CLASSES OF UNITS
At each rank of grammatical unit, there are various classes of unit.
Classes of clauses
A. Finite and non-finite clauses
At the rank of ‘clause’, a first distinction to be made is that between finite and non- finite clauses. As clauses have as their central element the verbal group, their status as finite or non-finite depends on the form of the verb chosen. Finite verbs, and therefore also finite clauses, are marked for either tense or modality, but not both. Their function is to relate the verb to the speech event. Tensed forms distinguish the present tense (lock, locks) from the past tense (locked) in regular verbs and many irregular verbs also, as in eat, ate; go, went. This distinction is not made on all irregular verbs, for example shut, which has the same form for the present and past tenses. Person and number are marked only on the third person singular of the present tense (locks, shuts) – except for the verb be, which has further forms.
Tense is carried not only by lexical verbs but also by the finite operators. Modality is marked by the modal verbs, which also function as operators. If the speaker wishes to express tense or modality, together with person and number, a ‘finite’ form of the verb is chosen, therefore, such as is, eats, locked, went, will stay and the clause is then called a finite clause (fin.cl). For example, in the following paragraph all the verbs – and therefore all the clauses (marked 1, 2 etc.) – are finite:
ǀǀI had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong hills.ǀǀ1 ǀǀǀThe Equator runs across these highlands a hundred miles to the north,ǀǀ2 and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. 3ǀǀǀ In the daytime you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, 4ǀǀ but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, 5ǀǀ and the nights were cold. 6ǀǀǀ
(Karen Blixen, Out of Africa)
If the verb-form does not signal either tense or modality, the verb and the clause are classified as non-finite (V-non-fin; non-fin.cl). The non-finite verb forms are:
• the infinitive (inf.) (be, eat, lock, go) sometimes called the ‘bare’ infinitive;
• the to-infinitive (to-inf); to be, to eat, to lock, to go
• the participial –ing form (-ing) (being, eating, locking, going); and
• the past participial form, symbolized as -en (been, eaten, locked, gone).
These forms are said to be non-tensed. Non-finite clauses are illustrated by the following examples:
They want to hire a caravan. to-infinitive clause
Tim helped her carry her bags upstairs. bare infinitive clause
We found Ann sitting in the garden. -ing participial clause
The invitations were sent written by hand. -en participial clause
The past participial type is illustrated in the following extract from Severin Carrel in The Guardian:
Had she been born,1 Tian Tian’s cub would have spent her life denied freedom, besieged by a constant onslaught of visitors, separated from her mother, shunted from one zoo to another, artificially inseminated and treated as a commodity.2
1 The structure Had + subject + Past participle is an alternative to the conditional clause with ‘if’ ‘If she had been born’.
2 The same forms serve for both the finite and non-finite status of many English verbs; denied and besieged, and the other verbs here, can all function both as a tensed (past) form and as a non-finite -en participle.
B. Independent and dependent clauses
A further necessary distinction to be made is that between independent and dependent clauses. An independent clause (indep.cl) is complete in itself, that is, it does not form part of a larger structure, whereas a dependent clause (dep.cl) is typically related to an independent clause. This is illustrated in the following sentence:
They locked up the house (indep.cl), before they went on holiday (dep.cl).
All grammatically independent clauses are finite. Dependent clauses may be finite or non-finite. In the previous example, the finite dependent clause before they went on holiday can be replaced by a non-finite clause before going on holiday. The dependent status of non-finite clauses is signalled by the form itself.
Only independent clauses have the variations in clause structure that make for the different clause types: declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamative:
Jack’s flat is in Hammersmith. (declarative)
Is his address 20 Finchley Road? (interrogative)
Give me Jack’s telephone number. (imperative)
What a large apartment he has! (exclamative)
Dependent clauses, even when finite, do not have these possibilities.
C. Finite dependent clauses
Seven kinds of finite dependent clause are illustrated, along with three important sub-types of the nominal clause.
The subordinate status of a finite dependent clause is normally signalled by means of subordinating conjunctions (‘subordinators’) such as when, if, before, as soon as in circumstantial clauses, as in 1 below, or by ‘relativisers’ such as which, that in relative clauses as in 2:
1 As soon as she got home, Ann switched on the television.
2 Paul took one of the red apples that his wife had bought that morning.
Nominal clauses fulfil the functions of Subject, Object and Complement in clause structure. In a sentence such as He saw that the bottles were empty, the clause [that the bottles were empty] is embedded as a constituent (in this case as Object) of the superordinate clause he saw x. The part without the embedded clause is sometimes called the matrix clause.
The main types of nominal clause are the that-clause 3, the wh-nominal relative clause 4 and the dependent wh-interrogative clause 4 and 5. The dependent exclamative 6 is a further type of wh-clause:
3 He saw that the bottles were empty. (that-clause)
4 What I don’t understand is why you have come here. (nominal relative clause + dependent wh-interrogative)
5 I’ll ask where the nearest Underground station is. (dependent wh-interrogative)
6 She said how comfortable it was. (dependent exclamative clause)
Comparative clauses occur following the comparative forms of adjectives and adverbs. The comparative clause, introduced by than, provides the basis of comparison:
7 The results are much better than we expected.
Supplementive units are not integrated into the main clause, as embedded units are, but add supplementary information. They are subordinate but not embedded. They are set off from the main clause by commas, or by a dash, and have their own intonation contour. Here is an example of a supplementive non-finite -en clause:
Rescued in 1970 from the path of highway construction, the house was moved to a new site and donated to the National Trust.
In spoken discourse, and in written texts that imitate spoken language, such as fictional dialogue, we can often come across supplementives that are freestanding, despite their subordinate form:
The large size doesn’t seem to be available. Which is a pity.
Not only clauses, but other units can have the status of ‘supplementives’.
A subsidiary type of clause is the verbless clause. This is a clause which lacks a verb and often a subject also. The omitted verb is typically a form of be and is recover able from the situational or linguistic context, as in:
Book your tickets well in advance, whenever possible. (= whenever it is possible)
The following extract from Elaine Morgan’s, The Descent of Woman illustrates this type very well:
Man, apes and monkeys can all be observed to cry out when in pain, flush when enraged, yawn when tired, glare when defiant, grin when tickled, tremble when afraid, embrace when affectionate, bare their teeth when hostile, raise their eyebrows when surprised, and turn their heads away when offended.
We shall also classify as verbless clauses many irregular constructions such as the following:
Wh-questions without a finite verb: Why not sell your car and get a new one?
Adjuncts with the force of a command, Hands off! Into the shelter, everybody!
sometimes with a vocative:
Ellipted interrogative and exclamative Sure? (Are you sure?) Fantastic!
clauses: (That/It is fantastic)
Proverbs of the type: Out of sight, out of mind.
Finally, we shall call abbreviated clauses those such as can you? I won’t, has she? which consist of the Subject + Finite operator alone, with the rest of the clause ellipted because it is known. These clauses typically occur as responses in conversational exchanges and as tags, but can also express such speech acts as reprimand (Must you?), given an appropriate social context.
