English Theoretical Grammar

E.g. He hasn't helped her, which is a shame.

Attributive appositive clauses disclose the meaning of the antecedent, which is expressed by an abstract noun.

An adverbial clause performs the function of an adverbial modifier. It can modify a verb, an adjective or an adverb in the principal clause.

According to their meaning we distinguish the following kinds of adverbial clauses: adverbial clauses of time, place, cause (reason), purpose, condition, concession, result, manner, and comparison.

(b) Subordinate clauses may be substituted by various syntactic structures, both complex and simple, while retaining the semantic and modal features of the kernel structures. The transforms, therefore, may be represented by word combinations, participial, gerundial, and infinitival constructions.

Point 3. Neutralization of the opposition “hypotaxis::parataxis”.

There are cases when the difference between coordinate and subordinate clauses is so small that it is rather hard to discriminate between them with respect to both semantics and structure.

For example, cause, consequence and result may be expressed by either coordinate or subordinate clauses:

There was something wrong with him, for he looked grave and ill. (coordinate)

He is suspicious and jealous for fear anyone might oust him. (subordinate)

The phenomenon of neutralization of this kind of opposition is especially evident in attributive continuative clauses, e.g.

Drive-in cinemas are very popular in the USA, which is not the case with Ukraine.

Point 4. Problems of implicit nominalization.

Implicit nominalization refers to the structures where nominalization is implied but is not evident. It is disclosed only after respective transformations, e.g.

What he intends to do is very reasonable. - His intention is very reasonable.

Their fault was that they failed to report it. - Their fault was their failure to report it.

Theme 10. THE SUPRAPHRASAL UNITY AND THE TEXT

Point 1. The notion of the text

The general idea of a sequence of sentences forming a text includes two different notions. On the one hand, it presupposes a succession of spoken or written utterances irrespective of their forming or not forming a coherent semantic complex. On the other hand, it implies a strictly topical stretch of talk, i.e. a continual succession of sentences centering on a common informative purpose. It is this latter understanding of the text that is syntactically relevant. It is in this latter sense that the text can be interpreted as a lingual element with its two distinguishing features: first, semantic (topical) unity; second, semantico-syntactic cohesion.

A text may have the form of a dialogue, or a monologue, or both, but the two forms have a common feature: a communicative direction.

Point 2. The main categories of the text.

As a result of comparing the sentence with the supersentential constituents (or supraphrasal unities) of the text, the notion of the elementary text unit called the `dicteme' is developed.

The supraphrasal unity, sometimes also called the `cumuleme' is an immediate accumulation of sentences of the coordinating type.

The dicteme is an elementary unit of text topicalization, which is formed by sentences. It may coincide in volume with a sentence, a supraphrasal unity, or a paragraph.

Point 3. The problem of text grammar and stylistics

The text has been recently included in the sphere of grammatical description of the most generalized aspects of its form and semantics. Grammar studies the text from the point of view of its formation by lingual means.

Text stylistics should be differentiated from the literary term in the sense that the text stylization is a combination of stylistic features which are natural and vital for any kind of speech.