14.The verb as a part of speech. Classification of verbs.

The verb is the most complex part of speech. This is due to the central role it performs in realizing predication - connection between the situation given in the utterance and reality. Semantic features of the verb. The verb possesses the grammatical meaning of verbiality - the ability to denote a process developing in time. This meaning is inherent not only in the verbs denoting processes, but also in those denoting states, forms of existence, evaluations, etc. Morphological features of the verb. The verb possesses the following grammatical categories: tense, aspect, voice, mood, person, number, finitude and temporal correlation. Syntactic features. The most universal syntactic feature of verbs is their ability to be modified by adverbs.

Morphological classifications 1. According to their stem-types all verbs fall into: simple (to play), sound- replacive (food - to feed, blood - to bleed), stress-replacive (‘insult - to in’sult, ‘record - to re’cord), expanded - built with the help of suffixes and prefixes (oversleep, undergo), composite - correspond to composite nouns (to blackmail), phrasal (to have a smoke, to take a look). 2. According to the way of forming past tenses and Participle II verbs can be regular and irregular. Lexical-morphological classification is based on the implicit grammatical meanings of the verb. According to the implicit grammatical meaning of transitivity/intransitivity verbs fall into transitive and intransitive. According to the implicit grammatical meaning of stativeness/non- stativeness verbs fall into stative and dynamic. According to the implicit grammatical meaning of terminativeness/non- terminativeness verbs fall into terminative and durative. This classification is closely connected with the categories of aspect and temporal correlation. Syntactic classifications According to the nature of predication (primary and secondary) all verbs fall into finite and non-finite. Functional classification According to their functional significance verbs can be notional (with the full lexical meaning), semi-notional (modal verbs, link-verbs), auxiliaries. Auxiliaries are used in the strict order: modal, perfective, progressive, passive.

15)Verb:the categories of person and number In English,only the third person present tense singular form expresses person grammatically;therefore, the verb forms are obligatorily associated with personal pronouns. Special mention should be made of the modal verbs and the verb be. Modal verbs, with the exception of shall/should and will/would, do not show person grammatically. The verb be is more grammaticalized in this respect: it takes an exception to the other verbs. As can be seen, it has two grammaticalized persons in the singular – first and third person – and no grammaticalized persons in the plural. In the past tense, the verb be does not distinguish person – without a personal pronoun we cannot say which person the form expresses. To sum up, the category of person is represented in English by the two member opposition: third person singular vs. non-third person singular. The marked member of the opposition is third person; the unmarked member is nonthird person The opposition is privative both in the plane of content and in he plane of expression. The category of number shows whether the process is associated with one doer or with more than one doer. The category of number is a two-member opposition: singular and plural. it is blended with person: number and person make use of the same morpheme. As person is a feature of the present tense, number is also restricted to the present tense. Some verbs – modals – do not distinguish number at all. Still others are only used in the plural because the meaning of ‘oneness’ is hardly compatible with their lexical:The boys crowded round him. vs. The boy crowded round him.

16)Verb:Category of tense,aspect and temporal correlation. The category of tense is considered to be an immanent grammatical category which means that the finite verb form always expresses time distinctions. In traditional linguistics grammatical time is often represented as a three form category consisting of the “linear” past, present and future forms. The meaning of the category of tense is the relation of the action expressed by a finite verb to the moment of speaking. Present denotes coincidence, past denotes a prior action, future denotes a posterior action which follows the moment of speaking. The future-in-the-past does not find its place in the scheme based on the linear principle since it does not show any relation to the moment of speaking. According to the concept worked out by Prof. Blokh, there exist two tense categories in English. The first one – the category of primary time – expresses a direct retrospective evaluation of the time of the process denoted. It is based upon the opposition of past vs. present, the past tense being its strong member. The second one – the category of “prospective time” – is based on the opposition of “after-action” and “non-after-action”, the marked member being the future tense. The category of aspect is a linguistic representation of the objective category of manner of action. It is realized through the opposition Continuous::NonContinuous (Progressive::Non-Progressive). The opposition is privative both in the plane of content and in the plane of expression. It is easily neutralized, i. e. noncontinuous forms substitute continuous forms when the notion of duration is expressed by other means. The realization of the category of aspect is closely connected with the lexical meaning of verbs. There are some verbs in English that do not normally occur with progressive aspect, even in those contexts in which the majority of verbs necessarily take the progressive form.( think, understand, know, hate, love, see, taste, feel, possess, own, etc) There are three major approaches to defining the essence of perfective forms in English: 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". This view was held, for example, by O. Jespersen. 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". This view was held by a number of scholars, including Prof. G. Vorontsova. The category of perfect is neither one of tense, nor one of aspect but a specific category different from both. It should be designated by a special term and its relations to the categories of aspect and tense should be investigated. This view was expressed by Prof. A. Smirnitsky. He took the perfect to be a means of expressing the category of "time relation" (временная отнесенность). The category denotes correlation of the action expressed by the finite verb to some moment in the past, present or future. This category is based on the opposition “perfect vs. non-perfect”. The opposition is privative in the plane of expression, however, it is not so easily neutralized in the plane of content. Since the opposition is not easily neutralized in the present tense, it is equipollent, but it can easily be neutralized in the past. Therefore, it should be considered privative-equipollent. Perfect forms denote priority to the moment in the past, present or future. Non-perfect forms denote simultaneity with a moment in the past, present or future.

17)Verb:the category of voice and mood. The category of voice is realized through the opposition Active voice::Passive voice. The passive is marked both in meaning and in form and the active as unmarked both in meaning and in form. The realization of the voice category is restricted because of the implicit grammatical meaning of transitivity/intransitivity.Classification: 1. Verbs used only transitively: to mark, to raise;2. Verbs with the main transitive meaning: to see, to make, to build;3. Verbs of intransitive meaning and secondary transitive meaning;4. Verbs of a double nature, neither of the meanings are the leading one, the verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively: to drive home - to drive a car;5. Verbs that are never used in the Passive Voice: to seem, to become; 6. Verbs that realize their passive meaning only in special contexts: to live,to sleep, to sit, to walk, to jump. Three types of passive constructions can be differentiated: 1) direct primary passive; 2) indirect secondary passive; 3) prepositional tertiary passive. The category of mood expresses the relation of nominative content of the sentence towards reality. Hence there are two moods – one presenting the action as real and the other presenting the action as unreal. Real actions are expressed by the indicative mood and unreal are expressed by the oblique mood. To sum up, the category of mood is represented by two oppositions: the indicative mood and the spective mood. The indicative mood is the basic mood of the verb. Morphologically it is the most developed system. Semantically, it is a fact mood; it is the least subjective of all the moods. The spective mood, which includes the traditional imperative and the subjunctive mood, represents a process as a non-fact, i.e. as something imaginary, desirable, problematic, contrary to reality. The imperative variety of the spective mood is morphologically the least developed mood: it is only expressed by the bare infinitive form.

18)Oppositional reduction of verbal categories.Neutralization and transposition of verbal forms. In various contextual conditions, one member of an opposition can be used in the position of the other, counter-member. This phenomenon is usually referred to as “oppositional reduction” .Two major types of oppositional reduction are differentiated:neutralization and transposition. Neutralization as a linguistic concept by which we mean suspension of otherwise functioning oppositions. The position of neutralization is, as a rule, filled in by the weak member of the opposition due to its more general semantics. Neutralization is stylistically indifferent, the use of the unmarked member of the opposition in the position of the marked member does not transgress the expressive conventions of ordinary speech.e.g. The exhibition opens next week. The other type of oppositional reduction called transposition takes place when one of the members of the opposition is placed in contextual conditions uncommon for it, that is, the use of the form is stylistically marked. Transposition is based on the contrast between the members of the opposition, it may be defined as a contrastive use of the counter-member of the opposition. As a rule, it is the marked member of the opposition that is employed transpositionally, but not always so.e.g. He is always borrowing my pen.

19)Non-finite forms of the verb.The infinitive,the gerund,the participle. The non-finite forms of the verb combine the characteristics of the verb with the characteristics of other parts of speech. Their mixed features are revealed in their semantics, morphemic structural marking, combinability, and syntactic functions. the infinitive is a verbal noun. Hence its double nature: it combines the features of the verb with those of the noun. It is the form of the verb which expresses a process in general, by person, number, tense, and mood. Because of its general process meaning, the infinitive is treated as the head-form of the whole paradigm of the verb. The infinitive has two presentation forms: marked and unmarked. The marked infinitive is distinguished by the grammatical word-morpheme to, historically a preposition. The other form of the infinitive is unmarked; it is traditionally called the bare infinitive. The verbal features of the infinitive. Like the finite form of verb, the infinitive distinguishes the categories of aspect, voice, and temporal correlation. The nounal features of the infinitive. Similar to the noun, the infinitive can be used as the subject or part of the subject, the predicative, and the attribute. The gerund is originally a verbal noun in –ing. Similar to the infinitive, the gerund is the name of a process, but its substantive meaning is more strongly pronounced than that of the infinitive: unlike the infinitive, the gerund can be modified by a noun in the genitive case or by the possessive pronoun and used with prepositions. The participle is a term applied to adjectival forms of verbs. There are two types of participle: the present participle and the past participle. The present participle is the non-finite form of the verb which combines the properties of the verb with those of the adjective and adverb, serving as the qualifying-processual name. The past participle is the non-finite form of the verb which combines the properties of the verb with those of the adjective, serving as the qualifying processual name. Unlike the present participle, it has no paradigm of its own.

20)The adjective as a part of speech. The problem of the stative. Classification of adjectives. The category of comparison. The adjective expresses the property of an entity.Typically, adjectives denote states, usually permanent states, although there are also adjectives which can denote temporary states. Adjectives are characteristically stative, but many of them can be seen as dynamic. The stative property of an entity is a property that cannot be conceived as a developing process, and the dynamic property of an entity is a property that is conceived as active, or as a developing process. Derivationally, adjectives are related either to nouns or verbs. In the sentence, the adjective performs the functions of an attribute (an adjunct) and a predicative. They can sometimes be postpositive, that is, they can sometimes follow the item they modify. Adjectives can often function as heads of noun phrases. As such, they do not inflect for number and for the genitive case and must take a definite determiner. An adjective can function as a verbless clause (eg. Anxious, he dialed the number). Semantic classification All the adjectives are traditionally divided into two large subclasses: qualitative and relative. Relative adjectives express such properties of a substance as are determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance.E.g. mathematics — mathematical precision; history — a historical event. Qualitative adjectives, as different from relative ones, denote various qualities of substances which admit of a quantitative estimation, i.e. of establishing their correlative quantitative measure. The measure of a quality can be estimated as high or low, adequate or inadequate, sufficient or insufficient, optimal or excessive. Syntactic classification. From a syntactic point of view, adjectives can be divided into three groups: 1) adjectives which can be used attributively and predicatively (a healthy man – the man is healthy);2) adjectives which can be used attributively only (a complete idiot – *the idiot is complete); 3) adjectives which can be used predicatively only (*a loath man – the man is loath to agree with it).Attributive adjectives constitute two groups:1) intensifying; 2) restrictive, or particularizing (limiter adjectives).Intensifying adjectives constitute two groups:1) emphasizers;2) amplifiers. Emphasizers have a heightening effect on the noun (clear, definite, outright, plain, pure, real, sheer, sure, true); amplifiers scale upwards from an assumed norm (complete, great, firm, absolute, close, perfect, extreme, entire, total, utter).Restrictive adjectives restrict the noun to a particular member of the class(chief, exact, main, particular, precise, principal, sole, specific). They particularize the reference of the noun. There is a class of words in English with the following morphological, semantic and syntactic characteristics: 1) The words of this type denote “states” while adjectives denote “qualities”;2) The words of this type may be characterized by the prefix a- (it derives from the Middle English preposition an ‘in, on’): alive, asleep, ajar, etc.;3) The words of this type do not possess the category of the degrees of comparison; 4) The words of this type are used predicatively only, e.g. He is awake.Because of the said features, these words are regarded by some grammarians as a separate part of speech which has been variously referred to as the category of state words, adlinks, and statives (B. Ilyish; B. S. Khaimovich and B. I.Rogovskaya). The category of comparison is constituted by the opposition of three forms of the adjective: the positive, the comparative, and the superlative.Some grammarians have expressed the view that there are only two degrees of comparison. There are three ways of forming degrees of comparison: synthetic, analytic, and suppletive. The synthetic way of forming degrees of comparison is by the inflections -er, -est; the analytic way, by placing more and most before the adjective. the third way of forming degrees of comparison is by the use of suppletive forms: good _ better, best; bad _ worse, worst; far _farther/further, farthest/furthest; little _ less, least; much/many _ more, most.

21)The adverb as a part pf speech. Classification of adverbs. The adverb is usually defined as a word expressing either property of an action, or property of another property, or circumstances in which an action occurs. However, this definition fails to demonstrate the difference between the adverb and the adjective. To overcome this drawback, we should define the adverb as a notional word denoting a non-substantive property, that is, a property of a non-substantive referent. Adverbs are commonly divided into qualitative, quantitative and circumstantial. Qualitative adverbs express immediate, inherently non-graded qualities ofactions and other qualities. The typical adverbs of this kind are qualitative adverbs in -ly. Quantitative adverbs are specific lexical units of semi-functional nature expressing quality measure, or gradational evaluation of qualities. They may be subdivided into several sets:

1. Adverbs of high degree ("intensifiers"): very, quite, entirely, utterly,highly, greatly, perfectly, absolutely, strongly, considerably, pretty, much.

2. Adverbs of excessive degree (direct and reverse) also belonging to the broader subclass of intensifiers: too, awfully, tremendously, dreadfully, terrifically.

3. Adverbs of unexpected degree: surprisingly, astonishingly, amazingly.

4. Adverbs of moderate degree: fairly, comparatively, relatively, moderately,rather.

5. Adverbs of low degree: slightly, a little, a bit.

6. Adverbs of approximate degree: almost, nearly.

7. Adverbs of optimal degree: enough, sufficiently, adequately.

8. Adverbs of inadequate degree: insufficiently, intolerably, unbearably,

ridiculously.

9. Adverbs of under-degree: hardly, scarcely. Circumstantial adverbs are also divided into notional and functional. The functional circumstantial adverbs are words of pronominal nature. They include numerical adverbs, adverbs of time, place, manner, cause, consequence. Many of them are used as syntactic connectives and question-forming words (now, here,when, where, so, thus, how, why, etc.) As to their word-building structure adverbs may be non-derived, or simple (e.g. here, there, now, then, so, quick, why, how, where, when, very, rather) and derived (e.g. slowly, sideways, clockwise, homewards, away, ahead, apart, across). We can also distinguish composite forms and phrasal forms of the adverb: sometimes, nowhere, anyhow; at least, at most, at last, to and fro, upside down. Special mention should be made of preposition-adverb like elements which form a semantic blend with verbs: to give up, to give in, to give out, to give away, to give over, etc; to set up, to set in, to set forth, to set down, etc.; to get on, to get off, to get through, to get about , etc Adverbs are characterized by combinability with verbs, adjectives and words of adverbial nature. The adverb performs the function of an adverbial modifier.

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The meaning of the pronoun as a separate part of speech is somewhat

difficult to define. In fact, some pronouns share essential peculiarities of nouns

(e.g. he), while others have much in common with adjectives (e. g. which). This

made some scholars think that pronouns were not a separate part of speech at all

and should be distributed between nouns and adjectives. However, this view

proved untenable and entailed insurmountable difficulties. Hence it has proved

necessary to find a definition of the specific meaning of pronouns, distinguishing

them from both nouns and adjectives. From this angle the meaning of pronouns as

a part of speech can be stated as follows: pronouns point to the things and

properties without naming them.

Form. As far as form goes pronouns fall into different types. Some of them

have the category of number (singular and plural), e. g. this, while others have no

such category, e. g. somebody. Again, some pronouns have the category of case (he

— him, somebody — somebody's), while others have none (something).

Function. (a) Some pronouns combine with verbs (he speaks, find him),

while others can also combine with a following noun (this room). (b) In the

sentence, some pronouns may be the subject (he, what) or the object, while others

are the attribute (my). Pronouns can be predicatives.

4. Numeral

The treatment of numerals presents some difficulties, too. The so-called

cardinal numerals (one, two) are somewhat different from the so-called ordinal

numerals (first, second).

Meaning. Numerals denote either number or place in a series.

Form. Numerals are invariable.

Function. (a) As far as phrases go, both cardinal and ordinal numerals

combine with a following noun (three rooms, third room); occasionally a numeral

follows a noun (soldiers three, George the Third). (b) In a sentence, a numeral

most usually is an attribute (three rooms, the third room), but it can also be subject,

predicative, and object: Three of them came in time; "We Are Seven" (the title of a

poem by Wordsworth); I found only four.

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parts of speech may be divided into notional (fully lexical, self-dependent functions in the sentence): Noun, Adjective, Numeral, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb; and functional (incomplete nominative meaning, non-self-dependent functions in the sentence): Article, Preposition, Conjunction, Particle, Modal Word, Interjection.

The most typical features of the part of speech are introduced by the categorial meaning, form, function, combinability with other parts of speech:

Noun - the catagorial meaning of substance or thingness (lawyer, milk)\

- the changeable forms of number and case;

- specific derivational suffixes;

- the substantive functions in the sentence: the subject, an object, a

substantival predicative;

- prepositional connections;

- modified by an adjective;

- determined by an article;

- combinability with a verb.

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One problem concerning the phrase is the absence of a universal term.

Before the 20th century the word “phrase” was used to denote this linguistic

phenomenon, however, it was dismissed by H. Sweet who considered it too vague.

There appeared new terms, such as “word group” and “word cluster”. Later L.

Bloomfield restored the past status of “phrase”, and currently this term is widely

used by American linguists.

inguists discuss different classifications of phrases, all of them having their

own advantages.

The traditional classification of phrases is based on the part of speech

status of the phrase constituents, therefore nounal, verbal, adjectival, adverbial, etc.

phrases are singled out. Phrases can also be classified according to the nominative value of their

constituents. According to Prof. Blokh, syntagmatic groupings of notional words

alone, syntagmatic groupings of notional words with functional words, and

syntagmatic groupings of functional words alone should be differentiated,

therefore three major types are identified: notional, formative and functional.

3. Types of syntactic relations

Syntactic relations of the phrase constituents are divided into two main

types: agreement and government.

Agreement takes place when the subordinate word assumes a form similar to

that of the word to which it is subordinate, that is formal correspondences are

established between parts of the phrase. The sphere of agreement in Modern

English is extremely small: it is found in the pronouns this and that, which

agree in number with their head word (that chair – those chairs).

Government takes place when the subordinate word is used in a certain form

required by its head word, the form of the subordinate word not coinciding with

the form of the head word. The role of government in Modern English is almost

as insignificant as that of agreement. Government can be observed between the

verb and its object expressed either by a personal pronoun or by the pronoun who,

the verb being the governing element (to rely on him, to be proud of her).

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An important structural feature of the sentence is its entirety, that is, no word

of the given sentence can be the head or a dependent element relative to words that

stand outside this sentence.

So, the sentence can be defined as an immediate integral unit used in speech

communication, built up of words according to a definite syntactic pattern and

characterized by predication. It possesses the following properties:

1. The sentence as a linguistic expression of extralinguistic reality must be

actualized. Actualization of the sentence content makes predicativity an

inseparable property of every sentence.

2. The sentence, just like any other meaningful language unit, has a form. Every

sentence has an intonation pattern.

3. The sentence occupies the highest hierarchical position relative to other

structural language units since the final purpose of all structural language

units is to build sentences. Unlike the sentence, the text does not have accurate

and unambiguous structural characteristics. There are no universal structural

schemes of the text. None of semantico-structural means used to join

sentences is specific to the text. Therefore, the text cannot be considered a

structural language unit.

Sentences can be classified according to their structural, semantic and

pragmatic properties. In this lecture we will deal with structural classifications.

One traditional scheme for classifying English sentences is by the number

and types of finite clauses: sentences are divided into simple and composite, the

latter consisting of two more clauses. Composite sentences will be the subject of

the next lecture, and here we will focus on classifications of simple sentences.

Simple sentences are usually classified into one-member and two-member.

This distinction is based on a difference in the main parts of a sentence. One-

member sentences do not contain two such separate parts; in these sentences there

is only one main part (e.g. Silence! Come here!) Such sentences contain neither the

subject nor the predicate. Instead there is only one main part. It is a disputed point

whether the main part of such a sentence should, or should not, be termed subject

in some cases, and predicate, in others. As it was pointed out by academician V.

Vinogradov, grammatical subject and grammatical predicate are correlative notions

and the terms are meaningless outside their relation to each other. He suggested

that for one-member sentences, the term "main part" should be used, without

giving it any more specific name.

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Unlike a simple sentence that consists of a single independent clause with no

dependent clauses, a composite sentence is built up by two or more predicative

lines. It can be defined as a structural and semantic unity of two or more

syntactic constructions each having a predicative center of its own, built on

the basis of a syntactic connection and used in speech communication as a unit

of the same rank as the simple sentence.

The following characteristics should be kept in mind when discussing

composite sentences:

- the type of syntactic connection (coordination or subordination);

- the rank of predicative constructions, that is, the place occupied by the

predicative construction in the hierarchy of clauses;

- presence or absence of connectors and their character.

According to the way in which parts of the composite sentence are joined

together, two types can be singled out:

1) syndetic (by means of connectors);

2) asyndetic (without any connectors).

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Compound sentences are structures of co-ordination with two or more

immediate constituents which are syntactically equivalent, i. e. none of them is

below the other in rank.

The formative words linking the parts of a compound sentence fall into the

following types: 1) coordinative conjunctions, 2) conjunctive adverbs, 3) fixed

prepositional phrases.

Coordinate connectors can established different semantic relations between

clauses. Coordinate sentence linkers can be grouped in the following way:

1. Copulative, connecting two members and their meanings, the second

member indicating an addition of equal importance, or, on the other hand, an

advance in time and space, or an intensification, often coming in pairs, then called

correlatives: and; both... and; equally... and; alike... and; at once... and; not... nor

for neither, or and neither); not (or never)... not (or nor)... either; neither... nor,

etc.

2. Disjunctive, connecting two members but disconnecting their meaning,

the meaning in the second member excluding that in the first: or, and in questions

whether... or with the force of simple or; or... either; either... or, etc., the

disjunctive adverbs else, otherwise, or... or, or... else, in older English other else.

3. Adversative, connecting two members, but contrasting their meaning: but,

but then, only, still, yet, and yet, however, on the other hand, again, on the

contrary, etc.

4. Causal, adding an independent proposition explaining the preceding

statement, represented only by the single conjunction for: The brook was very

high, for a great deal of rain had fallen over night.

5. Illative, introducing an inference, conclusion, consequence, result:

namely, therefore, on that account, consequently, accordingly, for that reason, so,

then, hence, etc.

6. Explanatory, connecting words, phrases or sentences and introducing an

explanation or a particularisation: namely, to wit, that is, that is to say, or, such as,

as, like, for example, for instance, say, let us say, etc.

In traditional grammar asyndetic sentences, just as syndetic

ones, were classified into compound and complex. For instance, the sentence He

came to her; she did not move would be classed among the compound sentences,

and the sentence I can see what you are driving at among complex ones.

This traditional treatment of asyndetic composite sentences was criticized by

some scholars. For example, a different approach is found in N. S. Pospelov's

treatments of asyndeton in Russian syntax where asyndetic sentences are viewed as

a special syntactic category with no immediate relevance to subordination or

coordination.

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Complex sentences are structures of subordination with two or more

immediate constituents which are not syntactically equivalent. In the simplest case,

that of binary structure, one of them is the principal clause to which the other is

joined as a subordinate. The latter stands in the relation of adjunct to the principal

clause and is beneath the principal clause in rank.

In complex sentences, traditionally, the main and the subordinate clause are

singled out. There can be different approaches to classifying subordinate clauses.

One is based on the correlation of subordinate clauses to sentence members. Here

subjective, predicative, objective, attributive and adverbial clauses are

differentiated. According to correlation of subordinate clauses to parts of speech,

the following types of subordinate clauses are identified: substantive (the

subjective, predicative and objective clauses in the preceding classification),

adverbial and adjectival (attributive). There is a certain correlation between the two

classifications, which is quite expected since there is a certain connection between

a word’s belonging to a part of speech and its syntactic functions.