Advanced English Grammar II Course Outline

Course Outline for EGL 204: Advanced English Grammar II

OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE-IFE

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

2023/2024 RAIN SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS

1. The English Clause

This section focuses on the foundational elements of clauses within the English language, categorized as follows:

a. Dependent and Independent Clauses

  • Independent Clauses: Clauses that can stand alone as complete sentences because they express a complete thought. For example, "The dog barked."

  • Dependent Clauses: Clauses that cannot stand alone and require an independent clause, often introduced by subordinating conjunctions. Example: "Although the dog barked, it did not scare the mailman."

b. Types of Clauses

Several kinds of clauses are critical to understanding sentence structure:

  • Finite Clauses: Clauses with a verb that is marked for tense. E.g., "She runs every morning."

  • Non-finite Clauses: Clauses that do not specify a tense. Examples include:
      i. Verbless Clauses: Clauses that omit a verb, e.g., "Sophia as a teacher."
      ii. Nominal Clauses: Clauses that function like a noun within the sentence, e.g., "What he said surprised me."
      iii. Adverbial Clauses: Clauses that act like adverbs, providing information about when, why, or how something occurs, e.g., "When the sun sets, we go home."
      iv. Relative Clauses: Clauses that modify a noun and are often introduced by relative pronouns, e.g., "The book that you gave me is fascinating."

2. Clause Combining

This section discusses the methods to combine clauses and the relationships they can express:

  • Hypotactic Relationship: A relationship in which one clause is subordinate to another, indicating dependence. E.g., "Because I was tired, I went to bed early."

  • Paratactic Relationship: A relationship in which clauses are juxtaposed without a conjunction, indicating equal importance. E.g., "I went to the store; I bought milk."

3. The English Verb

Verbs play a crucial role in sentences, and we explore their structure and classifications:

a. General properties and basic structure of the verbal group

Verbal groups can include main verbs and auxiliary verbs, forming the complete verb phrase.

b. The Lexical vs Auxiliary verbs

Lexical verbs convey the primary meaning in a sentence, while auxiliary verbs help form tenses, moods, and voices. Examples include:

  • Lexical Verbs: "run," "jump," "think"

  • Auxiliary Verbs: "be," "have," "will"

c. Sub-categories of lexical verbs

  • Transitive Verbs: Require direct objects; e.g., "She kicked the ball."

  • Intransitive Verbs: Do not require direct objects; e.g., "He sleeps."

  • Dynamic Verbs: Indicate actions; e.g., "The cat chased the mouse."

  • Stative Verbs: Describe a state rather than an action; e.g., "She knows the answer."

d. Sub-categories of auxiliary verbs

  • Primary Auxiliary Verbs: Include forms of "be," "have," and "do."

  • Modal Auxiliary Verbs: Express necessity, possibility, permission, and ability; e.g., "can," "may," "must."

4. Information Packaging Strategies/ Devices

These strategies modify the information presented in sentences for clarity and emphasis:

a. Preposing

Involves moving elements of a sentence to the front for emphasis, e.g., "It was John who won the prize."

b. Postposing

Involves adding information at the end of a sentence, e.g., "The book was amazing, that I read over the summer."

c. Passivisation

The process of transforming an active voice sentence into a passive one, emphasizing the action rather than the subject, e.g., "The ball was thrown by Jim."

d. Clefting

Involves dividing a single clause into two parts to emphasize a particular component, e.g., "It was the dog that chased the cat."

e. Dislocation

Involves rearranging parts of a sentence to highlight specific information, e.g., "That dog, I saw it yesterday."

5. Direct and Indirect Speech

This section distinguishes between quoting someone's words directly versus paraphrasing them:

a. Changes in indirect speech

Includes backshifting of verb tenses when converting from direct to indirect speech. For example, direct: "She said, 'I am happy.'" converts to indirect: "She said that she was happy."

b. Indirect statements, questions, exclamations, directives

Each type of direct speech has specific rules when transformed into indirect speech, ensuring the meaning remains consistent while adjusting the grammatical structure.

6. Sentence Connection Devices

These devices are essential for creating coherence and fluidity in writing:

a. Grammatical Devices

  • Reference: Using pronouns or other terms to refer back to something previously mentioned.

  • Substitution: Replacing a word or phrase with another to avoid repetition.

  • Ellipsis: Omitting words that are understood from context.

  • Identification: Using constructions such as clefts to specify or clarify subjects and objects.

b. Lexical Devices

  • Repetition: Reinforcing concepts by repeating key terms.

  • Synonym: Using synonyms to avoid redundancy while maintaining meaning.

  • Hyponymy: The relationship between a more general term (hypernym) and a more specific term (hyponym).

  • Antonymy: The use of antonyms to establish contrast or opposition in ideas.