Classification of sentences

1) According to structural features there are simple and composite; two-member and one- member sentences. Elliptical and one-member sentences: e.g. Marvelous! Horrible! How very interesting! e.g. No birds singing at the dawn (Strong resemblance to 2 member sentences). e.g. I saw him there. Yesterday (parselation).

2) According to the purpose of the utterance: declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory, optative. Ilyish thinks that before dividing sentences into 3 classes we should divide them into emotional and non-emotional and within emotional we can establish 4 classes.

The strictly declarative sentence immediately expresses a certain proposition, that is why the actual division of the declarative sentence presents itself in the most developed and complete form. The rheme of the declarative sentence makes up the center of some statement as such.

The strictly imperative sentence does not express any statement or fact, i.e. any proposition proper. It is only based on a proposition, without formulating it directly. Namely, the proposition underlying the imperative sentence is reversely contrasted against the content of the expressed inducement. It is so because an urge to do something (i.e. affirmative inducement) is based on a supposition that something is not done. An urge not to do something (i.e. negative inducement) is founded on the supposition that something is done or may be done. E.g. Show him into the room (He is not in the room). Don’t talk about them (They talk about them). Thus, the rheme of the imperative sentence expresses the informative nucleus not of an explicit proposition, but of an inducement – a wanted or unwanted action.

The actual division of the strictly interrogative sentences is uniquely different from declarative and imperative sentences. It expresses an inquiry about information which the speaker does not possess. Therefore the rheme of the interrogative sentence, as the nucleus of the inquiry, is informationally open (gaping). Its function consists only in marking the rhematic position in the response sentence and programming the content of the rheme in accord with the nature of the inquiry. The thematic part of the answer is usually zeroed since it’s already expressed in the question:

• e.g. How are you? – Fine, thanks.

 There can be also mixed types:

e.g. You must all help dear Edward.

• e.g. You saw a good deal of him in London, I believe?

• e.g. Live and learn! e.g. Tell me about John, Mary.

• e.g. Can leopard change his spots?

• e.g. Will you do something very kind, boy?

9.2. General characteristics of the composite sentence.

Main features of the sentence: 1) expresses predication => is called a predicative unit. It’s the main characteristic of the sentence. The sentence reflects connection between the denoted situational event and reality shows whether the action is real or unreal, desirable or not + expresses the time of the action. 2) nominates a situation or a situational event, so can be called a nominative unit (but it’s not main feature – word’s feature). 3) can be called a communicative unit as it carries this/that communicative intention which determines the communicative type of the sentence.

Traditional grammar defines the Sentence in the following way: it’s a word or a group of words capable of expressing a complete thought. Modern linguistics (e.g. semantic syntax) defines the sentence as a linguistic sign that nominates a situational event => a nominative unit. “The Sentence is a word or a group of words that nominate a situational event, express predication, and carry a communicative intention” – most comprehensive, all 3 features are comprised.

The problem of the Composite Sentence is how to define it, how to know it from simple sentence. (1) the simple sentence is monopredicative, so it has only 1 predicative line (center). The predicative line includes the subject + predicate. (2) the composite sentence is polypredicative, so it has > than 1 predicative lines or centers, reflects 2 or > situational events, and each predicative center makes up a clause of its own. Semi-composite sentence. How to distinguish? “He waved his hand and went away”. – the sentence nominates 2 situational events but we can’t find 2 predicative centers in it as there is 1 subject and 1 clause so semi-composite (Blokh’s term) are intermediate between simple and composite.

Main features of the composite sentence: 1) a polypredicative unit, 2) is characterized by a communicative wholeness, i.e. it has 1 communicative intention, 3) is characterized by intonational wholeness, all are interconnected, 4) characteristic of literary written style, rarely used in oral speech, in conversations.