T h e s im p le

s e n t e n ce

Nguyễn Hồng Diệu

HULIS VNU

(cont.)

Syntactic features of clause elements

• A SUBJECT– Is normally a NP or a clause with nominal

function– Occurs before the VP in declarative clauses,

and immediately after the operator in questions

– Has number and person concord, where applicable, with the VP

• An OBJECTIVE (Od or Oi)– Is a NP or clause with nominal function– Normally follows the S and the VP– Assumes the status of S by the passive

transformation– The Oi precedes the Od and is semantically

equivalent to a prepositional phrase

Syntactic features of clause elements

• A COMPLEMENT– Is a NP, and Adj phrase, or a clause with nominal

function– Has a co-referential relation with S or O

– Follows the S, VP, and O– Does NOT become S through the passive

transformation

• An ADVERBIAL– Is and Adv phrase, adverbial clause, NP, or

prepositional phrase

– Is generally capable of occurring in more than one position in the clause

– Is generally optional (may be added to or removed from a sentence without affecting its acceptability), except for the obligatory adverbial or the SVA and SVOA patterns

Semantic roles of clause elements

• Subject

• Object

• Complement

C a n y o u c o m m e n t o n t h e r o le o f t h e S u b je c t s in t h e f o l lo w in g s e n t e n c e s ?

• John opened the door.

• The wind opened the door.

• The door opened.

• John has a big house.

• This hall can hold about eighty students.

• Today is April Fool’s Day.

• The March Melody live show was on March 28th.

• It is getting hotter and hotter.

1. Agentive (most typical)

2. Instrumental

3. Affected

4. Recipient

5. Locative

6. Temporal

7. Eventive

8. ‘Empty’ It

S emantic roles of S UBJECT

Agentive Subject

Animate causer of the happening

John opened the door.

(The most typical semantic role of a subject is AGENTIVE;

that is, the animate being instigating or causing

the happening denoting by the verb)

Instrumental Subject

Inanimate causer of the happening

The wind opened the door.

The unwitting (generally inanimate)

material cause of an event

Affected Subject

One being affected by the event

The door opened.

This role of subject is found with:

Intransitive verbs: E.g.: Jack fell down

Intensive verbs: E.g.: The pen is lying on the table

Let’s look at the examples

• His English has been improved.

Transitive

• His English has improved.

Intransitive

Affected subject

Let’s look at the examples

• They have increased the price of shirts and decreased the price of trousers.

They Agentive subject• The price of shirts has increased and

that of trousers has decreased.

Affected subject

Increase/Decrease transitive/intransitve

Agentive Subject Affected Subjectvs.

John/the wind opened the door vs. The door opened

Terrorists blew up the dam vs. The dam blew up

Somebody raised an arm vs. An arm rose

She is improving her writing vs. Her writing is improving

They narrowed the road vs. The road became narrower

I am growing my roses vs. My roses are growing

Further

Practice

Rephrase the sentences so that

O affected becomes S affected

1. I have broken my glasses

E.g.: Terrorists blew up the dam The dam blew up

2. Her jealousy has killed my love for her

3. Someone has moved that picture

4. The driver stopped the train

5. The guard shut the gate quickly

My glasses have broken

My love for her has died

That picture has moved

The train stopped

The gate shut quickly

Recipient Subject

One that receives the happening

John has a beautiful wife

This role of subject is found with such verbs as have, own,possess, benefit (from)…

and more …

‘Do you love me, honey?’

‘Look into my eyes’ She said softly,

‘You’ll see my answer in there?’

I looked into her big, round,

blue eyes and I saw a fire burning there.

Do the subjects in the two coordinate clauses havethe same semantic role?

Answer

Perceptual verbs See, Hear require a recipient subject

in contrast to Look at, Listen to, which are agentive

Verbs indicating cognition or emotion may also require

a recipient subject. E.g:

I thought you were mistaken (It seemed to me …)

I liked the play (The play gave me pleasure)

How can you say this in English?

Em có nghe th y gió nói gì không?ấ

Can you hear what the wind is whispering?

The subject of the sentence is recipient

Locative Subject

One that denotes location

E.g.: The bus can hold forty people

(Forty people can sit in the bus)

Temporal Subject

One that denotes time

E.g.: Tomorrow is my birthday

(It is my birthday tomorrow)

Eventive Subject

One that denotes event

E.g.: The concert is on Thursday

Empty “IT” Subject

One that lacks semantic content

E.g.: It is getting dark

1. Affected (Od)

2. Locative (Od)

3. Effected (Od)

4. Recipient (Oi)

5. Affected (Oi)

S emantic roles of OBJECT

Affected direct object

A participant which does not cause the happening denoted by the verb

but is directly involved in some other way

E.g.: Many MPs criticised the Prime Minister

Locative direct object

One that shows location and is oftenfound after such verbs as turn, leave, reach, cross, surround, penetrate, climb ...

E.g.: They climbed the mountain

M o r e e x a m p le s

• I crossed the street. (locative)

• I dug the street up. (affected)• They climbed the mountain. (locative)

• They destroyed the mountain. (affected)

Effected direct object

1. Object that exists only by virtue of the activity indicated by the verb

E.g.: I am writing a letter

Baird invented television

I am burning a letterAffected

Effected direct object

2. Object that repeats partially or wholly the meaning of the verb

E.g.: Mary sang a song

We fought a good fight – and lost

Effected direct object

3. Object that takes the form of a verbal noun preceded by a common

verb of general meaning

E.g.: He did little work that day

The prisoner made no comment

Have, do, make, take, give, pay ....

Recipient indirect object

An animate participant being passivelyimplicated by the happening or state

E.g.: I have found you a place

He gave his son some money

Affected indirect object

He gave the door a kick

Affected

= He kicked the door

(Exceptional)

Affected

Affected indirect object

I paid her a visit

= I visited her

Affected

Affected Effected

1.Current attribute

2.Resulting attribute

S emantic roles of COMPLEMENT

• A current attribute denotes an already existing characteristic.– My father was a teacher.

– We found her attractive.

S emantic roles of COMPLEMENT

• A resulting attribute denotes a characteristic that comes about because of the event reported in the sentence.– He became a teacher in 1963.

– Her new dress made her attractive.

S emantic roles of COMPLEMENT

H O M E W OR K• Exercise 102-104 Workbook