Clauses in English Grammar
Independent Clauses
An independent clause is a clause that doesn’t form part of any larger clause structure. They can be coordinated and they can include embedded dependent clauses. They’re all finite and are used to perform speech-act functions.
Major Types
Declarative Clauses
These clauses have an SV (Subject-Verb) structure and express statements, normally conveying information. Sometimes, this SV structure can be used to ask a question by raising the intonation in conversation and using a question mark in writing. E.g., You missed me?
Interrogative Clauses
These clauses can be recognized by their VS (Verb-Subject) structure and initial wh-word. There are three main types:
Wh-questions
These begin with a wh-word that refers to a missing element in the clause. This element can be a clause element (Subject, Object, Predicate, Adverbial) or part of a phrase: who’s (Subject), what (Direct Object), how old? (part of Adjective Phrase). When the wh-word is the subject of the clause, the SV order is preserved. When there is an operator, it comes before the subject (Subject-Operator Inversion). When a speaker asks for two pieces of information, there’s more than one wh-word, e.g., Who is eating what? There are also echo-questions (requests for repetitions), where the wh-word is left in its normal position instead of being fronted. Echo questions express surprise or disbelief.
Yes/No Questions
These have a VS word order and begin with an operator followed by the subject. The addressee is expected to reply with a truth value (yes or no, perhaps, I don’t know, etc.). Informal yes/no questions often contain ellipsis: (Are) you alright? They serve different purposes: asking for information, exclamation (Isn’t that nice?), and directives (Will you be quiet?). In conversation, they frequently have the minimal form of operator + subject: She likes flowers? Does she?
Alternative Questions
These are similar to yes/no questions in structure (Operator + Subject), but instead of a yes/no answer, they present alternatives for the addressee to choose from: Do you fancy fish or meat?
Question Tags
These are not independent clauses. They consist of an operator + pronoun subject and are used to confirm the statement uttered by the speaker. The operator is a repetition of the operator in the preceding declarative clause; if there’s no operator, dummy do is used. The subject refers back to the subject of the preceding clause, e.g., She’s getting married soon. Is she?
Use and Non-use of Dummy Do in Questions
Questions show variation in the use of dummy do with certain verbs.
- Have as a lexical verb:
- Do-construction: Did you…?
- With has as operator: Have you…?
- The semi-modal have to:
- Do-construction: Do I have to…? (preferred in British English and the only option in American English)
- Have as operator: Have they to pay for…?
- Need and dare:
- Do-construction: Do you want to…?
- Auxiliary construction: How dare you…?
Exclamative Clauses
These begin with a wh-word (what or how) and continue with an SV pattern, e.g., What a nice house you’ve got!
Imperative Clauses
These clauses lack a subject and the absence of modals, tense, and aspect matters. They use the base form of the verb, e.g., Get down. An imperative insists on the addressee to do something or not to do it, e.g., Don’t move!
A special type of imperative uses Let + us (normally contracted to ‘s) to express a suggestion involving both the speaker and the addressee: Let’s go.
Form and Function
Sometimes the addressee of an imperative can be identified either by a subject Noun Phrase or a vocative. When the subject precedes the main verb and is not separated from it by punctuation or an intonation break, e.g., You start doing the school work. A vocative can be at the beginning, middle, or end, e.g., Andrew, don’t say rude words.
Imperative clauses can also be formed by adding question tags, discourse markers like please, and adverbs like just. The use of will softens the command and please seems less demanding. Invitations can also be imperatives: Come to my house this evening.
An imperative can be coordinated with a following declarative clause expressing a conditional relationship: Keep eating chocolate and your weight will rise.
Finite Dependent Clauses
Complement Clauses or Nominal Clauses
These are controlled by a preceding adjective, noun, preposition, or verb. They can be used as the subject, predicate, or object in the main clause. They also occur within phrases as complements of a noun, adjective, or preposition. E.g., She was [listening very carefully to what I was telling her].
Finite Complement Clauses
These are introduced by the subordinator that or by a wh-word.
- That: E.g., The parents think that this teacher is too weak (Direct Object).
- Wh-clauses: E.g., What I would like to know (Subject) is how you are going to live without working.
Adverbial Clauses
These are used as adverbials in the main clause. They are normally optional elements and can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of the main clause. E.g., When Colin was a child, he was really naughty.
Finite Adverbial Clauses
These are normally introduced by a subordinator, e.g., because, if, although, before, when. Most of these adverbial clauses belong to the class of circumstance adverbials, which express meanings such as time or reason. E.g., If you want…
Relative Clauses
These are introduced by a relativizer (relative pronoun: which, who, etc.; relative adverb: where, when, why), which has a grammatical function, e.g., subject or direct object. The relativizer points back to its antecedent, the head of the noun phrase. E.g., That man over there is the neighbour who I lent my car to the other day. The relative clause is a postmodifier in a noun phrase, which increases the meaning and also denotes the reference of the head noun.
Comparative Clauses
These are complements in an adjective or adverb phrase that has a gradable word as its head. They are introduced by a conjunction (than for different comparisons and as for equal ones). E.g., Thomas is as tall as me.
Peripheral Clauses
Reporting clauses and tag clauses are dependent clauses that have a peripheral role in the main clause.
Reporting Clauses
These are on the limit of dependent and independent status. They introduce someone’s direct speech or thought and can tell us about who is speaking, who the addressee is, the nature of the speech act, and the way of speaking. E.g., Sarah grumbled all morning – “I have not been able to sleep at all” – she said, in an angry way. They are frequently formed from just a one-word subject and a one-word verb phrase, although there is a difference in the order of Subject and Verb and in the position of the clause relative to the reported speech. E.g., “That’s enough for now,” I said.
Tag Clauses
These are freely attached to the end, and sometimes the middle, of another clause. They include question tags and declarative tags and are used to add force to the speaker’s assurance to the proposition in the main clause. E.g., I really laughed with the film, I did.
Non-finite Dependent Clauses
Non-finite verbs are not inflected for tense. These clauses normally lack an explicit clear subject and subordinator, do not possess tense or modality, and contain an infinitive verb. There are four major types:
Infinitive Clauses
These have a wide range of syntactic roles:
- Subject: The doctor asked his colleagues to help with the diagnosis.
- Extraposed subject: It takes time to cook properly / To cook properly takes time.
- Subject Predicate: I feel very tired to read.
- Direct Object: Norman inherited an old train to restore.
- Adverbial: I would like to live here to have a garden.
- Noun Complement: The reasons to enjoy a job are many.
- Noun Postmodifier: John is happy to have the job.
- Part of Adjective Phrase: The boy is too ill to go to school.
Ing-clauses
These have the following roles:
- Extraposed subject: It is hard work getting up in the morning / Getting up in the morning is hard work.
- Subject Predicate: The question is going to bed early.
- Direct Object: I started doing gymnastics.
- Adverbial: It is raining in Ibiza, making it difficult to enjoy the beach.
- Complement of Preposition: Maria is looking for her book, hoping to find it soon.
- Noun Postmodifier: The lady wearing glasses is my aunt.
- Part of Adjective Phrase: Susan is being silly, laughing at everything.
Ed-participle Clauses
(Also called past participle clauses). These have the following roles:
- Direct Object: The girl will have her front teeth taken out.
- Adverbial: When told by the doctor to rest, the patient refused.
- Noun Postmodifier: This song, elected as the winner, was composed by…
Verbless Clauses
These can be treated as adverbial clauses with ellipsis of the verb be and the subject: When in Rome, do as Romans do.
Types of Noun Modification
Noun Phrases have four major components: determiner, premodifiers (before the noun head), head noun (pronoun or noun), and postmodifiers (occur after the head noun in the same way as relative clauses). The only obligatory element is the head noun (pronoun or noun); pronouns do not normally include a determiner or premodifiers. There are different levels of embedding within Noun Phrases, since postmodifiers of a first-level Noun Phrase can contain at the same time complex Noun Phrases with premodifiers and postmodifiers.
Noun Modifier Types
Premodifiers
These can be adjectives, participles, and other nouns. E.g., The frightened girl carried out a good work with special indications.
Postmodifiers
Clausal postmodifiers can be:
- Finite postmodifiers are relative clauses. E.g., The kind of argument which never finishes.
- Non-finite postmodifiers have three different forms:
- To-infinitive clause: The way to slim up
- Ing-clause: The man banging on the door
- Ed-clause: The countries involved in the war
- Phrasal postmodifiers have two main kinds:
- Prepositional Phrases: Sadness about bad news
- Appositive Noun Phrases: The Spanish writer, Matilde Asensi
Adverbs can also be premodifiers or postmodifiers in Noun Phrases, but this is not frequent: The nearby friends / The car behind.
Noun Complement clauses can also occur following noun heads. These involve primarily special kinds of that– and to-clauses: The idea that Mary had was stupid / The probability to survive in the jungle is limited.
Modifiers with Different Head Nouns
Although nouns occur many times with both premodifiers and postmodifiers, there are some nouns, like proper nouns and other designation expressions, that do not occur with a modifier. In the following phrase, for example, the noun is an appositive Noun Phrase: E.g., Washington, the first President.
Personal pronouns (I, you, she) rarely take a modifier. The substitute pronoun one functions similarly to nouns; it freely takes both premodifiers and postmodifiers. E.g., The first one I received was from James. In academic prose, this substitute pronoun is normally anaphoric (it substitutes a Noun Phrase that has already been used). However, the modifier gives new descriptive details about that referent, e.g., This smell is an awful one. To give new information, postmodifiers are more frequently used than premodifiers, since they can be longer and, as a result, give more descriptive information.
Indefinite pronouns (replace nouns without specifying which noun they replace: most, anybody, all, other, either, etc.) take both premodifiers and postmodifiers, although postmodifiers are commoner. E.g., Many people are going to bring things back.
Demonstrative pronouns (substitute names when the names replaced can be understood from context: this, these, etc.) take only postmodifiers, but each pronoun has a different pattern:
- This and these: Extremely rare with a modifier.
- That: Occasional use; it normally takes an of Prepositional Phrase as a postmodifier.
- Those: Common. E.g., The government has enacted a law to help those without a home.