Adjuncts |
FUNCTION |
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Certain parts of
a sentence may convey information about how, when, or where
something happened:
The highlighted constituents here are ADJUNCTS. From a syntactic point of view, Adjuncts are optional elements, since their omission still leaves a complete sentence:
Many types of constituents can function as Adjuncts, and we exemplify these below. |
Clauses |
EXAMPLES |
Finite | While
we were crossing the park,
we heard a loud explosion
I was late for the interview because the train broke down If you want tickets for the concert, you have to apply early My car broke down, so I had to walk |
Nonfinite
To-infinitive clause Bare infinitive clause -ing clause Small clause |
To open the window, you have to climb a ladder Rather than leave the child alone, I brought him to work with me Being a qualified plumber, Paul had no difficulty in finding the leak Left to himself, he usually gets the job done quickly His face red with rage, John stormed out of the room |
You will notice that these clauses express the range of meanings that we looked at earlier (in Subordinate Clauses: Semantic Types). In all cases, notice also that the Adjuncts express additional and optional information. If they are omitted, the remaining clause is still syntactically complete.
We have now looked at
the following grammatical functions:
Subject
Predicate
Predicator
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Adjunct
In the following sentences, identify the functions of the bracketed strings: