imperative clause, imperative, see clause type

impersonal passive

An impersonal passive is a passive sentence in which the Subject position is filled by it, which is a placeholder for the notional subject featuring in end position. In other words, there is extraposition in sentences of this type: It is often argued that memory decreases with age. (AEG Ch. 2)

impossibility, see negative possibility

inanimate noun

An inanimate noun has inanimate reference: table, jacket, joy. Its referent is not alive. The personal pronouns he, she and it are sensitive to animacy: only it – and not he and she – has inanimate reference. Animals, though animate, can often be referred to by it. The personal pronoun they, in contrast, in not sensitive to animacy. (AEG Ch. 3)

indefinite article

A(n) is an indefinite article. The form an is used when the head noun has an initial vowel sound: an apple, an FBI agent, but a European country. The zero article (represented by Ø) – that is, the absence of any determiner – can likewise be considered a kind of indefinite article. The indefinite article makes it clear that the speaker does not assume that the hearer can identify the referent of the NP. It can be used both generically (A dog will always remain a loyal friend) and non-generically (Our neighbours have a loud dog). (AEG Ch. 3)

indefinite determiner

Some use the term indefinite pronoun or indefinite determiner to refer to quantifiers. This terminology can be useful in the sense that it differentiates between pronouns and determiners, whereas ‘quantifier’ leaves it vague whether there is a head following or not. On the other hand, while the majority of quantifiers have indefinite meaning, some of them do not (both, all, each). (AEG Ch. 3)

indefinite perfect

The indefinite perfect refers to the use of a perfect tense that represents a situation as lying completely before the reference time (R). In other words, it does not continue up to, or include, R. Take for example the indefinite present perfect: the situation is located in the pre-present time-sphere and lies completely before the moment of speech (S): I have found a job in Berlin. Indefinite past perfects (I had already found a job in Berlin) or future perfects (I hope I will have found a job in Berlin by then) are possible as well. In these cases, however, the situations are not located in the pre-present time-sphere. They are anterior to Rs that do not coincide with the moment of speech. (AEG Ch. 4)

indefinite pronoun see indefinite determiner

independent genitive

An independent genitive is a genitive without a head noun: The cup over there is my dad’s; Have you visited St Paul’s?; You can buy vegan sausage at the butcher’s. (AEG Ch. 3)

Indirect Object

An Indirect Object (IO) can be identified by looking first for the Subject and the DO, and then asking to / for whom? or, sometimes, to / for what? Generally speaking, it is not possible to have an IO without a DO. IOs can be realized as NPs (They threw their grandkids a party) or PrepPs, headed by to or for (I gave it to her; He bought it for me). (AEG Ch. 1)

individuating noun

An individuating noun has a singular, countable referent: plate, postcard, bag, student. When it combines with a plural marker it has plural reference. Compare to collective noun (AEG Ch. 3)

infinitive clause, see to-infinitive

inflection

Inflection refers to the way way the base form of a word (or lexeme) can change (often in the form of an ending added to the base form) to convey different kinds of grammatical information. In English, inflection affects nouns, verbs, adjective and certain adverbs. Here are some examples:

- the plural of (regular) countable nouns is signalled by inflection: (/s/ - /z/ - /iz/), dog > dogs; cat > cats; ostrich > ostriches;

- the genitive of nouns is signalled by the same inflection: (/s/ - /z/ - /iz/), dog > dog’s; cat > cat’s; ostrich > ostrich’s;

- the third-person singular (non-progressive) present tense of lexical verbs is signalled by the same inflection as well: (/s/ - /z/ - /iz/), you think vs. he thinks; I swim vs. she swims; they reach vs. it reaches – note, too, she is, he has, she does;

- the past tense of (regular) verbs is signalled by inflection: (/t/ - /d/ - /id/), work > worked; sag > sagged; visit > visited;

- the comparative and superlative of short adjectives and adverbs is signalled by inflection, -er and -est, respectively: hot > hotter > hottest; fast > faster > fastest.

Grammatical information is conveyed as much by the absence of inflection as by the presence of it: the (non-progressive) present tense, unless it has a third-person Subject, is signalled by the lack of any overt inflection. Likewise, the singular form a countable noun is signalled by the lack of any overt inflection.

Grammatical information can also be conveyed by way of periphrastic forms. These include, for example, the future tense (I am > I will be) and the comparative and superlative of longer adjectives and adverbs (intelligent > more intelligent> most intelligent; quickly > more quickly >most quickly). (AEG Ch. 3, Ch. 4)

information interrogative clause

An information interrogative clause is so called because it is asking for missing information (rather than inquiring into whether a state of affairs is the case (yes) or not (no), as in a yes-no interrogative). It is also referred to as a wh-interrogative because many interrogative elements in English begin with the letters wh. The answer provides the information that the speaker is missing – yes or no is not a possible answer. This type of interrogative can also be called a partial interrogative (the scope of the interrogation is limited to part of the clause) or an open interrogative (any number of answers are possible): Where do you live? How are you doing? What’s the problem? (AEG Ch. 2)

information packaging

Speakers have a rich grammatical repertoire at their disposal. Information packaging refers to the different ways in which the (basically) same propositional content of a clause can be organized based on how a speaker wants to present the information. The passive voice (My bike was stolen (cf. Someone stole my bike)), it-clefts (It is sleep that I need (cf. I need sleep)), wh-clefts (What I need is sleep (cf. I need sleep)) and extraposition (It’s interesting that you think that (cf. That you think that is interesting)) are all examples of specific ways of packaging information. (AEG Ch. 6)

-ing clause

An ing-clause is a non-finite subclause that is headed by an -ing participle. An ing-clause can function as Subject (Raising a teenager is a challenge), a DO(I hate getting up at 6 am) or an Adjunct (Watching the sunset, I was suddenly overcome with awe.)

-ing participle

The -ing participle is a non-finite form of the verb that takes the inflection - ing. It can function as a verb (They are swimming), but also as a nominal element (She enjoys swimming) or as an adjective(a swimming child). Some use the term gerund when referring to the nominal use of the -ing form and present participle to refer to the verbal use or use as an adjective. In AEG we use -ing participle as a cover term for all uses. (AEG Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 4)

inherent endpoint

When looking at different situation types, inherent endpoint is a parameter referring to a point in a situation beyond which the situation cannot continue. Whereas drink wine does not have an inherent endpoint, drink a glass of wine does: once the quantity of wine in the glass has been drunk, the situation as it is represented in the clause (that of drinking a glass of wine) is exhausted. If a situation is represented in a clause as having an inherent endpoint, it does not necessarily mean that that endpoint is represented as having been reached: He is drinking a glass of wine. Achievements and Accomplishments have an inherent endpoint. Activities and States do not. (AEG Ch. 4)

interjection

Interjections are relatively short units that express some sort of emotion: Wow! Damn! Oh my! They are independent, stand-alone elements that are not integrated into a clause. (AEG Ch. 1)

interrogative clause, interrogative

An interrogative clause (or interrogative) is a form – it is the clause type typically used to ask a question. The word order usually exhibits inversion (with an auxiliary preceding the Subject: Where are you from? Is she Belgian?) when the clause is not embedded (Tell me where you are from; I wonder if she is Belgian). An important exception is when (in an information interrogative) the wh-constituent functions as Subject: Who’s coming? What’s happening? (AEG Ch. 1, Ch. 2)

interrogative tag

An interrogative tag (also called a question tag or a tag question) is a short, elliptical interrogative clause immediately following an affirmative or negative declarative clause: He’s Italian, isn’t he?; She doesn’t like him, does she? The tag uses the same auxiliary as in the clause to which it is appended, with obligatory do-insertion if the clause does not have an auxiliary. The Subject is always a personal pronoun or there– full NPs are not found in interrogative tags. See also constant polarity (AEG Ch. 2)

interrogative, see interrogative clause

intransitive verb

An intransitive verb is a lexical verb that does not allow a DO: He left (unexpectedly). She yawned (a lot). The bracketed items are Adjuncts, which are optional constituents. Some transitive verbs can be used intransitively: He’s reading a bookvs. He’s reading; She's eating her breakfat vs She's eating. (AEG Ch. 2)

inversion, see Subject-auxiliary inversion

irrealis mode, see past subjunctive

it-cleft

An it-cleft is a grammatical construction in which a constituent is highlighted by placing it after It plus a finite form of the verb be (It is. . . It was. . .). The rest of the clause follows the subordinator that: It is sleep that I need. This means that the highlighted constituent does not feature in its normal place with respect to the other constituents: I need sleep. Instead of that, who sometimes introduces the rest of the sentence: It is Marie who arrived late. Other less common configurations are possible as well: It’s John with whom I’m in love. (AEG Ch. 6)