Seminar 1 syntax as part of grammar Topics for Discussion

1. Traditional understanding of syntax in grammar. The main units of

syntax.

2. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations in syntax. Types of syntactic patterns.

Topics for Reports

1. The syntactic arrangement of words (from: R. Burchfield “The English Language” in

the book by Blokh M.Y., Semionova T.N., Timofeyeva S.V. Theoretical English

Grammar. Seminars. Moscow, 2007, P.256-265).

2. Collocation and idioms (from: F.R. Palmer “Semantics. A New Outline” in the

book by Blokh M.Y., Semionova T.N., Timofeyeva S.V. Theoretical English

Grammar. Seminars. Moscow, 2007, P.251-256).

Literature

1. Blokh M.Y. A Course in Theoretical English Grammar. Moscow, 2006.

2. Blokh M.Y., Semionova T.N., Timofeyeva S.V. Theoretical English Grammar.

Seminars. Moscow, 2007.

3. КобринаН.А.,БолдыревН.Н.,ХудяковА.А.Теоретическаяграмматика

современного английского языка. Москва, 2007.

4. Кобрина Н.А., Корнеева Е.А., Оссовская М.И., Гузеева К.А. Грамматика английского языка. Морфология.Синтаксис. –СПб., 1999.

5. Illyish B.A. The structure of Modern English. – M.-L., 1965.

6.Givon T. Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction. - Vol.1. –

Amsterdam, 1984.

7. Иванова И.П., Бурлакова В.В., Почепцов Г.Г. Теоретическая грамматика

современного английского языка. – М., 1981.

8. Плоткин В.Я. Строй английского языка. – М., 1989.

9. Есперсен О. Философия грамматики. – М., 1958.

10. Смирницкий А.И. Синтаксис английского языка. – М., 1958.

11. Андросова Л.М. Атрибутивные словосочетания с опорным компонентом,

выраженным именными заместителями ONE, THAT в современном

английском языке. Автореф. дисс. на соискание уч. степени канд.филол.

наук. Тамбов, 1999.

12. Литвин Ф.А. Заметки о понятии и термине «предикативность» //

Предикативность и полипредикативность.- Челябинск, 1987.

13. Бурлакова В.В. Основы структуры словосочетания в современном

английском языке. – Л., 1975.

14. Долгова О.В. Синтаксис как наука о построении речи. – М., 1980

15. Слюсарева Н.А. Проблемы функционального синтаксиса английского

языка. –М., 1981.

Practical Tasks

I. Identify the syntagmatic relations in the following sentence:

Witchcraft was a force of darkness that could not be understood by

experiment, theory and observation.

II. Consider the paradigmatic patterning of the given sentences.

1. Suggest the variants of constructional derivation of the 2 kernel

sentences: Mary studied hard. Mary achieved the success.

2. Suggest the variants of predicative derivation of the sentence:

I have written the letter.

III. Identify the type of syntactic opposition: inducement – statement,

question – statement, probability - fact, modal identity – fact, negation- affirmation, unreality – reality, specialized actual division – non-specialized division, modal subject-action relation – fact, phase of action – fact, emphasis – emotional neutrality:

He has come. - Has he come?

I opened the door. – Open the door.

He has come. – He has not come.

He has come. – He will probably come.

He has come. – He may come.

He has read the book. – He resumed reading the book.

I swim well. – I wish I could swim well.

John stood on the platform. – On the platform stood John.

He liked the film.- He did like the film.

She achieved the success. – She seemed (proved, happened) to

achieve the success.

IV. Consider the main types of syntactic patterns in the given sentence:

Lovelace went on to work with Charles Babbage on the development

of his difference engine, the precursor of the computer.