Sentence vs. Clause
Clause: clauses are part of a sentence.
Sentence: sentences are a combination of clauses.
-Hierarchical structure of a sentence: word > phrase > clause > sentence
Clause and sentence typology
Types of clauses:
-Independent/Main clause: She’s ill.
-Subordinate: I know that she’s ill.
Types of sentence:
-Simple: I’m a bus driver.
-Compound: She’s a doctor and her husband is a teacher.
-Complex: Although the paper is poorly written, it contains some interesting ideas.
Canonical vs. Non-canonical clauses
Structure of canonical clauses: [Clause [Subject (NP)] [Predicate (VP)]]
1. Polarity (Positive vs. Negative)
1. He is very rich (canonical)
2. He isn’t very rich (non-canonical)
2. Clause type (Declarative vs. Interrogative & Imperative)
1. She enjoyed the film (canonical)
2. Did she enjoy the film? (Non-canonical)
3. Enjoy the film (non-canonical)
3. Subordination (Main vs. Subordinate & Relative clauses)
1. She studies grammar (canonical)
2. I think [that she studies grammar] (non-canonical)
3. She is the girl [who studies grammar]
4. Non-finite clauses: [Studying grammar] was a great idea (non-canonical]
4. Coordination of sentences
1. John washed the car (canonical)
2. Mary watched TV (canonical)
3. John washed the car and Mary watched TV.
5. Information packaging (the way the information is presented)
-Passives (Active vs. Passive voice)
1. [the dog] bit [me] (canonical)
2. [I] was bitten [by the dog] (non-canonical)
-Preposing (preposed object)
1. John likes tennis (default)
2. Tennis John likes (preposed)
-Extraposition (extra posed subject)
1. That I overslept was unfortunate (basic)
2. It was unfortunate that I overslept.
Canonical clause patterns. Based on complementation patterns for canonical clauses.
1. Intransitive (SV)
