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Федеральное агентство по образованию

Государственное образовательное учреждение

высшего профессионального образования

«Тверской государственный университет»

С. А. Макаров

ПРАКТИЧЕСКИЙ СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Учебное пособие

ТВЕРЬ 2005

УДК 802.0-56 (075.8)

ББК Ш 143.21-923.3

М 15

Рецензенты:

Кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры

иностранных языков ТФ МосУ МВД РФ

А.М. Винокуров

Кандидат филологических наук, зав. кафедрой иностранных языков

Тверской военной академии ПВО им Г.К. Жукова

В.С. Соловьёва

Макаров С.А.

М 15 Практический синтаксис английского языка: Учеб. пособие.

– Тверь: Твер. гос. ун-т, 2005. – 104 с.

Пособие предназначено для студентов старших курсов факультетов иностранных языков и имеет целью развитие и автоматизирование навыков и умений правильного употребления грамматических структур в области синтаксиса, а также систематизацию ранее изученного материала и овладение терминологией.

УДК 802.0-56 (075.8)

ББК Ш 143.21-923.3

Печатается по решению научно-методического совета Тверского госуниверситета.

© Макаров С.А., 2005 © Тверской государственный университет, 2005

Professors must have a theory as a dog must have fleas. William J. Bryan

S Y N T A X

SYNTAX is the part of grammar which deals with the sentence and combinability of words (parts of the sentence).

The sentence

Anything that is said in the act of communication is called an utterance. Most utterances are sentences, although there are some which are not sentences and are called non-sentence utterances. Thus utterances fall into two groups: sentences and non-sentences.

The Sentence is a unit of speech which expresses more or less complete thought and has a definite grammatical form and intonation. It shows the relation of the statement to reality (modality). Note: One should bear in mind that there exist about 1001 definitions of the sentence.

Non-sentence Utterances 1. Vocatives e.g. John! Mr President! 2. “Yes-no” utterances e.g. Yes. Yeah! No! Nope! 3. Interjections e.g. Hi! Dear me! Look here! Goodness gracious! Cheers! Well, I never! Gesundheit! Oops! Ouch! Bang bang! Hush! Eh? 4. Different conversational formulas e.g. Thanks. Good bye! Bye bye! Hi!

Classifications of the sentence

The sentence can be classified in different ways. In this book only two of them will be studied: the structural classification and the classification according to the purpose of utterance.

1. Structural classification of the sentence

SENTENCE

SIMPLE (one subject-predicate unit)

COMPOSITE (more than one subject-predicate units)

ONE-MEMBER (one principal part of the sentence)

TWO-MEMBER (two principal parts of the sentence)

COMPOUND (independent clauses, coordination) John fell and Mary laughed.

COMPLEX (principal clause and one or more subordinate clauses, subordination) John fell because Mary laughed.

NOMINAL (only subject) Summer. English spring flowers.

VERBAL (only predicate) Stand up! Sit down!

СOMPLETE (both the subject and predicate are present) John fell.

INCOMPLETE (ELLIPTICAL) (either the subject or the predicate or both are omitted) Looks like rain. 2. Who ran? – John. 3. Where are you going to? – To Copenhagen. 4. How are you? –Not too bad?

Both one-member and two-member sentences may be extended and unextended, i.e. may have or not have secondary parts of the sentence:

Mary laughed. (Two-member, unextended)

Mary laughed loud. (Two-member, extended)

Silence. (One-member, unextended)

Eerie silence. (One-member, extended)

NOTE 1: The difference between a two-member elliptical sentence and a one-member sentence is that in the former the missing principal parts can easily be restored, whereas the latter is complete and nothing can be inserted. The missing subject or predicate is implied in an elliptical sentence and can be guessed from the context, situation or preceding sentence. In a one-member sentence only the principal part is structurally necessary.

An elliptical sentence can contain adverbial expressions of place which refer to the omitted verbal predicate. E.g. In the background a little writing table. To the left a sofa. (Two-member elliptical sentences). But a one-member sentence does not contain any secondary parts which might be connected with a verbal predicate. E.g. A small but cosy room. (One-member sentence)

One-member sentences always refer to the present. They are uttered with an expressive intonation.

But sometimes it seems rather difficult to distinguish these types (and not necessary).

NOTE 2: In the elliptical two-member sentence the following principal parts of the sentence can be omitted:

1. Subject: Seems difficult. Don’t know.

2. Predicate: Who did it? – I.

What’s happened? – Nothing.

3. Part of predicate: You seen them? All settled.

You here? What’s the door locked for?

Postman been?

4. Subject and part of predicate: Not bad.

See what I mean?

5. Subject and predicate: What are you thinking about? – Food.

What do you enjoy most of all? – Grammar lessons.