VIII. The Adverbial Modifier

Words in this function modify verbs, adjectives and adverbs,
specifying the circumstances of a happening.

Adverbial modifiers may be expressed by an adverb, a noun
with a preposition, an infinitive, an ing-iorm with a conjunction
or a preposition, a participle with a conjunction, an adjective with
a conjunction and an absolute construction.

According to their meaning, adverbial modifiers are sub-
divided into:

1) adverbial modifiers of place and direction,

e.g. He found himself in a lonely street.

The procession moved slowly towards the embankment.
He'll be here tomorrow.

Adverbial modifiers of time,

e.g. I'll give you a telephone call tonight.
Bring him back on Sunday.
He kept silent a long time before answering.
When tired, he has his supper in his room.

3) adverbial modifiers of frequency,

e.g. He seldom spoke with such frankness.
She has music lessons twice a week.

4) adverbial modifiers of degree,

e.g. He came back home pretty late last night.
The night was very still.
He knows his subject perfectly.

Adverbial modifiers of manner,

e.g. She was crying bitterly.
He came here by taxi.
He opened the door with difficulty.
They walked very fast.
The bus passed us without stopping.

Adverbial modifiers of attending circumstances,

e.g. It is very romantic to take a walk by moonlight.
I don't feel like going out in this weather.
She looked up at him, her face smiling happily.
He lived all by himself in an old house on the river, with all

his family gone and forgotten.
I looked round the room, the sense of being watched acute

Again.

Adverbial modifiers of description,

e.g. Fay's eyes continually moved in his Father's direction, as

though seeking his approval.
The shop was freshly painted, with a large green awning to

protect the window.
He stood there very quietly, his hand outstretched.

Adverbial modifiers of purpose,

e.g. I did my best to prevent her from making a mistake.

Adverbial modifiers of cause,

e.g. Our flight was delayed owing to the storm.

Adverbial modifiers of comparison,

e.g. She sat still like a statue.
He was as ugly as a monkey.

I've got a more difficult problem to solve than find a new
house.

Adverbial modifiers of consequence,

e.g. He had to read only the first ten pages to know what the

book was about.

He was clever enough to understand it.
I was too tired to go for a walk.

12) adverbial modifiers of concession,

e.g. When he returned his wife was still at the table, though pre-
paring to go.

Whatever the reason, she should have come.
Though tired, he agreed to show us the garden.

Adverbial modifiers of condition,

e.g. He said he would do it if necessary.

But for the rain, I'd have gone off an hour ago.
To look at her, you wouldn't believe she was a famous ac-
tress.

Adverbial modifiers of exception,

e.g. He had no choice but to obey the orders.

IX. The Attribute

Words in this function modify nouns (and sometimes pro-
nouns) giving them some kind of characteristic.

Attributes may be expressed by an adjective, a pronoun, a
noun in the genitive or common case, a noun with a preposition,
an infinitive, an ing-form, a participle and, occasionally, an ad-
verb.

Depending on the closeness of the syntactic ties between the
attribute and its noun, we distinguish close and loose attributes.
Close attributes form a tight sense unit with their nouns. Loose
attributes are less tightly connected with their nouns. Adding
more information to or explaining what is being said in the sen-
tence, they are regarded as a more independent member of the
sentence and, hence, often separated by a comma from the rest of
the sentence.

Close attributes,

e.g. A large cat jumped down the window seat.
They gave each child a big apple.
I'd like another cup of tea.
I borrowed two pounds from Jane's brother.
I saw by their faces that they had learned something new.
It was an act of despair on her part.
She admired his way of doing things.

He is not a man to rely on.

The clouds were lit by the setting sun.

She saw the lighted windows of the cottage.

It was a pleasure to listen to him.

It was no use talking to her.

The then headmaster introduced the rule.

2) Loose attributes,

e.g. Happy and carefree, the children ran down the hill.

You behave like a schoolboy afraid of his teacher.

Painted green, the house was almost invisible on the forest-
covered hill.

Craig took the baby out of the pram and lifted it high in the
air. The baby, trying to tug at his moustache, crowed glee-
fully.

X. The Apposition

Words in this function modify nouns, explaining and spec-
ifying their meaning by giving them another name.
Appositions are usually expressed by nouns.

e.g. Ann, the daughter of the landlady, was always ready to baby-
sit for us.

I asked Miss Grey, a neighbour and an old friend of mine, to
dinner.

The Glory, a British steamship, was to arrive on Monday
morning.

XI. Independent Elements of the Sentence

Independent elements of the sentence are not directly connect-
ed with any part of the sentence — they express the speaker's at-
titude to or comment on what is being said in the sentence as a
whole. In this function we usually find parenthetic expressions,
viewpoint, attitudinal and formulaic adverbs.

e.g. To tell the truth, I didn't like her at first.
It isn't quite correct, strictly speaking.
She will probably tell you about it herself.
It was a rainy day but fortunately it was not cold.

Historically, the king's death was a minor event, but it be-
came widely known owing to its tragic circumstances.
Will you kindly keep me informed?

Syntactic Complexes

The subject-predicate relationship may be found in an English
sentence not only between the grammatical subject and the finite
predicate but also in some phrases consisting of at least two ele-
ments — a subject and a predicative. Such phrases, usually
known as syntactic complexes, differ from the real subject and
the predicate of the sentence in that they lack a finite verb and
therefore what is expressed in them cannot be directly related to
reality. It is done indirectly — by means of the phrase being syn-
tactically connected with the predicate proper.

Syntactic complexes may be of the following kinds:

I. The Complex Object — a syntactic construction which is
lexically dependent and found after a limited number of verbs in
the Active Voice (see "Verbs", §§ 193, 222, 249; "Nouns", §21;
"Adjectives", § 7). The complex object consists of a noun in the
common case or an indefinite pronoun or a personal pronoun in
the objective case serving as an object in the sentence, and a pred-
icative which may be expressed by a noun, an adjective, an ad-
verb, an infinitive with or without the particle to, an ing-form
and a participle.

e.g. His humour made him a welcome guest.

When they came they found the house empty.

I don't want any light on.

Why don't you get somebody to explain it to you?

I watched her move away from us.

I felt him looking at me now and again.

I had never before seen the game played.

II. The Complex Subject — a syntactic construction which is
lexically dependent and found with a limited number of verbs in
the Passive Voice (see "Verbs", §§ 192, 221, 248; "Nouns", § 21;
"Adjectives", § 7). The complex subject consists of a noun in the
common case, an indefinite pronoun or a personal pronoun in the

nominative case serving as the subject of the sentence, and a (sub-
jective) predicative which may be expressed by a noun, an adjec-
tive, an adverb, an infinitive, an ing-form and a participle.

e.g. Bob Skinner was made the leader of the team.
The door was painted green.
Everybody was found in.
They were expected to agree.
The children were left playing on the floor.
The car was last seen parked at the hotel.

III. The Prepositional Infinitive Phrase — a syntactic con-
struction which consists of a noun in the common case, an indefinite
pronoun or a personal pronoun in the objective case, and a predica-
tive expressed by an infinitive. The whole of the phrase is joined to
the rest of the sentence by a preposition. Usually it is the preposi-
tion for, but sometimes the choice of the preposition is determined
by the verb the phrase depends on. (See also "Verbs", § 166.)

e.g. He held out the papers for me to see.

He was looking for someone to help him.

Her whole life had been spent listening to other people talk.

They appealed to him to give up the idea.

I arranged with the woman downstairs to keep the place clean.

You can rely on Father to forget nothing.

Prepositional infinitive phrases may perform different func-
tions in the sentence.

e.g. For him to swear was such a rarity that David was not only

shocked but thoroughly startled, (subject)
All he wanted was for me to get out of his sight, (predicative)
We were waiting for the train to arrive, (prepositional object)
The boy stood aside for us to go by. (adverbial modifier of

purpose)
I was too young for them to tell me the truth, (adverbial

modifier of consequence)
It was an easy plan for Roger to fulfil, (attribute)

IV. The ing-Complex — a syntactic construction which consists
of a possessive pronoun or a personal pronoun in the objective case

or a noun in the common or genitive case, and a predicative ex-
pressed by an ing-form. (See also "Verb", § 166.)

The ing-complex may perform different functions in the sen-
tence.

e.g. At first she hadn't been sure that his coming here had been
a good thing, (subject)

The only thing I am afraid of is the family being too sure of
themselves, (predicative)

That's a risk I just can't think of your taking, (prepositional
object)

He could not approve of Guy's hiding himself away, (preposi-
tional object)

Not a day had passed without that young man coming to at
least one meal, (adverbial modifier of attending circum-
stances)

Of course you understand that after John breaking his ap-
pointment I'm never going to speak to him again, (adverbi-
al modifier of time)

I ought to have realized the possibility of such a thing hap-
pening, (attribute)

V. The Absolute Construction — a syntactic construction
which also consists of at least two elements — a subject and a
predicative, but differs from the other syntactic complexes in
that its grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence is
much looser. It is often marked off by a comma. Absolute con-
structions function as adverbial modifiers of attending circum-
stances and description and may be joined to the sentence either
asyndetically or with the help of the preposition with or without.

The first element of the absolute construction is usually a
noun or a pronoun; the second element may be expressed by an in-
finitive, an ing-iorm, a participle, a noun with or without a prep-
osition, an adjective or an adverb.

e.g. With nothing to do, the actors stood about and made small

talk.

She ran up the stairs, her heart thumping painfully.
I wouldn't dare go home without the job finished.
He sat motionless, his hands over his eyes.
I can't sleep with the radio on.

The Structure of the Composite Sentence

A composite sentence consists of two or more simple sentences
joined together. The component parts of a composite sentence are
called clauses. The relationship between the clauses may be that
of coordination and subordination.

In the case of coordination we have a compound sentence
whose clauses are independent of each other syntactically. They
may be joined by some coordinating conjunctions (e.g. and, but,
or, yet, for, etc.) or asyndetically.

e.g. He was very busy now and they saw few of their friends.

I haven't got much news to convey but there are some things
to add.

I began to miss London, yet I was not coming back.

You can boil yourself an egg, or I'll make you a cheese sand-
wich.

He asked for food — there was none. My parents are quite
young, they live their own life.

In the case of subordination, one of the syntactic functions
within a simple sentence is expressed by a clause thereby forming
a complex sentence.

Cf. I know the girl's name, (object)

I know what the girl's name is. (object clause)

She learned to play tennis at school, (adverbial modifier of
time)

She learned to play tennis when she went to school, (adverbi-
al clause of time)

The basic structure is called the principal clause; the clause
performing some syntactic function within the principal clause is
termed a subordinate clause.

Structurally and semantically, subordinate clauses are subor-
dinated to principal clauses and may be joined to them by means
of conjunctions, conjunctive words, asyndetically and sometimes
by means of the sequence of tenses.

Conjunctions (a) differ from conjunctive words (b) in that the
former are not members of either the principal or subordinate
clause while the latter perform some function within the subordi-
nate clause.

e.g. a) I know (that) he is right.
I was out when he came.

She had only a cup of tea because she was not hungry.
b) He knew who had brought the letter.
They knew when I would come.

He showed me the watch that he was given as a birthday
present.

Subordinate clauses may perform various functions within the
principal clause. In comparison with the corresponding members
of the simple sentence they can be said to be more expressive
since they have a finite form in their structure.

For practical purposes of learning English, it is necessary and
sufficient to distinguish the following kinds of subordinate clauses:

1) subject clauses which perform the function of subject and
may be introduced by the conjunctions that, if, whether and
such conjunctive words as who, what, which, when, why, how and
others.

e.g. That you may meet him at the party is quite possible.
What I need now is someone to do the job.

2) predicative clauses which perform the function of pre-
dicative and may be introduced by the same conjunctions and con-
junctive words as subject clauses (see above).

e.g. His only desire was that his family shouldn't interfere with

his plans.
The question was why no one had heard the shot.

3) object clauses which modify verbs and adjectives as objects
to them and may be introduced by the same conjunctions and con-
junctive words as subject clauses (see above).

e.g. I thought (that) they were joking.

We were sorry (that) we had missed Father by a few minutes.
It was announced over the radio that the flight was delayed.
It was urgent that we should take a decision.
It is very lucky that you're calling me now.
I wish you hadn't asked me that.

He found it important that they should start on the job
right away.

They took it for granted that his theory was correct.

Nobody knew what she meant.

He could not understand why they insisted on such a decision.

Time will show if (whether) he is right.

It was not clear what had happened and who was injured.

4) adverbial clauses which function as adverbial modifiers to
verbs and adjectives within the principal clause and may be of the
following kinds:

a) adverbial clauses of time which are introduced by the con-
junctions when, while, as, until, till, before, after, since, as soon
as, as long as and some others,

e.g. When they reached the village, Jane got out of the taxi and

looked about her.
I won't leave until you come.

b) adverbial clauses of place and direction which are in-
troduced by the conjunction where,

e.g. They stopped where the road turned to the river.

c) adverbial clauses of cause which are introduced by the con-
junctions because, as, since and some others,

e.g. He was glad to talk to her because it set her at ease.

d) adverbial clauses of purpose which are introduced by the
conjunctions so that, that, in order that, lest,

e.g. He spoke loudly and clearly so that all could hear him.

e) adverbial clauses of condition which are introduced by the
conjunctions if, in case, unless and some others,

e.g. If we start off now, we'll arrive there by dinner time.

f) adverbial clauses of concession which are introduced by the
conjunctions though, although, even if, even though and wh-pro-
nouns, ending in -ever,

e.g. Although it was very late, she kept the dinner warm on the

stove.

Even if the fault is all his, I must find a way to help him.
Whatever happens, she won't have it her own way.

g) adverbial clauses of consequence which are introduced by
the conjunctions that, so... that, such... that,

e.g. He was so embarrassed that he could hardly understand her.

h) adverbial clauses of comparison which are introduced by the
conjunctions than, as, as...as, not so (as)...as, as if and as though.

e.g. He now took better care of his old father than he had ever

done it before.
Her lips moved soundlessly, as if she were rehearsing.

5) attributive clauses which modify nouns within the principal
clause and are introduced by the conjunctive (relative) words that,
who(m), which, whose, as, when, where and some others as well as
asyndetically (see also "Nouns' § 15),

e.g. I know a man who can help us.

We caught a breeze that took us gently up the river.

All the presents (that) he had given her were in their usual

places.
Where is the letter (which) I gave you to read?

6) appositive clauses which modify nouns within the principal
clause and are introduced by the conjunction that. In form they
look like attributive clauses but in content they are similar to ob-
ject clauses because they explain and specify the meaning of the
noun they refer to. It should be borne in mind that only a limited
number of abstract nouns can be modified by appositive clauses
(for the lists of such nouns see "Verbs", §§ 137-138, 204, 230),

e.g. I had the impression that she was badly ill.

We turned down his suggestion that we should take a boarder.
The thought that she was unhappy kept him awake all night.

LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS

 

Infinitive	Past Indefinite	Participle
abide	abode, abided	abided
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke, awakened	awoken
be	was, were	been
bear	bore	borne
beat	beat	beaten, beat
become	became	become
befall	befell	befallen
beget	begot	begotten
begin	began	begun
behold	beheld	beheld
bend	bent	bent
bereave	bereaved, bereft	bereaved, bereft
beseech	besought, beseeched	besought, beseeched
beset	beset	beset
bet	bet, betted	bet, betted
bid	bade, bid	bidden,bid
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blend	blended, blent	blended, blent
bless	blessed, blest	blessed, blest
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burnt, burned	burnt, burned
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen

 

Infinitive	Past Indefinite	Participle
cleave	cleaved, clove, cleft	cleaved, cloven, cleft
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed, dreamt	dreamed, dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
dwell	dwelt, dwelled	dwelt, dwelled
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbear	forbore	forborne
forbid	forbade, forbad	forbidden
forecast	forecast	forecast
forego	forewent	foregone
foresee	foresaw	foreseen
foretell	foretold	foretold
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got, gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown

 

Infinitive	Past Indefinite	Participle
hang	hung, hanged	hung, hanged
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
heave	heaved, hove	heaved, hove
hew	hewed	hewn, hewed
hide	hid	hidden, hid
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt, kneeled	knelt, kneeled
knit	knitted, knit	knitted, knit
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lean	leant, leaned	leant, leaned
leap	leapt, leaped	leapt, leaped
learn	learnt, learned	learnt, learned
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
He	lay	lain
light	lit, lighted	lit, lighted
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
mislay	mislaid	mislaid
mislead	misled	misled
mistake	mistook	mistaken
misunderstand	misunderstood	misunderstood
mow	mowed	mown, mowed
outdo	outdid	outdone
outgrow	outgrew	outgrown
overbear	overbore	overborne
overcast	overcast	overcast
overcome	overcame	overcome
overdo	overdid	overdone

Infinitive	Past Indefinite	Participle
overhear	overheard	overheard
overtake	overtook	overtaken
overthrow	overthrew	overthrown
partake	partook	partaken
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
rebuild	rebuilt	rebuilt
recast	recast	recast
relay	relaid	relaid
rend	rent	rent
retell	retold	retold
rid	rid, ridded	rid, ridded
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
saw	sawed	sawn, sawed
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn, sewed
shake	shook	shaken
shear	sheared	shorn,sheared
shed	shed	shed
shine	shone, shined	shone, shined
shoe	shod	shod
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown, showed
shrink	shrank, shrunk	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank,sunk	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slam
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
sling	slung	slung

 

Infinitive	Past Indefinite	Participle
slink	slunk	slunk
slit	slit	slit
smell	smelt, smellcd	smelt, smelled
smite	smote	smitten
sow	sowed	sown, sowed
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped, speeded	sped,speeded
spell	spelt, spelled	spelt, spelled
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilt, spilled	spilt, spilled
spin	spun,span	spun
spit	spat, spit	spat, spit
split	split	split
spoil	spoilt, spoiled	spoilt, spoiled
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang, sprung	sprung
stand	stood	stood
stave	staved,stove	staved, stove
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank, stunk	stunk
strew	strewed	strewn, strewed
stride	strode	stridden
strike	struck	struck
string	strung	strung
strive	strove, strived	striven, strived
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swollen, swelled
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
thrive	thrived, throve	thrived
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
tread	trod	trodden, trod
undergo	underwent	undergone

Infinitive	Past Indefinite	Participle
understand	understood	understood
undertake undo	undertook undid	undertaken undone
upset wake	upset woke, waked	upset woken, waked
wear	wore	worn
weave wed	wove wedded, wed	woven wedded, wed
weep win wind	wept won wound	wept won wound
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
withhold	withheld	withheld
wring write	wrung wrote	wrung written