UNIT 8 – ADJUNCTS

8.1 SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES

It is common to find a number of adjuncts in a single clause. They can be omitted without affecting the
grammaticality of the clause

(If possible) we’ll see you (tomorrow evening) (after the class) (with Mark and Susan) (at the cinema main
entrance).

Adjuncts can be added to any of the basic clause structures:

 SP (A): The baby cried all the afternoon long
 SPOd (A): Bill booked a room in Manchester
 SPOp (A): You must allow for delays under extreme weather conditions
 SPOiOd (A) He gives me kisses every day
 SPCs (A): The weather is being quite unpredictable in the area
 SPOdCo (A): They elected him Mr. Spain in Madrid

Many adjuncts are characterised by their flexibility as regards position:

 Hurriedly he opened the box
 He hurriedly opened the box
 He opened the box hurriedly

Semantically, adjuncts represent circumstances, specifications and comments of many different types which are
attendant on the verb or the whole clause.

8.2 MAIN CLASSES OF ADJUNCTS

8.2.1 CIRCUMSTANTIAL ADJUNCTS

Provide experiential details about the action or state described by the verb, and answer such questions as
where? when? how? why? and occasionally what? as in What does he want that for? What did they die of?

They are the most similar ones to clause constituents. Like subject and object, they may be the focus of a cleft.
So, in the example Ann got a dog last week, we may highlight each element except the verb, including the
adjunct of time. But other types of circumstantial adjunct don’t pass this test:

It was last week that Ann got a dog (Adjunct)

It was a dog that Ann got last week (Object)
It was Ann who got a dog last week (Subject)
*It was probably/ *usually /*surprisingly /*still that Ann got a dog last week.

8.2.2 Realisations of the circumstantial adjunct: summary

They called us yesterday Adverb

They called us too late AdvG
They called us from home PP
They called us this afternoon NG
They called us while we were out Finite Clause
They called to tell us their news Non-fin. To-inf. cl.
They called us, using Skype Non-fin. -en.cl
Afraid of our reaction, they called us Verbless clause

Non-finite -ing, -en and verbless clauses are more loosely integrated into the clause and can’t be made the focus
of a cleft (*It was scared out of their wits that they called us) as can other circumstantials, including to-infinitive
clauses (It was to tell us their news that they called us).
Supplementives are units that are set off from the main clause by a comma or a pause. The -ing and -en types, as
well as verbless clauses such as afraid to leave the house fall into this category.

8.2.3 Circumstantials functioning as central clause elements

Certain verbs predict a circumstantial element without which the clause in incomplete syntactically and
semantically. Then they have the status of Complement and are summarised here:

 Location in place or time, after a verb of position such as be, stay, live, lie, etc.
o We live in difficult time
o The house is located near a lake.

 Extent in time or place with verbs such as take as in, The recovery takes several days, or last, as in the
exam lasts (for) two hours, in which the preposition is optional. In discourse, the time duration may be
omitted if it is understood, as in Their marriage didn’t last, meaning ‘didn’t last for a long time’.

 Direction and Goal after verbs of movement such as go, come or of movement + manner such as fly, as
in They flew north (direction), They flew to Paris (Goal)

 Source in ‘He went out of the house’, ‘They flew from Gatwick airport’.

 Manner with behave, as in, ‘He is behaving rather naughtily’. Also with one sense of treat, as in ‘The
policeman treated the prisoner badly’.

8.2.4 Circumstantials and their ordering in discourse

There is a strong tendency to add circumstantial information, even when it is not strictly required by syntactic or
semantic criteria for a single clause, but because it may be crucial for the development of the discourse. So,
instead of saying Mike disappeared, we might add an optional circumstantial such as among the tourists, under
the sea.

The conditional clause adjunct – as in If you don’t study hard, you are not much goo as a university student – is
necessary for a full understanding of the speaker’s intended meaning. Without it, the message is very different.

With verbs such as leave, arrive and go, Source, Goal and Location adjuncts are omitted if they can be inferred
from the context (haven’t you left/arrived/gone yet).

8.2.5 STANCE ADJUNCTS

They express the speaker’s evaluation or content of the message, or the viewpoint adopted. Syntactically, they
remain separate from the clause. They are usually found before the clause or after it. But they can also be placed
parenthetically or between commas, within a clause or sentence.

Obviously, she greeted me when I arrived

She greeted me when I arrived, obviously
She obviously greeted me when I arrived
She spoke to me, obviously, when I arrived

Textually, stance adjuncts are of three kinds:

1. Epistemic, stance adjuncts > they express the speaker’s opinion regarding the validity of the content,
commenting on the certainty, doubt, possibility and obviousness of the proposition:
a. Undoubtedly, she is the best ballet danced alive today.

2. Evidential adjuncts > they signal the source of knowledge or information. They range from the speaker’s
own experience or belief (In my view/ In my experience) to the beliefs of others (According to… In the
words of…)
 a. According to the predictions, the unemployment rate will drop significantly the next year

3. Evaluative adjuncts > they reflect subjective or objective attitude of the speaker towards the content
and sometimes toward the addressee:
a. Surely you can give him a second chance
b. Broadly speaking, Spanish health system is one of the best in the world (objective)

4. Style and domain adjuncts >

a. Style adjuncts are the speaker’s comment on the way he/she is speaking (honestly, frankly,
confidentially
i. Quite frankly, it seems to me all bullshit
b. Domain adjuncts signal from what the viewpoint is orientated (technologically, legally, etc.)
i. Legally, the case has no base

8.2.6 Realisations of the Stance Adjunct: summary

Stance adjuncts can be realised by adverbs, prepositional phrases, finite and non-finite causes:

 Adverbs: surely, obviously, frankly, honestly

 PPs: in fact, in reality, at a rough guess, by any chance, of course
 Non-finite cl: to be honest, to tell the truth
 Finite cl.: If I may be frank with you…; don’t take this personally, but…

8.2.7 CONNECTIVE ADJUNCTS

They tell us how the speaker or writer understands the semantic connection between two utterances, or part of
an utterance, while indicating the semantic relationship holding between them. They are connectors of structure:

 Between groups: Salvador Dali was a prodigious painter and furthermore a great intellectual.
 Between clauses: The street sweepers are on strike; nevertheless, the rubbish will be collected.
 Between sentences: she has been undergoing treatment for cancer since she was diagnosed with breast
cancer. Consequently, she was never operated on.
 Between paragraphs: in addition to all this… First of all… In conclusion…

Such connectors have a textual function.

Semantically, many different types of connection can be expressed:

 Additive: besides, in the same way, what’s more, moreover, as well, also
 Contrast: instead, on the contrary, on the other hand, nevertheless, rather
 Casual: for, because, so, therefore, then, in that case, consequently, thus
 Temporal: first, then, next, after that, finally, at once

8.2.8 Realisations of the connective adjunct: summary

Adverbs: nevertheless, moreover, first, therefore, next

PPs: in other words, by the way
AdjGs: last of all, better still
AdvGs: more accurately
Fin. Cl: that is to say, what is more
Non-fin. Cl.: to sum up, to cap it all

Turns in conversation are instantiated by connective adjuncts such as Well…, Now…, Oh…, So…, that function as
discourse markers. Their role is twofold: they mark a new speaker’s turn in the conversation and they mark the
management of information, as well as the speaker’s attitude to the message.

 Well has a variety of meanings, signalled by intonation, ranging from decision to deliberation.
  Oh is a surprisal, indicating that the information received is contrary to expectations, or that the speaker
is adjusting to the new information or perception.
 I mean, you see and you know regulate shared and unshared knowledge.
 Look and Hey are attention signals
 Yes, yeah, no and nope are responses that can occur with other markers.

Here are some examples of discourse markers in Spoken English:

Oh my goodness!
Oh well, there is always Channel 9
I’ve lost my mobile! Well, what do you expect?
You are always losing things