COMPLEX SENTENCE The complex sentence

COMPLEX SENTENCE

• The complex sentence is a polypredicative construction built on the principle of subordination (hypotaxis).

• a matrix = the principal clause, • the insert sentences = subordinate clauses. • e. g. : The team arrived. + It caused a sensation. When the team arrived, it caused a sensation.

Theme and rheme • What he likes most about her is her smile. Her smile is what he likes most about her.

• I think you are right. • I think = the principal clause; perform is the “phatic” function

• Subordinate clauses are classified on two mutually complementary bases: on the functional principle and on the categorial principle.

According to the functional principle • subordinate clauses are divided on the analogy (though, not identity) of the positional parts of the simple sentence that underlies the structure of the complex sentence. • E. g. : What you see is what you get. – • What you see (the subject, the subject subordinate clause) is what you get (the object, the object subordinate clause).

the categorial principle • Subordinate clauses can be divided into three categorial-semantic groups: • substantive nominal, • qualification nominal and • adverbial.

• Substantive-nominal subordinate clauses name an event as a certain fact, e. g. : What you do is very important; cf. : What is very important?

• Qualification-nominal subordinate clauses name a certain event, which is referred, as a characteristic to some substance, represented either by a word or by another clause, e. g. : Where is the letter that came today? ; cf. : What letter?

• Adverbial subordinate clauses name a certain event, which is referred, as a characteristic to another event, to a process or a quality, e. g. : I won’t leave until you come.

The functional + the categorial principles • Thus, subordinate clauses are to be classified into three groups: • first, clauses of primary nominal positions, including subject, predicative and object clauses; • second, clauses of secondary nominal positions, including various attributive clauses; and • third, clauses of adverbial positions.

Subordinating connectors are subdivided into two basic types: pronominal words pure conjunctions • 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. • 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?

Subordinators 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.

• Clauses of primary nominal positions, including subject, predicative and object clauses, are interchangeable with each other, cf. : What you see is what you get; What you get is what you see; You’ll be surprised at what you see. The subject clause = theme, and the predicative clause = the rheme. • It is true that he stole the jewels.

• The status of the object clause is most obvious in its prepositional introduction (as in the example above). Sometimes it is mixed with other functional semantics, determined by the connectors, in particular, with adverbial relational meanings, e. g. : Do you know when they are coming? A separate group of object clauses are those presenting the chunks of speech and mental activity processes, traditionally discussed under the heading “the rules of reported speech”, e. g. : She said she would come early; Do you mean you like it?

Clauses of secondary nominal positions “descriptive” attributive clauses “restrictive” (“limiting”) attributive clauses • exposes some characteristic of the antecedent (i. e. its substantive referent) as such. • I know a man who can help us (descriptive attributive clause) • performs a purely identifying role, singling out the referent of the antecedent in the situation. • This is the man whom I met yesterday (restrictive attributive clause)

• Some descriptive attributive clauses are attributive only in form, but semantically, they present a new event which somehow continues the chain of events reflected by the sentence as a whole; these complex sentences can be easily transformed into compound sentences, e. g. : We caught a breeze that took us gently up the river. We caught a breeze and it took us gently up the river.

Appositive clauses • a subtype of attributive clauses, • define or elucidate the meaning of the substantive antecedent of abstract semantics, • are represented by such nouns as ability, advice, attempt, decision, desire, impulse, promise, proposal, etc, or by an indefinite or demonstrative pronoun, or by an anticipatory ‘it’, e. g. : I had the impression that she was badly ill; It was all he could do not to cry; It is true that he stole the jewels.

• Clauses of adverbial positions make up the most numerous and the most complicated group of subordinate clauses, reflecting the intricacy of various relations between events and processes.

First, clauses of time and clauses of place • render the semantics of temporal and spatial localization. Local identification is primarily determined by subordinators: it may be general, expressed by the conjunctions when and where, or particularizing, expressed by such conjunctions as while, since, before, no sooner than, from where, etc. , e. g. : I jumped up when she called; Sit where you like; I won’t leave until you come.

Second, clauses of manner and comparison • give a qualification to the action or event rendered by the principal clause, e. g. : Profits are higher than they were last year; Her lips moved soundlessly, as if she were rehearsing. The syntactic semantics of manner is expressed by subordinate appositive clauses introduced by phrases with the broadmeaning words way and manner, e. g. : George writes the way his father did.

• Third, the most numerous group, adverbial clauses of different circumstantial semantics includes “classical” subordinate clauses of attendant event, condition, cause (reason), result (consequence), concession, and purpose. E. g. : I am tired because I have worked all day; He spoke loudly so that all could hear him; If we start off now, we’ll arrive there by dinner; Even if the fault is all his, I must find a way to help him; He was so embarrassed that he could hardly understand her; etc.

• Cases of various ‘transferred’ and mixed syntactic semantics are also common in this group of clauses; e. g. : Whatever happens, she won’t have it her own way; the subordinate clause expresses circumstantial (concessive) semantics mixed with non-circumstantial (substantive-nominal) semantics.

parenthetical enclosures • Fourth, a separate group of adverbial clauses is formed by subordinate clauses which function as parenthetical enclosures, inserted into composite syntactic constructions by a loose connection. Parenthetical predicative insertions can be either subordinative or coordinative, exposed by either a subordinating connector or a coordinative connector (cf. : inner cumulative connections in equipotent and dominational phrases; see Unit 19), e. g. : As far as I remember, the man was very much surprised to see me there; They used to be, and this is no longer a secret, very close friends. Semantically, parenthetical clauses may be of two types: “introductory”, expressing different modal meanings (as in the first example above), and “deviational”, expressing commenting insertions of varied semantic character (the second example above).

• As the classification shows, the only notional position the subordinate clause can not occupy is the position of the predicate; this fact stresses once again the unique function of the predicate as the organizing centre of the sentence.

N. S. Pospelov • he defined complex sentences with obligatory subordinate clauses as “one member sentences” and complex sentences with optional subordinate clauses as “two member sentences”.

• These two types of complex sentences can also be described as “monolithic” and “segregative” sentence structures correspondingly. The following complex sentences are syntactically monolithic: first, complex sentences with subject and predicative clauses, e. g. : What the telegram said was clear (*… was clear would be semantically and constructionally deficient); The telegram was what I expected from you (*The telegram was…); second, complex sentences in which the subordinate clauses perform the functions of complements, required by the obligatory valency of the predicate (usually, object clauses and adverbial clauses), e. g. : Tell me what you know about it (cf. : *Tell me…); Put the pen where you’ve taken it from; third, complex sentences with correlative connections, for example, with double connectors, e. g. : The more he thought about it, the more he worried; complex sentences with restrictive attributive clauses are monolythic, because they are based on a correlation scheme too, e. g. : It was the kind of book that all children admire; finally, the fourth type of monolithic complex sentences is formed by complex sentences with the subordinate clause in preposition to the principal clause, e. g. : As far as I remember, the man was very much surprised to see me there (cf. : *As far as I remember…); Even if the fault is all his, I must find a way to help him.

• Segregative complex sentences are those with most of the adverbial clauses, parenthetical clauses and descriptive attributive clauses in postposition to the principal clause, e. g. : The man was very much surprised to see me there, as far as I remember (cf. : The man was very much surprised to see me); She wore a hat which was decorated with flowers (сf. : She wore a hat).

• 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.

Определите тип следующих полипредикативных конструкций: • 1) We turned up the radio, so that everyone could hear. 2) He left early; I saw him go. 3) I am afraid you’re wrong. 4) I have been invited to speak to you, so I must say a few words. 5) We consider him to be very trustworthy. 6) Will the people who are sitting at the back please move forward.

• 2. Определите статус и значение полифункционального субординатора that в следующих предложениях; уточните, в каких из предложений that может быть заменен нулевым субординатором: • 1) The rules state quite clearly that smoking is prohibited here. 2) I’ll give it to you on condition that you don’t break it. 3) He was so rude that she refused to answer. 4) Bring it closer so that I can see it better. 4) There a lot of things that I have to do before I leave tonight. 5) They’ve found the gun that she was shot with. 6) The day that he came I was out.

• а) Определите тип подчиненного предложения (подчиненной клаузы) и тип связи в следующих предложениях: • 1) ‘All you need is love… Love is all you need. ’ 2) Why do you ask me what happened? 3) The strange thing is that they are disappointed. 4) We, who are per fect strangers here, should have been warned about it. 5) She mana ges such things much better than you do. 6) For all I know, she is a stranger here. 7) Your mother and father, as far as I remember, knew each other for twelve years before they we re married.

Определите, являются ли следующие предложения монолитными (одночленными) или сегрегативными (двучленными); поясните, почему: 1) The more we are together, the more I love you. 2) I looked at what seemed to be just a scrap of paper. 3) At last what we had be en waiting for happened. 4) However friendly she might seem one day, the next she would be cold, official and detached. • 5) No soo ner had she seen me approaching, than she slammed the door in my face. • 6) Keep on doing your work unless instructed otherwise. • •

Information to become familiar with • M. YU. Blokh Chapters: Composite Sentence as a Polypredicative Construction + Complex Sentence. • Г. А. Вейхман Новое в грамматике современного английского языка «Сложноподчиненное предложение» стр. 439 -460.