Introduction into theoretical grammar

Preface

Training interpreters in the 21^st century, who are well educated, well informed linguists with a narrow specialization, poses many practical problems both for teaching institutions and future interpreters themselves. For the teaching institution it is a matter of designing programs and finding an adequate balance between theoretical knowledge and the practical skills to be offered to the students. For any student it is a matter of developing all the necessary skills.

One of the fundamental aspects of any language learning is grammar in any of its applied aspects: either Morphology or Syntax.

Any linguistic description may have practical or theoretical purpose. A practical description is aimed at providing the student with a manual of practical mastery of the corresponding part of language (within the limits determined by various factors of educational destination and scientific possibilities). Since the practice of lingual intercourse, however, can only be realized by employing language as a unity of all its constituent parts, practical linguistic manuals more often than not comprise the three types of description presented in a complex. As for theoretical linguistic descriptions, they pursue analytical aims and therefore present the studied parts of language in relative isolation, so as to gain insights into their inner structure and expose the intrinsic mechanisms of their functioning. Hence, the aim of theoretical grammar of a language is to present a theoretical description of its grammatical system, i.e. to scientifically analyze and define its grammatical categories and study the mechanisms of grammatical formation of utterances out of words in the process of speech making.

The course of theoretical grammar develops students’ skills to analyze the grammatical categories and provides them with the skills needed for translation, employing the main structures of English morfology and syntax.

Unit 1

The Adjective

 

According to Chervyakova L.D. “An adjective is a word that signifies the quality of any person, place or thing: a good man, a great city ”.

According to Khaimovich B.S. “Adjectives are a part of speech characterized by the following typical features:

1. The lexico-grammatical meaning of “attributes (of substances)”. It should be understood that by “attributes” we mean different properties of substances, such as their size, colour, position in space (upper, inner), material (wooden, woolen), psychic state of a person, etc

2. The morphological category of the degrees of comparison

3. The characteristic combinability with nouns, link-verbs (… is clever), adverbs, most those of degree (a very clever man), the so-called “prop-word” one (the grey one)

4. The stem-building affixes -ful, -less, -ish, -ous, -ive, -ic, un-, pre-, in-,

er-, il-, etc

5. Its functions of an attribute and a predicative complement ”.

An adjective can be of two types: relative and qualitative.

 

An adjective
relative	qualitative
directive related with substance (wooden – is made of the wood)	expresses a quality, which has different degree

 

Grammatical characteristics of qualitative adjectives

1. They have no certain typical suffixes.

2. They form adverbs with the suffix –ly (dangerous-dangerously). Some qualitative adjectives are homonymous in form with the adverbs (fast).

3. Most qualitative adjectives have degrees of comparison (big-bigger-the biggest, careless-more careless-the most careless). Some qualitative adjectives such as greenish, chief, principal, -incurable don’t have degrees of comparison.

4. Most qualitative adjectives can be used as attributes and predicatives.

- The young man was introduced (attribute)

- He was rich (predicative)

 

Degrees of comparison

The category of the degrees of comparison of adjectives is the system of opposemes (long-longer-longest) showing quantitative distinction of qualities.

1. Positive degree (is not marked, we may speak of a zero morpheme).

2. Comparative degree.

3. Superlative degree.

Practically most grammarians believe that there are two degrees of comparison: the comparative and the superlative, in contrast to which the adjective expressing the simple quality without comparison is said to be in the positive degree.

The last two degrees are built up either synthetically (by the inflexions –er,

-est) or analytically (by adding more and most).

The forms of the superlative degree are usually used with the definite article. The phrase “most adjective”, on the other hand, may be used with the indefinite article. In that case it expresses a very high degree of quality of a property without implying any comparison.

- It is the most interesting book I have ever read (a part of the analytical form of the superlative degree of the adjective “interesting”).

- It is a most interesting book (an adverbial modifier of degree to the attribute “interesting”, a most interesting = very interesting).

The basic meaning of the superlative is that of a degree of a property surpassing all the other objects mentioned or implied. However, there are cases when the meaning is different and merely a very high degree of a property is meant without any comparison with other objects possessing the property.

- It is with the greatest pleasure that…

Here the thing is not compared but is regarded as possessing a certain quality in a very high degree. In such cases the definite article is sometimes omitted.

This meaning of the form is usually described as the elative. It seems to have a peculiar stylistic colouring, being essentially uncolloqual.

 

Unit 2

Verb and Verbals

Learning objectives:

Define verb, transitive/intransitive verb, auxiliary verb, verbals, Infinitive, Gerund, Participle

Explain how to parse verb, Infinitive, Participle, Gerund

Analyze grammatical categories of the verb, the categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood; the noun-infinitive/the qualifying infinitive

Key point:

Verb, it’s definition and parsing; Infinitive, it’s definition and parsing; Participle, it’s definition and parsing; Gerund, it’s definition and parsing

Grammatically the verb is the most complex part of speech. This is due to the central role performs in the expression of the predicative functions of the sentence, i.e. the functions establishing the connection between the situation (situational event) named in the utterance and reality. The general categorial meaning of the verb is process presented dynamically, i.e. developing in time.

The grammatical categories of the verb are: 1) the category of finitude dividing the verb into finite and non-finite forms (the corresponding contracted names are “finites” and “verbids”, this category has a lexico-grammatical force); 2) the categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, and mood.

Verb: a word used for stating a fact or condition, giving an order or a request, or asking a question.

Transitive: denotes an action that is directed towards some person or thing; as “he shot a crow”.

Intransitive: denotes an action that stops with the doer, and concerns no person or thing except the doer; as “he fell ”.

Auxiliary: assists a Principal verb (which may be either Transitive or Intransitive) that form some tense or tenses in the Indicative or Subjunctive mood and in the Active or Passive voice; as “I have come”.

 

Voice

Active: when the verb is in the Active voice, the person or thing denoted by the Subject is said to do something, as “I love. ”

Passive: when the verb is in the Passive voice, the person or thing denoted by the Subject is said to suffer something, as “I am loved ”.

 

Finite Moods

Mood: the form assumed by a verb to show the mode or manner in which the action denoted by the verb is represented.

Indicative: asserts something as a fact, or as a condition, as “ I come ” “ if he comes ”. Or it enquires about something, as “ Did he come?”

Imperative: commands, or advises, or begs for something, as come.

Subjunctive: expresses a condition, a purpose, or a wish, - any kind of contingency except a fact, as “if he come or should come ” (condition), “that he may come ” (purpose), “ may he come!” (wish).

 

Tenses in the Finite Moods

Tense: the form assumed bya verb for showing (a) the time at which an event occurs, (b) the degree of completeness described to an event at the time of its occurrence.

Indefinite: denotes Present, Past, or Future time in its simplest form, making no-definite assertion about the degree of completeness or incompleteness to be ascribed to the event, as “I come ”, “I came ”, “I shall come ”.

Continuous: denotes that the event (in Present, Past, or Future time) is not yet complete, but still going on, as “I am coming ”, “I was coming ”, “I shall be coming ”.

Perfect: denotes that the event (in Present, Past, or Future time) is in a completed or perfect state, as “I have come ”, “I had come ”, “I shall have come ”.

Perfect-Continuous: combines the force of the two preceding forms, as “I have been coming ”, “I had coming ”, “I shall have been coming ”.

Person: a verb is in the First person when the subject of the verb denotes a person speaking: in the second person when it denotes a person spoken to: in the third person when it denotes a person (or thing) spoken of.

 

Complement of a verb

Complement to an Intransitive verb, or to a Transitive verb in the Passive voice, is a word or combination of words, which completes what the verb left unsaid about its Subject. This is called a Subjective complement.

Complement to a Transitive verb in the Active voice is a word or combination of words, which completes what the verb left unsaid about its O bject. This is called an Objective complement.

 

Finite verb and Subject

 

How to parse Finite Verbs. – the point to be explained in the parsing of a finite verb are shown in their proper order in the following tables:

 

 

Kind of verb	Voice	Mood	Tense. Form of Tense
Transitive Intransitive	Active Passive	Indicative Imperative Subjunctive	Present Indefinite Past Continuous Future Perfect Future in the Past Perfect-Continuous

 

Number	Person	Agreement
Singular Plural	First Second Third	Agreeing in Number and Person with its subject or subjects, expressed or understood.

Examples of parsing finite verbs:

1. James has been fishing all the morning. Has been fishing – Intransitive verb. Active voice, Indicative mood, Present-Perfect-Continuous tense, having “James” for its subject, and therefore in the Singular number and Third person.

2. James and I will be promoted next term. Will be promoted - Transitive verb. Passive voice, Indicative mood, Future tense, having “James” for the two subjects, and therefore in the Plural number and First person.

3. He worked hard that he might win a prize. Worked - Intransitive verb. Active voice, Indicative mood, Past tense, having “he” for its subject, and therefore in the Singular number and Third person. Might win - Transitive verb. Active voice, Subjunctive mood, Past tense, having “he” for its subject, and therefore in the singular number and Third person.

4. You will have got to your house by the time. Will have got - Transitive verb here used Intresitively. Active voice, Indicative mood, Future-Perfect tense, having “you” for its subject, and therefore in the Plural number and Second person.

5. The jury were puzzled and would have been divided in their opinions, if judge had not known well how to guide them.

Were puzzled - Transitive verb. Passive voice, Indicative mood, Past tense, having “jury” for its subject, and therefore in the Plural number and Third person.

Would have been divided - Transitive verb. Passive voice, Subjunctive mood, Future-Perfect tense, having “jury” for its subject, and therefore in the Plural number and Third person.

Had known - Transitive verb. Active voice, Indicative mood, Present-Perfect tense, having “judge” for its subject, and therefore in the Singular number and Third person.

6. So be it. Be - Intransitive verb. Subjunctive mood, Present tense, having “it” for its subject, and therefore in the Singular number and Third person.

Verbals

 

Verbals are the forms of the verb intermediary in many of their lexico-grammatical features between the verb and non-processual parts of speech.

Infinitive is the non-finite form of the verb that names the action in its most general sense, without reference to any doer.

Participle is the non-finite form of the verb which is used either (a) as part of a tense and as such preceded by an auxiliary verb be or have, or (&) as an adjective to qualify some noun or pronoun.

Gerund is the non-finite form of the verb that possess the characteristics of noun and verb, - (1) a noun in so far as it can be in the Nominative or Accusative case; (2) a verb in so far as it expresses Present or Past tense, - is in the Active or Passive voice, and (if Transitive) is followed by an object.

 

The parsing of Infinitives

How to parse Infinitives. – To parse an Infinitive you have to show two different types of concerning it: - (a) Of what form it is, - whether Indefinite, as to see; or Continuous, as to be seeing; or Perfect, as to have seen; or Perfect-Continuous, as to have been seeing. (b) Of what voice it is, - whether Active, or Passive; (c) What is its use. – whether it is used as a Noun-Infinitive or as a Qualifying Infinitive. (d) In what function it is, - whether in the function of subject (To skate is pleasant), compound nominal predicate (Our plan is to go to the Crimea for the summer), compound verbal predicate (I hope to see him soon), direct object (I told him to go there), attribute (I have no desire to go there), adverbial modifier of purpose (He worked hard not to lag behind the other students) and adverbial modifier of result (It is too cold to bathe today).

The Noun-Infinitive. In this capacity the Infinitive does the work of – (a) Subject to a verb, (b) Object to a verb, (c) Complement to a verb, (d) Object to a preposition. Since it does the work of a noun, it is very fitly called the Noun-Infinitive.

a) Subject to a verb: - To sleep is necessary to health. To work hard is the way to success.

b) Object to a verb: - No desire to improve.

c) Complement to a verb: - I saw him come. I ordered him to go. (Note. The “to” is not used after the hear, see, feel, make, let, bid, behold, know, to all of which the Infinitive is used as complement.)

d) Object to a preposition: - 1) He did nothing but laugh. 2) My plans are about to succeed. In (1) the Infinitive laugh is the object of the preposition but. In (2) the Infinitive to succeed (= success) is the object of the preposition about which signifies nearness or contiguity in time, place, or other circumstance.

The Qualifying Infinitive – In this capacity the Infinitive does the workof (a) an adverb to a verb, (b) an adverb to an adjective, (c) an adjective to a noun, (d) a participle to a noun or pronoun in a future sense.

a) Adverb to a verb: - 1) He came to see the sport. 2) It came to pass. In (1) to see qualifies the verb “came”, as if it were an adverb. Here the Infinitive denotes a purpose: He came for the purpose of seeing the sport. In (2) to pass expresses not a purpose, but a result.

b) Adverb to an adjective: - 1) Quick to hear and slow to speak. Here to hear qualifies the adjective “quick”, and to speak qualifies “slow”, the Infinitive therefore does the work of an adverb. “Quick for hearing and slow for speaking.”

c) Adjective to a noun (either as an epithet or predicatively): - 1) A house to let. 2) This house is to let. Here to let qualifies the noun “house” as an epithet in first example, and predicatively in the second. In each case, therefore, it does the work of an adjective.

d) Participle to a noun or a pronoun in a future sense; where this use of the Infinitive is explained. 1) He intended to have seen you today. 2) I came to see you, but you did not appear. “To have seen” in (1) – Perfect in form, noun in function, object to the Transitive verb “intended”. “To see” in (2) – Indefinite in form, adjective in function, qualifying the verb “came”. “Appear” in (2) – Indefinite in form, noun in function, object to the verb “did”.

 

The parsing of Participles

How to parse Participles. – To parse a Participle you have to show four different things concerning it:

a) In what form it is, - whether Present, as fading; or Past, as faded; or Perfect, as having faded.

b) What kind of verb it is, - whether Transitive or Intransitive.

c) In what the use of the Participle is, - Predicative, Adverbial modifier of various types, Attribute.

d) Of what voice it is, - whether Active, or Passive

Note 1. – If the Participle given is part of a tense, it should be parsed as part of the tense, and not as a separate word. Thus in I have come we should parse come not as a separate word, but as part of a Present Perfect.

Note 2. – The epithet and Predicative uses of participles are the same of those of adjectives. The Absolute use in connection with some noun or pronoun.

Example:

(1) He appeared tired after his work.

Past participle. Transitive verb. Passive voice, used predicatively as complement to the verb “appeared”.

(2) Believing himself to be right, he stuck to his opinion.

Present participle. Transitive verb. Active voice, used as an epithet to qualify the pronoun “he”.

(3) The sun having risen, we can now set off.

Perfect participle. Intransitive verb. Active voice, used absolutely with the noun “sun”.

Note.- When no noun or pronoun is placed before a participle used absolutely, then a participle is practically a preposition. Such a participle is sometimes called an Impersonal Absolute. (1) He plays well, considering his age. (2) Owing to his lameness he could not walk straight.

 

The parsing of Gerunds

Gerund is a mixture of verb and noun. To parse it you have to show three different things about it in its verb-character, and one thing about it in its noun-character.

As verb. (a) In what form it is, - whether Indefinite, as going, or Perfect, as having gone.

(b) What kind of verb it is, - whether used Transitively or Intransitively.

(c) In what voice it is, - whether Active or Passive.

As noun (d) In what case it is, - whether Nominative, Accusative, or Genitive etc.

Examples.

(1) He is fond of swimming in the sea, and was pleased with himself for having swum out far from the shore. (Swimming – (1) as Verb; Indefinite; Intransitive verb; (2) as Noun; Accusative case after the preposition “for”).

(2) Deceiving others amused him, but he disliked being deceived himself. (Deceiving – (1) as Verb; Indefinite; Transitive verb; Active voice; (2) as Noun; Accusative case after the verb “disliked”).

The form ending in – ing may be either (a) followed by the preposition “of”; or (b) used in the plural number. In such cases it is a pure noun, and should be parsed like any other noun. It has no verb-character whatever; and hence it is qualified by an adjective, while, in its other uses, the gerund is qualified by an adverb.

(1) The second hearing of the case was postponed. Gerund, Singular number. Nominative case. Subject to the verb “was postponed.”

(2) I am much pleased with the surroundings. Gerund used as a Common noun. Plural number. Accusative case after the preposition “with.”

 

Test questions:

1. What are transitive and intransitive verbs?

2. What are the features of the finite form of the verb?

3. What is the verbal?

4. Give the definition of the gerund. What is the way of its parsing?

5. What is the infinitive? How should it be parsed?

6. What are the uses of the infinitive? Speak on them.

7. Participle, its definition, ways of the parsing.

 

Unit 3

Parts of the sentence

Learning objectives:

Define subject, predicate, object, attribute, adverbial modifiers, parenthetical enclosure, addressing enclosure, interjectional enclosure

Explain how to parse subject, predicate, object, attribute, adverbial modifiers

Analyze types of the subject, the types of the predicate, the types of the object

Key point:

Subject, its definition, types and its parsing; predicate, its definition, types and its parsing; object, its definition, types and its parsing; attribute, its definition and parsing; different types of adverbial modifiers and their parsing

There are 5 traditional parts of the sentence: 2 principal (main) and 3 secondary. The main parts of the sentence are subject and predicate. They express predicativity without which sentence can’t exist. The secondary parts of the sentence are attribute, object, adverbial modifier. They speak about object.

According to Blokh M.Y. the nominative parts of the simple sentence are subject, predicate, adverbial, attribute, object, parenthetical enclosure, addressing enclosure; a special, semi-notional position is occupied by an interjectional enclosure. The parts are arranged hierarchy, wherein all of them perform some modifying role.

The subject is a person-modifier of the predicate. The predicate is a process-modifier of the subject-person. The object is a substance-modifier of a processual part of the whole of the sentence (as expressing an inherent in the reflected event). The attribute is a quality-modifier of a substantive part. The parenthetical enclosure is a detached speaker-bound modifier of any sentence-part or the whole of the sentence. The addressing enclosure (address) is a substantive modifier of the destination of the sentence and hence, from its angle, a modifier of the sentence as a whole. The interjectional enclosure is a speaker-bound emotional modifier of the sentence.

The semantic classification of simple sentences should be effected at least on the three bases: first, on the basis of the subject categorical meanings; the second, on the basis of the predicate categorical meanings; third, on the basis of the subject-object relations.

The Subject

 

Reflecting the categories of the subject, simple sentences are divided into personal and impersonal. The further division of the personal sentences is into human and non-human; non-human – into antimate and inantimate. The further essential division of impersonal sentences is into factual (It rains. It’s five o’clock) and perceptional (It smells of hay here).

Personal	Impersonal
human	non-human	factual	perceptional
antimate	inantimate

The subject can be expressed by:

1. a noun (The steamer has arrived. The meeting is over.)

2. a pronoun (He works at a factory. Someone wants to speak to you.)

3. an infinitive (To swim is pleasant.)

4. a gerund (Smoking is not allowed.)

5. a numeral (Three were absent from the lecture.)

6. any other word or word combination, used in the function of the subject (“Had” is the past tense of the verb “to have”.)

7. an adjective (Dark blue is not your colour.)

The differences in subject categorical meanings are sustained by the obvious differences in subject – predicate combinability.

 

The Predicate

Reflecting the categories of the predicate, simple sentences are divided into process featuring (“verbals”) and, in the broad sense, substance featuring (including substance as such and substantive quality – “nominal”). Among the process featuring sentences actional and statal ones are to be discriminated (The window is opening – The window is glistening in the sun): among the substance featuring sentences factual and perceptional ones are to be discriminated (The sea is rough – The place seems quiet).

 

Process featuring (verbal)	Substance featuring
actional	statal	factual	perceptional

 

Finally, reflecting the subject – object relation, simple sentences should be divided into s ubjective (John lives in London), objective (John reads a book) and neutral or “potentially” objective (John reads), capable of implying both the transitive action of the syntactic person and the syntactic person’s intransitive characteristic.

The Predicate can be Simple and Compound. The further essential division of the Compound Predicate is into Nominal and Verbal.

 

The Predicate
The Simple Predicate	The Compound Predicate
The Compound Verbal Predicate	The Compound Nominal Predicate

 

The Simple Predicate is expressed by any verb, used in any time, voice and mood.

- She works at a factory.

- He is reading.

- They will return.

- The goods were loaded by means of cranes.

The Compound Nominal Predicative is expressed by a link-verb to be combined with the nominal part. The Nominal Part of the predicative can be expressed by:

1. a noun (I am a student. They are workers.)

2. a pronoun (It is she. The book is yours.)

3. a noun and a pronoun with a preposition (The room is in disorder.)

4. an adjective and an adverb (The morning was warm.)

5. an infinitive (Your duty is to help them immediately.)

6. a gerund (His greatest pleasure was traveling.)

Except the verb to be there are other verbs that can be used as link-verbs: to become, to grow, to get, to turn, to seem, to look, etc. (He became a doctor. It grew warmer. He is getting old. She turned pale. He looks ill.)

The Compound Verbal Predicate is the combination of the verb and an Infinitive or a Gerund.

The Compound Verbal Predicate is expressed by:

1. The combination of the modal verbs with the Infinitive. (He may return soon. You must read this book.)

2. The combination of such verbs as to begin, to continue, to finish, to like, to want, to intend, to try, to avoid, to hope, to promise, etc. with the Infinitive. (She began to translate the article. He wants to help me.)

3. The combination of an adjective with an Infinitive or a Gerund.(I am glad to see you. He is ready to help her. The book is worth reading.)

The Object

The Object is a secondary part of a sentence that shows an object and answers the questions whom? what? to whom? by whom? about what?

The object can be Direct, Indirect, Prepositional.

The Direct Object answers the questions whom? or what? and can be expressed by:

1. a noun (I have bought a book. This plant produces tractors.)

2. a pronoun (I met him yesterday. I didn’t see anybody there.)

3. a numeral (I have read both books. I like the first better than the second.)

4. an infinitive (He asked me to do it.)

5. a gerund (I remember reading about it before.)

The Indirect Object answers the question to whom? (He gave the boy a book. I showed him the letter.)

The Prepositional Object answers the questions to whom? by whom? about what? and can be expressed by:

1. a noun with the preposition (We spoke about our work. He lives with his parents.)

2. a pronoun with the preposition.(He spoke to me yesterday. I agree with you.)

3. a gerund with the preposition (I am fond of reading.)

The Attribute

The Attribute is a secondary part of a sentence that define the quality of a subject and answers the questions what? what kind of? whose? which? how much? how many?. It can be expressed by:

1. an adjective (I received an important letter yesterday.)

2. an adverb (He bought some illustrated magazines. The rising sun was hidden by the clouds.)

3. participle construction (The student speaking to the teacher is my brother. They sent us a list of goods sold at the auction.)

4. a numeral (Two thousand tons of sugar were loaded on the S.S. “Minsk” yesterday.)

5. a pronoun (Some magazines are lying on the table. This is my book.)

6. a noun in the common case (The town library is closed on Sundays.)

7. a noun in the possessive case (The teacher corrected the student’s mistakes.)

8. a noun with a preposition (The leg of the table is broken.)

9. an infinitive (He had a great desire to travel.)

10. a gerund with a preposition (They discussed different methods of teaching foreign languages.)

Adverbial Modifiers

The Adverbial Modifier is a secondary part of a sentence that defines how and in what circumstances an action takes place. The Adverbial Modifier can be:

1. Adverbial Modifier of Time (She will come soon).

2. Adverbial Modifier of Place (I found him in the garden).

3. Adverbial Modifier of Manner and comparison (He spoke slowly).

4. Adverbial Modifier of Cause (I came back because of the rain).

5. Adverbial Modifier of Purpose (I have come to discuss the matter).

6. Adverbial Modifier of Result (I haven’t smiled at his joke, it is too rude to be funny).

7. Adverbial Modifier of Attendant circumstances (He sat at the table reading a newspaper).

8. Adverbial Modifier of Concession (No matter how late he comes I will wait for him).

9. Adverbial Modifier of Condition (If it isn’t our meeting, I’ll never learn about their marriage).

The Adverbial Modifier can be expressed by:

1. an adverb (The meeting was held yesterday. He quickly opened the door and ran out of the room.)

2. a noun with a preposition (He spent his vacation in the South. He was in the Soviet Army during the war.)

3. a participle I (He stood on the deck counting the cases. While reading the book I came across a number of interesting expressions.)

4. an infinitive (He is clever enough to understand it.)

5. a gerund with a preposition (He locked the door before leaving the office.)

Test questions:

1. What are the main and secondary parts of the sentence?

2. What is the subject? What are its types? What is it expressed by? Examples.

3. What is the predicate? What are its types? Examples.

4. What is the simple predicate and what is it expressed by? Examples.

5. What is the compound nominal predicate and what is it expressed by? Examples.

6. What is the compound verbal predicate and what is it expressed by? Examples.

7. What is the object? What are its types? What is it expressed by? Examples.

8. What is the attribute? What is it expressed by? Examples.

9. What is the adverbial modifier? What are its types? What are they expressed by? Examples.

Preface

Training interpreters in the 21^st century, who are well educated, well informed linguists with a narrow specialization, poses many practical problems both for teaching institutions and future interpreters themselves. For the teaching institution it is a matter of designing programs and finding an adequate balance between theoretical knowledge and the practical skills to be offered to the students. For any student it is a matter of developing all the necessary skills.

One of the fundamental aspects of any language learning is grammar in any of its applied aspects: either Morphology or Syntax.

Any linguistic description may have practical or theoretical purpose. A practical description is aimed at providing the student with a manual of practical mastery of the corresponding part of language (within the limits determined by various factors of educational destination and scientific possibilities). Since the practice of lingual intercourse, however, can only be realized by employing language as a unity of all its constituent parts, practical linguistic manuals more often than not comprise the three types of description presented in a complex. As for theoretical linguistic descriptions, they pursue analytical aims and therefore present the studied parts of language in relative isolation, so as to gain insights into their inner structure and expose the intrinsic mechanisms of their functioning. Hence, the aim of theoretical grammar of a language is to present a theoretical description of its grammatical system, i.e. to scientifically analyze and define its grammatical categories and study the mechanisms of grammatical formation of utterances out of words in the process of speech making.

The course of theoretical grammar develops students’ skills to analyze the grammatical categories and provides them with the skills needed for translation, employing the main structures of English morfology and syntax.

Unit 1

Introduction into theoretical grammar

 

Learning objectives:

Define morphology, syntax, noun, adjective, pronoun, numeral, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection, substantivization of adjectives.

Explain relative/qualitative adjectives; analytical/synthetical/suppletivte forms of degrees of comparison; wholly substantivized/partially substantivized adjectives.

Analyze typical feature of adjectives, grammatical characteristics of relative adjectives, grammatical characteristics of qualitative adjectives.

Key point:

Adjective, it’s definition, types and parsing.

In English there are two parts of grammar: morphology and syntax.

Morphology treats the different sorts of words, their various modifications and their derivation.

Syntax shows the agreement and right disposition of words in a sentence.

As regard their function in the sentence, words fall under certain classes called parts of speech, all the members of each of these classes having certain formal characteristics in common which distinguish them from the members of the other classes.

In English there are nine kinds of words or parts of speech, (i.e.) noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, numeral, adverb, conjunction, preposition and interjection.

A noun, or substantive, is the name of any person, place or thing: John, London, Honor.

An adjective is a word that signifies the quality of any person, place or thing: a good man, a great city.

A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word.

A numeral such as ten, forty, fifty and some others seem to have a genitive case regularly formed by adding “s” to the nominative: ten, -tens.

A verb is a word that signifies the acting or being of a person, place or thing: the man calls, the city stands.

An adverb is a part of speech joined to a verb, an adjective, a participle and sometimes to another adverb to express the quality or circumstance of it: he reads well, a truly good man.

A preposition is a word set before nouns and pronouns to express the relations of persons, places or things to each other.

A conjunction is a part of speech that joins words or sentences together.

An interjection is a word that expresses any sudden motion of the mind, transported with the sensation of pleasure or pain.

In modern linguistics, parts of speech are discriminated on the basis of the three criteria: “semantic”, “formal”, “functional”. The semantic criterion presupposes the evaluation of the generalized meaning, which is characteristic of all the subsets of words constituting a given part of speech. This meaning is understood as the “categorical meaning of the part of speech”. The formal criterion provides for the exposition of the specific inflexional and derivational (word-building) features of all the lexemic subsets of a part of speech. The functional criterion concerns the syntactic role of words in the sentence typical of a part of speech. The said three factors of categorical characterization of words are conventionally referred to as, respectively, “meaning”, “form”, and “function”.

In accordance with the described criteria, words on the upper level of classification are divided into notional and functional, which reflects their division in the earlier grammatical tradition into changeable and unchangeable.

The noun, the adjective, the numeral, the pronoun, the verb, the adverb belong to the notional parts of speech of the English language.

The features of the noun within the identificational triad “meaning-form-function” are, correspondingly, the following: 1) the categorical meaning of substance (“thingness”); 2) the changeable forms of number and case; the specific suffixal forms of derivation (prefixes in English do not discriminate parts of speech as such); 3) the substantive functions in the sentence (subject, object, substantival predicative); prepositional connections; modification by an adjective.

The features of the adjective: 1) the categorical meaning of property (qualitative and relative); 2) the forms of the degrees of comparison (for qualitative adjectives); the specific suffixal forms of derivation; 3) adjectival functions in the sentence (attribute to a noun, adjectival predicative).

The features of the numeral: 1) the categorical meaning of number (cardinal and ordinal); 2) the narrow set of simple numerals; the specific forms of composition for compound numerals; the specific suffixal forms of derivation for ordinal numerals; 3) the functions of numerical attribute and numerical substantive.

The features of the pronoun: 1) the categorical meaning of indication (deixis); 2) the narrow set of various status with the corresponding formal properties of categorical changeability and word-building; 3) the substantival and adjectival functions for different sets.

The features of the verb: 1) the categorical meaning of process (presented in the two upper series of forms, respectively, as finite process and non-finite process); 2) the forms of the verbals categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, mood; the opposition of the finite and non-finite forms; 3) the function of the finite predicate for the finite verb; the mixed verbal – other then verbal functions for the non-finite verb.

The features of the adverb: 1) the categorical meaning of the secondary property, i.e. the property of process or another property; 2) the forms of the degrees of comparison for qualitative adverbs; the specific suffixal forms of derivation; 3) the functions of various adverbial modifiers.

Contrasted against the notional parts of speech are words of incomplete nominative meaning and non-self-depended, mediatory functions in the sentence. These are functional parts of speech.

The article, the preposition, the conjunction, the particle, the modal word, the interjection belong to the basic functional series of words in English.

The article expresses the specific limitation of the substantive functions.

The preposition expresses the dependencies and interdependencies of substantive referents.

The conjunction expresses connections of phenomena.

The particle unites the functional words of specifying and limiting meaning. To this series, alongside other specifying words, should be referred verbal postpositions as functional modifiers of verbs, etc.

The modal word, occupying in the sentence a more pronounced or less pronounced detached position, expresses the attitude of the speaker to the reflected situation and its parts. Here belong the functional words of probability (probably, perhaps, etc.), of qualitative evaluation (fortunately, unfortunately, luckily, etc.), and also of affirmation and negation.

The interjection, occupying a detached position in the sentence, is a signal of emotions.

Further we shall work over the adjective, the verb and non-finite forms of the verb.

As we have already mentioned,Syntaxshows the agreement and right disposition of words in a sentence. In Unit 3 we shall consider parts of the sentence and their use.

Test questions:

1. What do Morphology and Syntax study?

2. Name the parts of speech and define them.

3. According to what features do we parse the national parts of speech?

4. What are functional parts of speech?

 

The Adjective

 

According to Chervyakova L.D. “An adjective is a word that signifies the quality of any person, place or thing: a good man, a great city ”.

According to Khaimovich B.S. “Adjectives are a part of speech characterized by the following typical features:

1. The lexico-grammatical meaning of “attributes (of substances)”. It should be understood that by “attributes” we mean different properties of substances, such as their size, colour, position in space (upper, inner), material (wooden, woolen), psychic state of a person, etc

2. The morphological category of the degrees of comparison

3. The characteristic combinability with nouns, link-verbs (… is clever), adverbs, most those of degree (a very clever man), the so-called “prop-word” one (the grey one)

4. The stem-building affixes -ful, -less, -ish, -ous, -ive, -ic, un-, pre-, in-,

er-, il-, etc

5. Its functions of an attribute and a predicative complement ”.

An adjective can be of two types: relative and qualitative.

 

An adjective
relative	qualitative
directive related with substance (wooden – is made of the wood)	expresses a quality, which has different degree