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

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

Verb is a part of speech with grammatical meaning of process, action. Verb performs the central role of the predicative function of the sentence. Verb is a very complex part of speech and first of all because of it’s various subcalss division. If we admit the existence of the category of finitude as.Blokh does that we’re divide all the verbs into 2 large sets: the finite set and non-finite set.

They are profoundly different from each other. Here we will talk about the finite verbs. As we have said the general processual meaning is in the semantics of all the verbs including those denoting states, forms of existence and combinability. It mainly combines with nouns and with adverbs. Syntactical function is that of the predicate, because the finite verb expresses the processual categorial features of predication that is time, voice, aspect and mood. Verbs are characterized by specific forms of word-building. The stems may be simple ex: go, take, read. Sound replacive: food-feed, blood-bleed. Stress replacive ex; Import-impOrt

The composite verb stems ex: to black mail.

According to their semantic structure the finite verbs are divided into:

· notional which possess full lexical meaning

· seminotional – they have very general faded lexical meaning

· a. auxiliary verbs - they perform purely grammatical function. They have no lexical meaning, only grammatical //do, be

· b. modal verbs - they express relational meaning, ability, obligation and so on.

· c. link verbs -introducing predicative which is expressed by noun, adj, phrase (to seem)

Here we’re to mention of the existence of the notional link verbs, these are verbs which have the power to perform the function of link verbs and they preserve their lexical value. Ex: The Moon rose red. Due to the double syntactic character, the whole predicate is referred to as a double predicate (a predicate of double orientation)

· Notional verbs - the 1-st categorization on the basis of the subject process relation. The verbs are divided into actional and statal.

· Actional - express the action, performed by the subject (do, act, make)

· Statal verbs - they denote the state of their subject (be, stand, know)

This criteria apply to more specific subsets of words: ex: The verbs of mental process, here we observe the verbs of mental perception and activity, sensual process (see-look)

The 2-nd categorization is based on the aspective characteristic. Too aspective subclasses of verbs should be recognized in English limitive (close,arrive) and unlimitive (behave,move). The basis of this division is the idea of a processual limit. That is some border point beyond which the process doesn’t exist.

The 3-rd categorization is based on the combining power of the verbs. The combing power of words in relation to other words in syntactically subordinate positions is called their syntactic valency. Syntactic valency may be obligatory and optional. The obligatory adjuncts are called complements and optional adjuncts are called supplements. According as verbs have or don’t have the power to take complements, the notional words should be classed as complimentive (transitive and intransitive) or uncomplimentive (personal and impersonal)

Terminative – denote actions which can’t develop beyond a certain limit (to stand up, to sit down, to come, to take).

Non-terminative – have no limit (to love, to sit, to work, to walk)

Blokh’s classification

He consistently proceeds from form and meaning.

The category of Mood is based on a 2-member opposition: the Indicative Mood is opposed to the Subjunctive. The distinctive feature is the time-retrospect shift in the Subjunctive.

The Subjunctive Mood in Bлox's classification is described as an integral mood of unreality but it comprises 2 subsystems (or 2 sets of forms):

· The 1^st comprises the forms of the present plane of the verb. That set of forms is called The Spective mood or the Mood of Attitudes.

· The 2^stset of forms comprises the forms of the past plane of the verb and it is called the Conditional Mood or the mood of Appraising Casual-Conditional Relations of Process.

Each of these of 2 sets falls into 2 subsets, so that all in all we have 4 Subjunctive form types in Blokh's classification:

The Spective Mood falls into the Pure Spective and the Modal Spective.

(The Spective Mood expresses such attitudes as desire, supposition, speculation, suggestion, inducement and others.)

As to the Pure Spective. Ex.: So be it. Happen what may.

The imperative form also belongs to the Pure Spective.

As to the Modal Spective, here belong such forms as

may/might or should + Infinitive Ex.:.... Let us do smth.

The Spective is opposed to the Conditional which falls into 2 subsystems:

1) The Stipulative Conditional. It is described as past unposterior in structure by Блох. Here belong such constructions as:

Ex.: Oh, that he were here! should/would structures

It is contrasted to the

2) Consecutive Conditional as past posterior in structure.

We can find it in the principal clause of a complex sentence expressing a situation of unreal condition where the principal clause expresses the idea of its imagining consequence.

Ex.: If the peace-loving forces had not been on the alert, the civil war in that area would have resumed anew.

3. Henry Sweet's classification.

He uses the term 'Thought Mood" for Oblique Moods and broke this Thought Mood into subtypes depending on whether the forms synthetic or analytical.

The analytical form with the auxiliaries should/would is called the Conditional Mood. The combination of may/might with the Infinitive is called the Permissive Mood.

As for the forms of the Past Indefinite and Past Perfect he called them Tense Mood, because they are tense forms from the point of view of their structure and mood form from the point of view of their meaning.

Deutschbein proceeded from mostly meaning and has 16 moods.

Ilyish called this approach arbitrary and indefensible.

Barkhudarov does not recognize the existence of oblique Moods. In his reasoning he proceeds from form only. He rejects the idea that should/would + Infinitive is an analytical form because the second element, that is the Infinitive, can function independently. Besides there is no discontinuous morpheme.

As to the form of the Past Indefinite and the Past Perfect used to express unreality, he considers them forms of the indicative Mood used in specific syntactical environment.

Non-finite verbs.

As the verbals (infinitive, gerund, and participle) make up a part of the English verb system, they have some features in common with the finite forms, and in so far as they are singled out of the forms of the verb, they must have some peculiarities of their own.

Verbals have no category of number,mood and person.

The infinitive possesses the category of aspect, i.e. the distinction between the common and the continuous aspect.

· To speak – to be speaking

· To have spoken – to have been speaking

He seems to be enjoying himself quite a lot – the continuous infinitive gives more prominence to the idea of the continuity, which is obviously much stringer than the mere statement.

With the gerund andthe participle things are different. They exhibit no such distinction (no continuous forms). Occasionally, a continuous participle is found: The younger Miss Thorpes being also dancing, Catherine was left to the mercy of Mrs Thorpe and Mrs Allen, between whom she now remained а a continuous Participle I is at least potentially a part of the morphological system of the English verb. But this use appears to be obsolete (archaic).

The Adverbial Modifier.

The term ‘adverbial modifier’ cannot be said to be a very lucky one, as it is apt to convey erroneous (wrong, incorrect) ideas about the essence of this secondary part. They have nothing to do with adverbs and they modify not only verbs.

There are several ways of classifying adverbial modifiers:

1. According to their meaning – not a grammatical classification. However it may acquire some grammatical significance.

2. According to their morphological peculiarities – according to the parts of speech and to the phrase patterns. It has also something to do with word order, and stands in a certain relation to the classification according to meaning.adverb,preposition + noun,a noun without a preposition,infinitive or an infinitive phrase

3. According to the type of their head-word – is the syntactic classification proper. The meaning of the word (phrase) acting as modifier should be compatible with the meaning of the head-word.

Adverbial modifier of:

· Time and frequency,

· Place and direction,

· Manner and attendant,

· Circumstances,

· Cause,

· Purpose,

· Result,

· Condition,

· Concession,

· Degree

The attribute

The attribute is a secondary part of the sentence modifying a part of the sentence expressed by a noun, a substantivized pronoun, a cardinal numeral, and any substantivized word, and characterizing the thing named by these words as to its quality or property. The attribute can either precede or follow the noun it modifies. Accordingly we use terms prepositive and postpositive attribute. The position of an attribute with respect to its head-word depends partly on the morphological peculiarities of the attribute itself, and partly on stylistic factors. The size of the prepositive attributive phrase can be large in ME. Whatever is included between the article and the noun, is apprehended as an attribute.

The paradigm of these linguistic means is rather manifold. We find here:

1) adjectives: the new house; a valuable thing; 2) nouns in the Possessive Case: my brother's book; 3) noun-adjunct groups (N + N): world peace, spring time; 4) prepositional noun-groups: the daughter of my friend 5) pronouns (possessive, demonstrative, indefinite): my joy, such flowers, every morning, a friend of his, little time; 6) infinitives and infinitival groups: an example to follow, a thing to do; 7) gerunds and participles: (a) walking distance, swimming suit; (b) a smiling face, a singing bird; 8) numerals: two friends, the first task; 9) words of the category of state: faces alight with happiness; 10) idiomatic phrases: a love of a child, a jewel of a nature, etc.

Word order in English.

The term ''word order” is a singularly unhappy one, as it is based on a confusion of two distinct levels of language structure: the level of phrases and that of the sentence. To approach this problem from a viewpoint doing justice to modern linguistic theory, we should carefully distinguish between two sets of phenomena: the order of words within a phrase and the order of parts of the sentence within a sentence. Here we are again confronted with the problem of the attribute: if the attribute is a secondary part of the sentence, its place falls under the heading "order of the parts of the sentence”; if, on the other hand the attribute is part, not of a sentence, but of a phrase, its place with reference to its head word must be considered within the theory of the phrase and its parts. Since this question has not been settled yet, we may consider the place of the attribute in this chapter.

All other questions ought to be discussed under the heading "order of sentence parts", but as it is hardly possible to introduce-a change and to dismiss a term so firmly established, we will keep the term "word order", bearing in mind that it is quite conventional: what we shall discuss is the order of the parts of the sentence.

The English language is characterized by a rigid word order in accordance with which the subject of declarative sentences, as a rule, precedes the predicate. This is the so-called direct word order ,e.g. The assistant greeted the professor.

Any deviation from the rigid word order is termed inversion, e.g. Often has he recollected the glorious days of the Civil War.

The direct object is usually placed after the verb unless the indirect object precedes it, e.g. He offered me his help. Sometimes the object is pushed to the front of the sentence, it occurs when:

1. The direct object is an interrogative word, which is naturally placed at the head of the sentence to form a special question, e.g. What did you do?

2. The object is separated from its verb by some other parts of the sentence – adverbial complements, prepositional objects – when it is intentionally placed at the end of the sentence for the sake of emphasis, logical stress, e.g. And unexpectedly he saw against the background of the forest two approaching figures.

The indirect object cannot be used in the sentence without the direct object. The indirect object is regularly put before the direct object. The prepositional objects can be put at the head of the sentence for the sake of emphasis.

Occasionally the prepositional object is placed before the direct object (in to-phrases).

The position of adverbial modifiers in the sentence is known to be comparatively more free that that of other parts.

Those which are most closely linked with the part of the sentence they modify are the ones that denote the frequency or the property of an action. They come between the subject and the predicate, or even inside the predicate if it consists of two words-an auxiliary and a notional verb, or two elements of a compound predicate.

The more usual position of the adverbial modifiers of time and place is, however, outside the group “subject+predicate+object”, that is, either before or after it. If it contains the main new things to be conveyed, this adverbial modifier will have to come at the end of the sentence. The adverbial modifier of time can go at the beginning of the sentence. An adverbial modifier can also come in between two components of the predicate.

The position of an attribute before or after it’s head word largely depends on its morphological type. An attribute consisting of a prepositional phrase can only come after its head word. As to adjectival attributes, their usual position is before their headword, but in some case they follow it. An attribute expressed by an adverb may come before its headword.

The position of direct address and parentheses of the sentence is probably more free that that of all other parts. A direct address can come in almost anywhere in the sentence. Some types of parentheses usually come in between two constituent parts of the predicate. Parentheses may also refer to one part of the sentence only, and is then bound to come before that part.

If a particle belongs to a noun connected to a noun connected with a preposition, the particle will come between the preposition and the noun. Sometimes a particle refers to the word of phrase immediately preceding it. This can only happen if the particle stands at the end of the sentence or at least at the end of a section of the sentence marked by a pause in oral speech and by a comma or other punctuation mark in writing. This usage seems to be restricted to more or less official style. Sometimes it comes before the predicate or between two elements of the predicate, while it refers to some secondary part of the sentence standing further ahead. In these cases, then, the position of the particle is determined, not by it’s semantic ties, but by the structure of the sentence.

On the whole, the problem of word order proves to be a highly complex one, requiring great care and subtlety in the handling. Different factors have something to do with determining the place of one part of a sentence or another.

 

The sentence.

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

Verb is a part of speech with grammatical meaning of process, action. Verb performs the central role of the predicative function of the sentence. Verb is a very complex part of speech and first of all because of it’s various subcalss division. If we admit the existence of the category of finitude as.Blokh does that we’re divide all the verbs into 2 large sets: the finite set and non-finite set.

They are profoundly different from each other. Here we will talk about the finite verbs. As we have said the general processual meaning is in the semantics of all the verbs including those denoting states, forms of existence and combinability. It mainly combines with nouns and with adverbs. Syntactical function is that of the predicate, because the finite verb expresses the processual categorial features of predication that is time, voice, aspect and mood. Verbs are characterized by specific forms of word-building. The stems may be simple ex: go, take, read. Sound replacive: food-feed, blood-bleed. Stress replacive ex; Import-impOrt

The composite verb stems ex: to black mail.

According to their semantic structure the finite verbs are divided into:

· notional which possess full lexical meaning

· seminotional – they have very general faded lexical meaning

· a. auxiliary verbs - they perform purely grammatical function. They have no lexical meaning, only grammatical //do, be

· b. modal verbs - they express relational meaning, ability, obligation and so on.

· c. link verbs -introducing predicative which is expressed by noun, adj, phrase (to seem)

Here we’re to mention of the existence of the notional link verbs, these are verbs which have the power to perform the function of link verbs and they preserve their lexical value. Ex: The Moon rose red. Due to the double syntactic character, the whole predicate is referred to as a double predicate (a predicate of double orientation)

· Notional verbs - the 1-st categorization on the basis of the subject process relation. The verbs are divided into actional and statal.

· Actional - express the action, performed by the subject (do, act, make)

· Statal verbs - they denote the state of their subject (be, stand, know)

This criteria apply to more specific subsets of words: ex: The verbs of mental process, here we observe the verbs of mental perception and activity, sensual process (see-look)

The 2-nd categorization is based on the aspective characteristic. Too aspective subclasses of verbs should be recognized in English limitive (close,arrive) and unlimitive (behave,move). The basis of this division is the idea of a processual limit. That is some border point beyond which the process doesn’t exist.

The 3-rd categorization is based on the combining power of the verbs. The combing power of words in relation to other words in syntactically subordinate positions is called their syntactic valency. Syntactic valency may be obligatory and optional. The obligatory adjuncts are called complements and optional adjuncts are called supplements. According as verbs have or don’t have the power to take complements, the notional words should be classed as complimentive (transitive and intransitive) or uncomplimentive (personal and impersonal)

Terminative – denote actions which can’t develop beyond a certain limit (to stand up, to sit down, to come, to take).

Non-terminative – have no limit (to love, to sit, to work, to walk)