Contents
Introduction
1. TheSentence
2.Classification of Sentences
3. The CompositeSentence
4. CompoundSentence
5. ComplexSentence
6. Types ofSubordinate Clauses
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
The theme of my course paper sounds as following: В«Types ofSentences В». Before beginning of investigation in our theme, I would like to saysome words dealt with the theme of my course paper.
Sentences with only one predication are called simple sentences.Those with more than one predication have usually no general name. We shallcall them composite sentences.
In a composite sentence each predication together with thewords attached is called a clause.
Composite sentences with coordinated clauses are compound sentences.
She's a very faithful creature and I trust her. (Cronin).
Composite sentences containing subordinated clauses are complex sentences.
If I let this chance slip, I'm a fool. (Cronin).
In a complex sentence we distinguish the principal clause (I'ma fool) and the subordinate clause (If I let this chance slip) orclauses.
Standing on such ground, I would like to point out tasks andaims of my work
1. The first task of my work is to give definition to term В«sentenceВ».
2. The second task is to give the classification of sentencesin English.
3. The last task of my work is to characterize types ofcomposite sentences.
In our opinion the practical significance of our work is hardto be overvalued. This work reflects modern trends in linguistics and we hopeit would serve as a good manual for those who wants to master modern Englishlanguage. Also this work can be used by teachers of English language forteaching English grammar.
The present work might find a good way of implying in thefollowing spheres:
1. In High Schools and scientific circles oflinguistic kind it can be successfully used by teachers and philologists asmodern material for writing research works dealing with English verbs.
2. It can be used by teachers of schools, lyceums andcolleges by teachers of English as a practical manual for teaching Englishgrammar.
3. It can be useful for everyone who wants to enlarge his/herknowledge in English.
After having proved the actuality of our work, I would liketo describe the composition of it:
My work consists of four parts: introduction, the main part,conclusion and bibliography. Within the introduction part we gave the briefdescription of our course paper. The main part of the work includes severalitems. There we discussed such problems as the types of sentences in English,their classification, the problem of composite sentences and etc. In theconclusion to our work we tried to draw some results from the scientificinvestigations made within the present course paper. In bibliography part wementioned some sources which were used while compiling the present work. Itincludes linguistic books and articles dealing with the theme, a number of useddictionaries and encyclopedias and also some internet sources.
1.The Sentence
Thenotion of sentence has not so far received a satisfactory definition, whichwould enable us by applying it in every particular case to find out whether acertain linguistic unit was a sentence or not.
Thus,for example, the question remains undecided whether such shop notices as BookShop and such book titles as English are sentences or not. In favour of theview that they are sentences the following consideration can be broughtforward. The notice Book Shop and the title English Grammar mean 'This is abook shop ',' This is an English Grammar '; the phrase is interpreted as thepredicative of a sentence whose subject and link verb have been omitted, thatis, it is apprehended as a unit of communication. According to the otherpossible view, such notices as Book Shop and such titles as English Grammar arenot units of communication at all, but units of nomination, merely appended tothe object they denote. Since there is as yet no definition of a sentence whichwould enable us to decide this question, it depends on everyone's subjectiveview which alternative he prefers. We will prefer the view that such noticesand book titles are not sentences but rather nomination units.
Wealso mention here a special case. Some novels have titles formulated assentences, e. g. The Stars Look Down, by A. Cronin, or They Came to aCity , by J.B. Priestley. These are certainly sentences, but they areused as nomination units, for instance, Have you read The Stars Look Down?Do you like They Came to a City?
Withthe rise of modern ideas of paradigmatic syntax yet another problem concerningdefinition of sentence has to be considered.
Inparadigmatic syntax, such units as He has arrived, He has not arrived, Hashe arrived, He will arrive, He will not arrive, Will he arrive, etc., aretreated as different forms of the same sentence, just as arrives , has arrived , will arrive etc., are different forms of the same verb. We maycall this view of the sentence the paradigmatic view.
Nowfrom the point of view of communication, He has arrived and He has not arrivedare different sentences since they convey different information (indeed, the meaningof the one flatly contradicts that of the other).
2.Classification of Sentences
Theproblem of classification of sentences is a highly complicated one, and we willfirst consider the question of the principles of classification, and of thenotions on which it can be based.
Letus begin by comparing a few sentences differing from each other in somerespect. Take, for example, the following two sentences:
(1)But why did you leave England? (GALSWORTHY)
(2)There are to-day more people writing extremely well, in all departments oflife, than ever before; what we have to do is to sharpen our judgement and pickthese out from the still larger number who write extremely badly. (CRUMP)
Everyonewill see that the two sentences are basically different. This is true, but verygeneral and not grammatically exact. In order to arrive at a strictlygrammatical statement of the difference (or differences) between them we mustapply more exact methods of observation and analysis.
Letus, then, proceed to a careful observation of the features which constitute thedifference between the two sentences.
1. Thefirst sentence expresses a question, that is the speaker expects an answerwhich will supply the information he wants. The second sentence expresses astatement, that is, the author (or speaker) states his opinion on a certainsubject. He does not ask about anything, or expect anybody to supply him anyinformation. This difference is expressed in writing by the first sentencehaving a question mark at the end, while the second sentence has a full stop.
2. Thefirst sentence is addressed to a certain hearer (or a few hearers present), andis meant to provoke the hearer's reaction (answer). The second sentence is not addressedto any particular person or persons and the author does not know how anybodywill react to it.
3. Thetwo sentences differ greatly in length: the first consists of only 6 words,while the second has 39.
4. Thefirst sentence has no punctuation marks within it, while the second has twocommas and a semicolon.
5. Thefirst sentence has only one finite verb (did ... leave), while the second hasthree (are, have, write).
Thesewould seem to be some essential points of ...
