The grammatical categories of the verb.

The grammatical categories of the verb.

The category of person

The category of person represents an action as associated by the speaking person with himself, that is the first person, with the person or persons addressed. That is the second person and with persons not-participating in the process of speech (the 3d person). The category ofperson is expressed in the singular form of the present tense of the indicative mood in the future tense and in the future in the past tense in the indicative mood and in the conditional mood. From the point of view of information of the category of person verbs may be divided into 3 subclasses:

i. The first subclass includes the verbs TO BE and TO HAVE

ii. The second – includes all other verbs with the exception of modal verbs. The verbs of this subclass form the 1^st and the 2^nd persons by meaning the zero-morpheme and the 3^rd person singular by means of the overt morpheme – s. Fex – I speak – you speak – he speaks

iii. The 3^rd subclass includes modal verbs with the exception of the verbs TO HAVE TO and TO BE TO. Modal verbs have no inflexion in the present tense thus in this verbs the category of person isn`t expressed. In the future tense of the indicative mood in the future in the past in the conditional mood the category of person is expressed by means of the auxiliary verb should for the 1<sup>st</sup> person will or would for other persons. But the category of person in the future tense is being gradually lost because of the wide use of shortened forms -`ll -`d. Fex – I`ll go there. If I were you I`d help them.

 

The category of number

The category of number is expressed by the opposition of the singular form and the plural form. The singular form shows that the action is associated with one doer of the action.

The plural form shows that the action is associated with more than one doer.

The forms of the category of number are not numerous in modern English. They are:

· The –s ending in the 3^rd person singular in the present tense which distinguished the 3^rd person singular from the 3^rd person plural

· The verbs TO BE and TO HAVE which have different forms of number in the present indefinite tense and in the past indefinite tense for the verb TO BE and in the present indefinite tense for the verb TO HAVE.

It`s not expressed in the future tense and in the future in the past and in the conditional mood. In most of the cases only the combinability with the subject indicates the personal number of the verb. Therefore the subject is almost never dropped in an English sentence.

The category of tense

It shows the relation of the time of the action denoted by the verb to the moment of speech. The time of any action or event can be expressed lexically with the help of such words and expressions as: yesterday, now, next week, on the 15^th of November. It can also be shown grammatically by means of the category of tense. The difference between the lexical expression of time in the following.

1) Lexically it`s possible to name any definite moment at period of time.

Fex – It happened last year. It happened centuries ago. It happened some minutes ago.

The grammatical meaning of time is an abstraction from 3 particular tenses: the present the past and the future.

2) Lexically the period of time is named directly. The grammatical indication of time is indirect.

Fex – The form asked shows that the action took place before the past moment of speech.

The form will ask indicates that the action will take place after the moment of speech.

So the gramm-meaning of tense is relative (относительн.) the form asks denotes the present action because it is contrasted with asked which denotes the past action and theform will ask which denotes a future action.

Most grammarians agree that there are 3 tenses of the English verbs: past, present, future.

с 21-22 стр. However some grammarians come to the conclusion that there are only 2 tenses of the English verb. This point of view was expressed by the Dutch linguist Oto Yespersen. Now many linguists support this point of view. Thus are Russian linguist Бархударов considers that the category of tense is expressed by opposition of the past tense and non-past tense. The past tense is the marked member of the opposition. It is marked in form by the morpheme –ed or covert morpheme:

ex. began.

The past tense is also marked in meaning, because it denotes that the author took place in the past. The non-past tense is the unmarked member of the opposition. It’s not marked in the form, because it’s characterized by the zero morpheme and it’s meaning is very wide: it may denote a present action, a future action (we are leaving Moscow tonight) it may denote an action without any time limits:

Ex.: the sun rises in the east.

As for the forms shall\should + inf, will\would + inf these linguists consider that in such cases shall and will are modal verbs, which have preserved the old English modal meanings. Shall developed from the old English schoollah and has the same meaning in modern English.

Will developed from the old English willah. It had the meaning of volition (воля) and has the same meaning in the modern English.

According to these linguists in the sentence:

He’ll help you (will help is a compound predicate). Many linguist don’t accept this point of view. They say that shall and will are auxiliary verbs and there is no modal meaning. To prove this professor Ильиш gives the following examples from the book “Gone with the wind”: ‘I’m sorry, I’m afraid I’ll have to go back.’

From this example it’s clear that he doesn’t want to go back and consequently the verb will doesn’t express any volition.

Besides the form of modal verbs is never shortened and the forms of the verbs shall\should\will\would are shortened. This point of view is expressed by professor Bloch in the modern theoretical grammar.

Professor Bloch considers that in modern English there are 2 temporal (временные) categories of the English verbs.

The first is the category of the primary time. The second – is the category of prospecting time. Both of those categories answer the question what?.

The timing of the process. The category of primary time is expressed by the opposition of the past and the present tenses. It fixes the process either in the past or not in the past. In this category the form of the past tense is the marked member of the opposition. It’s marked in the form because it’s characterized by the overt morpheme –ed in regulation verbs … by the covert morpheme in irregular verbs:

Ex.: asked, saw.

It’s marked in the meaning because it denotes that the process took place before the moment of speech. The present tense is the unmarked member of the opposition, has no specific gram. morphemes and its meaning is wide. It’s less definite than the meaning of the past tense. The present tense may denote:

1) the moment of speech: ‘He’s having his English lessons this moment.’

2) Vast periods of time with the word combinations this month\year\century: ‘He is seeing this film this year.’

3) Universal truth: ‘Water freezes at zero.’

The category of prospective time is expressed by the opposition of the future tenses and non-future(present) tense. the future tense is the marked member. It’s marked in form by yje discontinues(?) morpheme shall\will + inf without to. It’s marked in meaning because refers the action to the future. And the non-future tense is the unmarked member of the opposition.

The category of aspect.

It characterizes an action from the point of view of the development. The category of aspect show either the action is taken in its progress, in its development or it is simply started and its nature isn’t specified. The category of aspect is expressed by the opposition of non-continuous (common) and continuous forms.

Ex.: cont. forms.: is walking

non-cont. forms: walks, to write

The continuous form is the marked member of the opposition. It’s characterized by the discontinuous morpheme be+the ending –ing. The cont. form is marked in meaning, represents an action in its progress, in its continuity.

The non-cont. form is the unmarked member of the opposition. It represents action without indication of continuity.

Using the cont. form the speaker wants to show that the action has begun but it isn’t completed.

Due to the fact that the cont. form shows the action in it’s progress some grammarians call it the form of the progressive aspect.

The non-cont. form is called the non-progressive aspect. With regard to the category of aspect verbs fall into 2 large groups, which may be called action verbs and non-action (stative) verbs. Action verbs have the category of aspect. That is they have both the cont. and the non-cont. form.

Action verbs include verbs which denote:

- activity which has duration.

Ex.: to write, to read, to work, to think, etc

I’m writing an important letter.

- a change of state or position (to become, to get, to grow, to turn: Ex. it’s growing dark; to arrive to drive, to die: ex.: he is dying)

- a momentary action (to open, to hit, to jump: ex.: she’s opening the door)

The non-action verbs includes:

- the verbs to be and to have and verbs which contain the idea of being and having

Ex.: to belong, to contain, to hold, to own, to cost

How nuch does this book cost.

- verbs denoting physical perception (to hear, to feel, to see, etc.)

Ex.: I see a book on the table.

- verbs referring to mental and emotional state.

Ex.: to believe, to consider, to know

So normally non-action verbs are not used in the continuous form but it’s possible for all of them to be used in the cont. form if the speaker wants to emphasize the idea of an incompleted action or an action in its progress:

Ex.: Something is wrong with my eyes. I’m seeing trouble. I was bringing flowers for you.

The opposition between the cont. and non-cont. forms may be neutralized. Thus the non-cont. form may be used with the meaning of the cont. form in other words it may show an action in the development.

Ex.: the stars shine brightly.

Usually we find neutralization of the cont. and non-cont. forms in the following cases:

- with the verbs of physical and mental perception which aren’t used in the cont. form:

Ex.: it’s dark. I don’t see anything.

and with the verbs in the passive form which have no corresponded continious form in the passive:

Ex: in this time tomorrow they will be examining him.

с 23-37 (до конца) He will be examined at this time tomorrow.

3) with the action verbs followed by –ing form. “He stood smiling” instead of “He was standing smiling”.

The category of voice.

It shows the relation between the subject and the action.

e.g. He invited his friend.

He was invited by his friend.

The relation between the subject he and the action invite are different:

In the first sentence “he” performs the action.

It is the doer of the action

In the second sentence the subject “he” doesn`t action. It is not the doer of the action but the object of the action.

The category of voice is expressed by the opposition of the active and passive forms.

The passive voice is the marked member of the opposition. It is marked in meaning, because the passive voice has quite a definite meaning. It denotes that a subject is represented as acted upon. It`s marked in form (-ed)

And the active voice is the unmarked member of the opposition. It isn`t marked in form and meaning of the meaning of the act. It is less definite.

Active voice has several meaning.

1)the active meaning.

e.g. He asked a question. The subject he denotes the doer of the action.

2)medium meaning

The door opened. The book sells well.

Here the subject doesn`t denote either the doer or the object of the action. The verb in such sentences can`t be followed by the object with the preposition by.

3)reflexive

He washed and shaved.

The subject in such sentences denotes both the doer and the object of the action.

We may say: John dressed himself.

4)reciprocal (взаимные)

They met in the street. The subject in the plural form. It denotes the persone who acted and who were affected by the action.

Not all the verbs have the category of voice. With regard to the category of voice verbs may be divided into 2 subclasses: the verbs which form the Passive and the verbs which cannot form the Passive. The verbs which form the passive are transitive verbs. They include:

1)V-give

He gave me an apple. An apple was given to me. I was given an apple.

2)V-take.

He took an apple. An apple was taken by him.

3)V-look at which take prepositional objects.

They looked at him.

4)V-put

He put the stick in the corner of the room.

The category of mood.

Mood is the grammar category of the verb which serves to express modality.

That is the relation of the action, denoted by the verb to reality from the speaker`s point of view.

Modality may be expressed in different ways:

1)grammatically by means of the category of mood.

It`s autumn now –indicative mood

I wish it were autumn now-subj.2

2)lexico-grammatically by means of modal verbs. In modal verbs modality can be expressed twice: It is expressed lexically by the modal lexical meaning of these verbs and besides it is expressed grammatically by the form of the mood in which modal verbs are used.

I could help them-indicative mood.

I wish I could help them-subj.2

3)It may be expressed lexically by means of modal verbs and the verbs with a modal meaning.

Perhaps, maybe, certainly, to want, to wish, to know.

Maybe, he will come on time.

I want to call him up.

4)The phonetical expression of modality is by means of intonation. It`s possible to express insurance or doubt.

He is clever. I really think that he is clever.

 

He is clever. I don`t think so.

 

The category of mood in Modern English is a very complicated category and it has given rise to a lot of discussion and a lot of contracting opinions.

In the book “The structure of English” professor Ильиш writes that only 2 things are clear with regard to the category of mood: the first one-this category exists in the Eng.language. Point 2-there are at least 2 moods at this category and one of these moods is the indicative mood.

Professor Смирницкий considers that there are 6 moods:

1)The indicative mood

2)the imperative mood

3)Subjunctive 2

4) subjunctive 1

5)the suppositional mood

6) the conditional mood

Prof. Бархударов and Shtelling «Грамматика англ.яз» write that there are 5 moods:

1)indicative

2)imperative

3)subj. 1(but for him I wouldn`t have done it)

4)subj.2

5)conjunctive mood (I suggest you should do it at once. It`s impostant that you do it)

In the book by Кобрина, Корнеева, Осовская “English grammar”we find 3 moods:

1)the indicative

2)the imperative

3)the subjunctive

Professor Bloh in his book “a course of theoretical Eng. grammar”writes about 4 moods:

1)he points to the opposition of the direct mood

Indicative mood which represents an action as a real fact and oblique moods which represent action denoted by a verb as unreal. The indicative mood is the marked member of the opposition. They don`t characterize the action as a real fact and have a number of meanings:

1)The spective mood-спективное-he called it subjunctive.

It represents an action as desired or hypothetical action. Besides the meaning of desire includes supposition, suggestion, recommendation, inducement, command, order. It is equal to the imperative mood, subj.1 and the suppositional mood according to prof. Смирницкий.

2)the stipulative mood or subj.2

It denotes an unreal action on which other unreal actions depend. It is equal to subj.2 by Смирницкий

3)The consective mood or subj.3.

It is equal to the conditional mood by Смирницкий. It expresses an unreal action which depends on another unreal stipulative action.

If he were here he would help us.(к пункту 2)

The category of mood is so difficult because in this category there is no strict correlation between the form and the meaning. In other gram.categories it`s clear.

)in many cases the forms that sound alike express different modal meaning.

I knew( indicative) he would come. (future in the past)

If I knew (subj.2) that he would come (future in the past) I would come (the conditional mood) too.

2)in some cases different forms are used to express the same modal meaning.

I suggest that you do it(sub.1)-I suggest that you should do it.(the supl)

3)It`s not always easy to draw the line between the grammatical and lexico-gramm. expressions of modality.

e.g. Sometimes it`s difficult to say whether the verb “should” is a modal verb with the meaning “следует” or whether it`s an auxiliary verb, devoid of any meaning and used to form one of the oblique moods.

e.g. I suggest he should do it.

It`s annoying that the child should be naughty.

(it`s clear that it`s auxiliary verb)

In the Russian language subjunctive mood has only 1 form, the form which is homonymous with the past tense and the particle “бы”.

e.g. 1)Если бы он был здесь сейчас, он помог бы нам.

2)Если бы он был здесь вчера, он помог бы нам.

3)Я настаиваю, чтобы он помог нам.

4)If he were (subj.2) here he would help us.

5) If he had been here (sub.2) he would have helped us.(the conditional mood)

6)I insist that he should help us.(the supp.mood)

7)I insist that he help us.(subj.1)

To one form of the Russian subjunctive mood there are 4 different forms of English category of mood.

The conjunction.

The criteria:

1)in meaning conjunctions denote connection between things and phenomena.

2)in form conjunctions are unchangeable.

3)in function they can never be a separate past of the sentence. They are used to connect words, phrases, clauses and sentences.

According to the nature of connection which conj.express they are usually divided into coordinating(tive) and subordinating(tive)

Coordinating conjunctions.

C.conj.connect syntactical units which are equal in rank.

They are used in simple sentences, in compound sentences and some c.conj.are also used to connect independent sentences.

According to their meaning c.conj.are traditionally classified into the following 4 groups:

1)copulative conj-соединительные. And, as well as.

2) adversative –противительные but, still

3) disjunctive (either…or; neither…nor)

4)causative - resultative причинно-следственные so, therefore, for)

But the latest investigation show that the most typical conj.-and и but are polysemantic and have a number of meanings:

1)copulative

Peter and Vick went to school.

2)causative – resultative

It was raining and we decided not to go to the country.

3)the relations of contrast

My husband is handsome and her husband is ugly.

4)temporal relations

He went up to the table and she gave him a cup of tea.

5)the relations of condition

Take this medicine and you`ll feel better.

6)The relations of concession(уступки)

It was raining and (однако) you took the child out for a walk.

Subordinating conjunctions.

S.conj.are used to show the dependence of 1 syntactical unit or some others. They unite clauses which are not equal in rank. They are used in complex sentences to connect the subordinate clause with the principal clause.

Some sub.conj. may introduce a word or a phrase within a simple sentence.

e.g.If necessary, I`ll help him.

From the point of view of their structure the s.conj.are divided into:

1)simple conj. (that,if,when)

2)derived (because, supposing, provided)

3)correlative –соотнесенные (as….as..,not so…as)

4)conj.equivalents (союзные эквиваленты) (as soon as, for tear, in case, on condition, by the time, the way)

Many conj.equivalents are synonymous to simple or derived conj.and may be substituted by them.

e.g.In case (if) I`m late, ask him to wait for me.

Derived conj.are conj.equivalents appeared in Modern English their number is increasing. They are widely used both in written and spoken speech, especially in American English.

Investigation shows that the conj. “the way” is used more often than the conj.”how”. “By the time”is used more often than “before”.

According to their meaning and function s.conj.are usually classified into 2 main groups.

1)conj.which introduce subject, object, attribute and predicative clauses

e.g.That he is clever is known to everybody.

2)conj.which introduce different types of adverbal clauses.

They are subdivided into:

-conj.of time(after)

-conj.of place (where)

-of cause (since)

-of condition (if, in case)

The preposition.

1)meaning –“prepos.” denote relations between things and phenomena.

2)forms-prepos.are unchangeable.

3)function:prep.are never a separate part of the sentence.

They enter into phrases in which they are preceded by a noun, an adj., a numeral, a stative, a verb or an adverb, and are followed by nouns, adj, numerals, pronouns and gerunds.

The investigations show that perp.may be used as a part of a conj.equivalent to differentiate the relations between the main and the subordinate clause.

e.g. He smiled in spite of the fact that he was exhausted.

From the point of view of their structure prep.can be:

1)simple or primary (at, in, by)

2)compound (inside, within)

3)derived –производные (along, considering, during)

4)prep.equivalents (instead of, in front of, with the help of)

Many prep.equiv.are synonymous to prepositions.

In front of-before

On top of-on

The gram.meaning of prep.is expressed in the following way: prep.denote relations between things and phenomena, but besides each prep.has a lexical meaning of its own. It is clear from the following example: They went to (from, into, out of, through) the forest.

This sentence with different prepositions has diff.lexical meaning of prep.in them.

The lexical meaning of preposition is usually very general and abstract. The degree of abstraction depends on the structure of prep.

Simple prep.(in,at) have a very abstract lexical meaning and the meaning of prep.phrases with them depends on the meaning of the nouns which follow the preposition. If nouns which follow the prep.have a temporal meaning, the prep.phrase will have a temporal meaning too and answer the question “when?”

e.g.in the evening, at night, by January, on Monday.

If a noun following such a prep.has a local meaning that is connected with the idea of place, phrases with such prep.will answer the question “where?”

e.g.by the window, in that house, on the table.

The meaning of compound and derived prep.and prep.equivalents is less abstract.

e.g.the meaning of the prep.”because of”is so strong that it determines the meaning of prep.phrases irrespective of the meanings of the nouns in them.

e.g.Because of John, because of that place, because of that time, because of his love.

All these phrases answer the question why? And have a causal meaning due to the causal meaning of the prep.”because of”.

Combinability of prepositions:

Prepositions have bilateral (двустороннюю) combinability, that is they are combined with the verb or some other part of speech on the left hand and with a noun or a noun equivalents on the right hand.

e.g.Proud of John, afraid of going there

But there are cases when the left hand or the right hand connections are lost.

e.g.In my opinion he`ll come soon.

He hated to be laughed at.

The write hand connection of the prep.is omitted in the following cases:

1)with the verb in the passive voice

He was sent for.

2)in interrogative sentences which begin with “what, which, who”

Who are you waiting for?

3)in attribute clauses introduced by relative pronouns or without them

Here is the book which you have been looking for.

4)in subject clauses, introduced by Who?What?Which?

I wonder who this lecture is written for.

The sentence.

 

There exist more than 150 definitions of the sentence. Some of them are the following:

Prof. Bloh in his book gives the following definition:

“The sentence is an immediate integral unit of speech build up of words, according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by the contextualy relevant communicative purpose.”

In the book ”a couse of English grammar” by Хаймович and Роговская we find the following definition:

“The sentence is a communicative unit made up of words in confirmaty with their combinability and structurally united by intonation and predicativity. The predicativity is the relation of the thought of the sentence to the situation of speech.

Predicativity is an essential part of the contents of the sentence. Intonation is an essential part of the form of the sentence. The problem of classification of sentences is rather complicated and there exists several different classifications based on different principals.

Sentences may be classified according to the types of communication. That is to their communicative value. They may be classified according to their structure.

Sentences may also be classified according to responses which they elicit.

The classification of sentences according the type of communication.

Sentences are traditionally classified into declarative interrogative and imperative.

A declarative sentence expresses a statement – that is the speaker states his opinion on a certain subject.

An interrogative sentence expresses a question – that is the speaker wants an answer which will give the inform. he wants. Usually interrogative sentences are classified into 4 types: general, special, disjunctive, alternative.

Special questions are often used to get more detailed or exact information. Besides they are often used as short replys.

e.g. I want to talk to you. What about?

Besides the types given above.

Book of grammar give more types of questions:

1) suggestive or declarative questions

You really want to go there tonight?

Such questions keep the word order of statements but have a rising tone in speaking. They may contain such independent elements as interjections or modal words.

e.g. Surely, you are not offended?

You are joking, eh?

2) ritorical questions which imply no answer.

e.g. How could I’ve acted differently.

3) questions with communicative introducers

e.g. I wonder why he’s so late.

 

An imperative sentence expresses a command or request – that is the speaker expects the person addressed to fulfill a certain action.

Imperative sentences usually begin with the verb in the imperative mood.

e.g. Do it at once!

Imperative sentences expressing requests begin with the words: please, kindly.

e.g. Kindly, help her.

More tactfull form of request can be obtained by changing an imper. sentence into a question beginning with will/would, can/could:

e.g. Will you help me?

Would you mind giving me a cup of tea?

There are also verbless imp. sentences - that is imp. sentences containing no verbs but only nouns.

e.g. Silence!

The sugar, please!

A glass of water at once!

They are used in everyday speech.

Imp. sentences may contain communicative introducers.

e.g. Insist that you should do it at once!

It’s necessary that you should translate this sentence!

All the 3 types may be exclamatory.

e.g. Don’t stay like that!

Do something!

 

Parts of the sentence.

 

Parts of the sentences are devided into principal and secondary parts.

The subject and the predicate are called the principal parts because they make the sentence.

Secondary parts serve to extend the sent., to define the subject, the predicate or each other.

e.g. The boy is writing.

The little boy is writing smth in his new exercise book new.

The attribute serves to determine the subject (boy), smth object, to determine the predicate.

Subject is the thing-meant to which the predicate is refered and with which it’s directly connected. The subject together with the predicate make up predication. The subject denoted the person component of the sent. In English there are 2 main types of the subject: definite and indefinite.

Def. subject denotes a thing-meant that can be clearly defined.

e.g. a concrete object, process, quality.

e.g. The book is interesting (obj.)

Reading is useful (process)

His cleverness is known to everybody (quality)

 

Indef. S. – denotes a thing-meant that can’t be clearly defined

e.g. some indefinite person, state of some indef. thing or certain situation.

e.g. It’s cold. They say,...

In the English language indef. subjects are always formally expressed. They are usually expressed by indefinite or imperional pronouns.

On the contrary in the Russian language the indef. subject isn’t expressed by a separate word.

e.g. Говорят, он хороший студент.

Холодно.

There are 2 problems, connected with the subject:

1) The problem of the subject it in the sent. Like

It’s difficult to answer the question.

 

Some linguists say that it - is the anticipatore subject and the infinitive to answer is a real subject.

There’s also an opinion that “it” is the subject and the infinitive is an opposition to “it”.

2) The 2^nd problem concerns the so-called complex subject. Some linguists say that

We have a complex subject in English which is to be found in sentences like:

He seems to have finished the work. (complex subject)

They are expected to arrive today. (complex subject)

Other grammarians say that in such cases we have a compound verbal predicate:

“ seems to have finished”

And “he” there – is the subject.

 

The predicate denotes the action or properly of the thing expressed by the subject.

It’s independent on any part of the sentence.

The predicate together with the subject make up predication. It denote the mood and person components of predication.

The predication can be analyzed from the point of view of its contence and from the point of view of their structure.

The grammatical categories of the verb.

The category of person

The category of person represents an action as associated by the speaking person with himself, that is the first person, with the person or persons addressed. That is the second person and with persons not-participating in the process of speech (the 3d person). The category ofperson is expressed in the singular form of the present tense of the indicative mood in the future tense and in the future in the past tense in the indicative mood and in the conditional mood. From the point of view of information of the category of person verbs may be divided into 3 subclasses:

i. The first subclass includes the verbs TO BE and TO HAVE

ii. The second – includes all other verbs with the exception of modal verbs. The verbs of this subclass form the 1^st and the 2^nd persons by meaning the zero-morpheme and the 3^rd person singular by means of the overt morpheme – s. Fex – I speak – you speak – he speaks

iii. The 3^rd subclass includes modal verbs with the exception of the verbs TO HAVE TO and TO BE TO. Modal verbs have no inflexion in the present tense thus in this verbs the category of person isn`t expressed. In the future tense of the indicative mood in the future in the past in the conditional mood the category of person is expressed by means of the auxiliary verb should for the 1<sup>st</sup> person will or would for other persons. But the category of person in the future tense is being gradually lost because of the wide use of shortened forms -`ll -`d. Fex – I`ll go there. If I were you I`d help them.

 

The category of number

The category of number is expressed by the opposition of the singular form and the plural form. The singular form shows that the action is associated with one doer of the action.

The plural form shows that the action is associated with more than one doer.

The forms of the category of number are not numerous in modern English. They are:

· The –s ending in the 3^rd person singular in the present tense which distinguished the 3^rd person singular from the 3^rd person plural

· The verbs TO BE and TO HAVE which have different forms of number in the present indefinite tense and in the past indefinite tense for the verb TO BE and in the present indefinite tense for the verb TO HAVE.

It`s not expressed in the future tense and in the future in the past and in the conditional mood. In most of the cases only the combinability with the subject indicates the personal number of the verb. Therefore the subject is almost never dropped in an English sentence.

The category of tense

It shows the relation of the time of the action denoted by the verb to the moment of speech. The time of any action or event can be expressed lexically with the help of such words and expressions as: yesterday, now, next week, on the 15^th of November. It can also be shown grammatically by means of the category of tense. The difference between the lexical expression of time in the following.

1) Lexically it`s possible to name any definite moment at period of time.

Fex – It happened last year. It happened centuries ago. It happened some minutes ago.

The grammatical meaning of time is an abstraction from 3 particular tenses: the present the past and the future.

2) Lexically the period of time is named directly. The grammatical indication of time is indirect.

Fex – The form asked shows that the action took place before the past moment of speech.

The form will ask indicates that the action will take place after the moment of speech.

So the gramm-meaning of tense is relative (относительн.) the form asks denotes the present action because it is contrasted with asked which denotes the past action and theform will ask which denotes a future action.

Most grammarians agree that there are 3 tenses of the English verbs: past, present, future.

с 21-22 стр. However some grammarians come to the conclusion that there are only 2 tenses of the English verb. This point of view was expressed by the Dutch linguist Oto Yespersen. Now many linguists support this point of view. Thus are Russian linguist Бархударов considers that the category of tense is expressed by opposition of the past tense and non-past tense. The past tense is the marked member of the opposition. It is marked in form by the morpheme –ed or covert morpheme:

ex. began.

The past tense is also marked in meaning, because it denotes that the author took place in the past. The non-past tense is the unmarked member of the opposition. It’s not marked in the form, because it’s characterized by the zero morpheme and it’s meaning is very wide: it may denote a present action, a future action (we are leaving Moscow tonight) it may denote an action without any time limits:

Ex.: the sun rises in the east.

As for the forms shall\should + inf, will\would + inf these linguists consider that in such cases shall and will are modal verbs, which have preserved the old English modal meanings. Shall developed from the old English schoollah and has the same meaning in modern English.

Will developed from the old English willah. It had the meaning of volition (воля) and has the same meaning in the modern English.

According to these linguists in the sentence:

He’ll help you (will help is a compound predicate). Many linguist don’t accept this point of view. They say that shall and will are auxiliary verbs and there is no modal meaning. To prove this professor Ильиш gives the following examples from the book “Gone with the wind”: ‘I’m sorry, I’m afraid I’ll have to go back.’

From this example it’s clear that he doesn’t want to go back and consequently the verb will doesn’t express any volition.

Besides the form of modal verbs is never shortened and the forms of the verbs shall\should\will\would are shortened. This point of view is expressed by professor Bloch in the modern theoretical grammar.

Professor Bloch considers that in modern English there are 2 temporal (временные) categories of the English verbs.

The first is the category of the primary time. The second – is the category of prospecting time. Both of those categories answer the question what?.

The timing of the process. The category of primary time is expressed by the opposition of the past and the present tenses. It fixes the process either in the past or not in the past. In this category the form of the past tense is the marked member of the opposition. It’s marked in the form because it’s characterized by the overt morpheme –ed in regulation verbs … by the covert morpheme in irregular verbs:

Ex.: asked, saw.

It’s marked in the meaning because it denotes that the process took place before the moment of speech. The present tense is the unmarked member of the opposition, has no specific gram. morphemes and its meaning is wide. It’s less definite than the meaning of the past tense. The present tense may denote:

1) the moment of speech: ‘He’s having his English lessons this moment.’

2) Vast periods of time with the word combinations this month\year\century: ‘He is seeing this film this year.’

3) Universal truth: ‘Water freezes at zero.’

The category of prospective time is expressed by the opposition of the future tenses and non-future(present) tense. the future tense is the marked member. It’s marked in form by yje discontinues(?) morpheme shall\will + inf without to. It’s marked in meaning because refers the action to the future. And the non-future tense is the unmarked member of the opposition.

The category of aspect.

It characterizes an action from the point of view of the development. The category of aspect show either the action is taken in its progress, in its development or it is simply started and its nature isn’t specified. The category of aspect is expressed by the opposition of non-continuous (common) and continuous forms.

Ex.: cont. forms.: is walking

non-cont. forms: walks, to write

The continuous form is the marked member of the opposition. It’s characterized by the discontinuous morpheme be+the ending –ing. The cont. form is marked in meaning, represents an action in its progress, in its continuity.

The non-cont. form is the unmarked member of the opposition. It represents action without indication of continuity.

Using the cont. form the speaker wants to show that the action has begun but it isn’t completed.

Due to the fact that the cont. form shows the action in it’s progress some grammarians call it the form of the progressive aspect.

The non-cont. form is called the non-progressive aspect. With regard to the category of aspect verbs fall into 2 large groups, which may be called action verbs and non-action (stative) verbs. Action verbs have the category of aspect. That is they have both the cont. and the non-cont. form.

Action verbs include verbs which denote:

- activity which has duration.

Ex.: to write, to read, to work, to think, etc

I’m writing an important letter.

- a change of state or position (to become, to get, to grow, to turn: Ex. it’s growing dark; to arrive to drive, to die: ex.: he is dying)

- a momentary action (to open, to hit, to jump: ex.: she’s opening the door)

The non-action verbs includes:

- the verbs to be and to have and verbs which contain the idea of being and having

Ex.: to belong, to contain, to hold, to own, to cost

How nuch does this book cost.

- verbs denoting physical perception (to hear, to feel, to see, etc.)

Ex.: I see a book on the table.

- verbs referring to mental and emotional state.

Ex.: to believe, to consider, to know

So normally non-action verbs are not used in the continuous form but it’s possible for all of them to be used in the cont. form if the speaker wants to emphasize the idea of an incompleted action or an action in its progress:

Ex.: Something is wrong with my eyes. I’m seeing trouble. I was bringing flowers for you.

The opposition between the cont. and non-cont. forms may be neutralized. Thus the non-cont. form may be used with the meaning of the cont. form in other words it may show an action in the development.

Ex.: the stars shine brightly.

Usually we find neutralization of the cont. and non-cont. forms in the following cases:

- with the verbs of physical and mental perception which aren’t used in the cont. form:

Ex.: it’s dark. I don’t see anything.

and with the verbs in the passive form which have no corresponded continious form in the passive:

Ex: in this time tomorrow they will be examining him.

с 23-37 (до конца) He will be examined at this time tomorrow.

3) with the action verbs followed by –ing form. “He stood smiling” instead of “He was standing smiling”.