Theory of English Grammar

G R A M M A R
Language – 3 subsystems:
phonetics, lexicon (vocabulary), grammar
as a phenomenon – a subsystem in language
which …
as a linguistic discipline – a type of describing /
interpreting the phenomenon
as a university course – ‘subject’ to learn:
‘practical’ vs ‘theoretical’ grammar =
‘what & how’ vs ‘what & why’

Units of grammar
Morpheme - form-building morphemes / inflections: asked, dogs, bigger …
Word – a system of wd-forms
Word group / phrase
Sentence
Units larger than a sentence - suprasentencial unities / supraphrasal unities / etc. / texts
HIERARCHY of levels

MAIN NOTIONS OF GRAMMAR
GRAM. MEANING
GRAM. FORM
GRAM. CATEGORY
function
Any grammatical unit (единица) is a unity (единство) of grammatical meaning and grammatical form
Gr.unit = gr. mning + gr.form

MEANS OF FORM-BUILDING
synthetical
inflections (form-blding morphemes)
boy - boys
sound alterations – inner inflections = mutation
man - men
suppletivity
go - went
synthetic forms
analytical
with the help of semi-bound morphemes or wd morphemes (= auxiliaries)
ask - will ask
ask – have asked
analytical forms

Features of an analytical form
Analytical forms consist of 2 parts: auxiliary element (operator) & notional part
is writing
2. Analyt. forms develop grammatical idiomaticity ~ ‘the meaning of the whole differs from the mning of its parts’ -
Grammatical mning (!)
is writing ≠ is + writing
3. Within a category analyt.forms sh.be opposed to synthetic ones:
is writing - writes

4. The elements of an analyt.form function as one member of the sentence, i.e. perform one syntactic function
Tom was shaved by the barber –
Tom shaved himself
5. Auxiliary elements are lexically empty
6. The lexical mning of the whole group is understood from its notional part
7. In analit.forms the aux.is changeable, it sh. change grammatically:
is writing – are writing – am writing – was writing – will be writing – … – <…>
(read А.И.Смирницкий)

there is no direct correspondence bw gram. meaning ↔ gram. form
2 or more units of the plane of expression may correspond to 1 unit of the plane of content
e.g. boys – children
[different planes of expression – one gram mning ]
2 or more units of the plane of content may correspond to 1 unit of the plane of expression ?
polysemy, homonymy
e.g. – s inflection: boy’s, dogs, asks, greens

Grammatical category
is a generalized grammatical meaning
realized through formal and meaningful opposition of variants of one and the same unit (i.e. grammatical forms)
Gr.category is revealed through the
method of opposition.

Method of opposition – A.I.Smirnitskiy
The essence (суть, сущность):
partially similar elements, i.e.
elements having common and distinctive features,
constitute an opposition,
the members of which differ in form and in meaning:
dog – dogs
common – one wd, gram. mning of quantity;
distinctive – diff. forms of 1 wd & diff. mnings of quantity/number: oneness – more than oneness
There may be cases of categorial neutralization:
(1) … e.g. Tonight we start for Landon
(2) … e.g. She is always complaining of something

Types of oppositions
acc. to the number of
members (elements):
binary - 2
ternary - 3
quaternary - 4
qualitatively:
privative
ask -- - asked+
equipollent
am+ - is+
gradual
good – better - best

Parts of speech:
principles of classifications
and
gram. categories
of some parts of speech
in modern English

.
A part of speech
is a grammatically relevant
class of words
which is specified
on the basis of grammatical, semantic and lexical properties. ?
Parts of speech are
lexico-grammatical categories

3 or 5 ?

Notional and functional wds
4 criteria for differentiating:
1) the ‘prominence’ of their lexical mning
2) peculiarities of their combinability
3) ability to be substituted by a wd of a more general mning
4) ability to add / create new items

Notional and functional wds
Notional wds
1) complete nominative force
2) - self-dependent fns - can be used in isolation
3) can be substituted by a wd of a more general mng
4) open classes
Functional wds
1) incomplete nominative force
2) - non-self-dependent mediatory fns: linking or specifying
- obligatory combinability
3) cannot be substituted
4) closed classes

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
of some parts of speech
(points to be covered)
form – the opposition, members
meaning:
- mning of the category
(general categorial mning)
- mnings of the members
(individual mnings)
peculiarities / problems

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
OF THE NOUN

the morph. category of NUMBER
Form: the c. of N. is constituted by the inflectional opposition of 2 categorial forms of N.:
Sg– - Pl+
dog – – dogs+
Meaning: for counts:
number / quantity (for discrete nouns)
oneness – more than oneness
for uncounts:
Sing.only – plural only
Foundation:
discreteness – non-discreteness
countable - uncountable

The category of article DETERMINATION
Many scholars recognize the semantic category of article determination which marks some referents as definite & some as indefinite.

Article determination – the binary opposition which contrasts the noun with the definite article against the noun with the indef. or zero article:
the N+ a / Ø N-
identification / def-ss non-identification / indef-ss
The train hooted that train A train hooted some train
The oxygen is out Oxygen is necessary for
life
our supply oxygen in general
The mning of the category and of the members constituting its opposition gives reason to term it the category of definitness / indefiniteness

(If) Article is a wd morpheme ?
there IS the morph.
category of article determination in Engl.
Mningful absence of an element – only for gram.form-blding morphemes ? if we can speak of a mningful absence of an article – we speak abt a morph.marker / a form-blding morpheme ? ? ?
- a & the are not independent wds & do not constitute a part of speech, they are wd-morphemes
- a / an / Ø can be treated as allomorphs of the indef.article opposed to the def.article;

The category of CASE
Form – opposition: the c. of Case is constituted by the inflectional opposition of 2 categorial forms:
Common C. – – Possessive/Genitive+
boy – – boy’s+ or boys – – boys’ +
Meaning: rlns bw wds in the sentence:
The genitive form renders a variety of mnings:
- possessiveness – the boy’s dog
- subjective gen. – the boy’s answer
- objective gen. – the boy’s punishment
- gen. of origin – the boy’s letter
- quantitative (of measure) – an hour’s drive
- qualitative (descriptive) – a women’s college

Peculiarities ?Case theories
Limited case theory – Otto Jespersen, H.Sweet, Л.С.Бархударов, А.И.Смирницкий
Positional c.th. – M.Bryant, J.C.Nesfield
Prepositional c.th. – G.Curm
Post-positional c.th. – Воронцова, Мухин, Аракин, Кобрина
~ ‘-s’ inflection is not typical
Limitative c.th. – V.Ja.Plotkin
~ ‘ limitation of the scope of reference’

The VERB as a field structure
The paradigm of most English verbs (except for modal vs) is constituted by 2 subparadigms:
– finite forms – represented by the paradigm of categorial (temporal, aspective, modal, etc.) forms & characterized by their fn of syntactic predicate – the core
– non-finite fms (verbals / verbids) – the Inf., Participle II & ing-forms – characterized by a deflected paradigm; mixed features;
perform various synt. fns but for the synt. predicate of the sentence – the periphery

Ns Adj/Advs
non-finite forms
the Infinitive Participle I
finite forms
Participle II the Gerund
non-finite forms
Adj/Advs Ns

Grammatical categories of the EV
Tense
Person
Number
Aspect
Correlation (order)
Prospect (Posteriority)
Mood
Voice
Finitude (representation)
The categories underlined are proper to finite forms of the verb only

the c. of Tense
opposition: present – past – [ future ]
ask – – asked + – [ will ask ]
meaning: the time of action in relation to the moment of speaking ?
In Engl. the c. of tense denotes the time of action only absolutely, i.e. in relation to the moment of speaking
peculiarities: the problem of shall/will forms
the category of prospect/posterioirity
asks – – will ask + – absolute prospect
asked – – would ask + – relative prospect

the c. of Aspect
opposition: non-progressive-progressive
asks – – is asking +
meaning: the character of action
peculiarities: the c. of aspect is dependent on the lexical meaning of the verb ? types of verbs

the c. of Voice
It is a syntactically bound morphological category
opposition: active – passive
asks-- – is asked+
mning: direction of an action ;
active voice – the action is issuing from the subject (agent/doer) to the object;
passive voice – the action is directed twds the object
(I) the problem of the number of voices:
1) active voice – S ? O Tom asks Mary
2) passive voice – O ? Mary is asked by Tom
3) Tom asks himself – what direction ?
4) Tom and Ann ask each other – what direction ?
5) The door opened – any direction ?
3 more voices - ?! reflexive, reciprocal, middle: mning – yes; form – no.
(II) The problem of get/become+PII forms
(III) The homonymy of be+PII – a passive action or a state?

THE CATEGORY OF MOOD
The c.of MOOD is constituted by the forms of the verb which express objective modality.
meaning: the c.of Md expresses the character of connection bw the process denoted by the verb and the actual reality presenting the process either as a fact that really happened, happens, will happen, or treating it as an imaginary phenomenon (non-fact) – desire, speculation, hypothesis, etc.

opposition: is constituted by sets of forms denoting facts and forms denoting non-facts, the latter being the strong marked member of the opposition.
The category is revealed both in the opposition of morph.forms of the verb and syntactic structures.
It is proper to finite forms only ? it is a predicative category.
(read Prokopchuk, Smirnitsky,
review Gr-Perfect)

The problem of the number of mds
Linguists distinguish from 2 to 17 mds in ME.
Deutschbein M. – 17
Smirnitsky A.I. – a system of 6 mds (indicative, imperative, 4 oblique)
Ylyish B.A., Ivanova I.P. et al. – 3 mds (indicative, imperative, subjunctive)
Barkhudarov L.S., Shteling D.A. – 2 mds (indicative, subjunctive)
Vorontsova G.N. – indicative, optative (imperative, desiderative, subjunctive), speculative (2 forms), presumptive (7 forms all in all)
Plotkin V.Ya. denies the existence of the c.of md in E. altogether

Mood - Summing up
Mnings: facts – non-facts
direct imperative – problematic – unreal
Mds: Indicative – Imperative – Subjunctive (!)
a set of one form a set of moods which
forms: have forms of:
tense aspect
person & number order
aspect voice
order prospect
voice person
prospect

The c.of REPRESENTATION / FINITUDE
a set of all vs a set of all finite forms non-finite forms
are opposed morphologically & syntactically
the opposition
the c.of finitude (B.Strang, L.S.Barkhudarov) /
the c. of representation (A.I.Smirnitsky)
the differential feature – the expression of verbal time and modality
(the c.of tense & mood) ? predicativity
the members
predicative+ non-predicative--

3 forms of representation
Predicative (finite) forms are marked morphologically through the forms of the categories of TENSE, MOOD, PERSON & NUMBER and the syntactic fn of the predicate
verbal representation
Non-predicative forms (verbals) are unmarked
substantive representation (the Inf., Ger.)
adjectival representation (participle I & II)

Syntactic relations between the constituents of a phrase
elements are equal elements are not equal
in rank
coordination
subordination interdependence
come and go
blue sky the train arrives
adjunct + kernel
modifier + modified

the roof of the house – a sub. noun phrase
the roof of the house is red = the roof is red
the city of Minsk – ???
I live in the city of Minsk ≠ I live in the city
but = I live in Minsk
syntactic semantic nucleus nucleus
subordinate syntactic rlns but…
an appositive phrase

Means of expressing
syntactic relations
Word order cannon ball N+N
Prepositions the category of aspect
Conjunctions warm and nice Adj+Adj
Case inflection -‘s Bob’s car N’s+N
Morphological expression of the components speak softly V+Adv

The Sentence -
the main unit of syntax.

THE SENTENCE
is the immediate integral unit of speech built according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose (M.J.Blokh)
It has 2 basic fns: naming and communicative.
It can perform the communicative fn because it possesses the property known as predicativity.

Predicativity
is the correlation of what is named by the sentence with the situation of speech.

Predicativity
is constituted by 3 components:
Modality? the category of mood – Pr.Verb
Time ? the category of tense – Pr.Verb
Person ? the category of person – Pr.Verb
\
Subject
The boy laughed out loudly
The Predicate Verb is the main means of expressing predicativity. The Subject is involved in expressing the person component of predicativity.

Classification of sentences
Structural classification
General principle – structural, i.e. the structure of a sentence
Subcriteria (principles):
Ways of expressing predicativity:
divided / undivided
complete / incomplete
Number of predication lines
Communicative class-n / types of s.
Principle – communicative aim / purpose
I give info - Declarative = statements
I ask for info - Interrogative = questions
I want U to do smth - Imperative
I want to express myself - Exclamatory

Sentence structural types & principles of classification
Simple / composite the number of
predication lines
1-member / 2-memb. the way of
expressing predicativity:
dividied or undivided
complete / elliptical completeness of
a 2-memb. pred. line
Composite type of syntactic rlns:
Compound coordination
Complex subordination

Models of sentence analysis
A. Pre-functional level – units are just wds & wd groups:
the distributional model
the immediate constituents model
the transformational model
B. Functional level
I. Syntactic level – the model of the members of the sentence (syntactic functions)
II. Semantic level – case grammar – the model of the proposition structure
III. Communicative level – sentence as a unit of speech – FSP = functional sentence perspective – the logico-communicative structure

Syntactic structure
At the functional level the s.s.s. is described in terms of members (parts) of the sentence performing certain functions.
Parts of the sentence are notional sentence constituents as they name elements of the situations named by the sentence: processes, participants, circumstances. They are in different relations to other parts of the sentence or to the sentence as a whole.

Members (parts) of the sentence
Though the traditional set of members is more or less established, there are quite a number of disputable points. For e.g.
The room measures 10 metres square - ???
Modern grammars partially overcome these difficulties

Sentence syntactic structure
subject predicate
predicator complements objects
Vf direct obj.
indirect obj.
prepositional obj.
subject[ive] c. She looks tired
object[ive] c. He painted the door green
predicat[ive] c. The room measured 10 m2.
Objects can become subjects of passive constructions. Complements cannot.

The subject, predicator, complements and objects
are nuclear and often obligatory constituents of a clause. Their appearance and properties are predetermined by the verb which serves as a predicator.
Other constituents are circumstances (time, place, manner, etc. of the whole stn) and attributes (characteristics of the participants). They are optional.

Non-obligatory members
These are mainly adverbials of various character:
adjuncts – optional circumstances attending the process expressed by the clause
e.g. He briefly interrupted her

Elements outside the s.s.s
disjuncts – express evaluation of what is being said:
e.g. Obviously, he was wrong.
conjuncts – indicate the connection bw what was said before and is being said now:
e.g. He was wrong and so he kept silent.
NB! conjunct ≠ conjunction

The structure of
the complex sentence as a whole
Clssn of the structural patterns of complex sentences is based on the following criteria:
the structural completeness of the main part
the means of connection & the way the parts are linked, what element in the main cl. performs the main part in subordination of the other(s) clause(s)
relative importance the main and the sub.cl. have in the sentence