Non-equivalents

Some English grammatical forms and structures have no corresponding counterparts in Russian, others have only partial equivalents. The first group) non-equivalents) includes articles, the gerund and the Past Perfect Tense.

Articles. The categories of definiteness and indefiniteness are universal but the ways and means of expressing these notions vary in different languages.

In English this function is fulfilled by the articles whereas in Russian by word order. Both the definite and indefinite articles in English are meaningful and their meanings and their functions cannot be ignored in translation.

Every utterance falls into two parts – the so-called theme and rheme. The theme indicates the subject of the utterance while the rheme contains the information about the subject. The theme, in other words, represents a known thing, which has probably been mentioned before, whereas the rheme introduces some new information. Thus the theme is the starting point of the utterance and as such it can sometimes introduce a new subject about which the rheme gives some information. In this case the indefinite article is used to indicate indefiniteness. The theme usually occupies the initial position in the sentence. The theme in the English language with its fixed word order usually coincides with the grammatical subject of the sentence. When the theme again occurs in the text it is preceded by the definite article.

A lady entered the compartment. The lady sat down in the corner seat

(P.G.Wodehouse).

The categories of indefiniteness and definiteness are expressed by the indefinite and the definite articles respectively and these categories are rendered by word order in translation.

В купе вошла дама. Дама села в углу у окна.

When the articles are charged with some other meanings apart from the categories of definiteness and indefiniteness lexical means come into play in translation.

If these meanings are not rendered lexically the Russian sentence is semantically incomplete.

The influence and authority of the Secretariat depends to an extent (though not nearly to the extent that is popularly supposed) on the talents of one individual – the Secretary-General. (Peter Lyon, The U.N. in Action).

Влияние и авторитет Секретариата зависит в какой-то степени (хотя и не в такой степени, как обычно считают) от способностей одного человека – Генерального секретаря.

The Gerund. Another non-equivalent form is the gerund. It fulfils various functions in the sentence and can be translated by different means.

“I wonder at Jolion’s allowing this engagement”, he said to Aunt Ann

(J. Galsworthy).

«Я удивляюсь, что Джолион разрешил эту помолвку», – сказал он тетушке Энн.

The gerund modified by a proper noun in the possessive case is translated by a subordinate clause.

The gerund used in the function of a prepositional object is also rendered in translation by a subordinate clause.

The mayor of the island is talking of opening up its lush and virgin interior to beef-and-dairy cattle ranching.

Мэр острова поговаривает о том, чтобы использовать сочные, нетронутые луга его внутренней части для мясомолочного хозяйства.

The so-called half-gerund may also be translated by a subordinate clause.

There was nothing more to say: which didn’t prevent, as the game went on, a good deal more being said. (G.F.Snow).

Говорить больше было не о чем, но это не помешало тому, что в ходе игры было сказано еще очень много.

The Past Perfect Tense. The meaning of the Past Perfect Tense is usually rendered in Russian by some adverbs of time.

The stone heat of the day had gentled down. (I.Shaw).

Жар, который шел днем от раскаленных камней, уже спал.

But in many cases the Past Perfect Tense is translated by the Russian Past Tense without any temporal specification.

The mainspring of his existence was taken away when she died… Ellen was the audience before which the blustering drama of Gerald O’Hara had been played. (M. Mitchell).

Опора его существования исчезла с ее смертью. …Эллин была той публикой, перед которой разыгрывалась бурная драма Джеральда О’Хара.

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