2. The Categories of Number and Case of English Nouns.

The grammatical meaning and grammatical opposition of the categories of number and case. Cases of neutralization of the oppositions. Singularia and Pluralia Tantum. Absolute Singular and Absolute Plural. Grammatical number and lexical meaning of nouns compared. Lexicalization of plural forms. Different case theories (limited-case theory, analytical theory, positional case theory, theory of possessive post-position), strong and weak points. The grammatical meaning of the Genitive case form.

3. The Sentence. Classification of Sentences. Types of Sentences.

Basic properties of the sentence. The difference between the word and the sentence. Predicativity and modality. Principles of classification of sentences. One-member and elliptical sentences. Communicative types of sentences. The problem of the exclamatory sentence. Transposition of the communicative type. Actual division of the sentence. IC-analysis of the sentence. Composite sentences. Semi-composite sentences.

4. The Verb as a Part of Speech. The Category of Voice.

The categorial meaning of verbs. Morphological and syntactic properties of verbs. Classification of verbs (finite/non-finite, notional/semi-notional, transitive/intransitive, subjective/objective, terminative/non-terminative, etc.). The grammatical meaning and grammatical opposition of the category of voice. Middle voice, reflexive voice, reciprocal voice (strong and weak points for their recognition).Passive voice forms and compound nominal predicates.

5. The Phrase.

Approaches to the definition of the phrase in foreign and Russian linguistics. Principles of classification of phrases. Syntactic relations between the elements of the phrase (agreement, government, adjoinment, enclosure). Subordinate phrases and their types. Endocentric and exocentric phrases. Binary and multiple phrases. The theory of 3 ranks (O.Jespersen). H.Sweet’s and E.Kruisinga’s theories of the phrase. Phrase-structure grammars.

Lexicology

6. Etymological Classification of the English Word-stock. The Problem of Borrowing.

Etymological classification of the vocabulary (native, borrowed, international words, hybrids). The native element of the English vocabulary: Indo-European, Common Germanic and Anglo-Saxon layers. Characteristics of words belonging to the native word-stock. Reasons for borrowing. Types of borrowings. Translation loans, semantic loans. Assimilation. Types of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation. The fate of borrowed words in English.

7. Word-formation. Basic Types.

Morphemes. Free and bound forms. Major and minor types of word-formation in present-day English. Affixation. Classification of affixes. Compounding. The criteria of compounds. Classification of compounds. The “stone wall” problem. Conversion. Total and partial conversion. Productive patterns of conversion.

8. The Systemic Character of the English Vocabulary System. Synonymy and Antonymy.

English vocabulary as a system. Synonymy and its sources. Classification of synonyms. Semantic contrastives: antonyms and conversives. Classification of antonyms and conversives.

9. The Development of Meaning of the English Word (Semantic Changes).

Linguistic and extra-linguistic causes of semantic changes. Metaphor, typology of metaphors. Metonymy, types of metonymical change. Narrowing, broadening, elevation and degradation of meaning. Other types of semantic change (hyperbole, litotes, etc.).

10. The Structure of Lexical Meaning.

Lexical meaning as a structure. Denotation and signification. Denotation and connotation. The structure of lexical meaning according to M.V.Nikitin: intensional, implicational, extensional part of lexical meaning.

11. The Systemic Character of the English Vocabulary System. Homonymy and Polysemy.

English vocabulary as a system. Homonymy vs. polysemy. Sources of homonymy. Mechanisms of polysemy. Irradiation and concatenation as types of semantic structure of a polysemantic word.

12. The Theory of the Word.

The problem of definitions: different approaches. Features of a word (indivisibility, positional mobility, wholeformedness, etc.). The size-of-unit problem and the identity-of-unit problem in the English language.

History of English

13. Personal Pronouns in Old English and Their Further Development.

Personal pronouns as one of the most ancient group of words in the vocabulary. The origin of OE personal pronouns. Grammatical categories: person, number, case, gender. Tendencies in the development of the category of case.

Changes in the categories of number and case in ME. The reason for lexical replacements in the system of personal pronouns. The appearance of “she” and “they, their, them”, their. Changes origin in the forms of the pronoun of the II person in ENE.

The competition of case forms of the I and III persons in MnE.