NOTES ON THE SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE
OF THE SENTENCE
The Structure of the Simple Sentence
All words in a sentence perform definite syntactic functions. As a rule, every English sentence contains words or groups of words functioning as the subject and the predicate. Grammatical- ly, these functions are independent and equally significant in the sentence. For that reason they are called the principal parts (members) of the sentence.
Words performing all other functions in the sentence depend either on the subject (and together they form the subject-phrase of the sentence) or on the predicate (together they form the predi- cate-phrase of the sentence).
A sentence which has both the subject and the predicate is known as a two-member sentence. Most English sentences are two-member ones.
Sentences which consist of only the subject or only the predi- cate are termed one-member sentences. There are not many one- member sentences in English. We find among them:
sentences with a verb in the Imperative mood (e.g. Keep clear of the road: Step aside, please.)
some exclamatory sentences (e.g. What a nice view! How cold!)
questions expressing suggestion (e.g. Why not give him a telephone call? What about having a cup of tea?)
sentences expressing confirmation or negation (e.g. Yes. No.)
some formulas of courtesy (e.g. Hello! Good-bye! See you to night.)
Sentences built up of only the subject and the predicate are called unextended sentences (e.g. The rain has stopped. It is cold.)
Sentences in which, besides the principal parts, there are words performing other (secondary) functions are called extended sentences (e.g. Edward was most anxious to hear all the news about his family.).
For practical purposes of learning English, it is necessary and sufficient to distinguish the following syntactic functions within a simple sentence.
I. The Subject
The subject is a word or a group of words which names the person, object or phenomenon the sentence informs us about. It may be expressed by a noun, a pronoun, a substantivized adjec- tive, a numeral, an infinitive and an ing-form.
e.g. The stranger came early in February. Hospitality was a passion with him. You're not a bad fellow. This is my son Henry. Someone was singing an Italian tune. Much depends on the letter. What has become of him? It has been raining since the morning. It's hard to forget one's past.
The young often complain that the elders do not understand
them.
Two of the letters were from my uncle.
The Dutch are famous for their tulips.
The extraordinary always excites curiosity.
To know all about English is one thing; to know English is
quite another. Watching TV has become his favourite pastime.
II. The Predicate
The predicate is a word or a group of words that informs us of what is happening to the person, object or phenomenon indicated as the subject in the sentence.
The predicate differs from all the other parts of the sentence in that it relates the information contained in the sentence to reality, i.e.
it is the means of expressing predication and modality for the whole sentence. For that reason there is only one part of speech that can function as predicate — it is the verb in one of its finite forms.
A finite verb may be used in this function alone or combined with other parts of speech. Depending on the structure, predi- cates are divided into the following kinds:
1) simple verbal predicates — they consist of only a notional verb (in any tense, aspect, voice or mood form),
e.g. His words frightened me. I've given her every chance. The heavy luggage had been put in a dry place. I shouldn't think the idea so unreasonable.
To this kind also belong predicates expressed by phraseological units and set phrases which are treated as verb equivalents in this book.
e.g. They are having breakfast now. I took a walk as far as the river. She amuses herself at our expense. They have been taking care of your children long enough.
2) compound nominal predicates — they consist of a link-verb and a predicative (= a nominal part) commonly expressed by a noun or an adjective. Other parts of speech may also be some- times found in the function of predicative (see below).
The link-verb expresses all the verbal characteristics of the predicate whereas the nominal part is the main bearer of mean- ing. The most commonly occurring link-verbs are to be, to be- come, to get, to grow, to look, to seem, to turn.
e.g. He was a mining engineer by profession. The leaves are turning yellow. Dave looked surprised.
3) compound verbal predicates — they consist of a finite form and a verbal or an adjective. The meaning of the first component is very pale. It mainly serves as a finite verb and usually express- es the speaker's attitude or indicates the position/motion of the subject. The meaning of the verbal or the adjective is quite promi- nent and determines the meaning of the whole unit.
As the first component of a compound verbal predicate we find:
a) modal verbs (can, may, must, be to, have to, shall, should, will, would, ought to, need, dare),
e.g. You oughtn't to go back on your word. You should have gone to the concert. He had to tell the story to his room-mate. She must have regretted doing it.
b) verbs of seeming (to seem, to appear),
e.g. He seemed to have heard the news.
For a moment she appeared to be hesitating.
c) verbs of unexpected occurrence (to happen, to turn out, to chance, to prove),
e.g. They happened to meet at the bus-stop.
He turned out to have no feelings for his nephew.
d) some verbs of position and motion (to stand, to sit, to lie, to be in/out/away, to come, to go),
e.g. He sat staring at the letter. The boys have gone fishing. Mother is out shopping. They stood motionless with their backs to the wall.