Due

Read: Understanding English Grammar, Chapter 4

Meeting Place

We will meet in our usual classroom, Dial 153.  Please bring Understanding English Grammar.

February 26-March 2, 2001

By now you should understand the basic structure of English sentences.  That is, you know that these sentences generally consist of a subject and a verb--and perhaps other components--and that we can expand the verb through the use of auxiliaries.  Now, we turn to exploring the various phrases that can make up and complement these basic components.  We begin with a look at nominals.

As I explained in class, I am in the process of evaluating your online portfolios, writing detailed comments, and assigning midterm grades.  By Friday of this week, I will e-mail each of you a progress report that summarizes your progress in the course.
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Resources

Understanding English Grammar describes the ten basic sentence patterns covered here.

A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language presents detailed descriptions of numerous aspects of English grammar.

Updated February 19, 2001
© Mark Canada, 2001
mark.canada@uncp.edu
 

Nominals

By Mark Canada
English Professor, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Nouns occupy various slots in English sentences: subjects, subject complements, object complements, direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions.  The following sentences contain nouns in these slots:

  1. Noun as subject: Laura is really popular.
  2. Noun as subject complement: The highlight of the trip was Paris.
  3. Noun as object complement: He made North Carolina his home.
  4. Noun as direct object: I like Aaron.
  5. Noun as indirect object: Henry gave the baby a bath.
  6. Noun as object of a preposition: She supplied all the details about the job.
Any slot that can be filled by a noun, however, can also be filled by a nominal--a word or phrase that functions just as a noun functions in a sentence.  English has three types of nominals: gerunds, infinitives, and noun clauses.  In some cases, a nominal may be just one or two words; in others, the nominal itself can be quite elaborate.  Indeed, we often can analyze a nominal in the same way we analyze an entire sentence; that is, it may have its own subject complement, direct object, and other components.  The following sentences contain nominals instead of nouns in various sentence slots:
  1. Gerund as subject: Jogging is really popular.
  2. Gerund phrase as subject complement: The highlight of the trip was watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.
  3. Infinitive as direct object: I like to swim.
  4. Noun clause as direct object: She hates that I always win in Scrabble.
  5. Gerund as indirect object: Henry gave water skiing high marks.
  6. Gerund phrase as object of a preposition: She supplied all the details about working as a page.
Once you can recognize nominals and understand that they fill standard sentence slots in the same ways that nouns do, you will find that some of the most intimidating sentences are actually relatively simply to dissect.  The following sentences, for example, have exactly the same basic patterns.  The latter sentence looks more complicated only because it contains a nominal instead of a noun in the subject slot.
  1. Courage is one of the hallmarks of a hero.
  2. To confront one's demons with aplomb is one of the hallmarks of a hero.

Exercises

  1. Rewrite each of the following sentences by replacing at least one noun with a nominal.
    1. We need help.
    2. Calculus is really hard for some people.
    3. He has good reasons for insubordination.
    4. Trust is important in a marriage.
    5. We considered a trip to the beach a great idea.
  2. A prescriptive grammarian might argue that the following sentences contain mistakes.  Use what you have learned about nominals to identify and correct the problems. 
    1. "The reason we left is because we were tired."
    2. "She didn't approve of me going to the dance."
    3. "What students write in their personal e-mail messages, should not be scrutinized by university administrators."