THE SYNTAX OF THE COMPLEX SENTENCE CAMELIA BEJAN Editura Credis Bucuresti, 2001 Acest volum este numai pentru uz intern şi este destinat studenţilor Facultăţii de Litere, învăţământ de zi, la distanţa şi cu frecvenţă redusă, care studiază sintaxa frazei prin subordonare INTRODUCTION The workbook is designed for use in conjunction with other course material, or on its own for intensive work specifically on the syntax of the complex sentence It incorporates comprehensive practice on the main topics in the study of the syntax of the complex sentence in a variety of types of exercises, to which notes are added whenever it was felt necessary Grammar is treated mostly at sentence level We hope that the subject index, the study lists, and the glossary will make the book accessible to the students working on their own The Author CONTENTS Clause Types………………………………………………… The That Complement Clause……….……………………… 2.1 Reported Speech……………………………………21 2.2.The Sequence of Tenses …………………… 23 2.3 The subjunctive in that complement clauses……….26 The Infinitive Complement Clause……………………… 28 3.1 Control Predicates………………………… …… 35 3.2 Nominative / Accusative + Infinitive………………36 3.3 Nominative / Accusative + Participle………………42 The Participle…….……………………………………………42 The Gerund… …………………………………………… …55 Verbs used either with an –ing clause or with a to-infinitive 61 The Relative Clause……… …………………………… ……77 The Indirect questions………………………………………….90 The Adverbial Clauses………………………………….…… 95 10 Revision of embedded and subordinate clauses………….… 113 Key to exercises………………………………………… ……115 Glossary…………………………………………………… … 114 REFERENCES………………………………………………… 121 CLAUSE TYPES CLASSIFICATION: By the number of formal predications sentences are generally classified in: Simple sentence He heard an explosion Compound sentence He heard an explosion and phoned the police Complex sentence When he heard an explosion, he phoned the police Clauses in a complex sentence are defined in relationship to one another as: - main clauses (matrix, superordinate) - dependent clauses (embedded / subordinate) By the form of the verb, clauses in a complex sentence are classified as: finite, non-finite (infinitival, (present / past) participial, gerundial), verbless clauses I Classify the bracketed clauses as finite or non-finite, and if non-finite as infinitival, present-participial or pastparticipial Identify the type of construction of which the following clauses are an immediate constituent: Model: [NP The girl [sitting in the corner]] is my friend The bracketed clause is non-finite, present-participial, clause within a NP People [living in London] have many advantages [Why she did it] is a mystery It was unable [to walk] He kept [ringing me up in the middle of the night] The idea [that it might be dangerous] had never occurred to her They are very keen [for her to have a second chance] You’re going to be in trouble [whatever you do] II Decide whether the following dependent clauses are full clauses, reduced or verbless: Because he was sick, the boy didn’t go to school Although very young, he works as hard as an adult Once a farmer, always a farmer Although hired as a bookkeeper, she also does secretarial work Whether true or false, the story should not have been repeated Since agreed on by the majority, this measure will be carried out If meeting with too many unexpected difficulties, he will abandon the project III Divide the following complex sentences into main (matrix) clauses and dependent clauses: Model: She was apprehensive that the injection might be painful She was apprehensive [ that the injection might be painful] main clause dependent clause The committee accepted that neither of the two ministers had acted dishonestly They think that it is regrettable that John has left It was concluded that the aircraft was flying at the maximum permitted speed when the leading edge of the wing opened up, ripping the wing apart At one time it was believed that an addict couldn’t quit until she hit bottom and lost everything That’s true for many people but, it turns out, not for everyone It is understood that damage estimated at more than a hundred thousand pounds has been caused to furniture, fittings and equipment in the Embassy building It never entered her head that their divorce would go through without a financial settlement having been made III Extraposition involves movement of the complement clause and insertion of the expletive pronoun ‘it’ Extrapose the bracketed clauses: Model: [That she shan’t be here] is more than likely It is more than likely [that she shan’t be here] expletive pron extraposed clause [That he had been lying] was obvious to everyone [(For you) to change your mind now] would be a mistake He found [to talk things over with her] a great help [Why he did it] remains unclear [To see them behave like that] makes me mad [That things will be better next year] is hoped [For you to mention it to her] would be a big mistake THAT COMPLEMENT CLAUSES I Use brackets to Identify the complement clauses and indicate the syntactic function they fulfill within the complex sentence: Model: It is unfortunate [ that you were not insured] main clause embedded that-complement clause The complement clause functions as a subject for the predicate in the main clause A It is regrettable that John has left The point is that we are leaving now It occurred to me that she might be lying The rumour that prices were going to rise led to a rush on the shops I am quite hopeful that I’ll get the job We were all amazed that the city could charge so much for a parking ticket I must say, it doesn’t really surprise me that the company went bankrupt It was astonishing that Sally could manage to two jobs and still have time for a social life There is startling new evidence that the hole in the ozone layer may be much worse than was at first thought 10 Many women are conscious that they are being exploited 11 I appreciate that you’ve had more than your fair share of bad luck recently 12 Doesn’t it worry you that Stephen spends so much time away from home ? 13 You can rest assured that there are no additives in his food 14 I helped you to get this job so it’s important to me that you make a success of it 15 Remind your father that we have visitors tonight 16 It is a scandal that the racket was allowed to go undetected so long 17 It turned out that nobody remembered the address 18 Police chiefs are confident that the case will be solved soon B But if you arm the police isn’t the likelihood that more criminals will go armed? It’s a common belief that one of the ways in which men and women differ emotionally is that women experience a strong drive to become mothers 10 11 The plan would have gone off very well, save that one of the officials became very greedy 12 Seeing that it’s getting dark, we’d better go inside 13 He travelled through half the world so (that) he might see her once again 14 The furniture arrived damaged, so (that) we had to send it back XXVII Read the following examples and have fun with the movie stereotypes then: a comment on the structure of the complex sentences: A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wound When paying for a taxi, don’t look at your wallet as you take out a bill, just grab one at random and hand it over It will always be the exact fare Any person walking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending phone conversations Even when driving down a perfectly straight road it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts, your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds, unless it’s the door to a burning building with a child trapped in it If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St Patrick’s day parade at any time of the year 111 Once applied, lipstick will never rub off – even while scuba diving 10 If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear b state the syntactic function of the non-finite infinitival clauses: It is easy for anyone to land a plane proving there is someone in the control tower to talk you down The Chief of Police will always suspend his star detective, or give him 48 hours to finish the job A single match will be sufficient to light up a room the size of RFK Stadium It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communications systems of any invading alien civilisation Police Departments give their officers personality test to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite c comment on the adverbial clauses: If you need to reload your gun, you will always have more ammunition even if you haven’t been carrying any before now A detective can solve a case once he has been suspended from duty Should you wish to pass yourself as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language A German accent will When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family even though their husband and children never have time to eat it 112 Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects the character at the precise moment that they are watching REVISION OF EMBEDDED AND SUBORDINATE CLAUSES I Analyse the structure of the following complex sentences: Many passengers complained that once they emerged from the train, there were no emergency personnel to greet them The opponents of this view countered that the unwillingness to carry out strategic attacks would weaken deterrence by showing a lack of resolve Once I realized how much time I was spending at work, and how little I was enjoying life, I decided that things had to change We soon discovered that almost everything we had hidden had been found, and either carried off or wantonly destroyed Rigid with fear, Jessica remembered that the window was open Research shows that the more children are hit, the more likely they are to be aggressive themselves Federal law requires that consumers be informed whenever an investigative report is ordered I propose that we examine two basic trends, moving in opposite directions Since sound is actually the motion of molecules, it follows that the fastest speed with which the air molecules can get out of the way is the speed of sound 10 It happened that we had a number of very competent women so it was not difficult to pick a woman to it 11 How did it come about that a man so shrewd and wise as David should fall for such a blatantly obvious confidence trick? 113 12 A policeman said it appeared that the bag had contained two tubes filled with pieces of lead which flew into the air injuring eleven people 13 This doesn’t necessarily mean that sport can improve your emotional health; it could simply be that people with a more extrovert personality are more likely to enjoy sports in the first place 14 The bigger the cost, the more it matters that the money should not be wasted 15 It is to his credit that the bitterness he felt over his recent failure did not alter his determination to carry out his regimental duties to perfection 16 It is rumoured that his farmhouse resembles a fortress, with a panic-button to alert the police in the event of intruders breaking in 17 Though it cannot be denied that appearance is the first step towards attraction, it is similarity of attitude that is often a deciding factor when it comes to pursuing a relationship 18 When word got out that we had spent nearly $1.6 million on a single sixty-second commercial, irate shareholders began firing off letters 19 It was concluded that the aircraft was flying at the maximum permitted speed when the leading edge of the wing opened up, ripping the wing apart 20 At one time it was believed that an addict couldn’t quit until she hit bottom and lost everything That’s true for many people but, it turns out, not for everyone 21 It is understood that damage estimated at more than a hundred thousand pounds has been caused to furniture, fittings and equipment in the Embassy building 22 It never entered her head that their divorce would go through without a financial settlement having been made 114 KEY TO EXERCISES Reported speech III killed/ kills, could not / cannot swam / swim became / become drowned / drown could / can would be would oppose produced 10 was 11 is 12 will have vanished 13 have captured 14 launched 15 took 16 had boasted 17 would never give up 18 have 19 can 20 failed 21 make/ have made 22 is 23 would be 24 could / can 25 had received 26 would now be 27 had so far invested 28 were 29 had been 30 had not only been 31 was 32 have since been 33 has happened 34 is/ has been 35 sacrifices/ has sacrificed/ is sacrificing 36 had been 37 had since lived/ been living 38 had said 39 no longer insisted/ was no longer insisting 40 was 41 admits/ has admitted 42 was 43 was 44 were normally/ would normally be 45 is 46 awarded 47 believed 48 is not 49 really matters 50 have had 51 had been 52 came 53 was 54 was 55 have lived / been living The Infinitive IV to be gardening, fishing, to have had, be injured, to believe, to be stopped The Participle XI 1a, c/ d, b / c, a, c, b, c, d, b, 10 b/ c, 11 b/ c XVI reading open lying to be suffering to finish standing holding getting 10 to get 11 to lend 12 running 13 fishing 14 to meet 15 to use 16 borrowing 17 running 18 to find 19 voting 20 21 go 22 say 23 saying 24 to say 25 to see 26 sightseeing 27 fishing 28 to mean 29 working 30 write 31 watching 32 click 33 approaching 34 stop 35 beating 36 loitering 37 to tell 38 to be 39 creeping 40 to know 115 Verbs used either with an –ing clause or with a to-infinitive II criticising to think doing to to say applying looking after to think skiing/ to ski 10 to turn 11 to become 12 to interest 13 trying 14 to tell 15 giving up 16 to form 17 to think 18 eating 19 (to) take 20 to stop 21 snoring 22 sleeping 23 being 24 being 25 to keep 26 smoking/ to smoke 27 to deteriorate 28 writing 29 posting 30 to get 31 trying 32 to convince 33 to say 34 changing 35 to think 36 going 37 criticising/ to criticise 38 to think 39 to cut 40 cutting Adverbial clauses IV cause degree (extent) 3.4.5 exception cause, extent, manner time cause exception 10 condition 11 exception 12 cause 13 purpose 14 result V degree (extent) time condition cause time 6.7.8 purpose condition 10 purpose 11 condition 12 cause 13 purpose 14 cause 15 exception 16 contrast (concessive) 17 cause 18 exception 19 contrast (concessive) 20 cause 21 contrast (concessive) 22 cause 23 cause 24 contrast (concessive) XXVI since when so … that so that as since/ as who fact that 116 GLOSSARY ADJUNCT: an optional constituent of a sentence such as the adverbs of time, place, frequency, degree, manner, purpose, etc or a subordinate clause She met him at the museum She met him when she visited the museum ANTECEDENT: an expression which is referred to by some pronoun or anaphor Thus, John is the antecedent of the anaphor himself in a) and in b) the antecedent of the pronoun whom is someone a John cut himself shaving b He is someone [ whom we respect] ARGUMENT: a NP or a clause required by a predicate [NP I ] believe [NP Mary] I believe [CP that she tells the truth] The verb ‘believe’ functioning as a predicate requires two arguments to form a correct sentence in English The arguments are realised either by NPs or by clauses BRACKETING: a technique for representing the categorial status of an expression The phrase is enclosed in square brackets, and the lefthand bracket is labelled with an appropriate category symbol: [NP the student] 117 CLAUSE: the basic sentence unit consisting of a predicate and one or more argument NPs or clauses A clause forms a simple sentence or is part of a complex sentence: a I believe the story The verb ‘believe’ takes two argument NPs ‘I’ and ‘the story’ to form a simple sentence b I believe [ that she is a good writer] main clause + embedded clause The verb ‘believe’ takes two arguments: the Subject NP ‘I’ and the Object clause ‘that she is a good writer’ The Object NP has been replaced by a clause CLEFT CONSTRUCTION: a construction whose members are derivable from more elementary clauses by dividing –‘cleaving’them into two parts, one of which is highlighted, while the other is subordinated in the form of a relative clause having the highlighted element as antecedent For example, the sentence: Mrs Smith gave Mary a dress can be turned into the following cleft sentences: It was Mrs Smith who gave Mary a dress It was Mary that Mrs Smith gave the dress to It was a dress that Mrs Smith gave to Mary Structure: It + be + emphasized constituent + relative clause COMPLEMENTISER: an element such as that and for, or sometimes a covert category that introduces a complement clause: It is strange [ that I should be talking to you here] 118 It is strange [ for me to be talking to you here] I guess [ he is a good student] COMPLEX SENTENCE: a sentence containing at least a subordinate clause: I know [ that she works very hard ] COMPOUND SENTENCE: a sentence containing two or more main clauses: [ He’s rather lazy ] but [ she works very hard ] CONSTITUENT: a word or group of words functioning as a unit in a larger construction CONTROL PREDICATES: three-place predicates in the main clause whose arguments control the reference of the Subject of the infinitive DEPENDENT CLAUSE: a clause other than the main clause of a sentence DISTRIBUTION: a set of positions in which a particular category can occur EMBEDDED CLAUSE: a dependent clause functioning as the argument of a predicate: Teresa denied [ that any money was missing] EXTRACTION: an operation by which one constituent is moved out of another Thus in: Who you think [he saw ]? 119 The pronoun who has been extracted out of the position marked – in the bracketed clause, and moved to the front of the overall sentence EXTRAPOSITION: a syntactic process which moves a clause functioning as subject (or direct object / prepositional object) to the right, to a position beyond the main predicate It also involves the addition of a dummy pronoun (it) which takes over the vacated subject position as in: [That he had been lying] was obvious to everyone It was obvious to everyone [that he had been lying] [To change your mind now] would be a mistake It would be a mistake [to change your mind now] She doesn’t regret [ that she missed the concert] She doesn’t regret it [ that she missed the concert] FINITE CLAUSE: a clause with the verb in the indicative mood HEAVY NP SHIFT: movement of a longer NP constituent from its original position to the end of the construction (without insertion of the expletive pronoun it) She sold [NP a small ancient Chinese box] very quickly She sold very quickly [NP a small ancient Chinese box] Heavy NP Shift can also apply to clausal constituents: *They took [CP that she was a student] into consideration They took into consideration [ CP that she was a student] INDICATIVE MOOD: the mood used to express what is real or true, expressed as finite verbs in English 120 INDIRECT QUESTION: an interrogative complement clause (i.e an interrogative clause used as te complement of a word like ask, unsure, question, etc.): I wonder [ what he will do] I don’t know [if he will turn up] INFINITIVE: the uninflected form of the verb which is used when the verb is the complement of a modal auxiliary like can, or the infinitive particle to He can speak French He is trying to learn French +ing: an inflectional suffix which has two main roles: a it can serve as a progressive suffix which produces the participle: He was smoking b it can serve as a suffix used to derive the gerund form of a verb: She doesn’t approve of my smoking a pipe INVERSION: a movement process by which the relative order of two expressions is reversed MAIN CLAUSE (also INDEPENDENT CLAUSE): the highest level clause, one which can often stand on its own as an independent clause MODIFIER: traditionally, the adjective is a modifier or modifies the noun as in tall men, and the adverb is a modifier of the verb; Eat slowly! PARTICIPLE: the +ing and +n forms of a verb are traditionally said to be participles More specifically, the +ing form (when not 121 used as a gerund) is said to be imperfective/ progressive/ present participle: He is leaving whereas the +n form is said to function as a perfective/ past participle as in (a) or a passive participle as in (b): a He has stolen them b They have been stolen PASSIVISATION: a movement operation whereby the complement of a verb becomes its subject (a) or the subject of an infinitive complement becomes the subject of a passive auxiliary (b): a The jewels were stolen b The ministers were thought to have lied to the Parliament PREPOSITION STRANDING: if a question or a relative clause contains a verb or an adjective with obligatory preposition, the pre position may be left behind, orphaned or stranded: Who(m) you depend on? Mary [ whom we depend on ] is his sister PIED-PIPING: a process by which a moved constituent drags one or more constituents along with it when it moves Thus the pronoun whom is moved to the front of the sentences in (a) and (b) but in (b) the preposition to is pied-piped along with whom Who were you talking to? To whom were you talking? PRO: represents the understood subject of an infinitive complement of a control predicate: 122 John decided [ PRO to leave] John decided [ that he should leave] PSEUDO-CLEFT CONSTRUCTIONS: clause as a Subject or complement: a sentence with a wh- [What I need ] is a good holiday A good holiday is [ what I need] [What Mrs Smith gave Mary] was a dress A dress is [ what Mrs Smith gave Mary ] Structure: relative clause + be + emphasized constituent or: emphasized consituent + be + relative clause RAISING: a syntactic process involving movement of the Subject of the complement clause into the main clause in Subject or Object position As a result, the complement clause becomes non-finite: They believe [ that the story was true] They believed the story [ to be true] The story was believed [ to be true] RELATIVE CLAUSE (also ADJECTIVE CLAUSE): a clause embedded in a noun phrase and usually modifying the head noun [NP The man [who is reading the newspaper]] is my father Head relative clause SOT ‘Sequence of tenses’: a set of rules regulating the use of tenses in the complement clause depending on the tense of the main verb SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD: the mood expressed with uninflected verbs in English finite clauses, used to indicate that the situation is hypothetical or that it is dependent on some other situation or that action is recommended 123 They recommended to us [that we should read that book] SUBORDINATE CLAUSE: a dependent clause functioning as an adjunct – grammatically, an optional clause: The family returned to the villa after the car had broken down SUBORDINATORS: members of a closed class of words defined precisely by their role in marking clause subordination: when, if, because, etc TOUGH MOVEMENT: movement of a non-subject constituent of an infinitival clause into the subject position of its main clause: It is a pleasure [to teach her ] Shei is a pleasure [ to teach t i ] TRACE: a [t] is used to mark a slot from which a constituent has been moved Wh-movement: a type of operator movement whereby an expression containing a wh-word (who, which, whet, where, when, etc.) is moved to the front of a particular clause Wh- phrase: a phrase containing a wh-word: [ whose book ] did you buy? 124 REFERENCES *** 1996, Grammar Patterns 1: Verbs Harper Collins Publishers, London CHAMBERLIN D., WHITE G., 1978 , Advanced English for Translation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge CORNILESCU, A , 1996, Accuracy and Fluency, Institutul European, Iasi DOWNING, A and P LOCKE 1995, A University Course in English Grammar Phoenix ELT, Hertfordshire FRANK, M , 1993, Modern English A Practical Guide Second edition Regents/Prentice Hall, New Jersey GETHIN, H., 1992, Grammar in Context, Proficiency Level English, Nelson, London GRAVER, B.D., 1995, Advanced English Practice, Third edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford JACOBS, A.R 1995 English Syntax A Grammar for English Language Professionals Oxford University Press, Oxford SWAN, M., 1995, Practical English Usage, Oxford University Press, Oxford THOMPSON, A J., MARTINET A V., 1980, A Practical English Grammar, Oxford University Press, Oxford VINCE, M., 1994, Advanced Language Practice, Heinemann, Oxford 125 [...]... readings for the sentence Explain where the difference lies: It would be pleasant for Martians to land in Las Vegas CONTROL PREDICATES I Discuss the co-reference relationship of the PRO subject of the infinitive with the arguments in the matrix clause: Model: The guard asked the prisoner to leave the room The guard asked the prisoneri [ PROi to leave the room] 35 DO PRO is co-referent with the DO of the verb... long As a consequence they prefer to move the complement clause towards the end of the complex sentence; in other words the CP has to move towards the end by jumping over the PP 1 We are certain from what we know of late 16 th century architecture that the chapel was built at that time 2 The police officer told a surprised group of drivers that the freeway was closed until further notice 3 Although... whispered shyly 14 .……he said callously THE SEQUENCE OF TENSES IN THAT COMPLEMENT CLAUSES I Explain the following exceptions to the rules of the SQT in terms of shift of domain or shift of temporal perspective: 1 The Secretary of labour stated the other day that in the past couple of months there have only been 200 lost man days 2 Bill told me yesterday that the situation has not improved yet 3 I have... (53 be) offered and she (54 be) acquitted ‘But I (55 live) under a cloud of suspicion until this very day.’ * The use of the past tense here is idiomatic; in meaning and in its influence as a reporting verb upon the following tenses it is the equivalent of 'Do you know ?’ 25 THE SUBJUNCTIVE IN THAT COMPLEMENT CLAUSES I Justify the use of the subjunctive and state the syntactic function of the following... was annoyed]? 15 The complement clause functions as a DO for the verb in the main clause The typical position of the DO is immediately after the verb, but the resulting complex sentence sounds unnatural and rather difficult to understand: ? Did you infer [PP that she was annoyed] [PP from her sudden departure] The reason for which speakers do not accept such an order of phrases is that the complement... Grandpa promised the boys to be allowed to go to the zoo 15 They targeted major celebrities to promote the book 16 They designated him to organize a new filing system for the whole office 17 The government has already earmarked some of the troops to be called to the war zone at a moment’s notice 18 John agreed with Bill to kiss Mary 19 The police car signaled the motorist to turn left 20 The speeding car... far, don’t they? But their son Charles played rather a nasty trick on them the other day, when he pretended (4 injure) in a cycle accident that had never taken place When he told them the truth he made matters worse by saying they’d been stupid (5 believe) his story His mother was so upset by his behaviour that she wants his pocket-money (6 stop) for six months IV Comment on the use of the short infinitive:... What they should be reminded of is that the paper is due on Friday 7 What the critics failed to understand is that his art was not sacrificed to popularity Note: A pseudo-cleft sentence has the following structure: relative clause + BE + that-complement clause [What … ] is [that ……] [What he knows] is [that she has found out the truth] It appears as a result of the reordering of the constituents of a complex. .. Mantovani confirmed today 26 The police would rather you played safe than ended up being sorry 27 I’d just as soon you put that thing away 28 It says here they have live music 29 I would rather that the theory was stated IV Passivise the verb in the main clause and comment on the resulting complex sentence: Model: People assume [that they’ll get married some day] [That they’ll get married] is assumed... wonder It is a wonder [that she managed to come] The complement clause has been extraposed, i.e extracted out of its initial (subject) position and moved to the end of the complex sentence The position which has been left empty after movement of the clause must be filled by the expletive pronoun ‘it’ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 She doesn’t regret that she missed the concert That Pam is seeking a divorce surprised