LANGUAGE IN INDIA

RULES TO MAKE A SIMPLE (POSITIVE) SENTENCE INTO TAG QUSTION IN ENGLISH AND TELUGU
M. Srikanth, Ph.D.

This paper discusses the comparative study of English and Telugu tag question form while transforming simple sentence into a tag question.

Preparing a program to build a system, which helps us to make different structures is one of the challenging tasks for both programmer and a linguist. Because, human being have sophisticated mechanism to understand rules in a particular language but machine doesn’t have such sophistication in it. To make a machine sophisticate one has to train it properly. A computer demands clear instructions to perform the specified task.

Introduction

Sentence

In order to state general rules about the construction of sentence, it is constantly necessary to refer to smaller units than the sentence itself. Our first task must therefore be to explain what these smaller units are that we need to distinguish, confining our attention for the present to a few sentences, which, though showing considerable variety, are all of fairly elementary structure.

Traditionally speaking, sentence contains subject and predicate. The subject of the sentence has a close general relation to ‘what is being discussed’, the ‘theme’ of the sentence. And also subject determines concord. i.e. with those parts of the verb that permit a distinction between singular and plural, the form selected depends on whether the subject is singular or plural. Furthermore, the subject is the part of the sentence that changes its position as we go from statement to question. Ex. Had he given the girl an apple?

In contrast with the subject, there are few generalizations that we can usefully make about the predicate since it tends to be a more complex and heterogeneous unit. We need to subdivide it into its elements or constituents. One division can be auxiliary as operator and predication. The distinctions may be illustrated as follows:

1. Range of operators:

1. The verb expression may have several auxiliaries:
Ex. He should have been questioned by the police.

In such cases, it is the first auxiliary that acts as operator.

Should he have been questioned by the police? No, he shouldn’t...
He should have been questioned by the police, shouldn’t he?

2. Where the verb expression has no auxiliary in the positive declarative sentence, ‘do’ is introduced when an operator is required:

Ex. It rained steadily all day.
Did it rain steadily all day? No, it didn’t.

3. The verb ‘be’ can act as operator whether it is an auxiliary:

Ex. John is searching the room.
Is John searching the room?
John is searching the room, isn’t he? (proper noun becomes personal pronoun)

4. The same is true to some extent, especially in BrE, for ‘have’:

Ex. He has a degree.
Has he a degree?

Subject:

As the sentence indefinitely complex, so may the subject. For example, the following sentences – simple and complex – can become one simple sentence with a very complex noun phrase as subject.

The girl is Mary Smith.
The girl is pretty.
The girl was standing in the corner.
You waved to the girl when you entered

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