Relationships Between Constructions

Two central ideas lie behind the use of the word ‘system’. One is that each of the above constructions shares certain properties with some of the other constructions; the other is that it is possible to specify the relationships between the constructions. It is generally accepted that the DECLARATIVE ACTIVE construction is basic. It is the most frequent type of construction in English, because speakers most often make assertions, indeed assertions about agents, and it allows the widest range of modifications – for example, Frank had been buying the piano for Jane is perfectly acceptable, and even The piano had been being bought by Frank, though awkward, can be used in texts instead of the unmodified passive, although the texts do not run as smoothly. Examples of the basic construction allow the widest range of adverbs and are semantically basic; the interpretations of Did Frank deceive Emma? and Frank didn’t deceive Emma both involve an understanding of Frank deceived Emma, to which is added an understanding of what is signalled by the interrogative syntax and of what is signalled by the negative didn’t.

As explained above, these are WH interrogatives, and a simpler version is given in (9)

(9) What did Frank buy for Jane?
[NON-COPULA, INTERROGATIVE, WH, ACTIVE,
OBLIQUE OBJECT]

(9) relates not to Frank bought a piano for Jane but to Frank bought something for Jane. The speaker knows that Frank bought and Jane received a present and asks for the present to be specified. We have three constructions to connect, shown in (10).

(10) a. Frank bought something for Jane.
[NON-COPULA, DECLARATIVE, ACTIVE, OBLIQUE
OBJECT]

(10) b. Did Frank buy something for Jane.
[NON-COPULA, INTERROGATIVE, YES–NO, ACTIVE,
OBLIQUE OBJECT]

(10) c. What did Frank buy for Jane.
[NON-COPULA, INTERROGATIVE, WH, ACTIVE,
OBLIQUE OBJECT]

As before, we avoid paths going independently from the construction in (10a) to the constructions in (10b) and (10c). Instead, we will lay down a path from (10a) to (10b) and a path from (10b) to (10c). This captures the fact that (10b) and (10c) have something in common, the occurrence of the auxiliary verb did before the subject Frank. It also captures the fact that in syntactic terms (10c) is further away from (10a) than (10b), since not only is there the auxiliary verb did preceding the subject Frank, but (10c) also contains the WH pronoun what.