He spent the Saturday night as was his wont.→ How did he spend the Saturday night? You talk to people asifthey were a group. → How do you talk to people? I planned to give my mother a length of silk for a dress, as thick and heavy as it was possible to buy. → How thick and heavy the length of silk was intended to be?
All the adverbial qualification clauses are to be divided into "factual" and "speculative", depending on the real or unreal propositional event described by them.
The discrimination between manner and comparison clauses is based on the actual comparison which may or may not be expressed by the considered clausal construction of adverbial qualification. The semantics of comparison is inherent in the subordinators as if, as though, than, which are specific introducers of comparison clauses. On the other hand, the subordinator as, both single and in the combinations as ... as, not so ... as, is unspecific in this sense, and so invites for a discrimination test to be applied in dubious cases. It should be noted that more often than not a clausally expressed manner in a complex sentence is rendered by an appositive construction introduced by phrases with the broad-meaning words way and manner. E.g.:
Mr. Smith looked at me in away that put me on the alert.
Herein lies one of the needed procedures of discrimination, which is to be formulated as the transformation of the tested clause into an appositive that- or which-clause: the possibility of the transformation marks the clause of manner, while the impossibility of the transformation (i.e. the preservation of the original as-clause) marks the clause of comparison. Cf.:
Mary received the guests as nicely asAunt Emma had taught her→... in a (very) nice way that Aunt Emma had taught her. (The test marks the clause as that of manner.) Mary received the guests as nicely as Aunt Emma would have done.→... in as nice a way as Aunt Emma would have done. (The test marks the clause as comparative.)
Clauses of comparison are subdivided into those of equality (subordinators as, as ... as, asif, as though) and those of inequality (subordinators not so ... as, than). The discontinuous introducers mark, respectively, a more intense rendering of the comparison in question. Cf.:
That summer he took a longer holiday than he had done for many years. For many years he hadn't taken solong a holiday as he was offered that summer.
With clauses of comparison it is very important to distinguish the contracted expression of predication, i.e. predicative zeroing, especially for cases where a clause of comparison as such is combined with a clause of time. Here predicative zeroing may lead to the rise of peculiarly fused constructions which may be wrongly understood. By way of example, let us take the sentence cited in BA. Ilyish's book: Do you find Bath as agreeable as when I had the honour of making the enquiry before? (J. Austen)
BA. Ilyish analyses the construction as follows: “The when-clause as such is a temporal clause: it indicates the time when an action ("his earlier enquiry") took place. However, being introduced by theconjunction as, which has its correlative, another as, in the main clause, it is at the same time a clause of comparison" [Ilyish, 299].
But time and comparison are absolutely different characteristics, so that neither of them can by definition be functionally used for the other. They may go together only in cases when time itself forms the basis of comparison (Icame later than Mr. Jerome did). As far as the analysed example is concerned, its clause of time renders no other clausal meaning than temporal; the clausal comparison proper is expressed reduclionally, its sole explicit representative being the discontinuous introducer as ... as. Thus, the true semantics of the cited comparison is to be exposed by paradigmatic de-zeroing: → Do you find Bath as agreeable asit was when I had the honour of making the enquiry before?
The applied principle of analysis of contamination time-comparison clauses for its part supports the zero-conception of other outwardly non-predicative comparative constructions, in particular those introduced by than. Cf.:
Nobody could find the answer quicker than John.→ Nobody could find the answer quicker than John did (could do).
The third and most numerous group of adverbial clauses includes "classical" clauses of different circumstantial semantics, i.e. semantics connected with the meaning of the principal clause by various circumstantial associations; here belong clauses of attendant event, condition, cause, reason, result (consequence), concession, purpose. Thus, the common semantic basis of all these clauses can be defined as "circumstance". The whole group should be divided into two subgroups, the first being composed by clauses of "attendant circumstance"; the second, by clauses of "Immediate circumstance".
Clauses of attendant circumstance are not much varied in structure or semantics and come near to clauses of time. The difference lies in the fact that, unlike clauses of time, the event described by a clause of attendant circumstance is presented as some sort of background in relation to the event described by the principal clause. Clauses of attendant circumstance are introduced by the conjunctions while and as. E.g.:
As (while) the reception was going on, Mr. Smiles was engaged in a lively conversation with the pretty niece of the hostess.
The construction of attendant circumstance may be taken to render contrast; so all the clauses of attendant circumstance can be classed into "contrastive" (clauses of contrast) and "non-contrastive". The non-contrastive clause of circumstance has been exemplified above. Here is an example of contrastive attendant circumstance expressed clausally.
Indeed, there is but this difference between us-that he wears fine clothes while I go in rags, and that while I am weak from hunger he suffers not a little from overfeeding (0. Wilde).
As is dear from the example, a complex sentence with a contrastive clause of attendant circumstance is semantically close to a compound sentence, i.e. a composite sentence based on coordination.
Clauses of immediate circumstance present a vast and complicated system of constructions expressing different explanations of events, reasonings and speculations in connection with them. The system should relevantly be divided into "factual" clauses of circumstance and "speculative" clauses of circumstance depending on the real or unreal predicative denotations expressed. This division is of especial significance for complex sentences with conditional clauses (real condition, problematic condition, unreal condition). Other types of circumstantial clauses express opposition between factual and speculative semantics with a potential relation to some kind of condition inherent in the deep associations of the syntactic constructions. E.g.:
Though she disapproved of their endless discussions, she had to put up with them. (Real concession) → Though she may disapprove of their discussions, she will have to put up with them. (Speculative concession) → Ifshe disapproved (had disapproved) of their discussions, why would she put up (have put up) with them? (Speculative condition)
The argument was so unexpected that for a moment Jack lost his ability to speak. (Real consequence) → The argument was so unexpected that it would have frustrated Jack's ability to speak if he had understood the deep meaning of it. (Speculative consequence, based on the speculative condition)
Each type of clauses of circumstance presents its own problems of analysis. On the other hand, it must be pointed out that all the types of these clauses are inter-related both semantically and paradigmatically, which may easily be shown by the corresponding transformations and correlations. Some of such correlations have been shown on the examples above. Compare also:
He opened the window wide that he might hear the conversation below. (Purpose) → Unless he wanted to hear the conversation below he wouldn't open the window. (Condition) → As he wanted to hear the conversation below, he opened the window wide and listened. (Cause) → Though he couldn't hear properly the conversation below, he opened the window and listened. (Concession) → The voices were so low that he couldn't hear the conversation through the open window. (Consequence) → Ifhe hadn't opened the window wide he couldn't have heard the conversation. (Condition)
Certain clausal types of circumstance are closely related to non-circumstantial clausal types. In particular, this kind of connection is observed between conditional clauses and time clauses and finds its specifically English expression in the rise of the contaminated tf-and-when-clauses:
If and when the discussion of the issue is renewed, both parties will greatly benefit by it.
Another important variety of clauses of mixed syntactic semantics is formed by concessive clauses introduced by the connectors ending in -ever. E.g.:
Whoever calls, I'm not at home. However tempting the offer might be, Jim is not in a position to accept it.
Clauses of mixed adverbial semantics present an interesting field of paradigmatic study.
The fourth group of adverbial clauses is formed by parenthetical or insertive constructions. Parenthetical clauses, as has been stated elsewhere, are joined to the principal clause on a looser basis than the other adverbial clauses; still, they do form with the principal clause a syntactic sentential unity, which is easily proved by the procedure of diagnostic elimination. Cf.:
Jack has called here twice this morning, if I am not mistaken. → (*) Jack has called here twice this morning.
As is seen from the example, the elimination of the parenthesis changes the meaning of the whole sentence from problematic to assertive: the original sense of the utterance is lost, and this shows that the parenthesis, though inserted in the construction by a loose connection, still forms an integral part of it.
As to the subordinative quality of the connection, it is expressed by the type of the connector used. In other words, parenthetical predicative insertions can be either subordinative or coordinative, which is determined by the contextual content of the utterance and exposed by the connective introducer of the clause. Cf. a coordinate parenthetical clause:
Jim said, and I quite agree with him, that it would be in vain to appeal to the common sense of the organizers.
Cf. the subordinate correlative of the cited clause:
Jim said, though 1 don't quite agree with him, that it would be in vain to appeal to the common sense of the organizers.
Parenthetical clauses distinguish two semantic subtypes. Clauses of the first subtype, illustrated by the first example in this paragraph, are "introductory", they express different modal meanings. Clauses of the second subtype, illustrated by the latter example, are "deviational", they express commenting insertions of various semantic character. Deviational parenthesis marks the loosest possible syntactic connection of clauses combined into a composite sentence.
§ 9. Clauses in a complex sentence may be connected with one another more closely and less closely, similar to the parts of a simple sentence. The intensity of connection between the clauses directly reflects the degree of their proposemic self-dependence and is therefore an essential characteristic of the complex sentence as a whole. For instance, a predicative clause or a direct object clause are connected with the principal clause so closely that the latter cannot exist without them as a complete syntactic unit. Thus, this kind of clausal connection is obligatory. Cf:.
The matter is, we haven't received all the necessary instructions yet.→ (*) The matter is -... I don't know what Mike is going to do about his damaged bike.→ (*) I don't know -...
As different from this, an ordinary adverbial clause is connected with the principal clause on a looser basis, it can be deleted without destroying the principal clause as an autonomous unit of information. This kind of clausal connection is optional. Cf:.
The girl gazed at him as though she was struck by something extraordinary in his appearance.→ The girl gazed at him.
The division of subordinative clausal connections into obligatory and optional was employed by the Russian linguist N.S. Pospelov (1950) for the introduction of a new classification of complex sentences. According to his views, all the complex sentences of minimal structure (i.e consisting of one principal clause and one subordinate clause) should be classed as "one-member" complex sentences and "two-member" complex sentences. One-member complex sentences are distinguished by an obligatory subordinative connection, while two-member complex sentences are distinguished by an optional subordinative connection. The obligatory connection is determined both by the type of the subordinate clause (subject, predicative, object clauses) and the type of the introduction of the clause (demonstrative correlation). The optional connection characterizes adverbial clauses of diverse functions and attributive clauses of descriptive type. Semantically, one-member complex sentences are understood as reflecting one complex logical proposition, and two-member complex sentences as reflecting two logical propositions connected with each other on the subordinative principle.
The rational character of the advanced conception is quite obvious. Its strong point is the fact that it consistently demonstrates the correlation between form and meaning in the complex sentence structure. Far from rejecting the traditional teaching of complex sentences, the "member conception" is based on its categories and develops them further, disclosing such properties of subordinative connections which were not known to the linguistic science before.
Speaking not only of the complex sentence of minimal composition, but in terms of complex sentences in general, it would be appropriate to introduce the notions of "monolythic" and "segregative" sentence structures. Obligatory subordinative connections underlie monolythic complexes, while optional subordinative connections underlie segregative complexes.
Monolythic complex sentences fall into four basic types.
The first of them is formed by merger complex sentences, i.e. sentences with subject and predicative subordinate clauses.
The subordinate clausal part of the merger monolyth complex, as has been shown above (see § 2), is fused with its principal clause. The corresponding construction of syntactic anticipation should also be considered under this beading. Cf.:
It was at this point that Bill had come bustling into the room. → (*) It was at this point -...
The second subtype of complex sentences in question is formed by constructions whose subordinate clauses are dependent on the obligatory right-hand valency of the verb in the principal clause. We can tentatively call these constructions "valency" monolyth complexes. Here belong complexes with object clauses and valency-determined adverbial clauses: from the point of view of subordinative cohesion they are alike. Cf.:
I don't know when ’m beaten. → (*) I don't know -... Put the book where you've taken it from.→ (*) Put the book-... Her first shock was when she came down. → (*) Her first shock was -...
The third subtype of monolythic complex sentences is formed by constructions based on subordinative correlations - "correlation" monolythic complexes. E.g.:
His nose was as unkindly short as his upper lip was long. You will enjoy such a sight as you are not likely to see again. The more I think of it, the more I'm convinced of his innocence.
Restrictive attributive clauses should be included into this subtype of correlation monolyths irrespective of whether or not their correlation scheme is explicitly expressed. Cf.:
This is the same report as wassubmitted last week. This is the report that was submitted last week.
Finally, the fourth subtype of monolythic complex sentences is formed by constructions whose obligatory connection between the principal and subordinate clauses is determined only by the linear order of clausal positions. Cf.: