Old English Syntax

2.1.2. Secondary Parts

The Object

Objects can be expressed by substantives or pronouns in the accusative, dative, or genitive case.

Most usually an object (with so-called transitive verbs) is expressed by a substantive or pronoun in the accusative case, as in: he pa pas andsware onfenʒ 'he then received this answer', hi hine forbærnap 'they burn him', sæʒdon sum haliʒ spelt 'told a holy story'. There may be two objects in one sentence, one direct, the other indirect, and the difference is seen in the case forms; the direct object is in the accusative, and the indirect in the dative, as in: fela spella him sæʒdon pa Beormas 'the Permians told him many stories', sinʒ me hwæthwuʒu 'sing me something'. The indirect object in the dative can also express the instrument of the action (this is the meaning of the dative inherited from the original instrumental case), as in Alfred cyniʒ hatep ʒretan Wærferp ærcebiscop his wordum 'king Alfred greets archbishop Warferth with his words'.

Very often the object is expressed by the phrase "preposition + substantive or pronoun", as in: nu hæbbe we scortlice ʒessed ymb Asia londʒemsere 'now we have briefly spoken about the land of Asia'. The lexical meaning of the preposition is of course essential for the expression of the actual extralinguistic relation between the object and the action or other object mentioned in the sentence.

The Attribute 

An attribute may be expressed either by an adjective or by a pronoun, or numeral, of by a substantive in the genitive case, or by a phrase "preposition + substantive". Examples of all these varieties are numerous enough. E. g.: he wæs swyðe spediʒ man 'he was a very rich man', pa clypode he Esau, his yldran sunu 'then he called Esau, his elder son', brinʒ me twa, pa betstan tyccenu 'bring me two, the best kids', pær sceal ælces ʒepeodes man beon forbærned 'a man of every tribe shall be burnt'.

The Apposition 

Appositions of various sizes, referring either to a substantive or to a pronoun, are found in many OE texts. E. g.: Martianus casere 'the emperor Martian', Ohthere sæde  his  hlaforde, AElfrede cyninʒe 'Ohthere said to his lord, king Alfred', wæs he, se man, in woruldhade ʒeseted 'he, the man, was a layman', her com AElfred, se unsceððiʒa æpelins, AEpelrædes sunu cinʒes, hider inn 'at this time Alfred, the innocent nobleman, son of king Ethelred, arrived here'. 

The Adverbial Modifier

An adverbial modifier may be expressed either by an adverb or by a phrase "preposition + substantive". The first variety may be seen in such sentences as: pa eode he ham 'then he went home', pin bropor com facenlice 'your brother came heatingly'. The adverbial modifier may be one of manner, or time or place, etc., depending on the lexical meaning of the adverb.

The second variety "preposition + substantive" is found in the following sentences: hwelce wiotan iu wæron ʒiond Anʒelcynn 'what wise men there formerly were in England', pis ærendʒe-writ Aʒustinus ofer sealtne æe suðan brohte 'this message Augustine brought across the salt sea from the south', ponne wið norpan Donua æwielme and be eastan Rine sindon Easfrancas 'then to the north of the Danube river and to the east of the Rhine are the East Franks'.

The Direct Address

Direct address may be represented either by a single word or a phrase: Cedmon, sinʒ me hwæthwuʒu 'Csedmon, sing me something'; ia, leof, ic hit eom 'yes, my dear, it is I'; sunu min, hlyste uunre lare 'my son, listen to my teaching', aris, fæder min 'rise, my father'.

The Parenthesis

Parentheses are not exactly frequent in OE texts, and when ever they do occur, they are usually

represented either by adverbs or by phrases of the pattern "preposition + substantive". Here are a few examples: hwæðre pu meant sinʒan 'however, thou canst sing'; næfde he peah ma ponne twentiʒ hryðera 'he had, however, no more than twenty cattle', cf. also næfde se here, ʒodes ponces, Anʒelcyn ealles for swe ʒebrocod 'the (Danish) army had not, thank God, devastated England completely'.

2.1.3. One Member and Elliptical Sentences 

Impersonal sentences may be one-member ones, e.g. hu lomp eow in lade? 'how did you fare on your way?'; him on fyrste ʒelomp ædre mid aldum, pæt hit wearp eal-ʒearo 'it soon happened in the

right time among men, that is (the building) was quite ready'.

The subject of elliptical sentences is to be supplied from the context, e.g. syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden, he paes frofre ʒebad 'since (he) was first found helpless, he lived to see consolation in this'; aledon pa leofne peoden on beartn scipes '(they) laid then their beloved leader on the ship's bosom'. In the former sentence it is clear that the subject of the subordinate clause is the same as that of the main clause. In the latter sentence it becomes clear from the preceding text that the king's attendants are meant.

2.1.4. Sentences introduced by hit and pær

In OE texts there are sentences introduced by the subject hit and by the adverbial modifier pær, which to some extent lose their own meaning. E.g. ne-wæs hit lenʒse pa ʒen, pæt se ecʒhete aðum-sweorum æfter wæl-niðe wæccan scolde 'it had not yet gone so far that a feud should arise between son-in-law and father-in-law because of mortal enmity'. These are the beginnings of sentences with a "formal subject" it and with the phrase there is.

2.1.5. Uses of Infinitive and Participle

The OE infinitive is used in different syntactical functions. It may be the subject of a sentence, e.g. all pas pinʒ pære peode ʒedafenap cup habban 'all these things it behoves the people to know'. The infinitive often combines with verbs meaning 'begin', 'be able', 'wish', etc. E.g. Hiʒeldc ongan sine ʒ eseldan in sele pam hean fæsre fricʒean 'Hiʒelac duly began to interrogate his attendants in the high hall'; him bebeorʒan ne con 'defend him I cannot'. With verbs of motion the infinitive often expresses the purpose of the action, e.g. he siʒe-hreðiʒ secean com mærne peoden 'he, glorified by victories, came to greet the famous king'.

The tō-infinitive is also used to express purpose: hie comon pæt land to sceawianne 'they came to have a look at the land'.

This form is also used in other functions, e. g. lonʒ is to secʒanne 'it is too long to tell', ʒoddædum, pa hy ær forhoʒdun to donne 'good deeds, which they had failed to perform', ne bip pær epe pin spor to findanne 'it will not be easy there to find your trace'.

Sometimes, more especially in poetic style, an infinitive with a verb of motion denotes rather the way the action is performed, e.g. 3ewat  pa neosian hean huses 'he went approaching the high house', pa com of more under mist-hleopum ʒrendel ʒonʒan 'then came from the marsh under mist rocks Grendel (going)'.

The infinitive is also used to express commands in indirect speech: him budon drincan ʒebitrodne win-drenc 'they told him to drink bitter wine'.

Infinitive Phrases

When an infinitive follows a phrase "verb + substantive or pronoun in the accusative" the substantive and the infinitive form a construction which is usually called "accusative and infinitive". In OE this is still used rather seldom. It is mainly found with verbs of perception: seon 'see', hieran 'hear', ʒefriʒnan 'learn', and also with verbs expressing order or permission, such as hatan 'order', lætan 'let', etc. E.g. ʒeseah he in recede rinca maniʒe, swefan sibbe-ʒedriht 'he saw in the hall many warriors, a friendly troop sleeping'; fyr-leoht ʒeseah, bldcne leoman beorhte sciman 'he saw a fire-light, a glittering flach chine brightly'; ne-hyrde ic cymlicor ceol ʒeʒyrwan 'I did not.hear a more handsome ship constructed'; ic pæt londbuend, leode mine, sele-rædende secʒean hyrde, pæt hie ʒesawon swylce tweʒen micle mearcstapas moras healdan, ellor-ʒæstas 'I heard the inhabitants of the earth, my people, guarding the hall, say that they saw two such great spirits live in the moors, alien sprites'; pa ic wide ʒefræʒn weorc ʒebannan 'I heard that the work was widely proclaimed then'; pone here he let mid pæmscipum ponan wendan 'he told the army to move thence in ships'; let hie syppan faran ham 'he let them afterwards sail home'.

Substantive + Participle or Adjective

Such constructions also form a predicative group, e.g. ʒedep him swa ʒewealdene worolde dælas 'he will make parts of the world so subdued to him', ʒesyhð sorh-ceariʒ on his suna bare   winsele westne wind-ʒereste, reote berofene 'he sees, saddened, in his son's house the wine-hall empty, the wind's resting place, bereft of glad noise'. 

Occasionally an absolute participle construction is found in OE, both substantive and participle being in the dative case, e.g. forlætenre pære ceastre, he com 'the camp having been left, he came' (= leaving the camp, he came); he ʒeseah swapendum windum pone leʒ ahefenne 'he saw the flame rising, with winds blowing'. 

Negation

Negative words are freely used in OE, their number in a sentence not being limited. E.g. ne mæʒ nan pinʒ his willan wiðstandan 'nothing can withstand his will'; nan man ne bude benorðan him 'no man lived north of him'; nan ne dorste nan pinʒ ascian 'nobody dared ask anything'. Occasionally the negative pronoun naht, noht (its original meaning being 'nothing', from nā + wiht) is used: ne con ic noht sinʒan 'I cannot sing (anything)'. Eventually the negative particle ne was dropped, and the negative meaning came to be expressed by noht alone. 

2.2. The Composite Sentence

2.2.1. The Compound Sentence

Both asyndetic and syndetic compound sentences are found in OE texts.

The asyndetic type may be illustrated by the following example 
from Beowulf: fand pa pær-inne æpetinʒa ʒedriht swefan sefter sym- 
ble; sorʒe ne cupon, wonsceaft wera '(he) found in there a troop 
of warriors sleeping after the feast; they did not know any trouble, misery of men'. 

In a syndetic compound sentence clauses may be connected by one of the conjunctions: and 'and', oppe 'or', ac 'but': wæs he, se mon, In weoruldhade ʒeseted op pa tide, pe he wæs ʒelefedre yldo, ond he næfre næniʒ leop ʒeleornade 'he, that man, was a layman until he reached an elderly age, and he had never learnt any song'; ic me mid Hruntinʒe dom ʒewyrce, oppe mec deap nimep 'I will acquire glory with Hrunting (a sword), or death shall take me'; pa JBeormas hæfdon swipe wel ʒebun hira land; ac hie ne dorston pæron cuman 'the Permians had had their land very well cultivated; but they (the travellers) did not dare to disembark there': Her AEpelwulf cyninʒ ʒefeaht æt Carrum wip. XXXV. sciphlæst and pd Deniscan ahton wælstowe ʒewald 'here (= in this year) king AEthelwuef fought at Charmouth with 35 shiploads, and the Danes kept the battlefield in their power'; pa was ðonne Leo papa on Rome, and he hine to cyninʒe ʒehalʒode 'then was Leo pope in Rome, and he invested him as king'; næfde se here,'Codes ponces, Onʒelcyn for swðie ʒebrocod; ac hie wæron micle swipor ʒebrocode on pæm prim ʒearum mid ceapes cwilde and monna 'the (enemy) army had not, thank God, utterly destroyed England; but they were much more afflicted by deaths of cattle and human beings'.