Linguistic Topic # 10:

The Structure of the Clause. Sentence Paradigm in English

R. Quirk

I. Clause Structure

The clause structure is defined in terms of the form-function distinction of its

constituents1. The immediate constituents2 of a clause are phrases.

1. Functional Classification

Subject (S), Verb (V), Object (O), Complement (C), Adverbial (A)

 Most people (S) consider (V) these books (O) rather expensive (C), actually
(A)

1.1. The verb element (V)

• Is the most ‘central’ element in a clause. Note that the distinction between
‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ is relative rather than absolute. The V element is most
‘central’ because:
- Its position is rather medial than initial or final;
- It is normally obligatory;
- It cannot normally be moved to another position in the clause;
- It helps to determine what other elements must occur.
• Usually it is preceded by a subject (S)
• It may be followed by one or two objects (O) or a complement (C), which
follows the object if one is present;
• The word ‘verb’ is traditionally used both for a clause element and for the class
of word that denotes a constituent of that element. The term ‘predicator’ has
been used sometimes to replace ‘verb’ in the sense of ‘verb element’.

1.2. The subject element (S)

• As the O and the C, the S is in various degrees more peripheral than the V and
less peripheral than the A.
• Though in the majority of cases the S is apparently just as indispensable to
clause structure as the V, it should be noted that in imperative and nonfinite
clauses the S is usually optional;

1.3. The objects (O)

1
Constituents: constituents are the smaller parts into which a grammatical unit can be divided. There
are two ways of classifying constituents – on the basis of there form (e.g. their internal structure, as a
noun-phrase or a verb-phrase) or on the basis of their function (as a subject or as an object of a
clause). By ‘function’ is meant a unit’s privilege of occurrence in terms of its position, mobility
(whether it may vary in position), optionality (whether a constituent can be omitted) etc., in the unit of
which it is a constituent.
2
Immediate constituents are these units which are the parts into which another unit is immediately
divisible. Thus phrases are immediate constituents of clauses, while words and morphemes are
indirect constituents when it comes to clauses (consider the grammatical hierarchy: sentence – clause
– phrase – word – morpheme).

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An O is a noun or a pronoun that represents the person or thing that something is
done to (→We built the house). Objects are usually classified as direct (Od) and
indirect (Oi). Apart from semantic distinction, direct and indirect objects can be
distinguished in terms of their different distributions:
• Whenever there are two objects (such as in type SVOO:→ Mary gave the boy
a glass of milk), the former is normally the indirect O, while the latter is the
direct object;
• Though it is more central in terms of position, in other respects the Oi is more
peripheral than the Od:
- it is more likely to be optional;
- it may generally be paraphrased by a prepositional phrase functioning as
adverbial

1.4. The complements (C)

A complement is a word or phrase that follows the verb and qualifying the subject or
the object if there is a present one. Distinction should be made between subject
complements (Cs) and object complements (Co).
• In SVC clauses the complement applies some attribute or definition to the
subject (→The country became totally independent Cs)
• In SVOC clauses the complement applies some attribute or definition to the
object (→Most people considered Picasso a genius Co)

1.5. The adverbials (A)

The adverbials are used as adverbs in a clause, e.g., they qualify the verb element, an
adjective or another adverbial. Usually answers the questions ‘where’, ‘when’ and
‘how’. (→Someone was laughing loudly (A) in the next room (A)).
• Adverbials are usually considered as the most peripheral element (opposite to
verb elements), because:
- their position is most frequently final
- they are usually optional
- they are mostly mobile
- they do not determine what other elements occur.

• Yet, it should be noted that the adverbials form a rather heterogeneous

category within which there are relatively central and relatively peripheral
types of adverbials.
- most of the A are mobile and optional:
→ Usually, my mother enjoys parties (ASVO);
→ My mother usually enjoys parties (SAVO);
→ My mother enjoys parties, usually (SVOA);
→ My mother enjoys parties (SVO).

- There are some adverbials which cannot readily be moved from their
position in the clause:
→ My mother enjoys parties very much.

- There are also adverbials which are obligatory, not optional:

→ I have been in the garden all the time since lunch.

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 Because they’re essential to the ‘completion’ of the meaning of the verb,
some grammarians classify such elements as complements. The distinction
between complement and obligatory adverbials is by no means clear-cut
and consequently obligatory adverbials, just as complements, can be
divided into subject-related adjuncts (As) and object-related adjuncts (Ao).

→ He (S) stayed (V) very quiet (Cs);

He (s) stayed (V) in bed (As)

→ They (S) kept (V) him (O) very quiet (Co)

They(S) kept (V) him (O) in bed (Ao)

Obligatory adverbials are largely restricted to what in a broad sense we may

call space adjuncts3, including those indicating position (in bed, at the
hotel), direction (downstairs, up, down) and temporal location (→ The
next meeting will be on 5th of October).

- Other major types of adverbials are: conjuncts, disjuncts, and

subjuncts

- There are elements, which are frequently called sentence adverbials,

because they tend to qualify by their meaning a whole sentence or clause,
rather than just part of the clause (→ To my regret, he refused the offer of
help. He was, however, very interested in my other proposals). Unlike
space adjuncts, sentence adverbials may vary in position and are not
obligatory.

• English has strict limitations on the ordering of clause elements (‘a fixed
word-order language), but the more peripheral an element is, the more
freedom of position it has.

2. Clause Types According to Functional Elements

# Type S V O C A
1 SV Someone was laughing - - -
2 SVO My mother enjoys parties - -
3 SVC The country became - totally independent
4 SVA I have been - - in the garden
5 SVOO Mary gave the visitor - -
-------------
a glass of milk
6 SVOC Most consider these books rather expensive -
people
7 SVOA You must put all the toys - upstairs

By eliminating optional adverbials, we arrive at a classification of the essential core of

each clause structure. Of the obligatory elements, the main verb is the one that wholly
and largely determines what form the rest of the structure will take. The above
3
Adjunct: word or phrase added to qualify or define another word in a sentence; Disjunct: one
expressing opposition of or contrast between units/ ideas etc. (either … or…); Subjunct: expressing a
condition, hypothesis etc.; Conjunct: serving to join

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patterns are the most general classification that can be usefully applied to the whole
range of English clauses, whether main or subordinate. Each clause type is associated
with a set of verbs:
2.1. Intransitive verbs: they are followed by no obligatory element and occur in
type SV: → They were dining; they laughed etc.

2.2. Transitive verbs: usually followed by an object (O), occur in types SVO,
SVOO, SVOC, SVOA: → My uncle gave me the key. A further classification of
transitive verbs can be made:
• Monotransitive: occur in type SVO
• Ditransitive: occur in type SVOO
• Complex transitive verbs: occur in type SVOC, SVOA

2.3. Copular verbs (be, become etc): the term ‘copula’ refers to the verb ‘be’
and copular verbs are those verbs, which are functionally equivalent to the
copula; usually, these verbs are followed by a subject complement or an
adverbial, occur in types SVC and SVA: → You are crazy! You seem tired.

3. Systematic Correspondences

The study of grammatical structure is aided by observing systematic correspondences

between one structure and another. A systematic correspondence may be broadly
defined as a relation or mapping between two structures X and Y. The relation is
often one of semantic equivalence or paraphrase. There are 3 basic types of
correspondence that may help in the identification of clause elements:

3.1. Active and passive structures: Clauses containing a noun phrase as object
are distinguished by the fact that they are usually matched by passive clauses,
in which the object noun phrase now appears as subject (→ I photographed
the beautiful sunset. The beautiful sunset was photographed by me). The
transformation is: SVOd → SVpassA. There is number of other possible
combinations.

3.2. Copular and complex transitive structures: SVOC +

• Clause with an infinitive
• That-clause
→ I (S) considered (V) her (Od) beautiful (Co). }
I considered her to be beautiful
I considered that she was beautiful

3.3. Indirect object and prepositional phrases: SVOO clauses can be

converted into SVOA clauses:
→ She (S) sent (V) Jim (Oi) a card (Od) – She (S) sent (V) a card (Od) to Jim (A)
→ She left Jim a card – She left a card for Jim

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4. Formal Classification

For a fuller understanding of the clause patterns, we need to know on what grounds
the elements subject, verb, object, complement and adverbial are identified (as
functional elements). Although these elements are functional categories, their
definitions are based also on formal criteria. Thus, it is important that:

• The verb element can be realized only by a verb phrase

• Subject and objects normally consist of noun phrase
• Complements are usually noun phrases or adjective phrases
• Adverbials are normally adverb phrases, prepositional phrases or noun
phrases

There are 5 basic categories of phrase which can function as clause elements (when
embedded in other structures)

No. Formal Constituents Functional Equivalent

1. Verb Phrase Verb
2. Noun Phrase Subject
Object
Complements
Adverbials
3. Adjective Phrase Complement
4. Adverb Phrase Adverbial
5. Prepositional phrase Adverbial

Note that adverb phrases and prepositional phrases can exceptionally function as
subjects.

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II. Sentence Paradigm in English

The clause, particularly the independent clause, is the immediate constituent of the
simple sentence, e.g. the simple sentence consists of a single independent clause. The
limits of the simple sentence are set wherever grammatical relations between clauses
can be established (such as subordination4 and coordination5).

It is a widely accepted principle that the simple declarative sentence is in a sentence

canonical form of sentence (kernel/base form) in terms of which other types of
sentences may be explained. Sentence paradigm is built on a set of oppositions:
• simple declarative v/s interrogative, negative, exclamatory, imperative
• simple sentence v/s composite sentence

Simple sentences are traditionally divided into two major parts:

• Subject: the constituent defining the topic of the sentence
• Predicate: that which is asserted about the subject. One significant property
of the predicate is that it is the part of the clause that is typically affected by
clause negation, which may be omitted through ellipsis and may be reduced by
a pro-form.

This means that in terms of clause elements, the S is distinguished from the other
elements. This division, however, has more to do with the statement as a logical
category than with the structural facts of grammar.

Subject Predicate
Julie buys her vegetables in the
market
The train arrived late today
Tigers are most dangerous animals

The Predicate (P) can be sub-divided into two major parts:

• Operator: not all simple statements have an operator, but when it occurs it is
usually the first word after the subject and is most often the first or only
auxiliary:
- Has a crucial role in the formation of questions. By changing the places of
the subject and the operator we can transform a declarative sentence into a
yes-no question or to a wh-question.
→ He(S) had (Operator) given the girl an apple (Predication)
Had (operator) he given the girl an apple (predication)?
- Also has a crucial role in negation: to make a statement negative we insert
‘not’ after the operator

• Predication: the rest of the predicate is called predication. It also has some
importance in the English clause, as for example the readiness with which two
predications can be joined by coordination:
→ You should eat regularly and take some exercise
4
Subordination: kind of embedding, which occurs when one clause is made a constituent of another clause
(embedding is the occurrence of one unit as the constituent of another unit at the same rank in the grammatical
hierarchy: → in the room→ the noun phrase ‘the room’ is embedded in the prepositional phrase ‘in the room’).
→ This is the place (that he told you about)
5
Coordination: two or more units of the same status in the grammatical hierarchy may constitute a single unit
of the same kind, without affecting their status.
→ You can go ((by) air or (by rail)): coordination of phrases

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1. Question

1.1. Yes-no questions

• Place the operator before the subject

• If there is no operator (when the corresponding positive declarative have
no auxiliary), the verb ‘do’ is introduced as a ‘dummy’ auxiliary.
→ They often complain. Do they often complain?

1.2. Wh-questions

• If the wh-element is a subject no change should be made in the statement

order
→ Who has borrowed my pencil?
• If the wh-element is some other element (O,C,A), it should be placed before
the subject and between them should stand the operator.
→ Why have you borrowed my pencil?

2. Negation

Place ‘not’ or the informal enclitic ‘n’t’ after the operator

3. Reduction

Reduction are all sentence processes (transformation), which take place as means of
avoiding redundancy of expression. Types of reduction:

Type of Notes Example

reduction
None - Yes, they’re paying me
(unreduced) for the work
Pro-form Joining two predications by using the pro-form ‘do so’ Yes, they are doing so
instead of one of the predications
Ellipsis Elements of a sentence which can be predicted from the Yes, they are.
context are actually omitted

4. Directives

Contain no subject or operator: directives consist simply of a predication with an

imperative verb.
→ Be quiet!

5. Exclamations

As a formal category, exclamations resemble wh-questions, but differ from them in

generally retaining the regular declarative order of subject and verb:
→ What beautiful clothes she wears!

6. Highlighting:

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 • Change of intonation
• Grammatical highlighting:
- Cleft sentences6
- Existential sentences7
- Extraposition8
- Fronting9

7. Composite sentences:

7.1. Clauzalization: a simple sentence is turned into a subordinate or a

coordinate clause by means of coordination (and, or, but) or subordination
(which, that, when)
7.2. Phrazalization: a base sentence is turned into a phrase
→ They arrived -> On their arrival; Having arrived

NB: Major classes of transformation procedures are:

• Morphological changes (tense, aspect, voice, mood)

• Functional words (→ Now they do consider …)
• Substitution (pronouns, a proword)
• Deletion
• Changes of word order
• Intonation

6
Cleft sentence: enables the user to select (within limits) which element of the sentence will be highlighted (→
It’s Julie who owes me a favour)
7
Existential sentence: There was someone knocking at the door
8
Extraposition: also a device for postponing a normally non-final element to a final position (→ It doesn’t
matter what you say)
9
Fronting: the opposite of extraposition, its when an element such as an object or an adverbial is placed in initial
position (→ Her vegetables Julie buys in the market)

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