Compound Sentence

This is a brief summary of the theory in "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language", by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik


HELLO, EVERYBODY!

Today we are going to learn about the 

WHAT IS A COMPOUND SENTENCE?

As you know, compound sentences are the ones that contain two or more INDEPENDENT CLAUSES.

In a compound sentence, there is NO single main clause, with subordinate clauses depending on it: ALL THE CLAUSES ARE OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE and can normally stand on their own, though of course they follow a logical order as required by the context. We often refer to clauses in a compound sentence as CO-ORDINATE MAIN CLAUSES. 

👉Jimmy fell off his bike BUT he was unhurt.

SYNDETIC AND ASYNDETIC COORDINATOR

SYNDETIC (or "linked") coordination is marked by clear signs of coordination, i.e. the coordinating conjunctions:

👉Mum AND dad arrived this morning.

An easy way to remember the coordinating conjunctions is through the acronym F.A.N.B.O.Y.S.:

ASYNDETIC (or "unlinked") coordination is not as clearly marked, using instead the COMMA and SEMI-COLON to join clauses.

👉Mum, dad, grandpa, the cousins, everyone arrived this morning.

Punctuation within sentences can be tricky; however, if you know just a few of the following rules, you'll be just fine. 

Let's revise the uses of the COMMA and the SEMI-COLON:

THE COMMA

Examples:

👉I have painted the entire house, but she is still working on sanding the floors.

👉I painted and she sanded.

👉I have painted the house but still need to sand the floors. 

THE SEMI-COLON

Examples:

👉 I have painted the house; I still need to sand the floors.

👉 We had a reunion with families from Salt Lake City, Utah; Los Angeles, California; and Albany, New York.

💥There is also "POLYSYNDETIC" coordination. In a construction with AND or OR which has MORE THAN TWO CONJOINS, the COORDINATOR (and, or) is REPEATED every time, instead of replacing some of them by commas.

👉The wind roared, AND the lightning flashed, AND the sky was suddenly as dark as night.

You may think, "Why do I need to know this? I'm probably never gonna use it." Well, you might. Many people used it in literature, and even in movies.

An example of POLYSYNDETIC COORDINATION or POLYSYNDETON is this extract from Quentin Tarantino's movie "Inglorious Basterds":

For those who didn't understand the speech in the video, here's the script👇

COORDINATION

When there is coordination, the relation between the two linguistics units without a change of meaning.

e.g. Robyn studies at the university and Victor works at a factory.

= Victor works at a factory and Robyn studies at the university.

💥We may take into account that this depends on many factors and it's sometimes impossible to change the order, for example in the following sentence:

He died and was buried in the cemetery.

≇ He was buried in the cemetery and he died. (The latter is a crime!! 😜)

COORDINATORS: SYNTACTIC FEATURES

Now let's discuss the syntactic features of central coordinators as CLAUSE LINKERS:

💥Clause coordinators AND, OR  and BUT  are restricted to clause-initial position:

        👍John plays the guitar, AND his sister plays the piano.

        👎John plays the guitar, his sister and plays the piano.

💥Coordinated clauses are sequentially fixed:

Clauses beginning with the coordinator are fixed in relation to the previous one:

     👍They're living in England, OR they're spending a vacation there.

     👎OR they're spending a vacation there, they're living in England.

💥Coordinators are not preceded by a conjunction:

   👍He was unhappy about it, AND YET he did as he was told.

   👎He was unhappy about it YET AND he did as he was told. 

💥Coordinators can link clause constituents:

     👍[I may see you tomorrow] OR [I may phone later in the day].

     👍I may [see you tomorrow] OR [phone later in the day].

💥Coordinators can link subordinate clauses:

👍💥He asked to be transferred [because he was unhappy], [(because) he saw no prospect of promotion] AND [(because) conditions were far better on the other office].

💥Coordinators can link more than two clauses:

AND and OR can link more than two clauses, and the construction is called "multiple coordination".

👍The battery may be disconnected, the connection may be loose, OR the bulb may be faulty.

THE USES OF COORDINATORS

The uses of

AND is the coordinator which has the most general meaning and use.
The only RESTRICTION on the use of AND as a coordinator is the pragmatic one, which states that the clauses should have sufficient in common to justify their combinations.

Now, let's see the uses:

1. CONSEQUNCE or RESULT:

     👍He heard an explosion, AND (therefore) he phoned the police.


2. SEQUENCE:

      👍I washed the dished AND (then) I dried them. 


3. CONTRAST:

     👍Robert is secretive AND (in contrast) David is candid.



4. CONCESSION:

     👍She tried hard AND (yet) she failed.


5. CONDITION:

      👍Give me some money AND (then) I'll help you escape.


6. SIMILARITY: 

  👍A trade agreement should be no problem, AND (similarly) a cultural exchange could be easily arranged.


7. "PURE" ADDITION:

   👍He has a long hair AND (also) he often wears jeans.


8. COMMENT or EXPLANATION:

   👍They disliked John - AND that's not surprising in view of his behaviour. 



💥Of the 8 types of connotation AND has, in only three - 3, 6, and 7 - can the sequence of clauses perhaps be reversed without changing the relationship between clauses.


The uses of

OR introduces an alternative. 

EXCLUSIVE ALTERNATIVE:

      👍You can sleep on the couch in the lounge OR you can go to a hotel

INCLUSIVE ALTERNATIVE:

   👍You can boil an egg, (OR) you can make some sandwiched, OR you can do both.


CORRECTIVE:

   👍They are enjoying themselves, OR (at least) they appear to be enjoying themselves.

NEGATIVE CONDITION:

     👍Give me some money OR (else) I'll shoot.


The uses of

BUT expresses a contrast which could usually be alternatively expressed by AND and followed by YET. The contrast may be in the unexpectedness of what is said in the second conjoin in view of the content of the first one.

    👍John is poor, BUT he is happy.

      

      [=John is poor AND YET he is happy.]

CORRELATIVE COORDINATORS

It emphasizes the ADDITIVE meaning of AND. It separates and puts them on the same footing, thereby dissociating the conjoins from the consequential or sequent relation that might otherwise be implied.

    👍David loves Joan AND (therefore) wants to marry her. 

    👍David BOTH loves Joan AND wants to marry her.

💥BOTH... AND is not admissible when the conjoins are full finite clauses. There must be some kind of ellipsis.

💥BOTH... AND can be inserted if the conjoins are predicated, predication, or phrases. 

NEITHER... NOR

💥NOR and NEITHER can be used as negative additive adverbs without being a correlative pair.

💥They generally presuppose that a previous clause is negative explicitly or implicitly. 

    👍He did NOT receive any assistance from the authorities, NOR did he believe their assurance that action would soon be taken.

   👍They NEVER forgave him for the insult, (but/and) NEITHER he rid himself of the feeling of guilt for having spoken in that way.

RESTRICTIONS ON CORRELATIVES

👎The use of correlatives in unacceptable when there are more than two conjoins.

👍Correlative coordinators should introduce constituents of equivalent function and status.

👍The first correlative word BOTH, EITHER, etc., can occur only at a point which is the beginning of a phrase.

NOT ONLY... BUT ALSO

    👍He did not come to help BUT to hinder us. 

    👍They NOT ONLY broke into his office and stole his books, BUT (they) (ALSO) tore his manuscripts.

TYPES OF SIMPLE COORDINATION

COORDINATION OF CLAUSES

💥ADVERBIAL clauses

    👍If you pass the examination AND (if) no one else applies, you are bond to get the job.

💥NOMINAL THAT-clauses

    👍The Minister believes that the economy is improving AND (that) unemployment will soon decrease.

💥NOMINAL WH-clauses

    👍I didn't know who she was OR what she wanted.

💥RELATIVE clauses

    👍Someone who knows the area, BUT whose home is outside it, is more likely to be a successful representative.

💥TO-INFINITIVE clauses

    👍I've asked him to come this evening OR (to) phone us tomorrow.

💥-ING PARTICIPLE clauses

    👍Samantha is fond of working at night AND getting up late in the morning.

💥-ED PARTICIPLE clauses

    👍All the villagers helped to rebuild the houses damaged by the storm OR washed away by the floods.

COORDINATION OF PREDICATES

    👍Peter ate the fruit AND drunk the beer.

COORDINATION OF PREDICATION

    👍Most people WILL HAVE read the book OR seen the film.

COORDINATION OF NOUN PHRASES AND THEIR CONSTITUENTS

NOUN PHRASE as SUBJECT

    👍[Some of the staff,] AND [all of the students] have voted for these changes.

NOUN PHRASE as OBJECT

    

    👍On this farm they keep [cows,] [sheep,] [pigs] AND [a few chickens.]

NOUN PHRASES as SUBJECT COMPLEMENT

    

    👍Lucy Goldwing is [a well-known broadcaster] AND [the winner of the Novelist of the Year Award of 1978].

NOUN PHRASES as PREPOSITIONAL COMPLEMENT

    👍The plan was opposed BY [Frederik,] [Mary] AND [me].

NOUN OHRASES IN APPOSITION

    👍Jane plays three instruments: [the piano,] [the viola] AND [the French horn].

COORDINATION OF PARTS OF NOUN PHRASES

    👍They sell [manual] AND [electric] typewriters.

    👍[Your son] AND [your daughter] look so much alike.

COORDINATED HEADS

    👍a [knife] AND [fork]

    👍his [wife] AND [child]

COORDINATED PREMODIFIERS

    👍He specializes in selling [old] AND [valuable] books.

COORDINATED POSTMODIFERS

    👍The bus [foe the Houses of Parliament] AND [(for) the Westminster Abbey] leaves from this point.

COORDINATION OF DETERMINERS AND NUMERALS

    👍[This] OR [other] books

    👍[These] AND [those] chairs

    👍[a few] OR [many] students

COORDINATION OF GENITIVES

    👍[John's children] AND [Mary's child]

COORDINATION OF POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

    👍[Your] AND [my] problems

COORDINATION OF GENITIVES WITH POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

    👍[My husband´s] name AND [mine]

COORDINATION OF VERBS AND VERB PHRASES

    

    👍Schmidt [was born,] [lived] AND [died] in the city of Vienna.

COORDINATION OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES

  

    👍The journey was [long] AND [extremely arduous].

COORDINATION OF ADVERBS ABD ADVERB PHRASES

    👍She made the announcement [quietly] BUT [confidently].

COORDINATION OF PREPOSITIONS AND PREPOSITONAL PHRASES

    👍She spoke [for the first motion] BUT [against the second motion].

ADDITIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON COORDINATION

ILL-ASSORTED COORDINATION

a) SEMANTIC

The conjunctions must match in form, function and meaning. These examples show a violation of such constraint:

  

    👍She made up HER MIND and then HER FACE. 

b)GRAMMATICAL

    👍We have WASHED, DRIED and PUT the dishes AWAY.

    👍By giving the police a pay rise, the Government hopes to STRENGTHEN and MAKE the force MORE EFFICIENT.

c) LEXICAL

    👍He was ASHAMED  and ALARMED AT the vengeful attitude of the War Cabinet.

Well, we've finished another lesson! 

I hope you find this lesson clear and useful!

Marce