English Clause Syntax

阿曼?阿寶

Types of clause

Clauses can be classified as independent and dependent. A typical sentence consists of one independent clause， possibly augmented by one or more dependent clauses.An independent clause is a simple sentence. Sentences can be classified according to the purpose or function of the sentence into declarative， interrogative ， exclamatory sentence or imperative .In interrogative main clauses， unless the subject is or contains the interrogative word， the verb precedes the subject： Are youhungry？ However such inversion is only possible with an auxiliary or copular verb； if no such verb would otherwise be present， do-support is used.In most imperative clauses the subject is absent： Eat your dinner！ The form of the verb is the base form of the verb， such as eat， write， be. Modal verbs do not have imperative forms. Negation uses do-support， even if the verb is be. The imperative here refers to second-person forms； constructions for other persons may be formed periphrastically， e.g. Let's go.A dependent clause may be finite ， or non-finite.Particular types of dependent clause include relative clauses， content clauses and adverbial clauses.In certain instances， clauses use a verb conjugated in the subjunctive mood； Clauses can be nested within each other， sometimes up to several levels.

Non-finite clauses

A non-finite clause is one in which the main verb is in a non-finite form， namely an infinitive， past participle， or -ing form； The internal syntax of a non-finite clause is generally similar to that of a finite clause， except that there is usually no subject. bare infinitive clause， such as go to the party in the sentence let her go to the party.to-infinitive clause， such as to go to the party. Although there is no subject in such a clause.past participial clause， such as made a cake and seen to it. This is used in forming perfect constructions， as in he has made a cake； I had seen to it.present participial clause， such as being in good health. When such a clause is used as an adjunct to a main clause， its subject is understood to be the same as that of the main clause； when this is not the case， a subject can be included in the participial clause. gerund clause. This has the same form as the above， but serves as a noun rather than an adjective or adverb. to-infinitive clauses – this is easy to use ； he is the man to talk to （zero complement of preposition to）.past participial clauses – as used in forming passive voice constructions （the cake was made， with zero object of made）， and in some other uses， such as I want to get it seen to（zero complement of to）. In many such cases the performer of the action can be expressed using a prepositional phrase with by， as in the cake was made by Alan. A typical finite clause consists of a noun phrase functioning as the subject， a finite verb， followed by any number of dependents of the verb. Noun phrase constituents which are personal pronouns or the pronoun who（m） are marked for case， but otherwise it is word order alone that indicates which noun phrase is the subject and which the object. A given verb may allow a number of possible patterns.Some verbs can take two objects： an indirect object and a direct object. An indirect object precedes a direct one， as in He gave the dog a bone . Adverbial adjuncts are often placed after the verb and object， as in I met John yesterday. However other positions in the sentence are also possible； Another adverb which is subject to special rules is the negating word not； Objects normally precede other complements， as in I told him to fetch it .