- •Теоретическая грамматика английского языка
- •Introduction
- •§ 381. Within a sentence, the word or combination of words that contains the meanings of predicativity may be called the predication.
- •§ 384. The main parts of the sentence are those whose function it is to make the predication. They are the subject and the predicate of the sentence.
- •§ 389. In the sentence Birds fly, as we have seen, the syntactical and the lexical meanings of the subject and the predicate go together. But English has a system of devices to separate them.
- •§391. Let us now consider the grammatical word-morphemes do, does, did in sentences like Does she ever smile? We do not know him, etc.
- •§393. Every predication can be either positive or negative.
- •§ 396. As defined (§ 3), when studying the structure of a unit, we find out its components, mostly units of the next lower level, their arrangement and their functions as parts of the unit.
- •§ 399. Some analogy can be drawn between the structure of a word and the structure of a sentence.
- •§ 401. Depending on their relation to the members of the predication the words of a sentence usually fall into two groups — the group of the subject and the group of the predicate 1.
- •§ 403. Sentences with only one predication are called simple sentences. Those with more than one predication have usually no general name 1. We shall call them composite sentences.
- •§ 409. Not all interrogative sentences are syntactical opposites of declarative sentences.
- •§ 411. The sentences below form opposemes of some syntactical category.
- •§ 415. Let us compare the following pairs of sentences:
- •I'll see him I shall see him
- •It's raining It is raining
- •§ 418. We find no predication in the second sentence of the following dialogue.
- •§ 419. The sentence-words yes and no are regularly used as adjuncts of some head-sentences.
- •§ 421. The traditional classification of the parts of the sentence is open to criticism from the point of view of consistency.
- •§ 425. The subject of a simple sentence can be a word, a syntactical word-morpheme or a complex.
- •§ 426. We may speak of a secondary subject within a complex. In the following sentence it is the noun head.
- •§ 429. If we compare the subject in English with that of Russian we shall find a considerable difference between them.
- •§ 430. The predicate is the member of a predication containing the mood and tense (or only mood) components of predicativity.
- •§ 431. The predicate can be a word or a syntactical word-morpheme. When it is a notional word, it "is not only the structural but the notional predicate as well.
- •Objective Complements (Objects)
- •§ 448. Like other parts of a simple sentence (clause), objective complements may be expressed by complexes and are then called complex objects.
- •Adverbial Complements (Adverbials)
- •§ 454. Below are some specimens of quantitative adverbial complements.
- •§455. Circumstantial adverbials, or as a. I. Smirnitsky calls them, adverbials of situation, comprise:
- •§ 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.
- •§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.
- •§ 459. Attributes are secondary parts of the sentence serving to modify nouns or noun-equivalents in whatever functions they are used in the sentence.
- •§ 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 word they modify.
- •§469. Connectives are linking-words considered as a secondary part of the sentence. They are mostly prepositions and conjunctions.
- •§ 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.
- •§ 473. Parenthetical elements are peculiar parts of the sentence.
- •§ 474. In accordance with their meanings parenthetical elements fall into four major groups:
- •§ 475. In a simple sentence parenthetical elements may be expressed by individual words (modal words, adverbs, nouns) and word-combinations of different nature.
- •§ 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.
- •I. The Position of the Subject and the Predicate in the Sentence
- •§ 477. We have already dwelt upon the fact that in Modern English syntactical relations of words in the sentence are very often indicated by the position the words occupy in the sentence.
- •II. The Position of the Object
- •§ 479. The direct object is usually placed after the verb unless the indirect object precedes it.
- •§ 480. Sometimes the object is pushed to the front of the sentence. It occurs:
- •§ 482. The indirect object cannot be used in the sentence without the direct object. The indirect object is regularly put before the direct object as in That gave me a new idea.
- •§ 483. In most cases they follow the direct object, though for stylistic purposes, I. E. For emphasis and expressiveness, they may be placed at the head of the sentence.
- •§ 487. The position of an attribute depends both on the head-word and on the attribute. If the head-word is a pronoun, the attribute is, as a rule, postpositive.
- •§ 488. In postposition attributes often acquire what we might call a 'semi-predicative' connotation.
- •§ 489. If there are two or more prepositive attributes to one and the same noun their order is dependent upon a number of factors which appear to be semantic and stylistic rather than grammatical.
- •§ 491. As to the position of the other parts of the sentence, see the combinability of the corresponding parts of speech.
- •§ 497. The compound sentence usually describes events in their natural order, reflecting the march of events spoken of in the sequence of clauses.2
- •§ 498. The principal clauses of complex sentences are usually not classified, though their meanings are not neutral with regard to the meanings of the subordinate clauses.
- •§ 502. Subordinate clauses are connected with the principal clause by conjunctions, conjunctive and relative pronouns or asyndetically.
- •§ 506. The mood of the predicate verb of a subordinate clause depends on the principal clause to a greater extent than its tense.
- •§ 507. The subject clause is the only one used in the function of a primary part of the sentence.
- •§ 519. A variety of attributive clauses is the appositive clause, which formally differs from an attributive clause in being introduced by a conjunction (that, if, whether).
- •§ 520. Extension clauses are postpositive adjuncts of adjectives, adverbs and adlinks.
- •§ 521. Most authors who do not regard parenthetical elements as parts of the sentence treat It is past ten, 1 think as a simple sentence. We do not find this view convincing.
- •§ 522. In most cases parenthetical clauses are introduced asyndetically, though now and again the conjunctions as, if, etc. Are used.
- •§ 523. Sometimes subordination and coordination may be combined within one sentence, in which case we may have compound-complex and complex-compound sentences.
- •§ 524. Among the composite sentences of English and other languages we find a peculiar type differing from the rest.
- •§ 525. There is no agreement as to the syntactical nature of a sentence like He said, "I love you".
- •§ 526. Let us compare the two sentences:
- •§ 527. The introductory part of direct speech may precede the quotation, follow it, or be inserted in it.
- •§ 528. The so-called 'indirect speech' does not differ grammatically from the conventional types of sentences.
- •§ 529. The "rules for changing from direct into indirect speech" found in most English grammars are rules for reducing two predicative centres to one — that of the author.
- •Conclusion
- •§ 535. The syntactical system of a language is, as a rule, closely connected with its morphological system. The structure of the sentence and the structure of the word are interdependent.
- •§ 537. The role of grammatical word-morphemes is even greater in English syntax than in morphology.
- •§ 539. It is owing to most of the features described above that Modern English is spoken of as an analytical language.
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 i t 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 me f о r т a l l y, sitting on the floor. (Ib.).
A variety of qualitative adverbials are the so-called adverbials 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).
§ 454. Below are some specimens of quantitative adverbial complements.
I eat but little. (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.)
I have often seen it before. (Ib.).
b) Adverbials of place and direction
Two young American girls sat at the next table.
I went as f a r as the pavilion for a glass of ice beer. (Ib.).
c) Adverbials of cause
They would be there out of curiosity. (Ib.). The car slowed up b e с а и s e of a turn. (Dreiser).
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 do?" (Dreiser).
e) Adverbials of condition
But for him the wrong man would have been punished. (Maxwell).
If 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).
§456. Qualitative and quantitative adverbial complements are more closely connected with their headwords than circumstantial complements. As shown by A. I. Smirnitsky 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 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.