CRITERIA FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF CLAUSE ELEMENTS
Realizations of clausal elements
As participants, Objects, like the Subject, are typically realized by NGs and answer questions with who, what or which, as in What did they carry?
Complements of the Subject or Object can be realized by adjectives such as useful (7a and 7b) or by an NG (a student) (8a and 8b).
Circumstantial Adjuncts are realized by PPs (drive on the left) or AdvGs (drive slowly). They generally answer questions with where, when, how, why? as in Where does he work? How did it happen?
These are the typical options. We must be aware, however, that with the exception of the Predicator, there is no one-to-one correspondence between class of unit and syntactic function in English. While the Predicator is always realized by a verbal group, the other functions display a considerable range of possible realizations. The versatility of the language is such that almost any group or clause can realize these functions and that each function can be realized by different classes of unit.
In the following pages, the realizations are arranged in order of typicality. The more exact word prototypical is sometimes used, for something that shows most of the characteristics of its type, and is therefore a good example of the type or function, and non-prototypical for something that is a less good example. For instance, a nominal group is a prototypical realization of the Subject function, while a prepositional phrase is non-prototypical in subject function.
