Introducing English Linguistics

5 English syntax
1. The construction the company is a constituent, a noun phrase, because a pronoun (it) can
replace the constituent. Substitution with a pronoun is one test for constituency. However,
the construction president of permits no such substitution, even though it contains a noun
(president). Therefore, this unit is not a constituent: it does not form a natural grouping.
2. Definitions containing wording such as “something expresses ‘action’ or ‘a state of being’”
are notional: they attempt to define a category by the particular meanings that constructions
in the category express. A formal definition of a verb would focus on, for instance, the mor-
phological or syntactic features that define verbs. For instance, verbs take inflections, such as
the various suffixes on likes, liking, and liked.
3. A formal definition of the noun television would note that it contains a suffix, -ion, found only
on nouns, and that it could optionally be preceded by an article and adjective: the new television.
4. Form deals with the structure of a particular construction. The construction The weather is a
noun phrase because it contains a noun, weather, as head, and everything else in the noun
phrase, the article the, is dependent on the head. However, noun phrases can have many func-
tions in a sentence. In this case, The weather is functioning as subject because it occurs before
the predicator, has been, and if the sentence were converted into a yes/no question, the opera-
tor, has, would change places with the subject: Has the weather been awful lately? The function
that a form has is very dependent on its relationship with other forms in a clause.
5. In I have never taken such a good course, the word order is SVO, the most common and frequent
word order in English and therefore an unmarked word order. In contrast, the sentence Never
Answers to self-study activities
243

---

have I taken such a good course contains inversion of the negative adverb never and the auxiliary
have. Because this is a less common word order in English, it is a marked order. The effect of
the inversion in this context is to emphasize that the speaker found the course especially good.
6. (a)
glass (head of noun phrase)
(b)
rapidly (adverb phrase)
(c)
happy (adjective phrase)
(d)
wished (verb phrase)
(e)
in (prepositional phrase)
(f)
farmers (noun phrase)
7. 1 b, 2 c, 3 d, 4 e, 5 a, 6 c, 7 d, 8 a, 9 e, 10 a
8. The placement of adjectives in English and Spanish is reflective of the linear nature of syntax:
how constituents are ordered.
9. (a)
one main clause
(b)
one subordinate clause (Although it ... last night) and one main clause (we did not ... any flooding)
(c)
one main clause (the entire sentence) and one subordinate clause (who were in the accident)
embedded in the noun phrase all the individuals
(d)
one subordinate clause (To achieve success) and one main clause (people must work hard)
(e)
one main clause (the entire sentence) and one subordinate clause (Working extra hours)
that functions as subject
(f)
one main clause (We left the party early) and one subordinate clause (because we were tired)