Lecture 1 Fundamentals of grammar

5. Transition From Simple To Composite Sentences
The notions of simple sentence and composite sentence are well defined and
distinctly opposed to each other, but still some transitional elements can be found
between them. Such sentences are termed transitional or semi-composite. The
following syntactical phenomena can be considered transitional cases:
1) sentences with homogeneous parts (sometimes also termed "contracted
sentences");
2) sentences with a dependent appendix;
3) sentences with secondary predication.
By homogeneous parts of a sentence we mean parts of the same category
(two or more subjects, two or more predicates, two or more objects, etc.), standing
in the same relation to other parts of the sentence (e.g. I invited both my friends and colleagues.). Some types of sentences with homogeneous parts quite clearly fit into the general type of simple sentences, but there can be very complicated structures containing a common subject and homogeneous predicates, each having its own objects and adverbial modifiers. The reason why we cannot call such sentences compound is that they have only one subject and thus cannot be
separated into two clauses.
Sentences with a dependent appendix are structures which clearly
overstep the limits of the simple sentence and tend towards the complex sentence,
but which lack an essential feature of a complex sentence. They include:
1) phrases consisting of the conjunction than and a noun, pronoun, or phrase
following an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree (e.g. I have met many people much smarter than you.);
2) sentences containing an adjective or adverb, which may be preceded by
the adverb as, and an additional part consisting of the conjunction as and some
other word (an adjective, a noun, or an adverb) (e.g. Her features were as soft and delicate as those of her mother).
In each case a finite verb might be added at the end (either be, or do, or
have, or can, etc.), and then the sentence would become a complex one, but as they
are, such sentences occupy an intermediate position between complex and simples
sentences.