The arrangement of words into phrases and phrases into clauses may seem self-evident from the above discussion, particularly if you are a native speaker of English or a non-native speaker who knows English well. In fact, it is not always clear how the words in a given phrase are arranged or how the phrases are arranged in a given clause. Fortunately, tests have been developed to help analysts.
Transposition
Many sequences of words can be moved together into different slots in a clause; this is evidence that the words form a phrase. Jeeves shimmered into the room. We can think of that sentence as being converted by the words into the room being moved, or transposed, to the front of the clause. This transposition indicates that the three separate words combine into a larger block, a phrase. Transposition also applies to phrases without prepositions. The words the results in (5) can be moved to the front of the clause to give The results Barbara handed to Alan on Tuesday, a clause that is appropriate if the speaker or writer continues, for example, The actual scripts she kept until Friday.
The above examples of transposition have to do with a sequence of words being moved from one position in a clause to another position without any other changes in the clause. (Remember the comment from Chapter 1 that the clause is a unit of analysis within which we can talk coherently about the order of phrases and the fact that phrases can occupy different positions.) Transposition is one of the tests that reveal whether a given sequence of words make up a phrase or are just words that happen to come one after the other. If you know English well, you may be tempted to think that such a test is unnecessary; but two facts speak against this temptation. One is that in spite of the vast amount of research on English syntax in the twentieth century we still come across examples whose structure is not obvious. The second fact is that many linguists work not just on languages other than English but on languages which have been little studied or not studied at all. In these circumstances, tests such as transposition are essential.
The test of transposition is also applied in a slightly different fashion. Consider the active clause in (6a) and the passive clause in (6b).
(6) a. The pupils in this maths class gave cakes to Margaret every Friday.
(6) b. Cakes were given to Margaret every Friday by the pupils in this maths class.
The phrase the pupils in this maths class is at the beginning of the clause in (6a) and refers to the people doing the giving. The same sequence is at the end of the clause in (6b) and is the complement of the preposition by. In contrast with the previous example, the differences between (6a) and (6b) consist of more than just a group of words being moved from one position to another. Example (6a) contains gave, while (6b) contains the words were and given. Example (6b) also contains the prepositional phrase by the pupils in this maths class, whereas (6a) has no prepositional phrase. When we use ‘transposition’ with respect to examples such as (6a) and (6b), we are talking about sequences of words that turn up in a particular order in one position in one construction and about the same sequences of words turning up in the same order in another construction. The sequence the
pupils in this maths class occurs in the different constructions in (6a) and (6b). (Constructions are discussed in Chapter 3.)
The test of transposition applies to other sequences of words, as shown by (7).
(7) a. This parcel is very heavy.
(7) b. This very heavy parcel was delivered yesterday.
(7) c. Very heavy, this parcel!
(7) d. What this parcel is is very heavy.
In (7a), the sequence of words/the phrase very heavy is the complement of is ; in (7b) it is the modifier of parcel. It turns up at the beginning of the spoken construction in (7c). In (7d) it is also the complement of is, but in a special emphatic construction. Very can be replaced by words such as astonishingly, and the sequence can be made longer – astonishingly and frighteningly heavy – but can still be transposed, as shown in This parcel is astonishingly and frighteningly heavy, this astonishingly and frighteningly heavy parcel was delivered yesterday, What this parcel is is astonishingly and frighteningly heavy.
Another example is given in (8).
(8) a. We felled the laburnum with this chainsaw.
(8) b. With this chainsaw we felled the laburnum.
Substitution
The essential idea behind this test is that a single word can substitute for a number of words hanging together as a phrase. This is demonstrated in (9).
(9) a. Barbara handed the intriguing results of the latest examination to Alan on Tuesday.
(9) b. Barbara handed them to Alan on Tuesday.
Them in (9b) substitutes for the intriguing results of the latest examination in (9a). Similarly, in (6a) and (6b) David can be substituted for the pupils in this maths class: David baked cakes for Margaret every Friday and Cakes were baked for Margaret every Friday by David.
The test of substitution applies to sequences of words with adjectives, such as those in (7); This parcel is very heavy, This parcel is astonishingly and frighteningly heavy or simply This parcel is heavy. The single adjective heavy substitutes for the sequences very heavy and astonishingly and frighteningly heavy but another type of substitution is possible, using the specialized substitution word so. Consider the dialogue in (10). (Here capital letters represent different speakers.)
(10) A. This large parcel is very heavy.
(10) B. No it’s not.
(10) C. It is so.
The test of so-substitution exemplified in (10) is straightforward in that the sequence very heavy is removed and so is dropped into the empty slot. Another type of so-substitution is rather indirect. Consider (11).
(11) This large parcel is very heavy and so is this small packet.
There is no doubt that so ‘stands for’ very heavy. The reason for calling this substitution ‘indirect’ is that so has not simply been dropped into the slot occupied by very heavy but has been moved to the front of the clause. Nonetheless, so-substitution is a good indication that sequences such as very heavy form a larger unit.
Substitution can be applied to sequences introduced by prepositions, as in (12) and (13).
(12) a. Vera is crocheting in the lounge.
(12) b. Vera is crocheting there.
(13) a. Grandma is coming to Mr Chalky’s school tomorrow.
(13) b. Grandma is coming here tomorrow.
There in (12b) substitutes for in the lounge in (12a), and here in (13b) substitutes for to Mr Chalky’s school in (13a). Examples in which a single preposition substitutes for a whole sequence are difficult to find. This is mainly because prepositions typically require a complement, but also because in standard written English there is a contrast between in for location and into for movement, and for many speakers there is a contrast between out of for movement and out for location, as in (14).
(14) a. The cat was sleeping in the kitchen.
(14) b. The cat trotted into the kitchen.
(14) c. The mouse jumped out of the cheese-box.
(14) d. The mouse was out the cheese-box
In informal spoken English, and certainly in non-standard varieties of English, in and out express both location and movement, and (14b, c) can be expressed as (15a, b).
(15) a. The cat trotted in the kitchen.
(15) b. he mouse jumped out the cheese-box.
These examples can be shortened to those in (16).
(16) a. The cat trotted in.
(16) b. The mouse jumped out.
In these examples, in and out can be treated as single words substituting for the longer phrases in the kitchen and out the cheese-box. However, for the large majority of prepositions, the substitution of a preposition for preposition plus noun phrase does not work, whether in writing or informal speech, in standard or non-standard English.
Finally in this section, let us note that all the above examples show a sequence of words being replaced by one word. The converse is that a single word can be replaced by a sequence of words: Cheese is good can be changed to That French cheese with the blue veins is good. The latter example is occasionally described in terms of cheese being expanded to that French cheese with the blue veins, but it is treated here as a type of substitution.
Ellipsis
Consider the examples in (17).
(17) a. The terrier attacked the burglar. The terrier savaged the burglar’s ankles.
(17) b. The terrier attacked the burglar and the terrier savaged the burglar’s ankles.
(17) c. The terrier attacked the burglar and [ ] savaged the burglar’s ankles.
Example (17a) contains two separate clauses. In (17b), the clauses are conjoined by and ; this gives a single sentence consisting of two clauses, each beginning with the terrier. Example (17c) is produced by deleting the second occurrence of the terrier. The square brackets in (17c) mark the site of the missing words, which are said to have been ellipted. Example (17c) is an example of ellipsis. The important point about this type of ellipsis is that it applies only to complete phrases. Sentences such as *The fierce terrier attacked the burglar and terrier savaged the burglar’s ankles are incorrect, because terrier must be preceded by the. Example (17b) is peculiar because speakers and writers of English do not repeat phrases in this manner but either ellipt the second occurrence of the phrase as in (17c) or use a substitute such as he, she or it. The burglar occurs twice, once as the phrase at the beginning of (17b) and again in the bigger phrase the burglar’s ankles. In the latter phrase the burglar, or rather the burglar plus the possessive suffix ’s, is replaced by his : The terrier attacked the burglar and she savaged his ankles.
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