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then went into the Mission. (Succession of events, inviting a coordinative exposition) Suddenly the door burst open and Tommy rushed in panting for breath.→ As the door burst open, Tommy rushed in ...("Successive simultaneity" of actions, inviting a subordinative exposition) Patterton gavelled for attention and speedily disposed of several routine matters. → Patterton gavelled for attention so that he could dispose and did dispose of several routine matters. (Purpose in successive actions, inviting a subordinative exposition) Her anger and emotion grew, and finally exploded. → Her anger and emotion grew to the degree that they finally exploded. (Successive actions in gradation, inviting a subordinative exposition) He just miscalculated and won't admit it. —» Though he miscalculated, he won't admit it. (Concession in opposition, inviting a subordinative exposition) Mary promised to come and he was determined to wait. → He was determined to wait because Mary had promised to come. (Cause and consequence, inviting a subordinative exposition)
Among the various connective meanings expressed by the conjunction and in combination with the corresponding lexemic constituents of the sentence there are two standing very prominent, due to the regular correlations existing between such constructions and semi-complex patterns with verbid phrases — infinitival and participial.
The first construction expresses a subsequent action of incidental or unexpected character:
He leaped up in time to see the Colonel rushing out of the door (H. E. Bates). → He leaped up in time and saw the Colonel rushing out of the door. Walker woke in his bed at the bourbon house to hear a strange hum and buzz in the air (M. Bradbury). → Walker woke in his bed at the bourbon house and heard a strange hum and buzz in the air.
In these constructions the leading clause, as a rule, includes verbs of positional or psychological change, while the expansion, correspondingly, features verbs of perceptions. As is seen from the examples, it is the semi-compound pattern that diagnoses the meaning of the pattern with the infinitive, not the reverse. The infinitive pattern for its part makes up an expressive stylistic device by virtue of its outward coincidence with an infinitive pattern of purpose: the unexpectedness of the referent action goes together with the contextual unexpectedness of the construction.
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The participial construction expresses a parallel attendant event that serves as a characteristic to the event rendered by the leading clause:
He sat staring down the gardens, trying to remember whether this was the seventh or eighth day since the attack had begun (H. E. Bates). → He was sitting and staring down the gardens, and was trying to remember... Rage flamed up in him, contorting his own face (M. Puzo). →Rage flamed up in him and contorted his own face.
With the participial pattern, the same as with the infinitival one, the diagnostic construction is the semi-compound sentence, not vice versa.
The nature of the shown correlations might be interpreted as a reason for considering the relations between the head-verb and the verbid in the tested patterns as coordinative, not subordinative. However, on closer analysis we must admit that diagnosis of this kind is called upon to expose the hidden meanings, but not to level up the differences between units of opposed categorial standings. The verbid patterns remain part of the system of semi-complex sentences because of the hierarchical ranking of their notional positions, while the correlation with semi-compound sentences simply explain their respective semantic properties.
§ 4. The asyndetic formation of the semi-compound sentence stands by its functional features close to the syndetic and-formation in so far as it does not give a rigorous characterisation (semantic mark) to the introduced expansion. At the same time its functional range is incomparably narrower than that of the and-formation.
The central connective meaning distinguishing the asyndetic connection of predicative parts in semi-compound sentences is enumeration of events, either parallel or consecutive. In accord with the enumerative function, asyndetic semi-compounding more often than not is applied to a larger set of base sentences than the minimal two. E.g.:
He closed the door behind him with a shaking hand, found the old car in its parking place, drove along with the drifting lights. They talked, laughed, were perfectly happy late into the night.
Asyndetic semi-compound sentences are often used to
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express gradation of intensity going together with a general emphasis. E.g.:
He would in truth give up the shop, follow her to Paris, follow her also to the chateau in the country (D. du Maurier). He never took the schoolbag again, had refused to touch it (J. Updike).
Characteristic of enumerative and gradational semi-compound sentences is the construction where the first two parts are joined asyndetically, and the third part syndetically, by means of the conjunction and. In such three-base constructions the syndetic expansion finalises the sentence both structurally and semantically, making it into an intensely complete utterance. E.g.:
He knows his influence, struts about and considers himself a great duellist. They can do it, have the will to do it, and are actually doing it.
Of the meanings other than enumerative rendered by the construction in question, the most prominent is elucidation combined with various connotations, such as consequence, purpose, additional characteristics of the basic event. Cf.:
The sight of him made me feel young again: took me back to the beaches, the Ardennes, the Reichswald, and the Rhine. I put an arm round her, tried to tease her into resting.
§ 5. The number of predicative parts in a semi-compound sentence is balanced against the context in which it is used, and, naturally, is an essential feature of its structure. This number may be as great as seven, eight, or even more.
The connection-types of multi-base semi-compound sentences are syndetic, asyndetic, and mixed.
The syndetic semi-compound sentences may be homo-syndetic (i.e. formed by so many entries of one and the same conjunctive) and heterosyndetic (i.e. formed by different conjunctives). The most important type of homosyndetic semi-compounding is the and-type. Its functional meaning is enumeration combined with copulation. E.g.:
A harmless young man going nowhere in particular was knocked down and trodden on and rose to fight back and was punched in the head by a policeman in mistake for someone else and hit the policeman back and ended in more trouble than if he had been on the party himself (M. Dickens).
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A series of successive events is intensely rendered by a homosyndetic construction formed with the help of the conjunctive then. E.g.: You saw the flash, then heard the crack, then saw the smoke ball distort and thin in the wind (E. Hemingway).
Another conjunctive pattern used in homosyndetic semi-compounding is the or-type in its different variants. E.g.:
After dinner we sat in the yard of the inn on hard chairs, or paced about the platform or stumbled between the steel sleepers of the permanent way (E. Waugh). Babies never cried or got the wind or were sick when Nurse Morrison fed them (M. Dickens).
By heterosyndetic semi-compounding the parts of the sentence are divided into groups according to the meanings of the conjunctives. Cf.:
A native woman in a sarong came and looked at them, but vanished when the doctor addressed her (S. Maugham). Ugly sat in the bow and barked arrogantly at passing boats, or stood rockily peering in the river (M. Dickens).
The asyndetic connections in semi-compound sentences, within their range of functions, are very expressive, especially when making up long enumerations-gradations. E.g.:
He had enjoyed a sharp little practice in Split, had meddled before the war in anti-Serbian politics, had found himself in an Italian prison, had been let out when the partisans briefly "liberated" the coast, had been swept up with them in the retreat (E. Waugh).
In the mixed syndetic-asyndetic semi-compound sentence various groupings of coordinated parts are effected. E.g.: He spun completely round, then fell forward on his knees, rose again and limped slowly on (E. Waugh).
In cases where multi-base semi-compound sentences are formed around one and the same subject-predicate combination, they are very often primitivised into a one-predicate sentence with coordinated secondary parts. Of these sentences, a very characteristic type is presented by a construction with a string of adverbial groups. This type of sentence expresses an action (usually, though not necessarily, a movement) or a series of actions continued through a sequence of consecutive place- and time situations. E.g.: Then she took my hand, and we went down the steps of the tower
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