Types of Subordinate Clauses.

Subject clauses occupy the position of the subject. They are to be found either in the initial or in the final position (What is thine is mine. What happened after that surprised them both. I.Murdoch. It is surprising that he should have done it). Subject clauses can be introduced by conjunctions, conjunctive pronouns and adverbs.The clauses which can be found in the final position present two possibilities of interpretation: 1. It is the formal subject, the genuine subject is placed in the final position to be rhematized. 2. It is the genuine subject, the clause coming last is an appositive clause. Predicative clauses occupy the position of the predicative. They are introduced by the links be, seem, look, feel, become, etc.(The moral I draw is that the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thought (W.S.Maugham).A complex sentence can carry a subject clause and a predicative clause {What gives an ideal beauty is that it is unattainable (W.S. Maugham). What he learnt is that life is not all poetry}. Here the distinction between the principal clause and the subordinate clause is arbitrary.

There are some varieties of object clauses: object clauses proper and speech- rendering object clauses (B. A.Ilyish called them clauses of indirect speech, M.Y.Blokh calls them reportive clauses). The object clause proper can be easily replaced by a noun (He bought what he wanted). A reportive clause usually comes after the verbs say, ask, exclaim, wonder, which are usually followed by clauses. Here very few nouns, or no nouns can be seen (She could not say what it was. She exclaimed that it was true. She wondered why onearth she was worrying so much).

Attributive clauses perform the function of an attribute. There are different varieties of attributive clauses: descriptive, restrictive, appositive. Within descriptive clauses we encounter continuative clauses, which are loosely connected with the principal clause (His book had an overwhelming success which amazed everybody).This looseness can be revealed transformationally (→His book had an overwhelming success and that surprised everybody). The complex sentences with continuous attributive clauses have a loose connection between the principal clause and the sub-clause, which proves that the distinction between coordination and subordination can be neutralized. The antecedent of continuative clauses is the whole of the main clause. The antecedent of an appositive clause is, usually, an abstract noun (I have always been a little disconcerted by the passion women have for behaving beautifully at the death-bed of those they love. W.S.Maugham).

Adverbial clauses constitute a vast field of syntax. They have semantic and structural peculiarities. The traditional identification of adverbial clauses is rational. It continues to work. Many attempts to work out a newer classification on the basis of “newly advanced scientific criteria” failed. Adverbial clauses are divided into 4 groups: 1. clauses of time and space. They denote temporal and special localization. The connectors are: while, as, since, before, after, until, as soon as, now that, no sooner than, where, etc.(I have grown a beard since I saw you last and fathered two fine sons .R. Graves); 2. Clauses of manner and comparison with connectors as, as though, as if, than, as…as, not so…as, etc. (He had spoken about America, as if he had lived in it all his life). Among these adverbial clauses we find clauses of proportionate agreement (B.A.Ilyish) (The better she felt the worse patient she made). These are parallel, mutually symmetrical structures with compression; 3.Adverbial clauses of attendant event, condition, cause, reason, result (consequence), concession, purpose. These clauses denote circumstance. Conditional and concessive clauses denote real, problematic and unreal condition and concession. The connectors are: if, suppose, even if, even though{If she missed coming, which happened twice, his eyes grew sad ( J.Galsworthy). If I’d only waited, perhaps, it would have gone all right (W.S.Maugham). Even if she had comeyesterday, she would not have understood anything}.All types of clauses of circumstance are interrelated both semantically and paradigmatically {He opened the window wide that he might hear the conversation below (purpose)→ As he wanted to hear the conversation below, he opened the window and listened (cause)→Though he couldn’t hear the conversation below, he opened the window wide and listened (concession), etc.}.4.Parenthetical or introductory clauses. These clauses are joined to the principal clauseloosely. There are two semantic sub-types here: introductory and deviational ( Strickland was not, I should say, a man of great intelligence. W.S.Maugham. Hope, if it was hope, did not hear him).