Grammatical Functions (Relations)
This tutorial looks at grammatical functions or grammatical relations—that is to say the major parts of the sentence.
The approach I will be taking in this tutorial is largely traditional, which is to say based on the traditional grammatical terminology used in many Latin, Greek, and Old English textbooks, rather than the more modern terminology used in many linguistics textbooks. This is because these tutorials are largely aimed at students studying dead languages or who need to acquire some grammatical definitions in a hurry. If you understand the discussion here and in the previous two tutorials, you should have no problem following more advanced contemporary linguistic explanations.
Previous: Parts of Speech (Word classes)
The Parts of the Sentence
It is useful in discussing grammatical function to start with the simple declarative sentence.
A declarative sentence is a sentence that simply states something—as opposed to asking a question or issuing a command:
| Declarative sentences | Questions | Commands | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The boy bit the dog. | Did the boy bite the dog? | Bite the dog! |
| 2 | The train was stopped by Superman | Was the train stopped by Superman? | Stop the train, Superman! |
| 3 | He is a firefighter | Is he a firefighter? | Be a firefighter! |
| 4 | The very nice politician who saved the whales asked me for my vote. | Did the very nice politician who saved the whales ask you for your vote? | Ask me for my vote! |
| 5 | She said that she knew how to do that because she’s taught it before. | Did she say that she knew how to do that because she’s taught it before? | Say that you know how to do it because you’ve taught it before. |
A simple sentence is a sentence that consists of a single main clause—as opposed to sentences with dependent clauses.
In the above table, rows 1 through 3 contain simple sentences; the sentences in lines 4 and 5 are not simple.
Subjects and Predicates
In traditional grammar, simple declarative sentences can be broken down into two main parts:
- subject, which is the thing, idea, concept, or similar that the sentence is about
- predicate, which is a statement about the subject[^1]
| Subject | Predicate | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The boy | bit the dog |
| 2 | The train | was stopped by Superman |
| 3 | He | is a firefighter |
| 4 | Nice girls | don’t make history |
| 5 | The man in the black hat and sunglasses | sells their meth to the people of Albuquerque |
| 6 | he | sells it to them |
Notes:
- The subject consists of a noun, pronoun, or noun-phrase (a group of words that can be substituted for by a pronoun).
- The predicate consists of a verb and associated objects, indirect objects, adverbs, and other material.
- If the subject is a pronoun, use the subject form (I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they).
- In the predicate, the most important pronouns will be in the object case (me, you, him/her/it, us, you, them).
Objects
Traditionally, English has three kinds of objects:
- Direct objects
- Indirect objects
- Prepositional objects
- Direct and indirect objects depend on verbs and are found in the predicate.
- Prepositional objects depend on prepositions and can be found anywhere in the sentence.
Direct Objects
A direct object is the thing, concept, or idea that a verb operates on.
| Subject | Predicate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verb | Direct Object | Other Stuff | ||
| 1 | I | like | money | |
| 2 | Bobby | cut | a piece of the really nice cake | |
| 3 | The funny monkey | ate | old and dead fruit flies | |
| 4 | She | hit | him | for no reason |
| 5 | They | skate | — | really nicely |
Notes:
- The direct object is a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.
- If a pronoun, it appears in the object case (me/you/him/her/it/us/you/them).
- Direct objects only follow transitive verbs (like, cut, eat).
- Intransitive verbs (e.g. skate) do not take direct objects.
Indirect Objects
An indirect object is something indirectly affected by the action of a verb, usually the beneficiary.
| Subject | Predicate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verb | Indirect Object | Direct Object | Other Stuff | ||
| 1 | Bobby | cut | him | a piece of the really nice cake | |
| 2 | Suzy | bought | herself | a fishing rod | |
| 3 | he | taught | those weird people | some useful lessons | |
| 4 | I | gave | them | a book | |
| 5 | I | gave | — | a book | to them |
| 6 | The funny monkey | ate | — | old and dead fruit flies | for her |
| 7 | They | skate | — | — | really nicely |
| 8 | They | skate | — | — | really nicely for them |
Notes:
- Indirect objects involve nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases.
- Pronouns appear in the object case.
- If both objects occur, the indirect object comes before the direct object.
- Some verbs allow indirect objects, some do not.
- Real indirect objects can be converted to prepositional forms (I gave them a book → I gave a book to them). The reverse is not always possible.
Prepositional Objects
Prepositional objects are objects of a preposition.
| Preposition | Prepositional Object | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | on | the mountain |
| 2 | up | the really long creek |
| 3 | with | them |
| 4 | for | Suzy |
| 5 | beside | homecoming queens |
Notes:
- Prepositional objects are nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases.
- Pronouns appear in the object case.
- They follow the preposition that governs them (though in poetry they may precede it).
Examples in sentences:
| Subject | Predicate |
|---|---|
| The fool on the hill | sees the sun going down |
| The boy | bit the dog on the nose |
| The train from Chicago with no brakes | was stopped by Superman on Sunday morning before breakfast |
Other Relations
In traditional grammar, the main functions are subjects, objects, and indirect objects.
Other important relations are:
- adverbials
- determiners
- predicate nouns and adjectives
Adverbials
Adverbials are words/phrases that behave like adverbs:
- They qualify verbs and sentences
- They can occur in the subject or predicate
- They can be moved freely without changing the sentence meaning
Types of adverbials:
- Sentence adverbs (however, moreover)
- Verbal adverbs (quickly, well)
- Prepositional phrases
- Other constructions (e.g. genitives of time: Tuesdays I like to play guitar).
[1]: Subjects are sometimes defined semantically as being “the person or thing that does the action of the verb.” This is a weak definition, because (a) verbs are not always “action words”; and (b) it doesn’t account for passive sentences like The train was stopped by Superman: here the actor is Superman, but the train is the subject.