Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка = Theoretical grammar of modern English. Учебно-методическое пособие

and adverbs); Group J (subordinating conjunctions); Group K (interjections); Group L (the words “yes” and “no”); Group M (the so-called atten- tion-giving signals: look, say, listen); Group N (the word “please”); Group O (the forms “let us”, “lets” in request sentences).

Questions for reflection

1.What three criteria do you know that are used to classify parts of speech?

2.Speak about notional parts of speech.

3.Speak about functional parts of speech.

4.What is the main idea of Ch. Fries classification?

Practical assignments

1) Define part of speech.

Wonder, wonderful, incredible, materialistic, historic, historical, conversion, import, issue, item, for, condition, wounded, major, phenomenon, into, in accordance with, consequently.

2) Make the analysis according to Ch. Fries classification:

a)I was at home yesterday;

b)The performance was marvelous;

c)My cousin and I returned home after a great party;

d)Your idea is better than mine.

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Unit 4

NOUN

A noun is a part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action. The categorial functional properties of the noun are defined by its semantic properties A noun can function as a subject, object, complement, appositive, or object of a preposition.

The first nounal subclass opposition differentiates proper and common nouns. The foundation of this division is "type of nomination". The second subclass opposition differentiates animate and inanimate nouns on the basis of "form of existence". The third subclass opposition differentiates human and non-human nouns on the basis of "personal quality". The fourth subclass opposition differentiates countable and uncountable nouns on the basis of "quantitative structure".

Part 1

The category of gender

The gender subcategorisation of English nouns is lexical or semantic. The category of gender is conveyed in English by the obligatory corre-

lation of nouns with the personal pronouns of the 3d person. It presents as specific gender classifiers of nouns. The category of gender is totally oppositional. It is formed by two oppositions related to each other according to hierarchical basis. One opposition divides them into person nouns and nonperson nouns. The other opposition divides them into masculine nouns and feminine nouns. The first, general opposition is the upper opposition in the category of gender, whereas the second, opposition is the lower opposition in this category.

The strong member of the upper opposition is the human subclass of nouns, its sememic mark being "person", or "personality". The weak member of the opposition constitutes both inanimate and animate non-person nouns.

The strong member of the lower opposition is the feminine subclass of person nouns, its sememic mark being female sex.

Examples:

woman, girl, mother, bride.

The masculine subclass of person nouns forms the weak member of the opposition.

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Examples:

man, boy, father, bridegroom. Nouns of the common gender.

Examples:

person, parent, friend, cousin, doctor, president.

English nouns can demonstrate the sex lexically, either by means of being merged with certain notional words used as sex indicators or by suffixal derivation.

Examples:

boy-friend, girl-friend; landlord, landlady; bull-calf, cow-calf; he-bear, she-bear; master, mistress; actor, actress; lion, lioness.

Part 2

The category of person and number

The category of number is conveyed by the opposition of the plural form of the noun to the singular form of the noun. The strong member of this binary opposition is the plural, its productive formal mark being the suffix -(e)s [-z, -s, -iz].

Non-productive ways of expressing the number opposition are vowel interchange in several relict forms (man – men, woman – women), the archaic suffix -(e)n supported by phonemic interchange in a couple of other relict forms (ox – oxen, child – children, cow – kine, brother – brethren), the correlation of individual singular and plural suffixes in a limited number of borrowed nouns (formula – formulae, phenomenon – phenomena). In some cases the plural form of the noun is homonymous with the singular form (sheep, deer, fish).

The plural form conveys a definite set of objects {eyes of the face), various types of the referent {wines, steels), intensity of the presentation of the idea {years and years, thousands upon thousands), picturesqueness {sands, waters, snows). The extreme point of this semantic scale is marked by the lexicalisation of the plural form.

Examples:

colours as a "flag", attentions as "wooing", pains as "effort", quarters as "abode".

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The two subclasses of uncountable nouns are usually referred to as singularia tantum (only singular) and pluralia tantum (only plural).

The absolute singular is a distinctive feature of the names of abstract notions (peace, love, joy, courage), the names of the branches of professional activity (architecture, mathematics, linguistics), the names of massmaterials (water, snow, hair), the names of collective inanimate objects (fruit, furniture). Some of these words can be implied in the form of the common singular with the common plural counterpart. In this case they come to mean either different sorts of materials, or separate concrete manifestations of the qualities denoted by abstract nouns, or concrete objects exhibiting the respective qualities.

Example:

Language is the use of a system of communication which consists of a set of sounds or written symbols. English is a language.

Common number with uncountable singular nouns can also be conveyed by means of combining them with words demonstrating discreteness, such as bit, piece, item, sort.

The absolute plural is a distinctive feature of the uncountable nouns which denote objects of two halves (trousers, scissors, pyjamas), the nouns expressing some sort of collective meaning, i.e. rendering the idea of indefinite plurality, both concrete and abstract ( clothes, tidings, earnings, contents, politics; police, cattle), the nouns denoting some diseases (measles, rickets, mumps, creeps, hysterics). The absolute plural forms can be classified into set absolute plural (objects of two halves) and non-set absolute plural (the rest).

The first type of reduction is connected with the use of the absolute plural with countable nouns in the singular form which are changed into "nouns of multitude".

Example:

The family were gathered round the table.

This form of the absolute plural may be called multitude plural.

The second type of the described oppositional reduction is connected with the use of the absolute plural with uncountable nouns in the plural form, concerns cases of stylistic marking of nouns.

Example:

the snows of the Arctic.

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Part 3

The category of case

Case is the immanent morphological category of the noun demonstrating the relations of the noun referent to other objects and phenomena. This category is conveyed in English by the opposition of the form in -'s [-z, -s, -iz], usually called the possessive case or the genitive case, to the unfeatured form of the noun called the common case.

The English genitive expresses a wide range of relational meanings established in the regular interaction of the semantics of the subordinating and subordinated elements in the genitive phrase. So we can single out basic semantic types of the genitive:

 Genitive of possessor

Its constructional meaning is an inorganic possession, i.e. possessional relation (in the broad sense) of the genitive referent to the object denoted by the head noun.

Example:

Ann's living-room (the living-room belongs to Ann).

 Genitive of integer.

Its constructional meaning is an organic possession, i.e. a broad possessional relation of a whole to its part.

Examples:

Ann's hands; Peter's temper (hands as the part of Ann’s person).

 Genitive of received qualification.

Example:

the computer's reliability.

 Genitive of agent.

The meaning of the genitive of agent is in its name: this form renders an activity or some broader processual relation with the referent of the genitive as its subject.

Examples:

man's arrival; the Duke's attitude.

Genitive of author.

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A subtype of the agent genitive expresses the producer of the referent of the head-noun.

Example:

Mozart's play.

 Genitive of patient.

This type of genitive conveys the recipient of the action or process denoted by the head-noun.

Example:

the meeting’s government (the meeting is chaired by the government).

 Genitive of destination

This type denotes the destination, or function of the referent of the head-noun.

Example:

men's barbershop.

 Genitive of dispensed qualification.

This type is connected with some characteristic or qualification, not received, but given by the genitive noun to the referent of the head-noun.

Example:

a boy's voice (a voice as a distinctive characteristic of a boy).

Genitive of comparison.

Example:

the cock's self-confidence of the man (the self-confidence like that of a cock).

 Genitive of adverbial.

The type denotes adverbial factors relating to the referent of the headnoun, i. e. the time and place of the event.

Example:

the morning's newspaper.

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 Genitive of quantity.

This type denotes the measure or quantity relating to the referent of the head-noun.

Example:

two miles' distance.

Part 4

The category of article determination

Article is a determining unit of specific nature accompanying the noun in any environment. In English there is a definite article and an indefinite one.

The definite article conveys the identification of the referent of the noun: the use of it shows that the object denoted is taken in its concrete, individual quality. The indefinite article conveys a classifying generalisation of the noun referent or takes it in a general sense.

The absence of the article can be in some cases:  Absolute generalization.

The noun is in an abstract sense conveying the most general idea of the object denoted.

Example:

Language is a system.

 The absence of the article before the uncountable noun can be of two kinds of generalisation: both relative and absolute.

Example:

Teddy laughed with great bitterness (that sort of bitterness: relative generalisation).

 The absence of the article before the countable noun in the plural (stars, planets, comets).

One of the most important features of article is the immediate connection with the two types of attributes to the noun. The first type is a limiting attribute. It requires the definite article before the noun; the second type is a descriptive attribute. It requires the indefinite article or the meaningful absence of the article before the noun.

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Example:

She was a girl of amazing beauty (descriptive); the room above (limiting).

Articles are based on the binary opposition, where the definite article is a strong member, whereas the indefinite article is a weak member.

Questions for reflection

1.Give a general outline of the noun as a part of speech.

2.Speak about the categorial functional properties of the noun.

3.What are types of combinability?

4.What do you know about the category of gender.

5.The noun as an attribute (the cannon ball problem) is it a truth or

amyth?

6.Speak about the category of number.

7.What can you tell about the notion of singularia tantum?

8.What can you tell about the notion of pluralia tantum?

9.What are the types of reduction?

10.Give your opinion about the category of case as the immanent morphological category of the noun.

11.What is the main idea of the theory of positional cases?

12.What is the main aim of the theory of prepositional cases?

13.What is the focus of the limited case theory?

14.What is the point of the postpositional theory?

15.Describe basic semantic types of the genitive.

16.Present the system of article determination in English.

17.What is absolute generalization?

18.What can you tell about the oppositional theory?

Practical assignments

1) Analyze given nouns:

Actress, round, crew, latitude, foxes, leaves, criteria, crisis, kine, brethren, spectacles, glasses, trousers, pyjamas.

2) Put the article where it’s necessary:

Are you shopping for___ health club to join so you can get in shape?

You may find out too late that___ health clubs aren't for you.

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____San Diego fitness experts recommend thoroughly checking out several health clubs before you join one.

First, know what you want and need in _____ fitness facility, and don't pay for what you'll never use.

Certified instructors have at least some knowledge of anatomy, exercise physiology, injury prevention and ___ cardiopulmonary resuscitation

(CPR).

Peter Stanford is ______ American citizen. He is also ______ FBI agent (and has ______ ID card to prove it) whose qualifications include

______ M. A. and ______ Ph.D. and he has ______ I.Q. of 160. Because his father was ______ M. P. in ______ England and his mother _______

Italian, worked as ______ G. P. there, Frank often sees things from ______

European perspective. He strongly supports ______ idea of ______ united Europe. He was recently in London for ______ one-day conference on

______ organised crime and he gave ______ speech which lasted ______

hour. (You can get ______ copy of his speech by sending ______ s.a.e. to

______ address below.) When in London he always stays at ______ hotel in ______ Holland Park, near ______ Oxford Street, where he always eats

______ onion sandwich for ______ breakfast. When Frank inherited

______ fortune from ______ uncle recently, he used it to found ______ university and buy ______ x-ray machine for ______ hospital.

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Unit 5

VERB

Part 1

General overview

The general categorial meaning of the verb is process presented dynamically. This general processual meaning denotes states, forms of existence, types of attitude, evaluations, etc., rather than actions.

According to the category of finitude verbs can be of two forms: finite and non-finite. A finite verb can be interpreted as a verb that has a variation of tense and has a subject which it agrees with in number and person. If the subject of the sentence is singular, the finite verb also becomes singular and if the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural. Finite verbs obey the golden rule of subject-verb agreement. Finite verbs are dynamic in the sense that they change their forms, depending on a change in the number of subject or a change in the tense of the sentence. Non-finite verbs are the exact opposite of finite verbs. A non-finite verb has no variation of tense and has no subject. For this reason infinite verbs do not change their form. If the subject of the sentence changes from singular to plural or from plural to singular, a non-finite verb will not change its form. There are three types of non-finite verbs. They are: the gerund, the participle, and the infinitive. Nonfinite forms possess the categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, and mood.

The verbs are distinguished by specific forms of word-building. The verb stems can be simple, sound-replacive, stress-replacive, expanded, composite, and phrasal. Simple are, for example, run, go, give. The soundreplacive type of derivation and the stress-replacive type of derivation are unproductive, for example, food – to feed, blood – to bleed; 'import – to im'port. The composite (compound) verb stems refers to the composite nonverb stems from which they are etymologically derived, i.e. the compounds of the conversion type (blackmail n. – blackmail v.) and of the reduction type (proof-reader n. – proofread v.) The phrasal verb stems occupy an intermediary position between analytical forms of the verb and syntactic word combinations. Here belong two types of combination. The first one is a combination of the head-verb with a noun (to take a stroll – to stroll). The second one is a combination of a head-verb with a verbal postposition (get along).

Verbs fall into a number of subclasses distinguished by different semantic and lexico-grammatical features. On the upper level verbs can be of full nominative value (notional verbs), and can be of partial nominative val-

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