32. The Conjunction.

General features:

1. Meaning. Conjunctions express connections between things and phenomena.

2. Form. Conjunctions are invariable.

(3) Function, a) They connect any two words, phrases or clauses, b) In a sentence, conjunctions are never a special part of it. They either connect homogeneous parts of a sentence or homogeneous clauses (the so-called coordinating conjunctions), or they join a subordinate clause to its head clause (the so-called subordinating conjunctions).

Prepositions express relations between phenomena, and conjunctions express connections between them. The different C. express the different relations between two extra linguistic phenomena (He came because it was late / He came though it was late) It proves that every C. has its own meaning. The use of C. is never predicted by any preceding word.

Syntactical functions. 2 levels: l) on the phrase level - C. connect words and phrases (co-ordinating C„ rarely subordinate ones). 2) on the sentence level - C. connect clauses (co-ordinated and subordinate clauses)

There is nothing in the C. itself to show whether it is co-ord. or subord. C. can sometimes lose their connecting functions. Some prepositions are very close in meaning to subbord. C. and sometimes sound exactly the same (During his illness = while he was ill). Since it is hard to distinguish between prepositions and conjunctions as far as meaning goes, and morphologically they are both invariable, the only palpable difference between them appears to be their syntactical function. Such a view would go some way toward solving the awkward problem of homonymy with reference to such words as before, after, since, and the like. But this is an issue for further consideration.

33. Main parts of the sentence

It's common grammatical theory to distinguish the main & the secondary parts of a sen-ce. There are 2 generally recognized main parts of the sen-ce the subject (s-t) & the predicate (p.). Th s-t & the p. Constitute the backbone (опора, основа) of the sen-ce: all other parts may not be there, ant if they are, they serve to define or modify the s-t or the p. or each other.

S-t denote those action or characteristic is expressed by the predicate. It is not dependent on any other part of the sen-ce. It may be expressed by different parts of speech, the most frequent are: a noun in the common case, a personal pronoun in the nominative case, a demonstrative pronoun, a substantivised adj., a numeral, an infinitive, gerund. It may be also expressed by a phrase.

P. denotes an action or property of the thing expressed by the s-t. It is not dependent on any other part of the sen-ce. Ways of expressing p. are varied. P. May be classified in 2 ways.

1. if we take structural classification as the basic one, we obtain the following types: a simple p.: verbal, nominal; compound: verbal, nominal

2. if we take morphological classification as the basic one, the result would be the following: a verbal p.: simple, compound; a nominal p.: simple, compound.

The predicative connection of words unites the s-t & the p. builds up the basis of the sen-ce. The s-t dominates the p. determining the person of predication, while the p. Dominates the s-t determining the event of predication.