14. The Main and Secondary Parts of a Sentence.

The main sentence parts: the subject and the predicate, their types. The subject and the predicate have a unique standing in the system of sentence parts. They form the backbone of the sentence. They are interdependent and independent of any other sentence member while all other members can be dependent either on the subject or on the predicate. The subject and the predicate can form a sentence on their own. e.g. She smiles. He is running.

The Subject

The subject is one of the two main parts of the sentence. It denotes the thing whose action or characteristic is expressed by the predicate. It may be expressed by different parts of speech, the most frequent ones being: a noun in the common case, a personal pronoun in the nominative case, a demonstrative pronoun, a substantivised adjective, a numeral, an infinitive, and a gerund. It may also be expressed by a phrase.

The subject performs two main functions: categorial and relative. The categorial function of the subject consists in naming the possessor of the predicative feature expressed by the predicate. The relative function of the subject consists in its being the original element in the syntagmatic development of the sentence, thus constituting the predicate’s left environment as opposed to its right environment.

As it has already been mentioned, the subject always goes with the predicate, therefore, one-member nominal sentences do not have a subject.

The Predicate

The predicate denotes the action or property of the thing expressed by the subject. It can be expressed by numerous ways. The predicate expresses the predicative feature which characterized the object expressed by the subject, thus it realizes the categorial function. Being link between the subject and the right environment of the verb, it performs the relative function.According to morphological characteristics, four types of predicates can be singled out: - verbal;- nominal;- phraseological;- contaminated.

The predicate can be subject to the syntactic process of complication, thus, according to their structural characteristics, predicates can be simple and complicated. Therefore, eight types of predicates can be identified.

Simple verbal I took an apple.

Simple nominal The coincidence was extraordinary.

Simple He gave me a smile.

phraseological

Simple contaminated He sat motionless.

Complicated verbal The girl began to cry.

Complicated He turned out to be a thief.

nominal

Complicated You should have taken a look at the map.

phraseological

Complicated He seemed to be lying asleep.

contaminated

3. The Secondary Sentence Parts

The Object

The complexity of the object as a sentence member makes difficult to work out an adequate approach to describing this phenomenon. Different classifications of objects have been proposed both by Russian and foreign scholars. The most common ones are as follows:

1. Objects are divided into direct, indirect and prepositional.

This classification is far from perfect since the principle it is based on is not consistent. Direct and indirect objects are singled out on the basis of the contents while prepositional objects are differentiated based on the formal feature (presence of preposition). Besides, indirect and prepositional objects can overlap.

2. Objects are grouped into prepositional and non-prepositional.

The drawback of this classification is that the underlying principle is not specific uniquely to objects.

3. Prof. Pocheptsov singles out the following types of objects:

- Object object (дополнение объекта) is a sentence member dependent on the verb, adjective or a word of the category of state that denotes an object of action or of quality. It can be prepositional or non-prepositional.

- Addressee object (дополнение адресата) denotes a person or an object to which some action performed by the subject (if the verb is in the Active Voice) is directed.

e.g. I called her.

prepositional: I sent a letter to her.

non-prepositional: I sent her a letter. - Subject object (дополнение субъекта) is used with a verb in Passive and denotes the doer of the action expressed by the verb. It is always prepositional –by/with N

The Adverbial modifier

It is a secondary part of the sentence modifying a part of the sentence expressed by a verb, a verbal noun, an adjective, or an adverb, and serving to characterise an action or a property as to its quality or intensity, or to indicate the way an action is done, the time, place, cause, purpose, or condition, with which the action or the manifestation of the quality is connected.

Adverbial modifier is characterized by mostly free distribution. It can be a constituent of any sentence. It can be a component of a structural scheme of a sentence only when used with verbs of adverbial directivity. According to their meaning, adverbial modifiers are subdivided into adverbial modifiers of:

place and degree; description; comparison condition;

direction; manner; purpose; consequence; exception.

time; attending cause; concession

frequency; circumstances;

The Attribute

Attribute is a dependent element of a nominative phrase that denotes an attributive quality of an object expressed by a noun. It is a secondary part of the sentence modifying a part of the sentence expressed by a noun, a substantival pronoun, a cardinal numeral, and any substantivised word, and characterizing the thing named by these words as to its quality or property.

According to the position relative to the head word, attributes can be prepositive and postpositive. The position of an attribute with respect to its head word depends partly on the morphological peculiarities of the attribute itself, and partly on stylistic factors.

Apposition has been often regarded as a special kind of attribute, and sometimes as a secondary part of a sentence distinct from an attribute. Apposition is a word or phrase referring to a part of the sentence expressed by a noun, and explaining and specifying its meaning by giving it another name. Appositions are usually expressed by nouns.

The major problem concerning the secondary sentence parts is caused by the fact that characteristic features of each of the three types are not clearly defined, therefore describing a given word or phrase as an object or an attribute in some cases, or describing it as an object or an adverbial modifier, in others, often proves to be a matter of personal opinion or predilection.There are some elements of the sentence which are neither its main parts, nor any of the usual secondary ones. They are the direct address and the parenthesis. (Refer to the book by Ilyish for more information).