General notes on style and stylistics

Verb.

Verb has the categorial meaning of action or process, dynamic, taking place at some time.

Verb is a word representing phenomena of objective reality as process. We can say that leaning a language is to a very large degree learning how to operate the verbal forms of the language.

Productive verb-building suffixes:

- en: strengthen, shorten

- fy: simplify, terrify

- ize: mobilize, equalize
Non-productive:

- ate: facilitate

- er: glimmer

- ish: establish

Compound verbs: microfilm, free-wheel.

Conversion: blackmail.

Grammatical suffixes: - ed (regular, most productive in present day

English): worked;

irregular: unchangeable -put-put-put

mixed — keep-kept-kept suppletive - be, am, is/are, was/were, been.

Notional v erbs are characterized by full lexical meaning, expressing an action or process, are used independently: The teacher initiated his pupils in the mysteries of grammar.

Functional verbs serve primarily to indicate grammatical functions rather than to bear lexical meaning: The boy was resentful of the remark. They may be classified into:

a) auxiliaries (be, have, do, let, shall, will for making up analytical forms):
Don *t stuff the child with food.

b) link verbs: be, keep (the quality preserved): The news is alarming.

become, get, turn (the change of the quality): The girl got angry.

c) substitute verb: do

- Then I shall take steps to exclude all possibility of doubt.

- Do.

d) representing verbs: do, have, be. I wish I could travel more frequently but
I don't.

e) verb-intensifiers: do, go, go +verb + ing.

Modal Verbs express attitude of the doer to the action that is considered as possible, desirable, necessary, obligatory, etc.

Forms: can — could; may — might; must, shall, should, will, would, ought to,

need, dare, have/had to.

Can/could e xpress ability (be able to, be capable to, know how to), permission, possibility; could - permission, possibility or ability in unreal conditions: If we had some opportunity we could include you in our group. Could/can you do me a favour? You can go now.

Can - be able to:

/ ran fast and could catch the bus (but didn't manage).

I ran fast and was able to catch the bus (managed to catch it).

To be able' is not the modal equivalent of'can'. This combination has quite different combinability:

1. with other modal verbs: She must have been able to imagine the
conversation.

2. with 4o be going': He wasn 't going to be able to take.

3. with 'should/would like': I'd like to be able to read.

4. with adverbs: He had never been able to have exclusive privileges.

5. 'feel/seem able to': I feel able to resent his words.

6. in gerundial and infinitival construction: It's rotten not to be able to ski.
May/might express permission (be allowed to), possibility. Might - mostly

possibility and rather rare permission: What you say might be true.

vlust expresses obligation or compulsion, logical necessity: ТІгєгс must he a

^;ї4олт try' io tr»orc often used now instead of 'must': Do ^л'ои have to do it?

Shall expresses intention, willingness, insistence (restricted use), helplessness, perplexity, asks tor instruction: / shall not be long. He shall do as 1 say. Shall I read?

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Will expresses willingness, polite request, intention, insistence (no contraction!), prediction: Will you open the book at page 25? I will explain to you as soon as I can.

Would e xpresses willingness, insistence, characteristic activity, probability, violation, preference: Would you excuse me? You would work at it hard. He would make a mess of it (It's typical of him).

Tense — the time of the action. On objective reality we deal with present time (the moment of the objective 'now'), past time (the time before 'now'), future time (the time afternow). Processes take place in time:

In the morning the alarm-clock rings up and walks me up.

Yesterday the alarm-clock rang up and woke me up.

Tomorrow the alarm-clock will ring up and wake r,ic up.

The time of the action/process is tense in English. Tense is a verb form that shows the time of an action or event. Any process that takes place in a period of rime including the moment of speaking is considered as belonging to Present Tense: She stuffs h er handkerchief into her dress pocket. Any process that took

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and Continuous do not express the time of the action. The time of the action in all languages can be only present, past and future. The category of tense is exnressed in the predicate.

Aspect is the form of the verb that serves to express the manner in which the исіГил із performed. It shows whether the action is a single accomplished action or a continuous process. Aspect concerns the manner in which a verbal action is nzricneed or regarded:

He gives an account of everything.

He is giving an account of his visit now.

Form-markers of acpect: be + V + ing.

Opposition: Duration::Non-Duration (Continuous) (Common)

Aspect in English and "Вид" in Russian or Ukrainian have different categorial meaning:

aspect - the manner in which the action is performed;

- the qualitative limit /совершенный: несовершенный/

Mood.

The category of Mood in the present English verb has been in so many different ways, that it seems hardly possible to arrive at any more or less convincing and universally acceptable conclusion concerning it.

The category of Mood reflects the relations of the action denotes by the verb and reality from the speaker's point of view. We may wish to represent the action/process as follows:

1) a real fact: The institute hires hundreds of young teachers.

2) a command or request: Give an account of the film, please.

3) something that does not exist in reality, something unreal, desired,
hypothetical: I wish they introduced universal vocational training.

Mood is introduced by the opposition: real: -.unreal.

I. Indicative Mood indicates the action as a real fact. It is characterized

by the time of the action, ii. imperative Mood expresses inducement of various degrees of

1;=-;-c-vc b-v-ludlng vuiumands, but the action itself is to take place in

(yf this

'•' Oblique Moods represent an action as something imaginary, unreal, desired, hypothetical. There is no straightforward mutual relation between meaning and torrn:

1) one and the same form may have diiicrcni meaning; 11 is strange
that he should resent it. (supposition)

vu™,isjyn*j meet h im tell him the trull i._ (conditior.)

2) one and the same meaning may be presented by different forms: /
imist that he bring this plan into effect. I insist that he should
bring this plan into effect.

The forms of the Oblique Moods expressing unreality:

1. the archaic synthetic form - be: If it be true.

Be it as you wish.

2. were: I f I were young I should take advantage of it.

3. No -s in the 3^rd person singular, present tense: / suggest that he propose
to you.

4. In ^idiiiAncii patterns: It is time she attended extra-curricular classes.
In all these sentences there is no time reference at all.

The verbal category of voice shows the relation between the action and its enkj^t «nrKcating whether the action is performed by the subject or passes on to it: / accuse you of laziness. You were wrongly accused by me.

The opposition of Voice: active::passive.

l йё тагкеа memoer: oe t V еа (en).

In colloquial speech: be = get, become. He got struck by a stone. She hticuirie admired by all

But we can't say "Gets she punished regularly?"

"Reflexive Voice": V + self-pronoun. / poured myself a cup of tea (Ukrainian:Він одягнувся сам.)

"Middle Voice": The door opened. (Ukrainian: Двері відчинилися.).

There is no form marker of "middle" Voice. Logically it is very difficult to imagine that the door can perform any action, but the verb "opened" has the form of Active Voice. So we can distinguish only 2 voices in the English grammar: active and passive.

Active Voice: - the subject is the doer of the action: The boy opened the book.

Passive Voice: - the action passes on to the subject: The book was opened by the boy.

Passive Voice is extensively used in English, much more often than in Russian or Ukrainian.

Lecture 7. Theme: Stylistics of English

Plan:

1. General notes on style and stylistics.

2. Expressive means and stylistic devices.

3. Stylistic classification of the English Vocabulary:

a) Neutral, common literary and common colloquial vocabulary;

b) special Literary vocabulary:
1.Terms;

2.Poetic and highly literary words;

3.archaic words;

4.barbarisms and foreign words;

5.literary coinages (including nonce-words);

c) special colloquial vocabulary:

1. slang;

2. jargonisms

3. professionalisms

4. dialectal words

5. vulgar words

6. colloquial coinages

Recommended literature:

1. Galperin I.R. Stylistics. - M., 1971 - pp. 9-30, 62-118.

2. Гальперин И.Р. Очерки по стилистике английского языка. М., 1958.

There is a confusion between the terms style and stylistics. In linguistics the word style is used so widely that it needs interpretation. The majority of linguists who deal with the subject of style agree that the term applies to the following fields of investigation: 1) the aesthetic function of language, 2) expressive means in language, 3) synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea, 4) emotional colouring in language, 5) a system of special devices called stylistic devices, 6) the splitting of the literary language into separate subsystems called styles, 7) the interrelation between language and thought and 8) the individual manner of an author in making use of language.

A very popular notion among practical linguists, teachers of language, is that style is the technique of expression. In this sense style is generally defined as ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to interest the reader.

The term style also signifies a literary genre. Thus we speak of classical style or the style of classicism; realistic style; the style of romanticism and so on.

Finally there is one more important application of the term style. We speak of the different styles of language.

A style of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. Each style is recognized by the language community as an independent whole. The peculiar choice of language means is primarily dependent on the aim of the communication.

Thus we may distinguish the following styles within the English literary language: 1) the belles-lettres style, 2) the publicistic style, 3) the newspaper style, 4) the scientific prows style, 5) the style of official documents, and presumably some other.

Each style of language is characterized by a number of individual features. Each style can be subdivided into a number of substyles. Among the styles which have been more or less thoroughly investigated are the following:

a. The belles-lettres style. It falls into three varieties: a) poetry proper; b)
emotive prose and c) drama.

b. The style that we have named publicistic comprises the following
substyles: a) speeches (oratory); b) essays; c) articles in journals and
newspapers.

с The newspaper style has also three varieties: a) newspaper headlines; b) brief news items and communiques and c) advertisements.

d. The scientific prose style has two main divisions: the prose style used
in the humanitarian sciences, and that used in the exact sciences.

e. The style of official documents covers a wide range of varying
material which, however, can be reduced to the following groups: a)
language of commercial documents, b) language of diplomatic
documents, c) language of legal documents, d) language of military
documents.

A line of demarcation must be drawn between literary stylistics and linguistic stylistics. It is necessary to bear in mind the constant interrelation between the two. Some linguists consider that the subject of linguistic stylistics is confined to the study of the effects of the message, i.e. its impact on the reader or listener. Stylistics in that case is confined to the study of expressions of thought.

The subject of stylistics can be outlined as the study of the nature, functions and structure of stylistic devices, on the one hand, and, on the other, the study of each style of language as classified above, i.e. its aim, its structure, its characteristic features and the effect it produces, as well as its interrelation with other styles of language.

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