GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS

1. GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS ENGL 341

2. GRAM FUNCTIONS • Study the ff structures: • Jane saw the thief 1 • Jane is friendly 2 • Jane has paid her dues 3 • They made Jane their spokesperson 4 • Jane gave the students useful tips 5 • What is the gram role/function of Jane in sentence 1? • Why is it called the subject? • What relationship does it share with the rest of the words • Is the relationship between friendly and Jane in sent. 2 the same as the relationship between the thief and Jane in 1? • Explain the relationships • Is the relationship between Jane and theirspokesperson in 4 the same as that between students and usefultips in 5 • Watch closely the types of verbs used in all 5 structures

3. List of gram functions • Another type of grammatical analysis has to do with the role/function of the gram categories – lexemes, phrases • These functions are the relative positions of the gram items in a sentences • Categories may perform: • The Subject functions: • The verbal functions • Object functions: • Complement functions • Adverbial/adjunct functions • These function types are also referred to as the elements of the clause/sentence (Wiredu, Organised Structure pg 91 – 111) • In English, the sentence is deemed to have the ff structure: • S V C O A

4. THE SUBJECT • The actor/performer/ the object about whom/which something is said, always preceding the verb; Examples: • The tall tree fell unto our house • Kofi and Ama came here • Unfortunately, it was not the man. • The subject may be realised by: • NPs • Nominal clauses • The empty/dummy ‘it’ • Anticipatory it • Adverbial phrase • Adjectival head • Existential ‘there’

5. Subjects • NPs: you brought yourself up. • The game is over • Your friend is fighting outside • Obviously, their preparation was enough • The Nominal clause as subject • A clause that performs the function of a noun; examples: • That you could say that to him shows you are very tough. • To overcome teenage financial insufficiency is a major burden for. • Chewing the finger nails is a bad habit • Studying in groups is a good thing to consider. • What you said yesterday shocked all of us. • The empty/dummy ‘it’ as a subject: • This type of it is semantically empty and does not refer to any object; examples:

6. SUBJECT • Empty ‘it’ as subject • It rains heavily in October in Ghana • It is too cold here • It is too late to go out • It is a long journey • anticipatory ‘it’ • It surprised everybody that he failed. • It is easy to forget your keys • It’s a pity we can not buy you a common drink • Existential ‘There’ as a subject; examples: • There is someone in your room. • There is a man in my life. • There are too many people in his class

7. The subject • Adverbial Ph as subject: • Now is the time for action • Here is better • Adjectival head: • The poor need support. • The handicapped are left out in most national policies.

8. The verb • The verb describes the action in the sentence. • It plays very important roles in the sentences: • It helps identify the subject of the sentence • The nature of the verb determines whether what comes after it is an object or a complement • By its nature a verb may be intensive, intransitive, monotransitive, complex transitive, or ditransitive (to be explored later under complementation)

9. The Object • Always placed after the verb and indicates the entity that feels the impact of the action of the verb • They follow a transitive verb • 2 types of objects: • Direct object • Indirect object; examples: • They sent us gifts • Kwame showed his friends his house • You gave me your work

10. Object • They sent us gifts What action did they do? Who benefited from the action? • Kwame showed his friends his house What action did Kwame perform? Who benefitted from the action? • You gave me your work What action did you perform Who benefitted

11. Object • The direct object feels the immediate action of the verb: • they sent gifts, • He showed his house • The indirect object is the beneficiary of the action: • Us, his friends, me • The direct object can be used without the indirect object, but the indirect object can hardly be used without a direct object • You must drink something • I like mangoes • Indirect objects are always animates • You gave the table your book? • The indirect object can have an optional prepositional paraphrase, which functions as a prepositional object

12. Objects • Indirect objects/prepositional object • They sent us gifts • They sent gifts to us. • Kwame showed his friends his house • Kwame showed his house to his friends • You gave me your work • You gave your work to me • You bought us gifts • You bought gifts for us

13. Objects • Following can function as objects: • Mostly NPs: we gave you our names • A nominal clause: they like what you said; I knew that you were coming • Identify the type of object in the following: • They said something • We bought them water as well. • They gave everybody a variety of items • You showed him the room

14. Compare • Observe the relationship between the subject and the item that follows the verb and explain your observation • They make enough money • We share the same ideas • It sounds interesting • They sounded the alarm • You have grown tall • They grow tomatoes • They kept quiet • I kept themoney. • What do you think accounts for the change in the relationship

15. Complements • The ff verbs are the English copula/ linking verb • Be; Look; Feel; Taste; Smell; Sound; Seem; Appear; Get; Become; Grow; Stay; Keep; Turn; Prove; Go; Remain; appear, find, • Categories put after these verbs usually perform complement functions; they refer back to items that precede them • Complements refer back to other items already mentioned to complete them; example: • He is handsome • You are my king • She became a lecturer • He got crazy • They smell nice • They made him their leader • We consider you our friend • one difference between complements and objects is that, whereas objects are found after transitive verbs, complements are placed after copula verbs

16. Complements • 2 types of complement: • Subject complements; and • Object complements • Subj comps refer back to the subject to qualify it • The prototypical/archetypal complement that follows the copula verb • He is kind • My mother sounds interesting • Your friend looks funny • He appears weird • They became committed • We remained speechless

17. Complements • Some complements, however, make comments about the object; example: • We made you our friend. • We found it useful • We will appoint him our leader • These are called object complements • Object complements refer back to objects to give additional qualities. • Objects that are complemented usually follow following special verbs: find, elect, appoint, make, consider; examples: • I find him interesting • We elected him our leader • We made you somebody

18. Complements • Items that can function as complements include • NPs; examples • We made him our leader • You aremy king • He turned atraitor • An Adjectival phrase; examples: • We are innocent • I find your friend very boring • He doesn’t sound convincing • Nominal clauses; examples: • The point is that you are lying • The crucial question is why he did it • The truth is that we lost him • The fact is we are leaving now

19. Adjuncts (adverbials) • Adjunct/adverbials are optional elements in the clause that add extra info (frequency, place, time, reason, etc) • Unlike other elements, there can be more than 1 adjunct in a clause: • On the other hand, we actually meant to give you freely all the support you need in this circumstance • Adjuncts are mobile elements in the structure of the clause • Use the adjuncts ‘unfortunately’ ‘immediately’ in a sentence • They can be initially placed, medially placed and finally placed

20. Types of Adjunct • Adjuncts are grouped into 3 main classes depending on their functions in the clause: • Circumstantial adjuncts • Stance adjuncts; and • Connective adjuncts • Circumstantials: provide details about the action or state described by the verb (time, place, manner, degree, frequency, direction) • Examples of circumstantial adjuncts: • They came early we have met already • We visit very often they spoke gently • They went into the room • We are in Liman Hostel

21. Types of Adjuncts • Stance adjuncts: express a speaker’s evaluation or comment about the message. They are often set apart from the clause: • Coincidentally, we met at the entrance of the hotel • Interestingly, we had earlier agreed to meet in the garden • They bumped into the meeting accidentally • Certainly we will not allow them to take us for granted. • Someone is definitely going to be punished • Other examples • obviously, undoubtedly, incidentally, apparently, initially, honestly, frankly speaking, unfortunately, surely, broadly speaking, supposedly, in fact, in reality, by any chance, to be frank with you, strictly speaking,

22. Types of Adjuncts • Connective adjuncts: connectors which signal a speaker’s indication of transitions or logical connections • Meanings they express may be additive, contrast, causal, temporal • He is a motivational speaker and furthermore a great evangelist. • Students are on strike; nevertheless, examinations will not be cancelled • He has been wrongly accused by his friends. Consequently, he has decided to have nothing to do with them again. • However, we will conduct a test. • Besides, they did not give us enough notification. • Finally, English is foundational to many professions

23. Adjuncts • Items that can function as adjuncts • An Adverbial phrase • However, we patiently waited for you • He shouted quite loudly • Alternatively, we can postpone the meeting • We are almost late • It is enough for everybody • A prepositional phrase • We saw him in his car • In fact, we don’t want to see your face • The man in the room is my husband • A noun phrase • The next day, we met with him • Last night, we saw light in his office • We will be here next year • A clause • Frankly speaking, I am no longer interested • Be that as it may, we are determined to get an A • To be frank with you, you disappoint us

24. To read for next week: clauses – classification, verbal types – finite/ non-finite