- •Theoretical grammar as a subject, its aim. Language as a functional system. Language and speech.
- •Types of meaning. Language levels and linguistic units.
- •The difference between system and structure.
- •Systematic relations in a language. Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations.
- •Structural types of languages. English as an analytical language.
- •Morphology and syntax as two parts of linguistic description.
- •Grammatical meaning: explicit/implicit, general/dependent.
- •Grammatical category as unity of meaning. The notion of opposition.
- •Analytical and synthetic formations.
- •Types of morphemes.
- •The problems of definition and classification of parts of speech.
- •Grammatical homonymy.
- •Functional and notional parts of speech. Functional parts of speech. Preposition
- •Conjunctions
- •Particles
- •Interjection
- •General characteristics of the noun. Types of nouns.
- •Grammatical categories of nouns.
- •General characteristics of the adjective. Structural types of adjectives. The category of degrees of comparison.
- •The stative; its syntactical functions. The stative
- •Syntactic function
- •Substantivization (substantivation) of adjectives and adjectivization of nouns.
- •General characteristics of the adverb. Semantic types of adverbs. The category of degrees of comparison.
- •General characteristics of the pronoun. Types of pronouns. Grammatical categories of pronouns.
- •The numeral: meaning, form and function.
- •The verb, its meaning, form and function. Finite and non-finite verbs.
- •Structural types and morphological classes of verbs.
- •Modal verbs.
- •The categories of tense, aspect and phase (time-correlation).
- •The preposition, its types.
- •The conjunction, its types.
- •The particle and the interjection as parts of speech.
- •Subject of syntax.
- •Types of syntactic connection.
- •Word combinations, their types.
- •The notion of predication. Predication and modality
- •The sentence, its structure.
- •Main parts of sentence and their types.
- •Secondary parts of sentence and their types.
- •Prepositional and non-prepositional objects
- •The Apposition, Direct Address, Parentheses, and Insertions. Loose Parts.
- •Loose parts of sentence
- •Communicative types of sentences.
- •Structural types of sentences.
- •I‘m happy.
- •I‘m happy, but my kids are always complaining.
- •I’m happy, even though I don’t make much money.
- •I’m happy, even though I don’t make much money, but my kids are always complaining since we can’t afford to buy the newest toys.
- •Ellyptical sentences and one-member sentences.
- •Verbless two-member sentences and idiomatic sentences.
- •The composite sentence. Compound sentences.
- •The complex sentence, its structure and type of connection between clauses.
- •Types of clauses.
- •Independent clauses
- •Dependent clauses
- •Main or Independent Clause
- •Subordinate or dependent Clause
- •Noun Clause
- •Adjective Clause
- •Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses
- •Adverb Clause
- •Types of adverbial clauses.
- •Word order and inversion.
- •Interrogative Sentences
- •Imperative Sentences
The stative; its syntactical functions. The stative
§ 235. The stative denotes a temporary state of a person or a non-person. Unlike such classes of words as nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs the number of statives functioning in English is limited. There are about 30 stable statives, used both in colloquial and in formal style:
-
askew aslant asleep aslope astray
and about 100 unstable ones, which are seldom used even in formal style and never in colloquial:
ashudder, atwist, atremble, agleam, etc.
Semantically statives fall into five groups describing various states of persons or non-persons:
1. Psychological states of persons:
afraid, aghast, ashamed, aware, agog.
2. Physical states of persons:
alive, awake, asleep.
3. States of motion or activity of persons or non-persons:
afoot, astir, afloat, adrift.
4. Physical states of non-persons:
afire, aflame, alight, aglow, ablaze.
5. The posture of non-persons:
askew, awry, aslant, ajar.
Syntactic function
§ 237. Statives may have three functions in a sentence: that of predicative in a compound nominal or a double predicate (the most common function), that of objective predicative, or occasionally that of attribute.
When used in the function of predicative statives describe the state of the person or non-person denoted by the subject and are connected with the subject by means of a link verb or in some cases by a notional verb.
Statives as predicatives within a compound nominal predicate:
He was terribly afraid of his father.
The house was ablaze with lights.
Soon she fell fast asleep.
He seemed afraid to go any further.
She felt alert and young.
Why do they look so frighteningly alike?
The Overlords remained aloof, hiding their faces from mankind.
Statives as predicatives within a double predicate:
He sat quite alone on that large verandah of his.
For a moment she stood aghast, looking at the door.
She was lying wide awake listening to all the sounds of the night.
She sounded very high and afraid.
When they have the function of objective predicative, statives describe the state of the person or non-person denoted by the object:
First of all have the fire alight in the drawing room.
The large dog kept him afloat until the raft came up.
Don’t keep the door ajar.
Leave me alone, you fool.
I’ll get him awake in a minute.
Although the function of attribute is not characteristic of statives, some of them may have this function (either detached or undetached attributes).
Statives as undetached attributes are always postmodifying:
No man alive could have done it.
No one aware of the consequences of his deed would have defied the fate.
When used as detached attributes, statives may be either post- or premodifying:
The microphone, already alive, was waiting for him.
He stood, alert and listening, while the noise from the reef grew steadily around him.
Aloof on her mountain-top, she considered the innumerable activities of men.
In all these cases the stative retains its predicational force.