Министерство образования Российской Федерации

П.А. Афанасьев

Теоретическая грамматика английского языка

(учебное пособие)

Рекомендовано Министерством образования

Российской Федерации

в качестве учебного пособия для студентов факультетов иностранных языков педагогических вузов.

Министерство п'"о?»?,сзания !

Таганрог «Эсперо» 2001

ББК81.2

A 94

Печатается по решению кафедры английского языка Тганрогского государственного педагогического института.

Редактор:

П.В. Чесноков, доктор филологии, профессор ТГПИ.

Рецензенты:

Е.В. Полякова, заведующая кафедрой английского языка ТГПИ, кандидат филологических наук, доцент.

Т.Н. Петрова, кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры иностранных языков ТГПИ.

Р.А. Afanasyev

Данный курс по теоретической грамматике английского языка предлагается в качестве учебного пособия для студентов институтов и факультетов иностранных языков. Учебное пособие составлено по лекциям, читаемым автором в течение ряда лет в Пятигорском институте иностранных языков и па факультете иностранных языков Таганрогского пединститута. Учебное пособие содержит краткое изложение основных проблем теоретической фамматики по разделам морфологии и синтаксиса в форме сжатых лекций.

Это пособие особенно будет полезно для студентов, изучающих английский язык заочно.

English Grammar (A Theoretical Course)

Афанасьев П.А.

А 94 Теоретическая грамматика английскою языка

(учебное пособие) - Т.: «Эсперо», 2001 - 128 с.

Isbn 5-7208-0111-1

©П.А. Афанасьев 2001

Foreword

This concise theoretical course of lectures in English grammar is meant chiefly for students of Pedagogical Institutes and Faculties of Foreign Languages. The training of students at Pedagogical Institutes and Faculties of Foreign Languages comprises the study and mastery of two courses in grammar: a practical or normative course and a theoretical course. It is presupposed that the students have already mastered the necessary material in accordance with the syllabus in practical grammar.

This course of lectures pursues the aim of enlarging and systematizing the knowledge gained by the students while studying normative course of grammar and acquainting them with different points of view on some grammatical problems not yet solved or moot.

As a matter of fact, this book is based on the theoretical course of grammar which the author has been conducting for many years in the form of lectures and seminars at the Pyatigorsk Institute of Foreign Languages and at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Taganrog Pedagogical Institute.

It should also be noted that the present course is intended only to help the students to form a basis for studying the main grammatical problems, since the students are required to read many other works on the subject, which are enumerated in the reading list recommended in syllabuses and in the bibliography supplied at the end of this course of lectures.

Problems in Theoretical Graimmir Dealt with in the Present Сош'пе

I Introduction

1. The theoretical course of grammar.

2. The study of language from three different point; of view: lexicology, phonetics and grammar.

3. Basic units of language and speech.

4. Morphology and syntax.

5. The notions of grammatical category, meaning and form.

II Morphology

1. Language, speech and their basic units.

2.The English parts of speech classification. Criteria applied in discriminating parts of speech: meaning, form and function.

3. Notional words, modal words, foirn-\vords. the interjection, words of affirmation and negation.

4. The problem of parts of speech. Possible ways of classifying райя of speech: a descriptive approach, Ch.Fries's classification and its character.

5. The problem of notional and formal parts of speech.

Ill The Verb

1. Definition of the verb and its grammatical meaning.

2. Morphological classification of verbs:

a) The basic forms - Infinitive, Past Indefinite, Participle II:

b) Weak verbs, strong verbs, mixed verbs, unchangeable verbs, defective verbs, supplctive verbs;

c) Simple, derived, compound, and composite verbs;

d) Regular and irregular verbs.

3. Finite and non-finite verbs of the English verbs: the Infinitive, the Gerund, and the Participle.

4. The lexical (semantic) classification of the verb: tcrminative and non-terminative.

5. Lexico-syntactical classification of the verb:

a) notional verbs;

b) semi-notional verbs (link-verbs, modal-verbs, auxiliary verbs, verbs-substitutes).

6. Syntactical classification of the verb:

a) subjective;

b) objective;

c) transitive;

d) intransitive. 7. Preterite-present verbs: a an, cunnan, durran, ma an. motan. sculan. witan.

IV The Categories of the Finite Forms of the Verb

1. The Category of Person.

2. The Category of Number.

3. The Category of Tense (present, past, future, future-in-the past). 0. Jespersen's non-recognition of the future tense. Six tense-aspect forms.

4. The Category of Aspect. Definition of the category. The continuous and the common aspect. The meaning and use of each aspect. Non-recognition of the category of aspect (H. Sweet, O. Jespersen, N.F. Irtenyeva). Semantic view on this phenomenon (Kennedy, Curme).

Verbs which are not used in the continuous aspect:

a) expressing some relations as actions (contain, consist);

b) link-verbs (become, appear, prove);

c) of physical perception (see, hear, smell, feel);

d) of mental perception (hate, dislike, trust);

e) actions of a very short duration (jump, break, drop).

5. The Category of Correlation (Perfect Forms). Controversy concerning the essence of perfect forms:

a) The perfect as a tense category (O. Jespersen, H. Sweet, Ganshina and Vasilevskaya);

b) The Perfect as an aspect category (G.N.Vorontsova and Ivanova);

c) The Perfect as a way of expressing the category of "time relation"

(A.I. Smirnitsky).

An estimate of perfect, continuous and perfect-continuous forms from the viewpoint of different interpretations of the Perfect.

6. The Category of Voice. Definition of the voice category. Different views on this problem. Relationship of voice and the transitivity and intransitivity

r\4-" f Vi £» -\!f*r К Тп гагт-^И ri*'ir4I'}siilr* r*^"* t1t£* o/-*tiw£» inrl t~Vv£» ттзсспг^ w г\ i г> а

Peculiarities of the passive voice in English. The problem of other voices, viz.:

a) the reflexive voice;

b) the reciprocal voice;

c) the middle voice.

Reasons for and against the recognition of each of them. Different interpretations of the voice category in sentences of the door opened type. Assessment of each interpretation.

7. The Category of Mood. Definition of the category of mood. Mood and modality. Different ways of expressing modality:

a) by means of mood-forms of the verb;

b) by modal verbs (can, must, may);

c) by parenthetical words (certainly, perhaps, maybe, etc.);

d) by phonetic ways (by means of intonation).

Different conceptions of the mood system in English and objective reasons for the existing controversy. The role of meaning and form in the classification of moods. The problem of mutual relations of these criteria.

The indicative mood. Definition of its meaning. Different uses of the Indicative.

The Imperative. Its morphological peculiarities. The scope of use. Non-recognition of the imperative mood as a separate mood form. The problem of the let us go type (G. Vorontsova).

Oblique moods. Different points of view on oblique moods:

a) There is only one oblique mood;

b) There are sixteen moods in English (Max Deutschbein);

c) There are four oblique moods (A.I. Smirnitsky): Subjunctive I, Subjunctive II, conditional and suppositional.

V The Verbals (Non-Finite Forms of the Verb)

1. The double character of the Infinitive, the Gerund, and the Participle. Verbal categories of the non-finite forms of the verb. The category of aspect in the Infinitive. The category of tense or correlation and the category of voice in the verbals. The problem of categories in the Participle П.

2. Secondary predication and predicative constructions with the verbals: Infinitive, Participle, Gerund:

a) Accusative with the Infinitive (or Participle);

b) Nominative with the Infinitive (or Participle);

c) For-to infinitive construction;

d) The Nominative absolute participle construction;

f) The Prepositional absolute participle construction;

g) The Prepositional absolute construction.

Different points of view on the structure Do you mind her smoking? (Max Deutschbein -Accusative with the gerund', Fowler —Fusedparticiple; Kruisinga - the ing-form; B.A. Ilyish - neutralization of the lexico-grammatical difference between the gerund and the participle.)

3. The adjectivization of the participle.

VI The Noun

1. The definition of the noun. Its grammatical meaning, morphological characteristics, and syntactical functions on the phrase level and on the sentence level. Grammatical categories of the noun.

2. Kinds of nouns (lexical characteristics):

a) Proper nouns;

b) Common nouns (concrete - class nouns, names of materials, abstract nouns turned into concrete; abstract - names of actions, states or qualities; collective regarded as a single object - having both numbers, names of multitude, used only in the singular, used only in the plural).

3. The problem of gender (the so-called generic notion).

4. The category of number. Mutual relations between the grammatical category of number and lexical meanings of nouns. Several ways of forming the plural number in compound nouns. Foreign plurals.

5. The category of case. The notion of case. Different approaches to the category of case in English nouns. Cases and prepositional groups. A two-case system of English nouns. Definition of the Genitive (Possessive) Case. The scope of its meaning. Different uses of this case. Views of some scholars considering 4 cases in nouns (Max Deutschbein) and denying the existence of cases in the English nouns (G.N. Vorontsova and others). Treatment of the -'s-form according to this approach. The use of the -'s-form with phrases and interpretation of this use.

VII The Article

The problem of the essence of the article. The article as a separate word and as a form element in the system of the noun. The number of articles in English. The definite and the indefinite article. The problem of the zero article. The meaningful absence of the article. The meaning of each article. Different theories concerning this problem. The generic article. Lexicalization of articles in some geographical names and other cases. The difference in meaning between the definite and the indefinite article. The indefinite article as a way of expressing the novelty of an idea. Pronouns approaching articles in their use.

VIII The Adjective

The definition of the adjective; its grammatical meaning, morphological characteristics and syntactical functions on the phrase level and on the sentence level. Degrees of comparison. The problem of analytical degrees

of comparison. The elative meaning of the superlative degree. Use of the definite article with the superlative. Substantivization of adjectives.

IX The Pronoun

Its definition. Noun pronouns and adjective pronouns. Types of pronouns and their morphological peculiarities:

1. Personal (I. he, she, you, me, etc.);

2. Possessive (my, his, yours, etc.);

3. Reflexive (myself, himself, ourselves, etc.);

4. Demonstrative (this, these, that, such, the same, etc.);

5. Interrogative (who. whose, which, etc.);

6. Connective:

a) relative (who, whose, that, as),

b) conjunctive (who, whose, which, what);

7. Defining (each, every, everybody, all, either, both, etc.):

8. Indefinite (some, any, somebody, etc.);

9. Negative (no, none, neither, nobody, etc.);

10. Reciprocal (each other, one another).

The case system of different kinds of pronouns as compared with the case system of nouns.

X The Numeral

The definition of the numeral. Types of numerals: cardinal, ordinal, fractions, decimal fractions. Kinds of numerals:

a) simple (from one to twelve);

b) derivative (from suffixes -teen and -ty);

c) compound (thirty-five);

d) composite (five hundred and thirty one);

Similarity between numerals and pronouns. Substantivization of numerals.

XI TheStative

The possibility of distinguishing the stative as a separate part of speech and its peculiarities. Some arguments against this view. Reasons for considering these words as adjectives. Assessment of both conceptions.

XII The Adverb

Definition of the adverb. Degrees of comparison. Phrases of the bring up type and the problem of the second element of these phrases. Different views on this problem.

9

XIII The Particle

Definition of the particle. The problem of discriminating adverbs and particles. Reasons for distinguishing particles as a separate part of speech. Assessment of these reasons. Syntactical functions of particles.

XIV Modal Words

Definition of modal words. Modal words and the modality of the sentence. Arguments for distinguishing modal words as a separate part of speech. Assessment of these arguments. Syntactical functions of modal words.

XV Syntax

The problem of the subject matter of syntax. Basic syntactical notions; the phrase and the sentence. Different interpretations of the problem of interrelationship between a phrase and a sentence. Method of immediate constituents and transformational method in syntax.

XVI The Phrase

1. Its definition. The problem of interpreting phrases of the preposition -noun type. Types of phrases from the syntactical point of view. The problem of equivalence of phrases and parts of speech.

2. Ways of expressing syntactical relations within a phrase: agreement, government, adjoining. The importance of each of them for modern English.

XVII The Sentence

1. The problem of its definition. Predication and modality as essential features of the sentence.

2. The classification of sentences according to communication types and according to structure. Declarative, interrogative and imperative sentences. The problem of exclamatory sentences and of their relation to the types of communication. The problem of negative and negative-interrogative sentences.

c)

3.

т.._„„ „г „:—„г., „„_4.„_„„,. -г...„ _.,_и„_ „_4 „„, —„_и„_ „—»—~~~ i_ypcs ui smipic sciiiwin-cs. i vvvj-iin-iiiu^i auu unc-un-iiiuci эиишссэ.

Parts of a two-member sentences. The main parts: the subject and the predicate. Definition of the main parts.

a) Types of subject. The problem of an impersonal, indefinite personal and so-called formal subject.

b) Types of predicate. The simple and the compound predicate. The verbal and the nominal predicate. Types of the compound verbal and the compound nominal predicate. Double predicate (she married young,

he came home tired).

Secondary parts of the sentence. Types of object: direct, indirect, prepositional, non-prepositional, complex. Types of attribute. Types of adverbial modifiers. The apposition. The direct address. The parenthesis. Insertions. Loose parts of the sentence. Signs of detachment. Loose attributes, adverbial modifiers, appositions, and parentheses.

4. Word order in the sentence. Normal and inverted word order of the main parts.

5. One-member and elliptical sentences. The main part of a one-member sentence. Types of one-member sentences. Elliptical sentences. Different interpretations of elliptical sentences.

6. Secondary predication and predicative constructions with the verbals. The notion of complex parts of the sentence.

The composite sentence. The problem of classification of composite sentences. Compound and complex sentences. Syndetic and asyndetic composite sentences. Types of syndetic compound sentences. Conjunctions joining their parts. Syndetic complex sentences. Types of subordinate clauses. Principles of their classification: according to meaning, on the analogy between a clause and a part of a simple sentence. Subordinate clauses corresponding to the principal parts of a simple sentence. Subject and predicative clauses. Subordinate clauses corresponding to secondary parts of a sentence. Object, attributive and adverbial clauses. Appositional clauses. Parenthetical clauses. Inserted clauses.

7

10

Parti Morphology

Lecture I

1. Language, speech, and their basic units.

2. The study of language from three different points of view: lexicology, phonetics and grammar.

3. Morphology and syntax.

4. The notions of grammatical category, meaning, form and function.

I Morphology

1. The English parts of speech classification. Criteria applied in discriminating parts of speech: meaning, form and function.

2. Notional words, modal words, form-words, the interjection, words of affirmation and negation.

3. The problem of parts of speech. Possible ways of classifying parts of speech: a descriptive approach, Ch.C. Fries's classification and its character.

Basic Units of Language and Speech

In linguistic theory several levels of language and speech are discriminated. They are the phoneme, the morpheme, the word, and the sentence. The phoneme is the smallest distinctive unit. The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit. The word is the smallest naming unit. The sentence is the smallest communication unit. The phoneme, the morpheme, the word, and the sentence are units of different levels of language structure.

12

The phoneme is a unit of the lowest level, the sentence - of the highest.

The units of each level can be analyzed as to their inner structure, the classes they belong to in the language system (their paradigmatic relations), and the combinations they form in speech (their syntagmatic relations).

We must also discriminate the terms language and speech. The structure of various units and the classes they form (paradigmatic relations) are the domain of language, while the combinations they form in the process of communication (syntagmatic relations) are the sphere of speech. Language and speech are interdependent and interpenetrating.

The structure, classification and combinability of phonemes is studied by a branch of linguistics called phonology.

The structure, classification and combinability of words is the object of morphology.

Syntax deals with the structure, classification and combinability of

sentences.

Basic Units of Language and Speech

Phoneme		Morpheme		Word		Sentence
(smallest distinctive		(smallest meaningful		(smallest namine unit)		(smallest communication
unit)		unit)				unit)

Analysis of the Basic Units