Phrases are usually classified into types, depending on the word class of the head (the most important or the most essential word in the phrase). (The labels might be different for different schools of linguistics. In systemic functional linguistics, the term is group, as in nominal group, verbal group, etc.)
The
noun phrase (or
nominal group)
A noun phrase or NP is a phrase that has a noun as its head, eg ‘the cat with black stripes’. We will just examine one aspect of the NP: the use of determiners. Determiners are words that are used with nouns, and they ‘determine’ or specify what the nouns refer to. Determiners include words like articles (the, a), demonstratives (that, those), possessive pronouns (my, their, her) and modifiers expressing quantity (some, much, every).
Can you see a pattern about why or when nouns require determiners in (a) to (f) below?
|
(a) She pushed a door open. |
Std E (count noun; any door) |
|
(b) She pushed the door open. |
Std E (count noun; a particular door) |
|
(c) She pushed door open. |
Colloq. Singaporean English |
|
(d) Chocolate is nice. |
Std E (non-count; ‘chocolate’ in general) |
|
(e) The chocolate is nice. |
Std E (non-count; definite) |
|
(f) A chocolate is nice. |
Informal (ellipsis)? Non-Standard? |
When door is
used without a determiner, it looks like non-Standard English, whereas this is
not the case for chocolate. We
can think of many nouns that behave like door (eg
cat, house, cloud) and those that behave like chocolate
(eg rice, furniture, information).
The former nouns are called count nouns or countable nouns; the
latter are non-count nouns or uncountable nouns.
What is interesting
is that contact varieties like Colloquial Singaporean English (CSE) have
pushed for patterns that allow door to be used without a determiner.
This is also true of English-based pidgins and creoles.
Examine these
examples below.
|
(g) He’s in hospital again. |
BrE (= he’s been hospitalised, warded [SgE]) |
|
(h) He’s in the hospital again. |
BrE (eg visiting); AmE, Scottish E |
|
(i) I will be in the bank. |
Std E |
|
(j) I will be in bank. |
Some African
varieties; CSE |
The rule of count nouns requiring determiners seems to be relaxed when the reference is to location (in the context of people doing what they are expected to do in that location). Think of other examples like ‘He’s in school’ (he’s a pupil), ‘She’s in prison (jail/gaol)’ (she’s a prisoner), ‘They are at church’ (they are at a service). Notice however that you can’t generalise this kind of construction in Standard English. So, ‘I will be in bank’ is odd in Standard English, just like ‘They are in mosque’ or ‘He is in seminary’, although in some non-Standard varieties of English, this is possible. There are even some differences between standard varieties! ‘He’s in hospital again’ is normal in Standard English English (the Standard English of England), but unusual in Standard American English or Standard Scottish English.
It is not clear to me if there is a pattern of change or spread of this kind of use, but there is surely a potential for change.
The
verb phrase (or
verbal group)
A verb phrase (a verbal group) is a phrase (group) where the head is a verb. The verb that carries the main meaning in the phrase (the last one in English) is the lexical verb or the main verb, and the other verbs (if any) are helping verbs or auxiliary verbs.
In each sentence, the verb phrase is underlined and the lexical verb italicised:
(a) She helped
him.
(b) She is helping
him.
(c) He was helped
by her.
(d) She will help
him.
(e) She can help
him.
(f) She has helped
him.
(g) She could
have helped him.
(h) He would have
been helped by her.
(i) He might have been being helped by her.
Verb inflections
Verbs, like nouns, can be inflected. The verb drink takes on
other forms like drinks (singular, present tense), drank (past
tense), drunk (past participle), drinking (present participle).
This represents a kind of simplification of the system that was
available in OE:
·
infinitive
drincan (as in ‘She wants to drink some water’)
·
present
tense: first-person singular drince (as in ‘I drink’)
·
present
tense: second-person singular drincst (as in
‘you (singular) drink’)
·
present
tense: third-person singular drincð (as in
‘he/she/it drinks’)
·
present
tense: plural drincað (as in ‘we/you
(plural)/they drink’)
·
imperative: singular drinc
(as in ‘(you, singular) drink up!’)
·
imperative: plural drincað
(as in ‘(you all) drink up!’)
·
past
tense: singular dranc (as in ‘he drank’)
·
past
tense: plural druncon (as in ‘they drank’)
·
past
participle gedruncen (as in ‘they have drunk’)
·
present
participle druncende (as in ‘they are drinking’)
If we examine preset-tense use today, we can see that there is further potential for further simplification even!
|
South-west England |
East Anglia/SCE |
Standard English |
archaic (1611 Bible) |
|
I loves |
I love |
I love |
I love |
|
you loves |
you love |
you love |
thou lovest, ye love |
|
he/she/it loves |
he/she/it love |
he/she/it loves |
he/she/it loveth |
|
we loves |
we love |
we love |
we love |
|
they loves |
they love |
they love |
they love |
Standard English today still makes the singular-plural distinction, although some non-standard varieties (English dialects) do not do so. English-based pidgins and creoles also do not make this distinction.
In language-contact situations, there could also be further developments. One of the markers colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English is the lack of more complex verb phrases, including forms involving the past participle (sentence (j) below). This is understandable if we also look at sentences (n) and (o). In Malay and Hokkien, the two languages that have had strong influence on colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English, the notion of completion is expressed by the addition of the words sudah and liáu (cf. Mandarin le), both of which mean ‘already’. It is therefore not surprising that sentences (l) and (m) are available for expressing completion in this variety of English.
(j) I have eaten.
(k) I have eaten already.
(l) I eat already.
(m) I already eat.
(n) Saya sudah
makan. [Malay]
(n´) I already eat. [literal
translation]
(o) Goá chiåh
pá liáu. [Hokkien Chinese], [á = upper tone; å = lower entering tone]
(o´) I eat full already. [literal
translation]