Units and Complex Units by Tayyiba Hanif and Colleagues. A very important topic in Advanced Grammar under the super vision of Dr.Hafiz M. Qasim. This material help a lot in understanding the topic. Thanks!

2. Group#6
Chapter#6

3. Tayyiba
Hanif-
7221
Sana
Sajjad-
7231
Fariha
Arshad-
7216
Navid
Khokker-
7313
Komal-
7310

4. Advanced Grammar
Supervisor: Dr. Hafiz M. Qasim
Book: An introduction to Systemic
Linguistics Structures and Systems
M.A 4th Linguistics and Literature
Government College University
Faisalabad

5. Complex-
Units
Summary
Units

6. Introduction
 Units
 Formal item have different size. The different sizes of formal items are called units.
 Units of grammar are much like the units of measurement like meters, centimeters.
 There are two ways to identify a unit:
 1) by the part it plays in the structure of a larger unit
 2) and also by its own structure
 The units of English grammar include the sentence, the clause, the group, the word and
the morpheme

7. Unit: Clause
 Clause is a group of words that forms a part of a sentence, and has a subject and a
predicate of its own.
 It can be identified by the part they play in the structure of a larger unit and also by
their own structure.
 It can be dependent (β) or independent clause(α) in a sentence.
 It’s structure consists of one or more of the elements S, P, C, A.
 A pair of vertical lines is used to mark the boundary of a clause.
 Examples:

8. Continued
Ex. 1
β
A S P A
When Aunt Jemima returned from Basingstoke,
α
S P C A
Theodore met her at the station
 There are two clauses in this sentence. The first clause is
dependent clause which has the structure A, S, P, A and the
second is a independent which has the structure of S, P, C, A.

9. Continued
Example 2:
α α
S P S P
The sun shone, the bells rang
α
C P S
and happy was the bride

10. Continued
 There three clauses in this sentence and all these clauses
are independent clauses. The first two clauses have S, P
structure but the third clause has C, P, S structure.

11. Different Point of View from Traditional
Grammar about Clause
 Traditional grammar is different from traditional grammars in the realization of clause. For example:
1) Whistling merrily, he cycled down the road.
2) His job finished, he went home.
3) To win the prize, he must work harder
 Most traditional grammars would not consider the underlined sections of following the sentence as clauses
but systemic grammar consider them as clauses because these sections have their own structure such as:
 Whistling merrily has P, A structure,
 His job finished has S, P Structure and
 To win the prize has P, C structure .
 So each has the kind of structure which is characteristic of a clause.

12. Continued
 And each underlined sections is acting as a β element in a sentence,
just as is each underlined section of the following sentences:
 Ex. 1: John, who was whistling merrily, cycled down the road
 Ex.2: When his job was finished, he went home
 Ex. 3: If he is to win the prize, he must work harder
 Because of their structures and role in the sentence systemic
grammar considers these underlined sections as clauses.

13. Unit: Group
 Group is the combination of words, that does not have complete sense is called group.
 There are four classes of groups.
1) Nominal group (m), h, (q)
2) Verbal group (a), (n), l, (e)
3) Prepositional group (o), p, c
4) Adverbial group (t), a, (l)

14. Continued
 Any group will be played the part of an S element, a P element, a C element
or an A element in the structure of a clause.
 It will have a structure which consists of one or more of the elements m, h,
q or one or more of the elements b, p, c or one or more of the elements a, v,
e. .com
 A single vertical line is used to mark the boundary of a group.
A S P C
 h h a v m h
 Yesterday I was visiting my sister
 There are four groups A, S, P, C.A in this sentence.

15. Continued
Example 2
S P C
m m h v m h
Our next-door neighbor mended the fuse
There are three groups in this sentence S, P, C.

16. Unit: Word
 Words are made up of morphemes
 Each word contains obligatory base element
 The elements of the word are m, h, q, b, p, c, a, v, e in the structure of a group.
 It can be represent by leaving space in words.
 Example:
m h v m h
 The painters finished the room

17. Unit: Morpheme
 Morph is the smallest grammatical meaningful unit in language.
 It consists of bound and free morpheme.
 Bound morphemes may be inflectional or derivational
 Morpheme will be consist of one of the elements base, prefix, infix, suffix, ending,
addition, in the structure of a word.
 Prefix: before root word Base: root word
 Suffix: after root word Ending: are inflectional like: s, es, d, ed
 Addition: are compound words, and in which hyphens are used.
 Infix: change of vowel, showing plurality, or past tense.

18. Continued
 The boundary of a morpheme is marked by the sign ‘+’ for example:
 in painter there are three morpheme.
 in going’s on has four morpheme.
Base suffix ending
Paint + er + s
Base suffix ending addition
Go + ing + s + on

19. Unit: sentence
 A group of words which makes complete sense.
 A sentence’s own structure will consist of one or more of the elements α, β.
 The structure of sentence consists of 4 elements: subject predicator, complement, adjunct.
 It is represented by three verticals lines.
Example:
β α
 When the night came, he was far from home

20. COMPLEX UNITS

21. What we are going to talk about:
COMPLEX UNITS ARE SOMETIMES CALLED UNIT-
COMPLEXES. COMPLEX GROUPS ARE SOMETIMES CALLED
GROUP-COMPLEXES, COMPLEX WORDS ARE SOMETIMES
CALLED WORD-COMPLEXES AND COMPLEX MORPHEMES
ARE SOMETIMES CALLED MORPHEME-COMPLEXES.

22. Symbols or Abbreviations usually
used for the elements of structure

23. A little more understanding:
1. SUBJECT (PERFORMER OR DOER IN A SENTENCE)
2. PREDICATOR (PROCESS OR ACTION )
3. COMPLEMENT:
A COMPLEMENT IS ONE OR MORE WORDS USED TO COMPLETE THE MEANING OF THE
VERB IN THE SENTENCE. IT IS CONSIDERED PART OF THE PREDICATE.
4. ADJUNCT
AN ADJUNCT IS PART OF A SENTENCE AND MODIFIES THE VERB TO SHOW TIME, MANNER,
PLACE, FREQUENCY AND DEGREE, IT DEPENDS ON SOME OTHER FROM WORD OR PHRASE
ESPECIALLY AND ELEMENT CLAUSE STRUCTURE ITS ADVERBIAL FUNCTION.
SUBJECT PREDICATOR COMPLEMENT ADJUNCT
He opened the door politely
Some people sing operatic arias in their baths
The cat scratched Aunt Jemima by accident
These mistakes were very common last year.

24. Clause and its Major types:
WHAT IS CLAUSE:
1. A GROUP OF WORDS THAT FORMS A PART OF A SENTENCE,
AND HAS A SUBJECT AND A PREDICATE OF ITS OWN.
2. THE SMALLEST GRAMMATICAL UNIT THAT CAN EXPRESS A
COMPLETE PROPOSITION. IT CONTAINS A SUBJECT AND A VERB.
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF CLAUSES:
• INDEPENDENT CLAUSE Ά
• DEPENDENT CLAUSE Β

25. Independent clause ά
A group of words that can stand on its own as a sentence. It has a subject, a verb and a complete
thought.
Example:
They dance under the rain.
Dependent /subordinate clause β:
A group of words that contains a subject and a verb, but it is not a complete though. Because it is
not a complete thought, a dependent clause cannot stand on its own as a sentence; it is dependent
on being attached to an independent clause to form a sentence.
Example:
Because I woke up late this morning… (what happened?)
When we arrived in class.. (what occurred?)

26. Sense of the Topic: Grammar Unit
THE TOPIC CONSIST OF BASIC UNIT AND COMPLEX
UNIT
BASIC UNITS HAVE MULTIVARIATE STRUCTURE AND
COMPLEX UNITS HAVE UNIVARIATE STRUCTURES

27. MULTIVARIATE STRUCTURES:
MULTIVARIATE STRUCTURES ARE THOSE IN WHICH THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS. IN THE S, P, C, A KIND OF STRUCTURE FOR INSTANCE, THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN S AND P IS DIFFERENT FROM THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN C AND P, WHICH
IS DIFFERENT FROM THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A AND P, WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN S AND C, WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN S AND A ,
WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN C AND A.
FOLLOWING EXAMPLES CAN BE PUT BACK AND FORTH TO HAVE BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF ABOVE
MENTIONED COMBINATION OF S, P, C, A
SUBJECT PREDICATOR COMPLEMENT ADJUNCT
He opened the door politely
Some people sing operatic arias in their baths
The cat scratched Aunt Jemima by accident
These mistakes were very common last year.
Multivariate
structure consist
of:
“the basic units,
clause, group, word,
have multivariate
structures”

28. UNIVARIATE STRUCTURES:
UNIVARIATE STRUCTURES ARE THOSE IN WHICH THERE IS ONLY ONE KIND OF RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE ELEMENTS.
EXAMPLE:
• HIS HAIR, HIS BEARD, HIS SKIN, AND HIS CLOTHES WERE BRIGHT GREEN.
• HE HUFFED AND HE PUFFED, TILL HE BLEW THE HOUSE DOWN.
• THE MEN’S HALLS AND THE WOMEN’S HALLS
UNIVARIATE STRUCTURES CAN BE SUBDIVIDED INTO FOLLOWING:
1. PARATACTIC UNIVARIATE STRUCTURES
2. HYPOTACTIC UNIVARIATE STRUCTURES.
Univariate structure
consist of:
“Complex Units and
sentences”

29. Paratactic Univariate Structure:
• Paratactic is derived from a Greek word that means “to place side by side.” It can be
defined as a rhetorical term in which phrases and clauses are placed one after another
independently, without coordinating or subordinating them through the use of
conjunctions.
• The one kind of relationship existing between the elements has been a relationship of
coordination.
Examples:
His hair, his beard, his skin, his clothes
I came, I saw, I conquered.

30. Hypotactic Univariate Structure:
• Hypotactic univariate is the opposite of Paratactic univariate. In Hypotactic univariate, the
sentences, clauses, and phrases are subordinated and linked.
• Hypotactic univariate structures, like paratactic univariate structures, have only one kind
of relationship existing between their elements, but in this case the relationship is one of
subordination.
Example:
• When night came, he was far from home.
• Sandy MacTavish, from Glasgow, did not, to our surprise, have a Scottish accent.
• He huffed and he puffed, till he blew the house down.

31. Paratactic univariate structure is further divided based on:
• Relationship of co-ordination
• Relationship of apposition
• Equal status
And it is known as “Appositional paratactic univariate”
Example: That man, Owen Evans, is a footballer
Explanation: Owen Evans is equated with that man by being juxtaposed to it. Owen Evans is
said to be in apposition to that man.

32. Under Appositional paratactic univariate structure,
some of the examples are of “Synonym Habit”
Example:
You were immured, restrained, captivated bound.
Explanation:
Immured, restrained, captivated are synonyms of equal status.

33. Summary: Units and Complex units

34. Unit
 Formal item are of different size. The different sizes of formal items are called
Units.
 Role of Units: use for measurement as yards, feets and inches etc.
 Grammar Unit: Sentence, The clause, the group, the word etc.
 Role of Clause: ά (Alpha) β (Beta) clause.
 Example:
 If he is to win the prize, he work harder.
 He attends a Secondary School, which is near to his house.

35. Element of Clause and how to recognize Sentence, clause.
 Clauses has the structure of one or more elements as in first example has the structure of
To win the prize has the structure of PC.
 Different structures has different elements as:
 m,h,q
 b,p,c
 a,v,e
 Boundary marker (Vertical lines):
 Single Vertical line: marking the boundary of group.
 Double Vertical line: marking the boundary of clause.
 Three Vertical line: marking the boundary of sentence.
 Example: He huffed and he puffed till he blew the house.

36. Difference between Units and Complex Units
 Complex Unit is a combination of two or more simple units.
 Example: ||The men’s halls and the women’s hall| are| on different sides of the
campus||.
Units Complex Units
Multivariate Structure Univariate Structure/ recursive
structure
Different relationships between
different elements
One kind of relationship
between the elements.
Basic units, clause, group, words Complex units, including the
sentence
Successive layers of a structural
tree to be occupied by complex
units.

37. Uni-variate Structure
Paratactic Uni-variate Hypotactic Uni-variate
Elements of equal structure One kind of relationship between
elements
Relationship is subordinate.
Example: The helpful, if dim, new
assistant.