Imperative Mood Grammemes in Speech

§ 302. In most cases they serve to present an order, com­mand, exhortation, request, etc. as a direct expression of the speaker's will.

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In certain surroundings, however, mostly in the first coordinate clause of a compound sentence or when used paren­thetically, they can express a condition ^l the consequence of which is stated in the same sentence.

E. g. D о it again and you will find it much easier. This event, only t г у to see it in its true light, will show you who is at the bottom of all this. (Daily Worker).

THE VERBIDS

§ 303. Besides the features common to the English verb as a whole (see § 188) the verbids have certain features of their own distinguishing them from the finite verb.

1. Their lexico-grammatical meaning is of dual nature. The verbal meaning of 'action, process' is presented as some kind of 'substance' (gerund, infinitive) or 'quality' (parti­ ciple).

2. They have peculiar morphemes: -ing (gerund and participle I), -(e)d, -(e)n (participle II), to (infinitive).

3. There is duality in their combinability. They form connections with adverbs, nouns, pronouns (denoting objects of action) like finite verbs, and with finite verbs, like nouns or adverbs. There are also other combinative models typical of verbids.

4. Their syntactical functions are quite different from those of the finite verb. They are very rarely used as predi­ cates (except secondary ones, see § 310), but they are used in almost any other function in the sentence.

§ 304. The lexico-grammatical meaning of the verbids, though essentially that of the verb (they denote actions), has something of the lexico-grammatical meanings of other parts of speech. The gerund, for instance, denotes an action partially treated as a substance. Thus, in the sentence Going there put an end to her anxiety the gerund going, though de­noting an action, presents it at the same time as a substance which produced the act of putting an end to something. The same in To tempt Providence was the practice of Modern­ity (Galsworthy), in which to tempt, though denoting a proc-

¹ See В Н. Ж А г а д л о, И. П. И в а н о в а, Л. Л. И о ф и к, op. cit., p. 115.

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ess affecting a certain 'object' (Providence), is presented as a 'substance' identified" with another 'substance' (the practice of Modernity).

The participle denotes a 'qualifyingaction', i. e. an action presented as a property of some substance (like an adjective) or a circumstance of another action (like an adverb).

E. g. He looked at his son with twinkling eyes. (Snaith).

"Let me do it", he s a i d kneeling beside her. (Ib.).

§ 305. The verbids have special morphemes distinguishing them from the finite verb. They are: the suffix -ing of the gerund, the suffixes -ing, -en, -ed, etc. of the participle and the word-morpheme to o\ the infinitive, 'these morphemes are very peculiar. They are not lexical or lexico-grammatical morphemes because they do not characterize all the words of the verb lexeme. Compare, for instance, the suffixes -ize, and -ing in realizes, has realized, to realize, realizing, being realized. The suffix -ize is found in every word of the lexeme, the suffix -ing only in some words.

The -ing morpheme differs from grammatical morphemes as well. Grammatical morphemes are used to form grammatic­al opposemes. Cf. asks — asked — will ask. The suffix -ing of the gerund is not used to form any grammatical oppos­emes. It serves to oppose all the gerunds to all the non-gerunds. Thus it is a peculiar g г о u p-suffix within the verb lexeme.

The same could be said about the homonymous -ing suffix of the participle. But two additional remarks are nec­essary.

1. The participial -ing morpheme does not unite all the system of the participle. The so-called participle II (written, asked) has different suffixes.

2. Since participle I is used to form analytical 'contin­ uous aspect' grammemes, the -ing suffix of the participle has become a grammatical morpheme of the finite verb as well. The suffixes of participle II are not group-suffixes be­ cause participle II is a one-word system. In all other respects they resemble the participial -ing suffix. They are used as grammatical morphemes participating in the formation of 'passive voice' and 'perfect order' grammemes (see § 206).

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Of great interest is the to word-morpheme of the infini­tive. It is a word-morpheme because it has only the form of a separate word, but not the content, and it functions as part of a word. It is a group-morpheme (like -ing), but unlike the participial -ing it is not used as a grammatical morpheme. Cf. shall come, not *shall to come.

Unlike other group-morphemes, the word-morpheme to is not used in certain surroundings (see § 315).