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Asyndetic Composite Clauses 321
l el semantically, and they might be replaced by homogeneous attribute adjectives, for instance uninteresting and despicable. The first of the clauses can be asyndetic because the notion men to which it refers would have been in an object relation to the verb care in the asyndetic clause, which, with a relative pronoun absent, ends in the preposition for. The second clause, on the other hand, must of necessity be syndetic, as the noun men, to which it refers, stands in an attributive relation to the noun ability with which it is immediately connected. The relative possessive pronoun whose could not possibly be dropped: the variant men I don't care for and ability 1 despise would be grammatically inadmissible and unintelligible. So the second clause cannot be made asyndetic on semantic and syntactical grounds. The homogeneity of the two clauses is not affected by this difference in the ways the syntactical ties are expressed.
It seems to follow from this analysis that there is no reason to deny the status of a subordinate clause to the clause I don't care for, though it is an asyndetic clause.
These considerations also apply to the following sentence: When you're with Sabrina, you find yourself suddenly talking about things you've always wanted to do and that you've forgotten. (TAYLOR) Other examples could no doubt be found.
There is every reason to term such clauses asyndetic attributive clauses and to take them into account when we come to a general classification of asyndetic composite sentences.
Next we consider a type of asyndetic sentence which contains a clause following a verb like think, suppose, say, tell, etc., and stating the contents of what was thought, said, etc. Examples of this type are frequent enough. Here is one of them. .Barbary said she would like to keep some of the things, such as a musical-box, a yellow scarf decorated with black kittens, a paint-box, a canary with a whistle, a cushion with a handle, and a small alarm clock. (R. MACAULAY)
Clauses of this type were formerly described as object clauses with the conjunction that omitted. We will not follow this way of looking at them, as the idea of "omission" is wholly unfounded and introduces an arbitrary element not justified by language facts. We will consider such clauses for what they are. With reference to this type the same question arises that we have already discussed with regard to syndetic object clauses with verbs like say, think, etc.; namely, do they belong to the other clause as a whole, or merely to the predicate verb? If we apply here the same principle that was established above (p. 308) we shall reach the conclusion that clauses of this kind belong to the preceding clause as a whole. Whether we choose to term such asyndetic clauses object clauses or not depends on what exact definition we give to an object clause and
11 Б, A. Ильиш
822 Asyndetic Composite Sentences. Inserted Clauses
w hat criteria we apply in each particular case to decide whether a given kind of clause is an object clause. If the fact that it occupies a position identical with that occupied by an object in a simple sentence is considered sufficient (which it probably should be) the asyndetic clauses found in the above examples may well be recognised as object clauses.
As in a number of other cases, parallel use of different units is significant for determining their nature. An asyndetic clause may be used in a sentence on the same level as a syndetic one which is clearly an object clause. This is what is seen in the following example: I think you ought to tell him you've admired him for a long time and that you'd like to become better acquainted with him. (E. CALDWELL) Robert Jordan, his head in the shadow of the rocks, knew they could not see him and that it did not matter if they did. (HEMINGWAY) Here the conjunction and joins together two clauses, of which the first is asyndetic. This would appear to be a strong argument in favour of the view that the asyndetic clause performs the same syntactical function as the that-clause to which it is joined in this way, viz. that it is an object clause.
Another question is, whether the asyndetic attributive clauses (Jespersen's "contact-clauses") and the asyndetic object clauses just considered should or should not be termed subordinate. This may perhaps seem unimportant, but it is closely linked to the bigger question whether the notion of subordination is at all applicable to asyndetic sentences. There is something to be said on both sides of this question. Since the asyndetic object clauses are exactly like the syndetic object clauses considered on page 279 ff., and they equally correspond to an object in a simple sentence, there would seem to be no sufficient reason to deny their being subordinate, merely because there is no that-conjunction to introduce them. We would therefore rather allow for asyndetic subordinate clauses in some cases, at least.
After considering these two specifically English types of clauses (asyndetic attributive and object clauses), let us now take a look at those far more numerous types of asyndetic clauses which are common to English and other languages, including Russian.
It will be well to take first a type with a definite purely grammatical peculiarity. It is the type represented, for instance, by the sentence Had it not been for the presence of Captain Smellie he would have been perfectly happy. (LINKLATER)
The grammatical peculiarity is of course the order "predicate + ,'+ subject" (or "part of predicate + subject + part of predicate") in the clause which in this example, and indeed in the vast majority of examples, comes first in the composite sentence. Without this order the sentence would not be possible.
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