Adverbial Complements (Adverbials)
§451. Adverbials differ from the other complements in their combinability and semantics. They are adjuncts of various classes of verbs and convey qualitative, quantitative or circumstantial characteristics of the actions denoted by verbs. Since the meaning of 'action' is not pronounced in semi-notional verbs, adverbial complements are mostly adjuncts of notional verbs.
She started slightly at the announcement. (Dreiser). He said it w it h gusto. (The Worker).
§ 452. Much in the same way as the subject and the object are mostly nouns or noun-equivalents, the adverbial complement is usually an adverb or some kind of adverb-equivalent. Like adverbs adverbials may be divided into qualitative, quantitative and circumstantial ones.
§ 453. A. I. Smirnitsky does not recognize qualitative and quantitative adverbials *. As we know (see § 121), A. I. Smirnitsky regards adverbs in -ly as a subclass of adjectives. Accordingly, he thinks that slowly in The boy walked slowly is parallel to slow in slow walk and both are attributes.
We share the opinion of most linguists that slowly and slow fulfil different functions in the sentence. Slowly in the above sentence is a qualitative adverbial complement or, traditionally, an adverbial complement of manner. Here are some other examples of qualitative adverbials.
A dowdy middle-aged Frenchwoman... was carefully and uselessly making up her face. (Greene).
She thanked meformally, sitting on the floor. (lb.).
A variety of qualitative adverbials are the so-called ad verbials of comparison. They do not name the quality directly but convey it by comparing it with something similar.
He smiled slightly as if to seal the agreement. (Wilson).
1 V\opc}.ojioiM английского языка, р 175 Синтаксис английского языка, р 227.
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§ 454. Below are some specimens of quantitative adverbial complements.
/ eat but I it 11 e. (Dickens). She almost fainted.
§455. Circumstantial adverbials, or as A. I. Smirnitsky calls them, adverbials of situation, comprise:
a) Adverbial complements of time and frequency
For a moment her glance rested on me, (Greene). Before going she looked round the cafe. (Ib.) / have often seen it before. (Ib.).
b) Adverbials of place and direction
Two young American girls sat a t the next table. (Ib.).
/ went a s f a r as the pavillion for a glass of ice beer. (Ib.).
c) Adverbials of cause
They would be there out of curiosity. (Ib.). The car slowed up because of a turn. (Dreiser).
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d) Adverbials of purpose
They had formed a cordon round the edge to prevent the crowd increasing. (Greene).
We'd better be going t о be on the safe side (Ib.).
"Olsen", said the manager, "is there anything downstairs you could find for this man to .d o?" (Dreiser).
e) Adverbials of condition
But for him the wrong man would have been punished. (Maxwell).
// necessary, it might be done at once. (Ib.).
f) Adverbials of concession
Despite his youth, he is quite an authority on history. (Daily Worker).
In spite of an avalanche of questions he managed to keep cool. (Ib.)
g) Adverbials of attending circumstances
He sank down in his chair, resting his chin in his hand. (Dreiser). -
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§456. Qualitative and quantitative adverbial complements are more closely connected with their headwords than circumstantial complements. As shown by A. I. Smirnitsky l, the latter describe the circumstances of the event as a whole.
Thus in the sentence Becoming wearied, she yawned and came to the window. (Dreiser) "becoming wearied" is the reason of the subsequent events.
But there is a group of circumstantial adverbials most closely connected with their head-words. They are the so-called adverbials of indefinite time and frequency, never, ever, always' often, seldom, sometimes, etc.
A. I. Smirnitsky 2 thinks that the close connection of these words with the verb is due to their semantics of 'general time relations' akin to the general time relations of the verb.
§ 457. As follows from the string of examples given above, in simple sentences adverbial complements are usually adverbs, nouns (mostly with prepositions), verbids and verbid complexes.
Adverbials may also be nouns preceded by conjunctions actually functioning as prepositions.
When a child, he was well looked after.
*
Conjunctions may also precede participles functioning as adverbials.
While working, he never stopped to rest.
§ 458. Comparing English adverbials with those in Russian one can see that despite some common features (meaning, types), they are in a number of points different.
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1) In Modern English there exist complex adverbial com
plements not found in Russian.
E. g. Then he looked for something to eat, and finally, his hunger gone, sat down in his comfortable rocking-chair. (Dreiser).
2) In Modern English there is a peculiar type of adverbials
expressed by nouns, adjectives, participles preceded by a
conjunction (if, when, while), which does not occur in Rus
sian.
1 Op. cit, p. 219—227.
2 Ib., p. 229.
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When a boy, he was fond of fishing. While reading she never smiled.
3) In Modern English adverbials expressed by nouns without prepositions are not numerous, whereas in Russian they are quite common.
Cf. Мы шли лугами.
Одним зимним утром пришлось мне...
Они будут работать весь день.
Он сидит, свернувшись калачиком, etc.
Attributes
§ 459. Attributes are secondary parts of the sentence serving to modify nouns or noun-equivalents in whatever functions they are used in the sentence.
In simple sentences attributes can be words or groups of words, including complexes. Diverse classes of words are used as attributes: adjectives, nouns, pronouns, articles, numerals, verbids, some adverbs.
E.g. Every morning for twenty-four years Samuel had taken the same train, except of course on Sundays and during his fortnight' s holiday at the seaside. (Maugham).
Jan looked at them with frightened, un believing eyes. (Cusack).
This is something for you to think about. (Aldington).
They were just group pictures. (Dreiser).
§ 460. Attributes are formally indicated only by the position they occupy, save the demonstrative pronouns this, these, that, those which, besides, agree in number with the uord they modify.
§ 461. In English the attribute and the head-noun are united structurally. If the noun is not mentioned for some reason (for instance, to avoid repetition which might make it emphatic), its place is taken by a substituting word to preserve the structural unity of an attributive word-combination, as in She is a nice girl and a clever one.
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§ 462. Semantically attributes may express various shades of relations with the nouns they modify. They may be qualitative (deep sea), quantitative (many children), circumstantial (the house on t h e h i I I), etc. Here we shall dwell only on three peculiar semantical groups: the subjective, objective and appositive attributes.
Nouns of verbal nature may have subjective or objective attributes. Subjective attributes are mostly possessive pronouns or nouns in the possessive case, as in h i s arrival, John ' s confession. These combinations may be conveniently considered to derive from predications: He arrived -* his arrival; John confessed -> John's confession.
Similarly, nouns of adjectival nature may take subjective attributes. Mary is happy -^-Mary's happiness. His father is ill -^ his father's illness.
Objective attributes are mostly prepositional phrases attached to nouns of verbal nature: depend on others -> de pendence on others; remind of the war -> reminder о f the war.
As to combinations of the iypeher daughter's loss, Martin's arrest, see §§ 93—94.
§ 463. A variety of the attribute is the so-called 'apposition' ('appositive' attribute). It is mostly a noun placed by the side of another noun (or noun-equivalent) to characterize the person, thing or idea the head-noun denotes by indicating the class or group to which this person (thing or idea) belongs. Aunt Mary, Sergeant Smith, Professor Brown.
There is much vacillation in the treatment of word-combinations like Aunt Mary. Some linguists take the common noun for an apposition J, others — the proper name 2. We think it more in keeping with the language facts to support the former view.
The most typical formal signs of the English attribute (and appositions are but a variety of attributes) are its place before the head-noun (cf. a kin d aunt), or its left-hand connections with a preposition (cf. the arrival of Mary). Hence we distinguish prepositionless and prepositional appositions as in С a p t a i n Gray and the city of Moscow.
I
1 B. H. Ж и г а д л о, И. П. И в а н о в а, Л. Л. И о ф и к,
op cit., p. 290—291.
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2 М. Ganshma, N. Vasilevskaya, op. cit., p. 309.
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Commenting on prepositional appositions, M. Mincoff writes: l "The reason for the establishment of this foreign construction is fairly obvious. Apposition of the simple type (cf. город Москва ) is not encouraged in English because when two substantives are coupled together, the first is felt to be more like an adjective than a substantive,* the city London would inevitably suggest a contrast with some village London." Here also belong such groups as a flower of a g i r I, a brute of a husband, etc.
§ 464. Within the subclass of prepositionless appositions (appositive attributes) we distinguish those which are associated with the syntactical word-morphemes it and there, and represent the notional subject (see § 390).
It is stimulating to do something real. (Aldington).
The peculiarity of this apposition is that it carries the whole lexical weight of the combination it... to do.
§ 465. There exists no hard and fast demarcation line between appositive attributes and all other attributes. In this connection we may compare two similar word-combinations, child psychology and woman doctor. In the latter, woman may be regarded as an apposition to doctor; in the former, child is not an apposition to psychology. Cf. Brown (that is a) professor -+ Professor Brown; Mary (that is an) aunt -> Aunt Mary; A doctor (that is a) woman -»• a woman doctor, but not * psychology (that is a) child.
§ 466. We do not dwell here on the so-called loose appositions because the latter (as well as other loose (detached) parts of the sentence) are discussed in detail elsewhere. 2
Extensions
§ 467. Extensions are adjuncts of adjectives, adverbs and adlinks in a sentence. They differ from complements and attributes in being usually modifiers of modifiers, or ter- tiaries, in the terminology of O. Jespersen.
1 Op. cit., p. 47.
2 В. Л. Каушанская and others, op. cit., p. 259,
Л. С. Бархударов, Д. А. Штелинг, op. cit., p. 360, etc.
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In a simple sentence extensions may be single words or combinations of words, including complexes.
Doreen's voice sounded too brisk and too loud. (Cusack).
Her little resolute face under its copper crown was suspi ciously eager and aglow. (Galsworthy).
The creature's eyes were alight with a somber frenzy. (London).
Then he became aware of Abbey standing before the big open fire in the hall. (Cronin).
§ 468. W. Francis distinguishes between such 'adjective qualifiers' as very, quite, rather, pretty, mighty, somewhat, a bit, a little, so, too, more, most, less, least, enough, indeed, on the one hand, and such as exceedingly, enormously, etc., on the other, since the latter "are marked as adverbs by the adverb suffix -ly and can appear in positions regularly occupied by adverbs." 1
We do not think this distinction relevant when analysing extensions as a part of the sentence which covers different morphological classes of words. Besides, most of the 'adjective qualifiers' are connected with more than one part of speech, as W. Francis himself admits: "Since qualifiers also appear with adverbs, they are not exclusively adjective determiners" 2.
Connectives
§ 469. Connectives are linking-words considered as a secondary part of the sentence. They are mostly prepositions and conjunctions.
She played and sang to him. (London).
Connectives differ from the previously mentioned secondary parts of a simple sentence in not being, as a rule, adjuncts of certain head-words.
a) They usually connect two words both or neither of which
might be regarded as their head-words;
b) The words they connect belong to various parts of speech.
With conjunctions this refers to both right-hand and left-
hand connections (see § 358). With prepositions it refers
279.
1 The Structure of American English. New York, 1958, pp. 278— Ib
Хаймовнч и др .
269,
chiefly to their left-hafid connections (see § 347), but even on their right they are attached not only to nouns, but also to pronouns, gerunds, complexes.
§ 470. Speaking about various combinations of units within a sentence H. Kufner writes: "The above three types of structure can all be regarded as examples of expansion, in which each phrase as a whole still performs the same function as its center 1 or centers. Quite different is the fourth type of structure, in which the phrase as a whole functions differently from either of its two parts ... German (like English) has three types of centerless phrases:
1) Prepositions-object: with me, from here, in a factory,
2) Subjects-predicate: he's coming,
3) Subordinating conjunctions-subordinate clause" 2.
As we see, predications apart, only prepositions and conjunctions form combinations that cannot be regarded as a centre (in a simple sentence it is a head-word) and its adjunct. Using the terminology of A. Martinet (see 'note', p. 240) we may say that prepositional and conjunctional phrases are centrifugal, not centripetal.
We have to disagree with H. Kufner on one point only. We make no distinction (with regard to the problem discussed) between coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. In our opinion and John, or Mary are as centreless or centrifugal as with John, to Mary. Of course, if we use both connections of a conjunction, the resulting combination (boys and girls) with two centres (or head-words) can substitute for one of its head-words. But it is similar with prepositions: A garden of roses can substitute for a garden, and go to Moscow can replace
Го - Specifiers
§ 471. The peculiar combinability and functions of particles distinguish them from all other words in the sentence. They .-are not adjuncts of definite parts of speech like complements, .attributes or extensions. They do not link any parts of the sentence like connectives. They are not parenthetical elements. :So they make a distinct secondary part of the sentence, spec ifiers. The name just indicates their function. In simple
1 What we call the head-word.
2 Op. cit.
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sentences they specify various words and combinations of words by intensifying their meaning (even), by singling them out (only), by showing that something similar was already mentioned (also), etc.
E.g. Is he a terribly good judge of a horse?
Yes. Of anything else, Dinny — no. (Galsworthy). I've tried that too, Aunty. (Ib.). / was only brilliant once. (Ib.).
§ 472. The articles resemble particles in being semi-notional and in functioning as specifiers. But they -specify only one part of speech, nouns. In this they resemble attributes.
Parenthetical Elements
§ 473. Parenthetical elements are peculiar parts of the sentence.
a) They are characterized by negative combinability with
the other words of the sentence.
b) They are, as it were, not in a line with the other parts
of the sentence, but parallel to them.
c) They mostly express the speaker's attitude towards the
content of the sentence, its relation to other sentences or si
tuations.
One poem, of course, is much the finest. (Galsworthy). By the way, there's to be a preface. (Ib.).
§ 474. In accordance with their meanings parenthetical elements fall into four major groups:
1. Modal parenthetical elements serving to show the atti
tude of the speaker towards the relation of the communication
to reality.
He would have to buy them out, of course. (Galsworthy). Certainly he thought about it all the way there. (Lewis).
2. Connective parenthetical elements showing the con
nection of thoughts.
He did not, however, neglect to leave certain matters to future consideration. (Galsworthy).
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May I say, first, that I have been very much pleased by your analysis of the situation (Lewis)
3. Explanatory parenthetical elements.
He remembered suddenly one night, the first on which he went out to dinner alone — an old Malburian din ner — the first year of their marriage. (Galsworthy).
4. All other words inserted into the sentence, including
direct address:
Shall I announce him, my lady? (Shaw). Then who manages his business, p r a y^ (Ib.).
§ 475. In a simple sentence parenthetical elements may be expressed by individual words (modal words, adverbs, nouns) and word-combinations of different nature.
Perhaps somebody cleverer than you and Mr. Mangan was at work all the time (Shaw).
In my opinion, what the country needs, first and foremost, is a good, sound, business-like conduct of its affairs. (Lewis).
Is he at home here, so to speak, my lady? (Shaw).
§ 476. In most cases parenthetical elements are connected, in sense with the sentence as a whole, that is why they have no fixed position in the sentence.
/ had a rather good night: in fact, one of the most remarkable nights I have ever passed. (Shaw).
Lady Britomart: What were you drinking, may I ask?
Cusins: A Temperance burgundy, in fact. (Shaw).
If a modal word is connected but with one part of the sentence it usually precedes the word it belongs to.
They stayed there for, may be, a year.
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