The Complex Sentence

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 481.

A complex sentence is based on the syntactic relation of subordination, i.e. dependency or modification. A subordinate unit is an element of a larger unit. Thus, a subordinate (or "lower") clause is an element within the structure of a "higher" unit – a sentence. Unlike coordinate clauses, which are syntactically equal, subordinate clauses are syntactically dependent on principal clauses. A complex sentence is composed of an independent, or principal, clause and one or more subordinate clauses: There seemed a good deal of luggage, when we put it all together. (J. K. Jerome)

The syntactic connection between the clauses in a complex sentence may either be

syndetic: He found a little vicarious comfort in the idea that someone else was in the same boat. (M. R. James)

or asyndetic: I had to confess he was right. (J. K. Jerome)

Subordinate clauses can perform a wide spectrum of syntactic functions: the subject, the predicative, the object, the attribute, and the adverbial.

A clause which has the role of subject in the superordinate clause, or independent sentence, is called a subject clause:

It is not certain that you have no bargaining power. (I. Murdoch)

A predicative clause occupies the syntactic position of a predicative in a larger independent sentence:

The only possibility was that he might have forgotten about the cheque altogether. (I. Murdoch)

An object clause is one which is a complement or an object of a verb (finite or non-finite), an adjective or a stative:

I could not imagine why I had not seen her at once. (I. Murdoch)

An attributive clause modifies a nominal head and often includes a pronoun or other element whose reference is linked to it (syndetic connection):

Then I got a shock that stiffened me from head to toe. (I. Murdoch)

You never saw such a commotion up and down a house in all your life, as when my Uncle Podger undertook to do a job. (J. K. Jerome)

Asyndetic connection between an attributive clause and its head is not formally marked by subordinators: His current experiment was changing a plug on an ancient Bakelite radio his mother had given him to play with. (N. Gaiman & T. Pratchett)

If an attributive clause restricts the meaning of its head, that is it delimits the potential referent, it is usually referred to as a restrictive or defining relative clause: The man who followed could only be his father. (J. K. Rowling)

An attributive clause which does not restrict the meaning of its syntactic head is called a non-restrictive or non-defining relative clause. The reference of the head remains unchanged regardless of the presence or absence of the non-restrictive relative clause, i.e. a removal of a non-restrictive clause will destroy neither the structure nor the sense of the sentence. A non-restrictive relative clause only gives additional information or description of its head. Commas formally indicate this type of attributive clauses:

He glanced over his shoulder at the ancient tree, which was still flailing its branches threateningly. (J. K. Rowling) Mr Gregory, who happened to be in front, was feeling for the handle, and chanced to run his fingers over the panels. (M. R. James)

An adverbial clause modifies a verbal, adjectival or adverbial head. The range of semantic roles performed by adverbial clauses is rather wide:

Adverbial clauses of time:

The steward's mate had approached the quarter-deck while the doctor was speaking. (W. Collins) I was alone in the world until I met with you. (W. Collins)

Adverbial clauses of place:

I have put them all three out in the passage, where they are fighting at the present moment. (J. K. Jerome)

Adverbial clauses of manner:

She looks at him with strange eyes, as though she were seeing him for the first time. (O. Wild)

Adverbial clauses of comparison: She remembered as though it had been only yesterday the first time she had met him. (D. Cusack)

Adverbial clauses of purpose:

I have brought you here so that you may look in it, if you will. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

I was so fascinated by this discovery that I forgot all about the typescript. (I. Murdoch)

Adverbial clauses of concession:

Whatever were the secrets of her home, no eye saw them. (W. Collins) Quickly as it had risen, the wind did not fall at once. (M. R. James)

Adverbial clauses of condition:

If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger. (J. K. Rowling)

Patterns of syntactic relations are numerous and varied. Subordination may be observed at different levels. Thus, for example, clauses in a complex sentence can be subordinated to the main clause (one level of subordination) or refer to a syntactic head in another subordinate clause (two and more levels of subordination).

Homogeneous clauses can be subordinated to one and the same syntactic head in the main clause. The following sentence illustrates a complex syntactic pattern with two homogeneous object clauses subordinated to the main clause and coordinated with each other:

She only knew that a miracle had happened and that her life would never be the same again. (D. Cusack)

A sentence may contain a number of subordinate clauses referring to different syntactic heads in both the main clause and other subordinate clauses within the same sentence: Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore's pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it, when the bird burst into flames. (J. K. Rowling) The above sentence contains four subordinate clauses: two of those (an object clause and an adverbial clause of time) are subordinated to the main clause; an attributive clause (he needed) refers to the subject of the object clause; and another adverbial clause (while he was alone in the office with it) refers to the verbal element (to die) of the for-to-infinitive construction functioning as the predicative in the object clause.

Coordination and subordination can be brought together in one sentence, thus making the sentence both compound and complex at the same time. The syntactic structure of the following sentence is made up of three coordinate clauses and two subordinate clauses, the object clause (it was going to be) referring to the predicate verb of the adverbial clause (than I had thought):

It seemed a longer job than I had thought it was going to be; but I got the bag finished at last, and I sat on it and strapped it. (J. K. Jerome)

And hardly had they reached its shelter when the winged shadow had passed over once again, and men wilted with fear. (J.R.R. Tolkien) He scarcely had his two feet up on the carpet when Harriet enveloped him. (I. Murdoch) They had just dismounted to lead their ponies up the last steep slope, when suddenly Frodo stopped. (J.R.R. Tolkien)