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 their spokesperson in 4 the same as that between students and useful tips 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 Nominal clause as subject
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 anticipatory ‘it’
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: Adjectival head:
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 the money.
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 are my king
He turned a traitor
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