Syntax 2

The Syntax of Complex Sentences

COMPLEMENTATION
Lecturer:
Zsuzsanna Ajtony PhD

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 Bibliography:

● Cornilescu Alexandra, COMPLEMENTATION IN ENGLISH, Editura

Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2003
● Cornilescu Alexandra, ENGLISH SYNTAX, THE COMPLEX
SENTENCE. Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 1982.
● Cornilescu Alexandra & Ioan Dimitriu, ACCURACY & FLUENCY.
Institutul European, Iasi, 1996.
● Huddlestone and Pullum (eds). Cambridge Grammar of English.
CUP, 2002

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 THE SENTENCE
● Classification:
- simple
e.g. My drawing was not the picture of a hat.
She is talking about simple sentences.
This bread cuts easily.

- compound
e.g. After that they could not move, and they slept for six months.
The dog dropped the envelope in Sophie’s lap, but she didn’t notice it.

- complex
e.g. Once upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet that was scarcely any bigger than
himself, and had need of a sheep…

I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes.

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 The Simple Sentence

● Definition of simple sentences:

sentences that contain a single predicate
● Classification:
a) Polarity:
- affirmative sentence
- negative sentence

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 The Simple Sentence

b) Communicative purpose (syntactic mood):

- Declarative sentences (assertions)
e.g. I like you.
- Interrogative sentences (questions)
e.g. Have you read it?
- Imperative sentences (exclamatory sentences)
e.g. Wake up!

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 The Simple Sentence
Main properties of the English sentence:
● Sentences across languages are IPs
– A root sentences requires [+Tense] – sentences are
tense-projections
– The inflection is the head of the sentence (it has agreement
features)
– The inflection - governs the predicate
- agrees with the subject
- The inflection deals with the situation time of the event
● English is a SVO language
– S always occurs pre-verbally (Nominative case is assigned
in Specifier – Head agreement)

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 Sentence configuration:

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 Sentence configuration:

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 COMPLEX SENTENCES

● Definition: which contains at least one other sentence as a

constituent
● Structure:
- main sentence/ clause
- subordinate clause
● They can be based on:
● Coordination: joining sentences of an equal rank;
● Subordination: one sentence becomes a constituent of
another sentence (embedded in another sentence) –
complex sentences proper

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 The Complex Sentence

● Coordination: joining sentences by means of

conjunctions:
- simple conjunctions: basic coordinative
conjunctions: and, but, or
- complex (correlative) coordinative conjunctions:
both … and; either … or; neither … nor; not only …
but also.
e.g. Both Peter left and Mary arrived.
Either Peter left or Mary arrived.
Neither Peter left nor Mary arrived.
Not only Peter left , but also Mary arrived.

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 The Complex Sentence

● Subordination: one sentence becomes a

constituent of another sentence; technically:
one sentence is embedded in another
sentence
● e.g. Peter left. I saw this.
I saw [that Peter left.]
Object Clause, embedded in [I saw this]
[That Peter left] is true.
Subject Clause

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 The Complex Sentence

Types of subordinate clauses (classification of

subordinate clauses)
● Different criteria:
1. functional criterion
2. structural criterion (internal structure)
3. type of licensing

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 The Complex Sentence

1. Functional criterion: subordinate clauses

may play different syntactic roles inside the
main clause
– Subject Clause obligatory constituents
– Object Clause
– Adjunct Clause optional constituents
- nominal (modifies the noun): Attribute Clause
- verbal (modifies the verb): Adverbial Clause

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 The Complex Sentence

● It is sad [that the holiday is over.]

Subject Clause
● I know [that the holiday is over.]
Direct Object Clause
● I gave it to [whoever asked for it.]
Indirect Object Clause
● He is interested in [my buying his car.]
Prepositional Object Clause
● The idea [that the holiday is over] saddens me.
Relative Clause
● He went into the shop [in order to buy some wine.]
Adverbial Clause of Purpose
● [Even if he is my brother,] I’ll punish him.
Adverbial clause of concession
● Go [wherever you like.]
Adverbial Clause of Place

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 The Complex Sentence
● subjects and objects are both arguments of a verb
● verbs and objects have a head-complement relation (objects
are in the first projection, subjects are not)
– Object clauses have one privilege, not shared by subjects
and adjuncts – they are governed by the verb
● Predicates are subcategorized for their ability to combine with
particular types of subordinate clauses
e.g. I enjoy [reading good books]
I enjoy [* that I read good books].
‘enjoy’ subcategorizes for a gerund
e.g. I believe [that she reads good books.]
*I believe [her reading good books.]
‘believe’ subcategorizes for a that-clause

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 The Complex Sentence

2. Structural Criterion of Classification: structurally most

subordinate clauses are CPs; the classification depends
on which elements lexically represent a CP projection (the
nature of the introductory element)
Subordinate clauses may be introduced by:
a) particles (complementizers): that, for, whether –
complement clauses
b) relative or interrogative pronouns, adverbs in spec.
position: who, what, which - wh-complements
c) subordinate conjunctions: before, after, while, although,
because, even if – adverbial subordination

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 a) Complement clauses:
● A complementizer: a C element which partly nominalizes a
clause, transforming it into an argument of the predicate
● THAT-complements: finite complements (indicative or
subjunctive)
e.g. I know that he is here.
I wish that you should do it.
● INFINITIVE-complements: non-finite complements (for-to
constructions)
e.g. I would like [for you to succeed.] – FOR-TO construction
I believe [him to be rich.] – Acc.+Inf. construction
I want [to do it.] – PRO -TO construction
● -ING-complements: non-finite complements (gerunds,
participles)
e.g. I enjoy teaching English. – Object Clause
17 I was surprised at [his not showing up at the party.]
 b) Wh-complements
● introduced by relative or interrogative pronouns or adverbs
which are wh-phrases in the specifier position
There are a variety of possibilities:

1. Indirect questions (embedded questions, interrogative

clauses)
e.g. I don’t know [who left.]
I wonder [what people John invited to the party.]
2. Relative clauses
e.g. The man [whom Mary loves] is rich.
I don’t know [what books he has selected.]
[Who breaks,] pays.
[Whoever swims in sin,] shall swim in sorrow.
Show me [whatever books are for sale.]
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 3. Cleft constructions
e.g. It is John [who brought the umbrella.] – focus on John
It is John [whom Mary loves].
It is London [that I went to.]
It is to London [that I went.]
- the constituent which appears after the verb BE is an
information focus
- cleft constructions may be:
● Real cleft constructions: they have an extra subject: e.g.
It is John whom Mary loves.
● Pseudo-cleft constructions: there is no extra subject:
e.g. What Mary needs is a good job. Who he was is still
unknown.

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 c) Adverbial subordination
● It is not the main clause that governs the sub-clause, but the
conjunction (subordinate conjunction or subordinate conjunctive
phrases): before, after, while, although, because, even if, as
though
e.g. He went there although he was tired. – concessive
He went there because he was tired. – adv. of cause
He went there after he came back from the office. – adv. of
time
- Subordinate conjunctions are meaningful elements – they
assign a θ- role to the clause which they introduce
- Problem: I haven’t been there before. – adverb
DP – He came here before lunch. – prep.
IP – He came here before he had lunch. – conj.
He came after Mary’s leaving. – prep.
He came after [Mary departed.] – conj. - IP
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 The Complex Sentence

3. Type of Licensing:
It deals with the semantic integration of the subordinate within the
main clause
e.g. *I bought the book [whether he came.] –
- no way of integrating the subordinate clause into the
main clause
I bought the book [when he came.]

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 Type of Licensing

There are two semantic roles that a sub-clause can play:

1. it may be an argument of the predicate in the main clause – it
receives a θ-role (it is θ-licensed) e.g. I know this.
know < Experiencer, Theme >
I know [that he came.] – the sub-clause is θ-licensed by ‘know’
Subjects & Objects are θ-licensed
Adverbials are also θ-licensed
I will call you before [he arrives.] – the clause is licensed by
‘before’ (RT)
- all the adverbials impose interpretation on the clause that
follows
2. The sub-clause may also function as a predicate on an element
(constituent) of the main clause
I chose the red shirt. - property of the object that I chose = ‘the
shirt [which is red]’ – predicate on the shirt
- the subordinate clause functions as the subject of the
22 predication
 Complementizers: that, for, whether

Subordinate clauses are classified on the basis of the

introductory element – i.e. on the basis of the
element that fills the CP projection
As a result:
COMPLEMENT clauses: subordinates where it is the
CO head which is lexically filled;
WH-COMPLEMENTS: subordinates where the
specifier of the CO head is filled by the wh-phrase

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