THE ARTICLE - раздел Иностранные языки, Some General Remarks § 364. The Two Words A(N), The Form A Separate Group Or Class Characte...
§ 364. The two words a(n), the form a separate group or class characterized by
a) the lexico-grammatical meaning of '(in)definiteness', •b) the right-hand combinability with nouns, c) the function of noun specifiers.
§ 365. The lexical meaning of a(n) in Modern English is a very weak reminder of its original meaning (OE. an = one). In spite of the long process of weakening there remains enough of the original meaning in a(n) to exclude the possibility of its being attached to a 'plural' noun.
The lexical meaning of the in Modern English is a pale shadow of its original demonstrativemeaning.
The general lexico-grammatical meaning of these words, as usual, is not identical with their individual lexical meanings. It abstracts itself from the meaning of 'oneness' in a(n) and the 'demonstrative' meaning in the. Perhaps, the names ofjhe articles ('definite', 'indefinite') denote Jh_e„nearest approach to this lexico-grammatical meanTngT wBich, for lack of a better term, might be defined as that of 'definiteness — indefi-niteness'.
§ 366. One might be tempted to regard the two articles as members of an opposeme, and the meanings of 'definiteness', 'indefiniteness' as the particular meanings of some grammatical category. Language facts, however, contradict such views. As we know, the members of an opposeme must belong to the same lexeme and have identical meanings (barring those opposed). Now a(n) and the do not belong to one lexeme and their meanings are not identical. Besides the meaning of 'indefiniteness' a(n) possesses the meaning of 'oneness' not found in the. The 'demonstrative' meaning of the is alien to a(n).
For similar reasons a book — the book are not analytical members of some noun opposeme, and (he, a(n) are not grammatical word-morphemes.'
1) A(n) and the are not devoid of lexical meaning as grammatical word-morphemes are.
2) Their meanings are not relative. The has the meaning of 'definiteness' not only when opposed to a(n). Cf. snow — the snow, books — the books.
All this corroborates the view that the articles are individual words with individual lexical meanings united by the general lexico-grammatical meaning of '(m)defi-niteness'.
§ 367. Some grammarians speak of the 'zero article' 1or the 'zero form of the indefinite article' 2. We are definitely against these terms.
A grammatical zero morpheme is created in an opposeme owing to the relative nature of grammatical meanings. As shown above, the articles are not grammatical morphemes and their meanings are not relative. They are words, and the absence of a word cannot be regarded as a zero word. We do not speak of zero prepositions or zero particles. There is not more reason to speak of zero articles.
§ 368. The common features in the combinability of the articles are due to their belonging to the same part of speech, in other words, the lexico-grammatical combinability of the articles is the same. Both of them have right-hand connect ions with the same part of speech, nouns.
The difference in their combinability can be explained by the difference in their lexical meanings.
§ 369. In accordance with its meaning 'one of many' the indefinite article is used to denote one thing of a class .and is therefore a classifying article.
Thus the sentence / bought a pencil is roughly equivalent to another (clumsier) sentence / bought one of those things called pencils. He is a student is equivalent to He is one of those (people) called students.
Naturally, the indefinite article with its meaning of 'oneness'is not used with a 'plural' noun, but it can be used with a noun in the singular denoting the whole class, as An eagle is a very strong bird.
1 А. И. Смирницкий, op. cit., p. 382.
2 M. Ganshina, N. Vasilevskaya, op. cit., p. 41.
The lexical meaning of a(n) explains why it is not-normally used with 'uncountable' nouns like snow, meat, bravery or 'countable' nouns used in «n 'uncountable' sense.
E. g. We have duck for dinner.
Conversely, abstract uncountables regularly occur with the indefinite article if used to denote kinds or varieties of some abstract concept, state, quality, etc.
E. g. It had been a long and frustrating courtship. (Greene)
The indefinite article is not used with proper nouns because its meaning 'one of many' does not go with the 'individualizing' sense of a proper noun. A Paris would denote one of many Parises, which is absurd. But when a proper name is used as a common noun (e. g. a Byron = a poet) it may be associated with the indefinite article.
E. g. A new Shakespeare is yet to come. (The Tribune)
§370. In compliance with its 'demonstrative' meaning the definite article points out or individualizes one object or a class of objects denoted by the noun it is associated with, and is therefore an individualizingor limitingarticle.
When a man says to his friend / have bought the book, it is clear that both the speaker and the hearer bear in mind a definite particular book, not 'one of many'. In The hawk is a bird of prey, the hawk as a class of birds is singled out from other classes.
Now, since it is possible to 'point out' almost any object or substance, the definite article may be used with most nouns and different noun grammemes.
Abstract nouns: There were moments when I was bewildered by t he terror John inspired. (Bronte).
Material nouns: / sat down in her boudoir, happy to breathe the air consecrated so lately by her presence. (Ib.).
'Singular' and 'Plural' nouns: At intervals, while turning over the I e a v e s of my book, I studied the a s p e с t of that winter afternoon. (Ib.).
Only proper names, which individualize without the help of the definite article, are mostly not associated with the. But there are cases when the is used. The said Eliza, John and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama. (Ib.)
216,
N о t e 1. In cases like the Hague, the Ukraine, the Volga, etc. the is an indispensable part of the name. It does not function as an article specifying a noun, but as part of a composite noun 1.
Note 2. In a book of this kind it seems superfluous to give numerous rules pertaining to the use of articles in speech. They can be found in any practical grammar. Most of them are covered by the principles stated above.
§ 371. Owing to its classifying force the indefinite article often draws the attention of the listener (or reader) to the word it is used with 2. This is not the case when the definite article is employed.
Cf. The curtain rose and a girt stepoed out. The curtain rose and the girl stepped out.
In the first example the attention of the listener is attracted to the fact that it was a girl (not a boy, an old man, etc.) who stepped out. In the second sentence the listener's attention is drawn to the action of stepping out. So the indefinite article is associated with some novelty of information, the definite article points out an object as something familiar.
От авторов... Some General Remarks... Morphology...
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SOME GENERAL REMARKS
§ 1. In this book the phoneme, the morpheme, the word,and the sentenceare regarded as the basic units of language and speech. The definitions of these units have n
INTRODUCTION
§ 6. There exist many definitions of the. term word and none of them is generally accepted. But in the majority of cases pedple actually experience no difficulty in separating one word from
THE STRUCTURE OF WORDS
§ 7. One of the main properties of a word is its double nature. It is material because it can he heard or seen, and it is immaterial or ideal as far as its meaning is concerned. We shall regard the
THE CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS
§ 19. A morpheme usually has more than one meaning. This is the case, for instance, with both the lexical and the grammatical morpheme in the word runs. The morpheme run- has the following m
THE NOUN
§ 64. As follows from our previous discussion of the parts of speech in English, the noun may be defined as a part of speech characterized by the following features:
1. The lexico-grammati
The Category of Number
§ 71. The category of number of Engl ish nouns is the system of opposemes (such as girl — girls, foot — feet, etc.) showing whether the noun stands for оде object or more than
Noun Grammemes in Speech
§ 87. An English noun lexeme may contain four words at most (boy, boys, boy's, boys'). Each of these words, as we know (§ 19), represents not only the lexeme, but a certain grammeme as well.
THE ADJECTIVE
§ 101. Adjectives are a part of speech characterized by the following typical features:
1. The lexico-grammatical meaning of 'attributes (of substances)'. It should be understood that
Adjective Grammemes in Speech
§ 110. An English adjective lexeme may contain three words at most (strong — stronger — strongest) representing three grammemes. The fourth grammeme contains words with the oblique me
THE ADVERB
§ 116. The adverb is a part of speech characterized by the following features: *
1. The lexico-grammatical meaning of "qualitative, quan titative or circumstantial characteri
THE NUMERAL
§ 130. The numeral as a part of speech is characterized by
1) its lexico-grammatical meaning of 'number',
2) the category of numerical qualification represented in opposemes l
PRONOUNS
, § 139. It has been shown above that words fall into classes known as parts of speech in accordance with their lexico-grammatical meanings, morphological categories, typical stem-building element
Хаймович и др
But what is more important, pronouns can be substituted «not only for nouns, but for othe
Generalizing Pronouns
§ 178. Here belong such pronouns as all, both, each, either, every and its compounds (everyone, everybody, everything, everywhere) which give a generalizing indication of persons, th
THE VERB
§ 187. Analysing the verb in Modern Russian, V. V. Vi-nogradov characterizes it as "the most complex and capacious part of speech" J. Likewise, A. I. Smirnitsky 2 st
The Category of Voice
§ 203. The category of voice is the system of two-member opposemes (loves — is loved, loving — being loved, to love — to be loved, has loved — has, been loved, et
The Category of Aspect
§ 218. The category of aspect is a system of two-member opposemes such as works — is working, has worked — has been working, to work — to be working showing the characte
The Indicative Mood
§ 229. The indicative mood is the basic mood of the verb. Morphologically it is the most developed system including all the categories of the verb.
Semantically it is a fact mood. It serve
The Subjunctive Mood
§ 239. Probably the only thing linguists are unanimous about with regard to the subjunctive mood is that it represents an action as a 'non-fact', as something imaginary,
1
The Imperative Mood
§ 247. The imperative mood represents an action as a command, urging, request, exhortation addressed to one's interlocutor^). It is a direct expression of one's will. Therefore it is much more 's
Verb Grammemes in Speech
§ 251. When used in speech a word has but one of its lexical meanings and all of its grammatical meanings (see § 21). Thus in the sentence He writes to me every week, the verb writes
Indicative Mood Grammemes
The Present, Non-Continuous, Non-Perfect
§ 253. As a part of the verb system it may be said to present an action in the present (present tense) unspecified as to its character (non-contin
Voice Grammemes
§ 288. In the' system of the English language the active (non-marked) and the passive (marked) members of the voice opposeme are equal in rank, mutually complementing each other. This is not the ca
Subjunctive Mood Grammemes in Speech
§ 293. As we know, there is not a single subjunctive mood grammeme which has no homonyms in the indicative or in the imperative mood (or both). The discrimination of homo-nymous grammemes rests on
Imperative Mood Grammemes in Speech
§ 302. In most cases they serve to present an order, command, exhortation, request, etc. as a direct expression of the speaker's will.
In certain surroundings, however, mostly in
The Gerund
§ 321. The gerund is a verbid characterized by the following features:
1. Its dual lexico-grammatical meaning of an action partially viewed as a substance.
2. The categories
THE RESPONSE WORDS
§ 334. The response-words yes and no are characterized as a separate class by
a) their meaning of 'response statement',
b) their negative combinability,
c)
THE INTERJECTION
§ 337. The interjection is a part of speech characterized by the following features.
1. It expresses "emotions or will without naming them.
2. It has no grammatical categorie
THE PREPOSITION
§ 342. The preposition is a part of speech characterized by the following features:
Kits lexico-grammatical meaning of 'relations (of substances)'.
2. Its bilateral combinability
THE CONJUNCTION
§ 353. The conjunction is a part of speech characterized by the following features.
1. Its lexico-grammatical meaning of 'relations between substances, actions, properties, situations,
THE PARTICLE
§ 372. The particle as a part of speech is characterized by the following features:
1. Its lexico-grammatical meaning of 'emphatic specifi cation'.
2. Its unilateral combina,
INTRODUCTION
§ 378. The basic unit of syntax is the sentence.There exist many definitions of the sentence, but none of them is generally accepted 1. But in the majority of cas
L/j8 Хаймсшич и
tences when the predicate verb contains no morphological word-morphemes.
§ 392. A unit of a higher level, as we know, contains units of the next lower level. A sentence contai
THE STRUCTURE OF A SENTENCE
§ 396. As defined (§ 3), when studying the structure of a unit, we find out its components, mostly units of the next lower level, their arrangement and their functions as parts of the unit.
A. As to Their Structure
§ 403. Sentences with only one predication are called simple sentences. Those with more than one predication have usually no general name 3. We shall call them
Combinations of Sentences
§ 416. The sentence is usually the limit of grammatical analysis. Conrbinations of sentences have never got adequate attention on the part of linguists. Yet the necessity of extending linguistic an
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE PARTS OF THE SENTENCE
§ 420. Traditionally the subject and the predicate are regarded as the primary or principal parts of the sentence and the attribute, the object and the adverbial modifier — as the secondary parts
The Predicate
§ 430. The predicate is the member of a predication con taining the mood and tense (or only mood) components of predicativity. "
E. g. This dictionary employs a pronunciat
G) Adverbials of attending circumstances
He sank down in his chair, resting his chin in his hand. (Dreiser). -
§456. Qualitative and quantitative adverbial complements are more closely connected with their headword
Attributes
§ 459. Attributes are secondary parts of the sentence serving to modify nouns or noun-equivalents in whatever functions they are used in the sentence.
In simple sentences attributes can
Extensions
§ 467. Extensions are adjuncts of adjectives, adverbs and adlinks in a sentence. They differ from complements and attributes in being usually modifiers of modifiers, or ter-tiaries,
Connectives
§ 469. Connectives are linking-words considered as a secondary part of the sentence. They are mostly prepositions and conjunctions.
She played and sang to him. (London).
C
Го-Specifiers
§ 471. The peculiar combinability and functions of particles distinguish them from all other words in the sentence. They .-are not adjuncts of definite parts of speech like complements, .attributes
Parenthetical Elements
§ 473. Parenthetical elements are peculiar parts of the sentence.
a) They are characterized by negative combinability with the other words of the sentence.
b) They are, as it
II. The Position of the Object
a) The Place of the Direct Object
§ 479. The direct object is usually placed after the verb unless the indirect object precedes it.
He offered me his help.
However
THE COMPOSITE SENTENCE
§ 492. Composite sentences, as we know (§ 403), divide into compound and complex sentences. The difference between them is not only in the relations of coordination or subordination, as usually st
THE COMPOUND SENTENCE
§ 496. The clauses of compound sentences are of equal rank, but usually the clause preceding the conjunction is regarded as the initial clause to which the other clause is related. These relations
THE COMPLEX SENTENCE
§ 498. The principal clauses of complex sentences are usually not classified, though their meanings are not neutral with regard to the meanings of the subordinate clauses.
Cf. He will c
Complement Clauses
a) Predicative Clauses
§ 509. The sentence The question is where he can be found consists of the principal clause the question is and the predicative clause where he can
Attribute Clauses
§ 518. Attributive clauses are postpositive adjuncts of nouns. They are commonly divided into relative and a'pposi-tiveclauses. Relative clauses are introduced by pronouns (or asyn
Extension Clauses
§ 520. Extension clauses are postpositive adjuncts of adjectives, adverbs and adlinks.
E. g. It is indeed doubtful how he had become aware that
Ro
Parenthetical Clauses
§ 521. Most authors who do not regard parenthetical elements as parts of the sentence treat It is past ten, I think as a simple sentence 1. We do not find this view convin
COMPOUND-COMPLEX AND COMPLEX-COMPOUND SENTENCES
§ 523. Sometimes subordination and coordination may be combined within one sentence, in which case we may have compound-complex and complex-compound sentences.
1 See M. Ganshma,
DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH
§ 524. Among the composite sentences of English and other languages we find a peculiar type differing from the rest.
Cf. He said, "/ love you". (Greene). ,
CONCLUSION
§ 530. We have made a survey of the morphological and syntactical systems of Modern English, resorting, where appropriate, to comparison with Modern Russian. Now, by way of summing up, we shall ma
Теоретическая грамматика английского языка
(на английском языке)
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