English Theoretical Grammar

A subordinate clause may be subordinated to the principal clause or to another subordinate clause. Accordingly we distinguish subordinate clauses of the first, second, third, etc. degree of subordination.

According to their grammatical function subordinate clauses are divided into subject, predicative, attributive, object, and adverbial clauses.

Subject clauses perform the function of subject to the predicate of the sentence.

Predicative clauses perform the function of a predicative.

Object clauses perform the function of an object to the predicate-verb of the principal clause. An object clause may also refer to a non-finite form of the verb, to an adjective, or to a word belonging to the part of speech expressing state.

Attributive clauses serve as an attribute to a noun (pronoun) in the principal clause. This noun or pronoun is called the antecedent of the clause. According to their meaning and the way they are connected with the principal clause attributive clauses are divided into relative and appositive ones.

Attributive relative clauses qualify the antecedent, whereas attributive appositive clauses disclose its meaning.

Attributive relative clauses can be restrictive and non-restrictive or descriptive.

1. An attributive relative restrictive clause restricts the meaning of the antecedent. It cannot be removed without destroying the meaning of the sentence.

2. An attributive relative non-restrictive clause does not restrict the meaning of the antecedent; it gives some additional information about it.

A variant of the attributive non-restrictive clause is the continuative clause, whose antecedent is not one word but a whole clause.

E.g. He hasn’t helped her, which is a shame.

Attributive appositive clauses disclose the meaning of the antecedent, which is expressed by an abstract noun.

An adverbial clause performs the function of an adverbial modifier. It can modify a verb, an adjective or an adverb in the principal clause.

According to their meaning we distinguish the following kinds of adverbial clauses: adverbial clauses of time, place, cause (reason), purpose, condition, concession, result, manner, and comparison.

(b) Subordinate clauses may be substituted by various syntactic structures, both complex and simple, while retaining the semantic and modal features of the kernel structures. The transforms, therefore, may be represented by word combinations, participial, gerundial, and infinitival constructions.

Point 3. Neutralization of the opposition “hypotaxis::parataxis”.

There are cases when the difference between coordinate and subordinate clauses is so small that it is rather hard to discriminate between them with respect to both semantics and structure.

For example, cause, consequence and result may be expressed by either coordinate or subordinate clauses:

There was something wrong with him, for he looked grave and ill. (coordinate)

He is suspicious and jealous for fear anyone might oust him. (subordinate)

The phenomenon of neutralization of this kind of opposition is especially evident in attributive continuative clauses, e.g.

Drive-in cinemas are very popular in the USA, which is not the case with Ukraine.

Point 4. Problems of implicit nominalization.

Implicit nominalization refers to the structures where nominalization is implied but is not evident. It is disclosed only after respective transformations, e.g.

What he intends to do is very reasonable. – His intention is very reasonable.

Their fault was that they failed to report it. – Their fault was their failure to report it.

Theme 10. THE SUPRAPHRASAL UNITY AND THE TEXT

Point 1. The notion of the text

The general idea of a sequence of sentences forming a text includes two different notions. On the one hand, it presupposes a succession of spoken or written utterances irrespective of their forming or not forming a coherent semantic complex. On the other hand, it implies a strictly topical stretch of talk, i.e. a continual succession of sentences centering on a common informative purpose. It is this latter understanding of the text that is syntactically relevant. It is in this latter sense that the text can be interpreted as a lingual element with its two distinguishing features: first, semantic (topical) unity; second, semantico-syntactic cohesion.

A text may have the form of a dialogue, or a monologue, or both, but the two forms have a common feature: a communicative direction.

Point 2. The main categories of the text.

As a result of comparing the sentence with the supersentential constituents (or supraphrasal unities) of the text, the notion of the elementary text unit called the ‘dicteme’ is developed.

The supraphrasal unity, sometimes also called the ‘cumuleme’ is an immediate accumulation of sentences of the coordinating type.

The dicteme is an elementary unit of text topicalization, which is formed by sentences. It may coincide in volume with a sentence, a supraphrasal unity, or a paragraph.

Point 3. The problem of text grammar and stylistics

The text has been recently included in the sphere of grammatical description of the most generalized aspects of its form and semantics. Grammar studies the text from the point of view of its formation by lingual means.

Text stylistics should be differentiated from the literary term in the sense that the text stylization is a combination of stylistic features which are natural and vital for any kind of speech.