Grammatical transformations

Monorheme

1. Considerable market research investigations are being conducted to promote the export of the country's manufactured goods.

Чтобы содействовать развитию экспорта промышленных товаров страны, проводят значительные исследования рынка.

This sentence is monorheme.

The rheme of the English sentence being its subject (Considerable market research investigations) has been transported from the initial position to the final one in the Russian sentence.

The theme of the English sentence being the object (to promote the export of the country's manufactured goods) has been transported into the initial position of the Russian sentence.

The word order has been changed into the indirect one.

 

Dirheme

2. The postwar years have seen decisive advances in the study of primates such as chimpanzees and in discovery of fossils of our ancestors.

В послевоенные годы были достигнуты значительные успехи в изучение таких приматов, как шимпанзе, а также в обнаружении останков наших предков.

This sentence is dirheme.

The theme of the English sentence being its subject (The postwar years) has been translated into Russian as the adverbal modifier of time.

The rheme of the English sentence being its object (decisive advances) has been translated into Russian as the subject.

The word order is indirect.

 

Shift of predicate

3. He became the ally of a boy named Aubrey Mills.

Он подружился с мальчиком по имени Обри Милз

In the process of translation of this sentence into Russian it has suffered shift of predicate.

The predicate of the English sentence being the predicate of state (became the ally) has been translated into Russian by means of the predicate of action (подружился).

 

Grammatical transformations

4. Immediately there was a burst of applause from all parts of the audience. Never in my lifetime has applause done me the good that did.

Внезапно со всех сторон раздались бурные аплодисменты, которые впервые за всю мою жизнь так порадовали меня.

In this sentence we can observe such grammatical transformations as:

Sentence integration (combining two sentences)

Replacement

– part of speech (noun “a burst” has been replaced with the adjective “бурные”);

– word forms (noun “applause” in singular has been replaced with the noun “аплодисменты” in plural);

– type of sentence (Two simple sentences have been replaced with the complex one)

Addition (pronoun “всю”, adverb “так”, pronoun “которые” have been added);

Omission (preposition “of”, definite articles “the”, noun “audience” have been omitted);

Transposition (The phrase “from all parts” has changed its place into the position after “immediately”).

The word order in the first part of the sentence is indirect, in the second one is direct.

Monorheme

1. A US-born Sumatran rhino ate leaves and wallowed in mud at an Indonesian sanctuary.

2. A suicide truck bomb packed with 500 litres of ammonium nitrate exploded on Thursday at a petrol station

3. Turkey’s president has threatened to tear up a landmark deal to stem the flow of refugees into Europe a day after the European parliament urged governments to freeze EU accession talks with Ankara.

Dirheme

1. Tokyo sees first November snow in more than 50 years.

2. Brussels has also repeatedly criticised a crackdown in recent weeks on media outlets and Kurdish politicians, saying the campaign raised questions about Turkey’s commitment to EU values.

3. Three successive years of failed rains have left the island nation wrestling with crop failure and a chronic lack of food and clean drinking water.

4. The snow caused minor train delays during the morning commute.

5. The severe drought afflicting southern Madagascar has left 330,000 people on the brink of famine.

6. The statement said the countries are deeply concerned about the continuing erosion of the rules-based European security order, and see an urgent need to relaunch conventional arms treaty talks through “a new structured dialogue”.

7. Syrians would still be allowed to enter Germany, but only for one year and with “subsidiary protection” that limits their rights as refugees.

Shift of predicate

  1. While Germany’s foreign ministry, whose cultural ambassadors have been active behind the scenes has signalled it is prepared to be patient, Hermann Parzinger, president of the SPK said the Iranians needed to solve the impasse soon.
  2. The apparent refusal of Iranian authorities to release the collection has been met with disappointment and bewilderment in Berlin, where cultural heads and diplomats had been working to pull off the deal for years.
  3. We should be clear that the men and women in the agencies and police work tirelessly to ensure our greatest freedom, that of life itself.
  4. This week Canada joined the growing list of major developed countries saying they will phase out coal power.
  5. The government has come up with the idea as a way of fulfilling a commitment that it will allow UK parliamentarians the same level of access to Brexit negotiating documents as MEPs in Brussels.
  6. Iranians are experts at driving a hard bargain, famous for haggling with shopkeepers even when sales are not on offer.

Grammatical transformations