EXPANDING THE MESSAGE CHAPTER 7 Clause combinations Module 31 Clause combining 272 31 1 The complex sentence 272 31 2 The sentence as an orthographic and rhetorical unit 274 31 2 1 Clausal and non cla[.]
Trang 1EXPANDING THE MESSAGE CHAPTER 7
Clause combinations
31.2 The sentence as an orthographic and rhetorical unit 274
32.1 Syntactic relationships and semantic relationships 277 32.2 Syntactic relationships of equivalence: coordination and apposition 278 32.3 Syntactic relationships of non-equivalence: dependency and subordination 279 32.4 The semantics of clause combining: types of expansion 279
33.1.1 Clarifying connectives: restating, exemplifying and upgrading 282
33.3 Non-finite supplementive clauses: specifying and commenting 284
34.2 Contrastive dependency: while, whereas, but for the fact that 287
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Trang 2Module 35: Enhancing the message 290
35.1.2 Similar meanings expressed by coordinators and subordinators 292 35.2 Finite dependent clauses of time, contingency and manner 292 35.2.1 Finite dependent clauses and subordinators 292
35.4 Non-finite clauses expressing circumstantial meanings 296 35.4.1 Explicit markers of circumstantial meanings 296
35.5 Discourse connectivity and cohesion: Initial vs final circumstantial clauses 298
36.3 Backshift in indirect speech and thought reporting 303
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Trang 3CLAUSE COMBINING MODULE 31
31.1 THE COMPLEX SENTENCE
The highest grammatical unit is traditionally called the sentence Three possible types
of sentence are usually distinguished:
the tickets The independent clause is the unit we consider primary, in that it
comprises minimal grammatical completeness and unity
relationship of coordination, as in Sam bought the tickets and Sue parked the car.
SUMMARY
1 The term ‘sentence’ is widely used to refer to quite different types of unit Grammatically, it is the highest unit and consists of one independent clause, or two or more related clauses Orthographically and rhetorically, it is that unit which starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark
2 ‘Complex sentence’ is the term we shall use to refer to a unit consisting minimally
of two clauses of equal status, or two clauses of unequal status Coordinated clauses and those in an appositional relationship have equal status Dependent clauses have an unequal status with respect to a main clause Clauses embedded as Adjuncts are constituents of the superordinate clause in which they are embedded
3 In everyday uses of English, coordination and dependency typically interrelate
in various patterns that contribute to produce flexible and dynamic discourse
4 Clause combinations reflect the cognitive organisation of our experience into what is presented as more salient and foregrounded, and what is less salient and backgrounded
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Trang 4• The complex sentence consists basically of one independent clause and one
dependent clause, linked in a relationship of dependency, as in Sam bought the tickets,
while Sue parked the car.
In connected discourse, however, the combinations may be more complex and variable than this simple outline suggests Coordination and subordination of clauses do not necessarily occur unrelatedly, each in combination with a main clause, as illustrated in the compound and complex sentence above More often they interrelate Numerous
combinations are possible Here are two examples In 1, a combination of clauses occurs
in a report about the dangers of walking on hills:
educate people about these risks(3) if we are going to improve safety(4)
[BNC CHK 1798]
After the connective adjunct however, two coordinated clauses (1 and 2) are followed
by a unit consisting of a third coordinated clause (3) in which a subordinate conditional clause is embedded (4) as adjunct This clause ‘if we are going to improve safety’ could alternatively be placed after ‘and’ but not at the beginning of the whole complex
Round brackets enclose independent clauses, square brackets enclose subordinate clauses,
(hillwalking is largely safe) + (but there are risks) + (and we have to educate people about these risks) ⫻ [if we are going to improve safety]
Adjunct Example 2 comes from a news item and illustrates a different pattern: one independent clause with two subordinate clauses successively embedded as adjuncts:
The three clauses are organised in a hierarchical relationship An independent clause (1) encodes the main content – a boy saved the lives of his brother and two sisters yesterday Two subordinate clauses (2 and 3) encode the circumstances of time, when fire broke out, while they were alone in their home The first of these circumstantial clauses functions as A in the independent clause, the second as A in the previous subordinate clause This is a case of double, or ‘layered’ embedding:
(A boy saved the lives of his brother and two sisters yesterday)
Adjunct
Adjunct
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Trang 5Adopting a broader application of the term, we will say that a complex sentence can
consist of any number of clauses of different types and in different combinations
31.2 THE SENTENCE AS AN ORTHOGRAPHIC AND
RHETORICAL UNIT
The structural criteria outlined in the preceding section are not the only criteria which have intervened in the traditional and widely accepted concept (or concepts) of
‘sentence’ For most native speakers of English, a sentence is something that starts with
a capital letter and ends with a full stop (AmE ‘period’), a question mark or an exclama-tion mark It is, then, a category associated primarily with the written language and can
be described as an orthographical and rhetorical unit
31.2.1 Clausal and non-clausal material
We have already seen (Chapter 5) how units of lower rank than an independent clause, such as nominal and adjectival groups, as well as incomplete clauses, appear in plays, stories and advertisements between a capital letter and a full stop, functioning inde-pendently as orthographic and rhetorical sentences Such is the case with the italicised expressions in the following examples:
(freestanding subordinate clause)
(adjective-headed exclamation)
You deaf or what? (verbless clause)
The following advertisement from Newsweek uses full stops and a dash to reflect
tone units, as described in Chapter 6 Here, units 2, 3 and 4 could be combined to form one sentence, just as when analysing spontaneous speech, we can attempt to make
a distinction between clausal units and non-clausal material As a structural unit the clause is easier to identify, because of its own internal structure, as described in chapters
2 and 3
With Fax the possibilities are endless 1
It can send a document anywhere in the States within minutes 2
Including drawings, diagrams – even musical notes 3
Exactly as it’s written 4
Fax 5 Worth making a song and dance about 6
1 independent clause; 2 independent clause; 3PP or non-finite -ing clause;4 dependent clause of manner; 5 NG; 6 verbless clause
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Trang 6In this advert, only 1and2are structurally independent clauses Punctuation serves to reinforce the presentation of each rhetorical unit as if it were independent, as would be done equally clearly if the text were read aloud
To summarise, if we take the complex sentence as the highest structural unit, we can say that, structurally, the sentence is composed of clauses, but that rhetorically and orthographically it need not be Both in conversation and in texts that simulate the
spoken mode, we can find orthographic units that are clausal and others that are non-clausal The difference is one of degree, however, rather than absolute In context,
ellipted material can often be recovered, as we saw in section 29.5 With other units,
such as fax5
in the advertisement, it is not possible to recover any material with certainty Consequently this unit cannot in this context be considered clausal
31.3 DEGREES OF DEPENDENCY BETWEEN CLAUSES
We adopt the view that dependency is not an absolute property, but rather a question
of degree It has been suggested that the degree of dependency between two clauses reflects the degree of integration, as perceived or imagined by the speaker or writer, between events That is, the stronger the semantic or pragmatic connectivity perceived between two events, the stronger will be the syntactic connectivity between the clauses that encode the events
The tightest integration is that of embedding (see 3.7.3), by which one clause
functions as the constituent of another clause In previous chapters we saw that in
clause structure embedding occurs at Subject 1, Object 2, Complement 3 (Cs), 4 (Co),
5 (obligatory Locative Complement), and A (Adjunct) 6 and 7 See also 5.1.2F (p 46).
For embedding of units in nominal group structures, see Module 49
1 Why he resigned was never revealed (clause embedded at S)
Among the various types of Adjunct described in section 8.2, circumstantial Adjuncts
of time, contingency and manner are those which are most similar to the central clause constituents They are dependent on the main clause and subordinate to it Unlike clauses functioning at Object and Complement, they are optional, they are not controlled
by the verb and they occur in both initial and final positions
6 Although Ed is only seven, he plays the piano beautifully (subordinate clause as A)
as A)
The functionally based reason for analysing such clauses as Adjuncts is the functional parallelism with adjuncts realised as adverbial or prepositional phrases Compare:
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Trang 7The match was cancelled because of the rain.
The match was cancelled because it started to rain.
Like Subject and Object, they can usually be made the focus of a cleft:
It was because of the rain that the match was cancelled.
It was because it started to rain that the match was cancelled.
Circumstantial Adjuncts often appear to be more integrated into the main clause when
they occur finally, as in 7, than when they are initial, where they fulfil a framing function,
as in 6 These differences are explained and illustrated in section 35.5
More peripheral are the -en and -ing supplementive clauses (see 8.2.2) illustrated in
8 and 9, together with the so-called ‘sentence relative’ clause 10, also a supplementive.
Verbless clauses such as ‘if necessary’ are likewise peripheral All are set off from the main clause by a comma and have their own intonation contour Their function is to provide background information when they are placed initially, and supplementary details when final:
8 Built of cypress, brick and glass, the house exhibits many of Wright’s significant
contributions to architecture (-en participal clause)
9 He sat and looked at her, not knowing what to say (-ing participial clause)
[BNC HOF 2512]
10 The door may be locked, in which case go round to the back (sentence relative)
Finally, at the opposite end of the scale of dependency, we have coordinated and appositional clauses in which one clause is not subordinated to another, but has a rela-tionship of equivalence and interdependency based on similarity of function and on relevance of content
We now discuss the structural relations between combinations of clauses and also the semantic relations which unite them The latter are essential if we are to say any-thing of interest about the grammatical structure of any combination of clauses, since
a mere enumeration of main and dependent elements reveals at best only the degree
of complexity at sentence level, but not the semantic and pragmatic relations between the component clauses
Relationships between clauses, both semantic and syntactic, are most clear and explicit when a subordinator or coordinator are present Where these are absent, and especially if the dependent clause is non-finite, the relationship is less explicit The functional motivation for less explicit meanings is that, at the point at which they occur
in discourse, greater explicitness is not necessary, and economy of expression is preferred:
He has a summer job with a travel agency, guiding parties of tourists.
It’s my new timetable – to help me finish my thesis.
They advised me to emigrate – which is the last thing I’d do.
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Trang 8TYPES OF RELATIONSHIP MODULE 32
BETWEEN CLAUSES
32.1 SYNTACTIC RELATIONSHIPS AND SEMANTIC
RELATIONSHIPS
There are two kinds of relationship between clauses that together form a sentence: syntactic and semantic
The syntactic relationship is one of interdependency Clauses are related to
each other basically in one of two ways: either the relationship is one of equivalence, both or all clauses having the same syntactic status, or the relationship is one of non-equivalence, the clauses having a different status, one being dependent on another.
Coordination and apposition display relationships of equivalence, while dependency and subordination are based on non-equivalence
The semantic relations are very varied, as they represent the way the speaker
or writer conceptualises the connection made between one clause and another, at one point in the discourse Such connections do not simply link clauses within a sentence, however, but also clauses within a paragraph and paragraphs within discourse These
semantic relations can be grouped together under the heading of expansion, by which
one clause expands another by clarifying or exemplifying (elaboration); by adding or contrasting some feature (extension), or by providing circumstantial information such
as time, cause and condition (enhancement)
SUMMARY
1 The clauses which comprise a complex sentence are related in two different ways: syntactically and semantically
2 Syntactic relationships are basically of equivalence, holding between clauses
of equal status, or of non-equivalence, holding between clauses of unequal status
3 The semantic relations are grouped under the notion of expansion, by which one clause expands the meaning of another in some way
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Trang 9Both types of relationship, the syntactic and the semantic, are present in all the clausal relationships described in this chapter
32.2 SYNTACTIC RELATIONSHIPS OF EQUIVALENCE:
COORDINATION AND APPOSITION
Coordination is the syntactic relationship between units of equal status and often of similar form For this reason, a repeated part may be ellipted, as in 3 Semantically, the
contents of the two clauses have to be seen as relevant to each other in some way
The linking relationship is made explicit by the coordinating conjunctions
(‘co-ordinators’ for short) and, or and but In listing a series of elements, the explicit links
may be omitted, although the coordinator is typically retained between the last two items The coordinator can also be replaced by a comma in short conjoined clauses as
in This one’s yours, that one’s mine.
It is not only independent clauses that can be coordinated Dependent clauses may
be coordinated as long as they have the same function:
It’s much nicer here when the rain stops and (when) the sun comes out (finite
dependent circumstantial clauses as A)
She sat there, watching television and eating chocolates (non-finite -ing dependent
supplementive clauses as A)
When no explicit formal link is present, but the relationship is one of equivalence,
we have apposition, as long as a relation of relevance can be inferred This involves a kind of ‘bridging assumption’ For instance, example 1 below relies on the knowledge
that a hallmark guarantees authenticity The term ‘apposition’ is extended here from its usual application to nominal groups in order to account for this type of relationship between clauses, which is close to coordination, but without an explicit link, as seen by
comparing 2 and 3:
(coordinated clauses)
(appositive clauses)
Semantically, as such clauses have equal status, the information presented in one clause
is as important as that presented in the other or others This does not mean that such combinations are necessarily reversible
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Trang 10Syntactic and pragmatic factors frequently intervene to make reversibility impossible Three such factors are:
the first clause, as does them in 1 below;
as a result in example 2;
suggest different pragmatic interpretations:
See also section 28.13 for clauses as Themes
32.3 SYNTACTIC RELATIONSHIPS OF NON-EQUIVALENCE: DEPENDENCY AND SUBORDINATION
When units of unequal status are related, the relationship is one of dependency One
clause is dependent on another or on a cluster of clauses, as seen in section 31.1 The relationship between the clauses is therefore not symmetrical, as with coordination and apposition, but hierarchical Syntactically and semantically, the dependency relationship
is most clearly signalled by subordinating conjunctions (‘subordinators’) such as because,
although, if, as However, when no subordinator is present, as often happens with
non-finite clauses, as in Clutching her umbrella, she hurried to a bus shelter, the non-non-finite
form itself indicates dependency We here use the terms ‘dependent’ and ‘dependency’
to include subordination
32.4 THE SEMANTICS OF CLAUSE COMBINING: TYPES
OF EXPANSION
Traditional grammar has no terms for the overall semantic relationships holding between clauses, although (as we shall see) the syntactic relations are traditionally established Following the classification proposed by M A K Halliday, we shall say
that in coordinated and appositive clauses the second clause expands the first clause
by (a) elaborating, (b) extending or (c) enhancing it The same semantic relations
hold between a main and a dependent subordinate clause, no matter what position the subordinate clause occupies These combinations are shown below
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