Polycomponent Syntactic Units

1. Identify the type of the syntactic units:

1. How strange, isn't it? (R. Carter, M. McCarthy).

2. I play or I listen to music (I. Shaw).

3. Let me know if there's anything we can do. — Thank you, I'll do that (N. Church, A. Moss).

4. But most of the time I have more work than I can accept (B. Gutcheon).

5. So, could you get back to me tomorrow or the next day to let me know? — Yes, of course (J. Comfort).

6. I'll see you Monday night, I guess (B.Gutcheon).

7. Do you want to take the call? — Yeah, OK (J. Comfort).

8. Charlie, do you ever think about your mother? — Yes, I do sometimes (B.Gutcheon).

9. But the problem is, we're running out of time (J. Comfort).

1. The baby tried to sit still, but it was hard for him (B. Gutcheon).

2. Repeat that, please! (J. Comfort).

2. Identify the type of the polypredicative syntactic units:

1. The police think they may have found one of the boys (I. Shaw).

2. As we have already pointed out, monopoly redistributes income in favor of the monopolists (E.Mansfield).

3. The door opened and Babcock came in (I. Shaw).

4. She wants to go into business when she leaves college (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

5. They stopped at a phone booth; there was no answer at Gary's (B. Gutcheon).

6. He knows more about Europe than we do (E. Segal).

7. You are safe when people are what they seem. (B. Gutcheon).

8. Make it a window seat, but if there aren't any left, I'll take an aisle seat. — Smoking or non-smoking? — Non-smoking, please (N. Church, A. Moss).

9. I'm a good teacher and I've written an important book (E. Segal).

10. This is a free country and I can say what I want (I. Shaw).

11. Is he in pain? — He is and he isn't (E.Segal).

12. Fred is terribly bright for his age, isn't he? (B. Gutcheon).

13. The life of a man like Morrison, he admitted sadly to himself, would have been beyond him (I. Shaw).

14. I am fed up with it, I am (R. Carter, M. McCarthy).

15. They parked by the gate closest to Massachusetts Hall (some of whose earlier occupants had been George Washington's soldiers) (E.Segal).

16. It isn't an argument, it's just contradiction (B.Gutcheon).

17. Stop arguing, will you (R. Carter, M. McCarthy).

Communicative Syntax

Identify the rheme in the italicized sentences and explain what helped you do it:

1. 'What is her telephone number?' Rainborough uttered the number (I.Murdoch).

2. When's our next meeting ...? — We'll meet on Wednesday evening (E.Blyton).

3. Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever peo­ple talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me so nervous. — I do mean something else (O.Wilde).

4. Even officers must go through this (A.Wesker).

5. He was met in the hall by Nan... (I. Murdoch).

6. They had sent him to Cape Town to get a teacher's certificate. Well, he had done even better (P.Abrahams).

7. The communication system carries information... (F.R.Palmer).

8. Happy at Moor-House I was... (Ch. Bronte).

9. On peace and rest my mind was bent, And fool I was I marry'd (R. Burns).

10. I've brought you a little present. A Russian present (I. Murdoch).

11. There were only three people on the sidewalk across the street (J. Cheever).

12. // was Billy Buck who was angry (J. Steinbeck).

13. We'll get something there. We will (E.Caldwell).

14. Mrs. Morgan read this rather flatly (Th. Dreiser).

15. Paul hated his father so (D. H. Lawrence).

16. I adore you. But you haven't proposed to me yet. — Well... may I pro­pose to you now? (O. Wilde).

17. Did he go? — Sure he went (F. S. Fitzgerald).

18. I can't think what it's all about. Do you know? — Haven't an idea (J. van Druten).

19. Listen, are you all right? Do you want your pills? — No, no pills (R.Blum).

20. I watch you... — Why do you watch me? — I care about you (J. Baldwin).

21. It's gone up. — It's all your stupid fault, playing about. — What do we do now? — We'll have to wait till it comes down (H. Pinter).

22. And look at his shoes. Did you ever have shoes like that? (P.Abra­hams).

23. Do make my apologies to your wife (C. P. Snow).

24. Shall I take you round the House, sir, while I send Cook to break it to him? — No, you go to him (J. Galsworthy).

25. Well, produce my cigarette case first. — Here it is. Now produce your explanation, and pray make it improbable (O.Wilde).

26. You go now. I want you to go to bed (J. Steinbeck).

Semantic Syntax

1. Define the semantic types of the verbs in the sentences:

1. Her cheeks were wet with tears (A. S. Hornby, A. P. Cowie, A. C. Gimson).

2. It's raining again (R. Murphy).

3. The leaves are going brown (M.Swan).

4. She shouted out a warning (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

5. It's three o'clock (BBC London Course).

6. Diane slit the envelope open with a knife (Longman Essential Activa­tor).

7. Stop the car — Ben feels sick (Longman Language Activator).

8. The weather became warmer (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

9. She pushed the door to against the blinding sunlight (Longman Lan­guage Activator).

10. It's very late (R. Murphy).

11. I've written the address down for you (Longman Essential Activator).

12. The baby crawled across the room (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

13. Her eyes closed, and she fell into a deep sleep (Longman Language Activator).

14. She took the necklace out of the box and closed the lid (Longman Language Activator).

3. Define the semantic roles of the nouns in the sentences:

1. The painting had been slashed with a knife (Longman Language Activator).

2. We've found oil under the North Sea (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

3. Suddenly we heard a knock at the door (Longman Language Activator).

4. She handed her ticket to the ticket-collector (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

5. The explosion killed 32 people (Longman Essential Activator).

6. Andy and his wife own a vacation home near the beach (Longman Language Activator).

7. They gave me this leaflet... (Longman Language Activator).

8. Ovett ran a fine race (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

9. The knife doesn't cut very well (Longman Essential Activator).

10. I can smell something burning — are you sure you turned the oven off? (Longman Language Activator).

11. My grandfather sent me a check for $100 (Longman Essential Activator).

12. She slashed her wrists with a razor blade (Longman Language Activator).

13. Debbie tossed her purse onto the counter (Longman Essential Activator).

14. Grandpa taught me a new card trick (Longman Language Activator),

15. My house is at the end of the street (R. Murphy).

16. I don't understand the second question (Longman Essential Activator).

17. This photo was taken with a cheap camera (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

18. The money is in your purse (BBC London Course).

19. She teaches at the local high school (Longman Essential Activator)

Pragmatic Syntax

1. Define the pragmatic types of the following utterances:

1. But how do all those animals get along with each other? — Don't ask me. Ask the Browns (J. M. Dobson).

2. < Opening a present. > Coffee beans. Oh, isn't that nice! (R. Carter, M. McCarthy).

3. What do you like to do in your free time? — I like to relax and listen to music (L.Jones).

4. Good afternoon, ma'am. What's your seat number? — Uh, twenty nine K. — That's on the left side of the airplane. It's by the window. — Thank you (P. Viney).

5. I've read your articles on technical assistance. They're excellent (J.M.Dobson).

6. Richard stopped smoking (M. Fuchs, M. Bonner).

7. He died. — In the war? — No (G.Jones).

8. Hello. How are you? — Fine, thank you. How are you? — Fine, thanks (J. M. Dobson).

9. Go to bed (H. Lee).

10. So you like the people round here? — Oh, yes (R. Carter, M. Mc­Carthy).

11. Goodbye, Mr. Tate. - Goodbye (J. Comfort).

12. Your curtains are ugly (G.Jones).

13. Where are you going? - To the library (J. M. Dobson).

14. Mike. — Yes? — I'm tired, Mike (BBC London Course).

15. How many brothers and sisters do you have? — I have two brothers and I have three sisters. — That is a large family! (L.Jones).

16. Will you please give me back my purse? (K. A. Porter).

17. What a charming girl (J. Kerr).

18. Pass me the phone book, please (R. Carter, M. McCarthy).

19. Who's the tall girl next to Barbara? — That's Mary Anderson (J.M.Dobson).

20. How nice you look! (R. Carter, M. McCarthy).

21. We were rowing against the wind (Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English).

22. I'm very nervous. — Why? — Cos I've never done anything like this before (R. Carter, M. McCarthy).

23. You look happy today! (J. M. Dobson).

24. Leave the door open (A. S. Hornby, A. P. Cowie, A. C. Gimson).

25. < It would seem his fingers are caught. > Oh, my God! (I. Levin).

26. You make such a lovely couple (S. Kinsella).

27. He left five minutes ago (I.Shaw).

28. It's all so crazy. Becky didn't kill Frenchie (L. Levine).

29. Isn't he dazzling! (I.Shaw).

2. Read and retell the text; say what pragmatic type of utterance pre­vails in it and why:

In 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg on its first trip across the Atlan­tic, and it sank four hours later. At that time, the Titanic was the larg­est ship that had ever traveled on the sea. It was carrying 2207 people, but it had taken on enough lifeboats for only 1178 people. When the passengers tried to leave the ship, only 651 of them were able to get into lifeboats.

The Carpathia was 58 miles away when the Titanic called on its radio for help. It arrived two hours after the great ship had gone down, and it saved 705 people. Some of the survivors had been in the icy water for hours when they were saved. Most of the passengers hadn't lived that long; 1502 people had lost their lives (P. W. Peterson).

3. Read and role play the dialogue; say what pragmatic types of utterancess are used in it and why.

Excuse me.

Yes?

Can you tell me the way to the Hotel International?

The Hotel International? Ah, certainly. Go down this street.

Down this street, yes.

Past the post office.

Past the post office, yes.

Turn left at the cross roads.

Left at the crossroads, yes.

And the Hotel International is on your right.

On my right. Thank you. How far is?

Oh, it's a five minutes' walk.

Five minutes' walk. Thank you. Thank you (BBC London Course).

Text

1. Read the text; answer the following questions: What is the text about? How many supra-phrasal unities does it consist of? What are the mi­cro-topics of the supra-phrasal unities? What cohesive devices does the textual coherence find its expression in ?

When Anger Is Healthy

Everyone knows that not allowing oneself to show feelings of anger and resentment can be very unhealthy, leading to stress and long-term feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness. But how do we release our anger without looking foolish or petulant?

The first thing to learn is that expressing your anger and losing your temper are not the same thing at all. One is natural and healthy, the other is destructive and dangerous. We usually admire those who can express their anger calmly, and see them as 'firm but fair' or mature and self-confident. While those who lose their temper appear to be immature, childish, selfish and aggressive.

Mandy Dickson is a psychologist who has established a successful one-day anger workshop that helps ordinary people to learn about and man­age their anger. The seminar is not intended for criminals or the men­tally ill, but for those ordinary people who feel powerless to control their own tempers.

The first thing Mandy explains is that anger is a natural and normal feeling, and that feeling angry about something is nothing to be ashamed of. But we need to recognise anger when we feel it, and to investigate its true causes. Once we know the real cause of anger we can confront it and begin to do something positive about it. Mandy asks participants to complete a questionnaire about things that make them angry. By com-

paring these 'triggers' people often discover that the true causes of anger are other feelings, especially fear, disappointment and grief. But because it is not socially acceptable in our culture to openly demonstrate these feelings, we express them as anger. This is particularly true for men who, even in these enlightened times, are expected to hide any feelings of in­adequacy or fear and be strong and social in all situations.

Having recognised the causes of anger, the first step is to learn how to avoid anger-inducing situations. The next step is to learn how to ex­press one's feelings calmly and firmly. Mandy believes that when we are angry we want other people to understand our anger and sympathise with it. But we often fall into the trap of expressing anger by criticising those around us, when what we really want is their support and empathy. One of the most common causes of anger is when other people fail to behave in a way you expect them to. But as Mandy explains, human beings are not telepathic, they cannot be expected to automatically anticipate other people's desires and wishes. So an essential tool in reducing the occur­rence of anger-inducing situations is to always explain exactly what you want and expect from those around you. It is all essentially a question of communication (M. Foley, D. Hall).

2. Comment on the composition of the following letter. Does it differ from the composition of business letters?

Dear Mum and Dad,

So my first week at university is over! No lectures this morning so I thought I'd drop you a line to let you know how things are going. I'm glad to say that everything has worked out fine in the hall of residence. I remembered to ask for a room as far away from the lifts as possible (they really are noisy) and they found me a nice comfortable one on the sec­ond floor. The room's not very large and I was a bit shocked to find that ten people have to share one bathroom! And it's a good thing you rec­ommended bringing my own portable TV set from home as the one in the TV lounge is permanently tuned to the sports channel. There's also a little kitchenette on our corridor, so if I feel like cooking something for myself rather than eating in the canteen then that's no problem.

I think living in a place like this is going to be a lot of fun. There are two other girls from my course here and I plan to make friends with them so that we can help each other with the course work. Everyone else seems very nice.

As Monday was the first day it was devoted to administration, which involved filling in lots of forms. I got my student I.D. card and the time­table for this term. I've got a personal tutor and he's arranged to see me next week. The course coordinator persuaded me to take some extra courses which should be interesting. On Tuesday I managed to open a bank account and I deposited my student loan cheque. I tried to cash the cheque but the bank said I would have to wait for it to clear. So I'll have to delay buying books and things until next week.

My first few lectures proved to be really fascinating. The lecturers really seem to know what they are talking about. Still, there's a lot of work to do and I can't help wondering if I'll be able to keep up with it all, especially with all the distractions here. There are so many clubs and societies, it's incredible. I'm hoping to join the parachuting club, I've always fancied learning how to do that!

Well, I'd better stop now, I'm going to attend my first seminar this afternoon, so I've got some preparation to do.

Anyway, I promise to write again soon.

Love to everyone,

(M.Fuchs, D.Hall)