Clause: a unit of syntax consisting of several phrases, including at least a subject and a predicate. Clauses are the building blocks of sentences, although they can also be constituents of phrases (see the discussion below). Clauses have the structure subject + predicate. The subject is the topic of discussion that the particular sentence focuses on -- this is very often a topic or subtopic of the conversation or text from which a sentence is drawn. Consider this little text, which consists of three clauses:
 

My mother	works for IBM.	She	is the personnel manager at their San Jose facility
subject	predicate	sbj.	predicate
Her office	has its own bathroom
subject	predicate

We can say that the general topic of this text, the main person or thing under discussion, is 'my mother'. An expression referring to her -- 'my mother' in the first clause, 'she' in the second -- is the subject of the first two clauses. Notice how the rest of each clause -- the predicate -- gives a comment: some information about the topic. The predicate of the first clause tells where she works; the predicate of the second tells what her position is. The third clause has a different, but related subject: we know from our knowledge of the world that a manager in a major company is likely to have an office of her own. So a subtopic, 'her office' occurs in the third clause. Notice that the predicate of that third clause, has its own bathroom, gives a comment about the office.

Notice that our definition of subject is different from the one offered by traditional grammar, which defines subject as the clause element which performs the action of the verb. This is a typical definition for subject, but it is only accurate in certain types of clauses. Not all clauses involve action; and sometimes the topic of our conversation is not the performer of the verb's action. For example:

a. Carlos resembles his grandfather.

b. Two students were injured at the football game last night.

c. Oversleeping yesterday saved my life. My carpool mates had a terrible crash.

Sentence a. does not involve any action: Carlos isn't 'doing' anything; he just possesses certain physical traits. In sentence b, there is action -- injuries happen -- but the sentence is about the people who suffered the injury, not the thing that caused the injury. The cause of the injury isn't even mentioned in the sentence. In sentence c., there is also no action in the verb 'save': it refers to a situation in which 'I' did not die.

Clause elements (building blocks of clause structure)

Functions of phrases within clauses

These terms name functions or roles played by syntactic units inside a clause. The units which can play these roles are either phrases or clauses.

Subject - a topic of discussion, about which the predicate makes a comment. May be a NP or a subordinate clause. It is usually given information, that is, information that is already known to all the particpants in the communication.

Predicate - makes a comment about the subject. Will always include a verb, although the verb may or may not be tense-marked (see finite/nonfinite, below). The predicate may contain additional elements that modify the verb or subject: NPs, PPs, APs, AdvPs, or subordinate clauses. New information is usually contained in the predicate, especially in the last position. Most predicates contain some given and some new information (new information is information that only the speaker knows, and wishes to communicate to the other people involved in the communication event.)

Sentence-level adverbial - This is an adverbial phrase that makes a comment on the whole sentence, not just a part of it. It is often an evaluative comment. One characteristic of sentence-level adverbials is that they can move around. They may be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. In the following examples, the sentence adverbial is in italics.

 

Unfortunately,	your mother's condition has worsened.
sentence adverbial	sentence

Your mother's condition has unfortunately worsened.

Your mother's condition has worsened, unfortunately.

Your friend obviously doesn't really want to come to your party.

Your friend doesn't really want to come to your party, obviously.

Sentences with sentence-level adverbials can often be paraphrased thus:

It is unfortunate that your mother's condition has worsened.

It is obvious that your friend doesn't really want to come to your party.

Or thus:

That your mother's condition has worsened is unfortunate.

That your friend doesn't really want to come to your party is obvious.

Sentences with adverbials within the predicate cannot be paraphrased in these ways:

He carefully inserted the key into the lock. 'Carefully' is in the predicate, modifying the verb, not the whole sentence. (* means that a native speaker would reject the sentence.)

* It was careful that he inserted the key into the lock.

* That he inserted the key into the lock was careful.

Predicate Roles

The predicate of a sentence may contain elements in addition to the verb. These constituents fulfill various grammatical roles which can, at least in basic, prototypical cases, be defined on the basis of the meaning of the sentence.

Direct object - this is present in a sentence that portrays an action or event with two or more participants, in which at least two participants are named. The direct object is the person or thing that the action of the verb is directed towards. A direct object may be a NP or a subordinate clause.
 

I	ate	a large pizza.
NP	V	NP
(names participant #1: doer of eating action)	action	(names participant #2: undergoer of eating action {the pizza got eaten})
subject		direct object
The pilot	saw	a UFO.
NP	V	NP
(names participant #1: doer of seeing)		(names participant #2: undergoerof seeing {the UFO was seen})
subject		direct object

Indirect object - this is present in a sentence that portrays a three-way action or event: there are at least three participants. The indirect object is the expression that names the participant who benefits from the action, or who receives the direct object, or who is indirectly affected by the verb's action. An indirect object may be a NP or a subordinate clause.
 

My agent	found	me	a job.
NP	V	NP	NP
names participant #1: did the finding	action	names participant #3: benefitted from the action (got the job)	names participant #2: is the thing that was found
subject	verb	INDIRECT OBJECT	direct object
The Mustangs	gave	the Grizzlies	a serious beating.
NP	V	NP	NP
names participant #1: did the giving	action	names participant #3: got the beating	names participant #2: what was given
subject	verb	INDIRECT OBJECT	direct object
Susan	sent	her girlfriend	a birthday card.
NP	V	NP	NP
names participant #1: did the sending	action	action names participant #3: got the card	names participant #2: was sent
subject	verb	INDIRECT OBJECT	direct object
My husband	made	the baby	some mashed carrots.
NP	V	NP	NP
names participant #1: did the making	action	names participant #3: got the carrots	names participant #2: were made
subject	verb	INDIRECT OBJECT	direct object

There is a failsafe test for indirect objects: if you can express the same role with a PP using 'to' or 'for' placed after the direct object, you have an indirect object. I call this the 'to-for test'. Examples:

My agent found a job for me.
The Mustangs gave a serious beating to the Grizzlies.
Susan sent a letter to her girlfriend.
My husband made some mashed carrots for the baby.
 

Subject complement - this is an expression that occurs after the verb, but describes the subject of the sentence. The meaning of the subject complement is tied to the subject. In traditional grammar, these are called predicate nominatives when they are NPs and predicate adjectives when they are APs.
 

My father	was	a dentist.
NP	V	NP
subject		describes my father subject complement  (predicate nominative)
The horses	are	very beautiful.
NP	V	AP
subject		describes the horses subject complement (predicate adjective)

Object complement - This also occurs after the verb, but it describes the direct object. (Sentences with subject complements do not have direct objects.)
 

We	consider	her	the best candidate for the job.
NP	V	NP	NP
subject		direct object	describes 'her' (object complement)
I	found	the new guy	very handsome
NP	V	NP	AP
subject		direct object	describes 'the new guy' (object complement)

 

Adverbial - Provides descriptive information about either the verb's action, or the whole sentence. Phrases or clauses can be adverbials; the phrases can be PPs (not all adverbials are adverbs!!) or AdvPs. Adverbials answer questions like when, why, in what manner, in what way or fashion, how, where. It is not uncommon to have several adverbials in a sentence, giving various types of information.
 

We	crushed	grapes	in the wooden tub.
NP	V	NP	PP
subject		direct object	adverbial (tells where the  crushing took place)
We	stomped	on the grapes	fiercely.
NP	V	PP	AdvP
subject		adverbial (tells where we  stomped)	adverbial (tells how we stomped)

Kinds of clauses: Finite and nonfinite

Finite: 'Finite' in grammar means 'tied to a particular time that is known in relationship to the moment of speaking or writing'. A finite clause has a tense marker in it: a main verb or helping verb that indicates, through a suffix or through its form, the time at which the event, action, or state took place. When you hear a finite clause, you can tell whether the event described by the clause happened before the moment the clause is said (past), or is true at the moment the clause is said (present) or is going to happen after the clause is said (future).

Examples:

Marla has written her essay for the grad school application.

Has written tells us that the action took place before the clause was spoken/written.

Americans vote for President every four years on the first Tuesday in November.

The form of the verb vote tells us that this statement is true at the time the clause was spoken/written.

The redwoods will be clearcut starting tomorrow.

Will be clearcut tells us that the event has not happened yet.

I would have called him this morning, but my cellphone is on the fritz.

The presence of have after would and the'-ed' ending on call tell us that this is a hypothetical statement about the past. If we change it to would call , we understand that it is a hypothetical statement about the present or future.

Notice that tense sometimes is shown by the main verb if it is alone ( as with vote), and sometimes by a helping verb (an auxiliary verb) such as has in has written and will in will be clearcut.

Nonfinite: If finite means 'tied to a particular time that is known in relationship to the moment of speaking or writing', then nonfinite must be its opposite: 'NOT tied to a particular time that is known in relationship to the moment of speaking or writing'. A nonfinite clause has a subject and a predicate, but no tense indicator: we may be able to tell whether a process or finished act is talked about, but we can't necessarily tell when it took place. Nonfinite clauses play the same roles as phrases in sentences: they can be subject, adverbial, direct object, etc.

Examples:

a. I see Mary eating strawberries.

b. I saw Mary eating strawberries.

c. I will see Mary eating strawberries.

Mary eating strawberries has the structure of a clause: a subject (Mary), and a predicate consisting of a verb + direct object (eating strawberries), which gives some detail about Mary. Yet nothing in this clause ties it to a particular moment in time. Sentence a. puts the event of strawberry-eating in the present; sentence b. puts it in the past, and sentence c. puts it in the future. The placement in time of the strawberry-eating event is indicated by something else in the sentence: the form of the verb see. The nonfinite clause Mary eating strawberries appears inside of another clause in all three sentences, a., b., and c. For instance, the structure of a. is:

I see Mary eating strawberries. The subject is I, and the predicate is see Mary eating strawberries.Mary eating strawberries is the direct object of see, just as your brother is direct object in a sentence like I see your brother over there in the parking lot.

Notice, too, that Mary eating strawberries can't be a sentence by itself in formal English, e.g. *Mary eating strawberries by the pool. In informal English, this might be said alone as an answer to a question (e.g., What do you see?), but in formal writing it would be considered a fragment.

The following sentences are similar:

a. We heard the tree fall / the tree falling.

b. I hear the tree falling.

c. The loggers are at work -- in five minutes you will hear the tree falling / the tree fall.

Notice that if the nonfinite clause were to stand alone as a sentence, we would need a tense marker in the clause, on the verb or on a helping verb: The tree falls; the tree fell, the tree is falling.

Independent (main) and dependent (subordinate) clauses are discussed in the section on sentences.

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