
- •Topic 1: General Account of the Grammatical Structure of the English Language under Theoretical Analysis
- •1.2. Basic notions of the grammatical description: grammatical form, grammatical meaning, paradigm, grammatical category
- •1.Pick out the word forms with common grammatical meaning to create appropriate grammatical categories. Do they correspond to the English variants?
- •2.Analyse the following pairs of words. What grammatical devices are used to denote grammatical meanings? Figure out cases in English:
- •3.Which grammatical categories are made up by the paradigm of the given grammatical forms?
- •1.3. Classification of words into parts of speech
- •1.Provide a suitable context to figure out the parts of speech these words belong to:
- •2.Recognize the following words as notional or structural parts of speech. Consider the grammatical form, lexical meaning and syntactical function (make up a phrase):
- •2.1. Categorial meaning, division of nouns into subclasses
- •1.Translate into Russian. Match the nouns with the items in the list: common, proper, abstract, collective, mass:
- •2.Think of the English equivalents to the given nouns. Recognise their subclasses:
- •Revision tasks for self-control
- •2.2. Grammatical categories of the noun: number
- •1.Make up if possible singular and plural of the nouns. Compare them with the corresponding English word forms:
- •2.Supply a predicate in the singular or the plural as appropriate to the nouns used as subjects:
- •2.3. Grammatical categories of the noun: Case
- •1.Point out the grammatical content of the inflectional Genitive; translate into Russian:
- •2.Analyse the meaning of the ‘of-Genitive’. What are the corresponding Russian word forms? Do possible substitutions for ‘s-inflection:
- •3.Choose the correct case form in English. Note appropriate transformations in the translation:
- •Revision tasks for self-control
- •3.1. Categorial meaning, grammatical forms and classes of the Verb
- •1.Point out notional and structural verbs:
- •2.Identify the verbs as stative, dynamic, transitive, intransitive:
- •3.Find phrasal verbs, identifying them as transitive/intransitive, separable/inseparable. Think of both grammatical and lexical differences:
- •4.Match modal verb forms in accordance with the given meanings: ability, possibility, probability, logical assumptions, permission, necessity, obligation, duty, prohibition:
- •Revision tasks for self-control
- •Finite versus non-finite verb forms
- •1.Name the grammatical categories in which the verbals differ:
- •2.Consider different functions of the infinitive:
- •3.Consider different functions of the gerund:
- •4.Consider different functions of the participle:
- •5.Point out verbal constructions:
- •Revision tasks for self-control
- •3.3. Grammatical categories of the verb: tense, taxis, aspect
- •1.What time (present, past, future) does the process denoted by the verb refer to?
- •2.Consider the following oppositions and account for the difference between the verb forms belonging to Continuous / Non-Continuous, Perfect / Non-Perfect:
- •3.Translate into English. Match the verb forms with the meanings indicating:
- •Revision tasks for self-control
- •3.4. Grammatical categories of the verb: voice
- •1.Make as many active – passive transformations as possible:
- •2.Rewrite the following passages into Passive; wherever necessary translate into English:
- •3.Translate into English. Put the Passive voice wherever necessary:
- •3.5. Grammatical categories of the verb: mood
- •1.How do the underlined verbs differ grammatically? Is there difference in person? number? mood? tense? aspect? taxis? voice?
- •2.Match English and Russian verb forms of the Subjunctive in accordance with the given meanings; Work them out in the given sentences:
- •3.Think of possible similarities and differences in the choice of conjunctions:
- •4.Transform the situations by using the sentences with the Subjunctive Mood; recognize unreal meanings:
- •5.Translate into English. Are the verb forms equal? What is preferable in formal and informal speech?
- •Revision tasks for self-control
- •4.1. General remarks on syntactic problems
- •4.2. Syntagmatic connections in word-groups: types of syntactic relations
- •4.3. Syntactic relations and ways of their expression
- •1.Determine the type of syntactic relations between the components of word-phrases. Translate either into Russian or English:
- •2.Distinguish between the phrases; show differences in translation:
- •5.1. Predication, its types and expression
- •5.2. Classification of sentences: structural, semantic, communicative
- •1.Make difference between types of predication: explicit / implicit, single-headed / double-headed:
- •2.Point out structural types of sentences: one-member / two-member, extended / non-extended, complete / incomplete, simple / composite, quasi-sentences:
- •3.Distinguish between communicative types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, negative, exclamatory:
- •4.Consider semantic types of sentences: personal / impersonal, definite / indefinite, actual / relational / statal:
- •5.Look at the one-member Russian sentences and translate them into English:
- •5.3. Division of the sentence: principal vs secondary parts
- •1.Note the way how the predicative centre is formed in the English simple sentence; take care of inversion. Highlight different types of the predicate and the subject.
- •2.Point out the forms of secondary parts of a sentence, with a special focus on possible Russian equivalents:
- •6.1. Features of a composite sentence
- •6.2. Complex sentence
- •6.3. Semi-complex sentence
- •6.4. Compound sentence
- •6.5. Semi-compound sentence
- •1.Pay attention to the form of a subject and a predicate in clauses of composite sentences, highlighting logic focus on them. Translate into Russian:
- •2.In the given below semi-composite sentences point out cases of secondary predication, performing objective, attributive and adverbial function. Think of possible corresponding Russian variants:
- •3.Express the syntactic positions of subject, predicate, object, attribute and adverbial modifier by corresponding clauses, wherever possible:
- •4.Complete the structure of the semi-composite sentences, translating from Russian into English:
- •5.Translate into English; justify the choice either of a clause or a verbal construction:
- •Recommended literature
- •I. Engagement and comprehension activities:
- •1. Making predictions
- •2. Setting up expectations about the theme of the text
- •3. Making guesses about the author’s tone and intention
- •4. Deducing meaning and ideas
- •5. Making cross-cultural comparison
- •6. Vocabulary development
- •II. Activate activities:
- •2. Setting up expectations about thematic formation of the text
- •1. Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
- •2. Reassemble sequences of lines to provide cohesion and coherence of the text in the form of a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h:
- •3. Scan the text for keywords and phrases essential to your understanding of the theme?
- •4. The author recognizes the fact that
- •5. Which of the sentences best summarizes what the text is about?
- •5. Making cross-cultural comparison
- •1. Think of the associations you have with the word ‘stress’.
- •2. Do the following statements reflect the author’s attitude to gender differences in stress response:
- •3. Make cross-cultural connections:
- •Indicating purpose:
- •III. Summarizing statements on the given reading passage :
- •IV. Conclusive remarks:
- •1.Pick out the word forms with common grammatical meaning to create appropriate grammatical categories. Do they correspond to the English variants?
- •2.Analyse the following pairs of words. What grammatical devices are used to denote grammatical meanings? Figure out cases in English:
- •3.Which grammatical categories are made up by the paradigm of the given grammatical forms?
- •1.Provide a suitable context to figure out the parts of speech these words belong to:
- •2.Recognize the following words as notional or structural parts of speech. Consider the grammatical form, lexical meaning and syntactical function (make up a phrase):
- •1.Translate into Russian. Match the nouns with the items in the list: common, proper, abstract, collective, mass:
- •2.Think of the English equivalents to the given nouns. Recognise their subclasses:
- •1.Make up if possible singular and plural of the nouns. Compare them with the corresponding English word forms:
- •2.Supply a predicate in the singular or the plural as appropriate to the nouns used as subjects:
- •1.Point out the grammatical content of the inflectional Genitive; translate into Russian:
- •2.Analyse the meaning of the ‘of-Genitive’. What are the corresponding Russian word forms? Do possible substitutions for ‘s-inflection:
- •3.Choose the correct case form in English. Note appropriate transformations in the translation:
- •Topic 3: Morphological Features of the Verb as Part of speech
- •1.Point out notional and structural verbs:
- •2.Identify the verbs as stative, dynamic, transitive, intransitive:
- •3.Find phrasal verbs, identifying them as transitive/intransitive, separable/inseparable. Think of both grammatical and lexical differences:
- •4.Match modal verb forms in accordance with the given meanings: ability, possibility, probability, logical assumptions, permission, necessity, obligation, duty, prohibition:
- •1.Name the grammatical categories in which the verbals differ:
- •2.Consider different functions of the infinitive:
- •3.Consider different functions of the gerund:
- •4.Consider different functions of the participle:
- •5.Point out verbal constructions:
- •1.What time (present, past, future) does the process denoted by the verb refer to?
- •2.Consider the following oppositions and account for the difference between the verb forms belonging to Continuous / Non-Continuous, Perfect / Non-Perfect:
- •3.Translate into English. Match the verb forms with the meanings indicating:
- •1.Make as many active – passive transformations as possible:
- •2.Rewrite the following passages into Passive; wherever necessary translate into English:
- •3.Translate into English. Put the Passive voice wherever necessary:
- •1.How do the underlined verbs differ grammatically? Is there difference in person? number? mood? tense? aspect? taxis? voice?
- •2.Match English and Russian verb forms of the Subjunctive in accordance with the given meanings; Work them out in the given sentences:
- •3.Think of possible similarities and differences in the choice of conjunctions:
- •4.Transform the situations by using the sentences with the Subjunctive Mood; recognize unreal meanings:
- •5.Translate into English. Are the verb forms equal? What is preferable in formal and informal speech?
- •4.2. Syntagmatic connections in word-groups: types of syntactic relations.
- •1.Determine the type of syntactic relations between the components of word-phrases. Translate either into Russian or English:
- •2.Distinguish between the phrases; show differences in translation:
- •Topic 5: Sentence as a predicative unit: structural, semantic, communicative aspects
- •Practical assignments
- •1.Make difference between types of predication: explicit / implicit, single-headed / double-headed:
- •2.Point out structural types of sentences: one-member / two-member, extended / non-extended, complete / incomplete, simple / composite, quasi-sentences:
- •3.Distinguish between communicative types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, negative, exclamatory:
- •4.Consider semantic types of sentences: personal / impersonal, definite / indefinite, actual / relational / statal:
- •5.Look at the one-member Russian sentences and translate them into English:
- •1.Note the way how the predicative centre is formed in the English simple sentence; take care of inversion. Highlight different types of the predicate and the subject;
- •2.Point out the forms of secondary parts of a sentence, with a special focus on possible Russian equivalents:
- •Topic 6: Composite sentence: types, clauses, connectors
- •1.Pay attention to the form of a subject and a predicate in clauses of composite sentences, highlighting logic focus on them. Translate into Russian:
- •2.In the given below semi-composite sentences point out cases of secondary predication, performing objective, attributive and adverbial function. Think of possible corresponding Russian variants:
- •3.Express the syntactic positions of subject, predicate, object, attribute and adverbial modifier by corresponding clauses, wherever possible:
- •4.Complete the structure of the semi-composite sentences, translating from Russian into English:
- •5.Translate into English; justify the choice either of a clause or a verbal construction:
- •Recommended literature
2.Distinguish between the phrases; show differences in translation:
A flower garden, a garden flower; a school teacher, a teacher school; a car company, a company car; the head office, the office head; a candle wax, a wax candle; a station bus, a bus station; company insurance, insurance company; efficiency politics, politics efficiency; oil export, export oil; the clock’s tick, the clock tick; the lake’s edge, the lake edge; the butcher’s shop, the butcher shop; Africa problems, Africa’s problem; a race car, a car race; family coach, family’s coach; earth radius, earth’s radius; women emancipation, women’s emancipation.
Supplementary 8: Theory of word combination
Definition of the word combination.
Word combination as grammatical structure, as non-communicative unit, as syntactically organized structure with syntactic relations.
Subject-matter of the WC theory.
How is the syntactic structure of the word combination created?
The grammatical aspect of the study as distinct from the lexicological.
Bloomfield’s theory of word phrase: endocentric (subordinate and coordinate) and exocentric (predicative and prepositional); paratactic and hypotactic.
Classification according to internal structure: with the head (regressive\progressive) and without the head (independenr\dependent: being morphologically homogenous and heterogeneous).
(Alexeyeva I.A. Theoretical English Grammar Course. Chapter 2, pp.196-211, pp.180-181)
Revision tasks for self-control
What are the issues relevant to syntactic research?
How are basic syntactic features termed?
Note syntactic relations as connecting syntagmatic groupings of words.
What is a dominational / equipotent connection like?
Point out the main divisions in subordination, coordination and predicative connection.
Account for the types of word-phrases in accordance with syntactic relations.
What are grammatical means of expression syntactic relations?
TOPIC 5: Sentence as a predicative unit: structural, semantic, communicative aspects
5.1. Predication, its types and expression
Being grouped syntagmatically, words make up word-phrases which are used to form sentences, simple and composite, with features predetermined by the three aspects characteristic of a sentence as a syntactic speech unit: structural, semantic, functional. So the sentence is defined as an immediate integral unit of speech built up of words according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a meaning and contextually relevant communicate purpose. The principal distinguishing features characterize the sentence as the main language unit; the main syntactic unit; the main integral communicative unit of speech.
Unlike word-groups, sentences are distinguished by some peculiar properties such as: an intonation contour, predication, modality, a relative sense completion. A sentence as product of human thought is essentially aimed to describe a situation of objective reality, represented as subject-predicate structure, called proposition; the link between subject and predicate is regarded as predication. To put it the other way, predication tends to be defined as act of relating a number of notions expressed by constituents of a sentence in order to describe a situation, an event. Predication is based on the following:
the time correlation of the act of speech with the event nominated in the sentence which is grammatically expressed by the category of tense;
the speaker’s relation to other persons or things mentioned in the sentence, which is grammatically expressed by the categories of person and number;
the speaker’s attitude to the event from the viewpoint of reality, which is grammatically expressed by the category of mood.
Proceeding from the above principles, it must be admitted that with the help of its word-constituents the sentence, a predicative utterance – unit, presents some referents as making up a certain situational event showing the time of its occurrence, its being real or unreal, desirable or undesirable, necessary or unnecessary. Hence, the sentence is understood as a predicative entity naming a situation presented in a sentence structure by its predicative centre with the position of subject group and predicate group, connected syntactically with the help of predicative relations. It follows that there are basic patterns, in accordance with which sentences are built, and which are generated on the predication being of four types:
double headed predication, with subject and predicate formally expressed as forming structural type of a two-member sentence;
single headed predication, with either subject or predicate missing, as forming structural type of a one-member sentence: e.g. Open the door. How amazing! Nice meeting. Pretty good. Incredible!
explicit predication creating the predicative line of explicitly expressed positions of subject and predicate;
implicit predication creating the predicative line of implied positions of subject and predicate inferred through possible transformations inside. For instance, gerundial complexes, objective and subjective infinitival/participial constructions in the sentences: He is said to be doing well at school. She denied having made mistakes. We got lost not knowing the address.
Implicit predication is observed in the so called quasi-sentences or one-word sentences. They are used to perform a certain speech-communicative function and exist as: short responses to inquiry: e.g. A real beauty? – Yes, indeed. Do you agree? – All right; expressing negation by negative particle ‘not, no, not yet, not at all’: e.g. Have you got a cigarette? – No. You don’t mind if I do? – Of course, not; conveying question, inquiry, doubt, request, greeting, excuse and expressed by separate components and phrases: e.g. Are you tired? – No. Why? I congratulate you. – Thank you. Eh? Her voice trembled. ‘Well?’ How do you do?