1. text analysis (sentence and clause types, sentence elements, word classes)

2. three topics (A, B, C)

 Topics for the oral exam:

Part A

1. Modality - (ability, permission).

2. Modality - (possibility).

3. Modality - (past activity, habit, refusal).

4. Modality - (expectation, assumption, conclusion).

5. Modality - (obligation).

6. Semi-modal verbs (dare, used to, need).

7. The infinitive (types and constructions).

8. The -ing forms (gerunds and participles and their constructions).

9.The subjunctive (3 types - mandative s., were-subjunctive, formulaic s.).

10.Clauses of result and cause (reason).

11.Clauses of purpose.

12.Clauses of concession.

13.Clauses of time.

14.Relative clauses (links and clause types).

Literature:

Hugh Gethin: Grammar in Context. Proficiency Level English. Nelson 1992. (Chapters 3 - 11)

Sidney Greenbaum, Randolph Quirk: A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. Longman 1990. (Chapter 4, pp. 60ff, Ch 3, pp. 43-44, Ch 14, pp. 294-302)

any grammar you like, e.g. A. J. Thomson, A. V. Martinet: A Practical English Grammar. Oxford University Press 1986 or L. G. Alexander: Longman English Grammar. Longman 1988.

Part B

1. The simple sentence (syntactic characterization and semantic roles of clause elements).

2. The simple sentence (concord, vocatives, negation).

3. Recoverability and substitution (pro-forms).

4. Recoverability and ellipsis (nature and types).

5. Syndetic, asyndetic, and polysyndetic coordination (coordinators, correlatives).

6. Simple and complex coordination and their types (e.g. gapping). Appended c.

7. The difference between simple and complex coordination. Pseudo-coordination. Quasi-coordination.

8. The complex sentence (subordination and its indicators, matrix clause, superordinate and subordinate clauses).

9. The complex sentence (three main structural classes). Direct and indirect speech. Free indirect speech and free direct speech. Transferred negation.

10. Syntactic and semantic functions of subordinate clauses (nominal clauses).

11.Syntactic and semantic functions of subordinate clauses (adverbial clauses -

     time, place; comment clauses).

12.Syntactic and semantic functions of subordinate clauses (adverbial clauses - condition [including types of condition], concession, and contrast).

13.Syntactic and semantic functions of subordinate clauses (adverbial clauses - exception, similarity and comparison, proportion, preference).

14.Syntactic and semantic functions of subordinate clauses (comparative clauses, sentential relative clauses). The subject of nonfinite and verbless clauses.

Literature:

Sidney Greenbaum, Randolph Quirk: A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. Longman 1990. (Chapters 10, 12 - 15)

Part C

1. The semantics and grammar of adverbials (adjuncts, subjuncts).

2. The semantics and grammar of adverbials (disjuncts, conjuncts).

3. Sentence types and discourse functions and their relationships. Directives. Exclamatives.

4. Major classes of questions. Minor types of questions. Block language.

5. Restrictive and nonrestrictive modification (relative clauses and other types of postmodification).

6. Apposition. Premodification. Discontinuous modification.

7. Multi-word verbs (3 groups). Adjective complementation.

8. Verb complementation (intransitive, copular, and especially transitive verbs: monotransitive, ditransitive and complex-transitive verbs).

9. Words - phrases - clauses – sentences (their relationships). Two conventional methods of representing the structure of sentences (tree diagrams, bracketing).

10.Word classes (open and closed). Details concerning the individual classes.

11.Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and prepositional phrases.

12.Functions of phrases (relation between sentence elements and types of phrases).

13.Types of clauses (seven basic types, obligatory and optional sentence elements)

14.Nominal clauses (their function and their structural types).

Literature:

Sidney Greenbaum, Randolph Quirk: A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. Longman 1990. (Chapters 8, 11, 16, 17)

Howard Jackson: Analyzing English. An Introductin to Descriptive Linguistics. Part Two: Structures. (Chapters 8 - 16)