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He seemed faint and dizzy and put out his free hand while he reeled, as though seeking support against the air. (London)

The subordinating conjunctions though and //are also used in simple sentences:

Though alone, he was not lost. (London) Next, he sheered to the left, to escape the foot of the bed; but this sheer, if too generous, brought him against the corner of the table. (London)

Subordinating conjunctions of time are rarely used in simple sen­tences. In that case they are mostly used with participles:

That she was one of those women — not too common in the Anglo-Saxon race — born to be loved and to love, who when not loving are not living, had certainly never even occurred to him. (Galsworthy)

Only rarely does a subordinating conjunction join homogeneous members:

He was cheerful though tired.

THE PARTICLE

 

 

§ 1. The particle is a part of speech giving modal or emotional emphasis to other words or groups of words or clauses. A particle may join one part of the sentence to another (connecting particles). Particles have no independent function in the sentence.

 

§ 2. According to their meaning particles fall under the following main groups:

1. Limiting particles: only, just, but, alone, solely, merely, barely,

etc.

I only wanted to make you speak. (Shaw) Just one question, Mrs. Dartie. Are you still fond of your hus­band? (Galsworthy)

Soames was but following in the footsteps of his father. (Galswor­thy)

Her name alone was almost enough for one who was terribly susceptible to the charm of words. (Galsworthy) He had taken up with it solely because he was starving. (Lon­don)

She (Ruth) thought she was merely interested in him (Martin) as

an unusual type possessing various potential excellences, and

she even felt philanthropic about it. (London)

They were spreading not merely on the surface, but within.

(Galsworthy)

He barely acknowledged the young fellow's salute. (Galswor­thy)

2. Intensifying particles: simply, still, just, yet, all, but, only, quite,
^even, etc.

He made plans to renew this time in places still more delightful. (Galsworthy)

He just did dislike him. (Galsworthy)

They did not even know that he was married. (Galsworthy)

If Jo were only with him! (Galsworthy)

But out there he'll simply get bored to death. (Galsworthy)

3. Connecting particles: too, also.

Higgins comes in. He takes off the hat and overcoat. Pickering comes in. He also takes off his hat and overcoat (Shaw)

He (James) was silent. Soames, too, was silent. (Galsworthy)

4. Negative particles: not, never.

No, he was not afraid of that. (Galsworthy) She looked round her. Nothing — not a thing, no tiniest distur­bance of her hall, nor of the dining room. (Galsworthy) I never spoke to him except to ask him to buy a flower off me (Shaw)

Some of the particles are polysemantic, for instance just, only.

That's just his way of talking. (Dreiser) (LIMITING PARTICLE) Why, I think, that's a terrible price to ask for it, just awful. (Dreiser) (INTENSIFYING PARTICLE)

French people only come to England to make money. (Galswor­thy) (LIMITING PARTICLE)

If only there were a joyful future to look forward to! (Galsworthy) (INTENSIFYING PARTICLE)

AJmost all the particles are homonymous with other parts of speech, chiefly with adverbs (simply), but also with conjunctions (but), pronouns (all), and adjectives (only). The particles else, solely, merely have no homonyms.

 

Part II SYNTAX

Chapter XV >

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

 

 

§ 1. A sentence is a unit of speech whose grammatical structure con­forms to the laws of the language and which serves as the chief means of conveying a thought. A sentence is not only a means of communicat­ing something about reality but also a means of showing the speaker's attitude to it.

§ 2. The classification of simple sentences is based on two principles:

(A) according to the purpose of the utterance;

(B) according to the structure.

According to the purpose of the utterance we distinguish four kinds of sentences.

I. The declarative sentence.

A declarative sentence states a fact in the affirmative or negative form. In a declarative sentence the subject precedes the predicate. It is generally pronounced with a falling intonation.

Charles Dickens was born at Landport, Portsmouth. (Laing)

They don't want anything from us — not even our respect. (Douglas)

There is a great difference between English and Russian negative sentences. Whereas in English the predicate of a sentence can have only one negation, in Russian it can have more than one.

He does not go anywhere. He never goes anywhere. Он никуда не ходит.

2. The interrogative sentence.

An interrogative sentence asks a question. It is formed by means of inversion, i. e. by placing the predicate (or part of it) before the subject

(unless the subject of the interrogative sentence is an interrogative word, _in which case there is no inversion; see Chapter XVI, § 3). There are four kinds of questions:

(a) General questions requiring the answer yes or no and spoken with a rising intonation. They are formed by placing the auxiliary or modal verb before the subject of the sentence.

Do you like art?

 

Can you speak English?

With the verb to have (expressing possession) the auxiliary verb do/does is used.

Do you have a car?

(The usage of to have without the auxiliary verb is nowadays con­fined to very formal style.)

If the predicate is expressed by the verbs to be used in a simple tense form, the question is formed by placing the predicate before the subject.

Is he at home?

Sometimes such questions have a negative form and express as­tonishment or doubt.

Haven't you seen him yet?

In Russian the particles разве, неужели are used in such ques­tions. General questions are sometimes rhetoric questions, they do ⁿot require any answer, but are veiled statements expressing some kind °f emotion.

Can you commit a whole country to their own prisons? Will you erect a gibbet in every field and hang men like scarecrows? (Byron)

In colloquial English questions may be formed without any inver­sion.

You know him? You like the book?

(b) Special questions beginning with an interrogative word and spo~ ken with a falling intonation. The order of words is the same as in general questions, but the interrogative word precedes the auxiliary verb.

Where do you live?

 

When the interrogative word is the subject of the interrogative sentence or an attribute to the subject, the order of words is that of a statement, i. e. no inversion is used.

Who lives in this room? Whose pen is on the table?

(c) Alternative questions, indicating choice and spoken with a rising intonation in the first part and a falling intonation in the second part.

Do you live in town or in the country?

 

(d) Disjunctive questions requiring the answer^ or no and con­sisting of an affirmative statement followed by a negative question, or a negative statement followed by an affirmative question. The first part is spoken with a falling intonation and the second part with a rising intonation.

You speak English, don't you?

'—N.

 

You are not tired, are you?

 

Note. With the first person singular of the verb to be, besides am Inot?-aren't 7?is very widely used, especially in British English, whereas ain't I-¹ usually considered nonstandard, is somewhat more current in American English than in British English.

I'm clever, am I not (aren't I)?

3. The imperative sentence.¹

An imperative sentence serves to induce a person to do something, so it expresses a command, a request, an invitation, etc. Commands are characterized by a falling tone.

Come to the blackboard!

—\

Stop talking!

Requests and invitations are characterized by a rising intonation. Open the door, please!

Do come to see me tomorrow! 4. The exclamatory sentence.

An exclamatory sentence expresses some kind of emotion or feel­ing. It often begins with the words what and how, it is always in the declarative form, i. e. no inversion takes place. It is generally spoken with a falling intonation.

What a lovely day it is!

 

 

What fine weather! How wonderful! Beautiful!

 

§ 3. According to their structure simple sentences are divided into ^o-member and one-member sentences.

1 See the formation of the Imperative Mood (Chapter VII, Mood).

A two-member sentence has two members — a subject and a Predicate. If one of them is missing it can be easily understood from toe context.

Fleur had established immediate contact with an architect (Galsworthy)

A two-member sentence may be complete or incomplete. It is com­plete when it has a subject and a predicate.

Young Jolyon could not help smiling. (Galsworthy)

It is incomplete when one of the principal parts or both of them are missing, but can be easily understood from the context. Such sen­tences are called elliptical and are mostly used in colloquial speech and especially in dialogue.

Best not to see her again. Best to forget all about her. (Abra­hams)

What were you doing? Drinking. (Shaw)

Who does it for Mr. George? James, of course. (Galsworthy)

Where were you yesterday? At the cinema.

A one-member sentence is a sentence having only one member which is neither the subject nor the predicate. This does not mean, however, that the other member is missing, for the one member makes the sense complete.

One-member sentences are generally used in descriptions and in emotional speech.

If the main part of a one-member sentence is expressed by a noun, the sentence is called nominal. The noun may be modified by attributes.

Dusk — of a summer night. (Dreiser)

Freedom! Bells ringing out, flowers, kisses, wine. (Heym)

The dull pain and the life slowly dripping out of him. (Heym)

The main part of a one-member sentence is often expressed by an infinitive.

No! To have his friendship, his admiration, but not at that price (Galsworthy)

To die out there — lonely, wanting them, wanting home! (Galswor­thy)

 

§ 4. Simple sentences, both two-member and one-member, can ^ unextended and extended. A sentence consisting only of the primaO or principal parts is called an unextended sentence.

She is a student. Birds fly. Winter!

An extended sentence is a sentence consisting of the subject, the predicate and one or more secondary parts (objects, attributes, or ad­verbial modifiers).

The two native women stole furtive glances at Sarie. (Abra­hams)

The two white overseers... had gone into the hills with the natives to look for stray sheep. (Abrahams)

 

 

Parts of the Sentence

 

In a sentence we distinguish the principal parts, secondary parts and independent elements. The principal parts of a sentence are the subject and the predicate. The secondary parts are the attribute, the object and the adverbial modifier.

 

 

The Principal Parts of the Sentence

 

The Subject

§ 5. The subject is the principal part of a two-member sentence which
'^s grammatically independent of the other parts of the sentence and on
^which the second principal part (the predicate) is grammatically depend-
^er|t, i. e. in most cases it agrees with the subject in number and person,
i -___________________________________________________________________

Note. There are cases, however, when there is no agreement in number

(see Chapter XV, § 19-21).

 

The subject can denote a living being, a lifeless thing or an idea.

8 6. Wky_S of expressing the subject.

The subject can be expressed by a single word or a group of words, ^hus it can be expressed by:

1. A noun in the common case.

The sulky waiter brought my tea. (Du Maurier) Marcellus slowly turned his head. (Douglas)

 

Note. Occasionally a noun in the possessive case is used as the subject of the sentence.

Mrs. Gummidge's was a fretful disposition. (Dickens) Oh, my dear Richard, Ada's is a noble heart. (Dickens)

 

2. A pronoun — personal, demonstrative, defining, indefinite, negative, possessive, interrogative.

After about an hour I heard Montgomery shouting my name. That

set me thinking of my plan of action. (Wells)

All were clad in the same soft, and yet strong silky material.

(Wells)

Everyone was silent for a minute. (Wells)

Nothing was said on either side for a minute or two afterwards.

(Dickens)

Theirs is not a very comfortable lodging... (Dickens) Who tore this book? (Twain)

The subject is often expressed by the indefinite pronoun one or the personal pronouns they, you, we, which refer not to any particular person or persons but to people in general.

These sentences generally correspond to the same kind of sentences in Russian, but sometimes they are rendered by impersonal sentences, as will be seen in the examples given below.

Yes, muttered Jon, life's beastly short. One wants to live forever. (Galsworthy) — Да, пробормотал Джон, жизнь чертовски ко­ротка. Хочется жить вечно.

A day is like a page in a book, one cannot read it without commas and periods. (Heym) — День напоминает страницу книги, ее нельзя читать без запятых и точек.

They say he's clever — they all think they're clever. (Galswor­thy) — Говорят, что он умный — все думают, что они умные-Howard, you introduce every statement with "they say". I wan to know who is "they". (Gow and D'Usseau) — Говард, ты каж­дое предложение начинаешь с «говорят». Я хочу знать, к^т0 говорит.

Note. They is used when the speaker is excluded, one when the speaker is included.

 

There are some things you can't talk to anyone about. (Voynich) — Есть вещи, о которых никому не расскажешь. It was good to be alive. Say what you like you couldn't beat it. (Galsworthy) — Хорошо жить на свете. Что ни говори, а этого нельзя отрицать.

Every pleasure is transitory. We can't eat long. If we indulge in harmless fluids we get the dropsy, if in exciting liquids we get drunk. When I say "we", my dear, I mean mankind in general. (Dickens) — Всякое удовольствие преходяще. Нельзя есть долго. Если мы злоупотребляем безвредными напитками, мы заболеваем водянкой, если мы злоупотребляем спиртными напитками, мы пьянеем. Когда я говорю «мы», мой дорогой, я имею в виду человечество в целом.

3. A substantivized adjective or participle.

The Privileged have seen that charming and instructive sight. (Galsworthy)

The wounded were taken good care of.

4. A numeral (cardinal or ordinal).

Of course, the two were quite unable to do anything. (Wells) The first and fourth stood beside him in the water. (Wells)

5. An infinitive, an infinitive phrase or construction.

To live is to work.

To be a rich man, Lieutenant, is not always roses and beauty. (Heym)

For him to come was impossible.

6. A gerund, a gerundial phrase or construction.

Lying doesn't go well with me. (Heym)

Winning the war is what counts. (Heym)

Annette's being French might upset him a little. (Galsworthy)

7. Any part of speech used as a quotation.

On is a preposition.

No is his usual reply to any request.

8. A group of words which is one part of the sentence, i. e. a syn~ tactically indivisible group.

Yet at this very time their friend and defender is darkly groping towards the solution. (Fox)

Here the subject represents one person. The needle and thread is lost.

Here the needle and the thread are treated as one thing. This is not to be confused with homogeneous subjects where two per­sons or things are meant and consequently the predicate is in the plural.

Mr. Pickwick alone was silent and reserved. Doubt and distrust were exhibited in his countenance. (Dickens)

There are other kinds of syntactic units.

There were a number of carved high back chairs. (Dreiser) There's a lot of truth in that, of course. (London)

9. A quotation group. "I shan't be able to give you very much," he had said. "Perhaps this what's-his-name will provide the cocoa." (Galsworthy) § 7. It as the subject of the sentence. When the pronoun it is used as the subject of a sentence it may re­present a living being or a thing: then it is a notional subject. Sometimes, however, it does not represent any living being or thing and performs a purely grammatical function: then it is a formal subject. A. When it is a notional subject the pronoun it has the following meanings: 1. // stands for a definite thing or some abstract idea — the per­sonal it. The door opened. It was opened by a young girl of thirteen °r fourteen. (Dickens) If this is a liberty, it isn't going to mean a thing. (Heym)

 

Note. There are sentences where the subject is introduced by the con­struction there is, e. g. There is nothing on the table. In this case nothing is the subject and there is part of the predicate.

2. // points out some person or thing expressed by a predicative noun, or it refers to the thought contained in a preceding statement, thus having a demonstrative meaning — the demonstrative it.

It is John.

It was a large room with a great window. (Dickens) Dick came home late, it provoked his father. (Lindsay)

In the last two cases it is close to this and is usually translated into Russian by это.

В. Sometimes the pronoun it is a formal subject, i. e. it does not represent any person or thing. Here we must distinguish:

(1) the impersonal it; (2) the introductory or anticipatory it; (3) the emphatic it.

1. The impersonal it is used:

(a) to denote natural phenomena (such as the state of the weather, etc.) or that which characterizes the environment. In such sentences the predicate is either a simple one, expressed by a verb denoting the state of the weather, or a compound nominal one, with an adjective as predicative.

It often rains in autumn. It is cold in winter. It is stuffy in here.

 

Note. The state of the weather can also be expressed by sentences in which the subject denoting the state of things is introduced by the con­struction there is. In such sentences the noun introduced by the construc­tion there is is the subject.

There was a heavy frost last night.

There was a fine rain falling over the trees, the flowers, and the people sitting on the benches in the garden.

 

(b) to denote time and distance.

It is five minutes past six. it is morning already.

How far is it from your office to the bank? (Galsworthy) It is a long way to the station.

Note. Sentences with the impersonal /7as subject very often correspond to Russian impersonal one-member sentences.

It is late. — Поздно. It is freezing. — Морозит. It is cold. — Холодно. It is hot. — Жарко.

The following sentences, however, correspond to Russian two-member personal sentences:

It is raining. — Идет дождь. It is snowing. — Идет снег. It is hailing. — Идет град.

 

2. The introductory or anticipatory it introduces the real subject.

IVs no use disguising facts.

It was curious to observe that child.

 

Note. Some grammarians treat this it as the real subject and the rest of the sentence as the predicate.

 

3. The emphatic it is used for emphasis.

It was Winifred who went up to him. (Galsworthy) It was he who had brought back George to Amelia. (Thacke­ray)

 

 

The Predicate

§ 8. The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence which expresses an action, state, or quality of the person or thing¹ denoted by the subject. It is grammatically dependent upon the subject.

■ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ■—

1 The word thing is used in a broad sense.

Note. This definition does not cover sentences with the formal it 3^s subject. In these sentences the predicate expresses the state of weather, time, or distance, and the subject only makes the sentence structural complete.

As a rule the predicate contains a finite verb which may express tense, mood, voice, aspect, and sometimes person and number. Accord­ing to the structure and the meaning of the predicate we distinguish two main types: the simple predicate and the compound predicate.

§ 9. The simple predicate.

The simple predicate is expressed by a finite verb in a simple or a compound tense form.

It generally denotes an action: sometimes, however, it denotes a state which is represented as an action.

Erik arrived at the lab next morning full of suppressed excite­ment. (Wilson)

And so, after all, the Padre had been thinking of letting him escape. (Voynich)

Mr. Rivarez, I have been looking for you everywhere. (Voy­nich)

When Mary was brought in he gave her the local anaesthesia. (Cronin)

§10. There is a special kind of predicate expressed by a phraseological unit, such as to get rid, to take care, to pay attention, to lose sight, to have a wash, to give a push, etc.¹

When we clear the forests we get rid of such inconveniences. (Heym)

I went to the bathroom and had a good wash for it had been a dusty journey. (Du Maurier)

1 There is a great difference of opinion as to the nature of this predicate, ^ost Russian grammarians treat it as a subdivision of the simple predi-Cate (Л. П. Винокурова; В. H. Жигадло, И. П. Иванова, Л. Л. Иофик; ^- А. Ганшина и Н. М. Василевская), because it expresses one idea and its tvvo components form an indivisible unit. There is another view according to which it is a subdivision of the compound Predicate. Some English grammarians call it a 'group-verb predicate4.

The characteristic feature of this predicate is that the first compo­nent, i. e. the finite verb, has lost its concrete meaning to a great extent ^and forms one unit with the noun, consequently the noun cannot be Seated as an object to the verb. This can also be easily proved by the impossibility of putting a question to the second component.

Compare:

My friend gave me an Interesting book to read. The man gave a violent start.

Whereas in the first case we can easily put a question to the object (e. g. What did your friend give you 7), in the second case this is impos­sible.

We shall treat this kind of predicate as a subdivision of the simple predicate. For the sake of convenience we shall call it a phraseological predicate.

We distinguish two types of the phraseological predicate.

1. Word combinations of the following type: to have a smoke, to
have a swim, to have a run, to give a laugh, to give a push, to take a look,
to make a move, etc. These combinations consist of a finite verb which
has to a great extent lost its concrete meaning and a noun formed from
a verb and mostly used with the indefinite article.

This predicate denotes a momentaneous action. In Russian this shade of meaning is rendered by different prefixes and suffixes which express a momentaneous action.

He had a smoke. — Он покурил.

He gave a push. — Он толкнул.

He gave a start. — Он вздрогнул.

He had a wash. — Он вымылся, помылся.

He gave a cry. — Он вскрикнул.

This type of phraseological predicate is characteristic of colloquial speech.

Every now and then she gave a half-glance at the people on

the pavement. (Lindsay)

She gave an unkind throaty laugh. (Lindsay)

Troy said, "First of all, sergeant, have a drink." (Heym)

He started, made a short run and stopped and looked over his

shoulder. (Dickens)

2. Word combinations of the following type: to get rid, to get hold,
to make use, to take care, to lose sight, to make fun, to pay attention, to
make up one's mind, to change one's mind, to take part, etc.

The second component of these combinations is in most cases an abstract noun used without any article.

That's more than twenty years ago. She has never made use of her power or caused me a moment's uneasiness. (Shaw) You were making fun of mother just now. (Shaw) Then he caught his breath, suddenly reminded of something else. (Wescott)

She made a gesture of dismissal and then suddenly changed her mind. (Wescott)

It is better that you do not know where I live. I will get in touch with you. (Wilson)

§11. The compound predicate.

As can be seen from the term itself the compound predicate con­sists of two parts: (a) a finite verb and (b) some other part of speech: a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, a verbal (a participle, a gerund, an infinitive), etc. The second component is the significant part of the predicate.

The first part expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood and voice; besides it has a certain lexical meaning of its own. The compound predicate may be nominal or verbal.

§ 12. The compound nominal predicate.

The compound nominal predicate denotes the state or quality of the person or thing expressed by the subject (e. g. He is tired, The book is interesting), or the class of persons or things to which this person or thing belongs (e. g. She is a student).

The compound nominal predicate consists of a link verb and a predicative (the latter is also called the nominal part of the predicate).

The link verb (or a verb of incomplete predication) expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood, sometimes ^voice. All link verbs, as the result of a long development, have partly l°st their original concrete meaning. One link verb has lost its con­crete meaning altogether: this is the verb to be, which can be called ^a Pure link verb as it performs only a grammatical function and can be linked with a predicative expressed by any part of speech used in ^lhis function.

This is a picture of London.¹

¹ In Russian the link verb быть is generally not used in the Present tense: Его сестра учительница.

Most link verbs to some extent preserve their meaning. The follow-ing are the most common of these link verbs: to appear, to get, to grow to continue, to feel, to keep, to look, to turn, to hold, to prove, to turn out to loom, to rank, to remain, to run, to seem, to smell, to taste, to fall, to stand, to go, to work.

His wife sighed and remained silent. (London) Harris grew more cheerful. (Jerome) At my age I get nervous. (Galsworthy)

He soon fell fast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer intervals. (Dickens)

The boat seemed stuffy. (Jerome)

She, for her part, felt recessive and thence evasive. (Dreiser)

Many of these verbs can be used both as verbs of complete predica­tion fully preserving their concrete meaning and as link verbs.

 

Link Verbs	Verbs of Complete Predication
to be
The sun was full of promise. (Du Mau­rier)	No one was there to meet him. (Lind­say)
to grow
But she had grown too proud or too passive. (Wescott)	Perhaps 1 should grow a beard. 1 look too young to have been publishing for five years. (Wilson)
to look
He looked stupid and good-natured and happy. (Greene)	He blushed violently and looked away. (Wilson)
to feel
And yet at moments he felt very close to her. (Lindsay)	He felt great awe and admiration. (Wil­son)
to come
The nightmare of my life had come true. (Buck)	Giles and Beatrice were coming for the night but nobody else. (Du Maurier)
to go ____________
Philip Baring stiffened in his chair. His face went tense. (Wilson)	Of a misty January morning Soames had gone there once more. (Gals- worthy) _______________________________________ ^

There are some verbs which, though fully preserving their con­crete meaning, perform the function of link verbs: they are used with _a predicative and form a compound nominal predicate. Here belong: to lie, to sit, to die, to marry, to return, to leave, to come, to stand, to fall, _юgo, etc.