- •Verb: Work, worked, working, works, am working, is working, was working, have worked, has worked, will work, would work, ….
- •Seminar 2. Parts of speech
- •The category of number
- •6. Collective nouns which denote a number or a collection of similar individuals or things
- •The category of case
- •The use of the article before the possessive form
- •The article
- •Use of articles with various semantic groups of nouns
- •Descriptive attributes and restricting/limiting/particularizing attributes
- •Special difficulties in the use of articles
- •Adjective
- •Irregular method: good – better – the best, bad – worse – the worst, little – less – the least, many / much – more – the most, far – farther / further – the farthest / the furthest.
- •It is pretty dark. / The children were prettily dressed.
- •The verb
- •Subjunctive Mood forms in English
- •Complex Subject (participle I):
- •I found him waiting for me,with his stick in his hand.
- •The gerund and the present participle compared
- •Modal Verbs
- •In name structures: It is John. It is a cottage.
- •The attribute.
- •Elliptical (incomplete) sentences
- •The complex sentence
Elliptical (incomplete) sentences
An elliptical sentence is a sentence in which one or more word-forms in the principal positions are omitted. Ellipsis here refers only to the structural elements of the sentence, not the informational ones. This means that those words can be omitted, because they 1) have only grammatical, structural relevance or 2) do not carry any new relevant information. Such sentences are widely used in conversations. Compare in Russian: --Куда ты идешь? – В кино. \
-- Ты пойдешь в кино? -- Пойду.
Elliptical sentences can be easily restored: I sat near the window, he – near the door. If not today, then tomorrow they are to arrive.
We can omit:
the subject: Sam was in her blood. Had always been. Would always be. / Looks like rain.
the predicate: Some of the strangers spoke Spanish, others French.
the subject and part of the predicate: Going home? See what I mean? Heard nothing about him lately. Free this evening? Nice of you to come. He visited the places where he had played when a child. / We got acquainted while on a visit to the Crimea. / He is extremely well-read though very young.
the link-verb: Two vessels in sight, captain. You sure?
the predicative: -- Are you ready? – I am.
the auxiliary verb: Smoking strictly prohibited. Everything fixed?
both principal members of the sentence, the subject and the predicate: -- When will you write to him? – Tomorrow. -- Have you ever been abroad? – Never.
Ellipse is very often resorted to by writers to add dynamism to the described events: I ran after him, but he – over the garden wall. / -- Your name and address? – (It was a very personal question.) So good luck to you. Then rapidly to the door, down the steps, out into the street, and without looking to the right or left into the automobile, and in three minutes to the station, with utter disregard of traffic regulations and speed limits.
The composite sentence
The composite sentence is a sentence consisting of two or more clauses. In its structure a clause is similar to a simple sentence, but unlike a simple sentence it forms part of a bigger syntactical unit.
Within a composite sentence clauses may be joined by means of coordination or subordination, thus forming a compound or a complex sentence.
In a compound sentence all clauses are equal in rank and form one syntactical whole in meaning and intonation. The clauses in a compound sentence may be linked with the help of a conjunction, that is syndetically (1) or without any connector, that is asyndetically (2):
It was a nice little place and Mr. and Mrs. Witla were rather proud of it.
The rain fell softly, the house was quiet.
Syndetic coordination is realized with a number of conjunctions, such as and, but, or, nor, for, etc.; or with conjunctive adverbs, such as so, yet, still, otherwise, therefore, etc..
From the point of view of the relationship between coordinative clauses, we distinguish four kinds of coordinative connection:
copulative coordination (Простая соединительная связь) with the help of the following connectors: and, nor, neither … nor …, not only…. but …, … as well as..: Neither the moon was visible in the dark night nor were the stars. / Not only was he dissatisfied but he was extremely indignant. Copulative coordination implies that two events or ideas are merely joined in time and place.
disjunctive coordination (Разделительная связь), with the help of the connectors: or, otherwise, else, either … or … : We must hurry or we shall miss the train. / You must fasten the boat to the pole, otherwise the current will carry it away. Disjunctive coordination denotes choice, usually between two alternatives.
adversative coordination (Противительная связь),with the help of the connectors: but, yet, still, nevertheless, however, while, whereas.: You can cross the river on that fallen tree, but be careful. / I was not unhappy, not much afraid, yet I wept. / The old people were all sitting while the younger were standing. Adversative coordination joins clauses containing opposition, contradiction or contrast.
Causative-consecutive coordination (Причинно-следственная связь), with the help of the connectors: for, so, therefore, accordingly, consequently, hence, then: I shan’t buy it, for I can’t afford it. / You have settled it all for yourself, so I wash my hands of it. / I had to be educated, therefore we had to live in a town. Causative-consecutive coordination joins clauses one of which contains a reason, the other – a consequence.
Note: Don’t mix compound sentences with the causative-consecutive coordination and complex sentences with an adverbial clause of cause which is attached to the main clause with the help of the conjunction ‘because’: I shan’t buy it because I can’t afford it.
The clause with ‘for’ cannot be placed before the other half of the sentence. The conjunction ‘for’ is a coordinative conjunction.