The Grammar of Star Wars
2020-05-08
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1This past Monday, May 4, was Star Wars Day.
2The holiday began in 2011 to celebrate the film series and its influence on popular culture.
3Every Star Wars Day, fans around the world say, "May the fourth be with you!" The words "May the fourth" sound like "May the Force," part of a line in the movie from character Obi-Wan Kenobi.
4"May the Force be with you" is something he said often in the films.
5Star Wars has influenced English speech in many ways.
6Today, for example, English dictionaries contain words from the films, such as "jedi," though its meaning has changed a little.
7But Star Wars has also brought us unusual sentence structures, mainly influenced by the speech of the character Jedi trainer Yoda.
8He is the beloved 900-year-old green creature who shows character Luke Skywalker how to become a Jedi.
9Yoda's way of speaking is the most memorable thing about him, except for his unusual appearance.
10Today, Everyday Grammar will look at a few of Yoda's lines to examine the sentence formation.
11This is a fun way to practice identifying the many parts of speech in English.
12Before we begin, let's look at three important parts of speech.
13A subject is a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that performs the action of a verb in a sentence.
14For example, "Yoda" is the subject of the sentence, "Yoda teaches Luke Skywalker about the Force."
15A verb is a word that expresses an action, happening or state of being.
16In the same sentence example, the verb is "teaches."
17And an object is a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that receives the action of a verb.
18In the sentence, the object is "Luke Skywalker."
19Notice the word order goes like this: subject-verb-object.
20Most English sentences and clauses follow this word order.
21Not all sentences have objects, but knowing where to put them is useful.
22Yoda almost never uses the subject-verb word order of standard English.
23And many of his sentences contain linking verbs.
24A linking verb is a verb that connects the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, which is a word or phrase that describes the subject.
25Listen to a sentence that uses normal English word order and has a linking verb:
26The mind of a child is truly wonderful.
27In this sentence, the subject is "the mind of a child," the linking verb is "is" and the subject complement is "truly wonderful."
28Now, listen to how Yoda said this sentence in the Star Wars film, "Attack of the Clones."
29Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.
30Here, Yoda put the subject complement "truly wonderful" first, the subject "the mind of a child" next and the linking verb "is" last.
31Often, when a sentence has a subject complement, Yoda puts it at the beginning.
32Listen to this example, from the film "The Empire Strikes Back":
33Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.
34In this sentence, the words "luminous beings" are the subject complement, "are" is the linking verb, and "we" is the subject.
35But note that Yoda put the subject at the end this time, rather than after the subject complement.
36Generally speaking, Yoda's sentence structure was not consistent.
37And that is OK since he is an imaginary character - and written to be hundreds of years old!
38We can still enjoy exploring his sentences to see where he places things.
39Another thing Yoda does often is to separate main verbs from auxiliary verbs or modal verbs in sentences that contain them.
40Suppose you wanted to tell Luke Skywalker something about Darth Vader.
41Normally, English sentences put auxiliary verbs before main verbs, like this:
42And you will confront him.
43Here, the auxiliary verb is "will" and comes before the main verb, "confront."
44Together, "will confront" makes the simple future verb tense.
45But listen to how Yoda says that same sentence about Vader, from the film "Return of the Jedi":
46And, confront him you will.
47Notice that he has completely separated the auxiliary and main verbs.
48He put the auxiliary "will" at the end of the sentence and the main verb "confront" at the beginning.
49Even in this same piece of dialogue, however, the old, green teacher forms sentences other ways.
50Listen to more of the Yoda speech, in three short sentences:
51You must confront Vader!
52Then, only then, a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will.
53In each of these sentences, he places the subject, the modal or auxiliary, and the main verb in different places.
54The writers of the Star Wars movies made Yoga's speech inconsistent in structure, maybe just to play with language.
55And now, it is your turn to have some fun with language.
56Visit our website to find a few more Yoda quotes and see if you can identify the parts of speech.
57May the Force be with you!
58I'm Alice Bryant.
1This past Monday, May 4, was Star Wars Day. The holiday began in 2011 to celebrate the film series and its influence on popular culture. 2Every Star Wars Day, fans around the world say, "May the fourth be with you!" The words "May the fourth" sound like "May the Force," part of a line in the movie from character Obi-Wan Kenobi. "May the Force be with you" is something he said often in the films. 3Star Wars has influenced English speech in many ways. Today, for example, English dictionaries contain words from the films, such as "jedi," though its meaning has changed a little. 4But Star Wars has also brought us unusual sentence structures, mainly influenced by the speech of the character Jedi trainer Yoda. He is the beloved 900-year-old green creature who shows character Luke Skywalker how to become a Jedi. Yoda's way of speaking is the most memorable thing about him, except for his unusual appearance. 5Today, Everyday Grammar will look at a few of Yoda's lines to examine the sentence formation. This is a fun way to practice identifying the many parts of speech in English. 6Subjects, verbs and objects 7Before we begin, let's look at three important parts of speech. 8A subject is a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that performs the action of a verb in a sentence. For example, "Yoda" is the subject of the sentence, "Yoda teaches Luke Skywalker about the Force." 9A verb is a word that expresses an action, happening or state of being. In the same sentence example, the verb is "teaches." 10And an object is a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that receives the action of a verb. In the sentence, the object is "Luke Skywalker." 11Notice the word order goes like this: subject-verb-object. Most English sentences and clauses follow this word order. Not all sentences have objects, but knowing where to put them is useful. 12Very good Yoda's speech is 13Yoda almost never uses the subject-verb word order of standard English. And many of his sentences contain linking verbs. 14A linking verb is a verb that connects the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, which is a word or phrase that describes the subject. 15Listen to a sentence that uses normal English word order and has a linking verb: 16The mind of a child is truly wonderful. 17In this sentence, the subject is "the mind of a child," the linking verb is "is" and the subject complement is "truly wonderful." 18Now, listen to how Yoda said this sentence in the Star Wars film, "Attack of the Clones." 19Truly wonderful the mind of a child is. 20Here, Yoda put the subject complement "truly wonderful" first, the subject "the mind of a child" next and the linking verb "is" last. 21Often, when a sentence has a subject complement, Yoda puts it at the beginning. Listen to this example, from the film "The Empire Strikes Back": 22Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. 23In this sentence, the words "luminous beings" are the subject complement, "are" is the linking verb, and "we" is the subject. But note that Yoda put the subject at the end this time, rather than after the subject complement. 24Generally speaking, Yoda's sentence structure was not consistent. And that is OK since he is an imaginary character - and written to be hundreds of years old! We can still enjoy exploring his sentences to see where he places things. 25Use auxiliary verbs Yoda does 26Another thing Yoda does often is to separate main verbs from auxiliary verbs or modal verbs in sentences that contain them. 27Suppose you wanted to tell Luke Skywalker something about Darth Vader. Normally, English sentences put auxiliary verbs before main verbs, like this: 28And you will confront him. 29Here, the auxiliary verb is "will" and comes before the main verb, "confront." Together, "will confront" makes the simple future verb tense. 30But listen to how Yoda says that same sentence about Vader, from the film "Return of the Jedi": 31And, confront him you will. 32Notice that he has completely separated the auxiliary and main verbs. He put the auxiliary "will" at the end of the sentence and the main verb "confront" at the beginning. 33Even in this same piece of dialogue, however, the old, green teacher forms sentences other ways. Listen to more of the Yoda speech, in three short sentences: 34You must confront Vader! Then, only then, a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will. 35In each of these sentences, he places the subject, the modal or auxiliary, and the main verb in different places. 36The writers of the Star Wars movies made Yoga's speech inconsistent in structure, maybe just to play with language. 37And now, it is your turn to have some fun with language. Visit our website to find a few more Yoda quotes and see if you can identify the parts of speech. 38May the Force be with you! 39I'm Alice Bryant. 40Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. 41________________________________________________________________ 42Now, you try it! Follow the directions for each of Yoda's sentences. Write your answers in the comments. We will post the correct answers next week! 431-What is the subject complement? "Powerful you have become." 442-Put this in the correct word order and add any missing word/s: "Secret shall I tell you?" 453-What word is missing from this sentence? "Wars not make one great." 464-What is the subject of this sentence? "Always in motion is the future." 475-Put this in the correct word order and make any needed changes: "Happens to every guy sometimes this does." 486-What is the object of this sentence? "This one a long time have I watched." 49___________________________________________________________________ 50Words in This Story 51character - n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie, or television show 52practice - v. to do something again and again in order to get better at it 53Jedi - n. a member of the mystical knightly order in the Star Wars films, trained to guard peace and justice in the Universe 54clause - n. A part of a sentence that has its own subject and verb 55phrase - n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence 56luminous - adj. producing or seeming to produce light 57crude - adj. Very simple and basic 58standard - adj. accepted and used by most of the educated speakers and writers of a language 59modal verb - n. a verb that is usually used with another verb to express ideas such as possibility, necessity, and permission 60auxiliary verb - n. a verb that is used with another verb to show the verb's tense, to form a question, or to do something else 61dialogue - n. the things that are said by the characters in a story, movie or play