Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
U25, RESULT, CAUSE, PURPOSE, Contingency clauses: Clausal clauses …
U25
1. CAUSE / REASON
Adverbial clauses
Clauses of cause show a
logical relation
btw the
main clause
& the
subordinate causal clause
at sentence level. Semantically, they answer the question of "
Why...?
" & represent
the cause of the action
taking place in the main clause. The relations both clauses establish are often not clear-cut & overlap other meanings (circumstances, reason, motivation, etc.)
Direct
relationships
Cause
& Effect
The perception that the
effect
(in the main clause) has an
inherent objective connection
in the real world with the
cause
(in the subordinate clause)
"The flowers are growing so well because I fed them" (
cause
)
"He's fatter because he eats too much"
Causal connection
"Why is he fatter?"
Subordinate & Main
Dentro > Fuera
(Semantic)
Reason
& Consequence
When the
consequence
(in the main clause) is
inferred/ deducted
by the speaker as an objective connection with the
reason/explanation
(in the subordinate clause)
"I watered the flowers because they were dry" (
reason/explanation/deduction
)
"She tidied up her room becuase it was messed up"
Explanatory connection
"Why did she tidy up her room?"
Fuera > Dentro
Motivation
& Result
When the
result
(expressed in the main clause) happens
as a consequence
of the
intention/purpose
(in the subordinate clause) of an animate being
"I watered the flowers because my parents told me to do so" (
intention/purpose
)
"I'm going to tell you a secret because you're my best friend"
Intention/purpose behind the event
"Why are you going to tell me a secret?"
Circumstance
& Consequence
A relationship between a
premise
(the conditions/evidence in the subordinate clause that led to) and a
conclusion
(the event in the main clause)
"Since it is raining, I won't water the flowers" (
circumstances/evidence
)
"As the weather has improved, the match will go on"
Conditional connection
btw the reason clause & the main/matrix clause (these are types of subordinate clauses)
Indirect
relationships
(Syntactic)
The reason is not related to the situation in the main/matrix clause (
indirect reason
) but serves as background/
context for the speech act
/communicative purpose
Cause/Reason clauses
Simple Subordinators
BECAUSE
: I lent him the money because he needed it.
SINCE
: Since we live near the sea, we often go sailing.
AS
: As Jane was the eldest, she looked after the others.
FOR
: Much has been written about that, for they pose fascinating problems that have yet to be resolve
Syntactically:
BECAUSE: introduces
adjuncts
[They aren’t walking naturally] in
final position
[He can’t be at work because he is on holidays]
SINCE & AS: introduce
disjuncts
[Naturally, they aren’t walking] in
initial position
as well as circumstancial clauses (As it was raining, we stayed at home/Since you insist, I’ll tell you the truth)
Complex Subordinators
SEEING/CONSIDERING THAT
: Seeing that it's already raining, we'd better leave now.
AS LONG AS
: As long as you’re here, We might talk about your last game.
IN AS MUCH AS
: Both are obviously secondary sources, in as much as the information they contain is from the primary sources.
WITH
: With the exams coming next week, I have no time for a social life.
Conditional clauses
If you don’t like Pepsi, why did you buy it? (=as / since / seeing that)
Non-finite or Verbless clauses
Having nothing to do, she sat down to read. (=because she has nothing to do)
without conjunction
(subordinate clauses of cause/reason)
Introduced by
Conjunctions
Prepositions
PPs expressing
the material or psychological cause
for sth. They answer the question "Why?"
BECAUSE OF
: We had to drive slowly because of the heavy rain. [Why do we had to drive slowly?]
DUE TO
: The plane was destroyed due to the pilot’s carelessness
FROM
: She died from cancer
OUT OF
: She asked that question out of curiosity
ON ACCOUNT OF
: On account of his wide experience, he was made chairman. [= +formal because of]
FOR FEAR OF
: I hid the money for fear of what my parents would say. [Psychological motive]
Adverbials:
Causative Verbs
Vbs which occur in the
SVOA
pattern: They are complemented by an Obj followed by an
Adjunct
(of space/direction). Most are
causative verbs of motion
:
"I sent the parcel to New York" (causative Vb)
"The attendant showed us to our seats" (noncausative Vb)
She
put
the groceries on the counter
She
placed
the flowers in a vase
They
sent
the package to the wrong address
She
drove
her car to the airport
Many Adjs & intransitive Vbs in English have a corresponding causative Vb:
The flowers died. The frost killed the flowers
The court blew up. The terrorist blow up the court.
The door opened. Daddy opened the door
The floor is clean. Someone cleaned the floor.
~ of motion
+ Adjunct of space/direction
SVOA
: put, get, stand, set, lay, place, send, bring, take, lead, drive... (open-ended, causing sth to happen)
CAUSE:
objective
, related to causation & motivation
REASON: personal,
subjective
2. RESULT / CONSEQUENCE
Adverial clauses
They represent the
result
of the action which took place in the main clause. The answer can be elicited by "
What was the result of...?
"
Subordinate clauses of result
(disjuncts)
introduced by the
subordinators
:
Comparative clauses
SUCH + A + (adj) + noun + THAT ...
(He is such a good student that he never fails an exam!)
SO + (adj) + A + noun + THAT ...
(His grandfather was so rich that he even had a McDonald’s at home!)
SO MANY/MUCH + noun + THAT ...
(He ate so many oysters that he had a stomach ache afterwards).
SO + adj + verb + noun + THAT
(So happy was Thomas that he bought a new car to his son).
SO + adj/adv + AS + TO-infinitive
(She was so naive as to believe what he told that night).
Other structures:
SO & SO THAT
She studied hard,
so
she passed the exam (result)
They work long hours
so that
they could finish the project (purpose)
Verbs
SVO + to-infinitive
Vbs in the
SVO + to-infinitive
pattern can also be causative Vbs where the infinitive clause identifies the
resultant state
:
appoint, elect, name, vote; cause, drive, force
The President elected Mr. Martin to be the next vice-president.
The tribunal forced the administration to follow the constitution
"force sb to do..."
SVO + past-participle
The ed- Participle identifies the resultant state: get, have.
"She [got/had] the watch repaired immediately"
"Have/get sth done"
resultative meaning
Prepositions
Prepositions of motion can usually have also a static
resultative meaning
when combined with TO BE, indicating “the state of
having reached the destination
”
Often found with
negative Pps
(away from, off & out of) or with
Pp of passage
(across, through & past) & adverbs (already, just, at last, etc.)
The dogs over the fence
At last I'm out of class
When you're past the street, you can stop
resultative meaning
Conjuncts
Result ~
indicate that a sentence expresses the result/consequence of what was said before
CONSEQUENTLY
OF COURSE
HENCE
THEREFORE
THUS
AS A RESULT
3. PURPOSE
realized by final clauses which semantically represent the purpose of what it is said in the main clause, answering the question of "What for?" instead of "why"
Adverbial clauses
Clauses of purpose
Subordinators
TO
: "She came to see you" (the most usual adjunct is the (non-finite) to-infinitive form)
IN ORDER TO, SO AS TO
: "She came in order to / so as to see you"
SO, SO THAT
: “He visited Bristol in order that / so that he could see his doctor”
The negative is formed by adding
"not"
(so as not to, in order not to) or "avoid/prevent + ing"
Preposition
FOR
Can be substituted by a clause with "in order to":
"Everyone ran FOR shelter"
"He died FOR his country"
FOR + ing
is used to express general purpose:
"A pen is an item for writing"
FOR + pron/noun + TO-infinitive
(when the Subj of the main clause is diff from that of the subordinate clause):
I cleaned the house FOR HER TO SEE it
THE NOTIONS OF CAUSE, CONSEQUENCE & PURPOSE?
Semantic roles of Adverbials
Contingency
Cause
, Reason,
Purpose
,
Result
, Condition, Concession
of cancer, because of, so as to, so, if, although
Modality
Emphasis, Restriction & Approximation
certainly, only, probably (the truth value/force of a sentence)
Process
Manner, Means, Instrument & Agent/subject
carefully, by bus, with a knife, by John
Degree
Amplification, Measure & Diminution
increasingly, enough, a little
Time
Position, Duration, Frequency & Relationship
now, for a long time, often, still
Respect
in relation to
Space
Position, Direction & Distance
here, upwards, near
Compared with other clause elements (S, V, O, and C), the adverbial element has a wide range of semantic roles
CAUSE
RESULT
PURPOSE
Why...?
What was the result of...?
What... for?
The cause of the action
The result of the action
The purpose of the action
4. ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENCES
Result vs Purpose
Clauses of
result
Factual
meaning: the result is achieved
Don't need a modal auxiliary in their construction (i.e. We paid him immediately, so that he left happy & are realized by
Disjuncts
(so, so that, so + adj + that) only in
final position
Syntactically
Separated by a
comma
(
pausing
in the middle of the sentence and finish with
falling intonation
)
"I’ll help you
,
so that you finish early" (result, finite)
"We paid him immmediately
,
so he left happy"
Spelling, Pronunciation & Intonation
Semantically
Clauses of purpose
Putative
meaning: the result is yet to be achieved
Need a
modal
auxiliary within their construction & are realized by
Adjuncts
(usually to-infinitives, non-finite forms), not separated by a comma
"I’ll help you so that you
can
finish early" (purpose, infinitival, non-finite)
"We paid him immediately so he
would
leave happy"
they overlap with those of purpose in (1) meaning (both express result) & (2) subordinators
SO > result
SO THAT > purpose
Result vs Cause
both reflect the “result of the action‟ of the main clause
Clauses of
result
reflect the result itself of the main clause action
Clauses of cause
reflect the same idea but with the nuance of “
the reason why
the action took place in the main clause‟.
A
causal clause
may be turned into a
result clause
(disjunct in final position) just by reversing the main and subordinate clause and by adding a comma before “so‟:
“He couldn’t buy the new U2 single because he had no money” (action + cause)
"He had no money, so he couldn’t buy the new U2" (action + result)
A
pause
(in pronunciation) before the disjuncts “so‟ or “so that‟ to indicate the distinction between causal & result clauses, marked by a
comma
(in punctuation); and the
falling intonation
in result clauses
RESULT
Adv clauses
so, so that
so/such ... that ...
Prep phrases
Resultative meaning
: TO BE (already, just, at last) over, across, through, past, away from, off, out of...
Verbs
SVO + to (
Accusative with Infinitive
: causative Vbs with resultant state): force, cause, drive, appoint...
SVO + -ed (
have/get sth done
)
Conjuncts
hence, therefore, thus, as a result, of course, consequently...
What was the result of...?
CAUSE
Adv clauses
because, since, as, for
seeing that, as long as, with, in as much as, if-construction, non-finite & verbless
Prep phrases
because of, due to, on account of, from, out of, for fear of
Causative Verbs
SVOA
: put, place, send, take, bring STH in/on/to...
Why...?
PURPOSE
Adv clauses
to
in order to, so as to
so, so that
Adjuncts
Preposition
for
What... for?
Contingency clauses
:
Clausal clauses
Clauses of result
Clauses of purpose