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TEACHER TRAINEES!

We have prepared this blog for you to have access to all the great material we prepared during the quarantine.

In some cases, the videos refer to "what you asked me about..." or "next class" or "last week" - pay no attention to that. These expressions refer to the groups, people, questions, lessons and the like we were addressing back then.

We hope you find this useful!

Sandra, Belén and Yamila

Syntax from scratch

In other subjects, you may be dealing with questions such as "What is language?", "What is culture?", and the like.

Here, we are going to deal with another aspect of language: syntax.

If you look it up in the dictionary, you will find definitions like:

syntax

noun [ U ]

specialized - UK /ËˆsÉªn.tæks/ US /ËˆsÉªn.tæks/

the grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence:

The examples should always illustrate correct syntax.

The president's tortured syntax was often satirized.

(https://dictionary.cambridge.org)

syntax

noun

/ËˆsÉªntæks/

[uncountable]

(linguistics) the way that words and phrases are put together to form sentences in a language; the rules of grammar for this
COMPARE morphology

(https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/)

syntax

â€‹NOUN

UNCOUNTABLE

USî¨¦/ËˆsÉªnËŒtæks/

â€‹LINGUISTICS
the rules about how words are arranged and connected to make phrases and sentences

(https://www.macmillandictionary.com/)

When you study syntax, you will learn how to classify words, how those words combine to make phrases and clauses, and how those phrases and clauses combine to make sentences.

We have prepared some videos for you. Watch them now, please:

1 - Meaning is primary!!! Learn about NOTIONS - Click HERE

2 - Words? Phrases? Clauses? What's what? Click HERE

3- What's a sentence? Basic constituents - Click HERE

Once you have seen them, try to identify the different "parts" or "constituents" of these sentences:

1. Marisa and my sister had some beers at the bar last night.

2. I miss my friends terribly these days.

3. My students hate syntax.

4. Our beautiful teacher always prepares fantastic lessons.

Watch this video now!

Now, analyse this sentence: The lonely lady baked some cookies yesterday.

Finally, watch this video here (which is the analysis, step by step, of that sentence)

Now you are aware that when you analyse a sentence you must pay attention to the FUNCTIONS that words and phrases fulfil (subject, predicate, direct object, adverbial adjunct) and to their CATEGORIES (noun phrase, noun, adjective...).

But... what else can we say about CATEGORIES?

Do you know how words are classified?

Watch this short video (click here).
Pay lots of attention, take down notes, because you will need this information later on.

Now, try to analyse these sentences:

A. Some children have finished their homework.
B. Isabella learnt English at school.
C. My brothers play the guitar and the piano very well.

LET'S MOVE ON!

Direct and Indirect Object

1.Read some theory first:

What is an object?
An object in grammar is a part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate . It refers to someone or something involved in the subject 's "performance" of the verb. It is what the verb is being done to. As an example, the following sentence is given:

Subject Verb Object
Leila wrote the poem

" Leila" is the subject , the doer or performer,
" wrote" is a verb that refers to the action,
" the poem" is the object involved in the action.

Transitive and intransitive verbs
A verb can be classified as transitive or intransitive according to whether it takes or doesn't take an object:

If a verb takes objects, then it is a transitive verb.
Example: They played soccer . → (The verb play takes ONE object ' soccer ')
They sent him a postcard . → (The verb send takes TWO objects ' him ' and ' a postcard ')

If a verb doesn't take an object, then it is an intransitive verb.
Example: She lies. → (The verb ' lie ' doesn't take any object)
The building collapsed. → (The verb 'collapse' doesn't take any object)

Types of objects

There are two types of objects: direct and indirect objects:

Direct object
A direct object answers the question "what?" or "who?"
Examples:

David repaired his car → his car is the direct object of the verb ( What did David repair? )
He invited Mary to the party → Mary is the direct object of the verb invited . (Who did he invite?)

Indirect Object
An indirect object answers the question "to whom?", "for whom?"
An indirect object is the recipient of the direct object, or an otherwise affected participant in the event. There must be a direct object for an indirect object to be placed in a sentence. In other words an indirect object cannot exist without a direct object.
Examples:

They sent him a postcard - him is the indirect object of the verb (To whom did they send a postcard?)
He bought his son a bike - his son is the indirect object of the verb bought . ( For whom did he buy a bike?)

(From: https://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-direct-indirect-object.php )

2. Now watch this video here:

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/grammar/syntax-sentences-and-clauses/subjects-and-predicates/v/subject-direct-object-and-indirect-object-syntax-khan-academy

Try to analyse these sentences now:
1 – The teacher sent us more homework today.
2- The students bought a present for Ms. Casareski last week.
3- My family is giving me a terrible headache.

BUT... WAIT! DO ALL VERBS TAKE OBJECTS?

NO!

The verb "To Be", along with many others, is a linking verb, or a copular verb. It is an intransitive verb of incomplete predication (it takes no objects, but it needs "something else" for meaning to be complete).

Linking Verbs

A linking verb is used to re-identify or to describe its subject. A linking verb is called a linking verb because it links the subject to the subjective complement.

A linking verb tells us what the what subject is, not what the subject is doing.

Easy Examples of Linking Verbs

In each example, the linking verb is highlighted and the subject is bold.

Alan is a vampire.(Here, the subject is re-identified as a vampire.)
Alan is thirsty.(Here, the subject is described as thirsty.)

>>>>>>>Linking Verbs require a Complement<<<<<<<<

The Subjective Complement

A subjective complement is a word or phrase that follows a linking verb and identifies or describes the subject.

A subjective complement is either an adjective, a noun, or a pronoun.

Easy Examples of Subjective Complements

In the examples below, the linking verbs are in bold and the subjective complements are shaded:

Ben is a policeman.(The linking verb is is (i.e., the verb to be). The subjective complement identifies the subject Ben. It is a noun.)
He will be fine.(The linking verb is will be (i.e., the verb to be). The subjective complement describes the subject He. It is an adjective.)

So, what is the difference between Direct Object, Indirect Object and Subjective Complement? I have prepared some videos for you. But first, please download this booklet and read it. The text is very simple and the examples are really good.

Then, watch these videos:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Sorry: when we said "receiver", we meant "recipient".

Part 4

Sorry: when we said "receiver", we meant "recipient".

Part 5

Sorry: when we said "receiver", we meant "recipient".

Some of these notes have been taken from https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/subject_complement.htm but we have adapted them.

EXTRA! VIDEO LESSON HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7LMONyExFg

OK!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW... What else can we say about CATEGORIES?

Do you know how words are classified?

Watch this short video:

Pay lots of attention, take down notes, because you will need this information later on”.

Please, watch the video again, and “come back”.

So, to be able to continue, as we were saying, we need to know this:

Major word classes

English has four major word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. They have many thousands of members, and new nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are often created. Nouns are the most common type of word, followed by verbs. Adjectives are less common and adverbs are even less common.

Many words belong to more than one word class. For example, book can be used as a noun or as a verb; fast can be used as an adjective or an adverb:

It’s an interesting book. (noun)

We ought to book a holiday soon. (verb)

He loves fast cars. (adjective)

Don’t drive so fast! (adverb)

Other word classes

The other word classes include prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions and interjections.

Prepositions

Prepositions describe the relationship between words from the major word classes. They include words such as at, in, on, across, behind, for:

We went to the top of the mountain. (to describes the relationship between went and top; of describes the relationship between top and mountain)

Are you ready for lunch yet? (for describes the relationship between ready and lunch)

Pronouns

Pronouns are words which substitute for noun phrases, so that we do not need to say the whole noun phrase or repeat it unnecessarily. Pronouns include words such as you, it, we, mine, ours, theirs, someone, anyone, one, this, those:

That’s Gerry in the photo. He lives in Barcelona.

This jacket’s mine. That must be Linda’s. She left a while ago.

Determiners (also classified as articles, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, quantifiers...)

Determiners come before nouns. They show what type of reference the noun is making. They include words such as a/an, the, my, his, some, this, both:

Have you got a ruler I can borrow?

I need some paper for my printer.

This phone isn’t easy to use.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions show a link between one word, phrase or clause and another word, phrase or clause. They include and, but, when, if, because:

Joe and Dan are brothers.

It was okay, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a restaurant.

We’ll ring you when we get to London.

Interjections

Interjections are mostly exclamation words (e.g. gosh! wow! oh!), which show people’s reactions to events and situations:

A:I’m giving up my job.

B:Oh.

A: Yippee! I don’t have to go to work tomorrow!

A: Gosh! What an awful smell!

Now, what about Phrases?

Phrase classes

The different word classes can form the basis of phrases. When they do this, they operate as the head of the phrase. So, a noun operates as the head of a noun phrase, a verb as the head of a verb phrase, and so on.

Heads of phrases (H) can have words before them (e.g. determiners (det), adjectives (adj), adverbs (adv)) or after them (e.g. postmodifiers (pm) or complements (c)):

(Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/gramatica/gramatica-britanica/word-classes-and-phrase-classes )

In some cases, you are already include all this in your analyses because you have watched our videos, or because you remember how to do it from school, other courses, or because you are re-attending the subject. But right now we will start from scratch. We have prepared some videos for you:

Phrases – Types

Analysis – Complete – 1

Analysis – Complete - 2

Now, go back to the sentences we analysed before and include all this!

SO FAR... we have been working on both FUNCTION and CATEGORY. Today, we will learn about another FUNCTION: POST-MODIFIERS. Watch this video now:

The examples on the video are here:

WAIT!!!!! How can I tell when...?

We usually come across a a VERY GOOD question - Pay attention to the following:

LET'S MOVE ON TO...

Classification of verbs

Read these notes, please, and then analyse the sentences below.

Try to analyse these sentences:

1. The man in the car was waving his hand.
2. The man had left the bag in the car that day.
3. The man is in the car now.
4. The man in the car is my grandpa.
5. My grandpa waited in the car in the parking lot yesterday.

R E V I S I O N

SYNTAX

KEY ELEMENTS: SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

Every sentence may be divided into two parts: the subject and the predicate.

THE SUBJECT

As the first step in analysis, we separate the sentence into subject and predicate. Note the sentence:

The man lost his brown suitcase yesterday.

Here the words lost his brown suitcase yesterday tell something about the man. If, then, we call the man the subject and lost his brown suitcase yesterday the predicate, we have a general rule as follows:

The subject consists of the word or words about which something is said by the predicate.
The subject tells who or what the sentence is about, often who or what does something.

e.g. Many tourists visit Istanbul every year. (The subject is many tourists)

The subject most often appears near the beginning of the sentence, but it can appear later: Taking too long to decide, she missed her chance. (She is the subject of the sentence.)

CATEGORIES FUNCTIONING AS SUBJECT

A NOUN/NOUN PHRASE:

The car is white.

John studies English.

A PRONOUN:

He is tall.

Someone is singing. (SOMEONE=INDEFINITE PRONOUN)

A GERUND:

Smoking is bad for your lungs.

AN INFINITIVE:

To smoke cigarettes is very bad.

A NOUN CLAUSE:

What he said is right.

THE PREDICATE

The predicate is the word or words which express what is said about the subject, and consists of the verb, together with such words as may be needed to complete its meaning. The predicates in the next sentences are in bold.

The sun rises.

We must be on our way.

The time has come.

ACTIVITY 1! IDENTIFYING SUBJECTS

A. Watch the following video and take down notes.

B. Now, identify the subject in each sentence.

MORE ON TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS

TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS.

Verbs are either transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs take an object; intransitive verbs do not:

Mrs. Jones bakes wonderful pies. (the verb "bakes" is transitive because it takes one object: "wonderful pies")

She gave him a present. (the verb "gave" is transitive because it takes two objects: "him" and "a present".)

She walks very fast. (the verb "walkAs" is intransitive because it does not take any object.)

Some verbs are listed in the dictionary as both transitive and intransitive depending on the context in which they are used.

For example, the verb ran has one meaning in the sentence

The horse ran very fast. (intransitive)

and a different meaning in

The women ran a bazaar at the fair. (transitive, "a bazaar at the fair" is the object.)

TYPES OF OBJECTS

There are two types of objects: direct and indirect objects:

A direct object answers the question "who?" or "what?"

Examples:

"I saw John this morning.": John is the direct object of the verb .(Who did you see?)

"The horse jumped the fence.": the fence is the direct object of the verb. (What did the horse jump?)

In addition to a direct object, a sentence may have an indirect object.

An indirect object anwers the question "to whom?", "for whom?", it is the recipient of the direct object.

There must be a direct object for an indirect object to be placed in a sentence. In other words an indirect object cannot exist without a direct object.

Examples:

"He told them the truth.": us in the indirect object of the verb. (To whom did he tell the truth?)

"The teacher sent an email to all the students.": to all the students is the indirect object of the verb. (To whom did the teacher senf an email?)