1. GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE

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1. GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE
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1.1 THE PARTS OF SPEECH
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You are probably familiar with terms like noun,
verb, preposition, etc. These are what we call
parts of speech Wortarten. If you look a word
up in a dictionary, you will find that its part
of speech is given before the meaning. For
instance house, nounA building for human
habitationmake, verbTo construct, build, or
create, from separate parts We refer here to
the following parts of speech articles, nouns,
pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives,
prepositions, conjunctions.
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articleAn article is a word that comes before a
noun, and helps to identify it. English has two
articlesthe (called the definite article)and a
or an (before a vowel) (called the indefinite
article)
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nounWords like cat, table, road, etc., are
nouns. They may denote concrete objects, like
chair, cup, glass or living things like person,
woman, plant, animal or they may denote abstract
things like love, hate, friendship,
probability, opportunity, etc. Names like Peter,
London, Christianity, Communism are called proper
nouns Eigennamen. They are spelt with capital
letters.
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pronounPronouns are words which stand for nouns
which have already been mentioned. They are used
to avoid repeating the noun to which the speaker
is referring.I, me, you, we, they, them, us, he,
him, she, her, it, are called personal
pronouns.myself, yourself, himself, etc., are
reflexive pronouns.Who?, whom?, which?, whose?,
what? are interrogative pronouns.
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verbWords like run, swim, ride, break, dig,
etc., are verbs. Most verbs represent actions or
events. But there are many which denote states
be, have, own, seem, etc.
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adverbThese are words like quickly, seriously,
sadly, soon, very, etc. Their most typical
function is to add information to verbs, telling
us where, when, or how an action takes place. But
there are others which (like very) can refer to
adjectives, to other adverbs, or even to the
sentence as a whole, rather than just to the verb.
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adjectiveThese describe characteristics of
nouns and most typically are placed before the
noun they describe (the large dog, the red book,
etc.)
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prepositionA preposition expresses a
relationship between a noun and another part of
the sentence. Most of the common prepositions in
English refer, when they are used concretely, to
relations of space and time on, off, to, from,
under, in, up, down, at, etc. In a simple
sentence a preposition must always be followed by
a noun.
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conjunctionThis is a word which is used mainly
to join two sentences in a certain way, like and,
but, because, when, although, since, etc.
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1.2 GRAMMATICAL FORM
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We often describe words according to their
grammatical form Flexion. We say for instance
that in the German sentence Ich sah den Mann the
noun der Mann is in the accusative case
Wen-Fall, and that the definite article der has
the accusative form den. In the same way we say
that in the sentence Der Man hat mir geholfen the
personal pronoun ich appears in the dative case
Wem-Fall mir.
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In English we speak of the ordinary form (
nominative) and the oblique form ( accusative or
dative). The ordinary form of the first person
singular pronoun is I. The oblique form is me. It
is important to remember that descriptions like
first person singular, oblique form are
statements about the grammatical form of words.
The terms gerund, participle, infinitive, for
example, are also statements of grammatical form
which apply to verbs. So are terms like past
tense, or progressive form. The expressions
singular and plural are descriptions of
grammatical forms which apply to nouns and
pronouns.
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When we are talking about the grammatical form of
a verb, the first thing we have to decide is
whether it has a finite or a non-finite form.
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A finite verb is one which agrees grammatically
with its subject.A finite verb always shows
tense, and always shows aspect (that is, it
appears in either the progressive or the simple
form).
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ExamplesI run three miles every day.(first
person singular present tense simple
form)David cooked a meal.(third person
singular past tense, simple form)You have been
playing in the garden.(second person singular or
plural present perfect tense progressive form)
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A non-finite verb is one which does not agree
grammatically with its subject.In fact, most
non-finite verbs do not have grammatical subjects
anyway. Non-finite verbs often do not show tense
or aspect.
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ExamplesRunning three miles everyday is very
tiring.(No grammatical subject of running is
present running shows no tense or aspect form
running is here a gerund.)To run three miles
everyday would be tiring.(No grammatical subject
of to run is present to run shows no tense or
aspect form to run is here an infinitive.)David
stood in the kitchen, cooking a meal.(The
grammatical subject of cooking is David, but
there is no subject agreement cooking shows no
tense or aspect form cooking is here a
participle.)
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2. GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION
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As we saw in the previous section, we can divide
a sentence up according to the structures it
contains (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.). We
called these categories parts of speech. A
different way of analysing a sentence is in terms
of function. That is, we look at the
relationships between the different parts of a
particular sentence.
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Functional categories Satzglieder are subject,
object, adverbial (adverbiale Bestimmung),
complement Subjektprädikativ/Objektprädikativ,
and predicate. As we shall see below, one
particular part of speech may fulfil different
functions in different sentences. A word like
glass, for instance is always a noun its part of
speech, that is, is always the same. But in
different sentences the word may function as
subject, object, complement, or even as part of
an adverbial.
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PredicateThe predicate is the most important
part of a sentence. It holds the other parts of a
sentence together, and is therefore the centre of
the relationship between them. In a sense we can
say that the predicate expresses the basic
meaning of the sentence die Satzaussage. The
predicate is always a verb.
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- of a single finite verbDavid hit Peter.-
or of a whole finite phrase including auxiliaries
HilfsverbenThe book was lying on the
table.You can go if you wish.- or it may be a
non-finite verbWalking quickly across the road,
I saw a yellow Rolls Royce.
The predicate may consist
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SubjectThe subject of a sentence is most
typically that part of it which causes the event
named by the predicate Handlungsträger. It is
that part of the sentence to which the predicate
is most intimately related. The information given
to us by the predicate tells us first of all
about the subject and then about the subjects
relationship to the rest of the sentence. In a
simple sentence the subject is a noun or a
pronoun. If the sentence is declarative (i.e. not
a question or command) the subject always comes
before the predicate.
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David hit Peter.The book was lying on the table.
We can find out what the subject of a particular
sentence is by asking questions like Who verb X?
What verb X? (X here simply means the rest of the
sentence), for example Who hit Peter? What was
lying on the table?
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ObjectThere are two kinds of object the direct
object, and the indirect object.
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The direct objectis that part of the sentence
which is acted on or directly affected by the
subject and the verb.David hit Peter.Peter put
the book on the table.In a simple sentence the
direct object is a noun or pronoun.
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The indirect objectdenotes a person or thing
which receives the direct object. In a complete
sentence an indirect object cannot appear without
a direct object. The indirect object can be
paraphrased by a prepositional phrase with to or
for.He gave me a watch.He bought himself a
drink.He gave a watch to me.He bought a drink
for himself.
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The indirect object comes before the direct
object in the sentence. The indirect object
usually denotes an animate object (that is, a
living thing).
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ComplementA complement denotes an attribute or
characteristic of the subject or object. It is
something which has to be added to make the
sentence complete.
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Subject complementThis is that part of a
sentence which follows verbs like be, grow,
become, seem, appear, turn that is, verbs which
have no direct object, but need something after
them to make the sentence complete. A subject
complement describes a characteristic or feature
of the subject.
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David is my brother.Mary seems tired.Sarah
became a teacher.Jim turned red.
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Object complementThis is almost like a second
direct object. But unlike a direct object an
object complement can be an adjective as well as
a noun or pronoun. The object complement follows
the direct object, and describes a characteristic
of the direct object which is caused by the
verb. Like the subject complement, the object
complement is needed by certain verbs to make the
sentence complete.
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He called me a fool.They elected him
chairman.The rice pudding made Susan sick.We
proved him wrong.
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AdverbialAn adverbial is the part of a sentence
which gives us information about how, when, or
where something happens. It is in fact like an
adverb. An adverb, however, is a part of speech,
not a function. The adverbial function can be
fulfilled by an adverb but other parts of speech
fulfil adverbial functions too. Prepositional
phrases, and even noun phrases, as well as
ordinary adverbs, can fulfil the adverbial
function. Note that all prepositional phrases
function as adverbials.
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He went to London.She cooked the dinner
slowly.David broke his leg last week.She
greeted me in a friendly manner.Tom opened the
door with a gasp.
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Maria gave Ramon a quarter of cheap whiskey for
Christmas.
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Maria gave Ramon a quarter of cheap whiskey for
Christmas.
S
P
Oi
Od
A
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A light plane suddenly appeared between the
mountains.
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A light plane suddenly appeared between the
mountains.
S
P
A
A
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In 1966 Sheila became a singer with the band.
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In 1966 Sheila became a singer with the band.
S
P
A
Cs
A
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In 1966 Sheila became a singer with the band.
S
P
Cs
A
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Next month we are flying to Norway on holiday.
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Next month we are flying to Norway on holiday.
S
P
A
A
A
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Please send us instructions quickly.
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Please send us instructions quickly.
P
A
Oi
Od
A
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the subject is implied!
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Several persistent wasps were making the dog
rather angry.
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Several persistent wasps were making the dog
rather angry.
Co
P
Od
S
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Fred turned pale with fright.
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Fred turned pale with fright.
Cs
S
P
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In this dense fog you can easily get lost on the
moor.
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In this dense fog you can easily get lost on the
moor.
A
S
P
Cs
A
A
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The refugees crossed the mountains on foot.
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The refugees crossed the mountains on foot.
Od
S
P
A
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Yesterday was a fine day.
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Yesterday was a fine day.
S
P
Cs
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Yesterday it was a fine day.
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Yesterday it was a fine day.
S
P
Cs
A
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They gave the mysterious package to the police at
the airport.
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They gave the mysterious package to the police at
the airport.
S
P
Od
A
A
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They gave the mysterious package to the police at
the airport.
S
P
Od
A
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After the hectic years in London we bought
ourselves a small cottage in the Cotswolds.
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After the hectic years in London we bought
ourselves a small cottage in the Cotswolds.
S
P
A
Oi
Od
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Personally, I find this class a bit boring.
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Personally, I find this class a bit boring.
S
P
A
Co
Od
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A womans body was discovered this morning in the
hedge by a cyclist on his way to work.
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A womans body was discovered this morning in the
hedge by a cyclist on his way to work.
A
P-pass
S
A
A
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You didnt explain the plan to us clearly enough.

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You didnt explain the plan to us clearly enough.

S
Od
P
A
A
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In the middle of the Channel crossing, Marthas
face slowly went green.
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In the middle of the Channel crossing, Marthas
face slowly went green.
A
S
P
Cs
A
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3. THE SENTENCE
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3.1 THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
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A sentence containing just one predicate is
called asimple sentence einfacher Satz.
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3.2 THE COMPOUND SENTENCE
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We can join simple sentences together by using
the conjunctions and, or, but.David drinks
Guinness and Marion drinks orange-juice.He likes
beer, but he doesnt like wine.Or we can have a
list of several simple sentences, separated by
commas (the last two in this case must be joined
by a conjunction).David drinks Guinness, Marion
drinks orange-juice, Sarah drinks Bourbon, and
George drinks Martini.
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When we join simple sentences together in this
way we get a larger sentence called a compound
sentence Satzreihe, Satzverbindung. The
original sentences have become parts of a larger
sentence. We call such parts clauses.The
clauses in a compound sentence are called
co-ordinate clauses. The conjunctions and, or,
but, are called co-ordinating conjunctions.We
can therefore say that a compound sentence
consists of two or more co-ordinate clauses
joined by co-ordinating conjunctions.
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A clause is a part of a sentence which has its
own predicate.A compound sentence consists of
two or more clauses which are joined together by
conjunctions.
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3.3 THE COMPLEX SENTENCE
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The co-ordinate clauses in a compound sentence
are independent of each other. They are simply
added together. However, we can join clauses so
that one becomes dependent on the other. This is
done by using conjunctions like although,
because, when, etc.
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Although David likes Marion, Marion does not like
David.The clause David likes Marion is
dependent on the other clause. It has become a
part of that other clause, and cannot stand
alone. The conjunction although shows that it
must be dependent on some other clause. Sentences
like these are called complex sentences
Satzgefüge. The dependent clause is sometimes
called the subordinate clause, and the other
clause is called the main clause. The
conjunctions used are called subordinating
conjunctions.
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Although Sarah was tired, she did not go to
bed.I do not like Barry, because he is always
rude to me.We will not go, unless you come with
us.When Charlie got home, he did the washing up.
____________________
_________________________
___________________
___________________
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A complex sentence consists of one or more main
clauses and one or more subordinate clauses. A
subordinate clause is joined to a main clause by
a subordinating conjunction.
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3.4 PHRASES
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So far we have looked at two kinds of word
groups sentences, and clauses. Now we will deal
with a word group which is smaller than the
clause the phrase.
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(1) the big black dogEach of these words forms
a unit. The main word in the unit, the most
important word, is dog. We can leave out any of
the others. But we cannot leave out dog, for then
the unit would be grammatically incomplete. The
unit is thus dependent on the noun dog. We call
such a unit a noun phrase.
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(2) red with angerThe most important word is
red. It cannot be left out. Red is an adjective,
so we call the group in (2) an adjective phrase.
There are also adverb phrases, verb phrases,
and prepositional phrases. The main word in the
phrase is called the head word.
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A phrase is a group of words which belong
together.
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ExamplesI want to become a good teacher.(noun
phrase)Ronald drives his car fast.(noun
phrase)The man turned white with
fear.(adjective phrase)The book is on the green
table.(prepositional phrase)The book is on the
green table.(noun phrase)Sarah is
sleeping.(verb phrase)Your test was very
good.(adjective phrase)