Revision as of 11:30, 4 June 2014

I. Verb

A. Participles -ing, -ed / -en

1. Describing what is happening

2. Describing what has happened

3. Describing what often happens

See I.B.4 et I.B.4a

4. As nouns

See II.A.1.C.4

B. Verbal base.

1. Commands / Imperative (Order the pizza.)

2. Following modal verbs (We could order a pizza.)

3. Following "to" (I want you to order the pizza.)

4. Describing what often happens (I often order a pizza for lunch on Thursdays.)

a. the 3rd person s / z / iz

C. Auxiliaries

1. do

a. interaction with the negative adverb not. No, I (don't / do not) want to do more work.

b. asking questions about states of mind... (do you know, do you like, do you think, do you want to...)

2. be

a. be + -ing (present imperfect)

b. be + -en (passive voice)

3. have

a. present perfect. (Have you finished the painting?) past + present: summing up (faire le bilan)

b. causative/medio-passive (Have him come to my office when he gets here.)

4. get (semi-auxiliary)

a. get + -ed: dynamic (middle) voice (The BNP is getting fined.)

b. get + -ing: inceptive (They got the ball rolling.)

II. Substantive

A. Nominals

1. Nouns

a. singular / plural, no gender, duals

• s / z / iz
• pair of

b. countability

c. determination

1. zero determination (no article)=

proper nouns, generic plurals

2. definite determination (the, this, that, ...)

demonstrative determiners / pronouns: these / those ; situative pronouns: this / that

3. indefinite determination (a, some, any, ...)

4. deverbal nouns (-ing, -ed/-en, verbal base)

d. pronouns (one, -one, -body, -thing, -where)

B. Adjectivals

1. Quality vs. Quantity

In a sentence like "I would like to order four pizzas", or "I would like to order a pizza", for that matter, one says nothing about the desired qualities of the pizza (at least not yet). Such information can be added, of course, by adding an adjective or an adjectival: "I would like to order four four-cheese pizzas with extra jalapeno" Modern linguists separate the class "adjective" from the class "determiner", roughly along these lines: what in traditional grammar were "indeterminate" adjectives (some, any, (a) few, etc.) are now thought of as "determiners" because they circumscribe the ensemble of objects spoken about, without conferring qualities upon the objects themselves.

2. Scale

====a. resultatives: the cat licked the saucer clean.

3. Comparative particles

-er / more

as / as

4. Superlative particles

-est, most

very

4. The complex noun phrase. Germanic

e.g. city planners (Eng.) v. stadtplaner (Ger.) v. urbanistes (Fr.)