3. Means of Intensification of the Meaning of Qualitativeness.

In colloquial speech and in fiction different SD are used for intensification of qualitative characteristics and for expression of emotional peculiarities of an utterance. The SD are realized due to syntagmatic relations between adjectives in attributive chain.

The most characteristic and wide-spread SD are the following:

1. repetition of the same adjective in any degree of comparison:

e. g. It was the beastliest thing that ever happened to him – beastliest thing that had ever happened to any fellow. (G. Galsworthy).

2. usage of adjectives in oxymoron:

e. g. … he had been an evil influence to others, and had experienced a terrible joy in being so. (O. Wilde).

Sometimes the emphatic character of oxymoron can be intensified by a repetition:

e. g. “If you don’t mind me saying so, Mrs. Dersingham”, said Major Trape, “this omlette’s awfully good, awfully good”. (G. Priestley).

3. expressive meaning of adjectives is intensified by usage of emphatic constructions:

e. g. What a perfectly loathsome idea, Mattie! What a foul mind you have!

(G. Priestley).

4. repetition of adjectives with the same word-building suffix:

e. g. She had broad snub nose, a little round mouth that was nearly always open and grayish-greenish-bluish eyes set rather wide apart. (G. Priestley).

5. usage of a number of attributive adjectives with one noun:

e. g. Such was the background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering, fatal great city. (O. Henry);

His cool, white, flowerlike hands, even had a curious charm (O. Wilde).

6. repetition of one-root adjectives which take different positions and perform different functions in the sentence:

e. g. The bluest blue in Europe. Portugal offers you the new priceless thing remaining that no money anywhere guarantee. Anywhere else. The warm hospitality of a wonderful people, the refreshing charm.

3. Sd Based on Usage of Verbs

Transpositions of verbs are even more varied than that of nouns. It is explained by a greater number of grammatical categories the meanings of which may be transposed. Most expressive categories are tense forms, mood forms and voice forms.

1. Sd Based on Usage Of the Category Of Tense

One of the peculiar features of English tense forms is their polysemantism. The same form may realize various meanings in speech. That’s why it’s necessary to examine functioning of tense forms only in context, in syntactical sequence between forms, constructions and grammatical categories. As a result of correlation of a tense form and semantic-syntactical conditions in which the given tense form is realized, possibilities of functional transpositions of verb forms appear. These transpositions create SD which can be used in fiction.

Stylistic value of grammatical categories of tense, mood and voice are not equal. It is explained by different peculiarities of these verbal categories.

Categories and forms of the verb have rich synonymy. Variety of grammatical categories allows to perform different synonymic changes (substitutions). It refers to the usage of forms of tense and mood, functions of which can often be understood as close.

According to N.N. Rayevskaya, in the sphere of such functional-grammatical categories as tense, aspect, modality there are stable combinations of the analytical type, various typical models (patterns), which are functional synonyms of the categorical paradigmatic forms [pp. 79-125]. Combinations of various tense forms and different means of modality realization are often used in fiction texts:

e.g. Her joy hurt him. In a moment he realized more clearly than he had ever

realized before what the last months must have meant to her, cooped up like

a prisoner, she who had been so vital, whose every movement had been life,

who had run with him like a young deer along the beach, ridden the breakers

better than he! (D. Cusack)

Functioning of tense forms in fiction differs from their usage in other functional styles. In fiction their peculiarities are realized through complication of grammatical semantics, through realization of their polysemantism, through extension of their functional and communicative meanings and through complication of correlation of these forms with extralinguistic reality.

Deviations from the general (most frequently realized) meaning perform different functions in a fiction text and they make verbs stylistically coloured.

Commonly, the Present Continuous tense denotes an action which takes place at the moment of speaking. But it may also denote a habitual action (John is constantly grumbling), an action which occupies a long period of time (Sam is wooing Mary now), and an action of the near future (Pete is starting a new life tomorrow). In such cases the Present Continuous tense becomes synonymous with the Present or Future Indefinite. But there is a difference. While the sentence “John constantly grumblers” is a mere statement, the sentence “John is constantly grumbling” introduces the negative connotations of irritation, condemnation, regret, sadness and others.

Continuous tense forms are more emotionally coloured than that of Indefinite tense, that’s why they are often used with the aim to stress the emotional tension of an utterance:

e.g. I suppose you’re going over to that side as well. Helena will help to make it

pay off for you… She is one of those apocalyptic share pushers who are

spreading all those rumours about a transfer of power. (J. Osborne)

Joyce: Nan Price has been going from bad to worse lately, I’m sure she is

taking drugs.

Chris: Drugs?

Joyce: Yes, she’s suffering from hallucination, if you ask me.

(Brand)

Continuous forms are also used to express different shades of subjective modality:

e.g. Giff: Now I’m afraid you’re being adolescent.

Chris: And you are insulting! I’m sorry, I bothered to talk to you.

(Brand)

Continuous forms are also used to express politeness and mildness of an utterance:

e.g. “You are making it sound virtuous, Jan, but I know you. “ (D. Cusack)

There is a rule that verbs of sense perception and mental activity are not used in the Continuous tense forms.

This rule is often broken by the speaker intentionally or subconsciously. In both cases verbal forms convey additional stylistic meanings of subjective modality:

e.g. I’m seeing you. = I’m not blind.

I’m understanding you. = You need not go into further details.

I’m feeling your touch. = So tender you are.

One of peculiar verbal transpositions is the change of temporary plans of narration when events of the past or future are described by present tense forms. Such transposition brightens the narration, raises its emotional tension, expresses intrigue, makes the continuity of events visual and graphic:

e.g. It was yesterday and looked this way. The perpetrator comes to his victim,

takes a long dagger out of his inner pocket and stabs the poor man right into

his belly without saying a word. The man falls down like a sack, a fountain of

blood spurting from the wound.

… the whole eighteen months he’s been away. Then he comes back, crooks his

finger, gives you a cultured pearl necklace he’s smuggled in, and you fall into

his arms. (D. Cusack)

Here the forms of the Present Indefinite express succession of possible future actions; they actualize events of the past and events of the supposed future. Present Indefinite and Present Continuous forms are often used to denote facts that are subjectively thought of as possible, planned or fixed in the near future:

e.g. Thanks for the breakfast. I’m catching the train home, so you won’t have to

worry about me dropping in tomorrow. (D. Cusack)

Present Continuous forms can also express a modal meaning of obligation:

e.g. Chris, would you like something to drink? We’ll be having lunch soon but I

expect you are parched after your walk. (Brand)

Rhythm of a fiction text is created not only with the help of repetition of words and conjunctions, but also with the help of usage of synonyms grammatical forms:

e.g. You don’t?! You mean you won’t! But I think you do. I think you believe

every word of what I say, and if I’m not saying it to you, you are saying it to

yourself, over and over again, and you are horrified! (Brand)