Argument Structure in English Grammar

Argument Structure in English Grammar The word argument in  linguistics  does not have the same meaning as that word in common usage. When used in relation to grammar and writing, an argument is any expression or syntactic element in a sentence that serves to complete the meaning of the verb. In other words, it expands on whats being expressed by the verb and is not a term that implies controversy, as common usage does. Read about the more traditional sense of argument as a rhetorical term  here. In English, a verb typically requires from one to three arguments. The number of arguments required by a verb is the valency of that verb. In addition to the predicate and its arguments, a sentence may contain optional elements called adjuncts. According to Kenneth L. Hale and Samuel Jay Keyser in 2002s Prolegomenon to a Theory of Argument Structure,  argument structure is determined by properties of lexical items, in particular, by the syntactic configurations in which they must appear.   Examples and Observations on Argument Structure Verbs are the glue that holds clauses together. As elements that encode events, verbs are associated with a core set of ​semantic participants that take part in the event. Some of a verbs semantic participants, although not necessarily all, are mapped to roles that are syntactically relevant in the clause, such as subject or direct object; these are the arguments of the verb. For example, in John kicked the ball, John and the ball are semantic participants of the verb kick, and they are also its core syntactic arguments - the subject and the direct object, respectively. Another semantic participant, foot, is also understood, but it is not an argument; rather, it is incorporated directly into the meaning of the verb. The array of participants associated with verbs and other predicates, and how these participants are mapped to syntax, are the focus of the study of argument structure. -   Melissa Bowerman and Penelope Brown, Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Argument Structure: Implications for Learnability (2008) Arguments in Construction GrammarEach part of a complex construction has a relation to some other part of the construction in construction grammar. The relations between parts of a construction are all cast in terms of predicate-argument relations. For example, in Heather sings, Heather is the argument and sings is the predicate. The predicate-argument relation is symbolic, that is, both syntactic and semantic. Semantically a predicate is relational, that is, inherently relates to one or more additional concepts. In Heather sings, singing inherently involves a singer. The semantic arguments of a predicate are the concepts to which the predicate relates, in this case, Heather. Syntactically, a predicate requires a certain number of arguments in specific grammatical functions to it: sing requires an argument in the subject grammatical function. And syntactically, arguments are related to the predicate by a grammatical function: in this case, Heather is the subject of sings. -   Willi am Croft and D. Alan Cruse, Cognitive Linguistics  (2004) ExceptionsNote the unusual behavior of the verb rain, which neither requires nor permits any arguments at all, except for the dummy subject it,  as in Its raining. This verb arguably has a valency of zero. -   R.K. Trask, Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts  Ã‚  (2007)Conflicts Between Constructional Meaning and Lexical MeaningIn cognitive linguistics, it is generally assumed that grammatical constructions are carriers of meaning independent of the lexical items they contain. The lexical items used in a construction, especially the meanings of the verb and its argument structure, have to be fitted into the construction frame, but there are cases where a conflict between constructional meaning and lexical meaning arises. Two interpretive strategies emerge in such cases: Either the utterance is rejected as uninterpretable (semantically anomalous) or the semantic and/or syntactic conflict is resolved by a meaning shift or coercion. In general, the construction imposes its m eaning on the verb meaning. For example, the ditransitive construction in English exemplified in Mary gave Bill the ball is in semantic and syntactic conflict with the syntax and meaning of the ditransitive construction. The resolution of this conflict consists in a semantic shift: the basically transitive verb kick is construed ditransitively and coerced into the interpretation cause to receive by means of hitting with the foot. This meaning shift is possible because there are an independently motivated conceptual metonymy  means of action for action that makes the intended interpretation available to the hearer even if he or she has never before encountered the use of kick in the ditransitive construction.  Klaus-Uwe Panther and Linda L. Thornburg, The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (2007)

International transport Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International transport - Essay Example So, International transport compliments the human activity of producing products perfectly, and this paper will look at their role in sending garments from manufacturing plants in India to the destinations in Netherlands. Garments, important necessity of people all over the world, are being manufactured from time immemorial as form of cover, protection, style, comfort etc. From casuals to formals, many garments have been manufactured in different parts of the world and one of the best known places for garments manufacturing especially knitted T-shirts is Tiruppur in India. T-shirts manufactured in Tiruppur are marketed throughout the world. â€Å"It is called the Knits Capital of India as it caters to famous brands and retailers from all over the world. Nearly every buyer of knitting in the world comes to Tiruppur†¦ Walmart, Switcher, Diesel, ARMY, Tommy Hilfiger, M&S, FILA, H&M, Pink Lemonade, HTHP, Whale, Reebok† (Wikipedia). After the garments or T-shirts comes out of the manufacturing plants in packed boxes, Tiruppur based logistics companies will take over it, for the shipment process. Logistics companies, contracted by the manufacturers, will have a fleet of vehicles or containers using which only, the packed T-shirts will be transported to the nearest port. Even though India is dotted with many ports on both its coasts, Port Cochin on the western coast is the preferable port for the Tiruppur garment manufacturers. As Cochin is in another Indian state of Kerala, the vehicles from Tiruppur (which is in Tamil Nadu) have to face some practical problems, which can prolong the normal duration of 6 hours. That is, the distance of 109 miles can be covered in 6 hours by the vehicles like the Lorries and vans, but it can get prolonged due to government check posts, other natural and artificial eventualities. As trans-state crossing needs some government

Eat Drink Man Woman Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Eat Drink Man Woman - Assignment Example A father remains emotionless, because he wants to seem a strong person and stay invulnerable. A conflict of generations, different problems of communication among family members are mistreated by family members and it is of great importance to have an ability to deal with the challenges of family life. Chu as the head of the family is positioned as a typical head of the Chinese family, but his ability of self-development enabled him and his family to be successful. Authority in the family There is a dynamical development of the family. Actually, this film is focused on depiction of daily affairs, emotions and feelings of every family. Sihung Lung is represented by the director as Chu, a master chef who cannot save his sense of taste. He had a business of his life and a feeling of taste is the way to earning money and living his life. His wife died and he has to take care about his 3 daughters. Jia-Ning (Yu-Wen Wang), the youngest one, makes many attempts to steal a boyfriend from her friend; Jia-Chien (Chien-Lien Wu) the Cosmo girl, who has no time for her own family; and the oldest, Jia-Jen (Kuei-Mei Yang), spends all her time with her father and sacrifices her own happiness in the name of his life. There is a great problem among all family members, because they cannot identify themselves. When love from outside interferes in their lives they do not know what to do and how to support their used way of living. There are so many emotional points and themes covered in this film that every viewer finds his own tunes of soul, which are harmoniously repeated by the director. Sihung Lung takes care about his daughters and the audience feels a great sympathy to this caring man. He knows that his family is tearing apart, and being a head of the family, he tries to put the family together. In accordance with a model of traditional Chinese family, where the father is responsible for education of their children and having the last word in the family meetings, Chu is more tolerant and emotional in relation to his daughters. A man makes many attempts to transmit his feelings to his daughters, but he cannot find appropriate words, but rather impresses them by cooking. A concept of food is one of the central integrative parts of the family life. In case family members are displeased with each other, they do not express negative emotions directly, but they make attempt commenting on food. Culinary arts is on the way of development in china and the director Lee makes an attempt to show culinary arts as a way of family unification. Traditional form of Chinese family To express a father’s love through cooking is an unusual form of feelings’ expression, because in the Chinese family a father plays a role of emotionally stable and a strong brave man, a head of the family. The situation is different in the film, because the father does not have his wife, he is a master chef and he has no son, but only three daughters. Communication in the family is mediated by means of culinary arts of the father. In such a way the director of the film expressed his unusual vision of an ideal Chinese family. Nevertheless, there is an evident emotional gap and a conflict of generations cannot be resolved by means of keeping silence only. The daughters and the father are united by invented family values. Eating dinner together in the kitchen is the most

The Impact of Logistics and Supply Chain on Maritime Transportation Research Proposal

The Impact of Logistics and Supply Chain on Maritime Transportation - Research Proposal Example Logistics and supply chain has emerged from being a supporting service for businesses to a mainstream service for businesses across the globe. The maritime industry has also adopted new concepts of logistics and supply chain and has been benefitted by the use of the new concepts and methodologies of logistics. The modern day maritime transportation industry has become an avid user of logistics and supply chain and has been constantly transforming it to meet the emerging needs of the global business environment through the effective use of supply chain management and logistics activities. In this respect, many challenges and opportunities are created by logistics and supply chain in this mode of transportation. Also, there have been numerous positive benefits and some negative impacts of supply chain and logistics on maritime transportation as an important industry. The main objective of the research is to find out the positive and negative impacts of the logistics and supply chain in the maritime transportation sector. The secondary objectives of the research works are to understand how the maritime transportation industry is affected by the evolution of the logistics and supply chain management in the industry and how the use of new concepts and technologies in this industry has led to the creation of new opportunities as well as challenges for the maritime transportation industry. The research questions are formulated to find out what the research paper wants to answer through the study. Research questions form the basis of the direction of the study and also help in selecting a proper research methodology and design of the research paper. The research questions for this study are selected and prepared on the basis of the scopes of the research and the primary objectives of the research. Since, the main objective of this research paper is to identify and evaluate the various positive as well as

Unit 5 Min Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 5 Min - Coursework Example Besides, this may raise the initial budget of entertainment from $50 to $100. For instance, if the project manager intended to hire an excellent decorator with a tight schedule, he or she may settle for alternative personnel who may not produce the much needed outfit decoration as earlier planned. However, in a situation when the program schedule is crashed, one may miss out on the essential items during the planning because time would not allow extensive coverage of everyone’s needs for entertainment. Lengthy planning gives the manager in charge of the project enough time to bargain and find cheap yet quality equipments for the party. This has a direct impact on the amount spent to see the event to fruition without incurring unnecessary costs. Attendance for the party is very important. When the birthday party is rushed through a crashed program, it has a general impact on the number of people invited who may finally attend. People have busy schedule, they require enough time to plan other activities to create time to attend the party. Crashed schedule may mean reduced attendance to the birthday party. Besides, one would have no alternative than to purchase readily available equipments like tents for the party, which may cost more than $100. This makes the party expensive and unrealistic. The rushing of the project will have a severe impact on the cost, selection of appropriate equipments for the party, and the number of invited guests who may attend the party. When the attendance is not guaranteed on the material day, losses will be incurred because food items and other drinks incurred will go into waste. Besides, a larger tent may have been procured yet fewer number of the invited guests may attend the event. This makes the party expensive to the

The Millennium Development Goals of Nepal Assignment

The Millennium Development Goals of Nepal - Assignment Example The UN Millennium campaign has created partnerships with the Resident Coordinators office in various targeted countries in order to inspire and support the people all over the world for taking adequate actions, supporting the MDGs. In this regard, Nepal is deemed to be one of the most targeted and highly prioritised countries of the world. In Nepal, the Millennium campaign has a powerful interlink with the â€Å"Civil Society Organisations†, UN system and the local bodies, which tends to enhance its campaigning efforts and policy advocacy works (1United Nations Development Programme, 2014). This goal has been established in order to support the economically under-developed countries of the world wherein the people are not even able to afford the basic necessities of life such as food, which results in causing malnutrition. Therefore, in context to Nepal, the goal mainly focuses on improving the standards of living of the people as well as minimising the distance persisting between rich and poor. The target of the goal is to reduce the fraction of people in Nepal by 50 percent whose daily earnings is less than $1.25 and suffering from famine. The target is proposed to be accomplished in between 1990 and 2015 (1United Nations, 2015). In order to confirm that the above targets get accomplished within a set timeframe, the country will mainly analyse two indicators. The first indicator represents the prevailing rate of under-weighted children those who are below the age of five years and the second indicator denotes the proportion of populaces in the country who do not rece ive minimum level of diet (Shakya, 2013). This goal was designed to ensure that all the children of a country receive primary education and possess the right to enrol themselves in primary schools and complete their education. However, in relation to Nepal, the goal mainly focused on increasing the number of literacy rates in the country by providing the opportunity of primary education. As per the

Unit 5 Min Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 5 Min - Coursework Example Besides, this may raise the initial budget of entertainment from $50 to $100. For instance, if the project manager intended to hire an excellent decorator with a tight schedule, he or she may settle for alternative personnel who may not produce the much needed outfit decoration as earlier planned. However, in a situation when the program schedule is crashed, one may miss out on the essential items during the planning because time would not allow extensive coverage of everyone’s needs for entertainment. Lengthy planning gives the manager in charge of the project enough time to bargain and find cheap yet quality equipments for the party. This has a direct impact on the amount spent to see the event to fruition without incurring unnecessary costs. Attendance for the party is very important. When the birthday party is rushed through a crashed program, it has a general impact on the number of people invited who may finally attend. People have busy schedule, they require enough time to plan other activities to create time to attend the party. Crashed schedule may mean reduced attendance to the birthday party. Besides, one would have no alternative than to purchase readily available equipments like tents for the party, which may cost more than $100. This makes the party expensive and unrealistic. The rushing of the project will have a severe impact on the cost, selection of appropriate equipments for the party, and the number of invited guests who may attend the party. When the attendance is not guaranteed on the material day, losses will be incurred because food items and other drinks incurred will go into waste. Besides, a larger tent may have been procured yet fewer number of the invited guests may attend the event. This makes the party expensive to the