Syntactic and semantic features of english non finite clauses in the adventures of tom sawyer by mark twain with reference to their vietnamese translation equivalents

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A.THESIS SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH NON-FINITE CLAUSES IN “THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER” BY MARK TWAIN WITH

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A.THESIS

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH NON-FINITE CLAUSES IN “THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER” BY MARK TWAIN WITH REFERENCE

TO THEIR VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION EQUIVALENTS

(Nghiên cứu về cú pháp và ngữ nghĩa của mệnh đề không hữu hạn trong tác phẩm “Cuộc phiêu lưu của Tom Sawyer” của tác giả Mark Twain liên hệ với tương đương của chúng trong bản dịch tiếng Việt)

DUONG TAN PHONG Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01

Hanoi, 12/2020

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A.THESIS

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH NON-FINITE CLAUSES IN “THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER” BY MARK TWAIN WITH REFERENCE

TO THEIR VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION EQUIVALENTS

(Nghiên cứu về cú pháp và ngữ nghĩa của mệnh đề không hữu hạn trong tác phẩm “Cuộc phiêu lưu của Tom Sawyer” của tác giả Mark Twain liên hệ với tương đương của chúng trong bản dịch tiếng Việt)

DUONG TAN PHONG

Field: English Language

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report

entitled Syntactic and semantic features of English non-finite clauses in “The

adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement

in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2020

Duong Tan Phong

Approved by SUPERVISOR

PhD Nguyen Thi Van Dong

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family members and friends who supported me and contributed to the completion of my study

Finally, my sincere thanks are due to all of you who will give me some comments after reading the thesis

To all mentioned and to many more, my heart extends the warmest thanks

Ha Noi, October, 2020

Student

Duong Tan Phong

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……….……… ii

TABLE OF CONTENT ……… iii

ABSTRACT ……… ……… vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……… vii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ……… viii

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1.1 Rationale ……… 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study ……… 2

1.3 Research questions ……… 2

1.4 Methods of the study ……… 3

1.5 Scope of the study ……… 3

1.6 Significance of the study ……….……… 4

1.7 Structure of the study ……….……… 4

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 6

2.1 Previous studies ……….……… 6

2.2 An overview of English Non-finite clauses ……… 7

2.2.1 Definition of Translation ……… 7

2.2.2 Forms of Non-finite clauses ……….……… 7

2.2.3 Syntactic Features of Non-finite Clauses ……… 9

2.2.4 Functions of Non - finite Clauses ……… 10

2.2.5 Position of Non - finite Clauses ……… 10

2.2.6 Semantic Meanings of Non - finite Clauses ……… 11

2.3 Realization of Non-finite clauses in English ……… 12

2.3.1 General remarks about subordination ……… 13

2.3.2 General Remarks on Non-finite and Verbless Clauses ……… 20

2.4 Definition of Translation ……… 34

2.5 Translation methods ……… 34

2.6 Non-finite clauses ……….……….……… 35

2.6.1 Gerund nominal ……….….……… 35

2.6.2 Participial clause ……….……… 44

2.7 Summary ……… 46

Chapter 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH NON-FINITE CLAUSES WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION EQUIVALENTS 47 3.1 Syntactic features of non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain in English and in Vietnamese ………

49 3.1.1 Syntactic features of non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain in English ………

49 3 1 2 Syntactic features of non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain in Vietname ………

55 3 2 Semantic features of non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain in English and in Vietnamese ……….

61 3 2 1 Semantic features of non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain in English ………

62 3 2 2 Semantic features of non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain in Vietnamese ………

64 3 3 Comparison between the syntactic and semantic features of set expressions of behavior in English and in Vietnamese ………

66 3 3 1 In terms of syntactic features ……… 66

3 3 2 In terms of semantic features ……… 69

3 4 Implications for teaching and learning non-finite clauses in English and in Vietnamese ……….

71

3 5 Summary ……… 72

Chapter 4: CONCLUSION ……… 73

4.1 Recapitulation ……… 73

4.2 Concluding remarks ……… 73

4.3 Limitation of the research ……… 74

4.4 Recommendations/Suggestions for further research ……… 75

REFERENCES ……… 76

APPENDICES ……… 78

ABSTRACT

One of the things that should be learned by the English students is grammar There are so many topics to be mastered by the students, one of which is the non-finite clauses In order to help Vietnamese learners of English to master English

non-finite clauses, we would like to choose the thesis Syntactic and semantic features of English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents This study focuses on the syntactic and semantic features of on-finite clauses in English and

Vietnamese It is investigated with the hope of finding out the similarities and

differences between the non-finite clauses‟ form in both languages and suggesting

practical applications to the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign

language in Vietnam Data used for analysis in this study were collected from “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” story by Mark Twain and some literary works To carry

out this research, the writer used descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and contrastive methods The result of the study illustrates the fact that Vietnamese and English native speakers are similar in the choice of non-finite clauses as the prominent element in sentences However, the structures of non-finite clauses are quite different between two languages Hopefully, the finding of this study can, to some extent, be suggested as a referential materials for Vietnamese students and teachers of English in translating English non-finite clauses into Vietnamese

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 2.1: Sentence elements - Sebastian Lobner 2013 ……… 13

Table 2.2: Immediate constituent analysis ……… 14

Table 2.3: Functions of Infinitive clauses ……… 29

Table 2.4: Functions of Ing-Participle Clauses ……… 31

Table 2.5: Functions of Ed-Participle Clauses ……… 32

Table 2.6: Functions of Verbless clauses ……… 33

Figure 2.7: Two common methods of translation ……… 34

Table 2.8: Gerunds vs Process Noun IN-, ION/ -AL ……… 37

Table 2.9: Structure of Gerund nominals ……….… 39

Table 2.10: Gerund and Participlle premodifiers ……… 44

Table 2.11: -Ing and -Ed participles ……… 46

Table 3.1: Syntactic features of Non-finite clauses in “The

adventures of Tom Sawyer” novel by Mark Twain in English 54 Table 3.2: Syntactic features of Non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” novel by Mark Twain in English 60 Table 3.3: Syntactic features of non-finite clauses in English and in Vietnamese ………

66

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Non - finite clauses are subordinate clauses The appearance and the meaning of non - finite clauses are very abundant and diverse Obviously, it is really difficult for the learners to use exactly Besides, many noticeable problems appear in translating non - finite clauses However, English Non-finite clauses play a very important role in studying and translating English in general and they appear frequently in stories, novels, textbooks There were writers did researches about Non-finite clauses clause in the world such as: Wartanta, Gabriel Adi 2008: Students‟ Errors in Producing the Non-finite Clauses Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University The non-finite clauses consist of non-finite verbs forms only (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik, 1992: 149)

According to Close (1977: 42), a complex sentence is “a sentence that consists of two or more clauses, in which one of the clauses is subordinate to a main clause.” This means that there are two elements of a complex sentence, namely main or independent clause and subordinate or dependent clause Feigenbaum (1985: 209) states that these two clauses cannot be separated into different sentences since a subordinate clause cannot stand by itself as a sentence and has to be connected to a main clause… However, There has been no one considering about syntactic and semantic features in comparison with Vietnamese translation version in a novel English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” novel was chosen to help learners of English realize the types and functions of English non-finite clauses as well as their Vietnamese translation version so that they can overcome difficulties in learning, reading, writing and translating from English non-finite clauses to Vietnamese

By studying this subject, the study is to help learners of English who has difficulty on reading literary works because anyone, after reading this thesis, is

expected to be able to recognize and identify the occurrence of non-finite clauses

in the particular literary work and solve the ambiguity problem in long sentences English non-finite clauses have many types and functions and they appear in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” novel by Mark Twain

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study is aimed at presenting the syntactic and semantic features of English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents to find out the differences and similarities of non-finite in the two languages in order to offer suggestions for teaching English non-finite to Vietnamese learners

In order to achieve the aims, the following objectives are fulfilled:

- To describe the syntactic and semantic features of English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents

- To suggest some implications for translating English non-finite clauses into Vietnamese for students of English

1.3 Research questions

By reviewing the previous researches carefully, we have chosen the topic

to investigate Furthermore, to have the finding on the ways of the translating non-finite clauses and to have some implications on teaching and learning English, we try to answer the following questions:

- What are the syntactic features of English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents?

- What are the semantic features of English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents?

- What implications is drawn for translating English non-finite clauses into Vietnamese for students of English?

1.4 Methods of the study

In order to complete this study, some different research methods will be applied In this study, the descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and contrastive methods are used for finding out the syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese non-finite clauses

Firstly, a descriptive method is applied to describe in details syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese non-finite clauses

Secondly, a qualitative method is used to discover non-finite clauses that

emerge after close observation, careful documentation, and thoughtful analysis Moreover, the quantitative method is used for analyzing the data

Furthermore, the contrastive method is used to find out the similarities and differences of the identification methods of non-finite clauses in English and

Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain

By applying these methods, it helps to find out the syntactic and semantic features of non-finite clauses in English and Vietnamese

1.5 Scope of the study

As mentioned in 1.2, the aims and objectives of the study above, the thesis focuses on describing the syntactic and semantic features of English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents, thereby suggesting some implications in translating English non-finite clauses into Vietnamese for students of English The thesis is conducted basing on well selected sample sentences with non-finite clauses taken from the bilingual version of “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain

These data are categorized into groups according to the identification

methods of non-finite clauses in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics provided in references

It is hoped that the outcome of this research thesis, to some extent, would

be able to make a certain contribution to enhance the quality of teaching and learning English

1.6 Significance of the study

Theoretically, with the purpose of doing the research into non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic and raising attention from Vietnamese learners so that they can be able to master them successfully

Practically, the study provides the similarities and differences about finite clauses in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics So it could help Vietnamese learners of English to be aware of different ways of expressing non-finite clauses and improve their competence and performance of English

non-1.7 Structure of the study

The study has four main parts The first major part, Introduction, states reasons for choosing the topic, three purposes specifying by three research questions, the methodology, the scope of the study and the design of the study The second part, Development, consists of four chapters It will provide the readers with the concepts, the structures, the meanings of non-finite clause

Chapter 1: Provides theoretical orientations in which I will explore finite clauses in traditional grammar in terms of structures, types, and functions

non-to see how the grammar looks at relative clauses, whether they are fully described and to get a general view of relative clauses

Chapter 2: Deals with non-finite clauses in English In this chapter, a description of non-finite clauses will be given on the view of functional

grammar English nominal groups and clause complexes which contain relative clauses are used for illustration Also in this chapter, the concept of the clause, semantic features, and structures are re-examined

Chapter 3: Is the syntactic and semantic features of English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents The last part, Conclusion, is a summary of the discussed points together with the findings and implications of the study

Chapter 4: Briefly summarizes the remarkable findings of the study, concluding remarks, and gives the limitations of the research and recommendations or suggestions for further research

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies

The study of non-finite clauses is not a brand new topic not only in Vietnam but also in many other countries in the world It is easily seen that many books, researches, articles and blogs on this topic were officially published

The first prior research is carried out by Mohamed Abdou Moindjiewith the research title The Bahaviour of Non-finite clauses in Translation: A Comparative Case Study of English, Malay and French The purpose of the first prior research is an investigation on their translation behaviour from English into Malayand French The research method used in the first prior research is qualitative and quantitative study about one grammatical aspect The subject of the first prior research is the student University Sains Malaysia.The result of the prior research are reveals that non -finite clauses are, sometimes, determined by language peculiarities

The second prior research was done by Renata simunkova with the research title Non-Finite clauses In Students Translation The purpose of the second prior research is to investigate what difficulties (if any) students have when translating non-finite clauses The research method used in the first prior research is qualitative The subject of the second prior research is the student University of Liberec.The result of the prior research are reveals that he assumption that non-finite clauses cause problems in translation from English to Czech has been confirmed, but not to the extent expected

The other prior research was done by Angel J Gallego with the title On the prepositional nature of non-finite verbs The purpose of this prior research isto investigate the prepositional nature of non-finite verbal forms.The research method used in the first prior research is qualitative The subject of this prior research is the student University of Autonoma The result of the prior research

are reveals that the analysis in order to account for some interpretive contraintsthat so-called „absolute clauses‟ are subject to

In Vietnam, a number of linguists are interested in this field such as:

“Hướng dẫn kỹ thuật biên dịch Anh - Việt Việt - Anh” by Nguyễn Quốc Hùng,

“Nghiên cứu dịch thuật” by Hoàng Văn Vân

Based on all prior research that has been done by several researchers previously related to analysis non-finite clauses in translation The writer in this case will use the research as material for consideration English non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents by examining the comparison of steps

in analyzing the non-finite clauses in “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with reference to their Vietnamese translation equivalents Therefore, the writer will take the point of view as one of the researchers who benefited from some of the prior research

2.2 An overview of English Non-finite clauses

2.2.1 Definition of Non-finite clauses

According to Peter Collins and Carmella Hollo in “English Grammar -

an Introduction” (18), A finite clause is a subordinate clause with a finite verb as the first or only verb: an infinitive, a present participle or a past participle and gerund

non-2.2.2 Forms of Non-finite clauses

2.2.2.1 The Infinitive

a) The Present Infinitive clauses

Ex: To get money is their ambition She is very anxious to see you

b) The Present Continuous Infinitive clauses

Ex: They seem to be following us

c) The Perfect Infinitive clauses

Ex: She was sorry not to have come on Sunday

He seems to have left his key in the room

d) The Perfect Continuous Infinitive clauses

Ex: I‟d like to have been sitting there when she walked in

e) The Present Infinitive Passive clauses

Ex: The next thing to be done is to carry away the earth

f) The Perfect Infinitive Passive clauses

Ex: No harm seems to have been done

2.2.2.2 The Gerund

a) The Present Gerund clauses

Ex: Children enjoy watching colour TV

Would you mind opening the window and letting a little air in?

b) The Perfect Gerund clauses

Ex: We were overjoyed at the news of China having launched another man-made satellite

c) The Present Gerund Passive Clauses

Ex: I remembered being taken to Paris as a small child

d) The Perfect Gerund Passive clauses

Ex: The safe showed no sings of having been touched

2.2.2.3 The Participle Clauses

a) The Present Participle Clauses

Ex: The traveler, being weary, sat down on the grass

b) The Past Participle Clauses

Ex: Covered with confusion, I left the room

c) The Perfect Participle clauses (Active)

Ex: Having tied one end of the rope to his bed, he threw the other end

out of the window

d) The Perfect Participle Clauses (Passive)

Ex: Having been bitten twice, the postman refused to deliver our

letters unless we chained our dog up

2.2.3 Syntactic Features of Non-finite Clauses

The participle and full infinitive clauses can be use to combine two clauses

2.2.3.1 The Present Participle Clause

- A present participle clause replacing a relative clause: (25) The man who writes the obituary is my friend

= The man writing the obitual is my friend

- A present participle clause can replace an independent clause: Ex: He holds the rope with one hand and stretches out the other to

the boy in the water

= Holding the rope with one hand, he stretch out the other to the boy

2.2.3.2 The Past Participle Clause

The past participle clause is used when the verb in the main clause or relative clause is passive:

Ex: The bridge had been weakened by successive storms and was no

longer safe

= Weakened by successive storms, the bridge was no longer safe

Ex: As he was convinced that they were trying to poison him, he refused

to eat anything

= Convinced that they were trying to poison him, he refused to eat

2.2.3.3 The Full Infinitive Clause

The full infinitive used to replace a relative clause:

Ex: He loves parties; He is always the first who comes and the last who leaves

= He loves parties; He is always the first to come and the last to leave

2.2.4 Functions of Non - finite Clauses

- A non - finite clause may function as an integral sentence element, as in the examples:

Ex: To take such a risk was rather foolish

- A non - finite clause may function as a separate subordinate clause, as in the examples:

Ex: Looking out of the window, I saw groups of children passing by the

house

2.2.5 Position of Non - finite Clauses

English non - finite clauses can be at initial, medial and final positions

in the sentence

- Initial

All non - finite clauses can be at the beginning of the sentence

Ex: Studying until midnight leaves him too tired

Ex: Looking around, I saw on the north side of the coming party two

other men riding at breakneck speed

- Medial

All non - finite clauses are in the middle of the sentence The following

examples can prove this

Ex: He, having finished his work went home

Ex: You are, to put it in English, very much in error

- Final

Ex: In fact, I should distinctly warn ingenious youth to avoid imitating

my example

Ex: There is a crowd mostly composed of students

2.2.6 Semantic Meanings of Non - finite Clauses

Semantically, English non - finite clauses have three main types: Elaboration, Extension and Enhancement

2.2.6.1 Extension

Non - finite clauses add more information to the main clauses Non - finite extending clauses cover both addition and variation The non - finite clause is often introduced by a preposition or a preposition group functioning conjunctively For instance:

Ex: You won‟t get any information from him other than by paying him

2.2.6.2 Enhancement

Non - finite clauses are also used to enhance the meaning of the previous clauses such as Time, Condition, Manner, Concession, Contrast, Reason, Purpose and Result

Ex: Take extra care when driving at night (Time)

If travelling abroad, watch out for pickpockets (Condition)

Mary is working late to make up for her absence yesterday (Purpose)

2.3 Realization of Non-finite clauses in English

The non-finite clauses always function as subordinate clauses Subordinate clauses are one of the parts of complex sentences Subordinate clauses are always embedded to a main clause In other words, subordinate clauses cannot stand by themselves Subordinate clauses can be classified into three types according to their syntactic functions They are adverbial clauses, noun clauses, and adjective clauses Obviously, the three type s of subordinate clauses can occur in the non- finite forms

One thing to keep in mind is that the non-finite clauses have no tense, modal auxiliaries and sometimes also lack a subject and subordinating conjunction If the clauses still have tense and modal auxiliaries, it means that they are still finite Therefore, the first thing to do to construct the non-finite clauses is omitting the tense and modal auxiliaries, then change the verb into the

non-finite verb forms There are three forms of the non-finite verbs to introduce the non-finite clauses, namely –ing forms, -ed participle, and to-infinitive

2.3.1 General remarks about subordination

2.3.1.1 Basic sentence elements

We begin by taking a brief look at basic elements of the simple sentence

In fact, by “sentence elements” we imply immediate constituents of a clause, such as subject, verb and object Table 1 below introduces sentence elements

and their respective labels to be used:

Table 2.1: Sentence elements - Sebastian Lobner 2013

A clause is a constituent which contains a predicate and its subject, and which may or may not contain one or more complements and/or adjuncts The

predicate part of the sentence includes the verb element and its complements and adjuncts, if any A clause which is independent, i.e can stand on its own is called

sentence A sentence may be simple (only one clause) or complex (with one or

more embedded/subordinate/dependent clauses) Other constituents which are

not either clauses or sentences are phrases They consist at least of a head word (the central word of a phrase) The head determines the syntactic category of the phrase (for example, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs project noun phrases, adjective phrases, and adverb phrases, respectively) and can be accompanied by other elements such as modifiers and complements For example, noun phrases contain determiners and may contain modifiers before and after the head noun; adjective phrases can also contain modifiers and complements; prepositional phrases contain complements obligatorily; etc

In order to represent the structure of non-finite clauses, we will be using a

format of Immediate constituent analysis illustrated below, which consists in

successively identifying immediate constituents in the structure by identifying their function, phrasal category and hierarchical position

Table 2.2: Immediate constituent analysis - https://slideplayer.com/

In (1) the sentence‟s immediate constituents are a subject (S) and a verb (V) The subject is realized by a noun phrase NP whose immediate constituents

are a determiner (D) and a head noun (N) D is realized by the, N is realized by sun; the verb is realized by is shining This is a very simple way of representing

sentence structure but it will suffice for our present purposes: understanding internal structure of non-finite clauses as well as their position (i.e function) in larger constituents which contain them (phrases, clauses and sentences)

Sentence elements can be realized by clauses, finite or non-finite Such

of representing structure, too

[The man [who is over there]] is my brother

Sentence elements are also realized by phrases: noun phrase or NP, adjective phrase or AP, adverb phrase or AdvP, prepositional phrase or PP; the

verb element (or verbal part of the predicate) is realized by a verb which is either simple or complex (e.g works or is working), but is not a complete phrase, syntactically speaking For this reason we will refrain from calling it a verb phrase, and will simply use the term Verb (V) to represent it Subject and object

are typically realized by noun phrases Adverbials (A) can be realized by various phrasal categories: AdvP, PP, NP, and clauses Predicational complement (Pc) is most frequently realized by NP and AP; adverbial complement (Ac) by PP and AdvP

We begin our survey of basic sentence elements by verbs

Verb

The Verb can be finite or non-finite The infinitive and the participles

(present and past) are non-finite verb forms in English Non-finite verbs do not express the grammatical property of person (first, second, third) Tense verb forms like Present simple, Past simple are finite verb forms – they express the property

of a person although the form of the verb does not change significantly in English to show the first, second or third person This is the reason for considering tense as a defining property of English finite verb forms Languages

vary in the morphological means (inflections) they use to express different person

(and number) values overtly We summarize properties of the Verb element in English sentences

 Finite Verb elements express agreement and tense in English: they agree with their subject and have tense inflections and temporal interpretation-past/present/future (or hypothetical) The tense/agreement morphology is simple in English, meaning that there are not many distinct inflectional forms for the three persons (1, 2, and 3) and the two numbers (singular and plural) Another property of finite verbs in

English is that they require a visible subject in nominative (e.g I, not me)

 Non-finite verbs do not express person or tense (do not agree with the subject and have implicit and dependent temporal interpretation, but

no tense inflection for past or present) Non-finite verbs need not have

a visible subject in English; if visible, their subject is usually in the

objective form (accusative case): e.g me, not I

 Clauses whose predicate is a finite verb are called finite clauses Clauses whose predicate is a non-finite verb are called non-finite clauses Only

the former can function as independent units

i.e sentences Non-finite clauses are always subordinate

 English modal verbs, such as can or must,1 are always finite; lexical and tense/aspect/voice auxiliary verbs can appear in non-finite or finite

forms (e.g He has done (finite) vs him

having done (non-finite))

Here are some examples to illustrate these points:

a He typed a letter while at the same time making very few typos

adverb are rarely found with this function:

a Our king snores (NP)

b That he lied about the exam is obvious to everyone (Finite clause)

c Lying about last night can cause us problems (Non-finite clause)

d Under the bed is a good place to hide (PP)

a Our queen ate the soup

b Our teacher said that our queen does not like apples

Predicational Complement (Pc)

The predicational complement appears after copular verbs (e.g be) Most

typically, Pc is realized by NP and AP Certain types of clauses can also function

as Pc

a The pit looked a danger to health (NP)

b She was beautiful (AP)

c The question was whether we should leave or not (Finite clause)

d The question was whether to leave or not (Non-finite clause)

e The conversation was about our present situation (PP)

Adverbial Complement (Ac)

Adverbial complements, Ac, (usually denoting place and time) appear as complements of copular verbs, or intransitive verbs (i.e those that do not take DO), and sometimes transitive verbs too Syntactically, Ac is very similar to

Pc when appearing after copular verbs; the only difference is in their interpretation, with Ac having adverbial meanings, and Pc expressing

characterization or identity (of/with S) Ac is typically realized by prepositional phrases, sometimes by adverbs Certain types of finite clauses can appear in this use, too

a He was in the library (PP)

b The dean remained in his office (PP)

c The secretary leaned against the window (PP)

d The ceremony lasted two hours (NP)

e My brothers specializes in astrometry (PP)

f He worded the mail very carefully (AdvP)

g Her mother lived to be 90 (Non-finite clause)

a The dean remained in his office the whole afternoon

b The dean remained in his office

c *The dean remained the whole afternoon

2.3.1.2 Compound vs complex sentences

Two or more coordinate clauses make up compound sentences (e.g Bob

loves Mary, but Mary hates Bob) When one or more sentence elements (e.g

subject, object) are realized by clauses, we are dealing with complex sentences

Consider the following examples of sentences containing subordinate clauses:

a My parents decided that they should never come to London again

b Everybody believed sincerely that a friendship with my parents

b [main cl Everybody believed sincerely [embedded cl that a friend

ship with my parents would be exciting]]

The embedded clause functions as DO in example; in the corresponding passive sentence, the same clause functions as subject; however, this clause is more natural if extraposed to the end of the sentence, its position filled with

the expletive pronoun it Clauses can function as DO and as S

a That they should never come to London again was decided

unanimously

b It was decided unanimously that they should never come to London again

Classification of subordinate clauses

We will introduce a couple of criteria for the classification of clauses They will be helpful in later chapters for correct understanding of definitions, references, and notions used in discussing the internal structure and function of non-finite clauses We can classify clauses according to their form, sentence type (force), and function

The form of the verb determines the form of the whole clause, which can be:

1 Finite (I read the book)

2 Non-finite (reading the book)

3 Verbless (with my book on my lap)

By its sentence type (correlating with a typical illocutionary force), a clause can be:

1 declarative (statement) (I read the book)

2 interrogative (question) (Did you read the book?)

3 exclamative (exclaiming) (What a lovely person she is!)

4 imperative (order, request) (Read this book, please!)

By their function, we will divide clauses into three major classes:

Nominal clauses (obligatory elements in the sentence):

1 Complement clauses (of V ex 9a,b; P, A, N)

2 Subject (as in ex 11a)

3 Predicational complement (as in ex 6c,d)

4 Adverbial complements (You put it wherever you want)

Adverbial function

5 adverbial clauses (12a-d), and absolute clauses (discussed in later chapters)

Modifiers in NP, AdvP, AP:

6 relative clauses (finite; as in ex.2)

7 non-finite clauses (The house build last year)

8 comparative clauses (finite) (He is cleverer than we thought)

As will become clearer later, the functional classes will be often referred

to in subsequent chapters

2.3.2 General Remarks on Non-finite and Verbless Clauses

English non-finite verbs are the infinitive, the –ing participle and the–ed participle (sometimes called –en participle) These verb forms do not have

morphological markers expressing person, number or tense (compare the form

singing with the present simple and past simple forms sings, sang) English finite verbs distinguish overtly only the third person singular in Present Tense (ending – s), and the forms of be: am, is, are, was, were; Non-finite verbs, on the other

hand, never agree with the subject Nevertheless, they have some kind of temporal interpretation, which is dependent on the temporal interpretation of the higher (matrix) verb

2.3.2.1 Types and properties

We begin by summarizing general properties of non-finite clauses They:

- can appear with or without subject,

- can appear without a subordinator,

- cannot contain modals,

- can contain the auxiliary „have‟ in the –ing or infinitive form before

the lexical verb to denote „past time‟,

- can appear in passive voice,

- function as embedded i.e subordinate clauses

Sentence elements of the following types of non-finite clauses:

1 To-infinitive

2 Bare infinitive

3 -Ing part clauses

4 -Ed part Clauses

Subject

The subject of non-finite clauses is assigned the accusative case; in some

-ing clauses it can be in the genitive case, and only in one type of -ing clauses

do we find nominative subjects If the subject is not explicit (if it is null), then it

is either controlled by (that is, it refers to) a nominal in a higher clause, or is understood (implied) by the context (refers to a salient nominal in the larger

context, or it is interpreted arbitrarily (as so-called generic person: “people, anybody”)

a I watched my son playing with his friends in the garden

b I watched him playing

c It was not easy (S) to watch starving children of Africa (referring to

a group of people implied by the context)

d Has it been difficult (S) to study syntax this year? (“for you” implied

by the question oriented towards the audience)

Similar to finite verbs, non-finite verbs can be modified by adverbials:

Ex: to study grammar last year

The most obvious difference between finite and non-finite clauses concerns the subject - it appears in the accusative case and it can be null (implicit) in non-finite clauses

Subordinators

Non-finite clauses can be introduced by subordinators, but this is not

obligatory Infinitive clauses can be introduced by for; –ing and –ed clauses can

be introduced by with (for and with are not prepositions in this use, but subordinators), as if, though, when, while and some other subordinators When non-finite clauses contain the subordinators with and for they also contain a

visible subject

a We can‟t afford for everyone to travel business class

b With John being the most experienced of their professors,

she sought advice from him

c While putting on his most expensive coat, he slipped and fell

a She wanted to be examined first

b After being examined first, she decided to wait for the results

c Having failed once, Mary was sure that the exam questions would be

difficult

d She was happy to have visited him before he died

e She was happy to be helping with the children

2.3.2.2 From Non - finite to verbless clauses

Compare the embedded clauses in :

a John believes that the prisoner is innocent finite

b John believes the prisoner to be innocent non-finite

c John believes the prisoner innocent Verbless

You can see that the clause in (18c) seems to be a reduced form of the infinitive clause in (18b) Verbless clauses of this type have an invisible variant

of the verb be between their S and their Pc They have the following immediate

constituent structure:

V-less Pc

(Note: The use of parentheses indicates that the element is not visible) The invisible verb is signalled by dots in the following examples

a He found the assignment (…) more difficult than he had expected

b You can count yourself (…) lucky

c His attitude made real communication (…) impossible

Used adverbially, non-finite and verbless clauses with subject can be

introduced by with(out) Such clauses are called absolute constructions/ clauses With the children (being) at school, we can‟t take our vacations when we want

to

2.3.2.3 Null subjects of Non - finites

It is quite common for a non-finite clause to appear without a visible nominal expression functioning as its subject Consider the infinitive clause:

The politician tried [to explain his position]

Although we cannot actually see it or hear it, we are able to interpret the subject of the infinitive clause above: it is identical to the subject of the whole

sentence, namely the politician However, it is easy to show, and equally important to understand, that the noun phrase the politician in the main clause does not syntactically function as the subject of the infinitive First, the main verb try is transitive, which means that it denotes an activity implying two participants, or arguments; these are realized by the NP the politician and the infinitive clause to explain his position.4 The verb explain in the infinitive clause

is also transitive; in the sentence He explained his position we see that it takes two arguments (realized by he and his position) We can also see that this

requirement is very strict and that in our last sentence the subject must be present (or visible) - the sentence would be ungrammatical without a subject

(*Explained his position.) The question then arises how it is possible for the

subject of the same verb to be invisible (or absent) in example above A solution

for this contradictory behaviour comes from a concept of invisible or null

syntactic elements which can be expressed by the following generalization on syntactic structures:

According to this generalization, the seemingly contradictory

behaviour of the verb explain can be resolved by postulating an invisible

subject in the infinitive clause (signalled by parentheses):

The politician tried [(S) to explain his position]

Summarizing, we can say that the traditional concept of implied or understood elements in sentences can be replaced by a more explicit concept of null elements Non-finite clauses can be said to contain a subject in the same way

as finite clauses do (i.e obligatorily), the only difference being that in non-finite clauses the subject can be realized as a null (invisible) element

The null subject of a non-finite clause can be interpreted in three different ways:

1 as being controlled by an expression in the main clause

2 as referring to an expression within a larger context (paragraph, text, situation, etc.)

3 as arbitrary or generic („everybody‟, „people in general‟), i.e as not being dependent on any element in the context or the main clause

Controlled subject Its null subject is controlled by the main clause subject

(NP the politician) We call such controlling subject control, and main verbs allowing it subject control verbs (e.g try, promise, want, refuse, etc.)

Besides subject control, there is also object control: a configuration where a

direct object controls the null subject of an infinitive verb Main verbs allowing this

type of control are called object control verbs (e.g persuade, make, cause, etc.; see

ditransitive verbs)

They persuaded the politician [(S) to explain his position]

Controlled subjects are found in adverbial non-finite clauses, as in [(S)

Having written his manuscript], he began to search for a publisher In such cases,

the controller is practically always the subject of the main clause However, English speakers make use of non-finite adverbial clauses with a non-subject NP in the main clause controlling the interpretation of the null subject of the non-finite clause This type of structure has often been referred to as a “dangling” participle/

infinitive Here, we illustrate it with two –ing clauses and underline the element

controlling the non-finite subject:

a Born and bred in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast was always my preferred

destination to recharge and socialize from my teenage years

b While trying on a wealthy woman’s dress, a handsome and rich politician

mistakes her for a society woman

Sometimes, no NP in the main clause provides a clue about the interpretation of the subject in the participial adverbial clause as illustrated:

Being desperately poor, paper was always scarce – as was ink

The examples illustrated above are not rare, although for some speakers they are not acceptable, and most speakers try to avoid such structures in careful writing However, illustrate dangling participals that are fully established and acceptable (here the participial clauses function as sentence adverbials and their subjects are identified as referring to the speaker, or as some sort of generic discourse “we”):

a In the long run, taking everything into account, which is the wisest

choice?

b Strictly speaking, Great Britain consists of Scotland, Wales, and

England

Context/situation If we imagine a situation where several people

comment on their mutual decision to invite another person to their party, and

one of them actually says It was not clever (S) to invite Bob to our party He is such a killjoy!, the situation makes it clear that the null subject of the infinitive

clause is to be understood as referring to whoever person(s) invited Bob to the party The identity of such persons is made clear by the situation the utterance is used in, and is known by the participants in that situation

A similar identification of a null subject of a non-finite clause, can occur within a larger piece of writing or speech, containing an expression (an NP or a pronoun) which identifies the null subject This is illustrated by example:

I would like you to read the two sections of the book beginning on pages 89

and 107 You will present these sections to other students in our next class So,

it is important (S) to understand all points made by the author

It is clear that the subject of the infinitive clause in the second sentence is

whoever is referred to by you appearing twice in this context: in the first and the

second sentence of the passage

Generic/arbitrary interpretation The null subject of a non-finite clause

can also be interpreted as referring to no particular person or group of people Such interpretation is said to be generic or arbitrary (and can be paraphrased as

„everybody‟, „nobody‟, „people in general‟) Example:

a It is vital (S) to eat fresh fruit and vegetables

b It is not easy (S) to learn foreign languages

2.3.2.4 Visible subjects of Non - finite and verbless clauses

The visible subject of a non-finite clause is typically realized in two different forms: accusative or genitive The accusative is different only in pronouns, the genitive is visible in nouns and pronouns alike The two forms are not freely exchangeable, though The accusative subject appears in

infinitive, participial (–ing or –ed) and verbless clauses, while the genitive appears only in ing clauses Exceptionally, certain -ing clauses admit

nominative subjects

Accusative Accusative is the most usual case of a non-finite-clause

subject In infinitive clauses, only accusative subjects are allowed

Accusative appears in –ing clauses, too, especially in less formal styles or when they have adverbial function Finally, in ed clauses, we find accusative

subjects only

a I want him to answer the phone

b We talked about them being arrested by the police

c (With) them being sick, we had to cancel our trip

d Someone actually saw them stolen

e With the bicycles / them repaired, we decided to ride to the beach

Genitive The genitive case is used with –ing forms that have nominal

function In fact, taking a genitive subject is a nominal property itself since nouns take genitives as determiners The use of genitive instead of accusative is more formal (and perhaps less frequent) However, the genitive is obligatory

since it appears with a “nominal” –ing form which we will call gerund nominals

a The teacher insisted on [their / the children’s not playing computer games] (or: them/the children not playing)

b [The children’s playing of computer games] irritated their parents (cf * The children playing of computer games)

Nominative Exceptionally, nominative subjects can appear in very formal

styles and in a special type of structures called absolute constructions, especially with –ing participles

Everybody wanted to buy her paintings, she being the best painter in the country (or: with her being the best painter in the country)

2.3.2.5 Functions of Non-finite clauses

This section is intended to provide a quick survey of the functions of

non-finite clauses, and is organized according to their form: to-infinitives,

the two participles, and verbless clauses All these appear in a wide range of functions, classified as nominal (subject and various types of complements), adverbial, and modifying (where adverbial and modifying functions share

the same property of being adjuncts, i.e optional sentence elements)

Infinitive clauses have the largest distribution of all non -finite clauses

Infinitive clauses

Infinitival clauses appear in nominal functions (subject, complements) as well as in adjunct functions (adverbial and modifier) We illustrate all functions

in the table below:

Table 2.3: Functions of Infinitive clauses - Slideplayer.com

In all the above examples (except one), the infinitivals appear without a visible subject When a subject is present, the infinitival clause is generally

introduced by for:

a For you to leave without a word would be rude

b The only solution is for both sides to attempt to resolve the

conflict peacefully

c Your idea, for your children to buy a house in Hercegovina,

was greeted with dismay by them

Infinitival clauses functioning as subjects are often extraposed; the extraposed sentence sounds less formal than the non-extraposed one When an infinitival clause functions as a direct object of a verb, very often the

subordinator for is not used:

They want us to buy a house in Hercegovina

Interrogative infinitivals Infinitive clauses can be interrogative and

function as complements to verbs, prepositions, nouns, and adjectives:

a I don‟t know whether to accept their proposition (V)

b They are not certain how to proceed (A)

c Everybody was anxious about whether to leave or stay (P)

d A decision whether to abandon the project hasn‟t been made yet (N)

In interrogative infinitivals no overt subject is permitted

Bare infinitives Infinitive clauses sometimes appear without the marker

to, and as such are restricted to the function of complements of certain verbs,

mostly We illustrate bare infinitives in:

a Can you help him do his homework?

b Nobody made me do it

c We didn‟t see them walk in the street