Sentences with homogeneous parts

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 (for homogeneous secondary parts we should say: standing in the same relation to the same head word). According to the older terminology, such sentences used to be termed "contracted sentences", as if they had been "contracted" put of two or more simple sentences. For example, the sentence I met my relatives and friends would be said to have been "contracted" out of two sentences: I met my relatives, and I met my friends. This treatment does not seem to be justified, as it introduces a sort of historical element, implying the origin of such sentences, which is both doubtful and completely irrelevant for the study of these sentences as they exist in the modern language. ^]

This category of sentences covers a wider variety of phenomena. Some types of sentences with homogeneous parts quite clearly fit into the general type of simple sentences. This is the case, for instance, with sentences having two or more homogeneous objects to one predicate, e. g. Its literary equipment consists of a single fixed shelf stocked with old paper-covered novels, broken-backed, coffee-stained, torn and thumbed; and a couple of little hanging shelves

¹ However, this treatment has been recently revived on new grounds, for example, by L. Tesniere in his book Elements de syntaxe structurale, p. 325,

Sentences with a Dependent Appendix 255

with a few gifts on them... (SHAW) The same can be said about sentences having two or more homogeneous adverbial modifiers to one predicate: I only came to thank you and return the coat you lent me. (Idem) And this is also true of sentences having two or more homogeneous attributes to one head word — even if we take an attribute to be a secondary part of a sentence on the same level as objects and adverbial modifiers. ' If, on the other hand, we take an attribute to be a part of phrase, rather than of a sentence, the presence of homogeneous attributes is still more irrelevant for the general character of the sentence.

However, the number of homogeneous parts in a sentence can be much larger than that. We will not here give examples of the gradual growth of a sentence due to accumulation of homogeneous parts but we will at once proceed to sentences in which only the subject keeps, as it were, the sentence together: it is the case when there are two verbal predicates, and each predicate has its objects, adverbial modifiers, attributes to nouns functioning as objects, etc.: Louka makes way proudly for her, and then goes into the house. (SHAW) Madame Michel put down her netting and surveyed him sharply over her glasses. (R. MAGAULAY) Compare also: She caught the thoughtful, withdrawn, disengaged look that rested on the girl and boy: and, glancing back at the girl, saw an expression in the sullen grey eyes that perplexed her. (Idem)

The reason why we cannot call this sentence compound is that it has only one subject and thus cannot be separated into two clauses. If we repeat the subject before the second predicate we shall get a compound sentence consisting of two clauses and identical in meaning with the original sentence with homogeneous parts. Thus the sentence Scarlett stood in her apple-green "second-day" dress in the parlor of Twelve Oaks amid the blaze of hundreds of candles, jostled by the same throng as the night before, and saw the plain little face of Melanie Hamilton glow into beauty... (M. MITCHELL) cannot be described as a compound one because it has only one subject, but it cannot very well be described as a simple sentence either, as its unity depends on that subject alone while the predicates are different and each of them is accompanied by a set of secondary parts. So it will be safe to say that it stands somewhere between simple and compound sentences.