Clauses and their parts

Question 1

The central part of the clause is the predicate verb, which specifies what kind of event or state we are talking or writing about. In the following clauses, the predicate verb is highlighted.

(1) The boys gathered in the street.
(2) The road had been blocked by a tree.
(3) Several accidents had occurred during the afternoon.

List the predicate …

Notice that the predicate verb may consist of more than one word. Thus, the term ‘predicate verb’ does not denote a special subclass of the word class ‘verb’, but specifies a role or function that a part of the clause has.

Answer 1

Gathered
Had been blocked
had occurred

Question 2

Boys gathered in the street.

To identify the subject, it often helps to formulate a question based on what general situation the clause is about. Thus, the first clause above is about someone gathering somewhere. To find the subject, we ask a question like ‘…. gathered somewhere?’. The answer is ‘boys’, which thus functions as the subject of the clause.

Notice that the subject can consist of many words, as in the second example.
E.g. All the boys gathered in the street.

Answer 2

Who

Question 3

We mixed the two liquids in a test glass

To identify the object, we can ask a question of the general type ‘…./… did the subject Verb?’ Applied to the first example above, the question would be: ‘What did we mix?’
The answer is ‘the two liquids’ which thus functions as the object of the sentence. The presence or absence of objects is determined by the …..

Answer 3

What/Who

verb

Question 4

The presence or absence of objects is determined by the verb. Thus, some verbs (transitive verbs) require the presence of an object, while others (intransitive verbs) do not. 
Some verbs (ditransitive verbs) require two objects. In the following clause the two objects are highlighted.

The new law gave the government full control over the banks.

They are….

Answer 4

Government - indirect object

full control over the bank - direct object

Question 5

The indirect object can also be in the form of a prepositional phrase, in which case the direct object precedes the indirect object, as in:
She sent some documents to the professor.

Indirect object is …

Answer 5

to the professor

Question 6

Subject predicatives, i.e. predicatives which ascribe properties to the subject.

E.g.

• Bill is a mathematician.
• The results were somewhat surprising.
• Several of the members in the control group seemed surprised.
• Over time, the impact of the discovery became more and more obvious.

List the subject predicatives

Answer 6

A mathematician
somewhat surprising
surprised
more and more obvious

Question 7

The following example illustrate cases where the predicative ascribes a property to the object.

• Everyone considers James a promising mathematician.
• The research team all found the results some what surprising.

List the object predicatives

Answer 7

a promising mathematician

somewhat surprising