THE VERB AND ITS CATEGORIES What are verbs?

THE VERB AND ITS CATEGORIES

What are verbs? Verbs are defined partly by position/function and partly by inflection. To oversimplify greatly, we can say that any word that fulfils the following two conditions is a verb: Any single word that can fit into one or more of the following patterns and make a complete sentence (with no further words): The boy ……………(a)clever. [adj] (b) carefully. [adv] (c) the dog. [noun phrase] eg (a) is, seems looks; (b) works, wrote, spoke; (c) has loved, hits, fed.

SEMANTIC FEATURES Distinguish the type of process: Mary is writing a letter. The old man is dying; She told me the truth; The student did not know the answer; The woman did not see the lorry driving at full speed; She did not feel the pain; John is clever; Mary is at home; John has a new car; There is a dog under the table.

Terminative – non-terminative (is based on their aspective meaning) Terminative verbs imply a limit beyond which the action cannot continue they have a final aim in view: e.g. to open, to close, to bring, to recognize, to refuse, to break. Non-terminative verbs do not imply any such limit and the action can go on indefinitely: e.g. to carry, to live, to speak, to know, to sit, to play.

sleep, boil, write The girl slept well. He lived out the remaining years of his life in London. She ate up the cream in silence. John wrote letters yesterday. / John wrote two letters. John has been living in London for ten years. – John has lived in London for ten years. He was shooting arrows.

non-terminative: stative – dynamic terminative : punctual – non-punctual non-punctual :achievement verbs – accomplishment verbs

To stative verbs belong: (static situation) 1) mental verbs (e.g. know, think, i.e. be of an opinion; understand, believe, remember); 2) perceptive verbs (e.g. smell, taste, feel); 3) affective verbs (e.g. like, love, hate); 4) relational verbs (e.g. be, have, lack). Semantically, they generally present the result of a terminative process.

DYNAMIC VERBS Dynamic unbounded verbs express a dynamic situation, i.e. a situation in which the entity is engaged in some activity (activity itself ). run, walk, swim, skate, play, sleep, stand, live, stay, etc. Consider: Peter is running. The girl is walking. The children are swimming in the river.

Semantically, they generally present the result of a terminative process. John has learned the rule. → John knows the rule. Mary has grasped the meaning of the word. → Mary understands the word. The dog has perceived the smell of a cat. → The dog smells a cat.

notional – functional verbs 1) John will read the book. 2) John tried to read the book. 3) John managed to get across the river. 4) John seems to have crossed the river.

TRANSITIVE vs. INTRANSITIVE Some verbs are virtually always transitive (e.g. bury, deny, distract). Others are virtually always intransitive (e.g. arrive, come, digress). But many can be both; e.g. I was cooking (breakfast) He lodged in Cambridge; He lodged a complaint. Even verbs that seem to be strongly transitive (e.g. He made a cake/a mistake/a good job of it) can have intransitive uses (e.g. She made towards the river), and similarly an intransitive verb such as live can be used transitively (e.g. She lived a good life). So for many verbs it is more accurate to talk of transitive and intransitive use.

TRANSITIVE vs. INTRANSITIVE 1) He moved the table. 2) They built a bridge. 3) She gave the cat some milk. 4) John bought her a car. 5) Peter opened the door with a key. 6) Max read the book in the library.

Transitive verbs can be grammatically divided into three main types: monotransitive, i.e. simple transitive verbs, taking one object; e.g. I've bought a new suit. (SVO) ditransitive, with an indirect and a direct object; e.g. I've bought myself a new suit. (SVOO) complex transitive, e.g. with an object plus a predicative( complement) or adverbial; e.g. / found the story unreadable. (SVOC); I put the book down. (SVOA)

A Intransitive Pattern: subject + verb (S + V). Intransitive verbs occur with no obligatory element following the verb: Subject verb More people came.

B Monotransitive Pattern: subject + verb + direct object (S + V + DO). Monotransitive verbs occur with a single direct object: subject verb direct object She carried a long whippy willow twig. C Ditransitive Pattern: subject + verb + indirect object + direct object (S + V + IO +DO) Ditransitive verbs occur with two object phrases—an indirect object and a direct object: subject verb indirect object direct object Fred Unsworth gave her a huge vote of confidence.(NEWS)

D Complex transitive Patterns: subject + verb + direct object + object predicative (S + V + DO+OP) or subject + verb + direct object + obligatory adverbial (S + V + DO+A) Complex transitive verbs occur with a direct object (a noun phrase) which is followed by either (1) an object predicative (a noun phrase or adjective), or (2) an obligatory adverbial: subject verb direct object object predicative People called him Johnny. (news) subject verb direct object obligatory adverbial He put his hand on the child’s shoulder.

E Copular Patterns: subject + verb + subject predicative (S + V + SP) or subject +verb obligatory adverbial (S +V +A). Copular verbs are followed by (1) a subject predicative (a noun, adjective, adverb or prepositional phrase) or (2) by an obligatory adverbial. subject (copular) verb subject predicative Carrie felt a little less bold. (FICT) subject (copular) verb obligatory adverbial I 'll keep in touch with you.

THE SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF THE SENTENCE Participants: Agent, Patient (Affected), Recipient, Effected, Beneficiary, and Instrumental Circumstances. To obligatory participants belong: Agent, Patient, Recipient, Effected. Beneficiary and Instrumental participants are optional. Circumstance salso belong to optional elements in ‘doing’ processes.

1) He moved the table. 2) They built a bridge. 3) She gave the cat some milk. 4) John bought her a car. 5) Peter opened the door with a key. 6) Max read the book in the library. Agents: he, they, she, John, Peter, Max; Patient(affected by the process): a table, milk; Effected(a participant that represents an entity brought into existence): a bridge; Recipient(a participant receiving): the cat; Beneficiary(a participant for whom some service is done): her; Instrument: a key.

a)intransitive – (one –valent verbs) John is walking. b)happening - (one –valent verbs) The King is dying. The old lady collapsed. c) verbal -- (three-valent) She told me the story of her life. He announced to his wife that he was leaving. d) mental ----(two-valent) Mary heard a strange noise in the street. The student did not know the answer to the question. e) relation ---------(two-valent) Mary is beautiful Mary has a daughter. Mary is in the room.

1) глаголы с нулевой валентностью : to drizzle, to rain, snow, freeze; 2) глаголы одновалентные (monovalents) – непереходные: to doze, to travel, bark, blink, cough, faint; 3) глаголы двухвалентные (divalents) – имеющие двух участников.(переходные глаголы): to answer, to attack, to begin, to grow, to keep, to love; 4) глаголы трехвалентные (trivalents). Это такие глаголы, где налицо три участника: to say, to tell, to give, to present.

THE CATEGORY OF TENSE 1) He read yesterday. 2) He was reading yesterday. 3) He will read tomorrow. 4) He will be reading tomorrow. 1) He read. 2) He was reading. 3) He will read. 4) He will be reading.

Does tense always show real time? Consider the present tense: This guy comes up to me and says that he wants to see the boss, so I didn’t think anything of it, and take him back to the office. …………………………………………… A rolling stone gathers no moss. John walks to school every morning. I leave for London tomorrow.

Consider the following examples: I thought you were on the beach. I was wondering whether you needed any help. Did you want to see me now? I wish I weighed less than I do. If he went tomorrow, he could get all his work done. He said he would not marry her.

I leave for London tomorrow. Mary will get married tomorrow. If it rains tomorrow, we will get wet. He will be swimming now.

ASPECT (internal character of the process) John wrote letters yesterday. John wrote two letters yesterday. Durative – non-durative John wrote letters yesterday. John was writing a letter when his wife returned.

REFLEXIVE VERBS are transitive verbs which are followed by reflexive pronouns: e.g. amuse, blame, cut, dry, enjoy, hurt, introduce. I cut myself. We really enjoyed ourselves. These verbs can be followed by ordinary objects: I’ve cut my lip. The most important thing to remember is that verbs of this kind are never followed by object pronouns (me, him, her, etc.) Verbs that are not normally reflexive: get up, sit down, stand up, wake up and combinations with get (get cold/hot/tired, dressed, married) RECIPROCAL VERBS describe actions which involve two or more people doing the same thing to each other. To emphasise that the participants are equally involved in the action ‘each other’ or ‘one another’ can be added after the verb phrase.