§ 4. Interjections are independent elements which do not per- form any of the syntactic functions in the sentence. They are usu- ally sentence-words themselves and may be used parenthetically.

e.g. "Oh," he exclaimed, unable to suppress his emotion.

"H'm," said Mr Fox thoughtfully.

The great poet said: "The tragedy of our age is that aesthetic values do not keep pace with social — and, alas, technical — developments."

"Did you notice the stink in the hall?" "Well, not particu- larly."

"Phew! Three times I was nearly sick."

"Marian is going to see her old nurse, Nannie Robeson, in the afternoon." "Confound Nannie Robeson! Marian's always going there."

Oh, pooh, look at these stockings!

Now, Marilyn, you don't know what you are doing.

Well... let's walk up there then.

You're about to make a confession to me. Well, don't do it. I don't want to hear.

Some interjections may be connected with a word in the sen- tence by means of a preposition.

e.g. Hurrah for Jojo and Ed! Alas for poor Tommy!

Note. Interjections should be distinguished from such one-word sentences as Helpl Silencel Nonsense] The latter are notional words, not mere exclamations ex- pressing emotions.

NOTES ON THE SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

OF THE SENTENCE

The Structure of the Simple Sentence

All words in a sentence perform definite syntactic functions. As a rule, every English sentence contains words or groups of words functioning as the subject and the predicate. Grammatical- ly, these functions are independent and equally significant in the sentence. For that reason they are called the principal parts (members) of the sentence.

Words performing all other functions in the sentence depend either on the subject (and together they form the subject-phrase of the sentence) or on the predicate (together they form the predi- cate-phrase of the sentence).

A sentence which has both the subject and the predicate is known as a two-member sentence. Most English sentences are two-member ones.

Sentences which consist of only the subject or only the predi- cate are termed one-member sentences. There are not many one- member sentences in English. We find among them:

1. sentences with a verb in the Imperative mood (e.g. Keep clear of the road: Step aside, please.)

2. some exclamatory sentences (e.g. What a nice view! How cold!)

3. questions expressing suggestion (e.g. Why not give him a telephone call? What about having a cup of tea?)

4. sentences expressing confirmation or negation (e.g. Yes. No.)

5. some formulas of courtesy (e.g. Hello! Good-bye! See you to night.)

Sentences built up of only the subject and the predicate are called unextended sentences (e.g. The rain has stopped. It is cold.)

Sentences in which, besides the principal parts, there are words performing other (secondary) functions are called extended sentences (e.g. Edward was most anxious to hear all the news about his family.).

For practical purposes of learning English, it is necessary and sufficient to distinguish the following syntactic functions within a simple sentence.

I. The Subject

The subject is a word or a group of words which names the person, object or phenomenon the sentence informs us about. It may be expressed by a noun, a pronoun, a substantivized adjec- tive, a numeral, an infinitive and an ing-form.

e.g. The stranger came early in February. Hospitality was a passion with him. You're not a bad fellow. This is my son Henry. Someone was singing an Italian tune. Much depends on the letter. What has become of him? It has been raining since the morning. It's hard to forget one's past.

The young often complain that the elders do not understand

them.

Two of the letters were from my uncle.

The Dutch are famous for their tulips.

The extraordinary always excites curiosity.

To know all about English is one thing; to know English is

quite another. Watching TV has become his favourite pastime.