DEPENDENT VERBLESS CLAUSE: ITS STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND USE

The term “clause” is not only applied to structures which comply with formal prerequisites,containing a subject and a predicate conveyed by a finite verb, but also to such structures which are analysable into clause elements. The verbless clause is a structure containing no verb element at all (either finite or nonfinite), usually having a covert subject, but containing other expressions which can be identified as a part of predicate (subject complement or adverbial). The verbless subordinate clause is joined to its superordinate clause syndetically or asyndetically (a supplementive verbless clause), or by the prepositions with or without. As an optional clause element, it functions as an adverbial, expressing a range of semantic roles, usually suggested by the introductory conjunction, or as an “optional subject/object adjunct” (supplementive verbless clauses), conveying a twofold relationship: to the predication and, at the same time, to the subject or object of its superordinate clause. Considered one of the means of sentence condensation, it is mainly used in written language.