Stage-level predicates

A stage-level predicate ("s-l predicate" for short) is true of a temporal stage of its subject. For example, if John is "hungry", that typically lasts a certain amount of time, and not his entire lifespan.

S-l predicates can occur in a wide range of grammatical constructions and is probably the most versatile kind of predicate.

Individual-level predicates

An individual-level predicate ("i-l predicate") is true throughout the existence of an individual. For example, if John is "smart", this is a property of him, regardless which particular point in time we consider.

I-l predicates are more restricted than s-l ones. I-l predicates can't occur in presentational "there" sentences (a star in front of a sentence indicates that it is odd or ill-formed):

There are police available. ("available" is s-l)

*There are firemen altruistic. ("altruistic" is i-l)

S-l predicates allow modification by manner adverbs and other adverbial modifiers. I-l ones do not.

John spoke French loudly in the corridor. ("speak French" can be interpreted as s-l)

*John knew French loudly in the corridor. ("know French" can't be interpreted as s-l)

When an i-l predicate occurs in past tense, it gives rise to what is called a "lifetime effect": The subject must be assumed to be dead or otherwise gone out of existence.

John was available. (s-l no lifetime effect)

John was altruistic. (i-l lifetime effect.)

Kind-level predicates

A kind-level predicate ("k-l predicate") is true of a kind of thing, but cannot be applied to individual members of the kind. An example of this is the predicate "are widespread." One can't meaningfully say of a particular individual John that he is widespread. One may only say this of kinds, as in

Humans are widespread.

Certain types of noun phrase can't be the subject of a k-l predicate. We have just seen that a proper name can't be. Singular indefinite noun phrases are also banned from this environment:

*A cat is widespread. (compare: Nightmares are widespread.)

Collective vs. Distributive predicates

Predicates may also be collective or distributive. Collective predicates require their subjects to be somehow plural, while distributive ones don't. An example of a collective predicate is "formed a line". This predicate can only stand in a nexus with a plural subject:

The students formed a line.

*The student formed a line.

Other examples of collective predicates include "meet in the woods", "surround the house", "gather in the hallway" and "carry the piano together". Note that the last one ("carry the piano together") can be made non-collective by removing the word "together". Quantifiers differ with respect to whether or not they can be the subject of a collective predicate. For example, quantifiers formed with "all the" can, while ones formed with "every" or "each" cannot.

All the students formed a line.

All the students gathered in the hallway.

*Each student gathered in the hallway.

*Every student formed a line.

The subject (abbreviated sub or su) is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle. The other constituent is the predicate. In English, subjects govern agreement on the verb or auxiliary verb that carries the main tense of the sentence, as exemplified by the difference in verb forms between he eats and they eat.

The subject has the grammatical function in a sentence of relating its constituent (a noun phrase) by means of the verb to any other elements present in the sentence, i.e. objects, complements and adverbials.

The subject is a phrasal constituent, and should be distinguished from parts of speech, which, roughly, classify words within constituent.

An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what the verb is being done to. As an example, the following sentence is given:

In the sentence "Bobby kicked the ball", "ball" is the object.

"Bobby" is the subject, the doer or performer, while "kick" is the action, and "ball" is the object involved in the action.

The main verb in the sentence determines whether there can or must be objects in the sentence, and if so how many and of what type. (See also Valency (linguistics).) In many languages, however, including English, the same verb can allow multiple different structures; for example, "Bobby kicked" and "Bobby kicked the ball" are both valid English sentences.

In grammar an adverbial is a word (an adverb) or a group of words (an adverbial phrase or an adverbial clause) that modifies or tells us something about the sentence or the verb. The word adverbial is also used as an adjective, meaning 'having the same function as an adverb'. Look at the examples below:

Danny speaks fluently. (telling us more about the verb)

Lorna ate breakfast yesterday morning.

№8 Mood types (declarative, interrogative, etc.) and communicative (illocutionary) acts (statement, request, etc.)

Grammatical mood (also mode) is one of a set of morphologically distinctive forms that are used to signal modality. It is distinct from grammatical tense or grammatical aspect, although these concepts are conflated to some degree in many languages, including English and most other modern Indo European languages, insofar as the same word patterns are used to express more than one of these concepts at the same time (see Tense-aspect-mood).

The clause as exchange: mood structures

When a speaker interacts with others to exchange information, or to influence their behaviour and get things done, she adopts for herself a certain role, such as ‘questioner’ and, in doing so, assigns a complementary role, such as ‘informant’, to her addressee. Unless the conversation is very one-sided, the roles of ‘questioner’ and ‘informant’ tend to alternate between the interlocutors engaged in a conversation. The clause is the major grammatical unit used by speakers to ask questions, make statements and issue directives. The exchange of information is typically carried out by the indicative mood or clause type, as opposed to directives, which are typically expressed by the imperative mood. Within the indicative, making a statement is associated characteristically with the declarative, and asking a question with the interrogative. More exactly, it is one part of these structures – consisting of the Subject and the Finite element – that in English carries the syntactic burden of the exchange. The rest of the clause remains unchanged. In a declarative clause, the Subject precedes the Finite. In the interrogative structure, the positions of Finite operator and Subject are reversed, the Predicator and the rest of the clause remaining the same. The Finite is that element which relates the content of the clause to the speech event. It does this by specifying a time reference, through tense, or by expressing an attitude of the speaker, through modality. Also associated with finiteness, although less explicitly in many cases in English, are person and number. The Finite element is realised in the examples above by the modal auxiliary will.