Оглавление

1. The History of English Grammars........................................................................................................3

2. Different approaches to classifying words into parts of speech..........................................................5
3. Parts of Speech as Morphological and Syntactic Categories....................................................................9
4. Parts of Speech as Grammatical and Lexico-Gratnmatical Categories...................................................11
5. The Field Structure of Parts of Speech...................................................................................................12
6. Parts of Speech as Onomaseotogical Categories...................................................................................13
7. Grammatical classes of words...............................................................................................................14
8. The Category of Number.......................................................................................................................16
9. The Category of Gender.......................................................................................................................18
10. The Category of Case. (Blokh)..............................................................................................................19
11.Verb: the category of tense..................................................................................................................20
12.Verb: the category of aspect................................................................................................................21
13. Verb. The categories of person and number.......................................................................................23
14. Verb: the category of voice.................................................................................................................24
15. Verb: the category of mood................................................................................................................25
16. The Article: number and meaning of articles.......................................................................................27
17. The Adjective, Pronoun and the Numeral...........................................................................................30
Types of Adjectives:............................................................................................................................30
Possessive Adjectives.......................................................................................................................30
Demonstrative Adjectives..................................................................................................................30
Coordinate Adjectives.......................................................................................................................30
Numbers Adjectives..........................................................................................................................30
Interrogative Adjectives....................................................................................................................31
Indefinite Adjectives.........................................................................................................................31
Attributive Adjectives........................................................................................................................31
18. Functional sentence perspective.........................................................................................................36
19. Types of syntactical connection...........................................................................................................37
20. The definition of the phrase. The theory of the phrase. Types of phrases from syntactical point of
view. Ways of expressing syntactical relations within a phrase................................................................39
.................................................................................................................................................................. 40

21. The sentence. The problem of its definition. Classification of sentences............................................41

22. Two-member sentences. Parts of a two-member sentence. The main parts. The definition of the
main parts.................................................................................................................................................43
23. Secondary parts of the sentence. Criteria for distinguishing between secondary parts......................45
24. The parentheses. Its relation to the main body of the sentence. The problem of distinguishing
between parentheses and insertions........................................................................................................47
25. Simple and composite sentences. Types of simple sentences.............................................................48

1. The History of English Grammars

Until the 17th century the term “grammar” in English was applied only to the
study of Latin. Latin grammar was the only grammar learned in schools (grammar
schools). Until the end of the 16th century there were no grammars of English.
Generally speaking, the history of English grammars may be divided into two
periods.
The first is the age of prescientific grammar beginning with the end of the
16th century and lasting till about 19th. It includes two types of grammars which
succeeded each other. The first type of grammars in the history of English grammar is
represented by early prenormative grammars of English (the first among them is W.
Bullokar’s “Bref Grammar for English”). By the middle of the 18th century, when
many of the grammatical phenomena of English had been described and the English
language norms established, the prenormative grammars gave way to a new kind of
grammar, a prescriptive (normative) grammar. It stated strict rules of grammatical
usage and set up a certain standard of correctness to be followed by learners. The
main drawback (недостаток) of prescriptive grammar lies in the fact that it is
subjected to criticism by many constructions and forms used by educated English
people.
One of the most influential grammars of that period was R. Lowth’s “Short
Introduction to English Grammar”, first published in 1762 in London. On the other
side of the Atlantic, in New York, Lindley Murray wrote a very successful work,
“English Grammar Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners”.
The second period is the age of scientific grammar. By the end of the 19th
century, prescriptive grammar had reached the peak of its development. A need was
felt for a grammar of a higher type, which could give a scientific explanation of the
grammatical phenomena.
There are three chief methods of explaining language phenomena, namely by
means of: 1) historical grammar, 2) comparative grammar, and 3) general
grammar.
Historical grammar tries to explain the phenomena of a language by studying
their history. Thus, Old English nouns had gender, number, and case distinctions.
There were three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), two
numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, and
accusative).
 Comparative grammar compares the grammatical phenomena of a language
with those of cognate (родственное) languages, i.e. languages that are related to it
through having arisen from a common parent language. Thus, the suppletive case
system of personal pronouns is common to all the languages of the Indo-European
family:
Russian: я-меня;
English: I-me;
German: ich - mich.
General grammar is concerned with the general principles which underlie the
grammatical phenomena of all languages. Thus, all languages, according to H.
Greenberg, have pronominal categories involving at least three persons and two
numbers.
The period of scientific grammar may be divided into two parts, the first –
from the appearance of H. Sweet's book till the 1940's, when there were only two
types of grammars: prescriptive [J.C. Nesfield] and explanatory [C.T. Onions; H.R.
Stokoe; G. Curme; H. Poutsma; E. Kruisinga; O. Jespersen]; the second – from the
1940's, when several new types of grammars appeared: 1) structural (descriptive)
grammar, 2) transformational grammar, 3) communicatively orientated grammar,
4) semantically orientated grammar, 5) pragmatically orientated grammar, 6)
textual grammar.
The aim of structural grammar [Ch. Fries] is to give a formalized description
of language system as it exists, without being concerned with questions of correct and
incorrect usage.
The purpose of transformational grammar [Z. Harris; N. Chomsky] is to show
how different sentences are derived from a few kernel (ядро) sentences, e.g.:
The door opened. → The door did open. → Did the door open?
Communicatively orientated grammar [V. Mathesius; J. Firbas] studies the
theme-rheme integration in a sentence. The theme is a part of a sentence seen as
corresponding to what the sentence as a whole, is about. The rheme is a part of a
sentence communicating information relative to whatever is indicated by the theme.
For instance, in Our biggest problem is lack of money (Longman Language
Activator), the theme is our biggest problem, and the point of the sentence is to
explain what it is. The rheme, then, is lack of money.
Semantically orientated grammar concentrates its attention on the semantic
structure of sentences. [Ch.J. Fillmore; W.L. Chafe] 
Pragmatically orientated grammar focuses its attention on the functional side
of language units. [J. Austin; J. Searle] 
Textual grammar places text in focus. The authors suggest different methods of text analysis
ranging from formal [Z. Harris] to semantic [T. van Dijk] and pragmatic [V. Bogdanov]. The aims of the analysis
are also different. The authors of the first period put forward the idea of the dependence of the text type on the type
of sentences making it up. The authors of the second period explore the text as a whole and try to discover the lower
units which constitute the given text. M.A.K. Halliday makes an attempt at giving a theoretical basis of text
grammar.
When comparing the two periods in the history of English grammars, one can see that during the
first period (the 17th — 19th centuries) there was only one kind of grammar in use at a time, whereas in
the 20th century there were several types of grammatical descriptions used and developed in parallel. The
coexistence and a certain interaction of different types of grammars is a typical feature of the second
period (the scientific one). Among modern trends we cannot but mention the communicative grammar
(the fifth on the list), which has been gaining popularity since the 1980s. In grammar books of this type
the grammatical structures are systematically related to meanings, uses, and situations of communication.

2. Different approaches to classifying words into parts of speech.

Parts of Speech as Morphological Categories
In the epoch [ipok] of universal grammars constructed on the basis of the
inflected Latin language, parts of speech were regarded as morphological categories,
i.e, while classifying words into parts of speech, linguists took into consideration only
their morphological characteristics.
The morphological principle would have been invulnerable [invɅlnrəbl]
(неуязвимый) if all the languages had been inflected and if all the words belonging to
this or that part of speech had shared its typical morphological categories. But
alongside of inflected languages, there are analytical languages, such as English, with
poorly developed morphologies. On the other hand, there are a lot of words in every
part of speech that lack all or at least some of its paradigms. Thus, most abstract
nouns and relative adjectives are morphologically invariable, while verbs of sense
perception stand outside the category of aspect (they are generally not used in the
continuous aspect).
Parts of Speech as Syntactic Categories
The syntactic principle, taking function as a starting point, is far more universal
than the morphological principle. In Russian, it was first applied to the classification
of words by A.M. Peshkovsky. In English, elements of the syntactic principle are used
by the founder of English grammar, Henry Sweet. Having divided parts of speech into
declinable, i.e. capable of inflection (nouns, adjectives, verbs), and indeclinable, i.e.
incapable of inflection (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections), he noticed
that not all words are functionally homogeneous. Thus, some pronouns function as
nouns, e.g. I, they, etc., while others function as adjectives, e.g. my in my book, that in
that man. The same is true of numerals. Three in three of us is a noun-numeral, in
three men -an adjective-numeral. As for verbals, they represent a class of words
intermediate between verbs, on the one hand, and nouns and adjectives, on the other.
They do not express predication but keep all the other meanings and grammatical
functions of the verb from which they are formed.
Noun-verbals comprise infinitives and gerunds. Cf.:
 / wanted to go, but she wanted to stay (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English).
We're thinking of going to France for our holidays, but we haven't decided for certain yet
(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
Adjective-verbals comprise participles, e.g.:
in a melting voice (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
The syntactic (or functional) principle is consistently applied to the
classification of words by American structural linguists. The representatives of the
American linguistic school have made the notion of syntactic function more precise
[prisais] (точный) by identifying it with a fixed position in the sentence.
Analyzing the sentence The concert was good there, Ch. Fries singles out four
main positions in the English sentence. The words that might substitute the word
concert, in his opinion, should be regarded as words of Class I (traditionally called
nouns); those that might substitute the word was - as words of Class IT (traditionally
called verbs); those that might substitute the word good - as words of Class III
(traditionally called adjectives); those that might substitute the word there - as words
of Class IV (traditionally called adverbs). True, the coincidence(совпадение) is not
complete.
Ch. Fries's four classes comprise the bulk(груда) of the vocabulary. At the
same time, Ch. Fries finds it possible to single out 15 Groups of function words.
Group A - the words that can occupy (занимать) the position of the definite
article in the sentence The concert was good there (Ch. Fries): no, their, John's, each,
this, etc. They serve as markers of Class I words.
Group B - the words that can occur in the position of may in the sentence The
concert may be good there (Ch. Fries): might, can, could, will, would, must, etc. They
serve as markers of Class II words.
Group C - the word not, e.g.
The concert was not good (Ch. Fries).
Group D - the words that can occur in the position of very, immediately, before
a Class III word: quite, fairly, rather, too, etc., e.g.:
The concert was very good (Ch. Fries).
Group E - the words that can stand in the position of and in the sentence The
concert and the lectures are and were interesting and profitable now and earlier (Ch.
Fries). All the words of this group stand only between words of the same class:
the concerts and the lectures (Class I),
are and were (Class II),
interesting and profitable (Class III),
now and earlier (Class IV).
Only a very few words make up this group: and, or, nor, but, rather than, etc.
Traditionally they are called coordinators.
 Group F - the words that can stand in the position of at in the sentence The
concerts at the school are at the top (Ch. Fries). The words of Group F are generally
followed by Class I words but may be preceded by words of Class I, Class II, or Class
III. Traditionally, they are called prepositions.
Group G - the word do that appears in various forms: do, does, did:
Do/Did the boys do their work promptly1? (Ch. Fries).
The boys do/did not do their -workpromptly (Ch. Fries).
Group H - the word there:
There is a man at the door (Ch. Fries).
Group I - the words used in the position of when in the sentence When was the
concert good? (Ch. Fries). They operate as signals of question sentences.
Group J - the words that stand in the position of after in the sentence The
orchestra was good after the new director came (Ch. Fries). The words of Group J
introduce dependent clauses.
Group K — the words well, oh, now, and why that occur very frequently at the
beginning of response utterance units, e.g.:
Well, do it your own way (Ch. Fries).
Oh, I have another suit (Ch. Fries).
Now, I just wish you both could see it (Ch. Fries).
Why, it would be nice if you would (Ch. Fries).
Group L - the words yes and no, e.g.:
Yes, I know (Ch. Fries).
No, he's not here now (Ch. Fries).
Group M - the words look, say, listen, etc. used as attention-getting signals,
e.g.:
Listen, did you get any shoes? (Ch. Fries).
Look, I want to ask you two questions (Ch. Fries).
Group N - the word please in request sentences, e.g.:
Please take these two letters (Ch. Fries).
Group O - the form let's that turns a request sentence into a request or proposal
that includes the speaker, e.g.: Let's do the invitations right away (Ch. Fries).
Ch. Fries's classification of pans of speech often unites into one class heterogeneous
phenomena (e.g. Group A includes pronouns, numerals, adjectives, and even nouns in
the genitive case). It is not surprising for, on the one hand, one and the same function
can be fulfilled by different parts of speech (for example, almost all parts of speech
are registered in the function of the subject); on the other hand, one and the same part
of speech can perform different functions (e.g. nouns occur in the functions of all
parts of the sentence).
Parts of Speech as Grammatical Categories
A. A. Reformatsky and L.S. Barkhudarov Бархударов define pans of speech as
grammatical categories, i.e. they take into account both their morphological and
syntactic characteristics. This conception is, certainly, a step forward in comparison,
with the one-sided morphological and syntactic interpretations.
However, there is no gainsaying the fact that some morphologically non-
marked words are unmistakably referred to this or that part of speech even when taken
in isolation, i.e. in the absence of both morphological and syntactic characteristics.
Thus, on hearing just one invariable word r.aKady but knowing that it is the name of a
bird, writes L. V. SCerba, all linguists will qualify it as a noun. It follows from it that
meaning is a most important factor in classifying words into parts of speech.
Parts of Speech as Lexico-Grammatical Categories
The Dutch linguist O. Jespersen Есперсен was one of the first to postulate the
necessity of a three-fold approach to the classification of words into parts of
speech. He wrote that everything should be kept in view: form, function, and
meaning/ Nowadays, the majority of linguists, both in Russia and abroad, regard parts
of speech as lexico-gramrnatical categories. This conception seems to be the most
convincing. The only trouble is that the three mentioned criteria do not always point
the same way.
As for the words rich and the poor. Semantically (they have the meaning of
'thingness') and functionally (they can perform the functions of subject and object),
they are, certainly, nouns. But they lack the most typical morphological categories of
nouns - case and number.

3. Parts of Speech as Morphological and Syntactic Categories

Parts of Speech as Morphological Categories

In the epoch of universal grammars constructed on the basis of the inflected Latin
language, parts of speech were regarded as morphological categories, i.e, while
classifying words into parts of speech, linguists took into consideration only their
morphological characteristics.

The morphological principle would have been invulnerable if all the languages
had been inflected and if all the words belonging to this or that part of speech had
shared its typical morphological categories.
But alongside of inflected languages, there are analytical languages, such as English,
with poorly developed morphologies.
On the other hand, there are a lot of words in every part of speech that lack all or at
least some of its paradigms. Thus, most abstract nouns and relative adjectives are
morphologically invariable, while verbs of sense perception stand outside the
category of aspect (they are generally not used in the continuous aspect).

Parts of Speech as Syntactic Categories

 The syntactic principle, taking function as a starting point, is far more universal
than the morphological principle.
In Russian, it was first applied to the classification of words by A.M. Peshkovsky.
In English, elements of the syntactic principle are used by the founder of
English grammar, H. Sweet.
Having divided parts of speech into

declinable, - i.e. capable of inflection (nouns, adjectives, verbs),

and indeclinable, - i.e. incapable of inflection (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions,

interjections), he could not help noticing that not all words are functionally
homogeneous. Thus, some pronouns function as nouns, e.g. I, they, etc., while others
function as adjectives, e.g. my in my book, that in that man.
The same is true of numerals. Three in three of us is a noun-numeral, in three men
-an adjective-numeral.
As for verbals, they represent a class of words intermediate between verbs, on the
one hand, and nouns and adjectives, on the other. They do not express predication
but keep all the other meanings and grammatical functions of the verb from which
they are formed. Noun-verbals comprise infinitives and gerunds.
Cf.: / wanted to go, but she wanted to stay (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English).

We're thinking of going to France for our holidays, but we haven't decided for
certain yet (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

Adjective-verbals comprise participles, e.g.: in a melting voice (A.S. Hornby,

A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).

Analyzing the sentence The concert - was good there, Ch. Fries singles out four
main positions in the English sentence.
- The words that might substitute the word concert, in his opinion, should be regarded
as words of Class I (traditionally called nouns);
- those that might substitute the word was - as words of Class II (traditionally called
verbs);
- those that might substitute the word good - as words of Class III (traditionally
called adjectives);
- those that might substitute the word there - as words of Class IV (traditionally called
adverbs). True, the coincidence is not complete.

Ch. Fries's four classes comprise the bulk of the vocabulary. At the same time,
Ch. Fries finds it possible to single out 15 Groups of function words.
 Group A - the words that can occupy the position of the definite article in
the sentence The concert was good there (Ch. Fries): no, their, John's, each, this,
etc. They serve as markers of Class I words.

Group B - the words that can occur in the position of may in the sentence The
concert may be good there (Ch. Fries): might, can, could, will, would, must, etc. They
serve as markers of Class II words.

Group C - the word not, e.g.

The concert was not good (Ch. Fries).

Group D - the words that can occur in the position of very immediately before a
Class III word: quite, fairly, rather, too, etc., e.g.: The concert was very good (Ch.
Fries).

Group E - the words that can stand in the position of and in the sentence The
concert and the lectures are and were interesting and profitable now and earlier (Ch.
Fries). All the words of this group stand only between words of the same class: e.g. the
concerts and the lectures (Class I), are and were (Class II), interesting and profitable
(Class III), now and earlier (Class IV).

Only a very few words make up this group: and, or, nor, but, rather than, etc.
Traditionally they are called coordinators.

Group F - the words that can stand in the position of at in the sentence The
concerts at the school are at the top (Ch. Fries). The words of Group F are generally
followed by Class I words but may be preceded by words of Class I, Class II, or Class
III. Traditionally, they are called prepositions.

Group G - the word do that appears in various forms: do, does, did: Do/Did
the boys do their work promptly? (Ch. Fries).
The boys do/did not do their –work promptly (Ch. Fries).

Group H - the word there: There is a man at the door (Ch. Fries).

Group I - the words used in the position of when in the sentence When was
the concert good? (Ch. Fries). They operate as signals of question sentences.

Group J - the words that stand in the position of after in the sentence The
orchestra was good after the new director came (Ch. Fries). The words of Group J
introduce dependent clauses.

Group K — the words well, oh, now, and why that occur very frequently at the
beginning of response utterance units, e.g.:
 Well, do it your own way (Ch. Fries). Oh, I have another suit (Ch. Fries). Now, I
just wish you both could see it (Ch. Fries). Why, it would be nice if you would
(Ch. Fries).

Group L - the words yes and no, e.g.: Yes, I know (Ch. Fries).

No, he's not here now (Ch. Fries).

Group M - the words look, say, listen, etc. used as attention-getting signals:

Listen, did you get any shoes? (Ch. Fries). Look, I want to ask you two
questions (Ch. Fries).

Group N - the word please in request sentences, e.g.: Please take these two
letters (Ch. Fries).

Group O - the form let's that turns a request sentence into a request or
proposal that includes the speaker, e.g.: Let's do the invitations right away (Ch. Fries).

4. Parts of Speech as Grammatical and Lexico-Gratnmatical

Categories
Parts of Speech as Grammatical Categories

A. A. Reformatsky and L.S. Barkhudarov define pans of speech as grammatical

categories, i.e. they take into account both their morphological and syntactic
characteristics. This conception is, certainly, a step forward in comparison, with the
one-sided morphological and syntactic interpretations.

However, there is no gainsaying the fact that some morphologically non-

marked words are unmistakably referred to this or that part of speech even when
taken in isolation, i.e. in the absence of both morphological and syntactic
characteristics. Thus, on hearing just one invariable word r.aKady but knowing that it
is the name of a bird, writes L. V. Sherba, all linguists will qualify it as a noun. It
follows from it that meaning is a most important factor in classifying words into parts
of speech.

Parts of Speech as Lexico-Gratnmatical Categories

The Dutch linguist O. Jespersen was one of the first to postulate the necessity
of a three-fold approach to the classification of words into parts of speech. He writes,
that, everything should be kept in view: form, function, and meaning/ Nowadays, the
majority of linguists, both in Russia and abroad, regard parts of speech as lexico-
grammatical categories. This conception seems to be the most convincing. The only
trouble is that the three mentioned criteria do not always point the same way. Let us
take such units as the rich and the poor. Semantically (they have the meaning of
'thingness') and functionally (they can perform the functions of subject and object),
they are, certainly, nouns. But they lack the most typical morphological categories of
nouns - case and number.

5. The Field Structure of Parts of Speech

As the authors of the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English put
it, nouns can be more or less 'nouny'. A typical noun has singular, plural, and
genitive forms; it can be preceded by the definite or the indefinite article; and it
typically refers to a person or thing, or some other entity. Such nouns are boy,
dog, etc. Yet in the class of nouns we regularly include words that have only some of
the features characteristic of nouns, e.g. information (which is invariable and cannot be preceded
by the indefinite article) and Sarah (which does not normally occur in the plural or combine with articles).

In view of it, one should regard parts of speech as formations with a compact
core and a gradual transition into a diffuse pe’riphery. Those language units that
comprise all the characteristic features of a part of speech constitute the center of the
part of speech. The peripheral phenomena are those that lack some characteristics of
the given part of speech or have a number of features of another part of speech but still
belong to the given part of speech. Thus, the centre of the lexico-grammatical field of
nouns is constituted by those nouns that have all the characteristic properties of nouns:
1) semantic - denote 'thingness', 2) morphological - have the categories of case and
number, 3) syntactic — can perform the functions of subject and/or object.
But what about the periphery? The absence of what noun properties shifts a noun into the
periphery of the class of nouns and the absence of what noun properties changes the nature of the noun
completely and places it in the periphery of some other part of speech? In other words, which of the
three criteria: meaning, form, or function is the most important in the process of differentiating parts of
speech?

The use of the morphological criterion [kraitiəriən] is limited by the fact that
there are a lot of languages in the world that have few or no morphological forms at
all. The syntactic criterion is not reliable either because many of the same
orthographic words (orthographic words are word forms separated by spaces in
written text) can function as different parts of speech. Cf.:

Put a little round of butter on each steak (Longman Dictionary of

Contemporary English) - noun.

Tne little boy's eyes grew round with delight (Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English) - adjective.

The field has a fence all round (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)
- adverb.
 We sat round the table (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)-
preposition.

L.V. Scerba's analysis of the word xamdy has proved quite convincingly that in
classifying words into parts of speech meaning is most important. Practically
everybody agrees that nouns denote 'thingness', verbs - actions and processes,
adjectives - properties of things, adverbs - properties of actions and processes, etc. The
thing that raises doubts is the nature of part-of-speech meaning.

6. Parts of Speech as Onomaseotogical Categories

E.S. Kubryakova thinks that the essence of parts of speech lies in different
relations of words to extra linguistic reality, i.e. in the onomaseological aspect. E.S.
Kubryakova has worked out a multi-stage classification of parts of speech. At the
first stage, all words are divided into those denoting things, i.e. nouns, and those
denoting non-things (or properties). Words expressing properties are subjected to
further analysis into those denoting temporal properties, i.e. verbs, and those
denoting non-temporal properties. The latter also fall into two sub-groups: non-
temporal properties of nouns, i.e. adjectives, and non-temporal properties of verbs,
i.e. adverbs. Numerals render the above-mentioned meanings through a quantitative
1characteristic, pronouns - by substituting nouns and adjectives.

7. Grammatical classes of words.

Traditionally, parts of speech are classified into notional (nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs) and structural (prepositions, conjunctions, etc.).
Many Russian linguists nowadays deny the existence of structural parts of
speech because they only possess a certain generalized grammatical meaning of
relation, but lack all the other properties of parts of speech: they do not name
anything, are morphologically invariable, and have no syntactic independence in the
sentence. Some call them 'particles of speech'.
Most English grammarians stick to the classification of parts of speech into
notional and structural. They call notional parts of speech lexical words, structural
parts of speech - function words. They differentiate them on the following grounds.
1. Lexical meaning. Lexical words are the main carriers of meaning in a
text. Function words have no lexical meaning. As a rule, function words serve two
major roles: indicating relationships between lexical words or larger units, or
indicating the way in which a lexical or larger unit is to be interpreted.
2. Stress. In speech, lexical words are generally stressed, function words
are usually unstressed.
3. Morphology. Lexical words may take inflections that distinguish
different grammatical forms of the same lexical unit. Function words are generally
invariable.
4. Head of phrase. Lexical words can be the heads of phrases; function
words cannot be the heads of phrases. Cf.: her gold watch (D. Biber et al.) - noun phrase, can see (D.
Biber et al.) - verb phrase, so lucky (D. Biber et al.) - adjective phrase, very quickly (D. Biber et al.) - adverb phrase.

5. Length. Lexical words may consist of a single morpheme, but they are
often more complex in structure. Function words are characteristically short and lack
internal structure.
6. Openness. Lexical words form open classes of words; function words
are members of closed classes. Closed classes are highly restricted in membership,
while open classes have very large numbers of members. Open classes are so called
because they readily accommodate the addition of new members. The two main
avenues for the introduction of new members are:
(1) borrowing from other languages (as with the noun sputnik. for example),
(2) regular word formation processes, e.g. we can easily form new nouns
with the suffix -ee, adjectives - with the suffix -ish, verbs — with the suffix -ize. and
adverbs - with the suffix -wise. Cf: gossip - gossipee,
bird - birdish,
period ~ periodize,
crab - crabwise.
A third avenue for adding to the membership of a class, very rarely used in
comparison with the other two, is the creation of a new simple stem from the
phonological resources of the language, e.g. nylon, which was coined in the 1930's.
7. Frequency. Function words are frequent and tend to occur in any text,
whereas the occurrence of individual nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs varies
greatly in frequency and is bound to the topic of the text.
 In addition to lexical arid function words, the authors of the Longman Grammar
of Spoken and Written English single out inserts (вставки). Inserts are a relatively
newly recognized category of word. They do not form an integral part of a syntactic
structure, but are inserted rather freely in the text. They are often marked off by
intonation, pauses, or by punctuation marks in writing. They characteristically carry
emotional and interactional meanings and are especially frequent in
conversation. The authors of the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English
refer to inserts:
1) interjections; (междометия)
2) greetings and farewells;
3) discourse markers, e.g.:
Oh this 'II be a good idea! - Right, we can do this (D. Biber et al.);
4) attention signals, e.g.:
Hey look - that's the way to do it (D. Biber et al.);
5) response elicitors, e.g.:
Pat, come over here in about twenty-five minutes, okay! (D. Biber et al.);
6) responses, e.g.:
Let's go and see Pip. - Okay (D. Francis);
7) hesitators, e.g.:
Not West Italy? ~ Well. Rome was suggested (A Corpus of English
Conversation);
8) thanks;
9) the politeness marker please',
10) apologies;
11) expletives, e.g.:
Oh Jesus, Ididn !t know it was that cold (D. Biber et al.).
As with function words, inserts are generally invariable. They may consist of a
single morpheme (yes, no, please, etc.) or of an invariable lexicalized sequence (you
know, I mean, excuse me, etc.).
Inserts sometimes have a deviant phonological structure, e.g.: hm, ukhuh, ugh,
etc.
 Inserts contain some sub-groups that are more or less closed, e.g. greetings,
farewells, and response words yes and no. Other types of inserts can be created rather
freely.
Inserts are more marginal than lexical words and function words. It can indeed
be doubted whether some of the forms in our conversation should be recognized as
words at all. But there is no doubt that they play an important role in conversation. If
we are to describe spoken language adequately, we need to pay more attention to them
than has traditionally been done.

8. The Category of Number

Some linguists say that the essential meaning of the category of number is not that of quantity,
but that of discreteness. The plural, according to them, denotes something consisting of
distinguishable parts, e.g.: spectacles, scissors, trousers, etc.

But we can't put them in the plural, because they have no analogues in the singular.. So, the
generalized grammatical meaning of number is that of quantity. In Modern English, it is
represented by the opposition 'oneness (singular) - more than oneness (plural)'.

Some linguists single out two other types of the plural: lexicalized plural and the plural of
approximation.

The form of lexicalized plural is identical with that of grammatical plural: -(e)s. But the meaning
of lexicalized plural is always different from the corresponding singular.

The plural of approximation is closer to lexical forms, for though, like grammatical plural., it
ends in -(e)s and denotes several objects, the objects do not belong to the same kind, e.g.: There
are many things people remember about the sixties (J.C. Richards, J. Hull, S. Proctor), where
sixties does not mean 'one sixty + another sixty +..', but 'sixty' + 'sixty-one' + 'sixty-two', and so
on till 'sixty-nine'.

The category' of number in English is represented by the opposition of the singular and the
plural. The singular form denotes 'oneness'; it is the non-marked member of the opposition. The
plural form denotes 'more than oneness'; it is the marked member of the opposition. The regular
way of forming the plural is by adding the -(e)s inflection.

There are several irregular ways of forming the plural.

1. Voicing of final consonant + -s plural.

2. Mutation plurals. In a few nouns, the plural is formed by mutation, i.e. a change in the vowel,
e.g.: a man - men, a woman - women, afoot feet, a tooth - teeth, etc.

3. -en plurals, e.g: an ox - oxen.

4. Zero plurals. Countable nouns that have the same form for singular and plural are said to have
zero plural, e.g.: a sheep - sheep, a deer - deer.

5. Foreign plurals.

In many learned words scholars have introduced the plural as well as the singular form from
foreign languages, e.g.: curriculum - curricula,

As regards the category of number, all English nouns can be divided into two classes: countable
and uncountable. Countable nouns are those that have the opposition 'singular - plural', e.g.: a
book - books.

Uncountable nouns do not call up the idea of any definite thing with a certain shape or precise
limits. They are either material, e.g.: silver, water, butter, gas, etc., or abstract, e g.: leisure,
music, success, tact, etc.

Those uncountable nouns that always combine with singular verbs and are substituted by
singular pronouns are called Singularia Tantum.

Some Singularia Tantum end in -s. They are:

1) the noun news, e.g.

2) nouns ending in -ics that denote subjects, sciences

3) names of certain diseases ending in -s, e.g.: Measles [mi:zlz]takes a long time to get over

4) names of some games ending in -s, e.g.: Draughts[draft] Js an easier game than chess (M.
Swan).

Some Pluralia Tantum lack the final -s. They include the following nouns:

1)people, 2)police,3) cattle, 4)poultry (farmyard birds),5) livestock (animals kept on a farm), 6)
vermin.

According to A.I. Smirnitsky, both Singularia and Pluralia Tantum have the category of number.

9. The Category of Gender

Gender is defined as a morphological category that expressing in special noun

inflections of gender and that is closely tied to the sex of the referent.

Old English nouns distinguished 3 grammatical genders: masculine [maskjulin],

feminine[femenin], and neuter [njutə]. H. Sweet finds the same 3 genders in Modern
English.

Criticizing the conception of H, Sweet, A.I. Smirnitsky emphasizes that in Modern

English it is not nouns, but the things they denote that are classified into the genders.
For instance, there is no formal difference between the nouns boy and girl. But the
noun boy is considered to belong to the masculine gender, the noun girl - to the
feminine gender. In other words, gender in Modern English nouns is expressed
lexically.

1. By using totally different nouns, e.g.: father — mother, son - daughter, uncle -
aunt, man - woman, bull — cow, etc.

2. By using derived nouns with masculine and feminine suffixes: -er/-or, -ess, e.g.:

waiter - waitress, actor - actress.

3. By using compound nouns in -man and -woman, e.g.: policeman -policewoman.

4. By using a modifier denoting sex, e.g.: boy-friend - girl-friend, he-goat - she-goat,

Tom-cat — Pussy-cat, male nurse, female officer, woman doctor, etc.

English speakers use masculine terms more often than feminine terms. There are
two reasons for the preference of male terms over female terms.

1. The continuing male sex bias in English society where men still hold more
positions of power and authority than women.

2. The masculine terms are often used to refer to both sexes, but not vice versa.

O. Jespersen and J. Vendryes Жозеф Вандриес define gender as a syntactic

category because it finds its expression in grammatical agreement. In the opinion of J.
Vendryes, when there is no agreement, gender disappears. The loss of inflections,
which began in the Middle English period, resulted in an almost complete
disappearance of agreement.

Thus, gender in Modern English is expressed neither morphologically, i.e. by

special inflections of gender, nor syntactically, i.e. by forms of agreement. Gender in
Modem English is a purely lexical category.

10. The Category of Case. (Blokh)

Case is the immanent morphological category of the noun manifested in the forms of
noun declension and showing the relations of the nounal referent to other objects and
phenomena. Thus, the case form of the noun, or contractedly its "case" (in the narrow sense of
the word), is a morphological-declensional form.
This category is expressed in English by the opposition of the form in -'s [-z, -s, -iz],
usually called the "possessive" case, or more traditionally, the "genitive" case, to the unfeatured
form of the noun, usually called the "common" case. The apostrophised -s serves to distinguish
in writing the singular noun in the genitive case from the plural noun in the common case. E.g.:
the man's duty, the President's decision, Max's letter; the boy's ball, the clerk's promotion, the
Empress's jewels.
The genitive of the bulk of plural nouns remains phonetically unexpressed: the few
exceptions concern only some of the irregular plurals. Thereby the apostrophe as the graphic
sign of the genitive acquires the force of a sort of grammatical hieroglyph. Cf.: the carpenters'
tools, the mates' skates, the actresses' dresses.
Functionally, the forms of the English nouns designated as "case forms" relate to one
another in an extremely peculiar way. The peculiarity is, that the common form is absolutely
indefinite from the semantic point of view, whereas the genitive form in its productive uses is
restricted to the functions which have a parallel expression by prepositional constructions. Thus,
the common form, as appears from the presentation, is also capable of rendering the genitive
semantics (namely, in contact and prepositional collocation), which makes the whole of the
genitive case into a kind of subsidiary element in the grammatical system of the English noun.
Common case
 Wide, too general
Genetive case
 More precise. It has a wide variety of meanings:
1. Possessive genitive, e.g.:
Mrs. Johnson s passport —* Mrs- Johnson has a passport 
2. Subjective genitive, indicating the doer of the action, e.g.: the people's choice  —»
The people chose 
3. Genitive of source, denoting such relationships as authorship and origin. Cf.:
the general's letter —> The general wrote a letter 
Australia's exports —» the exports that come from Australia 
4. Objective genitive, indicating the object of the action, e.g.: Kennedy's
assassination —> Somebody assassinated Kennedy
5. Temporal genitive, denoting a period of time, e.g.:
ten days' absence —> The absence lasted ten days 
6. Equational genitive, establishing the identity of the referent, e.g.:
+a mile's distance ~+ The distance is a mile 

The category of case is disputative

As there exist several CASE THEORIES:
1) Limited case theory (Sweet, Jesperson)
There is such category and there are only 2 cases one of them featured and the other one
unfeatured. + Smirnitskij.
2)Positional case theory (Nesfield, Bryant)
The type of the case not on the base of the form of the Noun but on its position => 4
cases:
The nominative case (subject to a verb): Rain falls. The vocative case (address): Are you
coming, my friend?  The dative case (indirect object to a verb): I gave John a penny. The
accusative case (direct object, and also object to a preposition): The man killed a rat. The earth
is moistened by rain.
3. Prepositional case theory (Curme)
 Combinations of nouns with prepositions in certain object and attributive collocations
should be understood as morphological case forms. To these belong first of all the "dative" case
(to+Noun, for+Noun) and the "genitive" case (of+Noun). These prepositions, according to G.
Curme, are "inflexional prepositions", i.e. grammatical elements equivalent to case-forms. The
would-be prepositional cases are generally taken (by the scholars who recognise them) as
coexisting with positional cases, together with the classical inflexional genitive completing the
case system of the English noun.
OR Konspekt: Preposition+Noun = a special type of case => as many cases as many
combinations
4) Postpositional Case Theory (Vorontsova,Arakin)
Noun has no category of case 's is not typical for this category, it can be added not only
to a noun
+5) Linatative Case Theory (Plotkin V.Ja.)

11.Verb: the category of tense

Tense is a verbal category that represents linguistic expression of time relations, so far as these
are indicated in verb forms.

The grammatical indication of time is extremely generalized. Thus, a verb in the past tense
shows that the action took place in the past, without saying when exactly. The lexical meaning of
time is absolute; the grammatical meaning of tense is relative.

Linguists who regard perfect and continuous forms as tense forms find a lot of tenses in Modern
English [e g. H Sweet] If perfect and continuous were tense forms, we would have a unity of
several tenses in one form, eg present and perfect in present perfect, present, perfect, and
continuous in present perfect continuous, etc. But one grammatical form cannot express several
grammatical meanings characteristic of the same grammatical category, ie one form cannot
express two or more tenses simultaneously. Consequently, perfect and continuous cannot be
regarded as tense forms There exist only three grammatical tenses in Modern English present,
past. and future.

In the category of tense, we have two oppositions present - past and present – future. The ground
for comparison in these oppositions is the relation to the present moment The present tense
includes the present moment, the past tense excludes the present moment, expressing priority to
it, the future tense also excludes the present moment, expressing posteriority to it.

The present tense is homonymous with the base of the verb [in the third person singular the
inflection (e)s is added], the past tense is characterized by the dental suffix –(e)d /the future tense
is formed by means of the word will with the following infinitive

12.Verb: the category of aspect

Aspect is a verbal grammatical category showing the way in which the action develops. The
modern English aspect based on the contrast of continuous and non-continuous forms begins to
take root in the Middle English period.
The problem of aspect in Modern English admits of four interpretations:
1) aspect is a semantic category,
2) there is no category of aspect in Modern English,
3) the category of aspect is closely connected with the category of tense and cannot be severed
from it,
4) the category of aspect is a specific grammatical category.
The semantic classification of aspects in English is carried out by G. Curme who finds it
possible to single out five aspects:
1) the durative aspect representing the action as continuing
[Mother is baking a cake now]
2) the ingressive aspect directing the attention to the initial stage of the action or state
[ She began crying ]
3) the effective aspect directing the attention to the final point of the activity or state
[We stopped talking ]
4) the terminative aspect indicating an action as a whole
[She read about the murder in the paper ]
5) the iterative aspect naming a succession of like acts
[ When we were children, we would go skating every week]

The grammatical category of aspect, like any grammatical category, should have constant
grammatical forms of its expression. In G. Curme's classification, it is only the durative and the
terminative aspects that can be looked upon as grammatical aspects since to express the durative
aspect we usually employ the ing-form, and the terminative aspect is generally associated with
the base of the verb. As for the so-called iterative, ingressive, and effective aspects, they cannot
be referred to the grammatical category of aspect because they lack constant grammatical forms
of their expression.
H. Sweet and O. Jespersen deny the existence of the category of aspect altogether. They look
upon continuous forms as tense forms. If it were so, continuous forms would represent a unity of
two tenses: present and continuous in present continuous, past and continuous in past continuous,
future and continuous in future continuous. But we know that no grammatical form exists that
could combine in itself two meanings of one and the same grammatical category
The majority of linguists speak of two aspects in Modern English: continuous and non-
continuous (or common).
The continuous aspect is marked both in form ('be + Participle 1) and in meaning (it represents
an action in its development).
The noncontinuous aspect is unmarked both in form (no characteristic pattern 'be + Participle
2) and in meaning (it represents an action as simply occurring with no reference to its duration).
 Having analyzed the opposition of continuous - noncontinuous aspects, I.B. Khlebnikova
draws the conclusion that it can be qualified as a privative opposition, one member of which is
characterized by the presence of a certain feature, the other - by absence of the same feature.
Since the relations between the members of the privative opposition of aspect are not polar but
isomorphous, i.e. have points of contiguity, the opposition of aspect can be neutralized on the
syntagmatic axis. According to the rules of neutralization, the unmarked non-continuous aspect
finds itself in the position of neutralization because it has a more general meaning and no
specific formal exponent.
We can consider as neutralization of duration those cases when the present indefinite is used
instead of the present continuous in describing the things that happen,:
[Smith passes to Webster, and Webster shoots and it's a goal]
This type of neutralization is often found in stage remarks.
However, neutralization of duration is more common on the axis of the past. They were
dancing while he was playing the guitar - no neutralization.
They danced while he was playing the guitar - partial neutralization.

They were dancing while he played the guitar - partial neutralization.

They danced while he played the guitar - complete neutralization.

Aspect neutralization is typical of non-terminative verbs,:

They were all sitting round the fire — They all sat round the fire.

With terminative verbs, aspect neutralization is impossible, for it usually brings about a change
of meaning:

We were meeting them at the concert hall, but we didn 't know which entrance they were
waiting at

/ met Jill at the bus stop this morning.

The terminative verb meet in the continuous aspect describes an arranged action that was
about to take place at some later time. The terminative verb meet in the non-continuous aspect
denotes an action that took place in the past

13. Verb. The categories of person and number

The categories of person and number are greatly intertwined (переплетены) in the
system of the English verb. These categories differ from the rest of morphological
categories of the verb in that they express substantial semantics thus correlating the
the predicate of the sentence with its subject. For example the inflexion -s expressing
the 3rd person and singular number of the verb “to take” in the sentence: He takes
some books from the shelf. This inflexion -s signifies that the subject of the sentence
has to be a noun in singular, which correlates with a 3rd person pronoun.
The expression of the category of person is realized only in the singular form of the
verb in the present and future tense. In the present tense, the expression of person may
be realized in three different ways:

1. Regular expression of person (most of verbs) - by means of the inflexion -s: The
wind blows.

2. The verb to be has specific forms of person. It has the form “am” for the 1st person
and “is” for the 3rd. The verb does not have special forms of the second person, since
the form “are” may correlate not only with 2nd person pronouns, but also with lsl (we
are) and 3rd person (they are) plural pronouns.

3. Modal verbs (with the exception of to be and to have) have no person inflexions.

In the future tense, the category of person is expressed through the opposition of shall
(for lsl person) and will (for the 2nd and 3rd person). This opposition however may
undergo reduction: i will meet you at the railway station.

\\\+The category of number is expressed in the English verb only in the present tense
forms and only together with person distinctions, i.e. the English verb has no specific
inflections of number. The number is distinguished only with verbs in the 3rd person
in the present tense: He goes (Sg.) vs. They go (PL). The verb “to be” has special
number distinctions, but they are also realized only in combination with person
distinctions of the verb. In the present tense, the verb has the following forms
expressing number. The singular number is expressed by “am” and “is”. The plurai
number cannot be distinguished, since the form "are” is correlated both with the
singular and plural nouns. In the past tense, the singular number is expressed by the
form “was”. The plural number cannot be distinguished either, since the form were is
used both for singular and plural.

14. Verb: the category of voice

Voice is a morphological category that manifests itself in the forms of the verb. At the
same time, the category of voice has a number of syntactic characteristics because it is realized
in such a syntactic unit as the sentence.
Voice is a category of the verb that indicates the relationship between the subject and the
predicate-verb of the sentence. The active voice shows that the subject of the sentence is the
doer [du:ə] of the action expressed by the predicate, e.g.:
The woman opened the door... (Th. Hardy).
The passive voice shows that the subject does not act, but is acted upon, e.g.:
The door was opened by a Chinese girl... (W.S. Maugham).
A.I. Smirnitsky thinks that the category of voice expresses the direction of the action. In
the active voice, the process denoted by the verb issues from the subject and is directed outside:
The woman opened the door.
In the passive voice, the process indicated by the verb characterizes the grammatical
subject from without:
The door was opened by a Chinese girl.
 L.S. Barkhudarov thinks that in the case of the passive voice the process indicated by the
verb does characterize the grammatical subject from without As for the active voice, it is not
always that the process denoted by the verb issues from the subject and is directed outside. He
analyzes the following three cases.
1. The door opened (A. Christie).
The subject here denotes neither the agent nor the object of the action. It indicates the
thing inside which the action is going on.
2. He dressed... (W. Deeping).
The subject in sentences like these indicates both the agent and the object of the action.
The action issues from the subject and then returns to it.
3. They kissed again... (P. Swinnerton).
In such cases, the subject also expresses both the agent and the object of the action. But
as opposed to sentences of the type He. dressed, the subject here indicates a number of persons
or things, and every member of the group performs the action not on himself, but on another
member of the same group.
Taking all this into consideration, L.S. Barkhudarov finds it necessary to modify the
conception of A.I. Smirnitsky. He also represents the active and passive voices in the form of an
opposition. But this opposition, in his opinion, is privative not only in form (the passive voice is
characterized by the discontinuous morpheme be + -en; the active voice lacks this
characteristic), but also in meaning (in the case of the passive voice, the action of the verb is
directed onto the subject from without; in the case of the active voice, the action of the verb is
not directed onto the subject from without).
Recently, however, the privative character of the voice opposition has been called in
question by A.V. Bondarko. Privative oppositions can be neutralized on the syntagmatic axis.
Since the voice opposition is never neutralized, it is doubtful that it can be regarded as privative.
But what kind of opposition is it then? The question is still open to discussion.

The Passive Voice. Voice Auxiliaries

In Old English, there existed the free phrase 'beon/weorl>an + Participle II of a transitive
verb'. In Middle English, the verb weorPan fell into disuse; the verb beon began to lose its
lexical meaning. The full development of the passive form belongs to the Middle English period.
The existence of the voice auxiliary be is universally recognized. According to G.A.
Veikhman. there is a rising tendency in Modern English to use the auxiliary get instead of the
auxiliary be. English grammarians, however, state that the gef-passive is rare and restricted
primarily to conversation.
The gel-passive often reflects an unfavourable attitude towards the action. Thus, the
utterance How did that window get opened? (R, Quirk et al.) typically implies that the window
should have been shut.
Since most gel-passives are used as stative passives, they cannot take an agent specified
in a fcy-phrase. However, the gel-passive conveys a more dynamic sense than the he-passive:
the fee-passive generally simply describes a state, while the gel-passive describes the process of
getting into the state, with a resultant meaning similar to become. Cf.:
The chair was broken (R. Quirk et al.).
The chair got broken (R. Quirk et al.).
15. Verb: the category of mood
H. Sweet thinks that mood expresses different relations between the subject and the
predicate. Criticizing H, Sweet, O. Jespersen points out that it would be much more correct to
say that mood expresses certain attitudes of the mind of the speaker towards the content of the
sentence.
The expression of the speaker's attitude may be different. First of all," it may be rendered
with the help of this or that intonation pattern. In the second place, we can make use of lexical
means, such as modal words and modal verbs. And, finally, there are grammatical devices -
special forms of predicate-verbs.
Taking all this into consideration, O. Jespersen remarks that we speak of mood only if
this attitude of mind is shown in the form of the verb. Thus, mood is a grammatical, or rather a
morphological category.
V.M. Nikitevich considers that the morphological category of mood has a number of
syntactic characteristics, too.
1. The typical meanings of moods undergo various modifications in different syntactic
constructions, i.e. sentences. For instance, depending on the context, the imperative mood can
express a command, a request, an entreaty, etc. Cf.:
Don't smoke in your room! (V. Evans).
Open the window, pleasel (V. Evans).
Do forgive me-1 didn 't mean to interrupt (M. Swan).
2. The syntactic character of the category of mood also manifests itself in the fact that it
is common to one of the principal parts of the sentence, namely the predicate.
Hence, we can draw the conclusion that mood is a grammatical category realizing the
attitude of the speaker to the thought expressed in the sentence which finds its expression in the
morphological forms of the verb and at the same time has a number of syntactic properties.
Depending on the attitude of the speaker to the thought expressed in the sentence, all
moods, in the opinion of O. Jespersen, fall into three main groups: fact-mood (indicative), will-
mood (imperative), and thought-mood (conjunctive).
THE INDICATIVE MOOD
The indicative mood shows that the speaker considers the action or state denoted by the
predicate as an actual fact and affirms or negates its existence in the present, past or future. The
verb in the indicative mood has three primary (simple) tenses and three secondary (perfect)
tenses, two aspect forms – common and continuous, and two voice forms – active and passive.
Examples:
The young man had not yet ordered, or at least had no food set in front of him. (K. Amis)
There comes a time in every boy’s life when he has a desire to go somewhere and dig for
hidden treasure. (M. Twain).
THE IMPERATIVE MOOD
The imperative mood expresses a command or a request to perform an action addressed
to somebody, but not the action itself. It has no tense category, the action always refers to the
future. Aspect distinctions and voice distinctions are not characteristic of the imperative mood,
although forms such as, be reading, be warned sometimes occur.
Examples:
Do please let me in! (M. Twain)
Give the sweet thing my love and ask her to try to forgive me. (K. Amis).
 THE OBLIQUE MOOD
The function of the oblique moods is to represent something in the speaker‘s mind not as
a real fact, but as a wish, purpose, supposition, doubt or condition, problematic or contrary to
fact. When the speaker expresses his wish by using one of the oblique moods, he merely
communicates to the hearer what he considers desirable. This is the main difference between the
oblique moods and the imperative. When using the imperative mood the speaker directly urges
the person addressed to fulfil his order or request.
There are four oblique moods in Modern English, of which two are synthetical and two
analytical. The synthetical moods are: subjunctive I and subjunctive II. The analytical moods are
the suppositional and the conditional.
The two synthetical moods (subjunctive I and subjunctive II) are often united under the
general name of the subjunctive mood; the two analytical moods (the suppositional and the
conditional) are regarded as equivalents of the subjunctive. In some grammars the analytical
moods are included into the subjunctive mood as the analytical forms of the subjunctive.

16. The Article: number and meaning of articles

According to J. Vendryes and M.D. Fridman, the article is a grammatical morpheme of the
noun. Really, the article, just like the morpheme, functions as an exponent of grammatical meaning.
Meaning of Articles
The meaning of articles is very difficult to define. According to T.N. Sergeyeva, the
English article has only lexical meaning. The conception of T.N. Sergeyeva does not stand
criticism. The definite article originated from the demonstrative pronoun se, the indefinite article
- from the numeral an, and pronouns and numerals are not lexical, but function words that have
no lexical meaning.
Traditionally, the use of articles is qualified as a grammatical phenomenon, for it is said
to be dependent on the semantic character and the syntactic function of the following noun.
On the face of it, the use of the indefinite article is really limited to countable nouns in
the singular. On closer inspection, however, it becomes evident that there is no direct
correspondence between the use of articles and the semantic nature of the noun. For instance,
countable nouns in the singular are sometimes used without any article, while the so-called
uncountable nouns are often registered with the indefinite article. Cf:
Man is mortal (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson). A cold fear had come upon her
(P.O. Wodehouse). The syntactic function of the noun does influence the choice of an article.
Thus, predicatively countable nouns in the singular usually occur with the indefinite article, e.g.:
It's a bad habit (L Updike).
Nevertheless, there are numerous exceptions from the rule. Thus, if the countable noun in
the singular used predicatively is modified by a limiting attribute, it occurs with the definite
article, e.g.:
This is the ring the Doctor gave me, my engagement ring (Ph. Incledon).
If a predicative noun denotes a post, which can be occupied by one person at a time,
either no article or the definite article is used. Cf.:
Mr. Henderson is manager, not under-manager any longer (J. Lindsay).
 If he tells you to do something, you do it, because he's the boss (Longman Language
Activator).
No article is used with singular predicative nouns after the verbs turn, commence,
appoint, elect, etc., e.g.:
Ken Livingstone was elected mayor of London in May 2000 (Longman Language
Activator).
The predicative nouns son and daughter take the definite article when modified by an o/-
phrase, though there may be several sons and daughters in the family, e.g.:
He is the son of Father's best friend (P.G. Wodehoase).
Although articles lack the naming function, they are not devoid of meaning. Articles
serve the purpose of rendering grammatical meaning. As far as the grammatical meaning of
articles is concerned, four theories have been put forth.
1. The article is a means of expressing the meanings of
'definiteness - indefiniteness' [O. Jespersen; G. Curme;
E. Kruisinga; B.S. Khaimovich, B.I. Rogovskaya].
2. The article is a means of realizing the meanings of given
and new information [O.I. Moskalskaya; K.G. Krushelnitskaya].
3. The difference of articles is based on the numerical
principle [V.J. Propp].
4. The article is a means of distinguishing between the general
and the particular [A.I. Smiraitsky; M.V. Nikitin;
Z.K. Dolgopolova; M. Ganshina, N. Vasilevskaya; T.V. Sokolova].
The generally accepted is the theory of 'definiteness -indefiniteness'. Under the terms
'definiteness - indefiniteness', P. Christophersen understands 'familiarity - unfamiliarity' of the
object which is spoken about. The person or thing becomes definite when spoken about for the
second time, e.g.:
There is a cat on the sofa. The cat is sleeping (V. Evans).
Number of Articles
Three theories exist concerning the number of articles in Modern English.
1. There are two articles in English: definite and indefinite
[H. Poutsma; H. Sweet; L.S. Barkhudarov, D.A. Shtelingj.
2. There are three articles in English: definite, indefinite, and
zero [A.I. Smirnitsky; O.S. Akhmanova; N.F. Irtenyeva;
F.A. Litvin; T.N. Sergeyeva; R. Quirk and his co-authors; D. Biber
and his co-authors].
3. There are four articles in English: definite, indefinite, zero,
and partitive [E.N. Zvereva].
Obviously, there are two material articles: the definite article the and the indefinite article
a/an. Thus, the distinction is between a language and the language.
However, a third variant is possible: There are ways of communication without language
(Longman Language Activator), where the same noun language occurs without any article.
Naturally, the question arises how this third variant is to be treated. The older grammatical
tradition described it as 'omission of article', which is obviously inadequate since there is not the
slightest reason to believe that the article in such cases was ever omitted.
That's why many linguists look upon the absence of article as a special kind of article,
namely a zero article. Some grammarians [e.g. F.A. Litvin] under the term 'zero article'
understand any absence of article. The. majority of linguists, however, are of opinion that we
should differentiate between the zero article, on the one hand, and omission of article, on the
other.
We speak about the so-called omission of article when the article is not used where we
naturally expect to find it in accordance with the rules. Thus, articles are omitted in the
following cases:
1) in newspaper headlines and book titles, e.g.:
Judge refuses to drop charges against princess (Reuters), Key to the Door (A. Sillitoe);
2) in signs, e.g.: Post Office;
3) in stage remarks, e.g.:
Lan takes letter from pocket and she almost snatches it
(M. Brand);
4) in telegrams, e.g.:
A thousand regrets but week-end off 'phoning you later. R. (D. Robins);
5) in poems for the sake of rhyme, e.g.:
I met a Woman as I went walking;
We got talking,
Woman and I.
I met a Puppy as I went walking;
We got talking,
Puppy and I (A. A. Milne);
6) in dictionaries, etc.
In all these cases, the omission of an article is a question of conciseness of style, and the
definite or indefinite article can easily be inserted without affecting the meaning. Cf.:
Judge refuses to drop charges against princess —* The judge refuses to drop the
charges against the princess.
Following A.I. Smirnitsky, T.N. Sergeyeva excludes all cases of stylistically
preconditioned omission of articles from the notion of the zero article and qualifies the latter
exclusively as 'meaningful absence of article'.
The next question is what meaning the so-called zero article has. According to T.N.
Sergeyeva, the zero article has a generalizing force devoid of any classification or
individualization.
Z.K. Dolgopolova does not share this point of view. In her opinion, the so-called zero
article does not have any specific grammatical meaning as opposed to the indefinite article.
Having analyzed sentences of the type Water is a liquid (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English), she comes to the conclusion that there are absolutely no grounds for saying that the
material noun -water with the zero article expresses a more general meaning than the material
noun liquid with the indefinite article.
Both the indefinite and the zero articles commonly express non-specific reference [D.
Biber et al.]. The only difference lies in the fact that the indefinite article usually combines with
nouns realizing notions with clear-cut boundaries, while the so-called zero article specifies
nouns the underlying notions of which lack any definite form. This difference, according to A.F.
Rodionov, is purely semantic. Grammatical classifications cannot be based only on semantic
criteria. Consequently, we are hardly justified in singling out a third, zero article.
Besides, the idea of the zero article would be sound if the article were a morpheme. But
the English article is a word, and the absence of a word cannot be regarded as a zero word.
 True, articles are not lexical, but function words. Function words, according to A.L
Smirnitsky, can be represented as zeros. But we side with B.A. Ilyish who writes that even the
notion of a zero function word seems very doubtful. Really, we never speak of zero prepositions,
for example.
So, it seems better to deny the existence of the zero article in English. Z.K. Dolgopolova
is right: the so-cailed zero article is nothing but a grammatical variant of the indefinite article.
E.N. Zvereva singles out a fourth article in Modern English: the partitive article some,
e.g.:
/ need some money (R. Murphy).
Please give me some milk (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
We side with English grammarians who exclude the partitive some from articles and refer
it to a specific subgroup of determiners called quantifiers, namely those quantifiers that specify a
moderate quantity.
Thus, there are two articles in English: definite and indefinite. The indefinite article has
two forms: positive and zero.

17. The Adjective, Pronoun and the Numeral

The adjective expresses the categorial semantics of property of a substance. It means that
each adjective used in the text presupposes relation to some noun the property of whose referent
it denotes, such as its material, colour, dimensions, position, state, and other characteristics both
permanent and temporary. It follows from this that, unlike nouns, adjectives do not possess a full
nominative value. Indeed, words like long, hospitable, fragrant cannot effect any self-dependent
nominations; as units of informative sequences they exist only in collocations showing what is
long, who is hospitable, what is fragrant.

The semantically bound character of the adjective is emphasised in English by the use of the
prop-substitute one in the absence of the notional head-noun of the phrase.

Types of Adjectives:

Possessive Adjectives
As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession. They are:

My, Your, His, Her, Its, Our, Their

Possessive adjectives also function as possessive pronouns.

Demonstrative Adjectives
Like the article the, demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate or demonstrate specific people,
animals, or things. These, those, this and that are demonstrative adjectives.

 These books belong on that

 This movie is my favorite.
  Please put those cookies on the blue plate.

Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives are separated with commas or the word and, and appear one after another
to modify the same noun. The adjectives in the phrase bright, sunny day
and long and dark night are coordinate adjectives. In phrases with more than two coordinate
adjectives, the word and always appears before the last one; for example: The sign had big, bold,
and bright letters.
Be careful, because some adjectives that appear in a series are not coordinate. In the phrase green
delivery truck, the words green and delivery are not separated by a comma because green modifies the
phrase delivery truck. To eliminate confusion when determining whether a pair or group of adjectives is
coordinate, just insert the word and between them. If and works, then the adjectives are coordinate and
need to be separated with a comma.

Numbers Adjectives
When they’re used in sentences, numbers are almost always adjectives. You can tell that a
number is an adjective when it answers the question “How many?”

 The stagecoach was pulled by a team of six

 He ate 23 hotdogs during the contest, and was sick afterwards.

Interrogative Adjectives
There are three interrogative adjectives: which, what,  and  whose. Like all other types of
adjectives, interrogative adjectives modify nouns. all three of these words are used to ask
questions.

 Which option sounds best to you?

 What time should we go?
 Whose socks are those?

 Indefinite Adjectives
indefinite adjectives are used to discuss non-specific things. they’re formed from indefinite
pronouns. The most common indefinite adjectives are any, many, no, several, and few.

 Do we have any peanut butter?
 Grandfather has been retired for many
 There are no bananas in the fruit bowl.
 I usually read the first few pages of a book before I buy it.
 We looked at several cars before deciding on the best one for our family.

Attributive Adjectives
Attributive adjectives talk about specific traits, qualities, or features – in other words, they are used to
discuss attributes. There are different kinds of attributive adjectives:
  Observation adjectives such as real, perfect, best, interesting, beautiful or cheapest can
indicate value or talk about subjective measures.
 Size and shape adjectives talk about measurable, objective qualities including specific
physical properties. Some examples include small, large, square, round, poor, wealthy,
slow and
 Age adjectives denote specific ages in numbers, as well as general ages. Examples
are old, young, new, five-year-old,  and
 Color adjectives are exactly what they sound like – they’re adjectives that indicate color.
Examples include pink, yellow, blue, and
 Origin adjectives indicate the source of the noun, whether it’s a person, place, animal or
thing. Examples include American, Canadian, Mexican, French.
 Material adjectives denote what something is made of. Some examples include cotton,
gold, wool, and
 Qualifier adjectives are often regarded as part of a noun. They make nouns more specific;
examples include log cabin, luxury car, and pillow  cover.

 Adjectives are divided into simple, derivative and compound.

1. Simple adjectives are adjectives which have neither prefixes nor suffixes. They are
indecomposable: e. g. good, red, black.
2. Derivative [di’rivetiv] (прроизводный)adjectives are adjectives which have
derivative elements, suffixes or prefixes or both: beautiful, foolish, hopeless,
unkind, unimportant.
Productive adjective-forming suffixes are:
3. Compound adjectives are adjectives built from two or more stems.

The main types of compound adjectives are as follows: 

(a) noun-stem + adjective-stem: snow-white.
(b) noun-stem + participle-stem: life-giving, smoke-dried.
(c) adjective-stem + adjective-stem: deaf-mute.
(d) adjective-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: cold-hearted.
(e) noun-stem + noun-stem + suffix - ed: lynx-eyed.
(f) numeral-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: four-wheeled.
(g) adverb-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: over-peopled.

 
A pronoun is used in place of a specific noun mentioned earlier in a sentence so that you
don’t have to keep saying/writing that particular noun.
The word or phrase that a pronoun replaces is called the antecedent of the pronoun. In the
previous example, original noun ‘the coach’ is the antecedent and the pronoun ‘he’ is the
referent because it refers back to the original noun. The antecedent and the pronoun/s must
agree in terms of number and gender.
Types of Pronouns
Pronouns can be divided into numerous categories including:
 Indefinite pronouns – those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or
places, such as someone, anybody, nothing. Notice in the examples below that there
is no set position for where an indefinite pronoun will appear in a sentence.
Indefinite pronoun examples:
1. Anyone
2. Somebody
3. Whichever
4. Whoever
5. Other
6. Something
7. Nobody
Indefinite pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o Would anyone like a coffee?
o Take whatever you like. Jamie took one cookie and Ben took the other.
o Whoever owns this is in big trouble! I want someone to move this now.
Indefinite pronouns can also be used to create sentences that are almost abstract. Examples
could include: this, all, such and something.
o All was not lost.
o Such is life.
o Something tells me this won’t end well.

 Personal pronouns – those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all
except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number. Personal
pronouns are always specific and are often used to replace a proper noun (someone’s
name) or a collective group of people or things. Personal pronouns have two main
groups, one referring to the subject of the sentence and one to the object.
The first is used to replace the subject of the sentence: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and
they. Notice that you is repeated as you can be singular, addressing one person, or
plural, addressing a group of people.
Personal pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o Jack and David are friends. They play basketball together.
o I have more money than he
o We will be late if you don’t hurry up.
The second group of pronouns replaces the object of the sentence: me, you, him, her, it, us,
you, them. Consider the sentence again:
We will be late if you don’t hurry up.
In the above example, we is the subject of the sentence, but you is the object. Other
examples of pronouns replacing the object:
o Peter sang the song to me.
o Missing the train will cause us to be late.
She packed them tightly in the suitcase.

 Reflexive pronouns – those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to

which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves.  Reflexive pronouns are used to refer
back to the subject or clause of a sentence. The list of reflexive pronouns includes: Myself,
yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Reflexive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o Count yourselves
o Annie only had herself to blame.
Peter and Paul had baked themselves cakes.

 Demonstrative pronouns – those used to point to something specific within a

sentence. There are only four demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those – but
the usage can be a bit tricky at times. This and that are singular,
whereas these and those are plural. As you may have noticed, there can be some crossover
with indefinite pronouns when using this and that.
Demonstrative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o I prefer this.
o These are beautiful, but those belong to Danny.
o Did you see that?
While it can be confusing, this, that, these and those can sometimes be used as demonstrative adjectives.
The difference between the two is that a demonstrative pronoun replaces the noun and a demonstrative
adjective qualifies the noun.
I prefer this photo. These flowers are beautiful, but those vases belong to Danny. Did you see that rainbow?
It should be clear that this, that, these and those in the example above are not pronouns because they are
being used to qualify the noun, but not replace it. A good trick for remembering the difference is that a
demonstrative pronoun would still make sense if the word one or ones followed it in the sentence.
I prefer this (one). These (ones) are beautiful. Did you see that (one)? Those (ones) belong to Danny.

 Possessive pronouns – those designating possession or ownership. Examples

include: mine, its, hers, his, yours, ours, theirs, whose. Consider the example:
o This cat is mine.
Mine is indicating possession, that the cat belongs to me. Incidentally, this in the sentence is not a pronoun
but demonstrative adjective as it qualifies the noun cat. You will find that possessive pronouns often follow
phrases that contain demonstrative adjectives.
Possessive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o Are these bananas yours?
o This money is ours.
Is the fault theirs or yours?

 Relative pronouns –those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to

introduce an adjective (relative) clause. They will usually appear after a noun to help
 clarify the sentence or give extra information. Examples include: who, which, that,
whom, whose. Consider the following sentence:
The man who stole the car went to jail. The relative pronoun who acts to refer back to the noun man.
It acts to open a clause by identifying the man as not just any man, but the one who stole the
car.Relative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o The table, which sits in the hallway, is used for correspondence.
o The car that crashed into the wall was blue.
o This is the woman, whose key you found.

 Interrogative pronouns –Those which introduce a question. Examples

include: who, whom, whose, what, which. We can usually identify an interrogative pronoun by the
fact that they often appear at the beginning of a question.
Interrogative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o Who will come to the party?

o Which do you prefer?

o What do you need?

o Whose clothes are on the floor?

o Whom did you tell?

Whom and who are often confused, and even native speakers will use them incorrectly. Who will replace the subject of a
sentence, whereas whom will replace the direct or indirect object. A good tip for deciding which to use is that you can
replace who in the sentence with a personal pronoun and it will still make sense. Who will come to the party? I will come
to the party. The same system would not work for Whom did you tell? I did you tell.

 Reciprocal pronouns –Those expressing mutual actions or relationship; i.e. one

another.
There are just two reciprocal pronouns in English: one another and each other. They
are mainly used to stop unnecessary repetition in a sentence, but also to reinforce the idea that
collective and reciprocal actions are happening to more than one person or thing.John and Mary
gave each other gifts. Using each other allows us the sentence to be more efficient than: John gave
Mary a gift and Mary gave a gift to John. The countries worked with one another on national
security. In this example, one another works to suggest that the action of working is being
reciprocated back and forth by more than one country.
o The boxers punched each other

 Intensive pronouns – those ending in –self or –selves and that serve to emphasize

their ante’cedents (прошлое). These are almost identical to reflexive pronouns, but
rather than just referring back to the subject of the sentence they work to reinforce
the action. In many cases, the sentence would still make sense without the intensive
pronoun.
Intensive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.
o I will do it myself.
o We made this pie ourselves.
o A nation speaks for itself through elections.
 Numerals in English is a part of speech that defines the number or the order of items.
There are simple numerals (1-12), derivative numerals (13-19) and composite numerals
(for example: 21, 67, 147).
There are cardinal and ordinal numerals in the English language.
1) Cardinal numerals show the number of certain items. They correspond to the
interrogative word “How many?”
2) Ordinal numerals are used to show the order of items. They correspond to the question
starting with the word “Which?”

18. Functional sentence perspective

Functional Sentence Perspective
FSP – actual diversion of the sentences – a special type of discourse (дискурс) analysis
concerned with the communicative function of utterance in a given sentence.
FSP analysis is based on the informative value of different sentence elements. The theory
of FSP was worked out by representatives of the Prague school of linguistics V.Mathesius,
J.Firbas and others.
It has been noticed that different sentence parts are not identical in their communicative
value. As a rule we may distinguish two parts in a sentence from this viewpoint: one part
indicating the starting point of the statement, and the other the new information for the sake
of which the sentence has been uttered or written.
This method deals with the arrangement of the theme & rheme in an utterance. The theme –
is a part expressing smth known to the listener & a speaker. The rheme – is a pert containing
view info proper.
The theme - the part of the proposition that is being talked about (predicated), expresses
the starting point of communication; it means that it denotes an object or a phenomenon
about which something is reported. Once stated, the theme is therefore "old news", i.e. the
things already mentioned and understood.
The rheme – the predicate that gives new information on the topic. The rheme expresses
the basic informative part of the communication, emphasizing its contextually relevant
centre.
There are several linguistic means (phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactical) which
are used to signal the rheme and theme.
 Phonetic signals include stress, pauses and intonation: Mary left for ‘London; Mary
‘left for London (different accents underline new information); “The stairs …
opening the door … my surprise that no one was there” (R. Gordon. Doctor in the
house) – here pauses between clauses make all of them rhematic.
  Morphologically the rheme and the theme may be signaled by the definite (theme)
and the indefinite articles or no article (rheme). The was a river near the houses
vs. The river was near the house.
 Syntactic means include word order and number of different
syntactic constructions.
1) New information becomes prominetnt in cases of subject-predicate inversion with
opening adverbials: “Here comes the first question”.
2) W.o. – objective (the theme preceds the rheme) subjective (the rheme preceds the theme).
3) Syntactic constructions “there is”, “it is … that” … (also it is … who, it is … which)
serve to point out the rheme: “There are several students in the room”.
Language means of expressing the theme:
- Stating it explicitly as the subject (which tends to be considered more topic like by the
speakers).
- Using passive voice to transform an object into a subject (for the above reason).
- Emphasizing the topic using clefting: It's Joey (whom) we're looking for. It's money that I
love. I.e. a complex sentence (one having a main clause and a dependent clause) that has a
meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence.
+- Through periphrastic constructions like "As for...", "Speaking of...", etc.
- Using left dislocation (called topic fronting or topicalization, i. e. moving the topic to
the beginning of the sentence).
- The definite article (morphological means)
Means to express the rheme:
 a particular word order with a specific intonation contour (Phonetic means:
stress, pauses and intonation)
 an emphatic construction (“there is”, “it is … that”… it is … who, it is … which)
 a contrastive complex
 intensifying particles
 the indefinite article (morphological means)
 ellipsis
 graphical means.
 lexical means: even, just, only

19. Types of syntactical connection

Three types of syntactic connections can be singled out: coordination, subordination

and accumulation.
Coordination: coordinate phrases consist of two or more syntactically equivalent
units joined in a cluster which functions as a single unit. The member units can be
potentially joined together by means of a coordinate conjunction.

e.g my husband, my family, my home (R. MacDonald).

Subordination: subordinate phrases are structures in which one of the members is

syntactically the leading element of the phrase. This dominating element is called the
head-word, or the kernel, and can be expressed by different parts of speech.

e.g a long silence (H. Innes), where silence is the head, and long is an adjunct.
(придаток)

Accumulation: the accumulative connection is present when no other type of

syntactic connection can be identified.

Cf. (to give) the boy an apple – (to give) an apple to the boy

The presence of a certain syntactic connection between the words in the phrase “the
boy an apple” can be proved by the fact that the change of order results in the change
of the form.

The accumulative connection is widely spread in attributive phrases made up by

attributes expressed by different parts of speech (these problematic (issues); some old
(lady)). The position of the elements relative to each other is fixed, they cannot
exchange their positions (*problematic these (issues); *old some (lady)).

So, according to the type of syntactic connection, the following subclasses are singled
out:

1. Independent one-class phrases with

- syndetic coordination (sense and sensibility),

- asyndetic coordination (the Swiss, the Dutch, the Germans);

2. Independent hetero-class phrases with interdependent primary predication (he

runs).

3. Dependent one-class phrases with the accumulative connection (sharp green

(pencil)).

4. Dependent hetero-class phrases with - accumulative connection (my green

(pencil)),

- interdependent secondary predication ((to find) the cup broken; (she took the box),
her fingers pulling the ribbon)).
20. The definition of the phrase. The theory of the phrase. Types of
phrases from syntactical point of view. Ways of expressing
syntactical relations within a phrase.
21. The sentence. The problem of its definition. Classification of
sentences
According to Vinogradov: sentence is a basic semantic-syntactical unit of communication,
grammatically organized responding to reality and expressing the relation of its meaning to
reality. It’s immediate integral unit of speech built up of words according to a definite syntactic
pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose.

Bloomfield: sent is an independent ling form not included by virtue of any larger ling form. The
main properties of a sentence: predication (the unity of grammatical categories in the sent),
modality (the relation btw the content of the speaking to the reality), certain structure, intonation.

One of the most difficult problems connecting with the sentence study is its definition. The
German scholars decided to summarize all the existing definitions of the sentence:

1. Logical definition: sentence – is a group of words expressing a complete thought (English

Descriptive or nominative grammar, 18th c.).

2. Psychological Definition.: sentence- is not only a linguistic unit but also the structure of
human feeling or thought. S.Curme (an Eng. scholar): a sentence is an expression of thought or
feeling by means of a word or words used in such forms and manner as to convey the meaning
intended.
3. Structural Definition. (classical Scientific Gr-r), R.Zandvoort: a sentence is an oral or written
communication made up one or more units, each of which contains a complete utterance formed
according to a definite pattern.

4. Formal Definition. American Descriptive Gr-r) Ch. Fries: a sentence is a word or group of
words standing between the initial Capital letter and a mark of end punctuation or between two
marks of end punctuation.

5. Phonetic Definition. M.Whitehall : an utterance ending with one of 2 intonation contours

(fall→.! , rise→?) typical of the Eng. language.

However we come across with mixed definitions where a several features of a sentence are
reflected for instance, M.Bryant - the sentence is a communication in words conveying a sense of
completeness containing at least one independent verb with its subject (Structural Approach).

The features are the sentence is a syntactic unit; the s-ce is an autonomous unit which isn’t a part
of a larger syntactic structure; the sentence is a structurally complete unit which is based on a
certain syntactic pattern or modal and contains all the component characteristics of these pattern;
the s-ce is characterized by its own purpose of utterance. It can be a statement, or a
command;The s-ce as an syntactic unit is materialized in a written or oral form. Acc-ly it should
be phonetically or graphically shaped.

Classification of sent. Sent are class. acc to many principles.

According to the structure:

1. Simple (Honesty is the best policy) or composite (You never know what you can do till you
try) (compound (I really need to go to work, but I am too sick to drive) and complex (Although
he was wealthy, he was still unhappy)).
2. Complete (I came straight here) or incomplete (elliptical) (Ready?)
3. Two-member (We are going to my house now) or one-member (An old park).

They all can be:

-Extended (No one was hurt in the accident)

-Unextended (Mary is a doctor)

According to the communicative type:

1)declarative

-affirmative (I have just come back from a business trip)

-negative (I haven’t seen my sister yet)

2)interrogative

-general (Can you speak French?)

-tag questions (You know French, don’t you? - Yes, a bit)

-alternative (Will you go to the opera or to the concert to-night?)

-suggestive (You really want to go now, to-night? - Yes, nothing could make me stay)

-pronominal questions (Who came first? What makes you think so?)

-rhetorical questions (Can any one say what truth is? (No one can say what it is.))

3)imperative (Be quick!)

4)exclamatory (You do look a picture of health!)

These types differ in the aim of communication and express statements, questions, commands
and exclamations respectively.

22. Two-member sentences. Parts of a two-member sentence. The

main parts. The definition of the main parts.
Sentences are divided into two main types: two-member sentences and one-
member sentences.
The usual type of sentence is the two-member sentence which comprises a subject and
a predicate
She walked fast between the flowers... (Galsworthy)
A one-member sentence consists only of one principal part:
Another day of fog. (London.) What a still, hot, perfect day. (Bronte.)
 THE SUBJECT
1. The subject and the predicate are the two principal parts of a two-member sentence.
The subject is grammatically independent of any other part of the sentence. The second
principal part of the sentence — the predicate agrees with the subject in person and number.
2. The subject is expressed by a noun-word denoting the thing (in the widest sense of the
word) characterized by the predicate as to its action state or quality:
3. The subject may be expressed by:
a) A noun in the common case:
...the gardens glow with flowers... A little lighthouse began to shine.
b) A pronoun:
This is the valley of the Blythe. She remained silent for a time.
Two were indeed young, about eleven and ten. The first was a tall lady with dark hair...
d) A substantivized adjective or participle:
The grey of earth and sky had become deeper, more profound. The wicked always think
other people are as bad as themselves. The besieged passed an anxious night.
e) An infinitive:
 To dress in the cold shanty and to wash in icy water was agony..) To prolong doubt was
to prolong hope.
f) A gerund:
Walking is a healthy exercise. Watching and ministering Kit was her best care.
g) Any other word when it is substantivized:
And is a conjunction. A is the first letter of the English alphabet.
h) A syntactical word-combination
In some cases the passive form is used when the subject of the action is indefinite:
Children must not be allowed always to do what they please.
4. An impersonal sentence is a sentence whose predicate does not refer to any person or thing.
The impersonal it is used in sentences denoting:
a) Natural phenomena:
It was a soft spring night dark and starlit.
Sometimes an impersonal construction is used side by side with! the construction there is
It was still raining...
Some impersonal sentences in English have no corresponding impersonal sentences in Russian.
d) State of things in general:
"It's all over, Mrs. Thingummy!" said the surgeon at last.
N o t e. — In sentences denoting a state of things in general we often find the plurals: things, matters and
occasionally affairs which are no more definite than the impersonal it:
How stand matters between you and your brother?
In the days that followed things grew worse.
THE PREDICATE
1. The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence. It serves to assert
something about the subject and has definite grammatical structure.
It is characteristic of the English language that the predicate even a nominal one, always comprises a verb
in the finite form, denoting the categories of person, mood and tense by means of which predication is expressed:
the forms of person connect the predicate with the subject; the mood-forms show in what relation to reality the
speaker places the action or state expressed by the predicate; the tense-forms refer it to a definite period of time.
With regard to its meaning the predicate expresses either a) processes developing in time or b) a qualitative
characteristic of the subject.
Accordingly there are two main types of the predicate: a) verbal and b) nominal.
With regard to its structure the predicate may be simple or compound.
2. A simple predicate is such a predicate, in which both - the primary lexical meaning
and the additional-grammatical meanings (person, mood, tense, etc.) are expressed in one
word
My mother was sitting by the fire...
 3. A compound predicate is such a predicate in which the primary lexical meaning is
expressed in one word — a notional word, and the additional grammatical meanings (person,
mood, tense, etc.) are expressed in another word — a semi-auxiliary:
"...my father was a fisherman...
4. The meaning of the predicate is closely connected with its form. The verbal
predicat1e is primarily simple, but it may also be compound:
...I cried myself to sleep. My mother immediately began to cry.
A nominal predicate is always compound:

The Dodsons were certainly a hanUbuine family.

23. Secondary parts of the sentence. Criteria for distinguishing

between secondary parts.

The theory of the secondary parts is one of the last developed sections of linguistics. The
usual classification of these parts into objects, attributes, and adverbial modifiers is familiar to
everyone. Yet it has many weak points.

The object is a secondary part of the sentence, referring to a part of the sentence
expressed by a verb, a noun, a substantival pronoun, an adjective, a numeral, or an adverb, and
denoting a thing to which the action passes on, which is the result of the action, or denoting an
object of another action.

Take a close look at this definition, which is typical in its way, we shall find that it is
based on two principles, namely (1) the relation of the object to a certain part of speech, (2) the
meaning of the object, that is the relation between the thing denoted and the action or property
with which it is connected.

The first of these principles is syntactical, based on morphology (morphologico-

syntactical), the second is semantic.

The first item of the definition practically moans that an object can refer to any part of
speech capable of being a part of the sentenced The second item enumerates certain semantic
points in the relation between the thing denoted by the object and the action (or the property)
with which it is connected.

The usual kind of definition of the attribute is this: It is a secondary part of the sentence
modifying a part of the sentence expressed by a noun, a substantival pronoun, a cardinal
numeral, and any substantivized word, and characterizing the thing named by these words as to
its quality or property.

This definition, as well as that of the object, contains two items: (1) its syntactical
relations to other parts of the sentence expressed by certain parts of speech, (2) its meaning.
 If we now compare the definition of the attribute with that of the object we shall see at
once that there are two main differences between them: (1) the attribute, as distinct from the
object, cannot modify a verb, an adjective, or an adverb, and (2) the attribute expresses a
property while the object expresses a thing.

They also have something in common: they both can modify a noun, a pronoun, and a
numeral.

Now let us consider the definition of an adverbial modifier. It may sound like this: It is a
secondary part of the sentence modifying a part of the sentence expressed by a verb, a verbal
noun, an adjective or an adverb, and serving to characterize an action or a property as to its
quality or intensity or to indicate the way an action is done, the time, place, cause, purpose, or
condition, with which the action or the manifestation of the quality is connected. This definition
is based on the same principles as two other definitions we have discussed: (1) the syntactical
connection of an adverbial, modifier with parts of the sentence expressed by certain parts of
speech, (2) the meanings, which in this case are extremely varied, comprising no less than eight
different items.

24. The parentheses. Its relation to the main body of the sentence.
The problem of distinguishing between parentheses and insertions
Parenthetic elements are traditionally described as having no syntactic connection with the basic
structure of the sentence. Parenthetic elements are really never integrated into sentences in the
sense that they could be omitted without affecting the structure of the sentences or their meaning.
A.M. Mukhin regards parenthesis as a specific type of syntactic connection that he calls
'introductory syntactic connection'.

Parenthesis introduces the following elements into the structure of the basic syntactic unit

I) modal elements showing the speaker's attitude to the thought expressed in the basic syntactic
unit, eg This is perhaps his finest novel yet

2) connective elements showing the connection of thoughts, e.g In the first place, I don't want to
go, and in the second place, lean't afford to

3) insertions (вставки) giving additional information related to, but not part of the main message
comprised in the basic syntactic unit, eg One of the first to make it in modern times (some
Greeks had known it long before) was Leonardi da Vinci

E. Novoseletskaya draws a distinction between three kinds of insertions: informative, auxiliary,

and modal. Informative insertions create a secondary information plane in regard to the main
information comprised in the basic syntactic unit, e.g.: We'll see if Mary Drawer (that's the
niece) can give us any help (A. Christie).

Auxiliary insertions are typical of scientific texts. As a rule, they contain reference to, 1) the
source of the given information, 2) the part of the paper where the information is given, and 3)
nonverbal components of the text: graphs, tables, diagrams, etc. that illustrate the given
information, eg The relative stability is even more pronounced in the heavy nuclei
 Modal insertions express the speaker's attitude to the information comprised in the basic
syntactic unit, e.g. our experienced officer was now of opinion that the thief (he was wise enough
not to name poor Penelope whatever he might privately think of her!) had been acting in cocert
with the Indians...

Phatic elements serving to establish, keep up and terminate the verbal act of communication, for
example, direct address, interjections, and formulas of etiquette are heterogeneous.

Cream and sugar? Cream, please (P Viney).

Parenthesis should be defined as follows: words and phrases which have no syntactical ties with
the sentence, and express the speaker's attitude towards what he says, a general assessment of the
statement, or an indication of its sources, its connection with other statements, or with a wider
context in speech.

Parentheses are described as having no syntactical connection with the sentence. Parentheses are
rather close to adverbial modifiers in their relation to the rest of the sentence. A parenthesis can
also be at the beginning or at the end of a sentence, is an important point of grammatical
difference between the two.

25. Simple and composite sentences. Types of simple sentences

 In English grammar, a simple sentence is a sentence with only one independent clause
(also known as a main clause).

Though a simple sentence doesn't contain any subordinate clauses, it isn't always short. A
simple sentence often contains modifiers. In addition, subjects, verbs, and objects in simple
sentences may be coordinated.

The other structures are the compound sentence, the complex sentence, and the
compound- complex sentence.

In English grammar, a compound sentence is a sentence that contains at least two

independent clauses. Compound sentences can be formed in three basic ways

The compound sentence is one of the four basic sentence structures. The other structures
are the simple sentence, the complex sentence, and the compound-complex sentence.

The classification of simple sentences is based on two principles:

A. according to the purpose of the utterance - the communicative types of sentence;

B. according to the structure - the structural types of sentence.

According to the purpose of the utterance.

1. The declarative sentence. A declarative sentence states a fact in the affirmative or

negative form. In a declarative sentence the subject precedes the predicate.
 2. The interrogative sentence. An interrogative sentence asks a question. It is formed by
means of inversion, i e. by placing the predicate (or part of it) before the subject (unless the
subject of the interrogative sentence is an interrogative word, in which case there is no inversion)

3. The exclamatory sentence. An exclamatory sentence expesses some kind of emotion or

feeling It often begins with the words what and how, it is always in the declarative form, i.e no
inversion takes place.

4. The imperative sentence. An imperative sentence serves to induce a person to do

something, so it expresses a command, a request, an invitation, etc.

According to their structure, simple sentences are divided into two-member and one-
member sentences. A two-member sentence has two members - a subject and a predicate. If one
of them is missing it can be easily understood from the context. A two-member sentence may be
complete or incomplete. It is complete when it has a subject and a predicate.

A one-member sentence is a sentence having only one member which is neither the
subject nor the predicate. This does not mean, however, that the other member is missing, for the
one member makes the sense complete. One-member sentences are generally used in
descriptions and in emotional speech.

If the main part of a one-member sentence is expressed by a noun, the sentence is called
nominal The noun may be modified by attributes. Dusk - of a summer night (Dreiser)

Simple sentences, both two-member and one-member, can be unextended and extended A
sentence consisting only of the primary or principal parts is called an unextended sentence.

She is a student.

An extended sentence is a sentence consisting of the subject, the predicate and one or
more secondary parts (objects, attributes, or adverbial modifiers) The two native women stole
furtive glances at Sarie. (Abrahams).