declarative clause, declarative, see clause type

defining relative clause, see restrictive relative clause

definite article

The is the definite article. It serves to establish definite reference, that is, it represents the referent as one that the speaker deems can be identified by the hearer. The definite article can be used both generically (The dog is a four-legged mammal) and non-generically (The dog needs to be taken for a walk). (AEG Ch. 3)

deictic centre, see deictic marker

deictic marker

A deictic marker is a word that takes the speaker as the perspective when considering an item, a time, a place or a situation. In other words, the speaker is the deictic centre. As such, the reference of deictic markers depends wholly on the context of speech in which they are used: the referent of I depends on the speaker uttering I; the area referred to by here or there depends on the physical location of the speaker at the moment she utters these adverbs. Demonstrative determiners and pronouns (this, that, these, those), personal pronouns (I, you, he, they) and adverbs like here and there illustrate the category of deictic markers. Tense is a kind of deictic marker as well. (AEG Ch. 3)

demonstrative determiner

This, these, that and those are demonstrative determiners. Accordingly, they are followed by a head noun: Do you like these flowers? These same forms can also function independently (that is, without a noun head) as demonstrative pronouns, in which case they constitute the head of the NP: Do you like these? (AEG Ch. 3)

demonstrative pronouns, see demonstrative determiner

descriptive grammar

A descriptive grammar describes the linguistic system of a language objectively. In other words, it sticks to the facts and does not seek to say whether one form is more or less correct than another. Linguists today are interested in describing linguistic systems, and most pedagogical grammars of English – including AEG – are committed to describing to learners how the language actually works rather than participating in a debate about whether one form is more correct than another. Nonetheless, learners can benefit from an awareness that some ‘prescriptively correct’ forms maintain a certain currency in formal contexts. While the term ‘descriptive’ suggests that nothing more is at stake than describing the facts, a descriptive grammar in the field of linguistics also attempts to explain the facts. Deciding where linguistic description ends and where it becomes a more abstract, linguistic theory is a matter of debate. In AEG we include a lot of linguistic concepts taken from various theories in order to explain certain mechanisms of the language. In this way we attempt show what it is that a speaker of a language knows, in one form or another, when she speaks English. (AEG Ch. 1)

determinative genitive

A genitive that establishes definite reference is called a determinative genitive: My daughter’s eyes are swollen from allergies. This means that its function is similar to that of the possessive determiners or to the definite article when it establishes definite reference (AEG Ch. 3).

determiner

A determiner is a part of speech that precedes a noun: it is a prehead that is not a modifying adjective. Determiners include the definite article (the book) and indefinite article (a book), possessive determiners (his book(s)), demonstrative determiners (this / that book, these / those books), quantifying determiners (also called indefinite determiners; see also quantifiers) (some / both / a few / many / a lot of books; every / each book) and numbers (seven books). They also include interrogative determiners (which book? / whose book?) and a relative determiner (the book whose cover is torn). (AEG Ch. 3)

direct not-negation

Clause-level direct not-negation is linguistically expressed through the negative word not. If the clause features an auxiliary, direct not-negation is achieved through the simple addition of not after the auxiliary (He was not amused) or the short negative form (He hasn’t replied yet). The first auxiliary is marked for negation if there is more than one: He may not have been amused. If the clause features a lexical verb, do-insertion is required. In this case a form of the auxiliary do is added, either in its short negative form or followed by not: She doesn’t (does not) want a new house; She didn’t (did not) write this reply. The base form of the lexical verb (the verb base) follows. (AEG Ch. 2)

Direct Object

The Direct Object (DO) can be identified by asking who or what is ‘affected’ by the main verb in the clause: The committee rejected the project proposal. It is often realized as an NP, but finite and non-finite clauses can also function as DOs: I can’t believe that you think such a thing; She really enjoys reading mystery novels. Other constituents can function as DOs, though less commonly: I recommend under the bed as a potential hiding place (PrepP). (AEG Ch. 1)

discourse

Looking at how discourse works requires us to telescope out from more local grammatical phenomena (tenses and time-spheres, relative clauses, modal verbs) and to adopt a broader perspective on how clauses and larger pieces of spoken and written language fit together. Take, for example, a sentence like Even though she’s turning 70, she’s still very energetic. Even though points to a specific relation, of contrast in this case, between the propositions expressed in each of the clauses. Take another example: This explains why the former solution is preferable. The hearer is forced to look elsewhere in the discourse if he is to understand what ‘this’ and ‘the former solution’ refer to. Otherwise, the (perfectly grammatical) sentence cannot be understood in a meaningful way. We take grammar ‘beyond the sentence’ as an effective and accessible working definition of discourse, bearing in mind that the discourse relations may also hold between clauses in a complex sentence. (AEG Ch. 2, Ch. 6)

discourse topic

The discourse topic is what a given stretch of language – usually longer than a single sentence – is ‘about’. Take the following: Kathleen’s job brings her great satisfaction. She comes home every evening feeling good. The first sentence establishes ‘Kathleen’s job’ as the discourse topic. ‘Kathleen’s job’ also happens to be the topic, and the grammatical Subject, of the sentence. In the second sentence, the sentence topic (and the grammatical Subject) is not Kathleen’s job, but Kathleen herself (= ‘She’). However, the discourse topic remains the same – we are still talking about Kathleen’s job. The same cannot be said in the following (similar) stretch: Kathleen’s job brings her great satisfaction. She comes home every evening on the 503 bus. Compared to the first example, this latter stretch of language is incoherent because no effort has been made to maintain the discourse topic. (AEG Ch. 6)

discourse-oriented modality

We say that the modality is discourse-oriented when the modal meaning originates in the discourse participants (the speaker in declarative sentences (You must come and visit me = ‘I (the speaker) would like you to come and visit me’) and the hearer in interrogative sentences (Need I say more? = ‘Would you (the hearer) like me to say more?’)) rather than in the Subject referent. In Sue can speak Russian and Can Sue speak Russian?, for instance, the modal meaning of ability bears on the Subject referent (Sue) rather than on the speaker or the hearer. (AEG Ch. 5)

distal demonstratives

That (singular) and those (plural) are distal demonstratives. They refer to items that the speaker conceives as being removed from the deictic centre, that is, from the speaker’s here and now. The notion of distance is very often spatial (Do you like those trousers over there?) or temporal (Those were the days, where the speaker is likely to be talking about the 60s or last year rather than last week). It can be a more subjective, emotional distance as well: That journalist will stop at nothing. In a stretch of discourse, distal demonstratives are often associated with anaphoric reference. In What do you think of that?, the referent associated with ‘that’ has occurred earlier in the discourse. (AEG Ch. 3)

distributional properties

When we refer to the distributional properties of a part of speech or a phrase we are referring to the place it can occupy in a clause or the position it can have with respect to other elements. When adjectives are used attributively, for example, they regularly occur after the determiner (if there is one) and before the head noun: a red car (cf. *red a car, *a car red). Additionally, certain adjectives can only occur in predicative position: The baby is asleep, but *an asleep baby. Put differently, there are constraints on their distribution or they have specific distributional properties. (AEG Ch. 1)

ditransitive verb

A ditransitive verb is a verb that requires both a DO and an IO in order to be used in a grammatical way: The president handed the veteran a medal vs.The president handed – *The president handed the veteran – *The president handed a medal.Verbs that are always ditransitive do not form a very large class in English, but there are many transitive verbs that can be used ditransitively: She bought a book > She bought me a book. He read a story > He read them a story. (AEG Ch. 2)

do-insertion

Do-insertion enables the processes of negation, inversion and ellipsis to take place in the absence of an auxiliary. Do-insertion can be used not only to satisfy a syntactic requirement, but also in affirmative declarative clauses, where it fulfils a variety of discursive functions: I do hate this weather. The use of do in this example is said to be emphatic. It can also have a concessive or contrastive use: I’ve never read the book, but I did see the movie when it came out. (AEG Ch. 2)

double genitive

A double genitive is an NP construction where possession is marked by both the preposition of and a noun marked with the genitive's (or a possessive pronoun): friends of Billy’s, an idea of Mary’s, that dog of hers.

duration

A situation is durative (or has duration) if it is perceived as taking up time. All situation types, with the exception of Achievements, are durative, or ‘plus (+) duration’. The opposite of durative is punctual. The situation type referred to as an Achievement is punctual – it is perceived as not taking up time(it is ‘minus (-) duration’). (AEG Ch. 4)

durative, see duration

dynamicity

When looking at different situation types, dynamicity is a parameter related to energy input. Achievements, Accomplishments and Activities are said to be dynamic. These situation types are perceived as having the potential to ‘be happening’ (rather than simply ‘be the case’) as well as the potential to change: they are ‘plus (+) dynamic’. States are said to be ‘minus (-) dynamic’ – they are static states or conditions that ‘are the case’ and that do not change. (AEG Ch. 4)