гордон Крылова Граммматика

428_________________________ Notes on The Syntactic Structure of The Sentence

or a noun in the common or genitive case, and a predicative expressed by an ing-form. (See also "Verb", § 166.)

The ing-complex may perform different functions in the sentence.

e.g. At first she hadn't been sure that his coming here had been a good thing, (subject)

The only thing I am afraid of is the family being too sure of themselves, (predicative)

That's a risk I just can't think of your taking, (prepositional object)

He could not approve of Guy's hiding himself away, (prepositional object)

Not a day had passed without that young man coming to at least one meal, (adverbial modifier of attending circumstances)

Of course you understand that after John breaking his appointment I'm never going to speak to him again, (adverbial modifier of time)

I ought to have realized the possibility of such a thing happening, (attribute)

V. The Absolute Construction — a syntactic construction which also consists of at least two elements — a subject and a predicative, but differs from the other syntactic complexes in that its grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence is much looser. It is often marked off by a comma. Absolute constructions function as adverbial modifiers of attending circumstances and description and may be joined to the sentence either asyndetically or with the help of the preposition with or without.

The first element of the absolute construction is usually a noun or a pronoun; the second element may be expressed by an infinitive, an ing-form, a participle, a noun with or without a preposition, an adjective or an adverb.

e.g. With nothing to do, the actors stood about and made small talk.

She ran up the stairs, her heart thumping painfully. I wouldn't dare go home without the job finished. He sat motionless, his hands over his eyes. I can't sleep with the radio on.

Notes on The Syntactic Structure of The Sentence _________________________ 429

The Structure of the Composite Sentence

A composite sentence consists of two or more simple sentences joined together. The component parts of a composite sentence are called clauses. The relationship between the clauses may be that of coordination and subordination.

In the case of coordination we have a compound sentence whose clauses are independent of each other syntactically. They may be joined by some coordinating conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or, yet, for, etc.) or asyndetically.

•

e.g. He was very busy now and they saw few of their friends.

I haven't got much news to convey but there are some things to add.

I began to miss London, yet I was not coming back.

You can boil yourself an egg, or I'll make you a cheese sandwich.

He asked for food — there was none. My parents are quite young, they live their own life.

In the case of subordination, one of the syntactic functions within a simple sentence is expressed by a clause thereby forming a complex sentence.

Cf. I know the girl's name, (object)

I know what the girl's name is. (object clause)

She learned to play tennis at school. (adverbial modifier of time)

She learned to play tennis when she went to school, (adverbial clause of time)

The basic structure is called the principal clause; the clause performing some syntactic function within the principal clause is termed a subordinate clause.

Structurally and semantically, subordinate clauses are subordinated to principal clauses and may be joined to them by means of conjunctions, conjunctive words, asyndetically and sometimes by means of the sequence of tenses.

Conjunctions (a) differ from conjunctive words (b) in that the former are not members of either the principal or subordinate clause while the latter perform some function within the subordinate clause.

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e.g. a) I know (that) he is right. I was out when he came.

She had only a cup of tea because she was not hungry, b) He knew who had brought the letter. They knew when I would come.

He showed me the watch that he was given as a birthday present.

Subordinate clauses may perform various functions within the principal clause. In comparison with the corresponding members of the simple sentence they can be said to be more expressive since they have a finite form in their structure.

For practical purposes of learning English, it is necessary and sufficient to distinguish the following kinds of subordinate clauses:

1) subject clauses which perform the function of subject and may be introduced by the conjunctions that, if, whether and such conjunctive words as who, what, which, when, why, how and others.

e.g. That you may meet him at the party is quite possible. What I need now is someone to do the job.

2) predicative clauses which perform the function of pre dicative and may be introduced by the same conjunctions and con junctive words as subject clauses (see above).

e.g. His only desire was that his family shouldn't interfere with his plans. The question was why no one had heard

the shot.

3) object clauses which modify verbs and adjectives as objects to them and may be introduced by the same conjunctions and con junctive words as subject clauses (see above).

e.g. I thought (that) they were joking.

We were sorry (that) we had missed Father by a few minutes. It was announced over the radio that the flight was delayed. It was urgent that we should take a decision. It is very lucky that you're calling me now. I wish you hadn't asked me that. He found it important that they should start on the job

right away.

Notes on The Syntactic Structure of The Sentence ________________________ 431

They took it for granted that his theory was correct. Nobody knew what she meant.

He could not understand why they insisted on such a decision. Time will show if (whether) he is right.

It was not clear what had happened and who was injured.

4) adverbial clauses which function as adverbial modifiers to verbs and adjectives within the principal clause and may be of the following kinds:

a) adverbial clauses of time which are introduced by the con junctions when, while, as, until, till, before, after, since, as soon as, as long as and some others,

e.g. When they reached the village, Jane got out of the taxi and looked about her. I won't

leave until you come.

b) adverbial clauses of place and direction which are in troduced by the conjunction where,

e.g. They stopped where the road turned to the river.

c) adverbial clauses of cause which are introduced by the con junctions because, as, since and some others,

e.g. He was glad to talk to her because it set her at ease.

d) adverbial clauses of purpose which are introduced by the conjunctions so that, that, in order that, lest,

e.g. He spoke loudly and clearly so that all could hear him.

e) adverbial clauses of condition which are introduced by the conjunctions if, in case, unless and some others,

e.g. If we start off now, we'll arrive there by dinner time.

f) adverbial clauses of concession which are introduced by the conjunctions though, although, even if, even though and wh-рго- nouns, ending in -ever,

e.g. Although it was very late, she kept the dinner warm on the stove.

Even if the fault is all his, I must find a way to help him. Whatever happens, she won't have it her own way.

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g)adverbial clauses of consequence which are introduced by the conjunctions that, so ... that, such ... that,

e.g. He was so embarrassed that he could hardly understand her.

h) adverbial clauses of comparison which are introduced by the conjunctions than, as, as...as, not so (as)...as, as if and as though.

e.g. He now took better care of his old father than he had ever done it before. Her lips moved soundlessly, as if she

were rehearsing.

5) attributive clauses which modify nouns within the principal clause and are introduced by the conjunctive '(relative) words that, who(m), which, whose, as, when, where and some others as well as asyndetically (see also "Nouns' § 15),

e.g. I know a man who can help us.

We caught a breeze that took us gently up the river.

All the presents (that) he had given her were in their usual places. Where is the letter (which) I gave you

to read?

6) appositive clauses which modify nouns within the principal clause and are introduced by the conjunction that. In form they look like attributive clauses but in content they are similar to ob ject clauses because they explain and specify the meaning of the noun they refer to. It should be borne in mind that only a limited number of abstract nouns can be modified by appositive clauses (for the lists of such nouns see "Verbs", §§ 137-138, 204, 230),

e.g. I had the impression that she was badly ill.

We turned down his suggestion that we should take a boarder. The thought that she was unhappy kept him awake all night.

List of Irregular Verbs ______________________________

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LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS

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CONTENTS
ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ..................................................................	...................	— 3
«
PARTS OF SPEECH IN ENGLISH..............................................................		7
VERBS..........................................................................................................		9
FINITE FORMS OF THE VERB...................................................		15
TENSE, ASPECT AND PHASE ...................................................		15
The Present Indefinite ....................................	............. ................	П
The Present Continuous ...........................	...................................	22
The Present Perfect ......................................................................		26
The Present Perfect Continuous.....................................................		36
The Past Indefinite ..................................................	.....................	39
The Past Continuous		44
	.......	49
The Past Perfect
	.....................................	58
The Past Perfect Continuous .....................................	...................
The Future Indefinite ....................................................................		61
The Future Continuous ...............................................	....... ..........	63
The Future Perfect		64
	.......................	65
Different Means of Expressing Future Actions Compared ..........
Means of Expressing Future Actions Viewed from the Past ........		73
The Rules of the Sequence of Tenses... .........................................		77
VOICE........................................................	........ 85	85
The Active Voice ..................................	........ ..................... .........
The Passive Voice ..................	,.......................... ........................... 86
Types of Passive Constructions ........................ ............................		87
The Use of Finite Forms in the Passive Voice :............................		93
The Choice of the Passive Construction .......................................		96
Reasons for the Frequent Occurrence of the Passive....................		98
MOOD ......................................................................	....................	10°
Modal Verbs ............................................................	I»....................4	Ю2
can ...........................................................................		H I
may ...............................................................................................
can and may Compared............................	........................... .......	H5