Definition of a sentence.

The sentence is the immediate integral unit of speech built up of words according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose. Any coherent connection of words having an informative destination is effected within the framework of the sentence. Therefore the sentence isthe main object of syntax as part of the grammatical theory.

The correlation of the word and the sentence shows some important differences and similarities between these two main level-forming lingual units. Both of them are nominative units, but the word just names objects and phenomena of reality; it is a purely nominative component of the word-stock, while the sentence is at the same time a nominative and predicative lingual unit: it names dynamic situations, or situational events, and at the same time reflects the connection between the nominal denotation of the event, on the one hand, and objective reality, on the other hand, showing the time of the event, its being real or unreal, desirable or undesirable, etc.

Another difference between the word and the sentence is as follows: the word exists in the system of language as a ready-made unit, which is reproduced in speech; the sentence is produced each time in speech, except for a limited number of idiomatic utterances.

Being a unit of speech, the sentence is distinguished by a relevant intonation: each sentence possesses certain intonation contours, including pauses, pitch movements and stresses, which separate one sentence from another in the flow of speech and, together with various segmental means of expression, participate in rendering essential communicative-predicative meanings (for example, interrogation).

Classification of a sentence.

According to their structure all the variety of English sentences can be divided into four types:

Simple sentence comprises a subject and a predicate (as well as secondary parts of a sentence): She (subject) invited (predicate) us to dinner.

Compound sentence unites two independent clauses brought together by a semicolon or a comma + a coordinating conjunction: She keeps telling me to control myself, but she never does herself.

Complex sentence consists of the main clause and at least one subordinate clause: Although he is trying to convince me (subordinate clause), I do not believe a single word he says. (Main clause).

Compound-complex sentence has two main clauses and one or more subordinate clauses introduced by subordinating conjunctions and joined by a coordinating conjunction:

I opened the parcel, but the boy disappeared before I could utter a word.

Simple sentence

According to this definition, sentences with several predicates referring to one and the same subject cannot be considered as simple. E.g.: I took the child in my arms and held him.

Sentences having one verb-predicate and more than one subject to it, if the subjects form actually separate (though interdependent) predicative connections, cannot be considered as simple, either. E.g.: The door was open, and also the front window.

The simple sentence, as any sentence in general, is organised as a system of function-expressing positions, the content of the functions being the reflection of a situational event. The nominative parts of the simple sentence, each occupying a notional position in it, are subject, predicate, object, adverbial, attribute, parenthetical enclosure, addressing enclosure; a special, semi-notional position is occupied by an interjectional enclosure.

The semantic classification of simple sentences is based on principal parts semantics. On the basis of subject categorial meaning, sentences are divided into impersonal, e.g.: It drizzles; There is no use crying over spilt milk; and personal; personal sentences are further subdivided into human and non-human. Human sentences are further subdivided into definite, e.g.: I know it; and indefinite, e.g.: One never knows such things for sure. Non-human sentences are further subdivided into animate, e.g.: A cat entered the room; and inanimate, e.g.: The wind opened the door. Impersonal sentences may be further subdivided into factual,e.g.: It drizzles; and perceptional, e.g. It looks like rain.

On the basis of subject-object relations, simple sentences are divided into subjective, e.g.: He is a writer; objective, e.g.: He is writing a book; and neutral or “potentially” objective, e.g.: He is writing.

Compound sentence

The compound sentence is a polypredicative construction built on the principle of coordination (parataxis); the clauses of a compound sentence are arranged as units of syntactically equal rank, equipotently. Paradigmatically, the compound sentence is derived from two or more base sentences, joined as coordinate clauses. One of them becomes the leading clause (the “leader” clause), and the other clauses, which may or may not include the coordinative connector, occupy the dependent sentential position and may be called sequential clauses.

The basic type of the compound sentence, as with the complex sentence, is a two-clause construction. If more than two or more sequential clauses are combined with one leading clause, from the point of view of semantic correlation between the clauses, such constructions are divided into “open” and “closed”. “Open” constructions may be further expanded by additional clauses (as in various enumerations or descriptions), e.g.: They were sitting on the beach, the seagulls were flying above, the waves were rolling... In “closed” coordinative constructions the final part is joined on an unequal basis with the previous ones and the finalization of the chain of ideas is achieved, e.g.: He joked, he made faces, he jumped around, but the child did not smile.

Complex sentence

The complex sentence is a polypredicative construction built on the principle of subordination (hypotaxis). In paradigmatic presentation, the derivational history of the complex sentence is as follows: two or more base sentences are clausalized and joined into one construction; one of them performs the role of a matrix in relation to the others, the insert sentences. The matrix base sentence becomes the principal clause of the complex sentence and the insert sentences become its subordinate clauses, e.g.: The team arrived. It caused a sensation.  When the team arrived, it caused a sensation.

The minimal complex sentence includes two clauses: the principal one and the subordinate one. This is the main type of complex sentences, first, in terms of frequency, and, second, in terms of its paradigmatic status, because a complex sentence of any volume can be analyzed into a combination of two-clause complex sentence units.

The principal clause positionally dominates the subordinate clause, which is embedded into it: even if the principal clause is incomplete and is represented by just one word, the subordinate clauses fill in the open positions, introduced by the principal clause, in the underlying simple sentence pattern, e.g.: What you see is what you get - What you see (the subject) is (the predicate) what you get (the object).

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).

According to the categorial principle, subordinate clauses are divided by their inherent nominative properties; there is certain similarity (but, again, not identity) with the part-of-speech classification of words. Subordinate clauses can be divided into three categorial-semantic groups: substantive-nominal, qualification-nominal and adverbial.

The two principles of subordinate clause classification are mutually complementary: the categorial features of clauses go together with their functional sentence-part features similar to the categorial features of words going together with their functional characteristics. 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.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 1288