Elements of English
I. Parts of a sentence
- Subject: what is being discussed (the theme of a sentence)
- Predicate: something new about the subject
Predication
Predicate
Auxiliary as
sentence
operator
Subject
- A sentence must have an operator auxiliary acts as an operator
- E.g.
o I must go to school on time.
o You may be heard.
o I like your dress
- 2 or more auxiliaries: first auxiliary acts as an operator
- No auxiliary: “do” acts as an operator
- Be: special auxiliary acts as an operator itself
o You are my teacher
- Command sentence: “Don’t be noisy!”
o Both “do” and “be” our auxiliaries, but “do” is an operator
- I have some money
have not any money
o “Have” is only used as a main verb when it is a possessive verb acts as an
operator
II. Sentence elements
- Subject (S)
- Verb (V)
- Complement (C)
o Subject complement (Cs)
o Object complement (Co)
- Object (O):
o Direct object (Od)
o Indirect object (Oi)
- Adverbial (A): cause, condition, direction, …
- E.g.
o You are my teacher S + V + Cs
o You look happy S + V + Cs
o I gave him a book S + V + Oi + Od
- Sentence with 2 O: first O normally is Oi
o I gave a book to him S + V + O + A
o I must go to school on time S + V + A + A
o I do whatever you say S + V + O
- Note: A sentence has a “Wh” element “wh” element at the beginning
o Call me a taxi V + Oi + Od
o Call me Hang V + Od + Co
o You make me happy S + V + O + Co
III. Categories of verb
- Note:
o Tense action took place in past, present or future
o Aspect action is completed, continuous/progressive or non-progressive, both or
neither
o Mood express attitude toward what they are saying
o Voice active voice or passive voice
- Types of verbs corresponding closely to the different types of O and C
o Intensive V: V + Cs
“be”
o Extensive V
Intransitive (without O, C)
“go”
Transitive (with O)
Monotransitive (Od)
Ditransitive (Od + Oi)
Complex transitive (O + Co)
- Types of verbs corresponding to aspectual contrast of “progressive” and “non-progressive”
o Stative (non-progressive) verbs don’t have V-ing form
Short action verbs (hear, see...)
Verb indicates state (love, hate,...)
o Dynamic (progressive)
IV. Categories of adverbial
- Time (a time)
- Place (a place)
- Process (progressive aspect) (a process)
V. Types of sentence structure
- Stative: tĩnh, trạng thái
o Noun
o Adjective
o He is a careful driver
- Dynamic: động
o Verb
o Adverb
o He drives carefully
VI. Element realization types
- Verb element (always a verb phrase)
o Finite: showing tense, mood, aspect, voice
o Non-finite: showing aspect, voice only
V-ing
V-ed
To V
Bare V
- S realised by
o Noun phrase (simplest form: pronoun)
o A clause
- Cs, Od, Co: realised by same range of structures as S
- Cs, Co also realsed by adjective phrases
- Oi realised chiefly by noun phrases, not realised by “that” clauses
- A: realised by adverb phrases, noun phrases, prepositional phrases, clauses (finite, non-
finite)
Verb Phrase V
Noun Phrase S, O, C, A
Phrase Adjective Phrase C (Cs, Co)
Adverb Phrase A
Linguistic
Structure
Preposition Phrase A
Clause S, O, C, A
VII. Parts of speech
- Open-class items
o Noun
o Adjective
o Adverb
o Verb
- Closed-system items: số lượng cố định
o Article
o Demonstrate
o Pronoun
o Preposition
o Conjunction
o Interjection
VIII. Pro-forms
- ‘one’ replaces a noun in a noun phrase
- Pronouns replace noun phrases
- Proforms for place, time, and other adverbials: there, then, so
- ‘so’ replaces – along with the pro-verb ‘do’ – a predicatiom
- The pro-predication is achieved by the operator alone
IX. Questions and negation
- Wh-questions
o Proform = we know what this item refers to, so I need not state it in full
o ‘Wh’ forms = it has not been known what this item refers to and so it need to be
stated in full
