Modality (Mod)- is a linguistic term which denotes the relation of the contents of speech to reality as viewed by the speaker
In the case of Objective Mod. We must introduce a V into a sentence and it will show the connection with reality.
In the case of Subjective Mod. We can choose some additional means to express our attitude.
Means of expressing Mod: modal words express the speaker’s evaluation of the relation between the made in the sentence and reality. They stand outside phrases; their syntactical function - parenthesis. Semantically can denote: 1) certainty (certainly, of course, no doubt, surely)
2) supposition (may be, perhaps) 3) desirability (luckily, happily).
Modal Vs do not denote actions or states but show the attitude of the speaker towards the action expressed by the infinitive. Thus the action is viewed as possible, obligatory, requested etc.
So, modal Vs- is lexico-grammatical Mod. Mood- is the Gr. Category of the V reflecting the relation of the action denoted by the V to reality from the speaker’s point of view.
2.The problems of classification into parts of speech (interjection, statives, pronouns)
Parts of speech are lexical-grammatical word classes characterized by a general abstract grammatical meaning expressed in certain grammatical markers. It means that within certain classes of words certain grammatical features are common to all words of the class.
■ Functionally all parts of speech fall into two large groups: notional words and functional (form) words.
1. Notional.There are 6 notional parts of speech, 4 are the main ones: noun, verb, adjective, adverb.
They cover 93% of the English lexicon. They fill all the main positions in the sentence, they possess an independent notional meaning. Plus usually grammarians refer pronouns and numerals to notional ps of sp.
Notional words are characterized by a clear-cut lexical meaning plus they also have a distinct gr meaning. They can perform various syntactic functions.
2.Functional.Other parts of sp serve as connectors between the main ones. They are often called syn-semantic, syntagmatic words. These dependent words are prepositions and conjunctions. Prepositions act within one clause, conjunctions may connect words, clauses, separate sentences.
So function words express relations but they never denote objects and notions. However, the relations they denote are not purely formal, because each preposition and conjunction has a definite lexical meaning.
- Their use is sometimes obligatory: depend on.
- They are never used alone in the sentence (without notional words). Sentences containing only notional words are possible: Mary came home late last night.
- The number of FWs is limited (150). They occur quite frequently.
٧The interjectionclearly falls out of the system. Semantically they express emotions, the attitude of the speaker to the special situation. They are unpredictable and difficult to define. Functionally it's difficult to distinguish them from Ws and WCs.
Interjections are imitation of sounds, of nature, reflections of surprise, indignation. Sometimes interjections draw from notional words: well, my.The number of these elements is limited. Grammarians suggest terming them as emotionalelements, discourse particles, without specifying which part of speech they belong to.
٧In general now there is a tendency to enlarge the traditional number of parts of speech by including some new items, for example: Words of the category of state:alive, ajar, asleep. These words are similar to adjectives which can express states and function as predicatives. Grammarians say that this is a subclass of adjectives limited to the predicative function.
٧Pronouns- are they a different part of speech?
NO: - Sweet, Sherba classical school but - Jesperson: can't be applied to all WCs
YES: Are they notional of functional?
Notional: classical school, functional: present day.Barhudarov: structural Ws.
■ Principles of classification.The modern classification is traced back to ancient Greece.
Though criticized, it's natural and easy to remember. Principles:
1.Semantic. Has been criticized a lot. Jesperson: Traditional grammar says that by means of the verb something is said about sth/sb. But! "You 're a scoundret" - it's the words scoundrel that says sth about sb. Using this principle we should treat this word as a verb!
Nouns denote things, objects.
Verbs - action, state
Adjectives- qualities, properties
But! Words as 'action', 'flight' denote actions. Whiteness denotes quality.
So this principle alone is not reliable.
2. Formal approach.The form of a word. In this case the noun should be defined as a word which has a plural -s or in the possessive case 's. But then the invariable parts of sp should be classed together in a strange group: must, for, sheep.
One of the famous classifications was worked out within this approach (H. Sweet). He was the 1st grammarian who represented the facts of English beyond the framework of Latin grammar.
1) Declinable:
- noun-words: infinitives& gerunds, noun numerals, nouns proper, noun pronouns adjective-words: adjectives proper, adjective pronouns, adjective numerals, participles
- verbs: verbs proper, verbals.
2) Indeclinable: adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections.
The principles of Sweet's classification are not unified. This happened because Sweet worked under the strong influence of the rules of classical grammar. He starts from form, taking into consideration the ability of words to have inflexions. That's the origin of his division, but it's easy to notice that adverbs and numerals are indeclinable and pronouns have few formal exponents. So Sweet declares his own basic principle.
٧ Russian Soviet Linguistic School.Originally the classification developed by this school aimed at describing the Russian language. But it turned out that the principles of this classification appeared universal - can be applied to all European languages.
1.Semantic. The general meaning of a part of speech doesn't coincide with individual lexical and grammatical meanings of words which belong to it but the general meaning is closely connected with these meanings.
The general meaning of a part of speech is called lexical-grammatical.
# The general meaning of a noun is that of substantivity. Verbs denote actions or states and taken together denote processes.
2. Morphologicala)Morphological categories. Each part of speech possesses some morphological categories which are not to be found in any other part of speech.
# Nouns have number and case. Verb is characterized by several grammatical categories. This principle can be applied to the parts of speech which have certain grammatical categories and which have special form-building means of expressing such categories.
b) Word-building affixes. Certain word-building affixes are typical of this or that part of speech only. # Nouns: -dom-, -ness, -ion.
But! Only few English words contain derivational affixes which help to list them as this or that aprt of speech. Most word-building affixes in modern English are ambiguous. They can be found in several parts of speech at a time. # ly -friendly - adj, daily - noun, kindly - adverb, etc
3.Syntactic.
a) We are to consider the syntactic role of a word in a sentence. Different functions of a sentence are typical of different parts of speech.
b) The combinability of words. # Nouns can combine with articles, prepositions, adjectives.
4. Functional A part of speech is described as a lexical-grammatical field which has a core and a periphery.
3. Compound and complex sentences. Types of Predicates
The compound sentence is a composite sentence built on the principle of coordination, expressed either syndetically (by means of coordinative connectors) or asyndetically. The usual classification into compound and complex sentences should be applied to syndetic composite sentences. The basic difference: in compound sentences none of the clauses of which they consist is below the other in rank, they are coordinated. In complex sentences the clauses are not on an equal footing (the main and subordinate clauses). The base sentences joined into 1 compound sentence lose their independent status and become coordinate. The first clause is leading, the successive clauses are sequential.
The coordinators are divided into conjunctions, proper and semi-functional clausal connectors of adverbial character. The main conjunctions are and, but, or, for, yet, so, either or, neither nor, etc. The main adverbial coordinators are then, yet, so, thus, however, etc. Unlike conjunctions they can shift their position in a sentence. The semantic relations between the clauses making up the compound sentence depend partly on the lexical meaning of the conjunction uniting them and partly on the meanings of the words making up the clauses themselves. The coordinating conjunctions differ in definiteness of meaning (E.g. ‘but' has a clear adversative meaning, 'and’ has different shades of meanings: The old lady read the letter and her eyes filled with horror-a meaning of cause. The bazaar had taken place Monday and today was only Thursday-an adversative shade of meaning). The number of clauses in a compound sentence may be greater than two, and in that case the conjunctions may be different.(Gerald was disappointed, for he wanted a son, but he nevertheless was pleased over his small daughter).
The complex sentence is a polypredicative construction built up on the principle of subordination. It's derived from 2 or more base sentences, one of which performs the role of a matrix in relation to the insert sentences. Various types of subordinate clauses affect the principal clause from the point of view of its completeness. (Your statement was just what you were expected to say.). The principal clause dominates the subordinate positionally, but it doesn't necessarily express the central informative part of the communication. In a neutral context the rhematic part of the sentence tends to be placed in the end, so the clause-order is very important (E.g. The boy was friendly with me because I allowed him to keep the fishing line). Intonation plays also a crucial role, and also lexical and constructional theme-forming elements such as emphatic particles, patterns of logical accents of different kinds.
Predication is an expression of relation of the sentence to reality or the expression of the relation between the content of the sentence (nominative and predicative sides) and reality (The doctor has arrived). The predicative connection of words, uniting the subject and the predicate, builds up the basis of the sentence. The subject dominates the predicate determining the person of predication, while the predicate dominates the subject determining the event of predication and ascribing to the predicative person some action or state or quality. The domination of the subject exposed by the reflective character of the verbal category of person & nouns. (I go, he goes). The predicate dominates the subject when the sentence transforms into the noun-phrase placing the predicate in the position of a headword (the train arrived — the arrival of the train).
There are predicative groupings formed by a combination of a non-finite verbal form with a substantive element (infinitival (the predicative person is expressed by the prepositional for-phrase), gerundial (by the possessive or objective form of the substantive), participial (by the nominative (common) form of the substantive) constructions: The pupil knows his mistake-> for the pupil to know—> the pupil('s) knowing his mistake-> the pupil knowing his mistake).