Contextual semantic functions of the nuclear sentence patterns in expending the communicative intention of the speaker and ways of their teaching

SUBJECT – PREDICATOR – ADJUNCT
With other verbs such as work, arrive, retire, stop a circumstantial Adjunct is commonly added, but it is not a requirement because the verb has sufficient weight in itself. This may be for cultural reasons, for example, work being interpreted as ‘have a job’ (1b below), retire as ‘retire from employment’ (3b), or because of the aspectual meanings conferred by the perfect (3b, 4b) and progressive (2b) aspects, which lend ‘weight’ to the verb. Compare: S-P-A S-P
1a Tom works in London. 1b Does his sister Priscilla work?
2a We arrived late. 2b The guests are arriving.
3a He retired last year. 3b He has retired.
4a We stopped at the Equator. 4b The clock has stopped.
SUBJECT – PREDICATOR – COMPLEMENT OF THE SUBJECT
Copular verbs link the subject with a complement which characterises or identifies the subject referent:
A couch potato (S) is (P) someone who lies watching television all day (Cs).
This new game (S) is (P) incredibly simple and endlessly gripping (Cs).
The most prototypical copular verb is be, which can be followed by a wide range of adjectives and NGs. Others, such as remain, keep, taste, smell, sound, fall, feel, come, grow and turn, are followed by a more limited range of adjectives which are often specific to a particular verb, as illustrated below.
Verbs of being are stative and introduce current or existing attributes:
The reason is simple. Will you keep still!
Simon was a man of principle but he was also intensely pragmatic.
We have to remain optimistic about the future.
Verbs of becoming are dynamic and introduce resulting attributes. In addition, grow suggests gradual change, while go is used to indicate drastic changes:
Her latest novel has become a best-seller. His face went white.
We began to grow uneasy when the skin-diver didn’t appear.
An adjective functioning as Cs may have its own to-infinitive clause complement (we are anxious to hear from you; glad to hear the good news). The various meanings expressed by such complements are explained. Here are some typical combinations of verb + adjective, current and resulting: be careful; become dangerous; seem annoyed; get stressed; look cheerful; turn nasty; sound familiar; prove unsatisfactory; smell spicy; go wild. A small number of verbs that are normally used without a complement (fall, come, run) can function as copulas with specific adjectives as Cs: The child fell flat on its face. The soldiers all fell asleep/ fell ill. The label has come unstuck. As be predicts not only being something but being somewhere, it can also link the subject to a circumstance, usually of position, place or time.
Nouns, adjectives and adverbs each function as head of their respective groups. In AdjGs, AdvGs and NGs, the ‘head’ is the main element, to which the other elements, when present, are subordinate. For this reason, the head element – a noun, an adjective or an adverb – can be used alone, without other elements, potentially in representation of the whole group. Structures of this kind centre on the head. In a prepositional phrase (PP), the relation between the preposition and the nominal unit that follows it (e.g. under the bed, from home) does not centre on a head. A preposition cannot normally occur without a nominal unit, and a nominal unit is not part of a PP if there is no preposition. Both are equally necessary to form the phrase; both have equal grammatical status. Not all PPs contain a modifier but all of them contain a preposition and a complement. The modifier typically intensifies the preposition by adding something semantically specific to the sense of the preposition, such as exactness and immediacy in the case of right, together with completion (right into the policeman’s arms) or exclusiveness (only by concentrating hard).Here is a recorded conversation between three students and a teacher (T), which illustrates the abundant use of prepositional phrases in English. Examples are numbered for future reference and explanation: into, at, along. The prepositional phrase normally functions as: an element of clause structure, for example as Adjunct (e.g. I decided to become a writer precisely for that reason); or as a unit embedded in classes of groups, for example as post-modifier of a noun (e.g. the girl at the cash desk) or as complement of an adjective (e.g. delighted at your success). PPs are frequently embedded in other structures, including other PPs:
On top of [the cupboard [[in your office]]
In [an envelope [under the letters [in the drawer]]]
Obsessed [with being kind [to animals]]
The sequence prep + NG + prep + NG may sometimes be structurally ambiguous. For instance, ‘near the bar on the corner’ can represent the following two structures which express different meanings: 1 a simple preposition + complement, which contains another PP as post-modifier: near [the bar on the corner] (on the corner is m in the NG headed by ‘bar’); 2 two independent PPs, functioning as two adjuncts, which might be reversed in order: near [the bar] + [on the corner]; on [the corner] + near [the bar]. The preposition is often stranded to the end of a clause and is separated from the nominal. Stranding is typical of spoken English, while the non-stranded counterparts are very formal: What’s this about? (‘What’ functions as complement of about: about what?); Which book are you referring to? (To which book are you referring?). The meanings of prepositions are either lexical and ‘free’, or grammaticised and ‘bound’. Grammaticised uses of prepositions are those which are controlled by a verb, adjective or noun, as happens in obsessed with, talk to us, kind to animals, cases of cruelty. Lexical prepositional meanings are hose freely chosen according to the speaker’s communicative intention (in this country, all over our carpet and sofa). Prepositions may be ‘simple’ (consisting of a single word) or ‘complex’ (consisting of two words or three).
One-word prepositions. The short, simple forms are by far the commonest, such as: about, across, after, around, as, at, by, down, for, from, in, like, near, of, off, on, round, to, towards, with, without. Other one-word prepositions include: above, against, beneath, besides, below; during, inside, throughout; considering, regarding; given, granted; opposite; despite; than. Two-word prepositions. These consist of a preposition (e.g. except), an adjective (e.g. contrary), an adverb (e.g. instead) or a conjunction (e.g. because), followed by one of the prepositions for, from, of, to, with: