Граматика

1. Basic grammatical notions.

Speaking about the basic grammatical notions, above all we must speak about the grammatical form. Grammatical form is a morphological variant of a word manifested some grammatical meaning which can be connected with other word-forms differing from other forms of this word.

Grammatical forms can be morphemes, synthetic forms, grammatical word combinations, which are analytical forms. Synthetic forms unite both lexical and grammatical meanings in one word. In analytical forms there two or more words in which at least one element is an auxiliary. Analytical structures must be differentiated from free syntactical word combinations. In free syntactical word-combinations all the elements possess both lexical and grammatical meanings.

Another basic grammatical notion is grammatical meaning. The word is a lexico-grammatical unit of language. It possesses lexical and grammatical meanings. E.g. The word "runs" the morpheme "run" has many meanings of the "s"- morpheme are follows: 1)present tense, 2)indicative mood, 3) third person, 4)singular number, 5)non-continuous aspect, etc.

All the lexical meanings of the word "runs", inherent in the morpheme "run", unite this word with "to run", "running", "will run", "had run" etc. into one group called a lexeme.

All the grammatical meanings of the word "runs", inherent in the morpheme "s", unite this word with " walks, sleeps, lives" etc. we shall call a grammeme.

The words of a lexeme or a grammeme united not only by the meanings of the corresponding morpheme, but by its form too. Still the content is of greater importance, with the form of differing considerably. The words "runs" and "ran", for instance, have the same lexical meanings and belong therefor to the same lexeme in spite of the formal difference. A similar example can illustrate formal variations of a grammatical morpheme uniting words into a grammeme: lived, walked, went.

As we see, each word of a lexeme represents a certain grammeme, and each word of a grammeme represents a certain lexeme. The set of grammemes represented by all the words of a lexeme is its paradigm.

The set of lexemes represented by all the words of a grammeme is usually so large that is therefore has got no name. But it's of necessity to recollect the fact that in actual speech a lexical morpheme displays only one meaning of the bunch in each case, and that meaning is singled out by the content or the situation of speech (that is syntagmatically, in grammar language).

The meanings of a grammatical morpheme always come together in the word. In accordance with their relative nature they can be singled out only relatively in contrast to the meanings of other grammatical morphemes ( in grammar terms, paradigmatically - grammar system, which elements placed on the one level and at the same time opposed each other).

So we can do a conclusion, that the grammatical meaning is an abstract meaning added to the lexical meaning of of word, expressing its relations to other words or classes of words. As a rule, a word has several grammatical meanings. Grammatical meanings are realised in grammatical word form.

Another grammatical notion is the notion of opposition. When opposed, the two words "runs" and "is running" form a particular unit. All their meanings but those of aspect counterbalance one another and do not count. Only the two particular meanings of non-continuous and continuous aspect united by the general meaning of "aspect" are revealed in this opposition or "opposeme" (is a member of oppositions). The general meaning of this opposeme ("aspect") manifests itself in the two particular meanings (non-continuous aspect and continuous aspect) of the opposite members (or opposites). Thus, the elements which the opposition/opposeme is composed of are called opposites of members of the opposition. Opposites can be different:

1) non-marked

2) marked

Comparing the pair of noun forms "table - tables" together they create the "number" opposeme, where table represents the singular number expressed by a zero morpheme that is why it's called the non-marked member of the opposition. And "tables" - the plural number expressed by the positive morpheme "-s" is called the marked member of the opposition. Non-marked opposite is used more often than the marked opposite is. The marked opposite is peculiar by its limited use.

Ferdinand de Saussure claimed that everything in language is based on opposition. On phonetic level we have opposition of sounds. On all levels of language we have opposition. Any grammatical form has got its contrast of counterpart. At the end, we can say that a grammatical opposition is the minimum set of words revilling only the particular manifestation of some general meaning: e.g. Table - table = number.

And the last grammatical notion is the grammatical category. A part of speech is characterized by its grammatical categories manifested in the opposemes (the elements of the opposition) and paradigms of its lexemes. Nouns have the categories of number and case. Verbs possess the categories of tense, voice, mood, etc. That is why paradigms belonging to different part of speech are different. So, the paradigm of a lexeme shows what part of speech the lexeme belongs to.

The term "grammatical category" inplies that:

1) there exist different morphological forms in the words of a part of speech possessing different referential meanings;

2) the oppositions of different forms possessing referential meanings are systematic, that is they cover the whole class of words of that part of speech.

Grammatical category is a systematic opposition of different morphological forms possessing different referential meanings. Each grammatical category is composed of at least two contrasting forms. Otherwise a category would stop existing.

Any grammatical category is the system of such opposemes whose member differ in form to express only the particular manifestations of general meaning of the category.

Grammatical category unites in itself particular grammatical meanings.

Grammatical meaning is an abstract meaning added to the lexical meaning of a word, expressing its relations to other words or classes of words. As a rule, a word has several grammatical meanings. Grammatical meaning are realised in a grammatical word form.

All in all, the basic grammatical notions are grammatical structure of words, grammatical form, grammaticall meaning, the notion of opposition, grammarical category.

2. The problem of parts of speech.

Part of speech is classes of words having the same meaning, morphological forms and functions.

By the factor of meaning, we don't refer to the individual (lexical) meaning of each separate word, but the one common to all the words of the given class.

By the factor of form, we mean the morphological characteristics of a type of word. Thus, the noun is characterized by the category of number (singular and plural), the verb by tense and mood.

By the factor of functions, we mean synthetic properties a type of word: method of combining with other words and forming syntactic structures:e.g. The boy writes - structure of predication; to write letters - structure of complementation; a letter box - structure of modification.

The relative importance of "form" and "function" factors is different for languages in different system. For synthetic languages ( Ukrainian) form is more important, while syntactic function is important for analytical ones.

The lexemes of a part of speech are first of all united by their content, that is by their meaning. The meaning of a part of speech is closely connected with certain typical grammatical meanings.Thus the general meaning of a part of speech is neither lexical nor grammatical, but it's connected with both, and we call it lexico-grammatical meaning.

A part of speech is a class of lexemes characterized by:

- its grammatical categories manifested in the opposemes and paradigms of its lexemes;

- its combinability, that is the ability to form certain combinations of words;

- its functions in a sentence;

- its lexico-grammatical morphemes (stem-building elements);

- its lexico-grammatical meaning

The part-of-speech problem remains one of the most controversial problems in grammar.

The logico-syntactical approach to the parts of speech is revealed in the most fundamental division between "noun" and "verb" drawn in terms of logico-syntactical categories of utterances such as "subject and predicate" primarily.

The logico-inflectional approach: the division was made between parts of speech and particles of speech with regard to the inflectional declinability and indeclinability of words.

Lexico-morphological principle (or functional principle). H. Sweet describe the three main features characterizing the parts of speech: meaning, form and function.

Classification of parts of speech:

Declinable:

Noun-word: noun, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, infinitive, gerund.

Adj-word: adj, adj-pronoun, adj-numeral, participle.

Verb: finite verb, verbals ( infinities and participle), gerund.

Indeclinable (particles): adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection.

Three main criteria of parts of speech:

- meaning (semantic criterion) - the meaning is defined as the categorical meaning of the parts of speech.

- form (form criterion): word-building elements and grammatical categories.

- function (functional criterion) combinability and function in the sentence.

Otto Jespersen suggested to classify words into parts of speech according to 3-criteria principle: lexico-grammatical meaning, morphological characteristics, syntactic function.

He divided parts of speech into the notional and functional one.

Notional parts of speech: noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, verb, numerals, modal verbs, statives and interjections.

Functional parts of speech: propositions, conjunctions, particles and articles.

Vinogradov considered that parts of speech is a class of lexemes characterized by:

- its lexico-grammatical meaning;

- its lexico-grammaticalmorphemes (stem-building elements);

- its grammatical categories;

- combinability (is a power of a lexico-grammatical class of word to form combinations of definite patterns with words of certain classes);

- its functions in a sentence.

The English and Ukrainian languages basically have a similar system of parts of speech. In both languages we can find the following parts of speech: noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, verb, adverb, modal words, preposition, conjunction, particles, interjection.

Many linguists point out the difference between such parts of speech as verbs and nouns, on the one hand, and prepositions or conjunctions, on the other.

Ilysh in his book "The structure of modern English" comes up with the idea that only prepositions and conjunctions can be treated as functional parts of speech.

Vinogradov thinks that only the noun, the adjective, the pronoun, the numeral, the verb, the adverb and the category of state in the Ukrainian language may be considered parts of speech, since these words can " can fulfil the naming function". Besides parts of speech he distinguished 4 particles of speech:

1) particles proper;

2) linking particles;

3) prepositions;

4) conjunctions.

3. Aspect, tense, voice, mood of verbs.

The category of aspect - is the system of two member opposemes in the English language showing the character of the action that is whether the action is taken in its progress, in its development (continuous aspect) or it's simply stated (the non-continuous aspect).

In the English grammar the problem of aspect is a controversial one. There is but little consensus of opinion about this category in modern English.

Different approaches can be summarised as follows:

1. Aspect is interpreted as category of semantics rather than that of grammar.

2. Aspect is not recognised at all as a category of modern English grammar.

3. Aspect is blended with tense and regarded as a part of the tense-aspect system.

4. Aspect and tance are recognised as two distinct grammatical categories.

According to the opinion of Khaimovich the category expressed by the opposition of continuous and non-continuous form is not that of tenses because such oppositions: wrote - was writing, spoke - was speaking are opposed not as tense forms both of them expressed past aspect.

? It's correct to disagree that aspect as a grammatical category cannot be separated from tense. In actual speech all the grammatical meanings of the word always go together in a bunch. Thus in the word "tells" we find 1)present tense, 2)active voice, 3)indicative mood, 4)singular number, etc.

Those the grammatical meaning of these categories expressed by the given word-form are intermingled, we are able to separate the category of voice from the category of tense, mood, aspect and so on.

By opposing grammatical forms we are single out category of tense as it's with voice, mood, aspect. Aspect is closely connected with tense as it's with voice, mood, number.

The category of tense and aspect characterize an action from different point of view.

The tense of a verb shows the time of action.

The aspect of a verb deals with the development of action.

Verbs are divided into those that can form aspect opposition and those that can not:

1. The Verbs of sense perception

2. The Verbs denotes the mental activities

3. The Verbs denotes the feelings

4. The Verbs denotes the wishes

5. Abstract relations

According to Raramisheva the groups of words that no aspect of opposites in English are:

1. Verbs presenting diverse relations as actions: belong, consist, contain, have.

2. Verbs of physical perception: to feel, to see, to smell.

3. Verbs of mental perception: believe, hope, dislike.

4. Certain link-words: to look, to prove, to seem.

5. Verbs denodes point-actions, these words denote actions of very short duration: jump, drop, pick up.

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Time is an unlimited duration in which things are considered as happening in the past, present or future. Time stands for a concept with which all mankind is familiar. Time is independent of language. Tense stands for a verb form used to express a time relation. Time is the same to all mankind while tenses vary in different languages. Time can be expressed in language in two basic ways: 1) lexically; 2) grammatically.

The category of tense is considered to be an immanent grammatical category which means that the finite verb form always expresses time distinctions. The category of tense finds different interpretations with different scholars.

According to one view, there are only two tenses in English: past and present. Most British scholars do not recognize the existence of future. It is considered to be a combination of the modal verb and an infinitive used to refer to future actions. The modal verbs “shall” and “will” preserve their lexical meaning of “wish, volition”. In that case combinations of the modal verbs with notional verbs should be regarded as free syntactical constructions, not as analytical structures. However, there are some examples in which the notion of volition cannot be implied:

eg. He will die in a week.

I shall be twenty next Friday.

Provided that the situation is realistic, in these contexts lexical meanings of “shall” and “will” are not present. These elements render only grammatical meanings, therefore they serve as auxiliaries and such combinations must be regarded as analytical structures. So we have to recognize the existence of pure futurity in English.

In traditional linguistics grammatical time is often represented as a three-form category consisting of the “linear” past, present and future forms. The meaning of the category of tense is the relation of the action expressed by a finite verb to the moment of speaking. Present denotes coincidence, past denotes a prior action, future denotes a posterior action which follows the moment of speaking.

The future-in-the-past does not find its place in the scheme based on the linear principle since it does not show any relation to the moment of speaking, hence this system is considered to be deficient, not covering all lingual data. Those who deny the existence of simple future in English consider future-in-the-past one of the mood forms. Those who recognize the existence of simple future argue that it is used in the same situation when simple future is used, in subordinate clauses when the principal clause contains a past form. So, this form is different only in one respect – it is dependent on the syntactic structure.

According to the concept worked out by Prof. Blokh, there exist two tense categories in English. The first one – the category of primary time – expresses a direct retrospective evaluation of the time of the process denoted. It is based upon the opposition of past vs. present, the past tense being its strong member. The second one – the category of “prospective time” – is based on the opposition of “after-action” and “non-after-action”, the marked member being the future tense.

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Voice - the grammatical category when the subject of the sentence is the doer or recipient of the action. Horitonov: the category of voice is a verbal category showing whether the person or thing denoted by the grammatical subject of the sentence is the doer (or sufferer) of the action denoted by the grammatical predicate.

In modern English the category of voice is based on binary (or two member) opposition of the active forms of the verb against the passive voice of it.

E.g. Love - is loved, to Love - To Be Loved, has loved - has been loved

The active voice is unmaeked, whereas passive is the marked voice.

The sign marking the passive form is the combination of the auxiliary verb "be" with the past participle of the notional verb: be + Ved.

Verbs in the passive voice may acquive almost all the aspect, tense and time correlation forms that occur in the active voice, except for the future continuous and perfect continuous forms. Through the present perfect continuous passive has been registered in use, it's used only occasionally: These questions have been being asked for months. It's been being built for the past 3 years.

The category of voice differs radically from other verbal categories.

Some verbal forms (will be singing, has been singing, had been singing, will have been singing) have no passive opposites.

An active construction can not be made passive if it contains a reflexive pronoun or an infinitive as an object: "she promised to come", but not "to come was promised".

There are no passive forms in such collocations as take part, take courage, take flight, take alarm, lose courage, lose heart, lose one's patience, keep one's word, etc.

Although there is usually no mention of the agent of the action in passive constructions, it sometimes becomes necessary to indicate the doer and then a by-phrase is used for it: the answer was followed by silence. We can also mention the instrument that the agent used to perform the action after the preposition "with": a circle was drawn with a stick.

The realization of the voice category is restricted because of the implicit grammatical meaning of transitivity/intransitivity. In accordance with this meaning, all English verbs should fall into transitive and intransitive. Transitive verbs are verbs that require one or more objects. Intransitive verbs do not require an object. As a rule, only transitive verbs can be used in the passive voice. However, this general rule doesn't hold good for all the verbs. The well-known exceptions are: the house has not been lived in for a long time.

Passive constructions:

• Direct Passive (The letter was written yesterday)

• Indirect Passive (I was given a very interesting book)

• Prepositional Passive (The doctor was sent for) · Phraseological Passive (Care should be taken not to confuse these words)

• Adverbial Passive (The house has not been lived in for many years)

Opinions differ as to the voice system of modern English. Most linguists recognise only two voices in English - the active voice and passive voice (Смирницкий). Kaushanckaya: passive, active and neuter-refflexive (He hurt himself).

Another scholar sau that there are also the middle (The door opend. The doer of the action is unknown, but used with the active voice) and the reciprocal voice (they kissed one another;the member of the family loved each other).

Ільїш considered 5 categories of Voices: indicative (=active), refflexive, medium, passive, reciprocal.

Смирницкий says that the reflective, middle, reciprocal voices are the equivalents of the active voice: washed himself - analytical form; kissed eeach other - active + direct object + which is expressed by a reciprocal pronoun.

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