D. V. Demidov

Questions for Reflection: 
1. Characterize the properties of the verb as a part of speech.
2. What existing classifications of verbs do you know?
3. What significative subclasses are all the verbs divided into? 
4. Comment on the main peculiarities of the finite and 
non- finite forms of the verb. 
5. What is the difference between the marked and 
unmarked infinitive? 
6. What features characterize the gerund? What makes it 
different from the infinitive? 
7. What is specific to the categories of person and number 
in English? 
8. What makes the expression of voice distinctions in 
English specific? 
9. How many voices are there in Modern English? 
10. Comment on the connection between the problem of 
voice and transitivity/intransitivity of verbs.

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76 
Topic 6. General Characteristics of Syntax and Various 
Syntactic Theories. 
Questions for Discussion:
1. The subject matter of syntax. 
2. Major syntactic notions (syntactic units, form and 
meaning, function, position and relations). 
3. Kinds of syntactic theories. 
1. The subject matter of syntax. 
The grammatical structure of language comprises two 
major parts – morphology and syntax. The two areas are 
obviously interdependent and together they constitute the study of 
grammar. 
Morphology deals with paradigmatic and syntagmatic 
properties of morphological units – morphemes and words. It is 
concerned with the internal structure of words and their 
relationship to other words and word forms within the paradigm. 
It studies morphological categories and their realization.
Syntax, on the other hand, deals with the way words are 
combined. It is concerned with the external functions of words 
and their relationship to other words within the linearly ordered 
units – word-groups, sentences and texts. Syntax studies the way 
in which the units and their meanings are combined. It also deals 
with peculiarities of syntactic units, their behaviour in different 
contexts. 
But, in fact, the definition of the subject matter of syntax 
is not an easy task. There are three basic approaches to the 
problem: