المحاضرة#10

Lesson #10
Tense
"Tense" in English is an obligatory element occurring in the verb phrase. That is, every VP. must contain Aux. and every Aux. must contain Tense
There are two tenses in English : Present and Past
present
Tense ?
past
All tenses are formed by combination of Aux. and the verb form, modal, have or be, by means of the obligatory rule of the affix-transformation. (T.Af.)
T. Af. : Af + V ? V + Af.
Af ? present, past, participle, - ing
V ? verb, modal, have, be
plays
present + play ? play + present =
play
present + can ? can + present = can
past + write ? write + past = wrote
past + have ? have + past = had
is
present + be ? be + present = am
are
was
past + be ? be + past =
were
Main Verbals (MV)
The MV. may be any one of the following structures :
1. Be plus an NP., Adj., or Adv -p
2. Intransitive verb (VI)
3. Transitive verb (VT.) plus an NP.
4. Verb of the become class (Vb.) plus an NP. or Adj.
5. Verb of the seem class (Vs.) plus and Adj.
6. Verb of the have class (Vh.) plus and NP.
Thus the rewrite rule may be formulated as:
NP
be + Adj.
Adv-p
VI
VT + NP
MV ? NP
Vb +
Adj.
Vs + Adj.
Vh + NP
Adverbial
In the expanded VP structure, the adverbial may be optionally put at the position after the MV. See the rewrite rule:
VP ? Aux. + MV + (Adv.)
A sentence "He walks slowly"
is the string he + present + walk + slowly ?
Aux. MV Adv.
By T - Af he + walk + present + slowly
By Phonological Rule He walks slowly.
The adverbial in English may be classified into four main kinds:
1. an adverbial of manner (Adv. -p)
2. an adverbial of place (Adv - t)
3. an adverbial of frequency (Adv-f)
4. an adverbial of time (Adv-t).
So the rewrite rule for the Adv. can be formulated as.
Adv. ? (Adv-m) + (Adv-p) + (Adv-f) + (Adv-t)
Example
She walks slowly in the park everyday at six o clock.
Adv-m Adv-p Adv-f Adv-t
"She walks slowly" is a basic sentence
But
"She slowly walks" is a transformed sentence.
Only the Adv-m can immediately occur after the MV with VI and VT. Only the Adv.p can immediately occur after the MV with Vb. Vs and Vh. The Adv.- f and Adv.- t can immediately occur after any kind of MV construction.
MV
NP
be Adj.
Adv-p
VI
+ (Adv-m) + (adv-p) + (adv-f)+ (adv+t)
VP ? Aux. + VT+NP
NP
Vb +
Adj.
Vs + adj.
Vh + NP
Structures of Transformational Sentences
Transformational sentences are derived from well-formed basic sentences by applying the rule of transformation. For example, a sentence "May I go there?" is derived from a basic sentence "I may go there?"
I may go there ==== > May I go there?
The rewrite rules have generated strings of elements (largely morphemes) that in the bold sentences. They haven t quite generated sentence. For example, the rule did not generate this sentence.
You are here. But they generated the string.
You + present + be + here.
Before this string presents a grammatical sentence, the order of elements in the string will be rearranged, that is, the present as a tense must shift to the position after be
by T.Af.
you + present + be + here ? you + be = present + here
By phonological rule:
be +present ? are = You are here.
T - Af.
X + Af + V + Y ==== > X + V + Af + Y
Af ? tense, participle, or - ing
V ? M, have, be, or verb
The affix transformation (T-Af) is obligatory and applied after all other transformations. Its effect is, therefore, to produce a transform of the terminal string.
Example:
A sentence : Sam is going.
is string : Sam + present + be + ing + go ==== >
By T.Af : Sam + be + present + go + ing ?
Phonological rule : Sam is going
T - do:
X + Tense + Y ==== > X + Tense + do + Y
Y stands for anything that is not M, have, or be.
This transformation is applied to the terminal string to produce negative or question sentences.
Example:
A sentence : She plays tennis.
is the string : She + Tense + play + tennis ==== >
By T- Negative : She + Tense + not + play + tennis ==== >
By T-do : She + Tense + do + not + play + tennis ==== >
By T - Af : She + do + Tense + not + play + tennis ==== >
Phonological rule : She does not play tennis.