Asignatura: GRAMÁTICA INGLESA II
Año Académico: 2004/2005
Código: 31974101
Titulación: Licenciatura en Filología Inglesa
Carácter: Troncal
Ciclo: 2º
Curso y Grupo: 4º, grupo único.
Créditos Teóricos y Prácticos: 6 Créditos (4t + 2p)
Descriptor: Descripción detallada y científica de la lengua inglesa: Sintaxis.
Departamento: Filología Inglesa y Alemana.
Área de Conocimiento: Filología Inglesa
Profesor: Dra. Judith A. Carini Martínez
1. Description, objectives and methodology
The aim of this course is to give the student a systematic description of contemporary English
at the syntactic level both from a theoretical and practical point of view. Theory will be
supplemented by practice consisting in the syntactic analysis of isolated sentences and short
stretches of language.
The material to be used will consist of the following:
a) Class notes.
b) Handouts.
c) Basic handbook: Greenbaum, S. & R. Quirk (1990).
A Student's Grammar of the English Language. Harlow: Longman.
d) Obligatory readings on particular topics will be given out in class.
2. Syllabus
1. Introduction to the study of Syntax.
2. The basic structure of the simple sentence.
2.1. Introduction: utterance vs. sentence vs. clause.
2.2. Elements of the clause structure: S P O C A.
2.3. Constituent structure and syntactic behaviour of
2.4. Clause types. Introduction to optional and
obligatory elements.
2.5. Syntactic classification of English
2.6. Syntactico-semantic relations of the elements.
3. Operations on the simple sentence.
3.1. Introduction.
the elements.
verbs.
3.2. Concept of "negation".
3.2.1. Location in the clause structure
3.2.2. Major types of negation.
3.2.3. Assertive, non-assertive and negative forms.
3.2.4. Scope and focus of negation.
3.3. Concept of "question".
3.3.1. Types of questions.
3.3.2. Polarity.
3.3.3. Question tags.
3.4. Commands and requests: their syntactic realizations.
3.5. Reduction: Block language.
3.6. Passivization.
3.6.1. The Passive transformation.
3.6.2. End-focus, end-weight and participant roles.
3.6.3. Form.
3.6.4. Constraints of the T-pass.
3.6.5. Passive gradient or scale.
4. The verb phrase and its complementation.
4.1. Introduction.
4.2. Types of predicates.
4.3. Intensive complementation.
4.4. Monotransitive complementation.
4.5. Complex-transitive complementation.
4.6. Ditransitive complementation.
5. The complex phrase.
5.1. Basic pattern of the complex noun phrase.
5.2. Nominal modification and related concepts.
5.3. Structures of premodification.
5.4. Structures of postmodification. Cases of adjectival postmodification.
5.5. Apposition.
3. Assessment
There will be a final written exam, in English. Students are recommended not to make gross
use-of-English mistakes, as these would be penalized.
The exam will consist of the following:
a) Essay-like commentary on a grammatical topic.
b) Brief grammatical commentaries on given sentences and phrases.
c) Analysis of sentences and short stretches of language.
4. Bibliography
As mentioned above, bibliographical references will be given out in class for specific
readings on particular topics. For general reference and/or further reading, the following are
highly recommended:
Allerton, D.J. (1979). Essentials of Grammatical Theory. London: Routledge.
Allerton, D.J. (1982). Valency and the English Verb. New York: Academic Press.
Biber, D. et al. (1999). Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.
Brown, K. & J. Miller (1980). Syntax: A linguistic
edition 1991. London: Routledge.
introduction to sentence structure. 2nd
Burton-Roberts, N. (1988). The Analysis of English Sentences. London: Croom Helm.
Givon, T. (1993). A Function-based Introduction to Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Halliday, M.A.K.(1985). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.
Huddleston, R. (1984). Introduction to the Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Matthews, P.H. (1981). Syntax. Cambridge: C.U.P.
Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech & J. Svartvik (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the
English Language. London: Longman.
Radford, A. (1988). Transformational Grammar. Cambridge: C.U.P.