Lecture 12 The Verb: General Overview

The verb performs the central role in expressing predication in the sentence. The two major subclasses of the verb are: finite verbs and the non-finite verbs (sometimes also referred to as verbals and verbids).

The categorial meaning of the verb is process or state. The semantic feature of the verb finds its reflection in formal and functional features of this part of speech. The morphological categories of the verb are: the tense, the voice, the aspect, the mood, the person, and number. With the exception of the last two morphological categories, the nature of their semantics is processual, i.e. they express different aspects of actions and states. The functional characteristics of the verb are realized in its typical syntactic functions - the predicate or a part of the predicate of the sentence.

There are different classifications of verbs: those based on their morphology and semantics. From the point of view of their morphological structure, verbs are classified into 5 groups:

• simple verb stems (go, stay, take, read);

• sound-replacive and stress-replacive (to feed (from food), to bleed (from blood), to im'port (from 'import), to trans'port (from 'transport);

• expanded verbal stems (formation of verb stems by adding affixes, i.e., suffixes (-en: broaden, deafen; -ate: cultivate, compensate) and prefixes (en-: engulf, enlarge; over-: overestimate, overdo);

• composite verbal stems (to blackmail, to proofread);

• phrasal verbal stems (to have a smoke, to give a sigh, to give in, to be off).

From the point of view of their semantics, verbs may be classified into (1) notional and (2) semi-notional or functional. Semi-functional verbs comprise the following groups of verbs:

1. Auxiliaries (be, have, do. shall, will, should, would). These are used to build analytical forms of notional verbs;

2. Modal verbs (can, may, must, should, ought, etc.). They can be found only in combination with the infinitive. The modal verbs express modality, i.e., the speaker’s attitude to the action expressed by the verb, such as ability, obligation, permission, advisability, probability, etc.

3. Verbal-introducer verbs. These are verbs that are always combined with non-finite verbs or verbals (e.g., to happen, to appear, to do smth, to turn out, to be smth, to begin, to continue, to finish doing smth.). Together with a verbal, they constitute the compound verbal predicate. Some verbal-introducer verbs have their notional counter parts and should be distinguished from them (the latter do not have to combine with verbals): to begin to fight vs. to begin a fight.

4. Link verbs. They are combined with predicatives in a sentence to form the compound nominal predicate. These are verbs of the following types:

• verbs of‘'being” (to be, to stay, to remain);

• verbs of'‘becoming” (to become, to get, to grow);

• verbs of “perception” (to seem, to look, to smell).

Notional verbs undergo three main subcategorizations. On the basis of the relationship between the subject of the process and the process itself verbs are divided into:

1. Actional verbs (the subject is an active doer of the action expressed by the verb): to do, to act, to go, to read, to learn, to discover;

2. Statal verbs (the subject is not active, but is in some state or subjected to some action): to be, to live, to worry, to know, to suffer.

On the basis of the aspective characteristics notional verbs are divided into:

• durative (verbs denoting continuing actions or state): to live, to sleep, to behave;

• iterative (verbs denoting repeated actions): to smoke, to jog, to go (to school);

• terminate (verbs denoting finishing actions): to close, to resolve, to sum up;

• ingressive (verbs denoting starting actions): to start, to resume, to set off;

• instantaneous (verbs denoting momentary actions): to burst, to drop, to break. Some verbs may pass from one such class to another depending on context. E.g., He turned around the corner (an instantaneous action). - The Earth turns around the Sun (a durative action).

On the basis of syntactic valence, or the ability of a word to combine with other words in a sentence, notional verbs are divided into:

1. Complementive verbs characterised by obligatory valency which must be necessary realized for the sake of grammatical completeness of the sentence (all transitive verbs, semi-functional verbs, and some intransitive verbs): He gave her a bunch of flowers. He is well off. I stayed in a hotel.

2. Non-complementive verbs characterized by optional valency which may not be realized in a definite utterance (most intransitive verbs): The snow melted. The student stood up.

As far as the syntactic role in a sentence a finite verb performs the function of the predicate while non-finite forms of the verb, or verbals (infinite, gerund, participle) perform syntactic functions typical of nominal parts of speech, that is of the subject, the predicative, the attribute, the adverbial modifier. Playing the most important role in the expression of predication the verb is characterized by the following grammatical categories: the category of person and number, the category of time, the category of aspect, the category of voice and the category of mood.