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The rule of the predicate is observed in absolutive complicators the same as in conjoint adverbial
complicators. Its only restriction concerns impersonal sentences where the link-verb is not to be deleted. Cf:.
The long luncheon over, the business friend would bow and go his way. > When the long luncheon was
over... It being very hot, the children gladly ran down to the lake. > As it was very hot...
§ 7. Semi-complex sentences of nominal phrase complication are derived from two base sentences one of
which, the insert sentence, is partially nominalized (changed into a verbid phrase of infinitival or gerundial
type) and embedded in one of the nominal and prepositional adverbial positions of the other sentence serving as
the matrix. The nominal verbid constructions meet the demands both of economy and expressiveness, and they
are widely used in all the functional orders of speech. The gerundial phrase is of a more substantive semantic
character, the infinitival phrase, correspondingly, of a more processual semantic character. The gerundial
nominalization involves the optional change of the noun subject into the possessive, while the infinitival
nominalization involves the use of the preposition for before the subject. E.g.:
Tom's coming late annoyed his mother. > The fact that Tom came late annoyed his mother. For him to
come so late was unusual. > It was unusual that he came so late.
The rule of the subject exposed in connection with the adverbial semi-complcxing (see above) applies also
to the process of partial nominalization and is especially important here. It concerns the two types of subject
deletion: first, its contextual identification; second, its referring to a general (indefinite) person. Thus, the rule
can be formulated in this way: the subject of the verbid phrase is deleted when it is either identified from the
context (usually, but not necessarily, from (he matrix sentence) or denotes an indefinite person. Cf. the
contextual identification of the subject
We are definite about it. > Our being definite about it. > Let's postpone being definite about it. Mary has
recovered so soon. > For Mary to have recovered so soon. > Mary is happy to have recovered so soon.
Cf. the indefinite person identification of the subject:
One avoids quarrels with strangers. > One's avoiding quarrels with strangers. > Avoiding quarrels with
strangers is always a wise policy. One loves spring. > For one to love spring. > It's but natural to love spring.
A characteristic function of the infinitive phrase is its use with subordinative conjunctions in nominal semi-
clauses. The infinitive in these cases implies modal meanings of obligation, admonition, possibility, etc. E.g.:
I wondered where to go. > I wondered where I was to go. The question is what to do next. > The question
is what we should do next.
In contrast with nominal uses of infinitive phrases, gerundial phrases are widely employed as adverbial
semi-clauses introduced by prepositions. Semi-clauses in question are naturally related to the corresponding
adverbial pleni-clauses. Cf.:
In writing the letter he dated it wrong. > While he was writing the letter he dated it wrong. She went away
without looking back. > As she went away she didn't look back. I cleaned my breast by telling you everything.
> I cleaned my breast because I told you everything.
The prepositional use of gerundial adverbial phrases is in full accord with the substantival syntactic nature
of the gerund, and this feature differentiates in principle the gerundial adverbial phrase from the participial
adverbial phrase as a positional constituent of the semi-complex sentence.
C H A P T E R XXX
SEMI-COMPOUND SENTENCE
§ 1. The semi-compound sentence is a semi-composite sentence built up on the principle of coordination.
Proceeding from the outlined grammatical analysis of the composite sentence, .the structure of the semi-
compound sentence is derivationally to be traced back to minimum two base sentences having an identical
element belonging to one or both of their principal syntactic positions, i.e. either the subject, or the predicate, or
both. By the process of semi-compounding, the sentences overlap round the identical element sharing it in
coordinative fusion, which can be either syndetic or asyndetic. Thus, from the formal point of view, a sentence
possessing coordinated notional parts of immediately sentential reference (directly related to its predicative
line) is to be treated as semi-compound. But different structural types of syntactic coordination even of direct
sentential reference (coordinated subjects, predicates, objects, adverbial modifiers) display very different
implications as regards semi-compounding composition of sentences.
By way of a general statement we may say that, other things being equal, the closer the coordinative group
is related to the verb-predicate of the sentence, and at the same time the looser the interconnection between its