THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

GROUP WORK

ENGLISH SYNTAX
Question 4

THE SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF

ADJUNCTS
IN ENGLISH SENTENCE

GROUP MEMBER:
ng Nguyn Bo Trn
Trn Th Thy Ngn
L Th Ngc Trang
Phan Th Uyn
Phm c Trung
CLASS: 14CNATM04

DANANG, 9/2015

CONTENT
Page
I.
II.

III.

Introduction Adjuncts .. 3
Adjuncts of Space ... .. 4
II.1 Definition
II.2 Realization
II.3 Classification
II.3.1 Position adjuncts. 5
II.3.2 Direction adjuncts
II.3.3 Distance adjuncts
II.4 Position of Space adjuncts in sentence 6
Adjuncts of Time 7
III.1 Definition
III.2 Realization
III.3 Classification ..8
III.3.1 Time-position adjuncts...8
III.3.2 Adjuncts of Duration and Span..9
III.3.3 Time-frequency adjuncts...10
III.3.4 Time-relationship adjuncts12
III.4 Position of Time adjuncts in sentence.....12

IV.

Process Adjuncts......13
IV.1 Definition
IV.2 Classification
IV.3 Manner adjuncts ....13
IV.3.1 Realization
IV.3.2 Position ....14
IV.4 Adjuncts of Means, Instrument and Agency .....14
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V.

Adjuncts of Respect .15

V.1 Definition
V.2 Position in sentence
V.3 Examples

VI.

Adjuncts of Contingency . ..16

VI.1 Definition
VI.2 Classification
VI.2.1 Reason adjuncts
VI.2.2 Purpose adjuncts
VI.2.3 Result adjuncts
VI.2.4 Conditional adjuncts 17
VI.2.5 Concession adjuncts

VII. Conclusion .............................................................................................17

REFERENCE ........................................................................................20

I. INTRODUCTION ADJUNCTS
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 Adjuncts are one of the four main categories of adverbial; the others
are subjuncts, disjuncts, and conjuncts.
Adjuncts are the only adverbials which function similarly to the sentence
elements, Subject, Object, and Complement. (In the two basic clause
patterns which contain adverbials Subject + Verb + Adverbial (SVA) and
Subject + Verb + Object + Adverbial (SVOA) the adverbial will always
be an adjunct.)
There
are
two
main
categories
of
adjuncts: predication
adjuncts and sentence adjuncts.
Predication refers to the part of a clause (or sentence)
which follows the verb element.) The predication category is further
divided
into
two
sub-categories: obligatory
predication
adjuncts and optional predication adjuncts.
The second main category of adjuncts is sentence adjuncts. Whereas
predication adjuncts modify the verb element of a sentence or clause,
sentence adjuncts apply to a whole clause or sentence.
Adjuncts can be realized by a wide range of grammatical
structures: adverbial phrases (including single-word adverbs), noun phrases,
by finite and non-finite clauses.
They can be categorized semantically as adjuncts of space, time, process,
respect and contingency.

II.

ADJUNCTS OF SPACE
II.1 Definition
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Space adjuncts denote spatial location, motion or distance. They typically answer
the questions where (position), or where to/from (direction).
II.2 Realization
Spatial adjuncts realize the roles by means of prepositional phrases, noun
phrases (prediction adjuncts of distance), the determiners (this, that, which)
and nominal clause (begin with where).
E.g:
We live in a peaceful countryside.

(prepositional phrase )

He drove a long way to meet his girl friend.

(noun phrase )

They told me to come this way to enter the car park. (the determiner )
Her mother always wants to know where she is.

(nominal clause )

Space adjuncts are elicited by the question where (position, direction) and
How far (distance). This is an important point to identify adjuncts of space.
E.g:
Where have you been?

(position)

Where is she going?

(direction)

How far did you ride this morning? (distance)

II.3 Classification
There are three primary semantic roles that can be distingiushed within the
category of space:
+ Position
+ Distance
+ Direction

II.3.1 Position adjuncts

- Space position adjuncts refer to a spatial setting or location for the process
(situation or event) and one or more of the participants in the process.
- Position adjuncts can be used freely with verbs (both in stative or dynamic
use).
e.g:

Im travelling in Hanoi at the moment.

We must work outside the building.
Tom is on the top of the mountain.

- The position role with respect to persons is often expressed by a with-phrase.

e.g: Where is Joan? She is staying with her mother.
II.3.2 Direction adjuncts
- Space direction adjuncts can normally be used only with verbs of motion.
- They characteristically co-occur with verbs that indicate movement in space,
either to a location or from a location, such as go, come, travel, or move.
e.g:
I tried to persude my family to move to Da Nang to live.
- They can also express general direction (path) without stating source or goal
e.g:
I threw the box through the window.
- Direction adjuncts can be devided into goal, source and path.
II.3.3 Distance adjuncts
- Space distance adjuncts refer to spatial extent and answer the question
how far.
- Like position, distance adjuncts can be used freely with verbs:
e.g: Athletes have to run about 50 kilometres.
He is travelling a long way.
- Distance adjuncts can be expressed by noun phrases or prepositional
phrases:
e.g: We hurried a few miles and then rested.
(noun phrase)
We hurried for a few miles and then rested. (prepositional phrase)
II.4 Position of Space Adjuncts in sentence
With an appropriate verb, a sentence can have more than one space adjunct and
even have two adjuncts of the same semantic role:
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e.g: They ran several miles on the mountain road.

(distance + position)

The plan felt into the sea near the island.

(direction + position)

Birds fly hundreds of miles to the South.

(distance + direction)

Most people do exercise at the gym in the city.

(position + position)

II.4.1 Order
If a sentence has two or more adjuncts, they are ordered as follows:
Distance Direction (goal, source) Position
e.g:
I walked a mile down the street on a darkened road.
II.4.2 Position
- Irrespective of semantic role, space adjuncts are normally at the end of the
sentence.
- Adjuncts of position can be easily moved to the initial position:
e.g: Students must wear uniform at school.
=> At the school, students must wear uniform.
- Some short adjuncts can also be at the medial position:
e.g: Im here waiting for the bus to come home.
- Predication adjuncts of position and direction can occur at the initial
position:
e.g: Behind the man stood a little boy.
- In negative sentence, predication adjuncts must be at the end:
e.g: A little boy did not stand behind the man.
But sentence adjuncts can be at the initial position:
e.g: In the desert, it often did not rain for months.

III.

ADJUNCTS OF TIME
III.1 Definition

Time adjuncts locate events and states in time (sometimes in relation to other
events) or specify their duration or frequency.
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They are typically elicited by the question when (time position and time
relationship), (for) how long (time duration) and how often (time frequency).
Time adjuncts interact with verb categories in situating events temporally: time
position adjuncts may share features of tense, while some relationship adjuncts
share features of aspect, and frequency adjuncts of modality.
III.2 Realization
Adjuncts of time are primarily realized by prepositional phrases and adverb:
e.g:
I learnt to paint in two years.
They always come home at Christmas.
On the following day, she decided to meet him.
I often get up at 6 oclock.
He usually stays up late to prepare for the exam.
In addition, a wide range of structures is also used to express adjuncts of
time:
+ Noun phrases
e.g: I visit my family every weekend.
+ Finite verb clauses
e.g: Swallows fly to the South when winter comes.
+ Nonfinite clauses
e.g: After having spent an hour watching TV, I went to bed.
+ Verbless clauses
e.g:
Phone me when possible.
+ Closed-class adverb phrases
e.g:
She never does exercise.
+ Open-class adverb phrases
e.g: They told me about the news quite lately.

III.3 Classification
III.3.1 Time-position Adjuncts
Time position adjuncts establish a temporal location for a situation or an
event, refer to a point or a period in time, to an interval in the course of which
an event takes place, or to a time span.
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 Can be eicited by the question word when and the time specified may be
narrowly stated or left rather vague.
E.g:

When did she leave? At 6.00 pm

The time postion it self may be narrow

E.g:

John was born in 1992.

It may be broad
E.g:

John lived in the 20th century.

The general anaphoric pro-form for time position reference is then

It is associated with the past, in constrast
E.g: I worked in publishing then, but now I work for an advertising film.
Then can refer to a time in the future
E.g: She will telephone you tomorrow morning and hopes that youll
be able to speak to her then.
Now confined to present-time reference (=By the time ,=then)
E.g:
interested in it.

He had been a teacher for 2 year and he now felt that he was

Can be in a hierarchical relation, usually with the one denoting the longer or
superordinate period coming second
E.g:

Ill see you at nine [A1] on Friday [A2].

The doctor wants to see you again [A1] afterwards [A2].

NOTE
Out of context, a when-clause may be ambiguous: Tell me when youre ready.
This may be a noun clause as oject (Let me know the time at which youll be
ready.) or a time - position adjunct (When youre ready, let me know.)
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III.3.2 Adjuncts of Duration and Span

Adjuncts may express duration of specific or indefinite length, the durations in
question being in the past, the present or the future.
E.g:

She worked in Viet Nam for several years.

Adjuncts of forward and backward span specifically relate duration to such a

now
Forward span is particularly associated with till and until
E.g:

I shall be in my company until 6oclock.

The beginning of the time span is fixed in relation to the speakers

orientation point, but its terminus is as indicated by the adjunct only if the
clause is positive.
E.g:

He waited until she returned.

By contrast:

He didnt wait until she returned.

The span indicated by the adjunct marks the extent of the nonoccurrence
of the momentary action
E.g: She didnt do his homework until his mother came back home.
Backward span is associated with since and the perfect aspect
E.g:

I have been at home since 7oclock.

For can be used or a noun phrase without for

E.g:

I have been at home for an hour.

Backward span isnt be related to the speakers orientation point .We deal
with duration (definite or indefinite).
E.g:

She was playing badminton for 2 hours.

Since-clauses: do or dont have verbs in the perfect

E.g:

Hes been getting stomachache since he ate hot red pepper.

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NOTE
a/ Span may be specified also by from, up to, over, by, before and by noun phrases
like this past (month), these last (few days), this next year
E.g:

She has arrived only this last week.

The beginning and end of a span can be indicated by the correlatives from...to,
from...through, between...and
E.g:

The shop is opened between 7 and 9 oclock.

b/ Especially informally, the main clause refers to the present, backward span can
be expressed without the perfect
E.g:

She never met him here before.

c/ Adjuncts of duration and span answer question of the form How long...?, Till
when ..? Since when...?
III.3.3 Time-frequency Adjuncts
Time frequency adjuncts indicate the frequency with which the action
denoted by the verbs occurs.
Definite frequency
Frequency occasion (How many time?) and frequency of period ( How
often ?). The former are normally predication adjuncts, the latter sentence
adjuncts and when in a hierarchical relation these are placed in the more
peripheral position.
Frequency of occasion: once, twice,
Frequency of period: daily, nightly, weekly, every week/month, each year,
E.g:
- Peter went to the library three times.
- Peter went to the library daily.

(occasion)
(period)

- Peter went to the library three times (occasion) every week. (period).

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 Indefinite frequency
All kinds of Indefinite frequency
a) Usual occurrence: normally, generally, ordinarily, commonly, usually,
E.g:

Christine usually has pizza for dinner.

But: Since one speak of something normally not occurring, it is a characteristic

of these adjuncts to be sentential and to be capable of preceding a clausal
negative.
E.g:

Usually, Christine doesnt have pizza for dinner.

b) Universal frequency: always, continually, permanently, constantl,

incessantly,
E.g:

I always go to school on foot.

c) High frequency: often, time and again, repeatedly, frequently, regularly,...

E.g:

He often does housework.

d) Low frequency: occasionally, rarely, seldom, never, infrequently,

E.g:

He rarely goes to school on time.

How to use them

a. If placed at I, some items in d) can oblige us to invert subject and
operator.
E.g:
Never have I experienced such rudeness.
b. Unlike the adjuncts in a) and b), some of those in c) and d) can be used in
antithetic sentence sequences.
E.g:
Often he takes his medicine, but often he doesnt.
She occasionally greets me but occasionally she doesnt.
c. Items from a) and other subsets as sentence adjuncts can readily co-occur
with predication adjuncts from b), c) or d).
E.g:
Ordinarily (a), they are continually (b) complaining.
She never (d) goes out at night, normally (a).
Sometimes (d), the dog barks repeatedly (c).

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III.3.4 Time-relationship adjuncts

Time-relationship adjuncts express a relationship between two time
positions.
1. Typically denoting a temporal sequence.
E.g: When did Peter previously visit his mother?
2. Typically implying a concessive relation.
E.g:

I cannot get it now.

3. Typically contrasting one time with another.

E.g:

You should try again.

III.3.5 Position of Time adjuncts in sentence

- Time adjuncts are most frequently at the end or at the initial position of the
sentence.
- The medial position is also common for time adjuncts, especially those
realized by adverbs.
- Where more than one type of time adjuncts co-occur in the same sentence,
they are ordered as following: duration frequency position
- Examples:
I was born in 1993.
Normally, I dont get up early in the morning.
He has recently finished his final exam.
I used to stand there for an hour [duration] every day [frequency] in
the past [position].

IV.

PROCESS ADJUNCTS
IV.1 Definition
Process adjuncts are used to express how the action happened or the state
existed; establish the instrument used to accomplish an action or the measure
of the action, state, quality that they modify.
IV.2 Classification
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Adjunts define in some way the process denoted by the verb. They can be
divided into several semantic subclasses:
+ Manner adjuncts
+ Means adjuncts
+ Instrument adjuncts
+ Agency adjuncts
IV.3 Manner adjuncts
IV.3.1 Realization
Adjuncts of manner can be realized by:
+ Adverb phrases
E.g:

Present your case carefully.

+ Like - phrases
E.g:

Simon drinks his pints like a demon.

+ As - clauses
E.g:

She is as smart as he is brilliant.

+ Prepositional or noun phrases

E.g:

She replied to questions with great courtesy.

IV.3.2 Position
Manner adjuncts are almost always at the end of the sentence, but although
thus associated with the greatest rehtorical weight in clause ,there is no
simple interrogative device for eliciting them.
IV.4 Adjuncts of Means, Instrument and Agency
Three kinds are close semantic similarities .There is considerable overlap in
realization.
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 Both the Means and Agent are often expressed with by-phrases, but the latter
is grammatically distinct in correlating with the passive (and hence
corresponding to a transitive clause).
Example of Agent:
Her windows were broken by Jack. (Jack broke her windows)
=> Correlating with the passive.
Example of Means:
- I go to school by car.
- He decided to treat the patient surgically.
- I try to persuade me by a lot of money.
=> Means adjuncts can occur in a transitive clause.
Instrument adjuncts differ from both Means and Agent adjuncts in generally
being realized by with phrases.
E.g: You can cut the bread with that knife.
Means and Instrument adjuncts can share realization with adverbs.
E.g:
- They decided to treat the patient surgically. (= by means of surgery).
<mean adjuncts>

- She examined the specimen microscopically. (where the adverb is here

intended to mean with a microscope)
<instrument adjuncts>
NOTE
Means and Instrument adjuncts can be elicited by How questions.
e.g: How can you read an ebook? (by computer /by smart phone/by
notepad....).
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 All Process adjuncts are normally placed at the end, though manner adjuncts
can be at the medial position. Cooccurrence of Process adjuncts is by no
means unusual .
e.g: Her hair is usually [manner] cut with a pair of scissors [instrument] by
her haidresser. [agent].
Position
+ Process adjuncts are usually placed at the end, since they usually receive the
information forcus:
E.g:

They treated his friend badlly.

+ When the verb is in the passive, process adjuncts are commonly placed iE:
E.g:

Discussions have been tentatively begun .

V. ADJUNCTS OF RESPECT
V.1 Definition
Adjuncts of respect are adjuncts that express the respect in which the truth value
of a sentence is being claimed.
V.2 Position in a sentence
Respect adjuncts were found to occur in end position in over 80% of the cases.
A small handful occur in medial position, mainly as a consequence of the
syntactic weight of a following obligatory constituent.

V.3 Examples
a) The finding of Rothwell (1985, p.375) are not encouraging in this regard,
showing decisions on technology to be usually top-down in character, to
the extent that supervisors and end-users are often the last to know about the
nature of the changes proposes.
b) We thanked them for a lovely evening.
c) He is working in a (nearby) factory.
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VI.

ADJUNCTS OF CONTIGENCY
VI.1 Definition
With contingency relations, adjuncts are often used for reason and its correlate
purpose, both of which can be elicited by the same question forms, Why?
What.for?.
VI.2 Classification
VI.2.1 Reason adjuncts
- As well as by finite clauses, reason adjuncts are realized by prepositional
phrases and nonfinite clauses
- Examples:
She died of cancer
He bought the book because of his interest in Maths
With him being so nice to me, I cant help falling in love with him.
VI.2.2 Purpose adjuncts
- Purpose adjuncts are realized by nonfinite clauses. For example:
He goes to the gym every day to keep fit.
Shes having a low cab diet in order to lose weight.
- Purpose adjuncts can also be realized by finite clauses. For example:
We should bring an umbrella in case it rains
Im taking an English course, so that I will improve my English faster.
VI.2.3 Result adjuncts
Used to show a result of effect.
Examples:
It rained so heavily that we couldnt go out.
We felt hungry, so we stopped to have some sandwiches.
VI.2.4 Conditional adjuncts
Examples:
If you lend me some money, Ill pay it back to you soon.
You can be absent from school provided that you do all the home
work.
I dont care who you are or where youre from as long as you love me.
VI.2.5 Concession adjuncts
When the concessive relation is expressed by an adjunct, this takes the form
of a prepositional phrase.
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Examples:
He went to class although he was sick.
He bought the ring for her despite his lack of money.
Are you somewhere feeling lonely even though hes right beside you?
NOTE
Relative position of adjuncts in sentence
The whole range of adjuncts types are ordered as following in a sentence:
Respect Process Space Time Contingency

VII. CONCLUSION
Adjuncts are one of the four main types of adverbials and there are two main
categories: predication adjuncts and sentence adjuncts. In term of semantic
classification, there are many ways to sort adjuncts. Actually, in lots of
different documents, we are often confused to see some new types of
adjuncts. Thus, it is relevant to compare the dissimilar categories of adjuncts:
do they differ from each other with respect to frequency, placement or other
semantic conditions for use? And further: how diverse is the group of
adjuncts? How much do the adjunct categories really have in common?
Ofcourse, it is very hard to solve those questions. But in this paper, we have
tried our best to present some basic aspects about adjuncts that we did find
out, based on some books and material.
The primary semantic roles of adjuncts are: space, time, process (manner,
means, instrument, agency), contingency, respect.(*) As we stated above,
each type has its own features. So here we summarize about sub-classification
and identification of adjuncts.
ADJUNCT
TYPES

SPACE

SUBTYPES

IDENTIFICATION
- Where - question

Position
Direction
Goal
Source

- Where to - question
- Wherefrom - question
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TIME

PROCESS

Path
- Distance

- How far - question

Position
Duration and Span
Frequency
Relationship
- Manner
- Means, Instrument
and Agency

RESPECT

CONTINGENCY

When - question
(for) How long - question
How often - question
When - question

How/In what way question

How - question
-

Reason
Purpose
Result
Conditional
Concession

- Why question
- What for question

- Though/Although/Inspite
of/Despite - clause

Although adjuncts are optional, we use them a lot to make our sentences clear
and easy to understand. The problem is that: How can we distinguish one type
from the others? How can we realize them in a sentence? How can we put
them in the proper order in a sentence?And how can we use them correctly in
our texts? We believe that there is no way, unless we study hard and keep
practising every day. And to finish our study about adjuncts, we quote an
opinion from the Internet:
Just like we add spice to our meals to make them taste better, adjuncts are used in
sentences to amp up their meaning and make them more luculent. Adjunctions are
fun to play with and can be a single word, a phrase or a clause. Adjuncts have
adverbial functions and are used to describe time, place or location - modicative,
casual, instrumental or conditional. Adjunctions are extra nuclear - they are added
or joined to a well-phrased sentence to enhance its meaning. But then, it would not
make much of a difference to a sentence, if removed. Adjunctions are more or less
like the saucing on the food, which is used for extra flavor and adds to the look of
the food. However, you cannot add adjunct as you wish; it has to be positioned
rightly to make the statement look unambiguous. In simple terms, adjuncts can be
18

best described as the use of grammar that gives you the answers to - why, where,
how and when (**)

*************
(*) This way of categorization is according to the book A Students Grammar of
The English Language _ Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk
(**) http://fos.iloveindia.com/adjunction-examples.html

REFERENCE
1. A Students Grammar of The English Language _ Sidney Greenbaum and
Randolph Quirk_Longman
2. Adjunct Adverbials in English _ Hilde Hasselgrd_Cambridge
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjunct_(grammar)
4. Other Internet source

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