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Reading complicated structures

Language learners (and many native-speaker readers) can have trouble reading long and complicated sentences. Certain kinds of structure, in particular, can slow down unskilled readers, and perhaps cause them to get lost, so that they lose sight of ‘where a sentence is going’. This is often the case when sentences begin with complex noun phrases.

Complex noun phrases: premodification​

Written noun phrases can be very elaborate, with various kinds of premodifier (determiners, adjectives, participles and nouns) coming before the head noun.

  • The only efficient functioning X-Ray machine was in constant demand.

Premodifiers can have their own premodifiers, which adds to the complexity.

  • The only really efficient fully-functioning high-speed X-Ray machine was in constant demand.

But note that premodifiers cannot usually be followed by their own postmodifiers.

  • a broken promise
  • a cynically broken promise (but not a broken for political advantage promise)
  • interest rates
  • short-term interest rates (but not interest paid monthly rates)

Complex noun phrases: postmodification​

Postmodifiers (e.g. prepositional phrases or relative clauses) can make noun phrases even more complex and difficult to process efficiently.

  • The only really efficient fully-functioning high-speed X-Ray machine in the hospital that nurses could use was in constant demand.
  • The strikes on a number of airlines in recent months, which have caused serious disruption to travellers, are likely to continue if agreement is not reached.

Nominalisation and coordination: Daniel’s failure​

Writing often nominalises (expresses as nouns) elements which in speech would be expressed in other ways. This, too, makes for complex noun phrases.

  • Daniel’s failure to gain a degree caused his parents considerable concern. (six-word noun phrase as subject)

The spoken equivalent might be, for example:

  • Daniel, you know, he didn’t get a degree, and of course, his parents, they got really worried. (one-word noun phrase as subject)

Co-ordination can make things even more complex.

  • Daniel’s failure to gain a degree, and his subsequent refusal to look for work, caused his parents considerable concern. (fourteen-word noun phrase as subject)

Possible spoken equivalent:

  • Daniel, you know, he didn’t get a degree, and then he wouldn’t do anything about getting a job, and of course, his parents, they got really worried.

Clause subjects: getting up early​

When the subject is a participle clause or a what-clause, this can also make the overall structure more difficult to follow.

  • Getting up very early in the morning typically makes people feel quite unnecessarily superior.
  • What Anna’s little sister wanted above everything else in the world was a horse.

Why do these structures make reading difficult? -- Breaking things up​

Complex noun-phrase structures can cause readers to lose sight of the basic subject-verb relationship. This is particularly the case with heavy post-modification: the head noun may be separated from its verb by other nouns and verbs, and a non-fluent reader may struggle to see which noun goes with which verb.

  • The strikes on a number of airlines in recent months, which have caused serious disruption to travellers, are likely to continue if agreement is not reached. (five other nouns and another verb between the head noun and its verb)
  • That picture of the children standing in front of the palace talking to the Prime Minister impressed everybody. (It was not the children, the palace or the Prime Minister that impressed everybody.)
  • Pasteur’s discovery that microscopic bacteria caused diseases revolutionised medicine. (It was not the bacteria or the diseases that revolutionised medicine.)
  • A Liverpool man who lives alone except for his cat has just won the lottery. (The cat has not won the lottery.)

These structures can create confusing-looking pairs of verbs.

  • A bus which ran downhill out of control after its brakes failed crashed into a factory wall, damaging the premises and slightly injuring several passengers.

Unlike speech (see here), formal writing does not allow subjects to be repeated by pronouns.

  • That picture of the children standing in front of the palace talking to the Prime Minister, it impressed everybody,

Leaving out that: people Martin knew well​

When that (or another relative pronoun) is left out, this can cause further problems for readers who are not used to formal written texts, especially if their language does not work in the same way. For example, it can bring two noun phrases together in confusing ways.

  • Several people Martin knew well when he was at university years before had now become prominent members of the government. (= … people that Martin knew …)
  • The man the terrorists bought the guns from was an undercover police officer.

Extra difficulty can be caused when relative clauses end in prepositions.

  • The spanner the service engineer was attempting to tighten the windscreen nuts with was the wrong size.

Dropping the conjunction that can also make the structure of a sentence less clear.

  • The woman insisted she thought the police officer understood she was lost. (that omitted three times)

Reduced relative clauses: the objects recovered​

Reduced relative clauses (see here) can make sentences particularly hard to read.

  • Many of the objects recovered by the police were found to have been stolen from homes in the neighbourhood. (= ‘… the objects that were recovered .…)
  • Two wolves seen roaming in the New Forest are believed to have escaped from a nearby private zoo. (= ‘… wolves that have been seen …’)

Regular past participles look the same as past tenses, and this can cause confusion.

  • A number of the children asked for comments on the proposals to expel some immigrants told the police they disagreed. (The children didn’t ask for comments: the meaning is ‘… the children who were asked … told …’.)

Embedded adverbial clauses​

Sometimes an adverbial clause is put into the middle of another clause, separating the subject from its verb.

Text version
|-----------------------------------------------|
(Ann), when she finally managed to go to sleep, (had) a series of bad dreams.
|---------------------------------------------------|
(The government), if recent reports can be trusted, (has) decided not to raise interest rates.

In these structures, confusingly, a noun may not be the subject of a verb that comes just after it.

  • Mr Andrews, when he saw the police officer, started running as fast as he could. (It was not the police officer who started running.)
  • The Managing Director, after he had completed his discussions with the bank manager, drew a large sum of money out of the bank and caught the next plane to Paris. (A learner might think that it was the bank manager who took the money and went to Paris.)

Heavy indirect object​

A heavy indirect object can create a large gap between the verb and its direct object, which can also make the structure difficult to follow.

  • She gave all the people who had helped her with her research copies of her book.

Complicated negative structures​

In both speech and writing, putting together several negative items can cause confusion.

  • It was not that Emily didn’t believe that Jack had not been telling the truth. (Did she think he had or not?)
  • There is no sound basis for denying reports that no members of the expedition failed to reach their goal. (Did they all get there?)

Reporting expressions: the man who Anna had said would tell us​

Complicated structures can be produced when reporting expressions are included in sentences.

  • We were unable to find the man who Anna had said would tell us about the church.
  • They spent none of them could remember how much money on their trip.

More examples​

Here are some more examples of the structures discussed in this entry, most of them taken from authentic written sources. It might be interesting to consider why each one might cause difficulty to an unskilled reader.

  • A picture a schoolboy bought for £5 has turned out to be worth £10,000.

  • Money makes money, and the money money makes makes money.
    — Benjamin Franklin

  • Pictures of the baby the judge ordered should not be identified by reporters appeared in a Sunday newspaper.

  • A young civil servant arrested after shootings on Tyneside left one person dead is to be charged with murder.

  • Police called to a house in Hampshire after neighbours reported cries for help found 18-year-old M F stuck in a small toilet window after being locked out of his home.

  • Three immigrants returned to their countries by the authorities are to appeal against their deportation.

  • A 24-year-old labourer who was arrested in Trafalgar Square when he allegedly attempted to knife a traffic warden is said to have injured three policemen.

  • The rebel leader found out that in spite of the precautions of the soldiers he had bought the guns from the police had planted an informer among them.

  • Police hunting thieves who dumped a ten-month-old baby in an alley after finding him inside a car they stole have charged two teenage boys.

  • One way of deciding what to do if you have difficulty in deciding your next course of action is to toss a coin.

  • If predictions that the British National Party will gain at least one seat when the European Parliament election results are announced tonight are accurate, many Labour MPs will see it as a political disaster grave enough to spark a major revolt.

  • But what bothered him more than what the files that were in the drawer could contain was the feeling that something was certainly missing.

  • Taking one’s break out of season when everyone else is working can save one a great deal of money.

  • Many of the gold and silver objects excavated from the 3000-year-old royal tombs resemble items of jewellery still made today by craftsmen trained in the traditional skills.

  • It is not unlikely that the ongoing investigation will show that the allegations of corruption against the President are not without foundation.

    (Is the President probably corrupt?)

  • The report will look into claims the design of the courthouse the men escaped from was at fault.

  • Further details emerged shortly after the clergyman at the centre of the dispute about anti-capitalist protesters camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral broke a week’s silence to defend the decision to close the cathedral.

  • Millennium Dome chiefs have refused to discuss reports they ignored advice attendance figures at the attraction would be lower than hoped. The Sunday Times says the Millennium Commission warned Dome users the New Millennium Experience Company its own estimate was between 4.5m and 5m. NMEC repeatedly insisted there would be at least 7m visitors this year.

    (from a report on the enormous loss of money by the Millennium Dome, built as a tourist attraction to celebrate the year 2000)