Лекции по теоретической грамматике английского языка для студентов

Suppletive Formations 
Besides the synthetical and analytical means of building word forms in 
Modern English, there is yet another way of building them which stands quite 
apart and is found in a very limited number of cases only. By a suppletive 
formation we mean building a form of a word from an altogether different 

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stem. Examples in point are, the verb 
go, 
with its past tense 
went; 
the 
personal pronoun
 I, 
with its objective case form 
me, 
the adjective 
good 
with its 
comparative degree form 
better, 
and a few more. In the morphological system 
of Modern English suppletive formations are a very insignificant element, 
but they concern a few very widely used words among adjectives, 
pronouns, and verbs. 
2. Theory of oppositions. Types of oppositions. Oppositions in morphology 
In discussing grammatical categories, we shall often have to mention 
oppositions, that is, pairs of grammatical forms opposed to each other in some 
way. The 
opposition
may be defined as a generalized correlation of lingual forms 
by means of which a certain function is expressed. The correlated elements 
(members) of the opposition must possess two types of features: common features 
and differential features. Common features serve as the basis of contrast, while 
differential features immediately express the function in question.
The oppositional theory was originally formulated as a phonological theory. 
Three main qualitative types of oppositions were established in phonology: 
privative, gradual, and equipollent. By the number of members contrasted, 
oppositions were divided into binary and more than binary (ternary, quaternary, 
etc.).
The most important type of oppositions is the binary privative opposition; 
the other types of oppositions are reducible to the binary privative opposition.
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