Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка = Theoretical grammar of modern English. Учебно-методическое пособие

ue (semi-notional and functional verbs). The first set is derivationally open, it includes the bulk of the verbal lexicon. The second set is derivationally closed, it includes limited subsets of verbs characterised by individual relational properties.

Semi-notional and functional English verbs serve in a sentence as predication markers, i. e. they indicate the nature of the connection between the nominative content of the sentence and reality. The verbs of this lexical/grammatical subclass are subdivided into auxiliaries, modals, seminotional verbs, and links.

Auxiliaries are the grammatical elements of the category forms of verbs. The list of English auxiliaries includes the following verbs: be, have to, do, shall, will, should, would, may, might.

Modals are the predication markers of the speaker's rational evaluation of the action expressed by the notional verb in the infinitive, such as ability, obligation, permission, advisability, relational probability, etc. English modals are: can/could, may/might, must, ought, shall/should, will/would, need, dare, used (to).

Semi-notional verbs are used with the verbids – mostly with infinitives and gerunds. They are not totally devoid of meaning and thus can be of the following semantics: discriminatory relational (e.g. seem, happen, turn out); subject-action relational (e.g. try, fail, manage); phasal (e.g. begin, continue, stop).

Link-verbs introduce the nominal part of the predicate which can be expressed with a noun, an adjective, a nominal phrase or an adjectival phrase. Their semantics is that of connection. English copulas are subdivided into pure links (to be) and specifying links, which can be perceptual (e.g. seem, appear, look, feel, taste), factual (e.g. become, turn, get, grow, remain, keep).

All notional verbs can be also classified into actional and statal. Actional verbs show the action complied by the subject. These verbs

display the subject as an active doer.

Examples:

do, make, go, read, learn, open, run, jump.

Statal verbs show the state of the subject. Their function is to give some characteristic to the subject or to convey the mode of presence.

Examples:

be, live, worry, suffer, exult, stand, see, know.

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We can also single out the third subclass that neither belongs to actional nor to statal. These verbs show processes.

Examples:

proliferate, deteriorate, consider, neglect, support.

If to speak about some other subclasses we can also distinguish verbal sets of mental processes and sensual processes; the verbs of physical perception and physical perceptional activity. Verbs can also demonstrate the inner character of the process and it refers to aspective verbal semantics. Such verbs embody different processes, such as durative (continual), iterative (repeated), terminate (concluded), interminate (not concluded), instantaneous (momentary), ingressive (starting), supercompleted (developed to the extent of superfluity), undercompleted (not developed to its full extent). The verbs showing the completeness of process or action are called terminative or limitive (come, find, stop, arrive, go away) while the verbs with uncompleted meaning are unlimitive or non-terminative (continue, live, sleep, hope, believe).

Speaking about verbs we should mention such notion as a valency. Valency or complementation is an essential sphere of English description and it’s connected with the lexis and grammar [11].

Syntactically valency is of two types: obligatory and optional. The obligatory valency is a phenomenon that must be necessarily realised for the sake of the grammatical completion of the syntactic construction. The optional valency, in comparison with the obligatory valency, is a phenomenon that is not necessarily realised in grammatically complete. Usually subjects and objects are obligatory whereas adverbial modifiers are optional.

We can single out five main types of valency patterns:

Intransitive. (subject + verb);

Monotransitive (subject + verb + direct object);

Distransitive ( subject + verb +indirect object + direct object);

Complex transitive ( subject + verb + direct object + object predicative / subject + verb + direct object + obligatory adverbial);

Copular ( subject + verb +subject predicative/ subject + verb + obligatory adverbial) [9].

Verbal transitivity is the capacity to have the direct object (joined to the verb "directly", without a preposition). Verbal objectivity is the capacity to

have an object either direct, or oblique (prepositional), or that of addressee. Transitive verbs are contrasted to intransitive verbs; objective verbs are contrasted to non-objective verbs (subjective verbs).

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Uncomplementive verbs can be personal and impersonal verbs. The personal uncomplementive verbs refer to the real subject of the denoted process

Examples:

work, start, hesitate, act, function, laugh, cough, grow.

Impersonal verbs show natural phenomena going on without a reference to a real subject.

Examples:

rain, snow, freeze, drizzle.

Complementive verbs are divided into the predicative, objective and adverbial sets.

Part 2

Non-finite verbs (verbids)

Verbids are the forms of the verb that possess lexico-grammatical features and the non-processual ones. These verbids present processes as specific kinds of substances and properties. They are formed by special morphemic elements which do not show either grammatical time or mood (the most specific finite verb categories). They can be merged with verbs performing non-verbal functions in the sentence and they can be combined with verbs performing verbal functions in the sentence.

The opposition of the finite and non-finite forms of the verb forms a special grammatical category. The differential feature of the opposition is established by the expression of verbal time and mood. The time-mood grammatical signification identifies the finite verb. The verbid has no means of expressing time-mood categorial semantics so it’s a weak member of the opposition. The category expressed by this opposition can be called the category of "finitude" [2].

The infinitive

Infinitive is a non-finite form of the verb which combines the properties of the verb with those of the noun, serving as the verbal name of a process. The English infinitive can be realized in two forms. The first one is distinguished by the pre-positional marker to. It is called the to-infinitive or the

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marked infinitive. The second one does not use the marker. It presents the infinitive in the shape of the pure verb stem as the zero-suffixed form. Itis is called the bare infinitive or the unmarked infinitive. The infinitive is a categorially changeable form. It differentiates the three grammatical categories: the aspective category of development (continuous in opposition), the aspective category of retrospective coordination (perfect in opposition), the category of voice (passive in opposition).

The categorial paradigm of the infinitive of the objective verb concludes eight forms: the indefinite active, the continuous active, the perfect active, the perfect continuous active; the indefinite passive, the continuous passive, the perfect passive, the perfect continuous passive.

The gerund

The gerund is a non-finite form of the verb that combines the properties of the verb with the noun. The gerund serves as the verbal name of a process, but its quality is more strongly pronounced than that of the infinitive. The gerund can be altered by a noun in the possessive case or its pronominal equivalents and it can be used with prepositions.

The gerund is a categorially changeable form. It differentiates the two grammatical categories: the aspective category of retrospective coordination (perfect in opposition), and the category of voice (passive in opposition). The categorial paradigm of the gerund of the objective verb includes four forms: the simple active, the perfect active; the simple passive, the perfect passive.

Examples:

giving – having given – being given – having been given.

The gerund carries out the functions of all the types of notional sen- tence-parts: the subject, the object, the predicative, the attribute, the adverbial modifier.

The present participle

The present participle is a non-finite form of the verb which combines the properties of the verb with those of the adjective and adverb, serving as the qualifying-processual name. The present participle possesses some traits both of adjective and adverb. It performs the functions of predicative, attribute, adverbial modifier of various types.

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The past participle

The past participle is a non-finite form of the verb which combines the properties of the verb with those of the adjective, serving as the qualifyingprocessual name. The past participle is a single form, has no paradigm of its own. It expresses implicitly the categorial meaning of the perfect and the passive. It functions as a predicative or an attribute. The past participle is included in the structural formation of the present participle (perfect, passive). In the attributive use, the past participial meanings of the perfect and the passive are shown in dynamic correlation with the aspective lexicogrammatical character of the verb. The attributive past participle of limitive verbs in a neutral context demonstrates priority, whereas the past participle of unlimitive verbs demonstrates simultaneity.

Part 3

Finite verbs

The finite forms of the verb express the processual relations of substances. The finite verb is directly connected with the structure of the sentence as a whole. The categorial spheres contain the systems of verbal person, number, time, aspect, voice, and mood.

The categories of person and number

The categories of person and number are interconnected with each other. Their close relation is realized by the two factors: first, by their situational semantics, referring the process denoted by the verb to the subject of the situation; second, by their direct and immediate relation to the syntactic unit conveying the subject as the functional part of the sentence.

The category of person is divided into three specific subsystems. The first subsystem involves the modal verbs that have no personal inflexions: can, may, must, shall, will, ought, need, dare. So, in the formal sense, the category of person is wholly neutralized.

The second subsystem is constituted by the unique verbal lexeme be. The expression of person by this lexeme is opposite to its expression by modal verbs. The verb be has three different suppletive personal forms, namely: am for the first person singular, is for the third person singular, and are as a feature marking the finite form negatively.

The third subsystem presents the regular expression of person with the remaining multitude of the English verbs, with each morphemic variety of them. The personal mark is enclosed to the third person singular -(e)s [-z, -s,

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-iz], the other two persons (the first and the second) remaining unmarked, e.g. comes – come, blows – blow, slops – stop, chooses – choose.

The category of tense

It is one of the typical functions of the finite verb. It is typical because the meaning of process embedded in the verbal lexeme. The moment of immediate perception or present moment, which is continually shifting in time, and the linguistic content of which is the moment of speech serves as the demarcation line between the past and the future. All the lexical expressions of time to this moment are divided into present-oriented, or absolutive expressions of time, and non-present-oriented, non-absolutive expressions of time. The grammatical expression of verbal time (tense) is realized in two stages. At the first stage, the process gets an absolutive time feature by means of opposing the past tense to the present tense. The marked member of this opposition is the past form. At the second stage, the process gets a non-absolutive relative time feature by means of opposing the forms of the future tense to the forms of no future marking. According to the oppositional marking of the two temporal categories we ‘ll call the first one the category of primary time, and the second one the category of prospective time. In the category of primary time the formal sign of the is with regular verbs the dental suffix -(e)d [-d, -t, -id], and with irregular verbs phonemic interchanges of more or less individual specifications. The present tense is the unmarked member of the opposition, it indicates the moment of speech chosen for the identification of primary temporality. The analyzed meaning of the present emerges as a result of its immediate contrast with the past form which shows the exclusion of the action from the plane of the present and so the action is perceived only in temporal retrospect.

The future tenses deny the do forms of the indefinite aspect, which are connected with the expression of the present and past verbal times only. This fact interprets as a supplementary field for the identification of the expression of prospect as a separate grammatical category.

In the English future tenses, the modal factor should be also taken into consideration. System of the English future tense that is a specific category which influences only the forms of the first person. The category is composed by the opposition of the forms will + Infinitive and shall + Infinitive expressing, respectively, the voluntary future and the non-voluntary future.

The combination of the predicator be going with the infinitive is another dilemma for grammar. The combination may imply an intention (either the speaker's or some other person's) to perform the action conveyed by the infinitive.

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The category of aspect

Here we should speak about the opposition of continuous and noncon- tinuous aspects. The continuous forms are aspective because they denote the timing of the process. The perfect coordinates two times, putting one of them in retrospect towards the other. The perfect forms of the verb disclose a mixed character, which places them apart both from the relative posterior tense and the aspective development. The true nature of the perfect is temporal aspect reflected in its own opposition, it cannot be reduced to any other opposition of the otherwise recognised verbal categories. The name for this category is retrospective coordination or retrospect.

It should be taken into account that in the verbal system of English two temporal categories and two aspective categories.

The aspective category of development is comprised by the opposition of the continuous forms of the verb to the non-continuous or indefinite forms of the verb. Continuous form is the marked member of the opposition. It is constructed with the help of the auxiliary be plus the present participle of the conjugated verb. The categorial meaning of the continuous is "action in progress"; the indefinite form is the unmarked member of the opposition. It expresses the non-continuous.

The category of retrospective coordination (retrospect) is comprised by the opposition of the perfect forms of the verb to the non-perfect or imperfect forms. The perfect is the marked member of the opposition; it is constructed with the help of the auxiliary have in combination with the past participle of the conjugated verb.

According to the tense realization of the perfect the difference between the perfect and non-perfect forms of the verb is in the idea that the perfect denotes a secondary temporal characteristic of the action.

There is a strict categorial view about the perfect form. According to A. I. Smirnitsky the prefect form is the marking form of a separate verbal category, semantically somewhere between aspective and temporal, but at the same time it’s a self-dependent one in the general categorial system of the English verb. This vision of the perfect gives an explanation to the verbal form of the perfect continuous, demonstrating that each categorial marker (both perfect and continuous) can be separately expressed in the speech entry of the verbal lexeme and it conveys its own part in the integral grammatical meaning of the entry. Therefore, the perfect interprets the action in the light of priority and aspective transmission, while the continuous represents the same action as progressive.

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The category of voice

The voice of the English verb is conveyed by the opposition of the passive form of the verb to the active form of the verb. The sign marking the passive form is the combination of the auxiliary be with the past participle of the conjugated verb. The passive form as the strong member of the opposition expresses reception of the action by the subject of the syntactic construction (i.e. the "passive" subject, denoting the object of the action); the active form as the weak member of the opposition leaves this meaning unspecified, i.e. it expresses "non-passivity".

Medial voices are connected with the functioning of the voice forms neither in the passive nor in the active meanings. All the medial voice uses are within the functional range of the unmarked member of the voice opposition. Verbs in the given sentences are objective, transitive and implied in the form of the active voice. But the real voice meaning is not active, since the actions conveyed are not passed from the subject to any outer object. This kind of verbal meaning of the action performed by the subject upon itself is classed as reflexive. The same meaning can be rendered by combining the verb with the reflexive self-pronoun: I will shave myself, wash myself. Reflexive and reciprocal use of verbs are open to consideration as special grammatical voices that are called reflexive and reciprocal.

Example of the reflexive:

I shave myself. Example of reciprocal: We kissed each other.

The category of mood

The grammatical mood (also mode) is a grammatical (usually morphologically marked) feature of verbs, used for signaling modality. The category of mood shows the character of contact between the process meant by the verb and the actual reality. This connection demonstrates whether the process as a fact really has happened happens or will happen, or it is regarded as an imaginary phenomenon.

The category of mood is one of the controversial scientific items. There are different opinions about the category of mood. In this book we are going to introduce you with the main significant linguists’ visions.

1. Pr. Smirnitsky assumes that there are 6 moods in the English language:

The Indicative Mood (I live in Tula);

The Imperative Mood (Help them);

Subjunctive II (I wish it were spring now);

Subjunctive I (I suggest you help them);

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The Suppositional Mood (I suggest you should help them);

The Conditional Mood (But for him they wouldn’t have finished the work in time).

2. Professors Barhudarov and Shteling in the book “Грамматика английского языка” single out that there are 5 moods of the English verb:

The Indicative Mood;

The Imperative Mood;

Subjunctive II (But for him I wouldn’t have finished it).

Pr. Barhudarov points out that in many books this form of the verb is termed the Conditional Mood.

Subjunctive II. I wish it were summer now.

Conjunctive Hood. I suggest you should do it at once. It is important that you do it.

3. Kobrina N. A. and Korneeva E. A. reveal 3 moods of the English verb:

•The Indicative Mood (I live in Tula);

•The Imperative Mood (Call me immediately);

•The Subjunctive Mood (I wish it were my birthday. I suggest you come in time).

4. Pr. Bloch M. Ya. in the book “A course in theoretical English grammar” (1983) reveals 4 moods of the English verb. The main point is

that he refers to the opposition of the direct mood /the Indicative Mood representing an action as a real fact and oblique moods representing the action denoted by the verb as unreal. The Indicative Mood is the marked member of the opposition and has a definite meaning; it expresses an action as a real fact. The Oblique moods are the unmarked members of the opposition. They don’t characterize the action as a real fact and have a number of meanings:

 The Spective Mood /Subjunctive I.

It expresses an action as desired or hypothetical. The general meaning of desired or hypothetical action involves supposition, suggestion, recommendation, inducement, command, order.

Examples:

Call me immediately. I suggest that you should come at once. It is important that you do it at once. It is important that you should do it at once. Let us do it at once. May it all happen as we wish.

Pr. Bloch single out that the Imperative Mood may be concluded into Subjunctive I because they both convey a command, a suggestion or recommendation. (Do it at once. I insist that you do it at once).

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The combination of verbs should + inf., let + inf, may/might + inf. are involved into this mood because they also convey suggestion.

The oblique Moods:

The Stipulative Mood /Subjunctive II

It denotes an unreal action on which other unreal actions depend on (If he were here he would be glad to see us. If it were spring we wouldn’t be sitting at home).

 The Consective Mood /Subjunctive II conveys an unreal action which depends on another unreal stipulative action (If he were here he would help us).

The category of Mood is so difficult because in this category there is, no strict correlation; between the form and the meaning. In some cases different forma are used to express the same modal meaning – I suggest that you do it. I suggest that you should do it. The forms do and should do express the same modal meaning and are used in the same syntactical constructions.

It is not always easy to draw the line beetween the grammatical and lex- ico-gramnatical expressions of modality, e.g. Sometimes it is difficult to say whether the verb should is a modal verb with the meaning следует or whether it is an auxiliary verb devoid of any meaning and used to form one of the oblique moods.

In general in English there are three moods: Indicative, Imperative and Subjunctive. The Indicative mood denotes factual statements and is used also to ask questions, or express opinions as if they were facts. Any verb tense may be implied in the indicative mood. The imperative mood conveys commands or requests. It indicates that the speaker desires for the action expressed in the sentence to take place. The subjunctive mood is complex. There are two different kinds of subjunctive forms: the old simple subjunctive and newer forms consisting of a modal auxiliary and a dependent infinitive of the verb. The function of the Subjunctive is to express something not as an actual reality but as a desire, wish, volition, plan, conception, thought, sometimes with more or less hope of realization. The present subjunctive is associated with the idea of hopeless, likelihood, while the past subjunctive indicates doubt, unlikelihood (I fear he may arrive too late. I would have bought the car if I had had money).

Questions for reflection

1. Comment on the verb as a notional part of speech denoting process. Its formal and functional properties.

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