Теоретическая грамматика английского языка = Theoretical Grammar of the English Language. Учебное пособие

tive mood and the subjunctive mood. The indicative mood shows that what is said must be regarded as a real fact. It may denote actions with different time reference and different aspective characteristics. Therefore the indicative mood has a wide variety of tense and aspect forms in the active and passive voice. The imperative mood expresses a command or a request. It does not have tense or voice distinctions.

The imperative mood form coincides with the stem of the verb (infinitive without the particle ‘to’), e.g. Come here! Sit down! The negative form is built by means of the auxiliary do + negative particle ‘not’ (the contracted form is ‘don’t’), e.g. Don’t worry about the child. This form

The subjunctive mood is used to express non-facts: unreal or hy-

pothetical actions or states. A hypothetical action or state may be viewed upon as desired, necessary, possible, supposed, imaginary, or

Different forms of the verb are used for this purpose: synthetic forms, forms of the Indicative, analytical forms.

In Old English the subjunctive mood was expressed by a special system of forms with a special set of inflections, different from those of the indicative. In the course of time, however, most of the inflections were lost, and the difference between the forms of the subjunctive and those of the indicative has almost disappeared. In Modem English there remain only two synthetic forms of the old regular system of the subjunctive, which differ from the forms of the indicative. Although their meaning and use have changed considerably, they are often called by their old names: the present subjunctive and the past subjunctive.

A great divergence of opinions on the question of the category of mood is caused by the fact that identical mood forms can express different meanings and different forms can express similar meanings. The category of mood shows the relation of the nominative content of the sentence towards reality. By this category the action can be presented as real, non-real, desirable, recommended, etc.

It is obvious that the opposition of the one integral form of the indicative and the one integral form of the subjunctive underlies the

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unity of the whole system of English moods. The formal mark of this opposition is the tense-retrospect shift in the subjunctive, the latter being the strong member of the opposition. The shift consists in the perfect aspect being opposed to the imperfect aspect.

The study of the English mood reveals a certain correlation of its formal and semantic features. The subjunctive, the integral mood of unreality, presents the two sets of forms according to the structural division of verbal tenses into the present and the past. These formsets constitute the two corresponding functional subsystems of the subjunctive, namely, the spective, the mood of attitudes, and the conditional, the mood of appraising causal-conditional relations of processes. Each of these, in its turn, falls into two systemic subsets, so that at the immediately working level of presentation we have the four subjunctive form-types identified on the basis of the strict correlation between their structure and their function:

Pure Spective (Subjunctive I) (consideration, desideration, inducement). E.g.: I suggest we do it. Be it so!

Modal Spective (Subjunctive IV) (consideration, desideration, inducement). E.g.: May it be so!

Stipulative Conditional (Subjunctive II) (unreal condition). E.g.: If I were you... If I had come yesterday...

Consective Conditional (Subjunctive III) (unreal consequence). E.g.: I would do (have done) it.

The elaborated scheme clearly shows that the so-called "imperative mood" has historically coincided with Subjunctive I. The described system is not finished in terms of the historical development of language. Today scholars discuss different classifications of moods in English revealing new correlations of meaning and form in the process of expressing mood distinctions but so far a universally accepted system of moods has not been worked out (Blokh, 2000).

Non-finite forms of the verbs

Non-finite forms of the verb (or the verbals) are forms of the verb intermediary in many aspects of their lexico-grammatical features between the verb and non-processual parts of speech. In the English language there are four non-finite forms: Infinitive, Gerund, Participle I (present Participle), Participle II (Past Participle).

Whereas the finite forms of the verb are able to perform only one syntactic function - to be a simple predicate of the sentence, non-finite

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forms are able to perforn a number of syntactic positions, with the exception of the function of a simple predicate. Non-finite verbs can perform non-verbal functions in the sentence as well as verbal ones. The processual meaning is exposed in them in a substantive or adjecti- val-adverbial interpretation. They render process as peculiar kinds of substances and properties. Verbals do not form a special lexemic class or a separate part of speech.

According to Prof. Blokh, their fundamental meaning is processual. Their essential syntactic features reveal the property which can be called “verbality”. Verbality is demonstrated by the ability of verbals to take adjuncts expressing the immediate recipients, attendants or adressees of the process (Blokh, 2000).

Verbals (non-finite forms) do not share the essential categorial structure and primary syntactic functions of the verb. Every English verb has both finite and non-finite forms. The category formed by the opposition of finite and non-finite forms is called the category of “fini- tude”.The strong member of the opposition is the finite verb which expresses time-mood categorial semantics, while the verbal is the weak member which has no such means of expressing (Blokh, 2000).

The opposition of finite verbs and non-finite verbs is based on the expression of the function of full predication and semi-predication. Finite forms express primary predication, non-finite forms express “secondary” or “potential” predication. Non-finite forms express semipredication building up semi-predicative complexes within different consructions Objective with the Infinitive, Subjectibe with the Infinitive, Gerundial Complex, Absolute Participial construction).

The Infinitive is the non-finite form which combines the properties of the verb with those of the noun serving as the verbal name of the process. Due to its general process-naming function the infinitive should be considered as the head word-form of the whole paradigm of the verb as it represents the actual derivation base for all the forms of the regular verb (Blokh, 2000). The infinitive is used in 3 types of functions: 1. as a notional self-positional syntactic part of the sentence (free use); 2. as the notional constituent of a complex verbal predicate built up around the predicate verb (half-free use); 3.as the notional constituent of the finite conjugation form (bound use).The dual ver- bal-nominal meaning of the infinitive is expressed in its free independent use

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The combinability of the infinitive also reflects the dual semantic nature. There are two types of connections: the verb-type combinability (to speak fluently) and the noun-type combinability (to read gives me pleasure).

The self-positional infinitive performs the functions of all the notional parts of the sentence: the subject, object, predicative, attribute, adverbial modifier. In the for-to-infinitive construction the infinitive has its own subject, e.g. The water was too cold for the children to swim.

With some transitive verbs the infinitive is used in the semi-pred- icative constructions of the complex object and the complex subject, e.g. We want them to come. They are said to know him.

The infinitive exists in two forms:

1.The free form, which is distinguished by the prepositional marker “to”;

2.The bound use of the infinitive – without”to” (bound infinitive). The marker “to” is a word-morpheme, one of the auxiliary elements

in English. The use or non-use of the marker depends on the verbal environment of the infinitive.

The infinitive has the following grammatical categories:

1.The aspective category of development (continuous in opposi-

tion);

2.The aspective category of retrospective coordination (perfect in opposition);

3.The category of voice (passive in opposition).

The categorical paradigm of transitive verbs has 6 forms: indefinite active, continuous active, perfect active, perfect continuous active, indefinite passive, perfect passive. The infinitive paradigm of intransitive verbs has only 4 forms.

The Gerund is a non-finite form of the verb which combines the properties of the verb with those of the noun. Similar to the infinitive the gerund serves as a verbal name of a process, but its substantive quality is more strongly pronounced than that of the infinitive. Unlike the infinitive the gerund can be modified by a noun in the possessive case or its pronominal equivalents and it can be used with prepositions.

Differences from the infinitive: the gerund is more detached from the finite verb than the infinitive semantically, it doesn’t join the conjugation if the verb, it is the suffixal form which makes it less general-

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ized than the infinitive in terms of the formal properties of the verbal lexeme, it is less definite than the infinitive from the lexico-grammati- cal point if view, it can be easily neutralized in the opposition with the verbal noun ending in -ing, as well as with the present participle.

So, the gerund cannot perform the function of the paradigmatic head-form. The general combinability of the gerund shows some common features with the verb, and some – with the noun.

The gerund can be used in combinations with the noun in the possessive case or possessive pronoun expressing the subject of the action. The gerundial construction is used in cases when the subject of the gerundial process differs from the subject of the whole sentence, e.g.: Will you excuse my coming late?

The verbal -ing-form can also combine with the noun-subject in the common case or its objective pronominal equivalent, e.g.: I read about the hostages having been released.

The gerund distinguishes two grammatical categories:

1.The aspective category of retrospective coordination (perfect in opposition);

2.The category of voice (passive in opposition).

The paradigm of the gerund of transitive verbs has 4 forms: the simple active, perfect active, simple passive, perfect passive. The gerundial paradigm of the non-transitive verbs has only 2 forms: simple and perfect active.

Differences between the Gerund and the Infinitive:

1.The gerund has a more substantive nature than the infinitive; the infinitive has a more dynamic, more actional character. There is also the verbal noun which is devoid of processual dynamics altogether.

2.Unlike the gerund, the infinitive has a modal force: This is a kind of peace to be desired by all. – A kind of peace that should be desired by all.

The Participle

The present participle is the non-finite form of the verb which combines the properties of the verb with those of the adjective and the adverb. It serves as a qualifying-processual name. It has grammatical categories of retrospective coordination and voice. Like all the verbals, it has no categorial time and the term “present” is rather conventional. The present participle has 3 types of lexico-grammatical properties displayed in combinability and syntactic functions. The verb-type

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combinability of PI is revealed in its ability to combine with: 1. nouns expressing the subject or the object of the sentence (in semi-predica- tive complexes), 2. with modifying adverbs, 3. with auxiliary finite verbs in the analytical forms of the verbs. The adjective-type combinability is revealed in its ability to combine with some modifying adverbs. The adverb-type combinability is revealed in its ability to combine with the modified verbs (Blokh, 2000).

Participle I performs the functions of the predicative, attribute, adverbial modifier. P.I can build semi-predicative complexes: We saw him approaching the house. A special use of present participle is seen in the absolute participial constructions of various types, forming complexes of detached semi-predication: The officer waiting in the hall, we had only a few minutes to make a decision.

The past participle (PII) is the non-finite form of the verb which combines properties of the verb with those of the adjective. It serves as the qualifying-processual name. It is a single form, which has no paradigm of its own. By paradigmatic correlation with the present participle it renders implicitly the categorical meaning of the perfect and passive. The main functions of PII in the sentence are those of the attribute and the predicative: The faded flower reminded her of the day that was to become her wedding day. – attribute. The light was inconveniently placed for reading. – predicative.

The attributive past participle of the limitive verbs in neutral context expresses priority, while that of unlimitive verbs expresses simultaneity. E.g. A tree broken by the storm blocked the passage. – Priority. I didn’t like the place admired by the public. – Simultaneity.

The past participle is capable of building up semi-predicative constructions of 1. Complex object: I want the documents filed; 2. Complex subject: The car was seen parked by the fence.

The absolute complex as a rule expresses priority in the correlation of two events: The talks completed, the delegation left the room. Past participles in detached syntactical position display clear cases of syntactic compression. Transformations may show that participial forms express adjectival relations not adverbial: Though welcomed heartily by the host, he felt that something was wrong. – Though he was welcomed heartily, he felt that something was wrong.

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MODULE 4

Syntax

Basic Units of Syntax

Syntax deals with the following levels of language: – the level of phrases (word groups) or phrasemic level, – the level of sentences (sentence level) or proposemic level, the level of utterances (the highest level of language – the supra-proposemic). The units of thi supraproposemic level of language are formed by separate sentences united into topical grouping. Phrases and sentences are built on the basis of syntactic patterns which reflect the highest stage of grammatical abstraction, being generalization of concrete phrases and sentences of language.

The Phrase

The term “phrase” was introduced by Russian scholars. The English terms are: a word combination, a word group, collocation. M.Y.Blokh uses the term “syntagmatic connection of words”. There are two approaches to the definition of the phrase.

1.The phrase is a grammatical unit formed by two or more notional words, which doesn’t constitute a sentence. It’s a narrow approach.

2.The phrase is every combination of two or more words, which

is a grammatical unit but not an analytical form. (B.A. Ilyish, M.Y. Blokh).

The elements of the phrase combine according to the valency of words composing it. The co-occurrence of words in a phrase depends on the valency of each word, i.e. its inner potency to combine on the syntactic level. Models or patterns of phrases represent a system of combinations of words existing in language. There are three main types of phrases:

1.Subordinate phrases: fine weather, to run quickly.

2.Coordinative phrases: brother and sister.

3.Predicative phrases: for them to go.

Subordinate phrases are formed by words which are syntactically unequal: one of the two words plays the role of a modifier to the other. Due to this feature combinations of this type can be called “dominational”. The dominating element is called the principal or “kernel element” or “head word”. The subordinate element is called “the adjunct” or ‘expansion’. According to the head word there are five types of subordinate phrases:

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phrases: unextended simple, consisting of two words (awfully tired) and extended complex, consisting of more than two words (a very good book). Besides phrases consisting of two or more notional words there are combinations of a notional word and a functional word (formative combinations): in a low voice. Their contextual dependence is obvious. Functionally they can be compared to separate notional words used in

Coordinate phrases consist of two or more words related on an equal rank. For a two-word combination neither of them serves as a modifier to the other. Notional words in such phrases are connected either with the help of conjunctions (syndetically), or without them (asyndetically): prose and poetry; no sun, no moon.

Predicative phrases are such structures in which syntactic functions of the components differ from the function of the phrase as a whole. They are formed by a combination of a non-finite verbal form with a substantive element (infinitive, gerundial, participial constructions). The elements of such phrases are called subjectival element and pridictival element: he didn’t wait for me to answer. One component denotes an action performed by the other component.

Classification of predicative phrases

Bound predicative phrases are those which function as subjects, objects, adverbial modifiers. They are closely connected with the verbpredicate in simple sentences. They are divided into:

1.The accusative (objective) with the infinitive construction: I saw him go there.

2.The accusative with participle: I found her playing in the garden.

3.The nominative with the infinitive: She was expected to wait for them.

4.The nominative with the participle: They were seen entering the office.

5.Infinitive for-phrases: This is for you to decide.

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6. Absolute predicative phrases: Weather permitting, we shall go to the country.

They are always isolated in the sentence, expressing an additional or parallel quality or action. They are connected by means of intonation with the whole sentence, but not with the verb-predicate. The subjectival element denotes a person or thing other than the subject of the sentence, e.g.: The situation being urgent, we had to move ahead.

The three main types of syntactic relations within a phrase are:

Agreement is a way of expressing syntactic relations which consists in making the subordinate word take a form similar to that of the head-word. The sphere of agreement is small in modern English: a combination of the demonstrative pronoun with a noun: this bookthese books.

Government is a way of expressing syntactic relations which consists in making the subordinate word take a form required by the head-word but not coinciding with the form of the head-word: The use of the personal pronoun in the objective case after the verb: I see him. Call them at once.

Adjoining is a way of expressing syntactic relations which implies that the form of the head-word doesn’t influence the form of the subordinate word: fresh air.

Enclosure is a type of syntactic relations when some element of a phrase is enclosed between two parts of another element: an adjective between an article and a noun: a good book. This type plays a significant part in modern English.

Simple sentence. Constituent structure

The sentence is the main object of syntax as part of the grammatical theory.

In traditional linguistics sentences, according to their structure, are divided into simple and composite, the latter consisting of two or more clauses. The typical English simple sentence is built up by one “predicative line" realized as the immediate connection between the subject and the predicate of the sentence (Blokh, 2000).

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The Main Principles of Actual Division of the Sentence

The actual division of the sentence exposes its informative perspective showing what immediate semantic contribution the sentence parts make to the total information conveyed by the sentence. The term was introduced by V.Mathesius.

From the point of view of the actual division the sentence can be divided into two sections: thematic (theme) and rhematic (rheme). The theme expresses the starting point of communication; it means that it denotes an object or a phenomenon about which something is reported. The rheme expresses the basic informative part of the communication, emphasizing its contextually relevant centre. Between the theme and the rheme intermediary, transitional parts of the actual division can be placed, also known under the term "transition". Transitional parts of the sentence are characterized by different degrees of their informative value.

Language has special means to express the theme. They are the following: the definite article and definite pronominal determiners, loose parenthesis introduced by the phrases "as to", "as for", and the direct word-order pattern.

In comparison with the language means used to express the theme, language has a richer arsenal of means to express the rheme because the rheme marks the informative focus of the sentence. To identify the rhematic elements in the utterance one can use a particular word-or- der pattern together with a specific intonation contour, an emphatic construction with the pronoun "it", a contrastive complex, intensifying particles, the so-called "there-pattern", the indefinite article and indefinite pronominal determiners, ellipsis, and also special graphical means.

Communicative types of sentences

The sentence is a communicative unit, therefore the primary classification of sentences must be based on the communicative principles. This principle is formulated in traditional grammar as “the purpose of communication”. In accordance with the purpose of communication three cardinal sentence-types have long been recognized in linguistics: the declarative sentence, the imperative (inductive) sentence, the interrogative sentence. These communicative sentence-types stand in strict opposition to one another. The declarative sentence expresses a statement, either affirmative or negative. The imperative sentence

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