ET2A - The Complex Sentence
Introduction
Syllabus
A. Defining complex sentence (CS)
(1) He has been working hard.
has most verbs out of (1, 2, 3), but is 1 VP (1 entity)
no CS
(2) He prefers to work hard.
has 2 verbs, has 2 VP (he prefers + he works hard)
Complex
(3) She sang and danced all night.
2 verbs, 2 VP, verbs are on the same level (-> same tense)
Complex
Structural characteristics simple complex
Number of propositions/clauses 1 more
Number of verb phrases (VPs) ≠ number 1 more
of verbs
B. Types of complexity
1. Coordination vs. subordination (embedding) -> 3 categories
(4) He went home, although he wanted to stay.
subordination:
- not the same level
- can move the sub(ordination) clause (SC) around the MC. (in this case)
(5) He had done everything he could, but he wasn’t satisfied.
coordination:
- not moveable (*But he wasn’t satisfied, he had done everything he could.)
- can delete a part of the MC (>< subordination): He had done everything he could,
but wasn’t satisfied.
(6) He had done everything he could, but he wasn’t satisfied.
embedding (embedded clause):
- = sentence replaces or is part of an obligatory part of the sentence
- 3VP, not leave out the subject
-> 4, 5, 6 are all finite verbs (= conjugated).
2. Functions
- of coordination: additive (and), disjunctive (or), contrastive (but), explanatory (so)
- of subordination: the same and more
3. Markers
- of coordination (closed class)
a. simple coordinators (and, or, neither, nor, but (for))
b. correlative coordinators (both… and, either… or, neither… nor, not only… but
also)
- of subordination (3 types)
c. subordinators (simple, compound (so… that) and correlative (such… that)
d. wh-elements (what, when, where, how, which)
e. non-finite VP (never in MC -> always SC)
, ET2A - The Complex Sentence
Foundations
Co-ordination
1. What and how?
- = the conjoining of equivalent or parallel elements.
- co-ordination is sometimes realized asyndetically (= zonder verbindingswoord), i.e.
without an explicit marker of co-ordination.
o I came, I saw, I vanquished.
o I was given a sweet, chocolate, tasty cake for my birthday.
- The English co-ordinators are:
a) simple co-ordinators: and, or, neither, nor, but, for, and the compound co-
ordinator as well as
b) correlative or two-part co-ordinators: both…. and, either… or, neither… nor, not
only… but also.
- syntactic levels on which co-ordination operates:
a) clauses (both MC and SC) can be co-ordinated.
b) phrases can be co-ordinated too.
o Bill and Tom went up the stage. (NPs)
o He sold an old but well-maintained car. (AdjPs)
o Please give me a call now or tomorrow. (AdvPs)
o Succeed in high school and in college. (PrepPs)
Note: according to some grammatical theories, all the elements of the first
example are deleted except the co-ordinated NP: Bill (went up the stage) and
Tom went up the stage. For practical reasons, we prefer to keep the traditional
analysis of elements like Bill and Tom as co-ordinated phrases?
c) For that reason, words which hav no phrasal rank of their own can be co-
ordinated.
o From your and my (pos. adnom.) point of view, we don’t….
o If and when the agreement is signed….
2. The semantics of co-ordination
- the co-ordinator and has an additive meaning: it adds up the references of the NPs, or
the attributes denoted by adjectives,…
o I also bought meat and vegetables at the market.
o New Evidence Suggests Mars Has Been Cold and Dry. (headlines)
- two co-ordinated subject-NPs mostly behave like a plural NP as regards S-V agreement.
o Bill and Tom play golf and tennis. -> *Bill and Tom plays golf and tennis.
The additive dimension of this type of co-ordination can be made more explicit by the
use of the correlatives both…and, not only… but also, and the compound as well
as:
o Erasmus was both a humanist and a man of the church.
o The state is powerful enough not only to control labour, but also to control capital.
o And the piles of nuclear waste threaten air as well as water.
- when and co-ordinates clauses, its meaning is more complex. It can be purely additive, as
in
o Ewan Mcgreggor is married with 4 children and lives in Canada.
, ET2A - The Complex Sentence
- but various other meanings can be implicated:
a) Result: One day a big, bad wolf came and frightened everybody away.
b) Chronological sequence: The robbers filled two bags with jewellery and tried to
leave.
c) Concession and contrast: Pilate knew the Truth and (yet) he failed to act on it!
d) Condition: there can be a conditional relationship between a fist clause, almost
always an imperative,
and a second clause co-ordinated with the first by and.
-> Just work hard and good things will come of it. ( = If you just work
hard, good things…)
This construction is mostly used either to commit oneself to do sth nice, i.e.
to make a
promise, or to do sth unpleasant, i.e. to threaten. It is common in spoken
English, handly in
written text as well after a clause beginning with if as it avoids to
successive ifs.
o Send me the text and I’ll help you.
o You come right here and I’ll beat your ass back to the moon!
o If you live in NYC, and want details, e-mail me and I’ll give you those.
e) Comment: the 2nd clause is a comment on the 1st + can be paraphrased as a
sentential relative clause.
o She was playing both sides of the fence, and this was very unsettling for me.
(= which was very…)
- or is disjunctive: it disjoins the co-ordinated elements and implies a choice that has to be
made between a number of alternatives, usu. two. The choice is nearly always exclusive:
we call this exclusive or.
o I got a glass of water or my friend got it for me, can’t remember.
> In some contexts, both elements of the co-ordination can be chosen; this is called
inclusive or.
o You must be over 18 by the proposed date of the wedding, or have your parents
consent.
This inclusiveness can be made explicit: Ziggy Stardust - Reality or fantasy? Or
both?!
- The disjunctive relationship expressed by or can be made more explicit by the use of
either… or. This is interpreted as an exclusive disjunctive, except that addition of or both
can force an inclusive interpretation.
o The monarchy either becomes a ceremonial position or it is ended altogether.
- A clause initiated by or is sometimes a restatement or a correction of what is said in the
first clause.
o It was as if a world of beauty, hidden, or at least unexplored, revealed itself to me.
- The disjunctive by or of an imperative and a subsequent clause is equivalent to a
negative condition. This construction is commonly used in spoken English to express a
threat.
o Debbie, put that camera away, or I’ll kill you. (If you don’t put…)
- Both neither and nor can be used as simple co-ordinators of clauses when the first
clause is overtly negative or has a negative implication. The second clause always requires
V-S order.
o Cyclists don’t pay road tax in Britain, neither/nor do they in Germany. -> overtly
negative
, ET2A - The Complex Sentence
o …the session from which experts are never absent, neither is the beer. -> negative
implication
- The meaning of neither and nor is: (and) not…. either.
o Cyclist don’t pay road tax in Britain and they do not in Germany either.
- neither and nor can be combined with and or but and often are.
o The Gorbals district is no more and neither are the small Jewish grocery shops.
o Such policies are not cheap or easy, but nor is the waste of talent.
- Both neither and nor typically introduce additions to negative remarks.
o We should not blame the poor girl. - Neither/nor should they.
Note: neither/nor cause inversion + additions to positive remarks are introduced by so
or and/but so
o At the age of 18 I wrote poetry, but so did plenty of others.
- the correlatives neither/nor negate two clauses or phrases conjoined by and. Let us look
at their function as linkers of clauses.
o John doesn’t care for Mary and she doesn’t care for him.
> can also be construed with neither….nor, which emphasizes that the negation applies
to both clauses.
o Neither John cares for Mary, nor does she care for him.
- nor by itself can co-ordinate a second phrase with a preceding one that is semantically
governed by some other negative marker than neither.
o She had not uttered a word during the relation of the news, nor shown any emotion.
o She will have no idea what she did for me, nor for many others.
- when they co-ordinate phrases, neither… nor are syntactically disjunctive, but
semantically additive in a negative context.
o Neither the body nor the soul….
> That they are additive in meaning appears in the possibility of using a plural verb after
them.
o Neither the Committee, nor counsel for the President have had… (the Committee
and counsel for the President have not had…)
- but is contrastive: what is said in the second clause is more or less unexpected, and
contrasts with the content of the first clause.
- when but conjoins clauses, there is always an equivalent construction with a clause of
concession.
o This was not in the draft, but is found in promulgated version.
- for is traditionally termed as a co-ordinator.
- for can only be used to link clauses. It has an explanatory function: the clause it
introduces, explains why one believes sth to be the case or why a certain course of action
is recommended.
o I am afraid of this spring, for I fear its outcome will be a disaster for the French.
o This situation must be carefully pondered, for it raises….
o I cannot believe this for it would be…
- often a clause introduced by for comes so close to being a clause of reason as to be
virtually indistinguishable from it. The reason is that in speech we find because instead.
But it is not always a clause of reason.
o These same Anglos soon found that they needed the Mecican Americans, for he was
to be….
-> the future role of the Mexican Americans cannot be the reason why the Anglos
found out they needed them. Rather, the for-clause explains why the author
believes his statement is true.
, ET2A - The Complex Sentence
3. Co-ordination and subordination
- there is sematic overlap between the two
- syntactically, however, the two processes of linking clauses are totally different.
- in some languages, it is easy to distinguish co and sub, but not in English
- Syntactic differences between co-ordinated and subordinated clauses
a) A co-ordinator always occurs between the two clauses it co-ordinates and can never be
moved to sentence-initial position together with its second clause:
o His mouth fell open in horror, but her heart gave a leap. -> *But her heart gave a
leap, his mouth…
> Compared this with cases of subordination, in which the subordinated clause can and
often does come first.
o His mouth fell open, though her heart gave a leap.
b) None of the co-ordinators can co-occur with another co-ordinator (except neither and
nor)
o *Men never enter the Uncharted Forest, for there is no power and for there is no…
o Men never enter the Uncharted Forest, because…
o *The diversity of the American people has increased, and but the essential…
o Though the diversity of American people has increased and (though) its size has
more than doubled, the essential…
c) The subject of the second co-ordinated finite clause can be deleted if it is co-referential
with the subject of the first: China made the rules and had the technology and was
powerful.
> Finite subordinated clauses never allow subject-deletion.
o *India was recognized as a nation, though consisted of many independent
kingdoms.
o India was recognized as a nation, but consisted of many independent kingdoms.
Subordination
1. Complex sentence: some definitions
Markers of subordination
- The sematic-syntactic relationship that holds between the MC and its subordinate
clause(s) can be marked by:
a) subordinators and, subsidiarily, prepositions
b) wh-elements and relative that
c) word order
d) non-finite VPs
- Subordinators, often called subordinating conjunctions, initiate finite subordinate
clauses, and a few of them also non-finite clauses. As initiators or linkers, their function is
to initiate NPs, but they can also introduce nominalized clauses. In this case they perform
the function of a subordinator.
- Subordinators can be split up into 3 different sets:
1) single-word or simple co-ordinators: after, (al)though, as, because, before, how(ever), if,
lest, since, that, till and until, unless, when(ever), where(ver), whereas, while, whether.
2) compound subordinators:
With obligatory that: in that, in order that, such that, so that (purpose)
With optional or deletable that: so (that) (result), given (that), granted (that),
provided (that), assuming (that), considering (that), granting (that), seeing (that),
supposing (that), now (that), directly or immediately (that).
With as: according as, as far as, as long as, so as (and to-inf.)
With than: rather than, sooner than (and bare inf.)
