefinite article sòme is found with plural count nouns and with mass nouns. The patterns described so far can be summa- rized as follows: (2.3-21) PROPER COUNT MASS 38 sg pl sg pl DEFINITE Ø the the the the INDEFINITE [no indef. proper Ns] a/an sòme sòme Notice that as far as article usage is concerned, mass nouns pattern much like plural count nouns, even though mass nouns are singular in form. We will now address some problematic areas of article usage, some principled and some idio- syncratic. As mentioned above, there are exceptions to the generalization that singular proper nouns do not occur with articles. The first sort, more a definitional problem than an exception, involves NPs in sentences like the following: (2.3-22) The Irving that wrote that book called last night. (2.3-23) A George I met last week moved to Cucamonga. 39 Neither Irving nor George are, in fact, being used as proper nouns in these sentences even though both are capitalized in the manner of proper nouns — both require the following relative clause in order to establish unique reference. They are instead functioning as count nouns naming classes of entities — the classes of people named Irving and George — and their occurrence with articles sim- ply follows the usual terms for count nouns. The second set of problematic cases cannot similarly be reduced to a problem of definition. Most geographical names conform to our expectations about proper nouns, namely that they do not take articles in the singular: (2.3-24) Paris, Albania, Mount Washington, San Francisco Bay, Wilshire Boulevard, Point Dune, etc. There are, however, numerous examples of geographical names occurring with the definite article the: (2.3-25) the Bronx, the Midi, the Great Barrier Reef, the Mississippi, the Pacific, the Erie Canal, etc. A few generalizations follow: First, any geographical name formed with a count noun followed by a defining phrase will be preceded by the: (2.3-26) the City of New York [c.f. New York City] the State of New York [c.f. New York State] the Isle of Capri the Isthmus of Panama the Department of Gard the County of Los Angeles [c.f. Los Angeles County] the University of Wisconsin The only exception I am aware of is Cape of Good Hope, the name of a province of South Africa — as the name of the cape itself, it is preceded by the. [This generalization can also be invoked to account for another problematic set of proper nouns, viz. names of ships: the Missouri, the Enterprise, etc. These can be understood as ellipted versions of the Battleship Missouri and the Starship Enterprise, where battleship and starship are count nouns and Missouri and Enterprise are defining phrases.] Second, the kind of geographical feature being described may determine whether the precedes or not. A list of such features follows: (2.3-27) Without THE With THE Continents: Africa, Europe, Australia, Regions of the World: The West, the Far East, the Antarctica Third World, the Antarctic [c.f. Antarctica — the Antarctic includes islands and seas not part of Antarctica], the Sahel Countries: Albania, Chad, Bolivia, Canada, Names of Countries which Describe form of Belgium, Mexico, Bangladesh Government: The Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United Arab Republic, the Union of South Africa Regions within Countries [especially those that Regions within Countries [especially those that have have been politically constituted as political never been formally constituted as political units units at some point in history]: Wisconsin, under this name]: The Midi, the Caucausus, the 40 Quebec, Jalisco, Cheshire, Alsace, Lombardy, Crimea [now an administrative unit within the Baluchistan Ukranian SSR, but known to English speakers as a region], the Maritimes, the Midwest, the Pam- pas, the Laquedoc [formerly a province, the name now applies to an area not quite conter- minous with the province] Exceptions: Appalachia, Siberia Formally Constituted Internal Unit with Title: Informally Constituted Internal Division with Los Angeles County, New York State, Sonora Unofficial Title: The Western Region, the Empty State, Quebec Province Quarter, the Eastern Marches Deserts: The Sahara Desert, the Mojave Desert Cities: Paris, Buffalo, Moscow, Beijing, Informally Organized Settlements: The Mormon Melbourne, Fresno Settlement, the Jones Homestead Exceptions: The Hague, the Bronx Mountains and Hills: Mount Whitney, San Mountain Ranges: [mostly plural in English, but] Antonio Peak, Bald Mountain, Round Hill The Jura, the Great Dividing Range, the Arthur Exception: The Cheviot Range, the Pennine Chain Lakes and Ponds: Lake Superior, Owasco Lake, Oceans and Seas: The Pacific Ocean, the Red Sea Walden Pond Bays, Harbors, and Sounds: San Francisco Bay, Gulfs, Bights, and Channels: The Persian Gulf, the Galway Bay, Breton Sound, Mississippi Great Australian Bight, the English Channel Sound, Egg Harbor Creeks and Streams: Coyote Creek, Buffalo Rivers and Canals: The Mississippi River, the Creek, Mill Stream Amazon, the Rhine, the Erie Canal Swamps: Okefenokee Swamp, Okeechobee Deltas: The Sacramento River Delta, the Nile Swamp [Note: the is possible here] Delta, the Mississippi Delta Islands: Catalina Island, Long Island, Vancouver Island Points and Capes: Point Pelee, Point Reyes, Peninsulas: The Monterrey Peninsula, the Cape San Lucas, Cape Sable Guajira Peninsula, the Iberian Peninsula Passes and Valleys: Donner Pass, Monument Plains and Basins: The Baltic Plain, the Great Valley, Death Valley Basin Many exceptions with valleys: The San Gabriel Valley, the Ohio River Valley Woods: Norman Wood, Breton Wood Forests: The Black Forest, the Ardennes Forest, the Angeles National Forest Many exceptions: Sherwood Forest Mesas: Grand Mesa, Mesa Verde Plateaus and Highlands: The Coconico Plateau, the Colorado Plateau, the Tibetan Plateau, the Bolivian Highlands Streets: Wilshire Boulevard, Broadway, Freeways, Expressways, Thru-ways, etc.: The Santa Front Street, Linn Avenue, Cross Creek Monica Freeway, the Gardiner Expressway, the Lane New York State Thru-way, the Pennsylvania turnpike Parks and Squares: Washington Park, Monuments and Memorials: The Washington Lincoln Square Monument, the Lincoln Memorial 43 A/an is used with singular count nouns that are specific/indefinite, sòme with plural count nouns and mass nouns. In Standard English these forms completely characterize the system; but in collo- quial usage two additional forms, this and some [N.B. not sòme], are used as well. This is used as a marker of specific/indefinite in the following: (2.3-39) Yesterday I met this guy, and he told me that he could get me a new Sony TV cheap. This sentence can be used to introduce the referent guy in colloquial style: guy is new, so indefinite; at the same time, the speaker has a specific guy in mind, so the reference is specific. This does not have this function in Standard English; that has no similar use in any variety of English. Some differs from sòme phonologically in that it is is always given a full pronunciation, unlike sòme, which is ordinarily reduced to [sm]. Like this, it can be used as a marker of specific/indefinite reference with singular count nouns — recall that sòme is not used with singular count nouns. (2.3-40) A: How come Max didn’t show up last night? B: Well, he met some girl at the meeting yesterday and he spent all night talk- ing to her about Radical Syndicalism. Though both some and this can be used to indicate specific/indefinite reference, their meanings are not identical. This is used when the speaker intends the reference to be the topic of subsequent dis- course, i.e. it signals to the hearer the speaker’s intention to provide more information about the new referent. So, if I begin a discourse with (2.3-39), I signal that guy is the topic of my bit of the conversation. Some, on the other hand, indicates that the speaker does not intend the new referent to be the topic of the discourse. So in (2.3-40) Max is the topic, not girl, who is just an incidental charac- ter. [Note that this and some serve as markers of the speaker’s intention at the time of utterance and so are not infallible markers of what follows. Speaker A in (2.3-40) might, for example, be interested in hearing more about the girl Max met and so ask B about her, thereby shifting the topic from Max to the girl.] A/an and sòme are neutral to the topical/peripheral distinction coded by this and some, and in formal usage must substitute for both. Generic references are all logically definite: if the hearer knows the meaning of the words used to construct a generic reference, then the hearer knows the identity of the things referred to: the entire class of things described by the NP. So if the hearer understands the meaning of the words yellow and tomato, then he/she knows the identity of the generic referent in: (2.3-41) Yellow tomatoes sicken Sylvia. Despite the logical definiteness of generic reference, English grammar allows generic references to take the form of an indefinite as well as the expected definite form. In the next few paragraphs we will examine the differences between definite and indefinite expression of generics. When a generic noun phrase is expressed as a definite, it straightforwardly refers to the entire class of entities represented by a count noun, or the substance or quality represented by a mass noun: (2.3-42) Baby eels are delicious with olive oil, garlic, and chilies. The Greeks are fond of retsina. Kvass is a nasty beverage. Depression is a serious problem in Hoboken. When a generic noun phrase is expressed as an indefinite, it refers to the class by instantiation, i.e. by choosing some unspecified member or members as representatives or prototypes for the whole class: (2.3-43) A meerkat is a ridiculous looking animal. A good cigar is hard to find in Lackawanna. I need a new kazoo. Irving is a fink. Generic/definite noun phrases take articles according to the following chart: (2.3-44) COUNT MASS sg pl 44 the the or Ø Ø (2.3-45) The average Albanian loves garlic. SG COUNT The Albanians love garlic. PL COUNT Albanians love garlic. PL COUNT Garlic is loved by Albanians. MASS [Proper nouns are always definite/specific.] Generic/indefinite noun phrases take the following articles: (2.3-46) COUNT MASS sg pl a/an sòme sòme (2.3-47) An Albanian loves garlic. SG COUNT We need some average Albanians. PL COUNT We need some garlic. MASS We have seen that generic reference can be expressed in the form of definite and indefinite noun phrases and can also be made with either singular or plural heads. While a complete discus- sion of these possibilities is beyond the scope of this chapter, it is worth demonstrating that these variations on generic reference are appropriate in different contexts and with different sorts of nouns. Consider the following set: (2.3-48) (a) A Dubliner likes good beer. (b) The Dubliner likes good beer. (c) Dubliners like good beer. (d) The Dubliners like good beer. The underlined NPs above are all ways of expressing a generic reference to the inhabitants of the city of Dublin and are roughly synonymous. The modes of generic reference illustrated in these sen- tences, however, exhibit different patterns of distribution. First the generic/indefinite pattern (a) is only appropriate where it makes sense to construct a generalization or generic statement by selecting a representative individual. Where it makes no sense to use one individual to represent the class, one of the other patterns must be chosen: (2.3-49) (a) *An aardwolf is becoming extinct. (b) The aardwolf is becoming extinct. (c) Aardwolves are becoming extinct. (d) The aardwolves are becoming extinct. Otherwise, this pattern is a frequent and colloquial means of forming a generic statement. Pattern (b) is more formal. It is ordinarily used only with noun heads that represent living things, inventions, or complex instruments or devices: (2.3-50) The cabbage is an important food item in Ruthenia. The meerkat is a ridiculous looking animal. The telephone was invented by Bell. The personal computer became common in the 1980s. It cannot ordinarily be used with other sorts of nouns: (2.3-51) *The small rock is good for slings. [This sentence is, of course, OK with definite/specific reference] Patterns (a) and (c) can be used with such nouns: (2.3-52) A small rock is good for slings. Small rocks are good for slings. Pattern (d) is even more restricted in distribution. It is normally only used with head nouns that refer to humans: (2.3-53) *The cabbages are important food items in Ruthenia. *The carrots are the favorite food of Bugs Bunny. *The small rocks are good for slings. [Again, these sentences are acceptable if the noun phrases are given a definite/specific interpreta- tion.] Occasionally, non-human nouns are used with this pattern: (2.3-54) the whales! Save the redwoods! the aardwolves! Except for familiar phrases [e.g. Save the whales!], pattern (d) sounds a bit odd with non-humans: Save the aardwolf! sounds more natural than Save the aardwolves! Pattern (c) is an informal and natural way to make generic statements. It is unrestricted as to kind of count noun [mass nouns, of course, can’t be pluralized] and can occur in all registers. There is a fifth pattern of generic statement, restricted to a few idiomatic expressions. Here a count noun occurs in the singular without an article: (2.3-55) boat came car Zeke traveled by plane left bus train 45 gonorrhea a broken bone the clap anemia a backpain the hives smallpox a hangover the blues yellow fever a spasm the dumps dengue fever a fever the horrors A few generalizations can be made about this list. Set (a) consists of Greco-Latin scientific terms and other terms of foreign origin [malaria and influenza are from Italian]. It also has expressions with fe- ver as head noun — but the term fever itself can also function in set (b). Smallpox, which would seem naturally to belong to set (c) along with chickenpox and the word pox itself, exceptionally belongs to set (a). Set (b) consists of expressions which are independently meaningful [cold, stroke, bone], and generic words for pain and compounds based on them [pain, ache, cramp, headache, stomachache, etc.]. Hernia exceptionally belongs to this class. Fever can function in either (a) or (b). Set (c) nouns can oc- cur with or without the [i.e. gout or the gout], except for the clap, the pox, and the names of emotional states [the blues, etc.], which always take the article. Many members of this set are morphological plurals, but nonetheless usually take singular agreement: (2.3-68) The mumps is/are a childhood disease. The articles pose no special problems for diagramming. The appropriate form labels are Art [=article] and Dem [=demonstrative], and the function label is Det [=determiner]. The latter, how- ever, will not be used unless some special point is being made. (2.3-69) S Abbreviations: Dem = Demonstrative Form: NP VP Det = Determiner Art N VC NP 48 Dem N Some boy ate this cake Function: Su Pred DO Det Det 2.3.5 Comparison with Other Languages All languages have demonstratives of one sort or another and, in general, use them in ways roughly comparable to their use in English. Articles are another matter altogether, and ESL instruc- tors are likely to find articles one of their most difficult teaching problems. Many languages make no use of articles at all, and of those that do, article usage may differ considerably from English. Russian and Mandarin, for example, do not use articles: (2.3-70) Mandarin Rén lái le [Aspect will be discussed in Chapter 3; person came aspect aspect is a verbal category] ‘The person came.’ Russian Chelovek prishël person came ‘The person came.’ 49 Both languages, however, have ways of signaling definiteness and the specific/generic distinction. For example, both languages used word order to signal definiteness. Compare the above sentences with the following: (2.3-71) Mandarin Lái le rén le came aspect person aspect ‘A person came.’ Russian Prishël chelovek came person ‘A person came.’ Compare also the following two Russian sentences: (2.3-72) Polkovnik okazalsja izmenikom colonel turned + out traitor ‘The colonel turned out to be a traitor.’ (2.3-73) Izmenikom okazalsja polkovnik traitor turned + out colonel ‘A colonel turned out to be the traitor.’ The moral here is that the meaning distinctions, definiteness and specific/generic, are present in these languages as in English, but realized in different ways. Languages that have articles may use them quite differently from English. Such familiar lan- guages as Spanish and French are good examples, using, for example, the definite article with ge- neric mass nouns: (2.3-74) French Le fer est le plus utile des métaux the iron is the more useful of + the metals ‘Iron is the most useful metal.’ Spanish La filosofia no le interesa the philosophy not her interests ‘Philosophy doesn’t interest her.’ In addition, French uses the definite article with certain proper nouns, place names, in a manner dif- ferent from English: (2.3-75) la France le Canada 2.4 Quantification 2.4.1 Introduction QUANTIFICATION refers to the various techniques that tell us how many entities or how much of a substance is being referred to. There are a variety of techniques for quantification em- ployed in English, including inflection for number, partitive constructions, collective nouns, and the use of various sorts of quantifiers. These topics will be taken up in turn in this section. 50 2.4.2 Number The English noun is inflected for two NUMBERS: SINGULAR, which denotes ‘one’, and PLURAL, which denotes ‘more than one’. The distinction between singular and plural, i.e. between ‘one’ and ‘more than one’ is not particularly useful — the semantic area covered by the more-than- one plural is considerable — and therefore many languages lack number inflection altogether, ex- pressing differences in quantity by means of overt quantifiers only [e.g. three, several, etc.]. Some languages employ more than two numbers, adding, for instance, a dual or a paucal [‘few’] to the singular and plural distinction, as in Irish: (2.4-1) Chonac mo bhróg SINGULAR I + saw my shoe ‘I saw my shoe.’ Chonac mo dhá bhróig DUAL I + saw my two shoes-dual ‘I saw my two shoes.’ Chonac mo bhróga PLURAL I + saw my shoes-plural ‘I saw my shoes.’ In English number is manifested as inflections on nouns [cat vs cats] and in agreement; verbs agree in certain cases with the number of their subjects and demonstratives agree with the number of their head nouns: (2.4-2) The soldier is smoking on duty. The soldiers are smoking on duty. This soldier is smoking on duty. These soldiers are smoking on duty. Not all English nouns are inflected for number. Mass nouns are not so inflected, though many concrete mass nouns can be treated as count nouns and then inflected for number with some change of meaning — see 2.2. Nouns that have no singular/plural distinction [music, homework, cattle] are INVARIABLE; those that have this distinction are VARIABLE. Some invariables are treated as sin- gular: (2.4-3) This music is terrible. This homework is tedious. This silver is tarnished. This news is disturbing. Others are treated as plural: (2.4-4) These scissors are sharp. These cattle are fat. These shorts are tight. These people are drunk. Variable nouns have either a regular or an irregular inflection. The regular inflection involves the suffixing of /s/, /z/, or /Iz/ [spelled –s or –es] to the singular: 53 the measure word and the meaning of the partitive noun that the two would go together. For ex- ample, head is a special measure noun for lettuce, cabbage, garlic, and cattle: (2.4-13) a head of lettuce a head of cabbage a head of garlic a head of cattle It is easy to understand the metaphor that was involved in using the word head to count lettuce and cabbage. While somewhat less clear in the case of garlic, one can still see the connection with the other vegetables: all three are more-or-less round in shape like a human head. However, not all round vegetables are measured by the head; we do not, for example, measure pumpkins, grape- fruit, or melons by the head even though they, too, are round: (2.4-14) *a head of pumpkin *a head of grapefruit *a head of melon Moreover, it is hard to see what connection there is between these particular vegetables and cattle. Cattle do, of course, have heads, but so do other animals, and we do not count them by the head: (2.4-15) *a head of dog *a head of swine *a head of deer We are forced to the conclusion that the set of things measured by the head is not a definable one, unlike things measured by the pound, the liter, the piece, and so on. One cannot infer from the shape or other quality of an object that head would be an appropriate measure noun for that object, and therefore head is a special measure noun that must be memorized along with the word it is used to measure. Other special measure nouns are illustrated below: (2.4-16) a ream of paper a clove of garlic a loaf of bread a round of ammunition a round of applause a bevy of beauties a set of tennis Partitive constructions are the primary means of quantifying mass nouns, but they can also be used with count nouns: (2.4-17) a pound of nails a ton of bricks a can of peaches a box of guavas Here the partitive noun, since it is a count noun, is pluralized. Partitive count nouns are also found with heads representing non-specific number reference, conveying a large quantity: (2.4-18) lots of bananas a lot of bananas dozens of kumquats thousands of beetles mobs of children Notice that partitives are not used in Standard English for ordinary numeral quantification: (2.4-19) *a dozen of eggs *a hundred of loquats Special measure nouns are also found with count nouns, but these as a class have been on the decline for the last century at least, and many such expressions represent archaic usage: (2.4-20) a pride of lions a gaggle of geese a mob of kangaroos a cast of hawks a harras of horses a bevy of quails a barren of mules a singular of boars a cete of badgers a clowder of cats Generic measure nouns such as flock, bunch, herd, etc., are now used instead. Partitive constructions present the student with a minor difficulty in diagramming because the relation between their grammatical structures and their semantic structures is not direct, as it is in most other constructions. For example, in the sentence (2.4-21) Constance consumed a pound of millet. the grammatical head of the partitive construction a pound of millet is pound; millet, which is the se- mantic head — it is, after all, what Constance consumed — cannot be the grammatical head of the direct object noun phrase because it is the object of the preposition of. In partitive constructions, the grammatical head is the measure noun even though the semantic head is the partitive noun. In most constructions, the grammatical head and the semantic head are the same. Sentence (2.4-21) is diagrammed as follows: (2.4-22) S Abbreviation: Ptv = Partitive NP VP N VC NP Art N PP P NP N Constance consumed a pound of millet Su Pred DO Ptv 54 2.4.4 Collective Nouns COLLECTIVE NOUNS are singular in form but behave in many respects as plurals. Despite their appearance as singulars, they may condition agreement as plurals and be replaced by plural pronouns.: (2.4-23) (a) The government has not blamed itself for the fiasco. (b) The government have not blamed themselves for the fiasco. American usage (a) favors the singular [i.e. treating words like government as an ordinary singular count noun], and British usage (b) favors the plural, the British usage here being the more tradi- tional. The justification for the plural agreement and pronoun replacement found in (b) is that the speaker conceives of the noun as representing an aggregate or collection of individuals rather than as a unit. Collective nouns can be count, mass, or proper: (2.4-24) Count Mass Proper government the bourgeoisie the Kremlin committee the clergy Congress army gentry Parliament majority aristocracy the Vatican tribe proletariat the Papacy jury public the White House All varieties of English agree in treating certain nouns as collective nouns. This set includes invari- able count nouns like cattle and people and variable count nouns functioning as measure nouns like lot: (2.4-25) A lot of termites are living in this house. The cattle are standing like statues. There are also ‘singulative’ nouns, morphologically plural nouns treated as singulars. The United States and the United Nations are two such cases: (2.4-26) The United States is a leading producer of goat milk. The historical transition from the United States are to the United States is marked a change of concep- tion of the nature of the American union. 2.4.5 Numeral Quantifiers The NUMERAL QUANTIFIERS are traditionally divided into two classes: the CARDINAL NUMBERS, such as one, two, three, etc., and the ORDINAL NUMBERS, such as first, second, third, etc. Cardinal numbers are quantifiers (Quant) in form and function; ordinal numbers are simply adjec- tives: (2.4-27) Abbreviation: NP NP Quant = Quantifier 55 Form: Art Quant N Art A N the three zebras the third zebra Function: Quant Adjl mod zebra NP NP Form: Pro PP Pro PP 58 P NP P NP Art N Art N none of the poets many of the poets Function: Quant Ptv Quant Ptv Some quantifiers consist of frozen idiomatic expressions with a head noun, with or without modifi- ers, and are followed by a partitive like the quantifier pronouns: (2.4-39) A lot of whiskey is consumed by struggling poets. Lots of whiskey is consumed by struggling poets. A great deal of whiskey is consumed by struggling poets. (2.4-40) NP NP Form: N PP Art A N PP P NP P NP N N lots of whiskey a great deal of whiskey Function: Quant Ptv Quant Ptv Except for those quantifiers that specify whole sets, [e.g. the ‘universal quantifiers’ all, every, etc.], the non-numeral quantifiers are basically indefinite in reference. One effect of this is that when quantifiers are repeated in discourse, they are interpreted as referring to different sets, just like the indefinite article a/an: (2.4-41) I tripped over a cat last night. A cat screeched. (2.4-42) Several people ate guavas, and several people ate papayas. In (2.4-41) I am presenting cat as indefinite both times, i.e. I am communicating that both cats are new to the hearer and therefore must represent different cats. Similarly, in (2.4-42), several people, since it is indefinite, refers each time to different sets of people. As mentioned above, the universal quantifiers are definite so they are not subject to this sort of interpretation: (2.4-43) All cats love to eat chicken, and all cats love catnip. All cats refers to the same, identified [hence definite] set in both conjuncts. Articles and partitives, however, can combine with quantifiers to produce other sorts of refer- ence. Consider the following sentences: (2.4-44) (a) Many paintings hang in the Creech Gallery. (b) Many of Irving’s paintings hang in the Creech Gallery. 59 (c) Irving’s many paintings hang in the Creech Gallery. (d) The many paintings of the younger Fazzola hang in the Creech Gallery. In (a), many paintings is simply indefinite in reference. Many of Irving’s paintings in (b) is a bit more complex: many still has indefinite reference, but Irving’s paintings represents a definite set. Many of Irving’s paintings, then, is an indefinite subset of a definite set. However, both Irving’s many paintings and the many paintings of the younger Fazzola have definite reference [note that the possessive case Ir- ving’s is as reliable a marker of definite reference as the — see 2.5]. The possibility of a given quantifier appearing in a set of constructions like many above de- pends on a number of factors and can only be illustrated here with a few examples. Compare many [and similar forms like several] with much: (2.4-45) (a) Much fish was eaten by Newfoundlanders. (b) Much of the fish was eaten by Newfoundlanders. (c) *Irving’s much fish was eaten by Newfoundlanders. (d) *The much fish of the younger Fazzola was eaten by Newfoundlanders. The indefinite reference in (a) and the interpretation of a definite subset of a definite set (b) are both quite acceptable, but the definite interpretations in (c) and (d) are not. Much, like its fellow mass noun quantifier a good/great deal resists a definite interpretation — notice there is no form like *the good deal of. The definite expressions the few and the little are the counterparts of the negative few and little and not the positive a few and a little. Note the following: (2.4-46) Irv has few friends in Albania. The few friends he has won’t be enough to help him when he’s arrested. The pair of quantifiers no and none are in complementary distribution. No, which is indefinite and generic, is a quantifier in form as well as function: (2.4-47) No right-thinking Buffalonian listens to Angus Prune. *No of the right-thinking Buffalonian(s) listens to Angus Prune. None is likewise definite and generic. It differs from no in that it is a pronoun and differs from most other quantifiers [e.g. many, much, all, etc.] in that it is only a pronoun: (2.4-48) *None right-thinking Buffalonian(s) listens to Angus Prune. None of the right-thinking Buffalonians listens to Angus Prune. No and none are illustrated in diagrams in (2.4-38). The syntax of all and both has some interesting complexities. Both forms may function either as quantifiers in form or as pronouns: (2.4-49) All voles may be digging holes. QUANTIFIER All of the voles may be digging holes. PRONOUN Both voles may be digging holes. QUANTIFIER Both of the voles may be digging holes. PRONOUN The partitives following all and both when they are pronouns may appear in their ordinary forms or in a special form referred to as the TRUNCATED PARTITIVE: (2.4-50) All of the voles. ORDINARY PARTITIVE All the voles. TRUNCATED PARTITIVE Both of the voles. ORDINARY PARTITIVE Both the voles. TRUNCATED PARTITIVE In the truncated partitive, the preposition of is ellipted and the partitive is reduced to an NP, unlike the ordinary partitive, which takes the form of a PP: (2.4-51) Ordinary Partitive Truncated Partitive NP NP Pro PP Pro NP 60 P NP Art N Art N all of the voles all the voles Quant Ptv Quant Ptv The truncated partitive is only found after all, both, half, fractions such as one third, and multipliers such as double. In the ordinary partitive, of is usually reduced to just [¶] ‘schwa’ in pronunciation, but its presence even so reduced is otherwise required. Following quantifiers other than those listed above, the full partitive with of is obligatory: (2.4-52) Few of the voles are digging holes. ORDINARY PARTITIVE *Few the voles are digging holes. TRUNCATED PARTITIVE Each of the voles are digging holes. ORDINARY PARTITIVE *Each the voles are digging holes. TRUNCATED PARTITIVE Some of the voles are digging holes. ORDINARY PARTITIVE *Some the voles are digging holes. TRUNCATED PARTITIVE It is well to emphasize that, for example, all in the truncated partitive is a pronoun and thus grammatically and semantically distinct from its role as a quantifier in form. So, the meaning of (2.4-53) All voles might be digging holes. where all functions as a form quantifier, is different from the pronoun all followed by either the full or the truncated partitive: (2.4-54) All of the voles might be digging holes. All the voles might be digging holes. The latter supposes that there is a particular set of voles under consideration, perhaps those in Vir- gil’s backyard, and that all members of this set might be digging holes. The former, with the form quantifier all, refers to the entire class of voles, not just to a particular group. The forms illustrated below represent another peculiarity of all and both, joined in this in- stance by each: (2.4-55) (a) All of the voles might be digging holes. (b) The voles all might be digging holes. (2.5-7) Alf’s dog a moment’s reflection Dog and reflection are the heads of these associative constructions. The head nouns of the modifying noun phrases [Alf’s and moment’s] are in the associative case. These constructions can be dia- grammed as follows: (2.5-8) Abbreviation: NP NP Ass = Associative 63 NP N NP N N Art N Alf’s dog a moment’s reflection Ass mod dog Ass mod reflection A few things need to be said about these diagrams. First, notice that Ass [= ‘associative’] is a func- tion, not a form label. Associative nouns are nouns in form. Second, associative nouns, since they are nouns, are heads of NPs — all nouns are heads of noun phrases regardless of their case — and it is the entire NP that receives the function label Ass. One reason for insisting that associative nouns are heads of noun phrases is that they, too, may be modified by their own associatives and adjecti- vals. Since the rule is that an NP contains the head noun and any modifiers or determiners of the head, the NP of which the associative noun is the head is necessary as a place to put that noun’s modifiers. Consider, for example: (2.5-9) Zeke’s elder brother’s wife’s car Both Zeke’s and elder modify brother’s and so must be placed in brother’s NP. The NP of which brother’s is head modifies wife’s and so must be placed in wife’s NP. Similarly, the NP of which wife’s is the head modifies car and so must be placed in its NP. All this is diagrammed as follows: (2.5-10) NP Form: NP N NP N NP A N N Zeke’s elder brother’s wife’s car Function: Ass mod car Ass mod wife’s Ass mod Adjl mod brother’s brother’s From the point of view of function, associatives are really only a species of adjectival, and in principle there would be nothing wrong with assigning them the function label Adjl instead of their 64 own label Ass. However, since associatives have some properties unique to them, we will continue to single them out by assigning them their own function label. Having said that associatives are kinds of adjectivals [i.e. modifiers of nouns], it now remains to discuss how they modify nouns. The function of the associative construction is to suggest an as- sociation between a noun phrase and a noun where the noun phrase modifies the noun. A large va- riety of interpretations are possible, the exact interpretation in any given case depending on the con- text and the hearer’s knowledge of possible relationships between the head noun and the modifying NP. Consider, for instance, the following: (2.5-11) Myron’s statue This could code a possessive relationship — a statue Myron owns — as the traditional name for the case would suggest. However, it could also mean a statue which Myron posed for or a statue which Myron carved, with no implication in either case that Myron owns the statue. We could also imag- ine other interpretations: suppose we are all standing in a museum, each of us next to a statue. In discussing these statues one of us might say something like: “My statue was carved in fifteenth cen- tury Florence, but Myron’s statue was carved in Venice in the fourteenth century.” Here Myron’s statue means ‘the statue Myron is standing next to’. Notice then that possession is only one of many sorts of relationships that the associative case can code. The meaning of the case is simply to com- municate that some sort of association exists: we must infer from our knowledge of the world what that association is in any given instance. Below is a short list of a few other associations or relationships that can be coded by the asso- ciative case: (2.5-12) Descriptions a woman’s hat [hat for a woman] Whole/part Irving’s hand [the hand which is part of Irving] Origin or agent Algernon’s poems [the poems written by Algernon] Amount one month’s rent [rent for one month] Relationships Agatha’s cousin [the cousin of Agatha] Nell’s friend [the friend that Nell has] Roscoe’s roommate [the person who rooms with Roscoe] Subject Clyde’s departure [Clyde departed] Object Zelda’s release [They released Zelda] This list could easily be extended and is provided only to suggest the range of relationships that can be inferred from associative constructions. One peculiarity of English is that there is not only one, but rather three, grammatically distinct associative constructions. The first, which has so far been the sole object of our discussion of asso- ciatives, we will refer to as the ‘associative case’ associative. It is characterized by the use of a pre- posed associative NP whose head is in the associative case: (2.5-13) Minnie’s trombone Beethoven’s symphonies the fat boy’s violin The second, referred to as the PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE, is illustrated below: (2.5-14) the symphonies of Beethoven The periphrastic associative is formed by placing a prepositional phrase after the head. The preposi- tion is usually of — just as in partitive constructions — but other prepositions are possible, espe- cially to: (2.5-15) the door of the office the door to the office the secretary of the president the secretary to the president In form/function diagrams the periphrastic associative requires no new paraphernalia in either form or function symbols or concepts: (2.5-16) Associative Case Periphrastic Associative Associative NP NP NP N Art N PP 65 N P NP N Beethoven’s symphonies the symphonies of Beethoven Ass mod symphonies Ass mod symphonies [Note: the term ‘periphrastic’ is used to refer to any grammatical construction that is a non- inflectional alternative to a construction involving an inflection.] There are many cases where either sort of associative construction is possible: (2.5-17) Beethoven’s symphonies ASSOCIATIVE CASE the symphonies of Beethoven PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE Milton’s poems ASSOCIATIVE CASE the poems of Milton PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE But there are other cases where the use of one or the other associative produces an awkward or even an impossible construction: (2.5-18) Floyd’s leg ASSOCIATIVE CASE *the leg of Floyd PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE ?the well’s bottom ASSOCIATIVE CASE the bottom of the well PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE 68 stood as though it were determined by the] and has a human referent. The latter condition explains why (2.5-24) (a) *a side of the box’s (b) *a cub of the bear’s are not fully acceptable. The reason for the hedge ‘normally’ in the first sentence is that the head can be determined by the if it is modified by a relative clause as well as the associative: (2.5-25) the dog of Roscoe’s that bit Floyd [that bit Floyd is a relative clause modifying dog] When the associative noun is a proper noun, the combined associative is virtually obligatory: a friend of Bertha’s is certainly preferable to a friend of Bertha. The situation looks less clear when the associative noun is not proper: a friend of the family seems not to differ in acceptability from a friend of the family’s, though the latter is probably more idiomatic. In some cases, however, a meaning differ- ence seems to emerge between the periphrastic associative and the combined associative with proper noun associatives: (2.5-26) (a) several students of Chomsky PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE (b) several students of Chomsky’s COMBINED ASSOCIATIVE (b) seems to imply that the students actually study with Chomsky in his department, while (a) seems to imply that they study Chomsky’s works but do not study with him personally. Said of people now living, several students of Aristotle is quite acceptable, but several students of Aristotle’s sound distinctly odd. This difference seems to follow from the requirement that the associative noun in the combined associative be a human noun. As a result we interpret Chomsky’s in (b) as re- ferring to the man himself, but no such requirement holds for the periphrastic associative, so in op- position to (b), (a) is interpreted as referring to Chomsky’s works. [See 9.1.2 for more discussion of this problem.] The fourth difference between the associative case construction and the periphrastic associa- tive is that pronouns resist the periphrastic associative. Since most pronouns have human referents, this fact could be subsumed under the generalization that human nouns take the associative case. But this is true also of it, which takes non-human referents: (2.5-27) Zeke lifted its lid. ASSOCIATIVE CASE *Zeke lifted the lid of it. PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE And fifth, the periphrastic associative is considered to be more formal than the associative case, probably because of the traditional prestige of French and, therefore, of translation equivalents from that language. As a result, in written English, especially in references to artistic works, the periphrastic associative is preferred even when the associative noun is human: (2.5-28) Beethoven’s symphonies ASSOCIATIVE CASE the symphonies of Beethoven PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE Fazzola’s poems ASSOCIATIVE CASE the poems of Fazzola PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE The next topic to be discussed is the problem of the associative case with titles that consist of a head noun and a postposed modifier. Modern usage requires that the associatiave case suffix be placed on the last word of the title: (2.5-29) the King of Bulgaria’s throne *the King’s of Bulgaria throne the University of Tonawanda’s main campus *the University’s of Tonawanda main campus her son-in-law’s address *her son’-s-in-law address Writers were formerly advised to avoid the associative case in such cases and to use the periphrastic associative instead, (2.5-30) the throne of the King of Bulgaria but the associative case with titles of this sort is now fairly commonplace except in the most formal styles. Finally, it should be noted that the head of an associative construction with an associative case modifier can be ellipted or deleted, stranding the associative noun phrase. This can happen when the reference of the head is clear from context: (2.5-31) Clyde’s whiskey is stronger than Floyd’s (whiskey). We went over to Zeke’s (house). Alf’s (boat) is a good boat too. The nouns in parentheses can be, and usually are, ellipted in these sentences. NOTE: Some students have difficulty at first distinguishing the partitive from the periphras- tic associative. Bear in mind that the periphrastic associative modifies its head noun which is both the semantic and grammatical head. Partitives, on the other hand, do not modify; rather, the parti- tive noun is quantified according to the standard of measure determined by its measure noun, which functions as the grammatical head of the partitive construction. The partitive noun, however, is the semantic head. (2.5-32) Partitive Construction Measure Partitive Noun 69 three buckets of slime Grammatical Semantic Head Head Periphrastic Associative Associative the operas of Linguini Grammatical & Semantic Head The grammatical head is the noun that hangs directly from the NP that dominates the whole con- struction; the semantic head determines what the whole NP refers to. The semantic head in the par- titive construction above is slime, so in the sentence (2.5-33) The pig ate three buckets of slime. we understand that the pig ate slime, not buckets. However, in the periphrastic construction above, operas is the semantic head, so in (2.5-34) We listened to the opera of Linguini. it was the operas that we listened to, not the composer Linguini himself. 2.6 Personal Pronouns Pronouns are the pro-forms of nouns, and as nouns they are the heads of noun phrases. They have some special properties, however; for example, they typically occur alone in the NP: (2.6-1 ) *the we *a smart she though quantifier pronouns are often followed by partitives: (2.6-2) several of the raccoons all of the carburetors PERSONAL PRONOUNS are traditional groupings of non-quantifier pronouns. They differ from other sorts of pronouns in that they exhibit case distinctions and have special forms known as reflexives. A list of personal pronouns is given below: (2.6-3) NUMBER/ INDEPENDENT PERSON GENDER SUBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE ASSOCIATIVE ASSOCIATIVE REFLEXIVE 1ST SG I me my mine myself PL we us our ours ourselves SG yourself 2nd you you your yours PL yourselves Masculine he him his his himself Feminine she her her hers herself SG 3rd Neutral one one one’s --- oneself Neuter it it its --- itself PL they them their theirs themselves As the chart above shows, there are a number of different criteria for classifying personal pro- nouns. The first we shall consider is PERSON. Person is a deictic property (2.3.1) in that words like I, you, etc., have no absolute reference. Instead, I refers to the person speaking and you to the person addressed, so that I am I when I speak and you are I when you speak, and so on. Words that don’t have deictic reference keep their reference regardless of context: an aardvark is an aardvark regard- less of context. Nouns in general don’t have deictic reference, but personal pronouns do. 70 (2.6-14) Floyd and me saw Jane. Me and him saw Jane. These sentences, of course, are not grammatical in Standard English, but they are frequently heard — and frequently corrected in school. The corrections have resulted in a rather interesting ‘hyper- correction’, an ungrammatical form said in order to avoid another ungrammatical form. In this new construction, the subjective case appears in object position in conjunctions: (2.6-15) They presented the award to Melvin and I. Just between you and I, Georges Buisson digs Pat Boone. These sentences are also ungrammatical in Standard English: I is incorrectly used as the object of the prepositions to and between. For the personal pronouns, there are two distinct associative case forms: the ordinary associa- tive and the INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATIVE. There are only two sets of circumstances when the independent associative is used. First, it is used when the head of the associative construction, i.e. the noun that the associative is modifying, has been ellipted: (2.6-16) Nell’s boat is bigger than my boat. ORDINARY ASSOCIATIVE Nell’s boat is bigger than mine. INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATIVE Second, it is used for the associative noun in the combined associative: (2.6-17) this car of mine a friend of theirs What both these uses have in common is that, for whatever reasons, the head does not follow the associative noun. It and one lack independent associative forms and hence neither can appear by themselves with ellipted heads or in the combined associative: (2.6-18) (a) The cat and I both have bowls. This is mine and that is *its. (b) One can rely on few things in life, but one’s thoughts are *one’s. Under certain conditions they can appear in these constructions when modified by own: *a room of one’s, but a room of one’s own. An independent associative and the one’s own construction are dia- grammed below: (2.6-19) NP NP 73 Dem N PP Art N PP P NP P NP Pro Pro A this car of mine a room of one’s own Ass mod car Ass mod room Adjl mod one’s REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS are special forms used when two references are made to the same entity within a simple predication — the second reference will be a reflexive pronoun: (2.6-20) Roscoe disgraced himself. Nell always depended on herself alone in times of crisis. Reflexive pronouns do not represent another case form; rather, they are positional variants of the subjective and objective cases: (2.6-21) Gertrude herself served the eggnog SUBJECTIVE Fatima pinched herself OBJECTIVE It was noted above that for a reflexive pronoun to be used, both references must be within the same simple predication. So, if there are two references to the same entity that are associated with different predicators, i.e. if the NPs are in different clauses, then reflexive pronouns cannot be used: (2.6-22) Clause 1 Clause 2 *Bertha believed that Floyd would give herself the bottle In order to make this sentence grammatical, the ordinary objective case pronoun her would have to replace herself. In long sentences, reflexive pronouns are optional in adverbials: (2.6-23) Max built a wall of popsicle sticks around him himself One exception to the generalization above about the use of reflexive pronouns involves the first person singular reflexive, which is found with no earlier mention of I or me in the speech of many individuals in formal style: (2.6-24) Merv presented the award to Hildegard and myself. Some speakers feel that the reflexive is more polite than the objective me, a fact which, no doubt, ac- counts for the widespread occurrence of the construction. Notice, however, that this reflexive is very limited in distribution: it can only be used as the second member of a conjunction and seems less good in subject position than elsewhere: (2.6-25) Horace saw Virgil and myself at the Forum. Zelda was grateful to Hortense and myself. ?Selwyn and myself thanked Merv.3 *Horace saw myself at the Forum. *Zelda was grateful to myself. *Myself thanked Merv. Another antecedentless use of the reflexive, and one of more limited currency, is a special form restricted to old fashioned, informal Irish usage. Here the reflexive is used — sometimes ironi- cally — to refer to a person of rank: (2.6-26) It’s himself that just walked in. Notice that the formation of reflexive pronouns contains some irregularities. Most reflexives are formed with the associative pronoun plus self or selves, the whole written as one word: myself, ourselves, etc. But himself and themselves are irregular, and many speakers regularize these forms to produce *hisself and *theirselves. The reflexive pronouns pose no special problems for diagramming: 3 A question mark (?) before a sentence indicates that the sentence is grammatically questionable. 74 (2.6-27) S 75 NP VP N VC NP V Pro Kendall kicked himself Su Pred DO Except for one, which is generic/indefinite, the personal pronouns have definite reference. 2.7 Other Types of Pronouns We have already discussed in passing some additional types of pronouns, e.g. the quantifier pronouns [several, all, some, etc.]. The demonstratives can also be used as pronouns: (2. 7-1) Hand these bottles to Roscoe. Hand these to Roscoe. The demonstratives can, of course, be used with human NPs, but they do not ordinarily replace them unless an insulting reference is intended: (2.7-2) They elected that man president? They elected that president? The one instance where demonstratives can refer pronominally to humans without such insulting overtones is as subject of a copular sentence with a predicate nominal: (2.7-3) A: Who is that masked man? B: That’s the Lone Ranger. A: Are those the Green Bay Packers? B: No, those are the grounds keepers. There is one more set of pronouns that we will concern ourselves with here, the INDEFINITE PRONOUNS, formed by prefixing quantifiers to body, one, and thing: (2.7-4) everybody somebody anybody nobody everyone someone anyone noone/no one everything something anything nothing Those formed with –thing are used to refer to non-humans. Those formed with –body refer to hu- mans but differ somewhat in usage. Those formed with –one signal familiarity or nearness in a spa- tial or psychological sense, while those with –body signal unfamiliarity or distance: (2.7-5) This bottle of Château Ennui is for someone I love. *somebody Get ?anyone but Parker to come over and fix this set! anybody (2.8-12) (a) He learned the violin at an early age. (b) *He learned the violin at the early age. (c) He learned the violin at the early age of five. (2.8-13) (a) He is a helpless victim. (b) *He is the helpless victim. (c) He is the helpless victim of his father’s rages. (2.8-14) (a) She took a position. (b) *She took the position. (c) She took the position that the world is an illusion. The (a) sentences represent ordinary indefinite references. The (b) sentences are ungrammatical as first references: the definite article the is incompatible with this interpretation. [These sentences are of course grammatical if the referents have already been identified to the hearer.] But notice that the definite article in the (c) sentences is quite grammatical even if the referents receive their first men- tion with these sentences: the defining phrase following the head noun sanctions the cataphoric the in these cases. Any noun phrase can combine more than one sort of reference. For instance, in (2.8-12) Look at the moon! It’s exploding! DEFINITE DEFINITE EXOPHORIC ANAPHORIC EXOPHORIC it has anaphoric reference, since it refers back to the moon — which, since we’ve been looking at it, has exophoric reference. But since the moon remains the object of attention, it also has exophoric reference. In (2.8-13), (2.8-13) Our butler has four children. The youngest son is a scoundrel and a poacher. the in the youngest son is anaphoric because it refers back to children, cataphoric because the reference intended in son is determined by youngest, i.e. the reference is made more explicit. The various sorts of reference are summarized below: (2.8-14) Reference 78 Indefinite Definite [new, not identified to hearer] [identified or identifiable to hearer] Exophoric Endophoric [identified by situation] [identified in discourse] Anaphoric Cataphoric [identified by preceding discourse] [identified by following discourse] As the examples given above show, both pronouns and determiners are involved at all levels in the reference system. With some exceptions to be discussed below, form alone is usually not suf- ficient to distinguish the various sorts of definite reference, though definite and indefinite reference are, of course, distinguishable in form. The system of reference in English can be schematized as follows: (2.8-15) SALIENT NON-SALIENT SALIENT 79 DEFINITE UNAMBIGUOUS AMBIGUOUS GENERIC INDEFINITE INDEFINITE REFERENCE REFERENCE REFERENCE REFERENCE REFERENCE REFERENCE this, that [as it, he, the one [pro] a/an, some one [number] determiner she, they or pro.] proper you, we, non-numeral some [pro] nouns they quantifiers I, you, we indefinite pronouns The demonstratives and the first and second person pronouns share the property of ‘salience’, which is to say they have the property of being prominent or conspicuous in the speech situation. They are forms of verbal pointing, and in fact the demonstratives this and that are often accompa- nied by gestures. There is a close relation between this and I, since this means ‘near the speaker’ in a physical or psychological sense. When English had a three-number demonstrative system consist- ing of this, that, and yon, that meant ‘near the addressee’ and yon meant ‘distant from either speaker or addressee’. With the demise of yon, that now means only ‘not this’. The salient forms are associated with exophora; the pronouns always, the demonstratives fre- quently. The demonstratives are also used endophorically, but here we find a difference between this and that. This may have anaphoric or cataphoric reference, but that is only anaphoric. For in- stance, in (2.8-16) Floyd has lost his supply of Dr. Pepper. This worries him. (2.8-17) This worries Floyd; he’s lost his supply of Dr. Pepper. This has anaphoric reference in (2.8-16) and cataphoric reference in (2.8-17). That can replace this in (2.8-16) but not in (2.8-17). The third person personal pronouns are used when the reference is unambiguous. In many languages, personal pronouns are usually omitted unless they are contrastive in sense [he left, not the girl]. Even in English, the second person pronoun is usually ellipted in imperatives [come here ≈ you come here]. The use of third person pronouns is roughly equivalent to the use of the with an ellipted head noun. That is, saying I saw it is rather like saying I saw the without bothering to mention the head noun because the reference of the noun is so clear and unambiguous in context. Compare the demonstratives: I saw this book, I saw this. The demonstratives can function as pro-forms, but the can’t. However, the choice of pronoun [he versus she, etc.] does give an additional clue to the iden- tity of the referent, allowing wider use of these pronouns than might otherwise be the case. The plus noun and proper nouns are used when the reference is less clear, i.e. when it might be possible to mistake one potential referent for another. The signals that the noun it determines is definite and that the information required to identify the referent is available or known, though the does not contribute to the identification itself [unlike he, she, it, or they]. The demonstratives differ from the in telling the hearer where to look for the identification. The latter and the former serve a similar function. Both the third person pronouns and the can be used exophorically and endophorically. Generic reference is exophoric. The pronoun one, as in (2.8-18) One must handle scorpions gingerly. always has generic reference. The pronouns you and we can also be used generically: (2.8-19) You must handle scorpions gingerly. (2.8-20) We don’t do that sort of thing here. You has general reference like one; both mean ‘people in general’. We refers to a particular group of people. They also has a generic sense, as in: (2.8-21) They drafted Zeke. They’re raising our taxes. They’re not plowing the streets often enough. Generic they usually means ‘the government’, ‘persons in authority’, ‘persons authorized by the government’, and so on. The indefinite determiners and pronouns signal that a reference is new to the discourse and not shared with the hearer/reader. While definite reference can derive from outside a discourse [exophora], indefinite reference resembles endophora in that it is entirely discourse-oriented. Salient but indefinite reference can arise in the case of generic indefinites. If we are bird watchers and I say to you (2.8-22) I saw a red-breasted nuthatch yesterday. you might say: (2.8-23) I saw a red-breasted nuthatch, too. But since the reference to the class of red-breasted nuthatches is clear from the first sentence, the non-determiner part of the reference can be ellipted. Like the, and unlike the demonstratives, a/an cannot occur without a head. In such cases, a/an is replaced by the word it derives from historically, the numeral one: (2.8-24) I saw one, too. In the plural, sòme is replaced by its fully stressed pronominal cousin some: (2.8-25) A: I saw sòme red-breasted nuthatches. B: I saw some, too. The pattern of replacement of pronouns for determiners with ellipted heads is summarized below: (2.8-26) WITH OVERT HEAD this that the a/an sòme WITH ELLIPTED HEAD this that it, he, she, they one some Differences in register are characterized by the preponderance of either exophoric or endo- phoric reference. In the home environment, people, objects, and points of reference are familiar to the family unit, as are the habits and typical activities of the members of the family. In this envi- ronment, exophoric reference predominates. For example, on hearing a particular noise, I might say: (2.8-27) He’s kicking it again. 80 83 PROBLEMS FOR RESEARCH 1. Investigate the lack of articles in expressions for the time of day following the prepositions at, by, until, after, and before: 1. Zeke left at dawn. 2. Irving will leave by early afternoon. 3. Nell cut wood until evening. 4. Floyd arrived after sunset. 5. Zelda finished before twilight. Compare the lack of articles in these sentences with the presence of articles in the sentences below: 6. The dawn comes up like thunder. 7. The afternoon was hotter than expected. 8. The evening was mercifully cool. 9. The sunset was impressive. 10. The twilight brought even greater surprises. 2. Investigate the lack of articles with names of meals in expressions like the following: 1. Jed had breakfast. 2. Algernon stayed for cocktails. 3. Jethro was late for tea. 4. Zeke played tennis before dinner. 5. Mort enjoys supper at Fred’s. 6. Luncheon is served. Contrast these with the same nouns appearing with articles: 7. The breakfast was tasty. 8. The cocktails were mixed by Irving. 9. The tea was served hot. 10. The dinner was a formal affair. 11. The supper consisted of soup and stew. 12. The luncheon was always served on the terrace. 3. Examine the use of associative nouns versus their corresponding adjectives: a woman’s college a female college France’s wines French wines England’s laws English laws America’s political system the American political system England’s cheeses English cheeses Do these constructions mean the same thing? What would prompt the use of one over the other? 4. Compare pairs of questions like the following involving sòme versus any: 1a. Did you see sòme ducks? b. Did you see any ducks? 84 2a. Have sòme kids come around today selling candy? b. Have any kids come around today selling candy? Are these sentences synonymous? If they are not synonymous, how would you characterize the dif- ference in meaning? 5. Investigate the spoken English second person plural you guys. Can this form be used equally well in all syntactic positions, i.e. as subject, direct object, indirect object, object of a preposition? Does this form have an associative? If it does, what form/forms does it take? Under what social conditions is the form used? 6. Examine the exophoric and endophoric reference in the speech of a child and compare it with that of a technical paper. Limit the texts to 100 to 200 words. Are there differences? Why do you suppose that such differences exist? 7. Record the speech of a sports announcer, preferably one broadcasting a game on television. Tran- scribe part of the recording, say 100 to 200 words, and comment on the kind of reference used. Why would this sort of reference be appropriate in this context? 8. Consider the underlined nouns in the sentences below: 1a. Chef Luigi’s sautéed brains taste good. b. ?*Chef Luigi’s sautéed brain tastes good. [Note: (a) is grammatical even if the dish was created from the brain of a single animal.] 2a. Zeke has guts. [Zeke is brave] b. *Zeke has a gut. [Zeke is brave] [Note: (b) is grammatical, though with a completely different sense.] 3a. The chicken’s guts were splattered all over the floor. b. *The chicken’s gut was splattered all over the floor. 4a. Gertrude’s hemorrhoids are bothering her. b. *Gertrude’s hemorrhoid is bothering her. 5a. Ferde’s bowels are acting up. b. Ferde’s bowel is acting up. [Note: (a) and (b) are not synonymous.] 6a. Fiona feasted on sweetbreads. b. *Fiona feasted on sweetbread. [Note: ‘sweetbreads’ is the name for a kind of meat.] Consider also the following: 7. Chef Luigi’s sautéed brains taste good. [all five of them] 8. Zeke has guts. [six, to be precise] 9. *The chicken’s fourteen guts were splattered all over the floor. On the basis of the data provided above and any other relevant data that you can find, determine how we should classify these nouns — as count nouns or as mass nouns? If they are count nouns, what sort of count noun are they? If they are mass nouns, how do they differ from ordinary mass nouns? 9. In this problem, we will consider the indefinite articles a/an and sòme and the problem of grammati- cal number in English. In the text it was stated that, with count nouns, a/an is singular and sòme is plural. A problem arises when we consider sentences like the following: 1. I bought an orange. 2. I bought sòme oranges. In (1) it is clear that I bought only one orange; an orange is unambiguously singular in reference. Sòme was defined above as plural, and ‘plural’ is defined as meaning ‘more than one’. Yet if I bought two oranges, I would not be likely to say (2). (2) would be appropriate only if I had bought three or more oranges. If I had bought just two, I would likely say: 3. I bought a couple of oranges. For this problem, consider the status of a couple of as a marker of dual number in English, function- ing alongside the singular a/an and the plural sòme as an indefinite article in English [for this prob- lem, you do not need to consider how a couple of would be assigned a form diagram; we are con- cerned only with function and meaning here]. Count SINGULAR DUAL PLURAL Indefinite Articles a/an a couple of sòme In answering this problem, be sure to take into consideration the following as well as any other relevant data you can think of: A. Is a couple of good with specific indefinite reference and generic indefinite reference? B. What is the pro-form replacement for a couple of [recall that one replaces a/an, and some replaces sòme]? 4a. There is a woman in the waiting room. b. There are a couple of women in the waiting room. c. There are sòme women in the waiting room. 5a. You need sòme new glasses. [one pair of glasses] b. *You need a couple of new glasses. [one pair of glasses] 6a. You need sòme pliers. [one pair of pliers] b. *You need a couple of pliers. [one pair of pliers] 7a. You need sòme new shoes. [one pair of shoes] b. *You need a couple of shoes. [one pair of shoes] 8a. A plumber needs good tools. b. *A couple of plumbers need good tools. c. *Sòme plumbers need good tools. d. Plumbers need good tools. 9a. Just give me a minute. b. Just give me a couple of minutes. c. *Just give me sòme minutes. 10. Consider the following associative constructions: 1a. a statue of Myron PERIPHRASTIC ASSOCIATIVE b. a statue of Myron’s COMBINED ASSOCIATIVE 85 88 3. *a pound of apple [c.f. a pound of apples] a pound of lemon [c.f. a pound of lemon] First, try to determine whether all count nouns can be used as mass nouns, like apple and lemon, or whether this is the property of some subset of count nouns. Second, determine the conditions under which this set of nouns can function as mass nouns. FURTHER READING Nouns: Section 2.2 On the count/mass distinction, see the insightful discussion in Wierzbicka (1985). On generics, see Bur- ton-Roberts (1976). Determiners: Section 2.3 A comprehensive treatment of determiners in English can be found in Quirk et al (1985). All the major concepts in this section are also discussed in Lyons (1977). On definiteness, see Hawkins (1978). Quantification: Section 2.4 Quirk et al (1985) provide an extensive discussion of grammatical number in English. What are referred to there as ‘predeterminers’ are discussed in this section as heads of truncated partitives. See also Allan (1980). Bolinger (1979) discusses the dual number in Modern English indefinite articles. Case in Nouns: Section 2.5 See Quirk et all (1985) and, for the associative [a.k.a. genitive] see Altenberg (1982). Chapman (1975) dis- cusses the to-associative. Pronouns and Determiners as a System of Reference: Section 2.8 The classic work here is Halliday and Hasan (1976), from which much of this section was drawn. For a discussion of reference, see Lyons (1977). BIBLIOGRAPHY Allan, K., ‘Nouns and countability’, Language, 56.541-67, 1980. Altenberg, B., The Genitive v. the of-construction: A study of syntactic variation in 17th century English. Lund, Gleerup/Liber, 1982. Bolinger, D., ‘COUPLE: an English dual’, Studies in English Linguistics for Randolf Quirk, S. Greenbaum, et al, eds., London and New York, Longman, 1979. Burton-Roberts, N., ‘On the generic definite article’, Language, 52.427-48, 1976. Chapman, R., ‘Semantics and syntax of the to-possessive in English’, Journal of Linguistics, 11.63-8, 1975. Halliday, M.A.K., & R. Hasan, Cohesion in English. London, Longmans, 1976. Hawkins, J.A., Definiteness and Indefiniteness: A study in references and grammaticality prediction. London, Croom Helm, 1978. Lyons, J., Semantics, Vol. 2, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1977. Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, & J. Svartvik. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Lon- don & New York: Longman. Wierzbicka, A., ‘Oats and wheat: the fallacy of arbitrariness’, Iconicity in Syntax, ed. J. Haiman, Amster- dam/Philadelphia. John Benjamins, 1985. 89 CHAPTER 2 Test Yourself: Section 2.2 Determine whether the underlined nouns are proper, count, or mass: 1. Bernard bought sôme cheese. 2. Nigel wrote a nasty letter to The Times. 3. Arthur knows a Horneyhill who lives in Brighton. 4. Bud’s bulldozer careened through Walt’s wheat. 5. Dinsdale organized a tasting of five wines from Tasmania, but to his dismay all the wine had gone sour. Section 2.3 Decide whether the underlined NPs are definite or indefinite, and specific or generic: 1. Milly made a mistake. 2. Morley made the same mistake Milly did, but the boss caught him, not Milly, in the act. 3. Gus likes to guzzle claret. 4. Eloise bought a newspaper because she wanted to look in the want-ads for a used saxophone. 5. Derek dotes on chocolate covered carob pods. 6. Gluttony reached epidemic proportions in the Fizdale School for the Socially Unenlightened. Section 2.4 a) Determine whether the following nouns are variable or invariable: 1. ox 2. chemistry 3. tweezers 4. moose 5. heritage b) Decide whether the measure noun in the partitive constructions below is special or generic: 1. a rasher of bacon 2. a deck of cards 3. a liter of beer 4. a rod of cloth 5. a round of drinks 6. a skulk of foxes 7. a pair of foxes c) Determine whether the following sentences contain a [regular] partitive, a truncated partitive, or a floated quantifier: 1. Both the omelets were inedible. 2. The girls got each other a hot fudge sundae. 90 3. The soldiers might have all been trying to look through the hole in the window. 4. Most of them couldn’t see anything 5. Craig heaped praise on none of the soufflés. Section 2.5 a) Determine whether the associative constructions below are examples of the associative case, the periphrastic associative, or the combined associative: 1. A former girlfriend of Irving’s castigated him in her latest novel. 2. Emery disliked Roscoe’s etchings. 3. Don donated to the school an autograph of an actress he had seen in The Monster that Devoured Fresno. 4. Creighton tripped on an exposed root of the fig tree. 5. One of Zeke’s tractors got stuck in the mud. b) Determine whether the following NPs contain associative constructions or partitive constructions: 1. a kilo of corned beef hash 2. five friends of Rollo’s 3. a mob of kangaroos 4. a lot of peanut butter 5. a symphony of flavors 6. seven grains of salt 7. a symphony of Sobakevich 8. the language of the Eskimos Section 2.6 a) Identify the case of the underlined nouns [or pronouns]: 1. a friend of mine detests lemmings. 2. Irving gave it to me. 3. I lent you my camel. 4. Zeke’s horse is afraid of cats. 5. Sylvester sold an autograph of the actress who once dated him to a friend of Selwyn’s. 6. You are sentenced to five years hard labor. b) Determine whether the underlined PP is an associative, a partitive, or an adjectival: 1. Gert delivered a box of chocolates to Algernon. 2. A picture of Angus Prune graced the mantelpiece. 3. Dudley owns three head of cattle. 4. A platoon of soldiers came to arrest Floyd. 5. Eleanor of Aquitaine married two kings.