4. Verb

Semantic features of the verb. The verb possesses the grammatical meaning of verbiality - the ability to denote a process developing in time.

Syntactic features. The most universal syntactic feature of verbs is their ability to be modified by adverbs. The second syntactic criterion is the ability of the verb to perform the syntactic function of the predicate. However, this criterion is not absolute as only finite forms can perform this function.

Morphological features of the verb. The verb possesses the following grammatical categories: tense, aspect, voice, mood, person, number, finitude and temporal correlation. The common categories for finite and non-finite forms are voice, aspect, temporal correlation and finitude. The grammatical categories of the English verb find their expression in both synthetical and analytical forms.

The Category of Person is represented in English by the two member opposition: third person singular vs. non-third person singular. The marked member of the opposition is third person; the unmarked member is nonthird person (it includes the remaining forms – first person, second person forms – singular and plural).

The Category of Number shows whether the process is associated with one doer or with more than one doer. The category of number is a two-member opposition: singular and plural. An interesting feature of this category is the fact that it is blended with person: number and person make use of the same morpheme. As person is a feature of the present tense, number is also restricted to the present tense. Some verbs – modals – do not distinguish number at all.

The category of tense Time can be expressed in language in two basic ways: 1) lexically; 2) grammatically. The category of tense finds different interpretations with different scholars. According to one view, there are only two tenses in English: past and present. Most British scholars do not recognize the existence of future. It is considered to be a combination of the modal verb and an infinitive used to refer to future actions. The modal verbs “shall” and “will” preserve their lexical meaning of “wish, volition”.

The category of aspect is a linguistic representation of the objective category of manner of action. It is realized through the opposition Continuous::Non-Continuous. It is easily neutralized, i. e. noncontinuous forms substitute continuous forms when the notion of duration is expressed by other means (eg. lexical).

The category of temporal correlation

The position of the perfect forms in the system of the English verb is a problem which has been treated in many different ways and has raised much controversy. Professor Smirnitsky says the category of perfect is a specific category based on the opposition “perfect vs. non-perfect”.

The category of voice The form of the verb may show whether the agent expressed by the subject is the doer of the action or the recipient of the action (John broke the vase – the vase was broken).The category of voice reflects the objective relations between the action and the subject or object of the action.

The Category of Mood

The category of mood expresses the relation of nominative content of the sentence towards reality. Hence there are two moods – one presenting the action as real and the other presenting the action as unreal. Real actions are expressed by the indicative mood and unreal are expressed by the oblique mood.

I go to university. vs. He suggests I (should) go to university.

As for the imperative mood, traditionally it has been referred to as a separate mood.

8. Синтаксис как раздел грамматики. Основные единицы синтаксического уровня.

1. Словосочетание.

2. Простое предложение. Структурная классификация предложений

3. Семантический аспект предложения. Актуальное членение предложения.

4. Прагматический аспект. Теория речевых актов.

5. Сложное предложение.

1. Syntax treats phrases and sentences. The phrase (or word combination) is any syntactically organized group including either notional words or both notional and functional words connected with any of the existent types of syntactic connection. The difference between the phrase and the sentence is fundamental: the phrase is a nominative unit denoting a complex referent (phenomenon of reality) analyzable into its component elements together with various relations between them; the sentence is a unit of predication which, naming a certain situational event, shows the relation of the denoted event towards reality. The sentence can be defined as an immediate integral unit used in speech communication, built up of words according to a definite syntactic pattern and characterized by predicativity.

Word-combination (phrase) Minimal word-combination is bicomponent, maximal may be theoretically unlimited. There is no mutually accepted definition of this syntactical unit. Traditional point of view in domestic linguistics became interpretation of word-combination as only a subordinative structure. But there still exists a large number of domestic scholars as well as foreign ones who consider word-combination as any syntactically organized group of words no matter what kind of relations it is based on.

Linguists discuss different classifications of phrases, all of them having their own advantages.

1) The traditional classification of phrases is based on the part of speech status of the phrase constituents (noun phrase, verb phrase etc).

2) According to the classification based on the internal structure of phrases, two groups can be singled out: kernel phrases and kernel-free phrases. Kernel phrases are grammatically organized structures in which one element dominates the others.

3) according to the type of syntactical connection between members:

Coordination: coordinate phrases consist of two or more syntactically equivalent units joined in a cluster which functions as a single unit. The member units can be potentially joined together by means of a coordinate conjunction.

Subordination: subordinate phrases are structures in which one of the members is syntactically the leading element of the phrase. This dominating element is called the head-word, or the kernel, and can be expressed by different parts of speech.

L.Elmslev introduced also predicative relations describing the resulting classification in the following way: 1) both elements are independent of each other (coordination); 2) the first element depends on the second, but the second doesn't depend on the first (subordination); 3) the first element depends on the second and the second depends on the first (predicative link).

Accumulation: the accumulative connection is present when no other type of syntactic connection can be identified (sharp green).