The subject-predicate relationship may be found in an English
sentence not only between the grammatical subject and the finite
predicate but also in some phrases consisting of at least two ele-
ments a subject and a predicative. Such phrases, usually
known as syntactic complexes, differ from the real subject and
the predicate of the sentence in that they lack a finite verb and
therefore what is expressed in them cannot be directly related to
reality. It is done indirectly by means of the phrase being syn-
tactically connected with the predicate proper.
Syntactic complexes may be of the following kinds:
I. The Complex Object a syntactic construction which is
lexically dependent and found after a limited number of verbs in
the Active Voice (see "Verbs", 193, 222, 249; "Nouns", 21;
"Adjectives", 7). The complex object consists of a noun in the
common case or an indefinite pronoun or a personal pronoun in
the objective case serving as an object in the sentence, and a pred-
icative which may be expressed by a noun, an adjective, an ad-
verb, an infinitive with or without the particle to, an ing-form
and a participle.
e.g. His humour made him a welcome guest.
When they came they found the house empty.
I don't want any light on.
Why don't you get somebody to explain it to you?
I watched her move away from us.
I felt him looking at me now and again.
I had never before seen the game played.
II. The Complex Subject a syntactic construction which is
lexically dependent and found with a limited number of verbs in
the Passive Voice (see "Verbs", 192, 221, 248; "Nouns", 21;
"Adjectives", 7). The complex subject consists of a noun in the
common case, an indefinite pronoun or a personal pronoun in the
nominative case serving as the subject of the sentence, and a (sub-
jective) predicative which may be expressed by a noun, an adjec-
tive, an adverb, an infinitive, an ing-form and a participle.
e.g. Bob Skinner was made the leader of the team.
The door was painted green.
Everybody was found in.
They were expected to agree.
The children were left playing on the floor.
The car was last seen parked at the hotel.
III. The Prepositional Infinitive Phrase a syntactic con-
struction which consists of a noun in the common case, an indefinite
pronoun or a personal pronoun in the objective case, and a predica-
tive expressed by an infinitive. The whole of the phrase is joined to
the rest of the sentence by a preposition. Usually it is the preposi-
tion for, but sometimes the choice of the preposition is determined
by the verb the phrase depends on. (See also "Verbs", 166.)
e.g. He held out the papers for me to see.
He was looking for someone to help him.
Her whole life had been spent listening to other people talk.
They appealed to him to give up the idea.
I arranged with the woman downstairs to keep the place clean.
You can rely on Father to forget nothing.
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Prepositional infinitive phrases may perform different func-
tions in the sentence.
e.g. For him to swear was such a rarity that David was not only
shocked but thoroughly startled, (subject)
All he wanted was for me to get out of his sight, (predicative)
We were waiting for the train to arrive, (prepositional object)
The boy stood aside for us to go by. (adverbial modifier of
purpose)
I was too young for them to tell me the truth, (adverbial
modifier of consequence)
It was an easy plan for Roger to fulfil, (attribute)
IV. The ing-Complex a syntactic construction which consists
of a possessive pronoun or a personal pronoun in the objective case
or a noun in the common or genitive case, and a predicative ex-
pressed by an ing-form. (See also "Verb", 166.)
The ing-complex may perform different functions in the sen-
tence.
e.g. At first she hadn't been sure that his coming here had been
a good thing, (subject)
The only thing I am afraid of is the family being too sure of
themselves, (predicative)
That's a risk I just can't think of your taking, (prepositional
object)
He could not approve of Guy's hiding himself away, (preposi-
tional object)
Not a day had passed without that young man coming to at
least one meal, (adverbial modifier of attending circum-
stances)
Of course you understand that after John breaking his ap-
pointment I'm never going to speak to him again, (adverbi-
al modifier of time)
I ought to have realized the possibility of such a thing hap-
pening, (attribute)
V. The Absolute Construction a syntactic construction
which also consists of at least two elements a subject and a
predicative, but differs from the other syntactic complexes in
that its grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence is
much looser. It is often marked off by a comma. Absolute con-
structions function as adverbial modifiers of attending circum-
stances and description and may be joined to the sentence either
asyndetically or with the help of the preposition with or without.
The first element of the absolute construction is usually a
noun or a pronoun; the second element may be expressed by an in-
finitive, an ing-iorm, a participle, a noun with or without a prep-
osition, an adjective or an adverb.
e.g. With nothing to do, the actors stood about and made small
talk.
She ran up the stairs, her heart thumping painfully.
I wouldn't dare go home without the job finished.
He sat motionless, his hands over his eyes.
I can't sleep with the radio on.
The Structure of the Composite Sentence
A composite sentence consists of two or more simple sentences
joined together. The component parts of a composite sentence are
called clauses. The relationship between the clauses may be that
of coordination and subordination.
In the case of coordination we have a compound sentence
whose clauses are independent of each other syntactically. They
may be joined by some coordinating conjunctions (e.g. and, but,
or, yet, for, etc.) or asyndetically.
e.g. He was very busy now and they saw few of their friends.
I haven't got much news to convey but there are some things
to add.
I began to miss London, yet I was not coming back.
You can boil yourself an egg, or I'll make you a cheese sand-
wich.
He asked for food there was none. My parents are quite
young, they live their own life.
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In the case of subordination, one of the syntactic functions
within a simple sentence is expressed by a clause thereby forming
a complex sentence.
Cf. I know the girl's name, (object)
I know what the girl's name is. (object clause)
She learned to play tennis at school, (adverbial modifier of
time)
She learned to play tennis when she went to school, (adverbi-
al clause of time)
The basic structure is called the principal clause; the clause
performing some syntactic function within the principal clause is
termed a subordinate clause.
Structurally and semantically, subordinate clauses are subor-
dinated to principal clauses and may be joined to them by means
of conjunctions, conjunctive words, asyndetically and sometimes
by means of the sequence of tenses.
Conjunctions (a) differ from conjunctive words (b) in that the
former are not members of either the principal or subordinate
clause while the latter perform some function within the subordi-
nate clause.
e.g. a) I know (that) he is right.
I was out when he came.
She had only a cup of tea because she was not hungry.
b) He knew who had brought the letter.
They knew when I would come.
He showed me the watch that he was given as a birthday
present.
Subordinate clauses may perform various functions within the
principal clause. In comparison with the corresponding members
of the simple sentence they can be said to be more expressive
since they have a finite form in their structure.
For practical purposes of learning English, it is necessary and
sufficient to distinguish the following kinds of subordinate clauses:
1) subject clauses which perform the function of subject and
may be introduced by the conjunctions that, if, whether and
such conjunctive words as who, what, which, when, why, how and
others.
e.g. That you may meet him at the party is quite possible.
What I need now is someone to do the job.
2) predicative clauses which perform the function of pre-
dicative and may be introduced by the same conjunctions and con-
junctive words as subject clauses (see above).
e.g. His only desire was that his family shouldn't interfere with
