Unit 2.

Clauses
Objectives of Unit 2
◼ In this unit, we will study the clause as a unit intermediate between the phrase and the
sentence:
- Definition and elements of the clause;
- Subcategorisation of the clause in terms of usage, clause elements and verb
complementation, verb phrase structures and subclassification of dependent clauses.

Materials
Core books
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Huu Manh (2008), Fundamentals of English traditional syntax, NXB
ĐHQG HN.
References
R. Quirk et al (1972), A University Grammar of English, Longman.

Contents
I. Definition
II. Clause elements
III. Classification
1. According to usage
2. According to clause elements and verb complementation
3. According to verb phrase structure
3.1. Finite clauses
3.2 Nonfinite clauses
3.3 Verbless clauses
4. According to subclassification of dependent clauses
4.1 Nominal clauses
4.2 Comment clauses
4.3 Comparative clauses
4.4 Adverbial clauses
4.5 Relative clauses

I. Definition:
Clause is a part of a sentence, conveying an independent supposition.
II. Clause elements: S, V, O, C, A
1. Object:
- Direct object (Od.):
I like him.
S V Od
- Indirect object (Oi) (+ Od)
I gave him a book.
SV Oi Od
2. Complements:
◼ Subject complement (Cs): describe or indicate the characteristics or features of
subject - after copular verbs (link verbs).
- BE group: be, appear, seem, feel, look, see, sound, smell, taste…, expressing the current
attribute:
He appears tired.
S V Cs
- BECOME group: become, come, get, go, grow, turn,…, expressing the resulting attribute:
He becomes famous.
S V Cs
◼ Object complement (Co): describe or indicate the characteristics or features of object:
She painted the door red.
S V Od Co
◼ Adjective complements (Cadj.): modify the adjective as Cs.
I’m happy to meet you.
SV Cs Cadj.
◼ Prepositional complement (Cpre.): as complement of a compulsory preposition.
She is interested in making up all day.
S V Cs Cpre.
Exercise 1. Unit 2. Clauses

3. Adverbials
◼ Semantically: adverb of time, place and process (manner)
He worked hard at school then.
S V Amanner Aplace Atime
◼ Functionally: 3 kinds
▪ Adjuncts: integrated in the structure of the clause
He worked carefully.
S V Aadjunct (How)
▪ Disjuncts: peripheral to the structure of the clause
Carefully, he worked .
Adisjunct S V
generally speaking, in fact, to be honest, to tell the truth
▪ Conjuncts: peripheral to the structure of the clause and connective function
Secondly, you have to learn French.
Aconjunct S V Od
finally, on the other hand, in brief, that’s why, in other words, in addition, moreover,
in conclusion, what’s more, further more

Self study: p.113 – 119 (Core book)

III. Classification
1, According to usage
+ Independent clause:
- Simple sentence : Tom saw Mary.
- Compound sentence: Tom saw Mary and he ran away.
- Complex sentence : When Tom saw Mary, he ran away.
+ Dependent clause: When he saw Mary, he ran away.
2. According to clause elements and verb complementation: 7 kinds
◼ S+V : He has arrived.
(intransitive)

◼ S+V +A : He is in the garden.

(intensive)

◼ S+V + Cs : He looks tired.

(intensive)

◼ S+V + Od : I read his letter.

(mono transitive)

◼ S+V + O + A: They put him in a good position.

(complex transitive)

◼ S+V + Od + Co: He made me happy.

(complex transitive)

◼ S+V + Oi + Od: He gave me his book.

(di transitive)

Exercise 2. Unit 2. Clauses

3. According to verb phrase structures (Structural classification)

Finite clause “to” inf. NFC
Infinitive
Cl Non-finite clause bare inf. NFC
-Ing participle NFC
 Verbless - Ed participle NFC

3.1. Finite clause: a clause whose verb element is a finite verb phrase
He is a student.
F.V.P
FCL
3.2 Non-finite clause: a clause whose verb element is a non-finite verb phrase
• Infinitive non-finite clause
- “To” infinitive NFCl.
To learn E is difficult.
S - “To” inf. NFCl without S
It’s difficult for us to learn English.
S - “To” inf. NFCl with S
- Bare infinitive NFCl.
Run away is what I could do then.
S - Bare inf. NFCL without S
He made me cry.
Co - Bare inf. NFCL with S
• -Ing participle NFCl.
Going home, I did some shopping.
Atime - -Ing part. NFCL without S
 When I was going home, I did some shopping.
Fcl.
The teacher being ill, we missed our lesson.
A reason-Ing part. NFCl. with subject
 As the teacher was ill, we missed our lesson.
Fcl.

• -Ed participle non-finite clause

Given a beautiful present, she was very happy.
Areason -ed part. NFC without S
 As she was given a beautiful present, she was happy.
Fcl.
His job finished, he went home.
-Ed participle NFCl with S
<-> When his job was finished, he went home.
 FCl
3.3 Verbless clause: a clause whose verb element is absent
He went to bed. angry.
 When he was angry, he went to bed.
She stayed at home jobless.
Exercise 3. Unit 2. Clauses

4. According to the syntactic functions of subclause: Nominal clauses, Adverbial Clauses,

Comment Clauses, Relative clauses, Comparative clauses
4.1 NOMINAL CLAUSES
• Definition: the clauses that perform nominal function as S, O, C
• Kinds of nominal clauses
1. Finite nominal clause
2. Non-finite clause
• Possible functions of Nominal clauses

Clause Functions
S Od Oi Cs Co App Cadj Cpre

“That” clause + + + + +

“Wh-“ clause + + + + + +
Finite
Norminal relative + + + + + + +

Yes/no interrog. Clause + + + + + +

“To” infinitive + + + + + +

Non finte Bare infinitive + + +

Ing participle + + + + + + +

a, S
- “That” clause: That he is the best student of this group is widely accepted.
- “Wh-” clause: Who will go there is a question.
- Nominal rel.cl. Whoever went there was given a small book.
- Yes/no interr. Whether he’ll help us or not is not certain yet.
- “To” infinitive: It is easy to learn grammar.
- Bare infinitive: Run away was what we could do then.
-Ing participle: It is no use crying over the milk spilt.
b. Od
- “That” clause: We know that you are rich.
- “Wh-” clause: I didn’t know why you didn’t love me.
- Nominal rel.cl. I can’t understand whatever he says.
- Yes/no interr. Do you know if he can swim?
“To” infinitive: She likes to dance then.
- -Ing participle: We like singing the song in the group.
c. Oi
- Nominal rel.cl: They gave whoever went there a present.
d. Cs:
- “That” clause: The question is that he is still single.
- “Wh- ” interr.cl.:The question is where we will go after the class.
- Nominal rel.cl.: What he likes is not whatever I like.
- Yes/no interr.:The question is if he can cope with the situation.
- “To” infinitive:My job was to remind him of his duty.
- Bare infinitive: What we ought to do is repeat what he says.
-Ing participle: Her dream was becoming a good translator.
e. Co
- Nominal rel. cl.: You can paint it whichever colour you like.
- “To” infinitive: We wanted him to keep silent.
- Bare infinitive: We heard him murmur something.
-Ing participle: I saw him driving a new Dream.
f. App
- “That” clause: His hope, that he’ll become a teacher of English, will soon come true.
- “Wh-” clause: The question how we deal with the situation has not been answered.
- Nominal rel.cl.: We want to know her permanent address, that is where she is living
most of her time.
- Yes/no interr.: Our problem whether he’ll be able to come over this difficulty is a great
significant.
- “To” infinitive: His desire, to become famous throughout the country, comes true.
- Ing participle: Her dream, becoming the Queen, was reliased at last.
g. Cadj
- “That” clause: I’m sure that he’ll get married soon.
- “Wh-” clause: I’m not certain who helped him over the difficulty.
- Yes/no interrogative: I’m not sure whether he’ll succeed or not.
- “To” infinitive: He is easy to deal with.
- Ing participle: She was busy making up all day.
h. Cprep
- “Wh-” clause: It depends on what he will say at the meeting.
- Nominal rel. cl: I don’t believe in whatever he says.
- Yes/no interr: It depends on whether he can bring in this list.
- Ing participle: They are thinking of cheating her.
Exercise 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 - Unit 2. Clauses

4.2 COMMENT CLAUSES

• Definition
Comment clause similar to main clause
She loved him, I know/ see.
• Possible functions (adjunct, disjunct, conjunct):
As all of you know, this story is legend.
Aadjunct
To be honest, he is very stringy.
Adisjunct
What’s more important, you have to go out.
Aconjunct
Exercise 10 - Unit 2. Clauses

4.3 COMPARATIVE CLAUSES

• Definition: a comparative clause consists of 2 components:
Comparative element + comparative clause
He looks younger than she does.
• Possible functions
Cs: I’m happier about it than my sister is.
S: More people learn English than any other languages.
Od: He read more books than I did.
Oi: That man has given more children happiness than anyone else.
A: You have been working much harder than I had.
• Ellipsis in “than” clauses
She is taller than he (is)/ him.
Exercise 11 - Unit 2. Clauses
4.4 ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
• Definition
Adverbial clauses are those perform adverbial functions in the sentence (adjuncts, disjuncts,
conjuncts)
• Semantic classification (Finite Adverbial clauses)
a. Clauses of time: after, before, since, until, when,
while, as soon/long as, whenever...
Buy your tickets as soon as you reach the station.
b. Clause of place: where / wherever
They went wherever they could find work.
c. Clauses of condition: if, unless, on condition that, provided (providing) that, as long as, so
long as
Provided that no objection is raised, we shall hold the meeting here.
d. Clauses of concession: although, though, even if, even though, while, whereas
No goals were scored, though it was an exciting game.
e. Conditional concessive clauses: whether ... or, wherever whatever, whoever, no matter
how
Whether they beat us or we beat them, we’ll celebrate tonight.
f. Clauses of reason (or cause): as, because, since
I lent him the money because he badly needed it.
g. Clauses of circumstance: because, since, now that, seeing that
Seeing that the weather has improved, we shall enjoy our game.
h. Clauses of manner: exactly, just + as
Please do it (exactly) as I instructed.
i. Clauses of comparison: (more) ... than , as if, as though
He treated me as if he had never met me.
k. Clauses of result: so (that), in order that (purpose)
We planted many shrubs, so (that) the garden soon looked beautiful.
l. Clauses of proportion and preference: as ... (so), the more/ less ...the more/ less
As he grew disheartened, (so) his work deteriorated.
The harder he worked, the happiest he felt.

• Structural classification
a. Non-finite Adverbial clauses
To-infinitive clauses (to V): often introduced by (in order)/(for+N) to, so as to.
- A purpose:
 I left early (so as) to catch the train.
They left the door open in order for me to hear the baby.
- A result:
The ceiling is too high for me to reach.
She woke up to find the whole house on fire.
V-ing participle clauses: -ing participle clauses are very common with subordinator: while,
without, when, etc.:
-A time:
He wrote his greatest novel while working on a freighter.
Nearing the entrance, I shook hands with my acquaintances.
- A circumstance:
The weather having improved, we enjoyed the rest of the game.
- A manner:
She entered the room without greeting anyone inside.
- A reason:
Being very suspicious, she hesitated to open the door.
Being a man of ingenuity, he soon repaired the car.
- A preference:
Rather than sitting quietly at home he preferred to visit his friends.
- A condition + concession:
Whether living in London or not, John enjoyed himself.

V-ed2 participle clauses:

- A time: Once published, the book caused a remarkable stir.
- A place: Where(ver) known, such facts have been reported.
- A condition:
These books will cause great harms to young students unless forbidden.

Bare infinitive clause

- A preference: Rather than go there by air, I’d take the slowest train

b. Verbless adverbial clauses:

Adjectival contingent clauses (without or with subordinator).
- A circumstance: They went home dead tired.
- A reason: John, sad at the news, went to Mexico.
- A concession: Though very poor, they are extremely generous.
- A condition: If necessary, I’ll do that again.
- A time: When ripe, the oranges are picked and sorted.

Other clauses: (often with subordinator)

When in Rome, do as Rome does.
While in London, he enjoyed himself greatly.
He’ll do his best to help her if requested by the boss.
 These verbless clauses are often considered as reduced finite clauses with ellipted
Subject + Verb.
Exercise 12. Unit 2. Clauses

4.5 Relative clauses

• Relative clauses functioning as post-modifier in NPs
a. Restrictive relative clauses (also called defining relative clauses):
b. The man who went there with him is my brother-in-law.
I tried to discuss this problem with the professor who wrote this book.
b. Non-restrictive relative (or non-defining) clauses:
We met Mr Jones, who was expert at nuclear physics.
This book, which was written fifteen years ago, was again revised and published.
• Sentential Relative clauses
He came to see her too often, which annoyed her mother.
They failed the final exam, which surprised us all.
• Nominal Relative clauses
These are clauses that are very close to the noun phrase status in that they can
perform seven (out of eight) different functions of noun phrases. They can act as S, Cs, Od,
Co, App, Cprep and Oi. They differ from the other two subgroups in that they can be
paraphrased by nominal element plus relative clauses.
What caused the fire was only a cigarette end.
(= The thing that caused the fire.....)
We remember when we first came here.
(= the time when we first came here)
We gave whoever went there a brochure.
(= anyone who went there)
nominal element + relative clauses.