1367260110.5528Understanding Syntax

3Looking inside sentencesThis chapter begins an examination of the internal structure of sentences whichtakes up the remainder of the book. Section 3.1 examines finite and non‐finiteverbs and auxiliaries, and distinguishes between simple sentences and complexsentences – sentences which contain other sentences. Subordination is the term usedfor a construction in which a sentence is embedded (or contained) within anothersentence. Section 3.2 is an introduction to subordination in English and otherlanguages. Although subordination is common cross-linguistically, not all languagesseem to make much use of it. Section 3.3 examines some cross‐linguistic variationin clause types, particularly in complex constructions.3.1 Finiteness and auxiliaries3.1.1 Independent clausesLinguists often divide the sentence into two main parts: the subject and thepredicate. As we saw in Chapter 2, the central role (or ‘head’) in the predicate isnormally filled by a verb, but we also find other types of predicate, such as adjectivalpredicates and nominal predicates. A verbal predicate consists of the head verb plusany phrases modifying the verb, or selected by the verb.Let’s examine the data in (1). In (1a), the subject is Kim and the predicate waited;in (1b) the subject is these guys and the predicate like chips; and in (1c), the subject isthe whole phrase The first‐year students in our department and the predicate is boughta lot of books at this stage in the year.(1) a. Kim waited.b. These guys like chips.c. The first-year students in our department bought a lot of books at thisstage in the year.These examples each illustrate simple sentences. ‘Simple’ here is a technical term,meaning ‘consisting of just one clause’. To avoid conflict with the (non‐linguistic)idea of a sentence as something that starts with a capital letter and ends with a fullstop, here I introduce the more precise term clause. The term ‘clause’ has a specificmeaning: it’s a sentence that contains one predicate. As we will see in this chapter,some sentences contain only one clause, and others contain more than one clause.