Курсовая с практикой на тему The ways to express the Future tense in O’Henry’s stories

Содержание:

Introduction 3
1. The ways to express the future tense 5
1.1 The grammatical category of the future tense 5
1.2 The grammatical category of the future tense 6
1.3 The ways to express the future tense 9
2. The ways to express the future tense in English (on the material of O.Henry’s stories) 14
2.1 Grammatical ways to express the future tense 14
2.2 Lexical-grammatical ways to express the future tense 21
Conclusion 24
Bibliography 23

Введение:

The category of the future tense is very important in any language, so a lot of works have been devoted to the problem of the future in modern English. The problem of the category of time is one of the most debatable problems of modern linguistics. Much attention is paid to the answer to the question of what is the composition of morphological and syntactic means of expression of the future in modern English.
Recently, especially in the late 1980s-early 1990s, there has been a growing debate in the linguistic literature about the traditional temporal system of the English language. The literature on the problem of the category of time in the modern English language testifies to the diversity of points of view and the unsolved nature of many issues related to this category. Views on the opposition of grammatical forms, its components, on the number of temporary forms, and, above all, on the questions concerning the semantic composition of grammatical forms, as well as their use in speech, are very contradictory.
There is no doubt that the category of future tense is as significant as all other tenses. At the same time, the ways to express the future tense category are markedly different. There are several ways to refer to future actions; in addition to future tense with the auxiliary verbs “will” and “shall” are used various equivalent phrases.
The choice is complicated by the fact that it is often necessary to take into account additional shades of meaning (probability, desire, inevitability, etc.). When these additional shades are absent, when the special attitude of the speaker to the future action is not expressed in the sentence, than there is another question: why is the speaker so indifferent to one’s own future?
The relevance of the study: linguistic analysis of a work of art on the example of the expression of the future time is a way to deepen the cognitive, emotional and aesthetic impact of literature. Knowledge of the ways of expressing the future in the English language has a high degree of relevance, as it is associated with the skills of careful reading the fiction. Any work of art always remains an impression in the mind of a person after reading it, and for the reader who has some knowledge of the language, the understanding of the content of the work of art will be deeper and more complete.
The aim of the work is to study different ways to express the future tense in English (on the material of O. Henry short stories).
To achieve this aim, we set some tasks:
1. To study the grammatical category of the future tense.
2. Describe the ways to express the future tense.
3. Select examples of the grammatical ways to express the future tense.
4. Select examples of the lexical-grammatical ways to express the future tense.
The object of the research is the future tense.
The subject of the research is grammatical and lexical ways of expressing the future tense in O. Henry short stories.
In the course of the work the following methods were used: analysis, systematization, distributive method.
The material of the study is the original text of the works of O. Henry, from which we selected 50 examples of expression of the future tense. O. Henry (1862 — 1910) was an American short story author named William Sydney Porter, raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Henry’s rich canon of work reflected his wide-range of experiences and is distinctive for its witticism, clever wordplay, and unexpected twist endings. The many twists and turns of his own life, including his travels in Latin America and time spent in prison, clearly inspired his stories’ twists and wordplay.
O. Henry’s prolific writing period began in 1902 in New York City, where he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote one story a week for The New York World Sunday Magazine for over a year. Some of his best and least known work is contained in Cabbages and Kings, whose title was inspired by Lewis Carroll’s poem, The Walrus and the Carpenter. The stories were set in a Midwestern American town in which sub-plots and larger plots are interwoven in an engaging manner. His second collection of stories, The Four Million, was released in 1906. The stories are set in New York City, and the title is based on the population of the city at that time. The collection contained several short story masterpieces, including The Gift of the Magi, The Cop and the Anthem, and many others. Henry had an obvious affection for New York City and its diversity of people and places, a reverence that rises up through many of his stories. O. Henry’s trademark is his witty, plot-twisting endings, and his warm characterization of the awkward and difficult situations and the creative ways people find to resolve them.
Unfortunately, O. Henry’s personal tragedy was heavy drinking. By 1908, his health had deteriorated and his writing dropped off accordingly. He died in 1910 of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart. The funeral was held in New York City, but he was buried in North Carolina, the state where he was born. He was a gifted short story writer and left us a rich legacy of great stories to enjoy.
The practical value of this work is that its results can be used in courses of practical English grammar.
The study consists of an introduction, two chapters, conclusion, and bibliography.

Заключение:

In this work, we have described the features of the expression of the future tense in the English language.
Having studied the theoretical basis of the study and using the methods of research specified in the introduction, the subjective and objective categories of time and the category of time relevance and type were determined, the features of the expression of temporal relations in modern English were considered, the means of expressing the future tense were analyzed.
According to the results of the study, the following conclusions can be made:
1. There is still no agreement among linguists on the structure of the grammatical category of the future time, which leads to uncertainty in the identification of its form.
2. The category of the future time is not only objective, but also subjective.
3. In a work of art the category of the future time gets its expression through standard and non-standard means of representation of time.
4. The analysis of examples showed that in O. Henry short stories the future tense is expressed mostly with the Future Simple form (72%). The future tense can also be expressed with “be + going to” (14%). Much less frequently the writer is using the Future Simple form with the verb “shall” (8%), the future in the past (4%), or other constructions (2%).
As a writer, O Henry never wrote about people from high society. His heroes have always been people from the poor; they are ordinary workers or even criminals. Maybe they use the Future Simple form because their future does not depend on their own will.

Фрагмент текста работы:

1. The ways to express the future tense
1.1 The grammatical category of the tense
The grammatical category of the tense and the means of its expression are widely studied by domestic and foreign researchers. But the question of a ‘grammatical category” is not as simple.
Grammatical category is a complex thing. There is a certain grammatical category in some language, if there can be found a number of oppositions with a formal expression. Thus, the category of number is a grammatical category, because uniqueness and plurality are opposed, and the grammatical forms of “singular” and “plural” are formally expressed.
Formal expression is a very important feature of a grammatical category, since its presence or absence is the main criterion for distinguishing a grammatical category. The fact is that a certain meaning in one language can exist as a grammatical, and in another language as a lexical. The languages of the world differ in the number of grammatical categories.
For example, in English, there are two cases, in German – four, in Russian – six and so on. There are languages in which there are no cases at all: Bulgarian, Italian, French, Tajik, Abkhazian, etc.
There is the verb category of time, since this difference in the time of the action indicated by the verb is systematically expressed in grammatical forms. The verbal category of tense is used for localization in time of the action indicated by a verb [6, p. 33].
“Time” is a concept which is related to our perception of reality. There are three times: past, present and future.
“Tense” is a grammatical category which is marked by verb inflection and expresses when an event or action happens in the flow of time.
Linguistic time (tense) does not necessarily coincide with objective time. A person can consciously use language time forms to denote different periods of objective time that do not coincide with the meaning of grammatical category of tense. Temporary forms may also not be used in their meanings. Thus, the form of the present time may indicate an action that is expected in the past (Suddenly John comes in and says; John came and said this some time ago, but the speaker is using Present Tense).
Some verbs in the form of the present may also denote one particular event in the past: I forget when it was (= I have forgotten); John says it’s interesting (= John said). There are contexts in which the form of the present time does not relate the action to any particular time plan at all (Do you speak French?). Therefore, speaking about grammatical tense, we should see its difference from the “real” time.
In English, the objective time is clearly divided into past, present and future. But grammatical tense is characterized by a large number of forms of expression.
In English, the three main periods of time are expressed in different forms of the verb simple (Indefinite), long (Continuous), perfect (Perfect), and perfect-long (Perfect Continuous).
In the English it is often necessary to take into account the limiting / non-limiting nature of a verb when choosing between a simple and a perfect form. In particular, an unsaturated verb requires a perfect form to express the completeness of the time period covered by the action in contexts of type: You will feel better after you have had some sleep. At the same time to limit the verb in such contexts is quite sufficient simple form, because the action in any event is presented as completed with the lexical value of the verb: He will feel better when he wakes.
Summing up, the grammatical category of tense is very complicated. It’s subjective, and often the speaker describes the events that takes place in the past using the Present Tense.

1.2 The grammatical category of the future tense
The status of the future tense category is not clear enough to a greater extent due to the originality of its morphological design (grammatical form of shall / will + infinitive, various lexical and grammatical means of expression: to be going to + infinitive, to be about + infinitive, to be + infinitive, etc.), which is stimulated by the semantic content of the category future — reflecting the modal characteristics of the action.
Orientation to the future is often determined by the speaker, depends on his choice and his intention to present the future fact as a reality, which regardless of any conditions will take place. About this feature, and wrote A. I. Smirnitsky: «This time appears to be allocated only in this case, at the discretion of the author of speech, what and how he wants to tell» [4, p. 16].
A number of grammarians, Including I. Bush and G. Helbig, take into account the hierarchy of meanings and emphasize the primary character of the modal meaning. They distinguish as the main variant of the value of the category of future time the expression of the proposed action, and the temporal is considered only as a secondary, without excluding or denying it at all. Note that in cases where the speaker describes the event as a fact that relates to the future, the present tense form of the verb is used.
For example:
Tomorrow is Saturday.
The term starts at the beginning of October.
The modal character of the meaning of future tense is explicated by the verbs shall / will. In our opinion, this is explained by different types of modality, which are inherent in the concept of future [5, p. 32].
The recognition of the verbs shall / will means of expression of the future tense consistently argued by L. S. Barkhudarov. He argued that, firstly, combinations with these forms are no different from combinations with other modal verbs, that is, relevance to the future is determined contextually. Secondly, the ways of expressing the future are very diverse. Third, these combinations are not considered analytical forms because they are not constructed from morphemes (like passive voice: be + … en). Finally, the fact that there are past tense forms should / would contradict the very idea of the future. L. S. Barkhudarov rightly concludes that the English language has a way of referring the action to the sphere of the future, but it does not yet follow that in the system of forms of the English verb there is a special category of the future tense [1, p.128].
In traditional grammar R. Kingdon introduced the concept of «modal times» and combined the future time and the conditional mood. In his opinion, the verbs shall / will, should / would have the same strong modal meaning as other modal verbs, and concluded that although modal verbs vary quite clearly and consistently in meaning, their relationship to time is largely unclear, so distinguishing between them in the expression of time is artificial and even confusing.
It should be in this regard, particularly emphasize two points:
1) In the subordinate clauses and in sentences with the circumstance of time, quite widespread, verbs with shall / will are not used:
If you press this button, the door will slide back.
2) The increasingly widespread construction be going to + infinitive to express the idea of the future:
I’m going to stay at home today;
It’s going to rain, etc.
The special nature of shall / will is proved by the fact that they do not use together. All modal verbs, that is, fall under the general rule of impossibility to connect two modal verbs in one construction.
All of the above allows us to consider analytical forms with verbs shall / will as means of expression of modality: in them the modal meaning of supposition is more weighty in comparison with the idea of future expressed by these forms, which, in turn, contains a modal shade of uncertainty.
The modal meaning of supposition can be contrasted with the modal sign of «certainty» in simple forms of the present, which can also express the semantics of the future time. V. M. Kolmogortseva emphasizes that the differentiation in the use of two correlating forms (the future indefinite and the present indefinite) follows the line of the modal characteristic of the utterance, for example: “We sail at midnight”, — said Tommy and Roy commented: “I’ll bet anyone that he rings up Crawford within five minutes” [3, p. 11].
Therefore, the use of forms of the present time with the value of the future allows the speaker to express confidence in the implementation of the action, that is, to express attitude to it.
A similar conclusion is made by N. In. Yermakova, who emphasizes that this meaning is created primarily by the context (linguistic and situational), indicating the relevance of the action to the near, distant or uncertain future. In this case, modal verbs can, must, ought, to be to, to have to, shall, will give the modal verb + infinitive connotative meaning of confidence to the construction, and modal verb may and forms might, could, should, would — connotative meaning of uncertainty [2, p.10]. The author points out that a variety of contextual means (negation, modal words such as surely, perhaps, possibly, having a reinforcing character) increase the expressiveness of structures.
Once again, many linguists recognize the modal nature of the meaning of the category of future time. So, E. V. Tarasova, who studied lexical and grammatical means of expression of the future time, confirmed that it is increasingly used construction to be going + infinitive, combines the value of future prospects with a number of semantic and modal shades [6, p. 13].
In the study of R. I. Tsyba, devoted to this construction, it is established that the future action, expressed by the construction to be going + infinitive, is usually characterized by modal shades, of which the most common are the values of intention, duty, the need to perform an action » [7, p. 268].
It is shown that the indistinct, similar to the conditional mood, «future in the past» is often replaced by a combination of was (were) going + infinitive, thus actualizing its modal semantics.
In traditional grammar, the ability of the future tense form to express a modal meaning is primarily due to the very nature of the future tense, that is, its uncertainty, non-determinism and, as a consequence, the ability to realize different modal shades. However, as we see it, we cannot reject the relationship of modal meaning with the temporal. The form of the future tense can be used without contextual refiners if it is required to express a clear opposition of the future to the present. Then the temporal meaning of the future provides the unity of form in terms of content and is a natural basis for the modal shades of meanings and ways of using the future time. In this case, the means of expressing the future tense in a temporal meaning could enter the system of verb tenses, and in a modal meaning-form the basis of the presumed mood or inclination of probability.
Strictly speaking, only two English tenses are marked by the inflection of the verb:
— past (talked);
— present (talks).
Other tenses are marked by auxiliaries (be, have).
As future time is expressed with the modal will + infinitive and not with inflection, the forms with will (will talk, will be talking, will have talked, will have been talking) are not considered to be tenses.
Summing up a brief review of opinions about the nature of the meaning of the future time in modern English, we can say that a significant spread in modern linguistics is the idea of primarity of the modal meaning of the future time. The term «modal time» in the perspective of the future, from this point of view, represents a specific area of modality for the English language, that is, a special mood of the future.
It should be used to indicate a category, however, taking into account that temporal meaning is common to all means of expression of the future tense and guarantees the unity of this category in terms of its content, and the specific meaning of the future is the basis of all modal shades and ways of expressing the future.

1.3 The ways to express the future tense
There are several different ways to express the future tense in English. It is clear that their main meaning is a reference to the time “later than now”. However, it should be noted that in English it may also express the speaker’s attitude or emotions to the future event.
Using different future tenses, the speaker can express the following ideas:
All of the following ideas can be expressed using different tenses:
 Simple prediction: There will be good weather tomorrow.
 Arrangements: She’s meeting her sister at seven.
 Plans and intentions: We are going to be in airport at nine.
 Time-tabled events: The sun rises at 7.43.
 Prediction based on present evidence: It looks like it’s going to be very cold tomorrow.
 Willingness: I’ll drive you home.
 An action in progress in the future: Next week at this time, I’ll be on a plane.
 Obligation: You are to go home now.
 An action or event that will take place immediately or very soon: the plane’s about to take off.
 Projecting ourselves into the future and looking back at a completed action: A month from now he will have finished all his exams.
From all the above examples it is clear that in English you can find many ways to express the future. The future tense section shows the form and function of each of these uses of future tenses.
There are four future verb tenses in English.
The simple future refers to a time later than now, and expresses facts or certainty. In this case there is no ‘attitude’.
The simple future is used:
 To predict a future event: It will rain tomorrow.
 With “I” or “We”, to express a spontaneous decision: I’ll pay for the tickets by credit card.
 To express willingness: I’ll do the washing-up. He’ll carry your bag for you.
 In the negative form, to express unwillingness: The baby won’t eat his soup. I won’t leave until I’ve seen the manager!
 With “I” in the interrogative form using «shall», to make an offer:
Shall I open the window?
 With “we” in the interrogative form using «shall», to make a suggestion: Shall we go to the cinema tonight?
 With “I” in the interrogative form using «shall», to ask for advice or instructions: What shall I tell the boss about this money?
 With “you”, to give orders: You will do exactly as I say.
 With “you” in the interrogative form, to give an invitation: Will you come to the dance with me? Will you marry me?
In modern English “will” is preferred to “shall”.
Shall is mainly used with “I” and “we” to make an offer or suggestion, or to ask for advice (see examples above). With the other persons (you, he, she, they) shall is only used in literary or poetic situations, E.g. «With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes.»
The future continuous is made up of two elements: the simple future of the verb ‘to be’ + the present participle (base + ing)
You will be watching
I will be staying
The future continuous refers to an unfinished action or event that will be in progress at a time later than now. The future continuous is used for quite a few different purposes.
The future continuous can be used to project ourselves into the future.
E.g.:
This time next week I will be sun-bathing in Bali.
By Christmas I will be skiing like a pro.
Just think, next Monday you will be working in your new job.
The future continuous can be used for predicting or guessing about future events.
E.g.:
He’ll be coming to the meeting, I expect.
I guess you’ll be feeling thirsty after working in the sun.
You’ll be missing the sunshine once you’re back in England.
In the interrogative form, the future continuous can be used to ask politely for information about the future.
E.g.:
Will she be going to the party tonight?
Will I be sleeping in this room?
The future continuous can be used to refer to continuous events that we expect to happen in the future.
E.g.:
I’ll be seeing Jim at the conference next week.
When he is in Australia he will be staying with friends.
I’ll be eating with Jane this evening so I can tell her.
When combined with “still”, the future continuous refers to events that are already happening now and that we expect to continue some time into the future.
E.g.:
In an hour I’ll still be ironing my clothes.
Tomorrow he’ll still be suffering from his cold.
Next year will she still be wearing a size six?
Won’t stock prices still be falling in the morning?
Unfortunately, sea levels will still be rising in 20 years.
The future perfect is composed of two elements
the simple future of the verb «to have» (will have) + the past participle of the main verb.
E.g.:
He will have finished.
The future perfect tense refers to a completed action in the future. When we use this tense we are projecting ourselves forward into the future and looking back at an action that will be completed later than now.
It is most often used with a time expression.
E.g.:
I will have been here for six months on June 23rd.
Won’t they have arrived by 5:00?
Will you have eaten when I pick you up?
The future perfect continuous is composed of two elements
the future perfect of the verb «to be» (will have been) + the present participle of the main verb (base + ing)
E.g.:
He will have been playing.
I will have been playing.
Like the future perfect simple, this form is used to project ourselves forward in time and to look back. It refers to events or actions that are currently unfinished but will be finished at some future time. It is most often used with a time expression.
E.g.:
I will have been waiting here for three hours by six o’clock.
By 2001 I will have been living in London for sixteen years.
When I finish this course, I will have been learning English for twenty years.
Next year I will have been working here for four years.
When I come at 6:00, will you have been practicing long?
It is also impossible not to mention the so-called form of “the future in the past@, which, according to some linguists, could claim to allocate as a special, fourth time, transmitting, on the one hand, the relationship of the future time, and on the other-the relationship of these relations with the past.
This connection with the past is that while for the first three forms the starting point is the present, that is, the moment of speech, for the fourth form such starting point lies in the past and, therefore, the actions designated by this form, although they are called the future, in relation to the present can lie both in their own future and in the present and in the actual past.
But A. I. Smirnitsky considers the system of tenses of English verbs exclusively as a three-term, considering that the shape of the future in the past refers to a category of the conditional, not time [4, p. 19]. Indeed, formally in all cases the future in the past externally coincides with the modal formation with “should” or “would”, which is recognized as a conditional mood.
There is a four-time group Future in the Past:
Future Simple in the Past
Future Continuous in the Past
Future Perfect in the Past
Future Perfect Continuous in the Past
Future in the Past are formed the same way as their counterparts from the group Future, only instead of auxiliary verbs will and shall use would and should.
Should is used only for the first person singular and plural, but there is a tendency to use would for all persons and numbers:
Future Simple in the Past — I would (should) work;
Future Continuous in the Past — I would (should) be working;
Future Perfect in the Past — I would (should) have worked;
Future Perfect Continuous in the Past — I would (should) have been working.
Here are some examples:
I thought that you would be late (Future Simple in the Past)
I knew we would be packing next Friday (Future Continuous in the Past)
He said he would have read the book by the time I needed it (Future Perfect in the Past)
We said that by the time he picks us up he would have been driving for two hours (Future Perfect Continuous in the Past)
Thus, times in the Future Past indicate future action with respect to a certain point in the past.
So, there are a number of ways to express the future tense in English. Unlike the Russian language, the English language has not one, but four future tenses. They all have their own means of expression. At the same time, you can easily express your attitude to action in English with the help of future tense forms.
We also can conclude that quite a large part of scientists are convinced that in English there is no future time, there is only the present and the past time. The future tense is an idea that is expressed by modal verbs. If we agree with this idea, we can come to the conclusion that any expression of the future time is simultaneously an expression of a person’s attitude to this future action. It is regarded as mandatory, inevitable, planned, etc.