Teachers College Columbia University

Teachers CollegeColumbia University

“Drawing” Complex Sentences II:Adjective Clauses, Extraction, Attachment, and

Reduction

FALL 2011Reese M. Heitner

[email protected]

Copyright Reese M. Heitner, July 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Advanced grammar students are routinely confronted with the challenge of writing, revising,

and proofreading multi-clause sentences.

“Drawing” Complex Sentences

I need structure in my life!!!

structure



Visualize It!

Clause A Connector Clause B

3 Connectors (Swales & Feak, 2004, pp. 27- 29, 177-178;

Hogue, 2003, pp. 30-53, 278-284)


Subordinators: Adverbial Clause Subordinators of Time (Hogue, 2003, pp. 42-53) (When, After, Before, Since, etc.)

Adverbial Clause Subordinators of Reason

(Because, If, Although, Since, etc.)Adjective (Relative) Clause Subordinators(Who, Whom, Whose, Where, etc.)Noun Clause Subordinators(That, What, How, Who, Where, etc.)

Coordinators: And, But, Yet, Or, Nor, So, etc. (Hogue, 2003, pp. 32-40)

Transitionals: However, Consequently, By contrast, etc. (Hogue, 2003, p. 301-306) (one-word), -ly adverbs, prepositional phrases


Adjective Clauses(Hogue, 2003, pp. 186-191)

WHO was explaining the text. The students copied the teacher(1).

Clause Main Clause Sub .


WHO was explaining the text. The students copied the teacher

(1) RP .

WHO were explaining the text were understood.

The students

(2)RP .

passed. The students WHOM the teacher taught

WHICH the teacher explained.

The students wrote the sentence(3) RP .

RP .(4)


was explaining the text.The students copied the teacher

WHO WHO was explaining the text. The students copied the teacher(1)

(1b)(1a)

(1a)The students copied the teacher. (1b) was explaining the text.

Adjectives Clauses are based upon Noun-Noun Repetition

The teacher


Reconstructing N-N Repetition

(1a)

(1b)

The students copied the teacher. The teacher was explaining the text.

(1c)

(1d)

The students copied the teacher. The teacher was explaining the text.

Aux V (O) S V O RP .was explaining the text

The students copied the teacher

WHO .


Relative Clause Basic Pattern 1:

S V O RP VP (O)

WHO was explaining the text.


Basic Pattern 1:

S V O RP VP (O)

“subject-extraction/object-attachment”


The students were understood. The students were explaining the text.

(2a)

(2b)

The students were understood. The students were explaining the text.

(2c) were understood

The students

WHO .(2d

)

were explaining the text


VP S RP . Aux V O



S RP VP O VP

The students WHO explained the sentence were understood.

Basic Pattern 2:

S RP VP O VP

“subject-extraction/subject-attachment”



The students wrote the sentence. The teacher explained the sentence.

(3a)

(3b)

The students wrote the sentence. The teacher explained the sentence.

(3c) the teacher explained

The students wrote the sentence

WHICH

.(3d)

t

S V S V O RP t

.



S V O RP S V

The students wrote the sentence WHICH the teacher explained.


S V O RP S V

“object-extraction/object-attachment”


The students passed. The teacher taught the students.

(4a)

(4b)

The students passed. The teacher taught the students.

(4c) passed

The students

WHOM .(4d

)

the teacher taught


t

VP S WHOM S V t .



S RP S V VP

The students WHOM the teacher taught passed.

Relative Clause

Basic Pattern 4:

S RP S V VP“object-extraction/subject-attachment”


Subject-Extraction Patterns



(1) Aux V O S V

O RP .

WHO were explaining the text were understood.The students

(2) V O S R

P V .


Subject-Extraction Reductions

(Swales & Feak, 2004, pp. 59-64)WHO was explaining the text.


(1) Aux V O S V O RP .

WHO were explaining the text were understood.

The students

(2) Aux V O

S RP

V .


explaining the text. The students copied the teacher

(1) V-ing O S V O .

explaining the text were understood.The students

(2) V-ing O S V .

Subject-Extraction Reduction Patterns


(4)


The students understood the sentence

(3) S V

S V O

O .

S V S O . V


Object-Extraction Patterns


Object-Extraction Reductions


(4)


The students understood the sentence

(3) S V

S V O

O . S V S O . V


Object-Extraction Reduction Patterns

passed. The students the teacher taught (4)

the teacher explained.The students understood the sentence

(3) S V S V

O . S V S . V


(4)

(2)

S V S RP . V


Split MC Patterns

V O S RP

V .WHO explained the sentence were understood.

The students


Linear MC Patterns

WHICH the teacher explained. The students wrote the sentence(3) S V S V

O RP



(1) VP S V

O RP .

.

“Drawing” Complex SentencesKey Terms

Main Clause: “split” vs. “linear”

Attachment: subject vs. object

Extraction: subject vs. object


Guess the Pattern

(MC)

(A)

(S) The talk

is almost over

V S

we attended

(E) S V VS ...

.

Split

Subject-Attachment

Object-Extraction

Reduction

Correct!

“Drawing” Complex SentencesGuess the Pattern

(MC)

(A)

(S) They answered the speaker

asking the questions

S V O

(E) S V O

.

Linear

Object-Attachment

Subject- Extraction

Reduction Correct!

V O

.

.

.

“Drawing” Complex SentencesAdvanced Issues

Deletion of RP when object of Preposition:1. We left the lecture WHICH we had heard enough of. 2. We left the lecture of WHICH we had heard enough.3. We left the lecture WHICH we had heard enough of. 4. We left the lecture of WHICH we had heard enough.

Nonrestrictive (“nonessential”) versus Restrictive (“essential”) (Hogue, 2003, p. 190): 1. My wife, who is nice, will inherit my wealth. 1. My wife who is nice will inherit my wealth.

2. The students, whom we saw, were late. 2. The students whom we saw were late.

3. Hawaii, the only island state, is beautiful. 3. Hawaii the only island state is beautiful.

RULE: Use commas if the the referent is ALREADY UNIQUE. The relative clause is NOT essential.

Do NOT use commas when the referent needs selection. The relative clause is “essential.”


By visually exploiting the abstract grammatical geometry of multi-clause constructions, instructors and advanced students are encouraged to approach complex sentences in terms of architectural templates.

Advantages:

+ recognize the similarities/differences among basic relative clause constructions

+ identify incorrect constructions by attending to Noun-Noun repetition

+ understand subject vs. object extraction, attachment, movement, and reduction

Disadvantages:

– overly analytic, based upon syntax not semantics

– overly visual, based upon detecting abstract patterns

– overly technical, based upon “extraction” and “attachment”


Questions?

Main Clause

RP

Adjective Clause

. RP .

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