2015-09-06
447
This adverbial clause in English and Ukrainian may also characterise the action/event expressed by the predicate of the matrix clause or it may correlate, as in the sub-clauses of manner/attendant circumstances with a comparative degree adverb of the matrix clause.
Semantically common in both languages are conjunctions that introduce the sub-clauses of comparison. They are: as, like, as if, as though, than and conjunctions with the correlatives — as...as, so...as, as...as if, the more... the more, etc., which have corresponding connective equivalents in Ukrainian (мов, немов, ніж, так — як, так — мов, так — ніби, так-що, так-щоб, etc.):
As they sow, so let them reap. Як посієш/посієте, так і
(Proverb) пожнеш/пожнете.
...He'd sooner die than let me think...він скоріше помре, ніж пока-
he was after my money. (Maugham) же, що розраховує на мої гроші.
The identification of the clauses of comparison in the contrasted languages is sometimes not very easy. This is because the meaning of comparison may overlap the meaning of the manner of action/attendant circumstance expressed in the matrix clause. Cf.
She felt as gay and eager as if she Вона відчула себе такою весе-
were... playing her first small part. лою і життєрадісною, ніби грала...
(Maugham) вже свою першу маленьку роль.
The meaning of the comparative groups of words "as gay and eager as if..." clearly includes comparison as well as manner of the action/ feeling of the girl (as if she were playing). Due to this, many grammarians traditionally do not separate these two types of subordinate clauses treating them as one group ("clauses of comparison/or manner" or as "clauses of degree)" [16. 295; 39, 287].
