STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATIONS PREDICATIVE SYNTACTIC UNITS
At the third stage, we describe the structural properties of predicative syntactic units.
Two-member and One-member Syntactic Units
First, we take into consideration the way in which predication is realized in them. In sentences and 'sentence representatives', predication finds its expression either in two members or in one member. Accordingly, sentences and 'sentence representatives' are classified into two-member and one-member. In analytical English,
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where the verbal component of predication usually lacks person distinctions, the common type of sentence and 'sentence representative' is two-member that has a subject and predicate, e.g.: / returned to my room (M. Spark).
You really do want this, don't you, Larry? - 1 do (P. Benchley).
As to the essence of one-member sentences and 'sentence representatives', opinions differ. A.A. Shakhmatov, M. Ganshina and N. Vasilevskaya identify the principal part of a one-member sentence either with the subject or with the predicate. The majority of linguists, however, think that a one-member sentence is a sentence having only one member, which is neither the subject nor the predicate because the notions of subject and predicate, as V.V. Vinogradov has rightly pointed out, are correlative notions.
One-member sentences are typical of inflected languages. In analytical languages, one-member sentences are few. In English, imperative sentences and imperative 'sentence representatives' are surely one-member, e.g.:
Wait a moment (A.M. Burrage). Please don't say anything else (J. Parsons). I just want to leave this in here. -Do (H. Pinter). By means of the imperative mood of the verb and a specific intonation contour, imperative sentences and imperative 'sentence representatives' realize non-real modality. In the sphere of non-real modality, tense characteristics are irrelevant. The absence of the person paradigm does not mean that imperative sentences and imperative 'sentence representatives' are not marked for the predicative category of person. The thing is that imperative sentences and imperative 'sentence representatives' generally address the command or request to the second person. The fixed nature of person characteristic makes the use of a special exponent of person redundant, although sometimes it does appear in the form of the personal pronoun you. hi these cases, imperative sentences become two-member. Cf:
You try to eat something (W. Faulkner). You let me run this! (W. Faulkner).
When inducement is addressed both to the addressee (the second person) and to the speaker (the first person), it finds its
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expression in a specific morpheme, -'s, sometimes - in the personal pronoun us, e.g.:
Lefjgo(V.Woolf).
Let us catch them (L. Becke).
There are two types of declarative sentences that lack the nominal component of predication just like imperative sentences. They are declarative sentences referring to the third person singular present indicative and declarative sentences referring to the first person singular and plural future indicative. Cf.:
Doesn't sound like a problem (B. Gutcheon).
Shan't stay in this house any longer (O. Wilde).
Since their verbal component is marked for all the predicative categories, we think they could also be regarded as one-member sentences.
Most grammarians, however, are of opinion that one-member sentences constitute a language phenomenon, and the above-mentioned declarative sentences represent speech modifications of two-member sentences. They are speech modifications, but they are conventional speech modifications and as such are worth studying in themselves. What is more, the notion of a one-member sentence, like any linguistic notion, is a matter of definition. If we started on the assumption that a one-member sentence is a syntactic unit whose predication finds explicit expression in one member, then the above-mentioned declarative sentences could be regarded as one-member sentences.
Tradition qualifies as one-member also infinitive and nominal sentences. Infinitive sentences are said to realize non-real modality, to refer to the future tense, and to be impersonal, e.g.:
To think of the Weldons separating! (D. Parker).
Nominal sentences are said to realize real modality, to refer to the present tense, and to actualize the meaning of the third person, e-g.:
Dusk - of a summer night (Th. Dreiser). Since infinitives and nouns always lack explicit modality and tense characteristics, we refer them not to sentences, but to sentencoids.
One-member sentences are characterized by a low frequency of occurrence in English. English people think that one-member imperative sentences are not polite enough even in combination
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with the word please. The primary sphere of use of the bare imperative is the army. In everyday communication, English people prefer milder forms of inducement, such as Can/Could you,.., Will/Would you..., etc. [I. Sternin, T. Larina, M. Stemina], e.g.:
Will you ask them to call a carriage, please? (O. Wilde).
Declarative sentences, referring to the third person singular present indicative, are usually formed on the basis of the so-called impersonal verbs, which are not many, e.g.:
Honestly, I scarcely know him. - Doesn't matter (W. Trevor).
The sphere of declarative sentences, referring to the first person singular and plural future indicative, is limited due to the present-day tendency to use will with all persons.
Sentencoids are classified according to the type of the inherent predication into three types: 1) sentencoids that have dependent explicit predication, 2) sentencoids that have implicit predication, 3) sentencoids that are characterized by a fusion of explicit and implicit predication. This classification has already been discussed.
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