The compound sentence

A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more clauses coordinated with each other. A clause is part of a sentence which has a subject and a predicate of its own.

In a compound sentence the clauses may be connected:

1. syndetically, i.e. by means of coordinating conjunctions (and, or, else, but, etc) or conjunctive adverbs (otherwise, however, nevertheless, yet, still, therefore, etc.);

2. asyndetically, i.e. without a conjunction or connective adverb.

EX. The rain fell softly, the house was quiet.

We can distinguish the following types of coordination:

1. Copulative coordination (соединительная связь) expressed by the conjunctions and, nor, neither…nor, not only…but (also).

2. Disjunctive coordination (разделительная связь) expressed by the conjunctions or, else, or else, either…or, and the conjunctive adverbs otherwise. By these a choice is offered between the statements expressed in two clauses.

3. Adversative coordination (противительная связь) expressed by the conjunctions but, while, whereas, and the conjunctive adverbs nevertheless, still, yet. These are conjunctions and adverbs connecting two clauses contrasting in meaning.

4. Causative- consecutive coordination (причинно-следственная связь) expressed by the conjunctions for, so, and the conjunctive adverbs therefore, accordingly, consequently, hence.

For introduces coordinate clauses explaining the preceding statement.

Therefore, so, consequently, hence, accordingly introduce coordinate clauses denoting cause, consequence and result.

Complex Sentence

A complex sentence consists of a principal clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

Clauses in a complex sentence may be linked in two ways:

1. Syndetically, i.e. by means of subordinating conjunctions or connectives. There is a difference between a conjunction and a connective. A conjunction only serves as a formal element connecting separate clauses, whereas a connective serves as a connecting link and has at the same time a syntactic function in the subordinate clause it introduces;

2. Asyndetically, i.e. without a conjunction or connective.

A subordinate clause may follow, precede or interrupt the principal clause.

A subordinate clause may be subordinated to the principal clause or to another subordinate clause. Accordingly we distinguish subordinate clauses of the first, second, third, etc. degree of subordination.

EX.: I don’t mind making the admission…that there are certain forms of so-called humor, or, at least, fun, which I am quite unable to appreciate.

According to their grammatical function subordinate clauses are divided into subject, predicative, attributive, object and adverbial clauses.

1. Subject clause performs the function of subject to the predicate of the principal clause. Attention should be paid to the peculiar structure of the principal clause, which in this case has no subject, the subordinate clause serving as such. EX.: What I want to do is to save us both.

If a subject clause follows the principal clause the so-called introducing it is used in the principal clause. Subject clauses are connected with the principal clause in the following ways:

1. by means of the conjunctions that, if, whether: It was unfortunate that the patient was brought in during the evening;

2. by means of the connectives who, which, what, whoever, whatever (connective pronouns), where, when, how, why (conjunctive adverbs): What was done could not be undone;

3. asyndetically: It is a pity her brother should be quite a stranger to her.

2. Predicative clauses perform the function of a predicative. The peculiarity of complex sentences with a predicative clause is that in the principal clause we find only part of the predicate, i.e. a link verb, which together with the predicative clause forms a compound nominal predicate.

Predicative clauses are connected with the principal clause in the following ways:

1. by means of the conjunctions that, if, whether, as if: I felt as if death had laid a hand on me;

2. by means of the connectives who, which, what (connective pronouns), where, when, how, why (conjunctive adverbs): That was why you were not one a bit frightened ;

3. asyndetically.

1. Object clauses perform the function of an object to the predicate0 verb of the principal clause. An object clause may also refer to a non-finite form of the verb, to an adjective, or to a word belonging to the part of speech expressing state. EX.: She was aware that someone else was there.

Object clauses are connected with the principal clause in the following ways:

1. by means of the conjunctions that, if, whether: Time will show whether I am right or wrong;

2. by means of the connectives who, which, what, whoever, whatever, whichever (connective pronouns), where, when, how, why (conjunctive adverbs): I’ll do just what I say;

3. asyndetically: He said there was nothing much the matter with me;

-or may be introduced by a preposition: I am always ready to listen to whatever you may wish to disclose.

4. Attributive clauses serve as an attribute to a noun (pronoun) in the principal clause. This noun or pronoun is called the antecedent of the clause. According to their meaning and the way they are connected with the principal clause attributive clauses are divided into relative and appositive ones.

Attributive relative clauses qualify the antecedent whereas attributive appositive clauses disclose its meaning. Attributive relative clauses are joined to the principal clause syndetically- by means of connectives, and asyndetically; attributive appositive clauses only Syndetically- by means of conjunctions. Attributive relative clause can be restrictive and non- restrictive or descriptive.

5. Adverbial clauses perform the function of an adverbial modifier. It can modify a verb, an adjective or an adverb in the principal clause. Adverbial clauses are joined to the principal clause by means of subordinating conjunctions; they are not joined to the principal clause asyndetically except sometimes adverbial clause of condition.

1. Adverbial clause of time: conjunctions- when, while, whenever, as, till, until, as soon as, as long as, since, after, before, now that; EX: You can stay here as long as you want;

2. Of place: conjunctions- where, wherever; EX: I looked where she pointed;

3. Of cause: as, because, since, for fear (that), on the ground that, for the reason that;

4. Of purpose: that, in order that, so that, lest;

5. Of condition: if, unless, suppose, in case, on condition that, provided;

6. Of concession: though, although, as, no matter how, however, whoever, whatever, whichever, notwithstanding that, in spite of the fact that;

7. Of result: so that, that

8. Of manner: as; EX: John left the house as he had entered it

9. Of comparison: than, as, as…as, not so…as, as if, as though; EX: We were going up the road as fast as we could.

Word order in English is much greater importance than in Russian. As English words have hardly any inflexions and their relation to each other is shown by their place in the sentence and not by their form, word order in English is fixed:

The subject, the predicate, objects, adverbial modifiers.

The order of words in which the subject is placed after the predicate is called inverted order or inversion. The inverted order of words is widely used when a word or a group of words is put in a prominent position, i.e. when it either opens the sentence or is withdrawn (отведено назад) to the end of the sentence so as to produce a greater effect. So word order often becomes a means of emphasis, thus acquiring a stylistic function.

In this case inversion is not due to the structure of the sentence but to the author’s wish to produce a certain stylistic effect.

1. Inversion occurs when an adverbial modifier opens the sentence

2. Inversion occurs when the emphatic particle only, the adverbs hardly, scarcely, the adverb no sooner, or the conjunction nor open the sentence.

3. Inversion occurs when the sentence begins with the word here which is not an adverbial modifier of place but has some demonstrative force.

4. Inversion occurs when postpositions denoting direction open the sentence and the subject is expressed by a noun. Here belong such words as in, out, down, away…The order of words makes the speech especially lively.

5. Inversion occurs when an object or an adverbial modifier expressed by a word-group with not a…, many a…opens the sentence.

6. Inversion often occurs with a predicate expressed by an adjective or by a noun modified by an adjective or by the pronoun such opens the sentence.

7. Inversion is also found in conditional clauses introduced without any conjunction when the predicate is expressed by was, were, had, could or should.

8. There is another way to make almost any part of the sentence emphatic. This is achieved by placing it is or it was before the part of the sentence which is to be emphasized.

So it’s you that have disgraced (опозорить) the family.

2. Types of sentences according to communicative type of the utterance.

According to the traditional classification the sentences are divided into:

1. declarative

2. interrogative

3. imperative

Sentences belonging to the several types differ from each other in some grammatical points, too. Thus, interrogative sentences are characterized by a special word order. In interrogative sentences very few modal words are used, as the meanings of some modal words are incompatible with the meaning of an interrogative sentence. It is clear that modal words expressing full certainty, such as certainly, surely, naturally, etc, cannot appear in a sentence expressing a question. On the other hand, the modal word indeed, with its peculiar shades of meaning. Isn’t so indeed?

There are also sentences which might be termed semi- interrogative. Oh, you’ve seen him? From the syntactical viewpoint, the sentence is declarative, as the mutual position of subject and predicate is you have seen, not have you seen, which would be interrogative order. = the intonation here comes in. Their purpose is to utter a somewhat hesitating statement and to expect the other person to confirm it.

Imperative sentences also show marked peculiarities in the use of modal verbs. It is quite evident, for example, that modal words expressing possibility, such as perhaps, maybe, possibly are incompatible with the notion of order or request. Indeed, modal words are hardly used at all in imperative sentences.

The notion of “exclamatory sentences” and their relation to the three established types of declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences presents some difficulty. On the one hand, every sentence, whether narrative, interrogative, or imperative, may be exclamatory at the same time, that is, it may convey the speaker’s feelings and be characterized by emphatic intonation and by an exclamation mark in writing.

On the other hand, “a sentence” may be purely exclamatory, that is, it may not belong to any of the three types classed above.

However, it would perhaps be better to use different terms for sentences which are purely exclamatory, and thus constitute a special type, and those which add an emotional element to their basic quality, which is either declarative, or interrogative, or imperative. If this view is endorsed, we should have our classification of sentences according to type of communication, thus modified:

1. Declarative

2. Interrogative

3. Imperative

4. Exclamatory

When we classify the simple sentences everything is clear, but with composite sentences it is difficult. If both clauses making up a composite sentence are declarative, the composite sentence as a whole is declarative, too. Sometimes composite sentences are found which consist of clauses belonging to different types of communication. Here it will sometimes be impossible to say to what type of communication the composite sentence belongs.

3. Problems of classification of the sentences.

There are some cases of sentence structure which cannot be strictly determined as simple or composite and may be called marginal types. For example, it’s difficult to define such sentences to simple or composite sentences:

1. containing secondary predicative complexes (I saw her crossing the street.)

2. having two or more subjects with one predicate or two predicates with one subject (Tom and Jack were singing. Tom was singing and dancing.)

3. having no subject-clause (He did not know where to go) and some others.

Semi- compound and semi-complex sentences.

The semi- composite sentence is to be defined as a sentence with more than one predicative lines, which are expressed in fusion. For the most part, one of these lines can be identified as the leading or dominant; the others making the semi-predicative expansion of the sentence. The expanding semi- predicative line in the minimal semi-composite sentence is either wholly fused with the dominant (complete) predicative line of the construction, or partially fused with it, being weakened as a result of the fusing derivational transformation.

The semi-composite sentence displays an intermediary syntactic character between the composite sentence and the simple sentence. Its immediate syntagmatic structure (“surface” structure) is analogues to that of the expanded simple sentence, since it possesses only one completely expressed predicative unit. Its derivational structure (“deep” structure), on the other hand, is analogous to that of a composite sentence, because it is derived from two or more completely predicative units- its base sentence.

There are two different causes of the existence of the semi-composite sentence in language, each of them being essentially important in itself:

1. The tendency of speech to be economical, as a result of this tendency, reductional processes are developed which bring about semi- blending of sentences;

2. apart from being economical, the semi-composite sentence fulfils its own purely semantic function, different from th function of the composite sentence proper.

According to the ranking structure of the semi-composite sentences, they should be divided into semi-complex and semi-compound ones.

The semi-complex sentence is a semi-composite sentence built up on the principle of subordination. It is derived from minimum two base sentences, one matrix and one insert.

The matrix sentence and the insert sentence having a common element in different functions (object and subject) can be connected into a semi- complex sentence by means of:

1. changing the finite verb into a Vto (an infinitive) or Ving (a participle); deleting BE;

2. the two sentences overlapping round the common element, which is shared by them now. The shared word retains the form of the object.

The semi-complex sentences may be transformed into the passive which distinguishes them from semi-compound sentences.

In accord with the relations between the two events, semi- complex sentences fall into 3 groups:

1. Simultaneity in the Same Place:

I saw her

She crossed the street I saw her cross (crossing) the street (I saw her as she crossed (was crossing) the street)

The matrix sentence contains the verbs of physical perception: see, hear, watch, feel, smell, find

2. Cause and Result Relation:

I made my friends

My friends will stay a little longer I made my friends stay a little longer (I made them so that they stayed a little longer)

The matrix sentence contains causative verbs: (a) make, let, have, get, help (used with and infinitive without “to”); (b) call, appoint, point, beat, wash, keep, dance, walk, etc (used with nouns or adjectives); (c) set, send, keep (used with Ving (a participle)).

3. Information of the Event:

Used with thought of, spoken of, or wished for

1. I know him

He is a good dancer I know him to be a good dancer (I know that he is a good dancer)

The matrix sentence contains verbs of mental perception: believe, consider, expect, find, know, prefer, suppose, think, trust, understand

2. The committee reported

The conference will be held in May The committee reported the conference to be held in May (The committee reported that the conference would be held in May)

The matrix sentence contains verbs of speech : tell, order, ask, allow, report, announce, invite, etc.

3. I’d like the students

The students will go on with the test till eleven

I’d like the students to go on with the test till eleven (I’d like that the students should go on with the test till eleven)

The matrix sentence contains verbs of wish: want, wish, like, love, hate, mean.

The semi- compound sentence is a semi- composite sentence built up on the principle of coordination. Proceeding from the outlined grammatical analysis of the composite sentence, the structure of the semi-compound sentence is derivationally to be traced back to the minimum two base sentences having an identical element belonging to one or both of their principal syntactic positions, i.e. either the subject, or the predicate, or both. By the process of semi- compounding, the sentences overlap round the identical element sharing it in coordinative fusion, which can be either syndetic or asyndetic.

Two base sentences having an identical element in the same function can be connected into a semi-compound sentence by means of:

1. Overlapping round the identical NP- subject (the NP- subject of the second sentence is not repeated)- EX: I must go. I must put the car away = I must go and put the car away.

2. Overlapping round the identical verb (the verb of the second sentence is not repeated)- EX: Brenda laughed. John laughed = Brenda and John laughed.

3. Overlapping round both the identical NP- subjects and identical verbs- EX: Doris felt helpless. Doris felt angry= Doris felt helpless and angry.

References

1. Bloch M.Y. A Course in Theoretical English Grammar. - M., 2000. – p.6-26

2. Блох М.Я. Теоретические основы грамматики – М., 2000

3. Iofik L.L., Chakhoyan L.P. Readings in the theory of English Grammar

4. Слюсарева Н.А. Проблемы функционального синтаксиса современного английского языка. – М., 1981