Clause Components - A Special Emphasis on Adverbials

So far we have discussed about the structure of a sentence and we learnt that 'clause' is the fundamental unit of a sentence.

In our previous posts, we have also learnt what is a clause and what is its functionalities.

Today, we will discuss about the various components of a 'Clause'.

As in the picture shown above, the five basic components of a clause are :

1. Subject
2. Verb
3. Object
4. Complement
5. Adverbial

We have already discussed about the initial four components - Subject, Verb, Object and Complement. So, we will not go in details about that in this discussion. You may please refer to the previous posts. Today we will concentrate on 'Adverbial'.

Adverbial : 

Adverbials are the words or phrases that answer questions such as :

a. Where ?  -- answer could be 'here', 'down the lane' etc.

b. When ? -- answer could be 'later', 'after a few days' etc.

c. How ? -- answer could be 'slowly', 'with great difficulty' etc.

d. Why ? -- answer could be 'for the sake of safety', 'because of illegal practice' etc.

Examples :

a. Maria is living on her savings.

In the above example:
Subject : Maria
Verb : Is Living
Object : x
Complement : x
Adverbial : On Her Savings  -- Here the adverbial answers the 'How' part.

b. She placed her notebook on the table.

In the second example,
Subject: She
Verb: Placed
Object : Her Notebook
Complement : x
Adverbial : On The Table  -- Here the adverbial answers the 'Where' part.

Adverbials are not always mandatory. But they complete the meaning of a sentence. If we remove the adverbial, often we destroy that completeness. So, while we choose to add adverbials to a sentence or to remove it from the sentence, we have to pay special attention on the completeness of the meaning to be conferred.

Let's see how do the above two sentences look like if we remove adverbials :

a. Maria is living .....

b. She placed her notebook .....

grammatically, both the sentences are correct; yet, they are not complete in their meaning. Something is missing. That's the role of an adverbial - to give completeness to a clause / a sentence.

Optional Adverbials: 

Some adverbials are optional. If they are present, they provide more information. However, if they are not there, then also the clause / the sentence serves their purpose.

Example:

a. Lola found a secret passage behind the fireplace.

Subject - Lola
Verb - Found
Object - A Secret Passage
Adverbial  - Behind The Fireplace

If we remove the adverbial, the sentence sounds like : Lola found a secret passage.

The sentence is complete in itself and makes a sense. Though the adverbial delivers an additional information like 'where is the secret passage?', but not mentioning that does not disrupt the functioning of the sentence.

Types of Adverbials : 

Adverbials are basically of three types :

(a) Adjuncts - provide additional information .

E.g. It is safe to climb up the uphill path at the walking speed.
Here , 'at the walking speed' is the adjunct , which provides additional information.

(b) Conjuncts - They provide a link between sentences or clauses.

E.g. Billy reached the museum with 50 students; in addition to that, 45 more students joined her at the museum.

(c) Disjuncts - We use such kind of adverbials to make our own comment or opinion on the information we are conveying.

E.g. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that this orthodox person will change his views.
If we see the sentence structure, it is not stating any fact. It is conveying the speaker's opinion.





Next Post : Form of adverbials.