She sent [her friend]a message yesterday

She sent her a message yesterday ( subtition)

She talked to her and sent a message[...] elipse
She sent her friend and her brother a message yesterday ( coordination)

A message Obligatory complement

Her friend optional complement
Yesterday adjunct

Licensed by the meaning of the verb

He wrote a question to his students on the board

Transitive sentence doesn't need complement

Passivization

What is the dictionary and grammar model of a linguistic model?

It is a model of linguistic knowledge that assumes a well-established separation between the

grammar and the lexicon. Such model postulates that gramma0cal pa<erns, namely
syntactic structures,contain symbols such as S (for clause), NP (for Noun Phrase), VP for
(for Verb Phrase) and the details of how such symbols are to be formed. The symbols
themselves are meaningless. On the other hand, the lexicon contains no specific rules to link
the form of words (e.g.: their phonological constituency) and the meanings they carry. In
such models, a division of labor is assumed: only the grammar (oIen regarded as only
syntax in such models) forms structures. Then words are inserted in such structures so that
a meaningful sentence can be obtained.

Concept constructions

When you hear or say a sentence, what kind of knowledge are you using?
Goldberg and other Construction Grammarians propose that our linguistic
knowledge is organized around constructions.
A construction is a fundamental pairing of a linguistic form with a meaning.
● Form: This includes the sounds, letters, word order, and grammatical markers
● Meaning: This encompasses the semantic content, pragmatic implications, and discourse
functions.

What else is a constructions ?

If words are constructions, what else could be?

● Consider these examples:
○ Syntactic Patterns: Subject-Verb-Object (e.g., She eats pizza.) –
This form consistently conveys an actor-action-affected entity relationship.
○ Morphological Patterns: Prefixes (e.g., un- in unhappy) – This form
consistently modifies the meaning of the base word.
○ Idioms: Kick the bucket – This specific form has a non-compositional meaning ("to die”

Claim of constructions grammar

Main claim: Construction Grammar proposes

that our entire knowledge of
language consists only of a large network of constructions.
● No Separate Modules:
It challenges the idea that we have distinct modules for grammar
rules, vocabulary, etc.

Everything as constructions:
○ Knowledge about:
■ Words
■ Syntax
■ Morphology (prefixes, suffixes)
■ Idioms
■ The nuances of meaning and interpretation ○ ...is all represented as knowledge of different
types of constructions.

Why this radical idea ? The motivation

What We Know About a Construction:

○ Phonological Properties: How it sounds.
○ Morphological Properties: Its internal structure.
○ Syntactic Properties: How it combines with other elements.
○ Conventionalized Meanings: What it signifies.
○ Possible Variants: Different forms it can take.
○ Social Contexts: When and where it's typically us

Definition of constructions

In structuralist and pedagogical grammar, a construction is typically a complex linguistic form

that serves a grammatical function. Examples would be the
PASSIVE construction (The village was destroyed),
the IMPERATIVE construction (Go to your room and stay there!)or the
PAST PERFECT construction (I had already heard the news). The going constructions,
the ditransitive construction only discuss the form of meaning, while the construction
grammar discusses the generalization.
For the theoretical Goldberg (1995) CONSTRUCTION is a form–meaning pair where
some aspect is non predictable

Goldberg's definition says that a linguistic unit is a "construction" if it has a form and a
meaning that are not entirely obvious or deducible just by looking at its parts or by knowing
the general rules of the language. There's something unique or idiosyncratic about either its
structure or its meaning (or both) that makes it a distinct piece of linguistic knowledge that
speakers need to learn and store.

Non predictable meaning

Is more evident in idiomatic expression

●We’re back to square one.[ Start again]

●Will and Jenny finally tied the knot.[ get married]
●His theory is totally off the mark.
●Let’s call it a day.

Non predictable forms

● all of a sudden
● by and large
● the more, the merrier
● Try as I might, I just couldn’t grasp the principle.
● How big an area are we talking about?
● I have waited many a day for this to happen.

Constructions vs Construct

A construct is a specific example or sentence that instantiates (i.e., follows) one or more
[Link] is a concrete use of an abstract construction.

Constructions: generalization that speakers make, that allows them to talk

Construct: instantiation of those generalization

🔹 Examples from the text:

John enjoys playing the piano is a construct because:

Its meaning is fully predictable.

Its structure is fully explained by more general constructions:

Subject–Predicate Construction

Transitive Construction

Participial -ing Clause Construction

Definite Noun Phrase Construction

So, this sentence is not a construction on its own — it’s a construct made up of several
existing constructions.
Construction vs. Construct

Construction:
A construction is a linguistic pattern or structure — a general form that combines words in
meaningful ways. It includes both the structure (syntax) and meaning (semantics).
Constructions can be idiomatic or productive (meaning they allow new combinations). For
example, "the X-er the Y-er" is a construction ("The more you study, the smarter you
become").

Construct:
A construct is a specific instance or realization of a construction — an actual
sentence or utterance that someone produces. It's like a product built using one or more
constructions

Ditransitive construction:

Pattern: [Subject] [Verb] [Indirect Object] [Direct Object]

Example: "She gave him a book."

Here, the verb "gave" is used in this pattern: "She gave him [something]."

Idiomatic construction:

Pattern: "give someone a hard time"

Meaning: To criticize, tease, or make things difficult for someone.

This is not meant literally — it's an idiom that conveys a specific figurative meaning.

Idiomatic expression are productive

The Adjer(XP), The ADjer (XP)

● the more, the merrier

● the bigger, the better
● the redder, the deadlier
● Beyond Adjectives:
○ The darker the roast, the stronger the taste. (adjective + nominal)
○ The stronger a voice we have, the more effective we are. (adjective +
clause)
○ The more carefully you do your work, the easier it will get. (adverbial + adjectival)
The functions of constructions
Different surface forms are typically associated with slightly different semantic or discourse
functions. Take For example, the ‘ditransitive’ construction, which involves
the form, Subject–Verb–Object1–Object2

Idiom = A fixed, non-literal phrase.

E.g., “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

Idiomatic = Language that sounds natural and typical for native speakers, whether or not it's
an idiom.

E.g., “That sounds good to me.” (idiomatic but not an idiom)

I’m feeling under the weather. → Idiomatic (also an idiom)

Make up your mind. → Idiomatic, sounds natural

He speaks fluent English → Idiomatic, though not an idiom

The idiomatic expression are more than a fixed strings

Yes, idioms often look like fixed expressions, but they are more than just memorized word
sequences.

Idiomatic expressions express meanings beyond the surface form.​

They have semantic richness that must be learned.

✅ “Spill the beans” doesn't mean to drop legumes — it means “reveal a secret.”
. They Can Be Flexible in Structure

Many idioms are partially flexible — they allow changes in tense, pronouns, or slight word
order while keeping the idiomatic meaning.

Example:

He kicked the bucket.

Many people have kicked the bucket.

The bucket was kicked last night. All versions keep the idiomatic meaning: “to die.”So they
are not always fixed word-for-word — they follow a pattern

Argument structure
“[T]he terms ‘argument structure’ and ‘valency', as used in linguistics, refer to a
relationship that holds between a predicate denoting an activity, state or event
and the respective participants, which are called arguments”. (Hilpert, 2014, pp.
26-27).Argument structures can be viewed as both semantic and syntactic properties.
In some syntactic theories, it is proposed that there is a semantic selection (s-selection) of
thematic roles and a selection of constituent types (c-selection).

Semantic vs syntactic structures

Argument structure can be understood in two ways: semantically and syntactically.

Semantic Argument Structure:
● sometimes called event structure.
● refers to the participants evoked by a predicate in a given sentence.

Example:
● eat evokes an event with someone eating and something eaten. Described using semantic
roles or thematic roles.
Event structure specifies the kinds of roles that may appear with a verb.
Example:
● eat typically occurs with an agent and a patient, but other
configurations are possible.

Syntactic Argument Structure:

● refers to the structural patterns associated with a predicate.
● example: ○ Speakers know eat usually occurs with a subject and a direct object, but can
also be used intransitively (I have already eaten).

Arguments structure constructions

This text discusses argument structure, which refers to the participants involved in an event
described by a verb. It highlights the distinction between semantic argument structure
(based on meaning and roles like agent, patient, etc.) and syntactic argument structure
(based on grammatical sentence structure). The verb eat, for example, has two semantic
roles (someone eats something), but can be used with one or two syntactic arguments (e.g.,
“I ate” vs. “I ate a sandwich”).

The text also emphasizes that our knowledge of verbs includes both common usage
patterns and creative extensions, such as those found in the resultative construction (e.g.,
John played the piano to pieces). This construction adds a result phrase (e.g., to pieces,
clean) to a verb's usual pattern, expanding its valency. Linguist Adele Goldberg argues that
constructions like this are not just structural templates, but carry their own meaning,
independent of the verb. These form-meaning pairings are stored in the speaker’s mental
grammar (the “construct-i-con”).

Valency decreasing construction

1. The RESULTATIVE CONSTRUCTION.

Structure: Subject + Verb + Object + Result phrase

Meaning: "X causes Y to become Z"
Peter wiped the table clean.

2. The DITRANSITIVE CONSTRUCTION. Sylvia wrote me an email.

3. The CAUSED MOTION CONSTRUCTION.

The Caused Motion Construction expresses an action in which an agent causes something
(a theme) to move to a location (goal).

Subject (agent) + verb+ Object (theme) + Goal (Direction/Location

He pushed his brother into the pool.

4. The WAY CONSTRUCTION.

The Way Construction is a sentence pattern that describes how someone achieves a goal or
moves forward (literally or figuratively), often by effort, struggle, or cleverness

Subject + Verb + (Possessive) "way" + Prepositional Phrase (Goal)

❖​ The "way" acts like a special object, usually modified by a possessive

pronoun (his, her, their, etc.)
❖​ The verb shows the action taken to reach the goal.
❖​ The goal is usually introduced by a preposition (into, to, out of, through, etc.)

Frank cheated his way into Harvard.

→ He used dishonest means to reach the goal (getting into Harvard).

She pushed her way through the crowd.

→ She advanced by pushing people aside.

They fought their way to victory.

→ They reached victory through struggle.

He elbowed his way to the front of the line.

→ He used his elbows (force) to reach the front.

The soldier crawled his way under the wire.

→ Describes effortful movement toward a goal.

Valency increasing construction

1. The PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION.

Mistakes were made.

2. The IMPERATIVE CONSTRUCTION

Let me know when you get home.

[Link] NULL INSTANTIATION CONSTRUCTION

. We won.

4. The REFLEXIVE CONSTRUCTION.

John shaved.

5. The RECIPROCAL CONSTRUCTION.

James and Peter argued.

The IMPERATIVE construction

The English IMPERATIVE CONSTRUCTION yields idiomatic/idiosyncratic patterns:

Combinations of IMPERATIVE and PASSIVE vary in acceptability.

❖​ The subject "you" is usually omitted because it's understood.

❖​ The verb is in the base form (no tense, no -s ending).

❖​
❖​ It may include objects, adverbials, or prepositional phrases, depending on the
sentence.

Close the door.​

→ Direct command.​

Please sit down.​

→ Polite request (with "please").​

Don’t touch that!​

→ Negative imperative using don’t.​

Be quiet.​
→ Command with the verb be.​

Let’s go to the park.​

→ Special inclusive imperative (Let us = Let’s).​
Take your time.​
→ Encouragement or advice.​

Tell me what happened.​

→ Command asking for information

Nulls instantiation constructions

It shows that not all semantic roles (like agent, patient, etc.) have to be expressed
syntactically

● There is variability as to whether the argument that was omitted can be

generic or not.
● If it can be generic, there is indefinite null instantiation (INI). If it
cannot, there is definite null instantiation (DNI).

Aspect

Speakers of any language convey a large amount of information about situations and time.
They can represent a given action as ongoing or as completed; they can represent it as
having taken place once or as being
repeated or as being a habit.

Aspect is a grammatical category that expresses how an action unfolds over time whether
it’s ongoing, completed, repeated, or timeless.

It’s different from tense, which tells when something happens (past, present, future).
→ Aspect tells how it happens in time.

Stative vs dynamic verb

Verbs are divided into stative and non-stative (dynamic) classes.

Dynamic Verbs
● Relate to actions.
● Can be used to answer the question "What happened?".
● Example: ○
What happened? ■ They went home

Stative Verbs:
● Relate to states.
● Cannot be used to answer "What happened?".
● Examples: ○ What happened?
■ *They knew his parents.
■ *They were very cold.
● Typically exclude adverbs like "quickly"
■ *They quickly knew his parents
Occur rarely or not at all in the Progressive form
● *We are knowing this theory
Rare examples include: ● They’re believing everything you say and ● You’ll soon be owning
all the land round here

Do not occur in the WH cleft construction

● She knew this theory.
● She was very cold.
● She emailed her friends. What she did was....
● *What she did was know this theory (stative)
● *What she did was be very cold (stative)
● What she did was email her friends. (dynamic)

Achievement: An action that happens instantly and results in a change of state. There's no
process, just the result.

The dog caught the cat.

She found her keys

Activity: An ongoing action that has no natural endpoint. You can do it forever — it doesn’t
lead to a result by itself. allow adverbs such as for hours that accord with an activity being
stretched out over time. They exclude adverbs such as in twenty minutes which relate to an
event reaching its final boundary and being completed.

She walked for an hour

The dog chased the cat for days

Accomplishments: action that has a clear goal or endpoint. It involves a process that
results in a completed event

He wrote a report in two hours

Voice:The category of voice concerns the different constructions available to

present an event or state from varying perspectives.
● It allows speakers to choose which participants in a situation are mentioned
and which are presented as central.

The passive: We can choose to mention the person(s) attacked, the Patient(s), but to
leave out the attacker(s). This is done by using the passive construction, in which the Patient
noun, here Emma and Harriet, is the subject.
(20) There was an attack yesterday.

Example (20) is an instance of what is called the existential construction,so-called because

speakers use it to talk about the existence of people,things, ideas and whole events.

(21) Emma and Harriet were attacked yesterday.

This is the main use of the passive both in

speech and in writing: to mention only the Patient and to omit the Agent. listeners can infer
an Agent, and adverbs can be inserted, such as deliberately in

(23) The vase was smashed deliberately

Examples (21) and (23) are instances of the ‘short passive’, while (22a) is an example of the
‘long passive’.

(22) a. Emma and Harriet were attacked by those ruffians.

b. Those ruffians attacked Emma and Harriet yesterday.

The get passive

Form: GET + passive participle

● The sheep got infected with scrapie. ○ It is dynamic: it describes an event or change in
state.
● The vase was broken ○ it can be ambiguous (event of breaking or state of being broken).
● The vase got broken ○ it can only describe the event.
● Common in spontaneous spoken English.

The middle voice: refers to a sentence construction where the subject appears to do the
action, but the action seems to happen by itself, or the subject is both the agent and the
affected party — without needing a passive form.

This book reads well

The shirt washes easily
This door opens smoothly.
The car drives like a dream
The soup cooks quickly

Difference from Passive Voice:

Middle: The door opens easily.

(No agent mentioned, and it sounds natural and general.)

Passive: The door is opened easily (by the wind).(Agent can be added, and the structure is
more formal.)