Keyword: «definite-personal sentence»

The article is devoted to the communicative variations of the speech act of promise that are used in B. L. Vasilyev's short novel "Tomorrow was the war" and his novel "Do not shoot at white swans". The mentioned variations depend on the reasons of promise and the purposes that the addresser is trying to achieve. The analysis demonsrates the role of definite-personal sentences and other language means in expressing the speech act of promise.