English Grammar Theory Final
How are the comparative and superlative of adjectives formed
1) One and some two syllabic adjectives that form their degrees by the help of inflections - er and -est respectively, 2) The adjectives which form their degrees by means of root-vowel and final consonant change: many-more-the most, little-less-the least, 3) The adjectives that form their degrees by means of suppletion:good - better - the best, bad - worse - the worst 4) Many - syllabic adjectives which form their degrees by means of the words "more" and "most": interesting - more interesting - the most interesting 5) One must not forget that more and most are not only word-morphemes of comparison. They can also be notional words.
How are verbs classified morphologically?
1) regular and irregular verbs 2) finite and non-finite verbs
Enumerate and characterize semantic classes of full verbs (7 classes).
1. Activity verbs refer to an action performed intentionally by an agent or 'doer': bring, get, make, play, take, buy, give, meet, put, try, come, go, move, run, use, follow, leave, pay, show, work. 2. Communication verbs - involve communication activities, describing speaking and writing: ask, talk, call, say, tell, claim, speak, shout, thank, describe, suggest, write and offer. 3. Mental verbs - designate mental states and activities. Mental verbs express a wide range of meanings such as: • mental states or processes (think, know, believe) • attitudes or desires (love, want, wish, need) • perceptions (feel, see, touch, taste, smell) • emotional attitudes (hate, like, love, etc.) 4. Causative verbs - some person or thing helps bring about a new state of affairs. a) This information enables the formulation of precise questions. b) Still other rules cause the deletion of elements from the structure: allow, let, enable, require, cause, force and help 5. Verbs of occurrence - report events that occur without an actor. Seven verbs of occurrence are especially common in English: become, grow, change, happen, develop, occur, die. 6. Verbs of existence or relationship - report a state of existence or a logical relationship that exists between entities: be, seem, appear, go, grow, look, feel, sound, smell, taste, remain, keep, turn, get, become, prove, exist, etc. 7. Verbs of aspect - characterize the stage of progress of an event or activity: begin, start, commence, continue, proceed, keep, go on, stop, give up, etc.
How do finite forms of the verb differ functionally from the non-finite verb forms?
1. Finite verbs can occur only INDEPENDENTLY as a simple predicate (e.g. Nick speaks five languages.), while non-finite verb forms can function as part of a complex verbal predicate (Nick can speak five languages). 2. Finite verbs have TENSE contrast (i.e. the distinction between present and past tenses: She works hard. She worked hard.) while non-finite verb forms don't have tense distinction, in other words, they don't have the grammatical category of tense. 3. Finite verbs have grammatical categories of PERSON and NUMBER while non-finite verbs don't have any of these distinctions. Full verbs are restricted to a contrast between the 3rd person singular present and other persons or plural number 4. Both, finite and non-finite verbs have different grammatical forms for ASPECT distinction. Aspect requires a choice between the non-perfect and the perfect forms, on the one hand, and between the non-progressive and progressive (i.e. non-continuous and continuous) forms, on the other. 5. Both, finite and non-finite verbs (except the gerund) have different grammatical forms for VOICE DISTINCTION. Voice involves a contrast between active and passive. 6. And finally, finite verbs have different forms to mark the grammatical category of MOOD, which requires a choice between the indicative, imperative and subjunctive mood, while non-finite verb forms are devoid of this grammatical category.
What are the 5 sub-categories of determination?
1. Semantic determination of the noun 1. 1. Countable nouns Semantically, the noun presents a kind of unity of genus (class) and individual. In the text, it may be actualized as a representative of the class or a subclass as a whole or as an individual member of the class or a subclass. Consider the following sentences: 1. The dog is an animal. 2. A dog is an animal. 3. Any dog is an animal. 4. Dogs are animals. 5. All dogs are animals. 6. I see a dog. 7. The dog is under the table. These sentences illustrate different types of semantic determination (or restriction): in sentences (1-5) the noun dog refers to the subclass as a whole; in sentences (6 and 7) the noun dog refers to an individual member of the subclass. 1. 2. Uncountable nouns Uncountable nouns do not much differ from countables as concerns the realization of the category of determination: in the text they may be actualized as representatives of the entities as a whole or an individual manifestation of the entities. For example, 1. Beauty is rare. 2. They had a courage that no defeats would crush. 3. Mary's beauty simply paralysed him. In sentence (1) the noun "beauty" stands for the entity as a whole; in sentences (2 and 3) the nouns "courage" and "beauty" refer to an individual manifestation of entities: "courage" denotes a non-particular, specific manifestation (aspect) and beauty, a particular, specific manifestation of the notion. 2. Grammatical determination of the noun The article is generally treated as a marker of the noun. e.g. a man, the rich. However, not all nouns are invariably used with the 'material' article, e.g. strength. Even countables are not always preceded by the material article, e.g. books. 3. Informational determination of the noun To quote M. Halliday (1985:274-5), "Information is a process of interaction between what is already known or predictable and what is new or unpredictable". The sentence, which is a unit of information, is a structure made up of two parts: the New and the Given. By Given Information is meant information shared by both the speaker and the addressee: it may be recoverable from the context or familiar to them due to the shared environment. Besides the context, Givenness and Newness can be expressed by the definite and indefinite article, respectively. For example, "A man and a woman were sitting on a park bench. The man was about forty years old. The woman was somewhat younger. The bench had recently been painted." 4. Pragmatic determination of the noun Pragmatically, the noun can function as the Theme and the Rheme. The Theme is what we are talking about, and the Rheme is what we are saying about the Theme. For example, "The ship (Theme) was glistening in the sun (Rheme)". Themes are generally selected from Given while Rhemes from both New and Given entities. For example, "John (Theme) wrote a novel (Rheme). vs. John (Theme) wrote the novel (Rheme)". 5. Other ways of determining the noun Besides the article, the noun can be determined by pronouns (all, any, some, another, each, every, either, neither, no; this/that, these/those; my, your, his, her, its; our, their; much /many; little /a little; few /a few; several), numerals (one, two; first, second, etc.), and a genitive noun (possession) (John's coat). The category of determination can be given even a broader interpretation: it will then include notional words proper such as adjectives, numerals, nouns, adverbials, non-finites, which, when used with nouns, also function as determiners, or restricters.
Name the structural classes of verbs. Give examples.
1. Simple or root verbs consist of a content morpheme that cannot be subdivided any further into smaller parts. Such verbs are not numerous. For instance: ask, go, play, take, tell, declare, etc. 2. Derived verbs fall into four subclasses according to their word-building peculiarities: desensitized 3. Compound (composite) verbs consist of two or more roots: blackmail, broadcast, whitewash, etc. 4. Phrasal verbs are represented by two specific types: to have a smoke, to take break
What are the functions of the indefinite article?
1. The classifying function 2. The indefinitizing function 3. The introductory function 4. The quantifying function Each of them is realized under specific contextual conditions. 1. The classifying function of the indefinite article is realized in the so-called classifying utterances. Their invariant sentence pattern is: N + V + N1. Those are: a)structures with the verb "to be", for example: This is a computer. b)exclamatory sentences beginning with "what" or such. e.g. What a long story! He is such a nuisance! c) sentences including an adverbial modifier of manner or comparison, for example: e.g. You look like a rose! She works as a teacher. 2. The indefinitizing function is realized when the referent of the noun is not a real thing, but it exists in the speaker's imagination only. Those are sentences containing modal verbs or verbs with modal meaning, forms of the Subjunctive Mood, Future Tense forms, negative and interrogative sentences. e.g. I wish I had a home like you do. Have you ever seen a living tiger? 3. The introductory function. Before sharing some information about the object, we need to introduce it to the hearer. e.g. Once upon a time there lived an old man. He had a wife and a daughter. He lived in a small house. 4. The quantifying function. The indefinite article developed from the numeral "one". The meaning of "oneness" is still preserved when the article is used with nouns denoting measure, like "a minute", "a year" or "a pound".
What are the functions of the definite article?
1. The identifying function. When we speak, we may want to point out to something that both us and the hearer perceive with our organs of feeling. There are five different ways of getting the information-We can see it (Do you like the picture?), hear it (I believe, the music is too loud), feel it (The pillow is so soft!), smell it (What is the name of the perfume?) or taste it (The soup tastes bitter). 2. The definitizing function. The object or thing denoted by the noun is presented as a part of some complex. In modern science the term "frame" is often used. The frame is a structurally organized system of images. For example, the frame "classroom" includes a window, a blackboard and a door. So if both the speaker and the hearer know what classroom they are speaking of, the constituents of the classroom don't need any special concretization, and the indefinite article will be used. e.g. I want to talk to the rector (even if you have never met the man). 3. The individualizing function. The object in question may be presented as a unique thing with the hearer's attention focused on its distinguishing features, which are represented with the help of a particularizing attribute. The object is singled out from the class it belongs to. The particularizing attribute can be expressed by: a) adjectives in the superlative degree e.g. This is the easiest way out. b) ordinal numerals e.g. I have forgotten the first word. c) attributive relative restrictive clauses e.g. I need the book I bought yesterday.
Discuss the main ways of expressing future time in English. Give examples (5 cases).
1. by means of modal auxiliaries will /shall + the bare infinitive. E.g.: He will be here in half an hour. Shall I help you with the work? 2. The semi-modal to be going to + the bare infinitive is used to denote a projected future action which is mainly associated with personal subjects and agentive verbs: When are you going to get married? 3. Present progressive - to denote a projected event that will occur in the nearest future: I'm taking the children to the zoo next week. Ann is meeting her friends tomorrow. 4. The simple present tense - to denote a future event which is certain to take place according to the schedule: The train leaves for Ankara at eight o'clock tonight. The match starts at 2.30. 5. The simple present tense in conditional and adverbial clauses of time: He'll do it if you pay him. I'll let you know as soon as I hear from her.
What are the most important characteristic features of adjectives?
1. their lexical-grammatical meaning of attributes or we may say that they express property of things /persons/; 2. from the morphological view point they have the category of degrees of comparison; 3. from the point of view of their combinability they combine with nouns, as it has already been stated above, they express the properties of things. The words that express things we call nouns. It seems to be important to differentiate the combinability of a word with other words and reference of a word of a part of speech to another part of speech. We put this because adjectives modify nouns but they can combine with adverbs, link verbs and the word "one": a white horse. The horse is white. The sun rose red. The sun rose extremely red. 4. the stem-building affixes are: -ful, -less, -ish, -ous, -ive, -ir, un-, -pre-, in-...; 5. their syntactic functions are: attribute and predicative It is important to point out that in the function of an attribute the adjectives are in most cases used in pre-position; in post- position they are very seldom: time immemorial; chance to come. The category of comparison of adjectives shows the absolute or relative quality of a substance.
How are verbs differentiated functionally?
According to their functions, verbs can be divided into three major categories or classes: lexical or full verbs, primary verbs and auxiliary modal verbs
How many articles do you know? Define them.
As you know, there are two articles in English: the definite article "the" and the indefinite one "a". It has become a tradition to also single out the so-called "zero" article, which is found in the contexts where neither the definite nor the indefinite article is used. The answer to the question "what do we need articles for?" can't be too simple. We might have to enumerate quite a few functions articles can be used in. Some of them are common for all the three articles, others are only characteristic of individual function words.
What does the category of aspect imply? Name the main types of aspects in English and characterize each of them.
Aspect is a grammatical category that adds time meanings to those meanings of the verb which are expressed by tense. The category of aspect answers the question: 'Is the event or state described by the verb completed or is it continuing?' There are two aspects in English: perfect and progressive (sometimes known as continuous). The perfect aspect usually describes events or states that took place during a preceding period of time. It is formed analytically with the help of the auxiliary have + past participle (participle II) of the main verb. The progressive or continuous aspect describes an event or state in progress. It is also formed analytically with the help of the auxiliary be + present participle (participle I) of the main verb. Both perfect and progressive aspects can be combined with present or past tense.
Name and characterize English primary verbs
BE, HAVE and DO, because they can be used either as main verbs or as auxiliary verbs. 1. The auxiliary BE is used to form the progressive/continuous aspect and the passive voice. 2. The auxiliary HAVE is used to form the perfect or perfect progressive aspects. 3. The auxiliary DO is used to form negative statements and questions.
Define the category of gender.
In Old English nouns were divided into masculine, feminine, and neuter: stan (stone), duru (door) and reced (house). Formal, or grammatical, gender disappeared with the loss of inflections. The category of gender in modern English is inherently semantic, i.e. it divides nouns into masculine (nouns denoting person males), feminine (nouns denoting person females), and neuter (nouns denoting non-persons). The category of gender is expressed now mostly by "the obligatory correlation with the personal pronouns of third person" and it is based on the opposition of person nouns vs. non-person nouns
What are the functions of the zero article?
In most cases the zero article performs the same functions as the indefinite one. The difference is that the zero article combines with uncountable nouns and countable nouns in the plural. e.g. It was a large room with many windows. The toasts were in champagne. Still there are situations where the zero article is used in its specific functions which are different from those of the indefinite article. When used with the zero article, the noun loses its general grammatical meaning of thingness to a certain degree and acquires the meaning of qualitativeness. For example, the nouns "day" and "night" used with the zero article stand for "light" and "darkness" rather than time units.
What does the valency of verbs imply? Name the major valency patterns of verbs in English grammar.
In other words, the main verb with its semantics determines the configuration of other elements that are required in the sentence. This combining power of the verb is called VALENCY. British and American grammarians differentiate five major valency patterns of the verb in Modern English: intransitive, mono-transitive, ditransitive, complex transitive and copular patterns 1. Intransitive pattern (S + V) is a combination of a subject and an intransitive (გარდაუ-ვალი) main verb. For instance: More people came. He sleeps badly. 2. Monotransitive pattern (S + V + DO) represents a subject-verb combination with a single direct object (i.e. complement). Cf.: She was carrying a heavy bag. Tom has built a new house. 3. Ditransitive [dai'trænzitiv] pattern (S + V + IO + DO) represents a subject-verb combination with two object phrases: an indirect object followed by a direct object. For instance: His father gave him the money. They called him Johnny. 4. Complex transitive patterns are represented by two types in which a transitive verb (რთული გარდამავალი მოდელები) occurs with a direct object followed either by an adjective (as in: The boy made his mother angry.) or by an obligatory adverbial (as in this example: He put his hand on the child's shoulder.). 5. Copular pattern (S + Copula + P) represents a combination of a subject and a copular verb followed by a predicative which is expressed by a noun, adjective, adverb or prepositional phrase. For instance: She was a school teacher then. (noun, predicative) Carrie felt a little less bold. (adjective, predicative) She felt well. (adverb, predicative)
What is the grammatical category of case?
In present-day linguistics case is used in two senses: 1) semantic, or logic, 2) syntactic. The semantic case concept was developed by C. J. Fillmore in the late 1960s. According to this theory, case is the semantic relation of the noun to the verb. e.g. In "I opened the door with the key" the cases of "I, the door and with the key" are respectively main meaningful words. Semantic cases may correspond to varying forms in the syntactic structure of the sentence. In English, they are marked by the order of words and the use of the preposition with. The syntactic case concept dates back to the grammars of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. It is a case whose main role is to indicate a relationship between constituents. To put it otherwise, its role is to indicate a construction in syntax.
What's the difference between short and long passives?
In short passives (also called agentless passives) the agent is not specified while long passives contain a by-phrase which specifies the agent of the action
Why do we have to differentiate the qualitative and relative adjectives?
Not all the adjectives of the English language have the degrees of comparison. From this point of view they fall under two types: 1) comparable adjectives 2) non- comparable adjectives The non-comparable adjectives are relative ones like golden, wooden, silk, cotton, raw and so on.
Define the notions of "time" and "tense". Why is the grammatical category of tense in modern English represented by a binary paradigm?
TIME, like space, is considered to be a universal form of existing things and phenomena that are continually changing. We can think of time as a line on which is located, as a continuously moving point, the present moment, which is the moment of speech-making. Anything ahead of the present moment is in the future, and anything behind it is in the past TENSE (from Lat. tempus) is a grammatical time. It is a grammatical category that is realized with the help of verbal inflexion. Since English has no inflected form of the verb for expressing future time, the threefold semantic opposition of time is reduced to two tenses: the present tense and the past tense The main principle of the morphological classification of verbs is the way how they form two of their forms: simple past and past participle (i.e. participle II). Accordingly verbs are divided into two large groups: regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs form their past simple and past participle by adding the inflectional suffix -ed while irregular verbs form these forms individually.
What is the essence of the grammatical category of voice? Comment on the semantic distinction of voice forms and the ways of their formation
The active voice shows that the action described by the verb is performed by the subject of the sentence, while the passive form indicates that the action is performed upon the subject: The butler murdered the detective. (active voice) The detective was murdered by the butler. (passive voice) The active is an unmarked voice while the passive is a marked member of the voice opposition as it is formed with the auxiliary be + the past participle of the main verb. Compared to active voice, passive voice reduces the importance of the agent (i.e. the doer of the action).
Define an article.
The article is a function word, which means it has no lexical meaning and has denotative function. Semantically the article can be viewed as a significator, i.e. a linguistic unit representing some conceptual content without naming it. If analyzed in its relation to the conceptual reality, the article proves to be an operator, i.e. a marker of some cognitive operation, like identification, classification, and the like.
Define the essence of the grammatical category of mood and name its main types in modern English.
The category of mood is a morphological expression of modality. It marks the modality of reality or unreality of an action or state as viewed by the speaker. Grammarians differentiate three moods in modern English: the indicative mood, the imperative mood and the subjunctive mood.
What is the grammatical category of number?
The category of number is, then, the opposition of the plural of the noun to the singular form of the noun. The plural form is the marked while the singular form is unmarked. The marked one must have a marker in the surface structure. The markers of plurality are the inflection -(e)s [-z, -s, -iz]: dog - dogs, clock - clocks, box - boxes. The singular form has no material marker, it has a 'zero' inflection. The other, non-productive ways of marking plurality are: 1) internal vowel change in several relict forms (man - men, woman - women, foot - feet, mouse - mice, 2) the use of the archaic inflection -(e)n (ox - oxen, child - children, cow - kine, brother - brethren). Some words borrowed from Latin and Greek preserve their classical plural forms (formula - formulae, phenomenon - phenomena, crisis - crises, criterion - criteria, etc.). In some cases the plural form of the noun is homonymous (i.e. identical in form) with the singular form (sheep - sheep; deer - deer; swine - swine; trout - trout; code - code; pike - pike; salmon - salmon; haddock - haddock; mackerel - mackerel; carp - carp; perch - perch; grouse - grouse; wildfowl - wildfowl; species - species; series - series; craft - craft; aircraft - aircraft). What is a grammatical category? A grammatical category is linguistic meaning expressed by the opposition of opposed forms. Opposed forms must possess two types of features: common and distinctive. For example, the nouns "a book" and "books". What feature differentiates them? Number: a book refers to one individual book, while books refers to more than one - 'oneness vs. non-oneness'.
Define the use of Articles as Concretizers. Give examples.
The generalizing function of articles is opposed to that of concretization. The latter is realized through some specific functions which are different for definite, indefinite and zero articles.
Characterize the imperative mood.
The imperative mood actually does not give any information as to the reality of an action described by the verb. An imperative typically urges the addressee to do or not to do something. It is used to give orders or requests, and expects some action from the addressee. Most imperative clauses don't contain a subject in their surface structure. They are formed with the help of the "bare" infinitive of the verb, that is, infinitive without the particle - to.
Characterize the indicative mood.
The indicative mood presents an action as a real fact that happened in the past, is happening now or will happen in future. That's why it is called a real mood or a fact mood. The indicative mood is rich in forms reflecting all grammatical categories of the finite verb (the categories of person and number, tense, aspect and voice).
Discuss determiners and articles as determiners.
The invariant function of all the articles (i.e. the function all of them are used in) is that of determination. Any human language has a system of devices used to determine words as parts of speech. In analytical languages the article is the basic noun determiner. Determiners are used to identify things in further detail. To take the dictionary definition, they are modifying words that determine the kind of reference a noun or noun group has. They are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something specific or something of a particular type.
Define the use of Articles as Generalizers. What is a referent? Provide examples.
The object denoted by the word is called the "referent". Referents can be concrete, if something is said about a concrete object or phenomenon, and general, if what we say is true for the whole class of objects. e.g. I have a dog at home (a concrete dog). The dog is man's friend (any dog). In the second sentence the definite article is used as a generalizer. The generalizing function can be performed by both the definite, the indefinite and the zero article. The zero article is used in the plural or with uncountable nouns, for example: e.g. Conscience and cowardice are really the same things. Iron is metal. When concrete nouns are used in generic sense, they are usually preceded by the definite article. The indefinite article may be used when two classes of objects are compared, for example: A dog is stronger than a cat.
Characterize the perfect progressive aspect of the English verb. Give examples.
The perfect progressive is a hybrid form when the perfect and progressive aspects are combined in the same verb phrase to refer to a temporary situation leading up to the present (I have been running. - the present perfect continuous) or to some point in the past (The fire had been raging for over a week when the fire-engines arrive. - the past perfect continuous).
Define the use of Articles as the Theme-and-Rheme Markers. Give examples.
The second function the articles can be used in is that of the theme-and rheme markers. As you know, the theme is the information already known, and the rheme is the semantic focus of the utterance, the new idea that is being introduced. An utterance where there is only the rheme can't be understood. . For example, if I entered the room and said something like that to you, "What about a wedding dress for Jane?" you would not understand anything, for there are three rhematic pieces of information in this utterance: 1. Jane (you don't know who she is). 2. Jane's forthcoming marriage. 3. You have to take care of Jane's wedding dress.
What is the essence of the subjunctive mood? Comment on the forms and functional-semantic peculiarities of present and past subjunctives. Give examples.
The subjunctive mood presents an action as unreal or hypothetical. There are two forms of the subjunctive mood: synthetic and analytical. Synthetic forms of the subjunctive mood are represen-ted by the present and past subjunctive. The form of present subjunctive coincides (ემთხვევა) with the infinitive of the verb. Present subjunctive is used in certain set expressions: God bless you. Long live the King. God save the Queen, etc. The past subjunctive is identical in form with the simple past of the verb (e.g.: If I had time, I would go and see her.). The exception is the verb be which occurs in the past subjunctive as were with all the persons both in singular and plural. Because of this, the past subjunctive is sometimes referred to as "were-subjunctive". The past subjunctive is hypothetical in meaning. It is used mostly in conditional clauses and in subordinate clauses after the verbs wish and suppose:
Define the category of determination.
The term determination, as used here, means the actualization (fulfillment) of the functions (semantic, grammatical, informational, and pragmatic) of the noun.
Name and comment on the non-finite forms of the verb.
There are three non-finite forms of the verb in English: the infinitive, the participle and the gerund. The participle has two forms: present participle (participle I), which is formed with the help of the inflectional suffix -ing (dancing, singing, etc.), and past participle (participle II) with the inflectional suffix -ed for regular verbs and other means of word-forming for irregular verbs (danced, brought, taken, etc.).
Discuss the analytical forms of the subjunctive mood.
There are two analytical forms of the subjunctive mood: a) The first form is homonymous with the past perfect. It is used in conditional clauses of the third type (so called "unreal for ever clauses"), expressing the situation which was not fulfilled in the past. For instance: If I had lent him money he would not have committed a larceny. b) the second form is represented by the mood auxiliaries should/would + indefinite or perfect infinitive of the main verb. E.g.: If I had money I would go to the concert (second conditional). = ფული რომ მქონდეს, კონცერტზე წავიდოდი. If I had had money, I would have gone to the concert (third conditional). = ფული რომ მქონოდა, კონცერტზე წავიდოდი (ე.ი., ვერ წავედი იმიტომ, რომ ფული არ მქონდა.)
Comment on the grammatical categories of person and number of the verb. What does their concord imply?
There is a concord between the subject of a sentence and its finite verb predicate. That is, the subject dominates the predicate determining the person and number of the predication, while the predicate dominates the subject, ascribing to it some action, state or quality (e.g.: Ann plays the piano every day. We play the piano every day.). Therefore, grammarians consider grammatical categories of person and number as syntactically conditioned categories.
What is the semantic classification of nouns? (countable and uncountable nouns)
We can distinguish two grammatically relevant classes of nouns: countable (discrete) and uncountable, or mass (indiscrete). Countables are subdivided into proper and common nouns. A proper noun is the name of a particular member of a class or of a set of particular members, e.g. Smith and the Smiths. Similar to proper nouns, common nouns form two grammatically subdivided into person and non-person nouns. This subdivision of nouns constitutes the basis for the category of gender in English: person nouns can be either masculine or feminine, while non-person nouns are neuter. Both types of countables - proper and common - serve as a basis for the category of number. Uncountable nouns, in contrast to countable nouns, do not denote individuals; they either denote substance as such (material nouns) or concepts, or ideas, which exist in our minds only (abstract nouns). Uncountables, naturally, cannot form the opposition of singular vs. plural within their class: they are singulars only
Describe the main types of derived verbs in modern English
a) Derived verbs, which are formed by means of conversion (zero-suffixation). The most common type of conversion is "noun - verb" conversion, such as: a cloud - to cloud; a house - to house; a park - to park, an iron - to iron, a book - to book, etc. b) Derived verbs, which are formed by means of vowel interchange: food - to feed, blood - to bleed, etc. c) Derived verbs, which are formed by means of replacing the stress: 'import - to im'port, 'transport - to trans'port, etc. d) Derived verbs, which are formed by means of affixation (a root morpheme + prefix or suffix). There are many derivational prefixes used to form new verbs in English: re-: rebuild, rename, etc. dis-: disarm, dislike, etc. over-: overeat, overtire, etc. un-: unload, unfold, etc. mis-: misinform, misunderstand, etc. out-: outbid, outdo, etc. However, there are only a few derivational suffixes (realize, stabilize, lengthen, moisten, activate, regulate, beautify, notify, etc.).
Describe the main types of phrasal verbs in modern English
a) the first is a combination of the head verb have, give and take (occasionally some others) and a noun. Such phrasal verbs have ordinary simple verbal equivalents. e.g. to have a smoke = to smoke; to give a smile = to smile; to take a stroll = to stroll; to have a look at = to look at, etc. b) The second is a combination of a head-verb with a preposition which determines the semantics of the phrase. e.g.look at, look after, look for, look through, look up, look out, etc.
Enumerate and characterize functionally modal verbs.
can, may, must, could, might, ought, have to, be able to, shall, will, should, would, need, etc. - only as auxiliary verbs to express ability, possibility, obligation, necessity, volition (ნებელობა) or prediction of the action, process or state which is denoted by the main verb.
What adjectives form their degrees by both inflections and words more and most?
gentle, clever, friendly, quiet, simple
Are there adjectives that form their degrees of comparison by means of suppletion?
good - better - the best bad - worse - the worst
Are the words "more" and "most" lexical or grammatical means when, they form the degrees of comparison of adjectives?
grammatical
What adjectives form their comparative and superlative by root-vowel and final-consonant change?
many - more - the most much - more - the most little - less - the least far - further - the furthest
Characterize lexical (full) verbs.
meaning: to denote action, process or state dynamically, developing in time; only used as main verbs because of their lexical meanings; belong to an open class of words since the English language is always adding new lexical verbs to designate new concepts.
Discuss the noun.
one of the most important parts of speech: its arrangement with the verb helps to express a predication, the core of the sentence. As already indicated, the categorical meaning of the noun is 'substance' or 'thingness'. As a part of speech, the noun is characterized by a set of formal features, or markers. a) word-building affixes such as -ment, -tion, -sion, -age, -al, -ance/-ence, (e)ry, -ure, etc. E.g. engagement, destruction, marriage, arrival, allowance, persistence, bribery, enclosure; b) the categories of number, case, gender, and determination (restriction).
How can we learn using articles?
one of the ways to learn to use articles correctly is developing the necessary communicative skills through countless repetition, which can only be achieved in a corresponding language environment. Another way is trying to develop a system of rules governing the use of articles in the language by understanding the basic principles of their functioning
What is the main principle of the morphological differentiation of verbs into regular and irregular classes?
past participle - (participle II) the inflectional suffix -ed for regular verbs and other means of word-forming for irregular verbs (danced, brought, taken, etc.).
What does the centrality of the verb imply?
the essential role they play in the sentence. The centrality of the verb is also conditioned by the complex system of its grammatical categories and various classifications according to their functional, semantic, morphological, structural and valency characteristics