Adjunct (grammar)

Take the sentence John helped Bill in Central Park on Sunday as an example:

1. John is the subject argument.
2. helped is the predicate.
3. Bill is the object argument.
4. in Central Park is the first adjunct.
5. on Sunday is the second adjunct.[1]

An adverbial adjunct is a sentence element that often establishes the circumstances in which the action or state expressed by the verb takes place. The following sentence uses adjuncts of time and place:

Yesterday, Lorna saw the dog in the garden.

Notice that this example is ambiguous between whether the adjunct in the garden modifies the verb saw (in which case it is Lorna who saw the dog while she was in the garden) or the noun phrase the dog (in which case it is the dog who is in the garden). The definition can be extended to include adjuncts that modify nouns or other parts of speech (see noun adjunct).

An adjunct can be a single word, a phrase, or an entire clause.[3]

Single word

She will leave tomorrow.

Phrase

She will leave in the morning.

Clause

She will leave after she has had breakfast.

Most discussions of adjuncts focus on adverbial adjuncts, that is, on adjuncts that modify verbs, verb phrases, or entire clauses like the adjuncts in the three examples just given. Adjuncts can appear in other domains, however; that is, they can modify most categories. An adnominal adjunct is one that modifies a noun: for a list of possible types of these, see Components of noun phrases. Adjuncts that modify adjectives and adverbs are occasionally called adadjectival and adadverbial.

the discussion before the game – before the game is an adnominal adjunct.

very happy – very is an "adadjectival" adjunct.

too loudly – too is an "adadverbial" adjunct.

Adjuncts are always constituents. Each of the adjuncts in the examples throughout this article is a constituent.

Adjuncts can be categorized in terms of the functional meaning that they contribute to the phrase, clause, or sentence in which they appear. The following list of the semantic functions is by no means exhaustive, but it does include most of the semantic functions of adjuncts identified in the literature on adjuncts:[4]

Causal – Causal adjuncts establish the reason for, or purpose of, an action or state.

The ladder collapsed because it was old. (reason)

Concessive – Concessive adjuncts establish contrary circumstances.

Lorna went out although it was raining.

Conditional – Conditional adjuncts establish the condition in which an action occurs or state holds.

I would go to Paris, if I had the money.

Consecutive – Consecutive adjuncts establish an effect or result.

It rained so hard that the streets flooded.

Final – Final adjuncts establish the goal of an action (what one wants to accomplish).

He works a lot to earn money for school.

Instrumental – Instrumental adjuncts establish the instrument used to accomplish an action.

Mr. Bibby wrote the letter with a pencil.

Locative – Locative adjuncts establish where, to where, or from where a state or action happened or existed.

She sat on the table. (locative)

Measure – Measure adjuncts establish the measure of the action, state, or quality that they modify

I am completely finished.

That is mostly true.

We want to stay in part.

Modal – Modal adjuncts establish the extent to which the speaker views the action or state as (im)probable.

They probably left.

In any case, we didn't do it.

That is perhaps possible.

I'm definitely going to the party.

Modificative – Modificative adjuncts establish how the action happened or the state existed.

He ran with difficulty. (manner)

He stood in silence. (state)

He helped me with my homework. (limiting)

Temporal – Temporal adjuncts establish when, how long, or how frequent the action or state happened or existed.

He arrived yesterday. (time point)

He stayed for two weeks. (duration)

She drinks in that bar every day. (frequency)

Many phrases have the outward appearance of an adjunct but are in fact (part of) a predicate instead. The confusion occurs often with copular verbs, in particular with a form of be, e.g.

It is under the bush.

The party is at seven o'clock.

The PPs in these sentences are NOT adjuncts, nor are they arguments. The preposition in each case is, rather, part of the main predicate. The matrix predicate in the first sentence is is under; this predicate takes the two arguments It and the bush. Similarly, the matrix predicate in the second sentence is is at; this predicate takes the two arguments The party and seven o'clock. Distinguishing between predicates, arguments, and adjuncts becomes particularly difficult when secondary predicates are involved, for instance with resultative predicates, e.g.

That made him tired.

The resultative adjective tired can be viewed as an argument of the matrix predicate made. But it is also definitely a predicate over him. Such examples illustrate that distinguishing predicates, arguments, and adjuncts can become difficult and there are many cases where a given expression functions in more ways than one.

Many theories of syntax and grammar employ trees to represent the structure of sentences. Various conventions are used to distinguish between arguments and adjuncts in these trees. In phrase structure grammars, many adjuncts are distinguished from arguments insofar as the adjuncts of a head predicate will appear higher in the structure than the object argument(s) of that predicate. The adjunct is adjoined to a projection of the head predicate above and to the right of the object argument, e.g.

The object argument each time is identified insofar as it is a sister of V that appears to the right of V, and the adjunct status of the adverb early and the PP before class is seen in the higher position to the right of and above the object argument. Other adjuncts, in contrast, are assumed to adjoin to a position that is between the subject argument and the head predicate or above and to the left of the subject argument, e.g.

The subject is identified as an argument insofar as it appears as a sister and to the left of V(P). The modal adverb certainly is shown as an adjunct insofar as it adjoins to an intermediate projection of V or to a projection of S. In X-bar theory, adjuncts are represented as elements that are sisters to X' levels and daughters of X' level [X' adjunct [X'...]].

Theories that assume sentence structure to be less layered than the analyses just given sometimes employ a special convention to distinguish adjuncts from arguments. Some dependency grammars, for instance, use an arrow dependency edge to mark adjuncts,[7] e.g.

The arrow dependency edge points away from the adjunct toward the governor of the adjunct. The arrows identify six adjuncts: Yesterday, probably, many times, very, very long, and that you like. The standard, non-arrow dependency edges identify Sam, Susan, that very long story that you like, etc. as arguments (of one of the predicates in the sentence).