13) Complex sentence

The Complex Sentence is a polypredicative construction built up on the principle of subordination. The Complex Sentence of minimal composition includes two clauses - a principal one and a subordinate one. Although the principal clause positionally dominates the subordinate clause, the two form a semantico-syntactic unity, in which they are interconnected.

The subordinate clause is joined to the principal one either by a subordinating connector (subordinator) or asyndetically. The principles of classification:

Subject- object –attributive- adverbial-functional

1)The subject clause expresses the theme of the actual division of a complex sentence.

Ex.What he would do next was not even spoken of. 2)The object clause denotes an object-situation of the process. Ex. She cannot imagine what you are doing there.

3)Attributive clauses express some characteristics. Ex. I shook out my scarf which was damp.

4)Clauses of adverbial positions constitute a vast domain of syntax which falls into many subdivisions. 5)The predicative clause performs the function of the nominal part of the predicate, i.e. the part adjoining the link-verb (be, seem, look).

Ex. Work is what keeps life going. My only terror was lest my father should follow me. Lignose looked as though a sculptor had moulded it. The informative value of a principal clause may be reduced to the mere introduction of a subordinate clause; for example, the principal clause can perform the “phatic” function, i.e. the function of keeping up the conversation, of maintaining the immediate communicative connection with the listener, e.g.: I think you are a great parent; in this sentence, the basic information is rendered by the rhematic subordinate clause, while the principal clause is phatic, specifying the speaker’s attitude to the information. More than two clauses may be combined in one complex sentence. Subordinate clauses may be arranged by parallel or consecutive subordination. Subordinate clauses immediately referring to one principal clause are subordinated “in parallel’ or “co-subordinated”. Parallel subordination may be both homogeneous and heterogeneous: in homogeneous parallel constructions, the subordinate clauses perform similar functions, they are connected with each other coordinatively and depend on the same element in the principal clause (or, the principal clause in general), e.g.: He said that it was his business and that I’d better stay off it; in heterogeneous parallel constructions, the subordinate clauses mostly refer to different elements in the principal clause, e.g.: The man whom I saw yesterday said that it was his business. Consecutive subordinative constructions are formed when one clause is subordinated to another in a string of clauses, e.g.: I don’t know why she said that she couldn’t come at the time that I suggested. There are three consecutively subordinated clauses in this sentence; they form a hierarchy of three levels of subordination. This figure shows the so-called depth of subordination perspective, one of the essential syntactic characteristics of the complex sentence. In the previous examples, the depth of subordination perspective can be estimated as 1. Subordinating connectors are subdivided into two basic types: pronominal words and pure conjunctions. Pronominal connective words occupy a notional position in the derived sentence; for example, some of them replace a certain antecedent (i.e. a word or phrase to which the connector refers back) in the principal clause, e.g.: The man whom I met yesterday surprised me. Pure subordinate conjunctions do not occupy a notional position in the derived sentence, e.g.: She said that she would come early. Some connectors are bifunctional, i.e. used both as conjunctions and as conjunctive substitutes, cf.: She said that she would come early; Where is the letter that came today? Semantically, subordinators (both conjunctions and conjunctive substitutes) are subdivided in correspondence with the categorial type of the subordinate clauses which they introduce: there are substantive-nominal and qualification-nominal clausalizers (conjunctions and pronominal words), which introduce the event-fact, and adverbial clausalizers (conjunctions), showing relational characteristics of events. Some connective words can be used both as nominal connectors and as adverbial connectors, cf.: Do you know when they are coming? (What do you know?) – We’ll meet when the new house is finished (When shall we meet?). Together with these, the zero subordinator should be named, whose polyfunctional status is similar to the status of the subordinator that, cf.: She said that she would come early. – She said Ø she would come early; This is the issue that I planned to discuss with you. – This is the issue Ø I planned to discuss with you.