Main characteristics of the Sentence, its notion, models of the Sentence.

Main characteristics of the Sentence are the following:

 

1. Syntactic autonomy (the absence of grammatical indices of being included into a bigger structure: in comparison with the Word-combination which has the grammatical indices of being included into the bigger structure – the Sentence).

For example:

Him go – WC, is not an autonomic structure;

I saw him go home – a sentence, autonomic structure which includes the WC given above.

 

1. Grammatically closed structure (has only inner syntactic connections, syntactically is not connected with other sentences of the bigger structure which is the Text).

For example:

They moved to another city. It was a new step in their life. Syntactically the two sentences in

She gave him a kiss. He took it and went away. J both examples are not connected

 

1. Integrity / целостность (impossibility to divide the Simple Sentence into the unites with the same indices and functions).

For example:

I gave him a book.

I asked him to bring a book. They are indivisible, inseparable unites. If divided, they become

I was given a book. word-combinations and loose the indices of the Sentence.

 

1. Intonation and grammatical completeness (all the necessary syntactic relations are realized).

For example:

I have brought is not a sentence, it is only a nuclear-free mutually dependent WC with

the primary predicativity of the elements of different classes.

I have brought you the good news is a sentence – all the relations are realized, the predicate

expressed by the transitive verb to bring has been completed.

 

1. Predicativity (relation of the content of the utterance presented in the form of a sentence to the Reality).

For example:

There is an unforgettable beautiful view seen from the top of the mountain (I see the view, get a motive to process this experience, process it, have some cognitive information – knowledge about the view, want to present the knowledge to another person; for that I cognitively code it into the language signs, coordinate them according to the grammatical rules and finally speak it out in my utterance in the form of a sentence).

The notion of the Sentence:the Sentence is an autonomic unity which expresses a complete thought/idea and realizes all the necessary grammatical relations and connections of the included elements (members of the Sentence).

Model of the Sentence is an etalon /standard scheme or formula which is abstract from a concrete lexical filling and includes necessary classes of words.

There are two general models of the Sentence: relative and structural (Drawing 8.1).

 

 

Relations of dependency and mutual dependency (inner syntactic connections among the components of the Sentence) are emphasized. How the elements relate in the Sentence.

Positional, linear order of the words in the Sentence is emphasized. The components are studied from the point of view of their position and function in the Sentence. How the elements are ordered in the Sentence and what functions they serve because of that.

Drawing 8.1. Two general Models of the Sentence

Positional (Structural) model implies the following structured content (Drawing 8.2).

 

 

are defined by the following indices:

a) Syntactic Location;

b) Morphological Form

c) Presence or absence of Syntacategorematic words

 

	(which are not necessary to present a complete thought)
	1) Attribute;
	2) Prepositional Attribute;
	3) Adverbial Modifier;
	4) Parenthetical element
1) Subject		1) Object
2) Simple Predicate		2) Adverbial Modifiers (without which it is impossible to build a sentence)
3) Linking Verb
4) Subject complement
5) Predicative

Drawing 8.2. Scheme of the Structural Model of the Sentence

7.2. Classification of sentences. Structural Approach.

As for the structure Simple Sentence can be presented in the following scheme (tab. 8.1).

Table 8.1