LÍNGUA INGLESA ESTRUTURA SINTÁTICA I

Aula 1: A Estrutura Linguística e as Palavras.

LÍNGUA INGLESA ESTRUTURA SINTÁTICA I

Conteúdo Programático desta aula

Study the word classes (parts of

speech): nouns, adjectives, articles,
numerals, pronouns, verbs, adverbs,
prepositions and conjunctions and
analyze their relation with clause
elements in the discourse.

A Estrutura Linguística e as Palavras – Aula 1

LÍNGUA INGLESA ESTRUTURA SINTÁTICA I

WORD CLASSES DEFINITION EXAMPLES

Any action (walk), Action (walk),
Verbs occurrence (happen), or occurrence (happen), or
state of being (be) state of being (be)
Nouns Any abstract or concrete A person (police officer,
entity; a person, place, Michael), place
thing, idea, or quality (coastline, London),
thing (necktie,
television), idea
(happiness), or quality
(bravery)
Determiners A word which co-occurs A, an, my, some, the,
(Demonstrative with a noun to show one, thousand, this,
pronouns, indefinite meanings such as number, that, my, your, both,
pronouns, articles, quantity or identity. who, when, why.
possessive
adjectives,
numerals)
A Estrutura Linguística e as Palavras – Aula 1
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WORD CLASSES DEFINITION EXAMPLES

Adjectives An adjective is a modifier. Big, foolish, happy,
Usually it modifies, or makes talented, tidy
more exact, the meaning of a
noun or pronoun.
Adverbs Any qualifier of an adjective, Happily, recently, soon,
verb, clause, sentence, or then, there, yes, no (as
other adverb answers)
Pronouns (personal A pronoun is a substitute for a He, she, some, any, all,
pronouns, indefinite noun or a noun phrase mine, yours, which,
pronouns, who, that.
possessive, relative,
demonstrative and
interrogative
pronouns)

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WORD CLASSES DEFINITION EXAMPLES

Interjections Any emotional greeting (or Eh, ugh, phew, well
"exclamation")
Prepositions A preposition is a connector that At, in, of, over, with
introduces a prepositional phrase.
It usually connects a noun or noun
phrase to the part of the sentence
modified by the whole
prepositional phrase, and it shows
the relation between the two.
Conjunctions A conjunction is a connector. A And, because, but, if,
coordinate conjunction connects or
words or groups of words that are
grammatically the same. A
subordinate conjunction connects a
subordinate, or dependent, clause
to a main clause.

A Estrutura Linguística e as Palavras – Aula 1

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Word Classes
If you noticed, indefinite and demonstrative pronouns are
placed as pronouns or determiners. What’s the difference?

Let’s analyze some examples:

Both of the students came – In this case, both is a
determiner, as it which co-occurs with a noun (students).
Both came.. – In this case, both is a pronoun, as it is
replacing a noun (students).
Try to ignore the few who sneer. (indefinite pronoun)
Try to ignore the few people who sneer.(determiner)
This is a fast moving train. (demonstrative pronoun)
This train is moving fast. (determiner)

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Word Classes
Some words, such as NUMBERS, do not fit in any of the
word classes given above. They can behave as adjectives
(one loaf or two?) or
pronouns (I want one now!).

NOTE: There are some authors that will divide them:

a) Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns,
prepositions, conjunctions and interjections.
b) Lexical verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, auxiliary
verbs, numerals, determiners, pronouns, prepositions,
conjunctions.

A Estrutura Linguística e as Palavras – Aula 1

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Word Classes – Functional Classification

OPEN (OR FORM CLASSES) - new words can be added to the
class as the need arises. The class of nouns, for instance, is
potentially infinite, since it is continually being expanded as
new scientific discoveries are made, new products are
developed, and new ideas are explored. They are:
Nouns
Lexical Verbs (or Full Verbs)
Adjectives
Adverbs
Interjections

The words in open classes are called CONTENT (OR

LEXICAL) WORDS. They are words which have meaning in
themselves.
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Word Classes – Functional Classification

CLOSED (OR STRUCTURE CLASSES) WORD CLASSES -they are
made up of finite sets of words which are never expanded
(though their members may change their spelling, for
example, over long periods of time). They are:
Auxiliary Verbs (primary and modal verbs)
Determiners
Pronouns
Prepositions
Conjunctions

The words in open classes are called FUNCTION WORDS.

They are words which have little or no meaning other than
the grammatical idea they express. There are only about 300
in English.
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One Word, Multiple Classes

The word class of a word is a permanent characteristic of a word and
part of its definition, but many words can belong to more than one word
class.

Items may belong to more than one class. In most instances, we can only
assign a word to a word class when we encounter it in context.

The unfolding spectacle astonished the child. - VERB

The astonished child watched the spectacle unfold. - ADJECTIVE
It looks good. - verb
She has good looks. – NOUN
I know that they are abroad – CONJUNCTION
I know that. – PRONOUN
I know that man. - DETERMINER
One must be careful not to offend them. – GENERIC PRONOUN
Give me one good reason. - NUMBER

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One Word, Multiple Classes

Here are some more examples:
I couldn’t give her an immediate answer. - NOUN
I was surprised when he answered my letter. - VERB
Do not write on the front of the answer sheet. - ADJECTIVE

I cook dinner every Sunday. - VERB

The cook is on holiday. - NOUN

He drives a fast car. - ADJECTIVE

He drives very fast on the motorway. - ADVERB

Turn on the light. - NOUN

I'm trying to light the fire. - VERB
I usually have a light lunch. - ADJECTIVE

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The Word Classes And The Clause Elements

There is a close connection between the eight word classes

and the seven clause elements—subjects, verbs (verb
elements), objects, predicatives, complements, adnominal
functors and adverbials. The various types of phrase
function as one or another of the clause elements; they are
the “constituents” of the clause elements in other words.

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The Word Classes And The Clause Elements

WORD CLASSES CLAUSE ELEMENT

Verbs Verbs
Nouns Subject, Direct, Complements,
Predicatives
Determiners Adnominal Functors
Adjectives Adnominal Functors or Predicative
Adverbs Adverbials
Pronouns Adnominal Functors
Interjection No case
Prepositions Adnominal Functors
Conjunctions No case

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Noun X Substantive
In English, a noun (from the Latin "nomen") is a word used to
name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. Nouns
are usually the first words which small children learn. The
highlighted words in the following sentences are all nouns:

Late last year our neighbors bought a goat.

Portia White was an opera singer.
The bus inspector looked at all the passengers' passes.
According to Plutarch, the library at Alexandria was
destroyed in 48 B.C.

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Noun X Substantive

The word "substantive" comes from the Latin words sub + sto (stans,
stantis...), and literally means "standing in place of." A substantive
is a term covering all words that can function like a noun. In general,
they are the HEAD of a phrase (sintagma). Substantives include
nouns, gerunds, adjectival nouns and pronouns.
The studio is large.
Studying is good for you.
The rich are here.
This is a good book.

Let’s see:
big bananas (‘big’ is an adnominal functor)
a big banana (‘a’ and ‘big’ are adnominal functors)
this big banana (‘this’ and ‘big’ are adnominal functors)
a very big banana (‘a’, ‘very’ ‘big’ are adnominal functors)

A Estrutura Linguística e as Palavras – Aula 1

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The Word Classes And The Clause Elements

CLAUSES WORD CLASSES CLAUSE ELEMENT
He - head of the subject
He – subject pronoun
Kissed - transitive verb
(substantive)
Her hand – direct object
He kissed her Kissed - verb
Her – adnominal functor
hand yesterday. Her – possessive pronoun
Hand – hand of the
Hand – noun (substantive)
direct object
Yesterday - adverb
Yesterday - adverbial
Computers are Computers – noun Computers – head of the
fairly (substantive) subject
commonplace Are – verb Are – linking verb
today. Fairly – adverb Fairly – adverbial
Commonplace - adjective Commonplace – head of
Today - adverb subject complement
Today - adverbial

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The Word Classes And The Clause Elements

CLAUSES WORD CLASSES CLAUSE ELEMENT
We must We – subject pronoun We – head of the subject
change all the (substantive) Must change – verb
programs Must change – verb All – adnominal functor
tomorrow. All – indefinite pronoun The – adnominal functor
The – definite article Programs – head of direct
Programs – noun (substantive) object
Tomorrow - adverb Tomorrow - adverbial
They read too They – subject pronoun They – head of the
many books too (substantive) subject
quickly. Read – verb Read – transitive verb
Too – adverb Too – adverbial
Many – indefinite pronoun Many – adnominal functor
Books – noun (substantive) Books – head of direct
quickly - adverb object
Quickly - adverbial

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The Word Classes And The Clause Elements

CLAUSES WORD CLASSES CLAUSE ELEMENT
I can´t get my I – subject pronoun I – head of the subject
hands warm. (substantive) Can’t get – transitive verb
Can’t get – verb My – adnominal functor
My – possessive pronoun Hands – head of direct
Hands – noun (substantive) object
Warm – adjective (substantive) Warm – head of object
complement
I finished the I – subject pronoun I – head of the subject
work without (substantive) Finished – transitive verb
any trouble. Finished – verb The – adnominal functor
The – definite article Work – head of direct object
Work – head of direct object Without - adnominal functor
Without - preposition any – adnominal functor
any – indefinite pronoun trouble – head of adverbial
trouble - noun (substantive)

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Let’s Practice
1. What is the function word in the sentence: “I don’t imagine
you can succeed in a business venture.”
a) You b) imagine c) business d) venture e) Succeed

2. Choose the alternative that correctly analyses the word ‘after’

in the following sentences:
I. Z comes after Y in the alphabet.
II. They are still friends after all their differences.
III. He departed shortly after.
IV. I saw them after I arrived.
a) preposition – preposition – preposition – conjunction
b) preposition – preposition – conjunction – preposition
c) preposition – preposition – adverb – conjunction
d) conjunction – preposition – adverb – conjunction
e) conjunction – preposition – adverb – preposition
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Let’s Practice
3. Indicate the word class of the underlined words in the following
paragraph.“Without compulsion, though sometimes encouraged by the
Roman authorities, the natives began to adopt the Latin language, to
build towns of the Italian type, to imitate Graeco-Roman architecture
and sculpture, to copy the manners of the Romans. In the Basque
country and in Wales the indigenous languages have actually survived,
whereas in Gaul, Celtic ultimately disappeared with few traces except
in place names.”
a) preposition - preposition – adverb – noun - conjunction
b) preposition - conjunction –pronoun – noun - conjunction
c) preposition - preposition – pronoun – noun - preposition
d) preposition - conjunction – adverb – noun - conjunction
e) preposition - conjunction – adverb – adjective - conjunction

4. Which word cannot be a verb?

a) Breakfast b) lunch c) eat d) dinner e) snack

A Estrutura Linguística e as Palavras – Aula 1