10. Verb, the categories of voice and aspect

1. The catof VOICE (vc) expr the relations btw the subj & the obj of the action:

He invited his friends (doer) – He was invited by his friends (object)

2. Opp-n of active (weak) & passive (strong) vc. In coll speech, the role of the p-ve aux-ry may be performed by ‘get/become’. The freq-cy of usg of PVc in Eng is far greater than in Rus (‘cause the number of Vs capable of forming the Pvs is greater).

3. Debated: are there other vcs in Eng? 3 vcs may be suggested:

1)thereflexive (he dressed himself)2)reciprocal (they kissed e.o.) 3)middle(door opened

4.The catof ASPECT shows the manner in which the act-n is either performed or repr-ted

2 const-ts: common (cm; weak) & continuous (ct; strong) aspects.

Ct – an action as a process developing at a certain moment or a limited period of time.

Cm – just names the action.

5. Some linguists: no aspective mng in the cm form, ct – just one of the tense forms.

6. Usually ct not used with Vs denoting abstract rel-ns, sense perception, emotions. But

there’re numerous examples of such usage: the V changes its mng to denote either

an activity (I’m thinking of him) or the temporary char-r of the state (He’s being..)

7. Curme – 4 aspects:

1) durative (action as continuing – He’s eating)

2) point-action (calls attention to 1 point):

a) the ingressive type (begin/start + inf, get,grow,turn,become+pred adj, part-le

N or a prep-l phrase: He often gets sick)

b) the effective type (the final point: The two friends fell out)

3) terminative (action as a whole – He handed me a book. I overlooked a mistake)

4) iterative (indefinitely prolonged succession – He pooh-poohs at everything)

11. VERB, THE CATEGORY OF MOOD + OTHER TYPES OF EXPR MOD-TY

1. Mood (md) shows the degree of reality or possibility of an action. The verbal cat of md

serves to expr the speaker’s attitude towards the factuality of a state-of-affs as real

or hypothetical.

In ModEng this cat is decaying.The forms of the unreal md in many cases repl=modals

2. 2 groups of mds are dist-shed: real/fact mds & the unreal/non-fact/oblique mds.

3. a) The indic – the only real md in Eng; represents an action as a real fact. The forms =

the tense-aspect forms of the V. 2 non-fact mds:

b) The imper – advice, request, recommendation, order and so on. Stelling – the gram

idiom. One form only, without any suffix or ending.

c) The subj – an action as unreal (I wish I had known it).

4. Another app-ch – md: 3 const-ts (ind, subj I, subj II). They form a binary opp-n.mark

5. Prof. Smirnitsky – 6 mds:

1) indic (He came there) 2) imper (Read the letter!)

3) subj I (be/go for all prsns: I suggest that he go there. If it be so)

4) subj II ( were for all prsns, forms PS & PPS: I wish I were.. If I knew/had known)

5) suppositional(anal-l forms should/would + infin: Should u meet.., I sug that he sh

6) conditional(anforms sh/wd+inf in the main clause:what wd u do if y were asked?)

6. Other ways of indicating the reality or possibility of an action:

1. Lexico-syntactic means (comb-n of modal Vs may/might/can/could/sh/wd with the inf

If anything should happen I can take care of myself)

2. Lexical means (mod wds maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably;other wds (Ns, adjs, Vs)

of modal semantics: It’s time we were moving)

3. Syntactic types of sces or subordinate clauses (imper-ve; clauses intr-d by conjs as if/

as though, conditional, etc: Take it easy! She really looks as though she isn’t..

4. Diff com-ns of the above means.

5. Intonation, prosody.