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UNIT 4: THE SIMPLE SENTENCE IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH 1. Basic word order: ● Spanish is a null subject language and English is a non-null-subject language 1.1. Affirmative structures: ● S + VP (English) vs. (S) + VP + (S) (Spanish) (1a) She lives here. (1b) Ella vive aquí. (2a) My father works there. (2b) Allí trabaja mi padre (3a) They have been running. (3b) Han estado corriendo. 1.2. Negative structures: ● Negation is a universal concept. Meaning: (i) A semantic relation derived from assertion: to communicate that an element lacks a specific property: (4) Un barrio no de pescadores. (5) Not a silly boy (6a) No quiero ser tan baja como soy (6b) I don’twant to be as short as I am. (ii) To convey emotive/expressive attitudes (usually in interrogative and exclamative patterns): (7) ¿Quieres un café? Vs. ¿No quieres un café?

(8) But have you seen that? Vs. But haven’t you seen that? ● Syntactic vs. Lexical negation: (i) Syntactic negation affects the syntactic structure of the clause either totally, total negation, (9-10), or partially, 11-12(), partial negation: (9) No tengo que dar explicaciones a nadie. (10) I don’t want to go there. (11) Es un chico no muy guapo. (12) I have no money. Though it affects the whole clause, total negation is usually expressed in the predicate: by means of no in Spanish and not in English. In Spanish it precedes the whole verbal form, and its English counterpart is attached to the first auxiliary (operator) of the verbal sequence: (13) No debería haber comido tanto (14) I should not have eaten so much. Exceptions in Spanish: a) Some made expressions that want to emphasize an adverbial element, which is fronted and preceded by the negative particle: (15) No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano (16) No porque tú lo digas tengo que hacerlo b) When the predicate contains personal pronouns: (17) No me lo puedo creer (18) Si no lo veo, no lo creo.

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(ii) Lexical negation: conveyed through one or more elements whose meaning is negative: (19) Nobody wants to know what has happened. (20) You will never discover the truth. (21) Ninguno de los asistentes entendió nada. (22) Si ti, estaría perdido. ● Negative structures: S + AUX + VR (Verbal remainder) (English) vs. (S) + no + VP + (S) (Spanish): (23a) You have not read the newspaper yet. (23b) Todavía no has leído el periódico (24a)The task hasn’t been easy. (24b) No ha resultado fácil la tarea. ● Spanish allows multiple negation, which is forbidden in English, if the negative element goes after the negative particle no. However, if it precedes it, the negative particle no does not appear: (25a) Charles no debió salir nunca. (25b) *Charles nunca no debió salir. (25c) Charles nunca debió salir. (26a) *Charles should not have left never. (26b) *Charles should not never have left. (26c) Charles should never have left. 1.3. Questions: ● Affirmative yes/no questions: (i) AUX + S + VR ¿ ↑ (English) vs. ¿(S) + VP + (S)?↑(Spanish):

(27a) Have you been talking to Peter? (27b) ¿Has estado hablando con Pedro? (28a) Did your parents watch the movie? (28b) ¿Vieron la película tus padres? (29a) Does his son have a girlfriend? (29b) ¿Su hijo tiene novia? ● Negative yes/no questions: (i) AUX + n’t + S + VR ?↑ (English) vs. ¿(S) + no + VP + (S)?↑(Spanish): (30a) Didn’t you visit your friends? (30b) ¿No visistaste a tus amigos? (31a) Hasn’t their daughter arrived yet? (31b) ¿Su hija no ha llegado todavía? (32a) Isn’t your father very worried? (32b) ¿No está muy preocupado tu padre? ● Content questions: (i) INTERR +AUX + S + VR ¿ ↓ (English) vs. ¿INTERR + VP + (S)?↓(Spanish): (33a) What have you been studying? (33b) ¿Qué has estado estudiando? (34a) Where are your friends going? (34b) ¿Dónde van tus amigos? 1.4 Exclamative structures: (i) Qué/What + VP, (35a-35b), or NP, (36ª-36b): (35a) ¡Qué cosas dice! (35b) What things he says! (36a) What luck!

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(36b) ¡Qué suerte! (ii) Qué/How + AP, (37a-37b), AdvP, (38a-38b): (37a) ¡Qué alta es! (37b) How tall she is! (38a) ¡Qué rápido habla! (38b) How fast she speaks! (iii) Cómo/How + VP: (39a) ¡Cómo lo odio! (39b) How I hate him! 1.4. Alternate structures:

1.4.1. Emphatic structures: (i) English: ● Use of reflexive pronouns: (40) I will work here vs. I will myself work here. ● AUX stressed: (41) He wants a car vs. He does want a car. (42) They needed some money vs. They did need some money. (43) I’ll wait for him vs. I WILL wait for him. If the statement is negative, the contraction between the ausiliary verb and the negative particle is avoided:

(44) I wouldn’t do it like that vs. I WOULD NOT do it like that. (45) They don’t know her vs. They do not know her. (46) She didn’t buy anything vs. She did not nuy anything. (ii) Spanish: ● Affirmative structures: a) Adding sí (que) to the sentence, generally between the subject and the verb: (47) Rubén vino a mi casa vs. Rubén sí (que) vino a mi casa. (48) Sabéis lo que pasó vs. Si (que) sabéis lo que pasó. (iii) Other clausal elements different from the verabl action: ● English and Spanish: Vocal stress (oral language) or some special type of letter employed (writen laguage): (49a) The woman bought an orange (not tha man). (49b) The woman bought an orange (not an apple). (50a) La mujer, no el hombre, compró la naranja. (50b) La mujer compró la naranja, no la manzana. ● Spanish: fronting of the emphasized element: (51a) La niña compró una naranja. (51b) Compró una naranja la niña. (51c) Una naranja compró la niña. 1.4.2. Elliptical structures: ● Those which have some of their components omitted. These elements ca be easily recoverable from the linguistic or extralinguistic context:

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(i) Short anwers to yes/no questions: in English it consists of yes/no, the subject and the operator, and in Spanish it consists only of sí/no: (52a) Did you read the newspaper? Yes, I did. (52b) ¿Leiste el periódico? Sí. (53a) Will he spend the summer in Italy?) No, he won’t. (53b) ¿Pasará el verano en Italia? No. ii) Compound clauses that indicate the opposite content of the main clause: in English the coordinate conjunction introduces the subject and the operator, and in Spanish it only introduces the subject followed by si/no: (54a) They can’t go, but I can. (54b) Ellos no pueden ir, pero yo sí. (55a) We will stay at home, but she won’t. (55b) Nosotros nos quedaremos en casa, pero ella no. Interesting examples since they are o the few cases in which the subject is compulsory in Spanish in the two clauses that make up the compound sentence. iii) Compound clauses that indicate the same point of view as the one expressed in the main clause: in English the following patterns are used: SO + AUX + S (affirmative) or NEITHER + AUX + S (negative). Their Spanish alternatives consist only of the subject and the adverbial elements TAMBIÉN (Affirmative) and TAMPOCO (negative): (56a) She is humgry, so am I. (56b) Ella tine hambre y yo también. (57a) Peter won’t finish his eaasy tonight, neither will you.

(57b) Pedro no acabará su trabajo esta noche, y tú tampoco. (iv) Compound sentences with an infinitive in the second member: they are only elliptical structures in English, where the infinitive and its direct object, if any, are omitted; what remains is only the to infinitive mark: (58a) He wants to write a book and he hopes to (write a book) son. (58b)Quiere escribir un libro y espera escribirlo pronto. (58c) Quiere escribir un libro y espera hacerlo pronto. In Spanish they are not elliptical structures because either the infinitive has to be repeated, (58b), or it is substituted by the verb hacer, (58c). 1.4.3.Question tags: ● Used to elicit agreemenet. ● English: operator in the opposite mode to that of the main clause (contracted if it is negative) and the personal pronoun that replaces the subject (59) Mary eats a lot, doesn’t she? (60) You don’t know my sister, do you? In most of the cases the tag carries rising intonation, but if the speaker expects a particular answer that is contrary to the one that should be expected the intonation must be falling or constant with the previous statement: (61a) He isn’t here, is he? ↑ (Expected negative answer = real) (61b)He isn’t here, is he? ↓(Expected negative answer; affirmative real answer)

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● Spanish: ¿verdad? (both with affirmative and negative statements) and ¿no? (only with positive statements): (62) Las mujeres vana oponerse, ¿verdad?/¿no?. (63) Tú no vienes, ¿verdad?/*¿no?. 1.5. Existential sentences: ● Spanish: impersonal haber (therefore, no stated subject and verb always third person singular): (64a) Hay un castillo en la montañan. (65a) Hay 7 niños en la clase. ● English: there be (there operating as an apparent subject): (65b) There is a castle on the mountain. (66b) There are seven boys in class. 1.6. Reverse constructions: ● Those ones that do not agree on how to cast the NPs accompanying their verbs ; that is, sentences containing verbs whose “subcategorization frame” or “régimen” is the opposite one: (66a) Mary (S) likes oranges (Od) (66b) A María (Oi) le gustan las naranjas (S)