PARTS OF A SENTENCE

Parts of a sentence are traditionally divided into principal (subject and predicate) and secondary (object, adverbial modifier, attribute). It is through the relations between the subject and the predicate that predicativity (the main feature of any sentence) is expressed.

Both principal and secondary parts of a sentence may be expressed at different structural levels of a syntactic systemwhich forms a hierarchy. This hierarchy of levels may be compared to a multi-storeyed pyramid in which the top point is a complete sentence and lower storeys are occupied by syntactic units of lower status. E.g.:

(5) Sentence level: I see (a principal clause)

(4) Clauselevel: I see that she is running (an object clause);

(3) Predicative construction level: I see her running (a complex object);

(2) Phrase (word-group) level: I see my sister (an object expressed by a noun-phrase)

(1) Word level: I see her (an object expressed by a word).

All parts of a sentence may be expressed at a word level (1), phrase (word-group) level (2), predicative construction level (3) and clause level (4).

Thus there are simple (levels 1 and 2) subjects, predicatives, objects, adverbial modifiers and attributes, complex (level 3) subjects, predicatives, objects, adverbial modifiers and attributes; and (level 4) subject, predicative, object, adverbial and attributive clauses.

§ Parts of a sentence expressed at levels 1, 2 and 3 make up simple sentences with only one unit of finite predication.

§ Sentences having their parts expressed by clauses (level 4) are complex because they contain more than one unit of finite predication.

The subject

The subject is one of the two principal parts of the sentence. It denotes a person, a thing or an abstract notion whose action (state or quality) is expressed by the predicate. The subject is independent of any other part of the sentence. It may be expressed at all structural levels of syntactic system: by different parts of speech or by phrases with them (a noun in the common case, a pronoun, a substantivized adjective, an infinitive, a gerund, etc.), by a predicative construction (a gerundial construction, a for-to-infinitive construction) - a complex subject, and by a clause[4]. The subject expressed by an infinitive, a gerund, a predicative construction and by a clause may be introduced by the pronoun it (introductory it). In this case there are two subjects in the sentence: a formal one (it) and a real one. E.g.:

It's no use crying over split milk.

It's easy to remember these rules.

It's necessary for you to read more English books.

It was proposed that the resolution should be adopted by the Congress.

The predicate

The predicate expresses an action, state or quality of the person or thing denoted by the subject. It is grammatically dependent upon the subject. The predicate contains a verb which expresses tense, voice, aspect, mood[5] and sometimes person and number (it is through these grammatical categories that predicativity is expressed). There are two main types of predicates: simple and compound.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1347