E.G. It’s a pity you never was trained to use your reason, miss.

5. Account for the use of person-number forms of the verb in the fol­lowing sentences:

We refer to the grammatical agreement of the verb not with the categorial form of the subject expressed morphemically, but with the actual personal-numerical interpretation of the denoted referent.

1. My family who were occupied each with their particular guest did not notice anything.

2. Monty' s family was of about the same social status as my own.

3. The public do not think so.

4. There were a few little craft (судно) anchored in the harbor.

5. Politics has always interested me.

6. The ashes were still hot.

7. Do you know what the news is?

8. There were two fish in the basket.

6. Comment upon the semantic differential feature "reception of the action by the subject", describe the morphological means of expressing this feature in terms of the allo-emic theory.

7. What specific meanings do you distinguish within the set of forms, constituting the unmarked member of the voice opposition? Point out the verb-forms having medial, reflexive & reciprocal mean­ings in the following sentences:

1. She raised herself suddenly in the tall chair (reflexive voice).

2. Arnie opened the rumble seat (откидное сиденье) & helped Savina to get in.

3. The door opened & a man & a woman entered (middle).

4. Erick & Savina walked in silence for a while.

5. He walked Andrew eight miles that first day.

6. The apparatus ran itself & observed itself (reflexive).

7. One feels half-disembodied sitting like a shadow at the door.

8. Let us recite poems when we meet again.

9. I must end this letter.

10. The day ended, tranquil & bluish.

8. What method of linguistic analysis would you use to differentiate nominal predicates & passive voice forms?

1. Sir Laurence Olivier has been awarded the top honor for dis­tinguished achievement.

2. It is often believed that intelligence tests are developed ac­cording to a sound scientific theory.

3. MPs were surprised & excited by Mr. Houghton's intervention.

4. Lots of people were obviously moved to tears at the Press show of that film.

5. All the songs were extremely well integrated with general pat­tern of the film.

6. Mr. Davis was detained & questioned for 45 minutes before being released.

7. Mrs. Strington was determined to reveal the secret.

8. I am awfully excited today.

9. When the dinner was finished, Louise went up to her room.

10. I have always been attached by the idea that a man should devote his youth to study.

Seminar 6 The Verb: the categories of aspect and tense

1. The category of aspect.

Ilyish:

There are 2 sets of forms in the ME verb which are contrasted with each other on the principle of use or non-use of the pattern “be = Participle I”.

Writes – is writing

Wrote – was written

Will write – will be written

Has written – has been writing

The Continuous form denotes an action proceeding continuously at a definite period of time, within certain time limits.

The Non-continuous form denotes an action not limited but either occurring repeatedly or everlasting, without any notion of lasting duration at a given moment.

The basic difference between the 2 sets of forms appears to be this: an action going on continuously during a given period of time, and an action not thus (до такой степени) limited and not described by the very form of the verb as proceeding in such manner.

??? How should this essential difference in meaning between the 2 sets of forms be described  it is a difference in the way the action is shown to proceed.

Not all verbs are used in the form “be + Participle I”: verbs denoting abstract relations (e.g. to belong), verbs denoting sense perception or emotion (e.g. to see, to hear, to hope, to love) seldom appear in this form.

Still sometimes these words are used in this form: e.g. It was as if she were seeing herself for the first time in a year (a sense perception going on for some time, emphasis).

TERMINOLOGY.

Is writing  Continuous aspect

Writes  Common aspect (in parallel with common case, it allows room for the various uses).

SPECIAL USES.

Forms of continuous aspect are occasionally used with adverbs always, continually, etc. when the action is meant to be unlimited by time.

e.g. Rose is always wanting James to retire.

This is an exaggerated statement, where the form of the continuous aspect is used emotionally, to present an action as going on and on without interruption.

DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS (of the opposition writes – is writing).

O.Jespersen: treated the type is writing as a means of expressing limited duration, expressing an action serving as frame to another which is performed within the frame set by that first action.

Prof. N.Irtenyeva: the basic meaning of the type is writing is that of simultaneity of an action with another action.

BUT: this can be found in the past tense only, because present is never used in complex sentences of that structure.

e.g. What is he doing? He is reading – there is no other action with which the action expressed by the type is writing could be simultaneous or to which it might be a “time frame”.  N.Irtenyeva – in such cases the action expsressed by the is writing type is simultaneous with the act of speech. BUT: the act of speech is not mentioned in the speech and simultaneity with the act of speech is the definition of the present tense, and not of the type is writing.

Prof. I.Ivanova: recognizes the existence of the aspect category in English. Is writing is an aspect form, namely that of the continuous aspect, but writes is not an aspect form at all, because its meaning is vague and cannot be clearly defined.  Some finite verbs in ME have the category of aspect and they are “aspect-tense forms”, while others have no aspect and are therefore “purely tense forms”. I.Ivanova denies “common aspect”, but “no aspect” is a version of “common aspect”.

2. The category of tense. The future tense.

Ilyish:

The tense category is universally recognized. The category of tense is a verbal category which reflects the objective category of time and expresses on this background the relations between the time of the action and the time of the utterance.  Past, Present and Future.

Some doubts have been expressed about the existence of a future tense in English. O.Jespersen believes that shall and will preserve some of their original meaning (shall an element of obligation, will an element of volition)  English has no means of expressing “pure futurity”, free from modal shades of meaning, i.e. it has no form standing on the same grammatical level as the forms of the past and present tenses.

It is also well known that a present tense form and present continuous may also be used when the action belongs to the future (as planned action).

Besides the 6 forms of the English verb there are 2 more, namely, the future-in-the-past and the future-continuous-in-the-past. These forms are used chiefly in subordinate clauses depending on a main clause having its predicate verb in one of the past tense, however they can be found in independent clauses as well.

The future-in-the-past and future-continuous-in-the-past do not easily fit into a system of tenses represented by a straight line running out of the past into the future. They are a deviation from this straight line: their starting point is not the present, from which the past and the future are reckoned, but the past itself. With reference to these tenses it may be said that the past is a new center of the system.

Prof N.Irtenyeva: the system is divided into 2 halves: that of tenses centering in the present (present, present perfect, future, present continuous, present perfect continuous), and that of tenses centering in the past (past, past perfect, future-in-the-past, past continuous, past perfect continuous).

A.Korsakov: establishes a system of absolute and anterior (предшествующий; = perfect correlation) tenses, and of static and dynamic (= continuous aspect) tenses.

3. The problem of the perfect forms.

Ilyish:

The ME perfect forms have been the subject of a lengthy discussion which has not so far brought about a definite result.

1. The category of perfect is a peculiar tense category, i.e. a category which should be classed in the same list as the categories “present” and “past” (O.Jespersen).

2. The category of perfect is a peculiar aspect category, i.e. one which should be given a place in the list comprising “common aspect” and “continuous aspect” (prof. G.Vorontsova)  “retrospective”, “resultative”, “successive’.

3. The category of perfect is neither one of tense, nor one of aspect but a specific category different from both (prof. A.Smirnitsky). He took the perfect to be a means of expressing the category of “time relation”.

??? TENSE CATEGORY.

If we consider perfect to be a tense category, then the present perfect would be a union of 2 different tenses (present and perfect), which is impossible. If a form already belongs to a tense category it cannot simultaneously belong to another tense category  the category of perfect cannot be a tense category.

??? ASPECT CATEGORY.

Is writing – has been writing

Will be writing – will have been writing

All these forms belong to the continuous aspect, they cannot be said to differ from each other on an aspect line  perfect is not an aspect.

 Prof. Smirnitsky: perfect is “the category of time relation”  “correlation” (to eliminate the undesirable term “time”).

 Opposition: Perfect (marked)/Non-Perfect (unmarked).

USES OF THE PERFECT FORMS.

1. The lexical meaning of the verb.

He has broken the cup (change in the state of the object  result).

He has lived in this city since 1945 (process).

2. The tense category of the form, i.e. whether it is the present perfect, past perfect, or future perfect.

The present perfect form may produce the meaning of a result to be seen at the very moment the sentence is uttered. The past perfect would mean that the result was there at a certain moment in the past.

3. The syntactical context, i.e. whether the perfect form is used in a simple sentence, or the main clause, or in a subordinate clause of a complex sentence.

The syntactical context in which the perfect form is used is occasionally a factor of the highest importance in determining the ultimate meaning of the sentence.

• The action denoted by the past perfect in this sentence is not thought of as preceding the action denoted by the past tense.

e.g. But before he had answered, she made a grimace which Mark understood.

• The difference does not lie in the meanings of the perfect form, but depends on the situation in which the sentence is used:

e.g. How long have you been here?  “Present (past) perfect inclusive)”

Where have you been, Vivie?  “Present (past) perfect exclusive)”

4. The situation in which the perfect form is used.