ENG 210 LECTURE NOTES: WEEK 5

ANALYSIS OF SENTENCE STRUCTURE IN MODERN GRAMMAR (CONT’D)

In our last lecture in Week 4, we started the analysis of the syntactic and semantic functions of the
clause elements by focusing on the category of Subject. In this final lecture, we continue the analysis by
focusing on the categories of Verb, Object, Complement, and Adverbial.
(2) Verb:
First, the verb plays a central role in clause structure. It is the most obligatory of all the clause elements.
Consider the following example: “That farmer (S) drinks (V) beer (O) by the bucketful (A)”. Remember
that S = Subject; V = Verb; O = Object; and A= Adverbial. The other clause element, C = Complement.
We can omit the adverbial resulting in “That farmer drinks beer”. We can delete the object giving us
“That farmer drinks by the bucketful”. We can even omit the subject in casual style, resulting in “Drinks
beer by the bucketful”, nodding in the farmer’s direction. However, because in most cases the verb is
obligatory or must be present in clause structure, we cannot omit the verb. If we do, the result will be
an ungrammatical string, for example: “*That farmer beer by the bucketful”. There is just one exception
where we can omit the verb. This exception has to do with the so-called ‘verbless’ clauses, such as “If
possible, arrive early”. The full meaning of “If possible” is “If it is possible” where the subject and the
verb have been omitted. Second, the verb element must be a verb phrase, including a single verb, for
example: “The bus is coming”; “The dog ate the bone”; “I am sorry”. By the way, can you identify the
basic clause types or the sentence patterns in the last three examples? (a) “The bus is coming” = S + V,
where ‘The bus’ is S and ‘is coming’ is V; (b) “The dog ate the bone” = S + V + O, where ‘The dog’ is S,
‘ate’ is V, and ‘the bone’ is O; (c) “I am sorry” is S + V + C, where ‘I’ is S, ‘am’ is V, and ‘sorry’ is C.
(3) Object:
First, object elements usually follow the subject and verb in a clause. There are two types: direct and
indirect. The direct object is the common one, typically referring to some person or thing directly
affected by the action expressed by the verb, for example: (a) “The child lost her ball”; “I remember the
occasion”. The indirect object typically refers to an animate being which is the recipient of the action; in
these cases, a direct object is usually present in the clause as well, for example: (a) “She gave the dog
(indirect object) a bone (direct object)”; (b) “I told them (indirect object) my news (direct object)”. In
these constructions, the indirect object precedes the direct object. However, in certain clauses, the
order may be reversed, for example, “I gave my paper (direct object) to the boy (indirect object).
Second, some pronouns have a distinctive form when used as an object, for example: (a) “She saw him”;
(b) “They asked me”. The underlined pronouns are said to be in the objective case. Third, objects can
be noun phrases, single nouns, pronouns, or certain kinds of subordinate clause, for example: (a) “I saw
our new house” (noun phrase); (b) “We asked Fred” (single noun); (c) “Now hear this” (pronoun); (d)
“She said I had been foolish” (subordinate clause).
(4) Complement:
First, complements express a meaning which adds to that of another clause element – either the subject
or subject complement function, or the object, or the object complement function. Second, a subject
complement usually follows the subject and verb. The verb is in most cases a form of be, but it may also
be one of a few other verbs that are able to link complements to their subjects in meaning. These are
called copular or linking verbs. Examples of subject complements include the following: (a) “She is a
doctor”; (b) “The bull became angry”; (c) “The tune sounds lovely”. Note that became and sounds are
linking verbs because they can be substituted with was and is in these two sentences: “The bull was
angry”, “The tune is lovely”. Third, an object complement usually follows the direct object, and its
meaning relates to that element, for example: (a) “They elected Clinton president”; (b) “It made me
angry”. Fourth, complements can be noun phrases, single nouns, adjective phrases, single adjectives,
pronouns, or certain kinds of subordinate clause, for example: (a) “She is a journalist” (noun phrase); (b)
“They became students” (single noun); (c) “John is very happy” (adjective phrase); (d) “The car is ready”
(single adjective); (e) “Where is that?” (pronoun); (f) “That’s what I said” (subordinate noun clause).
Fifth, when the complement is a noun phrase, it agrees in number with its corresponding element, for
example: “The child is an angel” vs. “The children are angels”.
(5) Adverbial:
First, adverbials differ from other clause elements chiefly in that there can be an indefinite number of
them in a single clause, for example, “She arrived on the bus/on Tuesday/in the rain . . .”. Second,
adverbials can be used in several positions in the clause, though they are most common at the end, for
example: (a) “Twice I asked him” (front position); (b) “I twice asked him” (mid-position); (c) “I asked him
twice”( end position). Third, adverbials express a wide range of meanings, such as manner, place, and
time, for example: “I stayed quietly (manner), at home (place) all day (time)”. Fourth, adverbials
perform diverse roles in sentence construction. Some add information about an event, for example, “I
walked quietly”. Some link clauses together, for example, “The bus was full. However, I found a seat”.
And some add a comment about what is being expressed, for example, “Frankly, I think it’s wrong”. In
technical terms, an adverbial such as Frankly is known as a disjunct. Fifth, adverbials can be adverb
phrases, some nouns and noun phrases, or certain kinds of subordinate clause, for example: (a) “They
ran very quickly” (adverb phrase); (b) “They walked home” (single adverb); (c) “We walked in the
garden” (prepositional phrase); (d) “She phone me this morning” (noun phrase); (e) “I laughed when I
saw you” (subordinate clause). Sixth, some verbs require an adverbial to complete their meaning.
These are the S + V + A, and S + V + O + A constructions, for example: “The path (S) goes (V) around the
field (A)”. We cannot say *”The path goes”. “I (S) put (V) the book (O) on the table (A)”. We cannot say
*”I put the book”.