1. What does the term "grammar" mean? What is a morpheme?

7. Grammatical (syntactical) functions of the adjective

7. Syntactic functions of adjectives

Syntactically adjectives may function both as 1) at­tributes and 2) predicatives, i.e. parts of the predicate. Here are the examples of the attributive use: She returned in the early morning. After careful consideration we accepted the offer. Trying to conceal her embarrassment she turned away her red face.

Sometimes adjectives used attributively may occur in postposition, i.e. after the noun they describe: This is the only possible answer. — This is the only answer possible. In some cases the postpositional use of adjectives is obligatory: I'll do everything possible to help you.

When used predicatively, adjectives are combined with link-verbs: be, feel, get, grow, look, seem, smell, taste, turn. For instance: / was early for work today. When driving he is always careful. They feel nervous. He looked happy. Honey tastes sweet. She turned red with embar­rassment.

Such adjectives as long, high, wide, deep, etc. find themselves in predicative position together with nouns denoting periods of time and units for measuring height, length and so on. For example: The garden is 20 metres long and 15 metres wide. The well is 25 metres deep.

The most frequently recurrent link-verb is the verb to be which enters a considerable number of set expres­sions of adjective + preposition type: be ready for/with, be fond of, be late for, be jealous of, be happy about, be afraid of, be frightened of, be dependent on, be persistent in, be grateful to/for, be angry with, be certain about/of, be suspicious of, etc. The predicative function of the adjectival collocations is often supported by their syno­nymous verbal counterparts: be fond of— love, be grateful to/for — thank, be suspicious of— suspect of.

The predicative function may be performed by do­uble comparative forms of adjectives in the elliptical (or predicatively incomplete sentences with missing verbal elements): The more expensive the hotel, the better the service. (=The more expensive the hotel is...) The warmer the weather the better I feel.

Note that qualitative adjectives perform their attribu­tive and predicative functions on equal terms while rela­tive adjectives tend to occur in the function of attribute more frequently than in that of predicative: In her silken garment she looked grand. The historic meeting between the two leaders marked the beginning of a new era.

Adjectives with the a- prefix like afire, afloat, agape, ajar, akin, etc. usually function predicatively: The house was aflame. The company somehow managed to keep a float. The problem facing him is akin to that of ours.

However in some rare cases they may be used attri-butively: He got down to work afire with enthusiasm.

8. Particles, conjunctions and prepositions

8. Particles usually refer to the word (or, sometimes, phrase) immediately following and give special prominence to the notion expressed by this word (or phrase), or single it out in some other way, depending on the meaning of the particle.The question of the place of a particle in sentence structure remains unsolved. The following three solutions are possible:

1) a particle is a separate secondary member of the sentence, which shouldbe given a special name;

2) a particle is an element in the part of the sentence which is formed by the word (or phrase) to which the particle refers (thus the particle may be an element of the subject, predicate, object, etc.);

3) a particle neither makes up a special part of the sentence, nor is it an element in any part of the sentence; it stands outside the structure of the sentence and must be neglected when analysis of a sentence is given.Each of these three views entails some difficulties and none of them can be proved to be the correct one, so that the decision remains arbitrary.

General notion of the prepositions. is part of speech which denotes the relations between object and phenomena. It shows the relations between a verb, another noun, an adjective and sometimes an adverb. Usually the prepositions are not stressed and stands before the word it refers to. E g. Desert moved quickly to the windows. As to their morphological structure prepositions fall under following groups: To simple preposition consists of a single monosyllabic word, as a: in, on, at, with, for, from like, since, till, of, off, up. Derivative or compound preposition consists of two or more syllables and is usually made up of two or more words or is formed by prefixing and suffixing as: behind, below, across, along, around, inside, outside, within, without, into, despite, after, under, outside, except, over, until, upon, about. A participial preposition is a participial form used with the force of a preposition rather than with the force of an adjective, gerund, or verbal noun as: barring, concerning, during, saving, accepting, past, providing, respecting, notwithstanding, regarding, providing, touching. A phrasal preposition is a group of two or more words that may be used as a unit preposition and is at the same lime capable of being resolved into its constituent parts as: according to. as to, because of, by means of, for the sake of, in consequence of, in reference to, in regard to, in respect to with a view to, due to, laugh at and stand by. According to their meaning prepositions may be divided into prepositions of place and direction (in. on. below, under, between, etc), time (after, before, at, etc), prepositions expressing abstract relations (by. with, because of. with a view to, etc.).

The peculiarities of Conjunctions. is a part of speech which denotes connection between objects and phenomenally connects parts of the sentence, clauses, and sentences. According to their role in the sentence, conj. fall into two groups: Coordinating conj: and, but, or, either, besides, moreover, likewise, both... and yet. He spoke for the first motion and against the second motion. She moved quickly and with grace. Subordinating conj: that, if whether, as, though, since, when, until, as long as, before, alter, because, unless, so. . That the man didn’t call the police surprised nobody. Somehow I felt that his feelings had changed. According to their morphological structure conj. are divided into the following groups: Simple conj: and, or, but, till, after, that, so, where, when. Some of the simple conj. are homonymous with prepositions, adverbs, and pronouns. Derivative conj: until, unless, etc. Compound conj: however, whereas, wherever, etc. These conj are few. Composite conj: as well as, as long as, in case, for fear (that), on the ground that, for the reason that, etc.

9. Syntax

9. In linguistics, "syntax" refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. The term "syntax" comes from the Greek, meaning "arrange together." Syntax is the part of linguistics that studies the structure and formation of sentences. It explains how words and phrases are arranged to form correct sentences. A sentence could make no sense and still be correct from the syntax point of view as long as words are in their appropriate spots and agree with each other. Here is a classic example by Noam Chomsky, a linguist, that illustrates a case in which a sentence is correct but does not make sense:

• 
  Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
  

To create grammatically correct and acceptable English sentences, we have to follow the English rules for syntax.

The syntactic level is divided into two: syntax – minor and syntax – major. The first one deals with sentence structure and the second – with text and its structure.

The term "Syntax - minor" is common one for both language and speech levels and their unit "sentence" is also one common term for language and speech. The abstract notion "sentence" of language can have concrete its representation in speech which is also called “sentence” due to the absence of the special term. Example: “An idea of John’s writing a letter” on the abstract language level can have its concrete representation in speech: John writes a letter. A letter is written by John.

Since one and the same idea is expressed in two different forms they are called "allo -sentences". Some authors call them grammatical synonyms. Thus, sentence is language and speech units on the syntax - minor level, which has a communicative function.

The basic unit of syntax - minor i.e. sentence often consists of some word -groups (or word- combinations):

The roundness of the earth is known all over the world.

1 .The sentence consists of two distinct word - combinations: "the roundness of the earth"

and "is known all over the world". The same word - combinations may be used without any change in other sentences. The teacher explained the pupils the roundness of the earth. This means that word - combinations can be studied as a separate unit.

2. In utterances there may be simple sentences like "It was dark", "It be gan to rain".Sometimes they may be joined together, depending on the intensions of the speakers, as for example:

a) It was dark, and it began to rain.

b) When it wasdark, I tbegan to rain.

Though the structure of constituting sentences are identical when they are joined together the structure of joined units (a) and (b) are different. This means that such units (which are traditionally called composite or compound/complex sentences) may be also studied separately. Thus syntax - minor deals with simple sentences, with a smaller unit than the simple sentence i.e. word combinations and with the bigger unit than the simple sentence - composite sentences. In the same way the level syntax - major can be explained. The unit of this level is text -the highest level of language and speech. "Syntax- major" represents both language and speech levels due to the absence of separate term as well as "text" is used homogeniously for both language and speech units.