The Verb

The Verb is a part of speech which denotes a process or a state.

I. According to their meanings and functions in the sentence English verbs are classified into notional and structural verbs.

Notional verbs always have a lexical meaning of their own and can have an independent function in the sentence.

• We live in Moscow and love our city.

Structural verbs cannot have an independent syntactic function in the sentence — they are always closely connected with some other words, forming a compound predicate (verbal or nominal). Modal verbs, link verbs, and auxiliary verbs belong to structural verbs.

A modal verb is always accompanied by an infinitive — together they form a modal predicate.

• You must join us. I can do it. You should know better.

A link-verb is followed by a predicative thus forming a nominal Indicate.

• He was a fine mechanic. She seemed quite

happy.

She became famous. The leaves turned yellow.

An auxiliary verb is devoid of any lexical meaning. These verbs are: do, to be, to have, shall, will, should, would. Combined with a notion-verb they serve to build up analytical forms.

• We had seen the play before.

Do you enjoy dancing?

Don't worry. I'll be home before evening.

Polysemantic verbs have, do, be may be notional as well as structural words. Compare:

• He has three children, (a notional verb used in the meaning to possess)

I had to give up smoking. (a structural word: a modal verb denoting obligation, part of a modal predicate)

I have come for your advice. (a structural word: an auxiliary verb which serves to build up an analytical form)

II. Owing to the historical development of the verb system, all English verbs fall into two groups: regular and irregular verbs.

The regular verbs constitute the largest group. The Simple Past and Participle II of these verbs are formed by means of the suffix -ed added the stem of the verb:

• live — lived — lived; play — played — played.

The irregular verbs (they are about 250 in number) form their Simple Past and Participle

II according to some fixed traditional patterns:

• wear—wore — worn; leave — left — left; send — sent — sent.

III. There are four basic verb-forms in English. They are:

the Infinitive the Simple Past Participle II Participle I

work worked worked working

rise rose risen rising

do did done doing

come came come coming

IV. The forms of the verb may be of two different kinds — synthetic and analytical forms.

Synthetic forms are built up by a change in the word itself:

• I find, I found.

I came, saw and won.

Analytical forms consist of two or more components.

• He has done his duty.

You are being difficult today.

The first component is an auxiliary verb which has no lexical meaning — it expresses only the grammatical meaning (the third person singular, the indicative mood, the active voice, a fulfilled action). The second component is a notional verb which is the bearer of the lexical meaning.

Thus an analytical form consists of two or more words — a structural word and a notional word — which form a very close, inseparable unit.

V. The English verb has finite (complete) and non-finite (incomplete) forms.

The verb in its finite form possesses the morphological categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood. Its syntactical function is that of the predicate of the sentence.

The non-finite forms (also called Verbals) are the Infinitive, the Gerund, Participle I and Participle II.

Verbals do not function as true verbs. Their syntactical function in the sentence may be different because verbals can be used as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. They can not have any morphological categories, and can not function as the predicate of the sentence, only as part of it.

VI. The English verb has the grammatical category of tense, aspect, voice and mood.

Tense is the form of the verb which indicates the time of the action. The category of tense in English is made up by a set of forms opposed to each other in referring the events, or states to the present, past or future.

Aspect is the form of the verb which serves to express the manner in which the action is performed. It is presented in English by the opposition of the continuous aspect and the common aspect.

Continuous Aspect	Common Aspect
is speaking was speaking will be speaking has been speaking	speaks spoke will speak has spoken

Voice is the form of the verb which shows the relation between the action and its subject. There are two voices in English: the active voice and the passive voice. The verb in the active voice shows that the subject is the doer of the action; the verb in the passive voice shows that the subject is acted upon.

Mood is the form of the verb which shows in what relation to reality is the action expressed by the speaker.

In present-day English the category of mood is made up by a set of forms presenting the events as real facts, problematic actions or as something absolutely unreal. Accordingly there are direct and indirect moods in English. The Direct Moods are the Indicative Mood and the Imperative Mood.

1. The Indicative Mood represents actions as real facts. It's a Fact Mood.

• We are students of the English department.

2. The Imperative Mood expresses commands and requests. It's a Will Mood.

• Come over there. Relax! Cool down!