English is not French 1 GRAMMAR English Grammar

English is not French : 1. GRAMMAR

English Grammar ≠ French Grammar Le crayon noir de ton vieil oncle est perdu La plume noire de ta vieille tante est perdue

English Grammar ≠ French Grammar Le crayon noir de mon vieil oncle est perdu La plume noire de ma vieille tante est perdue My old uncle’s black pencil is lost My old aunt’s black pen is lost In E. , only the content words have changed. Not the articles or the endings.

Le crayon noir de mon vieil oncle est perdu La plume noire de ma vieille tante est perdue French substantives have gender (masculine / feminine)

How about English ? No contrast masculine / feminine for common nouns : Le crayon La plume Un crayon Une plume Un oncle Une tante The pencil The pen A pencil A pen An uncle An aunt A becomes An before a vowel

How about English ? But the contrast masculine / feminine exists for gendered beings (in the singular) : Le garçon. . . il La fille. . . elle Le crayon. . . il La plume. . . elle The boy. . . He / his The girl. . . She / her The pencil. . . It / its The pen. . . It / its The boys / girls / pencils / pens. . . They / their

How about English ? No gender markers in the plural ! The boys. . . they The girls. . . they The drinks. . . they also : Everybody. . . they and even : Somebody / someone. . they / them / their Nobody / no one. . . they / them / their

Le crayon noir de ton vieil oncle est perdu La plume noire de ta vieille tante est perdue Les crayons noirs Les plumes noires French adjectives agree with the nouns they qualify (gender and number)

How about English ? English adjectives do not agree with the nouns they qualify : Un grand homme Une grande femme Les beaux arbres Les belles maisons A tall man A tall woman The beautiful trees The beautiful houses

How about English ? English adjectives do not agree with the nouns they qualify : Le livre est bon Les biscuits sont bons La pomme est bonne Les tasses sont bonnes The book is good The biscuits are good The apple is good The cups are good

However. . . The French « beaucoup de. . . » is invariable (does not change), but the English « much » and « many » change with the number of the noun : Il n’a pas beaucoup d’argent, . . He doesn’t have much (a lot of) money, . . . mais il a beaucoup d’amis. but he has many (a lot of) friends !

English vs. French Le crayon noir de mon vieil oncle est perdu La plume noire de ma vieille tante est perdue French possessives behave like adjectives : they agree with the noun they qualify. English possessives do not : they agree with the possessor

How about English ? English possessives agree with the possessor : Il a vu son père Il a vu sa mère He saw his father He saw his mother Elle a vu son père She saw her father Elle a vu sa mère She saw her mother We saw our mother You saw your father They saw their father

English vs. French Le crayon noir de ton vieil oncle est perdu La plume noire de ta vieille tante est perdue Fr. past participles behave like adjectives : They agree with the noun they qualify

How about English ? English past participles do not agree with the nouns they qualify : L’homme que j’ai vu La femme que j’ai vue Les hommes que j’ai vus Les femmes que j’ai vues The man / woman / men / women / I’ve seen

No word endings in English ? It is true that (in contrast to Latin or German) nouns (substantives) do not change according to their grammatical status (subject or object) : The boy loves the girl The girl loves the boy

No word endings in English ? It is true that verbal endings are much simpler, and fewer, in English than in Latin or French : Amo J’aime I love I am Amas Tu aimes You love You are Amat Il/elle aime He / she loves He / she is Amamus Nous aimons We love We are Amatis Vous aimez You love You are Amant Ils aiment They love They are

No word endings in English ? Yes there are ! - s -ed -ing

No word endings in English ? Yes there are ! - s -ed -ing

No word endings in English ? - S : 1. Plural - S 2. 3 rd. Person - S 3. Genitive ’S 4. ’S = is, has

-S : one morph, three phonemes one book, two books one bed, two beds one tree, two trees one house, two houses one witch, two witches [s] [z] [Iz]

Careful !!! (1) We need a plural - S after One of the (. . . ) + noun : One of the best players in the world One of his worst performances One of my favourite books One of your dirty tricks One of her close friends is an astronaut etc.

- S : 3 rd. Person -S He works, she sits, . . . He begs, she digs, . . . He plays, she sees, He kisses, she watches, [s] [z] [Iz]

Subject / verb agreement In French, « il y a. . . » is invariable : Il y a un chat sur le paillasson Il y a deux chats dans la maison In English, « there is / are » agrees with the « real » subject that follows : There is a cat on the mat There are two cats in the house NOT : They are. . . (= ils sont)

Careful !!! (2) It’s = it is, it has (it’s now or never) Its = possessive (the dog bit its master) Who’s = who is, who has (Who’s the owner of this car ? ) (Who’s never been to Antwerp ? ) Whose = relative pronoun (The girl whose dog bit the postman)

No word endings in English ? Yes there are ! - s -ed -ing

- ed forms the simple past and the past participle of regular verbs. Here also, there are three pronunciations : Worked [t] Loved [d] Played [d] Wanted [Id] Mended [Id] Naked, Crooked [Id]

No word endings in English ? Yes there are ! - s -ed -ing

-ing The ending -ing is used to form the present participle and the gerund of regular verbs. The present participle is used in the « progressive » verbal form : I am teaching You are learning He / She / It is standing

-ing The ending -ing is used to form the present participle and the gerund of regular verbs. The gerund is an -ing verbal form used as a substantive : There will be some dancing tonight, but no drinking after midnight. No parking here ( « a parking » ≠ Engl. ) Studying at the ULB is fun.

No word endings in English ? The form of personal pronouns changes according to their function ( « case » ) : SUBJECT I YOU HE SHE IT WE THEY OBJECT POSSESSIVE ME YOU HIM HER IT US THEM MY, MINE YOUR, YOURS HIS HER, HERS ITS (NOT IT’S) OUR, OURS THEIR, THEIRS

While we’re talking about pronouns. . . NOTE THAT THE ENGLISH « YOU » IS BOTH SINGULAR AND PLURAL IS BOTH FAMILIAR AND POLITE SO IS BOTH « TU » AND « VOUS »

NOTE THAT THE FRENCH «ON» WILL BE RENDERED IN DIFFERENT WAYS IN ENGLISH : Alors, on ne dit même pas merci ? Won’t you even say thank you ? On a encore une fois ouvert la rue. They have broken up the street again ! Chez nous, Monsieur, on ne jure pas. We don’t swear here at home, Sir. On m’a volé mon portefeuille My wallet has been stolen. On ne parle pas ainsi aux dames. One does not talk to ladies like that. Au Moyen ge on brûlait des sorcières In the Middle Ages witches were burnt alive. En Amérique on parle anglais In America, they speak English / E. Is spoken.

No word endings in English ? It is true that verbal endings are much simpler in Eng. than in Latin or French : Amo J’aime I love I am Amas Tu aimes You love You are Amat Il/elle aime He / she loves He / she is Amamus Nous aimons We love We are Amatis Vous aimez You love You are Amant Ils aiment They love They are

Verbal endings are much simpler in English than in Latin or French, But English conjugation can be complex : 1. Word order is important (patterns) 2. Not all verbs behave in the same way (AV/NAV) (especially negation / interrogation) 3. Some verbs are irregular 4. The VP has its own internal structure 1. Complementation is not the same as in French 2. (verb + inf. , verb + that. . . , verb + -ing)

1. Word order is important (patterns) The dog chased the man The man chased the dog You are my best student 1. Are you my best student ? 2. 3. She gave the officer a medal. She gave a medal to the officer.

1. Word order is important (patterns) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. SV We exist. It is raining. SVCs She is a nurse. You are getting fat. SVAC They live in Brussels. She is there. SVO He caught a cold. She paid for the drinks. SVOO We sent him an invitation I explained the text to them SVOC He painted the door green They provided the refugees with blankets SVOAC He put the book on the table

But word order may differ : I saw the dog / I saw it J’ai vu le chien / je l’ai vu

1. Word order is important (patterns) SV SVCs SVAC SVOO SVOC SVOAC All these patterns start with SV. SV agreement is simple, but important : The dog barks / The dogs bark There is a fly in my soup / There are two flies in my soup

2. Not all verbs behave in the same way (AV/NAV) (especially negation / interrogation)

3. Some verbs are irregular REGULAR I work / she works I worked / she worked I have worked / she has worked 3. IRREGULAR I sing / she sings 4. I sang / she sang 5. I have sung / she has sung

4. The VP has its own internal structure : A VP can contain several auxiliaries, but their order is fixed. A. B. C. D. Aux (can, may, must. . . , shall/will, do) + [to] + inf. Have + past participle Be + present participle Be + past participle (A+B) He must have studied to succeed (A+C) Someone may be watching (A+D) The doctor must be called at once (B+C) They have been tapping our phone (B+D) The flat has been decorated by Terry (C+D) The book is being republished (A+B+C) He should have been working for you (A+B+D) The hostages may have been released (A+B+C+D) She may have been being harassed

5. Complementation is not the same as in French (verb + inf. , verb + that. . . , verb + -ing, etc. ) « Je veux que tu viennes avec moi » * I want that you come with me

5. Complementation is not the same as in French (verb + inf. , verb + that. . . , verb + -ing, etc. ) « Je veux que tu viennes avec moi » * I want that you come with me I want you to come with me

Complementation is not the same as in French (verb + inf. , verb + that. . . , verb + -ing, etc. ) « Arrête de bouger ! » * Stop to move ! Stop moving !

5. Complementation is not the same as in French (verb + inf. , verb + that. . . , verb + -ing, etc. ) I remember kissing my wife for the first time remember + ing : retrospective I must remember to buy some bread today remember + to + inf. : prospective

5. Complementation is not the same as in French Prepositional verbs in French may be non-prepositional in English, and vice versa : Resist temptation Résister à. . . Answer a question Répondre à. . . Survive an accident Survivre à. . . Look at the clouds Regarder les nuages Wait for the bus Attendre le bus Listen to the radio Ecouter la radio

6. English verbs have different aspects : 7. a) simple and progressive : « Je mange une pomme » « I eat an apple » (every day) « I am eating an apple » (here and now)

The Progressive (be + present participle) 1. Dynamic = « makes a difference » SHORT DRY not TALL WET « «he it is is raining growing» » « a permanent state »

The Progressive 100 % 2. Temporary validity = 100 % true at the time of speaking 0% NOW

The Progressive 3. Continuous Duration not punctual or – – – – discontinuous

The Progressive 1. Dynamic Process 2. Temporary validity 3. Continuous Duration At least TWO of these conditions must be fulfilled.

The Progressive PRESENT PAST 1. 2. 3. Dynamic Pocess Temporary validity Continuous Duration She is talking (now) I am listening She was talking (then) I was listening She was talking when, suddenly, the phone rang. I was listening when, suddenly, I had a new idea. FUTURE She will be talking (at a PTA meeting next week) I shall not be attending

English verbs mark aspect differently : a) simple and progressive : What do you do ? (What’s your job ? ) Hey, what are you doing there ? (Your present temporary activity) I am standing in front of the Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower stands in Paris I know that I love you (stative verbs) (Mac. Donald’s : I’m lovin’ it !)

6. English verbs have different aspects : b) simple and perfective : « J’ai écrit une lettre » « I wrote a letter » (this morning) « I have written a letter » (It’s finished)

Another grammatical difference : determiners 1. English has no partitive article : Du pain : bread Pas de pain : no bread Du café fort : strong coffee De l’eau trouble : murky water De la limonade rouge : red lemonade

Another grammatical difference : determiners 2. English has no plural indefinite article : Des élèves : students Pas d’ enfants : no children Des ennuis : troubles Des allumettes : matches

Another grammatical difference : determiners 3. No definite article for NCNs (abstractions and substances) : L’amour La nature La religion L’or est précieux L’eau est chère Love Nature Religion Gold is valuable Water is expensive

Another grammatical difference : determiners 4. But (with specifying postmodification) : L’amour qui dure The love that lasts La nature de l’Homme The nature of Man La religion du Japon The religion of Japan L’or de Troie The gold of Troy L’eau des Océans The water of the Oceans

Another grammatical difference : 4. Some of these NCNs ( « Uncountables » ) are countable in French : Un conseil : Quelques conseils : Deux conseils : some advice two pieces / bits of advice (Two advices : deux conseillers juridiques, deux mises en demeure )

Another grammatical difference : 4. Some of these NCNs ( « Uncountables » ) are countable in French : Des informations : Some information Quelques informations : Some information Les informations de 20 heures : The eight o’clock news Les nouvelles sont bonnes : The news IS good.