The Structure of the Simple Sentence

A sentence is a unit that serves to convey (express) a thought, a message.

 The communicative types of the sentence:
1. The declarative sentences
They state a fact in the affirmative (утвердительная форма) or negative form and deliver a certain
message: I have just come back from a business trip.
2. The interrogative sentences
We use them to ask for information.
a) General questions
An auxiliary verb / a modal verb + S: Does it hurt much?
b) Disjunctive (Tag) questions are the short yes-no question which is added to a statement.
An affirmative statement, a negative tag: It is quite warm, isn’t it?
A negative statement, a positive tag: You didn’t know I was an artist, did you?
c) Alternative questions imply (подразумевает) a choice between two or more alternative answers.
An auxiliary verb / a modal verb + S … or ...?
Do you like tea or coffee?
d) Suggestive questions keep the order of statements but serve as questions: You are working late
tonight?
e) Special questions
We use them to ask for detailed information.
They open with an interrogative word/s – what, when, why, who, whom, whose, where, how,
how long, how often, how many, how much …
f) Rhetorical questions have a statement disguised as a question: Can anyone say what truth is?
3. The Imperative sentences express commands, prohibition, a request, an invitation, a warning, etc.:
Don’t be afraid of them.
Let’s go outside.
4. The Exclamatory sentences express ideas emphatically (выразительно): What a funny story she told
us!
 Structurally, the sentence can be:
1. Simple has only one subject-predicate unit (грамматическая основа): It snowed last night.
2. Composite (сложное)
 The structural types of the sentence:
1. Two-member = a sentence that has both the subject and the predicate:
The rain stopped.
a) Complete (полные). It has a subject and a predicate:
Where were you yesterday? – We were at the cinema.
b) Incomplete /elliptical (неполные) – one of the major sentence elements (S and P) or both of them
are missing:
Where were you yesterday? – At the cinema.
2. One-member = sentences that have only the subject or only the predicate:
What a nice view!
a) Nominal (the major element is expressed by a noun):
Silence. Summer. Midnight.
b) Verbal (the major element is expressed by an infinitive or a gerund):
To think of that!
Living at the mercy of a woman!
 The Structural types of the sentence:
1. Extended (распространенное) = besides the principal parts (the subject and the predicate) have
other words performing other functions:
Edward was most anxious to hear all the news about his family.
 2. Unextended (нераспространенное) = have only the subject and the predicate:
The rain has stopped.

The major elements of the sentence.

The Subject
The Subject is a major part of the sentence that expresses an agent (исполнитель действия), an instrument,
a recipient (получатель действия) and other participants of the action.

 Structurally:
a) Simple – expressed by one word:
It is cold today.
b) Phrasal – expressed by a word combination:
Building houses becomes more difficult.
A great number of trees were yellow.
c) Complex. It can be expressed by:
 The for-to-infinitive construction:
It was practically impossible for them to meet anybody.
 The gerundial construction:
Your being late annoys everybody.
d) Clausal – expressed by a clause:
What you say is a good piece of advice.

 Morphologically:
Subjects can be expressed by nouns, pronouns, substantivized adjectives (the rich, the poor), a numeral,
an infinitive, a gerund, etc.

“It” and existential “there” as the Subject of the Sentence.

The types of the formal Subject ‘It’
 Semantically:
1) Notional (смысловой) expresses a person or non-person:
The policeman stepped back.
a) Personal it:
Look at the cat. It is very small (It is notional here because it can be translated as он / она / оно).
b) Demonstrative it – used to point out (указывать) something. It is usually translated into Russian
by это.
It is Mr Brown.
It is the place where we met.
2) Formal (формальный) is represented by formal words it and there. Here it and there will only
perform (выполнять) a grammatical function:
a) Impersonal it – used to express time, atmospheric conditions, distance:
It’s ten o’clock.
It’s dark.
b) Introductory it – used to introduce the real subject (expressed by an infinitive, a gerund and their
constructions):
It is no use telling him about it.
It was clear that he would not come.
 It was difficult to find a suitable house.
c) Emphatic it – used for emphasis (выделение).
It is/was … who/which/that …
It was my friend who met his sister in the park.
NOTE:
Who/that – to talk about people.
Which/that – to talk about objects and animals.
d) Existential there is used to express the existence or coming into existence of a person or non-
person denoted by the notional subject.
There + be + noun phrase (+place or time):
There is a cat sitting on the windowsill = ‘There’ here is a formal subject and ‘A cat’ is
notional.

The major elements of the sentence.

The Predicate
The Predicate is the principal part of the sentence that expresses an action, state or quality of the person or
thing denoted by the subject.
Structurally, the predicate is divided into the following types:
1. Simple verbal (простое глагольное):
He is reading a book.
I have been looking for you everywhere.
It can also be expressed by set expressions and phrasal verbs:
She suddenly changed her mind.
They put off their meeting.
2. Compound (составное):
a) Nominal (именное). It consists of two parts: a link verb + predicative (nominal part):
They are tired.
They seemed tired.
The link verb can be expressed by the following verbs: be, become, grow, get, appear, look, keep,
turn, remain, stand, seem.
The predicative can be expressed by nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals, infinitives, gerunds, etc.
b) Verbal (глагольное):
The compound verbal predicate can be expressed by:
 modal verbs (may, have to …) + an infinitive:
I have to work for my living.
 modal expressions (например, be allowed to) + an infinitive:
They are allowed to be a little late.
 would, used to + an infinitive:
I used to write poetry when I was young.
During her small leisure hours, she would sit by the window or walk in the fields.
 other verbs (like those that express beginning, duration, repetition) + an infinitive / a gerund
He continued to live with his parents after his marriage.
Jack started training out at Hogan’s health farm.
 The Secondary Parts of the Sentence
I. The Object (дополнение) is a secondary part of the sentence, which completes or restricts the meaning
of a verb or sometimes an adjective or a noun.
I have written a letter.
I am very proud of it.

There are three types of Objects:

1. Direct Object is a single prepositionless object of a verb:
I wrote a poem.
2. Indirect Object is one of the two objects of a verb that has a prepositional paraphrase:
They sent me a telegram.  They sent a telegram to me.
3. Prepositional Object is introduced by a preposition:
We agreed on the plan.

II. The Attribute (определение) is a secondary part of the sentence which qualifies a noun, a pronoun, or
any other part of speech.
She has bought an interesting book.
The library of our university is very good.

It can be expressed by:

1. Adjectives: 5. Prepositional phrases:
I received an important letter yesterday. The leg of the table is broken.
2. Pronouns: 6. Adverbs:
Some magazines are lying on the table. A voice inside said: ‘Come in’.
3. Numerals: 7. Infinitives:
Two thousand tons of sugar were loaded He had a great desire to travel.
on the steamer. 8. Gerunds:
4. Nouns in the common or possessive She hated the idea of living on credit.
case:
The teacher corrected the student’s
mistakes.
The town library is closed on Sundays.

III. The Adverbial Modifier (обстоятельство) is a secondary part of the sentence which modifies a verb,
an adjective, or an adverb.

According to the meaning, the adverbial modifiers are divided into:

1. The adverbial modifiers of time: 7. … of degree and measure:
We will try it tomorrow. I quite agree with her.
2. … of frequency: 8. … of result:
He often bothered him. She is too fond of the child to leave it.
3. … of place and direction: 9. … of comparison:
I found him in the garden. John plays the piano better than Mary.
4. … of manner: 10. … of condition:
She spoke slowly. We’ll come earlier if necessary.
5. … of purpose: 11. … of concession:
I have come to discuss the matter. In spite of his anger, he listened to me
6. … of cause: attentively.
I came back because of the rain.
 12. … of attendant circumstances He sat at the table reading a newspaper.
(сопутствующие обстоятельства):

The Composite Sentence

It is a sentence that has two or more clauses. The composite sentence can be of two types:

I. The Сompound Sentence (сложносочиненное) has two or more clauses of equal rank. The
clauses are independent. The relations between them are called coordination.

[ ], [ ].
[The story was funny], [but nobody laughed].

The clauses can be connected:

1) Syndetically (с помощью союзов), by conjunctions, like and, or, else, but, or conjunctive
adverbs, like otherwise (в противном случае), however (однако), nevertheless (тем не
менее), yet (однако), still, therefore (поэтому), etc.
2) Asyndetically (бессоюзно), without conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs.

We can distinguish (выделить) the following types of coordination:

1. Copulative [ˈkɒpjuletɪv] coordination (соединительная связь):
She was familiar with the petty social problems, and they bored her.
2. Disjunctive [dɪsˈdʒʌŋktɪv]coordination (разделительная связь):
You can join us at the station, or we can wait for you at home.
3. Adversative [ədˈvɜːsətɪv] coordination (противительная связь):
The story was amusing, but nobody laughed.
4. Causative-consecutive [ˈkɔːzətɪv kənˈsekjətɪv] coordination (причинно-следственная связь):
The weather was fine, so there were many people on the beach.

II. The Complex Sentence (сложноподчиненное) has a principal (main) clause and one or more
subordinate clauses. The subordinate clause is dependent on the main clause. The relations between
them are called subordination (подчинение).

[ ], ( ).
[I see] (that you have lost the key).

The clauses can be connected:

1) Syndetically (с помощью союзов), by conjunctions.
2) Asyndetically (бессоюзно), without conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs.

Subordinate Clauses function as different parts of the sentence (like the subject, predicative, object,
attribute, adverbial modifier). Traditionally, they are divided into three groups:
I. Nominal clauses:
They function as a noun or nominal phrases. They are closely connected with the main clause (that’s
why they are not separated by a comma):

1) A subject clause functions as a subject of the main clause which has no subject of its own:
What caused the accident was a mystery.
It makes me sick the way she’s always complaining.
 2) A predicative clause functions as a predicative to the link verb within the main clause:
The question is whether we should go or stay.
I couldn’t move my legs. It was as if they were stuck to the floor.

3) An object clause functions as an object to the main clause:

We are sure she will forgive you.
They were afraid that the police would catch them.

II. Attributive clauses:

They function as an attribute to a noun or a pronoun of the main clause. This noun or pronoun is called
the antecedent (определяемое слово):
It is the only chance that we have (chance is the antecedent here).

1) Restrictive (defining / limiting / essential) clauses. They define the antecedent. The subordinate
clause can’t be omitted (опущен). We do not put commas:
The man who was here yesterday is a painter.

2) Non-restrictive (non-defying / non-limiting) clauses. They give additional information which is not
needed. We put commas in such sentences:
My car, which I bought last year, needs repairing.

Some linguists define another type:

3) Appositive clauses define an antecedent, which is usually expressed by abstract nouns like a fact,
feeling, idea, news, plan, question, reason, remark, sense, suggestion, thing, etc.:

The reason why she didn’t get the job was that her English was not very good.

III. Adverbial clauses:

They function as an adverbial modifier (обстоятельство). They modify a verb, an adjective, or an
adverb in the main clause:
He got married as soon as he left university.

According to their meaning, the adverbial clauses are divided into:

1) Adverbial clauses of time; show the time of the action expressed in the main clause (conjunctions =
when, until/till, as soon as, since, before, during, while):
They did not marry until she was forty.

2) … of place; show the place of the direction of the action in the main clause (conjunctions = where,
wherever):
He went where the doctor sent him.

3) … of cause/reason; show the cause or motivation of the action expressed in the main clause
(conjunctions = because, as/since, due to, for):
I took a taxi because it was raining.

4) … of purpose; express the purpose of action in the main clause (to, that, so that, so, in order to/so as
to, in case, for, in order that):
She went shopping to look for some new clothes.
5) … of condition; express the condition (real or unreal) which makes the action in the main clause
possible (if, unless, in case, suppose/supposing, on condition that, provided, etc.):
If I see him tomorrow, I will ask him about it.

6) … of concession (уступка); express the presence of some obstacle (препятствие) (though, although,
no matter how, however, whatever, whichever, even if, even though, even when, for all that, despite
that, in spite of the fact, etc.):
He went out in spite of the fact that he had a bad cold.

7) … of result; show the result of something (as a result, therefore, consequently, so, so/such … that):
He has such a lot of money that he doesn’t know what to do with it.

8) … of manner; express the way in which something is done/said (as if/as though):
He is acting as if he has had bad news.

9) … of comparison; express an action with which the action of the principal clause is compared (than,
as, like, as … as, so … as, as … as if):
She’s got longer hair than I have.