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The structure of this ppt

1. Agreement: 1.1. – 1.9.

2. Negation: 2.1. – 2.8.

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1. Agreement (concord)

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1.1. Agreement (concord)

Definition of agreement (Q1985: 755)

1. subject—verb

(A) grammatical

(B) notional

(C)the proximity principle

2. subject—complement & object—complement

3. pronoun reference

the relationship between two grammatical units such that one of them

displays a particular feature (e.g. plurality) that accords with a

displayed (or semantically implicit) feature in the other

Types of agreement

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1.2. Agreement (concord)

1. Subject—verb (SV) (in the 3rd person)

(A) grammatical: based on (overt) morphological form

(1A) S-V-gr

• NP subjects

1. Ssg — Vsg: The change in male attitudes is obvious.

2. Spl — Vpl: The changes in male attitudes are obvious.

• S, PP, ADVP subjects: sg (except: nominal relative cl-s: sg/pl)

1. How you got there

2. To treat them well doesn’t concern me.

3. Banning cigarettes

4. What are/is called new proposals/a new proposal are/is not new.

5. In the evening is best for me.

6. Very slowly does it!

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1.3. Agreement (concord)

(1A) S-V-gr

• the first element in the verbal complex is involved in S-V

agreement

My son/sons has/have no intention of leaving.

arrived.

• English verbal (and nominal) inflectional morphology is

extremely impoverished ( Hungarian)

• BE: am, is, are — was, were

• HAVE: has, have

• V-s: 3sg,present - he works

I/you/we/they work; I/you/we/they/(s)he/it worked

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1.4. Agreement (concord)

(1A) S-V-gr

some special cases

• clash of form and function (meaning)

1) Mathematics is my favourite subject.

2) Our people are complaining.

• names, titles, quotations

3) Crime and Punishment is a masterpiece.

• zero plural nouns

4) The sheep is/are grazing.

5) The sheep jumped over the fence. (sg/pl) [didn’t it/they?]

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1.5. Agreement (concord)

1. Subject—verb (SV)

(B) notional: based on the (number) semantics of the subject noun head

• typically: collective nouns (government, team, family, committee …)

(1) The government have broken all their promises.

(2) The government has broken all its promises.

• usually, you have to be consistent:

(3) *The government have broken all its promises.

• the choice often depends on how you view the group (body vs.

collection of individuals)

(4) The audience was enormous // were enjoying the lecture.

(5) The public consists of you and me // are tired of protests.

(6) England have // has [US] won the cup.

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1.6. Agreement (concord)

1. Subject—verb (SV)

(C) the principle of proximity (attraction)

• based on the number feature of the noun phrase (within a complex

noun phrase subject) that immediately precedes the verb

(1) ?No one except his own supporters agree with him.

(A)-(B)-(C)

• (A) grammatical agreement: formal usage, sanctioned by teaching and

editorial tradition

• (B) notional agreement: most natural to colloquial English

• (C) principle of proximity: it is felt to lack validity on its own, and it

occurs mainly in unplanned speech

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1.7. Agreement (concord)

coordination

1) Tom and Alice are/*is now ready. (cf. Hungarian)

2) What I say and do is // are my own affair.

3) The hammer and sickle was/*were flying from the flagpole.

4) Two and two is/are four.

5) American and Dutch beer *is/are (both) lighter than British beer.

6) His friend and the subsequent editor of his book betrayed him. <

7) Either Tom or Alice is/*are bound to come. (+ neither)

8) Either/neither of them is/are welcome.

9) None (of them) is/are welcome.

10) Either your brakes or your eyesight is/?are at fault.

11) Either your eyesight or your brakes ?is/are at fault.

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1.8. Agreement (concord)

1) My child is/*are an angel.

2) My children *is/are angels.

3) I consider my child *angels/an angel.

4) I consider my children angels/*an angel.

5) My only hope for the future is/are my children.

6) More nurses is/are the next item on the agenda.

7) What we need most is/are books.

2. Subject—complement & object—complement

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1.9. Agreement (concord)

• agreement = coreferentiality (indicated by identical indices)

• agreement wrt person, number (& gender: 3sg)

(1) The mani (NP) likes himselfi (NP) / *herselfi (NP) / *myselfi (NP).

S

NPi VP

V

NPi

the man likes himself

3. Noun phrase (NP) — pronoun (= proNP) reference

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1.10.Agreement (concord)

The mani likes

himselfi *himselfj *himi himj

*herselfi *herselfj *heri herj

*themselvesi *themselvesj *themi themj

*myselfi *myselfj *mei mej

*himselfi’s car *himselfj’s car

hisi car hisj car

*herselfi’s car *herselfj’s car

*heri car herj car

The mani says that hei,j likes hisi,j,k car.

3. Noun phrase (NP) — pronoun (= proNP) reference

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2. Negation

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2.1. Negation

Types of negation

1) clause negation: the whole clause is syntactically treated

as negative

2) local negation: one constituent is negated

3) predication negation (a minor type): applies only after

certain auxiliaries

4) double negation: the result is assertion

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2.2. Negation

1) clause negation

positive negative contracted aux+neg

I have finished. I have not finished. I haven’t finished.

She works hard. She does not work hard. She doesn’t work hard.

She is pretty. She is not pretty. She isn’t pretty.

She has money. She has not money. She hasn’t money.

She has money. She does not have money. She doesn’t have money.

She has money. She has no money.

That was an accident. That was not an accident.

That was no accident.

That wasn’t an accident.

typically: verb negation, occasionally: negation of other element

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2.3. Negation

1) clause negation

frequently: followed by one or more nonassertive items (cf. Hungarian)

category assertive nonassertive negative

determiner some any no

pronoun something anything nothing

place adverb somewhere anywhere nowhere

time adverb sometime(s) ever never

I didn’t ever give anything to any stranger anywhere.

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2.4. Negation

1) clause negation

scope of negation: typically starts after the negative particle but does

not necessarily extend to the end of the clause

She definitely didn’t speak to him.

‘It’s definite that she didn’t speak to him.’

She didn’t definitely speak to him.

‘It’s not definite that she spoke to him.’

I didn’t listen to any of the speakers.

‘There were not any of the speakers that I listened to.’

I didn’t listen to some of the speakers.

‘There were some of the speakers that I didn’t listen to.’

I don’t understand anything. vs. I don’t understand something.

‘…’ vs. ‘…’

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2.5. Negation

1) clause negation

focus of negation: marked by heavy stress on a constituent (and the rest

of the clause is not in the scope of negation)

I didn’t take Joan to swim in the pool today. I forgot to do so.

I didn’t take Joan to swim in the pool today. It was Mary.

I didn’t take Joan to swim in the pool today. Just to see it.

I didn’t take Joan to swim in the pool today. I took her to the seaside.

I didn’t take Joan to swim in the pool today. It was last week that I did so.

I didn’t take Joan to swim in the pool today. It was my brother who took her.

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2.6. Negation

2) local negation

negating a constituent without making the whole clause negative

1) She is a not unattractive woman in some ways / *in any respect. vs.

She is not an unattractive woman in *some ways / in any respect.

2) They made some not unintelligent remarks.

3) I visit them not infrequently.

4) I visit them not very often.

5) They live not very far from us.

6) They own two not very fierce dogs.

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2.7. Negation

3) predication negation

infrequently: the negative particle following the auxiliary does not

negate the auxiliary and the rest of the clause but only the rest of

the clause (with a special intonation pattern: emphatic pause

before not)

1) They may not go swimming. vs.

2) They may not go swimming.

3) You could not attend any of the meetings. vs.

4) You could not attend any of the meetings.

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2.8. Negation

4) double negation

two negative elements positive meaning

(1) Not many people have nowhere to live.

[Most people have somewhere to live.]

(2) Nobody has nothing to eat.

[Everyone has something to eat.]

(3) I didn’t see nobody.

[I did see somebody.]

nonstandard English, e.g. (3):

[I didn’t see anybody.]