English Theoretical Grammar
The adverb is a part of speech which expresses some circumstances that attend an action or state.
The grammatical meaning of the adverb is pointing out some characteristic features of an action or a quality.
According to their meanings adverbs fall under several groups:
adverbs of time (today, soon, etc.);
adverbs of repetition or frequency (often, seldom, over, etc.);
adverbs of place and direction (inside, backward, etc.);
adverbs of cause and consequence (therefore, accordingly, etc.);
adverbs of manner (kindly, hard, etc.);
adverbs of degree, measure and quantity (very, almost, once, etc.).
Three groups of adverbs stand aside: interrogative (where, when, why, how), relative and conjunctive adverbs, the former being used in special questions, and the latter two to introduce subordinate clauses.
Some adverbs are homonymous with prepositions, conjunctions (before, after, since) and words of the category of state.
(d) Some adverbs have degrees of comparison. This grammatical category finds its morphological expression only in a limited group of adverbs, namely, the suppletive forms of ‘well’, ‘badly’, ‘much’, ‘little’, and the degrees of comparison of the adverbs ‘fast’, ‘near’, ‘hard’. In other cases the forms are analytical (wisely - more wisely - most wisely). The adverb ‘far’ has a peculiar form.
(e) The syntagmatics of the adverb is that of an adverbial modifier (said softly, nice in a way), and sometimes of an attribute (the then president).
Point 7. The problems of setting off modal words as parts of speech.
The modal words express the attitude of the speaker to the reality, possibility or probability of the action he speaks about.
Formerly, they used to be referred to as adverbs, and it was in Russian linguistics that they were identified as a part of speech. However, H.Sweet distinguished the adverbs relating to the whole sentence and expressing the speaker’s attitude.
Modal words stand aside in the sentence, they are not its members. Sometimes they are used as sentence-words.
The structural field of the modal words consists of the modal words proper used only parenthetically or as sentence-words (perhaps, maybe, indeed, etc.) and a peripheral group of adverbs functioning as modal words without losing their morphological and syntactic features (apparently, unfortunately, etc.).
Point 8. The interjection as a part of speech. Determination of the boundaries of interjections. Conversion of words belonging to other parts of speech, and other language units, into interjections.
(a) The interjection is a part of speech which expresses various emotions without naming them.
(b) According to Prof. Smirnitsky interjections ‘are opposed to the words of intellectual semantics’ and their field boundaries are limited by this characteristic feature. Nevertheless, interjections may be primary and secondary.
Primary interjections are not derived from other parts of speech. Most of them are simple words: ah, oh, eh, pooh, hum, fie, bravo, hush. Only a few primary interjections are composite: heigh-ho! hey-ho! holla-ho! gee-ho!
(c) Secondary interjections are derived from other parts of speech or language units. They are homonymous with the words or syntagms they are derived from. They are: well, now, why, God gracious, damn it, etc.; they should not be confused with exclamation-words such as ‘nonsense’, ‘shame’, ‘good’, etc.
Theme 6. THE FUNCTIONAL PARTS OF SPEECH.
Point 1. The conjunction. The place of conjunctions in the system of connecting devices in the English language. Types of conjunctions and their functioning in the sentence. Polysemy and synonymy of conjunctions.
The conjunction is a part of speech which denotes connections between objects and phenomena. It connects parts of the sentence, clauses, and sentences.
(b) The conjunction seems to have some peculiar features: unlike the preposition it conveys grammatical relations in a more abstract way, it has no nomination and it cannot be a member of the sentence; on the other hand, it is more universal than prepositions and conjunctive words, for it can connect various syntactic structures and units.
(c) As to their functions conjunctions fall under two classes: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
Coordinating conjunctions join coordinate clauses in a compound sentence, or homogeneous parts in a simple sentence, or homogeneous subordinate clauses in a complex sentence, or independent sentences. There are four different kinds of coordinating conjunctions:
1. Copulative conjunctions: and, nor, as well as, both…and, not only…but (also), neither…nor. They chiefly denote that one statement or fact is simply added to another (‘nor’ and ‘neither’ express that relation in the negative sense).
2. Disjunctive conjunctions: or, either…or, or else, else. They offer some choice between one statement and another.
3. Adversative conjunctions: but, while, whereas. They show that one statement or fact is contrasted with or set against another.
4. Causative-consecutive conjunctions: so, for. They denote consequence, result, or reason.
Subordinating conjunctions generally join a subordinate or dependent clause to a principal clause, or adverbial modifiers to the predicate in a simple sentence, or sometimes they join homogeneous parts.
(d) Polysemy of conjunctions may be demonstrated by the example of the subordinating conjunction ‘that’ which may introduce different kinds of clauses(subject, predicative, object, etc.).
Synonymy of conjunctions is easily seen in such pairs as: in order – so as (that), as if – as though, etc.
Point 2. The preposition. The problem of the meaning of the preposition. The classification of prepositions. Grammatical functions of prepositions. Interconversion of prepositions and other parts of speech.
(a) The preposition is a part of speech which denotes the relations between objects and phenomena. It shows the relations between a noun or a pronoun and other words.
(b) The lexical meaning of some prepositions is quite concrete (e.g. in, below, between, before, after, till, etc.), while that of some other prepositions may be weakened to a great extent (e.g. to, by, of).
(c) According to their meanings prepositions may be divided into:
- prepositions of place and direction (in, on, below, under, between, etc.);
- time (after, before, at, etc.);
- prepositions expressing abstract relations (by, with, because of, etc.).
(d) A preposition does not perform any independent function in the sentence; it either reflects a relation between sentence-members, or is included in a word-combination.
(e) Prepositions may function as other parts of speech (e.g. ups and downs), while other parts of speech may serve as prepositions (e.g. owing to, in spite of).
Point 3. Particles. Grounds for setting off particles as parts of speech. The role of particles in the sentence.
(a) The particle is a part of speech giving modal or emotional emphasis to other words or groups of words or clauses.
(b) The theory of particles has not yet been elaborated well enough. Almost all the particles are homonymous with other parts of speech, chiefly with adverbs (simply), but also with conjunctions (but), pronouns (all), and adjectives (only). The particles ‘else, solely, merely’ have no homonyms. Taking this latter fact into account, as well as the emphasizing and sense-changing functions of the particle, we may set it off as a functional part of speech.
(c) Particles have no independent function in the sentence. Thus they may be treated dubiously: either as independent sentence units, or as parts of the sentence-members they refer to. As the former, they would require a specific name, apart from the traditional five sentence-members, otherwise they should not be considered while analyzing a sentence. As the latter, according to B.A.Illysh, they may lead to a confusion in case of a distant position with regard to the mother-member.
Point 4. The article. The categorial status of the article. The number of articles in the English language. The functions of the article.
(a) The article is a structural part of speech used with nouns.
(b) The categorial status of the article implies that it reflects the category of definiteness or indefiniteness.
(c) Opinions differ as to the number of articles in English. Recently, widespread has been the theory of three articles: the definite article, the indefinite article and the so-called ‘zero’ article. The theory of the zero article is, of course, directly connected with the theory of the zero morpheme. But if we assume that the article is a word, the concept of a ‘zero’ word seems hardly reasonable. Consequently, it appears more feasible to stick to the theory of two articles.
(d) The morphological function of the article is that of indicating the noun. Its syntactical function is that of defining the left border of an attributive word-combination. The main semantic function of the article is that of actualizing the notion; in other words, the article correlates a notion with the reality represented in the given text, i.e. any utterance irrespective of its volume and contents.
Theme 7. SYNTAX.
Point 1. The subject of syntax. The main units of syntax. Syntactic connections. Syntactic synonymy and homonymy. Problems of semantic syntax. Problems of functional syntax.
(a) The subject of syntax is the study of various grammatical structures which are realized as the product of speech-thinking activity of man.
(b) The main units of syntax are the word-combination, the sentence, and the text.
(c) Traditionally, the basic types of connections distinguished in syntax are coordination and subordination. Besides this two-member succession, there is another succession consisting of four members that denote relations called predicative, objective, adverbial and attributive.
Some linguists suppose that the two-member succession may be expanded to a three-member one to include the “interdependence” type, as L.Hjelmslev named it.
(d) Synonymy in syntax implies that one and the same communicative information may be conveyed by means of different syntactic structures (cf.: Having read the book, she took up another one. = As soon as she finished reading the book, she took up another one.).
Homonymy is the coincidence of sound forms of different syntactic functions (cf.: a smoking man – a smoking-room; Watching me closely, the dog slowly retreated. – I noticed a man watching me closely.).
(e) The semantic syntax covers a wide range of problems, among which are the semantics of the word-combination constituents, of the parts of the sentence and of the sentence as a whole, as well as of the role meanings of the sentence components, of the phenomena of the reference, of the presupposition and sequence, etc.
(f) The basic problem of the functional syntax is studying and systematizing various language units (syntactic structures) as they function in the speech-thinking activity of man. This general problem may be subdivided into a number of minor ones, such as the problem of combinability and valency, the problem of syntactical analysis, etc.
Point 2. The word-combination. The theory of the word-combination in linguistics. The classification of word-combinations.
(a) The word-combination is defined in different ways. Some scholars assume that it is a group of words which does not possess any communicative purpose. This definition is, no doubt, correct, but it is not complete. Most linguists are of the opinion that the word-combination is any syntactically organized group of words irrespective of the type of relations on which it is based. But in any case it is a grammatical structure.
(b) The issue of the word-combination was first mentioned by Russian linguists in their early studies of grammar in the 18th century. But it was not until late in the 19th century and especially early in the 20th century that a really scientific theory of the word-combination appeared. It was developed by outstanding Russian linguists F.F.Fortunatov, A.A.Shakhmatov and others. The definition of the word-combination as any syntactically organized group was predominant up to the 1950s. That viewpoint is still shared by Ukrainian linguists (G.G.Pocheptsov and others), and it was supported by Western scholars (L.Bloomfield and others).
In the 1950s a new approach found its way. The term ‘word-combination’ was interpreted as a combination of at least two notional words in subordination. This viewpoint was worded by Acad. Vinogradov and supported by many linguists.
(c) The classification of word-combinations may be based on space-position relations, on the one hand. The resulting types of word-combinations are those based on the linear space-position relations and those based on the sublinear space-position relations (independent and dependent).
On the other hand, the classification may be based on the internal structure of word-combinations. They are then classified as kernel and non-kernel.
Kernel word-combinations are grammatically organized structures in which one element dominates the others. This element is the kernel (the head, according to L.Bloomfield).
Non-kernel word-combinations are not united by any single common structural feature. They are, in turn, subdivided into independent (easy and simple; she nodded) and dependent (send him a letter).
Theme 8. THE SENTENCE.
Point 1.1. Problems of the definition of the sentence. The fundamental features of the sentence. Predication and modality of the affirmation and negation. The correlation of the notions “the sentence” and “the utterance”. The level analysis of the sentence. The structural and syntactic characteristics of the sentence. Principal and secondary parts of the sentence. The complicating elements of the sentence: homogeneous, specifying, and detached parts of the sentence.
(a) The sentence is the immediate integral unit of speech built up of words according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose. Any coherent connection of words having an informative destination is effected within the framework of the sentence. Therefore the sentence is the main object of syntax as part of the grammatical theory.
The sentence, being composed of words, may in certain cases include only one word of various lexico-grammatical standing. (Congratulations! Why? Certainly.)
The actual existence of one-word sentences, however, does not contradict the general idea of the sentence as a special syntactic combination of words. A