4. Approaches to Sentence Studies. The Structural Types of Sentences.

The features which should be included into definition:

• the sentence is a syntactic unit;

• the sentence is an autonomous unit which isn’t a part of a larger syntactic structure;

• the sentence is a structurally complete unit which is based on a certain syntactic pattern

• expresses primary predication (expresses relation to reality in terms of tense and mood)

• names a situation, rather than an object

• the sentence is characterized by its own purpose of utterance. It can be a statement, a question or a command (the minimal communicative unit).

• the sentence as a syntactic unit is materialized in a written or oral form (has a phonetic or graphic shape).

So, the sentence is an autonomous, structurally complete syntactic unit having its own purpose of utterance and phonetically and graphically shaped which names a situation and expresses predication.

Predicativity as an important sentence feature

Ch. Balie: “In every sentence there are 2 obvious aspects: dictum and modus.

Dictum expresses the meaning of the sentence (what is said about the subject).

Modus expresses the speaker’s attitude to what is being said.

Predicativity consists in ascribing an action, state or quality from the predicate to the subject. It is expressed through the interrelation between two principal parts of the sentence the subject and the predicate (formally through their agreement in person and number + tense characteristics, refers an action to a definite period of time).

In imperative sentences the doer is always implied if not mentioned.

One-member nominal sentences name not a peculiar thing or person but the situation as a whole. They possess the meaning of predication, an ability to describe a situation, not predicativity.

Modality as an important sentence feature

Modality is a universal category of language which expresses the relation of sentence meaning to reality as it is presented by the speaker.

The most important and most universal means of expressing sentence modality is the verbal category of mood. Since every predicate in a sentence stands in one of 3 moods the modality expressed in this way is called the objective modality. Objective modality is subdivided into 2 groups: modality of reality (indicative mood) and modality of unreality (the imperative, subjunctive moods). There are no indicators of the speaker’s personal attitude towards the meaning of the sentence.

Forms expressing the speaker’s personal attitude constitute the subjective modality.

Means of expression:

• Parenthesis: single words (probably, certainly, luckily); phrases (in my opinion, to my mind, to tell the truth); parenthetical clauses (I think, I hope, I doubt, I’m afraid, as john told me).

• Evaluating words; N-s. Adj-s, Adv-s;

• Syntactic means (tag-questions);

• Intonation

Modal verbs show the relations between the action and the doer and are not included either into the objective or subjective modality.

Peter must (obligatory) do it. May – probable, can – possible due to his phis. or mental ability, should – desirable, has to – is induced, is to – planned.

The Structural Types of Sentences.

According to the number of predicative lines (centers):

Simple

Composite is formed by two or more predicative lines.

Semi-composite sentence is a sentence with more than one predicative lines which are expressed in fusion. One of these lines can be identified as the leading or dominant, the others making the semi-predicative expansion of the sentence.

The semi-composite sentence displays an intermediary between the composite sentence and the simple sentence:

Its syntagmatic structure is analogous to that of an expanded simple sentence, since it possesses only one completely expressed predicative unit.

Its derivational structure, on the other hand, is analogous to that of the composite sentence, because it is derived from two or more completely expressed predicative units.

There are two different causes of the existence of the semi-com­posite sentence in language. The first cause is the tendency of speech to be economical. The second cause is that the semi-composite sentence fulfills its own purely semantic function, different from the function of the composite sentence.

Simple: one- or two-member

Depending on whether Subject and Predicate are explicitly present in the sentence structure and its type simple sentences fall into:

one-member: nominal (Fire!) and verbal (Do it!)

two-member: complete (When are you going?) and incomplete or elliptical - in which the subject or the predi­cate is contextually omitted (To the cinema.)

We can also define the unexpanded simple sentence as a monopredicative sen­tence formed only by obligatory notional parts. The expanded simple sentence will, accordingly, be defined as a monopredicative sentence which includes, besides the obligatory parts, also some optional parts.

Composite: complex or compound

According to the type of relation btw full predicative lines:

Subordination

Coordination

Semi-composite: semi-compound + semi-complex

The semi-compound sentence is a semi-composite sentence built up on the principle of coordination.

1. sentences with coordinated subjects positioned so that the first starts the utterance, while the second concludes it

2. sentences with coordination of predicates both verbal and nominal

3. sentences with infinitival phrases expressing a subsequent action of incidental or unexpected character: He woke in his bed to hear a strange hum in the air.

4. sentences with participial phrases expressing a parallel event that serves as a characteristic to the event rendered by the leading clause: He sat staring down the gardens, trying to remember his childhood.

The semi-complex sentence is a semi-composite sentence built up on the principle of subordination.

1. sentences built up by means of the two base sentences overlapping round the common subject: The man stood silent.

2. sentences built up of two base sentences overlapping round the word performing different functions in them: We saw him approaching us.

3. sentences with post-positional attributes expressed by Participle 1, Participle II or an adjective

4. sentences with adverbial modifiers expressed by Participle 1, Participle II or The Absolute Participial Construction: The task, when completed, seemed very easy.

5. sentences with the gerundial phrases or the for-to-infinitive constructions: Tom’s coming too late annoyed his mother.

The means of combining clauses are divided into syndetic, i.e. conjunctional, and asyndetic, i.e. non-conjunctional.