First Lecture of SIC

Puan Noraza Ahmad Zabidi
Lecture 1

Introduction
 Phrases and clauses are the building blocks of sentences.
 Phrases are groups of words that act as a part of speech but
cannot stand alone as a sentence.
 The words in a phrase act together so that the phrase itself
functions as a single part of speech. For example, phrases
can function as nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.

 If you understand how different types of phrases
function, you can avoid misplacing them or
leaving them dangling in sentences.
 It does not convey a definite meaning.
 It only conveys a disconnected idea.

Types of Phrases
Definition: Phrase is a constituent that has one key
word, its head and the modifier is an extension of the
head.
If you understand how different types of phrases
function, you can avoid misplacing them or
leaving them dangling in sentences.

 A noun phrase includes a noun—a person, place, or
thing—and the modifiers which distinguish it
 You can find the noun dog in a sentence, for example,
but you don't know which canine the writer means
until you consider the entire noun phrase: that dog,
Aunt Audrey's dog, the dog on the sofa, the neighbor's
dog that chases our cat, the dog digging in the new
flower bed.

 Modifiers can come before or after the noun. Ones that
come before might include articles, possessive nouns,
possessive pronouns, adjectives, and/or participles.
 Articles: a dog, the dog
 Possessive nouns: Aunt Audrey's dog, the neighbor's
dog, the police officer's dog
 Possessive pronouns: our dog, her dog, their dog
 Adjectives: that dog, the big dog, the spotted dog
 Participles: the drooling dog, the barking dog, the
well trained dog

Modifiers
 Read these examples:
 We who were green with envy
 We = subject pronoun; who were green with envy =
modifier.
 Someone intelligent
 Someone = indefinite pronoun; intelligent = modifier.
 No one important
 No one = indefinite pronoun; important = modifier.

Noun Phrase
Noun phrases play an important role in the construction
of a sentence.
Without knowledge of noun phrases in English, learners
could not produce comprehensible sentences.
Basic noun phrases can be pronouns, numerals or head
nouns with different determiners while complex ones
include pre-modification, head noun and post-
modification.

E.g. 1:
I like the tall lecturer in the front.
Lecturer is the key word and this is a noun.
Hence, the constituent the tall lecturer is a noun phrase.
(premodification)
The tall lecturer in the front is also a noun phrase but
this time with both pre & postmodification.

Noun phrase variations
E.g. 2: Men with long hair look like hippies.
Men with long hair is a noun phrase.
Men is the head noun with postmodification.
E.g. 3 : I have never taught those students at the
back.
Those students at the back is the noun phrase.
Students is the head noun with pre & post
modification.

E.g. 4: I saw three English films yesterday.
Three English films is the noun phrase.
Films is the head noun with premodification.
E.g. 5 -- I like David.
David is the noun phrase & also the noun with no
modification.

E.g. 6 – I saw something rather strange on TV last night.
Something rather strange is a noun phrase.
Something is the pronoun & the head noun with
postmodification.

Verb phrase
 It is considered as a head verb with auxillaries
according to Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) and Crystal
(1996).
E.g. We will have finished by Tuesday.
Will have finished is a verb phrase.
Finished is the head.
Note: verb phrase can have only premodification.

 Every sentence must have a verb. To depict doable
activities, writers use action verbs. To describe
conditions, writers choose linking verbs.
 Sometimes an action or condition occurs just—and it's
over. Read these two short sentences:
 Offering her license and registration, Sarah cried in
the driver's seat.
 Officer Afiq was unmoved.

 a single-word verb like cried or was cannot accurately
describe what happened, so writers use multipart verb
phrases to communicate what they mean.
 As many as four words can comprise a verb phrase.
 A main or base verb indicates the type of action or
condition, and auxiliary—or helping—verbs convey the
other nuances that writers want to express.

Verb transitivity
1) Intransitive – I will sleep well tonight. (no object)
2) Monotransitive – I kicked the ball hard. (one object)
3) Ditransitive – I gave Ellen a wonderful gift. (direct and
indirect object)
4) Copular – I feel rather tired today.
(verb describes the subject and the constituent “rather tired”
following the verb is called a subject complement.
5) Complex transitive – I appointed Sally my secretary.
(with direct object & object complement)
Test: Sally is my secretary.

Write 3 sentences based on the photo and
underline the phrases

Adjective Phrase
 Adjective Phrase is a constituent with an adjective as a
head.
e.g. 1 The very cute girl is my sister.
Very cute girl is the adjectival phrase.
Cute is the head adjective with a premodification.
e.g. 2 Your brother was very angry about the results.
Happy about the results is the adjectival phrase.
Happy is the head with postmodification.

Adjective phrase variation
E.g. 3
That seems very expensive for a pen.
Expensive is the head with pre and postmodification

Adverb phrase
 It is a constituent that has an adverb as its head.
E.g.1 Ali played the music very loudly.
Very loudly is an adverb phrase.
Loudly is the head with premodification.
He is talking strangely for a teacher.
Strangely for a teacher is the adverb phrase.
Strangely is the head with postmodification.

Preposition phrase
 It is a constituent that has a preposition as its head.
E.g. 1 The chair right at the back is broken.
At the back is a preposition phrase
At is the head
Note: preposition phrase always has a noun phrase as a
postmodifier.
Premodification is not common though “right” can be
considered as that in the sentence above.

Roles of Phrases in a sentence
(1) My brother shot the robber.
(2) The robber shot my brother.
Form for my brother in both sentence is a noun phrase.
Function
(1) My brother functions as a subject.
(2) My brother functions as a direct object.

Direct and indirect object
e.g. 1 The man gave his girlfriend a rose.
girlfriend is an indirect object
a rose is direct object
Note: Verbs that takes two objects are called ditransitive
verb.
Postphonement test; The indirect object can be moved
to the back.
i.e. The man gave a rose to his girlfriend.

Direct and indirect object cont.
E.g. 2 Michael bought his girlfriend some flowers.
Girlfriend is an indirect object
Some flowers is a direct object.
Postphonement test:
Michael bought some flowers for his girlfriend.

Subject complement
E.g. 1 John loved the teacher.
E.g. 2 John became the teacher.
In e.g. 2 the teacher is a subject complement because the
constituent following the verb describes the subject.
The verb is called a copular verb.
Sentence 1 can be converted into a passive sentence.
“The teacher was loved by John”.

Object complement
We have elected you our leader.
You is the direct object.
Our leader is the object complement.
To identify an object complement, use the Be-Insertion
Test
You are our leader. Hence the above is correct.

More examples
E.g. 1 I made my mother happy.
My mother is a direct object.
Happy is an object complement.
Test: My mother is happy. – correct.
e.g. 2 You left your teacher very angry.
Your teacher is direct object.
Very angry is object complement
Test: Your teacher is very angry. – correct.

Adverbial
 It is a constituent that describes time, place or manner.
1. Susan quickly wrote a letter.
Quickly – adverbial of manner
2. I will take the final exam on Monday morning
On Monday morning – adverbial of time
3. Next week we have no more classes.
Next week – adverbial of time

Prepositional complements
E.g. 1 Our classroom is on the first floor.
on the first floor is the preposition phrase
on – is the preposition
the first floor – prepositional complement (contains a
noun/pronoun
E.g. 2 My teacher is quite angry with me.
with – is the preposition
me – prepositional complement (contains a pronoun)

Premodifier & postmodifier
E.g. 1 Very tall men are often good at basketball.
“” Very tall” -- premodifier of men
E.g. 2 I love music by Beethoven.
“ by Beethoven” postmodifier of music
E.g. 3 My father sent that student a letter last week.
My – possessive pronoun – determiner & premodifier
That – demonstrative & premodifier
A – article – determiner & premodifier

First Lecture of SIC

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First Lecture of SIC