Clause: non-canonical

Simplified outline of ways to change canonical clause into non-canonical.

However, in many cases a non-canonical clause has no grammatically well-formed canonical counterpart.

Polarity

Kim referred to the report. (canonical, positive)

Kim did not refer to the report. (negative)

Clause type (grammatical form)

Clause type is defined by grammatical form, not by semantics:

She finished the work

Did she finish the work? (interrogative differs both in order and the addition of auxiliary “do”)

All canonical clauses are declarative

Clause
├── Declarative
├── Interrogative
├── Exclamative
└── Imperative

She was still working. (canonical, declarative, subject in default basic position before the predicator)

Was she still working? (interrogative, order inverted)

What a shambles it was! (exclamative)

Sit down (imperative)

Information package, construction

We look at the clause:

• Propositional content

• How the information is “packaged”

Pat solved the problem (active)

The problem was solved by Pat (passive, same propositional content, different information package)

Passive is one of a number of non-canonical constructions. Others include:

Most of them we rejected (preposing “we rejected most of them”)

There were several doctors onboard (existential construction)

It was Pat who spoke first (it-cleft “Pat spoke first”)

Subordinate

Liz was present. (canonical)

He said that Liz was present (subordinated, same clause using the subordinator “that”)

Hollow clause:

This tool is very easy to use (subordinate differs from main clause more radically, here a hollow clause)

The subordinate is infinitival and contains:

• Subordinator “to”

• Predicator “use”

• Unexpressed subject: instead of e.g. “for someone to use…”. It’s understood as generic subject: someone, people, one, etc.

• Unexpressed object: filled by the matrix clause “this tool”

Since we don’t have a complete subordinate clause like “Liz was present”, we can’t really analogue to it’s non-subordinate canonical version.

Coordinate

He has forgotten the appointment. (canonical)

Either he has overslept or he has forgotten the appointment

Jill works in Paris, and her husband in Brussels (predicator “works” missing)

Combined non-canonical

It is of course possible for non-canonical constructions to combine. The properties are independent

I can’t understand [why I have not been questioned by the police] (negative, interrogative, passive, and subordinate)

No canonical option

Not all non-canonical clauses have grammatically well-formed counterparts.

I can’t stay any longer.

I can stay any longer. (polarity sensitive)

Have they finished yet? (closed interrogative formed by subject–auxiliary inversion)

They have finished yet. (while “They have finished” works, yet is a polarity sensitive adverb)

Kim was said to be the culprit.

Said Kim to be the culprit. (say+infinitival is restricted to passive, no element corresponding to the subject of an active clause)

There was a book.

An book was. (there is no complement in the canonical construction)

If it hadn’t been for you, I couldn’t have managed.

It had been for you. (grammatical, but without the main clause)

Polarity sensitive items

In general, the restriction on items like “any” is that they do not occur in positive declarative clauses. They are non-affirmative items (affirming contrasts with questioning, suggesting declarativeness, and the adjective affirmative is a synonym of positive).

See grammar lists, CGEL intro 9.4