§ 7. As has already been mentioned, the verb has the grammatical categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, and mood.

In Modern English there are but few forms indicating person and number in the synthetic forms of the verb. These are:

(1) The third person singular Present Indefinite Indicative — he speaks.

(2) The Future Indefinite tense.

I shall speak We shall speak

He will speak They will speak

Note! Although the use of shall in the 1^st person singular and plural has become out-of-date. Will is now used in all persons.

The verb to be has suppletive forms for different persons (sin­gular and plural).

I am, was You are, were He, she, it is, was

We are, were You are, were They are, were

§ 8. The category of tense is very clearly expressed in the forms of the English verb. This category denotes the relation of the action either to the moment of speaking or to some definite moment in the past or future. The category of tense and the cate­gory of aspect are intermingled.

The category of aspect shows the way in which the action develops, whether it is in progress or completed, etc. In Russian 'he category of aspect predominates, and the category of tense is subordinated to it. In English contrariwise the category of tense predominates and aspect is subordinated to it. Some of the English tenses denote time relations, others denote both time and aspect relations. There are four groups of tenses: Indefinite, Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Continuous. The Indefinite form has no aspect characteristics whatever, the Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Con­tinuous forms denote both time and aspect relations. Each of these forms includes four tenses: Present, Past, Future and Future in the Past, i.e. future from the point of view of the past. Thus there are 16 tenses in English.

§ 9. Voice is the category of the verb which indicates relation of the predicate to the subject and the object.

There are three voices in English: the active voice, the passive voice, and the neuter-reflexive voice.

The active voice shows that the person or thing denoted by subject is the doer of the action expressed by the predicate.

The passive voice shows that the person or thing denoted the subject is acted upon.

The neuter-reflexive voice shows that the action expressed by the predicate passes on to the subject. This voice is formed by means of a reflexive pronoun.

e.g. Helen lifted herself up and looked towards nurse. (Gaskell)

The truth was, Mary was dressing herself. (Qaskell)

§ 10. Mood is a grammatical category which indicates the attitude of the speaker towards the action expressed by the verb from the point of view of its reality.

We distinguish the indicative mood, the imperative mood, and the subjunctive mood.

Ex. 1

State the morphological composition of the verbs.

To be, to divorce, to marry, to get, to relate, to descend, to inherit, to remarry, to originate, to look after, to bear, to extend, to educate, to reverse, to keep, to behave, to deal, to crown, to acquire, to pursue, to quit, to engage, to blackmail, to remain, to break down, to nickname, to rename, to christen, to entitle, to resemble, to take after, to approach, to pass away, to authenticate, to cease, to contemplate, to dilute, to swell, to bring up, to understand, to yell, to reduce, to forbid, to whitewash, to disobey, to apologize.

Ex. 2

1. He was the most eligible bachelor in the world.

Unit 2

THE INDEFINITE FORM

The Indefinite form merely shows that the action takes place in the present, past or future. The form of the verb gives no indication as to its duration or completion.

THE PRESENT INDEFINITE

§ 1. The formation of the Present Indefinite.

1. The Present Indefinite is formed from the infinitive without the particle to.

In the third person singular the ending -s is added. After a sibilant represented in spelling by s, ss, ch, sh, tch, x, z and after the vowel o, -es is added: he writes, he reads, he speaks; he passes, he pushes, he watches, he teaches; he goes, he does /dz/.

2. The pronunciation of the ending -s (-es) depends on the sound preceding it.

It is pronounced as:

/z/ after the sibilants /s/, /z/, //, /t/, //: passes /'p:sz/, pushes /pz/, teaches /'ti:z/, judges /'z/;

/z/ after voiced non-sibilants and vowels: reads /ri:dz/, lives /li:vz/, sees /si:z/;

after voiceless non-sibilants: works /w:ks/, wants /wnts/.

3. In the third person singular we find the following orthographical change:

A final y is changed into i if it is preceded by a consonant and then –es is added:

To study - he studies; to try - he tries.

After a vowel у is kept unchanged: to play —he plays; to stay—he stays.

4. The interrogative and the negative forms are formed by means of the Present Indefinite of the auxiliary verb to do and the infinitive of the notional verb without the particle to.

Affimative	Interrogative	Negative
I work	Do I work?	I do not work
You work	Do you work?	You do not work
He (she, it) works	Does he (she, it) work?	He (she, it) does not work
We work	Do we work?	We do not work
They work	Do they work?	They do not work

5. The contracted negative forms are:

I don't work

He doesn't work

They don't work

6. The negative-interrogative forms are:

Do you not work? Don't you work?

Does he not work? Doesn't he work?