Sentence Patterns from a Functional Perspective

By jcreator الاثنين، 3 ديسمبر 2012

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Sentence Patterns from a Functional Perspective

FORM AND FUNCTION PAGE 8/9

In order to summarise what we have learned, we will now look at some typical sentence patterns from a functional perspective. We will then conclude this section by looking at some untypical patterns, on the next page. As we've seen, the Subject is usually (but not always) the first element in a sentence, and it is followed by the verb: Pattern 1 Subject Verb David The dog Susan sings barked yawned In this pattern, the verb is not followed by any Object, and we refer to this as an intransitive verb. If the verb is monotransitive, it takes a Direct Object, which follows the verb: Pattern 2 Subject Verb Direct Object David The professor The jury sings wants found ballads to retire the defendant guilty   In the ditransitive pattern, the verb is followed by an Indirect Object and a Direct Object, in that order: Pattern 3 Subject Verb Indirect Object Direct Object The old man My uncle The detectives  gave sent asked the children me Amy some money a present lots of questions Adjuncts are syntactically peripheral to the rest of the sentence. They may occur at the beginning and at the end of a sentence, and they may occur in all three of the patterns above: Pattern 4 (Adjunct) Subject Verb Indirect Object Direct Object (Adjunct) [1] Usually David sings     in the bath [2] Unfortunately the professor wants   to retire this year [3] At the start of the trial the judge showed the jury the photographs in a private chamber Pattern 4 is essentially a conflation of the other three, with Adjuncts added. We have bracketed the Adjuncts to show that they are optional. Strictly speaking, Objects are also optional, since they are only required by monotransitive and ditransitive verbs, as in the examples [2] and [3] above. Match the sentences to the patterns: 1. The wall collapsed A. Subject -- Verb B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct) 2. During the war, many people lost their homes A. Subject -- Verb B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct) 3. I promised the children a trip to the zoo A. Subject -- Verb B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct) 4. When he was 12, David moved to London A. Subject -- Verb B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct) 5. Paul hired a bicycle A. Subject -- Verb B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct) ...