Inner Dynamics of Syntax in Mohsin Hamid's 'Of Windows and Doors' and 'A Beheading

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to focus on different role of adjuncts and complement phrases by examining the fixed position of some adverbial words in a clause. It also highlighted the importance of adverbial and prepositional phrases in determining the Character's perception, attributes, and worldly aspects. Methodology:  The present research is a mixed-method approach in nature where close reading and document analysis of Mohsin Hamid's short stories 'Of windows and doors' and 'A beheading' is done along with the coding of the PP phrases and adverbial words. The results are drawn by separately analyzing the obligatory and optional adjuncts in the clause by examining the sentence structure in the presence or absence of the PP. Findings: Adverbial placement rules are applied to the clauses of the stories which proved that changes in few adverbial words can render the sentence ungrammatical. The findings showed that 63% PP Adjuncts and 36% PP Complements in 'Of windows and doors' states that optional information is added more frequently to describe the world affairs and character's perception. While 47% PP adjuncts and 52% PP-complements in 'A beheading' demonstrate that writer has focused more on the obligatory information. Conclusion: Adverbial words of different categories are used for proving the stance that few adverbs have a fixed position in universal grammar. Recommendation: Future researches can be conducted to identify the rules which govern adverb placement and categorize the functions and differences of prepositional phrases as an adjunct and complementizer in two different languages.