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An unextended sentence contains two main positions of the basic pattern, that of the subject and tlie
predicate.
Mary laughed.
Mary is a doctor.
Mary is happy.
An extended sentence may contain various optional elements (including attributes, certain kinds of
prepositional objects and adverbial modifiers).
John ran quickly to me.
My friend John is a very kind student.
Mary laughed heartily at the joke.
Obligatory extending elements are those which complete the meaning of other words, usually verbs, or
pronouns, which without them make no or little sense. Therefore obligatory elements are called
complements.
John learned French. (the meaning of “learned” is incomplete without the object “French”)
John gives Mary his books. (the meaning of “gives Mary” conveys different meaning without the object
“his books”)
John lives in London, (the meaning of “lives” is incomplete without an adverbial of place)
One-member sentences
§ 4. One-member sentences in English are of two types: nominal sentences and verbal sentences.
Nominal sentences are those in which the principal part is expressed by a noun. They state the
existence of the things expressed by them. They are typical of descriptions.
Nominal sentences may be:
a) unextended.
Silence. Summer. Midnight.
b) e x t e n d e d.
Dusk - of a summer night.
The grass, this good, soft, lush grass.
English spring flowers!
Verbal sentences are those in which the principal part is expressed by a non-finite form of the
verb, either an infinitive or a gerund. Infinitive and gerundial one-member sentences are mostly used to
describe different emotional perceptions of reality.
To think of that!
To think that he should have met her again in this way!
Living at the mercy of a woman!
Elliptical (incomplete) sentences
§ 5. A two-member sentence may be either complete
or
incomplete (elliptical). An
elliptical sentence is a sentence in which one or more word-forms in the principal positions are omitted. Ellipsis
here refers only to the structural elements of the sentence, not the informational ones. This means that those
words can be omitted, because they have only grammatical, structural relevance,
and do not carry any new relevant information.
In English elliptical sentences are only those having no word-forms in the subject and predicate positions, i.