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From:
Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:59:02 -0500
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Beth,
   I like Richard's response a great deal and just want to add a few
writing teacher observations.  One is that made a decision that... or
had a hope that... aren't exactly phrasal verbs in the usual sense of
the word, but they are somewhat dummy verbs, somewhat redundant, easily
brought down to decided or hoped in the interest of tightening prose.
It's a bit similar in that respect to "proceeded to go shopping for
clothes" instead of just "shopped for clothes." The direct object acts
somewhat like an extension of the verb.  (made a decision = decided, had
a wish = wished, and so on.)
    That's not to say that this structure is always empty or redundant.
 We can make a motion that... or float a proposal that..  or entertain
the notion that... and so on. In these cases, I think some important
nuances of meaning are being added by way of verb plus abstract noun.
Motions, proposals, and notions seem more than just extensions of
making, floating, and entertaining.  (Though in another statement, we
can move, propose, and note.)
    Our most basic vision of a direct object is something materially
changed by an action.  In these cases, the entities are not material and
they do not necessarily exist apart from the actions at the core of the
sentence. (We don't think a thought in the same way we kick a cat.)
     To me, these are the kinds of grammar/editing/reading interactions
that don't get talked about enough.   One problem is that we rarely talk
about sentences within meaningful context, which is where reading and
writing take place. When we do so, it is generally focused on "error."
Correctness is ultimately trivial in comparison to the nuances of
meaning an interpretive grammar can reveal.

Craig

Beth Young wrote:

>Craig, thanks.  Your explanation really helps.
>
>Those abstract verbs can be so hard to talk about.  I can't count the
>number of times I find myself discussing with students various possible
>senses of "is" . . . and even finding subjects for verbs can sound silly
> ("what's happening in this sentence? . . . ok, now who or what is
>'is-ing'?")  And people laughed at Clinton.
>
>OK, so how about these sentences:
>
>1. She made the decision that she would give them chocolate.
>
>The "that" clause here is an appositive even though it cannot be used
>by itself:
>
>* She made that she would give them chocolate.
>
>It is a restricted appositive, correct?
>
>
>2. She was pleased that they gave her chocolate.
>
>(Can anyone tell I'm trying to diet???) This sentence transforms "That
>they gave her chocolate pleased her" to the passive voice, with the
>"that" clause is also being nominal.
>
>Having been caught off guard yesterday, I am now working through this
>whole concept yet again, just to be sure.  :)
>
>Beth
>
>
>
>Beth Rapp Young
>http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~byoung
>
>University of Central Florida
>>From Promise to Prominence: Celebrating 40 Years.
>
>
>
>
>>>>[log in to unmask] 3/9/2005 1:30:51 PM >>>
>>>>
>>>>
>Martha's description is both cogent and clear.  As with much of our
>recent discussion , this one centers around both structure and
>function.
> A noun clause, as Martha points out, has a different internal
>structure
>than a relative clause does. (Perhaps the best argument for seeing the
>relative "pronoun" as a "pronoun" is its difference from the noun
>clause
>"that", but it's hard not to say that without anticipating
>objections.)
>Noun clauses and relative clauses can function in the same slot (as
>postnominal modifiers). More often than not, the analysis isn't overly
>important.
>   I have had good luck with  examples drawn from mental process verbs
>that often take noun clauses as direct objects.  I believe that she is
>my friend.  My belief that she is my friend is deeply grounded.
>Students can see that the noun clause in the second sentence has been
>moved intact into this postnominal (appositional) role.
>    Lots of times, these noun clauses act to restrict down fairly
>abstract verb derived nouns like belief, hope, conclusion, conjecture
>and so on.  (His hope that we will come...  His conjecture that the
>building will collapse... Her wish that we would stop quarreling...)
>If
>the noun they are modifying appositionally is already a category of
>one,
>then the appositional noun clause will be nonrestrictive.  (Her
>dearest
>hope, that her children would graduate from college, finally came to
>pass.)
>     These aren't the only ways that noun clause apposition is
>generated
>or shows up, but it seems to get the idea across fairly successfully
>on
>first presentation.  Once the students recognize it as a noun clause,
>it's easier to see what's happening when we shift it around.
>    Because much grammar is still fairly new to me, I can sympathize.
>I
>remember how hard it was for this distinction to come clear.
>   I hope that helps.
>
>Craig
>
>Martha Kolln wrote:
>
>
>
>>Beth,
>>
>>I would add to Bruce's description of the two "that"s:  In the
>>relative clause, "that" has a slot to fill in the clause
>>
>>
>itself--that
>
>
>>of subject (and this is always true of the relative pronouns and
>>relative adverbs that introduce adjectival clauses: pronouns fill a
>>nominal slot or, in the case of the possessive "whose," a determiner
>>slot; relative adverbs function as an adverbial in the clause);  in
>>the nominal clause, "that" serves only as an introducer, a
>>nominalizer, with no function in the clause itself.   Students who
>>have learned traditional diagramming can picture the nominalizer
>>"that" hovering over the clause, like an outsider; they can picture
>>the relative pronoun firmly settled on or attached to the clause's
>>main line.
>>
>>I call the relative-clause "that" a relative pronoun (I've learned
>>only recently that this term is debatable); I call the nominalizer
>>"that" an expletive, as many traditional grammarians do.
>>
>>Martha
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>Beth,
>>>
>>>
>>>I would like to mention how I approach this with my students.  This
>>>may help, though you seem to reach the same point another way.
>>>
>>>
>>>One function of an adjective is to identify the reference of a
>>>
>>>
>noun.
>
>
>>>The noun also can serve to help identify the reference of another
>>>noun.  This is the appositive.  By the same token the noun clause
>>>
>>>
>and
>
>
>>>the adjective clause can both have an identifying function.  There
>>>are a good number of particular nouns that need further
>>>identification, and the noun clause is naturally used with them:
>>>fact, claim, rumor, statement, decision, idea, etc.  These all
>>>
>>>
>denote
>
>
>>>concepts which are potentially worded as sentences.  In such cases
>>>
>>>
>it
>
>
>>>is possible to express (redundantly) both functions (identifying
>>>adjective/statement) by repeating the connective "that."  Hence,
>>>"They espoused the belief that is that God exists" has two
>>>connectives.  The first "that" is the connective of an adjective
>>>clause (relative, pointing to "belief") and the second is the
>>>connective of the noun clause.  If you can build this redundant
>>>construction logically, then you have the appositive.
>>>
>>>
>>>Bruce
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>[log in to unmask] 3/9/2005 7:45:48 AM >>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>Thanks, everyone.  The "which" test does work on sentence 1, but
>>>
>>>
>not
>
>
>>>sentence 2.  Maybe we idiomatically prefer "the fact that . . . "
>>>
>>>
>or
>
>
>>>maybe I should have agreed that sentence 2 was an appositive?  I can
>>>
>>>
>see
>
>
>>>that it's definitely an appositive in the sentence "That fact, that
>>>
>>>
>they
>
>
>>>didn't like chocolate, surprised her"--but that's not the same
>>>sentence.
>>>
>>>Ultimately, I guess it doesn't matter that much.  These sentences
>>>
>>>
>won't
>
>
>>>appear on any test--the students wrote the sentences for a
>>>
>>>
>different
>
>
>>>activity.  I can just agree that sometimes it's really hard to tell
>>>
>>>
>what
>
>
>>>a clause is doing, just like it's sometimes really hard to tell what
>>>
>>>
>a
>
>
>>>prepositional phrase is doing, and leave it at that.
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>
>>>Beth
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Here are a couple of example sentences with the suspected
>>>>
>>>>
>appositives
>
>
>>>>in brackets:
>>>>
>>>>1. The book, [that was titled 'Great Expectations',] was a
>>>>
>>>>
>classic.
>
>
>>>>2. The fact [that they didn't like chocolate] surprised her.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Beth Rapp Young
>>>http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~byoung
>>>
>>>
><http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/%7Ebyoung>
>
>
>>>University of Central Florida
>>>>From Promise to Prominence: Celebrating 40 Years.
>>>
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