Syntactic analysis | Direct Objects

Syntactic analysis

Grammatical Functions 2:

 Direct Objects

 

Direct Object

 

 In addition to Subject, Predicate, and Predicator, the Direct Object is another syntactic function label for an element of clause structure. How can this function be characterized?

 

 In semantic terms, a Direct Object is the constituent that refers to an entity that undergoes the activity or process denoted by the Predicator (typically, a verb). This characterization of the Direct Object is done in terms of the kind of semantic role it plays in a sentence or clause. In the same way that a Subject typically plays an ‘agent’ (i.e., instigator) role, a Direct Object has a ‘patient’ role, i.e., the referent of the constituent that is identified as Direct Object typically undergoes the action or process denoted by the Predicator.

 

 Although this semantic characterization is useful in that it enables us to find the Direct Object of a sentence, we also need to define it syntactically, i.e., in terms of its structural properties.

Structural properties of the Direct Object:

(i)                (Like the Subject), the Direct Object is often a Noun Phrase (though not exclusively).

(ii)              Its usual position is usually after the main Predicator.

(iii)            The Direct Object is a constituent that is closely related to the Predicator that precedes it. The Direct Object completes the meaning of the Predicator that precedes it. The Direct object functions as a complement to the Predicator. Its presence is required by the Predicator that precedes it.

 

 Predicators that require Direct Objects to complement their meanings are transitive. Not all  Predicators are transitive. There are also intransitive Predicators, ones that do not require a following DO to complete their meaning. Compare (44)-(47) to (48)-52) on page (16). The Predicators in (44)-(47) are transitive and require the presence of appropriate Direct Objects; leaving out Direct Objects causes those sentences to be ill-formed. By contrast, the sentences in (48)-(52) are well-formed because they include intransitive Predicators, which do not require or exclude the presence of Direct Objects.

 

 Some Predicators can function both as transitive and intransitive. For example,

1. “move”: “move 1” (transitive): ‘displace’; “move 2” (intransitive): ‘change position’.
2. “walk”: “walk” 1 (transitive): ‘to take an animal for a walk’; “walk 2” (intransitive): ‘to move along on foot in a natural way’

In each case, we have two different Predicators. See the examples in (53 a-b) - (54 a-b) on page (17).

By contrast, Predicators such as “read” and “eat” are not analyzed as two different Predicators, one transitive and the other intransitive in each case. See the examples in (55a-b) and (56 a-b). Rather, they are analyzed as transitive Predicators with an implicit Direct Object in the (b) sentences.

 

(iv)            Another structural property of the Direct Object is that if we turn an active sentence into a passive sentence, the Direct Object of the active sentence becomes the Subject of the passive sentence. Furthermore, the Subject of the active sentence ends up in a phrase introduced by the word ‘by’. 

Notice: In each of  passive sentences a form of the verb "be" has appeared.

Consider the examples in (57)-(60) on pages (17-18).