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function of the composite sentence proper (and so supplementing it). Namely, it is used to show that the events
described in the corresponding sentence parts are more closely connected than the events described in the parts
of the composite sentence of complete composition. This function is inherent in the structure-it reflects the
speaker's view of reality, his presentation of it. Thus, for different reasons and purposes the same two or several
events can be reflected now by one type of structure, now by another type of structure, the corresponding
"pleni"- and semi-constructions existing in the syntactic system of language as pairs of related and, for that
matter, synonymically related functions. E.g.:
The sergeant gave a quick salute to me, and then he put his squad in motion. > Giving a quick salute to me,
the sergeant put his squad in motion. > With a quick salute to me, the sergeant put his squad in motion.
The two connected events described by the cited sentences are, first, the sergeant's giving ar salute to the
speaker, and, second, the sergeant's putting his squad in motion. The first sentence, of the pleni-composite type,
presents these situationally connected events in separate processual descriptions as they happened one after the
other, the successive order being accentuated by the structural features of the construction, in particular, its
sequential coordinate clause. The second sentence, of the semi-composite participial-expanded type, expresses
a semantic ranking of the events in the situ-ational blend, one of them ctanding out as a dominant event, the
other as a by-event In the presentation of the third construction, belonging to me primitivized type of semi-
composition (maximum degree of blending), the fusion of the events is shown as constituting a unity in which
the attendant action (the sergeant's salute) forms simply a background detail in relation to the immediately
reflected occurrence (the sergeant's putting the squad in motion).
According to the ranking structure of the semi-composite sentences, they should be divided into semi-
complex and semi-compound ones. These constructions correspond to the complex and compound sentences of
complete composition (i.e., respectively, pleni-complex and pleni-compound sentences).
§ 2. The semi-complex sentence is a semi-composite sentence built up on the principle of subordination. It is
derived from minimum two base sentences, one matrix and one insert. In the process of semi-complexing, the
insert sentence is transformed into a partially depredicated construction which is embedded in one of the
syntactic positions of the matrix sentence. In the resulting construction, the matrix sentence becomes its
dominant part and the insert sentence, its subordinate semi-clause.
The semi-complex sentences fall into a number of subtypes. Their basic division is dependent on the
character of predicative fusion: this may be effected either by the process of position-sharing (word-sharing),
or by the process of direct linear expansion. The sentences based on position-sharing fall into those of subject-
sharing and those of object-sharing. The sentences based on semi-predicative linear expansion fall into those of
attributive complication, adverbial complication, and nominal-phrase complication. Each subtype is related to
a definite complex sentence (pleni-complex sentence) as its explicit structural prototype.
§ 3. Semi-complex sentences of subject-sharing are built up by means of the two base sentences
overlapping round the common subject. E.g.:
The man stood. + The man was silent. > The man stood silent
The moon rose. + The moon was red. > The moon rose red.
From the syntagmatic point of view, the predicate of these sentences forms the structure of the "double
predicate" because it expresses two essential functions at once: first, the function of a verbal type (the verb
component of the predicate); second, the function of a nominal type (the whole combination of the verb with
the nominal component). The paradigmatic analysis shows that the verb of the double predicate, being on the
surface a notional link-verb, is in fact a quasi-link.
In the position of the predicative of the construction different categorial classes of words arc used with their
respective specific meanings and implications: nouns, adjectives, participles both present and past. Cf.:
Sam returned from the polar expedition a grown-up man. They waited breathless. She stood bending over
the child's bed. We stared at the picture bewildered.
Observing the semantic content of the given constructions, we see that, within the bounds of their functional
differences, they express two simultaneous events-or, rather, the simultaneity of the event described by the
complicator expansion with that described by the dominant part. At the same time the construction gives
informative prominence not to its dominant, but to the complicator, and corresponds to the pleni-complex
sentence featuring the complicator event in the principal clause placed in post-position. CF.:
The moon rose red. > As the moon rose it was red. She stood bending over the child's bed. > As she stood
she was bending over the child's bed.
In the subject-sharing semi-composites with reflexivised dominant verbs of intense action the idea of change
is rendered. E.g.:
He spoke himself hoarse. > As he spoke he became hoarse. (Further diagnosis: He spoke and spoke until