Subjects and Objects, Active and Passive, Indirect object, Realisations of indirect object, Adjuncts
A useful way to compare Subjects and Direct Objects is to observe how they behave in active and passive sentences. Consider the following active sentence:
Active: Fire destroyed the palace
Here we have a Subject fire and a Direct Object the palace.
Now let's convert this into a passive sentence:
The change from active to passive has the following results:
1. The active Direct Object the palace becomes the passive Subject
2. The active Subject fire becomes part of the PP by fire (the by-agent phrase).
Some verbs occur with two Objects:
We gave [John] [a present]
Here, the NP a present undergoes the "action" (a present is what is given). So a present is the Direct Object. We refer to the NP John as the INDIRECT OBJECT.
Indirect Objects usually occur with a Direct Object, and they always come before the Direct Object. The typical pattern is:
Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object
Here are some more examples of sentences containing two objects:
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Indirect Object
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Direct Object
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Tell
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me
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a story
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He showed
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us
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his war medals
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We bought
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David
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a birthday cake
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Can you lend
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your colleague
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a pen?
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Verbs which take an Indirect Object and a Direct Object are known as DITRANSITIVE verbs. Verbs which take only a Direct Object are called MONOTRANSITIVE verbs. The verb tell is a typical ditransitive verb, but it can also be monotransitive:
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Indirect Object
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Direct Object
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Ditransitive
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David told
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the children
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a story
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Monotransitive
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David told
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a story
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As we've seen, an Indirect Object usually co-occurs with a Direct Object. However, with some verbs an Indirect Object may occur alone:
David told the children
although we can usually posit an implicit Direct Object in such cases:
David told the children the news
NPs are the most common realisations of the Indirect Object. It is a typical function of pronouns in the objective case, such as me, him, us, and them.
Less commonly, a clause will function as Indirect Object:
David told whoever saw her to report to the police
Certain parts of a sentence may convey information about how, when, or where something happened:
He ate his meal quickly (how)
David gave blood last week (when)
Susan went to school in New York (where)
The highlighted constituents here are ADJUNCTS. From a syntactic point of view, Adjuncts are optional elements, since their omission still leaves a complete sentence:
He ate his meal quickly ~He ate his meal
David gave blood last week ~David gave blood
Susan went to school in New York ~Susan went to school
Many types of constituents can function as Adjuncts, and we exemplify these below.
Noun Phrases functioning as Adjuncts
David gave blood last week
Next summer, we're going to Spain
We've agreed to meet the day after tomorrow
NPs as Adjuncts generally refer to time, as in these examples.
Adverb Phrases functioning as Adjuncts
They ate their meal too quickly
She walked very gracefully down the steps
Suddenly, the door opened
Prepositional Phrases functioning as Adjuncts
Susan went to school in New York
I work late on Mondays
After work, I go to a local restaurant
PPs as Adjuncts generally refer to time or to place -- they tell us when or where something happens.
Clauses functioning as Adjuncts
Subordinate clauses can function as Adjuncts. We'll begin with some examples of finite subordinate clauses:
Clauses
functioning as
Adjuncts
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EXAMPLES
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Finite
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While we were crossing the park, we heard a loud explosion
I was late for the interview because the train broke down
If you want tickets for the concert, you have to apply early
My car broke down, so I had to walk
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Nonfinite
To-infinitive clause
Bare infinitive clause
-ing clause
-ed clause
Small clause
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To open the window, you have to climb a ladder
Rather than leave the child alone, I brought him to work with me
Being a qualified plumber, Paul had no difficulty in finding the leak
Left to himself, he usually gets the job done quickly
His face red with rage, John stormed out of the room
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You will notice that these clauses express the range of meanings that we looked at earlier (in Subordinate Clauses: Semantic Types). In all cases, notice also that the Adjuncts express additional and optional information. If they are omitted, the remaining clause is still syntactically complete.
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