Clause structure complements and adjuncts Clause structure

Clause structure, complements and adjuncts

Clause structure Canonical clauses stand alone and follow standard conventions Clause: Subject + Predicate = VP = Predicator/V + Complements + Adjuncts Diagram of a clause structure/constituents/triangles show internal structure

Diagramming clause structure Clause Subject: NP Predicate: VP Predicator: V I Cats Object: NP like pizza like water

Clause Subject: NP Predicate: VP Predicator: V Emma received Lucy gave Object: NP a letter the key Complement: PP from her Dad to the landlord

Predicate is a verb phrase (VP); The VP contains a predicator and an object; Predicator is the head of the VP; The predicator precedes the object; The predicator is a verb and the object is an noun phrase (NP).

Predicator - V The verb determines what the clause is like. The verb – the head word of the clause Verb can belong to a certain subclass of verbs and it decides on dependents.

How to recognize a subject? 1. Basic position before the verb John loved Mary loved John. 2. Case- inflectional form; It distinguishes subject from non-subjects. Subjects/pronouns must be in the nominative case forms. John loved Mary. He loved her. Mary loved John. She loved him. Accusative case Girls /They looked at boys /the The dogs barked at the visitors. 3. Verb agreement, all verbs other than modal auxiliaries show agreement with the subject in the present tense, be shows agreement in the preterite/past. Inflectional forms. John loves children. John was fond of children. The children love John. The children were fond of John. 4. Subject-auxiliary inversion; In interrogatives subject is after the auxiliary verb Does John love the children? Was John fond of children? Do the children love John? Were the children fond of John?

Problems: semantic definitions Subject/actor as a performer of the action Oswald assassinated Kennedy. We wandered down the street. Mary knows him well. Knowing isn’t an action but 1, 2, 3, 4 Mary was attacked by a hooligan. Is she the performer of the action? Passive/active Subject and topic Rzeszow is lovely in spring. No action; subject identifies a topic 1, 2, 3, 4

Clause: Subject + Predicate = VP VP= Predicator/V + ………………. . dependents

Dependents Complements Adjuncts Lucy gave the key to the landlord in the morning Emma received a letter from her Dad yesterday Complements are licensed by the verb. Object is one kind of complement, located within VP Sue used the cheese Sue ate the cheese. *Sue disappeared the cheese. *Sue used. Sue ate. Sue disappeared. Object obligatory Object optional Object excluded Adjuncts are usually compatible with any verbs. The seminar is difficult because it has complicated vocabulary.

How to recognize the object? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Almost always has the form of an NP; Must be licensed by the verb; With some verbs object is obligatory (give, make, reveal, etc. ) He revealed the bad news. Corresponds to the subject of an associated PASSIVE clause The bad news was revealed by him. Can take the form of a pronoun (in accusative); The basic position is immediately after the verb. Ed told the manager. - Ed told her.

Direct & Indirect objects Oi always precedes O Mary gave John the photo. Oi v Od O d Oi d I bought them some books. Oi Od A different syntactic structure: Mary gave the photo to John. I bought some books for them. Preposition Phrase Complement to John , for them are licensed by verbs but do not have properties of objects. They are complements.

How to distinguish two kinds of the object? The indirect object precedes the direct object. Od undergoes fronting, Oi is resistant to it. 1. She gave him everything else. Everything else, she gave him. *Him, she gave everything else. 2. He gave them a lot of work. What a lot of work he gave them. *What a lot of them he gave work.

Predicative complement = PC The next kind of dependent of the verb. Usually a NP From semantic point of view objects denote participants, Predicative Complements show properties. Ex. : the same complement/object PC (1 single person involved) Object (2 people) Mary was a good student. Mary found a good student. Mary became a friend of mine. Mary insulted a friend of mine. Mary was a good student. > Mary studied well. Predicate Ex. : the same verb PC (property) O (2 participants) This proved a great asset. This proved my point. He sounded a decent guy. He sounded the gong.

Predicative complements Commonly has the form of an NP; Contrasts with objects; Denotes a property ascribed to the subject; Doesn’t refer to other participants in a situation; Predicative complement Object Stacy was a good speaker. Stacy found a good speaker. Lee became a friend of mine. Lee insulted a friend of mine.

Syntactic differences between PC and Objects – 1, 2, 3, 4 1. PC can have the form of Adjective Phrase (Adj. P) PC John seemed a very nice guy. John seemed very nice. 2. O He met a very nice guy. *He met very nice. PC can have the form of a bare role NP PC She became the treasurer. She became treasurer. 3. O She knew the treasurer. *She knew treasurer. PC does not correspond to the subject of a passive clause Active John insulted a friend of mine. John became a friend of mine. 4. Passive A friend of mine was insulted by John. *A friend of mine was become by John. PC can have a form of a nominative pronoun PC It was he who said it. (formal style) O They accused him of lying. *They accused he of lying.

Subjective and objective PC S + Subjective PC O + objective PC John seems highly untrustworthy. I consider Mary highly untrustworthy. 1 person, subject , property of the subject I & Mary, property of the Od

Subjective and objective predicative complements PC can relate both to the subject and the object The element to which a PC relates is called its predicand When the predicand is subject, PC is subjective (has subject orientation): Max looks very happy. When the predicand is object, PC is objective (has object orientation): I consider Max very happy.

5 canonical clause structures All canonical clauses contain: Subject and Predicate + different complements The presence of complements depends on V. Ordinary Intransitive S-P Complex Intransitive S-P-PC Ordinary monotransitive S-P-Od Complex- transitive S-P-Od-PC Ditransitive S-P-Oi-Od We hesitated We felt happy We sold our house We made them happy We gave them some food

Adjunct Classification on the basis of meaning type example Manner He drove quite recklessly. Place They have breakfast in bed. Time I saw her last week. Duration We lived in Rzeszow for five years. Frequency I telephone my mother every Sunday. Degree I very much enjoyed your last novel. Purpose I checked all the windows to make sure they were shut. Result It rained all day, with the result that they couldn’t work. Condition If it rains the match will be postponed. Concession Although he’s rich, he lives very simply.

The form of adjuncts category examples Adverb, Adv. P He thanked us profusely. We quite often have tea together. PP I cut it with a knife. I’ll help you after the seminar. NP We saw him several times. She arrived this evening. Finite clause I couldn’t do it however hard I tried. Non-finite clause I kept my mouth shut to avoid giving any more offence.

Finite clauses must contain a verb which shows tense. They can be main clauses or subordinate clauses: Is it raining? (main: present) I spoke to Joanne last night. (main: past) Finite subordinate clauses can function as Adjuncts We didn’t get any food because we didn’t have enough time. (main: past; subordinate: past) While we were crossing the park, we heard a loud explosion I was late for the interview because the train broke down If you want tickets for the concert, you have to apply early My car broke down, so I had to walk

Non-finite clauses contain a verb which does not show tense. We usually use non-finite verbs only in subordinate clauses. We usually understand the time referred to from the context of the main clause. We often use a non-finite clause when the subject is the same as the subject in the main clause: To-infinitive clause To open the window, you have to climb a Bare infinitive clause Rather than leave the child alone, I brought him -ing clause Being a qualified plumber, Paul had no -ed clause Left to himself, he usually gets the job done Small clause His face red with rage, John stormed out of the ladder to work with me difficulty in finding the leak quickly room

Tasks 1. Use the licensing criterion to determine whether the underlined expressions are complements or adjuncts. I’m keeping the dog(1), whatever you say(2). 2. Identify the subjects in the examples below. 3. Identify the objects in the underlined expressions of the following pairs. Tomorrow Paul will be back from skiing. Down the road ran a crazy dog. It isn’t the program that’s at fault. We all enjoyed that summer. – We all worked that summer. She fasted a very long time. – She wasted a very long time. 4. Determine whether the underlined expressions below are objects or predicative complements. They arrested a member of the party. – She remained a member of the party.

Thank you for your attention