CLAUSES AND

CLAUSE
COMPLEXES
Saparbay Zhomart
The notion of clause and clause
complex in FG
❑ Systemic functional grammar talks about clauses
and clause complexes rather than sentences.
❑ Why the terms ‘clause’ and ‘clause complex’
when most people already know the word
‘sentence’?

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 The notion of clause and clause
complex in FG
❑The sentence is a unit of written language; it does not apply to spoken
language. People do not speak in sentences. It you’ve ever tried to
transcribe audiotaped or videotaped language material, you will have
come up against this fact very quickly. People do, however, speak in
message, which are realised grammatically in clauses and clause
complexes. Hence, the latter terms are equally applicable to spoken and
written language, and therefore are prefered.

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Rank scale: Traditional vs Systemic
Functional

Systemic Functional (written

Traditional (written) and spoken)

SENTENCE CLAUSE

PHRASE GROUP

WORD WORD

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A CLAUSE
A clause can be defined as the largest
grammatical unit, and a clause complex is
two more clauses logically connected.

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 John invited the Wilsons to the party but they didn’t come which made John
rather indignant as he had thought he was doing them a favour.

❑ The text comprises one sentence (everything between the initial upper
case letter and the full-stop), but five clauses:
 John invited the Wilsons to the party
 but they didn’t come
 which make John rather indignant
 as he had thought
 he was doing them a favour.
These five clauses together comprise a clause complex.
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EMBEDDING
Embedding is a mechanism whereby an element (in our
case, a clause) comes to function within the structure of a
group, which itself is a constituent of a clause.
❑ Non-embedded: It’s my own invention – to keep sandwiches in
❑ Embedded: I needed something (to keep sandwiches in)
In the first example – to keep sandwiches in is not embedded. Instead, it is a
dependent clause, one which adds a kind of afterthought. In the second, ((to
keep sandwiches in)) is embedded, and therefore, does not function as a
dependent clause in its own right, but rather acts more like a word
qualifying or modifying the meaning of ‘something’.

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THANKS!