Grammar I-

Prof. Juan José Arias

CLASSIFICATION OF CLAUSES1
A clause can be defined as a structure of predication. An entity is mentioned and something
is predicated about this entity. Clauses are classified into:

a) Main (principal, independent, free, primary, matrix) and

b) Subordinate (dependent, bound, secondary, embedded, included)

 MAIN CLAUSES may be coordinated to each other. They make up structures of

coordination:
[(I don't know) and (I couldn't care less.)]

 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES are attached to a main clause and they are subdivided into:

1) Noun Clauses (or primary, or nominal clauses)

2) Adjectival clauses (or secondary, or defining relative clauses)
3) Adverbial Clauses (or tertiary or adverb clauses)

1) NOUN CLAUSES have nomimal functions. They function as complements and as

subject (Specifiers of TP), e.g.:

[(Tom believes <that Mary is innocent>)] (complement to the verb believe)

[(<That Mary is innocent> is true.)] (subject of the sentence)

2) ADJECTIVAL CLAUSES or relative clauses function as adnominal adjuncts, i.e.

post-modifiers to nouns. They have adjectival function, they are always found within
determiner phrases, e.g.:

[(The man <who came here yesterday> is a lawyer.)]

[(That is the man <that I met at Mary’s party>.)]

3) ADVERBIAL CLAUSES function as adverbial adjuncts. They are modifiers of the event
or state as a whole. They have adverbial function, e.g.:

[(I was late <because I overslept>.)] (adverbial adjunct of reason)

[(<If you study>, you will pass the exam.)] (adverbial adjunct of condition)

1
Adapted from Graciela Palacio (2012)
Grammar I-
Prof. Juan José Arias

CLASSIFICATION OF CLAUSES ACCORDING TO THE TYPE OF VERB

Clauses can also be classified according to the type of verb they have. We can speak of:

1) FINITE CLAUSES (they have a finite or conjugated verb)

2) NON-FINITE CLAUSES (they have a non-finite verb)
3) SMALL OR VERBLESS CLAUSES (they have no verb)

Consider the following three examples. They are all noun clauses because they function as
complements to the verb think, a two-place verb. The clauses differ, however, because of the
type of verb they have:

[(I think <that Mary is pretty>.)] (Finite Clause)

[(I think <Mary to be pretty>.)] (Non-finite Clause)
[(I think <Mary pretty>.)] (Small or Verbless Clause)

Notice that in the three cases we have a structure of predication. We are predicating something
about Mary, the fact that she is pretty.