The infinitive: theoretical and practical aspects

Содержание:INTRODUCTION 4 CHAPTER ONE. THEORETICAL PREREQUISITES OF THE INVESTIGATION 6 1.1. Definition of the Infinitive 6 1.2. The Notion of Bare Infinitive 7 1.3. Characteristics of the Infinitive 9 1.4. The Categorial Meaning of the Infinitive 11 CHAPTER TWO. FUNCTIONAL PECULIARITIES OF THE INFINITIVE IN MODERN ENGLISH 12 2.1. Formal Characteristics of the Infinitive in Modern English 12 2.2. Syntactic Functions of the Infinitive in Modern English 19 CONCLUSIONS 25 РЕЗЮМЕ 27 RESUME 28 LITERATURE CITED 29 LIST OF REFERENCE MATERIALS 30 LIST OF ILLUSTRATION MATERIALS 31  

Вступление:Due to the general interest in modern linguistics to the study of the semantic aspects of grammatical phenomena, the problem of the infinitive attracts increasing attention of researchers in the sphere of linguistics. It has been noted that the use of the infinitive in some cases enables the speaker to make a statement more concise and at the same time, characterized by more complex and controversial content (Ефремова 2002: 3). The study of special literature shows that the problems of the semantics as well as functions of the infinitive remain unsettled and require some additional research. This fact brings forth the topicality of the present investigation. The object of the study is the sample of infinitives selected randomly from the text of the contemporary English writer Cecelia Ahern. The subject of the research is the problem of functional peculiarities of the infinitive in Modern English. The material of the investigation: in the process of our study there have been selected 4384 examples illustrating the functional peculiarities of the infinitive in English. The samples have been taken from the modern novel ‘P.S. I Love You’ written by the contemporary English writer Cecelia Ahern (2004). The aim of this work is to study the English infinitive in its theoretical and practical aspects. The aim of our year paper necessitates the following tasks: ? to analyze scientific literature on the topic; ? to examine the definition of the grammar phenomenon under study; ? to investigate the notion of bare infinitive; ? to study the characteristics of the infinitive, namely its verbal and nominal nature; ? to study the categorial meaning of the infinitive; ? to investigate formal characteristics of the infinitive in Modern English functioning in the novel of the contemporary English writer; ? to determine syntactic functions of the infinitive in Modern English. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the attempt at describing the functional characteristics of the infinitive in the works of the modern English writers. Practical significance of the investigation The results of the present work might find the application in the following spheres: 1) it can be used by researches as the material for writing scientific papers dealing with English verbals; 2) it can be used by teachers of English as a practical manual for teaching English grammar; 3) it can be useful for everyone who wants to improve their knowledge of English. The descriptive method and the elements of the statistical method have been employed in the process of the inverstigation. The works of the prominent linguists V. Kaushanskaya, Ilyish B.A., M. Blokh, N. Kobrina, M.A. Ganshina, M.M. Vasilevskaya, D.Crystal, P. J. Duffley have been used as the methodological basis of the investigation. The present course consists of the following parts: the introduction, two chapters, conclusions, and bibliography. In the introduction we state the topicality of the phenomenon under study, the object and the subject of the research, set out the aim and tasks of the investigation, as well as methods and methodological basis of the paper. The first chapter deals with the definition and characteristics of the infinitive in English as well as the phenomenon of the bare infinitive in English. The second chapter presents the study of the infinitive in the text, including its formal characteristics syntactic functions in Modern English. In the conclusion to the research we offer the results obtained in the process of the carried out scientific investigation.  

Выводы:Having carried out our research we may draw the following conclusions: The infinitive belongs to nonfinite forms of the verb in the English language. It is the non-finite form of the verb which combining the characteristics of the verb with those of the noun, serving as the verbal name of a process. The infinitive is considered as the head-form of the whole paradigm of the verb. With the aim of analyzing the peculiarities of the infinitive in Modern English we have chosen a modern novel ‘P.S. I Love You’ written by the modern English novelist Cecelia Ahern. The infinitives used in the novel have been analyzed and classified according to their formation and functional characteristics. The analysis includes the frequency of its occurrences in the text. In order to make this investigation the elements of the statistical method were used to show the relative frequency of the usage of the infinitive in its various forms in the novel under consideration. The selected language units were calculated and subdivided into the subgroups. Having calculated the frequency of the infinitive forms some figures were drawn and provided together with the description. The analysis of the peculiarities of the infinitive demonstrates that this grammar phenomenon is widespread in Modern English as far as a large quantity of infinitives, namely 4384, have been selected for the analysis in the present research. The to-infinitive is characterized by large degree of representation occurring in 2992 instances. The vast majority of the infinitives used with the particle to are indefinite active making up 97 percent of the total number of selected units. The data of the research prove that the indefinite infinitive passive has been found only 40 times in the novel under study, the continuous infinitive active is found in 22 cases, the perfect infinitive active has been attested in 14 cases and uses the perfect infinitive passive only 2 times compared to 2914 instances of the usage of the indefinite infinitive active. The bare infinitive is less representative being found in 1392 instances in the novel. The bare infinitive is mostly used after modal verbs in the text under consideration. There have been found indefinite, perfect, continuous and perfect continuous infinitives, active and passive, after the following modal verbs. The infinitive is found in a range of syntactic functions in the novel. Thus, it has been found in the syntactic function of: the object; the part of the compound verbal modal predicate; the part of the complex object; the adverbial modifier of purpose; the attribute; the part of the compound verbal aspect predicate; the predicative; the extraposed subject; the adverbial modifier of result; the subject; the adverbial modifier of comparison; the adverbial modifier of attendant circumstances; and the parenthesis. According to the findings of the research, the infinitive is predominantly used in the syntactic function of the object found in 2688 cases of the total number of occurrences. It has also been attested in a large number of examples (846) in the function of the part of the compound verbal modal predicate. Other widely represented functions of the infinitive attested in the text include: the part of the complex object; the adverbial modifier of purpose; the attribute; the part of the compound verbal aspect predicate; the predicative. The investigation of the infinitive compared with other verbals in the English language can be carried out as a further elaboration of our work.  

Литература:1. Акопянц A. M. Присубстантивный инфинитив в современном английском языке (синтаксемный анализ) / A. M. Акопянц. ? Пятигорск : Изд-во ПГЛУ, 2001. ? 156 с. 2. Биренбаум Я. Г. Система английского глагола / Я. Г. Биренбаум. ? Киров, 1993. ? 155 с. 3. Гудкова Е. А. Инфинитив обстоятельство в современном английском языке : дисс. . канд. филол. наук / Е. А. Гудкова. ? Л., 1953. ? 128 с. 4. Ефремова О. Ю. Модальная семантика инфинитива в английском языке : Автореф. дисс. канд. филол. наук / О. Ю. Ефремова ? Москва, 2005. – 22 c. 5. Иванова И. П. Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка / И. П. Иванова, В. В. Бурлакова, Г. Г. Почепцов. – М. : «Высшая школа», 1981. – 285 c. 6. Раевская Н. Н. Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка / Н. Н. Раевская. ? Киев : Высшая школа ? 1976. – 174 с. 7. Фадеева И. Д. Инфинитив в функции определения в современном английском языке : Автореф. дисс. канд. филол. Наук / И. Д. Фадеева.? Л., 1963. ? 21 с. 8. Хаймович Б. С. Курс теоретической грамматики / Б. С. Хаймович, Б. И. Роговская. ? Х. : Кобза 2005. – 271 с. 9. Худяков А. А. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка / А. А. Худяков. ? М. : Academia, 2005. ? 255 с. 10. Biber D. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English / Biber D., S. Johansson and others. – Longman, 1999. – 1232 p. 11. Blokh M.Ya. A Course in Theoretical English Grammar / Blokh M.Ya. – M. : Vyš?a Skola Publishers, 1983. ? 383 p. 12. Chomsky N. Language and problems of knowledge / N. Chomsky. ? Massachusetts; London; England : The MIT Press Cambridge, 1997. – 199 p. 13. Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language / D. Crystal. ? Cambridge University Press, 2003. – 506 p. 14. Duffley P. J. The English Gerund-Participle: A Comparison with the Infinitive / P. J. Duffley. ? Peter Lang Publishing Inc, 2006. – 188 p. 15. Ilyish B. A. The Structure of Modern English / B. A. Ilyish. – L. : «Просвещение», 1971. – 363 p. 16. Gunshina M. A. English Grammar / M. A. Gunshina, N. M. Vasilevskaya. ? Higher School Publishing House, 1964. ? 530 p. 17. Kaushanskaya V. L. A Grammar of the English Language / Kaushanskaya V. L. and others. – L. : «Просвещение», 1967. – 319 p. 18. Kobrina N.A. An English Grammar / Kobrina N.A. and others. – M. : «Просвещение», 1985. – 287 p. 19. Rayevska N. M. Modern English Grammar / N. M. Rayevska. – Kiev : Vyš?a Skola Publishers, 1976. – 304 p. 20. Valeika L. An Introductory Course in Theoretical English Grammar / L. Valeika, J. Buitkien?. – Vilnius : Vilnius Pedagogical University, 2003. – 135 p. 21. LDLTAL ? Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics/ Prof Jack Richards, Prof Richard W. Schmidt. – Longman, 2010. – 656 p. 22. DLL ? Dictionary of Language and Linguistics : The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides)/ R. L. Trask (Author), Peter Stockwell (Editor). ? Routledge, 2007. – 392 p. 23. MWDEU ? Merriam?Webster's Dictionary of English Usage / Merriam-Webster. ? Merriam Webster, 1994. – 978 p. 24. OCEL ? The Oxford Companion to the English Language / TOM McArthur. – Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1992. – 1216 p. 25. Ahern C. P.S. I Love You / C. Ahern. ? Hyperion, 2004. – 384 p.