To the main notions in the study of Theoretical Grammar the following ones are included: grammatical category; grammatical form and grammatical meaning.
Grammatical Meaning differs from Lexical Meaning. The latter implies an idea or a sense that a word represents. Grammar Meaning also implies an idea or a sense but they (ideasense) are peculiar to a class of words but not to a single word; they are united by a general propriety of the class of words. Thus, Grammatical Meaning is a generalized or abstract propriety of a class of words and unites big groups of classes of words.
For instance:
| Class of words | Proprieties |
| The Noun | to present objects or things (abstract or concrete). |
| The Verb | to express action. |
| The Adjective | to show a sign or a quality of an object or a thing. |
So, the Grammatical Meaning of the Noun is the propriety to present objects or things, the one of the Verb is the propriety to express an action, the one of the Adjective is the propriety to present a sign or a quality of an object or a thing, etc.
Grammatical Meaning is expressed through the formal indices of a class of words or through their absence. Formal indices are specific for each language and express Grammatical Meaning only when they are joined to the stems of definite parts of speech.
For instance:
The index ‘s’ in the English Language can express:
a) the Plural form of the Noun (a language - languages);
b) the Present Simple for the 3rd Person Singular (We live. – He lives.);
c) the Possessive Case of the Noun (a friend’s advice).
Grammatical Form refers to a material expression of Grammatical Meaning (expression of a word’s form or inflexion).
For instance:
The Grammatical Form ‘has been speaking’ is a material (language) expression of the Grammatical Meaning of the Verb which is presented by the definite notional verb ‘speak’ in the Present Perfect Continuous which refers to the 3rd Person Singular.
Grammatical Category appears on the ground of Grammatical Forms (that in their turn express Grammatical Meaning); it cannot include less than two opposite or properly correlated Grammatical Forms.
For instance:
In English there are:
a) the Category of Tense (Past, Present and Future) that includes 3 Grammatical Forms (properly correlated);
b) the Category of Aspect (Simple, Continuous, Perfect Simple and Perfect Continuous) that includes 4 Grammatical Forms (properly correlated);
c) the Category of Voice (Active and Passive) that includes 2 Grammatical Forms (opposite);
d) the Category of Number (Singular and Plural) that includes 2 Grammatical Forms (opposite), etc.
Grammatical Category presents a peculiar reflection of reality as the Category of Tense, for example, reflects a relation of an action to a moment of time; the Category of Voice reflects a relation of an agent to an action, etc.
Grammatical Category refers to the unity of two or more Grammatical Forms that are opposite or brought into proper correlation in accordance with Grammatical Meaning (example given above).
1.3.3. Language levels(table 1.2)
Table 1.2
Subdivision of Language Levels’
| Language Levels | Unites | Essence |
| 1. Primary | Basis of elements (conditional statics): | |
| Phonemic | Phoneme (sound) | Phonemes build material form for language signs but are not material signs by themselves. They form morphemes. |
| Lexical | Lexeme (word) | Words and steady expressions |
| Proposemic (ïðîïîçåìàòè÷åñêèé) | Phraseme (phrase) | Sentences |
| 2. Transitive | Transition of elements (conditional dynamics): | |
| Morphemic (ìîðôåìàòè÷íûé) | Morpheme (building element of Word) | from a morpheme to a word |
| Denotative (äåíîòàòèâíûé) | Denoteme (Categorematic Word or Phrase) | from a word to a sentence |
| Dictumic – from dictum[‘diktem]: a statement that expresses sth that people believe is always true or should be followed – (äèêòåìàòè÷åñêèé) | Dicteme (sentence or contextual thematic unite of sentences) | from a sentence to a text |
Certain units are defined by inner, relatively reserved in a corresponded level features. To such unites the following are referred:
1) Phoneme which is defined with a set of phonologic distinctive signs and which is not marked with the function of a sign;
2) Word which is defined with the signs of nominative function;
3) Sentence which is defined with the signs of predicative function (table 1.2).
The quality of other units is distinguished in a necessary and ingenious correlation with the units of adjacent levels. They are
1) Morpheme which is defined as a component of a word (with its nominative function of a sign);
2) Denoteme which is defined as a component of a sentence (with its situation-predicative or propositive function);
3) Dicteme which is a component of a text (with its communicative funtcion) (table 1.2).