N.A. SHAPIRO

Continuation. See the beginning in No. 39, 43/2003

One-part sentences.
Incomplete sentences

Definition of a one-part sentence

In Russian, all simple sentences according to the nature of the grammatical basis are divided into two types - two-part And one-piece. Two-part sentences have a subject and a predicate. Dissuaded grove golden birch cheerful tongue.(S. Yesenin) Poet you may not be , But must be a citizen . (N. Nekrasov) In one-part sentences there is only one main member, and the second is not needed to understand the meaning of the sentence. Late autumn. In the yards tourniquet dry leaves. Everything earlier it's getting dark. At school, the main member of a one-part sentence is called, like the main members of two-part sentences, the subject or predicate. Linguistic scientists usually use the term “main member of a one-part sentence.”

All one-part sentences are divided into sentences with the main member - the subject and sentences with the main member - the predicate (otherwise they are called, respectively, nominal and verbal one-part sentences).

It is important to understand the difference between one-part sentences and incomplete ones, which can also have only one main member. Wed: 1) – Dry leaves are being burned in the courtyards. 2) – What do wipers do in the fall? – Dry leaves are burned in the yards. In the first case, it is reported that a certain action is being performed, but who performs it is not important. This is a one-part proposal. In the second case, an action is reported that is performed by a specific subject - the wipers. Subject wipers missing, but easily recovered from the previous sentence. This means that the second sentence is two-part incomplete.

Name sentences

One-part sentences in which the main member is expressed by a noun in nominative case or a syntactically indecomposable phrase, are called nominal. Cinema. Three benches.(O. Mandelstam) Twenty-one. Night. Monday. The outlines of the capital in the darkness.(A. Akhmatova) The greenery of the laurel, almost to the point of trembling. The door is open, the window is dusty.(I. Brodsky) Such sentences are said to express the meaning of beingness. It is thanks to this meaning that a word or phrase “turns” into a sentence.

Nominal sentences may have some additional grammatical meanings, such as concrete demonstrative (expressed by the particle Here: Here's the mill); emotional assessment (expressed using special particles what, like this, well, what the, this etc.). It is important to distinguish nominal sentences with a particle Here from two-part ones with a pronoun This. Here's a chair– one-part noun sentence; This is a chair– two-part, where This– subject, and chair– a compound nominal predicate with a zero connective.

The teacher should pay special attention to students on how the order of words in a sentence can affect its composition. Yes, in a sentence Warm day the subject and definition, expressed by the adjective, standing before the word being defined, are easily detected. This is a one-part nominative common sentence. In the sentence Warm day there is a subject and a compound nominal predicate with a zero connective and a nominal part expressed by an adjective after the subject. This is a two-part unexpanded proposal.

Another case is more complicated. Offer It was boring listening to him is considered a one-component impersonal with a compound verbal predicate, where instead of auxiliary verb– state category word boring and a linking verb. But if the infinitive is put in first place - Listen to him was boring, it can be considered as the subject, then it was boring– a compound nominal predicate, where the nominal part is expressed short adjective(cf. The listening was boring).

In the Russian language there are sentences in which, at first glance, there are no main members at all: Snow! Trees! Noise, noise!(Meaning: So much snow (trees, noise)!) Not a speck of dust. IN school course they are not studied. Grammatical meaning beingness seems to allow us to classify these sentences as denominative. But the only member of such a sentence cannot be considered as the subject, because it is expressed by a noun not in the nominative, but in the genitive case. Many linguists call such sentences genitive (after the Latin name genitive case), and those sentences that we call nominal are nominative (according to the Latin name for the nominative case), combining both of them into the type of “nominal one-part sentences”.

When the only main member of a sentence is expressed by a noun in the nominative case, and the secondary members depend on the main one and form a phrase with it ( Early morning; End of the alley; House on the outskirts etc.), no one doubts that this proposal is one-part.

But there are also controversial cases. If the minor member has adverbial or objective meaning (I have the blues; There is a holiday in the house), some scholars consider the sentence to be two-part with an omitted predicate on the grounds that neither an adverbial nor an object can relate to the subject. Other scholars consider such sentences to be denominative, with a special minor member that relates to the entire sentence, extending it as a whole, and is called a determiner.

Exercise

Are the highlighted sentences denominative?

Wonderful man Ivan Ivanovich!.. What apple and pear trees he has right next to his windows! He loves melons very much. This is his favorite food.

- Tell me, please, what do you need this gun for, which is set out to air out along with the dress?.. Listen, give it to me!
- How can you! This gun is expensive. You won't find guns like this anywhere anymore. Even when I was getting ready to join the police, I bought it from Turchin... How is that possible? This is a necessary thing...
- A good gun!(N. Gogol)

Answer. Title suggestions: What apple and pear trees he has right next to his windows! And Nice gun! Offer Listen, give it to me!- one-part, but not denominative, because the main member in it is not the subject, but the predicate. All other highlighted sentences have both a subject and a predicate, i.e. they are two-part.

One-part sentences with the main member - the predicate

One-part sentences with the main member - the predicate - are divided into definitely personal, indefinitely personal, generalized personal, and impersonal. These types differ in two main ways: a) in how expressed the idea of ​​the actor is; b) by morphological forms a verb used as the main member of a sentence. In other words, different types one-part sentences make it possible to to varying degrees concreteness to imagine who performs the action, or contain an indication that there is no such producer at all, it is impossible to imagine him.

Moreover, each type of sentence has its own forms of the predicate verb, and they do not intersect, i.e. by the form of the verb, you can determine the type of one-part sentence (with the exception of generalized personal sentences, which will be discussed separately).

Definitely personal proposals

Definitely personal are called such one-part sentences in which the actor is not named, but is thought of as completely certain person– the speaker himself or his interlocutor. In other words, in definite personal sentences the subject is easily restored - the 1st or 2nd person pronoun (I, we, you, you). This is possible because the predicate in a definite-personal sentence is expressed only by a verb of the 1st or 2nd person indicative or imperative mood.

I'm sorry the fever of youth and youthful fever and youthful delirium.(A. Pushkin) Linen on the river I'm rinsing, my two flowers growing.. . (M. Tsvetaeva) I laughed: “Oh, prophesy We’ll probably both be in trouble.”(A. Akhmatova) Let's praise, brothers, twilight of freedom...(O. Mandelstam) Don't come near to her with questions.(A. Blok) Come , let's drink guilt, let's have a snack bread or plums. Tell me let me know. I'm going to bed in your garden clear skies And I'll tell you what are the constellations called?(I. Brodsky)

It is important to note that in definite-personal sentences the predicate cannot be expressed by a verb in the past tense or in the conditional mood, since in these forms there is no person meaning (Cf. Came up. I didn't show my excitement...(A. Akhmatova) In the first sentence it is impossible to restore the subject. You? She? This means that this sentence is not definitely personal, but two-part, incomplete. Which subject is missing can only be found out from the following lines: She sat down like a porcelain idol in the position she had chosen long ago.).

Exercise

Find one-part sentences in the text and determine the type of each of them.

Steppe again. Now the village of Abadzekhskaya lies widely on the horizon - its pyramidal poplars turn blue, its church turns blue. The air trembles with heat. The faces of the Solovyov girls take on an expression calm to the point of sternness - they hide their fatigue. But finally the village of Abadzekhskaya enters our lives, surrounding us with white huts and front gardens with mallow.
Here we made our first stop. River bank, a low hedge, someone's gardens. Swimming in familiar water from an unfamiliar shore. Everyone is happy with the transition and pleasantly surprised that I am not tired, and I am more than anyone else. We collect brushwood, make a fire, the girls cook conder - either soup or millet porridge with lard. (E. Schwartz)

Answer. Title suggestions: Steppe again. River bank, low hedge, someone's gardens. Swimming in familiar water from an unfamiliar shore. Definitely personal proposal: We collect brushwood and make a fire(Part complex sentence).

Vaguely personal proposals

Vaguely personal are called one-part sentences, where the actor is thought of as an indefinite person who does not interest the speaker. Such sentences are used, when you need to show that the action itself is important, and not the producer of the action. The predicate in such sentences must have the form plural(although this does not mean at all that there are many implied figures), it will express in the present and future tense. incl. and in command. incl. – 3rd person plural form. h.

After all, it’s only here that treasure nobility!(A. Griboyedov) We have scold everywhere, and everywhere they accept.(A. Griboyedov) Let me will announce Old Believer...(A. Griboyedov) But, without asking her advice, the girl got lucky to the crown. And at their table there are guests wore dishes by rank. Whenever left I was free, how quickly I would run into the dark forest! Just you will be locked up, will be imprisoned on the fool's chain and through the bars like an animal to tease you will come . (A. Pushkin) They took me away you at dawn...(A. Akhmatova) I let them take it away lanterns...(A. Akhmatova)

Exercise

Find in the text all the sentences in which the predicates are expressed by verbs in plural form. Which one is indefinitely personal? Try changing the remaining sentences into vaguely personal ones.

One day, the goddess Eris threw an apple with the inscription: “To the most beautiful” to the three inhabitants of Olympus - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Each goddess, of course, hoped that the apple was destined for her. Zeus ordered Paris to resolve the dispute.
By birth, Paris was a Trojan prince, but he lived not in a palace, but among shepherds. The fact is that his parents Priam and Hecuba, even before the birth of their son, received a terrible prophecy: because of the boy, Troy would perish. The baby was taken to Mount Ida and abandoned there. Paris was found and raised by shepherds. Here, on Ida, Paris judged the three goddesses. He recognized Aphrodite as the winner, but not disinterestedly: she promised the young man the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. (O. Levinskaya)

Answer. Vaguely personal sentence: baby carried to Mount Ida and abandoned there.
Possible modifications to other proposals: In Troy, even before the birth of the king's son, they received a terrible prophecy. Paris was found on Mount Ida and raised as a shepherd.

Generalized-personal proposals

Among one-part sentences with the main member - the predicate, there are those in which the actor is thought of as a generalized person, i.e. the action relates to every person, to everyone; This meaning is especially common in proverbs: Soldiers are not born (i.e. no one can be born a soldier right away). Without difficulty Not take it out and fish from the pond. Quiet you're going- further you will.

As can be seen from the examples given, the predicate verbs in these sentences are in the same form as in definite-personal or indefinite-personal sentences. And yet, sentences with such a generalized meaning are often distinguished into a special type - generalized-personal offers.

Impersonal offers

Impersonal these are called one-component sentences in which the action is not correlated with any agent; in other words, there is no producer of action at all, he cannot be imagined.

To me can't sleep, no fire... They've been talking about Lensky's wedding for a long time it was decided. How funny shod with sharp iron on your feet, slide along the mirror of standing, smooth rivers! And it’s a pity for the old woman’s winter... But how any to me sometimes in autumn, in the evening silence, in the village visit family cemetery... How long will I walk in the world, sometimes in a carriage, sometimes on horseback, sometimes in a wagon, sometimes in a carriage, sometimes in a cart, sometimes on foot? Where should we go? swim? (A. Pushkin)

The grammatical indicator of impersonality is the 3rd person singular form. h. (for present and future tense, as well as for the imperative mood): Smells hay. Today it will be hot. Let you sleeping like at home;

unit form Part neuter (for the past tense, as well as for the conditional mood): boat carried away to the middle of the river. Her would have been carried away and further, if not for the snag;

infinitive: Be rain.

As can be seen from the examples given above, impersonal sentences convey the state of nature and environment, human condition, inevitability, desirability, possibility and impossibility of something.
Impersonal sentences are very diverse in the ways of expressing the predicate.
A simple verbal predicate in an impersonal sentence can be expressed:

a) impersonal verb (It's getting dark);
b) a personal verb in an impersonal form (Veterom blew away hat. Wed. Wind blew away hat – two-part sentence, subject – wind));
c) verb be With negative particle or by word No (Parcels No And there wasn't) ;
d) verb in indefinite form (This not to happen).

In a compound verbal predicate, the following can act as an auxiliary verb:

a) impersonal verbs should, I want, lucky etc. (I had to All do again);
b) personal phase verb ( It's starting to get dark );
c) instead of an auxiliary verb, short passive participles and special words of the state category are often used it’s impossible, it’s possible, it’s necessary, it’s a pity, it’s time, sin etc. . (Allowed for free carry one piece of luggage. Can be closed door. It's a pity was to part. It's time to leave in the field. It's a sin to complain due to lack of time).

A compound nominal predicate in an impersonal sentence consists of a nominal component - words of the state category or short passive participles past tense - and a linking verb in an impersonal form (in the present tense - zero connective). (Us it was fun. It's getting lighter And quiet. In the evenings in the city dangerous. In the room tidied up.).

Word No

What part of speech does the strange word belong to? No? It does not change, there cannot be an auxiliary verb or connective with it, it is impossible to pose a question to it... And yet we discover that this word can act as the main one - and the only one! – a member in a one-part impersonal sentence.
Dictionaries say that No can be a negative particle, opposite in meaning to the particle Yes(– Have you finished reading the book yet?– No .). But when this word turns out to be a predicate in an impersonal sentence, we call it an invariable verbal form ( No - Means does not exist, is absent). This word is not found in any Slavic language except Russian. How was it formed?
IN Old Russian language there was an expression don't eat that one, Where that - adverb with meaning Here. From this expression the word first appeared There is not, and then the final one at disappeared, they began to talk and write No, although in colloquial speech you can meet There is not so far (No one There is not Houses).

Often there are sentences with several main members - subjects or predicates. (Fog, wind, rain. It's getting dark, it's getting cold, getting stronger blowing from the sea.) It seems that such subjects or predicates can be called homogeneous. But it is more correct to consider that we are faced with complex sentences in which each part is a one-part sentence.

Exercises

1. Select the predicates in impersonal sentences.

We should tell you more about this tenant, because suspicion fell on him first of all. But they fell a little later, about an hour later, and at that moment he was standing at the entrance, listening to music and was beyond suspicion. However, he stood dejectedly... Suddenly he squared his shoulders, raised his head more proudly and walked straight towards us. However, it was not easy to approach us. (Yu. Koval)

Answer.I should tell you, it was not easy to approach.

2. Find one-part sentences in the text. Determine the type of each of them, highlight the predicate.

Since mom is always busy with laundry, she always needs a lot of water, and we don’t have a tap in the yard. And mother, and Marusya, and I must get water in the distant backyards of one of the neighboring houses in order to fill the insatiable barrel to the top. You bring four buckets, and your eyes turn green, and your legs and arms tremble, but you need to carry the fifth, sixth, seventh, otherwise your mother will have to go get water, and we want to save her from this - Marusya and I. (K. Chukovsky)

Answer. Bring it four buckets – definitely personal (or generalized personal). ...to pour an insatiable barrel to the top; in the eyes turns green, need to be carried fifth, sixth, seventh, otherwise have to go for water for mom - impersonal.

3. Find incorrect statements.

1) In one-part sentences there cannot be a predicate expressed by a verb in the conditional mood.
2) In an indefinite-personal sentence, the predicate is necessarily expressed by a verb in plural form.
3) There are one-part sentences with the main member - the predicate, in which there are no verbs.
4) In definite personal sentences, the subject is easily restored - a personal pronoun of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd person.
5) In impersonal sentences, the predicate verb cannot be used in the plural form.
6) If there is no subject in the sentence, and the predicate is expressed by a verb in the form of a feminine or masculine unit. part last vr., this two-part sentence is incomplete.

Answer. 1, 4.

4. Find in the text: a) a one-part indefinite personal sentence; b) a one-part impersonal sentence.

1) The most difficult thing was in the Sumerian letter depict abstract concepts, proper names, as well as various function words and morphemes. 2) The rebus principle helped with this. 3) For example, the arrow sign was used not only for the word arrow, but also for the word life, which sounded the same. 4) Constantly applying the rebus principle, the Sumerians assigned to some signs not a specific meaning, but a sound reading. 5) As a result, syllabic signs arose that could denote some short sequence of sounds, most often a syllable. 6) Thus, it was in Sumer that the connection between spoken speech and written signs was first formed, without which real writing is impossible.

Answer. a) – 3); b) – 1).

Incomplete sentences

Incomplete is a sentence in which any member (or group of members) is missing. The missing part of the sentence can be restored from the context or is clear from the speech situation.

Here is an example of incomplete sentences in which the missing subject is restored from the context.

She walked and walked. And suddenly in front of him from the hill the master sees a house, a village, a grove under the hill and a garden above the bright river.(A.S. Pushkin.) (Context – previous sentence: In a clear field, in the silvery light of the moon, immersed in her dreams, Tatiana I walked alone for a long time.)

Examples of incomplete sentences, the missing members of which are restored from the situation.

He knocked down his husband and wanted to look at the widow’s tears. Unscrupulous!(A.S. Pushkin) - Leporello’s words, a response to the desire expressed by his master, Don Guan, to meet Dona Anna. It is clear that the missing subject is He or Don Guan .

– Oh my God! And here, next to this tomb!(A.S. Pushkin.) This is an incomplete sentence - Dona Anna’s reaction to the words of the protagonist of “The Stone Guest”: Don Guan admitted that he was not a monk, but “an unfortunate victim of a hopeless passion.” In his remark there is not a single word that could take the place of the missing members of the sentence, but based on the situation they can be approximately restored as follows: “ Do you dare say it here, next to this tomb!”

May be missed:

subject: How firmly she stepped into her role!(A.S. Pushkin) (The subject is restored from the subject from the previous sentence: How has it changed Tatiana!);

He would have disappeared like a blister on the water, without any trace, leaving no descendants, without providing future children with either a fortune or an honest name!(N.V. Gogol) (Subject I restored by the addition from the previous sentence: Whatever you say,” he said to himself, “if the police captain doesn’t arrive, to me Perhaps it would not have been possible to look at the light of God again!)(N.V. Gogol);

addition:And I took it in my arms! And I was pulling my ears so hard! And I fed him gingerbread!(A.S. Pushkin) (Previous sentences: How Tanya has grown! How long ago, it seems, did I baptize you?);

predicate: Just not on the street, but from here, through the back door, and there through the courtyards. (M.A. Bulgakov) (Previous sentence: Run!);

several at once members of the proposal, including grammatical basis:How long ago?(A.S. Pushkin) (Previous sentence: Are you composing Requiem?)

Incomplete sentences are often found in complex sentences: He is happy if she puts a fluffy boa on her shoulder...(A.S. Pushkin) You Don Guana reminded me of how you scolded me and clenched your teeth with gnashing.(A.S. Pushkin) In both sentences, the missing subject in the subordinate clause is restored from the main sentence.

Incomplete sentences are very common in spoken language, particularly in dialogue, where the initial sentence is usually an extended, grammatically complete one, and subsequent remarks tend to be incomplete sentences because they do not repeat words already named.

– I'm angry with my son.
– For what?
– For an evil crime.(A.S. Pushkin)

It happens that students mistakenly consider sentences incomplete in which not a single member is missing, for example: He's a genius, like you and me(A.S. Pushkin), saying that they are also incomprehensible without context . It is important to explain that sentence incompleteness is primarily a grammatical phenomenon, and it is grammatical incompleteness that causes semantic incompleteness. In the example given, the ambiguity is caused by the use of pronouns. Students should be reminded that pronouns always need to be explained in context.

Exercises

1. Find incomplete sentences and restore missing members.

And Tanya enters the empty house where our hero recently lived. ...Tanya is further away; The old woman said to her: “Here is the fireplace; here the master sat alone... This is the master's office; Here he rested, ate coffee, listened to the clerk’s reports and read a book in the morning...” (A.S. Pushkin)

Answer. Tanya ( coming) further... Old lady ( speaks) to her...

2. Find parts of complex sentences that are incomplete sentences and highlight them.

You are tolerant if you do not clench your fists when people contradict you. You are tolerant if you can understand why they hate you so much or love you so annoyingly and troublesomely, and you can forgive all this for both. You are tolerant if you are able to reasonably and calmly negotiate with different people, without hurting their pride and deep down, excusing them for being different from you.

An apologist is a person who is ready to extol an idea he once liked even when life has shown its falsity, praising the ruler, no matter what mistakes he makes, glorifying the political regime, no matter what outrages happened under him in the country. Apologetics is a rather funny activity if done out of stupidity, and vile if done out of calculation. (S. Zhukovsky)

Answer. 1) ...if you are able to reasonably and calmly negotiate with different people, without hurting their pride and in the depths of your soul, excusing them for being different from you; 2) ...if done out of stupidity; 3) ...if by calculation.

All other subordinate clauses that do not have a subject are complete one-part clauses.

Let us remind you once again that incomplete sentences should be distinguished from one-part sentences, in which the missing subject or predicate does not need to be restored to understand the meaning. In a complex sentence But it’s sad to think that youth was given to us in vain, that cheated on her all the time that she deceived us...(A.S. Pushkin) the third part is an incomplete sentence with a missing subject We, which is restored by addition us from the previous subordinate clause. Subordinate clause of a sentence Just make sure that didn't see you. (A.S. Pushkin) by the nature of the grammatical basis is a one-part indefinite-personal sentence: what is important here is the action itself, and not the one who performs it; The grammatical form of the verb (plural past tense) here does not mean that there should be many producers of the action - this is an indicator of an indefinite personal meaning. In other words, the proposal so that didn't see you – complete.

Punctuation in an incomplete sentence

In an incomplete sentence, a dash may be placed at the place where the predicate is missing, if a pause is expected when pronouncing the sentence: ...Then Baron von Klotz was aiming to be a minister, and I was aiming to be his son-in-law.(A.S. Griboyedov) If there is no pause, the dash is not placed: ...Well, people in this side! She comes to him, and he comes to me.(A.S. Griboedov)

Elliptical sentences

In Russian there are sentences called elliptical(from the Greek word ellipsis, which means “omission”, “lack”). They omit the predicate, but retain the word that depends on it, and no context is needed to understand such sentences. These can be sentences with the meaning of movement, movement ( I'm going to the Tauride Garden(K.I. Chukovsky); speeches - thoughts ( And his wife: for rudeness, for your words(A.T. Tvardovsky), etc. Such sentences are usually found in colloquial speech and in works of art, but are not used in book styles (scientific and official business).

Some scientists consider elliptical sentences to be a type of incomplete sentences, others consider them to be a special type of sentences that is adjacent to incomplete ones and is similar to them.

When classifying simple sentence, in addition to dividing into one and two-part, great value have distinctions between complete and incomplete. In the works of linguists this issue is resolved in different ways. So, for example, representatives of the logical school took the scheme of a logical judgment as a model of a Russian sentence. The subject is a predicate, i.e. the subject of thought and what is said about the subject of thought. Any Russian offer was pulled under this scheme, in addition, the presence of a ligament was assumed, some scientists considered it an independent member. The absence of a connective in the present tense form indicated the incompleteness of the sentence, and any sentence deviating from the subject - connective - subject scheme indicated incompleteness. This approach is criticized by V.V. Vinogradova. Under the term "incomplete" Shakhmatov combined sentences that were structurally different, some of which were missing any members, and this omission was confirmed by the action of the context; other sentences fully expressed the meaning contained in them and they did not need to restore any members. A.M. Peshkovsky based the definition of incomplete sentences on comparison with complete sentences and the mandatory restoration of missing members. Criteria for incomplete proposals:

- omission of any member;

Violation of syntactic connections and syntactic relations;

The presence of dependent word forms in a sentence;

Restoration of the missing member;

Incomplete sentence - a sentence in which any member or group of members is missing, and their omission is confirmed by the presence of dependent words in the composition of this sentence, as well as data from the context or situation of speech.

Full offer - a sentence where all syntactic positions are replaced, and incomplete, where at least one syntactic position is not replaced, but based on the context or situation we can easily restore it.

The classification of incomplete sentences is based precisely on the principle of restoration.

If the position is restored from the context, then it is contextually incomplete sentences, if from the speech situation - situationally incomplete. Contextually incomplete sentences are inherent in written speech, where the missing member is always present in the context. For example, Commanders do not answer anything, stand and remain silent. Both two-part and one-part ones can be contextually incomplete. For example, But is it can be forced(predicate) shut up the song?(addition). Complex three-part predicate, impersonal, one-part, complete. The singer (object) is possible (predicate), but the song (object) is never (adverbial). One-piece, incomplete.

Depending on the type of speech, incomplete dialogical and monological sentences are distinguished. Dialogical incomplete (incomplete replicas of dialogue) are interconnected replicas (so-called dialogical unity). For example,

-They're lying!

- Who? Incomplete, because predicate omitted.

- Writers! Incomplete, because predicate omitted.

IN situationally incomplete in sentences, the missing members are suggested by the situation, setting, gesture, and facial expressions.

If it is possible/impossible to restore the missing members, another type of sentence is identified in which some member is also omitted. Most often it is a verb or the exact specific word “we”. For example, I’m getting a candle - a candle in the stove.

Such proposals are called elliptical - these are sentences that have one sign of incompleteness - structural. In terms of meaning, they are complete and no restoration of the predicate is necessary to understand them. They are of the following types:

A) sentences correlative with complete ones, having a predicate expressed by verbs of movement or movement in space. For example, Tatyana goes into the forest, the bear follows her.

B) sentences correlative with complete ones, having a predicate verb with the meaning of energetic action: grab, push, hit, throw, etc. For example, I (grabbed the book), she ran (rushed).

IN) sentences correlative with complete ones, containing a predicate expressed by a verb of speech. For example, He talks about the weather (talks), and I talk about business.

Elliptical constructions with an absent predicate, an expressed existential verb, should be considered transitional and quite complex. For example, They (have) children. My son is a student.

A.M. Peshkovsky called such proposals “sentences with zero predicate.”

According to scientists, they are closer to complete ones (complete, one-part, nominative).

Thus, incomplete sentences are a very unique type of Russian sentence. They should not be confused, on the one hand, with monocomponents, and on the other, with indivisible ones. Indivisible sentences cannot be considered from the point of view of completeness/incompleteness; neither main nor HF are distinguished in them. Only syntactically articulated two-part or one-part sentences can be incomplete. If a sentence is one-part, this does not mean that it is incomplete.

They are divided into complete and incomplete. If no (major or minor) members are missing, this is a complete sentence: The trees rustled alarmingly outside the window. If one of the necessary members is missing, then such a proposal is called incomplete.

Incomplete sentences, their signs

The main signs of an incomplete sentence are the following:

1. In an incomplete sentence, the missing members are easily restored from the context by any of the participants in the situation or conversation. So, for example, if a group of people is waiting for someone from their company, then the phrase: “He’s coming!” It will be clear to them. The subject is easily restored from the situation: Artem is coming!
2. Incomplete sentences are confirmed by the presence in them of words dependent on the missing member: She became prettier, blossomed, just a miracle! The meaning of this construction can only be restored from the previous sentence: I met Anna yesterday.
3. It is quite common to use an incomplete sentence as one of the parts of a complex sentence: Anton is capable of a lot, you are capable of nothing! In the second part of this complex non-union sentence, an incomplete construction is visible, in which the predicate ( You are not capable of anything.)

Remember that an incomplete sentence is a variant of a complete one.

Dialogue with incomplete sentences

These types of sentences are especially common in dialogues. For example:

What will you be when you grow up?

An artist.

In the second sentence, the meaning will not be clear without the previous phrase. Formally it should sound: I'll be an artist. But the speaker simplifies the structure of the sentence, reducing it to one word, thus making speech more dynamic, which is one of the signs of a conversational dialogic structure. But it is important to remember that there are also unsaid sentences that are not incomplete. This is a thought interrupted for one reason or another: I think I know what to do! What if... No, it won’t work!(In this sentence, the missing word is not restored.)

Incomplete sentences: their options

Both two-part and one-part sentences, common and non-common, can act as incomplete sentences. And the possibility of skipping words, as mentioned before, is explained by the ease of recovering them from the situation of speech, the structure of the sentence itself ( we're talking about about complex sentences) or from the context. Incomplete sentences are typical for spoken language. They should be distinguished from one-part sentences that have one main member. By the way, even such sentences may be incomplete:

Where are you going?

To the party.

In this dialogue, only the first sentence is complete: definitely personal, one-part. And the next two are incomplete one-part ones. Let's add them: I'm going (where?) to a party - definitely personal; (wow!) good - impersonal.

Incomplete sentences: examples of punctuation

A dash often serves as a punctuation signal that we have an incomplete sentence. It is placed in the place of the missing word. As a rule, it is due to the presence of an intonation pause here: My friend was standing on the right, and an unfamiliar guy was on the left.(the word “stood” is missing). On the windowsill there is dried geranium in a pot(the word “was” was missing).

How to distinguish incomplete sentences from complete ones? Let's try to figure it out!

While studying the topic “Complete and incomplete sentences,” my students ask me to explain with examples the differences between incomplete two-part sentences and incomplete one-part sentences.

If you know how to find a grammatical basis, you can learn to determine the type of simple sentence by the composition of the main parts.

Two-part: She didn't come home. One-part: Noon. I'm walking along the road. I'm thirsty. No one is visible.

Let us take into account the axiom that two-part sentences are more common in book speech, and in colloquial speech incomplete two-part sentences are preferable. They should be distinguished from one-part sentences with one main member - subject or predicate.

Let us give examples of complete and incomplete two-part sentences to clarify our statement.

No one has come here for a long time. Subject NOBODY, predicate DID NOT COME. This is a two-part proposal.

- Has anyone come here?

“I came,” I answered.

- I didn’t see...

The first sentence has both main clauses. But already in the second two-part sentence the subject SOMEONE is missing. The sentence has become incomplete, although its meaning is already clear. In the third sentence you can find the circumstance LONG TIME and restore the remaining missing words: SOMEONE CAME. And finally, in the last sentence we substitute the subject I.

What happens? IN short dialogue, except for the first sentence, all the rest are two-part incomplete sentences.

Let us now deal with one-part sentences. You ask: “Can they be incomplete if they already consist of one main member of the sentence? How is their incompleteness expressed? The fact of the matter is that the most necessary and only main member of the sentence is skipped!

Let's check our conclusion using examples.

-What are you talking about?

- Products.

- Nothing!

In this dialogue, the complete sentence is again the first. It is one-part, definitely personal. The rest are one-part incomplete! Let's restore the predicate from the second sentence - I CARRY (what?) products (also definitely personal). Let's add the third: Wow! GOOD (impersonal). The fourth looks like this: THERE IS NOTHING GOOD ABOUT THIS! (impersonal sentence).

It is easy to find replica sentences; they, as a rule, add something new without repeating what is already known, and are more complete in composition than all subsequent ones. Answer sentences depend on the nature of the question and most often carry an additional situational load, accompanied by certain gestures and facial expressions.

From the context, it is possible to restore the missing main and secondary members of the sentence, which are understandable even without naming. But there is a special type of sentences that do not require context - elliptical. For example: Attention! All the way up! What's wrong with you, Mikhail? Terkin – further, the author – following.

In the above examples-dialogues we came across words-sentences. For example: Wow! Nothing! The first phrase contains an interjection expressing a certain assessment, the second is an answer, unclear in content, something between a statement and a denial.

They express affirmation or denial, give an emotional assessment or encourage action. There are several groups of such word-sentences:

Affirmative (Yes. True. Good. Okay. Of course!);

Negative (No. Not true!);

Interrogative (Huh? Well? Yes? Okay?);

Evaluative (Ugh! Ay-ay-ay! Lord!);

Incentive (Shh... Aw! Tchits! That's it!).

The figure of silence conveys some kind of understatement; it is used to interrupt the statement for one reason or another: Wait, wait, what if... Am I... They say that she...

Don't confuse them with incomplete sentences!

Are there incomplete complex sentences? Yes, naturally.

First example:

– What is “where”? Here!

- Where is it?

– Where are we going!

This dialogue presents complex sentences with the omission of the main and subordinate parts.

Second example: In one hand I held fishing rods, and in the other - a cage with crucian carp.

Here compound sentence, the second part is incomplete.

Third example: They moved in different ways: on level ground - on a cart, uphill - on foot, downhill - jogging.

This is a complex non-union sentence, so the second, third and fourth parts are incomplete.

Incomplete sentences- these are sentences in which a member of the sentence is missing that is necessary for the completeness of the structure and meaning of the given sentence.

Missed sentence members can be restored by communication participants from knowledge of the situation or context.

For example, if in the subway one of the passengers, looking at the track, says: “It’s coming!”, all other passengers can easily restore the missing subject: the train is coming.

Missing sentence members can be restored from the previous context. Such contextually incomplete sentences are very often observed in dialogues.

For example: – Is your westra performing a song tomorrow? - Alyosha asked Maxim Petrovich. - My. Maxim Petrovich's answer is an incomplete sentence in which the subject, predicate, adverbial place and adverbial time are missing (For example: My sister is performing a song tomorrow).

Incomplete constructions are common in complex sentences:

Everyone is available to her, but she is accessible to no one. The second part of the difficult non-union proposal(she is not available to anyone) is an incomplete sentence in which the predicate is missing (For example: She is not available to anyone).

Incomplete sentences and one-part sentences are different phenomena.

In one-part sentences there is no one of the main members of the sentence, but the meaning of the sentence is clear to us even without this member. Moreover, the structure of the sentence itself has a certain meaning.

For example, the plural form of the predicate verb in an indefinite-personal sentence conveys the following content: the subject of the action is unknown (There was a knock on the window), unimportant (He was killed near Moscow) or is hiding (They told me a lot about her recently).
In an incomplete sentence, any member of the sentence (one or more) may be omitted. If we consider such a sentence outside the situation or context, then its meaning will remain incomprehensible to us (For example, out of context: Mine; She - to no one).

In the Russian language there is one type of incomplete sentences in which the missing member is not restored and is not prompted by the situation or the previous context. Moreover, the “missing” members are not required to reveal the meaning of the sentence. Such sentences are understandable even without context or situation:

Behind is a field. To the left and right are swamps.

Such sentences are called "elliptic sentences". They usually have a subject and a secondary member - adverbial or complement. The predicate is missing, and often we cannot say which predicate is missing.

For example: There is/is/is a swamp behind you.

Most scientists consider such sentences to be structurally incomplete, since the secondary member of the sentence (adverbial or complement) refers to the predicate, and the predicate is not represented in the sentence.

Elliptical incomplete sentences should be distinguished: a) from one-component nominals (swamp) and b) from two-part ones - with a compound nominal predicate, expressed indirect case of a noun or adverb with a zero connective (All the trees are in gold). To distinguish between these structures, the following must be taken into account:

1) one-part denominative sentences cannot contain adverbials, because the adverbial circumstance is always associated with the predicate. Among minor members in nominal sentences, the most common are agreed upon and inconsistent definitions.

Winter forest; Entrance to the office;

2) The nominal part of a compound nominal predicate - a noun or adverb in a two-part complete sentence indicates a sign-state.

For example: All trees are in gold. - All trees are golden.

The omission of a member within a sentence in oral speech is marked by a pause, in place of which a dash is placed in the letter:

Behind is a field. To the left and right are swamps;

Most regularly, a dash is placed in the following cases:

In an elliptical sentence containing a subject and adverbial place, an object, only if there is a pause in oral speech:

Behind the high hill is a forest;

In an elliptical sentence - with parallelism, i.e. the same type of sentence members, word order, forms of expression, etc. structures or parts thereof:

In incomplete sentences constructed according to the scheme: nouns in the accusative and dative cases (with the omission of the subject and predicate) with a clear intonation division of the sentence into parts:

For skiers - a good track; For young people - jobs, for young families - benefits;

In an incomplete sentence forming part of a complex sentence, when a member is missing, usually this predicate is restored from the previous part of the phrase - only if there is a pause:

The nights have become longer, the days shorter (in the second part the bundle of steel is restored).

Plan for parsing an incomplete sentence

A) Indicate the type of proposal (complete – incomplete).
b) Name the missing part of the sentence.

Sample parsing

Warriors are for weapons.

The sentence is incomplete; missing predicate grabbed.