Учебное пособие 1583

indicate the relations of objects to the governing verbs. This is the so-called prepositional government.

I gave it to my friend (to him). I looked at my friend (at him). I waited for my friend (for him). I rely on my friend (on him). Tell me about your friend (about him).

Adjoinment is the adjoining position of two words joined by the common grammatical function and meaning. It is the most common way of connecting words in the English sentence.

Adjoinment is found: 1) between adverbs and verbs; 2) between attributes and head-words; 3) between articles and nouns.

A special kind of syntactical relation exists between subject and predicate; this is so-called predication. Being equal in rank they are connected by agreement.

Traditionally grammar is divided into morphology and syntax.

Morphology includes the parts of speech and their grammatical categories. Its object of study is the ways of changing grammatical forms of words.

Syntax includes the sentence and the parts of the sentence. It studies the structure of a sentence, i.e. ways of connecting words and word-groups in sentences and, also, types of sentences.

Though morphology and syntax have their own objects of study, they are closely connected. For the morphological characteristics of a word are realized through its syntactical relations with other words.

Each language has its own system of form-changing and sentence structure. It is therefore important to inquire into its peculiarities.

It is known, most words in Modern English are not redundant morphologically. Therefore morphological characteristics cannot be taken into account as the main point of classifying words into parts of speech. Quite essential to this classification are syntactical functions of words and types of word-groups they form.

PART I

VERBS

―Words have a temper, some of them, particularly verbs – they are the proudest; you can do anything with adjectives , but not verbs…‖

Lewis Carrol

The verb is a part of speech denoting an action or a process. The verb is the most developed and complex part of speech in

Modern English. Its system includes such widely differing phenomena as finite and non-finite forms of the verb.

When used in the finite form the verb has the function of the predicate of the sentence.

As compared with the other parts of speech, the verb has the largest number of grammatical categories.

The finite verb has the grammatical categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood.

The verb, in its both forms, is associated with an adverb or an adverbial phrase qualifying the action expressed by the verb or indicating various circumstances in which the action occurs. Another characteristic feature of the verb is its association with an object (a noun or its equivalent).

CLASSIFICATION OF VERBS

Verbs may be classified according to:

1.the ways of forming the Past Simple and Participle II;

2.their syntactical function;

3.their association with the subject and the object.

According to the ways of forming the Past Simple and Participle II, verbs are divided into two groups: regular and irregular.

Regular Verbs form the Past Simple and Participle II by adding the suffix –ed to the stem of the verbs and only –d if the stem ends in –e. this suffix can be pronounced differently:

[d] after vowels and voiced consonants, e.g. played, changed; [t] after voiceless consonants, e.g. worked, helped;

[ɪd] after [t] and [d], e.g. wanted, decided.

The forms of the Past Simple and Participle II of the regular verbs are homonymous.

Irregular Verbs. Here belong the following groups of verbs: 1. Verbs with vowel or consonant change (which may be

accompanied by affixation):

3)Mixed verbs (their Past Simple is of the regular type and their Participle II is of the irregular type):

show – showed – shown sow – sowed – sown

4)Suppletive verbs:

be – was, were – been go – went – gone

5) Special irregular verbs:

do – did – done have – had – had

6) Defective verbs:

can – could must ought

may – might will – would shall – should

According to their syntactical function, which is closely connected with their semantic value, all verbs are divided into notional, structural and modal verbs; structural verbs are subdivided into auxiliary verbs and linking verbs.

Notional verbs have a full lexical meaning of their own and can be used in a sentence as a simple predicate. Here belong the majority of English verbs (e.g. read, write, speak, live, give, take, etc.)

In his own small room Martin lived, slept, wrote and kept house.

Auxiliary verbs are those which have no lexical meaning of their own and are used as form-words, thus having only a purely structural function in the sentence. They are used to make up analytical forms and are always accompanied by notional verbs, i.e. these verbs are parts of analytical forms of the verb, or rather, grammatical word-morphemes. Here belong such verbs as be (in Progressive tenses and Passive Voice), do (in negative and interrogative forms of Simple tenses), shall and will (in Future tenses), should and would (in Future in the Past tenses and Subjunctive).

Linking verbs have partly lost their lexical meaning and are used as part of a compound nominal predicate.

The boy was rather clever.

The main lexical meaning of this kind of predicate is expressed by the predicative (a noun, an adjective, a verbal, etc.).

In different contexts the same verb can be used differently (as a notional verb, an auxiliary verb or a linking verb).

No one was there to meet her. (notional verb) She was not very young. (linking verb) She was coming. (auxiliary verb)

Modal verbs make up a special group of verbs: they cannot be used independently unaccompanied by notional verbs, though they have a lexical meaning of their own. The meaning of action or process common to all verbs is very scare in modal verbs and is dominated by the meaning of modality, i.e. of the ability, necessity or determination to perform an action denoted by a notional verb. They are used as part of a compound predicate. Here belong such verbs as can, may, must, need, shall, will, should, ought, dare.

According to their association with the subject and the object of the action all verbs are divided into transitive and intransitive.

Most verbs are associated with two nouns (or nounequivalents) denoting the subject of the action.

In the sentence ―He entered and greeted them‖ the verb greeted is associated with the pronoun he denoting the subject of the action of greeting and with the pronoun them denoting the object of the same action. The verb entered is associated only with the pronoun he denoting the subject of the action.

In the sentence ―She looked at them‖ the verb looked is also associated with the pronoun them denoting the object of the action of looking. But there is some difference between the two verbs in the word-groups greeted them and looked at them. The verb look is associated with the word denoting the object by means of the preposition at.

Verbs that are connected with their object words directly are called transitive verbs: in other words, transitive verbs are those verbs which take a direct object.

Ann has enjoyed the performance.

All other verbs are called intransitive. Such verbs as live, think, sleep, stand, etc. are intransitive.

There are verbs which can be used either with or without a direct object (the so-called transitive-intransitive verbs); here belong such verbs as read, write, see, hear, etc.

There are other verbs whose primary meaning is transitive and whose secondary meaning is intransitive. Here belong such verbs as sell, wear, add, etc.

They sell books. – This book sells well.

There are also verbs whose primary meaning is intransitive and whose secondary meaning is transitive. Here belong such verbs as run, fly, sail, work, walk, etc.

I can‘t run as fast as you. – Who is running the show?

There are verbs which in different contexts can be transitive or intransitive. It is impossible to say which meaning is primary and which is secondary. Such verbs as open, move, turn, change, etc. belong to this category.

She opened the door. – The door opened.

TENSE AND ASPECT

Time is common to all mankind and is independent of language. There are three divisions of time: the past, the present

and the future. The past and the future are limitless, the present being the point of division.

Tense is the linguistic expression of time relations and it varies from language to language.

Compared in different languages, tense forms may indicate whether an action, or state is past, present or future; they may also indicate whether an action, or state is, was, or will be complete, or whether it is, was, or will be in progress over a period of time.

Tense forms in Modern English include both time and aspect distinctions. In other words, the grammatical categories of tense and aspect intermingle in English tense forms.

Tense is a grammatical category of the verb indicating the time of action.

The main divisions of time – present, past and future, are represented in English by Simple, Progressive and Perfect tenses.

The perfect tenses do not merely indicate that the action refers to the present, past or future, but show that the action is related to some other action (or point of time) in the present, past or future.

As already mentioned, tense forms in English serve not only for time relations but also for expressing aspect distinctions.

Aspect is a grammatical category of the verb showing the way in which an action is performed.

All tenses are expressed in two aspect forms: continuous and non-continuous.

Continuous forms show actions in progress, going on continuously during a limited period of time, while non-continuous forms state actions in general, not limited by a lasting duration over a period of time.

I thought about it quite a lot. (non-continuous) I am just thinking about it. (continuous) He said he had thought about it quite a lot. (non-continuous) I‘ve been thinking about it all day. (continuous)

Thus time and aspect indications are intermingled in English tense forms. Each tense form, perfect or non-perfect, can also be regarded as a continuous or a non-continuous one.

This is how tenses are grouped according to their time and aspect distinctions:

PRESENT FORMS

The present simple is used:

a) to express habitual actions. This does not mean that it happens at the moment of speaking.

Post offices sell stamps.

b)in newspaper lines for past events.

Car bomb kills two.

c)to describe actions in a book, play.

In the film the murder hides the body in a cellar.

d)for a planned future action or series of planned future actions.

We fly to Venice and join our ship there.

e)instead of the continuous tense with verbs which cannot be used in the continuous.

I know what he wants.

The present simple is formed:

The affirmative form is the infinitive with -s added in the third person singular.

Negative: do/does not + infinitive Interrogative: do I? Does he? etc. + infinitive

Note the spelling of the third person singular. We add -es instead of -s alone to verbs ending in –ss, -sh,- ch, - x and –o:

I kiss – he kisses.

With the verbs ending in a consonant + y we change the y to i and add es

I carry – he carries.

But verbs ending in a vowel + y follow the usual rule: Obey – obeys.

The present simple is used with the following time expressions: usually, often, always, etc., every day/week/month/year, in the morning/afternoon/evening, at night, at the weekend, on Mondays, etc.

The present continuous is used

a)For an action taking place now, at the moment of speaking; I am sitting

b)For the action happening around now but not necessarily at the moment of speaking;

I’m painting the door.(But I am not painting at the moment.

I’m having a rest.)

c) With such adverbs as always, constantly, continually for a frequently repeated action, usually to express annoyance, irritation or anger;

He is always having exams.(He takes exams very often).

I‘m always losing my keys. (an action which happens regularly and annoys the speaker.)

d) For a definite arrangement in the near future, especially when the time and place have been decided;

They‘re moving into their new house next week. (The time has been decided.)

e) for changing or developing situations.

More and more species are becoming extinct.

The present continuous is used with the following time expressions: now, at the moment, at present, these days, still, nowadays today, tonight, etc.

The following verbs are not normally used in continuous tenses:

like love hate want need prefer know realize suppose mean understand believe remember belong contain consist depend seem