Курсовая с практикой на тему The usage of infinitive in «The Great Gatsby»

Содержание:

Introduction 3
Chapter I. Theoretical aspects of the infinitive study 5
Chapter II. Practical analysis of infinitive constructions in the novel «The Great Gatsby» 16
Conclusion 23
Bibliography 25
Appendixes 27

Введение:

Infinitive as a grammatical category has long attracted the attention of linguists and scientists. It is reflected in many chapters as in manuals on the theory of grammar and linguistics, many aspects of its use is still not fully studied.
Infinitive is used in all styles of oral and written speech. It is very important to understand and correctly interpret the statements containing infinitive in the conditions of intensification of international relations in all spheres of public life and in the conditions of globalization and internationalization of business, science and technology.
The researches of Russian and foreign scientists involved to the study of the peculiarities of the infinitive in linguistics is of significant importance for this work. Such scientists as A. A. Balota, L. A. Shirobokov, O.V. Kuklina, M. Mitrasca, Randolph Quirk, Bettelou Los and many others have devoted their work to the studying of infinitive. This problem has been studied in depth, but in our opinion, there are new problems that still need to be studied, which have not been given enough attention. There is still no common position of linguists in relation to its nature and functions. Therefore, the question of the structure and semantics of the infinitive is subject to further study. This determines the relevance of the topic.
The study of the features of infinitive concepts is necessary to connect with a meaningful analysis of the studied phenomena and to expand the understanding of infinitive constructions.
The purpose of this work is to consider the semantics of the use of infinitive in different styles of speech, in particular in literary texts. To achieve this goal it is necessary to solve the following tasks:
— To define the concept of “infinitive”;
— to identify the teachers and function of infinitive;
— To describe the grammatical functions of infinitive constructions in a sentences;
— to give the characteristics of infinitive constructions in novel «the Great Gatsby» by Francis Scott Fitzgerald.
The object of the research is the contractive description of morphological characteristics of infinitive in English.
The subject of the research is infinitive constructions in novel «The Great Gatsby» by Francis Scott Fitzgerald.
The methods of investigation included contrastive, distributive, componential analyses.
The work consists of introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and the reference list of the works used.
The introduction presents the characteristics of the main parameters of the study: the relevance of the goal is formulated, the object, subject and methods of research are defined, its purpose and tasks defined are designated.
The first chapter of the work, the theoretical part is devoted to the definition of infinitive and its function.
The theoretical value of the research is in elaboration of certain aspects of the structure and properties of infinitive in English grammar.
The practical сhapter presents a detailed description of infinitive constructions used in the novel «The Great Gatsby» by Francis Scott Fitzgerald.
In the conclusion of my paper it is important tried to draw some results from the investigations made within the main part of my work.

Заключение:

The infinitive is a verbal form (a non-finite verb form) which consists of the base form of the verb with the particle «to»: to do; to go; to play; to take; to break; to find.
Forms of infinitive

The infinitive has two presentation forms: marked and unmarked. The marked infinitive is distinguished by the grammatical word-morpheme to, historically a preposition (to run — run, to cook — cook). Without this particle we use infinitive after modal verbs (except ought to); shall / will verbs; sensory perception verbs (like feel, see, hear etc.); let verbs (allow), have (have), make (force); after expressions had better (better) and would rather (better).

Infinitive constructions

The infinitive with to particle follows the regular verb need, forming simple personal forms.
As for the function of infinitive in English, the infinitive in the active voice denotes an action that performs the subject, and in the passive state — an action directed at the person expressed by the subject: I like to teach. I like to be taught.

The using of Infinitive

As we remember, the infinitive can be not only a part of the compound verbal predicate, but also play the role of other members of the sentence. It can be: subject, an object, as adverbial of attribute, parenthesis.

In English, there are special infinitive phrases that are used quite often and should be studied.
An infinitive combined with a noun or pronoun in the object case can form complexes that act as complex sentence terms.
Infinitive phrases with for preposition are a combination that includes: the for preposition plus a noun in general case (or a pronoun in the object case) plus an infinitive.
An Objective with the Infinitive Construction is a combination of a noun in the general case (or a personal pronoun in the object case) and an infinitive. Used after verbs to want, to like, to expect, to prefer, to know, to think, to advice, to ask, to tell, to help and some others.

Фрагмент текста работы:

Chapter I. Theoretical aspects of the infinitive study
1.1 General characteristics of the term «Verb»

Verbs are an essential component of a sentence. They can describe an action, state or occurrence and form the main part of the predicate of a sentence. Action verbs are the verbs that describe an action or an occurrence whereas linking verbs are those that indicate a state. Sometimes a verb can contain more than one word. So the verb can be described as word denoting
— action (the term “action” embracing the meaning of activity (to walk, to
speak, to play, to study),
— process (to sleep, to wait, to live), state (to be, to like, to know),
— relation (to consist, to resemble, to lack) and the like.
According to form, the verb can be described as a word that has certain grammatical features that are not shared by other parts of speech; they have the category of tense, aspect, voice.
According to the function, it can be defined as a word making up the predicate of the sentence.
According to their functions in sentence verbs can be characterized as a finite forms and the non-finite forms.
The non-finite forms of the verb combine the characteristics of the verb with the characteristics of other parts of speech. Their mixed features are revealed in their semantics, morphemic structural marking, combinability, and syntactic functions.
The reason verbs thus inflected are called finite is that these inflections limit the verb.
The form of the verb depends on its subject. Each verb is limited by number, person of the subject and its tense.
Finite verbs are bound by the subject of a sentence.
Finite verbs agree with subject-verb agreement.
A nonfinite verb form has not been completely limited by inflection, in the same way that a blank sheet of paper has all sorts of possibilities that a paper with writing or drawing on it no longer has.
These verb forms have different functions in finite and non-finite verb phrases. On this basis, the -s form and the past form are called FINITE, whereas the -ing participle and the -ed participle are called NON- FINITE. [ Quirk Randolph& Greenbaum Sidney& Leech Geoffrey,1985, Р.96-97]
The BASE FORM […] occurs as a NONFINITE form in
(i) the bare infinitive: He may call tonight.
(ii) The to-infinitive: We want her to call.
The term “non-finite forms of the verb” introduced by O. Jespersen, means that they are not verbs in the proper sense of the word, because they combine features of the verb with features of other notional parts of speech[Jespersen O., 2006.].
A non-finite verb can also be called an infinite verb. The two words can be used interchangeably. The non-finite verb does not change its form with a change of subject or tense of a sentence. Unlike finite verbs, non-finite verbs do not agree with subject-verb agreement[ Declerk, Renaat, 2006].
There are three verbals in English: the infinitive, the ing-form (gerund) and the participle (the Present Participle, the Past Participle).
The infinitive (Base) is the non-finite form of the verb, which combines the properties of the verb with those of the noun, serving as the verbal name of the process. An infinitive is the uninflected, or plain, form of the verb.
Infinitive in some Germanic languages, including in Old English had signs of the way of action, which indicates its origin from the noun. In the English of the ancient period, the infinitive had the form of two cases: nominative, which ends in-an. Drincan-drink, beran-wear. And indirect (dative) ending in-enne. Drincenne, berenne. In Old English there were forms Participle and Infinite. The infinitive had a category of the voice. This indicates that it comes from a noun.