The subject of theoretical grammar and its difference from practical grammar.
The following course of theoretical grammar serves to describe the grammatical structure of the English language as a system where all parts are interconnected. The difference between theoretical and practical grammar lies in the fact that practical grammar prescribes certain rules of usage and teaches to speak (or write) correctly whereas theoretical grammar presents facts of language, while analyzing them, and gives no prescriptions.
Unlike school grammar, theoretical grammar does not always produce a ready-made decision. In language there are a number of phenomena interpreted differently by different linguists. To a great extent, these differences are due to the fact that there exist various directions in linguistics, each having its own method of analysis and, therefore, its own approach to the matter. But sometimes these differences arise because some facts of language are difficult to analyze, and in this case the only thing to offer is a possible way to solve the problem, instead of giving a final solution. It is due to this circumstance that there are different theories of the same language phenomenon, which is not the case with practical grammar.
The category of correlation
Grammatical category of time correlation GC which marks the anteriority of the action to the temporal axis of orientation (present, past, etc.), as opposed to simultaneity of the action with the temporal axis.
Time Correlation interprets the concept of time from the asp of temporal asp of actions. The gr cat-ry of Time is constituted by the oppos-ion of Perf/Nonperf forms. There are diffr opinions on the oppos-ion. We share the view of Smirnitskij who treats the oppos as a separate gr cat-ry "The c-ry of Time correlation".
The marked member is built with the help of the discontinious form "Have+ed". The meaning of the Perf form includes 2 interrelated components: priority, correlation to another act or point of time in the Pres, Past, Futur.
This cat-ry is Antropological: it reflects the speaker's interpretation of the relations b/w the actions. In certain context the General meaning of priority can be modefied & presented by several syntagmatic meanings:
1) Result it is found with terminative verbs & appears to be the result of the gr meaning of priority & the aspective char-re of the verb.
2) Experience is the most evident manifestation of the anthropological char-re of the cat-ry. Pr Perf denotes a past act which has a pres time relevance for the speaker.
3) Continuation of the past act in the pres is found with durative V. Ex: I've been here for months.
4) An unfulfield act is found after the modal verbs: be might, ought, should & after the verbs of hope, intention, expectation used in the past tense.the Perf form showes that the expected act wasn't realized.
5) Intensity- absolute complition of the act. This use of Perf forms is very expressive. The Past Perf interrupts the line of a sucsession of past actions. Ex: He walked & whistled & suddenly he had stopped.
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In the text the Perf form forms a retrospective to understand the causitive-consequitive relations b/w the act-s.
The weak memberof the oppos has a very wide & general meaning. The oppos Perf/Nonperf may be neutralized when the meaning of priority is expressed by other elements of context (on, upon, after+Ger).
The cat-ry needs spec attention in teaching because priority & correlation don't have gr expression in R.
Many scholars (Smirnitsky) are of the opinion that the English perfect non-perfect forms represent a special grammatical category the category of correlation which is expressed in the system of two-member opposemes: writes has written; wrote had written; writing having written; to be written to have been written, etc. showing whether the action is viewed as prior to (perfect forms) or irrespective of other actions or situations (non-perfect forms) (Smirnitsky, Barkhudarov).
The category of correlation is closely connected with those of tense and aspect. All the views on the essence of the perfect forms in English may be classified into:
1) Otto Gespersen and others treat the perfect forms as a tense category.
2) Vorontsova Ilyish and others treat the perfect forms as an aspect category together with such forms as the continuous aspect and common aspect.
The category of correlation is characteristic of finites and non-finites of the indicative and the subjunctive mood (with the exception of the imperative mood, participle II and subjunctive I).
E.g. The plane is reported to have left (to leave). She speaks as if she had been there herself. His having taken the book is out of the question.
Many scholars find two perfect meanings: inclusive and exclusive. E.g. How long have u been here? (inclusive). Where have u been (exclusive).
Gordon and Krylova distinguish 3 uses of the present perfect.
1) Present Perfect I shows that the action took part in the past without mentioning any definite circumstances under which it occurred: He is very sensitive. I have discovered that
It is used to open up conversations, to introduce a new topic, to sum up a situation:
E.g. What is it they have done? So you have done nothing?
The attention is concentrated on the action itself.
2) Present Perfect II expresses an action, which began before the moment of speaking and continues into it or up to it.
E.g. I have known him since childhood.
3) Present Perfect III is used to express a future action.
E.g. When you have had your tea well see about it. The main sphere of Present Perfect is direct speech.
The Past Perfect has the same meanings but is used mainly in narration, referring to the past: E.g. She was no fool. She had read much and with good sense.
The Future Perfect is used in two cases 1) to express a completed action before a given future moment and 2) an action which begins before a given moment in the future and continues into it or up to it; the later is rather seldom. E.g. I suppose we shall have made up our minds whom we going to elect.
The category of voice
The verbal category of voice shows the direction of the process as regards the participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic construction.Wrote was written Meaning direction of the action, whether the action is represented as issuing from its subject or as experienced by its object. He wrote this letter yesterday. This letter was written yesterday. But The bells rang and The fabric washes easily. Is it the active voice? Why do we have the sentences They rang the bells and She washed the fabric. These are causative constructions. Middle voice. Greek had the middle voice, the same is in Semitic languages. The weak point there is no distinct set of forms. Prof.Barkhudarov considers the middle meaning to be part of the active voice meaning. If it were part of the passive voice meaning it would be possible to use the by-phrase: ٭The bells rang by John; ٭The fabric washed by the girl. Reflexive voice: He hurt himself. Meaning the action is concentrated on one and the same person. Form verb + reflexive pronoun. But reflexive pronouns can be omitted and the meaning of reflexivity remains: He shaved and dressed. Prof. Ilyish: He hurt himself and the child. Besides: He makes toys He makes mistakes. And not always reflexive pronouns can be omitted: He found himself in a dark room. Reciprocal voice: They met each other at the station. Meaning mutuality of the action. The subject is often plural. Form verb + reciprocal pronoun. But They met at the station. Conclusion: if we insist on external being obligatory to form a voice (certainly in combination with meaning), we should refer all the cases mentioned previously to the active voice (non-passive): He opened the door. The door opened. The book reads well. He shaved. They kissed. So, its a poly-functional form. Passive voice: be+en. 2 controversial problems: 1). The form get and become (He got wounded in the war. He became surprised). - the verbs get and become retain to some extent their lexical meaning; - though Passive is a dependent form (Active is the basic one and Passive is a mere transform) there isnt full correspondence between Active and Passive: e.g. The boy resembles his father. The hat suits you. I am surprised. He was killed in the war. The radio was invented by Popov (theme-rheme). Passive constructions:
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Direct Passive (The letter was written yesterday)
Indirect Passive (I was given a very interesting book)
Prepositional Passive (The doctor was sent for) Phraseological Passive (Care should be taken not to confuse these words)
Adverbial Passive (The house has not been lived in for many years) 2). Passive constructions and compound nominal predicates: The floor was washed only yesterday. The floor is washed. Action:: result. How to treat the 2 case? Either as Statal Passive (simple verbal predicate) or a phrase (compound nominal predicate). The presence of the by-phrase, the continuous form of the verb, non-terminative verbs, the presence of modal verbs, the use of adverbials indicate passive constructions. e.g. The is closed. The shop is closed at 7.
