D wh-clause, that-clause
5. Noun-phrases with pre-posed adjuncts.
In noun-phrases with pre-posed modifiers we generally find adjectives, pronouns, numerals, participles, gerunds, nouns, nouns in the genitive case (see the table). According to their position all pre-posed adjuncts may be divided into pre-adjectivals and adjectiavals. The position of adjectivals is usually right before the noun-head. Pre-adjectivals occupy the position before adjectivals. They fall into two groups: a) limiters (tothis group belong mostly particles): just, only, even, etc. and b) determiners (articles, possessive pronouns, quantifiers – the first, the last).
Premodification of nouns by nouns (N+N) is one of the most striking features about the grammatical organization of English. It is one of devices to make our speech both laconic and expressive at the same time. Noun-adjunct groups result from different kinds of transformational shifts. NPs with pre-posed adjuncts can signal a striking variety of meanings:
World peace – peace all over the world
silver box – a box made of silver
Table lamp – lamp for tables
table legs – the legs of the table
river sand – sand from the river
school child – a child who goes to school
The grammatical relations observed in NPs with pre-posed adjuncts may convey the following meanings:
1) subject-predicate relations: weather change;
2) object relations: health service, women hater;
3) adverbial relations: a) of time: morning star,
b) place: world peace, country house,
c) comparison: button eyes,
d) purpose: tooth brush.
It is important to remember that the noun-adjunct is usually marked by a stronger stress than the head.
Of special interest is a kind of ‘grammatical idiom’ where the modifier is reinterpreted into the head: a devil of a man, an angel of a girl.
6. Noun-phrases with post-posed adjuncts.
NPs with post-posed may be classified according to the way of connection into prepositionless and prepositional. The basic prepositionless NPs with post-posed adjuncts are: Nadj. – tea strong, NVen – the shape unknown, NVing – the girl smiling, ND – the man downstairs, NVinf – a book to read, NNum – room ten.
The pattern of basic prepositional NPs is N1 prep. N2. The most common preposition here is ‘of’ – a cup of tea, a man of courage. It may have quite different meanings: qualitative - a woman of sense, predicative – the pleasure of the company, objective – the reading of the newspaper, partitive – the roof of the house.
|
|
|
7. The verb-phrase.
The VP is a definite kind of the subordinate phrase with the verb as the head. The verb is considered to be the semantic and structural centre not only of the VP but of the whole sentence as the verb plays an important role in making up primary predication that serves the basis for the sentence. VPs are more complex than NPs as there are a lot of ways in which verbs may be combined in actual usage. Valent properties of different verbs and their semantics make it possible to divide all the verbs into several groups depending on the nature of their complements (see the table ‘Syntagmatic properties of verbs’, Lecture 6).
8. Classification of verb-phrases.
VPs can be classified according to the nature of their complements – verb complements may be nominal (to see a house) and adverbial (to behave well). Consequently, we distinguish nominal, adverbial and mixed complementation.
Nominal complementation takes place when one or more nominal complements (nouns or pronouns) are obligatory for the realization of potential valency of the verb: to give smth. to smb., to phone smb., to hear smth.(smb.), etc.
Adverbial complementation occurs when the verb takes one or more adverbial elements obligatory for the realization of its potential valency: He behaved well, I live …in Kyiv (here).
Mixed complementation – both nominal and adverbial elements are obligatory: He put his hat on he table (nominal-adverbial).
According to the structure VPs may be basic or simple (to take a book) – all elements are obligatory; expanded (to read and translate the text, to read books and newspapers) and extended (to read an English book).
9. Predicative word-groups.
Predicative word combinations are distinguished on the basis of secondary predication. Like sentences, predicative word-groups are binary in their structure but actually differ essentially in their organization. The sentence is an independent communicative unit based on primary predication while the predicative word-group is a dependent syntactic unit that makes up a part of the sentence. The predicative word-group consists of a nominal element (noun, pronoun) and a non-finite form of the verb: N + Vnon-fin. There are Gerundial, Infinitive and Participial word-groups (complexes) in the English language: his reading, for me to know, the boy running, etc.)
|
|
|
Lecture 1 3: THE SENTENCE
(Лекция, семинар)
1. The simple sentence.
2. The principal parts of a sentence.
1. The simple sentence.
A sentence is a unit of speech whose grammatical structure conforms to the laws of the language and which serves as the chief means of conveying a thought. A sentence is not only a means of communicating something about reality but also a means of showing the speaker’s attitude to it.
The classification of simple sentences is based on two principles:
(A) according to the purpose of the utterance;
(B) according to the structure.
According to the purpose of the utterance we distinguish four kinds of sentences.
1. The declarative sentence.
A declarative sentence states a fact in the affirmative or negative form. In a declarative sentence the subject precedes the predicate. It is generally pronounced with a falling intonation.
There is a great difference between English and Russian negative sentences. Whereas in English the predicate of a sentence can have only one negation, in Russian it can have more than one.
E.g. He does not go anywhere.
He never goes anywhere.
Он никуда не ходит.
2. The interrogative sentence.
An interrogative sentence asks a question. It is formed by means of inversion, i. e. by placing the predicate (or part of it) before the subject (unless the subject of the interrogative sentence is an interrogative word, in which case there is no inversion).
There are four kinds of questions:
(a) General questions requiring the answer yes or no and spoken with a rising intonation. They are formed by placing part of the predicate, i. e. the auxiliary or modal verb before the subject of the sentence.
|
|
|
E. g. Do you like art?
Can you speak English?
If the predicate is expressed by the verbs to be or to have (the latter expressing possession) used in a simple tense form, the question is formed by placing the predicate before the subject.
E. g. Is he at home?
Have you many English books?
Sometimes such questions have a negative form and express astonishment or doubt.
Haven’t you seen him yet?
In Russian the particles разве , неужели are used in such questions. General questions are sometimes rhetoric questions, they do not require any answer, but are veiled statements expressing some kind of emotion.
(b) Special questions beginning with an interrogative word and spoken with a falling intonation. The order of words is the same as in general questions, but the interrogative word precedes the auxiliary verb.
Where do you live?
When the interrogative word is the subject of the interrogative sentence or an attribute to the subject, the order of words is that of a statement, i. e. no inversion is used.
Who lives in this room?
Whose pen is on the table?
© Alternative questions, indicating choice and spoken with a rising intonation in the first part and a falling intonation in the second part.
Do you live in town or in the country?
(d) Disjunctive questions requiring the answer yes or no and consisting of an affirmative statement followed by a negative question, or a negative statement followed by an affirmative question. The first part is spoken with a falling intonation and the second part with a rising intonation.
You speak English, don’t you?
You are not tired, are you?
3. The imperative sentence.
An imperative sentence serves to induce a person to do something, so it expresses a command, a request, an invitation, etc.
Commands are characterized by a falling tone.
Come to the blackboard!
|
|
|
Stop talking!
Requests and invitations are characterized by a rising intonation.
Open the door, please!
Come to see me tomorrow!
4. The exclamatory sentence.
An exclamatory sentence expresses some kind of emotion or feeling. It often begins with the words what and how, it is alwaysin the declarative form, i. e. no inversion takes place. It is generally spoken with a falling intonation.
What a lovely day it is!
What fine weather!
How wonderful!
Beautiful!
According to their structure simple sentences are divided into two-member and one-member sentences.
A two-member sentence has two members – a subject and a predicate. If one of them is missing it can be easily understood from the context.
E. g. Fleur had established immediate contact with an architect.
A two-member sentence can be complete or incomplete. It is complete when it has a subject and a predicate.
Young Jolyon could not help smiling.
It is incomplete when one of the principal parts or both of them are missing, but can be easily understood from the context. Such sentences are called elliptical and are mostly used in colloquial speech and especially in dialogue.
Best not to see her again. Best to forget all about her.
What were you doing? Drinking.
Who does it for Mr. George? James, of course.
A one-member sentence is a sentence having only one member which is neither the subject nor the predicate. This does not mean, however, that the other member is missing, for the one member makes the sentence complete.
One-member sentences are generally used in descriptions and in emotional speech.
If the main part of the one0member sentence is expressed by a noun, the sentence is called nominal. The noun may be modified by attributes.
E.g. Dusk – of a summer night.
Freedom! Bells ringing out, flowers, kisses, wine.
The dull pain and the life slowly dripping out of him.
The main part of a one-member sentence is often expressed by an infinitive.
No! To have his friendship, his admiration, but not at that price.
To die out there – lonely, wanting them, wanting home!
5. Simple sentences, both two-member and one-member, can be unextended and extended. A sentence consisting only of the primary or principal parts is called an unextended sentence.
She is a student.
Birds fly.
Winter!
An extended sentence is a sentence consisting of the subject, the predicate and one or more secondary parts (objects, attributes, or adverbial modifiers).
The two native women stole furtive glances at Sarie.
The two white overseers… had gone into the hills with the natives to look for stray sheep.
3. The principal parts of a sentence.
Parts of the sentence are a syntactic category constituted by the organic interaction of different linguistic units in speech.
It is important to observe that the division into parts of speech and the division into parts of the sentence are organically related.
The parts of the sentence which are connected by means of the predicative bond are principal parts. These are the core of the communicative unit. The non-predicative bond comprises attributive, completive and copulative relations.
Subject-predicate structure gives the sentence its relative independence and the possibility to function as a complete piece of communication. This, however, must be taken with some points of reservation because a sentence may be included in some larger syntactic unit and may thus weaken or loose its independence functioning as part of a larger utterance.
Using the terms "subject" and "predicate" we must naturally make distinction between the content of the parts of the sentence and their linguistic expression, і. e.: a) the words as used in a given sentence and b) the thing meant, which are part of the extralinguistic reality.
The distinction made at this point in Russian terminology between "подлежащее" — "сказуемое" and "субъект" — "предикат" seems perfectly reasonable. The two concepts must be kept apart to mean a) the words involved and b) the content expressed, respectively.
The subject is thus the thing meant with which the predicate is connected.
All the basic sentences consist, first of all, of two immediate constituents: subject and predicate.
In Modern English there are two main types of subject that stand in contrast as opposed to each other in terms of content: the definite subject and the indefinite subject.
Definite subjects denote a thing-meant that can be clearly defined: a concrete object, process, quality, etc., e. g.:
(a) Fleur smiled. (b) To defend our Fatherland is our sacred duty. (c) Playing tennis is a pleasure. (d) Her prudence surprised me.
Indefinite subjects denote some indefinite person, a state of things or a certain situation, e. g.:
(a) They say. (b) You never can tell. (c) One cannot be too careful. (d) It is rather cold. (e) It was easy to do so.
Languages differ in the forms which they have adopted to express this meaning. In English indefinite subjects have always their formal expression.
In Russian and Ukrainian the indefinite subject is expressed by one-member sentences:
Говорят, что погода изменится. Можно предположить, что экспедиция уже закончила свою работу.
In some types of sentence patterns Modern English relies on the word-order arrangement alone. In The hunter killed the bear variation in the order of sentence elements will give us a different subject. English syntax is well known as primarily characterised by "subject — verb — complement" order.
It will be noted, however, that in a good many sentences of this type the subject and the doer of the action are by no means in full correspondence, e. g.: This room sleeps three men, or Such books sell readily.
It comes quite natural that a subject combines the lexical meaning with the structural meaning of "person".
Things are specifically different in cases when it and there are used in-subject positions as representatives of words or longer units which embody the real content of the subject but are postponed.
It is most pleasant that she has already come. It was easy to do so. There are afew mistakes in your paper. There were no seats at all.
It and there in such syntactic structures are generally called anticipatory or introductory subjects.
The grammatical organisation of predicates is much more complicated. The predicate can be composed of several different structures. It is just this variety of the predicate that makes us recognise not one basic English sentence pattern but several.
In terms of modern linguistics, the predicate is reasonably defined as the IC of the sentence presented by a finite-form of the verb, if even in its zero-alternant.
Predicates with zero-alternants offer special difficulties on the point of their analysis as relevant to the problem of ellipsis which has always been a disputable question in grammar learning.
Various criteria of classifying different kind of predicate have been set up by grammarians. The common definition of the predicate in terms of modern linguistics is that it is a more or less complex structure with the verb or verb-phrase at its core. This is perfectly reasonable and in point of fact agrees with the advice of traditional grammars to identify a predicate by looking for the verb. The sentence, indeed, almost always exists for the sake of expressing by means of a verb, an action, state or being.
The predicate can be a word, a word-morpheme or a phrase. If it consists of one word or word-morpheme it is simple; if it is made up of more than one word it is called compound. In terms of complementation, predicates are reasonably classified into verbal (time presses, birds fly, the moon rose, etc.) and nominal (is happy, felt strong, got cool, grew old).
The two types of predicates in active syntax may be diagrammed as follows:
A. Verbal Predicate Simple Tastes differ.
Compound One must do one's duty.
B. Nominal Predicate
Simple Quite serious all this!
Compound The picture was beautiful.
Дата добавления: 2018-11-24; просмотров: 695; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!