The concept of the category of certainty and uncertainty and the methods of their linguistic expression in English and Russian. The meaning of certainty - uncertainty category in the linguistic encyclopedic dictionary Clear expression of uncertainty
5. Category of certainty/uncertainty
Category certainty/uncertainty typologically classifies English as an article language. The expression of this category is associated with the isolation from the sphere of substantive pronouns and the numeral adjacent to them of one opposed pair of function words - oplimited And indefinite article. The article is considered as a morphological function word that does not have its own lexical meaning.
Unlike the English language, the category of definiteness/indeterminacy does not have a morphological expression in the Belarusian language. The content of a noun according to the opposition given/novelty is revealed in this language primarily through the semantic word order, which leaves a peculiar imprint on its grammatical and lexical design. The generalizing and individualizing function of a noun in non-article languages is performed by particles, demonstrative and indefinite pronouns, the numeral one, lexical and syntactic means.
The absence of the category of definiteness/indeterminacy in the Belarusian language, to the same extent as its presence in the English language, is a typological characteristic of the English and Belarusian languages.
4. Common features and differences of the verb.
Verb- this is a part of speech in which the generalized meaning of “procedurality” is expressed by verbal categories: any verbal form conveys reference to the categories of aspect, tense, mood and voice. These verbal categories cover all verbal forms without exception, uniting them into the paradigm of a unified system of grammatical forms.
In the English and Belarusian languages, any verb denotes a process, action, state through a unique interpretation of reality using grammatical means.
In the English and Belarusian languages, any verb denotes a process, action, state through a unique interpretation of reality using grammatical means. Not all grammatical categories are required for every verb form: the category of person is characteristic only of finite forms of the verb, but it is absent in non-finite forms; the category of mood is characteristic exclusively of personal forms of the verb; the category of time is absent in the imperative mood and in the subjunctive (Belarusian language). IN English language the category of tense is characteristic of the forms of the subjunctive II and conditional mood, which typologically distinguishes English verb forms from Belarusian ones. The conjugated forms of the verb of all moods reflect grammatical categories that are historically associated with the syntactic category of predicate. The attribution of an utterance to a certain period of time, to one of the grammatical persons, its modality is characteristic of predication in general. Predication means any act of correlating a feature with its bearer in a modal sense. The main feature of predication is the expression of the subject’s attitude to the reality of the statement in verbal moods.
The temporal plan of predication is represented in sentences by verbal forms of grammatical tense. Typological for English verb forms is the category of temporal reference. Its marked member is the perfect with the meaning of correlating the action it expresses with some specific subsequent moment by directly, directly indicating time or indirectly, using some other action.
The relationship to the bearer of the attribute is carried out in the predicative act in the forms of the grammatical person.
The grammatical person is represented in the Belarusian verb by means of an ending.
There is a significant difference in the formation of personal verb forms in the Belarusian and English languages. In English, the 3rd person singular is represented by only one formant - (e)s in the present indefinite tense, and the first person is represented by the auxiliary verb sha11 for future tense forms. In the second person, the verb form does not change and the meaning of the person is expressed analytically.
Grammatical number is not an independent category in personal verb forms. It depends on the content of the grammatical person. The finite form of a verb agrees in number with its subject. Typological for Belarusian, as well as Russian, impersonal verbs like evening, evening; it's getting darker, it's getting dark, as well as impersonal structures such as I don'tjoint ventureіцtsa, I can't sleep is the absence of plural forms. In English, such verbs are expressed in sentences with the impersonal AND, with which they agree only in the singular.
The weak formation of the categories of person and number distinguishes them from other grammatical categories of the English verb.
The category of verb tense is formed by contrasting forms expressing the present, past and future tenses of action. The first two forms in both languages are synthetic, the future form is analytical (I will do;shall / will do) . The synthetic form of the future perfective tense, also available in Russian, is of later origin. (I will) which was formed on the basis of the form of the present (I do).
The tense forms of the verb correlate an action with some moment on the basis of simultaneity, precedence or following it. If the time of action is compared with the moment of speech, then the verbal form of time denotes “absolute” time (present, past or future). If some other moment is chosen for comparison, for example, a moment of the past (which occurs in subordinate clauses when the past tense is used in the main part of a complex sentence), then the form of the verb denotes “relative” time: simultaneity with the past moment (He said he knew it; he didn'tsaid he knew it), preceding it (He said he had finished work; Nosaid he had finished his work) or relative future (He said he'd be back soon; Nosaid he would come soon). The English language is distinguished by the presence of special forms for expressing the relative future (future-in-the-past). In Russian there is no special verb form for this meaning, but the future tense form in such cases also denotes a relative rather than an absolute future.
In both languages, in addition, tense forms can be used in figurative meanings. Thus, the present tense form can denote an action that is expected in the future (When does your train leave?;When does your train leave?; Where are you going for a holiday!) or happened in the past. In the latter case, the so-called “present historical”, which is most characterized by the depiction of a number of past actions in a sequential chain (Suddenly Ivan comes in and says... - he came in and said;Suddenly John comes in and says... = came in and said). The present form in the meaning of the past is often used with verbs of speech and message: Aristotle says that...;Aristotle says that... (= said).
There are contexts in which the present tense form does not refer the action to any specific time plane at all. This is usually due to the presence of hidden modal values: Do you speak French?;Do you speak French? (skill); Why don't you tell me the truth?;Why don" t you tell me the truth? (= unwillingness).
The meaning of precedence in the forms of the English verb and the correlation of its action with the subsequent moment represents its typological characteristics.
Verb aspect and temporal reference of action
The category of species is closely related to the category of time and is subordinate to it. Verb forms of the aspect category differently characterize the course of an action over time. In English, the specific characteristic of an action is represented by the term aspect, in Belarusian - by trevanny, and in Russian - by aspect. The grammatical category of aspect in the Belarusian, as well as in Russian, language is formed by contrasting the forms of the perfect and imperfect forms.
In modern English there is a general aspect (the common aspect) and a continuous aspect (the continuous aspect).
The English verb has four special forms - simple, long-lasting, perfect and perfect – long-term, which are interpreted by different authors either as specific, or as temporary, or as constituting some special category.
Verbs in Russian can have a perfective form, denoting a completed action (do, write, tell), or an imperfective form denoting an unfinished, ongoing process or repeated action (do, write, tell).
Only those verbs whose meaning contains a component of “ultimacy of action” have a perfect form, i.e. the beginning or end of some state: so, come means “to begin to be somewhere”, leave= “to stop being”, buy ="start to have" lose- “to stop having.”
Many terminal verbs in Russian form an aspectual pair (do - do, write - write, build - build, tell - tell), the members of which have the same lexical meaning and differ only in grammatical meaning.
The perfective form logically emphasizes the ultimate component of the verb’s meaning: Have you built a house? =“Did the house come into existence as a result of your actions?” The imperfective form emphasizes not the ultimate component itself, but some other component of the verbal meaning - in particular, the component “to perform actions with a specific purpose,” which evokes the idea of an ongoing process: Are you building a house? -“Are you performing actions so that a house arises?”
In non-finite verbs, i.e. not containing a start/end state component (sleep, sit, stand, wait, work, live, love), There cannot be a purely grammatical (paired) perfective form. In this case, the meaning of the “beginning” or “end” of the process can be expressed using a word-forming affix that forms another verb; Wed: fall asleep (="start to sleep"); wake up(= "stop sleeping"); sleep for half an hour(= “sleep for a short time”); get some sleep(= “sleep long enough”), etc.
In English there are also limit verbs, the meaning of which contains the component “beginning / end of state”; Wed arrive, come, appear (= “start to be somewhere.”); get, receive, buy (= "start to have"); lose, sell (= “to cease to have”), and non-finite verbs, the meaning of which does not contain such a component (sleep, sit, stand, work, wait, live, love). If a limit verb is used in a sentence, then in English, as in Russian, we can emphasize this limit component itself and, accordingly, express the specific meaning of the “completeness” of the action; Wed Have you built your house? (= “Has the house begun to exist?”), or, on the contrary, emphasize the component “to perform an action”, expressing the meaning of “duration, incompleteness of the action” - Are you building a house? (= “you perform only actions with the goal of...”).
However, with the expression of aspectual meanings in English the situation is much more complicated than in Russian. In particular, the perfect form does not always indicate the completeness of the action. So, in a sentence like I have lived here all my life the perfect denotes only the duration of the action up to the present moment and has no resultative meaning, since in the verb itself live there is no limiting component.
On the other hand, the specific meaning of “effectiveness” can be expressed in English by the non-perfect form of the verb. Yes, in sentences Notcame home at six (= “at the specified moment began to be at home”) or Notfinally built his house (- “at some point the house began to exist”) the simple form of the verb expresses the same resultative meaning as the Russian perfect form (came; built) or the English perfect form of the terminal verb with the meaning of one-time action (Nothas come; Nothas built a house).
The perfect form has its own meaning, constantly present in its content - meaning preceding some moment: either the moment of speech (for the Present Perfect form), or some moment in the past (for the Past Perfect) or in the future (for the Future Perfect). It should be noted that “preceding some moment” means the relationship of actions by time, those. This is clearly not a specific, but a temporary meaning. Now it should be noted that another specific meaning - “duration, incompleteness of the process” - is not in English necessarily requires only one - continuous - form (Continuous / Progressive). It can be expressed by any of the four forms of the verb, if the verb is infinite, denoting a long process; Wed Notwas working at that time - He worked for a long time - He has been working all thistime - He has worked long enough. Thus, this aspectual meaning also does not contrast these four forms of the verb with each other, and, therefore, these forms cannot be classified as the actual aspect.
For the continuous form, the main thing is not just the designation of a continuing, unfinished process (as is typical of the Russian imperfect form), but the designation simultaneity of an ongoing process to a certain moment: or the moment of speech (He is sleeping), or some point in the past or future (Notwas sleeping when I came; At this time tomorrow he will still be sleeping).
The perfect continuous form means duration actions for a certain period, previous some moment in the present, past or future (Nothas been working all day today; He had been working long by that time). The same meaning can be expressed by the non-continuous form of the perfect with verbs that do not allow a continuous form: We have known each other for many years; He said he had been there since morning.
The three complex verb forms (perfect, continuous and perfect-continuous) always express correlation with some moment. A simple form is used either to designate one separate action that is not comparable with others (Notworked long yesterday), or to denote a sequential chain of actions ( I came, I saw, I conquered). Thus, the need to use “complex” types of tense forms of the verb arises only when the sequential chain of events at some point breaks or stops; Wed Notentered the flat, looked into the dining- room and saw (here the sequential chain of actions ends, and therefore complex forms appear further that the guests had gone and Mother was clearing the table.
The specific meanings of “completeness”, “incompleteness (duration)” or “multiplicity” of an action can only be additionally superimposed on the basic meaning of all four forms, depending on the context and on the characteristics of the lexical meaning of the verb.
And so, in addition to the system of three tense forms, which exist in both the Russian and English languages, each language also has its own, special system of contrasting forms that express something related to the temporal characteristics of the action. In Russian, this is a category of type that distinguishes between the completed and unfinished nature of an action, as well as its one-time or repeated nature. In English, this is a category of temporal correlation of actions, expressing the presence or absence of correlation of an action with some specially selected moment (or other action), namely, precedence or simultaneity of the action (complex verbal forms) or the absence of such correlation (simple form). In this case, the specific nature of the action can only be an additional characteristic superimposed on the meanings of the peculiar relative time expressed by these four verbal forms.
The category of mood is the grammatical category of the verb, expressing the speaker’s attitude to reality. Mood is a modality that appears in certain forms of verbs. Modality is thus one of the forms of expression of predication. Outside of predicative forms there is no mood.
Taking into account the differences in meaning, combined with the peculiarities of the external structure of the form, three moods can be distinguished in the English and Belarusian languages: indicative, imperative and subjunctive, opposing each other in the general category of mood.
From the point of view of the peculiarities of the formation of forms, the indicative mood is characterized by the presence of its own aspectual-temporal system. In English, this system is represented by the 3rd person singular present tense for both members of the temporal opposition imperfect/perfect. The suffix - (e) clearly separates the indicative mood from its other forms and is an indicator not only of person, number, tense, but also of mood. In the Belarusian language, the perfect and imperfect forms of the present, past and future tenses are forms of the indicative mood.
The imperative mood, or imperative, manifests itself in the dialogical situation of address. The imperative mood conveys the meaning of direct expression of will in order to induce the participant in a speech act to a certain action.
The incentive to action is most often addressed to the 2nd person. Sentences with the imperative form of the verb are one-part. However, in some cases it is also possible to mention the subject of the action, expressed by the same second-person pronoun. IN English pronoun uou does not differ the only thing and plural. In Belarusian, as in Russian, imperative forms of the 2nd person plural and 2nd person singular are distinguished. The verbal form of the 2nd person plural imperative is formed agglutinatively by adding the indicator -tse, -ma in the Belarusian language and -te in Russian to the 2nd person singular form. For example: glossy, look-ma; write. All Russian forms of the imperative can be accompanied by the particle -ka: come on. The 2nd person plural form of the imperative is used when politely addressing several persons or one person.
In both Belarusian and Russian, as well as in English, there is an analytical form of the imperative of joint action with the 1st person plural. Such indicators are words let's get together in Belarusian, Let's be in Russian and let in English, combined with the infinitive: let's sleep, let's sing; we will sleep, we will sleep, we will sing; let us sing.
Forms of the 3rd person imperative mood are formed by combining the particles hai, nyahay with the forms of the present and future simple tense of the indicative mood of the 3rd person singular in the Belarusian language and let, let, yes-in Russian In English, to express an order, a request addressed to a third person, encouraged to act together with the speaker himself, a construction with a verb is also used let.
The subjunctive mood is used to express an action opposed to the facts of reality
The subjunctive form is used in its general grammatical meaning; it explicitly expresses the unreality of action: unreality in terms of the past tense, potentiality - in the present and future.
The timeless nature of the morphological form of the subjunctive mood is typological for Belarusian and Russian verbs.
There are four types of subjunctive mood in English:
subjunctive mood I with the meaning of uncertainty in the reality of a given phenomenon. This uncertainty is considered possible, conjectural, acceptable. There is no contradiction with reality, no correspondence with it;
the subjunctive mood II is used to mean the opposite of the reported fact;
3) the presumptive mood has the meaning of assumption;
4) the conditional mood expresses a certain unreality, but not taken in itself, but due to the invalidity of some other circumstances and conditions. Based on this, this mood can be called “conditional”.
The subjunctive mood I is conveyed by one form, which is always potential in its temporal meaning, since it expresses an action that is problematic and has not yet occurred at the time of utterance. Synthetic forms be, live, know, etc. for all persons of the subjunctive I are used in the official style of writing, stilted prose and American English. Subjunctive I is limited mainly to exclamatory clauses, additional clauses, goals, concessions, conditions and clauses that perform the function of the second member of the compound predicate in impersonal sentences of modal and modal-evaluative content with it and depends on the presence of words of a certain lexical meaning in the sentence.
The forms of the presumptive mood are analytical: should for all persons and the infinitive - to do (should do). The use of this mood is highlighted in sentences with verbs of a certain semantics, in which the opinion and subjective judgment of a person is expressed. In terms of content and syntactic conditions, the presumptive mood coincides with the subjunctive mood I. The exception is simple sentences in which the forms of the subjunctive mood I are stylistically determined. Such proposals are characterized by emotional overtones. The temporal meaning of the forms of the subjunctive mood I and the presumptive mood is always unambiguous: to convey a hypothetical action in the present or future tense. This action is not considered unrealistic.
In the subjunctive II and conditional moods, the temporal forms of the present and past are clearly distinguished, forming the opposition potentiality/irreality. The forms of the present subjunctive II (I did) and the analytical forms of the present conditional (I should (would) do) constitute the first member of the opposition with the temporal meaning of the potentiality of the present and future that have not yet occurred. The possibility of carrying out an unrealistic action is not completely excluded. The forms of the past subjunctive II (I had done) and the past conditional (I should (would) have done) express a greater degree of unreality of the reported phenomenon and convey the temporary meaning of the second member of the oppositions - unreality. The general grammatical meaning of the opposite terms of the opposition potentiality/irreality is based on a time parameter, the starting point of which is the moment of utterance. Then the morphologically expressed grammatical tense of the forms of the subjunctive II and conditional moods coincides with the objective past, present and future tense, i.e. conveys the meaning only of simultaneity with it. This fundamentally distinguishes them from the homonymous forms of past and future indefinite, past and future in the past, perfect indicative mood, distinguished by the opposition simultaneity/precedence. It is the meaning of precedence that distinguishes the indicative verb forms from the subjunctive and conditional. The identification of the forms of the subjunctive and indicative moods leads to the denial of the status of the subjunctive mood as a whole.
The conjugation paradigm for verbs in the subjunctive mood shows varying degrees of their connection with the category of aspect and the category of voice. This is confirmed by the possibility of forming passive and continuous forms.
From the point of view of form, voice is a morphological category, since it is expressed by forms of the verb. From the point of view of content, this is a syntactic category, since voice indicates certain relationships between the members of the sentence. The voice can be active, passive (English and White) and reflexively neuter (White).
The active voice form indicates that the subject denotes the doer and the object the object of the action. (Jack built a house; Jack built the house).
The passive voice form indicates that the subject denotes the object of the action (A house was built; The house was built). In both languages, the forms of the passive voice are analytical (was built; was built), in Russian there is, in addition, a synthetic form with the particle “-sya” (The doors were locked at night).
In the Russian language, only transitive verbs (having a direct object) have voice forms; for English voice, the broader property of the “objectivity” of the verb is important, i.e. the presence of any addition to the verb - either direct, or indirect, or even prepositional. As a result, the subject of the predicate in the passive voice can denote not only the object of influence (The book was given to me), but also the addressee of the action (I was given a book), as well as any subtypes of objective meaning expressed by prepositions (The baby was looked after / for / at).
With two-object verbs, the choice of one of the options depends on which of the two objects is logically emphasized; Wed The book was given to me, not to him;Book given to me, A Not to him and I was given a book, not a pencil;To me given book, A Not pencil.
In addition to the active and passive voices, there are also reflexive and middle voices in the Russian language. The return value is expressed in Russian by a particle - sya / - sya in words like wash, shave, which denote an action directed by the subject towards himself. In English, such a reflexive meaning is expressed by the phrase (to wash / shave oneself), those. not by morphological, but by lexical means (adding a significant word and forming a phrase). Thus, English combinations like wash oneself cannot be considered as the actual grammatical - voice - form of the verb.
The “middle” voice in the Russian language includes such formations in - s/- s, in which the particle indicates that the action is not directed at any object at all; Wed The door opened (slammed). This is no longer the result of the grammatical process of inflection, but of word formation, in which from the base of the transitive verb (open sth.) another intransitive verb is formed (open) those. here there is a change in the lexical meaning of the word. In addition to the above cases, a verb with a particle -xia can also represent a purely grammatical form of the passive voice of a cognate verb that does not have this particle in the form of the active voice; Wed offer At night the door was closed / locked with a bolt"(= “someone closed it”), the content of which is the same as in the actual passive construction The door was closed by someone.
Voice as a grammatical category is distinguished not just when the verb has the specified meanings, but when there are different forms to express these meanings. Yes, in sentences The door slammed And Door opened the same voice meaning is expressed “the absence of direction of action towards any object”, however, we can attribute the form of the middle voice to the verb only in the second example, since only there this meaning is expressed by a special formal element: we deduce the meaning of the whole word open up from the meaning of its base (open) and particle values -sya, which specifically “removes” the indication of the direction of action on any object. In the verb clap There is no formal indicator with a similar meaning, and there is no point in talking about “middle voice” here: it is simply an intransitive verb.
The actual semantic phenomenon in both languages is also associated with the loss of transitivity by the verb in uses like The book sells well, The cloth washes easily. In this case, the meaning of “to perform an action” is transformed into the meaning of “to have the ability, to be affected,” including modal and passive meaning (“object meaning is usually expressed by the reflexive form of the verb (sells well, washes easily).
Thus, the following chains of semantic derivation are possible: from an intransitive verb boil,to boil(Water is boiling;The water is boiling) a transitive verb is formed to boil water),to boil (water), already allowing the form of passive voice: The water was boiled; The water is boiling now (= someone is boiling it);The water was boiled (is being boiled).
In Russian, the function of articles can be performed by
1) Word order.
In the statement “An old man looked out of the window,” we can talk about any old man, both known to the speaker and unknown, while in the statement “The old man looked out of the window,” only a certain old man is meant (in English, the definite article the ).
2) Demonstrative pronouns.
Our demonstrative pronouns “this”, “this”, “this”, “these” often replace the definite article.
3) The word " one".
"I know one person, this person can help you. Did you find anything strange in this sentence? Why say “one person” if it is already clear that he is alone? We often say the word "one" only to show uncertainty or the first mention of the subject of conversation. If we are talking about a subject for the second time, then, as a rule, we use demonstrative pronoun"this" or "that". Remember, the beginning of many Russian fairy tales and jokes sounds like this: “One man... And this man went one day...” or something like that.
In this function Russian word"one" is the equivalent of the English indefinite article "a". And it, in turn, historically comes from the word “one” - “one”, and that is why it is used only with singular nouns.”
https://audio-class.ru/grammar/article.php
4) Some case forms.
Waiting for the bus or waiting for the bus? The case of a noun that denotes an object depends on whether the object is definite or indefinite.
An interesting article on this topic on the portal “Culture of Written Speech” (gramma.ru): http://gramma.ru/RUS/?id=13.21
Previously, there were no articles in the Russian language either. But, for example, full and short adjectives (see the article “What is the difference between full and short adjectives”) in ancient times were opposed precisely on the basis of definiteness / uncertainty.
I quote tutorial M.L. Remnyova “Old Church Slavonic language” (for Old Russian this is also relevant): “In the Old Church Slavonic language, along with nominal (* i.e. short) forms... full adjectives functioned. They arose by complicating nominal (*i.e. short forms with demonstrative pronouns and, I, ѥ: new + and > new, new + i > new, new + ѥ > new.
Probably, initially these demonstrative pronouns performed the function of a attributive member and contrasted long forms with short ones on the basis of definiteness/indeterminacy. It was the demonstrative pronoun, used postpositively, that introduced a shade of certainty into the designation of the attribute: good wife is used, for example, in the case when we are talking about an unknown woman who has never been mentioned before, the use of good wife meant that we are talking about a well-known, well-defined person...
Full forms indicated an individualized characteristic and were used only in the definition function. Short forms were used in a sentence as a definition only in cases where it was unnecessary to indicate the fame of a person or object or they were mentioned for the first time and were new in the message. That is why only short forms were used as a predicate, the purpose of which is to convey something new about the subject to the interlocutor or reader.”
It is difficult for me to judge to what extent the absence of an article and the extensive system of cases are connected. This information needs to be clarified with language historians. It's probably related somehow. For example, in closely related Bulgarian and Macedonian the case system has been completely lost, but articles are preserved.
In the Hungarian language (Finno-Ugric group) there are indefinite and definite articles.
- one of the categories of semantics of a statement (see Conceptual categories); its function is the actualization and determination of the name, the demonstration of its uniqueness in the described situation (certainty) or the expression of its relationship to the class of phenomena similar to it (uncertainty). Means of expression O. - n. k. are inherent in all languages, but the typology of these means is not the same: O. - n. K. differs from language to language in its internal. structure and functional semantics of means of expression. In a number of languages there are special indicators of definiteness - uncertainty of the actualized name - articles (English the - a; German der - ein; French le, la - un, une, etc.), according to which article-left and non-article languages differ. The most common ternary system is op-red. article - indefinite, article - zero article. However, in typological and contrastive descriptions, it is necessary to take into account when comparing all means of expression O. - n. in general, and not just ways of conveying the article in artless-left languages. In diachronic plan for the development of O. - n. K. correlates with the general direction of diachronic typology: movement from the specific to the generalized; Therefore, historically earlier are the means of expressing definiteness, including the definition, the article. In articleless languages O.—i. can be expressed using word order; for example, in modern rus. language the final position is usually associated with uncertainty (“He gave the gift to his wife”), and the non-final position with certainty (“He gave the gift to his wife”). For the same purpose, in non-article languages combinations with decree are used. and indefinite, pronouns, combinations with particles (“Another plate!” - indefinite, name; “Only the old woman didn’t know anything” - definite name); type and placement of phrasal stress (“Here is a book” - definite name, “Here is a book” - indefinite, name). However, the most strong remedy expressions O.—n. What is the context: in the statement “The woman bought a book,” if it is in the absolute, introductive beginning, both names can be indefinite, but if the same statement is in the middle of the text, both names can be definite. The most difficult thing for both article and non-article languages is the distinction between the so-called. specific uncertainty, when it comes to a specific, referent, i.e., correlating with the denotation of the name (“I bought a pen yesterday”), and non-specific, not having a specific referent (“I want to buy a pen” - any pen in general) . From this point of view, statements like English. Magoo wants to marry a Swede - “Mary wants to marry a Swede” (for a specific Swede or for any one?) are accurately analyzed only in context or in a consituation and therefore represent difficulty for decoding. Within the framework of O.’s statement—n. K. is closely related to other contain categories: with the actual division of a sentence (theme, i.e., the known, usually correlates with certainty; rheme, new, with uncertainty), with deicticism (see Deixis), with the category possessive™ (see Possibility), as well as with the category of modality: cf. “It’s blowing. Someone (probably) opened the window.” Within the text of O. - N. connected with anaphoricity (see Anaphoric relation): “There lies a book. Bring this book here,” as well as with narrativeness (narrativeness)—indefiniteness, names begin the text, they contribute to the movement of the plot by introducing new characters; defined names contribute to the stability (stagnation) of the narrative; they ensure the identification of actants and the coreference of names. He. K. can extend to the statement as a whole: for example, certain statements “Here is a daring troika rushing”, “There is a familiar boy running”, etc. The means of their actualization are deictic particles, word order. Statements that are not related to the actualization situation are vague: “I would like to receive some kind of gift!” etc. The question of how exactly each of the fundamentals is organized is debatable. parts O.—n. k. (hierarchy of semantic units and means of their expression), as well as the question of whether certainty and uncertainty are members of the same opposition or whether their separate existence in language is possible. Scope of use of the components of the expression O. - n. K. differs even for genetically identical elements in closely related families. languages: for example, the functions of Russian do not match. “that” - Czech. ten, russian “one” - Serbo-Croatian, jedan, Bulgarian. unified, etc. Category of certainty "- uncertainty in Slavic, n Balk. languages, M., 1979; Hawkins J. A., Definiteness and inde-finiteness, L.. 1978; Birkenmaier W., Artikalfunktionen in einer artikellosen Sprache Munch. , 1979; Glad row W., Die Determination des Substantivs im Russischen und Deutschen, Lpz.. 1979; The semantics of determiners, L. - Bait.. 1980. T. M. Nikolaeva.
Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. 2012
See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what CATEGORY UNCERTAINTY is in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:
- CATEGORY
(Greek Kategoria - statement, accusation; sign) - extremely general concept. It is formed as the last result of distraction (abstraction) from their special objects... - CATEGORY in the Dictionary of Economic Terms:
(from the Greek kategoria - sign) - assignment to a certain group, category that determines the professional level of workers or quality ... - CATEGORY
(from the Greek word kathgorew, I accuse) - a logical and metaphysical term introduced by Aristotle, now used in the meaning given by Kant: K. - ... - CATEGORY
[from Greek (judgment, definition)] 1) in philosophy the most general logical concept, expressing one of the basic forms of being or one of ... - CATEGORY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
and, f. 1. Scientific concept that expresses the most general properties and connections between the phenomena of reality. Categories of time and space. Categorical - related... - CATEGORY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
, -i, w. 1. In philosophy: a general concept that reflects the most significant connections and relationships between reality and knowledge. K. quality. ... - UNCERTAINTIES in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE, fundam. position of quantum theory, which states that characterizing physical. so-called system additional physical quantities (e.g. position and momentum) are not ... - CATEGORY in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
(from the Greek word ?????????, accuse) ? logical and metaphysical term introduced by Aristotle, now used in the meaning given by Kant: K.? ... - CATEGORY in the Complete Accented Paradigm according to Zaliznyak:
category, category, category, category, category, category, category, category, category, category, category, category, category, category, … - CATEGORY
(from the Greek kategoria) language - in a broad sense - any group of linguistic elements distinguished ... - CATEGORY in the Popular Explanatory Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language:
-i, f. 1) philosopher A concept that reflects the most general properties and connections of the phenomena of the material world. Categories of dialectics. Categories of time and space. ... - CATEGORY in the Thesaurus of Russian Business Vocabulary:
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(gr. kategoria) 1) phil. a general concept that reflects the most essential properties and relationships of objects and phenomena of the objective world (matter, time, space, ... - CATEGORY in the Dictionary of Foreign Expressions:
[gr. kategoria] 1. phil. a general concept that reflects the most essential properties and relationships of objects and phenomena of the objective world (matter, time, space, movement, ... - CATEGORY in the Russian Language Thesaurus:
Syn: species, genus, variety, class, category, type, group, ... - CATEGORY in Abramov's Dictionary of Synonyms:
cm. … - CATEGORY in the Russian Synonyms dictionary:
sublime, group, dan, iterative, class, contingent, nidus, tribe, subspecies, suborder, subgenus, subfamily, subtype, subkingdom, breed, order, category, rank, race, genus, ... - CATEGORY in the New Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Efremova:
and. 1) A scientific concept that reflects the most general properties and connections between reality and knowledge (in philosophy). 2) a) Generic concept, ... - CATEGORY in Lopatin's Dictionary of the Russian Language:
category, ... - CATEGORY in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
category, ... - CATEGORY in the Spelling Dictionary:
category, ... - CATEGORY in Ozhegov’s Dictionary of the Russian Language:
In philosophy: a general concept that reflects the most significant connections and relationships between reality and knowledge of K. quality. K. quantities. K. forms. ... - CATEGORY in Dahl's Dictionary:
wives , Greek rank, order or department of objects. Categorical, to the category... - CATEGORY in Ushakov’s Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language:
categories, w. (Greek kategoria). 1. The highest generic concept, denoting some. the most general, abstract category of phenomena, objects or their signs (scientific). ... - CATEGORY in Ephraim's Explanatory Dictionary:
category f. 1) A scientific concept that reflects the most general properties and connections between reality and knowledge (in philosophy). 2) a) Generic... - CATEGORY in the New Dictionary of the Russian Language by Efremova:
and. 1. A scientific concept that reflects the most general properties and connections between reality and knowledge (in philosophy). 2. A generic concept meaning... - CATEGORY in the Bolshoi Modern explanatory dictionary Russian language:
I A scientific concept that reflects the most general properties and connections between reality and knowledge (in philosophy). II... - DISCOVERING UNCERTAINTY in big Soviet encyclopedia, TSB:
uncertainty (mathematical), finding the limit (when it exists) of an indefinite expression... - SUBSTANCE in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
The concept of substance is one of the derivatives of the concept of being, which becomes clear in its content through reflection on this last concept. Under … - ANIMATE - INANIMATE CATEGORY in the Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary:
— a conceptual category that reflects man’s division of the surrounding world into living and nonliving. Receives a double expression in the language - lexical and ... - GRAMMAR CATEGORY in the Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary:
- a system of opposing series of grammatical forms with homogeneous meanings. In this system, the defining feature is the categorizing feature (see Category ... - ARTICLE in the Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(French article, from Latin ag-ticulus) (member) - a grammatical element that appears in the language in the form of a function word or affix and serves ... - CONCEPTUAL CATEGORY in the Dictionary of Linguistic Terms:
An abstract generalized meaning that has a corresponding linguistic expression. Category of materiality, category of objectivity, category of collectivity, category of magnifier-aunt; category of possessiveness, category of comparison; category... - ACEA STANDARDS in the Dictionary of Automotive Jargon:
- motor oils are divided into three classes: A - class of oils for gasoline engines; B - class oils for diesel... - SCHOLASTICISM in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
(Greek schola - scholarly conversation, school and lat. scholaslica - scientist) - an intellectual phenomenon of medieval and post-medieval European culture in ... - MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
a qualitatively unique stage in the history of philosophy. Chronological framework of S.F. determined, naturally, by the temporal extent of the Middle Ages itself. About this question … - DEATH OF SUBJECT in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
a postmodern metaphorical term to designate one of the two poles of the ambivalent tendency to blur the certainty of the subject-object opposition within the framework of the modern type of philosophizing. ... - SARTR in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
(Sartre) Jean Paul (1905-1980) - French philosopher, writer, one of the most significant representatives of French phenomenology, founder of atheistic existentialism. Starting from... - NUTSUBIDZE SHALVA in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
(1888-1969) - Georgian philosopher, logician, cultural scientist. Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University (1910). In 1911-1914 he was abroad twice, where he worked... - LOTMAN YURI MIKHAILOVICH in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
(1922-1993) - Russian culturologist, semiotician, philologist. Since 1939 - student at the Faculty of Philology of Leningrad University; from 1940 - in the Soviet army, ... - LAO TZU in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
(6-5 centuries BC) - semi-legendary founder of Taoism, one of the most significant movements in philosophical thought China; tradition calls it... - HYPOTHESIS in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
(Greek hypothesis - basis, assumption) - form of organization scientific knowledge, providing movement towards new knowledge, moving beyond the framework of the available (existing) ... - HYLEOMORPHISM in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
(Greek hile - matter, morphe - form) - a new European designation (finally established in literature in the 19th century in relation to Aristotle) ... - PROBABILITY in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
a quantitative measure of the possibility of an event occurring in the presence of uncertainty, i.e. in a situation where this event is characterized as possible. Investing this or... - EXPERIMENTATION in the Dictionary of Postmodernism:
- a concept introduced by postmodern philosophy to replace the traditional concept of “interpretation” (see Interpretation) to capture a radically new attitude to the phenomenon of meaning. IN …
State educational institution of higher professional education “Chuvash State Pedagogical University named after. I. Ya. Yakovleva"
Faculty of Foreign Languages
Department of Translation and Translation Studies
- Completed by: 4th year student
- English branch of group D
- Pavlova Olga Nikolaevna
- Head: Ph.D.
- Kournikova N. S.
Content
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
Chapter I. The concept of the category of certainty and uncertainty and the methods of their linguistic expression in English and Russian.
- Definition of the category of certainty and uncertainty in philosophy and linguistics……………………………………..…5
Linguistic means of expressing the categories of certainty and uncertainty
- Articles…………………………………………………………… ....8
Pronouns…………………………………………………………………… …….17
Chapter II. Analysis of means of conveying the categories of certainty and uncertainty when translating from English into Russian (using the example of the Moscow News newspaper).
- 2.1. Means of transmitting articles.................................................................. ............. .......23
- 2.2. Means of rendering pronouns ……………………… ………………29
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….…37
List of references……………………………………………………….….. 38
Introduction
In modern linguistics, research focused on identifying the organic connection between language and thinking is becoming increasingly important. Many researchers have raised the question of mental or “conceptual” categories (O. Espersen, I.I. Meshchaninov, S.D. Katsnelson). One of the central directions is the study and description of the interaction of multi-level linguistic units involved in expressing the meanings of universal conceptual categories. The general scope of research into the content side of a statement also includes the category of certainty/uncertainty.
The specialized linguistic literature presents a number of studies devoted to the consideration of particular issues relating to the category of certainty/uncertainty. Most of the existing works are based on material from languages that have definite and indefinite articles [T.V. Stroeva, L.R. Zinder 1961; V.Ya. Propp 1951; L.M. Uman 1970; L.A. Boldina 1989; Yu.N. Chernikova 1993; V.B. Kashkin 2001; V.G. Gak 2004 and others]. At the same time, the analysis of the meanings of the category under consideration is carried out mainly by the method of describing the semantics of articles, while the role of other means of expressing certainty/uncertainty and their hierarchical organization within the framework of the category under consideration either remains unclear [Rotar 1987; Gladrov 1992; Gak 1989, 2004], or are not taken into account at all [Uman 1970; Propp 1951; Tsivyan 1979].
The semantics of definiteness/indeterminacy in the Russian language, which does not have regular specialized morphological indicators for expressing definite and indefinite meanings, has also been the subject of discussion more than once. But most works touch only on particular problems of the category under consideration: for example, lexical, word-formation or linear-intonation means of expressing the indicated meanings [E.V. Paducheva 1985, 1999; O.H. Seliverstova 1988; E.P. Senichkina2001; Yu.B. Smirnov 1985; T.M. Nikolaeva 1979, 1982; S.A. Krylov 1984; M.I. Alekhina 1975 and others].
That is, the lexical and morphosyntactic means of expressing the meanings of definiteness/indeterminacy were studied autonomously and mainly within one language, which did not allow us to consider the category of definiteness/indeterminacy as a “substantive-formal unity” [Bondarko 1983] and carry out its comprehensive study in different language systems. Conducting a study of the content structure of the category under consideration and its specific linguistic implementation is possible within the framework of the theory of the functional-semantic field.
Studies of the category of definiteness-indeterminacy (CON), both in the morphological and functional-semantic aspects, raise a wide layer of theoretical problems associated with reference, the semantics of articles in article languages, types of correspondence of articles of the same name in different article languages, as well as types of correspondence between manifestations the hidden category of definiteness-indeterminacy in non-article languages and its grammatical indicators in article languages.
In addition to the theoretical aspect, there is also an applied aspect in research of this kind. It is associated with the search for an algorithm for implementing a grammatically (and, if possible, semantically) adequate translation from an articleless language into an article language in automatic (machine) translation systems, as well as with the construction of rules for the use of articles in the process of teaching an article language as a foreign language to people whose native language is articleless language. Testing of existing machine translation systems shows that the result of arranging articles in the text cannot be considered satisfactory, which makes the solution to this problem important and relevant.
The content of the category of certainty - uncertainty indicates whether the object denoted by the noun is thought of as relating to this class objects (indefinite article), or as a known object, distinguished from the class of objects similar to it (definite article).
The category of definiteness - indeterminacy has a grammaticalized character in the English language: it is the definite article the and the indefinite article a or an [Arakin, cit. work., 123].
In contrast to English, in Russian the category of certainty - uncertainty does not have a morphological expression and is expressed lexically. To express certainty we use: particle – That, demonstrative pronouns this, this, this, these or that, that, those, that. In their function they correspond to the definite article. Pronouns are used to express uncertainty some, some, some, some; numeral one. When translated into English they are replaced by the indefinite article a or an. But you need to keep in mind that replacements of this kind are not regular, but depend on the context.
Since the naive picture of the world of speakers of article and non-article languages captures definiteness-indeterminacy in the language in different ways, then, apparently, it is impossible to talk about a complete comprehension of the meaning of this category in a foreign language.
This work consists of two chapters, the first of which explores the concept of the category of certainty and uncertainty, the second chapter is devoted to a practical study of the analysis of the means of conveying the category of certainty and uncertainty when translating from English into Russian.
Chapter I. The concept of the category of certainty and uncertainty and the methods of their linguistic expression in English and Russian.
- Definition of the category of certainty and uncertainty in philosophy and linguistics
For the first time, the most clear idea of certainty-uncertainty was reflected in Anaximander’s teaching on apeiron when he characterized the general origin, the primary essence of all concrete things. According to Anaximander, there is apeiron - an indefinite nature, from
from which all the heavens and all the cosmos that are in them originate. On the other hand, every concrete thing, according to Anaximander, has a boundary, a beginning in time and space, due to which it acquires certainty [Mikhailova, Chanyshev, 1966:54].
The ideas of certainty and uncertainty occupy a special place in Plato’s philosophy. They serve him as a means of expressing the ideal and sensually material worlds, respectively. The ideal world, the world of essences, is a world of certainty, and the material world is a world of uncertainty. Certainty characterizes stability, perfection, proportionality, orderliness of the ideal world, while uncertainty personifies variability, imperfection, and chaos of the material world. [Vizir, Ursul, 1976:14].
In Aristotle's philosophy, certainty and uncertainty have a broader meaning than in Plato. Certainty is the essence of all being, according to Aristotle. He understands uncertainty as the objective deprivation of a certain being, a certain quality, quantity, place, time, etc. The concepts of certainty and uncertainty are used by Aristotle to characterize objective necessity and chance. Necessary phenomena are characterized by strict certainty; they can only happen this way and not otherwise. Chance, being, like necessity, a conditioned cause, is characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability
[Aristotle,1934:106].
In subsequent centuries, scientists came to the conclusion that each particular science uses the category of certainty-uncertainty, but interprets it somewhat differently. However, all interpretations are based on a philosophical basis and are associated primarily with the categories of particular and general, concrete and abstract. These categories were actively discussed in the 17th and 18th centuries in the works of Western European philosophers. It has been suggested that they represent an objective dialectical unity. Thus, the 17th century French philosopher Gassendi, the founder of sensationalism, wrote: “... the universal in itself is illusory: have you seen anything in the whole world that was not special?” [Gassendi, 1966-68: 222]. The problem of the relationship between the general and the particular, the concrete and the abstract was also studied by the English philosopher John Locke. He believed that the general is the rationally realized essence of material things. “Abstract ideas are the product of reason, but have their basis in the similarity of things” [Locke, 1960: 472].
Locke's recognition of the general as the “real essence of things” was a prerequisite for the development of the theory of knowledge in the philosophy of the 19th and 20th centuries. But if John Locke argued that at the first stage of cognition there is a transition from the empirically observable properties of things to a generalized concept, from the particular to the general, from the concrete to the abstract, and this is where the process of cognition ends, then already in the 19th century philosophers thought somewhat differently. Thus, Hegel, emphasizing the dialectical unity of the concepts of certainty and uncertainty and pointing out their close connection with the categories of concreteness and abstraction, believed that the process of cognition proceeds from the concrete to the abstract and then from the abstract to the concrete [Hegel, 1934, vol. 5: 66 ]. This idea of Hegel was later developed in the works of K. Marx, who wrote that the concrete is both the starting and ending point of the process of cognition. [Marx, Engels, 1958, vol. 12:727].
In linguistics this could mean the following. Typically, the concept of the subject of speech goes through successive stages of development in the speech act, reflecting the ascent of thought from the abstract to the concrete. The process of concretizing a concept has three stages. First, a general concept is taken from the language system; in relation to any specific subject it becomes private. As a result of combining abstractions, a particular concept becomes concrete, individual. This development of the concept is reflected in the meaning of the category of certainty-uncertainty. A word that has generalizing (general) certainty in the language system, when passing into speech, acquires the meaning of individualizing (private) uncertainty. As clarified and limited this concept with the development of the speech act, the word acquires individualizing certainty [Ulyasheva, 2002: 17]. Thus, the concept, in its ascent from the general to the particular, finds expression in one form or another of the category of certainty-uncertainty.
In the 20th century, in order to determine the basic content of certainty-uncertainty, philosophical scientists began a detailed study of the problem of the connection between certainty-uncertainty and some dialectical-logical categories. Thus, V.S. Gott and A.D. Ursul, based primarily on the works of Aristotle and Hegel, described in detail the relationship of uncertainty with the categories of chance and possibility, and certainty with the categories of necessity and reality. However, philosophers have especially emphasized the fact that necessity is associated with certainty when it is perceived as inevitability, but if necessity is perceived as possibility and chance, then it should be considered a manifestation of uncertainty [Gott, Ursul, 1971: 45,56].
Scientists have characterized certainty as a form of objective existence of phenomena that has the following characteristics: “1) the presence of clearly defined boundaries between the states of natural phenomena, 2) the relative independence of properties and states of phenomena from each other, 3) the expression of necessity through the unambiguous transitions of possibility into reality.” [Ibid].
Logician N.I. Kondakov, summarizing the philosophical studies of V.S. Gott and A.D. Ursul, called certainty and uncertainty concepts that characterize “a situation when a selection process occurs, choosing an element or subset from any set.” [Kondakov, 1975:380].
In linguistics, there are other interpretations of the content of the category of certainty-uncertainty: “Under certainty-uncertainty we understand such heterogeneous phenomena as 1) contrasting the known with the unknown...; 2) the opposition between fixed (specific, individualized, referential) and non-fixed (non-specific, non-individualized, non-referential); 3) contrasting a class or an abstract representative of a class with a member of a class; 4) contrast between what was previously mentioned in the text and what is introduced into the text for the first time; 5) contrast between the speaker’s confidence and uncertainty (the so-called subjective modality of uncertainty); 6) contrast between accuracy and inaccuracy of information” [Kuzmina, 198: 158].
In our opinion, all these meanings of certainty-uncertainty are of a particular nature and are derived from the general linguistic-philosophical concept of certainty-uncertainty.
1.2. Linguistic means of expressing the categories of certainty and uncertainty
1.2.1. Articles
The article is a special part of speech in English. The use of the article may be unusual for beginners, since there is no analogy to the article in the Russian language. Articles belong to the group of noun determiners. Along with demonstratives, possessives and indefinite pronouns, articles convey the meaning of (in)determinacy of a noun. The named determiners, unlike the article, are present in the Russian language: my book( my book), that car ( that car), some guy ( some kind boy).
Articles carry a large semantic load, both when used directly in speech and when translated. The use of articles is regulated by many rules that are based on logic and linguistic tradition.
In the Russian language there is no such speech element as the article, so at first it is difficult to get used to correctly placing articles before words in English.
In English, articles are function words that are placed only before nouns. They bring clarity to the conversation, allow the interlocutor to understand you, and indicate the ownership and significance of the words.
In modern colloquial speech, articles are often omitted, and if suddenly, during a conversation, you forget to put the article, you will still be understood. Only in this case you will miss exactly that charming precision, that specific meaning that you put into this word. Therefore, if you want to speak classical English, then you need to learn how to use articles correctly. The correct placement of articles in the English language indicates a person’s education and his ability to speak the language.
There are three types of articles in English: indefinite a, definite the and the so-called zero article.
To better understand the purpose of the article, let us turn to the history of its origin. Indefinite article a derived from the Old English numeral "one", and the definite article the originates from the Old English demonstrative pronoun "that".
Indefinite article.
The indefinite article has two forms in both spelling and pronunciation:
A [ ?
] - placed before consonants (and the letter h when it is pronounced: a house)
An [ ?n] - placed before vowels (and the letter h when it is not pronounced: an hour [ ?n au?]
He is a lazy pupil.
Take an apple.
If we take into account the origin of the indefinite article (from the Old English noun "one"), it becomes clear that this article is used only with singular nouns. Moreover, it is only used with countable nouns: a car, an apple, a house.
The indefinite article is also used in exclamatory sentences beginning with What, before singular countable nouns. Please note that these sentences lack a predicate:
What a nice day! What a beautiful woman! What an unbelievable meeting!
But: What good weather!
(With the word weather the indefinite article is never used)
Meanings of the indefinite article:
The indefinite article refers an object to a class of similar things, making it a representative of this class.
A clever dog doesn't bark all the time. A smart dog does not bark all the time. (The animal belongs to the class of dogs).
A cosmonaut is a very healthy man. The astronaut is a very healthy person. (A person who belongs to this profession).
The expression of singularity is especially obvious when expressing measures of length, weight, distance, and time.
My father drinks a liter of beer every day.
An apple a day keeps a doctor away.
A meter of cable is not enough.
Although the indefinite article expresses singularity, it cannot always be replaced by a numeral one.
Compare:
He is a nice boy. - He is one nice boy.
You look like an idiot. - You look like one idiot.
In sentences, the indefinite article is used before nouns that have not been mentioned before and are named for the first time.
He is a rich man. He has a big house, an expensive car and two Harley Davidsons.
He belongs to the class of rich people. - He one of rich people. He has some (one of) a big house, some (one of) expensive car and two Harley Davidsons.
Very often the indefinite article is used in stable phrases. That is, in these combinations the form of the article is a constant value:
To be a success
To have a look
To have a good time
The article is not used.
The article, as a rule, is not used with plural nouns and uncountable nouns if we are talking about objects/things in general, that is, they are not specified in any way:
I like beer and I hate ice-cream. (I don’t like a specific type of beer, but beer in general)
Diamonds are a girl's best friends. (Any diamonds are a girl's best friend)
In many established phrases there is also no article. Such cases just need to be remembered; but they can also be understood and calculated through translation:
To have __ breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper.
We do not translate these phrases as “Have breakfast/lunch/dinner”, but say “Have breakfast/lunch/dinner”. That is, in the Russian translation, these phrases represent a semantic unity; and the article gives a separate meaning to the noun.
The same rule applies to expressions such as:
Go to __ bed - Don’t go to bed, but go to bed.
Go to __ school - Do not go to a specific building, but study.
Go to __ church - Do not go to a certain building, but go to services/pray.
At home - not in a specific apartment (house), but in the place where does your family live where there is a family atmosphere.
In phrases that express methods of transportation on vehicles, there is also no article.
by bus - by bus/by bus
by plane/air - by plane/ by plane
by train - by train/ by train
by car - by car/ by car
on foot - on foot
The article is not used with proper names of people and animals.
__ Jacky Watson is my best friend.
Where is __ Murzik? It is time to give him food.
The article, as a rule, is not used with the names of countries, cities and regions.
__ England is a beautiful and tidy country.
__ Paris is the city of love.
Exceptions
But for historical reasons, the definite article, in some cases, is used with the indicated names:
The Netherlands, The Hague, The Crimea
The definite article is used with the names of states, which include words such as: Union, Kingdom, State, Republic, Federation
The Russian Federation
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The Soviet Union
The article is not used in exclamations “What + uncountable noun/plural noun”:
What wonderful weather!
What crazy people!
Definite article .
There are no articles in Russian, and the meaning of definiteness is conveyed using demonstrative pronouns or word order. Therefore, when translated into Russian, the definite article is often conveyed by the demonstrative pronoun this, that, etc.
The definite article is used with abstract and non-abstract nouns, countable and uncountable, singular and plural. Despite the apparent freedom of use, the definite article is used in strict accordance with many rules.
The definite article is used:
when it is clearly clear from the situation or context that this particular subject is being discussed.
Where are the keys? (Keys to the door of our apartment)
Open the door, please. (There are no other doors nearby)
when the subject has already been mentioned in a conversation or text.
Look, a cat(some kind of cat / feline) is sitting on the bench.
I think the cat(the same cat on the bench that was just discussed) is hungry.
This example clearly shows the role of both articles.
when a noun has a qualifying definition that can be expressed:
subordinate clause:
You are the man we are looking for. (You're the man we're looking for)
often before the words very, right/left, wrong, only, main, last, next, same, previous.
The main entrance is closed now.
It is the last chance to correct the mistake.
usually with a circumstance of place:
My friend spends a lot of time in
the gym.
According to linguistic tradition, a number of nouns in the possessive case designate those places (adverbial location) where services are usually provided to the population. These nouns are always used with a definite article: at the doctor's, at the baker's, at the chemist's.
We need to take our dog to the vet's. (We need to take our dog to the vet).
With phrases indicating the type of geographical landscape: in the city, in the country, in the forest, at the seaside, in the desert, in the jungle.
They want to go to the country this weekend.
There is not much water in the desert.
The use of articles with geographical names.
As you already know, articles are usually not used with names of countries and cities.
But, there are exceptions:
cities:
The Hague (The Hague)
countries (for historical reasons):
The Sudan, The Yemen, The Argentina - these names of countries can be used without an article. Also The Netherlands (Netherlands), since the name has a plural for historical reasons.
The Philippines (essentially the name of a group of islands)
Countries whose names contain terms such as States, Republic, Federation, Kingdom... that is, not proper names: The United States of America, The United Kingdom, The Russian Federation. The definite article is also used with abbreviations of these names: The USSR.
The definite and indefinite articles can be used with the names of cities and countries, but only in the presence of a special context.
It was the Paris of my youth. This was (the same) Paris of my youth.
"of my youth" is the context necessary for using the definite article.
When he returned twenty years later, he found a new America. - When he returned 20 years later, he discovered (some kind of) new America.
Names of continents, (peninsulas), mountains, deserts and regions.
As a rule, when a geographical name has the ending -s, that is, an allusion to the plural, the definite article is used with it.
Continent names: Africa, Europe, America. Even if these names are preceded by definitions, the article is still not used: Western Europe, Southern America.
Mountain ranges and ridges: The Urals, The Alps, The Andes.
The name of island groups is always preceded by a definite article: The Canaries (Canary Islands), The Kuriles (Kuril Islands).
If there is only the name of the peninsula, then it is used without articles.
Kamchatka is famous for its geysers.
If after the name there is the word peninsular (peninsula), then the definite article is already placed before the name.
The Taimyr peninsular is a very cold place.
The names of individual mountain peaks and islands are used without articles.
Mountains: Elbrus, Everest; Haiti, Cuba, Kilimanjaro.
For historical reasons, the names of some regions are used with the definite article: The Crimea, The Caucasus, The Ruhr, The Tyrol.
When the name of an area contains a plural or a common noun, then, as a rule, the definite article is used with such names: The Highlands, The Lake District, The Far East.
The names of all deserts come with a definite article: The Gobi, The Sahara (desert), The Kara-Kum.
Names of natural water reservoirs:
The names of all rivers are used with the definite article:
The Volga (The river Volga), The Don, The Thames.
The names of all lakes are used with the definite article:
The Seliger, The Baikal.
But, if the word Lake is present before the name, then the definite article is not used - Lake Ilmen.
The names of all seas, oceans, canals and waterfalls are accompanied by the definite article:
The Black Sea, The Dead Sea; The Pacific Ocean, The Indian Ocean; The Suez Canal; The Victoria Fall, The Niagara Fall.
etc.................