2.2. The syntactic analysis of compound sentences in the short story “The Nightingale and the Rose” by o. Wilde

Stylistic categories are generally placed under the four general headings: lexical categories, grammatical categories, figures of speech, and cohesion of the text. In this paragraph we'll focus on the grammatical categories, namely, the sentence structure of compound sentences.

We'll make an attempt at proving our initial assumption that the structural characteristics of the sentences do carry some stylistic implications.

For this purpose we'll conduct an analysis of language material from the short story “The Nightingale and the Rose” and present our findings using visual reference in the form of pie-charts so as to promote clarity.

In the subparagraph 2.2.1 we will calculate the percentage of different sentence types that occur throughout the story. This will be done by grouping the sentences according to the structural and communicative classifications. The percentage calculation makes our work more precise and accurate.

The subsection 2.2.2 is solely dedicated to the analysis of compound sentences. We've grouped them according to three main aspects: 1) structural complexity; 2) character of connecting means; 3) semantico-logical relations between the coordinate clauses. The subparagraph was exemplified by a number of compound sentences to illustrate the main points.

The last subparagraph outlines the correlation between different compound sentence structure patterns and the stylistic devices that employ them, which was also exemplified by the samples from the short story “The Nightingale and the Rose”.

Our findings shed light onto the peculiarities of O. Wilde's writing style which pertain to the use of certain sentence types features in relation to some stylistic means of expression.

2.2.1. The use of different sentence types in the story

Having applied statistical method, we've been able to determine the exact number and percentage of different sentence types represented in the short story "The Nightingale and the Rose" by Oscar Wilde. It has been calculated that simple, composite and semi-composite sentences account for 11 %, 81 % and 8% respectively.

Тhe total number of 121 sentences breaks up as follows:

1) Simple sentences – 13 (11 %);

2) Composite sentences (combined) – 98 (81 %):

a) Compound sentences – 49 (41 %);

b) Complex sentences – 12 (10 %);

c) Compound-complex – 37 (30 %).

3) Semi-composite sentences – 10 (8 %)

a) Semi-compound – 8 (6 %)

b) Semi-complex – 2 (2 %)

This pie chart below represents the percentage:

Of all 98 polypredicative sentences, 54 have the clauses joined only syndetically, 19 employ only asyndetical means of connection and 25 combine the two types.

We've also taken into account the communicative classification of sentences; the numbers stand as follows:

1) Declarative sentences – 93 (77 %);

2) Imperative sentences – 12 (10 %);

3) Interrogative sentences – 7 (6 %);

4) Exclamatory Sentences – 9 (7 %).

From the point of view of information presentation, there distinguish affirmative and negative sentences. In the analyzed text there are 19 negative (16%) and 101 affirmative sentences (84 %).