- •Table of contents
- •Introduction
- •1.1. Complex sentence as a polypredicative grammatical construction
- •1.1.1. The main sentence types in English.
- •1. Sentence structure
- •2. The existence of all parts of the sentence
- •3. Communicative aim of the speaker
- •4. The character of grammatical (syntactical) presentation
- •5. Expressiveness
- •1.1.2. The syntactic status of principal and subordinate clauses as the predicative units of complex sentence
- •1.1.3. Syndetic and asyndetic means of combining clauses
- •I. Pure conjunctions
- •II. Conjunctive substitutes
- •1.2. Classification of complex sentences according to the type of subordinate clauses
- •1.2.1. Clauses of primary nominal position
- •1.2.2. Clauses of secondary nominal position.
- •1.2.3. Clauses of adverbial position
- •2.1. Stylistic features of o. Henry's short stories
- •2.1.1. General review of the writer's artistic legacy
- •2.1.2. The main characteristics of o. Henry's writing style
- •2.1.3. Sentence structure peculiarities typical of o'Henry's short stories
- •2.2. The syntactic analysis of complex sentences in the short story "The Gift of the Magi" by o. Henry
- •2.2.1. The use of different sentence types in the story
- •2. Clauses of secondary nominal position
- •3) Clauses of adverbial position
- •2.2.3. The use of literary devices employed in the story in regard to the structure of complex sentences
1.1. Complex sentence as a polypredicative grammatical construction
The complex sentence is a polypredicative construction organized by the principle of subordination. It is formed by two or more base sentences one of which performs the role of a matrix in relation to the other. Depending on the type of subordinative connection he matrix function of the principal sentence may vary in degree of its expliciteness [12].
Structurally, the complex sentence includes at least two clauses — a principal and a subordinate.
The function of connective means is carried out either by a subordinating connector or asyndetically. Most of the connective words are very explicit in their function. In fact, traditional grammarists argue, that by means of subordinators, one can turn an independent sentence into a subordinate clause. Consider the following examples:
A strange coincidence happened last night. → (I do recall) that a strange coincidence happened last night. → (Everything was going as planned) except that a strange coincidence happened last night. →(It surprised everybody) that a strange coincidence happened last night.
This paradigmatic scheme of asyndetic sentences is quite different: the clauses are joined by means of the "zero"-connector.: (How did you know) a strange coincidence happened last night?
Needless to say, the idea of the zero-subordinator simply stresses the fact of the meaningful (functional) character of the asyndetic connection of clauses, not denying the actual absence of connector in the asyndetic complex sentence.
Statistically, it is observed that two-clause complex sentence is far more common than a multi-clause type.
The structural characteristics of the principal clause vary from one type of the subordinate clause to the other.
For example, the principal clause of the complex sentences that contain subject or predicative subordinate clauses express a high degree of incompleteness.
And what motivated her is a part of human condition.
Indeed, it remains a disputable issue as for whether or not it is justifiable to refer to the matrix clauses within such structures as «principal», for the subordinate clause in such cases seems to dominate. Some linguists suggested tackling this issue by distinguishing merger principal clauses and non-merger principal clauses [12].
Although the principal clause dominates the subordinate clause positionally, it doesn't mean that it expresses the central piece of information. The actual division of complex sentences is effected in the context; rheme-rendering and theme-rendering occurs only with regard to a particular context. However, it is argued, that the order of clauses plays an important role in distributing primary and secondary information among them. The clause that comes first introduces theme, and the second — rheme.
e.g. The cat purred very loudly (theme) because I gently stroked its back (rheme).
From a communicative point of view, sometimes the principal clause may play a role of a mere introducer to a subordinate clause. For example: You know that he is working for peanuts.
Some of the principal clause-introducers in sentences like these may be re-shaped into parenthetical clauses: He wouldn't know the first thing about rockclimbing, I'm sure.
So it must be noted that although the complex sentence is a polypredicative stucture that is organized on the basis of subordination with one clause playing the dominating role, the semantycal relations between the two clauses are far too complicated and depend on many factors.