The Origin of Chinese Composite Sentence Theory

The understanding of Chinese composite sentences in the academics is an evolving process. Although the idea of composite sentences is reflected in Ma Shi Wen Tong, the grammatical works after Ma Shi Wen Tong only began to have the concept of composite sentence system. The development of the Chinese composite sentence theory mainly revolves around whether the subordinate clauses should be included in the mother-and-child sentence, and whether the mother-and-child sentence is a complex sentence or a single sentence. According to this, the theory of the composite sentence after Ma Shi Wen Tong can be divided into three stages: the subordinate clause is included in the mother-and-child sentence; the subordinate clause is independent from the mother-and-child sentence; and the mother-and-child is classified into a single sentence. The article concludes that the traditional compound sentence dichotomy system is still a more advantageous classification system than trichotomy.