المحاضرة #9

Lesson #9
-Joan met tall boys and girls.
Joan met boys and girls who are tall.
Joan met both boys and girls who are tall.
- Beautiful girls hostels.
Beautiful girls or hostels which are beautiful.
Beautiful hostels for girls.
Hostels for beautiful girls.
- New English Textbook
It is a text on the New English.
It is an English text which is new.
- A Practical English Course
A practical course in English (i.e. a course with practice oriented presentation style).
An English course which is practical written to suit practical uses of the language.
- The secretary of the president who sacked the typist.
Was it the secretary who sacked the typist or was it the president ?
- We gave a table to a boy with painted legs.
Whose legs were painted the boy s or the table.
Structures of Basic Sentence
Rewrite Rule
The basic rewrite rule of English basic sentences may be formulated as the followings:
S ? NP + VP
N
NP ?
Det + N
Nprop
Nindef.
N ? Npp.
Ncom.
Art
Det ? (pre – Art) + Demon + (Num)
VP ? Aux + MV
Aux ? Tense + (M) + (Aspect)
Aspect ? (have + participle) + (be + ing)
NP
be + Adj.
MV ? Adv - p
Verbals
VI
VT + NP
NP
Verbals ? Vb +
Adj.
Vs + Adj.
Vh + NP
Nprop. ? Robert, Samran, Amy, Thongpool, Phetchabun, Thailand etc.
Nidef. ? someone, anyone, everyone, no one, somebody, anybody,
nobody, something, anything, everything, nothing.
Npp ? I, you, we, they, he, she, it.
Ncom ? girl, boy, cat, dog, water, chair etc.
Pre-Art ? some of, any of, a few of, one of, a lot of, two of .. etc.
Art ? the, a, an, some, ?
Demon ? this, these, that, those.
Num ? one, two, three, first, second….
Tense ? present, past.
M ? can, will, shall, may, must.
Adj. ? good, beautiful, small, bigm etc.
Adv – p ? here, there, at home, in the class, etc.
VI ? occur, run, go, …
VT ? take, read, see, …
Vs ? seem, taste, look, feet, …
Vh ? have, cost, weigh, total, …
Vb ? become, remain, …
Notes
English basic sentences contain two main parts; a noun phrase and a verb phrase. So the simple rewrite rule may be : a sentence consists of (?) a noun phrase (NP) plus a verb phrase (VP).
S ? NP + VP
As the rule above, the NP functions as the subject of the basic sentence and comes before the VP. The VP functions as its predicate.
The following are examples of the English basic sentence consisting of two main parts: NP and VP.
Samran is here.
Someone is coming.
I have a note.
You must come.
That girl looks pretty.
Some of the girls sit down.
They throw away the magazines.
NP
The NP may be a noun (N) alone or a noun preceded by the determiner (Det.)
N
NP ?
Det. + N
The noun may be a proper noun (Nprop.), an indefinite pronoun (Nindef.), a personal pronoun (Npp.), or a common noun (Ncom.). The determiner (Det.) occurs only before a common noun (Ncom.). So we have a modified rewrite rule for the N. as
Nprop. Nprop.
Nindef. Nindef.
N ? or NP ?
Npp Npp
Ncom. Det + Ncom
Ex.
N Det + N
Sam A book
Someone a few of the people.
I Those boys
You ? dogs
They ? boys
She ? water
VP
The VP consists of an auxiliary (Aux.) plus a main verbal (MV.). Here the rewrite rule may be formulated as.
VP ? Aux + MV
Example.
Aux + MV
Tense + go = go, goes, went.
Tense + may + eat mango = may/ might eat mango
Tense + can + come = can/ could come.
Auxiliary (Aux.)
The auxiliary is an obligatory element occurring in the VP. It usually occurs in the first position of the VP string in a simple sentence. See the rule.
VP ? Aux + MV.
The rule means every VP must contain an auxiliary and a main verbial.
There are three major elements of the Aux. In English: Tense, modal (M), and aspect. This may be formulated as.
Aux ? Tense + (M) + (Aspect)
In the rule, tense is not in parentheses, and so it is obligatory. That is, every Aux. must contain Tense. The other elements " modal and aspect" are in parentheses, and therefore they are optional. That is, the Aux. may, but need not, contain modal and / or aspect
Tense
Tense + M
Aux. ?
Tense + Aspect
Tense + M + Aspect
M ? can, will, shall, may, must
Aspect ? (have + participle) + ( be + ing)
The following are the structures of the VP consisting of one or more elements of the Aux.
Aux.
1. Tense
2. Tense + M
3. Tense + have + participle
4. Tense + be + ing + MV
5. Tense + M + have + participle
6. Tense + M + be + ing
7. Tense + M + have + participle + be + ing
Ex.
1. eat
2. may eat
3. have eaten
4. are eating
5. may have eaten
6. may be eating
7. may have been eating