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is the subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For
example:
•
I go. → Where do I go? (wh-question formed using inversion,
with do-support required in this case)
•
He goes. → Who goes? (no inversion, since the question
word who is the subject)
Note that inversion does not apply in indirect questions: I wonder
where he is (not *... where is he). Indirect yes-no questions can be expressed
using if or whether as the interrogative word: Ask them whether/if they saw
him.
Negative questions are formed similarly; however if the verb
undergoing inversion has a contraction with not, then it is possible to invert
the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example:
•
John is going. (affirmative)
•
John is not going. / John isn't going. (negative, with and without
contraction)
•
Is John not going? / Isn't John going? (negative question, with and
without contraction)
Dependent clauses
The syntax of a dependent clause is generally the same as that of an
independent clause, except that the dependent clause usually begins with a
subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (or phrase containing such). In
some situations, (as already described) the conjunction or relative
pronoun that can be omitted. Another type of dependent clause with no
subordinating conjunction is the conditional clause formed by inversion (see
below).
Other uses of inversion
The clause structure with inverted subject and verb, used to form
questions as described above, is also used in certain types of declarative
sentence. This occurs mainly when the sentence begins with an adverbial or
other phrase that is essentially negative or contains words such
as only, hardly, etc.: Never have I known someone so stupid; Only in France
can such food be tasted.
In elliptical sentences (see below), inversion takes place
after so (meaning "also") as well as after the negative neither: so do I,
neither does she.
Inversion can also be used to form conditional clauses, beginning
with should, were (subjunctive), or had, in the following ways:
•
should I win the race (equivalent to if I win the race);
•
were he a soldier (equivalent to if he were a soldier);
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•
were he to win the race (equivalent to if he were to win the
race, i.e. if he won the race);
•
had he won the race (equivalent to if he had won the race).
Other similar forms sometimes appear, but are less common. There is
also a construction with subjunctive be, as in be he alive or dead (meaning
"no matter whether he is alive or dead").
Use of inversion to express a third-person imperative is now mostly
confined to the expression long live X, meaning "let X live long".
Imperatives
In an imperative sentence (one giving an order), there is usually no
subject in the independent clause: Go away until I call you. It is possible,
however, to include you as the subject for emphasis: You stay away from me.
Elliptical constructions
Many types of elliptical construction are possible in English,
resulting in sentences that omit certain redundant elements. Various
examples are given in the article on Ellipsis.
Some notable elliptical forms found in English include:
•
Short statements of the form I can, he isn't, we mustn't. Here the
verb phrase (understood from the context) is reduced to a single auxiliary or
other "special" verb, negated if appropriate. If there is no special verb in the
original verb phrase, it is replaced by do/does/did: he does, they didn't.
•
Clauses that omit the verb, in particular those like me too, nor
me, me neither. The latter forms are used after negative statements.
(Equivalents including the verb: I do too or so do I; I don't either or neither
do I.)
•
Tag questions, formed with a special verb and pronoun
subject: isn't it?; were there?; am I not?
Summing up above mentioned in English sentences are divided:
Assertion, Interrogative, Imperative and Exclamation. A sentence is a group
of words which starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.),
question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!). A sentence contains or implies a
predicate and a subject. Sentences contain clauses. Sentences can
contain subjects and objects. Simple sentences have one clause. The subject
in a sentence is generally the person or thing carrying out an action. The
object in a sentence is involved in an action but does not carry it out, the
object comes after the verb. For example: The boy climbed a tree. The
sentence becomes more interesting as it gives the reader or listener more
information. A simple sentence contains a single subject and predicate. It
describes only one thing, idea or question, and has only one verb - it contains
only an independent (main) clause. Any independent clause can stand alone
as a sentence. It has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.
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Even the addition of adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases to a
simple sentence does not change it into a complex sentence. Even if you join
several nouns with a conjunction, or several verbs with a conjunction, it
remains a simple sentence. The subject is the person or thing the sentence is
'about'. Often (but not always) it will be the first part of the sentence. The
subject will usually be a noun phrase (a noun and the words, such as
adjectives, that modify it) followed by a verb. Once you have identified the
subject, the remainder of the sentence tells us what the subject does or did.
This part of the sentence is the predicate of the sentence. The predicate
always includes the verb and the words which come after the verb. Some
verbs have an object (always a noun or pronoun). The object is the person or
thing affected by the action described in the verb. Objects come in two types,
direct and indirect. The direct object refers to a person or thing affected by
the action of the verb. For example: "He opened the door. "- here the door
is the direct object as it is the thing being affected by the verb to open. The
indirect object refers to a person or thing who receives the direct object. For
example: " I gave him the book." - here him (he)is the indirect object as he is
the beneficiary of the action. An 'adverbial' or 'adverbial phrase' is a word or
expression in the sentence that does the same job as an adverb; that is, it tells
you something about how the action in the verb was done. For example: I
sometimes have trouble with adverbs. He spoke very quietly. I've read that
book three times. She's gone to the bank. Structurally, English sentences can
be classified four different ways, though there are endless constructions of
each. The classifications are based on the number of independent and
dependent clauses a sentence contains. An independent clause forms a
complete sentence on its own, while a dependent clause needs another clause
to make a complete sentence. By learning these types, writers can add
complexity and variation to their sentences.
Literature
1. Bryant, Margaret (1945). A functional English grammar.
2. Bryant, Margaret; Momozawa, Chikara (1976). Modern English Syntax.
3. Carter, Ronald; McCarthy, Michael (2006). Cambridge Grammar of
English:
4. Chalker, Sylvia; Weiner, Edmund, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of English
Grammar.
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