Студопедия

Главная страница Случайная страница

Разделы сайта

АвтомобилиАстрономияБиологияГеографияДом и садДругие языкиДругоеИнформатикаИсторияКультураЛитератураЛогикаМатематикаМедицинаМеталлургияМеханикаОбразованиеОхрана трудаПедагогикаПолитикаПравоПсихологияРелигияРиторикаСоциологияСпортСтроительствоТехнологияТуризмФизикаФилософияФинансыХимияЧерчениеЭкологияЭкономикаЭлектроника






Includes subj. 1, subj. 2, conditional and suppositional mood






 

# 24 The category of aspect.

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 character of the action, i. e. whether the action is taken in its progress, in its development ('continuous') or it is simply stated, its nature being unspecified ('non-continuous').

The problem of aspect is controversial in English grammar. There is but little consensus of opinion about this category in Modern English.

One meets with different lines of approach to English aspect, which can be briefly summarized as follows:

1. Aspect is interpreted as a category of semantics rather than that of grammar.

2. Aspect is not recognized at all as a category of Modern English grammar.

3. Aspect is blended with tense and regarded as an inalienable part of the tense-aspect system.

4. Aspect and tense are recognized as two distinct grammatical categories.

Typical of the first line are the views advanced by M. Deut-schbein!, A. G. Kennedy 2, G. Curme 3 and some other grammarians.

Thus according to Kennedy the Modern English aspect system comprises:

1) The 'terminate'aspect representing an action as a whole, as in He went to town.

2) The 'ingressive' aspect which points to the beginning of the action as in He b e g a n to work.

3) The" 'effective' aspect showing the conclusion of an action. She ceased speaking.

4) The 'durative' aspect presenting an action as continuous, as in Wheat g г о w s in Canada. He i s walkingalong the street.

5) The 'iterative' aspect, Each night the old man would

walk to town.

It is self-evident that this classification has nothing to do with grammar, being based exclusively upon semantic principles.

Those who do not recognize the existence of aspect in Modern English 4 treat the 'continuous' forms as tense forms (termed 'progressive', 'expanded', 'long', 'durative', or 'relative' tense forms) expressing actions simultaneous with some other actions or situations.

Our objections to this point of view are as follows:

1. The forms wrote — was writing are opposed not as tense forms. Both of them express the same tense — the past.

2. The idea of simultaneity does not go very well with the 'perfect continuous' forms which are a necessary part of the system of 'continuous' forms.

3. Even the 'non-perfect continuous' forms may be used without special indications of simultaneity.

Here is a brief enumeration of some groups of verbs usually having no aspect opposites.

a) Verbs presenting diverse relations as actions —belong, contain, consist, date, possess, resemble, result, suffice, etc.

b) Certain link-verbs (mostly those of 'seeming') such as appear, look, prove, seem, turn out, etc.

The 'actions' denoted by the two groups have little or no dynamic force. This is at the bottom of their not being used with the 'continuous' meaning.

c) Verbs of 'physical perceptions' (see, hear, feel, smell) denoting constant properties viewed as actions.

d) Verbs of 'mental perceptions' (believe, dislike, distrust, hate, hope, know, like, trust, understand, etc.). which are likewise, verbs of weak dynamic force.

4) 'Point-action' verbs denoting instantaneous acts of very short duration, unless such acts are repeated (burst, jump, drop, pick up, etc.).

 

# 25 The category of order.

The category of order is a system of two-member opposemes, such as writes — has written, wrote — had written, writing — having written, to be written — to have been written, etc. showing whether the action is viewed as prior to ('perfect'), or irrespective of ('non-perfect'), ether actions or situations.

The category of perfect

It forms part of the it forms part of the it belogs to the system order/time

Aspect system – the aspect system – the of tense (Ivanova) correlation

Resultative aspect (Ilyish) transmissive aspect

(Vorontsova)

If we take a close look at the 'perfect' (whether it be a finite verb or a verbid, a verb in the indicative or in the subjunctive mood), we cannot fail to see that it conveys the meaning of priority, precedence.

Cf. She has come (priority to the situation in the present, to the act of speech).

She had come before Mrs. B. phoned over (priority to the act of Mrs. B. 's phoning over).

From the string of examples above it is clear that the 'perfect' serves to express priority, whereas the non-perfect member of the opposeme (write as opposed to have written or wrote as opposed to had written) leaves the action unspec ified as to its being prior or not to another action, situation or point of time.

A. I. Smirnitsky ' calls the category represented by writes — has written, writing — having written, the category of time correlation — категория временной отнесенности. He gives a fine, detailed analysis of the category, but the terms he uses are very inconvenient.

Some linguists 1 speak of the heterogeneity of the 'perfect' members of 'order' opposemes. A form like had written, they say, usually expresses 'priority', but a form like has written expresses 'result'.

Whatever difference there is in the usage of the so-called 'present perfect' and 'past perfect', it is primarily connected with the difference between the 'present' and the 'past', and not with the different shades of the 'perfect' meaning. When we describe an action prior to some past action, both actions must be mentioned, and the notion of 'priority' is obvious. When an action prior to the present is described, the present need not be mentioned, since it is the act of speech. Therefore the notion of priority is not so obvious.

 

# 26 The ADJECTIVE. General characteristics, classification.

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 by 'attributes' we mean different properties of substances, such as their size (large, small), colour (red, blue), position in space (up per, inner), material (wooden, woolen), psychic state of

persons {happyv furious), etc.

2. The morphological category of the degrees of comparisonx.

The category of the degrees of comparison of adjectives is the system of opposemes (like long — longer — longest) showing quantitative distinctions of qualities. More exactly, it shows whether the adjective denotes the property of some substance absolutely, or relatively as a higher or the highest amount of the property in comparison with that of some (or all) other substances.

Accordingly we speak of the 'positive' (long, good, beautiful), 'comparative' (longer, better, more beautiful) and 'superlative' (longest, best, most beautiful) degrees.

The 'positive' degree is not marked. We may speak of a zero morpheme. The 'comparative' and 'superlative' degrees are built up either synthetically (by affixation or suppletivity) or analytically, which in the mam depends on the phonetic struc'ure of the stem, not on its meaning.

. As we know with regard to the category of the degrees of comparison adjectives fall under two lexico-grammatical subclasses: comparables and non-comparables. The nucleus of the latter is composed of derived adjectives like wooden, Crimean, mathematical, etc., denoting some relation to the phenomena the basic stems refer to. Thus, a wooden house is 'a house of wood', Crimean 'weather is 'weather typical of the Crimea', etc. These adjectives are called relative as distinct from all other adjectives called qualitative.

Most qualitative adjectives buildup opposemes of comparison, but some do not:

a) Adjectives that in themselves express the highest degree

of a quality. E. g. supreme, extreme, etc.

b) Those having the suffix -ish which indicates the degree of a quality. E. g. reddish, whitish.

c) Those denoting qualities which are not compatible with the idea of comparison.

E. g. deaf, dead, lame, perpendicular.

In all the Indo-European languages adjectives can be substantivized, i. e. converted into nouns. In English it is easier than in other languages owing to the scarcity of stem-building elements. Cf. (a) chick (n.)—sick (a.), tedder (a.) — gender (п.).

When adjectives are converted into nouns they no longer indicate attributes of substances, but substances possessing these attributes. More frequently substantivization is but partial. Adjectives may acquire the lexico-grajimatical meaning of the noun and to some extent its combinability.






© 2023 :: MyLektsii.ru :: Мои Лекции
Все материалы представленные на сайте исключительно с целью ознакомления читателями и не преследуют коммерческих целей или нарушение авторских прав.
Копирование текстов разрешено только с указанием индексируемой ссылки на источник.