GRAMTICA Y DISCURSO EN EL AULA

THE GROUPS OF THE CLAUSE.

THE NOMINAL GROUP. PRONOUNS. THE ADJECTIVAL GROUP. THE
ADVERBIAL GROUP.
Dr. Jess Moya
THE LOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE NOMINAL GROUP. PRONOUNS. THE
ADVERBIAL GROUP.
1. THE NOMINAL GROUP. GENERAL OUTLINE.
1.1.
DEFINITION:
The nominal group is the group of the clause which typically has a noun or a pronoun as
Head and that can have as optional elements: determiners, modifiers and qualifiers.
Downing and Locke (1992, 2006) describe it as a powerful unit of expression to talk
about things or entities
EXAMPLE: That interesting history book which you lent me
1.2.

THE LOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE NOMINAL GROUP:

NG
DETERMINER
Definers
Deictics
Quantifiers
Those two

MODIFIER
Epithet
Classifier

lovely tall sailing

HEAD
Noun
Pronoun

ships

QUALIFIER
Nominal
Circumstantial
Attributives
over there

1.2.1. HEAD:
The head is the central element of the nominal group and its function is to name a
class of entities (boy, girl, dog).
It is typically realized by a noun or a pronoun (see unit 27 by Mark Foley and Dianne
Hall (2004) and take information about the following points: subject and object pronouns
(27.1D); Uses of he, she, it (27.1F); One (27.1G); Idiomatic and emphatic use of reflexive
pronouns (27.2 B, C); Reciprocal pronouns (27.2D); impersonal pronouns (27.3) and
Indefinite pronouns and adverbs (27.4). It would also be interesting to have a look at unit 25
and take information about singular and plural nouns (25.2) and countable and uncountable
nouns (25.3).
The Head of the NG can also be realized by nominalized adjectives, preceded by the:
a)
Adjectives with personal reference, followed by a verb in the plural: The old
feel the cold more than the young (old people).
b)
Adjectives expressing nationality: The Spanish are said to be laid-back
(Spanish people).
c)
Adjectives with abstract reference (plus a singular verb): The best is yet to
come.
d)

1.2.2. DETERMINERS:
Their function is to particularize or select an entity from the others in the surrounded
context: Student (whole class of students)
That student (a specific student selected from the whole class of entities)
Downing and Locke (1992, 2006) distinguish three different types of determiners:
definers, deictics and quantifiers.
1.2.2.1. DEFINERS: They present an entity as definite (the man), indefinite (a, an,
some, any) or generic (0 article). The definite article is used when the entity has already
been mentioned and can be identified. The indefinite article usually introduces new entities in
discourse. The zero article is used when the entity is seen as representative of the whole
class: Elephants never forget (For further information see unit 28, section 28.1 by Mark
Foley and Dianne Hall, 2004. Articles will be studied in detail next year).
We usually use some in positive sentences, any in questions and negatives: Youve
got some interesting ideas, but have you got any money to back them? We can use any in
positive sentences with the meaning it doesnt matter which: Any fisherman will tell you that.
Finally, it is possible to use some in questions where we have some expectations that the
answer will be positive: Is some of the information useful? (I expect that a part of it is) / Is any
of the information useful? (I have no idea whether it is useful or not) (Foley and Hall, 2004:
275).
1.1.2.2. DEICTICS: They point to an entity as being near or not near the speaker in
space or time. Types:
-Demonstratives: This, these, that, those (see section 28.2 by Mark Foley and
Dianne Hall, 2004).
-Possessives: They refer to the person or thing to which the entity belongs to.
Examples: my car, Toms car (genitive).
-Distributives: They select an entity by referring to its distribution.
All, both, half, each, every, either, none, neither, other, another
Study the following examples with the teacher:
Another book / other people / another two books.
The vote was split: half (subject) were in favour of the motion, half were against it.

Each sex has its own psychological characteristics / *Every sex

She was wearing a fine gold chain on each ankle / *every ankle.
She was wearing a ring on finger (each or every?)
Both (of) these cases / Both the students
All (of) the children were very nice.
None of them has / have come; None of the information
Neither of them want (s) to come.
Neither accusation is true.
Neither James nor Virginia was /were at home.
I havent written either of my parents.
-Wh-series and Such: what, which
(Such and what co-occur with the indefinite article or with the 0 article)
Examples: Which play would you like to see?
What lies!; What a beautiful day!
Dont be such a fool! / On such occasion

1.2.2.3. QUANTIFIERS: They express both exact and inexact quantity:

-Exact: cardinal and ordinal numbers: six, the first Note that cardinal and ordinal
numbers cannot co-occur with the indefinite article: the two books.
-Non-exact: much (uncountable nouns: much water), many (count nouns), little
(uncountable nouns), few (count nouns), a lot of (both with count and non-count nouns: lots
of students, a lot of furniture. Note that a lot cannot be used directly before a noun. A lot of
the conference; a lot of (the) ideas), a great deal of (non-count nouns, a great deal of
trouble), a large number of (plural count nouns, a large number of students).
ORDER OF DETERMINERS: Definers and deictics are placed before quantifiers:
another two books; the other two children. Quantifiers follow these determiners, but they
precede modifiers: the other two nice children; the two history books.
1.2.3. MODIFIERS (THE ADJECTIVAL GROUP):
They either describe or classify the permanent or essential characteristics of the
entity.
Modifiers can be classified into two main types:
-Epithets: they describe the objective (tall man, narrow street) and subjective
(beautiful girl) qualities of the entity.
-Classifiers: They indicate a particular subclass of the entity: human life, social life,
animal life.
Modifiers are typically realized by adjectives (clever student), by -ing and -ed
participles (a retired teacher, the rising prices. For further information on adjectives see units
21.2, 22.1-22.3 and 23.1-23.2 by Foley and Hall, 2004); by nouns (The Lincoln road), by
adverbs (the above quotation, an up-to-date timetable) and finally by the genitive.
The genitive may function both as determiner and as modifier. It is a possessive
determiner when it expresses possession. However, it has a classifying function when it
indicates a particular subclass of the entity. If a determiner precedes the genitive as modifier
it refers to the head noun rather than to the genitive noun. Lets see some examples:
Genitive as Modifier:
A womens university
A ladys bicycle
His old fishermans cottage
Genitive as Possessive Determiner:
Marys bicycle
His old friends cottage
My daughters new desk
ORDER OF MODIFIERS: Epithets tend to be placed before classifiers and subjective
adjectives tend to be placed before objective ones: a short radio programme; a magnificent
well-prepared speech. Short adjectives tend to precede long ones: a small well-kept garden.
Finally, the order of epithets is the following:
A beautiful

small

old

round

red

china

glass

bottle

1.2.4. QUALIFIERS:
They are placed after the head noun and help to identify and define the entity still
further. They identify an entity by describing its temporal features: The tall girl in red. Taking
into account the information they express, Downing and Locke (1992, 2006) distinguish three
types of qualifiers: nominal qualifiers, circumstance qualifiers and attributive qualifiers.
-Nominal qualifiers: Those which define an entity in terms of another entity or fact or
situation. They are typically realized by nominal groups and by nominal clauses:
My niece, a very pretty girl, is in London.
There is no evidence that he committed the crime.
-Circumstance qualifiers: They characterize an entity in terms of circumstance and
are typically realized by prepositional groups, adverbial groups and relative adverbial
clauses:
The man in red / The bird on the branch of the tree.
(Prepositional groups are by far the commonest class of qualifiers)
The road back is dense with traffic.
(Adverbials as qualifiers typically express notions of space and time. They can be
considered as reduced relative clauses: The road that is at the back)
The place where I was born
-Attributive qualifiers: Those that refer to a temporary quality or state of an entity.
They are typically realized by adjectival groups, relative clauses, non-finite clauses and
verbless clauses:
The man who is coming up the street is my father.
The next train to arrive at platform 5 is the Express train to London.
Weve got a lot of friends, most of them students like me.
Somebody tall was at the door / a mistake typical of beginners.
(Note that although adjectives usually function as modifiers of the head noun,
sometimes they are postponed and function as qualifiers. Two group of adjectives as
qualifiers can be distinguished: a) adjectives with heavy complementation. They cannot be
placed before the head noun and require postmodification: a typical mistake, but a mistake
typical of beginners; and b) those adjectives placed after indefinite pronouns ending in
body, -thing and one: somebody tall came to the party yesterday.

2. PRO-FORMS:
Those words which are used to replace some parts of the sentence structure are
called proforms. They are used to avoid unneeded repetition of information which is already
known. In English proforms are used to replace nominal groups, adjectival groups, adverbial
groups, verbal groups and clauses.
Nominal groups can be replaced by personal, possessive and reflexive pronouns, by
the words One and Ones and by That and Those:
The children saw that film but they didnt like.
My tutor likes Yeats poetry but I prefer . of Keats.
Paul bought a big house and Robert bought a small ..
Adjectival groups can be replaced by the proforms So and That, which are used
together with the verb Be: The boys promised to be good and they were.

There are also proforms (here, there, now, then) for place, time, and other adverbials:
Fray Luis de Len was born in Belmonte and I was born .. too.
She arrived last month and he arrived . too.
Verbal groups can be replaced by Do and other modal auxiliaries. Modal auxiliaries
can replace not only the verbal form but also the whole prediction:
He promised to meet us at the airport and he so.
I smoke a lot and so .. my wife.
Did you study French last year? Yes, I
Finally, clauses can be replaced by the proforms So, This, That
Are the girls coming to the party? I hope .
Theyre getting married next year but .. is not the best time.

3. THE ADVERBIAL GROUP (Also see unit 24 by Foley and Hall 2004).

4. Properties of the adverbial head.

1. Adverbs characteristically modify verbs (she spoke clearly),
adjectives (quite happy; too long), nouns ( a nearby hotel)
and other adverbs (she did it rather well),
well), in contrast with
adjectives, which modify nouns or stand in a predicative
relation to noun phrases.
2. They commonly express manner or degree;
degree; other frequent
meanings (often associated with grammatically less central
members) include time and place.
3. Many adverbs,
adverbs, especially those belonging to the manner
subclass, are morphologically derived from adjectives
(slow(slow-slowly; proudproud-proudly).
4. They can occupy many different positions in clause
structure, when functioning as Adjuncts or Disjuncts of a
clause and they are very frequently optional in the sense
Adverbial
Group. Lingstica
Inglesa the
II
1
that they canThebe
omitted
without
clause becoming
ungrammatical.

4. Types of meaning expressed by AdvGs

Adverbial Groups can express a great variety of meanings:
1. Circumstantial: Mainly related to Space and Time:
Put t he chairs here / They
They ll be coming t omorrow.
2. Process: mainly related to manner:
She spoke hesit ant ly / The concert was a success art ist ically but
but not
f inancially.
3. Modal: related to almost any area of modality such as volition,
possibility, necessity
necessity
You are cert ainly right / The boss has unwillingly raised my wag es.
4. Degree: related to comparison, intensification, attenuation and
approximation: Sheila is t he most indust rious as a st udent ; She lives all
alone but seems quit e happy; This is slight ly surprising; There were more
or less 20 people.
5. Focusing Adverbs: mainly those related to restriction and
reinforcement.
That is merely a det ail / Even a child knows t hat .
6. Conjunctive: expressing meanings such as conclusion, result,
alternation, opposition, concession
concession
Take an umbrella, ot herwise you
you ll get wet .
The Adverbial Group. Lingstica Inglesa II

4. Distribution of Adverbs within the clause

When adverbs realise the function of Adjunct
or Disjunct,
Disjunct, they are mobile.
mobile. However, the rest
occupy fixed positions.
(x) The man (x) couldn
couldn t (x) have (x) been (x)
sent (x) to prison (x)
(x) = Legally.
Legally.
Let
Lets see now some exceptions and points to
note regarding the position of adverbs.
The Adverbial Group. Lingstica Inglesa II

4. Distribution of Adverbs within the clause

Circumstantial Adverbs:
Adverbs of place and time are normally placed after
the verb or at the end of the clause.
Indefinite adverbs such as somet imes, originally,
event ually, immediat ely, f inally, recent ly, previously tend
to occupy final, middle or initial position:
(X)

We

(X)

Normal
unmarked
position

t ake a long holiday

Focuses on
the process

(X)
Focuses on
the whole
clause

(X) = somet imes

The Adverbial Group. Lingstica Inglesa II

4. Distribution of Adverbs within the clause

Adverbs of frequency (always, never, seldom, hardly ever, of t en, rarely,
f inally, recent ly, previously)
previously) tend to occur in midmid-position between the
Subject and Predicator or between the Operator and the main verb:
verb:
We have never been t o America
Women are of t en successf ul in business (often is the only frequency
adverb that can occupy initial position).
STILL / YET / ALREADY
Still = Subject still Vb (except with the verb to be).
Does Tom st ill visit you? Yes, he st ill visit s us.
Yet = Final position.
Have you f inished your homework yet ? No, I haven
haven t f inished yet .
Already = Normally midmid-position.
Has Tom already gone? Yes, he has already gone.
Also af t er t he verb: Has Tom gone already? Yes, he has gone already.
already.
Other possibilities:
She is st ill beaut if ul. She is beaut if ul st ill.
ill.
AS YET we have (x) received no answer (x).
I ve already been t here. I
I ve been t here already.
already.
The Adverbial Group. Lingstica Inglesa II

4. Distribution of Adverbs within the clause

Adverbs of Manner:
Normally end position ((-LY adverbs: caref ully, easily,
correct ly, nicely, cheaply, polit ely, peacef ully, urgent ly,
angrily, happily, desperat ely, passionat ely
ely)
He speaks English f luent ly.
ly.
Other possibilities:
- After the Predicator: He lived happily ever after.
- midmid-position:
We sincerely hope you enjoyed your st ay wit h us.
I have been seriously t hinking of changing my job.
I will gladly help you if you need me.
The Adverbial Group. Lingstica Inglesa II

4. Distribution of Adverbs within the clause

Modal adverbs.
MidMid-position:
They will probably get married next mont h.
She is supposedly a rich woman.
Adverbs in initial position:
In this position adverbs refer to the whole clause:
a) as another constituent within clause structure:
Slowly, t he rising sun appeared over t he dist ant
horizon.
Suddenly, a f resh breeze began t o ruf f le t he surf ace
of t he sea.
b) As Disjunct (speaker
(speakers attitude towards what he/she
is saying)
Frankly, Hopef ully,
ully,
The Adverbial Group. Lingstica Inglesa II

4. MAIN REFERENCES
ARTS, F and J. ARTS (1982) English Syntatic Structures. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
DOWNING, A. and Ph. LOCKE (2006 [1992]) A University Course in English Grammar.
New York: Prentice Hall / Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

FOLEY, MARK AND DIANE HALL (2004): Advanced Learners Grammar. China:
Longman.
HALLIDAY, M.A.K. (1985 /2004) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward
Arnold Ltd.
HUDDLESTON, R. (1988) English Grammar: An Outline. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

QUIRK, R. et alia (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London:

Longman.

QUIRK, R. et alia (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London:

Longman.
QUIRK, R. et alia (1991) A Students Grammar of English. London: Longman.
SINCLAIR, J. ed. (1990) Collins Cobuild English Grammar. Collins Publishers.
VERSPOOR, M. and K. SAUTER (2000) English Sentence Analysis. An Introductory Course.
Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
YULE, G. (2006) The Study of Language. Third Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. Chapter 7.