Different Construction different

Meaning and Types of Construction

Created By: Weny Fitriana
(1503046060)
 Different construction different
meaning.
We can usefully note that (3) adds another factor to our
view of language.
We stated at the beginning of this chapter that different
constructions have been developed by the speakers of
languages to allow them to distinguish clearly between the
different things they do with language – making assertions,
asking questions and so on.

Example (3) drives home a very important point; although

it is convenient in textbooks such as this to take sentences
and clauses one at a time, in real speech and writing they
are accompanied by many other clauses and sentences.
The choice of the construction in (3) is determined by what
precedes it in a given conversation or letter, say. In fact, to
make the example more realistic, we should change it to
 Different construction different
meaning.
The wealthy young man bought his secret fiancée that
piano.

He bought her that piano

one of the enduring habits of speakers is that

they introduce a participant into a narrative
by means of a full noun phrase containing a
noun and possibly an article and adjective
and so on, but thereafter refer to that
participant by means of a pronoun.
• Look at this example.

e.g. You were asking about the piano you saw. Frank
Churchill was a wealthy young man who came to stay in
Hartfield. His secret fiancée was living in Hartfield with
Mrs and Miss Bates. He bought her that piano.

The fact that sentences are typically

combined to create longer texts is why many
manuals of languages include a selection of
different texts in addition to the details of the
morphology and syntax of a given language.
1. (a) The wealthy young man bought that Active
piano for his secret fiancée. Declarative

Why is
it called
passive 5. That piano was bought for his secret fiancée by
? the wealthy young man.

The term ‘passive’ comes historically from the

Latin verb patior (I suffer), or more exactly from
Passive its past participle, as in passus sum (having-
suffered I-am, that is, ‘I have suffered’).
This label was chosen for clauses in English and
other languages which take as their starting point
the participant on whom an action is carried out,
that is, who suffers the action. In contrast, active
clauses take as their starting point the participant
who carries out an action, who is active in a given
situation.
(5) That piano was bought for his secret ‘long passive’
because it contains an agent noun
fiancée by the wealthy young man.
phrase
NP (agent)

That piano was bought for his secret ‘short passive’

fiancée. because it doesn’t have a phrase
referring to the do-er or agent

approximately 95 per cent of passive

clauses in spoken and written texts do
not have a phrase referring to the do-
er or agent.
6. (I don’t like the plum brandy) – the port I just love.
NP NP Neutral main clause

I just love the port

Not only does the second clause have an unusual

construction, which in itself makes the message
conspicuous, but the port immediately follows the
plum brandy; the positioning of the two phrases
right next to each other also highlights the contrast.
 Conclusion
• We observed that:

1. although we analyzed clauses and

sentences individually for convenience, in
real language they do not occur in isolation
but as part of longer texts.
2. Constructions too can be and are
analyzed in isolation because it is
convenient to focus on one structure at a
time; however, in a given language,
constructions exist not in isolation but as
part of a system of structures
 Types of Construction

COPULA NON-COPULA
(used Link verb) (ordinary Verb)

structure
used for
Declarative making
the structure statements
used for asking
questions.
interogative
 Interrogative constructions split into
two types.
used for
asking
questions
YES–NO interrogatives about
participants
in a situation
WH interrogatives
used for asking
questions in
which the
E.g
answer is yes or E.g
no
Who phoned?
When did he phone?
Did he phone? What did he say?
Where was he when he phoned?
 Declarative and interrogative
constructions
Declarative constructions interrogative constructions

ACTIVE PASSIVE ACTIVE PASSIVE

Frank bought the piano for

Jane
Did Frank buy the Was the piano
piano for Jane? bought for
The piano was bought for Jane by Frank?
Jane by Frank.
 In declarative constructions the verb
can be followed by:
a noun phrase and a
two noun phrases
prepositional phrase

E.g.

e.g.
Frank bought Jane the piano
NP NP

Frank bought the piano for Jane

NP PP
 Interrogative constructions

OBLIQUE OBJECT DOUBLE OBJECT

E.g. Did Frank buy the piano for E.g. Did Frank buy Jane the
Jane? piano?

Active Active
e.g. Frank bought the piano for e.g. Frank bought Jane the
Jane piano

Passive
Passive
e.g. Jane was bought that piano
e.g. The piano was bought for
by Frank
Jane by Frank
(7. )a. Frank bought the piano for Jane. (8) a. Did Frank buy the piano for Jane?
[NON-COPULA, DECLARATIVE, ACTIVE, [NON-COPULA, INTERROGATIVE, YES–
OBLIQUE OBJECT] NO, ACTIVE, OBLIQUE OBJECT]

b. Frank bought Jane the piano. b. Did Frank buy Jane the piano?
[NON-COPULA, DECLARATIVE, ACTIVE, [NON-COPULA, INTERROGATIVE, YES–
DOUBLE OBJECT] NO, ACTIVE, DOUBLE OBJECT]

c. The piano was bought for Jane by c. Was the piano bought for Jane by
Frank. Frank?
[NON-COPULA, DECLARATIVE, PASSIVE, [NON-COPULA, INTERROGATIVE,
OBLIQUE OBJECT] PASSIVE, OBLIQUE OBJECT, YES–NO]

d. The piano Frank bought for Jane.

[NON-COPULA, DECLARATIVE, ACTIVE,
OBLIQUE OBJECT, TOPIC]