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

2.Speak about the system of verbs’ subclasses.

3.What is valency?

4.What do you know about the notion of verbids?

5. Describe the opposition between the finite and non-finite forms of the verb.

6.Comment on infinitive as the verbal name of a process.

7.What can you tell about the combinability of the infinitive.

8.What are two presentation forms of the English infinitive?

9.What is the notion of gerund?

10.Describe grammatical categories of the gerund.

11.Speak about the notion of present participle.

12.Comment on the past participle as the qualifying-processual name.

Practical assignments

1) Analyze the morphological structure of the following verbs:

To man, to give in, to belittle, to lip-read, to ill-treat, to darken, to put down, to towel, to bleed, to undermine, to transport.

2) Dwell upon the categorial features of verbs in the following sentences:

a)“Did you ever see such a collection of rumty-too people?” (J. Galsworthy).

b)It so happened that the night before I had been present at a rather cheery little supper, and I was feeling pretty rocky (P. Wodehouse).

c)He recollected with satisfaction that he had bought that house over James‟s head (J. Galsworthy).

d)Months before, with an architect at their elbows, the three had

worked over the detailed plans for each section which would have its home in the new wing (A. Hailey).

3) Rephrase the sentences so as to use a gerund as an object:

a)I insist on it that you should give up this job immediately.

b)They were surprised when they didn’t find any one at home.

c)He went on speaking and was not listening to any objections.

d)When the boy was found he didn’t show any signs of being alive.

e)Do you admit that you have made a mistake by divorcing her?

f)They suspect that he has been bribed.

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4) Choose infinitive or gerund and give your reasons:

a)As some water had got in, the engine of the boat couldn’t but...

working (to stop).

b)I‟m afraid our camera wants ... (to repair).

c)This is not the way ... children (to treat).

d)I regretted ... the doctor’s recommendations (not to follow).

e)I regret ... that I can’t come to your wedding (to say).

f)Did they teach you ... at school (to dance)?

g)Who has taught you ... so well (to dance)?

h)She demanded ... the whole truth (to tell).

i)On her way home she stopped ... with her neighbour (to talk).

j)Remember ... the gas-stove before leaving the fiat (to turn off).

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Unit 6

ADJECTIVE

The adjective shows the categorial semantics of property of a substance. It means that each adjective implied in the text assumes to have some relation to some noun. It possesses such characteristics as its material, colour, dimensions, position, state, and other features both permanent and temporary. In the sentence the adjective functions as an attribute or a predicative.

Adjectives are differentiated by a specific combinability with nouns, which they alter, if not followed by adjuncts, usually in pre-position, and occasionally in postposition; by a combinability with link-verbs, both functional and notional; by a combinability with modifying adverbs.

All the adjectives are traditionally classified into two large subclasses: qualitative and relative. Relative adjectives reveal properties of a substance that are regulated by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance.

Example: wool – a woolen sweater; geography – a geographical position.

Qualitative adjectives differ from relative ones. They denote various qualities of substances of a quantitative estimation. The measure of a quality can be estimated as high or low, adequate or inadequate, sufficient or insufficient, optimal or excessive.

Example: a clumsy man - very clumsy man; a complicated theory - too complicated theory.

Regarding the great variety of adjectives there is one category that is considered to be a controversial one. It is the category of state. Firstly, it was overseen by B. A. Ilyish and later studied by other linguists. Later it was changed into "stative words", or "statives".

First, the statives, named by some authors, ad-links are contrasted to adjectives on a semantic basis since adjectives denote qualities, and stativesadlinks denote states. Second, the main difference from the adjective is in the specific prefix a-. Third, they do not possess the category of the degrees of comparison. Fourth, the combinability of statives-adlinks is different from that of adjectives in so far as they are not used in the pre-positional attributive function, i.e. are characterized by the absence of the righthand combinability with nouns.

The statives convey different meanings: the psychic state of a person (ashamed, aware); the physical state of a person (astir, afoot); the physical state of an object (afire, ablaze); the state of an object in space (askew, aslant).

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Adjectives disclose the capability to be easily substantivised by conversion (by zero-derivation).

Example:

the words a relative or a white or a dear.

Despite the category of statives there is one more category that can be called adjectivids, since they are rather nounal forms of adjectives than nouns as such. The adjectivids fall into two main grammatical subgroups: the subgroup pluralia tantum (the English, the rich, the unemployed, the uninitiated) and the subgroup singularia tantum (the invisible, the abstract, the tangible).Semantically, the words of the first subgroup show sets of people (personal multitudes), whereas the words of the second group show abstract ideas of various types and connotations.

Questions for reflection

1.Speak about adjective as the categorial semantics of property of a substance.

2.What can you say about a specific combinability of adjectives?

3.What is a predicative adjective?

4.What two large subclasses do you know?

5.Comment on the notion of statives.

6.Dwell upon the problem of adjectivids.

Practical assignments

1. Look at the 1st picture and match adjectives to suitable nouns.

Pic. 1

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2.Find the right adjective looking at the 2nd picture.

1.This inscription is totally____.

a.Ineligible

b.Unreadable

c.Illegible

2.That book from Nietzsche is absolutely___.

a.Unreadable

b.Ineligible

c.Illegible

3.Listening to Chantal Goya when you are 25 is a___.

a.Childish

b.Childlike

c.Chilly

4.She’ s so sweet with her____face.

a.Childish

b.Childlike

c.Chilly

5.These meshed potatoes are too___.

a.Salted

b.Salty

c.Saline

6.Physicists may use___solutions in their experiment.

a.Salty

b.Salted

c.Saline

7.This is a _____story.

a.Truthful

b.True

c.Authentic

8.She’s a ____person, she always tells the truth.

a.Veritable

b.True

c.Truthful

9.He is an___witness of the crime.

a.Eye

b.Oculed

c.Ocular

Pic. 2

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Unit 7

ADVERB

The adverb is usually defined as a word expressing either property of an action, or property of another property, or circumstances. The adverb denotes various circumstantial characteristics of processes or whole situations built around processes. Adverbs are characterized by combinability with verbs, adjectives and words of adverbial nature. The functions of adverbs in these combinations consist in expressing different adverbial modifiers.

According to the word-building structure adverbs can be simple and derived. There are not many simple adverbs and mostly all of them dispose functional semantics of pronominal character.

Examples:

here, there, now, then, so, quite, why, how, where, when.

The typical adverbial affixes in affixal derivation are suffix -ly (quickly, secondly), a couple of limited distribution, such as -ways (sideways), -wise (clockwise), -ward(s) (afterwards). The characteristic adverbial prefix is a- (away, ahead, apart, across). Among the adverbs there are also specific composite formations and phrasal formations of prepositional, conjunctional and other types.

Examples:

sometimes, nowhere, anyhow; at least, at most, at last; to and fro; upside down.

There is a set of converted notional adverbs that is made up of adjec- tive-stem conversives, such as fast, late, hard, high, close, loud, tight. The main specific characteristic of such adverbs contains a parallel form in -ly. Moreover, there are two pairs of adverbs that can be often differentiated in meaning or connotation.

Example:

to work hard / hardly to work.

In English we can also find the adverbs that positionally interchange with prepositions and conjunctive words: before, after, round, within.

Adverbs are commonly divided into qualitative, quantitative and circumstantial.

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Qualitative adverbs show immediate, inherently non-graded qualities of actions and other qualities. The typical adverbs of this kind are qualitative adverbs in -ly.

Quantitative adverbs are words of degree. These are peculiar lexical units of semi-functional nature indicating quality measure or gradational evaluation of qualities. They also can be subdivided into some sets. The first set is composed by adverbs of high degree.

Examples:

very, quite, entirely, utterly, highly, greatly, perfectly, absolutely, strongly, considerably, pretty, much.

The second set consists of adverbs of excessive degree (direct and reverse).

Examples:

too, awfully, tremendously, dreadfully, terrifically.

The third set is encompassed by adverbs of unexpected degree.

Examples:

surprisingly, astonishingly, amazingly.

The fourth set is made up by adverbs of moderate degree.

Examples:

fairly, comparatively, relatively, moderately, rather.

The fifth set are adverbs of low degree.

Examples:

slightly, a little, a bit.

The sixth set is are adverbs of approximate degree.

Examples: almost, nearly.

The seventh set are adverbs of optimal degree.

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Examples:

enough, sufficiently, adequately.

The eighth set is made up of adverbs of inadequate degree.

Examples:

intolerably, unbearably.

The ninth set includes adverbs of under-degree.

Examples: hardly, scarcely.

There is also a set of numerical pronominal adverbs.

Examples:

twice, thrice, four times.

Circumstantial adverbs are also classified into notional and functional. The functional circumstantial adverbs are words of pronominal nature. They also include adverbs of time, place, manner, cause, consequence. Here are such words as now, here, when, where, so, how, why. Circumstantial adverbs of more self-dependent nature can be of two basic sets: first, adverbs of time; adverbs of place: today, tomorrow, already, ever, never, recently, seldom, late; eastward, near. The two varieties express a general idea of temporal and spatial orientation and essentially perform deictic (indicative) functions in the broader sense.

So to sum up adverbs tell us in what way someone does something. Adverbs are used to modify verbs (speak quickly), modify adjectives (extremely good), modify quantities (plenty of), modify sentences (fortunately, she won a championship yesterday). Adverbs also can be of manner (kindly), of degree (very), of frequency (seldom), of time (yesterday), of place (there). The difference in usage of adjective and adverb is to imply adverb when we speak about the action and vice versa when we speak about the person itself we have to apply adjective.

Questions for reflection

1. Comment on the adverb as a notional word.

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2.What do you think about combinability of adverbs?

3.What can you say about the word-building structure of adverbs?

4.Dwell upon a peculiar set of converted notional adverbs.

5.Speak about the division of adverbs.

Practical assignments

1. Fill in the blanks using the most appropriate adjective - adverb form.

–The countries which haven't completed their economic progress are called (develop) ______________ countries.

–I didn't like her at all. She was as __________________ ice.

Samuel's grade is 85. Murat's grade is 60. (Required for questions 3, 4, 5)

–Samuel is _______________ Murat. (hardworking)

–Murat studies _________________ Samuel.

–Samuel' grade is much _______________ from that of Murat's.

–Although Yasemin is poor, she dresses ________________ than all her friends. (fashionable)

–Emre is (rich) _______________ person I have ever met.

–Today's movie wasn't _________________ as the one we saw last weekend. (thrilling)

–Allan isn't determined. She can't continue her education.

–Allan isn't _______________ continue her education.

–He really deserves the promotion. None of us has worked (competitive) ________________ as him.

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– She must be rich. She spends ________________ money in a day than I earn in a month. (use: much also)

2. For each question, choose the most natural position for the adverb out of the different possible sentences.

1. Quickly

 I quickly opened and read the letter before they returned.  I opened and read quickly the letter before they returned.  I opened and read the letter before they returned quickly.

2. Always

Always I am happy when it's my birthday.

I am happy always when it's my birthday.

I am always happy when it's my birthday.

3. Often

My sister gets up often at 6am.

Often my sister gets up at 6am.

My sister often gets up at 6am

4. Ever

Have you been ever to Russia?

Have you ever been to Russia?

Have you been to Russia ever?

5. Still

I'm still waiting for Kathryn to arrive.

Still I'm waiting for Kathryn to arrive.

I'm waiting still for Kathryn to arrive.

6. Hardly

I want to go and speak to that man – hardly I know him.

I want to go and speak to that man – I know him hardly.

I want to go and speak to that man – I hardly know him.

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