Inflexion meanings The use of inflexions are to specify an action, a person or thing. To specify the relation between people/ things and their action or the relationship between people and things. Most of the time it is formed by adding a suffix to a word ( -s, -es, -en, -ves, -er, - est, etc.) but it will never change the word-class of a word. With inflexion we have the possibility to differentiate between different states of time ( present, past, future ). We can also differentiate between singular and plural or feminine, masculine and neutral. Grammatical categories in which inflexion can appear: Gender, Case, Number, Person, Tense Word-casses that can be inflected: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Pronouns _________________________________________________________________ Nouns being inflected to show the number and the case ( in some languages like German it also shows gender). The inflexion of a noun is called DECLENSION. Number: -Most of the time the -s inflexion is used. eg: ONE TWO or MORE bottle bottle-s -regular plurals ox ox-en -EN plurals basis bas-es -irregular plurals (of foreign words) calf cal-ves -voicing foot feet -mutation sheep sheep -zero derivation BUT: -Nouns with a plural form can have a single meaning. eg. scissors, trousers, parents, pants, shorts, glasses etc. -sometimes the plural form is used for a variety of things. eg. the fishes of the Mediteranian = different individuals or species many cheeses = a variety of different kinds of cheese (not many pieces of one and the same cheese.) Pronoun inflexion Number: The 2nd person uses a common form for singular and plural in the personal and possessive series but has a separate plural in the reflexive (yourself, yourselves). We, the 1st person plural pronoun, does not denote ‘more than I’ but ‘I plus one or more others’. In 3rd person singular, the personal, reflexive, and possessive pronouns distinguish in gender between feminine (she/ her/ herself/ hers), masculine (he/ him/ himself/ his), and non-personal neutral (it/ itself/ its). PERSONAL REFLEXIVE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS PRONOUNS PRONOUNS subj obj determiner nominal case case function function --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st singular I me myself my mine pers plural we us ourselves our ours --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd singular you yourself your yours pers plural you yourself your yours --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- masc. he him himself his 3rd fem. she her herself her hers pers sing non- personal it itself its plural they them themselves their theirs --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adjectives are inflected to show the intensity of an adjective. It is called COMPARATIVES. eg. hungry hungri-er hungri-est young young-er young-est funny funni-er funni-est good better best bad worse worst BUT: beautifull more beautifull most beautifull is not an inflexion. Case: Talking about case, the inflexion is used for specifying the relationship between two or more objects. Nouns are only inflected concerning the genitive. Here again the -s inlexion is used, if the inflected word already ends with -s the inflexion is a zero inflexion. Genitive meanings The meanings of the genitive can best be shown by sentential or phrasal analogues. For comparison, a corresponding use of the of-genitive is given where this is possible. Genitives Analogues --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- possessive genitives my son’s wife my son has a wife Mrs Johnson’s passport Mrs Johnson has a passport --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- subjective genitive the boy’s application the boy applied his parent’s consent his parents consented --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- objective genitive the family’s support (...) supports the family the boy’s release (...) released the boy --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- genitive of origin the girl’s story the girl told a story the general’s letter the general wrote a letter --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- descriptive genitive a women’s college a college for women a summer’s day a summer day/ a day in the summer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Verbs being inflected to differentiate the tense, the aspect and the mood of a verbal action. It also shows the person the verbal action relates to (3rd pers. singular -s present tense). The inflexion of a verb is called CONJUGATION. Mood: The mood relates the verbal action to such conditions as certainty, obligation, necessity, possibility Aspect: The aspect concerns the manner in which the verbal action is experienced or regarded. eg. is an action completed or in progress active/ passive Tense: The tense is devided into three parts past/ present/ future By time we understand the correspondence between the form of the verb and our concept of time. But one can’t see these categories seperated from each other. They are always standing in some kind of relationship to each other. In particular, the expression of time present and past cannot be considered seperately from aspect, and the expression of future is closely bound with mood. SIMPLE PRESENT I write -a regular, repeated action. he writes ( -s inflexion) ____><_____><_________>/<____________________ PRESENT PROGRESSIVE I am writing with a special pen. -a temporary action. He is checking a bill. -an action that takes place Jane is working at the office this term. during the time of speaking. ( -ing inflexion) __________________<-/->_______________________ SIMPLE PAST -a completed action in the past. I wrote with a special pen. (mutation) He cooked dinner. (-ed inflexion) She cut her finger. ( zero inflexion) (1) _______><__________/__________________________ (2) _____>-----< ________/__________________________ PAST PROGRESSIVE -an action over a period of time, I was writing with aa special pen. relating only to the past. He was takeing violin lessons. -an action over a period of time, (past tense of to be + -ing inflexion) not having been completed. _______<----->______/____________________________ PRESENT PERFECT I have written with a special pen since 1982. -an action that started in the past ( have + mutation) and continues till present. He has cooked all night long. -the action has to have some kind ( have + -ed inflexion) of connection to the present. (1) ___<------------------>/_____________________________ (2) ___<--------------------/--->__________________________ PAST PERFECT -an action in the past that took place I had written with a special pen before I before an other action in the past. bought the type writer. (past tense of have + mutation) Before she called Tom she had cut her finger. (past tense of have + zero inflexion) He had checked the list before he was writing the invitations. (past tense of have + -ed inflexion) ___><___<-->______/_______________________________ _/_ = NOW >< = completed <-> = not completed ---- = period of time 1