Bloque Ii The Skeleton of The Message Unit 4 - Syntactic Elements and Structures of The Clause

BLOQUE II
THE SKELETON OF THE MESSAGE
UNIT 4 – SYNTACTIC ELEMENTS AND STRUCTURES OF THE CLAUSE

SUBJECT AND PREDICATOR
The single independent clause (or simple sentence) is divided into two main parts. The SUBJECT (S) and the
PREDICATOR (P). Syntactically, these are the two main functional elements.
SUBJECT
 Semantically and communicatively, the subject encodes the main participant in the clause.
 The subject has the highest claim to the status of TOPIC
PREDICATE
 It can consist of…
o Only the PREDICATOR, realised by a verbal group
o The PREDICATOR + one or more other elements, determined by the predicator.
 The predicate tends to be the most informative part of the clause
OBJECTS AND COMPLEMENTS
The two main functional categories which occur in post-verbal position are the OBJECT (O) and the
COMPLEMENT (C).
These elements are syntactically and semantically required to complete the clause and they are determined by
the predicator (which is not the case with the Adjuncts).
OBJECT
 There are two main types of objects: the Direct Object (Od) and the Indirect object (Oi).
 In English, the Oi precedes the Od.
 Semantically, they encode the key participants in the event other than the subject (animate or
inanimate, concrete or abstract). Examples:
COMPLEMENTS
 Complements encode those constituents that semantically are not participants (rather they
characterise or identify the Subject or the Object) but which are required syntactically and
semantically.
 There are two types of Complements:
o The Complement of the Subject or the Subject Complement (Cs).
o The Complement of the Object or the Object Complement (Co).
ADJUNCTS
Sometimes there are some elements which can be omitted without affecting the syntactic and semantic
acceptability of the clause: the ADJUNCTS
Main classes of Adjuncts:

 Circumstantial Adjuncts, which provide the setting for the situation expressed in the clause, as regards
place, time and manner, among others:
o She will dance tomorrow in the city theatre
 Stance Adjuncts, which expresses the speakers attitude or evaluation of the content of the clause:
o According to her, he is cheating; Unfortunately, the team didn’t win
 Connective Adjuncts, which link two clauses, or parts of clauses, signalling the semantic relation
holding between them:
o First, I’ll give you a present. Moreover, I’ll give you two presents.
CRITERIA FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF CLAUSE ELEMENTS
The criteria adopted for the classification of clause functions are four:
1. Determination by the verb
2. Position
3. Ability to become the subject
4. Realization of these functions
1. DETERMINATION BY THE VERB
The number and type of objects and complements that can occur in a clause are determined by the verb
according to its POTENTIAL or VALENCY. We can distinguish three classes or verbs:
 TRANSITIVE VERBS: They usually require one or more objects (Od, Oi, C). Transitive verbs occur in one
of the following forms:
o S-P-Od > I carry a bag
o S-P-Oi-Od > I’ll send you a postcard
o S-P-O-C > I find it beautiful
 INTRANSITIVE VERBS: They do not admit objects but sometimes they predict a complement of space
or time (a LOCATIVE ELEMENT)
o The plane landed
 COPULAR VERBS: A type of intransitive verb that requires a Subject Complement (Cs), or, in some
cases a Locative/Goal element (Cloc).
Note that certain verbs have both transitive and intransitive uses: He broke my heart vs. When I heard the
truth, my heart broke.
THE LOCATIVE /GOAL COMPLEMENT (Cloc)
 A locative element is a type of complement required by a few transitive verbs such us put and place
(Put/place the bag on the table)
 It is also predicted by many intransitive verbs of motion such as come, go, fly, drive, which can predict
such meaning as Direction (flying south) and Goal (go to Rome)
 Besides predicting an attribute, some copular verbs of being such as be, remain and stay predict being
in a location
o Attribute > He stayed calm She went pale
o Locative/Goal > He stayed in bed She went to work
 The difference between a Locative and an Adjunct is that Locatives are required by the verb, while
Adjuncts can be omitted.
 Moreover, adjuncts differ from subjects and objects in that there is no limit to the number of adjuncts
that can be included in a clause.
2. POSITION
The second criteria for the classification of clause functions is the POSITION:
 Objects occur immediately after the verb, with the indirect object before the direct object when both
are presented.
 Adjuncts occupy different positions according to the type, and are often moveable within the clause.
 Examples:
o Peter saw you > SVOd
o Jane send you a letter > SVOiOd
o Yesterday, Rose kissed you > ASVOd
o He told you a joke in the bar > SVOdOiA
3. ABILITY TO BECOME THE SUBJECT
The third criteria for the classification of clause functions is the ABILITY TO BECOME THE SUBJECT:
 Objects can normally become the subject in a passive clause

 However, in some cases passivation excludes from object status NGs which otherwise fulfil the criteria
for objects:
o The doctor gave the injured man oxygen vs The injured man was given oxygen
o He got us the tickets Vs. *We were got the tickets
4. REALISATION OF THESE FUNCTIONS
The fourth criteria for the classification of clause functions is the REALISATION OF THESE FUNCTIONS.
 Objects are typically realised by NGs and answer questions with what? who? or which?
o What did they carry? (the students carried backpacks.)
 Subject and Object Complements can be realised by Adjective groups (AdjG) or by a NG.
o The map (NG) was useful (AdjG)
 Circumstantial Adjuncts are realised by PPs or AdvGs and sometimes NGs. They generally answer
questions with where? How? Why?
o He drives on the right (PP) / slowly (AdvG)
o I’ll see you next week (NG)
BASIC SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES OF THE CLAUSE
Clausal elements of functions enter into varied relationships with each other to express different types of
proposition concerning different states of affairs:
 S-P Sam ǀ died
 S-P-Od We ǀ ate ǀ an apple
 S-P-Oi-Od You ǀ gave ǀ them ǀ a present
 S-P-Cs My car ǀ is ǀ a Ford
 S-P-A Noa ǀ left ǀ one month ago
 S-P-Od-Co They ǀ found ǀ the play ǀ amusing
 S-P-Od-Cloc You ǀ place ǀ the focus ǀ on specific parts of a page
REALISATION OF THE ELEMENTS
When dealing with clause elements, we must be aware that there are PROTOTYPICAL and NON-
PROTOTYPICAL realisations:
It is true that most functions are typically realised by a certain class of unit, but with the exception of the
predicator function (which is always realised by a verbal group), there is no one-to-one correspondence
between class or unit and syntactic function in English: each function can be realised by different classes of
unit, and each unit can perform various functions.

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BLOQUE II

THE SKELETON OF THE MESSAGE

UNIT 4 – SYNTACTIC ELEMENTS AND STRUCTURES OF THE CLAUSE

OBJECTS AND COMPLEMENTS

Main classes of Adjuncts:

CRITERIA FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF CLAUSE ELEMENTS

1. DETERMINATION BY THE VERB

THE LOCATIVE /GOAL COMPLEMENT (Cloc)

3. ABILITY TO BECOME THE SUBJECT

 Objects can normally become the subject in a passive clause

4. REALISATION OF THESE FUNCTIONS

BASIC SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES OF THE CLAUSE

REALISATION OF THE ELEMENTS

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