*He can go there, can’t he?

He can’t go there, can he?

He can go there, can he?

He can’t go there, can’t he?

When we discuss tag questions there are two important factors: an assumption expressed by the statement and an expectation expressed by the context.

1,2- Он ведь (не) может туда пойти, не так ли?

3,4- Но ведь он же (не) может туда пойти!

Clauses

We presuppose that the clause is one of many parts of a bigger unit, a complex sentence. So when translating we should remember that not the whole complex sentence is taken into account. In English the conditional clause may not be expressed explicitly.

*Should you be interested, let me know.

In Russian the conjunction “если” is necessary unless we use the word “будь”. In Russian imperative mood may be a substitution for a conjunction.

Conditional clauses with “unless” often require antonymic translation and it’s a rule:

*I won’t come unless he specially invites me. – только в том случае, если…

Object clauses present some challenge, because English object clauses are often produced without a conjunction: “He said you were tired.” In Russian this is possible in spoken Russian, but in writing a conjunction is absolutely necessary: “Он сказал, (что) ты устал.” Writing sometimes removes ambiguity as the translator can see the punctuation. In speech we rely on pauses and intonation, but it’s a rather vague means to rely upon.

*Yesterday he said he was very tired. – вчера сказал

*Yesterday, he said, he was very tired. – вчера устал

If we have cases of unreal condition with “wish”, there should be antonymic translation:

*I wish he were here. – жаль, что его здесь нет.

English exclamatory sentences cause a complete restructuring of the Russian counterpart:

They thought they were going to the party, and were they surprised – Они-то думали, что приглашены на вечеринку. Каково же было их удивление, когда они попали совсем не туда.

*Boy! Must I work hard! – Ну и достается же мне!

Very simple ideas may cause very complex grammatical structures. Sometimes a translator is puzzled, because the choice that s/he has to make is rather unpredictable and s/he can rely on he context only, linguistic or extra linguistic.

*All I want is all there is.

Many problems are caused by structures that have no analogs, e.g. absolute constructions. The translation is in danger to be clumsy. Absolute constructions may be translated in different ways: by a clause, an independent sentence, a participle or participial construction, деепричастным оборотом, or by a prepositional phrase.

*Her momentary weakness past, the child again summoned the resolution which until now sustained her. – когда прошла эта минутная слабость…

*The duty done, we refilled our glasses. – выполнив эту обязанность, мы вновь наполнили стаканы.

One should be very careful translating Russian деепричастные обороты. There are cases when this structure sounds ambiguous:

*Согласитесь, что, имея право выбирать оружие, его жизнь была в моих руках.”

In modern Russian there no such structures. They were common for 19^th century sentences and were named “dangling modifier”.

Cumulative sentences.

The text develops in time, but it modifies what has been said before. Addition and direction of modification (forward and backward). The next sentence has a flowing and ebbing movement:

* She came among them behind the man, gaunt in the gray shapeless garment and the sunbonnet, wearing stained canvas gymnasium shoes.” – Она пошла за ним вместе с другими. Она выглядела изможденной в своем бесформенном сером платье и шляпке. Обута она была в грязные парусиновые тапочки.

Addition and direction of modification are structural principle. We can use for addition such structures as noun clusters, verb clusters, adjective clusters, adjective series, absolute constructions, prepositional phrases. Each of these structures present a little challenge for a translator.

* The bird’s eye, bright and silly as a sequin, remained fixed upon him. Its little bones wrapped in a warm padding of feathers seemed swooning in his hand.

The sentence developed by using clusters, all of which are placed in layers:

1- sentence, which presents a characterized object, a main clause

2,3,4 - characteristics of the object

1. Joad’s lips stretched tight over his long teeth for a moment, and

1. he licked his lips,

2. like a dog (PP)

3. two licks (NC)

4. one in each direction from the middle (NC).

There are two main clauses (1,1). The 1^st layer is very much peculiar as it has 2 clauses and there should be some sort of redundancy, which is seldom used in Russian:

* Рот Джода застыл в некоем подобии оскала, обнажив на мгновение длинные зубы. 2) Он облизнул губы как собака, два раза, каждый раз начиная с середины.

1) Is a static picture, 2) is a dynamic picture. The challenge here is that we change hierarchy.

Syntax is a cultural phenomenon as it reflects mentality, nature.

Paragraph.

The cumulative sentence allows us to go to linguistic units larger than a sentence, e.g. a paragraph. The structure of a paragraph is like that of a cumulative sentence. It follows the same two principles of addition and direction of modification. But instead of the main clause there’s the topic sentence and the same types of relationships among sentences that we observe in the cumulative sentence. They are: coordination (the same level) and subordination (different levels). The cumulative sentence may serve as a model for writing an effective paragraph.

An example of coordinative paragraph:

*1. In the names of justice, good sportsmanship and general honesty, it is simply essential that information reported in the public press, in meetings or committees or lunch tables be double-checked.

2. In engineering and industry this is a matter of profits or bankruptcy.

2. In medicine it is a matter of life and death.

2. In public affairs and in private life it is a matter of integrity or corruption.

2. In the laboratory it is taken for as a necessary and elementary part of scientific behavior.

In the process of translation there may occur a situation when we’ll have to divide a sentence into two or we’ll have to unite two sentences.

Во имя справедливости, честной игры и элементарной порядочности просто необходимо создать условия для того, чтобы информация, поступающая в прессе и обсуждаемая на заседаниях комитетов и во время деловых обедов, была бы проверена и перепроверена. Что касается технологии и производства, это вопрос прибылей или банкротства. В медицине это вопрос жизни и смерти. В общественной и частной жизни это вопрос порядочности или нарушения человеческих устоев. В области научных исследований это неотъемлемая характеристика научной этики.

An example of a subordinate paragraph:

* 1. The humanities, whatever is meant by that baffling term, seem to the musing observer to offer a succession of paradoxes.

2. The word itself is a modern invention, coming to us from the 19^th century.

3. One might reasonably infer that, given so recent a coinage, we must know what we mean by it.

4. In fact, however, we don’t quite know what we mean by it and this is the 1^st paradox.

5. We believe in something we cannot delimit.

6. Probably, the only safe working definition is that: you know horses – cows are different.

7. You know the sciences – the humanities are different.

8. They are what you have left in the college curriculum when you extract the sciences – natural, physical and social.

Here is the kind of hierarchy, which tells us that each sentence is dependent on the previous sentence, the one on the previous level.

Для вдумчивого исследователя то, что подразумевается под сомнительным термином “гуманитарные науки”, является рядом парадоксов. Сам термин появился сравнительно недавно, в 19 веке. Можно предположить, что, используя недавно изобретенное слово, мы должны знать, что оно означает. На самом деле мы не знаем, и это первый парадокс. Мы используем понятие, которому не можем дать определение. Единственно подходящим определением было бы следующее: вы когда-нибудь видели лошадь? Так вот, коровы – это совсем другое. Вы знаете, что такое естественные науки? Так вот, гуманитарные науки – это совсем другое. Это то, что останется в учебном плане университета, если оттуда убрать биологию, физику и социальные дисциплины.

We place every sentence on the separate level in the hierarchy of sentences and we try to show the dependence of one sentence on the other or others.

“1. The process of learning is essential in our life.

2. All higher animals seek it deliberately.

3. They are inquisitive and they experiment.

4 . An experiment is a sort of harmless trial run of some action, which we shall have to make in the real world; and this, whether it is made in the laboratory by scientists or by fox cubs outside their earth.

5 . The scientists experiment and the cub plays; both are learning to correct their errors of judgment in a setting in which errors are not fatal.

6. Perhaps, this is what gives them both their air of happiness and freedom in these activities.”