2. Classification of verbs due to their semantic and grammatical properties

In English, verbs have three principal forms: the infinitive, the past tense, and the past participle. The infinitive is a verb’s primary form (work, cope); it is often used with to. Owing to the historical development English action verbs split into 2 subclasses which are not available in Ukrainian: regular and irregular.

a) Regular (past simple and past participle of these verbs are formed by means of suffix –ed (-d) added to the stem of the verb: coped, worked; touched; played, topped).

b) Irregular verbs form their past simple and past participle according to some fixed traditional patterns: begin/began/begun; drink/drank/drunk; win/won/won; sit/sat/sat; lead/led/led; meet/met/met. There is no predictable pattern for these verbs.

From the syntactic standpoint verbs may be subdivided into transitive or intransitive.

1. Intransitive verbs do not normally have an object. They often refer to: 1) existence: appear, disappear, exist, live, die, happen, occur, remain, vanish; 2) the human body: ache, bleed, blush, faint, shiver, smile; 3) human noises: cough, cry, laugh, scream, sigh, snore, speak, yawn; 4) light, smell, vibration: gleam, glow, shine, sparkle, stink, throb, vibrate; 5) position, movement: arrive, come, depart, fall, flow, go, jump, kneel, pause, run, sit, sleep, stand, swim, wait, walk, work .An awful thing has happened. The girl screamed. Space shuttles fly. Do sit down. Astronauts train hard. I usually sleep well. I waited. Note that intransitive verbs cannot be used in the passive.

2. Transitive verbs normally take an object. They are always connected with: 1) physical objects: build, buy, catch, cover, cut, damage, destroy, fill, hit, remove, rent, sell, use, waste, wear; 2) senses: feel, hear, see, smell, taste, touch; 3) feelings: admire, dislike, enjoy, fear, frighten, hate, interest, like, love, need, prefer, surprise, trust, want; 4) facts, ideas: accept, believe, consider, correct, discuss, expect, express, forget, include, know, mean, remember, report; 5) people: address, blame, comfort, contact, convince, please, tease, thank, warn. He hit the ball really hard. Did you see the rainbow? They both enjoyed the film. She reported the accident to the police. Don’t blame me. Let’s invite Sally and Bruce. Angela parked her car on a designated snow route. You surprised me. At last, Bernie earned her respect. Leonardo da Vinci painted very few works.

Note that transitive verbs can be used in the passive: They were blamed for everything.

c) Many verbs can be both transitive and intransitive. England lost. England lost the match.

Let’s eat. I can’t eat this.

Some verbs are used transitively or intransitively with different kinds of subjects; the intransitive use has a meaning rather like a passive or reflexive verb. Modern grammarians call these verbs ‘ergative’. Compare: She opened the door. The door opened.

Something woke her. Suddenly she woke.

Marriage has really changed her. She’s changed a lot since she got married.

We’re selling a lot of copies of your books. Your book’s selling well.

The wind’s moving the curtain. The curtain’s moving.

I can’t start the car. The car won’t start.

Verbs can be classified by the way they relate to other parts of the sentence. A traditional division is into transitive and intransitive. According to a more modern approach the basic distinction is between linking and non-linking verbs. All linking verbs are intransitive, but not all intransitive verbs are linking. In general, classification of verbs as to the way they relate to other parts of the sentence (to their functional significance) is common in the contrasted languages. There are the following types of verbs:

• Lexical (main) verbs (so-called because they carry full dictionary meanings). cry, pass, live, finish.

• Auxiliary verbs are devoid of their lexical meaning, their role is purely grammatical: they work with other verbs to create verb tenses and to form questions and negatives, to make progressive, perfect and passive forms. Do you want some tea? It doesn’t matter. Is it raining? They have traveled a lot. Volvos are made in Sweden. They may be subdivided into:

1. Primary (DO/ HAVE/ BE) when used as auxiliaries to other verbs.

2. Modals (can, must, could, may, might, will, would, have to, should, need, ought to, dare), which are always used as auxiliaries to other verbs. So-called because they indicate mood: She ought to understand. I daren’t say what I think. I can read Italian, but I can’t speak it. Greenpeace must oppose chemical dumping in our waterways.

c) Linking verbs do not in themselves have much meaning, but they serve to link the subject to the main predication that adds a description or identification. This predication is usually an adjective or a noun acting as a ‘subject complement’, although it may be an adverbial: Squash is an indoor sport. They were hockey fans. I was too slow. Rachel is the best player in the volleyball team (predicate noun). Wilson was enthusiastic about the League of Nations (predicate adjective). When it is a noun, the subject and the predicative noun refer to the same person or thing in the ‘real world’. This is not the case with non-linking verbs. Compare: He became an engineer (linking verb – same person); He liked the engineer (non-linking – different people).

Auxiliary verbs (=helping) (be/ do/ have), which are used in English in the corresponding tense and tense form to express the following categorical meaning of the verb:

• The continuous aspect (the present, the past and future continuous/ progressive (I am/ was, shall be driving. The earth is rotating).

• The interrogative and negative or future tense forms (Does he speak fluent English? She didn’t know me. Will he come soon?).

• The imperative mood and incentive meanings (Do it right now; Do come please!)

• The perfect aspect forms of verbs (We have finished it. He will have had his dinner by then. Night has fallen).

• The subjunctive form (He ordered that everybody be available. Whoever you be you have no right to offend him).

Close to the auxiliary by their function (and often by their lexical meaning) are English and Ukrainian modal verbs: can, could, may, might, must, have to, will, would, shall, should, ought to, dare.

Their number of modals in English is larger (allomorphism) than in Ukrainian. Modals act like auxiliary verbs. They are used to form questions, to help make the expression negative and to show emphasis, possibility, ability, obligation and condition. She may be skating. Why didn’t she say ‘hello’? She might haven’t recognized you. They would appreciate the help. The parachute should be in a small and lightweight package.

Linking verbs in both contrasted languages form a verbal, nominal, or mixed-type compound predicate. They fall into three main groups:

1) Linking verbs of being which do not always have direct equivalents in English and Ukrainian (be, feel, look, seem, taste, smell, sound – бути, виявлятися, зватися, вважатися, доводитися): Those roses smell beautiful. I’m proud of these people. He looks young/ tired. It sounds all right to me. She seemed an ideal person to look after them. Це зветься роботою. Це здається правдою. Він доводиться братом мені. Дівчина вважається найкращою студенткою.

2) Linking verbs of becoming (not all of which have equivalents in Ukrainian): become, get, grow, turn, fall, go – ставати, робитися. Він став перекладачем. М’язи стали міцнішими. Ліс зробився рудим. His muscles grew stronger. She was getting too old to play tennis. My mom turned grey. He appears to have taken my keys. His new job proved to be a challenge. Their children grew older. The meat has gone bad.

3) Linking verbs of remaining (remain, keep, stay, continue, prove, appear): He remains silent/ satisfied. He kept quiet. The winter continued damp and wet. The weather kept abstinently hot and dry. Він зостався задоволений. Погода вперто стояла жаркою і сухою.

Except for seem, all verbs that used as linking can also be used as action verbs. Note the following pairs of verbs:

1. Solar heaters on roofs look strange at first (linking verb followed by adjective).

2. Scientists look for new energy sources (non-linking verb followed by direct object).

3. Taxpayers often grow angry about taxes (linking verb followed by adjective).

4. Californians grow avocados (non-linking verb followed by direct object).

Task. Try to decide what kind of linking verbs are involved in the following sentences.

Impractical ideas often become practical eventually. Families feel nervous about fuel prices.

Building costs grow higher each year. New houses look different from the old ones.

Energy and fuel conservation appear necessary. New sources of energy remain expensive.

Solar energy seems unlimited. Many ideas for new energy sources sound impractical.

Insulated houses stay warm or cool better than houses without insulation.

Note! One of the ways of telling if the verb in a sentence is a linking or an action is to substitute a form of seem for the verb. If the sentence still makes sense, the verb is probably a linking verb.

1. That milk tastes sour. =That milk seems sour (Sentence makes sense).

2. I taste the milk. I seem the milk (It doesn’t make sense).

Note! In a sentence when modifiers are used, they often separate the auxiliary from the main verb. In forming questions, the auxiliary usually precedes the subject. Auxiliary verbs always precede main verbs. Ophelia will probably enter from stage right. Must/did Greenpeace oppose chemical dumping in our waterways?