English grammar - Roger Berry 2012
A8.2 Clause elements
A8 Clauses and clause elements
Section A. Introduction
We can identify five different elements that go to make up clauses. So far we have encountered three of them: subject, verb and object. But there are two more that we need to identify - predicatives and adverbials. All five are dealt with one by one below; their abbreviations are shown in brackets.
Subject (S)
Subjects can consist of a noun phrase (including pronoun):
The house stands on top of a hill.
It has excellent views.
Clauses themselves can also be the subject in other clauses (see A10):
What you did is unforgivable.
The subject in English has a wide range of possible semantic roles. It is typically thought to represent the agent or the ’doer’ of an action, but often this is not the case. Possible roles for subject include:
□ the experiencer (I saw)
□ the ’locative’, or the place of action (This book talks about . . .)
□ in a passive, the thing or person ’affected’ by an action (He was abandoned . . .)
The reading in D8 gives a more detailed discussion of the roles that subjects can play in clauses.
There are three formal properties that we can use to identify subjects:
□ typically, they are the first element in a clause, as above, though they can be preceded by adverbials
□ they invert with auxiliaries to form interrogatives (as we saw in A7)
□ most importantly, they determine the form of the finite verb in the present tense.
This last point is known as ’subject-verb agreement’ (or ’concord’). When the verb is in the present tense there is a special ’third-person -s’ ending (see A5) that is used
when the subject is singular and is a third-person pronoun (he, she, it), a noun phrase or a clause, for example:
He seems alright.
However, subject-verb agreement is not always straightforward. We saw in A2 a number of cases where it can appear that subject/verb agreement is inconsistent, for example:
The team has/have decided not to play.
Such collective nouns, however, are not exceptions to the rule, as the noun can be considered either plural or singular. But there are other cases where the noun phrase (A3) and verb do not ’agree’, for example with time periods or quantities:
Ten years is a long time.
Here the noun phrase ’ten years’ is treated as a single unit, not a collection of ten separate years. Such cases of ’notional’ agreement are common. Co-ordinated noun phrases normally have plural agreement, but can have singular if treated as one entity:
Their defeat and subsequent surrender means that the war is over.
There is another situation where agreement is problematic. This is where a postmodifying noun in the subject noun phrase influences the verb because it is closer, rather than the head, for example:
He is the only one of the students who know the answer.
Here the head of the subject noun phrase is one, so the verb should be knows, but, because of the proximity of students, the plural form is chosen. This is not considered correct by many people.
There is one situation where agreement does not depend on the subject. This is when the subject is ’existential’ there, in which case the number of the following noun phrase determines the verb form, for example:
There are many cases of absentee landlords.
Note, however, that there is still the subject because it inverts with the verb: Are there . . . See A11 for more on this construction.
NON-STANDARD FORM
In spoken English it is very common to use contracted is with existential there, regardless of whether the following noun is singular or plural:
There’s many ways of doing it.
Verb (V)
The verb is the central element in a clause. It determines what other elements can occur in the clause, e.g. objects and predicatives. It even influences the choice of subject in a few cases (e.g. it with rain). Much more detail about types of verb is given in B8. Note that ’verb’ as a clause element is not quite the same as ’verb’ as a word class, as discussed in A5; here we are referring to the whole of the verb phrase.
Object (O)
The idea of object was introduced in A6, and the concept of transitivity, on which it depends is investigated in C6.
Activity A8.1
Identify the objects in these sentences.
1. They’ve found my credit card.
2. He became a teacher.
3. I hate work.
4. She runs every day.
5. We saw you at the show.
Objects can consist of a noun phrase, pronoun, or another clause:
the man.
I know him.
what you mean/that you like her.
With personal pronouns the objective case is used - him in the above example (see B2). Usually objects come directly after the verb. There are three types:
1. Direct (Od)
as in the three examples in Activity A8.1 above. Traditionally, direct objects are said to indicate the thing or person (or ’patient’) affected by, or directly involved in, the action (I hit him, We saw them), or something that results from the action (the ’resultant’): I wrote it. But in fact they cover a wider range of semantic roles.
2. Indirect (Oi)
Typically, indirect objects indicate the human recipient or beneficiary of an action: I wrote them a letter.
I gave her a good reference.
When it co-occurs with a direct object, the indirect object comes first, as in the above examples. Usually indirect objects do not occur on their own, but with some verbs this is possible (although there is an implied object), for example:
You can pay me now. (’the money’)
Indirect objects can be related to prepositional objects with a change of structure; see below.
3. Prepositional (Op)
Prepositional objects are preceded by prepositions. In some cases these are part of prepositional verbs, for example:
I cant stop looking at her.
In other cases prepositional objects can be related in meaning to indirect objects (with a change in word and no preposition). Thus
I threw the ball to him.
We bought a bike for her.
are related in meaning to
I threw him the ball.
We bought her a bike.
The preposition in these related cases is to (indicating a recipient) or for (a beneficiary). There may be a slight difference in emphasis between the indirect and prepositional versions (see A11 for an explanation), and in some cases no corresponding sentence is possible (see Activity A8.2 below).
Testing for objects
All three types of object may become the subject in a passive (see A6):
A bike was bought for her. (related to a direct object)
She was bought a bike. (related to an indirect object)
I was laughed at. (related to a prepositional object)
When we ask questions about the object we use WHO (or WHOM) and WHAT:
Who did you buy a bike? (Whom . . .)
What did you buy him?
Who did she laugh at? (At whom did she laugh?)
This can be useful in distinguishing objects (especially prepositional objects) from adverbials (see Activity A8.5 below). It should be noted that alternatives with whom are very formal.
Activity A8.2
Change the underlined prepositional objects into the related indirect object. Bear in mind that for and to do not always indicate a recipient or beneficiary.
1. I told the story to everyone.
2. We found a job for her.
3. She has explained the problem to me.
4. I said something wrong to her.
5. We put this question to her.
Now do the reverse: change the underlined indirect objects into prepositional objects.
6. Her aunt sent her a present.
7. I wrote her a letter.
8. I wrote her a reference.
9. He asked me a question.
Activity A8.3
Sometimes turning a sentence into the passive can help us to understand its clause structure. Look at the following sentence:
We elected her class representative.
You can see that there are two noun phrases underlined in it after the verb: her and class representative. Try to make each one the subject of a passive.
Predicative (P)
Predicatives (sometimes called complements) can consist of a noun phrase, adjective phrase or clause:
a teacher.
He is very happy.
what we need.
There are two types: subject predicative (Ps), as in the above examples, and object predicative (Po) as in these examples:
I painted the wall black.
She considers me her friend.
Subject predicatives occur after ’link’ verbs such as be, become, look, appear, etc.; object predicatives occur after the object of ’link transitive’ verbs. See B8 for more on these. Both types of predicative indicate a relationship of equivalence or description. With object predicatives, we can show the relationship with a paraphrase involving a link verb:
After painting the wall was black.
She considers that I am her friend.
Predicatives can look like objects since they come after verbs or objects. And they are usually questioned in the same way, with who or what:
Who are you? I am her friend.
What are you? I am a teacher.
In one situation, however, subject predicatives can be questioned using how, namely when the answer is an adjective:
How is she? Better.
To distinguish objects and predicatives, the passive test (as in Activity A8.3 above) can be used. Working out how many separate entities are involved in a clause can also help. Objects and subjects are two different entities, whereas with subjects and their predicatives, or objects and their predicatives, there is only one entity: the black wall, or me, her friend. There is one apparent exception, with reflexive pronouns, e.g. I hurt myself, but here the subject and object, though co-referential, are regarded as separate entities.
Activity A8.4
This is an old joke. A man leaves a hotel and asks the porter ’Can you call me a taxi?’ ’Yes, sir,’ replies the porter. ’You’re a taxi.’
Can you explain this ’misunderstanding’ in terms of clause elements?
Adverbial (A)
Adverbials can consist of:
□ an adverb phrase: He left very quickly.
□ a prepositional phrase: I left it on the table.
□ a clause: I fell asleep because I was tired. (See A10 for more on this.)
□ a noun phrase: I’ll see you next week.
□ a non-finite clause: Recovering his composure, he turned and left.
They can occur several times in a clause:
Breathing heavily, I slowly walked to the car.
As in the above example they can be placed in a number of positions: the start, middle and end of clauses. In the ’middle’ position they can be placed after the first auxiliary in the verb phrase:
I was slowly walking to the car.
They usually express circumstances surrounding the clause, and so are not so closely related to verb patterns (see B8). Indeed, in most cases they are optional, and so are not included in basic clause patterns listed below. However, there are a few situations where they are obligatory:
I lay on the grass.
He put it in his pocket.
Here on the grass and in his pocket are necessary to make a clause; you could not say ’I lay’ or ’I put it’.
The term ’adverbial’ is similar to ’adverb’, intentionally so, but they are different. The former is a clause element while the latter is a word class. While many adverbials are made up of adverb phrases, many consist of other units (e.g. prepositional phrases, as in the examples above). Equally, many adverbs (such as very) cannot be adverbials. However, there is a strong link, especially in the wide range of meanings that they cover: place, time, manner, reason/purpose, speaker attitudes and sentence relations.
When we ask a question about an adverbial we use wh- words such as when, where, how, why (and how long, but not what):
Where did he put it?
This can help to distinguish adverbials from predicatives and objects (especially prepositional objects).
Adverbials, as well as predicatives, can occur after the verb be:
The snake was behind the fridge. (Where . . .?)
Activity A8.5
Use wh- questions to identify whether the underlined noun phrases are objects or adverbials (with the preposition included where appropriate).
1. We’ll meet this evening.
2. We started the day with a strong coffee.
3. He looked into the room.
4. I’ll look into the matter later.
Basic clause patterns or structures
We can use different combinations of the five clause elements to analyse the structure of any basic clause in English. This gives a total of seven patterns (ignoring the repetition of optional adverbials):
a) SV: We laughed.
b) SVO: I found it.
c) SVP: She looked sick.
d) SVA: He was lying on the grass.
e) SVOO: I bought him a drink.
f) SVOP: We painted it black.
g) SVOA: I put it in his pocket.
See C8 for practice on this.
Comments
Activity A8.1:
Sentences 1, 3 and 5 have objects: my credit card, work and you. A teacher in 2 is a predicative; every day 4 and at the show in 5 are adverbials - see below.
Activity A8.2:
1. I told everyone the story.
2. I found her a job.
3. Not possible, even though explain seems similar to other verbs with two objects. ’She has explained me the problem’ is incorrect.
4. ’I said her something wrong’ is wrong. Say does not allow this pattern.
5. ’We put her this question’ is not possible.
6. Her aunt sent a present to her.
7. I wrote a letter to her.
8. I wrote a reference for her. Note how for is used here for a beneficiary and to in 7 for a recipient.
9. He asked a question of me. (This is a rare case where of is the preposition involved when a prepositional object can be linked to an indirect one.)
From this we can see how it is important to know which patterns a verb allows (see B8).
Activity A8.3: Turning her into the subject of a passive we get:
She was elected class representative.
But if we try to do the same with class leader we get nonsense: ’Class leader was elected her (by us)’!? This shows that class representative is not an object, unlike her. It is, in fact, a ’predicative’.
Activity A8.4:
In the man’s request, me is an indirect object and a taxi is a direct object; the structure intended is SVOiOd. We can see the meaning if we change the indirect object to a prepositional one: Can you call a taxi for me? However, the porter (deliberately) misinterprets it as SVOdPo, where me is regarded as a direct object and a taxi an object predicative; a paraphrase would be Can you say that I am a taxi? In the first interpretation call is a ditransitive verb, in the second a link transitive verb (see B8 for more on these). The meaning of call is different in the two interpretations as well - another example of meaning and grammar changing together.
Activity A8.5:
1. When . . . 2. What . . . 3. Where . . . 4. What . . . Sentences 1 and 3 have adverbials, 2 and 4 have objects. Look into in 4 is a prepositional verb (see B6).