19. Verbal word-combinations. Types of verbal complements.

VP can be classified according to the nature of their complements:

1. Nominal complementation – takes place in one or more nominal complements(nouns or pronouns) are obligatory to realize the meaning of the verb (F.e. to hear something)

2. Adverbial comp. – takes one or more adv.elements are obligatory (F.e. he behaved well)

3. Mixed comp. – both nominal and adv.elements are obligatory (F.e. to put a hat on the desk)

31. The notion of predication. Types of predicative relations. Predicative word-groups.

Predication – is the connection between situation in the utterance and reality.

Predicative relations are the relations of interdependence: primary and secondary predication.  As mentioned above, SR may be observed in utterances, which is impossible when we deal with PR. Therefore, PR are identified with ‘language’ while SR are identified with ‘speech’.

Predicative word combinations are distinguished on the basis of secondary predication.

The predicative word-group consists of a nominal element (noun, pronoun) and a non-finite form of the verb: N + Vnon-fin. There are Gerundial, Infinitive and Participial word-groups (complexes) in the English language: his reading, for me to know, the boy running, etc.)

32. General characteristics of the sentence. Sentence – proposition – utterance.

The sentence is the central syntactic construction used as the minimal communicative unit that has its primary predication, actualises a definite structural scheme and possesses definite intonation characteristics. The sentence is a unit of language while the utterance is a unit of speech. We may define the proposition as the main predicative form of thought. Basic predicative meanings of the typical English sentence are expressed by the finite verb that is immediately connected with the subject of the sentence (primary predication). To sum it up, the sentence is a syntactic level unit, it is a predicative language unit which is a lingual representation of predicative thought (proposition).

The utterance as opposed to the sentence is the unit of speech. The  main categories of the utterance from the point of view of its informative structure are considered to be the theme and the rheme.

33. Semantic and structural characteristics of the sentence.

The most essential features of the sentence as a linguistic unit are:

a) its structural characteristics – subject-predicate relations (primary predication)

b) its semantic characteristics – it refers to some fact in the objective reality. It is represented in the language through a conceptual reality:

34. General characteristics of the communicative types of the utterance.

Informative structure of the utterance is one of the topics that still attract the attention of language analysts nowadays. It is well recognized that the rheme marking devices are: 1. Position in the sentence. As a rule new information in English generally comes last: The cat ate the rat.  2. Intonation. 3. The use of the indefinite article. However, sometimes it is impossible (as in 1): A gentleman is waiting for you. 4. The use of ‘there is’, ‘there are’. There is a cat in the room. 5. The use of special devices, like ‘as for’, ‘but for’, etc.: As for him, I don’t know. 6. Inverted word order: Here comes the sun. 7. The use of emphatic constructions: It was the cat that ate the rat.