Typology of Semi-Compound Sentences

Apart from complete compound sentences consisting of clauses having each the principal parts of the sentence, there exist also semi-compound sentences. They are communicative units in which one (usually the first) clause is structurally complete and the succeeding clause is incomplete, i. e. lacks one or both main parts of the sentence, eg.

Melton was not large enough to Селище Мельтон було замалим

be a town, nor small enough to be а для міста і завеликим як для села/

village. (Hughes) щоб вважатися селом.

The second part of the sentence both in English and in Ukrainian lacks the subject and the linking verb; it is an elliptical clause whose lacking elements can be easily restored from the first clause. Cf....Nor was Melton small enough to be a village — (і був Мелтон) завеликим для села/щоб вважатися селом. A similar lack of the subject is observed in the sentence " He couldn't believe it and was a little scared" (Saroyan), as well as in the sentence " The guys seemed to notice it and felt strained". (Quin) Their Ukrainian equivalents lack the same parts of the sentence: Він не міг повірити цьому і був дещо наляканий. Хлопці, здавалося, помітили це і почувалися непевно.

Other parts of the sentence may be lacking in semi-compound sentences of this type as well. For example, the lacking linking verb: His dreams were so simple; his wants so few. (Dreiser), i. e. " his wants (were) so few". Lacking may also be the subject and the predicate: After the second bath in the hot viniger the shell of the egg had been softened a little but not enough for his purpose. (Anderson). Here the omitted parts in the tag are the subject (" the shell of the egg") and the predicate (has been softened) " not enough for the purpose". Or in such a sentence: He used to be as popular as anyone, and made as much noise. (Quin), i. e. and (he) " made as much noise". These and other sentences of the type have semi-compound transforms in Ukrainian as well... шкаралупа яйця пом'якшала, проте (вона) пом'якшала недостатньо для цього. Він був такий популярний, як і кожен на його місці, і (він) створював (навколо себе) стільки ж галасу.

Some English semi-composite sentences have no structural sentence equivalents in Ukrainian. Here belong sentences whose parts are expressed by secondary predication constructions. Thus, the English semi-compound sentence He looked at her and saw her crying. (Hemingway) has a complete complex sentence for its equivalent in Ukrainian: Він глянув на неї і побачив, що вона плаче (object clause).

English semi-compound sentences with the nominative absolute participle constructions have mostly complete compound sentences for their

equivalents in Ukrainian as well: Nancy's head was already turned toward the barred door, her eyes filled with red lamplights. (Faulkner) — Голова Ненсі була повернута до запертих дверей, і в очах її відбилося червоне світло лампочки.

These are the main allomorphic features distinguishing the English semi-compound sentences which have no direct structural equivalents in present-day Ukrainian.