Further Notes on The Clause

The Clause in Halliday's Grammar

Before we can go to the analysis of mood and modality itself, let us go back to the constituents of the Hallidayan clause, which was introduced in the third lecture notes. We may want to note here again that an unmarked declarative clause may consist of the following:
     Subject, Finite, Predicator, Complement, Adjunct
(See below for the definition of the marked/unmarked distinction in linguistics).

These constituents can be illustrated with the example below:

As mentioned in the earlier lecture, and as can be seen from the above illustration:

• The subject and complement are typically realised by nouns or nominal groups.
• The finite by the tensed element of the verb.
• The predicator by the non-tensed (or non-finite) element or elements of the verb or verbal group
• The adjunct by an adverb, adverbial group, or prepositional phrase.

• The subject has a relationship of grammatical concord (or, in other words, a grammatical relationship of number) with the finite element.
• That the finite and predicator elements are both present in a simple finite verb: e.g., the verb write in 'I write handouts for my students' has both a finite and a predicator.

Nature of the Complement

Another important feature to note is the nature of the complement:

• As the above example indicates, the complement may perform the function of a direct object to the predicator.
• The exception to this is the verb 'to be', and other related verbs performing an intensive function, which are usually regarded as intransitive, but may have a noun, noun group, or adjective following them. The constituent which follows the intensive verb is also described as the complement of the clause.

  Here are some further observations of Halliday's conception of the complement:

  • Although the noun group (or adjectival phrase) following the verb to be is not a direct object, it can be compared in some ways, to the direct objects following transitive verbs; therefore, the same term, the complement is used because of their similar syntactic positions.
  • Only a clause in the active voice with a complement following it can be passivised, including, according to Halliday, clauses with intensive verbs (but the latter is controversial, and you can, if you want, disagree with Halliday on this).
  • For clauses with transitive verbs, the complement ceases to exist in a passive clause, as it has become the subject (but this is not the case when it comes to the so-called passivization of clauses with intensive verbs).
    For instance, in the passive clause
        'handouts have been written by me',
    'handouts' (which was the complement of the active clause) is now the subject,
    and 'by me' (of which 'me', or rather 'I', was the subject in the active clause) is now an adjunct.

Absence of Constituents

Not all the constituents indicated above need to be present in all simple declarative clauses.

• The complement, as we have noted, is not present when an intransitive verb is used (except for some instances of clauses with intensive verbs), and is not found in a passive clause with a transitive verb (please note that the phrase 'with a transitive verb' is redundant when it comes to traditional or non-Hallidayan grammar, as only a transitive verb in a clause, to begin with, can allow the clause to be passivised).
• We may further note that the adjunct is optional. But if what looks like an adjunct is obligatory, such as the constituent in a clause which has a ditransitive verb, and is an assumed (or unmarked) constituent in a passive clause (as shown in the example given in the previous paragraph), then it should be regarded as the complement. The adjunct in a passive, is usually regarded as such because it is optional, and there are many instances where it can be removed through agent-deletion. Apart from clauses with ditransitive verbs, there are a few other minor instances where the what looks like an adjunct is actually obligatory (such as in relation to the verb 'behave'), and should therefore be regarded as a complement. The presence of the adjunct depends on the level of description that the writer or speaker needs, thus making it useful for the analysis of the writer's or speaker's style.

Ordering of Constituents: Thematisation

As you know, there is no necessity for the Subject - Finite - Predicator - Complement - Adjunct pattern to be present in the given order in a simple declarative clause in the active voice. One feature of the English language which you may have noticed, is the fact that you may shift some elements of the clause about. This is a factor which may be of relevance for theme-rheme analysis, which we will do later in the semester. For instance, the above example can be written as:
         ii) 'For my students, I am writing handouts',
         iii) 'Handouts I am writing for my students'.
In the instances here, the adjunct (more appropriately, the circumstantial adjunct) in ii), and the complement in iii) are fronted or thematised.

Since the idea of thematization in itself is not very difficult to understand, we may note here, in advance of our lectures on theme-rheme, that another word used to describe the fronted element of the clause is theme. We may also note that everything else which follows the theme in a single clause, is the rheme. In other words,

• the subject 'I' in example i),
• the (circumstantial) adjunct 'For my students' in example ii), and
• the complement 'Handouts' in example iii)

You may also want to note here that the constituent in iii) is less commonly thematised than that in i). In other words, it is more likely that the subject rather than the complement of a declarative clause is thematised.

Markedness

A concept found in linguistics to indicate whether a linguistic element or pattern is or is not commonly found, is that of markedness. Hence

• Clause i) is unmarked, as the subject usually coincides with the theme in a declarative clause.
• The themes in ii) and iii) are marked, as the themes, going against what is usually the case, do not coincide with the subjects.
  • Due to the fact that instances of thematised complements in declarative clauses are less common than those in which (circumstantial) adjuncts are thematised, iii) can be described as being more marked than ii).

The Adjuncts

You may have noticed that I have used the term circumstantial in parentheses in relation to the adjuncts above. Apart from circumstantial adjuncts, we also have modal and conjunctive adjuncts in Hallidayan linguistics. (There will be more discussion on these adjuncts later this semester; students who are interested may want to look at pp. 49-52, 81-3 and 302-9 of the first edition of Halliday's Introduction, pp. 48-52, 80-4, 323-30 of the second edition, or pp. 81-4, 125-33, 145-50, 260-80, 355-6, 359-60 of the third [n.b.: page references to the first edition will henceforth be in italics, those to the second in bold letters, and those to the third underlined]).

Our interest here is with the significance of the various types of adjuncts in the analysis of the structure of the clause. For this purpose, a very brief and basic definition of these adjuncts in terms of what Halliday calls the three metafunctions of language may be helpful.

• The modal adjuncts, which belong to the interpersonal metafunction of language, refer to the speaker's judgment of the relevance of the message.
• The conjunctive adjuncts, which belong to the textual metafunction of language, largely function (as their metafunctional designation implies) to relate the significance or connection of one sentence or clause with another;
• The circumstantial adjuncts, which belong to the ideational or what is in this case more appropriately called the experiential metafunction of language, give further description to the situation described by the clause in terms of
  • extent,
  • location,
  • manner,
  • cause,
  • accompaniment,
  • matter and
  • role.
  Examples of these adjuncts will be given in the appropriate lectures later this semester.

Extract from Katherine Mansfield's 'Feuille d'Album'
Blake's 'The Tyger'

Further Reading

Dr Alvin Leong's lecture notes on the clause (which was earlier mentioned in Lecture Notes Three, in relation to downranking).

Click here for the notes for the next lecture.

Click here for the notes for the previous lecture.

Last revised: 25 Dec 2010
© Ismail S. Talib 1996-2009.