Talk:clause

xiǎng xiǎng ‘keep on thinking’ vs xiáng xiǎng ‘think for a moment’
According to Wiedenhof's A Grammar of Mandarin, page 25,

xiǎng xiǎng ‘keep on thinking’ doesn't show tone sandhi because the tones belong to separate clauses, unlike [xiáng xiǎng] ‘think for a moment’.

What meaning of "clause" is used here? --Backinstadiums (talk) 23:49, 5 October 2019 (UTC)

What is the difference between the first two definitions?
Two grammatical definitions are given:


 * A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and any adjuncts affecting them.
 * A verb along with its subject and their modifiers. If a clause provides a complete thought on its own, then it is an independent (superordinate) clause; otherwise, it is (subordinate) dependent.

I fail to see why two definitions are given. The only difference, judging from the definitions, seems to be that the second definition excludes the possibility of an object in the clause.

1. The monkey (subject) sitting in the tree (adjunct) saw (verb) a man (object) in the garden (adjunct).

2. The monkey (subject) sitting in the tree (modifier) saw (verb)....

To be honest, I haven't come across a grammatical theory that would treat only sentences with intransitive verbs as "clauses". Even the cited passage identifies "Would she get a degree?" as a clause -- where "a degree" is the object of "get".

In fact, the classical definition of a clause would include some reference to "subject" and "predicate", which is missing from this entry.

It looks to me like this entry has been mucked around by various edits in the time it has existed, resulting in the present confused entry.

Added note:

I've looked up a couple of dictionary definitions of "clause" in the relevant sense. They seem to be superior to the entry here.

Merriam Webster:

a group of words containing a subject and predicate and functioning as a member of a complex or compound sentence.

Cambridge:

A clause is the basic unit of grammar. Typically a main clause is made up of a subject (s) (a noun phrase) and a verb phrase (v). Sometimes the verb phrase is followed by other elements, e.g objects (o), complements (c), adjuncts (ad). These other elements are sometimes essential to complete the meaning of the clause.

(This one uses the term "verb phrase", which seems a bit strange. In (possibly dated) linguistic theory that I'm familiar with, the VP contains both the verb and its objects.

Bathrobe (talk) 11:40, 22 June 2024 (UTC)