Syntactic stylistic tropes
The subject of syntax is a sentence and a phrase. This includes syntactic synonymy, that is, the transmission of approximately the same subject-logical information by different syntactic constructions with different functional, stylistic and expressive coloring and connotations.
Let's compare, for example, verbal and nonverbal incentive sentences:
Step in here! - In here! - What a moment! - Just a moment!
The stylistic effect is based on establishing the synonymy of different types of syntactic constructions, of which one, with the traditional use of syntactic connections, is neutral, and the other, with their rethinking, is expressive and emotional.
Each functional style has its own characteristics of syntactic constructions, its own typical constructions, which are introduced into a work of art and interact in it with a special stylistic effect. Colloquial speech, for example, is characterized by redundancy of syntactic construction, redistribution of sentence boundaries, elliptical sentences, displaced constructions in which the end of the sentence is given in a different syntactic structure than the beginning, and, finally, elements of the same utterance that are isolated from each other. All these features are used to convey direct speech: Boy, did I gallop! With those three sons of Africa racing after me and hissing! (K. Mac-In nes. Absolute Beginners)
In the works of M.D. Kuznets and Yu.M. Skrebneva syntactic constructions that enhance the expressiveness of the utterance are grouped in accordance with the types of deviations from the norm presented in them.
1. Unusual placement of sentence elements - inversion.
In English, each member of a sentence, as is known, has a usual place, determined by the method of its syntactic expression, connections with other words and the type of sentence.
Inversion is a stylistic device consisting of a deliberate change in the usual word order for the purpose of emotional, semantic highlighting of any part of the statement. Inversion is a strong stylistic means of creating emphatic intonation. If direct word order, as a rule, has no stylistic meaning, then inversion is always stylistically significant.
Inversion is possible only in expressive speech. This stylistic device is used not only by writers, but also by publicists. In scientific and official business styles, as a rule, word order is not used for expressive function and therefore inversion cannot be justified.
Let's look at some typical cases of inversion.
1) a predicate expressed by a noun or adjective may precede the subject or copular verb:
Beautiful those donkeys were! (K. Mansfield. Lady's Maid).
This type of inversion is especially characteristic of colloquial speech, where it is often combined with an ellipse, a dissected question and other features typical of colloquial speech:
Artful - wasn't it? (K. Mansfield. Lady's Maid).
In book speech there is no ellipse in this case, but often there is an inversion of the copular verb and subject:
A means of highlighting a significant predicate verb is also to place it before the subject, followed by an auxiliary or modal verb: Go I must.
2) direct object for the purpose of emphasis can be placed in first place:
Her love letters I returned to the detectives for filing. (Gr. Greene. End of the Affair)
3) a definition expressed by an adjective or several adjectives, when placed after the defined one, gives the statement a solemn, somewhat archaic, elevated character, organizes it rhythmically, can be accentuated by adverbs or a conjunction, and even receives a hint of predicativeness:
Spring begins with the first narcissus, rather cold and shy and wintry. (D.H. Lawrence);
In some places there are odd yellow tulips, slendor, spiky, and Chinese - looking. (D.H. Lawrence)
4) adverbial words put forward in first place are not only emphasized themselves, but also accentuate the subject, which in this case is put forward in last place, and the last place is also an elephatic position:
Hello! Here come two lovers. (K. Mansfield)
Particular liveliness and dynamism of the narrative is created by putting the post-positive in the first place: off they sped, up you go.
Since in a complex sentence the normal order of parts is to precede the main clause, a means of emphasis can be to put the subordinate clause in first place:
Whether she changes or doesn't change now I don't care. (J.B. Priestly)
Stylistic inversion, which, as noted above, is subject to certain restrictions depending on the language system, should be distinguished from violations of the usual word order in the speech of foreign characters. Such violations are used, for example, by E. Forster, E. Hemingway and other authors in speech characteristics.
2. Rethinking, or transposition, of syntactic structures. One of the main classifications of sentences in syntax is, as is known, the classification according to the purpose of the statement into declarative, interrogative, exclamatory and imperative. Each of these categories has its own formal and foreign characteristics. So, for example, sentences that are affirmative in form can be used as questions if the questioner wants to show that he already knows what the answer will be and he is not indifferent to it. They can also serve as incentives to action. So-called rhetorical questions serve as emphatic statements, and imperative sentences can sometimes convey not a call to action, but a threat or ridicule.
Transposition is the use of syntactic structures in unusual or denotative meanings and with additional connotations.
Let us first consider the transposition of a declarative sentence into a question. Such transposition with various connotations has become quite widespread in colloquial speech.
And that"s supposed to be cultured? (P. Shafer)
Transposition saturates these questions with irony and even sarcasm. Direct word order indicates that the questioner has an idea of what the answer might be.
Let us now turn to the transposition of the opposite direction, that is, to the transformation of the question into an emphatic statement. This is the so-called rhetorical question - the most studied form of transposition in stylistics.
A rhetorical question does not require an answer and is posed in order to encourage the listener to tell something unknown to the speaker. The function of a rhetorical question is to attract attention, strengthen the impression, increase the emotional tone, and create elation.
Men will confess to treason, murder, arson, false teeth or a wig. How many of them own up to a lack of humor? (F. Colby. Essays)
The interrogative form emphasizes the confidence that no one will want to admit to lacking a sense of humor.
Transposition of interrogative sentences is possible not only according to the type of rhetorical question with the transition to an emphatic statement, but also with the transition to imperative and exclamatory sentences, which are necessarily more expressive than forms without transposition. A simple imperative mood, even softened by the word please, sounds too rude to the English ear. A polite request requires an interrogative construction. For example: Open the window, please turns into Will you open the window, please or Would you mind opening the window or into an indirect question: I wonder whether you would mind opening the window?
In conversational style, both in English and in Russian, there is a transposition technique, in which an exclamatory sentence is constructed as an interrogative and very emphatic:
What on earth are you doing! - What the hell are you doing!
In this case, expressiveness is enhanced by lexical means.
Let's look at transposition of negation and implied negation. The number of such formations is insignificant and they are found mainly in a colloquial style of speech.
"Did you give her my regards?" - I asked him.
"Year". "The hell he did, the bastard." (J. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye).
Denial, as a generally more emotional and expressive construction than affirmation, deserves especially close attention. Problems of denial have their own characteristics in different styles of speech. Twice no. For example, it is a characteristic feature of vernacular and, accordingly, is widely used in speech characteristics:
We aren"t nothing red"eroes, nor we aren"t no blackguards too. (R. Kipling)
Such cumulative denial indicates not only the illiteracy of the speaker. At the same time, it more expressively emphasizes the speaker’s desire to be absolutely sure that the denial will be noticed. In a colloquial style of speech, negation can have different expressive functions and convey different psychological states. Thus, a negative construction, instead of the necessary affirmative one, can convey excitement, indecision, hesitation:
I"m wondering if I oughtn"t to ring him up.
The expressiveness of negation is the basis for a figure of speech called litotes or understatement, which combines particles with an antonym that already contains a negative prefix: it is not unlikely = it is very likely. A design with litotes can have different functions in combination with different stylistic colors. In a conversational style, it conveys mainly well-mannered restraint or irony. In a scientific style, it imparts greater secrecy and caution to the statement: it is not difficult to see = it is easy to see.
Litota is interesting for its national specificity. It is usually explained by the English national character, reflected in the speech etiquette of the English: English restraint in expressing assessments and emotions, the desire to avoid extremes and maintain composure in all situations.
For example: It is rather an unusual story, isn’t it? = You lie. It would not suit me all that well. = It is impossible.
The range of expressive possibilities is quite significant.
3. Types and functions of repetitions. Repetition or reprise is a figure of speech that consists of repeating sounds, words, morphemes, synonyms or syntactic constructions in a sufficiently close series, that is, close enough to each other so that they can be replaced.
Beat! beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow! (W. Whitman)
Repetition conveys significant additional information of emotionality, expressiveness and stylization and, in addition, often serves as an important means of connection between sentences.
The variety of functions inherent in repetition is especially strongly expressed in poetry. Let's start with poetic examples. The interweaving of several types of repetition makes the last lines of Shakespeare's sonnet XVIII unforgettable. One of Shakespeare's key themes is embodied here - the theme of ruthless time and poetry's combat with it, thanks to which beauty becomes immortal. The importance of the topic causes convergence, that is, the accumulation of stylistic devices when conveying one common content.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see
So long lives this and this gives life to them.
Convergence allows us to distinguish several different types of repetition in these two lines:
1) repetition of phrases - so long ... so long, in this case the repetition is anaphoric, since the repeated elements are located at the beginning of the line.
Anaphora - repetition of the first word or combinations of words in several subsequent sentences or phrases;
2) repetition of constructions - the parallel constructions men can brathe and eyes can see are syntactically constructed in the same way;
3) the second example of parallelism lives this and this gives... is called chiasmus.
Parallelism is a listing in speech (text) of syntactically similar, semantically - partially or completely, different constructions.
Chiasmus - consists in the fact that in two adjacent phrases (or sentences) built on parallelism, the second is built in the reverse order, so that a cross arrangement of identical members of two adjacent constructions is obtained;
4) in this example, however, the chiasmus is complicated by the fact that the syntactically identical elements this ... this are expressed in identical words.
Pickup (anadiplosis, epanalepsis or junction) is a figure consisting of the repetition of a word at the junction of two structures.
Picking up shows the connection between two ideas and increases not only expressiveness, but also rhythm.
Thus, two lines of Shakespeare provide a whole series of repetitions. In addition to the anaphora and pick-up presented here, depending on the location of the repeated words, there are also epiphora, ring repetition and polysyndeton.
Epiphora is the repetition of a word at the end of two or more phrases.
Ring repetition (frame) - repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and at the end of the same sentence, stanza, paragraph.
Polysyndeton - repetition of conjunctions.
The functions of repetition and the additional information it carries can be very diverse. Repetition can, for example, highlight the main idea or theme of a text. This is the anadiplosis at the end of Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn:
Beauty is truth, truth beauty is all
Ye know earth, and all ye need to know.
The pickup emphasizes the idea of unity, the identity of beauty and truth.
Repetition can perform several functions at the same time: create folklore flavor, rhythm, and the interconnection of individual images, merging them into a single picture. Repetition can serve as an important means of communication within a text.
Expressive redundancy of a tautological nature is typical of vernacular:
Why don"t you shat your great big old gob, you poor bloody old fool! (J. Osborne. Entertainer)
In the speech characteristics of characters, repetitions almost always combine expressiveness and emotionality, expressiveness and the function of connection between sentences.
4. Syntactic methods of compression. Omission of logically necessary elements of a statement can take different forms and different stylistic functions. This includes the use of one-part and incomplete sentences (ellipse), non-conjunction, silence or similar aposiopesis and zeugma.
Ellipsis is a stylistic figure consisting of the deliberate omission of any member of a sentence that is implied from the context.
Being especially characteristic of colloquial speech, the ellipse, even outside of dialogue, gives the utterance the intonation of live speech, dynamism, and sometimes some confidential simplicity:
If teenage baby - sitters typical, there"s hope yet. (H. Spitsbardt. Lebendiges English)
Non-union (asyndeton) - deliberate omission of unions.
The use of non-union communication makes speech more static, compact and often dynamic..
Emily, id I do improve and make a big change ... would you be ... I mean could you be ...
Syllepsis is a union of two or more homogeneous members that differ in one way or another grammatically.
She was seen washing clothes with industry and a cake of soap He lost his hat and his temper. The rich arrived in pairs and also in Rolls Royce. (H. Belloc)
Whether she would break his heart, or break the looking glass; Mr. Bounderby could not at all foresee. (Ch. Dickens)
5. Violation of sentence closure: anacoluth / Anacoluth is a violation of the correct syntactic connection, in which the connected parts of the sentence are suitable in meaning, but are not grammatically consistent.
Come into the garden, Maud,
For the black bat, Night, has flown,
Come into the garden, Maud,
I am here at the gate alone...
In the above excerpt from the book by S. O. Casey, the violation of the syntactic connection consists in the fact that the possessive pronoun his is defined by an imperative sentence, which is not highlighted graphically.
Inserted structures can express different shades of meaning, from deliberate dryness, dispassion to extreme affectation.
Plug-in structures can occupy different places in a sentence:
Come at the beginning of a sentence: To tell the truth, he could never quite see what all the fuss was about;
In the middle of the sentence: It does not, of course, make any difference as far as your conditions of imprisonment are concerned ...
And in the end: So he sat down these and then and wrote me a letter of recommendation to any future employer, a corking good letter, too.
Parenthetic insertion can be a kind of compression of the information of a statement. Indeed, any explication of a parenthetical introduction immediately entails a change in the structure of the syntactic construction, the forward movement of the information flow is disrupted, and, most importantly, the expressiveness of the statement is lost, and, consequently, the influencing function of the text is reduced - the most important feature in the text of fiction.
Constructions that are similar in meaning, but expressed by different syntactic units ( Wed: synonymous constructions). Typically, parallel syntactic constructions are formed by subordinate clauses and members of a simple sentence, most often by isolated phrases. Students who graduated from an eight-year school - students who graduated from an eight-year school - students who graduated from an eight-year school - students who graduated from an eight-year school - students who graduated from an eight-year school. Within such a series, constructions are distinguished that are closer to each other in the content and grammatical function they express;
1) subordinate clause, attributive clause and participial phrase;
2) an adverbial clause and a participial phrase (they are adjoined by a construction with a verbal noun).
Parallel designs differ from each other in semantic shades and stylistic coloring. Subordinate clauses have a greater semantic load, since they form a predicative unit as part of a complex sentence, while the isolated phrases parallel to them act as members of a simple sentence. This has to do with the role of the verb in a sentence; in a subordinate clause, regardless of its type, the predicate is usually expressed by the personal (conjugated) form of the verb, which is characterized by a number of verbal categories (person category, number category, tense category, mood category) that support the meaning of the action-state ( Wed; students who have completed eight years of school; students after they graduated from eight-year school). In the participial phrase (students who have graduated from eight-year school), the verb already performs the function of a secondary predicate and has only an aspect category with a shade of temporary meaning. In the participle phrase (students who graduated from an eight-year school), the meaning of the action is even more weakened, since in the hybrid form of the participle, the meaning of the objective attribute, usually expressed by an adjective, plays a significant role. Finally, in a verbal noun (students who have completed an eight-year school), the verbosity decreases even more, the meaning of the action is abstract, and the meaning of time comes to the fore in this construction.
Stylistic differences between parallel constructions are associated with their use in different speech styles. Isolated phrases are mainly the property of book speech; a bookish, sometimes clerical character is given to the statement by the use of verbal nouns; subordinate clauses are interstyle constructions.
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Complex syntactic structures
From the book Language and Consciousness author Luria Alexander RomanovichComplex syntactic constructions are combinations of parts with different types of syntactic connections. Such constructions are very widespread in speech, and are used equally often in works of different functional styles.
These are combined types of sentences; they are diverse in possible combinations of parts in them, but with all their diversity they lend themselves to a fairly clear and definite classification.
Depending on various combinations of connection types between parts, the following types of complex syntactic constructions are possible:
1) with composition and submission: Lopatin began to feel sleepy, and he was delighted when the driver appeared at the door and reported that the car was ready (Sim.);
2) with an essay and a non-union connection: I am assigned to another unit, but I fell behind the train: let me, I think, look at my platoon and my lieutenant (Cossack);
3) with subordination and non-union connection: In the forest on a walk, sometimes, thinking about my work, I am overcome by philosophical delight: it seems as if you are deciding the conceivable fate of all humanity (Prishv.);
4) with composition, subordination and non-union connection: But the river majestically carries its water, and what does it care about these bindweeds: spinning, they float along with the water, just as the ice floes floated recently (Prishv.).
Sentences with different types of syntactic connections usually consist of two (at least) logically and structurally distinguishable components or several, among which there may, in turn, be complex sentences. However, as a rule, the main components have the same type of connection - coordinating or non-conjunctive. For example, in the sentence Mechik did not look back and did not hear the chase, but he knew that they were chasing him, and when three shots were fired one after another and a volley rang out, it seemed to him that they were shooting at him, and he ran even faster (Fad .) four components: 1) The sword did not look back and did not hear the chase; 2) but he knew that they were chasing him; 3) and when three shots were fired one after another and a volley rang out, it seemed to him that they were shooting at him; 4) and he ran even faster. All these parts are connected by coordinating relationships, but within the parts there is subordination (see the second and third parts).
More often, in such combined sentences there is a division into two components, and one of them or both can be complex sentences. The connection between components can be of only two types - coordinative or non-union. A subordinate relationship is always internal.
1) The greatest pictorial power lies in sunlight, and all the grayness of Russian nature is good only because it is the same sunlight, but muffled, passing through layers of moist air and a thin veil of clouds (Paust.);
2) There was one strange circumstance in the Stavraki case: no one could understand why he lived under his real name until his arrest, why he did not change it immediately after the revolution (Paust.);
3) One circumstance always surprises me: we walk through life and do not know at all and cannot even imagine how many greatest tragedies, beautiful human deeds, how much grief, heroism, meanness and despair have happened and are happening on any piece of earth where we live (Paust.).
Such syntactic constructions are subject to two levels of division: the first division is logical-syntactic, the second is structural-syntactic. At the first level of division, larger logical parts of the structure, or components, are distinguished, at the second - parts equal to individual predicative units, i.e. the simplest “building elements” of a complex sentence. If we convey these two levels of division of complex syntactic structures graphically, then the diagrams of the given sentences can be presented as follows:
Thus, at a higher level of division - logical-syntactic - complex syntactic constructions can only have coordinating and non-union connections, as the most free connections, as for the subordinating connection (closer connection), it is possible only as an internal connection between parts of the components , i.e. is found only at the second level of division of a complex syntactic structure.
This is especially clearly revealed when combining two complex sentences into a complex syntactic structure. For example: Tatyana Afanasyevna gave her brother a sign that the patient wanted to sleep, and everyone quietly left the room, except for the maid, who sat down again at the spinning wheel (P.); That was the time when the poems of Polonsky, Maykov and Apukhtin were better known than simple Pushkin melodies, and Levitan did not even know that the words of this romance belonged to Pushkin (Paust.).
Complex syntactic constructions can have extremely common components: Cincinnatus did not ask anything, but when Rodion left and time stretched beyond its usual jog, he realized that he had been deceived again, that he had strained his soul so much in vain and that everything remained the same vague, viscous and senseless as it was (Nab.).
The Russian language is distinguished by an amazing variety of syntactic structures. Take, for example, the headline of a newspaper article, “The teacher must teach!” and let's try to remake this emotional sentence using book and colloquial synonymous constructions.
The teacher's duty is to teach. 2.
A teacher must be a teacher! 3.
The teacher needs to teach. 4.
You are a teacher - and be a teacher. 5.
You are a teacher - you teach! 6.
What should a teacher do if not teach! 7.
Who should teach if not a teacher?!
All of them express the speaker’s attitude to the content of the phrase: the degree of their intensity increases from the first sentence to the subsequent ones. Examples 1-3 can be used in book styles; In all the following sentences, a vivid expression is manifested, giving them a distinctly conversational character.
Depending on the genre, topic, and nature of the material, the journalist and editor can always choose the desired syntactic structure. And one should not think that the expressive coloring of speech is characteristic only of conversational syntax and is possible only in reduced speech. There are many known techniques for enhancing the expressiveness of a particular formulation using syntactic means. Let's confirm this idea with a few more examples of syntactic synonymy: I read the book with pleasure. - I read the book with pleasure. - Book! It cannot be read without pleasure. - Reading a book gives you pleasure. - The book is a pleasure to read. - The book is read with pleasure. - I’m reading today: the book is interesting. - I can’t read a book without enjoying it, etc. For the author and editor, studying syntactic synonymy is no less important than mastering the synonymous riches of vocabulary. But if when working on vocabulary you can turn to synonymous dictionaries, then when correcting syntactic structures you have to rely only on your own knowledge of the grammar of your native language. Therefore, the stylistic characteristics of syntactic synonymy are of particular interest to those who work on the style of the manuscript.
Different types of one-part sentences are often synonymous, for example definitely personal - impersonal: Breathe the last freedom (A.A. Akhmatova). - We must breathe the last freedom", vague-personal - impersonal: People tell the truth to loved ones. - It is customary to tell the truth to loved ones, generalized-personal - impersonal: Speak, but don’t talk (proverb). - You can talk, but don’t talk; nominative - impersonal : Silence. - Quiet; Chills, fever. - Chills, fever; infinitives - impersonal: You can’t catch up with the crazy troika (N.A. Nekrasov). - It’s impossible to catch up with the crazy troika.
Action is emphasized in indefinite personal sentences: The defendants were taken out somewhere and were just brought back (J1.H. Tolstoy); Now they will come for you (K.M. Simonov). The use of such sentences makes it possible to focus attention on the predicate verb, while the subject of the action is relegated to the background, regardless of whether he is known to the speaker or not.
Impersonal sentences are often transformed into two-part or one-part indefinitely or definitely personal sentences. Wed: It's melting today. - Snow is melting; The tracks were covered with snow. - The tracks were covered with snow; Sweeps. - Blizzard is sweeping; I'm hungry. - I want to eat; Where have you been? - Where have you been?; You should give way to your elders. - Give way to elders; You are supposed to take medicine. - Take your medicine; I was not there. - I was not there.
If it is possible to express thoughts in two ways, it should be taken into account that personal constructions contain an element of activity, manifestation of the will of the actor, confidence in the commission of an action, while impersonal phrases are characterized by a shade of passivity and inertia.
Infinitive sentences provide significant opportunities for emotional and aphoristic expression of thought: What is to be, cannot be avoided (proverb); Who to love, who to trust? (M.Yu. Lermontov); Keep it up! You can't escape fate. They are used in proverbs and artistic speech; this design is acceptable for slogans: Work without defects! However, the main sphere of their functioning is colloquial speech: I wish I could say this right away! Shouldn't we go back? There is no shore in sight.
The last design, common as an addition, has a vernacular coloring. Express
intensity prevents the use of infinitive constructions in book styles.
Nominative sentences are essentially created for description: they contain great visual possibilities. Naming objects, coloring them with definitions, writers draw pictures of nature, the situation, describe the state of the hero, evaluate the world around him: The open space of a large airfield, flooded with the sun. A grandiose perspective of the planes lined up for the parade. Lively groups of military pilots. You need to see this picture with your own eyes... (From newspapers) However, such descriptions only point to existence and are not capable of depicting the development of action. Even if the nominatives are verbal nouns and with their help a living picture is drawn, then in this case they allow you to capture one moment, one frame: Drumming, clicks, grinding, the thunder of guns, stomping, neighing, groaning... (A.S. . Pushkin); Confusion! fainting! haste! anger! scared!.. (A.S. Griboyedov) A linear description of events in nominative sentences is impossible: they record only the present tense.
It is interesting to compare different editions of works, indicating that in the process of working on style, writers sometimes abandon two-part sentences, giving preference to nominative ones. For example, A.T. Tvardovsky did not immediately find the necessary language colors to describe such a dramatic picture. Draft
To whom is life, to whom is death, to whom is glory. At dawn the crossing began.
That shore was steep, like an oven,
And, sullen, jagged.
The forest turned black high above the water,
The forest is alien, untouched.
Final version
Crossing, crossing...
Left bank, right bank,
Rough snow, edge of ice... To whom is memory, to whom is glory,
For those who want dark water -
Not a sign, not a trace... And below us lay the right bank, -
The snow is rolled, trampled into the mud,
Level with the edge of the ice.
Crossing
It started at six o'clock.
As we see, nominative sentences create dynamism, snatching from the unfolding panorama the main strokes, details of the situation that can reflect the tragedy of events. The more common description, built from two-part sentences, loses when compared.
The stylistic possibilities of Russian syntax are expanding due to the fact that incomplete sentences with a bright expressive color can successfully compete with complete sentences. Their stylistic use in speech is determined by the grammatical nature of these sentences.
Incomplete sentences that form dialogical unities are created directly in the process of live communication: - When will you come? - Tomorrow. - Alone or with Victor? - Of course, with Victor. From colloquial speech they penetrate into artistic and journalistic speech as a characteristic feature of the dialogue: “It’s a wonderful evening,” he began, “it’s so warm! Have you been walking for a long time?” - No, recently (I.S. Turgenev).
Other motives determine the preference for elliptical sentences (from the Greek ellipsis - loss, omission), i.e. those in which any member of the sentence is omitted, easily restored from the context. They act as a strong means of emotional speech. The scope of their application is colloquial speech; writers and journalists need them to build a dialogue and convey direct speech. Elliptical structures give the phrase a special dynamism: I come to her, and he hits me with a pistol (A.N. Ostrovsky); To the barrier! (A.P. Chekhov); Back, home, homeland... (A.N. Tolstoy). As you can see, Russian syntax provides us with a wide variety of constructions. They must be used skillfully and appropriately in speech. And then it will be bright, rich.
; rarely - one word form), which is a syntactic unit - phrase, sentence, as well as any relatively complete statement in general.
Syntax is the broadest concept of syntax, covering syntactic structures that are heterogeneous in their characteristics. Among the complexes, there are designs that are minimal in structure, that is, containing the minimum components necessary to construct a given unit (for example, “coniferous forest,” “The children are sleeping,” “He is an engineer,” “There is no strength,” “It is drizzling”); constructions that are more or less common, that is, resulting from the expansion of minimal structures in accordance with their inherent capabilities - complex phrases (for example, “coniferous forests of Russia”), common sentences (simple sentences that include minor members of the proposal, explaining, clarifying the subject and/or predicate or the sentence as a whole; for example, “My brother has been working as an engineer for three years,” “I have no strength,” “It’s drizzling all day”); combined constructions - the result of combining several simpler constructions, for example, combined phrases (“quickly complete the task received”), sentences with isolated phrases [“...Rises slowly uphill / Horse, carrying brushwood to z" (N. A. Nekrasov)], complex sentences[“I’m sad because I love you” (M. Yu. Lermontov)], direct speech constructions [“Where is my friend? - said Oleg, - Tell me, where is my zealous horse y?" (A.S. Pushkin)]. SK is characterized by paradigmatic modifications (see Paradigmatics) - systems of forms determined by modifications of the dominant component (for example, “coniferous forest” - “coniferous forest” - “in a coniferous forest”; “He is an engineer” - “He will be an engineer” - “If only he were an engineer!”).
There is a possibility of dual use of the term “S. k.": in relation to the abstract language model and in relation to the concrete language unit, built according to this model (see. Grammar units).
The signs by which S. to. are opposed to each other are different. For example, based on characteristics of a more general nature, predicative and non-predicative are contrasted (see. Predicativity) S. k., minimal constructions and constructions of a complex type, free and non-free (lexically limited, phraseological) S. k. S. k. differ in more specific characteristics, for example, active and passive constructions (“An authoritative scientist has published a spelling dictionary ” and “The spelling dictionary was published by an authoritative scientist”), infinitive S. k. (“Swimming is prohibited”), S. k. with an address (“-Son, where are you?”), negative S. k. (“I’m nothing to you should not"); the sentence contains a participial construction (“Sailboat, moored in our port y, brought tourists ashore"), participial phrase (" After redoing everything ah, we finally sat down to drink tea"), etc.
The term "S. k.”, as a rule, does not apply to constructions and their parts, which are units smaller than a phrase and a sentence, for example, to some intonationally isolated parts of a sentence (syntagms) that are not phrases, to individual word forms that do not form a sentence. But it is possible to apply this term to prepositional-case combinations (“by the shore”, “behind the forest”), to compounds of homogeneous members of a sentence (“in dictionaries and encyclopedias”).
The set of S. to. is historically variable. For example, during the historical development of the Russian language, Old Russian words disappeared (see. Old Russian language) constructions with the so-called dative independent (“As he entered the gates of the city, and the metropolitan shattered him” ‘When he entered the gates of the city, the metropolitan met him’), with the so-called. second indirect cases [with the second accusative (“I will make a prince for them”, “I will make the young man a prince among them”), the second dative (“he will be a Christian”, “he will be a Christian”)].