The main constituents of the sentence and clause
are (NP-VP). They may be involved in a number of processes which change the appearance of a basic sentence pattern The most important sentence processes (operation) are clefting, pseudo-clefting, passivisation, pronominalisation & fronting (topicalisation) Such processes affect complete constituents & enable the student of a language to discover what the constituents of sentences are. It simply means splitting or cutting into two parts . Clefting is moving some element in a sentence from its normal position into a separate clause to give it greater emphasis (focus). The pattern is as follows: It + Be ( any form) + X + subordinate clause [focus] The cleft construction places an emphasized or focused element in the X position in the above pattern . Clause [ with X] → It is X that Clause[without X] We can extract a constituent &put it in a more prominent position by applying the process of clefting
Think about how many cleft sentences we can form
from Example 1 Jane gave this book to Bill on Saturday. 1) It was Jane (that/who) gave this book to Bill on Saturday X = Jane 2) It was to Bill that Jane gave this book on Saturday X = to Bill 3) It was on Saturday that Jane gave this book to Bill X= on Saturday 4) It was this book that/ which Jane gave to Bill on Saturday X = this book Clefting cannot affect the string Jane gave because it is not a constituent in the sentence The focus element may be an NP: this book, Jane or a PP on Saturday, to Bill The verb cannot be the head of a cleft construction Most of the silk we see in Britain comes from silk worms. To place more emphasis It is from silk worms that most of the silk we see comes. The resulting sentence from the clefting process is called cleft sentence. A cleft sentence is a complex sentence in which a simple sentence is expressed using a main clause + a subordinate clause. The policeman met several young students in the park last night. 1)It was the policeman that/who met………night 2) It was several young students that the policeman met in the park last night 3) It was in the park that the policeman met several young students last night 4) It was last night that the policeman met several young students However , we cannot cleft sequences that do not form constituents ≠The policeman met - several young students in- in the park last night It was [the policeman met] that several……night. It was[ several young students in ] that the policeman It was [in the park last night] that the policeman met several young students Hence, clefting helps us discover which words in a sentence form constituents & which do not Clefting can be used for stylistic reasons as a way for combining old information with new information I blame the teachers for his low marks It is the parents that I blame for his low marks A process closely related to clefting involves the use of what to form sentences. Most pseudo-clefts are introduced by what, but we can also use why, where, how, when 1) What Jane did was give this book to Bill on Saturday 2) What Jane gave to Bill was this book N.B. Pseudo-clefting affects whole constituents 3) What they like is smoked salmon The underlined parts are the focus elements Pseudo- clefting focuses on constituents such as verbs and their complements Example What Jane did was give the book to Bill on Saturday What the waiter did was open the beer-tins first The underlined VPs are placed at the end of the pseudo –cleft sentences More examples What Bill will do is have a quick shower before he leaves What Anne did was open the box and take out the gum What I am doing is trying to clean up the mess Pseudo-clefting focuses on the VP as a whole Only constituent elements can be fronted They can be moved to the beginning of the sentence Example Mary brought in The Times soon after breakfast Soon after breakfast, Mary brought in The Times . In about 20 minutes, the plane will take off It is substitution by pronouns, or more generally by pro-forms( a word used instead of an NP , Ex : pronoun. We refer back to the individuals or entities mentioned by the use of pronouns. Pronominalisation can affect constituents Example Bill’s sister announced the news of her marriage the day before yesterday She announced it then She & it = personal pronouns Then= adverbs ( replacing time adjuncts) 2) Have you been to Seoul I have been there 3) John asked me to put the clothes in the closet and I stuffed them there Them : the clothes, there : in the closet 4) If John can [ speak French fluently]- which we all know he can- we will have no problems. A pronoun can’t be used to refer back to something that is not a constituent It is a process of rearranging sentence constituents. We use a passive sentence if the role of the patient is more prominent. We use an active sentence if the agent role is more prominent Role of agent : person who performs the activity Role of patient: whoever/ whatever undergoes this activity Sometimes in passives the agent role is no longer obligatorily expressed Passivisation affects complete constituents Example Wild silk moths in countries like India and Japan also produce it It is produced by wild silk moths in countries like India and Japan. The underlined parts are constituents Verify whether the underlined part is a constituent using the constituency tests of passivisation , pseudo-clefting, and pronminalisation
1) His aunt feared that he might catch
something Pseudo-clefting What his aunt feared was that he might catch sth. Pronominalisation (it, that,what) His aunt feared it/that passivisation That he might catch something was feared by his aunt
That he might catch something : is a
constituent Constituent Question & Stand – alone test