Type 6: Subject + Verb + Object + Complement, e.g. We have proved him
wrong.
Type 7: Subject + Verb + Object + Adverbial, e.g. The director put the script in
his drawer.
c. Elements of an English Clause
In a clause, there are at least two elements present. Whenever these two elements absent, a clause cannot be called a clause. Those two elements are
subject and predicate. A subject is “the part that names the person or thing about which
something is said” Burton, 1982: 139. It has several functions. First, subject controls whether the verb is singular or plural in the third person of the present
tense. Second, subject controls the form of certain objects and complements. The second required element of English clause is a predicate. A predicate
contains a verb phrase VP generally referring to an action performed by the subject
Wilson, 1998
as cited
in http:www.uncp.eduhomecanadaworkmarkportlanguagegrammarspg2001sy
ntax.htm, accessed on August 20, 2007 and it “affirms something about the subject Ducrot and Todorov, 1981: 210”. The predicate itself can be analyzed
into four elements. They are verb, object, adverbial, and complement. A verb plays a central role in clause structure and it must be a verb phrase
VP. Verbs have four kinds of forms, the simple form, the simple past regular and irregular verbs, the past participle, and the present participle Azar, 1992:
21. The simple form is found in the dictionary with no ending, for example, see, watch, understand
. In other words, the simple form is the basic form of a verb. The simple past form ends in –ed for regular verbs, for example, finished, waited,
played. However, irregular verbs do not end in –ed, for example, saw, went, put.
The past participle also ends in –ed for regular verbs, but with addition of have or has
for present perfect tense, and had for past perfect tense, for example, has left, have become.
The present participle ends in –ing for both regular and irregular verbs. It is used in progressive tense, for example, listening, speaking.
An object element is a noun phrase NP that follows the subject and verb in declarative clauses. There are two types of object, indirect IO and direct
object DO. The indirect object refers to an animate being which is the recipient of the action. The direct object refers to inanimate things. In the sentence Maria
provides them a large amount of money, the word them is the indirect object, and
the noun phrase a large amount of money is the direct object. An adverbial can be an adverbial, adverbial phrase, adverbial clause, noun
phrase, or prepositional phrase that expresses a wide range of meaning, such as manner adverbial of manner, place adverbial of place, and time adverbial of
time. Adverbial is generally mobile because it can be placed in several possible positions in the clause, though it is most common at the end. Adverbial differs
from other clause elements in the way that there can be an indefinite number of them in a single clause. Though it expresses a wide range of meaning, it is
generally optional without affecting its acceptability Quirk, 1972: 349.
