Syntactical transpositions

Syntactic transposition as a grammatical transforming may be characterised as the change of lingual items order: words, syntagmata, parts of the sentence and sentences themselves change their place in the text. It is known that traditional word order in English has the following shape:

subject – predicate – direct object – indirect object – adverbial modifiers.

On the other hand a Ukrainian informative sentence features its organic word order beginning with the adverbial modifier of time, place followed by the objects and the principal parts of the sentence close the saying.

Strikes broke out in many British industries.

У ряді галузей промисловості Великої Британії спалахнули страйки.

A commuter train was derailed near London last night.

Учора ввечері поблизу Лондона зійшов з рейок приміський потяг.

The above samples show that the order of communicative components in Ukrainian sentence is completely reversal to that of the English saying. Here the decisive role plays the fact of opposite location of theme-rhematic communicative components. The English sentence begins with more important information – the block with fuller communicative loading (rheme) to be followed by secondary details (theme), while the Ukrainian phrase shows a gradual growth of communicative loading that culminate at the end.

A boy came into the room.

До кімнати увійшов хлопчик.

A match flared in the darkness.

У темряві спалахнув сірник.

Occasionally a word or a word combination is transposed to the neighbouring sentence within a paragraph.

So as we go forward in the twenty-first century and consider the role of schools in shaping our new community, we might well consider how freedom and responsibility are experienced in schools. Such a community is characterised by articulateness and an expanding dialog…

Таким чином, коли ми на початку ХХІ століття розглядаємо роль освіти у формуванні наших громад, ми також маємо визначитися щодо свободи та відповідальності у контексті шкільного життя. Така нова громада характеризується вмінням добре висловлюватися та вести діалог…

The feasibility of transfering the word new into the adjacent sentence is confirmed here due to repetition of the noun community modified by the adjective new in the adjacent sentence.

Finally, separate independent sentences can also undergo transpositions along the passage of narration.

‘You goin’ to court this morning? – asked Jem. We had strolled over.(H.-Lee).

Ми підійшли до паркана. – Ви підете сьогодні до суду? – спитала Джем.

In the above case the necessity of transposition arises from the presence of the Past Perfect form in the second sentence, which conveys priority of the action expressed by the Past Perfect comparatively to the action mentioned in the first sentence. To avoid confusion in temporal relations the translator transposed the original phrases in the passage since Ukrainian mentality perceives narration better when it is presented in chronological order.