Three of the seven sentence patterns that we will examine next are based on tran-sitive verbs (TVs), so recognizing them is critical. As mentioned above, a verb phrase with a transitive verb must have at least one object NP in it, for example,
TV NP
Hong Kong has two official languages.
_____________
VP
The verb has is followed by the NP two official languages, so it fills the require-ment of a transitive verb. Below are other examples of sentences with transitive verbs:
TV NP
Some cartoons promote language stereotypes.
_____________
VP
TV NP
Researchers have found negative attitudes toward certain dialects.
VP
Transitive verbs can have more than one object NP; for example, in the following sentence, the transitive verb teach is followed by the NPs children and language stereotypes.
TV NP NP
Some cartoons teach children language stereotypes.
VP
It is critical that you are able to distinguish transitive verbs from intransitive verbs before moving on to the different sentence patterns. After you test your knowledge below, decide whether it would be prudent to go back and review this section be-fore proceeding to sentence patterns.
Exercise 3.4 Getting a Grip on Intransitive and Transitive Verbs Label the underlined verbs as either intransitive (IV) or transitive (TV).
1. IV TV Dialects emerge from immigration patterns.
2. IV TV Everyone has an accent.
3. IV TV My friend switches between Japanese and English in conversations.
4. IV TV Writer Chinua Achebe includes Africanized English words in his novels.
5. IV TV Some Japanese women use a language style different from men’s.
6. IV TV Along the U.S.–Mexico border, most people understand English and Spanish.
7. IV TV Some children have not learned their parents’ native language.
8. IV TV Those children lost their opportunity to be bilingual.
9. IV TV In many instances in our history, school systems discouraged bilingualism.
10. IV TV I use my mother tongue when I am angry, not English.
Of course, nothing is ever straightforward in grammar, right? So here comes the heads-up—sometimes the same verb form can function as both a linking verb and an (in)transitive verb, depending on the context. (Rather than repeating intransi-tive and transiintransi-tive, I will use the term “(in)transiintransi-tive” to stand for both terms.) The verbs may appear to be the same, but they have different meanings:
Julio felt confident about learning Arabic.
Julio felt the braille.
Verb Classes 79 Let’s try the BE substitution test on the two sentences:
Julio was confident about learning Arabic.
Julio was the braille.
The BE substitution test shows that felt in the first sentence is a linking verb, but in the second sentence, felt is used as a transitive verb—we know this because the BE substitution test failed. Also, note that in the first example, the verb (felt) is linking confident to the subject; however, in the second example, the braille does not link back to the subject (Julio = braille?). This adds to the evidence that the verb felt in the second sentence is not a linking verb.
When a verb form is used as both a linking verb and an (in)transitive verb, the meaning of the verb is not the same in its two roles. Here are some other examples of verbs that can be used both ways. Notice how the nouns and adjectives follow-ing the linkfollow-ing verbs refer back to the subject, but those followfollow-ing the (in)transitive verbs do not.
Fernando grew impatient with his language development. ←linking Fernando grew vegetables to maintain his brain health. ←transitive
Elise looked confident reciting Cherokee poetry. ←linking
Elise looked happily at the pile of books. ← intransitive—happily is an adverb, modifying the verb
The strange food tasted salty. ←linking
The exchange student tasted the strange food. ←transitive
Exercise 3.5 Getting a Grip on Linking, Intransitive, and Transitive Verbs Go to the Language Focus box at the beginning of the chapter. Copy the first two sentences from the box, underline the verbs, and mark them as link-ing (LV), intransitive (IV), or transitive (TV).
x x
x
DID YOU KNOW?
“Vocal fry” is a relatively new term that describes a speech pattern used by young women, particularly students at universities. It is a lowering of the voice into a creaky sound—a vocal affectation used by popular stars (e.g., Katy Perry, the Kardashians, Gwen Stefani)—and is now being used by young women to feel as if they fit in. CBS Sunday Morning takes a humorous look at vocal fry. Search for “Faith Salie on Speaking with Vocal Fry” or go to www.cbsnews.
com/video/watch/?id=50154925n.
Sentence Patterns
Verbs are powerful sentence elements that determine the structure of the verb phrase. In this section, seven common sentence patterns are examined in detail (other patterns exist). At the end of this chapter, Table 3.1 provides a summary of these common patterns for your reference.
This section may be frustrating for students who allow the terminology to over-whelm them. In reality, there are only seven patterns to learn, and much of the terminology should already be familiar. Taken one by one, these patterns are easy to grasp. Knowledge of these basic patterns supports the learning of important ter-minology as well as the understanding of basic sentence structures.
As discussed above, verbs are categorized as linking, intransitive, and transi-tive. Sentence patterns are based on the type of verb in the sentence (verbs have power!). First we examine the three linking verb patterns, and then we will exam-ine one intransitive verb pattern and three transitive verb patterns.