- •Seminar 1 fundamentals of grammar. Grammatical categories
- •Get ready to answer the questions below.
- •2. Find Russian equivalents for the following terms; give definitions.
- •3. Give your own examples to illustrate various syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between phonological, lexical and grammatical lingual units.
- •4. Say which of the strings are synchronic and which are diachronic:
- •5. Describe paradigm realisation of the grammatical categories below using the model:
- •6. Analyse the following oppositions; name the categories realized in each pair and their markers:
- •7. A) Split into groups 1) synthetical forms, 2) analytical forms and 3) free word-combinations. Add a few examples of your own to each group:
- •8. Read the sentences below. Find the cases of oppositional reduction of category of tense:
- •9. Comment on the categories below: decide whether they are a) immanent or reflective, b) transgressive or closed (if (a) is immanent), c) variable feature or constant feature categories:
- •Seminar 2 morphemes and words
- •Get ready to answer the questions below.
- •2. Find Russian equivalents for the following terms; give definitions.
- •I have been thinking about Jane’s decision for a long time.
- •7. Divide the words below into morphemes, identify the distributive type of each of them:
- •8. Split the words below into notional, functional and substitutional. Name the parts of speech they belong to.
- •9. Say to what parts of speech the words in bold may be assigned. Give arguments.
- •10. Study the sentences below and translate them into Russian. Name the parts of speech each word in the sentences belong to. Give arguments.
- •Seminar 3 noun: general characteristics. The category of gender
- •Блох, м.Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка / м.Я. Блох. - м.: Высшая школа, 2003. – с. 55-58.
- •Блох, м.Я. Практикум по теоретической грамматике английского языка / м.Я. Блох, т.Н. Семенова, с.В. Тимофеева. – м.: Высшая школа, 2004. – с. 109-110.
- •Get ready to answer the questions below.
- •2. Find Russian equivalents for the following terms; give definitions.
- •7. Give feminine gender nouns for the given masculine gender. Name the lexical means of gender expression.
- •8. Characterise the cases of personification below. Describe the grammatical mechanism and semantic grounds for it.
- •Seminar 4 noun: the categories of number, case and article determination
- •Блох, м.Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка / м.Я. Блох. - м.: Высшая школа, 2003. – с. 64-69, 70-82, 83-94.
- •Блох, м.Я. Практикум по теоретической грамматике английского языка / м.Я. Блох, т.Н. Семенова, с.В. Тимофеева. – м.: Высшая школа, 2004. – с. 111, 111-112, 112-113.
- •Get ready to answer the questions below.
- •2. Find Russian equivalents for the following terms; give definitions.
- •3. Use a dictionary to split the nouns into 1) countable; 2) singularia tantum nouns; 3) pluralia tantum nouns. Illustrate their use in context (sentences):
- •7. Arrange the phrases into two columns according to the type of their casal semantics (on the principle of differentiating between possession and qualification) and use the proper articles with them:
- •8. Study the poem below and explain the use of genitive case in it.
- •9. Use the appropriate article, define its meaning and explain your choice with the help of substitution or replacement test like in the model.
- •10. Is the non-use of article meaningful in the examples below? What does the zero article mean in each case?
9. Say to what parts of speech the words in bold may be assigned. Give arguments.
1. Tom's army won a great victory, after a long and hard-fought battle. (Twain) 2. Ten years after is famous experiment was performed. (Wilson) 3. They came back to camp wonderfully refreshed, glad-hearted, and ravenous… (Twain) 4. But there was no whispering in the house… (Twain) 5. It's just too good to believe, but we have got it, sure! (Twain) 6. This was simply astounding. (Twain) 7. "Well, you said you'd do it—why don't you do it?" (Twain) 8. She turned another page over. 9. Harold jumped out of the car just before it went over the cliff. 10. So Tom pried his mouth open and poured down the Pain-killer. (Twain) 11. Now you've asked for it, and I'll give it to you, because there ain't anything mean about me; but if you find you don't like it, you mustn't blame anybody but your own self. (Twain) 12. Why, I never see anything like it. (Twain) 13. Do we still think like we used to? 14. We’re down in London next weekend. 15. She walked down the street without looking back. 16. . Over these past couple of weeks we’ve been looking at some of the questions… 17. When we arrived at my friend’s house, a young man hurried past us… 18. You take the blue case and I’ll take the black one. 19. One day you’ll see I was right.
10. Study the sentences below and translate them into Russian. Name the parts of speech each word in the sentences belong to. Give arguments.
1. If police police police police, who police police police? Police police police police police. 2. Will Will will Will Will’s will?
3. James, while John had had “had,” had had “had had”; “had had” had had a better effect on the teacher.
Seminar 3 noun: general characteristics. The category of gender
Sources:
Блох, м.Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка / м.Я. Блох. - м.: Высшая школа, 2003. – с. 55-58.
Блох, м.Я. Практикум по теоретической грамматике английского языка / м.Я. Блох, т.Н. Семенова, с.В. Тимофеева. – м.: Высшая школа, 2004. – с. 109-110.
Additional:
Иванова, И.П. Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка / И.П. Иванова, В.В. Бурлакова, Г.Г. Почепцов. - М.: Высшая школа, 1981. – С. 21-22, 28-29.
Кобрина, Н.А. Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка: учебное пособие / Н.А. Кобрина, Н.Н. Болдырев, А.А. Худяков. – М.: Высшая школа, 2007. – С. 10-14.
TASKS
Get ready to answer the questions below.
What are semantic features of a noun?
What are formal features of a noun?
What are functional features of a noun?
Explain why the 1st word in word combinations like cannon ball is considered to be a noun and why the whole is considered to be a contact group of 2 separate words?
What is the difference between proper and common nouns / animate and inanimate nouns / human and non-human nouns / countable and uncountable nouns?
Why is the category of gender formal/meaningful in Russian and meaningful in English?
Is the category of gender a constant feature or variable feature category? Why?
How is the category of gender organized hierarchically?
Why are neuter and masculine genders the weak members of opposition (on their levels)?
How can the category of gender be reduced?