Alzheimer's Study - HELP!!!!!

Question

Hello,

I am scoring a psychiatric test that asks patients to orally describe a certain picture (of children stealing cookies). I must determine whether an utterance (any effort to express a thought that is terminated by a pause with a falling inflection) is a single clause (complete or incomplete clauses containing a verb with its subject and/or object) or multiclause (more than one main verb) utterance. For instance, "the boy is standing on a stool" consists of one clause, and "the boy is standing on a stool and the girl is standing on the floor" consists of two clauses, while "the boy is standing on the stool and reaching for a cookie" is a two-part multiclause (I think).

However, for a sentence such as "the boy is standing on a stool *** the girl is standing on the floor," would that count as two clauses or a two-part multiclause?? How about, "the boy is standing on a stool *** the girl is standing on the floor"? How about, "the boy is standing on a stool *** the girl is standing on the floor"? How about, "the boy is standing on a stool *** the girl is standing on the floor"? How about, "The boy is standing on a stool when he should be playing"?

Also, would "the boy is standing on a stool which/that is tipping over" count as a two-part multiclause? How about, "The mother is going to have to catch the boy who is standing on the stool"? Is that a two-part multiclause or two clauses??

I am so sorry this is so long, but I have been struggling with these instances for days now, and I would be forever grateful if someone could respond to each of those cases. Please, please, please! Thank you so much!!!

Miriam · Accepted Answer

Hello

Let's see if I can help.

It is true that any utterance can contain just one main caluse or more than one.
I'm not sure if the definitions of "single clause" and "multiclause" were given to you and you have to stick to those definitions.
I must say, however, that an utterance with more than one main verb is not necessarily a "multiclause" utterance.

As you said,
1. "the boy is standing on a stool"
consists of only one main clause.

In
2. "the boy is standing on the stool and reaching for a cookie"
you have two main verbs (stand and reach for), yet you still have only one main clause. Even if the boy were performing ten actions, you would still have only one subject and only one predicate, that is to say, one main clause. The same would happen if you had this sentence:
"The boy, the girl and the dog were standing on the floor".
In your example, what is "compound" is the predicate (more than one main verb). In my example, you have a "compound" subject (more than one "head"). Yet, each sentence/utterance consists of only one main clause.

In your example
3. "the boy is standing on a stool and the girl is standing on the floor"
you have two main clauses. Is that what you call a "multiclause" utterance? In grammar, it is called a "compound sentence"; it is a sentence that contains two or more main clauses which are usually in "coordination" (linked to each other by "and", "or", "but", and even by a comma or, more appropriately, a semi-colon). To put it more simply, compound sentences look like two or more different "sentences" put together to form a longer sentence. In your example, the two main clauses are "the boy is standing on a stool" and "the girl is standing on the floor".

Let's have a look at your other examples:

4. "The boy is standing on a stool *** the girl is standing on the floor."
This is the same case as #3: two main clauses.

5. "The mother is going to have to catch the boy (who is standing on the stool)."
6. "The boy is standing on a stool (which/that is tipping over)."
Both sentences contain only one main clause. In #3, you have only one head in the subject (mther) and only one main verb in the predicate (catch). In #4 the head of the subject is 'boy' and the main verb is 'stand'.
What you have in each sentence is a "relative clause" or "adjectival clause" (I've put them within parentheses in the sentences). These are not main clauses but "dependent" clauses, that is, constructions that depend on a main clause.

7. "the boy is standing on a stool (*** the girl is standing on the floor)."
8. "the boy is standing on a stool (*** the girl is standing on the floor)."
9. "the boy is standing on a stool (*** the girl is standing on the floor)."
10. "The boy is standing on a stool (*** he should be playing)."
In each of the four examples above you also have only one main clause. The parenthesised clauses are dependent clauses, but these are of a different type from those in #5 and #6.
In these four sentences, you have "subordinate" clauses. They are all "adverbials" and are introduced by "subordinating conjunctions" (so, while, because, when).
It is true that you have two clauses in each sentence, but only one in each sentence is a "main clause".

I hope this makes some sense to you.

If you need any further explanations, pelase let us know?

Miriam

Alzheimer's Study - HELP!!!!!

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