Clauses and sentences

We have discussed dependency relations (heads and modifiers), constituent structure (the arrangements of words into phrases and phrases into clauses) and constructions. Key technical terms such as ‘clause’ and ‘sentence’ have been used without any attempt at definition, but it is now time to take up this task. It is also an appropriate point at which to discuss the central concepts of ‘main clause’ and ‘subordinate clause’; without them, we cannot discuss in any insightful way the organization of clauses into the sentences which make up effective written texts. (‘Written texts’, because the syntax and textual organization of spontaneous speech is rather different.) We can usefully begin by reviewing the major properties of clauses, taking the examples in (1) as our starting point.

Examples (1a, b) are sentences. It is hard to supply an instant definition of a sentence apart from the initial capital letter and the final full stop, but we will return to sentences later. Examples (1a, b) are also instances of main clauses. What are the major properties of these main clauses?

1-Each clause contains a finite verb; that is, a verb marked for tense. (For further remarks on the notion of ‘finiteness’ and the concept of non-finite clause) Finite verbs are traditionally said to be marked for tense, person and number. Tense has to do with whether the speaker or writer uses a past-tense verb, for example was in was listening, and places a given event in past time, or a present-tense verb, for example is in is listening, and places the event in present time. Person has to do with whether an action is assigned to the speaker (I am listening, first person), the hearer (You are listening, second person) or someone other than the speaker and hearer (He/she is listening, third person). Number has to do with whether the speaker or writer refers to one person (She is listening, singular) or more than one (They are listening, plural).

Person and number are mostly lacking in English verbs with the exception of BE, which has a first person singular form am, a third person singular form is, and the form are for the plural and the second person. In the past tense, it has the form was for the first and third person singular and the form were for the plural and the second person. (Other languages have a richer system of person and number contrasts, as in the Russian chitaem Solzhenitsyna ‘we are reading Solzhenitsyn’, chitaju Solzhenitsyna ‘I am reading Solzhenitsyn’, chitaesh’ Solzhenitsyna ‘you are reading Solzhenitsyn’, and so on. The suffix -em signals first person, plural and present tense; -ju signals first person, singular and present tense, and -esh’ signals second person, singular and present tense.)

2-In each clause, the finite verb is accompanied by its complements and adjuncts

3-Each clause is marked for aspect, and the aspect can be changed: compare Wickham was eloping with Lydia as opposed to Wickham eloped with Lydia.

4-Each clause has mood. Mood has to do with two sets of distinctions. First, there are the distinctions between making statements (Wickham eloped with Lydia), asking questions (Did Wickham elope with Lydia?) and issuing commands (Elope with Lydia!). The second set of distinctions has to do with whether the speaker or writer presents an event as possible (He may have eloped with Lydia) or as necessary (He must have eloped with Lydia) or as a fact (He did elope with Lydia.)

5-Both allow certain changes of syntax to reflect changes of focus or emphasis, for example Never will Wickham elope with Lydia, With Lydia Wickham eloped (to London), Eloped with Lydia to London, Wickham did (colloquial but relevant).

6-Clauses describe situations, the participants in them (for example, Agents carrying out actions on Patients, as in Frank [Agent] persuaded Jane [Patient] to keep the secret, and the circumstances in which they take place, as in Frank Churchill was in Hartfield [place] in June [time]). (The term ‘circumstances’ may seem strange but is a technical term which now has a long history.)

7-Both can be the first contribution to a discourse, whether spoken or written. Clearly, this rests on presuppositions about the audience knowing who Wickham, Lydia and so on are, but what is important for present purposes is that phrases such as with Lydia, handed his hat to the servant and chattered on cannot be the first contribution to a normal English text, nor can clauses such as which she bought last week or although it is cold. Of course these phrases and clauses occur in texts, but not as the first contribution. The phrases can only be responses, as in Who did Wickham elope with? – with Lydia, or just Lydia, and clauses such as although it is cold must be combined with main clauses.

The central fact in the above list is that we can recognize clauses by which phrases modify (‘go with’) which verb; that is, we can recognize clauses in real texts – novels, newspapers, poems, academic textbooks and even the transcripts of conversation. What we are doing here is introducing the clause as part of our analysis, and it will be useful to have different labels for the two sorts of clause. Clauses in real texts we will call ‘text clauses’; clauses in our analysis we will call ‘system clauses’, capturing the fact that in our analysis we try to establish a system of grammar, and clauses are part of the system.

We need the clause for a coherent description of dependency relations (including agreement and government) and constituent structure. The densest clusters of dependency relations are found inside clauses (although some dependency relations do reach from one clause to another, as in the occurrence of which or who in relative clauses; which one occurs depends on a noun outside the relative clause – the book which but the woman who). The tests for constituent structure work best inside single clauses. Fortunately, the clauses that are part of our analysis typically correspond to clauses in real texts. The unit that does cause problems, surprisingly, is the sentence.