Microsoft Word Theoretical Course of English Grammar

Nino Kirvalidze
62
Thus, a sentence is a certain structure built up of elements some of which are obligatory 
for the sentence while others are optional since they may be removed away without destroying 
the sentence as a grammatical structure. By removing optional elements we arrive at the basic 
(elementary) sentence. Cf.: 
From this moment Soames began almost unconsciously to read the book. 
Soames began to read the book. 
No matter how long a sentence is, one can always arrive at its base. Basic sentences consti-
tute a rather small set of sentence types in English. 
Word-groups. Syntactic bonds between words. 
A sentence is built up of words and word-groups. A word-group is a unit formed by a 
combination of two or more notional words, which does not constitute a sentence. A word-
group differs from a sentence inasmuch as it does not perform a communication. A word-
group as such has no intonation, intonation being one of the most important properties of a 
sentence. In the sentence – 
A week of heavy reading had passed since that evening
. – there are 
the following word-groups:
1.
A week of heavy reading
= a noun group; 
2.
had passed since that evening
= a verb group. 
Grammar is concerned with free syntactical word-groups formed each time a new, and is not 
concerned with phraseological phrases belonging to the vocabulary of a language. Copmpare: 
an interesting book; to run quickly
(free word-groups) 
first aid; to take the floor
(set phrases)
There are three main types of syntactic connections (i.e. bonds) between words: subordi-
nation, coordination and predication. Accordingly, word-groups in modern English are 
classified into the following types: subordinate, coordinate and predicative word-groups. 
1.
Subordinate word-groups consist of words which are syntactically unequal as one 
of the constituent elements, called the “head”, is modified by a dependent element, 

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Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
Script by prof.