AJ2BK_SSYA Syntax Seminar A

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2018
Extent and Intensity
0/0/1. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Olga Dontcheva-Navrátilová, Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Supplier department: Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Timetable of Seminar Groups
AJ2BK_SSYA/01: Fri 21. 9. 11:00–12:50 učebna 10, Fri 12. 10. 11:00–12:50 učebna 10, Fri 26. 10. 11:00–12:50 učebna 10, Fri 9. 11. 11:00–12:50 učebna 10, Fri 23. 11. 11:00–12:50 učebna 10, Fri 7. 12. 11:00–12:50 učebna 10, R. Vogel
Prerequisites
( AJ2BK_PJ1B Practical Language 1B && AJ2BK_GRAB Grammar B && AJ2BK_CF1B Phonetics Seminar B ) || AJ2BK_SOZK Complex Exam
Students can enroll Seminar to syntax A only after completing subjects Grammar A and Grammar B and successfully passing "Souborná zkouška".
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The goal of the course is to master modality including the two types of modality, intrinsic and extrinsic modality, and all kinds of non-finite verb forms, infinitives, gerunds and participles. Students are supposed to become acquainted with the analysis of the simple sentence, especially in contrast to their mother tongue, the Czech language. They also study some cohesive means, notably substitution and ellipsis. An important part of the course is the mastery of the four basic sentence types and their corresponding discourse functions. Finally, students are expected to master the semantics and grammar of adverbials.
Learning outcomes
The student will be able to:
• understand linguistic terms in the field of syntax and explain them on practical examples;
• understand the syntax of a simple sentence and analyse it;
• know the means for expressing modality and condensation in an English sentence;
• identify syntactic phenomena in a written text and describe them using linguistic terms.
Syllabus
  • 1. The simple sentence and its components. Syntactic structure and its notation (tree diagrams and bracketing).
  • 2. Clause elements and their semantic and syntactic properties. Expression of assertion and negation in an English clause.
  • 3. Semantics and grammar of adverbials (semantic roles and position in a clause).
  • 4. Semantics and grammar of adverbials (four basic grammatical functions, types of formal realisation).
  • 5. Four syntactic sentence types (declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives, exclamatives) and their discource functions.
  • 6. Three main question types. Minor question types (declarative, rhetorical). Directives. Exclamations. Question tags.
  • 7. Recoverability. Referential and co-referential relations. Substitution and its types.
  • 8. Differences between substitution and ellipsis. Types of ellipsis (situational, structural, textual).
  • 9. Non-finite verb forms: infinitive and its use in condensation of a sentence.
  • 10. Non-finite verb forms: gerund and participle and their use in syntactic condensation.
  • 11. Deontic modality in English and its expression (e.g. duty, obligation, permission).
  • 12. Epistemic modality in English and its expression (e.g. possibility, expectation, assumption, prediction, conclusion).
  • 13. Putative should (opinion, feelings, insistence, regret, etc.).
Literature
    required literature
  • CHALKER, Sylvia. A student's English grammar : workbook. First published. Harlow: Longman, 1992, 186 stran. ISBN 0582088194. info
  • GETHIN, Hugh. Grammar in context :proficiency level English. New edition. Harlow: Longman, 1996, 235 s. ISBN 0-17-556420-5. info
  • GREENBAUM, Sidney and Randolph QUIRK. A student's grammar of the English language. First published. Harlow: Longman, 1990, 490 stran. ISBN 0582059712. info
    recommended literature
  • DUŠKOVÁ, Libuše. Mluvnice současné angličtiny na pozadí češtiny. 2. vyd. Praha: Academia, 1994, 673 s. ISBN 8020004866. info
  • POVOLNÁ, Renata. Grammar. 1. dotisk 1. vydání. Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně, 2002, 99 stran. ISBN 8021023112. info
  • LEECH, Geoffrey N., M. (Margaret) DEUCHAR and Robert HOOGENRAAD. English grammar for today : a new introduction. London: Macmillan, 1982, xvi, 224 p. ISBN 0-333-30643-0. info
Teaching methods
Mode of teaching: seminar. The methods used in classes are mainly presentations of new and/or problematic grammatical issues by the teacher, followed by class discussions and questions from students, and various types of exercises from compulsory textbooks, including drills. As for homework, students are supposed to study in advance relevant chapters from their textbooks and translate sentences from Czech into English. Apart from that, students have to do various interactive moodle modules including quizzes designed particularly for their course.
Assessment methods
Students have to write one test (mid-term test) during the term and one test at the end of the course (final test) to get a credit. The pass mark is 70%. They must also submit a seminar translation (approx. 30 sentences). They are expected to attend classes on a regular basis and practise the drills and quizzes in the Moodlinka course.
Language of instruction
English
Follow-Up Courses
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught each semester.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 12 hodin.
Teacher's information
http://moodlinka.ics.muni.cz/course/view.php?id=2803
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017.
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