Sentences with a dependent appendix

Under this head we will consider some phenomena which clearly overstep the limits of the simple sentence and tend towards the complex sentence, but which lack an essential feature of a complex sentence.

¹ Compare above, p. 222 ff.

256 TRANSITION FROM SIMPLE TO COMPOSITE SENTENCES

Some of these phenomena are common to English, Russian, and other languages, while some of them are typical of English alone.

In the first place, there are the phrases consisting of the conjunction than and a noun, pronoun, or phrase following an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree, as in these sentences: ...I've known many ladies who were prettier than you... (M. MITCHELL) Come cheer up: it takes less courage to climb down than to face capture: remember that. (SHAW) It would always be possible to expand this appendix into a clause by adding the required form of the verb be (or do, or, in some cases, can, etc.) Thus, for instance, the first of the above sentences can be expanded into I've known many ladies who were prettier than you are . . . arid the second into . . . it takes less courage to climb down than it does to face capture. After this change we get a clause introduced by the conjunction than and the sentence is a complex one. But that should not make us think that in the original text the verb be or do has been "omitted". There is no ground whatever for such a view. The sentences have to be taken for what they are, and classified among those intermediate between a simple and a complex sentence.

Very similar to these are the sentences containing an adjective or adverb, which may be preceded by the adverb as, and an additional part consisting of the conjunction as and some other word (an adjective, a noun, or an adverb), as in the following examples: His expression had been as bland and clear as the day without. (BUECHNER) The conduct of a widow must be twice as circumspect as that of a matron. (M. MITCHELL) In each case a finite verb might be added at the end (either be, or do, or have, or can, etc.), and then the sentence would become a complex one. But this is irrelevant for the syntactical characteristic of the original sentences, as given above. They contain something which does not fit into the pattern of a simple sentence, yet at the same time they lack something that is necessary to make the sentence complex. So it is most natural to say that they occupy an intermediate position between the two.

Now we shall consider the type of sentence containing a phrase which is introduced by a subordinating conjunction; Tristram had stood about picking up letters, arranging things, as though preparing with some difficulty just the situation he wanted. (BUECHNER) The subordinate part as though preparing is here clearly distinguished from the secondary parts expressed by participle phrases, picking up letters and arranging things. Catherine, though a little disappointed, had loo much good nature to make any opposition, and, the "others rising up, Isabella had only time to press her friend's hand and say, "Good-bye, my dear love," before they hurried off. (J. AUSTEN) It seems much better to say that the phrase though

Secondary Predication 257

a little disappointed is a subordinate part than to suppose that it is a subordinate clause, with the subject she and the link verb was ''omitted". As it is, the phrase had best be described as a loose attribute to the subject of the sentence. Compare: Such a compliment recalled all Catherine's consciousness, and silenced her directly; and, though pointedly applied to by the General for her choice of the prevailing colour of the paper and hangings, nothing like an opinion on the subject could be drawn from her. (J. AUSTEN) There are some few cases of a subordinating conjunction being used in a simple sentence, thus introducing no subordinate clause of any kind. It may be used to introduce a second homogeneous part: With these feelings, she rather dreaded than sought for the first view of that well-known spire which would announce her within twenty miles from home. (J. AUSTEN)

Sometimes a secondary part of a sentence is added on to it, connected with the main body of the sentence by a co-ordinating conjunction, although there is not in the main body any part that could in any sense be considered to be homogeneous with the part thus added. Here is an example of this kind of sentence: Denis tried to escape, but in vain. (HUXLEY) It is probably best not to suppose that anything has been "omitted" in this sentence and may be sup? plied. The sentence Denis tried to escape, but it was in vain, and possible other variants would be grammatically entirely different from the actual text.

The co-ordinating conjunction makes it difficult to term such phrases loose secondary parts of the sentence: it gives them something of a separate status. As in all preceding instances, each of the sentences might be made into a compound sentence by adding a noun or pronoun, and a link verb: Denis tried to escape, but it was in vain. The sentence thus obtained is compound, but it must not be taken as a starting point in the syntactical study of the original sentence, as given above, which is intermediate between a simple and a composite sentence.

Sentences containing a part thus introduced by a subordinating or co-ordinating conjunction are best classed as sentences with a dependent appendix.