The Conjunctions. Semantics of Conjunctions

Conjunctions have a very general meaning. They indicate the existence of connection between elements within an utterance or utterances within a text.

In accordance with their meaning, they are generally subdivided into two main groups: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions are further classified into copulative (and, as well as, nor, neither... nor...), disjunctive (or, either... or...), adversative (but), causative-consecutive (so, for).

Subordinate conjunctions: that, if, as, though, as if, as though, while, when, where, after.

Morphological characteristics

Each conjunction has but one unchangeable form, so they have no morphological grammatical categories. In accordance with their inner structure, conjunctions may be subdivided into simple (consisting of one stem) and compound (consisting of more than one stem),

E.g. simple - and, but, or, when, where, etc.

compound - however, as well as, in case, etc.

Some conjunctions are used as a part of a correlated pair, the elements of which are set at a distance from each other,

E.g. both... and, neither... nor

Conjunctions are never used alone in the sentence, nor do they have an independent function there. They are always used as mere connectives between different parts within a simple sentence, or clause, or clauses within a compound or complex sentences.

The conjunctions, in definition of Bloch, express connections of phenomena.

Numerals

Numerals are words which denote the number (they are called cardinal) or the place of the object in the numerical order (ordinal).

E.g. He had two cups of coffee.

The second cup tasted bitter (ordinal).

Morphological characteristics

All numerals have one unchangeable form. They have no morphological grammatical categories. Ordinal numerals are formed from the corresponding cardinal numerals by adding the suffix -th to the stem of the cardinal numeral. The exceptions will be the numerals: one, two, three.

There are so-called fractional numbers where the numerator is a cardinal numeral and the denominator is an ordinal numeral with the ending -s (two-sixths).

Syntactic characteristics. Combinability

Numerals are used as a part of a noun phrase,

E.g. He had two cups of coffee.

Sometimes numerals can be used absolutely when the object is clear from the context,

E.g. I didn't have two cups of coffee, I had one.

Functions

Numerals are generally used as attributes to nouns. When used absolutely they may fulfill every other function with the exception of that of a simple verbal predicate,

E.g. I want one cup of coffee, two (a second) would be too much (a subject).

I had only one cup of coffee, but he had two (a second) (an object).

His turn was second. She is twenty (a predicate).

He came at two (an adverbial modifier).

According to Bloch, the features of the numeral are as follows:

1) The categorial meaning of number (cardinal and ordinal);

2) The narrow set of simple numerals, the specific forms of composition for compound numerals, the specific suffixal forms for ordinal numerals;

3) The functions of numerical attribute and numerical substantive.

23.05.13

Syntaxes

Syntaxes. Phrases

Within domain of syntax two levels should be distinguished: that of phrases and that of sentences. B. Ilyish terms phrase a common combination of two or more words which is a grammatical unit, but which is not an analytical form of some word,

E.g. the perfect forms of verbs

The constituent elements of a phrase may belong to any part of speech. Some linguists define a phrase as a constituent of at least two notional words, but this definition is not convincing, because if we take this definition, the phrase "preposition + noun" will remain outside the classification and will be neglected in grammatical theory.

The difference between a phrase and a sentence is a fundamental one.

1. A phrase is a means of naming some phenomena or processes. Each component of a phrase can undergo grammatical changes in accordance with grammatical categories represented in it, without destroying the identity of the phrase. For instance, in the phrase 'write letters' the 1st component can change according to the verbal categories of tense, mood, etc., and the 2nd component - according to the category of number. Thus, 'writes a letter', 'has written a letter', 'would have written letters', etc. are grammatical modifications of one phrase.

With a sentence things are entirely different. A sentence is a unit with every word having its definite form. A change in the form in one or more words would produce a new sentence.

2. A phrase as such has no intonation, just as a word has none. Intonation is one of the most important features of a sentence, which distinguish it from a phrase.

In studying phrases from a grammatical point of view (not lexical) we'll divide them according to the function in the sentence into:

1) Those which perform the function of one or more parts of the sentence,

E.g. predicate or predicate and object or predicate and adverbial modifier

2) Those which do not perform any such function, but whose function is equivalent to that of a preposition or conjunction. The former of these two classes comprises the overwhelming majority of English phrases, but the latter is no less important from a general point of view.

Types of phrases

The phrase 'noun + noun' is the most usual type of phrase in Modern English. It must be divided into two subtypes depending on the form of the genitive case,

E.g. speech sound

The 1st component of such a phrase may be either in the common or in the genitive case.

Other very common types are as follows: adjective + noun, verb + noun, verb + adverb, adverb + adjective, adverb + adverb, noun + preposition + noun, adjective + preposition + noun, verb + preposition + noun.

Syntactical relations between the components of a phrase

These fall under two main heads: 1) agreement or concord, 2) government.

By agreement we mean a method of expressing a syntactical relationship which consists in making the subordinate word take a form similar to that of the word to which it is subordinate. In Modern English this can refer only to the category of number. A subordinate word agrees in number with its head word. This is practically found in two words only: in pronouns 'this' and 'that' which agree in the number with their head word. The problem of agreement of the verb with the noun or pronoun denoting the subject of the action (a child plays, children play) is controversial, because there are some phenomena in Modern English which would seem to show that the verb does not always follow the noun in the category of number,

E.g. My family are early risers.

The United Nations is an international organization.

They prove that the verb can be independent of the noun in this respect.

Thus, the sphere of agreement in Modern English is extremely small; it is restricted to two pronouns 'this' and 'that'.

By government we understand the use of a certain form of the subordinate word required by its head word, but not coinciding with the form of the head word itself. That is the difference between agreement and government.

The role of government is almost as insignificant as that of agreement. The only thing that may be turned down in Modern English is the use of the objective case of personal pronouns, and of the pronoun 'who' when they are subordinate to verb following a preposition. Thus, the forms 'me', 'him', 'her', 'us', 'them' are required if the pronoun follows a verb (find me).

Composite sentence

Composite sentence is divided into compound sentences and complex sentences. The 1st principal of classification of composite sentences is the way in which the parts of a composite sentence (its clauses) are joined together. This may be achieved either by means of special words designed for this function or without the help of such words. In the 1st case the method is called syndetic (союзный) and the composite sentence may be called syndetic. In the 2nd case the method of joining the clauses is asyndetic (the sentence itself may be called asyndetic).

Syndetic composite sentences

There are two variants of syndetic joining the sentences, the difference depending on the character and syntactic function of the word used to join them. The joining word may be a conjunction, a pronoun or an adverb. Conjunctions have only one function - the function of joining the clauses together. The function of pronoun and adverb is twofold, on the one hand, it is a part of one or two clauses which are joined (the subject, object, adverbial modifier). It serves to join two sentences together (connective function). Asyndetic composite sentences are whose constituent clauses are not joined together either by a conjunction or by any kind of conjunctive word (relative pronoun or relative adverb): 'who', 'which', 'that', 'when', 'where'). In traditional grammar asyndetic sentences, just as syndetic ones, were classified into compound and complex,

E.g. She held out her hand to him, not taking it, he stepped back and opened the door for her (compound).

Everything I've done to him has been outrageous (complex).

Compound sentences consist of clauses joined together by coordinating conjunctions. These are very few: and, but, or, for, yet, so. It should be noted that coordinated conjunctions differ from each other in definiteness of meaning,

E.g. the conjunction 'but' has an adversative meaning which is very clear and definite. The meaning of the conjunction 'and' is one of addition, but it is rather wide.