THE INTERJECTION

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 469.

§ 337. The interjection is a part of speech characterized by the following features.

1. It expresses emotions or will without naming them.

2. It has no grammatical categories, no stem-building elements of its own and practically negative combinability.

3. It functions as a sentence-word or as a parenthetical element.

§ 338. Some interjections are homonymous with other words: why!, well!, now!, here!, there!, come!, dear!, fiddlesticks!, etc. Others are not: hey!, hallo!, ah!, hurrah!, pshaw!, alas!, etc.

§ 339. Interjections, like other parts of speech, may be simple (hallo!, come!, dear!), derivative (goodness!), compound (fiddlesticks!) and composite (hang it!, dear me!).

§ 340. Semantically interjections are usually divided into two groups: emotional (oh!, bless us!) and imperative (hush!, come!¹).

§ 341. A. I. Smirnitsky ² thinks that interjections form a peculiar type of sentence, like that of the response-words yes and no, but differing from it in the distinct emotional colouring.

THE SEMI-NOTIONAL PARTS OF SPEECH(See §51)

THE PREPOSITION

§ 342. The preposition is a part of speech characterized by the following features:

1. Its lexico-grammatical meaning of 'relations (of sub­stances)'.

2. Its bilateral combinability with a right-hand noun (or noun-equivalent) and a left-hand word belonging to almost any part of speech.

3. Its function of a linking word.

§ 343. Prepositions are not characterized by any grammat­ical categories or typical stem-building elements.

As far as their structure is concerned prepositions, like other parts of speech, fall into the following groups:

1. Simple or primitive, e. g. at, in, of, by, with, for, etc.

2. Derivative, e. g. below, beside, along, etc.

3. Compound, e. g. inside, within, into, throughout, etc.

4. Composite, e. g. instead of, in accordance with, owing to, in front of, etc.

§ 344. Many prepositions are homonymous with adverbs (about, before, below, down, since, etc.), conjunctions (before, since, etc.), participles (regarding, concerning, etc.), lexico-grammatical word-morphemes (in, on, up, etc.).

§ 345. As elsewhere the lexico-grammatical meaning of prepositions is an abstraction from their individual lexical meanings. Let us compare the following combinations of words:

the book i n the bag,

the book о п the bag,

the book under the bag,

the book near the bag.

In all of them the preposition shows the relation of one noun to another, which reflects the relations of the correspond­ing substances in the world of reality. This meaning of 'rela­tions (of substances)' common to all prepositions is their lexico-grammatical meaning. But each preposition in the expressions above shows a different relation revealing thus its individual lexical meaning.

It is much more difficult to define the lexical meaning of a preposition than that of a noun or an adjective, because prepositions usually have very general, abstract meanings. Nevertheless the lexical meaning of a preposition is always there, however weak or general it may be. We may call pre­positions semi-notional words, but the term form-word often applied to them is not adequate: they have not only form, but content as well.

§ 346. It is necessary to make some remarks in connection with the classification of prepositions according to their meaning into those of place, direction, time, etc.². When we say that the prepositions at or by have local meanings in at the window, by the window and temporal meanings in at 6 o'clock, by six o'clock we simply add the meanings of the neighbouring words to those of the prepositions. Origi­nally, a preposition like in is supposed to have had a concrete local meaning. But at present in is used with such a variety of words that it has a very vague and general meaning, something like 'inside some sphere'. That sphere may be localas in Moscow, temporal, as in January, abstract as in love, in thought, etc.

Prepositions, like in, at, on, by, etc, which are used with all kinds of nouns, so that the local, temporal, etc. meanings of the prepositional construction do not depend on the pre­position, but on the noun, may be called general prepo­sitions. There are some other prepositions which might be called special. They are used chiefly with nouns of certain meaning. For instance, the preposition till can be used with nouns like midnight, dawn, time, but not with window, town, place and the like. That shows that till has acquired a tem­poral meaning. The causal meaning of the special preposition because of is so strong that it determines the meaning of the prepositional construction irrespective of the noun. Cf. because of the time (place, love, John).

Here are some special prepositions; of time: before, after, during, since, till, until; of place: across, along, among, behind, below, beside, in front of; of cause: because of, in view of, owing to.

§ 347. The combinability of the preposition is rather pecul­iar. As a rule, it is followed by a noun or a noun equivalent with which it is closely connected." At the same time it is associated with some preceding notional word belonging to nearly any part of speech. We may speak of stable right-hand connections and variable left-hand connections.

§ 348. Bilateral combinability is typical not only of pre­positions but of other linking words as well: conjunctions, link-verbs and modal verbs. But the combinability of prepositions differs from that of all of them. As stated above, prepositions have stable right-hand and variable left-hand connections. Conjunctions and link-verbs have both con­nections variable (Cf. He is a student; afraid of being late). Modal verbs have both connections stable: the subject on the left and an infinitive on the right.

§ 349. Of certain interest is the model 'verb + prepo­sition + noun'. Sometimes the preposition is but loosely connected with the verb. In such cases one and the same verb can be followed by different prepositions depending on the sense, e. g. speak of (about, with, to) a person.

In other cases a verb is regularly followed by a fixed preposition, e. g. depend on (somebody, something).

§ 350. Though bilateral combinability is typical of prepo­sitions, there are cases in the English language when either the left-hand or the right-hand connections are weakened or even lost altogether.

In the sentence In his opinion, they would get copped doing it (Galsworthy) the preposition in has retained no left-hand connection.

In the sentence Had he been laughed a t? (Galsworthy) the preposition at has retained no right-hand connection.

§351. The combinability of at in the last example re­sembles, to some extent, that of an adverb. Cf. to be laughed away (off).

On the basis of sentences like

They bought chairs to sit о п.

I have no pen to write with.

Children like to read and to be read t o.

The book was not looked for.

and the fact that many prepositions are homonymous with adverbs A. 1. Smirnitsky thinks it possible to regard prepo­sitions not as a separate part of speech, but as a group of adverbs.

We are definitely against that view.

1. The number of instances when prepositions lose their right-hand connections is comparatively small. According to V. I. Artyukhova it occurs in 65 instances out of 4,575 in The White Monkey by J. Galsworthy. That means that in an overwhelming majority of cases (98,6 per cent) the combinability of prepositions differs from that of adverbs.

2. Many prepositions such as to, at, for, from, among, with, of, into, out of, in front of, etc. are not homonymous with adverbs.

3. Those prepositions that are homonymous with adverbs (down, along, before) are related with the latter by conversion (see § 57). These relations, as we know, are typical of English and connect words of different parts of speech. (Cf. home n. —home adv.; since adv. — since conj. — since prep.).

§ 352. Though the lexico-grammatical meaning, the com­binability and function of English prepositions are similar to those of the Russian counterparts, the role of prepositions in the two languages is different. This difference, however, depends not on the prepositions, but on the nouns they intro­duce.

The lexico-grammatical meaning of prepositions, 'rela­tions (of substances)', approximates to the grammatical meaning of case (see § 81).

In the Russian language with its six-case system the rela­tions of substances are mostly denoted by case morphemes. Prepositions are but a secondary means of specifying these relations. In English the only positive case morpheme -'s shows but a very limited number of relations. So prepositions become a primary means of denoting relations of substances. Their role, as we see, is determined by the grammatical system of the language.

In Russian the two means of expressing relations of sub­stances are interdependent. Certain prepositions go with certain cases (к дому, от дома, над домом, etc.). So the pre­position is closely connected with the noun it precedes. It cannot be used without the noun. In English the preposi­tion is much more independent. It can be separated from the noun, as in The house I speak of. Several prepositions may refer to one noun in the sentence, as in He ... played with and read to the children. (Jerome). A preposition may refer not only to a word, but also to a word-combination (That is for you to decide.) or a clause (It all depends on how he will act.).