ABSTRACT
This research is focused
on verb and adverbial phrases, their uses and problems in contextual grammar.
Data was gotten from answers of students who were the respondents to the
questionnaire used. The verb is the basic word in a sentence. It is the key
word that gives meaning to a concept. This definition takes care of doing words
like jump, laugh, and dance -etc. The grammatical implication of these words is
that the actions are being carried out. When a verb comes in a form of two or
more words, it becomes a verb phrase. The definition of an adverb in terms of
form may be misleading at times. This is so because some people hold the
opinion that words ending in "Ly" is enough to identify an adverb.
The role of adverbs is very central in the English language. Adverbials,
comprise, adjuncts, conjuncts and disjuncts. Not many students can identify
adverbs without the "ly" suffix, just as very few students are
familiar with the clause of adverbs. From the research, it shows also that not
many students can make use of adverbial phrases correctly. The unpredictable
nature of the adverb poses problem to students. The research advises that
teachers look at some basic words that are unavoidable in the teaching of
verbs. Teachers should explain, the finite, transitive and intransitive verbs. Adverbials
include particles and phrases, therefore the term is more complex than the
adverb as well' as its unpredictable nature. This should not persuade a teacher
to overlook the concepts of adverbial phrase.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
PAGES
Cover page i
Title Page ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Abstract vi
Table of contents vii
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Purpose of Study 4
1.3 Statement of Problem 5
1.4 Research Questions: 6
1.5 Significance of the Study 6
1.6 Scope and Delimitation of the Study 7
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 The Concept of Verb 8
2.1.2 Finite Verb 13
2.1.3 Transitivity
of Verbs 14
2.1.4 Intransitive of Verb 14
2.1.5 The Verb Phrase 14
2.1.5 The Verb Phrase 16
2.2.1 Adverbial Positions 18
2.2.2 Front Position 18
2.2.3 Mid Position 18
2.2.4 End–Position 19
2.2.5
Adverbials Denoting Manner, Means and
Instrument 19
2.2.6 Place Adverbials 20
2.3 Time Adverbial 21
2.3.1
Time Duration Adverbials 21
2.3.2
Time Frequency 21
2.4 Modifying Adverbials of Degree and Manner 22
2.4.1
Front-Position Adverbs (F.P.A) 23
2.4.2
Mid-Position Adverbials (M.P.A) 23
2.4.3
End-Position Adverbials (E.P.A) 24
2.4.4
Two or More Adverbials 25
2.5 Sentence Adverbials 26
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 27
3.2 Area of Study 27
3.3 Population 28
3.4 Sample Technique 28
3.5 Data Collection 29
3.6 Method of Data Analysis 29
3.7 Research Design 29
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Data Presentation 30
4.1 Research Question I 30
4.2 Research Question Ii 31
4.3 Research. Question Iii 31
Questionnaire 32
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION,
RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary of Finding 35
5.2 Conclusion 36
5.3 Recommendation. 36
Workscited 38
CHAPTER
ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The
verb is the basic word in a sentence. It is the key word that gives meaning to
a concept. The word verb comes from the Latin and "Verbum" meaning
"the word". Traditional grammar defines verb as an action word or
words that refer(s) to an action or state. This definition takes care of doing
words like jump, laugh dance, eat etc. The grammatical implication of these
words is that the actions are being carried out. In this definition, there is
no reflection of any word. Example of this type of words include:
"perceive, know, sense, think".
The
Oxford Advanced Dictionary defines a verb as a word or phrase indicating what
somebody or something does. What state, somebody or something is in, what is
becoming of somebody or something.
According
to Oji Nzobunachi (1988:26) the verb is a word that fits into an inflectional
verbal paradigm like nouns. Verbs belong to the open system members. This class
get added to the verb class mainly by the process of adoption and modification
of words from other classes. Examples are:
|
Noun
|
Verb
|
|
Beauty
|
Beautiful
|
|
Identity
|
Identify
|
|
Glory
|
Glorify
|
|
Specific
|
Specify
|
|
Clarify
|
Clarity
|
Verbs
changes with time. This inflectional changes of the verb leads to the
conception of a tense. It might be from present to past.
The
function uses of the verb are:
Making
statement - Uche is coming.
Asking
questions - Did you go to school yesterday?
Giving
command - Stand up!
The
verb may be in a single word as exemplified above or in a group of two or more
words.
In
English language, there are called verb phrase. A verb phrase usually contains
the auxiliary and main verb. According to Christopherson Paul (1980:55) verb
phrases can be seen as a sequential performing the function of a verb or can be
substituted by a single verb. He also opines that verbal phrases or groups are
made up of auxiliary, examples are;
a)
They are eating rice
b) He
has done the work
c)
He will come tomorrow
d) Uche
is driving a car
In
the above examples, ‘are’, ‘will’, ‘has’, ‘is’, are all acting in the auxiliary
forms.
Adverb
is one of the eight major parts of speech as identified by Boadi L.A. (198:64).
However, it is very hard to define. This is due to the fact that it varies
greatly both in forms and in terms of the position they may occupy in a
sentence.
A
definition of the adverb in terms of form may be misleading at times. This is
so because some people hold the opinion that words ending in "ly"
are: sufficient manifestations of adverbs and from this point of view neglect
the fact that there are words like, fatherly, brotherly, dearly, that end in
"ly" but are' not adverbs. In addition, if the determination of
adverbs is on the concepts then some certain adverbs like, here, tomorrow,
yesterday, up, often, sometimes and seldom will be neglected. Adverb can
therefore be seen as words that modify verbs and adjectives and other adverbs.
Adverbs also answer the question, where, when and how.
The
role of adverbs is very central in the English Language Adverbials comprise,
Adjuncts, Conjuncts and Disjuncts. The attention that will be given to adjuncts
consists of adverbial of time, place, manner and reason. Adverbs which state
where an action takes place are called adverb of place example here, out
anywhere. Adverbs of time state when the action of a verb takes place, example:
daily, soon, now, today. Adverbs of a reason state "why" an action is
done, example, why?
Thus
adverbial can be defined as adverb phrase. A very important aspect of the use
of adverbial modification is that of polarity as it is been called. Polarity is
the contract between positive and negative utterances. The simplest way of
transforming positive sentences into a negative one, is by means of the
insertion of the adverb "not" in the appropriate place - he is
here/he is not here. Usually, however there is a case of redundancy in the
system. The adverb `not' often needs the co-operators do, does, did, in order
to make the system work, as in I saw him yesterday.
Adverbs
and adverbial phrases can be classified into two complementary ways:
(a)
According to the kind of concepts they
express, manner place, time, degree etc.
(b)
According to the position they normally
occupy in the sentence. Unfortunately, there is no single correspondence
between the kind of adverbial and the position it occupies in a sentence, but
we can draw a few general conclusion and then show how usage may depart from
the normal. Adverbial may occur at the end of sentences.
The
problems posed by adverbials are many and diverse, most students do not
recognize adverbials that do not end with the "ly" suffix, some do
not recognize adverbials that make concessions like "although,
however" etc. Disjuncts like "obviously, honestly, frankly
speaking" are not readily identified as adverbials.
1.2 PURPOSE OF STUDY
This
study is to investigate the followings:
(1)
To examine the extent to which verb and
adverbial phrases are important to student who are learning English language as
a second language
(2)
To identify the variable factors that
create handicap in the teaching and learning of adverbials in the secondary
schools.
(3)
To arouse interest in both students, teachers
and even casual readers on the place of verb and adverbials in sentences
(4)
The research questionnaire will be used
to get- responses from both students and English Language teachers in some
secondary schools. .
1.3 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Verbal
and adverbial usages create a lot of difficulties amongst students. Their
contextual usage abound owing to their structural and abstract definition. A
number of students are unable to use and identify verb and adverbs correctly
even in the senior school certificate examination (SSCE). This is mainly due to
the fact that they (students) believe that the suffix "ly" is
sufficient evidence that a word is an adverb, but this is far from true.
It
is also important to note that teachers of the English `language, seem not to
teach verbs and adverbs well; they teach these topics haphazardly, regarding
verbs and Adverbial phrases are supposed to be taught for a full week or two,
but one will find out that some teachers just teach them for two days and move
over to a fresh topic entirely.
Moreover,
more attention is given to some parts of speech like nouns, adjective than
adverbial. They seem to regard them to be more important. Greater emphasis is
given to other parts of speech than verb and adverbs, mainly because teachers
feel that adverbials rarely appear in external examinations like General
Certificate Examination (G. C. E), Joint Admission Matriculation Board
(J.A.M.B). Again, some teachers appear not serious in correcting their student’s
mistakes in verb and adverbial but rather refer them to textbooks that are not
readily available to the students. Even students who come buy such books are
unable to understand them, since they are not well taught. Therefore, this
study aims at filling these gaps hence this study on the Analysis of verbs and
adverbial usages in contextual grammar.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
1.
Do students find it difficult to use
verbs and adverbs in sentences?
2.
Can students identify adverb without the
"ly" suffix when they occur in sentences?
3.
Are these students who are familiar with
the classes of adverbs such as adjuncts, conjuncts and disjuncts?
4.
Do students use adverbial' phrases
correctly?
5.
Is the unpredictable nature of adverbs a
problem to students learning English as a second language?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This
research will help to buttress the relevance of verb and adverbial phrases
towards the development of the student's use of English.
It
will also help in identifying them easily in their everyday
English
usage. For instance in the sentences such as:
(a)
The cat slowly picked the fish and ran
away quickly.
(b)
Mary stupidly smacked at the man:
In
these two sentences above, the students are most likely to spot out the
adverbs, which are, "slowly, quickly, and stupidly," because they
have the ending "ly".
Furthermore,
this research will help to suggest a way through which students and teachers
would develop interest in the use and study of verb and adverb as part of the
English studies and should not be taught haphazardly - rather they, are to be
given greater attention.
The
study is also significant because of the significance of the verb and
adverbials in the study of English. There is the need for students to be
conversant -with- verb and adverbials to use them correctly and also to apply
them where necessary.
1.6 SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
1. This
research is limited to the study of Verb and adverbial phrases and their
recognition in contextual grammar
2. The
amount of work expected to be done in this research study is limited due to
limited resources. As a student researcher, inadequate funds crippled an
extensive research, hence limiting the research area to only Ifako local
government area of Lagos in which the research resides.
3. However,
the researcher is very convinced that the few schools used for the research is
a strong representative of the educational level of schools in the local government
area. The researcher will bring into focus the use of verb and adverbials
among secondary school students.
4. Time
factor is another basic hindrance to an extensive research, for the research
had to be done in a very: short time. Furthermore, inadequate sources and books
for the research negated the wide coverage and enhancement of the work.
Textbooks on verbs and adverbs were not easily found. This also limited the
research on this topic.
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