Лекции по теоретической грамматике английского языка для студентов

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: 

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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.