ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ ВЫСШЕЕ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ТЮМЕНСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

ТЮМЕНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ИНСТИТУТ МИРОВОЙ ЭКОНОМИКИ, УПРАВЛЕНИЯ И ПРАВА

Е. И. АРЖИЛОВСКАЯ

GUIDE TO THE THEORY OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Учебно-методическое пособие для студентов (переводчиков) III курса

Тюмень 2002

ББК 81.2 - Англ - 2 Т 33

GUIDE TO THE THEORY OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR: Учебно-методи­ческое пособие. Тюмень: Тюменский государственный институт мировой экономики, управления и права, 2002. 32 с.

Учебно-методическое пособие по курсу «Теоретическая грамматика английского языка» предназначено для студентов 3 курса ТГИМЭУП, обучающихся по программе «Переводчик в области профессиональной коммуникации». Данный лекционный курс представляет собой второй этап общефилологической подготовки студентов-переводчиков и читается на английском языке.

В пособии содержится рабочая программа по курсу «Теоретическая грамматика английского языка», а также список основной и дополнительной литературы, вопросы к зачету, глоссарий.

В пособии кратко рассматриваются основные понятия и проблемы морфологии и синтаксиса английского языка, излагаются такие вопросы, как:

• история теорграмматики английского языка;

• теория морфемы;

• классификация морфем;

• теория оппозиции;

• грамматические категории;

• теория частей речи;

• характеристика отдельных частей речи;

• основные единицы синтаксиса;

• классификация предложений;

• простое и сложное предложения.

В качестве дополнительного материала студентам предлагаются практи­ческие задания по морфемному и морфологическому анализу слов, а также по синтаксическому разбору предложений (схемы анализа прилагаются).

Работа утверждена на заседании кафедры иностранных языков, печата­ется по решению учебно-методического совета ГОУ ТГИМЭУП.

Составитель доцент Е. И. Аржиловская

©Аржиловская Е. И., 2002

© ГОУ ТГИМЭУП, 2002

Course Curriculum

Week	Theme of the Lecture
1	Grammar in the Systemic Conception of Language. Synchrony, diachrony. On the history of English grammar. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations. Notional syntagmas.
2	Morphology. Morpheme, its types. Distribution, its types. The theory of opposition, its types.
3	Grammatical categories. Synthetical and analytical grammatical forms. Notional parts of speech. Functional parts of speech.
4	The noun, its classification. Word-building of the noun. Gender, number, case. The adjective. The article.
5	The adverb. The pronoun. The numeral. The preposition, the conjunction, the interjection, the particle.
6	The verb, its morphological structure, types of forming Past Simple and Past Participle. Classification of the verbs according to their semantics, syntactical function. Tense and aspect of the English verb. Taxis and voice. Mood.
7	Verbals: The Infinitive. The Gerund. The Participle. Constructions.
8	Methods of liguistic analysis (Historical Comparative method). The IC grammar. Transformational grammar.
9	The phrase. The Sentence. Actual division of the sentence. Communicative types of sentences. Simple sentence. Principle and secondary parts of a sentence. Independent parts.
10	Composite sentence. Complex sentence, types of clauses. Semi-composite and semi-compound sentences. The sentence in the text.
Obligatory Literature

1.

2. 3.

4.

Блох М.Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка: Учеб. - 3-е изд., испр. - М.: Высш. шк., 2000. - 381 с. (на англ. яз.) Iliysh B.A. The Structure of Modern English. - M.-L., 1965. - 379 p. Irtenyeva N.F., Barsova O.M., Blokh M.Y., Shapkin A.P. A Theoretical English Grammar (Syntax). Higher School Publishing House. Moscow - 1969, 144 p.

Качалова К.Н., Израилевич Е.Е. Практическая грамматика английского языка. - М.: «Дело Лтд», 1994. - 720 с.

Further Reading

1. Бархударов Л.С. Очерки по морфологии современного английского языка. - М.: Высшая школа, 1975. - 156 с.

2. Иванова И.П., Бурлакова В.В., Почепцов Г.Г. Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка. - М.: Высшая школа, 1981. - 285 с.

3. Иофик Л.Л., Чахоян Л.П. Хрестоматия по теоретической грамматике английского языка. - Л.: Просвещение, 1981. - 224 с. (на англ. яз.)

4. Смирницкий А.И. Морфология английского языка. - М.: Изд-во лит-ры на иностр. языках, 1959. - 440 с.

5. Смирницкий А.И. Синтаксис английского языка. - М.: Изд-во лит-ры на иностр. языках, 1957. - 286 с.

6. Языкознание. Большой энциклопедический словарь / Гл. Ред. В.Н. Ярцева. - М.: Большая Российская энциклопедия, 1998. - 685 с.

Lecture 1. Grammar in the Systemic Conception of Language. Synchrony, diachrony. On the history of English grammar. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations. Notional syntagmas.

The term "Grammar" is of Greek origin ("gramma" - "a letter", "way of writing").

The aim of this course is to describe the grammatical structure of the English language as a system the elements of which are interconnected by different relations.

There is a number of differences between practical grammar and theoretical

one.

Language is a means of forming and storing ideas as reflections of reality and exchanging them in the process of human intercourse. Language is social by its nature.

Language incorporates three constituent parts: the phonological system, the lexical system and the grammatical system. Only the unity of these three elements forms a language.

Grammatical elements of language present a unity of content and expression (a unity of form and meaning). In cases of polysemy and homonymy two or more units of the plane of content correspond to one unit of the plane of expression. In the cases of synonymy two or more units of the plane of expression correspond to one unit of the plane of content.

Scientifically sustained and consistent principles of systemic approach to language were essentially developed by the Russian scholar Beaudoin de Courtenay and the Swiss scholar Ferdinand de Saussure. They demonstrated the difference between lingual synchrony (coexistence of lingual elements) and diachrony (different time-periods in the development of lingual elements as well as language as a whole). They defined language as a synchronic system of meaningful elements at any stage of its historical evolution.

The age of prescientific grammar:

1. 1585 - middle of 18^t century (prenormative grammar): William Lily, William Bullokar;

2. middle of the 18^th century - 1900 (prescriptive, normative grammar): John Brightland, R. Lowth, Lindly Murray, Mason, Bain;

Traditional (scientific grammar):

1. 1900 - 1950's (classical scientific grammar): Henry Sweet, Whitehall, Robert Sledd, Otto Jesperson;

2. 1950's - present days:

1. Structural (descriptive): Charles Fries, L. Bloomfield, F. de Saussure, Z. Harris;

2. Transformational generative grammar: Bach;

3. Generative semantics: Fillmore, Donnellan;

4. Textual linguistics: Z. Harris, Pike, Harweg.

A typical feature of the last decades is coexistence and a certain interaction of different types of grammar.

Lingual units stand to one another in two fundamental types of relations: syntagmatic and paradigmatic. The former present immediate linear relations between units in a segmental string, the latter exist between elements of the system outside the strings where they co-occur.

The combination of two words or word-groups one of which is modified by the other forms a unit which is referred to as a syntactical syntagma. There are four main types of notional syntagmas: predicative, objective, attributive, adverbial. The minimal paradigm consists of two form-stages. Units of language are divided into segmental and suprasegmental.

Lecture 2. Morphology. Morpheme, its types. Distribution, its types. The theory of opposition, its types.

Grammar is subdivided into two parts: morphology and syntax. Morphology studies the forms of words while syntax treats phrases and sentences.

There are three characteristic features of a morpheme: it is elementary, meaningful and recurrent. A morpheme is a multitude of morphs having the same meaning and being in complementary distribution. An allomorph is a slight phonetical variant which is explained by the phonetical differences in the environment of the morphs.

Classical linguistics distinguishes two classes of morphemes: lexical and grammatical. Lexical morphemes serve to convey definite, material meaning, grammatical morphemes are the bearers of a very abstract grammatical meaning. Morpheme is bilateral in nature.

Morphemes are divided into root-morphemes and affixal morphemes. Environment is a set of neighbouring elements. Distribution of an element is the total of all environments in which it occurs. Descriptive linguistics discriminates three main types of distribution: contrastive, non-contrastive and complementary.

As a result of the application of distributional analysis to the morphemic level we can distinguish free or self-dependent and bound morphemes. There are very few productive bound morphemes in the morphological system of English but the list of them is complicated by the relations of homonymy.

On the basis of formal presentation there are overt and covert morphemes. On the basis of grammatical alteration we can also distinguish additive and replacive morphemes. On the basis of linear characteristic the following morphemes are singled out: continuous (linear) and discontinuous.

Opposition is a generalized correlation of lingual forms by means of which a certain function is expressed. Members of the opposition must possess both common features and differential features. The theory of opposition was originally worked out by Nickolay Trubetskoy at the phonological level. By the number of members contrasted oppositions were divided into binary (two members) and more than binary (ternary, quaternary, etc.).

Further, oppositions can be subdivided into privative, gradual and equipollent. The most important type of opposition is the binary privative opposition. The binary privative opposition is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain differential feature (the marked, strong, positive member) and the other member is characterized by the absence of this feature (the unmarked, weak, negative member).

The gradual opposition is formed by a contrastive group of members which are distinguished not by the presence or absence of a feature but by the degree of it.

The equipollent opposition is formed by a contrastive pair or group in which the members are distinguished by different positive features.

The theory of opposition can be applied not only to phonology but also to any linguistic level including morphology. Morphological opposition must reflect both the plane of expression and the plane of content.

Lecture 3. Grammatical categories. Synthetical and analytical grammatical forms. Notional parts of speech. Functional parts of speech.

Professor Smirnitskiy pointed out that there must be at least one opposition consisting of at least two members to form a grammatical category.

On the basis of grammatical meaning and grammatical form there can be established a grammatical category. A grammatical category is the system of such oppositions where members differ in form to express concrete manifestations or realizations of the general meaning of the category.

Grammatical meanings are very abstract, very general. Therefore, the grammatical form is not confined to an individual word but unites a whole class of words, so that each word of the class expresses the corresponding grammatical meaning together with its individual, concrete semantics.

Synthetical grammatical forms are realized by the inner morphemic composition of the word (inner inflexion, outer inflexion and suppletivity).

Analytical grammatical forms are built up by a combination of at least two words, one of which is a grammatical auxiliary and the other - a word of basic meaning.

The words of language, depending on various formal and semantic features, are divided into grammatically relevant sets or classes. These lexico-grammatical classes of words are traditionally called parts of speech. To discriminate this or that part of speech the following criteria should be used: meaning, form and function.

Notional words have distinct lexical meaning and perform independent syntactic functions in the sentence. Functional words do not fill in the positions of notional words. They are formal signals of the relations between the notional words and are closely connected with the grammatical meaning of the sentence as a whole. The notional parts of speech of the English language are the noun, the adjective, the numeral, the pronoun, the verb and the adverb. The functional parts are the article, the preposition, the particle, the modal word and the interjection.

The classification of lingual units offered by Henry Sweet (declinables and indeclinables) is based on the morphological criterion.

Charles Fries classified all the words according to the syntactico-distributional criterion.

Lecture 4. The noun, its classification. Word-building of the noun. Gender, number, case. The adjective. The article.

The noun as a part of speech has a categorial meaning of "substance" or "thingness". It is the main nominative part of speech. Syntactical functions: the subject, a predicative, an attribute, and an adverbial modifier. Combinability: the noun can combine with another noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb.

Word-building: simple, derivative and compound. Productive and unproductive noun-forming suffixes. Types of compound nouns.

Classification of nouns:

1. Proper nouns are individual names given to separate persons or things.

2. Common nouns are names that can be applied to any individual of a class of persons or things, collections of similar individuals or things regarded as a single unit, materials or abstract nouns:

1. class nouns;

2. collective nouns;

3. material nouns;

4. abstract nouns.

Proper and common nouns can be divided into animate and inanimate. Common nouns can be countable and uncountable.

In the English language gender is not a grammatical category as in Russian, it is a lexico-semantic category. Animate nouns can be feminine, masculine and neuter. Nouns of common gender. Political correctness.

Two numbers: singular and plural. Rules of forming the plural form and exceptions. Latin and Greek words. Pluralia Tantum. Nouns that look as plural but which are used as singular. The meaning of plurality is not merely a grammatical meaning, it is closely connected with the lexical meaning. Restrictions, new meanings.

The problem of case in modern English nouns is one of the most vexed problems in English grammar. Case is the category of a noun expressing relations between the thing denoted by the noun and other things, or properties, or actions and manifested by some formal sign in the noun itself. Modern linguistics differentiates the common and the genitive (possessive) case. There are eight semantic types of the genitive: the genitive of possessor, the genitive of integer, the genitive of agent, the genitive of patient, the genitive of destination, the genitive of dispensed qualification, the genitive of adverbial, the genitive of quantity.

Ambiguity in spoken English, way out - using of-phrase.

The adjective expresses the categorial semantics of property of a substance. It means that each adjective presupposes relation to some noun the property of which referent it denotes, such as its material, colour, dimensions, position, state and other characteristics both permanent and temporary. Adjectives can combine with nouns, link-verbs and adverbs. In the sentence the adjective performs the functions of an attribute and a predicative.

All the adjectives are traditionally divided into qualitative and relative. Relative adjectives express such properties of a substance as are determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance. Qualitative adjectives denote various qualities of substances which admit of a quantitative estimation.

The ability of an adjective to form degrees of comparison is usually taken as a formal sign of its qualitative character.

Words signifying properties of a nounal referent built up by the prefix "a-" and denoting different states are called predicative adjectives (the category of state, stative words, statives).

The adjective has one grammatical category, i.e. degrees of comparison (the positive degree, the comparative degree and the superlative degree). Rules of forming (synthetical and analytical forms). Use of articles. Substantivized adjectives (wholly or partially).

The article is a determining unit of specific nature accompanying the noun in communicative collocations. The definite and the indefinite articles, rules of their usage, absence of article.

Lecture 5. The adverb. The pronoun. The numeral. The preposition, the conjunction, the interjection, the particle.

The adverb is usually defined as a word expressing either property of an action, or property of another property, or circumstances in which an action occurs. In accord with their categorial meaning, adverbs are characterized by a combinability with verbs, adjectives and words of adverbial nature. The functions of adverbs in these combinations consist in expressing different adverbial modifiers.

Adverbs can be simple, derived, compound and composite. The peculiar feature of the adjective-stem converted adverbs consists in the fact that practically all of them have a parallel form in "-ly" (hard/hardly, loud/loudly).

Rules of forming degrees of comparison. According to their meaning the adverbs are divided into adverbs of time, repetition or frequency, place or direction, cause or consequence, manner, degree, measure or quantity. Interrogative and conjunctive adverbs. Some adverbs are homonymous with prepositions, conjunctions or words of the category of state.

The pronoun has a categorial meaning of indication. There are four grammatical categories - person, number, gender and case. Types of pronouns: personal, possessive, reflexive, reciprocal, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, conjunctive, defining, indefinite and negative. Syntactical functions of the pronoun - the subject, the object, the attribute, the predicative.

The numerals a part of speech which indicates number or order of persons or things in a series. Simple numerals, specific forms of composition for compound numerals. According to their meaning numerals are divided into cardinal and ordinal numerals. Numerals can perform the functions of an attribute, the subject, the predicative, an object. In fractional numbers the numerator is a cardinal and the denominator is a substantivized ordinal.

The preposition is a part of speech which denotes the relation between objects and phenomena. It shows the relation between a noun or a pronoun and other words. As to their morphological structure prepositions fall under the following groups: simple, derivative, compound, composite. According to their meaning prepositions may be divided into prepositions of place and direction, time and prepositions of abstract relations.

The conjunction is a part of speech which denotes connections between objects and phenomena. According to the morphological structure conjunctions are divided into simple, derivative, compound, composite. As to their function conjunctions fall under two classes: coordinating (copulative, disjunctive, adversative, causative-consecutive) and subordinating.

The interjection, occupying a detached position in the sentence, is a part of speech which expresses various emotions without naming them. According to their meaning interjections can be classified as emotional and imperative. Interjections may be primary and secondary.

The particle has no independent lexical meaning, it is a part of speech giving modal or emotional emphasis to other words or groups of words or clauses. According to their meaning they are classified as limiting, intensifying, connecting, negative. Almost all the particles are homonymous with other parts of speech.

Lecture 6. The verb, its morphological structure, types of forming Past Simple and Past Participle. Classification of the verbs according to their semantics, syntactical function. Tense and aspect of the English verb. Taxis and voice. Mood.

Grammatically the verb is the most complex part of speech. The general categorial meaning of the verb is process presented dynamically including states, forms of existence, types of attitudes. In the sentence the finite verb performs the function of the predicate.

According to the morphological structure verbs are divided into simple, derived, compound and composite. Semantically all verbs can be divided into terminative, durative, polysemantic. English verbs can be transitive (require an object) and intransitive (they cannot take an object).

According to the syntactical function verbs are classified in:

1. notional - verbs which have a full meaning of their own and can be used without any additional words as a simple predicate;

2. auxiliary - those which have lost their meaning and are used only in analytical forms;

3. link - verbs which to a smaller or greater extent have lost their meaning and are used in the compound nominal predicate;

4. modal - verbs used with the infinitive as predicative markers as expressing relational meaning of the subject attitude type.

According to the way of forming the Past Indefinite and Participle II: regular, irregular and mixed. The verb has the following grammatical categories: person, number, tense, aspect, voice, mood, time-relation.

Tense is a grammatical category by means of which a certain time-relationship is established between the process which is denoted by the particular forms of the verb and the moment of speaking. Three tenses - Present, Past and Future.

Aspect is a grammatical category showing the difference in the way the action is shown to proceed. Two aspects - Continuous and Non-Continuous.

Taxis (time-relation) is a grammatical category showing the relation of the action to the time of utterance (Perfect forms and Non-Perfect).

Voice is a grammatical category which indicates the relation of the predicate to the subject and the object (the Active, the Passive, the Neuter-Reflexive).

Mood is a grammatical category which indicates the attitude of the speaker towards the action expressed by the verb from the point of view of its reality (the Indicative, the Imperative, the Subjunctive).

Lecture 7. Verbals: The Infinitive. The Gerund. The Participle. Constructions.

There are three verbals in English - the Infinitive, the Gerund and the Participle. They have a double nature: nominal and verbal. They cannot be the predicate of the sentence. They do not express person, number or mood. The tense distinctions are relative, they show only whether the action expressed by the verbal is simultaneous with the action expressed by the finite verb or prior to it.

The Infinitive developed from the verbal noun which in course of time became verbalized retaining at the same time some of its nominal properties. Nominal character is manifested in its syntactical functions:

1. Subject,

2. Object,

3. Predicative.

Verbal characteristics:

1. the Infinitive of the transitive verb can take a direct object;

2. the Infinitive can be modified by an adverb;

3. the Infinitive has the following grammatical categories: time-relation, voice and aspect.