5) The verb definition and its grammatical meaning

The verbas a notional part of speech has the categorial meaning of dynamic process, or process developing in time, including not only actions as such (to work, to build), but also states, forms of existence (to be, to become, to lie), various types of attitude, feelings (to love, to appreciate), etc.

The verb as a part of speech is characterized by the following features (as any part of speech): 1) meaning, 2) form. 3) function.

From the lexical point of view (meaning) the verb serves to express actions or states and processes.

As to its form the verb is characterized by the following grammatical categories: the category of person, number, tense, aspect, correlation (relativity), voice and mood. Thus it has the most developed morphological system in modern English grammar.

The verb as a part of speech is characterized by some specific stem-building elements such as the suffixes -ize, -en. -ifi- and some prefixes such as under-, out-, super-, un-.

As to its function the verb may combine with nouns preceding or following it, e.g. birds fly. play chess. The verb may combine with adverbs, e.g. run fast, walk quickly. Sometimes it may be connected with an adjective, for example, in a double predicate - The moon rose red.

In a sentence the verb may be used in the function of a simple verbal predicate or it may be a part of a compound predicate.

The verb is characterized by its connection with an object and with an adverbial modifier.

6)Morphological classification of verbs. ( the basic form-Infinitive, Past Indefinite, ParticipleII) (Weak, strong, mixed, unchangeable, defective, suppletive) ( simple, derived, compound, composite) ( regular, irregular)

Morphologically all the verbs may be divided into several classes according to their forms. The basic forms of the verb in modern English are the Infinitive, the Past Indefinite. Participle II. (speak – spoke – spoken).

According to the way in which the Past Indefinite and Participle II arc formed verbs are divided into several classes:

1. the so-called weak verbs which build their Past Indefinite and Past Participle by means of the dental suffix -ed. These are subdivided into regular weak verbs and irregular weak verbs. The regular weak verbs form their Past tense and Participle II with the help of the suffix -ed. The irregular weak verbs have some phonetical changes in their forms, some of them have a change in the root vowel, e.g. to sell - sold - sold to feel - felt - felt

2. The strong verbs in Past Indefinite and Participle II change the root vowel. Some of them have the suffix -n in the Participle II, e.g. to write - wrote - written

3. The mixed verbs form Past tense like weak verbs and Participle II like strong ones,

e.g. to show - showed - shown

4. The unchangeable verbs having the same main forms, e.g. to put - put - put to let - let - let

5. Verbs changing the last consonant in Past Indefinite and Participle II, e.g. to spend - spent - spent

6. The defective verbs which have no non-finite and analytical forms, no ending -s in the 3rd person singular, e.g. may, must, can, etc.

7. The suppletive verbs whose forms come from different roots. There are only two suppletive verbs in English - lo be and to go.

According to their morphological structure verbs may be simple(,go, write, speak) derived(suffixes and prefixes) (undo, discover, rewrite), compound (having more than one root) (day-dream, brain-beat ) and composite (consisting of a verb and post-position), as( to give up, put up, sit down)

Henry Sweet was the first to suggest the classification of verbs into regular and irregular. This question was further investigated by our grammarian, Professor A.I. Smirnitsky, who singled out one class of regular verbs and 21 classes of irregular verbs.