What is the fundamental distinction made in grammar when describing elements that form a sentence?
The fundamental distinction is between grammatical categories and grammatical functions.
Define ‘grammatical category’.
A grammatical category is a class of expressions whose members share grammatical features and are grammatically alike.
Define ‘grammatical function’.
A grammatical function describes what an element is doing within a sentence, determined by context.
Name the eight main word categories (parts of speech) according to Huddleston & Pullum (2005).
Nouns (N), verbs (V), adjectives (A), adverbs (Adv), prepositions (P), determinatives (D), coordinators, and subordinators.
What three types of criteria do speakers use to determine which category individual words belong to?
Semantic evidence, morphological evidence, and syntactic evidence.
Explain the typical semantic and morphological properties of verbs.
Semantically denote actions or states; morphologically inflected for tense and agreement; belong to an open word class.
What is the primary difference between lexical word categories and functional word categories?
Lexical categories have definable meanings, inflect, and are open sets. Functional categories lack clear meanings, don’t inflect, and are closed sets.
Why is linguistic context important for identifying a word’s category in English? Provide an example.
Words can share the same shape but differ in category. Example: ‘clean’ can be a verb or an adjective.
What is a ‘phrase’?
A sequence of words functioning as a grammatical unit, which can be a single word or a group of words.
Name the corresponding phrase categories for the major word categories.
Noun Phrase (NP), Verb Phrase (VP), Adjective Phrase (AP), Adverb Phrase (AdvP), Prepositional Phrase (PP), Determiner Phrase (DP).
What are the three main tests used for the identification of phrases?
Substitution test, movement test, and omission test.
Describe the ‘substitution test’ for identifying phrases.
If a string can be replaced by a grammatically similar single word, it’s a phrase.
Describe the ‘movement test’ for identifying phrases.
If a string can be moved to another clause position, it’s a phrase.
Describe the ‘omission test’ for identifying phrases.
If a string can be omitted without making the sentence ungrammatical, it’s a phrase.
What is the ‘head’ of a phrase, and what is its significance?
The most important word in a phrase; determines the phrase’s category.
What are ‘dependents’ within a phrase? Are they single words or phrases?
Dependents are all non-head elements in a phrase; they are always phrases.
What are the two main types of dependents within a phrase, and how do they differ?
Complements (may be obligatory, follow head, not mobile) vs. Modifiers/Adjuncts (optional, before/after head, often mobile).
Explain the concept of ‘licensing’ as it applies to complements.
Licensing means the head determines the admissibility, category, and form of its complements.
What is a ‘clause’? What is its minimal element?
A clause is a grammatical unit consisting of a verb and its dependents. Its minimal element is a verb.
How does a ‘clause’ differ from a ‘sentence’?
A sentence is a self-contained textual unit; a clause is a grammatical unit that can be part of a sentence.
What is a ‘main clause’ versus a ‘subordinate clause’?
A main clause is independent and can stand alone. A subordinate clause is dependent on another element.
What is a ‘canonical clause’? Why is this concept useful in grammatical description?
A basic, unmarked clause with subject and predicate. It provides a standard reference for analyzing more complex structures.
