ISL Gabes

2nd Year English

Grammar Notes
The Structure of the English Clause.

( 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)

It 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 non-finite clauses the S is usually optional;

1.3. The objects (O)

An O is a noun phrase 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: the boy(Oi)a glass of milk(Od)), 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 (to, for) functioning as adverbial
- Mary gave a glass of milk to the boy.
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Notes
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 units 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).

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. It 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:
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I have been in the garden all the time since lunch.

Because theyre 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 (A(s)) and object-related adjuncts (A(o)).
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 (A(o))
- 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 People consider these books rather expensive 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 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, and give the patterns SVC and SVA:
You are crazy!

You seem tired.

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 to SVpassA. There is number of other possible combinations.
3.2. Copular and complex transitive structures: SVOC
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 left Jim a card

She (S) sent (V) a card (Od) to Jim (A)

She left a card for Jim

4. Formal Classification
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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.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Formal Constituents
Verb Phrase
Noun Phrase
Adjective Phrase
Adverb Phrase
Prepositional phrase

Functional Equivalent
Verb
Subject Object Complements Adverbials
Complement
Adverbial
Adverbial

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