Синтаксис английского языка от слова к тексту = A Students’ Guide to English Syntax from Word to Discourse. Учебное пособие

Chapter I. Simple sentence as a monopredicative construction

EXERCISES TO CHAPTER I

Exercise 1. State whether these sentences are oneor twomember, complete or elliptical, extended or unextended. Define them also by the purpose of communication and emotional coloring.

1.When does Grone return from New Orleans? – In the morning.– Where’s he staying? – Holiday Inn Crown Plaza.– Room number? – It’s 782.

2.What a nice view! Green trees, winding paths! The colorful cliffs, the warm rock, the blue masses of distant mountains!

3.Let’s go for a little walk.– Where to? The car? – No. Just down the trail. My leg is about to cramp.

4.What if I don’t want to, Clint? – You can’t say no.– Why not? Sometimes it works.

5.The next day was bright and sunny. Even the castle looked beautiful in the dawn light. Not a single sound but the chirping of birds in the trees.

6.What happens if I don’t answer? – Oh, lots of things. We might be forced to take you down to our office, in the backseat of the car, of course, no handcuffs, and ask some really tough questions. May have to bring along your mother too.

7.He’s a lawyer, isn’t he? – Yeah. He represented my mother in her divorce a couple of years ago. A real moron.

8.The head waiter came up to her with a smile. “Everything all right, Miss Lambert?” – “Lovely.”

9.Four feet on the ground, a head full of foliage, looking at the world through the heart… So I stopped trying to choose – Italy? India? or Indonesia? – and eventually just admitted that I wanted to travel to all of them. Four months in each place. A year in total. Of course this was a slightly more ambitious dream than “I want to buy myself a new pencil box.” But this is what I wanted.

Exercise 2. Read a dialogue from Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest”. Comment on the structural and communicative properties of the utterances.

Morning-room in Algernon’s flat in Half-Moon street. [Enter Jack]. Algernon: How are you, my dear Ernest? What brings you up to

town?

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Ю. М. СЕРГЕЕВА, И. О. СЫРЕСИНА. СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ

YULIA SERGEEVA, IRINA SYRESINA. A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX: FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

Jack: Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere? Eating as usual, I see, Algy!

Algernon [stiffly]: I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshment at five o’clock. Where have you been since last Thursday?

Jack [sitting down on the sofa]: In the country.

Algernon: What on earth do you do there?

Jack: When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.

Algernon: And who are the people you amuse? Jack [airily]: Oh, neighbours, neighbours.

Algernon: Got nice neighbours in your part of Shropshire? Jack: Perfectly horrid! Never speak to one of them.

Algernon: How immensely you must amuse them! [Goes over and takes a sandwich] By the way, Shropshire is your county, is it not?

Jack: Eh? Shropshire? Yes, of course. Hallo! Why all these cups? Why cucumber sandwiches? Why such reckless extravagance in one so young? Who is coming to tea?

Algernon: Oh! Merely aunt Augusta and Gwendolen. Jack: How perfectly delightful! (Wilde)

Exercise 3. Complete the elliptical sentences below.

1. Better now? – Yes. Much better. 2. Anything more, Madam? – No, nothing, thanks. 3. Still on the phone? Something wrong? 4. Any trouble?–Afraid,yes.Laptop out of order.–Need any help?–Wouldn’t mind. 5. The wedding ceremony! You are kidding! So when? – The day after tomorrow.– And the best man? – No idea. Maybe Martin? – Hardly. On holidays in Japan. Who else? – Maybe my brother? – Great! 6. Talk to him again? Can’t bear the thought of it! – But how?! He is your boyfriend.– Used to be! 7. “Alone, alone, all life alone, all life carrying this pain inside himself.” Sounds so melancholic! I like it. Don’t you? 8. Breakfast ready, Jane? – In a minute! 9. Oh, hello! Why didn’t you come to the party? – What party? – The office party. We specially put it on a day that suited you.– Oh God. Sorry. Terribly sorry.– So were we. 10. I am going.– Going, George? Going where? – To Canada.

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Chapter I. Simple sentence as a monopredicative construction

Exercise 4. Translate into English paying attention to the structure and use of elliptical sentences.

1. Сколькоещеждать? – Минут5, ядумаю. 2. Гдетыбыл? – Захо- дилкдругу. 3. Значит, оннепридет? – Данет, придет. Онобещал. 4. Еще кофе? – Нет, спасибо! 5. Вы мне не верите? – Да нет, верю. 6. Онатолькочтомнезвонила.– Зачем? 7. Тыневиделаписьмо? – Данет, видела, но забыла ответить. 8. Хочешьсходитьвкино? – Когда? – Например, всубботу.– Ачтопоказывают? – Какой-тобое- вик. 9. Ктовамтакоесказал? – Каккто? Всеобэтомговорят. 10. Что у нас на завтрак? – Каша и чай с бутербродом. 11. Сколько стоит та книга? – 11 долларов. 12. Много задали? – Да нет, два упраж- нения. 13. Высомнойнесогласны? – Данет, согласна. 14. Когоона ждет? – Наверное, свою подругу Свету. 15. Какая завтра будет погода? – Будеттеплоисолнечно. 16. Давайвстретимсязавтра.– Когда и где? 17. Ты там был один? – Почему один? Сергей тоже был. 18. Как тебе удалось его уговорить пойти с нами? – Было непросто. 19. Вещи уже собрали? – Еще нет. 20. Ты вчера опять легла поздно? – Да нет, раньше, чем обычно.

Exercise 5. Make up questions of various kinds to suit the following answers.

1. Of course, not. 2. Not yet. 3. Yes, you are right. 4. Why not? 5. Why should she? 6. Yes, all right. 7. I think, I do. 8. Nothing of the kind. 9. So do I. 10. Sure I will. 11. Neither of them. 12. Some other time. 13. By all means. 14. Silly of him. 15. Who? 16. So when? 17. Yes, I hope so. 18. That’s so. 19. Yes, but not today. 20. I see. 21. Six years ago. 22. To Saratov. 23. On Monday. 24. For ages. 25. I don’t know.

Exercise 6. Finish the sentences in a proper way.

Model: Let’s go to the cinema next weekend, shall we?

1.You won’t tell anyone about this, ..……?

2.You don’t happen to know how this computer works, ..……?

3.You shouldn’t have told me about it, ..……?

4.Richard hasn’t been waiting long, ..……?

5.You’ve done a course on computers, ..……?

6.The children are not doing what I told them, ..……?

7.Answer the phone for me, ..……?

8.Your mother can’t have noticed it, ..……?

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Ю. М. СЕРГЕЕВА, И. О. СЫРЕСИНА. СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ

YULIA SERGEEVA, IRINA SYRESINA. A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX: FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

9.You’ve got to leave now, ..……?

10.You’ve done a course on jewelry design, ..……?

11.Let’s look at it together, ..……?

12.Linda and Robert got married last year, ..……?

13.To start the computer you press this button first, ..……?

14.I don’t think John’s very friendly, ..……?

15.You can fix my bicycle, ..……?

16.You are unqualified yet, ..……?

17.If a message says «Error», you shouldn’t proceed, ..……?

18.Apparently, we have never met before, ..……?

19.It is not that cold today, ..……?

20.You will join us for a swim, ..……?

Exercise 7. Make the following requests more urgent or polite.

1. Speak up. 2. Tell her to phone. 3. Don’t interrupt me. 4. Do me a favour. 5. Help me with this job. 6. Forget it. 7. Stop arguing with me. 8. Clean the desk. 9. Sign your name. 10. Take off your shoes. 11. Do it at once. 12. Remember me to your sister. 13. Change your clothes. 14. Come tomorrow. 15. Turn off the TV-set. 16. Close the window. 17. Fix the table here. 18. Make your bed. 19. Have your porridge. 20. Respect your seniors.

Exercise 8. Turn affirmative sentences into negative using various means of negation. Give more than one variant if possible.

l. The boss will be at the office tomorrow, and so will the secretary.

2.You can buy this author’s books everywhere.

3.You are looking upset, Tom. Something bad has happened?

4.I have been to France many times. So has my husband.

5.Sue looks smart in a new dress.

6.He seems to know everything. – So he does.

7.My parents were at home last night, and so was I.

8.Nancy got tickets for the show somewhere and we went there on Saturday.

9.Everybody wants to be happy.

10.Monica lives in an apartment. And so does Mel.

11.Our teacher can speak Japanese, and so can we.

12.I think he has to study hard.

13.They passed the interview successfully.

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Chapter I. Simple sentence as a monopredicative construction

14.It is very hot in here because the window has been closed for a while.

15.You are a great cook! – Oh, yes, I am.

Exercise 9. Translate the sentences into English. Remember that Russian negative pronouns or adverbs beginning in не- appear in infinitive constructions, whereas ни- is used in other cases.

Model: Ему негде работать. – There is nowhere for him to work. Он нигде не работает.– He does not work anywhere.

1.Мненечегоделатьназачете, всеравнояничегоневыучила.

2.Задаю вопросы– никто ничего не знает. 3. Никто не приходил и не звонил. 4. Ничего нового мы не узнали. 5. Почему ты мол- чишь? Тебе нечего сказать? 6. Она с тех пор не боится никого и ничего. 7. Ничто меня не радовало. 8. Нечего смеяться! 9. Они говорили только о музыке, ни о чем другом. 10. Некуда было ехатьлетом, и мы осталисьв городе. 11. В университете некогда скучать! 12. Я нигде не видел его в последнее время. 13. Приеха- ло столько гостей, что хозяину негде было спать. 14. Я никогда не скучаю сама с собой. 15. Он ни с кем никогда не советует- ся. 16. Я все время спешу, и мне все время некогда. 17. Никогда

вжизниневиделстолькокрасивыхдевушек! 18. Житьвдеревне скучно, некуда пойти вечером. 19. Квартира очень маленькая, некуда поставитьрояль. 20. Я никуда не передвигалатвои вещи, все на своих местах.

Exercise 10. Give short replies according to the patterns below.

Pattern 1 (Why-questions): “I haven’t done the washing up.– Why haven’t you?”

1. She gave me the wrong information. 2. They never care what may happen. 3. He does very bad work. 4. I don’t believe you. 5. There isn’t much sense in it. 6. You’ve got to agree to it. 7. That won’t do. 8. They had no classes last week. 9. I have nothing to tell you. 10. He couldn’t have done so!

Pattern 2 (asking for confirmation): “The film is pretty good.– Oh, is it?” Practice the reply also with a falling tone to express doubt.

1. He told me the truth. 2. He didn’t finish school. 3. I don’t like his sister. 4. We were talking about the weekend. 5. You seem to be upset by it. 6. Well, your information is misleading. 7. There were

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Ю. М. СЕРГЕЕВА, И. О. СЫРЕСИНА. СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ

YULIA SERGEEVA, IRINA SYRESINA. A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX: FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

lots of people present. 8. He came in time yesterday. 9. He gave me beautiful flowers. 10. We went to the cinema together.

Pattern 3 (agreement with an affirmative statement): “The day is so

fine! – It is, isn’t it?” or “Yes, isn’t it?” Practice these variants with the rising and falling tone; practice also the matter-of-fact reaction “It is, is it!”, with falls in both parts.

1.He has done the test well. 2. It rained heavily all night.

3.She is very good at singing. 4. You look rather tired today. 5. She’s been busy lately. 6. It may snow tomorrow. 7. They certainly should have helped us. 8. You are also included in the list. 9. She had to do it again. 10. It has been going on for years.

Pattern 4 (agreement with a negative statement): “It isn’t too hot today.– (No,) It isn’t, is it?”

1.There hasn’t been a single warm day recently. 2. The news isn’t good. 3. The performance wasn’t a success. 4. He wasn’t right in saying so. 5. They shouldn’t have left. 6. He doesn’t have to lend him money. 7. So they never guessed what happened. 8. She didn’t phone.

9.She is never pleased with herself. 10. Alas, nobody trusts me.

Pattern 5 (disagreement with a negative statement): “It isn’t really too cold.– But it is!” or “Oh, yes, it is!”

1.He couldn’t do it well. 2. It isn’t too late. 3. Why didn’t you come?

4.There is no meat in the fridge. 5. You aren’t right. 6. That isn’t fair.

7.He didn’t even try. 8. He’s never lived here. 9. You haven’t learnt the rules. 10. You don’t love me.

Pattern 6 (emphatic confirmation): “It seems rather cold today.– So it is” (=“it is cold”) or “So it does” (= “it seems cold”).

1.I hope you understand me. 2. You have some egg on your chin.

3.It seems to me that he promised to call on us tonight. 4. It must be a terrible accident. 5. He does morning exercises every day. 6. Your phone needs repairing. 7. He made so many mistakes. 8. You must work harder at your Spanish. 9. I guess she is in her twenties now.

10.She knows the town well.

Exercise 11. Translate into English usin g one of the patterns above.

1. По-моему, вы не выучили правило.– Нет, выучил. 2. Вы, кажется, не были на собрании? – Да, не был. 3. День се- годня не очень холодный, да? – Да, не очень. 4. Так вы не по- лучили мой ответ? – Нет, почему же, получил. 5. Вы что,

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Chapter I. Simple sentence as a monopredicative construction

не совсем понимаете, что я говорю? – Да. 6. Об этом ты мне не говорил.– Как же, говорил. 7. Вы ведь так не думали? – Да, конечно. 8. Значит, ты там не был? – Да нет, был. 9. Вот я, на- пример, всегда говорю правду.– Да? Сомневаюсь. 10. Какой приятный человек! – Да, не правда ли? 11. Неужели сегодня уже понедельник? – И в самом деле! 12. По-моему, он очень добрый человек.– Да, действительно. 13. Насчетэтого вы оши- баетесь.– Да? Не думаю. 14. Мне этот фильм не понравился.– Правда? 15. Скорее всего, он просто забыл об этом.– Наверное. 16. Кажется, я вас знаю.– И в самом деле. 17. Она не любит шо- колад.– Нет, любит. 18. Мне кажется, ты сам в этом виноват.– Разве? 19. Он не знает немецкий язык.– Нет, знает. 20. Она не сказала правды.– Нет, сказала.

Exercise 12. Work in groups. Express your opinions about your hobbies or heroes. Agree and disagree (I don’t think so. Oh, come off it! OK, but …You’re dead right. Absolutely. Nonsense. That’s true. I suppose … but …You’ve got a point here.) Express your opinion on the issue (e.g. Personally, I …).

Exercise 13. Define the communicative type of the sentence; distinguish between cardinal and intermediary communicative types. Define the speech-act features of these sentences.

1. “I hope you won’t let him keep the stocking.”“You are not going to tell me everything I shall do, and everything I shanʼt.” (Lawrence). 2. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save him – you must save him! I tell you that you must save him! (Doyle). 3. I want you to pack my bags, please. 4. I suppose you were in a private school? 5. Listen, you’d better report to the police at once. 6. Thanks for coming to tell me about it. 7. Donʼt you want me to go and see the doctor? 8. Why donʼt you try to fall asleep? 9. Donʼt be so obstinate, Mary, please. 10. How do you feel about staying at home tonight? – All right. 11. Who likes to be abused? 12. “You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence of these witnesses.” (Doyle). 13. I suppose you havenʼt such a thing as an explosive in your bag? – No, Officer, nothing like that. 14. Tell us about your last talk with Dr. Mortimer. 15. No, I donʼt want you to go. After all, the last time, remember how frightfully rude she was to you?” (Christie). 16. Would you like to come up now? 17. Can you tell me a little more about her, and how she came here?

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Ю. М. СЕРГЕЕВА, И. О. СЫРЕСИНА. СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ

YULIA SERGEEVA, IRINA SYRESINA. A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX: FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

18. I hope they brought you some coffee? 19. Iʼll put the roses in a vase for you. – You wonʼt do anything of the kind. 20. “And there are people who are terribly unhappy, who canʼt help being unhappy. But what else is one to do, Tommy?” “What can anyone do except be as careful as possible.” (Christie).

Exercise 14. Dwell on the actual division of the following sentences.

MODEL: What have you bought for him? – A phone.

The first sentence is interrogative and its rheme what have … bought is informationally open.As it is a special question,the inquiry is marked by the interrogative pronoun which is the rhematic peak. The theme of the sentence is “you”. The second sentence is elliptical and, consequently, the whole of it is the rheme. The rhematic peak of the answer (A phone) is the reverse substitute of the interrogative pronoun. As the two sentences make up a semantic unity, the theme in the answer is zeroed, but it can be restored from the context (I have bought a phone for him).

1.“You donʼt want to go mixing yourself up in things that are no business of yours –” “Thereʼs nothing to be mixed up in according to you,” said Tuppence. “So you neednʼt worry at all.” (Christie)

2.“The old lady I was talking to,” said Tuppence. “Mrs. Lancaster, I think she said her name was?” (Christie)

3.“Gollum! Well Iʼm blest! So thatʼs how he sneaked past me? Now I know! Just crept quietly along, did you, Mr. Baggins? Buttons all over the doorstep! Good old Bilbo-Bilbo-Bilbo-bo-bo-bo-”. And then he fell asleep, and there was complete silence for a long time (Tolkien)

4.A hospital, he decided after several minutes. Why am I in hospital?... I was shot too, wasnʼt I? (Clancy)

5.“Go back?”he thought.“No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!” (Tolkien)

6.“Iʼm so tired of everything,” said Frankie in a weary voice. “Arenʼt you?”

Bobby considered. “No, I donʼt think I am.”

“My dear, how wonderful,” said Frankie. (Christie)

7.“We’ve got trouble,” said Dad. “There is a typhoon on the way. It was supposed to pass on the other side of Madagascar, but now it’s swung in.” (Dickinson)

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Chapter I. Simple sentence as a monopredicative construction

8.Emma and Harriet went together; Miss Bates and her niece, with the Eltons; the gentlemen on horseback. (Austen)

9.“Have you talked to Dianne?” “I called her about an hour ago. The FBI had just told her he was missing.”

10.“How much money have you left?” “Only fifty dollars.” “Oh, mercy,” she exclaimed, “what will we do? It’s only twenty days until the rent will be due again.”

Exercise 15. Justify the choice of the place of adverbial modifiers. Point out the topic (theme) and the comment (rheme) of the utterance.

1.Very carefully, the child held out his hand to the stranger.

2.All the way back the tourists were walking slowly. 3. The students listened to their professor with growing interest. 4. You should treat the vase with great care: it is fragile. 5. Two hours later the performance started. 6. The wind howled loudly outside the wooden hut. 7. Yesterday I walked much farther. 8. Outside the castle walls everything was calm and tranquil. 9. The plane was due to arrive half an hour later. 10. The robber climbed stealthily into the house. 11. Again and again I tried to start the car but it wouldn’t!

12.Actually, she lives next door to me. 13. He can’t speak fluently enough. 14. Patiently and politely the doctor listened to the old lady’s usual complaints. 15. We are too early for the beginning of the show.

16.Right now you should apologize for your inappropriate behavior!

17.Today I worked hard on my graduation project. 18. They lived here quite happily for a year. 19. Don’t try it again! 20. On a cold morning people queued patiently at the bus stop.

Exercise 16. Choose the structure “What …!” or “How …!” to make the sentences exclamatory. Make up your own dialogues using the structures.

1. She can sing well. 2. The weather is fine today. 3. That was a nice trip. 4. Our work is tedious. 5. This is a wonderful time we’re living at. 6. All through his childhood, Timothy was a problem. 7. It is an honor to visit your workshop. 8. It is honorable to meet you. 9. But Suzanne was a coward. 10. Her story was very amusing. 11. She told us a funny story. 12. The dog bit him fiercely. 13. It was a pleasure to see her dancing. 14. It was disgusting to walk through the slums. 15. The music played loudly. 16. The sight is attractive. 17. She is

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Ю. М. СЕРГЕЕВА, И. О. СЫРЕСИНА. СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ

YULIA SERGEEVA, IRINA SYRESINA. A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX: FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

doing the sonata wonderfully. 18. Tommy is a bore. 19. It is cold in here. 20. A new car is very expensive.

Exercise 17. Translate the sentences into English. Make them emphatic using more than one variant where possible.

1.В комнате так холодно! 2. Он потрясающий рассказчик!

3.Как хорошо ты водишь машину! Мы так быстро едем! 4. Как много нам задают домашних заданий! 5. Как красиво кружат- ся листья! 6. Как долго еще ждать следующий выходной! 7. Как хорошо ты стал говорить по-английски! 8. Какой же ты лентяй!

9.Как весело играют дети! И как же громко они кричат! 10. Как дорого стоит эта сумочка! 11. Как много в мире мест, которые хотелось бы посетить! 12. Как же надоели эти пробки! 13. Как много грибов в этом году! 14. Какая сладкая клубника! И такая крупная! 15. Какойтысмешнойвэтомкостюме! 16. Какдолгомы тебя ждали! И как же мы рады тебя видеть! 17. Какие они друж- ные! Итак хорошоладят! 18. Какой сильныйдождь! 19. Кактебе повезло! 20. Какой скучный фильм! И такой долгий!

Exercise 18. Add a short exclamatory reply containing a noun (without any article) to express some assessment, according to the model: And this is our garden.– Nice place!

1. Well, here’s my elder daughter. 2. Mum, I got all good marks for my oral test! 3. You know, Jane solves all the cross-word puzzles without looking up dictionaries! 4. My dog has learned to stand on hind legs! 5. Well, what do you think of the book? 6. Why don’t you laugh at my joke? 7. My granny is always suffering from bad headaches. 8. See what Mother has baked for us! 9. How do you like what he suggested? 10. Look above! Not a cloud, the sun shining! 11. Try this dress on, see how elegant it looks! 12. He didn’t tell us the truth! 13. I’ve passed my driving test! 14. He’s won the lottery! 15. She’s entered the university!

Exercise 19. REVISION. Make up your own dialogues using all conversational techniques you have already learnt (elliptical sentences, exclamatory patterns, short replies, negation, intermediary communicative types of sentences). Choose one of the topics suggested below or add your own one to the list:

1.Two persons start a quarrel over the occupied seat at the theatre.

2.A motor car has knocked down a pedestrian.

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