Adjuncts

FORM AND
FUNCTION
PAGE 7/9
Certain parts of a sentence may convey information about how, when, or where something happened:

He ate his meal quickly (how)
David gave blood last week (when)
Susan went to school in New York (where)

The highlighted constituents here are ADJUNCTS. From a syntactic point of view, Adjuncts are optional elements, since their omission still leaves a complete sentence:

He ate his meal quickly ~He ate his meal

David gave blood last week ~David gave blood

Susan went to school in New York ~Susan went to school

Many types of constituents can function as Adjuncts, and we exemplify these below.



Realisations of Adjuncts


Noun Phrases functioning as Adjuncts

David gave blood last week
Next summer, we're going to Spain
We've agreed to meet the day after tomorrow

NPs as Adjuncts generally refer to time, as in these examples.


Adverb Phrases functioning as Adjuncts

They ate their meal too quickly
She walked very gracefully down the steps
Suddenly, the door opened


Prepositional Phrases functioning as Adjuncts

Susan went to school in New York
I work late on Mondays
After work, I go to a local restaurant

PPs as Adjuncts generally refer to time or to place -- they tell us when or where something happens.


Clauses functioning as Adjuncts

Subordinate clauses can function as Adjuncts. We'll begin with some examples of finite subordinate clauses:

 

Clauses
functioning as
Adjuncts

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


-ed 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:

1. Recently, [finding a job] has become very difficult Subject
Predicate
Predicator
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Adjunct
2. Amy sings [very sweetly] Subject
Predicate
Predicator
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Adjunct
3. I've left [my keys] in the car Subject
Predicate
Predicator
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Adjunct
4. Robert promised [me] that he'd send a postcard Subject
Predicate
Predicator
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Adjunct
5. Playing football [is his only pastime] Subject
Predicate
Predicator
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Adjunct


 

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