Seminar 3

The Noun and Its Categories

Reading

1. Блох М. Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка. (Ch. V – IX. p. 48 – 83)

2. Хлебникова И. Б. Основы английской морфологии. (p. 35 – 38)

3. Ilyish B. The Structure of Modern English. (Ch. III – IV, p. 36 – 57)

4. Quirk R., Greenbaum S. et al. A University Grammar of English. (4.1 – 4.77, p. 58 – 95)

Points to discuss

1. General characteristics of the noun.

2. The category of number.

3. The category of case.

4. The problem of gender.

5. The category of determination.

Questions for discussion

1. Characterize the noun as a part of speech. List its semantic, morphological and syntactical properties.

2. Comment on various interpretations of number distinctions of the English noun.

3. What meanings can the singular form express? What meanings can the plural form express?

4. Comment on the existing approaches to the case system of the English noun.

5. Describe the category of case in terms of oppositions.

6. List the meanings of the genitive. Comment on the peculiarities of the genitive case in English.

7. Give comments on the synonymic “encounter” of the ‘s-genitive and the ofphrase.

8. Comment on the use of the group-genitive and double genitive in Modern English.

9. Comment on the problem of gender. Does the category of gender exist in Modern English? What ways of expressing gender distinctions exist in English?

10.What differentiates the category of gender in English from that in Russian?

11.Comment on the linguistic status of the article.

Practice Assignment

I. State the meaning of the s-morpheme in each particular case:

Glass – glasses, look – looks, thrill – thrills, custom – customs, sand – sands, arm – arms, like – likes, arm – arms, water – waters, spade – spades.

II. Give the plural form of the nouns in brackets. Group regular plurals into three groups according to the way the plural-building morpheme is pronounced: 1) [s], 2) [z], 3) [ız].

1. There was a high dado of white wood and a green paper on which were (etching) by Whistler in neat black (frame). The green (curtain) with their peacock design, hung in straight (line), and the green carpet, in the pattern of which pale (rabbit) frolicked among leafy (tree), suggested the influence of William Morris. There was blue delft on the chimneypiece. At that time there must have been five hundred (dining-room) in London decorated in exactly the same manner.
(W. S. Maugham)

2. I spent long (hour) in the Louvre, the most friendly of all galleries and the most convenient for meditation; or idled on the (quay), fingering second-hand (book) that I never meant to buy. I read a page here and there, and made acquaintance with a great many (author) whom I was content to know thus desultorily. In the (evening) I went to see my (friend). I looked in often on the (Stroeve), and sometimes shared their modest fare. Dirk Stroeve flattered himself on his skill in cooking Italian (dish), and I confess that his were very much better than his (picture). It was a dinner for a King when he brought in a huge dish of it, succulent with (tomato), and we ate it together with the good household bread and a bottle of red wine. (W. S. Maugham)

III. State the kind of the genitive case that it used in the following sentences:

1. I’m picking up this woman’s messages? (D. Brown)

2. As a result she had acquired a horror of being less than completely sanitary and in hot weather maintained a shuttle service between her desk and the women’s toilet down the corridor. (A. Hailey)

3. The man leveled his gun at the curator’s head. (D. Brown)

4. The voice of Goldstein had become an actual sheep’s bleat, and for an instant the face changed into that of a sheep. (G. Orwell)

5. A collection of the world’s most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends. (D. Brown)

6. It was an old house that had been in her husband’s family for years. (F. S. Fitzgerald)

7. He called the names out loud, speaking in French and then the tribe’s own language. (M. Ondaatje)

8. These misgivings, this disapproval, and perfectly genuine distrust, did not prevent the Forsytes from gathering to old Jolyon’s invitation. (J. Galsworthy)

9. As she caught up with him the hospital’s elderly staff pathologist paused. (A. Hailey)

10.“Monsieur Langdon?” a man’s voice said. (D. Brown)