THE ENGLISH VERB Lecture 6 LECTURE OUTLINE

THE ENGLISH VERB Lecture 6

LECTURE OUTLINE The lexico-grammatical meaning of the verb. The Derivational properties. The morphological Structure of the Verb. The categories of the Verb. Combinability. The Syntactic function.

THE MEANING Complex (several grammatical categories. comparatively rich morphology, historically different form – synthetic and analytic) important (the connection between the situation and reality); the meaning of ‘verbiality’ (the ability to develop in time), the meaning of ‘action, process’, which is dynamic and developing in time.

DERIVATIONAL PROPERTIES Not very numerous; siffixes -en, - fy, -ise (ize); prefixes under-, re-, over-, out-, sub-, mis-, un -; conversion.

FORM-BUILDING PECULIARITIES The means are quite numerous; synthetic and analytical forms; grammatical affixes, vowel interchange, function words.

MORPHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES ü ü ü Simple (walk); sound-replace (food, but feed); stress-replasive (‘import, but im’port); expanded or derived (specify); composite (blackmail); phrasal (give up).

SUBCLASSES OF THE VERB ü ü ü According to the way of forming Past Tense (morphological classification): regular and irregular (historically – weak and strong verbs; irregular verbs use vowel interchange to express Past Tense (wrote – wrote); were inherited from PIE; regular verbs were a Germanic innovation; use the dental suffix (-ed, speech allophones /d/, /t/, /id/).

SUBCLASSES OF THE VERB LEXICO-GRAMMATICAL CLASSIFICATION Implicit grammatical meaning ü Transitive and intransitive (the meaning of transitivity); ü Stative and dynamic (the meaning of stativeness/non-stativeness); + processes ü Terminative and durative (the meaning of terminativeness/non-terminatives). These distinctions are relevant for the expression of other grammatical meanings: E. g. He raised the arm. – The arm was raised. The sun rises in the east. - No Passive Voice

SUBCLASSES OF THE VERB SYNTACTIC CLASSIFICATION According to the nature of predication: Finite and non-finite (verbids): limited vs. unlimited by subject, person, number or tense: Infinitive, Participle II, Gerund. The lexico-grammatical meaning is determined by their dual nature: actions treated as a subject (Skating is hard); a qualifying action (She is a loving mother); etc. Combinability: form connections with adverb, nouns, pronouns. The syntactic function: finite – predicate; nonfinite – other but the predicate; Possess the features of the verb and the nouns.

SUBCLASSES OF THE VERB SYNTACTIC CLASSIFICATION According to the syntagmatic properties (valency): ü of obligatory (directed action) and of optional (non -directed action) valency, V 2 and V 1 respectively: *He saw. vs. They arrived; ü the directed-action verbs (V 2) fall into V 3 – the verbs of objective directionality: He shook his head; ü V 4 – the verbs of adverbial directionality: She behaved well; ü V 5 – the verbs of mixed directionality: He put his hat on the table.

SUBCLASSES OF THE VERB FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION ü ü According to their functional significance: notional (full verbs): walk, write, specify; semi-notional (modal verbs, link-verbs): must, be going to, seem, get; auxiliaries: be, have, do. Other approaches: full, primary auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries.

THE CATEGORIES OF THEVERB Tense: denotes the refection of the objective divisions of time – present, past, future); Mood: expresses supposition, non-fact as opposed to the expression of fact or command); Voice: denoted that the subject of the action is/is not the agent of the action); Aspect (duration): marks the duration of the action as opposed unmarked duration; Phase (temporal relativity): marks the anterisity of simultaneity of the action; Person-number (a joint category).

PERSON-NUMBER Almost not expressed (-s opposed to its absence); Related to the person and number of the subject; Fragmentary, deficient.

THE CATEGORY OFTENSE Reflects the objective category of time and the conceptual category of temporality; Is realized though a number of oppositions: Present : : Past Present : : Future Simple : : Future in the Past; o the basic opposition is of Present : : Past or Past : : Non-Past; o doubts about the Future (historical reasons; the difference in the means of expression); shall and will – modal meaning.

THE CATEGORY OFVOICE Reflects the objective relations between the action and the subject or object of the action and the conceptual category of semantic voices: The book was read by me. Vs. I read the book; Is realized through the opposition Active : : Passive; Restricted by transitivity.

TRANSITIVITY AND THEVOICE Only transitively (to mark); The main transitive meaning: He built the house in 1823 vs. The nation should build on the talents of the workforce. The main intransitive meaning: They laughed at me. Vs. They laughed me into agreement. Both ways: He drove home yesterday vs. He drove a car. Never Passive: He seemed to be quite relaxed. Passive in special contexts: I didn’t sleep well vs. Studios sleeping two people cost £ 70 a night.

MIDDLE REFLEXIVE ANDRECIPROCAL VOICES Middle Voice: The car sells easily (mainly transitive – intransitive); Reflexive Voice: He dressed (the subject is the agent and the recipient at the same time); Reciprocal Voice: They met (each other). No morphological markers – no ne members!

THE CATEGORY OF ASPECT Represents the objective category of the manner of action and the conceptual category of aspectuality; marks the duration of the action; The opposition of Continuous : : Non-Continuous or Progressive : : Non-Progressive; Limited by stativeness /non-stativeness in the meaning of the verb (denote the state of affairs rather than the action): know, understand, like, etc. ; Under the circumstance: Mc. Donalds: I’m loving it!; treated differently: a semantic category, part of tense category, no aspect in Modern Enlgish

THE CATEGORY OFPHASE (ORDER, TIME CORRELATION) Is a significational category (no objective category, the conceptual category of the character of action duration); Opposition of Perfect Phase vs. Non-Perfect Phase; the degree of completeness/incompleteness of the action; connected to the category of tense and aspect (sometimes is not seen as a separate category, but as part of above mentioned).

THE CATEGORY OFMOOD TRADITIONAL APPROACH A significational category (no objective referent, the conceptual category of modality); the speakers attitude to what he is saying; Oppositions of Indicative : : Subjunctive : : Imperative Moods; Grammatical means of expression: I write every day vs. I wish we had time to see him. vs. Do it! Lexical and lexico-grammatical means of expression: modal verbs, modal words: He may be a good student. Probably, he’s a good student.

THE CATEGORY OF MOOD OTHER VIEWS Much speculation; Two moods: indicative : : non-indicative, indicative : : Imperative (no subjunctive); Several types inside the subjunctive: 1) Subjunctive 1: I suggest that he go to the doctor. 2) Subjunctive 2: If I were you, I would…, I he had known, he would have … 3) Suppositional: Should you meet him in London… 4) Conditional: What would you say, if…

COMBINABILITY Finite Verbs Nouns: noun +verb and verb + noun: The boy took the gun. Adverbial modification: verb+ adverb: He was writing hurriedly. Non-Finite Verbs Writing a report is difficult: gerund + noun To think for a while is what you need: infinitive + adverb She is an extremely caring mother: adverb+ gerund Something terrifying is going to happen. Pronoun+ Participle I

SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS Predicate: He was having a shower, the phone rang; Non-Finite forms can fulfill other functions as well: Subject: Performing is scary. Attribute: This is a tiring exercise. My forgotten friend… Verb modification: Having decided to come he called us immediately.