Compound sentence with unbound adjective phrase

Question

I had had a bad feeling this morning, uncertain about whether I had really set up those documents, so you saved me from having to delve into my last journal for that information.I wonder if the above is grammatical. I think it is, but I just want to check with the experts:I had had a sinking feeling this morning= Main Clauseuncertain about whether I had really set up those Christmas envelopes last Feb=adjective phrase modifying the subject so you saved me from having to delve into my last travel journal for that information.= a second main clause joining the sentence to the left of 'so'( the main clause and adjective phrase) to the main clause to the right.Would you say I have broken it down correctly and have correctly claimed it is grammatical?Thanks a lot

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

That sounds good to me.

Andriy Lapin · Answer

Greetings, English 1b3!

Indeed, the sentence seems up to standard to me, too, although I wish to add a few details:

1. You correctly analysed the first part - it is the main clause for sure; the part following it is a verbless clause ? (verbless) adjectival clause (this time your interpretation is absolutely correct) ? (verbless) supplementive (adjectival) clause. The function of this clause is that of an adverbial (to see it, try inserting being before uncertain): the logical connection between the main clause and the verbless clause is that of reason. As you can see, we move from the more general type to the more specific one; from form to function. The only thing I must add is that supplementive adjectival clauses usually precede the subject of the main clause, but follow it only occasionally:

Uncertain about whether I had really set up those documents, I had had a bad feeling this morning, so you saved me from having to delve into my last journal for that information.

2. The last part <beginning with so> is liable to be incorrectly interpreted as the subordinate clause of result (given that so (that) sometimes acts as a resultative subordinator), but here we have nothing but a conjunct so in asyndetic coordination, and your understanding that the clause is independent is correct:

I had had a bad feeling this morning, and so you saved me from having to delve into my last journal...<insertion of and unambiguously shows that so is a conjunct>

English 1b3 so you saved me from having to delve into my last travel journal for that information.= a second main clause joining the sentence to the left of 'so'( the main clause and adjective phrase) to the main clause to the right.

- I don't follow you here. The second main clause is independent, and it does not serve any connecting function. I would structurally show it in this way:

<main clause, (subordinate clause)>, + <main clause>

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

English 1b3 · Answer

Hi, again, Gleb

Sorry, I don't quite follow you with the adjectival clause. Are you saying it modifies the subject or that it is adverbial modifying what? And is your sentence example changing the function of the adjectival clause?

I don't follow you here. The second main clause is independent, and it does not serve any connecting function. I would structurally show it in this way:

<main clause, (subordinate clause)>, + <main clause>

Sorry, I was unclear here. What I was meant to say is that 'so' joins the main clause to the right not just to the adjective clause on the left, but to the entire sentence to the left. Correct?

Thanks

Andriy Lapin · Answer

Hello again, English 1b3!

English 1b3Are you saying it modifies the subject or that it is adverbial modifying what?

- what is meant is that the supplementive clause acts as an adverbial of reason. It answers the question why the speaker had a bad feeling at a particular time:

A: Why did you have a bad feeling that morning?
B: Because I was uncertain whether I had really set up those documents.<note that conjunctions do not usually introduce sentences, but I use the example for you to see the meaning relationship>

Adverbials like this (called circumstance adverbials <or adjuncts>) denote circumstances of the situation in the main clause; otherwise stated, the supplementive clause does not modify the subject.

English 1b3And is your sentence example changing the function of the adjectival clause?

- I presume that you mean the example where being is inserted. If so, it is not changing the function of a clause, but it is altering its form (from a verbless to non-finite clause).

Another remark: perhaps you are a bit confused by the fact that the subject of the main clause is the implied (or logical) subject of the verbless clause:

I was uncertain whether I had really set up those documents. I had had a bad feeling that morning. ---- (I was) uncertain whether I had really set up those documents, I had had a bad feeling that morning. ---- Uncertain whether I had really set up those documents, I had had a bad feeling that morning.

In the case of the implied subject we do not say that the dependent clause modifies the subject of the main clause.

English 1b3What I was meant to say is that 'so' joins the main clause to the right not just to the adjective clause on the left, but to the entire sentence to the left. Correct?

- I analyse so as an adverbial in your case, namely, a conjunct expressing the speaker's assessment of the relation between the two main clauses: it conjoins two independent units. In other words, your understanding is correct.

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Anonymous · Answer

"Uncertain about whether I had really set up those documents," is an adverbial phrase, not an adjective phrase. It modifies the verb "had," not the subject, "I," The fact that we can move this phrase practically anywhere in the sentence and still maintain understanding reveals that it is, indeed, an adverb.

Ex: Uncertain whether or not I had really set up those documents, I had had a bad feeling....
I had had, uncertain about...., a bad feeling, so....

To prove it, we could even take out the whole phrase and put in a shorter one, such as, "confusedly," and it would still work. "Confusedly," is an adverb.

English 1b3 · Answer

I can't decide if I'm wrong or if I have a different approach to analysing this sentence.

My understanding is that the head of a phrase determines the phrase's nature. In the sentence at hand, for example, the head of the phrase is an adjective, uncertain' and thus modifies the subject, describing the subject. What is he? He is uncertain.

If it were an adverbial, as you suggest, the head of the phrase would have to be an adverb.

Is there any sense to this? Or is this plain wrong? Or is my approached confined to phrases and not verbless clauses, perhaps?

Andriy Lapin · Answer

Good evening, English 1b3!

English 1b3My understanding is that the head of a phrase determines the phrase's nature.

- the term 'nature' may have far too many possible interpretations. It can refer to etymology, word-class characteristics, or syntactic role, so I would refrain from using it. Instead, I've continuously proposed to speak about form and function. The form of the clause is adjectival, but the function is adverbial.

English 1b3In the sentence at hand, for example, the head of the phrase is an adjective, uncertain' and thus modifies the subject, describing the subject. What is he? He is uncertain.

- Not really. The head is really an adjective, but it does not describe the subject. I don't think that saying: 'The adjective modifies the subject' is based on the right assumptions. Let's take the case of an adjective which obviously modifies a noun:

Peripheral adjectives share some of the features of central adjectives.

Can one say that the underlined adjective modifies the subject? I doubt it, as it modifies the head of the noun phrase, and together with it forms the subject. Put differently, the adjective does not modify the subject because it is part of the subject itself. In the example you put forward, He is uncertain..., the adjective phrase complements the subject by being subject predicative, and this example does not reflect the relationship that exists between the parts of the original sentence. That one is a compound-complex sentence, and it should be analysed in terms of all the elements regarded systematically. Let me repeat my previous example:

A: Why did you have a bad feeling that morning?
B: Because I was uncertain whether I had really set up those documents.

This one indubitably reveals the relationship between the clauses. Uncertain... gives the reason for a bad feeling.

English 1b3If it were an adverbial, as you suggest, the head of the phrase would have to be an adverb.

- Here are examples for you to see that the above statement does not reflect reality:

Next day the morning hours seemed to pass very slowly at Mr. Pellet's.<NP/adverbial>

I walked straight up the lane.<prepositional phrase/adverbial>

Turning away, she caught sight of the extra special edition of 'The Signal'.<-ing/adverbial>

Not all adverbs are adverbials; correspondingly, not all adverbials are adverbs.

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

English 1b3 · Answer

That is understandable. By the way, when I said 'he is uncertan' I wasn't trying to claim it was the same structure, rather to show why I thought it modified the subject.

Perhaps the reason I'm wrong/confused is because of my understanding of verbless clauses. I was wrongly not considering this a clause, but rather a phrase. And clauses don't have heads, do they?

And in this case, you seem to have correctly realised that the verbless clause is a truncated version of a clause including a conjunction (because) creating an adverbial, whereas I just considered the construction as complete and not as a truncated adverbial.

English 1b3 · Answer

To save you some time (rather than your having to show me), I read up a little on verbless clauses:

Verbless clauses tend to function either as an adverbial or as a free predicative. E.g. When in Rome, do as the Romans. Whatever their faults, they are not hypocrites. He drove on, wary and shaken. (cf. when you are in Rome; whatever their faults may be; and he was wary and shaken.)

Isn't this a similar example that we have, suggesting that our example is also a free predicative? I do understand if you still push the idea that it is adverbial (including because), though.

Compound sentence with unbound adjective phrase

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