Types of Grammatical

Transformations
1. Transpositions.
2. Replacements.
3. Additions.
4. Omissions.
 All the four types of transformations can be
used simultaneously and are accompanied by
lexical transformations as well.

As they leave Washington, the four foreign

ministers will be traveling together by plane.

Всі чотири міністри закордонних справ

полетять з Вашингтона разом.
 Transpositions

 Transposition is a change in the order of

linguistic elements: words, phrases, clauses
and sentences.
 Their order in the TL text may not correspond
to that in the SL text.
 This change of order is necessary to preserve
fully the content of the utterance while
observing the norms of the TL
 Transpositions are made due to:
 differences in the respective place of the two main parts
of the sentence from the point of view of
communication, viz. the known (theme) and new
(rheme) elements in English and in Ukrainian sentences
Strikes broke out in many British industries -
 differences in the arrangement of clauses: within a
complex sentence the arrangement of clauses in
English is often governed by syntactical hierarchy,
whereas in Ukrainian precedence is taken by logical
considerations
He started back and fell against the railings, trembling as
he looked up -
 Replacements
There are two main types of replacements:
 Substitution of parts of speech

an early bedder - людина, яка рано лягає

спати
 Replacements of sentence types
I saw him cross the street and buy a newspaper .
- Я бачив, як він перейшов вулицю і купив
газету.
Substitution of parts of speech
to cutvote somebody
The Times wrote editorially
A professor of Essex University was critical of the Government
social security policy.
The door at the end of the corridor sighed open and sighed shut
again.
He took the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug.
Chilean copper
Chilean atrocities
More letter bombs have been rendered harmless.
His audience last night may also have been less than enthusiastic
about the Prime Minister’s attitude towards Government
spending.
Election year opens on in America which is more divided and bitter
than at any time in recent history.
The White House correspondents have largely been beaten into
submission by the President.
 Replacements of sentence types
The usual types of replacements are:
 the substitution of a simple sentence by a
complex one and vice versa;
 the substitution of the principal clause by a
subordinate one and vice versa;
 the replacement of subordination by
coordination and vice versa;
 the replacement of asyndeton by
polysyndeton and vice versa.
 Replacements of sentence types
 Simple sentences containing infinitive complexes are usually
translated by complex sentences:
Marsel Daussault, the airplane manufacturer who is said to
be the richest man in France had defrauded the government
of $ 300 million in taxes
 A simple sentence with an absolute participle or a nominative
absolute construction is usually rendered by a subordinate or
coordinate complex sentence
With the fog rolling away and the sun shining out of a sky of icy
blue the travellers started on the leg of their climb.
 The type of the subordinate clause may be changed on the
strength of usage
She glanced at Brendon, where he sat on a chair across her
 A complex sentence may by replaced by a simple one
He could not say anything unless he was prompted.
 A complex sentence can also be replaced by
two, or more simple sentences
. It is especially practiced in the translation of the
so-called “leads”. A lead is the first sentence
of news-in-brief which contains the main point
of the information. It usually coincides with
the first paragraph and is usually divided into
two or more sentences in translation, e.g.:
Thousands of Algerians tonight fled from the
“dead city” of Orleanswille after a twelve-
second earthquake had ripped through central
Algeria, killing an estimated 1,100 people.
 Additions
 Additions often accompany transpositions and
replacements. This is particularly true in the
translation of infinitive, participle and
gerundial complexes.
 Additions are frequantly caused by
compressed structures such as the absolute
possessive, attributes formed by juxtaposition
N1 + N2 structures and by attributive groups
 The cases when additions are
necessary
 The model N1 + N2 :
riot police - спеціальні загони поліції для стримування вуличних
заворушень; death vehicle - автомобіль, який вбив перехожого, bare
beaches
- пляжі, де можна купатися без костюмів .
 Sometimes additions are required by pragmatic considerations:
pay claim - вимога підвищити заробітну платню , welfare cuts –
урізування
бюджетних асигнувань на соціальні потреби ; herring ban –
заборона
ловити оселедця у Північному морі.
 Attributive groups:
oil thirsty Europe - Європа, що зазнає нестачу нафти; Jobs-for-
youth Club
- клуб, що має за мету забезпечення молоді роботою.

Three Nicosia Greek language newspapers -

A million pound forged bank draft fraud -
 Causes of additions
 discrepancy in the use of the plural and
singular forms of certain nouns
Delegates from various industries -
 lexical reasons

Mr. Ames complained his way out of bed … and

went to the door
 English word building

We showered and dressed -

He is a chancer -
 Omissions
Some lexical or structural elements of the English
sentence may be regarded as redundant from the
point of view of translation as they are not
consonant with the norms and usage of the
Ukrainian language, e.g.:
For the fishermen of Rebun, the notion that young outsiders
may
choose to adopt their way of life is both fascinating and
perplexing -
Рибалкам острова Ребун здається дивним і непевним, що
приїжджа молодь може віддати перевагу їхньому
способу життя.
 Typical cases of redundancy
 Homogeneous synonymous pairs:
Equality of treatment in trade and commerce –
 Use of weights and measures with emphatic intent:

Every inch of his face expressed amazement –

He extracted every ounce of emotion from Rachmaninov's Third Concerto -
 Subordinate clauses of time and place:

The storm was terrific while it lasted

 Attributive clauses (rarely):

And yet the migrants still pour in from the depressed Northeast of Brazil,
many
of them walking the 1.000 miles or more in search of a better life than the
one
they left