Answer the following questions. What is the nominalising transformation?
What is the nominalising transformation?
What is the product of the nominalising transformation?
What positions can the N-transform fill?
What relations are mirrored in the N-transform?
Is Harris's definition of the N-transform complete or not and what should be added to it?
What makes the S NP transformation necessary?
What structures does the S NP transformation apply to?
Are the relations of the underlying structures retained in the N-transform?
Could you recall into what subgroups the kernel sentences are divided?
On what level is the N-transformation performed?
Is there word-for-word correspondence between a kernel sentence and N-transform?
If not, with what classes of words can the positions of N-transform fill?
How many N-transformations of sentences withBE do you know?
How does the uniqueness of BE manifest itself in the domain of N-transformations?
What kernel sentences with BE do you know?
How do you transform the 'NP is A' into (T) A N?
What becomes of the nominalised constructions when they function as regular names of all the objects of the same class?
Are these N-transforms easily generalised?
How is generalisation signalled?
What are the operations applied in this transformation?
* * *
How are the 'N is A' sentence structures differentiated?
Can sentences which state A undergo N-transformations?
Is the ability/inability of' N is A' structure to undergo the N transformation a signal of discriminating the two A subgroups?
Could non-transformational grammar find a solution for the discrimination of state A and quality A?
How do you nominalise the structure NP is NP?
What is the operation applied?
Is this operation on the morphological or syntactical level?
What does the choice of the determiner in NP2 signal?
How do you nominalise the structure NP is of NP?
What operation is applied?
What level transformation is it?
Is the N-transform easily generalised?
Which is oftener used: the kernel sentence or the N-transform?
How do you nominalise ' N is D ' kernel structure?
What operation do you apply?
What N-transform do you produce nominalising NP is like NP?
What are the operations applied?
How do you know that 'like' is a preposition?
Has this N-transform any stylistic value?
Are these N-transforms used in emotional speech?
Have they got any portraying value?
Could you give the positional characteristics of the NP derived from BE-sentences?
Could you enumerate all the procedures applied to BE-sentences when they are nominalised?
* * *
What do you know about the uniqueness of the verb HAVE?
How is this uniqueness displayed in nominalising?
How are sentences with HAVE divided?
How is the sentence NP1 HAVE (HAS) NP2, nominalised?
What are the procedures to produce the transform NP1's NP2 ?
What are the procedures producing NP2 of NP2?
What is the grammatical meaning of this transform?
Do the two N-transforms retain this meaning?
How are these transformations restricted?
What is the transform produced by nominalising NP2 HAVE (HAS) NP2 D?
What intermediate structure lies between the kernel sentence and the nominal transform?
What preposition is used in the N-transform in this case?
What preposition is used if the sentence is negative?
What procedures are used in nominalising these sentences?
What do you get nominalising the kernel sentence NP1 HAVE (HAS) NP2 with the context restricted D (' in it', 'in them')?
What verb can substitute HAVE in these sentences?
How do you nominalise these sentences?
What procedures are applied?
Do the transforms retain the relations of the kernel sentences?
Are these transforms easily generalised?
If the preposition in the N-transform is 'for' (not 'of), how' does it change the structural meaning of the N-transform?
* * *
How is the NP with 'for' further transformed?
What are the underlying constructions of' a cup of tea'?
What are the underlying constructions of' a tea-cup'?
What N-transforms may seem to be ambiguous?
What different constructions express different relations?
What other nominalising transformations may be applied to sentences with HAVE?
What is the N-transform withHAVE-ing?
How is NP1 transformed?
What is the function of NP1's in the N-transform?
What operations are used in this transformation?
Does the N-transform mirror the relations of the kernel sentence from which it is derived?
What is the other transformation which can be applied to V-Have sentences?
How is V-Have transformed on the morphological level?
What is the NP1 preceded by 'for' in this transform?
What is the N-transform derived from NP VI(D)?
How is N/V derived from a V on the morphological level?
What procedures are applied on the syntactic level?
What relations characterise the N-transform?
* * *
Can the N-transform be generalised or not?
What is the transformation with V-ing of these sentences?
Are the 'actor—action' relations preserved in this transform?
What other transforms may be derived from the same sentences?
What restrictions are there for these nominalising transformations?
How are these sentences transformed into NP with V-to?
When is 'for—NP' not used before the infinitive?
What positions can these transforms fill in?
How do you produce the N-transforms of the following type: TN/V(er)of NP2?
What relations are expressed in this transform?
Can the same kernel sentences be nominalised with V-ing?
What are the operations used in this transformation?
Can the same sentences be nominalised with V-to?
Can the same sentences and some others be nominalised into TN/V of NP2?
What procedures are applied here?
What is the intermediary transformation or 'smoked fish', 'the killed bear' and the like?
How do you nominalise sentences with the verbs 'to form' and 'to make' ?
What are the intermediary constructions?
Can adverb relations of time and place be rendered in N-transforms?
Lecture № 9
Two base transformations
S1+S2 SSS
S1 + S2 S3
An utterance may consist of two or more sentences.
In any sentence sequence in a super-sentencial structure the first sentence is a situation or a leading one, the second is a sequential sentence:
| He's just been over there (situation sentence) | So have I. (sequential sentence) |
The sequential sentence has a special form which signals its connection with the situation sentence. The connection may be made clear through the use of the following means:
(1) A substitute:
The boy has just brought the papers. They are at the door.
(2) The addition of a functional word (and a substitute):
(a) co-ordinator.
I did everything for Angela. And she didn't even thank me.
(b) a sentence-connector.
John had not done his work regularly. Consequently he got a low mark.
(3) Permutation:
He decided on a letter. This letter he addressed to his friend.
(4) Permutation, a substitute and a function word:
Peter left. So did I.
"Many sentences which have what might be called complex structures can be analysed as containing a sequence of two or more sentences or sentence structures, some or all of which have special forms: 'I met him coming back'. In all these cases the sections with special forms can be shown to be transforms of ordinary independent sentences..."
In other words, any compound or any complex sentence is also a sentence sequence.
* * *
Transformations in sentence sequences reveal the mechanism by which two or more sentences can be joined into one larger structural pattern: S1+S2 S3, where S1 is a matrix sentence; S2 is an insert sentence.
Transformations in sequences are carried out through the following process:
(1) conjunction which consists in co-ordinating two sentences by means of co-ordinators: 'and', 'but', 'or', 'nor', discontinuous or correlative conjunctions 'either... or', 'neither... nor' and pauses (asyndetic connection);
(2) the addition of function words:
(a) sentence-connectors which unlike conjunctions can shift their position by moving around the sentence. They are: 'so', 'thus', 'however', 'consequently', etc.:
(b) conjunctives, function words which are unspecified in the sense that they are selected freely without referring to any antecedent. The conjunctives are: 'what', 'who', 'which', 'whatever', etc.;
(c) subordinators which like sentence-connectors do not replace any element, but are merely added to the insert sentence to transform it into a clause: subordinators signal subordination of one clause to the other. They are: 'that', 'than', 'because', 'as if ', 'if, 'even though', the discontinuous 'so... that', 'as... as', etc.;
(3) embedding is the insertion into a certain position in the matrix sentence;
(4) substitution which consists in replacing elements of the insert sentence by their nounal, verbal, adverbial or adjectival.
The substitutes are subdivided into:
(a) N-substitutes: 'she', 'he', 'if ', 'they', 'that', 'another', 'other', 'none', 'both', and the relatives 'who', 'which', 'where', 'that', 'as', etc.
(b) V-substitutes: 'do', 'will', 'shall', 'to', 'have', 'can', etc.
(c) D-substitutes: 'so', 'that way', 'like that', etc.
(d) A-substitutes: 'such', 'like this', etc.;
(5) zeroing or deletion of a word characterized by a zero-filled position
with a neatly specified antecedent;
(6) adjustment which consists in transforming an element of the sequential sentence on the morphological level (see T-AUX in simple sentences);
(7) permutation consists in any rearrangement of linguistic elements
(words or segments of speech);
(8) word-sharing which consists in two sentences overlapping round a common or a shared word.
These procedures are generally not applied singly, but more often than not combine with one another. They are applied to change the structure of the insert sentence which is then embedded or attached to the first matrix sentence.
In non-transformational grammars the matrix sentence is termed 'a main clause'.