1 Subject and Predicator
Traditionally, the single independent clause (or simple sentence) is divided into two main parts, subject and predicate. Semantically and communicatively, the Subject encodes the main participant (the plane/Tom) in the situation represented by the clause and has the highest claim to the status of topic. The predicate can consist entirely of the Predicator, realised by a verbal group, as in 1 below, or the Predicator together with one or more other elements, as in 2:
Subject | Predicator |
1 The plane 2 Tom | Landed disappeared suddenly after the concert |
It is the predicator that determines the number and type of these other elements. Syntactically, the Subject (S) and the Predicator (P) are the two main functional categories. For the purpose of analysing and creating discourse it is helpful to see how the predicate is made up, since this tends to be the most informative part of the clause. A first distinction can be made between elements that are essential and elements that are usually optional. This can be seen by comparing 1 and 2. The two clause elements in 1, the Subject (the plane) and the Predicator realised by the verb landed are essential constituents. In 2 on the other hand, the predicate contains, as well as the predicator (disappeared), two elements, suddenly and after the concert, which are not essential for the completion of the clause. Although they are to a certain extent integrated in the clause, they can be omitted without affecting the acceptability of the clause. Such elements will be called Adjuncts (A).
2 Object and Complement
In other cases the predicate consists of the Predicator followed by one or more central constituents that complete the meaning. The two main functional categories which occur in post-verbal position are the Object (O) as in 3 and the Complement (C) as in 4:
S | P | O |
3 The students | carried | backpacks |
4 Jo | is | a student |
S | P | C |
Without these, each of the above clauses would be incomplete both semantically and syntactically: [*The students carried] and [*Jo is], respectively. There are two main types of Object, the Direct Object (Od) as in 5, and the Indirect Object (Oi) as in 6, the indirect object preceding the direct object.
S | P | Oi | Od |
5 All the men | wore | dark suits | |
6 Tom | sent | me | an email |
Semantically, the objects encode the key participants in the event other than the subject: dark suits, an email (Od) and me (Oi) in these examples. Note that participants include not only human referents, but inanimate things and abstractions (see Chapter 4). Complements encode constituents that, semantically, are not participants but are nevertheless normally required both syntactically and semantically. There are two main types of Complement, the Complement of the Subject (Cs) (Subject Complement) as in 7a and 8a, and the Complement of the Object (Object Complement) (Co), as in 7b and 8b:
S | P | Cs | S | P | Od | Co | |
7a That map | was | useful | 7b We | found | that map | useful | |
8a Ken Brown | is | President | 8b They | made | Ken Brown | President |
The Subject Complement and Object Complement do not encode a different kind of participant. Rather, they characterise or identify the Subject or the Object, respectively. The basic clause structures formed by configurations of these functions are as follows:
S-P S-P-O S-P-O-O S-P-C S-P-Od-Co S-P-O-C
3 The Adjunct
We will recognise three main classes of Adjunct:
• Circumstantial Adjuncts, which provide the setting for the situation expressed in the clause, as regards place, time and manner, among others: The new liner ‘Queen Elizabeth II’ sails tomorrow from Southampton.
• Stance Adjuncts, which express the speaker’s attitude to or evaluation of the content of the clause: Obviously, he’ll rely on you even more now.
• Connective Adjuncts, which link two clauses, or parts of clauses, signalling the semantic relation holding between them: The hotel was rather noisy. On the other hand, it wasn’t expensive (contrast).
