SPOCA - Syntactic Analysis | Indirect object - Adjunct

Syntactic Analysis 

Grammatical Functions 2:

 Indirect Object, Adjunct 

 

 The Indirect Object is another Grammatical Function; it is another type of verbal complement. The typical role associated with Indirect Object is Goal/Receiver or Beneficiary. Predicators such as “give”, “send”, “lend”, “tell” take a Direct Object and an Indirect Object; they are characterized as ‘ditransitive’. These are illustrated by the examples in (61)-(64) on page 19.

 

 In addition to this semantic property, Indirect Objects have syntactic characteristics:

(i)                They are usually Noun Phrases.

(ii)              They cannot occur without a following Direct Object. This is illustrated by the ill-formed examples in (65)-(68) on page 19.

(iii)            Indirect Objects always precede Direct Objects, as shown by the ill-formed sentences in (69) - (72) on page (19). These ill-formed sentences can be repaired by adding the preposition ‘to’. This is shown by the examples in (73)-(76) on page (20).

(iv)            Like Direct Objects, Indirect Objects can become the Subjects of passive sentences. This is illustrated by the sentences in (77)-(80) on page (20).

 

 When the Direct Objects become the Subjects of passive sentences, the Indirect Objects end up in phrases beginning with ‘to’. This is illustrated by the examples in (81)-(84).

The generalization is that if we passivize the Direct Object of a sentence which also contains an Indirect Object, then the Indirect Object ends up in a to – phrase.

 

1.5 Adjunct

 

 A final Grammatical Function that a constituent may fulfil is that of Adjunct. Constituents functioning as Adjuncts express circumstances of manner (how), time (when), place (where), and reason (why) of the situations denoted by Predicators.

 

 One important characteristic of Adjuncts is that they are always optional (unlike complements) and express peripheral information. This is illustrated by the examples in (85)-(88) on page (20).

 

 Another important characteristic of Adjuncts is that they can be ‘stacked’, which means that more than one Adjunct can appear in a sentence. We can illustrate this property by adding one more Adjunct to the examples in (85)-(88).

 

-         Much to our surprise, the bus stopped suddenly.

-         Shakespeare wrote his plays a long time ago over a long period of time.

-         He hates maths strongly because he can’t understand it.

 

 Finally, Adjuncts are mobile, i.e. they can change position in the sentence. We can move the Adjuncts in the sentences in (85)-(88) to different positions.

-         Suddenly, the bus stopped.

-         A long time ago, Shakespeare wrote his plays.

-         Because he can’t understand it, he hates maths.

 Notice, though, that the position between the Predicator and the Direct Object is excluded. In (86) and (88), if we put the Adjuncts between the Predicators and the Direct Objects, the resulting sentences are ill-formed.

*Shakespeare wrote a long time ago his plays.

*He hates because he can’t understand it maths.