21. 12. 2006 Syntax ( Parts of speech categories and subcategories)
Learner's diary
After a short overview over today's lecture, Prof. Gibbon today explained the meaning of syntax, which is the grammar of a sentence.
Further we were introduced into the main differences between structural relations and semiotic relations. Structural relations consist of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations while semiotic structure means the realisation and interpretatuin of signs.
Paradigmatic relations are the relations of choice, which means that you can for example choose between different nouns in one sentence and the sentence would still be grammatically correct ( although there is sometimes no sense in it anylonger).
Syntagmatic relations are the relations of glue, which sticks consonants and vowels together as syllables, lexical morphemes and affixes together as words, stems together as compound words, and stems and inflection into words. In syntag nouns and verbs are glued together into sentences.
In the second part of today's lecture we were introduced to the different parts of speech and their subcategories, in the second part we spoke about the different constitutive relations in a sentence.
We all already knew the different parts of speech, which are determiners. nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronounce, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and last but not least interjections, but the differentiation between several subcategories was completely new for me and interesting aswell.
The lecture was well structured, the slides helped me to follow the lecture and were also good to revise it at home.
Syntax
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In linguistics, syntax is the study of the rules, or "patterned relations", that govern the way words combine to form phrases and phrases combine to form sentences. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntax , 22.12.06)
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Syntax allows you to express everything -> infinite number of sentences/ situations
Overview of today's topics
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structural relations
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sentence structure
Language Structure
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structural relations
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syntagmatic relations: combinatory relations which create larger signs (and their realisations and interpretations) from smaller signs (and their realisations and interpretations)
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paradigmatic relations: classificatory relations of similarity and difference between signs.
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Semiotic relations
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realisation: the visual appearance or acoustic representation of signs (other senses may also be involved).
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interpretation: the assignment of meaning to a sign.
Structural relations: Paradigmatic Relations
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relations of “choice”
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classificatory relations of similarity and difference between signs.
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similarity and difference of
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internal structure: simple vs. complex stems
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external structure: functions in different word orders / positions
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meaning: synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, ...
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appearance: shared and different distinctive features
Task
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How many items in total in the left, mid, and right sets?
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How many items in the sentence set shown?
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How many of these actually exist, and how many do not?
{the, this, that, ...} - {girl, boy, ape, ...} - {swims, walks, ...}
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left set: finite/ closed/ limited set ( you cannot invent new arcticles, determiners
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mid set: infinite number ( you can invent new nouns)
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right set: you can invent new verbs -> infinite number
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The girl swims (exists)
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The girl walks (e)
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The boy swims (e)
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The boy walks (e)
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The ape swims (does not exist)
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The ape walks (exists)
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This girl swims (e)
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This girl walks (e)
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This boy swims (e)
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This boy walks (e)
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This ape swims (ne)
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This ape walks (e)
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That girl swims (e)
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That girl walks (e)
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That boy swims (e)
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That boy walks (e)
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That ape swims (ne)
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That ape walks (e)
Grammatically, all these sentences would be correct but as apes cannot swim ( as far as I know), the sentence does not exist
Syntagmatic relations
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linguistic “glue”: combinatory relations: create larger signs (& their realisations & interpretations) from smaller signs (& their realisations & interpretations)
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Examples:
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Phonology:
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Consonants and Vowels are glued together as core and periphery of syllables.
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Morphology:
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lexical morphemes & affixes are glued together into derived stems.
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stems are glued together into compound stems.
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stems and inflections are glued together into words.
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Syntax:
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nouns and verbs are glued together as the subjects and predicates of sentences.
Pradigmatic relations in Syntax
Syntactic Categories
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Lexical
categories
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Glue
categories
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Nominals
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Verbals
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Pre
po
si
tion
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Con
junc
tion
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inter
jec
tion
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Nouns
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Adjec
tives
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Deter
min
ers
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Pro
noun
s
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Main verbs
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Aux
ili
ary verb
s
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Syntagmatic relations in syntax
sentence
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Subject
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Predicate
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Verbal
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Object
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The
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Loud
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Smoker
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Is
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Being
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A
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nuisance
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Words, context, external structure
Task:
Inquests into the deaths of four women who were killed in Suffolk have been
opened and adjourned. The hearing at Ipswich Coroner's Court found no
clear cause of death for Tania Nicol and Annette Nicholls. Anneli Alderton
was asphyxiated and Paula Clennell died from compression of the neck,
coroner Dr Peter Dean said.The inquest into the death of another victim,
Gemma Adams, was opened last week.
Police are continuing to question two men about the murders. The first
suspect, Tom Stephens, 37, was arrested on Monday. A second man being
held has been named locally as 48-year-old Stephen Wright. Both are
suspected of killing all five women.
Noun
categories
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Verb
cate
gories
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Glue
categories
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De
ter
min
ers
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Ad
jec
ti
ves
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Nou
ns
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Pro
nou
ns
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Verb
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Ad
verb
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Pre
po
si
ti
ons
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Co
n
jun
c
tio
ns
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in
ter
jec
tio
ns
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the
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clear
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In-ques-ts
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her
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Were killed
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local-ly
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into
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And
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Four
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dea-ths
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Have
been open
ed
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of
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no
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wo-men
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ad-
jour-ned
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in
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an-oth
er
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Suf-
folk
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found
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At
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last
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Ips-
wich
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Was aphy-xia-
ted
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from
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two
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hea-
ring
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died
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a-
bout
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first
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Co-
ro-ner's Cou-rt
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Are contin-uing
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on
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se-cond
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Cau
se
of
de
ath
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To
ques
tion
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All
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com-
pres-sions
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Was ar
rest-ed
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five
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neck
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be
ing
held
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in-quest
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Has
be
en nam-ed
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week
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Are sus-pec-ted
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Po-
lice
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Men
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mur-der
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sus-pect
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mon-day
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Both
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kil-
ling
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wo-men
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Noun categories: nouns
Proper nouns:
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names:
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personal
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place
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product
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...
Common nouns:
Task:
What happens when you count “uncountable” nouns?
Noun categories: pronouns
Personal pronouns:
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I/me, you, he/him, she/her, we/us, they
Possessive pronouns:
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mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs
Demonstrative pronouns
Quantifier pronouns
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cardinal numerals: one, two, ...
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existential: some, several, few, many, ...
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dual: both
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universal: each, every, all, ...
Relative pronouns
Verb categories: Verbs
Main verbs
non-finite forms
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infinitive
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participle:
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present
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perfect
Periphrastic verbs (auxiliary verb + non-finite main verb):
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modal: can, may, will, shall; ought, ...
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aspectual: be+prespart(continuous), have+pastpart (perfect), passive: be+pastpart
it might have been being repaired
modal perfect continuous passive mainverb
Verb categories: adverbs
Deictic:
Time (when):
Place & direction (where):
Manner (how):
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slowly, quickly
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cleverly, stupidly
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nicely, nastily
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well
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...
Degree
Glue categories: prepositions
● Basically - make nominal expressions into adverbial
expressions
● Pretty much the same categories as adverbs
● Except the “all purpose preposition” of
Tasks
What is the meaning of “of”?
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belonging to sb „the paintings of Monet“
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belonging to sth, being part of sth „ the director of the company“
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coming from a particular background „ the people of Wales“
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concerning or showing sth/ sb „ a photo of my dog“
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used to say what sb/ sth is, consists of „ the city of Dublin“
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used with measurements and expressions of time „2 kilos of potatoes“
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used to show that sth/ sb belongs to a group „some of his friends“
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used to show the preposition of sth/ sb in place or time „ just north of Detroit“
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used after nouns formed from verbs „the arrival of the police“
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used after some verbs before mentioning sth/ sb in volved in the action „ He was cleared of all blame“
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used after some adjectives before mentioning sb/ sth that a feeling relates to „to be proud of sth“
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used to give your on sb' s behaviour „it was kind of you to offer“
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used when one noun describes a second one „ Where's that idiot of a boy?“
Construct prepositional phrases corresponding to the types of adverbs
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Time: „ after the match“ ,
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Place: „above the house“, „a fence around the garden“, „the fox escaped into his hole“
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Direction: „he hit against his leg“
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Manner: „ without a trace“ , „like any other day“, „with great enthusiasm“
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Degree: „the water is warm enough for swimming“
Conjunctions
Co-ordinating conjunctions:
Subordinating conjunctions:
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conjunction-like relative pronouns:
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who, which, that
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make sentences (clauses) into adjective-like noun modifiers
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i.e. Basically:
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make sentence (clauses) into adverb-like verb modifiers
Task:
Co- ordinating conjunctions
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for, nor, or, yet, so : She did not like rain, so she stayed inside.
Subordinating conjunctions
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because, if, so that, when, although, while, even though : She stayed inside because she did not like the rain
Glue categories: interjections
Interjections link parts of dialogues together:
They may also be expressions of subjective reactions:
Task:
find examples of 5 different interjections (not the ones listed here)
Phrasal Categories
Noun Phrases – definitions
The Noun Categories form larger units:
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Adjective Phrase = (DegreeAdverb)* Adjective
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Nominal Phrase = (Adjective Phrase)* Noun
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Noun Phrase = (Determiner) Nominal Phrase (Relative Clause)
Frankly speaking, I was a bit bored because I already knew all details of today's lecture from my „How to make a dictionary“ class. In my opinion it is also not very useful to define the part of speech of 25 or even more words, one example of each might be enough as we all already know the different parts of speech.
References