Syntactic Analysis | Subject Predicate Predicator

Syntactic Analysis

Grammatical Functions 1:

Subject, Predicate, Predicator

 

One syntactic analysis aims to Analyse the sentence into its Grammatical Functions (GFs). Grammatical Function is the syntactic role fulfilled by a constituent in a sentence. In this analysis, the constituents of a structure are assigned to appropriate Grammatical Functions. The main Grammatical Functions (GFs) are Subject, Predicate, Predicator, Direct Object, Indirect Object, Adjunct.

 

1.1Subject and Predicate

 The Subject can be defined in terms of two semantic criteria: (1) agent hood and (2) topic.

 The Subject of a sentence is the constituent that represents the agent (‘doer’) of the action denoted by the verb and who or what the action is about. So, to find out what the Subject of a sentence is, we can ask:

1) Who or what carried out the action denoted by the verb?

2) Who or what is this sentence about?

 To answers these questions would pinpoint Subject.

 The Predicate is the unit in a sentence whose function is to specify what the Subject is engaged in doing. The notions Predicates is a second type of Grammatical Function. In any given sentences, Predicate is anything inside the sentence exception, Subject.

 Now, let us consider examples (5)-(8) (p.9) and try to identify the Subjects and Predicates. Can we use the agenthood criterion to identify the Subjects? The Subjects in these sentences do not represent referents instigating any kind of action. This means that Subjects do not always represent agents instigating actions. In other words, Subjects can represent referents not engaged in any kind of action but involved in a certain state. So, the agenthood criterion cannot be used to identify the Subjects in these sentences. Subjects can have a relationship with Predicates which are dynamic, specifying an action and Predicates which are stative referring to a persisting state or situation (e.g. ‘wear’, ‘dislike’, ‘stand’ ‘stink’).

 Now, let us consider examples (9)-(12) (p.10).

 Can we use the topic criterion to identify the Subjects? Do the Subjects specify what the sentence is about (i.e. the topic)? The answer is “no”. Why?

 The Subjects ‘it’ and ‘there’ in these sentences are meaningless, so, they cannot specify what the sentences are about. The element ‘it’ in (9) and (10) is often called ‘weather it’, because it is used in expressions about the weather. It is also called ‘nonreferential it’ since this element does not refer to anything, in contrast to ‘referential it’’:

Whose cat is this? It’s mine.

Where is my dinner? The cat ate it.

 The word ‘there’ in (11) and (12) is called ‘existential there’ because it is used in propositions having to do with existence. ‘Existential there’ should be kept apart from ‘locative there’, which specifies a location and, therefore, it is referential:

It’s cold over there.

I like Scotland; the people there are very friendly.

 No referential ‘it’ and existential ‘there’ are said to be meaningless because all they seem to be doing in the sentences in which they occur is fill the Subject slot. It would be odd to say that ‘it’ and ‘there’ tell us what (9)-(12) are about (i.e. the topic) of the sentence).

 What emerges from (5)-(12) is that although the semantic definition of Subject in terms of agent hood and topic is useful, we cannot use it to identify the syntactic Subject in some cases. Therefore, we can use it only as a general guideline. If we want to define the notion Subject more precisely, we need to do so in structural terms, i.e. in terms of syntactic configurations.

 First, the Subject is usually a Noun Phrase (NP), i.e., a phrase with a noun as its head.

 Second, the Subject is the first NP in a sentence used to make a statement.

Third, Subjects are obligatory.

 Fourth, Subjects determine the form of the verb. A third-person singular Subject takes a verb with the -s ending; any Subject other than a third-person singular Subject takes what is called the base form of the verb, i.e., a form of verb which has no endings. We say, the verb agreed with the Subject. That agreement is showing either by the -S ending with a third-person singular Subject or the lack of it with other Subjects. Compare (15)-(18) to (19)-(22).

 Fifth, in yes-no questions (i.e., ones which have a simple positive or negative answer with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as an answer), the Subject changes position: the auxiliary is in the initial slot of the sentence and the Subject is in the second slot. Compare (23)-(26) to (27)-(30).

 Finally, the Subject of a sentence can be identified by adding a tag question to it. A tag question is a short question that is tagged onto a statement and that seeks the hearer’s confirmation of what is being stated. A tag question contains a pronoun that identifies the Subject of the sentence it is tagged onto. As an illustration, consider the sentences in (31)-(34) p. (12).

 The six tests we have just discussed are all distributional tests. This means they define the notion of Subject by referring to syntactic positions and environments in sentences, rather than to semantic notions (which may not be applicable in all cases). The semantic and syntactic criteria can be used in conjunction to identify the Subject of a sentence. If we apply only the semantic criteria, this can lead to an incorrect identification of the Subject, or we may not be able to identify a Subject at all. 

 Now, consider example (35) on page (13) and go through the reasons which are cited to identify the Subject.

 Now, let us consider the following example.

Last night, the children were very noisy.

 What is the Subject of the above sentence? Is it ‘last night’ or the children’? In identifying the Subject, we need to make use of the criteria of subjecthood at our disposal.  

 

 First, we notice that the referents of the NPs ‘last night’ and ‘the children’ are not engaged in doing something. Therefore, agenthood cannot be used as a diagnostic for subjecthood. Furthermore, despite the fact that arguably ‘last night’ is what the sentence is about (i.e. it is the topic), and despite the fact that this constituent is not only an NP, but also the first NP in the sentence, the Subject is in fact the NP ‘the children’ for the following reasons:

(i)                The NP ‘the children’ is obligatory; the NP ‘last night’ is not:

*Last night, were very noisy.

The children were very noisy.

 The fact that "last night" must be left out indicated that this Noun Phrase playing a peripheral role in the sentences. The NP ‘the children’ cannot be left out and therefore it is not peripheral or of minor significance.

 

(ii)              It is the NP ‘the children’ which determines the form of the verb ‘be’; we cannot have a singular verb form.

 

*Last night, the children were very noisy.

 

 If the NP ‘last night’ had been the Subject, the verb form ‘was’ would have been expected.

 

(iii)            In a yes-no question, it is the NP ‘the children’ (not the NP ‘last night’) which swaps places with the linking verb ‘were’:

 

Last night, were the children noisy?

*Were last night, the children noisy?

 

 (iv) In the tagged version of the sentence, the pronoun ‘they’ refers to the NP ‘the children’ not to the NP ‘last night’:

 

Last night, the children were very noisy, weren’t they?

 

 The tag "wasn’t it" in which the pronoun ‘it’ refers to the NP ‘last night’ is not possible:

 

*Last night, the children were very noisy, wasn’t it?

 

 Now, try to do some practice in identifying the Subject following the same procedure. Do the exercise on page (14).

 1.2 Predicator

 We have seen that the term ‘Predicate’ is the part of a clause or sentence which represents what is said of, or predicated of, the Subject. The Predicate is the major constituent of clause/sentence structure which includes all the elements other than the Subject. In a two-part analysis of sentence structure, we identify the Subject, and all the remaining elements form the Predicate. The Predicate is the part of a clause/sentence that is not the Subject.

 If we now focus on the Predicate and the elements inside the Predicate, we can assign further functions to them. Inside the Predicate, we can isolate the Predicator. The Predicator is the element in a clause/sentence that determines, wholly or in part, the other elements that the sentence may or must have. In this sense, the Predicator (characteristically, a verb) is a pivotal element, which specifies the bare-bone content of the sentence in which it occurs, i.e. the main action, process or state denoted by the verb. Predicators are of different types. Let us consider some of them.

Let us consider the following sentence,

I bought a present for John.

 The bare-bone content is ‘buying’ denoted by the verb ‘bought’; ‘bought’ is the Predicator, which determines the other elements: ‘bought’ must have a Subject (‘I’) and a Direct Object (‘a present’) and allows a benefactive (‘for John’). Thus, the Predicator obligatorily requires the presence of some elements and optionally allows the presence of other elements in the sentence/clause.

Let us consider another example,

The young boy blushed suddenly.

 The Predicator is ‘blushed’. It obligatorily requires a Subject ‘the young boy’ and it optionally allows an Adjunct ‘suddenly’. Deleting this Adjunct does not render the sentence ill-formed whereas deleting the Subject renders the sentence ill-formed:

The young boy blushed.

*Blushed suddenly.

Similarly, it disallows the presence of a Direct Object:

*The young boy blushed his face suddenly.

Let us consider another example.

She put her bag on the table.

 The Predicator is ‘put’. It obligatorily requires a Subject (‘she’), a Direct Object (‘her bag’) and a location expressed by a Preposition Phrase (‘on the table’). The deletion of any of these would turn the sentence into an ungrammatical one:

*Put her bag on the table.

*She put on the table.

*She put her bag.

 The Predicator ‘put’ obligatorily requires an Adjunct:

She always put her bag on the table.

From what precedes, we notice that different Predicators require the presence of some elements and may allow the presence of others. The Predicator (characteristically, a verb) has an Argument Structure, the range of syntactic elements (or arguments) that it may or must take.