TEMA 23 : ESTRUCTURA DE LA ORACIÓN EN INGLÉS:

AFIRMACIONES, PREGUNTAS, NEGACIONES Y

EXCLAMACIONES.

1. DEFINITION OF ‘SIMPLE SENTENCE’.

In The Theory of Speech and Language Gardiner gives us what can be said to
be the most clarifying definition of sentence: “A sentence is a word or a set of words
followed by a pause and revealing an intelligible purpose”. So a simple sentence is the
one that contains only one clause (with one subject and one predicate) and therefore a
complex sentence contains more than one clause (a main clause and one or more
dependent clause).
However, we can also find a particular kind of simple sentence consisting of
only one word and which are said to have a single nucleus. They are called one-word
sentences. In general, this kind of sentences is only intelligible if the context is made
clear. Typical examples are: exclamations, answers to questions by repeating the key
word in the interrogative, adverbs, etc.
Ex. Help! / Look! / Certainly / Obviously
A. Are you tired? / B. Tired?

2. PARTS OF THE SENTENCE.

The most frequent kind of simple sentence consists of two interrelated parts, the
subject and the predicate. Both are necessary for the sense of the sentence but each one
is a separate nucleus. Most sentences of more than one word have two nuclei, one
indicating the person or thing about whom or which the statement is made (S) and the
other containing the statement (P).

2.1. THE SUBJECT.

The subject can be syntactically defined according to Quirk: a subject is

normally a noun phrase or a clause with nominal function; it occurs before the verb in
declarative clauses and immediately after the operator in questions; it has a number and
person concord, where applicable, with the verb phrase, existing therefore a close
connection between them. Ex. Barbara dances well / Does Barbara dance well?

The subject can be semantically defined according to Quirk. The subject can
be divided in:
(1) Agentive subjects: the subject of a sentence usually acts as an agent. Ex. John
opened the letter.
(2) Instrumental subjects: the subject can be the instrument and cause may cause
an event. Ex. The avalanche destroyed several houses
(3) Affected subjects: the subject frequently has the affected role which is typical
of the object, especially with intransitive verbs. Ex. Jack fell down
 (4) Recipient subjects: the subject may have a recipient role with verbs such as
have, possess, own, and benefit (from). Ex. Mr.Smith’s son owns the radio now
(5) Locative and temporal subjects: the subject can designate a place or refer to a
specific time. Ex. The path is full of ants / tomorrow is my birthday
(6) Eventive subjects: the subject is usually formed by an eventive noun, that is, a
noun that refers to an event and can be used in structures where other nouns can
not be used. Ex. The party is at 7.30
(7) Empty subjects: an empty subject is the one replaced by it, that is, a word
which lacks semantic content and consists of the meaningless word it, used
specially with climatic conditions. Ex. It’s raining

2.2. THE PREDICATE.

The predicate or predicator according to Leech, is the only element which is a

verb phrase. The predicate may be divided into several parts: verb, complement, object
and adverbial. These four parts plus the subject form the sentence, but not all these
elements are always present. The verb usually contains a finite form (bought,
became…) but it may contain a non-finite form (studying…). The non-finite forms
indicate, then, the meaning more than the finite one.

1. The Verb:
We can distinguish between intensive and extensive verbs. Intensive verbs appear
in sentences with a subject complement. Extensive verbs can be intransitive, in
sentences where the verb can not take complements nor direct or indirect objects; and
transitive, in sentences where the verb can take a direct and sometimes an indirect
object as well. If they can take an indirect object they are called ditransitive.
Ex. She became better (intensive)
It snowed heavily / my mother gave me a present (extensive)

2. The Object:
According to Quirk an object - direct or indirect- is a noun phrase or clause with
nominal function; it normally follows the subject and the verb phrase; and by passive
transformation it assumes the status of subject. We can distinguish:

(a) The direct object:

 The direct object is usually the affected participant, that is, a participant
(animate or inanimate) which does not cause the happening denoted by the verb
but is directly involved in some other way.
 If it is not the affected object the direct object may be the locative object or the
effected object. An effected object is the one that refers to something existing
only by virtue of the activity indicated by the verb.
Ex. Many MPs criticized the Prime Minister (affected)
The boy climbed the tree (locative) /she has written a novel (effected)

(b) The indirect object.

 The indirect object is usually the recipient, an animate being passively
implicated by the happening or state expressed by the verb. The indirect object
nearly always precedes the direct object. It tends to be a noun denoting a person.
Ex. He gave her a present
 3. The Complements:
The complement (object or subject) follows the subject, verb phrase and object, if
there is one. Its characteristic is that it odes not become the subject through a passive
transformation. We have:

(a) The subject complement:

 The subject complement is an attribute of the subject. It is called a current
attribute if the verb cannot take the progressive form, that is, with stative verbs.
If the verb is dynamic, that is, if the verb can take the progressive form, it is
called resulting attribute.
Ex. They are friends (current) / He worked hard (resulting)

(b) The object complement:

 The object complement is an attribute of the object. It may also be a current
attribute or a resulting attribute.
Ex. She prefers her tea hot (current) /Adrian painted his room blue (resulting)

4. Adverbials:
An adverbial is an adverb, adverb phrase, adverbial clause, noun phrase or
prepositional phrase and can usually occur in more than one position in a clause. It can
usually be omitted from the clause without affecting its “acceptability”.
Ex. She is washing up (now)

2.3. CONCORD.

Concord is the agreement between two grammatical elements. According to

Quirk the most important type of concord in English is concord of number between
subject and verb. When dealing with concord we have to distinguish two important
concepts that are the following ones:

(a) Notional concord is an agreement of verb with subject according to the idea of
number. Collective nouns follow notional concord. Ex. The government have
broken all their promises.
(b) Proximity principle denotes agreement of the verb with whatever noun or
pronoun closely precedes it. Ex. One in ten takes drugs.

As well as concord of number, there must be concord of person between

subject and verb. Following the proximity principle the last noun phrase of a
coordinated subject, that is, a subject consisting of two or more noun phrases
coordinated by and, determines the person of the verb.
Ex. I am tired / Either my wife or I am going

Other type of concord to be mentioned is subject-complement concord of

number between subject and complement. There is also subject-object concord of
number, person and gender especially when the second element is a reflexive pronoun.
Ex. The child was an angel / He injured himself in the leg
2.4. THE VOCATIVE.

According to Quirk the vocative is a nominal element added to a sentence or

clause optionally, denoting the one or more people to whom it is addressed, and
signalling the fact that it is addressed to them. It may take initial, final or medial
position in the sentence. In form a vocative can be a name, standard appellatives, the
personal pronoun you (considered impolite) and a nominal clause. It has two functions
to be mentioned: (1) to seek the attention of the person addressed and (2) to signal the
attitude of the speaker towards the addressee.
Ex. Peter, come here
I am fed up with you, kids

3. WORD-ORDER IN THE SENTENCE.

3.1. DECLARATIVE SENTENCES.

Declarative sentences are generally used to make statements and they are the
most basic form of a clause, according to Leech, who tells us that the nucleus of the
sentence is S.P.O, stating that S and P are always obligatory but whether O,C and A are
obligatory depends on the main verb. We can arrange the principal clause elements in a
hierarchy: P,S,Od,Oi,C,A. then using P as a reference point, the further down the
hierarchy we move, the more likely the clause function is to be optional.

A. POSITION OF THE SUBJECT.

In English declarative sentences the subject precedes the verb and this position is
quite fixed. However Zandvoort gives us a few cases in which there is inversion, that
is, the order is P S:
1. When a sentence begins with unstressed there, showing the
word-order P S where the verbal predicate consists of a verb
denoting a state or a motion. Ex. There is a man at the door.
2. When a negative adjunct opens the sentence. Ex. No sooner
had she said it than she regretted it.
3. When a sentence opens with an object preceded by an emphatic
word like much or many. Ex. Many a rabbit had he snared,
without the game-keeper noticing it.

B. POSITION OF THE OBJECT.

According to Zandvoort objects follow the verbal predicate to which they

belong. When a sentence contains two objects, the indirect object (Oi) precedes the
direct object (Od) if the latter is the most important one. A construction may appear in
which the Oi may take to, then the Od appears first. With verb-adverb combinations
usually a short pronoun object appears before the verb, but a noun or a long pronoun
object appears after the verb.
Ex. He gave my brother a present / Give the money to your mother
Take it off / Take off your coat
3.2. NEGATIONS.

A simple sentence is negated in English by placing not between the operator and
the predication. Not appears as -n’t in colloquial English and is joined to the auxiliary
or to the verb to be.
Ex. He is not playing

If the clause has no auxiliary and does not contain be, a do-periphrasis is
necessary. Not is added to the appropriate form of do and followed by the infinitive
without “to”. This do-periphrasis is used in negative imperatives. It also occurs in
sentences with inversion of the subject caused by certain introductory words like
negative adverbs such as hardly, never, when the verb is in the simple present or simple
past.
Ex. He does not like her
Never did he imagined such an event

3.3. QUESTIONS.

According to Quirk questions are sentences marked by one or more of these

three criteria:
a) The placing of the operator immediately in front of the subject.
b) The initial positioning of an interrogative or wh element.
c) Rising intonation.

1. Yes-no questions.
These sorts of questions are usually formed by inverting the verb and the subject if the
verb is be or have. If the verb is in the perfect or progressive aspect or is used with a
modal auxiliary, the subject and auxiliary are inverted. If the main verb is in the simple
present or simple past, a do-periphrasis has to be used.
Ex. Is he going to England?
Did she come yesterday?

2. Declarative questions.
Some questions are formed without subject-operator inversion. They are called
declarative questions and they have the same form as a statement, except for they are
pronounced with the rising intonation of a question.
Ex. You didn’t pass your exam?

3. Wh-questions.
Subject-operator inversion is the same in its application to wh-questions as in its
application to yes-no questions; if there is no auxiliary in the equivalent statement, do
is introduced as operator in the question. However, a normal statement order is kept
when the wh-element is the subject. This wh-element can have several clause
functions: S, Od, Cs, Co, time, place, reason, process, duration, frequency, intensifying.
Falling intonation is usual for wh-questions. Wh-questions are formed with one of the
following interrogative words:
- Who / whom / whose: ex. who bought the milk?
- What / which: ex. which colour have you chosen?
- When / where / how / why: ex. why are you always sad?
4. EXCLAMATIONS.

Interjections and exclamations do not necessarily follow the grammatical rules

for English structure. By their nature they do not always have both a subject and a
predicate. This nature is that they are responses to stimuli, which can be either spoken
or unspoken.
Exclamations relate to wh-questions in that they involve the initial placement of
an exclamatory wh-element, which can be called the X-element. There is, however, no
subject-operator inversion, as is found in wh-questions. The X-element usually acts as
subject, object, complement and adverbial (manner / time). These particular types of
exclamations can be reduced by ellipsis to the single X-elements.
The wh-element for exclamations is only confined to two elements: what and
how. What functions as a pre-determiner in a noun phrase. How functions as an
intensifier of an adjective, adverb or clause. Both of them indicate an extreme position
on an implied scale of values and can only appear at certain points in the sentence.
Ex. How nice you look! / How nice! (Complement)
What a lot of people sleep here! / What a lot of people! (Subject)

5. ECHO EXCLAMATIONS.

An echo exclamation repeats part or all of a preceding utterance. It is

characterised by either a rising falling tone or a high-falling tone and any utterance can
be repeated to provide an “echo” exclamation. It generally expresses astonishment if
not disbelief. Irony and contempt may be involved depending on the tone of voice.
Sometimes an irregular subject-predicate construction is produced in these exchanges.
Ex. A. I bought a dog this morning A. You’re English
B. A dog! B. Me English!

6. FORMULAIC UTTERANCES.

Formulaic utterances are those that do not fit into other classifications for
English sentence structure. We can distinguish:
1. Greetings: ex. Good afternoon / Hello
2. Farewells: ex. See you / Good night
3. Introductions: ex. Pleased to meet you / How are you?
4. Reaction signals: ex. Fine / OK / Certainly not / No
5. Thanks: ex. Thank you / Ta
6. Toast: Cheers! / Bottoms up!
7. Seasonal greetings: Happy birthday! / Merry Christmas!
8. Slogans: Third world first!
9. Alarms and warnings: Look out! / Fire!
10. Apologies: Sorry / Pardon
11. Imprecations and expletives (generally divide themselves into blasphemy and
obscenity, both are generally avoided): Hell! / Jesus!
12. Exclamations (miscellaneous): Goal! / Well, well, well
13. Interjections (emotive words with no referential content): Ooh! / Ouch!
7. EXCLAMATORY ASIDES.

A distinction should be made between noun phrases in apposition and the noun
phrase acting as an exclamatory aside. A phrase in apposition is an additional
information unit. An exclamatory aside is an expression of opinion or disbelief, whilst
being formed in the same way as a phrase in apposition from a grammatical point of
view. In certain instances the difference between them can only be inferred depending
on the intonation.
Ex. Enrique Iglesias, popular Spanish singer, visited Uk (Noun phrase in apposition)
James, the idiot, has bought ten tons of rice! (Exclamatory aside)