The Syntax of the English Simple Sentence

II Applied Modern Languages

Course instructor: Daria Protopopescu
Contact: dariaprotopopescu@yahoo.com

Lecture 2
The Syntax of Simple Sentences - THE INTRANSITIVE PREDICATION
(ONE-ARGUMENT VERBS)

Traditionally, one-argument verbs minimally contain one NP, which generally appears in the
subject position, but the main problem seems to be related to the position of that argument in
the argument frame of the verb, so the problem is whether it is the external or the internal
argument. The position of the argument has important consequences for the syntactic
behaviour of the verb.
One-argument verbs fall into two categories: a) unergatives and b) unaccusatives.
Eg. A) He may protest.
He overdosed.
He complained.
The children are swimming.
They were coughing because of the smoke.
B) There arose an unfortunate misunderstanding.
There came a cry of anguish from inside the house.
There appeared a ghostly face at the window.
In front of the house there stands a statue of the general.
There have arisen several problems.

A) Unergatives
 Describe mainly volitional acts
 The subject has control over the action, it is the initiator of the event, it is an Agent
 The NP appearing with an unergative verb is its external argument
 Is is not possible to have an postverbal imperative subject with unergatives
Eg. *Eat you up!
 The past participles of unergative verbs cannot be used as adjectives in a post-head
position
Eg. *The man talked to was a neighbour of mine.
 The past participles of unergatives cannot be used as an adjective in a pre-head
position
Eg. * The yawned student eventually fell asleep in class.
 Unergatives evince the feature of atelicity, in other words they do not presuppose an
end point
Eg. The boys cried with laughter.
 Unergatives allow a so-called cognate object, an object which copies the semantic
features of the verb and which occupies the canonical position of the direct object,
namely after the governing verb.
Eg. They slept the sleep of the just.
They died a heroic death.
She dreamt a nice dream.

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B) Unaccusatives
 The subject of unaccusatives undergoes a change of location or state and has no
control over the action
 The subject is not an Agent, it is generally assigned the theta-role Patient or Theme
 The unique argument of an unaccusative verb is the internal argument
 In Belfast English it is possible to have a postverbal imperative subject
Eg. Leave you now!
Arrive you before 6!
Be going you out of the door when he arrives!
 The past participles of unaccusatives can be used as aadjectives in a post-head
position
Eg, The train arrived at platform 5 is the London Express.
They arrested a businessman recently returned from Thailand.
 The past participles of unaccusatives can be used as adjectives in a pre-head position
Eg. He is some kind of a fallen hero.
 Unaccusatives evince the feature of telicity, namely they presuppose an end point.
Eg. The car had vanished from sight.
 They do not allow a direct object
Eg. *The prices decreased cheese.

UNERGATIVE VERBS

a) predicates describing willed or volitional acts: work, play, speak, talk, smile, grin,
frown, grimace, think, mediate, cogitate, daydream, skate, ski, swim, hunt, bicycle,
walk, skip, jog, quarrel, fight, wrestle, box, agree, disagree, knock, bang, hammer,
pray, weep, cry, kneel, bow, laugh, dance, crawl.
b) verbs denoting manners of speaking: whisper, shout, mumble, grumble, growl,
bellow, etc
c) predicates describing sounds made by animals: bark, neigh, quack, roar, chirp, oink,
mew, etc
d) verbs denoting involuntary bodily processes: cough, sneeze, hiccough, belch, burp,
defecate, urinate, sleep, cry, weep, etc

Eg. They quarreled quite often.

We sneezed a lot with hay fever.
They ski in the Alps every year.
She was weeping with joy at the ceremony.

UNACCUSATIVE VERBS
A) burn, fall, drop, sink, float, slide, slip, glide, soar, flow, ooze, seep, trickle, drip, gush,
hang, dangle, sway, wave, tremble, shake, languish, flourish, thrive, drown, stumble,
trip, roll, succumb, dry, boil, seethe, lie (involuntarily), sit (involuntarily), bend
(involuntarily)
B) inchoatives (verbs showing a process resulting in a change of state) : melt, freeze,
evaporate, redden, darken, yellow, rot, decompose, germinate, sprout, bud, wilt,
wither, increase, decrease, blush, explode, die, perish, choke, suffocate, scatter,
disperse, vanish, disappear
C) verbs of existing and happening: exist, occur, happen, result, take place
D) aspectual predicates: begin, start, stop, cease, continue, end, etc
E) duratives: last, remain, stay, survive, etc
F) verbs denoting a non-voluntary emission of stimuli that has an impact on the senses:
shine, sparkle, glitter, glow, jingle, clink, clang, snap, crackle, pop, smell, stink, etc

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 G) verbs of existence: blaze, bubble, cling, coexist, correspond, decay, depend, drift,
dwell, elapse, emanate, exist, fester, float, flow, fly, grow, hide, hover, live, loom,
lurk, overspread, persist, predominate, prevail, project, protrude, revolve, reside, rise,
shelter, settle, smoulder, spread, stream, survive, sweep, swing, tower, wind
H) verbs of appearance: accumulate, appear, arise, awake, awaken, break, burst, dawn,
derive, develop, emerge, ensure, evolve, exude, flow, follow, gush, happen, issue,
materialize, occur, plop, spill, steal, stem, supervene, surge

Remark: the basic meaning of the verbs in the last two categories may not be that of existence
or appearance, but, when used in the there-insertion construction, they will show this sense.

Following Burzio’s generalization, a verb which lacks an external argument, that is does not
assign an external theta role also fails to assign Accusative case. Therefore, the internal
argument of unaccusatives has to move out of the VP internal position in order to be assigned
case. On the contrary, unergatives, which have an external argument, can assign Accusative
case under specific conditions.

Eg. He dreamt a nice dream.

TESTS FOR UNERGATIVITY/UNACCUSATIVITY

A. There-insertion
Only unaccusatives (with the exception of verbs of change of state) and passive verbs can
occur in the there-insertion construction, unergatives are not allowed in this construction.

Eg. A problem developed. /There developed a problem.

A ship appeared in the horizon. / There appeared a ship in the horizon.
A woman lodged at Mrs Brown’s. / *There lodged a woman at Mrs Brown’s
Oiled soared in price. / *There soared in price.
Eg, (passive predicates) There was found in this cave an ancient treasure.
There was glued a poster on this wall.
Eg. (unergatives) *There sneezed a man.
*There broke out a fire.
*There spoke a man in a loud voice.
Eg. (change of state) *On the line there are drying a lot of clothes.
*There melted a lot of snow on the streets of the city.

1. The there-insertion construction which diagnoses unaccusativity

There V NP PP

Eg. There remained three men in the room.

There followed a wave of indignation in the newspapers.
Throughout the 19th century there stood an ugly statue of the last king on the palace
lawn.
There dangles a magnificent chandelier from the ceiling.

This construction simply postulates the existence of some entity and it may contain no
locative information. The existential there used in this construction is just a presentative
construction, which does not necessarily locate in space. There is devoid of meaning, it is an
expletive element. The internal argument of the verb must be [-agentive], it cannot have any
control over the action denoted by the verb. Such sentences usually express ‘coming into
being’. (There began a riot. / *There ended a riot). Not all unaccusatives allow the there-
insertion construction. It is mainly verbs of existence (the state resulting from the appearance
of some entity) and verbs of appearance (come into existence), which share the idea of

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existence. They also require a location argument, be it overt or implicit, which means that
these verbs have two internal arguments – one describing the entity that exist (Theme) and the
other one describing the location at which the entity exists (the location argument).Such verbs
lack a causative variant.

Eg. *He appeared a cat at the door.

*They remained three men in the room.

 There are unaccusatives derived from two argument-verbs causative predicates,

which become intransitive and do not allow the there-insertion construction. The
causative component of the predicate disallows the there-insertion construction.

Eg. The glass broke. / He broke the glass

*There broke the glass.

There V PP NP

This construction need not be related to unaccusatives. There is a long list of verbs that can
occur in this construction. There in this construction carries a clear locative meaning.
Eg. A little boy darted into the room. / There darted into the room a little boy.

Verbs that can occur in this construction: amble, climb, crawl, creep, dance, dart, flee, float,
fly, gallop, head, hobble, hop, hurtle, jump, leap, march, plod, prance, ride, roam, roll, run,
rush, sail, shuffle, skip, speed, stagger, stray, stride, strut, swim, trot, trudge, walk.

2. Definiteness

 Definite NPs, proper names and pronouns cannot normally be used as subjects of the
there-insertion constructions.

Eg. *There is every student of mine in the room.

*There is John in the garden.
* There was him waiting for Mary.

 Indefinites are allowed as subjects in there-insertion constructions, while the

postverbal NP had to denote a discourse referent that is new to the hearer.

Eg. There were flies in the room.

There remained a boy in the room.

Nevertheless, there may be other situations when not only indefinites are allowed as subjects
of a there-insertion construction:

 Partitives (headed by indefinite determiners)

Eg. There remained many of the same students at both seminars.
 Definite NPs – they are allowed as subjects of the there-insertion construction if and
only iff they denote discourse referent that is new to the hearer.
Eg. There was the mother of a student in the office.
There was the smell of liquor on his breath.
 Definite NPs which denote kinds
Eg. There were those kinds of books at the library.
There was every flavour of ice for tasting.

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 There was that kind of book listed in the catalog. (The underlined NP does not
necessarily refer to a unique object, it refers to a kind of objects, so it cannot be
replaced by the pronoun it as an anaphoric expression - *However, it was checked
out).
 Definite NPs if the noun is modified by an AP, a PP or a clause:
Eg, There weren’t the doctors to staff the clinic.
There is her future to consider.
There has arisen the important problem of their social status.
 Definite NPs in an enumeration/list
Eg. Q: What else is there in that drawer?
A: There’s the rubber, the red pencil, and the writing paper.
Q: Who can we ask?
A: There’s Ann, or Mike, or Pete.
Remark: such definite NPs are allowed only it the truth of their existential assertion is
presupposed.

3. The Predicate Restriction

There-insertion is allowed only with stage-level predicates, namely predicates which refer to
unique, individual events. There-insertion is not compatible with generic interpretations.

Eg. There was a man sick. / *There was a man tall.

There are three pigs loose. / *There are three pigs stupid.

The set of sentences on the left refer to two unique, individual events – one person who was
sick at some point in time or three pigs who are loose at some point in time, whereas the set of
sentences on the right have generic interpretations, referring to the inherent qualities of the
subjects (being tall or being stupid).

Conclusion
 There has no meaning of its own
 It is a semantically empty element, required for structural reasons – it fills the subject
position
 Its presence in the sentence is dependent of the presence of its associate, the
postverbal NP, which must be indefinite

B. Intransitives and Locative Inversion

It is a non-canonical construction in which the surface subject stays inside the VP and the
sentence initial position is occupied by a locative PP. It is a construction in which only
unaccusatives can appear, unergatives and transitives are ungrammatical. The most frequently
used verbs are underived unaccusatives, namely verbs of appearance and verbs of existence as
well as verbs denoting position in space. Derived unaccusatives denoting a definite change of
state cannot be used in this configuration

(locative) PP V NP

Eg. 1. On our left was the Mediterranean.

2. On the table sat a nervous cat.
3. Out of nowhere appeared a mysterious figure.

Eg. *In the dining-room drank John a glass of wine.

* In the hall talked many people.
*On the top floor opened many windows.

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Nevertheless, some unergatives can also be used in this configuration, namely verbs of
manner of motion and verbs of emission.

Eg. Around them chattered and sang many girls.

Up the stairs bounded the President

C. The Resultative Construction

A resultative phrase is a phrase that denotes the state achieved by the NP argument of the verb
as a result of the action denoted by the verb. Such a phrase can be predicated only of the
immediately postverbal NP, namely the internal argument of the verb. In other words, only
those verbs that have an internal argument are compatible with Resultative phrases.

Eg. The river froze [solid].

The door slid [open].
John laughed [himself sick].
The horse galloped [himself lame].

Unergatives and resultative phrases

Unergatives have no internal argument, so theoretically they should not allow resultative
constructions.
Eg. *John laughed sick.
*She shouted hoarse.

 In order to allow a resultative phrase, a fake reflexive object is added.

Eg, John laughed himself sick.
She shouted herself hoarse.
 It is also possible to have a resultative phrase with an unergative in case the post
verbal NP is not the argument of the unergative.
Eg. The dog barked him awake.
You may sleep the baby quiet again.
Obviously, the postverbal NP is not the argument of the unergative, as the sentences
below show it. This NP is not subcategorized for by the verb.
*The dog barked him.
*You may sleep the baby.
 In case the possessor and the subject of the verb are co-referential.
Eg. Mike cried [his eyes out].
Mary had better sleep [her wrinkles away].
Such sentences are incorrect if the resultative phrase is left out.
*Mike cries his eyes.
*Mary had better sleep her wrinkles.

Unaccusatives and resultative phrases

 Unaccusatives have only an internal argument in their argument structure, so they

cannot take any surface object. The resultative phrase can only refer to the internal
argument of the unaccusative verb, which, at the level of the surface structure,
appears in the subject position.
 Only derived telic unaccusatives are the ones that allow a resultative construction
 Verbs belonging to the arrive class, which are telic, but underived (they do not have
a transitive causative counterpart) do not allow this construction (advance, arrive,

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 ascend, come,depart, descend, enter, escape,exit,fall, flee,go,leave,plunge,return, rise,
etc)

Eg, The prisoners froze [to death]

The bottle broke [open].
The gate swung [shut].
The curtain rolled [open on the court of the queen].

Eg. *She arrived tired.

*The convict escaped exhausted.
*She fell broken to pieces.

 Unaccusatives do not occur in sentences with Resultatives phrases predicated of non-

argumental NPs, unlike unergatives that appear in such constructions.

Eg. *The log rolled [its bark off]. / The log rolled off.
*The cart rolled [the rubber off its wheels].
The two NPs which appear in a postverbal position are not arguments of the unaccusative
verbs, they are not subcategorized for by the verb, so they cannot enter a resultative phrase.

 Unaccusatives can appear with resultative phrases without the mediation of a fake
reflexive
Eg. * The water froze itself solid.

D. Intransitives and Past Participles

Generally speaking, the past participle of an unaccusative can be used as a noun modifier,
both pre and post-nominally, while the past participle of unergatives cannot.

Eg. A fallen leaf; vanished civilizations

*walked man, *slept children, *a worked man

Nevertheless, not all unaccusatives appear in a pre or post-nominal modifying position.

Eg. *A man lived in Paris, *an existed solution (atelic verbs)

The past participle of unaccusative describing atelic situations is incompatible with this
position. Telic unaccusatives are compatible with this construction.
Telic unaccusatives – verbs of appearance, verbs of disappearance, verbs of inherently
directed motion, verbs denoting an internally caused change of state.
Telic unaccusatives fall into two categories:
(a) verbs depicting a change of state which can be interpreted as a property (eg. Fallen leaves,
blistered feet) and which are freely used as noun modifiers
(b) verbs depicting a change of location or of place (?a fallen child) which are less felicitous
as noun modifiers.

Phrasal intransitives

They are lexically complex verbs, made up of a verb and an Adverbial Particle. They evince a
high degree of idiomaticity. The transition from V AdvP to V Prt is made by a subgroup of
verbs that combine freely with a number of particles, mostly directional ones.

Eg. Puff across – move across sending out smoke and/or panting noisily
Zoom across/along/away – move across, etc swiftly with engine roaring

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Eg. The rain came down.

The Particles with the strongest meaning are the locative or directional ones. They preserve a
high degree of independence which is confirmed by their possible Preposing for emphasis
purposes.

Eg. The balloon went up. / Up went the balloon.

Aspectual particles refer to the temporal dimension of the event. They may render a variety of
meanings:

a) the incipient character of the event – out, in, off

eg. They set out to win support for their cause.
A hostile reaction has set in.
The cars set off in a cloud of dust.
b) the durative aspect – on, away (they indicate the continuation of the event)
Most verbs combine freely with on.
Eg. Speak / work / walk on

Away is more limited contextually.

Eg. He was working away.
She was laughing / muttering/ grumbling away.
c) the terminative aspect – out, away, through, off, up
Eg. This custom has died out.
He passed away quietly at midnight.
We must clean up after the party.
There’s plenty for everyone. So, eat up!

The particle up may be used to indicate intensification of the action.

Eg. The runners are warming up before the race.
Cheer up!

The contribution of the particle to the global meaning of the verb may be null, in other words
a new meaning is created as a result of the combination. The meaning of the phrasal verb no
longer is a sum total of the meanings of the two components, namely the verb and the particle,
but a totally new meaning is now associated with the resulting phrasal verb.
Eg. Come round (regain consciousness)
Do up (be fastened)
Give in (yield)
Get along (manage)
Get by (survive)
Turn up (appear)

The Syntactic behaviour

a) insertion of adverbial modifiers such as right and straight with contexts where the particle
has a locative or directional meaning.
Eg. The prices came right down when people started buying elsewhere.
b) optionality of the particle where the particle reinforces the basic meaning of the verb
Eg, climb (up); fly (up); go (away)
c) nominalizations – the Verb Particle complex turn into a noun
Eg. break-in; make-up; sit-in; take-off; flypast; splashdown
These nominalizations occur in two possible sentence patterns:
1) with a general activity verb (do, stage, make, take, have) followed by the
nominalized form functioning as direct object

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 Eg. The actor is doing his make-up for the part of Othello.
A gang of thieves did a break-in last night.
The runners are having a quick warm-up before the race.
Building workers staged a walk-out.
2) an existential BE sentence, where the nominalized form appears in a postverbal
position, while the position of the subject is filled by the expletive THERE.
Eg. There was a break-in last night.
There was a walk-out during the morning.
d) preposing – stylistic device which applies for emphatic purposes. It applies where the
particle does not form a unit with the verb. It means that the subject remains in post verbal
position, while the particle moves before the verb.
Eg. Down came the prices.
Off came the actor’s fake beard.
Down the snow came.
In the sun went.
Down they came.

Inherent reflexives
There are a number of verbs which are inherently reflexives. The reflexive is specified as an
inherent feature by the Lexicon. Some of these verbs can subcategorize for a prepositional
object.

Eg. absent oneself; bestir oneself; perjure oneself

avail oneself of something; pride oneself on something

Complex intransitives

Complex intransitives are two-argument verbs, which have an external argument and an
internal argument which is not a direct object, but it generally is a prepositional object or and
adverbial modifier.

1. Prepositional intransitives

Prepositional intransitives are not a homogeneous class, due to various factors such as:
a) the meaning contribution of the preposition
b) some are not passivizable, as different from the greatest number of prepositional
intransitives
c) the degree of idiomaticity

Examples:
1. A gang of thieves broke into her house last night.
He glanced through the article quickly.
In the examples above, the preposition retains part of its meaning.

2. Adverbs of time or manner (carefully, easily, frequently) can be inserted between the verb
and the prepositional phrase.
We will go very carefully into these proposals.
If the combination is idiomatic, it is no longer possible.
She gets at her husband frequently. / *She gets frequently at her husband.

3. Passivization – it is possible for some, but impossible for some others.

The main points were run through briefly.
If the prepositional object is part of an idiomatic phrase, passivization is blocked.
He has fallen into disrepute recently. / *Disrepute had been fallen into recently.

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  Passivization of the prepositional object is possible for unergatives, and unacceptable
for unaccusatives.

Intransitives with Particle and Preposition

This class includes verbs that subcategorize for a fixed particle and a fixed preposition
followed by its object.

Eg. They had done away with that piece of legislation.

The family came up against fresh problems.

 look forward to; put up with, scrape along on (a low salary)

Some collocation allow deletion of the prepositional object:
Eg. The boat went aground (on the shore)

In between the particle and the preposition an adverb of manner may be inserted:
Eg. They had done away reluctantly with that piece of legislation.

If the preposition is not deletable, passivization can apply:

Eg. Those interruptions were not put up with cheerfully.

Intransitives with a Prepositional Indirect Object

Eventive verbs, experiencer verbs and relational verbs subcategorize foe an indirect object
headed by the preposition to.

Eventive – happen, befall – the Dative NP expresses the experiencer or victim of the event
Eg. What’s happened to the old man?
A great misfortune has befallen the old man
(deletion of the preposition to is obligatory)
Experiencer – seem, appear, occur, sound, taste
Eg. How does it seem to you?
It has never occurred to her to ask herself that question.
The cake tastes funny to me.

Relational
a) general relational verbs indicating possession – belong, possess
Eg. It belongs to me.
b) relations of inferiority – bow to smb, cringe to/before smb, defer to smb/smth, submit
to smd, yield to smth
Eg. The girl bowed to the audience.
I shall always defer to my taste / to his experience.

As the prepositional object is generally an experiencer, it not possible to passivize any of the
verbs in these categories.

Intransitives with two Prepositional Objects

a) V to about/upon/for
Eg. He lectures to undergraduates on the Elizabethan theatre.
You should appologize to Mary for your bahaviour.

Most of them allow passivization, and even have two passive counterparts.
Eg. We will have to speak to the tutor about the matter.
The tutor will have to be spoken to about the matter.

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 The matter will have to be spoken about.

b) argue, discuss, quarrel with [+human] about smth

Eg, He was arguing with his wife about the matter. (NO passive)

Intransitives with Adverbial modifiers

a) with locative and directional AdvP

- lie, be, remain, sit, stand – locative phrase
Eg. A book is on the table. / There is a book on the table.
Romania lies in Europe.
- directional phrase – and Adverbial phrase denoting the departure point, the destination point,
the path or the itinerary
Eg. I have been to Brasov. (destination)
Eg. go (away, fro, to, towards, off); arrive (at, in); come (to, from); travel (from, to, through);
swim (across); run (along)

 NO passive

b) with adverbial phrases of time

- last The show lasted (for) two hours.

 NO passive

c) with manner adverbials

- act, behave eg. He acted well.
He has always behaved decently.

 NO passive

Intransitives with Quantifying Adverbs

- cost, weigh, owe (NO Passive)

Eg. The dress cost $100.

The apples weigh one pound.
- a dative pattern eg. I owe him $200.
The new car cost him $ 2000.

Reciprocal intransitives
Eg. The train and the bus collided.
The train collided with the bus.

 TO – add, attach, correspond, join, relate

 WITH – agree, associate, combine, collide, confer, connect, coincide,
disagree, overlap
 FROM – differ, distinguish, part, separate
(NO Passive)

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THE SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES
SEMINAR 2 – THE INTRANSITIVE PREDICATION

I. Decide whether the verbs in the sentences below are unergatives or unaccusatives:
1. The car had vanished from sight. 2. No other creature can fly as fast, or for as long as birds.
3. My hopes collapsed. 4. They work very hard. 5. The soldier’s face reddened with anger. 6.
The bells were clanging. 7. Dogs bark. 8. The child burped after eating. 9. A cluster of stars
glowed above us. 10. When I saw them they were dancing with joy. 11. All the water has
evaporated. 12. He was suffocating with indignation. 13. When I last met him, he was
meditating on a difficult question. 14. The lake has already dried up. 15. A dim glow of light
emanated from the room.

II. Why are the sentences below (un)grammatical?

1. *Eat you up! 2.*Always laugh you at his joke! 3. *Arrive you before six! 4. Several facts
recently come to light point to his guilt. 5.*The thief stolen the jewels was never captured. 6.
He is a changed man. 7. *The overdosed man was John Smith. 8. He spoke an unforgettable
speech. 9. They fought the most important battle in their lives. 10. *A ghost appeared me. 11.
*Several major problems have arisen John.

III. Discuss the grammaticality/ungrammaticality of the following NPs:

tarnished metal, an existed solution, fallen leaves, a trembled student, capsized boat, withered
plants, an already occurred event, a sparkled diamond, a gushed fountain, a bubbled stew,
dried clothes.

IV. What type of surface Subject do the verbs below select?

TASTE, EXIST, BREATHE, BLOOM, BARK, CHIRP, RAIN, HAPPEN, LIE, LIVE,
SUFFER, JUMP, CURDLE, NEIGH, WITHER, EMERGE, SEEM

V. Translate the following into English using there-insertion:

1. Masa aceasta are un capăt. 2. Există un oarecare adevăr în asta. 3. Sunt puţini cei care se
încadrează în aceste criterii. 4. Este loc pentru toată lumea. 5. Trebuie luaţi în consideraţie trei
factori. 6. Nu-mi mai rămâne nici o altă cale. 7. Se pare că martorul are ceva. 8. Din
întâmplare a mai rămas doar un exemplar. 9. În faţa trăsurii călărea un bărbat superb. 10. În
toată ţara există un anume număr de clădiri asemănătoare. 11. Vine cineva la cină? Da, este
vorba despre un vecin nou, prietenul său şi directorul şcolii.

VI. Which of the sentences below containing instances of locative inversion are
grammatical and which are ungrammatical?
l. On the line are drying a lot of towels. 2. In a little white house lived two rabbits. 3.To their
left, beyond a strip of glass, was die front of a large high building in grey stone. 4. Above then
pranced the horses on the frieze. 5. On her finger sparkled a magnificent diamond.

VII. Fill in the appropriate item and specify if it is a Preposition or a Particle:

1. She was _____ a strange spell. 2. The waiter has run _____ our bill. 3. Xandra seems to
look _____ some of her schoolmates. 4. The horse was being galloped _____ the slope. 5.
Alice fell _____ a trance. 6. The indigo horizon is penciled _____ silver.7. Why do you kick
_____ this comfortable chair? 8. Will the crystals break _____ a peal of bells? 9. The tiger’s
fur was spotted _____ yellowish brown. 10. My parents have frowned _____ my decision. 11.
She looked _____ at the tables standing _____. 12. The kid was crying _____ pain.'

VIII. Translate into English:

A. 1. A strigat până a răguşit.2. A plâns până a adormit. 3. Lacul a îngheţat de tot. 4
Adesea se încuie pe dinafară. 5. Beţivul a căzut dar a reuşit să se redreseze. 6. A râs până i s-a
făcut rău.7. A tot mers până a obosit. 8. Câinele a lătrat până 1-a trezit din somn. 9. A plâns de
i-au ieşit ochii din cap. 10. A dormit până i-a trecut mahmureala. 11. Soldaţii lui Napoleon au

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murit îngheţaţi în Siberia. 12. Calul a galopat până a început să şchiopăteze. 13. Apa a
îngheţat bocnă. 14. Uşa s-a rotit şi s-a deschis. 15. Poarta s-a bălăngănit până s-a închis.
B. 1. În ce abundă lacul? 2. Cui s-au predat? 3. Merge pe treizeci de ani. 4. Vasul nu mai
suportă schimbări. 5. Conta pe faptul că va fi transferat în India. 6. Clubul asigură satisfacerea
preocupărilor celor tineri. 7. Mulţimea vocifera împotriva deciziei nedrepte. 8. Se agăţa de
creangă. 9. M-a atacat ca o tigroaică. 10. Tânjea după pace şi linişte. 11. Soarele apăru în
sfârşit. 12. Vinul s-a terminat înainte de sfârşitul recepţiei. 13. A trebuit să suportăm mult
zgomot când părinţii lor au fost plecaţi de acasă. 14. N-are rost să lăsăm lucrurile să se adune.
15. Era posibil să apară probe noi. 16. Vocea nu era la înălţimea înfăţişării. 17. Te dai în vânt
după sărutatul mâinii? 18. Ar fi cazul să vorbească cineva în favoarea conceptului de cinste şi
onoare. 19. Nu pot da înapoi de la ce am zis. 20. De ce parte eşti? 21. Ce valori aperi? 22.
Aştepta să primească noi instrucţiuni. 23. Mai redu din porţia de dulciuri, ai să faci diabet. 24.
Doctorul i-a recomandat să elimine grăsimile ca să nu mai facă iar o criză de inimă. 25. Ieri la
şedinţă a prezentat câteva propuneri. 26. Să trecem la următoarea chestiune. 27. Ţipa cât îl
ţineau plămânii. 28. A trecut luna pe cer. 29. Ploaia a ţinut trei zile. 30. Oile tocmai urcau la
stână şi baciul venea agale pe lângă ele.

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