UNIVERZITA PALACKÉHO V OLOMOUCI
Pedagogická fakulta
Katedra anglického jazyka
MARTIN MAREK
3. ročník – prezenční studium
Obor: anglický jazyk a český jazyk – učitelství pro 2. stupeň ZŠ
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND CZECH MORPHOLOGY
Bakalářská práce
Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Jana Kořínková, Ph. D.
OLOMOUC 2011
2
Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou práci vypracoval samostatně a použil jsem jen uvedenou
literaturu.
V Olomouci 30. června 2011
..............................
Podpis
3
I would like to thank Mgr. Jana Kořínková, Ph. D., for her support, patience and valuable
items of advice and comments on the content and style of my final project.
4
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..6
1 Introductory Terms ...................................................................................................................... 8
1.1 English and Czech Morphology............................................................................................ 8
1.2 English and Czech Typological Classification ..................................................................... 8
2 English and Czech Parts of Speech (Slovní druhy) ................................................................... 10
3 Nouns (Podstatná jména) ........................................................................................................... 12
3.1 Gender (Rod)....................................................................................................................... 13
3.2 Case (Pád) ........................................................................................................................... 14
3.3 Number (Číslo).................................................................................................................... 16
3.4 Countability (Počitatelnost) ................................................................................................ 19
4 Determiners................................................................................................................................ 21
4.1 Articles ................................................................................................................................ 21
4.2 Pronouns.............................................................................................................................. 22
4.3 Quantifiers........................................................................................................................... 22
4.4 Other determiners................................................................................................................ 23
5 Pronouns (Zájmena)................................................................................................................... 24
5.1 Personal pronouns (Osobní zájmena).................................................................................. 24
5.2 Possessive pronouns (Přivlastňovací zájmena)................................................................... 25
5.3 Reflexive pronouns (Zvratná zájmena) ............................................................................... 26
5.4 Reciprocal pronouns (Vzájemnostní zájmena) ................................................................... 26
5.5 Demonstrative pronouns (Ukazovací zájmena) .................................................................. 27
5.6 Interrogative pronouns (Tázací zájmena)............................................................................ 27
5.7 Relative pronouns (Vztažná zájmena) ................................................................................ 28
6 Prepositions (Předložky)............................................................................................................ 30
6.1 Place (Místo) ....................................................................................................................... 30
6.2 Time (Čas)........................................................................................................................... 32
6.3 Other prepositions ............................................................................................................... 33
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..36
Résumé…………………………………………………………………………………...……...37
Annotation…………………………………………………………………………………..…...38
5
Abstract
Although Czech users’ language knowledge of English and their mistakes are individual, this
final project worked with fifteen students’ essays, which were analysed from the point of view of
morphology, in order to find out what kinds of mistakes are frequent in the corpus of the essays,
and what is the most problematic area for learners at the level B2. It was articles that proved to
be problematic. In eight out of fifteen essays, there was overusing of the definite article. In five
essays, learners omitted the indefinite article where it should be.
6
Introduction
The topic of my final project is “Differences between English and Czech Morphology”.
I wanted to write about mistakes students make. However, there are many sorts of mistakes (e. g.
in the word order, in spelling, in vocabulary, etc.). It was, therefore, necessary to limit the area of
mistakes. I believe pronunciation, even if difficult in English, and English spelling can be learnt
by training, but learning English grammar is more difficult. For this reason, I focused on
grammar. In particular, on morphology. I tried to find out what causes trouble to Czech learners
of English. In other words, how Czech influences their English, or how they apply Czech rules in
English.
There were the two reasons for my choice. Firstly, I have been a learner of English for
several years. I know what was and is still problematic for me, and I would like to know whether
it is so with my colleagues. I have had many classmates since I started to learn English. In my
final project, I also mention what feelings, impressions and trouble they had.
Secondly, better understanding of mistakes and learning from them may be helpful in my
future profession. The more a teacher is knowledgeable about a subject, the more they are able to
teach their pupils/students.
The reason why I mention Czech morphology in my project is that I am convinced this is
an effective way to help learners to surmount difficulty in English. For example: “In Czech it is
like this …, but in English like this …“ Or “This is what the languages have in common …”
I find this method of explaining English grammar effective and helpful.
I have selected nouns, determiners, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions. In my
opinion, these word classes are more problematic than verbs and tenses. I write about significant
differences between these word classes in English and in Czech, and about how these differences
confuse learners. I suppose nouns and their determiners will be the most problematic area.
Having written about the differences, I started to work with special books on frequent and
common mistakes in English as well as with a former teacher of mine. Then I created a corpus of
7
fifteen essays. These essays were written by my schoolmates, whose language level was B2.
After that, I analysed them, I searched for mistakes from the field of morphology, wondering if
there were some of the typical mistakes about which the authors of the books wrote. My goal
was to find out whether these particular students made typical mistakes in English as the authors
stated. Next, I wanted to find out what is the most problematic area in which they make
mistakes. The corpus of real essays served for this purpose. The fact that the essays were written
by both men and women and on various topics helped me to have an objective idea about their
language.
As for the procedure, I depicted the significant differences between the selected word
classes with respect to what they mean to us. Then I added frequent mistakes connected to the
differences. I worked with books on mistakes in English, by means of which I predicted
problematic areas. Providing that there was a mistake in my corpus, I added it to the text as a
proof of what I had predicted. A wrong example found in the corpus was marked with an
asterisk.
8
1 Introductory Terms
1.1 English and Czech Morphology
Crystal (1990, p. 87) defines the English term “morphology” simply as “the study of the
structure of words”. The definition of the Czech term “morfologie” differs to a great extent.
Klimeš (1998, p. 494) defines it as “nauka o druzích slov, o jejich tvarech a o významech tvarů”
(a discipline dealing with word classes, word forms and their meanings). In general, morphology
is a branch of grammar of any language, and English and Czech are no exceptions. The
difference between morphology in English and morphology in Czech is in its importance.
Dušková et al. (2007, p. 5) quote G. Leech: “Morphology is a relatively unimportant part of
English grammar, because English words have relatively few inflections.” In contrast to English
morphology, Czech morphology is irreplaceable in the grammar of the Czech language, because
morphology and syntax are the two main branches of Czech grammar. One more reason is that
Czech words have relatively many inflections.
1.2 English and Czech Typological Classification
There are several ways of dividing languages into various groups from several points of view. In
the centre of my attention stands the typological classification. Černý (2008, p. 59) writes it
classifies languages only on the basis of the types of their grammar, especially in terms of the
structure and the way of connecting morphemes.1 English belongs among analytic languages.
Černý (2008, p. 61) states it is common to mark grammatical categories by means of special
auxiliary words (by means of free morphemes) in this type of language. That fact that English is
an analytic language does not mean it uses no inflections. Černý (ibid) expains that there are no
pure types of languages and that in each language one type dominates and other types occur in a
smaller extent. Modern English is a proof of it. Despite not being an inflectional language,
English uses the range of eight inflectional suffixes. They are: -s (forming plural forms), -s (with
1
“Minimal units of meaning or grammatical function” (Yule, 1990, p. 60).
9
an apostrophe forming the possessive case), -s (forming the 3rd person sg in the simple present),
-ing (the present participle), -ed (the past participle), -ed (the past tense), and -er + -est (forming
comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs).
Czech is an inflectional language. In other words, it is a language that uses the inflection.
Havránek and Jedlička (1981, p. 101) define the term “inflection” as “changing a word form
during the expressing of various grammatical meanings”. For example, jablko – bez jablka (an
apple – without an apple); přijedu – přijedeme (I/We will come.). Apparently, the Czech endings
changed, but the English endings remained the same. Being a highly inflected language, Czech
has some features of an analytic language. In the examples: “(my) vaříme” and “(vy) vaříte” it is
apparent that the endings of the verbs change. This is what an inflectional language looks like.
However, as soon as the verbs are put into the past tense, Czech will start to behave in an
analytic way. For example: “(my) vařili jsme”, “(vy) vařili jste”. No inflectional suffix functions
here. An auxiliary word (the verb “být”) is used instead.
10
2 English and Czech Parts of Speech (Slovní druhy)
Parts of speech, also known as word classes, are larger groups/categories of words to which all
words of a language belong, according to their common characteristics and use. Dušková (2006,
p. 23) states English distinguishes the same parts of speech as Czech (nouns, adjectives, adverbs,
verbs, pronouns, numerals, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections), and, in addition, the
article as a separate category. What is completely different is the order of English parts of
speech, which are not as stable as those in Czech. Quirk et al. (1995, p. 67) divide English parts
of speech into the two classes: closed (prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, modal
verbs and primary verbs) and open (nouns, adjectives, full verbs and adverbs). The authors (ibid)
consider numerals and interjections to be lesser categories. As for the difference between closed
and open word classes, it is, briefly speaking, in the possibility of the derivation of words. “That
is, the sets of items are closed in the sense that they are only exceptionally extended by the
creation of additional members” (Quirk et al., 1995, p. 71 – 72). On the other hand, open word
classes can be extended by the process of derivation. “New items are constantly being created”
(Quirk et al., ibid).
Czech parts of speech and their order is traditionally fixed. There are the ten of them. They are:
nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals and verbs. These five parts of speech are named
“inflectional parts of speech”, because nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals change their
forms in accordance with a type of gender, number and a case. Such changes of word forms are
called “declension” (skloňování). For example: čtyři staré knihy – o čtyřech starých knihách.
The last mentioned inflectional part of speech – verbs – change their forms in accordance with a
person, number, tense, mood, voice and partially gender. This process is called “conjugation”
(časování). For example: (já) čtu, (ty) čteš, (on/ona) čte. Besides them, there are five more parts
of speech which are not affected by the inflection. They are: adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions,
particles and interjections. They remain the same regardless of their position in a sentence. For
this reason, they are named “uninflected parts of speech”.
11
There are also parts of speech which each of the languages has specifically. Determiners are
counted among the English parts of speech. In Czech morphology, it is particles which are a
specific word class.
Particles (Částice)
This is a special word class in Czech morphology. There are no particles as a word class in
English morphology. Czech particles are connected either with modality2 or with expressivity.
For example: asi/možná (maybe), určitě (surely), naštěstí (fortunately). In English morphology,
expressions like these are classified as adverbs. English adverbs are divided into adjuncts,
disjuncts and conjuncts. It is disjuncts that correspond to Czech particles. “They comment on the
form or content of the clause” (Quirk et al., 1995, p. 52). Snad uklidili dům. (Perhaps, they’ve
tidied up the house.) In this particular example, the speaker cannot be completely sure; they just
hope.
The term “a particle” exists, but it is used for some grammatical elements in English linguistics.
“Not”, for example, is considered to be a negative particle. It depends on the points of view of
linguists. Some people call it, in simple terms, an adverb. Another example can be the lexical
verb “to work”. “To” is either an infinitive particle or simply a preposition, again depending on a
linguist’s opinion.
2
“Various subjective attitudes and relations of a speaker” (Grepl and Karlík, 1986, p. 82).
12
3 Nouns (Podstatná jména)
Generally speaking, they are names of persons, animals, objects, attributives, actions, etc. The
division of nouns differs slightly in both of the languages. English nouns are divided into
common and proper. Common nouns can be further divided into countable and uncountable.
Both countable and uncountable nouns are either concrete or abstract. A common noun denotes a
person, an animal or a thing generally (e. g. a child, a crocodile, a pencil). A proper noun, on the
contrary, is used for a particular person, an organisation or a particular place (e. g. James Joyce,
the World Trade Centre, Austria). Quirk et al. (1995, p. 247) define concrete nouns as those
which are observable and measureable, and abstract nouns as those which are nonobservable and
nonmeasurable (a chair X an idea). Talking about this topic deeper at school, pupils/students
should be told an abstract noun does not mean uncountable, e. g. a suggestion or a thought are
countable, even if nonmeasurable. Czech nouns are divided traditionally into common and
proper, concrete and abstract. Havránek and Jedlička (1981, p. 109) state a concrete noun is
anything we can perceive. Some teachers often add a concrete noun can be touched by us (a
peach, wood). Havránek and Jedlička (ibid) continue to explain an abstract noun is what we
cannon perceive by the senses. This might be found a little confusing, because the rainbow is
considered to be abstract even though it can be seen.
There is a significant difference in writing proper names in English and in Czech. What learners
like is the simple rule of English spelling. Capital letters are written at the beginnings of all parts
of a name, except for grammatical words, e. g. the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Federální
úřad pro vyšetřování), the United States of America (Spojené státy americké). What is
problematic for beginners is days and months, which are also written with capital letters as they
are among proper names in English but not in Czech (on a Friday in August – o nějakém pátku v
srpnu).
13
3.1 Gender (Rod)
Each noun has its gender. Both in English and in Czech morphology, there exist the three types
of gender: masculine, feminine and neuter. The way the gender is expressed and used is different
in both of the languages. English is closer to the natural gender. “English makes a distinction
between reference to male entities (he, his), female entities (she, her) and sexless entities, or
animals, when the sex of the animal is irrelevant (it, its)” (Yule, 1990, p. 71). In English
vocabulary, there are also nouns so-called dual gender nouns, like a cook, a cousin and a guest.
Nouns like these are used both for men and for women. This is something Czech native speakers
may have some problems with from the start, because they are accustomed to using a special
word for a man and for a woman (učitel – učitelka, ministr – ministryně). Learners are
sometimes surprised by how English can use only one expression for both the sexes. English
really can. Besides dual gender nouns, there are many nouns of the female gender which have
been derived from words of the masculine gender, e. g. a poet – a poetess or a steward – a
stewardess. Moreover, if a speaker wants to emphasise they are talking about women, they can
say for example “female teachers”. As for sexless entities and animals whose sex is irrelevant,
they are referred to as “it”, although there is a special word for male and female animals (e. g. a
bull is “it” and a cow is “it” too). Nevertheless, there are rare cases when some inanimate things
are referred to by means of the pronouns he/his or she/her. Such a way of treating things as if
they were animate is named “personification”. The commonest things which are personified by
native speakers are boats/ships, cars and countries. It usually happens when a speaker wishes to
show their feelings. (I’ve got a new cat. Her name’s Sarah.) Another reason may be a tradition.
“England is proud of her navy” (Fitikides, 2000, p. 28).
Czech is one of the languages which use the grammatical gender. It means persons’ and animals’
gender depends on their sex, e. g. bratr (a brother) X sestra (a sister); býk (a bull) X kráva (a
cow). Children and young animals are neuter (dítě – a child, štěně – a puppy). A few nouns have
two genders (choť – a spouse). The grammatical gender is something that Czech native speakers
14
are able to identify, because they learnt it when their own vocabulary was developing. For
Czech, it is typical that even inanimate nouns (objects and things) can be masculine, feminine or
neuter. For example: politik (m/animate) X hrad (m/inanimate), střecha (f), slunce (n).
As for mistakes learners make, they are probably caused by the fact that when they find or learn
a new English word, they still associate it with its Czech equivalent. Poslušná (2009, p. 8) gives
this example: “Look at the tree. *His leaves are brown.” It is obvious the pronoun “his” instead
of “its” was chosen by a learner according to the Czech noun “strom”, which is masculine.
A mistake concerning the gender was found in the corpus. *“Even if there was a rich electronic
library, not everyone would prefer her.” It is highly probable that the author was influenced by
Czech (knihovna (f)). It may also be understood as if the author intended to personify the library,
because it is a source of information book lovers like. It is, however, believed that
personification is not used in this way.
3.2 Case (Pád)
It may seem there are no cases in English morphology, because forms of words do not change in
various positions. Černý (2008, p. 117) says some languages, among which English belongs, do
not know the category of the case, because these languages have only one word form. The
system of the cases in the English language is highly limited. Quirk et al. (1995, p. 318) write
about the two cases: the common (or general) case and the genitive case. The second one is
considered to be a possessive form. “Bill’s responsibility – Billova odpovědnost, his
responsibility – jeho odpovědnost” (Dušková, 2006, p. 88). Czech, as an inflectional language, is
much richer in cases. It has the range of these seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative,
accusative, vocative, locative and instrumental. A great many Czech words are changed in the
cases, some word forms remain the same. For example: voda – (skočit do) vody X moře – (skočit
do) moře. As a result, there are so many word forms in Czech that it is nearly impossible for
Czech native speakers to know precisely which forms are standard and which are grammatically
15
incorrect. Consequently, when they start learning English, not having to decline words is
appreciated by them.
The question is how an English sentence can be created provided that words remain in the same
form. “Cases would be expressed in English through the use of prepositions” (Crystal, 1990, p.
69). These columns show and summarise the Czech cases and their typical corresponding
prepositions in English.
The 1st case: -----
žena
a woman
The 2nd case: Of/About
(postavení) ženy
(a position) of a woman
(jméno) ženy
a woman’s name
The 3 case: To/For
(dát něco) ženě
(to give sth) to a woman
The 4th case: -----
(vidět) ženu
(to see) a woman
rd
The 5th case: Oslovení / Addressing someone
The 6th case: About/Of
(mluvit) o ženě
(to talk) about a woman
The 7th case: By/With
(způsobeno) ženou
(caused) by a woman
(se) ženou
with a woman
This area of cases poses a problem for learners. To begin with, the –s genitive cannot be used at
will. “With inanimate objects we usually use the of-structure. It is incorrect to say: Her room’s
window is open” (Fitikides, 2000, p. 28). Nonetheless, it is correct to say e. g. Britain’s
population, even though Britain is inanimate. The reason why it is so is that the possessive –s is
possible to use with countries. It is also correct to say e. g. the dog’s carpet, because the
possessive case can be used with higher animals.
Some students are unsure about the position of an apostrophe when they form the possessive
case. If they say “the boy’s car”, the car belongs to the boy (it is his car), but “the boys’ car” is a
car shared by a group of boys (it is their car). A name ending in –s often takes only the
apostrophe (Charles’ cooking). A mistake concerning the possessive case was found in the
corpus. *“Not only the members of social networks can see other’s personal information, but
they can even see what the others are doing ...” The author of the essay meant personal
information of other people. Therefore, the apostrophe should have been at the very end (others’
16
personal information – osobní informace ostatních). However, Quirk et al. (1995, p. 389)
consider this to be rare. They recommend using “other people’s” instead.
The possessive case has to be used too when one needs to express a place. Řešetka (1998, p. 168)
says one can say “to go to the doctor” or “to the doctor’s” (their office is meant). However,
Sparling (1989, p. 98) warns learners not to forget that once they mention a person or a person’s
name as a place where they live, they are expected to use the possessive case. For example: I go
to my grandmother’s (house/flat) every weekend. Chodím k babičce / za babičkou každý týden. In
Czech, the person can express the place itself.
There is another problem connected with the cases and their prepositions. The use of the
prepositions “by” and “with” confuses students at times. “We do something with a tool or object.
She attacked me with her umbrella” (Turton, 1995, p. 124). (Zaútočila na mě deštníkem.) “By” is
used when we speak about a doer of an action. E. g.: He was struck by lightning. (Byl zasažen
bleskem.) It is clear from the second example that the lightning was an agent, not an instrument
of the action. The reason why people interchange these two prepositions may be that the seventh
case is connected both with people or things (agents of an action) and tools (instruments) in
Czech as the Czech translations illustrate (“deštníkem”, “bleskem”).
3.3 Number (Číslo)
English and Czech nouns are either singular (it means one) or plural (more than one). The way
plural forms of nouns are made is much easier in English than in Czech, which foreign users like.
The inflectional suffix –s (or –es if necessary because of pronunciation) is added to a noun in sg
(a book – books, a dish – dishes). A number of nouns have their irregular plural forms (e. g. a
man – men, a child – children, a mouse – mice, a tooth – teeth, a foot – feet or a sheep – sheep).
There are cases when forming plural forms is accompanied by spelling changes in endings of
words. For example: -f/-fe changed into –ves (a leaf – leaves, both scarves and scarfs, but only
roofs and cliffs), -y changes into –ies when a consonant goes before it (a city – cities X a boy –
boys). The ending –s can change the meaning of certain nouns, e. g. one fish, ten fish. “The noun
17
“fish” functions as a plural form too. Speaking about various kinds of fish, we say “fishes””
(Řešetka, 1998, p. 209). It is similar, for example, in using the nouns “cheese” and “fruit” (a
slice of cheese X soft French cheeses).
English plural forms are not always as easy as it may seem, especially at a higher language level.
Krupa (1983, p. 120) characterises English as a language which has never resisted the influences
of any other languages. Therefore, there are a good many words of Latin and Greek origin in
English vocabulary. Such words have come to it with their own plural forms. For example: a
bacterium – bacteria, a larva – larvae, an analysis – analyses, a crisis – crises, and many others.
Evidently, words like these are mostly specialised, and a learner may encounter them less often.
Basically, the more a word is used in the language, the more probable it is that it gains a regular
plural form (e. g. a corpus – corpora/corpuses).
Forming the plural of Czech nouns is not that easy, because there are a good many ways to do it
(some examples are: muž – muži/mužové, hrad – hrady, stroj – stroje, růže – růže, píseň – písně,
kuře – kuřata, dítě – děti).
A very problematic area is related to the category of number. In both of the languages, there exist
nouns which are either only singular, or only plural. Such English and Czech nouns do not
always correspond to each other. The nouns which stay singular are called “singular invariable
nouns” (singularia tantum in Czech morphology), like water (voda), wood (dřevo), wool (vlna)
or sand (písek). As a rule, they are mostly liquids and materials. Learners of English are
sometimes confused, having seen a noun ending in –s. To their surprise, it does not mean the
plural form every time. Turton (1995, p. 530) gives this example: *“The news are always bad
nowadays.” It is typical that nouns like these are normally uncountable. Therefore, news is in the
singular in English. Among other tricky nouns in singular are games, such as darts (šipky – pl in
Czech), sciences, such as linguistics (lingvistika – also sg in Czech), and proper nouns too
(Athens is the capital of Greece. Atény jsou hlavním městem Řecka.).
18
Besides them, there are nouns that behave like plural forms even if a single object is being talked
about. Their specialised name is “plural invariable nouns” (pluralia tantum in Czech
morphology). Some common plural invariable nouns can be found both in English and in Czech.
His trousers were dirty and so were his glasses. Jeho kalhoty byly špinavé a brýle byly rovněž.
They are often items of clothing or tools that behave similarly in both of the languages. The
scissors are on the table. Nůžky jsou na stole.
One can never be sure of the number of nouns. The nouns which confuse Czech learners of
English much are “a door” (dveře) and “a dress” (šaty). Learners feel a verb in the plural should
follow these nouns, because it is so in Czech. Her wedding dress is amazing. Její svatební šaty
jsou ohromné. This example shows a noun in singular in English but in plural in Czech. There
are, naturally, cases when a noun is plural in English but singular in Czech. The two typical
examples are “the police” (policie) and “cattle” (dobytek). Watch out! The police are here.
Bacha! Je tu policie.
Another problem is related to cardinal numerals of nouns like these. Students tend to link a noun
which is only in the plural with a numeral, which is incorrect in English (e. g. *two trousers).
The only way to count trousers, glasses, etc., is to use a partitive, e. g. two pairs of trousers. In
Czech, it is allowed to modify a noun like this by means of a special numeral, e. g. dvoje
kalhoty.
19
3.4 Countability (Počitatelnost)
A large number of learners’ mistakes are connected with the countability of nouns. The
countability of Czech nouns is not crucial in linguistics, because whether a noun is countable
(the majority of them) or uncountable, like voda (water), vzduch (air), the way they are used in a
sentence is the same. On the other hand, the countability of English nouns influences
determiners, mainly the use of the indefinite article. The three greatest differences between
countable and uncountable nouns are that uncountable nouns cannot be counted, there are no
plural forms of them, so they can be modified neither by any numerals, nor by the indefinite
articles a/an (as this article means a small number one). “The majority of uncountable nouns do
not cause any problems, because their corresponding expressions are not plural in Czech either”
(Sparling, 1989, p. 57). This might be considered not entirely true. The nouns, such as
“accommodation” or “behaviour”, are not plural in Czech (*jedno, *dvě ubytování/chování).
This is what learners do understand. Nevertheless, other uncountable nouns are not so easy to
understand. For example: the nouns “luggage/baggage”, “advice” and “money” are troublesome.
Many beginners wonder why money is uncountable. In their opinion, they can count money.
They are right in a sense. It can be explained in this way. People do not count money as such
(*one money, *two moneys). What they count is the denominations of coins and banknotes (e. g.
120 dollars).
The Cambridge Dictionary (2008, p. EH 14) shows the top 10 uncountable nouns which are
considered countable by foreign learners: information, advice, transport, equipment, behaviour,
research, training, knowledge, software and accommodation. Some of them can be plural in
Czech, so students tend to apply the countability of Czech equivalents (jejich rady, užitečné
informace – their advice, useful items of information). A possible way to explain the
uncountability to students may be that English considers nouns like these to be a set/group of
things (equipment) or facts (information/advice/news), etc., rather than single items as in Czech.
Sadly, there seem to be no helping rules for other uncountable nouns. Students can help
20
themselves when speaking or writing about liquids and materials. “Materials are always
uncountable” (Tryml, 2009, p. 112). When one does not know whether or not a noun is
countable and uses “a” with an uncountable noun, it sounds unnatural. However, it does not
prevent people from communicating. On the other hand, the indefinite article may sometimes
change the meaning to a certain extent. For example: beauty (= being pleasant to look at) X a
beauty (= something beautiful, excellent); crime (= illegal activities in general) X a crime (= an
illegal act); coffee (= a hot brown drink) X a coffee (= a cup of it – a portion), toast (= a meal)
X a toast (= wishing someone health with a glass in their hands). For this reason, articles cannot
be underestimated.
Needing to use the indefinite article, people have to know how a noun is pronounced (a book [b],
an elephant [e], an hour [a]). “An” stands there where a word begins with a vowel which must be
pronounced, not just written.
21
4 Determiners
The word class “determiners” is a specific word class in English morphology. “This term may be
used for the function of words and (sometimes) phrases which, in general, determine what kind
of reference a noun phrase has: for example, whether it is definite (like “the”) or indefinite (like
“a/an”), partitive (like “some”) or universal (like “all”)” (Quirk et al., 1995, p. 64). Determiners
consist of articles (both indefinite and definite), possessive pronouns (e. g. our), demonstrative
pronouns (e. g. these), and quantifiers. These are words which express an amount/a quantity of
something, for example “all”, “both”, “some”, which are positive quantifiers. The others like
“none”, “no one” or “neither” are examples of negative quantifiers.
4.1 Articles
There are the three types of article in English. The indefinite article (She wants to have a huge
house.), the definite article (There goes the train.), and zero article (Water is a liquid.). As there
are no articles in front of Czech nouns, this grammatical area is something learners often fight
with for a long time. In particular, with the use of the indefinite article, because its using is
conditioned by the countability of nouns. In the corpus, there were three cases (from three
different essays) in which the article “a” was used with uncountable nouns, one of which was
“weather”. On the other hand, in more cases learners omitted the indefinite article in front of
countable nouns with a general meaning. There were ten such cases (from five essays), some
examples of which are: “situation”, “slave” or “farm”. In one essay, the article “a” got to the
prepositional phrase “in town”. As for the definite article, the biggest problem in the corpus was
that this article was overused. There were fourteen cases (coming from eight essays) in which the
article “the” was used, although learners had been writing about various things in general. For
example: *“While congratulating on somebody’s birthday, most of the Czech people begin to
sing: Happy birthday …” No Czech people were mentioned in the previous text, though. The
author meant it generally. In two essays, the article was used with proper nouns, namely
22
“Czechoslovakia” and “Czech TV” (Česká televize), and in one case the article was put into the
phrase “in connection with”.
4.2 Pronouns
A problem may arise when one tries to modify a noun by means of demonstrative, possessive
and negative pronouns at the same time. “His friends” (jeho přátelé), “these friends” (tito
přátelé), “no friends” (žádní přátelé), but only “these friends of his” (ti jeho přátelé) or “no
friends of his” (žádní z jeho kamarádů). As a rule, these pronouns cannot stand next to each
other. It is Czech that allows constructions like these. The same principle is valid when a noun is
modified by means of articles and these pronouns at the same time. For example: “It is not the
luggage of ours!” To není to naše zavazadlo! That learners modify nouns in the Czech way can
be proved by the corpus. *“… rainbow which begins over the our forest …” (… duha, která
začíná nad tím naším lesem …) The whole construction “the forest of ours” would be correct, but
only “our forest” would be enough.
4.3 Quantifiers
Learners sometimes confuse “all” (a determiner) with “whole” (an adjective). Turton (1995, p.
50) states “all” is not normally used with a singular countable noun, and gives this example:
*“All the letter was about her holiday in Italy.” This mistake was proved in the corpus. A
student wrote: *“I have a very nice view of all the village.” Mám velmi pěkný výhled na celou
vesnici. The reason for this mistake may be that “all” gives learners the impression that it has a
neutral/wide usage. The difference is the same as in Czech. E. g.: All (the) villages (všechny
vesnice) X a whole village (celá vesnice).
Another problem is connected with the quantifiers “many – few – a few” and “much – little – a
little”. The countability of nouns plays a very important role here. The first group is used with
countable nouns, and the second group with uncountable ones. What is a bit tricky is the
comparative form of “little”, which is “less”. A number of learners make a mistake as in Czech
23
“méně” is used for whatever follows it (méně lidí/vody). In standard English, “less” should be
used only before uncountable nous. The Cambridge Dictionary (2008, p. 821) warns learners not
to use it like this (e. g. *less buses), even if some native speakers themselves do. “There are
fewer buses after 8 o’clock in the evening.” (The Cambridge Dictionary, ibid)
4.4 Other determiners
According to Poslušná (2009, p. 38) another mistake from the group of determiners is connected
with the use of “so” and “such”. The reason for this is that there is the only adverb “tak” in
Czech, but these two ones in English. This sort of mistake was also found in the corpus.
*“British popular music and culture have so great impact on other nationalities …” Britská
populární hudba a kultura mají tak obrovský dopad na ostatní národnosti … Poslušná (ibid)
explains there has to be “such” when a noun is in a sentence. The impact is so great … X It has
such a great impact on …
24
5 Pronouns (Zájmena)
Pronouns are words whose function is to replace nouns or to refer to them. Therefore, they are
named so. Pro-nouns loosely translated as “instead of nouns”. (The Czech term “zájmena” was
created similarly; from the words “za” + “jména”.)
5.1 Personal pronouns (Osobní zájmena)
English personal pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, we and they. These are personal pronouns in
the subjective case. Each of them has its own objective case. They are: me, you, him, her, it, us
and them. For example: It’s me! To jsem já. The system of Czech personal pronouns is a little
richer, because the second person singular and plural are strictly distinguished. They are: já, ty,
on/ona/ono, my, vy, oni/ony/ona. The third person plural has the three forms, which are used
according to gender and grammatical animateness.
One English pronoun is special in terms of spelling. Pupils should be told the pronoun “I” is
always written like this, even if it stands in the middle of a sentence. That this pronoun is
sometimes written with a small letter like the Czech “já” is proved by the corpus. There were
three such cases in one essay. For example: *“Often i can see aeroplanes ...”
Another problem connected to the pronouns may be the sequence of elements when the subject
of a sentence consists of the pronoun “I” plus someone else. The Cambridge Dictionary (2008, p.
885) writes the form “me” is possible in the subject position, but it is informal. For example:
Jane and me went to the cinema yesterday (informal). (Jana a já jsme šli včera do kina.) X Jane
and I went to the cinema yesterday (neutral). In both of the examples, the pronouns “I” or “me”
stand at the second place. According to Fitikides (2000, p. 81), the change of their position is not
allowed, because in English the speaker is supposed to mention the others first, and then
himself/herself. The position of the Czech pronoun “já” is free. (Já a Jana jsme šli včera do
kina.)
25
5.2 Possessive pronouns (Přivlastňovací zájmena)
The system of English possessive pronouns is richer than the system of Czech ones this time.
There exist the two types: dependent possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, its, our and their),
and independent possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours and theirs). The difference
is in their position. The dependent ones go immediately before nouns or adjectives (e. g. my
house, my castle), whereas the independent ones often stand alone somewhere else in a sentence.
If a learner forgets about these two types of possessive pronouns, they will surely use the
dependent ones. Czech morphology does not know such a difference in a position of the
possessive pronouns. For example: Whose car is this? (Čí je to auto?) – It’s mine. / It’s my car.
(To je moje (auto).)
Czech has got one specific possessive pronoun, which neither English nor German, for example,
have. Czech learners look up “svůj” in dictionaries in vain. The Czech pronoun “svůj” is used
when any person is a subject and some possessions of theirs or parts of their body are mentioned
in the same sentence. For example: Nevěřím svým očím! English simply uses a possessive
pronoun according to the person in the subject. For example: I can’t believe my eyes!
As for the use of the possessive pronouns, there is a great difference between English and Czech.
English uses the possessive pronouns especially with parts of a body, which Czech does not.
Consequently, learners sometimes omit them. For example: I’ve broken my arm. (Zlomil jsem si
ruku. / Mám zlomenou ruku.) However, when Czech learners use English possessive pronouns,
they have to be careful about the meaning. The phrase “my friend” is grammatically correct, but
it means “the only one I have”. If there are more than one friend, it is better to say “one of my
friends / a friend of mine”.
26
5.3 Reflexive pronouns (Zvratná zájmena)
English reflexive pronouns are: myself, yourself (one person), himself, herself, itself, ourselves,
yourselves (more people) and themselves. In Czech, the reflexive pronouns “sebe, sobě” are
used. These examples show the use of them both in English and in Czech. She does not think of
her (of her friend, for example). (Nemyslí na ni.) X She does not think of herself (of her own
personality). (Nemyslí na sebe.) In both of the languages, a reflexive pronoun is used whenever a
subject and an object are related to the same person in a sentence. For example: You could hurt
yourself! (Mohl ses zranit!) The way the reflexivity is expressed in the two languages sometimes
differs, however. “I’d like to wash before dinner.” (The Cambridge Dictionary, 2008, p. 1636)
(Chtěla bych se umýt před večeří.) This example shows the fact that some English verbs, such as
“to wash”, “to dress” or “to hide”, express reflexivity themselves. To be able to express
reflexivity, Czech verbs are accompanied by the reflexive pronouns “se, si” (e. g. “umýt se”,
“obléct se”, “schovat se”).
The wrong use of English reflexive pronouns can change the meaning. For example: She killed
her (another person). (Zabila ji.) X She killed herself (it was a suicide). (Zabila se (sama sebe).)
X She got killed (e. g. in a car accident). (Zabila se (při autonehodě).) English clearly
distinguishes the various situations, but the Czech sentence: “Zabila se.” without any
circumstances is ambiguous.
5.4 Reciprocal pronouns (Vzájemnostní zájmena)
“Each other” and “one another” are English reciprocal pronouns. There are not any reciprocal
pronouns in Czech morphology, which makes use of the reflexive pronouns “se, si”. For
example: They kissed. / They kissed each other. (Políbili se.)
Traditionally, “each other” refers to two, and “one another” to more than just two. Nonetheless,
Quirk et al. (1995, p. 364) are convinced there is no difference in the use of them. They think so
27
because native speakers do not use “each other” just for two in everyday life. However, “one
another” is recommended for a more general situation.
English strictly distinguishes reflexivity and reciprocity, which Czech does not. For example:
They like themselves. (It means the people may be a little bit selfish or they are satisfied with
themselves.) X They like each other. (In this case, a boy likes a girl, and the girl likes the boy, for
example.) Such a difference is not visible in Czech, where the sentence: “Mají se rádi.” is
ambiguous.
5.5 Demonstrative pronouns (Ukazovací zájmena)
There are numerous differences between English and Czech demonstrative pronouns. The
English demonstrative pronouns are simply divided into these two groups: according to the
number (this + that – singular; these + those – plural), and according to the distance (this + these
– here; that + those – there). The Czech demonstrative pronouns are: ten, tento, ta, tato, to, toto,
ti, tito, ty, tyto, ta, tato, and so on. They change their forms according to the type of gender, the
number and the case.
5.6 Interrogative pronouns (Tázací zájmena)
These are expressions so-called “wh-questions” start with. English interrogative pronouns are:
who, what, which and whose. Czech interrogative pronouns are: kdo, co, který, jaký, čí. There is
one extra pronoun (“jaký”) in Czech.
The way they are used in the languages is very similar. “Who” (“kdo”) asks after a person only.
E. g.: Who sent it? (Kdo to poslal?) “What” (“co”) tries to find an answer to a question on a
thing or an activity. E. g.: What are you doing here? (Co tady děláš?) “Which” (“který”) can be
used both with animate and inanimate nouns. E. g.: Which man did you see? (Kterého muže jste
viděla?) Which shop did he burgle? (Do kterého obchodu se vloupal?) “What” (“jaký”) is used
in questions on an attribute. E. g.: What is the weather like? (Jaké je počasí?) “Whose” is used in
questions on possession. E. g.: Whose bag is this? (Čí taška je tato?)
28
There is an important difference between the English interrogative pronouns “what” and
“which”. Provided that a choice of things is almost unlimited (a question is general), “what” is
used. E. g.: What’s your favourite colour? (Jaká je vaše oblíbená barva?) Once a choice is
limited, “which” is used. E. g.: “Which car is yours? The Ford or the Volvo?” (Řešetka, 1998, p.
618) (Které auto je tvoje? Ten Ford, nebo to Volvo?)
Although the use of the interrogative pronouns is similar in both of the languages, there is one
construction which differs in them. It is “which of” (kdo z). E. g.: Which of you broke the
window? (Kdo z vás / Který z vás rozbil to okno?)
5.7 Relative pronouns (Vztažná zájmena)
They are pronouns subordinate/dependent clauses start with. The range of English relative
pronouns is limited to “who”, “which” and “that”. As for the use of them, “who” can be used
only with human beings. “Which”, on the contrary, is used with inanimate nouns as well as with
animals. “That” is neutral, and so is “whose”. E. g.: people who/that X cities which/that.
The range of Czech relative pronouns is a little wider. They are: “kdo”, “co”, “který” (+ its
synonym “jenž”), “jaký”, “čí”.
Some learners sometimes interchange “who” with “which”. The reason is probably the fact that
the Czech relative pronouns “který” and “jaký” are used both with animate and inanimate nouns.
Another reason for this is the fact that when Czech learners write a text in English, and they need
the relative pronoun “který”, they usually recall “which”, which they know as an interrogative
pronoun too.
As for indefinite pronouns, like everything, something, anything and nothing, their relative
pronoun cannot be “which”. E. g.: Choose anything (that) you like. (Vyber si cokoliv, co se ti
líbí.) As for indefinite pronouns, like everyone, someone and anyone, they can be followed by
“who”. E. g.: Everyone who fears the future. (Každý, kdo se bojí budoucnosti.)
29
A mistake from this area is that some learners consider “what” to be a relative pronoun in
English, because it is so in Czech. Such a mistake was found in the corpus. *“... something
mythic and prohibited what must be tried.” (“... něco bájného a zakázaného, co musí být
vyzkoušeno.”)
30
6 Prepositions (Předložky)
Generally speaking, prepositions are words which have their own meaning, but the meaning is
expressed only when they stand together with other words, often with nouns.
Both in English and in Czech morphology, there are primary prepositions and secondary
prepositions. The difference between them is that primary prepositions are those which function
as prepositions only (e. g. at a hotel – v hotelu). Secondary prepositions can function both as
prepositions and as another part of speech. For example: I stood near enough to hear their
dialogue. (Stál jsem dost blízko na to, abych slyšel jejich rozhovor.) X I stood near the window.
(Stál jsem blízko okna.) In the first example, “near” (blízko) functions as an adverb (to stand
where?), whereas in the second example, as a preposition (near what?) in both languages.
Selecting the right preposition is not too easy. Each of the languages uses different prepositions
to express the same fact/reality.
6.1 Place (Místo)
What English and Czech have in common is some prepositions related to a place. On a table =
na stole, on the floor = na podlaze. The preposition “on” (na) is connected with the surface.
When the inside of something is being talked about, the prepositions “in/at” (v, ve) are often
used, for example: in a cave = v jeskyni, in the building = v té budově. These prepositions may
be a little problematic. Here are some examples. They live on the third floor. (Bydlí ve třetím
patře.) The reason why “on” is used in the sentence is the fact that the floor is considered to be a
surface in English. Another typically different use of prepositions can be seen when nouns like
“a picture” and “the sky” are concerned. Strnadová (In Dušková, 2006, p. 277) explains these
nouns are connected to the conception of space in English, but a surface in Czech. For this
31
reason, there are these prepositional phrases “in a/the picture” (na obrázku) and “in the sky” (na
obloze).
However, prepositions are a matter of collocations. For example, “a desert” is a surface/an area
covered with sand, but it is used with the preposition “in” (lost in the desert = ztracen na
poušti/v poušti). Sometimes, there are more possible options in either of the languages. We have
lived in/on a housing estate since 1990. (Bydlíme na sídlišti od roku 1990.)
This kind of mistake was found in the corpus. *“This honourable woman keeps the household,
works on the field and ...” It is obvious that the author was influenced by the Czech prepositional
phrase “na poli”. “Pole” (a field) is an area, that’s why the preposition “na” is used in Czech.
Another example is “in a square” (na náměstí).
What some learners, among whom I belonged, fight with is the difference between “in” and “at”.
They are very close to each other, but there is a slight difference between them. Quirk et al.
(1995, p. 676) state “at” refers to a building in its functions, whereas “in” refers to it as a
structure. It is visible well in these examples: at school = in the lessons X in the school = in the
building (“ve škole” in both the cases in Czech). Nevertheless, they are sometimes
interchangeable. “We stayed in/at a hotel on the seafront.” (The Cambridge Dictionary, 2008, p.
699). (Bydleli jsme v hotelu na nábřeží.) Both “at” and “in” can be connected to noun “the end”
(at the end X in the end). According to Poslušná (2009, p. 25), this is something Czech students
often confuse. The phrases seem to be the same, but the difference is great. “At the end” means
“na konci” (a place), whereas “in the end” means “nakonec” (time). In the end, they agreed.
(Nakonec souhlasili.)
The next problem is related to the prepositions “under” and “below”, because there is the only
preposition “pod” in Czech. For example: “a cat under a chair” (kočka pod židlí) – it means the
cat lies on the floor on which the chair stands, but “a few houses below a castle” (pár domů pod
hradem) – which means the castle stands on the top of a hill. A similar problem may be with the
prepositions “in front of” and “opposite”, because Czech uses the preposition “před”. For
32
example: “in front of the station” X “opposite the station” (před nádražím). In the first case, it
means there is something close to the front part of the station (e. g. a parking lot), whereas in the
second case, it means there is something on the other side (e. g. a health centre). This difference
can be distinguished by means of the preposition “naproti” in Czech (poliklinika naproti
nádraží).
Another preposition of place is “beside”, which is a synonym for “next to”. There may be a
problem for learners, because there is another preposition very similar in terms of spelling –
“besides”. Although they may seem the same, there is a great difference between them. The
preposition “besides” is a synonym for “in addition to”. The fact that it confuses students can be
proved by the corpus. *“Beside the foregoing there are plenty more reasons for trying those
networks ...” (Vedle/Kromě zmíněného existují i další důvody ... )
In conclusion, some cases are relatively easy to explain and to understand. However, English is
full of fixed phrases, which all learners learn step by step. It is nearly pointless to try to find an
answer to the question why. In the corpus, a mistake concerning fixed prepositions was found.
*“... the music I will hear in the radio.” English uses “on” with the nouns “the radio” and “TV”
(“v rádiu, v televizi” in Czech).
6.2 Time (Čas)
For expressing time, prepositions, such as in, at, on, etc., are used. “At”, in connection with time,
is used to answer the question: When? At 3 p. m. = v 15 hodin. “In” has a relatively wide range
of its use: from centuries to weeks, e. g. in the 21st century, in 1989, in spring, in December, in
six weeks = ve 21. století, v roce 1989, na jaře, v prosinci, za šest týdnů. Learners should bear in
mind that days attract the preposition “on”, even if it is not always expressed in Czech. He died
on 2nd January. (Zemřel druhého ledna.)
According to Poslušná (2009, p. 25), one of frequent mistakes is using “before” instead of “ago”.
“I lived there before two years.” (Poslušná, ibid) It is caused again by the fact that there is only
one preposition (“před”) in Czech. (Bydlel jsem tam před dvěma roky.) The English preposition
33
“before” can be used, for instance, like this: “before a lesson”, which means “during a break”
(před vyučovací hodinou). Řešetka (1998, p. 27) explains “ago” means “před” in relation to this
day. Therefore, one has to say: “I lived there two years ago.”
Prepositions of time may give the impression that their use is more logical and understandable
than those of place. Unfortunately, any set combinations of words cannot be avoided. For
example, English uses “on a course” (v kurzu). “On this course you will learn how to manage
your time.” (The Cambridge Dictionary, 2008, p. 322)
There are two prepositional phrases the uses of which students sometimes interchange. They are:
“in a moment” and “at the moment”. Such a mistake was found in the corpus. *“In this moment
Huck realizes that he needs Jim.” (V té chvíli si Huck uvědomí, že Jima potřebuje.) The author
made the mistake, because s/he translated the Czech adverb (“v té chvíli”) without realising there
were two possible prepositions with “moment” in English. Moreover, the two prepositions
change the meaning of “moment”. “In a moment” means “in a while”, whereas “at the moment”
means “now”. Furthermore, the articles play a very important role too.
6.3 Other prepositions
Firstly, prepositions of cause. Some people confuse “because of/owing to” (kvůli) with “thanks
to” (díky čemu) as if synonyms, but their use is really different (even in Czech). The second
preposition is used when the result is positive. “Thanks to your help we were successful.”
(Dušková, 2006, p. 294) (Díky tvé pomoci jsme byli úspěšní.)
Another problem, which was found in the corpus of students’ essays, is that learners confuse a
preposition and a conjunction. *“Due to he cannot be loved he has to be evil ...” (Kvůli tomu, že
nemůže být nikým milován, musí být zlý ...) However, “due to” cannot be used on its own,
because it is not a conjunction. There has to be “due to/because of the fact that ...”
A large number of prepositions are fixed to certain words. A typical example is “die of/from”.
“Both his parents died of cancer. X He died from injuries received in the accident.” (Sparling,
34
1989, p. 189) “To die of” is used when the cause of death is a disease, while “to die from” plus
another cause (e. g. starvation or an injury).
Secondly, prepositions of concession. There are these two common ones: “in spite of sth” and
“despite sth” (i přes co). The first problem, according to Turton (1995, p. 614), is that learners
take “in spite of” and write a sentence. *“In spite of the driver didn’t stop ...” (Turton, ibid)
(Přestože řidič nezastavil ...) In sentences like this, “although” is needed, because this is a
conjunction. And the second problem is that once upon a time people add “of” to “despite”
(“despite of” sth), which does not exist.
Thirdly, prepositions of manner. One of tricky prepositions is “according to” (podle). Sparling
(1989, p. 1) writes this is one of the commonest cases when Czech people, being influenced by
their mother tongue, use this preposition wrongly. He further explains “according to” is used for
a source of information, which the first person singular or plural is not. Both “according to him”
and “in his opinion” (podle něho); but only “in my opinion” (podle mě). The Czech preposition
“podle” has a wider use (e. g. podle mě/tebe/nás/nich).
An origin is connected to the manner. The easily confused verbs with fixed prepositions are
“made of/from”. The easiest way to explain it is by means of these examples. This table is made
of wood. (The wood is still wood, only its shape changed.) X The biscuits are made from milk,
butter, nuts, cocoa, and so forth. (All of the ingredients changed during cooking.) From time to
time, this is unclear to learners, because the difference is not distinguished in Czech (Stůl
vyrobený ze dřeva. X Sušenky z másla, ...)
The prepositions which are sometimes problematic are about expressing an author. Poslušná
(2009, p. 28) gives this example: *“I’m reading a great book from Kazuo Ishiguro.” (Čtu
skvělou knížku od Kazua Ishigura.) Provided that Ishiguro is the author, “by” is supposed to
follow the book. Students are told authorship is expressed by the preposition “by”. It might be,
however, believed that the example sentence is correct. The sentence is lifted out of context. If
Kazuo were alive, and he gave me a book (a book by any author) as a present, then I would have
35
got a book from Ishiguro. Situations like this are less probable, but not improbable. Some
specific context would be needed.
A mistake concerning authorship appeared in one of the essays. *“In my essay I targeted on the
ingenious piece of S. L. Clemens ...” This is a perfect example of the wrong preposition. The
reason why Czech learners use “from/of” instead of “by” may be that they can hear the second
case in a Czech sentence (umělecké dílo (od) koho).
According to Poslušná (2009, p. 70), an very easily confused pair of prepositions is “as” and
“like” (jako). “To work as” (pracovat jako) is fixed. It is used when people speak about an
occupation. For example: I wish I worked as a secretary. Poslušná (ibid) gives this sentence as
an example of a wrong use: *“I work like a lawyer.” The question is whether this sentence could
be considered correct in some specific context. Being a lawyer, a person says, “I work as a
lawyer.” What if a person was making a comparison. For example: “You work like a guide.”
(You are not a guide by profession, but what you are doing now reminds me of a guide.)
36
Bibliography
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Cambridge University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0521-67468-3.
CRYSTAL, D. Linguistics. Penguin Books, 1990. ISBN 0-14-013531-6.
ČERNÝ, J. Úvod do studia jazyka. Olomouc: Rubico, 2008. ISBN 978-80-7346-093-8.
DUŠKOVÁ, L. a kol. Mluvnice současné angličtiny na pozadí češtiny. Praha: Academia, 2006.
ISBN 80-200-1413-6.
DUŠKOVÁ, L. a kol. Morfologie současné angličtiny. Praha: Karolinum, 2007. ISBN 978-80246-0176-2.
FITIKIDES, T. J. Common Mistakes in English. Longman, 2000. ISBN 0-582-34458-1.
GREPL, M. A KARLÍK, P. Skladba spisovné češtiny. Praha: SPN, 1986.
HAVRÁNEK, B. A JEDLIČKA, A. Česká mluvnice. Praha: SPN, 1981.
KLIMEŠ, L. Slovník cizích slov. Praha: SPN, a. s., 1998. ISBN 80-7235-023-4.
KRUPA, V. a kol. Jazyky sveta. Bratislava: Obzor, 1983.
POSLUŠNÁ, L. Nejčastější chyby v angličtině a jak se jich zbavit. Brno: Computer Press, 2009.
ISBN 978-80-251-2427-7.
QUIRK, R. et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, 1995. ISBN
0-582-51734-6.
ŘEŠETKA, M. a kol. Anglicko-český, česko-anglický slovník. Olomouc: FIN Publishing, 1998.
ISBN 80-86002-41-1.
SPARLING, D. English or Czenglish? Jak se vyhnout čechismům v angličtině. Praha: SPN,
1989. ISBN 80-04-25969-3.
TURTON, N. D. ABC of Common Grammatical Errors. Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1995. ISBN
0-333-56734-X.
YULE, G. The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-521-31877-7.
37
Résumé
Závěrečná práce je zaměřena na rozdíly mezi anglickou a českou morfologií a na chyby, kterých
se čeští uživatelé angličtiny dopouštějí. Zvolil jsem podstatná jména, determinátory, zájmena a
předložky. Po tom, co byly vystiženy nejvýraznější rozdíly, byla vytipována úskalí související s
těmito odlišnostmi. Přitom jsem spolupracoval s publikacemi o nejčastějších a typických
chybách a angličtině. Ty uvádím pod srovnáním slovních druhů. Následnou jazykovou analýzou
patnácti studentských prací bylo prokázáno, že některých vytipovaných chyb se studenti
dopustili. Pokud se v korpusu vyskytla chyba, je uvedena a označena hvězdičkou. Cílem bylo
zjistit, v čem se chybuje nejvíce. Z jazykového rozboru mého korpusu vyplynulo, že ačkoliv
systém časů v angličtině je mnohem rozsáhlejší a komplikovanější než v češtině, nemají s nimi
čeští studenti na jazykové úrovni B2 problémy. Žádná chyba nebyla nalezena ani v použití či
tvarech přídavných jmen či příslovcí. Naopak to, v čem se chybovalo nejvíce, byly podle mých
předpokladů podstatná jména a s nimi související determinátoři a dále předložky. Důvodem, proč
se chybuje v předložkách, je, že se v jazycích liší představy (např. povrchu a plochy) a dále
proto, že množství podstatných jmen má ustálené předložky. Pokud jde o určenost podstatných
jmen, častou chybou bylo vynechávání neurčitého členu před počitatelnými jmény v obecném
významu a naopak vkládání členu neurčitého před nepočitatelná jména. Nejvyšší počet chyb byl
ale zjištěn v souvislosti s určitými členy. Studenti ve svých esejích nadužívali určité členy.
Fakticky to vypadalo tak, že psali o obecných jevech, v obecném smyslu, a přesto používali člen
„the“, to se týkalo osmi studentů.
Pokud jde o jazykové hledisko z širšího úhlu pohledu, nejen morfologického, pak to, v čem se
často dělaly chyby, byly vazby. Přesněji řečeno, české věty a vazby byly překládány do
angličtiny. Třikrát se vyskytlo na příklad spojení „the way how“ podle českého „způsob, jak“,
nebo například pětkrát vazba „play on“ s hudebním nástrojem.
38
ANOTACE
Jméno a příjmení:
Martin Marek
Katedra:
Katedra anglického jazyka PdF UP Olomouc
Vedoucí práce:
Mgr. Jana Kořínková, Ph. D.
Rok obhajoby:
2011
Název práce:
Rozdíly mezi anglickou a českou morfologií
Název v angličtině:
Differences between English and Czech Morphology
Anotace práce:
Práce se zaměřuje na výrazné rozdíly mezi vybranými
slovními druhy v angličtině a v češtině, na to, co tyto rozdíly
přinášejí českým uživatelům, a jakých chyb se nejčastěji
dopouštějí.
Klíčová slova:
Morfologie, slovní druh, podstatná jména, člen, zájmena,
předložky, spojky.
Anotace v angličtině:
The final project focuses on significant differences between
selected parts of speech in English and in Czech, on how these
differences influence Czech learners, and what kinds of
mistakes they make in English.
Klíčová slova v angličtině:
Morphology, parts of speech, word classes,
determiners, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions.
Přílohy vázané v práci:
0
Rozsah práce:
38
Jazyk práce:
anglicky
nouns,