Seminar two. The noun. The categories of case and number. The adjective, the adverb and the category of degrees of comparison.

1. The noun. The categories of number and case.

1). The distinctive features of the Noun.

2). Comment upon Sweet’s treatment of the Case. How many cases does he speak of?

3). Try to criticize Curme’s approach to the Case, especially his four forms of the Genitive.

4). Speak on the category of Number.

SOME PRACTICE.

1. Is there any connection between the lexical meaning of some words and the fact that they are usually used in the singular or plural? (Khaim. p.57).

2. Comment upon the problem of “countable” and “uncountable” nouns. Isn’t it possible for an uncountable noun to become countable? ( Hair, milk, wine).

3. ransform the following and comment upon the meanings of the word-combinations:

father- image – father’s image

woman- doctor – woman’s doctor

girl’s face – girl’s book

rose garden – rose’s garden.

4. What can be expressed by the OF-phrase:

a man of strong will

a table of oak

a group of children

a head of a girl

6. What does it mean: A friend of Mary’s ; I dined at my aunt’s ?

7. Here is a list of Noun-Determiners. Characterize the determiners in terms of traditional Grammar:

a\ the

some\ any\ a little\ a few\ no\none\ much\many\plenty of\a lot of\

SEMINAR THREE

The verb.

THE CATEGORIES OF TENSE, ASPECT, VOICE, MOOD.TENSE, ASPECT

1. The definition of the Verb as a part of speech.

2. The categories of Tense and Order.

3. Comment upon O. Jespersen’s treatment of Tenses.

4. Comment upon Sweet’s complete-incomplete tenses. What words help to reveal the idea of completeness?

5. What does Whitehall call the auxiliary verbs?

6. Try to criticize Curme’s point-action aspects (ingressive and effective). Are they really morphological forms or simply combinations of verbs?

7. What does the category of Aspect express? Are Perfect forms included into the category of Aspect?

Some practice on tense and aspect

1. Use all possible terms when defining the forms of the verbs in:

• I’m taking dancing lessons this year.

• The bus is stopping.

• I have read the book.

• He will be going to leave soon.

• It stopped thinking.

• It started raining.

The verb. The categories of voice and mood.

1). What are the basic constituents of the Category of Voice?

2) Comment upon the Medial voice (Middle, Reflexive, Reciprocal). What are the formal markers of these voices?

3) What Moods are usually singled out by traditional Grammar?

4). Comment on G.O. Curme’s New Actional Passive forms.

5) Would you include Interrogative forms into the group of Mood-forms?

6) What moods does H. Sweet speak of?

7) What moods does G.O. Curme name?

8) Whose classification of moods does O. Jespersen’s classification resemble?

9) What’s the difference between Mood and Modality?

10) Name all possible terms used to denote Sweet’s “compulsive mood”.

11) Comment upon Curme’s present and past Subjunctives.

12) Name all possible ways of expressing unreality of action in English.

13) Try to draw a scheme of modal meanings.

14) Compare forms of the Mood in the English language with those in Russian.