1. Grammatical category and its characteristic features.
2. The subject. Means of expressing the subject.
M.Y. Blokh defines the grammatical category as "a system of expressing a generalized
The subject is the independent member of a two-member
grammatical meaning by means of paradigmatic correlation of grammatical forms". It’s a unity of form & mean-g.
predication, containing the person component of predicativity. The subject is generally defined
1)The general notion on which a gram. category grounds is gram. mean-g. 2)The forms united into a grammatical category
as a word or a group of words denoting the thing we speak about. The subject of a simple
possess a common general meaning that gives a name to the category and each form possesses its own specific
sentence can be a word, a syntactical word-morpheme or a complex. As a word it can belong to
meaning that presents a specification of the general meaning and differentiates the form from the other
different parts of speech, but it is mostly a noun or a pronoun. A word used as a subject
form/forms within the category. The forms lives - lived - will live are united on the basis of the common
combines the lexical meaning with the structural meaning of “person”. So it is at the same time
general grammatical meaning of tense and constitute the grammatical category of tense. Within this category each form
the structural and the notional subject. We may speak of a secondary subject within a complex.
has its own specific meaning of tense: present, past and future. 3) gram. categories don’t nominate objects or units of lang.,
The syntactical word-morphemes there and it may also function as secondary subjects (It being
instead they express relations between lang. units. The grammatical category of tense presents a specific lingual
cold, we put on our coats. I knew of there being no one to help them). The analysis of
expression of objective time, the grammatical category of case presents various relations between the action and
sentences like He was seen to enter the house, is a point at issue. Traditionally the infinitive is
its participants, the grammatical category of number in nouns reflects the quantitative relations between
said to form part of the complex subject (He…to enter). Ilyish maintains that though
homogeneous objects of reality, the grammatical category of mood presents the relations between the action and
satisfactory from the logical point of view, this interpretation seems to be artificial
reality as they are presented by the speaker etc. Such grammatical categories may also be called inherent
grammatically, this splitting of the subject being alien to English. He suggests that only HE
(неотъемлемый, присущий). 4) Conceptual (понятийные) grammatical categories are universal, they exist in
should be treated as a subject, whereas was sees to enter represents a peculiar type of
most of the languages though their volume and their scope may vary considerably in various languages. Gram.
compound predicate. Some grammarians (Smirnitsky, Ganshina) speak of definite-personal,
cat-s represent lang. realization of universal cat-s of human thinking. That’s why gram. cat-s typical of a particular lang.
indefinite-personal, impersonal sentences, but it is a semantical classification of subjects, not
are unique. The grammatical category of number is the most universal grammatical category, all speech
sentences. If we compare the subject in English with that of Russian we shall find a
communities have linguistic means of encoding number, though these means differ greatly in different
considerable difference between them. In Russian the subject is characterized by a distinct
languages. 5) A grammatical category is constituted on the basis of contrastive grammatical forms which share a
morphological feature – the nominative case, in English it is indicated by the position it
certain grammatical meaning correlated to some general concept (time, number) and differ in more
occupies in the sentence. In Russian the subject is much less obligatory as a part of the
concrete meanings within the scope of the same concept. Such contrastive grammatical forms are called
sentence than in English. In English the subject may be a syntactical word-morpheme, a
oppositions and all grammatical categories are based on oppositions. The method of oppositional analysis was
gerund, or a complex, which is alien to Russian.
introduced by Trubetskoy . Now the method of oppositional analysis is widely used in lexicology and grammar.
3. Means of form-building in modern English.
5. Synthetic means of form-building in modern English.
The grammatical meaning finds its expression in a grammatical form which is a means
The grammatical meaning finds its expression in a grammatical form. There are several
of expressing a grammatical meaning. There are several types of form-building in English. The
types of form-building in English. The main subdivision of form-building types is into synthetic and
main subdivision of form-building types is into synthetic and analytical. In a synthetic type a
analytical. In a synthetic type a grammatical meaning is expressed within a word, in an analytical
grammatical meaning is expressed within a word, in an analytical type a grammatical
type a grammatical meaning is expressed with the help of auxiliary words (plus suffixes). The synthetic
meaning is expressed with the help of auxiliary words (plus suffixes). The synthetic types of form-
types of form-building in English include affixation: suffixes- -s, -ed, - ing, -er, -en, -m, -ne (reads, shown,
building in English include affixation :suffixes –s,-ed, -ing, -er, -est, -en, -ren, -ne, -m (reads, shown,
oxen ,mine, taken etc.), sound interchange/morphophonemic alteration: a meaningful change of vowels
books, oxen, taken, mine ,them etc.), sound interchange/ morpho-phonemic alteration – a meaningful
or consonants within a morpheme (take - took, shine - shone) and suppletivity: the extreme case of
change of vowels or consonants within a morpheme (take - took, shine - shone) and suppletivity –
morphophonemic alteration, there happens a complete phon.change of the root (go - went, be -was,
the extreme case of morphophon. alteration, there happens a complete phon. change of the root, is
good - better – best, I-me, we-us, she-her). .The only productive type in the present-day English is
not productive (go - went, be -was, good - better – best, I-me, we-us, she-her) .The only productive
affixation, but the other two types are no less important, if only because they occur in words which
type in the present-day English is affixation, but the other two types are no less important, if only
are most frequently used. The analytical type of form-building occupies a very important place
because they occur in words which are most frequently used. The analytical type of form-
in the grammatical structure of English as the language has evolutionized from being mainly
building occupies a very important place in the grammatical structure of English as the
synthetical to becoming more and more analytical, and analytical tendencies in the present day
language has evolutionized from being mainly synthetical to becoming more and more
English are very strong. There exist the so-called half-analytical structures and the analytical tendencies
analytical, and analytical tendencies in the present day English are very strong. There exist the so-
find their reflection in many spheres of the language.
called half-analytical structures and the analytical tendencies find their reflection in many spheres
of the language.
4. The predicate as the main means of expressing predication. Types of predicates.
The Predicate is the part of the sentence which expresses a predicative feature
6. Secondary parts of sentence. Difficulties of their classification.
The theory of the secondary parts (SP) is one of the last developed sections of linguistics. The
attributed to the subject of the sentence. Like the subject, the predicate also carries out a
object is a SP of the sentence, referring to a part of the sentence expressed by a verb, a noun, a
triple function in the sentence: structural, semantic and communicative. Its structural function
substan’tival pronoun, an adj., a numeral, or an adv., and denoting a thing to which the action
consists in establishing the syntactic relations with the subject and other parts of the
passes on, which is a result of the action, in reference(относительно) to which an action is
sentence. The semantic function of the predicate finds its expression in attributing certain
committed(совершено) or a property(св-во, кач-во) is manifested(проявляться), or denoting
features to the subject. Its communicative function is manifested in the fact that through the
an action as object of another action. An object can refer to any part of speech capable of being
predicate and the expression of predication the sentence becomes a minimal unit of
a part of the sentence. Attribute is a SP of the sentence modifying a part of the sentence
communication. The predicate is 'the structural and semantic centre of the sentence’. In the
expressed by a noun, a substantival pronoun, a cardinal (колич.) numeral, and any
structure of a simple, two-member sentence the predicate usually carries out the function of
substantivized word, and characterizing the thing named by these words as to its quality or
the rheme, He disappeared. According to the form of expression predicates are divided
property. The attribute, as distinct from the object, cannot modify (определять) a verb, an adj,
into verbal and nominal: The moon rose. The moon was pale. There exists a phraseological
an adv, the attribute expresses a property while the object expresses a thing, but they both can
predicate (presents a combination of such verbs as have, get, give, take and a verbal noun
modify a noun, a pronoun, a numeral. Adv. modifier is a SP of the sentence modifying a part of
(give a look, take a bath, have a smoke). From the grammatical point of view the most
the sentence expressed by a verb, a verbal noun, an adj, an adv, and serving to characterize an
important characteristic of this type of predicate is not so much its phraseological but its
action or a property as to its quality or intensity, or to indicate the way an action is done, the
analytical character (all analytical structures are characterized by
time, the place, cause, purpose, condition, with which the action or the manifestation of the
idiomaticity of their
components). The verb expresses the grammatical meaning and the verbal noun expresses a
quality is connected.
lexical meaning. The two formal types of the predicate correspond to the two main semantic
types: process predicate which expresses the action, the state or the existence of the subject and
qualification predicate which expresses the quality (property) of the subject. The process
predicate can be further subdivided into several types in accordance with the semantic types
of verbs: existential (There was a tavern in the town), statal (He slept), locative (The elephant
lives in India), relational (He had a small ranch) and actional (The car broke down). The
qualification predicate has three subtypes: identifying (So you are the man we have been
looking for), classifying (My friend is a student) and characterizing (My wife is a bit of an
actress. He was too German).Structurally the predicate may be divided into simple and
compound. We said good- bye - a simple verbal predicate; It was a lovely place -simple
nominal predicate. The predicate is compounded by the introduction of modal or aspective
components. We started saying good-bye - a compound verbal predicate; It must be a
lovely place - a compound nominal predicate.
7. Suffixation as a means of form-building in modern English.
The grammatical meaning finds its expression in a grammatical form. There are several
types of form-building in English. The main subdivision of form-building types is into synthetic and
analytical. In a synthetic type a grammatical meaning is expressed within a word, in an
analytical type a grammatical meaning is expressed with the help of auxiliary words (plus
suffixes). The synthetic types of form-building in English include affixation (reads, shown, books, theirs
etc.), sound interchange (take - took, shine - shone) and suppletivity (go - went, be -was, good better – best). .The only productive type in the present-day English is affixation, but the other two
types are no less important, if only because they occur in words which are most frequently used.
The number of inflectional suffixes in modern English is very small: ‘s’ – the plural forms
of nouns, the Genitive case, used to build the 3 person singular; ‘ed’ – the past tense, Part II
in regular verbs; ‘ing’ – Part I, the Gerund; ‘er’ – the comparative degree of the adj.; ‘ist’ –
the superlative degree – they are fairly productive in modern English; ‘en’ – the plural form
of the noun ox – oxen, the past participle in irregular verbs; ‘ren’ – the plural form of the
noun child; ‘ne’ – mine; ‘m’ – to build the objective case of the personal pronouns – him,
them – they are non-productive. The number of suffixes is small, but the frequency of their
use is high. Many English words are characterized by the absence of any inflectional
suffixes. The analytical type of form-building occupies a very important place in the
grammatical structure of English as the language has evolutionized from being mainly
synthetical to becoming more and more analytical, and analytical tendencies in the present day
English are very strong.
8)Classific-n of subord. clauses:
2 approaches: (1) shows correlation of clauses with parts of
the sentence => a) the subject clause, b) the predicative, c)
object, d) adverbial, e) attributive.
(2) correlates clauses with parts of speech & distinguishes:
a) substantive clause – corresponding to subj., predic. &
object clauses, b) adverbial clauses, c) adjectival clauses –
corresponding to attribute cl. These 2 classifications
correlate!!!
9. The subject matter of theoretical grammar. The grammatical structure of the
language.
Language - is a means of forming and storing ideas as reflections of reality and exchanging
them in the process of human intercourse. Language incorporates 3 constituent parts which
form a unity.
•
Phonological
•
Lexical
•
Grammatical systems
The grammatical system is studied by Grammar.
Grammar- is the structure of the language. All lang-s have grammar. Theoretical grammar is
the science of the structure of the lang. It’s a part of the ling. theory & exists for those lang-s
that have been theoretically investigated. Parts of grammar: morphology, syntax,
phonology, semantics. 2 main aims of the course: 1) to provide a description of the gram.
structure of the lang. as an organized system.2) to look analytically at the unit making a
gram. struct. of English; to provide a critical review of the existing scientific theories. The
grammatical system of a language helps arrange lexical units into coherent utterance
(членораздельное высказывание): it expresses a certain complete thought and is marked at
all the lingual levels: phonetic, lexical, the level of combinability, grammatical level. In
speech words are connected into utterances, that are built up sent-s. Means that form gram.
structure: 1) word-change (I see/saw a book). 2) word-order (The dog beat the man./The
man beat the dog.) 3) functional words: prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions
(He lives in/outside London.) 4) intonation (They are students. They are students?really?) In
one sent. all the 4 means, or 2 or 3 may be used.
The main unit of the grammatical system is the grammatical category. The
grammatical category is an opposition of at least two forms of one and the same
lexical unit based on a certain general meaning which is more abstract than the
meaning of the members of the opposition. It’s the unity of form & mean-g.
The grammatical form is the lexical nucleus + a grammatical marker. Sometimes
they are referred to as word forms (словоформы) The grammatical meaning is that which
distinguishes one member of a paradigm from another.
Another approach to the analysis of language as a kind of system, language can be looked
upon as a hierarchy of levels: Level of text, it's the main linguistic unit. Phrasemic level
(Phrases are word combinations, they nominate complex phenomena) Leximic level (Words
are nominative units, because they nominate things and phenomena. They are built up by
morphemes.)Morphemic level (Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units built up by
phonemes or one phoneme.) Phonemic level (Phonemes are meaningless units, their
function is differential.) 2 levels are central: words level and sentence level. They are
studied by morphology and syntax. Thus, morphology deals with morphemic structure and
combinability, classification of words. Syntax - with sentences.
49. Cohesion as the main text property and means of expressing cohesion in English
Cohesion is the main property of a text. The concept of it was first developed by Michael
Halliday. It’s the relations existing among the sentences & clauses of a text. They are signaled
by certain gram.& lex. means that are called cohesive. They mark which sentences are related
& in what manner. It’s not a sufficient condition for the creation of the text.
Cohesion is characterized by 2 types of relation: 1) logical-semantic, 2) anaphoric. Each of
them have various gram.& lex.-gram.means of expressing these relations.
1)
between sent-s in a paragraph can be of different types: of cause & consequence
condition, time, concession… They may be implied or explicitly expressed. Ex.
She didn’t go to school. She had been ill for 2 days. The can be expressed with
the help of conjunctions (because,etc.)
2)
between 2 or more items in cohesive sent-s, which refer to the same thing. These
items often form cohesive chains.
Text cohesion & its relations may be realized through dif. means:
Lexical: the repetition of the item, the use of synonyms, words of the same root.
Lexical-grammatical: a) pronouns of dif. classes (he, she, they…); b) articles
(“a\an” points to the center of communication; “the” – anaphorically used)
Grammatical (the order is connected with actual division of the sent. The rheme of
the previous sent. becomes the theme of the following one: ex. I saw a man. The
man was tall.) Word-order as a syntactic means of sent. connection shows that the
structure of the sent. depends on the structure of another.
Conjunctions/ conjunct. words ( join not only composite sent., but also utterances
within a text. Ex. Then, there…)
Incomplete sent-s of the sintagmatic type can be understood with the help of the
context.
50. Means of expressing gender in Modern English
51. The problem of homonymity in the system of English moods
It’s doubtful whether the grammatical category of gender exists in Modern
English. Gender doesn’t find regular morphological expression. The distinction of male,
female and neuter may correspond to the lexical meaning of the noun:
Masculine (names of male beings) - boy, man, husband, cock, bachelor
Feminine (names of female beings) – girl, woman, wife, cow, hen
Neuter (names of inanimate objects) – table, house.
Gender may be expressed by word-formation:
a)
feminine suffixes –ess ( actress, hostess, tigress), -ine (heroine), -ette
(usherette)
b)
compounds of dif.patterns: 1. N+N stem (boy-friend-girl-friend; a Tom-cat- a
Tabby-cat; a doctor-a woman-doctor; a landlord- a landlady); 2. Pronoun+ N (a
he-wolf- a she-wolf; a he-cousin-a she-cousin); 3. oppositions of lexemes (
niece-nephew, bull-cow, girl-boy).
From the point of view of gender distinctions English nouns can be divided into 2 groups:
person-nouns(neuter) & non-person nouns ( which are subdivided into feminine &
masculine), but this opposition is not absolute and doesn’t embrace the whole class of
nouns. There are a lot of nouns in English, that belong to the so-called “common gender”
(person, cousin, parent, president, friend, doctor).
There are also some traditional associations of certain nouns with gender:
a)
moon and earth are referred as feminine, sun- as masculine.
b)
the names of vessels (ship, boat, ice-breaker, steamer) are referred to as
feminine.
c)
the names of vehicles (car, carriage, coach) may also be referred to as feminine,
especially by their owners.
d)
the names of countries, if the country is not considered as a mere geographical
territory, are referred to as feminine.
All these arguments speak in favour of treating the category of gender in English nouns as
not a purely grammatical, but a lexico-gram. category, because gender finds a lexical
(special suffixes & lexemes) and a gram. expression in the language ( replacing nouns by
personal pronouns)
The category of mood in the present English verb has given rise to so many
discussions and has been treated in so many ways, that it seems hardly possible to arrive at any
more or less acceptable conclusion. The only points in the sphere of mood which haven’t been
disputed are the following: 1) there is a category of mood in Modern English ( Mood- is the
grammatical category of the verb, which expresses the relation of the action denoted by the
verb to reality from the speaker’s point of view); 2) there are at least 2 moods in the modern
English verb, one of which is the indicative. (The indicative mood is the basic mood of the
verb. Morphologically it’s the most developed system including all the categories of the verb.
Semantically it’s a fact mood. It serves to present an action as a fact of reality. It’s the most
objective of all the moods. It conveys minimum personal attitude to the fact: Ex. Water consists
of oxygen.)
Linguists differ greatly in the understanding of this category, especially in the
number of grammatical forms of the mood they find in English. Thus, Smirnitsky,
Vasilevskaya, Akhmanova find 6 moods (‘indicative’, ‘imperative’, ‘subjunctive1’,
‘subjunctive2’, ‘conditional’ and ‘suppositional’), Ilyish, Ivanova find only 3 moods (
indicative, imperative, subjunctive), Barkhudarov and Shteling distinguish only the ‘indicative’
and the ‘subjunctive’ moods. Max Deutschbein finds 16 moods.
Such a variety of opinions lies in the complexity of the category itself and also 2
other phenomena. The first is the problem of drawing a borderline between polysemy and
homonymy. Both permeate (пронизывают) the structure of the English language at all levels
and sometimes the borderline between them is hard to draw. Ex. He stopped doing it. – He
wish he stopped doing it. (here me can’t say clearly, if it’s one polysemantic form or two
morphological homonyms). The other reason for the controversy of opinions about the scope
of the category of mood is the fact that the grammatical category of the mood is a component
of the functional-semantic category of modality- a complex & heterogeneous category, which
includes other means of expressing various modal meanings. Some linguists include the
combination of modal verbs with Infinitive into the system of grammatical moods and in this
case the number of moods grows considerably.
53. Controversial problems of the part of speech classification: VERBALS
The verb has finite & non-finite forms, the latter are called verbals. They have
some features in common with the finite forms, but also some peculiarities of their own.
They don’t express person, number or mood. But like the finite forms the verbals have
aspect (infinitive), correlation and voice distinctions. There is a present & a past tense in the
system of verbals.
There are 3 verbals in English: the participle, the gerund and the infinitive. In
Russian we also have three non-finite forms (причастие, деепричастие, инфинитив), but
they don’t fully coincide with those in the English language.
Lexically non-finites don’t differ from finite forms. Grammatically the
difference between them lies in the fact that they denote a secondary action, a process
related to that expressed by the finite form.
The characteristic traits of the verbals are as follows:
1)
They have a double nature, nominal & verbal. The participle
combines the characteristics of a verb with those of an
adjective; the gerund & the infinitive combine the
characteristics of a verb with those of a noun. The verbal
meaning of “action, process” is presented as some kind of
“substance” (gerund, infinitive), or “quality” (participle).
2)
They have some peculiar morphemes: -ing (gerund &
participle I); -(e)d, -(e)n (participle II), to (infinitive).
3)
Syntactically the verbal character of the non-finites is
manifested mainly in their combinability. They form
connections with adverbs, nouns, pronouns (denoting objects
of action) like finite verbs, and they connect with finite verbs,
like nouns or adverbs. They are very seldom used as
predicates, but they are used in almost any other function in
the sent.
52. The theory of speech acts
Making a statement may be the paradigmatic use of language, but there are all sorts of other things we can do
with words. We can make requests, ask questions, give orders, make promises, give thanks, offer apologies,
and so on. Moreover, almost any speech act is really the performance of several acts at once, distinguished by
different aspects of the speaker's intention: there is the act of saying something, what one does in saying it,
such as requesting or promising.
The theory of speech acts is partly taxonomic (классифицированная) and partly explanatory. It
must systematically classify types of speech acts and the ways in which they can succeed or fail. It must reckon
with the fact that the relationship between the words being used and the force of their utterance is often
oblique. For example, the sentence 'This is a pig sty' might be used nonliterally to state that a certain room is
messy and filthy and, further, to demand indirectly that it be straightened out and cleaned up. Even when this
sentence is used literally and directly, the content of its utterance is not fully determined by its linguistic
meaning. A major task for the theory of speech acts is to account for how speakers can succeed in what they do
despite the various ways in which linguistic meaning underdetermines use. In general, speech acts are acts of
communication. To communicate is to express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed
corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed. For example, a statement expresses a belief, a request
expresses a desire, and an apology expresses a regret. As an act of communication, a speech act succeeds if the
audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker's intention, the attitude being expressed.
SPEECH-ACT THEORY AND RHETORIC
In his famous work, "How to do Things with Words," J. L. Austin outlined his theory of speech acts and
the concept of performative language, in which to say something is to do something. To make the statement “I
promise that p” (in which p is the propositional content of the utterance) is to perform the act of promising as
opposed to making a statement that may be judged true or false. Performatives cannot be true or false, only
felicitous or infelicitous. Austin creates a clear distinction between performatives and constantives, statements
that attempt to describe reality and can be judged true or false, but he eventually comes to the conclusion that
most utterances, at their base, are performative in nature. For Austin, what the speaker is doing is creating
social realities within certain social contexts. For example, using an explicit performative, to say “I now
pronounce you man and wife” in the context of a wedding, in which one is marrying two people, is to create a
social
reality,
in
this
case
a
married
couple.
Austin described three characteristics, or acts, of statements that begin with the building blocks of words
and end with the effects those words have on an audience. Locutionary acts: “equivalent to uttering a certain
sentence with a certain ‘meaning´ in the traditional sense.” Illocutionary acts: “such as informing, ordering,
warning, undertaking. Perlocutionary acts: “what we bring about or achieve by saying something, such as
convincing, persuading and even surprising or misleading”. Austin focused on illocutionary acts, maintaining
that here we might find the “force” of a statement and demonstrate its performative nature. For example, to say
“Don´t run with scissors” has the force of a warning when spoken in a certain context. This utterance may be
stated in an explicitly performative way, e.g., “I warn you, don´t run with scissors.”
54. Modality. Means of expressing modality.
Secondary modality presents another layer of modality, built over the primary modality. It'
does not always find an explicit expression in the sentence. Secondary modality is not
The category of modality is one of the most complicated linguistic categories
homogeneous. It contains two layers and we can differentiate between two types of secondary
which has various forms of its expression in the language. It has also a lot of various
modality. The first type expresses the relations between the subject of the sentence and the
definitions & interpretations. In the Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary modality is
action. The action may be presented as possible, permissive, obligatory, necessary, desirable or
defined as a functional-semantic category which expresses different types of relations
unnecessary for the subject. It is expressed by the modal verbs in their verb-oriented meanings:
between the utterance and reality as well as dif. types of subjective evaluation
ability, possibility, permission, necessity, obligation etc. E.g. Children must be seen but not
(оценка) of the information contained in the utterance. Modality expresses 2 types of
heard. I can jump puddles. You may be free for today. The second type of secondary modality
relations and includes 2 levels. That’s why the linguists usually differentiate between
expresses the attitude of the speaker to the contents of the utterance or the speaker's evaluation
2 types of modality: objective (or primary) and subjective (or secondary).Ch. Bally
of the event presented in the utterance. This type of modality can be expressed by: 1)modal
considered that each utterance consists of two parts, the part which presents
words and modal adverbs and modal particles: maybe, probably, certainly, of course, perhaps,
information ( he called it 'dictum') and the part which presents the speaker's evaluation of
sure, evidently, supposedly, luckily, fortunately etc. ( E.g. This is probably the best chance you have
this information (he called it 'modus').
ever had); 2) by modal verbs in their sentence-oriented meanings: probability, doubt, supposition,
The primary modality expresses the relation of the contents of the
certainty, disbelief (E.g. She couldn't have done it alone) ;3) by modalized verbs seem, to
sentence to reality as established by the speaker who, choosing the appropriate form of the
appear, happen, chance (She appeared to be holding something back from him); 4) by the so
mood presents the event as real, unreal or desirable. It is expressed by the
called performative verbs and phrases which name speech and mental acts: think, suppose, guess,
grammatical form of mood and thus it is a component of predicativity and as such it
doubt, be certain, be sure etc. (e.g. I guess you are right; I am afraid this is true); 5) by special
always finds a grammatical expression in the sentence. E.g. You are my wife. Be my
syntactic structures like 'tag questions' (This is true, isn't it?), as well as 6) by intonation and
wife. I wish you were my wife. Thus, primary modality as a component of
word order. As we can see the modal verbs participate in the expression of two kinds of
predicativity is an obligatory feature of the sentence - we cannot make a sentence
secondary modality.
without expressing primary modality.
56. The problem of analytical forms in the system of English Moods
Most analytical forms of the subjunctive mood are built by means of the
auxiliaries which developed from the modal verbs should and would, plus the infinitive of
the notional verb(indefinite or perfect). The auxiliaries, generally called mood auxiliaries,
have lost their lexical meaning and are used in accordance with strict rules in certain
patterns of sent-s or clauses. Ex. I wish you would stay with us some days more.; If he had
known, he would have come.
Some linguist think that besides these 2 mood auxiliaries, analytical forms of
the subjunctive mood may be built up with the help of mood auxiliaries may, might and less
frequently shall and will. Ex. I went to London that I might see June.; Though he may be
tired he will go to the concert.
But it should be noted that not any combination of should and would with the
infinitive is the subjunctive mood. When the verbs should and would preserve their lexicomodal meaning (should- obligation, would- volition) they form modal phases (compound
verbal predicate): Ex. You should consult a doctor (= you ought to); He would come and sit
with us for hours (repetition of the action).
Analytical forms may be divided into 3 groups, according to their use and
function.
1)
the forms should+infinitive (for the first person singular &
plural) and would+infinitive (for the other persons). This
system coincides in firm with the future in the past and is
parallel to the future indef.tense in the indicative mood. There
is a strong tendency in Modern English to use would for all
persons. These forms denote hypothetical actions, either
imagined as resulting from hypothetical conditions, or
presented as a real possibility. Ex. I shouldn’t praise the boy
so much, he may get spoiled.; Would you help me if I need
your help?
2)
The form would+infinitive for all persons, both singular &
plural. This form is highly specialized in meaning; it expresses
a desirable action in the future. Ex. I wish you would go there
too.
3)
The form should+infinitive for all persons. This form stands
apart in the system of the verb, as contrary to the general
tendency to use either 2 forms –shall/should and will/would,
or else to use 1 form- will/would for all persons.
Some linguists (prof. Vorontsova) are of opinion that Modern English possesses analytical
forms of the imperative mood for the first and the third persons build up with the help of the
semantically weakened unstressed let, as in Let us go, Let him come…Prof. Ilyish
emphasizes that the “let-constructions” are therefore not in an way morphological
phenomena. They belong to syntax.
10. Syntax as part of Grammar. Main Units of English syntax.
There’s a debate about the precise (точный, определенный) status of syntax as a part
of grammar.
1)
Some linguists state that it should deal with the function and the formation of
word-groups within the sent-s. This approach is characteristic of early English syntax (18-19th
cent.), which was concerned only with analysis of word-groups, their structure and relations
between their elements.
2)
Other linguists think that syntax should study only the structure of sent-s.
3)
There’s also a group of scholars who think that syntax should deal with the
structure of both word-groups and sent-s. It is the most reasonable one and has actually
prevailed in modern linguistics.
Смирницкий: The analysis of the sentence structure must be regarded as the main
problem of syntax; while the word-groups’ is secondary.
• Joining the words into word-groups is only the 1st step which precedes the
formation of a sentence.
• A word-group is not complete either structurally or semantically => it can’t be
used as a unit of communication.
• A sent. can function as an independent utterance, but a word-group functions only
as an element of a sent.
Therefore, sent-s are units of speech, while word-groups are bricks in a sentence
structure.
The fundamental feature that distinguishes a sent. from a word-group is that sent. is
always associated with a certain intonation pattern (it’s either a statement, or request, etc.) A
sent. without intonation can’t function as a unit of speech; it remains a mere combination of
words.
Basic English sentence patterns contain a verb in its finite form. The presence of a
verb in a sent. is characteristic not only of English, but also of all other European lang-s. Sent-s
without verbs are short and convey only fragmentary information, the thought can’t be
developed and elaborated unless there’s a verb in the sent.
When the noun and the verb in the finite form follow each other in the sent., they
become the subject and the predicate – the 2 main parts of which basic sent-s are built. They
can accompanied by other words, and usually are, but this doesn’t change their status as the
main parts of the sent. For this reason the combination of subject & predicate is excluded by
many linguists from the domain of word-groups. Some linguists suggested calling this
combination a clause(элемент.предложение) to distinguish it from a word-group.
In most general terms, a word-group is a logical and grammatical combination of 2
or more notional words which do not form a sent.
A sentence may be defined as the basic unit of communication, grammatically
organized and expressing a complete thought. It is characterized by predication (correlation
between the utterance & reality). The most universal means of expressing predication is
intonation; under certain circumstances (a broader context) any word-gr. may become a sent.
But in most cases predication is conveyed through the finite form of the verb (which expresses
person, number, mood, tense, aspect, time correlation, voice).
Narrative analysis studies lexical & grammatical means which help to organize the
structure of a text. The part of narrative analysis, which is concerned with gram. means, is
called text grammar.
So, these successive syntactic units form an hierarchy in the following order:
Word-groups => sentences => paragraphs
12. Text grammar as part of linguistics. Basic units.
11. Correlation btw various means of form-building in ME.
Text grammar is a rather new branch of linguistics. It deals with the text. It considers the
text the highest unit of speech. If we consider isolated sentences in a discourse, we find that
it’s very rare that one sentence expresses the complete idea, which is clear without any
context.
Text is an ordered sequence of sentences combined of various types of logical, lexical and
grammatical cohesion conveying structurally organized info. Text is a product of oral and
written speech. Galperin recognizes the existence only of written text.
Those who studied the text as a unit came to the conclusion that a text as a linguistic
unit has its own semantic and structural categories:
The main semantic categories:
Information(Any text should carry complete information; it should express a
certain communication.)
Profundity(the text should have some depth, some food for thinking, some
idea, which may either be expressed, or may be understood implicitly)
Presupposition(there should be some level at which communicate otherwise
there may be complete misunderstanding.)
Completeness(The text should be complete in meaning, it shouldn’t be abrupt)
Structural Cathegories:
1)
Integration (целостность)
use certain logical connections and connectors, a certain composition, a certain
word order.
2)
Cohesion (связь)
necessary property of any text which differentiates it from disconnected
utterances. There are various means of text cohesion (когезия): syntactic,
semantic, stylistic.
BLOCH: gram.connectives. 1) Conjunction-like connectives – coordinative,
subordinative conjunctions and adverbial and parenthetical sentence connectors
such as: yet, then, however, moreover. 2) Substitutional connection – use of
substitutes: pronouns.
3)
Retrospection & Prospection
(means of text cohesion). Retrospection refers the reader to the preceding
events, prospection – to the following events
4)
Continuum
the text should continue without breaking, it shouldn’t be abrupt. Deictic
(связующие) elements, tense forms, number forms, mood forms
5) Polyphony
- a good text usually has more than one line of thinking, of reasoning, which is most
of all important for fiction
There are two principal types of form-building means: synthetic and analytical.
The synthetic form-building means is the expression of the relation of words in
the sentence by means of a change in the word itself. There are three types of the synthetic
form-building means:
affixation
sound interchange (morphological alteration)
suppletion (suppletive means)
Affixation is the most productive means of expressing a grammatical meaning. The
number of grammatical suffixes is small (8). They are:-s, -ed, -ing, -er, -est, -en, -m (him, them,
whom), zero.
Sound interchange is a change of a sound in the root of the word. There exist two
kinds of sound interchange – vowel and consonant ones (spend – spent). This type of formbuilding means is non-productive.
In suppletive forms there is a complete change of the phonetic shape of the root.
Suppletive forms belonging to the paradigm of a certain word were borrowed from different
sources. Suppletive forms are found in the paradigm of such words as TO BE, TO GO, degrees
of comparison of the adjectives GOOD, BAD and in case-forms of some pronouns (I-me, sheher, we-us). Блох notes that suppletivity can be recognized in the paradigm of some modal
verbs too: CAN – BE ABLE, MUST – HAVE TO, MAY – BE ALLOWED. Moreover, he says
that it can be observed in pronouns (ONE – SOME), NOUNS (INFORMATION – PIECES OF
INFORMATION, MAN – PEOPLE). Suppletive forms are few in number, non-productive, but
very important, for they are frequently used
Analytical forms were described as a combination of an auxiliary and a notional word.
This definition is not precise enough and due to its ambiguity (неясность) such
word-combinations as TO THE CHILD, MORE INTERESTING were treated as analytical
forms. To define a true analytical form the theory of splitting (разделение) of functions should
be taken into account. There must be a splitting of functions between the elements of an
analytical form. The first (auxiliary) element is the bearer of a grammatical meaning only. It is
completely devoid of lexical meaning, and it is the second (notional) element that is the bearer
of lexical meaning.
This process can be complete (perfect form) or incomplete (continuous form). The idiomaticity
of an analytical form is a characteristic of a true analytical form. An analytical form functions
as a grammatical form of a word. Analytical forms are much more typical of ME. Synthetic
form-building means are few in number but widely used. Some grammatical suffixes are very
productive.Analytical forms comprise synthetic forms. Although sound interchange is nonproductive it is extensively used through the paradigm of the irregular verbs. Though
suppletive forms are found through the paradigm of very few words they are very frequently
used words.
So we should conclude that English cannot be called a purely analytical language. It is mainly
analytical.
13. Analytical forms and their role in form-building.
It’s more productive in Modern Eng. Traditionally an analytical form is defined this way: it
consists of an auxiliary word and the basic element, which is a notional word. This
definition is am’biguous (двусмыслен, неоднозначн.). And for that reason some strange
forms are treated as analytical: Combinations of prepositions with nouns were treated as
different analytical forms: to the child was treated as the Dative case of a noun. by the child
was treated as the Instrumental case of a noun. Many linguists criticized this approach to
defining analytical forms and certain theories have been worked out to differentiate
analytical forms and free word-combinations.
1. The theory of the splitting of functions. According to this theory in a true analytical
form the auxiliary element should be the bearer of the grammatical meaning only. It is
devoid of lexical meaning. It is the notional word that is the bearer of lexical meaning.
According to this approach there exist 2 types of analytical forms: complete and incomplete.
In a complete analytical form the splitting process has completed and the aux.element is
completely devoid of lex.meaning. e.g. In the form of the Perfect the verb to have has no
meaning of possession. In an incomplete analyt.form the aux.element retains traces of its
lex.meaning. e.g. The form of the Continuous where the auxiliary be retains traces
(признаки) of it's meaning of the state.
2.Acc. to the second approach a true analyt.form is idiomatic in characterÆthe overall
meaning of the form is not immediately dependent on the individual meaning of its
constituents. It’s not a sum of meanings of its components. Besides an analyt.form also
functions as a grammatical form of a single word. If we proceed (исходить из) from this
approach we should conclude that such phrases as most interesting are not an analytical
form, because it is not idiomatic enough.
3. Acc. to Бархударов a true analyt.form should posses a discontinuous morpheme
(расчлененная морфема) which is a main distinguishing feature of an analyt.form (Блох
doesn’t share this view). A discontinuous mrph. сonsists of 2 elements – an auxiliary word
and the f.-b. sign of a notional word. The root-mrph of the notional word. is not included
(не включ.). According to Бархударов there are only 3 analytical forms (Perfect, Passive,
Continuous): Have+en (insymbolic denotation-обозначение) in form of the Perfect. Ex.
have arrived Be+en in form of the Passive Be+ing in form of the Continuous. And from
this point of view such phrases as shall take, most interesting, by the child are not analytical
forms. They are free word-combinations.
14. Various classifications of sent-s.
A sent. is a complicated unit, is always associated with certain intonation pattern(statement,
request); a sent. without intonation can’t function as a speech unit, it’s complete structurally &
semantically, can function as an independ. utterance.
(I)
Structural: Sent-s are divided into simple & composite; composite sent-s are divided
into compound & complex. Simple sent-s are divided into 4 major classes (their use correlates
with different communicative functions): 1st class: declarative sent-s, or statements. The
subject is always present and usually precedes the verb. 2nd class: interrogative sent-s, or
questions. They are marked by one or more of the following criteria: ~ the aux. verb is placed
in front of the subj.; ~ the initial position of an interrogative “wh”-element (what, who, which,
etc.) 3rd class: imperative sent-s, or commands. Normally they have no grammatical subj., the
verb is in the imperative mood. 4th class: exclamative sent-s, or exclamations. They are
introduced by what / how & have no invertion of the subj. and predicate.
(II)
Extended / unextended (распростран./нераспростран.)
A sent. which consists only of subj. & predicate – unextended.
If it contains one or more secondary parts (attributes, obj., adv. modifiers), the sent. is
extended.
(III)
Сomplete / incomplete
Complete sent. contains all structurally necessary elements:
- the subject + the predicate (if it’s a 2-member sent.);
- the subject + the predicate + object (if the predicate is expressed by trans. verb);
1-member sent. can also be complete and incomplete; in the imperative sent. verb is a
necessary element, e.g. “Stop!” vs. incomplete (usually – in direct, coll. speech, make no sense
outside their context, e.g. “Yours”).
Incomplete (elliptical) sent-s – structures in which one of the main parts (subj. or pred.) or both
are omitted / ellipted. Elliptical sent-s are divided into 2 types:
- 1st type: they are dependent on what has gone before (“John” may be a reply to 2 questions:
“Who did it?” & “Who did you see?”). These sent-s are contextually conditioned. In other
words, their incomplete structure can be restored (восстановл.) from a previous sent. This kind
of ellipsis is called contextual or syntagmatic.
- 2nd type: they don’t depend on what has gone before. Their structure can be restored from
the paradigm of the analogous complete sent. This incompletence is purely grammatical as the
structure doesn’t depend on the previous context. This kind of ellipsis is called grammatical or
paradigmatic. Can be of 2 subtypes: 1) structures that can be completed in only 1 way; 2)
structures which can be completed with the help of several paradigms (Cigarette?). Meaning
depends on the situation or the situational context.
15. Parts of speech and different principles of their classification.
The general definition of a part of speech: it is a lexical-grammatical word class which is
characterized by a general abstract grammatical meaning, expressed in certain grammatical
markers. Within a part of speech similar grammatical features are common to all words
belonging to this class.
A part of speech is a mixed lexical-grammatical phenomenon, because:
1) Words are characterized by individual lexical meanings. 2) Each generalized class of
words (noun/verb/adj., etc) has a unifying abstract gram. meaning, for ex.: noun –
substance, verb – process, adjective – quality of substance, adverb – quality of process. 3)
Some parts of speech are capable of representing gram. meaning in a set of formal
exponents; for ex.: the plural of nouns is expressed with suffix –s (this feature is not
universal in all languages).
PS are distinguished from one another by the number of wds in each class. The greatest
number of wds is found in the noun & verb. The N&V correspond to the subj.&pred. of the
sent., they’re usually the center of predication.
Modern classification of parts of speech is traced back to ancient Greek. Later this
classification was applied to Latin and thus it found its way in modern languages. The
present day classification of parts of speech is severely criticized, when it’s applied to
languages the structure of which is different to the structure of the Latin language. So the
criticism is easily justified. On the other hand the traditional division of words into parts of
speech seems quiet natural and easy to understand & remember from the logical point of
view. So it’s not the classification itself that is wrong but it must be the principles of
classification that should be criticized and reviewed.
Classifying a lang. from the view point of PS, there are the following principles:
1)
Semantic: the general mean-g of a PS doesn’t coincide with a lex. or
gram.mean-g of every individual word, but it’s closely connected with it. Thus
the gen. mean-g of a PS is neither lex. nor gram., but it’s to be called lexicalgrammatical. Ex. nouns are characterized by substantivity, verbs- actions &
states, which together mean processes, adj-s- attributes of substances, etc.
2)
Morphological: it has 2 aspects: a) deals with morphol. categories (each PS
possesses certain morphol. cat-s which are not found in other PS): ex. nounscase & number , adj.- comparison, verbs- 7 categories. This aspect is more
important.b) the use of form-build. affixes (deriv. affixes sometimes can be
found within this or that PS only): ex. nouns- -ment, -ion, -ness. But deriv.
affixes may be highly confusing: ex. –ly: friendly(adj), daily(noun),
kindly(adv.), possibly (modal wd)
3)
Syntactic: a) the role of a wd in a sent. (dif. synt. Functions are typical of dif.
PS); b) the combinability of wds/ the syntactical distribution (распределение):
ex. noun can combine with prepositions, articles, adj-s, other nouns, verbs.
4)
Functional: PS- a field that has a core & a periphery.
The existing principles:
The semantic approach: (based on the meaning, used in many schools). It is based on the
universal forms of human thought which are reflected in 3 main categorial meanings of words:
1)substance (предметность); 2)process (процессуальность); 3)property (свойства, качества).
However, this principle is open to criticism; it doesn’t always work; it can be hard to define a
categorial meaning of a word: e.g. whiteness - is it substance of a noun or property of an
adjective? action – it denotes process, but it isn’t a verb.
The formal approach: Only form should be used as a criterion for the classification of the
p/of/sp. (Henry Sweet).
They distinguished between two classes of words: 1) declinable (склоняем )- changeable
forms; 2) indeclinable (static forms)- articles, prepositions. This criterion is also unreliable. It
doesn’t take into account the way a word functions in the sentence. Must functions as many
other verbs, or for instance shall which has a declinable form. The main problem with this
classification- Sweet didn’t manage to work out an idea of an indep. word-class with peculiar
properties & he didn’t manage to devoid his class-n from the ideas of mean-g.
The formal-semantic approach: Grammarians tried to take into consideration meaning, form
& function. It appears that in analytical, where English belong, it’s impossible to place a word
without analyzing it in the sent. in addition to the analysis of the morphological features of this
word. This approach was developed by Russian linguists (Vinogradov, Smirnitsky, Ilyish).
There are three principles on which this classification is based:
1.
meaning (the meaning common to all the words of a given class and constituting its
essence- сущность):e.g. thingness of nouns,process of verbs
2.
form( the morphological characteristics of a type of word): e.g. noun is characterized by
the category of number, prepositions, conjunctions and others are characterized by
invariability
3.
function (the syntactical properties of a type of word)
a)
the method of combining with other words (deals with phrases)
b)
its function in the sentence (deals with sentences)
The syntactic (functional) approach: Only the syntactic function of a word should be taken
into consideration as a criterion for p/of/sp classification.
17. Controversial problems of part of speech classification: pronouns.
A part of speech (PS) is a lexical gram word class which is characterized by a
general abstract gram meaning expressed in certain gram markers. This
definition stresses the fact that within a part of speech similar gram features are
common to all words belonging to this class. All PS fall into 2 classes: notional
(noun, verb, adj, adv, pronoun, numeral – cover 93% of the English vocabulary,
they fill all positions in the sentence, they possess an independent notional
meaning of their own) and functional (prep, conj – express relations, they never
indicate objects or notions, their use is obligatory). Speaking about pronouns, we
shall answer 2 questions at least: is the pronoun a separate PS? Notional or
functional? Pronouns are not a separate PS, they distribute them between nouns
and adj: we, he, smb – noun pronouns; my, some – adj pronouns (Henry Sweet).
Щерба – the term pronoun can be applied to noun pronouns only – the word
pronoun means ‘instead of a noun’. Jespersen – syntactically pronouns function
in the same way as nouns or adj, but they do not name objects or properties, they
only point to them. The categorical meaning of a pronoun is that of indication,
while the categorical meaning of nouns is substance and adj – is quality.
Pronouns can be characterized by other features, which make them different
from nouns: they cannot be used with articles or other determiners; personal,
possessive (притяжат.) and reflective (возвратн.) pronouns have personal
distinctions while nouns and adj do not have them; personal pronouns have a
case system different from that of a noun; in the 3 person singular personal,
possessive and reflective pronouns distinguish in gender; relative and
interrogative pronouns distinguish between personal and non-personal gender
(that – which, who – whom). Thus, the pronoun is the separate PS. Pronoun is a
notional PS. Majority believe that pronouns should be treated as function words:
the meaning of the pronoun as a separate class of words is extremely abstract,
such as cope of abstraction is typical of function words: like other function word
pronouns form a closed system – the number of a pronoun cannot be extended
by the creation of additional members. Бархударов – pronouns form a special
type of words – structural words – the idea is that str words in his theory occupy
an intermediate position between notional and function words.
18. Word-combination (WC) and their basic types.
The word 'syntax' is derived from the Greek 'syntaxis' which literally means
'composition', or 'order'. It is a part of grammar which studies ways of arranging
words into phrases and sentences in order to produce speech. We communicate
only with the help of sentences and it brings many linguists to a conclusion that
syntax is the core, or the heart of grammar and morphology is subordinated to it
as it serves the needs of syntax. The main units of the syntactic level of the language
are: 1) the word in its syntactic position in the sentence (a part of the sentence); 2) the
phrase which is a combination of two or more notional words arranged according to the
rules of a particular language; 3) the simple sentence as the minimum unit of
communication; 4) the composite sentence which is a combination of two or more
clauses based either on coordinate (a compound sentence) or subordinate (a
complex sentence) relations; 5) the text as the highest unit of language.
The type ‘noun+noun’ is a most usual type of WC in modern English. The type
‘noun in the common case+noun’ may be used to denote 1 idea as modified by
another, in the widest sense (silver watch, army unit). The type ‘noun in the
genitive case+noun’ has a more restricted meaning and use. The type ‘adj+noun’
is used to express all possible kinds of things with their properties. The type
‘verb+noun’ may correspond to 2 different types of relation between an action
and a thing. There are also types, such as ‘verb+adv’, ‘adv+adj’, ‘adv+adv’,
‘noun+prep_noun’, ‘adj+prep+noun’, verb+prep+noun. WC consisting of 2
components may be enlarged by addition of a third component, and so forth:
adj+noun (high houses) may be enlarged by the addition of the adj in front –
adj+adj+noun (new high houses). The limit of the possible growth of a WC is
hard to define.
16. Composite sentences as polypredicative constructions. Types and means of connection
between parts of composite sentences.
Main features of the sentence:
1) expresses predication => is called a predicative unit. It’s the main characteristic of the
sentence. The sentence reflects connection between the denoted situational event & reality,
shows whether the action is real or unreal, desirable or not + expresses the time of the action.
2) nominates a situation or a situational event => can be called a nominative unit (but it’s
not main feature – word’s feature).
3) can be called a communicative unit as it carries this/that communicative intention which
determines the communicative type of the sentence. Traditional grammar defines the S.: it’s
a word or a group of words capable of expressing a complete thought. Modern linguistics (e.g.
semantic syntax) “The S is a word or a group of words that nominate a situational event,
express predication, and carry a communicative intention”
The problem of the composite sent.: how to define it, how to know it from simple
sentence. (1) the simple sent. is monopredicative, => has only 1 predicative line (center). The
predicative line includes the subject + predicate. (2) the composite sent. is polypredicative =>
more than 1 predicative lines or centers, reflects 2 or more situational events, and each
predicative center makes up a clause of its own.
Semi-composite sent. How to distinguish? “He waved his hand and went away”. – the S
nominates 2 situational events but we can’t find 2 predicative centers in it as there is 1 subject
& 1 clause => semi-composite (Blokh’s term) are intermediate between simple & composite.
Main features of the composite sentence: 1) a polypredicative unit, 2) is characterized by
a communicative wholeness => has 1 communicative intention (смысл, значение), 3) is
characterized by intonational wholeness, all are interconnected, 4) characteristic of literary
written style, rarely used in oral speech, in conversations.
Types of composite sentences: Acc. to the type of connection of clauses we can distinguish
between complex &compound sentences. In compound sent-s the type of connection of clauses
is coordination-сочинит. (i.e. syntactically the clauses are of equal rank). In complex sent-s
the type of connection of clauses is subordination- подчинит. & clauses are of unequal rank
(principal and subordinate).
The means of combining clauses: syndetic (союзн.) & asyndetic (бессоюзн.). Syndetic =>
conj-s, relative pron-s (who, which), relative adv-s (where, how, when, why), phrases (as long
as, in order that). Asyndetic => there are no connectives between the clauses. Some
grammarians say, “the zero connector”.
Classification of subord. clauses: 2 approaches:
(1) shows correlation of clauses with parts of the sentence => a) the subject clause, b) the
predicative, c) object, d) adverbial, e) attributive.
(2) correlates clauses with parts of speech & distinguishes: a) substantive clause –
corresponding to subj., predic. & object clauses, b) adverbial clauses, c) adjectival clauses –
corresponding to attribute clause. These 2 classifications correlate!
19. Controversial problems of part of speech classification: adverbs.
A part of speech (PS) is a lexical gram word class which is characterized by a
general abstract gram meaning expressed in certain gram markers. This definition
stresses the fact that within a part of speech similar gram features are common to
all words belonging to this class. All PS fall into 2 classes: notional (noun, verb,
adj, adv, pronoun, numeral – cover 93% of the English vocabulary, they fill all
positions in the sentence, they possess an independent notional meaning of their
own) and functional (prep, conj – express relations, they never indicate objects or
notions, their use is obligatory). The meaning of the adv as a PS is hard to define.
Some adv indicate time or place of an action (yesterday, here), others indicate its
property (quickly), others - the degree of a property (very). Adv are invariable.
Some of them have degrees of comparison (fast, faster, fastest). Adv combine with
a verb (run quickly), with an adj (very long), with a noun (the then president), with
a phrase (so out of things). Adv can follow a prep (from there). In a sentence they
are almost always adv modifiers, or parts of it, but they may occasionally be
attributes.
The adv. is a PS characterized by the following features:
1) the lex.-gram. mean. of “qualitative, quantative or circumstantial
characteristics of actions, states or qualities:
2) the category of the degree of comparison
3) typical stem-build. affixes, as in quick-ly, side-ways, clock-wise, ashore…
4) its unilateral (односторон.) combinability with verbs, adj., adv-s, less
regularly with adlinks (asleep,alive) and nouns.
The function of adverbial complement (дополнение), sometimes other functions
20. The grammatical meaning, the gram form, the gram paradigm.
Gram meaning (GM) is a general abstract meaning which unites classes of
forms or words and finds its expression through formal markers thus placing a linguistic
unit in a grammatical category or a grammatical class of words (a part of speech).
Grammatical meanings are more general and abstract whereas lexical meanings are usually
more concrete and specific. The typological analysis of grammatical meanings reveals that
they reflect not the fragments of reality but rather the structure of such fragments. Being
limited in their number grammatical meanings have a regular and an obligatory character in the
language. We cannot use a notional word without expressing its grammatical meaning/meanings. For
example, when we say: It has been raining for hours, the verb rain expresses one lexical meaning
and seven grammatical meanings (person, number, tense, aspect, time correlation, voice, and
mood).
The grammatical meaning finds its expression in a grammatical form which is a
means of expressing a grammatical meaning. Difference between w-form and the word: wform may be equal to the word but at any rate it presents an isolated unit. It’s never part of a wd.
W-forms- we abstract ourselves from lex.mean-g of the corresp. wd. We concentrate on the gram.
mean-g it caries. Ex. speaks (it shows the 3d person singular- never interested in the fact that it’s
the verb of saying). Unlike a wd, the w-form is not independent , it’s always bound as a member of
21. Controversial problems of part of speech classification: numerals.
A part of speech (PS) is a lexical gram word class which is characterized by a
general abstract gram meaning expressed in certain gram markers. This definition
stresses the fact that within a part of speech similar gram features are common to
all words belonging to this class. All PS fall into 2 classes: notional (noun, verb,
adj, adv, pronoun, numeral – cover 93% of the English vocabulary, they fill all
positions in the sentence, they possess an independent notional meaning of their
own) and functional (prep, conj – express relations, they never indicate objects or
notions, their use is obligatory). The treatment of numerals presents some
difficulties. The so-called cardinal numerals (one, two) are somewhat different
from the so-called ordinal numerals (first. Second). Numerals denote either number
or place in a series, numerals are invariable, as far as phrases go, numerals combine
with a following noun (three rooms, third room), occasionally a numeral follows a
noun (Peter the First). In a sentence a numeral most usually is an attribute, but it
can also be subject – three of them came in time, predicative – we are seven, object
– I found only four.
The numeral as a part of speech is characterized by:
1) its lexico-gram. mean-g of ‘number’
2) the category of numerical qualification represented in opposemes like
seven-seventh, nine-ninth,
3) its unilateral combinability with nouns (three children, the third child)
4) such typical stem-building suffixes as –teen, -ty
5) its functioning as an attribute, less frequently as some other part of the
sent.
a corresponding set of forms, such as set of f. usually form a paradigm. There are several types of
form-building in English. The main subdivision of form-building types is into synthetical and
analytical. In a synthetical type a grammatical meaning is expressed within a word, in an
analytical type a grammatical meaning is expressed with the help of auxiliary words (plus
suffixes). The synthetical types of form-building in English include affixation (reads, shown, books,
theirs etc.), sound interchange (take - took, shine - shone) and suppletivity (go - went, be -was, good
- better - best}. .The only productive type in the present-day English is affixation, but the other two
types are no less important, if only because they occur in words which are most frequently used.
The analytical type of form-building occupies a very important place in the grammatical
structure of English as the language has evolutionized from being mainly synthetical to
becoming more and more analytical, and analytical tendencies in the present day English are
very strong. There exist the so-called half-analytical structures and the analytical tendencies find
their reflection in many spheres of the language.
22. Syntactic relations between words in the word-combinations (WC).
The word 'syntax' is derived from the Greek 'syntaxis' which literally means
'composition', or 'order'. It is a part of grammar which studies ways of arranging
words into phrases and sentences in order to produce speech. We communicate
only with the help of sentences and it brings many linguists to a conclusion that
syntax is the core, or the heart of grammar and morphology is subordinated to it
as it serves the needs of syntax. The main units of the syntactic level of the language
are: 1) the word in its syntactic position in the sentence (a part of the sentence); 2) the
phrase which is a combination of two or more notional words arranged according to the
rules of a particular language; 3) the simple sentence as the minimum unit of
communication; 4) the composite sentence which is a combination of two or more
clauses based either on coordinate (a compound sentence) or subordinate (a
complex sentence) relations; 5) the text as the highest unit of language.
WC – every combination of 2 or more words which is a gram unit but is not an
analytical form of some word. The constituent elements of WC may belong to
any part of speech. Syntactic relations between words in the word-combinations
fall under 2 main heads: agreement and government. A – a method of expressing
a syntactical relationship, which consists in making the subordinate word take a
form similar to that of the word to which it is subordinate (only the category of
number). G – the use of a certain form of the subordinate word required by its
head word, but not coinciding with the form of the head word itself.
23. Different interpretations of the meaning of the English articles. The main
functions of the English articles.
Nouns are preceded by atr. though much has been written about art, the theory of it
is still problematic. The meaning of the art is extremely abstract and hard to define,
but the main meanings can be summarized as follows: the ind art – with count
nouns – the nominating meaning, to name an object; with uncount nouns –
aspective meaning (esp with abstract nouns – a dull anger, after a long silence), to
bring out a special abstract of the notion, expressed by a noun. The definite art:
with count nouns (sing, pl)– individualizing meaning – it singles out an object or a
group of objects from all the other objects of the same class; with count nouns
(sing)– the generic meaning (The cat is the domestic animal) – the noun becomes a
composite image of the all class of objects; with uncount nouns – the restricting
meaning – may restrict the abstract notion, expressed by a noun to a specific
instance (I didn’t want to show the joy I felt), restricts the material denoted to a
definite quality or locality (The water in the glass was too cold to drink – quality,
The water in the lake was too cold to bathe in – location). The absence of the art.
always has the nominating meaning, as it is parallel to the use of the ind art.
The art. have morph and syntactical functions. MF is to serve as a formal indicator
of the noun. The presence of the art signals that what follows is a noun. The art has
2 SF: the art. separates the noun from other parts of the sentence; the art is one of
the means that serve to connect sentences within a text (I’ve bought a book –
correlates – The book is interesting). If we apply the theory of communication we
can see that the art. has a communicating function (new and old info, theme and
rhyme). The absence of the art.- new info, the def.art.- the theme of the
communication.
24. The number of moods in Modern English.
The grammatical category of mood has the reputation of being one of the most
controversial categories. Mood is traditionally defined as a grammatical category which
expresses the relation of the action to reality as stated by the speaker. As follows from the
definition mood seems to be the only morphological category which includes the category of the
speaker in its definition. It means that it is one of the most speaker-oriented categories. The
forms of the moods serve the needs of the speaker to present the action as real, unreal (contradicting
the state of things in reality) or hypothetical. The category of mood presents the interpretation
of the action by the speaker from the point of view of its relation to reality. Scholars differ greatly
in the understanding of this category, its scope and, consequently, in the number of grammatical
forms of the mood they find in English. This number- varies from two (in Barkhudarov's
interpretation) to sixteeen (in Deutchbein's interpretation). In our interpretation and
27. Various interpretations of the continuous forms.
3 stages can be distinguished in the evolution of views on the continuous.
1st approach – of traditional grammar. It places the continuous forms among the
tense forms of the verb. That’s why – “continuous tenses” => “the tense view of
the continuous” and the meaning of the continuous was defined as that of
simultaneity with some other action. Those who oppose this point of view analyze
the form of the perfect cont. They point out that perfect is quite alien to
simultaneity, it expresses priority but as the continuous is usually used with perf. It
cannot express simultaneity, it expresses only aspectuality – an action in progress.
2nd approach was put forward by prof. Ivanova – she says the continuous renders
a blend of temporal and aspective meanings => “the tense-aspect blend view”. The
merits: Иванова pointed out the aspective meaning of the cont. & showed the
actual connection of aspect & tense in the semantics of the verb.
3rd approach – the oppositional theory was applied by linguists Смирницкий,
Ярцева, Ильиш, Бархударов – if we analyze it in terms of oppositional theory we
should note the opposition between continuous and non-continuous forms.
classification of moods we shall follow the classification system of moods presented by Smirnitsky. It
appears to be the most consistent because it is meaning-oriented and it also takes into
consideration the difference between an analytical form and a free syntactic combination.
His system of moods includes six moods: the Indicative, the Imperative, Subjunctive I,
Subjunctive II, the Conditional Mood and the Suppositional mood. The Indicative mood
presents the action as real from the speaker's point of view. It is the most frequently used
type of mood and it has the greatest number of forms. The forms of the Indicative mood are
used in two communicative types of sentences: declarative and interrogative. Suppositional mood
specializes in the expression of hypothetical actions. The comparison of such sentences as "If he
turns up tell him to -wait for me" and "Should he turn up tell him to wait for me" shows that both
the verbal forms present the action as hypothetical but differ in the degree of certainty which
is higher in the case of Present Indefinite Indicative. The Imperative mood is used to express
inducement(побуждение, стимул) to action, which means that the speaker considers the
action as desirable. The use of the Imperative mood is restricted to only one communicative type
of sentences - imperative sentences. The Conditional mood is built with the help of the
auxiliary verbs should/would and the Infinitive of the notional verb. As in the case of
Subjunctive II, the non-perfect and perfect forms of the Infinitive have a temporal meaning
rather than the meaning of priority. The Conditional mood expresses an unreal action which is
the consequence of an unreal condition.
Билет 36 theoretical and practical diffic. of the study of the articles
The article is a determiner of the noun.it-s function is to define the object or
phenomenon in the most general way.The peculisrity of the art, is that in the
absence of other determiners.The use of the art.With the noun is obligatory.One
of the main theoretical difficulties of the study of the art.its status in the system
of morphology/The problem is wheather the art is a separate word.That’s the
lexical unity,one of the noun determiners.the meaning of the articles:The
defin.article expr the indification or individualization of the noun.The use of this
art shows that the object is taken in it’s concrete individual quality.The art can
be replaced by a demonstrative pronoun(look at the tree=look at this tree).The
indef art refers the object to a certain clas of similar objects(we saw a house=we
saw a certain house).The absence of the art is also a disputable point.Some
grammarians single out the so called zero article.Thus saying that there are 3
articles.In generaldiff uses of nouns without an art from the semantic point of
view should bedividedinto 2 types:1)the art.is deliberately ommited out of
stylistic considerations: in titles and headlines,various notices,in telegraphic
speech(Coference starts Monday). In this cases the omitted articles can be easily
restored.2)cases of traditionally fixedabsense of the art
a)prepositions
phrases(to bed) b)verbalphrases (to take place) c)repletion groups (day by day)
d)with uncountable nouns(what awful weather).the choice of the art is closely
connected with 2 types of attribute. The limiting attribute requires the defin art.
The descriptive attribute requires indefinite art or the absence of the art with
uncountable nouns and nouns in the plur.
29. The category of case of English nouns
It’s a form of a noun showing the relations of that noun to other words in the sent. It helps to
define the syntactic function of the N. in the sent. It’s a morphological category in English,
because it’s represented by dif. w-forms of one and the same noun. Most linguists regard it as
such & agree that the Eng. noun has 2 distinct cases, because it has 2 distinct form cases.
The genitive case- is built up by the opposition of 2 forms (the com.case & the genet.case).
The form of the gen. case is marked. The formal marker is the case morpheme is represented
by a number of phonol. conditioned allomorphs [s, z, iz]. It’s characterized by a number of
points limit in its use in the lang. Its mainly applied to names of human beings, but it can be
used with some inanimate nouns: esp. denoting time & space relations (yesterday’s paper) and
some adverbs…
The common case- this form is unmarked & is represented by a zero morpheme. In plural
nouns the case morpheme & the number morpheme are very often expressed by one & the
same morpheme “ ‘ “: boys’ toys. In nouns that build up the plural with the help of other means
but “s” ( children, women) the case morpheme is expressed separately by the suffix ‘s which
follows the morpheme of number.The mean-g of the common case is very broad & extensive, it
simply shows that this or that N is non-genetive. It can be used in any syntactic positions in the
sent. The use of nouns in the common case is very frequent (98%).
The method of transformational analysis: the mean-g of gen.case:
1)
possessive (John’s car, the bird’s nest) = John has a car
2)
the subjective genitive (doctor’s advice, my husband’s arrival). Can be
transformed: the doctor adviced…- the doer/subject of the action
3)
the objective mean-g (John’s punishment, surprise) 2 ways of transformation:
John was punished, smb surprised John- the sufferer of the action.
4)
adverbial genitive (2 hours’ work)
5)
genitive of destination (men’s shoes)
The number of cases in Modern English: there are dif. views on this problem. Historically
there was one common case system for both nouns & personal pronouns in old English. Some
scholars try to introduce a 3 case system. According to them nouns & personal pronouns have
nominative case. Other scholars(J.Curme): find 4 cases –nominative, genitive, dative,
accusative. Prof. Voroncova thinks that the category of case doesn’t exist in English because
it’s not a case inflection(окончания).
Билет 38 Various passive constructions in ME
Passive voice: accord. to a commonly accepted definition the passive voice
shows that the subject of the sentence is not the agent but the object of the action
exp-ed by the verb. The subject doesn’t act but its acted upon.(She was asked a
question).Passive V is widely used in Eng. Its use is extensive not only in
comparison with Russian but also with other languages. The Pass V in Eng is
rich in various constructions. There are certain restrictions in the use of the
passive voice. In most cases the P.V is formed with transitive verbs so the
subject of the Passive constructions corresponds to the direct object of the verbthe Direct Passive.(they gave him an apple/An apple was given to him). Some
verbs
in
Eng
take
2
objects:
direct,
indirect(to
tell,promise,show,pay,give,offer,send). 1) the direct passive-A story was told to
me2)indirect- I was told a story.3) Prepositional obj. may also become the
subject of a passive constr(the doctor was send for) 4)Adverbial passive- the
subj. of a passive constr may correspond to an adverbial modifier of place(the
bed wasn’t slept in) 5)the complex subj- a compound verbial predicate a)with an
inf- the subjunctive infin. construct or the nominative with the infin. (he is said
to be a talented musician) b) with the particle-the subjunctive const. (he was
seen crossing the street) c) with the noun(he was elected President) d)with an
adject(he was found ill) e)with the introductory ‘it’ (it was arranged that they
should come at five). The pass Voice const. is used when the agent of the action
is not mentioned. Gram-ns say, that the PV contains no mention of the doer of
the action-when the agent is unknown or can’t be easily stated (his father was
killed in the war). The fact that “no mention of the agent’ is of great importance.
It proves, that the pass constr. is not parallel to the act const. and they serve diff
purpose. Historically the pass.const. didn’t
originate from the active
construction. The P.V is widely used because 1) a great number of transitive
verb 2) polysimy of the eng verbs, some verbs are transitive and intransitive.A
great variety of passive constrs. in Eng.: the gram meaning of the combin of to
be+Part2. It has 3 distinctive meanings: 1)he is respected by all his friendsdenotes an action 2)the article is written by John- denotes a state which is the
result of a previously accomplished action- a resultant state 3)he is very much
obliged to you- denotes a state, not action.
43) The problem of the Future Indefinite and the Future-in-the-Past in Modern English
The category of tense – verbal cat, which reflects the objective category of time and expresses
on this background the relations bw the time of the action and the time of the utterance
(высказывание)
The future tense form is analytical – made up by the auxiliary verbs shall, will and the
infinitive which is the lexical part.
The reasons the fut.tense is analytical:
1)
traditionally anal.form is to contain an aux.part which carries the gram.info and a lex.part
which is responsible for the meaning – shall/will + inf
2)
verbs shall/will used to be modal, nowadays partially lost their modal meaning. But
retained modal colouring: eq. Will you join us – a request; Who shall answer the phone –
obligation
3)
the combination shall/will +inf on the whole may have some modal meaning – of
uncertainty – but the meaning of uncertainty is always present when we speak about the
future. Future tense has a special king of modality – a modality of futurality
Reasons shall/will + inf should be treated as a modal combination:
1)
formally shall/will+inf is no way different from can/may+inf, etc. It presents a free
combination of a modal verb+inf. It’s easily combined with dif.types of inf. A future
action is never real, it’s possible, probable, planned… there is close similarity bw all
modal structures
2)
shall/will + inf doesn’t answer the requirements for an anal.form – doesn’t contain a
discontinuous morpheme found in all other anal.forms
3)
shall/will + inf isn’t the only construction that expresses future actions. English is rich in
means of expressing futurality: to be going to, to be about to, to be to do smth… Purely
anal.forms are usually the only means of expressing a certain gram.meaning
4)
shall/will like all other modal verbs have their past forms – and they also combine with
dif.types of the inf.
2 groups of linguists:
- there are 3 tense forms
- there are 2 tense forms – there is no special gram.form to express fut.actions. But fut.actons
can be expressed by a modal combination shall/will+inf and a number of other lex., gram., lexgram and contextual means
the Future-in-the-past and the Fut.cont-in-the-past:
-are used chiefly in subordinate clauses depending on a main clause having its predicate verb in
one of the past tenses eq. It didn’t mean she was content to live
- do not easily fit into a system of tenses represented by a straight line running out of the past
into the future
- starting point isn’t in the present, from which the past and the fut are reckoned, but the past
itself – the past is the new centre of system
- in many sentences the relation bw the action denoted by the verb and the time of the
utterance(высказывание) is uncertain – the action may or may not have taken place already
- what is certain is that it was future from the point of view of the time when the action denoted
by the verb took place
42) Classification of sentences based on their communicative function
Aspects of the sentence:
- the structural aspect – the form of the sentence, the way words are organized
into it
- the semantic aspect – the meaning of the sent.
- the actual aspect – determines which part of the sent conveys the most
imp.info
- the pragmatic aspect – the use of the sent.as a unit of communication: a
statement, a question, an order, a request, a promise
Types of communication:
declarative, interrogative, imperative (incl.emotional) and exclamatory
Declarative – the subj precedes the verb
Interrogative – aux.v in front of the subj.special w-order, very few modal words
– modal w-s expressing full certainty (certainly, surely…) can’t appear in a sent,
expressing a question
Semi-interrogative sent-s – “oh, you’ve seen him?”
Imperative – no gram.subj, the v – in the imperative mood; modal words,
expressing possibility (perhaps,maybe) are incompatible with orders and
requests
The notion of exclamatory sent-s and their relation to the other 3 types presents
some difficulty: every sent, whether narrative, interrogative or imperative, may
be exclamatory, i.e. it may convey the speaker’s feelings and be characterized
by emphatic intonation and by an exclamation mark
Eq. But he can’t do anything to you! What can he possibly do to you! Scarlett,
spare me!
Purely exclamatory sentence: “Oh, for God’s sake, Henry!”
The structure of a certain sent.may be used for other communicative purposes
than those that are characteristics of the sent-s of this class
eq. Yes/No questions – You will speak to him? – declarative
Rhetorical questions – Is that the reason for despair? (of course not)
44) The structural, semantic and pragmatic aspects of the English sentence
Aspects of the sentence:
- the structural aspect – the form of the sentence, the way words are organized into
it
- the semantic aspect – the meaning of the sent.
- the actual aspect – determines which part of the sent conveys the most imp.info
- the pragmatic aspect – the use of the sent.as a unit of communication: a
statement, a question, an order, a request, a promise.
Structural division:
I.-simple
-composite: compound and complex
II. extended – unextended,
IIIСomplete / incomplete
Complete sent. contains all structurally necessary elements:
- the subject + the predicate (if it’s a 2-member sent.);
- the subject + the predicate + object (if the predicate is expressed by trans. verb);
1-member sent. can also be complete and incomplete; in the imperative sent. verb
is a necessary element, e.g. “Stop!” vs. incomplete (usually – in direct, coll. speech,
make no sense outside their context, e.g. “Yours”).
Incomplete (elliptical) sent-s – structures in which one of the main parts (subj. or
pred.) or both are omitted / ellipted. Elliptical sent-s are divided into 2 types:
- 1st type: they are dependent on what has gone before (“John” may be a reply to 2
questions: “Who did it?” & “Who did you see?”). These sent-s are contextually
conditioned. In other words, their incomplete structure can be restored
(восстановл.) from a previous sent. This kind of ellipsis is called contextual or
syntagmatic.
- 2nd type: they don’t depend on what has gone before. Their structure can be
restored from the paradigm of the analogous complete sent. This incompletence is
purely grammatical as the structure doesn’t depend on the previous context. This
kind of ellipsis is called grammatical or paradigmatic. Can be of 2 subtypes: 1)
structures that can be completed in only 1 way; 2) structures which can be
completed with the help of several paradigms (Cigarette?). Meaning depends on
the situation or the situational context.
46) The imperative Mood
– represented by one form only, without any suffix or ending. Has no person,
number, tense, aspect, it’s limited to one type of sentence only – imperative sent.
Usually a verb in the imperative sent has no pronoun, but may be used in
emotional speech. – eq. You leave me alone!
The Imp.Mood expresses a command or a request to perform an action
addressed to smb, but not the action itself. As it doesn’t actually denote a
specific action it has no tense category; the action always refers to the future.
Aspect distinctions and voice distinctions aren’t characteristic of the imp.mood,
although forms such as eq. be writing, be warned sometimes occur.
The Imp.mood form coincides with the plain stem of the verb, for example –
Come here! Sit down.
The negative form is built by means of the aux. DO: Eq Don’t be a fool. Don’t
worry.
Emphatic requests\commands: eq. Do come and stay with us. Do be quiet.
In commands and requests addressed to a third person or persons the analytical
form let…+inf is used. When a person addressed is denoted by a personal
pronoun, it’s used in the objective case
Eq. Let us go together. Let him finish his dinner first.
In negative sent-s the anal.forms take the particle not without an auxiliary.
The anal.forms differ in meaning from the synthetic forms, because their
meaning is closely connected with the meaning of the pronoun included in the
form.
Let us do smth – an invitation to a joint action
Let him do it – the meaning of permission
The imp.mood is used only in imperative sentences and can’t be used in
questions.
47) The number of voices in Modern English
The category of Voice expresses the relations bw the subject and the action, but
according to other view Voice expresses the relations bw the subj and the obj of the
action expressed by the form of the verb. Ex. John opened the door. The subj. of
sent. is the doer of the action expressed by the predicate verb. In some cases the
lex. character of the verb the subj. of the active construction can’t be regarded as
the doer of the action. These cases are: ex. He lost his father in the war.; he broke
his leg. Disagreement btw the gram. form of the verb and the lex. mean-g of the
verb. Due to the lex. mean-g of the V the semantics of the construction becomes
passive. In fact the subj. is not the doer, but the sufferer. Some grammarians treat
these constructions as active due to the gram. form.
Opposition: active – passive. Passive – marked -> pattern “be + II participle”,
active –unmarked
Forms of Fut.Cont, Present Perf.Cont, Past Perf.Cont, Future Perf.Cont – no
parallel forms in passive.
Any other voices??? -> doubts and controversy
- the reflexive voice (eq.He dressed himself) – the agent and the object of the
action simultaneously ;
- the reciprocal voice (They greeted each other) – not 1 person; action aimed at the
other member of the same group;
- the middle voice (The door opened) – the form of the v is act, but the meaning is
passive.
The active voice has a number of mean-gs: active, passive, middle, reflective,
reciprocal.
Pr. Ilyish “ Eng. Has several voices. The classif-n is based on mean-g only.
Pr. Barhudarov calls the active voice non-passive.
41) The category of ASPECT in modern English
Aspect – a gram.category which characterizes the way in which the action expressed by the
verb is carries out.
In Russian – 2 aspects: imperfective (несов.), perfective (сов.)
Imperfective expresses an action or a state without indicating a limit beyond which this
act/state can not continue - eq. я читал; Perfective denotes actions that have a limit beyond
which this action can’t continue: eq. я прочитал книгу. In Russian aspect is a gram.cat. As
each aspect has a certain meaning and form to express this meaning. There are certain
markers of each aspect – eq. делать-сделать.
As the Eng.language grammarians of the past didn’t find aspective distinction of the v.,
instead they spoke about 4 groups of tenses: indefinite, continuous, perfect, perfectcontinuous
The majority of grammarians believe the Eng.verb has aspect. They admit that this
gram.category may be expressed:
•
lexically aspect is expressed by the lex.character of the v. The verb falls into 2
groups:
1)
terminative: apply a limit beyond which the action can’t continue (to break, to
open);
2)
non-terminative: the action may go on indefinitely (to love, to sit).
Most English verbs are polysemantic and may be terminative in one meaning and nonterminative in another. It’s never shown formally. There is no marker of belonging to this
aspect. The meaning is clear from the context.
•
grammatically an opposition of corresponding forms (take – be taken)
1)
common – the form of the common aspect isn’t marked;
2)
continuous – is marked by the discont.morpheme be + ing .
The terms used to describe aspect are not stable (progressive - perfective; generic –
temporally)
The difference bw the aspect forms isn’t temporal. The tense is the same with both forms.
The cont.aspect has a specific meaning – it’s used for incomplete actions that are in
progress at the moment under consideration or at a certain period: eq He was studying at 5
o’clock.
The common aspect shows the action in a general way, may denote a complete/incomplete
action but the form doesn’t state it.
Prof.Barhudarov: common aspect = non-continuous.
Common aspect may denote:
1)a momentary action (eq she dropped the plate)
2)a recurrent/repeated action (eq.I get up at 7 o’clock every day)
3)an action occupying a long period of time (eq.he lived in St.-Pb from 1940 to 1965)
4)an action of unlimited duration (eq.The Volga flows into the Caspian Sea)
48) Functional sentence perspective
- actual division of the sentence; one unit contains given information (supplied by the context),
the other – new info for the sake of which the sentence has been uttered or written.
The theory of the division into 2 units, in accordance with the message they convey, is known
as the actual division of the sentence \ funct.sent.perspective.
Ian Firbas (Czech): the info known from the context – theme; new info – rheme.
Michael Halliday: given (данное) - new(новое);
Charles Pocket: topic (называние)- comment(толкование)
In European languages – new info – at the end of the sentence
The group of the subj.(together with attr-s) generally, but not always coincides with the theme,
and the group of the predicate coincides with the rheme.
The most important piece of new info occupies the end position of the sent
Eq. The girl told him everything
↑Theme Rheme ↑
↑ (the most important part)
But English has a strict word-order, it has special means of expressing the rhemes:
•
Logical stress (only in oral speech);
•
The passive voice helps to reverse w-order and makes it possible to place new info
at the end of the sentence;
•
The indef.article / no article with certain nouns:
eq. The door opened and an old man came into the room;
She bought an unusual old ring;
•
Construction with an emphatic “it”:
eq. It was to Paris that he went – we can emphasize any part of the sent.
•
There is / there are;
•
W-order within certain parts of the sentence
eq. give smb smth
give smth to smb
•
In adj-s: young, old, little – form one sense-group with the noun. If some adj-s are
before these 3 words you want to emphasize these adj-s:
eq. ambitious young man
He is a young ambitious man (though young but ambitious)
•
Particles only,even
There are other means of expressing the rheme, lexical or grammatical. During the past few
years the theory of the actual division of the sentence has been criticized for its binary
character. It isn’t always possible to divide a sentence exactly into 2 parts. It’s enough only to
establish the center/focus of info. The means of expressing theme/rheme depend on the
gram.structure of the given language
Билет 39 The grammatical category of number
Билет 40. Classification of sentences based of their structure.
The structural aspect of the sentence deals with the structural organization of the sentence, it
Presents a specific linguistic reflection of quantitative relations between homogeneous objects of
reality conceptualized by the human mind. It is constituted by the binary opposition of singular and
reveals the mechanisms of deriving sentences and structural types of sentences.
plural forms. The formal marker of the opposition is represented by several phonetically and
According to their structure sentences are classified into simple (monopredicative structures) and
historically conditioned allomorphs, such as [-z] (boys), [-s] (cats), [-iz] (classes), [0] (, sheep), [-en]
composite (polypredicative structures) which are further subdivided into complex (based on
(oxen), [ ae ] (antennae), [ ai] (radii) etc. There are quite a few doublets among the plural forms
subordination) and compound (based on coordination). Clauses within the structure of a
which differ either lexically (a penny - pennies (coins), pence ( a sum of money)
composite sentence may be connected with the help of formal markers (conjunctions and
Semantically the forms of the plural are not homogeneous either. The paradigmatic meaning of
connectives: relative pronouns and relative adverbs - syndetically) and without any formal
plurality is represented by a number of syntagmatic variants, such as: discrete plurality (books,
markers -asyndetically. Thus we should differentiate between two structural varieties of
houses), indiscrete plurality (hours, miles), partitive plurality (spectacles), variety plurality (wines,
composite sentences: syndetic and asyndetic types.
cheeses, fruits,), space plurality (snows, sands, waters), family, or clan plurality {the Browns, the
Though the difference between the complex and compound sentences is based
Smiths).
on the two different types of semantic relations: subordination and coordination, the
From the point of view of their number characteristics the English nouns fall into two classes:
borderline between complex and compound sentences is not always hard and fast.
countable and uncountable. This feature of the noun determines its choice of the article, the
Sentences may have formal markers of subordination but the semantic relations between
quantitative pronoun and the form of the predicate (singular or plural). Uncountable nouns are further
the clauses appear to be more coordinate than subordinate. Thus, the meaning of
subdivided into two groups: Singularia Tantum and Pluralia Tantum. The group of Singularia
subordination is largely weakened in attributive continuative clauses introduced by the
Tantum includes:.1. names of abstract notions (love, friendship etc.); 2. names of mass materials ( bread,
relative pronoun 'which', e.g. She said 'no' which was exactly what I had expected to hear.
butter, sugar etc.); 3. names of some collective inanimate objects (foliage, machinery etc.); 4. names of
The relations between the two clauses are closer to coordinate, as we can replace the
sciences and professional activities ( medicine, architecture etc.); 5. nouns of heterogeneous semantics.
subordinate connective ''which' by the coordinate conjunction 'and' without changing
This is a limited group and includes such nouns as: hair, advice; knowledge, money, information, news.
essentially the meaning of the sentence. Another example of weakened subordination is
The first four groups of nouns of Singularia Tantum denote concepts which are incompatible
observed in sentences introduced by the conjunction 'whereas'. E.g. She was very tall
(несовместим.) with the idea of countability.
whereas her husband hardly reached her shoulder. The meaning of this formally complex
Singularia Tantum nouns, when used in the plural form, always acquire additional meanings.
sentence can be rendered by a compound sentence: She was very tall and her husband hardly
Tax moneys means considerable sums o.f money coming from various taxes (this explanation was
reached her shoulder.
suggested by an English speaker who used this noun in the plural).
Besides there are also peripheral types: semicomplex and semicompound
The group of Pluralia Tantum nouns includes: 1. nouns denoting objects consisting of two parts ( trousers,
sentences which contain structures of secondary predication: infinitival, participial and
spectacles etc.); 2. nouns denoting results of repeated processes (savings, labours, belongings etc.); 3. nouns of
gerundial constructions, absolute constructions with or without a participle and structures
multitude (police, gentry, poultry, cattle);4. nouns of various semantics ( oats, outskirts, clothes etc.).
with the so-called double predicate. E.g. There is so much work to be done — There is so
much work that has to be done.
Билет 37 THE CATEGORY OF MOOD
The category of mood in the present English verb has given rise to so many
discussions and has been treated in so many ways, that it seems hardly possible to arrive at
any more or less acceptable conclusion. The only points in the sphere of mood which
haven’t been disputed are the following: 1) there is a category of mood in Modern English (
Mood- is the grammatical category of the verb, which expresses the relation of the action
denoted by the verb to reality from the speaker’s point of view); 2) there are at least 2
moods in the modern English verb, one of which is the indicative. (The indicative mood is
the basic mood of the verb. Morphologically it’s the most developed system including all
the categories of the verb. Semantically it’s a fact mood. It serves to present an action as a
fact of reality. It’s the most objective of all the moods. It conveys minimum personal
attitude to the fact: Ex. Water consists of oxygen.)
2 groups of Moods (generally):
the real or fact Moods
the unreal, non-fact, oblique Moods.
The Indicative Mood is the only real mood in the English language. It represents an action
as a real fact. The forms of the Ind. Mood are the tense-aspect forms of the verb.
There are 2 non-fact Moods in English: the Imperative Mood (represents an action as a
command, urging, request. It’s a direct expression of one’s will. It’s much more ‘subjective’
than the ind. Mood. It’s modal mean-g is very strong &distinct: ex. Someone make an offer
and quick!) and the Subjunctive Mood (it represents an action as a non-fact, as smth
imaginary, desirable, problematic, contrary to reality: ex. I wish he were here now.)The
hypothetic desirable in the form of advice, request, recommendation, order and so on. There
is another point of view on the imperative Mood: (we don’t mark the action as real or
unreal!) – Stelling (Штелинг) considers the Imperative form Mood the grammatical idiom.
The Subjunctive Mood represents an action as unreal: 2 degrees of reality: not quite real
(Present, Future), quite unreal (for the Past).
Some linguists think that the past indefinite and the Past Perfect used to denote an unreal
action are not mood forms at all, but tense forms.
consistent because it is meaning-oriented and it also takes into consideration the difference
Билет 35 The category of voice
The category of voice (which is found both with finite and non-finite forms) is one of the most
formal grammatical categories, because this category doesn’t refer to any fragment of reality,
doesn’t reflect any fragment of reality – it’s a way of describing a certain fragment of reality.
The category of voice deals with the participants of a happening (doer, action, object) and how
they are represented in the sentence (subject, predicate, object). The Active Voice shows that
the grammatical subject of the sentence or the subjectival is the doer of the action, denoted by
the verb, the Passive Voice shows that the subject or the subjectival is an object of the action.
The frequency of occurrence of the English Passive Voice is very great, greater than in
Russian. One of the reasons is that the number of verbs capable of forming the Passive Voice is
greater in English than in Russian. In many languages: PV – transitive verbs, in English: PV –
any object verb. In some cases the lex. character of the verb the subj. of the active construction
can’t be regarded as the doer of the action. These cases are: ex. He lost his father in the war.; he
broke his leg. Disagreement btw the gram. form of the verb and the lex. mean-g of the verb.
Due to the lex. mean-g of the V the semantics of the construction becomes passive. In fact the
subj. is not the doer, but the sufferer. Some grammarians treat these constructions as active due
to the gram. form.
Opposition: active – passive. Passive – marked -> pattern “be + II participle”, active –
unmarked
Forms of Fut.Cont, Present Perf.Cont, Past Perf.Cont, Future Perf.Cont – no parallel forms in
passive.
Any other voices??? -> doubts and controversy
- the reflexive voice (eq.He dressed himself) – the agent and the object of the action
simultaneously ;
- the reciprocal voice (They greeted each other) – not 1 person; action aimed at the other
member of the same group;
- the middle voice (The door opened) – the form of the v is act, but the meaning is passive.
The active voice has a number of mean-gs: active, passive, middle, reflective, reciprocal.
Pr. Ilyish “ Eng. Has several voices. The classif-n is based on mean-g only.
Pr. Barhudarov calls the active voice non-passive.
The idea of the Passive voice is expressed not only by means of “to be + P2”, but by means of
“get”, “come”, “go” + P2 and “get” + passive infinitive (ingressive meaning - He got involved;
He got to be respected).
between an analytical form and a free syntactic combination. His system of moods
The existence of various means of expressing voice distinctions makes it possible to consider
includes six moods: the Indicative, the Imperative, Subjunctive I, Subjunctive II, the
voice as a functional-semantic category with the grammatical category of voice as its center
Conditional Mood and the Suppositional mood.
and other means of expressing voice as a periphery.
The classification system of moods presented by A.I.Smirnitsky. It appears to be the most
31. Theories suggesting more than 2 cases of English nouns. The problem of analytical
cases.
Case can be defined in the following way: it is a category of the noun that expresses
relations between the thing denoted by the noun and other objects and phenomena and that
is manifested by some formal sign in the noun itself. This category is based on the
opposition of 2 cases: (the limited case theory) the Common case – the Genitive. The
general mean of possession has other modifications. It can denote the subject of a quality,
state of action: the child's intelligence (quality), the child's sleep (state), the child's answer
(action). Occasionally it can denote the object of an action: Clyde Griffiths' trial. The
Genitive case is a marked member, the nominative is unmarked. The marker of the Genetive
Case is the 's-sign which also has 3 allomorphs which are [s], [z] and [iz].
Different theories.
1. The 3-case theory / the substitutional theory. Was prompted by the fact that in Old
English there existed one common case system for both nouns and personal pronouns. Some
grammarians try to introduce a uniform case system in Modern English. Accordingly there
are 3 cases recognized in the noun: Nominative, Objective and Genitive. The GC is
inflected by the 's-sign. As to the NC and OC they are identified by substituting a personal
pronoun for the noun. E.g.: The boy's playing in the garden. – The noun boy is in the NC
because it can be replaced by the personal pronoun he. Look at the boy. – The noun boy is in
the OC because it can be replaced by him. This theory was criticized and rejected by many
grammarians because you cannot attribute the properties of one part of speech to another.
2. The theory of positional cases. It is connected with the old grammatical tradition and we
find it in the works of German scholars (Дойчбайн, Несфилд, Брайант). According to that
view the case of the noun is determined by its position in the sent. by analogy with classical
Latin grammar. The English noun will distinguish the following cases of the noun:
Nominative, Vocative, Dative, Accusative. They are not inflectional. They exist along with
the inflectional genitive. The noun in the function of the position of the subject is in the NC.
The noun in the position of a direct address is believed to be in the VC. The noun in the
position of an indirect object to a verb is believed to be in the DC. The noun in the position
of a direct object is in the AC. The theory was bitterly criticized. The main weakness of it is
that it substitutes the functional characteristics of parts of the sent for the morphological
characteristics of the part of speech, that is the noun.
3. The theory of prepositional cases (Curme, also connected with the old school grammar
teaching). Acc. to this theory, combinations of nouns and pronouns should be considered as
case form: 1. the combination to + noun (to the child) is treated as the DC. 2. the combination
of + noun is treated as the GC which exists along with the Inflectional Genitive. 3. the
combination by + N is treated as the Instrumental Case. Curmy treats prepositions in these
combinations as inflexional prepositions. They are gram elements that are equivalent to case
inflexions. Other grammarians treat these combinations as analytical cases. This approach is
unconvincing and cannot be accepted for the following reasons: 1. Prep-s are not devoid of
their lexical mean and they cannot be treated as gram auxiliaries of an analytical form. 2. The
number of prepositional phrases is too numerous to be regarded members of the opposition of
the category of case. 3. There are no discontinous morphemes. They cannot be treated as
analytical forms.
4. The theory of the possessive postposition.The theory was advanced by Prof. Воронцова
and is shared by Мухин, Ильиш, Маслова. Acc to this view the Eng noun has lost the
category of case in the historic development. All cases, including genitive, are considered
extinct (вымерш.). The following arguments are given to substantiate this theory: 1. the use of
the s-sign is optional because it can be replaced by an of-phrase. 2. it is used with a limited
group of nouns (animate nouns and some other nouns, denoting distance, time and money). 3. it
occurs with very few plurals, only with such plurals as men (men's). As to the other it is
impossible to distinguish the sg genitive from the pl genitive by ear. 4. The s-signs is only
loosely connected with the noun. It can be used not only with sg nouns but also with whole
phrases, e.g.: John and Tom's room. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech. The man I saw
yesterday's son. (the s-signs belongs to the whole phrase, not to a single word). So Воронцова
makes the following conclusion: the s-signs is not a case inflexion, it is a syntactical element,
resembling a preposition. She calls it a postposition or a format. This is why Блох calls this
theory the Possessive Postposition Theory.
33. The category of tense in ME
While the existence of the aspect category in English is a disputed matter, the tense category
is universally recognized. This category denotes the relation of the action either to the
moment of speaking or to some definite moment in the past or future (it expresses the
relations between the time of the action and the time of the utterance). So the three main
divisions of time are represented in the English verbal system by the three tenses. Each of
them may appear in the common and in the continuous aspect. Thus we get 6 tense-aspect
forms. Besides these 6, however, there are 2 more, namely, the future-in-the-past and the
future-contin.-in-the-past. These forms are used chiefly in the subordinate clauses
depending on the main clause having its predicate verb in one of the past tenses: ex. It
meant for him that even death wouldn’t part them.
The time of the action can be expressed lexically with the help of such wds and
combinations as yesterday, next week, a year ago, at half past seven, on the fifth of May, in
1980, etc. All grammarians believe that the English lang. has the present tense (it denotes
actions taken place at the moment of speaking. It may denote very prolong & timeless
actions: ex. I hear a noise. I’m writing a lecture. The Earth moves round the Sun.; it may be
used for past actions- historical or dramatic present- ex. Yesterday I entered the room and
who do you think I see? It can express future actions (planned): ex. The train leaves at 5
tomorrow.; in complex sent-s the present tense is bound or structurally dependent: a) adv.
clauses of time, condition, concession… when, if, whenever; b) certain types of object
clauses after the expressions to see to smth, to take care, to make sure: ex. I’ll make sure he
comes on time.) The mean-g of the past tense (by Barhudarov): “it denotes an action, which
is prior to the moment of speaking & that is not correlated with the moment of speaking.
Non-past tense denotes actions which are outside the past tense sphere. The present & past
tense forms create an opposition: take- took- is/was taking. Within this opposition the past
tense form is the marker member. It’s marked by the suffixes in reg. verbs & in speech the
suffix is represented by a number of allomorphs [t, d, id]. In irregular verbs it’s represented
by dif. morphologically conditioned allomorphs – sing/sang.” The future tense (pr.
Smirnitskiy, Ilyish) this tense form is analytical. It’s made up by the auxiliary verb
shall/will & the inf. Which is the lex. part. Many grammarians even now believe that
English has 2 tenses only- the present & the past (Jesperson, Shtelling, Barhudarov), and
shall/will+ inf. Should be treated as a modal combination. However it doesn’t mean that the
future actions can’t be expressed at all (it can be expressed by a number of other lex., gram.
& contextual means).
32. The category of time-correlation. Various interpretations of the Perfect forms.
The gramm. category of phase or time-correlation built on opposition of perf. and nonperf. forms.
Non-Perfect – unmarked member. Perfect – marked (strong) member, is built with aux.
“to have” and the Past Part. of the verb. the meaning: it expresses priority to a certain moment
& correlates the action with that moment => the name of the category – time-correlation.
The problem of the perfect forms is most controversial: To what gram. category do perf.
forms belong? There are 4 different ways of interpreting the Perf.:
1)
Perfect form as tense: (works by Henry Sweet, Curme, Ганшина, Василевская)
The perf. denotes a secondary temporal characteristic of an action; it doesn’t refer an
action to a certain point of time but expresses priority to the present, past or future. Non-perfect
forms- primary tenses; perfect forms – secondary tenses. Primary tenses refer an action to a
certain point of time in the past or in the future, or they refer actions t the moment of speaking.
Secondary tenses don’t refer actions to the moments of time, but they express priority to the
moments of time in the past/future, or denote actions prior to the moment of speaking.
Thus, the pres. perf. may be regarded as a form which denotes an action that occurs
before the moment of speaking.
The past perf. expresses an action which took place before a certain moment.
The future perf. – an action that will take place before the certain moment of speaking.
2)
Perfect form as aspect form: (Prof. Ильиш: past & future perfect forms should
be regarded as relative tenses, because they express priority, but the pres. perfect should be
treated as a form of special aspect (the resultative aspect).
Prof. Вoронцова also treats perfect forms within the framework (основа) of aspect
(transmissive aspect forms – вид преемственности). Since the pres. perf. shows the action in
the past connected with the present, then the most important feature of this form to show
continuity (преемственность) between past & present.
3)
Perfect form as a representative of a certain category: (Prof. Смирницкий
speaks about the category of time correlation). It’s represented by the opposition of perf. and
non-perf. forms. Perf. forms have noting to do with the notion of tense. Obviously the
difference between “took” & “had taken” is not temporal, since both forms denote past actions.
From the view point of a special categorical meaning , the difference between perf. &
non-perf. forms is that non-perf. forms denote actions taking place at a certain moment or
period of time, while perf. forms denote actions prior to certain moments or periods of time.
From this point of view the opposition represents the grammatical meaning of priority found in
perf. forms & non-priority found in non-perf. forms.
This theory was favourably accepted by grammarians, but some of them said that there’s
a weak point in it. The past perf. & the future perf. on the one hand, and the pres. perf. on the
other. The meanings are not the same. The past & future perf. forms denote priority, but the
meaning of the pres. pref. is not limited to priority, there’s always some connection with the
present.
26. Principal parts of the sentence. Their general characteristics.
The subject and the predicate constitute the backbone of the sentence:
without them the sentence would not exist at all, whereas all other parts may or
may not be there, and if they are there, they serve to define or modify either the
subject or the predicate, or each other. So the subj. & the predicate are the main
2 parts on which basic sent-s are built. The can be accompanied by other wds &
usually are, but this doesn’t change their status of the main parts of the sent.
Some linguists call S+Pr- a clause to distinguish from a w-group (a w-g may be
defined as a logical & gram. combination of 2 or more notional wds which don’t
form a sent. And the sent. may be defined as the basic unit of communication,
grammatically organized & expressing a complete thought. It’s characterized by
predication- the correlation btw utterance & reality).
The subject is one of the 2 main parts of the sentence:
1) It denotes the thing whose action or characteristic is expressed by the
predicate;
2) It is not dependent on any other part of the sentence.
It may be expressed by different parts of speech, the most frequent ones
being: a noun in the common case, a personal pronoun in the nominative case, a
demonstrative pronoun occasionally, a substantivized adjective, a numeral, an
infinitive, and a gerund. It may also be expressed by a phrase.
The predicate is one of the 2 main parts of the sentence:
1) It denotes the action or property of the thing expressed by the subject;
2) It is not dependent on any other part of the sentence.
Types of predicate:
Predicates may be classified in 2 ways, one of which is based on their
structure (simple or compound), and the other on their morphological
characteristics (verbal or nominal).
Structural classification:
1. simple predicate (verbal and nominal)
2. compound predicate (verbal and nominal)
Morphological classification:
1. verbal predicate (simple and compound)
2. nominal predicate(simple and compound)
Билет 34 Predicativity. Means of expressing.
The main categories of the sentence are predicativity, modality and negation.
Predicativity is a category which refers the nominative contents of the sentence to reality
V.G.Gak points out three main approaches to the understanding of predicativity: logical,
denotational (semantic) and formal (syntactic). In the logic-oriented syntactic theories predicativity is
defined as an act of attributing certain features to the subject (predicativity presents a combination of
two components of thought: the subject of thought and the predicate of thought which denotes a
property, attributed to the subject by the predicate). In the denotational (semantic) approach
predicativity expresses the relation of the sentence to the concrete situation of reality. From the
syntactic point of view predicativity is defined as an establishment of syntactic relation between the
subject and the predicate of the sentence carried out with the help of certain morphological
categories. These three approaches are not contradictory, they just reflect the manysided nature of
the phenomenon and the possibility to analyze its essence from different aspects.
Predicativity involves establishing subject-predicate relations which, in its turn, is
accomplished through the grammatical categories of tense, mood, number and person.
Predicativity takes into consideration two aspects of the sentence: semantic, or denotational
(the nominative contents, or the situation of reality expressed by the sentence) and syntactic
(the establishment of subject-predicate relations carried out with the help of certain
grammatical categories). In peripheral structural types of sentences, such as one-member
nominative sentences predicativity is expressed by the intonation (Early spring. London at
night). The expression of predicativity in the sentence is usually referred to as predication.
Scholars differentiate between primary and secondary predication and also between explicit
(ясно выражен.) and implicit types of predication. Primary predication establishes subjectpredicate relations and makes the backbone (основа) of the sentence. It is expresses by the
finite form of the verb. E.g. Cranes are flying. Secondary predication is contained in
gerundial, infinitival, participial constructions, detached (отсоедин.) parts of the sentence.
Such structures name an event but do not place it in time, e.g. I saw cranes flying. Structures of
secondary predication cannot function as autonomous sentences and they are related to the
objective reality only through the main predicative line of the sentence. From the point of
view of their derivational history these structures are the result of syntactic transformation of
two simple sentences and joining them into one. E.g. I saw cranes. The cranes were flying. — I
saw cranes flying.
*Functional words
Here belong:
•
the article
expresses the specific limitation of the substantive functions
•
the preposition
expresses the dependencies and interdependencies of substantive referents
•
the conjunction
expresses connections of phenomena
•
the particle
unites the functional words of specifying and limiting meaning. To this series,
alongside other specifying words, should be referred verbal postpositions as
functional modifiers of verbs, etc.
•
the modal word
expresses the attitude of the speaker to the reflected situation and its parts. Here
belong the functional words of probability (probably, perhaps, etc.), of qualitative
evaluation (fortunately, unfortunately, luckily, etc.), and also of affirmation and
negation
•
the interjection
is a signal of emotions
30. Notional words and function words in Modern English.
Parts of speech are traditionally subdivided into notional & functional ones. Notional parts of
speech have both lexical & grammatical meanings (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
numerals, statives, pronouns, modal words). Functional parts of speech are characterized
mainly by the grammatical meaning while their lexical meaning is either lost completely or has
survived in a very weakened form.
Functional parts of speech—the article, the preposition, the conjunction. Notional parts of
speech are characterized by word-building & word-changing properties; functional words have
no formal features & they should be memorized as ready-made units (but, since, till, until).
Another most important difference between functional & notional parts of speech is revealed
on the level of sentence. Where every notional word performs a certain synthetic function
while functional words have no synthetic function at all. They serve as indicators of a certain
part of speech (to + verb; a, the + noun). Prepositions are used to connect 2 words &
conjunctions to connect 2 clauses or sentences.
Ilyish => Some grammarians think that words should be divided into two categories on the
following principle:
notional words denote things, actions and other extra-linguistic phenomena
functional words denote relations and connections between the notional words
This view is shaky, because functional words can also express smth extra-linguistic:
e.g. The letter is on the table.
The letter is in the table. (diff. prepositions express different relations between objects)
The match was called off because it was raining. (the conjunction because denotes the
causal connection between two processes).
Some words belonging to a particular part of speech may perform a function differing from that
which characterizes the p/of/sp as a whole.
e.g.
I have some money left. (have – a notional word)
I have found a dog. (have – an auxiliary verb used to form a certain analytical
form of the verb to find, i.e. it is a functional verb)
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