| There may easily be a contradiction between conjoined elements when it comes to agreement in number (cf. ¶11-1-5). In the paratactic clauses each subject may be singular, however, their conjunction is usually plural. For the sake of grammatical agreement each of the clauses has a singular predicate, whereas the predicate of the clause resulting in their conjunction agrees with a plural subject. |
| (1) | Both he and his wife looked outwardly gentlefolks. — Lamb. | |||
| a. | He looked outwardly a gentle person. | |||
| b. | His wife looked outwardly a gentle person. | qConj (NP) | ||
| (2) | The diseases, the elements, fortune, gravity, lightning, respect no persons.—Emerson. | |||
| a. | The diseases respect no persons. | |||
| b. | The elements respect no persons. | |||
| c. | Fortune respects no persons. | |||
| d. | Gravity respects no persons. | |||
| e. | Lightning respects no persons. | qConj (ARG) | ||
| It appears that the author may conjoin any number of nouns asyndetically, possibly saving the conjunction and for the last one. |
| (3) | But oh, ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves, | |||
| Forebode not any severing of our loves. | ||||
| —Wordsworth. | ||||
| a. | But oh ye fountains forebode not any severing of our loves. | |||
| b. | But oh ye meadows forebode not any severing of our loves. | |||
| c. | But oh ye hills forebode not any severing of our loves. | |||
| d. | But oh ye groves forebode not any severing of our loves. | qConj (NP) | ||
Asyndetic joining of other elements.Other elements, not just nouns, may conjoin without the use of a connective. We discuss this phenomenon in more detail in the next section (§10-4). |
| (1) | He had never seen her so radiant, so young.—J. L. Allen. | |||
| a. | He had never seen her so radiant. | |||
| b. | He had never seen her so young. | qConj (AJP) | ||
Nouns conjoined with and meaning ‘together with.’Another particularly noteworthy separation of meaning results from the paraphrase of conjoined noun phrases which have very closely associated or compounded meanings. In this case the most appropriate paratactic paraphrase I have discovered is one that includes an additional adverb (together) and prepositional phrase (with) to express the close association, wConj (N, NP, NOM, or ARG). |
| (1) | Near the foot of the walls there are magnificent groves of live oaks and pines.—Muir. | |||
| a. | Near the foot of the walls there are magnificent groves of live oaks together with live pines. | |||
| b. | Near the foot of the walls there are magnificent groves of live pines together with live oaks. | wConj (N) | ||
| (2) | Herring appear in immense schools off the coast of Norway and the northern shores of the British Isles.—Kimball. | |||
| a. | Herring appear in immense schools off the coast of Norway together with the northern shore of the British Isles. | |||
| b. | Herring appear in immense schools off the northern shores of the British Isles together with the coast of Norway. | wConj (NP) | ||
| Sometimes the author heeds the grammatical number even when such a close association of nouns might otherwise suggest a compound noun. In (3) one might argue that the author ought to make the verb agree with the logical subject of the sentence, which follows the verb in predicate position and is in the singular. |
| (3) | Justice and Reverence are the everlasting central Law of the Universe.—Carlyle. | |||
| a. | Justice together with Reverence is the everlasting central Law of the Universe. | |||
| b. | Reverence together with Justice is the everlasting central Law of the Universe. | wConj (N) | ||
| A paratactic paraphrase of the adverbial phrase might go something like the following: |
| (4) | Justice and Reverence are together. | |||
| a. | Justice is together with Reverence. | |||
| b. | Reverence is together with Justice. | wConj (N) | ||
| It is the resulting noun phrase that then becomes an argument in any desired position in the sentence. We may posit a feature [±Separative] on the conjunction, the same one that might distinguish the adverbs apart from together in the paraphrase. |
| In the following the verb unite takes a complement using with so that it makes a paraphrase using the adverb together seem a little forced. |
| (5) | As usual, the king-bird united the characters of brave defender and tender lover.—Olive T. Miller. | |||
| a. | As usual, the king-bird united the character of brave defender (together) with the character of tender lover. | |||
| b. | As usual, the king-bird united the character of tender lover (together) with the character of brave defender. | wConj (NP) | ||
Accumulation of arguments.In the following example the author repeats the subject as a whole using a deictic pronoun. This pronoun is in apposition, i.e., a pronoun, noun, or noun phrase that the author uses to further qualify the meaning of the noun as though it were an adjective. This could be termed the accumulation of arguments, ArgA. |
| (1) | Self-reliance, self-restraint, self-control, self-direction, these constitute an educated will.—J. F. Clarke. | |||
| aa. | Self-reliance together with self-restraint, … and self-direction constitutes an educated will. | |||
| ab. | Self-restraint together with self-control, … and self-reliance constitutes an educated will. | |||
| ac. | Self-control together with self-direction, … and self-restraint constitutes an educated will. | |||
| ad. | Self-direction together with self-reliance, … and self-control constitutes an educated will. | wConj (NP) | ||
| b. | These constitute an educated will. | ArgA (Subj) | ||
| Here is another example, but this time the repetition (appositive) follows the pronoun we in order to enumerate what the pronoun refers to. |
| (2) | We are doing the English cathedral towns, Aunt Celia and I. —Mrs. Wiggin. | |||
| aa. | Aunt Celia together with me is doing the English cathedral towns. | |||
| ab. | I together with Aunt Celia am doing the English cathedral towns. | wConj (NP) | ||
| b. | We are doing the English cathedral towns. | ArgA (Subj) | ||
| Either of these could have been inverted. |
| (1') | These constitute an educated will: self-reliance, self-restraint, self-control, self-direction. | |
| (2') | Aunt Celia and I, we are doing the English cathedral towns. |
Conjoined numbers.The compounding of associated nouns and noun phrases is particularly strong with adverbial nouns of number, which when used together add their meanings together like a compound noun, wConj (Nnum). |
| (1) | One hundred and one dalmatians are excessive. | |||
| a. | One hundred dalmatians together with one dalmatian are excessive. | |||
| b. | One dalmatian together with one hundred dalmatians is excessive. | wConj (Nnum) | ||
| (2) | The society was formed four centuries and a half after the poet’s death. — Lowell. | |||
| a. | The society was formed four centuries together with a half century after the poet’s death. | |||
| b. | The society was formed a half century together with four centuries after the poet’s death. | wConj (Nnum) | ||
An asyndetic joining with numbers.Conjoined numbers are often associated with a measure, and when there are multiple measures, the language user may conjoin them. In this example the author conjoins multiple measures asyndetically. |
| (1) | He was exactly five feet six inches in height and six feet five inches in circumference.— Irving. | |||
| aa. | He was exactly five feet together with six inches in height. | |||
| ab. | He was exactly six inches together with five feet in height. | wConj (NP) | ||
| ba. | He was exactly six feet together with five inches in circumference. | |||
| bb. | He was exactly five inches together with six feet in circumference. | wConj (NP),qConj (AVP) | ||
| When both occur some dialects (including my own) will use an asyndetic joining for the numbers and an and for joining the measures. |
| (2) | The check was for one hundred ten dollars and sixty cents. | |||
| aa. | The check was for one hundred dollars together with ten dollars. | |||
| ab. | The check was for ten dollars together with one hundred dollars. | wConj (ARG) | ||
| ba. | The check was for one hundred ten dollars together with sixty cents. | |||
| bb. | The check was for sixty cents together with one hundred ten dollars. | wConj (ARG),wConj (ARG) | ||
Nouns conjoined with between . . . and.The prepositional phrase with between requires two object noun phrases joined with and. The analyst may paraphrase the compound object that is thus conjoined into two separate prepositional phrases, bConj(NP). Notice that it is possible to read a time-sequentive meaning into (1a), but that this reading is not plausible with (1b). |
| (1) | There are thousands of years between the stone hatchet and the machine shop.—C. W. Eliot. | |||
| a. | There are thousands of years from the stone hatchet to the machine shop. | |||
| b. | There are thousands of years from the machine shop to the stone hatchet. | bConj (ARG) | ||
| A paratactic paraphrase of the adverbial phrase might go something like the following: |
| (2) | The hatchet and the shop are apart. | |||
| a. | The hatchet is apart from the shop. | |||
| b. | The shop is apart from the hatchet. | aConj(ARG) | ||
| In contrast to the original sentence, which uses between, this “paraphrase” has separative meaning. It is the resulting noun phrase that then becomes an argument in any desired position in the sentence. With this in mind we would write the two transformations (separative and identical) conjunction something like the following: |
| The structure described by the input of these transformations has been subjected to the conjunctive phrases transformation, so that any part of the ARG may appear to be conjoined. |
Adjectives conjoined as adverbials.Principle 7 seems to be constrained by the following additional principle and its corollaries: |
| The user of colloquial speech may compound good (and sometimes certain other simple adjectives) with more descriptive adjectives as a kind of intensifier (Curme 1947:156). This kind of compound with nouns in the classical languages was called hendiadys. The following examples are of what we might conservatively call the degree conjunctive, dConj. |
| (1) | She sailed good and fast. — Kimball | |||
| a. | (?)She sailed good. (Her speed was good.) | |||
| b. | She sailed this fast. | dConj (Adv) | ||
| (2) | But I was rare and hungry. —Stevenson. | |||
| a. | (?)But I was rare. (But my hunger was rare.) | |||
| b. | But I was this hungry. | dConj (Adj) | ||
| (3) | John is good and strong.—Kimball | |||
| a. | John is good. (John’s strength is good.) | |||
| b. | John is this strong. | dConj (Adj) | ||
