Reaffirming the Predicator and verbal group in Systemic Grammar: A reply to Fawcett's “In place of Halliday's ‘verbal group’”

Abstract

In early (Scale and Category) expositions of Systemic Grammar, the verbal group realised the Predicator. Halliday now appears to recognise the Finite as a separate element from the Predicator in clause structure, thereby having more than one clause element realised by different constituents of the same verbal group. Fawcett dispenses with the Predicator and the verbal group entirely and analyses the various verbal constituents as separate clause elements.In direct contrast to Fawcett's article “In place of Halliday's ‘verbal group’”, this paper argues in favour of retaining the Predicator and the verbal group, and of handling the finite element not as an element of clause structure but rather as a feature which is conflated with a constituent element of the verbal group.