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U26, Types of clauses/VPs, 0. INTRODUCTION - Coggle Diagram
U26
3. CONDITION & HYPOTHESIS
Direct vs Indirect condition
a Direct condition is
related to the situation/result in the main clause
whereas the Indirect is not:
“If she arrives late, she will miss the bus” (direct)
“His style is so old-fashioned, if I may say so” (indirect)
Direct conditional sentences
show how a result depends on a condition. The truth of the proposition/ situation in the main clause is a consequence of the fulfilment of the condition/situation in the conditional clause
Hypothetical condition
Negative assumption
possible but improbable/imaginary
Impossible
Hypothetical since they are (2)
imaginary situations in the present or future
& (3)
unreal situations in the past
(false proposition). Both convey
the speaker’s belief/assumption that the condition will not be fulfilled
(for future conditions), is not fulfilled (for present conditions), or was not fulfilled (for past conditions). Therefore, the results are seen as
unreachable & not fulfilled
"They would be here with us if they had the time" (they presumably don’t have the time in a present situation)
"If you had listened to me, you wouldn’t have made so many mistakes" (you certainly didn’t listen to me in a past situation)
(2) hypothetical situations that are
unlikely or not expected to happen
(3) used to express
regret or disappointment about sth that could have happened but didn't
Open condition
Neutral
since (1) they don't provide any information about
whether the condition will be fulfilled or not
, but rather the consequences of the condition being fulfilled.
"If she is in Edinburgh, I’ll find her" (it leaves unresolved whether she is in Edinburgh & whether he will find her)
No assumption
possible & probable
1st type (real)
Used to talk about:
A future possibility and its consequence: "If I see her, I’ll tell you"
General truths (in the speaker's view):
"If you add sugar to coffee, it dissolves"
C: possible
R: virtually inevitable
3 subtypes depending on the verbal tense of the main clause. Here,
any present & future form
can be used (simple, continuous, perfect)
IF present form + future form
"If you have just flown in from Canada, you’ll probably be suffering from headache"
IF present form + imperative
"If he comes, tell me"
IF present form + present form
"It invariably rains if you have forgotten your umbrella"
"If you heat ice it turns to water" (automatic or habitual results)
Modal Vbs
IF present +
may/might
(possibility/probability)
IF present +
can/may
(permisson/ability)
IF present +
must/should
(obligation/advice)
"If you work hard, you may/might pass"
"f your reports are successful you may/can publish them"
"If you are too fat, you should eat less"
other possible variations with ~
2nd type (unreal)
Used to talk about:
When the supposition is contrary to known facts: "If I were you, I’d smoke"
When we don’t expect the action in the if-clause to take place: "If I saw a ghost at night I’d scream"
As a more polite alternative to Type 1: "Would Peter be in time if he got the three o’clock bus?"
An
imaginary present or future situation
& its consequence. It represents unreal conditions where it is clearly expected that the condition will not be fulfilled.
Any past & would form
can be used
IF past form + conditional
"If I had more time to see my friends we would travel to Italy"
"If I were on holiday I would be touring all day" (continuous conditional)
"If we were going by boat I’d feel sick" (past continuous)
"If he had taken my advice he would be a rich man now" (past perfect)
"If anyone interrupted her she got furious" (past+past: automatic/habitual)
Modal Vbs
IF past +
might
(possible result)
IF past +
could
(ability/permisson)
"If you tried again you might succeed"
"If he had a permit he could get a job"
other possible variations with ~
C: imaginary/unreal
R: improbable/unexpected
3rd type (impossible)
Used to speculate about sth that happened in the past & how it could have been different (
it could have happened but didn't
)
IF past perfect + perfect conditional
"If you hadn’t lost the car keys, we would have been at home much sooner"
"He’d be playing in the team today if he hadn’t gone down with an attack of flu" (present result)
Modal Vbs
IF past perfect +
might have
(possible result)
IF past perfect +
could have
(ability/permisson)
"I might have got the job if I hadn’t been late for the first interview"
"If he had had a permit he could have got a job"
other possible variations with ~
C: past
R: impossible
Order of clauses
: The if-clause (subordinate) may come 1st or 2nd, depending on which part is predominant in the speaker’s mind (& therefore stressed/emphasized)
Punctuation
: a
comma
is needed when the if-clause comes 1st, but isn't when the order is reversed
The 3 types contain
different pairs of tenses
, so as to convey
probability, improbabily & impossibility
Conjunctions
A
negative condition
is introduced by the subordinator
UNLESS
(instead of "if... not") with positive Vbs: "She won’t wear it unless she likes it"
Other compound conditional Conjs equivalent to IF are:
provided that / providing / on condition that
(strong idea of limitation or restriction: formal permisson)
as/so long as
(more informal)
suppose / supposing that
(=what if...?)
if only
(a wish or regret) (only in 3rd type, in the past):
"If only you hadn't been so rude, she might have helped"
in case
(the reason of the action in the main clause)
even if
(conveys contrast & concession, =even though)
when
(when the result is virtually inevitable)
whether... or...
(choice btw two)
without
/subordinators
Other conditional types
Inversion
Subj-Op inversion
without Conjunction
, to make it more
formal
: "Had I known, I would not have gone out", "Should she be interested, I’ll phone her"
Coordination
with the Conjunctions
AND, OR, BUT
: "Say it again and I’ll leave forever", "Open the safe or I’ll shoot"
Non-finite clauses
"You have to be eighteen to drink alcoholic drinks"
"Telling her the truth will make her furious"
Rhetorical ~ clauses
They create a hypothetical scenario contrary to reality, in order to make a point
They seem to express an open condition, but actually make a
strong assertion
. Two types: the assertion is derived (1)
from the conditional clause
or (2)
from the main clause
In (1) the proposition in the main clause is
absurd & cannot be true
, which serves to show that the proposition in the conditional clause is also
false
In (2) the proposition in the conditional clause is patently
true
, it serves to reinforce the truth of the main clause's proposition
(1) "If they are rich, I’m Spiderman", "If they win the championship, pigs will fly"
(2) "He's a genius if I've ever seen one", "He’s ninety if he’s a day"
contrary-to-fact / counterfactual ~
Alternative conditional-concessive clauses
WHETHER... OR
... combines the conditional meaning of IF with the disjunctive meaning of EITHER: "He’s getting married, whether or not he finds a job" (He'll get married if he finds a job & although he doesn't find one)
one of the alternatives will be concessive (a contrast) & the other will simply be conditional
= dependent: one clause depends on the fulfilment of the other
2. DOUBT
Other ways
Lexical Vbs
open-class
convey a certain amount of skepticism towards the information referred to (
they call into question the validity of an utterance
) & have a kind of negative meaning:
to doubt, disbelieve, question, review...
Nouns
doubt, possibility, probability, likelihood, chance, uncertainty, hesitation, disbelief...
Adjectives
possible, probable, uncertain, likely, doubtful...
Adverbs
perhaps, maybe, probably, uncertainly, possibly...
Disjuncts
Disjuncts
, which comment on the truth value of what is said, expressing doubts, conditions or reasons:
presumably, reportedly, allegedly undoubtedly, apparently, theoretically
: "The play was (adverb) written by William Shakespeare"
Syntactic structures
‘
It is possible for... to...
”:
“
Do you think...
+ future time?”:
"
be (un)likely to"
:
to doubt if/whether...
"Do you think the Earth will be destroyed by an asteroid?"
"I am likely to faint"
specific
they reflect the notion of Doubt
literally
Modal Aux Vbs
Modals show the speaker's attitude toward the likelihood,
possibility
, or necessity of an event by means of modal operators (will, shall, etc.), used to convey
a wide range of meanings
Possibility
MAY & MIGHT
Weak probability
(it is possible that...) =perhaps, possibly
Both can be used in Conditionals instead of WILL & WOULD just to indicate the ‘possibility’ or ‘certainty’ of a result:
"If they see you they will smile at you" (certainty)
"If they see you they may smile at you" (possibility)
MIGHT as a past tense equivalent of MAY is used (in a hypothetical/unreal sense) in
Conditional sentences
("If you invited them they might come") & in
Indirect speech
("He said he might visit us")
When we say that something was possible
in the past
, we can use either ‘may/might’ + have + past participle: "Where is Tom? – He may/might have gone already". COULD can also mean that something was possible but didn’t happen: "The police could have caught him"
In interrogatives
, we must use the constructions ‘
be + likely + to
-infinitive' or ‘
think
’ instead: "Do you think/Is it likely that the plane will land on time?"
CAN & COULD
Root/general posibility
(it is possible for... to...)
CAN means that sth is possible because circumstances permit it, unlike MAY/MIGHT: "You can go sailing" = (it's sunny, calm and safe)
Certainty
MUST
"Nobody answered the phone. They must be out"
Strong probability
CAN'T
"Patrick can’t be in Greece now. I saw him at work this morning"
In the past
, CAN'T/MUST + perfect infinitive:
"Someone took my money from the drawer. Nicky can’t have done it"
"The window was broken. Children must have done it when playing"
Impossibility
/deduction
closed-class
Degrees of doubt
Certainty:
Probability:
Possibility:
Improbability:
Uncertainty:
"He must be at home"
"He's probably at home"
"It's possible that he's at home"
I doubt that he's at home"
"He can't be at home"
/likelihood by using different grammatical categories
Uncertainty about the truth
of a statement or action. By expressing doubt, we make statements
less assertive
since we hesitate to believe in the information conveyed.
Question tags
Formed by Op + Subj: the
same Op & a Pron
which is or represents Subj of the preceding statement. If the statement is positive, the Q Tag is negative, and vice-versa
The nuclear tone of the tag occurs on the Aux & is either:
Rising tone
(implies
doubt
& invites verification)
Falling tone
(implies
certainty
& invites confirmation)
"Jane loves Edward, /doesn’t she?"
"Jane doesn’t love Edward, /does she?"
"Jane loves Edward, \doesn’t she?"
"Jane doesn’t love Edward, \does she?"
attached to a statement
1. LINGUISTIC FRAMEWORK FOR THE NOTIONS OF DOUBT, CONDITION, HYPOTHESIS & CONTRAST
Semantic roles of Adverbials
Contingency
Cause, Reason, Purpose, Result,
Condition, Concession
of cancer, out of curiosity, because of, through
because of, due to, from, since, as
so as to, to, in order to, so that, for
so, so that, consequently, as a result
if, provided that, as long as, in case, when
although, despite, while, however, even if
Condition
"If he trains everyday, he will get fit very soon"
"Supposing your car breaks down at midnight, can you mend it yourself?"
Concession
"Though he trains everyday, he doesn’t get fit"
Modality
Emphasis, Approximation & Restriction (
the truth value
/force of a sentence)
certainly, really, actually, indeed, at all (positive or negative)
probably, not really, almost, hardly, nearly, practically, virtually
only, alone, just, merely, simply
Process
Manner, Means, Instrument & Agent/subject
carefully, with patience, in a ... manner, like
by bus, on the 9.00 train, by means of
with a knife, by using, with the help of
by John, to John
Degree
Amplification/intensification, Measure & Diminution
increasingly, totally, extremely, very much, badly, highly
enough, sufficiently (not high or low)
not very much, a little ? poorly, insufficiently
Time
Position, Duration, Frequency & Relationship in time
now, at, today, later, before, in 1998
for a long time, over, from...to , since, until
weekly, once, everyday, always
still, yet, already, previously, simultaneously
Respect
in relation to, concerning, about, with, of,
Space
Position, Direction (goal, source) & Distance
here, at, over, below, in front, behind
up, down, across, around, through, beyond
near, far, a long way, two miles
Compared with other clause elements (S, V, O, and C), the adverbial element has a wide range of semantic roles (7 > 24)
Levels of analysis
Clause structure
the largest unit of grammatical description
Subject
Verb
Direct/Indirect Object
Subj/Obj Complement
Adverbial
Phrase structure
identified based on the word class of at least one of its elements, called
the ‘head’ of the phrase
NounP
VerbP
PrepP
AdvP
Grammatical categories involved
Sentence types/structures
Simple
a single
independent
clause
Adverbial Phrases
Compound
two independent clauses linked by a
coordinator
Complex
a main clause & one or more
subordinate
clauses
Conditional & Concessive clauses (Adverbial clauses)
Classification of Adverbials
Integrated
Adjuncts
Function as (optional) constituents/elements of a clause by
adding extra information to the action/process
by describing the place, time & other nuances (they express the when/where/how/why...). Only adjuncts resemble closely other sentence elements like Subj, Complement & Obj.
within the structure of the clause (Final position is usual)
Subjuncts
A subjunct is distinguishable from an adjunct in that it has, to a greater or lesser degree, a
parenthetic & subordinate role in comparison with other class elements
:forbidden:
Peripheral
Conjuncts
Express the speaker’s assessment of the
relation btw two linguistic units
(connecting Advs). They
connect ideas in or between sentences
. They usually appear in initial position (connective function): although, if/unless & still. Semantically, they may express:
Clarification/explaining
(for example, that is, specifically, in particular)
Indicating result
(as a result, in consequence)
Summary
(therefore, in conclusion, to sum up, in brief)
Listing
(in the first place, secondly; furthermore, moreover)
Opposition/
contrast
(on the contrary, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, yet) ...
Indicating time
(later, now, meanwhile, eventually)
Addition
(also, furthermore, in addition)
occur outside the clause structure itself:
detached from & superordinate to the rest of the sentence
(Initial position, separated by commas)
Disjuncts
Express the speaker's
evaluation of what is being said
, i.e. the speaker's point of view. They function as
‘comment’ words
on the accompanying clause (e.g. frankly, unfortunately).
Removing them leaves a well-formed sentence/clause but we lose the speaker's viewpoint
. Commonly in initial position (preceding a comma) before the clause to which they refer
"If I may say so without giving you offence, I think your writing is immature"
Disjuncts of
doubt
, conditions or reasons: Apparently, Presumably, Seemingly, Undoubtedly, Theoretically, Allegedly, Supposedly, Questionably, Arguably
express Consequence
:no_entry:
4. CONTRAST
Concessive clauses
Introduced by Conjunctions
, used to acknowledge a fact that might seem to contradict the main clause, while still emphasizing the main idea of the sentence. They introduce
a contrasting idea that is still compatible
with the main clause (despite a particular condition/circumstance, the action/situation in the main clause still takes place)
WHILE
& WHEREAS, WHILST
Subordinating Conjs
:
While B, A
A while B
"
While
she is highly qualified, she was not selected for the job"
"He claimed to be innocent,
whereas
all the evidence pointed to his guilt"
"
Whilst
I understand your concerns, I still believe it's the right decision" (
formal/archaic
)
BUT, YET
Coordinating Conjs
:
A but B (not at the beginning)
The 2nd idea contrasts with or contradicts the 1st idea
"I wanted to go to the beach,
but
it was raining" (simple contrast btw ideas)
"My boss is a nice guy,
yet
he won’t give anyone a raise" (
emphatic, suprising/unexpected
)
Adversative clauses introduce an idea that is in
direct opposition
or contrast to the main clause, suggesting that
the two ideas are incompatible with each other
HOWEVER
& NEVERTHELESS/ NONETHELESS
Adverbs (conjuncts)
"I wanted to go to the movies;
however
, I didn't have enough money" (adversative)
He didn’t perform as well as usual.
Nevertheless
, the audience loved him (+formal,
emphatic
, concessive)
DESPITE
Prepositions
(followed by
NP: Nn, Pron, Gerund)
B in spite of A
"
Despite
having a headache, I had a great birthday"
"She's sleeping like a log
in spite of
the noise"
Cannot be followed by a clause, unless we use the construction "
the fact that
":
"Despite the fact that he worked very hard, he didn't pass the exam"
"In spite of the fact that he worked very hard, he didn't pass the exam"
& IN SPITE OF
(the fact that)
ALTHOUGH
& EVEN THOUGH, THOUGH
Subordinating Conjs
:
A although B
Although B, A
"
Although
he studied hard, he didn't pass the exam" (
formal, +common in writing
)
"
Even though
she spoke very quietly, he understood every word" (
emphatic, surprising/unexpected
)
"He was exhausted,
though
he kept working" (
informal, +common in speaking
)
Followed by a whole clause
(Subj, Vb). Placed in initial & medial position, always
with a comma
. Also,
THOUGH
can go at the end of the second clause: "We waited ages for our food. The waiter was really nice, though"
Idiomatic expressions
(AS) MUCH AS:
NO MATTER HOW (LONG/MUCH/MANY):
EVEN IF/WHEN:
"As much as she loves him, she won't stay", "Much as I hated to do it, I had no choice"
"I want you to buy it, no matter how much it may cost", "I’ll finish the job, no matter how long it takes"
"We will play outside even if it rains", "Even when John studied very hard, he failed his tests"
Clauses of concession:
concedes/acknowledges a contrasting/contradictory idea/fact
Types of clauses/VPs
Finite ~
"If we go, we’ll phone you"
Non-finite ~
"Supposing that you want to go, just phone us"
Verbless ~
"A heavy smoker, David did not give up smoking"
Structurally
0. INTRODUCTION
At a pragmatic level
Doubts
: uncertain statements
Conditions
: refer to facts/true events/scientific statements
Hypotheses
: suppositions/ assumptions/ informed guesses on certain conditions (a possible situation & its results)
Contrasts
: opposite views
"He may not be at home by now"
"Dogs hate cats", "Water boils at 100°C"
"If I'd been here on time, nothing would have happened"
"He is so kind whereas his brother is really mean"