ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION

Language is our basic means of communication. Whether we are speaking,

writing, reading, thinking, words are our basic tool. It is how we use words that
make the difference in the quality of our communication. Through the proper use
of words we can express all our thoughts. We can relate what is happening to
what has happened, we can describe what is going to happen, we can persuade
others to believe in us and to work with us, we can express our desires and we
can realize ourselves in many different ways.

Because works are so important, they must be used in a certain logical order.
The arrangements in this certain logical order make up the elements of the
grammatical expressions, and the words themselves are known as PARTS OF
THE SPEECH.

What are these parts of the speech?

They are words which we commonly call “categories” from the grammatical
point of view.

1.Open-class items
-open: indefinite extendable (i.e. we can spot endless lists of examples)
-class: These categories share grammatical properties and structural
possibilities within each class.

The categories included within this open-class are as follows:

a-Nouns
 house
 people
 New Jersey
 Charlie

b-Adjectives
 beautiful
 yellow
 fantastic
 expensive
c-Adverbs
 gradually
 sometimes
 never
 absolutely

d-Verbs
 read
 go
 swim
 study

2-Closed-system class
-closed: no new members can be added.
-system: reciprocally exclusive, i.e. using one excludes the possibility of
using the other, e.g.: a / the clock.

Within this closed system class, we include the following categories:

a-Determiners:
They never act in isolation. They always premodify a noun; consequently,
they have a premodifying function. They are premodifiers of a noun.

 Articles: a, an, the,  article (zero article)

 Possessive determiners: my, your, her, their…
 Demonstrative determiners: this, that, these, those
 Quantifying determiners: some, many, any, all…
 Numeral determiners: They may express a number of things [cardinal
numbers: five teachers; ten buses] or the order occupied by a certain thing
in a set [the second row; the twentieth century].

Examples:

There are some

 children in the
 park.
quantifyin g definite article
determiner

Martina has bought these

  five
 new pairs of stockings.
demonstrat ive numeral
determiner determiner

b.Pronouns

They have a cohesive referential position within the text. They always refer to
something or someone announced either previously (anaphoric reference) or
afterwards (cataphoric reference). They never have a premodifying position, like
determiners.
  Personal pronouns: I, you, he, she… me, him, them…

 Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, hers, theirs…

 Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those

 Reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, ourselves…

 Relative pronouns: which, who, whose, that…

 Indefinite pronouns: some, each, many, both, either…

Examples:

I love apples but the ones

 in the fridge are rotten. [“ones” refers anaphorically to
indefinite
pronoun

“apples”]

Margaret bought some new dresses but her mother doesn' t love them
. [“them” refers
personal
pronoun

anaphorically to “dresses”.]

IMPORTANT:

Some students tend to confuse some kinds of personal pronouns (me,

him, them…) with object pronouns and they are wrong.

OBECT is not a category, it is a function (Direct object, Indirect object, etc).

The category is indeed “pronouns” but the class is “personal” [personal

pronouns].

c.Prepositions

 under

 from

 befind

 within

 for

 over…
d.Conjunctions

They are linking words and as such they are used to join sentences. There are
two types of conjunctions.

D.1.Coordinating conjunctions

They connect or link items which are the same grammatical type, eg: words,
phrases, sentences… The most common ones are the following:

 and

 but

 or

Some coordinating conjunctions have two parts:

 both… and

 neither… nor

 either…or

D.2 Subordinating conjunctions

As the name indicates, they are used to introduce subordinate clauses.

Some subordinating conjunctions are as follows:

 while

 as though

 because

 as soon as

 so that

 since…

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DETERMINERS AND ADJECTIVES

Adjectives and determiners are both words that modify and describe a noun or a
noun phrase.

However, there is a distinctive difference between adjective and determiner.

1.Most adjectives can be used in front of a noun (attributive adjectives) [eg: a
beautiful city, a round table, an old man] as well as after a noun (postpositive
adjectives) [eg: the best hotel available, the shortest route possible].

2.Determiners, as already said, can only be used before a noun (premodifying

position). [eg: every day, that chair, her schoolbag].

In addition, a noun can have only one determiner (this desk) but there is
no limit to the number of adjectives which may premodify a noun [a beautiful big
round blue house].

The exaplanation is helpful and useful since there are many students who mix up
the categories. So be careful when analysing grammatical categories.

Let’s see the following examples:

[1] her address: HER: possessive determiner NEVER possessive adjective

su dirección: SU: determinante posesivo NUNCA adjetivo posesivo

[2] some chairs: SOME: quantifying determiner NEVER quantifying

adjective

algunas sillas: ALGUNAS: determinante indefinido o cuantificador

NUNCA adjetivo indefinido o cuantificador.

PHRASES / SINTAGMAS

A phrase (“sintagma” in Spanish) is made up of two or more words that do not

contain the subject-verb pair necessary to form a clause. Phrases can be very
short or quite long. Phrases have specific names based on the type of words that
act as their head. Examples:

-the glistening snow: noun phrase, head: snow

-the ones (I want): pronominal phrase, head: ones

-under the bed: prepositional phrase, head: under

-extremely dangerous: adjectival phrase, head: dangerous

-very quickly: adverbial phrase, head: quickly

 CLAUSES / CLÁUSULAS O PROPOSICIONES

A clause is a combination of words/phrases, usually structured around a verb.

Main clauses have a finite verb and can function as complete, independent
clauses. Subordinate clauses are either finite or non-finite (depending on the
form of the verb). They have a syntactic function and are thus syntactic
dependent. They cannot function on either own as complete, independent
sentences.

Example:

The phone rang when I was having a shower .

   
Main clause Subordinat e clause

I don' t really know what she wants .

  
Main clause Subordinat e clause

SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF PHRASES

1.Verb: the state/action (always a verb). e.g.: Tom is giving the beggar some food.
 
VERB

2.Subject: refers to “the doer of the action”. e.g.: The


 children
 are playing golf.
SUBJECT

3.Direct object (DO): the sufferer/the result of the action. e.g.

Melanie is reading a newspaper .
  
DO

4.Indirect object (IO): the beneficiary of the action. Typically, a noun phrase.
e.g. Martin promised the
 little
 child
 anew
 bike
 for her birthday.
IO DO

5.Subject complement (SC): a description/qualification of the subject. It occurs

with the verb BE, LOOK, APPEAR, BECOME, etc. e.g.

The old man is tired

 . John looks angry .
Adj. Phrase

Subj. Comp. Adj.Phrase
Subj. Comp.

The dog is my favourite animal.

 
Noun Phrase
Subject Complement
6.Object Complement (OC): a description/qualification of the Direct object (DO).
e.g. The Egyptians considered the
cat
 aacred
anima
 l.

DO OC

7.Adverbial (or Adjunct): Typically an adverbial phrase or a prepositional

phrase. e.g:

We took the little cat to the vet yesterday morning .

  
Adverbial Adjunct of Time

There is a cat behind the big sofa.

 
Adverbial Adjunct of Place

I am sitting uncomfortably on the floor.

  
Adverbial Adj. Manner Adv. Adj. Place

In Spanish, “adverbial adjuncts” are known as complementos circunstanciales.

e.g.

 Adverbial Adjunct of Time /Complemento circunstancial de tiempo

 Adverbial Adjunct of Place / Complemento circunstancial de lugar

 Adverbial Adjunct of Purpose /Complemento circunstancial de finalidad

 Adverbial Adjunct of Accompaniment / Complemento circunstancial de

compañía

 Adverbial Adjunct of Instrument /Complemento circunstancial de

instrumento…

…entre otros.