The Verb

Verbs are words denoting actions, activity (to walk, to speak, to play, to study), process (to sleep, to wait, to live), state (to be, to like, to know), relation (to want, can, may).

1) According to the meaning verbs can be divided into two groups — terminative and durative.

Terminative verbs have a final aim in view, to open, to close, to bring, to recognise, to refuse, to break.

Durative verbs do not have such limit, and the action can go on indefinitely, to carry, to live, to speak, to know, to sit, to play. But as most verbs in English are polysemantic they may be terminative in one meaning and durative in another: e.g. to see may have the terminative meaning 'увидеть' and the durative meaning 'видеть'; to know may denote 'знать' and 'узнать'. The meaning of the verb becomes clear from the context:

Cf. I saw him at once.

I saw his face quite clearly.

2) According to their relation to continuous, verbs fall into two groups: dynamic verbs, i.e. verbs which admit of the continuous forms (a) and stative verbs, i.e. verbs which do not admit of the continuous forms (b).

• a) We were eating dinner when he called.

• You'll find Mother in the kitchen. She is making a cake. (dynamic)

• b) I understand what you mean. I don't see him in the crowd. (stative)

The list of most commonly used stative verbs:

a) verbs of physical perceptions: to hear, to notice, to see;

b) verbs denoting emotions: to adore, to care for, to dislike, to hate, to like, to love, to respect;

c) verbs denoting wish; to desire, to want, to wish;

d) verbs denoting mental processes: to admire, to appreciate, to believe, to consider, to doubt, to expect, to feel, to imagine, to know, to mind, to recognise, to recollect (припоминать), to remember, to suppose, to think, to trust, to understand;

e) relational verbs: to be, to belong, to consist, to contain, to depend, to deserve, to differ;

f) some other verbs: to agree, to allow, to appear, to taste.

3) English verbs are also classified according to the type of object they take. Verbs that require object to complete their meaning are called transitive (v.t. – verb transitive). Verbs that do not require any object are called intransitive (v.i. – verb intransitive):

• He lay on the sofa. (v.i.)

• He laid the book on the shelf. (v.t.)

The objects transitive verbs take may be direct (a), indirect (b) or prepositional (c).

• (a) I'm telling the truth.

• (b) His mother never gave him advice.

• (c) Let's talk of something sensible.

4) According to the meaning and function English verbs are notional and structural (link-verb and auxiliary). Notional verbs have a lexical meaning:

• During the war he lived in London.

A link-verb is followed by a predicative; together they form a nominal predicate:

• He was a middle-aged man.

Sometimes a verb has no lexical meaning and is called an auxiliary verb. Combined with a notional verb it serves to build up analytical forms.

• The young man was sitting at the table alone.

Finite Forms of the Verb

English verbs can be divided into finite and non-finite forms. The finite forms have the function of the predicate. The non-finites (infinitive, ing-form and participle) are called the verbals. The finite forms of the verb have the following grammatical categories:

1) Person and Number;

2) Tense, Aspect and Phase;

3) Voice;

4) Mood

We find three basic forms of the verb. These forms are: 1) the plain verb stem (infinitive without the particle to); 2) the Past Indefinite, and 3) the past par­ticiple. All verbs can be regular and irregular.

The forms of the verb may be of two different kinds - synthetic or analytical. Synthetic forms are built up by a change in the word itself: by means of suffixes (I work, he works, we worked). Analytical forms consist of two components:

• He has worked hard.

Tense, Aspect and Phase

Tense is the form of the verb which indicates the time of the action. Aspect is the form of the verb which serves to express the manner in which the action is regarded. There are two opposing sets of aspect forms in English — the Continuous forms and the Non-Continuous (Indefinite) forms. The Non-Continuous (Indefi­nite) forms have a very broad meaning. The Continuous forms have a clear-cut aspect characteristic, which is to represent an action in its tempo­rary development.

Besides, there are the Perfect forms which are opposed to the Non-Perfect forms. The grammatical meaning of the Perfect forms is to express retrospectiveness (относительность), which consists of two elements — prior­ity and relevance. In some grammars this category has been given the name phase.

1) In discussing the use of English finite forms it is neces­sary to understand that in most cases the choice is free: the form is chosen in accordance with the meaning the speaker wishes to convey and does not depend on the structure of the sentence:

• He knows English.

• He knew English.

• He will know English.

In certain cases, however, the choice of the form is determined by the structure of the sentence, usually the kind of clause in which it is used. For example, the use of the Present Indefinite with reference to the future in a clause of time or condition (a), or the use of a finite form under the rules of the sequence of tenses (b):

• a) When you feel hungry, I'll bring you some sandwiches.

If I want anything I'll call you up.

• b) She knew that Henry would be waiting for her.

I wondered if he had kept his promise.

In such cases we have the structurally dependent use of finite forms.

In still other cases the choice of the finite form in a sub­ordinate clause is determined not so much by the kind of clause as by the lexical character of the head-word, i.e. the word in the principal clause which the subordinate clause refers to. For example, in object clauses subordinated to the verbs to see to, to take care or to make sure the future forms are not used.

• He'll take care that she comes in time.

• She saw to it that they had plenty of food in the house.

In such cases we have the lexically dependent use of finite forms.

2) Closely connected with the above notion is the absolute and relative use of finite forms. The forms may refer an action direct­ly to the present, past or future time. We are dealing in this case with the absolute use of finite forms, which, as a rule, is structur­ally independent.

But in certain types of clauses the verb form of the sub­ordinate clause only shows whether the action of the clause is si­multaneous with that of the principal clause, precedes it or follows it. (These relations may be called as simultaneity, priority and posteriority.) In this case we are dealing with the rela­tive use of finite forms. It is usually structurally dependent (see, for example, the rules of the sequence of tenses).

• He discovered that his wife knew London far better than he did.

• He knew that she had read his thoughts.

• He thought that he would hate the place.

3) We should differentiate between present-time contexts and past-time contexts.

In present-time contexts, i.e. in conversations, letters, newspa­per and radio reports, the situation is viewed from the moment of speaking. Any finite form that is required by the sense can be used in present-time contexts. The only reserva­tion should be made for the Past Perfect and the Past Perfect Con­tinuous and all the Future-in-the-Past forms which are, in present-time contexts, mainly found in reported speech or thought.

In past-time contexts, i.e. in narration, the situation is viewed from a past moment. So, the use of finite forms is restricted only to past forms including the Future-in-the-Past.

UNIT 2

Present Simple (Present Indefinite)

The Present Simple may have a special affirmative emphatic form:

• I 'do insist on it.

• He 'does insist on it.

The Present Simple is used in the following cases:

1) to express (a) recurrent ac­tions with terminative verbs or (b) permanent actions with durative verbs in the present:

a) recurrent actions repeat a num­ber of times. Time indications may be: often, seldom, sometimes, occa­sionally, always, never, ever, every year (week, month, day), usual­ly, once (twice, three times) a year, daily, on Sundays (Mondays, etc.) and no time indica­tion is also possible.

• He wakes up at six o'clock and has a cup of coffee.

b) permanent actions indicate continuous, uninterrupted processes; give a general character­istic to the person. Time indica­tions are not obligatory:

• Her son works near here.

2) to express a succession of single actions tak­ing place at the time of speaking (on radio and TV, sports events, etc.):

• Now I peel the apples, slice them and put into the dish.

3) to express a single action going on at the moment of speaking (where usually the Present Continuous is used):

a) The use of the Present Simple becomes obligatory with stative verbs:

• I quite understand what you mean.

• He wants to see you for a minute.

b) The Present Simple is used for an ac­tion which takes place at the moment of speaking but the speaker just names the action as such.

• I refuse to listen to you. You talk such nonsense.

4) The Present Simple expresses future ac­tions:

a) in subordinate clauses of time, condition and conces­sion (уступительные) when the action refers to the future (introduced by the conjunctions when, while, till, until, before, after, as soon as, once, if, un­less, on condition (that), provided (providing) and in case):

• She won't go to bed till you come.

• I shall have a look at his paper when I get it.

Note: In clauses other than those of time and condition (usually object clauses), the Future Simple is used even if these clauses are introduced by the conjunctions if and when:

• I wonder if the patient will recover.

Clauses of concession are introduced by the conjunctions even if, even though, no matter how, whenever, whatever, however, etc.

• Even if he hates me I shall never do him any harm.

b) in object clauses after to see (to), to take care and to make (be) sure:

• I'll see that the lady is well looked after.

c) in some special questions with reference to the im­mediate future what is structurally dependent:

• What do we do next? ('Что же нам сейчас делать?')

• Where do we go now? ('Куда же нам сейчас податься?')

d) to indicate a future ac­tion which is certain to take place according to a timetable, pro­gramme, schedule, command or arrangement worked out for a per­son or persons officially. In this case the sentence usually contains an indication of time.

• His ship sails tomorrow. (according to the timetable)

• Our tourist group sleep at the Globo hotel this night.

5) to describe a succession of actions in the past in literary style which is called the historic or dramatic present:

• She arrives full of life and about an hour later she sits down in a chair.