4. The composite sentence syntactic replacements.
In the structure of a composite sentence the following types of syntactic transformations may be observed:
The replacement of a simple sentence by a composite one.
I was that young man and his wife talking to you.
Я видел, как этот молодой человек и его жена разговаривали с вами.
b) The replacement of a composite sentence by a simple one.
It was so dark I couldn’t see her.
Я её в темноте не мог видеть.
A special form of this translation is the so-called “division of the sentence” (or partitioning), i.e. one composite sentence is subdivided into several simple sentences. The transformation is usually performed when translating a newspaper text form English into R\U because the R\U of journalese is more laconic and brief. However, division of the sentence may be performed when translating fiction as well and in this case it is used to produce a certain impact on the reader, to reflect feelings or emotions.
He started up in a sudden panic, his heart throbbing and a roaring noise in his ears, as though he had been shut away from light and sound for months instead of hours.
Он вскочил в ужасе. Сердце его отчаянно билось, в ушах стоял шум, словно он был лишен света и звуков долгие месяцы, а не несколько часов.
c) The replacement of a principal clause by a subordinate one and vice versa.
While I was eating eggs, those two nuns with suitcases came in.
Я ел яичницу, когда вошли 2 монахини с чемоданами.
d) The replacement of subordination by coordination.
When he entered the seminary chapel on Thursday morning he found Father Cardi alone.
В четверг Артур вошёл в церковь семинарии и застал отца Карди одного.
e) The replacement of syndetic coordination by asyndetic.
All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink martinis.
Будешь просто гнать деньгу, играть в гольф, в бридж, покупать машины, пить сухие коктейли и ходить этаким франтом.
SYNTACTIC TRANSFORMATIONS in TRANSLATION
Partitioning
Partitioning is either replacing in translation of a source sentence by two or more target ones or converting a simple source sentence into a compound or complex target one.
One is to distinguish between inner and outer partitioning. Inner partitioning is conversion of a simple sentence into a compound or complex one.
e.g. Come along and see me play one evening. – Приходь коли-небудь увечері – побачиш, як я граю.
Outer partitioning is division of a sentence into a two or more.
e.g. There was a real game too, not a party game played in the old school hall and invented by my eldest brother Herbert, who was always of an adventurous character until he was changed by continual and sometimes shameful failures of his adult life. – Була і справжня, ф не салонна гра, у яку ми грали в актовому залі старої школи. Цю гру вигадав мій старший брат Герберт – людина винахідлива і схильна до всіляких пригод, доки постійні і часом ганебні негаразди дорослого життя не змінили його вдачу.
Partitioning is a regular translation transformation accounted for by the differences in the Ukrainian and English syntactic structures, although it may be also used on individual occasions as required by the text genre and style and communication.
This transformation can occur for the following reasons:
1). Grammar structure differences between the source language and the target language.
Partitioning is often used in translation utterances with:
1) syntactic complexes. E.g. I hate his being in this way. – Мені не дуже подобається, що він так себе поводить.
2) absolute constructions. E.g. The reaction was immediate, Pearson almost shouting. – Реакція була негайною. Причому Пірсон мало не закричав.
3) elliptical costructions.
e.g. The leader of the Justice Party in Turkey has been asked – but failed – to form a government. – Лідеру турецької партії Справедливості було запропоновано сформувати уряд, але зробити це йому не вдавалося.
Special attention should be paid to the reservations of the type If any, if anything, if at all. If they refer to the whole utterance but not to the one of its elements, partitioning is usually used.
e.g. In the morning, if anything, it was colder. – Вранці мороз посилився, хоча здавалося, що холодніше не буває.
2). Semantics. If two or more separate ideas are linked together in the source text, a translator can partition them.
F.g. The General’s a good man to keep away from. – Генерал, звісно, непогана людина, але краще від нього триматися подалі.
Ми отримали дуже коротку інформацію про Ваш фонд, тому не можемо точно визначитися з порядком напрямку заявок і направляємо Вам цей лист. – We have received very brief information about your Fund. Therefore, we do not know exactly the requirements for application. That is why we send you this letter.