Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка = Theoretical grammar of modern English. Учебно-методическое пособие
.pdf7. Actually
No wine for me. I actually don't like any alcoholic drinks. No wine for me. I don't actually like any alcoholic drinks. No wine for me. I don't like actually any alcoholic drinks.
8. Just
As I just saw him take the money, the police arrived.
Just as I saw him take the money, the police arrived.
I saw him just take the money, the police arrived.
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Unit 8
SYNTAGMATIC CONNECTIONS OF WORDS
Words are organized and combined in syntagmatic connections with each other in utterances. Moreover there are syntagmatic groupings of notional words, syntagmatic groupings of notional words with functional words and syntagmatic groupings of functional words. Syntagmatic groupings of notional words have a self-dependent nominative destination. Such groupings indicate phenomena and the properties in the interconnections.
Examples:
a heart in pain, so proud of her actions, a sad travelling.
Groupings of a notional word with a functional word correspond to separate words according to the nominative function. Usually such grouping are non-self-dependent. They are isolated from the context.
Examples:
too hot, with ease, must listen to.
Syntagmatic groupings of functional words are akin to separate functional words and are used as connectors
Examples:
so that; such as; must be able.
Groupings of notional words are divided into two opposite types according to their grammatical and semantic properties.
Groupings of the first type are made up of words that are presented on an equal rank, so that in a two-word combination neither of them implies as a modifier of the other. These groupings are called "equipotent". Equipotent connection in groupings of notional words is carried out either with the help of conjunctions (syndetically), or without the help of conjunctions (asyndetically).
Examples:
language and culture, Peter’s not mine, sang and danced.
The components of the combinations organize consecutive connections and are called coordinative.
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Here we have to mention one term that denotes connections between separate sentences. It’s cumulation. There is an "inner cumulation", i. e. cumulation within the sentence and an "outer cumulation". Cumulative connection in writing is singled out by some intermediary punctuation stop, such as a comma or a hyphen.
Example:
agreed, but reluctantly.
Groupings of the second type are made up of words which are syntactically unequal. One of the components is dependent. Such groupings are called dominational. Dominational connection is realized if one of the constituents of the combination is principal (dominating) and the other is subordinate (dominated). The principal element is usually called the "kernel", "kernel element", or "headword"; the subordinate element - the "adjunct", "adjunct-word", "expansion".
Dominational connection is accomplished by different forms of the word (categorial agreement, government), connective words (prepositions, i. e. prepositional government), word-order.
Dominational connection can be consecutive and cumulative.
Example:
an attentive pupil – a pupil, seemingly attentive.
The two basic types of dominational connection can be bilateral (reciprocal, two-way) domination and monolateral (one-way) domination. Bilateral domination is carried out in predicative connection of words, whereas monolateral domination is carried out in completive connection of words.
The predicative connection of words, uniting the subject and the predicate, forms the basis of the sentence. The reciprocal nature of this connection means that the subject influences and controls the predicate establishing the person of predication, while the predicate influences and controls the subject, establishing the event of predication, i. e. attributing to the predicative person some action, or state, or quality.
The syntagmatic connections of the reciprocal domination can be complete predicative connections and incomplete predicative connections (semipredicative, potentially-predicative connections).
All the completive connections are divided into objective connections and qualifying connections.
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Objective connections show the relation of the object to the process. According to the form these connections are classified into nonprepositional (word-order, the objective form of the adjunct substantive) and prepositional. According to the semantico-syntactic realization the connections can be s direct and indirect or oblique.
Qualifying completive connections can be of two types: attributive and adverbial. They are conveyed in English by word-order and prepositions. Attributive connection combines a substance with its attribute conveyed by an adjective or a noun.
Examples:
a luxurious ring, an interesting film, a man of weak character.
Adverbial connection is classed into primary and secondary. The primary adverbial connection is between the verb and its adverbial modifiers of various standings.
Examples:
to speak fluently, to enjoy (a film) with pleasure.
The secondary adverbial connection is between the non-verbal kernel conveying a quality and its adverbial modifiers of various standings.
Examples:
no longer available, surprisingly modest.
Questions for reflection
1.Comment on syntagmatic groupings of notional words with functional words.
2.Speak about syntagmatic groupings of notional words alone.
3.What do you know about syntagmatic groupings of functional words
alone.
4.Dwell upon the term "cumulation".
5.What types of connections are you aware of?
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Practical assignments
1. Define the type of syntagmatic connection.
Unpleasantly querulous, marvellously becoming, to lead to a crossroad, a young woman, arrived at the airport, too young to smoke, unexpected decision, the pupil’s understanding.
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Unit 9
SENTENCE
There are a great number of definitions of the term sentence. Sentence can be viewed from the phonetics, the semantics and etc. Nevertheless, all scientists single out the idea that sentence is the smallest communicative unit.
“A sentence is a unit of speech whose grammatical structure conforms to the laws of the language and which serves as the chief means of conveying a thought. A sentence is not only a means of communicating something about reality but also a means of showing the speaker's attitude to it” [7].
The word is a component element of the word-stock and it is a nominative unit of language, but the sentence is a predicative utterance-unit. In contrast with the word, the sentence does not exist as a ready-made unit. The exception is only a limited number of utterances of phraseological citation. So the sentence is formed by the speaker in the course of communication. The sentence is delimited with the help of intonation. Intonation separates one sentence from another one and it participates in giving essential communicative predicative meanings.
Different approaches to the classification of the sentence exist in the theoretical grammar. Let’s regard some of them. According to Ilyish’s opinion the sentence should be classed implying two principles. Firstly, the types of communication should be taken into consideration. In accordance with this principle the sentence can be declarative, interrogative, imperative. Secondly, the structure of the sentence also should be taken into account. In accordance with this principle the sentence can be simple and composite. Ch. Fries worked out his own classification. According to his classification the sentence can be of communicative type and non-communicative one. Communicative type of sentence is subdivided into three groups:
1.Oral responses that can be greetings, calls and questions;
2.Action responses that can be requests and commands;
3.Conventional signals of attention for long discourse statements.
L. Barkhudarov classes several types of sentences from their structural point. His classification is regarded as binary oppositions where the unmarked member is the source kernel sentence and the marked one is the transformed sentence. According to this conception the sentence can be imperative (request) and non-imperative or elliptical and non-elliptical.
So the main criteria for the classification of the sentence are as follows:
the criterion of the structure of sentences;
the criterion of the aim of the speaker;
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the criterion of the existence of all parts of the sentence.
According to the first criterion sentences are simple or composite. According to the second one sentence can be declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory. According to the third one sentence is elliptical or non-elliptical.
Part 1
Types of sentences according to the aim of the speaker
The declarative sentences can be mentioned as basic. They express some statement. They habitually possess the falling an intonation and have regular order of words with no inversion.
We can find two structural types of interrogative sentences in Modern English – general questions (yesor noquestions) and special (or wh-) questions. Both of them have partial inversions:
Are we playing here? Where are we going?
The first sentence has a rising intonation pattern. The second one has an interrogative word and the intonation pattern of wh-question is the same as of the affirmative sentences.
It should be mentioned that the interrogative sentences require answers if they are not rhetorical ones.
If to speak about exclamatory sentences they have some peculiar features. Firstly, exclamatory sentences usually convey some emotion, feeling. Secondly, they can possess such introductory words as what and how. Thirdly, they are in the declarative form and have no inversion.
The imperative sentences also possess their own specific features. In imperative sentences the predicate is implied in in the imperative form. There is no usage of modal verbs. The imperative sentences are mostly directed to the second person.
The subject of the imperative sentences are almost always represented by the pronoun you. The imperative sentences make the listener to perform an action or verbal response.
We should also single out that some grammarians admit the existence of two-member, one-member and elliptical sentences. The two-member sentences are sentences which have the subject and the predicate. But we can also find sentences without a subject or a predicate.
One member sentence is a sentence which has no separate subject and predicate but one main only instead. B. Ilyish writes about two types:
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1)with main part of noun (in stage directions): Morning. Night.
2)Imperative sentences with no subject of the action mentioned: Come down, please.
Elliptical sentences are considered to be one the most complicated and controversial issues in grammar. Many scientists deal with elliptical sentences trying to find resolution.
The classification of elliptical sentences can be derived from the way of explication. By explication is understood the replacement of the zero alternant of this or that word by the explicit one. There are two kinds of explication:
1. When the elliptical sentence can syntagmatically be reconstructed (the explicit alternant of the elliptical sentence is found in the same context where the elliptical sentence is).
Example: One was from Paris; the other from London.
2. When the elliptical sentence can be paradigmatically reconstructed (the explicit alternant of the zero form is not found in the context where the ellipsis is used but when it is found in similar language constructions).
Example: Stop and speak to me. (Galsworthy).
Part 2
Composite sentences
The composite sentence is different from the simple sentence as it is formed by two or more predicative lines. Each predicative unit in a composite sentence creates a clause in it, so that a clause as part of a composite sentence corresponds to a separate sentence as part of a contextual sequence.
The word "composite" is implied by H. Poutsma as a common term for the compound and complex sentences.
In Modern English we can find three types of sentences:
1.The compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses with no dependent one.
2.The complex sentence contains one dependent clause and one or more independent clauses.
3.The compound-complex sentence combines the two previous types. The compound-complex sentences are those which have at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent (subordinate) clause in its struc-
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ture: Jack found himself laughing at him and Laura took the letter he gave to her.
The existence of three types of composite sentences in languages is a contemporary approach to this issue.
Part 3
Compound sentences
The examination of compound sentences demonstrates that clauses of a compound sentence are habitually connected more closely than independent sentences. According to M. Blokh’s opinion “in these sentences the clauses are organized as units of syntactically equal rank, i.e. equipotent” (3, p. 296).
The closer study of these types of sentences demonstrates that:
1. The order of clauses is fixed.
Example: She returned home and we had lunch together.
One cannot change the order of the clauses in these sentences.
2. Certain semantic relations can be found between clauses of compound sentences. And these relations are characterized by conjunctions and connectives:
2.1. Harmony or agreement (copulative relation):
Example: She entered the room and she looked around as if to find her beloved here.
2.2. Contrast or opposition. This relation is usually expressed by adversative conjunctions but, yet:
Example: She wanted to know everything about this person but she couldn’t find any information about him.
2.3. The choice or alternation (disjunctive conjunction: or).
Example: Is this a correct answer or is it not?
2.4. Reason or consequence (or conclusion) for, so.
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Example: He had been ill, for the house looked like a dump.
Part 4
Complex sentences
Linguists consider the complex sentences to be units of unequal rank; one is categorically dominated by the other. Taken into consideration the positional structure of the sentence it indicates that by subordination one of the clauses (subordinate)is placed in a dependent position of the other (principal).
The subordinate clauses are distinguished in accordance with two criteria: meaning and combinability. The clauses of a complex sentence form the unity, a simple sentence in which some part is replaced by a clause.
There is subject clause, predicative clause, attributive clause, object clause, adverbial clause.
The subject clause is implied in the function of a primary part of the sentence. The specific feature of the subject clause is its inseparability from the principal clause. So it can't be cut off from the rest part of the sentence.
Example: What he pronounces is true.
The predicative clause performs the function of the notional predicate (the function of the predicative).
Example: The point is what he has to do.
The Adverbial clauses serve to express a variety of adverbial relations:
Example: Everyone should respect the boss as I did.
Some more examples of complex sentences with clauses:
I don't remember what her surname is. (object)
This woman is the one whom we have always believed. (attributive) When Peter decided to join us, we expressed delight. (adverbial clause
of time)
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