Advanced English Grammar

Echo Question

An echo question is an interrogative with a wh-constituent that is not fronted but that occurs in the position it would ordinarily occupy were it not a wh-constituent. In this case it is said to figure in situ: He said it was a disaster. – He said what?; Jim gave Sarah red roses. He gave who red roses? Although they are called echo ‘questions’, the above examples do not take the form of an interrogative clause. An echo question either requests (literally) that the speaker repeat the clause or is used to express surprise. (AEG Ch. 2)

Ellipsis

The term ellipsis can cover a wide range of phenomena. In AEG use the term refer to what others sometimes call VP-ellipsis. Ellipsis occurs when, following an auxiliary (this includes do in the case of do-insertion), a VP is left unexpressed, usually because the immediate context of the utterance is such that the VP is easily retrievable: Have you seen him? – Yes, I have (= I have seen him). Examples of ellipsis include short answers (Yes, I can), short interrogatives (Have you?) and interrogative tags (She is working too hard, isn’t she?). It is widely used in English and contributes considerably to the overall cohesion of a text. (AEG Ch. 2, Ch. 6)

Embedded Clause

Embedded clause is a synonym of subclause or subordinate clause. The term ‘embedded’ here stems from the fact that it is part of a main clause that functions as embedding clause. An embedded clause can be an adverbial clause, in which case it functions as an Adjunct: I did it because he told me to. In this case, it is grammatically optional. It can also function as a DO: He said he’d do it immediately; I wonder if / whether he will do it? Here, the embedded clause is grammatically obligatory. Embedded clauses having other functions than DO are possible, but rarer: Why he said that is not altogether clear (where the embedded clause functions as Subject). (AEG Ch. 1)

Embedding Clause

We use embedding clause to refer to a main clause that contains an embedded clause (or subordinate clause): He said he’d do it immediately; I wonder if / whether he will do it. In each example, the underlined clause is the embedding clause and it contains an embedded clause (in bold). Not all main clauses are embedding clauses (I like it here.)(AEG Ch. 1)

Emphatic, see do-insertion

Epistemic Modality

Epistemic modality reflects the speaker’s judgment of the likelihood that the proposition in an utterance is true. Put differently, when making use of epistemic modality, the speaker indicates the extent to which she believes a situation is likely to be true (or, more specifically, the extent to which it is possible or necessary). The speaker may express epistemic possibility (John may be at home), epistemic necessity (John must be at home) or epistemic impossibility (John can’t be at home). (AEG Ch. 4, Ch. 5)

Epistemic Stance

When the speaker uses an expression of epistemic stance, she shows her commitment towards the status of the information that is expressed in the clause. When a speaker responds to the question Did you like the film? by saying Actually, no, I didn’t, the marker of epistemic stance actually enables her to do more than simply say ‘no’. She also indicates to the hearer that she realizes this answer might be unexpected. (Perhaps the speaker’s knowledge includes the hearer having previously expressed that speaker would like the film.) Epistemic markers can indicate speaker doubt (actually), speaker certainty (no doubt), as well as the fact that the source of the information is somebody / something other than the speaker, called hearsay: allegedly. (AEG Ch. 6)

Event Time (E), see moment of speech

Exclamation

Exclamation is a functional concept that signals that the form of a clause itself communicates emotion. This is often done by using an exclamative clause (a clause that starts with a wh-constituent (what or how) and has no Subject-aux inversion (What a talented student he is!) or clauses like Wow, is linguistics interesting!, or Gosh, wasn’t that amazing!, in which there is Sub-aux inversion, but without the force of a question. (AEG Ch. 2)

Exclamative Clause, Exclamative, see clause type

Experiencer

Experiencer is a semantic role; it refers to an animate referent experiencing something. In an active sentence, a constituent having the semantic role of experiencer regularly functions as Subject: We could smell something burning. Even though experiencers are less commonly expressed in passive sentences, they do occur: This song has been heard by millions of people. (AEG Ch. 2)

Experiential Reading

The perfect is experiential when it expresses the idea is ‘in a period starting before the reference time and leading up to it, the Subject referent has experienced something at least once’: Have you ever tasted lobster? They’ve lived abroad before. (AEG Ch. 4)

Expressions of Similarity

Expressions of similarity are short clauses consisting of a similarity marker (so, neither, nor) followed by an inverted Subject and auxiliary with an ellipted VP. The same predicative relation is expressed as in a preceding clause: Billy skipped a class – So did Sue; Billy hasn’t skipped a single class – Neither has Sue. In the former case a positive expression of similarity is used, in the latter a negative expression of similarity. (AEG Ch. 2)

Extraposition

Extraposition is a grammatical construction in which an element (usually a subclause functioning as Subject) is not found in the ordinary position a Subject occupies (that is, clause-initial position). Instead, the subclause Subject features at the end of the clause and is taken up by It in Subject position. In other words, a sentence such as

That they left early is unfortunate

is ‘repackaged’ as

It is unfortunate that they left early

Extraposition often results in a sentence that is easier for the hearer to process and, as such, is usually preferred to a sentence without extraposition. In fact, when the extraposed element is a DO, extraposition is obligatory:

He finds it strange that we’re not married

But *He finds that we’re not married strange

The term ‘extraposition’ covers a wide range of phenomena. In AEG use the term refer to what others sometimes call ‘it-extraposition’. (AEG Ch. 2, Ch. 6)