The Pronoun. Classification of pronoun

The meaning of the pronoun as a separate part of speech is somewhat difficult to define. In fact, some pronouns share essential peculiarities of nouns (e.g. he), while others have much in common with adjectives (e. g. which). This made some scholars think that pronouns were not a separate part of speech at all and should be distributed between nouns and adjectives. However, this view proved untenable and entailed insurmountable difficulties. Hence it has proved necessary to find a definition of the specific meaning of pronouns, distinguishing them from both nouns and adjectives. From this angle the meaning of pronouns as a part of speech can be stated as follows: pronouns point to the things and properties without naming them. Thus, for example, the pronoun it points to a thing without being the name of any particular class of things. The pronoun its points to the property of a thing by referring it to another thing. The pronoun what can point both to a thing and a property.

(2) Form. As far as form goes pronouns fall into different types. Some of them have the category of number (singular and plural), e. g. this, while others have no such category, e. g. somebody. Again, some pronouns have the category of case (he him, somebody somebody's), while others have none (something).

(3) Function. (a) Some pronouns combine with verbs (he speaks, find him), while others can also combine with a following noun (this room). (b) In the sentence, some pronouns may be the subject (he, what) or the object, while others are the attribute (my). Pronouns can be predicatives.

 

26. Semi – compound and semi – complex sentences.

 

The semi-compound sentence is a semi-composite sentence built up on the principle of coordination. Proceeding from the outlined grammatical analysis of the composite sentence, the structure of the semi-compound sentence is derivationally to be traced back to minimum two base sentences having an identical element belonging to one or both of their principal syntactic positions, i.e. either the subject, the predicate, or both. By the process of semi-compounding, the sentences overlap round the identical element sharing it in coordinative fusion, which can be either syndetic or asyndetic. Thus, from the formal point of view, a sentence possessing coordinated notional parts of immediately sentential reference (directly related to its predicative line) is to be treated as semi-compound. But different structural types of syntactic coordination even of direct sentential reference (coordinated subjects, predicates, objects, adverbial modifiers) display very different implications as regards semi-compounding composition of sentences.

For instance, coordinated subjects connected asyndetically in an enumerative sequence or forming a plain copulative syndetic string can hardly be taken as constituting so many shared though separately identified predicative lines with the verbal constituent of the sentence. As different from this, two subject-groups connected adversatively or antithetically are more "live" in their separate relation to the predicative centre; the derivative reference of such a sentence to the two source predicative constructions receives some substantiality. E.g.:

There was nothing else, only her face in front of me. →There was nothing else in front of me.+There was only her face in front of me.

The semi-compound sentence of predicate coordination is derived from minimum two base sentences having identical subjects. By the act of semi-compounding, one of the base sentences in most cases of textual occurrence becomes the leading clause of complete structure, while the other one is transformed into the sequential coordinate semi-clause (expansion) referring to the same subject. E.g.:

The soldier was badly wounded. +The soldier stayed in the ranks. → The soldier was badly wounded, but stayed in the ranks. He tore the photograph in half. + He threw the photograph in the fire. → He tore the photograph in half and threw it in the fire.

The syndetic formation of the semi-compound sentence expresses, first, copulative connection of events; then contrast, either comparative or adversative; furthermore, disjunction (alternation), consequence, limitation, elucidation. The conjunctive elements effecting this syndetic semi-compounding of sentences are both pure conjunctions and also words of adverbial nature. The pure conjunction and, the same as with pleni-compound sentences, expresses the unmarked semantic type of semi-compounding; the rest of the connectors render various marked types of it. The pure conjunctions used for semi-compounding, besides the copulative and, are monoconjunctions but, or, nor, and double (discontinuous) conjunctions both ... and, not only ... but also, either ... or, neither ... nor. The conjunctive adverbials are then, so, just, only.

Of all the diversified means of connecting base sentences into a semi-compound construction the most important and by far the most broadly used is the conjunction and. Effecting the unmarked semi-compounding connection of sentences, it renders the widest possible range of syntactic relational meanings; as for its frequency of occurrence, it substantially exceeds that of all the rest of the conjunctives used for semi-compounding taken together.

The functional meanings expressed by the and-semi-compound patterns can be exposed by means of both coordinative and subordinative correlations. Here are some basic ones:

The officer parked the car at the end of the terrace and went into the Mission. → The officer parked the car ..., then went into the Mission. (Succession of events, inviting a coordinative exposition) Suddenly the door burst open and Tommy rushed in panting for breath.Asthe door burst open, Tommy rushed in ...("Successive simultaneity" of actions, inviting a subordinative exposition) Patterton gavelled for attention and speedily disposed of several routine matters. →Patterton gavelled for attention so that he could dispose and did dispose of several routine matters. (Purpose in successive actions, inviting a subordinative exposition) Her anger and emotion grew, and finally exploded. → Her anger and emotion grew to the degree that they finally exploded.

In accord with the principles laid down in the introductory description of composite sentences (Ch. XXVI), the semi-composite sentence is to be defined as a sentence with more than one predicative lines which are expressed in fusion. For the most part, one of these lines can be identified as the leading or dominant, the others making the semi-predicative expansion of the sentence. The expanding semi-predicative line in the minimal semi-composite sentence is either wholly fused with the dominant (complete) predicative line of the construction, or partially fused with it, being weakened as a result of the fusing derivational transformation.

The semi-composite sentence displays an intermediary syntactic character between the composite sentence and the simple sentence. Its immediate syntagmatic structure ("surface" structure) is analogous to that of an expanded simple sentence, since it possesses only one completely expressed predicative unit. Its derivational structure ("deep" structure), on the other hand, is analogous to that of a composite sentence, because it is derived from two or more completely predicative units — its base sentences.

There are two different causes of the existence of the semi-composite sentence in language, each of them being essentially important in itself.

According to the ranking structure of the semi-composite sentences, they should be divided into semi-complex and semi-compound ones. These constructions correspond to the complex and compound sentences of complete composition (i.e., respectively, pleni-complex and pleni-compound sentences).

2. The semi-complex sentence is a semi-composite sentence built up on the principle of subordination. It is derived from minimum two base sentences, one matrix and one insert. In the process of semi-complexing, the insert sentence is transformed into a partially depredicated construction which is embedded in one of the syntactic positions of the matrix sentence. In the resulting construction, the matrix sentence becomes its dominant part and the insert sentence, its subordinate semi-clause.

. Semi-complex sentences of subject-sharing are built up by means of the two base sentences overlapping round the common subject. E.g.:

The man stood. + The man was silent. → The man stood silent. The moon rose. + The moon was red. → The moon rose red.

 

 

27. The problem of the Statives.

 

The main function of the statives is that of predicative and in this case they are preceded by a link verb, most usually the verb be, but occasionally also fall, keep, feel. Examples with the link verb be are very numerous and varied. A few will suffice: The child was fast asleep. The whole house was astir. Something is afoot. With the link verb fall we find the stative asleep, as in the sentence He soon fell asleep. The link verb keep is found with statives, e. g. in ...but in a crafty madness keeps aloof. (SHAKESPEARE) The link verb feel is found in the sentence He felt ashamed of himself... (LINKLATER)

Statives are also occasionally found in the function of objective predicatives, particularly after the verb find or have and a noun or pronoun, as in the sentences He found his sister alone. (LINK-LATER) Then Skene spoke, and in a moment had his audience afire. (Idem)

The basically predicative quality of the statives is equally evident in all of these cases. It is somewhat weakened when a stative has the function of an attribute following its noun: A man alive to social interests. And the predicative quality of the stative is further weakened when it precedes a noun as its attribute (this is very rare indeed). The word aloof seems to have gone further than any other stative in this respect. Thus, we find such phrases as his aloof attitude, an aloof manner, etc. On the other hand, the word asleep can only be a prepositive attribute when it is preceded by the adverb fast, as in the phrase a fast-asleep child.

The phrase "be + stative" may sometimes be synonymous with the continuous form of the corresponding verb. Cf., e. g., He is asleep and He is sleeping, He was asleep and He was sleeping. We are therefore entitled to ask whether these two ways of expression are always interchangeable, or whether a difference of some kind or other exists between them. This question has not been finally answered so far.

Proceeding now to compare the statives in English with those in Russian, we find that they do not correspond to each other, i. e. a Russian stative is, it seems, never translated by an English

stative, and vice versa. A few examples will suffice to illustrate the point. Such typical Russian statives as жаль, лень, тепло, холодно are never translated by statives into English: мне его жаль — I pity him, or I feel some pity for him; жаль усов — I feel sorry for my moustache; ему лень было вставать — he fell too lazy to get up; здесь тепло — it is warm here; ему холодно — he is cold, or he feels cold, etc. On the other hand, he is asleep corresponds to the Russian он спит; the ship is afloat to the Russian судно в плавании; the house was ablaze to the Russian дом был в огне, etc. It follows that the phenomena which can be expressed by statives in Russian and in English, are far from being the same.

The existence of statives as a separate part of speech is not universally recognised either for the Russian or for the English language. We will not enter into details of the problems in reference to Russian but we will briefly consider some objections which have been raised against the stative as a part of speech in Modern English. L.S.Barkhudarov in an article published in 1958 1 denies the existence of statives in English on the following grounds: (1) the meaning of "state" is merely a special variety of the meaning of "property" typical of adjectives, (2) words of this category can be preceded by the word more: more ashamed, etc., (3) they can be modified by adverbs (painfully alive), by prepositional phrases (alive with stars) and they can be the predicative, a postpositional or detached attribute, and, less frequently, a prepositive attribute: In the United States the problem of dealing with names of foreign extraction is an alive one. (MCKNIGHT)

The conclusion L. Barkhudarov arrives at is that words of this type are adjectives, which of course is the traditional view. However, these arguments are not binding. They are based on several assumptions which are by no means self-evident or necessary. Thus, there is nothing to prove that the notion of "state" cannot be the foundation of a separate part of speech. Each of the theories here discussed is based on certain conceptions which pave the way to the respective conclusions. The choice should be made in favour of the one that gives a simpler and more consistent presentation of language facts.