Sentence 2 1 example essay topic

... -61, ... 2008 Table of content Introduction... 3 1. The phrase... 3 1.1.

Ways of expressing syntactical relations... 4 1.1. 1. Agreement...

4 1.1. 2. Government... 4 1.1.

3. Joining... 4 1.2. Three component phrases...

5 1.2. 1. Verb + Substantive Dat. + Substantive (Pronoun) Acc... 5 1.2. 2.

Verb + Preposition + Substantive (Pronoun)... 5 2. The sentence... 5 2.1. The simple sentence... 5 2.1.

1. Main parts... 5 2.1. 2. Secondary parts... 6 2.1.

3. One member and elliptical sentences... 7 2.1. 4.

Sentences introduced by hit and pr... 8 2.1. 5. Uses of infinitive and participle... 8 2.1. 6...

Infinitive phrases... 8 2.1. 7. Substantive + Participle or Adjective... 9 2.1. 8 Negation...

9 2.2. The composite sentence... 9 2.2. 1.

The compound sentence... 9 2.2. 2. The copmlex sentence... 10 2.2.

3. Mixed sentences... 14 3. Word order... 15 3.1.

Subject-Verb... 15 3.2. Verb - Subject... 16 3.3. Subject...

Verb... 17 Conclusion... 18 Bibliography... 18 Introduction Old English was a synthetic language (the lexical and grammatical notions of the word were contained in one unit). It was highly inflected with many various affixes.

The principal grammatical means were suffixation, vowel interchange and suppletion. Historical syntax has been studied to a much smaller extent than either phonetics, lexicology or morphology. Though the main trends in the development of syntactic structure appear to be clear, many more detailed investigations have yet to be made to complete the picture. In treating syntax we shall distinguish between two levels - that of phrase and that of the sentence. 1. THE PHRASE In OE texts we find a variety of word phrases (word groups or patterns).

OE noun patterns, adjective patterns and verb patterns had certain specific features which are important to note in view of their later changes. A noun pattern consisted of a noun as the head word and pronouns, adjectives (including verbal adjectives, or participles), numerals and other nouns as determiners and attributes. Most noun modifiers agreed with the noun in gender, number and case, e.g. : On pm prim prim daum... 'in those other three days' - Dat. pl. Masc. Ohthere sde his hlaforde, Aelfrede cynine 'Ohthere said to his lord, king Alfred' - the noun in apposition is in the Dat. sg. like the head noun. Nouns which served as attributes to other nouns usually had the form of the Gen. case: 'h les b n, dora fell 'whale's bone, deer's fell'.

Some 'numerals governed the nouns they modified so that formally the relations were reversed: tamra dora... sex hund 'six hundred tame deer'; twy enti scapa 'twenty sheep' (dora, scapa - Gen. pl) An adjective pattern could include adverbs, nouns or pronouns in one of the oblique cases with or without prepositions, and infinitives, e.g. : hiora h d bi swie od t scip-rpm 'their hide is very good for ship ropes'. Verb patterns included a great variety of dependant components: nouns and pronouns in oblique cases with or without prepositions, adverbs, infinitives and participles, e.g. : bring p pin 'bring those things' (Acc.) H... sealde hit hys fder 'he... gave it to his mother' (Acc., Dat.) he r b d westanwindes 'there he waited for the western wind' (Gen.) Isaac cw t his suna 'Isaac said to his son' (preposition plus Dat. ); bi pre a silan 'sail past that river' (preposition plus Dat. in an adverbial meaning). Hu mihtest pu hit sw hrdlice findan 'how could you find it so lickly' (adverb) Infinitives and participles were often used in verb phrases with verbs of incomplete predication (some of these phrases were later transformed into analytical forms): mihtest findan 'might find' in the last example, h wolde fan dian 'he wanted to find out', hie onunnon m rep ian 'they began to rage more'1.1. Ways of expressing syntactical relations These may be classed under three headings: agreement, government, joining.

Agreement This is mainly used in attributive groups, to denote the syntactical relation between an adjective (or pronoun) and the substantive (its head word). e.g. : micle mer as feroce 'large fresh-water lakes', mislicum ond manifealdum bi sum 'different and manifold occupations' (dative plural), sealtne's 'salt sea' (accusative); also between pronoun and substantive: re hwa las 'other whales', re bec 'that book' (dative). Government This is a type of syntactical connection on phrase level characterized by a substantive or pronoun standing in a certain case (accusative, genitive, or dative) dependent on the head word requiring this particular case. Some verbs require the dependent substantive to be in the accusative case (these are the so-called transitive verbs), as in: leo wyrcan 'compose songs', andsware onfen 'receive an answer', esomnian pa men 'assemble the men'. Other verbs require a dependent substantive to be in the genitive (this is usually the case when the verb denotes an idea of attaining, or reaching, or touching an object), as in: neosian huses 'approach the house', bid an winds 'wait for the wind', hlyste m inra word 'listen to my words'. Lastly, a verb may require a substantive to be in the dative, as in: here sde 'said to her'. Government by adjectives is much more limited in scope.

An adjective usually requires a dependent substantive to be in the genitive, as in: mor pres scyldi 'guilty of murder'; wrt ta full 'full of treasures', syan elna lan 'seven ells long'. Only rarely does an adjective require its dependent substantive to be in the dative. This is the case, for example, in the phrase de hi 'holy to God'. Joining An adverb referring to a verb or an adjective is connected with it without any formal means, by what is usually called joining retan frond lice 'greet in a friendly way', miclelssa 'muchsmaller'. 1.2. Three-component Phrases Two-component phrases may be enlarged by addition of a third component.

The variety of such patterns is greater than that of elementary two-component phrases. We need not give here a complete list of all possible patterns. We will only cite some of the most widely used ones. Among these are the patterns: "verb + substantive dat. + substantive ace". , and "verb + preposition + substantive". Verb + Substantive Dat. Here we find such phrases as: sealde hit his meter 'gave it (to) his mother', sin m hwthwuu 'sing me something', pm wordum moni word epeodde 'to those words many words added'.

Verb + Preposition + Substantive (Pronoun) Here we find a number of different prepositions involved, e.g. secan to him 'say to him', feo htan wip pone here 'fight with the (enemy's) army', cwp to him 'said to him', secan ymb Asia lond emre 'speak about the land of Asia'. Of course, still larger (four-component, five-component, etc.) phrases are also used, but we need not go into details about them here. 2. THE SENTENCE 2.1.

The Simple Sentence A sentence, as is well known, is a unit of a different kind from a phrase. It is a unit of communication, that is, it has its own intonation, and is used by speakers or writers to communicate their thoughts. A sentence may consist of one word only, or of a phrase, or of a group of phrases, etc. : it all depends on the thought to be expressed. In speaking about parts of the sentence, we will use a more or less traditional system in this respect, speaking of two main parts: the subject and the predicate, and several secondary ones: the object, the attribute, the apposition, the adverbial modifier, direct address, and parenthesis. 2.1. 1.

Main Parts The Subject There are various ways of expressing the subject in OE. The most usual of these is naturally a substantive, as in the following sentences: Ohthere sde his hlaforde 'Ohthere said to his lord', se here ws ham hweorfende 'the army was returning home'. Often enough, the subject is a pronoun, as in the sentences he pas andsware onfen 'he received this answer'; hu hit ewu ran mite 'how it could happen', ponne tod lap hi his feoh 'then they divide his property'. The Predicate The predicate in OE may be either verbal or nominal. Again, the verbal predicate may be either simple or compound. The simple verbal predicate is one expressed by the form of one verb, either simple, or, in some cases, analytical.

As to the latter variety, it should be noted, that we cannot always clearly distinguish between a compound predicate and a simple verbal one, with an analytical verb form. Examples of a simple verbal predicate are of course very numerous, e.g. : pa cwp he 'then he said', pa Finn as and pa Beormas spr con noah an epode 'the Finns and the Berms spoke nearly the same language', he for pier 'he sailed there'. A compound verbal predicate can be seen in the following sentences: Ne con ic noht sinan. -Hwre pu canst sinan. - Hwt sceal ic sinan (Bede, translated by King Alfred.) "I cannot sing anything.

- But thou canst sing. - What shall I sing' A nominal predicate seems to be always compound in OE. We can see it, for example, in the following sentences: he ws skype spedi man 'he was a very rich man', eart pu se Beowulf, sepe wip Brecon wunne 'art thou the Beowulf who competed with Breca' 2.1. 2. Secondary Parts The Object Objects can be expressed by substantives or pronouns in the accusative, dative, or genitive case. Most usually an object (with so-called transitive verbs) is expressed by a substantive or pronoun in the accusative case, as in: he pa pas andsware onfen 'he then received this answer', hi hine forbrnap 'they burn him', sdon sum hali spelt 'told a holy story'.

There may be two objects in one sentence, one direct, the other indirect, and the difference is seen in the case forms; the direct object is in the accusative, and the indirect in the dative, as in: fela spell a him sdon pa Beormas 'the Permians told him many stories', sin me hwthwuu 'sing me something'. The indirect object in the dative can also express the instrument of the action (this is the meaning of the dative inherited from the original instrumental case), as in Alfred cynin hate retan Wrf erp rcebiscop his wordum 'king Alfred greets archbishop Warferth with his words'. Very often the object is expressed by the phrase "preposition + substantive or pronoun", as in: nu hb be we scortlice essex ymb Asia londemsere 'now we have briefly spoken about the land of Asia'. The lexical meaning of the preposition is of course essential for the expression of the actual extralinguistic relation between the object and the action or other object mentioned in the sentence. The Attribute An attribute may be expressed either by an adjective or by a pronoun, or numeral, of by a substantive in the genitive case, or by a phrase "preposition + substantive". Examples of all these varieties are numerous enough. e.g. : he ws swie spedi man 'he was a very rich man', pa clypode he Esau, his yld ran sunu 'then he called Esau, his elder son', brin me twa, pa bet stan tyccenu 'bring me two, the best kids', pr sceal les epe odes man been forbrned 'a man of every tribe shall be burnt'.

The Apposition Apposition of various sizes, referring either to a substantive or to a pronoun, are found in many OE texts. e.g. : Martian us case re 'the emperor Martian', Ohthere sde his hlaforde, AElfrede cynine 'Ohthere said to his lord, king Alfred', ws he, se man, in woruldhade eseted 'he, the man, was a layman', her com AElfred, se unsc eia pelias, AEpelrdes sunu c ines, hider inn 'at this time Alfred, the innocent nobleman, son of king Ethelred, arrived here'. The Adverbial Modifier An adverbial modifier may be expressed either by an adverb or by a phrase "preposition + substantive". The first variety may be seen in such sentences as: pa eode he ham 'then he went home', pin bro por com facenlice 'your brother came heatingly'. The adverbial modifier may be one of manner, or time or place, etc., depending on the lexical meaning of the adverb. The second variety "preposition + substantive" is found in the following sentences: hwylce wiotan iu wron iond Anelcynn 'what wise men there formerly were in England', pis rdende-writ Austin us ofer sealtne e suan brohte 'this message Augustine brought across the salt sea from the south', ponne wi norman Do nua wie lme and be east an Hine sind on Easfrancas 'then to the north of the Danube river and to the east of the Rhine are the East Franks'.

The Direct Address Direct address may be represented either by a single word or a phrase: Ced mon, sin me hwthwuu 'Caedmon, sing me something'; ia, leof, ic hit eom 'yes, my dear, it is I'; sunu min, hlyste uu nre lare 'my son, listen to my teaching', aris, fder min 'rise, my father'. The Parenthesis Parentheses are not exactly frequent in OE texts, and when ever they do occur, they are usually represented either by adverbs or by phrases of the pattern "preposition + substantive". Here are a few examples: hwre pu meant sinan 'however, thou canst sing'; nfde he peah ma ponne twenty hryera 'he had, however, no more than twenty cattle', cf. also nfde se here, odes ponces, Anelcynn ealle for swe ebrocod 'the (Danish) army had not, thank God, devastated England completely'. 2.1. 3. One Member and Elliptical Sentences Impersonal sentences may be one-member ones, e.g. hu loop how in lade 'how did you fare on your way'; him on fyr ste el omp dre mid album, pt hit wear eal-eart 'it soon happened in the right time among men, that is (the building) was quite ready'.

The subject of elliptical sentences is to be supplied from the context, e.g. syan rest wear feasceaft funded, he paes frore ebay 'since (he) was first found helpless, he lived to see consolation in this'; aled on pa leone peoden on bear tn scopes ' (they) laid then their beloved leader on the ship's bosom'. In the former sentence it is clear that the subject of the subordinate clause is the same as that of the main clause. In the latter sentence it becomes clear from the preceding text that the king's attendants are meant. 2.1. 4. Sentences introduced by hit and pr In OE texts there are sentences introduced by the subject hit and by the adverbial modifier pr, which to some extent lose their own meaning. e.g. ne-ws hit lense pa en, pt se echte aum-sweorum fter wl-nie wcc an scold e 'it had not yet gone so far that a feud should arise between son-in-law and father-in-law because of mortal enmity'.

These are the beginnings of sentences with a "formal subject" it and with the phrase there is. 2.1. 5. Uses of Infinitive and Participle The OE infinitive is used in different syntactical functions. It may be the subject of a sentence, e.g. all pas pin pre peoden edafenap cup habban 'all these things it behoves the people to know'. The infinitive often combines with verbs meaning 'begin', 'be able', 'wish', etc. e.g. Hie ldc onan sine eseldan in sele pam hean fire fricean 'Hie lac duly began to interrogate his attendants in the high hall'; him bebe oran ne con 'defend him I cannot'. With verbs of motion the infinitive often expresses the purpose of the action, e.g. he sie-hre i secean com mine peoden 'he, glorified by victories, came to greet the famous king'.

The t-infinitive is also used to express purpose: hie common pt land to sceawianne 'they came to have a look at the land'. This form is also used in other functions, e.g. lon is to secan ne 'it is too long to tell', odd dum, pa hy r forhodun to donne 'good deeds, which they had failed to perform', ne bip pr epe pin spor to find anne 'it will not be easy there to find your trace'. Sometimes, more especially in poetic style, an infinitive with a verb of motion denotes rather the way the action is performed, e.g. 3 ewat pa neosian hean huses 'he went approaching the high house', pa com of more under mist-hleopum rendel onan 'then came from the marsh under mist rocks Grendel (going) '. The infinitive is also used to express commands in indirect speech: him bud on drin can ebitrodne win-dren c 'they told him to drink bitter wine'. Infinitive Phrases When an infinitive follows a phrase "verb + substantive or pronoun in the accusative" the substantive and the infinitive form a construction which is usually called "accusative and infinitive". In OE this is still used rather seldom.

It is mainly found with verbs of perception: son 'see', hier an 'hear', efrinan 'learn', and also with verbs expressing order or permission, such as hat an 'order', loan 'let', etc. e.g. eseah he in recede rica manie, swefan sibbe-edriht 'he saw in the hall many warriors, a friendly troop sleeping'; fyr-le oht eseah, bld cne leo man beorhte scim an 'he saw a fire-light, a glittering flash chine brightly'; ne-hyrde ic cymlicor ceorl eyrwan 'I did not. hear a more handsome ship constructed'; ic pt londbuend, leode mine, sele-rdende secean hyrde, pt hie esa won hwylce tween micle mearcstapas mor as healdan, ell or-stas 'I heard the inhabitants of the earth, my people, guarding the hall, say that they saw two such great spirits live in the moors, alien sprites'; pa ic wide earn we orc eb annan 'I heard that the work was widely proclaimed then'; pone here he let mid pmscipum onan wend an 'he told the army to move thence in ships'; let hie sippan faran ham 'he let them afterwards sail home'. Substantive + Participle or Adjective Such constructions also form a predicative group, e.g. e dep him swa ewealdene worlde dl as 'he will make parts of the world so subdued to him', esch sort-chari on his suna bare win sele west ne wind-e reste, remote berofene 'he sees, saddened, in his son's house the wine-hall empty, the wind's resting place, bereft of glad noise'. Occasionally an absolute participle construction is found in OE, both substantive and participle being in the dative case, e.g. forltenre pre cea stre, he com 'the camp having been left, he came' ( = leaving the camp, he came); he eseah swapendum windu m pone le ahefenne 'he saw the flame rising, with winds blowing'. Negation Negative words are freely used in OE, their number in a sentence not being limited. e.g. ne m nan pin his will an wistandan 'nothing can withstand his will'; nan man ne bude ben oran him 'no man lived north of him'; nan ne dors te nan pin asian 'nobody dared ask anything'. Occasionally the negative pronoun noht, noht (its original meaning being 'nothing', from n + wiht) is used: ne con ic noht sinan 'I cannot sing (anything) '. Eventually the negative particle ne was dropped, and the negative meaning came to be expressed by noht alone. 2.2.

The Composite Sentence 2.2. 1. The Compound Sentence Both asyndetic and syndetic compound sentences are found in OE texts. The asyndetic type may be illustrated by the following example from Beowulf: and pa pr-inne patina edriht swefan's efter sym-ble; sore ne cup on, wonsceaft were ' (he) found in there a troop of warriors sleeping after the feast; they did not know any trouble, misery of men' In a syndetic compound sentence clauses may be connected by one of the conjunctions: and 'and', oppe 'or', ac 'but': ws he, se mon, In weoruldhade eseted op pa tide, pe he ws elefedre yl do, ond he nfre nni leo eleornade 'he, that man, was a layman until he reached an elderly age, and he had never learnt any song'; ic me mid Hruntine dom ewyrce, oppe mec deap nimes 'I will acquire glory with Hunting (a sword), or death shall take me'; pa Beormas hfdon swipe wel ebun hira land; ac hie ne dorston pron cuman 'the Permians had had their land very well cultivated; but they (the travellers) did not dare to disembark there': Her AEpelwulf cynin efeaht t Car rum wip. V. sciphlst and pd Deniscan aht on wl stowe ewald 'here ( = in this year) king AEthelwuef fought at Char mouth with 35 shiploads, and the Danes kept the battlefield in their power'; pa was onne Leo papa on Rome, and he hine to cynine ehalode 'then was Leo pope in Rome, and he invested him as king'; nfde se here,' Codes ponces, Onelcyn for swie ebrocod; ac hie wron micle swi por ebrocod on pm prim e arum mid ceases c wilde and monna 'the (enemy) army had not, thank God, utterly destroyed England; but they were much more afflicted by deaths of cattle and human beings' 2.2. 2. The Complex Sentence In treating complex sentences, we shall give our main attention to separate types of subordinate clauses, and then briefly indicate possibilities of several subordinate clauses of different types and degrees occurring within the same complex sentence.

As to the separate types of subordinate clauses, we will classify them as parallel to parts of a simple sentence. Subject Clauses These are not often found in OE texts. We can quote an example from King Alfred's preface to his translation of Pope Gregory I's Pastoral Care: me com swie oft on emynd, hwylce wiotan iu wron iond Anelcynn 'it often came to my mind what scholars there formerly were in England'. Another example is from the same text: uncu, hu lone r swelrede biscepas sien ' (it is) unknown, how long there will be such learned bishops'.

Predicative clauses do not seem to occur in OE texts. Object Clauses These are mainly found in indirect speech, that is, in connection with verbs meaning 'say', 'announce', 'ask', 'think', and the like. They may be introduced by the conjunction pt or if, by an interrogative pronoun or adverb, or, occasionally, be joined on asyndetically. Here are some examples of each variety: Ohthere sde his hlaforde, AElfrede cynine, pt he ea lra Norpmonna norpmest bude.

He sde pt he bude, on pm lande norpweardum wip pa Wests 'Ohthere told his lord, king Alfred, that he lived northernmost of all Northmen. He said that he lived in the land northward along the Atlantic Ocean'; axo de if him wre niht else 'asked if the night had been quiet for him (i.e. if he had spent a quiet night) '; men ne cannon secan to soe, sele-rdende, he under heofonum; hwa pm hlyste onfen men cannot say for sooth, counsellors in hall, heroes under heaven, who received the load'. Attributive Clauses These are introduced either by the relative pronoun pe or by the pronoun se, which from a demonstrative acquired a relative meaning, or by the compound pronoun sepe. Here are examples of each variety: swie fea wa wron behionan Humbre, e hiora enina cuen understondan on enlisc 'very few were on this side of the Humber who could understand their service in English'; a ws on pa tid AEelbyrht cynin hate on Centric e and mi hti, se nfde rice o euro Humbre streams 'there was at this time a king called Athelbyrht in Kent and a mighty one, who had his kingdom as far as the river Humber'; he ewunade e risen-lice leo wyrcan pa de to festnisse ond to arfstnisse belumpon 'he was wont to compose proper songs which belonged to religion and to piety'. Adverbial Clauses These cover a wide variety of meanings, such as place, time, cause, purpose, concession, comparison, etc. Accordingly the number of conjunctions introducing such clauses is considerable.

Here we find pr 'where', pa 'when', ponne 'when', oppt 'until', for 'because', peah pe 'though', and others. Clauses of Place Such clauses are rather rare. They are usually introduced by the adverb pr, e.g. Hwearf pa hrdlice, pr Hropar st 'he turned quickly to where Hrothgar sat'. Temporal Clauses These are introduced by various conjunctions: pa, ponne, panne 'when', sippan 'since', r, rompe 'before', penden 'while', oppt 'until'. e.g. : pa he pa pas andsware onfen, pa, onan he sona sinan 'when he had received this answer, he soon began to sing'; ponne he eseah pa hear pan him neal can, ponne as ras he for sce ome fram pm symb le 'when he saw the harp approach him, he rose for shame from the feast'; held, penden life, at nol ond up-row, sde Scyldinas 'ruled, while he lived, old and battle-famous, the Scildings so that they were glad'; nfre him deap sce pep on pam willwone penden would ston dep 'never will death harm in the wonder garden while the world stands'; pr se ead a mot... wun ian in one, oppt wintra bip pu send urn en 'there the blessed one can... live in the garden, until a thousand years have elapsed'; ewat pa neosian sippan niht become, hean huses 'started then, when night fell, to approach the high house'.

Clauses of Cause Clauses of cause are introduced by the conjunctions form (pe), for, e.g. pa cordon hie up-ip on pa ea, for-pm hie ne dorston forp bi pre ea silan for unripe; for-pm pt land ws all ebun on opre halfe pre eas 'then they turned into the river, because they did not dare to sail on past the river, for unrest, as the land was all inhabited on the other side of the river'; ws. seo hail micel, tw elf wintra fid torn epo lode wine Scyldina, we anna ehwylcne, sidra sora, foram syan wear yld a barnum undyrne cu, yd dum eo more, ptte rendel wan halle wip Hropar 'the time was long, twelve years did the Scildings' friend suffer rage, every woe, great sorrows, because later it became known to children of men, sadly in songs, that Grendel had long made war on Hrothgar'. Clauses of Purpose These are introduced by the conjunction pt and contain a verb in the subjunctive mood. e.g. swa sceal eon uma gode ewyrcean, from um feoh-if tum on fder one, pt hine on yld e eft ewunien wil-esi as, ponne wi came, leode elstetn, 'thus shall a young warrior well achieve, by generous gifts in his father's house, that willing companions should be with him in his old age, when a war comes, people should follow him'. If the clause of purpose expresses an action to be avoided it is introduced by the conjunctional locution py ls (pe), e.g. for pon ic leof we rud loan wille -fremmende, pt e eower hus efs tien py ls hit ferbldum winds toweorpan 'therefore I want to teach my dear people, law-abiding, that you should fortify your house, lest winds should destroy it by sudden gusts'. Clauses of Result These clauses are introduced by the conjunction pt, which may be preceded by the adverb swa 'so' in the main clause. e.g. : swa cln e ho ws opfeallenu on Anelcynne, t swipefeawa wron behionan Humbre, e hiora enina cuen understondanon enlisc. oppe fur dum an rendewrit of l dene on enliscawendan 'so cleanly was it (learning) decayed in England, that very few were on this side of the Humber - those who could understand their service in English or even translate one message from Latin Into English'; eode ellen-rof, pt he for eallum esto d Denia fre an " stepped the glorious one, so that he stood near the Danes' lord'. This latter clause can also be interpreted as a temporal clause:'. .. until he stood'. Conditional Clauses These are introduced by a conjunction if 'if' or sometimes nfne 'unless': he me habban wille deore fane, if mec dea time 'he will have me bloody if death takes me'; nis pt sele-uma wp num eweorad, nfne his wille leo, n lie an syn 'this is not a lower man, worthy of weapons, unless his face lies; his unique countenance " Clauses of Concession These are introduced by the conjunction peah (pe), e.g. pone si ft him snot ere ceorl as let-hw on loon, peah he him leof wre 'this voyage clever men somewhat blamed on him, though he was liked by them'.

Clauses of Manner and Comparison These are introduced by the conjunctions swa and ponne: warde heoldon in pam fs tenne, swa pam force r eomormodum ludic behead 'they kept watch in the fortress, as Judith had ordered the people, before sad'; nals hi hine Is san l acum teo dan, peodestreonum, ponne pa dyson, pe hine set frumsceafte for onsendon nne ofer ye umb or-wesen de 'they did not adorn him with lesser treasures, with folk-gifts, than those did what his birth sent him forth alone over the sea, being a baby'; nfre ic maran eseah e orla ofer eoran, ponne is eower sum cec on sear wum 'never did I see a greater of earls on the earth, than is one of you, warrior in arms'. We also find in OE texts some clauses of a generalizing character, introduced by generalizing pronouns or adverbs. Thus, the object clause in the following example has a generalizing character: ... swa ptte, swa hwt swa he of odeundum staf um pure boc eras eleornode, pt he fter medmiclum fce... in enliscereord wel eworhte forp brohte '... so that he, whatever he had learnt from divine books through books, in a short time... in English well told pronounced'; hy e dop pt per bip oferfroren, sam hit sy sum or sam winter 'they do it (so) that both are frozen, whether it be summer or winter'. Parenthetical Clauses These are sometimes found in OE texts, e.g. pa ws him eallum seen, swa-swa hit ws, pt him were from drihtne syl fum heofonlic iof u forifen 'then it became clear to all of them, as it was, that a heavenly gift had been granted him from God himself. Combined Clauses Of course different types of clauses can combine with one another in various ways, and the number of such variations is prob-ably unlimited.

Here we give a few examples illustrating these possi - bilities: fory me ync be tre, if iow sw ync, t we eac sum bec, a e niedbeearfosta sien eallum mon num to wiotonne, t we a on t leode penden, e we ealle ecnawan men (ond sdon sw we swie eae man mid odes fultume, if we a stilnesse habban), tte eal sio iond, e nu is on Anelcynne, fri ora monna, dra e a spedi haben, t hie m befeolan men, sien to liornune of ste, a h wile e hie to nan re oer re note ne men, o one first, e hie wel cun nen enlisc ewr it ard an 'therefore it seems better to me (if it seems so to you) that we should also translate some books, which it is most necessary for all men to know, that we should translate them into the language that we all can know (and do so we very easily can with God's help, if we have peace), that all the youth that is now in England, of free men, who have property, that they may apply to it, that they may be firm in learning, while they are not eligible to any other useful work, until the time when they can easily read an English writing'2.2. 3. Mixed Sentences A sentence may contain both co-ordination and subordination, and this again in different combinations. We will only consider here one example of a sentence of this mixed type: ond ic bebiode on odes naman, t nan mon one stel from re bec ne do ne a hoc from m mynstre: uncu, hu lone r w el rede biscepas sien, swa nu (ode onc!) wel hwr sien don, fory ic wolde, tte hie ealle t re stowe wre, briton se biscep hie mid him habban wille oe his hwr to one sle oe hwa ore bl write 'and I order in God's name that nobody should take the bookmark away from the book nor the book from the monastery: it is unknown, how long there will be such learned bishops as now (thank God!) there are everywhere because I want them (the books) to be always on the spot, unless the bishop wants it to be with him or it may be somewhere lent, or somebody may make a copy of it'. In the sphere of syntax there is a great difference between various documents of the OE period. Thus, while the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has hardly any complex sentences, limiting itself to simple and compound ones, in other texts, such as, for example, king Alfred's preface to his translation of Cura Pastoral is, we find an elaborate system of complex sentences, with different types of subordinate clauses and many subordinating conjunctions to introduce them.

Thus, it would be completely mistaken to argue due to the almost complete absence of subordinate clauses in the Chronicle, that there were no complex sentences in OE. This absence is due not to the non-existence of subordination in OE but to a certain stylistic tradition preserved by the chroniclers. From this point of view it is most instructive to compare passages from the Chronicle with those from king Alfred's preface. In the Chronicle we read: Anno 851. Her Ceorl aldo rmon efeaht wip hfiene men mid Defenascire t Wicanbeore ond pr micel wl es loon ond sie naman.

On py ilc an are AEpelstan cynin ond Ealchere dux micel ne here ofs loon t Sondwic on Kent, ond IX scip u efe nun ond pa opre efliemdon, ond hine men rest ofer winter ston 'In this year Ceorl the alderman fought with the heathen men in Devonshire at Wembury, and they killed many enemies and obtained victory. And in the same year King Ethel stan and alderman Ealchere killed many enemies at Sandwich in Kent, and captured nine ships, and put the other ones to flight, and heathen men for the first time spent the winter there'. At about the same time king Alfred wrote in his Preface to his translation of Gregory I's Pastoral Care: AElfred cynin hate retan Wafer biscep his wordum luflice ond freondlice ond e cyan hate, t me com swie oft on emynd, hwylce wiotan iu wron iond Anelcynn er e odcundra had e woruldcundra, and hu eslilica tid a a wron iond Anelcynn, ond hu a cynin as, e one on wald hfdon's forces, ode ond his rendwrecum hiersumedon, and hie er e hiora sibbe e hiora sio do e hiora on weald innanbordes ehioldon and eac ut hiora eel rymdon, ond hu him a spew er e mid wie e mid wisdom; ond eac a odcundan had as, hu i orne hie wron er e ymb lare e ymb liornuna e ymb ealle a iowotdomas, e hie ode scoldon, ond hu man utanbordes wisdom ond lare hinder on load so hte, ond hu we hie nu scoldon ute bei etan, if we hie habban scoldon 'Alfred king sends his greetings to Warferth the bishop with his words in a friendly and loving way and I tell you that it very often came on my mind what scholars there were formerly in England, both of the religious and the lay orders, and what blessed times were then in England, and how the kings, who had power over the people, served God and his apostles, and they kept both their peace and their morals and their power inside the country, and enlarged their possessions, and how they succeeded then both in war and in culture, and also the religious orders, how eager they were both about teaching and about learning and about all the duties which they owed to God, and how people from abroad sought culture and learning here in this country, and how we now have to get them from outside if we are to have them'. This sentence contains a number of subordinate clauses of different degrees both subject, object, attributive and conditional ones. Between this syntax and that of the Chronicle, as illustrated by the above example, there is of course a very great difference, which can only be interpreted as due to the stylistic peculiarities of the two texts, and this in its turn, depends on the subject matter and on the purpose of the texts 3. WORD-ORDER In some sources, especially older ones, we can find information that Old English word-order is "free" compared to that of Modern English, and we may conclude that writers of Old English could mix up their words in any order at all.

But though word-order was freer then than now, there are just a few common word-orders in Old English clauses. The main Old English word-orders are these: Subject-Verb. This, of course, is how most Modern English sentences are arranged. Verb-Subject.

This word-order still occurs in Modern English sentences like "There are plenty of fish in the sea", and often in questions, such as "Are you sleeping" Subject... Verb. The finite verb is delayed until the end of the clause. Each of these can occur in several different environments, but each is also typical of particular kinds of clause. 3.1.

Subject-Verb This is the standard word-order of the Modern English clause, and it is very common in Old English. It is typical of independent clauses, though it also occurs frequently in subordinate clauses: ac style ntnu of eallum cynine and eallum fugolcynne cmon t Noe, int m arce, sw sw God be bad 'Also the beasts of each species and (of) each species of bird came to Noah, into the ark, as God commanded' The direct object, when it is a noun or noun phrase, will generally follow the verb: God bletsode Noe and his suna and cw him t: "We axa and bo emenifylde and fella eoran". God then blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: "Increase and be multiplied and fill the earth". Old English has a tendency to place pronoun objects - direct and indirect - early in the clause. A pronoun object will usually come between the subject and the verb: And i hine eso and bo emynd's ean wedded e est is betwux Gode and eallum libbendum fl sce. And I will see it and be mindful of the eternal covenant that is established between God and all living flesh.

If the clause has both a direct and an indirect object, and one of them is a pronoun, the pronoun will come first: Hr magon eoran t h yf's an weald, if w on hine elf a, Gode be arn t bonne. Here you may hear that he gives us the power, if we believe in him, to be God's children. If the indirect object had been a noun and the direct object a pronoun, the direct object would have come first. Though you will most frequently find a noun object after the verb and a pronoun before, there is no hard-and-fast rule for the placement of objects.

Sometimes a pronoun object stands after the verb, and sometimes the object will come before the subject: and i ford h mid re eoran samoa. I will destroy them together with the earth. one cynine h briton cucine t Issue. They brought the king alive to Joshua. Adverbial elements, including prepositional phrases and adverb clauses occur in various places in the sentence, e.g. God bletsode Noe 'God then blessed Noah' 3.2. Verb-Subject This word-order is common in independent clauses introduced by the adverbs 'then', onne 'then', r 'there', anon 'thence', fder 'thither', the negative adverb ne, and the conjunctions and / ond and ac 'but'. Since Old English narrative often advances in a series of -clauses, we will find the Verb-Subject word-order quite frequent in narrative: cw Drihten t Caine: "Hwr is Abel n bror" andswarode h and cw: "I nt; rest, sce olde i onne bror healdan" cw Drihten t Caine: "Hwt dy dest nes bror bld clypa t m of eoran".

Then the Lord said to Cain: "Where is Abel, your brother" Then he answered and said: "I don't know: do you say I must look after my brother" Then the Lord said to Cain: "What have you done Your brother's blood cries to me from the earth". This word-order also occurs in independent clauses not introduced by an adverb or adverbial element: Wron h ac swe druncene, for m r ws b rht wn san. [They were also very drunk, for wine had been brought from the south.] When the clause contains a direct object, it will usually follow the subject, but it may also come first in the clause. The Verb-Subject word-order is also characteristic of questions, whether or not introduced by an interrogative word: Him cw Nicodemus t: "H m se e alda mann eft bon canned M h, l, inn faran t his mdor in noe eft, and sw bon eedcenned" Nicodemus said to him, "How can the old man be born again May he, indeed, go into his mother's womb again, and thus be reborn" In Modern English this word-order is used mostly in questions, but in Old English it is also used in declarative sentences. Eart se Beowulf, se e wi Breca wunne [Beowulf, l. 506.] The Verb-Subject word-order has suggested to most editors that the line is a question, to be translated "Are you the Beowulf who contended with Breca" But it has been plausibly suggested that it is instead a statement, to be translated "You " re that Beowulf, the one who contended with Breca!" Commands also generally have the Verb-Subject word-order unless the subject is omitted, as happens more often than not when the command is positive: Ne war graf ene god as.

[Do not make graven gods for yourself.] rw ura fder and mdor. [Honor (your) father and mother.] 3.3. Subject... Verb The Subject... Verb word-order is commonly found in subordinate clauses and clauses introduced by and / ond or ac 'but', though it does sometimes occur in independent clauses. The subject comes at the beginning of the clause and the finite verb is delayed until the end (though it may be followed by an adverbial element such as a prepositional phrase).

Gode of hte t h mann eworhte ofer eoran. Then it was a matter of regret to God that he had made man upon the earth. In the noun clause (t... eoran), the direct object of eworhte comes between the subject and the verb. Indirect objects complements, adverbial elements and various combinations of these are to be found in the same position: Adverbial element: Se Iouis ws sw swe gl t h on hys swustor ewfode. This Jove was so very lustful that he married his sister. and b ne magon bon were, e healdan henan be him writ on uss. and the books that the old heathens wrote thus about them may not be nullified. Complement: N sega Deniscan t se Iouis wre, e h r hta, Mercuries sunu.

Now the Danes say that this Jove, whom they call Thor, was Mercury's son. Indirect object and object: and Adam him eallum naman escap and Adam made names for them all Conclusion The syntactical structure of OE was determined by two major conditions: the nature of OE morphology and the relations between the spoken and the written forms of the language. OE was largely a synthetic language; it possessed a system of grammatical forms which could indicate the connection between words; consequently, the functional load of syntactic ways of word connection was relatively small. It was primarily a spoken language, therefore the written forms of the language resembled oral speech - unless the texts were literal translations from Latin or poems with stereotyped constructions. There was no fixed word order, the order of the words in sentence being relatively free. Consequently, the syntax of the sentence was relatively simple; coordination of clauses prevailed over subordination; complicated syntactical constructions were rare

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