I. Define the casal semantics of the modifying component in the underlined phrases and account for their determination

 

a)

1. Two Negroes, dressed in glittering livery such as one sees in pictures of royal processions in London, were standing at attention beside the car and as the two young men dismounted from the buggy they greeted in some language which the guest could not understand, but which seemed to be an extreme form of the Southern Negro’s dialect (Fitzgerald).

2. Home was a fine high-ceiling apartment hewn from the palace of a Renaissance cardinal in the Rue Monsieur – the sort of thing Henry could not have afforded in America (Fitzgerald).

3. Wherefore it is better to be a guest of the law, which, though conducted by rules, does not meddle unduly with a gentleman’s private affairs (O.Henry).

4. The two vivid years of his love for Caroline moved back around him like years in Einstein’s physics (Fitzgerald).

5. “Isn’t Ida’s head a dead ringer for the lady’s head on the silver dollar?” (O. Henry)

6. He had been away from New York for more than eight months and most of the dance music was unfamiliar to him, but at the first bars of the “Painted Doll”, to which he and Caroline had moved through so much happiness and despair the previous summer, he crossed to Caroline’s table and asked her to dance (Fitzgerald).

 

b)

1. And then followed the big city’s biggest shame, its most ancient and rotten surviving canker…handed down from a long-ago century of the basest barbarity – the Hue and Cry (O. Henry).

2. He mentioned what he had said to the aspiring young actress who had stopped him in front of Sardi’s and asked quite bluntly if she should persist in her ambition to go on the stage or give up and go home (Saroyan).

3. The policeman’s mind refused to accept Soapy even as a clue. Men who smash windows do not remain to parley with the law’s minions (O.Henry).

4. I’ve heard you’re very fat these days, but I know it’s nothing serious, and anyhow I don’t care what happens to people’s bodies, just so the rest of them is O. K. (Saroyan)

5. “I dropped them flowers in a cracker-barrel, and let the news trickle in my ears and down toward my upper left-hand shirt pocket until it got to my feet.” (O. Henry)

6. She turned and smiled at him unhappily in the dim dashboard light (Cheever).

 

c)

1. Andy agreed with me, but after we talked the scheme over with the hotel clerk we gave that plan up. He told us that there was only one way to get an appointment in Washington, and that was through a lady lobbyist (O.Henry)

2. Nobody lived in the old Parker mansion, and the driveway was used as a lover’s lane (Cheever).

3. His eyes were the same blue shade as the china dog’s in the right-hand corner of your Aunt Ellen’s mantelpiece (O. Henry)

4. Pandemonium broke loose in the courtroom. A woman’s scream rose above the bedlam and suddenly a lovely, dark-haired girl was in Walter Mitty’s arms (Thurber).

5. “A man?” said Sue, with a jew’s-harp twang in her voice (O. Henry)

6. Then he would spring onto the terrace, lift the steak lightly off the fire, and run away with the Goslins’ dinner. Jupiter’s days were numbered. The Wrightson’s German gardener or the Farquarson’s cook would soon poison him (Cheever).

 

d)

1. He was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo’s Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr along the body of an imp (O. Henry)

2. One day this man finds his wife putting on her overshoes and three months’ supply of bird seed into the canary’s cage (O. Henry).

3. After leaving Pinky, Francis went to a jeweller’s and bought the girl a bracelet (Cheever).

4. And Mr. Binkley looked imposing and dashing with the red face and grey moustache, and his tight dress coat, that made the back of his neck roll up just like a successful novelist’s (Cheever).

5. He broke up garden parties and tennis matches, and got mixed up in the processional at Christ’s Church on Sunday, barking at the men in red dresses (Cheever).

6. I painted the portrait of a very beautiful and popular society dame (O.Henry)

 

II. Open the brackets and account for the choice of the casal form of the noun:

 

a)

1. Vivian Schnlitzer-Murphy had rubies as big as (hen + eggs), and sapphires that were like globes with lights inside them (Fitzgerald)

2. But as Soapy set foot inside the (restaurant + door) the (head + waiter + eye) fell upon his frayed trousers and decadent shoes (O. Henry)

3. A miserable cat wanders into the garden, sunk in spiritual and physical discomfort. Tied to its head is a small (straw + hat) – a (doll + hat) – and it is securely buttoned into a (doll + dress), from the skirts of which protrudes its long, hairy tail (Cheever).

4. Soapy straightened the (lady + missionary + ready-made + tie), dragged his shrinking cuffs into the open, set his hat at a killing cant and sidled towards the young woman (O. Henry).

5. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to,” he said, after a (moment + hesitation) (Fitzgerald).

 

b)

1. Of women there were five in Yellowhammer. The (assayer + wife), the (proprietress + the Lucky Strike Hotel), and a laundress whose washtub panned out an (ounce + dust) a day (O. Henry).

2. “The face,” said Reineman, “is the (face + one + God + own angels).” (O. Henry)

3. The people who had come in were rich and at home in their richness with one another – a dark lovely girl with a hysterical little laugh he had met before; two confident men whose jokes referred invariably to last (night + scandal) and (tonight + potentialities)… (Fitzgerald)

4. His face was a sickly white, covered almost to the eyes with a stubble the (shade + a red Irish setter + coat) (O. Henry).

5. During the first intermission he suddenly remembered that he had not had a seat removed from the theatre and placed in his dressing room, so he called the (stage + manager) and told him to see that such a seat was instantly found somewhere and placed in his dressing room (Saroyan).

 

c)

1. His eyes were full of hopeless, tricky defiance like that seen in a (cur) that is cornered by his tormentors (O. Henry)

2. The scene for the miserere mei Deus was, like (the waiting room + so many doctors + offices), a crude (token + gesture) toward the sweets of domestic bliss: a place arranged with antiques, (coffee + tables), potted plants, and (etching + snow-covered bridges and geese in fight), although there were no children, no (marriage + bed), no stove, even, in this (travesty + a house), where no one had ever spent the night and where the curtained windows looked straight onto a dark (air + shaft) (Cheever)

3. Their eyes brushed past (each other), and the look he knew so well was staring out at him from hers (Fitzgerald).

4. “Hello, Mitty,” he said. “We’re having the (devil + own time) with McMillan, the millionaire banker and close personal friend of Roosevelt.” (Thurber)

5. “You know? Clayton, that (boy + hers), doesn’t seem to get a job…” (Cheever)

 

d)

1. He noticed that the (face + the + taxi + driver) in the photograph inside the cab resembled, in many ways, the (painter + face) (Saroyan)

2. Here he was, proudly resigned to the loneliness which is (man + lot), ready and able to write, and to say yes, with no strings attached (Saroyan).

3. He was tired from the (day + work) and tired with longing, and sitting on the (edge + the bed) had the effect of deepening his weariness (Cheever).

4. The (voice + childhood) had never gladdened its flimsy structures; the (patter + restless little feet) had never consecrated the one rugged highway between the two (rows + tents + rough buildings) (O. Henry)

5. But now Yellowhammer was but a (mountain + camp), and nowhere in it were the roguish, expectant eyes, opening wide at (dawn + the enchanting day); the eager, small hands to reach for (Santa + bewildering hoard); the elated, childish voicings of the (season + joy), such as the (coming good things + the warmhearted Cherokee) deserved (O. Henry).

 

III. Translate the sentences into English and define the semantic type of the casal phrase:

 

1. Никто не расслышал последние слова умирающего пациента.

2. Он купил новый офицерский китель.

3. Сестра подписалась на богато иллюстрированный дорогой женский журнал.

4. Утомительный десятимильный переход, казалось, вымотал всех, кроме капрала.

5. Неожиданное двадцатипроцентное увеличение зарплаты удивило сотрудников фирмы, поскольку они уже привыкли к скупости своего шефа.

 

IV. Analyze the categorial features of the underlined wordforms:

 

The boy was devouring cakes while the anxious-looking aunt tried to convince the Grahams that her sister’s only son could do no mischief.

 

MODEL: We had just finished the cocktails when the door was flung open and the Morstens’sgirl came in, followed by a boy.

 

the cocktails – the nounal form is marked by the expression of the categorial meanings of plurality and identification and is unmarked in the categories of gender and case;

the door – the nounal form is marked by the expression of the categorial meaning of identification of the referent, and is unmarked in the expression of the categories of case, number, and gender;

the Morstens’s – the nounal form is marked by the expression of the categorial meanings of plurality, of identification of the referent, of appurtenance, and of animateness (the strong member of the upper opposition of the category of gender);

the girl – the nounal form is marked by the expression of the categorial meanings of identification of the referent and of the feminine gender. At the same time it is the unmarked member of the oppositions in the categories of case and number;

a boy – the nounal form is marked by the expression of the categorial meaning of the masculine gender, and is the unmarked member of the oppositions in the categories of case, number and article determination.

 

____

Seminar 4

VERB: GENERAL. NON-FINITE VERBS

_________________

 

1. A general outline of the verb as a part of speech.
2. Classification of verbs (notional verbs / semi-notional verbs / functional verbs).
3. Grammatical subcategorization of notional verbs (actional / statal / processual; limitive / unlimitive).
4. The valency of verbs (complementive / uncomplementive verbs; transitive / intransitive verbs).
5. A general outline of verbals: the categorial semantics, categories, syntactic functions.
6. The infinitive and its properties. The categories of the infinitive. Modal meanings of infinitival complexes.
7. The gerund and its properties. The categories of gerund. The notion of half-gerund.
8. The present participle, the past participle, and their properties.

 

 

QUESTIONS TO BE DISCUSSED:

 

1. What is the general categorial meaning of the verb?
2. What does the processual categorial meaning of the verb determine?
3. What grammatical categories find formal expression in the outward structure of the verb?
4. What criteria underlie the subclassification of notional verbs?
5. What does aspective verbal semantics find its expression in?
6. What combinability characteristics does the verb have?
7. What are the mixed lexico-grammatical features of the verbids revealed in?
8. What is peculiar to the predication expressed by the verbids?
9. Which of the verbids is considered the head-form of the whole paradigm of the verb?
10. What grammatical categories does the infinitive distinguish?
11. What grammatical categories does the gerund have?
12. What grammatical categories differentiate the present participle from the past participle?
13. What considerations are relevant for interpreting the half-gerund as gerundial participle?

 

EXERCISES

 

I. Analyze the modal meanings actualized by the infinitive and the infinitival complexes (possibility, necessity, desire, expression of an actual fact):

a)

1. There is a Mr. Anthony Rizzoli here to see you (Sheldon).

2. I have a regiment of guards to do my bidding (Haggard).

3. I’ll send a man to come with you (Lawrence).

4. I never saw anybody to touch him in looks (Haggard).

5. There is nothing in that picture to indicate that she was soon to be one of the most famous persons in France (Christie)

6. It was a sound to remember (Lawrence).

 

b)

1. There were several benches in advantageous places to catch the sun... (Christie)

2. "Why don't you get married?" she said. "Get some nice capable woman to look after you." (Christie)

3. It occurred to Tommy at this moment with some force that that would certainly be the line to take with Aunt Ada, and indeed always had been (Christie).

4. With the choice of getting well or having brimstone and treacle to drink, you chose getting well every time (Christie).

5. "I suppose there must be some people who are slightly batty here, as well as normal elderly relatives with nothing but age to trouble them." (Christie)

6. "Pity she hadn't got a fortune to leave you," said Tuppence (Christie).

 

c)

1. I've got everything laid out tidily for you to look through (Christie).

2. There's really very little to tell (Christie).

3. Three sons were too much to burden yourself with (Christie).

4. "There's nothing to find out in this place - so forget about Mrs. Blenkinsop." (Christie)

5. She must have been a tartar to look after, though (Christie).

6. But it's not the police she wants, it's a doctor to be called - she's that crazy about doctors (Christie).

 

II. Rephrase the sentences so as to use a gerund as an object:

 

1. I insist on it that you should give up this job immediately.

2. They were surprised when they didn't find any one at home.

3. He went on speaking and was not listening to any objections.

4. When the boy was found he didn't show any signs of being alive.

5. Do you admit that you have made a mistake by divorcing her?

6. They suspect that he has been bribed.

 

III. Choose infinitive or gerund and give your reasons:

 

1. As some water had got in, the engine of the boat couldn't but.... working (to stop).

2. I'm afraid our camera wants… (to repair).

3. This is not the way… children (to treat).

4. I soon regretted… the doctor's recommendations (not to follow).

5. I regret…that I can't come to your wedding (to say).

6. Did they teach you… at school (to dance)?

7. Who has taught you… so well (to dance)?

8. She demanded… the whole truth (to tell).

9. On her way home she stopped… with her neighbour (to talk).

10. Remember… the gas-stove before leaving the flat (to turn off).

 

IV. Point out Participle I, gerund or verbal noun:

 

a)

1. Curtis Hartman came near dying from the effects of that night of waiting in the church... (Anderson)

2. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication (O.Henry).

3. The stewardess announced that they were going to make an emergency landing. All but the child saw in their minds the spreading wings of the Angel of Death. The pilot could be heard singing faintly... (Cheever)

4. Soapy, having decided to go to the Island, at once set about accomplishing his desire. There were many easy ways of doing this (O.Henry).

b)

1. The loud groaning of the hydraulic valves swallowed up the pilot's song, and there was a shrieking high in the air, like automobile brakes, and the plane hit flat on its belly in a cornfield and shook them so violently that an old man up forward howled, "Me kidneys! Me kidneys!" The stewardess flung open the door, and someone opened an emergency door at the back, letting in the sweet noise of their continuing mortality - the idle splash and smell of a heavy rain (Cheever).

2. "At that time me and Andy was doing a square, legitimate business of selling walking canes. If you unscrewed the head of one and turned it up to your mouth a half pint of good rye whiskey would go trickling down your throat to reward you for your act of intelligence." (O.Henry)

3. Now the shadow of the town fell over the valley earlier, and she remembered herself the beginnings of winter - the sudden hoarfrost lying on the grapes and wild flowers, and the contadini coming in at dark on their asini, loaned down with roots and other scraps of wood, for wood was hard to find in that country and one would ride ten kilometri for a bundle of green olive cuttings, and she could remember the cold in her bones and see the asini against the yellow light of evening and hear the lonely noise of stones falling down the steep path, falling away from their hoofs (Cheever).

4. Johnsy lay, scarcely making a ripple under the bedclothes, with her face towards the window. She stopped whistling, thinking she was asleep (O.Henry).

 

c)

1. "Can't you let a man die as comfortably as he can without calling him names? What's the use of slanging me?" "You're not going to die." "Don't be silly. I'm dying now. Ask those bastards." (Hemingway)

2. "There was a girl standing there - an imported girl with fixings on -philandering with a croquet maul and amusing herself by watching my style of encouraging the fruit canning industry." (O.Henry)

3. At the first cocktail, taken at the bar, there were many slight spillings from many trembling hands, but later, with the champagne, there was a rising tide of laughter and occasional bursts of song (Fitzgerald).

4. Cutting the last of the roses in her garden, Julia heard old Mr. Nixon shouting at the squirrels in his bird-feeding station (Cheever).

 

d)

1. Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt and derision for such idiotic imaginings (O.Henry).

2. He certainly could not remember ever having felt arrogant or ever having been pleased that he had slighted or offended anyone. He had never felt that plain work, for very little money, was beneath him, but he had always been eager to get back to his writing. Every now and then when the going was tough he had even grown fearful that he might never break through, and that he might find himself working steadily at a common job, solely because he had to provide for his family (Saroyan).

3. He floundered in the water. It went into his nose and started a raw stinging; it blinded him; it lingered afterward in his ears, rattling back and forth like pebbles for hours. The sun discovered him, too, peeling long strips of parchment from his shoulders, blistering his back so that he lay in a feverish agony for several nights (Fitzgerald).

4. And third, if he proved difficult in any way, as she knew he might, or if he went right on leering at every girl he happened to see, who was to stop her from getting a divorce and being none the worse for having been for a while Mrs. Andre Salamat? (Saroyan)