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Tài liệu English Syntax - Morphology | Đại học Kiến trúc Đà Nẵng
Tài liệu English Syntax - Morphology | Đại học Kiến trúc Đà Nẵng. Tài liệu được biên soạn dưới dạng file PDF gồm 196 trang, giúp bạn tham khảo, ôn tập và đạt kết quả cao trong kì thi sắp tới. Mời bạn đọc đón xem!
English Syntax - Morphology 1 tài liệu
Đại học Kiến trúc Đà Nẵng 118 tài liệu
Tài liệu English Syntax - Morphology | Đại học Kiến trúc Đà Nẵng
Tài liệu English Syntax - Morphology | Đại học Kiến trúc Đà Nẵng. Tài liệu được biên soạn dưới dạng file PDF gồm 196 trang, giúp bạn tham khảo, ôn tập và đạt kết quả cao trong kì thi sắp tới. Mời bạn đọc đón xem!
Môn: English Syntax - Morphology 1 tài liệu
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ENGLISH SYNTAX - MORPHOLOGY (Teaching Material)
Compiled by Huynh Thi My Dung.
FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY
Department of Foreign Languages ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY (Teaching Material)
Compiled by Huynh Thi My Dung.
FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY
Department of Foreign Languages CONTENTS
Preface ................................................................................................................................3
Table of notational symbols ...........................................................................................7
Unit one: MORPHEMES....................................................................................................9
1. Definition – Characteristics ............................................................................................9
2. How to distinguish Morphemes from Phonemes, Syllables and Words? .....................9
3. Classification of Morphemes .........................................................................................11
3.1. Free morphemes vs. Bound morphemes.................................................................11
3.2. Bases (also called Roots) vs. Affixes .......................................................................12
4. Variations of Morphemes — Allomorphs .....................................................................14
4.1. Definition .................................................................................................................14
4.2. Selection of Allomorphs: ..........................................................................................14
4.3. Types of Allomorphs ................................................................................................15
EXERCISES........................................................................................................................16
EXTRA READING .............................................................................................................36
Unit two: DERIVATION AND INFLECTION ..............................................................41
1. Derivation .......................................................................................................................41
1.1. Definition..................................................................................................................41
1.2. Types of Derivational Affixes ..................................................................................41
1.3. Morphological rules ..................................................................................................41
2. Inflection .......................................................................................................................45
2.1. Definition..................................................................................................................45
2.2. Various Kinds of Inflection......................................................................................45
3. How to distinguish Derivation from Inflection ............................................................46
3.1. Derivation .................................................................................................................46
3.2. Inflection...................................................................................................................47
EXERCISES........................................................................................................................47
Unit three: IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS IN MORPHOLOGY.............................65
1. Definition........................................................................................................................65
2. Some Recommendations on IC division........................................................................66
3. Diagram ..........................................................................................................................66
EXERCISES........................................................................................................................67 5
Unit four: WORDS.............................................................................................................89
1. Definition........................................................................................................................89
2. Characteristics ...............................................................................................................89
2.1. Indivisibility ..........................................................................................................89
2.2. Internal stability and Positional mobility...........................................................90
3. Classification ..................................................................................................................91
3.1. Classification of words according to their structure: ..........................................91
3.2. Classification of words according to their word-formation
processes: coinage, borrowing, compounding, blending, clipping,
acronymy, conversion, affixation and back-formation. .....................................94
EXERCISES......................................................................................................................109
EXTRA READING ...........................................................................................................121
Answer keys ...................................................................................................................123
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................140 6 NOTATIONAL SYMBOLS
Most of the symbols used in this text follow conventions, but since conventions
vary, the following list indicates the meanings assigned to them here. n = noun [U] = uncountable [C] = countable pl = plural sing = singular adj = adjective adv = adverb prep = preposition v = verb phr v = phrasal verb sth = something sb = somebody
mono-trans = mono-transitive verb
complex trans = complex transitive verb
etc = et cetera meaning “and other similar things” or “and so on” fig = figurative esp = especially usu = usually fml = formal infml = informal
derog = derogatory, insulting attrib = attributive pred = predicative Brit = British abbr = abbreviated I = intransitive verb
Ipr = intransitive verb + prepositional phrase
Ip = intransitive verb + adverbial particle
La = linking verb + adjective (phrase)
Tn = transitive verb + noun (phrase)
Tn.pr = transitive verb + noun (phrase) + prepositional phrase
Tn.p = transitive verb + noun (phrase) + adverbial particle
Cn.t = complex transitive verb + noun (phrase) + to-infinitive phrase 7 8 UNIT ONE MORPHEMES
1. DEFINITION – CHARACTERISTICS
What is a morpheme?
• ‘A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a language.’
[Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 183]
• ‘A morpheme is a short segment of language that meets three criteria:
c It is a word or part of a word that has meaning.
d It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without violation of
its meaning or without meaningless remainders.
e It recurs in different verbal environments with a relatively stable meaning.’ [Stageberg, 1965: 85]
Ex.1: The English word unkind consists of two morphemes: the base kind
the lexical meaning of which is ‘friendly and thoughtful to others’ and the
prefix un– the lexical meaning of which is ‘not’; the English word talks
consists of two morphemes: the base talk the lexical meaning of which is ‘say
something’ and the suffix –s, which has no lexical meaning and which is used
to show that the verb talks is in the third person singular present-tense form.
In other words, we can recognize a morpheme by either its lexical or its grammatical meaning.
Ex.2: Straight is an English adjective meaning ‘without a bend or curve’. By
dividing straight, we get smaller meaningful units of trait /tre1t/, rate /re t
1 /and ate/e1t/; but their meanings violate the meaning of straight. We
also get the meaningless remainders: /s–/, /st–/ and /str–/. Therefore, straight
must be considered a morpheme, the smallest meaningful unit in English.
Ex.3: Bright means ‘light’, and brighten means ‘make light’. This leads us to
conclude that –en means ‘make’. We also know that –en recurs with a stable
meaning in words like cheapen, darken, deepen, soften, stiffen, etc. Therefore,
–en must be considered a morpheme.
2. HOW TO DISTINGUISH MORPHEMES FROM PHONEMES, SYLLABLES AND WORDS?
2.1. MORPHEMES vs. PHONEMES
A morpheme differs from a phoneme in that the former has meaning
whereas the latter does not. Although phonemes have no meaning, they have
distinctive features that help to distinguish meaning. 9
Ex.1: The initial consonant of bitch is [− aspirated] while that of pitch is [+ aspirated].
Ex.2: The vowel of pin is [+ close] and thus [− open] while that of pan is
[+ open] and thus [− close].
A morpheme may consist of only a single phoneme like the /–z/ in goes. But
the phoneme /z/ and this morpheme are by no means identical. The phoneme
/z/ occurs many times where it has nothing to do with this morpheme. For
example, zoo /zu:/ and rose /r6υz/ both contain /z/ but the /z/ here has nothing to
do with the morpheme realized as /–z/ in goes.
Morphemes are generally short sequences of phonemes: the morpheme {of}
consists of two phonemes — / 4 / and / v /.
Most English morphemes are intermediate in size between {of} and
{strange} and consist of about two to six phonemes.
2.2. MORPHEMES vs. SYLLABLES
A morpheme happens to be identical to a syllable, e.g. the morpheme
{strange} and the syllable /stre1nd2/; and so are many English morphemes.
However, any matches between morphemes and syllables are fortuitous. Many
poly-syllabic words are mono-morphemic. E.g. lion /’laI6n/:
two syllables – one morpheme crocodile /’kr4k6da1l/:
three syllables – one morpheme Connecticut /k6’n
’ et1k6t/: four syllables – one morpheme
On the contrary, both /g6υ/ and /–z/ in goes /g6υz/ are morphemes, though
altogether they are but a single syllable. That is, goes is mono-syllabic but poly-morphemic.
Briefly, in some cases a morpheme may consist of one syllable or several
whole syllables. In other cases, it is only part of a syllable. In fact, to form a
morpheme, some phonemes are usually combined together without any regard to their status as syllables.
In English, a morpheme is not identical with a syllable. The syllable is a
phonological unit whereas the morpheme is the basic unit in morphology. 2.3. MORPHEMES vs. W ORDS
Words are made up of morphemes. In other words, morphemes are the constituents of words.
A word may be composed of one or more morphemes:
One morpheme: boy, desire 10
Two morphemes: boy + –ish, desir(e) + –able
Three morphemes: boy + –ish + –ness, desir(e) + –abil + –ity
Four morphemes: gentle + man + –li + –ness
un– + desir(e) + –abil– + –ity
More than four morphemes: un– + gentle + man + –li + –ness
anti– + dis– + establish + –ment + –ari + –an + –ism
3. CLASSIFICATION OF MORPHEMES
It is always found that morphemes can be grouped into certain classes, each
with a characteristic distribution. There are two basic classes of morphemes:
free morphemes and bound morphemes. Affixes are almost always bound
whereas bases can be either free or bound.
3.1. BOUND MORPHEMES vs. FREE MORPHEMES 3.1.1. FREE MORPHEMES
• A free morpheme is ‘one that can be uttered alone with meaning’. [Stageberg, 1965: 87]
• A free morpheme ‘can be used on its own’.
[Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 31]
• Free morphemes ‘may stand alone as words in their own right, as well as
enter into the structure of other words’. [Jackson, 1980: 53]
E.g. Drink is a free morpheme which occurs as a word on its own and as a
free base in drinkable, undrinkable, drinking-water, drinking-fountain, etc.
3.1.2. BOUND MORPHEMES
• A bound morpheme ‘cannot be uttered alone with meaning. It is always
annexed to one or more morphemes to form a word’. [Stageberg, 1965: 87]
• A bound morpheme ‘is never used alone but must be used with another morpheme’.
[Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 31]
• Bound morphemes ‘may occur only if they combine with another morpheme’. [Jackson, 1980: 53]
E.g. the English suffix –ing /–17/ must be used after a verb form: writing, living, driving, etc. 11
3.2. BASES (or ROOTS) vs. AFFIXES
3.2.1. A BASE (also called A ROOT) is ‘that morpheme in a word that has
the principal meaning’ [Stageberg, 1965: 87-88]. It is the central morpheme,
the basic part of a word. There are two kinds of bases:
A FREE BASE is a base ‘which may be a word on its own right once the other
morphemes have been stripped away’ [Jackson, 1980: 53].
E.g. break in unbreakable, act in deactivated, friend in f riendship, etc.
A BOUND BASE is a base (i.e. it is the basic part of a word and has the
principal meaning) which can never occur on its own but can only be joined to other bound morphemes.
E.g. The bound base of audience, audible, audition, auditory, auditorium,
etc. is audi–; that of suicide, patricide, matricide, infanticide, etc. is –cide; and
that of suspender, pendant, pendulum, etc. is –pend or pend–.
3.2.2. AN AFFIX is a morpheme (usually a bound morpheme) ‘that occurs
before or behind a base’ [Stageberg, 1965: 87].
3.2.2.1. Classified according to their POSITION in words, affixes have three main subclasses:
• PREFIXES ‘occur before a base’ [Stageberg, 1965: 91] as in import,
prefix, reconsider, unkind, understate, over-react, etc.
• SUFFIXES ‘occur after a base’ [Stageberg, 1965: 92] as in shrinkage,
noisy, quickly, nails, dreamed, mouse-like, etc.
• INFIXES are inserted within words, e.g. the infix –um–in Tagalog,
which shows that a verb is in the past tense: sulat (to write) Æ sumulat (wrote).
Affixes may be added directly to bases or to constructions consisting of a
base plus one or more (either free or bound) morphemes. Thus we have: work + –s = works
worker + –s = workers
workshop + –s = workshops
3.2.2.2. Classified according to their FUNCTION in words, affixes have two main subclasses:
• INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES, ‘which are always suffixes in English, perform
a grammatical function; they are representatives of grammatical categories’. [Jackson, 1980: 53]
The only eight inflectional suffixes in English are: 12
c the noun plural morpheme {–S1}: book–s, apple–s, box–es, etc.
d the noun possessive morpheme {–S2}: man–‘s, girl–‘s, students–‘,
Alice–‘s, etc.
e the verb third person singular present tense morpheme {–S3}: walk–s,
find–s, mix–es, etc.
f the verb present participle morpheme {–ing1}: play–ing, typ(e)–ing,
dig(g)–ing, etc.
g the verb past simple morpheme {–D1}: flow–ed, work–ed, creat(e)–ed,
drank, broke, thought, show–ed, etc.
h the verb past participle morpheme{–D2}: flow–ed, work–ed, creat(e)–ed,
drunk, broken, thought, show–n, etc.
i the adjective or adverb comparative morpheme {–er1}: small–er, saf(e)–er,
thinn–er, long–er, fast–er, hard–er, etc.
j the adjective or adverb superlative morpheme {–est1}: small–est, saf(e)–
est, thinn–est, long–est, fast–est, hard–est, etc.
• DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES, ‘which may be prefixes or suffixes in English,
have a lexical function; they create new words out of existing words or
morphemes by their addition’. [Jackson, 1980: 53]
Derivational affixes may be of two kinds:
c Class-changing derivational affixes change the word class of the word to
which they are attached: –al added to nation makes an adjective out of a noun.
d Class-maintaining derivational affixes do not change the word class of
the word to which they are attached. Derivational prefixes are usually
class-maintaining: re–mark, dis–enthrone, un–refined, etc.
There is not usually more than one prefix in a word in English and from
what was said in the previous paragraphs, it is clear that English prefixes are
always derivational. There is never more than one inflectional suffix in
English words and it always comes last. A number of derivational suffixes may,
however, occur. Derivational suffixes need not close off a word; that is, after a
derivational suffix one can sometimes add another derivational suffix and can
frequently add an inflectional suffix. The relative order of morphemes in the
English word is, then, as follows: 13
derivational prefix – base – derivational suffix(es) – inflectional suffix
Generally speaking, bases are central and affixes are peripheral. In
English, affixes are almost always bound morphemes and bases are nearly always free.
4. VARIATIONS OF MORPHEMES — ALLOMORPHS 4.1. DEFINITION:
An allomorph is ‘any of the different forms of a morpheme’.
[Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 9]
E.g. In English, the inflectional noun plural morpheme {–S1} is often shown
in writing by adding –(e)s to the end of a singular noun, e.g. cat /k`t/ → cats
/k`ts/. Sometimes this morpheme is pronounced /–z/, e.g. dog /d49/ → dogs
/d49z/, and sometimes it is pronounced /–Iz/, e.g. box /b4ks / → box /’b4ks1z/.
It is believed that /–s/, /–z/, /–Iz/ are three allomorphs of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {–S1} because:
c They are in complementary distribution:
/–s / occurs only after the voiceless consonants /p, t, k, f, θ/;
/–Iz / occurs only after the sibilant consonants /s, Z, ∫, 2, t∫, d2/;
/–z/ occurs after voiced sounds, including all vowels and voiced
consonants except /z/, /2/, and /d2/.
d They all have the same meaning, either lexical or grammatical:
/–s/, /–z/, /–Iz/ all refer to ‘plurality’ and all mean ‘more than one’.
Thus, an allomorph can also be defined as a variant of a morpheme which
occurs in a certain definable environment. And a morpheme is a group of two
or more allomorphs which conform to certain, usually rather clearly definable,
criteria of distribution and meaning. The concept of morphemes and
allomorphs is one of the most basic in descriptive linguistics. Its importance
both as a tool and as an insight into the operation of language can hardly be underestimated.
4.2. SELECTION OF ALLOMORPHS:
The three allomorphs /–z/, /–s/ and /–Iz/ of the inflectional noun plural
morpheme {–S1} are phonologically conditioned since each can occur only when
a certain clearly defined condition occurs. In this case, the conditioning factor
is the phonetic nature of their preceding phoneme: /–s/ occurs only after the
voiceless consonants /p, t, k, f, θ/; /–Iz/ occurs only after the groove fricatives and 14
affricates /s, z, ∫, 2, t∫, d2/; and /–z/ occurs only after voiced sounds, except the three voiced sibilants /z, 2 2 , d /:
cat /k`t/ + –s /–s/ → cats /k`ts/ voiceless
dog /d49/ + –s /–z/ → dogs /d49z 9 / voiced
box /b4ks/ + –es /–1z / → box /’b4ks1 s z/ sibilant
We may, therefore, say that /–s/, /–Iz/, and /–z/ are three phonologically
conditioned allomorphs of the inflectional noun plural morpheme {–S1}. This
means that, if we understand the facts of distribution, we can accurately
predict which of the three will occur in any place where any one of them could occur.
The selection of allomorphs may also be morphologically conditioned. In
this case, the selection is determined by the specific morpheme or morphemes
forming the context, rather than by any phonologic feature: the plural of ox
/4ks/ is oxen /‘4ks6n/; /–6n/ is a morphologically conditioned allomorph of
the inflectional noun plural morpheme {–S1} which is used with this stem /4ks/:
ox /4ks/ + –en /−6n/ → oxen /‘4ks6 s n 6 / sibilant
If a morpheme has numerous allomorphs, as many do, it is awkward to
have a list of all of them every time the morpheme is mentioned. Instead, it is
desirable to have a single symbol to indicate a morpheme, comprehending all
the variant forms in which it can appear. For this purpose we use braces {}.
The braces {} indicate a morphemic representative in which one arbitrarily
selected symbol is used to represent each morpheme and comprehend all its
allomorphs. It does not directly give any information about pronunciation. For
instance, {–S1} can be used to refer to the inflectional noun plural morpheme
and all of its allomorphs.
4.3. TYPES OF ALLOMORPHS c ADDITIVE ALLOMORPHS:
To signify some difference in meaning, something is added to a word. For
example, the past tense form of most English verbs is formed by adding the 15
suffix –ed which can be pronounced as either /–t/, or /–d/ or /–Id/: ask + –ed
/a:sk/ + /–t/, liv(e) + –ed /lIv/ + /–d/, need + –ed /ni:d/ + /–Id/.
d REPLACIVE ALLOMORPHS:
To signify some difference in meaning, a sound is used to replace another
sound in a word. For example, the /1/ in drink is replaced by the /æ/ in drank
to signal the simple past. This is symbolized as follows:
/dr`7k/ = /dr17k/ + / 1 → ` /. e SUBTRACTIVE ALLOMORPHS:
To signify some difference in meaning, something is deleted from a word.
For example, the letter a is deleted from zopa to signal that this Russian noun
is in the plural form of the possessive case.
f SUPPLETIVE ALLOMORPHS:
To signify some difference in meaning, there is a complete change in the shape of a word.
For example, go + the suppletive allomorph of {–D1} = went;
be + the suppletive allomorph of {–S3} = is;
bad + the suppletive allomorph of {–er1} = worse;
good + the suppletive allomorph of {–est1} = best. g THE ZERO ALLOMORPH:
There is no change in the shape of a word though some difference in
meaning is identified. For example, the past tense form of hurt is formed by
adding the zero allomorph of {–D1} to this word. EXERCISES
A. THE EXERCISES OF MORPHEMES
EXERCISE 1: Identify the number of the morphemes in each of the given
words. Complete the table given below. 1 play 1 11 keeper 2 replay
2 (re– and play) 12 able 3 date 13 unable 4 antedate 14 mahogany 1 5 hygiene 15 rain 6 weak 16 rainy 16 7 weaken 17 cheap 8 man 18 cheaply
2 (cheap and –ly) 9 manly 19 cheaper 10 keep 20 honest
EXERCISE 2: Identify the bound morpheme(s) in of each of the given words.
Complete the table given below. 1 speaker –er 6 delivery 2 kingdom 7 intervene inter–, –vene 3 phonemic 8 revise 4 idolize 9 dreamed 5 selective 10 undone
EXERCISE 3: Underline the base in each of the given words. Complete the table given below. 1 womanly 6 lighten 11 unlikely 2 endear 7 enlighten 12 pre-war 3 failure 8 friendship 13 subway 4 famous 9 befriend 14 falsify 5 infamous 10 Bostonian 15 unenlivened
EXERCISE 4: Identify the meaning of the affix in of each of the given words.
Complete the table given below. 1 antedate
The prefix ante– means ‘before’. 2 replay 3 manly 4 keeper
The suffix –er means ‘a person who …’. 5 unable 6 rainy 7 cheapest 8 subway 9 import 10 maltreat 17
EXERCISE 5: Identify the meaning of the bound base in the given sets of
words. Complete the table given below.
audience, audible, audition 1
The bound base audi– means ‘hear’. and auditorium
suicide, patricide, matricide
The bound base –cide means ‘killing’. 2 and infanticide
oral, orate, oration, oracle 3 and oratory
aquaplane, aquarium,
4 aquatic and aquaduct
mortuary, moribund, mortal 5 and immortal
corporation, corporeal,
6 corps and corpse
tenable, tenant, tenure and 7 tenacious
pendulum, suspender,
8 pendant and impending
manuscript, manacle,
9 manual and manicure
eject, inject, inject, reject 10 and projectile NOTES:
1. The bound base audi– means ‘hear’.
- audible /‘0:d6bl/ adj
that can be heard clearly: Her voice is
scarcely audible above the noise of the wind.
- audibility /,0:d6‘b l 1 6t1/ n
[U] capability of being heard clearly.
- audition /0:‘d1~n/ n
[C] trial hearing of a person who wants
to perform as an actor, a singer, a
musician, etc.: I’m going to the audition
but I don’t expect I’ll get a part. - audition v
1. [I] take part in an audition: Which
part are you auditioning for? 2. [Tn]
give an audition to sb: None of the
actresses we auditioned is suitable. 18
- auditory /‘0:d6tr1/ adj
of or concerned with hearing: the auditory nerve. - auditorium /,0:d1‘t ‘ 0:r16m/ n
(pl~s) part of a theatre, concert hall,
etc. in which an audience sits.
2. The bound base –cide means ‘killing’.
- suicide /‘sju:sa1d/ n
1. [U] killing oneself intentionally: to
commit suicide; 2. [C] act of this: There
have been three suicides this week.
- patricide /‘p`tr1sa1d/ n
1. [U, C] (act of) killing one’s own
father: to commit patricide; 2. [C] person who guilty of this.
- matricide /‘m`tr1sa1d/ n
1. [C, U] (act of) killing one’s own
mother: to commit matricide; 2. [C] person who does this.
- infanticide /1n‘f`nt1sa d 1 / n
1. [U] crime of killing an infant: to
commit infanticide; 2. [C] person who kills an infant.
3. The bound base ora– means ‘mouth’ or ‘speak’.
- oration /4‘re1~n/ n
[C] formal speech made on a public
occasion esp as part of a ceremony: a funeral oration.
- oracle /‘4r6kl/ n
[C] priest(ess) giving the answers: to consult the oracle.
- oratory /‘4r6tr1/ n
[U] (art of) public speaking, esp when
used skilfully to affect an audience:
Some politicians are famous for their oratory.
- orator /‘4r6t6/ n
(fml) (a) person who makes formal speeches in public;
(b) person who is good at public speaking.
4. The bound base aqua– or aque–means ‘water’. - aquaplane /‘`kw p 6 le1n/ n
[C] board on which a person stands
while being towed across water by a ship or boat. 19
- aqueduct /‘`kw1d∧kt/ n
[C] structure for carrying water across
country, esp one built like a bridge over a valley or low ground.
- aqueous /‘e1kw16s/ adj
of or like water, produced by water:
chemicals dissolved in an aqueous solution. - aquarium /6‘k ‘ we6r16m/ n
[C] (building containing an) artificial
pond or glass where live fish and other
water creatures and plants are kept.
- aquatic /6‘kw`t1k/ adj
[usu attrib] 1. (of plants, animals, etc.)
growing or living in or near water:
Many forms of aquatic life inhabit
ponds. 2. (of sports) taking place on or
in water: Swimming and water-skiing are both aquatic sports.
5. The bound base mor(t)– means ‘death’ or ‘dead’.
- mortuary /‘m0:t~6r1/ n
[C] room or building (e.g. part of a
hospital) in which dead bodies are kept
before being buried or cremated. adj
[attrib] (fml) of death or burial: mortuary rites. - mortal adj
that must be die; fatal; causing death: a mortal wound/ injury. n
[C] human being: ordinary mortals. - immortal /‘m : 0 tl/ adj
living for ever, that will not be dead. n [C] immortal being, god. - moribund / ‘m4r1b∧nd/ adj
at the point of death; about to come to
an end: a moribund civilization, industry or custom.
6. The bound base corp– means either ‘the whole physical body of a
human being or an animal’ or ‘group of people working or acting as a unit’. - corps /k : 0 (r)/ n
(pl unchanged /k0:(r)z/) [CGp] 1. (a)
military force made up of two or more
divisions: the 6th Army Corps (b) one of
the technical branches of an army: the 20
Royal Army Medical Corps; 2. a group
of people involved in a particular
activity: the Diplomatic Corps, the press corps. - corpse / k0:ps/ n
[C] dead body esp of a human being. - corporation /,k : 0 p6‘r ‘ e1~n/ n
[CGp] 1. group of people authorised to
act as an individual, e.g. for business
purposes. 2. group of people elected to govern a town; council.
- corporeal /k0:‘p0:r16l/ adj
of or for the body; material; bodily.
7. The bound base ten– means ‘hold’.
- tenable (for…) adj
[pred] (of an office or position) that can
be held for a certain time: The
lectureship is tenable for a period of three years. - tenant n
[C] 1. person who pays rent to a
landlord/ landlady for the use of a
room, a piece of land, etc.; 2. person
who occupies a particular building or
piece of land but does not own it.
- tenure /‘tenjυ6/ n
[U] holding of an office, a piece of land or other property.
- tenacious /te‘ne1~6s/ adj
resolute; keeping a firm hold on
property, principles, life, etc: She’s
tenacious in defence of her rights.
8. The bound base pend– means ‘hang’. - pendulum /‘pendj l υ 6m/ n
[C] weight hung on a cord from a fixed
point so that it can swing freely.
- pendant /‘pend6nt/ n
[C] ornament that hangs from a chain worn round the neck. - suspender /s s 6 ‘pend6(r)/ n
1. [C esp pl] (Brit) short elastic strap
for holding up a sock or stocking by its
top; 2. suspenders [pl] (US) = braces.
- impending /1m‘pend17/ adj about to happen: his impending
retirement, visit, arrival, departure, etc. 21
9. The bound base man– means ‘hand’. - manicure /‘m`n1kj 6 υ (r)/ n
[U, C] treatment for the hands and
finger nails: have a manicure once a
week; do a course in manicure.
- manuscript /‘m`nj s υ kr1p/ n
(abbr MS) 1. thing written by hand:
[attrib] a manuscript copy of a typed
letter; 2. author’s written or typed work
which has not been printed yet: submit
a manuscript to an editor.
- manacle /‘m`n6kl/ n
(usu pl) one of a pair of chains or metal
bands for binding the hands or feet.
- manual /‘m`nυj6l/ adj
done with or controlled by the hands:
manual labor; n [C] keyboard of an
organ, played with the hands.
10. The bound base ject– means ‘throw’ or ‘shoot’.
10.1. The prefix e− means ‘out(ward)’:
- eject (from sth) v
1. [Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sb/sth (from sth) (fml)
force sb/sth out, expel sb/sth: The noisy
youths were ejected from the cenima; 2
[Tn] send (sth) out, usu violently or
suddenly: lava ejected from a volcano; 3
[I, Ipr] ∼ (from sth) be thrown quickly
from an aircraft in an emergency, so
that one can descend by parachute: As
the plane fell quickly toward the
ground, the pilot had to eject.
10.2. The prefix in− means ‘in(ward)’ or ‘into’: - inject v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (into sb/sth); ∼
sb/sth (with sth) force (a drug or other
liquid) into sb/sth with a syringe or
similar implement: inject peniciline
into sb’s arm, leg, etc.
10.3. The prefix pro− means ‘forward’: - project v
1. [I, Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (into sth); send
or throw sth outward or forward: an
apparatus to project missiles into space. 22 - projectile / pr6‘d2ekta1l/ n
[C] object to be shot forward, esp from a gun; adj
1. that can be sent forward through the
air, water: projectile missiles; 2. that
can send objects: projectile force.
10.4. The prefix re− means ‘back(ward)’: - reject v
1. [Tn] refuse to accept (sb/sth): He
rejected my job; 2. [Tn] put (sth) aside,
throw (sth) away as not to be used,
chosen, done, etc: reject over-ripe fruit.
EXERCISE 6: Identify the meaning of the bound base in each of the given
words and then give as many words with the same bound base as you can.
Complete the table given below. revise
devise, visible, visionary, (tele)vision, 1 –vise = ‘see’
visibility, (audio-)visual, supervise, etc.
dictate, dictator, dictation, diction, dictum, contradict 2
–dict = ‘say’ contradict, contradiction, contradictory, contradictorily, etc. 3 regress 4 intervene 5 recur 6 inspect 7 oppose 8 rodent 23 9 portable 10 rupture 11 annual 12 bigamy NOTES:
1. The bound base –vise/ vis– means ‘see’. - revise v
[Tn] re-examine sth in order to improve or correct it: revise a
manuscript before publication. - devise v
[Tn] think out (a plan, a system, a tool,
etc); invent: devise a scheme for
redeveloping the city center. - vision n
[U] power of seeing, sight: have a
perfect vision, poor, blurred, etc. vision. - visionary adj
having or showing foresight or wisdom:
visionary leaders, writers, paintings, ideals, etc. - visible adj
∼ (to sb/sth) that can be seen, in sight:
The hills were barely visible through the mist. - visibility n
[U] fact or state of being seen. - visual adj
concerned with or used in seeing:
visual images, effects, etc.
- audio-visual adj
using both sight and sound: audio- visual centers.
2. The bound base –dict/ dict– means ‘say’.
- contradict /,k4ntr6‘d k 1 t/ v
1. [I, Tn] say sth that conflicts with
(sth said or written) by (sb): That is 24
true but don’t you dare contradict
(me)?; 2. [Tn] (of facts, evidence, etc) be
contrary to sth; conflict with: The two
statements contradict each other.
- dictate sth v
[I, Ipr, Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ (sth) to (sb) say or
read aloud (words to be typed, written
down or recorded on tape): The teacher
dictate a letter the class. - diction n
[U] style or manner of speaking or
(sometimes) writing: Clarity of diction
is visual for a public speaker.
- dictum n (pl ∼s or –ta /–t6/)
saying; maxim: ‘Knowledge is power’ is a well-known dictum. - dictionary n
[C] book the lists and explains the
words of a language: an English dictionary.
3. The bound base –gress means ‘go’. - regress v
[I, Ipr] ∼ (sth) (fml) return to/ cause
(sth) to go back to an earlier or more primitive state or form.
- regressive adj
making a continuous backward movement. - regression n [U] moving backward.
- progress /’pr6 g υ res/n
[U] onward or forward movement: The
walkers were making slow progress up the rocky path.
- progress /pr6’gres/ v
[I] cause (sth) to move forward: The
work is progressing steadily.
- progressive /pr6’gres1v/ adj
making a continuous forward movement: a progressive step.
- progression /pr6’g ’ re∫n/n
[U] ∼ (from sth) ∼ (to sth) moving forward, developing.
- egress /’1: gres/ n
1. [U] (law) (right of) going out; 2. [C]
(dated fml) way out, exit: a means of egress. 25
- ingress /’17gres/ n
[U] (fml) going in; (right of) entrance: a means of ingress
4. The bound base –vene means ‘come’.
- intervene /,1nt6’vi:n/ v
[I] come between others in time:
during the years that intervene.
- intervening adj
coming between: when she came back,
she found that much had changed in the intervening years. - convene /k6n’v ’ i:n/ v
1. [Tn] summon (people) to come
together: convene the members; 2. [I]
come together (for a meeting, etc): The
tribunal will convene tomorrow.
- contravene /,k4ntr6’v ’ i:n/ v
[Tn] act or be contrary to (a law, etc),
break (a law, etc): You are contravening the regulations.
- supervene /,sju:p6’v ’ i:n/ v
[I] (fml) occur as an interruption or
change: She was working well until illness supervened.
5. The bound base –cur means ‘run’. - recur /r1‘k ‘ 3:(r)/ v
[I] occur again, happen repeatedly: a
recurring problem, error, illness. - recurrence /r1‘k ‘ 3:r6ns/ n
[C, N] (instance of) recurring; repetition:
the recurrence of an illness, problem, error.
- current /‘k∧r6nt/ adj
happening now, of the present time:
current issues, problems, prices.
- current /‘k∧r6nt/ n
[C] movement of water, air, etc flowing in a certain direction:
- currency /‘k∧r6ns1/ n
[U, C] money system in use in a
country: gold, paper currency; trading
in foreign currencies; a strong currency.
6. The bound base –spect means ‘look’.
- inspect /in‘spekt/ v
[Tn] examine (sth) closely: The customs
officer inspected my passport suspiciously. 26
- spectacles /‘spekt6klz/ n [pl]
(usu fml) specs = glasses = a pair of
lenses in a frame used to help a person eyesight. - spectacle n
[C] impressive, remarkable or interesting
sight: The sunrise seen from high in the
mountains was a tremendous spectacle.
- prospect /‘pr4spekt/ n
[C] 1. (dated) wide view of a landscape: a
magnificent prospect of mountain peaks and lakes;
2. picture in the mind or imagination,
esp. of a future event: She viewed the
prospect of a week alone in the house without much enthusiasm.
- prospect /pr6‘spekt/ v
[I, Ipr] ∼ (for sth) search for mineral,
oil, etc: a licence to prospect in the
northern territory; The company are
prospecting for gold in that area.
- perspective /p6‘spekt1v/ n
[C] view, esp. one stretching into the
distance: get a perspective of the whole valley. - prospectus /
pr4‘spekt6s/ n
[C] printed document, leaflet, etc.
giving details of and advertising sth:
prospectus from several universities.
7. The bound base –pose means ‘place’ or ‘put’. - oppose v
[Tn.pr] ∼ sth to/ against sth put
forward as a contrast or opposite to sth
else: Do not oppose your will against mine. - depose v
[Tn] = dethrone = remove a ruler, a king, etc from power. - propose v
[Tn] put forward sth for consideration:
The committee proposed that new
legislation should be drafted. - deposit v
[Tn] put money into a bank, esp to
earn interest: The cheque was only
deposited yesterday, so it hasn’t been cleared yet. 27 - impose v
[Tn] place (sth unwelcome or unpleasant)
on sb/sth: impose restriction, limitations,
restraints, etc (on trade).
8. The bound base –rod/ rod– means ‘gnaw’.
- rodent /‘r6υdnt/ n
[C] animal which gnaws things with strong teeth. - erode v
[Tn esp passive] (of acids, rain, wind,
etc) destroy or wear (sth) away
gradually: Metals are eroded by acids. - erosion n
[U] process of eroding or being eroded:
the erosion of the coastline by the sea. - erosive adj
having a tendency to be eroded.
9. The bound base –port/ port– means ‘carry’. - portable adj
that can be carried by hand: a portable television set.
- deport /d1‘p0:t/ v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sb (from …) legally force
(a foreigner, criminal, etc) to leave a
country: He was convicted of drug offences and deported. - transport v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sb/sth (from …) (to …)
carry or take sth/sb from one place to
another in a vehicle: transport goods by lorry. - portage n
[U] (cost of) carrying goods.
10. The bound base –rupt/ rupt– means ‘break’. - rupture n
[U, C] (fml) (instance of) breaking
apart: the rupture of a blood-vessel, seed-pod, membrane. - erupt v
[I] (of a volcano) break out: This
volcano has erupted twice this year. - abrupt adj
(of speech) not smooth, disconnected,
disjoined: short and abrupt sentences. - corrupt adj
(of languages, texts, etc) containing errors
or changes: a corrupt manuscript. 28 - interrupt v
[Tn] break the continuity of sth
temporarily: Trade between the two
countries was interrupted by the war.
11. The bound base ann– means ‘year’. - annual adj yearly.
- annuity /6‘nju:6t1/ n
[C] fixed sum of money paid to sb yearly.
- annuitant /6‘nju:6t6nt/ n
[C] person who receives an annuity. - anniversary n
[C] yearly return of the date of an event; celebration of this.
12. The bound base –gamy means ‘marriage’.
- bigamy / ‘b1g6m1/ n
[U] custom of having two wives or husbands living. - polygamy /p6‘l ‘ 1g6m1/ n
[U] custom of having more than one wife at the same time.
EXERCISE 7: Which of the following items is an English word? Support your choice?
(1) ationizealnationde (ation–ize–al–nation–de)
(2) alizedeationnation (al–ize–de–ation–nation)
(3) denationalization (de–nation–al–ize–ation) ANSWER:
Among the three items mentioned above, only (3) is an English word.
The order of morphemes in English words is:
derivational prefix − base − derivational suffix(es) − inflectional suffix
Analysing (3) we find out that the following morphemes are in correct order:
‘de−’ is a prefix meaning ‘doing the opposite of’
‘nation’ is the free base, which is a noun.
‘−al’ is a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix
‘−ize’ is a derivational class-changing verb-forming suffix
‘−ation’ is a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix
This morphemic analysis proves that (3) is an English word. The items
numbered (1) and (2) are not because their constituents are not arranged in the
above-mentioned order. The arrangements of the constituents in (1) and (2) 29
break all the rules concerning the internal stability and uninterruptability of English words.
In other words, it is impossible to divide English words by the insertion of
any other elements. Also, English word formation does not enable us to move a
certain morpheme in a word to any position we like.
In conclusion, our conscious knowledge of the English language allows us to
identify (3), not (1) or (2), as an English word.
B. THE EXERCISES OF ALLOMORPHS
EXERCISE 8: Explain why ‘a’ and ‘an’ are two allomorphs of the same morpheme.
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EXERCISE 9: Identify the allomorphs of the inflectional verb past simple
morpheme {−D1} in the verb ‘be’. How are they conditioned?
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EXERCISE 10: What are homophones? Give examples. Do they belong to the same morpheme? ANSWER:
c Homophones are commonly used to refer to words which sound alike
but have different meanings.
• Homophones may have different written forms: the verb mete (in mete sth
out meaning ‘give or administer punishment, rewards, etc.’), the verb meet
(‘come face to face with sb’) and the noun meat (‘flesh of animals, esp.
mammals, used as food’) are all pronounced as /mi:t/; the second person
pronoun you and the noun ewe (‘female sheep’) are both pronounced as /ju:/; etc.
Homophones may have the same written form: the adverb too1 (‘more than
should be’) and the adverb too2 (‘also’) are both pronounced as /tu:/; the noun 30
bear (‘large heavy animal with thick fur’), the verb bear1 (‘give birth to’) and
the verb bear2 (‘tolerate’) are all pronounced as /be6(r)/; etc.
d Homophones may also be allomorphs of different morphemes. Compare
the allomorph /−z/ of the noun plural inflectional suffix {−S1} like in those
frogs (1) with that of the noun possessive inflectional suffix {−S2} like in John’s
book (2) and with that of the verb inflectional suffix {−S3} like in It feels good (3).
The two above illustrations show that homophones can never belong to the same morpheme.
EXERCISE 11: Identify the following homophones and try to look for a few
more appropriate examples to illustrate their distinction.
(1)a. The inflectional verb past participle morpheme {−D2}: the departed
guests, edited manuscripts.
(1)b. The derivational class-changing adjective-forming morpheme {−D3}: a
very devoted wife; a rather neglected girl; he was even more excited than I (was).
(2)a. The inflectional verb present participle morpheme {−ing1}: I saw a
house burning; I saw a burning house.
(2)b. The derivational class-changing noun-forming morpheme {−ing2}:
droppings (n., pl) = excrement of birds or animals; findings (n., pl) =
things that are discovered as the result of an (official) inquiry; He
attended the meeting; I make my living by teaching.
(2)c. The derivational class-changing adjective-forming morpheme {−ing3}: a
very exciting film; you can’t expect a more charming companion than he.
(3)a. The derivational class-changing adverb-forming morpheme {−ly1}:
complete (adj.) + −ly
→ completely (adv.); happy (adj.) + −ly
→ happily (adv.).
(3)b. The derivational class-changing adjective-forming morpheme {−ly2}: coward (n.) + −ly
→ cowardly (adj.);
gentleman (n.) + −ly
→ gentlemanly (adj.).
(4)a. The inflectional adjective comparative morpheme {−er1}:
tall (positive adj.) + −er → taller (comparative ad j.);
happy (positive adj.) + −er → happier (comparative adj.). 31
(4)b. The derivational class-changing noun-forming morpheme {−er2}:
read (verb) + −er → reader (noun);
teach (verb) + −er → teacher (noun).
(4)c. The derivational class-changing verb-forming morpheme {−er3}:
chat (noun) + −er → chatter (verb);
wit (noun) + −er → witter (verb). NOTES: chat /t∫`t/ n
[C, U] friendly informal conversation:
I had a long chat with her (about her
job); That’s enough chat — get back to work.
chatter /‘t∫`t6(r)/ v
[I, Ipr, Ip] (away/on) (about sth) talk
quickly, continuously or foolishly about
unimportant matters: Do stop chattering
on about the weather while I’m trying to read. wit /w1t/ n
[U] ability to combine words, ideas, etc.
so as to produce a clever type of humor:
I admire her for her wit;
[C] person who has or is famous for
this, witty person: a well-known wit.
witter /‘w1t6(r)/ v
[I, Ipr, Ip] (on) (about sth) (infml, usu
derog) speak in a lenthy and annoying
way about sth unimportant: What are
you wittering (on) about?
EXERCISE 12: Give the morphemic structure of each of the following words.
Identify the allomorph of the inflectional suffix in each word. How are the
allomorphs involved conditioned? (morphologically or phonologically?) 1. ox → oxen /‘4ks6n/ = / k 4 s/ + /−6n/ /‘4ksn/ = /4ks/ + /−n/
/−6n/ or /−n/ is a morphologically conditioned additive allomorph of the
inflectional noun plural morpheme {−S1}.
2. brother → brethren /‘bre5r6n/ = /‘b
‘ r∧5r6 → ‘bre5r−/ + /−6n/ 32
child → children /‘t~1ldr6n/ = /t~a1ld → ‘t ‘ ~1ldr−/ + /−6n/
/−6n/ is a morphologically conditioned additive allomorph of the inflectional
noun plural morpheme {−S1}. It is added to a stem which has previously
undergone some change in form: from /‘br∧56/ to /bre5r−/ or from /t~a1ld/ to /t~1ldr−/.
In other words, /−6n/ is added to the allomorph /t~1ldr−/ of the morpheme
{child} or the allomorph /bre5r−/ of the morpheme {brother}. 3. deer → deer /d16/ = /d1 / 6 + / - / sheep → sheep /~i:p / = /~i:p/ + / - /
/-/ is the morphologically conditioned zero allomorph of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {−S1}.
The following group of names of edible animals, game animals, fish and
birds also takes the zero allomorph of {−S1}: SWINE, BEAR, ANTELOPE, BASS,
PIKE, CARP, PERCH, PICKEREL, QUAIL and GROUSE.
4. man → men /men/ = /m`n/ + / ` → e /
goose → geese /gi:s/ = /gu:s/ + /u: → i:/
/` → e/ and /u:→ i:/ are two morphologically conditioned replacive
allomorphs of the inflectional noun plural morpheme {−S1}.
The following limited group of nouns also takes a replacive allomorph:
WOMAN → WOMEN, TOOTH → TEETH, FOOT → FEET, LOUSE → LICE and MOUSE → MICE. 5. wolf → wolves
/wυlvz/ = / wυlf → wυlv−/ + /−z/ calf → calves
/ka:vz/ = / ka:f → ka:v−/ + /−z/ mouth → mouths
/maυ5z/ = /maυθ → maυ − 5 / + /−z/ path → paths
/pa:5z/ = / pa:θ → pa:5−/ + /−z/
In the above cases, before the phonologically conditioned additive allomorph
/−z/ of the inflectional noun plural morpheme {−S1} is added to change a
singular noun to a plural noun, that singular noun has previously undergone
some change in form: from /wυlf/ to /wυlv−/, from /ka:f/ to /ka:v / − , from /maυθ/ to /maυ −
5 / or from /pa:θ/ to /pa:5−/.
In other words, /−z/ is added to the second allomorph of the stem: /wυlv−/,
/ka:v−/, /maυ5−/ and /pa:5−/. Some common nouns that may have the same
analysis are: WIFE − WIVES, KNIFE− KNIVES, HALF − HALVES, SHELF − SHELVES, 33
SCARF − SCARVES, BATH − BATHS, LOAF − LOAVES, SELF − SELVES, OATH − OATHS, etc.
6. house → houses /haυz1z/ = /haυs → haυz−/ + /−1z/
/−Iz/ is a phonologically conditioned additive allomorph of {−S1} which occurs
after one of the sibilant consonants /s/, /z/, /~/, /2/, /t~/, or /d / 2 . 7. hurt → hurt /h3:t/ = /h3:t/ + / - / put → put /pυt/ = /p t υ / + / - /
/-/ is the morphologically conditioned zero allomorph of either the
inflectional verb past simple morpheme {−D1} or the inflectional verb past
participle morpheme {−D2}. 8. drink → drunk
/dr∧7k/ = /dr17k / + /1 → ∧/
/1 → ∧/ is a morphologically conditioned replactive allomorph of the
inflectional verb past participle morpheme {−D2}. 9. break → broken
/‘br6υk6n/ = /bre1k → br υ 6 k−/ + /−6n/
/‘br6υkn/ = /bre1k → br6 k υ −/ + /−n/ speak → spoken /‘sp6 k υ 6n/ = /spi:k → sp6 k υ −/ + /−6n/
/‘sp6υkn/ = /spi:k → sp6υk−/ + /−n/
/−6n/ or /−n/ is a morphologically conditioned additive allomorph of the
inflectional verb past participle morpheme {−D2}. It is added to a stem which
has previously undergone some change in form from /bre1k/ to /br6υk−/ or from /spi:k/ to /sp6υk−/. 10. go → went
/went/ = /g6υ/ + the morphologically conditioned suppletive allomorph of the
inflectional verb past tense morpheme {−D1}.
11. wash → washes /‘w4~1z/ = /w4~/ + /−1z/
switch → switches /‘sw1t~1z/ = /sw1t~/ + /−1z/
/−1z/ is a phonologically conditioned additive allomorph of either the
inflectional noun plural morpheme {−S1} or the inflectional verb present tense
third person singular morpheme {−S3}. The allomorph /−1z/ only occurs after
one of the sibilant consonants /s/, /z/, /~/, /2/, /t~/ or /d2/. 12. see → saw /s0:/ = /si:/ + /i: → 0:/
begin → began /b6‘9`n/ = /b6‘9 ‘ 1n/ + /1 → `/ bite → bit /b1t/ = /ba1t/ + /a1 → 1/ give → gave /9e1v/ = /91v/ + /1 → e1/ 34
/i:→ 0:/, /1 → `/, /a1 → 1/ and /1 → e1/ are morphologically conditioned
replacive allomorphs of the inflectional verb past tense morpheme {−D1}.
EXERCISE 13: Write the base morpheme and its allomorphs in each case.
How are the allomorphs conditioned?
1. house /haυs/, houses /haυz−/ + /−1z/
The base morpheme {house} has two morphologically conditioned
allomorphs, /haυs/ and /haυz−/, according to context: /haυs/ occurs when there
is no other morpheme occurring; /haυz−/ occurs in combination with /−1z/, a
phonologically conditioned additive allomorph of the inflectional noun plural morpheme {−S1}.
2. child /t~a1ld/, children /‘t~1ldr−/ + /−6n/
The base morpheme {child} has two morphologically conditioned
allomorphs, /t~a1ld/ and /‘t~1ldr−/, according to context: /t~a1ld/ occurs when
there is no other morpheme occurring; /‘t~1ldr−/ occurs in combination with
/−6n/, a morphologically conditioned additive allomorph of {−S1}.
3. strong /str47/, strength /stre7 / − + /−θ/
The base morpheme {strong} has two morphologically conditioned
allomorphs, /str47/ and /stre7−/, according to context: /str47/ occurs when there
is no other morpheme occurring; /stre7−/ occurs in combination with −th /−θ/, a
derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix. wide /wa1d/ width /w1t−/ + /−θ/ broad /br4:d/ breadth /bret−/ + /−θ/ able /‘e1bl/ ability /6‘b1l−/ + /−6t1/ divine /d6‘va1n/ divinity /d6‘v1n−/ + /−6t1/ supreme /s6‘pri:m/
supremacy /s6‘prem6−/ + /−s1/
4. atom /‘`t6m/, atomic /6‘t4m−/ + /−1k/
The base morpheme {atom} has two morphologically conditioned
allomorphs, /‘`t6m/ and /6‘t4m−/, according to context: /‘`t∂m/ occurs when
there is no other morpheme occurring; /6‘t4m−/ occurs in combination with −ic
/−1k/, a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix. feast /fi:st/ festive /fest−/ + /−1v/ destroy /d6‘str01/
destructive /d6‘str∧kt −/ + /−1v/ offend /6‘fend/
offensive /6‘fens−/ + /−1v/ repeat /r6‘pi:t/ repetitive /r6‘pet t 6 −/ + /−1v/ 35 sympathy /‘s1mp6θ1/
sympathetic /,s1mp6‘θet−/ + /−1k/ energy /‘en6d21/ energetic /,en6‘d ‘ 2et−/ + /−1k/
5. do /du:/, does /d∧−/ + /−z/
The base morpheme {do} has two morphologically conditioned allomorphs,
/du:/ and /d∧−/, according to context: /du:/ occurs when there is no other
morpheme occurring; /d∧−/ occurs in combination with /−z/, a phonologically
conditioned additive allomorph of the inflectional verb present tense third
person singular morpheme {−S3}.
6. have /h`v/, has /h`−/ + /−z/
The base morpheme {have} has two morphologically conditioned allomorphs,
/h`v/ and /h`−/, according to context: /h`v/ occurs when there is no other
morpheme occurring; /h`−/ occurs in combination with /−z/, a phonologically
conditioned additive allomorph of the inflectional verb present tense third
person singular morpheme {−S3}. 7. fame /‘fe1m/ infamous /‘1nf6m6s/ famous /‘fe1m/ + /−6s/ infamy /‘1nf6m1/
The base morpheme {fame} has two phonologically conditioned allomorphs,
/feIm/ and /−f6m/, according to context: /feIm/ occurs in primarily stressed
syllables; /−f6m−/ occurs in unstressed syllables. EXTRA READING
The Allomorphs of the Inflectional Noun Plural Morpheme {−S1}
1. Three phonologically conditioned (= regular) additive allomorphs:
1.1. /−s/ occurs after the voiceless consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/ and /θ/:
cat → cats /k`ts/ = /k`t/ + /−s/ 1.2. /−1z
1 / occurs after the sibilant consonants /s/, /z/, /~/, / / 2 , /t~/ and /d2/:
class → classes /‘kla:s1z 1 / = /kla:s/ + /−1z 1 /
1.3. /−z/ occurs after all vowels, which are always voiced, and other
voiced consonants except /z/, /2/, and /d2/:
chair → chairs /t~e6z/ = /t~e6/ + /−z/
arm → arms /a:mz/ = /a:m/ + /−z/ 36
2. The phonologically conditioned (= regular) additive allomorph /−z/ is added
to a stem that has previously undergone some change in form (with consonant change):
calf → calves /ka:vz / = /ka:f/ + /f
f → v/ + /−z/
bath → baths /ba:5z/ = /ba:θ/ θ + /θ → / 5 + /−z/
3. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) zero allomorph /-/:
sheep → sheep /~i:p/ = /~i:p/ + / - /
4. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) replacive allomorph (with vowel change): foot → feet /fi:t/ = /fυt/ + /υ → i:/ tooth → teeth /ti:θ/ = /tu:θ/ + /u: → i:/ man → men /men/ = /m`n/ + /` → e/
woman → women /‘w1m1n/ = /‘w m
υ 6n/ + /υ → 1/ and /6 → 1/
5. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) additive allomorph:
5.1. /−6n/ is simply added to the stem:
ox → oxen /‘4ks6n/ = /4ks/ + /−6n/
5.2. /−6n/ is added to the stem that has previously undergone some change in form:
child → children /‘t~1ldr6n/ = /t~a1ld → ‘t~1ldr−/ + /−6n/
brother → brethren /‘bre5r6n/ = /‘b ‘ r∧5r6 → ‘b ‘ re5r−/ + /−6n/
The Allomorphs of the Inflectional Verb Past Simple Morpheme {−D1}
1. Three phonologically conditioned (= regular) additive allomorphs: 1.1. /−1d
1 / occurs after the alveolar oral stop /t/ or /d/:
want → wanted /‘w4nt1d/ = / w4nt/ + /−1d/
need → needed /‘ni:d1d/
= /ni:d/ + /−1d/
1.2. /−t/ occurs after other voiceless sounds:
fix → fixed /f1kst/
= /f1ks/ + /−t/
wash → washed /‘w4~t/ = /w4~/ + /−t/
switch → switched /‘sw1t~t/ = /sw1t~/ + /−t/
1.3. /−d/ occurs after other voiced sounds:
pull → pulled /pυld/
= /pυl/ + /−d/
change → changed /t~e1nd2d/ = /t~e1nd2/ + /−d/ fire → fired /fa16d/
= /fa16/ + /−d/ 37
show → showed /~6υd/ = /~6υ/+ /−d/
2. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) zero allomorph /-/:
hurt → hurt /h3:t/ = /h3:t/ + /-/ put → put /pυt/ = /pυt/ + /-/ beat → beat /bi:t/ = /b : i t/ + /-/
3. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) additive allomorph:
dwell → dwelt /dwelt/
= /dwel/ + /−t/
burn → burnt /b3:nt/
= /b3:nt/ + /−t/
4. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) replacive allomorph 4.1. with vowel change: tear → tore /t0:/ = /te / 6 + /e6 → 0:/ find → found /faυnd/ = /fa1nd/ + /a1 → aυ/ run → ran /r`n/ = /r∧n/ + /∧ → `/ ring → rang /r`7/ = /r17/ + /1 → `/ choose → chose /t~6 z υ / = /t~u: / z + /u: → 6 / υ 4.2. with consonant change: send → sent /sent/ = /send/ + /d → t/ build → built /bju:lt/ = /bju:ld/ + /d → t/
4.3. with both vowel and consonant change: catch → caught /k0:t/
= /k`t~/ + /` → 0:/ and /t~ → t/
bring → brought /br0:t/ = /br17/ + /1 → 0:/ and /7 → t/ seek → sought /s0:t/
= /si:k/ + /i: → 0:/ and /k → t/
5. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) replacive allomorph + the
morphologically conditioned (= irregular) additive allomorph 5.1. with vowel change: tell → told /t6 l
υ d/ = /tel/ + /e → 6υ/ + /−d/ do → did /d1d/
= /du:/ + /u: → 1/ + /−d/
hear → heard /h3:d/ = /h16/ + /1
6 → 3:/ + /−d/
buy → bought /b0:t/ = /ba1/ + /a1 → 0:/ + /−t/
feel → felt /felt/ = /fi:l/ + /i: → e/ + /−t/
5.2. with both vowel and consonant change:
leave → left /left/ = /li:v/ + /i: → e/ and /v → f/ + /−t/
6. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) suppletive allomorph:
go /96υ/ + the suppletive allomorph of {−D1} = went /went/
be /bi:/ + the suppletive allomorph of {−D1} = was /w4z/ or were /w3:/
The Allomorphs of the Inflectional Verb Past Participle Morpheme {−D2} 38
1. Three phonologically conditioned (= regular) additive allomorphs: /−1d 1 /, /−t/
and /−d/. (See ‘three phonologically conditioned additive allomorphs of {−D1}’.)
2. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) zero allomorph / - /:
hurt → hurt /h3:t/ = /h3:t/ + / - / put → put /pυt/ = /p t υ / + / - /
run → run /r∧n/ = /r∧n/ + / - /
3. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) additive allomorph:
dwell → dwelt /dwelt/
= /dwel/ + /−t/
be → been /bi:n/
= /bi:/ + /−n/
show → shown /~6υn/ = /~6 / υ + /−n/
beat → beaten /bi:tn/
= /bi:t/ + /−n/
4. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) replacive allomorph: 4.1. with vowel change: find → found /faυnd/ = /fa1nd/ + /a1 → aυ/ read → read /red/ = /ri:d/ + /i: → e/ ring → rung /r∧7/ = /r17/ + /1 → ∧/ 4.2. with consonant change: send → sent /sent/ = /send/ + /d → t/ build → built /bju:lt/ = /bju:ld/ + /d → t/
4.3. with both vowel and consonant change:
catch → caught /k0:t/ = /k`t~/ + /` → 0:/ and /t~ → t/
bring → brought /br0:t/ = /br17/ + /1 → 0:/ and /7 → t/
seek → sought /s0:t/ = /si:k/ + /i: → 0:/ and /k → t/
5. The morphologically conditioned (= irregular) replacive allomorph + the
morphologically conditioned (= irregular) additive allomorph: 5.1. with vowel change: tell → told /t6 l υ d/
= /tel/ + /e → 6υ/ + /−d/ hear → heard /h3:d/
= /h16/ + /16 → 3:/ + /−d/ buy → bought /b0:t/
= /ba1/ + /a1 → 0:/ + /−t/ feel → felt /felt/
= /fi:l/ + /i: → e/ + /−t/ do → done /d∧n/
= /du:/ + /u: → ∧/ + /−n/ tear → torn /t0:n/
= /te6/ + /e6 → 0:/ + /−n/ go → gone /94n/
= /96υ/ + /6υ → 4/ + /−n/ 39 choose → chosen /‘t~6 z
υ n/ = /t~u:z/ + /u: → 6υ/ + /−n/
5.2. with both vowel and consonant change:
leave → left /left/ = /li:v/ + /i: → e/ and /v → f/ + /−t/ NOTES:
c The −ed /−t/ in blessed /blest/ and the −ed /−d/ in burned /b3:nd/ are
two phonologically conditioned additive allomorph of either {−D1} or{−D2}.
bless → blessed /blest/
→ blessed /blest/
burn → burned /b3:nd/
→ burned /b3:nd/
d The −t /−t/ in blest /blest/ and in burnt /b3:nt/ represents a
morphologically conditioned additive allomorph of either {−D1} or{−D2}.
bless → blest /blest/
→ blest /blest/
burn → burnt /b3:nt/
→ burnt /b3:nt/ 40 UNIT TWO
DERIVATION AND INFLECTION 1. DERIVATION
1.1. DEFINITION: Derivation is ‘the formation of new words by adding
affixes to other words or morphemes. For example, the noun insanity is derived
from the adjective sane by addition of the negative prefix in− and the noun-
forming suffix −ity’ [Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 77].
1.2. TYPES OF DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES: There are two subgroups:
• Class-changing derivational affixes change the word class, (also called the
grammatical category or the part of speech) of the words to which they are attached.
Thus, when a verb is conjoined with the suffix −able, the result is an
adjective, as in desire + −able or adore + −able. A few other examples are:
noun to adjective verb to noun adjective to adverb noun to verb boy + −ish
acquit(t) + −al exact + −ly mortal + −ise virtu(e) + −ous
clear + −ance quiet + −ly vaccin(e) + −ate
Elizabeth + −an accus(e) + −ation beauty + f − y
• Class-maintaining derivational affixes do not change the word class of the
words to which they are attached.
Many prefixes fall into this category: a− + mortal mono− + theism auto− + biography re− + print ex− + wife semi− + annual super− + human sub− + minimal
There are also suffixes of this type: vicar + −age New Jersey + −ite Americ(a) + −an pun + −ster
1.3. MORPHOLOGICAL RULES: New words may enter the dictionary in this
fashion, created by the application of morphological rules. A few of them are:
(1) VERB + −able = ‘able to be VERB-ed’
ACCEPT + −able = ‘able to be ACCEPTed’ 41
The derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix {−able} has three allomorphs:
(i) /−6bl/, which occurs at the end of English words: visible /‘v1z6b 6 l
b /, desirable /d6‘z ‘ a16r6b 6 l b l/;
(ii) /−6b/, which occurs before the adverb-forming suffix {−ly1}:
visibly /‘v1z6b
6 l1/, desirably /d6‘z ‘ a16r6b 6 l1/;
(iii) /−6‘b1l/, which occurs before the noun-forming suffix {−ity}:
visibility /,v1z6‘ 6 b ‘ 1 b l
1 l6t1/, desirability /d6,za16r6‘ 6 b ‘ 1 b l 1 l6t1/.
(2) un− + ADJECTIVE = ‘not + ADJECTIVE’
un− + TRUE = ‘not + TRUE’
Among the words which have been derived from this morphological rule are unjust, unkind, unfair, unfit, unavoidable, unrelieved, unscientific,
unshrinking, unskilled, etc.
(3) un− + VERB = ‘do the opposite of + VERB+ −ING’
= ‘reverse + VERB+ −ING’
un− + LOCK = ‘do the opposite of + LOCKING’ = ‘reverse + LOCKING’
Among the words which have been derived from the this morphological rule
are unnerve, unlock, untie, undo, untread, unzip, unfasten, undress, uncurl, unfold, etc. NOTES:
c Added to a verb base, the prefix ‘un−’ meaning ‘reverse’ or ‘do the opposite
of’ is not too difficult to be identified:
1. nerve /n3:v/ v
[Tn.pr, Cn.t] ∼ sb/oneself for sth give
sb/ oneself the courage, strength, self-
control, confidence, or determination to
do sth: Her support nerve her for the
fight. I nerved myself to face my accusers. unnerve /,∧n‘n ‘ 3:v/ v
[Tn] cause sb to lose courage, strength,
self-control, confidence, or determination:
His encounter with the guard dog had
completely unnerved him. 42 2. lock /l4 / k v
[Tn] fasten (a gate, door, lid, etc.) with
a lock: Be sure to lock your bicycle. unlock /,∧n‘l ‘ 4k/ v
[Tn] unfasten the lock (of a door, gate,
lid, etc.) using a key: He failed to unlock the gate. 3. tie /ta / 1 v
[Tn] fasten or bind (sth) with rope,
string, etc.: Shall I tie the parcel or use sticky tape? untie /,∧n‘t ‘ a / 1 v
[Tn] unfasten knots, buttons, a parcel,
an envelope, etc.: Could you untie this apron for me? 4. undo /,∧n‘d ‘ u:/ v
[Tn] 1. reverse doing; untie or unfasten
knots, buttons, etc.: I can’t undo my
shoelaces; 2. reverse doing; destroy the
effect of sth: He undid most of the good work of his predecessor.
5. tread /tri:d/ v
[I] set one’s foot down; walk or step:
Explorers were going where no man had trod before. untread /,∧n‘t ‘ ri:d/ v
[I] go back through in the same steps:
She trod and untrod lightly so as not to wake the baby.
d Also added to a verb base, the prefix ‘un−’ may have another meaning:
‘remove from’ or ‘deprive of’:
1. earth /3:8/ sth up
[phr v] cover sth (the roots of a plant,
etc.) with earth: He earthed up the celery.
unearth /,∧n‘3:8/ v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (from sth) dig up,
uncover sth from the ground by
digging: The dog has unearthed some bones.
2. mask /ma:sk/ v
[Tn] cover the face (of sb) with a mask;
(fig.) conceal sth: The thief masked his
face with a stocking. She masked her
fear by a show of confidence. unmask /,∧n‘m ‘ a:sk/ v
[Tn] remove a mask from (sb); (fig.)
reveal the true character of (sb/sth):
Who will unmask his plot? 43
3. load /l6υd/ v
[Tn] put a load in or on sth: They
loaded bricks onto the lorry.
unload /,∧n‘l6υd/ v
[Tn] remove a load from sth: Dockers
started unloading the ship.
4. plug /pl∧9/ phr v
[Tn] sth in connect (sth) to the electricity
supply with a plug: Plug in the radio,
please. The recorder wasn’t plugged in.
unplug /,∧n‘pl∧9/ v
[Tn] disconnect (an electrical appliance)
by removing its plug from the socket:
Please unplug the TV before you go to bed.
5. unfrock /,∧n‘fr4k/ v
[Tn esp. passive] deprive (a cleric) of
ecclesiastic rank, dismiss (a priest
guilty of bad conduct) from the
priesthood: The vicar of the church has been unfrocked.
(Notice that ‘frock’ as a verb does not really exist in English.)
e Unfortunately, it is not always easy to identify the meaning of the prefix
‘un−’: if the suffix ‘−en’ in ‘unloosen’ means ‘make’, then what does the
prefix ‘un−’ mean? Compare:
Can you loosen the lid of the jar?
Can you unloose the rope around the victim’s waist?
Can you unloosen his collar?
loosen /‘lu:sn/ v
1. [I] become loose or looser: This knot
keeps loosening; 2. [Tn] make (sth) loose
or looser: medicine to loosen a cough.
unloose /,∧n‘lu:s/ v
[Tn] make (sth) loose: After the huge
meal, he unloosed his belt and go to sleep.
unloosen /,∧n‘lu:sn/ v
[Tn] make (sth) loose: After the huge
meal, he unloosened his belt and go to sleep.
This phenomenon can be used to support Fromkin‘s and Rodman‘s following
statement [1993: 50-51]: ‘It is true, however, that one cannot always know the
meaning of the words derived from free and derivational morphemes from the
morphemes themselves … Therefore, although the words in a language are not 44
the most elemental sound-meaning units, they (plus the morphemes) must be listed
in our dictionaries. The morphological rules also are in the grammar, revealing the
relation between words and providing the means for forming new words.’ 2. INFLECTION
2.1. DEFINITION: Inflection is ‘the process of adding an affix to a word or
changing it in some other way according to the rules of the grammar of a
language. For example, English verbs are inflected for 3rd-person singular: I
work, he works and for past tense: I worked. Most nouns may be inflected for
plural: horse – horses, flower – flowers, man – men’ [Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 77].
2.2. VARIOUS KINDS OF INFLECTION 2.2.1. NOUN INFLECTION
Almost all English nouns have two forms: the plain form (also called the
unmarked form) used in the constructions like ‘a book’ or ‘the book’ and the
inflected form (also called the marked form) which is formed by adding
inflectional suffixes to the plain form. The plain form and its three inflected
forms together make up a four-form inflectional noun paradigm, which is a set
of relative forms of a noun. Not all nouns have three inflected forms: one plain form three inflected forms (= the stem)
(= the stem + inflectional suffixes)
mother (singular noun) mothers (plural noun)
mother ‘s (singular-possessive noun)
mothers’ (plural-possessive noun) 2.2.2. VERB INFLECTION
The inflections of a verb are more complicated than those of a noun. The
paradigm of an irregular verb has four inflected forms: breaks, breaking,
broke, and broken.
Although the past simple and the past participle inflected forms of a regular
verb are just the same, they carry quite different meanings.
Therefore, it is much more convenient to assign all English verbs to a five-
form inflectional paradigm. one plain form four inflected forms (= the stem)
(= the stem + inflectional suffixes) work
works, working, worked, worked 45 break
breaks, breaking, broke, broken
2.2.3. ADJECTIVE INFLECTION and ADVERB INFLECTION
There is a three-form inflectional paradigm for adjectives of one or two
syllables and for monosyllabic adverbs though it does not apply to all
members of either the adjective or the adverb class.
Most one-syllable adjectives and adverbs and many two-syllable adjectives
have a comparative form with an ‘−er’ inflection and a superlative form with an ‘−est’ inflection. one plain form two inflected forms (= the stem)
(= the stem + inflectional suffixes) POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE short shorter shortest big bigger biggest ADJECTIVES happy happier happiest pure purer purest fast faster fastest ADVERBS hard harder hardest
3. HOW TO DISTINGUISH DERIVATION FROM INFLECTION 3.1. DERIVATION
3.1.1. Derivation can be observed in the following formula:
A BASE (also called A ROOT) + DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES → NEW DERIVED WORDS
3.1.2. DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES serve to supply the base with ‘components
of lexical and lexico-grammatical meanings, thus form different words’ [Arnold,
1986: 87]. Adding derivational affixes to English base morphemes (which are
of various grammatical categories/ word classes/ parts of speech), we have
various DERIVATIONAL PARADIGMS: mother, motherhood, motherly, motherli
ness, motherless and motherlike form a derivational paradigm; break,
breakable, unbreakable, breakabil ity, unbreak abil ity, breakage and breaker
form another derivational paradigm; pure, purely, purist, purism, purify, puri
fic ation, pureness (= purity), impure, and impurity form still another derivational paradigm. 46
3.1.3. THE BASE (also called THE ROOT) of a derivational paradigm is ‘the
ultimate constituent element which remains after the removal of all functional
and derivational affixes and does not admit any further analysis’ [Arnold, 1986:
78]. Thus, HEARTen, HEARTen ed, disHEARTen, disHEARTen ed, HEARTy,
HEARTi ly, HEARTi ness HEARTless, HEARTless ly, and HEARTless ness, all
share the same base: HEART.
3.1.4. A DERIVATIONAL PARADIGM is ‘a set of related words composed of
the same base morpheme and all the derivational affixes that can go with this
base’ [Stageberg, 1965: 97]. 3.2. INFLECTION
3.2.1. Inflection can be observed in the following formula:
A STEM + INFLECTIONAL SUFFIXES → INFLECTED FORMS OF ONE AND THE SAME WORD
3.2.2. INFLECTIONAL (also called GRAMMATICAL or FUNCTIONAL)
SUFFIXES ‘serve to convey grammatical meaning. They build different forms of
one and the same word’ [Arnold, 1986: 87]. Adding inflectional suffixes to
English stems (which are only nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs), we have
INLECTIONAL PARADIGMS: mother, mothers, mother’s and mothers’ form an
inflectional noun paradigm; break, breaking, breaks, broke and broken form
an inflectional verb paradigm; long, longer and longest form an inflectional adjective or adverb paradigm.
3.2.3. THE STEM (of an inflectional paradigm) is the part of a word that
remains after the removal of all inflectional suffixes. In other words, the stem
is that part of a word that is in existence before any inflectional suffixes. The
stem of the inflectional adjective paradigm HEARTy–HEARTier–(the) HEARTiest
is HEARTy. It is a free stem, but it consists of A BASE and an affix; it is not
simple but derived. Thus, a stem containing one or more affixes is ‘a derived
stem’ [Arnold, 1986: 78].
3.2.4. AN INFLECTIONAL PARADIGM is a set of related words composed of
the same stem and all the inflectional suffixes that can go with this stem. EXERICES
EXERCISE 1: Give as many words with the same bound base as you can,
using the given prefixes and bound bases. 47 Prefixes Bound bases
ad− (ac−, at −): to, toward 1. −tain hold
com− (con−):
with, together, jointly, in 2. −ceive de−: from, down, away −cept take
dis− (dif−): apart −ceit ex−: from, out from, out of
3. −fer carry, bear
in− (im−): in, into, within, toward, on
4. −clude shut, close per−: through, thoroughly 5. −port carry pre−: before, in advance inter−: between pro− : forward, before, forth, for re−: back, again
sub− (sup−): under trans−: across, beyond, through ANSWER:
1. Words with the bound base –tain meaning ‘hold’:
contain, containment, container, containable
detain, detainer, detainee, detainment, detainingly
entertain, entertainment, entertainer pertain retain, retainer
2. Words with the bound base –ceive, –cept, –ceit meaning ‘take’:
accept, acceptance, acceptable, acceptability, acceptableness, accepter
conceive, conceivable, conception, conceit, conceiver
deceive, deceivable, deception, deceiver, deceptive,
perceive, perceivable, perception, perceiver, perceptive,
receive, receivable, reception, receiver, receptive
3. Words with the bound base –fer meaning ‘carry’ or ‘bear’:
confer, conferee, conferment, conferable, conference, conferal, conferer
defer, deference, deferent, deferential, deferentially, defer, deferment, deferable
infer, inferable, inferer, inference, inferential, inferentially
prefer, preferer, preferable, preferability, preferably, preference,
preferential, preferentially, preferment
refer, referable, referer, referee, reference, referendum, referent,
referential, referentially, referal
transfer, transferable, transfererer, transfereree, transferase,
transference, transferential, transferentially, transferal 48
4. Words with the bound base –clude meaning ‘shut’ or ‘close’: conclude, concluder
exclude, excludable, excluder, excludability include, includable preclude
5. Words with the bound base –port meaning ‘carry’: comport, comportment
deport, deportable, deportation, deportee, deportment disport
export, exportable, exportation, exporter
import, importable, importation, importer, important, importance, importancy, importantly
report, reportable, reportage, reporter
support, supportable, supportableness, supportably, supporter, supportive
transport, transportable, transportability, transporter, transportation, transportational
EXERCISE 2: Identify all the possible the suffixes in each of the given
words. Complete the table given below. 1 organists 2 personalities 3 flirtatiously
3 suffixes − ation, −ous, −ly 4 atomizers 5 contradictorily 6 trusteeship 7 greasier 8 countrified 9 friendliest 10 responsibilities 49
EXERCISE 3: Identify the meaning of the prefix in each of the given words
and then give as many words with the same prefix as you can. Complete the table given below.
anti− = ‘against’ anti-aircraft, antibody, 1 antidote
antipersonnel, antihero circum− =
circum-navigate, circumference, 2 circumvent ‘around’
circumlocution, circumspect
co-curriculum, co-operate, co- co-pilot
co−, col−, ordinate collapse
com−, con−,
collide, collision, collect 3 compact
cor− = ‘with’ comply convene
consonant, convoke corrode correlate 4 contradict
deactivate, decentralize, de− = 5 devitalized
dehumanize, deform,
‘do the opposite’ denationalize, decolonize, decode
dehorn, defrost, deice, deflower, 6 delouse
de− = ‘remove’ deforest 7 devalue
de− = ‘reduce’:
degrade, debase, decline, decrease 8 disunion 9 disagreeable insecure imperfect 10 illegible irreverent inspire
inspiration, inspirational,
inspiring, inspired, inspect,
in−, im− = ‘in’ or 11
install, inscribe imbibe ‘on’
imbue, impale, impalpable, impalement 50 12 intervene 13 intramural obstruct
obstruction, obstructive, obstrude,
obstrusion, obstrusive(ly), − ob−, op =
obstinate obstrusiveness, 14 ‘against’ or
obstacle, object(ion), oppose ‘opposite’
opposition, opposed, opponent,
oppress, oppressed, oppression, oppressive(ly), 15 pre-war 16 post-war 17 proceed retro− =
retroflex, retrograde, retrogress, 18 retroactive ‘backward’
retro-rocket, retrospect
19 semi-professional 20 subway 21 superabundant 22 unlikely 23 undress NOTES:
1. The prefix anti– means ‘against’. - antidote /‘`nt1d6 t υ / n
[C] substance that acts against the
effect of poison: an antidote against 51
snake bites, food poisoning, malaria, etc.
- anti-aircraft adj
designed to destroy enemy aircrafts: anti-aircraft guns.
- anti-personnel adj
designed to kill or injure people: anti- personnel explosives. - anti-hero n
[C] central character in a story or
drama who lacks the qualities usually
associated with a hero, such as courage and dignity. - antibody n
[C] protein formed in the blood in
response to harmful bacteria, etc.
which it then attacks and destroys.
2. The prefix circum– means ‘around’.
- circumvent /s6k∧m‘v ‘ ent/ v
[Tn] find a way of overcoming or
avoiding sth: circumvent a law, rule, problem, difficulty, etc.
- ,circum‘navigate v
[Tn] sail around (esp. the world):
Magellan was the first person to circumnavigate the globe.
- circumference/s6‘k∧mf6r6ns/ n [C] line that marks out a circle or other curved figures.
- circumlocution n
[U, C] (instance of the) use of many
words to say sth that could be said in a few words.
- circumspect adj
considering everything carefully before action; cautious:
- circumspection n
[N] caution: proceeding with great circumspect.
3. The prefixes co–, col–, com–, con– and cor– all mean ‘with’, t
‘ ogether’
or ‘jointly’. - co-pilot n
[C] assistant pilot in an aircraft. - co-operate v
[I, Ipr] ∼(with sb) work or act together with another or others: 52
He co-operated with his friend in raising money. - co-ordinate v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (with sth) cause
(different parts, limbs, etc.) to function
together efficiently: We must co-
ordinate our efforts to help flood victims. - collaborate v
[I, Ipr] ∼ (with sb) work together (with
sb), esp. to create or produce sth: She
collaborated with her sister on a
biography of their father. - collide v
[I, Ipr] ∼ (with sb/ sth) strike violently against sth or each other. - collect v
[Tn, Tn.p] ∼ sth (up/ together) bring
or gather sth together: collect up the
empty glasses, collect together one’s belongings.
- compact /k6m‘p`kt/ adj
closely packed together: a compact disc; v
[Tn usu passive] press sth firmly
together: the compacted snow on the pavement. - comply v
[I, I.pr] ∼ (with sth) do as one is
requested or commanded: Rules must be complied with.
- convene /k6n‘vi:n/ v
[Tn] summon people to come together:
convene the members, a committee, etc.
- convoke /k6n‘v6υk/ v
[Tn] call together, summon a meeting,
etc: convoke the Parliament. - consonant n
[C] sound that has no voice and thus
has to go with a vowel: Vietnamese b
/be1/, c /se1/ and d /de1/ vs. English b
/bi:/ , c /si/ and d /di:/
- corrode /k6‘r6υd/ v
[I,Ip,Tn,Tn.p] ∼ (sth) (away) destroy or
be destroyed slowly, esp with chemical
action: The metal has corroded away
because of rust/ acid. There exists a 53
bitter envy that has corroded their friendship.
- correlate /‘k4r6le1t/ v
[I,Ipr,Tn,Tn.pr] ∼(with sth), (A with/
and B) have a mutual relation with
sth: We can often correlate age with frequency of illness.
4. The prefix contra– means ‘against’. - contradict v
[I, Tn] say sth that conflicts with sth
said or written: That’s true, but don’t
you dare contradict (him)? The speaker
got confused and started contradicting himself. - contravene v
[Tn] act/ be contrary to (a law, etc.);
break: Her actions contravene the rules.
- contraception n [U] preventing of conception.
- contraceptive n
[C] device or drug for preventing conception; adj
preventing conception: a contraceptive
pill, device, drug, etc.
- contra-indication n
[C] (medical) sign that a particular
drug may be harmful: The contra-
indications listed for the pills meant
that she could not take them.
5. The prefix de– means ‘do the opposite of’. - vitalize v
[Tn] provide sb/ sth with strength and vigour.
- devitalize /,di:‘va1tla1z/ v
[Tn] take strength and vigour away
from sb/sth: a nation devitalized by a sustained war effort. - activate v [Tn] make sth active.
- deactivate /,di:‘`kt1veù1t/ v
[Tn] make (sth dangerous, e.g. a bomb
or a nuclear reactor) harmless or less
active by removing its source of power:
deactivate the fuse mechanism. - code v
[Tn] put or write sth in code. 54
- decode /,di:‘k6υd/ v
[Tn] find the meaning of sth written in code. - colonize v
[Tn] establish a colony (in an area),
establish an area as a colony.
- decolonize /,di:‘k4l6naù1z/ v
[Tn] give independent status to a colony.
6. The prefix de– means ‘remove … from’ or ‘deprive … of’. - delouse /d1‘la s υ / v
[Tn] remove the lice from sb/ sth.
- dehorn /d1‘h0:n/ v
[Tn] remove the horn from an animal.
- deflower /,di:‘fla 6 υ / v
[Tn] deprive a woman of her virginity,
usually by sexual intercourse.
defrost /,di:‘fr4st/ v
[Tn] remove ice or frost from sth.
7. The prefix de– means ‘reduce’.
- devalue /,di:‘v`lju:/ v
[Tn] reduce the value of a currency in
relation to other currencies/ gold. - decline /d1‘k ‘ la1n/ v
[I] become smaller, weaker, fewer, etc.
- decrease /d1‘kri:z/ v
[I, Tn] (cause sth to) become smaller, weaker, fewer, etc. - degrade v
[Tn] cause sb to be less moral/
deserving of respect: I felt degraded by having to ask for money. - debase v
[Tn] lower the quality, status or value
of sth: Sport is being debased by
commercialism. You debased yourself by telling such lies.
8. The prefix dis– means ‘absence of’, ‘opposite to’ or ‘do the opposite of’. - union n
[U] uniting or being united: the Soviet Union. - disunion n
[U] separating or being separated. - appear v
[I] come into view, become visible. - disappear v [I] no longer be visible. - count v
[I] ∼(for sth) be of value or important:
Knowledge without common senses counts for little. 55 - discount v
[Tn] regard sth as unimportant: You
can discount what Jack said: he’s a dreadful liar. - arm v
[Tn] supply or equip oneself/ sb with weapons. - disarm v
[Tn] take weapon away from (sb),
reduce the size of the armed forces (of a nation).
9. The prefix dis– means ‘not’ or ‘lack of’
- disagreeable adj not agreeable. - dishonest adj not honest.
- disadvantage n
[C] unfavorable condition, thing that
tends to prevent sb from succeeding, making progress. - discomfort n
[U] lack of comfort; n [C] thing that cause this. - disapprove v
[I, Ipr] consider (sb/sth) bad (= not
good), immoral (= not moral), etc: She
wants to be an actress, but her parents
disapprove (of her intentions.). - disbelieve v
[Tn] refuse to believe (sb/sth): I disbelieve every word you say.
10. The prefixes in–, im–, il– and ir– all mean ‘not’. - insecure adj not secure or lack of safety.
- incompetent adj
not showing the necessary skills to do sth successfully.
- inefficient adj
not producing adequate results.
- immoderate adj
too extreme or excessive; not moderate. - impolite adj rude; not polite. - illegal adj against the law; not legal.
- illiterate adj not able to read or write. - irregular adj
not regular in shape, arrangement, etc.
- irrespective adj
not taking account of or considering (sth/sb). 56
11. The prefixes in– and im– both mean ‘in’ or ‘on’. - inspire v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (in sb)/ sb (to sth)
fill sb with thoughts, feelings, aims,
etc: His noble example inspired the rest of us to greater efforts. - inscribe v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ A (on/in B), B (with A)
write words, names, etc on or in
something: inscribe one’s name in a
book; inscribe a book with one’s name. - inspect v
[Tn] examine (sth) closely: inspect a
school, factory, regiment, etc. - install v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (in sth) fix equipment,
furniture, etc in position for use: install
a heating or lighting system in a building. - imbile v
[Tn] take in or absorb sth (fig): imbile
fresh air, knowledge, etc. - impale v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sb/sth (on sth) pierce sb/
sth with a sharp-pointed subjec: In
former times, prisoners’ heads were
impaled on pointed stakes. - impose v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (on sb/ sth) place (a
penalty, tax, etc.) officially (on sb/ sth):
impose a further tax on wines. - impress v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sb (with sth) have a
favourable effect on sb: The sights of
the city never fail to impress foreign tourists. - implant v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (in sth) deliberately
introduce or fix (ideas, etc.) into a
person’s mind: implant religious beliefs in young children.
12. The prefix inter– means ‘between’ or ‘each other’. - intervene v
[I] be or come between two points of
time: during the years that intervened. 57
- international adj
of, carried on by or existing between two or more nations.
- interstate adj
between states, esp. of the USA: interstate highways. - intercede v
[I, Ipr] ∼ (with sb) (for/ on behalf of
sb) act as an intermediary (between
two people, groups, countries, etc that
cannot agree), trying to help them
settle their differences: We have to
intercede with the authorities on behalf
of people unfairly imprisoned there. - interact v
[I, Ipr] ∼ (with sth) act or have an
effect on each other: chemicals that
interact to form new compounds. - interchange v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sth (with sb) give sth to
and receive sth from each other: We
interchanged partners: he danced with
mine, and I danced with his.
13. The prefix intra– means ‘within’.
- intramural adj
intended for full-time students living
within a college: intramural courses, studies, staff, etc.
- intravenous adj
within a vein or veins: intravenous injections.
- intramuscular adj within a muscle or muscles.
- intra-uterine adj within the uterus.
- intrastate adj
(existing) within one state, esp. of the
USA: intrastate highways.
14. The prefixes ob– and op– both mean ‘against’ or o
‘ pposite (to)’. - obstruct v
[Tn] be or get in the way of sb/ sth;
block a road/ the passage of sth: Tall
trees obstructed his view of the road. - obtrude v
[I, Tn, Tn.pr] force (oneself, one’s
opinions, ideas, etc.) upon sb/ sth, esp.
when unwanted: obtrude on sb’s grief. - obstacle n
[C] thing in the way that either stops
progress or makes it difficult. 58 - objection n
[C,U] (expression of a) feeling of
dislike, disapproval or opposition. - obstinate adj
refusing to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action. - oppose v [Tn] express strong disapproval/ disagreement with sb/ sth. - opponent n
[C] person who is against another
person in a fight, a struggle, a game or an argument. - oppress v
[Tn] rule or treat sb with continual injustice or cruelty.
15. The prefix pre–/pr p 1
r –/means ‘before’. - pre-war adj
existing or happening (in the period)
before a war: in the pre-war period.
- pre-natal /,pri:‘n ‘ e1tl/ adj
of the period before giving birth: pre-
natal check-ups, exercises, classes, etc.
- preconceived /,pri:k6n‘si:vd/ adj formed in advance, not basing on
knowledge or experience: preconceived ideas, opinions, etc. - precede v
[I, Tn] come or go before (sth) in time, order, rank, etc.
- preamble (to sth) n
[C, U] opening that explains the
purpose of the book, document, lecture,
etc. that follows: He launched into his
statement without any preamble.
- precaution /pr1‘k0:~n/ n
[C] thing done in advance to avoid
danger, prevent problems, etc.: take an
umbrella just as a precaution
- precautionary adj
done as a precaution: precautionary measures.
16. The prefix post– means ‘after’. - post-war adj
existing or happening (in the period)
after a war: in the post-war period.
- post-mortem /,p6υst‘m :
0 t6m/ adj made or occurring after death: a post- mortem examination. 59 - posterior adj
later (than sth) in time or in a series. - post-date v
[Tn] put a date (on a document, etc.)
that is later than the actual date.
- postgraduate adj done after the first degree; n
[C] person doing postgraduate studies.
- postscript (abbr PS) n
[C] extra message added at the end of a letter after the signature
17. The prefix pro– /pr p 6
r –/means ‘forward’. - proceed v
[I] go to a further or next stage. - progress v [I] go or move forward. - project v
[Tn.pr] ∼sth (into sth) send or throw sth outward or forward. - propose v
[Tn] offer or put forward (sth) for consideration; suggest. - proposal n
[U] action of suggesting or putting
forward; [C] thing that is suggested. - prolapse v
[I] (of an organ in the body, esp. the
bowel or uterus) slip forward or down so that it is out of place. - prologue n
[C] introductory part of a poem or play. - prospect n
[C] picture in the mind or imagination, esp. of a future event.
18. The prefix retro– means ‘backward’.
- retroactive adj affective from a past date. - retrogress v [I] go or move backward. - retrorocket n
[C] rocket engine providing power in
the opposite direction to the path of flight. - retroflex n
[C] sound made by bending the tip of
the tongue upward and backward.
- retrograde adj
going backward, getting worse. - retrospect n
[U] looking back on a past event or situation. 60
19. The prefix semi– means ‘half’ or ‘partly’.
- semi-detached adj
joined to another house by one shared wall.
- semi-conscious adj partly conscious. - semicircle n
[C] half of a circle or of its circumference. - semi-final n
[C] match or round preceding the final,
e.g. in football. - semicolon n
[C] the punctuation mark (;) between a comma and a full stop.
20. The prefix sub– means ‘under’ or ‘below the normal’ - subway n
[C] underground pedestrian tunnel,
esp. one beneath a road or railroad;
underground railway in a city. - submarine n
[C] naval vessel that can operate
underwater as well as on the surface. - submerge v
[I] go under the surface of a liquid. - subdivide v
[I, Ipr, Tn] (cause things to) be divided again into smaller divisions. - subnormal adj
below normal, less than normal.
- subordinate adj
lower in rank or position.
- substandard adj
below the usual or required standard.
21. The prefix super– means ‘over’ or ‘beyond the norm’
- superabundant adj very abundant.
- superhuman adj
exceeding normal human power, size, knowledge, etc. - superior adj better than average.
- superficial adj of or on the surface only. - superpower n
[C] any of the most powerful nations in the world. - supervise v
[I, Tn] watch or keep a check on (sb
doing sth or sth being done) to make sure it is done properly. 61
22. The prefix un– means ‘not’. - unlikely adj
not likely, impossible.
- unattractive adj not attractive. - untrue adj not true. - unwilling adj not willing.
23. The prefix un– means ‘reverse of’ or ‘do the opposite of’. - undress v
[I] take off one’s clothes, (Tn) remove the clothes of (sb/sth). - unfold v
[I, Tn] (cause sth to) open or spread out from a folded state. - uncurl v [I,Tn] (cause sth/oneself) become
straightened from a curled position. - unlock v
[Tn] unfasten the lock of the door, gate, etc. using a key. - untie v
[Tn] unfasten or undo (a knot, a button, a parcle, an envelop, etc.). - unfreeze v
1. [I, Tn] (cause sth to) thaw; 2. [Tn] remove official controls on (the
economy, etc): unfreeze (i.e. defrost)
some chops; unfreeze trade restrictions.
EXERCISE 4: Each group contains a base and a few suffixes. Make each into
a word. Complete the table given below. 1 −ed, live, −en livened 2 −ing, −ate, termin− 3
−er, −s, mor, −al, −ize 4 province, −s, −ism, −al 5 −ly, −some, grue 6 −ity, work, −able 7 in, −most, −er 8
marry, −age, −ity, −able 9 −dom, −ster, gang
10 −ly, −tion, −ate, affect 62
EXERCISE 5: Add a derivational suffix to each of these words, which already
end in a derivational suffix. Complete the table given below.
1 expression + −ism = expressionism 2 formal + 3 organize + 4 reasonable + 5 purist +
EXERCISE 6: Add an inflectional suffix to each of these words, which already
end in a derivational suffix. Complete the table given below.
1 kindness + −es = kindnesses (n., pl.) meaning ‘kind acts’ 2 beautify + 3 quarterly + 4 popularize + 5 depth + 6 pressure + 7 extinguish + 8 orientate + 9 friendly + 10 noisy +
EXERCISE 7: You are given here five bases, or words with their bases
italicized. Give all the words in the derivational paradigm. Do not include
words with two bases, like ‘manhunt’ or ‘manpower’. Complete the table given below. 1 sin
sinful, sinfulness, sinless, sinlessness, sinner 2 kind 3 live (adj)/la1/ 4 transport 5 audience 63
EXERCISE 8: The left-hand column contains ten words. The right-hand
column contains thirteen derivational suffixes used to make nouns and having
the general meanings of ‘state, condition, quality, or act of’. By combining these
suffixes with the words listed, make as many nouns as you can. Fill in the given blanks. Words Derived Words
Noun-forming Derivational Suffixes 1. happy
________________________ 1. –hood 8. –ance/ –ence 2. friend
________________________ 2. –acy 9. –th 3. girl
________________________ 3. –ism 10. –ure 4. compose
composure, composition 4. –ness 11. –ment 5. shrink
________________________ 5. –age 12. –y 6. discover
________________________ 6. –ity 13. –ship 7. supreme
________________________ 7. –ation/ –ition 8. true truth, truism 9. pagan ________________________ 10. active ________________________
EXERCISE 9: Why is it said that inflectional suffixes are part of the syntax of the English language? ANSWER:
Inflectional affixes, which are always suffixes in English, perform
grammatical functions. They are representatives of the four grammatical
categories in English: noun, verb, adjective and adverb.
In English, inflectional suffixes typically indicate the syntactic relations
between different words in English sentences: the inflectional suffix –s
indicates the agreement between the subject he and the verb works in ‘He
works hard’; the inflectional noun possessive morpheme –’s shows the
relationship between Tom and another person — his father, in ‘Tom’s father’.
Therefore, it is quite true to state that inflectional suffixes are part of the
English syntax. To master this subject, we have to learn the rules regulating
the ways in which words are arranged to form larger linguistic units such as
phrases, clauses and sentences.
This phenomenon is not only true in English. It is also common in many other languages in the world. 64 UNIT THREE
IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS IN MORPHOLOGY 1. DEFINITION
‘IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS are any of the two meaningful parts forming a
larger linguistic unit’ [Arnold, 1986: 83].
Let’s consider Bloomfield’s analysis of the word ungentlemanly [1935: 210].
Comparing this word with other words, we recognize the morpheme un– as a
negative prefix because we have often come across words built on the pattern
un– + adjective base: uncertain, unconscious, uneasy, unfortunate,
unmistakable, unnatural, unearthly, unsightly, untimely, unwomanly, etc.
Thus, at the first cut we obtain the two following immediate constituents: un–
and gentlemanly: un– gentlemanly
Continuing our analysis, we see that there are many adjectives following
the pattern noun base + –ly, such as womanly, masterly, scholarly, soldierly,
manly, etc. with the same semantic relationship of ‘having the quality of the
person denoted by the base’. Thus, at the second cut we obtain the two
following immediate constituents: gentleman and –ly:
gentleman –ly
There are compound nouns following the pattern adjective + noun, such as
nobleman, highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow, lazysusan, flatfoot, etc. Thus,
the third cut separates the two free bases of the compound noun gentleman,
resulting in the two immediate constituents: gentle and man: gentle man
We have now shown the layers of structure by which the word has been
composed, down to its ultimate constituents: un–, gentle, man, and –ly.
un– gentle man –ly
Doing word diagrams, like the one right above, to show layers of structure,
we make successive divisions into two parts, each of which is called AN
IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENT, abbreviated IC. The process is continued until all the
component morphemes of a word, the morphemes of which the word is
composed, have been isolated. 65
2. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS ON IC DIVISION
Here are three recommendations on IC division that will assist in the exercise to follow:
c If a word ends in an inflectional suffix, the first cut is between this suffix
and the rest of the word. pre– + conceiv(e)⎪ –ed mal– + formation⎪–s
d One of the IC‘s should be, if possible, a free form. A free form is one that
can be uttered alone with meaning: egg, doing, enlarge, supportable, etc. Here
are examples of wrong and right first cuts:
Wrong: en– ⎪ large + –ment Right: en– + large ⎪ –ment in– + depend ⎪ –ent in– ⎪ depend + –ent un– + law ⎪ –ful un– ⎪ law + –ful
e The meanings of the IC’s should be related to the meaning of the word. It
would be wrong to cut restrain like this: rest ⎪ rain
because neither rest nor rain has a semantic connection with restrain. Nor
would a division of starchy as: star ⎪ chy
be right because this would give an unrelated morpheme {star} and a
meaningless fragment chy. The two examples are properly cut in this way:
re– ⎪ strain starch ⎪–y 3. DIAGRAM
When we analyse a word, we show the process of word formation in reverse.
First, we divide the word into two parts. We continue this way cutting every
parts into two more until we can reduce the word to its ultimate constituents,
that is to the morphemes of which the word is composed — those which cannot
be divided any more: Ungentlemanly un– gentle man –ly un– gentlemanly gentleman –ly gentle man 66
The two IC’s of the first layer of construction are un– and gentlemanly.
The two IC’s of the second layer of construction are gentleman and –ly.
The two IC’s of the third layer of construction are gentle and man. EXERCISES
EXERCISE 1: Give the IC cuts of each of the following words. Identify all the
possible morphemes in each of the following words: 1. arriv(e) –al arrive: a free base which is a verb –al /–l/:
a Derivational class-changing noun-forming
suffix meaning ‘process or state of’
verb + –al = noun meaning process or state of verb-ing
arrive + –al = arrival meaning ‘process or state of arriving’
survival, recital, removal, (dis)approval, proposal, refusal, acquittal, etc. 2. build –s build: a free base which is a verb –s /–z/:
an allomorph of the inflectional verb
present tense third person singular morpheme {–S3} 3. wall flower –s
wall and flower:
two free bases which are nouns –s /–z/:
an allomorph of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {–S1} 4. sin –ful sin: a free base which is a noun –ful /–fl/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘full of’
noun + –ful = full of noun
sin + –ful = full of sin
powerful, meaningful, plentiful, hopeful, trustful, useful, helpful, scornful, etc. 67 5. sin –less sin: a free base which is a noun –less /–l s 6 /:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘without any’,
‘lacking in’ or ‘absence of’
noun + –less = without any noun
sin + –less = without any sin
powerless, meaningless, penniless, hopeless, useless, helpless, lifeless, etc. 6. hope –ful –ly
adjective + {–ly1} = adverb
hopeful + {–ly1} = hopefully hope: a free base which is a noun –ful /–fl/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘full of’ –ly /–l1/:
the derivational class-changing adverb-
forming suffix {–ly1} meaning ‘in the specified manner’ 7. life –less –ness
adjective + –ness = noun
lifeless + –ness = lifelessness life: a free base which is a noun –less /–l s 6 /:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘without any’,
‘lacking in’ or ‘absence of’ –ness /–n s 6 /:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘quality, state or character of’ 8. un– graci– –ous un– /∧n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘not’ 68
graci– /‘gre1~–/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {grace} /gre s 1 /, which is a noun –ous /–6s/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘having the
qualities or character of’
un– + adjective = not adjective
un– + gracious = not gracious
un– + true = not true
un– + base adjective : untrue, unjust, unkind, unfair,
uncertain, unreal, unfit, unhappy,
uncommon, undue, uneven, unclean, unwise, etc.
un– + derived adjective:
unavoidable, unbelievable, undeclared, unequal, unfriendly, ungrateful, unhealthy, unintelligible, unlawful,
unscientific, unmanly, unnatural, unofficial, unpleasant, unusual,
unwilling, unwanted, etc. 9. un– true –ly un– /∧n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘not’ true:
a free base which is an adjective –ly /–l1/:
the derivational class-changing adverb-
forming suffix {–ly1} meaning ‘in the specified manner’ 10. un– law –ful un– /∧n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘not’ law: a free base which is a noun –ful /–fl/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘full of’ 69
11. un– in– –spire –ed un– /∧n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘not’ in– /1n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘in’ or ‘on’
–spire /–‘spa16/:
a bound base either meaning ‘breathe’,
just like in re–⏐–spire, or meaning ‘act’,
just like in con–⏐–spire –ed /–d/:
an allomorph of the d. class-changing
adjective-forming suffix {–D3} • inspired adj
1. filled with creative power: an
inspired poet, artist, etc; 2. full of a spirit that leads to outstanding
achievements: act like a man inspired;
3. produced (as if) by or with the help
of inspiration: an inspired work. uninspired adj
without imagination or inspiration:
an uninspired speech, performance, painting, etc. 12. live – ed live: a free base which is a verb –ed /–d/:
an allomorph of the inflectional verb
past simple morpheme {–D1} or of the inflectional verb past participle morpheme {–D2} 13. un– employ –ment un– /∧n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘lack of’ or ‘without’ employ: a free base which is a verb –ment /–m6nt/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘result or means of’ 70
un– + noun = without any noun, lack of (the quality denoted by) the noun
un– + employment = without any employment, lack of employment
14. un– verb –al –ize –ed un– /∧n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘not’ verb: a free base which is a noun –al /–l/:
a derivational class-changing adj.-forming
suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’ –ize /–a1z/:
a derivational class-changing verb-
forming suffix meaning ‘act or treat with the qualities of’ –ed /–d/:
an allomorph of the inflectional verb
past participle morpheme {–D2}
un– + verb past participle = not verb past participle
un– + verbalized = not verbalized
adjective + –ize = verb
verbal + –ize = verbalize meaning ‘act with the help/ qualities of words’
socialize, regionalize, internationalize, (de)nationalize, (re)fertilize, (de)humanize, etc. • verbal adj
1. of or in words: verbal skills;
2. spoken, not written: a verbal
explanation, agreement, warning, etc;
3. word for word, literal: a verbal translation. verbalize v
[I, Tn] put (ideas, feelings, etc.) in
words: I sometimes find it difficult to verbalize. 15. fals(e) –ify false/f0:s/:
a free base, which is an adjective 71 –ify /1fa1/:
a d. class-changing verb-forming suffix
meaning ‘make’ or ‘become’ 16. vis– –ib –ly vis– /–v1z/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {–vise} /–
va1z/ meaning ‘see’ –ib /–6b/:
the allomorph which can only occur
before {–ly1} of the d. class-changing
adjective-forming suffix {–ible} meaning
‘that may or must be’ –ly /–l1/:
the d. class-changing adjective-forming
suffix {–ly1} meaning ‘in the specified manner’
VERB + –able = able to be VERB–ed
RECOVER + –able = able to be RECOVER–ed
PENETR– + –able = able to be PENETRATE–ed
VIS– + –ible = able to be SEEN
desirable, (un)drinkable, changeable, (un)acceptable, blamable, (un)avoidable,
(ir)resistable, edible, (in)visible, (in)corruptible, (ir)reducible, etc.
17. im– penetr– –abil –ity im– /1m–/:
the allomorph which can only occur before bilabial sounds of the
derivational class-maintaining prefix {in–}/ n
1 –/meaning ‘not’
penetr– /‘pen6tr–/:
a bound base which can only occur in combination with either the derivational class-changing verb-
forming suffix {–ate} resulting in the
verb penetrate /‘pen t 6 re1t/ or the
derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix {–able} resulting in the
adjective penetrable /‘pen t 6 r6bl/ 72
–a‘bil /–6‘b1l/:
the allomorph which can only occur
before {–ity} of the derivational class-
changing adjective-forming suffix {–able}
meaning ‘that may or must be’ –ity /–6t1/: a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘state or quality of’
adjective + –ity = noun
impenetrable + –ity = impenetrability
immaturity, immobility, immensity, immorality, impartiality, imbecility, etc.
im– + adjective = not adjective
im– + penetrable = not penetrable
impersonal, improbable, impassive, immature, immeasurable, immemorial, etc. 18. ir– re– cover –able ir– /1r–/:
an allomorph which can only occurs before the retroflex /r/of the
derivational class-maintaining prefix
{in–} meaning ‘not’
re– /,ri:– /:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘again’ cover: a free base which is a verb –able /–6bl/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘that may or must be’
ir– + adjective = not adjective
ir– + resistable = not resistable
irrational, irreplaceable, irreducible, irrespective, irrelevant, irreligious, etc. 19. fat(e) –al –ist –ic fat(e) /fe1t/: a free base, which is a noun 73 –al /–6l/:
a derivational class-changing adj.-forming
suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’ –ist /–1st/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘person who believes in’ –ic /–1k/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘concerning’ 20. bor(e) –ing bore: a free base which is a verb –ing /–17/:
the derivational class-changing
adjective-forming suffix {–ing3} 21. re– interpret –ing
re– /,ri:–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘again’ interpret: a free base which is a verb –ing /–17/:
the inflectional verb present participle morpheme {–ing1}
re– + verb = verb again
re– + introduce = introduce again
rewrite, retype, retell, rebuild, redecorate, reintroduce, reinterpret, repay,
refertilize, refund, return, reimburse, etc.
22. re– im– –burse –ment –s re– /,ri:–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘again’ im– /1m–/:
the allomorph which can only occur before bilabial sounds of the
derivational class-changing prefix {in–}
/1n–/ meaning ‘in’ or ‘on’ –burse /–‘b3:s/:
a bound base which means ‘purse’ /–p3:s/ 74 –ment /–m6nt/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘result or means of’ –s /–s/:
an allomorph of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {–S1} • reimburse v
[Tn, Tn.pr esp passive] ∼ sth (to sb), sb
(for sth) (usu fml) refund sth, pay back
to sb (money that has spent or lost):
We reimburse the passengers for any
loss or damage; I was reimbursed in full.
• –imburse is from the medieval Latin imbursarge meaning ‘put in the purse’
23. re– fertil– –iz(e) –ed
re– /,ri:– /:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘again’ fertil– /‘f3:t l 6 –/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {fertile}
/f6‘ta1l/, which is an adjective –ize /–a1z/:
a derivational class-changing verb-
forming suffix meaning ‘become’ or ‘make like’ –ed /–d/:
an allomorph of the inflectional verb
past simple morpheme {–D1} or of the inflectional verb past participle morpheme {–D2} 24. pre– histor(y) –ic
pre– /,pri:– /:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘before’
histor– /h1‘st4r–/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {history} /‘h1str1/, which is a noun –ic /1k–/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning 'concerning’ 75 25. pre– school
pre– /,pri:– /:
a derivational class-changing prefix meaning ‘before’ school: a free base which is a noun 26. pre– –clu –sion pre– /pr1 / – :
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘beforehand’ or ‘in advance’ –clu /klu:– /:
a bound base, an allomorph of {–clude},
which means ‘shut’ or ‘close’ –sion /–2n/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘action or condition of’
pre– + verb = verb beforehand/ in advance
pre– + heat = heat (sth) beforehand
pre– + arrange = arrange (sth) in advance
pre-exist, predetermine, prejudge, preoccupy, prepay, pre-record, precede,
preclude, predict, etc. 27. dis– en– throne dis– /d1s / –
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘do the opposite of’
en– /1n–/ (also e m– /1m–/):
a derivational class-changing verb-
forming prefix which means ‘make into’
or ‘cause to be’ and which is conjoined
with adjectives or nouns to forms verbs
like enlarge, enrich, empower, etc. throne: a free base which is a noun
dis– + verb = do the opposite of verb–ing
dis– + establish = do the opposite of establishing
dis– + enthrone = do the opposite of enthroning
disappear, disarm, discount, disarrange, disenthrone, displease, etc. 76
28. anti– cler– –ic –al anti– /,`nt1–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘against’ cler– /kle(r)–/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {clerk} /kla:k; US k l3:k/, which is a noun –ic /1k–/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘person who
performs a specific action’ like in critic,
comic, cleric, etc. –al /–l/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘concerning’
• {ant(i)–} 1. against, opposed to, opposite to, counteracting
anti-aircraft /,`nt1‘e6kra:ft/ adj
designed to destroy enemy aircrafts: anti-aircraft guns
anti-personnel /‘`nt1 ,p3: ‘
s nel/ adj designed to kill or injure people: anti- personnel bombs, anti-personnel explosives
2. spurious, not genuine or authentic
anti-hero /‘`nt1 h16r6υ/ n
[C] central character in a story or
drama who lacks the qualities usually
associated with a hero, such as courage and dignity.
Antichrist /‘`nt1kra1st/
great enemy of Christ, who was
expected by early Christians just before
the end of the world, and to be defeated by Christ. 3. preventing
anti-freeze /‘`nt1 fri:z/ n
[U] substance added to water to lower its freezing point.
antacid /`n‘t`s1d/ n
[U, C] (substance) that prevents or
reduces acidity in the stomach: I need
an/some antacid to cure my indigestion. 77
• clerk /‘kla:k; US ‘kl ‘ 3:rk/ n
[C] 1. person employed in an office, a
shop, etc to keep records, account, etc:
a bank clerk, a filing clerk, a desk
clerk, etc; 2. cleric /‘kler1k/ n (dated) clergyman /‘kl3:d2 m 1 n 6 /; priest or
minister of the Christian, esp. the Church of England.
clerical /‘kler1kl/ adj
1. for, made by a clerk or clerks:
clerical work, a clerical error, etc.;
2. of or for the clergy /‘kl3:d21/, i.e.
the people who have been ordained as
priests or ministers of esp. the Church
of England: a clerical collar.
29. anti– provinci– –al –ism –s anti– /,`nt1–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘against’
provinci– /pr6‘v1n~–/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {province} /‘pr4v1ns/, which is a noun –al /–l/: a derivational class-changing adj.-
forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’ –ism /–1z(6)m/: a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘showing qualities
typical of (provincials)’ –s /–z/:
an allomorph of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {–S1}
• provincial /pr6‘v1n~l/ adj
1. of a province; 2. narrow-minded.
provincial /pr6‘v1n~l/ n
[C] native or inhabitant of the provinces.
provincialism /pr6‘v1n~l1zm/
1. n [U] narrow-minded attitude or
look; 2. n [C] example of narrow-minded
behaviour, manner, speech, etc.
• verbs ending in –ize + –-ism:
baptism, criticism, etc.; common nouns or
adjectives + –ism (meaning ‘showing 78
qualities typical of’): heroism, favouritism,
socialism, capitalism, etc.; proper nouns +
–ism (meaning ‘doctrine, system or movement’): Buddhism, Marxism,
Leninism, Americanism, etc.
30a. counter– de– –clar –ation 30b. counter– de– –clar –ation counter– /,ka n υ t6–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘opposite in direction or effect’,
‘made in response to’ or ‘opposed to’ de– /d1–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘completely’
–clar(e) /–kle6(r)/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {clear}, which is an adj. –ation /–‘e1~n/: a
derivational class-changing noun- forming suffix meaning ‘action or condition of’
• {counter–} + verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs: 1 opposed to: - counteract v
[Tn] act against and reduce the force or
effect of (sth): counteract (the effect of) a poison.
- counter-attack n
[C] attack made in response to an enemy’s attack.
- counter-intuitive adj
contrary to what one would naturally
expect: His solution to the problem is counter-intuitive.
- counter-clockwise adv
anti-clockwise: Turn the key counter- clockwise.
2 corresponding, duplicating: counterpart n
[C] person or thing that corresponds to
or has the same function as sb or sth
else: The sales director phoned her
counterpart in a competing firm. 79 counter-foil n
[C] part of a cheque, ticket, etc which
can be detached and kept as a record. countersign n
[C] secret word which must be spoken
to a guard, etc before one is allowed to pass.
31.a. re– –ac –tion –ary re– /r1–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘backwards’ or ‘in response to’ –ac /–‘`k/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {act} /`kt/, which is a verb –tion /–~n/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘action or condition of’ –ary /–6r1/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerned with’
31.b. contra– –dic –tion –ory contra– /‘k n 4 tr6–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘against’ or ‘opposite to’ –dic /–‘d1k/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {–dict}
/–‘d1kt/ meaning ‘say’ –tion /–~n/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘action or condition of’ –ory /–6r1/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerned with’
• {contra–}+ verbs and nouns: contraflow n
[C, U] travelling of traffic from its
usual half of the road to the other half,
so that it shares the lane with traffic
coming in the other direction. 80 contravene v
[Tn] act or be contrary to (a law, etc):
You are contravening the regulations. 32a. mis– judge –ment 32.b. mis– judge –ment
mis– + verb = verb wrongly
mis– + noun = wrong noun;
mis– + judge = judge wrongly lack of o
r absence of noun
mis– + apply = apply wrongly mis–+ judgement = wrong judgement
mis– + fortune = lack of fortune
mis– /,m1s–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘wrong’ or ‘wrongly’ judge: a free base which is a verb –ment /–m6nt/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘result or means of’
• {mis–} means ‘wrong’ when it is added to a noun, and {mis–} means
‘wrongly’ when it is added to a verb. The two above-mentioned IC cuts are
possible because {mis–} is added to both verbs and nouns in English.
33. mal– con– –struc –tion –s mal– /,m`l–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ con– /k6n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘with’
–struc /–‘str∧k/:
a bound base, an allomorph of –struct
/–str∧kt/ meaning ‘build’ –tion /–~n/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘action or condition of’ –s /–z/:
an allomorph of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {–S1} 81
• {mal–} means ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ when it is added to nouns: mal-function, mal-
adjustment, mal-administration, mal-content, mal-formation, mal-adroitness, mal-nutrition, etc.
• {mal–} means ‘badly’ or ‘wrongly’ when it is added to:
c adjectives: mal-adjusted, mal-formed, mal-adroit, mal-nourished, etc.
d adverds: mal-adroitly, malevolently, maliciously, malignantly, etc.
e verbs: mal-function, mal-treat, malign, etc. 34. deep –en –ed deep:
a free base which is an adjective –en /–n/:
a derivational class-changing verb-
forming suffix meaning ‘make’ –ed /–d/:
an allomorph of the inflectional verb
past simple morpheme {–D1} or of the inflectional verb past participle morpheme {–D2}
adjective + –en = make (sb/ sth) adjective or more adjective
deep + –en = make (sb/ sth) deep or deeper
shorten, deafen, solften, harden, blacken, whiten, widen, lengthen, strengthen,
redden, lighten, brighten, darken, broaden, stiffen, cheapen, etc. 35. em– bodi –ment em– /–1m/:
an allomorph of the derivational class-
changing verb-forming prefix {en–}
/–1n/ meaning ‘put into or on’, which is
conjoined with nouns or verbs to form
verbs and which only precedes the base
beginning with bilabial phonemes, e.g.
empanel, embark, embed, embrace, embroil, etc. body: a free base which is a noun 82 –ment /–m6nt/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘result or means of’ 36. news paper –dom news and paper:
two free bases which are nouns –dom /–d6m/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘group of’ like
in officialdom, gangsterdom, etc 37. favour –it(e) –ism favour: a free base which is a noun –ite /–1t/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix derogatorily used to
mean ‘a person who is a member of
a group or who follows someone’ like in socialites /–a1t/, Labourites,
Thatcherites, Trotskyites, etc. –ism /–1z(6)m/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun- forming suffix meaning ‘showing
qualities typical of’ like in heroism,
socialism, capitalism, Americanism, etc.
• favourite n [C]
person or thing liked more than others:
These books are great favourites of mine.
favouritism n [U]
practice of giving unfair advantages to
the people that one likes best: Our
teacher is guilty of blatant favouritism. 38. Buddh– –ist Buddh– /bυd/:
a bound base, an allomorph {Buddha}
/‘bυd6/, which is the name of an Indian philosopher –ist /–1st/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘person who has 83
a strong belief in’ like in Marxist,
Communist, socialist, capitalist, etc. 39.a. violin –ist violin /‘va16l n 1 /: a free base which is a noun –ist /–1st/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘person who is
concerned with’ like in dentist, artist,
sexist, physicist, etc. 39.b. philosoph– – er
philosoph– /f1‘l4s6f–/: a bound base, an allomorph of
{philosophy} /f1‘l4s6f1/, which is a noun –er /–6/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘person who is
concerned with’ like in astronomer,
geographer, photographer, etc. 40.a. learn – er learn: a free base which is a verb –er /–6/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘person or thing
that does’ like in teacher, examiner,
painter, computer, etc. 40.b. villag(e) –er village: a free base which is a noun –er /–6/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘person belonging
to’ like in New Yorker, sixth-former, etc.
41. in– –flam(m) –ation –s in– /1n–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘in’ or ‘on’
–flam(m) /–fl6m/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {flame} /fle1m/, which is a verb 84 –ation /–‘e1~n/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘action or condition of’ –s /–z/:
an allomorph of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {–S1} • flame n
[C, U] hot glowing portion of burning
gas that comes from something on fire:
The house was in flame. flame v
[La, I] burn with a brighter flame: The
burning coals started to flame yellow and orange. inflame v
[Tn, Tn.pr] ∼ sb/sth (with/to sth)
cause sb/sth to become angry or over-
excited: a speech that inflamed the
crowd with anger/to a high pitch of fury. inflammation n
[C, U] condition in which a part of the
body is red, swollen and sore or
itchy, esp. because of infection: (an)
inflammation of the lungs, liver, etc. 42. confid– e – nti –al – /,k4n–/:
a derivational prefix an allomorph of
con– /k6n–/ meaning ‘with’ –fid /–f1d/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {fide}
/–‘fa1d/ meaning ‘trust’ like in confide
/k6n‘fa1d/, confidant /,k4nf1‘d`nt/
or fidelity /f1‘del6t1/, etc. –enti /–‘en~/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix {–ent} /–(6)nt/ –al /–l/:
a derivational class-maintaining adj.-
forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’ 43. logan– berri –es 85 logan–:
a special kind of bound morphemes
that has no meaning in isolation but
acquires some meaning when attached
to {berry}, indicating a certain kind of berry berry: a free base which is a noun –es /–z/:
an allomorph of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {–S1}. 44. iron monger– –y iron: a free base which is a noun. monger–:
a bound base meaning ‘trader’ or ‘dealer’ –y:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘action or process of’ 45. fest– –iv(e) –al fest– /fest–/:
a bound base, an allomorph of {feast} /fi:st/, which is a noun –ive /–1v/:
a derivational class-changing adjective-
forming suffix meaning ‘having the
tendency to or the quality of’ –al /–l/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘process or state of’.
• feast n [C]
1. unusually large or elaborate meal;
2. religious festival celebrated with
rejoicing: the feast of Christmas. festive adj
of or suitable for a feast or festival: the festive season. festival n
[C] (day or time of) religious or other
celebration: Christmas and Easter are Christian festivals. 86 46. Ice land –ic Ice and land:
two free bases which are nouns –ic /–1k/: a derivational class-changing adj.-
forming suffix meaning ‘of or ‘concerning’ 47. mid– after noon mid– /m d 1 –/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘in the middle of’
after (preposition) and noon (noun) are two free bases 48. super– natur(e) –al super– /,sju:p6–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix
meaning ‘beyond the norm’ nature: a free base which is a noun –al /–l/:
a derivational class-changing adj.- forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’
49. ob– –struc –tion –ist –s ob– /6b–/:
a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘against’
–struct /–str∧kt/:
a bound base meaning ‘build’ –tion /–~n/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘action or condition of’ –ist /–1st/:
a derivational class-maintaining noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘person who is concerned with’ –s /–s/:
an allomorph of the inflectional noun
plural morpheme {–S1} 50. op– –pos(e) –ition 87 op– /6p–/:
the allomorph which can only occur
before the voiceless bilabial plosive /p/
of the d. class-maintaining prefix {ob–}
/6b–/ meaning ‘against’ –pos(e) /–p6 z υ /:
a bound base meaning ‘put’ or ‘place’. –ition /–‘1~n/:
a derivational class-changing noun-
forming suffix meaning ‘action or condition of’
EXERCISE 2: Analyse all the words given in EXERCISE 1 again, using tree- diagrams.
EXERCISE 3: Give the IC divisions of each of the following words. Support
the division you think is correct: (a) unlovable and (b) reappearance. 88 UNIT FOUR WORDS 1. DEFINITION
‘The word may be described as the basic unit of language. Uniting meaning
and form, it is composed of one or more morphemes, each consisting of one or
more spoken sounds or their written representatives.’ [Arnold, 1986: 27]
A word is ‘the smallest linguistic unit which can occur on its own in speech or writing.
It is difficult to apply this criterion consistently. For example, can a
function word like the ‘occur on its own’? Is a contraction like can’t (cannot)
one word or two? Nevertheless, there is evidence that native speakers of a
language tend to agree on what are the words of their language.
In writing, word boundaries are usually recognised by spaces between
words. In speech, word boundaries may be recognised by slight pauses.’
[Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 311]
‘The definition of a word is one of the most difficult in linguistics because
the simplest word has many aspects.c It has a sound form because it is a
certain arrangement of phonemes;d it has its morphological structure, being
also a certain arrangement of morphemes; when used in actual speech,e it
may occur in different word forms,f have different syntactic functions and
signal various meanings.’ [Arnold, 1986: 28] For example,
c the sound form of sleep is /sli:p/;
d there is only one free morpheme (also called a free base) in sleep;
e the plain form sleep has four inflected forms: sleeps, sleeping, slept (the
past simple form) and slept (the past participle form);
f the present participle form sleeping can be used either as a verbal,
which is part of the finite verb was sleeping in ‘The child was sleeping
soundly’; or as an adverbial, which is the adjunct of manner of stood in ‘He
stood sleeping’; or as an adjectival, which is the pre-nominal modifier of child
in ‘a sleeping child’. 2. CHARACTERISTICS 2.1. INDIVISIBILITY
Sapir [1921: 35] points out one important characteristic of the word, its
indivisibility: ‘It cannot be cut into without a disturbance of meaning, one or 89
two other or both of the several parts remaining as a helpless waif on your
hands.’ For Example, a lion is a word group because we can separate its
elements and insert other words between them: a living lion, a dead lion. Alive
is a word: it is indivisible, i.e. structurally impermeable: nothing can be
inserted between its elements.
2.2. INTERNAL STABILITY (also called INTERNAL COHESION or
UNINTERRUPTABILITY) and POSITIONAL MOBILITY
And according to Lyons [1969: 203], ‘one of the characteristics of the word
is that it tends to be internally stable (in terms of the order of the component
morphemes), but positionally mobile (permutable with other words in the same
sentence).’ To illustrate the first Lyons segments into morphemes the following sentence:
the – boy – s – walk – ed – slow – ly – up – the – hill
The sentence may be regarded as a sequence of ten morphemes, which
occur in a particular order relative to one another. There are several possible
changes in this order which yield an acceptable English sentence:
slow – ly – the – boy – s – walk – ed– up – the – hill
up – the – hill – slow – ly – walk – ed – the – boy – s
Yet under all the permutations certain groups of morphemes behaves as
‘blocks’ — they occur always together, and in the same order relative to one
another. There is no possibility of the sequence s – the – boy, ly – slow or ed –
walk because boys, slowly, walked are three two-morpheme words in which the
suffixes –s, –ly and –ed must follow the base.
To illustrate the second, let’s consider the following sentences:
E.g.: Slowly, he walked down the street.
He slowly walked down the street.
He walked slowly down the street.
He walked down the street slowly.
Unlike small linguistic units such as phonemes and morphemes, words have
some freedom to move within a sentence without destroying their meaning.
Therefore, a word can be regarded as a minimal linguistic unit which is freely
movable with a meaning. 90 3. CLASSIFICATION
3.1. THE CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS ACCORDING TO THEIR STRUCTURE
English words may be classified on the basis of the kinds (free vs. bound
morphemes) and the combinations of morphemes (free + free, or free + bound,
or bound + bound) of which they are composed.
3.1.1. SIMPLE WORDS consist of a single free base (= a free morpheme):
stay, flea, long, spirit, eucalyptus, Connecticut, etc.
3.1.2. COMPLEX WORDS contain at least one bound morpheme as an
immediate constituent. They fall into two subclasses:
3.1.2.1. Complex words–FB (free-base) have one free morpheme as an
IC: lion ⏐ –ess ‘female’
un– ‘not’ ⏐certain
rain ⏐ –y ‘having’ or ‘marked by’ re– ‘again’⏐birth
deep ⏐ –en ‘make’
dis– ‘do the opposite of’⏐appear
3.1.2.2. Complex words–BB (bound base) have a bound morpheme for
each IC: tele– ‘far’⏐ –vise ‘see’
matri– ‘mother’⏐ –cide ‘killing’
pre– ‘beforehand, in advance’⏐ –clude ‘shut, close’
ex– ‘out of, out from’⏐ –tract ‘take, get’
termin– ‘end’⏐ –ate ‘giving (to sth) a specified quality’
rupt– ‘break’⏐ –ure ‘action of…, process of…’
somnifer– ‘sleep’⏐ –ous ‘having the quality or characteristic of’
3.1.3. COMPOUND WORDS (also called COMPOUNDS) have at least two free
bases (free morphemes) with or without bound morphemes. E.g.: high ⏐ born north ⏐ east desk ⏐ lamp (–s) ill ⏐ treat (–ed)
3.1.3.1. THE FEATURES OF COMPOUNDS
3.1.3.1.1. The phonological feature:
The elements of a compound word are stressed. Some compounds are
differentiated from grammatical structures by their patterns of stress. The
primary-secondary pattern enables us to contrast compound nouns like
bluebell, redcoat and greenhouse with the grammatical structures of a modifier
plus a noun, as in blue bell, red coat and green house. 91
3.1.3.1.2. The syntactic feature:
c Order: the arrangement of the elements in a compound may differ
from that of a grammatical structure in order. Verbs + Adverbial Particles Compounds
collapse = fall down downfall = a fall from a position of prosperity or power
start suddenly = break out
outbreak = a sudden appearance or start
d Indivisibility: Compound words are considered as solid blocks. They
cannot be divided by the insertion of any other elements. But grammatical
structures can be so divided. As illustration, let us compare two sentences:
(1) She is a sweetheart. (a compound noun).
(2) She has a sweet heart. (a grammatical structure).
In sentence (1), the compound word sweetheart is indivisible: you cannot
insert anything between sweet and heart. But in sentence (2), you could:
- She has a sweeter heart than her sister.
- She has a sweet, kind heart.
- She has a very sweet heart.
3.1.3.1.3. The semantic feature:
Compound words have specialised meanings. Therefore, knowing the
meaning of each element of a compound word does not make it possible to
figure out the meaning of the whole combination. It is said that compound
words have idiomatic status. E.g. The meaning of an ‘egghead’ is by no means
closely related to that of ‘egg’ and ‘head’.
3.1.3.2. THE TYPES OF COMPOUNDS
3.1.3.2.1. Derivational compounds are the compounds in which
the derivational suffix is attached to ‘the combination as a whole, not to one of
its elements: kind-hearted, old-timer, schoolboyishness, teen-ager’ [Arnold,
1986: 128]. Coining derivational compounds, we apply one of the following patterns:
c noun base + noun base + –er: footballer ‘one who plays football’,
honeymooner ‘one who is enjoying his or her honeymoon’, mill-owner ‘one who
owns a mill’, backbencher ‘an M.P. occupying the back bench’, eye-opener
‘enlightening circumstance’, first-nighter ‘habitual frequenter of the first
performance of plays’, left-hander ‘left-handed person or blow’, etc. 92
d adjective base + noun base + –ed: absent-minded, light-hearted, bare-
legged, black-haired, blue-eyed, ill-mannered, many-sided, short-sighted, far- sighted etc.
e noun base + noun base + –ed: bow-legged, war-minded, heart-shaped, moon-shaped, etc.
f number base + noun base + –ed: five-coloured, three-fingered, one-
eyed, two-headed, etc.
3.1.3.2.2. Repetitive compounds can be subcategorized into:
c Reduplicative compounds are the compounds in which the second
element is the proper repetition of the first element ‘with intensifying effect’
[Arnold, 1986: 130]. They are usually, but not always, onomatopoeic words (i.e.
imitations of natural sounds): drip-drip ‘sound of rain drops dripping down
from a tree, the roof of a house, etc.’, tap-tap ‘sound of quick light blows e.g. at
the door, on one’s shoulder, etc.’, hush-hush ‘very secret or confidential’, fifty-
fifty ‘shared or sharing between two equally’, pooh-pooh ‘sound to express
contempt’, blah-blah ‘nonsense’ or ‘idle talk’, murmur (a borrowing from
French meaning) ‘low continuous indistinct sound’, quack-quack ‘duck’, Pops-
pops ‘father’, pretty-pretty ‘affectedly pretty’, goody-goody ‘behaving so as to
appear very virtuous and respected’, never-never (an ellipsis of ‘the never-never
system’ meaning) ‘a hire-purchase system in which the consumer may never be
able to become the owner of the thing purchased’, etc.
Ex1 Should he give them half a minute of blah-blah or tell them what has
been passing through his mind?
Ex2 Jim: They’ve got a smashing telly, a fridge and another set of bedroom
furniture in silver-grey.
Alice: All on the never-never, what’ll happen if he loses his job?
d Ablaut compounds are ‘twin forms consisting of one basic morpheme
(usually the second), sometimes a pseudo-morpheme which is repeated in the
other constituent with a different vowel’ [Arnold, 1986: 130]. The typical changes are:
[1] _ [`]: chit-chat n
[U] (infml) chat, gossip, easy familiar talk
tittle-tattle n
[C] (infml) silly or trivial talk; petty gossip; v
[I] gossip, talk about unimportant things 93
shilly-shally v
[I] hesitate, unable to make up one’s mind dilly-dally v [I] waste time, dawdle knick-knack n
(esp pl) small articles of ornament, usu of little value zigzag adj
[attrib] (of a line, path, etc) turning
right and left alternatively at a sharp angles riff-raff n
[U] (esp the riff-raff) ill-behaved people
of the lowest social class, the rabble
[1] _ [4]: tip-top adj
(infml) excellent, first rate ping-pong n [U] table-tennis sing-song adj
(of a voice or way of speaking) having a rising and falling rhythm see-saw n
[sing] up-and-down or to-and-fro motion v
[I] move up-and-down or to-and-fro
e Rhyme compounds are ‘twin forms consisting of two elements (most
often two pseudo-morphemes), which are conjoined to rhyme’ [Arnold, 1986:
130]: boogie-woogie ‘type of blues music’, harum-scarum ‘disorganized’, helter-
skelter ‘in disorderly haste’, hoity-toity ‘snobbish’, humdrum ‘bored’, hurry-
scurry ‘great hurry’, hurdy-gurdy ‘a small organ’, lovey-dovey ‘darling’, mumbo-
jumbo ‘deliberate mystification, fetish’, namby-pamby ‘weakly sentimental’,
titbit ‘an especially attractive bit of food’, willy-nilly ‘compulsorily’, pell-mell ‘in
disorder, untidy’, hurly-burly ‘noisy and energetic activity, esp. of many people together’, etc.
3.2. THE CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS ACCORDING TO THEIR WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES
3.2.1. COINAGE is the creation of totally new words by:
c inventing names for new products: nylon, aspirin, etc.
d using specific brand names such as Vaseline or Frigidaire as the generic
name for different brands of these types of products.
e changing proper names of individuals or places to common nouns:
sandwich was named for the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who put his food
between two slices of bread so that he could eat while he gambled; robot was
named after the mechanical creature in the Czech writer Karel Capek’s play 94
R.U.R., the initials standing for ‘Rossum’s Universal Robot’; gargantuan was
named for the creature with a huge appetite created by Rabelais; jumbo was
named after an elephant brought to the U.S by P.T. Barnum; lazy Susan was
derived from the Susan, an unknown servant; denim was originally borrowed
form de Nimes (meaning ‘from Nimes’) in France.
Interestingly, COINAGE is one of the most uncommon processes of word formation in English.
3.2.2. BORROWING is the process by which words in a language are
borrowed from another. It is one of the most common processes in word
formation. English words have been borrowed:
• from French: champagne, garage, beige, rouge, couchette, etc.;
• from German: rucksack, kindergarten, etc.;
• from Italian: cantata, opera, concerto, etc.;
• from American Indian languages: shampoo, cot, etc.
3.2.3. BLENDING is the fusion of two words into one, usually the first part
of one word with the last part of another.
For example, ‘sm− ’ in smoke has been combined with ‘−og’ in fog to create a
new word for the blend smog, which refers to a type of air pollution. Another
recent example is chunnel, which is the blend of tunnel and the English channel.
Some other blends (also called blendings, fusions or portmanteau words) are
smaze, from smoke and haze; motel, from motor (or motorist’s) and hotel;
slimnastics, from slim and gymnastics; breathalyzer/bloodalyzer, from
breath/blood and analyzer; brunch, from breakfast and lunch; Frenglish, from
French and English; slanguage, from slang and language; transceiver, from
transmitter and receiver; bit, from binary digit; positron, from positive electron;
spam, from spiced ham; etc,
Lewis Carroll, the author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the looking
glass’ made a special technique of using blends coined by himself such as
chortle, from chuckle and snort; galumph, from gallop and triumph; slithy,
from lithe and slimy; mimsy, f
rom flimsy and miserable, etc.
‘Blends, although not very numerous altogether, seem to be on the rise,
especially in terminology and also in trade advertisements.’ [Arnold, 1986: 142] 95
3.2.4. CLIPPING is the process of cutting off the beginning or the end of a
word, or both, leaving a part (the abbreviation or the clipped word) to stand for
the whole (the full form).
3.2.4.1. The end of the word is deleted in exam (from examination),
ad or advert (from advertisement), fan (from fanatic), lab (from laboratory),
dorm (from dormitory), prof (from professor), bike (from bicycle), gym (from
gymnasium), nark (from narcotics agent), demo (from demonstration), mike
(from microphone), telly (from television set), tec or dick (from detective), trank
(from tranquilizer), vac (
from vacuum cleaner), etc.
3.2.4.2. The beginning part of the word is removed in bus (from
omnibus), plane (from airplane), phone (from telephone), etc.
3.2.4.3. Influenza and refrigerator have been clipped at both ends,
producing flu and fridge (with a slight change of spelling in the latter example).
These clipped words are usually used in casual speech rather than in writing or formal speech.
3.2.5. ACRONYMY is the process whereby a word is formed from the
initials or beginning segments of a succession of words.
Acronyms can occur in capital or small letters. Sometimes the initials are
pronounced; in other cases, the initials and/or beginning segments are
pronounced as a commonly spelled word would be. In the case of proper nouns,
the resulting word is usually written in capital letter. NATO / ‘ne1t6 /
υ ‘North Atlantic Treaty Organization’
UNESCO /ju:’nesk6υ/ ‘United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’
NASA / ‘n`s6/ ‘National Aeronautics and Space Administration’
UNO / ’ju: n6υ/ ‘United Nations Organization’
WHO /,d/\blju: e1t∫ ‘6υ/ ‘World Health Organization’
G.I. /,d2i: ‘a1/ ‘Government Issue’
M.P. /,em ‘pi:/
‘Member of Parliament’, also ‘military police’
P.M. /,pi: ‘em/ ‘Prime Minister’
S.O.S /,es 6υ ‘es / ‘Save Our Souls’
TV or T.V. /,ti: ‘vi:/ ‘television’
But in other cases, we have what looks like a common noun.
laser /‘le1z6/ ‘light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation’
scuba /‘sku:b6/ ‘self-contained underwater breathing apparatus’ 96
radar /‘re1d6/ ‘radio detecting and ranging’
snafu /‘sn`fυ/ ‘situation normal; all fucked up’
3.2.6. CONVERSION consists of two subcategories:
3.2.6.1. COMPLETE CONVERSION is the process of shifting a word from
one word class to another without adding an affix. In other words, a word
which previously could only be used in a certain way to make sentences begins
to be used in another way though no change in form takes place. Most
instances involve the conversion of nouns to verbs or of verbs to nouns. The
following examples are basically based on Quirk at al [1973: 441-444]:
3.2.6.1.1. Major categories of complete conversion:
Lexical Verb → noun:
- ‘State’ (from stative verbs to nouns): doubt, love
- ‘Event/ activity’ (from dynamic verbs to nouns): laugh, walk - ‘Object of V’:
answer (‘that would be answered’), catch, buy - ‘Subject of V’:
bore (‘someone who bores/ is boring’), cheat
- ‘Instrument of V’: cover (‘something that covers things’), wrap
- ‘Manner of V-ing’: throw, walk - ‘Place of V’: retreat, turn
buy n [C] c act of buying; d thing bought: Best buys of the week are carrots
and cabbages, which are plentiful and cheap.
Adjective → noun:
Miscellaneous examples are daily (‘daily newspaper’), comic (‘comic actor’),
(young) marrieds (‘young married people’; informal). The adjective noun can
be explained in terms of a well-established adjective + noun phrase from
which the noun has been ellipted.
comic adj [usu attrib] c funny, causing people to laugh: a comic song,
performance, etc; d of, containing or using comedy: comic opera, a comic actor.
comic n [C] comedian: a popular TV comic.
Noun → lexical verb - ‘Put in/on N’: bottle, corner - ‘Deprive of N’:
peel (‘remove the peel from’), skin
- ‘To … with N as instrument’:
brake, knife (stab with a knife), campaign
- ‘Be/ Act as N with respect to …’: nurse, referee
- ‘Make/ change … into N’: cash, cripple, silence 97
- ‘(a) Send/ (b) Go by N’:
(a) mail, ship; (b) bicycle, motor
- ‘Give N, to provide N with’:
coat (give a coat of paint, etc to’), mask, carpet silence v
[Tn] cause (sb/sth) to be silent or
quiet(er): His voice silenced everyone else. campaign v
[Tn] organize a campaign: Communists
in Newcastle are campaigning against rent increase. carpet v
[Tn] cover (sth) with a carpet: We are
going to have the hallway carpeted.
Adjective → lexical verb
- Transitive verbs meaning ‘make (more) Adj’: calm, dirty, wet
- Intransitive verbs meaning ‘become Adj’: dry, empty wet adj
covered, soaked or moistened with
liquid, esp. water: wet roads, grass, clothes, etc. wet v
[Tn] make (sth) wet: Wet the clay a bit
more before you start to mould it.
Sometimes a phrasal verb is derived from an adjective by the addition of a
particle: He calmed himself down (‘made himself calm’). He calmed down (‘became calm’).
This category of conversion competes with –en suffixation, and sometimes
both derivations are available for the same adjective: He blacked/ blackened his face with soot.
3.2.6.1.2. Minor categories of complete conversion
Auxiliary Verb → noun: must n
[C] thing that must be done, seen,
heard, etc: This novel is a must for all lovers of crime fiction.
Phrase → noun: When I gamble, my horse is one of the also-rans (i.e.
one of the horses which ‘also ran’ but was not among the winners) 98
Phrase → adjective: I feel very under-the-weather (i.e. indisposed),
Have you ever experienced such an under-the- weather feeling?
Affix → noun:
Ism [noun-forming suffix → countable noun] theory, doctrine, movement:
Patriotism and any other isms you’d like to name.
Non-count noun → count noun:
- ‘A unit of N’: two coffees (‘cups of coffee’)
- ‘A kind of N’: Some paints are more lasting than others
- ‘A instance of N’ (with abstract nouns): a difficulty
Count noun → non-count noun:
‘N viewed in terms of a measurable extent’ (normally only after
expressions of amount): a few square feet of floor. floor n
[C, usu singular] surface of a room on
which one stands, walks, etc: The bare
concrete floor was cold on my feet. floor n
[U] extent, range, area, length
Proper noun → common noun (initial capital usually retained):
- ‘A member of the class typified by N’: a Jeremiah (‘a gloomy prophet)
- ‘A person or place called N’: There are several Cambridges (‘places
called Cambridge’) in the world.
- ‘A product of N or a sample or collection of N’s work’: a Rolls Royce (‘a
car manufactured by Rolls Royce’), a Sony, a complete Shakespeare
- ‘Something associate with N’: Wellingtons
Stative noun → dynamic noun fool n
[stative] person who lack in good sense
or judgement; idiot: Remember that she’s not a fool. fool n
[dynamic] (formerly) man employed by
a king, noble, etc. to amuse others with
jokes and tricks; clown or jester: He’s
being a fool. (‘He’s behaving like a fool.’) 99
Intransitive Verb → transitive verb run v
[I] move at a speed faster than a walk,
never having both or all the feet on the
ground at the same time: She ran out of the house to see what was happening. run v
[Tn] ‘cause to V’: London Transport run
extra trains during the rush-hour.
Transitive Verb → intransitive verb
- ‘Can be V-ed’ (often followed by an adverb such as well or badly): Your book reads well.
- ‘V oneself’: Have you washed yet? (washed yourself’)
- ‘V someone/something/etc’: We have eaten already.
- ‘Be V-ed’: The door opened.
Intransitive Verb → intensive verb - ‘Current meaning’: lie v
[I] have or put one’s body in a flat or
resting position on a horizontal surface:
He was lying on his front/side/back. lie v
[intensive] be, remain or be kept in a
certain state: He lay flat. - ‘Resulting meaning’: fall v
[I] come or go down from force of
weight, loss of balance, etc.; descend or
drop: The rain was falling steadily. fall v
[intensive] become; pass into a specified
state: He fell flat/silent/ill/asleep. She
fell an easy prey to his charm.
Intensive verb → intransitive verb turn v
[I] become; pass into a specified state:
The milk turned sour in the heat. turn v
[I] become sour: The milk turned.
Mono-transitive Verb → complex transitive verb - ‘Current meaning’: 10 0 catch v
[mono-trans] stop and hold (a moving
object) esp in hands: The dog caught the biscuit in his mouth. catch v
[complex trans] find, discover (sb doing
sth or sb in a certain state): We caught them young. - ‘Resulting meaning’: wipe v
[mono-trans] clean or dry sth by
rubbing its surface with a cloth, a piece
of paper, etc.: Please wipe your feet
before entering this room. wipe v
[complex trans] make sth clean, flat,
smooth, etc. by wiping it: I wiped it clean.
Non-gradable adjective → gradable adjective legal adj
[non-gradable] of or based on law: my
legal adviser/ representative. legal adj
[gradable] allowed or required by the
law: I have a very legal turn of mind.
Why shouldn’t I take a holiday? It’s perfectly legal.
Stative adjective → dynamic adjective friendly adj [stative] showing or expressing
kindness: a friendly smile, manner, welcome, gesture, etc. friendly adj
[dynamic] behaving in a kind and
pleasant way; acting like a friend: He’s
just being friendly (‘acting in a friendly
manner’). The children here are quite
friendly with one another.
Adverb or a preposition → verb up prep
to or in a higher position: She ran up the stairs. up adv
to or in an upright position; to or
in an higher place, position, condition, 101
degree, etc.: Stand up! Pull your socks up! Lift your head up! up v
[I] (infml) get or jump up; rouse oneself:
She upped and left without a word. up v
[Tn] (infml) increase (sth): They upped the price. down prep
from a high(er) point on sth to a lower
one: The stone rolled down the hill. down adv
from a higher to a lower level: The ice-
cream slipped down easily — it was cold and delicious. down v
[Tn] knock (sb) to the ground: He suddenly downed his wife. down v
[Tn] (infml) finish (a drink) quickly: We
downed our beer and left.
3.2.6.2. APPROXIMATE CONVERSION is the process by which ‘a word, in
the course of changing its grammatical function, may undergo a slight change
of pronunciation or spelling …:
- Voicing of final consonants (noun → verb): advice → advise, thief → thieve,
sheath → sheathe, and (not shown in spelling) house → house.
- Shift of stress: when verbs of two syllables are converted into nouns, the
stress is sometimes shifted from the second to the first syllable: conduct,
conflict, contrast, convert, convict, export, extract, import, insult, permit,
present, produce, rebel, record.
3.2.7. AFFIXATION is the process by which an affix is added to a base to form a new word.
This process can be subdivided into prefixation and s uffixation.
3.2.7.1. PREFIXATION is the addition of a prefix in front of a base like
in pro-life, recycle, deselect, etc.
Below are a number of prefixes, including some initial combining forms and
initial segments that appropriately belong with them even if by some criteria
they are more properly analysed as initial bases in compounds. The following
list is basically based on Greenbaum [1996: 444-452]:
pro– meaning ‘on the other side of’: pro-choice, pro-life, pro-market, etc 10 2
anti– meaning c ‘against’ or ‘opposed to’: antibody, anti-abortion, anticoagulant, etc;
d ‘spurious’: anti-hero, antichrist, anticlimax, etc;
e ‘preventing’: antiseptic, antifreeze, antacid, etc.
contra– meaning c ‘against’: contraception, contra-indicate, etc;
d ‘contrasting’: contra-flow, contradistinction, etc.
counter– meaning ‘in opposition to’: counterespionage, counter-example, etc
de– meaning c ‘reverse of ’ or ‘do the opposite of’: decriminalize,
deselect, decontaminate, etc;
d ‘remove from’: debug, defrost, delouse, etc;
e ‘(cause to) depart from’: deplane, detrain, decamp, etc. dis– meaning
c ‘reverse of ’ or ‘do the opposite of’: disqualify, disinvite, disenfranchise, etc;
d ‘remove from’: disillusion, disambiguate, disarm, etc;
e ‘not’: disloyal, distrust, disagree, etc.
un– meaning c ‘reverse of ’ or ‘do the opposite of’: unscramble, untie, unlock, etc;
d ‘remove from’: unleaded, unmask, unfrock, etc;
e ‘not’: uninviting, unknown, unhappily, etc. a– meaning
c ‘not’: atheist, asymmetric, etc;
d ‘not affected by’: amoral, apolitical, asexual, etc.
crypto– meaning ‘concealed’: crypto-fascist, crypto-Catholic, cryptography, etc
mal– meaning c ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’: mal-practice, mal-formation, mal- nutrition, etc;
d ‘badly’ or ‘wrongly’: mal-function, mal-treat, mal- adjusted, etc.
mis– meaning c ‘wrong’: mismanagement, misinformation, mismarriage, etc;
d ‘wrongly’: miscalculate, misgovern, mishandle, etc.
pseudo– meaning c ‘false’: pseudo-education, pseudo-intellectual, pseudo- science, etc;
d ‘imitation’: pseudo-Elizabethan, pseudo-Gothic, etc.
ante– meaning c ‘before’ (place): ante-chamber, ante-room, etc;
d ‘before’ (time): antenatal, antedate, etc. 103
circum– meaning ‘around’: circumlocution, circumcision, circumnavigate, etc
extra– meaning ‘outside’ or ‘beyond’: extramaterial, extracurricular, extrasensory, etc fore– meaning
c ‘in front’ (place): f
orefinger, forecount, foreskin, etc;
d ‘front part of’ (place): forehead, forefront, foreground, etc;
e ‘before’ (time): foresee, foretell, foreplay, etc.
in– (and also i
l–, im– and i r–) meaning
c ‘in’: ingathering, indoors, in-patient, etc;
d ‘into’: ingrown, immigrate, import, etc.
inter– meaning ‘between’: interratial, international, interdiscilinary, etc
intra– meaning ‘inside’: intramural, intra-uterine, intravenous, etc
mid– meaning c ‘middle’ (place): midfield, mid-point, midway, etc;
d ‘middle’ (time): mid-afternoon, midwinter, midnight, etc.
out– meaning c ‘out of’ or ‘outside’: outdoor, out-patient, outlook, etc;
d ‘surpass’: outdistance, outbid, outnumber, etc.
over– meaning c ‘from above’ or ‘outer’: overthrow, overshadow, overcoat, etc;
d ‘excessive’: overemphasis, over-enthusiasm, etc.
retro– meaning ‘backwards’: retroflex, retrorocket, retroject, etc.
sub– meaning c ‘under’ or ‘below’: subway, subsoil, sub-conscious, etc;
d ‘secondary’: sub-editor, sub-dean, etc;
e ‘below the normal’: subhuman, substandard, subzero, etc;
f ‘subordinate part (of)’: subcommittee, sub-pilot, sublet, subtitle, etc.
super– meaning c ‘above’ or ‘over’: superstructure, superimpose, superior, etc;
d ‘excessive’: superconformity, superconfidence, superterestrial, etc;
e ‘excessively’: supersensitive, superubundant, supercritical, etc;
f ‘beyond the norm’: superhuman, supergun, superstar, etc. 10 4
supra– meaning ‘above’: supranational, supramundance, etc
sur– meaning ‘above’: surtax, surcharge, surtitle, etc
tele– meaning ‘at a distance’: telecommunication, telephoto, television, etc
trans– meaning ‘across’: transatlantic, transnational, transsexual, etc
ultra– meaning c ‘beyond’: ultraviolet, ultrasonic, etc;
d ‘excessively’ or ‘extremely’: ultramodest, ultra-thin,
ultra-modern, etc.
under– meaning c ‘below’: underground, undercarriage, underclothes, etc;
d ‘too litle’: under-charge, underpay, undercook, etc;
e ‘subodinate’: under-secretary, underclass, etc.
micro– meaning c ‘small’: microtransmitter, micro-computer,
microsurgery, etc; d ‘minute’: micro-organism, microgram, microscope, etc.
macro– meaning ‘large’: macrocosm, macro-organism, macro-economics, etc
mini– meaning ‘small’: miniseries, minibreak, minicab, etc
midi– meaning ‘medium’: midibus, midicomputer, etc
maxi– meaning ‘maximum’: maxiskirt, maximize, maximal, etc
mega– meaning ‘very large’: megastar, megastore, megawatt, etc
hyper– meaning ‘huge and complex’: hypersensitive, hypercritical, hypertension, etc
ex– meaning ‘former’: ex-wife, ex-president, ex-colony, etc
neo– meaning ‘new’ or ‘reform of’: neo-colonialism, neo-conservative, neo-imperialist, etc
post– meaning ‘after’ (time): p
ost-modernism, post-structuralist, etc
pre– meaning ‘before’ (time): p
repay, pre-existing, predate, preview, etc
re– meaning ‘again’: reprint, reapply, renew, etc arch– meaning
‘chief’: archbishop, archangel, arch-rival, etc co– meaning
‘joint’: co-author, co-founder, co-presenter, etc pro– meaning
‘deputy’: proconsul, pro-vice-chancellor, etc 105 vice– meaning
‘deputy’: vice-president, vice-chancellor, vice-admiral, etc mono– meaning
‘single’ or ‘one’: monotheism, monorail, monoplane, etc uni– meaning
‘one’: unidirectional, unidimentional, unilateral, etc poly– meaning
‘many’: polysyllabic, polytheism, polygraph, etc multi– meaning
‘many’: multi-faith, multinational, multimillionaire, etc
semi– meaning c ‘half’: semi-circle, semi-final, etc; d ‘partly’: semi-
automatic, semi-conscious, semi-official, etc.
hemi– meaning ‘half’: hemisphere, hemistich, etc. bi– meaning
‘two’: bi-focal, bilingual, bilateral, etc di– meaning
‘two’: dioxide, di-gragh, etc
du(o)– meaning
‘two’: duologue, duplex, etc tri– meaning
‘three’: tri-partite, triangle, triennial, etc en– (also e
m–) c [for transitive verbs from nouns] meaning ‘put in’:
encode, endanger, ensure, etc;
d [for intransitive verbs from nouns] meaning ‘put oneself
into or onto’: enlist, enrol, embark, etc;
e [for transitive verbs from nouns] meaning ‘make into’:
enslave, ennoble, etc;
f [for transitive verbs from adjectives] meaning ‘make’:
enlarge, enrich, ensure, embitter, etc. auto– meaning
‘self’: auto-graph, auto-pilot, auto-suggestion, etc.
para– meaning c ‘ancillary’: paramilitary, paralegal, paramilitary, etc;
d ‘beyond the scope of’: paranormal, parapsychology, etc.
3.2.7.2. SUFFIXATION is the addition of a suffix at the end of a base
like in ageism, marginalize, additive, etc.
Below are suffixes that continue to be productive in English. The following
list is basically based on Greenbaum [1996: 454-457]:
• verb-forming suffixes: –fy,–ify:
beautify, countrify, purify, classify, personify, etc
–ise, – ize: capitalize, modernize, popularize, terrorize, etc 10 6
• adjective-forming suffixes:
–able, –ible: readable, profitable, edible, visible, etc –al, –ial:
capital, national, managerial, editorial, etc –ed:
bored, cultured, heavy-handed, etc –ing:
boring, interesting, charming, etc –ful:
powerful, careful, resentful, etc –less:
careless, harmless, restless, etc –ic:
Arabic, aristocratic, dramatic, Arabic, etc –ish:
Swedish, feverish, youngish, moreish (or morish), etc –like:
childlike, godlike, statementlike, etc –y:
funny, sleepy, choosy, etc
• the adverb-forming suffix {–ly1}: candidly, surprisingly, amiably, etc
• suffixes of concrete nouns:
–ant, –ent: informant, claimant, solvent, etc –ee:
trainee, mortgagee, absentee, etc –er:
teacher, carer, toaster, etc –ery, –ry:
brewery, machinery, weaponry, etc –ing:
clothing, flooring, drawing, etc –ist:
socialist, novelist, sexist, etc
• suffixes of abstract nouns: –age:
postage, spillage, drainage, etc –al:
betrayal, dismissal, deferral, etc –dom:
freedom, martyrdom, officialdom, etc –ery, –ry:
snobbery, chemistry, summitry, etc –ing:
cleaning, gardening, manufacturing, etc –ism:
idealism, favoritism, ageism, etc –ity:
responsibility, technicality, publicity, etc –ment:
arrangement, embarrassment, bewilderment, etc –ness:
usefulness, carelessness, willingness, etc –ship:
dictatorship, editorship, scholarship, etc
–ion (also –tion, –sion, –xion, –ation and –ition): confession, objection,
explosion, collaboration, competition, etc 107
Affixation resembles conversion in that they may change the grammatical
potential of a word, but unlike conversion, affixation involves a change of form.
3.2.8. BACK-FORMATION is the process of deriving words by removing
what is thought to be a suffix from an existing word. This is just the reverse of
the customary process of suffixation.
3.2.8.1. Back-formation applies chiefly to the coining of verbs from nouns:
Ex.1: The three verbs emote, enthuse, televise were back-formed from the
nouns emotion, enthusiasm an d television.
Ex.2: The verbs peddle, hawk, stoke, swindle, edit, baby-sit, and team-teach
all came into the language as back-formations — of peddler, hawker, stoker,
swindler, editor, baby-sitter (or baby-sitting), and team-teacher (or team- teaching).
Ex.3: Recent back-formations include the adjective abled from disabled and
the verb explete from e xpletive.
3.2.8.2. Two major sources of backformation are (1) nouns (including
compounds nouns) ending in –er/–or/ –ar or –ing, and (2) nouns ending in
–tion or –ion. It is not always possible to determine for the first group whether
the source is the agent suffix or the –ing suffix. Examples of theses two groups
are given below, followed by a miscellaneous group (3):
(1a) peddle, hawk, stoke, swindle, burgle, edit, commentate, scavenge,
sculpt baby-sit, and team-teach.
(1b) air-condition, brainstorm, brainwash, browbeat, dry-clean, house-
hunt, housekeep, sightsee and tape-record.
(2) articulate, assassinate, co-educate, demarcate, emote, intuit,
legislator, marinate and o rate
(3) diagnose (from diagnosis), enthuse (from enthusiasm), laze (from
lazy), liaise (from liaison), reminisce (from reminiscence), statistic
(from statistics) and t elevise (from t elevision)
In all the above cases, one form of the words enters the language first, and
another form is created afterwards.
3.2.9. COMPOUNDING is the process of combining two or more existing
words to form a new one.
3.2.9.1. Compounds contrast with phrases, which consist of two or
more words that are grammatically related: a large card, beautiful pictures. 10 8
3.2.9.2. Compounds are found in all word classes: Nouns:
pop group, whistle-blower, date-rape Adjectives:
class-ridden, heart-breaking, homesick Verbs:
cold-shoulder, highlight, babysit Adverbs:
good-naturedly, however, nowadays Pronouns :
anyone, everything, nobody Numerals:
sixty-three, nine-tenths Prepositions:
as for, because of, next to Semi-auxiliaries:
be going to, had better, have got to Conjunctions:
except that, rather than, whenever
3.2.9.3. Historically, compound verbs are derived chiefly from nouns.
They may be derived by conversion, simply a shift in word class from a
compound noun without any other change: black-mail, cold-shoulder,
daydream. Or they may be derived by back-formation, the removal of a suffix:
babysit (from babysitting or babysitter), double-park (from double-parking),
shoplift (from shoplifting or shoplifter).
3.2.9.4. New coinages are mainly compound nouns and adjectives.
Nouns: heartache, bigwig, highbrow, flatfoot, bedclothes, houseboat,
turncoat, footballer, speedometer, teach-in, space-walk, heartburn, son-in-law,
sergeant-at-arms, smoke screen, mother-of-pearl, chain-smoker, wastepaper-
basket, lighthouse-keeper, man about town, eating apples, spending money,
falling stars, laughing gas, etc.
Adjectives: up-and-coming, up-to-date, out-of-date, dim-witted, semi-
detached, heart-broken, worldly-wise, Afro-Asian, etc. EXERCISES
EXERCISE 1: Make the first IC cut in the words below which permit such
cutting. Then classify each word as: S simple;
C-BB complex with two bound forms as IC’s;
C-FB complex with one free form as an IC.
Complete the table given below: 109 1 knave S n [C] a dishonest man
adj deceitful, dishonest; –ish (adj-forming 2 knav(e) | –ish
C-FB suffix) = ‘of the nature of’, ‘resembling’
n [C] diagram consisting of a) line or lines
(often curved) showing the variation of two 3 graph quantities;
v [Tn] write, record or draw using graphs
v [Tn] send a message in printed form; 4 telegraph
tele– = ‘far’
v [I, Ipr, Ip, Tn, Tn.pr, Tn.p] ∼(with/into sth); 5 merge
∼ (together); (∼A with B/ ∼A and B) (cause
two things to) come together and combine
v [I, Ipr] ∼ (from sth) come out or up (from water, etc) 6 emerge
e– = out(ward) + merge (from Latin ‘merger’
meaning ‘dip’, ‘sink’, ‘plunge’ or ‘immerge’)
n [C] feeble-minded man, person with 7 moron subnormal intelligence
v [Tn] say in advance that (sth) will happen; 8 predict
pre– = ‘beforehand’ or ‘in advance’; –dict = ‘say’
n [C] person who pays great attention to
correctness, especially in the use of language 9 purist or in the arts;
–ist (noun-forming suffix) = ‘a person who…’
adj of or concerning a comic; amusing and odd; 10 comical
–al (adj-forming suffix) = ‘of’ or ‘concerning’ 11 carn– | –al
C-BB adj of the flesh or the body; c arn– = flesh
adj of or concerning a sophist; 12 sophistic
–ic (adj-forming suffix) = ‘of’ or ‘concerning’ 11 0
n [C] one who hates women; misogyn– | –ist
mis(o)– = hating or hatred of: misogyn– | –y C-BB /m6‘s
‘ 4d26n1/ n [U] hatred of women; 13 /m6‘s4d26n1st/ misanthropist /m6‘s
‘ `n8r6p1st/ n [C] one who
hates mankind and avoid human society
n [U] refusing or being refused; n [C] act of 14 refusal refusing;
–al (noun-forming suffix)=‘process or state of ‘
n [C] one who carries luggage for payment at a 15 porter
station, an airport, etc.; port– = ‘carry’
v [Cnt] make (sb) able to do sth by giving him 16 enable
the necessary authority or means; en– = ‘make’ 17 mete v [Tn] measure
n [C] device that measures the volume of gas, 18 meter
water, time, electric current, distance, etc
n [C] device that keeps very accurate time, 19 chronometer
used especially for navigating at sea;
chron(o)– = ‘of or relating to time’
n [U] system of government by the whole
people of a country, especially through
representatives whom they elect dem(o)– = ‘of population’, ‘of people’:
demagogue /‘dem6949/ n [C] political leader
who tries to win people’s support by using
emotional and often unreasonable arguments; demography /d6‘m
‘ 49r6f1/ n [U] study of 20 democracy
statistics of birth , deaths, disease, etc in
order to show the state of a community
–cracy = ‘government or rule of’: technolcracy n
[U] control or management of a country’s
industrial resources by technical experts;
bureaucracy n [U] system government through
departments managed by State officials, not by
elected representatives 111
EXERCISE 2: Indicate whether each italicized and underlined
expression is a compound (Comp) or a grammatical structure (GS). Pay no
attention to hyphens or spaces, for these are deceptive. Complete the table given below:
1 Comp Jim’s car is a hardtop. (= a car with a metal roof)
This jar has a rather hard top. 2 GS
(= The jar has a top which is rather hard.) 3
It was a jack-in-the-box. 4
The plant in the box is rare.
A ‘hot ,dog (= a hot sausage served in hot bread roll, often with 5
onions and mustard) is not a ,hot ‘dog. 6 GS
A ‘hot ,dog is not a ,h
, ot ‘dog. (= a dog which is hot) 7
He has a dog in the manger attitude. 8
He has a dog in the manger attitude. 9
She has a ,strong ‘hold on him. 10
She has a ‘stronghold on him. 11
George found his father-in-law. 12
George found his father in trouble. 13
They bought it in the ‘black ,market.
The electricity went off, and we caught in 14
a black, completely lightless, market.
His spending money was a source of annoyance to his father.
15 Comp (= the money spent by him)
His spending money was a source of annoyance to his father. 16 GS
(= the way according to which he spends his money) 11 2
EXERCISE 3: Classify the following items with these symbols: S Simple
C-BB Complex with two bound forms as IC’s
C-FB Complex with one free form as an IC Comp Compound GS Grammatical structure
With three classes C-BB, C-FB, and WCp, make the first IC cut.
Complete the table given below: sharpshooter sharp | shooter 1 Comp
(one who is killed at a shooting with a gun) 2 GS
a sharp shooter (one who shoots sharply) 3 S act 4 react 5 Comp
storekeeper (the keeper of a store) store | keeper 6 C-FB
Highlander (one who lives in the Highland) Highland | –er 7 apparatus 8 contain 9 recur 10 C-BB current cur(r)– | –ent 11 unearth 12 referee 13 solve 14 C-FB dissolve dis– | solve 15 solvent 16 Comp
bull’s eye (the center of a target)
buùll’s | eøye 17 GS
the bull’s eye (the eye of the bull) buøll’s | eùye 18 passbook 19 disapproval 20 inaccessible 113
EXERCISE 4: Give the original words from which these clipped words were
formed. Complete the table given below: 1 ad 13 memo 2 gas 14 cello 3 taxi 15 bus ← omnibus 4 cab ← cabriolet
16 coon ← racoon 5 frat ← fraternity 17 Phil 6 photo 18 Joe 7 gin ← Geneva 19 Tom 8 curio 20 Al
←Albert, Alfred or Alvin 9 wig 21 Fred 10 bra ← brassieøre 22 Bert 11 brandy 23 Gene
12 pike (road) ← turnpike 24 Beth
25 maitre d’ /,meItr6‘di:/
← maitre d’ hotel /,meItr6 ‘d6υ tel/
EXERCISE 5: Give the original of each of the following blends. Complete the table given below: 1 smog 2 telecast ← television + broadcast 3 electrocute 4 splatter ← splash + spatter 5 Amerindian 6 Eurasian 7 newsboy 8 medicare
EXERCISE 6: Give the blends that result from fusing these words. Complete the table given below:
1 happening + circumstances → 2 automobile + omnibus → 3 escalade + elevator → escalator 11 4 4 blare or blow + spurt → 5 squall+ squeak → squawk
EXERCISE 7: Pronounce these acronyms and give their originals. Complete the table given below: 1 UN /,ju: ‘en/ United Nations 2 MC 3 BBC 4 AD 5 BC
6 TESL /,ti: i: es ‘el/ or /‘tesl/
Teaching English as a Second Language 7 EFL 8 VIP 9 FIFA 10 NAM
/,en e1 ‘em/
National Association of Manufacturers
EXERCISE 8: These verbs are back-formations. Write the words from which
they are formed. Complete the table given below: 1 bootleg ← bootlegger 2 typewrite 3 coronate 4 resurrect ← resurrection 5 baby-sit 6 advance-register
← advance-registration 7 laze 8 jell 9 escalate 10 reminisce ← reminiscence 11 orate ← oration 12 donate 13 televise 115
EXERCISE 9: Indicate the meaning relation between the parts of the
following English compounds. Complete the table given below: 1 chessboard = board for playing chess on 2 flycatcher
= bird that catches flies for food 3 sunlight 4 daybreak 5 frostbite = bite from frost 6 driftwood 7 popcorn 8 handshake
9 brainwashing (fig) = washing of the brain 10 match maker 11 mince-meat 12 drinking-water 13 typing-paper 14 sleepwalking = walking in one’s sleep 15 sunbather 16 homework 17 workbench 18 motorcycle = cycle powered by a motor 19 silkworm 20 sawdust 21 doorknob = knob on a door 22 tape-measure 23 soap-flake 24 cowshed
= person with butter on his fingers, person who is
25 butterfingers likely to drop things. 11 6
EXERCISE 10: Match each expression under A with the one statement under B that characterizes it. A B a. noisy crow 1. compound noun b. eat crow
2. base morpheme plus derivational prefix c. scarecrow
3. phrase consisting of adjective plus noun d. the crow
4. base morpheme plus inflectional suffix e. crow-like
5. base morpheme plus derivational suffix f. crows 6. idiom
7. grammatical morpheme followed by lexical morpheme
EXERCISE 11: Is long-eared a compound word? How is it different from
other compounds like teacup or greenhouse? ANSWER:
First, as far as their STRUCTURE is concerned, long-eared is a derivational
compound: it consists of three morphemes: the two free bases ‘long’ and ‘ear’
and one bound morpheme is ‘−ed’ whereas teacup or greenhouse are made up of only two free bases.
Second, as far as their SPELLING is concerned, there is a hyphen between
the two free bases of the derivational compound ‘long−eared’ while there is no
space between those of the common compounds ‘teacup’ and ‘greenhouse’.
Finally, as far as their PART OF SPEECH is concerned, ‘long−eared’ is a
compound adjective whereas ‘teacup’ and ‘greenhouse’ are two compound nouns.
EXERCISE 12: Comment on the following definition of words: ‘A word is a
group of morphemes that have meaning.’ ANSWER:
Generally speaking, it is acceptable to define a word as a group of
morphemes that have meaning because there are many English words of two or
more morphemes: decentralization, undoubtedly, irresistible, etc. However, this
definition of words is not always true. In other words, it does not hold for all of
the words in the English language.
Firstly, many English words consist of only one morpheme such as doubt,
lion, narrow, crocodile, Connecticut, etc. 117
Secondly, not all words in English have lexical meaning, the meaning we
can look up in a dictionary. For example, the definite article the; the function
of which is to modify the noun, the noun phrase or the pronoun following it;
has no specific lexical meaning.
Last but not least, a number of English prepositions are used without any
specific meaning when they are attached to particular verbs, adjectives or nouns. c Verb:
They blamed the mess on Jim.
They blamed Jim for the mess.
d Adjective: They’re interested in sports.
She’s clever at dealing with critical clients. e Noun:
Recently there has been public concern for/ about corruption.
I have my deepest sympathies on the death of your wife.
The prepositions in the above mentioned examples have purely syntactic
relational functions: they conjoin verbs, adjectives or nouns to their following
objects or complements. The prepositions are more or less lexically
meaningless. They are predictable, that is, they can hardly be replaced by any other prepositions.
EXERCISE 13: In the light of compound nouns and noun phrases, explain the
ambiguity of the following sentences:
(1) The firemen burst into the smoking room.
(2) He has two French teachers. ANSWER:
(1) The firemen burst into the smoking room.
1a. the smoking room (the room in a hotel where smoking is allowed)
‘Smoking room’ is a compound noun just like ‘laughing gas’, ‘eating apples’,
‘looking glasses’ or ‘spending money’. This compound noun is modified by the
definite article ‘the’.
1b. the smoking room (the room that is full of smoke) 11 8
‘The smoking room’ is a noun phrase in which the noun head ‘room’ is
modified by the present participle ‘smoking’ and the definite article ‘the’.
(2) He has two French teachers.
2a. French teachers (teachers who come from France)
‘French teachers’ is a noun phrase in which the noun head teachers is
modified by the adjective of nationality ‘French’.
2b. French teachers (teachers whose subject is French)
‘French’ here is a noun meaning ‘the language spoken by the French’. It is
one of the two free bases which are combined together to form a compound
noun ‘French teachers’.
EXERCISE 14: Consider the underlined utterances. Are they of the same value? Explain.
(1)a. There was a plant in the box.
(1)b. There was a Jack−in−the−box.
(2)a. He found his father in trouble.
(2)b. He found his father−in−law ANSWER:
In (1)a, ‘a plant in the box’ is a noun phrase.
In (1)b, ( a ) ‘jack−in−the−box’ is a compound noun.
The same analysis can be applied to (2)a and (2)b.
In (2)a, ‘his father in trouble’ is a noun phrase.
In (2)b, ( his ) ‘father−in−law’ is a compound noun. 119
EXERCISE 15: What is CLIPPING? Are CLIPPED WORDS considered as free
forms? Give examples to illustrate your presentation.
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EXERCISE 16: As far as structure is concerned, how do COMPLEX WORDS
differ from COMPOUND WORDS. Give appropriate examples to illustrate that.
EXERCISE 17: Why is it said that A WORD COMPOUND is a solid block?
________________________________________________________________________________________
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EXERCISE 18: Name the word formation process of each of the following words:
1. doorknob: ____________________
6. radar: ____________________
2. telly: _________________________
7. chunnel: __________________
3. nylon: ________________________
8. cantata: __________________
4. porter: _______________________ 9. ESL: _____________________
5. silence v (Tn): ________________
10. televise: _________________ 12 0
EXTRA READING [Fromkin and Rodman, 1993: 53-55] Compounds
New words may be formed by stringing together other words to create
compound words. There is almost no limit on the kinds of combinations that
occur in English, as the following list of compounds shows: −ADJECTIVE −NOUN −VERB ADJECTIVE− bittersweet poorhouse highborn NOUN− headstrong rainbow spoonfeed VERB− carryall pickpocket sleepwalk
Frigidaire is a compound formed by combining the adjective frigid with the noun air.
When the two words are in the same grammatical category, the compound
will be in this category: noun + noun — girlfriend, fighter−bomber, paper clip,
elevator−operator, landlord, milkman; adjective + adjective — icy−cold,
red−hot, worldly−wise. In many cases, when the two words fall into different
categories the class of the second or final word will be the grammatical
category of the compound: noun + adjective — headstrong, watertight, lifelong;
verb + noun — pickpocket, pinchpenny, daredevil, sawbones. On the other
hand, compounds formed with a preposition are in the category of the non-
prepositional part of the compound: overtake, hanger−on, undertake, sundown,
afterbirth, downfall, uplift.
Though two-word compounds are the most common in English, it would be
difficult to state an upper limit: three− time loser, four−dimensional space−time,
sergeant−at−arms, mother−of−pearl, man about town, master of ceremonies and
daughter −in −law.
Spelling does not tell us what sequence of words constitutes a compound;
since some compounds are spelled with a space between the two words, with a
hyphen or with no separation at all is idiosyncratic, as shown, for example, in
blackbird, gold−tail and smoke screen. Meaning of Compounds
One of the interesting things about a compound is that you cannot always
tell by the words it contains what the compound means. The meaning of a
compound is not always the sum of the meaning of its parts; a blackboard may
be green or white. Everyone who wears a red coat is not a Redcoat either. The
difference between the sentences She has a red coat in her closet and She has
a Redcoat in her closet could be highly significant under certain circumstances. 121
Other similarly constructed compounds show that underlying the
juxtaposition of words, different grammatical relations are expressed. A
boathouse is a house for boats, but a cathouse is not a house for cats. A
jumping bean is a bean that jumps, a falling star is a ‘star’ that falls, and a
magnifying glass is a glass that magnifies; but a looking glass is not a glass
that looks, nor is an eating apple an apple that eats, and laughing gas does not laugh.
In all the examples given, the meaning of each compound includes at least
to some extent the meanings of the individual parts. But there are other
compounds that do not seem to relate to the meanings of the individual parts
at all. A jack−in−a−box is a tropical tree, and a turncoat is a traitor. A
highbrow does not necessarily have a high brow, nor does a bigwig have a big
wig, nor does an egghead have an egg-shaped head.
As we pointed out earlier in the discussion of the prefix un−, the meaning of
many compounds must be learned as if they were individual simple words.
Some of the meanings may be figured out, but not all. Thus, if you had never
heard the word hunchback, it might be possible to infer the meaning. But if
you had never heard the word flatfoot it is doubtful you would know it was a
word meaning ‘detective’ or ‘policeman’, even though the origin of the word,
once you know the meaning, can be figured out.
Therefore, the words as well as the morphemes must be listed in our
dictionaries. The morphological rules also are in the grammar, revealing the
relations between words and providing the means for forming new words. Dr.
Seuss uses the rules of compounding when he explained that ‘when tweetle
beetles battle with paddles in a puddle, they call it ‘a tweetle beetle puddle paddle battle.’1
1Dr. Seuss, Fox in Sox, New York: Random House, 1965, p.51 12 2 ENGLISH SYNTAX (Teaching Material)
Compiled by Huynh Thi My Dung.
FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY
Department of Foreign Languages SYNTAX Compiled by Huynh Thi My Dung FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY
Department of Foreign Languages WORD CLASSES
Lexical words (major class): nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
Grammatical words (minor class): pronouns, numerals, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions…
Stageberg divides four form classes into nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Each form-class has its correlative position class, which will be later labelled as
nominals, verbals, adjectivals, or adverbials.
English positional classes I. Nominal
1. The position of the subject: S
- Upstairs IS the safest hiding place.
- For Glenda to steal the diamond WOULD BE a shame.
2. The position of the direct object: Od I HATE telling lies. I WANT to think critically.
3. The position of the indirect object: Oi
She GAVE whomever she met different offers. She GAVE nobody a hand shake.
4. The position of the retained object: Or We WERE GIVEN the thinnest.
5. The position of the subject(ive) complement: Cs This book IS hers.
My favorite pastime IS swimming.
6. The position of the object(ive) complement: Co You’VE MADE me what I am.
They NAMED the little dog Neky.
7. The position of the complement of a preposition: Cp He IS interested in nothing.
The elevator has been used for many years without being repaired. 1 Syntax II. Verbal
“Verbals are those forms that occupy the verb positions … They come after the
opening noun or noun phrase … There are four verbals in
She must have been loafing last week and two in
I should leave the house in ten minutes.
Also, any verb form taking a subject or a complement (OV, SC, or Adj) or modified
by an adverbial is a verbal, regardless of its position.
1. Becoming angry, she broke the dish.
2. Being a minister, Prentice spoke softly.
3. After having eaten the turnips, Prentice tried to look satisfied.
4. The light having gone out, we lighted candles. III. Adjectival
“Adjectivals, like nominals, occupy certain characteristic sentence positions.”
1. The position between the determiner and the noun:
That joyful/college/laughing/recommended freshman is bright.
2. The position right after the noun:
The fellow waving drives a convertible.
3. The position right after an intensive verb: He always remains quiet
4. The position right after the direct object of a complex transitive verb: The
management considered him competent
IV. Adverbials are the word groups as well as the single words that occupy the
adverb positions and perform the adverb functions. Common adverbial positions are:
Initial position: The adverbial is in the first position in the clause with or without
juncture, occurring before the subject or other obligatory elements of the clause:
(1)a. Really, you SHOULD KNOW better. b. Now it IS time to go.
c. With a sharp ax you CAN DO wonder.
d. By using a little red here, you CAN BALANCE your colors. 2 Syntax
Medial position: This includes all positions between obligatory initial and final
clausal elements. Several more specific positions can be distinguished:
Between the subject and the beginning of the verb phrase:
She actually EXPECTS to marry him.
Mary in her own way WAS a darling.
After THE MODAL/FIRST AUXILIARY VERB and before THE LEXICAL VERB: He WOULD seldom MAKE effort.
You MAY in this way BE of great assistance.
Carrie HAD often DREAMED about coming back
After THE LEXICAL VERB but preceding other obligatory elements of the clause. It IS still three weeks away. It IS no longer a casino.
He IS always/at any event happy
Final position: Sentence-finally, the adverbial can be placed:
After THE LEXICAL VERB, especially after AN INTRANSITIVE ONE.
He LIVES independently/in the fast lane. He DIED last night.
He DROVE recklessly/with abandon.
After all obligatory elements, i.e. the indirect object, the direct object, the
subjective complement, or the objective complement, of THE LEXICAL VERB
(though it may not be the last element if there are other final adverbials in the same clause):
Tom WAS a doctor for many years.
Tom WILL PLAY football tomorrow. PHRASES
“Sequences of words that can function as constituents in the structure of sentences are called PHRASES. THE STRUCTURE OF PHRASES 3 Syntax
All phrases have the following minimum structure:
(modifier) head (qualifier) PART 1. NOUN PHRASE:
A NOUN PHRASE (NP, for short) in English consists of a nominal head (normally
a noun or a pronoun) with or without the modifiers that accompany it, before or after.
In the noun phrase marked (1), shirt constitutes the head; the, blue and cotton
belong to the pre-modification; and that I borrowed from my brother is the post-
modification. The word blue is called a modifier because it describes ‘the shirt’: it
limits by excluding other colours and it adds to the plain meaning of ‘shirt’.
A. Types of pre-nominal modifiers
The noun head in a noun phrase can be pre-modified by:
1. DETERMINERS (DET, for short):
Articles, demonstratives and possessives are mutually exclusive in English: only
one of them can occur in any noun phrase.
1.1. The determiners that may be preceded by one of the pre-determiners
(PRE-DET, for short), which are all, both and half articles: the and a/an;
possessives: her, his, its, their, your, John’s, the book’s, etc.; 4 Syntax
demonstratives: this, that, these, and those
1.2.There are determiners that are not preceded by. Some of these determiners
are called QUANTIFIERS (Q, for short): some, any, no, each, enough,
either, neither and another, the others are often known as interrogative or
exclamatory determiners: what (a/an) (1) , which (2) and whose (3) .
(1) what (det.) = the thing(s) which, the person or people who:
What money I have will be yours when I die.
I spent what little time with my family.
What family and friends I still have live abroad
what (exclamatory det., used in making exclamations):
What awful weather we’re having!
What beautiful flowers! What a (lovely) view!
what (interrogative det., used to ask sb to specify one or more things, places,
people, etc. from an indefinite number):
Guess what famous writer said this.
I asked her what experience she has had.
What books have you got to read on the subjects?
What woman are you thinking of?
(2) which (interrogative determiner, used to ask sb to specify one or more things,
places, people, etc. from a limited number): 5 Syntax
Which way is quicker — by bus or by train?
Ask him which platform the London train leaves from.
which (interrogative pronoun) = which person or thing:
Which is your favourite subject?
Here are the recently published books. Tell me which are worth reading.
The twins are so much alike that I can’t tell which is which.
(3) whose (interrogative determiner/interrogative pronoun) = of whom:
Whose (house) is that? I wonder whose (book) this is.
1.3 A POSSESSIVE (Poss, for short) can consist of either a possessive
adjective (my, your, his, her, etc.), or a possessive proper noun (John’s,
Alice’s, Doris’s, etc.), or a full NP + −’s, which is called THE POSSESSIVE
MARKER (PossMarker, for short).
2. QUANTIFYING ADJECTIVES (QA, for short) are expressions of indefinite
quantity. Burton-Roberts [1997: 161] includes among the premodifiers in the N-
bar the quantifying adjectives much, many, few and little 6 Syntax
2.1 Quantifying adjectives
Like adjectives, they co-occur with and follow determiners: those many books, the
little butter that I have, some few successes, etc., including an unfilled determiner:
φ many books, φ much garlic, etc.
Like adjectives, they are gradable: VERY many books, TOO much garlic, SO few
ideas, VERY little tact, where they are modified by A DEGREE ADVERB
2.2 Aword-group quantifying adjective like plenty of, a lot of, lots of, a
great/good deal of, a (small, large, great, considerable, etc.) amount of,
considerable numbers of, etc., which may include FRACTIONAL NUMERALS:
one-third of, two-thirds of, three-fifths of, etc., may be the only pre-modifier in an NP 7 Syntax
3. NUMBERS or NUMERALS (NUM, for short) are expressions of definite
quantity. They are of two kinds:
- CARDINAL NUMERALS: one, two, three, ... , and ninety-nine.
- ORDINAL NUMERALS: first, second, third, fourth, ..., and last. 4. ADJECTIVE PHRASES 8 Syntax 5. PRE-MODIFYING NOUNS 5.1 A COMPOUND NOUN 9 Syntax
6. POSSESSIVE COMMON NOUNS 10 Syntax
7. VERB PARTICIPLES (V-Part, for short): The active present participle and
the passive past participle may appear as pre-modifiers within the N-bar
ACTIVE PRESENT PARTICIPLES5 PASSIVE PAST PARTICIPLES the preceding statement a broken heart melting snow sliced cake falling leaves photocopied materials those leaping/dropping clicks these departed guests
8. RESTRICTERS (RESTRIC, for short): are really a small number of adverbs
with or without −ly like just, only, even, quite, especially, merely, and particularly which can:
- modify the head noun alone — just girls, even water, especially candy
- precede the pre-determiner and/or the determiner, modifying the whole noun
phrase and simultaneously restricting its meaning to some extent—only ten short 11 Syntax
minutes, just college girls, just romantic college girls, just another romantic college
girl, especially all our guests, even the empty box, just some white athletic socks,
particularly her spotted kitten, quite a few6 people, quite a lot of wine, quite some7 car, quite a party, etc.
B. Types of post-nominal modifiers
POST-MODIFIERS (POST-MOD, for short) in an NP are the categories that follow
the head noun and modify it in some way
1. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES (PP, for short) are common post-nominal modifiers: 12 Syntax 2. ADJECTIVE PHRASES
A few adjectives (including present, absent, responsible and visible) may pre-
modify or post-modify the head noun... To a greater or lesser extent, a difference
in meaning is associated with the difference of position. 13 Syntax
3. PARTICIPIAL PHRASES (PartP, for short)
Participial phrases can be subdivided into two sub-categories: participial phrases
with −ing and participial phrases with −ed
4. INFINITIVE PHRASES (InfP, for short):
An Infinitive phrase can play the role of an adjective, post-modifying an NP.
5. SUBORDINATE ADJECTIVE CLAUSES (SubACl, for short) 14 Syntax
The adjective phrases and the participial phrases, and the infinitive phrases are
often regarded as the reductions of the following subordinate adjective clauses,
either restrictive or non-restrictive
PART 2. ADJECTIVE PHRASE:
As far as its internal structure is concerned, a typical ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AP,
for short) has as its head an adjective. The HEAD ADJECTIVE (headA, for short)
may optionally be pre-modified: rather dubious, somewhat noisy, quite acceptable,
too modest, very colorful, really demanding, extremely subtle, terribly sorry,
awfully slow, fairly good, highly recommended, moderately easy, amazingly warm,
beautifully cool, annoyingly simple, disgustingly rich, incredibly polite.
The head adjective may be pre-modified by:
Degree adverbs, which are also called intensifying adverbs, (DEG, for short; –ly
or without –ly adverbs which specify the degree of the attribute expressed by the
adjective): very, highly, extremely, terribly, awfully, completely, much, quite, so, 15 Syntax
too, rather, somewhat, hardly, fairly, moderately, partially, slightly, increasingly, incredibly, etc.
General adverbs, which are also called non-intensifying adverbs, (Adv, for
short; –ly adverbs which typically have other adverbial functions as well): frankly,
potentially, enthusiastically, immediately, annoyingly, oddly, disgustingly,
amazingly, suspiciously, awkwardly, beautifully.
Adjectives or adjective phrases have two uses or functions: the
attributive function and the predicative function.
“The attributive function is when adjectives or adjective phrases are found in the
pre-modification of a noun phrase, as for example in an interesting story, a somewhat anxious mother…
The predicative function of an adjective phrase is its occurrence after a ‘copula’
such as be, seem, sound, feel; for example, Naomi IS anxious about Jim’s health,
Jim SEEMS concerned that Naomi WILL WORRY too much.”
When an adjective or adjective phrase is functioning attributively, it may not, in
any case, be followed by a post-modifier. That is to say, adjective phrases
containing post-modifiers may function only predicatively:
a. *She IS a somewhat anxious about his son’s health mother.
b. She IS somewhat anxious about his son’s health.
There is a small set of adjectives restricted to predicative position and called
‘predicative adjectives’ and likewise a small set restricted to attributive position
and called ‘attributive adjectives”. ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVES PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES
(2)a. The main reason IS his laziness. (3)a. *The reason IS main. b. He’S a mere youth. b. *This youth IS mere. 16 Syntax c. *He IS a faint patient. c. He FEELS faint. d. *This IS an asleep boy. d. The boy IS asleep
But the vast majority of adjectives may function either attributively or predicatively: ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVES PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES
a. The charming girl ATTRACTS his attention. b. The girl IS charming. a. She’S a lonely wife. b. I sometimes FEEL lonely PART 3. ADVERB PHRASE
As far as its internal structure is concerned, a typical ADVERB PHRASE (AdvP, for
short) has as its head an adverb.
An adverb may, however, be pre-modified; though post-modification is not found
in all adverb phrases. The only kind of pre-modifier occurring in adverb phrases is
another adverb, usually of the same restricted set of adverbs of degree, which are
also called intensifying adverbs, as found in the pre-modification of adjective
phrases, e.g. very quickly, quite wonderfully, somewhat fleetingly, and extremely faithfully
However, as with adjectives, other adverbs may function as premodifiers in adverb
phrases, e.g. amazingly well, understandably badly, horribly fast, incredibly gracefully. PART 4. VERB PHRASE:
There are six main categories of English verbs: monotransitive, intransitive,
ditransitive, intensive, complex transitive, and prepositional. The six categories of
English verbs result in six types of English verb phrases.
1. INTENSIVE verbs/verb phrases 17 Syntax
Intensive verbs “require a single complement, which can take the form of an
Adjective Phrase, or a Noun Phrase, or a Prepositional Phrase
As the most central example of the intensive sub-category of verb, be is called ‘the
copula’. Other intensive verbs are: become, seem, appear, prove, turn, get,
remain, look, taste, feel, smell, sound, etc.
The complement of an intensive verb group functions (more specifically) as a
SUBJECT-PREDICATIVE (sP, for short), which is also called a SUBJECT(IVE) COMPLEMENT.
(i) Attributive Subject(ive) Complements AP
Mountaineering CAN PROVE very dangerous indeed. She IS twenty-two years old. NP John IS a very lucky man. Two brothers ARE pilots.
(ii) Identifying Subject(ive) Complements NP
The Robinsons ARE our next-door neighbors. Finite clause
Ken’s belief IS that things CAN’T GET any worse.
He HAS BECOME what he always WANTED to be.
Non-finite clause The only thing I did WAS [E] TELL him to go away. My advice IS [E] TO WITHDRAW.
The best plan IS for you TO GO by train. 18 Syntax
What I don’t enjoy IS [E] STANDING in queues.
What most people prefer IS others DOING the work.
(iii) Circumstantial Subject(ive) Complements NP The exam IS next Tuesday. AdvP
The amusement park IS over there. PP
The manager IS in a good mood.
Finite clause This IS how you SHOULD DO it.
2. COMPLEX TRANSITIVE verbs/verb phrases
The complex transitive verb “take two elements: a direct object (NP) and an object- predicative.”
Obviously, “the predicative in a complex transitive VP characterises (attributives a
property to) the direct object, not the subject, hence the name ‘object-predicative’.”
The object predicative (oP, for short), which is also called the object(ive)
complement (oC, for short) are in italic while the dOs are underlined in the following examples:
(i) Attributive Object(tive) Complements AP She DYED her hair blond.
The government’s imports policy HAS MADE the farmers furious. 19 Syntax
I IMAGINED him a bit older/much taller than that. Indefinite NP
DOES he CONSIDER himself a genius?
Fellow sportsmen REGARD him a world class player. PP
They DON’T ACCEPT him as honest.
They previously CONSIDERED this painting as worthless. Non-finite clause
We BELIEVED him [E] to be honest.
We CONSIDER this [E] to be very important. Finite clause
DYE your hair whatever color you LIKE.
(ii) Identifying Object(tive) Complements
Definite NP CAN you IMAGINE yourself the owner of a luxury yacht?
They ELECTED her Miss Universe. Finite clause Our supporters’ enthusiasm
HAS MADE the club what it IS today.
Note that some verbs require their adjectival and nominal object(ive) complements
to be introduced by as; the complements are then analysed as Prepositional
Object(tive) Complements. With other verbs, this is optional: as + AP
The police DIDN’T ACCEPT the story as genuine.
I REGARD your suggestion as worthy of consideration. as + NP
Doctors RECOGNISE Johnson as a leading authority.
I CONSIDER you as my best friend.
(iii) Circumstantial Object(tive) Complements PP
The burglar LEFT the house in a mess.
We FOUND the Dean in a good mood.
CONSIDER yourself under arrest. Non-finite clause −ing He KEPT us waiting. as + −ing
I REGARD that as asking for the impossible. −ed She LEFT me stunned.
The authorities ORDERED hundreds of demonstrators 20 Syntax placed under house arrest
3. DITRANSITIVE (ditrans, for short) verbs/verb phrases
A ditransitive verb is “one which requires two NPs as its complementation.” A few
examples of ditransitive verbs are give, send, and buy.
Verbs which take Recipient Indirect Objects and alternative to prepOs are
typically verbs of transferring goods, services or information from one person to
another. They include: give grant hand leave offer owe pass promise read send show teach throw write
We are offering our clients a unique opportunity. (… to our clients)
He owes several people money. (…to several people)
I handed Jennifer the pile of letters. (…to Jennifer)
He teaches medical students English. (…to medical students)
Do you send your neighbours Christmas cards? (…to your neighbours)
Verbs which take Beneficiary Indirect Objects, with alternative for constructions,
are verbs which carry out an action on someone’s behalf. They include: book bring
build buy cash cut fetch find get keep leave make pour reserve save spare write
Book me a seat on the night train. (… for me)
Would you cash me these traveler checks? (…for me)
She cut the boy some slices of ham. (…for the boy)
I’ve kept you a place in the front row. (…for you)
He got us a very good discount. (…for us) 21 Syntax
She made all the family a good paella. (…for all the family)
4. MONOTRANSITIVE (monotrans, for short) verbs/verb phrases
A monotransitive verb “requires a single Noun Phrase to complement it. The NP
that complements a transitive verb is said to function as its DIRECT OBJECT (dO, for short)
In some cases, a monotransitive verb must be complemented by an obligatory
adjunct (obA, for short). In the following examples, the NP subject refers to “a doer
of something” must be [+animate] and [+human] and the action done with
intention must be expressed by a monotransitive verb which is [+dynamic], [+active] and [+affecting]:
a. He JUMPED the horse over the fence (obA of Path).
b. The sergeant MARCHED the soldiers along the road (obA of Path).
c. I’LL WALK you home (obA of Terminus).
d. You COULD BRING it to the kitchen (obA of Terminus).
e. I always GET off /LEAVE the bus at 42nd street (obA of Location).
f. Liza HAS BEEN PUTTING the liquor under the bed (obA of Location).
g. She PLACED the baby on the blanket (obA of Location).
h. He PUT his arms around me (obA of Location) and WALKED me away (obA of Direction). 22 Syntax
As an optional adverbial adjunct of Time in a-c, soon is free to move to other
typically adverbial positions within a sentence: at the end of the sentence, i.e. after
the complement (the direct object, the indirect object, the subjective complement,
or the objective complement) of the lexical verb; after the NP subject; and after the
auxiliary verb or the first auxiliary verb: a. I’LL SEE you soon. b. I soon WILL SEE you. c. I’LL soon SEE you.
5. PREPOSITIONAL (prep, for short) verbs/verb phrases 23 Syntax
6. INTRANSITIVE (intrans, for short) verbs/verb phrases
An intransitive verb “does not require any further constituent as sister in the VP”.
In other words, “verbs used intransitively don’t take objects.” 24 Syntax
An intransitive verb is frequently modified by one or more optional adverbial
adjuncts (opA, for short). Adjuncts “provide circumstantial information about the
action, process or event talked about in the clause in which they occur.
Circumstantial information includes information about the place, time, manner,
etc. of the action, process or event.” They commonly are in form of adverbs or
adverb phrases, prepositional phrases, infinitive phrases, participial phrases and subordinate clauses.
Summary of the classification of English verbs/verb phrases: 1. INTENSIVE S V C The reason WAS simple. (attributive) Mary IS
the most beautiful girl. (identifying) The truck drivers ARE on strike. (circumstantial) Subject — V — subject predicative/ subject(ive) complement S [intens] sP/sC 2. COMPLEX TRANSITIVE: 25 Syntax S V O Co: HOLD your hand tight. He CALLED her an angel. I PREFER it with water. He MADE the team what it is today. Subject Vgrp direct object object predicative/ object(ive) complement 3. DITRANSITIVE: a. S V Od to/for Oi: I ‘LL ORDER a taxi for you. Subject Vgrp direct object to/for indirect object b. S V Oi Od I GAVE Esther a present. Subject Vgrp indirect object direct object c. S V Oi Co It COST John an effort. Subject Vgrp direct object predicator complement 4. MONOTRANSITIVE: a. S V O I ’VE SEEN that film. I RAN
across a former school friend. Subject Vgrp direct object b. S V O A You COULD BRING it to the kitchen. Subject Vgrp direct object obligatory adjunct 5. PREPOSITIONAL:
a. MONOTRANSITIVE PREPOSITIONAL [monotrans-prep]: S V prepO: Max GLANCED at the falling acrobat. 26 Syntax Subject Vgrp prepositional object
b. DITRANSITIVE PREPOSITIONAL [ditrans-prep]: S V Od prepO: They BLAMED the fire on the gardener. He REMINDED her of the time. Subject Vgrp direct object prepositional object 6. INTRANSITIVE: a. S V: He TURNED UP (= appeared). He IS LYING (= is telling lies). Subject Vgrp b. S V obA: He IS LYING in a hammock. Subject Vgrp obligatory adjunct 27 Syntax CLAUSES
CLAUSES are “constructions with one phrase constituent, typically a noun phrase
that bears the subject relation, and another constituent, the verb phrase, bearing the predicate relation.
For example, ‘the woman in that 1978 Lincoln Continental’ cannot be a clause
because it lacks a verb phrase while ‘You must follow the woman in that 1978 Lincoln Continental’ is. Types of clauses
1. Finite clauses vs. non-finite clauses
The distinction between finite and non-finite clauses depends on the form of the
verb chosen: “If the speaker wishes to express tense, person or number, a ‘finite’
form of the verb is chosen, such as eats, locked, went and the clause is then called a finite clause.”
All of THE FOLLOWING VERB FORMS, which are capitalized, and therefore the
following clauses, are finite: (1) She BROKE the dish. (2) He HAS GONE. (3) It IS unnecessary.
Accordingly, if the verb form does not express this type of information about the
verbal ‘process’, the verbs and the clauses are classed as ‘nonfinite’. In the following
non-finite clauses, THE NON-FINITE VERB FORMS are capitalized and italicized:
a. For Sandra TO DELAY her graduation IS unnecessary. (to-infinitive)
b. I LET him DO it by himself. (bare infinitive)
c. Mary DOESN’T TOLERATE Anna CHATTING with the construction
workers.(active present participle)
d. He LEFT me STUNNED. (passive past participle)
e. The light HAVING GONE out, we LIGHTED candles. (active perfect participle) 28 Syntax
Briefly, “a non-finite clause is a clause with a non-finite (tenseless) Verb group.
MAIN clauses are always finite. So non-finite clauses can only be SUBORDINATE.”
2. Independent clauses vs. dependent clauses
A necessary distinction is that between INDEPENDENT CLAUSES, which
are also called MAIN CLAUSES, and DEPENDENT CLAUSES (which can be
subdivided into EMBEDDED CLAUSES and SUBORDINATE CLAUSES).
2.1 INDEPENDENT CLAUSES
“A clause that can stand alone as a sentence is called a main clause or sometimes
an independent clause. The latter designation is often used when the clause is the only one in its sentence.”
An independent clause “does not depend on another clause, although it may be
linked to another independent clause, or to a dependent clause”
(1) Sharon’s car HAD BROKEN down, and this ASTONISHED the mechanic.
(2) Sharon’s car HAD BROKEN down before she ARRIVED at the airport.
An independent clause can be used on its own:
(3) Sharon’s car HAD BROKEN down.
(4) This ASTONISHED the mechanic.
(5) Sharon ARRIVED at the airport. 2.2 DEPENDENT CLAUSES
“Dependent clauses, on the other hand, do not stand on their own as sentences.” A
dependent clause is “a clause which must be used with another clause to form a
complete grammatical construction. It depends on the other clause and is subordinate to it.
(6) For Sharon’s car TO BREAK down WOULD BE unfortunate.
(7) The police REPORTED that Sharon’s car HAD BROKEN down.
(8) They MISSED the flight because Sharon’s car HAD BROKEN down.
Note that for and that in (6-7) “have little or no special meaning of their own, and
they are referred to as complementizers” while because in (8) “has a specific 29 Syntax
meaning, one something like ‘the reasons is’. Introducers such as because,
although, and since, all of which have quite specific meanings, are subordinators.
Complementizers and subordinators are associated with two distinct kinds of
dependent clauses: EMBEDDED CLAUSES and SUBORDINATE CLAUSES. Both
kinds of clauses have a special slot before the subject, one in which the
complementizers and subordinators occur. This slot, known as the COMP slot
(after ‘complementizer’), turns out to be a very important one.” Note also that
dependent clauses can be either finite as in (7-8) or non-finite as in (6).
Independent clauses can only be finite like (3-5)
3. Subordinate clauses vs. embedded clauses
“If embedded clauses are omitted from a sentence containing them, the
sentence is usually ungrammatical. This is because embedded clauses are
arguments of a higher predicate, very often the subjects or objects of their
container clauses. Any finite sentence that loses its subject or object argument
becomes ungrammatical. So the embedded clauses are indispensable for grammaticality.
“Subordinate clauses, clauses with subordinators in the COMP slot, differ from
embedded clauses in that they are not required arguments of a predicate. They are
thus not used as subjects or objects” . Subordinate clauses are adjuncts which can 30 Syntax
be omitted without making their sentence ungrammatical. “Just as adverbs and
prepositional phrases can be omitted, so can subordinate clauses.
a. The family returned to the villa after Sharon’s car HAD BROKEN down.
a. Pavlova found the children where Sharon’s car HAD BROKEN down.
a. Lord Aston only used his Rolls Royce if Sharon’ car BROKE down.
Note that “non-finite subordinate clauses often lack an overt subordinator
4. Types of finite dependent clauses
“A finite dependent clause contains a verb phrase which is marked for tense or modality.
Finite dependent clauses may be either subordinate or embedded. Below are some
common finite dependent clauses. 4.1 Nominal clauses
A nominal clause can be the subject, the direct object, the indirect object, the
retained object, the subjective complement, the objective complement or the
complement of a preposition in an English sentence:
a. That rain MAY FALL in deserts IS true.
b. They BELIEVE that the minimum wage COULD THREATEN their jobs. 31 Syntax
c. She GIVES whomever she MEETS a warm greeting.
d. I AM always GIVEN whatever IS the cheapest.
e. My question IS whether (or not) you WILL PAY for such a loss.
f. We HAVE MADE them what they ARE.
g. We’D LIKE to work with whom we CONSIDER the best. 4.2 Relative clauses
A relative clause, also called an adjectival clause, is characteristically a post-
modifier in a noun phrase. “It is introduced by a wh-word, which has a grammatical
role in the relative clause in addition to its linking function”.
Relative clauses may be either restrictive as in a or non-restrictive as in b.
a. We HAVE 30 men who ARE WORKING from 6am to 11pm.
b. He WANTED the public not to approach the men, who ARE armed and dangerous. 4.3 Adverbial clauses
“Adverbial clauses are used as adverbials in the main clause, generally as
circumstance adverbials, they are optional and have some freedom of positioning;
both initial and final placement are common. Adverbial clauses are regularly
marked by a subordinator indicating the relationship to the main clause.
a. Most ions ARE colorless, although some HAVE distinct colors.
b. If you ARE in a hurry, you CAN LEAVE. 4.4 Reporting clauses
A reporting clause, which “accompanies direct reports of somebody’s speech or
thought”, “may be placed in initial, medial, or final position”
a. They SAID, “Yes, sir,” and saluted.
b. “Please come too,” she BEGGED. 4.5 Comment clauses
“Comment clauses are similar in structure to reporting clauses: they are loosely
connected to the main clause, they normally lack explicit link, and they are usually
short and can appear in a variety of position… They are usually in the present 32 Syntax
rather than the past tense, first or second rather than third person, and comment
on a thought rather than the delivery of a wording”
a. MIND you, he was probably still as sound as a bell.
b. The conclusion, it SEEMS, is intolerable.
5. Types of non-finite clauses
“Non-finite clauses are regularly dependent. They are more compact and less
explicit than finite clauses; they are not marked for tense and modality, and they
frequently lack an explicit subject and subordinator.”
Below are some main types of non-finite clauses, each containing a different type of verb phrase:
5.1 Infinitive non-finite clauses
An infinitive non-finite clause can play the role of a nominal to be:
• the subject: TO DENY that gift IS to deny God’s will.
• the extra-posed subject: It IS NOT easy TO MAINTAIN a friendship.
• the direct object: I HATE TO SEE that.
• the subjective complement: My goal now IS TO LOOK to the future.
An infinitive non-finite clause can play the role of an adverbial to be: • the adjunct of purpose:
TO SUCCEED again they WILL HAVE to improve their fitness. • the adjective complement:
That old man IS a bit afraid TO GO into hospital.
An infinitive non-finite clause can play the role of an adjectival to be:
• the post-nominal modifier:
He IS the third man [E]TO BE MURDERED right on this corner. • the objective complement:
Some of these issues dropped out of Marx’s later works because he CONSIDERED
them [E]TO HAVE BEEN satisfactorily dealt with.
5.2 Gerund non-finite clauses can only play the role of a nominal to be:
• the subject: HAVING a fever IS unpleasant. 33 Syntax • The extra-posed subject:
There are only around five tons of newsprints left and it’S very difficult GETTING supplies into Sarajevo.
• the direct object: I STARTED THINKING about Christmas.
• the subjective complement: The real problem IS GETTING something done about the cheap imports.
• the complement of a preposition: I EARN my living by TEACHING.
5.3 Participial non-finite clauses
A Participial non-finite clause, which is an –ING clause, can play the role of an
adjectival to be the post-nominal modifier:
There WERE two cars COMING down the road.
A Participial non-finite clause, which is an –ING clause, can play the role of an adverbial to be:
• the circumstance adjunct: He STOOD on the veranda, LISTENING to the wind.
• the adjective complement: It MIGHT BE worth GIVING him a bell to let him know what’s happening.
A participial non-finite clause, which is an –ED clause, can play the role of a
nominal to be the direct object: God, you’ve gone mad with the sugar in yours. DO you WANT it TOPPED up?
A participial non-finite clause, which is an –ED clause, can play the role of an adverbial to be:
• the circumstantial adjunct:
When TOLD by the police how badly injured his victims were
He SAID: “Good, I hope they die.”
• the adjective complement: That old man IS a bit afraid TO GO into hospital.
A participial non-finite clause, which is an –ED clause, can play the role of an
adjectival to be the post-nominal modifier:
There WASN’T a scrap of evidence to link him with the body FOUND on the Thames at low tide. 34 Syntax SENTENCE A. Sentence elements
The basic parts of a sentence fall into two cats: the subject and the predicate. Know
them well, because you can’t have a sentence without them! 1. Subjects
The subject performs the action of the sentence. It can be a noun, noun phrase,
or noun clause. To analyze sentences, grammarians have distinguished three kinds of subjects:
Complete Subject - "The old, dusty books on the table haven't been read
in years." The complete subject includes the entire noun phrase -- usually everything before the verb.
Simple Subject - "books". The simple subject is the main noun or pronoun stripped of all modifiers.
Compound Subject - "The cowardly mailman and the huge, barking
dog didn't get along very well." A compound subject consists of two or more
subjects linked together by conjunctions. Note: the simple subject of that
sentence would be "mailman and dog". 2. Predicates
As with subjects, predicates can be classified as complete predicates, simple
predicates, and compound predicates. To form a complete sentence, the predicate
must include a verb (a finite verb, more specifically). It can also include objects, complements, and adverbials. 2.1 Objects
The object is the receiver of the action in a sentence: “He broke the table” or “He
threw the ball.” Like subjects, objects can be any word or group of words
functioning as a noun, and each type of object can also be categorized as a
complete, simple, or compound object. Categorized by their different functions
within a sentence, the three types of objects are:
Direct Object - "I wrote a letter." (What did I write? A letter.) 35 Syntax
Indirect Object - "I wrote a letter to my friend." (Who did I write a letter to? My friend.)
Prepositional Object - "I wrote on the paper." (What did I write on? The paper.) 2.2 Complements
Complements complete the predicate by modifying a noun in the sentence; copulas
or linking verbs require a complement to form a complete sentence.
Subject Complement - "The car is new." The subject complement follows
a linking verb and modifies the subject. It can be a predicate adjective (He is happy), a predicate noun (He is the boss), or an adverbial
complement (He is in the house).
Object Complement - "I painted my room purple." The object
complement modifies the direct object, either by describing it or renaming
it (They elected him governor).
Adjective Complement - "He was happy to help." The adjective
complement is a special case in which a group of words modifies an
adjective. If removed, the adjective complement leaves a grammatically
complete sentence, but the meaning of the sentence changes. Note:
predicative adjectives are also sometimes called adjective complements.
Verb Complement - Some grammarians use the term "verb complement"
to refer to direct and indirect objects (see the "Objects" section above), while
others use it to refer to a complement occuring after a linking verb (a subject complement). 2.3 Adverbials
An adverbial is an adverb, adverbial phrase, or adverbial clause: any word or
group of words that acts as an adverb within a sentence. They usually modify
verbs, but they can also modify the whole sentence. Unlike an adverbial
complement (He is in the house), an adverbial isn’t needed to complete a
sentence (He had lunch in the house or He had lunch). 36 Syntax An adverbial is a word (an adverb), phrase,
or clause which modifies (changes, restricts or adds to the meaning of) a
verb. An adverbial can be a noun phrase (we met that afternoon),
a prepositional phrase (we met in the cafe), or a clause (we met because
we needed to talk) as well as an adverb, but always functions to modify
the meaning of a verb. A sentence can contain just one adverbial or several.
We typically use adverbials to talk about:
where something happens (place):
I put my bag on the floor.
Don’t just sit there!
Could you let the cat out?
when something happens (time):
We’re in Paris today, but where will we be tomorrow?
The rain lasted all night.
She’d been travelling for three days.
the way in which someone does something or something happens or exists (manner):
The abbey now lies in ruins.
You’re acting as if you were still a teenager.
These shirts come in three sizes. 2.4 Adjuncts
An adverbial adjunct is a type of adverbial which adds more information to a
sentence. It differs from other adverbials because if it is left out of a sentence, the
rest of the sentence still makes sense. Adverbial adjuncts provide extra but
optional information, whereas adverbials offer information that is integral to the
meaning of the sentence. Compare these two examples:
I put my bag on the floor. ✗ I put my bag
[on the floor is an adverbial: the sentence isn't meaningful without it] 37 Syntax
I dropped my bag next to my seat and sat down.
I dropped my bag and sat down.
[next to my seat is an adverbial adjunct; the sentence makes sense without it]
Adverbial adjuncts can provide extra information about: where things happen:
At low tide you can cross the bays on the beach.
The children were playing upstairs. when things happen:
I can’t sleep at night.
She visited her family yesterday. how things happen:
I found out how to do this by accident.
why things happen or are done:
No one is turned away because of a lack of means.
I still send her a Christmas card each year for old times' sake.
condition (i.e. if this happens, then that happens):
Leslie had left no letter for me to read in the event of his death.
concession (i.e. even if this happens, still that happens):
Despite all their efforts, the dishwasher is still broken.
degree (i.e. answering the question ‘how much?’):
I wouldn’t worry at all. 38 Syntax
B. Classification of sentences according to their structure
“In many traditional grammars three major sentence types are distinguished.
A simple sentence consists of a single clause that stands alone as it own sentence.
In a coordinate sentence (called “compound” in traditional grammars), two or
more clauses are joined by a conjunction in a coordinate relationship.
A complex sentence combines two (or more) clauses in such a way that one clause
functions as a grammatical part of the other one.” 1. Simple Sentences
A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it may also have an object and
modifiers. However, it contains only one independent clause. Here are a few examples: She wrote.
She completed her literature review.
He organized his sources by theme.
They studied APA rules for many hours. 2. Compound Sentences
A compound sentence contains at least two independent clauses. These two
independent clauses can be combined with a comma and a coordinating
conjunction or with a semicolon. Here are a few examples:
She completed her literature review, and she created her reference list.
He organized his sources by theme; then, he updated his reference list.
They studied APA rules for many hours, but they realized there was still much to learn. 3. Complex Sentences
A complex sentence contains at least one independent clause and at least one
dependent clause. Dependent clauses can refer to the subject (who, which) the
sequence/time (since, while), or the causal elements (because, if) of the independent clause. 39 Syntax
If a sentence begins with a dependent clause, note the comma after this clause. If,
on the other hand, the sentence begins with an independent clause, there is not a
comma separating the two clauses. Here are a few examples:
Although she completed her literature review, she still needed to work
on her methods section.
o Note the comma in this sentence because it begins with a dependent clause.
Because he organized his sources by theme, it was easier for his readers to follow.
o Note the comma in this sentence because it begins with a dependent clause.
They studied APA rules for many hours as they were so interesting.
Note that there is no comma in this sentence because it begins with an independent clause.
Compound-Complex Sentences
Sentence types can also be combined. A compound-complex sentence contains at
least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
She completed her literature review, but she still needs to work
on her methods section even though she finished her methods course last semester.
Although he organized his sources by theme, he decided to arrange
them chronologically, and he carefully followed the MEAL plan for organization.
With pizza and soda at hand, they studied APA rules for many
hours, and they decided that writing in APA made sense because it
was clear, concise, and objective.
Pay close attention to comma usage in complex-compound sentences so that the
reader is easily able to follow the intended meaning. 40 Syntax Synthesis of sentences
Synthesis means the combination of a number of simple sentences into one new
sentence – simple, compound or complex.
1. The following are the chief ways of combining two or more simple
sentences into one large simple sentence. By using a participle
He sprang up to his feet. He ran away.
Springing up to his feet, he ran away.
She was tired of trying. She decided to quit.
Tired (or, being tired) of trying, she decided to quit.
By using a noun or a phrase in apposition
This is my mother. Her name is Susie. This is my mother Susie.
By using a preposition with a noun or gerund
Her husband died. She heard the news. She fainted.
On hearing the news of her husband’s death she fainted.
He has failed many times. He still hopes to succeed.
In spite of many failures, he still hopes to succeed.
By using the absolute construction
The watch was expensive. He could not buy it.
The watch being expensive, he could not buy it.
The cot was too small. He could not sleep on it.
The cot being too small, he could not sleep on it. By using an infinitive
He wanted to pass the examination. He studied hard.
He studied hard to pass the examination.
I have some duties. I must perform them.
I have some duties to perform.
By using an adverb or adverbial phrase 41 Syntax
The sun set. The travelers had not reached their destination.
The travelers had not reached their destination by sunset.
2. The following are the chief ways of combining two or more simple
sentences into one compound sentence.
Using one of the coordinating conjunctions: FANBOYS: FOR AND NOR BUT OR YET SO
3. The following are the chief ways of combining two or more simple
sentences into one complex sentence.
Forming a complex sentence with a noun clause
We stand for peace. That should be known to everyday.
That we stand for peace should be known to everybody. OR It should be
known to everybody that we stand for peace.
He had failed. I told him that.
I told him that he had failed.
Where can we find the money for it? That is the question.
The question is where we can find the money.
Forming a complex sentence with an adjective clause
Connected by the relative pronouns who, which or that
The boy was caught. He had stolen the watch.
The boy who had stolen the watch was caught.
The man arrived on Friday. His name is John.
The man whose name is John arrived on Friday.
This is a fine opportunity. It should not be lost.
This is a fine opportunity which should not be lost.
This is an old fort. It was built by Akbar.
This is an old fort that was built by Akbar.
Connected by the relative adverbs where, when and why
This is the house. The theft was committed there.
This is the house where the theft was committed. 42 Syntax
His father died. At that time he was only eight.
At the time when his father died, he was only eight.
You refused to sing. Can you tell me the reason?
Can you tell me the reason why you refused to sing?
Forming a complex sentence with an adverb clause
Connected by the subordinating conjunctions when, as, since, till, where, if,
though, unless, that, lest, whether, whereas etc.
I went there. The door was locked.
When I went there the door was locked.
There was little rain this year. The crops have dried up.
As there was little rain this year the crops have dried up.
He has expressed his regret. We will forget all about it.
Since he has expressed his regret, we will forget all about it.
You finish dressing. I will wait here.
I will wait here until you finish dressing.
There is heavy rainfall here. Grapes will not grow at such a place.
Grapes will not grow where there is heavy rainfall.
It may rain. Then the match will be cancelled.
If it rains, the match will be cancelled. 43 Syntax Phrase structure rules
Phrase-structure Rules “specify the constituency of syntactic categories in the language.
For example, in English a Noun Phrase (NP) can be an Article (Art) followed by a
Noun (N) … The Phrase Structure Rule which makes this explicit can be stated as: NP → Art N This rule conveys two facts:
(a) A Noun Phrase can be an Article followed by a Noun.
(b) An Article followed by a Noun is a Noun Phrase.
Phrase-structure Rules make explicit speakers’ knowledge of the order of words
and the grouping of words into syntactic categories.”
The following Phrase Structure Rules are part of the grammar of English:
1 Phrase-structure Rules for rewriting Noun Phrases:
1. NP → N (NP consists of N)
2. NP → DET N (NP consists of DET + N)
3. NP → DET A N (NP consists of DET + A + N)
4. NP → DET A N PP (NP consists of DET + A + N + PP)
2. Phrase-structure Rules for rewriting Sentences and Verb Phrases:
To capture the fact that sentences and clauses have two basic constituent parts,
we formulate the following phrase structure: S → NP VP
Having seen various expansion of NP, we turn now to the internal structure of VP
to explore its expansion and the rewrite rules necessary to accommodate them: VP → V: Lou won.
VP → V NP: Lou won a bicycle.
VP → V NP (S): Lou warned [the cook] [that he must wash the celery].
VP → V (NP) (PP) (S): Lou warned [the cook] [on Monday] [that he must wash the celery].
VP → V (S): The indictment charged [that Lou embezzled funds]. 44 Syntax
VP → V PP: Lou flew to Miami.
VP → V NP PP: Lou won the bike in a contest.
VP → V PP S: Lou denied in court that he flew to Miami
Phrase-structure Rules for rewriting Prepositional Phrases: PP → PREP NP
Structural ambiguity in English
There are some ways of classifying ambiguity. Hurford and Hesley (1983:128)
group ambiguity into two, lexical and structural ambiguity, and Kess (1992:133),
categorizes ambiguity into three levels: lexical ambiguity, surface structure
ambiguity and deep or underlying structure ambiguity. Cruse (1986:66), on the
other hand, distinguishes four types of ambiguity: pure syntactic ambiguity, quasi-
syntactic ambiguity, Lexico-syntactic ambiguity, and pure lexical ambiguity. From
those classifications, it can be simplified into two categories: lexical and structural ambiguity.
Ambiguity, either lexical or structural, refers to having two or more possible
meanings. In other words, when a sentence has more than one reading, it is called
ambiguous. Lexical ambiguity, the one resulting from the ambiguity of a word, is
the more common one. See the following example: They went to the bank. The
word ‘bank’ in the sentence has two possible meanings; the edge of a river, or a
financial institution. From the sentence itself, it is difficult to get the meaning of
‘bank’. It needs a context to clear up the message conveyed. In other word, the
sentence is ambiguous due to lacking of information. It can be disambiguated by
providing additional information as in, ‘They went to the bank to save some money’.
The other type, structural ambiguity, occurs when the meaning of the component
words can be combined in more than one way (O’Grady et al. 1997), for example:
Nicole saw the people with binoculars. The sentence can be grasped in two ways.
One interpretation is that Nicole used binoculars to see the people. In this sense,
binoculars modify Nicole (Nicole with binoculars). The other meaning, the people 45 Syntax
had binoculars when Nicole saw them. It means that ‘binoculars’ modifies the
people (people with binoculars).
A sentence can be ambiguous because of many reasons, some of which are multiple
meaning, lack of information, and, incompleteness (Owen and Sweeney in Visser
2004:1). To make the ambiguous sentences unambiguous and grammatical, it is
necessary to have some sort of formal signals which help the reader or hearer to
recognize the sentence structure (Taha, 1983). Some of the signals include function
words, inflections, affixes, stress, juncture (or word division and punctuation in
writing), and major class membership. Those elements will be used as the basis of
the discussion of ambiguous construction below. Those formal signals are
absolutely important to understand and analyze ambiguity.
Here are some ambiguous sentences, which are included in the discussion of this
paper: The girl hit the boy with a book; Visiting relatives can be boring; I know
more beautiful girls than Susanne; Put the bottle on the table in the dining room;
The teacher thanked the students who had given her some flowers.
In each case, the explanations include the types of structural forms, the reasons of
ambiguity, and some possible ways to resolve them.
Types of Structural Ambiguity From many types of structural ambiguity, the ones
that are explored in this paper only include: Type 1 : VP + NP + PP Type 2 : Gerund + VP
Type 3 : VP + NP + more…than + NP Type 4 : VP + NP + PP1 + PP2 Type 5 : NP + Adj. Clause
Type 1: VP + NP + PP (prepositional phrase) The girl hit the boy with a book VP NP PP 46 Syntax
The sentence may mean ‘The girl hit the boy using a book’ or ‘The boy is holding a
book when the girl hit him. This type of ambiguity occurs since the prepositional
phrase ‘with a book’ can modify two nouns ‘the girl or the boy’, either of which can
be treated as its antecedent. In the sentence there is no clue to which noun the PP
modifies. In other words, ‘with a book’ can modify the boy or the girl. This type of
structural ambiguity results from the lack of information in the construction. If
additional information is added to it, the sentence becomes unambiguous:
• The girl hit the boy with a book. The book is broken.
• The girl hit the boy with a book. The boy hurts.
In ‘a’, ‘with a book’ refers to ‘the girl’; and in ‘b’, to ‘the boy’. Other examples of the
same sort (a prepositional phrase that can modify two noun phrases) are:
• He hurt his sister with a knife:
Using a knife, he hurt his sister.
His sister was holding a knife when he hurt her.
• Brian harms Jenny with a hammer:
Using a hammer, Brian harms Jenny.
Jenny is holding a hammer when Brian harms her. Type 2: Gerund + VP
Visiting relatives can be boring. Gerund VP
The second type of ambiguity has the construction a gerund followed by a verb.
The example sentence is ambiguous because ‘visiting relatives’ can be understood
in two ways: as a compound noun and as a noun phrase consisting of a modifier
plus a noun. In writing, it is hard to eliminate the ambiguity, but in speaking, it can
be cleared up by using intonation pattern. When it is pronounces with / 2 – 3 1 ↑ /
pattern, the utterance indicates a compound noun, which means ‘the action of
visiting relatives’. However, when it is pronounced with / 3 2 – 1 ↑ / pattern, the
utterance implies a noun phrase, which means ‘relatives who visit’. 47 Syntax
Below are other examples which also indicate ambiguity of a compound noun and a noun phrase.
• Flying object: An object to fly An object that flies
• Moving car: A car for moving A car that moves
Type 3: VP + NP + more … than + NP Jerry loves the fans more than Sally. VP NP NP
This third type of ambiguity concerns comparative degree. It is ambiguous because
the shortened version may function as the subject of the second (shortened) clause
or as the object of the verb ‘love’ which is in comparative relation with ‘the fans’.
The rule is if the comparative clause is identical to the main clause except for a
contrasted phrase, optionally remove everything from the comparative clause
except for this contrasted phrase (Baker 1989:347).
In other words, when one makes a sentence using comparative degree, he/she will
use the sentence, for instance, ‘Tom hates Martha more than Susanne’, rather than
‘Tom hates Martha more than he hates Susanne’ to avoid repetition of similar
words. From the example of type 3 above, because of the removal of similar words,
the sentence has two meanings.
• Jerry loves the fans more than Sally loves the fans.
• Jerry loves the fans more than He loves Sally.
To make it unambiguous, the shortened version should be added some missing
information. The shortened version of ‘Jerry loves the fans more than Sally loves
the fans’ should be ‘Jerry loves the fans more than Sally does’. If we mean ‘Jerry
loves the fans more than He loves Sally', the sentence cannot be shortened.
The followings are other examples of ambiguity of comparative clauses:
• John listens to rock music more often than his father:
John listens to rock music more often than his father listens to rock music.
John listens to rock music more often than he listens to his father.
• James loves Helen more than Joe” 48 Syntax
James loves Helen more than Joe loves Helen.
James loves Helen more than James loves Joe.
Type 4: VP + NP + PP1 + PP2 Put the bottle on the table in the kitchen. VP NP PP1 PP2
The sentence above is ambiguous since the first modifier ‘on the table’ can modify
the closest NP or PP2. It is not clear whether ‘on the table’ modifies ‘the bottle’ or
‘in the kitchen’. If it modifies ‘the bottle’, it means that the bottle is already on the
table and should be put in the kitchen.
On the other hand, if it modifies ‘in the kitchen’, it means that the bottle should be
put from somewhere else to the table which is in the kitchen. The ambiguity can be
resolved by placing a terminal juncture between the first and the second modifier.
Thus, the sentence may mean ‘Put the bottle on the table / in the kitchen’. The
juncture shows that the bottle is already on the table and then to be put in the
kitchen. The second interpretation, is ‘Put the bottle / on the table in the kitchen’.
It means that the bottle should be put on the table, and the location of the table is
in the kitchen (not the table in the bedroom).
The followings are other examples of ambiguity with two modifiers.
• Place the box in the drawer in the bed room:
To place the box inside the drawer, which is located in the bedroom.
The box is already in the drawer and should be placed in the bedroom.
• Put the radio on the box in that room:
To put the radio on the box, which is located in that room.
The radio is already on the box, and it should be put in that room.
Type 5: NP + Adj. Clause
The teacher thanked the students
who had given her some flowers. NP Adj. Clause
This fifth sentence can be ambiguous because it can be written in two versions with absolutely different meaning: 49 Syntax
• The teacher thanked the students who had given her some flowers.
• The teacher thanked the students, who had given her some flowers.
In spoken language, the first sentence is uttered without juncture, while the second
with juncture between the antecedent (NP) and the Adjective clause.
The interpretation of the first sentence, the adjective clause ‘who had given her
some flower’ restrict NP ‘the student’ to give important information ‘which
students’ the teacher thanked. It implies that the teacher thanked only some
students who had given her some flowers (not those who didn’t give her flowers).
The adjective clause in the second sentence does not restrict the antecedent ‘the
student’, thus, it gives further information which is not needed to identify the
person, (Sinclair 1990:363). It means that the teacher thanked all of the students
(and all of them gave her flowers).
This shows the importance of proper punctuation in writing, and juncture in
spoken utterance. For Indonesian learners, however, the different meaning of
restricted and non restricted adjective clauses is still a problem unless their
linguistic knowledge is adequate. Here are some other examples.
• Tom got into the car which was parked behind the house.
There are many cars parked behind the house.
• Tom got into the car, which was parked behind the house.
There is only one car parked behind the house.
• In Indonesian Idol Contest, Joy waved her hands to her fans who shouted at her.
Joy waved her hands only to some of her fans.
• In Indonesian Idol Contest, Joy waved her hands to her fans, who shouted at her.
Joy waved her hand to all of her fans
We sometimes do not know if a sentence has a clear message or ambiguity.
Whether or not we recognize the ambiguity depend on our linguistic knowledge.
For English learners, however, it is still not easy to know if a sentence is ambiguous
or not. Having adequate proficiency of English, we are aware of the ambiguity, and 50 Syntax
try to avoid them, if possible. In writing, for example, we need to use some formal
signals (e.g. punctuation) to avoid ambiguous sentences.
The five types of ambiguity presented in this paper are only some examples of some
types of structural ambiguity. Because of limited time and effort, there are still
many other types which are not explored in this paper. Nevertheless, hopefully it
will give some contribution for the study of English.
Some more examples of structural ambiguity: 51 Syntax 52 Syntax 53 Syntax 54 Syntax 55 Syntax 56 Syntax 57 Syntax EXERCISE NOUN PHRASE
I. Identify the noun clauses in the following sentences.
1. I hope to win the first prize.
2. I tried to solve the puzzle.
3. Did you enjoy reading this book? 4. The boy wants to go home.
5. Horses prefer living in dark stables.
6. The accused refused to answer the question.
7. The boy denied stealing the money.
8. To write such rubbish is disgraceful.
9. I dislike having to punish my kids.
10. I will hate to do such a thing.
II. Draw a tree diagram for each of the following noun phrases: 1. The girl with a smile
2. The pretty girl with a smile 3. A man like John 4. Action in case of fire 5. The table which remained 6. The table which I saw
7. The girl who is standing at the door
8. The book which was written by To Hoai 9. The place where I was born
10. The man whose food was cheap
11. The time when food was cheap
12. The building to which I was refering
13. A little boy who seems to be lost
14. Several famers waiting for the Prime Minister 58 Syntax 15. The boy resembling my son
16. The mixture consisting of oxygen and hydrogen
17. The question debated in the Parliament yesterday 18. The train to arrive
19. The question to be debated in the Parliament
20. The man who is walking in the garden
21. The small leather handbag given to me
22. An experience you’ll always remember
23. Those big tree planted when my grandfather was still alive
24. That distinguished man in a black suit made by a famous tailor VERB PHRASE
Draw a tree diagram for each of the following VPS: 1. cancel the project
2. pointed out the man hidden in the crowd
3. banned the car scratching furniture from the living room
4. put the car on the porch later
5. sent me a postcard on my birthday
6. give whoever comes to the shop on the opening day a gift
7. threw up a hairball on the carpet
8. throw away money on gambling
9. will eat the rice in that saucepan
10. was quite sure about what his father had told him
11. will have the car serviced ADJECTIVE PHRASE
Draw a tree diagram for each of the following adjective phrases:
1. Kim is angry at Bill’s sister.
2. We are proud of the invention 59 Syntax
3. She was interested in what we have proposed
4. Naomi is anxious about Jim’s health.
5. He is aware of what might happen as a result of too much air pollution. PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES
Analyse the following sentences by PSRs (Phrase Structure Rules)
1. The farmer was eating his lunch in the cornfield.
2. I have forgotten who gave us this present.
3. He looked after his mother.
4. She placed the dish on the table.
5. The patient in bed was realizing with mild surprise that he was getting weaker.
6. The police caught the thief red-handed.
7. He punched the man in the face.
8. He punched the man in the blue shirt.
9. He put the book on the table on the shelf in the living room.
10. The ripe apples from the tree which is near the house might hit the people on the head.
11. He will know the result when he returns.
12. Timothy sold his car when his mother was seriously ill.
13. Those people moved the desk into the hall because they needed more space.
14. They considered what he proposed unworkable.
15. Many people are wondering when inter-planetary travel will become possible.
16. He told the secret so that I should help him.
17. He went by car because it was raining. 60 Syntax
18. He went by car which had been bought last week.
19. He went to school in Walton street in his city.
20. He went to school in Walton street in the evening.
21. That Sharon’s car had broken down astonished the mechanic.
22. You can tell me whether the train has left.
23. He drove carefully because the road was slippery.
24. She gave him a look which betokened trouble.
25. I have forgotten who gave us the gilf.
26. A wedding cake should be placed in front of them tomorrow morning.
27. The young girl was fond of what had been said by him.
28. If she met him, she would be very happy.
29. Although my grandmother is very old, she can sew.
30. He was rather concerned that no one should know immediately. SYNTHESIS OF SENTENCE
I. Combine each set of the following Simple Sentences into one Simple
Sentence by using a Participle :
1. The tiger was hungry. He killed a goat.
2. He has failed. He heard the news. He fainted.
3. The people saw the flames. They ran towards the burning house.
4. He finished his work. He went home.
5. I was hungry. I took my food.
6. I saw a man. He was blind. He was carrying a lamp in his hand.
7. Mahesh Bhupati was defeated by Leander Paes. He was much disappointed.
8. I saw a man. He was smoking a cigarette.
9. She went to the garden. She plucked flowers.
10. I saw a ball. I picked it up.
11. The servant swept the room. He went away.
12. He came to me. He gave me this letter. 61 Syntax
13. The poor man worked. He laughed. He thus spent his life.
14. I was walking in the field. I saw a snake. I ran away.
15. The child lost his pen. He began to weep.
16. He was disguised as a saint. He escaped to Nepal.
17. Turn to the right. You will then find the house.
18. The magician took pity on the rat. He turned it into a cat.
19. She was tired of reading. She lay down in bed.
20. He jumped up. He ran away.
21. Brijesh lost his book. He searched for it.
22. He raised his gun. He took aim. He shot the tiger.
23. He drew his sword. He attacked his enemy.
24. Sheela witnessed the show. She witnessed three dolls. The dolls were talking in a strange language.
25. A funny fox saw some grapes. They were hanging from a vine.
26. The boy has lost his books. He is searching them.
27. He took off his shoes. He entered the temple.
28. He went outside. He was accompanied by his brother.
II. Combine each of the following Simple Sentences into one Simple
Sentence by using an Infinitive :
1. I had no money. I could not give any body.
2. He has three sons. He has to educate them .
3. He is very weak. He can not run.
4. Man works day and night. He has to support his family.
5. Neeta is very poor. She can not carry on her studies.
6. Hari remained very serious in his studies right from the very beginning of the
session. He wanted to top the Board’s Examination.
7. He has three daughters. He has to get them married.
8. Give him a chair. He will sit on it. 62 Syntax
9. He is very fat. He can not run fast.
10. Hari went to Agra. He wanted to see the Taj.
11. She will go to Kanpur. She will see her father.
12. My uncle is quite weak. He can not go for a morning walk.
13. She went to Dehradun.She went there to see her sister.
14. I went to station. My object was to see off my sister .
15. I went to my aunt’s house. I wanted to see my ailing cousin.
16. Hari ran fast. He wanted to get the first prize.
17. He could not prepare well for the examination. He had not sufficient time.
18. He wanted to educate his son. He sent him to America.
III. Combine the following Simple Sentences into one Simple
Sentence by using Nominative Absolute :
1. The weather was stormy. The plane got late.
2. The teacher entered the class. The students stood up.
3. His behaviour was not good. It could irritate any man.
4. The sun rose. The fog disappeared.
5. The sun set. The stars came up in the sky.
6. The work was done. We went back home.
7. The bell rang. The school closed.
8. The rain stopped. Children went out to play.
9. The fog was very dense. No one could see his way through the streets.
10. The letter was written. He posted it at once.
11. The classwork was over. The students left the class.
12. It was cold. No one went out.
13. The police arrived. The mob dispersed.
14. The sun set. They returned to their homes.
15. My pocket was picked. I had no money for bus fare.
16. The teacher entered the class. The boys became silent. 63 Syntax
17. The leader was slain. The followers ran away in fear.
18. It was a holiday. The students did not go to school.
19. The bank was closed. I could not withdraw any money.
20. The match has been won. All the players are making merry.
21. The second show is over. The people have left for their homes.
22. The sun rose. The birds began chirping.
23. The time is over. Now stop writing.
24. The paper were distributed. The students started writing.
25. The train arrived. The hawkers made a noise.
26. The officer was out of his office. The clerks began talking.
27. The curtain was dropped. People went to their homes.
28. The fire broke out. All the workers ran out of the factory.
29. The train arrived. The passengers stood up.
IV. Combine the following groups of Simple Sentences into one
Simple Sentence by using a Preposition before a Gerund or Noun :
1. My brother is ill. He has high fever.
2. He saw the moon. He became glad.
3. He gave them food. He helped them liberally.
4. I bought a watch. I paid Rs 500 for it.
5. You helped me. I would have been drowned.
6. He behaved rudely with me. I was quite displeased.
7. He has failed many times. He still hopes to succeed.
8. I bought a pen. I got it for ten rupees.
9. He was a poor man. He was of an independent spirit.
10. The state of Andhra is divided into several districts. Each district has its own headquarters.
11. He could not come. He was ill.
12. I reached the station. I bought tickets.
13. He fled. He had seen a bear coming. 64 Syntax
14. He was arrested. I heard the news. I went to the police station.
15. He returned safely. All were glad.
16. He wrote a book. The book was on translation.
17. Sohan sold his house. He sold it for fifty thousand rupees.
18. Her uncle died. She heard the news. She wept.
19. She met an old man in the street. He had a book in his hand.
20. His wife died. He heard the news. He fainted.
21. I saw the principal in the verandah. I went away to the class.
22. I play all games. I do not play hockey.
23. The teacher has checked your all exercises. He found many mistakes in them.
24. He finished his homework. He went away to play.
25. The invigilator found two students copying. He cancelled the examination.
26. The soldiers were marching with pride. They had arms in their hands.
27. My father has won the first prize in the monthly lottery. He is very happy.
28. You must tell me the secret. You can then avoid the punishment.
29. He is ungrateful. I help him much.
30. He passed. All of his friends became happy.
V. Combine each set of the following Simple Sentences into one Simple
Sentence by using an Infinitive :
1. I had no money. I could not give any body.
2. He has three sons. He has to educate them.
3. He is very weak. He can not run.
4. Man works day and night. He has to support his family.
5. Neeta is very poor. She can not carry on her studies.
6. Hari remained very serious in his studies right from the very beginning of the
session. He wanted to top the Board’s Examination.
7. He has three daughters. He has to get them married.
8. Give him a chair. He will sit on it. 65 Syntax
9. He is very fat. He can not run fast.
10. Hari went to Agra. He wanted to see the Taj.
11. She will go to Kanpur. She will see her father.
12. My uncle is quite weak. He can not go for a morning walk.
13. Sita went to Dehradun. She went there to see her sister.
14. He had a large family. He had to provide for them.
15. I went to the station. My object was to see off my sister.
16. I went to my aunt’s house. I wanted to see my ailing cousin.
17. Hari ran fast. He wanted to get the first prize.
18. He could not prepare well for the examination. He had not sufficient time.
19. He wanted to educate his son. He sent him to America.
20. I have some duties. I must perform them.
21. He gave me an apple. He asked me to taste it.
23. He has some bills. He must pay them.
24. He wanted to buy some dress material. He went to market.
25. Walk in the open air. It is good for health.
26. I heard of your son’s birth. I was pleased.
27. I will pass the examination this year. I hope so.
28. Everybody dies one day. Nobody likes it.
29. He went to station. He wanted to farewell his guests.
30. They will go to market. They will buy fruits.
VI. Combine each set of the following Simple Sentences into one Simple
Sentence by using a Participle :
1. The tiger was hungry. He killed a goat.
2. He has failed. He heard the news. He fainted.
3. The people saw the flames. They ran towards the burning house.
4. He finished his work. He went home.
5. I was hungry. I took my food.
6. I saw a man. He was blind. He was carrying a lamp in his hand. 66 Syntax
7. Mahesh Bhupati was defeated by Leander Paes. He was much disappointed.
8. I saw a man. He was smoking a cigarette.
9. She went to the garden. She plucked flowers.
10. I saw a ball. I picked it up.
11. The servant swept the room. He went away.
12. He came to me. He gave me this letter.
13. The poor man worked. He laughed. He thus spent his life.
14. I was walking in the field. I saw a snake. I ran away.
15. The child lost his pen. He began to weep.
16. He was disguised as a saint. He escaped to Nepal.
17. Turn to the right. You will then find the house.
18. The magician took pity on the rat. He turned it into a cat.
19. She was tired of reading. She lay down in bed.
20. He jumped up. He ran away.
21. Brijesh lost his book. He searched for it.
22. He raised his gun. He took aim. He shot the tiger.
23. He drew his sword. He attacked his enemy.
24. Sheela witnessed the show. She witnessed three dolls. The dolls were talking in a strange language.
25. A funny fox saw some grapes. They were hanging from a vine.
26. The boy has lost his books. He is searching them.
27. He took off his shoes. He entered the temple.
28. He went outside. He was accompanied by his brother.
VII. Combine each of the following sets of Simple Sentences into one
Simple Sentence by using an Adjective :
1. Tagore was a Bengali. He was a great poet.
2. He is my brother. He is intelligent.
3. The Principal fined a boy. The boy was naughty.
4. I bought a pen. It was costly. 67 Syntax
5. I saw a girl. She was very tall and beautiful.
6. A lion was hungry. He killed a horse. The horse was black.
7. He gave a rupee to a man. The man was blind.
8. William C. Douglas saw a girl. She was a refugee girl.
9. I met a boy. He was very intelligent .
10. A boy was weeping bitterly. He was hungry.
11. They killed a snake. It was poisonous.
12. A woman was strolling on the road. She was old. She had a stick in her hand.
13. He reads a book. The book was old.
14. A man is going to station. He is lamb.
15. A tiger was hungry. He killed a bullock. The bullock was hefty.
VIII. Combine each of the following sets of Simple Sentences into a
Simple Sentence by using an Adverb or Adverbial Phrase :
1. The rose has thorns. It is certain.
2. Great people serve their country. Their service is selfless.
3. He was at fault. There is no doubt in it.
4. He went to market. He was in a hurry.
5. I shall return by the morning. I am definite about it.
6. I thanked him. I did it with all my heart.
7. The river was flowing. It’s flow was slow.
8. He did it. He did it with a great success.
9. He spent all his money. This was foolish.
10. She will pass the examination. It is certain.
11. The leader spoke. He spoke for ages minutes.
12. He met with an accident. He was fortunate to escape unhurt.
13. They refused to listen my proposal. Their refusal was firm.
14. This train runs. Its speed is very fast.
15. He kicked the player. It was his intention to do so. 68 Syntax
IX. Combine each of the following sets of Simple Sentences into one Compound Sentence :
1. I am going to Delhi. I will stay there for a week.
2. Make haste. You will be late.
3. Hate begets hate. Love begets love.
4. Professor Gupta was late. He missed the train.
5. He was wrong. He was punished.
6. It was stormy night. He ventured out.
7. He drew his sword. He rushed upon the enemy.
8. Good boys work. Bad boys make mischief.
9. The speaker was very nervous. He, therefore, could not speak.
10. He is the son of a mathematician. He is very sharp minded boy.
11. He is lazy. He scored good marks.
12. The girl played volleyball. The boys did not play.
13. If you lead, I shall follow.
14. On account of illness, I could not go to school.
15. Come with me. Stay at home.
16. He is innocent. He should be treated as such.
17. Ram is wise. Ram is gentle.
18. He is intelligent. He is not proud.
19. He grew very weak. He didn’t break the fast.
20. I met Mohan. He was a lecturer.
21. The Rajputs were victorious. They were brave.
22. I visited Delhi. It is the capital of India.
23. He is rich. He is not contented.
24. I tried my best. I could not succeed.
25. Speak the truth. You will be respected by all.
26. Give me your money bag. You will be shot dead.
27. God is merciful. He feeds even the helpless. 69 Syntax
28. Everything decays. Books survive.
29. That animal may be a fish. It may be a serpent. It must be one of them.
30. The brave face the challenges. Cowards flee.
31. Seth Govind Das is rich. He is a miser.
32. He saw the boy in the street. He stopped to speak to him. He gave him a book.
33. Rahim is intelligent . He is careless. His success is doubtful.
34. I did not go to Delhi. My brother did not go.
35. I invited her to the party. She did not come.
X. Combine the following pairs of sentences with suitable conjunctions.
1. He didn’t get admission. His grades were not very good.
2. The teacher enters the class room. You should get up.
3. You will find it. You look for it.
4. I told you not to do it. You have done it again.
5. She was really upset with him. She said nothing. 6. You heat ice. It melts.
7. It will start working. You give it a kick.
8. He paid the subscription fee. His membership was renewed.
9. You wait long enough. You will get what you want.
10. He got a first class. His parents were not happy with his performance.
XI. Combine the following sentences using an appropriate conjunction or a participle.
1. The thief heard the noise. He ran away.
2. He is very fat. He cannot walk fast.
3. The villagers caught the thief. They handed him over to the police.
4. Rahim is a doctor. He was my student at college.
5. You have to submit your application before Friday. Otherwise, it will not be accepted.
6. He has to start coming on time. Otherwise he will lose his job. 70 Syntax
7. He is unwell. Still he attends the office regularly.
8. It may rain. We will get wet.
9. I bought these apples yesterday. They are ripe.
8. If it rains we will get wet.
9. These apples which I bought yesterday are ripe.
XII. Combine the given sentences using the word given in the brackets.
1. I bought some mangoes yesterday. They were very sweet. (which)
2. As the weather was fine, we went out for a walk. (use ‘being’ instead of ‘was’)
3. It is very hot. I can’t go out now. (too)
4. Peter did not work hard. So he failed the test. (if)
5. Both the students are intelligent. They are good too. (as well as)
6. Sam was suffering from fever. He could not attend the class. (as)
7. He worked very hard. Yet he failed. (despite)
8. He is honest. Everybody respects him. (since)
9. He is very ill. The doctors do not expect him to survive. (so…that)
10. Every time he saw a dog, he threw stones at it. (whenever)
XIII. Combine the following sentences using an appropriate
preposition, conjunction or relative pronoun.
1. She was tired. She went on working.
2. I had a headache. Still, I enjoyed the movie.
3. It was raining. We went out.
4. He didn’t prepare for the test. He couldn’t answer any questions.
5. I passed the test. I didn’t answer many questions.
6. The chairman was ill. The meeting was postponed.
7. The beaver is a hardworking animal. It is a native of Canada.
8. We have to study literature. We also have to study philosophy and history.
9. I like all musical instruments. I don’t like the guitar.
XIV. Combine each of the following pairs of sentences into a simple sentence 71 Syntax
1. He won a jackpot. He built a big mansion.
2. He stood on tip-toe. He reached for the bunch of grapes.
3. He is going to London. He wants to pursue higher education there.
4. Milton was the Homer of England. He wrote Paradise Lost.
5. Patel was a strong man. He brought all the Princely States into the Indian Union. He used
the method of persuasion. Sometimes he used the method of coercion.
6. Gandhi was a great visionary. He realized the danger of communal conflicts.
He sacrificed his life to bring about unity.
XV. Join each of the following pairs of sentences into a single simple
sentence by using a noun or phrase in apposition.
1. Bombay was once a fishing village. It is now the financial capital of India.
2. Edison invented the gramophone. He was an American scientist.
3. Midas was a greedy king. He lived to regret his greed.
4. The Pyramids are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. They stand in the plains of Egypt.
5. I consulted Dr. Smith. He is an eminent educationist.
XVI. Combine each of the following pairs of sentences into a complex
sentence consisting of an independent clause and a subordinate noun clause.
1. Someone is plucking my flowers. I want to find out who.
2. You are late. Tell me the reason.
3. Where is the school? Could you tell me that?
4. He fell off the stairs. Tell me how.
5. Will he be included in the team? It is doubtful.
6. Our team will win the championship. We are quite sure.
7. There will be heavy rains and lightning. That is the forecast.
8. He promised me. He would not let me down.
9. Someone damaged the table. The Headmaster wanted to find out who. 72 Syntax
10. The guests will be arriving tomorrow. We do not know the exact time. AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES
I. Analyze the 2 different sentences structures (SVOCA) to show both
possible meanings for each sentence and draw tree diagrams to
illustrate its different meanings:
1. The woman hit the man with the wooden leg.
2. The girl scratched the boy with the sharp fingernails. 3. We called him a porter
4. I am looking for someone to teach French
5. They have wounded men there.
6. I bought an old French dictionary.
II. Are the following sentences ambiguous? If yes, explain the 2
possible meanings of the ambiguous sentences:
1. The koala consumed the leaves with boredom.
2. He buried the knife he found in the garden.
3. I looked at the letter Max was reading with unfeigned astonishment.
4. He couldn’t find the key to the jewel case which he had left on the table.
5. We must ask the farmer who owns the fields where we can camp.
6. He lived on a street near the post office which was always full of people.
7. Children who stay out all night sometimes should be punished. 73 Syntax