8.Compound sentences,their problems and classification.

1. A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more clauses coordinated with each other. A clause is part of a sentence which has a subject and a predicate of its own.

In a compound sentence the clauses may be connected:

syndetically, i. e. by means of coordinating conjunctions (and, or, else, but, etc.) or conjunctive adverbs (otherwise, however, nevertheless, yet, still, therefore, etc.).The darkness was thinning, but the street was still dimly lighted.

We can distinguish the following types of coordination:

Copulative coordination (соединит.), expressed by the conjunctions and, nor, neither ... nor, not only ... but (also). It was a nice little place and Mr. and Mrs. WitJa were rather proud of it.

Disjunctive coordination (разделительная) expressed by the conjunctions or, else, or else, either... or, and the conjunctive adverb otherwise. By these a choice is offered between the statements expressed in two clauses. He knew it to be nonsense or it would have frightened him.

Adversative coordination (противительная связь) expressed by the conjunctions but, while,1 whereas and the conjunctive adverbs nevertheless, still, yet. These are conjunctions and adverbs connecting two clauses contrasting in meaning. The room was dark, but the street was lighter because of its lamps.

Causative-consecutive coordination (причинно-следственная) expressed by the conjunctions for, so and the conjunctive adverbs therefore, accordingly, consequently, hence. Therefore, so, consequently, hence, accordingly introduce coordinate clauses denoting cause, consequence and result. There was something amiss with Mr. Lightwood, for he was strangely grave and looked ill. The compound sentence was not felt to be a sentence proper. There were at least three methods, as L. Iophic and Chahoyan (17) state, employed by the grammarians to find a way out of this difficulty: (1) to explain it away by the complete independence and the possibility of isolating each member of a compound sentence without any change of its meaning or intonation; (2) by employing new terms to express more exactly the grammatical peculiarity of this combination of sentences. The terms “double”, “triple” and “multiple” sentences were used by E. Kruisinga (36) in “A Hand-book of Present day English” and H.R. Stokoe (41). (3) by excluding this concept from the structural classification of sentences.

The analysis of compound sentences show that clauses of a compound sentence are usually connected more closely than independent sentences. According to M. Blokh (7) “in these sentences the clauses are arranged as units of syntactically equal rank, i.e. equipotent” (p.296). But more close examination of these type of sentences shows that:

1. The order of clauses is fixed.

1.1. He came at six and we had dinner together.

1.2. The two women understood one another very well, but Paul seemed to be left outside

this conversation.

1.3. Every drawer in every room had been taken out, the contents spilled, the bed had been

ripped apart, pictures were off their hooks and (they) were lying on the floor.

One cannot change order of the clauses in these sentences.

2. Between clauses of compound sentences there exist certain semantic relations. And these

relations are defined by conjunctions and connectives:

2.1. Harmony or agreement (copulative relation): Her lips trembled and she put up her hand as if to steady them with her fingers.

2.2. Contrast or opposition. This relation is usually expressed by adversative conjunctions but, yet:

The conjunctions are not numerous but they are of very frequent occurrence.

2.3. The choice or alternation (disjunctive conjunction- or): Is that historically true or is it not?

2.4. Reason or consequence (or conclusion) for, so... E.g. He had apparently been working, for the table was littered with papers. There's no car available, so I shall go on foot.