Lecture 14: THE COMPOUND SENTENCE
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1. A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more clauses coordinated with each other. A clause is a part of a sentence which has a subject and a predicate of its own.
In a compound sentence the clauses may be connected:
(a) syndetically, i. e. by means of coordinating conjunctions (and, or, else, but etc.) or conjunctive adverbs (otherwise, however, nevertheless, yet, still, therefore, etc.).
E.g. The darkness was thinning, but the street was still dimly lighted.
He knew there were excuses for his father, yet he felt sick at heart.
(b) asyndetically, i. e. without a conjunction or conjunctive adverb.
The rain fell softly, the house was quiet.
The month was July, the morning fine, the glass-door stood ajar, through it played a fresh breeze…
2.We can distinguish the following types of coordination:
a. Copulative coordination, expressed by the conjunctions and, nor, neither … nor, not only … but (also). With the help of these conjunctions the statement expressed in one clause is simply added to that expressed in another.
E. g. It was a nice little place and Mr. and Mrs. Witla were rather proud of it.
Mr. Home did not lift his eyes from his breakfast-plate for about two minutes, nor did he speak.
b. Disjunctive coordination expressed by the conjunctions or, else, or else, either … or, and the conjunctive adverb otherwise. By these a choice is offered between the statements expressed in two clauses.
He knew it to be nonsense or it would have frightened him.
Don’t come near me with that look else I’ll knock you down.
c. Adversative coordination expressed by the conjunctions but, while, whereas and the conjunctive adverbs nevertheless, still, yet. These are conjunctions and adverbs connecting two clauses contrasting in meaning.
The room was dark, but the street was lighter because of its lamps.
He had a glass eye which remained stationary, while the other eye looked at Reinhardt.
I was not unhappy, not much afraid, yet I wept.
d. Causative-consecutive coordination expressed by the conjunctions for, so and the conjunctive adverbs therefore, accordingly, consequently, hence.
For introduces coordinate clauses explaining the preceding statement. There ofre, so, consequently, hence, accordingly introduce coordinate clauses denoting cause, consequence and result.
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There was something amiss with Mr. Lightwood, for he was strangelygrave and looked ill.
After all, the two of them belonged to the same trade, so talk was easy and happy between them.
Hers (Lillian’s) was not a soul that ever loved passionately, hence she could not suffer passionately.
Lecture 15: THE COMPLEX SENTENCE
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A complex sentence consists of a principal clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
Clauses in a complex sentence may be linked in two ways:
1) Syndetically , i. e. by means of subordinating conjunctions or connectives.
There is a difference between a conjunction and a connective. A conjunction only serves as a formal element connecting separate clauses, whereas a connective serves as a connecting link and has at the same time a syntactic function in the subordinate clause it introduces.
More and more, she became convinced that some misfortune had overtaken Paul. (CONJUNCTION)
All that he had sought for and achieved seemed suddenly to have no meaning (CONNECTIVE).
2) Asyndetically, i. e. without a conjunction or connective.
I wish you had come earlier.
Circumstances try the metal a man is really made of.
A subordinate clause may follow, precede, or interrupt the principal clause.
His steps quickened as he set out for the hotel.
As the family had no visitors that day, its four members dined alone together.
It was dull and dreary enough, when the long summer evening closed in, on that Saturday night.
A complex sentence may contain two or more homogeneous clauses coordinated with each other.
They were all obstinately of opinion that the poor girl had stolen the moonstone, and that she had destroyed herself in terror of being found out.
What Mr. Pancks knew about the Dorrit family, what more he really wanted to find out, and why he should trouble his busy head about them at all, were questions that often perplexed him.
A subordinate clause may be subordinated to the principal clause or to another subordinate clause. Accordingly we distinguish subordinate clauses of the first, second, third, etc. degree of subordination.
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He never asked why Erik was giving up academic work.
I don’t mind making the admission… that there are certain forms of so-called humour, or, at least, fun, which I am quite unable to appreciate.
According to their grammatical function subordinate clauses are divided into subject, predicative, attributive, object, and adverbial clauses.
(A) Subject clauses perform the function of subject to the predicate of the principal clause. Attention should be paid to the peculiar structure of the principal clause, which in this case has no subject, the subordinate clause serving as such.
E. g. What I want to do is to save us both.
If a subject clause follows the principal clause the so-called introductory it is used in the principal clause.
It was always possible that they might encounter some one.
There is another view of the analysis of sentences of this type, according to which it is the subject of the principal clause, and the subordinate clause is a predicative clause.
Subject clauses are connected with the principal clause in the following ways:
(a) by means of the conjunctions that, if, whether.
It was unfortunate that the patient was brought in during the evening.
(b) by means of the connectives who, which, what, whoever, whatever (conjunctive pronouns);
where, when, how, why (conjunctive adverbs).
What was done could not be undone.
© asyndetically.
It is a pity her brother should be quite a stranger to her.
Subject clauses are not separated from the principal clause by a comma except when we have two or more subject clauses coordinated with each other.
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Who her mother was and how she came to die in that forlornness, were questions that often pressed on Eppie’s mind.
(B) Predicative clauses perform the function of a predicative. They are introduced by the same words as subject clauses; they may also be introduced by as. Variation in their grammatical organisation may be illustrated by the following examples:
This was what had happened to himself! (Galsworthy)
The chief hope was that the defence would not find it necessary to subpoena Jean. That would be too much. (Galsworthy).
The question for me to decide is whether or not the defendant is liable to refund to the plaintiff this sum. (Galsworthy).
„The principle of this house", said the architect, „was that you should have room to breathe — like a gentleman". (Galsworthy)
Some grammarians are inclined to include here patterns with it is... that of the following type:
It's because that he's busy that he can't help you.
There are such patterns of complex sentences as consist of a subject clause and a predicative, the only element outside these clauses being the link verb, e. g.:
What I prefer now is that you should not leave at all.
Predicative sub-clauses have sometimes a mixed or overlapping meaning. In some cases there is a clear suggestion of temporal relations, in others the meaning of comparison.
Relations of time, for instance, are generally observed in clauses introduced by when. This is often the case when the subject of the principal clause is expressed by nouns denoting time, e. g.:
Time had been when he had seen her wearing nothing. (Gals worthy)
Predicative sub-clauses introduced by as if and as are suggestive of , the secondary meaning of comparison, e. g.:
My horses are young, and when they get on the grass they are as if they were mad. (Thackeray)
© Object clauses present a great variety of patterns but less difficulty on the point of their grammatical analysis.
The simplest case of such clauses are patterns in which a sub-clause can be replaced by a noun which could be then an object in a simple sentence. Familiar examples are:
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We could buy what she liked.
You may do whatever you choose.
Did the accused mention who this girl friend of his was... (Gordon)
He suggested that Bosnian seemed unduly zealous in calling for paper for the statement to be taken down. (Gordon)
He was anxious that they should realise he was an Englishman. (Gordon)
Synonymic alternatives of object clauses are:
a) Gerundive nominals:
They all approved of his not being beaten by that cousin of his, (Galsworthy)
Soames had ever resented having had to sell the house at Robin Hill; never forgiven his uncle for having bought it, or his cousin for living in it. (Galsworthy)
He's going to begin farming, you know, he' ll make an excuse. Men hate being painted. (Galsworthy)
b) Infinitival nominals:
He saw the squirrel's eyes, small and bright and watched his tail jerk in excitement. (Hemingway)
The Darties saw Bosinney spring out, and Irene follow, and hasten up the steps with bent head. (Galsworthy)
Instances are not few when infinitival and gerundive nominals go in one sentence in close proximity, e. g.:
Only vaguely did he see the judge shake his head in disagreement and hear Turner mumbling something. (Gordon)
(D) Like attributive adjuncts in a simple sentence, attributive clauses qualify the thing denoted by its head word through some actions, state or situation in which the thing is involved.
It has been customary to make distinction between two types of attributive sub-clauses: restrictive and continuative or amplifying clauses1. This division is however too absolute to cover all patterns.
Restrictive clauses are subordinate in meaning to the clause containing the antecedent; continuative clauses are more independent: their contents might often be expressed by an independent statement giving some additional information about the antecedent that is already sufficiently defined. Continuative clauses may be omitted without affecting the precise understanding of the sentence as a whole. This is marked by a different intonation, and by a clear break preceding the continuative clause, no such break separating a restrictive clause from its antecedent. The presence or absence of such a pause is indicated in writing and in print by the presence or absence of a comma before as well as after the sub-clause.
It may also be pointed out that a sentence with a restrictive clause contains a single statement, and a sentence with a continuative clause contains two statements.
Compare the following:
I. a) There was a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour. (Fitzgerald)
b) The room was long with windows on the right-hand side and a door at the far end that went into the dressing-room. (Hemingway)
II d) And he only stared at Michael, who was gazing out of the window. (Galsworthy)
c) Up on the lawn above the fernery he could see his old dog Balthazar. The animal, whose dim eyes took his master for a stranger, was warning the world against him. (Galsworthy)
Continuative clauses may well illustrate the statement that it is impossible to draw a rigid line of demarcation between subordination and coordination. The relative which may refer to a preceding sentence or part of a sentence.
The conference was postponed, which was exactly what we wanted.
A word should be said about attributive clauses introduced by relative adverbs functioning as conjunctions: when, where, why. This is the case when the antecedent meaning time, place, reason.
We met where the roads crossed.
Synonymic alternatives of attributive clauses are following.
a) Infinitival nominals:
Cowperwood was not the man to loose a chance of this kind. (Dreiser)
b) Gerundive nominals:
The idea of its being barbarous to confine wild animals had probably never ever occurred to his father, for instance. (Galsworthy)
c) Participial nominals:
A look of effort marked everyone: they came down with kukris no longer used, and loads bearing no resemblance to the neat shape of a pack. (Sillitoe)
(E) Adverbial clauses. Clauses of cause. Introduced by the conjunction because sub-clauses of cause indicate purely causal relations.
And because they were all laughing it seemed to Leila that they were all lovely. (Mansfield)
... You remember the other time I was here I said I couldn't talk about books and things because I didn't know how? (London)
Clauses introduced by as and since have sometimes overlapping relationships of cause and time. The necessary meaning is signalled by the context.
Pouring out a pot he drank it neat and, as its warm glow spread through him, he felt he could face the evening more easily. (Gordon)
Causal relations may find their expression in clauses introduced by the conjunction for. Patterns of this kind are on the borderline between co-ordination and subordination. Only in some contexts of their use for-clauses come to be synonymous and go quite parallel with causal clauses included by because.
He had to be cautious, for he was so rapidly coming to be influential and a distinguished man. (Dreiser)
Clauses of place do not offer any difficulties of grammatical analysis; they are generally introduced by the relative adverb where or by the phrase fromwhere, to where, e. g.:
They passed alongside the Royal Enclosure where book-makers did not seem to be admitted. (Galsworthy)
Temporal clauses cover a wide and varied range of meanings.
Relations of time between the action of the main clause and that of the subordinate may differ: the two actions or states may be simultaneous, one may precede or follow the other, or, say, one may last until the other begins, etc.
When she moved to put a chair for him, she swayed in a curious, subtle way, as if she had been, put together by some one with a special secret skill. (Galsworthy)
In different contexts of their use sub-clauses of time may change their primary meaning. In some patterns there is a suggestion of conditional relations, as in:
Women did strange things when they were driven into corners. (Galsworthy)
When the pinch comes, you remember the old shoe. (Proverb)
Instances are not few when temporal clauses are suggestive of causal relations, e. g.:
She made a little curtsy as he bowed. (Mitchell)
Conditional sentences can express either a real condition ("open condition") or an unreal condition:
If you ask him he will stay here, (real condition)
If you asked him, he would stay here, (unreal condition)
Clauses of result or consequence will also exemplify the synsemantic character of syntactic structures. Their formal arrangement is characterised by two patterns:
1) clauses included by the conjunction that correlated with the pronoun such or the pronoun so in the main clause;
2) clauses included by phrasal connective so that.
Her misery was so terrible that she pinned on her hat, put on her jacket and walked out of the flat like a person in a dream. (Mansfield)
He did not however neglect to leave certain matters to future considerations, which had necessitated further visits, so that the little back room had become quite accustomed to his spare not unsolid but unobtrusive figure... (Galsworthy)
Variation in the lexico-grammatical organisation of such clauses is generally associated with variation in their meaning.
There are also some other adverbial clauses: clauses of purpose, clauses of concession, clauses of manner and comparison.
Lecture 16: WORD ORDER
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Lecture 17: OVERLAPPING RELATIONSHIPS
AND SYNSEMANTICS IN HYPOTAXIS.
(СРС, СРСП)
A word must be said about the synsemantic character of various types of hypotaxis which in many cases have mixed or overlapping meaning. In some of these instances there is only a suggestion of the secondary meaning, in others it is fairly prominent.
The complexity of sub-clauses, their synsemantic character and overlapping relations observed in various patterns of subordination bear immediate relevance to such questions as the lexico-grammatical organisation of the sentence, implicit predication and the potential valency of connectives introducing sub-clauses.
Overlapping relationship in adverbial clauses merits special consideration. Instances are not few when clauses introduced by subordinative connectives and clauses to which they are joined seem to be equal in their functional level.
It is always important to remember that not all the general potential meaning of a given category will be relevant in each occurrence. A distinction that is relevant to one occurrence of the pattern can sometimes have no bearing at all on another use. Examples to illustrate the statement are numerous. Thus, for instance, a conditional element can be suggestive of the secondary causal meaning e. g.:
“If that’s what the President wants,” said Garlock, “well, of course, I have no objection” . (Baily)
…”And real reason, Mr. President?”
A good example to illustrate overlapping relations of condition and cause will be found in Bain’s Higher English Grammar, from the fable, where the ant says to the grasshopper, “It you sang in summer, dance in winter”. The conjunction if has here the force of a reason, the condition being a realised fact. If you sang = since you sang or as you sang.
Causal relations are fairly prominent when the condition under which the action is performed precedes the action which results from it.
(a) If you have already made such arrangements I cannot interfere.
(b) If he’d had the brass to stay in England after committing such a bare-faced forgery, he would have the brass to come here again and see what more he could get. (Galsworthy)
It is of interest to note that composite sentences with overlapping relations cf condition and cause are generally characterised by the indicative modality of the sub-clause. Predication in the principal clause can be of different modal force (indicative, oblique or imperative).
If Soames had faith, it was in what he called” English common sense”— or the power to have things, if not one way then another. (Galsworthy)
And here are a few typical examples of sentence patterns with sub-clauses of condition used to intensify the relations of cause:
And if Brian even felt distrust for that sympathetic organisation it was only because all big names seemed like devil’s threats to hold his soul in thrall. (Sillitoe)
In other cases if-clauses have a prominent suggestion of the meaning of concession, e. g.:
She would hold Tara , if she had to break the back of every person of it. (Mitchell)
If Old Jolyon saw, he took no notice. (Galsworthy)
TRANSPOSITIONS AND FUNCTIONAL
RE-EVALUATION OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE
Observations on the contextual use of various sentence-patterns furnish numerous examples of re-interpretation of syntactic structures by which we mean stylistic transpositions resulting in neutralisation of primary grammatical meaning. The asymmetric dualism of the linguistic sign1 appears to be natural and is fairly common at different levels of language.
The linguistic mechanism, prosodic features in particular, work naturally in many ways to prevent ambiguity in such patterns of grammatical structure.
Expressive re-evaluation of sentences can be connected with shifts of their syntactic content.
Such is the use of the so-called pseudo-subclauses of comparison, time and condition which in transposition function as independent units of communication. A few typical examples are:
As if I ever told him about it!
Syn. I never told him about it.
H iggins : As if I ever stop thinking about the girl and her confounded vowels and consonants. (Shaw)
Cf. syn. I never stop thinking…
Examples of pseudo-subclauses of condition functioning as independent units are:
“Well, if you aren’t a wonder,” Drouet was saying, complacently, squeezing Carrie’s arm. “You are the dandiest little girl on earth.” (Dreiser)
If there isn’t Captain Donnithorne a-coming into the yard! (Eliot) — here the direct and the indirect negations cancel each other, the result being positive (he is coming).
A special case of functional re-evaluation of sub-clauses of condition will be found in “wish-sentences”:
That wasn’t what he had meant to say. If only he knew more, if only he could make others feel that vision, make them understand how they were duped into hatred under the guise of loyalty and duty. (Aldington)
In sentence-patterns of this type the idea of the principal clause seems to be suppressed, but they occur so often that at last we hardly think of what is left out, the remaining part becomes a regular idiomatic expression which we must recognise as a complete sentence, an independent unit of communication.
Even without any continuation the if-clause is taken at more than its face-value and becomes to speaker or hearer alike, a complete expression of wish.
Like in some other types of sentence-patterning such contextual variations are not specifically English and may be traced in many languages.
Compare analogous developments in Russian:
Ax, кабы зимою цветы расцветали!
Sub-clauses of time are syntactically re-evaluated in patterns like the following:
Oh, when she plays!
2. Problems of Implicit Predication
Formal subordinative relations in composite sentences are sometimes weakened and the second part of the sentence comes to function as an optional element, not necessarily needed to complete the meaning of the first.
Such borderline cases between subordination and coordination will be found, for instance, in syntactic structures with if-clauses which give rather some additional information about the event involved than the condition under which the action is performed. A few typical examples are:
She was pretty, too, if my recollection of her face and person are correct.
In upper and middle classes we’re doing it all the time and blinking the moral side, if there is one. (Galsworthy)
Related to this are syntactic structures with implicit predication.
The absence of the direct logical relationship between the explicit parts of the composite sentence can suggest the omission of a certain predicative unit in its surface structure. The formal organisation of such a sentence does not reflect the actual syntactic relations of its parts.
In spoken English and literary prose such compression in sentence-structure is fairly common.
A few typical examples are:
…”It’s just a crazy old thing,” she said. ‘ I just slip it on sometimes when I don’t care what I look like.”
“But it looks wonderful on you, if you know what I mean,” pursued Mrs. McKee.
“If Chaster could only get you in that pose I think he could make something of it”. (Fitzgerald)
The predicative unit to which the if-clause would be logically attached is not formally expressed and remains in deep-sense structure:
“…And if it is any satisfaction to you, I can tell you that we are not formally engaged.”
Linguistic studies of recent times have made it obvious that the interdependence of the clauses in parataxis is not absolute.
The logical connection of the co-ordinated clauses makes it clear that apparently independent clauses are often not absolutely independent, and one of them implicitly stands in some grammatical relation to the other.
Take, for instance, clauses co-ordinated by the disjunctive or in such composite sentences as:
— …Are those yours, Mary?
— I don’t wear such things… Stop or I’ll tell the missis on you. Out half the night. (Joyce) (Stop, if you don’t, I’ll tell…)
…”Go out. Leave this house, or I’ll do you an injury”. That fellow to talk of injuries! (Galsworthy) Leave this house! If you don’t I’ll…)
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