Chapter 5: Clause and
Sentence
Introduction: idealised structures
Clauses can be combined in various ways to make complex and compound sentences. The defining feature
of a complete clause is that it must contain a predicator (the verbal element) and usually other elements
(subject, object, complement, adverbial).
Clause functions
There are only five clause elements in English: subject (S), predicator (P), object (O), complement © and
adverbial (A). First of all clause functions relat4e to the role that a unit (word, phrase or clause) plays in the
larger structure. Although there are some straightforward connections between the functions and forms
that fulfil them, it is helpful to view the two as separate. Thus although noun phrases often functions as
subjects, and though subjects are very often fulfilled by noun phrases, there is no intrinsic connection, and
it is important to know that a noun phrase may have a number of functions that are not as a subject clause
element. Another general point that needs to be made is that clause elements can be the level and point at
which recursion occurs. This means that units that are normally at a higher level may occur within a lower
level of structure, leading to the potentially infinite length of structures that we saw earlier in relation to
noun phrase post-modification. In the case of the clause as times they may be made up of subordinate
clauses, meaning that the clause structure contains another clause structure, and this may in turn have a
clause element that is a subordinate clause, and so on.
Subject (S)
The subject clause element is a syntactic function that is mainly fulfilled by noun phrase, but may also be
fulfilled by a subordinate clause. The first of the sentences below is an example of a noun phrase and the
second of a clause as subject:
1. My son went to University in Wales
2. To perform at Madison Square Gardens was her highest ambition.
There are a few places where a predicator will not be preceded by a subject. These include imperative
structure where the implied subject of a command is clearly the second person, that is you. They also
include subordinate clauses where the subject is entirely predictable or ‘elliptical’. On all occasions when
the subject is not so clearly predictable it will be made explicit, although the precise semantic relationship
the referent will have with the verb will vary according to the semantics of the verb chosen. Thus although
we think of subjects as stereotypically doing something, if the verb chosen is suffer or the verb phrase is in
the passive form, the subject may be far from an actor and more like a recipient or patient. Some
grammatical descriptions attempt to place such matters in the centre of the description, but the exact
relationship between the forms and their patterns of meaning remains fraught even there.
Predicator (P)
The predicator is the only place in the clause where form and function map onto each other one-to-one.
We are calling the function the predicator here to differentiate it from the verb phrase form. However,
although only verb phrases usually function as predicators it is worth noting that some parts of the verb
take on noun or adjective-like functions in times:
The singing detective (lives down my street)
