Key grammatical and semantic terms

Adjunct: An optional modifier in a clause or phrase.

Appositive: An appositive is a noun or a noun phrase that sits next to another noun to rename it or to describe it in another way

The buildings in London, the most interesting city in the world,

Argument: A noun phrase (or PP) that is required by the verb or adjective to complete its meaning.

Finite clause: A finite clause contains a verb that is inflected for tense, person, and/or number.

She runs every morning (3rd person singular present)

Genitive: The genitive case is predominantly used for showing possession

Infinitive marker: The word “to”, when it precedes the verb to form a to-infinitive

Non finite clause: A non-finite clause contains a verb that does not show tense, person, or number

Patient: semantic, entity that undergoes a change of state or is directly affected by an action

Postmodifiers: Postmodifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that come after a noun to describe, rename, or qualify it, including adjectival phrases, prepositional phrases, relative clauses, participial phrases, infinitive phrases, and appositive phrases.

Theme: The entity that the action is about or acts upon, whether or not it changes.

Two-object constructions: also called ditransitive constructions, are verbs that take two core argument: usually a direct object and an indirect object (often the recipient). These are essential for grammar analysis because they help distinguish arguments from adjuncts.

She gave her friend a gift (her friend is an indirect object) She gave a gift to her friend (PP, same role)