Syntactic functions in English language

Syntactic functions in English language..

1.    The subject:

a.    Definition: The subject is a part of sentence controlling the predicate
Example:
–    She is a night- bird (sex worker)
–    Captain Cook discovered Australia in 1776
–    The people I like best never forget my birthday
b.    The subject can be expressed by means of single word, a noun, a pronoun, a noun phrase or even a clause.
Example:
•    A single word:
–    Man is an emotional creature
–    I love her
•    A phrase
–    The young girl with long hair walked confidently across the room
–    What to do with money drove him mad
–    Learning English enables many people to make some social advancement
–    His taking her to Halong last week does not matter to me.
•    A clause:
Example:
–    That coffee grown in brazil is famous to all
–    That he took her to Cua Lo last week always puzzles me
–    Whether he gets the money does not matter to me
–    Why the Minister committed suicide made the first headline on many newspapers.
Notes:
–    “That” clause is used to express idea already clearly understood or clearly seen.
–    “Whether” clause is used to express idea in doubt.
–    “wh – “ clause including “ how” is used to express the ideas of interrogative meaning
–    Why the letter he wrote to me has not come makes me disappointed.

2.    The predicate

Is a part of the sentence controlled by the subject
Example:
–    She is a teacher
–    He loves me

3.    The complement

Complement is a part of the sentence usually stand after the link Verb or copular (Động từ nối), giving information about the subject or object.
Example:
–    She looks happy ( look is link verb)
–    She is a dancer
Link verb is the verb that can go with the adjectives : appear, become, come, feel, get, go, happen, keep, look, loom, prove, rank, remain, rest, seem, sound, stay, taste, grow, leave off, lie, run, smell, turn, turn out…
Example:
–    He always gets angry with me
–    The station seemed a very small one
–    He looks Vietnamese
–    He fell heir to a large state (fell = has become)
–    The cow run / gone into the barn (run / gone ở đây là full verb ” động từ thực” chứ không phải là link Verb)
In the English language there are 2 types of complements: the subject complement, the object complement
3.1    Subject complement
Can be expressed by a word, phrase, a clause
•    By a word:
–    He is good
–    The students always act dumb
•    By a phrase
–    A bird is a flying animal
–    She seems an honest person
•    By a clause
–    Our duty is that we must finish the problem
3.2    Object complement
Can be expressed by a Word, phrase, a clause
•    By a Word:
–    He pushes the door open
–    They have proved me wrong
–    He likes his coffee strong
–    She called me names
•    By a phrase:
–    I found what he said to mean nothing
–    I found her in tear.
–    He made her so happy before
–    I saw her walking down the street
•    By a Clause
–    I tell them what to do
–    I named my son what my father named me

4.    The Object

a.    Definition
Object is a part of sentence denoting the receiver of an action
Example:
–    He hit me last night
An object is normally a noun, a pronoun, a phrase, it usually goes after the verb in the active voice and it can become the subject of a verb in the passive voice
Notes: Object can be divided into 3 types:
–    Direct object
–    Indirect object
–    Prepositional object
a.    Direct object
Refer to the person or thing affected by the action of the verb. It comes immediately after a transitive verb (ngoại động từ)
Example:
–    He kicked the dog
–    Mary bought some ice-creams
b.    Indirect object
Usually refer to the person who” benefits) from the action expressed in the verb.
–    My mother gives me some money

–    My man bought me some flowers

–    I kissed her right in this room last night

c.    Prepositional Object
(Trong câu nếu tân ngữ gián tiếp đứng sau tân ngữ trực tiếp thì ở giữa 2 tân ngữ phải có giới từ (Tân ngữ gián tiếp mang giới từ)

–    They gave a lot of things to her in her birthday.
–    In the scene she is bring a cup of tea to her boy friend

 Chú ý: Certain verbs must have “to” or “for” with the direct object .The “to” or “for” usually comes after the direct object. Some of the most common of these verbs are:

Object can be expressed by mean of single word( noun or a pronoun), a noun phrase, a clause.
•    By single word
–    I study English
–    I love her
–    She studies Chinese
•    By a phrase
–    He loves a girl with blue eyes
–    He drink coffee with sugar
–    She does not know what to do with the money
–    He lives a humble life ( anh ấy sống một cuộc sống nghèo khó)
•    By a clause
–    Nobody understands why the minister committed suicide
–    He suggested that we should have a picnic at Halong
–    I want to know whether she will come with me./