8. The Particle

The lexico-gramimatical meaning of the particle is that of "emphatic specification". It either emphasizes or limits the meaning of another word or phrase or clause. According to their meaning particles fall into six groups:

• intensifying particles: just, even, still, all (They even offered him higher wages.);

• limiting particles: only, merely, barely, but, alone (I can't live on bread alone);

• specifying particles: right, precisely, just (We were just to start.);

• the additive particle "else" ( What else do you want?);

• the negative particle "not" (Not a word was said.);

• connecting particles: also, too (I was also there.).

Particles have no grammatical categories, no typical stem-building elements, they are invariable. They may have different types of stems:

• simple: just, still, even, else;

• derived : merely, simply, alone;

• compound: also.

Particles may combine with any part of speech, generally standing before the word they refer to (not he, not the student, not beautifiil, not forty, not tomorrow, not to see, not seeing, not when he comes):

• I only saw Mary. (= I saw her, but didn't speak to her).

• Only the teachers are allowed to use this room.

But sometimes the particles stand after the words they refer to: Ladies only, (on a compartment in a railway carriage). The book is for advanced students only.

9. The Response Words

The response words are „yes" and „no".

statement adding the lexical meaning of „affirmation". „No" does the same but adds the meaning of „negation".

The response words have negative combinability and they function as sentence-words:

• „At four, then, we may expect you?"

„Yes", said Carrie. (Dreiser)

• „Can't you handle it?"

„No", he said weakly.. (Ib)

Syntax The Phrase

Lecture plan

1. Syntanctic units: a phrase and a sentence.

2. The debatable problems of phrase investigation.

3. The contribution of English and American scholars to the heory of phrase.

4. Syntactic connections.

5. Semantico-syntactic relations (combination relations).

6. Phrase classification.

List of Recommended Literature

1. Иванова И.П., Бурлакова В.В., Почепцов Г.Г. Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1981. – С. 100-162.

2. Blokh M.Y. A Course in Theoretical English Grammar. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1983. – С.66-68, 229-230.

3. Ilyish В. The Structure of Modern English. – Ленинград: Просвещение, 1971. – C.171 -238.

4. Khaimovich B.S., Rogovskaya B.I. A Course in English Grammar. Москва: Высшая школа, 1987. – С. 255 – 293.

1. The syntanctic units: a phrase and a sentence.

Syntax is part of grammar. The word “syntax” is of Greek origin (from Greek “syntaxis”, which means “building, order”/. Syntax investigates:

• means of combining words into a phrase or into a sentence;

• means of combining clauses into composite sentences;

• types, meanings, etc of phrases and sentences.

There are two syntactic units: a phrase and a sentence. The difference between them is the following:

Phrase

Sentence

A phrase is a non- communicative unit. Like a word, a phrase names some phenomena or processes. Each component of a phrase can undergo grammatical changes without destroying the identity of the phrase. E.g.: reads a book, is reading a book, has read a book, etc are grammatical modifications of one phrase. A phrase has no intonation.

A sentence is a communicative unit. Unlike a word and a phrase. A sentence names a situation of objective reality. A change in the form of one or more words will produce a new sentence. E.g.: He lives in London. He lived in London. He will live in London. They are different sentences as they have different types of predication. Predication shows the relation of the plot of the utterance to reality. A sentence has its intonation.

The debatable problems of phrase investigation.

Phrase investigation has some debatable problems.:

• Russian and Ukrainian scholars apply the term “phrase” (“word- combination) to such groups of words, which contain at least two notional words (I.Yu.Shvedova, V.V. Vinogradov, I.K. Bilodid, H.O. Kozachuk) Western scholars hold a different view on the problem. They consider that every combination of two or more words makes a unit, which they term “phrase”. We share this point of view.

• Another debatable problem is whether a predicative combination of words makes a “phrase”. Russian and Ukrainian scholars say that subject- predicate groups do not make “phrases”. In contrast with them, Western scholars term subject-predicate combinations “phrases”. We stick to this point of view.

3. The contribution of English and American scholars to the theory of phrase.

Ben Johnson (1573-1637) was the first English scholar to study phrases in English. He classified phrases according to their head-words. The term “phrase” was not used in B. Johnson's grammar.

In the second half of the 18th century the term “phrase” was introduced to denote a word-group in English. Doctor Lowth was the first English grammarian to use the term “phrase” in his grammar in 1762.

The last decade of the 19th century saw the publication of the first scientific English grammar. It was written by Henry Sweet. H. Sweet studied the question of pre- and postposition of attributive elements in noun-phrases.

In the 20th century Otto Jespersen introduced the theory of three ranks. Analyzing the phrase “terribly cold weather”, he says that “weather” is a primary word (it is grammatically most important), “cold” is a secondary word (“cold” is subordinate to “weather”), “terribly” is a tertiary word? “terribly” is subordinate to “cold”).

L. Bloomfield divides phrases into:

А/ endocentric (if one or two elements can function in the same way as the whole phrase):

• the phrase “poor John” is endocentric because the element “John” can substitute for the whole phrase in the sentence: Poor John ran away.” – “John ran away”.

• the phrase “John and Mary” is also endocentric as both elements can substitute for the whole phrase in the sentence “John and Mary ran away” – “John ran away”, “Mary ran away”.

В/ exocentric phrases are such phrases in which no part (of them) can substitute for the whole phrase: besides John, John ran.

This division of phrases is based on their behaviour in a sentence. The second stage of Bloomfield's division is that endocentric phrases should fall into two subgroups: co-ordinate (Tom and Mary) and subordinate (poor John). This classification is based in the inner structure of a phrase.

Ch. Hockett analysed endocentric subordinate phrases in detail. His classification is based on the position of the head-word:

Type 1. The head-word is in the postposition: new cars;

Type 2. The head-word is in the preposition: good enough;

Type 3: The head-word is in the centre: as good as that;

Type 4: The head-word is at the beginning and at the end of the phrase: did not come.

4. Syntactic connections

The elements of all phrases are structurally connected. There are four types of syntactic connections (bonds, links): coordination, subordination, predication and accumulation.

COORDINATION (сурядність).

Phrases are coordinate if they consist of relatively independent elements capable to combine with the help of coordinate conjunctions. Coordinate phrases are:

- syndetic (if the constituent elements are connected with the help of coordinating conjunctions: read and translate) or asyndetic (if the constituent elements are connected without coordinating conjunctions);

-symmetric (if the constituent elements have the same number of syllables, they can exchange their places: black and white – white and black) or asymmetric (if the constituent elements can't exchange their places). The first place is occupied by a shorter element: sons and daughters. Sometimes the etiquette requires the opposite: my friend and I.

Coordination is found between elements belonging to different parts of speech: nouns: boys and girls; Adjectives: red and yellow; Adverbs: up and down; Prepositions: for and against.

SUBORDINATION

Subordination is based on unequality of combining elements. One of them is syntactically leading. It is the head (nucleus). The other one depends on the head. It is the adjunct. No matter how long a subordinate phrase may be, it is always divided into two parts: the head and the adjunct:

an interesting book;

a very interesting book.

The adjunct the head

PREDICATION

Predication is found:

A/ between the subject and the predicate (They got married.)

B/ between the nominal and the verbal parts of predicative constructions:

I want them to meet (the Objective with the Infinitive construction)

I I

Nominal Verbal

part part

ACCUMULATION

V.V. Burlakova finds one more type of syntactic connection and calls it accumulation.

Accumulation is revealed, first of all between the elements, which can't exchange exchange their places. It happens in phrases, the elements of which are expressed by different parts of speech and function in the sentence as two attributes referring to one word:

Three big (houses) These smart (boys)

I I I I

Numeral adjective pronoun adjective

The position of the attributes is fixed. The impossibility to exchange the attributes proves that there exist a syntactic connection between two elements.

Accumulation also connects two elements, which can exchange their places, but the exchange of their positions in the sentence results in the change of the form of one of them.

(to write) his friend a letter — (to write) a letter to his friend

5. Semantico-syntactic relations (Combination relation)

/Here we deal with syntactic semantics. Don't confuse it with lexical semantics/

Semantically the elements of a phrase can be either related or notrelated to each other.

In coordinate phrases the elements are structurally combined but semantically they are not related to each other as coordination is based on the interdependence of the constituent elements. So, coordinate phrases lack any semantico-syntactic relations.

In accumulative phrases the elements do not depend on each other. They depend on the third element, which does not belong to the phrase under analysis. Thus, the elements of these phrases are combined only structurally. They are not related semantically and they lack any semantico-syntactic relations.

In subordinate phrases one element depends on the other one. So, these elements are not only combined structurally but also they are related semantically. Subordinate phrases have the following types of semantico-syntactic relations:

1/ attributive (between the head and the attribute-adjunct: pretty girls; some books, four boys, this pen, a chance of going, a book to read);

2/ objective (between the head and the object-adjunct: see them; bought a car, will meet them, wrote a letter/;

3/ adverbial (between the head and the adverbial modifier – adjunct: walked there; will meet soon; to speak fast);

4/ existential (between the head, which is a link-verb and the predicative- adjunct: is pretty, look young; tastes bitter; sounds wonderful; became angry; got red; turned pale, etc). In sentences these phrases (link-verb + predicative) perform the function of the Compound nominal predicate proper. The predicative characterizes the existence of properties of the subject of the sentence (a person or a ting). Hence the name “existential”.

In predicative phrases the elements are interdependent. So, they are connected structurally and related to each other semantically. The elements of predicative phrases have predicative relations of two types:

• the relations of primary predication (between the subject and the predicate: They left);

• the relations of secondary predication (between the nominal and verbal parts of predicative constructions:

His reading English is necessary (the gerundial construction);

I saw them meet (the Objective with the Infinitive construction);

It is important for them to do it (the “for”-to-the Infinitive construction;

He is said to be a teacher (the Subjective Infinitive construction);

I heard them singing (the Objective Participial construction).