What is a verb?hallidaycentre.cityu.edu.hk/spelt/notes/2_Grammatical_Categories.pdf · In these 2 verb-word verbal groups, it is the last verb that expresses the event Identify the

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the system of language

context

lexicogrammar

phonology / graphology

semantics

units in the system of language

semantics

context

lexicogrammar


semantics

clauses, groups,words

sounds / letters

units in the system of language

semantics

context

lexicogrammar


semantics

clauses, groups/phrases,words

sounds / letters

units of lexicogrammar

clauses

groups words


clauses, groups and words

1 clause

“Mr Piggott lived with his two sons, Simon and Patrick in a nice house with a nice garden, and

(with) a nice car in the nice garage.”

many groups

many many words

From “Piggy Book” by Anthony Brown

(1986) London: Walker Books


clauses, groups and words

related by constituencyi.e.

the “consists of” relationship

clauses consist of groups;

groups consist of wordse.g.

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units of lexicogrammar: rank scale

group group group

c l a u s e

word word word wordword wordword

consists

of

consists

of

His wife was working inside the house

rank 1 = clause; rank 2 = group; rank 3 = words

1

2

3

C l a u s e

group group group

word word word word word word word

his wife was working inside the house

1

2

3

change the order of the words and see which words

how much is a group?

e.g.

“stick together”

units of lexicogrammar: rank scale

group group group

c l a u s e



Changing the word order

group group group

c l a u s e


His wife inside the house was working

group group group

c l a u s e

word word wordwordword word word

The words that cannot be separated from each other form groups

Changing the word order

His wifeinside the house was working

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His wife inside the house was working

Inside the house his wife was working

Beware

There are exceptions to this rule for certain kinds of groups, e.g.

was his wife working inside the house?

This kind of group where the words can be separated is the verbal group (vg)

kinds of group

• nominal (noun) groups

• verbal group

• adverbial groups & prepositional phrases,

• conjunction (groups)

e.g. was working

e.g. His wife

e.g. inside the house

e.g. as soon as, so, and, but etc

was working

Prepositional phrase

nominal group

verbalgroup

c l a u s e

word word wordwordword word word

kinds of groups & phrases

inside the house his wife

conjunction group

nominal group

verbalgroup

c l a u s e

word word word

kinds of group

had eatenAs soon as they

wordword word

verbsdefinition: a verb is a word that expresses an

event, happening or state

action (doing or happening)

Mrs Piggott made all the beds

sensing (thinking; reacting; perceiving)

“But what shall we do?” said Mr Piggott.saying

“How should I know?”.

being Inside the house was his wife.

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• Events, happenings and states occur in

time, so a good way to identify a verb is

to look for the tense (time-indicating)

ending, e.g.

arrive arrived arrives arriving

write wrote writes written

is was etc

verbal groups express Events

• Events, happenings and states may also be

expressed as being possible or necessary or

obligatory and these expressions usually

come before the verb e.g.

may arrive

can write

etc

should arrive might arrive

ought to write needs to write

verbal groups express Events

The possibility, necessity or obligation of

events may combine with the categories of

time and give us a number of words before

the main verb e.g.

will have to arrive

could have written

etc

should have arrived

ought to be going to write

verbal groups express Events Activity 1: Identify the verbal groups

“We arrived in Geraldton and did a bit of

shopping etc. before we headed towards

Perth stopping at Cervantes to visit the

wonderful Pinnacles and take a few more

snaps.”

Warning:

an event may be expressed as not restricted at all

Finding she was left alone, and fearing that

there would not be another chance to escape,

she closed her eyes and jumped.

verbal groups





snaps.”

Verbal groups restricted in time (finite)

Verbal groups unrestricted (non-finite)

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“We ’ll just have to root around…..”

= phrasal verb

sometimes the lexical verb (the part of the verbal

group that expresses the kind of event) consists of

the verb followed by a preposition or an adverb

Phrasal verbs• he picked her up in his arms

• "I put that girl down way back in the city.

• he picked up her in his arms

• he picked up the girl in his arms

• "I put down that girl way back in the city.

Phrasal verbs

• verb + adverb e.g. look out (=unearth, retrieve)

• verb + preposition e.g. look for (=seek)

• verb + adverb + preposition e.g. look out for

(=watch for)

Verbal groups

In addition, a verb may be preceded by a word that modifies it in some other way, indicating:

• its stage of completion

• its reality:

• its stage of success:

• its condition:

• causation:

begin to go; keep going; stop going

seems to go;

tried to go; managed to go;

happened to go;

was forced to go;

From the Zen text…

• They met a young girl dressed in fine silks, who

hesitated to cross because of all the mud.

In these 2 verb-word verbal groups, it is the last verb that expresses the event

Identify the verbal groups in the Leo text

Money may be in short supply early in the

month – just use your common sense to solve

any problems. You’ll be busy after the 23rd, but

will be in good spirits. Thoughtful gestures

around mid-month will please you but partners

may be rebellious. Reduce your intake of spicy

foods.

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Events have participants associated with them

• These participants are generally expressed by

nominal groups

As soon as they had eaten, Mrs Piggott

washed the dishes… (Mrs Piggott) washed

the clothes… (Mrs Piggott) did the ironing…

and then she cooked some more food.

nominal groups express participants in events (who did what to whom)

and may contain one word or many

Recognising nounsnouns can be described by:

• pointing to them these snaps

• counting them many snaps….

• evaluating them wonderful snaps….

• classifying them happy snaps….

We took these many wonderful happy snaps

We can even combine all of these descriptors:

multi-word nominal groups

occur where nouns are described, so one way of

recognising a noun is to ask: Can this word be

described? i.e. can it be:

pointed out or owned? the house / their house

counted, e.g. ten things;

evaluated, e.g. a horrible meal

classified, e.g. parliamentary debate

Nominal groups

may contain a noun, a pronoun or an adjectiveas the main word

As soon as they had eaten, Mrs Piggott washed

the dishes… washed the clothes… did the ironing…

and then she cooked some more food

pronoun noun

noun

noun

noun

nounpronoun

Nominal groups

They had to make their own meal. It took

hours. And it was horrible.

pronoun nounpronoun

noun

pronoun

adjective

may contain a noun, a pronoun or an adjectiveas the main word

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Beware

Pronouns (words that ‘stand-in’ for a noun) cannot be described so nominal groups containing a pronoun tend to be 1-word nominal groups, e.g.

They had to make their own meal. It took

hours. And it was horrible.

Activity 2: Identify the nominal groups

The Eagle and the Arrow

An Eagle was soaring through the air when suddenly it

heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt itself

wounded to death. Slowly it fluttered down to

earth, with its life-blood pouring out of it. Looking

down upon the Arrow with which it had been

pierced, it saw that the shaft of the Arrow had

been feathered with one of its own plumes. "Alas!"

it cried, as it died, "We often give our enemies

the means for our own destruction.“

Adverbial groups

• Adverbial groups contain an adverb as the main word.

• Adverbs express how, when, where, why etc

something occurred, e.g.

The next day and the next night and the day

after that, Mrs Piggott was still not there.

when

where

• often consist of a single word

Adverbial groups

Mrs Piggott was still not there.

• and they often end in -ly

She won easily.

He obviously forgot the appointment.

Prepositional phrases

preposition + a nominal group, e.g.

Inside the house was his wife.

Like adverbial groups, prepositional phrases express how, when, where, why etc an event occurred

Prepositions are grammatical words that indicate the position of one thing vis-à-vis another. So prepositional phrases consist of:

adverbial groups/prepositional phrases

may contain one word or many

e.g. 1 and 2+ word prepositional phrase

On the mantelpiece was an envelope.

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Activity 3: Identify the adverbial groups/ prepositional Phrases

An Eagle was soaring through the air when suddenly it

heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt itself wounded

to death. Slowly it fluttered down to the earth, with

its life-blood pouring out of it.

Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been

pierced, it saw that the shaft of the Arrow had been

feathered with one of its own plumes. "Alas!" it cried,

as it died, "We often give our enemies the means of

our own destruction.“

Sentences often contain a number of events that are related to one another in some way, e.g.

As soon as they had left the house, Mrs Piggott

washed the dishes, washed the clothes, vacuumed

the carpets, and then she went to work .

Event

1

Event

2

Event

3

Event

4

Event

5

conjunctions

The words that indicate the relationshipbetween events are called

As soon as they had left the house, Mrs Piggott

washed the dishes, washed the clothes, vacuumed

the carpets, and then she went to work .

conjunction

group

Conjunction

group

conjunctions

“Hurry up with the breakfast, dear,” he called

every morning, before he went off to his very

important job.

Conjunction

Summary

• Verbal groups express events;

• Nominal groups express participants in events;

• Adverbial groups/prepositional phrases express

circumstances surrounding events;

• Conjunction (groups) link events

Events are therefore the nucleus

around which other elements revolve

the structure that contains this nucleus and its satellites is called..

the clause

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clauses

How do we recognise a clause?

A clause is a group of words that contains a verb

So to recognise a clause we must be able to identify a verb

50

Singapore was the highlight of our trip. It was

great. We had a local guide and were taken to

places that had the best cocktails and meals in

the country. There are poorer areas and we

managed to see these as well, and this was an

eye-opening experience.

Singapore must have the cleanest and most

efficient transport system in the world. It is truly

amazing.

Activity 4: locate the verbs (verbal groups)

51





managed to see these as well, which was an




amazing.

Activity 5: identify the participants (nominal groups) associated with each event (verb)

Singapore was the highlight of our trip. It was great.

We had a local guide and were taken to places that

had the best cocktails and meals in the country.

There are poorer areas and we managed to see

these as well, and this was an eye-opening

experience.

Singapore must have the cleanest and most efficient

transport system in the world. It is truly amazing.

Activity 6: identify any circumstances (adverbial groups/prepositional phrases)

surrounding the events (verb)









amazing.

Activity 7: identify any conjunctions linking events in sentences

54









amazing.

Activity 8: identify the clauses by inserting //at the end of each clause

//// ////

// ////

//

////

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conj Nominal

group

Verbal

group

Nominal group Adverbial group/

prep.ph.

6 and we managed to see these

5 are poorer areas

4 and (we) were taken to places that had the

best cocktails & food

in the country

3 We had a local guide

2 It was great

1 Singapore was the highlight of our trip

7 and this was an eye-opening

experience

8 Singapore must have the cleanest & most

efficient transport

system

in the world

9 It was truly amazing

Activity 9: identify the clauses

Mr Piggott lived with his two sons, Simon and

Patrick in a nice house with a nice garden, and a

nice car in the nice garage. Inside the house was

his wife.

“Bring the breakfast, dear,” he called every

morning, before he went to his very important

job……

After they left the house, Mrs Piggott washed all

the breakfast things… made all the beds…

vacuumed all the carpets… and then she went to

work.

conj Nominal group

Verbal group

Nominal group

Adverbial group/Prepositional phrase

7 Mrs Piggott washedall the breakfast things

6 After they left the house

5 before he went to his very important job

4 he called every morning

3 Bring the breakfast

2 his wife was Inside the house

1 Mr Piggott lived

with his two sons, Simon and Patrickin a nice house with a nice garden and a nice house in the nice garage.

8 (Mrs Piggott) made all the beds

9 (Mrs Piggott) vacuumed all the carpets

10 and then she went to work

Activity 10: identify the clauses (find the verbal groups first)

An Eagle was soaring through the air when

suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt

that it was wounded to death. Slowly it fluttered

down to earth, with its life-blood pouring out of it.

Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had

been pierced, it saw that the shaft of the Arrow

had been feathered with one of its own plumes.

"Alas!" it cried, as it died, "We often give our

enemies the means for our own destruction.“

verbal groups, nominal groups, adverbial groups/prepositional phrases, conjunctions

An Eagle was soaring through the air when

suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt

that it was wounded to death. Slowly it fluttered

down to earth, with its life-blood pouring out of it.

Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had

been pierced, it saw that the shaft of the Arrow

had been feathered with one of its own plumes.

"Alas!" it cried, as it died, "We often give our

enemies the means for our own destruction.“

//// //

//

// //

// //

//// //

//

cl.

1 An Eagle was soaring through the air

2 when suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow,

3 and (it) felt

4 that it was wounded to death

5 Slowly it fluttered down to the earth,

6 with its life-blood pouring out of it.

7 Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been pierced

8 it saw

9 that the shaft of the Arrow had been feathered with one of its own plumes.

10 "Alas!" it cried,

11 as it died,

12 "We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction."

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warning

embeddingHis wife was working inside the house

units of lexicogrammar - rank scale

group group group

c l a u s e


consists of

consists of

rank 1 = clause; rank 2 = group; rank 3 = words

embedding• Nominal groups normally function as a constituent

of a clause, but

• embedding occurs where a clause functions as a constituent of another clause or even of a group

Working inside the house is not everybody’s cup of tea

Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been pierced

embedding


[[Working inside the house]] is not everybody’s cup of tea

clause functioning as if it were a

lower ranked constituent, i.e. a

nominal group


clause vg ng


Police were staging a massive crackdown on gang

members believed behind such attacks.

Often a clause is embedded in a nominal group

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Police were staging a massive crackdown on gang

members [[believed behind such attacks.]]

Q: which gang members?

A: those believed (to be) behind such attacks.

Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been pierced

Q: which arrow?

A: the arrow [[with which it had been pierced]]

We will explore embedding in greater depth when we look at the

structure of nominal groups (session 6)

cl.

1 An Eagle was soaring through the air

2 when suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow,

3 and (it) felt

4 that it was wounded to death

5 Slowly it fluttered down to the earth,

6 with its life-blood pouring out of it.

7 Looking down upon the Arrow [[with which it had been pierced]]

8 it saw

9 that the shaft of the Arrow had been feathered with one of its own plumes.

10 "Alas!" it cried,

11 as it died,

12 "We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction."

Travelogue (continued)

These Pinnacles are limestone formations

which look like termite mounds. There

are thousands of them all on a sandy

bed. Apart from these pinnacles the land

is barren.

Activity 11: find the verbs in the Travelogue

Activity 12: Find the Nominal groups in the Travelogue

“We arrived in Geraldton and did a bit of shopping etc.

before we headed towards Perth stopping at

Cervantes to visit the wonderful Pinnacles and take

a few more snaps.”

Activity 13: Find the prepositional phrasesin the Travelogue


shopping etc. before we headed towards Perth

stopping at Cervantes to visit the wonderful

Pinnacles and take a few more snaps.”

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snaps.”

Activity 14: Find the Conjunctions in the Travelogue

Activity 15: find the clauses in the Travelogue

We arrived in Geraldton and did a bit of shopping etc.

before we headed towards Perth stopping at

Cervantes to visit the wonderful Pinnacles and take

a few more snaps. These Pinnacles are limestone

formations which look like termite mounds. There

are thousands of them all on a sandy bed. Apart

from these pinnacles the land is barren.

nominal groups verbal groups prepositional phrases

// ////

// //

//// //

//

//

1. We arrived in Geraldton

2. and (we) did a bit of shopping etc.

3. before we headed towards Perth

4. stopping at Cervantes

5. to visit the wonderful Pinnacles

6. and take a few more snaps.

7. These Pinnacles are limestone formations [[which

look like termite mounds.]]

8. There are thousands of them all on a sandy bed.

9. Apart from these pinnacles the land is barren.

1 We arrived in Geraldton

2 and (we) did a bit of shopping etc

3 before we headed towards Perth

4 stopping at Cervantes

5to visit

the wonderful

Pinnacles

6 and take a few more snaps.

7These

Pinnacles arelimestone formations

[[which look like termite mounds.]]

8 are thousands of them all on a sandy bed.

9 the land is barrenapart from these

Pinnacles

conj Nominal group

Verbal group

Nominal group

Adverbial group/Prepositional

phrase

Documents

What is a verb?hallidaycentre.cityu.edu.hk/spelt/notes/2_Grammatical_Categories.pdf · In these 2 verb-word verbal groups, it is the last verb that expresses the event Identify the