Compound Sentence Sequences

S1+S2 Compound S3

Sentences very often do not follow one another in succession, but one kernel sentence may be joined to another.

Two main sentences may be joined together into a compound sentence by applying the procedure of conjunction:

(1) The two sentences have different subjects (NP1):

1. The man came to the window. The man came to.

2. The detective saw him. the window, and the detective saw him.

(2) If there occurs any identical element other than the NP1, the connection involves substitution and, sometimes, permutation in the second sentence:

1. We asked for his slides. He showed us them. He showed them to us.

2. He showed us his slides.

The product is:

We asked for his slides, and he showed them to us.

(3) If the VP in the two sentences are identical, the connection involves besides the conjunction also V-substitutes, permutation and the addition of the function word ('so', 'neither').

1. I shall make a fair copy of the dictation.

2. He will make a fair copy of the dictation. I shall make a fair copy of the dictation and so will he.

(4) If the conjunctions are discontinuous, permutation is not used in the sequential part:

Either Ben does it or I shall.

Semi-compound Sentence Sequences

S1+S2 Semi-compound S3

If NP1(subject) or the V in the two sentences are identical, the identical element in the second sentence is zeroed (the antecedent stands in the leading part); the operation is conjunction.

John smiled and paid the money.
1. John smiled.

 

2. John paid the money

 

John and Edna laughed.  
1. John laughed.

 

2. Edna laughed.

 

 

Complex Sentence Sequence

S1+S2 Complex S3

Two sentences can be joined into a complex sentence:

(1) by means of substitutes conventionally termed wh-substitutes: 'who (whom)', 'which', 'where', 'when', 'whose', etc. They are called relatives be­cause they relate, refer back to their antecedents.

Of the two sentences to be connected the first is called a matrix one and the second is called an insert sentence. The relatives appear in the initial po­sition in the insert clause which loses a constituent and the relative replaces it, the substitute having the status of the substituted constituent. The insert sen­tence immediately follows the antecedent. The matrix sentence is: "The man is arriving today." The insert sentence is: "The man wished to see you."

The matrix and the insert sentences have a common word. The product of the substitution and attachment is: "The man who wished to see you is arriving today."

 

1. He picked up a flower. Не picked up the flower

2. The flower had dropped. which had dropped.

 
 


1. This is the place. This is the place where

2. They met last in this place. they last met.

 
 


1. The time has come. The time has come when

2. Birds of passage fly birds of passage fly South.

South at this time.

Possessive nouns are substituted for 'whose':

1. That man seems very lonely. That man whose wife

2. That man's wife and family and family are away

are away. seems very lonely.

Zeroing and permutation can be applied when the relative has a func­tion) in the insert sentence other than that of NP1.

1. The man is asking for you. The man whom you

2. You saw the man yesterday. saw yesterday is asking for you.

The zeroing of 'whom issues: The man you saw yesterday is asking for you.

(2) sentences may be connected into a complex sentence by means of embedding, which is accompanied by introducing a conjunctive.

The insert sentence: "I know it what I know". The newly derived in­sert clause: "What I know" may be embedded in the NP position of any matrix sentence:

1. NP—isn't important. What I know isn't important.

2. He explained to me — NP. He explained to me what I know.

3. This is —NP. This is what I know.

Another transformational rule, adjustment, may be applied along with embedding.

The insert sentence is: "I live here" "where I live."

The matrix sentence is: "He asked me" — NP. Before the insert sentence is embedded the procedure of adjustment is applied to its V: "where I lived."

The product is: "He asked me where I lived." Note the absence of this rule with relatives.

(3) sentences may be connected into a complex sentence by the addition of subordinators. The subordinator changes the insert sentence in a way as to enable it to fill in D positions in the matrix sentence.

The D-subordinators are: 'when', 'while', 'as', 'since', 'for' 'because', 'so that', 'as if, 'even if ', etc.

 

Matrix sentences Insert sentences Products
We do not hear from him. He left. We have not heard from him since he left
He did not come. He was ill. He did not come because he was ill.
He spoke—D He was relating a story of no importance He spoke as if he was were relating of no importance.
They were discussing the play—D They rode home They were discussing the play while they were riding (rode) home.

 

It should be borne in mind that such words as 'that' and 'as' may func­tion as relatives which will be seen from the following sequences:

I have never heard such stories as he tells.

This white spot is the part of the egg that is going to grow into a chick.

 

Semi-complex Sentence Sequences

S1+S2 Semi-complex S3

Two sentences may be joined into a semi-complex one by means of word-sharing if they contain a word in common. Thus the shared word occurs only once in the semi-complex sentence and the two sentences overlap round it.

Word-sharing often involves the absorption of two functions by one ele­ment. Word-sharing is typical of modern English and is widely used.

The Shared Word is in the Different Status

1.I saw him.

I saw him walking.

2. He was walking.

The shared NP in these sentences is in the different grammatical status. The sentences overlap round it: BE is deleted, the comma is never used here. (In the non-transformational grammar the structure is called Complex Object.)

Another way of connecting the same sentences will be the addition of the subordinator 'as' to the second sentence, thus transforming it into an insert clause, and attaching it to the matrix one: "I saw him as he was walking. »

This is also seen in the example below:

1. We finally found it. We finally found it lying in

2. It lay in a corner. a corner.

or:

We finally found it as it lay in a corner.

If there occurs BE in the insert sentence, it is deleted and the two sen­tences overlap round the shared word which absorbs two functions, usually those of an NP-object and an NP-subject as is seen in the connection below:

 

1. We saw it.

 
 
We saw it high above us.  


2. It was high above us.

The same procedures are applied to connect the following into semi-complex sentences:

I like my coffee white.
1. I like my coffee.

 

2. My coffee is white.

 
 


He painted the door light blue.
1. He painted the door.

2. The door is light blue.

I have my bad tooth filled.
1. I have a bad tooth.

 

2. My tooth is filled.

 

The Shared Word is in the Similar Status

1. I was there.

2. I was working.

The shared word is in the similar status in both sentences: it is the subject to the V. NP in the second sentence is zeroed and BE are fused into one. The product is: "I was there (,) working."

1. We waited.

2. We were breathless.

These sentences share a word (N1) in the status of the subject. The finite V in the first sentence belongs to the subclass of verbs which admit of combin­ing with adjectives. The word sharing issues: "We waited (,) breathless."

The less widely spread case is when word-sharing may leave the finite Vof the insert sentence finite:

 

1.

There is a bus goes in this direction.  
There is a bus.

 

2. The bus goes in this direction.

 
 


It was a Plant made some of the clocks for Nelson's fleet.  
1. It was a Plant.

 

2. Plant made some of the

clocks for Nelson's fleet.

 

The finite Vin the insert clause can be transformed into V-to as is seen in the following product:

 

There were no birds to sing.  
1. There were no birds.

 

2. The birds could sing.

 

In the following pair of sentences:

1.1 found the letter.

2. You lost the letter.

in which the shared word is in the status of the object to the V, the connection can be made in two ways:

(1) through substitution (or zeroing) and adjustment. "The product is: "I found the letter (which) you had lost."

(2) through word-sharing and the intermediary T-PASSIVE: "the letter lost by you" (the shared word acquires a different status). The final product is: "I found the letter lost by you."

Word-sharing is present in semi-complex sentences with the verb 'make'. The matrix sentence is:

VP (1)

 

He made me + NP (2)

 

A (3)

The insert sentences are:

1. I went there I go there

2. I am a teacher I a teacher

3. I am angry I angry

The derived transforms fill in VP, NP, A positions accordingly and the filial products are (the sentences overlap round the shared word).

1. He made me go there.

2. He made me a teacher.

3. He made me angry.

* * *

There exist pairs of sentences which admit of a certain variety of connec­tions. The following pair will illustrate the point:

Water boils. Water changes into steam.

(1) The first sentence (NV) can be nominalised into an NP.

Water boils boiling water

The newly derived NP may fill in the NP position in the matrix sentence and the procedure yields:

Boiling water changes into steam.

(2) By zeroing the identical NP in the second sentence and by applying the conjunction 'and' we can join the two sentences into a semi-compound one:

Water boils and changes into steam.

(3) By addition of the subordinator 'when' we can derive a temporal clause from the first sentence: 'when water boils'. We then replace the identical NP in the insert sentence by its substitute 'it': 'when it boils'. The derived clause is attached to the matrix one:

Water changes into steam when it boils.

Using permutation we can get:

When water boils it changes into steam.

The NP in the insert clause may further be deleted:

When boils water changes into steam.

The sentence, however, is ungrammatical. The deletion of the NP in­volves the transformation V, V-ing.

When boiling water changes into steam.

'When' may be further reduced and the V-ing is separated by a comma:

Boiling, water changes into steam.

Such set of constructions with V-ing, V-en ("When boiled water can be used for drinking"), V-to ("She raised her eyes to see a stranger") are used to compress the insert structures. Nominalisation is also a means of compression. Compression reflects a growing tendency in English speech towards economy. The products of the connections carrying the same information (expanded or compressed) are syntactic synonyms.

II. Practical tasks