Analyzing the Grammar of English Third Edition phần 4 doc

Negative assumption, confirmative expectation Figure 3d Tag Questions: The Outline... Identify each of the underlined elements as i selection questions, ii declarative tions, iii echo qu

− Someone didn’t call him.

yn+ Did someone call him?

yn− Didn’t someone call him?

wh/co Who called him?

Here, who merely substitutes for the indefinite pronoun someone, which already serves as the subject throughout the four other structures So since someone

already appears at the front, no fronting rule can apply

Activity 3.1

T H I N K I N G I T T H R O U G H

A Fill in the blanks with the absent structures Be sure to retain the same tense throughout each set There are usually several ways to fill in the wh/co blank since—as we already know—there are eight wh-words and therefore almost as many wh/co questions that they can function in.

1 + We know them

−

yn+ ?

yn− ?

wh/co ?

2 +

−

yn+ ?

yn− Don’t they pay their bills? wh/co ?

3 +

− I don’t understand that yn+ ?

yn− ?

wh/co ?

Wh-Words as Subjects vs Wh-Words as Objects

4 + .

−

yn+ Did I speak to you? yn− ?

wh/co ?

5 +

−

yn+ ?

yn− ?

wh/co When do you arrive? 6 +

− She isn’t practicing enough yn+ ?

yn− ?

wh/co ?

7 + He has been sick −

yn+ ?

y− ?

wh/co ?

8 +

−

yn+ ?

yn− Wouldn’t he know when to go? wh/co ?

9 +

− I won’t tell you his name yn+ ?

yn− ?

wh/co ?

10 +

−

yn+ ?

yn− ?

wh/co Whom had he been talking to? 11 +

−

yn+ Has it turned out nicely? yn− ?

wh/co ?

W R I T I N G I T O U T

B Complete each of the following phrases in a sentence you make up.

1 What did he

2 They didn’t

3 Why do you

4 Have they been

5 When weren’t we

6 I am trying

Wh-Words as Subjects vs Wh-Words as Objects

7 Did she ever

8 I just don’t

9 Couldn’t she

10 Had the butler

11 Won’t you

12 What could he have

13 Does the watch dog

14 Didn’t the thief

C Provide one example of each of these products or processes.

6 wh/co; leave as LV; wh-word as object

7 wh/co; drop as LV; wh-word as subject

8 yn+ ; tell as LV

Selection Questions

A selection question combines two or more yn+ questions into a single

inter-rogative entity The coordinating conjunction or typically serves as the tie-in

element Thus:

[11] yn+ : Do you want to fly to New York?

[12] yn+ : Do you want to drive to Miami?

[13] combined: Do you want to fly to New York or drive to Miami?

Question (13), which combines questions (11) and (12), can no longer be

answered yes or no the way its two component parts could Instead, one must

select one of the choices offered Here are several possible answers:

[14] I want to fly to New York

A declarative question is a yes/no question (either + or −) that lacks auxiliary

inversion, lacks do-insertion, etc.; therefore, declarative questions manifest the

Declarative Questions

same word order as declarative structures (the + sentence) Compare the ing examples:

[20] yn+: Do you want a sandwich? [do-insertion and aux inversion]

[21] declarative question: You want a sandwich? [said with rising intonation]

A declarative question’s function somewhat resembles that of an echo question’s

function (see just below) in that declaratives express shock or surprise or ask for simple verification In colloquial and informal English, declarative questions are frequent, as are yn+ and yn− questions that lack the auxiliary verb:

[22] Do you want to go now? → You want to go now? → Wanna go now?

[23] Don’t you have any money? → You have any money? → Got any money?

[24] Are you ready to leave? → You ready to leave? → Ready to leave?

[25] Is he studying already? → He studying already?

Echo Questions

Echo questions are “recapitulatory” in that they repeat, directly or in paraphrase, all or part of what someone else has just said, either to confirm it or to express surprise or disbelief An echo question typically employs rising intonation

Examples:

[26] Yesterday I bought a BMW.—You bought a BMW?

[27] I want some slivovitz.—You want some what?

[28] The two-bedroom bungalow in Beverly Hills costs $3,000,000.—It costs how much?

Echo questions can also function as questions about questions in which the tener speculates on or makes fun of a question someone else just asked Often these questions about questions are so obvious as to be amusing:

lis-[29] Is Bill Gates a billionaire?—Is Bill Gates a billionaire? Is the pope Catholic?

The main functional difference between declarative questions and echo tions is that echoes must literally echo something that someone else has just fin-ished saying; declaratives, on the other hand, can begin a conversation between two people and do not have to respond to something already stated or asked

ques-Tag Questions

A tag question always appears (following a comma when written) as the sole

interrogative element in an otherwise noninterrogative sentence A tag tion’s purpose is to get the listener to confirm or deny what the speaker has just stated in the (noninterrogative) “assumption” part of the sentence There are four types of combinations involving assumptions and tag questions Two

ques-combinations contain—in the assumption—positive statement verbs and thus

have positive assumptions, but the other two combinations contain—again in

the assumption—negative statement verbs and thus have negative tions If the tag itself is spoken with a rising intonation, the speaker is actu-

assump-ally in doubt as to how the tag will be answered But if the tag is spoken with a

falling intonation, the speaker fully expects that the tag will elicit a

confirma-tive response in which the respondent will agree with the speaker’s assumption

In the tree (fig 3c) and in the two subsequent tables (figs 3d and 3e), we will outline the four types of tag questions in schematic form, then exemplify and explicate each

with-[30] You’re going to get angry again, right?

[31] This time they’ve really gone off the deep end, huh?

[32] So she’s getting ready to go now, eh?

Elliptical Responses

An elliptical response is a response to a yes/no question in which only part of

that question is repeated in the response Here are some examples (which give the omitted [ellipticized] words in brackets):

[33] Was he sick yesterday?—Yes, he was [sick yesterday]

[34] Had he been seeing a doctor regularly?—Yes, he had [been seeing a doctor regularly]

The typical elliptical response repeats only the first verb form of the question, changing the verb’s form if necessary but not its tense

negativeassumption:

a Positive assumption, in-doubt expectation

b Positive assumption, confirmative expectation

c Negative assumption, in-doubt expectation

d Negative assumption, confirmative expectation

Figure 3d Tag Questions: The Outline

Activity 3.2

T H I N K I N G I T T H R O U G H

A Identify each of the underlined elements as (i) selection questions, (ii) declarative tions, (iii) echo questions, (iv) tag questions (in which case be sure to comment on the intona- tional possibilities), (v) invariant tags, or (vi) regular yn+, yn– or wh/co questions.

ques-Example of how to proceed:

X He gained fifty pounds last year, didn’t he? The underlined words constitute a tag tion, whose intonation could be either rising or falling

ques-a positive assumption, in-doubt expectation

He likes his boss, doesn’t he? [rising intonation]

(Here the speaker is in doubt so the tag assumes nothing; the subject may or may not like his boss; we simply want to know.)

b positive assumption, confirmative expectation

He likes his boss, doesn’t he? [falling intonation]

(Here the speaker assumes that the subject likes his boss; thus the speaker’s tag is merely seeking to get the listener to confirm the speaker’s assumption.)

c negative assumption, in-doubt expectation

He doesn’t like his boss, does he? [rising intonation]

(The speaker is in doubt so the tag assumes nothing; the speaker may or may not like his boss; we simply want to know.)

d negative assumption, confirmative expectation

He doesn’t like his boss, does he? [falling intonation]

(The speaker assumes the subject does not like his boss; thus the speaker’s tag merely seeks to get the listener to confirm the speaker’s assumption.)

Here is a very important fact: As far as the tag’s mechanics are concerned,

a negative assumption always generates a positive tag, and vice versa:

He likes , doesn’t he? + , −

He doesn’t like , does he? − , +

e There is, however, a fifth though less frequent type of assumption/tag combination that involves a rising intonation tag that typically expresses sarcasm, in which both the assumption and the tag are positive:

Oh so you’ve done your homework, have you? [We assume that he hasn’t!]

Figure 3e Tag Questions: The Examples and the Explanations

67Elliptical Responses

1 Would I lie to you?

2 She sells sea shells, doesn’t she?

3 Our muddahs was right, huh, Charlie? Ya gotta stick witcher own kind

4 The hamster ate the cobra?

5 Just give me a break, man.—You, a break?

6 When exactly did the perpetrator perpetrate the crime, ma’am?

7 Doesn’t it feel good to be drawn and quartered?

8 Sure and ’tis a great day for the Irish, isn’t it?

9 Do you want peanut butter and jelly?

10 Do you want peanut butter or jelly?

11 You’re going to give a million dollars to charity?

12 When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, right?

13 Why’s he always making the same mistake?

14 Why he’s always making the same mistake?

15 They’re sick?

16 They don’t know what they’re doing, do they?

B Give all possible tag questions for the following statements Mark rising or falling

intona-tion with arrows, then tell which of the five tag types your quesintona-tion belongs to—(a), (b), (c), (d), or (e) (sarcasm).

1 We all know what his story is, ?

2 Only some of my friends came to the wedding, ?

3 You just don’t understand the issue, ?

4 Now is the time for all good women to come to the aid of their party, ?

5 So you’ve wrecked the car again, ?

6 I get totally wasted at parties, ?

7 She feels nothing but utter contempt for the faculty, ?

C Give elliptical responses to the following questions. Example of how to proceed: X Was the summer wind blowing strong? Yes, it was 1 Have you been a good little girl?

2 Will they have been working for forty-eight hours straight by then?

3 But do you really think he’s worth $3 an hour?

4 Won’t he tell me where to get off?

5 Was she able to answer the question?

Emphasis and Emphatic Structures

English achieves emphasis in a variety of ways One way is by applying peak stress—the most salient degree of vocal emphasis—to the word you want to

emphasize Peak stress can involve any one of these three things, separately or in

combination: (a) increased loudness, (b) higher or lower pitch, or (c) length-ening the syllable Almost any word can be peak stressed to achieve emphasis

The purpose of emphasis is to shift or draw attention to the focus of the utter-ance For example, in a sentence such as (35)—

[35] Josie told me that you were sick

—peak stress on Josie conveys the information that it was Josie (and not someone else) who told me; peak stress on told says the information was conveyed verbally

69Emphasis and Emphatic Structures

and not in writing (or that Josie really did tell me, despite what people say); peak stress on me emphasizes the fact that Josie told me and not someone else, etc.

Another way English achieves emphasis is through do-insertion, which as we

already know involves adding the appropriate tense/number form of the

non-modal auxiliary verb do to the emphatic structure and then stressing that form,

thereby emphasizing the action of the verb Here is an example:

Unemphatic [a plain statement of fact]:

[36] Janice studies calculus every night

Emphatic [possibly intended to contradict someone’s assertion to the contrary]:

[37] Janice does study calculus every night.

In sentence (37), does—the product of do-insertion—can be viewed as a dummy

verb because it does not have to be there for syntactic reasons (Sentence [37]

is neither a question nor a negative.) Nor is does an LV, since it lacks an LV onym Compare (37)’s does with (38)’s:

[38] Janice also does the dishes faithfully.

In (38), does is synonymous with washes, so since this LV synonym has been found, (38)’s does is not a dummy verb.

There is yet another way that English can emphasize the action of the verb:

by avoiding a contraction and then peak stressing one of the two noncontracted

elements—the verb form itself or the negative not Examples:

Unemphatic [with contraction]:

[39] Muriel can’t practice her cello tonight

Emphatic [without contraction; the emphasized element appears in boldface type with an acute accent mark on top of it]:

[40] Muriel cánnot practice her cello tonight.

[41] Muriel can nót practice her cello tonight.

Activity 3.3

A Make emphatic items unemphatic and vice versa Then read both the emphatic and the unemphatic versions out loud, rendering them properly by putting the peak stress where it belongs.

Example of how to proceed:

X Amazon natives know many medicinal secrets.

“This sentence is unemphatic as written Any one of its six words can be made

emphatic, thus: ‘Amazon natives [as opposed to the natives of other regions] know many medicinal secrets,’ ‘Amazon natives [as opposed to people who live in the Amazon

but are not from there] know many medicinal secrets,’ and so forth And here is how I

would read each version out loud: [First reading peak stresses Amazon, second reading natives, and so forth.]”

1 We can not stand Pat.

2 They don’t like to see him die

3 We will fight them on the beaches.

4 She’s sick and tired of all that

5 Why are we in Samoa?

6 Someone’s knocking at my door

7 They’ve done everything possible to hurt us

8 She’d tried to make him behave

9 She’d try to make him behave if you only let her

10 I won’t put up with you anymore

11 Do you have any bread?

12 Janice always does what she is told

B Read sentence (1) out loud five times and sentence (2) out loud four times, stressing, in

turn, every word in the sentence Then explain the difference between each of the several versions of what you have read aloud.

1 I know why you failed

2 Italians love grandiose operas

Not contracts by dropping the vowel; the result is n’t in writing, which is

pro-nounced [nt] or [cnt], depending on whether n’t forms a separate syllable (In

rapid speech, the [t] is often dropped, leaving [n] or [cn] as the remnant.) When

not contracts (and contraction is optional, though frequent in colloquial speech),

the contraction follows and, in writing, is attached to:

a all finite forms of the nonmodal auxiliaries do/be/have (Finite means all

con-jugated forms; excluded of course are the present/past participles and the

infinitive, which are timeless forms.) Examples follow of do/be/have + n’t:

DO: doesn’t, don’t, didn’t BE: aren’t, isn’t, wasn’t, weren’t, amn’t [British Isles only]

HAVE: hasn’t, haven’t, hadn’t

b all modal auxiliaries (though in some cases the contraction is rare and

unusual): can’t, couldn’t, mayn’t [very rare], mightn’t, mustn’t, shan’t [mainly British], shouldn’t, won’t, wouldn’t, oughtn’t, usedn’t to [very rare]

N O N M O D A L A U X I L I A R I E S ’ C O N T R A C T I O N S

Many of the nonmodal auxiliaries also form contractions in a variety of verb tenses They do so by attaching their contracted forms to the end of nouns and pronouns whether personal, possessive, or indefinite Contracted auxiliaries also

attach themselves to the end of wh-words and to here/there.

Of course not all auxiliaries enter into all possible contractions, as certain constraints do exist Note also that auxiliaries do not form contractions before

pauses (such as at the end of a sentence); thus He’s ready when I’m ready is matical but *He’s ready when I’m is not (By contrast, not often appears in pre- pausal position: I can but he can’t.)

gram-Contractions: A Summing Up