Chapter Seven
The Simple sentence
Clause Patterns
7.1
Simple and complex sentences
It was pointed out in 2.4 that elements
such as V(erb) and O(bject) constituents of sentences and also of clauses
within sentences. From now on, we shall speak of clauses and clause structure
whenever a statement is true both for sentences and for the clauses of which it
is composed:
S A
process V trans Od (Conj) S V intrans
I quickly shut the door before the animal could escape
subordinate clause
7.2
Clause types
Concentrating on those elements that are
normally obligatory, we can usefully distinguish seven clause types which we
may designate in italics with the abbreviations explained in 2.4-10:
7.3 Complementation
1) SVA Mary is in the house.
2) SVC Mary is kind.
3) SVO Somebody caught the ball.
4) SVOA I put on the table.
5) SVOC We have proved him wrong or a fool.
6) SVOO She gives me expensive presents.
7) SV The child laughed.
w^ile some are not ABiace at all: They
treated him kindly Astong the relatively minor patterns not accounted for
here, we might mention 5 V Q| C,: John made Mary a good husband (ie John was a
good husband to Mary ).
7.3
Complementation
The elements Od, C, and A in the above
patterns are obligatory elements of close structure in the sense that they are
required for the complementation of the verb. By this we mean that, given the
use of a particular verba particular sense, the sentence is incomplete if one
of these elements is omitted: *Iput the book (Type SVOA) and *He resembled
(Type SVO) are unacceptable. In some cases, however, a direct object or object
complement in one of these patterns may be considered grammatically optional:
He s eating - cf He s eating an apple
(Type SVO)
He made her career – cf He made her
career a success (Type SVOC)
He s teaching – cf He s teaching
German (Type SVO), He s teaching the boys (German) (Type SVOO)
Our approach, however, will be to regard
these as cases of conversion (App I.30), whereby a verb such as eat is
transferred from the transitive to the intransitive category. Thus He s
eating is an instance of clause-type S V rather than of SVO (with
optional deletion of the object).
7.4
The simple sentence
Optional
adverbials
The
patterns of 7.2 can be expanded by the addition of various optional adverbials;cf 2.10. For example (optional adverbials are bracketed):
SV: (A) S V (A)
(Sometimes) she
sings (beautifully)
SVA: (A) S V (A) A
(In America)
most students are (now) on vacation
SVOO: S (A) V O O
She (kindly)
sent us some photographs
7.5
Transformational
relations
One way of distinguishing the various clause
types is by means of transformational relations, or relations of grammatical
paraphrase.
Clauses containing a noun phrase as object are
distinguished by their ability to be converted into passive clauses, the object
noun phrase assuming the function of subject (V=passive verb phrase), the
subject appearing (if at all) in an optional by-phrase, symbolized here
as [A]:
Many
critics disliked the play (S V Od) ? The play was disliked (by many
critics) (S V [A])
Where the passive draws more attention to the
result than to the action or agency, the resulting copula get (12.8)
frequently replaces be, though chiefly in rather informal usage:
The
window was broken by my younger son
I know how the window got broken
A more gradually achieved result can be
sometimes expressed by become:
With the passage of time, the furniturebecame covered in dust
The following examples illustrate the passive
with other clause types:
Queen Victoria
considered him a genius (S V Od C) ? He was considered a genius by Queen Victoria (S V C [A])
An intruder
must have placed the ladder there (S V Oa [A]) ?The
ladder must have been placed there by an
intruder (S V A [A])
My father gave me this watch (S V O O)
I was given this watch by my father (S V O [A])
This watch was given me by my father (S V O [A])
As Type SVOOclauses have two objects, they often have two passive
7.8 Intensive relationship
forms, as shown above - one in which the
direct object becomes subject, and another (more common) in which the indirect
object becomes subject.
There is sometimes equivalence between Types S V, S VC, and S VA as is
shown by occasional equivalences of the following kind:
S V SV C,
The baby is sleeping The baby is asleep
Two loaves will suffice <-> Two loaves wilf be sufficient
SV SVA
He hurried He went fast
S V C S V A
He is jobless He is without a job
On the whole, English prefers to avoid the
plain 5 V pattern where alternatives are available (14.33).
7.6 Intensive relationship
An SVOC clause is often equivalent to a
clause with an infinitive or that-clause (12.20 ff):
l imagined her
to be beautiful
I
imagined her beautiful
I imagined
that she was beautiful
This equivalence shows that the O and the C
of an SVOC clause are in the same relation to one another as the S and C of an
SVC clause. The relation is expressed, wherever it is expressed at all, by an
intensive verb. The intensive relationship is important in other aspects of
grammar apart from clause patterns. It underlies, for example^, relations of
apposition (9.45 ff).
Further, we may extend the concept of intensive relationship to the
relation of subject to adverbial and object to adverbial in SVA and SVOA
patterns respectively. (For SVOA patterns, see 8.29, 8.44.)
SVOO clauses can be transformed into SVOA clauses by the substitution of
a prepositional phrase for the indirect object, with a change of order (12.28):
She sent Jim a card She sent a carid
to Jim
She left Jim a card She left card for Jim
To and for, in their recipient senses (6.29) are
the prepositions chiefly involved, but others, such as with and of,
are occasionally found:
I ll play you a game of chess I ll play a game of chess with/against you
She asked Jim a favour She
asked a favour of Jim
7.7
Multiple class membership of verbs
It must be borne in mind that one verb can
belong, in various senses, to a number of different classes (App 1.30), and
hence enter into a number of different clause types. The verb get is a
particularly versatile one, being excluded only from Type SV (and not even from
this universally):
SVC: He s getting angry
S VA: He got through the window
SVO: He ll get a surprise
SVOC: He got his shoes and socks
wet
SVO A: He got himself into trouble
SVOO: He got her a splendid
present
Through the multiple class membership of
verbs, ambiguities can arise: I found her an entertaining partner , like She
called him a steward, could be interpreted either as SVOC or as SVOO1.
7.8 Clause
elements syntactically defined
A
subject
(a)is
normally a noun phrase (4.1) or a clause with nominal fun (11.13 ff);
(b)occurs
before the verb phrase in declarative clauses, and im ately after the operator
(2.3) in questions (but c/7.53,14.12 f^-
(c)
has a number and person concord, where applicable (7.18,7.26), with the verb
phrase.
An objective
(a) like a subject, is a noun phrase or
clause with nominal function (11.13 ff)
(b) normally follows the subject and the
verb phrase (but cf 7.53, 14.11ff);
(c) by the passive transformation, assumes
the status of subject (7.5) but cf 12.16.
An indirect object, where both objects are
present, precedes direct object (except in rare instances like BrE Give it me),
and is semantically equivalent to a prepositional phrase (7.6).
A complement (subject or object)
(a) is a noun phrase, an adjective phrase, or a
clause with » - function, having a co-referential relation with the subject (or
object);
(b) follows
the subject, verb phrase, and (if one is present)object (but c/7.53, 14.11,
14.28);
(c) does
not become subject through the passive transformation.
7.9 Clause
elements semantically considered
An adverbial (see 8.1)
(a) is an adverb phrase, adverbial clause, noun
phrase, or prepositional phrase;
(b) is generally mobile, ie is capable
of occurringln more than one position in the clause;
(c) is generally optional, ie may be
added to or removed from a sentence without affecting its acceptability, butcf the obligatory adverbial of the SVA and SVOA patterns
(7.2).
Clause elements
semantically considered
7.9
Agentive,
affected, recipient, attribute
The most
typical semantic role of a subject isagentive; that is, the animate
being instigating or causing the happening denoted by the verb:
John opened the letter
The most typical function of the direct object
is that of the affected participant;ie a participant (animate or inanimate) which does not cause" the
happening denoted by the verb, but is directly involved in some other way:
Many MPs criticized the Prime Minister
The most
typical function of the indirect object is that of recipient; i.e. an animate participant being passively
implicated by the happening or state:
I ve found you a place
The role of the subject complement is that of
attribute of the subject, whether a current or existing attribute (with stative
verbs) or one resulting from the event described by the verb (with dynamic
verbs).
current attribute: He s my
brother: He seems unhappy
resulting attribute: He becamerestless: He turned traitor (12.8f)
The role of the object complement is that of
attribute of the object, again either a current or resulting attribute:
current attribute: I ate the
meat cold: I prefer coffee black
resulting attribute: They elected
him President: He painted the wll blue
I ve
found Mrs Jones a place
*I ve
found the magnolia tree a place
This
is because a tree is inanimate and cannot adopt a recipient role. With the verbgive, however, there can be exceptions (cf7.16):
I ve given the
bathroom a thorough cleaning
7.10
Agentive and
instrumental subject
Apart
from its agentive function, the subject frequently, has an instrumental role;
that is, it expresses the unwitting (generally inanimate) material cause of an
event:
The avalanche destroyed several houses
With intransitive verbs, the subject also
frequently has the affected role
that is elsewhere typical of the object:
Jack fell down
The pencil was lying on the table
We may also
extend this latter function to subjects of intensive verbs:
The pencil was on the table
It is now possible to see a regular relation,
in terms of clause function between adjectives or intransitive verbs and the
corresponding transitive verbs expressingcausative meaning:
S affected V S V O
The door opened John/The key opened the door
The flowers have died The
frost has killed the flowers
7.11
Recipient subject
The subject may also have a recipient role with
verbs such as have, o* possess, benefit (from), as is indicated by the
following relation:
Mr Smith has bought/given/sold his son a radio So now
his son has/owns/possesses the radio
The perceptual verbssee and hear also require a recipient subject,i contrast tolook at and listen to, which are agentive. The other perceptual taste,
small, and feel have both an agentive meaning corresponding to look
at and a recipient meaning corresponding to see:
Foolishly, he tasted the soup
*Foolishly, he tasted the pepper in the soup
The adverb foolishly requires the
agentive; hence, the second sentence, which can only be understood in a
non-agentive mariner, does not make sense.
Verbs indicating a mental state may also
require a recipient subject:
I thought you were mistaken (cf Itseemed to me ...)
I liked the play (c/The play gave me pleasure)
Normally,
recipient subjects go with stative verbs (3.35). Some of them
(notably have and possess) have
no passive form:
They
have a beautiful house *A beautiful house is had by them
7.12
Locative,
temporal and eventive subjects
The subject may
have the function of designating place or time:
This path is swarming with ants (=Ants are
swarming all over
this path)
The
bus holds forty people (=Forty people can sit in the bus)
Unlike swarm, the verbs in such
sentences do not normally admit the progressive (*The bus is holding ..
.) or the passive (*Forty people are held...).
Temporal subjects can usually be
replaced by the empty it (7.13), the temporal expression becoming
adjunct: >
Tomorrow is my birthday (--=It is my birthdaytomorrow)
The
winter of 1970 was exceptionally mild (=It was exceptionally
mild in the
winter of 1970)
Eventive
subjects (with abstract noun heads designating arrangements and activities)
differ from others in permitting intensive complementation with a time
adverbial (c/12.10):
The concert is on Thursday (but The
concert hall is on Thursday)
7.13
Empty itsubject
Finally, a subject may lack semantic content
altogether, and consist only of the meaningless prop word it, used
especially with climatic predications:
It s
raining/snowing, etc It s getting dark It s noisy in here
Note
The prop
subject it as discussed here must be distinguished from the
anticipatory it of sentences like It was nice seeing you (14.24ff), where the prop * subject is a replacement for a postponed clausal
subject (=Seeing you was nice).
Locative
and effected
7.14
We turn now to roles of the direct object. Apart from the affected object (7.9), semantic types
of direct object are the locative object and
the effected object. An example of
the locative object is:
The horse jumped the fence ( .. .jumped overthe fence ) -
There are similar uses of such verbs asturn, leave, reach, surround, penetrate, mount, cross, climb (see also
6.19).
An effected object is one that refers to
something which exists only by virtue of the activity indicated by the verb:
Baird invented television I m
writing a letter
With agentive subject and an affected object,
one may always capture part of the meaning of a clause (eg: X destroyed7) by saying X did something to Y ; but this does not apply to an effected
object - Baird invented television does not imply Baird did something
to television .
One may include in this category also the type
of object (sometimes called cognate ) which repeats, partially or wholly, the
meaning of the verb, as in sing a song.
7.15
A third-type of effected object takes the form
of a verbal noun preceded by a common verb of general meaning, such as do,
make, have, take, give. This construction is often more idiomatic, especially
in English, than an equivalent construction with an intransitive verb (see
further 14.33):
He did little work that day ( He worked little
that day )
He made several attempts to contact me ( He
attempted several times to contact me )