SIMPLE COORDINATION

- usual kind of coordination

- two clauses or clause constituents that are linked must be parallel in meaning
- coordinated units are conjoins; resulting combination is a conjoint

conjoins conjoint
Jack bought a dog. Jack bought a kitten. Jack bought a dog and a kitten.

- conjoins must belong to the same category in form, function and meaning; there
may be differences in form

- 2 ways of analysing:
o elements that are elipted (Sam has)

Sam has trimmed the hedge and mowed the lawn.

 two clauses in which a subject [Sam] and an operator [has] have
been elipted from the second clause

o elements that are present

Sam has [[trimmed the hedge] and [mowed the lawn.]]
 a single clause containing two coordinated predications, which
together constitute the predication of the clause

- predicate  subject + predicate [everything except the subject]

- predication  subject + verb [auxiliary] + predication [everything else]

TYPES OF SIMPLE COORDINATION

1. Coordination of clauses
1. independent clauses can be coordinated
 The winter had come, and snow lay thick on the ground.
2. subordinate clauses may be coordinated, as long as they belong to the same
function class
 If you pass the exam and (if) no one applies, you’ll get the job.
adverbial clauses
 I didn’t know who she was or what she wanted  wh-clauses
 3. also, nonfinite clauses [to-infinitive, -ing participle] of the same type and
verbless clauses may be coordinated
 I’ve asked him to come tonight or (to) phone us tomorrow.
2. Coordination of predicates and predications
1. the subject is shared and the most reduced form of the sentence will be
preferred
 Peter ate the fruit and drank the beer. [predicate]
 Martha is ill, but will soon recover. [predicate]
 They were married in 1960, but divorced in 1961. [predication]
 Are you working or on holiday? [predication]

3. Coordination and the scope of adverbials

1. adverbials often stand outside the structure of coordination  conjoins are
within the scope of adverbials (the scope of the adverbial extends across the
remainder of the sentence)
 Yesterday [the sun was very warm] and [the ice melted]
2. can be complex
 In those days they often used to [shoot the birds] and [eat them]

on a single day.

4. Coordination of noun phrases and their constituents

a) Noun-phrase coordination
- two or more NPs can be conjoined to a conjoint NP
They have cats, dogs and cows.
- it is considered polite to place 2nd person pronoun first, and 1st person
pronoun last – You and I, you and Jill, Jill and I

b) Combinatory and segregatory coordination of noun phrases

- phrases linked by and may express combinatory or segregatory meaning
- when the coordination is segregatory, we can paraphrase it
John and Mary know the answer. [John knows the answer, and
Mary knows the answer.]
- when the coordination is combinatory we cannot use a paraphrase
 John and Mary make a cute couple [John makes a cute couple??]
- indicators of segregatory meaning

both (… and) neither … nor respectively <formal>

each respective <formal> apiece <rare>

- the adjective respective premodifies a plural noun phrase to indicate segregatory

interpretation
Jill and Ben visited their respective uncles [Bill visited his uncle, Jill hers]

- the adverb respectively indicates which constituents go with which in the two parallel sets of
conjoint phrases

John, Peter and Robert play football, basketball, and baseball respectively.
[John-football; Peter – basketball; Robert – baseball]

Arnold and his son Josh were respectively the greatest educator and greatest critic ever.
[Arnold – educator; Josh – critic]

c) Coordination within noun phrases

- when heads are coordinated  determiner, premodifier and postmodifier
apply to each of the conjoins
his wife and child [his wife and his child]

d) Coordinated modifiers
- when coordinated modifiers denote mutually exclusive properties only
segregatory meaning is possible
[old and new furniture, workers from France and from Italy]
o exception to this – colours –
black and white flags [partly one colour, partly another]

- if the head is a singular count noun  combinatory meaning

a dishonest and lazy student; a book on reptiles and dragons

5. Coordination of other constituents

1. Verb phrases
Good cooking can disguise, but cannot improve the quality of the ingredients
 2. Main verbs
Many people might have been killed or injured by the explosion.
3. Auxiliaries
The country can and must surrender.
4. Adjective phrases
The journey was long and extremely dangerous.
5. Adjective heads
He’s a tall and handsome boy.
6. Adverbs
She made the announcement quietly but confidently
7. Prepositional phrases
She climbed up and over the wall.
8. Coordination of subordinators and other clause-introducing words
I am prepared to meet them when and where they like.

- usually the shorter item comes first or the first position is given to the semantically salient
or culturally dominant member [father and son, gold and silver, great and small]
- BINOMIALS – fixed conjoint phrases having two members – big and ugly, cup and
saucer…