Role of Adverbials in the Sentence
Another secondary part of the sentence is an adverbial. The adverbial modifies the verbal component of predication in different aspects but the one elucidated by the object.
The term 'adverbial' is not a happy one. It gives rise to two notions, both of them wrong. In the first place, one may suppose that an adverbial is always expressed by an adverb. The adverb is the most usual way of expressing an adverbial, but by no means the only one. In the second place, the term 'adverbial' may lead one to the conclusion that an adverbial always modifies the verb of a sentence. If the verb is intransitive, the adverbial sometimes does modify it; if the verb is transitive, the adverbial usually modifies the verbal component of predication as a whole, i.e. the verb in combination with its object, e.g.:
He went to the airport information desk (L. Jones).
But she speaks Enslish perfectly (English Course).
Although the term 'adverbial' is rather misleading, B.A. Ilyish finds it possible to keep the term since it is firmly established in linguistics.
Most adverbials are optional in the sentence structure, i.e. they can be left out without making the sentence structure ungrammatical, e.g.:
A car will pick you up in the morning (S. Sheldon). —> A car willpickyou up.
Although adverbials are generally grammatically optional, the information contained in them is in many cases crucial for fully understanding the proposition in a sentence, and they cannot be omitted without making a difference to meaning. Cf.:
She stared at him in disbelief (S. Sheldon). -* She stared at him.
Some verbs take an adverbial in order to complete their meaning. This is known as an obligatory adverbial. Obligatory adverbials can occur with two patterns: 'intransitive verb + adverbial' and 'transitive verb + object + adverbial'. Obligatory adverbials usually express place or direction, sometimes - time and manner. Cf.:
278
279
But the stove stood in the someplace (R. Wright) - place,
He moved towards her (J. Parsons) - direction.
The pleasant summer lasted well into March (D. Biber et al.) - time.
She treats us like children (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) - manner.
In these sentence patterns, the adverbial has to be present in order to complete the structure and meaning of the verb. This may be tested by removing the adverbial resulting in an ungrammatical construction. Cf.:
But the stove stood in the same place. —> *But the stove stood
| •* *He moved...
lasted well into March. |
| "The |
He moved towards her. The pleasant summer pleasant summer lasted...
She treats us like children.
*She treats us...
Different Classifications ofAdverbials
While describing adverbials, linguists usually focus their attention on three aspects: the ways of expression, meaning (or function), and position in the sentence.
Morphological Classification
English resorts to the following language means to express an adverbial.
1. Single adverbs and adverb phrases, e.g.:
She 'II never get over it (D. Robins).
She played her part very well (A. Christie).
2. Single nouns and noun phrases, e.g.:
He is travelling north (S. Sheldon).
He drives to work every day (V. Evans).
3. Prepositional phrases, e.g.:
She listened in silence (J. Parsons).
4. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, infinitives, participles, or
prepositional phrases with a subordinator at the head, e.g.:
Jean runs faster than John (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
280
I'm not as clever as her (Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English).
The discussion can, if necessary, be continued tomorrow (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
She nervously moved her hand towards his lips as if to stop
him (Ch. Dickens).
While waiting for the water to boil, he held his face over the
stove (J. London).
Somehow he, when with her, noted an unusual brightness in
her eyes (J. London),
5. Finite clauses, e.g.:
1 came to you because you're her closest friend
(R. MacDonald).
6. Infinitives, infinitival phrases, and infinitival predicative
constructions, e.g.:
He stopped for a minute to rest (M Swan).
He went to buy some bread (V. Evans).
He stepped aside for me to pass (D. du Maurier).
7. Participial phrases, e.g.:
Feeling rather tired, I telephoned and said f couldn 't come
(M. Swan).
8. Non-prepositional and prepositional absolute participial
constructions, e.g.:
She sat down, her breath coming painfully (A. Christie). The daughter sat quite silent and still, with her eyes fixed on
the ground (Ch. Dickens).
9. Non-prepositional and prepositional absolute constructions
|
|
|
without a participle, e.g.:
She stared at him, a look of puzzlement on her face
(J. Parsons).
I found him ready, and waiting for me, with his stick in his
hand (W. Collins).
10. Gerundial phrases, e.g.:
After leaving her umbrella in the hall, she entered the living
room (A. Cronin).
281
Functional Classification
The criterion of Sanction allows English grammarians to divide adverbials into three classes: circumstance adverbials, stance adverbials, and linking adverbials. Circumstance adverbials add information about the action or state described in the sentence, answering questions, such as: How? Whenl Where*? How much? To what extent? Why? They include both obligatory and optional adverbials, e.g.:
You live in South London (L. and J. Soars) - obligatory. Wait a minute (L. Jones) - optional.
Stance adverbials convey speakers' comments on what they are saying or how they are saying it. Stance adverbials fall into three categories: epistemic, attitude, and style adverbials. Epistemic stance adverbials focus on the question how true is the information in the sentence. They comment on factors, such as certainty, viewpoint, and limitations of truth-value. Cf.:
She is definitely coming (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
That really was wonder/id! (D. Robins).
Apparently they 're intending to put up the price of electricity (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
Attitude stance adverbials express speakers' evaluations and attitudes towards the content of a sentence, e.g.:
Unfortunately, they were out when we called (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
Style stance adverbials convey a speaker's comment on the style or form of the communication. Often style stance adverbials clarify the speaker's manner of speaking or how the utterance should be understood, e.g.:
He's up to his eyes in paperwork - figuratively speaking, of course*. (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
Linking adverbials serve a connecting function. They make explicit the relationship between two units of discourse, e.g.:
The company's profits have fallen slightly. However, this is not a serious problem (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
|
|
|
It seems to us that stance and linking adverbials should be regarded not as secondary parts of the sentence, but as parenthetic
282
elements (modal and cohesive respectively) because they are not integrated into the structure of the sentence.
The linguistic status of circumstance adverbials as secondary parts of the sentence is also debatable. The thing is that English grammarians include into this class not only circumstance adverbials proper but also qualitative adverbials. According to A.I. Smirnitsky, they are syntactically heterogeneous. Qualitative adverbials always modify the verbal component of predication. Circumstance adverbials modify the verbal component of predication when they are obligatory- When circumstance adverbials are optional, they generally modify the predication as a whole. In other words, qualitative adverbials and obligatory circumstance adverbials can be regarded as secondary pans of the sentence. Optional circumstance adverbials, in our opinion, should be looked upon as situational modifiers.
I shall not dwell on the semantic categories of circumstance adverbials, such as time, place, reason, concession, etc., because we discussed it in detail while speaking about adverbial clauses.
Syntactic Classification
An important characteristic of adverbials is that they can occur in a variety of positions in a sentence. A. Western distinguishes five major positions.
1. Front-order, i.e. position at the very beginning of a sentence
before both the subject and the predicate-verb, e.g.:
To-night I go to Egypt (O. Wilde).
2. Pre-order, i.e. position before the synthetic form of the
predicate-verb, e.g.:
I never lived in Germany (J. Irving).
3. Mid-order, i.e. position after the first auxiliary verb when
the predicate-verb has an analytical form, e.g.:
I shall never forget the day (D. Robins).
4. Post-order, i.e. position between the predicate-verb and the
rest of the sentence, e.g.:
I walked angrily out of the room (M. Swan).
5. End-order, i.e. position at the end of a sentence, e.g.:
/'// call you Monday (S. Sheldon).
|
|
|
283
The position of an adverbial is of paramount importance because it gives the analyst an opportunity to draw a distinction between adverbials (modifying the verbal component of predication) and situational modifiers (modifying the predication as a whole).
There is a rising tendency nowadays to place situational modifiers, especially those telling us when an event took place, in the initial position and set them off with a comma, e.g.:
The following morning, the Great Man himself telephoned her (S. Sheldon).
Structural Classification
Structurally, adverbials fall into three types: simple, complex, and clausal. A simple adverbial is expressed by a single word or a non-clausal combination of words. Cf.:
I never believed him (J. Parsons).
They talked until three o 'clock in the morning (S, Sheldon).
A complex adverbial consists of two components linked by secondary predication, e.g.:
He left the man with his mouth open... (A, Christie). A clausal adverbial is a finite clause possessing primary predication, e.g.:
If he died, she would die with him (S. Sheldon). It is only simple adverbials that can be regarded as secondary parts of non-complicated monopredicative syntactic units.
THE ATTRIBUTE
Definition of the Attribute
The attribute is a secondary part of the sentence modifying the nominal component of predication or some substantival element in the verbal component of predication. Cf.:
The front-door bell rang ... (D. Robins).
She bought her new clothes (J. Parsons).
So, it is rather the part of speech nature of the word that makes its attributive modification possible [A.I. Smirnitsky]. No wonder that English grammarians study attributive expansion at the word
284
combination level, not on the sentence level. Having defined secondary parts as those sentence elements that modify part of the predication forming a word combination with it. we think it possible to study attributes at the sentence level, too.
Prepositive Attributes
Attributes occur either in preposition or in postposition to the substantival component they modify. According to Ch. Fries and A.I. Smirnitsky, prepositive attributes in Modern English are used more often than postpositive attributes. A close study of four registers has led the authors of the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English to the conclusion that prepositive and postpositive attributes are about equally common in Modern English.
English resorts to the following language means to express a prepositive attribute.
1. Adjectives, e.g.:
/ visited his delightful cottage (R. Quirk et al.).
2. Participles, e.g.:
Ellen Scott looked at the burning plane (S. Sheldon). I visited his completed cottage (R. Quirk et al.).
3. Gerunds, e.g.:
Hey, Sally, how do you like these running shoes? (J. Richards et al.).
4. Nouns in the genitive case, e.g.:
I visited his fisherman's cottage (R. Quirk et al.).
5. Nouns in the common case, e.g.:
I visited his country cottage (R, Quirk et al.).
This is a peculiarity of the English language alien to Russian.
6. Adverbs, e.g.:
I visited his far-away cottage (R. Quirk et al.).
7. Sentences, e.g.:
/ visited his pop-down-for-the-weekend cottage (R. Quirk et al.).
Adjectives are by far the most common type of prepositive attributes in all registers. This undoubtedly relates to the fact that they come from many different semantic classes, including colour, size, extent, time, age, frequency, and affective evaluation.
285
Nouns are the second most common type of prepositive attributes in all registers, occurring with particularly high frequencies in newspaper language. 'Noun + noun sequences' contain only content words, with no function words to show the logical relations between the two parts. As a result, they bring about an extremely dense packaging of referential information. On the other hand, they require addressees to infer the intended logical relationship between the modifying noun and head noun.
In fact, 'noun + noun sequences' are used to express a bewildering array of logical relations. Here are a few examples.
1, Composition: glass windows --*• windows made from glass.
2, Purpose: pencil case —> case used for pencils.
3, Identity: men workers —* workers who are men.
4, Content: algebra text —* a text about algebra.
5, Source: irrigation water —» water that comes from
irrigation, etc.
D. Biber and his co-authors mention 15 types of logical relations between the modifying noun and head noun, adding that there are numerous 'noun + noun sequences' that do not fit neatly with any of the 15 major categories.
Apparently, the great need for brevity in news favours this kind of attribute, even at the cost of less explicitness. By the way, since news writers usually use noun-attributes from those semantic domains that are associated with current events, such as government, business, education, the media, and sports, readers seldom find it difficult to decode 'noun + noun relationships'.
Although prepositive noun-attributes are generally used in the singular, plural nouns can also occur as prepositive attributes, e.g.: arms race, sales taxes, savings account, women drivers, etc. This pattern is much more common in British English than in American English.
News has by far the greatest number of prepositive noun-attributes that are productive in combining with many head nouns. Many of the most productive prepositive noun-attributes identify major institutions, especially government, business, and the media. Cf.:
Government action/approval/control/decision.
Business administration/cards/community/dealings/empire.
TV adds/cameras/channel/crew/documentary/licence, etc.
Conversation represents the opposite extreme to news. In it only four prepositive noun-attributes are relatively productive. They are: car, Christmas, school, and water. Typical combinations with these nouns reflect the everyday topics of conversation. Cf.:
Car accident/door/insurance/keys/park/seat/wash.
Christmas cake/card/day/decorations/list/presents/tree.
School book/children/clothes/fees/holidays/trips.
Water balloon/bottle/fight/leak/line/pressure/pump/rates.
It is arguable that certain 'noun + noun sequences' (e.g. law report) are more appropriately treated as noun compounds. D. Biber and his co-authors think that orthography helps us draw a distinction between noun compounds and 'noun + noun sequences': compounds are written as one word (e.g. seaweed), while 'noun + noun sequences' are written either as hyphenated words or as separate words (e.g. steam-hammer, silk necktie).
In our opinion, orthography is a weak indicator as it is highly subjective and varies from author to author.
The other types of prepositive attributes are relatively uncommon in comparison with adjectives and nouns.
There can be several prepositive attributes. The use of multiple prepositive attributes is certainly very efficient, packing dense informational content into as few words as possible. However, the use of multiple prepositive attributes is rare for the following reasons.
1. The limited span of immediate memory. In writing, we are
able to receive, perceive, and remember from 5 to 9 unidimensional
elements [G. A. Miller], in colloquial speech - from 3 to 7
unidimensional elements [O. B. Sirotinina].
2. The logical laws of developing thought. Prepositive
attributes are used to modify the meaning of the following
substantival component. But one cannot heap up attributes
emphasizing various qualitative characteristics of a notion that has
not been named yet. It hinders the listener's/reader's perception.
3. The type of syntactic connection between the prepositive
attribute and the substantival component. In analytical English,
attributes are usually linked to the following substantival component
by adjoinment, i.e. by a mere placing of words alongside of each
other. The absence of grammatical forms, elucidating the logical
relations among constituents, obscures the meaning of combinations
1
286
287
with multiple prepositive attributes. No wonder that most authors avoid using them in generating both spoken and written texts. According to the authors of the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, substantival components with two prepositive attributes constitute 20%, with three or four prepositive attributes -only 2%. So, in conversation, fiction, newspaper language, and academic prose there prevail substantival components with one prepositive attribute.
The number of prepositive attributes is highly sensitive to the syntactic function of the expanded substantival component. The substantival component in the function of the subject takes either no prepositive attribute or one because the subject generally renders known information. Cf.:
The girl looked down (P.G. Wodehouse). - The subject girl has no attribute.
The little girl did not reply (J. Gary). - The subject girl is modified by one prepositive attribute little.
When the subject renders new information, it can have several prepositive attributes, e.g.:
A brown felt hat sat on the back of my head (D. Robins). -The rhematic subject hat is modified by two prepositive attributes: brown and felt.
The substantival components in the functions of predicatives, objects, and adverbials are more regularly modified by prepositive attributes, for these syntactic functions are communicatively much more important, and attributes serve the purpose of intensifying this or that idea. Cf.:
// was a beautiful sunny day (J. Parsons). - The predicative day has two prepositive attributes: beautiful and sunny.
I received long happy letters from Nairobi, regularly (D. Robins). - The object letters has two prepositive attributes: long and happy.
We 're going to a better place (S. Sheldon). - The adverbial to a place has one prepositive attribute better.
Postpositive Attributes
Postpositive attributes are used with one of two main functions — restrictive or non-restrictive modification. Restrictive postpositive
288
attributes serve to identify the intended reference of the head-noun,
e.g-:
Richard hit the ball on the car that was going past (D. Biber
et al.).
The relative clause that was going past has a restrictive function. It pinpoints the particular car being referred to.
In contrast, the reference of head-nouns with non-restrictive postpositive attributes has either been previously identified or is assumed to be already known. In these cases, the postpositive attribute adds descriptive information, which is not required to identify the head, e.g.:
He looked into her mailbox, which she never locked (D. Biber
et al.).
In this example, the particular mailbox is identified by the possessive determiner her; and the non-restrictive relative clause which she never locked is used to provide additional descriptive information.
Most other types of postpositive attributes are restrictive but can occasionally be non-restrictive. Cf:
A military jeep travelling down Beach Road at high speed struck a youth crossing the road (D. Biber et al.) - restrictive participial postpositive attributes.
Both writing and reading are enormously complex skills, involving the coordination of sensory and cognitive processes (D. Biber et al.) - non-restrictive participial postpositive attribute.
Overall, restrictive postpositive attributive modification prevails over non-restrictive modification. It is only in newspaper language that non-restrictive postpositive relative clauses make up about 30% of all relative clauses. It is due to the fact that they add information of particular interest to the reader.
English resorts to the following language means to express a postpositive attribute.
1. Relative finite clauses, e.g.:
He was playing a tune that Rachel recognized (J. Parsons).
2. Prepositional phrases, e.g.:
The man <** my side suddenly turned to me (D. Robins).
3. Infinitives, infinitival phrases, and infinitival predicative
constructions, e.g.:
/ have no place to go (S. Sheldon).
289
They have orders to shoot me (S. Sheldon).
Leave a message for him to call me, please (S. Sheldon).
4. Participial phrases, e.g.:
| up |
Hike the girl sitting on the right (M. Swan). Most of the people invited to the party didn't turn (M. Swan).
5. Gerundial phrases and gerundial predicative constructions,
e.g.:
I have no intention of arguing (S. Ellin). They tell me there's no chance of their getting married for years (J. Galsworthy).
6. Adverbs, e.g.:
The light outside faded (J. Parsons).
7. Adjectives. Single attributive adjectives are always placed
in postposition in combinations of French or Latin origin, when they
have the prefix a-, and when the substantival head is expressed by a
pronoun. Cf.:
From time immemorial (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
The third person plural, present tense, of the verb 'have' is 'they have' (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
He's the only man alive who could do it (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
I'll cook you something nice and then you can go to sleep (BBC London Course).
Verbal adjectives with the suffixes -able and -ible can be used both as postpositive and as prepositive attributes. The same is true of adjectives modifying the noun thing. The postposition of an attributive adjective gives the construction increased emphasis. Cf.:
He is the only reliable person.
He is the only person reliable.
A divine thing.
A thing divine.
Although relative clauses often receive the most attention in discussions of postpositive attributes, prepositional phrases are actually much more common because they are more compact than relative clauses. The majority of attributive prepositional phrases begin with the prepositions of and in. Prepositional phrases beginning with the prepositions for, on, to, and with are less
290
common. Two factors favour the choice of a relative clause over a prepositional phrase: the need to convey non-restrictive meaning and the need to convey past tense meaning.
Other types of postpositive attributes are not numerous. Participial postpositive attributes are most common in academic prose. Conversation is characterized by a relatively high proportion of infinitival postpositive attributes.
There can be several postpositive attributes, especially in academic prose. Postpositive attributive complexes are moderately common in news and fiction, but rare in conversation.
Writers usually employ relatively simple postpositive complexes with two attributes. The attribute in Position 2, as a rule, is of the same structural type as the attribute in Position 1. The most common type of postpositive attributive complex is composed of two prepositional phrases, e.g.:
These figures serve to underline the increasing orientation of western society to information and information processing activities (D. Biber et al.).
Relative clauses in Position 2 co-occur with all structural types in Position 1 because the relativizer provides an overt surface marker of their attributive status even when they are distant from the noun head, e.g.:
Most countries have a written document known as *the constitution' which lays down the main rules (D. Biber et al.) -participial phrase + relative clause.
Sometimes a substantival component has both prepositive and postpositive attributes, e.g.:
A curious sensation of terror came over me (O. Wilde). - The substantival component sensation has one prepositive attribute curious and one postpositive attribute of terror.
Attributive modification (both prepositive and postpositive) is relatively rare in conversation. Speakers in a conversation share the same physical situation, and they often share personal knowledge about each other as well. As a result, speakers typically use substantival components with no modification, knowing that the listener will have no trouble identifying the intended referent.
Consistent with this shared knowledge, conversation has a very high frequency of personal pronouns and a very low frequency of nouns. Nouns are often used to refer to a new referent that is
291
previously unknown to the listener/reader. Thus, prepositive and postpositive attributes are used to help identify the reference of the noun and provide descriptive details. In contrast^ personal pronouns are used to refer to a specific entity, often a person, known to the listener/reader either from the previous text or from the wider situational context. Consequently, there is usually no need for attributive modification to anchor the reference or provide elaborating details.
Дата добавления: 2018-09-22; просмотров: 1179; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!