Major components of the noun-head phrase 16 page

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 375.

4. Directives.The communicative proposition of directives is direct inducement of the addressee to perform some action: Don't cry! Stand still! Get out! Come here! Take your seat! Open your notebooks! etc.Sentences of this pragmatic type are aimed at the inducement of the addressee to do some actions. Verbs, used in sentences of this pragmatic type, are mainly the verbs of action. The action described by the verb in directives are compulsory for the addressee, as the social roles of the addresser and the addressee in directives are not equal.

5. Requestives.Requestives as well as directives aimed at inducing the addressee to perform an action. The action expressed by the verb in this type of sentences is not compulsory for the addressee because the social roles of the addressee and the addresser are either equal, or the social role of the addresser is lower than the social role of the addressee. So, directives and requestives are in complimentary relations. These two types of sentences differ by prosodic characteristics. Because the intonation of order is different from the intonation of request. Such words as please, could, would, let's and the like are typical illocutionary signs of requestives: Could You close the window? Would You kindly shut the window? Please, be attentive. Please, go away etc.

6. Questitives.Questitives are traditional interrogative sentences. Questitives like directives and requestives are aimed at inducing the addressee to perform an action. The difference is: while directives induce to perform any actions, including speech actions (for instance, Go, (please)! Get out! etc.); questitives aimed at performing speech actions only: What time is it now? What is your name? How old are you? etc. The most striking feature of questitives is that the informational potential of the author of questitives and the addressee is different. The use of questitives shows this difference. Using the questitives, the author is trying to eliminate this difference by getting the unswer to the question, e.i, the respective information from the addressee. questitives focuses on the lack of information and create the psychological tension, which can be relieved by the addressee's answer. Questitives are characterized by interrogative features, intonation is one of the most important of them. It is widely observed that interrogative sentences may express in different situations a whole variety of illocutionary forces: disbelief, surprise, uncertainty, doubt, supposition, disagreement, reusal, dissatisfaction, annoyance, disapproval, agreement, consent, suggestion, offer, invitation, request, command, threat, greeting, etc.

7. Compliments.This pragmatic type of sentences has a heterogeneous nature. The choice of a certain subtype of compliments depends on the extralinguistic factors. In general terms, compliment can be defined as an expression of the speaker's thought aimed at motivation of all the positive features of the addressee. Modern English has a great deal of means to express a compliment. The whole corpus of these means can be classified into three main groups: 1. The communicative proposition of the first group is positive attitude and positive evaluation. It can be expressed by the following verbs: to approve, to endorse, to sanction, to accredit, to certify, for instance: The committee has endorsed our proposals. The institution got accredited as a language school. You have to get these accounts certified by an auditor. My parents now approve of her marriage. 2. The communicative proposition of sentences of the second group is characterized by observing the Principle of Politeness in positive evaluation, stressing the high level of positive evaluation. It can be expressed by the following verbs: to commend, to recommend, to applaud, to compliment, for instance: Your work has been highly commended. We applaud the decision to go ahead with the new building. My friend complimented me on my new hairstyle. 3. The communicative proposition of the third group of compliments can be expressed by the following verbs: to praise, to extol, to eulogize, to laud, to acclaim, for instance: The Mayor praised the rescue team for their courage [LD, 2005:1105]. Senators laud conservative First for working across party line in the past and hope for more in the future [USA Today, 34]. The poem eulogizes the bravery of the nation's warriors [LD, 2005:466].Compliments of the third type are characterized by the mass expressing of praise and the high social role of the praised subject. Sentence types do not unambiguously signal illocutionary forces. Any of the illocutionary forces can be conveyed by any of the sentence types. Conversely, any one of the sentence types can convey many and various illocutionary forces. To demonstrate this, William Downes [1998: 381-382] considers the directive class. The case of getting someone to do something. All sentence types may be used: declaratives, imperatives, interrogatives. A sentence literally conveys the illocutionary force conventionally associated with is communicative type: declarative sentence =assertive force, interrogative sentence = question force, imperative sentence =directive force.

9.3. ILLOCUTIONARY FORCES OF NON-CLAUSAL UNITS.Non-clausal units, usually but not exclusively noun phrases, occur frequently in speech, mostly in informal conversation. We can do no more than give some examples with their illocutionary force. Exclamatory noun phrases modified by a restrictive relative clause (in most instances with the zero relative) generally express disapproval: The clothes she wears! [cf: What clothes she wears!] The things they get up to! The way he complained about the food! The fuss they made! Also expressing scornful disapproval are exclamatory phrases consist­ing of a noun phrase, generally a pronoun, followed by and another noun phrase with a matching possessive pronoun: You and your statistics! [I deplore the way you so frequently resort to statistics]. The subjective case is less commonly used for the first pronoun: Him and his malicious gossip! Pat and her childish hobbies! Exclamatory prepositional phrases beginning with Of all express strong disapproval: Of all the impudence!Of all the stupid things to say! Exclamatory noun or adjective phrases may express approval or disapproval: Charming couple!Dirty place! Stupid! Excellent performance! Very interesting! Poor thing! (A) good idea! Disgusting! Big baby! ['What a helpless person you are!'] Notice that articles are often omitted. If the phrase is directed at the person addressed, it may be prefaced by you, e.g.: You angel! ['You're an angel!'], You poor thing! To express a more familiar and more affectionate-relationship my is used: My poor baby!, My silly boy! Noun phrases may have the force of commandsor requests. Where appropriate, an adverbial such as please may accompany the noun phrase: Attention! Patience! A pound of butter, please. Action stations! Lights! Another coffee, if you don't mind. Taxi! Phone! Your turn. Just a drop more! The letter, please. Scalpel! My hat, please! The door! Scissors, somebody! Next slide, please. In some instances, the interpretation depends on the situational context. For example. The door! might mean 'Shut the door!', 'Watch the door!', 'Open the door!', or even 'Leave the room!'

Noun phrases may have the force of offers or invitations, particularly when they are spoken with rising intonation: Cigarette? My apartment? More coffee, anyone? Another round? Again the interpretation may depend on the situational context. Alternative questions may have the same force: tea or coffee?, My place or yours? Noun and adjective phrases with rising intonation may have the force of inquiries. They may function as yes-no questions: New hat? Good flight? Boring? Your book? Any luck, Ron? Tasty? Next slide ? False alarm ? In place of these questions, it is possible to use a noun phrase followed by a tag question, eg: New hat, is it? Good flight, was it? They may also function as alternative questions:Your car or your mother's? Hot or Cold? or as an inquiry having the force of wh-questions: Your name? ['Your name is ... ?'] Your age? Your rank? Your occupation? These can be analyzed as corresponding to, for example, What is your name? Tell me your name. Could you tell me your name ?

Noun phrases may make assertions, conveying information: No news, No luck. That way ['They went that way.'] Business call ['The phone call was a business call.'] (ix) Exclamatory noun phrases may convey a warning: Fire! [noun] The police! Timber! Avalanche! Exclamatory negative noun phrases may convey a prohibition: No smoking! No more noise! No pushing! Noun phrases (with possible expansions) may merely convey soci­ability: Nice day again. Good weather we're having. Lovely evening. Exclamatory noun phrases may be self-addressed, expressing the hearer's alarm or frustration after a period of forgetfulness: The cake! ['I should have taken the cake out of the oven.'] My husband's birthday! ['I've forgotten my husband's birthday.'] My interview!

Revision

1. Give a definition of Sentence as a syntactic unit.

2. Explain the difference between Sentence and Nonsentence.

3. What is nominalization in English Sentence Structure?

4. Explain the difference between Simple Sentence and Composite Sentence.

5. Give examples of communicative types of sentences.

6. Speak on focus and emphasis of grammatical meaning in syntactic structures.

7. Speak on kinds of inversion in Modern English.

8. Give examples of pragmatic types of sentences.

Practical assignments

1. Supply examples of different types of ellipsis. Answer the question: why ellipticl constructions are considered to be grammatically defective?

2. Comment on the oppositional relations between the primary and secondary parts of the sentence. Support by examples of your own.

3. Illustrate the use of inversion as a stylistic device in Modern English.

4. Supply examples of sub-clauses of different types. Speak on their grammatical organization.

5. Illustrate pragmatic variation of sentences.

Recommendations for further readings

1. Frazer B. Some Remarks on the Action Nominalizations in English. Readings in English Transformational Grammar Ed. by Jakobs R., Rosembaum P. S. Toronto, 1970.

2.Davies E. S. On the Semantics of Syntax. London, 1979.

3. Bolinger D. L. Intensification in English.— Language Sciences, 1971.

4.Vendler Z. Say What You Think. - In: Studies in thought and language. The University of Arizona Press, 1970.

5. Quirk R., Greenbaum S., Leech G., Svartvik J. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. - Ldn and N.Y. Longman, 1985. - 1779 p.

6. English syntax. A Grammar for English Language Professionals Roderick A. Jacobs Oxford University Press 1995.

7. Woods E. Introducing Grammar.-London, 1995 H.Zwicky A., Kantor R.N.

8. A Survey of Syntax // Language Development, Grammar and semantics. –Arlington, 1980.