Compound and Complex Sentences

They existed in OE, and there are numerous instances of coordination and subordination. In Complex sentences there are such subordinate clauses as subject clauses, object clauses, attributive clauses, adverbial clauses( of place, time, of cause, purpose, result,conditional, of concession, of mannare and comparison; and paranethetical clauses.

In the compound sentences clauses were mainly connected either asyndetically or syndetically. The most comon type of syndetic connection was represented by the conjunction and, oDDe(or) or ac(but).

ic me: mid Hruntin¯е do:m ¯ewyrce, oDDe mec de:aþ nimeþ.

OE texts displayed parenthetical clauses, combined clauses and sentences with coordination and subordination mixed.

The Middle and New English Periods

The evolution of syntax was closel connected with the decline of the inflectional system, hence MdE and ModE sentences got more emphasis on the syntactical means of word connection: the word order became more strict and the use of prepositions more extensive.

The following changes took place:

Agreement: was considerably reduced

1. agreement in noun phrases practically disappeared, except for some instances in number, which were lost in the 15^th century when the inflection – e was dropped.

…this holy mayden, that requeste , A good man was ther of religioun. …goode men, etc.

2. nouns used attributeively had forms of the genitive case or were joined to the head

word by a preposition: fadres sone, men of armes

3. In Shakespere’s time noun patterns became more fixed: nouns used attributively were enclosed between a determiner and the head word:

Jog on, jog on, the footpath way; the darling buds of May; the master mistress of my passion….

Government: has not undergone essential changes.

Joining: it sphere widened by the reduction of agreement; agreement in gender and case

was lost: his schoures sote (his sweet showers).

The sentence

Parts of the sentence

The Subject: noun, pronoun, infinitive: to beholde it was gret joye

The Predicate: simple verbal: he sende writes sone anon

compound verbal= modal verb + infinitive: wel coude he singe

nominal predicate: Hauelok was a ful god gome.

The Object: 2 direct and indirect: anoint thi ship with pik and tar; him louede yung, him

louede olde

The Attribute: adjectives, pronouns, nouns in the Gen. case, nouns between the

determiner and the head word.

The Adverbial Modifier: adverbs, prepositional phrases.

Modern English

Agreement: goes on decreasing: this, that agree in number with the head words.

Government: disappeared, only the personal pronouns and the interrogative and relative pronoun who are governed. Shakespeare: …between you and I…

Joining: since agreement and government decline, the role of joining grows.

Closure: the always-wind-obeying deep

Simple sentence: the freedom of word order becomes more restricted, but: Hamlet:

Mother, you have my father much offended

The Development of English Syntax

Level of phrases

A+ S:	- this is a widely used pattern denoting an object as characterized by a property. spe:dig man, tam de:or.; Occasionally the adjective follows its head word. micle meras Dersce
S + S	the attribute noun is often in the genitive case: : hwa:les ba:n
S + V:	Ohthere sa:de
Pr. + V:	he: sa:de, he: e:ode, etc.
V + Pr:	sing me:
V + S :	Ohthere sae:de his hla:fodre, Aelfre:de cyninge
Pr + S:	mi:ne dagas
N + S:	a:n man, twa: tyccenu (two kids)
V + ADV:	gre:tan luflice ( greet livingly)
ADV + A:	swi:the spedig
Prep + S	ofer sae:: (across the sea) on Angelcynne (in England), for scome (for shame)
Prep + Pron	to: him, mid him (with him)

Level of Sentences

Agreement	Government	Joining:
-attribute groups: agree in gender, number and case: micle meras Dersce (large fresh-water lakes) (Date Pl.)	Case of noun or pronoun depends on the verb: andsware onfo:n (Acc.); bi:dan windes(Gen.); hyre sa:de(Dat.)	- no formal means:adverb+adjective, etc. swi:the spe:dig man gre:tan freondlice

There were also 3-component phrases of the following patterns:

V + S Dat. + S /PR Acc. = sealde hit his me:der (gave it (to) his mother);

V + PREP. + S/PR.= secgan to him, cwae:th to him; and even longer phrases (of 4-5 components).

The Sentence.