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Sentence Complexity and EmbeddingCompoundingCompounding Now you should be able to see one basic feature of compound sentences: they contain at least two distinct clauses or subject-predicate pairings. Nevertheless, complex sentences also contain at least two distinct clauses, so we need to dig in deeper in order to see what separates compound sentences from complex sentences. Let’s begin by defining the process of compounding. Traditionally, compounding refers to attaching two (or more) equals together with a coordinating or correlative conjunction. Some grammar references use the terms conjunction or coordination instead of compounding. The equals can be either phrases or clauses (or constituents of the same type in linguistic terminology). That is to say, sentences aren’t the only grammatical structure that can be compounded; smaller structures like phrases can be compounded, too. When two clauses are joined together with a coordinating or correlative conjunction, we have a compound sentence. When other constituents are joined with these conjunctions, we can call them compound noun phrases or compound verb phrases, or we can refer to the syntactic roles and say a sentence has a compound subject or a compound direct object. Attaching two subject NPs together, for example, creates a compound subject. Attaching two verbs together creates a compound verb, attaching two direct objects together creates a compound direct object, and so on. In linguistic terms, compounding (or coordination or conjunction) creates a single constituent out of two (or more) constituents of the same type. A simple sentence can contain compound phrases in it and still be considered a simple sentence (a sentence of one clause). A compound sentence is one that contains two (or more) different (separately stated) subject-predicate pairings attached together by a coordinating or correlative conjunction.
Activity 13.3: Seeing Compound Constituents Circle compounding conjunctions and underline the compounded constituents. Then write which types of constituents have been combined together.__________ 1. The fans waved green and yellow balloons. __________2. Our swim was cold but invigorating. ___________ 3. Do you want coffee or tea? __________ 4. I’ll take both cream and sugar in my coffee. __________ 5. My wallet is neither in my pocket nor in my backpack. __________ 6. This flower is not a rose but a geranium. __________ 7. Not only the students but the teachers as well voted against an increase in tuition. __________ 8. I thanked him sincerely, for he saved my mother’s life. __________ 9. He saved my mother’s life, so I thanked him. __________ 10. I didn’t thank him, yet he saved my mother’s life. __________ 11. Either we’ll go to a movie, or we’ll attend the concert. __________
Compounding Conjunctions Until now we haven't looked much at the category of words called conjunctions. That's because the function that conjunctions play is to connect two entities together. Thus far we have concerned ourselves with simple structures, ones not combined together. Now, however, it is time we look carefully at the conjunctions used in the process of compounding. There are two different kinds of conjunctions that create compounds. There are coordinating conjunctions and correlative conjunctions. Coordinating conjunctions consist of one single word. Correlative conjunctions consist of two parts separated by one of the compounded constituents. Some of them can compound phrases and clauses, but others can only compound clauses. The list of each type of conjunction is very small:
Fig. 18: Coordinating and Correlative Conjunctions |
TESL 654
