English Grammar 1 Module 3rd Year
English Grammar 1 Module 3rd Year
English Grammar 1 Module 3rd Year
Topic 1
The Complex Sentence
Vocabulary:
Definitions:
1. Subordinate clause
Subject clause
Subject clauses perform the function of subject to the predicate of the principal
clause.
Attention should be paid to the peculiar structure of the principal clause, which in
this case has no subject, the subordinate clause serving as such.
Subject clauses are connected with the principal clause in the following ways:
Subject clauses are not separated from the principal clause by а comma except
when we have two or more subject clauses coordinated with each other:
- Who her mother was, and how she came to die in that forlornness, were
questions that often pressed on Eppie's mind. (Eliot)
Predicative clause
Predicative clauses perform the function of a predicative. The peculiarity of
complex sentences with a predicative clause is that in the principal clause we find
only part of the predicate, i. e. a link verb, which together with the predicative
clause forms a compound nominal predicate.
- What we want to know is what the French are going to do now. (Greene)
Object clause
An object clause may refer to any verbal form, either finite or nonfinite:
Attributive clause
If the antecedent denotes a living being, the relative pronoun who, whom,
whose, or that is used.
If the antecedent denotes a thing or notion, the relative word which, whose,
or that is used; of these that is less formal.