Синтаксис английского языка: от слова к тексту. = A Students’ Guide to English Syntax: from Word to Discourse

Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации
Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение
высшего образования 
«Московский педагогический государственный университет»

Ю. М. Сергеева, И. О. Сыресина

СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: 
ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ
•

Yulia Sergeeva, Irina Syresina

A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX:  
FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

Учебное пособие

МПГУ
Москва • 2018

УДК 811.111-26+800(075.8)
ББК 81.43+81.052.2я73
 
С322

Рецензенты:

Гумовская Г. Н., доктор филологических наук, 
профессор НИУ «Высшая школа экономики» (Москва) 

Galina Gumovskaya, Professor of the High School of Economics (Moscow)

Нефедова Л. А., доктор филологических наук, 
профессор ФГБОУ ВО «Московский педагогический государственный 
университет»

Lubov Nefedova, Professor of the Moscow State University of Education

 
Сергеева, Юлия Михайловна.
С322  
Синтаксис английского языка: от слова к тексту. = A Students’ 
Guide to English Syntax: from Word to Discourse : учебное пособие / 
Ю. М. Сергеева, И. О. Сыресина. – Москва : МПГУ, 2018. – 204 с.
 
ISBN 978-5-4263-0650-9
Учебное пособие представляет собой универсальный грамматический справочник, охватывающий такие разделы, как простое предложение и его структура, 
актуальное членение предложения, коммуникативно-прагматические типы 
предложений, сложное предложение и его подвиды, базовые правила пунктуации, основы экспрессивного синтаксиса, лингвостилистический анализ текста. 
Главы пособия включают общие сведения по теме «Нормативные и особые случаи 
употребления синтаксических единиц», а также развернутую систему коммуникативно-ориентированных упражнений, максимально способствующих практическому овладению языком.
The manual is a universal guide to English syntax covering such sections as 
a simple sentence and its structure, the actual division of the sentence, communicative 
and pragmatic types of sentences, a complex sentence and its subtypes, basic 
rules of punctuation, syntactic expressive means, and linguistic-stylistic analysis 
of the text. The chapters of the manual include general information on the topic, 
normative and special cases of using syntactic units, as well as an extensive system 
of communicative-oriented exercises that maximally contribute to practical mastery 
of the language.

УДК 811.111-26+800(075.8)
ББК 81.43+81.052.2я73

ISBN 978-5-4263-0650-9 
© МПГУ, 2018
 
© Сергеева Ю. М., Сыресина И. О., текст, 2018

СОДЕРЖАНИЕ

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
A GENERAL OUTLINE OF SYNTAX  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CHAPTER I
SIMPLE SENTENCE AS A MONOPREDICATIVE CONSTRUCTION . . . . . .12
1.1. STRUCTURAL TYPES OF A SIMPLE SENTENCE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
1.2. WAYS OF EXPRESSING NEGATION  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
1.3. FUNCTIONAL TYPES OF A SIMPLE SENTENCE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
1.3.1. Pragmatic approach to lingual studies. 
The theory of speech acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.3.2. Cardinal and intermediary communicative types of sentences  . . . 19
1.3.3. Exclamatory sentences (emotiveness vs. neutrality)  . . . . . . . . . 24
1.4. ACTUAL DIVISION OF THE UTTERANCE. 
WAYS TO IDENTIFY THE RHEME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
EXERCISES TO CHAPTER I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
CHAPTER II
THE STRUCTURE OF A SIMPLE SENTENCE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.1. PARTS OF THE SENTENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
2.2. THE SUBJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
2.3. THE PREDICATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
2.4. AGREEMENT OF THE PREDICATE WITH THE SUBJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
2.5. THE OBJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
2.6. THE ATTRIBUTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
2.7. THE ADVERBIAL MODIFIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
2.8. DETACHED (LOOSE) PARTS OF THE SENTENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
2.9. WORD ORDER AND INVERSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
EXERCISES TO CHAPTER II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
CHAPTER III
COMPOSITE SENTENCE AS A POLYPREDICATIVE CONSTRUCTION . . .102
3.1. COMPOUND SENTENCE: ITS STRUCTURE AND DERIVATION . . . . . . . . . 102
3.2. COMPLEX SENTENCE. TYPES OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSES  . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
3.2.1. Nominal Clauses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
3.2.2. Attributive Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
3.2.3. Adverbial Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
3.3. SEMI–COMPOSITE SENTENCE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
EXERCISES TO CHAPTER III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
CHAPTER IV
BASIC RULES OF PUNCTUATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
4.1. PUNCTUATION MARKS IN A SIMPLE SENTENCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
4.1.1. Comma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143

Ю. М. СЕРГЕЕВА, И. О. СЫРЕСИНА. СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ
YULIA SERGEEVA, IRINA SYRESINA. A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX: FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

4.1.2. Point (full-stop), exclamation mark, question mark . . . . . . . . .146
4.1.3. Colon, dash, semicolon, parenthesis, quotation marks . . . . . . .148
4.2. PUNCTUATION MARKS IN A COMPOSITE SENTENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
4.2.1. Comma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
4.2.2. Direct Quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
4.2.3. Colon, dash, semicolon, parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
EXERCISES TO CHAPTER IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
CHAPTER V
TEXT AS A SYNTACTIC UNIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
5.1. TEXT GRAMMAR AND THEORY OF DISCOURSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
5.2. THE CATEGORIES OF THE TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164
5.3. STYLISTIC DEVICES BASED ON THE STRUCTURE OF LINGUAL UNITS 
(SYNTACTICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
5.3.1. Syntactical expressive means based on the absence 
of some element (on the principle of economy) . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
5.3.2. Syntactical expressive means based on the presence 
of extra-elements (on the principle of redundancy)  . . . . . . . . .172
5.3.3. Syntactical expressive means based on the unusual 
arrangement of syntactic elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
5.4. LINGUISTIC AND STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE FICTION TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . .183
EXERCISES TO CHAPTER V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
FINAL TEST ON SYNTAX (100)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
A LIST OF SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
SUBJECT INDEX  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

FOREWORD

A Students’ Guide to English Syntax: from Word to Discourse is 
a grammar book for students of English as a second language. 
The book serves a two-fold purpose: to provide a systematic study 
of the syntactic structure of Modern English and to offer a wide variety 
of exercise types, all of which require students to think about what 
they are reading, hearing, saying, or writing.
A Students’ Guide to English Syntax: from Word to Discourse is 
divided into fi ve chapters. Each chapter focuses on a certain area 
of syntax and all the exercises within the chapter relate to this area. 
You may choose to emphasize some chapters and leave out others, 
or to cover chapters in any order that meets the particular needs 
of students. However, as grammar and vocabulary are recycled and 
reinforced throughout the book, it would be more benefi cial to work 
on the chapters sequentially.
The order in which we are going to deal with the problems 
of English syntax is roughly the following.
In the introductory part of the book we shall attempt to provide 
a general outline of syntax as a domain of language and give 
an extensive review of basic and more complex syntactical issues.
The fi rst chapter of the book deals with a simple sentence as 
a monopredicative construction. The problem of classifi cation 
of simple sentences is a highly complicated one, and we will consider 
different principles of classifi cation and the notions on which it can 
be based.
This part consists of several very unequal items: the description 
of structural and functional types of a simple sentence, ways 
of expressing negation, the theory of speech acts, and, fi nally, actual 
division of the utterance.
Our next point will be a general survey of the structure 
of a simple sentence (the so-called “parts of a sentence”) and 
a detailed investigation of each of them in particular.
There is much more to be said about the composite sentence 
than about the simple one. In the third chapter of the book a review 
of various types of composite sentences is provided, two main types 
of composite sentences, namely a compound sentence and a complex 
sentence, are distinguished and their structural characteristics are 
thoroughly described.

Ю. М. СЕРГЕЕВА, И. О. СЫРЕСИНА. СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ
YULIA SERGEEVA, IRINA SYRESINA. A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX: FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

Though punctuation is not in itself part of the grammatical 
structure of a language, it shouldn’t be passed over in a treatise on 
grammar, as it can, and often does, acquire grammatical signifi cance. 
In different languages the relations between punctuation, intonation 
and syntax are different. Now from this viewpoint it may be benefi cial 
for students to master the basic rules of using punctuation marks 
in a simple sentence, as well as in a composite sentence.
In the fi fth chapter of the book we will consider the text as 
the highest existing syntactical unit of which a sentence is but 
a component part.
In studying the text we are faced with a number of problems 
belonging to the science of language as a whole rather than to 
English philology. We cannot here go full length into all these 
problems. Consequently, we will content ourselves with stating some 
fundamental notions of text linguistics, those of text and discourse, 
syntactic-semantic cohesion and deixis as the main categories 
of the text, and a dicteme as a topical unit.
Though problems of style as such are outside the scope of this 
book, some information concerning the stylistic value of syntactic 
structures may prove appropriate to a thorough study of English 
syntax. From this viewpoint some grammatical phenomena are 
neutral, while others have a distinct stylistic colouring and will 
produce a certain stylistic effect. That is why a study of syntactical 
expressive means constitutes an important part of this chapter.
The fi nal section of the book does not introduce any new theory, 
but contains a guide to linguistic and stylistic analysis of a fi ction 
text. This part may be used as a review at the end of a course, as a kind 
of diagnostic tool.
Each chapter of the book follows the basic pattern: reference 
section+ exercises + integration.
Reference sections in A Students’ Guide to English Syntax: from 
Word to Discourse thoroughly explain the form and meaning of each 
syntactic unit you may come across while learning the language. 
The presentation of theoretical issues is supplied with examples to 
give them additional clarity.
These sections can be used in different ways according to 
different teaching and learning styles. Some teachers may want to 
use reference sections in class in their introduction of new grammar 
points or review of more familiar ones. Others may want students 

Foreword

to go over the rules as homework before or after the teacher’s 
explanation.
The largest part of each chapter is made up of exercises where 
students practice the grammar of the chapter. Grammar points are 
broken down into segments that correspond to their presentation in 
the reference section. Some exercises begin with a short introduction; 
you can use this for a starting point of the discussion of the cultural 
context presented in the exercise. It is often useful to have students 
read through the entire exercise before doing it.
Exercises follow a variety of formats according to the characteristics 
of the material being practiced, the content area focused on, and 
students’ needs to use this knowledge. Some exercises focus 
primarily on understanding the essence of syntactic units and 
defi ning their typological properties. Others demand from students 
to produce grammatical structures in writing. Other exercises view 
the students’ oral presentation as their primary goal. Exercises often 
contain a section where students are asked to relate the content 
of the exercise to their own ideas or experiences.
In the last part of each chapter there are exercises that incorporate 
all the grammar points from the chapter. What a student is meant 
to acquire as a result of their studies is an insight into the syntactic 
structure of the language as well as an ability to use certain grammar 
structures.
The authors hope that A Students’ Guide to English Syntax: 
from Word to Discourse will help to improve the general linguistic 
awareness of the students as information about syntactic structure 
of English is a necessary prerequisite for mastering the language.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the Chair of English Grammar at 
the Moscow State University of Education as we have received a great 
deal of support from our colleagues in the preparation of this book.
We especially thank Galina Gumovskaya, professor of the High 
School of Economics (Moscow), and Lubov Nefedova, professor 
of the Moscow State University of Education, Head of Department 
of the German language, for their suggestions and encouragement, 
for valuable feedback in the preparation of the manuscript.
Finally, we wish to thank our students who have helped us evolve 
an approach to the teaching of Grammar that we believe is an effective 
and challenging one.

Yulia Sergeeva, Irina Syresina

A GENERAL OUTLINE OF SYNTAX

The grammatical structure of language comprises two major parts, 
which are obviously interdependent – morphology and syntax.
Morphology deals with morphological units – morphemes and 
words, their internal structure and their relationship to other words 
and word forms within the paradigm. It studies parts of speech and 
their morphological categories.
Syntax, on the other hand, studies the way in which words are 
combined. It is concerned with their external functions and their 
relationship to other words within word-groups, sentences and 
texts. It also deals with peculiarities of syntactic units in various 
contexts.
Syntactic units may be analysed from different points of view, and 
accordingly, different syntactic theories exist.
Transformational-Generative Grammar is a synthetic method 
of constructing sentences. Its main point is that the endless variety 
of sentences in a language can be reduced to a fi nite number 
of kernel sentences which serve the basis for generating other 
sentences by means of syntactic transformations. Different scholars 
recognize the existence of different number of kernels (from 3 to 39). 
The following 6 kernel sentences are commonly associated with 
the English language:
(1) NV – John sings.
(2) NVAdj. – John is happy.
(3) NVN – John is a man.
(4) NVN – John hit the man.
(5) NVNN – John gave the man a book.
(6) NVPrep.N – The book is on the table.
Transformational method proves useful for analysing sentences 
from the point of their deep structure.
Communicative Syntax is primarily concerned with the analysis 
of utterances from the point of their communicative value 
and informative structure. It deals with the actual division 
of the utterance indicating the thematic and the rhematic components 
of it. The theme is something that is known already while the rheme 
represents some new information. Depending on the contextual 
informative value any sentence element can act as the theme or 
the rheme:

Ю. М. СЕРГЕЕВА, И. О. СЫРЕСИНА. СИНТАКСИС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: ОТ СЛОВА К ТЕКСТУ
YULIA SERGEEVA, IRINA SYRESINA. A STUDENTS’ GUIDE TO ENGLISH SYNTAX: FROM WORD TO DISCOURSE

What is on the table? – A book is on the table.
Where is the book? – The book is on the table.
Speech Act Theory, fi rst introduced by John Austin, demonstrates 
pragmatic approach to the study of syntactic units used in particular 
contexts to achieve particular goals. The notion of a speech act 
presupposes that an utterance is created with different intentions 
or purposes and therefore can infl uence the interlocutors and 
the situation in different ways. Accordingly, we distinguish different 
speech acts.
It’s hot here.
I just state the fact;
I want you to do something about it (turn on the air con);
I’m looking for an excuse for not doing something;
I want you to feel guilty of it, etc. 
Text linguistics studies the text as a syntactic unit, its main 
features and peculiarities, different ways of its analysis.
Discourse analysis focuses on the study of language use with 
reference to the social and psychological factors that infl uence 
communication.

BASIC SYNTACTIC NOTIONS

The syntactic language level can be described with the help 
of special linguistic terms and notions: syntactic unit, syntactic form, 
syntactic meaning, syntactic function, syntactic position, and syntactic 
relations.
Syntactic unit is always a combination of at least two constituents. 
The basic syntactic units are a phrase (word-group), a clause, 
a sentence, and a text.
They are hierarchical units – the units of a lower level serve 
the building material for the units of a higher level, i. e. clauses are 
made of word-groups, composite sentences – of clauses, texts – 
of sentences.
They are of communicative (sentences and texts) and noncommunicative nature (word-groups and clauses).
They are two-faucet units: they have the plane of content 
(syntactic meaning) and the plane of expression (syntactic form).

A general outline of syntax

Syntactic meaning is the way in which separate word meanings 
are combined to produce meaningful word-groups and sentences.
Green ideas sleep furiously. This sentence is quite correct 
grammatically, however it makes no sense as it lacks syntactic 
meaning.
Syntactic form is the pattern of the unit.
John hit the man – N1 + V + N2.
Syntactic function is the function of a unit on the basis of which it 
is included to a larger unit: in the word-group a smart student the word 
‘smart’ is in subordinate attributive relations to the head element. 
In traditional terms it is used to denote syntactic function of a unit 
within the sentence (subject, predicate, etc.).
Syntactic position is the place of a syntactic element which 
determines its relationship with the other elements of the same unit. 
The order of constituents in syntactic units is of great importance 
in analytical languages. Cf. to go back, his broad back, a back street, 
to back smb.
Syntactic relations are syntagmatic relations observed between 
syntactic units. They can be of three types – coordination (relations 
of independence), subordination (relations of dependence) and 
predication (relations of interdependence).

CHAPTER I

SIMPLE SENTENCE AS A MONOPREDICATIVE 
CONSTRUCTION

1.1. STRUCTURAL TYPES OF A SIMPLE SENTENCE

A sentence is a unit of the language, which serves as the chief means 
of conveying a thought or an idea in the process of communication. 
A sentence does not only name a situational event, but also 
establishes a certain connection between this situation and objective 
reality (i. e. expresses predication) and shows the speaker’s attitude 
to it (i. e. expresses modality).
The simple sentence is a monopredicative construction: it has only 
one predicative line (the combination of the subject and the predicate).
This combination can be of three main types:
1. One subject + one predicate: We are students of the faculty 
of foreign languages.
2. One subject + several predicates: At the lesson we do exercises, 
read texts and discuss them all together.
3. Several subjects + one predicate: The professor and her students 
are having a grammar lesson now.
The classifi cation of simple sentences is based on two principles: 
1) according to the purpose of the utterance (see 1.3); 2) according 
to the structure.
According to their structure simple sentences are classifi ed on 
different grounds:
I. According to the presence of the principal parts they are divided 
into two-member and one-member sentences.
A two-member sentence has two principal parts – both the subject 
and the predicate.
e. g. Mary laughed heartily at the joke.
A two-member sentence may be complete or incomplete. It is 
complete when it has the subject and the predicate.
e. g. John is clever.
It is incomplete when one of the principal parts or both of them are 
missing, but can be easily understood and restored from the context. 
Such sentences are called elliptical.