Adjunct (grammar)

This article is about adjuncts in linguistics. For the term used in the brewing of beer, see Adjunct (beer). For the type of professor, see Professor.

In linguistics, an adjunct is an optional, or structurally dispensable, part of a sentence that, when removed, will not affect the remainder of the sentence except to discard from it some auxiliary information. A more detailed definition of an adjunct is its attribute as a modifying form, word, or phrase which depends on another form, word, or phrase, being an element of clause structure with adverbial function.

A simple example of this is as follows:

Take the sentence John killed Bill in Central Park on Sunday. In this sentence:

1. John is the Subject
2. killed is the Predicator
3. Bill is the Object
4. in Central Park is the first Adjunct
5. on Sunday is the second Adjunct

An adverbial adjunct is a sentence element that usually establishes the circumstances in which the action or state expressed by the verb take 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 "the dog" (in which case it is the dog who is in the garden).

This definition can be extended to include adjuncts that modify nouns or other parts of speech (see noun adjunct):

The large dog in the garden is very friendly.

Adjuncts are always extranuclear; that is, removing an adjunct leaves a grammatically well-formed sentence. It is for this reason that "is very friendly" in the sentence above is not an adjunct; though it is adjectival, it acts as the predicate and its removal would render the sentence meaningless. However, optional complements are also often removable, so not all removable elements are adjuncts. They are contrasted with complements, which are elements directly selected by another element.

Forms

An adjunct can be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.

Single word 

She will leave tomorrow.

Phrase 

She will leave in the morning.

Clause 

She will leave after she has had breakfast.

Semantic function of adverbial adjuncts

Adverbial adjuncts establish circumstances for the nuclear part of a sentence, which can be classified as the following:

Temporal 

Temporal adjuncts establish when, for how long or how often a state or action happened or existed.

He arrived yesterday. (time point)

He stayed for two weeks. (duration)

She drinks in that bar every day. (frequency)

Locative 

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

She sat on the table. (locative)

Modicative 

Modicative adjuncts establish how the action happened or the state existed, or modifying its scope.

He ran with difficulty. (manner)

He stood in silence. (state)

He helped me with my homework. (limiting)

Causal 

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

The ladder collapsed because it was old. (reason)

She went out to buy some bread. (purpose)

Instrumental 

Instrumental adjuncts establish the instrument of the action.

Mr. Bibby wrote the letter with a pencil.

Conditional 

Conditional adjuncts establish the condition in which a sentence becomes true.

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

Concessive 

Concessive adjuncts establish the contrary circumstances.

Lorna went out although it was raining.

Adverbial adjunct and adverbial complement distinguished

An adjunct must always be a removable, i.e. extranuclear, element in the sentence. In the sentence below in the park can be removed and a well-formed sentence remains.

John drank a beer in the park. (locative adjunct)

In the sentence below, however, in the park is part of the nucleus of the sentence and cannot be removed. It is thus not an adjunct but an adverbial complement.

John is in the park. (locative complement)

See also

• Adverbial
• Conjunct
• Disjunct
• Noun adjunct
• Attributive