| A vocative,
also called a noun of direct address, is a noun indicating the person or
persons spoken to. Vocatives are independent expressions, i.e.., they are
not connected grammatically to the rest of the sentence. The word imperative
refers to the mood (a form of the verb) used to express a command or a
request without an expressed subject. Here is an example of a sentence
containing both a vocative and an imperative: "John, go with me."
Notice that the subject of the sentence, you, is not expressed.
Here is the same command (or request) with the subject you: "John,
you go with me." You may notice there is nothing unusual about the verb
form go with the subject you; however, consider this pair of
imperative sentences: "Mary, be patient" and "Mary, you be patient."
There is something unusual about the form be with the subject you;
it's an obvious imperative form. In English, be is the only verb
that has a special form for the imperative.
Coordinating conjunctions
connect words, phrases, and clauses of equal importance and almost always
of the same kind, i.e., nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, etc. The
principal coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, nor; the
correlatives are both . . . and, either . . . or, and neither
. . . nor. At this time, we are considering only the role of
coordinating conjunctions in compound sentences. Compound sentences
contain two or more main (independent) clauses. An independent (main)
clause is a group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate and
is able to stand alone as a complete sentence.
An expletive is a word with a
function but with little or no meaning. At this time, we are considering
only the expletive there* in sentences
like these: "There is little time," "There is no need to hurry,"
"There was
a storm in the area last night." There means nothing in these
sentences. It has only a function, which is to announce that the subject
of the sentence will follow the verb (not its usual position).**
As
you make your way through these flashcards, you may wish to refer to a
section of my website that deals with terminology, www.german-latin-english.com/diagrammingterms.htm. |
| On the right is a diagram of the sentence "Drivers,
stay alert, and there will be fewer accidents." Drivers is a
noun of direct address (a vocative). Stay is a liking verb, alert
a predicate adjective. The coordinating conjunction and connects
the two main clauses. There is an expletive. |
 |
Because both drivers and there
are grammatically independent elements, the lines on which they rest are
not connected to the rest of the diagram. The conventional position of
such words is above the subject. A coordinating conjunction is
placed on the horizontal section of a step-down structure consisting of
three broken lines; this structure connects the verb of the first main
clause to the verb of the second main clause. Flashcard
10: objective complements. |
*
Do not confuse the expletive there with the adverb there. In
the sentence If they put a stop sign on that corner, there will be
fewer accidents there, the second there is an adverb. It has a
meaning.
** Other
expletives include the words that, whether, if, and as
in sentences like these: I can hardly believe that it's snowing, Can
you tell whether the trains are running?, She doesn't know if she has
time, The class elected him as treasurer. More about these words
later.
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