- •The Subject Matter of Grammar
- •The Evolution of English Grammars
- •The XX th Century Linguistic Schools
- •Prague Linguistic School (Functional Linguistics)
- •American Descriptive Linguistics
- •Transformational and Transformational Generative Grammar
- •Semantic Syntax
- •Methods of Linguistic Analysis
- •Parsing (Traditional Syntactic Analysis)
- •The Oppositional Method
- •The Distributional method
- •The ic Method (method of immediate constituents)
- •The Transformational Method
- •The Method of Deep and Surface Structures
- •The Functional Sentence Perspective Method (fsp)
- •The Componential Method
- •The Contextual Method
- •The Levels of Language
- •The Morphological Structure of me
- •The Classifications of Morphemes
- •Paradigmatics and Syntagmatics
- •The Asymmetry of a Linguistic Sign
- •Parts of Speech Classifications of Parts of Speech.
- •Notionals and Functionals
- •Heterogeneity
- •Field and Periphery
- •Subcategorization
- •Onomaseological approach
- •The Noun The General Properties of a Noun
- •The Category of Gender.
- •The Category of Number
- •The Category of Case
- •Debated Problems within the Category of Case
- •Genitive Constructions (n’s n)
- •The Article Debated Problems
- •The Functions of Articles in a Sentence
- •The Verb The General Properties of a Verb
- •The Category of Tense
- •Classifications of Tenses
- •The Future Tense
- •The Present Tense
- •The Past Tense
- •The Future-in-the-Past Tense
- •The Category of Aspect
- •The Category of Time Relation (or Correlation)
- •The Category of Voice
- •The Category of Mood
- •The Indicative Mood
- •The Imperative Mood
- •The Subjunctive Mood
- •Points of Similarities with the Finites
- •Points of Differences with the Finites
- •Debated Problems within The Verbals
- •The Functions of Non-Finites
- •Types of Syntax
- •The theory of the phrase
- •Devices of Connecting Words in a Phrase
- •Debated Problems within the Theory of the Phrase
- •Classifications of Phrases
- •The theory of the simple sentence
- •The Definition of a Sentence
- •Syntactic Modelling of the Sentence
- •Semantic Modelling of the Sentence
- •The Notion of a Syntactic Paradigm
- •Structural Classification of Simple Sentences
- •Predicative Constructions Within a simple sentence we distinguish primary and secondary (independent/ dependent) elements, the structural nucleus and its adjuncts.
- •Syntactic Processes
- •The Principal Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •The Secondary Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •An Object
- •An Adverbial Modifier
- •An Attribute
- •Debated Problems within a Simple Sentence
- •A composite sentence
- •A Compound Sentence
- •I. The General Notion of a Complex Sentence.
- •2. The Status of the Subordinate Clause.
- •3.1. Classifications of Subordinate Clauses.
- •3.2. Types of Subordinate Clauses.
- •4. Connections between the Principal and the Subordinate Clause.
- •5. Neutralization between Subordination and Coordination.
- •6. The Character of the Subordinating Conjunction
- •7. Levels of Subordination
- •Syntactic Processes in the Complex Sentence.
- •9. Communicative Dynamism within a Composite Sentence( Compound and Complex) and a Supra-phrasal Unit.
4. Connections between the Principal and the Subordinate Clause.
Sub-clauses can be optional or indispensable for the structural and semantic integrity of the complex sentence. So, the sub-clause can be connected with the principal clause indispensably or optionally. Indispensable are the structures which occupy the position of the subject or the predicative ( Whoever comes will be welcome. Health is what he needs. What might be is not what is). These sub-clauses cannot be removed, otherwise it would make the structure ungrammatical. Optional are those clauses (attributive, adverbial) which merely give additional information to the antecedent (She speaks broken English, and she has a very foreign appearance which she exaggerates. A Christie). The sub-clause is joined to the principal clause syndetically, i.e. by a subordinating conjunction, or asyndetically, by adjoinment (with or without inversion) {Tumors of the brain often cause behaviors the layman might think as psychotic (St.King); Should he come, tell me about it}.
5. Neutralization between Subordination and Coordination.
The borderline between the compound and the complex sentence is very vague and the difference between them can be neutralized. It occurs when a sub-clause comes to be very loose, losing its grammatical tension. Neutralization between subordination and coordination is observed when 1. a temporal clause (a while-clause, or a when-clause) expresses contrast rather than time {His sense of property is extreme, while you have practically none (J.Galsworthy); He wears fine clothes while I go in rags (O.Wilde)}. 2. Neutralization occurs in structures with continuative attributive clauses {The casino had been dropping money lately which shouldn’t be (M. Puso. Godfather)}→ The casino had been dropping money lately and that shouldn’t be }.The conjunctive pronoun which is easily replaced here by the phrase and that.. 3. Neutralization occurs when a when-clause expresses a successive action {I was listening, and thinking how the wind assailed and tore it when I heard a footstep on the stairs .Ch. Dickens. Great Expectations)→ and then I heard a footstep on the stairs}.
6. The Character of the Subordinating Conjunction
Most of the subordinating conjunctions and conjunctive pronouns and adverbs are polyfunctional as they introduce various kind of sub-clauses. (I remember the house where I was born). Normally the conjunctive adverb where introduces a spatial adverbial clause. Here where I was born is an attributive subordinate clause.
Most polyfunctional is the conjunction that which can introduce a great variety of sub-clauses : (an object clause) I know that he will never do that; (a subject clause) That this should be so cut her to the quick; (a predicative clause) What surprises me is that he never expected it; (a complement clause) It is the vastness of Russia that fascinates the traveler;(a clause of consequence) So great was her grief that she stood dumb, etc. We see that the conjunction does not determine the character of the clause.