Le, H.T., Dang, D.T., & Tran, H.P.

– A Grammar of the English language

5. SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS

5.1. THE SUBJECT & PREDICATE

As you can see, every statement (leaving aside the other sentence forms
for the moment) can be divided into two parts: the person or thing that is
being spoken about - the topic of the sentence - and the things that are said
about him/her/them/it, etc. In traditional terms, these are called subject and
predicate. These labels are useful, since they reflect the fact that one of the
two defining characteristics of the sentence is the message or information
content. The subject is the topic, or what is being spoken about; the predicate
is what is ''predicated'' (or said to be true) about the subject. Usually the
subject and predicate occur in that order in a statement.

SUBJECT PREDICATE

John loves Mary.

The cat chased a mouse.
A stitch in time saves nine.
James Smith plays the piano beautifully.
Captain Cook discovered Australia in 1776.
The people I like never forget my birthday.
best met her down the street
I yesterday.

As these examples show, the subject is not necessarily a single word (a

noun or a pronoun) - it can be a noun phrase (NP), or even a clause.

Clearly, in the sentence John loves Mary above, John is the one who is
the focus of attention, but equally clearly Mary has an important role in the
message, as the one who is the object of John's loving. ''Loves'' is significant
as the word which expresses the relation between the two; it is of course the
verb, the word which carries the tense. In most statements, the verb is the first

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word (or word group) in the predicate. Thus, the most important factor in
expressing the predicate is the verb; and the verb must ''agree'' with the
subject, so the subject dictates the form of the verb (see Section A, Part VI). In
other words, the predicate is a part of the sentence controlled by the subject.
The distinction between the subject and predicate is a primary one in
traditional grammars.

We have said above that the subject can be expressed by means of a

single word - a noun or pronoun - or a noun phrase, or even a clause. Some
more examples are necessary for you to grasp this:

a single word: Man is an emotional creature.

Men do not know how to suffer; women do.

a phrase: Learning English enables many people to make some

social advancement.
What to do with the money drove him mad.
My father lit a cigarette.
The young girl with long hair walked confidently
across the room.

a clause: That coffee grows in Brazil is famous to all.

Whether he gets the money doesn't matter to me.
What we are learning seems to be difficult.
Why the minister committed suicide made the first
headline on many newspapers today.

Note:

(a) Empty subject

We often use it in sentences referring to time, the weather, temperature

or distance. When used in this way, it is sometimes called an empty subject

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because it carries no real information. It is present because every English

sentence has to contain a subject (and a verb):

Time: It's 3 o'clock. It's Thursday. It's November 23rd.

It's time for us to leave.
Weather: It's hot. It's raining.
Temperature: It's 37oC.
Distance: It's 5 km from here to the university.
The tides: It's high tide at 11: 44.
Environment: It's noisy in here.
Present situation: Isn't it awful!
With since: It's three years since we last met.
With says: It says here there was a big fire in Dong Xuan.
With take: It takes 20 minutes to get to work.

(b) Preparatory subject

Sometimes sentences beginning with ‘it’ continue with an infinitive, a

gerund or a noun clause. It is possible to begin such sentences with an
infinitive or gerund, but we generally prefer ‘it’. The true subject is the
infinitive, gerund or noun clause, and it is preparatory to the subject. For
examples:

It's pleasant to lie in the sun.

It's pleasant lying in the sun.
It's a shame that Tom isn't here.
It doesn't matter when we arrive.

When the subject of the sentence is indefinite (a book, books, some

books), it is often placed after the predicate verb and the sentence begins with
the introductory particle THERE. The word THERE (formerly the adverb of
place THERE) has no stress and is usually pronounced with the neutral vowel

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[ ] instead of [ ]. It has lost its local meaning, which is shown by

the possibility of combining it in the sentence with the adverb of place HERE
and THERE: There is a book there. Sentences with the introductory THERE
may serve to assert or deny the existence of something. In sentences with the
introductory THERE, the predicate verb is usually the verb To be;
occasionally some other verbs are found, such as: to live, to occur, to come, to
happen, ….., which, similarly to the verb to be, indicate to exist or to have the
meaning of to come into existence. Eg.: There is a book on the table (There:
an introductory particle, is: a simple predicate, a book: the subject, on the
table: an adverbial modifier of place). There was a violent storm last night.
There are some mistakes in her dictation. There came a knock on the door.
There lived an old man in that new house. There have occurred many great
changes since we last met.

Note: Negative constructions are formed as followed:

a/ There are not any mistake in her dictation. (There aren’t any…….)
b/ There are no mistakes in her dictation.
c/ There isn’t a single mistake in her dictation.

(c) Agent

In the active, the subject expresses the agent, i.e., the ''doer'', the person
or thing that performs the action indicated by the verb, whereas in the passive
the agent stands after by (see also passive voice):

The boy broke the window.

The window was broken by the boy.

5.2. THE OBJECT

As mentioned above, in John loves Mary, Mary has an important role in

the message - the one who is the object of John's loving. The object is the
person or thing toward which the subject directs the process spoken of in the
verb. An object is normally a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase; it usually goes
after the verb in the active. It can become the subject of a verb in the passive:

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She hit me.

Mary threw the ball.
Mary likes to eat ice cream.
Mary bought some ice cream.
Mary bought whatever we wanted.
Michael Swan and Catherine Walter wrote the Cambridge
English Course.
The Cambridge English Course was written by M. Swan
and C. Walter.

Objects can be divided into two types: direct objects and indirect objects.
A direct object refers to the person or thing affected by the action of the verb.
It comes immediately after a transitive verb:

He kicked the dog.

The dog bit him.

An indirect object usually refers to the person who ''benefits'' from the
action expressed in the verb:

Mary threw me the ball.

My man bought me some flowers.

Indirect object can stand either after the verb or after the direct object
with a preposition in between:

I brought him a cup of tea.

I brought a cup of tea for him.
She gave John some pocket money.
She gave some pocket money to John.

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Certain verbs must have to or for with the indirect object. The to or for
phrase usually comes after the direct object. Some of the most common of
these verbs are:

admit: She admitted her mistakes to her mother.

communicate: The dean communicated the decision to the student.
announce: The judges announced the winner to the crowd.
dedicate: The football team dedicated the game to their injured
teammate.
describe: The tourist described the beautiful view to (for) us.
entrust: They entrusted their money to their best friend.
explain: The professor explained the problem to (for) him.
indicate: The guide indicated the way to me.
introduce: Albert will introduce you to his friends.
mention: Charlotte forgot to mention her accident to her husband.
outline: The director outlined the word to (for) us.
prescribe: The doctor prescribed medicine for the patient.
prove: The chairman proposed a new plan to the committee.
recommend: My friends have recommended this restaurant to me.
repeat: I will repeat the problem to (for) you one more time.
report: The new members of the team reported to the coach today.
return: My brother returned the book to me.
suggest: The doctor suggested a vacation to him.

The prepositional objects are objects in English which always take/need

prepositions to form a complex unit, such as: to wait for…./ to look at…../ to
approve of….. .

She waited for him for years.

They look at the board attentively.
All the members approved of the new agreement.

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Just like the subject, the object can be expressed by means of a single
word (a noun or pronoun), a noun phrase, or even a clause.

a single word: John knows Barbara.

Quang hates coffee. He never drinks coffee.
a phrase: She doesn't know what to do with the money.
He lives a humble life.
Young children like climbing trees.
Last weekend Phuong bought a second-hand compact
disc stereo double cassette.
He loves girls with long hair and brown eyes.
a clause: Nobody understands why the minister committed suicide.
He suggested that we should dissolve the business.
They didn't know whether the crowd had been
dismissed.

5.3. THE COMPLEMENT

The complement can be defined as a sentence element that gives further

information about the subject or the object; in other words, the complement
completes the meaning of subject or the object, and therefore, there are two
types of complement: subject complement (Csubj) and object complement
(Cobj). The subject complement can be expressed by a word, a phrase or a
clause.
Examples of subject complements are:

He is the chairman.
A pig is not a flying animal.
She seems an honest person.
We were to start our journey on July 5th.
The students always act dumb.
His brother grew happier gradually.

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Our duty is that we must finish the problem.

The object complement can be expressed by a word, a phrase or a

clause. Examples of object complements are:

They made Sam the chairman.

They have proved me wrong.
He called me names.
He made her so happy.
You push the door open.
He likes his coffee strong.
She wants all of us to go.
I found what he said to mean nothing.
I named my son what my father named me.
We found her in tears.
I saw her running down the hill.
He couldn't make his voice heard.

Note:
Another term for the subject complement (Csubj.)that follows a link-
verb such as "to be" is predicative. E.g.: He is a doctor/ She got tired.

5.4. THE ATTRIBUTIVE (ATTRIBUTE)

Many grammars use the term ''attributive'' to refer to an adjective

coming before a noun in a phrase or sentence in the distinction with
predicative - a term used to refers to the position of an adjective coming
directly after be and be-like verbs. Thus, in an old ticket or he is an old man,
old is called an attributive adjective; whereas in he is old or he seems old, old
is referred to as a predicative adjective. Functionally, the attributive adjective
modifies the meaning of the noun it precedes while the predicative adjective
has the function of a complement in the sentence, and modifies the meaning
to the subject.

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However, here, we will use the term ''attributive'' in a broader sense,

syntactically referring to a word, a phrase or even a clause that functions like
an attributive adjective, i.e., modifying the meaning of a noun in the sentence,
regardless of its position.

Thus, the attributive can be expressed by means of a word, a phrase, and

a clause. Examples of attributives can be:

a word: It was a nationwide campaign.

He is a government employee.
He works in the state sector.
a phrase: Could you tell me the way how to tackle the problem.
The girl with long black hair is my classmate.
a clause: The girl who is standing by the window is Daniel's daughter.

5.5. THE ADJUNCT / ADVERBIAL

The adverb suggests the idea of adding to the meaning of a verb. They
tell us something about the action in a sentence by modifying a verb, i.e., by
telling how, when, where, etc., something happens or is done:

Eg.: Paganini must have played the violin beautifully.

Adverbs are single words. Nevertheless, many phrases and clauses can
perform a similar function of the adverb in the sentence, that is, adding some
extra, circumstantial information about the action expressed by the verb. The
term ''adverbial'' is used to describe any single words (adverbs), phrases or
clauses that function as the adverb in the sentence. These phrases and clauses
are called adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses respectively.

Examples: She sang softly.

She sang in a soft voice.

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She sang so softly that some people started to cry.

As shown above, the adverbial can be expressed by a word (an adverb),

a phrase or a clause. Examples can be:

by a word: We work hard.

They badly need a more effective banking system.
by a phrase: The cat ran under the bed.
The students met to prepare for the Students' Day
ceremony.
by a clause: Whenever she has a cold, she eats only fruit.
We didn't come home until the rain started.
I couldn't feel anger against her because I liked her
too much.

Adverbial clauses:

In a complex sentence, the adverbial clause is subordinate to the main

clause. Like adverbs, they answer the questions When? Where? How? Why?
etc.:
(When?) Tell him as soon as he arrives.
(Where?) You can sit where you like.
(How?) He spoke as if he meant business.
(Why?) He went to bed because he felt ill.

Adverbial clauses can be classified into:

(1) Adverbial clauses of comparison are introduced by as.... as, -er than, etc.:
He's as quick at answering questions as his sister (is).

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(2) Adverbial clauses of concession introduce an element of contrast into a

sentence and are sometimes called contrast clauses. They are introduced by
conjunctions like although, even if, while, however (much) and no matter
how:
We intend to go to India, even if air fares go up again between now and
the summer.

(3) Adverbial clauses of manner answer the question How? and are introduced
by conjunctions like as, in the way, and as if:
Type this again as I showed you a moment ago.

(4) Adverbial clauses of place answer the question Where? and are introduced by
conjunctions like where, wherever, and anywhere:
You can camp where you like.

(5) Adverbial clauses of purpose answer the questions What for? and For what
purpose? and are introduced by conjunctions like so that, in order that, in
case, lest and for fear (that):
I've arrived early so that I can get a good view of the process.

(6) Adverbial clauses of reason answer the question Why? and are introduced by
conjunctions like as, because, seeing (that) and since:
As there was very little support, the strike was not successful.

(7) Adverbial clauses of result describe consequences and are introduced by that
after, for example, so + adjective to answer e.g. How (quick)?:
His reactions are so quick that no one can match him.

(8) Adverbial clauses of time broadly answer the question When? and are
introduced by conjunctions like when, after, as soon as and since:
You didn't look very well when you got up this morning.

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(9)Adverbial clauses of condition (See 6.6. Conditional Sentences - p.95)

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