SEMANTICA

LESSON 3
What is an adjunct?
Adjuncts are parts of a sentence that are used to elaborate on or modify other words or phrases in a sentence. Along with subjects, verbs, objects, and complements, adjuncts are one of the
five main components of the structure of clauses.
A distinguishing feature of adjuncts is that their removal from sentences does not alter the grammatical integrity and meaning of the sentence. In other words, adjuncts expand on the word or
phrase that they are modifying, but their presence is not needed for a sentence to function.
Nouns, adjectives, and adverbs can all be adjuncts. However, adverbial adjuncts are the most complex, so we will examine those in greater detail.
Adverbial adjuncts
Adjuncts are usually adverbs or adverbial phrases that help modify and enrich the context of verbs in the sentence. For example, consider the following sentence:
•“She walked to the park slowly.”
In this sentence, the adjunct is the adverb slowly, which modifies the verb walked. Without this adjunct, the sentence could function on its own and still be grammatically correct. In this case, the
sentence would read:
•“She walked to the park.”