Семінар4

SEMINAR 4

THE SCOPE OF THEORETICAL GRAMMAR.

BASIC LINGUISTIC NOTIONS.

Topics for discussion

1. .Theoretical grammar and its subject.

2. General principles of grammatical analysis.

3. General characteristics of language as a functional system.

4. General characteristics of the grammatical structure of language.

5. Categorial structure of the word.

6. The parts of speech problem. Word classes.

1. The Noun. General characteristics.

7. The use of articles in English.

I. Build up the lexical paradigm of nomination.

MODEL: high: high - height - heighten - highly (high)

1) fool, to criticize, slow, fast;

2) new, work, to fraud, out;

3) to cut, sleep, brief, hard;

4) down, beauty, to deceive, bright.

II. Define part-of-speech characteristics of the underlined words.

1. I don't know why it should be, I am sure: but the sight of another man asleep in bed when I am up, maddens me (Jerome).

2. He did not Madame anybody, even good customers like Mrs. Moore.

4. If ifs and ans were pots and pans there'd be no need of tinkers.

5. Poor dears, they were always worrying about examinations... (Christie)

6. "After all, I married you for better or for worse and Aunt Ada is decidedly the worse." (Christie)

7. Good thing, too. He'd have gone to the bad if he'd lived (Christie).

III. Give the plural of the following nouns.

Face, portfolio, swine, house, tomato, hearth, mother-in-law, basis, clergyman, ox, cry, key, fox, downfall, looker-on, rock, bush, enemy, leaf, roof, genius, hero, bunch, sheep, ship, criterion, youth, journey, penknife, man-of-war, loss, datum, goose, deer, pie, Englishwoman, wolf, mouse, formula, bath, volcano, possibility, forget-me-not, foot, handkerchief, thief, crisis, stepdaughter, birth, echo, finger-tip, court martial, joy, mischief-maker, extremity, spy, lie.

IV. Use the appropriate form of the verb.

1. "There — money in my pocket," 1 said to the porter, (is, are) (Hemingway) 2. I know my hair __ beautiful, everybody says so. (is, are) (Hardy) 3. The works __ his country, his home, his reason for being, (was, were) (Heym) 4. These white swine — not live, (does, do) (Sabatini) 5. Means __ easily found, (was, were) (Thackeray) 6....this watch __ a special favourite with Mr. Pickwick, having been carried about... for a greater number of years than we feel called upon to state, at present, (was, were) (Dickens) 7. "Good," I said. "No one shall tell me again that fish — no sense with them." (has, have) (Llewellyn) 8. The deer __ ravaging the man's fields, (was, were) (Twain) 9. Money __ so scarce that it could fairly be said not to exist at all. (was, were) (Dreiser) 10. I was here before the gates __ opened, but I was afraid to come straight to you. (was, were) (Dickens)

V. Insert articles where necessary.

1. What __ strange feeling it was to be going home when it was not home, and to find that every object I looked at reminded me of __ happy old home which was like __ dream I could never dream again. (Dickens) 2. On her face 1 saw __ placid and sweet expression of __ : lady whose picture had looked at me downstairs. It seemed to my imagination as if __ portrait had grown womanly and __ original remained __ child. (Dickens) 3. Rebecca's mother had had __ education somewhere and her daughter spoke __ French with __ purity and __ Parisian accent.lt was in those days rather __ rare accomplishment, and led to her engagement with __ orthodox Miss Pinkerton. (Thackeray) 4. He had __ wit, __ keen sense of __ humour, __ sense of pathos. (Dreiser) 5. __ one thing that really interested him in connection with his parents was __ existence somewhere in __ east in __ small city called Lycurgus... of __ uncle, __ brother of his father's. (Dreiser) 6. But __ bed I made up for myself was sufficiently uncomfortable to give me __ wakeful night, and I thought __ good deal of what __ unlucky Dutchman had told me. (Maugham) 7. We went down __ corridors, down __ stone stairs. We crossed over __ Park by __ lake; one of __ pelicans was spreading its wings. __ trees- were creaking in. __ blustery wind; on __ grass, __ first leaves had fallen. It was __ dark evening, with __ clouds, low and grey, driving across from __ west. (Snow) 8. I breathed deeply two or three times, but felt _ little calmer, __ enormity of __ situation was too overpowering. (Clark) 9. __ English of __ 14th century differs from __ Modern English. 10. He was young still, and in __ few years he would look back on all his misery with __ sadness in which there would be something not unpleasurable. (Maugham)

VI. State whether the ing-form is a participle, a gerund, or a verbal noun.

1. Looking back upon that time was like remembering something that had happened long ago, when he was much younger. (J, S.) 2. Looking back upon that time, I thought that all might have been different had it not been for the interference of my parents. 3. Dave lived there like a rent-paying tenant, his comings and goings being of small concern to the others. (A. S.) 4. The distraught Jenny, sitting by her sleeping child, was at last made to realize, by its peaceful breathing, that all danger was over. (Th- D.) 5. ... She left off ringing, and, sitting down at the top of the stairs, buried her face in her hands. (Gisw.) 6. With a sudden tightening of the muscles he became aware of a figure walking noiselessly beside him. (H. W.) 7. There was the sound of rocking a chair in the room, and of a woman singing. (R. G.) 8. He cursed himself for having come, and at the same time resolved that, happen what would, having come, he would carry it through.

VII. State the functions of the infinitives.

1. Surely it is not at all necessary to go into details. 2. I rose to receive my guests. 3. He seems to be satisfied to be doing nothing. 4. Passing by a radio-shop he suddenly remembered to buy some tape for his recorder. 5. At the sight of the man I felt an impulse to laugh. 6. Her first action was to visit the establishment of a famous dressmaker. 7. I could not help but tell him everything about the past two months. 8. He was too astonished to speak. 9. It is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance. 10, The best thing Lanny could do was to get out of here. 11. Soon the boy began to take an interest in his surroundings. 12. To know London is to know the contrasts of a big capitalist city. 13. He waited for her to speak but it seemed that her answer would never come. (P.A.). 14. Larry was the last person I should have expected to find in such a place (a library). He looked up as I passed, recognized me and made as if to get up. (W.M.). 15. It is said that the best way to see London is from the top of the bus. 16. I would like to get these shoes half-soled. 17. I want you to tell me what you know of the East End. (J. L.) 18. Lanny watched Mabel go. (P.A.)

VIII. Account for the use of Complex Subject and Complex Object Constructions:

1. He's talked about himself, making no sense at all, seeming to say only that it was a lonely thing to be a writer, it was a painful thing to be no longer the writer you were... (Saroyan)

2. Mrs. Wiley gathered her two rosy-cheeked youngsters close to her skirts and did not smile until she had seen Wiley laugh and shake his head (O.Henry).

3. When Julia called him to come down, the abyss between his fantasy and the practical world opened so wide that he felt it affect the muscles of his heart (Cheever).

4. The waiter poured something in another glass that seemed to be boiling, but when she tasted it it was not hot (O.Henry).

5. This time there was no rush. It was a puff, as of wind that makes a candle flicker and the flame go tall (Hemingway).

6. "Sit down on that stool, please. I didn't hear horse coming." (O.Henry)

7. Stunned with the horror of this revelation, John sat there open-mouthed, feeling the nerves of his body twitter like so many sparrows perched upon his spinal column (Fitzgerald).

8. Willie Robins and me happened to be in our - cloakroom, I believe we called it - when Myra Allison skipped through the hall on her way downstairs from the girls' room (O.Henry).

IX. Define the type of the subject and the predicate of the following sentences.

MODEL: It was a cold autumn weather.

The subject of this sentence "it" is impersonal factual. The predicate "was cold autumn weather" is compound nominal.

1. Car's right outside. You might want to button your coat up, though, it's freezing out there (Baldacci).

2. Good gracious, Mr. Holmes, you are surely not going to leave me in this abrupt fashion! (Doyle)

3. Tomorrow is the examination (Doyle).

4. She began to cry again, but he took no notice (Lawrence).

5. A great flash of anguish went over his body (Lawrence).

6. She walked away from the wall towards the fire, dizzy, white to the lips,

mechanically wiping her small, bleeding mouth (Lawrence).

7. He sat motionless (Lawrence).

8. Then, gradually, her breath began to hiss, she shook, and was sobbing silently, in grief for herself. Without looking, he saw. It made his mad desire to destroy her come back (Lawrence).

9. They got back rather late. Miriam, walking home with Geoffrey,

watched the moon rise big and red and misty (Lawrence).

10. It felt to her as if she could hear him (Lawrence).

11. The insult went deep into her, right home (Lawrence).

12. There was a pause (Lawrence).

13. At any instant the blow might crash into her (Lawrence).

14. Suddenly a thud was heard at the door down the passage (Lawrence).

15. It's a valentine (Lawrence).

16. "I should like to have a peep at each of them," said Holmes. "Is it possible?" "No difficulty in the world," Soames answered (Doyle).