章振邦英语语法教程--Lecture 3 Clause Element

Lecture 3

Clause Elements

Clause elements can be divided into two

categories:

central

elements

and

peripheral

elements.

3.1 Central elements

The

central

elements

of

a

clause

include

subject,

predicate

verb,

object,

complement,

and adverbial.

1) Subject semantically classified

a) personal subject and non-personal subject

The

audience

remain

silent.

(personal

subject)

My

dream

has

come

true.

(non-personal

subject.)

b) agentive subject and recipient subject

He

broke

the

window

out

of

carelessness.

(agentive subject)

He broke his leg. (recipient subject)

c) temporal subject and locative subject

By

the

time

you

got

back,

it

was

nine

o’clock.

(temporal subject)

This

bedroom

sleeps

six

students.

(locative

subject)

d) instrumental subject and eventive subject

The

key

opened

the

door.

(instrumental

subject)

A

car

knocked

them

down.

(instrumental

subject)

His

marriage

is

next

week.

(eventive

subject)

2) Predicate verb/Predicator

The predicate verb is the central part of the

predication.

It

is

usually

expressed

by

a

verb

phrase,

either

a

simple

VP

or

a

complex

VP.

For example:

He got up early so as to catch the first train.

Nobody could make me change my mind.

The

children

might

have

been

playing

in

the

garden.

3) Object semantically classified

Semantically, objects can be divided into

recipient

object,

resultant

object,

causative

object, metonymic object and cognate object.

a) Recipient object

e.g. The department has offered me a post.

b) Resultant object

e.g. I’m baking a cake.

c) Causative object

e.g. The captain marched the troops away.

d) Metonymic object

e.g. He is not smoking a pipe.

e) Cognate object

e.g. John lives a quiet life.

He dreamt a terrifying dream.

4) Complement

The

complement

includes

subject

complement

and

object

complement.

The

subject complement, which describes what the

subject refers to, is usually used together with

the

linking

verb,

forming

a

“linking

verb

+

complement” construction.

She was all smiles when we went in.

You

can

rest

assured

that

we

will

do

our

best.

The object complement, which describes the

characteristics

of

what

the

object

refers

to,

is

usually

placed

immediately

after

the

direct

object. It is preceded by as, or occasionally by

for, with some verbs. For example:

Police were treating the incident as murder.

The

anticipatory

it

is

used

as

the

formal

object

when

the

object

is

too

long.

For

example:

We

consider

it

very

important

to

use

information technology.

5) Adverbial

Adverbials

are

generally

optional

in

the

clause

structure.

Adverbials

in

the

form

of

adverb

phrases,

prepositional

phrases,

or

clauses are more mobile than the other clause

elements. Their positions are determined, to a

larger extent, by textual and pragmatic factors

rather than by syntactical factors.

Adverbials

can

be

divided

into

three types:

depictive

adverbial/adjunct,

stance

adverbial/disjunct,

and

linking

adverbial/conjunct.

The

depictive

adverbial

is

the central element of the clause and the stance

and linking adverbials are peripheral.

Semantically,

depictive

adverbials

can

be

classified into:

a) adverbial of time and place

e.g. I’ll be back before you have left.

Wherever you go, I’ll go with you.

b)

adverbial

of

manner

and

accompanying

circumstances

e.g. They treated the child kindly.

With all the noise, she was finding it hard to

concentrate.

c) adverbial of reason, result and purpose

e.g.

He

just

had

to

apologize,

seeing

that

he

knew he’d made a mistake.

The

train

was

so

slow

that

it

was

almost

two

hours late.

This is good for getting rid of headaches.

d) adverbial of condition and concession

e.g.

You’d

be

invited

to

more

parties

if

you

smiled more often.

Much

as

I

enjoyed

the

holiday,

I

was

glad

to