State the difference between the Deonic and Dynamic Event Modalities in the following examples

Theoretical Grammar of English 2014-2015 a.y.

Seminar 4

The Theme: Inherent categories of Nouns.

The problem of the Inherent Category of Gender of the English noun.

The issues to be discussed:

1) General notion of a Noun. Category of Number.

2) Category of case. Two case system. More than 2 case system. No case system.

3) Quirk`s Gender System explanation with examples.

 

4) Gender. Actuality of Gender-exclusive Language (Gender – Neutral) of today. Glossary of Gender-exclusive Language in English.(examples) (GOOD ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION GIVES YOU ADDITIONAL POINTS!!!!!)

II. Practical Task:

• The gender system of Quirk.

• Put the right noun into the right slot according to the Gender in the table below: woman, dog, teacher, cat, student, England, the sun, the moon, ship, peace, love, husband, king, family, bull, cow, wife, horse, actor, actress, mother, officer, infant, baby, child, aristocrat, crew, car, amateur, snake, ant, house.

• NB! You may add some of your own examples.

2. Quirk`s Gender System

Gender classes in Modern English
  Gender class Examples RP P.P
animate   Personal   a) Male boy who he
b) Female mother who she
c) dual student who He/she
Generic   d) common baby Which/who He/she/it
e) collective family Which/who It/they
Impersonal f) higher male animal bull Which/who He/it/he
    g) higher female animal cow Which/who She/it/she
h) lower animal ant which it
Inanimate i) inanimate table, book which it

Notes: R.P. – relative pronoun

P.P. –personal pronoun

Slash/ - used equally

Blokh distinguishes the category of gender as strictly oppositional.

Gender system according to M.Yo.Blokh.

Gender

 

+ -

Person noun Non-person noun

Feminine nouns Masculine nouns

Arrange the following nouns according to Blokh`s gender system:

Writer, speaker, actor, plant, earth, country, brother, sister, cousin, friend, sheep, car.

Give to the following gender bias nouns their gender-neutral counterparts.

· 1. Businessman/businesswoman-

· 2. Chairman/chairwoman-

· 3. Newspaperman/newspaperwoman-

· 4. Seaman-

· 5. Servant/maid-

· 6.Schoolboy/schoolgirl-

· 7. Cabman-

· 8. Mailman/mailwoman-

· 9. Fireman-

· 10. Salesman/saleswoman-

 

References:

I. Absolute must:

· 1. Smirnitsky A.E. “Morphology of the English. Language” (in Russian). M, 1959.,p.p 139-148

· 2. R.A. Close “A Reference Grammar for Students of English” M.1979, p.352

· 3. George O. Curme (1962) “English Grammar” New York

· NB 4. The material presented by the chair and accessible in the reading-hall.

II. Further reading:

· 1. Internet sources.

· 2. Learn the glossary of gender-neutral language

· 3. Make reports on the material you`ve got from Internet

Reading to brush uo the back-ground knowledge of English Grammar:

III. R.V. Reznik, T.S. Sorokina, T.A. Kazaritskaya “A Grammar of Modern English Usage” M. 1998, p.680

Worked out by Tuyakaeva D.Sh. dotcent

Theoretical Grammar of English 2014-2015 a.y.

Seminar 6

The Theme: Mood and modality in English

I. The issues to be discussed:

1. Basic concepts of mood and modality in English.

2. Realis and Irrealis.

3. Grammatical Markers of Modality.

4. Removing Terminological Ambiguities.

5. The problem of the Imperative and Iussive.

 

II Practical Tasks

· Ex.1. English uses a modal verb to distinguish, a judgment about a proposition. Compare the first example, with no modal verb, with the other two and pass your own judgment.

a) He found it without much difficulty.

b) He might have found it without much difficulty.

c) He must have found it without much difficulty.

 

· Ex.2. Deonic and Dynamic are the two main types of Event Modality. In the simplest terms is that with deonic modality the conditioning factore are external to the relevant individual, whereas with dynamic modality they are internal.

 

State the difference between the Deonic and Dynamic Event Modalities in the following examples.

 

a) He could hardly unbutton his waistcoat.

b) A bomb came down under my feet. I might have been injured then.

c) Do you think – do you think they would hang me for that?

d) The animals were to go in four by four, «vive la compagnie!»

e) A camel can go for days without speeches, Lady Shale had to be there because, without her, the Christmas arrangements could not have been carried through.

 

Ex.3.

Imperative and jussive are noted as the two types of commands and are often distinguished grammatically. Those that are directed at the addressee or addressee alone are usually treated as «imperatives». All others are treated as «jussives». These are usually introduced in English by «Let» and are either first or third person.

State the difference between the «Imperative» and the «Jussive» in the following examples.

 

A. Don`t make a row if you can help it.

B. If they do charge you, go quietly and say nothing.

C. «Alice! Get up, my dear, and welcome an old admirer of yours. Come along. You will both enjoy it. Get up!»

D. Let the Nature play sad tricks upon us.

E. Don`t let them tell anyone that we`ve found this pin or that we`ve discovered anything.

 

 

References:

I. Absolute must:

1. Block M.Y. «A Course in Theoretical English Grammar» Moscow, 1994.

2. IIyish B.A. The Structure of Modern English.L.,1971.

3. Smirnitsky A.E. «Morphology of the English. Language» (in Russian). M, 1959.

4. Иванова И.П., Бурлакова И.И., Почепцов Г.Г. «Тероретическая грамматика современного английского языка» Москва, 1981.

 

II Further reading:

1. Quirk R. Greenbaum S. «A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language» London N.Y. 1993.

2. Matthews P.H. «Morphology» Cambridge University Press 1991.

 

· Worked out by Tuyakaeva D.Sh. dotcent.