Words: 10050
1. The status of TG. Language is a means of forming and storing ideas as reflections of reality and exchanging them in the process of human intercourse. It’s social by nature and inseparably connected with people. It develops with the development of society. The language consists of 3 parts: the phonological system (i. e. sound system), the lexical system (set of naming means of language) and the grammatical system. The principles of systemic approach to language and its grammar were developed in the linguistics of the 20th century after the publication of the works by Beaudoin de Courtenay and Ferdinand de Saussure (they demonstrated the difference between lingual synchrony and diachrony). The 1st characteristic feature of Grammar is its abstract character (it abstracts itself from particular & concrete and builds its rules & laws, taking into consideration only common features of groups and words).
The 2nd characteristic feature of Grammar is stability (laws & categories of Grammar exist through ages without considerable changes). The main object of Grammar is the grammatical structure of language (i. e. the system of the laws of word changing & sentence building). There’re 2 types of Grammar: Normative and Theoretical. Normative Grammar is the collection of rules of the given language, manual of practical mastering the Grammar. It’s of a prescriptive character.
Theoretical Grammar is the branch of linguistics, which studies the forms of the words & their relations in sentences in more abstract way, giving the profound description of existing grammatical laws & tendencies; looks inside into the structure of parts of language & expose the mechanisms of their functioning, i. e. the mechanism of the formation of utterances out of words in the process of speaking. The aim of TG is to present a scientific description of a certain language. It’s of a descriptive character. “The aim of TG is to present a theoretical description of its grammatical system, i. . to analyze scientifically and to define its grammatical categories and study the mechanisms of grammatical formation of utterances out of words in the process of speech making. ” (????????) 2. Essential notions of morphology: morph, allomorph, morpheme, word-form. Traditionally, the course of Grammar is divided into two parts: Morphology and Syntax. Syntax includes the sentence & the parts of the sentence; it makes the study of ways of connection words & word combinations in the sentences. Morphology deals with forms of words. It includes: parts of speech & their morphological categories.
Morphological categories are represented in word forms. It studies the system of forms of word change. E. g. : the case & the number of the noun; person, number, mood of the verb etc. I. P. Ivanova says that the word is the basic unit of morphology. The word – is a nominative unit of language; it is formed by morphemes; it enters the lexicon of language as its elementary component (i. e. a component indivisible into smaller segments as regards its nominative function); together with other nominative units the word is used for the formation of the sentence – a unit of information in the communication process”. M. Y. Blokh). The morph is a minimal sequence of sounds, possessing certain meaning and regularly occurs in some environments. The morph is a minimal meaningful textual unit, the textual representative of a morpheme, i. e. a morph is a variety of a morpheme: e. g. the variant in- of the negative prefix un- is its morph. The morpheme is the elementary meaningful lingual unit built up from phonemes and used to make words. It has meaning, but its meaning is abstract, significative, not concrete, or nominative, as is that of the word. Morphemes constitute the words; they do not exist outside the words.
The morpheme is a group of one more morphs united by the same meaning and complementary distribution. Allomorphs are speech variants of morphemes (the plural morpheme -(e)s [s], [z], [iz]). Classes of morphemes: 1. Free (root) morphemes. 2. Bound (affixes) morphemes. 3. Word-morphemes (e. g. to give up): a) lexico-grammatical morphemes: He gave up the idea; b) grammatical morphemes: He has given me the book. Roots express the concrete, “material” part of the meaning of the word and constitute its central part. Affixes specify, or transform the meaning of the root. ay be of two kinds: of lexical or grammatical character. So, according to the semantic criterion affixes are further subdivided into lexical, or word-building (derivational) affixes, which together with the root constitute the stem of the word, and grammatical, or word-changing affixes (inflections), expressing different morphological categories, such as number, case, tense and others. With the help of lexical affixes new words are derived, or built; with the help of grammatical affixes the form of the word is changed. in-just-ice-s (prefix+ root+ suffix+ inflection)
Word-form is the unity of the stem and inflection: e. g. smiled = smile + ed. The other name for the word-form is lemma. We may play lemmas in the language: e. g. He went his came (???? ???????????????? ??????????). Came is a word-form. Types of word-formation (derivation). 1. Affixation: He rooms here. 2. Sound alternation: foot-feet, speak-spoke. 3. Suppletive formation: good-better-the best; go-went-gone. 4. Analytical word-formation: I am coming; She is sleeping. Here the so-called problem of the analytical word-form arises. There are several approaches to the problem.
In order to solve this problem we should answer the question: How many auxiliaries are there in English? : The first approach (the traditional one) represents the principle of homonymy: should ??? modal: e. g. You should come to the classroom in time; should ??? Subj. : e. g. If I saw Helen tomorrow I should speak to her; should ??? Future-in-the-Past Tense: e. g. I told her mother that I should be happy to receive her here. The second approach is represented by R. Quirk. According to Quirk analytical word-forms are those which include only have, do, be, all the rest are modal verbs and phrases, which are polysemantic.
The third approach is usually connected with the name of ???????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????. He said: “We deal with the analytical word-form if we have auxiliary + the verb with inflection”: auxVing: am going; is working. A form-class is a set of word-forms which differ by the stems but have the same inflection. There are 8 form-classes in English: 1) Pl. noun ??? s; 2) Case noun ??? s; 3) Pres. Simple, person verb ??? s; 4) Degrees of comp. adv. , adj. ??? er, est; 5) Past simple verb ??? ed; 6) Past part. verb ??? ed; 7) Aspect verb ??? ing; 8) Present part. verb??? ing.
Grammatical category is constituted by the opposition of at least two sets of form-classes contrasted to each other on the basis of some certain grammatical meaning: e. g. book ??? books (plurality), the category of number. The opposition within a category is necessary. The opposition is a generalized correlation of lingual forms by means of which a certain function is expressed. The correlated elements (members) of the opposition must possess two types of features: common features and differential features. There are 3 main qualitative types of oppositions: ) privative; 2) gradual; 3) equipollent. By the number of members contrasted, oppositions may be binary (two members) and more than binary (ternary, quaternary, etc. ). The binary privative opposition is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain differential feature (“mark”), while the other member is characterized by the absence of this feature. In morphology the example is ??? the category of number: book ??? books. Here the differential feature of the opposition is “plurality”.
The gradual opposition is formed by a contrastive group of members which are distinguished not by the presence or absence of a feature but by the degree of it. In morphology the example is ??? the category of degrees of comparison of adjectives: clean ??? cleaner ??? the cleanest. The equipollent opposition is formed by a contrastive pair or group in which the members are distinguished by different positive features. The basis of morphological equipollent opposition is suppletivity, i. e. the expression of the grammatical meaning y means of different roots united in one and the same paradigm, e. g tense forms of the irregular verbs (go//went). Grammatical categories: N (number, case gender(? )), V (the opposition of finite, non- finite forms; categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, mood), adj and adv. (degrees of comparison). 3. Classes of words: the criteria of classification. The words of language, depending on various formal and semantic features, are divided into grammatically relevant sets of classes. The traditional grammatical classes of words are called “parts of speech”.
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. The meaning is understood as the “categorial meaning of the part of speech (of a class). The formal criterion provides for the exposition of the specific inflectional and derivational (word-building) features of all the lexemic subsets of a part of speech.
It deals with word-building affixation pattern and word-form affixation (grammatical paradigm). The functional criterion concerns the syntactic role (function) of words in the sentence typical of a part of speech and distribution (combinability). We can also speak about these categorial characterizations of words as meaning, form, function. 4. The field properties of word- classes. Field is a set of units which have a dominant integral feature which unites them and certain distinctive features allow a variation. A field approach helps to clarify many disputable points in the traditional classification of parts of speech.
The border lines between the classes of words are not rigid; instead of border lines there’s a continuum of numerous intermediary phenomena, combining the features of two or more major classes of words. Field theory states that in each class there’s a core, the bulk of its members that possess all the characteristic features of the class, and a periphery (marginal part), which includes the words of mixed character, intermediary between this class and other classes: e. g. hesitation hesitating hesitate N G V
The non-finite forms of the verb (the Infinitive, the gerund, participles 1 and 2) make up the periphery of the verbal class: they lack some of the features of the verb, but possess some features characteristic to either nouns, or adjectives, or adverbs; there’re adverbs whose functioning is close to that of conjunctions and prepositions (however, nevertheless, besides). The implementation of the field approach to the distribution of words in parts of speech was formulated by the Russian linguists G. S. Schur and V. G. Admoni. 5. Groups of word- classes. Classes of words are subdivided into: ) notional; 2) functional. Notional: nouns, adj. , adv. , pronouns, verbs, numerals. They are the words of a complete nominative value; fulfill functions of naming and denoting things, phenomena, their substantial properties. Functional: prepositions, conjunctions, particles (just, yet, so), articles, interjections, modal words, adlinks (denote state: afraid, asleep), response words (yes/no). They are the words of incomplete nominative value, of relational (grammatical) value. H. Sweet’s classification: Sweet divided all the words into 2 groups: 1) declinables (nouns, adj. , verbs). ) indeclinables ( adv. , prep. , conj. , interjections). R. Quirk’s classification: Quirk divided all the words into 2 groups: 1) open-class items: N, V, adj. , adv. They can be extended any time. 2) closed- system items: articles, demonstratives, pronouns, prep. , conj. , interjections. They can’t be extended. Ch. Fries’s classification (American Descriptive school): 50 hours of telephone conversation. the question of combinability/ valency (???????????? ????????????…, Woggles ugged diggles. ). Test frames: 1) The concert was good. (always)- links. 2) The clerk remembered the tax. (suddenly)- trans. ) The team went there. ??? intrans. All the words can fall in the same position of the frames without affecting their structural meaning can belong to one and the same class. 4 classes: Ns, Vs, adj. , adv. and as for the rest, he distributes them into 15 functional groups. 6. Classes of words in traditional grammar. Traditionally, classes of words are subdivided into: 1) notional; 2) functional. Notional: nouns, adj. , adv. , pronouns, verbs, numerals. They are the words of a complete nominative value; fulfill functions of naming and denoting things, phenomena, their substantial properties.
Functional: prepositions, conjunctions, particles (just, yet, so), articles, interjections, modal words, adlinks (denote state: afraid, asleep), response words (yes/no). They are the words of incomplete nominative value, of relational (grammatical) value. Migration of words: The process of migration of words is called conversion. Conversion is a way of forming new words from already existing ones by changing their paradigm, lexico-grammatical meaning, combinability & function. 4 types of conversion: 1) verbalization of nouns: a doctor- to doctor; ) substantivization of adjectives: a rich man- the rich; 3) adverbalization of nouns: home- ???????????????? ????????(??????. ); 4) substantivization of verbs: to break- a break. After the war the mother fathered the children. 7. The syntactic approach to dividing vocabulary into classes. Parts of speech are grammatical classes of words distinguished on the basis of 3 criteria: semantic, morphological and syntactic, i. e. meaning, form and function Syntactic properties of a class of words are combinability of words ( distributional criterion) and typical function in the sentence.
The three criteria of defining of defining grammatical classes of words in English may be placed in the following order: function, form meaning. Charles Frese divided all the words according to their functional syntactic features. He believed that all the words which can occupy the same position in the sentence must belong to the same class. He used the technique of substitution in the so called test-frames. He used 3 main test-frames. For his materials Charles Fries chose tape-recorded spontaneous telephone conversations comprising about 250,000 word entries (50 hours of talk) a)The concert was good. the structures meaning is thing and its quality at given time) b)The clerk remembered the tax. (actor, action & thing acted upon) c)The team went there. (actor, action & direction of the action) Charles Fries used the technique of substitution: all the words that can substitute for the word ‘concert’ with no change of structural syntactic meaning would belong to one class. Using this technique Charles Frese pointed out 4 classes: noun, adjective, verb, adverb. As for the rest of the words, he distributed them into 15 functional groups by means of the same method in extended test-frames. . The general characteristics of the noun. The Noun is considered to be the central nominal unit of language. The features of the noun are the following: 1)the categorial 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 Nouns denote things and other entities presented as substances (beauty, progress).
The only category on nouns which is generally accepted is the category of number. Many scholars think that the notion of case applies to English pronouns, but not to nouns. Gender distinctions aren’t marked morphologically. The most characteristic function of a noun in the sentence is that of the subject. The function of object is also typical. Nouns are related by conversion with verbs (an eye ??? to eye) and with adjectives (native ??? a native) Nouns are characterized by some special types of combinabiliyty. Typical of noun is the prepositional combinability with another noun, a verb, an adj, an adv. an entrance to the house, to turn round the corner, red in face, far from its destination) Noun groups of the type N+N (stone wall, car roof), often called stone-wall constructions, take an intermediately position between nouns and noun phrases. Multicomponental structures are typical of newspaper and scientific style: ambulance staff pay dispute. 9. Noun subclasses Nouns fall into several subclasses which differ as to their semantic and grammatical properties: -common ??? proper (on the basis of type of nomination) -concrete- abstract countable ??? uncountable (on the basis of quantative structure) -animate ??? inanimate ( on the basis of for,, of existence) -personal ???non personal (human ??? non-human) on the basis of personal quality Lexico-semantic variants of nouns may belong to different subclasses: paper ??? a paper. The class of nouns can be described as a lexico-grammatical field. Nouns denoting things constitute the centre, nucleus of the field. Nouns denoting processes, qualities, abstract notions are marginal peripheral elements of the field. 10. The noun: the category of number. The category of number is expressed by the opposition of the plural form of the noun to the singular form of the noun. The strong member of this binary opposition is the plural. Its productive formal mark is the suffix (inflection) ???(e)s [-z, -s, -iz] as presented in the forms dog-dogs, clock-clocks, box-boxes. The non-productive of expressing the number opposition are vowel interchange (man-men, tooth-teeth), the archaic suffix ???(e)n (ox-oxen, child-children, brother-brethren), the correlation of individual singular and plural suffixes in a limited number of borrowed nouns (phenomenon-phenomena, criterion-criteria).
In some cases the plural ?????? ?????????????? ???? ????????, ???? ??????, ?????????????? ?? ????????????????)) ( The binary privative opposition is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain differential feature (“mark” plural form), while the other member is characterized by the absence of this feature (singular form). The member in which the feature is present is “marked”/ “strong”/”positive” member, and is commonly designated by the symbol + (plus); the member in which the feature is absent is “unmarked”/”weak”/”negative” member, and is commonly designated by the symbol – (minus). orm of the noun is homonymous with the singular form (sheep, deer, fish). ” (Blokh M. Y. ). ) According to R. Quirk: We distinguish three main number classes of nouns: 1) SINGULAR INVARIABLE NOUNS, they have no plural, including noncount nouns (eg: music, gold), most proper nouns (eg: Thomas, the Thames). 2) PLURAL INVARIABLE NOUNS, i. e. nouns occurring only in the plural, eg. people, scissors. Ex. These damages have not yet been paid, have they? [damages = ‘compensation in money imposed by law for causing loss or injury’] 3) VARIABLE NOUNS, i. . nouns occurring with either singular or plural number: The dog is…. The dogs are…. We distinguish two subclasses: a) REGULAR, with plurals predictable from the singular (like dog); b) IRREGULAR, where the plural is not predictable (eg. foot-feet, child-children). In this latter group we find a large number of nouns with foreign plurals, eg. criterion-criteria, analysis-analyses. The particular plurals of these nouns have to be learned as individual lexical units.
In many cases where foreign words are involved, it is helpful to know about pluralization in the relevant languages, particularly Latin and Greek. Thus, on the pattern of analysis-analyses we can construct the following plurals: axis-axes, basis-bases, crisis-crises. Mutation: The plural is formed by MUTATION (a change of vowel) in the following nouns: man-men, foot-feet, goose-geese, mouse-mice, woman-women, tooth-teeth, louse-lice The ???en plural: The ???en plural occurs in three nouns: rother-brethren (with mutation as well as the ???en ending) child-children ox-oxen Zero plural: Some nouns have the same spoken and written form in both singular and plural. Note the difference here between, on the one hand, invariable nouns, which are either singular (1) or plural (2), but not both; an on the other hand, zero plural nouns which can be both singular and plural (3, 3a): This music is too loud. (1) All the cattle are grazing in the field. (2) This sheep looks small. (3) All those sheep are ours. 3a) 11. The noun: the category of case Case is a morphological category which has a distinct syntactic significance as it denotes relations of nouns towards other words in the sentence. Languages of a synthetic structure have a developed case system. In English the only case which is marked morphologically is the genitive (possessive case), the other “case meanings” being expressed by word order and prepositions. So, English nouns have a two-case system: the unmarked common case and the marked genitive case.
Quirk speaks about 7 types of genitive meanings: 1)possessive genitive ??? my son’s wife ??? my son has a wife 2)subjective genitive ??? the boy’s application ??? the boy applied 3)objective genitive ??? the family’s support – … supports the family 4)genitive of origin the girl’s story ??? the girl told a story 5)descriptive genitive a women’s college ??? a college for women 6)genitive of measure and partitive genitive ten days’s absence ??? the absence lasted 10days 7)appositive genitive: the city of York ??? York is a city 12.
Determiners; the functions of the in definite article. The indefinite article expresses classification or relative classifying generalization of the referent which means that this article refers the object denoted to a certain class. The classifying meaning of the indefinite article can be explicitly demonstrated by substitution with classifying words and phrases e. g. a man- some man, some kind of a man The semantic difference between the identifying definite article and the classifying indefinite article can be demonstrated by a contrast test e. g. he man- this very man (contrasted with other objects of the same class) a man- a certain man not a woman ( contrasted with other classes of objects) 13. Determiners; the functions of the definite article. The definite article expresses the identification or individualization of the referent of the noun. The object that the noun denotes is taken as concrete and individual or definite. The identification meaning of the definite article can be explicitly demonstrated in a substitution test when “the” is substituted by so-called demonstrative lexical determiners e. . the man- this man ( I sae yesterday) 14. Determiners; the functions of the zero article. The zero article expresses absolute generalization , abstraction of the referent denoted a noun. It renders the object denoted by the noun. It renders the idea of the highest degree of generalization and abstraction . With uncountable nouns the absence of the article expresses no only abstract generalization buutt also classifying generalization, because the uncountable nouns can not be used with the indefinite article.
So, the difference between the classifying absence of the article and the abstract generalization absence of the article with an uncountable noun can be stated only on the basis of their either the substitution or the insertion tests: e. g. – I like flowers ( in general). abstract , absolute generalization) -There are flowers ( some, several) on the table. ( classifying , relative generalization) Sometimes omission of the article is used to save space( in telegrams, headlines) 15. The general characteristics of the verb Grammatically the verb is the most complex part of speech.
This is due to the central role it performs in the expression of the predicative functions of the sentence; functions establishing the connection between the situation named in the utterance and reality. 1. It’s categorical meaning is process developing in time. 2. Word class’s constituting affixes: -fy, -ize, -en, sub-, mis-, un- etc. 3. It has 7 grammatical categories: tense, aspect, time correlation, mood, voice, person, number. 4. Distribution (combinability): combines with nouns & adverbs. 5. Syntactic function ??? predication. The main division of the verb is between finite verbs & non-finite.
As for the finite verbs, they have grammatical categories & the syntactic function is that of predication. ?????? ???????????????? ???? ??????????: (According to Blokh: The features of the verb: 1. the categorial meaning of the process (presented in the two upper series of forms, respectively, as finite process and non-finite process); 2. the forms of the verbal 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 than verbal functions for the non-finite verb. ) 16.
Verb subclasses These are 3 main classifications of the verb: morphological, semantic, functional. 1. Morphological classification is the way the verb builds up its basic forms According to their morphological structure verbs are divided into: 1. Simple: to go, to take, to read. 2. Sound-replacive : to food-to feed. 3. Stress-replacive: import ??? tp import 4. Expanded( with the help of suffixes and prefixes): cultivate, overcome 5. Composite( correspond to composite nouns): to blackmail 6. Phrasal: to have a smoke, to give a smile According to the way of forming past tenses: regular-irrregular 2.
Lexical- morphological classification is based on the implicit grammatical meaning I. Transitive-Intransitive Transitive verbs can take a direct object that is they express an action which passes on to a person or thing directly: to take to give, to send, to make etc. There are verbs which can be used either with or without direct object: to read, to write, to hear etc. E. g. He can read & write. (intransitive) Intransitive verbs can’t take a direct object. Here belong: to stand, to sleep, to laugh, to think, to swim etc. E. g. They laughed bitterly.
Some verbs in different context can be transitive & intransitive, such as: to open, to move, to change, to drop etc. E. g. The door opened (intransitive). He opened the door (transitive). II. Terminative – Non-terminative. Terminative verbs denote actions which cannot develop beyond a certain inherent limit. The actions denoted by non-terminative verbs have no inherent limits. E. g. terminative: to come, to take, to stand up, to sit down; non-terminative: to live, to love, to stand, to shine. III. The verbs can also be Stative -Dynamic 3. Syntactic classification
According to the nature of predication all verb can be: finite and non- finite According to syntagmatic properties verbs can be: of obligatory and optional valency. According to the way that some verbs have directionality or be devoid of it, they can be-of direct and indirect nature. 4. Functional classification is based on the structural role of the verb in the sentence. According to the syntactic function of the verb they are devided into notional, semi-notional, auxiliaries. I. Notional verbs are those which have a full meaning of their own & can be used without any additional words as a simple predicate.
E. g. She told the truth. II. Semi-notional verbs. They are used as a structural element in a syntactic unit. Here belong: link verbs, modal verbs, verb substitutes, emphatic verbs. 1. Link verbs: to be, to become, to grow, to turn etc. Every notional verb may be used as a link verb. Link verbs have lost their meaning & are used in a compound nominal predicate which usually denotes the state or quality of a person or thing expressed by the subject. Link verbs have partly lost their original concrete meaning. Only one link verb has lost its meaning altogether.
It is the verb to be. It can be combined with any part of speech used as a predicative. According to their meaning link verbs are divided into 2 large groups: Link verbs of being and remaining: to be, to remain, to look, to smell, to stand, to lie, to shine, to seem etc. Link verbs of becoming: to become, to get, to grow, to go, to turn etc. 2. Modal verbs Modal verbs usually show the speaker’s attitude either to the action or to the state denoted by the infinitive. The modal verbs are: can (could), may (might), must, should, would, ought, shall, will, dare, need.
The modal expressions are: to be + infinitive, to have + infinitive. 3. Verb-substitutes don’t name any action, but point to the action already mentioned in order to avoid repletion: do/did. E. g. The girl scraped through the exam, & so did he. 4. Emphatic verbs: do/did. E. g. Do be quite! I did know him. Auxiliary verbs are those which have lost their meaning & are used as form words, thus having a grammatical function. They are used in analytical forms. E. g. to be, to do, to have, shall, will, should, would 17. The finite and non-finite forms of the verb.
The verb is usually characterized as the most complex part of speech, because it has more word-changing categories than any other notional part of speech. It is changed according to the categories of person and number, tense, aspect, voice and mood. Besides, each verb has a specific set of non-finite forms (the infinitive, the gerund, participles I and II), otherwise called “verbals”, or “verbids”, opposed to the finite forms of the verb, otherwise called “finites”; their opposition is treated as “the category of finitude”.
Such a wide range of forms is mainly due to the importance of the function that the verb performs in the sentence: its primary function (and the only function of its finite forms) is the function of a predicate ??? the central, organizing member of the sentence, expressing its crucial predicative meanings, or the relations of the event denoted by the sentence to actual reality. The non-finite forms of the verbs, verbids, perform functions characteristic of other notional parts of speech ??? nouns, adjectives, or adverbs, but still, they can express partial predication and share a number of other important verbal features with the finites.
The infinitive has a dual, verb-type and noun-type, valency. The infinitive has three gram. categories: the aspective category of development (the opposition of Continuous and Non- Continuous forms), the aspective category of retrospective coordination( the opposition of Perfect and Non- Perfectforms), the category of voice( the opposition of Passive and Non- Passive formes). The gerund, like the infinitive, combines the properties of the verb with those of the noun and gives the process the verbal name.
The gerund can be modified by a noun in the possessive case or its pronominal equivalents and it can be used with the prepositions. The combinability of the gerund is dual; it has a mixed, verb-type, noun-type, valency, Like the infinitive, the gerund performs the syntactic functions of the subject, the object, the predicative, the attribute, the adverbial modifier. The gerund has 2 categories: aspective category of retrospective coordination and the category of voice. The Present participle serves as a qualifying-processual name. It combines the properties of the verb with those of the adjective and adverb.
It has 2 categories: the category of retrospective coordination and the category of voice. The past participle combines the properties of the verb with those of the adjective. It gives some sort of qualification to the denoted process. The past Participle has no paradigmatic forms. Like the present participle, the past participle is capable of making up semi-predicative constructions of complex object, complex subject, as well as absolute complexes. 18The verb: the category of tense The category of tense finds different interpretations with different scholars.
In traditional linguistics grammatical time is often represented as a three-form category consisting of the “liner” past, present,and future forms. The future -in ???the- past does not find its place in the scheme based on the liner principle, this system is considered to be deficient, not covering all lingual data. Linguists build up a new system of tenses in order to find a suitable place in them for future -in ???the- past. Some of them deny the independent status of future tenses while others exclude from the analysis future -in ???the- past forms. In English there exist 2 tense categories.
The 1-st category- the category of primary time- expresses a direct retrospective evaluation of the time of the process denoted, due to which the process receives an absolutive time characteristic. This category is based upon the opposition of “the past tense” and “the present tense”, the past tense being its strong member. The 2-nd tense category is the category of “prospective” time, it is based upon the opposition of ” after-action” and “non- after-action”the marked member being the future tense. The category of prospect is relative by nature, it characterizes the action from the point of view of its correlation with some other action.
The verb acquires 2 different future forms: the future of the present and the future of the past. The future of the past is doubly strong expressing the strong member of the category of primary time and the category of prospect. 19 The verb: the category of aspect The category of aspect represented by 2 sets of forms in modern English: non-continuous (indefinite, simple), continuous (progressive). The categorical meaning of the continuous form is defined as the meaning of duration, while the indefinite form may be interpreted as having no spective meaning ( Ivanova), as a form having a vague content(Vorontsova), as a form stressing the fact the performance of action( Smirnitsky) Some linguist interpret the opposition of the perfect/ non-perfect forms as aspective (Jespersen,Ivanova,Vorontsova),others as opposition of tense forms( Sweet, Korsakov). Smirnitsky proved that perfect and non-perfect make up a category of time correlation. In eng. there exist 2 aspective categories: the category of development (based on the opposition of continuous and non- continuous forms)and the category of retrospective coordination( based on opposition of perfect and non- perfect forms)
The opposition of continuous and non- continuous forms can be neutralized and transponized . The opposition of perfect and non- perfect forms can undergo only the process of neutralization, transposition being alien to it. The grammatical category of time-correlation (of order, of phase) is represented by binary opposition, constituted by 2 form classes: perfect and non-perfect. The perfect is the marked member of the opposition both in form and in meaning. The non-perfect is a weak member of the opposition both in form and in meaning as a rule. -/++ Non-perfectPerfect riteshas written wrotehad written will writewill have written This category shows whether the action is viewed as prior to other actions or irrespective of other actions. Linguists disagree as to the category of the perfect belongs. Some grammarians think that it forms part of the aspect system (the resultive aspect). Other linguists treat perfect as belonging to the tenses. Smirnitsky was the first to draw attention that the forms represent a grammatical category which is different from the category of tense, though it is closely connected with it. E. g. She has come. priority to the act of speech. She had come before he phoned over. ??? priority to the act of his phoning over. Thus the perfect forms express priority, whereas non-perfect lays the action unspecified. 20 The verb: the category of voice The grammatical category of voice is represented by a binary privative opposition constituted by 2 from classes, active & passive, in which passive voice is the marked member of the opposition both in form “to be +participle II” and in meaning. Active voice is a weak member both in form & meaning. As for the definition for the category: 1.
The category shows the relation between the subject & the action. 2. It shows the relation between the subject and the object of the action. -/++ ActivePassive invitesis invited invitedwas invited will invitewill be invited There are direct, indirect and prepositional passive. Some forms of the active voice find no parallel in the passive. It refers to the forms of the Future Continuous, Future Continuous in the Past and all the Perfect Continuous tenses. At various times the following 3 voices have been suggested in addition to the 2 already mentioned. (Ilyish) 1. Reflexive E. g. He dressed himself. . Middle E. g. The door closed. 3. Reciprocal E. g. They kissed each other. 21 The verb: the category of mood Mood is the grammatical category of the verb reflecting the relation of the action denoted by the verb to reality from the speaker point of view. In modern English we distinguish 3 moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive. E. g. He listens attentively. ??? indicative mood Listen attentively! ??? imperative mood He would have listened attentively if he had been interested. ??? subjunctive mood The category of mood shows the relation of the nominative content of the sentence towards reality.
By this category the action can be presented as real, non-real, desirable, recommended… 4 subjunctive form-types: Pure Spective(subjunctive1) Stipulative Conditional Consideration,(subjunctive 2) desideration. inducementunreal condition Modal Spective Consective Conditional (subjunctive4) Consideration,(subjunctive 3) desideration. inducementunreal consequence 21 The problem of subjunctive R. Quirk Time is the universal, non-linguistic concept with three divisions: past, present, future.
Mood is expressed in English to a very minor extent by the subjunctive, as in: So be then! To a much greater extent by past tense: If you tought me, I could lear guikly. By means of the modal auxiliaries: It is strange that he should have left so early. Three categories of the subjunctive may be distinguished: 1The mandative subjunctive in that- clause has only one form, the base (V) there is lack of the regular indicative concord between subject and finite verb in the 3rd person singular present, the present and past tense are indistinguishable.
This subjunctive can be used with any verb in subordinate that-clause when the main clause contains an expression of recommendation, demand. This sub-ve is used in formal style, in less formal: to-infinitive or should+ infinitive: It is necessary that every member inform himself of these rules. (base) It is necessary that every member should inform himself of these rules. It is necessary for every member to inform himself of these rules. 2The formulaic subjunctive consist of the base (V)but is only used in clause in certain set expressions which have to be as wholes: God save the Queen!
Come what may, we will go ahead Be that it may 3The subjunctive were is used in conditional and concessive clauses and in subordinate clauses after optative verb like wish It occurs as 1st and 3rd person singular past of the verb be ( was in less formal style): If she were/was to do something like that He spoke to me as if I were/ was deaf NOTE: only were is acceptable in “As it were”; were is usual in If I were you. The theory of phrase (colligation, collocation, typology of phrases)
The phrase is a group unit formed by any combination of 2 or more notional words which doesn’t constitute a sentence (Barkhudarov). The phrase is a group unit formed by any combination of 2 or more words in which neither of the elements can be transformed or substituted in its position by a word of another class or subclass (Ilyish, Burlakova). The second definition is much wider, because it includes not only phrases consisting of notional words, but also prepositional phrases, predicative phrases with finite verbs. There’re 3 approaches to phrases: )a phrase is a combination of two notiona words 2)a phrase is any combination of words 3)a phrase is a combination of words united by means of collocation (on the morpho-semantic level) and colligation (on the morpho-syntactic level) Noun phrase can function as: subject, complement (she’s a diligent woman), an adverbial (the next day they …), a prepositional complement ( the next day they were walking along a quiet road) Prepostional phrase . It consists of a preposition and a NP as a complement. It can function as adverbial in clauses and can post-modify NP.
Ex. After dinner, they decided … (adverbial) She gave him a glass of water (qualifier of NP) Verb phrases Perform a function of the predicator in a clause. It consists of one or more verbs, we often use two or more verbs as kind of series one after another. He doesn’t like washing the dishes Adjective phrase It can occur either as modifier in NPs (the next day) or it can be following relational verbs like be, become, seem. The poor child was very frightened Adverb phrases. Consisy of one one more words with an adverb ahead, they function as adverbials.
He closed the door quickly The main types of phrases According to the type of syntactic bond existing between immediate constituents, the main types are: 1)Subordinate usually consist of the head, which is an independent element, and an adjunct, which is a dependent constituent. E. g. fond of reading; writing a letter 2)Coordinate. The main feature is the same syntactic function of their immediate constituents. It may be tested by the ability of any constituent to substitute the whole phrase E. g. sooner or later; brother and sisters 3)Predicative. onsist of 2 parts: subjectival and predicatival. E. g. for you to go; for time permitting Syntagmatic relations exist between the elements linearly ordered. That is between phonemes, words etc. Linearity is the main factor for syntagmatic relations. Standing together in linear order, linguistic elements can make up a unity. But linearity is not the only ground, on which all syntagmatic relations are established. Combinational syntagmatic relations can be subdivided into: 1. Collocational (lexico-semantic). 2. Colligational (grammatical).
Collocational relations are not of a grammatical character, they’re of lexico-semantic character; the collocated elements are located together in the same linear arrangement (to speak fluently). Colligational relations are based on the morphological & syntactical peculiarities of the word (,,to tell him”; ,,to say nothing”). 1. A three-level approach to syntax. Syntax ??? is the study of the structure of phrases, clauses, sentences and discourse. It’s the subject of study of grammar. Syntax studies how phrases and clauses are constructed, i. e. the order of words, agreement between subjects and verbs, etc.
The main object of syntax is the sentence. Sentence is a ling unit with subject/predicate structure or their transforms ( Barkhudarov) Sentence is a minimum structure used in speech acts and charactereized by several features, the main of which are predication and structural scheme (model) Pocheptsov. Sentence ??? is an expression of a though or feeling by means of words, used in such form and manner as to convey the meaning intended ( Curme) The sentence is studied on 3 level: structural, semantic, pragmatic. In Structural syntax the sentence is treated as a system, i. e. complicated object which consists of some elements or syntactic positions united by certain syntactic relations. The main notion of this analysis is the structure of the sentence ( an abstract scheme of relations among lexical elements constituting the sentence) These are the models of structural analysis: traditional, positional, IC, transformational, valence analysis) The first linguist to speak of semantic syntax was Ch. Fillmore. He spoke of syntactic position of sentence elements and their primary/secondary function. A word fills one or more syntactic position and by it acquires a certain functional meaning.
Between the syntactic position of a word and its functional meaning there’s an obligatory connection. A word acquires a certain functional meaning only when it becomes a part of a sentence. Traditionally, syntactic study focuses on the following units: phrase, simple sentence, clause composite sentence, suprasyntactic unit. Pragmatic syntax. Pragmatics studies language as a means of social interaction, The term pragmatics was introduced by Ch,Pierce. Pragmatic syntaz deals with functional sentence perspective, speech acts, presuppositions, etc. Pragmatics studies language as a means of social interaction.
In pragmatics a sentence is viewed as a unit of communication. Extralinguistic context ( speaker, hearer, situation) becomes very important. Pragmatic syntax is usually associated with the theory of speech acts, the thery of FSP, the theory of presuppositions. 2. Structural syntax: the elements of the sentence structure (classical approach). Syntax ??? is the study of the structure of phrases, clauses, sentences and discourse. It’s the subject of study of grammar. Syntax studies how phrases and clauses are constructed, i. e. the order of words, agreement between subjects and verbs, etc.
The main object of syntax is the sentence. Sentence is a ling unit with subject/predicate structure or their transforms ( Barkhudarov) Sentence is a minimum structure used in speech acts and charactereized by several features, the main of which are predication and structural scheme (model) Pocheptsov. Sentence ??? is an expression of a though or feeling by means of words, used in such form and manner as to convey the meaning intended ( Curme) The sentence is studied on 3 level: structural, semantic, pragmatic. In Structural syntax the sentence is treated as a system, i. . a complicated object which consists of some elements or syntactic positions united by certain syntactic relations. The main notion of this analysis is the structure of the sentence ( an abstract scheme of relations among lexical elements constituting the sentence) These are the models of structural analysis: traditional, positional, IC, transformational, valence analysis) Traditionally, syntactic analysis of the sentence is carried out in terms of sentence members, such as subject, predicate, object, attribute, adv modifier (of place, time).
The principal members of the sentence are subject and predicate, whereas objects, attributes and adverbial modifiers are all secondary members of the sentence 4. Structural syntax: the basic (kernel) sentence structure. Obligatory and optional sentence elements. Syntax ??? is the study of the structure of phrases, clauses, sentences and discourse. It’s the subject of study of grammar. Syntax studies how phrases and clauses are constructed, i. e. the order of words, agreement between subjects and verbs, etc. The main object of syntax is the sentence.
Sentence is a ling unit with subject/predicate structure or their transforms ( Barkhudarov) Sentence is a minimum structure used in speech acts and charactereized by several features, the main of which are predication and structural scheme (model) Pocheptsov. Sentence ??? is an expression of a though or feeling by means of words, used in such form and manner as to convey the meaning intended ( Curme) The sentence is studied on 3 level: structural, semantic, pragmatic. In Structural syntax the sentence is treated as a system, i. e. complicated object which consists of some elements or syntactic positions united by certain syntactic relations. The main notion of this analysis is the structure of the sentence ( an abstract scheme of relations among lexical elements constituting the sentence) These are the models of structural analysis: traditional, positional, IC, transformational, valence analysis) The kernel (minimum/basic) structure is a structure (sentence) consisting only of obligatory elements. The omission of optional elements does not ruin the sentence structurally or semantically.
There is no general agreement among linguists about which structure should be considered kernel and which not. Here is the classification of basic sentence structures suggested by R. Quirk S ??? Subject, V- verb, A ???adverb, C ??? complement, O- object 1. SVA 2. SVC 3. SVO 4. SVOA 5. SVOC 6. SVOO7. SV1. Mary is in the house 2. Mary is kind (Mary is a nurse) 3. Somebody caught the ball 4. I put the plate on the table 5. We have proved him a fool (wrong) 6. She gives me expensive presents 7. The child laughed American tradition ( Irtenieva)
Verbs of be-type, have-type, become-type, give-type, take-type, put-type, look-at-type NP- noun phrase, V ??? verb, A ??? adj, D ??? adv, pred – preposition 1. NP V is A1. The joke is funny 2. NP V is NP2. The man is an engineer 3. NP is prep. NP3. This book is of interest 4. NP V is D4. Half the group is out 5. NP V have NP5. My nephew resembles his father 6. NP V (become) A/NP6. She turns white/my friend remained a pilot 7. NP V intr (D)7. I run (every morning) 8. NP V take NP (D)8. She took the tray off the table 9. NP V give NP NP (D)9. She gave me the book 10. NP V put NP D10. The visitor put the stick in the corner 11.
NP V look at… NP (D)11. You approved of the plan A complement is a word (or words) added to to a verb to complete the meaning of the verb. 5. The problem of one-member sentence (ellipsis). The grammatical organisation of one-member sentences has its own traits. In one-member sentences the subject or the predicate omitted as the case is with ellipsis in sentence-structure. One-member sentences have no separate subject and predicate but one “main” only instead. It seems reasonable to make distinction between a) nominal or “naming” sentences and b) infinitival (?????????????????????? ?? ???????????????????????????? ?????????? ?????????????? ) sentences.
Nominal sentences name a person or thing The modal meaning of appraisal in one-member sentences is connected with the use of noun determiners, the definite article, in particular. Both the article and the demonstrative pronoun have here special connotation. Consider the following examples: The restless, inhuman, and yet so human, angry sadness of the creature’s eyes! (Galsworthy) That fellow Wagner had ruined everything; no melody left, not any voices to sing it. Ah! the wonderful singers! (Galsworthy) “That woman! ” said Soames. (Galsworthy) Oh, the shame of this day!
You’ll be comin’ home with me now. (Dreiser) If the head-word is a concrete noun the latter is very often used without attributive adjuncts. Sentences of this type are fairly common. “What a picture”, cried the ladies”. “Oh, the ducks! Oh, the lambs! Oh, the sweets! Oh, the pets! ” (Mansfield) Such emotionally coloured sentences are often used with interjections or some other words introducing or concluding the direct speech. Nominal sentences may follow one another in immediate succession, thus making up a string of co-ordinated nominal sentences, as for instance: …
A blue suit, a velour hat, some brown shoes, three pairs of socks with two holes in them, four shirts only a little grayed at the cuffs, two black-and-white ties, six collars, not two new, some handkerchiefs, two vests beautifully thick, two pairs of pants, and brown overcoat with a belt and just two or three nice little stains. (Galsworthy) In Grammar books one-member sentences are often referred to as elliptical, with some items “understood” or “felt as missing”. This, however, must be taken with much reservation, since it is not always possible to supply the missing part.
Modal meanings are known to be expressed by structural elements of different linguistic levels. Indicating some kind of attitude of the speaker concerning the reality of what is expressed in predication, modality is, in fact, a regular structural feature of any sentence. The same is true of one-member sentences. In these terms we distinguish: (a)”Classical” nominal sentences naming an object of reality, asserting or denying its being. “A black night”, master. Cf. It is a black night. (b)One-member sentences expressing command ??? stylistic alternatives of the Imperative Mood: “Silence woman! ” said Mr.
Kenwigs, fiercely… “I won’t be silent”, returned the nurse. “Be silent yourself, you wretch”. (Dreiser) The two sentences (Silence! = Be silent! ) are identical in their grammatical content but differ in style. (c)One-member wish-sentences. The emotional colouring of such wish sentences can be intensified by interjections, e. g. : Oh, the fine clothes, the handsome homes, the watches, rings, pins that some boys sported; the dandies many youths of years were. (Dreiser) (d)One-member sentences of hypothetical modality: The anomalous and unprotected nature of a room where one was nut known. The look of it.
Subsequent explanation to her mother and sister maybe. (Dreiser) Dizzily, I lauded my knuckless once more again on Gavin’s buttons. Dazzling, lights, shouts, rockets, in the sky… Heley’s comet, perhaps! (Cronin) A scandal! A possible scandal! (Galsworthy) (e)One-member conditional sentences. Condition and consequence are contracted to each other, the former is expressed by a nominal one- member sentence and the latter by a two-member one. 6. Structural syntax: the positional model of the sentence Syntax ??? is the study of the structure of phrases, clauses, sentences and discourse. It’s the subject of study of grammar.
Syntax studies how phrases and clauses are constructed, i. e. the order of words, agreement between subjects and verbs, etc. The main object of syntax is the sentence. Sentence is a ling unit with subject/predicate structure or their transforms ( Barkhudarov) Sentence is a minimum structure used in speech acts and charactereized by several features, the main of which are predication and structural scheme (model) Pocheptsov. Sentence ??? is an expression of a though or feeling by means of words, used in such form and manner as to convey the meaning intended ( Curme) The sentence is studied on 3 level: structural, semantic, pragmatic.
In Structural syntax the sentence is treated as a system, i. e. a complicated object which consists of some elements or syntactic positions united by certain syntactic relations. The main notion of this analysis is the structure of the sentence ( an abstract scheme of relations among lexical elements constituting the sentence) These are the models of structural analysis: traditional, positional, IC, transformational, valence analysis) The positional model represents the structure of the sentence in terms of word classes in the abstraction from the meaning of the concrete words that fill in its positions.
It represents linear relations between the words in a sentence Thegirlsingsbeautifully DeterminerNoun(Verb)D (adverbial) It proves to be ambitious. The weakness of it lies in the fact that it represents sentences as strings of word classes and doesn’t reflect the hierarchy of inner relations of the sentence elements. 7. Structural syntax: the IC-model of the sentence The IC model of the sentence takes into account not only the position of sentence elements but also the hierarchy of their inner relations. The theoretical basis of IC model: )Of three types of syntactic relations (coordination, predication, subordination) only subordination is recognized 2)The predicate is looked upon as the central part of the sentence 3)The analysis is based on binary principle, that is, the unit of analysis is a binary subordinate phrase which has two parts: the head and the adjunct. My friend is reading a very interesting(adjunct) book (head) The aim of IC analysis is to find the IC structure of the sentence. On each level we deal with 2 elements connected by a subordinate bind which are then reduced into one new element in its semantic function to the head of the phrase.
The rules of this reduction are as follows D+A = AP (adj. phrase) AP+N=NP (noun phrase) V+N = VP NP+VP = sentence 8 Structural syntax: the T-model of the sentence. The transformational model takes into account not only relations among the components of the same sentence( as in IC model) but the relations of the structure of a given sentence to the structure of other sentences. 1. S1 > S2 sentence into sentence She likes English. > She does like English She is at home > Is she at home? 2. S > NP a sentence is transformed into a NP Jane is the group leader. > Jane being a group leader 3.
S1 + S2 > S3 2 elementary sentence joint into one I heard him. +He was singing. > I heard him singing. The classes of the elementary transformational steps or procedures: 1. Morphological changes(tense, aspect, voice, mood) 2. functional expansion( various functional words) 3. substitution ( pronouns, substitution words) 4. deletion ( omission of some elements) 5. positional arrangements, permutation( change into reverse word order) 6. intonational arrangement The main condition of transformational relation is the same invariant propositional meaning (naming certain type of the kernel sentence and transform. Structural syntax: the valence-model of the sentence. L. Tesniere treats the predicative verb of the grammatical centre of the sentence . According to L. Tesniere the speaker focuses upon the action in the situation which he describes. The verb must play the main role in the stemma formation: it denotes the action as the centre of the situation, while the other members the sentence designate the participants( actants) of the action and the features ( attributes) or the circumstances where the action takes place. 1. the predicate is the embryon of the sentence . when we speak we play “life dramas” in which we need a certain number of “actors” depending on the verb ( give -3 actors Susan gave Mike a chocolate) 3. the property of a verb is valency (potential compatibility) 4. valence is the potential ability of the verb to require a certain number of actants in the performing a certain life drama According to L. Tesniere a verb can have 4 types of valence: V0 zero valence verbs ???????????? V1 intransitive verbs She is sleeping V2 transitive verbs I like this film V3 ditransitive verbs He gave her a rose 1 The composite sentence the clause as the basic unite of the syntax The sentence (S) is considered to be composite if it has 2 and more subject-predicate structures. A constituent of the composite sentence is called a clause. Clause independent dependent There are complex and compound sentences. Composite sentence Complex Sentence Compound Sentence subordination coordination 12The composite sentence: general characteristics. The compound sentence.
A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of 2 or more clauses coordinated with each other. A clause is a part of a sentence which has a subject and a predicate of its own. The clauses can be connected syndetically or asyndetically. A complex sentence consists of a principle clause and one or more subordinate clauses. Subordination is a non-symmetrical relation, holding between two clauses in such a way that one is a constituent or part of the other. Compare the coordination in [I like John] and [John likes me] [independent] [independent] with the subordination in I like John [because John likes me] ] independent dependent (subordinate) 13The complex sentence: the nominal clauses. (S) NP AP DP Nominal clauses Attributive clauses Adverbial clauses Classifying dependent clauses by function: 1) According to classes of words they may substitute in syntactic position subordinate clauses are divided into: Nominal (that-clauses, wh-interrogative clauses, etc. ): I know that you mean well. / I can’t imagine what they want with your address. 14. The complex sentence: the adverbial clauses.
The sentence (S) is considered to be composite if it has 2 and more subject-predicate structures. A constituent of the composite sentence is called a clause. Clause independent dependent There are complex and compound sentences. A complex sentence consists of a principal clause and 1 or more subordinate clauses. [I like John [because John likes me] ] independent dependent (subordinate) The complex sentences are divided into groups according to classes of words they may substitute in syntactic position. (S) NP AP DP
Nominal clauses Attributive clauses Adverbial clauses Classifying dependent clauses by function: 1) According to classes of words they may substitute in syntactic position adverbial clauses are divided into: – comparative clauses: He looks as if he is going to be sick. – proportion and preference clauses: The harder he worked, the happier he felt. / Rather than a new car, he bought a TV-set. – comment clauses: Food is cheap in Germany, I’d believe. / To be honest, I’d never liked him. / What is more, he has lost everything he had. – time clauses: When I last saw you, you lived in Moscow. place clauses: They went wherever they could find work. – conditional clauses: He must be lying if he told you that. – concession: Although I enjoyed myself, I was glad to come home. – cause (reason): I lent him the money because he needed it. – purpose: I left early to catch the train. – result: We planted many plants, so that the garden soon looked beautiful. – manner: Please do it as I instructed. 2) According to syntactic position they fill, adverbial clauses are divided into: – adjunct: When we meet, I shall explain everything. – disjunct: To be honest, I’ve never liked him. conjunct: What is more, he has lost the friends he has. 15. Complex noun phrases with attributive clauses as modifiers. The complex sentences are divided into groups according to classes of words they may substitute in syntactic position. (S) NP AP DP Nominal clauses Attributive clauses Adverbial clauses Attributive clauses: – restrictive: Don’t you hate people who have no character? – descriptive: But his lips that were twisted in a bitter smile twitched. – appositive: There’re 2 very good reasons why she should under no circumstances be his wife. 16.
The composite sentence: finite, non-finite and verbless clauses. The sentence (S) is considered to be composite if it has 2 and more subject-predicate structures. The clause is a syntactic structure built by the main element the V (finite or non-finite form) with its syntactic valencies realized. Analyzing clauses by structural type, we arrive at three main classes: finite, non-finite and verbless clauses. Finite clause: a clause whose V element is a finite verb phrase (showing tense, mood, aspect and voice). The finite clause always contains a subject as well as a predicate, except in the case of commands and ellipsis.
Non-finite clauses: a clause whose V element is a non-finite verb phrase (not showing tense or mood, but still capable of indicating aspect and voice). Non-finite clauses can be constructed without or with a subject, i. e. with subject or subjectless: 1. The Infinitive clauses: The best thing would be to tell everybody. (subjectless) The best thing would be for you to tell everybody. (with its own subject) 3. ??? ing-form clauses: Living the room he tripped over the carpet. (subjectless) Her aunt having left the room, they kissed passionately. (with its own subject) 4.
Non-finite clauses with Participle II: Covered with confusion I left the room. (subjectles) The job finished we left the room. (with its own subject) 5. Verbless clause: a clause containing no verb element: He went out, a shotgun in hand. 17. SEMANTIC SYNTAX: SENTENCE ELEMENTS SEMANTICALLY CONSIDERED (the primary functions). Syntax is the study of the structure of phrases, clauses, sentences and discourse. It studies how phrases and clauses are constructed; e. g. the word order, a