Since grammatical names in examinations like WASSCE and NECO are typically phrases or clauses, teachers can help students minimise cognitive effort in identifying the grammatical names and their functions by guiding them to apply their knowledge of parts of speech. Notably, any grammatical name that will be given to an expression will carry the traditional name of the part of speech it stands for – Noun Phrase/Clause (Noun), Adverbial Phrase/Clause (Adverb), Prepositional Phrase (Preposition), etc. The only difference is that while a part of speech is usually a word, a phrase or clause is a combination of more than one word. Thus, students could identify the grammatical name and function of an expression by inserting a part of speech that could occur in the environment where the given grammatical construction is occupied in the sentence.
Examples
One would assume they would never have anything to do in common (WASSCE, 1993).
One would assume (what?)
One would assume, e.g., responsibilities (noun)
Grammatical Name: Since the expression comprises a verb phrase, would . . . have, it is a clause. Hence, the expression is a noun clause. In addition, it comes after a verb phrase, would assume. It then functions as the object of the verb phrase, would assume.
. . . he prayed for the early arrival of the morning (WASSCE, 1995).
He prayed for (whom/what?)
The expression is a phrase because it does not comprise a verb.
Since the expression could be replaced with a noun/pronoun, it could be presented as “. . . he prayed for (Johnson/success/him), making it a noun phrase. The occurrence of the preposition “for” before the expression makes it function as the object of the preposition “for”.
When he came back, those who had wished him the worst got the shock of their lives (WASSCE, 2003).
The expression is a clause because of the verb “came” in it. The expression can, therefore, be rewritten as:
Yesterday, those who had wished him the worst got the shock of their lives.
Since “Yesterday,” an adverb, can occur in the place of “When he came back,” the expression is an adverbial clause, modifying the verb “got.”
Lateef Iyanda Kugbayi, PhD
Senior Lecturer
Department of English Language
Zamfara State University
Talata Mafara
lateefkugbayi19@gmail.com/+2347032985052