Lesson 1e 

Coordination

 

1. coordination = units are on the same syntactic level)

2. subordination = one of the units is a constituent of a superordinate unit

 

Examples:       1. He tried hard, but he failed.

2. Although he tried hard, he failed.

 

Coordination can be syndetic, asyndetic, and polysyndetic:

a) syndetic = units are linked by a coordinating conjunction = coordinator; the more usual form

b) asyndetic = coordinators are not present (but could be inserted)

c) polysyndetic = coordinator is repeated between each pair of units

 

Examples:       a) Slowly and stealthily, she crept towards the entrance.

b) Slowly, stealthily, she crept towards the entrance.

c) The weather was nice and the sun was shining and the water was perfect.

 

Sometimes, it is possible to express similar semantic relationship through coordination and subordination, as in the concessive/contrastive relationship below expressed by coordination with but and subordination with although:

She tried hard, but she failed.

Although she tried hard, she failed.

 

Another means of expressing this relationship (in the examples above) by coordination is through a conjunct, such as yet:

He tried hard, yet he failed.

- despite its appearance, the sentence above illustrates asyndetic coordination; the coordination can be made syndetic by inserting and:

He tried hard, and yet he failed.

 

Coordinators

- three central coordinators: and, or, but

- somewhere between ‘pure’ coordinators and ‘pure’ subordinators: for, so that (in the meaning “with the result that”)

- unlike, for example, conjuncts, coordinators are restricted to the initial position in the second clause

 

 

Correlatives

 

three main pairs:         a) either … or - emphasizes the exclusive meaning of or, the linked units may be complete clauses or lesser constituents:

complete clauses: Either the house is too small or the family is too large.

lesser constituents: Either Tom or Jack is joining us for dinner tonight.

b) both … and - emphasizes the additive meaning of and

c) neither … nor = the negative counterpart of both … and, emphasizes

that the negation applies to both units

Unlike either...or, both...and and neither...nor cannot  link complete clauses! Compare:

Both Lucy washed the dishes and Tim dried them.

Neither Susan wanted the responsibility, nor her husband did.

 

one marginal pair:       not (only) … but (also)

She came not to help, but to hinder us.

Not Susan, but Alice is the owner of the pub.

Not only did she come late, but she also forgot to bring the money.

 

 

References:

Greenbaum, S., & Quirk, R. (1990) A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, pp. 262-271.

Chalker, S. (1992) A Student’s English Grammar Workbook. Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman Limited, Exercises 122-124.