New English Syntax

With the disintegration of agreement and government, NE underwent further fixing of word order both on the phrase and on the sentence level.

The loss of adjective inflections, which made agreement of adjectives with nouns impossible, resulted in the growth of attributive phrases of the pattern «noun + noun», with the 1-st element acting as an attribute to the 2-nd element. The 1-st noun was either in the Common or Genetive case (with the apostrophe or without it), e.g.

the bright morning star (Edmund Waller, 1645 year, Early NE); clear spring water (Henry Vaughan, 1650 year, Early NE); heaven’s vault, love’s foes, Earths face (Abraham Cowley, 1647 year, Early NE); iron gates of life, marble vault, Mexique bay (Andrew Marvel, 1681 year, Late NE).

Only the two pronouns «this» and «that» agree in number with their head word up to the present day.

The only thing that remained from the government was the objective case of personal pronouns (me, him, her, us, them) and the interrogative and relative pronoun «whom» when they depend on a verb or preposition, e.g.

Now, trust me, Madam. (Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1594)

With the decline of agreement and government, the role of joining and enclosure grew.

Joining (1) The adjective (or participle) is joined to its head noun, e.g.

His gylden quiver and silver bowe (his golden quiver and silver bow) (E.Spenser)

(2) The noun or the pronoun (except the pronouns mentioned above) is joined to a verb in the phrase «verb + noun», e.g.

And forthwyth toke a penne & ynke and wrote a leef or tweyne (W.Caxston) (And then (I) took a pen and ink and wrote a page or two)

Enclosure consists in inserting (1) any word or phrase between an article and a noun, which becomes an attribute to the noun, e.g.

the joyous time, the winters sorrowe (E.Spenser)

(2) an adverbial modifier of frequency or duration of an action inside the predicate (either an analytical verb form or a «link verb + noun or adjective»), e.g.

And where care lodges, sleep will never lie. (Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, year 1594, Early NE)

O, no! It is an ever fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken. (Sonnet 116, Shakespeare, 1608 year, Early NE)

Thy beauty shall no more be found (To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvel, 1681 tear, Late NE)

In statements, the order «subject – predicate – indirect object – direct object» has been established. As a result, the position of a noun (and not its case inflexion as in OE) shows whether it is the subject or the object, and in the latter case, whether it is direct or indirect, e.g.

I gyve and bequeth unto my (sonne and) daughter Judyth one hundred and fyftie pounds of lawfull English money… (Shakespeare’s will, 1616 year)

In most questions, inversion has become the rule, i.e. the verb is placed before the subject. Owing to the abundance of analytical forms of the verb and compound predicates this inversion does not break the established word order since only a part of the predicate (the auxiliary, modal or linking verb) is moved, while the notional part of the predicate remains in its fixed position after the subject.

The auxiliaries «do», «does», «did» in statements like «do write» (for write), «does write» (for writes), «did write» (for wrote) used in Early NE, in Late NE have been restricted to the expression of interrogation, negation and emphasis.

In Early NE, several negative words could still be used within one predicative group.

Different stages of the development of negative and interrogative constructions can be found in the works of Shakespeare. There are several negative words like «I never writ, nor no man ever loved» (Sonnet 116).

There are mononegative constructions without «do», e.g.

You know not how to choose a man. (Romeo and Juliet). Put up your swords. You know not what you do (Romeo and Juliet).

Alongside there are modern negative constructions with «do», e.g.You say, you do not know the lady’s mind (Romeo and Juliet).

Sometimes in the same sentence different kinds of negation are used, e.g. Speak not, reply not, do not answer me! (Romeo and Juliet)

Since the middle of the XVII c., multiple negations began to decline and gradually became a feature of dialect and non-literary speech.

The same is true of interrogative structures, e.g.

alongside of such questions as «Why, how know you that I am in love» (Two Gentlemen of Verona) there is «My noble uncle, do you know the cause?» (Romeo and Juliet)

One of the characteristic features of the NE period has been the development of structural substitutes (there, it, one, do and others), e.g.

There is no armour against fate (James Shirley, 1659 year) – structural subject;

How vain it was to boast (Edmund Waller, 1645 year) – structural subject;

Cherry – ripe, ripe, ripe I cry, full and fair ones come and buy (Robert Herrick, 1648 year) – noun substitute;

Then, since the case so stands as now it doth ( verb substitute)

I think it best you married with the county (Romeo and Juliet) – structural object

In the XV-XVI cc there was a considerable growth of the objective infinitive construction, e.g. Thou, Julia, hast metamorphosed me,

Made me neglect my studies, lose my time (Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1594, Early NE);

The master saw the madness rise (John Dryden, 1697 year, Late NE)

It is also typical of Early NE to replace impersonal constructions by personal. In the XVc. the verbs happen, seem, think, like, lack, need, remember, ought (which had been used in impersonal constructions) began to become personal.