Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
Understanding English Variation
Week 6 – More on Word and Phrase Classes
1 Introduction
Last week we looked at Noun and Verb phrases and saw how they can be made up of
different word classes but operate as a unit. Today we will look at some other phrases
and extend our representation of the verb phrase.
2 Adverbs
Adverbs tell us how, when or where something happened. They often end in -ly
2.1 Circumstance adverbs
These adverbs modify the verb.
(1) Bob works quickly
In (1) the adverb ‘quickly’ tells us that Bob works fast
2.2 Degree adverbs
Degree adverbs modify other adverbs.
(2) Bob works very quickly
In (2) the degree adverb ‘very’ tells us that Bob works very fast.
Degree adverbs cannot usually occur on their own, as shown in (3)
(3) *Bob works very
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
2.3 Adverb Phrase
The Adverb Phrase (AdvP) consists of an adverb and an optional degree adverb, as
shown in (4)
(4) AdvP  (deg) + Adv.
Therefore, the tree for (1) is:
S
(5)
NP
VP
N
V
AdvP
Adv
And the tree for (2) is:
(6)
Bob
works
quickly
S
NP
N
VP
V
AdvP
deg
Bob
works
very
Adv
quickly
Note that in each case the AdvP forms part of the VP or predicate. We can see that
this is accurate as it is replaced using the ‘does too’ substitution test
(7)
Bob works very quickly
Stuart does too
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
2.4 Sentence Adverbs
Sentence adverbs modify the whole sentence rather than just the verb. They express
and attitude or opinion about what is being said and can occur in many positions in
the sentence.
(8a) Fortunately the baby slept
(8b)The baby fortunately slept
(8c) The baby slept fortunately
A tree for (8a) would be as follows:
(9)
S
AdvP
Adv
Fortunately
NP
DET
the
VP
N
baby
V
slept
Note that in (9) the AdvP is dominated by the S node rather than the VP node. It does
not form part of the predicate:
(10)
Fortunately the baby slept
Fortunately the toddler did too
All adverb phrases, be they sentence or circumstance adverbs, have the function of
Adverbial (A)
(11) Fortunately
A
the baby
S
slept
P
Exercise 1
Draw trees and do a function analysis of the following. Remember to decide if an
adverb is a circumstance adverb or a sentence adverb before drawing your tree.
(a) She runs slowly
(b) Jack loves Rosie luckily
(c) The boy sings quite badly
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
3 Prepositions
Prepositions are words which tell us about place, direction, time or possession.
Examples are in, of, down, up, against etc
Prepositions always form part of a prepositional phrase. They can occur alone as in
(12)The girl jumped in
S
(13)
NP
DET
VP
N
V
PP
P
the
girl
jumped
in
or followed by a noun phrase
(14) The girl jumped in the pool
S
(15)
NP
DET
VP
N
V
PP
P
NP
DE
the
girl
jumped in
T
the
This means that a prepositional phrase can consist of just a preposition, or a
preposition plus a noun phrase, as shown in (16)
(16) PP  P (+NP)
In either case the PP forms part of the VP, as shown by our substitutions test
(17)
The girl jumped in the pool
The boy did too
N
pool
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
In terms of function, PPs act as adverbials, as shown in (18)
(18) The girl jumped
S
P
in the pool
A
Exercise 2
Draw trees and do a function analysis of the following:
(a) The tree grew in the garden
(b) Luckily the baby sleeps in a cot
(a) The dog ate from the dish
4 Adjectives
Adjectives tell us about attributes and characteristics. They are often known as
describing words.
They can occur on their own as in (19)
(19) The clever girl
or with an adverb to modify them
(20) The amazingly clever girl
In either example they form part of the NP as we can see by substituting a proper
noun or pronoun
(21)
The girl
The clever girl
The amazingly clever girl
She
Sharon
Thus
(22) AP  (Adv P) + A
went to the library
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
5 Verbs
Up to now we have looked at two different types of verbs.
5.1 Intransitive verbs
Intransitive verbs are ones that do not need to be followed by an object. Examples are
(23)
(a) The girl skipped
(b) He cried
(c) The dog ate
A tree for (23a) would be as follows – note the added verb class information
(24)
S
NP
DET
VP
N
V
[intrans]
the
girl
skipped
Of course, the verb phrase can contain other things but these are optional not
obligatory.
Exercise 3
What else is contained in the VP of the following? Are the verbs still intransitive?
(a) The girl skipped quickly
(b) He cried in the morning
(c) The dog ate greedily
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
5.2 Transitive verbs
Transitive verbs do not stand alone and must be followed by a direct object to be
complete. The following verbs are incomplete:
(25)
(a) *She cuddled
(b) *Jane caught
(c) *The boy broke
However, if we add an NP to function as the direct object we get
(26)
(a) She cuddled him
(b) Jane caught the ball
(c) The boy broke the vase
The tree for (26a) is
S
(27)
NP
VP
PRO
V
O
[trans]
NP
PRO
O
She
cuddled
him
Thus, a verb is transitive if it is followed by a NP functioning as the direct object.
She
S
cuddled
P
him
dO
Importantly, some verbs can belong to both transitive and intransitive classes. So we
can have:
(28) The girl sang
(29) The girl sang an aria
Where in 28 the verb is intransitive and in 29 it is transitive because it is followed by
an NP.
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
Exercise 4
Draw trees and do a function analysis for the following (remember to mark verb class,
and that a verb is transitive if followed by an NP)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
The kitten slept
The man ate
The man ate the chips
The man ate in a café
The polecat chased his tale
5.3 Ditransitive verbs
Ditransitive verbs take two objects, the direct object and also an indirect object.
(30) Janet
S
gave
P
Sarah a book
iO
dO
(31)
S
NP
VP
V
N
NP
NP
N
DET
Sarah
the
[ditrans]
Janet
gave
N
book
In this example then, the book is the thing that has been given and Sarah is the
recipient or beneficiary
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
This same sentence can also be phrased as
(32) Janet gave the book to Sarah
(33)
S
NP
VP
NP
V
N
PP
[ditrans]
DET
N
P
NP
N
Janet
gave
the
book
to
Sarah
In this example, the order of the objects is reversed and the PP acts as an iO rather
than the Adverbial use we saw in (18).
(34)
Jane
S
gave the book
P
dO
to Sarah
iO
Note however that not all V +NP+PP structures are ditransitive.
(35)
She broke her nail on the can
*She broke the can her nail
In this case the PP ‘on the can’ is functioning as an Adverbial telling us how she
broke her nail. This can be seen by the ungrammaticality of the alternative V + NP +
NP structure in (35)
Exercise 5
Draw trees and do a functional analysis for the following
(a) She read a poem to the congregation
(b) She read a poem in church
(c) We bought Mum a present
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
5.4 Intensive verbs
Intensive verbs are ones like is, became, seems etc. What follows these verbs says
something about the subject of the sentence and functions as a Subject Complement
(sC). The phrase following the verb (the sC) can be a NP, a PP or a AP
(36)
(a) He became a hairdresser (NP)
(b) The fox is in the garden (PP)
(c) She seems miserable (AP)
(37)
S
NP
DE
VP
N
T
V
PP
[intens]
P
NP
DET
the
fox
is
in
T
the
Exercise 6
Draw trees and do a function analysis of the following:
(a) He became a hairdresser
(b) She seems miserable
N
garden
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
5.5 Complex Transitive Verb
These types of verbs also have complements but they relate to the object rather than
the subject and are called the object complement. The object complement (oC) can be
a NP, PP or AP
(38)
(a) The people voted Howard the leader (NP)
(b) Elizabeth put the shopping in the pantry (PP)
(c) The beautician made Julia beautiful (AP)
(39)
S
NP
DET
VP
V
N
NP
NP
[complex]
N
The people
S
voted
P
Howard
dO
DET
N
the
leader
oC
Note that this tree looks very much like the one for the ditransitive verb at (31).
However, in any ditransitive construction the form can be either V+NP+NP or
V+NP+PP. This is not the case with complex transitive verbs:
(39)
(a) *The people voted the leader for Howard
(b) *Elizabeth put the pantry the shopping
Exercise 7
Draw trees and do a function analysis of the following taking care to decide if the
verb is ditransitive or complex transitive
(a) Elizabeth put the shopping in the pantry
(b) Elizabeth gave the shopping to the poor
(c) The beautician made Julia beautiful
(d) The beautician made Julia a wig
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 6
6 Prepositional Verb
Prepositional verbs require a prepositional phrase to be complete. Examples are lean,
glance, refer.
(40)
(a) *The boy leant
(c) *The girl glanced
(d) *The bibliography referred
but
(41)
(a) The boy leant on the porch
(b) The girl glanced at her cards
(c) The bibliography referred to the article
In each case the PP functions as the prepositional object (pO).
The tree for (41) would be a follows:
(42)
S
NP
DET
VP
N
T
V
PP
[prep]
P
the
boy
leant
on
NP
DET
N
the
porch
Note that although superficially similar to the trees for other verb types, prepositional
verbs cannot stand alone and can only be followed by a PP.
Exercise 8
Draw trees and do a function analysis of the following:
(a) The girl glanced at her cards
(b) The bibliography refered to the article
(c) The girl jumped on the bed