IV. Types of grammatical transformations.

is change in the order of the components in the sentence/ utterance

It is caused by:

· Difference in the word order. It is generally known that the word order in English is different from that in Ukrainian. In English the word order is predominantly direct (80% of English sentences have direct WO). In Russian and Ukrainian it is more free: about 53% of Ukrainian (and 59% of Russian) sentences have direct WO. The usual WO in English is: S–P–Adv.mod. In Russian/ Ukrainian: Adv.mod.–P–S.

This means that in order not to violate the natural WO of the TL grammatical transformations should me made in the process in translation from English into Ukrainian and vice versa. Hence in the process of translation we very often change the direct WO of the English sentence. Let us examine the following translation:

E.g.: A mass demonstration of the unemployed took place in London yesterday.

Вчора в Лондоні відбулася масова демонстрація безробітних.

As we see complete rearrangement of the order of words became necessary, because it is more typical of Ukrainian to place the Adv. Mod. at the beginning of the sentence. Besides, (as will be illustrated later) it is characteristic of Ukrainian to place the word bearing the main/ new information of the utterance (the rheme) at the end of the sentence.

· The position of a rhematic noun is different in English (at the beginning) and Ukrainian (at the end of the sentence);

**Not infrequently the indefinite article may point to the rheme in an utterance. It is usually signalled by the initial position of the rhematic noun identified by the indefinite article.

When translated into Ukrainian or Russian however the rhematic noun, as has long been noticed, occupies a terminal position in the sentence or in the clause (when the utterance is a composite sentence):

E.g.: A dog growled in one of the yards as the men went by (Steinbeck)

– Коли чоловіки проходили повз один з будинків, у його дворі загарчав собака.

!A correct selection of position for rhematic nouns identified by the indefinite article respectively makes for a faithful conveying of the logical sentence perspective.

** ?Sometimes a group subject placed at the beginning of the English sentence may perform the function of the rheme:

E.g.: A big wave of actions by all sections of workers – skilled and unskilled, men and women, manual and non-manual – for higher wages and equal pay, for shorter hours and a greater say in shaping the environment at work is rising.

– Зараз наростає величезна хвиля страйків трудящихся всіх категорій – кваліфікованих і некваліфікованих, чоловіків і жінок, робітників фізичної та розумової праці – за підвищення зарплатні, за рівну оплату праці, за скорочення робочого дня, за покращення умов праці.

· Difference in the structure of sentences:

** structures There is/ There are

(Cf: There is a book on the table vsThe book is on the table vsA book is on the table);

E.g.1: There was real passion in his voice, and in spite of myself I was impressed (W.S.Maugham);

– У його голосі відчувалась справжня пристрасть; всупереч моєму бажанню вона захопила мене.

E.g.2: There was no possibility of taking a walk that day (Ch.Bronte)

– Того дня ми не змогли піти на прогулянку.

E.g.3: There were sounds coming from the Castle Rock (W.Golding)

– З замку долинали звуки.

** gerundial complexes at the beginning of a sentence

E.g.: Your being late is unknown to me;

– Я нічого не знаю про ваше спізнення.

Not infrequently rearrangement is performed on two clauses of one sentence, namely transformation through the change of placement of some parts of the sentence.

E.g.1: My head swam as I stood erect (Ch.Bronte)

– Коли я випросталася, мені запаморочилося в голові.

E.g.2: It did not make any difference who was on night duty (Hemingway)

– Хто чергував уночі, мені було байдужісінько.

This kind of transformation is resorted to for different reasons:

· When translated without any change of placement of its clauses, an utterance may be structurally clumsy in Ukrainian. Changing placement of some parts of a sentence makes an utterance sound Ukrainian (stylistically natural):

E.g.: Why they came East I don’t know (Fitzgerald)

Я не знаю, що спонукало їх переселитися на Схід.

· Placed in the initial position in an utterance a clause may obtain extra significance. So, moving a clause into the front position helps a translator to achieve fuller expressiveness.